Quote:
Originally Posted by Bulldog
Almost 23 1/2 years I've been capable of sentient thought and I still don't have a Divine Comedy album to show for it. For me, they're like an application form I've been meaning to fill out but that's just been sitting on my desk for a week - I know I should really do something about it but, for some reason or other, I just keep putting it off.
Top man for giving a mention to Jaques Brel as well. A man with a best of comp of his will always be a happy one! Must admit though that I only got to hear about him via translations of his songs like these...
David Bowie ft. Mike Garson - My Death (Live) - YouTube
Scott Walker performing Mathilde - YouTube
Frank Sinatra "If You Go Away" - YouTube
...as opposed to actually knowing anything worth knowing about French music.
Keep this up by the way - this journal's immense. |
Bulldog! How are you mate? Longe time no see.
If you plan on finally getting your hands on some The Divine Comedy albums (and I grant you, it will be worth it) perhaps you should consider going about Fin de Siécle or Liberation first. I haven't listened to all of their albums with the attention I should have done, but they've been dethroning a lot of worthy placeholders on my top 5 bands on last.fm lately. I mean, they're amost beating Pulp mate and, I don't know about you, but I bloody love Pulp.
That aside, I don't own one Scott Walker album, which is probably a bit more shocking that never having picked up a The Divine Comedy one.
Well, thanks! I'll try to keep this up. And bearing that in mind...:
I think I've mentioned these fellows somewhere, but I just had a quick look 'round this journal and I didn't see anything. Then again, I may be an idiot. Bear with me:
The Foppish Corner
Aztec Camera
I can't really be arsed with writing those in-depth band bios, I'm sorry. But what I will say is: Why on God's inner thigh were these chaps not a bloody hit?! I mean come on! When you give them a listen you'll see what I mean, but it's bloody annoying, for f
uck's sake! Roddy Frame wrote these songs when he was 19! Oh, and they're scottish.
Now let's have a look at a gem of an album:
Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
This album my friends...is f
ucking immense. It's a cascade of pop hits that were never pop hits. Brilliant, the lot of them:
"Walk out to winter, swear I'll be there.
Chill will wake you, high and dry
You'll wonder why.
Walk out to winter, swear I'll be there.
Chance is buried just below the blinding snow."
They're very Disney, aren't they? In a good way, not in a cryogenic chamber, anti-semitic way. The use of the classic guitar is a constant in all of the songs I believe, and it's always done very, very skillfully.
"The cards are on the table now and every other cliché
Somehow fits me like a glove.
You know that I'd be loathe to call it love.
For strength will come to tower above
The things that I have learned to love
And just as I'm about to say 'amen',
The bugle sounds again."
Have you ever heard anything so silly, joyful, innocent, childish...and yet so arse buggeringly beautiful and genuine? And the solo on that last track (which may just be my favourite in the whole album) is terrific as well. Just get the album. Get it right bloody now, it's the cheeriest bally thing I've ever heard, and while it might be hard for you to put something cheery on when you're depressed or what not, it'll be bloody worth it. Always works.
This album only really has one problem: it has so many terrific songs right in the beginning that I never really remember the ones in the end.
Oh, here's another one:
Class.