Sabbath of the Lost Cowboy Horses (Feb 27 - Mar 2)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This last week or so, I've been re-watching the excellent BBC documentary series Seven Ages of Rock. It's been influencing my choices quite a bit. I could have filled a whole list just with music from the various bands the series looks at. That much classic rock might blow the circuits in my laptop and my headphones, so I'll space it out instead. 

What I've picked this week from the BBCs inspiration is Black Sabbath's Volume 4, Pink Floyd's Meddle and Ramones Rocket to Russia. For a bit of balance, I've got The Palace Brothers, Wilco, Cowboy Junkies and Jamiroquai. For those Hip Hop taste buds, I chose Black Sheep and Mojo's Roots of Hip Hop compilation. Finally, there's a selection of the Billboard 100 from 1982 for a twist of cheese. 

Check it out.

• Wilco - A.M.
• Jamiroquai - Return of the Space Cowboy
• Pink Floyd- Meddle
• VA - Billboard Top 100 Collection 1982
• VA - Mojo Presents The Roots of Hip Hop
• Ramones - Rocket to Russia
• Black Sheep - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
• Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 
• Palace Brothers - Lost Blues and Other Songs
• Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Ryan Adams
2. The Rolling Stones
3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
4. Dolorean
5. KRS-One

Song of the Week : Led Zeppelin - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

My SOTW this week is inspired by my drive in this morning and also by the BBC series Seven Ages of Rock that I’ve been re-watching. The most recent episode I had on was We Will Rock You* (*Edit - It's actually We Are The Champions. Different Queen song. I knew I should have checked that.) about stadium acts such as Queen, Dire Straits, KISS and the band who started it all, Led Zeppelin. The doco claimed Led Zep were the first band to tell the promoter, “we’ll take 90% and you can have 10%” which was the reverse of how things used to be. They got away with it because they filled massive spaces and 10% of Led Zep was still huge money. 

I woke up singing the riff from Whole Lotta Love and then, driving in to work, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You comes on random on my iPod. This song is epically constructed, massively overblown and bombastic, hard hitting and wildly screamed and yet more than 40 years later, it’s still brilliant. It still makes you feel the kick drums in your chest and Plant's wail in your brain. It could be released by a band tomorrow and the critics would hail it as the redemption of rock music. Except, they don’t make many like these any more. 

I’d slip you the lossless version, but it’s a huge file. Besides, I’m betting you all have it on a CD somewhere. It’s made me think of buying the 4 LP vinyl Mothership boxset. The actual albums are hard to find on vinyl in good condition for under $100 each. But the box has most of the best tracks for about $100 the lot. 

Crank it up loud and enjoy.

Aloha 
Big weekend for me, with Ryan Adams at the Concert Hall. I saw Grizzly play in 2006 at Metro Fremantle with the Cardinals. This concert though is acoustic and solo. Should be really different to the Cardinals gig which totally rawked \m/

See you next week. Don't forget to take time out to listen to some tunes in your busy schedules. 

Hasala Malakim.

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.