29 thoughts on “Friday Utilitarian Music — Gallow’s Pole”

  2. This week:

    The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Volume I
    Miles Davis, L’Ascenseur pour l’eschaufaud (Original Soundtrack)
    Franz Schubert, “Trout” Quintet (Gilels piano, Brainen violin)/”Death and the Maiden” Quartet (Brainen violin)
    John Coltrane, My Favorite Things
    Peter Gabriel, Security

  3. Is the Child ballad article available yet? I’d certainly like to read that.

  4. I haven’t been listening to much, but I had a rough day yesterday and got James Brown’s “The Payback” in my head. First, it’s amazing. Second, it is completely a country death song– it would lose a lot without backup voices and instruments, but could be equally fierce with just an acoustic guitar, or even a banjo.

  5. Hey Dan. The Child Ballad article does not appear to be up. Which means probably it won’t be on there till next week. Sorry about that! But worth the wait! (I hope, anyway.)

    I was listening to Zep’s Presence, and it’s just kind of shocking how James Brown influenced they are. Also, how much they sound like Prince (James Brown plus classic rock guitar, and what do you got….)

  7. Aw, Presence (aka Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Miniature Obelisk). I might try to Youtube that. I think of “Achilles’ Last Stand” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” — I could see it in the latter but not the former. But I don’t need much of an excuse to listen to Zeppelin.

  8. More from these people I saw at SWSX and working on an “Always Summer Somewhere” mix inspired by this Atlantic article:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMeirNg87AY
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8ZxFWmWHCQ
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIizbOf2A28
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3Ny1u7CPI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iih6PX1GULE
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iNPySgVUgs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhMnJZmXUsU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfqAmlzBfsE
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJS5ywEIsA4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3imDkvTxWc

  10. Well, “The Crunge” was a conscious attempt to do funk, right?

    Robert…I was just listening to “Favorite Things” today as well…and I love that Miles Soundtrack too…

    Also listening to Pink Floyd all week…first 6-7 albums or so…early Van Morrison (today was the great live It’s Too Late to Stop Now), some Ryan Adams. Ornette Coleman and AC/DC (Bon Scott years only) earlier in the week. Oh and Bobby Bare, Jr. this morning.

    I’m home alot this Spring

  14. This week I heard Justin Timberlake and Depeche Mode’s new records, both on Itunes. The former is not good at all. Pretty much a mess especially in compared to his sharp mid-2000s singles. The Depeche Mode was surprisingly tolerable. Favorably compares to their heyday, if that’s your kind of thing.

    Buddy Rich- Big Swing Face– Heard it for the first time last week. Not my favorite all-time jazz, but I’m sure a lot of people like it. The energy is over the top; an excellent example of what live Jazz can be like. Get it on CD; the record label did a tremendous remastering job on it.

    ?Mary Margaret O’Hara?- I Don’t Care
    What a great track. Unfortunately she’s probably too eccentric to be better known in this side of the continent. This live track is also very nice.

    Now for some power pop-
    Richard X. Heyman- Call Out the Military– from his Living Room” CD. Out of print, but worth a listen. The whole record still very much holds up twenty-five years after it first came out.

    Jules Shear & the Polar Bears- Got No Breeding

  15. This week I heard Justin Timberlake and Depeche Mode’s new records, both on Itunes. The former is not good at all. Pretty much a mess especially in compared to his sharp mid-2000s singles. The Depeche Mode was surprisingly tolerable. Favorably compares to their heyday, if that’s your kind of thing.

    Buddy Rich- Big Swing Face– Heard it for the first time last week. Not my favorite all-time jazz, but I’m sure a lot of people like it. The energy is over the top; an excellent example of what live Jazz can be like. Get it on CD; the record label did a tremendous remastering job on it.

    ?Mary Margaret O’Hara?- I Don’t Care
    What a great track. Unfortunately she’s probably too eccentric to be better known in this side of the continent. This live track is also very nice.

    Now for some power pop-
    Richard X. Heyman- Call Out the Military– from his Living Room” CD. Out of print, but worth a listen. The whole record still very much holds up twenty-five years after it first came out.

    Jules Shear & the Polar Bears- Got No Breeding

  16. FWIW…listening this week to Cirith Ungul, doom power metal band which I would like to be good but isn’t especially. Also Miike, which is Bloodshy and Avant’s band, which is also mediocre. Listening to Patty Loveless On Down the Line, which is really good. And The Living Sisters, who are fabulous.

    It’s Becky Stark from Lavendar Diamond…which will at least interest Bert I think….

  18. I was on the road this week to give a lecture and to visit an old friend outside of Philadelphia, so I had my Shuffle filled with The Smiths, Curtis Mayfield, and Efterklang (whom I got to see at Lincoln Hall earlier in the week; one of the best live performances I’ve seen in a long time). So these were the tunes I kept returning to on my iPod:

    “Choice of Color” by Curtis and The Impressions:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNV1Y01xNk8

    “The Ghost” by Efterklang:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIBeK0pN0K4

    and “Is It Really So Strange?” by The Smiths (the college friend I was visiting introduced me to Louder Than Bombs over 20 years ago):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3D_obNV9vk

    And I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers how fantastic that Richard X. Heyman album is!

    Noah, I’m guessing since you love Zep III you also like Fairport Convention’s Liege and Lief? Whenever I listen to one I always have to listen to the other.

  19. I’m glad someone else even knows who Heyman is! Thanks to a Rolling Stone magazine review from the early 90s for cluing me into him. So their reviewers aren’t completely useless.

  21. Liege and Lief is sublime. Almost like a British counterpart of The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo. I am a massive Fairport/Richard Thompson/Sandy Denny fan.

  24. This past week has been a crash course on the history and music of KISS. In addition to online research, I read twice Gene Simmons’ 2001 book “Kiss and Make-Up.” I also borrowed and went through more than 40 rare 1960s fanzines that Simmons (as Gene Klein) contributed to or had letters of comment printed in. Finally, over the weekend, I picked up the albums “Alive!” and “Destroyer.” I also dug out the album “Rock and Roll Over,” which I never listened to but originally picked up because I liked the album cover design. I’ll be listening to all three during the next day or so.

    It’s been an interesting and intriguing week, I must say.

    This next week will most likely result in even more KISS research.

  25. “Destroyer” is a legitimately good record. But I’m not sure about the rest of their ouevre.

  27. Well, whether one likes the music of KISS or not, theirs is a remarkable success story. I’m having a blast poking around all of this material.

  29. Noah — That they apparently are. That was actually one of Simmons’ goals: To put on a show that knocked ’em dead. Sales for the first few KISS albums were luke warm even though their live shows were sellouts, so KISS released their “Alive!” concert albums so some of the show energy would cross over to the albums. Sales took off and the band never looked back.

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