The music presented here is for the purpose of promoting the bands. If you like the songs, buy the albums.If you are in the band, or are a legal representative of them, and you don't want the music here, just drop a quick email to me (deadbilly_88 at mail.com), and they will be removed. I'm not looking to rip anyone off, just trying to share the music I love.
It seems that after nearly three years of posting once or twice a week, I've gotten to the point where most of my new posts are revisiting bands I've mentioned before. That's alright. There's a lot of good stuff I've found since I last posted on many of them.
Besides, December is almost here, and I'm planning to do the same thing I did last year for the holiday season. One festive song a day, through Christmas.
Maybe in December I'll find some new bands, and some new goodies to share in the new year. In the mean time, here's a bunch more from the Canadian rockers with one of the best band names ever, The Tragically Hip.
The Tragically Hip, 1987 (buy) (EP) Up To Here, 1989 (buy) Road Apples, 1991 (buy) Fully Completely, 1992 Day For Night, 1994 (buy) (my personal favorite) Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996 (buy) Phantom Power, 1998 (buy) Music at Work, 2000 (buy) In Violet Light, 2002 (buy) In Between Evolution, 2004 (buy) World Container, 2006 (buy) We Are the Same, 2009 (buy)
Here's a bonus unrelated video - I seem to be posting a lot of those lately. This is Lisa Hannigan performing a live cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". A good version throughout, but the end rocks.
While leaving my house this afternoon to make my way over to the Swell Season show in Mesa, I missed the last step on my porch and twisted my knee something awful. Naturally, that wasn't enough to keep me from the show, though I did arrive with a pronounced limp.
I'm mighty glad that I did decide to go (I'm a bit of a recluse, and rarely do the social thing these days), because it now ranks among the best live shows I've ever been witness to. Top honors still remain with The Pogues in their prime, touring for If I Should Fall From Grace With God, and with Luka Bloom opening, but tonight's show is only slightly below that.
Though I knew going in that I would enjoy the headliners, the nicest surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the opener, Rachael Yamagata. I had heard her name mentioned in various places around the web, but had not had the pleasure of hearing her music before tonight. Let me just say that I am now a big fan. Most of her set, she was alone on stage playing either piano or guitar, and at times she was joined by guitarist Kevin Salem.
By way of comparison, for those who haven't heard her yet, her sound is a bit similar to Nora Jones, with a bit of Janis Joplin on her bluesier songs. And her personality and sense of humor shown between, and sometimes during, her songs. I will be picking up some of her albums in the near future.
That's all well and good, but what of The Swell Season?
From start to finish, an absolutely electric show. They began with just Mar and Glen sitting in the middle of the stage, performing "Fallen From the Sky", and ended with a blistering rendition of "Fitzcarraldo" (though in the interest of full disclosure, I have never heard a less-than-blistering version of the song). In between they played nearly all the tracks on the new disc, Strict Joy, about half of the Once soundtrack, a smattering of tunes from their first album, and a few other assorted bits and bobs from Frames albums, solo albums, and covers.
Glen was very talkative between songs. Markéta was in fine voice, and as radiant as ever, and the rest of the band were in top form.
The full set list (not completely in order) was: "Fallen From the Sky", "Low Rising", "Feeling the Pull", "Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain" (Willie Nelson cover), "In These Arms", "If You Want Me", "Fantasy Man", "The Rain", "The Moon", "Back Broke", When Your Mind's Made Up", "Lies", "Leave", "Say It To Me Now", "Once", "Rise", "Falling Slowly", Fitzcarraldo"
There was also a Van Morrison cover, the title of which escapes me, a brand new untitled song, and a solo tune from Colm's album, I believe it was "The Court of New Town", but I might be wrong on that one. Oh, and one line from Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing".
I may have missed a song or two in that list, as I was too in to the show to bother keeping track.
The only bad thing about the evening (other than the knee problem), was that I didn't think ahead to bring any cash, so I went home without any goodies. That's my own damn fault, though, and the show was more than enough to make up for my disappointment on that front.
If you have the opportunity to see them, I give them my highest recommendation. If you can't make it to one of their shows, here's a couple of hard to find tracks to ease your pain:
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová - The Swell Season, 2006 (buy) Various Artists - Once, 2007 (buy) (soundtrack) The Swell Season - Strict Joy, 2009 (buy)(buy deluxe) Colm Mac Con Iomaire - The Hare's Corner, 2008 (buy Amazon)(buy official) Rob Bochnik - Blowing the Cobwebs, (buy) Rachael Yamagata - Elephants. . . Teeth Sinking Into Heart, 2008 (buy) Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance, 2004 (buy)
And as an added bonus, having nothing to do with the concert, here's a new video from the band Welcome To Ashley, which I mention a couple weeks ago. The video is difinitly a low budget affair, but it does have its charm, and the song is great. I need to hear more from these guys.
I suppose if I had been planning ahead, I could have come up with some interesting reference to Friday the 13th to post today. Oh well, guess I missed the boat on that one. I'm sure there's plenty of other blogs making those references, though, and I hate to look like I'm following the crowd.
Here's a band that didn't like to follow the crowd, either (ooh, it's like I'm a real writer). A House formed in Ireland in the mid eighties. They put out three fantastic non-album singles, before releasing their debut album, On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round, in 1988. To this day that one remains one of my favorite albums.
Though they never achieved huge fame outside Ireland, they did come close in some areas with "Endless Art", a song whose lyrics are a stream-of-consciousness list of great artists from many different forms of art (painters / sculptors / actors / composers).
Here's a batch of stuff you won't find on their albums:
A House - "Kick Me Again Jesus" The first single. This was later included on a best-of, but that has gone out of print, and it never was available in the States. A House - "Snowball Down" The second single. Never available on an album. A House - "Heart Happy" The third single. A House - "Michael" One of the b-sides of "Call Me Blue", which was their biggest hit until "Endless Art" came along. A House - "This Child Is Yours and Not Mine" B-side of "I'll Always Be Grateful". A House - "I Feel Love" (Donna Summer cover) B-side of "Here Come the Good Times". A House - "More Endless Art" After getting some guff over only having male artists mentioned in "Endless Art", the band recorded this new version and released it as a b-side when the first one was put out as a single.
None of A House's albums are currently in print, and the CDs can go for some descent money when you can find them. Here's the list:
On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round, 1988 I Want Too Much, 1990 I Am The Greatest, 1991 Wide Eyed and Ignorant, 1994 No More Apologies, 1996
These days, if you're in Ireland, you can catch Dave Couse gigging and releasing solo material. But, as is so often the case with the music I write about, good luck finding anything by him in the US.
Busy with work this week, so I don't have time to write much right now. Here's three random songs that have absolutely no relation to each other, other than the fact that I like them all.
MC Chris - "Fett's Vett" If you're a Star Wars geek like me, chances are you've already heard this one. If you haven't, take a listen now. I pretty sure it's the best sci-fi gangsta rap ever. From Chris's album Life's A Bitch and I'm Her Pimp, which was available as a free download from his site a while back.
Mark Curry - "Merry-Go-Round" I did a post on Mark a few months back. For some reason, I didn't put this song up at the time. It's from a compilation called This Is Hard Soul.
Screaming Trees - "No One Knows" (Live) Recorded live in the studio for Dutch radio station VARA, in the town Hilversum. Released on the promo compilation An Epic Tour De Force. The studio version is on Sweet Oblivion.(buy)
It's a big week for the holiday box sets. Really great if you're into jazz legends. Here's the new releases I'm thinking look most interesting:
AC/DC - Backtracks(buy) Rarities box. Billie Holiday - Complete Commodore and Decca Masters(buy) Box set. Ella Fitzgerald - Twelve Nights in Hollywood(buy) Box set. Grant-Lee Phillips - Ladies Love Oracle(buy) Slightly expanded re-issue. Pixies - Minotaur(buy) I'm a Pixies fan, but even I think this $230 box is a bit of overkill. Various Artists - Pirate Radio Soundtrack(buy) A good 2 disc compilation of classics.
There's also batches of reissues from The Rolling Stones, King Diamond, Queen (yet another best-of), and a live disc from Robyn Hitchcock.
Ah, look how young they were there. Yeah, you must know The Frames by now. This is the third time I've posted about them.
One wonderful blog reader recently gave me a link to a bunch of their recordings I didn't yet have. The highlight of those was the 4-song demo EP they put out around the time of their second album, Fitzcarraldo, which is also when this pic was taken.
The demos are far too good to keep to myself, so here they are, along with a few other goodies from the early days for good measure. Big big thanks to Chris on this one.
There's still several more b-sides and rarities that I don't have, so if there's anyone out there that's got some goodies and is willing to share, feel free to drop me a line.
These days, several of the guys are touring with The Swell Season (see my last post).
Switching modes from Ireland over to Scotland, there's a short acoustic set from The Proclaimers available to stream over at NPR. It's from their appearance at Mountain Stage in West Virginia earlier this year.
I think I've mentioned before that I don't consider myself a writer by any stretch of the imagination. That's the main reason I very rarely do album reviews. However, I felt like putting in my two cents on the latest from The Swell Season. So prepare for what will likely be the shortest review anywhere on the web.
First, a tad bit of background for those who happen by and aren't already familiar with the group.
The Swell Season is fronted by Irishman Glen Hansard (of The Frames) and Czechoslovakian singer and musician Markéta Irglová. The rest of the band varies, but usually has at least a couple of Glen's Frames band mates.
Depending on how you look at it, Strict Joy is either their second or third album. The debut being an album titled The Swell Season, by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and the second (on some lists) is the Once soundtrack, on which the majority of the tracks where performed by Hansard and Irglová.
So here's my brief and in-eloquent review of Strict Joy:
There have been many follow-up albums over the years that have come up short of the greatness of the disc that made a given band "big". I am very happy to say that this is not the case with this one. After giving the album several listens, I can honestly say that I'm enamored with it even more than I was with their debut album, and I was quite fond of that one.
"Feeling the Pull" is gorgeous. Markéta's voice has never been more beautiful than on "I Have Loved You Wrong". And "Love That Conquers" ventures into - dare I say it - nearly Dylan-esque territory.
Buy it. Better yet, buy the deluxe version. You won't regret it.
But don't take my word for it. Download "In These Arms" for free and legal right here, or catch them on their North American tour and see for yourself:
Tonight Toronto, ON Massey Hall Nov 4 Montreal, QC Olympia de Montreal Nov 6 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center Nov 7 Providence, RI Lupo's Nov 8 Philadelphia, PA Merriam Theatre Nov 9 Washington, DC 9:30 Club Nov 12 New Orleans, LA House of Blues Nov 13 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Nov 14 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom Nov 15 Austin, TX Paramount Theatre Nov 17 Mesa, AZ Mesa Arts Center (Yeah!!) Nov 18 & 19 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern Nov 20 Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre Nov 22 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre Nov 23 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre Nov 24 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom Nov 25 Vancouver, BC The Centre Nov 27 Boise, ID Egyptian Theatre Nov 28 Salt Lake City, UT Jeanne Wagner Theatre Nov 29 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre Nov 30 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater Dec 2 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theatre Dec 3 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre (Seriously? Did they have a contest for most redundant name?) Dec 4 St. Louis, MO The Pageant Dec 5 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
Then it's off to a jaunt around Europe. All the details are on their site, along with several music samples.
The albums:
The Swell Season, 2006 (buy) Once, 2007 (buy) Strict Joy, 2009 (buy)(buy deluxe) (deluxe comes with a full-length live CD and a live DVD)
I have no good rarities from The Swell Season, but since I can't go away without giving you any music, here's an mp3 that was passed along to me just yesterday that I'm already digging. It's from a band called Welcome to Ashley, which I don't yet know a whole lot about, but this song reminds me a bit of the really good alternative bands that were around in the eighties. A bit of The Smiths with a dash of PiL, and throw in some Athens, GA bands. Enjoy
Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas(buy) (I'll admit it. I'm curious) Foo Fighters - Greatest Hits(buy) (Catalog killer, but it comes with a full DVD) Morrissey - Swords(buy) (B-sides compilation) Nirvana - Live at Reading(buy) (CD and DVD - not a big fan myself, but I know others love 'em) Weezer - Raditude(buy)(buy deluxe) Various Artists - The Village(buy) (Looks like a good folky comp.)
The Fratellis are a three piece rock band from Scotland. They hit it big a couple years back with their debut album, which included extremely catchy songs like "Chelsea Dagger" and "Flathead", the latter of which was used in an iPod commercial.
They followed up the success of that first disc with an album called Here We Stand. Their sound at that point had matured, and as a result the album, though quite good, was less successful. People were apparently hoping for more of the good-time music that permeated the first effort.
Here's a batch of tunes not included on either album:
