May 24, 2008

VIDEO DUMP: PETER GABRIEL "SKY BLUE" (LIVE) (2003)

This version of "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel featuring The Blind Boys Of Alabama is stunning. The extended chorus at the end is amazing.



From Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live tour concert film from 2003.

May 23, 2008

VIDEO DUMP: TIM CURRY "I DO THE ROCK" (1979)

I heard this last weekend (on XM on the way to the wedding rehearsal), and we couldn't get it out of our heads. This song falls somewhere between early Roxy Music ("Virginia Plain") and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London". I'm just proud of the fact that I guessed it came out in 1979. And I guessed it was David Sanborn on sax. Yikes.

One thing is for sure: Tim Curry does the ROCK ROCK ROCK. And he rocks that 'fro.



That song seems longer than 4:20, doesn't it? Here are the lyrics. I have no idea what they mean.

Edith Sitwell giving readings
14 Moscow Road
Osbert's giving champagne parties
Sachie's got a cold
Gertrude's hanging pictures
Alice making tea
Me, I do the only thing that still
makes sense to me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock

John and Yoko farming beef
raising protein quota
Sometimes they make love and art
inside their Dakota
Rodney's feeling sexy
Mick is really frightfully bold
Me, I do the only thing that stops me growing old
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock
I do the Rock Rock Rock

Well, it's stimulating
Solzhenitzin feels exposed
build a barbed-wired prison
Nietsche's six feet under but his babies still got rhythm
Einstein's celebrating ten decades
but I'm afraid philosophy is just too much responsibility for me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock

Baby Ruth and Dizzy Dean
Best and Colin Cowdrey
Little Mo, Virginia Wade
Pistol Pete and O.J.
I've always like DiMaggio
and Rockne's pretty knute you know
I could never wack a ball with such velocity
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
It's stimulating - I'm a keen student

Liz and Dick and Britt and Liza
Jaclyn, Kate and Farrah
Meg and Roddy, John Travolta
Governor Brown and Linda
Interwiew and People Magazine
Miss Rona and the Queen
It must be really frightfull to attract publicity
I do the Rock
Myself
I do the Rock

Carter, Begin and Sadat
Breznhev, Teng and Castro
Everyday negotiate us closer to disastro
Idi Amin and the Shah
and Al Fatah is quite bizarre
I could never get the hang of ideology
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do - I do - I do - do the Rock.


I had no idea he name checked O.J. Simpson. Wow.

Tim Curry "I Do The Rock" (1979) [YouTube]

COMPLETE ALBUMS LIVE

The latest concert trend appears to be bands playing complete albums live, in order, from start to finish. Here's a short list off the top of my head of some recent examples:

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation"
Public Enemy "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back"
Sebadoh "Bubble and Scrape"
Liz Phair "Exile On Guyville"
Meat Puppets "Meat Puppets II"
Thurston Moore "Psychic Hearts"
Built To Spill "Perfect From Now On"


Those last three are all going to take place at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, New York, but also at other venues this summer. While I understand the lure of nostalgia, I'm not sure I 'get' this trend. Half the fun of a concert is not knowing what's going to happen next. Instead, this has all the drama of an iPod playlist you made yourself. While it's one thing to try to regain your indie cred (SY) or sell tickets (Liz) why would a band like Built To Spill agree to do something like this?

What is the reason for this trend? It's possible that artists are making a statement in favor of the album as a viable art form, but I think iTunes has effectively killed that notion. I actually went to a They Might Be Giants show where they performed their entire first album in order, but that was not pre-announced and was just a one-off novelty (for New Years Eve 1991, when the album was only a few years old). I haven't heard of bands doing this type of thing since then.

May 16, 2008

THE BLACK KEYS - TERMINAL 5, NYC, MAY 15, 2008

I saw The Black Keys last night at Terminal 5. My Lord, they ripped the roof off the place. And yes, there are only two of them on the stage at all times, Dan Auerbach (gtr/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums). The sound he manages to get out of just one guitar (no bass, no rhythm to help) is astonishing, and Patrick's energetic powerful drumming is just amazing. Who knew two boys from Akron could rock so hard?

They kicked it off with "Girl On My Mind", and followed with "Set You Free", "10 AM Automatic" and never let up. Even "Oceans & Streams", the only song which featured Dan playing fuzzy distorted keyboards instead of guitar, sounded fantastic.

None of these clips are from last night's show, but I thought I'd post them anyway to show you what you missed.

"Girl on My Mind" from SXSW 2008.


Here's "I Got Mine", one of the tracks from their new album Attack & Release.


(No, I didn't take any of these videos. I wish I had.)

Here's the duo performing "Stack Shot Billy" from the incredible album Rubber Factory on Letterman.



To all you hipster douchebags who gave Terminal 5 1 star on Citysearch, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. The sound was great, there were two balconies and a huge floor section to view the stage from (only one section to the left on the 2nd floor was VIP, but could be "bought" for $20), and the bartenders and staff were extremely friendly. Maybe if you didn't see a shitty Cat Power show, you would have had a better night.

As Rob succinctly put it "THEY JUST GET IT." Indeed. Fantastic show.

The Black Keys [Official Site]
The Black Keys on MySpace

May 8, 2008

TOM WAITS "PRESS CONFERENCE"

To announce his "Gloom and Doom" 2008 Tour (which won't be coming to the Northeast), Tom fashioned this humorous performance piece.