At the rehearsal dinner for Billy and Ariel's wedding this past weekend, two of Billy's nephews got out their guitars and played an exceptionally well chosen set of songs in Everly Brothers style. They included this sweet ditty from Yo La Tengo's 1995 "Painful", one of the band's finest efforts.

The Whole of the Law

I was reclined with my head in the sink readying for my pre-wedding (Billy & Ariel) haircut, when I heard from across the room "omg, Michael Jackson is dead". I sat bolt upright in the chair, water flying everywhere, and loudly exclaimed by disbelief, nearly demanding details and verification from the receptionist. I was sure it was a prank, coming as it was from TMZ. Over the next few minutes, with the news confirmed, I sank into a wordless gloom as Nina snipped, trying to engage me in small talk.

I was surprised at the depth of my reaction to the news, and can't remember another celebrity death since Princess Di that's had this effect on me. Exploring my reaction with friends over drinks last night, I realized that Michael Jackson's is a case where I've always just naturally separated the man from the music. Never once has the sad bizarre circus surrounding his life affected the way I feel about his immense and irrefutable contribution to the popular music pantheon. As for the man and his actions, my sympathy has always outweighed my anger for reasons I cannot justify. Despite all of the allegations, at heart I still view him as a man-child who was horribly wronged at a very young age and then grew into a very sick and lost man. There is solace in knowing that both his suffering and the suffering he causes others are over.

Oh, and a couple of other things:
1. Anyone who equates Farah's icon status with that of Michael is out of their effing mind
2. I nominate Johnny Depp to play Jacko in the inevitable biopic. He's essentially already played him in both Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

You Are Not Alone

David Berthy Posts

I never get tired of reggae treatments of soul songs, especially in
the summer. I’ve heard a few duds, but most of these covers seem to
work out exceptionally well, especially those from the period before
roots reggae took hold, when soul music had a strong influence on
reggae. I’ve bought a bunch of reggae soul compilations over the
years, and here are four of my favorite examples of the genre.

Reggae Soul

Summer is officially here, and finally, the weather is starting to accept it. To celebrate, check out this 1974 version of Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze" by the Isley Brothers.

Summer Breeze

Father's Day AM Gold

Dan Fogelberg

Need a last minute gift for your pops on Father's Day? I've got you covered! Taking a cue from Alvy's Summer Jamz Series, I've created a Sunday morning easy listening mix of AM Gold especially for Fathers. You'll get "leader of the Band" from Dan Fogelberg, "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens, "Cats in The Cradle" by Harry Chapin, and many more!

Father's Day AM Gold

David Berthy Posts

I just got back from working on the video for this song by MSTRKRFT
featuring John Legend. I've listened to this song hundreds of times
over the last two weeks, and I'm surprised how well its held up. The
lyrics have an innocence that reminds me of sixties girl groups, but
the electronic backing and the deadpan delivery make it feel fresh. I
don't want to spend another night in a pinata store listening to it on
repeat at any point in the near future, but I think it's definitely
deserving of a listen.

MSTRKRFT-Heartbreaker

Take one part Neko Case, one part Jens Lekman, and one part El Perro del Mar, and you'll wind up with the retro pop stylings of Glasgow's Camera Obscura. I presume that I often hear mention of Belle & Sebastian in the same sentence as Camera Obscura because they share a hometown, but I much prefer the latter band's sound to the twee renderings of B&S.


The Sweetest Thing

I wandered into Reckless last night to kill some time before picking up the QD from her stats class and was reminded how much I love the dirty, organic, hard rocking sound of Crazy Horse, Neil Young's on-and-off backing band since the early Seventies. The track I heard over the store speakers was "Country Home", the opening number from 1990's Ragged Glory, a real sleeper of an album which sounds a whole lot fresher to my ears today than it did when I bought it back in senior year of college,

Next time you're in the convertible up to the Summer cabin (or pretending to be)in Michigan, Indiana, or Wisconsin, turn this one up and enjoy the ride.

Country Home

Congratulations to David and Eva, who welcomed their daughter into the world yesterday!

Ellery Lark Singer
7 lbs, 8oz.
20 inches long
Born June 14, 2009

We are creatures, creatures of love
We are creatures, creatures of love
From the sleep
of reason, a life is born
We are creatures, creatures of love

Tony Bianchi Posts

A couple weeks ago, I was driving from Portland, Oregon, to the town of Astoria (see above), and naturally forgot to charge the ipod, so was left with the complimentary cd from my room in the really hip Ace Hotel (nice place, actually.)

And that was good, because it forced me to listen to a record of the Headless Heroes about ten times over the 180 miles, which turned out to be pretty good fit for the winding road along the Columbia River.

And it turns out they aren't a band, exactly, but some sort of NYC art collaborative / music project, with a (I think) portland-based folk vocalist named Alela Diane singing all the songs. They are all covers, but besides Daniel Johnston, Jesus & Mary Chain and someone named "Nicholas Cave" I didn't realize that, they not the most well known tunes, which I believe is the point.

So here's one very atmospheric track "To You" and a much more traditional sounding "Blues Run The Game" by someone named Jackson C. Frank (covered by Simon & Garfunkel, which won't be a surprise when you hear it.)"


Headless Heroes

David Berthy Posts

I love some of the slower-paced early Michael Jackson numbers. Because
the smiling, “ABC” Michael dominates the collective memory of the
young star, it’s easy to forget that he could bring a preturnatural
soulfulness to slower numbers. Included here are “Maria (You Were The
Only One)” and a cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine.” It’s tempting to point
out Jackson’s despair is a little out of scale for a thirteen-year-
old, especially when he goes into a Barry White-style address in Maria
(“...sweet little sunflower.”) Or how disturbing these expressions of
anguish are given what we no know about Jackson’s life. But ultimately
I prefer to throw all that out the window and enjoy the sheer
craziness of the performances

Michael Jackson Numbers

Benjamin Fingerhut Posts

Although it’s still a work-in-progress we submitted Breaking and Entering to our first film festival the other day. The score is being created by Andrew Duncan, but there are a few songs by other artists scattered throughout. One of the bands providing additional music is the Chicago band, Hayward. Without giving too much of the movie away, their amazing original song, “High Lonesome” provides a perfect backdrop to one of the more dramatic and beautiful scenes in the movie. To my knowledge this is the one and only original Hayward song. Give “High Lonesome” a listen and I think you’ll agree that it’s high time that they made another one!

High Lonesome

Listening to Patty Griffin's "Long Ride Home" I was reminded of another song, "On The Road to Find Out", from Cat Stevens 1970 album , Tea for The Tillerman. I remember the track about Self discovery also as a central soundtrack item from the terrific film "Harold & Maude". Listening to the song repeatedly, I was struck by how much of an early blueprint it is for the artist's future devotion to the faith of Islam and eventual withdrawal from the music industry. Like Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith after him, there are abundant early lyrical cues in Stevens'early work as to the path his future life will take



"Yes the answer lies within, so why not take a look now?
Kick out the devils sin, pick up, pick up the good book now"

On the Road To Find Out

David Berthy Posts

The Fever Ray record is definitely my favorite of the year so far.
Fever Ray is the solo project of Swedish musician Karen Dreijer, who
is also one half of the brother-sister duo The Knife. Fever Ray shares
some similarities with The Knife’s sound, particularly on their last
album Silent Shout, but the Fever Ray record manages to be stranger,
darker, and more organic. Dreijer herself has described the sound as
“...a deep sleep spreading over fields and endless oceans.” Which I
can see. She’s also sited as inspiration a love of the long, wordless
musical interludes in Miami Vice (where Crockett and Tubbs zoom
through the night in a car or on a boat while staring moodily into the
distance, seemingly contemplating the likely possibility of their own
imminent demise). I can see that too, I guess, and am certainly for
anything that celebrates the virtues of Miami Vice. But what draws me
most to this music most is its ability to encode strange, disturbing,
heartfelt messages in a pop context. Included is The Knife song “Pass
This On,” and two Fever Ray songs: “Seven,” and “When I Grow Up
(Lissvik version).”

The Knife and Fever Ray

Here's the latest addition to Hayward's repertoire, a lovely tune from Patty Griffin's 2002 album A Thousand Kisses, "Long Ride Home".


Long Ride Home

Forgive the extended posting theme, but in discussing Steve Albini and Cheap Trick I'd be remiss in not posting Albini fronted post-hardcore band Big Black's cover version of Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore", originally release as a 7" and these days available on the CD version of the band's 1987 album Songs aAbout Fucking. The b-side of the single was a Kraftwerk cover and both sides of the single jacket imitate the original bands' artwork.

Big Balck- He's A Whore

As Quickdraw mentioned in Friday's post, the band was not too happy with Tom Werman's treatment of their songs for the album In Color. Drummer Bun E. Carlos explains: "He made it safe for radio, but the album sounds like it was done in a cardboard box." Over a decade later in the 90's, the band was in the studio hanging out with producer Steve Albini with nothing to do for a few days, and decided to re-record the album for kicks. They never completed it, but got pretty far in. I recently found the entire album on the internet (props to Rock Town Hall Blog) and present it here in its entirety for your downloading pleasure. It includes two versions each of "I Want You to Want Me" and "Oh Caroline" as well as a cover of John Lennon's "I'm Losing You."

In my opinion, In Color was a perfect record the first time around. The pop treatment of the set makes the songs shine, setting them apart from other hard rock albums. Its ithe very reason I love it so much. I've listened to the Albini versions a bunch, and while there are moments of brilliance overall I find it bit bland and uneven, with the songs getting lost in the mix. Listening to the vocals, you can really hear how much Billy Corgan was influenced by Robin Zander. Still, its a rare chance to hear a band reclaim its vision.

In Color with Steve Albini

Baby Needs Some Brand New Shoes

Quickdraw Posts

Rockford, Illinois is not the first place (nor the second, or third, for that matter) that comes to mind when thinking of places that have produced iconic pieces of American history. Hailing from a town near Rockford that is even less exciting and a fraction of its size, it's surreal even for me to think that Rockford gave us such offerings as the original sock monkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sock_monkey, the Rockford Peaches http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford_Peaches featured in "A League of Their Own", and various parts that propel the airplanes we fly every day. However, Rockford's greatest gift to the world is without a doubt, Cheap Trick. The band was officially formed in 1974 by Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos. To this day, I can't get enough of the 1977 album In Color. Rumor has it the band wasn't all that happy with the production of the album, saying that producer Tom Werman wanted to highlight the band's lighter, more pop-influenced side (exactly why I love it). While the album was only slightly more successful in the U.S. than their debut album Cheap Trick released earlier the same year, it gave them mega-star status in Japan. The Japanese media deemed them "The American Beatles", and after their 3rd record went gold there (though not here in the U.S.) the band was inspired to record Cheap Trick at Budokan (only intended for release in Japan, but eventually released in the U.S. by popular demand). Today I'm posting my all-time favorite Cheap Trick track, "Southern Girls" from In Color. The toe-tapping drum intro, the beautifully ringing power chords of the verse, and the hook-laden chorus never fail to keep me moving every time I hear it. It's a 70's power pop gem, but something about the simplicity of it takes me back to a simpler era of rock and roll. Enjoy!

Cheap Trick-Southern Girls

David Berthy Posts

While yesterday's excellent mix is going a long way to cheer me up,
the gloom of recent days has had me drinking too much tea and reaching
for a certain strain of melancholy British pop. "Beachwood Park" by
The Zombies and "She Smiled Sweetly" by the Rolling Stones are both
classics of the genre. If you're familiar with them, they're well
worth revisiting whether or not the gloom persists. Listened to on a
sunny summer day, they very well might make me nostalgic for the
experience of drinking tea on a rainy afternoon while listening to a
certain strain of melancholy British pop. "Sam," is from the third
album by Bill Fay, a singer who never quite caught on, but has had
something of a rebirth in the last ten years thanks to reissues of his
three studio albums.

Melancholy Mix

back in the late 90's, the Lake Effect crew would rent a house together for a week each year up in Saugatuck, Mi. The area had one of the greatest resort radio stations of all time, blending inane Dj Patter with obscure AM radio hits that you
you knew all the words to, but had no idea who the artist was and hadn't heard since you were five years old, riding in the back of the family station wagon on the way to the supermarket or TGI Fridays.

The radio station went country, but Alvy has kept the tradition alive with a series of annual mixes to keep our Summer soundtrack rolling. This years is a real doozy, highlighted by an incredibly Steve Windwood-esque Santana hit "I'm Winning", Leo Sayers incomparable jam "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", and a pair of hits from the Little River Band, plus 20 or so others.

Here, courtesy of Alvy, is the complete mix. Do yourself a favor and download it, your Summer will thank you, if it ever gets here.

Summer Jamz 09