Secret Memory Cloud Flag (December 10th - 14th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Capitalism Christmas. You know what that means. It means I have to spend some Saturdays shopping for presents. It also means that my Top 10 for 2012 is not too far away. In actual fact, it will be next week. This isn't it though; this is a different list.

In preparation for refining my final Top 10 list, I have a few 2012 albums from Cloud Nothings, The Mountain Goats and Swans. Thanks to a recent Clay5 on Top 5 5th albums, I have Melissa Etheridge's fifth and probably best album. More Whiskeytown is here while I'm still reading the book. I've got the final installments for Dylan and the Stones. Pulling another selection from Kurt's top 50, I've got Black Flag. Finally, my Hip Hop taste buds will be tantalised with Wu-Block and Nas.

Check it out:

• Black Flag - My War
• Wu-Block - Wu-Block
• Nas - Illmatic
• Swans - The Seer
• The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
• Melissa Etheridge - Your Little Secret
• The Rolling Stones - GRRR! (Disc Three)
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Volume 3
• Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
• Whiskeytown - Stranger's Almanac

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Whiskeytown
3. Bob Dylan
4. The Notorious B.I.G.
5. Beach Fossils

Song of the Week : The Knack - Good Girls Don't

I've been digging a little into Kurt Cobain's top 50 album list for the last few weeks. This week's selection was The Knack - Get The Knack. Everybody knows the monster hit My Sharona, but it was another song on the album that caught my eye. 

As a young and impressionable lad of about 7 or 8, I had a cassette tape (still have it) called Chipmunk Punk. It was The Chipmunks doing "punk" songs. Except they were all covers of new wave songs from Blondie, Queen, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, The Cars and others. At the time I had no idea who usually sang it, but my favourite track was Good Girls Don't. It was The Knack, and I have only just heard the original song now for the first time. 

Imagine my surprise when the real lyrics were... well, let's say "adult" and "colourful". Listen yourself and then have a look at the Chipmunk version on YouTube. 

Enjoy my shattered innocence! :)

Addio, Amici

Thanks for stopping by. Have the best couple of days off you can muster. Don't forget to check in next week for the Top 10 for 2012. There could well be a mixtape, but don't tell the DMCA.

Hasala malakim.

Kamaal the Sad Television Companion (April 16 - 20)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


I can't begin to tell you how busy my week has been, so I won't try. Suffice to say I shall be busy at work from now until, roughly... the END OF TIME! To get through this overwhelming metric ton of work for the foreseeable future, I'm going to need plenty of tunes. 


Which is why I have some smooth Hip Hop grooves from Q-Tip and Mos Def's Black on Both Sides; some anarchic and cathartic punk from Black Flag;  self-titled LPs from both The Far West and Television; The National's mostly overlooked second LP;  the latest from Counting Crows and M. Ward; the first album in the first Holy Trinity from Bob Dylan and a solid compilation from KCRW.


Check it out:

• Q-Tip - Kamaal The Abstract
• Black Flag - Damaged
• Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
• The Far West - The Far West
• Television - Television
• The National - Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
• Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine
• M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
• Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
• VA - KCRW Sounds Eclectic 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Prince
2. Drive-By Truckers
3. Uncle Tupelo
4. A Tribe Called Quest
5. U2

Song of the Week : Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U

So now to my song for the week. I was bitterly disappointed (though not at all surprised) that Prince isn't coming to Perth. I could probably wrangle a work flight to Melbourne and see him there, but I don’t want to stay away from home to catch him. Besides, what was touted as “keeping with current tour prices” (which was as low as $25) has become, I’ve seen, as much as $850 a ticket. Ridiculous.


So I’m definitely not going to see Prince. But I can pick my favourite live Prince track for SOTW. This is the original and best version of Nothing Compares 2 U. A world away from Sinead O’Connor’s forlorn pop ballad version, this is heart wrenching Soul from the purple one and Rosie Gaines. Gaines’ voice is amazing and you can hear Prince smiling as he coaxes responses from her within the song lyric. 


Besides missing a moment like the legendary George Harrison tribute, I think what I upsets me most about missing the Prince tour is the chance to hear some of Pop music’s greatest songs done live by a living legend. C'est la vie. Enjoy.

Hoo-roo

Until next time, may your weekend be filled with music and the good kind of mayhem. If you find something new to listen to, don't be a selfish hipster and hide it away for yourself - hook a brother up.


And speaking of shared knowledge, I just got back from The Record Finder in Fremantle. I go there every chance I get, which is a lot, but now something is bugging me. The range is huge, no doubt; but the prices on new LPs are out of whack and the used vinyl is sealed up so you can't check it. I think why it suddenly bothers me is that Mills Record Bar up the road have beefed up their selection and cut the prices to very reasonable levels. The range may not be the same, but they do stock some of the best records ever made - from Bob Dylan to The National. So my advice if you're hunting vinyl in town is only check Record Finder for more left-field used vinyl and be prepared to ask to see it. 


Vinyl tragics unite! Hasala malakim.