Cheap Soul / Happy Boss (July 30th - August 3rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well work was teh crazyies this week. Had the fiddly but fun task of making everyone custom magnetic name tags for a task board. People's choice of avatar said a lot about them. 


Does my choice of music say a lot about me? I don't know. Sometimes. This week, it says "I really have no idea what I want to listen to, so I'll pick some compilations and any albums that come up in conversation."

So that leaves us with the Sessions at West 54th Street and Spunk Sampler compilations; I have The Essential Cheap Trick because I'm still singing Surrender weeks after it was SOTW; I have albums from the diametrically opposed Snoop Dogg and Indigo Girls that I've not heard; my buddy Jamie mentioned Evan Dando's live set so that is here; checking out Gillian Welch's set lists of late has booked Dave Rawlings a spot; there's a Divinyls best of, an Ab-Soul album I read a review on and finally a true classic from the Fab Four.

Check it out:

• Cheap Trick - Essential Cheap Trick
• The Beatles - The White Album
• Snoop Dogg - Paid Tha Cost to be Tha Boss
• Ab-Soul - Control System
• Indigo Girls - Become You
• Evan Dando - Live At the Brattle Theatre / Griffith Sunset
• VA - The Best of Sessions at West 54th Street
• Dave Rawlings Machine - Friend of a Friend
• VA - We/Know/Where/The/Winter/Goes
• Divinyls - Make You Happy 

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Stevie Nicks
2. Nas
3. The Gaslight Anthem
4. Angus Stone
5. Passion Pit

Song of the Week : Stevie Nicks - Sometimes It's A Bitch

Recently on random shuffle this song popped up and I hadn’t heard it for ages. It’s Stevie Nicks – Sometimes It’s A Bitch. If I remember right it’s written by Meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman (hence the sort of cliché title he’s so fond of). The song always brings a good friend of mine to mind who is a massive Stevie Nicks fan, so it’s always an enjoyable listen.


As a lyric I like the structure of good and bad, struggle and triumph. There isn’t a great deal of virtuoso musicianship in it. Not like Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay Buckingham behind it. Never the less I like the song like I love Will Ferrel movies – just a bit of harmless bubble gum. 

Goodbye

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, get out in this glorious weather and enjoy it while it lasts - I hear it's going to rain soon (which is also cool, but not so much for going out). 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Good Handwritten Passion Anthems (July 23rd - 27th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Not a lot to report this week. It was a big week at work with important presentations to be made and what have you. Oh and performance reviews (dun dun DUN!) Last weekend was the end of Rev and I managed to see Surviving Progress and finish it up with the locally produced Buff (congrats to Director, Gavin Bond on a really funny little documentary). That's about the whole week, so i suppose it's on with the music.


It's mostly new stuff this week. There's the solo effort from Angus Stone thanks to a workmate who hooked me up; I have some new rap from Nas and Public Enemy; American Songwriter put out a sampler for July and that is here; the latest from Passion Pit, Gaslight Anthem and Anaïs Mitchell are here; an old favourite from Josh Rouse; and finally there's the second disc of Neil Young - Decade and the best of Stevie Nicks.

Check it out:

• Josh Rouse - Nashville
• Angus Stone - Broken Brights
• Nas - Life Is Good
• Public Enemy - Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamp
• VA - American Songwriter Muse July Sampler
• Stevie Nicks - Timespace - The Best of Stevie Nicks
• Neil Young - Decade (Disc Two)
• Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
• Anaïs Mitchell - Young Man In America
• Passion Pit - Gossamer

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Augie March
2. Neil Young
3. Ben Lee
4. Split Enz
5. JEFF the Brotherhood

Song of the Week :Wilco - Impossible Germany

This week's song is Impossible Germany from Wilco. I know, another Wilco track Corey, how novel. But this is one of those weeks where it couldn't have been anything else. 


Yesterday I finally managed to watch the DVD that came with my copy of Sky Blue Sky. Before a live in a lounge room performance of the song, Tweedy explained what it was about. It's about where you think you might be on the day you wake up out of denial and decide you have to fix what's wrong. For Tweedy of course, that was drugs. 


What I like most about this song is the extended instrumental break that closes it. In particular I like the solo which starts off so sweet and mellow and degenerates into metallic noise. Given the stated subject matter of the song, you could see the ending as representative of the journey of drug addiction; with the initial bliss of the drug at the beginning which takes a dive into nightmare by the end. 


Some comedian who I can never remember once said of Wilco something like 'Tweedy has deep and sensitive emotions that he tries to express through soft and gentle songs, but it's no good because someone always comes along and plays a solo with a chainsaw'. I think maybe they were listening to Impossible Germany when they wrote that. 

Bye Bye 

There's your tunes for another working week. Hopefully something sparks your interest and sets you on a new musical journey. Or not. Be excellent to each other. Peace be with you and all that good stuff.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Remember the Blue Brotherhood Decade (July 16th - 20th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


More great times for me at work this week with a bunch of important projects finishing up and a few more beginning. I managed to catch a few films at Rev on the weekend just gone, including The George Méliès Project which I am really glad I got to see. Didn't catch any during the week though, but that's okay because it meant more time at home with the wife and children. I am getting out there this weekend to at least two and maybe more before it closes. For now, let's talk about music, not film.


There's a healthy dose of Australian tunes this week with Augie March, early Ben Lee and Deborah Conway. Plus there's Split Enz who are one of those New Zealand acts who are so good we claimed them for Australia. I've added the latest from JEFF the Brotherhood and one of Lou Reed's best. For my weekly dose of rap I've picked some Jay-Z and the soundtrack to the movie Colors. A compilation of covers from KCRW and the first disc of the Neil Young retrospective round it all out nicely.


Check it out:

• Lou Reed - The Blue Mask
• JEFF The Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights
• Split Enz - History Never Repeats : Greatest Hits
• Jay-Z - The Dynasty
• Augie March - Moo You Bloody Choir
• VA - Sounds Eclectic : The Covers Project
• Ben Lee - Something To Remember Me By
• Neil Young - Decade (Disc One)
• Deborah Conway - Bitch Epic
• VA - Colors OST

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. 50 Cent
2. Rickie Lee Jones
3. Ryan Adams
4. Cypress Hill
5. Bright Eyes

Song of the Week : The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime

I chose this song at the beginning of the week, because I have really enjoyed the tendency lately to find out songs were covers when I hadn't heard the original. This is Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes by The Korgis, which was covered by Beck for the soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.


This original version is one of those 80s ballads that is now kind of hard to take seriously. You know the kind, the ones with a clawing over-earnestness about them. The underlying strings sustain a sort of dull whine and it reminds me a bit of The Cars - Drive but a tad more saccharine.  


Beck's version on the other hand is bleak and stark like the Montauk winter scapes it plays over. I don't know if you all have seen the film, but you should if you haven't. I'm guessing you have. So Beck's version to me is far better - even if I believed until very recently that the song was his. 

Au revoir

I just finished watching 2 Days In New York (Julie Delpy directed), so I'm feeling a little bit French. Fun little film; a bit like its director - smart and cute. 


Thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping your weekend is full of all the joys of life - you know the ones; pizza, beer, music, love, laughter, pretzels, all that good stuff. 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Journey of the Dumb Naked Kings (July 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


It was another enjoyably busy week at work, with a Thursday off to see Miss 5 get her very first honour certificate. It was for writing, because writing and illustrating stories is what she likes to do in her spare time away from school. A tad proud? Yes. She also has a great appetite for reading which she is learning at a rate of knots. I learned a little too late in life that the best way to get smarter is read everything*. *Except the comments.


Revelation started Thursday night and I missed Opening Night for the first time in a while. I will be catching a stack of films this weekend and next though, including The Georges Méliès Project for which I can not wait.


As far as the music goes, I felt like I leaned a little hard on the noisy side last week, so I have deliberately toned it down. So, that's how I ended up with some Tracy Chapman, Rickie Lee Jones, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Gillian Welch and Ryan Adams all in the same list. Talk about a folk backlash. A folklash. To balance the folk, I have some funk from James Brown, some Soul from Alabama Shakes (on recommendation from @sunky) and some rock from the first Japandroids album. Got to have some hip hop too, so say hello to the third volume of Culture of Kings. Finally, I found out that one of my favourite Beck songs was a cover of The Korgis, so I have their album here. 

Check it out:

• The Korgis - Dumb Waiters
• Japandroids - Post-Nothing
• Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
• Trembling Bells & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – The Marble Downs
• James Brown - Star Time Disc 4
• Rickie Lee Jones - Naked Songs
• VA - Culture of Kings III
• Gillian Welch - Soul Journey
• Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
• Tracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. 50 Cent
2. Queen
3. Japandroids
4. Cypress Hill
5. James Brown

Song of the Week : Cheap Trick - Surrender

This has been another week almost completely smothered in work. Except I took yesterday off to go see Miss 5 get her first honour certificate (yay!). She got it for being an 'independent writer' because she is always writing and illustrating stories in her own time. So it was great to do the selfish thing and see her collect the award and try and see who was prouder, her or me.


So this song Surrender, which featured on the soundtrack to a cheesy 70s teen melodrama I saw on the weekend (Over The Edge. Matt Dillon looked about 13!), is a tribute to doing the selfish thing. To surrendering yourself to the work you have to do, but never forgetting the things that are truly important. 


It's a decent song in its own right, but unfortunately I think it might be forever associated with this campy film for me now. Not a completely bad thing, but not Cheap Trick's intention, I'm sure.

Toodle Pip, What What!

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, try and get out to Revelation and catch a film or two. You won't get a better chance to see some of these terrific movies, unless they happen to be one of those that ends up popular and showing in the multiplexes. Who needs Hoyts though when you can get to The Astor and bask in all of its art deco glory.


Stay safe, warm and dry kids. Go Eagles, even if I can't watch the game because I'll be at the movies. Hasala malakim.


Post Script: Eagles won after clawing their way back from a 35 point deficit. It was kind of ironic today since I saw two films at Revelation where people fought against the odds, except the heroes lost. I came home and watched the second half of the West Coast match that I had recorded. The good guys prevailed. Suck it, haters.