Quadrophenia - The Real Me

When I was in my late teens I had a VHS tape of the film Quadrophenia that I watched many times. Back then it was one of my favourite films and I used to think that the main character Jimmy was so cool. I’ve watched it recently and although I still think it’s a good film I’ve realised that Jimmy was a bit of a twat.
After watching the film I listened to the soundtrack by The Who for the first time in a few years and it sounded just as good as the last time I heard it. Its maybe the best album they did.
And one of the best tracks on the album has to be The Real Me. As good a drummer as Keith Moon was sometimes he tended to overdo it with constant drum fills and symbol crashes. On The Real Me all of that is still going on but its played around a driving rhythm and it lets John Entwistle’s bass guitar go off in a virtuoso world of its own. But to great effect.

Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl

To get a sample of the new album from The War On Drugs I was searching around a few blogs to download an mp3. When I played it I thought ‘this is a new sound for them, smooth indie dream pop, but fair enough, sounds pretty good'.
When I played it again I realised that iTunes was wasn’t playing The War On Drugs but I had downloaded some band called Work Drugs (similar sort of name, so that’s where I went wrong).
I’d never heard of them but it turns out that they’re a duo from Philadelphia (also like The War On Drugs) who according to their website make music specifically for boating, sexting, dancing, yachting, and living.
I don’t know what that means but to mean its decent indie dream pop.



Download an mp3 of Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl from this link.

Great Cover #9 Nirvana - Here She Comes Now

The Velvet Underground have had their songs covered many times but I’ve never heard one version that is a match to the original version. That is apart from the Nirvana recording of Here She Comes Now that was originally on a split single with the Melvins but ended up on the With The Lights Out box-set.
The original is a short and gentle song from the otherwise abrasive and avant-garde second album White Light/White Heat. But Nirvana give it their full treatment and considerably boost it up in volume and length.
I would say that its actually better than the original.

Download Nirvana - Here She Comes Now from this link.

Great Opener #3 Massive Attack - Angel

Angel is the opening track from the Massive Attacks third and best album Mezzanine (Blue Lines comes a close second).
It fades in with a brewing bassline that can only be out looking for trouble. When Horace Andy’s vocals come in they’re more understated than on his previous tracks with the band but it only adds to the tension that’s building underneath.
Something has to give and after two and a half minutes boiling point is reached when some rock is added to Massive Attack’s trip-hop sound with a distorted guitar riff and beefed up drums.
I can’t separate Angel and the cover art to Mezzanine they both represent the album well, as in dark.



Get an mp3 of Massive Attack - Angel by clicking onto this link.

60 FT. Dolls - The Big 3

For me one of the best albums of the 90s and one that I still regularly listen to is by the Welsh rock trio 60 Ft. Dolls. After a string of great singles starting with 1994s Happy Shopper their debut album The Big 3 came out in 1996 (1997 in The States where they got picked up by Geffen Records) and there isn’t a dud song on it. Straight up tuneful rock songs.
The second album Joya Magica from 1998 saw them expanding their pallet with some piano, strings and horns. There’s a couple of acoustic songs and some in a more Brit-Pop style (one with a bouncy rhythm, Shed Seven type horns and lyrics about the summer. All the worse traits of Brit-Pop.) that don’t hit the mark. The best songs on the album are when they do what they do best, which is play tuneful rock songs.
The band soon split and another Welsh rock trio came on the scene to have a lot more success. But the Stereophonics have never made an album as good as The Big 3.

Download an mp3 of 60 Ft. Dolls - Happy Shopper from this link.

Howe Gelb - Felonious

“The piano’s stealing Lou Reed licks, licks that he probably stole."
Whether it be with Giant Sand, solo or various side projects such as The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Arizona Amp and Alternator or OP8, Howe Gelb’s musical output has been nothing short of prolific. There’s also many official bootlegs to go with the many official albums.
Out of all of them one of my favorite is 2003’s solo album The Listener. There’s the usual sound of Gelb’s picking at scabs acoustic guitar style, but it also features a lot of laid back piano and sparse string arrangements. Such as the second song Felonious with its brushes drums and Gelb’s close to the mic dusty tones in which he pays a homage to Lou Reed.
“The piano’s still stealing Lou Reed licks, licks he probably stole."

Download an mp3 of Howe Gelb - Felonious by clicking on this link.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look)

Been going through my hard rive and giving it a good cleanout. Mainly been deleting music files. Tracks that I have no intention of ever listening to, such as bad filler tracks on albums that only have a couple of good songs. Out! Live versions from bands who’s studio versions I rarely play. Out! Downloaded tracks that I was testing out but I never liked. Out!
Its tedious work, but I did come across some really good songs that I forgot I had.
Like the song Slow Down (Take A Look)from the Sonic's Rendezvous Band that I got from CD that came with a music magazine. I’d never heard of the band, but after looking into them it turns out that Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5 and Scott Ashton from The Stooges are in the band.
That makes sense as their raw garage rock sound is unmistakably from the Detroit Michigan area.

Download Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look) by clicking on this link.

Sigur Rós - Inni

There has been no action from Sigur Rós since 2008. Then last month their website revealed a trailer for Inni which is a DVD and double CD of the band's live performances at London’s Alexandra Palace.
I was at one of them gigs, and in truth it was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because the main proportion of the show featured songs the recently released album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust which I didn’t get on too well with as their ethereal soundscape and sawing strings were replaced with playful up-tempo songs or ones with only singer Jonsi and a piano.

Another reason why I didn’t enjoy the gig as much as I thought I might is that Alexandra Palace is not a good place to see a band. Its not meant for rock music, also to get a drink you had to buy tokens and then go to another line to order the drink. So I spent way too much time in the venue queuing up.
But I’m sure that that won’t come across on the live CD, and as the songs are taken from two nights the track listing will hopeful span over their five albums.

No Doubt the song Svefn-g-englar that first grabbed my attention to the band will be on it. An old flatmate of mine came into my room when I was playing it and said "What is this poncy whale music shit?"
Yes it might sound like that but its a great piece of music.

Download Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar by left clicking on this link.

I Heard Her Call My Name

I recently went to visit my parents, and while in their garage going through boxes of C.D.s and cassettes I found a recording of me playing my first electric guitar. Saying that I was playing it is me being very generous to myself. At the time I knew a few chords but didn’t know any scales, though that didn’t put me off doing guitar solo’s where I played random notes up and down the fretboard. It didn’t help that the guitar was terribly out of tune either.
Its awful but not much more than Lou Reed’s erratic guitar solo’s on The Velvet Underground song I Heard Her Call Me Name. It sounds similar. It’s out of tune, abrasive, high pitched, metallic and sounds like it played with the same Yamaha guitar and cheep Peavey amp that I used.
Technically it’s the worst guitar solo put to record, but I find it endearing and its all part of one of my favourite Velvet Underground songs.