Recent CD Purchases

[pophead2k]

Lucky enough to receive the Springsteen 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' set. Beautifully packaged, I must say. The two disc 'The Promise' set makes a case for BS as being one of the great pop songwriters of our time. This stuff makes an amazing album on its own, but didn't fit with the somber mood of DOTEOT. Lots of great Motown and early pop influences, catchy numbers, beautifully recorded. This is far beyond a 'demos' and odds and sods type compilation. If you're a fan, it is a must have.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Pre-ordered the new Decemberists album. Pretty sure it's going to be a good one. They've been playing some of this material live for a year or more. I remember hearing "Down By the Water" two summers ago at Newport.

[verbal gymnastics]

The Jam 30th anniversary edition of Sound Affects. Great album but the lyric booklet refers to the songwriter as WELLLER which is pretty annoying!

The bonus CD has some good stuff on it but far too much has already been released. Good demo versions on it though.

[Jack of All Parades]

One of the many great things daughters bring into one's life is a greater appreciation for other artists. With that in mind have been spending considerable time over the past two weeks immersing myself within the new Belle and Sebastian record "Write About Love"- just sample this intriguing song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjW3tZhdnyw

or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UeFaayyw3o

or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDTUAgMu6VU

or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPoCNHDqO84

Though technically not my cd as it was a gift to my daughter, I have been making use of it as she is out of the country. I am in her debt for introducing this fine band to me. I cannot get enough of the sound on this record. It has been swirling within my head along with the material on Arcade Fire's "Suburbia" and Joanna Newsom's "Have One On Me". This album contains some of the brightest, liveliest and intelligent pop music I have encountered in some time. The lyrics are witty, the sound is a sophisticated melange of synthesizer, drums, guitar, stringed instruments and devilish male/female vocalists. The playing with the variations of human emotions towards one another is astounding.
"Make me dance, I want to surrender
Your familiar arms I remember

We've been going transcontinental
Got no car, we just take a rental

But we don't have the money
Money makes the wheels
And the world go round
Forget about it honey

Make me dance, I want to surrender
Your familiar arms I remember"

I am sorely tempted to enter the contest that accompanies the record and to write a 300 word essay on what 'love' means since my daughter will not enter to win her the prize of a private concert by Mr. Murdoch[in this case he would have to go to Japan to perform]. Besides its musical riches, the album also features some engaging duets with Norah Jones and the young actress Carey Mulligan.

I have been trying to think why the three previously mentioned albums have been reverberating for me- I think I know why. It is the sensuous use of synthesizer and vocal dynamics and symphonic soundscapes they all share. They all employ an impressive array of sonic colorings that linger with a listener. I may need to revise my 2010 ten best list to incorporate my discovery of these three records thanks to judicious recommendations from family and board members. I truly love this record. It makes my wife and I bop around the house from room to room.

[Otis Westinghouse]

It was well-reviewed from what I saw. I've never really got them. I adored early Orange Juice so much it hurt, but B & S have always just been dismissable as fey whimsy to these ears. I'll have to check them out more properly.

In the meantime, I too wish to revise my 2010 list to include:



and


The former is fairly mad in its diversity and ambition, but contains some wonderful music. She's heavily talented. The latter is full of the sort of typically brilliant song-writing and gorgeous singing that Neil Hannon has built a career on. Seeing him live recently brought home his specialness and singular wit. There is some lovely and heavily catchy stuff on here. Check out 'At the Indie Disco';

[Jack of All Parades]

Otis, love that clip- thank you for sharing- the line about the favorite table under the picture of Morrissey holding some flowers and then hitting the dance floor to "Tainted Love" is wicked.

[Jack of All Parades]

I tip my hat, yet again, to Otis and to Invisible Pole- they called it regarding Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs". It is a wonderful listening experience that continues to pay dividends with each listen. First I love the gorgeous sound swells the band builds in each song. The ebb and flow of the music is extended in each song as the record progresses so that each song is seemingly linked to the preceding song by themes and propulsive drumming and synthesizer creating a total near symphonic piece. I can only imagine how it must sound in a large auditorium. The vocals of husband and wife, Win Butler and Regine Chassagne build off of each other in interesting contrasts. I am in love with the Crazy Horse mirroring of noise I hear in "Month of May", the strings that so elegantly play the theme of "Empty Room", and the full out throttle explosion of "Sprawl II[Mountains beyond Mountains]". This is anthemic music that is never banal.

I am still trying to digest the lyrics- but I get the overall burden and fear of suburban ennui, the fear of growing and changing as one advances into adulthood. The sense that each succeeding generation is cannibalized and enfolded into the preceding generations. I love the play on Dylan- "Businessmen they drink my blood". The line from "The Suburbs" "I want a daughter while I'm still young. I wanna hold her hand and show her some beauty before this damage is done." is chilling in its fatalism.

Basically I cannot stop playing this record.

[Otis Westinghouse]

!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Excellent to see it's working its magic on you too. I was the same in August couldn't get enough. And although it's long, it works well as a whole. The 7 songs from it they played when I saw them were all wonderful. My only complaint was that some of my faces, e.g. Suburban War, Modern Man and Half Light 1, were omitted. Then again, ones I like but thrill to less (Rococo, Month of May- though absolutely it's a good Crazy Horse homage) were storming live, and We Used to Wait was a tour de force, a real revelation. they are incredibly good at putting it across live. The mixture between exuberance, the energy and action, and the downbeatness of much of the lyrical content is a potent mix. They used backdrop footage very well, e.g. The Suburbs had some terribly poignant shots of random teen kids hanging out in classic US suburbs on their bikes. That combined with things like the fatalistic line you cite were amazing.

Sprawl 2 was just massive live, and interestingly is in the top 10 or so of The Word mag reader's 'festive 50' - Ready to Start comes much further down.

Here's a good interview with some interesting points re the theme of the suburbs among other stuff:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/no ... ean-ohagan

I think they are an incredible band all in all, and when Win says he's in it for the long haul, I just hope there's more magic of this sort to come.

[Jack of All Parades]

Thank you for sharing the interview, Otis. It has been quite helpful. Like the notion of the inspiration he found in that seminal essay by Orwell, "How To Write a Story". Like that notion of expansive music enveloping very intimate lyrics which is what I encounter in this album. Am inspired to drag out "Funeral" from my daughter's collection and give it a spin but it will have to compete for listening time with "The Suburbs".

[Jack of All Parades]

Grabbed a copy of "The King is Dead" by The Decembrists at Best Buy earlier this week while it was still being offered for $6.99. Couldn't be more pleased with the purchase. It is a solid return to form for the band following, for me, the un-listenable last record. By going back to simplicity in melody, instrumentation and lyric they have re-emerged with 10 gorgeous tunes that remind my ears of the Grateful Dead's "American Beauty" for the gorgeous playing and singing. Assisted by Peter Buck on several songs and the tasteful backup singing of Gillian Welch, the songs echo themes from that older record- loves travails, desperate characters, pangs of longing and memory- and yet maintain the unique qualities Colin Meloy brings to a song with his delicious melodies and distinctive and forceful vocals. Too many make such a big thing when someone like EC uses a word like tincture in a lyric but Meloy can regularly insert a word like trillium and never have it sound forced or effected. I admire that. There is a song on this record, "January Hymn", that is the best Dead song I have ever heard not done by that band. It is also a beautiful charm to hold back the oppression of this season. I am a big fan of this record at this point.

Here is "January Hymn"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqDlTKqxu2w

and "Calamity Song" with an able assist from Peter Buck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gykjRkVec

[pophead2k]

Colin Meloy is very talented and I've enjoyed some of the Decemberists stuff. They are also a very, very good live band. Still, there is something about them on record that is too studied, too precious for me. I'm hoping this album changes my perspective and will give it a try.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Colin Meloy is very talented and I've enjoyed some of the Decemberists stuff. They are also a very, very good live band. Still, there is something about them on record that is too studied, too precious for me. I'm hoping this album changes my perspective and will give it a try.

The King is Dead is probably the least extravagant and most conventional album they've done in a while. If you've been turned off by some of their more "proggy" efforts and florid songwriting you may like this better.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Colin Meloy is very talented and I've enjoyed some of the Decemberists stuff. They are also a very, very good live band. Still, there is something about them on record that is too studied, too precious for me. I'm hoping this album changes my perspective and will give it a try.

The King is Dead is probably the least extravagant and most conventional album they've done in a while. If you've been turned off by some of their more "proggy" efforts and florid songwriting you may like this better.

[Jack of All Parades]

Also picked up Gregg Allman's new record "Low Country Blues" for $7.99 at the local store. I can never get enough of his singing and this album does not disappoint. He was born to give voice to this type of music. I like that he just went into the studio and cut the tracks no messing around. Working with Dr. John and a devilish guitarist I am not familiar with, Doyle Bramhall II, he has fashioned a grand tour of various blues styles going back as far as the 50's. It is fun, very listenable and I bet life affirming for him given his recent medical troubles and as reflected in the very first song on the album "Floating Bridge" with its images of the blues as a life saving force. Personal favorites for me are "Little by Little" and his only self-penned song on the album "Just Another Rider" which extends and plays on his old war horse "Midnight Rider" as it takes into account the wear and tear of the preceding decades. Though T Bone Burnett produced the record I am glad he had the sense to back off and leave well enough alone and just record the songs. No fiddling from him. Also love the photograph in the middle of the booklet with Greg standing in the middle of a long oak lined dirt road, hands raised, and gazing off into the distance at the light at the end of the tree lined tunnel. I hope that is a picture of where he is these days.

"Floating Bridge"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRdDZH0u ... re=related


"Little by Little"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SClxBdpL ... re=related

"Just Another Rider"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQjTrMFlvoI

"I Can't Be Satisfied"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BpxAU-IXsU

[ice nine]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5 ... AA300_.jpg

[Jack of All Parades]

Picked up my own copy of Arcade Fire's first album, "Funeral", having been fueled by the total awesomeness of their recent effort "The Suburbs". Initial plays have continued to feed my interest in this band. I can hear the germinating parts of their sound that will blossom on "The Suburbs"- the subtle use of dynamics to build tension and resolution, the subtle guitar play that hums in the background, and finally the solid and distinctive drumming which always manages to propel an individual song while not swamping the mix of other instruments. Then there are the literate lyrics- this time ruminating on passing, on expiring, on dying. I have a lot to take in and hopefully many years in which to do so.

As an aside for Otis- do not know if you have seen this on Youtube but they are featuring many scenes from the documentary shot by Terry Gilliam of their tour in 2010 with specific play of the Madison Square Garden show which must have been a break through. Here is a link to the site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtbrY6QrgPw

It makes me realize what you were raving about. They have a real presence on that stage and a command of the dynamics of the ebb and flow of a show. I also like that it reminds me so much of the way Jonathan Demme shot "Stop Making Sense.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Lovely, hadn't seen any of that. interesting that they have a third violinist on stage. Wasn't the case when I saw them, that was the regular 8-piece. Gives an extra power to the strings, which are used so well live, especially here with the lines about wanting a daughter. Very nicely filmed, love the moving camera over the stage and the close-ups. It's weird seeing a show as part of the audience and then being given this privileged closer look at what the stage details are all about. You get a great sense of how effective the cycling kids her from this. Elegiac. Hope you get to see them live some time, CS, it's sooooo worth it.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Two big ones on the horizon - Fleet Foxes and Elbow. Really cannot wait for these two to arrive.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Indeed. Was only dimly aware of a new FFs one. Will be very interesting to see where they take it from here and whether they can maintain it. Inspired by your post I rushed to book two of the last remaining Hammersmith Apollo tickets, right up at the back of the circle (from where I saw EC once). Hope I like the record! I saw them twice last time round. Once in the 850 capacity Junction here in Cambridge and once at Hyde Park. The intimate Junction was just amazing. Those days are gone. Now it's two dates at the Apollo and off to Paris. They're also playing an August Gothenburg festival that I might just get to attend with my family. You can download the title track 'Helplessness Blues' off the site. Sounds pretty. No huge departures. Makes me want to hear it badly. Not out till May.

Hope you've checked out Elbow's 'Lippy Kids' on their site. I was smitten on first hearing. 'Neat Little Rows', out soon as a single, grabbed me less. The Word's review of it this week has me excited. They say they've gone for subtlety. No anthems. Lots of loveliness. They only make superb LPs.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Hope you've checked out Elbow's 'Lippy Kids' on their site. I was smitten on first hearing. 'Neat Little Rows', out soon as a single, grabbed me less. The Word's review of it this week has me excited. They say they've gone for subtlety. No anthems. Lots of loveliness. They only make superb LPs.

Yes, I absolutely love "Lippy Kids." So simple and subtle. Fantastic stuff!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Sometimes an LP gets such good reviews you just want to hear it to know. James Blake's eponymous debut was a case of this, along with checking his cover of Feist's 'Limit to Your Love' on spotify.

Very spare. Keyboards. Computer percussion. Good voice. Deep bass resonance. Elements of Anthony and the Johnsons and Bon Iver in the singing, but very unique and individual with it. 23 year old, from, I think, London. Clearly has a lot of talent and imagination. Good CD, sure to be a critics fave of the year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/fe ... bum-review

Same reviewer went one star further with new PJ Harvey, out tomorow:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/fe ... ake-review

does sound very promising.

[Jack of All Parades]

Jeff Beck's "Rock 'n' Roll Party honoring Les Paul". Just a fun purchase that tries to do nothing more than be 'fun'. Paying tribute to the vast technical and innovative guitar work of Les Paul, Beck has fun with guest vocalists recreating and honoring Les Paul and his wife in a live recording during a tribute night at Iridium last year. Like McCartney's "Run Devil Run", this album pays homage to a past music and its heroes but does not offer the music in some form of museum like homage- in Beck's capable hands this music continues to live and reverberate for new listeners. Not a great album, just fun like maybe rock 'n' roll was supposed to be before it became deadly serious and the purview of critics and cultural historians.

[mood swung]

recording is crappy, but you gotta hear the stories. didn't Jimmy Buffett have a song about that?

[Who Shot Sam?]

Just ordered the Labour of Lust reissue and Elbow's new one, both on vinyl.