Oh wow! It's so hot here today (no, I haven't unexpectedly relocated to the Azores!) that I almost can't face typing this update, but hey, who else is going to do it? Oh well, rain forecast tomorrow so back to normal. Meanwhile let's see what's been coming out of the chimneys of the houses of the good folk down in Journal Land.
Well, for a start there are two brand new journals and the return of an old one, so let's mosey on down through these streets and look in some doors, eh?
Antonio is looking at some "songs he's diggin'" over at
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ng-ground.html, one of which is Captain Beyond, whom we looked at in the Prog Rock Album Club some time ago. I wasn't particularly impressed with that album, but obviously Antonio was. Maybe you should join the PRAC, Ant?
The Batlord has been updating all three of his journals this week, and in his latest,
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-fidelity.html, he's reached page pages 38 and 39 (slow reader. eh Batty?)
and is quite annoyed to find that the Licorice Comfits are just a made-up band, so consoles himself by listening to one that does exist, the Lemonheads. Meanwhile in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...lks-about.html, seems like he's had enough girly pop for now and has returned to his first love, death metal, with demos from Embalmed, Morbid (seeing a pattern here?) and, er, Eructation. Is that even a word? Of course he always has to go to
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...t-schemes.html where he's talking about Dave Mustaine. Well, more laughing at, really...
Big Ears meanwhile, not content with doing a pretty in-depth review in the PRAC of Ambrosia's debut album (our current project) has an even more detailed one in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html, so head there to read all about it.
Gavin B, always a great source of information and education on music, is talking about "The decline of western civilisation", another punk cult movie in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...use-songs.html
while
Ladyislingering's
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ic-memory.html is concentrating on, well, ladies this week, with Blondie, Pat Benatar and the Go-Gos on offer. Not literally, sadly...
Pedestrian does a rare album review, and going by this one it's a shame she doesn't do more. It's the new one from The Knife, and you can find it if you go
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sswalking.html
Complete with snappy new title,
Screen 13 is back in the
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...all-music.html and looking at the Comsat Angels, which he describes as an epic fail. Want to know why? Step this way...
Three years later duga is updating his journal, telling us all about
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-got-here.html, with a review of Savage Garden. Hope to hear more from ya soon mate!
And this week I doggedly buck the trend and make history again (read, show off) by opening my
fourth journal, a feat until now thought impossible ...
whaddya mean, yeah yeah, get on with it you toss...? Oh, okay. Well, before we get to that, what's been happening at
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html? Not much to be fair: a review of ELO's "Face the music" is all I could muster (and you want to do ANOTHER journal???) although in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html there's been considerably more happening, with a review of the classic comedy "The odd couple", as well as (finally) episode two of the Onedin Line, and also an offbeat look at some of the ugliest spaceships in science-fiction history!
As for that new journal, well it's all about
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ver-heard.html, with the first on the chopping block being that well-known and respected second album from My Bloody Valentine, "Loveless" -- can't say I'm too impressed (what's that crowd angrily coming towards me with pitchforks and burning torches?), while next up is ZZ's classic "Tres hombres". Much to listen to!
It's 1976 in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html and
Unknown Soldier is looking at albums by the Ian Gillan Band and some crowd called Piper? Check it out and learn things you did not know, as well as hear music you should!
Urban has posted the full list of Melody Maker's top albums in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...79-2000-a.html but some of them he doesn't have. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you can help him out. What? No he doesn't bite. So far as I know.
and that leaves us with one more journal, the other new one I spoke of. Say hello to the newest member of our Journal Land residence,
Yorkedaddy, who has started a journal in which
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...used-hate.html. Great idea! So far he's already hit up "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac and "vertigo" by Boxcar. Interesting outcomes, to say the least.
Which takes us to our Showcase for this week. So, who shall it be? Well, I'd like to move back to page two and introduce you to someone who's certainly active, though not enough for my liking. Ladies and gentlebeings, meet
He's been doing his journal on and off for nearly three years now, and as a fellow Irishman I think he deserves a little encouragement and praise. Also, with a name starting with Z he's destined to always be the last on any update, unless that new guy Zggfftt starts a journal, but I think it's hard to write when you have pseudopods instead of fingers! Here's the kind of thing our man
Zero is capable of:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zer0
Belle and Sebastian - 3..6..9 Seconds Of Light (1997)
Track Listing:
1. A Century Of Fakers
2. Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
3. Beautiful
4. Put The Book Back On The Shelf
Belle and Sebastian were a very prolific band in their early days indeed. Not only did they manage to release not one but two, TWO, damn good albums in 1996 (Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister), but they also managed to follow these up the following year with three rather fine EPs Dog On Wheels, Lazy Painter Jane and last but not least the magnificent 3..6..9 Seconds Of Light. Why I chose this EP over the other two is simply because these four tracks seem to encapsulate everything I love about early Belle and Sebastian into just under twenty minutes. That timeless, warm and bittersweet sound that they could pull off so effortlessly and those highly literate lyrics that could rival any great poet.
The bittersweet melodies of ‘A Century of Fakers’ reminds you of the coming of Autumn and the fading memories of the Summer gone by. You will also notice that this song has the exact same backing track as ‘A Century Of Elvis’ from Lazy Painter Jane. But compare that with the up-tempo and teeth-rattling ‘Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie’ which shows that Belle and Sebastian can rock out if they want to. ‘Beautiful’ is a downbeat and touching acoustic-based song which some nicely effective touches of trumpet and strings. Stuart Murdoch’s knack for writing about downtrodden characters always fascinates me and he does this brilliantly with this song. The upbeat swagger of ‘Put the Book Back on the Shelf’ ties this four-track EP together very nicely. And just when you think it’s over there’s a hidden song at the very end called ‘Songs for Children’, which seems to hark back to the faded outro of ‘Beautiful’. It’s a very well put together collection of songs and they exist together as a powerful entity.
If you wanted to you could get all their EPs and non-album singles collected together on the compilation Push Barman to Open Old Wounds, but I prefer to have them individually. The songs just seem to stand out more when you listen to them the way they were originally meant to be listened, plus the associated artwork gives the songs that extra bit of character and group identity. Some could even argue that their EPs are better than their albums but then again they could be right. |
And so, with the weather forecaster glumly predicting rain tomorrow, it's back to normal for an Irish summer. But things are moving here in Journal Land, whatever the weather, and if you want to be part of that, take the example of Yorkedaddy and others who have decided to give this a go and, well, give it a go! What have you to lose, apart from your self-esteem, confidence, respect of others, friends, free time, sleep, social life...?
Till next week at the same time,
Toodles!