Music Listening Diary, Day 7

Day 7 was about individual songs, not albums. I was hanging online with some friends for several hours, taking advantage of the outloud.fm service to share tracks with each other. And I didn’t take notes of what they played for me or what I played for them. I just enjoyed it. So nothing to report.

This is my second time doing the diary, and both times by the end the cataloging was bugging me. Last time I saw it through, this time I didn’t. I don’t use last.fm (tried it, hated it, fuck it), I don’t have a play count column in my itunes, and I found noting my consumption of music changed my relationship to it. Of course, that’s a valid conclusion to reach from the exercise, and one I’m fine with.

Music Listening Diary, Day 6

I didn’t listen to shit besides a few tracks people stuck on my Tumblr dash that I didn’t really pay attention to (sorry, peeps).

My brain and body are TIRED. Watched some hoops. Yeah Celtics! Boo Lakers.

Music Listening Diary, Day 5

There is no day 4.

Day 5 was my flight home, and I tried to read and listen and distract myself from the pain of my knees being driven into the seat in front. I read a couple of 33 1/3 books that I had picked up on that 99¢ e-book sale at Amazon – the ones on Paul’s Boutique (RIP, MCA) and It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. Both were good, in the upper end of the dozen or so books I’ve read in the series (I read the one on The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society last week and let’s just say it was not in the upper end). I decided I didn’t want to listen to the subject records as I read, so picked a few records that were unlikely to have been sampled even by such noted crate-diggers as the Bomb Squad and Dust Brothers.

I queued up a Little Feat bootleg from a radio broadcast in 1973. Like the Ultrasonic Studios broadcasts, the Ebbets Field summer show on KCUV is a band at it’s peak, this time a little looser, a little jammier, than they were that spring. If you like Little Feat, I highly recommend this set.

Next up was a run through of Miguel’s three Art Dealer Chic EPs. I think they gradually decline from a high peak, but I’ll keep six or seven of the nine songs in rotation throughout the summer. Damn high batting average when you think about it.

I also listened to the first two albums from The 13th Floor Elevators, The Psychedelic Sounds Of… and Easter Everywhere. I’ve been listening to more Roky since moving to Texas. It seems to make more sense to me than it did in New England, where I liked but didn’t love it. I’m definitely growing to love these two albums.

Then the battery on my phone started to die and I thought I should keep some juice just in case. But as we circled in a holding pattern, flying from Dallas to Oklahoma City and back again, I really wished I had a bit more music to distract my from my aching knees.

Music Listening Diary, Days 2 & 3

I’m on vacation, visiting friends and stomping to and fro in Boston and Providence (thank god for affordable commuter trains), so I’ve had very little dedicated music listening time. However, on both Wednesday and Thursday I ate in dives that had music playing, and both places seemed to have put the first Led Zeppelin box set on shuffle [this is the set that had “Traveling Riverside Blues” on it, if that helps identify it]. I heard “Four Sticks” and “Tangerine” and “What is and What Should Never Be”, among others I don’t remember. It struck me as slightly strange that an Irish bar and a breakfast joint were both playing Zeppelin, and that both were not albums but a compilation that is more than greatest hits. I’ve always felt that the classic rock of the 70s had a strong grip on the New England psyche, but having been away for a while the grip seems stronger. I’ve also encountered local heroes Aerosmith (“Last Child” – so good) and The J. Giels Band (“Freeze Frame” – also killer) in shops and markets. Steve Miller, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt too; it’s pure Rock Candy in The Heart Of The City.

Music Diary Project, Day 1

I had a long flight yesterday, which gave me time to listen to a fair chunk of the My Bloody Valentine reissues. I would need to a/b them to fairly judge, but my impression was they were louder but not, thankfully, over compressed. I’ll hold off on thoughts of the two different Loveless mixes until I’ve had a chance to hear them under better conditions.

April 10 Music Diary

The big finish is more of a whimper. Day was filled with phone calls, motor racing and footie; I only got to hear one album while I was doing some chores.

Hawkwind – On Sundown bootleg

I love me some vintage space rock. Many days, I think Hawkwind from 70-74 is the greatest band to ever walk the Earth, or at least hover a few inches above the surface. This recording is from December 30, 1972 at Brixton Sundown; arguably, the peak of their not inconsiderate power (some of these performances were cleaned up and used on Space Ritual). Check out this intersteller setlist: “Electronic #1”, “Orgone Accumulator”, “Upside Down”, “Sonic Attack”, “Time We Left This World Today”, “10 Seconds Of Forever”, “Brainstorm”, “Seven By Seven”, “Master Of The Universe”, and “Welcome To The Universe”.

I just did some research on the web and it appears this is a boot of an actual release – Space Ritual Sundown, Vol. 2. With such a mess of discography I’m not surprised I missed this in the clutter, detritus, flotsam & jetsam of Hawklore. I know what I’ll be ordering from my local shop tomorrow. This show is awesome.

April 8 Music Diary

Lots of stuff today! Was out and about running errands, so it was time for the ipod and the dreaded shuffle. I needed a slow, comfy wakeup this morning, so I chose my playlist of the Simon and Garfunkel catalog with the first three Simon solo records. Here’s how it went, with a few quick comments.

Simon, Simon and Garfunkel: An Itunes Playlist

Paul Simon – “Silent Eyes”

Paul Simon – “Duncan” *one of my favorite songs of all time*

Simon and Garfunkel – “Punky’s Dilemma”

Simon and Garfunkel – “The Sound Of Silence”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Fakin’ It”

Simon and Garfunkel – “The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Keep The Customer Satisfied”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Cecelia”

Simon and Garfunkel – “A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)”

Paul Simon – “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” *all about Steve Gadd’s drums. amazing*

Paul Simon – “You’re Kind”

Paul Simon – “Have A Good Time”

Simon and Garfunkel – “The 50th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”

Paul Simon – “Me And Julio Down By The School Yard [Demo]”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Bookends Theme”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Cloudy” *the Association’s “Windy” blows the clouds away*

Simon and Garfunkel – “Mrs. Robinson”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Scarborough Fair/Canticle”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”

Paul Simon – “St. Judy’s Comet”

Paul Simon – “Everything Put Together Falls Apart”

Simon and Garfunkel – “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Sparrow” *kinda loathe this*

Simon and Garfunkel – “Overs”

Simon and Garfunkel – “At The Zoo”

Paul Simon – “Something So Right”

Paul Simon – “Paranoia Blues [Unreleased Version]” *man, the solo records are sooo good*

Simon and Garfunkel – “You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies”

Simon and Garfunkel – “Richard Cory”

Paul Simon – “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”

Paul Simon – “Learn How To Fail”

Paul Simon – “Slip Slidin’ Away [Demo]” *he’s a dick for not attaching the hit version to an album after all these years. I don’t own it as I refuse to buy a greatest hits for one track*

Simon and Garfunkel – “Song For The Asking”

After lunch I decided I’d had enough folky goodness; with the sun beating down and spring nigh sprung, I  went for the sunny summer majesty of Diamond Dave era Van Halen. Another playlist, another shuffle.

Van Halen (No Hagar The Horrible): An Itunes Playlist

Van Halen – “Could This Be Magic?”

Van Halen – “In A Simple Rhyme”

Van Halen – “Girl Gone Bad”*I can’t decide if they’re aiming for In Through The Out Door Zep or contemporary Rush with this cut. A real outlier in their sound*

Van Halen – “I’ll Wait”

Van Halen – “I’m The One”

Van Halen – “The Full Bug” *Diver Dud‘s highpoints are lower than any other Van Halen record*

Van Halen – “Take Your Whiskey Home” *Women And Children First, on the other hand, is all killer and no filler*

Picked up my wife mid-afternoon and we chatted all the way home. Good day all around.

April 7 Music Diary

I wasn’t fooling anyone with the hopeful Daytime in the title so out it goes.

Various Artists – Sky Sports Premier League Season in Review 1992-93

This morning I decided to start the day with Sky Sports recap of the 1992-93 Premier League season. I’ve become a big footie fan over the past several years but my history of the game is rather pitiful. Sky began broadcasting with this particular season and produced a nice summary with highlights and such. It’s a time capsule of much more than soccer, as big news events are mentioned (Di left Charles, Tyson goes to prison) and there is a music bed of prime cuts from that year and the several that proceeded it. This is some of what I noted:

Simple Minds – “Alive And Kicking” (the theme for the season, repeated a lot)

U2 – “Even Better Than The Real Thing”

Stereo MC’s – “Connected”

Kriss Kross – “Jump”

Blur – “Boys & Girls”

Primal Scream – “Movin’ On Up”

Snap! – “Rhythm Is A Dancer”

The Spin Doctors – “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”

R.E.M. – “Everybody Hurts (played behind Brian Clough’s retirement and Forest’s relegation)

Monty Python – “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” (behind a blooper reel)

Beck – “Loser”

This last was a real surprise. Though released on a small label in March of ’93, it didn’t break until re-released by Geffen the following spring. Maybe it hit in the UK on initial release, I don’t know.

Blood Ceremony – Living With Ancients

Had to clear the 90s fug by playing a new album that sounds like it came out in 1972. This just gets better with each spin; the delicious blend of clean heavy riffs, cheesy keyboards, and a female singer who breaks out a flute. Yeah, a flute. They’ve hit on a nice blend of Sabbath and Tull without going fully heavy or fully prog, something they didn’t quite reach on the debut. Check out “Coven Tree”.

Brocas Helm – Defender Of The Crown

More classic sounding modern metal. This is more late 70s/early 80s than Blood Ceremony, and rocks a bit harder. The influence is more Conan and D&D than Hammer horror films. Not the most prolific band, they’ve managed three studio records and a live album in over 25 years of existence. This, their latest, came out in 2004.

Cauldron – Burning Fortune

Today ended up a retro metal extravaganza. I fired this up after lunch, and bathed in the lycra and studded belts of 1983. These Canadiens use the technology of today to sound like music from before they were born (I’m guessing at that; I know they’re young, and barely two albums into a promising career). Once I found out they covered Black ‘N Blue’s “Chains Around Heaven” on their debut I was smitten. Only thing I feel obligated to knock them for is their enunciation on “Tears Have Come”. The singer slurs the words a bit and the chorus really, really sounds like “Tears of cum”.

April 6 Music Diary: Daytime

Still not listening at night; social time with my wife hasn’t included tunes.

Neither did today.

Vendela – “Punk Rock Song”

Started the morning on youtube watching the video for this track. Two people I highly respect pimped this in the overnight hours so I was looking forward to it.

I have no idea what they’re hearing that I’m not; this struck me as weak fake nostalgia lyrics in generic Europop clothes. I hope to never hear this again.

That’s it. A day of minimal music.

 

April 5 Music Diary: The Daytime

I ended up listening to no music last night, but I figure it’s best to leave open the possibility.

Sound Opinions Podcast – Early Dylan and Lykke Li

Threw this on to background breakfast and my first cups of coffee. Almost always worth a listen, if only for the usual head shaking at Dero’s point of view, but this week was a dud. Nothing more needs be said about Dylan’s pre-electric years yet that doesn’t keep these two from following the well-paved roads of others. They both liked the new Lykke Li quite a bit, as do I.

The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck

My first listen – I picked it up last week but didn’t find myself the right time and mindset to give it a spin. I liked it, and think there are enough high points that I might grow to love it. I’m not sure about the running order; felt it didn’t flow particularly well, and the second track, “Birth Of Serpents”, was the one song that I didn’t care for much at all. High points: the run from “Age of Kings” to “High Hawk Season”, and from “For Charles Bronson” till the end. It ends with an instant classic; “Liza Forever Minnelli”, with Darnielle’s jazzy vocal phrasing, got an immediate replay. I look forward to living with this for a while, but my first impression isn’t as favorable as it was for their last album, The Life Of The World To Come.

Britney Spears – “I Wanna Go”

After I finished with The Mountain Goats around 9:30am, I was reading a thread on ILX that is all about Metal Mike Saunder’s thoughts on the new Britney album. This was embeded in it, so gave it a go. It’s a good song. She makes good pop, for the most part, so I wasn’t exactly surprised.

Lea Anna – “Kisses”

Another youtube from some thread on ILX. Nice pop dancehall, wish it wasn’t autotuned for no good reason.

Twisted Sister – “Under The Blade”

Back to iTunes. I needed a palate cleanser and to get in the mood for another first listen in a more hard rocking vein. I enjoy the first tow Twisted Sister albums a good deal, and “Under The Blade” is one of the great lost early 80s metal songs. Shoulda been huge, but the world wasn’t ready.

Wight – Wight Weedy Wight

Another German stoner metal band. Correction: another great German stoner metal band. Not sure what’s in the beer over there, but it seems year after year another band pops up from the soil of the Rhineland to swirl, bludgeon and groove into my ears. Six songs in 45 minutes of Sabbath-loving heavy metal. I just wish they had a North American distribution deal, but self-released records rarely do. Maybe All That Is Heavy will pick it up down the road.

Peter Wolf – Sleepless

A change of pace and sound after that glorious murk. I somehow slept on Peter Wolf’s move into laid-back country blues rocker (I’m not sure how to peg it; gracefully aging rock?), and this album is all killer and no filler. In the short time I’ve had it I’ve listened to it over and over, in many settings and following some rather diverse artists, and it never disappoints. I always knew he had impecable and eclectic taste but didn’t expect this from him after all this time. Apparently the followup to this 2002 album, last year’s Midnight Souvenirs, is nearly it’s equal. Guess I got to hear that one, too.