Dean & Britta cover Snowstorm – a sacrilegious opinion

Posted on June 20th, 2009 by Andy

Photo by Denim

Last Thursday Dean & Britta performed a set for radio station KCRW’s show Morning Becomes Eclectic. The set mostly featured tracks from 13 Most Beautiful, but slipped in near the end was a cover of Galaxie 500’s Snowstorm. Now Snowstorm is my favourite song, no question. It entered my life at a very important time and did, to a certain extent, play its part in changing that life. I’d possibly suggest that a week hasn’t gone past since I first heard it that I haven’t listened to it, and all that listening hasn’t diminished its effect on me one drop. No other music comes even close to making me feel the way it does.

So, you’d think that hearing Dean Wareham singing Snowstorm would be something that I’d appreciate, and to be honest so would I. But listening to that performance (and an earlier live performance that appeared on YouTube a few weeks previously) made me feel uncomfortable.

It’s always been hard for me to look at Dean’s work with any sort of objectivity, but that’s never been a problem because, well… it has all been great, there’s frankly nothing there which has cause to question my objectivity! I’m pretty certain I’ve never thought, let alone written down, a single jot of criticism of any of his work. Which is going to make the next couple of paragraphs pretty hard going.

I’ve seen Dean & Britta, and Luna before them (and even Damon & Naomi), perform many Galaxie 500 songs and I’ve never been bothered. In fact mostly I have been overjoyed and have swayed blissfully, happy that I can hear these songs again. But for some reason with Snowstorm all the things that have never bothered me in the past really did bother me, and actually they bothered me quite a lot.

Dean’s voice was good, and I think that might be a crucial point in what made it all sound so wrong. Hearing that familiar voice over that unfamiliar backing. The harsher drum sound, the fuzzier guitar, the more intricate bass line, the keyboards… MOSTLY the keyboards. It never had the other worldly, it never took me to that special place that Snowstorm has always taken me. It wasn’t a song capable of changing a life.

I love Dean & Britta and I love that they’re doing Galaxie 500 numbers, and I even appreciate that my attachment to Snowstorm might be quite unique and therefore I am the only one who finds it bothersome. But I do. I hope to get to see Dean & Britta play (a non 13 Most Beautiful show) in the near future, maybe even one of the Galaxie 500 shows they’ve been doing… but I wonder if they’ll take requests?

You can see Dean & Britta playing Snowstorm on KCRW over at A Head Full of Wishes – it’s quite near the end. But I’d suggest you stay here and watch this instead…

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Patti Smith @ The Royal Festival Hall

Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Andy

Patti Smith @ Meltdown photo by GanMed64

Recently in one of those Facebook memes when asked to name my top seven albums I put Patti Smith’s Horses on that list. Obviously lists like that change like the weather but it is a great album and fully deserving of a place on the rotating list of great albums that appear in my top n lists whenever I do them. Until last night I had never seen Patti Smith live, it was just one of those things I knew I needed to do but never actually got around to.

Last night she played at the Royal Festival Hall as part of Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown and provided me with a rollercoaster ride that left me in turns frustrated and breathless… and if pushed to rank it on a scale of greatness it would fall comfortably in the ‘pretty damn’ section.

She opened by reading Piss Factory, maybe she opens every show with it… if she doesn’t, she should, Patti’s delivery just sucked the audience in. She then went on to perform a mix of songs and poetry with various guest musicians including Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adrian Utley from Portishead, her daughter Jesse and The Master Musicians of JouJouka (who the rest of the crowd adored but who set my teeth on edge with their horrid screechy pipes).

However it was when Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra provided backing that the evening pushed relentlessy on into that ‘pretty damn great’ slot. Before the encore Ornette Coleman walked slowly to center stage, muttered some generic platitudes and walked slowly offstage – a bit more involvement from him would have been nice. Patti is a phenomenal woman with more charisma and energy than I could ever dream of having. I’m relieved to have ticked off another great in my gigography. And, even though she didn’t play any of Horses, I’d go again.

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Freewheeling Yo La Tengo @ QEH

Posted on June 15th, 2009 by Andy

Just back from Yo La Tengo’s “Freewheeling…” show with mixed feelings. Yo La Tengo were great, they invariably are. And Georgia, Ira and James are clever and funny people. But the Q&A format of the show made for an uncomfortable and occasionally toe-curling experience. Mostly because of the inane (of the “what’s your favourite…” variety) or just plain stupid (”have you been to Antarctica”) questions that were asked and partly because of an environment (and room acoustics) that discouraged anything more serious or in depth from being asked.

The band coped admirably and managed to rattle through a decent number of songs including a Condo Fucks track and a couple from the new album, and it was nice that Ira managed to wig out occasionally despite the gentile environment, the chairs and the acoustic guitar.

The band appeared to have a Osmonds-like colour-coding thing going on with their shoes (James=green, Georgia=blue and Ira = red)… maybe I should have asked them a question about that.

One positive (for Yo La Tengo) was that they managed to sell at least two tickets for their proper show at the Roundhouse later in the year – because Stuart and I came away not fully satisfied.

Freewheeling Yo La Tengo (in Berlin not London)

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My top 6…stupidly long song titles

Posted on May 15th, 2009 by Andy

McCarthy and Ballboy pretty much own this list I could have filled it up with either of them…

• And Tomorrow the Stock Exchange Will Be the Human Race – (54 characters) – McCarthy
• I Don’t Have Time to Stand Here With You Fighting About the Size of My Dick – (75 characters) – Ballboy
• Stars of Aviation are singing about the summer, but is it going to be sunny, Carol? (mp3) – (83 characters) – Stars of Aviation
• Some Months Later, at a Club in New York City, Marcel Sees Albertine Dancing With Another Girl (With Whom He Suspects She Is Having an Affair) And Leaves, Jealous and Upset (mp3) – (172 characters) – Saturnine
• Come Sing Me a Happy Song to Prove We All Can Get Along the Lumpy, Bumpy, Long and Dusty Road – (92 characters) – Bert Jansch
• It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) – (57 characters) – REM

Here’s the video for Ballboy’s entry…

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Just dug this one out #30: English Settlement by XTC

Posted on May 8th, 2009 by Andy

I’m not entirely sure how I became a fan of XTC but for a very short period of time in the early 80s I was. At the time I was listening to, almost exclusively, heavy metal. The two exceptions (that spring to mind) were XTC and Kate Bush. I’ve regularly listened to Kate over the years since but very rarely revisit XTC. My love of XTC covered their Black Sea, English Settlement and Mummer albums, at which point it pretty much stopped. I do own a copy of Skylarking but honestly couldn’t name a track off it and suspect it was bought second-hand in a fit of nostalgia in the late 80s and filed away barely listened to.

English Settlement always felt like the archetypal XTC album: It had their best single (Senses Working Overtime); Their most recognisable cover (the Uffington White Horse); and from title to tracklisting has that Englishness that was XTC.

The last time I gave English Settlement a listen was in 2006 when I took my first (and only) shot at NaNoWriMo. My awful (I mean really awful) novel, Plan 4, featured a chapter where the three protagonists decide to hunt down the chalk carving on the front of XTC’s English Settlement and spend a night there.

“Are you sure it’s a real thing Anna? I mean…they could have just made it up”, Spirit was not convinced of the plan as yet.

“Of course it exists, it’s a chalk carving.”

“But it’s not a photo, it’s only a drawing, maybe they just doodled it.”

“For fucks sake Spirit, it is real!”

(You get the idea with that)

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I remember being disappointed in it back then, so disappointed that when my characters reached the White Horse they chose to listen to My Bloody Valentine. Listening today though it seems so much better than then. There are annoyances and it occasionally shows its age but for the most part it stands up pretty well, I’ll probably not leave it three years before I listen again.

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My future of music – a progress report

Posted on April 12th, 2009 by Andy

I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that in the future I probably won’t be “buying” music, the future will be like Spotify or We7 or last.fm. When I want to hear something I’ll just go online and I’ll hear it. Maybe I’ll have paid a subscription or maybe I’ll grit my teeth through the ads but I won’t be “buying” or “owning” anything.

I’ve already reached the point that I documented the first steps toward a couple of years ago. With a very few notable exceptions I now buy all my music as downloads, if I can’t buy it for download I’ll either do without or find another way to get it onto my computer <wink>.

I am happy that I have come to terms with not having to make that commitment and therefore don’t feel concerned about the plastic and paper, the petrol and packaging, the trees and climate change that buying those physical objects involve.

Today I downloaded The Mummers album from eMusic and it’s very typical of my recent buying, I’ll hear a track I like (in this case on “Later…”) and I’ll take a chance on the whole album, but I suspect that this is where the next change will come. I didn’t need to “take a chance” I could have shot off to Spotify and tried out the whole album before I made a commitment to buy. While I’ve managed to fight off the desire for physical declaration of my love, I still love the feeling of gambling, of taking a step in the dark. I know that will probably change but I’m happy with how far I’ve come in the two and a bit years. And while it’s maybe not how I imagined the future would be I think it’s probably a good thing.

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Just dug this one out #29: Space Ritual by Hawkwind

Posted on April 9th, 2009 by Andy

I arrived at Hawkwind, obviously, by working back from my love for Motorhead. I never loved Hawkwind in the same way, maybe it was the (very misplaced) hippies mess they got tangled up in, or maybe it was becuase the new albums they were releasing around then, Sonic Attack, Church of Hawkwind, Choose Your Masques, were all actually pretty poor. I saw them at the Guildford Civic Hall three or four times duing the early 80s and the shows were a strange mix of thrilling and tedious. The last time, on the Choose Your Masques tour, my enduring memory of the show was the Silver Surfer animation projected behind them, and the dancers – the music itself is long-forgotten.

Despite all of that in Space Ritual they produced an album that was better than any Motorhead managed. I had a double vinyl copy and I suspect that the Calvert bits diminished my appreciation of it. With vinyl you didn’t have the luxury of programming out the weird arty-farty nonsense and get on with the psychedelic rock music, so I suspect that the album never got the full appreciation then than it deserved. Most likely I’d get frustrated and dig out Overkill instead; no distracting weirdness on that album. Listening now for the first time in more than 20 years, those bits no longer bother me and I can understand their importance to the album as a whole. I was able to enjoy this as the piece of art it was, rather than a collection of rock tracks. I’d forgotten, and still barely notice, that Space Ritual was a live album which is why I never chuck it out as one of my favourite live albums – it may well be the best live album ever.

To be honest I’m more than a little surprised at just how much I love Space Ritual – maybe it’s a quirk of timing and that at some undetermined point in the future I’ll read this back and have a what-was-I-thinking moment.

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My Top 6…cover versions

Posted on April 2nd, 2009 by Andy

Here are my submissions to Cover Me, Volume 17 of Splotchy’s Green Monkey Music Project (visit the link to download the two 36 track compilations the first one has the selected cover versions, while the second has the original versions of the same songs).

Your selections should all be songs which are not the original versions, but are rather another artist’s interpretation of the original. I want the cover of the song to be meaningful, or important, or special to you in some way that distinguishes it from the original, and I’m going to want you to explain the significance when you discuss your selections after the mix has been published.

Obviously I could have had six Galaxie 500 songs…or Luna ones, but resisted the temptation to be quite that unimaginitive.

Ceremony – Galaxie 500 (originally by Joy Division) – Ceremony is, unquestionably, the greatest cover version anyone’s done of anything ever. In 1990 I saw Galaxie 500 at the Subterania and they finished the set with Ceremony, joined on stage by Kramer. If I had to throw away all but eight minutes of my gig going memories – those would be the eight minutes I’d hang on to.

Blue Christmas – Low (originally by Elvis) – I first heard this on the car radio in a supermarket car park (I think it must have been Peel sitting in on an earlier show as he did occasionally – or I was out shopping late!). Mimi’s voice just left me breathless – I had to sit in silence for a minute or two before heading off to do the shopping.

Flaming Telepaths – Espers (originally by Blue Oyster Cult) – I’d never heard the original before hearing this. Greg and Meg’s voices work so well together and this one really opened up a prog seam that I wasn’t sure I had or at least had long covered up. The original is only fair – the cover is immense.

Leaving Here – Motorhead (origially by The Birds) – In 1979 Motorhead was my escape into musical individuality – one of the key moments in that escape was on 1st May 1980 when Motorhead mimed to “Leaving Here” on Top of the Pops. Music changed pretty profoundly at that point. The live version of the Golden Years EP (which the TOTP performance was promoting) was head and shoulders above the weak studio version on On Parole.

Cast a Shadow – Yo La Tengo (originally by Beat Happening) – Two of my favourite bands. Stuart had this on a 7″ – was it on the back of Speeding Motorcycle? – I was jealous and have been careful to buy pretty much anything Yo La Tengo have released since.

Indian Summer – Luna (originally by Beat Happening) – I was really sad when Galaxie 500 broke up but in Feb 1992 Dean came through London with the first Luna incarnation (Stan, Justin and Grasshopper) and played a show at the Underworld that reassured me that maybe a positive spin could be put on the split. They played Indian Summer that night. It was also the last song the played at their last London show in 2005.

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Just dug this one out #28 – Hanoi Rocks

Posted on March 28th, 2009 by Andy

OK – I haven’t really dug anything out…but a sudden wave of uncontrollable nostalgia inspired me to post this to the Galaxie 500 Mailing List – which got (mostly) the whistling silence it’s astonishing off-topic-ness deserved. I thought it really ought to live here where it can offend no one…

Back in the early 80s (I might have mentioned a few hundred times before) I was a huge metal fan – but the metal I liked wasn’t the tight-trousered, eye-liner-wearing glammy type; I liked my metal a bit grubby. But as a music obsessive I considered any band that passed through Guildford as fair game which meant that I saw lots of bands that it would be cool to boast about but I barely remember the gigs (e.g. The Jam, Buzzcocks (I think), SLF, Pretenders) and lots more forgettable crap (or crap I wish I could forget (Gary Moore, Budgie, Toyah)).

Anyway Hanoi Rocks came through town and they wore girly-clothes and make up, they were not all hard and manly like I liked my rock, but we went along anyway expecting to snigger, and probably heckle. But they were awesome – they rocked so hard, they played for hours, Michael Monroe, the lead singer, looked great (something I probably wasn’t ready to admit out loud at the time…I liked my rock stars like Lemmy remember!) and played a saxophone, and clambered up the PA and just gave us an awesome show. Most of the audience left before the second encore, I could never figure out why, which just made the ending so much more special because we got 20 minutes more just for the 50 or so of us who stuck around. I think they covered Train Kept a-Rolling.

I bought albums but they were disappointing and I never saw them again – shortly afterwards Razzle, the drummer, died in that Motley Crue related accident and it seemed that my Hanoi Rocks love was destined to be all about a couple of hours at Surrey University in 1984.

So today, on the back of this nostalgia trip I found myself at YouTube thoroughly enjoying the stacks of Hanoi Rocks videos from that period and seeing exactly why this gig is one that I never forgot. I’m about to reacquaint myself with a couple of albums but am expecting to be disappointed.

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Just dug this one out #27 – Tracey Thorn – A Distant Shore

Posted on March 17th, 2009 by Andy

Yesterday we were watching an episode of The Simpsons where Homer was driving his family home, the car was covered in dust and Marge suggested that they get it washed but Homer chooses to ignore her. Just then Lenny pulls up alongside and suggests that Homer wash his car and Homer swerves into the nearest car wash.

Anyway, Hazel owns Tracey Thorn’s A Distant Shore and has done for many years and for all of those years I’ve skipped past it whenever I see it because…well…you know…Everything But the Girl…she may even have suggested at some point that I give it a listen but I suspect was treated to a Homeric snort or shrug. Last week Alistair Fitchett on his Unpopular blog wrote about A Distant Shore in his “20 albums that changed my life” series. Given that other entries in that series had included Galaxie 500, The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Belle and Sebastian and The Go Betweens and included three albums that featured in my list I decided that the time was right to give Tracey a chance.

The album is short but stunningly sweet, beautiful in places. Simply arranged with guitar strums and Tracey Thorn’s voice, its an album I wanted to be alone with and one that required an immediate second, and then a third listen.

So thanks Unpopular for exposing me to this…oh and Hazel…<shrug>…

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