Recent CD Purchases

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 5:57 pm

Richard Thompson - Action Packed: The Best of The Capital Years.

I'm going to write Mr. Thompson a nice little letter apologizing for all the mean things I said about Don't Renege On Our Love when I was in undergrad.

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:01 pm

Nick Drake - Made To Love Magic (a new rarities disc with a bunch of Drake's final recordings)

David Celia - Great local talent that a relative turned me onto last weekend... no major label release yet, but you can buy his album online and in some indie music stores (at least here).. check out his stuff at http://www.davidcelia.com

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 12:48 am

I picked up Retriever in the used bin for all of $7.99. On the one hand, I was like "Sacrilege!" and yet I was also saying to myself "Shut up! You're getting a great deal." And the poor people one row over were trying their best to get far, far away from me. To give you an idea of how excited I was to find Retriever at such a cut-rate price, I actually put back a used copy of The Hard Way, a semi-rare Steve Earle cd, that I had initially planned to purchase. Could only afford to get one.

I'm with Otis on liking Cobblestone Runway quite a bit. Despite whatever he was going through while he was making that album, his music was still very positive (and yet honest) and he always writes so artfully about people getting together, getting by and falling apart. He is also seriously underrated as a wit. My favorite opening line in Retriever comes from Imaginary Friends -

"Imaginary friends
They will always let you down"

That is as funny (and sad) as anything Prine or Newman ever came up with. My first impression of the new Ron joint is that I like it every bit as much as Blue Boy, which is something of a new classic in my eyes. I was suprised to find out that Daniel Lanois snapped the front and back cover photos and there is a very classy little dedication to Johnny & June Carter Cash and Elliot Smith on the back sleeve as well.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 12:52 am

The new Patti Smith - rocktastic stuff
New edition of Tindersticks first album - extra disc of demos - now where did they get that idea !?!

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:32 am

Uh Huh Her- PJ Harvey

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:43 am

I hit the used vinyl bin and snagged the following on vinyl:

Squeeze - Cool For Cats
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Lou Reed - New Sensations

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 1:29 pm

Remain In Light - just wonderful. Is that their best, or Fear of Music? Both probably. Wouldn't agree with any others being voted as such. I love having Stop Making Sense on DVD.

Uh Huh Her sounds promising. Good ol' PJ.

That is outrageously cheap for an excellent and new record like Retriever. Sounds like a metaphor for Ron's career, from feted new classic singer-songwriter to largely ignored bargain-bin obscuro. Perhaps you should have offered them a couple of bucks more! Never mind, it's what you get from the music at the end of the day, and I'm getting loads from this lovely LP. I noticed the Lanois credit too. Thought that was funny - another LP with a DL contribution! I love the blue on the cover and the shirt. It really suits the music, cool, a bit electric, the colour of the room where I will listen to Retriever. I love lots of the words, from the opening 'I'm a little bit down but I'm OK', to the cited Imaginary Friends, to Wishing Well (killer song, with the unexpected prosepct of Ron saying 'I've half a mind to hang the next fool to wish me well'), to the lovely Dandelion Wine. And the implicit comparison between a driver running over a child chasing a ball and a soldier sent to 'settle someone else's score'. He is a great talent. One of the few people whose latest LP I will buy without any hesitation.

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 2:13 pm

Ed Harcourt, a fabulous singer/songwriter in his own right plays piano on many of the tracks on Retriever, too.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 4:56 pm

BlueChair wrote:Ed Harcourt, a fabulous singer/songwriter in his own right plays piano on many of the tracks on Retriever, too.

Which reminds me I STILL need to pick up Here Be Monsters which you recommended so highly to me. I always find it for $9.99 everywhere I go and yet I never walk out with a copy. For shame!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:51 pm

Good point, another name I ain't yet checked out and feel I must, especially after this sterling contribution.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 7:01 pm

Yes, the new Ron is as incredible as the first three.

I just bought a record by a guy I know nothing about, Devendra Banhart's "Rejoicing In The Hands," after hearing about five seconds of it in a small record store, and it's incredible. It's totally original and at the same time sounds like it was recorded eighty years ago. Untraditional folksy stuff from ethereal to whimsical without blinking. I didn't even know it was a young guy singing until I looked him up on the Net. Could've been an old woman as far as I could tell. This is still just first impressions, but you'd be better off checking it out yourself than reading any of my second-language stutterings anyway.

The new Magnetic Fields CD is more easily digestible than "69 Love Songs," being two less CD's to be swept away by, and so is a great starter for the unlucky few of you who doesn't know. (If you're on this board, chances are you're a sucker for heartfelt word play.)

The Weakerthans are still my favourite band, led by the incredibly talented Costello-fan Doug K. Samson. Their "poetry-positive revolution" is my favourite t-shirt. Buy their records (3). If you don't like them, you haven't heard them, so download "My Favourite Chords," "A New Name For Everything," "Fallow," or just about any other song you can find. I envy you.

And Blue Chair, I envy you for just buying "New Sensations," probably Lou's most underrated album, which is saying a lot. Doin' The Things That We Want To, My Friend George, Endlessly Jealous, the title track, the hilarious Turn To Me...so many forgotten jewels.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 8:14 am

King Hoarse wrote:The new Magnetic Fields CD is more easily digestible than "69 Love Songs," being two less CD's to be swept away by, and so is a great starter for the unlucky few of you who doesn't know. (If you're on this board, chances are you're a sucker for heartfelt word play.)

Actually, I think Get Lost would be a better entry point than i, just because it's a lot richer musically. It's the CD that first got me started in MF fandom.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:26 pm

Will buy on sight.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:02 pm

Where does Get Lost fit in? I thought 69 Love Songs and the new one were all he'd done, for some reason. I haven't heard any of this, but he gets such high praise from so many quarters, I must check him out.

By the way, Retriever is Ron's 6th LP, 7th if you include the early and unrepresentative Grand Opera Lane. The 6 'real' ones are

Ron Sexsmith
Other Songs
Whereabouts
Blue Boy
Cobblestone Runway
Retriever

There was also 'Rarities' last year, not released outside US/Canada (or just Canada?). I haven't ordered it yet.

If you are a fan, all the LPs proper are recommended. Gran Opera Lane is more curiosity value than anything. I got it free with Cob Run. Wouldn't bother paying for it.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:11 am

Oh no, Otis, he has at least three albums before 69 Love Songs: Get Lost, Holiday, and Charm of the Highway Strip. I hear there's some sort of travelogue theme, but it doesn't exactly hit you over the head.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:25 pm

OK, I just wasn't aware of him before 69, which got massive rave reviews here. So would a blind first purchase be best as 69, or get Lost, or the new one?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:50 pm

I would say Get Lost. I find the prospect of buying a 3-CD set of someone I'm unfamiliar with daunting, to say the least, though I know many here would disagree. Also, some of 69 Love Songs I find kind of annoying.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:56 pm

Diamond Dogs 30th anniv reissue. Quite absurdly, this is the first of the Bowie reissues I've bought, but I really must get Ziggy very soon (and Aladdin Sane). Like EC, I have the originals on vinyl (or tape for EC), so it's a great way to get a first CD copy. DD is imprinted on my heart and soul from hundreds and hundreds of listens in my teens and younger, and I love it to death. It's a revelation to hear it in this digitally remastered form (which is unchanged from 1999), especially as it's an LP I haven't gone back to hardly at all on vinyl in recent years. I tend to think of it as not having aged as well as the LPs that immediately followed it, and it is a less fashionable Bowie LP than many, but it actually sounds fresh and incredibly impressive, especially with this degree of clarity. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise) was in the top 10 of fans' faves in the Bowie Mojo special, and it's easy to see why. What a vocal performance. The booklet is superb, and the bonus disc (which I ain't played yet, it only arrived today, a mere £10.99 form CD-Wow) is stuffed with fascinating stuff like earlier and earlier versions of songs, and the cover of Springsteen's Growin' Up, although with 8 tracks, including the 2003 Rebel, Rebel which of course was on the Reality bonus, it's pretty slight next to the EC bonuses.

It's an object to cherish, the only tedium being not just the fact that it's copy protected, but that this is actually announced on the front of the outer box, actually over the bottom left corner of the legendary Guy Pellaert artwork. How's that for a depressing sign of the times? Talking of which, the dog man star's doggy cock, removed for US sensibilities on the original release, is now restored. The dog's bollocks are not depicted, but, as the booklet attests, they are contained on the CDs within.

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 8:40 pm

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born

Bloody brilliant so far.

wehitandrun · Post by **wehitandrun** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 10:15 pm

"Blood On The Tracks" - Bob Dylan (remastered)
"(self titled)" - The Specials (remastered)

I love this Specials cd. "Blood On The Tracks" is sounding much better than "Blonde on Blonde" so far.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 8:44 am

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
The Stooges - Raw Power
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 11:08 am

Pip,

How do you like Fear of A Black Planet? That's my favorite Public Enemy album....although now I think of Reno 911! whenever I hear "911 Is A Joke!"

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 4:33 pm

Vez,

I dig it. I need more time with it still. I bought it on the strength of 911 Is A Joke though . . .

wehitandrun · Post by **wehitandrun** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 8:14 pm

"Highway 61 Revisited" - Bob Dylan (remastered)

I almost got the Wilco cd, but I had never even heard them, I've just heard the references on this board.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:38 am

I picked up Serendipity - an introduction to John Martyn...have heard some of JM's stuff, but wanted to get into him properly. Any of you guys got any advice on which albums to go for?