I spent a few hours last night with a mate watching Shut Up And Play The Hits. Not the gig (yet) as that’s a 3-4 hour investment and I want to lay an afternoon away for that, but the features, and the film again. I wasn’t as teary as the first time I watched it in the cinema, but my god, it’s incredible. If you have the DVD watch the extras – mostly the full interview and also the fantastic mini doc on Keith a ‘year on’ from the gig. It was quite poignant and very funny. And it did feel like you were seeing people as wistful as we, the fans, were after the last shows.
I’ll watch the gig, maybe around Christmas. And probably blub. For now though, here’s one of their best moments:
Slightly late brothers, but the December album is Josh Rouse – Nashville. It came out in 2005, and I got alerted to it by my girlfriend at the time. It was something I’d have never really gone for without guidance, but don’t be fooled by the title, despite the odd steel guitar, it’s not a country album. It’s just a pitch-perfect slice of songwriting that tugs at the heartstrings. It grows with each listen, and it’s written distinctly with vinyl in mind, even when I had the CD it was listed as ‘side A/B’.
It had some emotional resonance with me, as it straddled the breakup of the relationship that brought it to me at the time, but that’s years in the past, and its effect hasn’t lessened, even though the association to that time’s now in the distant past. It’s also something I’d go – knowing the Brothers’ cd collections (and how hard it was to select something outside them) – as far as to say may just not fit for you, but if it does, it’ll be worth it. That’s the risk with new music. 99% of the albums I like, one of us has, so this is something different (it was between this and a Ben Folds Five album, but I chose this as it was more rewarding in the long term for me).
It sounds pretty timeless. It could’ve been made in 1975, or 1995, and it’s rare to find a modern album like that that hasn’t aged at all. I saw him perform it live in 2005, and it was just as powerful.
So, listen, digest, critique, and lay it all back on me. Only a cold soul could fail to be moved by Sad Eyes. An absolutely heartbreaking record.
Here’s one of the album’s lighter moments, My Love Has Gone.
I know I’ve not been on here for a few weeks. Work/trips away and various other stuff combining to keep me tired, but I’ve still been listening to loads of music, and I’m sure I’m preaching to the converted when I say how brilliant Matthew Dear’s new one, Beams, is. If it’d fallen in my month it’d have been my album. I’ve always loved his stuff, electronically of course (Audion especially) but his first album blew me away and Black City was a much darker, bleaker prospect.
Beams seems to never sound like anything else. At turns funky, stripped back, uplifting, miserable. I love it. He’s a ridiculously talented man.
Cody Chesnutt was all the hype after the Roots re-did hir track “The Seed”; but he didn’t live up to the hype… until now! His album has become a late contender for my album of 2012. Worth checking out.
I’ve been waiting for a second Styles of Beyond album for over 10 years and it’s finally landed. The delay has been largely due to Warner Music. He’s a nice little pop at why their album wasn’t released….
So it’s my kick at the can as we continue delving into classic albums that have a special place in our music libraries.
Like everyone else I have been racking my brain to bring an album to the table that isn’t already in your record collections but also deserves to sit next to two great albums from the Talking Heads and Bob Marley respectively.
I have chosen Van Morrison’s first solo album: Astral Works.
My history with this album to be honest with you is fairly young. You will often find it in top 50 ‘Greatest Albums of All Time’. That said, I have traditionally avoided it as it always was put across as Van Morrison’s less successful album. I find other albums painted with the same brush are placed in lists to be ‘controversial’ or show off a writer’s music knowladge. When I fell across this album a few years ago I was proven wrong.
Van Morrison is known largely for the music he made whilst fronting the band “Them’ who were responsible for classic tracks ‘Gloria’ and ‘Here Comes The Night’. After ‘Them’ separated, Van Morrison moved to New York to work on a solo career. Sadly the music he wanted to do wasn’t what his label wanted him to do (the oh so familiar story). Subsequently Van Morrison was blacklisted from doing gigs and releasing music for a few years. This album was written in that time. The result is a very raw honesty from Van Morrison that set a standard for many artists of his generation.
I’m going to avoid pointing out my favourite tracks as I think the whole album is amazing. I say that knowing that it look me a few listens to get into it at first. Personally I think you should start the album on ‘Sweet Thing’ (which is the third track) and listen to the first two tracks last.
thisisnothappening.net 