Shape the Leather Seapony (June 24th - 28th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's been a bit of a hurried Saturday since we just got back from shopping and it's almost time for swimming lessons. Mrs coreyj just showed the girls how to open and eat fresh coconut - their first time. They want the shells for their Crazy Crabs. Now everyone is relaxing and I'm here with you. So, shall we?

Another mixed bag of things I love and haven't heard for a while along with a new album and an old remaster. In the old favourite basket, there's Gillian Welch, Seapony, Guns N' Roses, Dolorean and Prince. The new album comes from Justin Rutledge. The remaster is Bob Dylan's rock classic Highway 61 Revisited. Into the mix I've thrown an old Run DMC record and a compilation of radio friendly indie artists doing kids friendly songs. The crowning jewel is Ornette Coleman's brilliant free jazz outing The Shape Of Jazz to Come.

Check it out:

• Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
• Justin Rutledge - Valleyheart
• Seapony - Go With Me
• Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Remastered)
• Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
• Run DMC - Tougher Than Leather
• Dolorean - You Can't Win
• Prince - 3121
• VA - For The Kids
• Ornette Coleman - The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bright Eyes
2. The WIld
3. Jason Isbell
4. U2
5. Surfer Blood

Song of the Week : Jason Isbell - Elephant

On Tuesday when I heard this song for the first time, it seriously busted my chops. I mean, I was choked up and everything over it. I knew it should probably be my SOTW, but I thought it was too morbid and sad to hang it on you all. Then James Gandolfini died which was awful news, and then worse, personally, I woke this morning to the news that I'd lost an Aunt (my Mum's sister) to a heart valve operation. It made me think that life really is a bitch sometimes and that if someone can take a little piece of grief and craft a song that can break the heart of someone they don't know with a couple of clever lines, that deserves recognition.

The instrumentation of Elephant is sparse and hushed. Lyrically, it is immense. Isbell shows us a drunken couple with the woman dying of cancer and he takes telling little vignettes - sweeping lost hair from the floor; her voice all gone for singing; gin in a coffee cup - and imbibes them with the sadness of grief and alcoholism and clinging to every tiny bit of respite. Then he places a giant Elephant in the room and gives death a foreboding presence that these drunks are ignoring.

I can't believe that anyone in these cynical times can write such raw and unbelievably emotional scenes with barely any words at all. I'm sorry if it makes you sad like it did me, but I have to admire the craft of it all. If anyone has little ears in the background, or clients/bosses, there’s a pronounced F bomb, so turn it down.

Arrivederci

Big Italian feast to cook tonight (well, bruschetta and sausage with fresh shaved Parmesan. What's that? Get some red wine you say? That's actually a good idea. I just might.

Alla prossima settimana. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 29th - December 3rd, 2010

Well, what a week it’s been in the world of tunes.

I got a crush on Wilco all over again last week. I also confirmed my love for Best Coast. Both bands helped bring something to the plate this week. With Wilco, it was twang and lyrical songs with real emotion and complex narrative. Best Coast made a little bit of noise a good thing. What came out of that jumbled mix looks like this:

• The National - Alligator : The official full length third album from The National was released in 2005. They had a solid following before that with their debut self-titled, but it wasn't until 2007s Boxer that they 'blew up'. I'm a big fan of the debut, but Alligator is a quality set including the superb Daughters of the Soho Riots and Mr November - the latter used as an informal Barack Obama theme song.

• The Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol. 1 : With the recent release of the Witmark Demos (Bootleg Series Vol. 9), Dylan's bootlegs are becoming like the Police Academy franchise - except awesome. This the first disc in a three disc set and contains mostly early finger-picked folk songs written when Robert Zimmerman first came to New York City. Disc 2 next week.

• Cold Chisel - Breakfast at Sweethearts : Chisel! amirite? Growing up with a love of all things 'bogan', I was exposed to Chisel very early on. However, for the most part, everybody got their Chisel fix from Radio Songs, the Best Of compilation (and later Gold). It was the only Chisel CD I owned until recently. The title track of this LP is one of their best.

• The Slits - Cut : The Slits were a punk band out of the UK who formed in the genre's heyday of 1976 (before it officially broke). Their sound is like a perfect segue between the raw distortion of Punk, the yet to be popular Ska pop and the much later New Wave. The lead singer of The Slits, Ari Up, died last month. Cancer. Fuck Cancer.

• Indigo Girls - Despite Our Differences : When I decided to put this on my list, I tweeted that I was going to sing a song from Cougar Town - Comfortable With My Sexuality. Yes the Indigo Girls are best known as lesbian singer songwriters, but something they really do well is lyrics and acoustic guitar. I like both of those. With songs on this disc like Dirt and Dead Ends about a neighbor with an illicit methamphetamine lab and the road trip themed Three County Highway, I enjoy the stories these ladies tell. So there.

• Prince - Dirty Mind : A recent formspring.me question I got asked who the most underrated musician was. My answer was unequivocally Prince. People tend to see the Purple one as just this guy who changed his name to a squiggle and wears feminine clothes (or had a rib removed in order to perform autofellatio, if you're into urban myths). Most of them have no idea that he is a multi-instrumentalist who carves pure gold out of guitar strings and quite possibly channels the ghost of the late great Jimi Hendrix. Plus, he is a funky mutha-ucka.

• The Muffs - The Muffs : The Muffs are an all girl alterna-grunge type band formed in 1991 in SoCal. This is their 1993 self-titled debut. Probably their most famous track is their cover of Kids In America which appears on the Clueless soundtrack. This LP is just a collection of noisy indie pop bubbles.

• Run DMC - Raising Hell : My friends are probably sick of this story, but back in 1985, between Primary School and High School, my then best friend came home from Bali with a tape for me. He told me it was 'Breakdance' music (we had been b-boys in 1984). Breakdance was already played out, so I scoffed. When he went home, I threw that tape on. It was Raising Hell. And within months, Walk This Way and by association, Rap was the biggest thing on the planet. This album watered my Hip Hop seed; planted with breakdance in 1983.

• VA - Thunder Road - Songs Inspired by the Boss : I'm hoping to get hold of The Promise for next week, Springsteen's outtakes from the acclaimed Darkness On The Edge Of Town. In the meantime, this is another great Uncut magazine compilation, this time full of Springsteen covers by a variety of artists from country to art rock. Stand outs are my favourites the Cowboy Junkies and Mary Lou Lord's subdued rendition of Thunder Road.

• The New Pornographers - Together : It wasn't until my mate Sunky went to The New Pornographers gig recently that I knew the always brilliant Neko Case was fronting the band. This is their latest release and is a nice showcase of Neko's voice and Carl Newman's songwriting. Also interesting is an appearance by the horn section of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

About the wisest thing I’ve heard this week was from Miss 4, who said (and is fond of saying) ‘Can’t we all just get up with each other?’ which is her take on getting along. So, answer that, Koreas? Can’t we all just get up with each other? Of course we can.

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?