Music Picks of the Week
Have you ever walked out of a record store, flush with anticipation toward your new purchases, eager to tear off the filmy wrapping from your new CDs, and hoping one of the albums you've just bought will change your life? If this happens to you, it's important not to look at how much you just spent. A little tip from me to you.
Luckily, we have the Almighty Internet, which brings us music for cheap. This week's edition of my new favorite songs seems to favor the ladies.
Fiona Apple: "O' Sailor"
Fiona has gotten a bad rap lately, what with her on-stage tantrums, her needlessly long album titles, and her three-year absence from the new release racks. You may have heard that she recorded an entire album that was promptly rejected by the executives at her record company (the result of Fiona's hard work, entitled Extraordinary Machine, is widely availble as an internet bootleg). I am working on a recording industry conspiracy theory which will show how Fiona was forced to go underground for several months and record under the psuedonym of Regina Spektor--look her up.
But all this is in the past now, and Fiona is set to release her official new album. She seems a little less pouty and more pissy in this number, set to a wonderfully banging set of piano chords. (And please note the naval reference--Regina Spektor sports a sailor's hat in many of her publicity photos, and she certainly drinks like a sailor, or so go the rumours.) Anyway, this song brings Fiona back to the Real World at long last. Enjoy, ye mateys!
The Like: "You Bring Me Down"
You're probably as bored as I am with groups of stunningly attractive women with music industry connections whose videos play non-stop in every local Gap and Starbucks. With their pouty lips and heaving bosoms and tightly torn clothing, you'd think there was a shortage of struggling musicians. But turns out this threesome, er, trio actually know how to play, or at least have the sense to find producers who can it make it sound like they actually know how to play. I'm not going to swear that you won't see a suspiciously large curtain serving as the backdrop for their first concert tour, but for the moment, I'm willing to give these hoochies the benefit of the doubt, especially if all their songs are this catchy.
Bonnie Raitt: "The Bed I Made"
Bonnie has always been stunningly attractive, but her days of torn clothing (particularly as a result of her drunken binges) are probably behind her now. But Bonnie doesn't need anything to distract my attention because her voice and her guitar are really the only things I pay attention to when I hear them. Her guitar is missing from this number, but this is perhaps one of her finest vocal performances--a heartbreaking heartbreak song complete with a mournful jazz piano lurking in the shadows. I could play this all night.
Cowboy Junkies: Early 21st Century Blues
I was trying to pick just one of the songs from this album to discuss here, but I really can't single out one from the others. Part of the reason for this is that they all carry much the same vibe: soft acoustic instrumentation and echoey vocals, much like their earlier album The Trinity Sessions which brought them to the attention of a lot of people. It's not hard to imagine that the Junkies are reaching for similar sales figures with this album, but these thematically linked covers of anti-war songs create a vibe all their own. Before you start searching for your hippie medication, these are not the kinds of anti-war songs you hear on the Good Time Oldies Station. These are covers of songs by familiar names like Dylan, Richie Havens, Lennon, George Harrison, and Springsteen, but these are not the songs you're used to hearing. This album was playing in the record shop during my last visit, and I experienced one of those "I'm-probably-going-to-buy-this-even-though-I've-already-found-what-I-was-looking-for-and-I-really-shouldn't-be-spending-any-more-money" moments, but since I've started playing the album, I haven't regretted the moment at all. Never look back!
Paul McCartney: "Riding to Vanity Fair"
OK, Macca isn't a girl (though I think he was the most feminine of the Beatles and he did marry a woman half his age), but I have to give a shout-out to this, the most listenable song from Sir Paul in at least a decade. I very much enjoyed his collaborative work with Elvis Costello on the Flowers in the Dirt album, but there was a lot of crap on that record, too. And though Sir Paul will always have a place in Rock & Roll Band Camp, I have never felt compelled to collect his solo work, especially in the last 25 years or so. I'm not saying I'm gonna re-evaluate that decision based on this song, but it is nice to see that somewhere beneath all that sunny dyed-hair torch-carrying bullshit, there still beats the heart of a guy who, once upon a time with his mates, changed everything we knew about popular music. Welcome back, Dad.
Luckily, we have the Almighty Internet, which brings us music for cheap. This week's edition of my new favorite songs seems to favor the ladies.
Fiona Apple: "O' Sailor"
Fiona has gotten a bad rap lately, what with her on-stage tantrums, her needlessly long album titles, and her three-year absence from the new release racks. You may have heard that she recorded an entire album that was promptly rejected by the executives at her record company (the result of Fiona's hard work, entitled Extraordinary Machine, is widely availble as an internet bootleg). I am working on a recording industry conspiracy theory which will show how Fiona was forced to go underground for several months and record under the psuedonym of Regina Spektor--look her up.
But all this is in the past now, and Fiona is set to release her official new album. She seems a little less pouty and more pissy in this number, set to a wonderfully banging set of piano chords. (And please note the naval reference--Regina Spektor sports a sailor's hat in many of her publicity photos, and she certainly drinks like a sailor, or so go the rumours.) Anyway, this song brings Fiona back to the Real World at long last. Enjoy, ye mateys!
The Like: "You Bring Me Down"
You're probably as bored as I am with groups of stunningly attractive women with music industry connections whose videos play non-stop in every local Gap and Starbucks. With their pouty lips and heaving bosoms and tightly torn clothing, you'd think there was a shortage of struggling musicians. But turns out this threesome, er, trio actually know how to play, or at least have the sense to find producers who can it make it sound like they actually know how to play. I'm not going to swear that you won't see a suspiciously large curtain serving as the backdrop for their first concert tour, but for the moment, I'm willing to give these hoochies the benefit of the doubt, especially if all their songs are this catchy.
Bonnie Raitt: "The Bed I Made"
Bonnie has always been stunningly attractive, but her days of torn clothing (particularly as a result of her drunken binges) are probably behind her now. But Bonnie doesn't need anything to distract my attention because her voice and her guitar are really the only things I pay attention to when I hear them. Her guitar is missing from this number, but this is perhaps one of her finest vocal performances--a heartbreaking heartbreak song complete with a mournful jazz piano lurking in the shadows. I could play this all night.
Cowboy Junkies: Early 21st Century Blues
I was trying to pick just one of the songs from this album to discuss here, but I really can't single out one from the others. Part of the reason for this is that they all carry much the same vibe: soft acoustic instrumentation and echoey vocals, much like their earlier album The Trinity Sessions which brought them to the attention of a lot of people. It's not hard to imagine that the Junkies are reaching for similar sales figures with this album, but these thematically linked covers of anti-war songs create a vibe all their own. Before you start searching for your hippie medication, these are not the kinds of anti-war songs you hear on the Good Time Oldies Station. These are covers of songs by familiar names like Dylan, Richie Havens, Lennon, George Harrison, and Springsteen, but these are not the songs you're used to hearing. This album was playing in the record shop during my last visit, and I experienced one of those "I'm-probably-going-to-buy-this-even-though-I've-already-found-what-I-was-looking-for-and-I-really-shouldn't-be-spending-any-more-money" moments, but since I've started playing the album, I haven't regretted the moment at all. Never look back!
Paul McCartney: "Riding to Vanity Fair"
OK, Macca isn't a girl (though I think he was the most feminine of the Beatles and he did marry a woman half his age), but I have to give a shout-out to this, the most listenable song from Sir Paul in at least a decade. I very much enjoyed his collaborative work with Elvis Costello on the Flowers in the Dirt album, but there was a lot of crap on that record, too. And though Sir Paul will always have a place in Rock & Roll Band Camp, I have never felt compelled to collect his solo work, especially in the last 25 years or so. I'm not saying I'm gonna re-evaluate that decision based on this song, but it is nice to see that somewhere beneath all that sunny dyed-hair torch-carrying bullshit, there still beats the heart of a guy who, once upon a time with his mates, changed everything we knew about popular music. Welcome back, Dad.
posted by Chazzbot at 4:57 PM
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