Music: This Month's Picks.
Life has been busy- I'm doing 3 people's job at the moment, but it's managable, except when my 2 pagers go off simultaneously!
This month's picks are:
Yeow-zha. I heard of Pete Teo from a mate of mine in Malaysia who knew I am a big fan of acoustic driven indie-folk-jazz music. Well Pete Teo is the first Asian performer who is real deal in my opinion. He's done the big gigs around the region, the big deals in Hong Kong and yet he's totally focussed on the tone and sound.
Now that's what I'm talking about. Blue was a track on Rustic Living for Urbanites with traditional musical accompaniments. I thought then that the lyrics and music itself was fantastic but the various instruments took away from that core. In another words, contents were very good but the packaging was a bit off.
Since then, Pete passed me a copy of a live acoustic version, recorded live at the No Black Tie. Man, this was a different beast. The heart on a sleave personal narration takes form and you feel Pete's memories, nostalgia and longing.
'this city makes me tired, sycophants and liars' is the most poigniant line. Here, on the live version, it feels like he's right up there, telling you. You can almost hear the weariness in his voice.
If you've lost touch a bit with everyday stuff, or if you think things are getting a bit ordinary, give Pete Teo a listen you. You'll find that maybe there are more things to experience from the ordinary.
This month's picks are:
Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boy
Great song with the catchiest bass line I've heard so far this year. The lyrics are pretty reasonable, much more inventive than the usual punk-rock drole. The phrasing is odd, but it works, which can be hard to pull off. Especially the -ro-man--e-tic- -mat-ter-re-ss lines.
The music video is standard Fall out boy stuff with a storyline behind it- set at a senior, homecoming prom night, a bunch of loser/geek guys find their place on the dance floor. Not a super classic, but good fun none the less.
The music video is standard Fall out boy stuff with a storyline behind it- set at a senior, homecoming prom night, a bunch of loser/geek guys find their place on the dance floor. Not a super classic, but good fun none the less.
- File under: Punk Rock you like
- Recommended if you like: Green Day, My Chemical Romance
- Lyrics: 7/10
- Musicality: 8/10
- Catchiness: 8/10
- Repeatability: 7/10
- Overall: 7.5/10
Sinnerman- Nina Simone
Nina Simone sings a traditional American Folk/Gospel tune, to a very different beat. The song itself is overtly about the apocalypse. It explicitly and graphically describes -- "the sea will be boiling ... the rocks will be melting." 
Actually, more specifically, it refers to folks who are guilty of sin- sinnerman. It describes how the sinners are turned away (rocks, sea, river, God) and with no refuge, head towards the devil- hell. Upbeat, no?
Admittedly, how much you like the song will depend on which version you hear. I'm reviewing the most famous verion which tips the scales at 10.19 and is most prominent on the soundtrack for 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
I have heard some recordings at a slim 7.47 and one which was just under 13 minutes. Often maligned for being too long, the full on Sinnerman experience is really a track best reserved for folks who like live improvisation. With lots of interludes with piano and guitar solos accompanied by the most syncopated, scatty clapping I've ever heard, it takes a bit of experience to appreciate it.
However, the slimmer 7 minute version is very accessable but most folks can't seem to look past the repeating, simple lyrics and the timeframe. True, Simone does have a 30 second self-indulgent screech at the end, but the remainder is musically, very, very good. The beat is tight and the solos are very loose, which gives an impression of a live, 'in the zone' track.
This is one of my most played songs and I recommend sitting back, after a hard work day, with a cold beer/ hot coffee in hand and giving this one a try.
However, the slimmer 7 minute version is very accessable but most folks can't seem to look past the repeating, simple lyrics and the timeframe. True, Simone does have a 30 second self-indulgent screech at the end, but the remainder is musically, very, very good. The beat is tight and the solos are very loose, which gives an impression of a live, 'in the zone' track.
This is one of my most played songs and I recommend sitting back, after a hard work day, with a cold beer/ hot coffee in hand and giving this one a try.
- File under: Folk meets Jazz
- Recommended if you like: Nina Simone... who else.
- Lyrics: 8/10
- Musicality: 9/10
- Catchiness: 9/10
- Repeatability: 8/10
- Overall: 8.5/10
Simone Sinnerman versions:
- Recording live session 1961 Apr., New York, Village Gate -- (LP At Village Gate CD 1998 At Newport, Village and Elsewhere West Side WESD 210 [7:47])
- Recording live session 1965, Washington, Cellar Door (not issued)
- Recording studio session 1965 May 19-20, New York -- (LP Pastel Blues, LP 1969 Best Of Philips, CD 1999 Thomas Crown Affair [10:19] )
- Recording live session 1975, USA (LP 0000 Portrait of Nina Festival 189 [12:50])
Yeow-zha. I heard of Pete Teo from a mate of mine in Malaysia who knew I am a big fan of acoustic driven indie-folk-jazz music. Well Pete Teo is the first Asian performer who is real deal in my opinion. He's done the big gigs around the region, the big deals in Hong Kong and yet he's totally focussed on the tone and sound.
Now that's what I'm talking about. Blue was a track on Rustic Living for Urbanites with traditional musical accompaniments. I thought then that the lyrics and music itself was fantastic but the various instruments took away from that core. In another words, contents were very good but the packaging was a bit off.
Since then, Pete passed me a copy of a live acoustic version, recorded live at the No Black Tie. Man, this was a different beast. The heart on a sleave personal narration takes form and you feel Pete's memories, nostalgia and longing.
'this city makes me tired, sycophants and liars' is the most poigniant line. Here, on the live version, it feels like he's right up there, telling you. You can almost hear the weariness in his voice.
If you've lost touch a bit with everyday stuff, or if you think things are getting a bit ordinary, give Pete Teo a listen you. You'll find that maybe there are more things to experience from the ordinary.
- File under: Folk-blues soundtrack
- Recommended if you like: Danny Gatton, Sountracks
- Lyrics: 8/10
- Musicality: 8/10
- Catchiness: 8/10
- Repeatability: 7/10
- Overall: 8/10
- Note: You can get the No Black Tie version in this review at Pete Teo.com
Mad Tom of Bedlam- Jolie Holland
Here's another modern version of a traditional song. Jolie Holland has recorded an anonymous seventeenth century English popular ballad 'Tom o' Bedlam's Song'.
Often intepreted as a love song from a man (Tom) who was gone insane from his love (Maudlin), reflecting the then, popular contempory notions of the causes of insanity - lovesickness, drunkenness, lunar influence. This is one of several anonymous ballards reflecting the Elizabethean fascination with madness. This version is actually one of 2 seperate songs involving both Tom O'Bedlam and Maudlin more on the other song later.
And the lyrics express a manic poetic energy and a savage poignancy with a bawdy knockabout tavern rhyme. Take:
My staff has murdered giants/ and my pack a long knife carries/ for to slice mince pies from children's thighs/ from which to feed them faeries
Holland has edited the song to achieve a phrasing which is so perfect that only the lyrics can distract you from it. The music is very betting the mood- the syncopated drums the sole source of beat and tune.
Not the prettiest tune in pack, it can jarr the senses, but that's what it's meant to do. You need to listen to it to grasp the beautiful nuances. Highly recommended.
Not the prettiest tune in pack, it can jarr the senses, but that's what it's meant to do. You need to listen to it to grasp the beautiful nuances. Highly recommended.
- File under: Punk Rock you like
- Recommended if you like: Green Day, My Chemical Romance
- Lyrics: 8/10
- Musicality: 9/10
- Catchiness: 7/10
- Repeatability: 8/10
- Overall: 8/10
- Note: The other song, is a reference to the male and female adult mental hospitals of Bethlehem (Tom O'Bedlam) and Mary Magdelene (Maudlin). This tale involves a truly insane chap suffering from the 'French Disease'- he has tierary Syphylis from a prostitute (a Maudlin). In some versions, there is a strong suggestion of beastility - 'the palsie plagues my pulses/when i prigg your pigs or pullen/ your culvers take or matchless make/ your canticleers, or sullen' Aren't you glad folks gave up singing this song?
- What we term neurosyphylis includes a syndrome called General Paralysis of the Insane with progressive Dementia, Tremor and Paralysis. Don't tend to see this today was antibiotics treat syphylis. Thank goodness.
posted by T Monster at 5:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home