Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Because of Your Eyes
Here We Go Magic - How Do I Know?
Xodus - English Black Boys
Jagwar Ma - Come Save Me
Lower Dens - Alphabet Song
Graham Coxon - Ooh, Yeh Yeh
Bill Wells & Aiden Moffat - The Copper Top
Where is the time going? I've got a couple of posts in the works, but just can't seem to get them completed. One of these days I'm gonna get myself organizized!
To keep things ticking over, here are a couple of versions of the same groove, by an unlikely pair of Richards - Little and Roy.
Here's a mighty fine tune from Colorama's 2010 album 'Box'. Full-length album number three (there's also a mini-album or two knocking about) is due any day now - indeed it may already be available in Japan, as much of their previous work has debuted out there before gaining a domestic release. Carwyn Ellis fronts the band in tandem with his role as musical director for Edwyn Collins.
'Etiquette' is beautiful, timeless and a perfect soundtrack to this balmy evening.
I must admit that I'd grown a
bit tired of Paul Weller. I
still enjoyed the odd single,
but the albums had ceased to
engage me and the live shows
I caught in the mid 1990s and
early 2000s were....dull.
Despite the fact that I
fitted age-wise into the
bracket myself, I came to look upon
his oeuvre as Dad-rock - the
ultimate insult!
So I was sceptical, to say
the least, when I read the
early reviews for '22 Dreams'
in 2008 which were, almost
uniformally ecstatic.
Eventually, as the praise
kept coming, I checked the
album out. The reviews were
on the button. It wasn't so
much as a return to form, as
an artistic rebirth which has
continued with 2010s 'Wake Up
the Nation' and the fantastic
new album,'Sonik Kicks'.
Suddenly all bets are off and
no musical style is out of
bounds. I loved The Jam, but at the moment I'd argue
that Paul Weller is on the
form of his life.
Thirteen songs into the sixth and final night of Bob Dylan's legendary February 1990 Hammersmith Odeon residency, the piano which had sat to the side of the stage throughout the whole week, remained untouched.
Finally, after concluding the acoustic set with Mr Tambourine Man, Bob put down his guitar and ambled ever closer to the piano as the crowd willed him on. He sat down, summoned his inner Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and gave us this...
Not his greatest song by any means, but what a performance - and listen to the reaction of the audience!
When a mash-up works it can be utterly inspired and this is one such occasion. Take a slice of Richard Burton's narration of 'Under Milk Wood' and lay it over the 'Ali Baba' riddim and this is the spine-tingling result.
The problem with (still) not having proper access to my physical music collection, is that if a tune doesn't pop up on my MP3 player for a while, it's in danger of slipping off the radar. Such is the case with this sumptuous beauty, which I played endlessly during the early part of 2011 and rarely since.
I'm not too sure about the accompanying clip - I find it distracts rather than enhances - so maybe, like me, you should sit back from the keyboard for a few moments and let this one wash over you.
