What are you listening to right now?

[Jackson Monk]

For me, Cole's Corner is one of those rare beasts that can be called 'classic'. TG is a fine album but isn't in that class. No way is that an insult to Richard Hawley.

[Boy With A Problem]

That's funny - "Amy" came up on the shuffle a week or so ago in the car and I CRANKED that sucker.

[Jack of All Parades]

Continued celebrations for 1969-in this case feedimg off the euphoria generated by "Live 1966" I revisited "Nashville Skyline" marvelling at how well it has held up after 40 years-the cover has always invited me into the album with that genteel tip of the hat-once inside[there are even better photos in the recent remastered version] I am always reminded how gentle Dylan can be when he sets his mind to being so-the songs on this record reflect this consistently-his winning ballad "Girl From the North Country" with the kind admonition to make sure the former lover has a warm coat to wear, the simple yet elegant love songs "Lay Lady Lay", "To Be Alone With You" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here WIth You" and the strong self-castigation "I Threw It all Away"[covered by EC]-this is a vibrant country record which continues to stand out for me as such along with its peers "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and "The Guilded Palace of Sin"-stocked with prime Nashville muscians to assist, he playfully tosses off songs like "Nashville Skyline Rag" and "Country Pie"-this record must have been so much fun to make[as an aside I remember seeing his appearance on the Johnny Cash Show at that time and being struck by how ill at ease he looked in front of the cameras].

[pophead2k]

Lots of U2 in preparation for tonight's show!

[Otis Westinghouse]

At first my beloved Linn LP 12 was sounding so weird through the new hifi, muffled and very lacking in higher frequencies, but whether it was due to the pre-amp needing to settle in a bit, the Sondek needing to limber up after inaction for most of the last decade, a combination of both factors or something else, it's now starting to sound really good, and I am getting proper insights into the differences of CD and vinyl. I have quite a few things on both formats, so will be comparing.

I was the object of awe and admiration a few years back for owning this LP, well before it had been released on CD. The admirers had it on tape copied off the vinyl. My brother bequeathed me the holy mid-70s trio of this, Tonight's The Night and Zuma when he seemingly lost interest. Unfortunately, unlike almost all the pristine vinyl that I lovingly looked after despite many plays, this has some scratches, but that's vinyl for you.

Seems appropriate to rediscover vinyl via Neil, given his famous preference for analogue over digital (seems to have overcome it with the archive material now out in abundance). It's a question of warmth and depth, really.

As the bizarre liner notes by Rusty Kershaw attest, 'I give you my word there is good music in this album'. More than good, utterly superb for the most part. 'Walk On' has always been one of my fave Neil songs and I enjoy listening to the eventual recording of 'See The Sky About to Rain' gain here having become familiar recently with the much earlier Massey Hall live solo version. What a song!

There's something about the mood of this LP, reflected by the cover, that is very evocative of how I imagine California at this time. The hippy era's over, they're calling for Nixon to resign (as shown on the newspaper cover), Charlie Manson's up to no good, paranoia's in the air, and Neil's taken his boots off and is staring out to sea. I was around 10 at the time, and developing an awareness of California as some sort of Western Mecca, the sum of all things that seemed cool and groovy, where Hollywood was, stars lived, the ocean rolled, and the Rockford Files was set. 'Hotel California' was the other thing that speaks to me of the same mood. I've yet to embark on Pynchon's Inherent Vice, but I hope for the same vibe to leap out at me, and the moment I read Pynchon's new book would be set there and then, I was ecstatic.

I always loved the way the inside of the record sleeve contained the same pattern as the underside of the parasol and the sun chairs.

[Jack of All Parades]

Otis, oddly enough I was listening to this very cd earlier today-"Walk On" and "For the Turnstiles" for me are prime Neil- you are on to something with the Pynchon connection- this album along with "Tonight's the Night" would be the perfect soundtrack to "Inherent Vice"-once you have read the book you may think like me that Neil is scanning the watery horizon for the elusive and legendary Lemuria-"See the Sky About to Rain" could be the novel's theme song. A nice fantasy would be to believe this album is on Pynchon's ipod rotation.

[alexv]

Christopher, I like your description of NS. I'm gonna pull it out and give it a listen. Always been one of my favorite Dylan records.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Youngian synchronicity! (Even if you were playing a CD!) Glad to know my IV theory is accurate from one who has read it!

[bambooneedle]

Well what do you now, been listening to a fine cassette recording of On The Beach and Zuma on recent night bike rides (with helmet and lights so the cops don't hassle me) just winding down after work as the sun goes down and loving it.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Don't they hassle you over listening to music while cycling? Every bit as dangerous as no lights or helmet! My son manages to do all three at once, with sound excluding headphones on high volume. I do the concerned dad bit, but he's 16 ...

[Who Shot Sam?]

Beatles, Beatles and more Beatles. Plowing through the reissues. I hadn't listened to some of these in years, so it's a fun experience and my kids have become fans as well.

[Otis Westinghouse]

What's the biggest revelation been? Any surprises, major discoveries, etc.?

[Who Shot Sam?]

What's the biggest revelation been? Any surprises, major discoveries, etc.?

For me, it's been more about seeing my kids hear this music for the first time. Their music - well most of it anyway - is so accessible to children. They're sort of picking out their favorite songs and asking me to play them again and again. My son likes Rubber Soul the best. My daughter's favorite track is probably "Blackbird". They are both big fans of "Here Comes the Sun" and "All You Need is Love."

The reissues sound remarkably clean. John's harmonica playing is something I never thought about too much before but it is really special. There are tracks that I had not listened to much in years, such as "All Together Now" and "One After 909" that convey the sheer joy these guys could bring to making music. For all the talk about what magnificent songwriters they were, they could also flat out rock and play the hell out of a cover version such as "Dizzy Miss Lizzy."

It's really an astounding body of work and I feel kind of bad that after being such a massive Beatles fan as a teenager I had sort of taken them for granted for a while. And as much as McCartney's more recent music has not really appealed to me, he has a melodic gift that you don't see very often - sort of the Mozart of pop songwriters. It's astonishing to think about him dashing off something like "Hey Jude" in a cab on the way to see Julian Lennon.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Nice one. Tempted to buy the mono set, or perhaps the cheaper stereo one, but then I have these German pressings of the early ons to explore on the turntable (they were given to me recently and appear to be unplayed). I wonder if they'll succumb to pressure and ever release monos as individual items.

[bambooneedle]

Don't they hassle you over listening to music while cycling? Every bit as dangerous as no lights or helmet! My son manages to do all three at once, with sound excluding headphones on high volume. I do the concerned dad bit, but he's 16 ...

If they had a problem with cyclists & music they'd probably have to stop everyone with music coming out of their cars. You can be stopped for drink-riding - same as with cars. Not sure if any alcohol limit applies or you just get done for being intoxicated. I don't think the walkman makes it much more dangerous. You don't really need to hear anything, just stay out of the way!

[Otis Westinghouse]

One guy in Cambridge got done for speeding on a bike. He was training for the Tour de France or something!

Don't agree on the listening front - screech of tyres behind you, someone shouting watch out when they see someone swerving towards you, and just loads of listening for cars approaching from behind in general. Dog-walking, fine, cycling, no thank you.

I was once so wrecked on the bike I fell asleep cycling and nearly went into the back of a parked car, just swerved in time. Then I left my keys in the front door all night. I've grown up since, sort of.

[mood swung]

spending the day searching for Candy. It's not just a job, it's an adventure.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I guess that's this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trojan-Ska-Box- ... l_1#disc_1

Some great stuff there. '007 (Shanty Town)' is a personal fave. I have a single CD ska comp, but need more of that candy.

[invisible Pole]

"That Look You Give That Guy" - one of my favourite songs from this album :



And here's the video :

[Otis Westinghouse]

... featuring Padma Lakshmi, as in Salman Rushdie's missus. Like the bit with the beard and the drink!

[Jack of All Parades]

Have been absorbed in listening to a recently acquired copy of Prefab Sprout's From Langley Park to Memphis which I found a few weeks back in a used store-have really been listening to little else-have been particularly attracted to the quality of McAloon's vocals as they almost, to my ear, equal the vocal styling of Frank Sinatra in the way he can stretch a line and make his voice, his very breathing, fall upon the melodic line as it stretches in a particular song- it is a wonderful skill he posesses to do this- am in love with several key songs-"The King of Rock 'n' Roll' with its seductive opening image:

"All my lazy teenage boasts are now high precision ghosts
And they're coming round the track to haunt me.
When she looks at me and laughs I remind her of the facts
I'm the king of rock 'n' roll completely
Up from suede shoes to my baby blues."

love the easy elision from teenage bluster to a sleek auto as perhaps driven by the King[preferably a Cadillac] and the placement of the singer in that myth of rock 'n' roll royalty-and the boast later in the second verse that the 'pathos' is over and that a new king exists[the singer].

"Cars & Girls" continuing on that exploration of rock myths and archetypes and updating it with playful reference to Springsteen and his New Jersy auto fueled song myths.

"I Remember That" which skillfully plays with the theme of memory and how the greatest memory may be that elusive one as envisiged in 'I Remember That' as the past is filtered selectively and ultimately we are just left with our memories- such a sad song.

"Nightingales"- which is my favorite song on the album with its evocation of blueness- the musical equivalent of a portion of a Wallace Stevens poem for me " The Man With the Blue Guitar"

"And the color, the overcast blue
of the air, in which the blue guitar

is a form, described but difficult,
and I am merely a shadow hunched

Above the arrowy, still strings,
the maker of a thing yet to be made,

The color like a thought that grows
Out of a mood, the tragic robe

Of the actor, half his gesture, half
His speech, the fess of his meaning, silk

Sodden with his melancholy words,
The weather of his stage, himself."

My favorite song on the record, totally.

Also love the aerial evocation of Manhattan in "Hey Manhattan". I do not know how I could have ever missed this album in the past.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Nice appreciation. Don't know 'Nightingales' as I don't have this LP, only the Life of Surprises comp and the immortal SMcQ (plus Swoon on a tape somewhere). Spotify to the rescue - 'The Collection' contains it, looks a better bet than L of S as it's two CD and therefore fuller. Sound slike cassic Sprout.

[Jack of All Parades]

Thank you-is Protest Songs or Andromeda worth owning?

[bambooneedle]

Have been absorbed in listening to a recently acquired copy of Prefab Sprout's From Langley Park to Memphis which I found a few weeks back in a used store

Sure... you probably just downloaded it last night.

[mood swung]

the new Jack Johnson live.

pretty freakin' awesome.