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Buck Owens - Act Naturally
So there I was, listenin' away to Buck Owens, when he commences to singin' "Open Up Your heart." My ears wagged, and did a double take, as I recalled hearing that very same tune on TV back when I was a young 'un.
The Buck Owens was a change of pace from listening to King Tubby Meets Scientist at the Dub Station this morning
Buck Owens. Nice.
Now I'm on Sidney Bechet, off a contraband record I picked up in the DDR.
I listened to a great Dave Brubeck special last night while the Canucks were fumbling away on CBC. If I had chosen to stay up it was being followed by a T. Monk special. Brubeck is still great at 90.
So there I was, listenin' away to Buck Owens, when he commences to singin' "Open Up Your heart." My ears wagged, and did a double take, as I recalled hearing that very same tune on TV back when I was a young 'un.
I used to hum that as a tyke too! "Open up your heart and let the sun shine in!"
But later - as a teenager - I was far more moved by this version of Let the Sunshine In. Still am, I guess. What a change from one decade to another.
The Bongettes got me one of those eyepawed electronic gramophones for Father's Day, so last night we uprooted a bunch of tunes onto it. Here's what I listened to on the walk to work this morning:
"No Quarter" - from Led Zep's The Song Remains the Same
All of Six Days of Paper Ladies by Humphrey and the Dumptrucks
Side One and a couple of other tunes from Scatterlings by Juluka
Buck Owens. Nice.
Now I'm on Sidney Bechet, off a contraband record I picked up in the DDR.
The only record (cassette, actually) I got in the DDR wasn't contraband, it was a DDR pressing of T-Rex "Children of the Revolution". I seriously doubt that Erich Honnecker paid Marc Bolan any royalties.
As for East German artists like City and the Inchtabokatables, those I picked up in the west.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p0M1Sn-jNw
I have seven Slim Gaillard CDs uprooted onto the eyepod. I've been listening to these, played in "shuffle" mode, lately.
I can't get over how technology has made more types of music more accessible. I downloaded these records, although I do have a couple of other Slim Gaillard CDs.
Not that long ago I had trouble finding anything by this guy. I went so far as to buy a broken record (a chunk was busted off the outside, so a couple of songs were missing) that included "Cement Mixer" at a flea market, just because I had no other source for Slim's music. Later I got a buddy to tape about three or four Gaillard tunes from a jump blues LP he had, so at least I had a cassette with a few songs.
I also once paid way too much dough for a used Charlie Parker record, just because it included "Slim's Jam."
I listened to a great Dave Brubeck special last night while the Canucks were fumbling away on CBC. If I had chosen to stay up it was being followed by a T. Monk special. Brubeck is still great at 90.
Oh, a jazz fan ... why am I not surprised? :)
Billy Bragg: Never Buy The Sun
I'm actually watching and listening to Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound on PBS - two hours and forty-five minutes (interrupted with about a half hour of PBS fundraising). She's had an amazing career of music and activism (has performed for 53 years now) and had an important impact on my life: having listened to her music for about six years, at age 18 I decided to be an anti-war pacifist, and have remained true to this ever since. That year - 1968 - my first year of protest - I was picked up by the cops in Ottawa for demonstrating against the Viet Nam War in front of the old American Embassy on Wellington Street and burning the American flag, along with a dozen League Of Young Socialists compatriots. Released later - after having been fingerprinted and photographed. I'm amazed I ever was able to enter the USA - which I have done on many occasions, as I used to vacation in both Vermont and New Mexico (my girlfriend was American). In 2000 I tried to enter the White Sands missile weapons testing range in New Mexico to protest, but was blocked by a guard with a machine gun. I wanted to enter the facility and sit down in front of their latest weaponry, cause an international incident if I could, to draw attention to outrageous spending on weapons while people were starving in the US. All I had with me was a Pentax camera. I have photos, however, of their museum exhibit next to the parking lot - I was told if I aimed my camera in the direction of the testing range, it would be confiscated. It was a new expensive camera, so I didn't take the risk. But their mothballed missile weapons display was pretty impressive by itself. (In the background I could see huge long 18-wheelers with stuff wrapped in canvas so nothing could be viewed) I'll post photos if I ever figure how to move my photos online. Like I said, she's had an enormous influence on my life. I have almost all of Joan Baez's albums - on vinyl, cassette, and CD. I don't think anyone sings Dylan's songs better than Joanie and Dylan himself.
ETA: Nothing to do with music, but it follows the narrative above: White Sands testing new laser weapon system (2009)
Top Ten Labor Day Songs
http://www.thenation.com/blog/163148/top-ten-labor-day-songs
Billy Bragg reccommended a recent Ry Cooder song for this Labour Day. It's called No Banker Left Behind.
I listened to a great Dave Brubeck special last night while the Canucks were fumbling away on CBC. If I had chosen to stay up it was being followed by a T. Monk special. Brubeck is still great at 90.
Oh, a jazz fan ... why am I not surprised? :)
Caissa listens to Jazz eh? I wonder what else we might have in common....
---
As a jazz fan I have the self-imposed duty to explore "different stuff", and I found some old Eno "ambient music" that I put on late at night with the lights down low. Great for acid trips I suppose, lol. [kidding!!]"My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" is a fav.
Adrian Belew and Fripp, the "1984 era King Crimson" is along the same lines.
---
But REALLY GREAT music is Robbie Robertson's two "native american" and "Redboy" CDs. What makes it great is the harmonies applied to traditional native chanting, and the perfection of arrangements and production that comes from Robbie's professionalism over so many years, so many albums, so much studio time.The rhythmns move your feet for you. I really love this stuff.
Robbie Robertson is a real Canadian icon.
But REALLY GREAT music is Robbie Robertson's two "native american" and "Redboy" CDs.
I love the peyote healing song from those albums.
I've put together a mix of my latest favorite songs. Listen to it here.
I was listening to Collapse Into Now and checking out the Globe's website and ran across this.
Is it appropriate to observe they lasted about three times longer than the Beatles?
This is what Toronto sounds like this September. Music from evalyn parry, Red Slam Collective, Amai Kuda et Les Bois, Saidah Baba Talibah, Ian Kamau and others.
What's new in the rest of Canada?
If I wasn't completely deaf before, I probably soon will be - I'm going through my reggae collection on headphones while I'm reading babble and other forums.
Today:
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Natty Dread; Legend; Catch A Fire (Catchfire???)
Toots and the Maytals: Millenium Collection (including, get this: a reggae version of "Take Me Home, Country Roads"
)
The Best Of Johnny Nash
Jimmy Cliff : The Harder They Come
Peter Tosh: Equal Rights, Legalize It
Lessig uploaded a speech he gave in Portland Oregon Oct. 28 2010 focusing on striking at the root of corruption. Musicians went on to make a plethora of songs from it.
Here are some of my favs:
http://ccmixter.org/files/zep_hurme/31607
http://ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/31651
Manfred Mann "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" - wow!
(I used to listen to this while growing up in 1960s Ottawa)
Wow that's an oldie, BB. Okay, here goes... Fancoise Hardy, All the boys and girls
The Doors: LA Woman
Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed
John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band (brutal stuff)
Blox Box: Strike It Up yeah baby this band is gonna play my tune
INXS: What you need
Bowie: rebel rebel They really weren't sure if I was a boy or a girl ... long story
Gen X: dancing with myself
Eric Burdon and the Animals: Sky Pilot / To Love Somebody (45 RPM single)
Thanks for the Lessig speech, ebodyknows!
And Boom Boom: love the Stones (Gimme Shelter is one of my all-time favourite rock songs) and LA Woman. Did you know that wonderfully strange album turned 40 this month?)
I've been listening to Jelly Roll Morton on the ivories when I'm not listening to X's Los Angeles.
Yeah, all the good stuff is rapidly aging, as am I, arthritis and all.
ps: did you know the Animals recorded a song called "Boom Boom"? (rock trivia)
Stones? I lllike it!
...and, I used to have this album: Tommy James & the Shondelles "Cellophane Symphony". Or at least, it was my hippie big sister's album I absconded with after she moved in with the flower people across the street for a year. I remember them because they put flowers in my blond hair and flew box kites in the field all summer long. I think Crimson and Clover was all I listened to on that one. Over and over.
"Mony Mony" is what got me listening to TJ&TS all those many decades ago. Probably the most annoying song ever recorded!
ETA: aw, crap, now I've got a "Mony Mony" earworm. Damn you, Fidel!
I'm listening to African Guitar Summit at the moment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Guitar_Summit
I think Crimson and Clover was all I listened to on that one. Over and over.
LOL!
Eminem: Sing for the moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgRN78skEQU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYNFfgrXTI&feature=related
No comment.
Eminem: I\m Not Afraid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-yKhDd64s&feature=bf_next&list=AVGxdCwV...
Can't believe I almost missed: Beautiful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgT1AidzRWM&feature=autoplay&list=AVGxdCw...
Last Train to Clarksville
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3_bSfBaPVg
Rush may be perennially overlooked by the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the band is getting an award for lifetime achievement at home.
The rock power trio has won a Governor General's Performing Arts Award. The band members are among the laureates announced Tuesday in Calgary.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/03/06/gg-performing-arts-awards.h...
Rush is also overlooked by people who like good music. (Or was that too close to the heart?)
I can't stand Geddy Lee's voice. Sounds like he's been castrated with a rusty knife. Either that, or my hearing is worse than I thought. I miss the days of Crowbar and King Biscuit Boy, not to mention Ronnie Hawkins.
Your hearing is obviously worse that you thought.
Well, I watched as much of Rush's recent movie documentary (I think it's called "From An Enlightened Stage" or something) on MPIX as I could before changing channels - their music sans vocals is okay, but when I hear Geddy Lee sing, I either have to leave the room or change channels. By contrast, I can't get enough of The Band's "The Last Waltz" even when Neil Young comes on.
Public Enemy, Tijana Bass & queuepolitely…
David Burk, music video director from outdoggy video, chose to use footage from queuepolitely’s short film ‘War on Kleptocracy’ for the Face of Freedom project by social activist, rapper and singer Tijana Bass. In the single Tijana Bass collaborated with legendary Hip Hop group Public Enemy to produce this audio and visual treat. Enjoy:
http://queuepolitely.com/2011/06/public-enemy-tijana-bass-queuepolitely/
Okay it's time, once again, for another one of my weirdly eclectic and eccentric song lists, because that's jus' the kinda person I am:
Kashmir Zep
Girl from Ipanema Amy Winehouse
Catholic Girls Zap
Rapture
Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's fly
DJ's spinning I said my, my
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sais pas, Flashe no deux
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercuries and Subarus
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe
Don't move too slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, do punk rock
ha ha
Feet of the Moon Parachute Club Giver-giver Carleton pub nights yeah!
Hello Time Bomb Matt Good '99 Giver-giver Coquitlam!
RISE UP NDP ♫ We want freedom! ♫
This band were already favorites at the club in their previous incarnation as Swamptrash. As Shooglenifty they have gone on to become one of the most sought after bands on the folk festival circuit. The Whisky Kiss is a long standing climax to their act. We would have dearly loved to have produced a DvD for the band but it was not to be. Even so this clip is a snapshot of a great band on a great night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kF9LSOE0ykI#!
Chimes of Freedom - The songs of Bob Dylan (album to benefit Amnesty International) - various artists
Not my favourite album of Dylan songs, by a long shot - Joan Baez's early album of Dylan stuff is far better.
I'd say half of the artists on this album are musicians I've never heard before.
Lots of music, though - this is four CDs.
Some strange stuff, especially Flogging Molly (yeah, that's their name) singing The Times they are a-changing. So awful I had to skip to the next song after a minute. And the next artist (Fistful of Mercy) is just as bad, so I skipped that one, too.
I dread hearing Sinead O'Connor singing "Property of Jesus" which is coming up in a few minutes.
Dylan himself must be embarrassed by some of the dreck in this collection.
ETA: Side Four is the best of the lot; especially #7 which is Thea Gilmore singing "I'll Remember You".
Actually, the cover of "Property of Jesus" by Sinead O'Connor ain't half bad - I liked it better than I liked Carly Simon singing "Just Like A Woman". But, then again, I could never stand Carly Simon.
Not my favourite album of Dylan songs, by a long shot - Joan Baez's early album of Dylan stuff is far better.
Any Day Now? Have you seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVz-g2DZt7I
Yeah, I think Any Day Now is the one. Sorry, can't download Utube on dialup.
I've been in love with Joan's voice all my life, and, generally, I prefer some of her covers of Dylan songs to those by Dylan himself. My favourite album of all time, however, is a Dylan one: Blonde On Blonde, which i think is simply the best album ever recorded. You should take that with a grain of salt, though, because I haven't bought many albums recorded after 1980 - I much prefer music of the 1970s and 1960s to anything recorded since.
This is a tune my young nephew and I seem to like even tho neither of us appreciates hip-hop or house tunes much.
Party Rock Anthem! LMFAO(sorry that's their handle)
Party Rock is in the house 2niiite
Everybody just have a good tiiime
Everyday I'm shufflin...
What little music I've bought since 1980 is mostly reggae - almost all of Bob Marley, for example, and other artists (Peter Tosh especially). I've got a nice (small) collection of great reggae stuff. Oh, and all of Nanci Griffith's folk albums, as well as Perla Batalla. Perla Batalla sings Leonard Cohen covers better than Leonard Cohen - just like Joan Baez singing Bob Dylan. And, finally - Joan Osborne - she used to be a lead singer for the Dead, then went solo. I love her - we're friends and email occasionally.
Hey that's cool, Boom Boom. I like J.O.'s voice on Sara Smile.
Red Red Wine
stay close to me.
Don't let me be alone;
It's tearing apart
My blue, blue heart.
Have you heard Right Hand Man?
Listening to her now. Cool.
I get the feeling that Janis Joplin has lived through quite a few of the greats. I hear Joplin a little here with Joan Osborne, and I hear Joplin's whisky voice when Plant sings Whole Lotta Love. Steven Tyler does Joplin a lot. Janis and Aretha are the queens of rock and soul imo.
Joan's new album
Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage. It never gets old.
Yeah, I love those old Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot albums. And Murray McLauchlin and Joni Mitchell and Kate and Anna McGarrigle and... geez, this country produced a lot of great talent way back then.
In honour of Conservative budget day, I'm listening to Ian Robb's "They're taking it away".
The melody is here, and someone has kindly posted the lyrics here - so you can sing along with the tune in the background.
A couple excerpts:
Oh our government's elected in the democratic way
A-whining at the cost of all the things they have to pay
And the bully-boys on Bay Street, you can hear the bastards say,
"To hell with paying taxes, pull the safety-net away!"
[...]
If you're native, black, or Asian, if you're feminist or gay
If you're just a little different from the most of us today
If you want to make your point or if you want to have your way
You can spit into the wind for they have taken it away.
And the chorus (to the same tune):
Yes they're taking it away
They are taking all the good things
You can hear the people say
And they'll take it all tomorrow
If they don't take it today
From the poor and sick and helpless,
They are taking it away.
My emphasis, of course.
Yeah, I think Any Day Now is the one. Sorry, can't download Utube on dialup.
Sorry, didn't know that. The video was from a 1969(?) TV special, showing Earl Scruggs & Joan Baez performing "Love Is Just A Four Letter Word". Then I see this morning that Earl Scruggs died yesterday at the age of 88:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/bluegrass-musician-earl-scruggs-88-dies/2012/03/28/gIQAcTyqhS_story.html
Yeah, Earl was one of the greats.
Kids playing this. Nice beat. Fucked up message. Trying to parse it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1xs_xPb46M
Ya, what evev? Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E&feature=relmfu
We gotta figure the kids out. Why do I try? My niece is laughing @ me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1nbvplgElw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM1RChZk1EU&feature=relmfu
I can't stand Geddy Lee's voice. Sounds like he's been castrated with a rusty knife.
What about the voice of Geddy Lee... how did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7DFsBcVMDA
Things change:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCca5mPMp9A&feature=related
Steve Almond and Toto
Another Day in Paradise?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt2mbGP6vFI&feature=related
harumph
Yo La Tengo and Mr. Show
Les Lutins En Orbite
Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney, Helium)
Romance
Electric Band
Going to see Thomas Dolby tonight.
May the Cube Be With You
Don't Stop Believing Cool song
Eye of the Tiger
Mickey: What it is, is I hear stupid things better.
Well after that sun shower maybe Gene Kelly? Or am I just a fool in the rain?
When I'm breathless I'll run till I drop, hey
The thoughts of a fool's kind of careless
I'm just a fool waiting on the wrong block, oh yeah
Light of the love that I found...
That's easy for you to say.
John Coltrane, Soultrane and Dakar.
Been on a country music kick this week - mostly old Kristofferson, Cash, Dolly Parton, and some Shania Twain. Better than that phony artifical crap found on CMT these days. I saw Kristofferson live at a coffee house in Ottawa 40+ years ago around the time of his very first album.
Dawn and Marra - incredibly talented young ladies (very young).
Well my old MP3 player died (it had a long life) and I have been spending the afternoon ripping CDs to fill up the replacement one (a quarter the cost of the ancient one, and 3.5 times the capacity) - so I have been hearing a lot of Joan Armatrading. R.E.M., The Replacements and The Roches too (can you tell the "Rs" are on my desk as I type), but mostly Joan.
iPod is on shuffle as usual. Today's highlights: Sloan, "The Barber of Seville" overture, Sugar Cubes, Stump, Meat Beat Manifesto. Currently The Futureheads
Have gone back to the 60s and 70s with Dusty Springfield and Linda Ronstadt. Good stuff.
Which Side Are You On? Natalie Merchant
Photos from the earlier class wars and union strikes and then photos from 2011. Beautiful version a song performed by many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxfZtNEG1xU&feature=related
Chris Thile & Michael Daves - "20/20 Vision"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0d8tnamzd4
Speaking of musicians named Springfield...
For What It's Worth Youtube
Sweet Honey In The Rock- I Be Your Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUnyOETz7DY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtJJlJxHX_k&feature=related
Hanging out with the slovenian art crew downstairs, I find myself listening to a lot of Laibach lately.