a new poster on The World's Greatest Music

I've decided to introduce a new poster on The World's Greatest Music - my dad.

My dad was the first influence on my music taste, and possibly the biggest. Before I listened to any contemporary music, I listened to his record collection. It was an impeccable musical education - The Beatles, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Chris Barber, Joni Mitchell, Motown Chartbusters, Jimmy Cliff... (the last few might have been my mum's but still).

I inherited his predilection for recording shows off the radio and making up cassettes of the best tracks (I did it with Mark Radcliffe's Out On Blue 6, John Peel and Mark Goodier's Evening Session; he did it with Jazz Record Requests and Humphrey Lyttelton's The Best Of Jazz, which sadly came to an end recently).

It was only a matter of time before we both started mp3 blogging.

Also, he can pretty much replicate Bunny Berigan's awesome intro to I Can't Get Started on the trumpet.

Bunny Berigan - I Can't Get Started (iTunes)

RIP Sean Levert

Sean was in LeVert with his better known brother Gerald. LeVert's track Casanova is a classic.

LeVert - Casanova (not on iTunes except for a karaoke version)

"If I only knew your name, I'd go from door to door"

Joe writes: I heard Ciara Haidar cover this at the weekend. What a great song, and one that I vaguely knew - surely a classic '80s hit for someone like The Bangles or Cyndi Lauper, I thought.

But no, it turns out it's the current single by the Mystery Jets featuring Laura Marling.

I love it when I group I had written off come up with something really great (when I say "love" I obviously mean "grudgingly accept").

Someone has to cover this and make it a hit.

Mystery Jets feat. Laura Marling - Young Love (iTunes)

Herman Dune, Jonathan Richman and Paul Simon

Joe writes: Herman Dune played a lovely set at SXSW with Kimya Dawson joining him to sing vocals on a couple of songs including I Wish That I Could See You Soon. A very endearing song from a very endearing artist, although the lyric about spooning is a bit much.

I Wish That I Could See You Soon is clearly inspired by Jonathan Richman, and my favourite Jonathan Richman song is I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar.

I can also hear shades of Late In The Evening in I Wish That I Could See You Soon. Late In The Evening is the opening and best remembered track from Paul Simon's 1980 album One Trick Pony. The album has been slated by critics, perhaps more because of the film of the same name than the music (see also Parade by Prince). The critics are wrong about the music anyway. The album is great from beginning to end and is probably Paul Simon's best alongside Graceland.

Herman Dune - I Wish That I Could See You Soon (iTunes)




Jonathan Richman - I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar (iTunes)




Paul Simon - Late In The Evening (iTunes)

Black Kids video for I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

I'm just posting this because I like the track and I love the lyric but I never got round to saying that here, and it would look hopelessly late if I posted the mp3 now, right?

some good tracks from bands who played SXSW

Foy Vance - Indiscriminate Act Of Kindness (iTunes)
I really like this song which reminds me of Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits for some reason (obviously that's a good thing).

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (not on iTunes UK yet but there is an EP up there including Sun Giant which is also lovely)
One of the buzz bands of SXSW. Their live show is very endearing.

Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers - 4th Of July (not on iTunes UK but lots of his stuff is)

Tigercity - Red Lips (not on iTunes UK yet but there is an EP up there)

Eagle Seagull - I'm Sorry But I'm Beginning To Hate Your Face (not on iTunes yet but lots of their stuff is)

Litttle Jackie - The World Should Revolve Around Me (not on iTunes UK yet)
Macy Gray revivalists with Imani Coppola on vocals

Lars Vaular - Eg E Fra Bergen (iTunes)
Norwegian rapper. No idea what he's saying but I like the backing track and the chorus.

from Adam Green to Jessica Simpson to John Cougar

The Moldy Peaches have broken thanks to Juno. As Kimya Dawson is getting most of the attention, I have an excuse to post my favourite Adam Green track, a savage but superb song about Jessica Simpson. The lyrics about waitressing, Cortisone and that line "where has your love gone? It's not in your music, oh no" make me wince every time.

There was a good single on the first Jessica Simpson album, I Think I'm In Love With You. It was released in the year 2000 but it's totally 1990s.

How can you fail with a sample from Jack & Diane by John Cougar (before he was Mellencamp)?

Adam Green - Jessica (iTunes)
Jessica Simpson - I Think I'm In Love With You (iTunes)
John Cougar - Jack & Diane (iTunes)

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)

This was Pete Tong's Essential New Tune on Friday and was recommended to me by my friend Daz who was also first to tell me about Call On Me by Eric Prydz, Amarillo by Tony Christie, Cha Cha Slide by DJ Caspar and many other huge records. Thanks Daz.

It's a great remix of The Whitest Boy Alive, which is Erlend Øye from the Kings of Convenience.

I saw Kings of Convenience play at Benicassim a couple of years ago - tent packed with continental Europeans, total silence during the songs, then huge applause at the end of each one. But I'm whiter than he is.

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) (only the original version is on iTunes so far)

Phil Campbell

Phil Campbell has just been added to the Radio 2 playlist, more than a decade after he should have been.

Hope, Faith & You is his classic Tom Waits pastiche

rap with sampled, sped up chorus... paradise

Let It Be by Dyme Def is available on iTunes so it must be cleared, right? Thanks to Fun Bongo for telling me about this track.

Stay With Me by Ironik has not one but two sped up choruses. It's big on the Fizz TV channel.

All this sped up vocal business reminds me of Mark Oh's classic interpretation of Lionel Richie's Stuck On You. That vocal drop out crowd noise trick is so good!

Dyme Def - Let It Be (iTunes)
DJ Ironik - Stay With Me (iTunes link that will probably be removed soon)
Mark Oh - Stuck On You (there's only a terrible soundalike on iTunes)

White Lies

The UK music industry buzz band of the year so far and it's not undeserved.

www.myspace.com/whiteliesuk

Chris Barber

Joe writes: My dad tells me that Chris Barber is 80 this year [correction - he's not - see comment below] and just appeared on Later with Jools Holland.

The Chris Barber variety of trad or mainstream jazz is the kind of jazz that's closest to my heart. Generally, the band start by playing the melody, led by the trumpet. Then each player takes a solo in turn. Then they all come back in and play the melody again. The end. Magic.

There's a scene in a film that perfectly captures how exciting this music can be (or seemed to do so twelve years ago when I saw it). It's the 1959 film of John Osborne's iconic play Look Back In Anger. Richard Burton plays Jimmy, the archetypal angry young man. At the start of the film he walks down into a basement where a jazz band are playing (Chris Barber's). He picks up the trumpet and plays with them. It's dangerous, exciting, poetic - rock 'n' roll, you might say.

Climax Rag is the opening track from a legendary concert album, Barber In Berlin. Joe Meek was one of the recording engineers.

Duke Ellington's Creole Love Call is one of my favourite downtempo jazz standards. This version was recorded at the London Palladium. The best moment is at 6.49 when the band comes in with the melody again after a wonderful muted trumpet solo.

Both tracks available on an excellent double CD.

Neither are on iTunes but plenty of other Chris Barber tracks are.

Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Climax Rag (Live at Deutschland Halle, Berlin, 23rd May 1959)




Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Creole Love Call (Live at the London Palladium, 31st March 1961)

one of the best ever documentaries about music is back on BBC iPlayer for the next 6 days

How Pop Songs Work

To Make You Feel My Love

Joe writes: To Make You Feel My Love is the best song Bob Dylan has written since the seventies, and one of the best songs he has written. It's a modern standard. The first version I know of was by Billy Joel (before Dylan's own version was released). I also have versions by Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson, Caedmon's Call and Josh Kelley. iTunes has versions by Joan Osborne, Louise Setara, Bryan Ferry, Maria Muldaur, Hilary Scott, Lynn Witty and Rob Mathes, Luka Bloom, Jermy Irons and many others. I guess it's one of the most covered modern songs of recent years (alongside You Raise Me Up which I can never understand - why don't people go straight to the source and cover Danny Boy instead?). And now it has turned up on the Adele album. Adele has a great voice but could learn a lot from listening to the Garth Brooks or Billy Joel or Trisha Yearwood versions. Keep it simple Adele! I think the best version is Trisha's.

I've always thought this song probably inspired the Lindisfarne song Can't Do Right For Doing Wrong which was beautifully covered by Erin Rocha.

Trisha Yearwood - To Make You Feel My Love (not on iTunes sadly so here's an Amazon link to the Hope Floats soundtrack which has it, and I thought had the Garth version too originally but not here it seems)




Erin Rocha - Can't Do Right For Doing Wrong (not on iTunes so here's an Amazon link to the album)

one new artist and one newish artist

I Blame Coco - daughter of a star and future star herself. Excellent voice.

Daniel Merriweather - I can't get Chainsaw out of my head. He has also covered a recent track, as his mentor Mark Ronson did with Valerie, and Daniel's is an equally good choice of cover.

Loneliness: what is the point of it?

The new Feeling album is out today in the UK.


Loneliness is the track I wrote about ages ago having heard the demo.

I really rate The Feeling. Their breakthrough was exciting because they were the first band in many a year to be embraced by the UK media despite being neither "alternative" nor passing themselves off as such. Mainstream and proud. I didn't reckon on the inferior bands that have broken through in their wake but I think The Feeling will outlast those bands. This track in particular has a little hint of genuine emotion and depth that the likes of 10cc and ELO definitely had but The Feeling's contemporaries generally lack.

The Feeling - Loneliness (iTunes)

I was just reading an interview with my favourites Vampire Weekend in The Guardian and they list Brenda Fassie as an influence

Joe writes: Brenda Fassie was one of the biggest artists in South Africa, selling millions of each album.

There was a plan to break her in Britain with remixes of Vuli Ndlela but nothing ever came of it. What a brilliant track though. Incredible vocal. It definitely could have been a hit in the Northern Hemisphere. It's from her Memeza album which has this extraordinary artwork:


I once visited the Cape Town township where Brenda grew up. Here's a photo:



Brenda Fassie - Vuli Ndlela (iTunes)

songs about getting old

Joe writes: A Moment Of Forever was written by Kris Kristofferson and Danny Timms. It was the title track of Kris's 1995 album which is where I heard it first. Now it's the title track of Willie Nelson's new album. You can hear Willie's version on YouTube. And you can hear a version by Danny on his own website. But for me the best version is Kris's. It's a good one to put on a CD for your partner at Valentine's Day if you are planning to spend the rest of your lives together and have a high tolerance for sappiness.



A Moment Of Forever reminds me a little of Back When We Were Beautiful by Matraca Berg, a lovely song about growing old.



I spent far too long reading an Eva Cassidy website this week and was moved almost to tears once again. Partly because of the story (what a story), but more because of the music - Eva was one of the all-time great singers. Fields Of Gold is a really good song about love changing as couples age. I won't post that because everyone should own the Songbird compilation on which it appears. Instead, I've posted Anniversary Song, the best of the lesser known songs that Eva recorded (it was written by Steve Digman).


Finally, Much More Than This, by Chris de Burgh, an artist who is much under-appreciated in the UK. I have mixed feelings about the sentiment expressed in the lyric (definitely don't put this on a CD for your partner), but nonetheless I think it's one of his best songs, right up there with the likes of Borderline and Lady In Red.

A&E by Goldfrapp

I like the new Goldfrapp single which I heard properly for the first time today. It's a proper song.

Goldfrapp - A&E (iTunes)

tecktonik

Tecktonik is a dance craze and music scene that is sweeping France and spreading elsewhere. And it's a registered trademark apparently!

Alive by Mondotek has just been no. 2 in France and the video shows what it's all about (the track is pretty good but the video and dancing are better).

For some reason all this reminded me of the classic Freestyler by Bomfunk MCs so here's the glorious extended version.

Bomfunk MCs - Freestyler (extended version) (iTunes)