Marquee Moon by Television was the first vinyl record I ever bought. I remember it well, wandering into Fopp records and seeing it staring back at me on a display rack, four intense looking young men in shabby clothes and suffering from what looked like some kind of nasty skin complaint. Turns out it was a xerox of one of the band photos Robert Mapplethorpe had taken. It was weird, it sounded so old.....It still does in some ways. Very 'classic rock', very mannered and clean, nothing like what I was listening to at the time(Pistols/Nirvana/Sonic Youth). The beautiful guitar interplay of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd should have been enough to send my sixteen year old self running for the sanctuary of the nearest Ramones album, yet............Verlaines lyrics just did something to me..............They were elliptical, atmospheric, delivered in a neurotic yelp, words as texture, inextricable from the music that carries them............It was what had turned me onto Nirvana too, that "What is he singing about?" thing.
I still put it on with disturbing regularity. Most cd's I buy have a playing life of a few weeks. The very good ones get the occasional outing, maybe get obsessed over for a week or two before disappearing off the radar again. Marquee Moon hasn't been away from the side of my CD player since I bought it (for about the third time)
Because Of The Times by Kings Of Leon is awe-inspiring, not least because I used to think they were fucking terrible. Their previous output had never impressed me, but this...........wow! Maybe I haven't been listening to them properly......
Forever Changes is another one in the Marquee Moon mould. Not sonically as such, just in that it's always there and it's always welcome in the room on a leaky Wednesday evening while I contemplate the universe and it's contents and come to the conclusion that you wouldn't get much for them at a car boot sale. Mariachi horns, string arrangements to die for and some disturbingly surreal lyrics..............
"Well, the snot has caked against my pants............"
Indeed!
At this moment in time I am listening to the rather fine 'Ballads Of The Book', in which some Scottish musicians put the words of various Scottish writers and poets to music. Musically speaking, it's the usual suspects like Norman Blake, The Trashcan Sinatras, Sons & Daughters, Malcolm Middleton and Aiden Moffat, along with a gaggle of lesser known names....The writers whose texts have been chosen include Edwin Morgan, Alasdair Gray, Ian Rankin and A.L. Kennedy. I'm still working my way into it, and the 'localness' of the bands involved means I have to get over petty jealousy's (Them?!! They're Fuckin Shite!!! Buncha Wanks!!, that sort of thing......)
So, what is it that everyone else has on permanent rotation in their lives? Not just what yr listening to just now.....What music is it that's never out of reaching distance and gets played come what may.....The music that never grows old.
Yr Friendly Friday YouTube.....
Bon Nuit Mes Enfants.............
3 comments:
That was a fantastic blast of the Mudhoney there.
Have you ever heard Felt? They have the Television-style guitar interplay and some terrible singing to boot. Great stuff...
"What music is it that's never out of reaching distance and gets played come what may.....The music that never grows old."
Camper Van Beethoven, "Key Lime Pie." To me, that album always sounds as fresh as it did when it first came out.
Billy - I have. Can't say I was a fan. Thought Denim had some amusing songs tho.....
Fat Sparrow - I've got a Camper Van Beethoven album kicking about on vinyl somewhere. Take The Skinheads Bowling is of course, a brilliant song.....
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