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 July 4th - 8th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Straight into the music this week. I was completely floored by Gillian Welch's new one The Harrow & The Harvest and so I'm spinning another of her classics this week in Hell Among the Yearlings. While trawling my iTunes, I found an album I'd forgotten about from Little Barrie and that's here too. Along with some smooth jazz hop from Pete Rock and some even smoother flows from Rakim, I've got two breakthrough classics from Madonna and the Boss, the soundtrack to Larry Clark's 1995 Kids and a little alt country as usual from Son Volt and The Autumn Defense.

Check it out:

• Gillian Welch - Hell Among The Yearlings
• Madonna - Like A Virgin
• Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Main Ingredient
• VA - Spin Magazine July 2011
• Rakim - The Master
• VA - Kids OST
• The Autumn Defense - Once Around
• Little Barrie - Stand Your Ground
• Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
• Son Volt - Wide Swing Tremelo

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Gillian Welch
2. T. Rex
3. Bias B
4. Jimi Hendrix
5. Ladybug Mecca

Song of the Week : Gillian Welch - Tennessee

The weather is partly responsible for my song of the week. A while ago, I preordered Gillian Welch’s new album. It’s been a long time between drinks for her and when she finally released something, I didn’t hesitate to grab it. The CD is in the mail, but on release day, I got a DL link to lossless quality mp3s of The Harrow & The Harvest.

I don’t know if it’s the cold, or the music or the high quality of the sound files, but the whole thing sounds amazing. I’m not sure what you’d call it, but there’s all this space in the tracks like it was recorded in some huge and ancient cathedral. Dave Rawling’s guitar rings out in the hollows like bells and you can hear the breath in Welch’s voice. I told someone it’s like the whole thing is haunted.

The track is the best example of what I mean about the haunting. The story goes that for all these years since her last LP Soul Journey, they have been recording things and then ditching them as not good enough. What I think has changed for the better is the personal aspect of the lyrics. Where once they’d write old gothic hillbilly tales, these songs are about their own lives but still sound like those Appalachian dirges. It’s just blown me away and is definitely the best thing she’s released since Time (The Revelator). You can stream the whole album at NPR http://n.pr/mvy5lL

Ciao Bellas

That's all folks. I'll see you at the same blog time, same blog channel next week. I'm going to bed now to listen to some tunes before some sweet, sweet sleep. Nighty night.

Playlist : May 30th - June 3rd, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes - brought to you without the amazing power of lazer beams!

On this week's playlist, I've got a couple of albums I want to buy on vinyl from U2 and Bob Dylan; an REM classic thanks to @bobearth mentioning it on Twitter, some Black Box Recorder I grabbed because I'm a fan of their Andrew Ridgely track, Gillian Welch because she has a new album out soon, early BDP because of a discussion about where Hip Hop started and Viva Hate because of Ryan Adams and Dave Rawlings' argument that opens Heartbreaker. Plus some other stuff.

This is it here:

• U2 - Achtung Baby
• R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
• Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
• Eminem - Encore
• VA - Spin Magazine June 2011
• Black Box Recorder - England Made Me
• Morrissey - Viva Hate
• Boogie Down Productions - By All Means Necessary
• Nick Cave - The Boatman's Call (Remastered)
• Gillian Welch - Hell Among the Yearlings

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Anthony Da Costa
2. The Rural Alberta Advantage
3. Tim Easton
4. Seapony
5. Bon Iver

Song of the Week : Anthony Da Costa - Love Is Not Enough

One of my Perth Twitter peeps, who is a massive Whiskeytown/Adams fan asked me last week if I knew Anthony Da Costa’s music. I didn’t. In her words, he sounds like “Heartbreaker era Ryan” She wasn’t kidding. This is almost a case of Radams pretending to be someone else. That of course isn’t a good thing for Mr Da Costa, but I have only heard this one album, there are more. Dylan sounded just like Woody Guthrie on debut, so let’s give Da Costa the benefit of the doubt. My twitter buddy is hooking me up a mix.

This song, Love Is Not Enough, as well as sounding like Grizzly, is pretty well written and features a decent acoustic guitar fill with a fiddle and piano lines. It’s got a catchy chorus that I’d be singing except I’m too busy thinking ‘Damn this guy sounds like Ryan Adams”. Enjoy.

Ciao For Niao
That's all you get this week kids. Thanks for playing. May the tunes you love be fruitful in the belly of your headphones... or something.

Playlist May 2nd - 6th, 2011

Well hello there tunesters. It's been a massive break for me over Easter. After the first weekend was spent working day and night, I tried to make the most of every day I had left. It was an excellent break.

And so on to the music. This week's list contains a number of new ones, from The Waifs, Okkervil River and Drapht. Plus I'm trying to hear some classics I haven't heard in a while (Blondie) or at all (50 Cent). Here's what I've got:

• Blondie - Parallel Lines
• Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
• Drapht - The Life of Riley
• John Mayer - Battle Studies
• The Strokes - Is This It
• JEFF the Brotherhood - We Are The Champions
• 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
• John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
• The Waifs - Temptation
• VA - Spin Magazine April 2011
  

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Tori Amos
2. Beastie Boys
3. Ryan Adams
4. Bob Dylan
5. Neko Case

Song of the Week : Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

One of the things I managed to squeeze into my holidays was a 20 minute visit to a record fair in Vic Park. We were running late with everything we had to do that day, so I only just got there in time. I managed to pick up three great records for a total of less than $20. Madonna’s debut, Van Morrison – Moondance and the Pretty In Pink soundtrack.

I think I’ve mentioned before that Pretty In Pink was the first soundtrack (besides Grease) that I remember everybody my age (about 14 at the time I think) having. I wasn’t even really a fan of the film, beyond Molly Ringwald, but the soundtrack is superb. It has a pretty obvious euro vibe with New Order and The Smiths and OMD. Even Suzanne Vega sounds more English than American. Probably because she’s Canadian (I think, eh?).

I chose the Psychedelic Furs title track to the film, which inspired the film itself. I can’t tell you how 80s geeked out I was when I got this pristine condition vinyl ($9 thanks!) home and put it on the turntable. I had it on cassette back in the day, because I had my own ‘boombox’, but hearing it on wax was transporting. I played it twice in a row that day and I’ve spun it twice since. This is what the 80s sounded like. Enjoy.

Until May

I was going to resurrect the old style Work Tunes for May, but I got so busy on the holidays that I've changed my mind.

Until next week, may your mornings always be hot buttered toast with cartoons and your nights forever be cocktails and moonlight.

Playlist : April 4th - 8th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

My playlist for this week features an artist I've only just discovered, the new LP from Snoop Dogg, an eclectic mix from Spin Magazine and Jenny Lewis among others. See here:

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
2. David Dondero - Simple Love
3. Digable Planets - Beyond The Spectrum : The Creamy Spy Chronicles
4. Josh Rouse - Under Cold Blue Stars
5. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
6. VA - Spin Magazine, April 2011
7. VA - Uncut : Hard Drive
8. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
9. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
10. Snoop Dogg - Doggumentary

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. De La Soul
2. Nas
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. Best Coast
5. Steve Tannen

Song of the Week : Drive-By Truckers - Used to Be a Cop

This week’s track is from the latest Drive-By Truckers album, Go-Go Boots. It’s about a police officer whose life has gone to hell. Thrown off the force for a bad temper and nerves, he’s a one time abused child, unemployed divorced alcoholic stalking his ex-wife.

Feel good track of the year!

There’s a driving bass line and drum track with the scream of some nice lead guitars under some raw vocals. It’s great storytelling and a great performance. Hope you like it. The album as a whole is really interesting. The vocal duties are shared by at least three members of the band, including a female, so it has an eclectic feel while being roughly cohesive. Check it out.

Outro

That's me for the week people. Shouts to my homegirl @Hay2theley who has asked me to impart my knowledge of the old school to her. I knew there was a reason I read all those books/watched all those movies/bought all those albums/painted all those pieces/did all those turtles.

Respect. Peace out. In the name of Herc, Bam and Flash, yes ya'll.

Playlist : March 7th - 11th, 2011

So here we are again. I've decided to just list my playlist every week to keep track of what I've played. Then every month, I will blog a selection of albums from all those I've played. Make sense? Good. Let's continue.

• Paul Kelly The A - Z Recordings (Disc 8)
• Sonic Youth - Dirty
• Ben Folds Five - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
• Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
• (Please) Don't Blame Mexico - Concorde
• Mellow Drum Addict - East Bound Train
• Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
• Spin Magazine - March Issue Playlist
• The Whispertown 2000 - Swim
• Gillian Welch - Revival

Top 5 Artists of Last Week

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Radiohead
3. Digable Planets
4. Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
5. Dolorean

Top 5 Tracks of Last Week

1. Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch – Lua
2. She's Spanish, I'm American – These Long Summer Days
3. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Magick
4. Justin Townes Earle – Christchurch Woman
5. Digable Planets – Pacifics

Song of the Week

This week I have gone with a track that came with my most recent edition of Spin Magazine for Zinio on my iPad. It’s great how the digital version always has a playlist for free from iTunes.

This is Wye Oak – Civilian. I don’t know a lot about this band, but I have heard their most recent album over at NPR It’s a pretty good listen. Fairly moody indie pop with a decent layer of fuzz and jangle. Civilian has a bit of a country stomp about it while keeping the indie atmospheric vocals before it launches into a bit of rock. Not bad at all.

Playlist - February 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. What's shaking cats?

This week I've got some classic rock, a little bit of a sunshiney beach set, an alt-country favourite and a mix of songs Spin thinks were great from 2010. I've also made a mixtape of obscure old school tunes inspired by Nas.

Here's what it all looks like:

• Bright Eyes - The People's Key : I heard this latest Bright Eyes release last week via NPR. Their review of the set said it was the greatest Bright Eyes album ever. On first listen, I would have to disagree and say that I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is still the best. I thought I would give this one another listen to see if it grows on me.

• The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed : After blipping the great, rollicking track Song For Keith by Ryan Adams (who hung out and got drunk with Richards himself when they were at the same recording studio), I decided I was going to buy some Stones on vinyl. Nothing after 1979 or before 1967 though. This is from 1969 and includes the well-known Stones tracks Honky Tonk Woman and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

• VA - Spin Best of 2010 : I have a subscription to Spin magazine and Rolling Stone via Zinio on my iPad. The coolest thing about music magazines has always been the free CDs. A bit hard when you get a digital copy right? Wrong! Spin included a download code for redemption on the US iTunes store to get a bunch of tracks they considered the best of 2010. And here they are. I'm pleased with the inclusion of Boyfriend by Best Coast after their album Crazy For You was among my favourites all year.

• Josh Rouse - El Turista : After growing up on the coast all my life, I have only really now discovered a love of the beach. That might have something to do with taking my girls for a swim rather than chasing seals and going squid-jigging in rock pools around Point Peron, or walking across to Penguin Island on the Safety Bay sandbank as was the usual go when I was young. Either way, we've been going to the beach for a swim every morning on the weekends and I'm loving it. This album is a set of Spanish language/themed songs that sound like a beach in Spain.

• Ryan Adams - Gold : It's been some time since I listened to this album. It remains one of my very favourites. I am looking to get some vinyl by Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown soon and this is high on the wish list. I like the set for the quietly emotional La Cienega Just Smiled and the love letter to NYC in New York, New York. By now everyone knows that the film clip for that song is just Ryan Adams playing guitar by the river with the Twin Towers in the background and was filmed on September 7th, 2001.

• REM - Eponymous : For years I only had a cassette version of this LP that I got from Record Finder in Fremantle during a phase I went through of wanting everything REM had ever done pre-Monster. Now I have purchased the CD and this is it. Eponymous is the first Greatest Hits album for REM and was released by IRS Records in 1988 just before the band signed to Warner Brothers for Green. There are rare and previously unreleased tracks on here which make it well worth owning if you're a fan.

• Missy Elliott - This Is Not A Test : Missy Elliott tricked me, damn it. I emerged from a haze of grunge followed by a massive folk stage to rediscover rap. What was around when I emerged, besides The Marshall Mathers LP was Missy's brilliantly funky Pass That Dutch. That made me check this album out and through it get turned onto Jay-Z via the conscious and hard Wake Up. I also found Let It Bump to be deliriously groovy. So of course I went and got Missy's backlog expecting more of the same great tracks... Tricked me big time. Fake R&B bulltish. Still love this one though.

• Mixtape - Where Are They Now? : Hearing the news that Kool Herc was desperately ill and couldn't afford to pay his doctors bills, and also listening to Nas’ Where Are The Now? got me thinking about some of the old school heroes who dropped off the radar long ago. Nas’ great track says: Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic / Like these folks never existed / They the reason that rap became addictive / Play their CD or wax and get lifted. So that’s what I’m doing. I’ve made a mixtape of some of the artists Nas mentions and some he doesn't, and I've put the Nas track on the front. There are some rare and classic tracks here, and you can grab them yourself from the title link above. A full track list is included in the zip file, but some highlights include Biz Markie, The Skinny Boys, Spoonie Gee, the 12" version of Young MC's Principal's Office and C.I.A. who were the first group to feature Dr Dre and Ice Cube.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Four) : Compared with the first two discs from this eight disc box, I found disc three last week a let down. Not because the tracks weren't great, but because the one or two songs I didn't already know didn't amaze me. Still, the familiar songs are all fantastic, so who am I to whine. With songs as great as I Can't Believe We Were Married and Leaps and Bounds, I'm sure Disc Four will wipe that smug smirk right off my hating face :)

• Bob Dylan - Masterpieces : Last week I realised that in 1997, while I had a record player that needed a belt, I bought a Bob Dylan compilation on vinyl. I had never played it until just the other day. I was so impressed with 1997 coreyj, that I need to buy him a beer. This is the 3 Disc Masterpieces I bought on CD that first got me into his Bobness. From this set of classic Dylan, I obsessed over everything pre-Slow Train Coming and most things post. If you're a casual fan of the man - get this now.
  

Until next week, don't get hung up; stay cool.

Respect and best hopes to the people of Egypt. I wish for you the fair and democratic society you're fighting for and so richly deserve.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr