Recent CD Purchases

[ice nine]

I found Little Village's self-titled albumed for $1.99. I've only listened to it once so I haven't given it the time it deserves to love it.

[migdd]

Great selection! I love Solar Sex Panel and several other cuts. The Hiatt/Lowe cuts are the best, IMO.

[StrictTime]

Well, the birthday haul came in again this year. As reliable as the tide. Most of these were self-selected presents, as it were. Much easier to make sure someone likes it when they pick it out themselves.

The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
The Wallflowers, Breach
Rufus Wainwright, Release The Stars
Tom Waits, Mule Variations
Ryan Adams, Love is Hell. I wanted Cardinology but no dice in the Best Buy.

and my little brother got me Wir sind Helden's Soundso. He's the one who got me listening to their album Die Reklamation and since I had asked him if he had any more of their stuff, it was a pretty sound bet I would like it.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Happy birthday! Mule Variations is a valuable addition to your Waits collection. 'Hold On' is a lovely, lovely piece.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Well, vinyl at least. Lots of good stuff here...

[BlueChair]

Went to Sonic Boom, my favourite Toronto record store, and picked up:



and

[johnfoyle]

Liam can be a bit difficult to take , going of into the mystic and getting all deep 'n stuff. He lives near me and had mentioned about recording this last Summer. A lot of it was going to 'organic' and ' made up on the spot'. I joked with him about unexpectedly seeing him on Czech tv when I was there in June. He added that he had recorded most of the album there.I expected the worst, a lot of jumbled notes and incoherent phrases. What with the usual Christmas madness I didn't get around to getting it until yesterday.

And what a treat I had been missing out on. With mostly grand piano accompaniment , Liam delivers a collection of pieces that have hints of the transcendence of early 1970's Van Morrison, a dash of Curtis Mayfield and , I kept thinking, late period Talk Talk ( Spirit of Eden etc.). A touch of bass now 'n then, Mongolian Frame Drum 'n AFrican Thumb Piano on Mimi Dreaming Song ( a White Cockatoo song , recorded with special permission from David Yirindilil, a elder Yirdicha with the Aboriginal tribe , Liam specifically details on the ornate, fold out sleeve) and guest vocals from Marketa Irglova and Glen Hensard complete one of the most perfectly realised albums I've heard in a while. Definitely worth a listen.

Get it from Liam -

http://www.liamomaonlai.ie/index.htm

or ( a bit cheaper) from this indie store in Dublin-


http://tinyurl.com/8axgmg

[Otis Westinghouse]

Sounds great - thanks for the tip. One to follow up. I'm sure my wife would love to hear that one.

[so lacklustre]

Bought the Pogues 5 disc box set with my holiday season vouchers.

[ice nine]

I finally dove into the Tom Wait pool. Originally, I was only going to get Blood Money because I heard 'The World Is Green' in ...Diving Bell..., but since I had my credit card handy I figured I'd get Small Change. I have given them each one listen and they are both excellent.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Welcome to the lovely pool. there's a very promising book about Waits by Barney Hoskyns just out.

[Who Shot Sam?]

M. Ward's Hold Time, Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, Andrew Bird's Noble Beast and Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion - got the lot of 'em for $40.

[mood swung]

That last one is MESSING ME UP.

[Who Shot Sam?]

That last one is MESSING ME UP.

It is a bit like one of those optical illusion drawings, isn't it?

[Bad Ambassador]

Well, I can vouch for the quality of all but the Neko Case. Not heard that one yet, but the others are all rather charming, particularly M. Ward.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Well, I can vouch for the quality of all but the Neko Case. Not heard that one yet, but the others are all rather charming, particularly M. Ward.

Neko's new thing is not out yet - it's a pre-order (March 3). I've heard a few bits and pieces and am sure I will enjoy it as much as I have everything else she's done.

They were streaming the M. Ward album on NPR so I had a chance to listen to it once or twice all the way through.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Nice covers! Who are Animal Collective? What do they do? Seen positive reviews, as usual, for M Ward and A Bird.

I've bought these:


(Trying to copy WSS with his side-by-side thing there - except his all align beautifully, and mine don't, even though they're from the same site and the box set is a CD shaped box!)

The reviews for YOR have been dire. Who cares? It's a new Moz LP and I'm going to see him in May, so I need to know the new songs. And 'I'm throwing my arms round Paris' is gorgeous. Shame it hasn't had the ecstatic reactions that some greeted the generally very good and at times astonishingyly good Ringleader of the Tormentors, but hey. Used to buy off Play.com a lot, not recently, but they now have an Amazon Marketplace equivalent, and I got the CD + DVD (for that 20 minute Russell Brand interview!) with post included for £8.95. Laughable!

The Lloyd box set is 4CDs of solo period rarities, almost none of which do I have. Lloyd's average is another artists's masterpiece, so I know it's going to give me lots of pleasure. Amazon had it for £28, but it went up to £38 v quickly! Found a decent new (to me) site, recordstore.co.uk, who had it for £27 + £3 post. Fair enough. Lloyd is selling it for $50 on his own site, but it's out of stock!

[Spiritinthesky]

New album by Glen Campbell. Its all covers versions, Foo Fighters, Green Day, U2, Tom Petty, Travis, Velvet Underground, Lennon and more. Its a good album. The guy is now 72!

[pophead2k]

Picked up the new U2, Morrissey, and Neko Case albums yesterday. U2 is very sonically interesting and I'm looking forward to spending some time with it. Really like the Morrissey at first blush (same producer as my favorite Moz album, YATQ and has a similar sound). Haven't spun the Neko Case yet, but am looking very forward to it.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Picked up the new U2, Morrissey, and Neko Case albums yesterday. U2 is very sonically interesting and I'm looking forward to spending some time with it. Really like the Morrissey at first blush (same producer as my favorite Moz album, YATQ and has a similar sound). Haven't spun the Neko Case yet, but am looking very forward to it.

Listening to the Neko Case right now. Another beautiful album from her. Somewhat less elliptical in style than Fox Confessor.

[so lacklustre]

Playing catch-up

Got the Wreckless Eric/Amy Rigby CD on 25 Dec. Still playing now, it is so excellent. Some typical WEsongs mixed with some of Amy's which are kinda retro 60's hippy songs.

The new Franz F album didn't excite me, probablt need to listen a bit more.

The new Levellers album is very typical but not special

I discovered Jeff(rey) Lewis. I heard East River on the radio, and liked it so much I bought the album it is on - The last time I took Acid I went Insane. Very eclectic but all of it pleasing. The album is half angsty singer songwriter humerous and half mimicky punk. I will probably get some more but would be interested to know if anyone else is familiar with him.

I have been meaning to try the Demberists for a while after some comments on this board. I now have The Crane Wife which I really like after a couple of listens. Where next?

Also continue to backtrack The Coral - picked up both The Coral and Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker. Both excellent.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I have been meaning to try the Demberists for a while after some comments on this board. I now have The Crane Wife which I really like after a couple of listens. Where next?

Well their new one, The Hazards of Love, is out in a few weeks - March 24 - so you could wait for that. Otherwise, Picaresque and Her Majesty are both excellent.

[strangerinthehouse]

I discovered Jeff(rey) Lewis. I heard East River on the radio, and liked it so much I bought the album it is on - The last time I took Acid I went Insane. Very eclectic but all of it pleasing. The album is half angsty singer songwriter humerous and half mimicky punk. I will probably get some more but would be interested to know if anyone else is familiar with him.

I like Jeffrey Lewis too, I discovered him through his album of Crass covers. All these hardcore anarcho-punk songs turned into scathing folk jams with updated lyrics, he jokes about Sarah Jessica Parker. The vinyl version came with a short comic book created by Lewis on how he discovered Crass and how influential they were to his career, i'm assuming it's also on the CD.

I recently bought Jolie Holland's The Living and the Dead which is okay, not as great as her second album, Escondida.

I also bought Vinyl reissues of Wreckless Eric, Radiohead's Kid A, Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool, Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and the Velvet Underground's self titled.

Are there any Kate Bush fans in the board? I was wondering if anyone new what would be a good starting point for her.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Hounds of Love is mostly genius. I would recommend that several miles over any of her others, not that they aren't good too, but not in the same league. That said, I'm far from a specialist and don't know some of them so well. I was always fond of her debut The Kick Inside, and of course it's immortal hit. I found her latest Aerial all a bit forgettable. The Dreaming is interesting but mostly bonkers. I'll leave others to comment more fully.

[ice nine]

Ibid to Otis