There are lots of wonderful greatest lists out there, but I absolutely love Out Magazine’s list of The 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums. Yeah, there are oodles of predictable choices here like Madonna (way too many of her albums on the list), David Bowie, Queen, Pet Shop Boys etc. But there are also some great surprises. Nick Drake and The Beatles make the cut. But then there is th inspired choice of Antony and the Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now, which comes in at #10.
Antony Hegarty has a high tembling voice which you either love or hate. Me, I love his voice and all the vulnerability he exposes. According to Out Magazine:
“With unflinching passion, a desperate desire for human connection, and a tremulous voice redolent of Nina Simone, cherubic Antony Hegarty — with help from Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, and Boy George — delivered a sparse set of some of the saddest, rawest songs ever recorded. In I Am a Bird Now’s 10 tracks, the singer meditates on the lonesome “middle place” between life and nothingness (“Hope There’s Someone”); gender mutability (“For Today I Am a Boy”); sadomasochism (“Fistful of Love”); and, on the album’s breathtaking climax, “Bird Gerhl,” the sublime freedom of flying alone.”
17 years ago Spencer Elden was photographed as the naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. Now he’s all grown up and responsible for this great quote:
“Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis, so that’s kinda cool. I’m just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I’m here.”
Last Saturday night Carrie and I had the joy of seeing Rickie Lee Jones at the Max M. Fisher Music Hall in Detroit as part of the annual Concert of Colors (all for free, no less). I’ve been a big fan of Ms. Jones back since my hippie days when her second album ‘Pirates’ was a staple in the communal farmhouse I lived in.
While I have seen many wonderful, wonderful shows over the past few years, this concert was on a whole different level due to the fact that Rickie Lee didn’t just perform her songs, she in many cases reinvented them. She used the talents of her brilliant young band to take her songs from a place that was at once familiar and totally new and different at the same time. Rather than just merely improvise (as in solo), she and her band wandered through and played with her extensive back catalog, at times letting her voice dance wordlessly with her backup singer and violinist in a Van Morrison meets Jane Siberry type groove.
The undisputed highlight was when Rickie Lee mentioned that her daughter was into European dance hall music, (“the worst kind” she wryly noted, “and I love it” she continued). She then led the drummer to pound out a dance hall disco-ish beat while she started singing her much loved 1981 classic “Livin’ It Up”. As the band followed, the tune grew more dense and driven as time went on. Conducting the band from behind her piano, she pushed the song and her musicians to totally new places. The band seemingly was in uncharted territory as they followed Rickie Lee’s hand signals in turning a formerly light and airy four minute track into an eight minute long epic, the music ebbing and flowed, the drum beat always moving it forward.
Watching how Jones used her songs and her band as a canvas, I was once again reminded why live music is central to my life. Rickie Lee held thousands of us transfixed together, creating a sense of unity and joy that was palpable in the hall. She brought us all together in a way that only great music performances can. All hail Rickie Lee Jones.
Those of us who with a strong Jones for new music need their suppliers, folks who keep us fed with the latest bands and tunes. My friend Godfrey is one of my main sources. Originally from Dublin, Godfrey is my supplier of all that is great from the British Isles. Years ago he turned me on to The Frames, who at the time were barely known here. So it was only fitting that when I finally got to see The Frames perform live last Saturday, it was with Godfrey (along with his wife Nancy, the kids and my dear friend Cynthia). The show was billed as a duo show with Frames lead man Glen Hansard and his music partner Marketa Irglova, the stars of the movie Once.
Based on the huge success Hansard and Irglova were having after winning the best song Oscar this year, Godfrey decried the apparent end of The Frames, Ireland’s greatest live band. However his sorrow was short-lived when Hansard introduced The Frames at the start of the show. Where we expected a duo show, what we got was a Frames plus Irglova show. Granted there was a fair amount of Hansard’s more recent acoustic driven songs that were featured in Once, but there was enough driving symphonic Frames music to keep me very happy and grooving in my seat.
If you want to see what makes The Frames one of the world’s great bands, here are some links (since the site has been so heavy on embedded video lately, I figured I’d pass along the video as links):
My favorite sound in music is the unmistakable jangle of the 12-string guitar electric. Think The Byrds, Tom Petty or REM.. For years I’ve dreamed of owning a 12-string Rickenbacker, but without an extra $2500 to toss around, that was out of the question. But as of today I’m the proud owner of a beautiful and very affordable Dean 12-String. Now I can sit and jangle to my hearts delight.
Speaking of that remarkable 12-string jangle, here’s some of my favorite 12-string songs (in no particular order):
Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Byrds
Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds
Drunken Angel – Lucinda Williams
Carry Me Ohio – Sun Kil Moon
And Your Bird Can Sing – The Beatles
Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles
Bright Side – Pernice Brothers
Ain’t That Enough – Teenage Fanclub
Stroke It Noel – Big Star
The Ballad of El Goodo – Big Star
Evie’s Tears – Freedy Johnston
Free Fallin’ – Tom Petty
Do You Believe In Magic – Lovin’ Spoonful
Sitting Still – R.E.M.
Maps And Legends – R.E.M.
Jenny & The Ess-Dog – Stephen Malkmus
Despite her complex and wide musical tastes, Sarah had a habit of listening to the same song over and over. Once she got hooked on a Shania Twain song and listened to it something like 40 times in a row. I thought that was just crazy. My issue has always been, how do I get through all this amazing music out there I want to listen to. Every now and then I’ll listen to a song twice or three times, but that’s it… until now.
The other night I was listening to All Things Considered on NPR when they did a profile on the Italian musician Vinicio Capossela who is like the Tom Waits of Italy. At the end of the interview they played his beautiful lullabye ‘Ovunque Proteggi’ (May You Protect Me Everywhere). Guess what? Now I play the damn song over and over and over again. I have always been a sucker for the heartbreaking and delicate beauty of songs by folks like Nick Drake or the sweepingly beautiful Vaughn Williams symphonies. Well now ‘Ovunque Proteggi’ has grabbed me and won’t let go. I think I’m giving that Shania Twain song a run for it’s money on the repeat scale.
Sometimes a song comes along that I can’t seem to get enough of. While down in Bloomington recently, Marv Foley turned me on to the Mike Scott (of the Waterboys) song “Sunny Sailor Boy” as sung by Luka Bloom.
It’s a simple little sea song with a lilting groove, and I find myself playing it over and over on guitar.
Come on, sing along with me, Ooh-wha ooh-wha, ooh-wha ooh-wha, ooh, my sunny sailor boy
People who know me know that one of my unabashed musical passions is Frank Sinatra. Take me to a party of music geeks and watch me battle with them as I explain why ‘Ol Blue Eyes was the greatest and most important vocalist of the 20th century. And I’m not joking. Did you know that he learned his phrasing by imitating brass players? Did you know that when he was younger, he used to stay under water as long as he could while swimming just to strengthen his lungs? Huh, didya?
I’ve inherited only a few things from my mother, premature gray hair, a love of writing and grammar and a devotion to Frankie. You want Frank on 78, 45, L.P., cassette, CD or MP3? Come on over and come share the Frank love here at Chez Scrappy.
So, given all the scary and sad news that’s passed by me these past two weeks, it’s great to have something to get excited about. Today, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Frank will get his own postage stamp next spring! Enough with honoring those who have worked to fight cancer or create democracy and freedom, I want to adorn my letters with Frank. Those of you who will get Christmas cards from me next year, you know who you’ll see gazing at you from the top-right corner of the envelope.
I’ve been totally digging listening to the new Sigur Rós CD Hvarf/Heim, which is really a double EP rather than an album. True fans appear to be disappointed because the discs contain re-recordings from their first album while the second disc contains live versions of new tunes that sound exactly like the recorded versions.
That said, I love Sigur Rós, who are like an Icelandic version of Yes tripping on Ecstasy and moving very slowly. That’s Scrappy’s assessment, here’s what The Guardian (the great UK paper) has to say:
“…There’s Salka, which shows off both their way with a winding guitar melody and enviable capacity to sound simultaneously wistful and triumphant. Hafsól, meanwhile, demonstrates the band’s ability to alight on a sound that’s unfathomably appealing: in this case a drumstick being rattled against bass guitar strings, a noise that, improbably enough, turns out to have the same warm, comforting quality as the smell of freshly brewed coffee.”
The closure of Tower Records has been bad news for classical fans. Where do classical music lovers go now to find their recordings. Certainly not to Best Buy and Circuit City. You would think that it would a great opportunity for the once great but now feeble Borders Books and Music. The answer my friend is (not blowing in the wind) Amazon.
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