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Joan Baez sang that too, I really like her version. "The Dove". I do like the English words on that one, too.


Brel also worked with Michel Legrand for a few songs in the 1950s.
I agree about Jouannest, he wrote a lot of Brel's best tunes too. And François Rauber was a brilliant orchestral arranger.

I must say "67" is one of my least favourite Brel albums. It has a few great songs but too much filler and too many bizarre cuts. Though I can see the argument that he had progressed stylistically.

Here's how I'd characterise the albums: (they're actually nearly all untitled, Peter Gabriel-style, but have acquired titles colloquially since.)

Philips years:
Le grand Jacques, Quand on n'a que l'amour - the early style: good, but very different. Now abounding in cheap budget versions Surfin' Safari-style.
Au printemps- more lush, first works with François Rauber, lyrics still optimistic and sweet, but definitely evolving.
La valse à mille temps - his first masterpiece in my eyes. Still somewhat sentimental, but loads of classics.
Marieke already discussed
olympia '61 stunning live album.

Barclay years:
Les bourgeois lots of classics, getting more and more bitter and provocative.
Les bonbons again, lots of classics, and a peak of instrumental variety and creativity (it reminds me a little of "Rubber Soul" somehow.)
olympia '64 another great live album with little overlap from the previous one. With the only released Brel version of "Amsterdam".
Ces gens-là I think this is the best album. ( I didn't choose it only because I thought it might be too heavy as an introduction). A work of art, theatre, poetry. Feels all of a piece, even though in fact it was recorded (and initially released) piecemeal. Very intense.
'67 See above.
J'arrive Great return to form. Several longer, slower songs.
L'homme de la Mancha Original Paris cast recording of the Don Quixote musical. Couple of good tracks that could have been Brel originals, and a lot of awful stage-school singing by the other actors.
Ne me quitte pas Rerecordings of Philips material. Mostly very well done, and a great introduction to Brel.
Les Marquises The last album, his first for many years. He died soon after. His voice much more scorched. Regarded as a classic, but I find it a bit hard-going overall.

I have really been getting into this one.  So much of what I've been listening to (and reading) this past week has been great, and I haven't even studied Brel's 50's work yet.  I was never all that big on Baez, but did play her version of "La Colombe."  It was Collins who first recorded the English version in 1966.  Then in 1967 she helped produce the album Save the Children - Songs From the Hearts of Women.  The intro is in English, then her take on the song in French.  This is still not as good as Brel's, mostly because it's just Bruce Langhorne on guitar and Judy on piano:  http://youtu.be/Ly3bVm7SpGU

I wasn't old enough to understand what all the protesting on TV was about.  I was just a kid listening to The Beach Boys and The Beatles, and usually skipped Judy's Dylan and protest tracks.  I didn't want to think about war in 1966.  As a freshman in high school (and throughout the late 60's) our history teachers thought anything after WWII was too controversial to discuss (including civil rights).  We were told to talk to our parents about it or among ourselves outside the classroom.  I was in the deep South, not Berkeley.  I liked Country Joe and his gang, but they left "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die" on an obscure 1965 EP (Rag Baby: Songs of Opposition) til November 1967.  That was on their second album, and the only protest song they did up to that point.  This place is about music, not politics (except the sandbox), but 1967 wasn't all peace and love.  Then everything "escalated quickly" in America and the world in 1968.  By then I was well aware my country would soon ask force me to go to Vietnam.  Folks were fighting in the streets, but not on our turntables so much.  Not mine.  Dylan was singing about visions, outlaws, Country Pie and Nashville's skyline.  Protest music was not riding the charts, other than The Beatles' "Revolution," and The Beach Boys were asking everybody to just be friends.  Baez's Joan album wasn't full of protest songs either.

My family wasn't wealthy like Brel's, but there were similarities.  He was lucky to be from a bourgeois family - easier to deal with not only the Great Depression era he was born in, but a childhood that he described as "...where almost nothing happened ...It was not rough at all ...It was calm and inevitably morose."  Really?  He was eleven when Germany turned Belgium on it's head.  Yes, he made references to the invasion in one of his songs - "May 40," but that was written after he was less naïve.  "La Colombe" was written in 1959.  He was still growing up while France controlled Vietnam, and soon involved in the Indochina War (1946-1954).  He was writing about his own memories, not America's war.  Notice in Judy's intro she says 1949, the soldiers are leaving Paris.  "Quand on n'a que l'amour" ("If We Only Have Love") was written in the middle of the Algerian War in 1956, and also used during demonstrations against the Vietnam war in America.  I've read he publicly supported the Unified Socialist Party, a left reformist party, during the French elections of 1967, and that Jouannest was a member of the Communist Party.  So by then he was forming a firm direction.  better add a disclaimer here:  some of what I'm paraphrasing and quoting came from The World Socialist web site.  I'm no expert on Brel's life.  Ian is probably not learning anything new here, but for everybody else...

I'll do one more.  Let's look into the lovely "Port of Amsterdam" written in 1964.  Beyond his political views and wealth he had a lot of respect for the common man.  In this song Brel puts himself in the shoes of sailors - showing the harshness of their day-to-day struggles.  Beauty flows alongside ugliness, misery touches pleasure and dream straddles harsh reality.  There's a sailor who dies, and in the very next verse a sailor is born on a hot muggy morn.

Many of his songs are about these everyday people and well, life. "Port of Amsterdam" is a crescendo on life.  I first heard "Port of Amsterdam" on a Bowie bootleg EP in 1979.  It's from the 1971 Ziggy sessions.  A b-side on the "Sorrow" single (1973).  I might have heard it back in '73, some of my friends were into Bowie/Glam, but I didn't get into him til 1975's Young Americans.  The reason I confused "Alabama Song" with "Port of Amsterdam" is that I had Bowie's 1982 12" single where the two songs comprised the a-side.  Then thought "must have heard that first by the Doors" - but confusing the tracks.  how's that for clarifying?  

I didn't actually know much about his politics. I just assumed he was a socialist because of his tribute to Jean Jaurès on his last album. He seems to have been quite a contradictory character, not to say hypocritical. Though he doesn't often comment directly on current affairs in his lyrics, the overwhelming political feeling expressed in them is anti- war, ugliness, and intolerence; and pro-peace, empathy, kindness and freedom.

Bubby Waves's dislike of the lyrics to "Les singes" got me considering them more thoughtfully than before. They seem to express a Rousseau-derived philosophy, which has been generally discredited, that before we became "civilised" we lived in a golden age of harmony, peace and freedom, that if we listen to our natural impulses, we will be free. So its ironic (probably deliberately) that its called "the monkeys", when this philosophy suggests it would be better if real monkeys were in charge. But I don't think its meant to be taken too literally, I think it's a lyrical device that allows Brel to rant against different pet hates.

Anyone paying close attention to my posts recently has probably figured out I'm having a bit of an obsession with an artist I recently discovered - Nick Cave. So, the artist was an easy choice for me. The album, however, was a tough one. I love all his albums that I've heard so far and he is remarkably consistent in the quality department. After consideration, I decided to go with...

(Drumroll, please; Yeah, I know you already saw the thread title, shut up)

Tender Prey by Nick Cave!
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517WCDlGUzL.jpg)

Easily the worst cover art that I've yet encountered in his catalog, I decided to choose this album as I thought it would work well as an opening. Rather than picking my favorite album and throwing you into the deep end with something a bit more... Nick Cave-y, I figured this has a nice balance between a lot of his styles and will act as a good introduction to his work. Although, I will admit, part of the reason I choose this album is that it is a bit scatter shot in its approach, and isn't perhaps as cohesive as his albums normally are. But, more on that later. I'd like to share what I think about this album as well, but I'll hold off a bit to see what other people think first.  I think there is a real mix of song quality here, and I'd like to see what a newcomer (or, hey, maybe you've heard his music before) will make of this album.

However, there are a few things I'd like to mention, #1 being that Nick Cave uses a great amount of biblical imagery in his writing, so for people like me who aren't by any means familiar with the bible, I thought I would share that the song "Mercy" is based on John the Baptist (follow this link to read about the circumstances the song is based on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist#In_Mark)), as it helped me a great amount to understand and appreciate the song. #2 being that I love the first song on this album, and so did Johnny Cash apparently, as he covered it during his Rick Rubin years. Play it loud :)

Nick Cave has never tickled my fancy. In one of my intermittent bursts of I've-Got-To-Hear-Everythingism--this particular bout before streaming for free was easy--I bought From Her to Eternity used and tried that out. I had read enough to have some idea what I was in for, but the music didn't match my imagination's version of the descriptions.

Unfortunately Tender Prey produces a similar result. I understand what people would like about it and question why I don't, myself. Part of it is the purely illogical matter of personal aesthetics: my infamous aversion to baritone singers. There are exceptions, but few enough that they are exceptions. Part of it is the cartoonish noir gloomster that Cave plays. I always feel like he's leading a joke-band at a Halloween party. More of it is the repetitive nature of some of Cave's songs. A song like "The Mercy Seat," which is widely regarded as a great song, pains me as it pushes toward its 7:18 conclusion.

What isn't actually repetitive gives the feeling of it by a sameness to the production. (Let's be honest, if this were a sound I liked more, I'd use a word like "consistency" and would chalk it up in the pros column.) The echoing spaciousness to the instruments--which sound thin in a way I associate with the '80s in general--makes the whole thing sound to me like a band playing in an empty basement.

It's not all negative with me. "Watching Alice" is a really good song, definitely and by far my favorite on Tender Prey. Like a Berlin-era Lou Reed song, it's startling to hear a narrator so detached describing what would normally be an intimate scene. There is also sufficient harmonic motion to keep things progressing. And speaking of progressing, Cave & the Bad Seeds have a way of mining classic sounds for rhythms that roll, when the spirit moves them. "Sugar Sugar Sugar," "Deanna," and parts of "The Mercy Seat" have anthemic power from classic rock and roll or in the latter case, more like work-song-meets-march.

In the end, though, I just don't enjoy listening to Nick Cave. Why not, since I love Tom Waits, another unconventional baritone spanning genres with a penchant for songcraft and seedy stories delivered fully in character?

The answer is I have no idea.

On fist listen, I also thought "Mercy Seat" was repetitive. In fact, whenever I listen to an album of his that's new to me, it takes me a couple listens to really absorb what I'm hearing. As I listened to "Mercy Seat" more and more, I started to understand the approach more (or at least what I think what the point is): you're in his head, hearing these thoughts constantly go round and round while he's waiting to be sent to the electric chair for a crime he's innocent of. While waiting what must be a lifetime in what is actually a couple moments, these thoughts are constantly spilling out of him: fear, anger, reassurance, and then a steely complacency. He's constantly going through this thought cycle as he awaits his death.

One of the things I love about Nick Cave is that his music never - to me, anyway - carried the typical sound signatures of certain eras for music. Although, I will agree that that changes a bit for this album and the next, the Good Son. There are some other things I'd like to comment on in your post, but I'll wait until other people chime in.

Maybe you'll enjoy Johnny Cash's version more, which does away with a lot of the repeated verse (chorus?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8CzFVm1Yio

I think you're exactly right about what Cave is doing on "The Mercy Seat." It's just that to me, the effect wasn't helpful.

The idea is similar to something called word painting, where the music does what the words say or imply. At its simplest, maybe a major seventh chord on a happy lyric or a suspended fourth when the text indicates suspense or indecision. Other examples might be an ascending line when the words say "rise," etc. Cave is nowhere near as clunky and obvious as those examples, but I just use them as examples. The issue with that kind of technique is that sometimes the technique makes sense, but just is too much. You can imagine how tedious a song might be that tried to make musical symbols for everything happening lyrically. It's clever in a sense, and successful at what it's doing on one level (e.g., it is indeed making symbolism out of lyrics, for better or worse), but on another level it's just not going to be something someone wants to hear.

That, for me, is in part what happened on "The Mercy Seat."

By the way, I don't mean to harp on my dislike. (Not that I think you'd care; I'm pretty sure you can handle disagreement ... and I look forward to the inevitable blowback on whatever I select next week.) It's not disdain, I can tell you that. I respect Cave and see why what he does is good. I just don't want to hear much of it.

No, voicing your opinion is the exact point of this thread, it's alright. In all honestly, I'm not really sure what to expect with responses. I didn't think you cared for him all that much, due to your recent posts saying you don't usually like baritone singers, and that he seems like someone you would know, but you never seem to post or make mention about him. I hate to be your typical Frank-Zappa-fan, but given your like for "Watching Alice", I do think there might be some Cave you'll actually like. A lot of his music going forward downplays his "cartoonish noir gloomster" side, especially when he was into his "writing a classic love song" phase. This is one of his first, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0spQCw35D4, and is beloved.

I think as Nick became older, his songs became quieter and more piano-based. In fact, much of his music had become calmer and more contemplative (starting with the Good Son and later continuing with the Boatman's Call) until he decided to turn things around again with Grinderman. That's probably for another conversation entirely, though.

Don't we all.  ;D

Cool pick.

Looking back now I'm surprised at how much variety there was in the subject matter, and yet the whole listening experience felt a bit samey. I think it's just because I'm more into music than lyrics (in fact, I'm usually utterly hopeless at lyrics)... here the sounds compliment the words nicely, but it's all centred around the lyrics and Nick's delivery. And since it's all rather gloomy I felt like a lot of the backing tracks were similar, even if the lyrics were very different.

Still, "The Mercy Seat" and "Deanna" (which was fun in a sick sort of way) were very good... maybe because the music itself was more memorable.

Not really for me, I think is the bottom line. But was a worthwhile listen, fer sure. I feel like I might enjoy The Boatman's Call.

Gave the record a first listen this morning.  This will definitely take several listens to get a feel for.  I had listened to a couple of his albums a few weeks ago, From Her to Eternity and Let Love In, after they were posted in the What are You Listening To thread.  Tender Prey is a bit different to those.

You guys seem to focusing on "The Mercy Seat," so I played several live versions looking for a better take than the one on the lp, which is repetitive, and needs some editing.  He did that on his Letterman appearance in 2008, playing it as a solo piano piece at four minutes and change.  This allowed the lyrics to shine through and be clearly understood, and depressing they are.  Glastonbury 2009 was the best one I found of a full band take.  They play the song without any repetition, clocking in around five minutes.  I noticed it is Nick that is doing the great 60's organ sound on the record.

So far I'm liking side one more.  "Up Jumped the Devil" and especially "Mercy" are standouts.  I'm thinking Nick at the piano is what works best for me.   

What did you think of those albums? I was considering throwing everyone in the deep end with From Her to Eternity, but I chose something that was (I thought, at least) a bit easier. I haven't heard Let Love In yet, but it's next on my list. Has that song "Red Right Hand" that everyone seems to know.

I think you'll like this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv0Fy3eS81g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv0Fy3eS81g). For some reason, it made me think of you. It's in a country vein that we have a mutual affinity for (most of that album is).

Nick's debut From Her to Eternity (1984) is so far out of the realm of what I listen to - once was enough.  The Cohen song was near unrecognizable.  He got better tho.  By 1987, he did the David Byrne imitation a bit better on the re-make of "From Her to Eternity."  Deep end?  Middle of the Atlantic for me - with big waves.  Let Love In (1994) between 1992's Henry's Dream and 1996's Murder Ballads is much better.  Strong piano (mostly Conway Savage) and organ (Nick) based songs.  Lots of treated guitars by Mick Harvey and Blixa.  Basically a "loser in love" themed album, and his usual dealings with the Devil.  He has several different moods as far as the music goes, but the lyrics are mostly depressive.  Is Nick ever happy?

Don't think I'll be able to get through his whole catalogue by Friday, but I did enjoy Henry's Dream.  I listened to the whole album.  Country feel with pop sensibilities.  "Brother, My Cup is Empty" is Country with a 70's British Pub-Rock feel that Nick Lowe did so well.  Cave came to England in 1980, good time to be there musically - not so much politically.  You should check out Brinsley Schwartz, maybe "Ju Ju Man (live)"   http://youtu.be/Vq8Jzu8iKOw   I wish you had picked Henry's Dream.  I'm way into Country music.  We're all showing each other good stuff.  I like the way this thread has so many left turns.

Quick rundown of the tracks from Let Love In:

"Nobody's Baby Now" - is very Dylan.  "Jangling Jack" - his Waits' song for this album.  "Red Right Hand" - wait, even more Waits like, sounds musically like "Way Down in the Hole" and he's using Waits' imagery here too.  Throwing in Burroughs' imagery too.  I like Nick's organ sound - it's right out of Phantom of the Opera.  "I Let Love In" - Where is love getting in?  Despair and deception to a spaghetti western melody.  "Thirsty Dog" - sounds like early Cave/Birthday Party =Iggy/Stooges.  "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" - wreckage and ruin.  My baby's gone...  "Lay Me Low" - using found melodies again, given time I could pin the song - but don't want to keep playing it over and over.  "Do You Love Me (part 2)" - another stretch through the desert of his life, another spaghetti western.  It's all downhill with a bullet in Nick's back.   

Yes, From Her to Eternity is certainly a unique album experience. Usually, we seem to have similar tastes, but that album's hellish madness totally drew me in. I actually usually skip "Avalanche" and start that album with "Cabin Fever". The Cohen cover just seems to get in the way of what I really want to hear on that album. I find the next album, the Firstborn Is Dead, to be a similar kind of thing, except re-imagined as a blues album. The opening track is an amazing song.

I quite like Henry's Dream, too. I was actually thinking about choosing it, but it's still a bit new to me (only been listening to it for about 6 days now), and I originally planned to go with Tender Prey. In the end, I just decided to stick with my original choice, and perhaps made a mistake similar to Peter Reum's in that I picked what I thought would be a good access point rather than just picking one of my favorites. Even if you didn't like Tender Prey so much, I'm glad you found one you did like in Henry's Dream. I love that part when the whole band lets loose on "John Finn's Wife" and you just know something terrible is about to happen.

Is Nick ever happy? Hmm, we might just have to settle for manic.  :)

Young people pick up on the energy of music like early Cave.  I did too when I was young.  I can see that.  But I don't jump up and down anymore when I listen to music.  I've watched and listened to a lot of his music this week and enjoyed some of it.  Listened to parts of both the Grinderman albums - even in the late 2000's he can wear you out.  He can get to a fever pitch.  I don't see him as completely Goth.  I think he reads the Dark Romantic writers (Poe, Hawthorne, Byron, Shelly) and feeds off their "man challenged by sin and self-destruction" stories and poems - sticking in the spookiness/illusion that is sometimes real life.  Or real inside the mind that's living it.  If you follow that link back you will get to someone unreleased backgrounds mentioned, Rousseau and his thoughts on "les singes" (the monkeys").  Cave is taking that philosophy literally in The Birthday Party track "Nick the Stripper" - he dances on all fours.   http://youtu.be/l5I2vEcVC_I   I have no way to know how deeply Cave studied into this, but it's easy enough to find it and read it.  By the end of the clip he's tangling with a goat - goodness, I wasn't sure what he was about to do.  He's always talking about murder and mayhem.  Hellish madness is a good description.  This was also an early example of another theme he would mine later.  Burroughs' insects, fat little insects.  These are the images I'm picking up on, and I must say this is a strange time of year to be watching something like this.  It's Christmas, Bubbly!  Monkeys should be dressed up in festive hats not painted green.  Okay, painted green is good for Christmas I guess, but not with those evil looks like on the Grinderman album.  I liked "Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man' - he does Iggy pretty good on many tracks.

It is hard, and been said a few times in this thread, to jump in quick to music you've never heard in just a week.  I like some Punk music and some Post-Punk.  Just not on any big scale.  Something else was always catching my attention in other styles.  I didn't like the early stuff as much as Cave's progress.  But that too is held back by the sameness of the lyrics.  It's fairly unrelenting in sadness set in aggressive beats and in the slow ones.  I listen to sad songs, but this is track after track a man living a life I don't want to think about.  That's me tho.  I read enough to know Nick is very popular.

Tender Prey         Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Produced by Flood (Mark Ellis) - I like some of his work with U2 (Zooropa, Pop), Depeche Mode (Violator).  A bit of the Smashing Pumpkins stuff.  He did Pop the same year (1996) he did Boatman's Call - both came out in 1997.  He has a good many well produced tracks by a variety of artists.

"The Mercy Seat" - This grew on me more after the many different versions I listened to.  The lp version's opening sounds like we are taking our seat for a Midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show - then Nick starts talking about dying tonight.

"Up Jumped the Devil" - sounds a bit like late 70's Stones, but also Waits.  His connection to Waits is in the words (and who he read too).  This is a favorite.

"Deanna" - who is he?  The Devil?  The Stones sorta own that idea since the last century.  It's a strong track, another favorite.

"Watching Alice" - the harmonica reminds me of the haunting sound John Barry got on the themes in Midnight Cowboy.  Nick plays that well.

"Mercy" - this is my favorite track on Tender Prey.  I definitely like his piano based songs the best.  I was watching Bowie's video DVD last Saturday night.  The background vocals especially, but the track in general is very reminiscent of "Loving the Alien."  Mercy is Nick's mantra.  When he's not feeling damned, he's asking for mercy, like all sinners.

"City of Refugee" - this has an early 80's sound.  Post-Punk was all about doom - the world falling around your shoulders.  Bowie did this much better with Diamond Dogs and his earlier Glam period.  Sure Nick was spinning "My Death" and others late into the night.

"Slowly Goes the Night" - Nick pulls up some soul here.  He almost sounds like Barry White, even Joe Jackson.  But again, it's Bowie who's in mind with the construction of this.  Of all the albums I checked out, only this one is so influenced by Bowie.  

I didn't like "Sunday's Slave."  "Sugar, Sugar, Sugar" - not sure what to say about this one either.  I didn't like the lyrics.  The music has that same spaghetti western sound I mentioned for "Do You Love Me (part 2)."  He's an Angel of God that goes around killing...who?  Her new boyfriend?  I didn't get it.

"New Morning" - on this track, and a few others on different albums, I think he sounds like Kris Kristofferson.  I like it, my forth favorite.  Nick gets Neil Young's harmonica sound - a nice Country closer.  Death squads seem to follow Nick wherever and with whomever he roams with.    Oh well, down the road we go...

  

Yeah, I certainly don't think Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are for everyone. They're unrelentingly dark, and that can put some people off. However, I really enjoy darker things and it's not something I find in the music that I listen to very often. All this talk of murder and madness is totally appealing to me because it's unique and interesting and it's done so well. Where you guys may be put off by the fact that he's consistently gloomy - that's what I want. At least I got you guys to listen to something that's not what you usually listen to, which seems like the point of this whole thing.

Concerning the songs, I talked about my love for and what I think about "Mercy Seat" before, but I did forget to mention those strings that break through later on in the song - really emotional effect. The next song, "Up Jumped the Devil", I'm a little iffy on. I think it's a fun, enjoyable song, but it's almost like someone doing an exaggerated imitation of what they think a Nick Cave song is. I'm glad that feelsflow likes it, but I suspect that this was a song the Captain had in mind when he mentioned Nick being a "cartoonish noir gloomster." The song afterwards, "Deanna", had me from first listen, though. Starting off with the "O Happy Day" hymn (how's that for a drastic subject matter change), this is a great, garage rock tune about murdering people with your best girl friend in the name of Jesus. Good stuff, one of my favorites also.

I was sort of surprised to see that the Captain likes "Watching Alice" as much as he does. I certainly like think it's a nice song, but I was never too taken with it. I don't find it to be a very engaging listen. I was also surprised that feelsflow likes "Mercy" as much as he does. I like the music on this one, and I do think, despite the song's origins, Nick begging for mercy is perhaps a little more personally inspired. I find that last verse to be so emotional: "My cousin's workin' miracles, I wondered if he'd find me..." and the way he sings "Have mercy upon me, and I dropped down to my knees". Good song, but I think you can find better on this record. "City of Refuge" is a nice way to pick the album up out of it's slower section, and I like the harmonica on this one. It's exciting and I like the imagery that it evokes, but I think it's one of the more minor songs.

"Slowly Goes the Night" is one that I enjoy a lot, definitely a favorite. I think the music, lyrics, and backing vocals are actually quite pretty. This is a song of lost love, a guy stuck to ruminate on his life choices after his love leaves him. The nights they used to spend together are replaced with him tossing and turning, angry with himself, and unable to deal with his new loneliness. The way the songs rises and falls is a really great touch. I think you hit a rough patch with the next two songs, like feelsflow pointed out. Not much going on with these songs. "New Morning", however, is a great way to finish. Nice music, something resembling a melody, and a nice departure from the typical thing you'll find on this album. This is my other favorite.

Mixed feelings have led to a delay of me commenting on this.

I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at a festival once, and while it was good, I remember thinking that, as far as watching six or so talented male musicians in suits playing moody music with a deep lead vocal goes, I'd rather be watching Tindersticks. But afterwards I thought that was an inexact comparison as Tindersticks were never a ROCK band like NC&tBS are. But then, I feel that if that is their strength, they don't always live up to it. They don't always sufficiently rock for the formula to work for me.

I have friends who adore Nick Cave and I usually keep quiet on the subject, because, while I think he's good, i don't think I really entirely get it. And I'm wary of making it sound that I dislike it more than I do. It's just one of those artists I hear at other peoples' houses and find agreeable enough but never listen to myself. I have heard a handful of great songs by him that transcend this vague indifference.

Now, on this particular album, which fits my notion and stereotype of what a Nick Cave album sounds like, there is one song that does really rock to me, and consequently is my favourite by some way. That song is "Deanna". I think I saw it on TV once and it thrilled me but I kind of forgot about it. Regarding the lyrics, I guess I don't understand the obsession with murder and evil. I'm not a horror buff. I had to smile at the captain's line: "I always feel like he's leading a joke-band at a Halloween party". However, here, I don't care what the lyrics are, it's just a great song.

"The Mercy Seat" is another strong song, but it doesn't engage me in the same way. Whenever I hear harmonica on the album it pleases me but it doesn't always rescue the song in question. I was not so keen on "Watching Alice" (so far, anyway), and found "Mercy" a bit too much to take.

Besides "Deanna", other songs by him that stick in my mind as standouts are "Limestone Arbor", "Do You Love Me" and "Henry Lee" (though I think that last one is traditional). I keep meaning to check out the Birthday Party.

I used to think record reviewing was an easy job! Now I see that it takes several listens to have much meaningful to say about an album or to judge it properly (I hope its not the same with film reviewing). And the trouble is, if a record isn't to your taste, forcing yourself to listen to it repeatedly in a short space of time turns you against the record unfairly.

I appreciate your comments, UB.

I'm envious of you having seen them live, they seem like they would put on a really great show. Although, I think to call them a rock band is a bit limiting when applied to them. They seem to understand that musical restraint is just as important music as musical assault is. They're experts at setting a mood, whether that be descending into an urban hell, being set to the electric chair, or about a missing carny. I find that you can really lose yourself in their songs.

"Deanna" is a great song. I don't fully understand the obsession with the dark corners of humanity either, but dammit if I don't love it when he sings "And we'll unload into their heads". "Henry Lee" is a traditional song, but Nick added some stuff to it for their recording of it during Murder Ballads. The Birthday Party is a very interesting band, definitely worth looking into if you like weird post-punk music.

Yes, this is a great example of your stereotypical Cave album, but if I had realized I was fighting a bit of an uphill battle, I probably would have chosen differently. I think it's interesting that even though you guys for the most part don't particularly enjoy Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, you can still appreciate what it is they do.

Life's not fair, you're envious I got to see a band I wasn't all that bothered about. It was Glastonbury 1998, they were preceded that day by - in order - Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan, and Sonic Youth, and followed by Pulp. Not sure how often Bob Dylan has been fourth on a festival bill.

I think the musical restraint you speak of was what I was kind of hoping for and expecting, but felt the want of. I'm trying to express that I felt they fell between the two stools of a truly subtle and powerful band like Tindersticks (specifically their peak around the time of their second album), and a truly rockin' band like... probably Grinderman. But its happening again, every time I write about Nick Cave I feel like I'm being a jerk.

Nah, you're just saying what you think - which is the point.  An example of the difference between the restraint and assault is "John Finn's Wife", like I mentioned to feelsflow earlier. I think it's a good song, it's here if you wanna check it out: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ADpHWOqE8i8

I'll have to look into Tindersticks.

Tried a couple of Tindersticks videos, pretty good.  Watched the video for "Henry Lee" with PJ Harvey.  "Lime Tree Arbor" - hey, a happy feel-good song!  "Into My Arms" - powerful.  "Are You the One That I've Been Waiting For" - hopeful.  You just have to look around to find a happier Nick.  Lots of great tracks on The Good Son.  He really progressed in the 90's after he got together with Warren Ellis.  Haven't got to his 2000's tracks yet, except Grinderman.  Listened to "I Let Love In" again - much better on second listen.  Bubbly, I can see how you and others like him so much.  This cat is very talented.   Also been immersing myself in Nick's (and Warren Ellis') soundtrack work.  The other day I watched a live video with Ellis doing manic moves playing violin - said it was the Bad Seeds, now thinking it may have been Grinderman.  He's impressive.  Will have a report done by tomorrow.

Grinderman was important.  Warren Ellis is important.  Nick's music took a leap with the boatman's call (1997), the first album I've found where Ellis is fully incorporated into the band - read tho he had some input since 1995.  I haven't listened to both of their albums, but what I did play was all good.  And good idea for Nick to spice things up with a look back to his earlier style played with present day smarts.

The biggest surprise this week?  Discovering Nick's movie work.  He wrote the screenplay for The Proposition (2005), a movie I like a lot.  As good as The Unforgiven and fits Nick's outlook to a T.  Set in the Australian outback of the 1880's, it's all about murder and mayhem in the week leading up to Christmas.  The proposition is for one outlaw to kill another (his own brother) to gain his freedom.  If you haven't seen it, wait til later.  It's not a Christmas-y movie (well, Bubbly might think so). :p  First saw it in 2007, and don't remember noticing Nick's involvement.  Probably just a name scrolling down the screen - I barely knew who he was til a few weeks ago.  It touches on some of my earlier comments about some of Nick's music sounding like spaghetti westerns - that wasn't a put down, I love 'em.  Those tracks probably led to Nick being picked to score this one and one I'm about to mention.  Anyway, couldn't believe it when a reviewer compared this movie to Sergio Leone.  Roger Ebert (4 out of 4 stars) described it as "A movie you can't turn away from; it is so pitiless and uncompromising, so filled with pathos and disregarded innocence, that it is a record of those things we pray to be delivered from."  Again, something I said in a similar way discussing Nick's music.

Nick and Warren did the music for The Proposition. It's quite good.  Even better was that team being asked to score The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007).  It's full of great music.  Tracks like "Gun Thing" - with a Nick vocal, isn't so different than a Bad Seeds number.  Other favorites: "Rather Lovely Thing" "The Last Waltz" and "Song for Jesse" -which sounds like something you would hear coming out of a music box.  Simple and beautiful and the best one here.  "Cowgirl" is well named, as it reminds me of Neil's "Round and Round" from the first Crazy Horse album.  "Carnival" is right out of Waits' grab-bag of melodies.  Great instrumental.  "What Happened Next" - with a full orchestra is another highlight.  It just soars.  Here's the link:  http://youtu.be/pJfXlNRPn5c

You're on your own with The Proposition.  The clips aren't all playable, but enough are there to give you an idea.

bonus clip:  http://youtu.be/yZV7ndRJfWg     -good stuff.     

Considering you seem to like Ellis so much, you might want to check out his band, the Dirty Three. I haven't listened to them, but they seem well-regarded. I find it interesting you seem to like Warren Ellis' involvement in the band as much as you do. Actually, a lot of fans prefer when Nick's main collaborator was Mick Harvey, and seem to dislike Warren Ellis' growing influence in the band. I haven't gotten to the point where Ellis becomes really important yet, so I don't really have an opinion on the two collaborators.

I don't know enough to say that either.  I don't have a solid opinion on the early Cave albums.  I listened to some Birthday Party stuff and Nick's first one, then skipped to Tender Prey when you picked it.  Other than some of the Grinderman tracks, I focused on Nick's releases through the boatman's call.  I do think that was a leap, but I haven't listened enough times to say it's his best album.  Like Waits I'm getting more accustomed to his voice.  When you have a lot of soul you don't have to have a perfect voice.  Ask any Dylan fan.  And that was as much Nick's choice to do so many piano based tracks - he seems very inspired.  He wrote all those songs by himself.  Warren is just a player, I was impressed by his playing.  Mick and Blixa are good as well.  Hope Mick's not reading my post and wanting to know "why, Harris, why do you think he's more important than Me? - I'm Nick's main Guy!"  ;D   Maybe I overstated saying Ellis was important.  I was impressed with the soundtracks.  That was the purpose of my post.  Also I love strings, he's a very good violin player.  Give them a listen when you get a chance.  Nick's did more movie work where I haven't seen the movie.  It's not just the music with The Proposition, that's a well written screenplay.  That's all Nick.

Nick didn't start writing with Ellis until 2001's no more shall we part, and then only two songs.  IIRC both Warren and Mick are given credit for string arrangements.  Nick wrote everything on 2004's Nocturama.  Can't really comment on the double album from 2004, but Ellis gets 6 out of 17 credits.  The Proposition was recorded for the most part in 2004.  Then the Grinderman album and Jesse James movie.  Nick may have been responsible for most of the writing - I don't know, they get co-credit.  They did some sort of package putting together what they thought was the best of the duo work.  Ellis gets more writing credits on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! - I've read that is a great album.

I'll give the Dirty Three a listen.  Your pick has given me incentive to check out the rest of Nick's catalogue.  

I think feeling the need to find things to say about this album led me to sound more negative than I wished to. I'm sure in time I will give it another listen and enjoy it, and I am nodding my head with approval at some of the other Nick Cave songs mentioned in this thread.

I wonder what the captain has planned for us.

Uh-oh, the day I've been dreading! Do I pick something I think everyone will love? Something no one will have heard? Something to show just how cool and eclectic my taste is (he asks with tongue firmly in cheek)? I've actually thought about this on and off throughout the project and am not kidding when I say I'm a little nervous... Anyway, I'll post my choice within a couple hours.

while we're waiting...  http://youtu.be/AzNzCiZwk28

My decision for our holiday week's album is in … but first, indulge me! I give you the runners up.

As noted in my previous post, I really had a hard time with this. I just want you to love me … or better, to fear me. Bow down!

But seriously, I wanted to walk a line between something different from what has been presented, something likely to be enjoyed by at least some decent portion of the participants, and something at least somewhat unfamiliar to several participants (because what's the point if everyone already knows the album by heart?). Still, part of me wanted to draw on what had been presented before, kind of a continuation.

These are the runners up. They are not my choice. You don't have to listen to them. But you can if you want. I won't stop you.

Second Runner Up: The Brown Flamingos, S/T
(http://images.cdbaby.name/b/r/brownflamingos.jpg)
http://open.spotify.com/album/0didkBpY2VC7aDuQ35jsRS

This long-since defunct Minneapolis band was only barely a recording project, with only this self-recorded, self-released album officially showing their goods. (There was also a [horribly inappropriate] children's album and an unreleased electro-funk EP, neither of which is really available, I don't think.) What began as a country-folk duo by a pair of multi-instrumentalists quickly became a 10-piece funk band with live shows that to this day are my favorites for indie bands: body-painting performance art, porn giveaways at the door, and a white Wisconsinite sounding more like Prince than he has any business sounding. This falls more in the country-folk duo space, though it meanders. And it's funny. I just love it, even 14 years later. (Also, one of the guys in the group, Bob Parins, is currently Of Montreal's bassist. Just an aside.)

First Runner Up: Puerto Muerto, See You In Hell
(http://betterpropaganda.com/images/artwork/See_You_In_Hell-Puerto_Muerto_480.jpg)
http://open.spotify.com/album/7K7zMHgxI8VElQZqwJ04Mx

While thinking about continuing from previous choices, I thought Puerto Muerto would flow well out of the Nick Cave and Tom Waits choices. This album was my introduction to the band, received with no fanfare among a batch of discs to review. (In those days, kids, sometimes reviewers received in the mail silver circles with holes in the middle.) During the first track, I was ready to dole out my 3.5 (out of 10) and call it a day. After the second track I was ready to consider it among my favorites of the year. I became a huge Puerto Muerto fan, though they never topped this one in the remaining seven or eight years of their career.

OK, with that done, my real choice is forthcoming shortly. Start the drumroll.

Beulah, The Coast is Never Clear (2001)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41R1Y4B0N1L.jpg)
http://open.spotify.com/album/56Dr31BA2OyDUJuYLVOVs3

If there is a precursor to my choice, it's actually one I was lukewarm on, Nada Surf's The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, as Beulah's 2001 pinnacle The Coast is Never Clear is a pop record. Or maybe a pop-rock record. It's not dark. It's not even moody, unless you count the bratty moods of a self-absorbed twentysomething. (Or thirtysomething. I'm not sure how old Mssrs. Kurowsky and Swann were when they wrote and recorded the album.)

But this album was a part of my re-entry to contemporaneous pop music. I had spent most of the previous decade diving into the past, whether the classic rock of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppe--why am I telling you whom "classic rock" comprises? I'm guessing you're familiar… Anyway, that. And some more esoteric acts like Zappa, VU, Beefheart. And jazz. Lots of jazz. Because for better or worse, the reality is when Nirvana broke things, I wasn't happy about it. I hated Nirvana. And I hated the crap that followed under the nom de plume of "alternative" even more. Just hated it all. So I checked out.

In the early 2000s, I started coming around. I'd been familiar with Cotton Mather's masterpiece KonTiki since the guys themselves dropped off a copy at the music store where I worked. (They were in search of vintage gear as they stopped in that little college town to do a show; I took the disc home with me at the end of that summer, not willing to leave it behind.) A friend introduced me to Splitsville's Pet Soul--then just an EP--and it was impressive to me at the time.

So a few years later, I shared these with musical friends at work; in turn, they asked whether I'd heard of this collection--collective, actually, though the term has become tedious as relates to musicians since then--of Georgia-based musicians who really captured a lot of the styles of music I loved in their new, mostly self-produced and -released music. (Obviously, they meant Elephant 6.)

I had not. But soon, I was pretty damn familiar with Of Montreal, Apples (in Stereo), Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control, and the fifty-billion other "bands" under that umbrella.

One of the most interesting was this badly named band, Beulah, who weren't Georgian at all. In fact, they weren't E6, aside from having done one earlier album with E6er Robert Schneider in his Colorado studio. But their obvious reverence for '60s pop music made it easy to keep lumping them in with the E6ers.

The Coast is Never Clear was the first Beulah album I bought while it was new. (There would be only one more Beulah album, their breakup album Yoko, a couple years later.) And it was magical to me at the time. The riff that opens "A Good Man is Easy to Kill" complemented in short order by that go-g0 60s percussion and then the background "ba da bap bap ba-dah dahs," … I'm in heaven. Horns? Yes, please. Vitality! It's not a fast song, but it drives ahead. It rocks while not really being a rock song, riff notwithstanding.

It set the pace for the album--and the album lived up to its opener. (I'm not counting "Hello Resolven," here, which is more an introduction than a song.) Miles Kurowsky isn't the strongest singer in the world, but he holds his own, all through a kind of cynical-but-doe-eyed hipster sneer that hit the spot for this then-24-year-old.

Most of all, the kind of hook-oriented rock that bands like Weezer were doing at the time always left me unaffected because their arrangements bored me. They were mostly just straight ahead, maybe a clean-toned arpeggio section and a distorted power-chord section, but nothing else. This, this Beulah, threw in the kitchen sink, and the sink fit goshdarn well. Lead vocals doubled by octave. Background vocals like I mentioned before, all those glorious ba-da-das that make my world go 'round. Tambourines, shakers, a vibraslap. A VIBRASLAP! Piano, organ, trumpet, strings, acoustic, electric.

And it wasn't just there to be there, it all fit these songs. These lovely songs that felt comfortable from the beginning, but still new to me. Like those on KonTiki they didn't feel like rip-offs so much as forgotten classics or even continuations. Singable hooks, lovely memories, mostly mid tempo, all rolling along (and occasionally even rocking along).

Lyrically it's what you'd expect from people who are as self-consciously hipster as Beulah were. They seemed eager to drop references, be they musical or verbal (in interviews). It's clever, it's self-absorbed. I want to hate them, but I can't do it. Anyone who does the instrumental (plus oohs) break of "Popular Mechanics for Lovers" gets a free pass. They just do.

Beulah broke up a couple years later. I saw their last two Minneapolis shows, one in October '03 with John Vanderslice (whom I hated, who sounded like pure pastiche that night, as I could name the overt inspiration for every song the man played) and one in June '04. There has been little in my life that competes with the live-show experience of guitarist-singer-multi-instrumentalist Bill Swann reaching back to whip out a trumpet and dive into the fanfare of sorts that is the the ending of "Gene Autry." In an era when most indie bar bands were "just" rock bands, this sort of DIY was absolutely ecstatic for me.

These two shows were both part of a massive farewell tour, their breakup already announced before Yoko had even been released. I felt like I was breaking up with the band, especially since their inability to get along especially well was pretty obvious. (I felt a kinship as my band at the time seemed--and was--similarly doomed, minus any semblance of success first! My singer was, to me, Miles Kurowsky.)

I listen back and I still smile. I still love The Coast is Never Clear. I don't think it's a groundbreaking album by any stretch of the imagination. But I think it's a great album anyway. I think it's the kind of album that people will look back at and call an under-appreciated gem.

With that, I give unto you, Beulah's The Coast is Never Clear. Do you know it? Like it? Bored by it? Hate it? Hate me? Let me have it.

Halfway through my first listen, sounds good so far! I saw them play in 1999 or 2000, and I may have heard their previous record back then as a friend of mine had it. Will comment more after more listening.

Nice pick for Christmas the captain.  Checked your runner-up groups.  This is the best of the three.  I've listened to the album and got to know the band a bit.  I like Beulah's short career.  I haven't got around to many tracks from the first and fourth albums, but I did check their second.  When Your Heartstrings Break (1999) showed a lot of promise, and The Coast is Never Clear (2001) delivered.  Those horns are rock on.  I love big layered albums like this.  And this is the closest to what I listen to often as any pick so far.

Early favs are "What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades" and "I'll Be Your Lampshade."  It's gonna take me a few days to come to an opinion.  I want to play this for some folks on Christmas day.  I'll get something up by the week-end.

Hope you guys are having a nice holiday week. 

You mean you're not going to play Nick Cave on Christmas?  ???
I'll listen to this album soon, just a busy time of year.

busy, but fun busy!  I'll try to find the perfect Nick song.  The one where he kills somebody towards the end of the song after he's got you hooked on the melody.  Always makes for the merriest of holiday discussions.

Merry Christmas everybody.  The only time of the year when we stand around a dying tree strung with lights acting like it's normal it's there.  Then we start handing out gifts to celebrate.

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I'd rather not withhold the fractions of pennies that bands get from purchases (ideally) or streaming (as a later resort)--especially bands like Beulah, who actually broke up in large part for that very reason. If you're opposed to the no-charge Spotify and it's 30-second ad every half dozen songs or whatever, maybe youtube will work for you. No download / membership required.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjDuOd5_9vDdHz27KCbXQtDaNrwjIK5c8

Otherwise I'll meet you at Electric Fetus and buy you a copy, if it comes to that. Actually my friend Dave still has my first copy, which he borrowed circa 2003. (I bought another a few years later, realizing the first one wasn't coming home.)

Sorry if I came off as a dick there, btw. Not my intent to judge, just sharing my position on the subject.

.

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ooh yeah, that's better than the one I've been playing - and less commercials.  Now I've played the whole album in order twice, and favorites a few more.  Adding a new very favorite - "Night is the Day Turned Inside-Out"

This is going to go over big time with my crowd tomorrow.  Thanks for the new link captain.  I have spotify, and use it in a pinch, but it doesn't work well with my browser.

I never tire of Memphis or Mariachi horns.  Where are you hearing Memphis Horns?  I'm finding this more Mariachi/Southern California.  Reminded often of Burt Bacharach or Tijuana Brass - great 60's feel.

The horns are the white chocolate* mousse filling holding the musical cake together.

* It could be any filling, that's just what I put in my Christmas cake this year.


Edit: hal your posts are disappearing.

"Hey Brother" - you are right.  Memphis Horns.  They're throwing a lot of styles into the blender.  I've added the song to my favorites list.  I like the lyrics.

Glad you guys are enjoying. I was fearing that a choice so firmly down the middle might not be anything to get excited about on a thread focused on introductions, broadened horizons, etc. But while Beulah is a mainstream sound, they certainly never hit the mainstream, so my fingers were crossed. Still, it was a very good, short career. The aforementioned When Your Heartstrings Break, this one, and Yoko are the only albums I could recommend in good conscience. (The debut, Handsome Western States, their only E6 album, was nothing special. Though maybe I'll give it another listen today, just because.)

By the way, allmusic.com summarizes them thusly: "Sleek rockers whose upbeat indie pop take on alt-country melancholia earned critical and cult plaudits in the early 2000s."

That might be the funniest summary I've ever read.

I'm listening now and... eh :shrug I wish I liked more people's suggestions cuz I haven't really seemed to enjoy many of them so far. I don't much like the singer's voice, and he often sounds completely bored and/or disinterested while singing. During the second song, "A Good Man Is Easy to Kill", I find the song's transitions to be jarring and it gives me the impression of them just throwing in a bunch of instruments for the hell of it. The flute (recorder maybe?) and heavily-distorted guitar combo just doesn't work. I get what they're trying to for with the lyrics - they're hip, clever, and they would definitely appeal to a certain audience - but they're not for me it seems. I do like some of these songs titles, though.

I have found some moments that I like throughout the record, though. I think the arrangement for the opening of "Popular Mechanics for Lovers" is quite pretty, although the singer's voice comes in and they change things up and kinda throw cold water on the whole thing. "I'll Be Your Lampshade" is a great song and it seems like they were actually able to restrain themselves and deliver a solid, focused song instead of indulging in their whims to change things up. I also liked the music for the first song on the record, and I think the seemingly-group vocals help to compensate for my distaste of his voice and delivery.

So far, to me, they just seem like a bunch of young-adult-slackers who got the urge to make music. Charming slackers, mind you.

oo, well I'm liking it a bit more than that.  I used charming in one of my track notes descriptions, you beat me to it.  I'm going to have to look up slacker - I haven't heard that word in years.  You mean like "I'm a Loser, Baby, so why don't you kill me"? - yeah, Miles' has that bad.  I've never looked too deep into the E6 artists either.  I see some mention in the What are we Listening To thread, but didn't like the ones I checked except of Montreal (only a half dozen or so).  Haven't tried Apples in Stereo, but Neutral Milk Hotel I don't like.  As the captain said, Beulah had little to do with them anyway.  I'm callin' them Indie Pop.  Sunshine Pop.  Fluff lyrics for sure - I've heard much more cleaver than this.  Hip maybe, but mostly meaningless save a few that clicked.  They fall into the background after a few listens, or just become part of the production.  Some of the words work better in the live versions.  I don't have any problems with Miles' vocals, or any of the vocals - this stuff is pretty breezy.  Listened to all the tracks a couple more times now.  This is a solid album with no weak tracks.  Today I got to Yoko, and found some live stuff from the last tour.  Should have my notes up in the morning.

Yesterday got some opinions on Beulah, and played some Nick Cave and the other artists we've been talking about.  Showed them what we are up to here, they're not posters on Smiley - but they like some of the Beach Boys stuff.  Everybody already knew most of the acts.  I don't know anybody that doesn't like Waits.  The star of the evening was going to be Judy Collins' DVD Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1997), so it was easy to fit some Brel into the day.  Beulah, I only played our featured album, went over well enough - some comments were like Bubbly's "...there's thousands of bands like this out there through the years.  This is just another."  And they're right.  We don't get around to listening to most of them tho.  Beulah was "out of the blue" for me.  I used Nick near the beginning.  I had discovered a neat little concert shown on the BBC, sort of like their version of VHI's Storytellers called Songwriter's Circle.  From 12 May 1999 - John Cale, Chrisse Hynde, and Nick.  http://youtu.be/ynoGfFpaizc    Nick plays "The Ship Song" and "Into My Arms" and a solo "Henry Lee" with a harmony by Hynde.  Played "To Be by Your Side" - then the killer couples tunes "Where the Wild Roses Grow": his.  "Henry Lee" (with P. J.): hers.  Everybody liked the P. J. version best, me too.  "The Weeping Song" was the rousing closer.

I couldn't keep up the attention to youtube more than a couple of hours - most folks want better quality sound and pictures, but we had a good time with it.  I had a nice Christmas, hope you all did too.   

Bubbly Waves, I agree with quite a bit of your post, with the primary difference being that after it all, I'm a fan of the album. Sorry you didn't enjoy it more. (But not that sorry ... I didn't write and record the album!)

As for the slacker thing, i definitely understand where you're coming from. But do note that it's just an image. Consider how much effort goes into making an album sound like this one does. The slacker vibe was an image of people that age and the era, but not necessarily a reality. The guys who were slackers and had bands kept it to sloppily played and badly produced stuff, not highly arranged and produced pop songs. The smartass cynical thing is in common, but it belies the effort here.

What I really wanted to share, anyway (after a few left-field artists) was some solidly done pop music. Nothing about Beulah changed pop music. They didn't invent a new system, or even any new plays ... but they executed the game plan really well. It's sadly a surprisingly rare thing.

I had fun looking into Beulah.  Most of the music I listen to these days is populated by copyists, but that's okay.  So were my 60's/70's favorites.  Beulah traveled a well worn road.  The "spot the reference" game would be easy, but they put the music together with care.  Already said I love big layered sound like this.  And Bubbly, I looked up slacker - no, I think they thought they were putting something important together.  You mean doing something just to have something to do?  The Beck song I mentioned was a joke, he started off with that one but went on to have an interesting career.  There have been many bands/artists who try and fail.  Many who just can't get their stuff played on radio or get a tune on a movie soundtrack, or tour with the bigger acts to get noticed.  It's always been hard to break in America, Beulah should have given it more time.  It's a big place, you can't just hit the big cities and expect it to work.  You need a champion like a John Peel - something like that.  Even The Beatles needed one.  They struggled for over a year in America on any label that would release the early singles, then by circumstance Sullivan came across them at an airport and put them in front of a national audience.  Not saying they are as good as The Beatles or the many artists I love that came before (and influenced) them.  Just that Beulah didn't get that break and broke up out of what they thought was disinterest.  They didn't have big record label support either - a sore point with me and the artists I want to make it.  Artists who I think should be much more popular than the cult status they end up with.  I would have bought any of Beulah's last three records if I'd heard them in the time they were together.  Not sure how much it will help them now, but I'm going to buy first the DVD and Yoko.  Already found a good price on those.  Then look around for used copies of the rest.  That's what I mean by "not sure how much it will help now."  But.  No bigger compliment can be made - I like it enough to buy it.


The Coast is Never Clear (2001)                Beulah




"Hello Resolven" - the king/queen theme gives this a Beatles nod, or they wanted the record to have an opener like Friends.

"A Good Man is Easy to Kill" - loved it the first time I played it.  Strange, very strange, lyrics and all - where does he come up with the idea to screw holes in one's head to stick on a halo?  Charming arrangement.  I can see how the lyrics would give the impression that they don't care what their singing about.  I wouldn't even call this hip.

"What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades?" - two things came to mind when I heard this:  sounds something like the feel of My Brother Woody's first album and Stephen Bishop.  I can see how Luther thinks Miles is the right one to sing his songs too.  When I first commented on the captain's music, now nearly a year ago, I would have made the connection if I'd known who Beulah was.  I'm okay with the lyrics on this one.  A favorite.

"Gene Autry" - the mariachi horns are great.  The lyrics only give mention of Autry, the song is not about him, just that he likes his voice in the first verse, then off to sing whatever comes to his mind for the rest.  Lyrics are the band's biggest weakness.  I've already defended them by saying they are just part of the production.  The more I listen, the more easy it is to ignore them.

"Silver Lining" - the bass guitar and horns carry the tune along with more meaningless lyrics.  This may have been influenced by Alex Chilton.  Those E6'er boys Beulah was hanging out with were from Ruston, Louisiana - not Georgia.  Memphis music is well loved there.  I grew up about thirty miles from Ruston, home of Louisiana Tech. and...well not much else other than Pine trees.  You couldn't even buy booze there.

"Popular Mechanics for Lovers" - definitely a favorite, but again a plea with the right words that never come.  Noel Gallagher did this all the time - in fact this uses the same Coca-Cola commercial melody Noel used on "Shakermaker" - so Noel did it first (1994).  Pay attention to:  "Just because he loves you too, He would never take a bullet for you.  Don't believe a word he says.  He would never cut his heart out for you."  This may have been a tribute to Oasis - it also sounds like a slowed down "Digsy's Dinner" in spots.  Mile's might have felt justified using "just throw something out there" lyrics, cause Oasis was having hit after hit with the same formula.  Noel even used the "not gonna cut my heart out for you" lyric.  A copyist copying a copyist.

"Gravity's Bringing Us Down" - another "spot the reference" track, with the Harrison slide guitar touches.  On the live take, all the influences are stripped away, leaving a rocking song.  I would have loved to see them live.

"Hey Brother" - as hal pointed out, they are stealing the Otis Memphis Horns riff.  This became another favorite after a few listens.

"I'll be Your Lamp Shade" - the record only picks up steam for the closing set of tracks.  I love everything about this track, including the simple lyrics.  The music is super cool.

"Cruel Minor Change" - the melody is so strong the lyrics don't matter.  I don't even remember the lyrics.

"Burned by the Sun" - the lyrical imagery on the last two tracks is pretty good.  The song is very Beatles musically.  When I read they sound like The Beach Boys I don't really get that.  Some of the instruments are found in Beach Boys tracks, but I don't hear a direct influence in the writing.  Love how the track is held together by mandolin moving in and out of the mix.  This one and "I'll Be Your Lamp Shade" are the only tracks I hear anything like alt. Country.  Wilco is alt. Country, or the Jayhawks.  This ain't that.  Just putting a steel guitar on a track does not make it that.  Beulah does remind me of the Jayhawks, not musically, but they have a similar goofy character.

"Night is the Day Turned Inside-Out" - what can I say that I haven't already said?  I thought this was maybe the second best track on the record, but due to the very powerful live version, I'll call it a tie with "I'll be Your Lamp Shade."

I've got a few more notes on the other Beulah records, and the wonderful live/road stories DVD I'll have next week.  Have to wait to give them a try-out on the big system.  Youtube doesn't do them justice.

feelsflow, I really am happy you're enjoying this so much.

Couple things: regarding reference/tributes intentionally added, there is another very obvious one in "Popular Mechanics for Lovers": "I heard he wrote you a love song, but so what? / Some guy wrote 69...," a nod to the then-recent Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs.

And re the Alex Chilton influence, very, very much there. The opening scene of that DVD that's on the way adds a little context, if I'm not mistaken. And I am pretty sure Miles wore a Big Star t-shirt both times I saw them live.

And re Ruston, interesting that you were from near there! It has almost a mystique for me because of the E6ers starting off there. (Hanging out at the La Tech radio station as adolescents was apparently a big, big deal to their interests in music.)

I thought this was a solid album with some high points but not one I'll be returning to very often. In another time in my life I would have listened to it more perhaps.

In the mid-90s I was caught up in the UK "britpop" boom. I never wanted to be parochial so I was however also always on the lookout for great melodic pop and rock from around the world. At college I was aware of Elephant 6 movement, saw some of the bands but never bought too many of the records. I preferred to see it live.

At the time I saw Beulah play I was briefly living in Toronto, and as a Brit I was flattered that an American band seemed (to me) to be so in thrall to British influences. I thought they were the nearest U.S. band I had seen so far to a Britpop band. With further experience, I now realise the thing about Britpop is it had basically all been done before, mostly in the sixties. So it was perhaps more a general sixties influence. In this album I hear many other influences, including ironically the early 90s American alt-rock that the captain had shunned. Throughout the record I keep hearing bits that remind me of other songs, before the song changes course so that no single song sounds like a complete rip-off of another single song. It feels like a patchwork. It doesn't sound too distinctive to me. For example, I don't think if I heard the singer's voice on the radio singing with another band, that I would remember ever having heard it before.

Later my own band was (thanks to another member of the band) kind of heavily influenced by elephant 6 and it's outgrowths, and we played with lots of those bands, as well as with other British bands that were influenced by them. As a result maybe I had a surfeit of this kind of material, and tried to write songs in different styles myself. Of all the records chosen so far (except the Bonzos) this is probably closest to the type of music I've spent most of my life listening to. The trouble is I'm not much in the mood for listening to it now, though it's very pleasant and I don't think there are any bad songs here.

Oh, and I enjoyed to nod to Stephin Merrit. I saw the Magnetic Fields play in support of 69 love songs in Toronto around the same time I saw Beulah, and that is one band and and one album I never tire of.

Funny you should say that Will as this album was the biggest influence on me production wise for that album.

Its still one of my favourite albums. Always adored "I'll be Your Lamp Shade" closely followed by "Suntan" and "Popular Mechanics".

The part in "Night is the Day Turned Inside-Out" that goes "There is a place in the red light district
Of your heart that I used to visit" always really gets me.

While the holiday season and consequently the time I've been taking off from work has me thoroughly f***ed up as to what day it is, I am aware (because the Vikings play today) that it's Sunday. So ... new album? Hypehat, what have you got?

I haven't heard from him in a while. I'll send him and Dumb Angel (the guy in line after him) private messages and see who gets back to me.
If neither do, it's yer tern, Will.

Hey Mike, Happy Holidays!  I've studied so much music, it became a natural way to have fun with it.  One of the best ways to listen to modern music is spot the influence.  Many artists try hard to do it, without anyone being able to pinpoint it, exactly.  They do want it to sound familiar.  Ian did a great job describing in his post, "Throughout the record I keep hearing bits that remind me of other songs, before the song changes course so that no single song sounds like a complete rip-off of another song."  Great to have musicians taking part in this project.

Okay, Looks like I'm next.  I've decided to wait til Sunday to make my pick.  Let's give hypehat and Dumb Angel some extra time to notice we're over here in General Music Discussion.  Just kidding.  I hope they change their minds.

Between College Bowl Games and New Year's Eve (and recovery) I'm pretty distracted anyway.  Some of my favorite teams made the NFL play-offs too.  This is an intense time of the year for us footballers.  I hope everybody in our group has a great New Year.

As far as Beulah goes, I'll have the DVD, Yoko and The Coast is Never Clear sometime next week.  Captain, I did check out many of the video clips on youtube.  Some of the songs come off really well live.  Much more power.  Most of the Yoko tracks I heard live first, and quickly made me go looking for the CD.  "Hovering" is nice.  Miles is still obsessed with Lennon phrasing and Beatles melodies.  Well, maybe this one is closer to Walls and Bridges.  "Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore" gets the closest to Lennon's Beatles sound - I thought for a moment he was going to break into singing about walruses and bulldogs.  He channels Liam on this number too.  With English accent!  This whole song comes off different live.  The Big Star t-shirt made two statements.  Musically, and that Miles thought his band was in the same position Big Star was in when they splintered.  I got a couple of Alex's records for Christmas, A Man Called Destruction and the 1970 sessions he did right after the Box Tops.  Speaking of Big Star and Memphis, we had a loss on the 18th in this world if you haven't heard.  John Fry died.  I'll leave you with one of his quotes, "Your moods are affected by your surroundings.  I think there is something that operates in Memphis...and at Ardent.  I can't explain what it is. You come record here, something good happens to you."

I don't have much to add here other than to say that Beulah's second release, When Your Heartstrings Break, is, or at least was, one of my all-time favorite albums.  I liked it so much that my friends got tired of hearing it and hearing about it.  To pay them back for not sharing my love I began using the word "Beulah" to express my love for nearly everything, as in, "Those new shoes of yours are so Beulah" and "Michael Jordan is the Beulah of basketball players."  I was obsessed and I knew as I listened to it repeatedly that one day I would become exhausted with it, but I could not stop.  I had to put it down for several years and only recently listened to it again.  Now that I write songs a bit myself I appreciate it anew for some of the cool things he does - he is especially good at not letting a song become boring...and when he changes gears he doesn't lose a step, the next bit is just as engaging as the bit that just ended.  So I loved Beulah once upon a time.

With that said, I did not like the follow-up nearly as much, some great songs but some I didn't like at all, I liked Yoko still less and Miles solo outing did nothing for me.  I also saw them live and thought they were terrible, the intricacies and subtleties were related with loud guitars.

Does anyone know what has become of Miles?

And captain, I'm surprised you didn't pick a Stryper album.  ;)

EoL

It's funny that you liked Heartstrings so much more than the next two. I think it's good, but to me it is a clear third, the first decent album and more a sign of things to come than a great album on its own.

I haven't heard anything from Miles since his solo album, which was one of the most disappointing albums I can remember. Not that it was TERRIBLE or anything, but I was waiting and waiting and waiting, and then, meh. It really showed me the importance of Bill Swann. The guys didn't get along well (which is well documented), but they were necessary components to the music. It's, like, our billionth example that complete artistic control often goes awry. Creative tension, that's where it's [usually] at.

Just checked his website and it hasn't been updated in four years. I know the guys had office jobs back during their Beulah days. I wouldn't be surprised if the music stuff just faded away, superseded by paychecks of regular, gainful employment.

Stryper album. Heh. I'd have had to go with To Hell With the Devil, a cassette of which I got either at the same time as or very near the time I bought Europe's the Final Countdown, circa 1987, and these were my first self-purchased albums. Both classics... ::)

So, Bubbly Wave gave me the go-ahead yesterday to post the album of the week, so here it is:

The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic (2003)
(http://www.nadamucho.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/explodinghearts.jpg)
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2zDkArT4ElJG9lmng08Myq (https://play.spotify.com/album/2zDkArT4ElJG9lmng08Myq)
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhmctlRdGOo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhmctlRdGOo)

These guys aren't just another punk rock revival group; The Exploding Heart's wonderfully combine elements of first wave punk rock and power-pop to give them their kickass signature sound. They led a punk rock/new wave revival scene in the Seattle and Portland areas in the early 2000's and became a local success. Tragically, on July 20, 2003, three of the four members were killed in an accident as they began to make it big.

I don't hear a lot of talk about them, so I'm excited to hear your opinions!

Never heard them or heard of them, so I look forward to listening.

Dumb Angel,  Could you tell us a little more on why you chose this album?  What is your opinion on the band?  Were they friends of yours?  Did you see them live?  What are your memories of a band that basically died over eleven years ago? 

There's nothing to research, little to listen to.  They left behind about a hour of music.  Did you expect one of us might have known them personally?  The band seems to be looked back on favorably by the few who listened to it, or more likely saw them in some dive bar like Bottom of the Hill.  That was a dangerous area to go in when I lived in San Francisco.  Worse than Mission and 24th.  Lots of gun shots and gun-slingers.  When I heard Oasis was going to play there, I decided against taking a chance on busing over.  Oasis had a limo waiting out front.  And plenty of security.  By 2003 the gentrification of the area was probably complete, with all the gangsters moved to the East Bay.

I'm not surprised you don't hear a lot of talk about them.  Lyrics like "You were caught in the act of sniffin' glue" "I've got some sniffin' to do to get as high as you..." - The Ramones might have got a chuckle... as they proclaimed "it's those damn modern kicks"...

To be fair, I did see a tenth anniversary tribute video by Cry.  So you are not the only one who remembers.  When did you first hear the band?

Questions, so many questions on this pick.

I never knew them personally, or got the opportunity to see them live. A friend of mine suggested them to me a couple months ago and I loved them. Their minute discography contains some of the most catchy and fun punk songs I've ever heard, and it's very unfortunate, because if it wasn't for the accident, I'm sure they would've continued to put out some amazing albums and possibly could've become relatively successful. During and especially after the band was around, they did gain a decent cult following, which has seemed to have faded quite a bit recently, so I figured since they're an amazing band that's not very well known, Guitar Romantic would be a good album to choose.

And I absolutely love the lyrics to Jailbird! "I see you talking to a squirrel, kissing its lips, why not mine?"  :lol

thanks.  I'll give it a second listen, but I have only the 30 minute album, a couple of singles, and a few live tracks to base my opinion on. 

I'm ready.

Guitar Romantics                 Exploding Hearts

Usually find something positive to say with all the picks so far, but...this band would have had to develop a lot for me to like them.  They sound like many, many, many young musicians loving what they do.  Sing and play instruments.  A song like "Jailbird" doesn't even sound punk to me.  Mostly English Pub-Punk like The Clash - but wait, not developed enough to sound that good.  More like, trying to sound that good.  The Clash sounded good on their first record.  Sorry Dumb Angel, I don't let too many new acts in.  That's why Beulah was such a surprise.  I could continue to trade posts on most of the picks we've had, but that can't go on too long here with Exploding Hearts.  They were dead before too much got started.  I listened to this kind of music more when I was younger.  I did South of Market and North Beach plenty.  I enjoyed bands like Pearl Harbour and the Explosions, The Beat and The Records in bars and clubs in the 70's and 80's, but I spent many a night listening to Country, Rock and Pop seated.  I was never into the heavy Punk scene like you seem to be.  I went to clubs more often than bars.  The Ramones weren't even a club band by the time I saw them - they played the music halls, like The Warfield.  Do you listen to The Clash?  They had some great humor in their lyrics - it wasn't all politics.  Mick had Pop ideas and used them well after The Clash.  Me today isn't me when I was in my twenties.  I want melody and soul more and more as I grow older.  You'll see if you decide to discuss my pick.  It's up next.

There's not much to discuss.  It's not enough to be raw and alive.  They're only catchy here and there.  No single track caught my attention.  I can't build a solid opinion on what could've been a bright career.  At this point these guys sound like too many other bands I've heard before in dance halls, bars and clubs all my life.  Maybe I'm getting too old, but I don't think so.  That's repeating what I said in the last paragraph.

I'm glad they had a following.  Glad you like them.

intermission music:       http://youtu.be/k8zmkzshUvE

keep posting.

I haven't had a computer for a couple days and still won't for about a week.
So, I'm not going to be able to contribute to this thread for a little while.

 before I lavish praise on this album I am gonna listen on my headphones. (My headphones were hooked up to my keyboard. I don't like to move my headphones . I like to seamlessly get up from my keyboard and jam.  I only have one pair of headphones. I ruined the other pair when I threw them at a bus. The busdriver wouldn't stop because he was a stupid jerk in the first place. )
 my first impressions are very good. I like this.
I remember people talking up the Riffs back in the day (take that! bean bagh) ...  I can see why.  this is good stuff.

*apparently a member of this band was also in The Riffs.

Wasn't going to be my choice, but the thread has died and this is an appropriate end.  I have enjoyed very much doing this.

for a fallen soldier...

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Songs_for_a_Tailor.jpg)

youtube:  http://youtu.be/yLtrg-3ahrU
spotify:    https://play.spotify.com/album/0CXaWWTLMLIxq3kXlCSjxe

I'm behind and I know it. Sorry! I'll catch up.

I think with me and you, sports is taking up a lot of our time.

I'll do a run-down of my pick in the next few days.  Let's get this thread rollin' again.  I'd like it to go another round, hopefully with some new posters joining in.

Basketball always gets its share of my time, but it's been other stuff distracting me. I like this thread concept and would actually love to keep it up for multiple rounds if there's interest.

I love this album. It rocks and it makes me happy. I might buy it.

I'm not a tailor, but I listened to it anyway.

My heart sank at the first track as I don't like British Bar-Band Blues music much. But the rest of the album was a pleasant surprise after that. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as he was the guy from Cream after all and I do like a lot of their song, though I've never heard any of their albums. This is a bit like I would imagine a Cream album to sound- quite tasteful, but very listenable and catchy; and fairly varied within the context of the late sixties rock spectrum. Not too sorry when it was over, mind you.