Black Meditations on the Lobster God

This week it's a mix of this and that. I threw it together, listening to tracks I think would bounce nicely off each other. I've got a bit off the new Jarvis Cocker (the song that samples "Crimson and Clover" beautifully, no less). More from Lily Allen and some of the other usuals.

I also commented to Meera lately that Seal is perfect for this sort of thing. He's instantly recognizable and everyone loves his hits, but he's not someone that's overplayed and you're sick of. No one says "Hey, don't put on Seal" when we crack something open in the store. He's the perfect kind of intelligent popster. There's a lot going on in the lyrics, but still it's something accessible to nearly everyone.

"Kiss From a Rose" is the only exception in his catalog. And even still, it's more popular than the movie it was in ever was.

Sade is very much the same way. No one objects to Sade, and I hope that Lily Allen will be that type of popstar in a few years.

The English have a way with this that the Americans have just forgotten for years now. Our pop is just mass market, microwaveable crud. Theirs is handcrafted, hand carved meals meant to be enjoyed over a lifetime.

Black Meditation on the Lobster God

1. The Kinks - Set Me Free
2. Them - Richard Cory
3. XTC - Dear God
4. Tilly and the Wall - I Always Knew
5. Jarvis - Black Magic
6. Seal - Prayer For The Dying
7. Frou Frou - It's Good To Be In Love
8. Prince - Diamonds And Pearls
9. Sly & Family Stone - I Get High On You
10. The Fratellis - Cuntry Boys And City Girls
11. Klaxons - Isle Of Her
12. INXS - Mediate
13. Gnarls Barkley - The Last Time
14. Liquid Soul - Lobster Boy's Revenge
15. Lily Allen - Take What You Take

Laziness

My own aside, I've found a lot of what's come out of the Industry just to be complete and utter laziness one the part of the performers and the companies. My prime (and only listed example) is the first video in the playlist. It's a version of "Missing You" with the original artist and Alison Krauss. It's a great song, but an astoundingly mediocre version. It might as well be Karaoke seeing how it sounds like it uses the exact same backing as the original hit did. Frankly, I'm surprised Alison Krauss would do such a thing.

There's more, or course. The recent spate of Beyonce videos from her last album are all cut from the same mold. I know they were all done at the same time over a weekend, but it looks like it was just her, a blue screen and a simple dress and they edited in whatever they like. . .

That being different versions of the same crap.

In response, this YouTube playlist (sorry you Google Groups Folks, for to go to the site) includes some things from bands that actually try to do something different, fun and ungodly exciting.

Sunday Underneath the Willows in the Shadows of the Pavonis Mons

Here's another piece of headspace I created to while away a Sunday at the store. To one of my associates, she said it'd was perfect for coming down off a serious high. And I was touched. There's a lot of different styles going on in this mix, most of which spawn from talking to different people and wanting to create that type of mix.

It's a mix for a quiet hour before the torrents begin.

Sunday Underneath the Willows in the Shadows of the Pavonis Mons

1. Simon And Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy In New York
2. Tommy James & The Shondells - Sugar On Sunday
3. The Who - Baba O'Riley
4. Pure Reason Revolution - The Twycyn / Trembling Willows
5. Radiohead - Morning Bell
6. Sia - Drink To Get Drunk
7. The Flaming Lips - Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)
8. Portishead - Biscuit
9. The Shins - Pink Bullets
10. Porcupine Tree - Pure Narcotic
11. Wolfmother - Woman
12. Silversun Pickups - Little Lovers
13. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14. Massive Attack - Eurochild

I've been working on posting this one all week. (Meaning I think about posting it every time I'm away from a computer and promptly find something else more urget . . . ) It is mostly a collection of different groups I've been listening to a lot lately. There's a lot going on in this one, so beware.

Protect Me From the Ashes of Bille Jean

1. Stabbing Westward - Darkest Day
2. Portishead - It's a Fire
3. Mary Fahl - Time
4. Massive Attack & Mad Professor - Bumper Ball Dub (Karmacoma)
5. Minsk - Circle Of Ashes
6. Monster Magnet - Spine of God
7. Placebo - Protege Moi
8. Fiona Apple - Criminal
9. Chris Cornell - Billie Jean
10. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
11. Blackfield - Perfect World

So wrong...

on so many levels.

Memory Almost Full and Carry On

Normally, when someone talked about Paul McCartney's solo albums (or even Wings for that matter) I simply shrug my shoulders and go "meh." It's just never been my cup of tea. Like Robert Plant's or Roger Water's solo material, you're always expecting there to be more, but for one reason or another, it just falls short of the high expectations. (By the way, "Might Rearranger" by Plant is a stellar album. Listen to it.)

Now, his latest release, "Memory Almost Full," actually surprised me. It's a good, solid album. Having said that, I reminds me of a lot of the albums I've heard by bands influenced by the Beatles over the years. At times, I hear Echo and the Bunnymen, others I hear a Electric Light Orchestra sound, and others (dare I say it?) it reminds me of Klaatu.

Yes, Paul McCartney's album reminds me of a Klaatu album. . . Now isn't that something?

This week, along with Sir Paul, thereare a couple other albums coming out this week. There's Black Light Burns, which I've not heard yet, and I'm eagerly anticipating the first listen. It's Wes Borland's new project after Limp Bizkit disintegrated awhile back. Now, without much argument, Borland was the only real talent in the band. A musician in a group of frat boys. Now that he's teamed up with a couple of the masterminds of A Perfect Circle, I'm drooling. . .

I have heard, and quickly turning into a favourite, "Carry On" by Chris Cornell. I couldn't stand Audioslave. The whole project, all three albums sounded like an absolute waste of time. His new solo album takes things back to the Soundgarden type of Grunge sound we all know, loved and angst to.

But it's not that. Like the previous Pearl Jam album, we hear a man and a sound maturing. It reminds me more of the introspective sound Temple of to Dog had. Hell, I kept expecting to see Gossard and Amment mentioned in the liners.

Listen to his cover of "Billie Jean," the Michael Jackson hit. Instead of it sounding like a prepubescent boy who there could be a real doubt whether he's seen a woman naked, Chris Cornell makes it sound like "Yeah, it's probably his kid," in the way only a former junkie could. . .

Really, it all comes down to this: It's good to have your old heroes making good music again. Refreshing, almost.

The Vigil

Instead of making mixes, I spent the weekend listening to Doctor Who Audio recordings and Radio dramas. I'm not entirely sure when this was recorded and I haven't had a chance to figure out from whence it came since these audio versions are my first, real introduction to this character and storyline.

I listened to this particular stories while doing the dishes a couple nights ago and I found it quite profound.

We'll be back to music soon enough, and there's tons of new stuff coming along.

Doctor Who - The Vigil

Also, check out This American Life. They've added podcasts and I've been able to catch them all lately, finally.

Skipped the Light Fandango . . .

Here's another nearly forgotten classic. No one seems to care about the 40 year of this album, though it is one of my favorites. To date, I've only heard it on vinyl. I can't find any Procol Harum on CD in this country.

It was 40 Years Ago Today!

Yes, Sgt. Pepper was released 40 years ago today.

1967 was a big year for music where some of the greatest albums were released all in the space of a few months. Really, it was the 1966-68 period that were some of the biggest, but alas, it coalesced in 1967. Some of my favourite titles:

Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Doors
Surrealistic Pillow
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Sgt. Pepper
Magical Mystery Tour
Are You Experienced?

And there are so many I'm just not thinking of right now. For the Rock world, it was phenomenal period of growth and development. Why isn't the Industry getting behind it more?

Hopefully, if there's an industry left, 2017 will treat this better for the 50th.