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
There's always somone cooler than you... 2007-06-27 14:16:00 ...so you might as well enjoy whatever music you damn well like. Even Foo Fighters, hell, even the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20. Here a few tracks from EPs, b-sides, live bootlegs and who knows where from.Ben Folds Five - Brick (live acoustic)Counting Crows with Ben Folds - A Long December (live)The Weepies - Cherry Trees (live) (Very cool, actually. I love the Weepies a lot)Kevin Devine - Probably (from the Travelling the EU EP, not the inferior album version).Ben Kweller - Sha Sha (from the Freak Out... EP, not the inferior re-recorded version from Sha Sha)Matchbox 20 - Long Day (acoustic)Foo Fighters - Everlong (acoustic)Goo Goo Dolls - Slide (acoustic) Read more:always
, cooler
Ben Folds Comes Alive 2007-06-25 12:00:00 My two and a half regular readers will know that I am quite partial to the genius of Mr Ben Folds. I have never had the opportunity to see the great man live (if you're reading this, Mr Folds, please get your hornrimmed-glassed ass down to the southern tip of Africa, sir, gush gush gush). So his live album, the Ben Folds Five lives album, the few live tracks on the EPs, DVD rips and bootlegs will have to do for me. I have collated some decent-quality live stuff (thanks in part to my friend Mo). And here's sharing with y'all. I've made myself an unofficial live mix-tape (er, CD-R) which includes none of the great live versions below, but other tracks from these concerts (the Perth gig is a DVD-rip from the brilliant concerts with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra). If enough people want it, I'll post it. Place your desperate pleas in a comment.Ben Folds - Army (live in New York, Summerstage 2004) "Bah bah bah, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba etc"Ben Folds with Rufus Wainwright - Careless Read more:Alive
1982 2007-06-24 11:46:00 25 years since1982. Fuck!Donald Fagen - I.G.Y.The Nightfly had one of the coolest album covers in rock history: a monochrome shot of Fagen as graveyard shift DJ, smoking a Chesterfield (Warning: smoking is not cool, kids. Only when Fagen does, it is). When the Steely Dan man's solo album came out, I had to hunt it down; I don't know if it sold out or whether the record shops were unprepared for the demand it elicited. Dexys Midnight Runners - Respect (live)Yeah, a cover of the Otis Redding song (covered as well by Aretha something). This is a bonus track on the special edition of Too-Rye-Ay, one of the finest albums of the '80s (check out Until I Believe In My Soul). I love the idea of the celtic soul sound infusing the soul classic; it's the sound The Commitments should have adopted, not the karaoke gig the producers opted for.Yazoo - Bad ConnectionUpstairs At Eric's came out of nowhere. They were an odd combination: synth boffin Vince Clark and would-be soul diva Alison Moyet. I
Going retro 2007-06-22 09:21:00 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (live) (1975)From the Live At The Hammersmith Odeon '75 recording which was released on DVD released. One of the ultimate live songs. Who's Wendy?Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire (1968)Bonus track on the re-released CD of Live at St Quentin. As a kid in Germany, Cash was always on the radio in a context with whoever was uncool. So I grew up thinking the Man In Black was not cool. Lesson: Don't look at the people listening to the music but listen to the music.Dexys Midnight Runners - Geno (1980)Dexys Midnight Runners - Until I Believe In My Soul (1982)Every two years or so I go on my Dexys trip. In 2005, I revisited the young soul rebel to observe his 25th birthday and that of my weeks-long obsession with "Geno"; in July I shall celebrate the silver jubilee of the most wonderful Too-Rye-Ay. "Until You Believe In My Soul", from which that twat Sting stole the idea for a jazz solo interlude, features Kevin Rowlands sneering the immortal line: "You have to be f Read more:Going
, retro
Random songs 2007-06-19 02:00:00 Playing on TV where I live is a commercial for Volkswagen in which a young dude is helping an old, blind man to find his family in the big city. The quite sweet scenes are scored by a song I knew, liked, and was sure I had. On Sunday my nephew told me what it was: I had introduced it to him through one of my favourite movies, Garden State. You know you have a problem when you have so much music, you can't even remember what you have...Bonnie Summerville - Winding Road.mp3Still on the TV tack, if there is one reason to have loved the late O.C., it was for the series' way of introducing to a wider audience some excellent music that otherwise might have lingered in obscurity (some steaming shit too, but that's neither here nor there). Several shows have followed the template. Grey's Anatomy has a particularly fine track record in that regard. One artist recurrently sampled on Grey's is Emilíana Torrini, from Iceland (the name obviously gives her nationality away), whose tender, frag Read more:Random
, songs
TV Themes 2007-06-16 13:19:00 Here's the last batch of TV themes, plus all the others previously posted.Bonanza.mp3 (The all-time classic TV theme, probably. And a great series, too.)I Dream Of Jeannie.mp3 (Or is this the all-time classic TV theme?)The A-Team.mp3 (Insert your own joke about pitying the fool here.)The Brady Bunch.mp3 (Oh come on, it is a wonderful TV theme, a sound that is of its time.)E.R.mp3 (I've never watched E.R., but I do like the '90s theme)Dallas.mp3 (One to play when you come out of the shower)Dynasty.mp3 (Stephen was one of the first openly gay TV characters. But, let's face it, all the men in that show, except Blake, looked gay. Not that there's anything wrong with it.)Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo.mp3 (With Flipper, Lassie and Daktari, TV's greatest show with animals.)Full House.mp3 (The show that brought us the Olsen Twin and Bob Saget. Terrible show and a theme song that is so terrible it's essential. One for the audio trivia quiz)Pippi Langstrumpf.mp3 (A classic fo
Angel Dust 2007-06-15 12:56:00 Prompted by a blog I read today, here are a few random songs with the word Angel in the title. I promised the blogger the April Sixth song after he referred to the lyrics of the Hinder song. One thing leading to another, I'll add fellow alternative rock types Our Lady Peace and Cold to the mix. But then also some Ron Sexsmith and Mindy Smith, to appease the MP3 blog purists that I have not lost my excellent musical judgment. And, yes, I'm quite aware that there are hundreds of other songs I could have used (at least three Dylan songs, Aretha, Minnie Riperton, three Counting Crows songs...or, indeed, Robbie bloody Williams).I think I'm in love with Mindy Smith. That clear, utterly lovely voice does it for me. This is a really beautiful track from a really beautiful album, 2004's One Moment More.Mindy Smith - Angel Dove.mp3Ron Sexsmith produced one of the albums of 2006: Time Being, a rich, warm set of songs. After more than a decade of making albums, Sexsmith will never break out bi
Review: Tim McGraw - Let It Go 2007-06-11 11:27:00 On Let It Go, Tim McGraw
(who is, I must confess, an occasional guilty pleasure, albeit in small doses) does his usually mix of cowboy-hatted shtick and thoughtful, often surprising material.Opener “Last Dollars” is discouragingly aimed at the line-dancing beer-swilling Good Ole’ Boys, and Let It Go ends with a song that cringingly refers to “cowboys” and “shotgun riders” (presumably even a country singer aspiring towards seriousness has to keep the redneck audience happy).So it is a relief that in between things get progressively better with a clever mix of songs that will satisfy McGraw’s various constituencies.One of the surprises is “Suspicions”, a very good cover of ‘70s adult-rock semi-mediocrity Eddie Rabbit (whom one may file under the label Guilty Pleasures as well). “Kristofferson” is an obvious and suitable nod to the country legend of that surname (second perhaps only to Johnny Cash in the genre), while “I Need You” is the obligatory duet with
Albums of 2007, so far 2007-06-08 12:20:00 It is a scientific fact that 78,4% of all MP3 bloggers are busy compiling their top 10 albums of the 2007 so far as we speak. So, before it becomes a bore, I'll get in early. I might be on safe ground doing so before the first half of the year is up, because I've seen no releases for June that would be obvious contenders, other than the new Joseph Arthur album (and I can live without the White Stripes, I'm afraid). So... 1. Wilco - Sky Blue SkySome Wilco fans have expressed their disappointment with the unpretentious Sky Blue Sky, measuring it against the experimentations of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. These fans are mistaken to measure Sky Blue Sky not on its own merits. Here, Jeff Tweedy eschews the cacophonic innovations for a straight-forward, mellow rock album that channels the ’60s (Dylan, Grateful Dead, Abbey Road-era Beatles) and ’70s (Van Morrison, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Thin Lizzy) without losing its identity as a Wilco album. Sky Blue Sky is imme
3 random songs 2007-06-08 11:11:00 Well, not quite random; these songs
were posted on AMDWHAH's sister blog in South Africa.My second favourite song of my first favourite Beatles album:The Beatles - I’ve Just Seen A Face.mp3An anti-apartheid song apartheid radio forgot to ban in 1980. It's about inter-racial sex...er...love (a crime that could see you jailed in Apartheid SA). And it was nine weeks at No1 in SA. In your face, PW Botha!Joy - Paradise Road.mp3This song, in a different and inferior recording, found fame after being featured in a South African Volkswagen ad a few years ago which won international ads (and which was indeed quite lovely. Link here).Andre de Villiers - Memories.mp3
More Pandora discoveries 2007-06-07 07:01:00 More artists I discovered through pandora.com. Being on a deadline, I’ll have to add to this post in drips and drabs. Check this blog periodically to get more MP3 downloads. There should be six download links by the end of the afternoon.Kevin Devine - Haircut.mp3 One of my favourite Pandoradiscoveries
. Devine is hard to classify: Indie, alt.country, singer-songwriter. He is just fantastic. This is the superior acoustic version of the album version, which appeared on the rare Travelling Through The EU... EPThe Gabe Dixon Band - All Will Be Well.mp3 This is a bit like Billy Joel, before he turned to shit. I must confess that I really, really like only two Gabe Dixon songs, but those two are fantastic. This one has a great chorus and a nice piano hook.The Weepies- Gotta Have You.mp3An early Pandora discovery, and the best of the lot. I love the Weepies, despite their silly name. This is one of the cutest songs I’ve ever heard.Kacy Crowley - Kind Of Perfect.mp3 A lovely son
Internet Radio R.I.P. 2007-06-06 06:33:00 And so it has to come pass that my old friend Pandora.com has died on my doorstep. Perhaps not yours, if you live in the US. But where I live, Pandora is gone. Thanks to those idiots who run the recording industry and the judge of the Copyright Royalty Board. It isn't the Internet
that has resulted in dropping sales, but the stupidity of the recording industry which sees an opportunity, and kills it because it doesn't know what better to do with it.One attribute of Internet radio which the industry should have loved is that you don't download the music from that source. You like what you hear, you go on to buy it (or download it, depending on your ethics and access to non-top 80 material where you live). It was free advertising, and a great way to introduce listeners to acts they might otherwise never have heard. I discovered loads of such artists through Internet radio (MP3 blogs likewise are a great source of discovering new material, but you knew that). Perhaps the recording indu Read more:Radio
, Internet Radio
South Africa rocks... 2007-06-04 06:43:00 In an earlier post, I flagged the genius of SouthAfrica
's Springbok Nude Girls (or just Nude Girls, as they call themselves internationally) and Harris Tweed. The download stats suggest that the uploads were quite popular. So, here's some more music from South Africa
, with a mixed bag of genres. In case you missed them, the SNG and Harris Tweed links:Springbok Nude Girls - Blue Eyes.mp3Harris Tweed - Le Musketeer est Brave.mp3 Besides Harris Tweed, Durban's Farryl Purkiss produced the other classic South African album of 2006. His self-titled sophomore album is utterly brilliant over the first four songs, and consistently excellent for the remainder. Purkiss has toured internationally with the wonderful Missy Higgins (whose new album I love) and Donavon Frankenreiter (whose CD last year was very good, too). The comparisons to boring Jack Johnson, with whom he has collaborated, do Purkiss no justice — the guy from Durban is much better. Here's the album's second track:Farryl Pur
Agoraphobia... 2007-06-04 06:31:00 Due to popular demand (at least in my fertile imagination), here's another song by '80s sensations Stawberry Switchblade. This one goes out to all you agoraphobics out there...Strawberry Switchblade - Trees And Flowers.mp3
Review: Maroon 5 2007-06-02 12:13:00 Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007)Take equal portions of '80s funk, pop, New Wave, ska and a dash of soul, chuck it all into your favourite synthethizer, and you too can become Maroon 5.Those familiar with the genres can have virtually minutes of fun playing spot the hook, riff and bassline. For one thing, Maroon 5 have clearly listened to too many Police records (blatantly and without much imagination ripping off on three songs, from "Roxanne" to "Every Breath You Take"), and reference liberally the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson and, er, the Steve Miller Band. It seems as though in their plagiaristic endeavours, Maroon 5 couldn't even bother to go beyond volumes 1 and 2 of their 40 Super Duper Hits Of The Fantastically Brilliant 1980s double CDs. But, hey, at least Maroon 5 don't rip off Toni Basil's "Mickey", as their spiritual cousin Avril Lavigne has done.Happy then are those who need not suffer such distraction, for at times Maroon 5's second album sounds real Read more:Maroon
C'mon, get happy... 2007-06-01 13:28:00 Everybody has a set of songs that cheer them up. Sometimes these songs have a happy message, or a happy sound; sometimes they trigger happy memories. Here are some of my happy songs.Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good.mp3Rarely has a jazz-fusion song been so appropriately titled. On a forum I frequent, somebody described Mangione as the Kenny G of the flugelhorn. Slander. If you want to be scathing about Mangione's descent into smooth jazz, then compare him to David Sanborn -- another one who traded credibility for Quiet Storm commercialism. But listen to Mangione's 1975 album Chase The Clouds Away, especially "Can't We Do This All Night", and you have something much closer to the mighty Crusaders than Kenny bloody G.Earth, Wind & Fire - In The Stone.mp3A companion piece to "Feels So Good". Anything by EWF can make me happy, but none more so than "In The Stone", with its happy melody, soaring horns, jaunty bassline, funky guitar, and Latin percussion. And the "Never..." outro is pure
Come up and make me smile... 2007-05-31 04:20:00 Is music supposed to be funny? Well, here are a few songs that make me smile, mildly amuse me, or even make me laugh out loud:Ben Folds - Rockin’ The Suburbs (live).mp3 (left click)Mr Folds doesn't like the “belly-aching rock stars” who go on and on about their pain. “Rockin' The Suburbs” was aimed at the Limp Bizkits and Kid Rocks who set the emo template. In this live version, from the Songs For Goldfish EP, Mr Folds launches into a Fred Durst imitation that just ro-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-cks.Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000.mp3 (left click)The music may be ho-hum at times, but lyrically Barenaked Ladies come up with lovely little turns and twists of phrases. This song has a succession of them: why would a green dress be cruel?Paul Anka - Smells Like Teen Spirit.mp3Paul Anka - Jump.mp3The legendary crooner certainly wasn't the first to do lounge versions of rock hits, but his 2005 album Rock Swings was one of the finest efforts in the genre. Unlike Richard Cheese (below), An
Thank you for the earworms... 2007-05-30 10:22:00 First up I should apologise to my army of loyal readers for the long silence. But I won't, because only two have ever left a comment. So, stay-at-home dad and KP's GF, know that I still love you.Anyhow, my home PC refused to log into me into blogger, and I have been quite the busy chap at work. having succeeded to log in tonight, I might have more possertunity to update more regularly -- provided I get COMMENTS! (Yes 'possertunity' is a word. Sean W. Reeves of Amsterdam says so. Look!)So, four songs today. Four of my four earworms in the past 24 hours. The first was a Celine Dion song, which I will not do unto others as I would do unto myself. I know only two lines, and google has revealed that it is a dirge called "Because You Love Me". How did that creep into my internal jukebox?The other four (left-click for download link):Springbok Nude Girls - Blue Eyes.mp3"Round about round about round about now". It's a South African rock classic, from 1999. Arno Carstens and the other blok Read more:Thank
And I swear... 2007-05-04 03:31:00 Few things in life are more satisfying than to enunciate the sound of Anglo-Saxon in moments of frustration. And when one swears in English, it almost invariably is Anglo-Saxon. Piss. Fuck. Shit. Pissen. Ficken. Schiete (the northern German Plattdeutsch dialect’s variant of the more famous Scheisse).Swearing should not be gratuitous, though it often is. In music, especially in Hip Hop and Emo, the effect of profanity is often undermined by its reckless frequency. Ubiquitous though swearing may be in the lifestyle of performer and listener alike, the poetic power of the well-considered “fuck” trumps the casual deployment of mechanical profanity (especially when on radio or MTV songs are truncated by blanks of puritan silence).There are exceptions, of course. For example, when NWA let the f-word fly in relation to the Boys in Blue, it was a lyrical burst of exploding anger that demanded its abundant use. Likewise, the culminating declaration of defiance in Rage Against The Machine
A decade of Tony... 2007-05-02 08:11:00 Ten years ago Britain woke up to the (predicable) news of Tony Blair having been elected new prime minister. It might be said that his stands as one of history’s regretable events. Still, it kept the assorted nasty gnomes of the Conservative Party out of power for ten years. We might wish to celebrate this today, but let us also remember that this undoubted benefit to Britain has been paid for with the blood of tens of thousands innocent Iraqis.I have neither the time nor the inclination to review how everything went pear-shaped for the warmongering prick Blair. Indeed, his legacy can be summed up in a single mpeg file from 2003. Tony, you shall be judged by your friends. Now quit already!Tony and Dubya sing “Endless Love” Read more:decade
Hello Cleveland! Coming live... 2007-04-11 06:38:00 Can you remember your first live concert? I remember it better than the time I lost my virginity (in fairness, I was sober at my first gig). It was Slade, and I was 12. The concert, not my first time. With a couple of mates I travelled by train from Lübeck to Kiel, somehow found the Ostseehalle, and braved a host of dreadful support acts that included one of the many “next Bay City Rollers” called Buster, a few German Schlager herberts, and Bonnie Tyler, whose hoarse balladeering I might have appreciated a year earlier, but not now when I had learned to play air guitar with as much attitude as a barely pubescent rocker could muster.I didn’t see another proper concert (that is, live music not performed in a pub) until 1982, when I caught Johnny Clegg’s Juluka in Cape Town. A couple of years later I moved to London, where I immediately set out to buy concert tickets. My first London gig? I’d like to say it was the Smiths (never saw them live, alas) or Leonard Cohen (whom I did Read more:Hello
, Cleveland
Just some music: Bright Eyes, Wilco,etc 2007-03-30 06:47:00 I have nothing much to say today, other than that the weather is glorious today. Instead, here are some of my favourite songs at the moment, a former favourite, and possibly a future favourite.Wilco
The new album comes out only in May, but it has been leaked on the Internet. It is easily the Album of 2007 so far (towering over the Shins), and it will take something quite extraordinary to knock Tweedy and chums of that perch. The best track on Sky Blue Sky is “Impossible Germany”, which seems to sample the guitar riff from Thin Lizzy’s "Sarah". "Shake It Off" is another stand-out track, sounding like the Beatles White Album era going a tad alt.country. Fantastic. Get the album from the brilliant Serenity Now blog, listen to it, fall in love with it, and buy it in MayDownload: Wilco - Shake It OffBright
EyesI'm Wide Awake It's Morning was my album of 2005, and I liked the sampler EP that preceded the April 10 release of Cassadaga. To be honest, I only just got it myself (again fro Read more:Bright Eyes
Get funky: Remembering Disco 2007-03-22 03:28:00 In the 1981 Bill Murray comedy Stripes, a character (possibly played by Judge Reinhold) wears a t-shirt bearing a legend which summed up a particular spirit of the time: “DISCO SUCKS”.Of course, our t-shirted friend was spectacularly wrong. He might have had a point, however, had his t-shirt proclaimed: “Certain aspects of Disco Suck, particularly its appropriation, dilution and exploitation by The Man who has no interest whatsoever in maintaining its artistic and, let it be said, joyful integrity.” But those who represented the “Disco Sucks” mindset were already struggling with the two syllables contained in the name of the genre they claimed to despise, never mind applying their mind to what they were really protesting against.Of course, nobody was obliged to like Disco. I don’t hold the artistic talents of Ms Paris Hilton in high regard, but would find it unnecessary to communicate my protest at her lack of talent through sartorial media. The “Disco Sucks” movement Read more:Remembering
Tack så mycket for the music, Sverige 2007-03-15 05:03:00 The centre of the Indie music universe is turning out to be Sweden. It started a decade ago with the international emergence of the Cardigans. Today the likes of the idiosyncratic Jens Lekman, the Shout Out Louds, and Peter Bjorn & John contribute to the country’s fertile music landscape.HELLO SAFERIDEAnd then there is Hello Saferide (Annika Norlin), whose one-and-a-half albums have created a measure of Internet buzz. Sparsely instrumentated, sometimes it’s just an acoustic guitar and handclaps, Hello Saferide has an infectious, often quirky and sometimes very pretty sound that belies the often dark lyrics (such as the ill-wishes addressed to an ex-boyfriend on “Valentine’s Day”).Hello Saferide’s quest for love finds expression in unexpected ways, be it the benign stalker in “High School Stalker” or the resolution for the “shitty”new year of getting together with a chap who doesn’t know it yet (“2006”), or the interrogation in “The Quiz”. On other songs, s Read more:Sverige
Music for a wedding 2007-03-05 03:15:00 Sountrack to this blog:Ben Folds - The Luckiest (left-click)Mason Jennings - Ballad For My One True Love (left-click)The Weepies - Somebody Loved (live) (right-click and "save target as")Bob Schneider - The World Exploded Into Love (right-click and "save target as")Sadao Watanabe & Roberta Flack - Here's To Love (right-click and "save target as")Oh my, what an exciting weekend: Liz Hurley got married!!! I learned all about what must be one of the great stories of the year from Sky News, purveyors of all the modern person needs to know.On Saturday morning, Sky interviewed a wedding
planner. Because such erudite insights into matters of this nature are crucial to our understanding of the world. Explaining why Ms Hurley needed a flashy celebrity wedding reception (at which the only acceptable gift was an organic cow, going rate £3,000; presumably an ironic statement relating to Hurley’s purported character), Ms Wedding Planner excitedly proclaimed: “Imagine Liz went to the local Read more:Music
Ben Folds live mix 2007-07-01 05:06:00 Here in three packages is my mix of Ben Folds live tracks from:Songs For Goldfish EP, 2005Soundboard recording from gig in Berlin, 4 June 2005DVD Rip of Summerstage gig in New York City, 14 July, 2004DVD Rip of concerts with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth, March 2005)All tracks have been normalised, and packed in three files for safer downloading (nothing as annoying as a 70MB download cutting out at 95%)File 1File 2File 3PASSWORD IN COMMENTSTracklisting1. There's Always Someone Cooler Than You "Make me feel tiny if it makes you feel tall, but there's always someone cooler than you."2. Rockin' the Suburbs "Mom and dad make me so uptight, I'm gonna cuss on the mic tonight"3. One Down "And I hate hearing belly-aching rockstars Whine and sob, cause I could be bussing tables, I could well be pumpin' gas. But I get paid much finer for playin' piano and kissin' ass."4. Zak And Sara "Sara spelled without an 'h' was getting bored on a Peavey amp in 1984 While Z
2007: getting better 2007-06-30 08:05:00 This year is beginning to look good. A few fine new albums that have been released or are still awaiting release will make the wait for the ageless classic bearable (apologies for the links mix-up earlier; the Cary Brothers link is now correct).Spoon - The UnderdogFrom Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which despite its awful title is a glorious album, with all the experimentations coming together just right. "The Underdog" is fantastic; it has horns, acoustic guitars, handclaps, a furious finale, and Britt Daniel sounds as much as Phil Lynott as he ever will. An album to be excited about.Brandi Carlile - The StoryWhen I first came across Carlile, I thought her name marked her out as a cheerleader-type pop princess. Goodness, how wrong I was. This woman can sing her folk-rock/alt.country stuff. Hear her roar on "The Story", the title track from her quite wonderful sophomore album. Josh Rouse - God, Please Let Me Go BackFrom Country Mouse, City House. I like this song's George Harrison-style guitar and Read more:better
Higher and higher 2007-07-09 05:17:00 Here is a music cliché that pisses me off: that a singer who is able to hit high notes must have a problem with testicular position, constriction or development. Or maybe I'm just being sensitive because I can do a mean falsetto and the contents of my scrotum are in perfect working order (too much information, right?). In honour of all men who can hit the high notes, here are some of the best:Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire has a good claim to be the king of falsettoists. Check out the live version of the magnificent "Reasons" when he goes into duel with the alto sax. But Bailey demonstrates the skill it takes to sing falsetto not when hitting the glass-shattering high notes, but when he goes down deep (listen to his "ba-a-a-aby" just before the sax comes in).Earth, Wind & Fire - Reasons.mp3They say "Keep On Trucking" was the first disco hit when it reached the US #1 in 1973. By then, Eddie Kendricks had already established his legendary status as a member of the Temptations. The
An Aussie and a Seffrican walk on a stage... 2007-07-14 10:01:00 ..and create some magic. Last night I saw the great Farryl Purkiss in concert in Cape Town, supported by Australian pop-folk merchant Bob Evans (and South African indie-folk singer Simon van Gend, who was quite excellent in his Clem Snide/Joe Purdy channelling ways). The photos are from that gig.I've bigged up Farryl Purkiss before. His self-titled sophomore album was one of my picks of 2006 (and the lovely "Better Days" one of my songs of the year). He performed accompanied only by his guitar and a minimalist drummer. Having toured extensively internationally, he is making an impression with his mellow acoustic sounds. He should become huge enough to remain cool, like his heroes Purdy, Mason Jennings, Sufjan Stevens and Calexico.Farryl Purkiss - Better Days.mp3Farryl Purkiss - Escalator.mp3Before last night, all I knew of Bob Evans -- whose real name is Kevin Mitchell and comes from Perth -- was what he streams on his MySpace page. On strength of last night's performance, I bought t Read more:Aussie
Introducing... 2007-07-13 03:16:00 Introducing the softer side of the Killers. "Smile Like You Mean It" is a great song. I love the Killers' original; I love Tally Hall's superior cover; and I love the acoustic version (but I'm a sucker for acoustic versions).The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It (acoustic).mp3Sounding a lot like the Killers is Cape Town band The Dirty Skirts, who made an impression at this year's SXSW showcase. Their full debut came out in March, but this is their SA #1 hit from last year. Dudes will make it big.Dirty Skirts - Set Me Alight.mp3My England-based informant has told me that the very great Joshua Radin is supporting the ghastly Tori Amos on her tour there. FFS! It should be the other way around. Radin's Nick Drake-channelling full debut We Were Here was my album of 2006. This track, from the First Between 3rd & 4th EP, remains my favourite Radin song.Joshua Radin - Do You Wanna.mp3One of the best alt.country songs of the last year was the Beauty Shop's "A Desperate Cry For Help" (I lov Read more:Introducing
Recommend Site To A Friend
