Emily - Joanna Newsom (2006)
Where to begin? This little elfin lady is one of the big reasons indie rock resonated back into my mind and heart in the mid-part of the last decade. I had turned a blind eye for quite some time to the genre. After Nirvana was signed, it seemed that every indie artist of note was signed up anyway, so I just had to wait for that to happen to discover them (the album would be better produced anyway!)
Then, The Decemberists blew my mind. After purchasing all of their discs, I went onto the still new "novelty-like" itunes to purchase their bonus EP for Picaresque, Picaresqueties. There on that digital platter was a stirring song called "Bridges & Balloons". It was a cover, by a woman I'd never heard of. Feverishly, I went onto the early blogosphere and searched for more information.
This was 2006.
Ys was about to be released.
She was on every page.
Purchasing the Milk-Eyed Mender and Ys at same time from the Drag City website, I was prepared for greatness, which I received in abundance from the former disc.
Listening to the second first (?) however, I wasn't prepared for Ys.
I don't think, even with all the advanced praise raging loudly on the web, any of us were.
This girl was working with Van Dyke Parks and Steve Albini...... ON THE SAME DISC!!!!
And Jim O' Rourke!!
And those songs!!
Extended song poems that unfold like classical suites swept along by Newsom's expert harp playing on a bed of vintage Parks' orchestrations.
I had never heard anything like it, something I didn't expect to say in 2006.
"Emily" gets the pick for the 365, simply because it is the first song on the album, and a hell of an introduction for those of us who skipped Mender. Her three disc epic Have One On Me was still four years away, as well as her fashion icon and SNL cast member dating status. What we had was a Sophomore disc that eclipsed all that had come before it with 5 long musical adventures that showed us that indie rock or freak folk or whatever you want to call it still had much to teach us.
I hope her next album is a five disc extravaganza. I promise I will listen to it all.
In order.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
JDIZZY's 365 # 294: King Of Pain
King Of Pain - The Police (1983)
Of all the perfect singles that this band hammered out in their five album career, this track from their last (and greatest) record is what the 365 chooses to pontificate about. Is it because it is the gestation of the sound that Sting would come to perfect on his first three solo classics? is it the never better sounding three piece augmented with tasteful keyboards in a decade that usually went with the opposite? Is it the killer hooks that dominate both the verses and the choruses?
Hell, I'm a word man. Always have been and always will be.
Sting's lyrics capture the moment of a man becoming aware of his sad lot in life better than anyone else has since Dylan's "Ballad Of Hollis Brown".
And nobody gets killed!
The perfect 90's chanteuse and a crappy metal band have covered this song. Surprisingly, both are pretty damn good.
Of all the perfect singles that this band hammered out in their five album career, this track from their last (and greatest) record is what the 365 chooses to pontificate about. Is it because it is the gestation of the sound that Sting would come to perfect on his first three solo classics? is it the never better sounding three piece augmented with tasteful keyboards in a decade that usually went with the opposite? Is it the killer hooks that dominate both the verses and the choruses?
Hell, I'm a word man. Always have been and always will be.
Sting's lyrics capture the moment of a man becoming aware of his sad lot in life better than anyone else has since Dylan's "Ballad Of Hollis Brown".
And nobody gets killed!
The perfect 90's chanteuse and a crappy metal band have covered this song. Surprisingly, both are pretty damn good.
JDIZZY's 365 # 293: Lavender
Lavender - Marillion (1985)
Punk slit Prog's throat on the great pop music battlefield of the late 70's and most people believe it was decades before critics, fans and even punks started to preach the new gospel of how important the much maligned music was. If you lived in England however, a mere eight years after Punk broke, Progressive rock was back......
.....And on Top Of The Pops!
There was Pallas, IQ, Pendragon and Twelfth Night; but none of the Neo Progs ever shined as bright as Marillion. None perfectly honored the past while forging ahead into the future like Fish & Co. did in the 1980's. While arguments can be made for all of their discs that the wiley Scot helmed before departing the group in 1988, you really can't get better than the band's own Thick As A Brick, Misplaced Childhood. Over the course of a disc long suite, the listener is greeted with a constant shift of musical ideas under the united theme of innocence lost.
It was intelligent.
It was gorgeous.
It was a smash, with two singles (singles from an album length epic!!???) rocketing into the UK top five, one of which is our pick for today. Although the lower charting of the two("Kalyleigh" almost made it to the top), "Lavender" is a perfect rock ballad, incorporating Burl Ives in the chorus and referencing Joni Mitchell in the first verse! It is so unlike anything else from the same year that it completely sounds of its own time and space, which is a progressive rock character trait if I've ever heard one. Marillion would continue on after the loss of their Peter Gabriel, with continual success that follows them to this day.
But the Fish years......
Man, you really can't top them!
12 inch extended version....Oh Yes!!!!!!
Punk slit Prog's throat on the great pop music battlefield of the late 70's and most people believe it was decades before critics, fans and even punks started to preach the new gospel of how important the much maligned music was. If you lived in England however, a mere eight years after Punk broke, Progressive rock was back......
.....And on Top Of The Pops!
There was Pallas, IQ, Pendragon and Twelfth Night; but none of the Neo Progs ever shined as bright as Marillion. None perfectly honored the past while forging ahead into the future like Fish & Co. did in the 1980's. While arguments can be made for all of their discs that the wiley Scot helmed before departing the group in 1988, you really can't get better than the band's own Thick As A Brick, Misplaced Childhood. Over the course of a disc long suite, the listener is greeted with a constant shift of musical ideas under the united theme of innocence lost.
It was intelligent.
It was gorgeous.
It was a smash, with two singles (singles from an album length epic!!???) rocketing into the UK top five, one of which is our pick for today. Although the lower charting of the two("Kalyleigh" almost made it to the top), "Lavender" is a perfect rock ballad, incorporating Burl Ives in the chorus and referencing Joni Mitchell in the first verse! It is so unlike anything else from the same year that it completely sounds of its own time and space, which is a progressive rock character trait if I've ever heard one. Marillion would continue on after the loss of their Peter Gabriel, with continual success that follows them to this day.
But the Fish years......
Man, you really can't top them!
12 inch extended version....Oh Yes!!!!!!
Friday, February 25, 2011
JDIZZY's 365 # 292: A Cloak Of Elvenkind
A Cloak Of Elvenkind - Marcy Playground (1997)
Marcy Playground were a much better band then their fluke novelty hit "Sex & Candy" let on. John Wozniak's pet project actually predated the sound that people believed Stephen Malkmus created in his post-Pavement career. To listen to the rest of the Playground's major label debut is to hear expert psych-pop with folk undertones. It is never better than this tribute to a boy obsessed with works of fantasy. They would never strike gold again, but almost all of their works are worthwhile. They are also incredibly cheap used on Amazon, so, uh........buy some!!! How can you hate on something with such a blatant Tolkien reference?!!?!
This guy loves it as much as I do! Listen to the care he put in this cover.
Marcy Playground were a much better band then their fluke novelty hit "Sex & Candy" let on. John Wozniak's pet project actually predated the sound that people believed Stephen Malkmus created in his post-Pavement career. To listen to the rest of the Playground's major label debut is to hear expert psych-pop with folk undertones. It is never better than this tribute to a boy obsessed with works of fantasy. They would never strike gold again, but almost all of their works are worthwhile. They are also incredibly cheap used on Amazon, so, uh........buy some!!! How can you hate on something with such a blatant Tolkien reference?!!?!
This guy loves it as much as I do! Listen to the care he put in this cover.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
JDIZZY's 365 # 291: Fade To Black
Fade To Black - Metallica (1984)
To misquote Cedric The Entertainer, Metallica has always had prog tendencies. Starting with Kill 'Em All, the band has always featured at least one progressive piece per album that travels through different moods, time signatures and intricate playintg. This cut off of their second disc Ride The Lightning has always been my favorite. The lyrics, which read like the journal entries of a suicide victim, are a long way from the "no life till leather" anthems of just a year before. Also, the acoustic flourishes on heavy hitting songs that would become part of their trademark make a startling debut here.
They have been great and they have been not so great; but through it all Metallica has felt the true artist's spirit better than any other metal band, which for my money makes them the best the genre has or will ever offer.
Now, if I can only get them to never record without Rick Rubin again....what to do, what to do?
If you haven't heard it, than this cover will make you a life-long Apocalyptica fan!
To misquote Cedric The Entertainer, Metallica has always had prog tendencies. Starting with Kill 'Em All, the band has always featured at least one progressive piece per album that travels through different moods, time signatures and intricate playintg. This cut off of their second disc Ride The Lightning has always been my favorite. The lyrics, which read like the journal entries of a suicide victim, are a long way from the "no life till leather" anthems of just a year before. Also, the acoustic flourishes on heavy hitting songs that would become part of their trademark make a startling debut here.
They have been great and they have been not so great; but through it all Metallica has felt the true artist's spirit better than any other metal band, which for my money makes them the best the genre has or will ever offer.
Now, if I can only get them to never record without Rick Rubin again....what to do, what to do?
If you haven't heard it, than this cover will make you a life-long Apocalyptica fan!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
JDIZZY's 365 # 290: The Speed Of Pain
The Speed Of Pain - Marilyn Manson (1998)
And with only 75 songs to go, the 365 champions a fallen hero. For many of us, he was the artist that separated the boys from the men. When you were a fan of Marilyn Manson, you were going to be questioned by certain members of society for your taste, aplomb and sanity. He first grabbed our attention on his Trent Reznor-produced debut, which made us think about the boat ride in Willy Wonka a whole lot differently. Then, with a crackpot video and a mesmerizing delivery, he made us remember how cool The Eurythmics were. Antichrist Superstar re-kindled the nation's fear of rock and roll and sparked our generation's continuing love of concept albums.
Yet when he embraced his inner Bowie and swaggered off of a spaceship to a glam rock soundtrack, that was when he truly floored us. Every track on Mechanical Animals stands up to Ziggy, Tommy and Pink's gilded lists. Manson was looking back, but taking us all light year's ahead of what the grunge years and the Alternative Nation had told us was to come.
And then two kids in Colorado ruined his career. His album sales waned more and more with each successive release, even if the quality didn't. His radar dropped deeper out of popular culture. To some people, he is now simply the creepy older guy that Evan Rachel Wood almost married, or for the modern pop connoisseur, the strange voice heard on a Lady Gaga remix.
But we remember, don't we? We recall how Mechanical Animals made us feel alive right before the first decade of the 21st century reared its twisted and gnarly head. Although its been on the shelves for almost thirteen years now, it still has the power we always knew it did.
And it will find itself a new audience. Classics always do.
I have a Pandora station dedicated to this group!
And with only 75 songs to go, the 365 champions a fallen hero. For many of us, he was the artist that separated the boys from the men. When you were a fan of Marilyn Manson, you were going to be questioned by certain members of society for your taste, aplomb and sanity. He first grabbed our attention on his Trent Reznor-produced debut, which made us think about the boat ride in Willy Wonka a whole lot differently. Then, with a crackpot video and a mesmerizing delivery, he made us remember how cool The Eurythmics were. Antichrist Superstar re-kindled the nation's fear of rock and roll and sparked our generation's continuing love of concept albums.
Yet when he embraced his inner Bowie and swaggered off of a spaceship to a glam rock soundtrack, that was when he truly floored us. Every track on Mechanical Animals stands up to Ziggy, Tommy and Pink's gilded lists. Manson was looking back, but taking us all light year's ahead of what the grunge years and the Alternative Nation had told us was to come.
And then two kids in Colorado ruined his career. His album sales waned more and more with each successive release, even if the quality didn't. His radar dropped deeper out of popular culture. To some people, he is now simply the creepy older guy that Evan Rachel Wood almost married, or for the modern pop connoisseur, the strange voice heard on a Lady Gaga remix.
But we remember, don't we? We recall how Mechanical Animals made us feel alive right before the first decade of the 21st century reared its twisted and gnarly head. Although its been on the shelves for almost thirteen years now, it still has the power we always knew it did.
And it will find itself a new audience. Classics always do.
I have a Pandora station dedicated to this group!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
JDIZZY's 365 # 289: Fog On The Tyne
Fog On the Tyne - Lindisfarne (1971)
The early seventies were an era of amazing folk rock in England that ruled the charts at home but barely made a dent in the States' musical conscience. A fine example is Lindisfarne who rocketed to the top of the album charts with their 1971 classic Fog On The Tyne. The title track is a party in single form: a sea shanty of sorts that sparkles with wit, harmony and stellar musicanship by the band.
Later on, after their album sales began to fade, de facto leader Alan Hull broke up the group then reformed it with new members. This lead to the fired players starting the successful offshoot Jack The Lad, another great folk rock gem of a band.
In England of course.
Here one might think Lindisfarne is a type of micro brew from Wisconsin.
...sigh...
Thank god my father stumbled across a promotional copy of Jack the Lad's debut during his twenties. If not for his impeccable taste and timing, I never would have known of either of these band's existence.
Then again, there are certain covers like the one below (that went to number 2 in the UK) that should never cross the waters of the Atlantic!
The early seventies were an era of amazing folk rock in England that ruled the charts at home but barely made a dent in the States' musical conscience. A fine example is Lindisfarne who rocketed to the top of the album charts with their 1971 classic Fog On The Tyne. The title track is a party in single form: a sea shanty of sorts that sparkles with wit, harmony and stellar musicanship by the band.
Later on, after their album sales began to fade, de facto leader Alan Hull broke up the group then reformed it with new members. This lead to the fired players starting the successful offshoot Jack The Lad, another great folk rock gem of a band.
In England of course.
Here one might think Lindisfarne is a type of micro brew from Wisconsin.
...sigh...
Thank god my father stumbled across a promotional copy of Jack the Lad's debut during his twenties. If not for his impeccable taste and timing, I never would have known of either of these band's existence.
Then again, there are certain covers like the one below (that went to number 2 in the UK) that should never cross the waters of the Atlantic!
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