CRASH TEST DUMMIES

A quick one for today's post.

Assuming you were listening to music in the nineties, you couldn't possibly have escaped Canada's Crash Test Dummies, and their vowel-les hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". Heck, the song was so big even Weird Al parodied it.

In many countries, they would become one hit wonders thanks to that tune, but in some places they had already had a charting tune in "Superman's Song", which I posted a while back in the first Seven Song Circle.

The live tracks I'm putting up today were all released on the follow up CD single to "Mmm. . .", a non-hit called "Afternoons & Coffeespoons". It's a good tune, but not as catchy as the big hit. I've always thought it worked better in the flow of the album than as a stand alone track.

The studio versions of all three songs are on God Shuffled His Feet. These live versions were recorded at The Chance in Poughkeepsie (that's Pa-kipsy for you non-New Yorkers), for WDST-FM Radio Woodstock, in April 1994. A month later, I'd get to see them live myself, when they opened for a reunited Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Damn that was a good show.

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Crash Test Dummies - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" (Live)
Crash Test Dummies - "God Shuffled His Feet" (Live)
Crash Test Dummies - "In the Days of the Caveman" (Live)
Get all three, plus the lead track and the sleeve in one zip file here.

Get some Dummies:

The Ghosts That Haunt Me, 1991 (buy)
God Shuffled His Feet, 1993 (buy)
A Worm's Life, 1996
Give Yourself a Hand, 1999
I Don't Care That You Don't Mind, 2001 (buy)
Jingle All the Way, 2002 (buy) (Christmas album)
Puss 'n' Boots, 2003 (buy)
Songs of the Unforgiven, 2006 (buy)
The Cape Breton Lobster Bash Series, 2007 (buy) (EP)
Ooh La La, (TBA)

On an unrelated note, Irish musician Nick Kelly (formerly of The Fat Lady Sings) has put up 13 demos on his blog. They're for a new collaborative project called Gestation, which will be performed with several other artists. These demos are the bare-bones versions with just his voice and guitar or piano.

There's some great songs in the bunch. I'm looking forward to hearing the finished products.

If you're a fan of his, or of Fat Lady Sings, or even if you just want to hear some new music, long before it's released, jump on over and give them a listen.

And if you're a visual artist, Nick is looking for artwork for the album's eventual release. All the details are on the blog.

Thanks to Peter at 2 U I Bestow for pointing out Nick's blog, and the Gestation project.

In new release news . . .

AFI - Crash Love (buy) (buy deluxe) These guys run hot and cold with me. I haven't heard the new album yet, so I don't know if it's one of the good ones.

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue (buy) Another one I'm curious about.

Dethklock - Dethalbum II (buy) The second release from cartoon death metal band from Adult Swim's Metalocalypse.

Jonas Sees In Color - Jonas Sees In Color (buy) The little bit I've heard from this has been pretty good. I'm anxious to hear more.

Karen O and the Kids - Where the Wild Things Are Original Soundtrack (buy) It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a new movie. The soundtrack will have to tide me over until the movie comes out.

Kris Kristofferson - Closer To the Bone (buy) (buy deluxe) Yeah, he's had his cheesy periods, but you can't deny the man is talented. Plus he's the guy that comforted Sinéad when she got booed at the Dylan tribute show. The new album is a stripped-down affair, produced by Don Was. The deluxe version comes with 8 songs recorded live in Dublin last year.

Seven Worlds Collide - Sun Came Out (buy) A various artist collective put together by Neil Finn (Crowded House / Split Ends). This time around, it's got folks from Wilco, The Smiths, Radiohead, etc.

Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost (buy) Another one I'm curious to hear.

Various artists - Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy (buy) A star studded tribute to the guy behind Miracle Legion and Polaris. Only one cover from Me and Mr. Ray? That's one of my all-time favorite albums.

I'm still seeing The Swell Season's new one, Strict Joy, listed as coming out today, but all the websites (Amazon/Best Buy/etc.) still have it as October 27. By the way, they're playing a bunch of US (and Canadian) dates in November and December. Details here.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra album that was listed for today has been pushed back to October 13th.

I guess that post wasn't as quick as I thought it would be.

DAVID GRAY

A whole slew of US concert dates were recently announced for Lisa Hannigan. If I hadn't just done a post on her a couple weeks back, I'd be doing one now. However, since I already have one on her, I'll turn my attention to the musician that she will be opening for on most of those dates - British singer David Gray.

Way back in the nineties, I was a big fan of David's folk / rock releases. I first discovered him when my store was sent a promo copy of his second album, Flesh. I immediately fell for the album, and had it on heavy rotation for quit some time.

Naturally, given that I'm fairly fanatic about the acts I like, I had to get a hold of his debut album, A Century Ends, too. This was one of the few occasions where, having fallen in love with one album, I bought a second album by the same artist without having heard anything off it, and found that it was even better.

So, of course, I've gathered all the b-sides, radio sessions, etc. that I could find over the years. Though, to be completely honest, I haven't often listened to his post-Lost Songs albums. I gave them each a shot, but they just haven't hooked me the way his early work did.

I did just take a listen to some of the songs on his latest album, Draw the Line, and so far I'm liking it. I don't know if it will grow on me the way his first albums did, but he can certainly still write a good hook.

Here's a bunch of stuff not found on his albums:

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David Gray - "Tell Me More Lies" B-side of one of the "Babylon" singles.
David Gray - "Mighty Wrong Time" (live) Unreleased. I'm not sure of where or when this was recorded.
David Gray - "Monday Morning" From the soundtrack to the movie This Year's Love, the title track of which is also one of David's songs.
David Gray - "Like a Rolling Stone" (live Bob Dylan cover) Recorded at an industry show at The Wetlands in New York, December 18, 1993.
Jools Holland with David Gray - "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" From Jools' album, Friends 3. (buy)
David Gray - "Smile Like You Mean It" (live Killers cover - that's not to say it's a cover from Queen's album Live Killers, but rather that its a Killers' song having been recorded live) Recorded for a BBC Radio session.
Orbital featuring David Gray - "Illuminate" From Orbital's album, The Altogether. (buy) Phil Hartnoll of Orbital is David's brother-in-law, which probably has something to do with how he got this gig.

Pick up some of his albums:

A Century Ends, 1993 (buy)
Flesh, 1994 (buy)
Sell, Sell, Sell, 1996 (buy)
White Ladder, 1998 (buy)
The EPs 92-94, 2001 (buy) (rarities compilation)
Lost Songs 95-98, 2001 (buy) (rarities compilation)
A New Day at Midnight, 2002 (buy)
Life In Slow Motion, 2005 (buy)
A Thousand Miles Behind, 2007 (buy) (live covers - only available through his website)
Draw the Line, 2009 (buy) (buy deluxe)

Here's the US tour dates:

Oct. 22 Gramercy Theatre, NYC*
Oct. 23 The Wang Theatre, Boston MA
Oct. 24 Madison Square Garden, NYC
Oct. 26 Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Oct. 27 Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA
Oct. 29 Chicago Auditorium Theatre, Chicago IL
Oct. 30 Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 1 Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO
Nov. 2 Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 4 Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR
Nov. 5 The Paramount, Seattle, WA**
Nov. 8 Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
Nov. 9 Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 10 Troubador, Los Angeles, CA*

*Lisa Hannigan headlining without David Gray
** David Gray without Lisa Hannigan

RANDOM SONGS & NEW RELEASES

I don't have one particular artist I feel like posting about today, so I'm putting up a few random songs I like. Ones that haven't been huge hits anywhere, and I think could use a little bit of extra attention.

One quick note - the image I'm using today (I seem to be on a stormtrooper kick with the non-music images) was created by a photographer who goes by the moniker of Powerpig. He's done quite a bit of work with Star Wars action figures, and he does have prints available. Check out his work here.

But the reason y'all came by here in the first place was the music. Here you go:

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Public Image Ltd. - "Disappointed" (live) I got this one years ago from a sampler CD called The CMJ Prisoner. "CMJ" being the College Music Journal. The studio version of the song is on 9, but is easier to find these days on their best of. (buy)
The Kevin McDermott Orchestra - "Slow Boat to Something Better" I don't know much about the band, but there were a couple of tracks on their album, Mother Nature's Kitchen, (buy) that I really liked. He (McDermott) appears to have several other albums out, but I've never heard anything more from him.
Scissor Sisters - "Ambition" Apparently, they're one of Elton John's favorite bands. Given my usual taste in music, I logically shouldn't like them that much, but damn if their stuff isn't catchy as hell. This was the b-side of "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'", which Elton appears on, and which was given away free at a store when I bought a different album a while back.

Taking a look at the new release board, here's the interesting stuff I'm spotting today:

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar (buy) (another soundtrack from the current kings of soundtracks)
David Gray - Draw the Line (buy) (buy deluxe) (at the moment, both versions are the same price)
Elvis Costello - Spike (buy) (reissue with no bonus tracks)
Elvis Costello - Mighty Like a Rose (buy) (reissue with no bonus tracks)
Lisa Germano - Magic Neighbor (buy)
Los Lobos - Los Lobos Goes Disney (buy) (kids album, apparently an Amazon exclusive)
Pearl Jam - Backspacer (buy)
Rufus Wainwright - Milwaukee At Last!!! (buy) (live CD and DVD)

On top of all these, there's also re-issues from Mudhoney, Ween, and Willie Nelson. That's a pretty damn good week for music.

DECLAN MacMANUS

Better known as Elvis Costello.

I've been on a bit of an Elvis kick lately. Maybe it has something to do with having bought Cruel Smile the day I interviewed for the job I'm at now. Yeah, it may not be his best album, but with Elvis, even his worst (which this one isn't) is still pretty damn good.

Anyway, I finally started taking the time to sort through all the non-album stuff I've collected over the years, and figure out what all is currently in print on the oft-expanded re-issues. I'm actually a bit surprised at how much more is out there.

Here's a bit of what I'm talking about:

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Elvis Costello and the Attractions - "Whole Wide World" (live Wreckless Eric cover) Recorded October 22, 1977 at Leicester.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions with the Royal Guard Horns - "Party Party" Non-album single from 1982. Not one of his most loved songs, but it is a tad bit hard to find.
Chet Baker with Elvis Costello - "The Very Thought of You" (live Ray Noble cover) Recorded in London, June 6, 1986. Released on Chet's Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD. (buy)
Elvis Costello - "She" (Charles Aznavour cover) From the Notting Hill soundtrack. (buy)
Elvis Costello - "Little Goody Two Shoes" This was released on the CD version of the long out-of-print Out of Our Idiot compilation, but hasn't shown up on any of the newer releases, though an alternate version is on the newest expanded version of Imperial Bedroom.
Elvis Costello - "Many Rivers to Cross" (live Jimmy Cliff cover) Recorded at the Self Aid concert, and issued on the Live for Ireland compilation.
Elvis Costello - "My Mood Swings" From the Big Lebowski soundtrack. (buy)
UPDATE: Chet Baker with Elvis Costello - "You Don't Know What Love Is" (live) The second track Elvis did vocals on from Chet's DVD. Upped by request.

Pick up the latest from Mr. Costello:

Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, 2009 (buy)

Yeah, normally, I list all the albums, but come on, this guys got a ton of stuff. Just do a search on Amazon.


In local gig news:

Oh My God are playing a couple of shows in the Valley this weekend, warming up for their album release.
Sept. 19 Plush, Tucson
Sept. 20 Yucca Tap Room, Tempe

If you haven't yet heard them, here's a sample:
Oh My God - "Baby, Dream"


Next Saturday, Hoodlums in Tempe is having it's 1st birthday party. Details are here.

Oh, and one more thing. . . I keep seeing these ads for the movie Jennifer's Body. Holy crap does that look painfully bad. Is it type-casting to cast an actress who's obviously far too old to really be in high school as a "teen" vampire?

SUPER 400

Super 400's Sweet Fist is out today. To get you all in the mood, I'm putting up my first ever Pile of Vinyl exclusive. At least, it's exclusive as far as I know - I haven't been told otherwise, so that's how I'm gonna hype it.

I mentioned in my post on the band a while back that "Thorn Tree" was my favorite track on the new album. Since my blog usually focuses on non-album songs, the band sent along the original demo version of the track as a sort of thank you.

So, thanks going directly to the band (and their rep), here's the demo, recorded live in their basement. And, for a little extra love, a few live covers taken from the Live Music Archive.

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Super 400 - "Thorn Tree" (demo)
Super 400 - "Moby Dick" (live Led Zeppelin cover) Recorded at the General Clinton Pub, Sept. 9, 2005.
Super 400 - "I've Got a Feeling" (live Beatles cover) From a New Year's Eve show at Red Square in Albany. I think there's some sort of unwritten law that in order to be in a rock band, you have to cover The Beatles at least once.
Super 400 - "Spanish Castle Magic" (live Jimi Hendrix cover) Recorded at Daisy Bakers on Feb. 22, 2003.

Pick up a copy of Sweet Fist (and the rest of their albums) at the band's site, or at Amazon.

Other interesting new releases today:

Living Colour - The Chair in the Doorway (buy) I didn't even realize they were back together.
Lo Fidelity Allstars - Northern Stomp (buy)
Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers (buy) finally gets it's US release.

There's also a bunch of vinyl re-issues from New Order and The Doors out today.

WORLD PARTY

I had a request a couple of days ago to re-post the World Party b-sides that I had up about a year ago. Those are again available over here.

So, as I was thinking about what to post next I started to think about all the blogs out there that are posting Beatles music this week, thanks to the re-remastered box sets, and that video game. Heck, even Vh-1 Classic has been showing almost nothing but Beatles-related shows for the past week or so.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Wallinger is a huge Beatles fan himself, having put covers of their songs on many a b-side. So I'm jumping on The Beatles bandwagon, without putting up any actual Beatles recordings. Here's a batch of World Party covers of Lennon and/or McCartney penned tunes:

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World Party - "Martha My Dear" From the Come Again compilation.
World Party - "Penny Lane" From one of the many versions of the "Beautiful Dream" single.
World Party - "A World Without Love" Written by McCartney, but he didn't think it was good enough for The Beatles, so they never recorded it. Instead, it became a hit for Peter & Gordon. This version is from the "Is It Like Today" singles.
World Party - "All You Need Is Love"
World Party - "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" From the "Message In a Box" single.
World Party - "The Long and Winding Road" (demo) This demo was released on Wallinger's website. This is probably the farthest from the original that Karl has ever strayed.
World Party - "Man We Was Lonely" A McCartney solo tune. World Party's version was recorded for the tribute album, Listen To What the Man Said.

Party music:

Private Revolution, 1986 (buy)
Goodbye Jumbo, 1990 (buy)
Bang!, 1993 (buy)
Egyptology, 1997 (buy)
Dumbing Up, 2000 (buy)

If you live in California, you're in luck. World Party are playing three shows in your state next month:

Oct. 1 Anthology, San Diego, CA
Oct. 2 El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 3 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Fransisco, CA

The Beatles, however, are no longer touring. Likely because they have only one surviving member (Lennon having been killed, Harrison passing from natural causes, and McCartney, of course, having died in a car crash around the time of Abbey Road).

SEAL

Another quick one for you today. Thankfully, work is still keeping me busy. While many of you were enjoying an extra day off yesterday, my Labor Day reward was working. I'm not even being sarcastic there. After so many months of being jobless, I was more than happy to not be sitting at home.

Anyway, here's some killer Seal live tracks from back when he was touring for his first album. They're listed as "live", but they appear to actually be live in the studio. That's ok though, they're still good.

"Whirlpool" and "Hey Joe" were recorded at Sarm West Studios. "Killer" and "Come See" were recorded at Real World Studios. All of them were issued on the "Killer" CD single.

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Seal - "Whirlpool" (Live)
Seal - "Killer" (Live)
Seal - "Come See What Love Has Done" (Live)
Seal - "Hey Joe" (Live cover of a Hendrix cover)

Get all four tracks at once, along with 3 mixes of "Killer" in one file here.

Oh, and if you're wondering if Seal is just a stage name, his full birth name is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel. I can see why he's not putting the full name on his records.

Get Yourself some Seal:

Seal, 1991 (buy) (includes "Whirlpool" and "Killer")
Seal, 1994 (buy)
Human Being, 1998 (buy)
Togetherland, 2001 (unreleased)
Seal, 2003 (buy)
System, 2007 (buy)
Soul, 2008 (buy) (covers)

Not much in the way of new albums today.

The Proclaimers latest, Notes and Rhymes, (buy) gets it's US release.
Thelonious Monk's 1953 album, Monk, gets re-issued today.(buy) This one's a classic.
Of course, there's The Beatles re-issues as well, but if you're interested in those, I'm pretty sure you'd have noticed that already.

FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS

If you lived through the eighties, chances are pretty good you already know who the Fine Young Cannibals were. For the one in a million that comes by this way, and isn't familiar, here's the short version.

After Dave Wakeling and Raking Roger broke up The Beat to go and form General Public, Beat guitarist David Steele and bassist Andy Cox recruited singer Roland Gift and became Fine Young Cannibals. They scored several big hits like "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing". Bigger hits (in the States anyway) than they had with The Beat.

They broke up in the early nineties, after two albums, and have only re-convened once a few years later, to record a new track, "The Flame", for a best of compilation.

Here's some songs you won't find on their two albums. Some of these may be on the many compilations that have come out since their break, but I haven't really paid attention to those.

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Fine Young Cannibals - "Wade In the Water" (traditional) B-side of their first single, "Blue".
Fine Young Cannibals - "Motherless Child" (traditional) B-side of the "Funny How Love Is" single.
Fine Young Cannibals - "Love For Sale" (Cole Porter cover) B-side of the 12" version of "Blue". A different mix of the song was later released on the charity album Red Hot + Blue.
Fine Young Cannibals - "Social Security" B-side of "Good Thing".
Fine Young Cannibals - "You Never Know" B-side of "Don't Look Back".
Fine Young Cannibals - "Pull the Sucker Off" B-side of "She Drives Me Crazy". While most of their b-sides are fantastic, this one's a fairly standard 80s throwaway track.

Some "Fine" cds to purchase:

Fine Young Cannibals, 1985 (buy)
The Raw and The Cooked, 1988 (buy)
The Raw and The Remix, 1990 (buy) (remixes. I've never been a fan of those)
The Finest, 1996 (buy) (best-of with one new track)

Yeah, it's a fairly short post today. I've been busy with work. Been a while since I've been able to say that.

UPCOMING LOCAL SHOWS

This one's not going to be of interest to everyone who stops by, but after learning that The Pogues were coming to town, I took a look at what other bands are coming through the Valley. Here's some of the more interesting listings:

Sept. 18 - ARIZONA FALL FRENZY, Tempe Beach Park (Rob Thomas, Jason Mraz, The B-52s, Gavin Rosdale, Colbie Caillet)

Sept. 19 - ARIZONA FALL FRENZY, Tempe Beach Park (Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Sightly Stoopid, Pepper, Anberlin, Asher Roth, Authority Zero)

Sept. 20 - ARIZONA FALL FRENZY, Tempe Beach Park (Social Distortion, Flogging Molly, Ben Harper, The Bravery, The Airborne Toxic Event, Carolina Liar)

Sept. 29 - Bon Iver, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa

Oct. 1 - Sonic Youth, Marquee Theatre, Tempe

Oct. 9 - Atticus Tour 09, The Clubhouse, Tempe (Finch, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Vanna, Lets Get It)

Oct. 14 - Yo La Tengo, Marquee Theatre, Tempe

Oct 21 - THE POGUES!!!, Marquee Theatre, Tempe

Nov. 3 - Dinosaur Jr, Marquee Theatre, Tempe

Nov. 17 - Dethklock & Mastodon, Mesa Amphitheatre, Mesa

If you've got a Valley show you'd like to promote (if I make this a regular feature), email details to deadbilly_88 (at) mail.com.



New releases that I am interested in (and maybe you are too) today:

The Chieftains - Live at Montreux 1997 (DVD) (buy)
Liam Finn and Eliza Jane - Champagne in Seashells (EP) (buy)
They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science (CD&DVD) (buy)
Coheed & Cambria, Deborah Lurie & Danny Elfman - 9 (Soundtrack) (buy)
porterdavis - porterdavis (buy)

Well, I can't just leave it at that, can I? An entire post with no music to listen to? No, I can't have that. Here's a couple of random rarities:

Holy Barbarians - "Hate You" Holy Barbarians were a short lived side project from The Cult's Ian Astbury. This was the b-side of their single "Space Junkie". Their only album, Cream, is now only available in mp3 form.(buy)

The Dead Milkmen - "The Puking Song" If you're not familiar with The Dead Milkmen, hunt down a copy of Death Rides a Pale Cow,(buy) or better yet, Eat Your Paisley!(buy) Back when I had a radio show, with my old friend Lucifer Sam (you still out there, Luci?), we used to play this one quite a bit. It's from their Smoking Banana Peels ep.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that I got the job I interviewed for last week? Yeah me!