Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
18 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
17 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: if time permits, matthew sweet
Matthew Sweet: “If Time Permits” (1999)
It’s all big reverb, big drums and big emotion as Matthew Sweet closes out the 1990’s by acting like they never happened.
Sweet’s 1999 In Reverse album is an homage to all the things that made 60’s pop great: wall of sound production, backward guitars, psychedelia, overwrought lyrical sensibilities and most of all melody.
Oh, and Carol Kaye, the badass Wrecking Crew ace of bass herself, who’s part of that glorious wall of sound here.
It’s clear Sweet finds inspiration from Brian Wilson, the Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra and other purveyors of pop brilliance. But he also has the chops to make something new of it, something his own.
If more talented songwriters thought in reverse, we could all forget the 90’s happened.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/10/11/songs-you-may-have-missed-488/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/06/20/songs-you-may-have-missed-430/
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: jesus is a friend of mine, sonseed
Sonseed’s 1982 local TV appearance.
This is essentially the same as the video that has over 15 million views, but this version with improved audio was posted by songwriter Sal Polichetti.
Sal Polichetti discussing “Jesus is a Friend of Mine” and what a long, strange trip it’s been.
A dead-on parody of the TV performance, posted on YouTube by Craig Colson, can be seen here. It prompted the following comment from Polichetti:
“Absolutely loved it! You even nailed the way I looked at the wrong camera in the last verse. The guitar solo was cool also; it was mixed so low on the original recording you can barely hear it. There’s a live version of us playing the song floating around on YouTube (from 1983) if you want to hear what it really was supposed to sound like. Again, well done!”
And here is that live version, from Sonseed’s 1983 farewell concert. “Jesus is a Friend of Mine” followed by the sublime “Wake My Slumbering Soul”.
Oh, and here’s that Glee video Sal mentioned:
11 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: soundwavesoffwax
(via The Guardian) by Alaina Demopoulos
When Jula’s father died, he left her his vinyl collection – close to 10,000 records that included everything from opera to 60s psych to prog rock to new wave. At first, it felt overwhelming to look at shelves and shelves of records. But this summer, Jula, who is 24 and lives in Canada, decided to “sample” a few records. A friend suggested she post the process on Instagram. “She said, ‘There are people who are your father’s age who would recognize the records, and maybe you could find a small community of people who you can connect to, to keep that alive,’” Jula said.
She started randomly pulling records, recording her reactions, thoughts and commentary for albums beloved by boomers from artists like Harry Nilsson, the Moody Blues, Santana and the Beach Boys. Since first posting in September, Jula, who prefers not to give her last name, has amassed more than 322,000 followers on her account, @soundwavesoffwax.
Jula grew up in a house full of sound. Her father, Richard, was a lifelong music lover who played multiple instruments and wrote songs. “He told me that when he was five years old, he would do little chores for his grandfather, and use the allowance to buy records,” Jula said. She remembers him spinning the Archies, the Monkees and Frank Sinatra when she was a child. (Jula now makes her own music under the moniker Juli.Jeli, which she describes as “experimental electronic”.)
When Richard died a few years ago, those records became the only physical thing Jula had left of her father. “It’s like the last thing we have left of him, so even though they take up a lot of space, I knew I didn’t want to get rid of any.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/21/father-vinyl-records-instagram
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: splendid isolation, warren zevon
Warren Zevon: “Splendid Isolation” (1989)
Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Don’t have to share it with nobody else
Lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand
And lead me through the world of self
Following 1987’s return to top form with the great Sentimental Hygiene album, the Excitable Boy unleashed the less commercial–and less commercially successful–Transverse City LP.
“Splendid Isolation” was actually one of the more cheerful tunes on a bleak, at times dystopian, rumination on cultural collapse at the end of the Reagan era.
Although I must say I much prefer the more playful, poppier Sentimental Hygiene, Transverse City in retrospect is certainly one of the most ambitious, uncompromising, and ultimately overlooked albums of Zevon’s catalog.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/29/recommended-albums-45/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/11/11/songs-you-may-have-missed-224/
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: already gone, works progress administration
Works Progress Administration: “Already Gone” (2009)
Former Toad the Wet Sprocket singer/guitarist Glen Phillips here fronts an LA supergroup featuring Nickel Creek members Sean and Sara Watkins, Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers, drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & The Attractions) and fiddle player Luke Bulla, among others.
Named, for some reason, after FDR’s 1930’s Depression-era work program, the band bring a rootsy blend and nice harmonies to this one.
Every Moment Has A Song 