Check Smokey's Faithless Knack (December 3rd - 7th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Good evening tunesters. What's the good word? It's Friday night here, spilling into Saturday morning and I've just finished deciding what I'm going to listen to next week. This week has been a weird sort of a week in Australia. For a start, people in Perth are whining that there's too much cold and wind and rain, while people in Melbourne are convinced their car tyres will melt right off their cars. Introduction to the opposites, or what?! Anyway, music time. Let's see what will be keeping my ears company next week.

I have a little bit of Australian representation here with Urthboy and San Cisco. I'm currently reading Losering, a Story of Whiskeytown, and so I have Faithless Street as well as early Ryan Adams punk band, Patty Duke Syndrome. Disc twos for the Stones' GRRR! and Dylan's bootlegs are here, as is The Knack thanks again to Cobain's top 50. Natalie Merchant is here for mellow purposes and Radiohead bring a classic to the party. Lastly, the Beastie Boys fill a  spot I specifically left for Hip Hop.

Check it out:

• Urthboy - Smokey's Haunt
• San Cisco - San Cisco
• The Knack - Get The Knack
• Natalie Merchant - Ophelia
• Patty Duke Syndrome - Patty Duke Syndrome
• The Rolling Stones - Grrr! (Disc 2)
• Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Volume 2
• Radiohead - The Bends
• Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
2. DJ Shadow
3. The Rolling Stones
4. Soundgarden
5. Ben Folds

Song of the Week : Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Picture Window

For some reason I thought Ben Folds was over-represented in my SOTW choices, but I can't find a single instance in the last 5 years. Either way, this song is something I mostly dig for Nick Hornby's part in it - the lyrics.

Picture Window is a little vignette into the life of what seems to be a Mother with a terminally sick child in hospital bed on New Year's Eve 2008. The room overlooks Parliament Hill through the picture window and the fireworks go off at midnight. But all the Mum can think is how pathetic it is to have such a pretty view from the room where her child is dying; and how she doesn't want to let go and enjoy herself.  

It really is like a sad short story written by a novelist in Hornby. The carefully chosen, sparse details paint the most vivid picture. I don't think many actual songwriters could do the same thing as well as Hornby has. The music is a simple enough piano riff pretty much throughout and a string section that swells over it like any good melodrama. The way Ben Folds delivers the melody is angry and desperate. And in the end when the Mum gives in and lets her spirits rise, the delivery mellows and sounds sad rather than frustrated.  

It's quite a powerful song and very well delivered. A lot of Ben Folds fans seem to have slept on this collaboration, but Hornby's words are amazing on every track. It would be great if more "proper" writers made rock songs. So enjoy this little story poem with a nice soundtrack. 

Adieu

It's Saturday afternoon now (oooh, magic) and I've just come back from the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Along with a bunch of fascinating displays on everything from deep sea diving to the spice trade, Australia II was on show. For the non-nautical, that is the winning yacht from the 1983 America's Cup. I have to say, I was quite surprised at how humbled I felt standing beneath that sporting behemoth. Here's a happy snap.

That sail is around 40 feet high and Wikipedia says the sail area is 175 square metres. It's huge; as large as it's own place in Australian folklore. I really enjoyed seeing it. Get on down if you're in Perth.

That's all for this week. Be good, kids.

Hasala Malakim.

Playlist : November 8th - 12th, 2010

Welcome to another working week of Work Tunes. Maybe the changing weather and a little bit of rain is to blame, but things seem a little twangy and chilled on this week's playlist.

See what I mean:

• R.E.M. - Accelerate : I'm a longtime R.E.M. fan, so this release in 2008 was a big deal. It was a little punchier than they'd been putting out since New Adventures In Hifi, and I was initially in two minds about it. Strangely, I think the first listen was the last one, so I'm dusting it off for a spin.

• The Patty Duke Syndrome - The Patty Duke Syndrome : Ryan Adams' pre-Whiskeytown grungey rock punk band. The band split in 1994 and Whiskeytown formed shortly after. The music on this cobbled together bootleg holds up fairly well. Though he wasn't a founding member, you can hear Adams' influence on the songs and some sound as if they could have made Rock n Roll.

• Paul Kelly - Deeper Water : I'm not yet through with the Paul Kelly kick I've been on of late. This 1995 release was on massive rotation on my stereo when it was new - even cluttered with much louder albums such as In Utero still on constant standby. The raw emotion of I'll Forgive But I Won't Forget and the suburban salt of Anastasia Changes Her Mind are standout tracks for me.

• Bright Eyes - Oh, Holy Fools : I've always been a fan of Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning album and other offerings like Noise Floor. This album is a little more subdued and a bit morose, but it's a decent listen none-the-less.

• Josh Rouse - Nashville : After getting hold of a copy of 1972, purely because that was the year I was born, I have since gone and got everything Josh Rouse ever did - including collaboration project She's Spanish, I'm American. I regard Nashville as among the best of all those offerings. Bouncy pop folk like It's The Nightime and mellow soul like Saturday are offset with the sweet, quiet Sad Eyes and Life to make a near perfect set.

• Son Volt - American Central Dust : The band that formed, along with Wilco, when Uncle Tupelo split, Son Volt released this album in 2009. This is their most recent release and features the quite catchy (by their standards) Dynamite and the dirge-like Cocaine and Ashes.

• The Himalayans - She Likes The Weather : Before he gave us the monsterously successful Mr. Jones, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows was in The Himalayans with Mr Jones - Marty Jones, bass player for the band. This album was engineered from demos, studio recordings and radio interviews. The music is a little less radio friendly than Counting Crows and worth checking out whether you're a Crows fan or not.

• Quinine - Regrets Only : Heard about these guys from another blog I frequent. Quinine sound like an edgier Soul Asylum jamming with Toad The Wet Sprocket. Very 90s, a little grimey and not bad at all. This is a 1995 release and I can't seem to find anything else they put out. Bonus points for obscurity, Quinine. If you like 90s music, be sure to check out I Hate The 90s despite its name.

• Front Porch Poets - Off The Record : An always tasty Jazz Hop blog that I follow had a link to this album where the artist was giving away free downloads in a stack of formats. You can grab it yourself from the link on the title here. I've only given it a scan through, but it sounds okay.

• 2Pac - 2Pacalypse Now : I'll confess, I never really got into 2Pac. For one, I was pretty much away from Hip Hop when he came up and secondly, when I did hear him, I was very unfond of gangsta rap. Being a dedicated head though, I want to keep my knowledge of Rap complete, so I'm going to give Pac a go and start at the beginning. One thing I already know is anyone who claims he is the best rapper ever doesn't know their history.

If you've never heard any Josh Rouse, and you like a bit of country tinged pop folk, grab a copy of Nashville, it is well worth checking out.

Until next time, remember : The true revolutionary knows how to wait.