Recent CD Purchases

[miss buenos aires]

Broke a summer of abstinence from CD-buying (I was waiting for an Amazon credit, plus nothing exciting was being released) to order:

Dengue Fever - Venus on Earth
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Josef K - Entomology
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

Haven't gotten a chance to listen to any of it yet...

[Otis Westinghouse]

'The red sky behind you
The feeling you've been here before...'

Opening lines to Josef K's lovely Chance Meeting. So many of their songs had such a power for me. I don't quite get the high now that I did back then from then, which isn't the case with other things I loved back then, e.g. Orange Juice, whose classics just sound better to me with each passing year, and some of Entomology is fairly negligible, but the best is outstanding. I guess the abovementioned is my fave song of theirs and the one that most immediately reconnects me with my 18-year-old self, but can you figure out the last line?

'It's hard to forgive, dear,
When you ??????? the things that we loved'

One source I found says, lamely, 'When you shoot all..' but it's clearly not that. Over to you.

Here is it and here are they, posing in the Edinburgh sunshine.

[verbal gymnastics]

Happy birthday! I was playing AMC the other day. Fabulous stuff. So many outstanding songs. And what a truly great thing to come across as a teenager. Also, I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and had Strange Town fixed in my head - just as well I had my iPod in my pocket and could relieve myself of the torment. I then listened to 10+ Jam classics from Direction, Reaction, Creation. Very good supermarket music. I dig the iPod in that context. I was tempted to also seek out In The Crowd and buy some Walls ice-cream, but thought this might be going a bit too far, as would the temptation to play The Clash's Lost in the Supermarket.

And don't forget you could have played "Dream Time".

If push came to shove for whatever reason, I think I would call All Mod Cons the album that changed my life.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Indeed I could, When I saw The Jam in Jersey they opened with 'Dream Time'. which I was a huge fan of. It's an interesting thing whether people have one LP that changed their lives / meant more to them than anything else. I can't quite claim it with AMC as my mate owned it, not me, but it had a massive impact. I did get the run of classic singles that came after it and then Setting Sons, and only Joy Division at the time had more impact for me. I remember an NME interview at the time of recording Setting Sons where Weller said he'd been listening to Joy Division (described them as 'very four square', which I didn't understand at the time). The interviewer claimed their influence could be seen in Private Hell, which is stretching it, I think. I truly had a musical epiphany 19 years ago, Sept 15, 1979, with The Jam and Joy Division both on Something Else together (it was the first show of the run, I think). 15 and 2 months, open mouthed at the genius of Weller and Curtis on display and their respective bands.

I'd been playing 'When You're Young' all summer, and then they launched into what was possibly an unknown song, 'The Eton Rifles'. The WYY cover image to the left and the Unknown Pleasures to the right. Bit of a shame Weller doesn't do that fabulous vocal about the lights going out all over the country at the end, ands Bruce isn't quite loud enough. there's a great quote on that YouTube thread which is over-the-top enough for me to have written:

'This is possibly the greatest episode of a music program ever. Watching the two bands' performances from completely different things (JD on here, The Jam on their DVD, etc.) is like piecing together the Grail Tablet in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.'

Indeed. That first sentence holds for me. What could match this? I'd read about The Dance in the NME, and suddenly it was there on the telly:

[miss buenos aires]

"Very four square"? I don't understand it now. Please enlighten me, Otis!

[Otis Westinghouse]

4/4 time, no swing or syncopation, stick to the crotchets and quavers. It also ties in with the Martin Hannett concept of 'play fast very slowly' or whatever it was that was cited in twentyfourhourpartypeople. I'm not sure if this is a real quote or an imagined one of the sort Hannett might have said. Several JD songs are pretty slow in terms of bpm, but with quite a lot of bass drum beats in the rhythm (New Dawn Fades, Day of the Lords, I Remember Nothing, Candidate), so the rhythm is quite insistent. Steve Morris always came up with brilliant drum parts that worked perfectly. Often very simple, but totally effective. Annex that to the Hannett way with recording a drum kit and you have four square nirvana! I more or less learned to drum learning every beat of every JD song and playing along over and over on the headphones. 'Militaristic' is a word often used too. Take 'Digital', it's just a robotic binary beat (bass, snare, bass, snare) but it sounds perfect.

Well it's nice to be asked a question! Hope I enlightened you (on your brief visit before working through the next item on the list).

[migdd]

I'm looking forward to this upcoming release. Kate simply can't put out a sub-par record and this one looks like another good one.

save the day 100.jpg (6.83 KiB) Viewed 17611 times

SAVE THE DAY
Release Date: October 14, 2008

• Save The Day was produced by Walt Aldridge and includes the legendary Spooner Oldham on the To Kill A Mockingbird inspired song "Sorrowfree".

• Features guest vocals by John Prine (Looking For Jesus), Nanci Griffith (Fordlandia), Mac McAnally (Falling Out Of Heaven), and Kate's New Agrarian pals Pierce Pettis and Tom Kimmel (Everybody Knows Elvis).

Okay, so I'm giving Campbell an unabashed plug. More info on her website: http://www.katecampbell.com/news.html

[ice nine]

Blaze Foley was a tragic figure. Homeless and drunk, but a talented songwriter. John Prine covered one of his songs and he worked with Townes Van Zandt. His murder has never been solved. A comment on Amazon has him as the inspiration for Lucinda's 'Drunken Angel'.

[mood swung]

Two JP mentions in a row!

and here's the Blaze Foley song, cos it kicks ass.

[pophead2k]

Picked up the new Ben Folds today. Won't have a chance to listen until tomorrow.

[BlueChair]

They recently reissued every Creedence Clearwater Revival album except for Mardi Gras with bonus tracks to mark the band's 40th anniversary. Today I picked up their self-titled debut, along with Willy & The Poor Boys.

I now feel compelled to throw out my 1990-issued Chronicle Vol. 1. Everything sounds so much richer and rawer on these CDs.

[pophead2k]

Sorry to say I'm not enjoying the Ben Folds album. Sounds like a throwback to appease his old fans from the BFF days. Very little of the mature wit from the last two albums. Also picked up the new Matthew Sweet. Solid, but not my favorite of his either.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I've been looking for something new to dig, but none of the recent releases have looked that interesting. Maybe I should spring for that Dylan bootleg set.

[so lacklustre]

I have the two disc Dylan bootleg and it is quite enjoyable, although some of the live tracks are less interesting.

The Seasick Steve release 'I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left' (something like that) is good fun, give it a try.

If you want album of the year material - Eliza Carthy's 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater' is superb. Check out her performance on last weeks 'Later' where she played two tracks with her band.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I have the two disc Dylan bootleg and it is quite enjoyable, although some of the live tracks are less interesting.

The Seasick Steve release 'I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left' (something like that) is good fun, give it a try.

If you want album of the year material - Eliza Carthy's 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater' is superb. Check out her performance on last weeks 'Later' where she played two tracks with her band.

Thanks solack. Will give it a look.

BTW, anyone here have the Nick Lowe albums The Impossible Bird, Dig My Mood, and/or Party of One? They are all currently out of print, and I would be happy to do a swap for other material if a kind board member can oblige.

[mood swung]

I think I can help you out there, Sam. PM your address.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I think I can help you out there, Sam. PM your address.

Thanks. RTHTW has already offered to help.

[BlueChair]

Picked up some piano music:

[pophead2k]

The new Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (Cardinology) is fantastic. Three listens and I am absolutely hooked with no less than 5 songs that go regularly through my head. His singing is coherent, clear, and self-assured. The songs are almost entirely positive and pretty short. Excellent album.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Three John Martyn CDs at wonderful Fopp that I didn't have before: Stormbringer (Beverley's voice nowhere the same league as his), Inside Out, Sunday's Child. £11 for the three.

[miss buenos aires]

Anybody here into Pas/Cal? I just got their I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke and Laura, and am digging it. It might be a little twee for some, but I can't think of anyone here who wouldn't like it. Go check it out and report back!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Never 'eard of 'em, but can you account for their bizarre name? Abbreviation of Pasadena, Californria? Abbreviation of French for 'no calories'? Er, 'Pascal' with an unaccountable oblique?

[miss buenos aires]

Yeah, the name is a mystery. I lean towards the "unaccountable oblique" theory myself...

[martinfoyle]

Dont buy much cds these days, but got these at an independant shop here in Cork, mainly to give them a sale. They didn't take credit cards.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Nice flying carpet!