The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms

Glenn Mercer's band is a little miracle of the eighties. One of these cult bands that helped people remember what rock music could be (among the horror vacui of 80's stadium rock bands or synth pop music criminals), much like what Big Star did in the 70's. Both Big Star and The Feelies were outsiders: Alex Chilton & co. were in love with british bands of the sixties and califonian rock (of the same decade), pretty much like The Feelies sounded as sons of late period Velvet Underground or Modern Lovers's devotés: go and listen to the album's first song, "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness" and see if it doesn't sound like a track from Modern Lovers' debut.
Moreover the Rolling Stones' Paint it black and the Beatles' Everybody's got something to hide are two not-so-far-from-the-original but yet very good cover versions. Waht else? Of course Loveless love's, whose initial harmonics could be considered worth, per sé, the listen of the entire album. The fact that the rest of the song is a joyous electric ride like a double speed Velvet Underground number makes it just perfect. Raised eyebrows then kind of reminds me of the the first stuff (in particular the last part, the sung one) Brian Eno did, his first LPs.
But I could easily go on and on. What matters is that The Feelies were a hell of a band and that, still to this day, didn't get enough credit. And they do deserve it.

Crazy Rhythms

The Go-Betweens: Live Videos

I don't have much time on my hands these days, so I'll just post a few videos from youtube of the Go-betweens that I have just discovered (and a big thank you to Zelig 666)




The wrong road, live in Brisbane, probably 1987



Bye bye pride, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



The Clarke sisters live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



Bow down, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



Spring rain, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



In the core of a flame, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Part company, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



The Clarke sisters, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Bye bye pride, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Right here, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Spirit of a vampyre, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1986



Right here, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1986

Good old Moz

"There's so much distruction all over the world and all you can do is complain about me"

Younger Son: Beagle

Check out this new italian band. If you like'em and feel like leaving some comments you're welcome (they're buddies of mine). Plus, if you want to know more about them and have some free downloads go visit their site (my faves are Baby Child and Keep me warm in E minor, by the way).

E in italiano:
Per chi ne avesse voglia provate ad ascoltare questa band emergente (da Verona). Potete lasciare commenti qui naturalmente (sono amici, e glieli giro in automatico, ok?). Inoltre: se volete saperne di più e ascoltare qualche altra canzone in download gratuito le trovate sul loro sito (le mie preferite, nel caso interessasse, sono Baby Child e Keep me warm in E minor).

The Go-Betweens: Live Lund 10-08-88

And here is another go-betweens' boot after a while. And I'm afraid I'm running out of them. That'll probably mean that I'm going to start re-posting some of the old ones, I suppose. Anyway, talking about here and now: this is a very good radio broadcast of a swedish concert set in Lund in 1988, it has only 7 songs but I've never heard a rendition of Quiet heart so similar to the album version (and very good and warm too, not just a copycat).
Strangely all the songs are sung by McLennan (Your turn my turn too, with quite funny alternative lyrics).

Tracklist:

01 Quiet Heart
02 Your Turn, My Turn
03 Streets of Your Town
04 Apology Accepted
05 DJ
06 The Wrong Road
07 Was There Anything I Could Do
08 Right Here
09 DJ

Live Lund 88

Wall Of Voodoo: Call Of The West

I was talking to a friend about this album, and it came to mind that I hadn't posted it yet. Which is something I should be ashamed of. Because Wall Of Voodoo's second LP, "Call Of The West"is one of the most original new wave records ever. I mean: there were not many bands that felt like playing country 'n' western music with synths. It is something that the mind can barely accept, actually. Yet it exists. Which is something that has always amazed me about music: you think there is some music, some crossover, that could never ever work, and then some band jumps up, doesn't give a care, and they do it anyway. And you just listen to it and think: "Yeah, why not?".

PS
Check out @ their official site WOV's cover version of Johnny Cash's Walk Of Fire (!), from their 1979 debut EP, free for download.

Or watch this video:




More about @ Wikipedia

More about WOV's singer, Stan Ridgway, @ FoxyTunes

Call Of The West

Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight: Once In A Blue Moon

This is step 2 in my mission of digging into british folk(rock)music. After step 1 (Shirley Collins some weeks ago. And that one won't be my only post on her) this is on one of England's most talented songwriters, the late Lal Waterson. She was co-founder of the Watersons (altogether with her siblings Mike and Nora), a band that mostly sang english tradionals acappella.
A couple of months ago I went through some of the Watersons' catalogue (both the bands' and the solos', i.e. Norma's, Mike's, but also Martin Carthy's) but I was soon won by this "Once In A Blue Moon", with some of the best acoustic guitar playing I've ever listened to and with simply a masterful songwriting skill (the initial At first she starts, with that pizzicato that is pure magic, and Cornfield, dramatic and evocative and as close to blues as english folk can get -not close musically speaking: it is a matter of suggestions, of evoked sensations).
But there is so much excellent music in here that citing one single song is maybe a shame. So these two are just the ones that are striking me the most at the moment. I could give you different titles in 5 minutes.
If you want more there's also from her (with Mike) the much acclaimed "Bright Phoebus".
By the way, Oliver Knight is her own son.

PS
If any of you has the "A bed of roses" album please upload it (i can't find it).

More on Lal Waterson @ FoxyTunes

Once In A Blue Moon

Check Out Grant McLennan @ the Striped Sunlight Sound

Grear post by blogger friend bob @ stripedsunlightsound on various Grant McLennan' radio sessions. Do check it, all you go-betweens' fans.

Julie's Haircut: Sleepwalker

One of my favourite italian bands. If you feel like downloading the song for free click here (where you can also download the video and donate some money if you wish to contribute).

Wanna find out more about Julie's Haircut?

Nick Cave: Nature Boy Video

The Go-Betweens: Live @ Rocking Horse Records, 05-01-2005

As I promised here's another Go-Betweens' bottleg, in this case a showcase performed in Brisbane to launch their 2005 album "Oceans Apart" (and, among the boots that I haven't posted yet I chose this because I see that very few people voted for OA as their fave LP in our poll...which kind of suprised me since it is considered by many one of their best ones).

The band here is Robert and Grant only, playing acoustic. Splendid rendition of "The mountains near Dellray".

(I wasn't sure wheter this the picture was taken @ Rocking Horse's or not, but Robert in the comments says it was, so thanks robert)

Tracklist:

01. (introduction)
02. Finding You
03. Boundary Rider
04. Here Comes The City
05. Surfing Magazines
06. Cattle And Cane
07. Spring Rain
08. The Mountains Near Dellray
09. Magic In Here
10. (outro)

Live Rocking Horse 2005

Steve Wynn: Manhattan Fault Line - Video

Steve Wynn. One of my heroes. This is from the forthcoming "Crossing Dragon Bridge". By chance, does anyone have it?

Next: more Go-Betweeens' stuff.

Shirley & Dolly Collins: Love, Death & The Lady

In these last days I have tried to dig into british (and irish) folk music. I've been a Fairport Convention/Sandy Denny/Richard Thompson for a long time and I've decided to search for more (and then comes to mind a great song by the Who, The seeker, with its character -the seeker, of course- who is alway looking for another band, for more music), when I accidentally stumbled into a little italian manual on that. That's how I discovered Shirley Collins. Her first release dates back to 1955 (a compilation called "Folksong Today"), and then her carreer flourished, also thanks to the collaboration with her sister Dolly, that went on until 1995 when she passed away.
In order to be clear: in Shirley Collins rock is sometimes present (she also was -Fairport Convention/Albion Band man- Ashley Hutchings' wife) but what is always close to her heart is folk. Be it british or american (as a young woman she travelled trough the USA to study american folk roots, and later on she worked with Alan Lomax, who produced her second LP).
I can't say I'm no expert on Collins, yet "Love, death and the lady" struck me, it actually almost hit me like a truck: her voice may not be as beautiful as Denny's (it sure isn't), but how it cuts into my brain, into my heart...there is so much gloom in "Love, death...", much pain, and lots and lots of dark ballads (wouldn't Nick Cave like them? I guess he would). And there are no fillers (we're talking 13 songs plus 4 bonus tracks here).
Take a good breath and jump.

PS
Some may know Shirley Collins through Decemberists' Colin Meloy's fine "Colin sings Shirley Collins EP".

For more on Shirley Collins check out Wiki.

Love, Death & The Lady

Perturbazione: Agosto

A beautiful italian song (year 2004) from Perturbazione.
For those who don't speak italian the first line goes: "August is the coldest month of the year".

Robert Forster: The Evangelist

Ok, I couldn't resist. The thing is: songsfordirtylovers posted it some days ago, but I don't like its version so much (there is some annoying noise, some kind of buzz, at the beginning of each song), so I realised that my version (although it's only @ 160 k) sounds a bit better to me (at least it has no buzz).
So, I know it may sound weird when we're talking about mp3's, but I like listening to my music fine, meaning that the quality should be quite good. That's also the reason why I use pretty good headphones with my iPod, and -more important of all-when I find the music meaningful I always hit the record shop for the CD (mp3's are no way nearly as good as CDs, and I can't see why I should spend money for some 128k -i.e. very low quality- itunes stuff).

Of course I'm totally missing the point here. Which is: "The Evangelist"is very good. I used to have some difficulties listening to RF's solo albums in the past, but I slowly got used to them, and I learned to love them (although never as much as GB's albums, and I also tend to prefer McLennan's solo output), in particular "Danger in the past" (I still think the title-track is one of the best thing he's ever done -isn't it creepy? And isn't it incredible to hear something like that from Forster? I can't imagine any other song of his resembling it).
But "The Evangelist" struck me. It is -yes, it is- a logical follow-up to the last 3 GB's LP's, but not quite: it doesn't set its goals as high as "Oceans apart" (which, to me, was a great promise for what was going to come and, alas, it never will: more rock-oriented Go-Betweens, working much more like a true rock band than in the previous two albums. Somehow the wait was over: GB's were not only Forster & McLennan but a real live-kicking band. Maybe different from the 80's line-up -be it a 3 or 4 or 5 people line-up- yet you could see it was the work of more than 2 people that came together for the album), but it is an excellent Robert Forster album. Maybe his best. And those three songs written by McLennan may make the difference: I can't say yet if Demon Days is one of his best songs, as Forster says, but it kills me indeed.

So definetely Grant is very present here. His words, his music, and references to him are easily detectable by fans: the 3 chords-sequence in Let your light in, babe and Robert's numerous hommages to his partner are nearly all over the album (the -moving, intense, heartbreaking- goodbye to a lost friend in the closing From ghost town, the words of It aint' easy...).
I'd probably better stop now or I could go on and on talking about "The Evangelist". That's how I love it, I suppose.

PS
I inserted the lyrics in the mp3's too.

The Evangelist

Robert Forster's Lyrics

For all Robert Forster fans: you can find the lirics to the new songs @ the man's own official website. (And you may also find some more stuff from RF in some link around here...).

Cat Power: Live KCRW 2008

I'm a big KCRW-Morning Becomes Eclectic fan. I have podcasts and every now and then I check their site for new radio showcases.
And Cat Power is one of my fave artists of these last years: I L-O-V-E-D "The greatest" and I'm starting to dig into their latest, "Jukebox". That's why I was so glad to see her doing a showase @ MBE, also because there is a songs that, I presume, didn't make it for "Jukebox": Percy Sledge's Dark end of the streets. I only wish now I could lay my hands on her version of CCR's Fortunate son. That'd be something. Does anyone here have it?
By the way, if you want to listen/watch this Cat Power's showcase go to KCRW's site or, and if you want it on your iPod, PC, or whatever I've ripped it so that you can download it down here.

PS The picture was taken by my girlfriend last year. Too dark, I know.

Cat - KCRW 2008

Robert Forster & Grant McLennan: Live @ Saga, Copenhagen, 1991

This is a beautiful showcase broadcast by some danish radio (ergo the excellent quality) of Robert & Grant performing as an acoustic duo after the Go-Betweens' split-up of the eighties: the songs are both from the GB's repertoire and from the two's solo careers. And that's one thing that still amazes me: how these two old friends never stopped being friends, and how when they got together to play (no matter if on seldom occasions during the GB's 90's Intermission or during the band's comeback after "The friends of Rachel Worth") they could easily play each other's "solo" songs with no problem at all. Just think if there ever is going to be a comeback tour for Pink Floyd with Roger Waters: no way Gilmour would agree to play something out of "The pros and cos of hitch-hiking" or "Amused to death", I'd say.
I bet this is the difference between being friends and just bandmates. Anyone can figure Gilmour singing confidently Every stranger's eyes the way Forster sings Haven't I been a fool ? (well, it's also the difference between going on, making your own music as a solo artist, and selling out your soul playing copycat versions of the songs of the band-that-once-was-and-now-isn't-anymore- because-the-one-with-good-ideas-left...yeah, that too).

Tracklist:

01. Cattle And Cane
02. The River People
03. Haven't I Been A Fool
04. Baby Stones
05. Clouds
06. Easy Come Easy Go
07. Spring Rain
08. Love Goes On!
09. Danger In The Past
10. (interview)

Live @ Saga, Copenhagen

Fairport Live BBC 4: Re-Post

So many have asked for it...

Fairport Live At The BBC 4

Robert Forster's Demon Days tab

This is for all the lazy guitar players out there. I was practising with my guitar when I felt like trying some of the Robert Forster's songs.
And Demon days is one I can easily play and sing (quite my kind of song).

Here are the chords (the strings are one tone down!):

Verse has 4 chords:



3 3 2 0 1 0

0 2 0 0 1 0

1 3 3 2 1 1

3 3 3 2 1 1




And the change goes:

3 3 2 0(1)(0)

0 2 0 0(1)(0)

x 3 2 0(1)(0)

0 2 0 0(1)(0)


Next: A Go-Betweens Bootleg.

Sandy Denny: Live At The BBC

Sandy Denny was and will always be to me Fairport Convention's soul: she was the one who brought the british traditional music in (in the very early days they were more keen to USA-oriented rock'n'roll), and gave Fairport one of the most beautiful songs ever written, her own Who knows where the time goes?, and she was the voice they could never replace (Fairport's songs with male vocals have always given me a hard time, by the way). If I have to be completely sincere I'll probably have to admit that, to me, Fairport were Richard Thompson's brilliant guitar playing (and songwriting) and Denny's voice (and songwriting, ok).
But this (triple) collection doesn't pick songs from the Fairport period but only from her solo years, and this makes it a more important release because -again, in my opninion- Denny's solo outputs never reached Fairport's best moments: Sandy's then new self-penned creations surely were not poorer than Fairport's material but probably 70's lush (or pompous) rock productions diminish her songwriting, making it more normal, too often as if she was only one more rock diva. Anyway, all of this yadda yadda yadda is in order to say that these versions have mostly much more stripped down arrengements (if not only piano-and-voice or guitar-and-voice sessions).

If you want to know more about this Live At The BBC go see sandydenny.blogspot

PS Big big thanks to SubcomandateMarcos for uploading these files (thank you once again!)

Live At The BBC 1
Live At The BBC 2

Robert Forster: The Evangelist (in streaming)

Listen to Robert's "The Evangelist" in streaming @ Yep Rock!

Now there's a new link for Fairport Live 4.

Yeah, right, some problems with File #4...
I'm working on it.

Fairport Convention: Live At The BBC (3 & 4)

fAs promised here are vol. 3 & 4 of "Fairport Convention Live At BBC". Among my favourite pieces of music the 10 minutes-long The Bonny Bunch Of Roses (but there are so many...).

Next: Sandy Denny Live At The BBC too (thank you Marcos: I got the uploaded files alright!)!

Live At The BBC 3
Live At The BBC 4 (new link)

Fairport Convention: Live At The BBC (1 & 2)

There is no need for me to say how I love Fairport's family -I have already dedicated some posts both to Richard Thompson and to Sandy Denny in the past- so there won't be any suprise if I upload this magnificent boxset, "Fairport Convention Live At The BBC". In these first 2 discs you'll find some songs already released in "Heyday", like one of my favourite FC's covers, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, but not only.
I alway think that their best days are the ones of their very first LP's and their best songs are the ones sung by Sandy Denny, yet these performances are so beautiful, this british folk rock IS so beautiful that I almost forget that.

Next: Cd 3 & 4.

Live At The BBC 1

Live At The BBC 2

More on Robert Forster

You can find here:

-A nice song-by-song review on Forster's "The Evangelist" @ Fire Escape Talking
-A podcast with an interview to Robert (including excerpts of new songs) @ TimesOnline
-A new mp3 from "The Evangelist", Pandanus, @ FinestKiss.

The Go-Betweens: Forum Theatre, Melbourne, 15 July 2005

I have finally uploaded a new Go-Betweens' boot, as you can see, and also a double one: it is an audience recording, but a very good one, of their last tour (wheareas the picture is from some Tokyo concert of 2003, but i liked it), and is valid alternative to re-listeing again and again to the "Striped sunlight" CD/DVD (the tracklists are much alike, though this one's is longer).
As always I hope you'll enjoy it, and I promise I'll be back soon with more GB's boots, but probably with older stuff from the 80's. Only later some other posts (but I don't know wether it is going to be some krautrock, something else of my usual stuff (Paisley?) or something new, for a change...I'll see).

Tracklist:

1. Black Mule
2. Clouds
3. He Lives My Life
4. Boundary Rider
5. Born To A Family
6. Magic In Here
7. Streets Of Your Town
8. Make Her Day
9. Here Comes A City
10. Draining The Pool For You
11. Finding You
12. Darlinghurst Nights
13. This Night's For You
14. Spring Rain
15. Was There Anything I Could Do?
16. Surfing Magazines

Part 2

1. encore 1
2. The Devil's Eye
3. Too Much Of One Thing
4. Cattle And Cane
5. encore 2
6. Baby Stones
7. The Clock
8. encore 3
9. People Say
10. Love Goes On

Melbourne 2005 Part 1
Melbourne 2005 Part 2

Robert Forster's new song

It's called "Let your light in, babe", originally written by McLennan (see Robert's interview here), and it's the A-side of his new single. The song I ripped it and got it from some Boa note blog (which I thank once more) and it's a typically McLennan's 4 chords type of song. And the more I listen to it the more I like it. Also, I 'm getting addicted to the backing vocals' part (Adele Pickvance? I'd say so).

PS Check out Robert Forster's new site. By now there's nothing on but it's nice to see he has one.
PPS I'm not the sure whether the picture is the forthcoming "The Evangelist" 's cover or not yet.

Plus: More bootlegs of the GB's? See Nargo for the Berlin 2005 boot, and That Striped Sunlight for a highly significant 1979 4ZZZ radio concert (specially on a historical basis).

Let Your Light In, Babe

Harmonia: Live 1974

Harmonia are some kind of krautrock super-group (they are Roedelius and Mobius from Cluster + Rother from Neu!) but they have have composed only 2 LP's in the 70's (the beutiful and mesmerizing "Musik Von Harmonia" and "Harmonia Deluxe"), plus a 1997 collaboration with Brian Eno (long time musical partner of Roedelius and Mobius with Cluster), and have de facto been some of the inventors of Trance and (surely with Brian Eno) Ambient music. Nevertheless their music never gets to be boring, and instead Harmonia are, much surpinsingly (or at least for those who, like me, don't appreciate that genre so much), creators of some of the most imaginative and hypnotic pieces of music ever made. Rother's liquid guitars and the two Cluster's gentle electronic sounds are a perfect match, a magic land of kosmische rock where songs never really end but fade into one another instead, as often happens in this "Harmonia Live 1974", the recording of a concert at the Penny Station Club (a former railway station) in Grissem, in which no audience is heard applauding, talking or whatever (Rother said that they were either too stoned or they simply couldn't tell where songs ended, in fact), and Harmonia's tracks are free to float in space (and never music was intended to be more spacial than this, I'd say).
I'm obviously thrilled by this album, and I really hope you'll like it too.

Next: Some Go-Betweens' stuff. Definitely.


Harmonia Live 1974 (Fastupload Link)
Harmonia Live 1974 (Badongo Link)

More about "Harmonia Live 1974" :
-Review @ Uncut.co.uk
-Review @ NewNoise.net
-Review @ SubbaCultcha.com
-Review (in french) @ LesInrocks.com

Ringo Starr: Liverpool 8 Video

Not bad this young lad, uh?
By the way, I listened to this song for the first time only a couple of hours ago and it's been going around my head ever since, so I can assume it means that it works for me. Still don't know about the rest of the new -same title- album.

The Go-Betweens: The house that Jack Kerouac built - Video

What can I say? I just couldn't resist after seeing Robert...



PS
You can find news on Forster's forthcoming (!)album here. Great news.

Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream Of Trains

Something old and new at the same time from the Robyn Hitchcock catalogue has just been released: "I wanna go backwards", a box with albums of the oxfordian from the early 80's with rare songs, outtakes etc. This made me feel like going backwards too, specifically to what is considered by many his best LP as a solo artist (meaning that the Soft Boys'"Underwater Moonlight"' is nearly everybody's favourite), this "I often dream of trains".
Also, I banged into it while watching a beautifully made documentary on Hitchcock, BBC4's "Sex, food, death..", I saw the title track's video (which you find down here, btw), and realised that "I often..." (the song) must have one of the best arpeggios ever.
Anyway, this is not the IODOT that you can find in the box, but the 1995 CD edition...Although I think I'll soon make up my mind and go buy "I wanna go backwards" as well... In the meantime enjoy this

I Often Dream Of Trains

Learn more on RH @ FoxyTunes
Or @ his Official Site
Or read Pitchfork's review of "I Wanna Go Backwards"

The Go-Betweens:The Acoustic Stories (the MP3's)

I assume many of you, if you are go-betweens' fans, already know the "That striped sunlight sound"DVD, which is divided into two sections: one the proper concert, and two the Acoustic Stories part, where Robert and Grant talked about their career and performed 11 songs out of it in splendid stripped-down acoustic versions. I had been looking for the MP3's of that acoustic performance for a long time but with no luck, then I finally rolled up my sleeves, found the right software and did it myself: it took me some time so I really hope you appreciate it.
I have also decided to create two zip files: one with the "complete"acoustic stories (including all the talks inbetweens songs), and one songs-only.
All of it @ 192k.

Tracklist:

1. Lee Remick
2. Cattle and Cane
3. Part Company
4. Bachelor Kisses
5. Head Full of Steam
6. Bye Bye Price
7. Dive for Your Memory
8. German Farm House
9. Too Much of One Thing
10. Here Comes the City
11. Finding You

The Acoustic Stories
The "Complete" Acoustic Stories

Best of 2007 (& You Let Me Down List)

It took me some time but I've eventually made it...

1-Radiohead: In Rainbows
Being the best band in the world helps, you know.

2-Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
It was hard to beat the blietzkrieg success of "Funeral", but they somehow maneged to make it. I so intensely hope they're going to keep up the good work (and make my dream come true: be the "new" Radiohead. Be so important, so connected to the audience, to the zeitgeist).

3-Low: Drums And Guns
I saw Alan Sparhawk freak out on stage and got how deep this album cut into his brain, into his sould, and how this is not only rock'n'roll, this is no pose. This music is important, it's true.

4-Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
This man took me by surprise: come out of the blue and with the most impressive and emotional songs a songwriter has penned in quite a long time. Yeah, the names of Elliot Smith and maybe even Leonard Cohen come to mind. I do hope we'll hear from him real soon.

5-John Doe: A Year In The Wilderness
I listened to this so many times that I think I know all the lyrics like a teenager would. Great man too, saw him and talked to him a couple of months ago. And he doesn't make me regret his X days.

6-Panda Bear: Person Pitch
One of 2007's best surprises: I hadn't paid attention to Animal Collective much, mainly because I never really dug their first album, so when I listened to Panda I was totally blown away. The beach boys, one of the best productions (the sounds are modern but yet so warm)...all the good things contained in these compositions will probably make this a huge album also 10 or more years from now.

7-LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver
I liked his first thing, no doubt about it (I'm all for the analogic you know, except for some artists that really lead me to believe they are some geniuses...), but S.O.S. (is it intended?) definetely convinced me he is the one of the few out there who play dance/elctronic stuff worth the buy.

8-Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga
Best indie guitar band of the year.

9-Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam
Same as Panda Bear. More or less.

10-The National: Boxer
Because of that voice. Because of a couple of songs like "Fake empire" and "Start a war".

11-Scout Niblett: This Fool Can Die Now
These days it's hard not to put in a list of the best music around some album with Bonnie "Prince" Billy. He's Midas. Niblett's never been so good though.

12-Okkervil River: The Stage Names
Second best indie guitar band of the year.

13-New Pornographers: Challengers
They make me whistle, holler, sing out loud. And they have Neko Case: my fave indie gal when Chan's not to be seen.

14-Tinariwen: Aman Iman
Love the guitars.

15-Tori Amos: American Doll Posse
Can a Tori Amos' album be still good with scarce piano-driven music in it? . "American..." proves it can.

16-Prince: Planet Earth
He still makes me dance like it's 1999... And I know the lyrics kinda suck, but heck, he's never been no Randy Newman. Anyway by far the best thing he has done since the -much- underrated "Rainbow Children". And before that we have to go waaaaaaaay back.

17-Richard Thompson: Sweet Warrior
He is -probably- my favourite guitar player. No doubt he has written better songs (and the old LP's with Linda make me want to grab my guitar and cry because I'll never be that good, not in a million years..), but still "Dad's gonna kill me" did the trick.

18-The Shins: Wincing The Night Away
I don't know...I absolutely loved the first two, so maybe I didn't give it enoght time. Yet it is hard not to find Mercer music meaningful on a craft basis.

19-Joss Stone: Introducing
I know it's not your indie cup of tea. But -although I may be the only person on Earth to think it way- "Introducing" IMHO is almost as good as "The Soul Sessions". She's not cool? I'm sure your average music critics will declare Amy uncool as well in a couple of years.

20-Alela Diane: The Pirate's Gospel

My favourite (post-new-pre etc etc) folkster of the year.
My favourite (post-new-pre etc etc) folkster of the year.

And now the all new...

YOU LET ME DOWN list:
(In no particular order)

-Bruce Springsteen: Magic
-Interpol: Our Love To Admire
-Giardini Di Mirò: Dividing Opinions
-The Stooges: The Weirdness

-Sophia: Technology Won't Save Us

-Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist

-Wilco: Sky Blue Sky [And to Jeff: Why? Why this lame -and boring- album? I had to see it coming from the awkward title, I suppose...]

PS
Big surprise for Go-Betweens'fans @ the next post.

Western Electric: S/t

Sid Griffin was the leader of the great Long Ryders, which gave some excellent Paisley Underground albums to the history of rock and roll, and after the band split he embarked on a career as a solo artist but gave birth to two new bands as well, one being the bluegrass-oriented Coal Porters, and the other being this one, the Western Electric, whose only result was this self-titled album. What they play is basically the good old rock'n' roll with some country in it (Gram Parsons' ghost is rarely absent when it comes to Sid Griffin's oeuvres), but they don't despise some programming, and some drum machines (!) in the mix.
This may not be his Griffin's best effort(the Long Ryders' days are hard to beat), but at least he gave us an "Emily in ginger", a little masterpiece, and a perfect example of what a simple chord progression (and a far less than complex guitar arrengement) can do. The video speaks for itself.

More about Sid Grffin @ FoxyTunes.



Western Electric

Happy New Year, everyone (with Radiohead webcast)

...and I'll be back soon with Go-Betweens' bootlegs, and I think Rain Parade, Sid Griffin, and (I ought to, you know that) my Best Of 2007 list.

The Go-Betweens:Live @ Flex, Vienna, Austria, July 22, 2003

Yeah, I promised something old, but actually I couldn't resist uploading this bootleg I found some time ago and that (shame on me!) I forgot to post till today. And it's an excellent one too, with a song quite hard to find in GB's recent live tracklists like "Love is a sign".
But I promise the next post will be Paisley Underground-oriented. And again a bootleg, I think.

Tracklist:
01. Poison In The Wall
02. Too Much Of One Thing
03. In Her Diary
04. Old Mexico
05. Right Here
06. Surfing Magazines
07. Streets Of Your Town
08. Spring Rain
09. Love Is A Sign
10. Baby Stones
11. The Clock
12. 121
13. Love Goes On!
14. The House Jack Kerouac Built


Live @ Flex

The Oscillation: Out Of Phase

Whew, I'm kind of busy these days, so I'm making it (again) brief:If you love Krautrock this new band will give you something new (to think of something old). I mean: the cover'll do it, won't it?
By the next time you'll have more old stuff, but I haven't made up my mind yet. Paisley Underground or Go-Betweens?

Out of phase

Radiohead: In Rainbows CD 2

'Nuff said, I suppose. The famous second disc from the famous discbox.


In Rainbows CD 2

The Go-Betweens: Live Club Soda, Montreal, 1987

Here is another great Go-Betweens' bootleg, the Live in Club Soda, Montreal 1987, from the Tallulah tour. The sound quality is very good, it probably got recorded straight from the soundboard. And I have to admit that I particularly like this period (1987-88) because of the 5-pieces line-up, I find their sound so tight, so strong, maybe GB's at their best (as a live band, a rock band).

Tracklist:

1. In The Core Of A Flame
2. Head Full Of Steam
3. Right Here
4. Twin Layers Of Lightning
5. Cut It Out
6. Learn To Live Again
7. I Just Get Caught Out
8. Part Company
9. Bye Bye Pride
10. The Clarke Sisters
11. Spring Rain
12. The House That Jack Kerouac Build
13. Don't Call Me Gone
14. Apology Accepted

Live Club Soda, 1987

Cowboy Junkies 2

Here is the new to Cowboy Junkies' Tinity Sessions Revisited:

Trinity

Cowboy Junkies: Trinity Sessions Revisited

In this period I'm not goint to post a lot because I have some work to do. So: only a few posts and even fewer words.
In this case: here is the revisitation of the Cowboy Junkies' masterpiece, "The trinity sessions" live and with some guests (Ryan Adams, Vic Chesnutt and Natalie Merchant).
I'll try and put more bootlegs of the go-betweens sometime quite soon.

Trinity Session Revisited

The Go-Betweens: Live in Vega, Copenhagen 2000

At last another GB's bootleg, let's say, and though the sounds is a bit metallic it is all worth, in particular because of some classics from their repertoire (Spring Rain, Bye Bye Pride, and a gorgeous Bachelor Kisses) and the great finale with Easy Come, Easy Go, from Grant's solo career, where he tells Forster to play "more, more" during the solo, and an acoustic Rock'n'Roll Friend.

And yeah, more to come.

1. Intro
   

2. Your Turn, My Turn Intro

3. Magic In Here

4. Right Here

5. Head Full Of Steam

6. Baby Stones

7. Strets Of Your Town

8. Orpheus Beach

9. He Lives My Life

10. German Farmhouse

11. Going Blind

12. Draining The Pool

13. Bye Bye Pride

14. The Clock

15. Spring Rain

16. Spirit

17. Bachelor Kisses

18. Easy Come Easy Go

19. Rock 'n' Roll Friend

Live in Vega, Copenhagen 2000

Joy Division: Still (Live Disc)

As you can also read on a very good (as always) review @ Pithfork (here), Joy Division's albums (the "real ones", i.e. "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer", plus the "Still" compilation) just got re-edit with a bonus disc of live material. Generally speaking I'd say that the live recordings already published -The BBC sessions, the Les Bains Douches one, and the Preston one- are better quality (as sound), but this "Still"is definitely the best in the pack, so here you are.

Something about the Go-Betweens' Vienna boot: I've read all the comments and I'm glad that some of you requested a re-up, but unfortunately there's been also some very impolite comments and in particular a rather rude one (which I haven't published) that urged me to re-up that same vienna concert. So: I'm writing this blog and uploading this music merely for fun, as a hobby, with no interests of sort and surely not in order to get insulted by anyone. It really bothers me that some people don't get that "for free" doesn't mean "at their will". That's the reason why you won't see the vienna concert soon. But you will, maybe not in a short period of time, yet you will, mainly because of all the kind words in the (published) comments.
And the next one will be a GB's bootleg too.

Still (Live Disc)

The Go-Betweens: Fools In Love - Live @ Cabaret Metro Chicago, 1st April 1989

And at last another bootleg from the great GB's, and a very good one indeed: in fact although the sound quality is not excellent (but still quite good) this is a great performance from what IMHO is their peak and their best line-up, the one that toured to promote the "16 Lovers Lane" album. There are also some quite impressive moments in here to prove my theory: the beautiful Clouds with a tambourine and an almost velvetesque mood (1968-9 period by the way), and an incredible rendition of Quiet heart with an over the top drumming by Lindy Morrison that can't help but take you back to Moe Tucker (and Robert playing the harmonica à la Dylan).
It's a pity that in the end The clarke sisters got cut (and I think one song is missing), but hey, what the heck.
And this is not the end: more (bootlegs) to come!

PS
Great Long Ryders bootleg in the surprise link.

Tracklist:

1. Don't Let Him Come Back
2. Was There Anything I Could Do?
3. The house That Jack Kerouac Built
4. Clouds
5. Dive For Your Memory
6. Cut It Out
7. I Just Get Caught Out
8. Twin Layers Of Lightning
9. Quiet Heart
10. Streets Of Your Town
11. Bye Bye Pride
12. Right Here
13. Spring Rain
14. The Devil's Eye
15. Love Is A Sign
16. Love Goes On
17. Casanova's Last Words
18. The Clarke Sisters
19. Karen

Fools in love

REM: Live

No need to explain with REM, right?
But next post: another Go-Betweens bootleg!

REM Live 1
REM Live 2

The Go-Betweens: Tallulah demos & Liberty Belle Alternates

It's been a while since my last post on the Go-Betweens (a whole month!), so this is for all the fans that (just like me) can't get enough of the band from Brisbane.
So, what is it all about? It is alternate takes from "Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express" (actually only the vocal tracks are different from the masters), and demos of "Tallulah" (although 3 out of 5 are already included in "Tallullah"'s expanded edition's second disc).
And I promise I will be back soon with some more from Forster/McLennan & co.

Tallulah demos & Liberty Belle Alternates

Radiohead: In Rainbows

You can have it for free officially (just click here and order it choosing to pay O.O if so), or you can pay whaever amount you want (but pay attention that the bitrate is 160k, that is llike a common "leak") but if somehow you can't here is the download to Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows".
Enjoy!

In Rainbows

Radiohead: Live Ladyland Studios 2003

I suppose I'm one of the million people who are are dying waiting for "In Rainbows", the new Radiohead LP, so when I bumped into this very good recording of an advance concert for "Hail to the thief" (which was then yet to be released) I couldn't resist and now here it is.
It's 11 songs (including a semi-acoustic rendition of Fake plastic trees and No suprises).

PS Check out the surprise link if you really can't wait till October 10th for LP7

Live Ladyland Studios