Playlist : August 1st - 5th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. Let's get straight to the music.

Two big losses to the world of music this week in the form of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse and Dan Peek of America fame. I had an America compilation on rotation a while back, but I've slotted Winehouse's Back to Black into this week.

Everywhere I go lately, everyone is talking about Elbow, so I've chosen their 2001 debut LP, Asleep In The Back. I might play their most recent effort next week.

Inspired by a question posed online by Harry Allen ("Hip Hop activist and media assassin") about whether Eminem would be considered as great if he were black, I've got Em's breakthrough Slim Shady LP and the whiteboy frat party stylings of Asher Roth, another once-much-vaunted whiteboy rapper.

Finally, amongst other selections, I have one more LP inspired by Revelation - The Best of The Grateful Dead, which I chose thanks to the secret screening on Sunday past - Magic Trip (2011).

But that's not all, so check it out:

• Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
• The Grateful Dead - The Very Best Of The Grateful Dead
• The Donnas - Spend the Night
• Eminem - Slim Shady LP
• Asher Roth - Asleep In The Bread Aisle
• Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
• Deep Purple - Machinehead
• Black Rose Noise - The Manifesto
• REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity
• Elbow - Asleep In The Back

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beck
2. Pentagram
3. Guns N' Roses
4. Midlake
5. INXS

Song of the Week : Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - Stay Away

Spin Magazine put out a free tribute to Nevermind, since this year is the 20th anniversary of its release. Twenty years! Think about that. I clearly remember the first time I held a copy of Nevermind and I distinctly recall my first listen. I’d only heard Teen Spirit at the time and I thought it was great, but I had no inkling of what the whole LP would come to mean to us all.

The Spin tribute features a stack of bands, but most of them do covers that, while very different to Nirvana, still have the same indie rock ethic. I chose this Menahan Street Band cut, because it’s the one track that completely removes the song from its indie hole and turns it into something else entirely. And the coolest thing about this version of Stay Away, is it sounds just like it’s always been a Soul song. Nothing about the lyrics betray the Soul sensibility the way Charles Bradley sings it. I hope you enjoy it. You can DL the whole tribute LP if you haven’t already, here.

Adeus

In the immortal words of the Beastie Boys; that's it, that's all, that's all there is. I have a date with my wife on Saturday morning to go and see Morgan Spurlock's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and an outing planned for some second hand vinyl and other bric a brac on Sunday.

I hope your collective weekends are copacetic. As always, asalaam alikum.

Playlist : July 25th - 29th, 2011

Holla. How's everybody doing?

Revelation is now in full swing and I had a marathon 4 film day on Sunday. This coming Sunday is the end of the festival and my secret screening. I'm very much looking forward to it.

As it did last week with the reggae cuts, Rev14 has in fact inspired a choice on this week's playlist; namely Pentagram's First Daze Here (the band being the subject of the entertaining Last Days Here).

Along with this rawkus metal offering, I bring you some classic Soul from Earth, Wind & Fire, my favourite Beck album, a remastered version of INXS' impressive debut, the ever-popular O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and more. Check it out.

• VA - O Brother Where Art Thou
• Pentagram - First Daze Here
• Midlake - The Courage Of Others
• Earth Wind & Fire - Last Days and Time
• VA - Newermind
• INXS - INXS (Remastered)
• Beck - Sea Change
• A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes and Life
• Guns n Roses - Appetite For Destruction
• The Stooges - The Stooges

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. R.E.M
2. Pink Floyd
3. Brother Ali
4. Peter Tosh
5. A.A. Bondy

Song of the Week : Ohio Players - Skin Tight

I was torn between a great cover of a 60s classic and this funky gem from 1974. I may send you the cover later because it’s worth a listen. Last night I cleaned up a 70s record I bought for maybe $2 at an Op Shop and found it had a lot of scuffing across the surface. There was hardly any depth to the grooves, but no real scratches. I put it on anyway, not expecting much quality. From the minute the needle went down, there was a crackle and hiss that wasn’t particularly fun. But then the music kicked in.

Something about 70s funk/soul just seems to sound better when your record has had a life. I wish I could have found the time to rip it straight to mp3, but then I’m not sure it would have accurately captured the feel anyway. So this track from Ohio Players, the title song for the album Skin Tight is a funkeriffic rampage of horns and bass and drums. The sexy 70s vibe is all encompassing. Sit back, relax and get your funk on.

Arrivederci

That's all for now. I'll let you know what the secret screening is next week or over at MFNM when I review it. Be sure to have an outstanding weekend and love the ones you're with. Thanks for stopping by. Asalaam alikum.

Playlist : July 18th - 22nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well, Revelation 14 has begun and I've recently attended opening night for a screening of the very entertaining Fire In Babylon. Thanks to the reggae and calypso music which punctuated that film, this week's playlist contains a Bob Marley & The Wailers album, as well as a Peter Tosh greatest hits compilation. The general 60s/70s vibe is rounded out with Pink Floyd's epic classic The Wall and the Velvet Underground's debut. On top of that there's the deluxe release of REMs Life's Rich Pageant, Jamiroquai and the follow up to an album I included a couple of weeks back from Boho Fau & Elevated Soul. Plus, there's the obligatory alt country from A.A. Bondy and Lambchop.

Check it out:

• REM - Life's Rich Pageant (Deluxe)
• The Summer Set - Everything's Fine
• Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey
• Boho Fau & Elevated Soul – Coffee House Swinger : Brewing Sessions
• Bob Marley & the Wailers - Exodus
• Peter Tosh - The Best Of
• A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
• Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground
• Pink Floyd - The Wall
• Lambchop - Nixon

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Rickie Lee Jones
2. Ratcat
3. U2
4. Queen
5. Hole

Song of the Week : Bob Marley & The Wailers - Get Up, Stand Up

Last night I went to opening night at Rev and they played Fire In Babylon. It was a documentary about the 1970s and 80s West Indies cricket team. Some might be just a tiny bit too young to recall, but others will remember that they were total rock stars of cricket. In fact, the movie states that between 1980 and 1993 they never once lost a test series. But the doco showed that they were once the dancing minstrels of the sport – entertaining to watch and always getting badly beaten. Australia’s fast bowlers at the time, Lillee and Thomson were fond of bowling dangerous bouncers at even their tail enders. After an embarrassing thrashing in Australia in ’76, the Windies set about recruiting some fast bowlers of their own.

Where my song comes from is Bob Marley was a fan of the team and often came into the change rooms. Supposedly the creative period of Jamaican music at the time was inspired by the Windies and the team says the music inspired them. Viv Richards tells how this song, Get Up, Stand Up was his pre-match wind up and he had it in his head every time he went out to bat. It’s a call to arms, a revolutionary cry to stand up for your rights. I need more reggae. It makes your head bob. I was still nodding by the time I got home and I listened to some Wailers in bed. In a way I guess reggae it’s just like soul music, except for the Caribbean.

What the doco showed was that there was terrible racism during the apartheid years even here in AUS from the crowd as well as the cricketers. Tony Greig, then captain of England, made some remark about making the Windies grovel and my lord they let him have it. They felt as if he was degrading their race itself. And those bouncers were no joke!

Do Svidánija

Sunday sees me off to Revelation again and I'll be seeing not 1 but 4 films that day. I'll be trying to find the time very soon to review everything I see on MFNM. Until next week, may the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back and may nobody ever spout Celtic prayers at you again.

Ciao bambinos.

Playlist July 11th - 15th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This week's list has a little bit of a classic rock vibe. I think that has something to do with my slow and steady descent into Audiophile hell. There's no denying that rock music had a certain sound to it in the 70s and that was largely to do with wanky audiophile sound engineers and the nerdy audiophiles who collected records and built great component systems. And the quality of the music, of course.

So what I've got is some classic, remastered Queen, some Steve Miller, a Stax compilation, ABC from the Jackson 5 (that I recently bought my oldest daughter for her 5th birthday on vinyl), two of my favourite Hip Hop LPs from Brother Ali and Pegz, plus some early Ratcat and U2. I threw in the new The Grates and a Rickie Lee Jones for good measure :

• Queen - A Night at the Opera
• Jackson 5 - ABC
• VA - Stax Gold : Memphis Hits
• The Grates - Secret Rituals
• U2 - October
• Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
• Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
• Rickie Lee Jones - Evening Of My Best Day
• Pegz - Drama
• Ratcat - Inside Out

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Gillian Welch
2. Nightmares on Wax
3. Son Volt
4. Bias B
5. The Autumn Defense

Song of the Week : Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

Because this week has been so stressful, everything has pretty much played as wallpaper to my crappy days. I haven’t really heard anything apart from in the car and at home. Earlier in the week while riding the exercise bike in my office, I watched a DVD I have of a Classic Albums episode – this one on the Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks. It’s a great episode and I recommend you search it out if you haven’t seen it. You can tell by the interviews and the old footage that the Pistols were just a bunch of ratbag kids who were only in it for a laugh, while McLaren was a business man who saw dollar signs in everything but in particular controversy.

This week’s SOTW is a song that clearly made #1 in the UK but was never recorded as such because it was banned. When the papers would list it in the charts, the title and artist would be blacked out or left off completely. I chose this song because it’s astounding nowadays to think it would cause so much controversy. A bunch of National Front members beat up on the band and the sound engineers at a pub because of the song. If you listen to it though, now it’s virtually safe to play to kiddies. Not even NINs controversial Closer raises much of an eyebrow now. And maybe, just maybe, that’s why rock is dead – because nobody can set the world on fire with any shocking ideas any more. Damn you Internet… damn you all to HELL!

TTFN

This weekend is a long one for me, as my very generous employer has given us all Monday off as reward for hard work. I'll be making the most of my surprise break with a trip to the Zoo with the munchkins and the wife. It better not rain!

Whatever you're doing, I hope it's a lot of fun. Peace man, right on.