In the precious few moments that I've had to sit down and listen to any music at all since Brian posted this at the weekend, I dug out the first two Jason Falkner albums, 'Presents Author Unknown' from 1996 and 1999's 'Can You Still Feel?' Classics, the both of 'em and available for pennies on eBay and at Discogs. Our advice? (and I'm taking the liberty of speaking for Brian as well here) - buy them, buy them, buy them. They are astoundingly assured and extremely classy pop records. Brilliant songs, brilliantly executed.
In addition to these twin masterpieces, during the second half of the 1990s Falkner also committed an eclectic selection of covers to tape, including songs originally performed by the likes of Magazine, Monochrome Set, The Kinks, Swell Maps, Def Leppard and Joni Mitchell. Ironically, for a man who is no stranger to playing every single instrument on his studio recordings, the one time I saw Jason perform 'Both Sides Now' in concert at The Garage in 1999, he did so with his broken right arm in a plaster cast, thus preventing him from playing any instrument at all.
These days in addition to his own endeavours, Jason Falkner is an in demand producer (Daniel Johnston, R. Stevie Moore, Pugwash) and versatile gun for hire, contributing bass to Noel Gallagher's recent LP and establishing himself as the guitar slinging mainstay of Beck's live band.
Jason Falkner - Both Sides Now
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3 comments:
I love him. He plays on one of my Top Ten Albums of All Time - namely Bellybutton by Jellyfish. But you knew that already.
What you may not know is that he celebrated his 50th birthday the week before last.
Line of the day: "They are astoundingly assured and extremely classy pop records. Brilliant songs, brilliantly executed." Boom!
You pulled out a couple of my favorite albums, Swede. Everyone Says It's On is also a cherished album, and that one is not cheap! I was excited to see it in the import section at a Tower Records in downtown Chicago in the summer of 2002, but I did hesitate because of the $22 price. Today, there is one copy for sale at Discogs for $54. Feeling better about it right now.
I already own Can You Still Feel, but your tip off sent me over to eBay and Amazon where, sadly all the cheap copies are gone - the power of your blog, obviously. I really should get a Discogs account. I'll look again when the records are being featured so heavily in the popular media.
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