LARGER THAN LIFE

Here's a quick one before I get started on the Christmas posts.

I was just made aware of one of those 3-d concert movies that will be in theaters in a couple weeks. You know, like U2 and pretty much every Disney property, er, musical act has released. The difference here being that the bands in this one are actually ones that I'd want to see.

I've posted about Ben Harper before. I can say from experience that he puts on a great live show. I saw him years ago in Chicago. From what I've seen of him with Relentless 7, he hasn't lost any of the fire.

Dave Matthews Band are, of course, well known for their live shows. I think they've released as many live albums as studio ones. I've always like what I've heard from them, though I haven't delved very deep into their catalog.

The only band in the show that I'm not familiar with is Gogol Bordello, but they just finished recording an album with Rick Rubin producing. That alone is usually a sign of good things to come.

The reason I bring this all up is because, as the poster there mentions, the show is only going to be in theaters for 1 week (December 11-17). So, I figured I'd get the word out ahead of time, so those of you who are interested have a chance to see it.

Information on what theaters will be showing it can be found here.

Back tomorrow with the start of the holiday posts.

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS

If you've been a follower of Dexys Midnight Runners since the early days, then you probably already have everything I'm going to post today. Most of their b-sides and things have been issued over the years on expanded versions of albums, and several best-of packages. Many of those, however, have gone out of print, and so I'm stepping in to fill the gaps.

Everybody must already be familiar with "Come On Eileen". Unless, of course, you've lived in a cave with no radio or television for the past 30 years. Those who only know them for that one massive hit will be unaware of how their sound and image changed over the course of the three studio albums they put out in the eighties.

Starting out with a northern soul sound on their debut, they scored a hit with the single "Geno" in many countries, but it wasn't until a couple years later, with the addition of three fiddlers, and a mix of Celtic and soul, that they would break through pretty much everywhere else. The sad thing about it was how few people paid attention to anything they did other then that one big song. That second album, To-Rye-Ay, has so many other equally great tracks on it.

Then came the follow up. A misunderstood album which has now become something of a lost classic. Of course, the fact that they refused to release any singles off it until it was too late didn't help the sales.

Anyway, here's a few things that, as far as I can tell, are not in print at the moment:

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Dexys Midnight Runners - "Dance Stance" Their first single. An early version of "Burn It Down", which would later come out on the debut album.
Dexys Midnight Runners - "The Horse" B-side of "There There My Dear".
Dexys Midnight Runners - "Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One)" A re-recording of "Keep It" released as a single.
Dexys Midnight Runners - "One Way Love" B-side of "Keep It".

Yeah, that's not as many as I normally post, but everything else I have is currently available on one or more of the "buy" list below. If anyone has a copy of the "Because of You" single, I haven't been able to hunt those b-sides down.

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, 1980 (buy)
Too-Rye-Ay, 1982 (buy) (buy deluxe)
Don't Stand Me Down, 1985

Let's Make This Precious, 2003 (buy) (best-of with rarities)
The Projected Passion Revue, 2007 (buy) (Too-Rye-Ay era rarities and live)


This will likely be the last regular post for a month. On Tuesday, I'll be starting the 25 (or so) days of holiday tunes.

If you're in a band, or managing one, that has a holiday-related song you want to get out to the masses, feel free to pass it along.

RANDOM SONGS & NEW RELEASES

Another Tuesday with nothing in particular to write about.

I'm in the mood for some covers today, I think. Here's a few I've found over the past few years.

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The Swell Season - "The Auld Triangle" (traditional) I'm still giddy over the Swell Season show last week. This is a live track found streaming on their website.

The Polyphonic Spree - "Love My Way" (Psychedelic Furs cover) This was issued as a b-side of one of the 25+ member band's singles, though I don't recall which one.

Tenacious D - "Aussie Medley" JB and KG, do some AC/DC, among others, live on Australian radio station Triple M.

Crowded House - "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil cover) Made famous by Harry Nilsson, largely thanks to its inclusion in the movie Midnight Cowboy. Here, Neil Finn and company play it on Aussie's Triple J radio station. Are all Australian radio stations triple letters?


Here's what's new and interesting in the stores today. Mostly box sets and live albums. Typical of the getting-ready-for-Christmas season.

Genesis - The Movie Box 1981-2007 (buy) DVD box of post-Peter Gabriel live shows.
Kraftwerk - The Catalogue (buy) 8 disc box set. I've never been a huge fan, but there's no denying their influence on music.
Miles Davis - The Complete Columbia Album Collection (buy) Now this is a box set. 70 CDs and one DVD. If you've got an extra $300 or so burning a hole in your pocket. . .
Moby - Wait For Me (Deluxe Edition) (buy) New version of his latest, adding a couple new songs, a full ambient mix bonus disc, and a live DVD.
NOFX - Cokie the Clown (EP) (buy)
The Ramones - KSAN Show (live) (buy)
Thompson Twins - Box Set (buy) Deluxe versions of all their 80s albums, in all their cheesy new wave goodness.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - The Live Anthology (buy) 4 CD live box.
Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom (live) (buy) Tom's live performances have always been amazing. I just wish they hadn't edited all the between song banter onto a separate disc.
Various Artists - Wrecktrospective (buy) 3 CDs with over 80 songs from Fat Wreck Chords.


As a special bonus, here's an unbroadcast performance by Elvis Costello with The Roots, recorded for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last week.

THE TRAGICALLY HIP

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.

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The Tragically Hip - "Oh, Honey" From the Men With Brooms soundtrack.
The Tragically Hip - "Daredevil (Reprise)" An alternate version of the track from Day For Night.
The Tragically Hip - "Radio Show" Outtake from Fully Completely, released through the band's website.
The Tragically Hip - "Bobcaygeon" (Acoustic Radio Session) Recorded July 7, 1998 in London. Original version is on Phantom Power.
The Tragically Hip - "Problem Bears" In Violet Light outtake, released through their fan club.
The Tragically Hip - "Reformed Baptist Blues" (Live) One of the first songs they wrote, though they've never issued a studio version.
The Tragically Hip - "Anchor On a Thread" An outtake from the Road Apples sessions.

Here's the albums list:

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.

THE SWELL SEASON play MESA, AZ

Wholly crip, I'm a crapple.

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:

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The Swell Season - "Just Walk Away" Unreleased track that's been hanging around on the Web for the past couple years.
The Swell Season - "Into the Mystic" (Van Morrison cover) From a limited edition version of the Once soundtrack.

Now, give up the cash:

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.

A HOUSE

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:

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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.

RANDOM SONGS & NEW RELEASES

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)

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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.

THE FRAMES

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.

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The Angel At My Table demo EP:
The Frames DC - "Angel At My Table" (Demo)
The Frames DC - "Revelate" (Demo)
The Frames DC - "Fitzcarraldo" (Demo)
The Frames DC - "Denounced" (Demo)

A few other things:
The Frames - "Life's A Gas" (T. Rex cover) From the Turn On Your Record Player EP.
The Frames - "Last Song To You" B-side of "The Dancer" single.
The Frames - "Stamp My Name" B-side of "The Dancer" CD single.
The Frames - "Teardrops In My Wine" B-side of the "Masquerade" single.

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.

Get some Frames albums:

(The Frames official store)
Another Love Song, 1992
Fitzcarraldo, 1995 (buy import) (as The Frames DC)
Dance the Devil. . ., 1999 (buy import)
For the Birds, 2001 (buy)
Set List, 2003 (buy) (live)
Burn the Maps, 2004 (buy)
The Cost, 2006 (buy)

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.

THE SWELL SEASON (REVIEW)

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

Welcome to Ashley - "Nothing But Grey Skies"


Now for new releases:

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.)