A good Sunday evening to everyone out there. It was quite the eventful weekend here in Ideological Cuddle land, as it was packed wall-to-wall with concerts, sporting events, dinners, even reunions with old friends (glad to have you back, Big Sexy). Tonight's post is the next in the Cuddle's series of Top 5s and involves some great music and one of our favorite movies.
The Ideological Cuddle Top Five: Songs That Should Have Been In Almost Famous (But Would Have Been Anachronistic If They Were)
1. The Black Crowes - "Wiser Time" (Live on VH1 Unplugged, 2008) - This one is easy. The best "travelling band, being on the road" song of the past 20 years, the Crowes write what they know. It's easy to see a little bit of the Crowes in the fictitious Stillwater from the movie (especially since Jason Lee seems to channel his inner Chris Robinson throughout the film - in look and demeanor). I could easily see this tune replacing "Tiny Dancer" in the scene on the bus after Russell takes a bit too much acid at a party in Kansas. Might not have the sing along power of Elton John's smash hit, but would hammer home the stresses of being in a band, travelling across the country with your best friends who so easily can become enemies. The acoustic version above highlights the guitar breakdown in the center of the song - the perfect section for the scene mentioned.
2. My Morning Jacket - "Golden" - Another travelling song, this one's not so specific to the band, but still highlights the loneliness of the road. Jim James' haunting voice propels the song on beautiful acoustic guitar/slide guitar lines. I can picture Russell, again on the bus, strumming this song to himself as the rest of the band listens in.
3. Wilco - "Monday" - I can picture Jeff Tweedy and the rag-tag group of musicians who have made up Wilco over the years starring in an Almost Famous-type film. In effect, they've already documented their quasi-demise and subsequent rise in their excellent documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Any music fan, especially those who love Wilco owe it to themselves to check it out. This song, off of Being There, is a rollicking throwback of a song, documenting life on the run.
4. Blitzen Trapper - "Stolen Shoes and A Rifle" - Total 1970s country-rock throwback. There's no other way to describe this standout track from Blitzen Trapper's breakthrough Furr record. Play it for the uninitiated and they'll swear it was written and released sometime in the early 70s. Maybe not the perfect song for Stillwater to play in the movie, but something that its lead singer, Jeff Bebe would be found listening to. Lazy vibe, vintage sounds.
5. Drive-By Truckers - "Outfit" (Live and acoustic at Cooley's House, 12/29/03) - OK, this one is almost too perfect. A definite masterpiece in the Trucker's canon, Jason Isbell's song of fatherly warning is cautionary, yet encouraging. A father sings to his rock front-man son, telling him not to fuck up the gifts that he's been given. "Do you want to grow up to paint houses like me? A trailer in your yard 'till you're 23? Do you want to feel old after 42 years? Keep droppin' the hammer and grindin' the gears." Daddy sets it out nice and plain, while encouraging his son - "Don't sing with a fake British accent, a Southern man tells better jokes" and "Have fun and steer clear of the needle". One could imagine Russell or Jeff's father singing this to them on the phone after calling home during a bender.
If any of you out there haven't seen Almost Famous, do yourself a favor and go out and grab a copy now. It's likely the greatest love note to rock and roll that the silver screen has/will ever seen. Grab a copy, look, and listen.
After another long break, the Cuddle is back, sweltering in some of the hottest weather we've seen here in Buffalo in July in ages. The entire East Coast seems mired in this heat wave, and what better way to celebrate sweating to death just breathing than an Ideological Cuddle Mix Tape. This means to be a series of mixes based on Summer themes. What better way to start than...
The Ideological Cuddle Sticky, Steamy Summer Mix
1. "Ten Cent Pistol" - The Black Keys - from Brothers 2. "Chest Fever" - The Band - from Music From Big Pink 3. "Evil" - Howlin' Wolf - from His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary 4. ""You've Got A Killer Scene There, Man"" - Queens of the Stone Age - from Lullabies To Paralyze 5. "And Then (The Hexx) (extended version) - Pavement - from Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition 6. "Ventilator Blues" - The Rolling Stones - from Exile on Main Street 7. "Shade (I Know You, Pt. 4)" - Morphine - from At Your Service 8. "Red Clay" - Freddie Hubbard - from Red Clay 9. "Too Much Sorrow" - The Greenhornes - from Dual Mono 10. "The Lure Would Prove Too Much" - The Twilight Singers - from A Stitch in Time EP 11. "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues" - The White Stripes - from Icky Thump 12. "Prison Girls" - Neko Case - from Middle Cyclone 13. "Root Down (And Get It)" - Jimmy Smith - from Root Down 14. "Angels and Fuselage" - Drive-By Truckers - from Southern Rock Opera 15. "What Needs Must Be" - Dead Meadow - from Old Growth 16. "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" - Miles Davis - from Bitches Brew 17. "Ogeechee Hymnal" - Baroness - from Blue Record 18. "Sunstroke" - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - from Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit 19. "I Still Want To Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am) - Bettye LaVette - from The Scene of the Crime 20. "Neglekted" - The Afghan Whigs - from 1965 21. "Run Thru" - My Morning Jacket - from Okonokos
We here at the Ideological Cuddle hope that each one of you is enjoying your Valentine's Weekend. Hopefully, the last post brought some love and warmth into each of your lives with the warm sounds of Coltrane's tenor or Miles' muted trumpet. Today, we switch gears to present the other side of Valentine's Day...
What happens when love goes wrong? What happens when love dies? What happens when we can't find love? What happens when we start thinking that we neverwill? Perfect... we have songs for that. Too often, songwriters get celebrated for their ability to write lyrics that would accompany a first wedding dance or provide the soundtrack to falling in love. Today, we'll celebrate those who have the uncanny ability to provide the soundtrack to our darker, loveless days - the days when all we can do is cry, wallow, mope, and feel sorry for ourselves. Of course, sometimes, we just want to spit venom at the cause of our misery and curse them in unimaginable ways. We've got that covered as well. For the lovelorn, the love-lost, those who will celebrate tomorrow solo... click on the songs below my comments, courtesy of Lala.com. (UPDATE - You may have to click the link below the boxes... don't know if all of the songs loaded appropriately)
Elvis Costello
The possibilities here are many and varied, as no one writes a better bitter, overly-verbose, and scathing song of lost love. Many of his best songs are aimed at not only the offending woman's emotions, but her intellect as well (or lack thereof).
His masterpiece, King of America is littered with songs of loss. "Brilliant Mistake" teeters the line between first-person narrative and third-person omniscient observer - just like Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue". He alternates between "I" and "he" frequently. There doesn't seem to be much in this man's life that was the right choice - everything seems to be a "Brilliant Mistake", including his prospective love interest - of whom Costello famously notes:
"She said that she was working for the ABC News/ It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use".
"Indoor Fireworks", later on the King of America LP gives a snapshot of a love that is hanging by a thread. The opening lines give all the evidence one needs:
"We play these parlor games, we play at make-believe/ When we get to the part where I say that I'm going to leave/ Everybody loves a happy ending but we don't even try/ We go straight past pretending, to the part where everybody loves to cry"
Lastly from King of America is "Poisoned Rose" - this one's pretty self-explanatory, except that, toward the end of the song, the narrator admits that he just can't get himself to throw away the poisoned rose - he knows how bad this love affair is for him, but he can't give it up.
Costello's great torch song, "Almost Blue" sounds like something Sinatra should have recorded for his epic Only the Lonely album, and I think that's exactly what Elvis had in mind when he wrote it. A song of longing the lengths of which Costello would never quite reach again, it's enough to make a grown man cry.
We can't discuss Elvis Costello's contributions to the broken-hearted genre without including two last fuck you songs aimedtoward women who have wronged him. "I Hope You're Happy Now" exists in many versions besides the "official" version which was released on Blood and Chocolate in 1986 - there are multiple demo versions in multiple tempos, each giving a slightly different bent to the song, but the lyrics stay the same. The singer's relationship with the target of his venom has ended, she's moved on, but he's clearly bitter. Speaking of his ex's new love: "He's a fine figure of a man and handsome, too/ With his eyes upon the secret places he'd like to undo" and "He knows what you want and what you don't allow/ And I hope that you're happy now" and triumphantly, "I hope that you're happy now like you're supposed to be/ And I know that this will hurt you more than it hurts me" But Costello can't leave this relationship alone without getting in a few low blows. First, a dig at the new love interest's "tiny manhood" : "Like a matador with his pork sword while we all die of laughter" And finally : "I knew then what I know now, I never loved you, anyhow"
Last, "Uncomplicated". The sound of the song is as vicious as the lyrics - basically a three minute swipe at how "Uncomplicated" or vapid the ex seems to be. He's clearly angry from the first lines: "Blood and Chocolate, I hope you're satisfied what you have done/ You think it's over now, but we've only just begun" It gets meaner from there...
Billy Bragg As noted in one of our previous posts (available here) the politics of the sexes is a favorite topic of Mr. Bragg's. "Valentine's Day Is Over" is a resigned, cautionary song sung from the woman's perspective. Bragg turns the tables in a cautionary tale for any man who dares not treat his partner with the respect that she deserves . It even appears that the man in question has physically injured his love interest: "If you want to talk about it, well, you know were the phone is/ Don't come 'round reminding me how brittle bone is/ God didn't make you an angel, the Devil made you a man/ That brutality and the economy are related now, I understand/ When will you realize that as above, so below, there is no love" These lines are enough to make you weep and think about how easily we can hurt those that we love the most - emotionally or tragically, physically - and that, clearly, is Bragg's intent. Somewhat heroically, the woman will not stand for this treatment. She's getting out, but not without making sure that her assailant has some perspective on his actions: "Thank you for the things you bought me, thank you for the card/ Thank you for the things you taught me when you hit me hard/ That love between two people must be based on understanding/ Until that's true you'll find your things all stacked out on the landing/ Surprise, surprise, Valentine's Day is over" Proceed with caution:
Morrissey Ah, the Mozzer. Nothing ever seems to go right in Morrissey's view of love. Almost every one of his songs is about losing love, how lonely he is, or why he's not good enough to be loved by anyone. A dissertation about this topic could likely net you a PhD in mope. Just a few examples: Stalker Morrissey: "The More You Ignore Me (The Closer I Get)"
King of Mope Morrissey: "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris": "I have decided I'm throwing my arms around Paris/ Because, only stone and steel accept my love"
Coming-To-Terms Morrissey: "I Have Forgiven Jesus" : "I have forgiven Jesus/ For all the desire he placed in me/ When there's nothing I can do with this desire"
Elliott Smith It's really tough for me to discuss Elliott Smith, as I might miss him more than any other artist who has passed on. It would be easy to re-tread what everyone else has said about him and his music - tortured, forlorn, depressive, etc, etc, etc. I think that his music speaks for itself: "Between the Bars"
Bob Dylan The originator of the fuck you song, Dylan's venom is a thing of historic beauty. Any songwriter who has come after him has taken a cue from him. His most famous anti-Valentine song: "Positively 4th Street". He recounts all of the reasons that he will no longer give his love to this woman in 4 minutes. It's all angry and full of spite: "You say I let you down, you know it's not like that/ If you're so hurt, why then don't you show it?/ You say you've lost your faith, but that's not where it's at/ You have no faith to lose, and you know it"
PJ Harvey Time for the woman's perspective. Cut from the songwriting cloth of Bob Dylan, but with a sonic palette straight out of the punk/blues asthetic, Polly Jean is without peer in the pissed-off-woman school of anti-Valentine songs. Many are great, but I would never want to be the target of the spite of "Dry". OK, it doesn't get much more simple than this - PJ basically feels the need to tell her (assumedly) ex-lover, "You don't do it for me sexually any more". How does she do it? Yup, let him know that he doesn't get her wet. It doesn't get more crystal clear than "You leave me dry". Ouch.
Don't think that Polly Jean can't stalk you, either - witness, "Rid of Me": "You're not rid of me, yeah, you're not rid of me/ I beg you, my darling, don't leave me, I'm hurting" Then goes on to tell her lover that she'll tie him to her until he screams that he wishes he never met his new love. Double ouch (this time, Polly Jean's not just questioning your manhood, she may just cut it off).
Last, "Me Jane". A put down song for men everywhere. Two minutes of how men don't know how to deal with women and their menses (yup, you read that right). "Tarzan, I'm bleeding, stop your fucking screaming" is far and away the best line (maybe of the past 20 years).
Greetings faithful readers (assuming there are any of you)... As promised, today starts our climb toward The Ideological Cuddle's favorite albums of this decade. The list is varied, very personal, and unlikely to agree with anyone else's list (but hey, isn't that the advantage of having one's own blog?). Today, we'll highlight some artists who deserve honorable mention, re-releases that were heads and shoulders above the rest, and albums 20 through 16 on our list of favorites. Albums 15 through 11 will be highlighted tomorrow, and albums 10 through 1 will each have their own blog post, as there's plenty to say about each of them. Be sure to click on the links after each album for MP3s of some of my favorite songs. Without further adieu, here we go...
RE-RELEASES OF THE DECADE: I guess it would be remiss not to mention the Beatles reissues here, and, I have to admit, I wasn't going to jump in with both feet to the frenzy, but then heard how crisp and fantastic that Abbey Road sounded. I was hearing things that I never noticed before. Paul's bass may have been brought a little too close to the front of the mix, but the sound is unparallelled.
Billy Bragg - Volume I and Volume II - These two boxed sets cover all of Sir Billy's recorded output from his first EP, Life's A Riot with Spy Vs. Spy, through England, Half English. Each of the discs is lovingly remastered with a bonus disc of demos, b-sides, and period-specific rarities. It's the Holy Grail for those of us who have been influenced by Bragg's music. Absolutely Essential.
Robyn Hitchcock - Reissues (including the Luminous Groove and I Wanna Go Backwards box sets) - Yep Roc has done an amazing job of bringing this wonderfully strange and beautiful artist's work to the masses. Covering most of Hitchcock's essential work (we're still waiting for someone to get the rights to his A&M albums so that Globe of Frogs and Queen Elvis can see the light of day again), these CDs shine a bright light on the wondrous art of this singular artist. Often described as a strange amalgam of John Lennon, Syd Barrett, and Bob Dylan, Hitchcock's imagination and craft are on display with these reissues. For the novice, start with I Often Dream of Trains or Eye. Those looking for a little bit more adventure can jump into Fegmania! or the live album Gotta Let This Hen Out! with both feet.
HONORABLE MENTION: To The Band With the Best Collection of Records This Decade, None of Which Made the Top 20: The Drive-By Truckers This band is tremendously consistent. In fact, they are so consistent, it was almost impossible to pick a favorite amongst the 5 original albums, 1 live album, and 1 odds 'n ends collection they released this decade. Decoration Day and The Dirty South might be the front-runners, but Brighter Than Creation's Dark isn't far behind. As was outlined on their own blog post earlier this year, the Truckers focus on true southern life. Their music is raw, emotional, and is chock-full of kick-ass rock 'n roll. Word has it that they'll be releasing their first album of the next decade in March, 2010, having recently signed to ATO Records, so this crew will be getting a jump on the rest of the competition for the next decade.
Drum roll please... into the top 20 albums of this decade (according to The Ideological Cuddle):
NUMBER 20: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus A towering achievement in a career that is full of them, Cave's double album concept project never fails to amaze me. There are so many nuances to the songs and the lyrics, that repeated listens are always rewarded. Some feel that Abattoir Blues is the rock 'n roll disc, while The Lyre of Orpheus is the ballad record, but it's not fair to pigeon-hole each of these pieces of art like that. The songs on the set are dripping with menace and malice, lust and horror. "Get Ready For Love" starts the proceedings with fire and brimstone, "Hiding All Away" is just vicious, and "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" might be the most grandiose tune Cave's ever done. "Easy Money" and "O Children" are absolutely heartbreaking (can anyone other than Nick Cave make suicide and murder sound so beautiful?). The companion piece, The Abattoir Blues Tour 2004 is very worthwhile too, if nothing than for the sheer volume of music contained within - 2 CDs and 2 DVDs of Cave and the Bad Seeds doing what they do best. Abattoir Blues - "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" The Lyre of Orpheus - "Supernaturally"
NUMBER 19: Beck - Sea Change Easily Beck's most mature album, Sea Change is also his "break-up" album. Completely melancholy from top to bottom, but also completely amazing. The songs are beautifully crafted and show that Beck can do so much more than mix beats. Sea Change - "The Golden Age"
NUMBER 18: The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic Indie rock's first super group had quite the decade. It was very difficult choosing a favorite amongst the New Pornographers' 4 offerings over the past 10 years, as each is consistent and varied. When I really broke it down, Mass Romantic won out on the strength of it's Dan Bejar songs "Jackie" and "To Wild Homes". To those not familiar with the Pornographers, all you need to know is that Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and Carl "AC" Newman are three of the most talented indie pop songwriters and singers alive. Put them together, and, many times, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As others have said, in a fair alternate universe, this album would have charted catchy song after catchy song, making the New Pornographers household names and international superstars. Since this is reality, you'll have to judge for yourself: Mass Romantic - "Jackie" Mass Romantic - "The Slow Decent Into Alcoholism"
NUMBER 17: Wilco - A Ghost Is Born OK, this might represent this list's first "great upset". Skimming some of the other "Best of the Decade" lists has clearly shown that most choose Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as Wilco's great contribution to this decade. While clearly a phenomenal album, YHF seems to profit from the mythology that surrounds it - you know, Wilco makes amazing record, record company dumps band and record, band leaks record, finds new label and rockets to critical acclaim and international fame. As I thought about the songs on each record, I found that I clearly reached for the songs on A Ghost Is Born more frequently than those on YHF. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" is over 10 minutes of prog-rock/krautrock heaven, "The Late Greats" is as catchy as Wilco gets, "Hummingbird" is delicate and beautiful, and "At Least That's What You Said" has some of the crunchiest guitar licks ever found on a Wilco record. This album is varied, balanced, and genius. And all without a mythology surrounding it... it's just waiting to be re-discovered. A Ghost Is Born - "At Least That's What You Said"
NUMBER 16: Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days Quiet and hushed in instrumentation, pastoral and aching in tone, Our Endless Numbered Days brought Sam Beam's unique musical view to the masses (since many didn't pay attention to The Creek Drank the Cradle or The Sea and The Rhythm EP). The album rocketed Iron and Wine to indie stardom and Sam Beam's songs to big movie soundtracks everywhere. Early pressings of the album included a bonus EP which included "Hickory", a gem of a tune that somehow missed the cut for the album proper (it can now be found on the b-sides compilation Around the Well). The details of Beam's lyrics in this tune are what set it apart from its contemporaries - "The money came and she died in her rocking chair/The window wide and the rain in her braided hair" is just one example. Beam would go on to expand the Iron and Wine sound throughout the rest of the decade, but has never quite been able to match the artistic achievement of this record. Our Endless Numbered Days - "Each Coming Night"
Until tomorrow, with albums 15 through 11, be well, enjoy, and listen...
It took a while, but we here at The Ideological Cuddle are proud to be back among those actively posting in the blogosphere. Let's just say that things in the world of pediatrics are a little on the hectic side, you know, pandemic and all....
On to the music at hand. Let's talk for a while about the term "Southern Rock". What's the first thing that pops into your head? Skynyrd? The Allman Brothers? Molly Hatchet? Little Feat? Hillbillies driving pick-ups with gun racks and the Stars and Bars flying from the antenna? It isn't hard to see why modern bands have tried to avoid the tag. The music was never fashionable (except for maybe a small period of time in the 1970s), and over the years, seems to have gotten a bad rap, possibly for the over-play that classic rock radio has given to many of the genre's flagship bands. But what does it take to make true Southern Rock? Is it about the sound? Is it about just coming from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line? The band we're talking about today has both of those things nailed, but elevates Southern rock to so much more because of the feel of their songs. It's about the experience of living in a section of the country that just isn't the same as New York or California. It's about the inflection in their voices. It's about the language that they use. It's the "Duality of the Southern Thing" as they once so famously said. The Drive-By Truckers aren't exactly household names throughout the country, but they certainly deserve to be. No band works harder, puts more sweat and whiskey into their craft, tours more, or has such a roster of quality albums. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this band on the same bill as The Hold Steady (an institution unto themselves, to be sure) on the "Rock and Roll Means Well" tour at The Phoenix in Toronto. The Hold Steady played first, and it appeared that most of the crowd was only there to see them. As their set ended, a large portion of the crowd made their way to the exits - and were soon replaced by the most fascinating group of fans I have ever seen. The DBT fans were an amalgam of redneck/metalhead/intelligencia types (yeah, I know). The band tore the doors off the place that night. They started with "Where the Devil Don't Stay" and finished with "Let There Be Rock" - a song that gives me chills every time and sums up what it's like to worship at the alter of rock music. What bands do you know that can lose one of it's 3 main songwriters (and singers) and be stronger on the other side? Prior to that departure, the Truckers had Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley ("The Stroker Ace"!!!), and Jason Isbell (whose solo stuff is certainly DBT-worthy). Since Isbell left, Cooley and Hood do most of the writing, but bassist Shonna Tucker (Isbell's ex-wife) stepped in on Brighter Than Creation's Dark - their last full length - and contributed some beautiful tunes. Each of the songwriters has their own style, but there's certainly a continuity of theme throughout their catalogue. "Marry Me" starts with my favorite couplet in music - "My Daddy didn't pull out/but he never apologized" - and just gets better from there. "Outfit" is a cautionary tale sung by a father to his rock star son - "Don't worry 'bout losin' your accent/A Southern man tells better jokes" is one of his pearls of wisdom, as he opines about his trials and tribulations... and how he's proud of his son. The song that really caught Mrs. Cuddle's attention when she saw the Truckers in Philadelphia in 2006 was "Sinkhole". A menacing tale about family farms and those who dare to come between a man and his legacy, the song is propelled by a 3 guitar attack - a wall of punishing guitars. If you get a chance to catch this band live, by all means, do. They won't disappoint you and you'll be left exhausted and wanting more. Check out their discography, then download some choice tracks the way the DBTs were meant to be heard - live.
Discography: Gangstabilly - 1998 Pizza Deliverance - 1999 Southern Rock Opera - 2001 (a recount of the tragic plane crash that killed most of the members of Skynyrd and what it means to be from the south) Decoration Day - 2003 The Dirty South - 2004 A Blessing and A Curse - 2006 Brighter Than Creation's Dark - 2008 Live From Austin, TX - 2009 Fine Print : A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 2003-2008 - 2009
