Posts tagged "most memorable"


Posted by whitneymcn April 21, 2009
Posted to openers  most memorable 
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154 plays so far

Mike Watt - In The Engine Room

I don’t actually know what Watt the Widow Babies had in mind when they wrote the song Mike Watt Created the Universe with a Bass Solo for their Mike Watt EP, but the riff that opens this track (and Watt’s album Contemplating The Engine Room) is what comes into my head.

Variously described as a punk rock opera [Watt’s term], a concept album, and a song cycle, the songs that make up Contemplating The Engine Room explore Watt’s personal history, from his home and his father’s life in the Navy through the relationships that made up the Minutemen and Firehose.

In 1997 I saw Watt perform the album before I’d actually heard the recording, and the bass riff that starts In The Engine Room, which returns throughout the album, was immediately fixed in my memory.

If this is a new one to you, give yourself a little time to adjust to Watt’s voice, listen a couple of times, and then sit down and soak up the entire album. I made the happy discovery that the live show I saw is available from the Internet Archive, so give it a listen. Please.

Posted by jenrobinson October 31, 2008
Posted to most memorable 
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71 plays so far

Gary Jules -  Mad World (Tears for Fears Cover)

Today’s Daily Double: The soundtrack to a most memorable movie moment and a Friday cover. The end is nigh. Why are you wearing that stupid human suit?  Happy Halloween!

Posted by whitneymcn October 28, 2008
Posted to most memorable  obscura 
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34 plays so far

Gavin Bryars - Incipit Vita Nova (David James, countertenor)

Another Portland story, circa 1995:

For the last three years we lived in Portland, my wife and I lived in the top floor of this [image above] former church; the six foot arched window you see was in our living room. One Halloween the whole building decided to have a party.

It was a good party, ranging from quiet discussions to the Israeli guy who threw a pumpkin out of our window because his friend insisted that “you haven’t experienced the USA until you’ve thrown a pumpkin out of a second-floor window.” [Note: the argument seemed persuasive at the time.]

It came to a close in the morning hours of November first, with a dozen or so people sitting around, drinking coffee and watching the sunrise through that big arched window. Some wise soul put in this Gavin Bryars CD and fixed that moment in my memory.

Posted by machinetext October 7, 2008
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38 plays so far

Elysian Fields - Rope of Weeds. Driving home from work (back when I lived in a city where I drove) at 3am and listening to a local college radio station, this song nearly killed me. I unconsciously slowed the car to a crawl, completely hypnotized by Jennifer Charles’ voice; her slow-burn repetitions stop time. The song requires some suspension of your more critical facilities (see lyrics, brush work), but there is pleasure here in surrender. Headphones, volume, close your eyes, give in.

Posted by pootytang September 26, 2008
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51 plays so far

Michael Hurley - Sweedeedee

Perhaps you have heard the Cat Power version of this song.  She nails it, without a doubt, and it was through Cat Power (who also covers Hurley’s ‘Werewolf song’ and ‘troubled waters’) that I discovered Michael Hurley.

As far as which version is better, I tend to go back and forth.  Recently I have favored this one.  Both versions remove me from wherever I am (subway, work, bus, earth) and take me to a somber Greenwich Village apartment where two down on their luck lovers are doing their best to get by.

If you enjoy this track, I would check out his most recent release, The Ancestral Swamp, on Devendra Banhart’s Gnomonsong label.

Posted by whitneymcn September 19, 2008
Posted to most memorable 
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36 plays so far

The Dandy Warhols - Best Friend

If record reviews were report cards from a progressive elementary school, then year after year the Dandy Warhols’ would read “Dandy takes on every project with enthusiasm and creativity, but we feel that he is still not fulfilling his real potential.”

That said, they have their moments.

I was living in Portland, OR in the mid-’90s, working a series of post-liberal arts degree jobs that included time as a technical writer for a small company in downtown Portland. Not one of the best times of my life; a lot happened in a short time, capped by a close friend’s death.

I was walking home late one night after a couple of weeks of long hours, exhausted and dozing on my feet. As I crossed 405 on Burnside, the (literal cassette) mixtape I was listening to shifted into Best Friend. I had seen the Dandy Warhols once or twice around Portland and never paid too much attention, but at that time and place the song was perfect.

Posted by pootytang September 9, 2008
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60 plays so far

Robert Wyatt - Heaps of Sheeps

(from 1997’s Shleep)

I have wanted to post this song since this blog started, and so here it is.  I think it sets a records for fitting the most themes simultaneously :)

1. The first song (openers) on Robert Wyatt’s Shleep.

2. While having a bouncy Bo Diddly like beat, it recalls a night of insomnia when perhaps the most innocent behavior (counting sheep) takes a nightmarish turn. (sheep’s clothing)

3. It has the word sheep in it’s title, making it a theme pun.

4. It was the first Wyatt song I heard, while browsing other music spending the gift vertificate my brother got me for my birthday (Thanks Matt!), and I was instantly hooked (most memorable).

5. Much to my dismay, Robert Wyatt isn’t exactly popular. (obscura)

Enjoy!

Posted by newspeedwayboogie August 5, 2008
Posted to most memorable 
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42 plays so far

Rufus Wainwright, Somewhere Over The Rainbow

From Rufus Does Judy, where he recreated a complete 1961 concert by Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall, an amazingly memorable move, Stephen Holden from the NY Times said it best:

“For those who came to worship, Mr. Wainwright could do no wrong. His courage to stand as a surrogate for every audience member who ever gazed into the mirror and fantasized slipping into Dorothy’s ruby slippers spoke for itself.”

Posted by whitneymcn August 1, 2008
Posted to most memorable 
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24 plays so far

David + David - Ain’t So Easy

Everybody’s got one, and this is mine: summer of 1986, teenage bittersweet.

Posted by newspeedwayboogie July 28, 2008
Posted to most memorable 
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15 plays so far

Adam And The Ants, Dog Eat Dog

It’s hard to imagine how much my mind was blown in 1981 when Adam and his Ants starting popping up all over MTV.  Then we saw them at the Ritz or Danceateria or someplace like that, new wave at its very best.  And then, just like that, it was all over.

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