B-Sides, Old Folks & Forgotten Bits

My life is a series of Angel episodes interspersed with tea and slices of ham from the fridge. Good stuff.

The last two months have been exhaustingly distracting from this blog, and I've felt guilty for lack of upkeep/upload. New job, applying for a MSc, and generally having a social life have all added to my beloved procrastinate (if it was a substance. Very wrong if you visualise it). But what else is a weekend for than lounging about in your Jazzpants (with a capital 'Jazz'!...is that a euphemism?), downing tea and compiling lists?

No real theme in this here post, aside from B-Sides that are better than the album tracks, old musicians releasing songs that pizazzle all over the competition, and some tracks that I had forgotten were so great. Why does iTunes randomly lose your music? Not all of it, just an album or five by an artist. Thank you trusty external hard-drive. My one, my only Funkbunker.

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B-Sides & Better Versions

Weezer - Private Message

Before they released Maladroit in 2002, Weezer decided to post all their demos online for the fans to judge and enjoy. Naturally, loads didn't make it. This was foretold by Jesus as the rule of A-Few-Alright-But-Mostly-Shite, but it was fascinating to hear the evolution of a song, draft to draft. Private Message was one of those songs that was just brilliant from draft one, but was then ruined by a second version that felt kinda bloated. This version shows how good a songwriter Rivers Cuomo is when he's writing pop and not krunking. No frills, plenty of melody. Lovely.

The Futureheads - First Day

The second draft curse happened with First Day too . This was the version that got The Futureheads noticed, but obviously they had to rerecord it for the album. Cue extra guitars and a less scrappy whole that should've worked better than it did. As it is, ruddy great song, and this is the definitive version. I love the way it gets faster and faster, like you're being asked to do too many things at once ... by Geordies. A frightening thought, but a great song.

Beck - MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack

Finally, a song that tells it like it is! Kinda. This was the B-Side to Loser, Beck's first big hit that threatened to end his career there and then. My favourite line has got be "Bust out the Biscuits!". Rock n' Roll! I wish Beck did more Lounge Bar crooning. There's clearly a market for it (me).

The Shins - The Gloating Sun

The Shins. Can they do wrong? Well, yes, but not here. I love the fact that this song is a B-Side. I remember hearing from Radiohead (I think) that they would put a bit more effort into their B-Sides because they didn't have the pressure of it being a single, or fitting in with the rest of an album. Of course, this song just sounds like the Shins do normally, but it's an interesting thought. Anywho, the B-Side is dying/dead now, unless legal downloads have the A & B sides strapped together in a digital 3 legged race. I think I'd like that. Not that I buy singles anymore. Albums all the way! If an album's shit, you just choose better next time. A self-punishing way to drive up the quality of your music collection. Here's to that!

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Old Folks

Paul Simon - Father & Daughter

This is taken from Paul Simon's 2006 album Surprise, and I think...I THINK it's about his daughter. Unless 'daughter' is code for 'sandwich'. I think I'm hungry. Got pastrami in the fridge that's begging to be eaten. *wanders to the fridge* That was delicious! Back to business. There's something very comforting about Paul Simon's singing. I bet he just talks like that anyway.

David Byrne - Life Is Long

We went to see (& meet) David Byrne last year, and every song played was acted out by dancers (of sorts). In Life is Long, all the dancers and Mr Byrne used office chairs to ... sorta rotate in sync. It's better than it sounds, I swear! Watch. Anyways, he brought us beer, and it's a catchy, catchy song.

Tom Waits - Goin Out West

Tom Waits out metals metal with this heavy monstrosity (in a good way). Sounds like a murderer stomping across the Wild West talking about his past kills. Yay! I think he's singing in a meat locker. Sounds about right for Mr Waits.

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New & Improved!

Animal Collective - My Girls

My Girls has probably been played to death in all those Hip & Happenin' Hovels in...Hoxton (? I suppose it is full of twats). But it's a great song! The synths accompanying it, while great, aren't what make the song brilliant. Then what? The fact that it sounds like a sea shanty, that's what! I wonder if it's an old song, made up in Kraftwerk's lipstick? Wonderfully uplifting.

Yeasayer - 2080

Another epically ethereal sounding belter of a tune. I recently made the mistake of buying the newest Yeasayer album basing it purely on a song that wasn't even on it (*cough cough* this one *cough*). Whoops, not a great purchase. Great artwork, dodgy electronica and a few good songs does not a good album make. Damn you Piccadilly Records ... However! 2080 is superb. Plenty of reverb, band members shouting in unison and guitars! Oh, how I love guitars. This song must've been recorded in a foggy Otherworld full of gently purring fridges.

Midlake - Fortune

From the newest album The Courage of Others, this shows Midlake's 70s English folk-rock obsession emerge in one of the highlights of the album. Frustratingly, and perhaps leniently, it ends when it could go on. It should rightfully be two minutes longer! But that's only because the album is a grower, and it just hasn't grown on me yet. So I'm hanging on to the happiness! Like a desperate folk monkey.

End!

First off

I think I need some new music.

I'm definitely at that stage where I need to find a new band, a new obsession. It's been so long since I've found a band where I like at least half of their songs (when does that ever happen?! I'm probably being too picky). For shame! There's definitely something to be said for having only one or two songs for a hundred different artists: it makes your music collection more like an extended mix tape. But I definitely want a comfort band at the moment. A band that, when shuffle fails, you can get instant joy from. Sometimes even a band that you can just ignore! An album in the background that isn't shit to listen to past track 4 or 5, that drifts by, songs blending into one. A self-contained time-passer that you catch yourself singing along to on your trip across the living room to the kitchen, making the 12th brew in an application form marathon.

I do have a few of these albums, which I'll list now, in no particular order;

1. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

The title more or less sums up the feel of the album. You can't necessary remember the songs when it's not playing, but once you're in, you're in. Endless melodies on every track, and plenty of reverb that makes you feel like you're watching them play a gig through a peep hole in an underground bunker. The newest Vampire Weekend album is a bit like this. I really struggle, in an oddly positive way, to remember the songs on it. In a way, it keeps me listening to it!

A standard mid album track would be One by One All Day, not one I usually remember, then as soon as it's on all is good


02 One By One All Day.mp3


2. Weezer - Pinkerton

Now, this could be just me harking back to my teens and the good times associated with it, along with a hefty dose of "I prefer their earlier stuff". But that's bollocks, 'coz it's definitely the best Weezer album, and one of my favourites. Later albums have been either all over the place, but alright (Maladroit), or too smooth, generic and comprise of that whole "I'm a playaaaa" thing Rivers Cuomo has embraced (Every album since Make Believe). It's not fun, it's just shit.

The Green Album is an album where nearly every song sounds the same, but blend together fairly well. Variations on a melody. Pinkerton, on the other hand, is grimy, melodic, passionate, has the whole band shouting the choruses, and is sort of how I'd prefer Weezer to still be. But that was never gonna happen. Plus, tastes change.

Across the Sea is a glorious song, tinged with melancholy, full of weirdly personal yet memorable lyrics ("At 10 I shaved my head and tried to be a monk. I thought the older women would like me if I did") and is probably the best song on the album. But once again, It works so much better in the context of the album.


05 Across The Sea.mp3


3. Beck - Mutations



This is the sort of album I'd like Beck to get stuck into now. Recorded in about 2 weeks, it's not over-produced, and, while there are layers, it's stripped down to as near a minimum as Beck could feasibly go. It's folky, melodic, and mad at times (the intro to Diamond Bollocks in particular). Sea Change tried to replicate it, but he wasn't exactly in a joyful mood there, and he certainly sounded like he'd rather be living in a box murmuring to himself.

Now, the end tracks are definitely not as strong as the first 6 or so, but that's still pretty good going! The mood is consistent, and seeing as I don't tend to remember lyrics (I can, however, recite them phonetically, like singing in a foreign language), I can sing along happily! This may be helped by the nonsense Beck spouts, as it doesn't require me to pay attention to the overall story. If I'm missing something, Beck definitely doesn't seem to care.

Dead Melodies is a lovely song. All harpsichord and melody. It's gibberish to me, but what imagery I do pick up from the lyrics is wonderful.


07 Dead Melodies.mp3


4. Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy

In my Eels experience, I find it hard to distinguish between many of the songs, especially on such a large album as Blinking Lights and Revelations, which can put me off a bit (same chord progressions, melodies... I'm sure the stories are great! But I usually don't pick up on them because I'm backwards). However, when Mr E gets it right, there goes a summer. Daisies of the Galaxy is the album that put the Eels back on the right track after the understandably depressing Electro-Shock Blues, which is still great but didn't exactly belch sunshine with such ditties as Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor...

Daisies of the Galaxy just flows and flows. It can be fun and frivolous (I Like Birds), slightly creepy and grungy (Flyswatter, which reminds me of the time when MTV2 wasn't just countdowns and Zane Lowe, and you could select your own hour on telly...think mine only ever came on at 3am) and then heartbreakingly sad (Selective Memory). I get the impression that any song about dead mothers is instant sadness (For Martha, I'm looking at you...and then running away to cry into my Weetabix).

Wooden Nickels is a mid album song that I reckon is a good reflection of the rest of the songs. It's short, sweet, and damning. I think Mr E judging you is a fate worse than death. The album in general doesn't outstay its welcome either. Well worth it.


12 Wooden Nickels.m4a


Right, that'll do for now.