Sunday Public Asylum Massacre (July 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


A week of all work and no play make Corey J something something. Go crazy? Not quite, but it was touch and go there for a while. All enjoyable stress of course, but it does take its toll. Skagboys is going well. One good thing about being tired from work is getting to bed earlier and getting to read every night. Renton and Co. have just had a couple of tastes of Heroin and the book is mainly concerned at this stage with the rampant unemployment of Thatcher's Britain in the 80s. That's not a book report, that's just me making conversation. Okay, okay shut up monkey boy and make with the music. 


In this week's bag of treats, I have the kick-ass soundtrack to a cheesy 70s teen melodrama I just watched, Over The Edge; there's the Sonic Youth and Public Image Limited albums I bought courtesy of a carton of Becks; your funky education continues with disc 3 of Star Time; I threw in some 50 Cent and Cypress Hill coz I is well gangsta innit?; do you remember Soul Asylum? Dave Pirner dated Winona Ryder. You don't remember Winona Ryder? Me either. Queen are good though eh? For new sounds I have some old sounds by Silver Jews and the latest from Japandroids that some well-respected Twitter critics have raved about. I haven't heard them since Post-Nothing and I wasn't overly fussed on that album. I do trust my Twitter critics though, so we'll see.

Check it out:

• Japandroids - Celebration Rock
• VA - Over The Edge Soundtrack
• 50 Cent - The Massacre
• Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
• James Brown - Star Time Disc 3
• Public Image Limited - Public Image Ltd
• Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
• Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
• Queen - Queen's Greatest Hits
• Silver Jews - Early Times

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. James Brown
2. The Cure
3. Eminem
4. Circle Jerks
5. The Police

Song of the Week : Wax Audio - Disturbing Practices (Overboard)

Click for Link

Initially I was going to pick a vitriolic Elvis Costello song about Thatcher just to highlight how great some songs can be when they're so nasty. Then I remembered a song far more closely related to our own mess and just as nasty - only this time, the politicians' own words are used to hang them out to dry.


This is Disturbing Practices by Wax Audio, a remix of political propoganda from the time of the Children Overboard fiasco. The fact that people forgot Howard and Costello's lies and voted them back in, just illustrates how too many Australians have the derp derp deyturkarejarbs! mentality.


Problem is, the majority of voters seem to still be conveniently forgetting that people have died as a result of this veiled White Australia Policy, this attempt to rile up rednecks and make them feel 'secure' from those nasty desperate people. I'm disgusted in The Ranga for still playing the games with people's lives that got Howard elected. I can say with pride that I voted Greens and kept offshore processing out of the Senate.

I'm 5000

Thanks for stopping by. It is my nephew's first birthday bash this weekend. It's a pirate themed party. So I thoroughly intend to burn copies of all my sister and brother in law's DVDs. Yaaaar! 


Be good to one another. Don't worry about a thing, because damn it, if you're reading this it means you have an internet enabled device and a connection. That's already put you in the richest 30 or so percent of people in the world. Share the wealth a little hey? 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Sugar Sweet Fables of Sea Police (June 25th - 29th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


What a busy week it's been at work. I've been busy on several projects at once and have barely had time to think about anything else. Which makes deciding what to listen to a bit trickier than usual. But never fear, because music inspiration is all around and eventually there's a list to be made. 


This particular list began with a bit of The Cure, because I've been reading Skagboys and obsessing over 80s music. The Police made it for the same reasons. I finally updated my cassette copy of REM Fables, so that's here. I'm continuing on with the Sugar Hill and James Brown compilations. I'm not over my hardcore trip yet, so I added the Circle Jerks. How long has it been since you heard My Name Is?! Slim Shady is here. For some new tunes, I've got the Bon Iver iTunes session and something from Daughn Gibson. Lastly, there's an old faithful compilation in Sweet Relief II.

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction
• VA - The Sugar Hill Story : To The Beat Ya'll (Disc 3)
• Daughn Gibson - All Hell
• Circle Jerks - Group Sex
• James Brown - Star Time Disc 2
• Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
• The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta
• VA - Sweet Relief II
• Bon Iver - iTunes Session
• The Cure - Staring At The Sea (The Singles)

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Meat Puppets
2. Bad Brains
3. Beck
4. A Tribe Called Quest
5. Get Smart!

Song of the Week : The Cure - Let's Go To Bed

This week I started reading Skagboys, Irvine Welsh's prequel to Trainspotting. It's set in the early to mid 80s where Renton has passed his punk phase and is tiring of his Northern Soul phase. There is a lot of music explicitly referred to in the book and it's mostly new wave. People like John Swan the drug dealer listen to 60s stuff like The Doors. Even before I started reading the book and found out how musical it was, I started doing this really nerdy thing where I make 80s genius lists to be the soundtrack to my reading.


So this week's song is one that turned up on one of those. I remember really loving this song, on this 80s compilation, as an 11 year old with no idea who The Cure were. While I was hip enough to dig on Grandmaster Flash, my music tastes were hardly refined back then, with me listening to the Top 40 on 6pm AM radio. All the kids in my class were into the 80s pop of the time (Wham!, Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls etc). So we all had these compilations and on this one, Let's Go To Bed was my favourite song. I didn't even understand it, I don't think. It just sounds great. 


When I read Skagboys, this UK 80s gothic sound is the overwhelming tone in my head. Even if the jukeboxes are playing songs like Too Shy and The Message.

Bye Bye

Thanks for stopping by. My birthday was fantastic, thanks for asking. It was good to see the fam and get some good nosh in together. My sister and brother in law were kind enough to slip me Mad Max 2 and Blow on Bluray along with the latest Best Coast. Saved me buying them. I also got some butterscotch schnapps, but the less said about that, the better.


That's it for another week. Where does the time go?! Be good to each other, kids.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Bad Orpheus Cave Mutations (June 18th - 22nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Okay, I'm going to come clean. I'm not really "firty-five" tomorrow. I was born in the great year of our Lord (whose name is Rock n' Roll) 1972. Therefore, that makes me 39. Which is where I am going to stay now, thanks very much.


So to get me through the post forty blues, I've upped the level of Funk to EXTREME with James Brown's Star Time compilation (just disc 1 for this week - can't overdo these things at my age). There's some Bad Brains which is ripped from vinyl to remind me that punk rock will never die. I've slipped in some Beck; Radiohead and Nick Cave for a little 90s flavour; plus there's disc two of the Sugar Hill box and some ATCQ for my Hip Hop fix. Lastly there's some 80s post punk from Get Smart! and some new stuff from Violens. .

Check it out:

• James Brown - Star Time (Disc 1)
• VA - The Sugar Hill Story : To The Beat Ya'll (Disc 2)
• Radiohead - Kid A
• Bad Brains - Bad Brains
• Get Smart! - Action Reaction
• Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
• A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
• Violens - True
• Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus
• Beck - Mutations

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Young Marble Giants
2. Wilco
3. The Triffids
4. Violent Femmes
5. Beastie Boys

Song of the Week : The Ramones - I Don't Wanna Grow Up

I'm off work today and I took Miss 5 to school and hung out in her classroom before the siren. Some strange kid drew a picture of me. I looked pretty suave actually, but I'm not sure she captured my true essence. 3 stars kid.


After the siren, I went to get some fuel and that's when my SOTW came to me. At the bowser next to me, seemingly not interested in pouring fuel, two guys were talking. One of them looked about mid 30s and was wearing shorts, sneakers and a Ramones tee shirt. I was thinking to myself, I need a Ramones tee. Then I thought "Dude, you're f-f-f--firty five tomorrow and you probably should lay off the band tee shirts". Then, thankfully, my rational self kicked in and I thought "Screw that!"


So here is my SOTW. The Ramones' cover of Tom Waits' great song I Don't Wanna Grow Up. Because, damn it, I don't. And I don't care how old I am tomorrow. In the words of Homer J Simpson, I'm going to "keep on rockin' forever.. forever.. forever.. forever :( ..." And damn it, I'm getting a Ramones tee shirt.



Rawk On

Postscript: Some little kid when I went to get Miss 5 from school also had a Ramones shirt. I chose to see that as a sign that you're never too young or too old to rock n roll. Mrs coreyj chose to see it as a sign we needed to have a third child (a boy). I like my version better and so does our accountant. 


Thanks for stopping by, you crazy kids. Pleas pray for Mojo if you're reading this on Saturday. I'll be struggling to come to terms with my age and with just how much time has passed since I was unleashed upon the world. 


I have to admit that I have definitely lived in "interesting times". Only, isn't that an old Chinese curse?


Que sera, sera. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 28th - December 2nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to the Work Tunes that almost never was.

I recently had to let go of my 160Gb iPod Classic after a few good years of service. It actually still works, but it wouldn't connect to iTunes, so it made playlists a very hard thing to make during my lunch breaks as I'm used to. I'vbe got a new one now and I'm beginning the arduous task of filling it up again. But I have a list now, even though it was a little rushed.

Classic albums and artists are over represented, probably because they're the best thing to reach for when you don't know what you want. Luckily Spin came through with the December issue so I have some brand new tunes too. Thanks to a viewing of Rock The Bells, I grabbed Wu-Tang's classic 36 Chambers. I threw in some Iggy Pop to go with my recent obsession with Velvet Underground. I got so excited about the new The Roots LP coming soon that I hooked up an old one and that's about it.

Check it out:

• Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc One)
• The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 6 : Concert at Philharmonic Hall
• Melissa Etheridge - Breakdown
• Pixies - Surfer Rosa
• Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
• James Brown - Live at the Apollo
• The Roots - The Tipping Point
• VA - Spin Magazine December

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Mr Bungle
   
2. The Doors
3. KRS One & Marley Marl
4. Kathleen Edwards
5. The Deep Dark Woods

Song of the Week : Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine

Musically speaking, there has been a strangely coincidental Velvet Underground theme following me around. I happen to have chosen Beck's Record Club tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico album for this week's list, but more than that I watched a doco on Sunday about Lillian Roxon who photographed and wrote about VU and also Bowie and Iggy Pop in the early days at Max's. I've also seen a bunch of people bagging out the Lou Reed / Metallica collaboration (and so I won't listen to it and sully my high opinion of Lou Reed). This all lead me to listening to lots of VU and checking out Nico's solo album Chelsea Girl on Songl. On it, she covers Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine.

There are only two versions of Dylan's original that I have heard. One is solo piano and it's called Bank Account Blues. The other is with a band on the Bootleg Series. Hearing Nico sing it in a slow droning monotone, reminded me how good Bob's Bootleg version was. It's a pretty catchy pop melody without the throw away lyrics. What's most enjoyable about this version though is that Dylan is playing it with the band during the Blonde On Blonde sessions for the first time. They haven't rehearsed it, they're throwing together the backing as they play. You hear the producer reassure Al Kooper on the organ to play what he was playing earlier and then Al starts up. Bob at the end of a verse asks the band, "Right?"

I find it a fascinating insight into how great songs are recorded. It's also frustrating that the song wasn't ever recorded properly. There are far too many songs that have been thrown away by great musicians that never made their own releases. I'm thinking about Springsteen never doing Because The Night, Paul Kelly giving Cake and the Candle to Kate Ceberano and Nico strangling the life out of this song.

This YouTube video is not the version from Bootleg Series Vol. 2, but it is an instrumental version with footage from Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. But the song title link is the real deal. Enjoy!

Ya'll Come Back Now

To my American friends, I hope your Thanksgiving and Black Friday were exceptional. To those of here in Perth, how about this heat hey? To everybody else, thanks for stopping by.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist : December 6th - 10th, 2010

Hey hey kids! What's shaking?

Thanks largely to a viewing of The Runaways, this week's list is a little bit heavy on the rock, with an emphasis on classic. Hopefully there's something here that's as good to your ears as it is mine.

• The Runaways - The Runaways : After watching the recent movie based on the early history of The Runaways, I had to check them out. Like most people my age and younger, I only knew about Joan Jett when she formed the Blackhearts and had the smash hit I Love Rock n Roll. The movie was halfway decent fun, the music is interesting.

• Bruce Springsteen - The Promise The 2 CD (plus a third of the original release) of outakes from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The Boss was obviously in a period of abundant creativity at the time and these 'cast offs' are a damn sight better than most of the music that gets released these days.

• James Brown - Get on the Good Foot : Anything by James Brown will put some spring in my step, a little bit of joy in my 'Hot Pants', some funk in the place. I chose this album for the fact that it was released in 1972 (the best year ever) and because of JBs bitchin afro on the cover art.

• Silver Jews - American Water : The Silver Jews were an indie band with a country feel featuring Stephen Malkamus and Bob Nastanovich from Pavement. They have since split up, but before they did, they released six albums including this one. Released in 1998, American Water contains kitschy tracks like Honk If You're Lonely and Buckingham Rabbit along with junked out forlorn Lou Reed style dirges like Like Like The The The Death. It's a good listen.

• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol. 2 : After spinning, and enjoying, Vol.1 of the Bootleg Series last week, I have included Vol. 2 as promised. On this disc, there are electric tracks which were largely missing from Vol. 1. This is where Dylan is experimenting with his 'thin, wild mercury sound' on tracks from If You Gotta Go, Go Now to She's Your Lover Now. The inclusion of an early demo of Like A Rolling Stone is well worth a listen.

• You Am I - Dress Me Slowly : The best thing about this particular You Am I album (and they never disappoint) is the bonus Temperance Union disc. Where Dress Me Slowly rocks out a lot, the more mellow and personal Temperance tracks tell some really detailed, rawly emotional stories. Standouts are Paragon Cafe, The Lonliest Folk in the World, Get Drunk, Ring Your Friends and the road trip rock n roll tale of The Smokin' Popes.

• Hilltop Hoods - State of the Art : The Hoods don't get nearly enough playlist love from me, for all the listening I do. This latest release I tend to listen to a number of tracks while driving home. It has been probably since its release that I have listened to the whole thing in order. If you get a chance to see it, the Parade of the Dead DVD based on this LP is not just good Hilltop Hoods live performances, but a funny and enjoyable Zombie flick as well.

• Jay-Z - The Black Album : Given the imminent arrival of 'Mr Z' in Perth, I have chosen my favourite (and far superior to all but The Blueprint) Jay-Z album. This was supposed to be Jay-Z's farewell to releasing albums in favour of CEO duties at Def Jam. If this had been the last album he made, it would have been a great way to end it.

• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV The Runaways made me feel like some good old fashioned rawk. Though much of what inspired the band was punk and glam, I have chosen some calssic rock with Led Zep IV. There are still very few songs that rock quite like Rock and Roll, Black Dog and When The Levee Breaks.

• Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been : More rawk for the week. This Dinosaur Jr album contains the JJJ hit Get Me which was my introduction to J Mascis and the band. It's a little noisier and less melodic than the next LP, Without A Sound. A few of the tracks on this album found themselves inside J Mascis' acoustic guitar on the criminally ignored Martin and Me live album. Over there they found more melody.

It was a good end to the week for me. I bought a turntable and a copy of my favourite Golden Age of Hip Hop album, Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full on vinyl. They are Christmas presents though, so no spinning until Dec 25 :( (Sad Panda). Until next week, some words of wisdom:

Keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb - Bob Dylan