Time continues to run, or in the case of some of us, stumble, along. It's hard to believe we're getting ready to pass into June. For some of us it means that Ramadan is now a third of the way over. I'd like to thank the truly excellent CB for hosting an Iftar dinner this week, and the exceptional KS, PS, KSST and PR for helping me break the fast.
And here's a reminder that next week is our latest theme week, as laid out by the esteemed Dave Kelley:
"There are so many ways that we can experience music, but my favorite by far has always been a great live performance. Not only can the band or artist flesh out and expand the music they have made in the studio, but the communal sense one gets from sharing the experience with others can often be wonderful. The Frank Turner show some of us saw in January 2017 on the same day as all of the women's marches was absolutely cathartic and a candle in the darkness of the Trump Inauguration. Seeing Bruce and the E Street Band for the first time on The River tour is a great memory I will always have. We have all been lucky enough to see fantastic concerts by many amazing artists over the years. I am assuming that, like myself, we have all missed out on other shows that would have been amazing. I decided not to see Pearl Jam in a small club in Cincinnati before they blew up and became hugely popular. I also passed up an opportunity to see The Talking Heads on their Stop Making Sense Tour. What a fucking idiot.
So, what band or artist would you choose to see and during what period of time. Show your work."
Nicole Atkins, Kill the Headlights
As I mentioned earlier, several of us saw a great Nicole Atkins show a couple weeks ago. It was a Tuesday in a small town (it's sometimes easy to forget how small Burlington is) and there were only about thirty people in the audience when the show started. So, she had every reason to phone it in, but instead she gave an enthusiastic performance and seemed deeply appreciative of the crowd that showed up. She hung around after to sell t-shirts and CDs and chat with the audience - and later that night gave me Likes on all my Nicole Atkins-related Tweets (mainly just links to songs). All of the songs were from her first and fourth albums, which is are much better than her second and third, which makes sense - but she avoided the trap of including songs to promote the sale of weaker albums. I didn't even know about her a week earlier, but I must have become a big fan in the meantime because I knew every song she sane at the concert. Having said all that, I'm going to talk about a song she didn't sing at the concert. I've been thinking recently about ambiguous songs (and I've decided that NY is the Artist of the Liminal Space, but more on that later) and the Atkins song Kill the Headlights seems to fill that bill. It reminds me in a way, thematically not aesthetically, of Kathleen Edwards's 12 Bellvue. Edwards sings, "I'm not going to lie/ Not gonna make up my mind tonight . . . I don't want to be your friend/ Just take off your clothes and get into my bed. (it's the anthem for angry sex)" The sexuality in Atkins's song is more muted, but somehow still there. What I think she shares with Edwards is that vague space where you're together or maybe you're not together or maybe your friends or maybe lovers or maybe you're transitioning from one to the other or maybe she's leaving or maybe she's not; essentially, all the things that are actually present when the relationship still has vibrancy. The opening lines also, for some reason, remind me of the beginning of Gillian Welch's Barroom Girls (which I've celebrated before). Atkins tell us:
"I always pick all the wrong things to say
I left last night in utter disarray
If I held your hand
And swore that I'll never do this again
And gave my best try . . .
Don't pull over, just kill the headlights . . .
You seem surprised
That I'm leaving
One bit of some good love
And I am gone."
And here's a reminder that next week is our latest theme week, as laid out by the esteemed Dave Kelley:
"There are so many ways that we can experience music, but my favorite by far has always been a great live performance. Not only can the band or artist flesh out and expand the music they have made in the studio, but the communal sense one gets from sharing the experience with others can often be wonderful. The Frank Turner show some of us saw in January 2017 on the same day as all of the women's marches was absolutely cathartic and a candle in the darkness of the Trump Inauguration. Seeing Bruce and the E Street Band for the first time on The River tour is a great memory I will always have. We have all been lucky enough to see fantastic concerts by many amazing artists over the years. I am assuming that, like myself, we have all missed out on other shows that would have been amazing. I decided not to see Pearl Jam in a small club in Cincinnati before they blew up and became hugely popular. I also passed up an opportunity to see The Talking Heads on their Stop Making Sense Tour. What a fucking idiot.
Of course, we have not been able to see other wonderful shows because we were too young or not yet born. I would kill to see a James Brown Show in the 50's or 60's. The same would be true of Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, etc.
So here is my idea for the next theme week. You are presented with a time machine and the opportunity to see any live show at any point in history. It could be Mozart giving a recital, The Beatles at a small club in Hamburg, Bruce on the Darkness Tour, Robert Johnson in a 1930's Mississippi juke joint, or Louis Armstrong in the Big Easy. It could be Neil Young and Crazy Horse from earlier this week.
I vouchsafe this as a Theme of Excellence.
Dave Wallace
Simple Minds - Alive & Kicking
A bit of a winding road to this
week's selection. Two weeks ago, I chose a Pretenders song. Last
week, I went with a Kinks song because Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde dated
after the Pretenders covered an early Kinks song, Stop Your Sobbing,
on the first Pretenders album. Hynde eventually left Davies for Jim Kerr
from the Simple Minds - oh, all of the rock and roll drama! The Simple
Minds are best remembered for their hit from The Breakfast Club soundtrack, (Don't
You) Forget About Me, which really has not aged very well but I have
to admit to still being fond of it. (The power of nostalgia.) With
that said, I always preferred the Simple Mind's Alive & Kicking and
it comes with a fabulous mid-80's music video!
Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't Fear the Reaper"
Blue Oyster Cult is not a great band, but this is a great song. I could say more, but why?
Kevin Andrews
Every
morning before driving to work I look to my phone to find some music for the
morning. My commute is only about a song and a half so this is a big decision.
We’ve had some beautiful mornings this week and one morning cried out for Laura
Nyro. It might have been Phil’s recent post of Todd Rundgren that planted the
seed, landing on her after coming out of the Todd rabbit hole.
I
may have first heard her songs from other artists, The Fifth Dimension, Three
Dog Night, or Blood, Sweat and Tears. (Just hearing those names makes me feel
old). There was a time when it was hard to avoid her songs. Eli’s Coming,
Stoned Soul Picnic, And When Die all must have charted on the Top 40.
Laura
was an excellent song writer, oddly her biggest hit was Up on the Roof, a
Carole King and Gerry Goffin song. I’d put Laura and Carole next to each other
on the Mt. Rushmore of women songwriters of the time.
Her
recordings are deceptively complicated considering they’re mostly voice, piano,
bass, and drums with a few horns and stings. Thanks to multi track recording
her voice often gets layers three or four times and sings multi layered
counterparts. I hear this and think this is where Ricky Lee Jones learned.
Cindy Morgan
I am going to pick up on Alice's picking up of Dave's use of
t.v. music. My husband was away last weekend which became license for me to
binge an entire series on Netflix called "The Five" based on a Harlan
Coben novel. It's 13 episodes if memory serves and one song makes an appearance
in 3-4 episodes. So often music in shows or movies is just background--musical
wallpaper if you will. Sure it can help set the mood or the tone, but I like
when a scene is crafted around a piece of music. The chase scene in Billy
Elliot with the Clash "London Calling" is one I love where the
filmmakers did this. Of course there's also "In Your Eyes" from
"Say Anything." and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in the
otherwise highly problematic film "Immortal Beloved" (but THAT scenes
salvages the whole trainwreck of a film).
In
the series "The Five" the ABC song "Poison Arrow" comes in
and out of a few scenes including one where three characters have a drunken
discussion about who the voices in the song are, and who is saying what and to
whom. It's sort of the theme song as well for a two of the characters' relationship.
It also acts as this nostalgia piece--taking the main characters back to a past
time and events. For me it was also a great trip down the nostalgia highway and
proof that even today my middle school music preferences carry cultural weight.
"Lexicon of Love" forever! And man that gold lame suit is something
you just don't forget.
Three
weeks from now I probably won't remember whodunnit in the show. I've
already forgotten all but three character names. But that song. . .that's going
to take longer to fade and I'm hoping it doesn't.
Dave Kelley
Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't Fear the Reaper"
Blue Oyster Cult is not a great band, but this is a great song. I could say more, but why?
Alice Neiley
Back in the saddle again,
as they say!
In addition to my affinity for 'lump in throat' songs, my
alternate personality is just as immersed in R&B/hiphop/soul music.
Material from 10 years ago, at the VERY latest, is often what I gravitate
toward in this genre, but I try to do as much legwork as possible to sniff out
the recent gems. SZA is one of those gems. Her real name is Solana Rowe,
and I first heard her featured on a remix of Lorde's "HomemadeDynamite",
and while I could do without most of the rest of that song, I LOVE her solo.
I've since bought her most recent album, and am thoroughly enjoying many of the
tracks -- most especially "Drew Barrymore"
First of all, she's vocally very strong here -- a depth
and occasional sexy huskiness that blend perfectly within the mid-range she
most frequents (a tough range for most singers, btw). She also writes most of
her own music, supremely unusual for a modern R&B artist. I particularly
like the commentary she's making in this tune, some of it subtle, some of it
not: the title, "Drew Barrymore", surfaces as more of a theme than a
literal reference to the movie star -- for example: "I'm sorry I'm
not more attractive I'm sorry I'm not more ladylike I'm sorry I don't shave my
legs at night / I'm sorry I'm not your baby mama..." etc.
Second of all, her background is super interesting. She
was raised Muslim but stopped wearing a hijab after 9/11 due to taunting and
general discomfort, then, finding herself completely unmoored, began to wear it
again, only to find the taunting worse. While she occasionally wears revealing
clothing for the stage (and no hijab), she more often wears baggy, 'gangstah'
like clothing (think Lauryn Hill in Sister Act II) to stay comfortable and
covered. The most interesting is her stage name, though: SZA. The name derives
from the 'supreme alphabet', created by the Nation of Gods and Earths and based
on teachings of Islamic leaders. S=self/savior, Z=zig zag (to understand),
A=Allah.
In other words...how much cooler can you get than being
an R&B chick who represents her values on multiple levels while also
being...well...badass?
Gary Scudder
Nicole Atkins, Kill the Headlights
As I mentioned earlier, several of us saw a great Nicole Atkins show a couple weeks ago. It was a Tuesday in a small town (it's sometimes easy to forget how small Burlington is) and there were only about thirty people in the audience when the show started. So, she had every reason to phone it in, but instead she gave an enthusiastic performance and seemed deeply appreciative of the crowd that showed up. She hung around after to sell t-shirts and CDs and chat with the audience - and later that night gave me Likes on all my Nicole Atkins-related Tweets (mainly just links to songs). All of the songs were from her first and fourth albums, which is are much better than her second and third, which makes sense - but she avoided the trap of including songs to promote the sale of weaker albums. I didn't even know about her a week earlier, but I must have become a big fan in the meantime because I knew every song she sane at the concert. Having said all that, I'm going to talk about a song she didn't sing at the concert. I've been thinking recently about ambiguous songs (and I've decided that NY is the Artist of the Liminal Space, but more on that later) and the Atkins song Kill the Headlights seems to fill that bill. It reminds me in a way, thematically not aesthetically, of Kathleen Edwards's 12 Bellvue. Edwards sings, "I'm not going to lie/ Not gonna make up my mind tonight . . . I don't want to be your friend/ Just take off your clothes and get into my bed. (it's the anthem for angry sex)" The sexuality in Atkins's song is more muted, but somehow still there. What I think she shares with Edwards is that vague space where you're together or maybe you're not together or maybe your friends or maybe lovers or maybe you're transitioning from one to the other or maybe she's leaving or maybe she's not; essentially, all the things that are actually present when the relationship still has vibrancy. The opening lines also, for some reason, remind me of the beginning of Gillian Welch's Barroom Girls (which I've celebrated before). Atkins tell us:
"I always pick all the wrong things to say
I left last night in utter disarray
If I held your hand
And swore that I'll never do this again
And gave my best try . . .
Don't pull over, just kill the headlights . . .
You seem surprised
That I'm leaving
One bit of some good love
And I am gone."
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