Album: I'm Your Fan (Atlantic,1991) Chart Pos:N/A
The Leonard Cohen tribute album has two bona-fide classics which makes it better than 99% of tribute albums. The songs in question are John Cale's version of Halelujah (as featured on Shrek) which is probably the definitive version of the song, sorry Jeff Buckley fans. The other song being the Pixies version of I Can't Forget which transforms one of the weaker tracks from 1988's Im Your Man album into a wonderful uptempo rock song. as anyone whose heard thier wonderful version of Neil Young's Winterlong can attest The PIxies had a knack for making other peoples songs thier own.
http://rapidshare.com/files/376151975/Im_Your_Fan.part1.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/376151595/Im_Your_Fan.part2.rar.html
Saturday 31 July 2010
Friday 30 July 2010
Pete Laughner - Cinderella Backstreet
Album: Take the Guitar Player For a Ride (Tim/Kerr,1995) Chart pos:N/A
A few days back i did a piece on Pere Ubu so I thought i would be a good idea to do a short piece on their original guitarist Pete Laughner who died prematurely from alcohol and drug abuse at the age of 24. All though the only solo work he left behind was a few roughly recorded demo's. The material was far removed from the punk scene which he emerged from. The melancolie dylan-esque number Cinderella Backstreet is one of the standouts from the scratchy demo's he left behind. He remains one of the greatest what-ifs in music as much of his material has gain a cult following and later this year a box-set is rumored to be in the works.
RIP Pete Laughner (1952-1977)
A few days back i did a piece on Pere Ubu so I thought i would be a good idea to do a short piece on their original guitarist Pete Laughner who died prematurely from alcohol and drug abuse at the age of 24. All though the only solo work he left behind was a few roughly recorded demo's. The material was far removed from the punk scene which he emerged from. The melancolie dylan-esque number Cinderella Backstreet is one of the standouts from the scratchy demo's he left behind. He remains one of the greatest what-ifs in music as much of his material has gain a cult following and later this year a box-set is rumored to be in the works.
RIP Pete Laughner (1952-1977)
Thursday 29 July 2010
Faith no More - Annie's Song
Album: Introduce Yourself (Slash, 1987) Chart Pos: N/A
Faith no More's original vocalist Chuck Mosley didnt lasted only two albums with the band. Granted the guy couldnt hold a candle (or a tune in a bucket) to Mike Patton's vocals. Yet Faith no More's first two albums ain't bad despite Chucks flat vocals. Annie's Song From thier second album is pretty much standard Funk Metal enlivened by Roddy Bottums atmospheric, airy keyboards. Its one of the better songs despite the fact that the flat, tuneless vocals take a little getting used to.
Faith no More's original vocalist Chuck Mosley didnt lasted only two albums with the band. Granted the guy couldnt hold a candle (or a tune in a bucket) to Mike Patton's vocals. Yet Faith no More's first two albums ain't bad despite Chucks flat vocals. Annie's Song From thier second album is pretty much standard Funk Metal enlivened by Roddy Bottums atmospheric, airy keyboards. Its one of the better songs despite the fact that the flat, tuneless vocals take a little getting used to.
Wednesday 28 July 2010
Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe
Album: Sabotage (Vertigo,1975) Chart Pos:N/A
The period around Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage is what i call their prog era. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath had Rick Wakeman guesting on keyboards while 1975's Sabotage had multi-part song structures and songs clocking close to the ten minute mark. Symptom of the universe is split between a heavy first half and a acoustic second half. In the space of the songs six minutes they manage to help invent prog and thrash metal at the same time, talk about killing two birds with one stone.
The period around Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage is what i call their prog era. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath had Rick Wakeman guesting on keyboards while 1975's Sabotage had multi-part song structures and songs clocking close to the ten minute mark. Symptom of the universe is split between a heavy first half and a acoustic second half. In the space of the songs six minutes they manage to help invent prog and thrash metal at the same time, talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Monday 26 July 2010
Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley mix)
Album: N/A (Casablanca,1982) Chart Pos: UK#21
Its well known that if you want to listen to a version of Donna Summers hypnotic proto dance number anything less than the 12" version is a no go area, not even the album version or the shitty radio edits that you find on ten a penny disco comps. The finest version to go for is Patrick Cowley's remix. In this remix the hypnotic proto-dance masterpiece is stretched out to an epic 15 minuites without feeling overdone. This is the definitative version of the song and has been a massive collectors item on vynal especially withdrawn DJ only editions. The Mix was originally rejected around the release of the orignal single but didnt get released until 1982.
If you can download it from 7 Digital here for 99p.
http://www.7digital.com/artists/various-artists/12-80s-digital-edition/
Its well known that if you want to listen to a version of Donna Summers hypnotic proto dance number anything less than the 12" version is a no go area, not even the album version or the shitty radio edits that you find on ten a penny disco comps. The finest version to go for is Patrick Cowley's remix. In this remix the hypnotic proto-dance masterpiece is stretched out to an epic 15 minuites without feeling overdone. This is the definitative version of the song and has been a massive collectors item on vynal especially withdrawn DJ only editions. The Mix was originally rejected around the release of the orignal single but didnt get released until 1982.
If you can download it from 7 Digital here for 99p.
http://www.7digital.com/artists/various-artists/12-80s-digital-edition/
Sunday 25 July 2010
Big Black - Kerosene
Album: Atomizer (Blast First,1986) Chart pos:N/A
Blessed are the geeks who inherit the earth.
Another band that 90% of people haven't heard of, but at the same time you would of possibly heard some of the records that the lead singer produced (or recorded as he puts it). The man in question Steve Albini has had a fascinating career from punk rock obscurity to major producer working with the likes of Page & Plant, Nirvana, Bush and The Pixies despite being one of the most spartan and anti-corporate producers in the industry.
In his previous life as lead singer of Big Black, Albini perfected a kind a raw, noisy pseudo-industrial music with loud distorted guitars over a tinny drum machine. Lyrically Albini set its lyrics in some dark, violent small town milieu full of tales of incest, rape and spousal abuse. The song Kerosenes tale of small town angst is the main highlight off their debut album.
The cover of one of thier early Ep's Headache had pictures of shotgun victims after they'd blown thier head off on the cover. It was so so shocking record stores had to put plastic bags over the EP. I can remember buying the 'Rich Mans Six Track' as a teenager and opening it to find the words 'all you pussies can suck our cocks' and a pissed off rant about the CD format on the inlay cover. Thats pretty badass especially coming from a guy that looked like an accountant.
Blessed are the geeks who inherit the earth.
Another band that 90% of people haven't heard of, but at the same time you would of possibly heard some of the records that the lead singer produced (or recorded as he puts it). The man in question Steve Albini has had a fascinating career from punk rock obscurity to major producer working with the likes of Page & Plant, Nirvana, Bush and The Pixies despite being one of the most spartan and anti-corporate producers in the industry.
In his previous life as lead singer of Big Black, Albini perfected a kind a raw, noisy pseudo-industrial music with loud distorted guitars over a tinny drum machine. Lyrically Albini set its lyrics in some dark, violent small town milieu full of tales of incest, rape and spousal abuse. The song Kerosenes tale of small town angst is the main highlight off their debut album.
The cover of one of thier early Ep's Headache had pictures of shotgun victims after they'd blown thier head off on the cover. It was so so shocking record stores had to put plastic bags over the EP. I can remember buying the 'Rich Mans Six Track' as a teenager and opening it to find the words 'all you pussies can suck our cocks' and a pissed off rant about the CD format on the inlay cover. Thats pretty badass especially coming from a guy that looked like an accountant.
Friday 23 July 2010
John Cale - Cleo
Album: Vintage Violence (Columbia,1970)
Recently I have been enjoying John Cale's solo meterial despite the fact that he can write some really terrible lyrics (but yet again Lou Reed wrote howlers). The song Cleo from his solo debut Vintage Violence sounds disarmingly innocent and cutesy especially seeing in the Velvets he played songs about smack, transexuals and other assorted freaks.
Here's some assorted John Cale video's
Recently I have been enjoying John Cale's solo meterial despite the fact that he can write some really terrible lyrics (but yet again Lou Reed wrote howlers). The song Cleo from his solo debut Vintage Violence sounds disarmingly innocent and cutesy especially seeing in the Velvets he played songs about smack, transexuals and other assorted freaks.
Here's some assorted John Cale video's
Thursday 22 July 2010
Minnie Riperton - Les Fluers
Album: Come Into my Garden (GRT,1970) Chart Pos:N/A
Offbeat psycadelic soul masterpiece.
As i have said before in a previous blog entry I hate Mariah Carey's music with a passion. One of her trademarks is to really hit the high notes for no other reason than to show off her five-octave vocal range, let's just say it doesn't impress me much. Until recently i would say the same about Minnie Ripperton who is possibly Mariah Carey's biggest influence by far. Here sole hit Lovin You is in my opinion possibly one of the most syrupy songs ever written epically when Minnie racked her voice up into the higher registers.
The turning point came when i was watching some clips from a documentary about her life they played the song Les Fluers in the background and quite liked it. Surprisingly enough I discovered before her success with Lovin You she made an album with psychedelic soul genius Charles Stepney. When I eventually got around to listening to it I discovered it want half bad. Les Fleurs is the opening cut is a lushly orchestrated number with Minnie singing from the perspective of a flower. Even though Minnies music has been sampled to death by hip hip artists its surprising that this is possibly the least sampled song in her oeuvre.
R.I.P Minnie Ripperton (1947-1979) Charles Stepney (1931-1976)
Offbeat psycadelic soul masterpiece.
As i have said before in a previous blog entry I hate Mariah Carey's music with a passion. One of her trademarks is to really hit the high notes for no other reason than to show off her five-octave vocal range, let's just say it doesn't impress me much. Until recently i would say the same about Minnie Ripperton who is possibly Mariah Carey's biggest influence by far. Here sole hit Lovin You is in my opinion possibly one of the most syrupy songs ever written epically when Minnie racked her voice up into the higher registers.
The turning point came when i was watching some clips from a documentary about her life they played the song Les Fluers in the background and quite liked it. Surprisingly enough I discovered before her success with Lovin You she made an album with psychedelic soul genius Charles Stepney. When I eventually got around to listening to it I discovered it want half bad. Les Fleurs is the opening cut is a lushly orchestrated number with Minnie singing from the perspective of a flower. Even though Minnies music has been sampled to death by hip hip artists its surprising that this is possibly the least sampled song in her oeuvre.
R.I.P Minnie Ripperton (1947-1979) Charles Stepney (1931-1976)
Wednesday 21 July 2010
The Vines - Highly Evolved
Album: Highly Evolved (Heavenly, 2002) Chark pos: UK#32
Inpiring momont by an uninspiring band.
When the album came out in 2002 it didnt last long in my collection. It was an album made by people who thought the Beatles and Nirvana were the be all and end all of music. In fact it was possibly one of the worst albums I ever decided to buy and the last time I ever listened to the sycophantic British music press.
Recently I heard the song that was the sole reason for buying the album and its still a pretty good tune. At 90 seconds long it's the pinnacle of economic songwriting allongside Wire's early output. Even though craig Nicholls is a tuneless, burgerjavascript:void(0) munching stoner he sound on surprisingly good form.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I1VI7SDF
Inpiring momont by an uninspiring band.
When the album came out in 2002 it didnt last long in my collection. It was an album made by people who thought the Beatles and Nirvana were the be all and end all of music. In fact it was possibly one of the worst albums I ever decided to buy and the last time I ever listened to the sycophantic British music press.
Recently I heard the song that was the sole reason for buying the album and its still a pretty good tune. At 90 seconds long it's the pinnacle of economic songwriting allongside Wire's early output. Even though craig Nicholls is a tuneless, burgerjavascript:void(0) munching stoner he sound on surprisingly good form.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I1VI7SDF
The Jam - Ghosts
Album: The Gift (Polydor,1982) Chart Pos: N/A
This song is a favourite of mine, when I first heard I was in a dead-end job bored, overqualified and yearning for somthing more from life. I really felt the message of the song and I think there comes a point many peoples lives where we need to save ourselves from being lonley and bitter.
This song is a favourite of mine, when I first heard I was in a dead-end job bored, overqualified and yearning for somthing more from life. I really felt the message of the song and I think there comes a point many peoples lives where we need to save ourselves from being lonley and bitter.
Monday 19 July 2010
Pere Ubu - Non-Alignment pact
Album: The Modern Dance (Blank/Mercury, 1978) Chart pos:N/A
If it quacks likes a duck - Its a duck
It it walks like a duck - Its a duck
If it sings like a duck - Its probably Dave Thomas
Out of all the music i own (other than White Light/White Heat) this song pisses people off the most. This is because the first thirty seconds is a loud piercing din that one person compared to a fire alarm going off. After the thirty seconds up were presented with some aggressive Chuck Berry riffs and and some demented warbling courtesy of front man Dave Thomas. The rest of their debut sounded like Roxy Music being hijacked by an obese mental patient from Cleveland. But unlike the nihilism of other post punk bands Pere Ubu's music was a helluvah lot more quirky and offbeat than angst ridden.
As Pere Ubu's promo vids are (occasionally) hard to find I decided to post as many as possible
If it quacks likes a duck - Its a duck
It it walks like a duck - Its a duck
If it sings like a duck - Its probably Dave Thomas
Out of all the music i own (other than White Light/White Heat) this song pisses people off the most. This is because the first thirty seconds is a loud piercing din that one person compared to a fire alarm going off. After the thirty seconds up were presented with some aggressive Chuck Berry riffs and and some demented warbling courtesy of front man Dave Thomas. The rest of their debut sounded like Roxy Music being hijacked by an obese mental patient from Cleveland. But unlike the nihilism of other post punk bands Pere Ubu's music was a helluvah lot more quirky and offbeat than angst ridden.
As Pere Ubu's promo vids are (occasionally) hard to find I decided to post as many as possible
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