Please God, let it be so...

Apparently not photoshopped.
Priceless fouled up photo opportunity from Mitt's privileged clan...
Any other possible variations?

Lovesong: Lisa Hannigan: The Livestream Sessions

If you have a spare 45 minutes have a look at this intimate performance by Lisa Hannigan.
Seems that I'm stalking her this week but... how good is she?

Albums For Life: Joint 100: Olufur Arnalds: 'Found Songs' & 'and they have escaped the weight of darkness'

In April 2009 Arnalds created 'Found Songs', a 7 song series; recording a song a day for 7 days and instantly making each track available via Twitter and his website, with over 300.000 people downloading it for free.

He would do the same thing in 2011, recording 'Living Room Songs' in his own home.
I also admire the beautiful 'and they have escaped the weight of darkness' which (maybe controversially) I'm making joint 100 as 'Found Songs' is more an EP than an album. The first recording is not as warm sounding as the later stuff (the strings can get a bit shrill) but it was with 'Found Songs' that I found Arnalds so, despite the production's failings, I hold the album close.

The approach is minimalist, neoclassical with the odd intrusion of beats; Christ, if that doesn't put you off... but the music's simplistic melodies ('Three Blind Mice' seems a big influence) and cyclic arrangements induce calm and an almost hypnotic melancholia; the street on which I live... 

Olufur's albums often hit the turntable when I've had a challenging day... particularly useful for when I'm out of scotch...

Below you'll find Arnald's lovely 'Lost Song' from 'Found Songs'. 

I've followed that with a live version of 'Gleypa Okkur' from 'and they have escaped the weight of darkness'.

A lot of modern music is over-arranged perfection, art squeezed lifeless.
Sometimes it's nice to hear a few mistakes; to know that real people are involved. 

It's inspiring when improvisation produces something unplanned and serendipitous.
There's some magic here in this final video, a performance by Olufur Arnalds and collaborator Nils Frahm, who also works with the excellent Peter Broderick (who you can spot in the audience at 3.56).
More of that talented fellow (much) later.

Lovesong: The 78 Project

No excuses in making this a Joe Henry & Lisa Hannigan fest.
Here they perform an A & B side for the '78 Project'; an interesting idea for a series; the performances are captured on vinyl as the artists perform.
Click on A or B below.
There's a great moment as Joe and Lisa listen to the playback of side A...
Side A 'Red River Valley'
Side B 'Little Bird'
There are some wonderful moments too from the project in the clip below...

Albums for Life: 101: Sparks: Kimono My House

"You mentioned Kant and I was shocked. You know where I come from none of the girls have such foul tongues"

Listening to this now, the shrill, intense weirdness of it all makes my eyes hurt.
Way back in the 1974 it was intoxicating and exotic; propelled by Dinky Diamond's irresistible beats and adorned by guitarist Adrian Fisher's best Mick Ronson impressions; this was the most exciting album I ever owned as a teenager; the sheer euphoria of it all was offset by the fact that you couldn't suss what the hell was going on with the Maels.

Were Ron and Russ serious? 

Were they even brothers?
After an appearance on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' 'Whispering' Bob Harris described them as "a cross between Frank Zappa and The Monkees". I'm not sure if it was meant as a compliment...

They went on to greater success with big beats and knowing Moroder disco but never has my world of pop been so utterly disorientated by such a wonderful racket...

Hear 'heartbeat, resisting heartbeat' and try and turn the joyful, sinister thing off.

Impossible. 

Laugh out loud impossible...

PS: Please note that Seamus over on the excellent 'Vapour Trails' site has started playing too.
Why not come join us?

Lovesong: Joe Henry and Lisa Hannigan: On the Shelf & The Portland Sessions

Having performed recently with Lisa, in chatting (get me!) I was intrigued to hear that she would be touring with Joe Henry in Japan.
I've found a performance from a Japanese show 'On the Ledge' and have followed it with the full 'Portland Sessions'.
There's real chemistry there...

Sunday Morning Blue: Aimee Mann: 4th of July: Kate Rusby: Underneath the Stars

It's a miserable morning so Di and I (still stinking of smoke from last night's bonfire) are hiding from it all under the quilt.
I know that Aimee Mann dryly dismissed fireworks as 'a waste of gunpowder and sky' but they never cease to thrill this boy.
'4th of July' comes to you exactly 5 months late or 7 months early depending on your disposition; the song is from from the brilliantly acidic album 'Whatever'; although I love her stuff most of it is flavoured with a cynical lemon twist; I think it's a fair guess that Aimee is a martini glass half empty kind of gal.
Di's plumped for a happier soul; Kate Rusby's celebration of a life in music '20' which is full of sweet, autumnal reinterpretations of her best loved songs. Nothing too challenging; just a lovely Yorkshire lass doing what she does best with grace and no little humor. A full bodied half pint then, not too bitter...
From underneath the quilt; here's a take on her classic 'Underneath the Stars'.

Albums For Life: 102: William Fitzsimmons: The Sparrow and the Crow

As I'm currently into all things Autumnal this is just the ticket; it's very much in the same leafy vein as my recently listed Album for Life, 'Leavetaking' by Peter Bradley Adams. 'The Sparrow and the Crow' is gentle, swooning, delicate music to grow facial hair to, except that here the angst level is turned up to 11. You don't notice it though as it's all so tremulously delivered. There's not a lot of lyrical subtlety, Fitzsimmons walks you very directly through his misery; focussing on the box of tissues, old letters, mundane conversations littered with the platitudes that lovers plunder. The mundanities and lack of pretension makes it all the more involving; like listening to your younger brother's best mate breaking his heart and wanting to give him the sage advice that keeps him off the ledge. It's not quite up there with Damien
Rice but if it's break up songs you want then this would fit as snuggly as your ex's slippers or Wham t-shirt. It always makes me want to whisper the word 'corduroy' for some reason...

Fitzsimmons followed this album with 'Goodnight' on which he hits the nail on the head when he sings 'nothing's really changed'; with the exception of some scratchy beats, he's spot on.

They once called this bedsit music and, although too much of the same does start to make your teeth ache, if you get the dosage right it's the perfect cure to sappy happiness. One might fear for the lad considering the down beat nature of it all; you'd feel inclined to hide his razor, but no need to worry, somebody's already got there, hence our William is in possession of the finest beard in rock and roll; like a face full of bees; knocking ZZ Top's bum fluff into a cocked hat...

Tony Visconti's Top 13 Albums

While we're all busy pondering our musical highlights; legendary producer Tony Visconti has done a similar thing over on the excellent Quietus site.
He stopped at 13.
It's an interesting mish mash of influence; Joni's 'Blue' is there as is XTC's 'Mummer'.
There's also an eclectic choice of the site's 50 finest albums of 2012 thus far which is making me feel a bit like growing a goatee and buying an Audi; I have one out of their fifty...
There's a useful link which allows you to access a selected playlist on Spotify... 
I'm currently 3 tracks in and it's definitely helping to clear my sinuses...
Have a look here:
Tony Visconti's Top 13: The Quietus
Top 50 Albums of 2012 so far: The Quietus

Albums For Life 103: Sparklehorse: It's a Wonderful Life

"A child who spoke in tongues and smelled like the sun"

This album always makes me feel like I've eaten too many wine gums. There's a wooziness about it that is intoxicating, a sugar rush of melancholy. Moogs wobble in harmony with lush swelling strings; sweet melodies are tempered with lo-fi intrusions that curiously compliment the luxurious production. Maybe there were better songs on its excellent predecessor 'Good Morning Spider', but there's a coherence to 'It's a Wonderful Life' that makes it compulsive listening; once committed you have to see it through; right to the end. Like lullabies lifted from a David Lynch film this is a set of songs that never ceases to unnerve and move me; particularly in the wake of Mark Linkous's sad demise.

I've heard it described as "songs of experience and innocence" which is pretty much confirmed by the quote at the top of the page. There's a great line in Robert Maxwell's wonderful novella 'So Long, See You Tomorrow' where the narrator describes his traumatized family abiding 'patiently and without hope'. That seems an apt epitaph for a broken and brokenhearted man who calmly chose to end his life by shooting himself in the heart. Linkous left behind a great body of work, the gem of that fine legacy, the tender and oddly life affirming 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

Albums For Life: 104: Peter Bradley Adams: Leavetaking

This is probably the most unremarkable album that will appear on my list; there is nothing great about it other than the fact that it may well be the perfect duvet album; the audio equivalent to crumpets with unsalted butter, eaten with a steaming mug of Heinz Tomato soup.
Sometimes you know just what you need; something unchallenging; a salve to help ease the furrowed brow.
I first heard of Bradley Adams through his previous band Eastmountainsouth, whose self titled debut must be the perfect Sunday Morning Blue album. 
Leavetaking is more of the same but, with just one voice, it's a more focussed, downbeat affair; a winsome but winning combination.
Soothing, subtle and very... nice; perfect cardigan music.
So that's 'perfect' used 4 times so far... nothing too spectacular; just finely formed; illustrated here by  'So Are You To Me' (which also features on 'Eastmountainsouth') and the charming 'Song For Viola' which sounds like the... perfect soundtrack for long lingering shots of a dancing Tesco's plastic bag.

Albums For Life: 105: XTC: Nonsuch

Seems a lowly spot for this to appear but I must warn you that anything between here and my top 30 could really feature anywhere on the list.
I've followed XTC since they started out in the late 70s; saw them gigging their debut with 'Statue of Liberty' and other spiky songs of frustration. Their post punk thrash was always infused with devilish humour; underpinned with an obvious lyrical intelligence, not to mention an ear for a great melody.
Who'd have thought that once Andy Partridge had retreated from live performance and got the perfect pop of 'Black Sea' out of his system that he'd would go on to produce such pastoral classics as 'Mummer' 'Skylarking', 'English Settlement' and 'Nonsuch'.
Word had it that he was going slowly bonkers in rural parts; although anyone who had the gumption to outwit the acidic Todd Rundgren, throwing him off the 'Skylarking' sessions, must have retained some of his city smarts. Andy seems to be holding it together on this 1999 interview from Bay TV, where a resplendent Partridge does his best to make the color brown look cool...

And on to 'Nonsuch'; this box of delights starts thumpingly with 'Peter Pumpkinhead' and works its way inexorably towards the set's highlight; the baroquely beautiful 'Wrapped in Grey'.

People always talk about XTC's Englishness as though it were an inbred weakness. I say God bless the eccentric Englishman that is Partridge.
Long may he potter away in his Swindon garden shed, come studio; conjuring heavenly words and music.

"How coloured the flowers all smelled 

As they huddled there in petalled prayer"

Word has it that he gets depressed; head dropping at his unfathomable anonymity. I doubt that Andy has the bulbs to ask for patronage, so let's hope that the afore mentioned Arts Council (see yesterday) sees fit to help keep this unsung songwriting genius's head up, smelling the daffodils and dahlias.

How Lloyd Keeps Himself Off the Old King Cole...

Here's an interesting venture.
Everyone knows that there's not a lot of money around the music business these days; if you want the swimming pool it's gigs and t-shirts rather than CD sales.
Surprisingly The Arts Council have never courted me; I've had to pay for every album I've ever been involved in; recording and manufacture; a hole happily self inflicted, but a hole nonetheless that I'll surely never dig myself out of. And nonetheless (is it really just one word?) with new recordings in my sights I've started looking for small change down the back of the sofa again; so far revealing a 5 franc note, a blue button, some Bombay Mix and a piece of gum (Airwaves); so that's the rhythm section sorted...
When it comes to self-funding Lloyd Cole has come up with an enterprising idea; he's advertising for pre-orders of an album that's still in his head. 
Pay before November 20th and you'll get the album in the early summer of 2013.
It's a limited deluxe edition of 600, each copy going for $100.
Steep, but he'll throw in the p&p for free.
That'll give him a recording budget of $60,000.
We can expect strings and maybe a gong then...
I know that, historically artists have benefited from lofty patronage but... is it me or is it all a bit whiffy?
I'm not sure if it's sharp thinking or sharp practice.
Any thoughts?
My thoughts are that I'm thinking of doing something similar.
For just £100 each, 600 of you would receive a deluxe package including a cassette of my pre-demo 'ladeedaings' lifted straight from the 'QuickVoice' Ap on my iPhone.
The album would also naturally be named after you (guaranteeing you a 'longest album title' entry in the 'Guinness Book of Records').
It'll be something like 'A Cappella Jones Hums Hearty in his New Car (Vol 1) for his special mates:' followed by a load of blokes' names.
You would also get a stylish, ironically 'lo-fi' brown paper CD cover, lovingly designed (free of charge) by Bazza and hand folded by either myself, Di or Bazza. The hand titled audio CD itself would arrive once the cheques have cleared, the title is confirmed and I've had time to see what kind of motor I can get for £60K. There's not a lot about in that price range with decent acoustics...

Meanwhile, if you're interested in being one of Lloyd's 600 'Executive Producers' go to:
http://shop.lloydcole.com/products/my-2013-album
Here's what the young entrepreneur has to say for himself:

"My last album Broken Record was partially financed by fans who pre-ordered the deluxe limited edition, and the regular album.

I am trying it again.

This time it will be much simpler - only the deluxe limited edition version will be available for pre-order. And it should be clear to those of you who choose to pre-order it that you are basically executive producing the album, and I thank you in advance.

This pre-order will be available from today until November 22. I need to know what my budget is before we begin recording. 600 will be for sale. After November 22 we will not accept pre-orders.

The design of the deluxe edition has only just begun in very abstract terms, but the concept is simple. It will be small and beautiful. It will not be a box. It will contain 2 CDs. One will be the album, the other a bonus CD of outtakes which will not be available any other way. Each copy will be individually numbered and will come with a matching card addressed to you personally, with thanks from me, signed by me.

The CD sleeve will not be signed. It will be shrink wrapped and untouched. We will pack the cards and CDs here in Massachusetts and all orders will be shipped from here. Shipping to anywhere is included in the price. Please let us know who you would like the card addressed to.

The album - it will be all new material. It will be at least 80% written by me. Maybe 100%

Recording begins in Los Angeles the week after thanksgiving. Fred Maher, Matthew Sweet and I will record basic tracks. We will work Blonde on Blonde style. I will not be making demos. I will arrive with complete songs that I can play on guitar and we will go from there. I'm excited.

I will complete the album in Massachusetts and New York.

I expect the album to be for sale in late Spring / early Summer 2013. The Deluxe edition will ship two weeks before the album is officially released."

Sunday Morning Blue: A Song for Katy: I've Got a Plan: My Friend the Chocolate Cake: Finn Brothers: Won't Give In

Katy, my younger sister, has been dreaming of emigrating to Australia for years. She'd been struggling to get a 'shoe in' from a distance so took the brave step of selling up and going down under to try and get herself set up in situ. 
She had a visitor's visa and had a year to find herself a sponsor. Well, with days to spare she's succeeded. I won't go into details; private obviously;  I know that my parents have been concerned about her (as indeed we all have); she's been sticking her chin out on her lonesome and, although it seems that she has found some great friends in Oz, I'm sure there have been some lonely moments for her.
Those Aussie mates gave her a celebratory party last night, complete with a poem (see below), a crown and a flag. 
Here she is shaking her maracas.
So, I want to dedicate this Sunday Morning Blue to Katy Jones, now an official resident of Melbourne, Australia.
The first ditty is from The Finn Brothers, the self explanatory 'Won't Give In'. It's also for her mates down under; seems that (almost) everyone she loves is there.
The second song is from a fellow Melbournian, David Bridie. 
Seems that, just like Katy, he too had a plan.
Well done Katy. 
Go sister, go...

She started out with a mission
To call Australia Home
It was her true ambition
To stay put and no further roam

Faced with challenges a plenty
She faced them one by one
And slayed them all but gently
Until there was just one

There were men who offered their house to stay
And some that offered their hand
But she shook 'em off and said
'I'll do this on my own terms thanks!'
And fled to South Morang!

And with the help of friends and strangers
(Zorro too apparently)
All her hard work finally paid off
And shouted 'Victory!'

For her bravery she deserves a medal
And having now completed her task ...
It's time to get out your maracas Katy
And have yourself a blast!'

Albums for Life: 106: John Hiatt: Bring the Family

In the early 1990s Miracle Mile played a session for Bob Harris at the BBC's Maida Vale studios. It was our 2nd visit there; first time we were produced by a familiar looking gent in a flea bag of a sheepskin coat who turned out to be Dale 'Buffin' Griffin, the ex drummer from Mott the Hoople. He was a nice guy who did an ok job for us. (Sad to report that he's now struggling with Alzeimers.)  For our 2nd visit we had a nameless, faceless producer; I'm having trouble remembering anything about the session other than the fact that this guy welcomed us by telling us that he didn't really like bands and that he much preferred working with individual singer-songwriters; he told us that his favourite recent session was with an American legend and proceeded to play us some lovely roughs by John Hiatt and then a few album tracks. This was new to me; I loved the voice and sought out the particular album that this producer raved about. I was initially confused as I was searching from an album that was issued with two covers. The one I was was shown at the BBC was the cover eventually rejected; of a family of ventriloquist's dummies which for me is a stronger image than the stock head shot that was eventually to become the album's cover.

Anyway, I ramble and digress, once I found 'Bring the Family' it has been close to me ever since; a cracking set of songs perfectly produced and beautifully underplayed by a simple line up of Ry Cooder (guitar) Jim Keltner (drums) and Nick Lowe on bass. The grooves are fantastic; witness the infectious 'Memphis in the Meantime' for example. But it was the slow tunes that caught my ear; this was the sound of a drunkard drying out and reveling in his regained consciousness; reinvigorated and thankful; recognizing the mire that he was stepping out of. There's a damaged beauty in those bitter sweet recognitions that gives the ballads an authentic integrity. Here are performances of 'Have a Little Faith in Me' followed by 'Lipstick Sunset' which, on the album, has one of the great slide solos.

Happy Birthday Di

It's Di's birthday today.
Why not go to her blog at
http://www.diholmesphotography.blogspot.co.uk
and wish her a happy day.
We've just been out for a pub lunch and a walk by the river and a swing in a swing and, as you can see, Di still swings like a young 'un.
Me? I could get in but had trouble getting out...
On the walk we found a boat that we thought we could do up and live the intrepid bohemian river life in.
It's got promise, no?
Now, onto the evening which promises curry and brandy and a cozy listen to the remaster of Peter Gabriel's 'So'; a present that she doesn't know she has yet (until she reads this). And I believe there's some footy on the TV later; it's either that or 'Three Colours Blue'. The birthday girl will probably get her way and we'll have to suffer the piggin' Champions League again.

Albums For Life: 107: Kate and Anna McGarrigle

"Never had the blues from whence I came
But in New York State I caught them"

On the back of my recent 'Lovesong' from Martha Wainwright, I dug out my copy of 'Kate and Anna McGarrigle', the Canadian sisters' eponymous debut from 1975.
It sounds terrible; reedy and thin.
The riches within are worth enduring the audio for, but it's the production and mastering that stops this from featuring in my (more considered) Top 30.
I'd waffled on in my last 'Albums for Life' choice about Elton John's faux Americana. This album seemed to be the real deal; about as authentic as you could get; although by rights I guess I should call it 'Canadiana'. The self penned songs sounded like long lost Stephen Foster compositions; there was something timeless in the strained delivery and close harmonies that made me think that I was tuning in to a couple of sirens who were wailing ancient prairie truths at me.
The album sold on the back of 'Heart Like a Wheel' which Linda Ronstadt had a huge hit with, but it was another song that got me; it was the first time I can remember being poleaxed by a lyric; yup, 'Talk to Me of Mendocino' reduced me to a wobbly mess. And it's always the unlikely lines; here it was the archaic 'never had the blues from whence I came..."
It's surely one of the most heartfelt paeans ever written about homesickness:

I bid farewell to the state of old New York
My home away from home
In the state of New York I came of age
When first I started roaming
And the trees grow high in New York state
And they shine like gold in Autumn
Never had the blues from whence I came
But in New York state I caught them

Talk to me of Mendocino
Closing my eyes I hear the sea
Must I wait, must I follow?
Won't you say "Come with me?"

And it's on to Southbend, Indiana
Flat out on the western plain
Rise up over the Rockies and down on into California
Out to where but the rocks remain
And let the sun set on the ocean
I will watch it from the shore
Let the sun rise over the redwoods
I'll rise with it till I rise no more 

Talk to me of Mendocino
Closing my eyes, I hear the sea
Must I wait, must I follow?
Won't you say "Come with me?"

I found this lovely version of the song from a recent 3 disc collection 'Tell My Sister', which I've just ordered from Amazon. Happily the first two CDs are much improved versions of the debut and its fine follow up 'Dancer With Bruised Knees', lovingly remastered by the great Joe Boyd, plus a 3rd disc of previously unreleased material.
I have followed that alternate take with film of the sisters in performance, taken from the first series of the excellent 'Transatlantic Sessions'.
Same song.
It's worth listening to twice.

Lovesong: Martha Wainwright: Proserpina

"Come home to mother, come home to mama now."

In 2009 Kate McGarrigle was aware that she was dying.
She had the strength for one last show at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a benefit concert. With her children Rufus and (a heavily pregnant) Martha she sang a song.
That song was 'Proserpina'.
It was the last song she'd ever write or perform.
Kate died two months later.

"We all knew it would be her last concert," Martha has said. "My mother wrote that song with one foot in the world she was heading to, and with the full knowledge of where she was going."

Martha has now recorded the song for her new album, 'Come Home to Mama'.

"I recorded it at a time when I thought, in some way, if I could just sing like her, and if I closed my eyes and I conjured it up enough, that maybe when I opened them she would be back in the room. 
It was one of those stages of disbelief at the beginning, when someone has died. I sang it like she sang it, because who would want to change that?"

Here's the video of Martha's version (both the song and the video were done in one take).
I've followed it with the original performance at the Albert Hall.

Albums for Life: 108: Elton John: Madman Across the Water

I'm doing this count down in synch with David Ashley over on Cathedrals of Sound. Unusually for me, I seem to be getting a bit ahead of the game...

Whenever I hear this album I can smell rotting apples...
Let me explain: Long before the tiaras and tantrums, before he was knighted and became a right royal twat (it's official) Reg could write a tune. On Madman he harnessed Bernie Taupin's sepia tinted lyricism and somehow managed to convince us all that he was rooted in 19th Century Americana. Paul Buckmaster's grandiose strings and the thump and lump of a now regular rhythm section of Dee Murray and Nigel Olson (augmented by new member, guitarist Davey Johnson) provided a focussed yet widescreen sound that suggested something important was happening; maybe even a concept...  And there were guest appearances from stellar players including Rick Wakeman (who knew a thing or two about concepts), Chris Spedding, Herbie Flowers and Terry Cox, plus Robert Kirby (best known for his string arrangements for Nick Drake) directing the Cantores in Ecclesia Choir for some brilliantly misplaced pomp on 'All the Nasties'. 

Elton might have made better albums ('Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' and 'Captain Fantastic' are, for me, his artistic peak) but it was Madman that captivated me; there was an intense, ripe undercurrent of darkness within that never really bore fruit; but what was unrealised was still tantalising enough for this, once spotty, herbert to buy into. The whole thing had an audio panorama that had me sold. I defended its ambition defiantly with my boarding school buddies in the 6th form lounge; they saw it as pretentious tosh. They were right of course, but even now, when I hear Elton warbling about tepees, warlords and red suns, on the over reaching but well intended babble of 'Indian Sunset', 
I still get the whiff of rotten apples that haunted my freshly stocked wooden tuck box, and remember the excitement of not quite knowing what lay within... 

Albums for Life: 109: Calexico: Feast of Wire

Feast of Wire is a pretty faultless set; it has the sultry feel of the soundtrack to some modern western drama that the Coen Brothers are yet to make from a Sam Shepard novella.
The creative crux of the band, John Convertina and Joey Burns seem to be a productive couple; there's a lot of Calexico to listen to, alongside their off piste productions for the likes of Iron and Wine and, recently, on Amos Lee's fine 'Mission Bell' album.

Let's start with 'Sunken Waltz', first track on the album...
I posted 'Black Heart' from this set on Monday; a fabulous piece of musical noir. I've featured another version here, recorded live with a full orchestra in Vienna.
The intriguing 'Not Even Stevie Nicks', is followed by the excellent Mariachi of 'Close Behind' , then finally, the otherworldly beauty of 'Woven Birds'. 
They call it 'desert rock' and it's easy to hear why... 
Stick me on the M40 with this and I could believe that I was driving the dusty roads of some Southern State, with a bottle of mescal between my knees, heading towards some dodgy liaison, just south of the border, down Mexico way....

Albums for Life: 110: Maria McKee: Life is Sweet

There's an excellent series over on the fine Cathedrals of Sound blog where blogmeister Davis Ashley is counting down through his favourite 150 albums.
Invariably short on original thought I've decided to do likewise here; trying to choose albums that have inspired and moved me. It'll be a journey and a reminder for me; a search for music that resonates with my enthusiasms and nostalgic baggage but that still features in my everyday life. So; there'll be a few quirks and offcuts then; rather than focussing on the obvious classics that are often cited but probably seldom listened to whilst stuffing a goose, sharpening the bread knife, dusting the moose head, cleaning the pool or disciplining the kitchen staff... ('OK Computer' anyone?)
David's rules are simple and I'll abide by them; only one album per artist, no compilations.
I'm not going to review the albums in depth, just give a little insight into why they initially floated my boat and still do so.
Di is threatening to do the same thing but seems to be looking over my shoulder, nicking my notes. She's been banished to the headphones in her search for something of her own and is currently wailing along solo voce to David Gray's 'White Ladder', gushing about his 'twitchy drummy beaty thing'; it's going to be a long 110 days... I'm not sure if she'll jump in at 100 as a footnote here or over on her own site:
http://www.diholmesphotography.blogspot.co.uk

Kicking things off; in at 110 I've gone for Maria McKee's 'Life is Sweet'.
I saw her live with Lone Justice and was smitten. When she went solo I was indifferent to the MOR ballads, but there was something... unhinged... behind those beautiful eyes that compelled me to follow her progress. Butter wouldn't melt but I'm not sure that it was butter in her mouth...
This girl had energy to spare and was patently bonkers but channeled her... erm... spunk perfectly on the album. Sure, there were the ballads that exposed her beautifully but there was drama akimbo too. Did she want to be a female Bowie/Ziggy?
I remember reading that McKee's zestful live dynamic had inspired Deacon Blue's 'Real Gone Kid'. And 'bonkers' is perfectly summed up by this live rendition of an album highlight; the brilliantly titled 'Absolutely Barking Stars'.
I've followed it with a performance of the title track.
There's that look in her eye again...
I'd love to have her a round for tea but I'll definitely be hiding the bread knife...

Lovesong: Giant Sand/Calexico/Iron and Wine

My recent jaunt at Aarhus had me reaching for my old Giant Sand albums.
Di was so taken with them that she brought their latest 'Tucson' which is a sprawling work of wonder from which I have posted 'Out of the Blue'.
2000's 'Chore of Enchantment' always struck me as a complete album, warm, witty and... erm whimsical; it also contains my favourite Howe Gelb song 'Shiver'.

The muscular drumming on that album of John Convertina also had me hunting out my Calexico albums, choice cut is the scary 'Black Heart' from 'Feast of Wire', which is set here to fairly raunchy visuals from Martin Scorcese.
This then led me to Iron and Wire's collaboration with Calexico, 'In the Reins', where the Burns/Cavertino production adds some muscle to Sam Beam's winsome doodles.
It all makes me want to eat chilli and drink tequila and it's only 9.49 in the morning...