Recently #3

A very acceptable new record of honky tonk. The Mootster is joined by ex-Dwight svengali Pete Anderson on guitar and production.

Listen to: The Man, The Myth.

Recently #2

Ages ago, I got the second volume of the Sopranos soundtrack and was captivated by "Black Books" by Nils Lofgren. It's still one of my very favourite songs. His solo work hasn't always reached those heights, but I got Sacred Weapon (2006) the other day and it's excellent. Rocky, bluesy, funky, a bit of country including Nils of some gorgeous pedal steel, interesting and varied songs, Nils' pixie-ish voice carrying it all. The cover is a bit cadaver-esque but that's one thing about digital downloads, you don't have to look at it much.

Listen to: In Your Hands, a duet with Willie Nelson.

The Word

I met Keith at the LA premiere of Pirates 3, and I mean, what do you say to someone whom you listen to literally every day of your life? For me, it's simple, it's the Stones and Dylan, bar when you have someone over, then it's a bit of Marvin Gaye on top just to be sociable.

~ Bill Nighy. The Word, August 2007, p. 61

I wanted to buy the new issue of The Monthly while waiting for the train but didn't have any cash so to meet the minimum to use my card I bought, for the first time, The Word. I had looked at its cover before and for some reason always imagined it to be a) American and b) a more serious Downbeat type thing, as opposed to the studied irreverance of a Mojo or, in particular, Uncut. In fact, it's British and basically exactly the same as Uncut, but not as thick (page number wise.)

Anyway, I just wanted to share that Nighy quote on account of, it being hilariously true and right and all good things.

Recently #1

Recently went on an eMusic splurge. Pearls Before Swine were a 90s psychadelic folk band and One Nation Underground was released in 1967. According to Wikipedia:

They were quickly signed up, and recorded One Nation Underground (1967), featuring songs of mysticism, protest, melancholia, and some controversy in the case of “Miss Morse”, which spelled out an obscenity in code.

The sophisticated 2007 ear may find the psychadelic waffle about crystal swans and whatnot rather quaint but they don't forget about melodies either and it's amusing enough. I can't listen to it for days on end, but a run through now and then is good for a certain mood.

The lead singer Tom Rapp has a very appealing lisp. In addition (also according to Wikipedia):

He once came third in a talent contest in Rochester where a certain Bobby Zimmerman from Hibbing was fifth. "The winner was a cute little girl in a red sequined costume who twirled a baton."

MP3: (Oh Dear) Miss Morse -- the one with the covert obscenity!

The New Steve

This is a great cover. "As the albums have gotten worse, the covers have gotten better. Discuss."

Also I love that at his official website you can actually pat the dog. Go on, try it. So cute!

I have put this off and off because I listened to it a few times and did not like it. This depresses me because I love Steve Earle but have not, not one bit, loved his last few albums. I choose denial.

But it's been a few weeks. I'm gonna live blog my next listen and see if it's improved.

Tennessee Blues. This was a pre-release a few months ago. I can't be bothered to go back and find where, but I linked to it and said nice things. And it's quite nice. I am pleased by the "goodbye guitar town" line, such in-references make the fangrrrrl happy. And I like that Steve's happy. Nothing exciting, but a nice start.

Down Here Below. Oh, goody: spoken word. I did like his collection of short stories "Doghouse Roses" so I'm partial to his little vignettes. This is alright I suppose UNTIL 3.25 in when he starts with ... well I don't know what it is, but I don't like it.

Satellite Radio. This is OK, although I was ready for it to be over a minute before it was.

City of Immigrants. Steve used to be a writer of what are called "story songs." Are there any on this album? Not that I object to the sentiment, I wholeheartedly endorse it. But just repeating over and over that New York City is a city of immigrants is ... what? It's not telling us anything we don't know, nor even doing it in an interesting way. And the backup singers actually chant "all of us are immigrants." ! Which, true. But also, meaningless cliche. I rather think this is an awful song.

Sparkle and Shine If your singer-songwriter boyfriend/husband wrote this for your anniversary, you'd be overwhelmed with love and might get a bit weepy at the beauty of the gesture. You still wouldn't want him to actually put it on an album.

Come Home to Me. It's not finished yet and I've already forgotten all about it.

Jericho Road. This starts of sounding a bit like "Telegraph Road" from El Corazon. I wonder if that's deliberate? Bad move if so, because that song was good. I guess this is an attempt at Seeger-ish symbolic folk song thing but it doesn't really grab me.

Oxycontin Blues. Oh, yeah. Hillbilly heroin! Surely Steve can bring this one home. ... It's pretty good but not a classic.

Red is the Color. Well, he has moved to Greenwich Village. So a bit of unremarkable beat poetry is to be expected. Like the mandolin (?), the harp and the howling.

Steve's Hammer (For Pete). Yeah, its alright and the only one I can really imagine singing along to. Pity that Bruce did a whole album of this stuff, much better, not so long ago. D'oh!

Days Aren't Long Enough. Duet with wifey. He pretty much always has a chick duet on his records, most of them pleasant but unremarkable. As is this on. Nice enough.

Way Down in the Hole. Now, I utterly adore The Wire, the show for which this will be the theme song this season. This version doesn't grab me but it might work in context.

Heart of America

Picture stolen from my sister's blog.

The new Tom Russell, Wounded Heart of America, which is a collection of ogher folks covering him from over the years plus a few new ones from Tom himself. I got it from the best shop in Sydney Yesterday and Today -- go buy stuff.

Veteran's Day -- Johnny Cash Recorded on "Boom Chicka Boom" in the Mercury interlude between being dumped by Columbia and crossing paths with Rick Rubin, although Veteran's Day was left off the original and included on later editions as a bonus track. True to the album name it has That Sound, but unfortunately with a follow-the-bouncing-ball quality. Nothing wrong with the vocals though, and Cash and Russell are made for each other.

Gallo del Cielo -- Joe Ely Tom's greatest song? The greatest cover of a Tom song anyway. It's on Ely's "Letter to Laredo", but this is a live one from "Live at Antones." A truly exhilirating song.

Acres of Corn -- Iris deMent
The Outcaste -- Dave Van Ronk
These are from The Man from God Knows Where and I swear the amount of time I spent evangelising this album bores even me. Just get it.

Manzanar -- Laurie Lewis Don't know who Laurie Lewis is but a solid version of this song, about the wartime interment of Japanese-Americans. Tom Paxton also does a good version.

St Olav's Gate -- Doug Sahm In my memory from hearing it before I thought this was a much faster rocking sort of version, maybe there's another one? Anyway, that steel guitar makes it nice and woozy, like you really are drunk in Oslo.

Outbound Plane -- Suzy Bogguss. Something of a hit. The chorus has never quite made sense to me, but sining along is irresistable anyway.

Canadian Whiskey -- Ian Tyson and Nanci Griffith. Sentimental song about a crazy drunk woman. A bit slight lyrically, but undeniable beautiful in execution.

Navajo Rug -- Jerry Jeff Walker. Ai yi yi. Tom's famous song about sex in public places. His most covered song? A bit jaunty for me, this version.

The Sky Above, The Mud Below -- Rambling Jack Elliott. Duet with Tom. Excellent! A long western character and story song Tom does better than just about anyone else, ever.

Haley's Comet -- Dave Alvin. I have a very strong aversion to songs, books or TV shows -- and the telly is the worst offender -- which have some pun in their title based on the name of a character. Like, "Grey's Anatomy." They only used that character name so they could have a stupid pun in the titlle. And so I think the conceit here-- it's about the death of Bill Haley ("Haley's comet hit the ground") -- extremely iffy. But it is otherwise a great song, and Alvin's performance on this version is suitably energetic so I like it.

Stealing Electricity -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Heh. What can you say? I ragged on Steve's beat poetry in the below review, but if you're going to do performance poetry you want to be Lawrence Ferlinghetti to pull it off.

Walking on the Moon -- Elilza Gilkyson. Eh, never liked this song so much. It's alright (and this is a lovely version) but a bit sugary. Tom can do sentiment as well as crusty cynicism, which is why he's so great.

The Cuban Sandwich -- Barrence Whitfield. I don't have the record this is from, but I've been intrigued by descriptions of it for years (not least because it covers a couple of my favourite songss.) This is also a duet with Tom. Impossibly cool, fun and a bit weird. I want the rest of the album.

There follows a few new Tom songs which are all great, including "Who's Gonna Build your Wall." See, Steve, so there's how you write a political song about immigration:




We've got fundamentalist Muslims,
We've got fundamentalist Jews,
We've got fundamentalist Christians
They'll blow the whole thing up for you.

But as I travel around this big old world
there's one thing I most fear
and that's a white man in a golf shirt
with a cell phone in his ear.

Dwight Sings Buck

October 23rd.
"Close Up the Honky Tonks" is on Dwight's MySpace page.

Farewell, Septabulous

OK so September is pretty much over and I am not going to make my one-post-a-day target. But I did OK. I hit a wall when uni deadlines started bearing down.

This essay won't write itself and bob knows I've given it enough opportunity to do so.

Having a semi night off for the rugby league grand final even though I hate both teams.

All I want to say about it is this:



And BOOOOO to the NRL for being a nark about the footage of the 1997 Knights win because otherwise I would be posting that.

Bettye, Then the Rest

Song of America is a three CD set exploring the byways of the great American songbook originating with none other than Janet Reno. I’ve only heard bits and pieces thus far, as is usual with projects like this some of it works and some of it fails to grab you BUT it has given me my favourite song of the year.

Bettye LaVette covering Bruce’s Streets of Philadelphia. You can hear it here.

I always thought that song never really got its due – oh, sure, it won an Oscar but that’s almost a reason to distrust its quality. Beautiful song and the subject of a couple of good covers. Marah did a nice one too, although I recall disapproving of their lyrics changes.

But none will top Bettye’s. I bet Bruce is delirious with joy over it.

The Procrastination Shuffle

1.Handle With Care -- Traveling Wilburies
2. Somehow, Someday -- Ryan Adams
3. Promised Land -- Elvis Presley
4. I'm Walking the Dog -- David Ball
5. Bethleridge -- Robbie Fulks
6. Find You At Last -- John Hiatt
7. Cold Irons Bound (Live) -- Bob Dylan
8. There's a Story in Your Voice -- Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams
9. She Knows Why -- Claude King
10. Fraulein O. -- James McMurty
11. Cipó de goabeira -- Silvério Pessoa
12. Rising Sun Blues -- Clarence Ashley and DOc Watson
13. Jesus is My Kind of People -- Etta James
14. Across the Great Divide -- The Band
15. In the Basement -- Etta James
16. The Captain and the Kid -- Elton John
17. Kaolock -- Thio Mbaye
18. Backwater Blues -- Chris Knight
19. Eyes on the Prize -- Bruce Springsteen
20. Blue Side of Lonesome -- George Jones

Meet Me in Thirty Odd Years

First live performance of Meet Me in the Morning, in Nashville. (with Jack White)

Tonight We Write

Well, I've missed a couple of Septabulous days on account of: essay. We'll make it up on the back end. Trying to avoid doing just YouTube posts but I'm not above it.

Dylan's Theme Time radio show is back tonight/today. Weee!

Lucinda Williams has been doing these series of shows where the first half she plays one of her studio albums song for song ( PDF of World Without Tears show in LA. PDF is irritating, but I suppse this is supposed to be her very own list? With tunings for the guitar nerds.) On various nights she did "World Without Tears", "Essence", "Car Wheels...", "Lucinda Williams" and "Sweet Old World." Then at the end of the show each audience member gets a CD of it, which was whipped up during the second set of the gig. A bit nifty. Niftier still, these will "soon" be available to download from her website. I'm also pleased they have revamped the website, removing the hideous picture that as there before. No Australian dates yet. Sigh.

Here she is in a quick snippet doing "Greenville" with Emmylou Harris recently. Control yourselves, boys.

Monday Cat Blogging

Alberta Hunter.

Cheap Sunday

Nowt to say except I added a Lastfm widget to the sidebar, below recent comments. Stickybeak away at what I'm playing on iTunes. It's all jazzed up today because that's what I put on when I'm in the other room writing an essay as I supposedly was.

You will see the new Moot Davis album Already Moved On appearing there in the coming days. It's really very good.

Went to Sydney Uni library today but got waylaid by the book sale in the Great Hall. Of musical note I got "Mister Jelly Roll" by Alan Lomax ($1), "Riding on a Blue Note: Jazz and American Pop" by Gary Giddins ($2) and "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music" ($3) which was published the year I was born. Not that I will ever get around to reading them but at least the Encyclopedia has pretty pictures, as above.

Half way through September

Here's a recap of the FEM music so far:

Teddy Thompson: Upfront and Down Low
Johnny Irion: Ex Tempore
Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockerell: Begonias
Norwegian Hank Williams etc

Wha?

New Bob Dylan album in January ... with Rick Rubin and someone called Jacknife? I thought Bobby/Jack Frost had had his fill of celebrity producers.

Lost Highway ...

... has some audio up from the forthcoming Mary Gauthier record, Between Daylight and Dark. I'm loving them all.

Stars and Pinstripes

Off topic and originally posted at Sidelined.

The Bronx is Burning is a 2007 eight episode ESPN series (yeah, they make drama too. Who knew?) about the famous 1977 Yankees. Due to the tyranny of distance, my interest in baseball is casual but there's alot I find attractive about the game, and the mythology that surrounds it. By accident of birth I'm pouring over economy rates and not outs rather than RBIs and BB/Ks but I think the pall of being a long suffering Cubs fan would suit me fine. (Hey, give it time and the Newcastle Knights might yet build an equally impressive history of despair.) Like any show it may add something to be intimate with the subject area, but The Bronx is Burning is such good television, the less well-educated like me and even the sports-averse could go with the flow.

Five elements power the story. The first has to be the rhythms of baseball itself, including the obligatory dug out blow ups, the slides and collisions on bases, the tense innings where everything is in slow mo, punctuated by bursts of chaos. If you've seen any baseball film you know them.

Three characters set the pace. Oliver Platt is George Steinbrenner, Yankees' owner, and John Turturro is Billy Martin, Yankees' manager. Both in real life is seems are/were, at any one moment, about fifteen seconds from throwing someone, anyone, out a window. If you just imagine the actors -- all solicitous curves versus all crazy eyes and grinding jaws -- that tells a story in itself and both actors are as you would expect, pretty perfect. Steinbrenner developed a habit of firing and re-hiring Martin over their long association, a history turned to the noble use of selling cruddy beer in this ad. (YouTube)

Into this already rather volcanic mix is thrown the person of Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata, unknown to me before this but more than holds his own. Extremely unfortunately he's a 9/11 conspiracy kook in real life which prevents me from being too enthused about him but he is, I begrudgingly admit, good in this.) The swaggering and mercurial hero brought in by Steinbrenner to put "meat in the seats", which he does but with many headlines and bruised egos along the way.

Then there is New York City itself, which you could argue is always the main character of any film, TV show, book or song set there. The ball game is the majority of the story, with cameos from the other parts of a city fraying at the edges economically and socially: the Son of Sam murders, issues like frequent power outages and the mayoral race. The police investigation and media treatment of the Son of Sam is the main b-storyline, and the dramatised scenes are woven powerfully with evocative archival footage. Although I don't like to use the word "entertaining" to describe things about David Berkowitz, it has to be said the contemporary vox pops on the streets of NYC are fascinating.

Every half-decent sports film ever made is fully about the sport but also about much more. The Bronx is Burning satisfies on all levels and, if you can find a copy in Australia, comes heartily recommended. And it's based on a book, which I really must seek out.

Not alot on it from YouTube, except this "sales Tape" promo thing:

Things I Don't Get #5467798

Ringtones.

Why do people download ringtones when you can just load your own MP3s into your phone?

Mine is "Like A Rolling Stone" and I didn't pay no stinking $5.95 or whatever for it.


Oh OK I guess what you might be paying for is the right -- although I don't see why you should need extra permission, any more than to play it on your car stereo with the windows down -- to use it as your ringtone but since the market of the ringtones is the same market that does the most illegal downloading I still don't get it.

Ex Tempore - Johnny Irion

An intensely lovely collection of early Neil Young meets early Elton John with a cosmic American sheen. The sort of music you would hear on the radio for the first time but be sure you'd been listening to that song all your life.

Some tracks on his MySpace page -- particularly check out Eyes LIke a Levee and Roman Candle.