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.

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)

SCREAMING TREES

The early nineties in Seattle, the major record labels were scrambling to sign any band in sight, to try and make a big splash after Nirvana hit. Many of the bands that got major label deals in the era were well deserved, and did well with the “grunge” crowd. These were the days of Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, etc. etc.

Screaming Trees became well known around then for their song “Nearly Lost You”, which was included on the Singles soundtrack. Unfortunately, aside from that one hit, they never made a huge impression commercially. They did, however, put out some of the finest rock albums of the period.

If you’re a fan of any of the above bands, and haven’t heard Screaming Trees, do yourself a favor and pick up Sweet Oblivion, or any other of their albums, for that matter.

As a taster for those who haven’t heard them, and a treat for those who have, here are some of their harder to find gems:

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Screaming Trees - “Darkness Darkness” (Jesse Youngblood cover) From the True Lies soundtrack.
Screaming Trees - “Maybe” From the Japanese edition of Sweet Oblivion.
Screaming Trees - “Winter Song” (Acoustic version) B-Side of the “Shadow of the Season” single. Original version is on Sweet Oblivion.
Screaming Trees - “(There’ll Be) Peace In the Valley” (traditional) B-side of the “Dollar Bill” single.
Screaming Trees - “Working Class Hero” (John Lennon cover) From the a Lennon tribute album.
Screaming Trees - “Silver Tongue” (Deep Purple cover) B-side of the “All I Know” single.
Screaming Trees - “Ash Grey Sunday” An unreleased song from an album that would have been the follow up to Dust, but was shelved when they broke up.

Screaming Trees discography:

Clairvoyance, 1986 (buy)
Even If and Especially When, 1987
Invisible Lantern, 1988
Buzz Factory, 1989 (buy)
Uncle Anesthesia, 1991 (buy)
Sweet Oblivion, 1992 (buy)
Dust, 1996 (buy)

More info at Time For Light.