after briefly considering the veils and deeming them slightly too downbeat for a monday morning, i made one of the best decisions i've made in a long time - to play the violent femmes self-titled compliation, deluxe edition. released in 2002, this is an excellent album containing any number of hits, as well as rare demos, live / accoustic versions, and other delicious treats for the ears.
i unashamedly love the violent femmes; one of my enduring favourites, and their live show in dunedin in 2005 would definitely be in the top five gigs i've had the fortune to attend. famously discovered while busking on a street corner, they're wickedly impressive musicians, who play a fast and loose show. i managed to get myself in front of the security barrier, and was treated to a very jammy set and definitely one for the fans - i love that they slipped that pub-crowd anthem 'blister in the sun' right in the middle of their set, not giving it prominence and instead encoring with some of their more obscure material. they're a spontaneous band that is perfectly happy to just jam and have a good time - i recall them jamming one of their better known songs (i want to say 'kiss off'?) for about 20 minutes, just having a laugh. they also all switch around through an impressive array of instruments up to and including some kind of awesome one-stringed bass on a stick, that i'd never seen before nor seen one since. they make an awful lot of noise for three middle-aged men, and, of course, as their website attests "all three of them singing their hearts out for the entire show". bloody good stuff and one of my favourite nights ever.
i'm particularly enjoying offbeat versions of well-known songs at the moment. i'm rediscovering some excellent live bowie tracks, and radio 1 (of the u.k, not dunedin, variety) live lounge has produced some stunners too. in the same vein, it's refreshing to hear the likes of 'blister in the sun' in a rare, raw demo form, rather than the generic hit that it became. i admit a bit of a grudge with the song because the violent femmes have done soooooo much better stuff but everyone only seems to know that single - but hearing it in that slightly more unique form is enough to make me enjoy it all over again. similarly there are superb demo versions of 'kiss off', 'add it up' (the ultimate teen angst song) 'please do not go' and 'prove my love', among others - a great new way to rejuvenate your interest in old classic songs. my only complaint about this album would be that it doesn't contain the 1981 single 'i held her in my arms' - a raucous, gorgeous song, and quite possibly my favourite violent femmes song of all time. below gordon gano rocks it with the new pornographers. great combination.
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