Donnas Exposed Monster Beats (September 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

After a terrible rookie mistake, I am spending my late Saturday afternoon recovering deleted TV shows from an external disc. There's a reason we invented confirmation prompts and unfortunately I didn't take the time to really consider my response. Do you really want to permanently delete your TV shows Corey? Do you really? So now, one folder at a time, I'm running a recovery program on it. HandyRecovery - I can't recommend it enough, obviously. But never mind all that now, to the music.

It has been so long since I heard Monster that I'd forgotten the track list. I recently bought an Alt Country double compilation, so disc one is here; and I dragged Gillian Welch along for the ride to compliment it. I can't ever get enough Tribe and I think it was Harry Allen who recommended Talib Kweli & Hi Tek's LP. Just the one new album this week, but what a new one, from the gorgeous Neko Case. More ol friends on the bill come from Dinosaur Jr, The Donnas and Paul Kelly. Finally, because I couldn't stop humming Feel Like Makin' Love complete with air guitar riffing (I think that's a complex part of my current 70s muscle car fascination), I have the best of Bad Company.

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Monster
• VA - Exposed Roots - Best of Alt Country (Disc 1)
• Gillian Welch - Revival
• Talib Kweli & Hi Tek - Reflection Eternal
• Paul Kelly - Deeper Water
• A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes and Life
• The Donnas - Spend the Night
• Bad Company - 10 from 6 (Greatest Hits)
• Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
• Neko Case - The Worse Things Get...

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Giorgio Moroder
2. Björk
3. The Cranberries
4. Savages
5. Steve Earle & The Dukes (And Duchesses)

Song of the Week : Pond  - Hobo Rocket

I've never paid much attention to Tame Impala, so when I found Pond on NPR, I wasn't aware of the connection or that Pond had already had albums out. All I knew was there was a Perth band getting noticed in the US even if it was by public radio. 

The album Hobo Rocket is an enjoyable listen and I picked the title track because it's a bit of fun. The vocals are done by some guy named Cowboy John who is meant to be a Perth fixture (I'm sure one of you will be able to fill in the uninitiated?!) 

His singing sounds like Eddy Vedder pretending to be a bum. The song is a psychedelic freak out of a jam session with a sort of homeless grunge rap. 

अलविदा

A Happy Father's Day for us breeders in Australia for tomorrow. I hope there's some quality family time and some vinyl involved - well for me at least. 

Hasala malakim.

Green Worker's American Swim (July 29th - August 2nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

If you can believe it, I'm running ahead of time with my list this week. I've had it chosen since early in the week, to avoid rushing it. A few albums that I just haven't heard in a while managed to pop up.

One of those albums that has slipped the Work Tunes net forever is REM's excellent Green. @sunky mentioned another Mazzy Star LP last week and it made me think of Among My Swan. Jay-Z has been all up in everyone's grill lately, so I had to grab Vol. 3. A Billy Bragg album I'm yet to hear makes the cut this week, as does the My Girl soundtrack thanks to @BreeMateljan's SOTW. The very latest pack of funky tracks from Orgone is here and the Italian horror rock of Goblin. Incesticide is another neglected LP that made my list this week. What's left is some jangly folk pop from The Whispertown 2000 and some darker alt country infused folk from A.A. Bondy.  

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Green
• Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
• Nirvana - Incesticide
• A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
• The Whispertown 2000 - Swim
• Orgone - New You
• Goblin - Susperia
• Billy Bragg - Worker's Playtime
• VA - My Girl OST
• Jay-Z - The Life and Times of Sean Carter Vol. 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Alice In Chains
3. Nick Drake
4. Van Morrison
5. The Replacements

Song of the Week : Alice In Chains - Angry Chair

It has been some time since I listened to Dirt. It's a lot heavier than I remember it. When I look back on it though, a lot of grunge was fairly heavy - Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Dinosaur Jr. It was just Nirvana and Pearl Jam who brought that pop sensibility to it that crossed it into the mainstream. In any other circumstances, that would be called "selling out", but I'm really glad they did. Because let's face it, in 1991 in Perth, there is no way we'd have heard starving indie rock bands from Seattle if they hadn't sold out. 

I chose Angry Chair because it was one of the releases from this album and because it is quite stereotypically "grungy". The apathetically depressed lyrics, the wall of deep fuzz and the pounding drums are all on the heavy side of the sound that I once knew and loved so well. Nostalgia may not be what it used to be, but some days a familiar tune can be a good warm hug. Enjoy.

Hooroo
I'm just finishing this all up on a Saturday afternoon. The wife and children are at swimming lessons and I am left here tasked with domestic duties because we haven't been home all day. We're unbelievably short on time today. A good thing I had this list planned early, wasn't it?

Hasala malakim.

Blonde Celebrity Kingdom Revolution (February 25th - March 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just back from a haircut to hurriedly throw this all together. Seems I have to hurry through everything at the moment with so many deadlines going around. Be that as it may, there's always time for music.

A couple of Best Ofs this week from folk rocker Tim Easton and 80s icon Pat Benatar. There's a grimy old Dinosaur Jr. and a more saccharine Cranberries debut. I found an Eminem bootleg and I'm spinning Jay-Z for a rap fix. Thanks to Clay5 I have my number 1 favourite Bob Dylan album. There's the Forrest Gump soundtrack courtesy of my Aunt who gave me all her CDs. It's been a while, so Out of Time is here; and lastly, something new from Atoms For Peace.

Check it out:

• Tim Easton - Before the Revolution
• Eminem - Trailer Park Celebrity
• Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
• Pat Benatar - The Very Best Of Pat Benatar
• The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
• Atoms For Peace - Amok
• R.E.M. - Out Of Time
• Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
  
• VA - Forrest Gump
• Jay-Z - Kingdom Come

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Hilltop Hoods
2. Eminem
3. Beach Fossils
4. Sonic Youth
5. The Whitlams

Song of the Week : The Blackbyrds - Happy Music

I'm horridly pushed for time at the moment. So I'm picking a rushed SOTW but still a good song. 

In early February, jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd died aged 83. Byrd (not that one) played with a bunch of greats like Hank Mobley, Art Blakey and even Coltrane. He was one of the pioneers of taking the jazz horn section and turning it into funk and soul.  

What I didn't know is that a bunch of the students he taught at Howard formed their own funk/fusion band The Blackbyrds in 1973. When I read that in an obit, I checked them out via a Best Of compilation.

I chose Happy Music from the best of, because of our talk last week about maudlin songs. It seems appropriate and it's a really kick-arse funky track for a Friday afternoon.

Arrivederci

Did I mention I think I saw Poh Ling Yeow down the shops? She's cute and affable, but I'm not enough of a fan to bother her for a photo. Was pretty cool to see her though. She's probably home now marveling at how she saw me and didn't want to bother me. Probably.

Peace out homes. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : January 9th - 13th, 2012

Hello and welcome to a new year of Work Tunes.

So the world ends this year apparently. At least if you're an ancient Mayan it does. Did anyone ever think maybe some Mayan calendar maker just got jack of adding year after year after year? 

"Hey Bob, I got to December 2012 and I can't be stuffed!"

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Just finish there, no big deal. Who's going to care?"

Regardless, this year we're going to party like it's 1999... again.  And to start my working year right, I've got a few choice cuts. 


Listening to an 8 tracks mix the other night, I first heard the title song from I And Love And You, so I checked it out. I've also got the final release from The Beatles; the latest R.E.M. retrospective; new albums from Common, Weinland and The Do; a Smiths tribute;  the soundtrack to Downtown 81 (a film released in 2000 but shot in 1981 starring Jean-Michel Basquiat); Spin's 2011 mix and finally, some Australian Hip Hop from Vents. 


Check it out:

• The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
• The Beatles - Abbey Road
• R.E.M. - Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011
• VA - Spin Magazine Best of 2011
• Vents - Marked For Death
• Common - The Dreamer / The Believer
• The Do - Both Ways Open Jaws
• VA - Downtown 81 OST
• Weinland - Breaks In The Sun
• VA - Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths

Tah Tah

That's it for now. No song of the week until next week, and no Top 5 Artists because I haven't been scrobbling. I can tell you I've been listening to a lot of Camera Obscura as well as a bit of the Beach Boys and other surf themed tunes thanks to the weather and some timely trips to the beach. 


Hopefully your holidays were a great big bunch of fun and your new year is the best one yet. Be good to each other. Hasala malakim.


PS Support Hunter the Documentary and help get a film about Hunter made.

Playlist September 26th - 30th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Sad news on the band front this week with R.E.M. announcing they've broken up. I put the first Best Of compilation from IRS in this week's list because it is my number 1 desert island disc. When Out Of Time was huge, I was riding buses to Uni with that and this almost permanently stuck in my ears. R.E.M. were a great band who did everything their own way. Fame and fortune took a long time because they refused to play by the rules. While they probably represented dinosaur rock in their later years, they were at heart Indie as hell.

I was also saddened that I couldn't connect with the latest offering from Tori Amos. Maybe I just don't dig the classical vibe. I've added Little Earthquakes so as not to forget what's so great about our Ellen. Along with disc 4 of Left of the Dial, I've added two other compilations; the soundtrack from a great film I saw recently, Once, which features the band The Swell Season, as well as Live On Letterman, a collection of Late Show performances.

A dose of Camera Obscura and the last Brother Ali album, plus some Sly to keep it funky and here's what you get:

• VA - Left of the Dial : Dispatches from the 80s Underground (Disc Four)
• Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
• Sly & The Family Stone - A Whole New Thing
• VA - Live on Letterman : Music From the Late Show
• Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
• Brother Ali - Us
• VA - Once OST
• Gram Parsons - GP
  
• REM - The Best of REM (IRS)
• Bjork - Telegram

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Iron & Wine
2. Tori Amos
3. Sad Dracula
4. Talib Kweli
5. Marvelous Mag

Song of the Week : R.E.M. - (Don't Go Back To) Rockville

The best bands will always be an integral part of your life for a time or for always. Your favourite songs will always resonate with a moment of your life whether by being the soundtrack or by having lyrics that feel custom written. The really, really loved songs will always have a story. This one’s got two.

The first comes from the REM bio I have called It Crawled From The South. The story goes that Rockville was originally a faster, almost metal thrasher and the producer for the album really wanted it to make the cut. So REM being REM decided to switch it to this style and put it on.

The second story is about a guy who was chasing the object of his unrequited high school affections. Every year something would delay this guy and his intended from getting it together. When the perfect time came to make a case and ask her out, she decided she was going to go teach in the country.

Cue boy on bus to Uni playing Rockville over and over… “Don’t go back to Rockville and waste another year.” Cue the sour grapes of “It’s not as though I really need you.” Cue the empty threats of “Walk home to an empty house, sit around all by yourself”. Cue the insulting “I believe you’ll be coming back before too long.” This song is not the only REM song to have meant something so personal to me over the years, but it’s my favourite of all of them.

Over and Out

There's another week worth of listening for you. Thanks for stopping by.

Earlier tonight I caught a special event screening of Nirvana Live At Paramount to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Nevermind. If you're a fan of the band, or even just of good and raw live music, I highly recommend you head over to getmusic and grab a copy. It was an amazing concert and the sound in the cinema was incredible, so grab the bluray and use your swanky home theatre system.

Good luck to my football team this weekend. I am sorry to say that they will very much need it. Regardless, you will not hear me complain about their effort and dedication this year. Well done Eagles, I forgive you for 2010.

Until next week, all power to the people and hasala malakim.

Playlist : September 12th - 16th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

A rushed entry and list this week as I've barely been near a computer all weekend. That of course is not a bad thing, but it makes it hard to find time to program the week's listening.

What I ended up reaching for is a few favourites and a couple of new ones I wanted to listen to. Here's what I've got:

• VA - Left of the Dial : Dispatches from the 80s Underground (Disc Two)
• Marvelous Mag - Soul City
• REM - Dead Letter Office
• Whiskeytown - Rural Free Delivery
• VA - Spin Magazine September
• Kidz In The Hall - The In Crowd
• Duran Duran - Ten Great Songs
• Concrete Blonde - Concrete Blonde
• Shonen Knife - Osaka Ramones : Tribute to the Ramones
• John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. A Tribe Called Quest
2. Patti Smith
3. Dennis Wilson
4. Sloan
5. The Herd

Song of the Week : Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit

It wasn't an easy pick to begin with, but given the impending Nirvana Live at the Paramount event in a fortnight (James get a ticket and meet me there! Carousel 7pm Fri September 23) and just for your enjoyment and collection purposes, I chose Patti Smith's cover of Smells Like teen Spirit.

Patti gives the song a bluegrassy funeral march sound and then uses the instrumental break to spout her unique brand of poetry over it. I'm not sure I agree with this sort of self-indulgence all over my generation's holy hymn, but hey, at least she isn't Taylor Swift right? And if anyone has earned the right to reinterpret a magical song from someone else's era, of the two I would say Patti has paid her dues. As far as Patti Smith covers go, this isn't Gloria which we all know she put a massive PS stamp all over, but it sure isn't Madonna doing American Pie either. Enjoy.

Toodles

Thanks for coming. Sorry to love you and leave you. Before you go, if you get a chance, make sure you see Cave of Forgotten Dreams on the big screen in 3D. I saw it today and on more than one occasion was mesmerised in quiet awe. It's an amazing use of the gimmicky 3D technology to be taken through the ripples and jagged edges of the Chauvet caves and stare in wonder at 35,000 year old paintings. Nothing this cool ever stays around for long in cinemas, so get out and see it now.

Once again, asalaam alikum brothers and sisters.

Playlist : August 29th - September 2nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to a somewhat more normal edition of Work Tunes.

After last week's technology-related debacle, I am back to some semblence of normalcy at home in terms of my PC. The best thing was being able to overwrite the library for a brand new installation of iTunes with my old library file - instantly giving me back all my playlists and info. Yay! So picking a list to hear at work this week was a lot easier.

For listening duties this week, I've gone pretty heavy for the classic rock (*shock horror*) with a bit of Dylan, The Who, Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin and The Replacements as well as R.E.M.'s punchy rock set Monster. Representing my Hip Hop sensibilities, Public Enemy's Apocalypse '91 and the Native Tongue sounds of Black Sheep's Non-Fiction. Throw in some hipper vibes from Blitzen Trapper and Head and the Heart and you got yourself a playlist.

Check it out:

• Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
• The Who - My Generation : The Best of The Who
• Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91 : The Enemy Strikes Black
• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
• Velvet Underground - Loaded (Deluxe)
• Head and the Heart - Head and the Heart
• R.E.M. - Monster
• Black Sheep – Non-Fiction
• Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
• The Replacements - Tim

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Throne
2. Thin Lizzy
3. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
4. Primus
5. The Autumn Defense

Song of the Week : Dolorean - Black Hills Gold

Dolorean - Black Hills Gold is a tribute to the late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. I knew Wilson had drowned, but the story about how is what the video for this song is based on and I did not know the story. Here is what Al James said about it:

In 1983, however, he gave into the darkness and drowned at Marina Del Rey, the dock where his beloved sailboat "The Harmony" was once moored. He spent that day drinking and swimming, discovering bits of his life that had been thrown overboard years before during an explosive argument with an ex-wife. Dennis dove into the ocean over and over retrieving memories of his love and his life that were buried at sea. Ultimately, he dove too deep and was washed out into the abyss.

That has stuck with me since I read it on Monday and watched the video:

The song itself is more about what it takes to pull the gold out of the ground and craft it into a ring and how throwing that ring away means more than just a betrayal of the relationship. Interesting and eternally deep. Hope you dig it.

Ciao Bambinos

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something new and inspiring to listen to, or just enjoy the terrific Dolorean video. See you next week, same bat time; same bat channel.

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 : May 30th - June 3rd, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes - brought to you without the amazing power of lazer beams!

On this week's playlist, I've got a couple of albums I want to buy on vinyl from U2 and Bob Dylan; an REM classic thanks to @bobearth mentioning it on Twitter, some Black Box Recorder I grabbed because I'm a fan of their Andrew Ridgely track, Gillian Welch because she has a new album out soon, early BDP because of a discussion about where Hip Hop started and Viva Hate because of Ryan Adams and Dave Rawlings' argument that opens Heartbreaker. Plus some other stuff.

This is it here:

• U2 - Achtung Baby
• R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
• Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
• Eminem - Encore
• VA - Spin Magazine June 2011
• Black Box Recorder - England Made Me
• Morrissey - Viva Hate
• Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary
• Nick Cave - The Boatman's Call (Remastered)
• Gillian Welch - Hell Among the Yearlings

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Anthony Da Costa
2. The Rural Alberta Advantage
3. Tim Easton
4. Seapony
5. Bon Iver

Song of the Week : Anthony Da Costa - Love Is Not Enough

One of my Perth Twitter peeps, who is a massive Whiskeytown/Adams fan asked me last week if I knew Anthony Da Costa’s music. I didn’t. In her words, he sounds like “Heartbreaker era Ryan” She wasn’t kidding. This is almost a case of Radams pretending to be someone else. That of course isn’t a good thing for Mr Da Costa, but I have only heard this one album, there are more. Dylan sounded just like Woody Guthrie on debut, so let’s give Da Costa the benefit of the doubt. My twitter buddy is hooking me up a mix.

This song, Love Is Not Enough, as well as sounding like Grizzly, is pretty well written and features a decent acoustic guitar fill with a fiddle and piano lines. It’s got a catchy chorus that I’d be singing except I’m too busy thinking ‘Damn this guy sounds like Ryan Adams”. Enjoy.

Ciao For Niao
That's all you get this week kids. Thanks for playing. May the tunes you love be fruitful in the belly of your headphones... or something.

Playlist : March 14th - 18th, 2011

Hello and welcome to another pared down version of Work Tunes.

This week there's a couple of new artists for me in Blind Pilot and Jack Johnson. Yes, I have honestly heard no Jack Johnson (well apart from that song he did where Ben Stiller was in the film clip). I'm also looking forward to the remix version of Gil Scott-Heron's 2010 release I'm New Here - done by Jamie XX and called We're New Here.

This is what it all looks like.

• Jack Johnson - To The Sea
• Beach Fossils – What A Pleasure
• Hilltop Hoods - A Matter Of Time
• Train of Thought - Moving Heads
• J Mascis - Several Shades of Why
• REM - Collapse Into Now
• The Murmurs - Pristine Smut
• Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
• Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX - We're New Here
• Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound

Top 5 Artists Last Week

1. Dolorean
2. Snoop Doggy Dog
3. Tori Amos
4. Sonic Youth
5. Mellow Drum Addict

Song of the Week : Dolorean - Country Clutter

I know a couple weeks back in a daze of being newly smitten with Dolorean I picked one of their songs. It was a good song, but probably not a good representation of them. The other day, my copy of their latest album The Unfazed arrived. This track, Country Clutter is more true to why I really like them. It’s interesting how it shuffles along in a bit of a death march as well as building at points like it’s about to kick the distortion pedal on. Lyrically, it’s honest and angry and a little bit bitter, which I always like. Enjoy!

Postscript

Most of this post was cobbled together prior to today. I saved this draft before hearing about the earthquake in Japan. I debated whether to just post it without acknowledging that tragedy, but I just couldn't do it.

The footage I've seen tonight is impossible to ignore. The thick slow sludge of the ocean around Sendai swallowing the farm lands and the vast tracts of sheds; sweeping houses and vehicles and fences along, like some cheesy black blob from a 1950s sci-fi film. I'm not one for prayer, but I do hope with every ounce of my own being that no more lives are lost. The last I heard, more than 200 bodies had washed up on the beach. It's terrifying and horrid and all too big to fathom. 200 lives or 200,000+ as on Boxing Day, 2002, it makes no difference; one is too many.

起死回生 kishi kaisei :

Wake from death and return to life.

Playlist - February 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. What's shaking cats?

This week I've got some classic rock, a little bit of a sunshiney beach set, an alt-country favourite and a mix of songs Spin thinks were great from 2010. I've also made a mixtape of obscure old school tunes inspired by Nas.

Here's what it all looks like:

• Bright Eyes - The People's Key : I heard this latest Bright Eyes release last week via NPR. Their review of the set said it was the greatest Bright Eyes album ever. On first listen, I would have to disagree and say that I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is still the best. I thought I would give this one another listen to see if it grows on me.

• The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed : After blipping the great, rollicking track Song For Keith by Ryan Adams (who hung out and got drunk with Richards himself when they were at the same recording studio), I decided I was going to buy some Stones on vinyl. Nothing after 1979 or before 1967 though. This is from 1969 and includes the well-known Stones tracks Honky Tonk Woman and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

• VA - Spin Best of 2010 : I have a subscription to Spin magazine and Rolling Stone via Zinio on my iPad. The coolest thing about music magazines has always been the free CDs. A bit hard when you get a digital copy right? Wrong! Spin included a download code for redemption on the US iTunes store to get a bunch of tracks they considered the best of 2010. And here they are. I'm pleased with the inclusion of Boyfriend by Best Coast after their album Crazy For You was among my favourites all year.

• Josh Rouse - El Turista : After growing up on the coast all my life, I have only really now discovered a love of the beach. That might have something to do with taking my girls for a swim rather than chasing seals and going squid-jigging in rock pools around Point Peron, or walking across to Penguin Island on the Safety Bay sandbank as was the usual go when I was young. Either way, we've been going to the beach for a swim every morning on the weekends and I'm loving it. This album is a set of Spanish language/themed songs that sound like a beach in Spain.

• Ryan Adams - Gold : It's been some time since I listened to this album. It remains one of my very favourites. I am looking to get some vinyl by Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown soon and this is high on the wish list. I like the set for the quietly emotional La Cienega Just Smiled and the love letter to NYC in New York, New York. By now everyone knows that the film clip for that song is just Ryan Adams playing guitar by the river with the Twin Towers in the background and was filmed on September 7th, 2001.

• REM - Eponymous : For years I only had a cassette version of this LP that I got from Record Finder in Fremantle during a phase I went through of wanting everything REM had ever done pre-Monster. Now I have purchased the CD and this is it. Eponymous is the first Greatest Hits album for REM and was released by IRS Records in 1988 just before the band signed to Warner Brothers for Green. There are rare and previously unreleased tracks on here which make it well worth owning if you're a fan.

• Missy Elliott - This Is Not A Test : Missy Elliott tricked me, damn it. I emerged from a haze of grunge followed by a massive folk stage to rediscover rap. What was around when I emerged, besides The Marshall Mathers LP was Missy's brilliantly funky Pass That Dutch. That made me check this album out and through it get turned onto Jay-Z via the conscious and hard Wake Up. I also found Let It Bump to be deliriously groovy. So of course I went and got Missy's backlog expecting more of the same great tracks... Tricked me big time. Fake R&B bulltish. Still love this one though.

• Mixtape - Where Are They Now? : Hearing the news that Kool Herc was desperately ill and couldn't afford to pay his doctors bills, and also listening to Nas’ Where Are The Now? got me thinking about some of the old school heroes who dropped off the radar long ago. Nas’ great track says: Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic / Like these folks never existed / They the reason that rap became addictive / Play their CD or wax and get lifted. So that’s what I’m doing. I’ve made a mixtape of some of the artists Nas mentions and some he doesn't, and I've put the Nas track on the front. There are some rare and classic tracks here, and you can grab them yourself from the title link above. A full track list is included in the zip file, but some highlights include Biz Markie, The Skinny Boys, Spoonie Gee, the 12" version of Young MC's Principal's Office and C.I.A. who were the first group to feature Dr Dre and Ice Cube.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Four) : Compared with the first two discs from this eight disc box, I found disc three last week a let down. Not because the tracks weren't great, but because the one or two songs I didn't already know didn't amaze me. Still, the familiar songs are all fantastic, so who am I to whine. With songs as great as I Can't Believe We Were Married and Leaps and Bounds, I'm sure Disc Four will wipe that smug smirk right off my hating face :)

• Bob Dylan - Masterpieces : Last week I realised that in 1997, while I had a record player that needed a belt, I bought a Bob Dylan compilation on vinyl. I had never played it until just the other day. I was so impressed with 1997 coreyj, that I need to buy him a beer. This is the 3 Disc Masterpieces I bought on CD that first got me into his Bobness. From this set of classic Dylan, I obsessed over everything pre-Slow Train Coming and most things post. If you're a casual fan of the man - get this now.
  

Until next week, don't get hung up; stay cool.

Respect and best hopes to the people of Egypt. I wish for you the fair and democratic society you're fighting for and so richly deserve.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr

Playlist : November 8th - 12th, 2010

Welcome to another working week of Work Tunes. Maybe the changing weather and a little bit of rain is to blame, but things seem a little twangy and chilled on this week's playlist.

See what I mean:

• R.E.M. - Accelerate : I'm a longtime R.E.M. fan, so this release in 2008 was a big deal. It was a little punchier than they'd been putting out since New Adventures In Hifi, and I was initially in two minds about it. Strangely, I think the first listen was the last one, so I'm dusting it off for a spin.

• The Patty Duke Syndrome - The Patty Duke Syndrome : Ryan Adams' pre-Whiskeytown grungey rock punk band. The band split in 1994 and Whiskeytown formed shortly after. The music on this cobbled together bootleg holds up fairly well. Though he wasn't a founding member, you can hear Adams' influence on the songs and some sound as if they could have made Rock n Roll.

• Paul Kelly - Deeper Water : I'm not yet through with the Paul Kelly kick I've been on of late. This 1995 release was on massive rotation on my stereo when it was new - even cluttered with much louder albums such as In Utero still on constant standby. The raw emotion of I'll Forgive But I Won't Forget and the suburban salt of Anastasia Changes Her Mind are standout tracks for me.

• Bright Eyes - Oh, Holy Fools : I've always been a fan of Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning album and other offerings like Noise Floor. This album is a little more subdued and a bit morose, but it's a decent listen none-the-less.

• Josh Rouse - Nashville : After getting hold of a copy of 1972, purely because that was the year I was born, I have since gone and got everything Josh Rouse ever did - including collaboration project She's Spanish, I'm American. I regard Nashville as among the best of all those offerings. Bouncy pop folk like It's The Nightime and mellow soul like Saturday are offset with the sweet, quiet Sad Eyes and Life to make a near perfect set.

• Son Volt - American Central Dust : The band that formed, along with Wilco, when Uncle Tupelo split, Son Volt released this album in 2009. This is their most recent release and features the quite catchy (by their standards) Dynamite and the dirge-like Cocaine and Ashes.

• The Himalayans - She Likes The Weather : Before he gave us the monsterously successful Mr. Jones, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows was in The Himalayans with Mr Jones - Marty Jones, bass player for the band. This album was engineered from demos, studio recordings and radio interviews. The music is a little less radio friendly than Counting Crows and worth checking out whether you're a Crows fan or not.

• Quinine - Regrets Only : Heard about these guys from another blog I frequent. Quinine sound like an edgier Soul Asylum jamming with Toad The Wet Sprocket. Very 90s, a little grimey and not bad at all. This is a 1995 release and I can't seem to find anything else they put out. Bonus points for obscurity, Quinine. If you like 90s music, be sure to check out I Hate The 90s despite its name.

• Front Porch Poets - Off The Record : An always tasty Jazz Hop blog that I follow had a link to this album where the artist was giving away free downloads in a stack of formats. You can grab it yourself from the link on the title here. I've only given it a scan through, but it sounds okay.

• 2Pac - 2Pacalypse Now : I'll confess, I never really got into 2Pac. For one, I was pretty much away from Hip Hop when he came up and secondly, when I did hear him, I was very unfond of gangsta rap. Being a dedicated head though, I want to keep my knowledge of Rap complete, so I'm going to give Pac a go and start at the beginning. One thing I already know is anyone who claims he is the best rapper ever doesn't know their history.

If you've never heard any Josh Rouse, and you like a bit of country tinged pop folk, grab a copy of Nashville, it is well worth checking out.

Until next time, remember : The true revolutionary knows how to wait.