What are you listening to right now?

[ElCos1313]

Zebra by John Butler Trio

[Otis Westinghouse]

Further to comments above, two superb records lighting up 2010 are Laura Marling's 'I Speak Because I Can' and the astonishing Nord-photographed 'Have One on Me' by Joanna Newsom.

Check them out on Later. Marling's three songs all here, with the wonderful Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) particularly recommended at 3.14:



And this week my favourite track by Newsom. Can't wait to see more of her in the full Friday show:



We are gonna have ourselves a time.

[Boy With A Problem]

The new Fall record - Your Future Our Clutter.....brilliant.

[migdd]

I am enjoying this one now :

Excellent! Enjoying this also, along with John Hiatt's The Open Road.

[invisible Pole]

Can't get this one out of my head.
My favourite song from their latest album

[invisible Pole]

I love Tracey's voice. The albums sounds more like early EBTG, which I always prefer than the post-Missing electro-dance stuff of the 90s'.
Info for all Ron Sexsmith's fans - Tracey covers Child Star on the album.

[invisible Pole]

And here's the album opener :

[mood swung]

plus all his others with the exception of Sleep Thru Static, which I have never warmed up to.

[pophead2k]

The excellent recent Black Francis album 'Nonstoperotik'. Check it out, the man continues to amaze and entertain me.

[Jack of All Parades]

Have been revisiting the mid sixties and 'swinging' London to be specific by immersing myself aurally in The Kinks "Face to Face", quite possibly my favorite non-Beatles English album from the sixties. I have the Castle re release which broadens the selections to include period singles like "Dead End Street" and "Mr. Pleasant". I do not think anyone caught that era in London better, the characters, the sights, maybe even the sounds. Come to think of it this album could probably still stand for London today or at least the City at the time of the millenium.

This album has such gorgeous harmonies, melodies and inventive quirkiness. When I play it I am instantly made happy and find myself singing in my tuneless manner to the songs as they play. They are that infectious. It supplied a theme song for my youth, "Too Much On My Mind". Oddly, it is also an extremely depressive record as it catches the dark side of the city and it's myriad denizons. Songs like "Rainy Day in June", "Most Exclusive Residence for Sale" and "Sunny Afternoon" exquisitely catch that darkness. It must have been liberating for Ray to make this record. When I couple it with the sister album from 1967, "Something Else", I have a perfect record of what life must have been for a young, sensitive artist in London at that time. No one is a better chronicler of urban life than the Ray of this period. The record even ends with the greatest memory song for me, "I'll Remember", which always leave me wanting to come back to the record for more 'memories'.

[ice nine]

Finally giving this a listen. Lee Dorsey and James Carr were cut from the same cloth. Nice solid R&B. The title cut is a party classic. Allen Toussaint's influence is unmistakeable.

[pophead2k]

Great album!

I've been enjoying the first few days of summer 'curating' my iTunes collection. I have to admit that I am pretty anal about getting correct artwork, etc. for my music which can be time consuming. The upside: been listening to music pretty much constantly for a week. Currently really enjoying the alternate takes on the bonus disc for Trust- something I haven't spent a lot of time with.

PS: iTunes library now 12,690 songs, all of which fit on my 120 GB iPod!

[Otis Westinghouse]

You're the first person I've met with more than me. I think I'm on about 11,800. But I have quite a few things to load (I've finally worked out how to get round iTunes' increasingly with every upgrade paranoid refusal to import copied CDs - I copy the files directly into Switch, a lovely little application that converts sound files, convert them to MP3 there, and then import those to iTunes, which is happy with them. I'll probably be on 12,500 once I've made progress on that front, which is pretty laborious).

Apart from the sublime Joanna Newsom, two 2010 CDs that have been floating my boat:

Really great record. 'Oh! The divorces!' sets the tone ('Who's next?'...) and then the wonderful 'Long White Dress'. It's nice to hear someone from my generation making a record that seems to reflect lots of the realities of relationships that 40 somethings have to deal with. And her voice never sounded better, apart, perhaps, from the wonderful 'Missing'.


If you like his formula, this will be for you. So far it sounds the best of his records, and allegedly the last as LCD Soundsystem. He's always interesting, funny, smart and that little bit original. Good stuff.

Nice that people are putting out good things in 2010. Long may it last. Just caught a few minutes on Sky Arts with the end of Neil Young's 'Rust Never Sleeps' film where he does a great 'Tonight's The Night' as encore and then EC doing 'Everyday I Write the Book' on the Tube. That was great too.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I love Tracey's voice. The albums sounds more like early EBTG, which I always prefer than the post-Missing electro-dance stuff of the 90s'.
Info for all Ron Sexsmith's fans - Tracey covers Child Star on the album.

Sorry - hadn't seen this (+ clip of the excellent Later spot). 'Child Star' ain't on my album. It's on iTunes or amazon as a download. Is it on your actual CD? Must be a different version to the one available here, Germany or the US if so.

http://www.traceythorn.com/

There's a really lovely home recording of 'Oh, The Divorces!' on her site. Such a good song.

'This one is different
Each one of course is
And always the same
Oh, the divorces'

[Jack of All Parades]

Over several weeks have been getting acquainted with Richard Hawley thanks to past recommendations of other board members, in particular, the albums "Coles Corner" and "Truelove's Gutter". I was not totally unfamiliar with him having owned a copy of "Lady's Bridge" for several years and which I have greatly enjoyed.

I will never have trouble with his deep, easy voice and melodic ability. But repeated listenings have left me wanting. Too often he resorts to cliches- "love is burning", "shadows are brooding" -things of this ilk. Piled on top of slight sentiments the songs start to have a sameness. There is a romantic lushness to the material that too often becomes cloying to my ears. Too often he relies on strings that swell and then crash in an annoying sequence of rise and fall in the songs. Too many begin with a cinematic equivilant of new age mood music. I suppose he is the English equivalent to Roy Orbison with his diligent mining of the ballad form. But I do not hear the same emotional depth that I many times hear in an Orbison song.

This is not to say that there are not gems on these two records. I really like the title track "Coles Corner" and the two guitar numbers, "Tonight" and "Just Like the Rain". I also like the soundscape he creates on "Last Orders". Also I think "[Wading Through] The Water of My Time" is a delicate song of memory. But many of the songs on "Truelove's Gutter" are of a similar sound and are very indistinguishable as individual songs within the album. The one song I enjoy on the record, "Remorse Code" is just a flatout beautiful love song.

I guess I just expected more based upon my experience with "Lady's Bridge".

[Who Shot Sam?]

Over several weeks have been getting acquainted with Richard Hawley thanks to past recommendations of other board members, in particular, the albums "Coles Corner" and "Truelove's Gutter". I was not totally unfamiliar with him having owned a copy of "Lady's Bridge" for several years and which I have greatly enjoyed.

I will never have trouble with his deep, easy voice and melodic ability. But repeated listenings have left me wanting. Too often he resorts to cliches- "love is burning", "shadows are brooding" -things of this ilk. Piled on top of slight sentiments the songs start to have a sameness. There is a romantic lushness to the material that too often becomes cloying to my ears. Too often he relies on strings that swell and then crash in an annoying sequence of rise and fall in the songs. Too many begin with a cinematic equivilant of new age mood music. I suppose he is the English equivalent to Roy Orbison with his diligent mining of the ballad form. But I do not hear the same emotional depth that I many times hear in an Orbison song.

This is not to say that there are not gems on these two records. I really like the title track "Coles Corner" and the two guitar numbers, "Tonight" and "Just Like the Rain". I also like the soundscape he creates on "Last Orders". Also I think "[Wading Through] The Water of My Time" is a delicate song of memory. But many of the songs on "Truelove's Gutter" are of a similar sound and are very indistinguishable as individual songs within the album. The one song I enjoy on the record, "Remorse Code" is just a flatout beautiful love song.

I guess I just expected more based upon my experience with "Lady's Bridge".

Hmm, I have to admit that I'm not as wild about the new one as I was about Coles Corner and his earlier albums. I like it, but I don't love it. If you get a chance try to check out Late Night Final and Lowedges. Much less lush than the later albums and there a lot of great songs on both. I think it may be a good idea for him to step away from the strings and lush arrangements for an album or two just to change things up. Hawley's a bit like a late night glass of cognac. Drink too much and you may not want to partake again for a while, but if you're in the mood there's nothing better.

[Jack of All Parades]

WSS, thank you for the suggestions. I really appreciate the analogy you provided-he is like a filled sifter that one should sip in the later evening, particularly as the songs on these albums lend themselves more, perhaps, to late night contemplation, very much so in the case of "Coles Corner". I am not ready to dispose of them like those flowers in the can on the back cover; I am however predisposed to 'sip' them as you suggest at more contemplative times. I think you are right; they need to be consumed discriminantly and are not meant for mass consumption. The other records will have to wait for now as I am saving 'my coin' for a wonderfully reviewed new book in yesterday's NY Times titled Being Wrong by a local Beacon resident, Kathryn Schultz- it is being described as a "funny and philosophical meditation on why error is mostly a humane, courageous and extremely desirable human trait." Cannot wait to read it. It will make a great self-gifted Father's Day present. My little community continues to surprise me.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I'm a 'Truelove's' fan, more than 'Coles', even though that has great stuff on it too. The above-mentioned 'Remorse Code' stands out, over 9 minutes of hypnotic gorgeousness. I find an emotional depth in it, especially in 'For Your Lover Give Some Time' which is simple in sentiment but very powerful with it, and original.

[Spiritinthesky]

Robinson new single That's All I Really Want

www.myspace.com/andyrobinsons

[Bezrodny]

Digging the new Prince album 20Ten and still spinning Distant Relatives by Nas & Damian Marley on a regular basis.

[sheeptotheslaughter]

To Make You Feel My Love by Billy Joel. Just discovered what a great song it is. There was a cover version by Adele a few years back that I quite liked and it was the first time I'd heard Billy's version in many a moon today.

[Jack of All Parades]

Periodically I have to revisit an album from 1999, The Magnetic Fields “69 Love Songs”, to recharge listening batteries. I can think of few records in the past 30 years, outside of EC’s “Get Happy”, Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind”, My Morning Jacket’s “Evil Urges” , Prefab Sprout’s “Steve McQueen” and Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, that get my listening juices revived. This is one of them.

I will flat out say it- Stephin Merritt is the best lyricist in pop music working today. I do not think there is a lyric he cannot put to an inventive melody, or at least I have yet to not hear it. And what lyrics. He has that innate ability to rhyme with an ease and facility that just flows naturally within a song’s structure. Nothing is forced; the lines move with a naturalness that I greatly admire. An example for me of this facility is his rhyming of iota with Nina Rota in his song “Reno Dakota”. It is pure wit and always gives me a chill. I do not think there is a subject he cannot tackle but I think his best subject is love and all its convolutions . That brings me to this record.

What I admire in this record is the fact that it gives you 69 variations of love songs that do not repeat themselves in either lyric or music form. He readily moves amongst country, jazz, punk, broadway ballad, experimental new age, folk, r&b, bluegrass, music hall forms, you name it, to tell his wry tales of human relations. The instrumentation is fun as the music is played with a variety of subtle instruments and sung with many beguiling voices. It is daring and adventurous in the playing. The lyrics are a wonder. I admire how he focuses on key words from the natural world- trees, stars, clouds, colors [he too is a lover of the color blue], eyes, drink just for starters and then just builds these beautiful lines around a specific word or image. There is a sophistication in his writing that I can only remember finding in the work of Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer or Cole Porter. I have a wish that EC would have Stephin as a guest on a future Spectacle should it go into a third season. I am convinced he would give a master class on how to write a lyric in his conversation just based upon previous interviews I have read that he has given.

Merritt writes about the universal subject, love, because as he says ‘most love songs are complaints; I think, or are about unrequited love, coming at it from an oblique angle.” That is an approach I think he shares with EC. I offer just four of the many fun lyrics as examples of the wonder of this record with the caution that for the full effect you do need the accompanying music:

Meaningless?

You mean it's all been meaningless?
Every whisper and caress?
Yes yes yes it was totally meaningless
Meaningless
like when two fireflies fluoresce
Just like everything I guess
it was utterly meaningless
Even less
a little glimpse of nothingness
sucking meaning from the rest of this mess
Yes yes yes it was thoroughly meaningless
and if some dim bulb should say
we were in love in some
kick all his teeth in for me
and if you feel like keeping on kicking feel free

Meaningless
Who dare to say it wasn't meaningless
Shout from the rooftops and address the press
Ha ha ha it was totally meaningless
Meaningless
Meaning less than a game of chess
Just like your mother said and mother knows
I knew it all the time but now I confess
Yes yes yes how deliciously meaningless
Yes yes yes effervescently meaningless
Yes yes yes it was beautifully meaningless
Yes yes yes it was profoundly meaningless
Yes yes yes definitively meaningless
Yes yes yes comprehensively meaningless
Yes yes yes magnificently meaningless
Yes yes yes how incredibly meaningless
Yes yes yes unprecedentedly meaningless
Yes yes yes how mind-blowingly meaningless
Yes yes yes unbelievably meaningless
Yes yes yes how infinitely meaningless

Asleep and Dreaming

I've seen you laugh at nothing at all
I've seen you sadly weeping
The sweetest thing I ever saw
was you asleep and dreaming
Well you may not be beautiful
but it's not for me to judge
I don't know if you're beautiful
because I love you too much

I've seen you laugh at nothing at all
I've seen you sadly weeping
The sweetest thing I ever saw
was you asleep and dreaming

I've seen you when your ship came in
and when your train was leaving
The sweetest thing I ever saw
was you asleep and dreaming


The Book of Love

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
and instructions for dancing
but I
I love it when you read to me
and you
you can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
but I
I love it when you sing to me
and you
you can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
and written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
and things we're all too young to know
but I
I love it when you give me things
and you
you ought to give me wedding rings
I
I love it when you give me things
and you
you ought to give me wedding rings


My Sentimental Melody

I'm a hopeless romantic
You're a terrible flirt
Cool and unfazed, you're always amazed
when someone gets hurt
I live on the blue planet
that I saw in your eyes
but now I can't stay
knowing it's made
of beautiful lies
But my sentimental melody
like a long-lost lullaby
will ring in your ears
down through the years
bringing a tear to your eye
Goodbye.
Love can kill people,
can't it
Well it still may kill me
Each drop of rain
is a glass of champagne
It's sweet and it's free
When I drink I don't panic
When I drink I don't die
When I'm far gone
it's all just a song
just beautiful lies.

There is a beautiful grandeur in his 'simple'[and oh so complicated lyrics] that keeps one coming back to them for aural nourishment. This record is the equivalent of Gravity's Rainbow or Infinite Jest- it is that good and it is something that you can timelessly get lost in every time you give it a spin on your player.

[mood swung]

this kind of stuff is like Raspberry Zingers - delicious in moderation.

[nord]

[Otis Westinghouse]

Me too, Nord! As ever, love your photographic evidence.

I've listened to it in a fragmented way, mostly on the iPod in a tent in France as I drifted off at an incredibly early hour (for me, like 11pm). Went into Fopp today and this fabulous piece of guitar started, knew it was off the LP straight away, and indeed it was 'Suburban War', which has got me hooked. Was playing the CD on proper sound system and it's sounding wonderful. It kinda sounds like they've consciously moved away from the feel of Neon Bible and back to the world and sound of the mighty Funeral, but it sounds like pure Arcade Fire, and indicates they'll shape up to be one of the great bands of this and the next decade. Love it.