"There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment." ~Elvis Costello
26 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: cher, david letterman, sonny & cher, sonny bono
22 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Recommended Albums Tags: the essex green, the long goodbye
The Essex Green: The Long Goodbye (2003)
The difficult-to-categorize Essex Green swirl elements of psychedelia, chamber pop, 70’s-style folk rock and country into an intoxicating blend. They somehow evoke the feel of late 60’s psych pop more than they duplicate its actual sound–if that makes any sense.
From a band bio you’ll learn they hail from Brooklyn. But their music is like a passport stamped with sounds from jangly British invasion 60’s to sunny California, with diverse stops between.
At any rate, if they can be described as “psych pop”, the emphasis is on the pop.
Sasha Bell’s flute and vocals front a dreamy, sunlit mix on “By the Sea”. The harmonies in the bridge have Beach Boy ambitions. But equally enthralling is Bell’s lone and unadorned voice–for my money one of pop’s most beautiful.
“The Late Great Cassiopia” drives at a more uptempo speed, with handclaps and layered harmonies keeping it catchy, and “Lazy May” sees Bell in a supporting role vocally, bringing to mind the textures Neko Case brings to the New Pornographers when she isn’t singing lead.
For those who remember the era of the Seekers and Donovan, or for younger pop fans wanting to get off the beaten path a little, there’s a lot to love about the Essex Green.
Listen to: “By the Sea”
Listen to: “The Late Great Cassiopia”
Listen to: “Lazy May”
Listen to: “Southern States”
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/24/songs-you-may-have-missed-62/
22 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: brian eno, david byrne, life is long
David Byrne & Brian Eno: “Life is Long” (2008)
“Folk-electronic-gospel” is how David Byrne and Brian Eno refer to their 2008 transatlantic collaboration, their first since 1981’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
Eno says his longtime love of gospel music was initiated by Byrne and his work with Talking Heads–remember, “Take Me to the River” was an Al Green cover–and the horn charts here certainly wouldn’t be out of place on one of Green’s tunes.
22 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: alice cooper, andy warhol
Photo courtesy of Alice Cooper
(via The Guardian) by Edward Helmore
The rock star Alice Cooper has found an Andy Warhol masterpiece that could be worth millions “rolled up in a tube” in a storage locker, where it lay forgotten for more than 40 years.
The work in question is a red Little Electric Chair silkscreen, from Warhol’s Death and Disaster series. Never stretched on a frame, it sat in storage alongside touring artefacts including an electric chair that Cooper used in the early 70s as part of his ghoulish stage show.
According to Shep Gordon, the singer’s longtime manager, Cooper and Warhol became friends at the famous Max’s Kansas City venue in New York City…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jul/24/alice-cooper-andy-warhol-little-electric-chair
Photograph courtesy Bob Gruen
13 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: dawes, hey lover
Dawes: “Hey Lover” (2013)
It doesn’t get much simpler than the sentiment (or the chorus) here:
Blue and white racing stripe pick-up truck
And when did I decide to grow this beard and gut?
Well, I may be white but I don’t like my people much
But I want to raise with you and watch our younglings hatch,
Fucking make the first letters of their first names match
Hey lover, hey lover
Hey lover, hey lover
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/02/21/recommended-albums-7/
