11 posts tagged “random ten”
Hi there. I'm back, after not posting since April. My life has been complicated for the last few months, both personally and professionally. But it's not something I ever wanted to write about; this was never an autobiographical, let-it-all-hang-out type of blog. One thing that's really helped me in these difficult few months was a steady stream of good, new music. So for a while, this will mainly be a music blog.
And why don't we start off with a new random ten? From the mp3 player:
1. The Absence of Your Company - Kim Richey - from Chinese Boxes.
2. Where Will I Be - Emmylou Harris - from Wrecking Ball
3. Shakey Ground - The Temptations - from The Ultimate Temptations
4. Golden Earrings - Wes Montgomery - from Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sides
5. Paris - James McMurtry - from Americana Master Series: The Best of the Sugar Hill Years
6. Real World - The Bangles - from Children of Nuggets
7. Frosty - Albert Collins - from Truckin' With Albert Collins
8. London's Burning - The Clash - from The Clash
9. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division - from No Thanks! (video: Ian Curtis biopic)
1, Colorado - Stephen Stills
2. Believe In You - Amy Rigby
3. Broken Arm - Winterpills (available as a free download at the SXSW website - highly recommended)
4. Second Brain - Kaki King (different track available at SXSW - wonderful guitarist)
5. Here Comes the Night - Them featuring Van Morrison
6. A Fool For You - Ray Charles
7. Pickney Gal - Desmond Dekker
8. Exilio (Exile) - Thievery Corporation
9. O Silencio du Guitarra - Mariza
10. Without You - Kim RIchey
Hi, I'm back. Trying to get back into the habit of blogging, with some record reviews and a random ten.
This is the record I've been hoping Lucinda would put out for some time - melancholy without drowning in self-pity, meticulously crafted but seeming to come straight from the heart, and sung without the exaggerated twang LW has been affecting recently. Her best since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, and maybe better, (Speaking of Car Wheels, there's an interesting deluxe edition which came out last year, with a extra live disc of a concert mainly repeating CWOAGR's songs - fine alternate versions that help me listen to these familiar songs with fresh ears. A good way to buy it if you don't already have it; if you don't have any Lucinda, though, I'd start with the self-titled one - which, shockingly, looks to be out of print.
Rickie Lee Jones' new album is very experimental and sometimes difficult. Read the story behind it here - briefly, the vocals are mostly improvised, taking off from the words of Jesus, though you usually couldn't tell. Forget about ABAB verse forms, or choruses - Rickie's stream of consciousness melodies and lyrics take some getting used to, but is worth the effort. The music behind it is more rock than she usually does, kind of resembling the more folk-rockish moments of the Velvet Underground.
Explosions in the Sky are an instrumental guitar band, best known for their work on the soundtrack to Friday Night Lights. That's probably their most accessible work, because the tracks are short - on their own albums, tracks can go on for 12 minutes or more, and need that space to develop. The intensity rises and falls, crescendos crash and then quieter moments take over. It's all very hypnotic and enjoyable; recommended for listeners who like Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, but also like rock'n'roll.
And this week's random ten:
1. The Good's Gone - The Who
2. Drivin' Wheel - Junior Parker
3. Do You Realize?? -The Flaming Lips (video link)
4. Locked Out - Crowded House (video link)
5. Hard Times - Ray Charles
6. Sing Me A Song - Willie Nile
7. Love & Affection - Joan Armatrading
8. Paris Train - Beth Orton
9. Persuasion - Richard & Teddy Thompson
10. Be Here Now - Mason Jennings
It's been a while since I did a random ten. This week, my mp3 player tries to make me look old - 4 songs from the 1960's, one from 1970 (the Johnny Cash song) and a Beatles cover. I really do have current music on this thing, somewhere.
1. Norwegian Wood - Patricia Barber
2. Going Through The Motions (live) - Aimee Mann
3. Right To Be Wrong - Joss Stone (video link)
4. Under the Milky Way - The Church
5. Get Yourself Another Another Fool - Sam Cooke
6. Child of the Moon - The Rolling Stones
7. Missing (Terry Todd remix) - Everything But The Girl
8. Get Yourself Together - Small Faces (video link)
9. Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin
10. Flesh and Blood - Johnny Cash
The Cash song is just awesome, with incredible lyrics. Here's a version of it by Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow and Mary-Chapin Carpenter at a Cash tribute concert:
FLESH AND BLOOD by Johnny Cash
Beside a Singin' Mountain Stream
Where the Willow grew
Where the Silver Leaf of Maple
Sparkled in the Mornin' Dew
I braided Twigs of Willows
Made a String of Buckeye Beads;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.
I leaned against a Bark of Birch
And I breathed the Honey Dew
I saw a North-bound Flock of Geese
Against a Sky of Baby Blue
Beside the Lily Pads
I carved a Whistle from a Reed;
Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.
A Cardinal sang just for me
And I thanked him for the Song
Then the Sun went slowly down the West
And I had to move along
These were some of the things
On which my Mind and Spirit feed;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.
So when this Day was ended
I was still not satisfied
For I knew ev'rything I touched
Would wither and would die
And Love is all that will remain
And grow from all these Seed;
Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.
Thanks to the video game Guitar Hero, my son Ryan has become enamored of several classic rock songs, most of all Iron Man by Black Sabbath. I'm sure most of you can hear that groaning opening chord right now. It's featured in a Nissan Truck commercial, it's become a staple of high school marching bands, VH1 named it the best metal song of all time.
So, tell me - what's it about?
Yeah, that never occurred to me either. Sometimes, that's not a question you want to ask; a catchy song can be ruined if you notice, on the hundredth hearing, that the words are stupid. But when Ryan asked me to get him a copy of the song, I felt compelled to check out the lyrics, to make sure they weren't going to poison his 12-year-old mind. Turns out it's a mini-science fiction epic:
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all,
Or if he moves will he fall?
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
Well just pass him there
Why should we even care?
He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind
Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfurl
Now the time is here
For iron man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge
Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron man lives again!
The song tells the tale of a man who travels back in time to warn mankind of an impending apocalypse, but in the process is 'turned to steel' and therefore into an 'iron man' (although technically iron is not the same as steel). This form leaves him in a non-responsive state in which no one can tell if he is even alive. Everyone ignores him, and lying there in his metal shell, he plans vengeance on the people who don't acknowledge all he went through to try to save them. Finally, he does indeed kill everyone, fulfilling the prophecy he was originally trying to prevent.
I don't know about you, but the song is certainly changed for me. I'm not sure it's for the better, though...
There are no science fiction stories in this week's random ten, but there is a good deal of 60's rock and soul.
1. All That We Perceive - Thievery Corporation
2. The Bird - Shawn Colvin
3. Shake - Otis Redding
4. Get Back - The Beatles
5. Fool's Paradise - Sam Cooke
6. 7 and 7 is - Love
7. I Can't Explain - The Who
8. Rifle Range - Blondie
9. Uncertain Smile - The The
10. Am I The Same Girl? - Barbara Acklin
In the early eighties, I lived on Long Island, worked in New York City, and did what I could to take advantage of the city's music scene. One of my best friends, John Lee, introduced me to a guy named Eric Schmuckler, who was one of those passionate music lovers that you come across rarely. While I just liked music a lot - OK, obsessively - Eric was the kind of fan who really made it part of his life, who seemed to know something about every worthwhile kind of music, and loved to share his knowledge. After I moved away, I heard from him occasionally in the email circle of my NYC friends - his email address was "recordlovr".
Last week, John Lee emailed me, and said that Eric had died of cancer. He was actually diagnosed ten years ago, and at that time he was given six months to live. Cancer didn't know what it was getting into. Eric fought for a decade, and his love for music, as well as his wife and two children, gave him the strength and energy. John wrote "his love for music was unstoppable; despite his impending fate, he was on ebay ordering cds, shopping for tickets to Broadway shows, having a ball editing his own obituary.
This week's random ten is for Eric; but first, here's a song that makes me think of him, by the Ramones, a band with some other tough New Yorkers who died too young:
1. California 2005 - Phantom Planet
2. If It Takes All Night - Roxy Music
3. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
4. Anastasia - Elliott Murphy
5. Sweet and Dandy Toots and the Maytals
6. Love > Building on Fire - Talking Heads
7. Hand of Fate - The Rolling Stones
8. Real Love - David Gray
9. Cowards in a Brave New World - Kim Richey
10. When the Rain Starts Falling - Johnny Copeland
This week, my mp3 player wants me to listen to the first Clash album. OK by me.
1. Little Armor - The Damn Personals
2. I Fought the Law -The Clash
3. Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack
4. Thrice All American - Neko Case
5. Singing Cowboy - Love
6. Think I'm In Love - Beck
7. Save Me - Nina Simone
8. Daybreaker - Beth Orton
9. I'm So Bored With the USA - The Clash
10. Gentle Moon - Sun Kil Moon
The Damn Personals deserve some singling out. They're a fine local Boston band that mixes hard rock guitar with catchy pop hooks, just the way I like it. Here's a video for their song "Starving Artists":
As a bonus track, here's a video in remembrance of James Brown, at his funkiest on Soul Train. Rest in peace, Hardest Working Man in Show Business:
The Angry Tiki has posted a James Brown video that just astounds me. I assume that's the only time he performed in that outfit.
After a week off, the random ten returns:
1. A Certain Girl - The Yardbirds
2. Love is the Only Way - Robert Randolph and the Family Band
3. Witches' Song - Marianne Faithfull
4. The Last Time - The Rolling Stones
5. Cool Rockin' Loretta - Joe Ely
6. Hold On, I'm Comin' - Sam & Dave
7. (Splash) Twist Turn - Jimmy Eat World
8. I Want to Be Loved - Cassandra Wilson
9. Groovin' for Mr. G. - Richard "Groove" Holmes
10. White Riot - The Clash
Here's a Youtube video of Sam and Dave at their prime, with Booker T. and the MG's and the Mar-Kays horns. Mick Jagger wishes he could dance like that.
The legal thriller is not my favorite genre - I've taken a vow to never read another John Grisham book - but I do like Scott Turow. He's got it all: graceful writing style, well-drawn characters, plotting that makes you turn the pages, and a skilled handling of big themes. His new book, Limitations, is not a major work. A trade paperback of less than 200 pages, it began life as a serial for the New York Times Magazine, and qualifies as a quick read rather than a book that creates a world you can lose yourself in. But Turow's qualities are in evidence. His main character is a judge, and Turow is interested in the question of how a flawed man can sit in the judgement of others.
George Mason, previously seen as a lawyer in Personal Injuries, is now a Court of Appeals judge trying a teen gang rape case. Aspects of the case remind Mason of an incident in his past, and make him question his fitness to try the case. Other stresses in his life bring him to a breaking point - his wife's serious illness, and a series of threatening emails that come closer and closer to home (Turow is better at the emotional crisis than at the whodunit plot in this one). If you want to try Turow, I'd recommend Presumed Innocent or Personal Injuries over this, but this is worth reading.
While I'm posting, here's this week's random ten:
1. "When We Ran" by John Hiatt
2. "Na Na Na Na Naa" by Kaiser Chiefs
3. "Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)" by Jimi Hendrix
4. "Walk in the Woods" by Peter Case
5. "Language Symbolique" by Thievery Corporation
6. "Chains and Things" by B.B. King
7. "You Got It" by Etta James
8. "Another Time, Another Place" by U2
9. "Lip Service" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
10."Right On For the Darkness" by Curtis Mayfield
This week's random ten:
1. "In State" - Kathleen Edwards
2. "Sweet Thing" - Van Morrison
3. "Canyon" - Richard Buckner
4. "Haunted" - Ralph Towner
5. "Angelo" - Megan Palmer
6. "Tears, Tears and More Tears" - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
7. "Munich" - Editors
8. "Cono" - Salif Keita
9. "Willow" - Joan Armatrading
10. "Paradise Etc." - Peter Case
