GAVIN FRIDAY

I'll get to the music in a moment. But first, a rant:

The last couple of days have been absolutely horrible. First off, I still have no job, and giving the climate of the area, I'm not thinking I'll have one anytime soon. So, having to watch my budget closely, it didn't help when my PC finally gave up the ghost.

It had crashed back in November, but I managed to get it up and running again after a few days. This time, that's not an option. A huge portion of the hard drive is apparently not functioning. Nor is it recognizing the CD/DVD drives, or allowing any downloading or saving of anything.

So, I go to get the cheapest replacement I can find, and bring it home to find out that the replacement is dead, too. It won't even turn on. After I bring it back to the store, I'm told the mother board wasn't working.

I bring a now exchanged, and pre-tested tower home, and yipee, it works!

That excitement is a bit premature, though, since the only PCs available anymore are Vistas. I had never used a Vista system before, though I had heard many a horror story. Now, having used this for all of one day, I can honestly say I fucking hate Vista.

Maybe it will grow on me in time, but at the moment, I can barely stand looking on the expensive piece of crap. I've had to get rid of about 3/4 of the applications I used on a daily basis before. I can't use my older version of Roxio. I can't use my audio capture device. I can't use my video capture devise. And everything that I can still use, if I click it to start, it immediately tells me there's an unknown program trying to run, do I want to allow it? Why the hell isn't there an option for "always allow this program to run"?

Alright, I feel a bit better now that I got that off my chest. And at least all this time off has given me the time to finish a book of photography I'd been considering putting together for ages. If you're interested in such things, it's available over here. The website will only allow you to view the first 15 pages, which is a shame because those are the most traditional shots. Most of the more interesting images (such as the cover cyanotype) come later on in the book.

Not that I'm trying to say my photos are anything incredibly special. I wouldn't even come close to Anton Corbijn, who took the shot of Gavin here. (I've always been a fan of Corbijn) But I was a photo major back in the college days, and have been at it ever since.



Gavin Friday (born Fionan Hanvey) is an Irish musician who's been on the scene since the seventies. You may not know his name, but chances are pretty good you've heard some of his music. Have you seen In America? He wrote the score for that. Have heard the In the Name of the Father soundtrack? He's on that. Heard Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet soundtrack? He's on that, too.

Gavin first cut his teeth as a professional musician in the Dublin goth band The Virgin Prunes. They lasted for nearly a decade, before Gavin ventured out as a solo artist. The rest of the band went on for several more years as The Prunes.

Interesting side note - The Virgin Prunes were good friends with a young band called U2. In fact, the kid (Peter Rowan) who appeared on so many of U2's album and single covers is the younger brother of two of The Prunes (Guggi and Strongman).

The solo albums that Gavin has released since the eighties are hard to categorize. They can't even really be called solo albums, as he is nearly always accompanied by The Man Seezer (Maurice Roycroft), even when he doesn't take credit.

Here's a few tracks of his from places other then his albums:

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Gavin Friday - "Baltimore Whores" From the Rogues Gallery (buy) compilation, which also includes some fantastic performances by Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, and many others.
Gavin Friday and The Man Seezer - "Apologia" (2 Meter Sessie) From the 2 Meter Sessies, Volume 1 compilation. The original version is on Each Man Kills. . .
Gavin Friday - "For Annie" A reading of the Edgar Allan Poe classic, from the tribute compilation, Closed on Account of Rabies.
Annie Ross and the Low Note Quintet - "A Thousand Years" Written by Gavin and Seezer for the soundtrack of the movie Short Cuts, though they don't perform on this recording.
Gavin Friday - "Sybil Vane's Suicide" B-side of "Falling Off the Edge of the World" single.
Gavin Friday and Bono - "Billy Boola" From In the Name of the Father. The same two also perform the title song on the soundtrack.

Gavin's "solo" work:

Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves, 1989 (as Gavin Friday and The Man Seezer)
The Boxer, 1990 (soundtrack - as Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer)
Adam 'n' Eve, 1992
Shag Tobacco, 1995
Peter and the Wolf, 2002 (buy) (Gavin Friday and the Friday-Seezer Ensemble, with a book illustrated by Bono)
In America, 2002 (soundtrack - Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer)

Man, has it really been seven years since he put anything new out? He's been out of work longer than I have. I'm guessing he's not stressing over Vista, though.

GNARLS BARKLEY

Now, I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you this, but here goes.

Gnarls Barkley is a Hip Hop duo comprised of vocalist Cee-Lo Green and musician / producer Danger Mouse. Cee-Lo was previously best known from his work in the nineties with Goodie Mob. Danger Mouse was best known for having produced the most famous, completely illegal album of all time, The Grey Album (a mash up of The Beatles White Album, and Jay-Z's Black Album).

These days, they're best known as the team behind the absolutely massive hit "Crazy".

A while back, I caught a re-airing of one of their sessions on Live from Abbey Road. They only showed three songs, all of which are from the dabut album, St. Elsewhere, but the version of "Transformer" they performed was so different from the album version that I wanted to put it up for all to enjoy. While I'm at it, I may as well put up the other two songs, too.

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Gnarls Barkley - "Smiley Faces" (live)
Gnarls Barkley - "Transformer" (live)
Gnarls Barkley - "Gone Daddy Gone" (live Violent Femmes cover)

And one extra, that was been all over the blogs a few months back:
Gnarls Barkley - "Reckoner" (live Radiohead cover)

Buy some Gnarls:
St. Elsewhere, 2006 (buy)
The Odd Couple, 2008 (buy)

Buy some Cee-Lo:
Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, 2002 (buy)
Cee-Lo Green is The Soul Machine, 2004 (buy)

Get some Danger Mouse:
The Grey Album, 2004 (download)
Dark Night of the Soul, 2009 (listen) (with Sparklehorse, and many others)

MUNDY

Irish artist Edmund Enright, better known as Mundy, released his debut album, Jelly Legs, in 1996. In the thirteen years that have followed, he's made a big name for himself in Ireland, but as of yet has not broken through in the US.

Those that do know him 'round here mostly know his song "To You I Bestow", which was included on the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. As well as being on his first album, and being the inspiration for the title of one of the blogs I frequent. At least I'm assuming that's where the blog's name come from. . . maybe it's just a huge coinsidence, and I'm just showing my own stupidity.

He's just released his fifth album, his first studio album in 5 years. To give it a tiny bit of hype, I'm posting a handfull of tracks from various compilations and b-sides (the usual stuff for this blog), as well as the opennig track to the new disc. The track is being given away for free online in hopes of giving Mundy a wider audience.

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Mundy - "Waiting For the Night To Come" From Strawberry Blood. (buy)

Mundy - "Whenever, Wherever" (Shakira cover) From the charity compilation Even Better Than the Real Thing. If you live somewhere where you can buy the comp., please do so. It's great music, and it's for charity.
Mundy - "The Kids Aren't Stupid" From The Moon Is a Bullet Hole EP.
Afro-Celt - "Rise Above It" Lead vocals by Mundy, lead fiddle by Eileen Ivers (had to mention her, too. I've long had a thing for her). From the album Seed.
Mundy - "To You I Bestow" (live) B-side of the "Pardon Me" single.
Mundy with Sinéad O'Connor - "Waiting In Vain" (live Bob Marley cover) A bootleg recording from March 4, 2001. Wow, two of my favorite women in one post (Eileen & Sinéad), and it's not even about either of them.


Mundy's music (none of the CDs are currently in print in the States, but downloads are extremely inexpensive through Amie Street):

Jelly Legs, 1996
24 Star Hotel, 2002 (download)
Raining Down Arrows, 2004 (download)
Live and Confusion, 2006 (download) (live)
Strawberry Blood, 2009 (download)

Mundy has a boat load of tour dates listed on his homepage - none of which are in the US :( You can also download another track from the new album for free there)

SEVEN SONG CIRCLE #5

Holy crap, is that ever an ugly graphic. Damn. I put these things together myself, you'd think I'd have better quality control.

Don't let the nasty image fool you in to thinking the music is crap. There's some damn good tunes in this cycle. Not as many rarities as I'd like, but even the ones that aren't particularly rare are, for the most part, by acts that I don't regularly listen to, aside from the one track presented here.

Of course, some of them are groups I have huge collections by. And I ain't sayin' which is which.

Anyhow, after that lengthy discourse with no meaning, here's the music:

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1 The Squirrels - "Seasons In the Sun / The Hustle"
2 Steve and Julian Vai - "Ya-Yo Gakk"
3 Neil and Liam Finn - "Two of Us"
4 Trey Anastasio - "Abbey Road Medley" (live)
5 Oysterhead - "Shadow of a Man"
6 Screaming Trees - "Shadow of the Season"
7 Eddie and the Cruisers - "Season in Hell (Fire Suite)"

notes:
1 Terry Jacks / Van McCoy covers, featuring guest lead vocals by John Schmidt, age 10. From the 20 More. . . Explosions! compilation. (buy)
2 Lead vocals by Steve's young son Julian. From the Alien Love Secrets EP. (buy)
3 Beatles cover by father/son team Neil (Crowded House / Split Ends) and Liam. This was released on the Japanese version of the I Am Sam soundtrack. (buy import) The soundtrack was alright, but I didn't care for the movie. Maybe he shouldn't have gone "full retard". . .
4 Beatles cover. Unfortunatly, I no longer remember what show it's from.
5 Trey's "other band", along with Les Claypool (Primus) and Stewart Copeland (The Police). This is from The Grand Pecking Order. (buy)
6 Opening track to the album Sweet Oblivion. (buy)
7 Actually performed by John Cafferty and Beaver Brown. Written specifically for the Eddie and the Cruisers soundtrack. (buy)

GOOBER & THE PEAS

It's hard to describe the music of Goober & The Peas, unless you've had the pleasure of experiencing it for yourself. It's most often referred to as "cowpunk", and I guess that's about as accurate as you can get.

The band, led by Dan John "Goober" Miller, formed in Detroit in the late eighties. They pretty quickly became local favorites, thanks not only to the great music, but also their humorous, energetic, and messy, stage show.

While they obviously aped Hank Williams' fashion sense, they also had a bit of a Spinal Tap thing going with their drummer, "Doc". I can't really say how many Docs there were over the years, but the one most often mentioned is a guy who was only a Pea briefly, but would later change his name to Jack White and form The White Stripes.

During their time together, the band put out two full length albums, and a couple of EPs. Although everything is out of print at the moment, I'm not going to put anything up from the albums. Those can still be found in the used record stores.

The first EP was only available on vinyl for a short time, and is now downloadable for free from their website (or, now, from mine). All of the songs on the EP were later re-recorded and put on the debut album.

They also had a total of two songs on compilations. Between those two, and the six tracks from the first EP, here's nearly all the Goober rarities I've come across:

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Goober & The Peas - "Dear Grandpa" (EP version)
Goober & The Peas - "Funky Cowboy" (EP version) - one of their biggest hits
Goober & The Peas - "Druthers" (EP version) - one of my personal favorites
Goober & The Peas - "Consider Me" (EP version)
Goober & The Peas - "Hot Women (Cold Beer)" (EP version) - another big hit
Goober & The Peas - "Dear Grandpa (Reprise)" (EP version)

Goober & The Peas - "MacArthur Park" (Richard Harris cover) From 20 More Explosive Fantastic Rockin' Mega Smash Hit Explosions! compilation.
Goober & The Peas - "Consider Me" (live) From the Live at the Hamtramck Pub compilation.

Here's the video for "Funky Cowboy", so you can get an idea of what the live show was like:



Keep an eye out for these:

The Complete Works of Goober & The Peas, 1990 (EP)
The Complete Works of Goober & The Peas, 1992
A Christmas Eve Get Together with Goober & The Peas, 1992 (EP)
The Jet-Age Genius of Goober & The Peas, 1995

These days Goober is fronting a new band, Blanche, along side his wife, Tracee. He has also appeared in a handfull of movies, most notably as Luther Perkins in Walk The Line.

For more info on the band, check out their website.

BILLY BRAGG (& OZZIE) LIVE

I was reading some old posts on Billy Bragg's blog, and came upon this. It's from a show Billy did at Monmouth University in New Jersey last October.

"In the front row away to my right I become aware of a little kid leaping around during the songs, playing a toy electric guitar. He is active all night, windmilling his arm like a tiny Pete Townsend and throwing some classic guitar hero shapes. His name is Ossie and, the end of the show, I invite him up to perform with me during A New England. He steals the show."

Maybe there will be an equally cute moment at one of these upcoming shows:

July 19 Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, Tolpuddle, Dorset
July 23 Brewery Arts Center, Kendal, England
July 24 Wickerman Festival, Dundrennan, Scotland
July 31 Calvin Theater, Northampton, MA, USA
Aug 1 Folk Festival 50, Newport, RI, USA

More details at Billy's official site.



In other tour news, The Proclaimers have just announced their US tour dates. To get you in the mood, here's the title track from their latest album: (buy)

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The Proclaimers - "Notes and Rhymes" (acoustic Zoo session)

Sept. 8 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe
Sept. 9 Foxborough, MA Showcase Live
Sept. 11 New York, NY Blender Theater at Gramercy
Sept. 13 Alexandria, VA Birchmere
Sept. 14 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
Sept. 15 Chicago, IL Double Door
Sept. 17 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club
Sept. 19 Denver, CO Soiled Dove
Sept. 20 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
Sept. 22 Seattle, WA The Showbox
Sept. 23 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater

All tickets are on sale now. More info at the official site.

EDWYN COLLINS

Scottish musician Edwyn Collins first rose to fame in the early eighties, with his band Orange Juice. They had one big hit in the UK, "Rip It Up", and after trying for a while to repeat that success, they broke up.

Edwyn then went solo. He issued several singles, and a couple of albums throughout the rest of the eighties and early nineties, with critical acclaim, but not much commercial success.

Then, around 1994, I was working at the oft-mentioned record store, when we received an advanced copy of his third album, Gorgeous George. At the time, Edwyn was completely unknown to me, but one of my co-workers became a great deal excited when he saw it. He immediatly popped it on, and by the time Edwyn was making his lengthy diatribe againt modern music in the first song, I was hooked.

This was also the album that gave him his one and only massive international hit, "A Girl Like You".

He continued releasing critically acclaimed albums, and producing for the likes of The Proclaimers and The Cribs, until suffering a cerebral hemmorage in 2005. He had just finished recording a new album at the time, and after his release from the hospitol, he finished the production and it was released in 2007. The following year, he returned to the live stage, though he can no longer play his guitar due to the remaining effects of the hemmorage.

Here's a batch of songs you won't find on his albums:

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Edwyn Collins - "Occupy Your Mind" B-side of one of the many "A Girl Like You" singles.
Edwyn Collins - "The Gospel According to Tony Day" (David Bowie cover) From the Starman tribute compilation given out with an issue of Uncut Magazine.
Edwyn Collins - "A Girl Like You" (live) Performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on October 10, 1995, and released on the compilation, Live From 6A.
Edwyn Collins - "If Ever You're Ready" B-side of "Don't Shilly Shally".
Paul Quinn and Edwyn Collins - "Pale Blue Eyes" (Velvet Underground cover) Edwyn's first non-Orange Juice release. From the Punk Rock Hotel soundtrack.
Edwyn Collins - "1977" (The Clash cover) Another Uncut Magazine exclusive. This one is from their White Riot, Vol. One compilation.

Solo albums:

Hope and Despair, 1989 (buy)
Hellbent On Comprimise, 1990 (buy)
Gorgeous George, 1994 (buy)
I'm Not Following You, 1997
Doctor Syntax, 2002 (buy)
Home Again, 2007 (buy)

SEVEN SONG CIRCLE #4

Today is 7/7, so it seems appropriate that I post another one of them 7 song circle things. Of the lists I've created, this one is probably my least favorite.

Don't get me wrong, there are some great tunes on the list, it's just that all but one of the connections are based solely on titles. I prefer to have a bit more variety throughout.

Oh well. I do what I can. At least 5 out of the 7 are non-album tracks.

On with the show:

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1 UTwo - "Boy / Girl" (demo)
2 Iron & Wine - "Boy with a Coin" (alternate)
3 The Guggenheim Grotto - "Girl with the Cards"
4 Charlie Sexton with Shannon McNally - "American Girl" (live)
5 The_Cure - "Young Americans"
6 The Junk Monkeys - "Boys Don't Cry"
7 Blur - "Girls and Boys" (remix)

1 My first ever posting by the mighty band who's name I purposely misspelled in hopes of not attracting the attention of the take-down po-po. This is a demo version of a track from their first EP. A fully mastered version is now available as a bonus track on the re-issue of Boy. (buy deluxe)
2 An alternate version of the track from The Sheppard's Dog (buy), given out free and legally by the man himself on his website.
3 The only actual album track on the list, but then it should be no surprise that I'm a fan of The Grotto, and will feature them every chance I get. From Happy the Man. (buy)
4 A live Tom Petty Cover, courtesy of The Live Music Archive. The sound quality isn't great, but it's not real often I find any of Charlie's stuff. Maybe I should do a post on him someday.
5 A David Bowie cover, which was unreleased for many years, until Robert & Co. put out the rarities box set Join the Dots. (buy) So, it's kind of an album track now.
6 The Cure cover, performed by Detroit's own Junk Monkeys. This was a b-side of their single, "Bliss".
7 A remix of the classic song from Parklife. (buy) I used the remix in order to stick with the non-album theme. In all honesty, I think it's one of the worst remixes I've heard. The original is FAR better.

On an unrelated note, there are a few re-issues coming out today that visitors to this blog might be interested in:

Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun Shy (buy)
Screaming Blue Messiahs - Bikini Red (buy)
Various Artists - Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt (buy)

GRANT LEE BUFFALO LIVE

Most folks who wander by this blog are already familiar with American folk / rock / Americana band Grant Lee Buffalo. They may never have had a top forty hit, but they did garner a large following during their years together.

They also contributed to a number of popular soundtracks, giving them a wider audience. Most notably, they recorded several songs for the cult classic movie Velvet Goldmine.

Here's a couple of live EPs they issued to promote their first two albums. The first one, Buffalondon, was recorded at the ICA on September 15, 1993. The second, Honey Don't Think, was recorded at The Empire in London on October 11, 1994.

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Buffalondon Live EP:
Grant Lee Buffalo - "The Shining Hour"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "For the Turnstiles" (Neil Young cover)
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Grace"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "America Snoring"
Download the whole thing in one rar here.

Honey Don't Think live promo EP:
Grant Lee Buffalo - "It's the Life"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Mockingbirds"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Wish You Well"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Honey Don't Think"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Last Days of Tecumseh"
Download the whole thing in one rar here.

UPDATE!!:
Fuzzy EP (recorded live at Park West, Chicago 1993)
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Jupiter and Teardrop"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Wish You Well"
Grant Lee Buffalo - "Burning Love" (Elvis cover)
Download the whole thing in one rar here.

Discog:

Fuzzy, 1993 (buy)
Mighty Joe Moon, 1994
Copperopolis, 1996 (buy)
Jubilee, 1998 (buy)
Storm Hymnal, 2001 (buy) (best-of and rare compilation)

I also have the El Dorado Motorhome promotional video. If there are fans out there interested, I may up it for them.