THE NEVER ENDING SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT BEAT

SETTLING IN TO DO MY 2011 LISTS...

2012-02-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

2011 was an odd year, while there were a lot of albums released by bands I love or have loved over the year, I found that I really concentrated on just a handful as far as listening material. I spent much of the year continuing to enjoy albums from 2010 - which in retropsect truly was a very good year for music which I like.
There were a few very impressive debuts in 2011 and one or two will make my 11 for 11, there were a few welcome, very welcome returns and returns to form from artists that are like best friends to me.In past I've discussed some of those bands mentioned above, this year I think the next post will just get to the business at hand.
One of the difficult things for me this year - and I am going to give in to it - was that there was some great music released at the very end o 2010 that I would/should have included in the running for that list, but because I really didn't listen to, or even know about them, I am putting in the running for 2011.The question at hand is, can I come to a decision on this 11 by the end of the day tomorrow? Otherwise it will be yet another week for me to get this done.
I'll follow up the 11 for 11 with a post of my favorite songs/singles and favorite House Music lists...the latter will definitely take some whittling down as it stands at over 60 tracks at the moment - it was a good year for soulful deep house if you knew where to find it...Wish me luck...

WHEN 30 YEARS GOES BY...

2011-11-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

In 2009 I was frustrated no end by the fact that seemingly, to me, out of the blue, Magazine had decided to reform and tour! I was going through a lot of relationship issues and ultimately changes that year which precluded me running to London to see them perform in one of the four cities that were included on the tour.
Based on the words of my friends, a number of well filmed Youtube videos and the reviews, I missed a milestone!

Turns out that the seeds of this reunion were planted during the recording of Dave Formula's solo album Satellite Sweatheart back in 2007 and 2008. With Noko filling out the original band line-up in place of the late John McGeoch the band featured The Correct Use of Soap and a set of classics.

WIth 2011, the word was that an album would be released by the band, now less Barry Adamson, who went back to his film scoring world, but with Jon White, on bass. No Thyself was released at the end of October and for me, it was worth the 3 decade wait!

The album opens with Do The Meaning. Buzzing, reverbed guitars and Devoto exorcizing some pent up angst tumble into the meat of the track. It's beautifully claustrophobic while being an in your face groover...something Magazine perfected quite a long time ago. The fact that Pete Shelley has a contributing hand brings back memories of The Light Pours Out Of Me.

Dave Formula shines on the next track, Other Thematic Material. Great use of synth and moog provide just the right amount of twisted effect. Devoto mixes sexually directing his lover with discussing the mundanities of married life with his typical ease.

The Worst of Progress is a sweeping dark and paranoid track. It begs to be a highlight selection live.

Hello Mr. Curtis (Wiith Apologies) tells a story I was pretty sure would make me cringe at first, but I was riveted to the words, and yes, there is no mistaking that Howard is talking of his contempoary Ian Curtis. We also find out that Howard would prefer to go out like a king...on a toilet...

Physics has a nostalgic and somewhat sad feel to it. Looking back is rarely a good idea as Howard shows here.

Happening in English picks up on the jazzier side of Magazine. It's actually a great Post Punker of a track - defying catagorizing. Noodling keyboards, thick bass and drums with a polyrhythmic effect.

Holy Dotage feels as if it was ripped right out of a Real Life session. Noko and White win me over here. This track rocks in that pulsing Magazine fashion of old.

Of Course Howard (1979) floats above you slowly coming closer to earth as Devoto recites prose.

Final Analysis Waltz - where Devoto chooses to be judge of his times rather than himself. Musically measured and spare, almost on autopilot to compliment the mundanity of Devoto's story, but hardly mundane.

The Burden of a Song is straight out of The Correct Use of Soap. Devoto begs for his turn, his chance, his time while the band drives along at 70 mph down the road of opportunities being passed by. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.

The extra track Blisterpack Blues has a bit of a Zappa=esque or Captain Beefheart feel about it. The Beefheart comparison is something that I would have mentioned 30 years ago. Magazine have always had a sort of jazzy, improvisational quality about them. It is a nice way to end this set of music. A little boogie, a little self deprication - leaves me knowing there will be more.

Badges 3...

2011-11-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

More badges from shows or bought to wear to shows:

The Jam : bought this at Trash & Vaudville the day before going to see the Jam's Trans Global Unity Express Tour at the Palladium in 1982.

The Selecter On My Radio badge also bought at Trash & Vaudville. I remember this because I was on a heavy Ska kick at the time, even wearing only black and white for weeks on end. It always amused my Mom back then that I owned so many white dress shirts. Anyway, I bought all sorts of Specials and Madness badges at the time.

Julian Cope and Heaven 17 badges were again purchased from my favorite badge hawker at The Ritz Club in NYC.

The Gang of Four badge came from their one off show at Hofstra University on Long Island at the end of 1983.

The Madness M badge came from that Trash & Vaudville purchase and is one of the badges I used to get the most offers from others to buy off of me.

Bowie Let's Dance badges came from the Serous Moonlight Tour stop at Madison Square Garden. July 1983.

MORE BADGES...

2011-11-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Second set:

Clash on Broadway - Saw 8 shows, bought 3 t-shirts and just this one badge...1981 was an amazing year for live music in 1981.

The Slits Cut badge definitely came from the button and badge dealer who had a table downstairs at The Ritz in NYC.

Elvis Costello Get Happy! - from the merch booth at one of Elvis' 3 shows at the Palladium in NYC in 1981

New Order Blue Monday badge was from their VERY Cool show at NYC's Paradise Garage dance club. Quando Quango went on at about 12:30am and New Order appeared sometime close to 2am. The show was amazing and the crowd was really diverse. Prior to the show, John Jellybean Benitez, Arthur Baker, François Kevorkian and Larry Levan spun some amazing pre House dance.

Bill Nelson Permanant Flaime badge was included in the boxset of singles which his Cocteau Records put out as sort of a primer back in 1983.

Dead Boys and Killing Joke pins came from a badge table at NYC's Marquee Club

Finally, The Cult badge came from their Ritz, NYC show to promote Electric. The band was great, but it turned into a giant mosh pit on most of the floor which really pissed me an my friends off.

ROCKIN' SOME PUNK & NEW WAVE BADGES...

2011-10-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my favorite music blogger, Monk, & his quite excellent blog POST-PUNK MONK http://postpunkmonk.wordpress.com/ I have scanned some of the best of my music badges from 80's.

Above I have a badge from:
ABC's Lexicon of Love World Tour 1982-3. Purchased at their show at the Palladium in NYC

Ultravox - purchased prior to their show at Avery Fisher Hall for the Monument Tour of Quartet, March 28, 1983. It was purchased to wear on the steel gray jacket I bought to wear to the show.

The Clash Attack '79 badge was purchased, again at the Palladium, for the September 79 tour. I was rocking out to All The Young Punks while Jackson Browne was boring the socks off of baby bombers in Madison Square Garden during the No Nukes Concert.

Finally we have an Echo And The Bunnymen badge pruchased at their Felt Forum concert promoting Songs To Learn And Sing. Bryn Cunningham was the drummer as this show was during Pete De Frietas' lost period, roaming the deep South (New Orleans) with his band of merry Sex Gods.

More to come....

WHAT MOVED ME 30 YEARS AGO...

2011-07-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

I'm always searching for a theme or something to link tracks I put on iPod and iPhone playlists. So recently I decided to put a set playlist together for my car that gathered tracks from 1981,

Here are the tracks and something that makes them special to me:

Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees: This was the first time that The Banshees sounded really dark and evil to me. But it's hypnotic, almost psychedelic, while also making it exciting to listen to in the dark. Seeing them for two shows at the Peppermint Lounge at the end of the year were two of the most memorable concerts I remember from the 80's.

A Promise - Echo and the Bunnymen: Rockist. It's a word that NME writer Barney Hoskyns used to describe The Bunnymen at this point in their career. It sounds anthema to what a band at the height of the Post-Punk era should be called, but it's not a negative description. The second album, Heaven Up Here is soaring, muscular, fit to fight. It attempts to redefine Rock. Where most bands fail to live up to their debuts, The Bunnymen laid out a new even stronger chapter in their musical story and A Promise is a soaring centerpiece to the album.

Penthouse and Pavement - Heaven 17: Human League Mk.1 was one of those bands I held secret and didn't share with a lot of people. Travelogue and Reproduction are forward thinking, experimental, punk. When the band imploded all was almost lost, then Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh released Music for Stowaways in 1980 which included Groove Thang. When Glenn Gregory joined in and Heaven 17 was born and Ware and Marsh decided to go for the fame that they had always wanted. Sure HL Mk 2 was gigantic, but Penthouse and Pavement felt like it belonged next to Travelogue and Reproduction. I picked the title track because it tells their story, has a great beat and you can dance to it...lol.

Love Action - Human League: Yeah ok, so I wasn't all that flattering to Phil and "The Girls" above, but there are some glimmers of HL Mk 1 on Dare. Love Action is the track I always go back to. RIP Martin Rushent.

Primary - The Cure: It's always been obvious to me that Robert Smith is a music fan. Early Cure reminds me of Buzzcocks and middle period reminds me of Joy Division. Primary is probably my favorite song in the band's long career. It's pulsating and Smith's vocals are mixed so evenly with the rhythm section its just another instrument. Simon Gallup's bass is crushing.

Kick in the Eye - Bauhaus: David J's bass is the heartbeat of this song. Kick in the Eye is deviant and urgent. It's a warning and the band couldn't care less if you heed it. Goth Godfathers indeed.

The Art of Parties - Japan: This is when I started to take Japan seriously. I followed them from trash/glam/Dolls wannabe's and was intrigued by their move toward a more European/pop sound, but with Gentlemen Take Polaroids and then Tin Drum in 81, they had convinced me. Sophisticated, arty, and very new sounding. I wanted to know more about where they were going with this, only to be disappointed by their disbanding. I have followed all members with great admiration ever since. RIP Mick Karn.

What We All Want - Gang of Four: Probably my favorite GoF song, but I am really spoiled for choice. I was hooked on the debut album Entertainment for ages, but when the sophomore release, Solid Gold arrived, I staggered. It was so rhythmic and kind of brutal and it totally entranced me.

The Voice - Ultravox: Rage In Eden is without a doubt my favorite Ultravox album - Mk.1 or Mk. 2. It is such a complete record. I almost never put it on without listening to it straight through. There is a majesty and power from the opening strings of this track to the plaintive sighs and percussion in the fade out of Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again).

Careless Memories - Duran Duran: Again, my favorite track by the band. Planet Earth is wonderful, but Careless Memories sold me on the band. Every successive Duran album seemed more commercial and moved away from the debut album's statement, but that's not to say I didn't stick with them for a very long time.

New Life - Depeche Mode: I wasn't all that convinced by these Essex lads at first. That may be partly the fault of NME and Sounds' influence on my musical taste at the time. I remember them getting an awfully hard time in the British music press from the start. I have come to really appreciate the singularity of Speak & Spell and what Vince Clarke brought to the table while he was in the band.

Love Song - Simple Minds: Sons and Fascination and Sister Feeling Call are a turning point for Simple Minds, IMHO. While they still clung to their very unique blend of electronic, euro dance and experimentation, a strength was building in their sound that would become more and more evident over the next few albums. Love Song announces this new focus to me.

Bedsitter - Soft Cell: The stand out track on Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret!

To Cut A Long Story Short - Spandau Ballet: I didn't no much from Blitz or New Romantics when I first heard this. I just thought - "wow that's kinda different." With a lack of band images on the first singles and album it added to the mystique!

Souvenir - Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark: Perfect electronic pop.

Dreams Never End - New Order: I have to say I struggled with Movement. It seemed as first listen to be not so good Joy Division. It took me months to get into and is still their most difficult album for me to listen to. I am sure it was the most difficult album for them to make as well.

Prince Charming - Adam and the Ants: I stuck with Adam through the third album. Yes it didn't have the immediacy of Kings of the Wild Frontier, but it was satisfying for me. I will always associate this song with one of Edina and Patsy's 80's flashbacks on Absolutely Fabulous.

Winning - The Sound: I am still tempted to figure out how to send this track to Charlie Sheen. Seriously neglected, The Sound were so very good and important to the Post-Punk Rock Canon.

Seven Minutes To Midnight - Wah!: Urgent, angry, maybe a bit paranoid - Pete Wylie's call to attention is one of my all time favorite songs.

Flowers of Romance - Public Image Ltd: DRUMS, DRUMS, DRUMS!! This era of John Lydon's career is simply menacing! If Evard Munch's work had a soundtrack, PiL would have written it.

Dumb Waiters - The Psychedelic Furs: My fave Furs track. They always suffered at the hands of the music press - unfairly for most of their career I think. Talk Talk Talk is a great album and proved to me that they were a band to stay interested in after their debut album.

Follow The Leaders - Killing Joke: Jaz Coleman will always mesmerize me. His story is as interesting as the music he has made.

Message of Love - The Pretenders: Most of my friends wrote Chryssie Hynde off after the first album, but I like a lot about Pretenders II. I love the guitars on this track.

She's Got Claws - Gary Numan: Gary goes to Japan. Even gets Mick Karn to bend some fretless bass on this track. To say it was a departure from Telekon is an understatement. Fanboy here still loves it!

Magazine - About The Weather: Classic! Devoto and Formula are just on fire on this track. Post-Punk girl group sound, but where you worry what may have happened to the girls...

Fire - U2: From October, the last album where U2 had some level of pre stardom innocence. It really all starts to go sideways for me after War.

Chihuahua - Bow Wow Wow: Annabella and the boys make me dance my mess around!!

Happy Birthday - Altered Images: Clare Grogan has a special kind of innocence in her voice that somehow works against Altered Images mix of dark and light.

Ghost Town - The Specials: The song of the 81 UK Riots. Yes it was written by Dammers as a reaction to the state of things in 1980 Glasgow, but the editorial sentiment and power of the song reflects all of the UK at that time. A great song to close the chapter that was The Specials Mk. 1.

Absolute Beginners - The Jam: Who would have thought that adding horns into the Jam's tight sound could have such a great effect!?! This track live was just wicked!!

Ceremony - New Order: Ian Curtis' eulogy to himself - of a sort. This track is still very very stirring to me.

Drop Beat Sunday

2011-05-29T07:29:00.001-07:00

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

2010 in DANCE...

2011-02-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the tracks that made me dance around the house, in the club and bounce at traffic lights in the car this past year...

There is no order, just 21 tracks that really WORK!

Hard Time for Lovers (Main Mix) - Rocco & C. Robert Walker
Deep Down (Souldynamic Back to Roots Mix) - Robert Owens
The Tea (The Layabouts Main Vocal Mix) - Choklate
Look Right Through (Vox) - Storm Queen aka Morgan Geist
Body Music (Purple Music Bonus Mix) - Souldynamic Feat. Lt Brown
Love Will Know (Roots Mix) - Elements of Life feat. Lisa Fischer
Crazy (Quentin Harris Remix) - Black Coffee Feat. Thiwe
Worthy - Richard Earnshaw feat. Jocelyn Brown
The Return (Devotion Main Vocal) - Ruben Mancias featuring Carla Prather
Beautiful Searching (Original Mix) - Ananda Project
Still in Love (Joey Negro Love Symphony Mix) - AC Soul Symphony Feat. Ricci Benson
Lien On My Soul (Roland's Testify Mix) - Roland Clark
Nobody (Main Mix) - Copyright Feat Imaani
Still Feeling You (Steve Paradise Remix) - Keith Thompson & Licksamba
It Starts with Us (Funky Soldiers Remix) - Beaten Soul Feat Dawn Tallman
Let Love Fly (Random Soul Vocal) - Random Soul Feat. Tim Fuller
Perfectly (the Layabouts Vocal Mix) - The Layabouts Feat. Shea Soul
I'm So Grateful (Angel Moraes Smooth Mix) - Kings of Tomorrow Feat. Densaid
Ups & Downs (Original Club Mix) - Robert Owens with D.Ramirez & Steve Mac
No Limit (Nathan G Luvbug Deeper Vocal) - Nathan G and Blackfrog Feat. Byron Stingily
Hot (Terry Hunter Club Mix) - Todd Terry, Roland Clark & Terry Hunter

LOOKING BACK AT 2010... PT. 3 - THE REST

2011-01-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

So there are the 10, but of course there were a lot of albums this year to choose from. Here are the ones that came close...

- KYLIE MINOGUE - APHRODITE : If there had been a #11 on my previous list, this would have been in that spot. Beautiful, energetic pop from, for me, the reigning Queen of the genre. All The Lovers, Put Your Hands Up and Better Than Today are infectious and anthemic!

- TINDERSTICKS - FALLING DOWN A MOUNTAIN : A welcome return from Stuart Staples and the boys! Filmic and seemingly from another age, it's an album that shows the newer generation of bands pushing that orchestral rock sound just how it should be done.

- ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS : Speaking of...the first Arcade Fire album that I really have gotten into - angry, cynical, but at times musically uplifting. Rococo, The Suburbs, Half Light 1 and stand out track We Used To Wait.

- SADE - SOLDIER OF LOVE : Ms Adu came back strong in 2010. The title track is big yet spare, focusing on Sade's vocal energy. Morning Bird is straight of her Pearl song book and Babyfather is wonderful storytelling.

- HOT CHIP - ONE LIFE STAND : Electro dance music to dance your ass off to! And as a bonus, the songwriting is strong!

- LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - THIS IS HAPPENING : The sound of Punk Rock in the electronic age! LCD-S must have some great New York No Wave albums stuck inbetween the Sex Pistols and Kraftwerk albums...come to think of it, so do I!!

- BLUE SIX - NOESIS : Jay Denes alter ego finds itself kickin' back in the club lounge. Sure you can dance, or you can just sit back and sip that caipirinha while it all just happens around you.

- SCISSOR SISTERS - NIGHT WORK : Dirty boys and girls making twisted, thoughtful pop that you can shake your ass to! Bliss!

- RICHARD EARNSHAW - IN TIME : Currently Soulful, vocal HOUSE MUSIC's greatest ambassador, Earnshaw assembled a great group of vocalist, including Joceyly Brown, Kenny Thomas, Carleen Anderson, Roy Ayers and Eric Dillard, to create a funky, soul infected collection of dance tracks. Stand outs - Worthy, Waiting and Circles.

- STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - STONE TEMPLE PILOTS : I have a love hate relationship with STP. At first they were the only Grunge era band that I cared for, but then they got really very boring. Occasionally there was a song or two I got into, but they really faded from my view. But this self titled album really goes a long way to bringing them back from the abyss for me. Hickory Dichotomy actually sounds like XTC meets Jonathan Richmond on the streets of Portland, Oregon. Huckleberry Crumble is dirty rock that Aerosmith haven't been able to make for 25 years. Cinnamon would have been a hit in 1987 but feels fresh and fun. It's an album that shows there is reward in Rock if you stick it out and keep trying.

LOOKING BACK AT 2010... PT. 2 THE LISTS...

2011-01-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

So I think I am ready to upload my favorites lists of music from the past year. First I will get to the Top 10 and then some of the other albums that did it for me in 2010.

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2010:

TRACEY THORN - LOVE AND IT'S OPPOSITE : Tracey is one of the great singer/songwriters of my generation. Here is an album of thoughtful, emotional and wry beauty. Oh! The Divorces and Singles Bars capture modern mid life perfectly. Why Does The Wind is a rare uptempo moment on LAIO, but speaks to the exasperations of love and life. Kentish Town is sublime pop full of memories and emotions. Tracey gives a dreamy yet unrequited interpretation of The Unbending Trees, You Are A Lover which sits beautifully next to the lovelorn original.

GOLDFRAPP - HEAD FIRST : The album that should have... should have topped every chart in the world, should have broken Goldfrapp in America, should have gotten boring at some point this year, but for me it never did. Still on my iPod in 2011.

MARC ALMOND - VARIETE : No one brings to life the seedy, sad, alternatively beautiful world out there better than Marc Almond. He gave us an album filled with all this, set among the sounds and "sights" of swinging 60's after dark. Najinsky Heart is classic Almond pop, Lavender is a beautiful gutter love song and Trails of Eyeliner is wonderful storytelling. The final two tracks, Swan Song and Sin Song are touching and seem to sum up a life lived fully and defiantly.

EDWYN COLLINS - LOSING SLEEP : Losing Sleep shows a artist re-ascending the musical mountain. Humbled by his past, reinvigorated by circumstance, Edwyn Collins puts forth a set of songs that display his keen sense of pop, irony and belief in their being more. The title track sets the tone - jangly guitars, 60's pop-isms, just reminiscent enough of past highs to catch your attention and set you up for whats on offer. Come Tomorrow Come Today and I Still Believe In You ROCK!

THE DIVINE COMEDY - BANG! THERE GOES THE KNIGHTHOOD : Neil Hannon's The Divine Comedy reminds us with this album that there is room for story telling in pop. The Divine Comedy revel in and expand upon British pop with that classic 60's bend. Hannon is up there with the likes of Ray Davies, Lennon and McCartney, Difford and Tilbrook when it comes to crafting classic pop songs. The Complete Banker is a classic just awaitng discovery. When A Man Cries feels like the tapes were unearthed in a basement in Abbey Road from a 40 year old session but still sounds timeless.

HURTS - HAPPINESS : The first time I heard HURTS, I thought, yeah I know this band, then I thought, no, I don't. Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears - even a bit of Goth... It's like they were a band created just for me! Happiness does not disappoint. This album should have be massive, but there is just too much overproduced crossover pop/hip-hop/r&b out there in the charts to give quality pop a chance it seems. There's a wonderful youthful melancholy mixed with expectations and defiance in the songs. Wonderful Life is a song of jaded experience that only a young man could write. There isn't an uptempo track on the album and you know, that made me happy!

THE NATIONAL - HIGH VIOLET : I am a child of Post-Punk, well a young man. My teens were spent as a Punk and New Wave fan, but I "found" my music in 1979 when I discovered Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Comsat Angels and so many other great bands of the Era. I was ready for the next faze of Rock which Punk basically cleaned the slate and made room for. While most of these bands didn't survive the coming of Grunge, Boy Bands and Brit Pop, they were very much influential on a great group of bands today. England gives us Editors and Coldplay and the US gives us The National. High Violet is at once deep, emotional, dark and joyous. Listening to High Violet feels important to me, the same way their previous Boxer made me react. There are touches of the psychedelic, brooding and soaring vocals and a lyrical poetry that is rare in this millennium. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, Sorrow and Lemonworld are stand outs!

ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVERS IN THE DARK - HISTORY OF MODERN : 2010 was definitely the year the synthesizer had it's revenge! Much of this was thanks to bands like Goldfrapp and La Roux reminding us and many of the originators how much fun and how really good electronic pop can be! History of Modern is both fun and very very good! It harkens back to Organisation and Dazzle Ships but it feels very 2010. Sister Marie Says is timeless synth-pop, RFWK feels like it came from a hidden 7 inch single that I didn't know was included with their debut album. But the opener, New Babies New Toys rips open the album screaming that OMD know it's the 21st century and they feel fine.

INTERPOL - INTERPOL : Dark music, best played in a dark room. Interpol is an insular, aggressive work of art. The lead single Lights makes me feel like something is going to happen that will be completely out of my control -and I want it to! Always Malaise (The Man I Am) is defiant in a twisted and almost sad way. Opener Success feels almost self mocking, while All Of The Ways is full of naked bravado and pent up desire.

BRYAN FERRY - OLYMPIA : Mr. Ferry has a sound. It is a sound that has evolved over 40 years, but it is purely the sound of Bryan Ferry. It includes rich electronic textures, moody, even dark, rhythms, angular and yet melodic guitars and vocal style which is at times slurry and romantic and then haunting and probing. Olympia is the maturing of that Ferry sound. The muscians involved bring their best to the table and Ferry uses what they have to his advantage. None of the tracks diappoint and there are some that are instantly classics in the Ferry canon. Heartache By Numbers is majestic pop, the choir boy vocals are genius! Shameless is up there now among my five favorite Ferry songs. It's complex and haunting, sensual and dangerous. He makes Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren is own. It's an interpretation that makes me feel I have now heard the BEST version. Finally Alphaville sounds like one those musical gem's Ferry has worked on for years and finally felt was ready to release on the world. He was right.

LOOKING BACK AT 2010...A FIRST IMPRESSION...

2011-01-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's only 01-02-2011 so this is certainly premature, but I might as well get started while it's on my mind. So musically, 2010 was pretty surprising, overall enjoyable, and in many ways an affirmation of my musical taste being being fairly well appreciated after more than 30 years!

Two BBC documentaries, a re-release of Penthouse and Pavement and a joyous anniversary tour to promote it brought Heaven 17 back into pop conciousness! This album will always be among my favorites of all time and is really one of the most important albums ever made - and that is NOT just MHO, but that of many others now. We were also given a gift in the form of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark's History of Modern. A conscious effort to bring their sound back to it's roots, it works! There are classics in the making moments for OMD here. RFWK is something special and Sister Marie Says shows the guys are filled with confidence in what they are creating without being shy about their past successes.

On the other end of the spectrum, but still needing to pay homage to those early electronic pop pioneers, Damon Albarn's Gorillaz released the first commercially released iPad album in The Fall. Released on Xmas Day, it certainly is a musical Xmas present. Lots that I wanted, some things I wouldn't have picked out for myself, and Bobby Womack! Pretty brilliant stuff!

To go further on in the pop/rock vein, Arcade Fire finally released an album I can appreciate in The Suburbs. Orchestral and intimate, I found myself listening to it two or three times straight through every time I went to it in iTunes. Barney Sumner, he of New Order and now of Bad Lieutenant released Never Cry Another Tear, which while listenable just begs the question, for me at least - why don't New Order just agree to work on a new album every 5 yrs or so and impress the shit out of all of us rather than pass out solo projects that approximate what could really be?

One of the best surprises and really best releases of 2010 was Edwyn Collins' Losing Sleep! There is nothing retro here. In fact it brings Collin's past right into the present to stand squarely side by side with this new album. The title track is simply brilliant, personal pop!

Another welcome return was the release of Bang Goes the Knighthood from The Divine Comedy. Purely British pop for this anglophile...The track The Complete Banker, even finds a way to make the worldwide recession seem like just something you walk around while in the park so as not to ruin a lovely summer afternoon. Neil Hannon is my generation's Ray Davies...yes that was a compliment!

Tracey Thorn returned with a breathtaking, personal album in Love and It's Opposite. Housewives crises, having been there and done that, and just coming to grips with who you are never sounded so good. Why Does the Wind?, Oh, the Divorces and Singles Bar are stand out.

Tindersticks returned with an album that I can best describe as going well with a nice Shiraz and a willingness to be transported. Falling Down A Mountain sounds epic in parts and like a party in others. Stuart Staples still puts the warble in warbler and can make sad sound joyous.

Gonna leave it here for now...lots more to write though, so this is definitely only part 1...

HAPPY XMAS & NEW YEAR!!

2010-12-10T14:00:00.001-08:00

WHAT I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO - THE MID YEAR REPORT

2010-06-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

So 6 months of 2010 have come and gone and there are definitely some albums that I can't seem to remove from either my iPod or iPhone. Here is a list in no specific order:

GOLDFRAPP - HEAD FIRST
MARC ALMOND - VARIETE
TRACEY THORN - LOVE AND IT'S OPPOSITE
HOT CHIP - ONE LIFE STAND
THE NATIONAL - HIGH VIOLET
THE DIVINE COMEDY - BANG GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
SADE - SOLDIER OF LOVE
TINDERSTICKS - FALLING DOWN A MOUNTAIN

AND I'M OFF....I HOPE...

2010-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

This Friday I will take my 25th trip to London - Icelandic volcano and UK Aviation Authority allowing - and I have been trying to figure out what to put on the iPod to listen to on the flight as well as on the streets of my favorite city in the world. I have a compilation of New Pop - Owl City, Friendly Fires, Gossip, Camera Obscura, Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and an 80's Techno Pop playlist as well. There is a Morrissey/Smiths playlist, a Goth Playlist and my Top 50 Deep/Soulful House of 2009 as well.

But what I am spending the most time working on is a playlist of the music which defined me back when I went to London for the first time in 1986. You could tag it as Post Punk, Rockist (my nod to writer Barney Hoskyns), or British Alternative...whatever you want to call it, this is the music and these are the bands that still move me the most. So here is that playlist of what I feel Rock is all about:

01. Going Up - Echo and the Bunnymen
02. Perfumed Garden - The Chameleons
03. I Threw a Brick Through a Window - U2
04. Philadelphia - Magazine
05. In the Ditch - Gang of Four
06. Ripeness - Echo and the Bunnymen
07. Cross the Borders - Icehouse
08. Be Brave - The Comsat Angels
09. Everything's Gone Green - New Order
10. Natural - The Pale Fountains
11. Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) - Shambeko Say Wah!
12. The Light Pours Out of Me - Magazine
13. No Easy Street - The Psychedelic Furs
14. Flight - A Certain Ratio
15. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
16. Ju Ju Money - The Comsat Angels
17. Up the Down Escalator - The Chameleons
18. Vigilance - Magazine
19. Heaven Up Here - Echo and the Bunnymen
20. Love Song - Simple Minds
21. Nirvana - Icicle Works
22. Ceremony - New Order
23. Not Great Men - Gang of Four
24. Stories for Boys - U2
25. Sleeping Gas - The Teardrop Explodes
26. Sister Europe - The Psychedelic Furs
27. East at Easter - Simple Minds
28. Seven Minutes to Midnight - Wah!
29. Don't Fall - The Chameleons
30. Pride - Echo and The Bunnymen
31. Blue Monday - New Order
32. Upside Down - Magazine
33. Skeletons - The Sound
34. Muscles for Brains - Gang of Four
35. When You Were Mine - Icicle Works
36. The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen
37. The Ocean - U2
38. Treason - The Teardrop Explodes
39. Monkey Pilot - The Comsat Angels
40. Second Skin - The Chameleons
41. Jeopardy - The Sound
42. Do It Clean - Echo and the Bunnymen
43. Total War - The Comsat Angels
44. Highwire Days - The Psychedelic Furs
45. Up on the Catwalk - Simple Minds
46. Rejoice - U2
47. Over the Wall - Echo and the Bunnymen
48. What We All Want - Gang of Four
49. Temptation - New Order
50. Sorry - The Sound
51. Somesay - Wah!
52. A Song from Under the Floorboards - Magazine
53. P.S. Goodbye - The Chameleons
54. My Kingdom - Echo and the Bunnymen

MY MIXED BAG IPOD PLAYLIST

2010-02-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

I keep a playlist on my iPod that always changes...I call it my My Mixed Bag playlist because there is really no rhyme or reason behind the selections...it's like a shuffle play of sorts, but I hate that function on my iPod because I still want some control on what comes on next I guess.. So here is this weeks My Mixed Bag playlist...

01. Uncertain Smile - The The
02. Boy About Town - The Jam
03. Fascination - Everything But The Girl
04. Pretty Wings - Maxwell
05. Home To You - Tortured Soul
06. Be My Wife - David Bowie
07. Ain't That Nothing - Television
08. I Don't Want To See Myself - Terry Callier
09. Little Bitch - The Specials
10. Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up - Cortney Tidwell
11. Hallelujah - kd Lang
12. Paint Me Over - Amerie
13. Me and Mr. Jones - Amy Winehouse
14. Eighties Fan - Camera Obscura
15. Policy of Truth - Depeche Mode
16. Don't Be Square Be There - Adam and the Ants
17. I Zimbra - Talking Heads
18. Mystery Achievement - The Pretenders
19. Hungry So Angry - Medium Medium
20. On Board - Friendly Fires
21. The Height of the Fighting - Heaven 17
22. Rough Times - The Sunburst Band
23. Strasbourg - Julian Cope
24. Gun Law - The Kane Gang
25. Drive That Fast - Kitchens of Distinction

TIME FOR SOME 10'S...

2010-02-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

So six weeks or so have gone by since the end of 2009 and I THINK I have the tracks and albums that constitute my favorites from the past year. I am gonna give you a POP/ROCK track Top 10, an ALBUM Top 10 and a HOUSE MUSIC Top 10. Here goes:

POP/ROCK TOP 10

01. THE WAY IT USED TO BE - THE PET SHOP BOYS
02. I'M THROWING MY ARMS AROUND PARIS - MORRISSEY
03. DRIVETIME - ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
04. SWEET GOSPEL MUSIC - PREFAB SPROUT
05. SOLDIER OF LOVE - SADE
06. BRICKS AND MORTAR - EDITORS
07. SUGAR AND SPICE - MADNESS
08. BULLETPROOF - LA ROUX
09. TWO WEEKS - GRIZZLY BEAR
10. LOVE ETC. - PET SHOP BOYS

ALBUMS TOP 10

01. LET'S CHANGE THE WORLD WITH MUSIC - PREFAB SPROUT
02. YES - PET SHOP BOYS
03. THE FOUNTAIN - ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
04. IN THE LIGHT AND ON THIS EVENING - EDITORS
05. YEARS OF REFUSAL - MORRISSEY
06. FREE - LISA SHAW
07. SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE - DEPECHE MODE
08. MANAFON - DAVID SYLVIAN
09. MY MAUDLIN CAREER - CAMERA OBSURA
10. VECKATIMEST - GRIZZLY BEAR

HOUSE MUSIC TOP 10

01. BITTERSWEET - JAY'S MAIN EVENT MIX - JAY 'SINISTER' SEALEE & LOUIE VEGA
02. MY ROOTS OF HOUSE - DEEPER PEOPLE CLUB MIX - WUMM FT. MARLENE RODRIGUES
03. BEEN A FOOL - ROLAND'S DEEP REMIX - ROLAND CLARK
04. RAINDANCE - JOEY NEGRO/MARSHALL JEFFERSON MIX - MARSHALL JEFFERSON PRESENTS: RAGTYME FT. BYRON STINGLY
05. CHANGE THE WORLD - DJ EXTENDED MIX - JOI & GIRADEAU
06. SELENE - CHRIS FORMAN CLUB MIX - STEAL VYBE FT. ALEXIS SIMMONS
07. THE ONES YOU LOVE - ORIGINAL MIX - FRANKIE KNUCKLES & THE SHAPSHIFTERS
08. HEY HEY - DF'S ATTENTION VOCAL MIX - DENNIS FERRER
09. GOODBYE LOVE - SC VOX - ROLAND CLARK
10. 99 & HALF - DOLLS COMBERS ORGAN MIX - SOULDYNAMIC FT. SUSU BOBIEN

I just might look back at this list in a week or so and ammend it...yes, I reserve the right...LOL

NOT MY YEAR END LIST YET, BUT THIS MIGHT TOP IT!

2009-12-25T15:46:00.001-08:00

I probably won't have my top albums and top singles/tracks list done for some time, but there is one album which I think is almost a lock for my favorite of the year and thus deserves it's own space here... Prefab Sprout - Let's Change The World With Music.

I have been a great fan of Prefab Sprout and Paddy McAloon since Swoon and count Appetite from Steve McQueen as one of my all time favorite singles. The twist here is that "...Music" is a work that dates back some 15 years and was meant to be the follow up to "Jordan - The Comback." But Kitcheware's parent, SONY did not have faith in the record precisely because it deals with subjects of faith, a topic which multinational corporations seem to find unmarketable - well they did in the early 1990's. It isn't the lush Thomas Dolby production found on Jordan or the the snappy, rebellious Sprout of Steve McQueen. What "...Music" is - is a narrative, or maybe a concept work which encorporates faith, religious, loving and human into the songs. Sometimes it's overt and other times it is hidden in the layers of the lyrics. This release is basically those demo's or somewhat finished pieces which McAloon presented to SONY. He went back into the studio to add what was needed or polish off some of the "oxidation" which time may have added.

Stand out tracks from "Let's Change The World With Music" are Music Is A Princess, Sweet Gospel Music, the opener, "Let There Be Music" and "Ride." McAloon, for me, cements his position as one of the great pop songwriters of the Rock Era, if not the 20th Century. His words involve the listener, they tell a story, they give a view and a viewpoint. They are words of love, hope, sadness, faith and inspiration.

Bravo to Kitcheware for finally allowing the masses to enjoy and appreciate this work by a man who has always put his everything into his music.

BACK TO REALITY...

2009-10-24T00:41:00.000-07:00

Well I took a quick trip to NYC, had great food, saw my great friends and family and really had a great old time. It is still so liberating to be in NYC and not be bound to a job schedule or worry about paying Con Edison for my electricity. I am in a way like the man in the Gang of Four song - at home I am a tourist...and it's good...
I went a bit retro with the music I took with me...loads of Smiths/Morrissey and my personal retrospective of Billy Mackenzie/Associates dominated my listening. I did bring an old faithful along - Prefab Sprout. I can't quite explain it, but as strongly a Geordie as Paddy Mcaloon might be, his music always works as a soundtrack for NYC, especially on cool fall days!! Okay, maybe that's just me being my usual perverse self...

So I am back to my Tampa Bay reality...been practicing my driving skills, and I think at the age of 46 I am finally ready for that road test and my four wheel freedom - even if I still scare the living daylights out of my two instructors at times...one of them just holds on tight and the other yells...guess that's fair.
Since I have been home I have indulged in quite a bit of Electro Pop - Heaven 17 and ABC primarily. It is just a fact that Sheffield, England gave us quite a bit of important music, be it the electronic pioneering of the two former band, Human League mach 1 and 2, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and one of Post Punk's most important standard bearers - The Comsat Angels, there was something definitely in the water there.

But there are two new albums I have and as of this week can not stop listening to... Echo and the Bunnymen's The Fountain and Editors' In This Light And On This Evening. For the Bunnymen, here is the moment for them to bring back strength and importance to their ever evolving legacy. The album is full frontal - Ian sounds confident, his ever deepening voice resolute and in command. The production and mix give equal weight to the superior skill and creation that Will has always brought to the Bunnymen. As much as I love the last three albums sometimes I felt his guitars would get lost in the mix and we were not afforded the benefit of the subtlety of his expertise. Not here. There are moment where the guitar looks squarely into the eyes of the vocals and flexes its muscles. The opening track is the best mix I have heard yet of Think I Need It Too, and although I have been listening to it for a year, it gives me an excited chill everytime I hear it! The other stand outs are Forgotten Fields, Life of a Thousand Crimes, The Fountain - which is one of those Bunnymen tracks that will always make my mixtape playlists, Proxy which just reeks of Liverpool and Drivetime, which should by all accounts be playing on every rock station, college or otherwise around the entire world. The closing track, The Idolness of Gods is in the same vein as Nothing Last Forever and Ocean Rain in feel, but feels a bit more caustic and deprecating towards his own achievements and maybe those of some of his contemporaries...I could be off base here, but you can take his words from a few different perspectives giving it a pretty heavy weight.

As for Editors latest, WOW! Just when I began to accept that they might only have one point of view musically - and one that I fully appreciated, having no problem with- they go and turn everything on a 75 degree angle! The urgent, dark, personal words and emotions are there, but there is a feeling of refreshed perspective and renewed vibrance in the music. Synths, programmed electronics and effects permeate the album, adding layers of nuance not previously explored. There are rhythms that are blatantly danceable and take me back to music I devoured circa 1983 - 86. Papillon, the lead single is beautiful and terrifying - its beats seeping into your mind and body. Like Treasure is the track that so many bands back at the dawn of Post Punk strived to create - marrying keyboards and guitars without diminishing the songs strength. The title track feels like Joy Division performing Simple Minds Empires and Dance album and improving upon it. There are a lot of bands out there that regularly name-check their influences - The Killers being a good example - but with this latest offering Editors have taken the tutorial and created a thesis paper of exciting originality. Editors strengthen my belief that they are the best music coming out of England now for quite a while. This album trumps anything current darlings Muse have to offer just by having a focus and following through on its intent. The final track, Walk The Fleet Road, mesmerized me with its harmony and heavenly musical peaks. And as soon as it builds it vanishes leaving you bare.

MUSIC GOES TO THE DOGS!

2009-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've been compiling some playlists for the iPhone and iPod to take on my trip to NYC later this week... reconnect with friends and family for a few days... and I was noticing that certain tracks were getting a particular set of reactions from my Boston Terriers. Some elicited a postive doggy reaction, others made them look up with a puzzzled sort of expression and then some either drove them from the room or actually got them to bark. Here's what worked and didn't for my canine critics...

The Positives:
Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood: they came running into the room and started rolling around on the carpet everytime I played it! Back scratchin music!
Gang of Four - I Love A Man In A Uniform: this got one of them up on their hind legs requesting some boxing play.
Goldfrapp - Caravan Girl: this one got them a bit frisky! My boy started liking the females face and ears and she just went limp!!

The Negatives:
Hard-Fi - Suburban Knights: this one made my boy bark! and then they ran out of the room.
Hercules and Love Affair - You Belong: when Antony's warbles come in the dogs gave a very worried look! Guess they were worried someone was being strangled!
M People - Movin On Up: Heather Smalls deep voice comes on and the dogs go running...

STILL ALIVE AND KICKING...

2009-09-19T22:28:00.001-07:00

As it's the end of the summer, I am in a bit of a nostalgic mood musically. Been listening to tons of 80's pop - PSB, ABC, DM... and some very heady, mellow almost Ibiza style house. My iPhone is full of pop at the moment and I just started working on a chillout/beachout playlist to get me feeling like I am hovering over the dancefloor at Space (Ben Watt djing of course).

Here's what I've got so far:

Love Letters - J. Axel
Autumn Love - Electra
Barefoot In The Head - A Man Called Adam
Blind (Frankie Knuckles Dub) - Hercules and Love Affair
Love Can Damage Your Health - Telepopmusik
Fly Me Away (C2 Remix 4) - Goldfrapp
9 x 9 (King Britt Mix) - 4Hero
Inside Out - Electribe 101
Rollercoaster (King Britt Scuba Mix) - Everything But The Girl
Kind of Loving (Land of Oz Mix) - Sunsonic
The Sun Rising - The Beloved
Sunrise Sunset - Honeyroot
Better Day (Salt City Orchestra Mix) - Presence

There ya go... a bakers dozen!

SO SOMETIMES LIFE GETS IN THE WAY...

2009-08-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

...and for this reason I have preferred to be more of blog voyeur than extrovert of recent. But in that span of time, I have had a deep musical affair with all things Sylvian, Comsat Angels and Banshees...emotional music always soothes my emotion.

And house music had provided some really bright and positive moments of late...Here is what I have listened to of recent to get back on even keel:

1. Bittersweet - Jay's Main Event Mix - Jay "Sinister" Seelee, Louie Vega and Julie McKnight
2. Everything is Good Tonight - Ski Okenfull Dance Mix - Kloud 9 feat. Incognito
3. Summershine - Original Mix - Souldynamic feat. Leslie Carter
4. Laughter and Forgetting/Before The Bullfight - David Sylvian
5. Nostalgia - David Sylvian
6. Dark Parade - The Comsat Angels
7. Lost Continent - The Comsat Angels
8. Tears - The Chameleons
9. Take Me Back- Siouxsie and the Banshees
10. Cascade - Siouxsie and the Banshees
11. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - Morrissey
12. Grand Canyon - Tracey Thorn

Definitely a mixed bag...but music really can bring you back to reality.

CATCHING UP WITH...

2009-08-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Another periodic clean up of my iTunes library has forced me to realize that I have a good deal of music which I haven't paid a great deal of attention to - but of course originally meant to. There are albums by A Certain Ratio, Heaven 17, Camera Obscura, Lisa Shaw, Junior Boys and Friendly Fires which I have just not really spent much time listening to.

It's the Friendly Fires album which I regret not immersing myself in deeper. Wow! Now I understand why they are up for a Mercury Prize - and do they ever deserve it!! The self titled album is a complete work, with so many different influences mixed together that each song takes me back in time and right back to here and now. There is a lyrical maturity and a youthful bounce to Friendly Fires. As a whole I am reminded of my initial reaction to New Order's Power Corruption and Lies. What could be all dour and angst ridden is actually bright and uplifting. While aping none of their influences to the point of plagarism, I am swimming in a sea of Talking Heads, Gang of Four, the aforementioned New Order, Heaven 17, APB and even some Prince!

Don't get me wrong, Friendly Fires is thoroughly of the moment - forward sounding, never plodding and very danceable. Ed Macfarlane's vocals are unique, not aping anyone, but fitting the many shades of Friendly Fires. Their use of synthetic sound is just the right balance of today and yesterday - maybe its the use of those analogue style synth sounds that grabs me the most.

WHAT IS POST ROCK...TO ME

2009-07-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

I freely admit that I can get stuck putting labels on music all the time...mostly it's to help categorize more than anything else...I will tell you that my first love is Post Punk, followed by Deep House, Punk, Disco and Glam Rock. If the late designer Stephen Sprouse were still with us, I would have him write these words in his graffiti style all over a suit for me - White on Black of course.

Recently I have been delving more deeply into music which others categorise as Post Rock. Now this is a label which I have rolled with for a while - it's meaning seeming to vary from critic to critic, fan to fan. My first thought when I hear the term is music that breaks away from traditional rock - oops another category. But recently I have begun to see where the label applies in a more complete sense. What Post Rock is to me is music that moves away from the boundaries of pop and rock beat, syncopation and lyrical timing. Probably the best example, and possibly the first to really inhibit the label is the work of Mark Hollis and Talk Talk. The germ of post rock can be heard on their 1986 album, The Colour of Spring. The timing, the instrumentation and the overall feel of the music is moving away from the traditions or expectations of their previous work. The single, and may I remind worldwide hit, Life's What You Make It, was built around a circular piano riff that tethered all the other instruments to it throughout the track. The stabbing guitar comes in an out obliterating the other instruments and the vocals are elevated and harmonious and circular in nature just like the piano.

The real jumping off point for Talk Talk and leader Mark Hollis was the next album, Spirit Of Eden. Here "tunes" as such are replaced with improvisations. More than simply experimentation, there is a core goal in the mind of Hollis and producer/partner Tim Friese-Greene. The instrumentation is filled with cor anglais, woodwinds, strings and organ. The music weaves in and out, back and forth, not so much propelled and pulled to the surface. The Rainbow and Eden are majestic and touching. There is the power of rock and roll, but the subtle changes of jazz, and ambient instrumentation. Yeahm more labels and categories...but you need a reference for things that are new.

Move on next to Laughing Stock and here you have the "band's" final release and, I think, their definitive work. The music begins when if feels right, space is part of the instrumentation and each track is the sum of it's individual parts. Lyrically there is a feeling of searching and wonder. The boundaries are now where the Hollis choses to place them, rather than work within.

His self titled solo album in 1998 was a further extention of the work of the last two Talk Talk releases and fits comfortably in context with them, while still traveling down new or unbeaten paths. Hollis' choice to basically retire from recording left us with a fine body of music and platform for others to leap from.

I hear his influence in Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Bark Psychosis, Sigur Ros, UNKLE, even the Verve.

Probably since I wrote this post, or maybe even before, the label, post rock, is no longer being used - and maybe that should be the nature of a music that is so grounded in experimentation. As well I would probably have to include in my definition music that comes much earlier than that of Talk Talk, such as PiL's Metal Box/Second Edition or David Sylvian's Gone To Earth. And I would gladly include them, but for the fact that they have already inhabited other labels I set for them...

HERE'S WHAT'S GOT ME DANCIN'

2009-07-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Got happy feet at the moment and these are the tracks leading me down to the center of the dancefloor...

1. Heather Johnson - So Alive - Frankie Feliciano Vocal Mix
2. Man Of War - Joey Negor/Sunburst Band - Henrik Schwarz Mix
3. Rasmus Faber Feat. Dyanna Fearon- Give It To Me - Wamdue Project Mix
4. Got To Do Better - The Jinks Feat. Carla Prather- Main Vocal Mix
5. Tarantulaz Feat. Frank McComb - Lend Your Ear - Main Mix
6. Roland Clark - Lifetime - Doll Combers Late 70's Mix
7. DJ Pope Feat. Sheila Ford - When Will There Be - Basement Vox
8. Terrence Parker - I've Got Joy - Original Mix
9. Tortured Soul - Home, To You - Quentin Harris Remix
10. Fred Everything Feat. Tim Fuller - Stay - Home & Garden Remix

LIKE LOOSING A FREIND...

2009-06-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the last post of blog Castles In Space. This is a blog which I have been following for some time and thoroughly enjoyed for it's wit, memories and most of all taste in music! Nolan Micron, the blog's mastermind, has decided to call it a day for reasons that will remain validly his own. I can only say how much real fun it has been reading this blog, contributing comments and rediscovering music which may have been lost in the deepest reaches of my memory or which I might have missed the first time around. Thanks for the memories Nolan...I will stay tuned for you next contribution to the blogosphere...Enjoy life!

CALL ME MELLOW...

2009-06-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Been listening over and over to Nouvelle Vague's latest offering, "3," for the past few days. My initial interest was to hear their take on All My Colours by Echo and the Bunnnymen with Ian lending his well worn vocals. Well I am mesmerized! This is turning into a year of easy listening of a very odd and beautiful kind. First I was entranced by St. Etienne's "London Conversations" compilation and now this piece of awfully perfect lounge pop!! There is not a mis-step among the lot! Even the ska take on Plastic Bertrand's Ça Plane Pour Moi is joyous. But the real stand outs are Talk Talk's Such A Shame, the aforementioned All My Colours, Magazine's Parade, with vocalizing by Barry Adamson, and the almost menacing take on The Police's So Lonely. The album's opener, The Psychedelic Furs' Heaven should be released as a single and soar to the top of the charts...well in my world at least...

Here we have a must own for 2009.

IN MEMORY...

2009-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Wow it is 20 years ago since Pete De Freitas, drummer of the Greatest Band in Rock and Roll, Echo and the Bunnymen, passed. His death was one of the very few occasions that I have felt affected by a famous person's passing. Echo has meant more to me than any other band for as long as I have been listening to them. This, more than Mac's leaving meant and ending to me. Pete brought exotic rhythms to the punk/psychedelia of The Bunnymen and this made him an integral part of the original Bunnymen sound and mysticism.
I'll have a drink to him tonight and to those heady days of my own past.

Check out the amazing tribute from JC at
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/

Flying
And you know I'm not coming down
You're trying
But you know you must soon go down
All my colours
Turn to clouds
All my colours
Turn to clouds

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN...

2009-06-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Been cleaning up my digital music, dumping duplicate tracks, replacing lower quality mp3's with higher and because of this discovered a great deal of music which I haven't paid much attention to for quite a while but which definitely still feels fresh and exciting.

So here is a playlist of stuff which should always be heard because it will always sound as good as the first time I heard them.

X - The Worlds A Mess; It's In My Kiss
Wide Boy Awake - Slang Teacher
Undertones - My Perfect Cousin
Monsoon - Ever So Lonely
Other Boys - Wah!
Underworld - Cowgirl
That Petrol Emotion - It's A Good Thing
Television - Ain't That Nothing
The Police - Does Everyone Stare
The Cure - Primary
Simple Minds - I Travel
China Crisis - Christian
Heaven 17 - At The Height of the Fighting
The Shamen - Omega Amigo
Scritti Politti - Skank Bloc Bologna
Prefab Sprout - Don't Sing
The Colourfield - Pushing Up Daisies
A Certain Ratio - Lucinda
Electribe 101 - Tell Me When The Fever Ended
Ultravox - We Came To Dance
The Chameleons - Thursday's Child

7 DAYS OF RAIN AND COUNTING

2009-05-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

A sunny Florida... yeah, well not this week! Sure Western Florida has been in a drought for over 2 years, but man, I don't think I have seen the sun for more than an hour in the last 4 days! So my iPod is full of music that reminds me of having fun in the rain. Bands like St. Etienne, Swing Out Sister, Duffy... stuff that has that wet London Streets vibe. For a dancey-er mode, I've got deep house from Blaze, Studio Apartment, Steal Vybe... music you would hear just before leaving Shelter as the sun comes up on a Sunday morning.

No morose, stuck in my bedroom music this week... for some reason I tend to listen to that when it's bright and sunny out... more of my personal perversion I suppose.

JOYS OF A MENTAL HEALTH HOLIDAY

2009-05-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

Woke up this morning knowing it was not my day to go to work. What I needed was a mental health day - one where I could putter around the house, cook a nice meal for dinner and spend some time doing fuck all. Part of that has been spent downloading some music I realized that I didn't yet have digitized - some Soft Cell, Siouxsie and the Banshees and John Foxx. My star find today was the first Marc and the Mambas album, Untitled! The beauty of this album was that it went in so many directions because all those involved were in search of a musical path or in search of a change in musical path. My favorite moment has to be Angels, which sees Marc Almond and his collective Mambas venturing into post punk sonics, working with drum machine patterns and disconnected lyrics. Think U2, Sisters of Mercy and Shriekback composing a track together...that might come close...

The other must have I found was A Kiss In The Dreamhouse by Siouxsie and the Banshees. This is probably their tour de force as far as all the stars aligning in the studio. Slowdive is epic, Green Fingers is insidious, Melt! is creepy and the inclusion of Fireworks on the new deluxe edition is sheer Banshees bliss!

Well I better tend to the roast chicken and start the au gratin potatoes...

WHEN YOUR DAY STARTS BAD...

2009-05-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Today is a day that got out of my control very fast and spiraled out of control before I knew what was really happening. No blame, no recriminations, but man if only I could start it again... The weather seems to be reflecting my mood now too. Rainy and thunderous - actually I get some peace and balance from a rainy day. Sitting here now with a quick iTunes playlist to lull me back from the edge so to speak:

All Night Long - Peter Murphy
Belladonna - Siouxsie and the Banshees
A Matter of Conscience - The Sun and the Moon
Adored and Explored - Marc Almond
Quick As Rainbows - Kitchens of Distinction
Every Colour You Are - Rain Tree Crow
Primary - The Cure
Is It Love - Gang of Four
Bruises - Gene Loves Jezebel
Dragnets Drag - Peter Murphy

A GREAT DAY!!

2009-04-30T12:02:00.001-07:00

I thought about spending as many hours in bed as possible today as it is my birthday...but my Boston Terrier Julie had other ideas. To celebrate the day she decided to give birth to THREEE cute as dolls puppies with beautiful markings and strong lungs!...Julie being just shy of a year old herself, needed little help. She gave birth to all three in just under an hour and a half. No sitting on them, no biting when Danny and I inspected them. She was a very calm little lady. Most of the day I have observed her cleaning them, allowing them to relieve her of the enormous amount of milk she has been carrying and learning how to pick them up an move them around where she wants them.

Now for the names...that is gonna be hard. She is Julie for the month of July when we received her. The father is Vitus...not named after the Saint, or the disease, but if you don't know the story I will not be telliing it...Two girls and a boy...got to start thinking...

THIRD MILLENNIUM BANDS I AM FOLLOWING TO THE NEXT DECADE

2009-04-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

I get slagged off sometimes for not getting into new rock bands and sticking with those bands I discovered in the '70's and 80's (well there are one or two from the '90's I still like), so here are the bands that I discovered in the past 9 years that I can say I will want to hear more from in the next decade of this new Millennium:

EDITORS - Heart, soul, agnst and anger...that is Rock is about to me.
FOALS - Math rock schmath rock - these guys move!
HARD-FI - sophmore album jinx for sure, but I know they have something more up their sleeves
KASABIAN - no not a retread of Primal Scream, way more pretentious and thus more fun!
KILLERS - they get more marginal with every album and that is a good thing!!
THE NATIONAL - who knew Manchester moodiness could come from Brooklyn
WOLF & CUB - Marc Bolan must have a woody in his grave! (Bowie oughta sue)
MGMT - way more to this band than a couple crossover remixes
YEAH YEAH YEAHS - twisted, gothic - think Siouxsie fronting the Velvet Underground

Yeah only nine...got a few months to find one more...

SOME PERFECT POP...

2009-04-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

...on a not so perfect day...

I feel like shit - bronchitis flair up I'm afraid, but I have some perfect pop music to lighten my load...

Pet Shop Boys - The Way It Used To Be --my fave track from their new album Yes
Prefab Sprout - Appetite -- for me the pinnacle of Paddy McAloon's work
Heaven 17 - Let Me Go -- cool pop for lovers
Scritti Politti - Absolute -- makes my hips rotate uncontrollably
Miguel Migs - Night -- proves house music can be pop too
Elvis Costello - High Fidelity -- always room for angst
Bryan Ferry - Sensation -- a world in deep shades of blue and Comme De Garcons clothing
Blondie - Atomic -- go away all you pretenders and wannabes I have Debbie Harry
Everything But The Girl - Fascination -- moody, melancholy, but oh so pure
XTC - Ten Feet Tall -- new wave harmonies at their best
ABC - Be Near Me -- Blue Eyed Soul pop, lush sound from a fairlight synth

MUSIC ON MY MIND...

2009-04-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

My Itunes library is so large at the moment that I had to download the new version which is meant to manage large libraries faster...we will see...

Been listening to a lot of random music the past couple of weeks - Siouxsie's - Mantaray album, The Jam, Prefab Sprout, Underworld...more disconnect that connect I fear...but the most interesting thing I have been onto from my library is a bunch of Mod revival tracks that I compiled and can't seem to get enough of...to be honest, being a New York City Boy, I didn't really get that there was a Mod revival except that NME and Melody Maker rammed it down my throat for a couple of years in the early 80's. To me the Jam was alway Punk...yeah I heard the Kinks and The Who in some songs and later even the Beatles, but Weller was too angry not to be a punk to me and his lyrics always spoke to my loner/disassociated side as a teenager. The Chords were more Undertones/Stiff Little Fingers and The Questions and Secret Affair just seemed like pop rock. I think I started to "get it" once Weller formed The Style Council and the visual became as important as the music to me...and yes I love The Style Council, every form they took, to this day! So here is what I put in that Mod Revival Playlist:

The Jam - Start!
The Jam - Going Underground
The Chords - Maybe Tomorrow
Secret Affair - Hide & Seek
The Style Council - Speak Like A Child
The Way Out - Just The Girl
The Jam - Stoned Out of My Mind
The Questions - Price You Pay
The Undertones - Jimmy Jimmy
The Jam - Carnaby Street
The Jam - Strange Town
The Times - Goodbye Piccadilly
The Jam - In The Crowd
The Style Council - Walls Come Tumbling Down
The Moment - Sticks and Stones
Yeh Yeh - You Will Pay
The Jam - The Place I Love
The Jam - The Bitterest Pill

I am sure I will make this a longer playlist in the near future - probably increase the dancier and brassier side of the sound to it. Got to mp3 Nine Below Zero and The Truth especially to add here...

MUSIC THAT MOVES ME 2009 - SO FAR...

2009-03-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

...to celebrate Winter Music Conference 2009 in Miami, here are some of the tracks that move me - literally - so far this year:

01. Selene - Chris Foreman Mix - Steal Vybe feat. Alex Simmons
02. Goodbye Love - SC Vox Mix - Roland Clark
03. Home To You - Quentin Harris Mix - Tortured Soul
04. My Roots of House - Deeper People Mix - Wumm feat. Marlene Rodriguez
05. Music in You - New Mondo Vocal Mix - Lisa Shaw
06. Change - Danism feat. Michael Watford
07. Give It To Me - Wamdue Project Vocal - Rasmus Faber feat. Dyanna Fearon
08. Change The World - DJ Extended Mix - Joi & Gerideau
09. Play On - Conan Liquid Vocal Mix - Todd Terry feat. Tara McDonald
10. Any Love - Muthafunkaz Psycolectodisco Mix - DJ Meme feat. Rachel Claudio

Dance On!

I REMINISCE...

2009-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Just spent the last hour listening to early U2, Comsat Angels and Chameleons...yeah an early 80's post punk love-fest in my mind...

This got me to thinking of the first time I saw some of my favorite bands from that time period. So here goes a partial list, as memory serves...

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN - HURRAH's NYC 1981...pretty sure this was their first stateside gig...MAGIC!

U2 - THE MUDD CLUB - I don't remember a lot about this night except for 11 O'clock Tick Tock and Stories for Boys...but every time I went to the Mudd Club was amazing...

TEARDROP EXPLODES- 1981 - PALLADIUM - Opening for U2 and with Philly band The A's if I remember correctly...Julian was very strange...in my own perversity, I was there to see Teardrop even though by this time U2 was getting really big in NYC, I always begin to shy away from bands as others discover them, only to return to them later...

THE CLASH - PALLADIUM - 1980 - I missed the 1979 concerts which were the same weekend as the NO NUKES shows at MSG (no I DID NOT attend that Hippie Fest either) - when Simenon smashed his bass and Pennie Smith captured it for all posterity and the London Calling album cover - but in '80 LONDON CALLING was all I listened to over and over again so this was just so damn special to me...possibly the greatest show I have ever been to....

THE CHAMELEONS/DANSE SOCIETY/SISTERS OF MERCY - This showcase at Irving Plaza was either 1983 or 1984 CMJ Conference. There to Sisters, I was blown away by The Chameleons (and Danse Society for that matter). It was my first taste of Sisters, but Doktor Avalanche kept fucking up at the beginning of every song! I would only get to see The Chameleons one more time touring Swamp Thing and regret not traveling out of NYC to see them more on that tour.

New Order - The Ritz - 1981 - I missed the show at Hurrah's the previous September by a couple days...a regret I will always have, having seen the bootleg footage on YouTube...but the Ritz show was mesmerizing, short and sharp edged. I would equally amazed by New Order again in 1983 at a gig that started at 2am a the Paradise Garage with Quando Quango as an opening act and then again in 1985 at the Felt Forum when they ended with no encore, house lights came up and the audience started to leave - the roadies came out, began "breaking down" but the band came back out and played another 30 minutes with the house lights up! Brilliant!

I will come up with more asap!

MUSIC OF MOURNING

2009-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, my partner lost someone near and very dear to him. It got me thinking of the music that has gotten me through such events over the past 26 years since my own father's passing.

It might seem trite, but sometimes music can bring out those emotions that are difficult to express in times of loss. Grief doesn't come easily to some...for me I tend to be stoic for days before it can hit me.

Here is the music that has gotten me through:

Elegia - New Order
Ceremony - New Order
Nostalgia - David Sylvian
Pray For Rain - Comsat Angels
My Kingdom - Echo And The Bunnymen
Tears - The Chameleons

SOUNDTRACK FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM RECESSION...

2009-02-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

Just got my hands on Pet Shop Boys latest single, Love, etc, and man while it takes me back to that classic era of 80's PSB singles, I am finding, probably unintentionally on their part (but maybe not), a great soundtrack to the worldwide recession! Hell the insistent refrain is "You need more, you need more!" Brilliant, as I would only expect from Neil and Chris...

A WARM AND SUNNY DAY...

2009-02-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

It's been so abnormally cold here in South Florida, that today's warm and sunny weather has me thinking warm and sunny music.
Here are some songs that remind me of summer.

01. Good Times - Chic
02. Long Hot Summer - The Style Council
03. True Love - Aquanote
04. Seven Days In Sunny June - Jamiroquai
05. It's Alright, I Feel It - Nuyorican Soul feat. Jocelyn Brown
06. Each And Every One - Everything But The Girl
07. To Turn You On - Roxy Music
08. The Sun - Todd Terry feat. Roland Clark
09. Cherry - Lisa Shaw

R.I.P. LUX INTERIOR

2009-02-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Lux Interior was the wildest lead singer I have ever had the pleasure to witness...Iggy was cool, but Lux was manic, cool, sexual and otherworldly...Rock and Roll Heaven just got a lot wilder!

© Anna Summa

SOME GREAT ALBUM COVERS

2009-02-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Lazy Days Never Get Me Down...

2009-02-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

...they just get me thinking of more music... Well I have another 10 to add to the growing list of Forever tracks that I will attempt to whittle down to just 50...

01. Forbidden Colours - David Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakamoto
02. Straight To Hell - The Clash
03. You're The Best Thing - The Style Council
04. Dawning Of A New Era - The Specials
05. Love Is The Drug - Roxy Music
06. Alone Again Or - Love
07. Norwegian Wood - The Beatles
08. Atomic - Blondie
09. Stay - David Bowie
10. Primary - The Cure

...and 10 MORE FOR THE FOREVER LIST...

2009-01-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

01. Hope - Wah! (Shambeko Say Wah!)
02. Bedsitter - Soft Cell
03. Be Near Me - ABC
04. Height of the Fighting - Heaven 17
05. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
06. Eton Rifles - The Jam
07. Heroes - David Bowie
08. Clampdown - The Clash
09. Loving You - Minnie Ripperton
10. Bang A Gong - T. Rex

Yes it is getting just a bit more diverse now...

Now Back To More Current Things...

2009-01-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

I have gathered together all the House tracks I dug during 2008 and here are the Top 20:

01. See The Light (Morning Dub) - Steal Vybe feat. Roland Clark
02. Serenity - Studio Apartment feat. Marc Evans
03. Keep On (Original Mix) - Dan Berkson and James What feat. Robert Owens
04. Lift Me Up (Halo & Kemal Main Mix) - Halo, Kemal & Arnold Jarvis
05. One Desire (Alix Alvarez F1 Series Vox) - Barbara Tucker & Tuccillo
06. Revenge (Scott Wozniak Club Mix) - Darryl D'Bonneau
07. The Way - Kid Massive feat. Antoine
08. Glad I Found You (Scott Wozniak Vocal Mix) - DJ Gomi feat. Yasmeen
09. Find The Way (Jask Remix) - Ethan White feat. Lisa Shaw
10. Get Up (Jones Deep Mix) - DJ Le Roi & Ray Jones feat. Pierre Piccarde
11. Twisted - Ultra Nate & Little Louie Vega
12. Amazing (Jon Cutler Mix) - Reel People Feat. Tony Momrelle & Imaani
13. Drop That Body (Reelsoul Remix) - Reelsoul and Darryl D'Bonneau
14. Messin' With My Mind (UBP Classic Club Mix) -The Thompson Project feat. Gary L
15. Outta Love (Alix Alvarez SOLEChannelRemix) - Reel People Feat Omar
16. Blind (Frankie Knuckles Dub) - Hercules and Love Affair
17. Where Do We Go (Spen & Thommys Spiritually Sound Vocal Mix) - Lisa Mack
18. Friend Of Mine (Scott Wozniak Vocal Mix) - Deep Factor feat. Carroll Thompson
19. High (Conan Liquid Remix) - Steal Vybe
20. Sun Will Shine (Copyright Main Mix) - Studio Apartment feat. Yasmeen

Now there are another 30 on deck, but these got played non stop upon their arriving in my iTunes...I might mix the order different depending on the day, but these were the cream of the crop for me.

...another 10...

2009-01-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

1. Sleepwalk - Ultravox
2. Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees
3. The Light Pours Out of Me - Magazine
4. Seven Minutes To Midnight - Wah!
5. I Die:You Die - Gary Numan
6. What We All Want - Gang of Four
7. Pride - Echo and the Bunnymen
8. Stay Free - The Clash
9. KIlling an Arab - The Cure
10. Thalheim - David Sylvian

I got that 10 faster than the first 10...and there are another 10 creeping into my head already...

FOREVER 50 - a work in progress

2009-01-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

So to even think about assembling the 50, and somehow I know it's gonna be more like 100, favorite tracks of mine -of all time is going to be some work. Let's see if I can come up with 10 now and see where they land in the final countdown...

1. My Kingdom - Echo and the Bunnymen
2. Train In Vain - The Clash
3. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
4. Independence Day - The Comsat Angels
5. Fascination - Everything But The Girl
6. I Zimbra - Talking Heads
7. Swamp Thing - The Chameleons
8. High Fidelity - Elvis Costello
9. The Butterfly Collector - The Jam
10. Tears Are Not Enough - ABC

Yeah, that 10 came relatively easily, but each track I listed brought another 3 or 4 to mind...this is not going to be easy...
I will say that 1 - 4 might just survive in tact. We'll see...

IF I COULD TEACH THE WORLD TO SING...

2009-01-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well that's not exactly what I mean to be getting at... actually I was thinking that there are so many bands I have felt were sorely misunderstood or left unknown that I have held near and dear for years and it would be great if they were given another chance to shine.

The first that comes to mind for me is Pete Wylie/WAH!, and his/their many incarnations...four songs that Pete/WAH! produced in the last almost 30 years are among my forever 50 - Seven Minutes To Midnight by WAH! (or WAH! Heat), Story of the Blues by WAH!, Hope (I Wish You Believed Me) by WAH! (or Shambeko Say WAH! on some releases) and finally If I Loved You by Pete Wylie in solo guise. All four of these tracks sound as fresh as the day they were released and could compete on rock radio today...that is if real rock radio still existed...

I think I will put that Forever 50 together for my next post...maybe it will attract some attention to this blog as well...LOL

MID WINTER LISTENING

2009-01-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

Been on a nostalgic kick musically recently. Listening things that remind me of record shopping in the East Village and discovering new bands - on my iPhone currently are The Gist, Marine Girls, A Certain Ratio and The Lotus Eaters.

CNN has an iReport question regarding the Album that changed music for you. For me that is definitely London Calling by The Clash. Sure it wasn't the first Clash album I owned and certainly not the first punk album either, but London Calling was special. The songs are all like stories, the music varies from punk to reggae, jazz and funk. Train In Vain is, to this day, one of my two favorite songs of all time.

The other song that makes that two favorites (if you know me you know I can't just have one) is My Kingdom by Echo and the Bunnymen from their Ocean Rain album. Actually the Bunnymen are a group that I discovered record shopping rather than on the radio or from a friend. Their first album, Crocodiles, had just come out and was in the front of the new release rack at Metro Records in Little Neck, NY where I used to walk after school to spend my hard earned cash. The cover intrigued me, all dark, almost camoflauged in a field at night. I asked the guy behind the counter to play it and I was mesmerized! That began an almost 30 years of following the Bunnymen through highs and lows...but more on that another time.

Been A Long Time...

2009-01-09T17:34:00.001-08:00

Yes a long time since I even looked at this blog space. I have to think about what I want to say, but I definitely feel it is time to start getting my words out into cyberspace. I am sure music will be the overriding topic most days, but there is always politics, work, mood, friends and loved ones to talk about as well. I know I will be posting mostly to myself until I get someone to notice me here, but I have no great expectations...

10 Songs I Can't Stop Listening To

2007-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

1. Here It Comes Again - Tracey Thorn
2. Minimal - Pet Shop Boys
3. Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) - Wah!/Pete Wylie
4. Speed of Life - The Sun and the Moon
6. Don't Give Hate a Chance - Jamiroquai
7. Warrior - Andy Caldwell
8. Money For All - Nine Horses
9. Uncertain Smile - The The
10. Fly Me Away - Goldfrapp

Me

2007-02-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

So What Am I Doing Here?

2007-02-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

Good question...my initial answer is- gettng with the program...I don't necessarily have a whole lot to say, but it is a really good idea to have a place where I can say what I want people to hear. Opinions, I definitely have...ask any of my friends or loved ones (only don't expect a quick answer from any of them).

From the title of this blog you can see that music makes my world go around. It excites me, mellows me, cheers me and saddens me. Music reflects me and it clashes with me. Music isn't my life; it isn't my profession. Music is my passion and in part it defines me.

I hope that as I "get with the program" online, I will be able to share some of what music is to me.

Well here goes nothing!