Tomorrow at Silvies My Pretties

This is Halloween

David Berthy Posts

There’s an elderly, hunched-over woman who emerges daily from the building across the street and sweeps the sidewalk for hours--even when it appears devoid of debris. I’ve often felt sorry for her, especially on days like today, when I see the leaves dropping in wet clumps. For the sake of symmetry, it’s pleasing to think the woman occasionally wonders what I do in my office all day, but in truth I’ve never once seen her look up. My preference is usually for older music, but for the last week or so I’ve been listening to this hastily assembled mini-mix of mostly downbeat newish songs over and over. Playing beneath it, my neighbor’s broom scrapes sound like drum brushes.

mini-mix

I had a few minutes to kill between appointments downtown and wandered into the cultural center to see what I could see. I happened upon a photo exhibit about Hurricane Katrina, and this song was playing on a loop to accompany the images. I had heard this song before, in the film Young at Heart
, the one about the elderly choir who sings pop songs to stay young. Now, hearing the original, it strikes me as a perfect song for IMW bands to play-simple, positive, groovy.

Lee Dorsey-Yes We Can Pt. 1

Brian Black had this record on when we came over to watch the premiere of Benjamin's terrific film, Breaking and Entering. My interest was peaked, so I went out and bought it. Its total ear candy, a record you can throw on just about any time, and please everyone in the room. After a lovely opening track "Dear God Sincerely MOF", the album jumps right into Traveling Wilbury's territory-not just with the theme of folk hero supergroup (M. Ward, Jim James, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis), but in the tossed off writing and overall sound, which apes Jeff Lynne's production to a tee. While there are some definite stinkers here, all four members make great contributions and the album overall is a joy to listen to.

Here's one of those Wilbury's sounding tracks for ya..

Say Please

David Berthy Posts

I've recently gotten into the solo work of singer David Ruffin. He's perhaps best known as the lead singer of Temptations during the group's sixties golden years-- it's Ruffin who sings "My Girl"--but despite his considerable talents, the singer was voted out of the band in 1968 due to increasingly erratic behavior. In 1969, Ruffin came back with his first solo album, "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)," which the tracks below are from. Both showcase the visceral, distinctive qualities of Ruffin at his best.


David Ruffin

BONUS POST

As you all know by now, I love Bob Dylan and am willing to go a long way in giving him the benefit of the doubt....but his new Christmas album is downright hilarious...playing like an SCTV skit of yore. A classic example of bad as good (ie comedy)

Click here for highlights

Despite the hyperbolic "return to their roots" ranting surrounding the new Flaming Lips album Embryonic, it really is a unique and sonically engaging record, and more interesting than anything I've heard from the band in years. If the last few albums were all blinding light and larger than life technicolor fantasies,this album lives on the dark side of psychedelia, turning inward to ponder and explore existential questions in relation to space and time. The sound is Krautrock meets Prog meets early Pink Floyd...the vocals often pushed back in the mix. Its not very accessible, sometimes impenetrable, but somewhat rewarding upon repeated listening.

I would love to see a rapid succession montage of facial reactions from people whose favorite Lips song was "Do You Realize" listening to this album for the first time.

I've included "Silver Trembling Hands" here, which was best described by a BBC reviewer as "Pink Floyd’s One of These Days performed by Bitches Brew-era Miles, conducted by Burt Bacharach, with Bill Bruford on drums and the Six Million Dollar Man on bass."


Silver Trembling Hands

Jon Singer Posts

My nanny's husband (and former Bloodshoot road manager) Paul M. Davis
dropped this gem in my public folder before a recent trip to Tulum.
Figuring I would have my share of Mariachi music while in the Riviera
Maya I didn't give it much thought. When I finally got around to
listening to it (and looking at the unique cover art) I knew I had
stumbled upon something special. Turns out Mariachi El Bronx is
actually the Los Angeles punk band El Bronx who have put their
hardcore career on hold to record an entire album full of Mariachi
smokers. Lead singer Matt Caughtran sites influences from Black Flag
to Los Lobos and it's easy to imagine how these two types of music can
coexist so harmoniously in Southern California. Whether you're on a
sun drenched beach, ipod covered in cocoa butter fingerprints, or
sipping English tea on a cold and rainy fall morning you will easily
fall under the spell of this hypnotic music.

Mariachi El Bronx

David Berthy Posts

This song by British soul singer Timi Yuro is like a torch song for the heartbroken. It's a rare thing indeed to have a song about heartbreak come across so strident. "It'll Never Be Over For Me" is probably too obscure to show up as a boozy karaoke number, but I imagine it would be just about perfect in that context.


Timi Yuro Torch Song

After 10 years of semi-monthly this-is-my-livelihood-not-my-hobby garage sales at my neighbor's place to the east, I finally found something neither overpriced nor useless to take home with me. Nestled in the back of a crate of vinyl albums consisting mostly of The Fixx (who knew they had so many records?), I found a bevy of Laurel Canyon gems including Linda Rondstadt's first album, some very early Boz Scaggs, two albums I'd never seen from the Byrds, and this rare and seminal contry rock LP from Dillard and Clark, the duo of former Byrd Gene Clark and Bluegrass banjo virtuoso Doug Dillard along with Chris Hillman, Sneaky Pete and others helping out. Released soon after Clark left the Byrds in 1978, Through The Morning, Through The Night contains a set of originals plus great versions of tunes by The Everly Brothers (So Sad), Bill Monroe (Roll in my Sweet baby's Arms), and even the Beatles (Don't Let me Down)

Kansas City Southern

While working on a Sasparilla Sling well into an evening with old friends at The Violet Hour, the "straight out of deadwood" bartender threw on this disk. Heather and I both thought it was Red Red Meat at first listen, its sound stuck as it is in Stones Exile on Main Street territory. Turns out that its The Deadstring Brothers, who hail from the motor city, along with our bartender. This track, "Some Kind Of User" is from the third album, Silver Mountain, released in 2007 on Bloodshot records.

Some Kind of User-Deadstring Brothers

Another band I turn to each year as Autumn arrives is Yo La Tengo, with their moody organ drones, hushed vocals, and bursts of guitar skronk. The timing is perfect this year, as they've just released a new album, Popular Songs. Here'e the album opener "Here to Fall" which adds Gainsbourgian strings to the mix.

Here to Fall

David Berthy Posts

My associations with Mel Torme have heretofore been restricted to
Seinfeld and goofy scatting, but this R&B track is making me want to
do some exploring. A leftfield hit in 1962, the song was arranged by
Claus Ogerman and later covered by Quincy Jones.

Mel Torme