I should get the new single from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart this Tuesday. I will be getting a CD EP from Frankie Rose for the single Night Swim for free too. I am very excited about both of these items.
Graveface Records is doing a charity series of 7" records. Whirr has a track on one of the sets that is a part of this series. I am going to try to get a set if they don't sell out before I get the money to make the purchase.
On with the show...
This is the sixth album from The Beatles. It was released in
1965. This album was recorded quickly to be released in time for the Christmas
market that year. I have a copy of the 87’ remaster on vinyl. I have heard so
much bad talk about this version, actually the whole 87’ remastered set. Since
I don’t really know the difference I like what I have. I am sure that the new
09’ remasters sound better but I can’t justify having more than one copy of an
album. I take that back. There are some artists that I do have more than one
copy of an album, usually one copy on CD and one vinyl, but they are artists
that mean more to me than The Beatles do. I am a casual but a collector at the
same time. So, although I am not a super fan of The Beatles I do own all of
their albums on vinyl in one form or another, original release or 87’
repressing mostly.
Most Beatles fans know every track on this album. For me,
they are all great except for one that is good but stands out as an odd ball
for me. That track is What Goes On. It has a country feel that I really can’t
stand. It is of course the track that Ringo Star sings. It is not his fault.
His style of singing doesn’t help though.
The rest of the album is perfection. From Drive My Car with
its classic rock sounds to Norwegian Wood and the first world music styled
sitar use from George Harrison. The whole album is so much fun. With the
exception of the track that I complained about you can’t complain about this
album. Even the deep cuts on this album are considered singles!
This is the sixth album from David Bowie. It was released in
1973. It is the follow-up to Ziggy Stardust and uses a new character that was
developed during the Ziggy Stardust tours. The character is based on the
duality of mind in a schizophrenic mind. It really boiled down to Bowie wanting to be up on
stage performing but not wanting to be around the people who he toured with. Bowie has also made
reference to his brother who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I have had
this album for a while now. I found it in good condition on vinyl at one of my
local record stores.
There are four singles that were released from this album.
The first of which is The Jean Genie. According to Bowie,
it was "a smorgasbord of imagined Americana",
with a protagonist inspired by Iggy Pop, and the title being a pun on author Jean
Genet. The song is good but not one of Bowies
best. It is not exactly what you would expect from him.
The second single from the album is called Drive-InSaturday. Heavily influenced by 1950s doo-wop, "Drive-In Saturday"
describes how the inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic world in the future (Bowie once said the year
2033) have forgotten how to reproduce, and need to watch old porn
films to see how it's done. The narrative has been cited as an
example of Bowie's
"futuristic nostalgia", where the story is told from the
perspective of an inhabitant of the future looking back in time. It is a
strange story but I have heard similar ideas too from other sources.
The third single from the album is called Time. The piece
has been described as "burlesque vamp,” and compared to the cabaret music
of Jacques Brel and Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill. Keyboardist Mike
Garson said that he employed "the old stride piano style from the 20s and
I mixed it up with avant-garde jazz styles plus it had the element of show
music, plus it was very European." Co-producer Ken Scott took
credit for the idea of mixing the sound of Bowie's breathing right up front
when the music paused, just before guitarist Mick Ronson launched into his
cacophonous solo.
The last single from this album is a cover of The Rolling
Stones song Let’s Spend The Night Together. I am personally not a fan of The
Rolling Stones but they did make some killer songs. This version of Let’s Spend
The Night Together is faster and adds some really cool synth sounds to the
song. I like it a lot.
In addition to these singles I remember hearing the first
track, Watch That Man, on the album on the radio quite frequently. It has been
said that bowie
was moving tward a “Stones” sound. I would agree with this song as it is very
“Stonesesque” in sound.
This group has released so many albums and EPs that I am not
sure how to classify it in an order. I guess I could say that it was the third US release. It
was released in 1997. They are a Japanese pop group so I don’t really know much
about them except I really like their music. They put out so many EPs and singles
in support of their music along with remixes of each song on the album that it
is hard to know what is what with this group at times. Every thing that they
put out is so amazing though that I just decided to get the albums that were
released in the US
because it is so overwhelming the amount of music that they released. I have
some extra stuff that they released but not all that much.
There were a few tracks that were exceptional from this
album though. My favorite from this album is called Love’s Theme (The link is to the Automator mix). This song
spells out the word K-I-S-S frequently. I am all about love themes. The drum
work on this track is stellar. The strings work so well with the drums and the
bass is just simple enough to support the song in the right way. I have always
been interested in Japanese style and the female Japanese vocals are perfection
in style.
The second track that I really like on this album is called
Trailer Music. It has a sample from what seems like a fun dance track from the
40’s or maybe earlier. What ever the song is it has been cut up and modernized
into something amazing. There is a little bit of talking from a male voice but
is mostly devoid of singing.
The last track that I like from this album is called Porno3003. It features a low toned female voice talking over a pretty flute lead
part. The song is very slow almost lounge like in feel. There is of course some
fantastic drum programming on this track too. The strings and sitar on the
track add to the atmosphere of the song.
This is the first album from Sea Wolf. It was released in
2007. I originally bought this album on CD. It wasn’t until after the second
album was released that I finally picked it up on vinyl. I am so glad that I
did. This album is super special to me. It has a sound that covers the whole
album that makes me want to curl up under a blanket and just relax while
watching TV. This may be because it was released in the fall and that the songs
reference cold water/rain and falling leaves frequently.
I am pretty sure that there were three singles released from
this album or at least my public radio station, 89.3 The Current, played three
or more songs from the album on the air. The first single from the album is
called You’re A Wolf. I loved the simplistic sounds on this song and the lyrics
work so well too. The lyrics as they are sung are very easy to understand and
are very interesting. It could be about a wild wolf or a werewolf or a man
searching for his girlfriend. The story is not specific but is still very
intriguing.
The next song that I have heard on the radio is called
Winter Windows. This song features an accordion. I am not usually a fan of the
accordion but when it works in a song it works. I really like “Weird Al” Yankovic’s
music and he makes use of the accordion as well. In my opinion Sea
Wolf’s use is even more musical than “Weird Al” Yankovic’s use of the
instrument.
The last track that I for sure remember hearing on the radio
from the album is called Black Dirt. The song has an unlikely start until the
pre-chorus starts. It is at that point that the song really kicks in. It is the
chorus that makes the song. In my head I see homeless people with no shoes on
with black dirty feet from the black dirt in the street wearing moldy rags and
sacks draped over their backs to keep warm. I really feel for those people that
I see in my head. They are developed from movies about old England and
comic books that I read while in high school. I don’t even know if people like
that really exist other than in my head but I do feel for them if they do.
This is one of the great albums from an artist rich time,
2007 was a great year for music, in the 00’s. I highly recommend this album.
That is all I have for now...
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