Build the Underground Temple (March 25th - 29th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

What's the good word? Everything is a little bit same ol' same ol' around these parts. It is Mrs coreyj and Miss Nearly 4's birthdays next week, so that will be exciting. Among the craft and lego stuff, we got her a KISS t-shirt and her very own inflatable jumpy castle.  Miss Nearly 4, not Mrs coreyj (she's not a huge KISS fan). If the power adapter for the compressor ever gets here, I'll even be able to inflate that jumpy castle. Stupid Australia Post. And on to the music.

Just one new one this time, from Billy Bragg. I have to thank a workmate for In Rainbows this week as he reminded me how long it's been. The second volume of Use Your Illusion is here thanks again to Clay5. Grunge super-group Temple of the Dog pops in for a slab of tracks, as do 70s pioneers The Runaways. And speaking of pioneers, Velvet Underground are here along with an Uncut compilation of artists who inspired Gram Parsons. Beat Street is like a heartbeat - and it's here on my list. That just leaves all the Js - Jamiroquai and Joshua James. 

Check it out:

• Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
• Billy Bragg - Tooth and Nail
• Guns n' Roses - Use Your Illusion II
• Radiohead - In Rainbows
• The Runaways - The Runaways
• Jamiroquai - Synkronized
• Joshua James - Build Me This
• VA - Uncut : Honky Tonk Heroes
• VA - Beat Street OST
• Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Josh Rouse
2. Guns n' Roses
3. Green Day
4. The National
5. Black Prairie

Song of the Week : Stevie Nicks - You Can't Fix This

Recently I got hold of the soundtrack to Dave Grohl's documentary on Sound City music studio. You might remember Paul MacCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear 'reunited' Nirvana for Hurricane Sandy relief on a song called Cut Me Some Slack. That is on the soundtrack, but it's not what I chose.

The song that has blown me away completely is Stevie Nicks' effort You Can't Fix This. It's an angry and brooding song about the perils of rock n roll decadence. The thumping bass drum and the subtle smoldering growl on the guitars are a building indignation while Stevie screams about going too far and never being able to turn back once you bring the Devil to the party.

This for me has got to be her greatest song since Fleetwood Mac. The first time I played the album, I was working away to it and I literally stopped what I was doing about 5 seconds into Nicks' vocal. If you haven't already heard it, I hope it has that same effect on you.

Adieu

I finally gave up fighting with my internet connection and bought a 3G pocket WiFi with 5GB on it to last until Telstra comes and *does their job!*. Our phone line is down, but the net seems to just drop in and out all the time. Of course, as soon as I got home and set up my WiFi modem, the internet stopped dropping out and hasn't gone down yet. Typical. 

Hasala malakim.

Darkness Never Moving Toto (January 14th - 18th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

The first working week of the year is done and dusted and it wasn't half bad. The usual administrative start led smoothly into the massive workload and busy bee of a the end of the week. Through it all of course was the music, just like next week.

For next week, I have a few musical equivalents of a warm cup of cocoa with 80s radio-friendly sets from Toto, Van Halen and The B-52s. I've got a Skip Hop contingent from a compilation and an album from The Herd; as well as more Australian music from the one and only Paul Kelly. I'm trying to rediscover the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals outtakes from III/IV and I bought a Sonic Youth album I haven't heard. Lastly, for a little bit of groove, I am including Jamiroquai. 

Check it out:

• Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving
• Toto - IV
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV
• Van Halen - 5150
• VA - Official: The Best of Australian Hip Hop Vol. 1
• Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge
• The B-52s - The B-52s
• Paul Kelly - Words and Music
• The Herd - The Sun Never Sets
• Sonic Youth - Murray Street

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Hornsby
2. The Autumn Defense
3. JEFF the Brotherhood
4. Datarock
5. Cotton Jones

Song of the Week : Joe "Bean" Esposito - You're The Best

Speaking of holidays, mine was great, thanks for asking and it inspired this week’s SOTW. It’s actually more like Song of the Month because we've hummed and sung and played it all holidays. 

As you probably know from Twitter, I got my girls a skateboard each for Christmas. I haven’t had a chance to take Miss 3 out because we kept her in the day care routine as best we could, but I taught Miss 6 the basics and she is doing well. She can now stand up and push and coast in a mostly straight line. I have taught her to lean turn but she can’t turn in a big arc yet. Still, a lot better than me at 6 when I used to basically sit on my plastic board and roll down our steep driveway. 

Because it was like a training montage of trying and failing, I happened to sing (for Mrs Coreyj's benefit) the Joe Esposito track from Karate Kid – You’re The Best. Big chuckles ensued of course. But the song hasn't gone away. It’s been stuck in all our heads for weeks. So now I’m giving it to you! The interesting thing about the track is how cheesy and comically-sincere it is, but at the time, it was completely serious. It’s a “hard rock” track with keys in the mode of a Journey or even a Toto, but with small and aborted attempts at Ian Gillan style vocal acrobatics. 

So, try to ignore the fact that this track is from the GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE and just judge it on its own merits. 

Adieu

Thanks for stopping by. As always, happy musical trails to you all. Hasala malakim.

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 : October 10th - 14th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Almost ran out of time this week. Monday's dreaded lurgee returned yesterday and stole much of last night. It's still hanging around today and we're meant to be going to a party.

So this hurridly scrambled together list features and old 80s compilation favourite, some world music and The Drones recommended by friends, some new cuts from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Bjork, Spin's latest playlist and some funkier choices.

Check it out:

• VA - Spin Magazine October Playlist
• The Drones - Havilah
• Bjork - Biophilia
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Wolfroy Goes To Town
• Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring
• Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth
• Fela Kuti - Anthology 1
• Toy Box Scholars - We Got The Love
  
• Superstar Quamallah - Invisible Man
• VA - 1986 Just For Kicks

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Nirvana
2. Digable Planets
3. Violent Femmes
4. The Whitlams
5. Ryan Adams

Song of the Week : Feist - Cicadas & Gulls

This week I haven’t paid much attention to the tunes I’ve been hearing, but one album that made an impact was the new Feist – Metals. I didn’t mind their last album, but it was just your standard pop set with that solid 1 2 3 4 single. This one is very different. It’s very quiet and sparse and the songs are far less upbeat and hopeful.

I picked Cicadas & Gulls because it’s even more raw than the rest of the album. This track and a couple of others sound like they’ve been recorded through an old four track mixer to cassette tape live. See what you think.

Ciao

That's it for another week. Off to that party, which is a 1 year old birthday.We've been given the all clear to bring our germs if we promise not to sneeze on the barbecue.

Adieu until next time. Hasala malakim.

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 : November 15th - 19th, 2010

Hey, what's happening cats? Been a good week in your world? Mine has been kind of same old, same old. But, you know what they say - no news is good news.

A lot of what I'll be listening to this week is fairly laid back. Apart from some grooves from Cee Lo Green and Jamiroquai, and a little bit of obligatory Skip Hop from Pegz, everything else is easy like Year 8 maths. Check it out:

• Elvis Costello - The Best of Elvis Costello : It has been a good while since I tucked into my favourite EC album, Spike. Much of his more recent fare is a little on the middle of the road lounge jazz side - although his late night talk show features some great performances. Early on in his career, Costello was known as Punk and then among the vanguard of the Post Punk and New Wave movements. These are all still great songs.

• Melissa Etheridge - Brave And Crazy : With much less of the vitriole and psychotic obsession of her debut self-titled album, ME's second release is still very raw, if somewhat more subtle and subdued. The romantic road trip of Sleep While I Drive and the deep remorse of You Used To Love To Dance are placed easily beside the incensed outrage of No Souvenirs. This is a decent album prior to Etheridge's peak, Your Little Secret.

• Pegz - Capricorn Cat : I put a bid on Pegz vinyl recently. It was signed and online to raise money in the Heat for Huntz appeal. It wasn't this album, it was the brilliant Axis. The auction isn't over, but I'm not prepared to pay $150+ for it. I'm going to sulk and play Capricorn Cat instead. I like Pegz.

• Concrete Blonde - Free : At the request of one of my Song of the Week buddies, Sunky, I recently made a Concrete Blonde mixtape for him as he only knew Joey. I haven't listened to a lot of Blonde since the late 90s when I saw Johnette Napolitano play live, acoustic and solo. Free is my personal favourite Blonde LP, and the title track that never made the album is brilliant. It's on my mixtape though. If you drop me an email, I'll hook you up with it.

• The Lightning Seeds - Cloudcuckooland : I didn't know The Lightning Seeds when one day I saw a cassette in a hock shop for $1. Being it was the early 90s and everything that looked a little indie was of instant interest, I grabbed the tape and happily enough I dug it. Which is lucky, because I wasn't expecting such synth based pop. It's not bad though, check it out.

• Cee Lo Green - The Ladykiller : It seems like everywhere I go I'm hearing F$#^ You! That's Cee Lo's song, that's not random people screaming out in the street. Although, this one time... Anyway, I like that the Soul just keeps growing and growing. It seems to me like everyone is getting their groove on at the minute. Long may true Soul rule the airwaves.

• Jamiroquai - Rock Dust Light Star : Speaking of getting your groove on, this is the latest release from Jamiroquai, the UK funk pop outfit fronted by the often be-hatted Jay Kay. An ex-boss and friend of mine (hello Chris) introduced me to Jamiroquai and it's good music just to have on. Not really musical wallpaper, but not really deep and meaningful music either - although it quite often has a 'message' (given the 'iroquai' bit of their name comes from the Iroquois Native American tribe). Good stuff for a Friday, that's for sure.

• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Live at Metropolis Fremantle : I was at this gig in the front row and I've only this week been handed the link to the archive. I have downloaded the files and listened to a few snippets for quality - it's good. It was a great gig too. You can download the whole thing from the link in this title. Coming up soon, the Cardinals are releasing a double album of music created around the time of the epic 2LP Cold Roses album, further illustrating how prolific Grizzly once was.I will most likely play this recording more than once this week.

• Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me : Spinning Failer a couple of weeks ago was a good decision. I had forgotten how much I liked Edwards' writing and melody and I was so surprised, I tweeted it. This week I've decided on Back To Me rather than Ask For Flowers because the latter is a little sadder and quieter and as Flav would say 'I ain't tryin' to hear that' right now. As mentioned when I blogged about Failer, the track Old Time Sake from this set is in my 'Hottest 100'.

• VA - Uncut - Love Above All: 11 Songs Compiled By Devendra Banhart : I hadn't heard much of Devendra Banhart's music before I saw a tour documentary about him (The Family Jams). He definitely has a distinctive style. This isn't his music though, it's eleven songs he chose for an Uncut magazine compilation. Uncut compilations very rarely disappoint me, so I thought I'd check this one out.

That's it for another week of tunes at work. I'm hoping my Soul Train DVDs will come soon, and if they do, expect lots of funk next week.

This week's free advice: Be all that you can be bothered being. Ciao for niao cats.