A - almost famous soundtrack, various artists (2000)

two days ago we were casually discussing the greatest soundtracks of all time, and my immediate reaction was to name 'almost famous'. ok, granted, i'm not much of a movie buff, so my soundtrack experience isn't all that broad, but this grammy award-winning soundtrack has to be up there for masterfully traversing the music of the late sixites and seventies. and not the hits - the truly great music of the era. my copy of this cd is so well-loved that it's almost worn out, and full of skips scratches and glitches. but that somehow adds to the authenticity and i love it just the same.

 

it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that this movie is one of my all-time favourites. i love this movie not because i identify with fifteen-year-old william miller (i don't really); more accurately, because i adore penny lane and her band-aides. and yes, to an extent i identify with them.  this is a movie about music lovers, for music lovers, and that's obvious in its soundtrack (which had a budget of $3.5 million, more than double the standard budget). it's semi-autobiographical, chonicling director cameron crowe's varied adventures with bands of the era, and the soundtrack reflects that - led zepp, lynyrd skynyrd, the allman brothers' band: all bands that crowe toured with, which also dominate the soundtrack. elton john's 'tiny dancer' was surely re-popularised by the iconic 'bus scene', immediately following the equally iconic "i am a golden god" scene (another nod to led zepp) . 

 

part of what i love about this soundtrack is the tracks included by fictional band "stillwater". frankly, penny was onto a good thing, and i couldn't help but fall a little in love with guitarist russell hammond in watching the film. even more so, i fell a little (more!) for billy cruddup in learning that the actors learnt the instruments, and played the songs themselves. a babe and a musician.... whoar!  in another lovely little twist, pearl jam guitarist (and possible musical genuis) mike mccready wrote the stillwater guitar track, and some of william's experiences with stillwater allude to crowe's own experiences with pearl jam. 

 

full of throwbacks to classic bands like led zepp, buddy holly, neil young, fleetwood mac, hendrix, and oh so many more, the almost famous soundtrack comprises about fifty iconic songs of the era. the album couldn't include all of them, and my only complaint is that it didn't include dr hook's "the cover of the rolling stone" - a crucial point in the movie and a wonderful song to boot. that point notwithstanding, this is one of my favourite ever albums: i dare you to put it on and not fall back in love with rock n'f*n' roll.

Z - the zutons, various

the zutons are the only 'z' artist i have on my ipod. they are there as part of bbc radio 1's "live lounge" compilation (vol 3, ) , in which bands do acoustic covers of their own or others' songs. the compilation is the source of some of my favourite quirky takes on various songs. the zutons' contribution to this particular album is a cover of christina aguilera's 'beautiful'. the original in itself is pretty cheesey, and i sort of expected a tongue-in-cheek version of it. there's something about male vocalists covering female originals which i kinda enjoy - the same live lounge album has a great cover of katy perry's 'i kissed a girl' by mcfly which fits this bill. the zutons' cover is good, although perhaps not as impertinent as i had hoped for. it was enough to make me want to hear a bit more of the zutons, though, enlisted the help of my beautiful assistant, myspace.

myspace led my nicely to 'valerie' - a song which on first listen i really enjoyed; funky guitars, rough man-vox, a nice take on what i thought was amy winehouse's song. i must've been in "cute zutons covers of female songstresses" mode, because little did i know, it turns out the zutons' version is actually the original (2006) and winehouse covered them... for a radio one live lounge session. full circle and all. to be honest i think the richness of her voice does it more justice, but i do really like the zutons' version.

either way, two good things have come out of today:

one: i thoroughly recommend this live lounge album, and i've been inspired to find myself volumes one, two and four.

two: i enjoyed album / compilation listening so much that i've now decided to go from a - z in albums. i may be getting lazy with weekend blogging, but i'm not ready to give up on this experiment just yet.

Y - yvonne elliman, i don't know how to love him (single), from andrew lloyd webber gold: the definitive hits collection (2001)

ummmm. it's fair to say this was the only artist on my ipod beginning with 'y'. i considered cheating and pretending that i had cat stevens' stuff listed as yusuf islam, but i don't, so instead i've elected to see the fun side of things and indulge myself in a lengthy discourse about  just how much i love show tunes.

if the popularity of 'glee' has taught us one thing, it's not some moralistic tale about being nice to geeky kids.  it's more important than that: glee has taught us how many of us deep down are show tune addicts. admit it, just as much as you love hearing gaga done by a bunch of nerdy high school kids you also love hearing them do tunes from les mis. and, while it may have taken rachel berry and co to illustrate just how many of us secretly love that shit, i have always embraced my intense enjoyment of show tunes.

i think my mother is responsible for this. i was an '80s kid, and grew up at a time when 'cats', 'starlight express' and the quintessentially lloyd-webber ''the phantom of the opera' were enjoying the height of their popularity. i recall mum having a double cassette tape (oh yes!) of the phantom of the opera, and playing it, well... regularly. as kids we saw productions of 'cats' and 'jesus christ superstar' by the dunedin operatic society - i loved that music then, and i unashamedly love it now. my love of show tunes is shared by a close friend and former flatmate, who sees it as utterly appropriate to include "mr mistoffelees", "any dream will do" and "the phantom" itself on a playlist for a party. in fact i'm convinced it is this friend who is responsible for the presence of these songs on my ipod.... many a happy hour has been spent youtubing cats on broadway with my flatmates and cackling with, well, glee, at how excellent the tunes are. you might argue that i need to get out more; i'd just laugh and suggest you need more show tune glory in your life.

and let us not limit our enjoyment of show tunes to sir andrew himself, oh no! i do recall once (okay maybe more than once) being wooed by a boy who sat down at a piano and began to play the entire score of 'chicago'. there was also a time where i believe the same boy pulled out the big guns with 'les mis'.  i used to belong to a facebook group entitled "and WHY can't my life be a musical?!"... perhaps these brief glory days of drunken show tune slurring were the closest i'm going to get. but given my propensity to sing and dance (both badly) at the drop of a hat, well..... watch this space.

tomorrow is 'z' day and rather than go off on some tangential rant i might see if i can arrange a guest post...

X - the xx, various and self-titled (2009)

unsurprisingly (or perhaps not?) i don't have any artists beginning with 'x' on my ipod, but a helpful heads up from a friend in the u.k. had alerted me to the existence of 'the xx'. another, new zealand-based, friend had also recently recommended them so that's, like, international hype, right? so i waited until 'x day' and gave them a go.

cue: rookie error. for some unfathomable reason i went to youtube rather than myspace - i.e. tracks listed by just anyone, not necessarily selected by the artist themselves as the best showcase of their sound. the first song i stumbled across was a cover of florence and the machine's 'you've got the love' - i dutifully clicked on it and hated. every. bit. of. it.  i think florence is just wonderful - it's ambitious in the extreme to try to cover her, especially when she's still enjoying huge popularity - and this was not a good cover. bland, repetitive, dull, and with none of that joie de vivre that comes through in the original. if the youtube comments are anything to go by, debate rages as to whether the strong female voice that comes in halfway through the song is a sample of florence herself, or just someone who sounds really, really like her -- either way, it was an island in a sea of nothingness - the best bit of the song by miles, although that's not saying much.

so it wasn't a good start between myself and 'the xx' but we persevered and i'm glad we did. in a world of "indie pop" - that truly amorphous genre that really could cover just about anything - 'the xx' produce a different take on pop. the keys are subtle, and do not dominate the sound in an obvious way like so many indie-synth-pop-insert-a-genre-here bands these days. early in my listen, the ethnomusicologist chipped in with his usual, ahem, considered critique </end sarcasm> calling them "scene and boring".... i thought perhaps he'd only heard their florence cover.

at first listen, it's a refreshingly unfussy approach - a kind of restrained sophistication that sets them apart from many of their more "obvious" contemporaries. the florence example highlights to me that they're not vocally strong, but the breathy, almost moody vocals seem to work in the context of their broader, understated sound. they're modest and minimalist, the kind of music i'd listen to over a dinner party with friends, but not the kind of music i'd dance around my lounge to on a saturday night. or even choose to listen to of a weekday morning. perhaps that is damning them with faint praise, but i don't necessarily mean it that way. the subtle sound obviously appeals to a broad audience, which might explain why they've featured in all number of tv shows - gossip girl, east enders, grey's anatomy, law & order, cold case, and even bbc and nbc news.

but while the difference in their sound is refreshing, i worry that in being so inoffensive they might have played it a bit safe - i don't get the feeling any risks are being taken here, and the fact that the songs almost uniformly take on the same mood is evidence of this. similarly, i was disappointed to note that the song that really made my ears perk up - the song that was going to be my proof of diversity in this exercise in restraint - "teardrops", with its interesting opening riff, is itself also a cover. boo. in fact, the longer i listen, the more it aggrieves me to admit i tend to agree with the ethnomusicologist. i wouldn't say they're "boring", but they are certainly same-y.

so, this is a long post for a reason: i still haven't quite figured out how i feel about them. if i had to sum up: i'll always have got off on the wrong foot with them by virtue of the awful cover. i like their minimalism, but think it will wear thin. i look forward to hearing more from them - i'd like to see them prove they're capable of mixing it up with something a bit more diverse.  possibly more damning than my dinner party comment is the fact that i would happily recommend this album to my mother, and i suspect that may be its enduring destiny: a brief flirtation in the spotlight, before longterm population of the cd racks of middle-aged hipsters the world over.

W - weezer, weezer (the blue album) (1994)

this was an album that received much bashing (as in, was played a lot, not heavily criticised) in my latter years of high school. iconic in so many ways, this debut album launched weezer into mainstream success. the album - and i think the band in general - is best summed by by 'allmusic' in its 5-star review: "what makes the band so enjoyable is their charming geekiness..." they're most traditionally listed as playing alt-rock or even sometimes pop-punk, but really they just play pop - and they do it in a refreshing, amusing, disarmingly cheeky kind of way.

the videos for two of the major singles on this album ('buddy holly', 'undone (the sweater song)') were both directed by spike jonze. and, although it doesn't appear on the blue album (coming instead on the later green album), i've included another jonze treasure below - the video for 'island in the sun'. there are puppies! and kittens! and lion cubs! and flying monkeys! and a baby grizzly bear! and a grown up big daddy grizzly bear!....and rivers cuomo, who is also adorable.

V - violent femmes, violent femmes deluxe edition (2002)

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.

U - the unicorns, tuff ghost (single, 2003), urge overkill, girl you'll be a woman soon (single, 1994) and WILCO

unusually, i have no full albums by artists beginning with 'u' - can anyone recommend any? i discharged my duty to the project this morning by listening to the two singles i have by 'u' artists. and i did it sulkily - i really don't like the unicorns, and i don't actually know why i have this song on my ipod. i find it a bit whiny and depressing. but to give it its due, when i gave it a critical listen this morning i spose there was some interesting synth bits happening in there, and it's not as bad as i'd built it up to be in my mind.

urge overkill's 'girl you'll be a woman soon' - what to say? to be honest i'd quite like to listen to some of urge overkill's stuff that hasn't been, y'know, overkilled, on the pulp fiction soundtrack... apparently they've opened for both nirvana and pearl jam, so they can't be too shabby. and yet i only know them for one song (a cover no less) that they did for a soundtrack. naughty me.

having discharged my 'u' duties, i was blissfully free to pick whatever band i wanted for a sunny friday morning. because i knew it would be highly contrary to the spirit of my muscial adventure to listen to wilco on 'w' day, but also because it's been twenty-something days without them and i'm starting to get the shakes from wilco-withdrawals, i put on wilco's 'kicking television: live in chicago' album. jeff tweedy is honestly my hero, and the live in chicago album is a fabulous set-list. 'heavy metal drummer'  is far from their best song, but it is one of my favourites so i've added some links to it here. i tried to find a decent live clip of it and was disappointed because the only one i could find was this one where tweedy looks to be (very uncharacteristically) just going through the motions. most unlike tweedy with his usual excellent crowd interaction, vibrant voice and guitars, and high energy performances. the night i saw wilco live was a truly awesome 'life-moment' - you know those moments that you kind of hope will happen and then they do and they're awesome? yea, it was one of them. in a total departure from my usual form, i did not fall in love with a drummer that night, nor even a lead guitarist. in a world first for me, i fell in love with a bassist. john stirrat is seriously talented - combining with glen kotche to form a tight and hard working rhythm section, but also chipping in with his superb backing vocals vocals. combined with keys player / multi-instrumentalist pat sansone, stirrat also formed the autumn defense another superb indie-folk duo that i highly recommend.

and just while i'm struggling to hold it all together with all of the musical goodness in the world, check out this most spectacular combination of loveliness: wilco feat. feist: