NEW RELEASES AND REQUESTS

I've had a couple of requests over the past week or so. Figured I'd do a quick Tuesday post to fill 'em.

First off, the links on the Fine Young Cannibals and The Beat posts that had gone bad have been fixed.

Secondly, I had a request to re-post the songs I posted during the 2008 holiday season, as nearly all of the links have since gone away. so here they are, all in one zip file. I won't go through the whole track list, but here's the artists: Billy Bragg, Syd Straw & Los Lobos, Goober & The Peas, INXS, Paul Kelly, The Pogues, Willie Nelson & Stephen Colbert, AC/DC, They Might Be Giants, Bad Manners, Madness, Dreams So Real, Chris Isaac, Bob & Doug McKenzie, Tom Waits, De La Soul, Damien Dempsey, John Wesley Harding, The Kinks, The Smithereens, Pearl Jam, Grant Lee Phillips, Everlast, The Greedies, E, Monty Python, Steve Earle, Damien Rice, The Chieftains & Elvis Costello.

If you're desperate to know the song titles, you can always go look at the original posts.


On to the new releases this week. It's still early in the year, and not too many labels want to put new albums out this time of year, so the pickin's are slim. Here's a small handful that you may want to take a look at:

The Magnetic Fields - Realism (buy) I haven't heard too much from The Magnetic Fields in recent years, but the little bit I have heard, I like, and I was a big fan of the old stuff.

Tindersticks - Falling Down a Mountain (buy) Probably the one I'm most excited about this week. Unfortunately, it's only available as an import at the moment.

Youssou N'Dour - I Bring What I Love (soundtrack) (buy) There's a reason why Youssou is the biggest name in world music.

Various Artists - NPR Discover Songs: The New Jazz Divas (buy) I've only heard a couple of these women before, but being the music nerd that I am, I tend to like quite a bit of what NPR hypes.

HOLIDAYS 09 - WEEK 4

The guy in the image at right is Irishman Nick Kelly. The image itself is a variation on one I created out of duct tape and electrical tape. It didn't have a particularly festive feel, so I threw in a background of blue tinsel. Yeah, it's ugly as hell this way, but I wanted to make it appropriate for the holiday theme.

Anyway, I think I mentioned before that Nick is working on a project called Gestation, in which he's creating new songs through a series of nine concerts, performed one a month, with a different guest collaborator at each show.

Several studio demos of his new songs, and many live versions with various guests, can be heard at his blog over here.

(Dec. 22) Nick Kelly - "Christmas In the City (Orla's Song)" (Demo) One of the first set of demos for the former Fat Lady Sings front man's Gestation Project. Buy Between Trapezes.

(Dec. 23) Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart - "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?" From last year's Colbert Christmas special. Buy A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All, or buy I Am America (and So Can You!). Or buy Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen.

As an added bonus for today, here's a holiday poem for you, courtesy of Brendan Benson and Cory Chisel (and many friends):




Oh, and one more thing. . . if you're a fan of David Gray, head on over to his website and create an account. Your reward for doing so will be an exclusive mp3 of his rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".

(Dec. 24) Ashley MacIsaac - "Night Before Christmas (The Devil in the Kitchen)" From the out-of-print Celtic Heartbeat Christmas compilation. This was also released on his own A Cape Breton Christmas. Unfortunately, this copy is in terribly low bit rate, but it's the best I've got. A different version of "Devil in the Kitchen" can also be found on his amazing album Hi, How Are You Today? Buy Hi, How Are You Today? or download A Cape Breton Christmas.


(Dec. 25) Jimi Hendrix - "Little Drummer Boy / Silent Night / Auld Lang Syne" A seven+ minute medley from the best guitarist that ever lived. This was issued on the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year EP in 1999. I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate the holiday than with a bit of Jimi blasting out the speakers. Buy Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or buy Are You Experienced.

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HOLIDAYS 09 - WEEK 3

Now that's one hell of a festive pic right there. His name is Bootsy, and he is funky.

Bootsy Collins rose to fame when his band, The Pacemakers, were hired to replace James Brown's backing band, who James hadn't yet fired. He soon would, though, and The Pacemakers would be renamed The J.B.s.

Bootsy would go on to achieve even more stardom with the legendary Parliament / Funkadelic. He has also recorded as a solo artist, with Bootsy's Rubber Band, Deee-Lite, and several other groups.

Basically, Bootsy is the epitome of Funk personified.

Now here's a very very funky festive song.

(Dec. 15) Bootsy Collins - "Boot-Off (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)" From his 2006 holiday album, Christmas Is 4 Ever. Buy Christmas Is 4 Ever, or buy Back In the Day.

(Dec. 16) Goober & The Peas - "My Love For Her" Following up Bootsy with the funky cowboy himself, Goober Miller. This particular track isn't really in the funk vein, but it is Christmas themed, and it may or may not have Jack White playing the drums. Taken from the EP, A Christmas Eve Get Together With Goober & The Peas. Buy Walk the Line, 'cause Johnny's guitarist, Luther Perkins, is played by none other than Dan John "Goober" Miller.

(Dec. 17) The Reverend Horton Heat - "We Three Kings" The title track from the psychobilly legends' 2005 Christmas album. Buy We Three Kings, or buy Laughin' and Cryin' with the Reverend Horton Heat.

(Dec. 18) The Who - "Christmas" (Demo) From the legendary album, Tommy. This version of the song is available on the deluxe remaster, along with a second demo of the track, and, of course, the more well known album version. Buy the deluxe Tommy remaster, or buy the bare-bones version.

(Dec. 19) The Flaming Lips - "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)" Possibly the best known band ever to come out of Oklahoma, The Flaming Lips have released many Christmas tunes over their years together. I'm sure if you do a quick search, you'll see them all over the blogs right about now. This particular one is from their Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell EP. Buy Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell, or buy Embryonic.

(Dec. 20) The Dandy Warhols - "Little Drummer Boy" The Dandy Warhols are an Oregon-based band that's been kicking around since the mid-nineties. While they have yet to get a break-out hit, they did come close with "Bohemian Like You", which was featured on a couple of movie soundtracks. If you've never heard them, look that track up and you'll see what you've been missing. "Drummer Boy" was a non-album single in 1997. Buy Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia.

(Dec. 21) Leon Redbone - "Christmas Island" What can I say about Leon Redbone? He's a bit of a man out of another time. A bit jazzy, a bit bluesy, always laid-back, and always fun. His style would have been right at home about 80 or 90 years ago, and yet it still sounds great today. This is the title track to his classic 1987 Christmas album. Buy Christmas Island - with bonus tracks!

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HOLIDAYS 09 - WEEK 2

Good morning, and welcome to week two.

Not a very festive picture at right. For those who don't recognize the evil geniuses, that's The Monarch and the woman who at the time of recording today's song was known as Dr. Girlfriend, but is now known as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. If you didn't already know all that, you should be watching The Venture Bros.

For several years, the good people over at IGN gave away free mp3s of [adult swim] characters singing Christmas tunes. Today's little gift is one of those.


(Dec. 8) The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend - "Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy" Released for free online back in 2004. Yes, the raspier voice is Dr. Girlfriend. Buy The Venture Bros. swag (DVDs / CDs / clothing).

(Dec. 9) The Knife - "Reindeer" The Knife are an electro-pop band from Sweden. This song was released for free on the inter-web back in 2006, as a Christmas gift to the fans. Buy Silent Shout regular or deluxe.

(Dec. 10) The Fratellis - "Lonesome Anti-Christmas Blues" Scotland's Fratellis are currently on hiatus. This was issued as a non-album single last year, before they (hopefully temporarily) went their separate ways. Buy Costello Music.

(Dec. 11) Tiny Tim - "Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year" Tiny Tim was always an interesting performer, but where the hell he got the idea for this one I don't know. Apparently, this was issued as a single in the mid-eighties, while he was attempting to revive his career. Maybe he was courting some controversy. Whatever the reason this is one of the most bizarre holiday tunes I've ever come across. Buy something completely unrelated, to get that song out of your head.

(Dec. 12) The Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" Not exactly a hard one to hunt down this time of year, but I needed something with a bit more classic cool to cleanse the pallet after that Tiny Tim tune. This one originated as a non-album b-side of "I Wanna Live" in 1987, but has since found its way onto several hits packages and Christmas compilations. Buy Weird Tales of The Ramones box set.

(Dec. 13) Candypants - "The Happiest Time of the Year" I don't know heaps about Candypants. They're from L.A., and they put a very cool album out back in 2000. This very festive song wasn't on that album. That's all I know. Buy the album.

(Dec. 14) Tom Waits - "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" (Live) Yeah, everybody posts this song everywhere this time of year. At least I'm taking a slightly different approach - this one's recorded live during his appearance on Austin City Limits, more than 30 years ago. Buy every Waits product you can get your hands on, if you know what's good for you.

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HOLIDAYS 09 - WEEK 1

I'm going to try doing things a little different this year. Last year, I had a separate post for each day. Because of that, there was only about 6 tracks showing at any given time. That kind of annoyed me.

This year, I'm going to try and split the posts up into weeks. Each post will start with one song, and be updated daily until it has 7 songs. Then, I'll start a new post with one song. That way, all the songs should end up on the first page at the end of the month.

Of course, all of that explanation is really unnecessary for those who just want to hear the music, so let's get things started.


(Dec. 1) Lord Beginner - "Christmas Morning the Rum Had Me Yawning" One of my most popular posts has been the Wondrous Oblivion soundtrack. This is one of the artists on that soundtrack. I figured it'd be a good way to start off the season, especially since his name is "Beginner".

(Dec. 2) Frightened Rabbit - "It's Christmas So We'll Stop" Frightened Rabbit are one of several new Scottish bands that have taken my fancy of late. This was released last year as a non-album single. Buy The Midnight Organ Fight.

(Dec. 3) The Judybats - "When Southern Bells Ring (Here Comes Christmas)" There was a request on a music board about a month ago for some old Judybats stuff. That reminded me about this song. If you're unfamiliar with them, they were a band out of Tennessee that was fairly big on the college scene in the early nineties. Buy Native Son.

(Dec. 4) Manic Street Preachers - "Last Christmas" (Wham! cover) Recorded live on the British TV show TFI Friday, and later released on the Manic's rarities package, Lipstick Traces. Buy Lipstick Traces.

(Dec. 5) The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - "Merry Christmas Everybody" (Slade cover / BBC radio session) I hadn't bean familiar with the UOGB until about this time last year, when a friend turned me on to this track. They are exactly what the name implies - a group of ukulele players who play mostly covers of both traditional and rock songs. Buy The Secret of Life.

(Dec, 6) Poi Dog Pondering with Dirty Dozen Brass Band - "Mele Kalikimaka" A Hawaiian holiday tune seemed appropriate after all the ukes yesterday. I'm not sure where this one was first issued, but it's been on several Christmas compilations over the years. Buy 7, or buy Pomegranate.

(Dec. 7) St. Etienne - "I Was Born On Christmas Day" Possibly the danciest song you'll hear this season. This is from the UK band's Xmas 93 EP. Buy Fox Base Alpha, regular or deluxe.

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HOLIDAYS 08

OK, so I’m back. Things have been busy, holiday season and all. I doubt I'll have enough time to post huge amounts of songs during the next month or so, so I’m going to try posting one a day.

Since it is the holiday season, and I’ve always been a fan of the odd ball holiday tunes, I guess I’ll post a bunch of those. I’ll try to stick to the lesser heard ones (like today’s), but I may hit on some classics too.

If I end up missing a day or two, feel free to go back to last year's Christmas post and listen to those. The links should still be good.

Anyway, enjoy. I’ll get back to the regular posts in January, assuming things don’t continue to go downhill in the music-blogosphere.

Billy Bragg - “Deck the Halls” Recorded live on the John Peel Show, December 22, 1996.

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H08 - THE CHIEFTAINS with ELVIS COSTELLO

The Chieftains with Elvis Costello - "St. Stephen's Day Murders" This will be my last holiday post for the year. I chose to wait until the day after Christmas for this one, as it's title is a reference to this day. (St. Stephen's Day isn't celebrated here in the States)

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Taken from The Chieftains' Christmas album The Bells of Dublin. (buy)

See y'all next year.

H08 - DAMIEN RICE

Merry Christmas. Max is tuckered out after fighting with his elf, so I guess I'll post a nice peaceful song today.

Damien Rice - "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" I had thought about posting Lisa Hannigan's version of "Silent Night" from Damien's album O (buy) , but instead I kept with the theme of my blog and went with something a bit more obscure. This Plastic Ono Band cover is taken from the compilation It's All Bells.

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I've got one more song lined up for tomorrow, then I'm taking a break until the new year. Happy holidays everyone.

H08 - STEVE EARLE

Steve Earle - "Christmas In Washington" Taken from the album El Corazon. (buy) Steve has long been one of the few "country" artists that I listen to. Yeah, he's got a bit of twang to his sound, but he's also got a fiery political side and a drug-laden history. A bit like the great Johnny Cash, I guess.

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H08 - MONTY PYTHON

Monty Python - "Christmas In Heaven" Written for the film The Meaning of Life (buy), and also included on the album Monty Python Sings.(buy) The Pythons have long ruled my pathetic little world.

On a not entirely unrelated topic, if you ever have the opportunity to see Spamalot, do so. Freekin' funny stuff.

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H08 - E

E - "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas" Before forming The Eels, Mark Oliver Everett (better known as E) recorded three solo albums. This song was issued on a promo EP around the time of his third solo disc, Broken Toy Shop. Apparently, the song has been re-issued on an Eels rarity set, Useless Trinkets,(buy) though I don't know if it's the same version.

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H08 - THE GREEDIES

The Greedies - "A Merry Jingle" A sort of punk super group composed of former members of Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy. This was their only single in this incarnation. After some musician swapping, they changed their name to The Professionals and recorded a few more releases.

This was issued as a single in 1979. The b-side was "A Merry Jangle". Unfortunately, I haven't hunted that one down yet.

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H08 - EVERLAST

Everlast - "Blues for X'Mas" Everlast was the leader of hip-hop group House of Pain, who had the hit "Jump Around" back in the early nineties. After they broke up, he had a solo hit, "What It's Like", which is one of the rare instances where a hit song is actually good. (there's that music-snob thing popping up)

This track is taken from his 1999 EP, Today.

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H08 - GRANT LEE PHILLIPS

Grant-Lee Phillips - "We Three Kings" Grant Lee Phillips was the leader of the band Grant Lee Buffalo, who I posted about a while back. This is an unreleased studio recording of his from 1999.

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H08 - PEARL JAM

Pearl Jam - "Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time)" This was Pearl Jam's first fan club only single. The song was later released on their compilation, Lost Dogs.(buy) To my ears, this sounds like a slightly warmer mix than that on the official CD. It could just be because it's recorded from a nice warm vinyl record, and not a cold piece of CD plastic.

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H08 - THE SMITHEREENS

The Smithereens - "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" I couldn't resist putting up The Smithereens' version of this one, even though I've already posted Chris Isaac's version. I loved The Smithereens first album, Especially For You,(buy) and they're a mighty fun band to see live.

This was originally a promo-only track from 1992, but was later released to the masses on the now out-of-print rarity compilation, Attack of The Smithereens (which also includes the "Strip Club version" of "A Girl Like You").

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H08 - THE KINKS

The Kinks - "Father Christmas" Released as a non-album single back in 1977. Not immediately popular, but has since become a classic.

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H08 - JOHN WESLEY HARDING

John Wesley Harding - "Talking Christmas Goodwill Blues" I loved Wes's first album, It Happened One Night (buy), and the follow up EP, God Made Me Do It, from which this song is taken. The albums that followed are all good, too. Well received and critically acclaimed. But as good as they are, they just don't compare to that early stuff.

As is often the case here, this is recorded from over-played vinyl. Enjoy the hiss.

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H08 - DAMIEN DEMPSEY

Damien Dempsey with Sinead O'Connor - "Fairytale of New York" When I first heard about Damien's Pogues cover, I figured he and Sinead would be trading lines like Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl did in the original. That's not the case here. Though it's referred to as a duet, it's really a solo song from Damien, with Sinead doing a bit of backing vocals.

It's not bad. Just not what I was expecting. Still, nothing beats The Pogues original.(buy)

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H08 - DE LA SOUL

De La Soul - "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" I was never a huge fan of rap. Even now, there's only a choice few acts that I'll listen. I friggin' hate that 8-mile guy. He reminds me of all the high school idiots that thought being angry and aggressive was enough to get them through life.

Take a look back at your fellow high schoolers. Any of those types doing great things these days? I thought not.

If you're still in high school, believe me, all those shallow minded gits who taunt you now, will in a few years be gritting their teeth as they ask you if you want fries with that.

But I digress. Wow. Where the hell did that all come from? Perhaps I still have issues to work out. On with the show. . .

Years ago, I worked with a guy from New York who was constantly playing De La Soul's first two albums, 3 Feet High and Rising (buy) and De La Soul Is Dead (buy). By the end of the job, I found myself wanting to hear them again, and I've been hooked ever since.

This song is from their second album. As the title suggests, it's not exactly the most cheerful holiday tune ever, so be warned.

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