two songs for a long night (or for your cheery morning, i suppose). thanks for stopping by.
Nick Drake - "Fly". An alternate version of "Fly," taken from one of Nick Drake's home recordings. It's a hopeful song, a song of lovely visions. Here, however, the Bryter Layter orchestration has been stripped away. and Nick's voice is more urgent, set too close to the mic. When he pleads ("Please!" he says), there's a desperation that's almost painful for me to hear. The music breaks me in half - one side goes winding out along sunlit paths, the other's left alone in the wood, cheeks stained with tears. Really, Nick seems closer to the former feeling than the latter, but listening, I'm not.
The Small Faces - "Ooh La La". One of the finest folk-pop songs ever recorded, a song of such bursting optimism, such reassuring candour. A song that's seen sunsets and the sunrises on the other side. A song for bruised hearts creaking open. Guitars jangle, piano trots, Stevie Marriott Ron Wood singing like your closest friend, rallying you (and rallying himself). For many of you this will be a familiar treasure, but for those who don't know it - listen, revel, live. As for me - this is a song I simply need.
Benjamen Walker prepared an excellent introduction to the mp3blog thing, which aired on NPR this weekend (scroll to the bottom). I said a few words, and you can also hear from Matthew Perpetua, among others. Many thanks, as well, to Douglas Wolk at the Village Voice, who mentioned StG in an article last week. With all this growing attention (there's been talk of Reuters and the NYT doing articles), I can't help but wonder when the Canadian media will begin to pick up on the story. Maybe once the election's been called they'll have more time to dedicate to the minutia of the blogosphere. :)
update: Matthew's post about his new email address reminds me - I'm still waiting for the chance to nab a gmail account. If anyone out there has got an invite that they'd be willing to pass my way, I'd be very, very grateful. Apparently my old blogger account isn't enough to earn me an invitation. Thanks!
Kevin Coyne - "The World is Full of Fools". Courtesy of Dave comes this introduction to Kevin Coyne, an English songwriter whose reputation has floundered in the twenty years since he released the bulk of his music. This 1979 song most strongly recalls Van Morrison - a plaintive, roughshod voice over the straight strum of an acoustic guitar, a burbling organ. There's a lot of frustration in this melancholy, a lot of sublimated rage. While Tom Waits' curmudgeon persona shouts and snorts at the grey gristled mess around him, Coyne seems affected by it, terrified by it, made desperate by it. Fingers scrabbling at a heart.
Clive Holden - "De'ath at Neepawa". In 2001, Winnipeg's Clive Holden recorded an album of his poetry, with music by Christine Fellows and Jason Tait & John K Samson of The Weakerthans. An accompanying series of films was recently released. This is a beautiful, whitesky piece, contemplative as leaves. "I didn't expect to be moved by your gravestone," Holden says to the earth where Margaret Laurence lies. He talks of dark hair and a dark gaze ("from a 50 cent postcard"), of the unexpected pulse of feeling that can suddenly strike you. Samson's electric guitar stirs like a small breeze, lifting at the collar of your shirt.
Clap Clap writes much, and wisely, on Eamon's "Fuck It".
Listen Closer is a very fine new mp3blog that's started things with some brilliant posts. Beck's "Tropicalia" is one of my very favourites by Mr Hansen, and I had intended to profile both Harvey Danger and Joanna Newsom. He's beaten me to all three punches, so you should definitely go see (and listen). Welcome, Justin!
Never Came Home is a new and well-intentioned mp3 blog that doesn't know how to spell 'gramophone'.