Slowdive - Live in London, UK 2017-03-29

Even though I've only mentioned them here a few times so far, I'm a big Slowdive fan and I was ecstatic when they reformed in 2014 and then released an excellent new LP in 2017.  Until I make the time to review their 2017 LP, I offer this 2017 concert featuring three songs from their then forthcoming LP.  There are several good Slowdive concert videos on the web, but this 90 minute set is one of the best that I've found.  The only thing that would have made it better is in they included "Shine".

Julee Cruise - "Industrial Symphony No. 1" (concert)

Continuing for Women's History Month, we return to Julee Cruise, one of my college-era favorites.  I already reviewed "Floating Into the Night" many years ago and while I should eventually cover her other LPs, I wanted to revisit her first LP by highlighting an even rarer entry in her catalog.  "Industrial Symphony No. 1" is concert/play and a continuation of David Lynch's work with Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise.  It begins with Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern effectively reprising their roles from Wild at Heart, and then enters a dream sequence featuring songs and characters from Twin Peaks where Cruise lip syncs to studio versions of her songs.  The opening song, "Up in Flames", would be released on her 1993 LP "The Voice of Love", but otherwise "I Float Alone", "Into the Night", "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", and "The World Spins" all appear on her 1989 debut "Floating Into the Night".  There are additional interstitial instrumental tracks that as far as I know only appear here.

I love Julee Cruise, and her work with Badalamenti and Lynch is amazing, but unfortunately their collective output is pretty limited.  So if you're a fan, you'll want to watch this video.  If you're not a fan, I'm not sure it will make you a fan.  For me, "Industrial Symphony No. 1" is simultaneously engaging and indistinguishable from a parody of an art film: smoke, strobe lights, a half-naked woman furtively scurrying about the stage, Cruise singing from the trunk of a car, Michael J. Anderson sawing on a log and then doing spoken word, a person on stilts, and for most of the time at least one cast member in the air.

I don't actually have a copy of "Industrial Symphony No. 1", but Terry had a VHS copy (2020-10-18 edit: turns out I have a copy).  Since I'm a completist I'll eventually get a copy and probably pay too much, but Julee Cruise is a treasure and we should celebrate her entire canon.

Tammy Wynette - "Stand By Your Man" (the song remains the same)

A special topical Women's History Month installment: Kellyanne Conway standing by her man.  Perhaps more accurately, standing by her other man.

"Stand by your man" is the single (released in 1968) from Tammy Wynette's 1969 LP of the same name.  What can I say about this universally recognized song that hasn't already been said?  I'll just point out that in 2010 the Library of Congress selected it for preservation because it is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".  Obviously, that's the highest honor I can think of...

There are more covers of this song than I could possibly address, so I'll choose just one: the 1982 duet by Lemmy and Wendy O. Williams. 

Tammy Wynette - "Stand by your man"
Plasmatics & Motorhead - "Stand by your man"

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
giving all your love to just one man.
You'll have bad times
And he'll have good times,
Doin' things that you don't understand.

 Right, Kellyanne?

Waxahatchee - Live in Berlin 2015-03-22 (concert)

Continuing with Women's History Month, I'd like to feature this nice four song set from Waxahatchee.  Why?  1) Katie Crutchfield is awesome, and 2) this takes place in the Ramones Museum in Berlin -- who knew there was a Ramones Museum in Berlin?!

I need to get around to reviewing "Ivy Tripp" and "Out in the Storm", but in the mean time this set features "Grass Stain" and "Swan Dive", which are easily in my top 10 favorite songs of hers. 

Fiona Apple - "Across the Universe" (the song remains the same)

For the second installment for Women's History Month, Danette recommended that I review one of her favorites, Fiona Apple's debut LP "Tidal".  I'm not familiar enough with that LP to give it a proper review, so instead I offer Apple's 1998 cover of The Beatles' "Across the Universe". 

It appears as a bonus track on her second LP, "When the Pawn...", but I think it first appeared on the soundtrack for "Pleasantville".  I recall seeing the film with Danette at the Commodore Theatre in Portsmouth, and the "pleasant" surprise of her cover during the closing credits. 

"Across the Universe" is one of my favorite songs and if the Beatles's version is fantastical, then Apple turns in a sounds-like-3am version.

Fiona Apple - "Across the Universe"
The Beatles - "Across the Universe"

The Head and the Heart - "The Head and the Heart" (LP Review)

SXSW is underway, and at this time of the year I always think about Lee Dirks and my trip there in 2012.  Lee and I always talked music, and one the recommendations he gave me at SXSW and repeated in email was about Seattle-based The Head and the Heart:

... They burst on the scene in 2010 and then full-on exploded in 2011.  If you listen to their stuff, I think you'll definitely pick-up the multiple style similarities.  Their album is awesome - well worth picking up.  I'm clearly biased towards them as I saw them in small clubs here long before they blew up...and I told friends to watch out for them, as I *knew* they were going to blow up.   I'd like to think I had some great sense or insight here, but it was pretty obvious they were head and shoulders above the other local bands on the scene.   Check them out...

Based on his recommendations, I picked up their 2011 self-titled debut LP.  Official reviews are mixed, for example the Pitchfork review is rather unforgiving ("Conceptually, they're close to Mumford & Sons: opportunistic in their borrowings, yet entirely unimaginative in the execution. Theirs is a thoroughly timid, tentative take on Americana: roots music without the roots.").  My assessment of the LP is more in line with Lee's than Pitchfork's: I find the execution inspired and grounded.

I'm also choosing this LP to kick-off Women's History Month.  The band had six members for their fist LP, and while I don't wish to minimize the contributions of the other five members, the secret weapon here is violinist and vocalist Charity Rose Thielen.  They have three primary singers (and other other three sing backup), but my enjoyment of their songs is directly proportional to how much she is a featured vocalist.  The LP starts off mildly, but the last half closes strongly, and Charity is a big part of why. 

Standout songs: River and Roads (exemplary live version), Honey Come Home (live KEXP), Lost in My Mind, Winter Song (live version), Sounds Like Hallelujah, Heaven Go Easy On Me (live version).

Skip 'em songs: none

Final score: 8/10.  Thanks Lee for turning me on to these guys.



Bonus connection: Dog-n-Burger, a local dining institution, is closing next week after 50 years in the same spot.  DnB reminds me of various BBQ places Lee took us in Austin, and the Redwood Smoke Shack that will replace it is a Texas-style BBQ place.  They're thinking about adding live music, so maybe we can catch the next up-and-coming indie-folk band there. 

The Monkees - "Words" (forgotten song)

I read that Peter Tork, bassist for The Monkees, died today.  I have fond memories of coming home from primary school (maybe even middle school) and watching The Monkees TV show in syndication.  I was too young to understand that they weren't a quite a "real" band -- the music was catchy, the TV show was funny and did crazy things like break the fourth wall, which I realized was unusual even if I did not have the words to describe it.  This was pre-MTV, so seeing music on television was amazing.

Later I learned that they were the proto-boyband, assembled to mimic The Beatles and films like "Hard Days Night".  The Monkees were no longer cool.

Sometime after that, I learned that The Monkees eventually evolved into a real band, or at least pretty much a real band, songs like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" were back in rotation on the radio, Tone Deaf  covered The Sex Pistols covering "Steppin' Stone", and Michael Nesmith helped give us classics like "Repo Man" -- The Monkees were cool again.

I failed to blog about the death of Davy Jones in 2012, but I can't let Peter Tork's death go by without note.  It just so happens that my favorite song by them was 1967's "Words", the B-Side to their more famous "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (from their fourth LP "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd."), although it did have a video from their TV show.  I'm not sure I've ever heard it on the radio, but it made an impression on me as a very young viewer: the chimes, Peter Tork's echoing co-lead vocal (he was the featured vocalist on only a few of their songs), the soft-loud-soft structure -- all of that was a lot for my uninitiated brain to process.

Yes, it's tempting to dismiss The Monkees as just a pale imitation of The Beatles, but is their sound any less modish than other contemporary "serious" bands, like Jefferson Airplane?  Songs like "Words" take me back to the 5th grade or so, coming home after school, and having a portal to the craziest, most irreverent sounds and images imaginable to me at the time.   Not long afterwards I would see and hear things like "Eleanor Rigby", and nothing looks or sounds the same after that, but The Monkees, because they were regularly on TV, was as good as it got in the days before MTV.

The Monkees - "Words"