Cock Robin, I lump in with sophistipop of the period like Prefab Sprout, Danny Wilson, Blow Monkeys, and Style Council. And indeed, Dream Academy. I'm partial to that kind of stuff but then again I've never been accused of rocking too hard.
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 26 March 2006 02:04 (eighteen years ago) link
(Oh, and add Double ["Captain of Her Heart"] to my list above.)
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 26 March 2006 02:08 (eighteen years ago) link
Best songs on Dale Watson album: "Whiskey or God" (vs. "Drugs or Jesus," though Dale picks both -- in another song he mentions pills too by the way); "No Help Wanted" (as in "Get a Job" or Gary US Bonds's "Out of Work', with Dale stuck in a truckstop in Pittsburgh PA -- only thing is, for some reason I can't imagine truckdrivers being unemployed! Seems there could never be enough of them, but what the hell do I know?); "Truckin' Queen (I Got My Night Gown On..)" (imagine Jerry Reed in "Amos Moses" mode doing "Where's the Dress" crossed with "C.B. Savage" and you'll maybe get the idea -- the tranny is a trucker DJ in KC, and the song ain't remotely homophobic by the way near as I can tell; Dale seems in awe of the guy); "I Wish I Was Crazy Again"; "Heeah!!". Second tier: "Sit and Drink and Cry," "I Ain't Been Right Since I've Been Left," "Tequila and Teardrops," "38-21-34"; "Outta Luck." I'm still wondering if this album's a huge leap, or if he's always been this good.
Of those Princeton Record Exchange albums, the Bohemian Texas polkaholics seem to be winning. The Toby album has four or so great tracks surrounded by too many sincere love ballads. An interesting move for him, but not always an entertaining one. But maybe the slow songs'll kick in later -- Toby's showing off his voice, which deserves to be shown off.
― xhuxk, Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:31 (eighteen years ago) link
And they will be coming to NYC in April.
― George 'the Animal' Steele, Sunday, 26 March 2006 16:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Sunday, 26 March 2006 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link
and yeah, I still need to research me some Tex Czech one of these Saturdays.
and finally, I forgot to mention that Cock Robin have a really weird name.
― xhuxk, Sunday, 26 March 2006 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link
i guess i should listen to that dale watson album, it's been sitting on my coffee table for two weeks. and funny you mention robert ellis orrall because i thought he'd long ago vanished. i remember him because i saw him (in his new wave days) open for u2 on the war tour. it was my first-ever rock'n'roll show so i thought he was cool even though he probably wasn't.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 26 March 2006 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link
Excerpting, unfootnoted:
The problem is that after the first 30 seconds of “The Garden (Part III),” the opening track on Taught To Be Proud, I was ready to forcibly rip the CD from my computer and fling it from the nearest window. Jam band? Ugh.
Bouncy, semi funky drum track? Check. Rhythmically shaky and slightly off pitch backup vocals? Check! Looming shadows of Grateful Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic and the Allman Brothers? Super double check!
How many bands of well meaning college students (with guitars) have beaten this poor little Birkenstock-clad and patchouli-scented donkey-of-a-musical-movement into the dust over the past 15 years? Hmm?
But upon further listening, I started finding the good stuff lurking in the corners. Trevor Garrod’s vocals call up some combination of the Jayhawks’ Mark Olson, Neil Young and the illustrious Paul Simon — all great. His wah-wah Rhodes solo in the title track is groovy and well played. “John Brown” is a moody, little, historical tale peppered with some “20/20 hindsight” observation. After a few spins, one begins to notice that for all the jammy affectations, there’s real potential for good songs. Heck, there ARE good songs on this album. They just get
===
Headin’ Down to Bonnaroo
The band burst into the “jamband” scene with a stellar performance at Northern California’s High Sierra Music Festival in 2000. Five years later, the group found itself in front of ten thousand screaming fans at Tennessee’s fourth annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
“It was of one of those special shows that reminds you why you want to perform in front of people,” Chambers says. “The crowd was just on fire. I mean it was one o’clock in the afternoon and 100 degrees out, and ten thousand people still showed up to see us play.”
Quite suddenly, Tea Leaf Green had morphed into a venerable tour de force on the scene. The group expanded its performance schedule, and fans—many of whom just wanted to see what the fuss was about—came out accordingly. In less than six years, the band went from playing Bay Area house parties to posh East Coast theatres three thousand miles away from home.
“Now it’s getting a lot better for us,” Chambers says. “We’re making more money, getting bigger crowds—I mean we’re still all poor—but it’s nicer. We can actually expect people to be at the shows now, as opposed to two years ago we’d be happy to have 50 people there.”
Living Organically
Tea Leaf Green, like many of the group’s “jamband” brethren, knows not of radio airplay or MTV videos. Chambers says things like grassroots promotion on Internet message boards and opening for former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio have been keys to the band’s success.
“It was great playing with Trey and meeting him,” Chambers says. “He told us a lot of fun stories of what he went through in the early Phish days in comparison to =======
― George 'the Animal' Steele, Monday, 27 March 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Monday, 27 March 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Monday, 27 March 2006 19:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Monday, 27 March 2006 20:33 (eighteen years ago) link
I have never heard a single note of Calexico. That is kind of weird.
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Monday, 27 March 2006 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
just kidding. they're one of the bands that i like but wish they were just, overall, better.
i will lurk the sh*t outta your brazilian jazz thread. ;)
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Monday, 27 March 2006 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
>. kaci brown *instigator* 2005 $1.99 (who is she? she looks young. and i'm assuming she's country because that's where three copies of her CD were filed, and i think i heard of her before, possibly either in billboard or on one of these rolling country threads.)<
well, album definitely seems more like "r&b-leaning teenpop" (pretty ignorable so far, though that may change) than c&w. AMG's explanation:
>Kaci Brown grew up in Sulphur Springs, TX, and was singing at a very early age. Throughout her youth, she performed across her home state, appearing just about anyplace that would have her. To further her career, her family moved to Nashville in 2001 — remarkably, before attaining a record contract, she had a publishing deal and was writing for country artists. Though she intended to be a country artist, she was repeatedly told that she'd fare better with pop. By the end of 2005, she had summer touring dates with the Backstreet Boys, in addition to her Interscope-released debut album, under her belt. All of this happened before she passed her teenage years. A few of the things she adores, as noted on her website, include "love," "purple anything," "boys with guitars," and "boys in general."<
― xhuxk, Monday, 27 March 2006 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 13:20 (eighteen years ago) link
and it turns out Moody Scott, who we were discussing upthread, recorded in Nashville for Sound Stage 7 in the '60s, had some regional hits. there's a new comp of his SS7 stuff just out, called "Bustin Out of the Ghetto." now Moody lives in Las Vegas. xps
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 13:39 (eighteen years ago) link
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bearfoothookers2
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bearfoothookers1
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 14:29 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this Miko Marks CD, I keep being surprised by her voice, at moments when I'm not expecting to be surprised (I suppose that's a pre-requisite of being surprised, but still). Less so from Dierks Bentley, which I was expecting to like more than I do. The only bits I find myself responding to are the sappy bits, which I suppose isn't that unusual for me.
― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 14:42 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah, replaying the first album, I'd say it's definitely more alt-country than the followup, though fairly often the rhythm does pick into a passably sprightly mid-tempo waltz or choogle for the aging longhair dancefloor. Still more Dead than Skynyrd, though "Dirty Whore Blues" does okay with the latter; she leaves his member sore and he tells her "woman don't come around here no more," you get the idea -- and this is one of their better songs, actually. They're not too complimentary of the gal in "Damn She's Fat" (5'2", 300 pounds) either. (But the album covers kind of remind me of Michael Hurley's.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 14:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link
No FYPL though, I'm afraid, though I have the 7" on House of Orange if you don't mind a bit of off-centre pressing and the consequent wow (or is it flutter?).
If I'd had the choice, I'd have prioritised Ella Washington or Ann Sexton, but I don't know how the licensing works so I shouldn't criticise. I'm glad someone's doing it.
(This made me go and check to see what Ella Washington CDs are available, and there seems to be one containing at least some SS7 stuff, though it doesn't have the outrageously good "If Time Could Stand Still", which is a shame. Not such a shame that I haven't ordered it, obv.)
― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Roy Kasten (Roy Kasten), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 23:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 01:56 (eighteen years ago) link
Oddly enough, the *newest* bearfoot hookers CD single (which I hadn't noticed in my pile til now -- one of those thin paper sleeves, you know how it goes) is called "I'd Rather Two-Step Than 12 Step," ha ha, funny title, and one of its lines is actually about "falling off the wagon." So good for them, but the title's the only really clever thing about the song, which is your usual alt-country joke hokiness.
Rachel Williams CD single from cdbbay: First song "Some Things Make Her Cry" mentions Springsteen and the 49ers (presumbably the football team not the old house music group); second song "Get Home" has gospel backup. Not bad, but not enough. Nice voice, forgettable tunes.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 12:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 16:49 (eighteen years ago) link
Am reading Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy and I'm at the bit on America's official religion and its intolerance and "disenlightenment." And that's Pentecostalism now and the Southern Baptist Convention he says, sounds right to me, so when the one contestant admitted to his P-ism to Wynonna like he should get a pat on the back, I naturally began to hate him. Even though he still sounds like a pro and does as good a job as all the others.
But the show's highpoint was its first episode and now it's just going through the motions, whittling away at the stick, everyone saying "I so do want that recording contract" like the song "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth."
― George 'the Animal' Steele, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Roy Kasten (Roy Kasten), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Thursday, 30 March 2006 01:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Thursday, 30 March 2006 01:18 (eighteen years ago) link
how much of this shit is geographic
― anthony, Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:05 (eighteen years ago) link
The upside of this is that I get to see Lee Ann Womack on Staten Island, in a theatre with a capacity of a couple of thousand. I imagine this venue to be smaller than she would regularly play in towns more receptive to country music.
― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 30 March 2006 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link
No, no, no, I'm *IN* New York. I am not now and have never been and will never be "from" here, no way. And New York's illiteracy about country has indeed given me the opportunity to see excellent Miranda Lambert, Shelly Fairchild, Lee Ann Womack, Montgomery Gentry, and Big & Rich shows in rather small venues. (I even saw Toby Keith do some industry-only sitdown-and-strum thing maybe five years ago, before I knew who he was! Though I mainly went for the free food, I think.)
― xhuxk, Thursday, 30 March 2006 12:32 (eighteen years ago) link
Quite right. We've been talking a bit more about her on this thread.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 March 2006 14:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Thursday, 30 March 2006 15:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 30 March 2006 15:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Thursday, 30 March 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 30 March 2006 16:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Thursday, 30 March 2006 19:34 (eighteen years ago) link
Anyway.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/tiffanyjoallen2
"Youngest to hit #1 on the Nashville Western Chart!", the cover says. Which is to say she hasn't even been a teenager very long. First song on her album. "Dear Carl," sounds great and wise and detailed and intense, and would have made more sense sung by somebody at least three times Tiffany Jo's age, but she pulls it off. (Unfortunately I listened to it a couple hours ago and can't remember per se' what exactly the details *are,* just that they're there.) Covers of "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Louisiana Saturday Night" (hey maybe we should talk about Mel McDaniel, he was cool!), "Walkin After Midnight", and "Jambalaya" are well-chosen and done fine; "Living the Life of a Celebrity" seems not bad either. Seems a bit of a gyp that Tiffany Jo doesn't actually *yodel* til the eighth song, "Cowboy Sweetheart," and I'm happy when she finally does, but that's not to say I necessarily wish she yodeled more. "Hero In the Dark" is a sappy ballad that I could totally live without, about how everybody wants to change the world but the ones who do are ones who do it behind the scenes or whatever. Tiffany Jo's got vocal range many would die for I assume, and actually has a rich lower register, though sometimes when she drops down there I get the idea she's saying "Listen, I'm going to go into my rich and bluesy beyond my years lower register now, so watch out and prepare to be impressed." My intern Max just said she sounds like Leann Rimes; and he may well be right -- I've actually never paid attention to Leann's teen era stuff as much as her later dance stuff. (I've always assumed Leann got more interesting later; am I wrong?)
― xhuxk, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Friday, 31 March 2006 17:42 (eighteen years ago) link
http://cdbaby.com/cd/tiffanyjoallen1
― xhuxk, Friday, 31 March 2006 17:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Saturday, 1 April 2006 19:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Sunday, 2 April 2006 13:56 (eighteen years ago) link