Shuffle em up. Describe five. Live long in phosphor.
- Pixies - Letter To Memphis (instrumental). A track from their "'B' Sides" collection. Hearing it this way does highlight the music, a bit; but I miss the vocals. I can't help but fill them in, mentally, which distracts from listening.
- Soundgarden - All Your Lies. When they did tunes like this, Soundgarden was the heaviest band ever. Everyone knows singer Chris Cornell could wail, but the rest of the band, especially IMO, guitar player Kim Thayil, still remains under-appreciated.
- Nod - Prescription Bottle. A bit of a sunny and mellow tune for Nod, like a walk round a pond on a sunny day, while geese wheezily quack at each other, and two different bands play similar songs from opposite sides of the water. Wish they'd put more of their tunes on-line.
- T-Rex - Bang a Gong. I just realized that this song sounds exactly like the Stones' "It's Only Rock And Roll". Actually, I think it's the other way around, since the Stones' song came out three years after this did. I hope the Stones credited Bolan somewhere.
- Benny Goodman Trio - Blue (And broken-hearted). I've always liked this kind of clarinet-centered small-combo jazz. And, then we started playing this simple but addictive game called "Flight Control", in which you play an air traffic controller who has to deal with congested air space and dumb planes; the background music for that game is a small-combo clarinet jazz tune, in the Goodman style (if it's nt Goodman himself). And now all I can think about when I hear this stuff is that friggin game.
Go!
Liking Google+ so far. Very techie at the moment which suits me. It won’t last.
The White Stripes – You’re Pretty Good Looking
1m 50s of stripped-down rock that kicked off The ‘Stripes UK popularity and can be found on their second album ‘De Stijl’ which came out 11 years ago (wow, time flies). I love this songs simplicity. He usually plays a cheap guitar but still manages to make it sound good.
Muse – Hysteria
Queen comparisons aside, Muse could well be the best British rock band in existence at the moment. They rarely change their formula, instead sticking to what they know best – rocking with their nuts out. Lead singer Matt Bellamy is a superb guitarist – really excellent, perhaps one of the best in the world. Their live show is bonkers – lasers shows and trippy visuals (Matt is rumoured to be a bit of a UFO conspiracy nut). Anyway this song is a fine example of what Muse sound like. Amps turned up to 10, kitchen sink included in the mix. I command you to love them.
TruFax: Matt Bellamy’s father was in a band called The Tornados who were the first British band to have a number 1 in the USA with a song called ‘Telstar’ back in 1962.
TruFax: Matt Bellamy is in engaged to Kate Hudson who has just had his baby. Rock and roll!
Paul Hardcastle – Nineteen
Obligatory 80s electro-track alert! This song was MASSIVE in 1985 with it’s anti-war lyrics (19 was apparently the average age of a combat soldier during the Vietnam War). It was number one in the UK for 5 weeks but remained in the charts and on the radio for much longer. There were a few remixes at the time as well – I seem to recall the 12″ sold like hotcakes.
The Clash – White Riot
The first Clash single – 2 minutes of amphetamine-fuelled mayhem. Never entered the UK top 30 but stayed in the charts for over 6 months. Pretty good start to their career.
Radiohead – Nobody Does It Better
Cover version of the day is Radiohead performing this Carly Simon Bond-theme. Yes. Hard to imagine them doing this now really, but in this MTV video from 1994/95 they nail it. The last half of the song is nuts and they seem to have their tongues firmly in cheek. Well worth a look. Jonny Greenwood is wearing a special brace on his arm as he kept hurting it by thrashing it so hard.
I another visitor from Portland, OR over in the UK this week so will try and break him using a combination of curry and Sambuca like the last one … hur hur hur.
“I’m Going to the Races”, Old and in the way. About as bluegrassy as it’s possible to be without actually appearing on the Grand Ole Opry.
“Vine Street Drag”, The Tennessee Chocolate Drops. Pre-bluegrass. (The link is a very nicely done cover by a modern-day, white jug band.)
“(I Want to be an) Anglepoise Lamp”, The Soft Boys. Man, you’re gonna be a woman some day. Girl, you wanna be a man an’ you will, yeah.
“NJ Transit”, Mountain Station. We played this at Crossroads last night and it was awesome.
“Creatures of Light”, Robyn Hitchcock taking us out…
I command you to love them.
i can’t. i’ve tried! but i just can’t seem to get there. when i watch them, i always end up thinking “if i wanted to listen to Radiohead or Queen, i’d listen to Radiohead or Queen.” i just can’t get past that.
Well, you tried. You’re not alone – many friends of mine can’t get past the Queen thing.
i did like the tune you linked better than some of the other Muse songs i’ve heard, though. maybe i should dig deeper.