THE KNIGHTS WHO SAY "NI!"

Listen to THE KNIGHTS WHO SAY "NI!" by Monty Python.

A bit of fun for a Sunday night.

YEAH!

Listen to Yeah! by Cosmic Rhythm Society.

Jason dropping in.

Not much is known about Cosmic Rhythm Society. I've heard rumours that they are an extended fictional front of "Consumer Recreation Services" from David Fincher's 1997 film "The Game". Wiki ominously describes the film:

As the lines between the banker's real life and the game become more and more uncertain, there are hints of a larger conspiracy.

They seem to have been a percussion trio - but witnesses of their playing days have been hard to find......some have mysteriously disappeared. The National Trust cobbled together oblique references from the internet and "personal communications" to suggest that CRS cut a debut album with Festival/Mushroom records in 2000, yet no copies of the album exist.

Garbled ramblings appeared for a while on the net with the words "Bang On", "five six seven eight eleven" and a cryptic reference to a "furious golden egg" (was this an easter egg in itself?).... but these, too, swiftly vanished - even from google's own indexes.

Maybe The Game continues. An elaborate triple-twisting hoax. All I know is that this track is absolutely bang on. One of the finest pieces of percussive mayhem I've ever heard. Don't ask me how I came to get a hold of it. But if you could tell me more about these 3, I'd like to know.

Photo: CRS Headquarters? Time and Place unknown.

THANKFUL N' THOUGHTFUL

Listen to THANKFUL N' THOUGHTFUL by Sly and the Family Stone.

One of the best offerings from "Fresh." Enough said. Can I haz turkee, etc.

Photo: New York detail (4).

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME BE MYSELF

Listen to THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME BE MYSELF by Maceo and All The King's Men.

Maceo Parker, his hot hot James Brown backing band, covering one of Sly's funkiest offerings, what more can you ask for? To all of you, safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving!



Photo: New York detail (3).

THE THANKS WE GET

Listen to THE THANKS WE GET by Junior Byles.

One thing about these "themed" weeks is you get to pick songs you might not otherwise pick. I've always loved Junior Byles, but if I had a free hand to pick any of his sides, it might not be--probably wouldn't be--this one.

The Thanks We Get is a Black Ark production, which means it's likely to be awesome, but also it might be pretty weird. In that regard this is a typical Lee Perry offering. The oddest feature of all is that Lee has his young son Omar toasting over the top of Junior Byles's vocals. And "toasting" is a pretty generous description of what's going on! At one point little Omar just kinda babbles "Poppa! Poppa! Poppa!" squarely in the middle of the mix. It's kinda cute, kinda annoying, just like Double Dutch Bus, but even stranger.

Photo: New York detail (2).

THANK YOU...

Listen to THANK YOU... by Sveti.

No prizes for the theme of the songs this week. First off is an offering from Sveti's release "Where I Come From," which we mentioned earlier this year. Our friend Marko is rightfully proud of this record and has been touring it hard all year. A couple of us caught him Saturday night in the neighborhood and the band sounded great, and Marko was as gonzo as ever.

It was a long day Saturday. First, drinking out of grief, then out of celebration, and finally because the Blue Note requires it. As a result I took a short nap just before Sveti's last song, then nearly got lost on the five minute walk home....



Photo: New York detail (1).

THE FLOWERS AND THE WINE

Listen to THE FLOWERS AND THE WINE by Pete Atkin.

John again. I have no idea who Pete Atkin is, honestly. I stumbled across a mention of his albums as *very* British and thought “that’s for me then”. But *very* British means just that: *very*. Not, say, Nick Drake British, who made great tunes and just happened to be British as well. No, *very* British means something else entirely that I couldn’t adequately explain, and Pete Atkin seems to speak this voice… which is odd, because his lyrics were penned by an Australian, Clive James. Must not fall far from the tree.

Anyway, Pete and Clive had a good thing going for a time in the 70s, with a 6-album partnership on RCA and a solid following. When that ebbed, Pete tried his luck as a carpenter, before ending back up in showbiz in the radio production side of things. He even provided one of the voices for a “Wallace and Gromit” character. Oh, and as a freelance radio producer he churned out a 216-part (!) history of Britain which took 14 months to broadcast. *Very* British indeed.


Photo: snow.

THERE IS NO MORE TO SAY

Listen to THERE IS NO MORE TO SAY by The Millennium.

Unfortunately, due to real life constraints, I don't have time to do a long write-up about, and thereby at least attempt to do justice to, the awesomeness of The Millennium.

Check back in the comments later for more detailed discussion, perhaps, but basically I'm firmly of the opinion that this album is the best 60s California pop record ("'Pet Sounds" for buddhist paranoiacs'") you haven't ever heard of. Think about that.

Photo: Neighborhood bracing (4).

SELF-ANALYSIS

Listen to SELF-ANALYSIS by The Smoke.

Today's song is a return performance by The Smoke, a group first featured in one of John's posts from this summer. John's song, Cowboys and Indians, was the archetypal album opening mini-epic. My song is the "track three" ballad, the one with the best pop hooks. Also, like Cowboys and Indians, it's a Beach Boys fan letter, which gets you most of the way on to this blog at least.

Plus it's very Freudian, you know.

Here's a little biographical detail about Michael Lloyd (who wrote, recorded, and produced the album) that John didn't get to:

At the tender age of 20, Lloyd was appointed vice-president of MGM by Mike Curb and his first production job, Lou Rawls's Natural Man, won a Grammy. After that he turned out hits for teen sensations like The Osmonds and Shaun Cassidy, later producing Belinda Carlisle, Barry Manilow and, most lucratively, the multi-million selling soundtrack to Dirty Dancing.

That's a story of realized ambition if I've ever read one.

Photo: Neighborhood bracing (3).

SIXTH AVENUE STROLL

Listen to SIXTH AVENUE STROLL by Twinn Connexion.

This one will definitely divide opinion. Actually, maybe that's too optimistic. You all may hate it!

But I like it, in a stuck-in-your-head sort of way. You couldn't dream up a more Carnaby Street Austin Powers sort of jam, the only thing is that these guys were from...Montana (!)

I like to imagine they came to New York on a school trip to see the Rockettes or something, and decided that the Avenue of the Americas was the most far our street in the world. Even though it's probably about some street in Canada where they shot a moose. It would make as much sense as the lyrics, to be fair.

Oh, and do check out the album cover.

Photo: Neighborhood bracing (2).

SHE'S MY GIRL

Listen to SHE'S MY GIRL by The Turtles.

Today's song is by The Turtles, so this is the second appearance by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (i.e., Flo & Eddie) on the blog in a week.

When I first started thinking about what to write for this song a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I was very interested in the "girl" in the song. One thing that's evolved in pop music since the sixties, I'm willing to argue, is fewer of these possessory types of songs, where the man claims the woman as property. I just don't think boys think of girls in quite the same way they might have 40 years ago. How well do you think that one holds up?

Anyway, it's taking me away from the point I was starting to make. I was interested in the girl in the song because I think her fate is a lot worse than you might think just casually listening to the song. Is he saying he killed the girl? "She's my girl / I took her away last night." That was really what I thought when I was listening to it. And I'm not the only one to make a "murder ballad" connection:

My favorite thing about pop music is the means by which some artists attempt -- either consciously or unintentionally -- to subvert its sugary idealogical [sic] simplicity. "She's My Girl" by the Turtles is a great example of such a subversive song. It hints at being a murder ballad in the vein of antique Americana, while maintaining the pretense of contemporary pop fluff.

I do think there is some of that here, though a pop song is sometimes (usually) just a pop song. Before we leave it for now, have a look at the promo video, which just doesn't get any more 1967.

Photo: Neighborhood bracing (1).

THE 21st CENTURY

Listen to THE 21st CENTURY by Andrew Vladeck.

We interrupt our usual weekend break to bring you some great news. Andrew Vladeck is rolling out some product, and it sounds great!

First Andrew has an EP, called "The Magnet," out now on End Up Records. As Andrew and Amy and I go way back, I've gotten to hear quite a few versions of these recordings (not to mention the songs themselves), and I can tell you that he's put a hell of a lot of work into the mixes. The fear when you pour so much into something is that the finished product sounds tight, overworked, and lifeless. (This was the specific fear I had for this record, in fact.) But Andrew's got good taste and he got good people to help him put it together. It sounds superb: fun, loose, confident, open... just as it should be.

The only one I hadn't heard before is the one I'm sharing with you now, an acoustic version of The 21st Century, which once upon a time was a huge, over-the-top, set closing sort of song. This version is just Andrew & his banjo.

If you want to hear more, you can download a couple more at the End Up Records site, and the blogs will be digging into it. Most importantly, Andrew's throwing a release party in a couple of weeks at Mercury Lounge. November 25, to be exact. You can RSVP on Facebook.

I'll leave this up a little bit before getting back to the usual guff sometime Monday afternoon.

Photo: Welcome to Vladeck Houses. (By the way, I'm trying out something new that I think I'll keep, by loading up these photos on to Flickr instead of my own server. That should take some pressure off the latter plus if you click through the photo you can go to its own Flickr page and all that stuff.)

WHITE WINTER HYMNAL and MYKONOS

Listen to WHITE WINTER HYMNAL by Fleet Foxes.
Listen to MYKONOS by Fleet Foxes.

Jason dropping in.

The only reason I haven't posted about Fleet Foxes before is because I thought I already had.

I saw them live at The Empire in Shepherds Bush (London) on Monday and was trying to remember which of their songs I'd posted here before. I think that the combined memory of writing about Brian Wilson and The Shins made me think I'd covered the Fleet.....but I hadn't. And I should've.

It was the second best gig I've seen of 2008 (nothing could top Ace Frehley at the Astoria) and their "debut" album (there's a self-titled CD-R from 2006 of which only 200 copies were made....and its good - but not as good as their "official" debut) is currently one of metacritic's top 10 albums of 2008.

I've also been chopping and changing about which song to put up. I say "song" because my first of two posted tracks, "White Winter Hymnal", was never under question. Immediately glorious and untouchable. Not even a song, but a harmonic refrain of an anti-funeral-dirge.

The choice for the second song was much harder: "He Doesn't Know Why", "Your Protector", "Blue Ridge Mountains" and "Drops In The River" were all front-runners at some point.

I don't know about you, but the only way I can sort through the thousand-or-so tracks I try and absorb each month, is to rate them on the pod. One star gets deleted. Two stars get kept on the hard-drive for minor connection or history. Four stars make it to the pod and I won't listen to less after its rated. Five stars make the special list. And three stars? They inhabit that middle ground of being tracks I don't want to lose but ones that will only be listened to for a reason (if at all).

And the Fleet Foxes' debut album is unique to me because every song is 4 stars or above.....with one exception (strangely, the opening track). The whole album is that special blend of drawing you in at first listen as well as growing over the months afterwards. Tom Wilway describes it well at DrownedInSound:

The Fleet Foxes sound is pleasantly enjoyable at first but only after a number of listens does the dense harmonic sound, with its plethora of interesting instrumentation and vocals firing off in every direction, start to become engrained

They marry the Beach Boys with Crosby, Stills and Nash.... in a pastoral chapel ..... that smells of mulled wine....and candles...and 20 strangers.... that want to sing random cascading choral harmonies....with a few goats....and a mandolin....where the dress code says only: "wool and irony".

And here's a tip: if, like me, you only give songs a chance for the first minute, keep listening through these. They change - just like it does in my (finally!!!) selected second track, "Mykonos", from their "Sun Giant" EP. (Go on, Fleet. Tell me this isn't 2 separate songs that you jammed together!). The 2nd-half of this is worth hanging out for.

I'm going out with a stumble. I found this on YouTube. Two young Swedish girls - called "First Aid Kit", out in "the forest" covering the Fleet's "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song". Originally I thought this was a hoax....the guitar and vocals seemed too evenly balanced for an outdoor recording - until they laughed. They're only 15 and 17!!! - remind me of Pooka - watch:



Photo: ZELL AM SEE, AUSTRIA, 2008. Taken by Jason Bryant.

REFLECTIONS

Listen to REFLECTIONS by Peppermint Trolley Company.

Hello Thursday readers! Any of you remember the Brady Bunch? Fine, but how much Brady Bunch trivia do you know? Here's one for you. From Season Two until it got cancelled and began its syndicated zombie life, the Brady Bunch theme song was performed by all of the cast members. For the first season, however, it was performed by a group from outside San Bernadino called the Peppermint Trolley Company.

Check out the youtube. It's very bubble gum, just like the 'Company's big hit, Baby You Come Rollin' Across My Mind.

Today's song, Reflections, is moody (there's that word again) enough to be considered psychedelic. And don't take my word for it, take the word of Sir Psych, who included this song on his first "Sir Psych Presents" compilation. Most of you probably don't know who Sir Psych is. I don't either, except he's a blogger with an unbelievable collection of late 60s obscurities, and everything I've gotten from him has been worth hearing. I highly recommend checking out the blog.

Jason will be here tomorrow, with a couple of songs you may or may not have heard at your local Starbucks. I'll be back on Monday, unless I can get Liverpool to lose this weekend, in which case I'll post some Barbra Streisand for you.

Photo: Car fire on First Avenue (4).

You'll Never Walk Alone (But You'll Lose to Tottenham) (Again)

Listen to YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama.

Oh dear. I'll be the last person to say that the League Cup is important (for Arsenal it's a special case, since we have our youth team out, which is fun for Arsenal fans because they're good, but it's only possibly because the League Cup doesn't actually count), but it's got to hurt a little to see such an abject performance. (To be fair, they did win the second half... )