It was a surprising move for Elvis Costello fans when he came out with this entirely country and western album in 1981, though it was packed along with the typically cynical Costello quip that stated “”WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners.”. Yet Costello is no rube when it comes to interpreting other peoples music (Just look at “What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding”) and he performs these country standards with quite able hands. This cut, originally left off the LP, was a Hank Cochran written, Patsy Cline performed “She’s Got You”, a beautifully delivered lyric about loss. The arrangement here is worked to perfection with some sparkling piano flourishes and Costello’s isolated lyric pushed front and center, with some heartbreaking slide guitar holding the background. Just a great performance. The downloadable song after the jump.
Culled from the same compilation as the wonderful “You and Me” featured a few days back, this vinyl crackling, bass thumping, vocal jumping Four Tops styled groove is a wonderful upbeat arrangement about, what else, losing a lady but delivered so earnestly that there’s no time to sit around and mope, enjoy this lost vinyl classic.
If you’re interested, the collection is entitled Eccentric Soul, there are many volumes, this song is found on the first.
I don’t think I’ve seen a more affecting and raw film in the past year than what I found in Blue Valentine a romantic drama that does not shy from exposing a relationship at both its most earnest and its most raw. While the soundtrack as a whole is amazing, with great work from indie bands Grizzly Bear as well as the fantastic “In Ear Park” from Department of Eagles, interwoven with the emotional film.
Yet of all things on the fantastic soundtrack, (including a very sweet bare bones ukelele song by Gosling himself) the song that stands out is this beautiful soul number. Gosling’s character introduces it in the film as their song, and its beautifully worked into the plot to symbolize what’s changed. It’s a retro number that’s perfectly used to illustrate its timeless beauty, and how the meanings of words can be changed just by feeling. The song after the jump.
A Brooklyn based band by way of California and Canada actually got its name from a local colloquialism while in college in Boston, The Big Dig, which was a an ill planned vast piece of construction that lasted for the better part of 10 years. Fortunately The Dig dropped the Big and they’ve put out a very solid yet underrated second album, Electric Toys. ”You’re Already Gone” finds itself in best of The Strokes territory, hijacking their urbanite punk derived rhythms into something enjoyable, comforting in its familiarity and yet exciting in its unique take.
While the lead singer possesses a Casablancas like vocal, The Dig breaches into darker songwriting territory with other songs such as “Two Sisters In Love”, which is probably the most enjoyable piece of incest-murder you’ll ever hear in a song. Download both songs after the jump.
It’s an amazing thing, looking back at the entire Beatles career and realizing, damn they were good, but why couldn’t they ever have written a lyric worthy of Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” or Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” or even for that matter a songwriting epic worthy of “Born to Run”. Yet as a Beatles fan I’ve come to realize that The Beatles true talent, was that of creating entirely cohesive albums, rather than individual stand-out songs, much like that of the individual members themselves, whose separate careers, although good were nothing on a level with their whole output as a group.
You can file this away in the well thats just obvious department, but Abbey Road is a great album and not only their ultimate be all end all album as a group, but also one that succinctly summarizes what made them great on the first place. It is also an album that remains timeless upon each listen, there is not one discernable part of the record that makes you think “Oh wow well you can tell this is from 1969″. The tracks are pristine, benefitting from the band finally having overall access to a brand new studio, with 8 tracks to play with, rather than the usual 4-track limitations. (In that regard, Sgt. Peppers should be regarded as a spectacular achievement). Long having since been known as a vocal group, the harmonies on the album are precise and beautifully done, finally showing their vocals talents in all their glory. Abbey Road is more than just a collection of songs, but one of gorgeous melodies as well; from the swamp-rock rhythms of “Come Together” to the rock-and-roll bombast of “The End”. Typical of most of their works, Abbey Road never drags and features many different styles from old-time music hall “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” to summer of love acoustic numbers “Here Comes The Sun” even foreshadowing musical styles to come in songs like “Sun King” and “You Never Give Me Your Money” and containing as Frank Sinatra would often say; the greatest love song of all time, in “Something”. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid listening to the album ever, congratulations you’re probably due for some reward, but to be sure there is no ultimate album out there that would be as lasting, and as perfect as Abbey Road.
Hello folks, welcome back to a brand new year of Art of the Mixtape. To help kick it off I bring you a nice bucolic little mixture of some great songs.
1. Greatest Show On Earth- The Felice Brothers
On their eponymous debut, The Felice Brothers very much earned their label of following in the tradition of Bob Dylan and The Band. Perhaps what is most impressive is their narrative ability, delivering slices of Americana in a world weary mood. However, “Greatest Show On Earth” stands out with its jaunty New Orleans infused melody. Come for the story, stay for the music.
The Dodos burst onto the San Francisco music scene with a unique drumming centric sound, but don’t let that scare you, they’re very much a rootsy rock band with a percussive twist. Many of their other songs showcase a more daring aesthetic but “Fables” is a very endearing acoustic standout with a nice vocal to boot.
You’ll be hooked from the very beginning of this number by the unfortunately little known Port O’Brien, very much a cousin to The Shins output circa “New Slang”, the guitar/vocal/drum hook is amazing.
Blake Mills came out with a very under-promoted debut and his number “Hiroshima” is delightful ear candy that grows from the likes of worthy predecessors such like the homegrown material of Paul McCartney’s McCartney and Ram, absolutely beautiful melody, before a slide guitar solo comes out of nowhere sounding like Duane Allman coming from the dead.
Detractors would say that they took this directly out of the book of previous acts like Fleet Foxes, they would be right, but they do it so well that its hardly an insult, their harmonies are gorgeous.
16. Let The Distance Keep Us Together- Spoon/ Bright Eyes
Spoon can create a great melody out of anything, but when they write great lyrics to go with it, there’s hardly a modern band that can compete with them.
Perhaps no man is better qualified to write a finger-picked acoustic piece of Americana than one who went to Oberlin and graduated with a self made major in “American History through Narrative Folk Music”
Tucked in at the end of Justin Townes Earle’s Harlem River Blues, one of the best albums of 2010 is a rousing heart-wrenching ballad “Rogers Park”. While most of the songs on the album have a celebratory jaunt in the music to contrast the lyrical mood, “Rogers Park” is a restrained mood, with an absolutely beautiful piano melody motif, and some of the best lyrics Justin Townes Earle has ever written in his career. It’s a somber pick-up from Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run tramp, starting off with the echoing words “This town’s dead tonight. I’ve got no place to be.”. An absolute profound recording with some beautiful slide guitar work.
This week im featuring a funky danceable playlist that incorporates both old and new and hopes to keep those holiday spirits alive through the cold weather. To the older folks out there this mix is more geared towards the younger types, but theres plenty of classics thrown in that you’ve undoubtedly enjoyed for many years. So without further ado, the mix after the jump.
I became a thin blue flame Polished on a mountain range And over hills and fields I flew Wrapped up in a royal blue I flew over Royal City last night A bullfighter on the horns of a new moon’s light Caesar’s ghost I saw the war-time tides The prince of Denmark’s father still and quiet And the whole world was looking to get drowned Trees were a fist shaking themselves at the clouds I looked over curtains and it was then that I knew Only a full house gonna make it through
Few songs will ever come close to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” a brilliant ode to the problems within religion. Josh Ritter’s “Thin Blue Flame” becomes all that and more, the hushed tone in front of a live audience, the simple rhythm guitar, and the words. At times elegant and at times blunt, the prose is poetic not with a sense of cynicism, but reverence. Not many people could dot their lyrical stanzas with as many purposeful Shakespeare references as Ritter does here, as if to tell us underneath it all the world is our stage, and we the only players. The song is a long one at around 10 minutes but its a sermon that doesn’t patronize or drag, its got a ghostly power to it, and it is well worth your time.
