You love me... You really love me...

Having seized this opportunity to introduce Mr November 2010 - yes, Jasper is now going to be an actual pin-up in a Pet Calendar produced by the local petfood manufacturers - I want to announce something more serious and important: the opening of nominations for this year's Overs - the Annual 'Spill Awards. Please email abahachi 'at' hotmail.co.uk with nominations for each category (up to three allowed per award), and feel free to append a sentence or two of justification if you wish. I shall endeavour to pull together all the suggestions in a manner which won't really satisfy anyone and certainly won't be nearly as good as Snadfrod's presentation last year, by some time in early January...

1. Album of the Year

2. Older albums that you've discovered or rediscovered this year.

3. Film of the Year

4. Book of the Year

5. Hero of the Year

6. Event of the Year

7. Villain of the Year

8. The Overcooked Award: artist must try harder, whatever the critics think...

Any suggestions for special awards, along the lines of Blimpy's nepotism award or Gremlin's nomination of Roy Keane as Hunk of the Year, gratefully received...

BOLLOCKS INDEED!

BOLLOCKS INDEED!
You sure know how to set the right tone for your participation in any discussion, totally appropriate for your comments on the topic.
This has been my worst weekend in memory, I feel devastated by the response to my recent post, I thought that I was amongst friends here but the manner in which some of you chose to pile on the invective has revealed an aspect of your natures that I never expected. I made some mistakes apparently, you feel that the word 'race' is an unacceptable descriptive word to describe a group, would you have preferred 'Negro's' Would that sit better with your delicate sensibilities? "How the mighty have fallen" is a biblical quote that I thought appropriate to the case that I was presenting given the unbelievable list of world-wide talents, lost, to be replaced by 'what'? Hip-Hop? You chose to attack that rather than deal with my main concern which was the reality of the ghettos in this country, not a single comment was concerned with that. A dozen murders in three days in Oakland, meditate on that.

I shared that post with three black friends this weekend, they all endorsed it totally, two adding the reservation that they were concerned that their own teenage kids were actively emulating their hip-hop heros. From my perspective, living where and how I do and being somewhat aware of some of your circumstances, your lifestyles and where and how you choose to live, I find it disgusting that any of you can, from those perspectives, call me a racist.

And re. the 'piling on', it's not new here, when I posted some months back a question re the mathematical odds of three A lists to the same person out of literally a thousand plus nominations from hundreds of posters, which then keeps happening almost every week. My question was totally ignored, the first comment accused me of denigrating members of this community though I'd made a deliberate point of not doing that but the first to comment chose to ignore that and to attack me, then the rest piled on repeating his words and ignoring my question. 'Herd' mentality is commonly used, I prefer 'flock' mentality.

I was again disturbed by the vicious tone of the comments here when I recently made a casual suggestion that Ms. Fydo would be an interesting guest, and I was more disturbed when one of the group deliberately invited her over to read the vituperation.

And this week it's happened again, none of you have dealt with my main question, the relationship between hip-hop and ghetto violence, you chose instead to, as usual, attack and denigrate the messenger, and then of course you accuse the messenger of denigrating you. In Blimp's 'housekeeping' post I suggested that those who'd participated in this disgusting episode should re-read all the comments and then reflect on them, I hope they have.
I no longer feel comfortable here, to say the least, so I won't be back. I have friends here and if they want to stay in touch I would welcome that, my email is readily available. Obviously everything stated here isn't applicable to all.
Adios....

Meet Me In The Water

Choon

H2H#3 - A Red Light for the Greens/Bias Binding

A rather self-indulgent head to head this week, featuring two classic Leicester bands. Both Peel favorites, both as cutting edge as you please (at the time anyway) and both lyrically and sonically joyous. But which one does it best for you?

Deep Freeze Mice - A Red Light for the Greens



Yeah Yeah Noh - Bias Binding

All Come Down...

Performing in The Beta Band, and as King Biscuit Time; Steve Mason has managed to get two tracks into the RR Canon ("Dry The Rain", and "I Walk The Earth", respectively).

After quitting the music biz, battling severe depression, and splitting up with himself over the last few years, he's now back - releasing under his own name - and has the lead-off track, All Come Down from his new record (not out til March 2010) as a free download to get you all in the mood.

It's an "exclusive" on The Quietus, so you have to click here to get it.

Mnemonic, Japanther, SKP, Saneshane - this is the proper hi-fi version, as opposed to the youtube radiorip that I put up before.

Steve Mason's website can be found here.

Photo by Ryan McGinley.

Oi, comics nerds!

Having been through a bit of a comics drought because Lincoln doesn't believe in culture, my friend pointed me in the direction of Jamie McKelvie's Phonogram and by jove! What a corker! Based on the idea of phonomancers and retromancers, Rue Britannia follows the quest to track down the spirit of Britpop, interveaved with the Manics-obsessed ghost of a girl that isn't actually dead. Lots of fun for the Britpop survivor, although I'm enjoying the follow-up collection of stories set over one night in one indie night: Phonogram The Singles Club. Indeed, I'm developing a major crush on Seth Bingo and his trusty be-bobbed sidekick, Silent Girl.

I've also recently discovered Adrian Tomine (very Dan Clowes) and Scott Pilgrim is very good fun: soon to be a film thanks to Edgar Wright, of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead fame. Anyone got any recommendations?

Our new PC won't let me add a pic, so click here to see McKelvie's blog: http://www.phonogramcomic.com/blog/

you'll act funny when your old

this is just great:
Black Sweatshirt

I did know the same girl in the comic shop.. yep she got it a lot:
DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake

(Ms.Williams has been posted before but it is a class version.. seventeen is different to shoeys)
a mini count up to coming of age:
Thirteen
Fourteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
17 & Over!

my song:
Born In The 70s

closest ninja tune I could find - bet nilf has a better idea:
The Ageing Young Rebel (Gentle Cruety)

just what else is it about?:
Life & Other Sex Tragedies

My mother naturally liked it

Tattoo - the Who
The Trees They Do Grow High - Martin Carthy with Dave Swarbrick
Coming Of Age - Any Trouble
Bogie's Bonnie Belle - Richard Thompson
A Living Wage - Ron Kavana
Read About Love - Richard Thompson

Let's Grow Up

Growing Up
When I Grow Up
The Boys Are Leaving Town
Seventeen
Teenage Superstars
Teen Love

Lovesick
Mary of the 4th Form
Oh Princess
Lee
Young Lover
Young Generation Dub

Just to prove that Hippos don't always attack....

For Nilpferd - we saw this on the telly tonight and went "Ooooooooooooooooohhhhh!"
Amazing......

The Grown Up

You're a big boy now

The Grown Up - Wale

You've Got To Learn - Nina Simone

I Realize Now - Nat King Cole

Held Down (Featuring Cee-Lo) - De La Soul

You're A Big Girl Now - The Stylistics

Preciso Aprender A Só Ser - Gilberto Gil

Carole's Seminal Albums: #2 in an occasional series

This week it is David Bowie's 1970 (released in early 1971 in the UK) album The Man Who Sold The World




This album was where the blueprint for his later incarnation as Ziggy Stardust can first be seen, not least because it is where the nucleus of the Spiders From Mars first comes together.

The album was a real departure from what had come before as far as Bowie's music is concerned. The sound is heavy, riff powered and guitar driven, clearly taking hints from the burgeoning hard rock being played by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Edgar Broughton and others.

The subject matter of the material is dark; insanity, death, war and powerful outsider deities (derived from the works of H.P Lovecraft) predominate. Humanity takes a back seat here, notably in Saviour Machine, where an omnipotent computer decides to kill off the human race.

The Supermen is a very dark song, clearly linked directly to H.P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and also referring to the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. The riff was apparently one of Jimmy Page's, who "gave" it to Bowie when he was a session player on one of Bowie's 1960s songs I Pity The Fool.

The music on TMWSTW is dominated by the proto-metal guitar of the late Mick Ronson and was the second Bowie album produced by Tony Visconti, who also played bass on the album.

This album was notorious for its cover, featuring a very feminine David Bowie in a gorgeous long satin dress (designed by Michael Fish - who was not a weatherman - he also designed the shirts Jon Pertwee wore as Dr Who) and knee-high leather boots.

Later issues of the album had a more conventional cover, a black and white photo of Bowie looking far more like Ziggy.

Anyway, I believe that this album had an influence that defined the way music developed in the 1970s and beyond.

Bowie's exploration of the androgyny theme on the cover was a seminal influence on the beginning of the Glam movement in 70s rock, which in turn spawned Roxy Music, who along with Bowie were an important influence on the Bromley contingent who were instrumental to the beginning of Punk, especially in the careers of the Sex Pistols and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Musically, the album took metal styles and pushed them into the commercial arena, not necessarily with this album alone but also with Bowie's later work as Ziggy. It would be difficult to imagine Goth without this album too. The dark themes are really proto-Goth in a very major way.

The Width Of A Circle

All The Madmen

Black Country Rock

After All

Running Gun Blues

Saviour Machine

She Shook Me Cold

The Man Who Sold The World

The Supermen

'Spill Housekeeping

Hey 'Spillers,

Believe it or not, there exists a big, red, "delete blog" button.

The reason I stopped posting over on GU Music was because I was fed up with all the trolling and BS that went on - that was well over a year ago, and if this blog degenerates in the same way then I won't hesitate to press that very button.

Blimpy.

Let's discuss this in the comments, please.

Gong: Bristol 19th November 2009

It was at the Academy, an OK venue I think, not too big and with a good view of the stage. Unfortunately they don't allow photography inside, so no pics I'm afraid.

Gong have basically got a classic line-up back together and they have a new album too - which I posted here a while back.

The touring line-up is (I think)

Daevid Allen - voice, guitar
Steve Hillage - guitar
Gilli Smyth – voice, space whisper
Miquette Giraudy - synthesisers
Mike Howlett - bass
Chris Taylor - drums
Theo Travis – sax and flute

OK, so first up last night we had the Steve Hillage band, basically the above without Daevid, Gilli or Theo.

I enjoyed them a lot, pretty rave orientated stuff with classic Hillage moments thrown in. Very tight, focussed and danceable. You can see that Steve Hillage has immersed himself in trace, rave and other more modern music while still keeping his core appeal. Definitely music to be enjoyed with an E.

The back projections and lights were excellent too, as they stayed for the whole evening.

Then, after about 20 minutes or so, the main event. They started off with the same players as before plus Theo Travis and the feel of the opening number was a continuation of what went before, maybe a bit more jazz-rock, but very tight and dance orientated. So far, so good.

Then on comes Daevid Allen. The last time I saw Gong was in about 1974 but he hasn't really changed except to get older. Still as weird as ever.

He came out in a wizard's hat type of thing and a sparkly cape arrangement over what looked like psychedelic pyjamas. He looked like Catweazle on acid.

He was surprisingly sprightly for his age, he is easily 70 if he's a day. He was later joined by Gilli Smyth, who added in her patented Shakti Yoni "space whispers" on several tracks and generally grooved away to the music.

I have to say it was weird, they are easily the oldest people I've ever seen playing lived tripped-out space rock. Still, good luck to them.

The set was pretty long, around two hours and was all at a fairly constant tempo, still with that rave/dance intensity and with the excellent Miquette Giraudy and Steve Hillage providing the musical layering and textures. Mike Howlett was a solid bass presence and the drumming of Chris Taylor pushed it all along at a steady pace. I liked a lot of Theo Travis' input but overall he gets a bit drowned out in the mix at times. His flute work was good.

At times the intensity of the music was almost like Hawkwind, hard-driven space rock with wobbly noises and whooshes and at other times veered off to a jazz-rock tinged rave sort of thing.It was pretty relentless overall, with some slow spacey passages.

There was a fair bit of the glissando guitar on the slower bits which was hard to pick out from the synths occasionally, because everything was going through a lot of processing and FX channels.

So, what did I think?

Well, a bit of a mixed bag really. Mostly, I enjoyed it a lot but the whimsy and general silliness of Daevid Allen was a bit wearing at times. I could have done with more of the hard playing and less of the space whispers too.

We stayed for one encore but the second one was a bit of an aimless jam, with more of the same acid rave and whimsy as had gone on before, so we left.

Maybe if I'd been on 'shrooms or acid it would have been a total mind-trip, but I was 100% straight and there were moments where I just wanted them to get on with it and play the music.

I'd definitely see the Steve Hillage Band again, maybe not Gong though.

Fuck Off!

F Word
London Underground
Evidently Chickentown
Plaistow Patricia
Fuckhead
Killing In The Name Of (Biancardi Remix)
I Haven't Got a MySpace, Because MySpace Fucking Sucks
Grumpy Old Men
Pardon My Freedom
Cunts Are Still Running The World

Edit: Now with added !!!

I'm in My Happy Place

I do not appreciate all the fucking swearing.

LOUD quiet("YOU ARE THE SON OF A MOTHERFUCKER")LOUD...
just as your parents walk in (or child now)

WARNING: may contain nuts.
Cunts
Bad Luck
GDMFSOB [Unkle Uncensored]
Fuck The People
We Do Not Fuck Around
The Man Don't Give A Fuck [Full Length Version]

my albatross nomination

EOTWQ: Kenneth Tynan special

For no particular reason, this week's questions are themed around the British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, who died 29 years ago last July.

1. Tynan wrote of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger, "I could not love anyone who did not wish to see Look Back in Anger." Is there anything that you feel this way about? (Not music, obviously, you know you're not allowed to discuss music... unless you really want to)

2. Tynan was also one of the few critics to "get" Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot - savaged at the time, now revered. What do you think deserves a critical reappraisal?

3. Famously, Tynan was also the first person to say "fuck" on British TV: "I doubt if there are any rational people to whom the word 'fuck' would be particularly diabolical, revolting or totally forbidden." Cue moral outcry, a public apology from the BBC and four separate parliamentary motions condemning it. So... Swearing: is it big and clever? And if yes, can you give a favourite example?

4. As well as a critic, Tynan was a great diarist. Do you keep a diary, or have you ever kept one? Why? How do you feel about yourself when you read it back?

5. Of course, diaries may reveal rather too much... such as Kenneth Tynan's predeliction for spanking. Sado-masochistic sex apart, tell us one of your guilty pleasures.

OMG! It happened and we missed it!

Hey, visitors to the mothership have been warning us about this for years!!

At least we're on the way up again.

Albatross Songs

I think "Albatross Songs" is worthy of its own post, as started in the Jazz Club comments, so here it is...

So far we have:

"Shiny Happy People" - REM

"Creep" - Radiohead

"Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinead O'Connor

"The King Of Rock & Roll" - Prefab Sprout

"Born In The USA" - Teh Boss

"Rip It Up" - Orange Juice

"Hi Ho Silver Lining" - Jeff Beck

"You're Gorgeous" - Babybird

"Come On Eileen" - Dexy's

I'd like to add:

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, the song that came to embody everything they hated about the 'jock meathead' fans that they gathered by having a massive pop smash.

I've heard that Randy Newman hates his most famous song "Short People" cos it's essentially a novelty song.

I'm sure there's many more - any to add, 'Spillers?

Spill Exclusive! Bob Marley not dead!

Alicia Keys' 80s Power Ballad + Free MP3s

This is a RIDICULOUS video, and she still refuses to appear in a video without a piano, but on first listen, I'm taken by it.

And to avoid complete blog fail, here are 50 free em pee threes courtesy of InSound.

Eadweard Muybridge

Goneforeign's brilliant picture reminded me of Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904). He was a very fascinating and eccentric fellow.

In 1872, former Governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether all four of a horse's hooves left the ground at the same time during a gallop. Stanford sought out Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.[2] Muybridge's relationship with Stanford was long and fraught, heralding both his entrance and exit from the history books.
To prove Stanford's claim, Muybridge developed a scheme for instantaneous motion picture capture. Muybridge's technology involved chemical formulas for photographic processing and an electrical trigger created by the chief engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, John D. Isaacs.
In 1877, Muybridge settled Stanford's question with a single photographic negative showing Stanford's racehorse Occident airborne in the midst of a gallop.
By 1878, spurred on by Stanford to expand the experiment, Muybridge had successfully photographed a horse in fast motion using a series of twenty-four cameras. Muybridge used a series of 12 stereoscopic cameras, 21 inches apart to cover the 20 feet taken by one horse stride, taking pictures at one thousandth of a second. The cameras were arranged parallel to the track, with trip-wires attached to each camera shutter triggered by the horse's hooves.

He developed a zoopraxiscope, an early device for showing motion pictures, which was probably an inspiration for Edison's Kinetoscope. He had a busy life - he murdered his wife's lover, and Philip Glass wrote an opera about his murder trial.

I'm fascinated by the links between still photography and motion pictures.
Here's a little documentary about him...

Tuesday Tunes

In The Dark - The Whigs
Dizzy - Hugo Montenegro
Freedom To The People - The Heptones

Well Blimpy, since you ask....

This came in the post today:

$10US signed including shipping.

What I Bought On My Lunch...

In the 3 cds for £3.00 section, today I purchased:

When - Vincent Gallo (Warp Records, 2001, out of print, hard to get hold of)

"Under The Western Freeway" - Grandaddy (Will Records, 1997, a 9.6/10 classic - I thought I owned this, but found out recently it was "The Sophtware Slump" I had)

"Wagonwheel Blues" - The War On Drugs (Secretly Canadian, 2008, a relatively new one for balance, the old band of the dude Kurt Vile who's making waves just now)

Anyone got any good bargains lately (it doesn't have to be music)?

Free Pixies

Free EP from the 20th anniversary concert for Doolittle.

New On Fence Records

This is a new signing to the beloved Fence Records; 'BE WATER (Je suis de l'eau)' by Fránçois & The Atlas Mountains. You can read more about him here on the Fence Records site.

It's french pop, and the video seems to be nearly all animated using watercolour pictures!!!

In other Fence related news - it seems that 'Spill favourite King Creosote has a new album. Except you can't buy it. It only exists live, and has so far been played only once. I'm listening to it now. I think Kenny is making a stand against folks who think music should be entirely free, as he says on the Fence site:

AT LONG LAST AN ALBUM YOU DON"T HAVE TO BUY

What was i thinking?! - music should be free for all ... file sharing, spotify, free downloads - all of it very good news for record labels, recording studios, music magazines, record shops, and of course the bands themselves.

i haven't recorded "my first bit of strange in 13 years" yet, and don't intend to for a while, but i have performed the album live in its entirety at the fence halloween weekend in front of an invited audience, the members of which were asked to record the show for themselves on battery powered equipment. i think it went alright. folks are passing their recordings around with my blessing.

captain geeko the dead aviator accompanied me on drums, guitar and samples. we had to practise a few times, and this came as such a shock to our busking nature that our hair began to resemble "see you jimmy" wigs by the start of side B.

"my second/third/fourth ... bit of strange in 14 years" (how quickly time flies) will be performed at fence homegame 7. the line up will change throughout the weekend, and i hope to see some of you there.

don't forget your dictaphones.

Ironically, Fence artists are pretty much the only folks I'm guaranteed to spend my cash on, and Fence artists seem to be the only folks I go to see live these days. Homegame tickets go on sale soon too by the way.

Festive 'Spill Two - The Replay

5 weeks to go to Krimble (sorry), so it's about time to launch Festive 'Spill 2009. Continuing the tradition established by the late, great John Peel (Dandelion Radio do a fine job keeping the official thing going - but our version is just as good, if not better).

Here are the roolz:

- Each 'Spiller (or RR lurker) can nominate 3 songs.

- Songs should be new releases from 2009 (or late 2008 that missed inclusion late last year).

- If you really don't have any faves from '09, you can pick 3 tunes that you think would be appropriate (discovered this year on RR or the 'Spill, perhaps?).

- Email your 3 nominations in order #1 = most favoritest, #3 = least best, but still really good & needs to be heard) to shoemail@earthlink.net

- Dropbox users: Your e-mail should contain URL links to actual mp3's (Your private folder in Dropbox). If you're on Dropbox, but don't know how to do this, e-mail when you're ready & I can create a folder for you to copy the tunes into. If not on the box, & want to be, ask Tin nicely. Don't use the RR folder as this will spoil the surprise.

- Not on Dropbox? Then you can e-mail actual mp3's - best to do this one at a time to avoid them getting trapped in mail size filters. If all else fails, just e-mail me a list of the tunes and will attempt to find them for you. Afraid that Podbean, Deezer or Spotify links won't work.

- Be sure to include your RR/'Spill/Dropbox name in the e-mail as it's not always obvious who's who, especially if you start using supposedly real names.

- Nominations are on a first come, first served basis. So vote early. If one of your picks is taken, I will e-mail you back so you can make another pick.

- Deadline & broadcast dates? Thoughts in the comments please along with any questions.

- This was a lot of fun last year. Please take part if you can.

- Phew.

Magic Highway

Amazing how this vision of the future is outdated.

Super Bob

Bob Dylan songs as comics. Looks cool, more examples here.

Desperately late ...

DarceysDad, Dave Harding, DaddyPig, Willy Vlautin
(with thanks to RF guitar player Dan Eccles for taking the photo, and drummer Sean Oldham for manning the merchandise stall whilst I buggered about setting this up!)

The picture is indeed from September's Richmond Fontaine gig at The New Roscoe in Leeds. But what with one thing and another, I never got round to doing a review write-up. Too late for that now, I suppose, but the band's natural fit for this week's Readers Recommend Desperate Songs topic gave me an excuse to approach it from a different angle.

Willy Vlautin strikes a chord with me specifically because he writes about the sorts of character that I very, very nearly became. But for one fortuitous choice previously recalled in goneforeign's June Forks In The Road EOTWQ, I would (OK, could) have been an unqualified, disaffected drifter blindly walking a lifechoice fencetop 'twixt working-class nobody and underclass loser; the only difference between me and Willy's desperadoes is that I'd have been northwest UK instead of northwest USA.

I'm not going to repeat the songs I nominated on RR, as I did find links for those, but to prove I could have easily nominated twenty more, here's another couple of favourites that fit the Desperation topic. I've tried to find some of the more uptempo garage-y tunes to counter the softer ones I nominated on the mothership:

Concussion
Pinkerton
43

If I get a chance tomorrow, I might add a couple of other (non-RF) desperate songs, because I have loved this topic. Of course that means I'm setting myself up for another fall(out) with our Guru if PaulMac's choice doesn't include at least a DsD brace!!
(It's finally GOTTA BE Lorraine Ellison's week, hasn't it?)

.

RR Northern Social CD Compilations: an update

I have so much music still to listen to, I've employed a crack team of hip young dudes to do it for me ...

Seriously, I know I'm not the only one still with discs to listen to, so I thought I would start another thread, so we can all keep our promises of feedback on the front page of The 'Spill.

The only comments I have ready to add to the previous thread are in as first response below.

For comments already made last month, go here.

i know this was ripped off the radio and doesn;t sound 100%, but i also knew that there are some 'spillers out there that can't wait either. .... ..it's the new steve mason song "all come down".

The Twelve Tasks Of ToffeeBoy #11 – James Taylor

At last, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel – however, as our good friends Half Man Half Biscuit were good enough to warn us, said light could well be that of an oncoming train! Anyhoo, the pointless task which I set myself at the beginning of 2009 is now nearly complete, this being the penultimate one.

Back in January I drew up a list of possible contenders to share with the class which I then almost immediately lost and couldn’t quite bring myself to recreate. All I know for sure is that the current taskee was on that list. Over the very nearly two years since I first posted in these parts I’ve almost come to terms with the idea that my taste in music (which I had always thought of as mainstream) doesn’t quite fit into the RR mindset. I did quite well under Maddy’s tenure but with the other gurus (Dorian included) it’s all gone very quiet. I’m currently stalled on 5 A-Listers with only one of those appearing in 2009! So it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to me when I note that one of my favourite artists has so far drawn a blank in RR-land – Martin Stephenson, The High Llamas, Dean Friedman, Microdisney, Gene and Crowded House for instance are all currently languishing in the null points section – but I have to say that I was shocked (shocked, d’ye hear?) to discover that the subject of this month’s task has failed to trouble the RR scorers.

According to the Mighty Marconium Koko Taylor’s made it once and R Dean of that ilk has two hits to his name – but their younger brother James? Nada. Nichts. Rien. Not a sniff. Now, I’m prepared to accept that the other artistes named above are (largely) best described as peripheral as far as the history of popular music is concerned but surely no one can deny that JT is a significant artist? This year sees the 40th anniversary of the release of his eponymously-titled debut album. Since then he’s released another 15 studio albums, ten of which have reached the US top ten, and ten of which have gone platinum (no I don’t really know what that means either). There have also been countless EPs, singles and ‘Best Of’ compilations – all of which add up to a considerable body of work.

The list of artists that James Taylor has collaborated with over the years reads like a who’s who of British & American popular music. Here’s a small sample of the names: Michael & Randy Brecker, Neil Young, Valerie Carter, David Crosby, Steve Gadd, Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Don Henley, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Carly Simon, Joe Walsh and Stevie Wonder.

But none of this really matters; my point is that, as a song writer, if nothing else, JT is right up there with the very best of them. I love his plaintive voice, his lyrics are honest and often self-referential and to top it all he’s an exceptionally accomplished guitarist - but above all, it's about the melodies. I’m less fond of his rockier numbers – he really should stick to the more folk-tinged acoustic sound – but at his best, he is undoubtedly one of the best around. So why has he never made it to the A-List? F*cked if I know. Doesn’t make any sense at all to me …

The last few tasks have met with generally favourable comments – with this one I fear that I may once more have to face up to the dreaded accusations of … M.O.R! So anticipating such comments let me just say this: No. You’re wrong! Look beyond the (admittedly) relatively easy-on-the ear music and you will find depth and beauty. These are the songs of a troubled man and his hurts and his pain can, at times, clearly be felt – but they’re also the songs of a very funny and entertaining man. I’ve never seen him live but I’ve seen plenty of concert footage and believe me, it’s good stuff.

OK: confession time. Of the 15 albums released by James Taylor, I only have six – and five of them are from the 70s. Hmmm… Hardly representative then, I hear you say. Well … you’ll just have to take it as you find it. Of course if any of you have any other JT recordings that you’d like to share …

If you buy one James Taylor album it should probably be Sweet Baby James – personally I prefer In The Pocket but SBJ is arguably a more ‘important’ album. There are also some very good ‘Best Of’ collections to choose from.

The Music
Something In The Way She Moves
Carolina In My Mind
Country Road
Fire And Rain
Riding On A Railroad
Mud Slide Slim
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
One Man Parade
Walking Man
Mexico
I Was A Fool To Care
A Junkie’s Lament
Captain Jim’s Drunken Dream
On The Fourth Of July
September Grass

Bonus track to get us all in the mood for the upcoming festivities:
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Links
Wikipedia
Official website
Unofficial website

Desperate? Who you calling desperate?

Lots of Spillers are into photography as was me old man (a true pro - not like me - I like taking pics but would not in a miilion years call mesen a photographer).
The photographer who took this young upstart really was a class apart and for some SpillPoints can anyone get the following?
1. Photographer
2. Proper title , place and year
3. Year and how she died - DESPERATION!
4. Title of her other well-remembered photo.
Suerte!
PS - for the likes of GoneForeign - what camera(s) did she use?

It's a desperate life

This is the bit where George Bailey has come to his enemy, the evil banker Potter, to beg for a loan - and when Potter finds that George has a $500 life-insurance policy he tells him: "Why, you're worth more dead than alive!" (Although I very much doubt that the insurance company would've paid out if Clarence the angel hadn't intervened in George's subsequent suicide attempt.)

From It's A Wonderful Life

Here are two songs about love, three about death, and one about needing a new roommate.

Why Must I Plead - Richard Thompson
Love Has No Pride - Bonnie Raitt
Sandy Hill - Maggie Holland
Karla Faye - Mary Gauthier
Henry Russell's Last Words - Diana Jones
New Roommate - the Gourds

Lightning Bolt - Live Review

well, it's not a lamppost but...

Live Review

Being gig-starved for well over a year, my anticipation leading up this Guitar Wolf/Lightning Bolt double-header (pretty much my dream billing) was like sex when you are camping....... in tents!! sorry...

First on the bill were Japanese hardcore punks Struggle For Pride, with a classic hardcore name like that and an inked-up, shaven headed (but very short!) frontman working himself into a silent frenzy as the band cranked out the opening chugs I knew what to expect. But no amount of reading books on the US hardcore scene and listening for years at home from the safety of my living room could prepare me for the sheer unbridled fury unleashed. As the first extraordinary screams spewed forth from his lips the "singer" faced the crowd, mere inches away, with a fixed stare, eyes ablaze and flung the steel microphone stand as hard as he could into the first few rows. The place erupted and a full-on, fist flailing, slam-dancing, scary-as-fuck circle pit was on. They roared through 8 or 9 songs in 20 minutes and stopped abruptly, the diminutive demon of moments before smiled sweetly, bowed repeatedly, thanked us all in polite Japanese and urged us not to miss the "wonderful" Guitar Wolf coming up next!

Now, seeing Guitar Wolf live is more akin to a religious experience than a rock'n'roll show, with FrontWolf Seiji (officially The Coolest Human Being On The Planet) inducting non-believers into the cult of Jet Rock'n'Roll. The 'Wolf; Seiji plus Yakuza-tatted DrumWolf and new member BassWolf (looking exactly like Joey Ramone) stroll on stage to the deafening strains of Ramones' "Cretin Hop" looking like the last biker gang on earth from a 50's B-movie; all leather jackets (never ever removed despite the rivers of sweat streaming off of our heroes by the end) and wraparound shades. Seiji pouts, poses, does the rock'n'roll devil horn thing, points his guitar like a machine gun, plays guitar behind his head, writhes around on the floor, pouts some more, howls like a wolf, screams "ROCK'N'ROLL" several times for no apparent reason, takes his mic into the crowd and sings from the middle of the floor, forces his guitar onto a stage invader and makes him play, hand jives and generally behaves like a true (jet) rock'n'roll hero! By the end, the tiny fifth floor venue has been transformed into the amphitheatre of the gods of rock'n'roll at the last party on the edge of hell and the few non-believers left are truly converted! The music? Oh, well it was completely lost in a barrage of screams, squeals and feedback. I thought I caught a cover of "Kick Out The Jams", my mate claims he heard "My Generation". Who knows? Who cares?"ROCK'N'ROLLLLLLL"!!!

Which just leaves us with the mighty Lightning Bolt. Famously shunning stages to set up their minimum of equipment (a small drumkit, and a stack of amps) in the middle of the floor, tonight is no exception. As the crowd gather round, the two Brians (the quiet stoic Brian on bass guitar and the crowd-pleasing Brian on drums and weird-wrestler-mask-with-a-built-in-microphone-voice-changer-thingy) power into action, creating a truly stunning wall of noise within seconds. With such a minimal set-up, the variations are limited, but LB manage to vary the tempo and ratchet up (and down) the noise with deft skill to keep the crowd interested and crowd surfers erm...surfing. As the last strains of the encore echo around the venue my hearing is well and truly shot, i'm gasping for water, but i'm still reluctant to leave.

Verdict: Lightning Bolt more than did justice to their reputation, but if truth be told the night belonged to Seiji and Guitar Wolf, but then again it's not easy to compete when you put yourself up against bona fide living legends.

Des Pirate says:

...is better than no sex.

The Cannibal Hiking Disaster
Sad, Sad, Sad
Despite What You've Been Told

Serious Drugs (Other Mix)
If Winter Ends
The World Is Gone

I Wonder If You're Drunk Enough To Sleep With Me Tonight
What Kind Of Man Reads Playboy
First Few Desperate Hours

Divine Disappointment

One of Carole's seminal albums (not the AOTW)

I've been thinking about this one for ages and the "Desperation" topic on RR reminded me to post about it.

It isn't just a list thing, although those Mojo or Rolling Stone lists seem to be part of the idea.

Anyway, it is really all about albums that are capital letter "I" important, the ones that have an influence that not only lasts but that we can hear lasting in our own collections.

I have a few in my mind here, ones I think that a lot of people probably own.

Here is one though that I (along with nearly everyone else, let it be said) really believe is a massive milestone. Without this, you wouldn't have most of punk, no art rock, no Goth and no JAMC (to be specific).



On its release, the album was a massive failure; hardly anyone bought it and the critical reception, where there was one, was mainly negative.

The album lost money too. It had an expensive cover (the banana peeled off and the cover was made by a special process) and sales were poor. It didn't get much airplay because of the subject matter of most of the tracks and the music itself wasn't exactly radio-friendly in the Summer of Love.

It is one of those albums that has become a classic in hindsight.

Sunday Morning

Waiting For The Man

Femme Fatale

Venus In Furs

Run Run Run

All Tomorrow's Parties

Heroin

There She Goes Again

I'll Be Your Mirror

Death Song

European Son




So, that is one of my seminal albums. How about some noms from other 'Spillers?

Another 'Spill series?

Since you all seemed to enjoy the cover version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun that I posted last weekend, I thought you might like this, too. The connection is that it cropped up on a film which the Little Miss Toffees were watching (17 Again) and, like Greg Laswell's masterpiece from last week, it stood out and demanded further investigation. It's called The Greatest and it's by Cat Power & The Memphis Rhythm Band and it goes a little bit like this ...



Find out more about Cat Power here.

Desperate Measures

There are many ways of thinking about desperation.

From the "OMG I really need to find a loo" type of desperate, through personal pain at the break-up of a relationship, finding out that a lover had cheated on you, the desperation caused by addiction and the need to score that next hit and the desperation caused by having no money all the way across to the utter sense of desperate emptiness that you might feel when you realise that your life has come to nothing, your hopes and dreams have withered and died.

An uneasy subject, and one not really designed to bring a smile to the face or a tap to the toes.

However, I am starting with the desperation that is implied in finding out that the world is really going to end. I mean, how desperate is that? Surely it will all be on the up from here on in?

Sadly not, next the desperation of being in a prison, well is he? Or is it the prison of his lust? You decide.

Both Richard and Linda Thompson and Bruce Springsteen sing about the desperation caused by realising that the dreams and hope have gone, while Joy Division, surely the Lords of the Desperate, sing of the violence, the hate and the sheer desperation of a relationship gone sour past saving.

After that, The Clash's disappointment at going to the Palais and finding out the Reggae Tour wasn't full of outlaw roots rockers seems a mere setback, as does Ry Cooder's lament that without a car, he ain't never gonna find a lady.

Still Lou Reed's desperation and anguish while waiting for his dealer brings us right back to the gutter, presumably the gutter in Lonely Street, where John Cale is booking a room in Heartbreak Hotel.

Finally, a bleak tale of a cruel mistress writing to her lover's wife, detailing his infidelities, with a sad conclusion.


David Bowie - Five Years

Jimmy Page (feat. Chris Farlowe) - Prison Blues

Richard and Linda Thompson - Withered and Died

Joy Division - I Remember Nothing

Bruce Springsteen - The River

Ry Cooder - Crazy 'bout an automobile

The Clash - (White Man) In the Hammersmith Palais

The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man

John Cale - Heartbreak Hotel

King Crimson - The Letters

<




Truly, desolation is a bad place to be.

H2H #2 - Mama weer all crazee now Vs Blockbuster

Back for another head to head. H2H goes glam.

Remember, it's not the bands I am comparing, but the tracks. Do you prefer Sweet's androgynous call to arms or Slade's party anthem?





Over to you guys and gals. Alright.

Happy Birthday, Japanther!

Desperado

5 Minutes
Cyanide
Shame

Desperate
Desperate Ways
Suicide

No More Ghettos
Way Down In The Hole
Hey Joe
Muddy Water

The Drowning Man
Ask Me About Jon Stross
Chilitetime
New Dawn Fades

I found the A list!

I'm so fecked off i had to hit something..
being a pacifist a drum was the best bet...
and then I hit Publish POST...
sorry for ruining the VIM suprise A list...
but this is obviously it:


Got My Egusi
Walk And Skank
Wicked & Weird

Walkie Talkie
Into The Groovey
Madder

Dr Umz
Heart It Races - DJ Rupture's Ital Hymn Mix Featuring Mr Lee G
Tsbodze Moto
Believe

New Tindersticks

Now, I KNOW the Tindersticks are a massive RR/Spill unidond favourite - so shall we hear their new stuff?

That there is the new LP, out on 4AD towards the end of January.

The song is Black Smoke, and it's a free download.

Whaddya 'Sticks fans think?

mp3 via P4K

Here's a rivolous pre-MFF topic

Most of us would have our music collections filed alphabetically. If there was a fire and you could save one letter's worth, which letter would it be and why?

The letter B?Comic by Abstruse Goose

Let's see if this works...

Sorry about that everyone. I hope you get a chance to see the big man tonight, TFD.

In the meantime, here's one for Frogprincess.

The Heart of the World (Thanks Catcher!)

Catcher mentioned this short film over on the mothership, and it really is remarkable.