Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.
Massively chaotic day today after a 1 hour delay with a doctor's appointment for Miss 4. I'm hurriedly throwing this all together with what little time I have left before swimming lessons.
What I've got for next week is the new ones from Mavis Staples and Black Sabbath. Also new is the True Blood Season 4 soundtrack. For a little bit of 70s flavour there's Lou Reed's solo debut and the greatest hits of Earth, Wind & Fire. Art Brut's fun Bang Bang Rock and Roll unbelievably makes its first Worktunes list ever; as does Beck's One Foot In The Grave. On the rap side of town there's Ice Cube and Melbourne's own Pegz. And lastly, the follow up to a compilation I played last week, For The Kids Too is here.
Check it out:
Massively chaotic day today after a 1 hour delay with a doctor's appointment for Miss 4. I'm hurriedly throwing this all together with what little time I have left before swimming lessons.
What I've got for next week is the new ones from Mavis Staples and Black Sabbath. Also new is the True Blood Season 4 soundtrack. For a little bit of 70s flavour there's Lou Reed's solo debut and the greatest hits of Earth, Wind & Fire. Art Brut's fun Bang Bang Rock and Roll unbelievably makes its first Worktunes list ever; as does Beck's One Foot In The Grave. On the rap side of town there's Ice Cube and Melbourne's own Pegz. And lastly, the follow up to a compilation I played last week, For The Kids Too is here.
Check it out:
Top Five Artists Last Week
- Gillian Welch
- Guns N' Roses
- Prince
- Seapony
- Ornette Coleman
Song of the Week : Best Coast - Storms
This is a cover. The second Fleetwood Mac cover that Best Coast have done (the other being Rhiannon). Not having listened much to Tusk, I wasn't immediately aware this was a cover. Fleetwood mac's original just hadn't caught my ear like this, so I didn't recognise it. If you listen to the original, it's obviously superior, but Stevie doesn't give it any oomph. She sings it in that world-weary, defeated Stevie Nicks way she usually does. Which is also a fitting way to sing it. Especially the bit about the deadly calm inside the storm. But when Bethany sings it, she pours it out like a wail of pain.
It probably felt like a Best Coast song to me for that reason. The instrumentation is redundant; simple and sparse and noisily punky. It's just a vehicle for Bethany's voice to run around on top of. It also feels like hers because of the obvious feeling for it and also the subject matter - given her self-proclaimed reputation for being a 'storm' and her tumultous long distance relationship with Nathan of Wavves ("I did not deal with the road").
The song has been stuck in my head for weeks. I've been relating to the "I have always been a storm" refrain. I've never been a 'blue calm sea', - But I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard to be the Shepherd.- :)
Postscript: The first time I heard this song, when I heard the closing refrain “We were frail”, what I heard was “We were Fredo” – you know, like Fredo Corleone of the Godfather. I thought “Huh? Oh, she must mean they betrayed each other. Or maybe that their relationship was something they loved but that had to die because it caused problems” the way Michael kills Fredo. I of course looked up the lyrics and discovered what they were. But you know what, We were Fredo actually works!
Ciao
Got to jet off to swimming really soon, so I'll have to love you all and leave you. Stay golden, be excellent to each other and if I don't see you good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.
Hasala malakim.
Hasala malakim.
