Owner: Any Major Dude With Half A Heart URL:http://halfhearteddude.blogspot,.com Join Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:12:40 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: MP3 Blog Site statistics:Click here
Revisiting... 2007-07-12 05:37:00 Revisiting a few older tracks...Two songs with a similar theme: retirement. Where Ben Folds' Fred Jones is mostly sad and just a little frustrated ("and all of these bastards, who've taken his place, he's forgotten and not yet gone"), the protagonist in Belle & Sebastian's magnificent song is pissed at management and lets them have it in his farewell speech ("The others were shocked at this shameful disgrace at the end of an honoured career. He paused in the silence to pull down his tieand observe the melee"). Both are lovely songs; how the B&S one was just a b-side and not a huge hit is incomprehensible.Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It.mp3Ben Folds - Fred Jones Pt 2.mp3 (Live in NYC; DVD Rip)Playing on the same bill as Ben Folds at that NYC concert were Guster (and Rufus Wainwright). I've been revisiting Guster’s outstanding 2003 album Keep It Together, which I expect to be regarded as some sort of classic before too long. From that CD:Guster - I Hope
Benny was mugged 2007-07-11 14:08:00 One of the essential MP3 blogs is RegnYouth, a treasure trove of music you'll want and music you don't yet know but should. I have found an immense amount of great stuff from the blogger, Benny
. Checking in today, I learned that Benny was mugged
of his pay of $700 on Friday in NYC. The guy has been generous with his brilliant blog, perhaps some who have benefited from his blog, or who will benefit from it, might want to help the dude out. Go here to read his story and how to help (via PayPal).
In summary 2007-07-14 13:13:00 Here all files from previous blog entries that are still active, in one go:Alexi Murdoch - Home.mp3Andre de Villiers - Memories.mp3Andrew Bird - Cataracts.mp3April Sixth - Dear Angel.mp3Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000.mp3Beauty Shop - Paper Hearts For Josie.mp3Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It.mp3Ben Folds - All You Can Eat (live In Berlin)Ben Folds - Army (live in NYC)Ben Folds with Rufus Wainwright - Careless Whispers (live in NYC)Ben Folds - Fred Jones Pt 2.mp3 Ben Folds - Narcolepsy (live in Perth)Ben Folds - Rockin’ The Suburbs (live).mp3Ben Folds - The Luckiest (live In Berlin)Ben Folds - Zak And Sara (live in Perth)Ben Folds Five - Brick (live acoustic)Ben Kweller - In Other Words (EP version).mp3Ben Kweller - Sha Sha (EP version).mp3Ben Lee - Whatever It Is.mp3Big Star - The Ballad Of El Goodo.mp3Bill LaBounty - Livin' It Up.mp3Bill Withers - Lovely Day (Sunshine Mix).mp3Blue Magic - Sideshow.mp3Bob Evans - Sadness & Whiskey.mp3Bob Evans -
1982 2007-07-18 09:20:00 And now it's 25 years ago. The photo on the right was taken in Amsterdam in May that year (note the jersey I'm wearing beneath the army surplus jacket; see 1981. And the 'tache!). I think it was this week a quarter of a century ago (shit!) that my family dragged me from West Germany to apartheid South Africa. I was16, and none too happy about it. I couldn't continue my schooling because my English wasn't good enough yet (insert you own joke about my English now), so I worked as a waiter. It turned out to be a great school of life for the following six years. As always, these songs evoke times and places (and some have been posted before. I'll mark them with an asterisks).J. Geils Band - Centrefold.mp3One of the great song-along numbers of 1982. "Na na na na na-na na-na..." Freeze Frame was the last LP I bought before leaving Germany (same day I bought The Best Of Cream). It followed a brief flirtation with heavy metal: Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Accept, Judas Priest etc.Falco - Der
1981 2007-07-16 14:52:00 And so on to 1981. Again, these are tunes that evoke that year — a year of some fun, several foreign trips, a temporarily close friend named Epstein, shit teachers at a shit school, an idiot of a younger brother (who turned out to be very cool), and the teenage depression most 15-year-olds experience. These are not necessarily favourites songs, then or now.John Lennon - Watching The Wheels.mp3The murder of John Lennon ushered in my obsessive Beatles period. I had been a fan since I was 11 (and I listened to the Blue album the night before Lennon was shot), but now I bought every Beatles LP I didn't yet have, including the unlistenable Live At The Hollywood Bowl and the US releases (Japanese and Greek pressings. Are there collectors for Greek Beatles LPs?). "Watching The Wheels" was my favourite track from Double Fantasy, and remains my favourite Lennon track. I'm still fascinated by Lennon, though he was by no means the saint after whom airports should be named. And "Imagine" is on
1980 2007-07-16 13:39:00 Let's go on a nostalgia trip. This is the first instalment of a journey through the '80s. These songs represent moments in time; they are not necessarily the best songs of the year, nor my favourites (neither then nor now). These songs evoke for me the feeling of the time, they recreate a time the way a smell might, or taste or photo (like the one on the right, taken in January 1980 on a visit to Finsterwalde in East Germany).Rainbow - Since You've Been Gone.mp3There were two versions out at the time (both covers themselves). This was one, the other was by the Cherrie sisters, one of whom was in the Runaways. I had both singles, and actually preferred the Cherries' one. Had Richie Blackmore been a hot blonde woman, on the other hand...Marianne Faithfull - The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan.mp3One of two songs that appeared in 1979 about middle-age women committing suicide (the song was the Boomtown Rats excellent "Diamond Smile"). This one became a hit in Germany only in 1980. I didn't qui
1984 2007-07-21 12:41:00 What an exciting and traumatic year 1984 was. I fell in unrequited infatuation (Tracey McIntyre, if you're reading this, I'm so over you), increased my party quotient, observed family crises, moved to London with no contacts or a job there (a crazy idea at 18), and suffered the loss of my mother. Musically it was a fantastic year for pop music.Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes.mp3"Relax" and "Two Tribes", the sound of 1984! In the anti-Cold War anthem "Two Tribes", the juxtaposition of the funk-rock and the classical interlude worked brilliantly, musically and metaphorically. The video, showing Reagan and Chernenko in a wrestling match, was quite excellent, too. Frankie's two frontmen, singer Holly Johnson and dancer Paul Rutherford, were openly gay (a bit of a 1984 theme), while the three instrumentalists looked like posterboys for the Liverpool Gay Bashing Society.Alphaville - Big In Japan.mp3"Forever Young" by this German band is now the better known track (thanks in part to
1983 2007-07-20 02:11:00 1983 was my least favourite year of the '80s, personally and musically. I worked inhuman split shifts throughout the year, leaving no time for a social life in a country I had arrived in only a year before. So I was hanging around with fellow hotel people which means that by the age of 17 I was drinking and clubbing prodigiously.Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart.mp3I saw Bonnie Tyler live some years before, supporting Slade. Even then I was suspicious of her housewife rock. But, my goodness, this track is utter genius. Written by Jim Steinman, who was responsible for the pomp of Meat Loaf's glorious Bat Out Of Hell (as was producer Todd Rundgren), "Total Eclipse" recreates the rock operatic drama, supported by a wonderfully gothic and hilariously camp video (with flying altar boys!). What I like best about this song, though, is the percussive sound of the lyrics.The Smiths - This Charming Man (Peel session).mp31983 saw the emergence of arguably the most important and influent
1985 2007-07-23 09:47:00 A great year in which I got to see loads of concerts. In 1985 I was a huge U2 fan, and saw them in successive weeks at Milton Keynes, at Phoenix Park in Dublin, and at Tourhout in Belgium, and in between saw Bruce Springsteen twice at Wembley Stadium. I rounded off the summer by being at Live Aid, which despite its largely crap music was a fantastic event. I had another unrequited crush on a McGirl (the lovely Lucy McGrath) and got to meet a lot of famous people while working in a restaurant in Chelsea. A great year indeed.Big Sound Authority - This House (Is Where Our Love Stands).mp3I saw the Big Sound Authority live at Camden Town in January 1985, a really good gig, and thought they'd make it big. This fine soul-pop song (released in late 1984 but a top 20 UK hit in '85) apart, they never did. Puzzling and, indeed, it's almost perverse. The brass was rather brilliant, the sound was rich and energetic, and singer Julie Hadwen had a mighty voice for a petite woman. She is still rec
1986 2007-07-24 10:44:00 Another good year, with fewer concerts and more clubbing. Most memorably I got into Stringfellows wearing my Manchester United t-shirt I slept in (sad, I know) under my jacket after my friend Paul dragged me out of bed to try the supposedly impossible. Telling the bouncer that you are there to meet a fictional diplomat helps; it adds to the amusement if said bouncer calls out to the head security dude if Mr Diplomat had already arrived. Seems like bouncer and I shared fictional friends. Added bonus to a year with a great summer: no unrequited crushes (alas, no requited crushes either).Fine Young Cannibals - Suspicious Minds.mp3In 1985 I was a bit of a FYC fan, having obtained a signed copy of the debut album and seen them live in concert (supported by a comic whose shtick was to get heckled for his non-punchlines, and then make slap down the hecklers with some hilarious one-liners. If anyone has his name, I'd be grateful to know it). "Suspicious Minds" featured on the album, but becam
1988 2007-07-28 06:51:00 A pivotal year. There were loads of parties, a memorable bus trip to Zimbabwe for the Amnesty International concert, during which I became close friends with people who'd have a profound impact on my life, and I quit the hotel industry in November, not knowing what I'd do next (events in January 1989 would decide that for me). Oh, and the security police raided my place for the first time. Musically it was a good year, too. Having moved from London in September '87, my obsession with the UK Top 40 diminished. In South Africa, the singles market was tiny. Instead, there were record libraries, from which one could hire LPs, from rock classics to latest releases. I'd buy loads of albums having tested them first that way. Of course, the record industry forced these record libraries to close down by 1989, because home-taping kills music (as we have seen). The number of records I bought after that decreased as a result.Chris Isaak - Blue Hotel.mp3This came out in 1987, and really belongs
1987 2007-07-26 09:49:00 In January I returned from a long holiday in sunny South Africa to freezing London. Soon I felt that I had had enough of London. When my best friend, Paul, moved to the US, I decided to return to SA, to reunite with my brother. And so in early September I did, got myself a job co-running the Room Service department at a 5-star hotel, and instantly regretted leaving London. So it was a shitty year. Musically, it wasn't particularly great either.Blow Monkeys - It Doesn't Have To Be This Way.mp3I loved "Diggin' Your Scene" the year before, but could not muster much enthusiasm for this song when it climbed the charts. Yet there it was on the radio whenever I put the thing on. It reminds me of cold, cold London, and having too little money to put on the gas heater. In the interim I have come to enjoy this song; it needs warm weather to be enjoyed.A-ha - Manhattan Skyline.mp3I've always been a bit ambivalent about A-ha, but this is a hell of a fine song. It reminds me a bit of the Beatle
By request 2007-07-30 14:04:00 Here a few songs by request:Mentioned in my 1985 nostalgia trip, "The Wild Rover" is a traditional drinking song which was the b-side of the Pogues' 1985 "Sally Maclennane" single. One to bang along to with the fist on the table.The Pogues - The Wild Rover.mp3Joachim Witt's "Herbergsvater" is possibly the best German-language dance track of all time. Witt was one of the early Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) acts, scoring a big hit with "Goldener Reiter". A "Herbergsvater" is the landlord of German youth hostels. The general perception is that they are scarily strict bastards. They are also subject to the unfair defamatory stereotype of being prone to child molestation. Anybody who has ever been on a school trip to a Jugendherberge in Germany will know to fear a Herbergsvater (yet, I've met some really cool ones, too). Witt's song has very few lyrics, other than the rhythmic exclamation of "Ej, lasst das sein, Kinder, ihr seid wohl ganz versessen" ("Hey, stop it, kids, you'r
1989 2007-07-29 05:46:00 A most intense year. I fell heavily in unrequited love (we were closest of friends instead, FFS), and I had the worst day of my life. One morning in January I received my call-up papers for the apartheid army -- there was no way I'd go, but what to do other than leaving the country (and leaving behind the woman I hoped would love me back)? Refusing military "service" was punishable by six years in jail. After a Savuka concert that night, which I had to watch on my own after getting separated from my friends, I crashed the car I was about to sell to my friend Claude, and was lucky to to get away with a mashed-up lip, cut chin and sprained finger, since I was wearing no seatbelt (playing on tape at the time was Bruce Springsteen).The army situation became an opportunity: it turned out that one could receive an exemption if one studied. So I registered at a college to complete my matriculation. From there I went on to university to study Sociology and Political Studies (the refuge for pe
Music for bloggers Vol.1 2007-08-01 14:10:00 To be honest, I don't look at many blogs that don't do music. So my idea of giving some love for my favourite blogs is rather compromised by the reality that most of them are music blogs — and to leave out one or the other is going to make me feel very guilty indeed. So please regard this as the first in a series of a few, and if you think your blog should be among the ten to receive some love here, but isn't, it will perhaps get some next time. Oh, and please remember to right-click to open links in a new window or tab.And here, my funky ones, is the song that inspired the name for this blog (which almost was called Squonk's Tears):Steely Dan - Any Major Dude.mp3Totally FuzzyChances are good that you are here because of that wonderful aggregator blog. Props to Mephisto (whose own mp3 blog rocks), Herr K and gang.Sesame Street - Fuzzy And Blue.mp3...and while we're at itSesame Street - Manna Manna.mp3 (might be the Muppets version)Sesame Street - Rubber Ducky.mp3Sesame Street - Read more:Music
, bloggers
German hits 1930-42 2007-08-01 14:05:00 Here is a collection of German
hits from 1930-452. It is fascinating stuff, and not only to the German nostalgists. Look at the stars appearing in this collection:There is the 1936 hit version of "Lili Marleen" by Adolf Hitler's favourite singer, Lale Andersen (1905-72). "Lili Marleen", originally composed in 1915 and a hit for Andersen in 1936, was a popular song in World War II across the fronts. At one point, however, the German leadership banned it because it was too morbid. Andersen was used by the Nazi leadership to record English-language "propaganda-jazz", which would proscribe her post-war activities as an artist for a while. Once her career resumed, she remained a star until shortly before her death.There is the original version of Marlene Dietrich's (1901-92) "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt" from Der Blaue Engel (filmed simultaneously as The Blue Angel, 1929), which launched her career internationally. Dietrich's sister ran a cinema near the Bergen-Belse
The Songbirds: Vol 2 2007-08-05 12:09:00 Harris TweedIt's cheating a bit to include in a review of "songbirds" a group, but Harris Tweed's wonderfully talented singer Cherilyn Macneil is a bona fide songbird, as the songs here, from last year's debut The Younger, bear out. "Ode To Confusion" is how Regina Spektor might sound if she was cute. The other two might recall Brandi Carlile: a bit of guitar, an ear for a good melody, and poignant lyrics. And the oddly-titled "Le Musketeer est Brave" features one of my favourite lines at the moment: "In my dream I am running, I’m casting off my shoes and socks and my broken heart." Music to fall in love with. Londoners can catch Harris Tweed on September 23 & 25 (for Scottish and German dates see their MySpace page).Harris Tweed - Ode To Confusion.mp3Harris Tweed - Beautiful Mystery.mp3Harris Tweed - Le Musketeer est Brave.mp3 (previously uploaded)Brandi CarlileBrandi Carlile's name may suggest an airhead pop princess; but that is one thing she certainly isn't. Expect her sopho
The Songbirds: Vol. 1 2007-08-04 07:49:00 I love the current crop of songbirds (a term which might invoke notions of Eva Cassidy, who has been posthumously overrated) better than any of the old crops -- including the class of the 1970s. In fact, I can't even describe myself as a fan of Joni Mitchell; it's her voice, rather than material, that renders her music unlistenable to me. So here is the first installment of a (possibly fairly extensive) series of contemporary songbirds I love.Rickie Lee JonesIt seems right to kick off with an old songbird. Jones has released one of the most fascinating albums of the year, The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard. Candidly, I didn't enjoy it at first, but was nevertheless intrigued. The sound is very raw (presumably the album was recorded as live), some songs are objectively mediocre, and Jones sounds like she had a case of severe hayfever. The lyrical matter -- religious faith -- might put some off as well, although it shouldn't, for Jones explores rather than preaches. The sound might b
Jacko, Yoshi & the Heartbreak Hotel 2007-08-30 02:51:00 Danny Baker's 1980 article for the NME about Michael Jackson, and his brothers, titled “The great Greenland mystery”, may well be my favourite piece of music writing ever. The subject matter lends itself to the bizarre, of course. For the most part of this pretty lengthy article, the Jackson angle is at once central and peripheral, sometimes at the same time.The best example of that is an account of a press conference in LA, held to promote The Jackson’s Triumph album (the one with the soaring “can You Feel It”). From experience I know that his portrayal of these events is hilariously accurate. Especially so in the context of entertainment writing, as I experienced during a brief excursion into the field in the early '90s.Here then the pertinent excerpts from Baker’s classic and very, very funny article (followed by a few Jacko
tracks for your pleasure):I LOVE press conferences. Nobody says anything for the first ten minutes and then, when someone does, questions fly abou Read more:Heartbreak
, Hotel
Last minute Christmas stocking filler 2007-12-22 09:32:00 Before I go off to have myself a merry little Christmas
, a few songs which didn't fit on my Any Major Christmas Mix CD.The Temptations - Silent Night.mp3A superb rendition from 1970: it's soulful, it features all the legendary Temptation singers in great form, it adapts rather than performs the Austrian Christmas hymn, it quotes Dickens, and it wishes you a happy Christmas from the Temptations.The Carpenters - Merry Christmas Darling.mp3Who better to score the feast of being nice than the king and queen of being nice. It's the Christmas carol for those in love, or who daydream of being in love. Originally this was released as the b-side to "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town".Louis Armstrong - Christmas In New Orleans.mp3Have I missed something, or has "What A Wonderful World" been adopted as a Christmas anthem? Surely I have missed something. Satchmo had a whole range of Christmas songs, and, er, here is one of them.T. Rex - Christmas Bop.mp3I know nothing about this song, not even how Read more:filler
Thriller: 25 years on 2007-12-21 05:24:00 This month it was 25 years ago that Michael Jackson released Thriller
, and we've all been rather over-excited about it ever since. Perhaps rightly so. When it came out, it was all quite fresh and innovative, and we had no knowledge of the fame and psychological defects which would eat MJ, even if the dabbles in extreme plastic surgery were already apparent. Like that other epochal album, the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's, the cracks in the hype's facade are very visible now.I must confess to what is probably heresy, I've always, from the moment I first heard it, hated "Billy Jean", a track that would have stood out on the far superior Off The Wall for all the wrong reasons. It is still madly popular, so I'll chalk it up as a classic, my own views on it notwithstanding.The title track is melodically rather mediocre. Play it on a piano. But that weakness is masked by a fantastic production, Jackson's iconic vocals and Vincent Price's menacing voiceover. And then there is that groundbre
Any Major Awards - The Winners 2007-12-15 07:34:00 And here are the winners of the inaugural Major
Dude awards. Kick back and watch the show unfold, grabbing a few samples of the music (most have previously appeared on this blog; newly featured tracks are marked as such) on the way before you rush off and buy the awarded music as thoughtful Christmas presents for yourselves and everybody you know. And here's the gong our winners may take home -- The Major Dude:ALBUMS OF THE YEARIndie Album of the Year:Swedish:Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir(I know, it was released in Sweden a long time ago, but for the rest of us, it is a 2007 album)and performing a song from this year's best Swedish Indie Album:Loney, Dear - I Am JohnOther places:Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritterand performing a song from this year's best non-Swedish Indie Album:Josh Ritter - Right MovesRock Album of the Year:Foo Fighters - Echoes Silence Patience & Graceand performing two songs from this year's best Rock Album:Foo Fighters - Cheer Up Boys, You' Read more:Awards
, Winners
Funny Friday 2008-03-07 03:07:00 I am so sad that the goldmine that was holygoof.com is no more, apparently zapped by the site's host. The Holy Goof was a like a supernova: it appeared suddenly, was quite a spectacle, and disappeared as suddenly (that's what supernovas do, right?). I have not come across a finer audio comedy site, and my life — and iPod — is emptier without the fine comedy which the Holy Goof shared. So, for Read more:Funny
, Friday
Intros quiz - 1973 edition 2008-03-05 07:40:00 Today we'll start a new theme on the Intros
Quizzes: the anniversary series. All 20 songs come from the same year, in this case (as the attentive reader may have guessed) 1973 — 35 years ago. The next one will focus on 1978, then 1983 etc.
All songs here were hits in 1973. Some were released in 1972 but became hits in 1973; a few were released in 1973 and became hits in 1974 (mostly in Europe,
The Teen Dreams 2008-03-02 07:05:00 Ask your music-loving friends about the first record they bought, chances are that everybody else bought something really sophisticated. They were eight and bought, depending on their age, Kind Of Blue, Sly Stone, the Buzzcocks, Jesus & the Mary Chain or Public Enemy. They may even tell the truth, so you feel like a bit of a chump if you first record was “How Much Is That Doggy In The Window”, " Read more:Dreams
Love Songs For Every Situation: Bitterness 2008-02-28 06:09:00 Disappointment in love — a relationship that ended, unrequited love, even a relationship that couldn't be — can turn to resentment. Love turning into hate can be a coping mechanism. It can be levelled at the ex- or putative partner, or at the whole notion of love in general. Such bitterness may be transient or it may abide, turning the brokenhearted into a fleeting wreck or into an enduring cynic Read more:Love Songs
Love Songs For Every Situation: Heartbreak 2008-02-23 08:06:00 When unrequited love girl from this post communicated to me gently that she didn't like me that way, I experienced validation for the term heartbreak. It did feel as though my actually heart was broken right down the middle. Of course it didn't, because else I would be dead, but the instant pain manifested itself in the location where the blood-pumping organ resides. It then moved to my chest and Read more:Love Songs
, Heartbreak
Love Songs For Every Situation: Regret 2008-02-22 02:25:00 Is this series bringing everybody down? Well, it's a series, and we must get through it, with all the discipline that is absent in matters of love. Today, we deal with regret (we must still do heartbreak and – the one I'm really looking forward to – bitterness). Regret
can come before or after bitterness, and often they coincide, but both emotions manifest themselves after a love has ended. Music Read more:Love Songs
Love Songs For Every Situation: Unrequited Love 2008-02-19 02:21:00 Unrequited love is a real bastard. The rejection can scar a person for life, depending on its nature. My chapter of unrequited love was set in the seasons 1988/89 and 1989/90, and was cruelly soundtracked by the disgusting cheering of the fans of Arsenal and FC Liverpool, as if to taunt me further in my indescribable pain. There was no comfort, other than Manchester Utd's FA Cup victory just days Read more:Love Songs
Love Songs For Every Situation: Impossible Love 2008-02-18 02:37:00 Of all the ways love can hurt, the impossible love might be the worst. Think about it: you have found the person you love, that person loves you back. It would be perfect, but there is something that stands in your way: a spouse, a family feud or other prejudice, maybe physical distance, or the knowledge that the relationship will be destructive. It is no accident that the most celebrated of all Read more:Love Songs
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