Listening Project: Week 7: Music From a Painted Cave by Robert Mirabal

[the captain]

Love the choice and the challenge of saying anything interesting or new about it!

And best wishes on your impending job hunt. Shitty situation.

[feelsflow]

Sorry to hear about your job problem too, Marc.  Hope things work out soon.  Terrible time of the year to have that happen.

On a lighter note, Alice.  Great choice.  I love Tom's music.

[MugginsXO]

Alice is a funny album for how it basically reverts to the pre-Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits. It is I think the least affected, most pleasing of any of his albums post Bone Machine. Everything from that point on has in my judgement diminished the impact of the calculated adoption of the wild and crazy Tom Waits. I never really found much of his music all that challenging or all that different from many of the singer songwriters he was desperate to separate himself from. For my money the best things he does are straight up love songs, not clattering bin tops or pretending to be an old timey lunatic on Fernwood Tonight or David Letterman. While I do love the Frank trilogy and appreciate in a removed kind of way Bone Machine, my favourites from those albums were still the love songs close to his early music. Downtown Train was the ticket, and there was nothing about that song that couldn't have happened alongside Jersey Girl. Alice is from that Closing Time feeling, I think. I love the unashamedly straight ahead nature of the songs, I love the return to Nitehawks at the Diner Tom, disguised in the corner of the room singing some half new song. I love the title track. So sweet, so lovely. I love Poor Edward. There is a little bit of raucous guffaws around the edges - some silly howling on Kommienezuspadt - but it is largely a clean and pleasing affair.

I think for someone so set on getting out of a rut, Tom Waits should by all rights see himself as playing an increasingly tired and predictable sort. Scowly, growly and pretty boring. Less affectation, more songs like Alice please.

[the captain]

Alice and I have a special relationship.

I mean, we didn't date or anything (although I've dated an Angela and an Alicia, the former of which I think may well have listened to Alice with me). But this was the first Waits album, along with its companion release, Blood Money, released after I had become a fan, the first Waits albums I was actually waiting for.

Waits's tour of Mule Variations in 1998 is what actually turned me on to his music. There was a story in the Star Tribune that intrigued me enough to buy an album unheard. (A then-roommate and I each got one, neither familiar with him. The roommate bought the new release, while I bought Blue Valentine, for which I also still have a soft spot.)

In those days I was something of a completist, so one or two good albums seemed like a good reason to rack up credit card debt on a full back catalog. (Zappa almost bankrupted me. I'm not exaggerating. Ask Visa or Discover.)

During those intervening years--1999 to 2001--a suburban (Edina? Bloomington?) Disc-Go-Round sold me my great Waits find, a disc of clearly questionable provenance, something labeled:

TOM WAITS
"ALICE"
(The Original Demos)

Twenty-three tracks, about half of which were short instrumentals. Contemporaneous photo of Waits on the cover, him looking up from a paperback titled "The [indecipherable] Book of Oddities." The back was a late '70s photo of him smoking, looking up from an off-camera piano, with the track listing and a note:

"'ALICE' was originally performed at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, December 1992. Directed and stage design by Robert Wilson, music and lyrics by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, text by Paul Schmidt."

I suppose I paid about $30 for that CD and fell in love, with it sounding not unlike the apparently contemporaneous (I've used that word twice!) The Black Rider, another stage piece, another work of heart-wrenching melodies and European fairytale that exists outside of time.

Fast forward to fall of 2002 and not only is this gem Alice being released, but so is Blood Money! The music of Alice is perfectly autumnal, as pixeltwin said in his introduction to the choice. I'm shocked looking it up now to learn that it was released in May; I would have sworn to you--maybe on my life--that it was in the fall. I even had some vague dates in my head, and now I'm wondering what the hell came out that fall that I was linking to Waits? (Possibly Beck's Sea Change? Ooh, maybe. That's September 24, 2002.) The scratchy vinyl sound of the whole album, muted horns and brushed snare, or screeching saws and strings, it's the chill that isn't yet cold.

These aren't the best individual songs Waits ever wrote or recorded, but as a piece, they're just so good. So, so good. His lyrics are fabulous. What's new… A sentence from the title track, spread across several lines, reads "And I must be insane to go skating on your name and, by tracing it twice, I fell through the ice of Alice."

*sigh* [Heart aflutter]

"Flowers Grave" might be my favorite song, a typically Waitsian gem of pre-rock-and-roll songcraft that could have been written 25, 50, or 75 years before it actually appeared. There are few masters of functional harmonic structure with his gifts. That his melodies, his songs, are so great is shocking to me because, after all, he is also one of the two or three best lyricists in the history of American pop music. Spread the wealth, asshole.

What I miss in Alice is the original "Table Top Joe." What we have is fitting for the lyric, a lounge-jazz act perfect for that bodiless wannabe showbiz freak. But one of the most attractive aspects of the demos for me was the truly bizarre version of that same song that appeared there. The primary backing track was pitched percussion I can't quite identify … perfectly sized radiators? A toy marimba? Something stolen from Harry Partch's garage? The melody, too, is different, a cheesy olde tyme melody innocently sung that doesn't quite fit its setting.

Other songs are strikingly similar. "Lost in the Harbour" is the same, or a similar, arrangement and performance to the original, which was titled "…But There's Never a Rose." It, like "Flowers Grave," is a song to die for.

"Kommienezuspadt" is perfectly early '90s Waits. It just is. It was another favorite of mine, in no small part because part of it sounds almost like Beavis saying "I poop this." I'm easily amused. It makes life good. I miss Beavis.

Pixeltwin did me a huge favor with this selection. I haven't paid anywhere near enough attention to this album in years. A decade, maybe. Occasional listens, sure. But I don't sit down and listen to the whole thing often at all, and I haven't listened to the demos in at least 10 years. (In fact, I can't find my physical CD of the commercial release. It isn't sitting beside Blood Money, where it oughta be. What the f***. Somebody has it and isn't coming clean … that or I put it somewhere stupid, like in the middle of some batch of jazz albums. Either way, I blame someone else. Thanks, Spotify, for making this experience possible without the expenditure of another $13 or whatever.)

I wish I could summarize this appropriately, presenting some grand thought or thread throughout. But instead it's a few discoveries, a few memories, a creepy autumnal European vibe, and pure goshdarn bliss.

Great selection.

[MugginsXO]

I miss Beavis. We all miss Beavis. That doesn't mean... Ah I give up. We just miss Beavis.

[MugginsXO]

That write up was a good read by the way. Will comment properly tomorrow.

[pixletwin]

Great post the captain. I have never heard the original demos. I may have to search them out. 

[MugginsXO]

Gonna give my pick til Monday as Pixletwin was late starting. So all y'all weigh in and get deep.

[RangeRoverA1]

Thanks to Mr. Xo, I'm allowed to weigh in on my "reviews" w/o offering any. So, I read attentively what you all wrote, made the mental note of it to help make me "get" into an album (perhaps). But of course, it didn't work entirely & I still was out of loop at times.

1) Morphine. Unlike the captain & TheDumbAngel, I like baritone singers (altho really, I don't divide the singers into voices - alt I like, tenor not etc.). This guy was pretty good. Too bad the material leaves me cold. I mean, it fits him to sing these doom-sounding tunes, but there's nothing to keep me interested. "Honey White" is a one-day wonder.

2) Elvis, I've never been a fan of. I thought hearing "...Memphis" would cure my distaste - alas... King of r-n-r or no, he does nothing for me. Even shoops I didn't find enough catchy. "In the Ghetto" is the worst closer. It's so unabashedly dramatic (for want of a better word).

3) Nada Surf, I have mixed feelings toward this Stars album. I did enjoy the 1st Side, tho. Majority.

4) "Alice" slipped thru my mind, I don't recall anything I heard about 3 y.a. Shall give a listen & tell my thoughts.

So, discounting the latter, 3rd was the best listening experience. Thank you, Niko & Lowbacca, for introducing me to new music. And Muggins, thumbs up for this 'cosy' idea.

[Dudd]

I'm not very familiar with Tom Waits' stuff - I'd only listened to Mule Variations, which I wasn't too fond of. And to my surprise, I really quite liked Alice. It had a drowsy, melancholy feel and intimate sound that worked for me. For now "Poor Edward", "Table Top Joe", the last two tracks, and especially the title cut are my favourites... but I have a feeling the whole thing might be a grower. Thanks for this one, pixletwin.

[Lowbacca]

Holy mother of Ryan Reynolds, I forgot to put in a listening hour for Alice in time. My 2 cents will follow as soon as possible.

[MugginsXO]

Alright! It is Week 5 and it is my choice. I thought quite a while about what to pick and wasn't sure in the end whether to go for a newer favourite or an old classic. I have decided to pick:

Zebra by Gallant



It is an EP at 28 minutes length so should make for easy listening. This is probably my favourite release of 2014 thus far. It is one more encouraging and exciting result of the R&B revival of the past few years. I think as far as Weeknd influenced people go, this guy is way, way above the Drake sponsored PARTYNEXTDOOR. Manhattan is gorgeous and my favourite on here but I love Forfeit and Ibuprofen too. Very atmospheric, vocally pleasing to the extreme and generally mood changing.

I think people will particularly like this is they enjoy the new R&B or some of the older Nu-Soul stuff like Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite. If they enjoy electronically flavoured Indie stuff I think they will like it too.   

Spotify Link

[the captain]

Never heard of this--or Gallant in general--so I'm ready to give it a shot.

[Please delete my account]

I'm back somewhere I can listen to Spotify and I'm slowly digesting the albums nominated thus far.

The Morphine album is pretty solid. My favourite cut is “Whisper”, partly because of the spooky bent bass notes (which also appear elsewhere to good effect) and partly because of the lyrics which sound sexy despite being chaste on the surface (an old-time song throwback in that respect). Two tracks in particular I dislike as exemplifying a genre I hate: bar room blues-rock. Those two tracks are “Honey White” and “Super Sex” though the latter may be using the style in order to parody it. On the subject of that song, is it a satire of Bill Clinton? I'm just not certain how ironic either the lyrics or the music are. The other tracks on the album I dislike stylistically are the two consecutive spoken-word tracks: “The Jury” and “Sharks”. They sound like the kind of thing you get when a poet makes a record and gets some musicians to help, which is fine if the poetry is good but in this case it isn't. I must say even these songs I dislike are listenable, (and there is a lot of music out there I find unlistenable). 

“Free Love” sounds at first as though it's going to continue the spoken word suite but does feature some singing and is more musically complicated. In fact it's a somewhat tense and nagging track but the penultimate track is a good place to put a song like that, it forms a point in the album where all the tension comes to a head. It would have been great if it was followed by a really strong closing song that was more conventionally melodic and satisfying to create an emotional release. Unfortunately, “Gone For Good”, the song that does end the album, feels like it's trying to be that song but doesn't quite come up to scratch.

One thing I like is that none of the songs are too long. Also, unlike others, I like the sparseness, I like the fact you just hear three musicians and that it's an accurate representation of their live sound. I don't think it's necessary to pad it out with extra musicians (though if they manage to do that successfully on other albums, without losing the alchemy, that's well and good too). I think it's a fairly varied record considering their sparse set-up, and it's a refreshingly non-nauseating use of the saxophone, an instrument that normally has me running for the hills.

It's not enough “my thing” to make me a fan; I probably won't listen to this band again unless someone urges me to or something. But that will go for most records in this club. I have so many favourite bands already, so much to listen to already, that it takes a lot to win me over fully. 

[Niko]

I've been adding each week's album to this playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/1281647226/playlist/0iUpNxQ1puKMAm2K93phqy

Will listen to Zebra on my way to uni.

[the captain]

Liking Gallant more than I expected to like a wholly new-to-me artist. More specific comments to follow later this week.

[alf wiedersehen]

As soon as I can tear myself away from the Basement Tapes, I promise I'll get caught up with Alice and Zebra.

[feelsflow]

Like Elvis, picking a Tom Waits' album gets me to investigating my memories.  I don't own Alice, so gave it a fresh listen.  I listened this past week to Bone Machine, Mule Variations, Glitter and Doom, played several of Tom's Letterman appearances (due to Muggins' comment), and assorted tracks from throughout his career.  I learned new stuff about an artist I respect.

I don't remember where I first heard Tom.  Could have been right after Eagles' did "Ol 55" in early 1974.  A friend had Some Days You Eat the Bear (1974) by Ian Matthews, which also included that song.  There were a few of the troubadour hipster types I was buying - J.D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Jesse Winchester (holed up in Canada), Terence Boylan (his 1977 album is a little referenced classic).  All artists that became more popular after someone else did their songs.  Randy Newman too.  Many were drawn to the L.A. area:  J.J. Cale, Steve Young, Jimmy Webb, even Neil Young (Three Dog Night putting "The Loner" on their first album helped him get more noticed than Buffalo Springfield).  Too many I could list, let's move on to Tom.

You would hear him at parties.  His voice took some getting used to, but I was a fan of Chris Youlden (Savoy Brown), who was not so different.  Once you do, his writing shines through.  I've bought random records over the years, mostly after I began seeing him in films like Cotton Club (1984) and Ironweed (1987).  His idea to get into movies worked to make him more popular with me.  I had listened closely to The Heart of Saturday Night, Blue Valentine, Heartattack and Vine, and Rain Dogs when they were released - and have those now.  Usually played late at night/early am as the party was down to the ones who couldn't drive home, so were spending the night.  The stories get to be a bit much on repeat listens of Nighthawks at the Diner, but sometimes got a chuckle - "I'm so horny the crack of dawn better be careful around me."  All his records have stand-out tracks.  Some favorites from this period:  ""Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" "Diamonds on My Windshield" (Early Years 1971) "Ol' 55" (Closing Time) "Tom Traubert's Blues" "Gin Soaked Boy" "Burma Shave" "Drunk on the Moon" "Singapore" "Step Right Up" ( a favorite of Bubbly I'd guess) and all of the title tracks.  I was looking for little gems like "Saving All My Love For You" and "Ruby's Arms."  He was and is great at love songs and love.  Him and Kathleen have been married a long time.  I listened to "Johnsburg, Illinois" today.  Never been clear on exactly what Kathleen contributes to his writing, but it sure changed when she came into his life.  Once he mixed it up with the experimental cacophony my ears perked up.  Ricky Lee was last seen heading out the back door of Duke's...  Then I saw Big Time in 1988.  Very similar to Neil's Trans Tour in '83 - a riot.  I didn't see the Warfield shows (where parts of it were filmed in November 1987), but they created quite a buzz in San Francisco.  Impressed, I bought that.  The raps had been jettisoned for the most part, or just fit in better.  You got Confessin' Tom, he was throwing down testifying blues like "Way Down in the Hole" - something I remembered when I was a teenager walking by certain churches.  He didn't invent this, Mick was doing it on Exile, and the Chicago bluesmen, well, not them either.  This kind of wailin' came from the fields.  But he did it very well, perfect for his voice.  And then Bone Machine (1992), same thing.  Between the ballads (A Little Rain") and jazz numbers ("Such a Scream") you got "Jesus Gonna Be Here" "Goin' Out West" and "Earth Died Screaming" - Yikes!  Where did that come from.  Somebody turned him on to the Captain (maybe that's what Kathleen brought to the table).  His best record up to the point for me.  He did a country number in 1985 called "Blind Love" - that's where I wanted him to go, and he did on Mule Variations(1999).  My very favorite of his albums.  Country Tom cooking it up in the barn.  "Get Behind the Mule" "Big In Japan" "What's He Building?" (where did he get the idea for that?)"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" "Eyeball Kid" - the record is nuts.  These two confessions means the 90's was his best decade to me.   But Tom had a way of disappearing and putting out records out of writing order.  For whatever reason he decided to hold the rest of the music from this period til 2002, except for the folks who saw the live shows.

Comment to Muggins:  I enjoyed his visits to Letterman's show.  I believe him to be more real than an act.  He was living what he was singing about.  He understood being poor, even homeless.  I dug those songs.  Christmas 1983 was probably the first time I saw him live (on Letterman).  "On the Nickel" (from Heartattack and Vine) was nice, but "Frank's Wild Years" didn't cause me to buy Swordfishtrombones.  Maybe if he had done "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six" I would have.  "More Than Rain" did not convince me to get Frank's Wild Years.  Big Time was the first one I bought on release.  So the Frank trilogy condensed to that sealed the deal.  To hear something on a regular basis back then, you had to buy the record.  No youtube or spotify to check things out.  Like Zevon, Letterman championed a few artists over the years - artists everybody wanted in later years.  Tom was a big ticket in 2011 when time came to promote Bad As Me - other than Fallon, I didn't see him anywhere else.

I was a fan of Werner Herzog in the late 70's, and saw Woyzeck (1979).  I didn't know much about Tom's music for plays.  When I heard he was doing something with Burroughs, I passed.  He moved on.  To Germany, where that sort of entertainment is much more popular.  So he was off my radar for many years.  Glad he left America behind with Bone Machine to remember him by.  He was developing two very different audiences.  The musical plays, like Alice in Europe and the experimental/country-blues/bebop in America.  The 80's and 90's were such an opening up to new styles of music.  After acts like xtc, Costello and Paul Weller hit the stage, the English scene took up a lot of my time.  Costello and Lowe could even do Country well.  I still played the old stuff (Beach Boys, Beatles, McCartney, Kinks, Nilsson, Laura... lots of American Folk and Country and Power Pop from both sides of the Atlantic), but now that, and Waits, had to fight for turntable time.  The Black Rider (1993 -but mostly recorded 1989 in Germany) slipped through the floorboards.  Guess I thought he was going backwards.  The Beat generation was before my time and has never held much interest for me.  Even early Dylan.  Except for a few songs, and after the Byrds gave them a pop touch, did I pay any attention to Dylan.  The first place I heard "Mr. Tambourine Man" was on Judy's # 3 (1963), McGuinn is on that record.  I thought Donovan was much better when I was a kid.  He claimed to be Beat, but was so filtered through English Folk, what I was hearing was Beat-lite at best.  When I got Tom's Early Years volumes 1 and 2 I liked those versions a lot more than the records they ended up on.  Again, Beat-lite.  Very different than he would sound in a few years.  Tom and a piano.  "In Between Love" has a touch of Dylan and a clear voice.  Okay getting off track.  Back to the 90's.  As I said, until Mule Variations I was into other kinds of music.  He just came back in out of nowhere in 1999.  As good as that was, British acts got a lot of my attention in the 80's and 90's.  Could be why I didn't check out Blood Money or Alice (both 2002) until years later.  What really got me back into Waits was HBO's The Wire.  It got me listening to and buying his music again.  First the comps Used Songs and Beautiful Maladies, then those demo releases.  On to several others mentioned and all the few newer releases.  He matters more to me now than he did when I was young.  I love Bad As Me.

But what about Alice?  As with Blood Money, I've listened to tracks more than the whole record in one setting.  Listening on the computer speakers doesn't do it justice.  My favorites:

"Alice" is beautiful, taking us back to his early smoky jazz club sound.  "Everything You Can Think of Is True" - even better.  The swirling carnival sounds take me back to Autumn.  Where I grew up the fair came to town in October.  "Flowers Grave" - almost too emotional for those of us who have lost most of the most important people in our life.  Sad and lovely at the same time.  "I'm Still Here" - brief.  I played it twice.  "Kommienezuspadt" is a hoot.  I don't have the link handy, but go find the skeleton film someone put up on youtube.  Great for this time of the year.  "Table Top Joe" - seems out of place in this story.  Would have fit better on his New York album, Rain Dogs.  "Lost in the Harbour" sure follows "Table Top Joe" well.  Moody and fantastic.  My favorite on the record.  The instrumental break at 2:37 recreating the harbor sounds with strings, horns, whatever treatment to the tapes they are using... this just works.  I feel I'm on the boat in a fog with him.  "Fish and Bird" - another beautiful little tale of love.  Tom is a special kind of poet.  "Barcarolle" - my other very favorite.  To me this is Country Tom for the first couple of minutes.  A good closer.  And then the fade-out instrumental "Fawn."  If this was a movie "Fawn" would be the closing credits.

So.  I've about convinced myself to buy this.  Thanks pixletwin for bringing it back to my attention.

EDIT:  I continued to listen to Tom's music today and decided to add a bit.  I too had not been playing his stuff for a while either, and wanted to include some more of my favorite songs.  Makes the post look too much like a list, but I thought it important.  I want to take a closer look at the Orphan tracks, see what's hiding there.  And going to order a few of his records, including Blood Money and Alice.  When I was writing this post it pointed out to me how good he was in the 90's.  And the way he's come in and out of my life.

Muggins,  I'll get right to your pick tomorrow.  Wait, it's after midnight.  Today then.  

[alf wiedersehen]

When I first came to Tom, it was Rain Dogs. That was a couple years ago, when I didn't have much time for ballads. Anyway, I was totally sold on Tom and loved that album. I probably don't need to wax rhapsodic about Rain Dogs because, really, who needs to read more of that, but I loved that he was different. His songs were skewed and his voice was savage and alluring. When I bought more of Tom, which was usually bargain-priced CDs at various retailers, I bought Small Change and Alice. Neither particularly interested me, though I could appreciate that they were good songs. Then I got Bad As Me not long after it was released was able to relish in Tom's uptempo weirdness yet again.

That this album was suggested now is good timing - my interest in Tom Waits being renewed by listening to Nick Cave. I've been listening to Small Change a good bit and I enjoy it, although the strings and the "waltzing Matilda" refrain on "Tom Traubert's Blues" are just a little too sweet for me. And, yes, "Step Right Up" is a favorite of mine. Not entirely sure how you guessed that, feelsflow, but I do have my suspicions. I've also revisited Alice on-and-off since I first bought it and I definitely enjoy that one more than I used too, as well.

I imagine the stripped-down, old-Tom feel is supposed to be counter to his other, contemporaneous theater album, Blood Money. I do feel that this album benefits from Tom reverting to his older style because he doesn't go in this direction very often, which he should. I do like Tom Waits, but I like the other Tom Waits, too. Anyway, this album is like new Tom hiding himself behind old Tom's piano, with his heart resting atop the instrument for the audience at the smoky jazz club to look at. I have absolutely zero idea of what this play is, however. Why does Table Top Joe show up? Is this related to Alice in Wonderland? Eh, it's not like it matters. The songs are good.

And, yes, Kathleen introduced Tom to Captain Beefheart. Trout Mask Replica, specifically.

[feelsflow]

Okay.  Gave Zebra - EP a first listen this morning.  Pleasant groove music.  Morning was a good time to give it a try.  Had to give in and add Spotify to my life.  I had been working around using it with youtube, but not much of this is there.

I don't even know what Nu-Soul is exactly.  I do listen to electronically flavored Indie stuff.  Mostly when established artists in my racks give it a go.  I saw you and the captain having a chat about kiss each other clean last week.  Let me briefly say Sam Beam is my favorite living artist along with Brian.  But I'm not going to argue about it.  We like what we like.  I embraced what he was doing, but that was just on the one album.  None of his other stuff sounds as processed as that.  It came off better live to me.  He can strip those songs down and make them work just as well.  He has lots of styles.  He has moved on, back to playing solo acoustic or with a small backing band - no horns and strings.  He's been tossing his original fans a bone lately.  As for electronics, they've been around since the 60's.  A Moog is a simple computer I guess.  Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were innovators using electronics.  They were playing electric keyboards tho', not feeding it through or mixing with a computer.  There were many real musicians on those records.  I'm a fan of Swing Out Sister and Annie Lennox.  Michael McDonald has done some interesting music using these computer beats and bringing in guest artists.  In the 80's I bought into some of it.  Style Council sure comes to mind.  Weller still produces great music incorporating samples and found sounds.  I continue to buy, or at least listen to whatever they put out.  But I haven't bought a Wonder album since Hotter Than July.  Pet Shop Boys - up to a point.  Lost interest, but not in their old stuff.  I don't know what they sound like now.  I'm surprised acts like Duran Duran still hold onto an audience.  It was part of the mix in the 80's.  I could say ABC or Wang Chung, but you guys probably don't know who they are.  I play my old Genesis, Yes and ELP, but didn't buy it past the early 90"s.  I only listen to radio when I'm in the car, and that's Radio Woodstock.  They don't play Maxwell, though just for you Muggins, I did this morning.  I am willing to comment on anything we throw up on this thread.  Sure hearing music that's new to me.

I listen to all our Smiler's who make music.  Should comment more, but I don't know what is real or what's being created with loops, beats, whatever... I'm out of the loop on how this is being created.  Makes it difficult to discuss.  Is that Zack blowing the horns or something he programed?  The closest sound to Gallant over there is seltaeb.  Is that Nu-Soul?  Or just an update on the UK Northern Soul still popular in the clubs.  I listen to some of that.  What they are calling Acid Jazz now.

Let's get the conversation started.  Going to give Gallant's music a deeper look this week.

[Please delete my account]

Belated remarks on Elvis- It's a solid album but to me, no amazing tracks. The only song I didn't like was "I'll Hold You In My Heart" which starts like the record is stuck (probably that's the idea) and the vocal is very mannered, like a parody of the Elvis signature style which I admit I've never cared for. In fact I used to regard the Elvis cult as The Emperor's New Clothes. These days I've mellowed and conceded that 50,000,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong, but I'm still largely immune to his charm myself, particularly on the rockin' songs which I feel could use a rougher tougher voice.

Still, only one dud is pretty good going. I thought the standout track was "Only The Strong Survive".

[the captain]

feelsflow -- nice post. And it also makes me want to keep talking about I&W, though this isn't the thread for it. I'm not ready to talk intelligently about Gallant yet, but I'll try to add something worthwhile in the next day or two.

[MugginsXO]

Okay.  Gave Zebra - EP a first listen this morning.  Pleasant groove music.  Morning was a good time to give it a try.  Had to give in and add Spotify to my life.  I had been working around using it with youtube, but not much of this is there.

I don't even know what Nu-Soul is exactly.  I do listen to electronically flavored Indie stuff.  Mostly when established artists in my racks give it a go.  I saw you and the captain having a chat about kiss each other clean last week.  Let me briefly say Sam Beam is my favorite living artist along with Brian.  But I'm not going to argue about it.  We like what we like.  I embraced what he was doing, but that was just on the one album.  None of his other stuff sounds as processed as that.  It came off better live to me.  He can strip those songs down and make them work just as well.  He has lots of styles.  He has moved on, back to playing solo acoustic or with a small backing band - no horns and strings.  He's been tossing his original fans a bone lately.  As for electronics, they've been around since the 60's.  A Moog is a simple computer I guess.  Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were innovators using electronics.  They were playing electric keyboards tho', not feeding it through or mixing with a computer.  There were many real musicians on those records.  I'm a fan of Swing Out Sister and Annie Lennox.  Michael McDonald has done some interesting music using these computer beats and bringing in guest artists.  In the 80's I bought into some of it.  Style Council sure comes to mind.  Weller still produces great music incorporating samples and found sounds.  I continue to buy, or at least listen to whatever they put out.  But I haven't bought a Wonder album since Hotter Than July.  Pet Shop Boys - up to a point.  Lost interest, but not in their old stuff.  I don't know what they sound like now.  I'm surprised acts like Duran Duran still hold onto an audience.  It was part of the mix in the 80's.  I could say ABC or Wang Chung, but you guys probably don't know who they are.  I play my old Genesis, Yes and ELP, but didn't buy it past the early 90"s.  I only listen to radio when I'm in the car, and that's Radio Woodstock.  They don't play Maxwell, though just for you Muggins, I did this morning.  I am willing to comment on anything we throw up on this thread.  Sure hearing music that's new to me.

I listen to all our Smiler's who make music.  Should comment more, but I don't know what is real or what's being created with loops, beats, whatever... I'm out of the loop on how this is being created.  Makes it difficult to discuss.  Is that Zack blowing the horns or something he programed?  The closest sound to Gallant over there is seltaeb.  Is that Nu-Soul?  Or just an update on the UK Northern Soul still popular in the clubs.  I listen to some of that.  What they are calling Acid Jazz now.

Let's get the conversation started.  Going to give Gallant's music a deeper look this week.

I am not sure exactly what I can comment on here but I enjoyed reading this.

A few things:

I do know Wang Chung (and ABC) and really like a good bit of their stuff, especially their second album and the To Live and Die in L.A. soundtrack. Dance Hall Days is one my favourite songs of the 80s, hands down.

Nu-Soul/Neo-soul was one of the last big changes or movements in R&B - prior to the current wave of dark/noir R&B - provided as an alternative to the mainstream sound of the genre in the 90s. It includes folks like Maxwell, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu and I guess later people like Alicia Keys can be thought of in that way too. I referenced it only because the Gallant album reminded me a little bit of Maxwell/D'Angelo's more atmospheric stuff (Mellosmooth Somethin' Somethin' esp.) and figured it was one more way to recommend it to folks who may have liked that kind of R&B but haven't given the newer stuff a chance.

Stevie Wonder's use of the talkbox should certainly be considered a predecessor of how autotuner has been used in an aesthetic capacity in the last decade.

[feelsflow]

Been listening to this off and on for a second day.  I looked into what Nu-Soul is.  It wasn't long before I found what I already figured - Miles Marshall Lewis commented that 1990's Neo Soul "Owed it's raison d'etre to 70's soul superstars like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder."  I saw Macy Gray's named mentioned.  I remember her.  A very honest singer.  My only real connection is Alicia Keys, she's too big to not notice.  I like quite a few songs by her.  I found a duet she did with Maxwell "Fire We Make", and his "Whenever, Wherever, Whatever" clip.  "Bad Habits' and a few others trying to find something more up and fast.  Played a live one from 1996, "Ascension" then tried Raheem DeVaughn trying to get what Nu-Soul is.  Tried "Guess Who Loves You More," finding it a good mid-tempo Marvin Gaye workout.  Better than the other tracks I picked by him.  I didn't know which ones were the big hits.  Jukebox- picked very randomly.  Everything was laid back.  Am I right in thinking that's the focus of this style?  That's what Gallant has on offer too.

ZEBRA -EP

"Intro" - I've played all these tracks several times, and looked up the lyrics on many.  He buries his vocals on most of the lines trying to blur or blend them into a wash of sound.  This is nice.

"Forfeit" - He uses the repeating beat to create the feel of waves crashing.  I liked this right off yesterday.

"Sienna" - The most upbeat of the tracks here.  I had this in my head yesterday when I wrote loop.  The beat loops and the lyrics do too.  Many of the modern writers hang on one line, repeating it over and over.  It's like they're trying to get a message through just by repeating a line.  Not really focusing on a story, but setting a mood.  A straight through mood - much like Marvin did with I Want You.  Gallant's lyrics seem to be there to strengthen the delivery more than make a statement.  This is the one that reminded me of seltaeb.

"Manhatten" - Looked up the lyrics to this one too.  "put it in a VCR.  Show me how you got in this predicament."  Muggins, what do these lyrics mean to you?  Is it some kind of street speak?  He's just pulling them out of the air and burying them in the mix.  The music seems to be the real star here.

"Ibuprofen" - oo, Stevie checks in.  I don't know what he's using to do it, but there is a ribbon sound that reminds me of the baby cooing in "Isn't She Lovely."  I even played that to check it out.  Yep, it's pretty close.  Is that a talkbox?  On Stevie's it's a real baby.

Wait stop.  Stop the Post!  It just started snowing out.  Our first snow of the year.  A little after 1:oo am. here in Ulster.  neat.  We're supposed to get about an inch.

...I'm back.  Had to go outside. I love snow, big wet fluffy-flakes swirlin' around.  Damn if one of my neighbors hasn't already got a tree up.  And on.  Some people can't wait til next week.

Where was I?  Right.  "Sirens" - I found a preferred version, StarRo 2am Mix, on his SoundCloud.  One of my favorites.  Infectious groove.

"If it Hurts" - I had heard this!  Must have been on Radio Woodstock.  They were playing this when "Happy" was getting a lot of exposure a few months ago.  The best track.

I had some trouble with Spotify freezing up on some of the tracks every time I tried to play them.  I had to track this guy down to hear what I could.  Five of them were on his SoundCloud, which always plays perfect on my computer.  Do you guys have a problem with Spotify?

But.  There were a couple of tracks on his SoundCloud that are a bit older.  He did a sorta cover of Kesha's "Die Young" - It Doesn't even sound the same, and he changes the words around.  I like it.  Better is from a year ago, "Please" (Vignette) - this sounds like something the captain could do at his house.  It's more sparse than anything on Zebra, and has a stronger rhythm.  Zebra is a slow drive through the night.

Getting back to something I touched on before.  This cat is doing the same thing many of our Smilers who make music are.  Putting their stuff up on SoundCloud, bandcamp, youtube, and trying to get noticed.  Playing in the clubs and the streets.  It shows that it can be done.  For some, My Brother Woody, Yorick, Ian's band The Seven Inches, and James Clarke, they are already known in Europe.  They are using the same set-ups that many indie artists are using to get known.  The same methods.  Yes, even you captain can get noticed.  Zack is sure to make it if he stays focused.  I love what Donny L is doing with Magic Hero vs. Rock People.  These few are just the ones off the top of my head, there's many I could name.  So don't post any "Pixletwin gifs" saying I didn't mention you.  I really do spend time listening.  I really should comment more in that area of Smiley.  time, time...if I only

nearly 2am.  maybe one more spin of that "Sirens" mix, then I'm off.

[MugginsXO]

Excellent post! Thanks for the effort. I will respond when I get to a computer.