Bowieee's songs for the week 11/3-11/9

[bowieee]

Before I say my picks I just want to comment on what a good idea these threads were. I love to introduce people to new music as well as learning about new music from them. I had put my music discussion on the backburner for much of this year for some odd reason and these threads awoke my passion for musical discovery like a wild fire. So to all the weekly contributers thank you!

~For my first pick I decided to pick something light hearted and fun. Alot of my friends swear the artist I'm picking is mentally disabled, i think he is a genius and a gift to rock and roll. The man is Jonathan Richman. The song I'm picking is him creating a tribute to another great band. The song is Velvet Underground.

Jonathan Richman: Velvet Underground

~My second pick prettty much plays out like a dream in my mind. This is a little surreal folk ditty from Neutral Milk Hotel and is called Oh Comely

Neutral Milk Hotel: Oh Comely

~Finally, Last but not least I am going to continue my life long mission to convert the entire world into Tom Waits fans (Right Romero? :) ). To me Waits is musics hidden gem. the man is the best lyricst I have ever heard and the amount of music he has made stretches epic preportions. The song I picked isnt from his experimental era, the work most people know by him but from his ballady 70's stuff. This is the best ballad I have ever heard about childhood and can still get me all teary. The song is Kentucky Avenue

Tom Waits: Kentucky Avenue

Well I hope you all like the choices and let me know what you think!

Next Schmoe up to bat next week: Bubba StrangeLove :cool:

[BadCoverVersion]

Oooooh. I'm all excited!

Give me a few short hours Bowieee and I'll be right on to it, I've got the day off work tomorrow and i can't wait to give these baby's a whirl!

Keep up the good work folks!!! Doc Watson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds are just 2 past picks currently dominating my brand spanking new playlist! You shmoes are cultured bastards!

We can't let these threads die!

[The Postmaster General]

Thanks for the picks.

I love that Richman song. My favorite part is when they refrain and play like the Velvet Underground. Richman is a good dude. He's pretty ecclectic and essentric. Those are two of my favorite adjetives that start with "e".

I'll check out the other two songs when I go back on the network.

[bowieee]

Originally posted by BubbaStrangelove
Thanks for the picks.

I love that Richman song. My favorite part is when they refrain and play like the Velvet Underground. Richman is a good dude. He's pretty ecclectic and essentric. Those are two of my favorite adjetives that start with "e".

I'll check out the other two songs when I go back on the network.

E words can be fun, glad you liked it.

[Rated R]

I wasn't able to find the Tom Waits song(ironically I expected it to be the easiest). Otherwise I enjoyed the other two songs, especially Comely, what a beautiful song. Thank you, I also agree that the song for the week thread is an excellent idea.

[Romero&Juliet]

EEE~~! Cant wait! I've been really busy lately and I haven't been able to post too much... I haven't even heard asyouwish's picks yet!! They look great!

[asyouwish530]

Currently downloading Kentucky Avenue. I'll find the other 2 tomorrow so I'll post a review of all 3 then. How many movies have Waits and Jim Jarmusch worked together on?

[bowieee]

Tom waits starred in Down by Law, He was the radio voice in Mystery Train and He also did the soundtrack for Night on Earth.

[Jerk Shapiro]

Maniac's song of the week reviews:

First of all, I was unable to find Jonathon Richman's Velvet Underground, but I succesfully got Oh Comely and Kentucky Avenue. Yee-haw.

KENTUCKY AVENUE: Yeah, Tom Waits is a hella-cool guy. With some good music. I like this song. The voice is funny, ha, funny. I also like the real mellowed out feel.

OH COMELY: Another great mellowed out song! Incase you can't tell I'm in a real mellowed out mood right now. I like the acoustic sound and feel of it. I've really been getting into the acoustic thing lately, ( John Mayer ). My favorite song of your list bowieee.

Good pics, nice job.

[asyouwish530]

Alright bowieee!

Jonathan Richman- Velvet Underground

Groovy tune. Nice tribute song, lyrics kinda light with the breaks, peculiar vocals and back up hmmm's w/ claps and tambourine. Fun tune!

Neutral Milk Hotel- Oh Comely

Flowing, mellow, steady acoustic number with resounding singing, trumpet accompaniment and connected subject. I listened to this one while clipping my fingernails. :D

Tom Waits- Kentucky Avenue

Relaxed piano, building verse, unmistakable voice and words. This one makes me feel like I need to be walking down a dimly lit street somewhere late at night in the rain by myself.

Enjoyed 'em all! Thanks!

[bowieee]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed them! That makes me a happy camper :D

[BadCoverVersion]

Christ Bowieee...I've been eagerly awaiting YOUR picks since the thread started. I'm having a real dodgy time with Kazaa at the moment (it just doesn't seem to be connecting). I'm going to try to download WinMX and hope for the best!

I haven't missed one yet...I'm certainly NOT going to miss this weeks picks! ;)

Wish me luck...

[Harry Hood]

OK bowieee...

Velvet Underground- Good little upbeat song that seems to harken back to 50's era rock...like Buddy Holly almost. Although I've never heard this song before it takes me back when I had to listen to the oldies' songs my parents listened too. Love the litlte VU breakdown in the middle of this song, sounds like Reed during this part too.

Oh Comely- Well this was certain something different. Gotta admit when I first started listening, I was not all about this. I mean my musical tastes are far reaching but this seemed jsut beyond it. But this guy has got a voice. And the acoustics grew on me. His voice reminds me of someone that I just can't put my finger on, perhaps it'll come to me later. All in all not a bad song, just not somehting I would like ot listen to over and over.

Kentucky Avenue - Now I have never heard Tom Waits before but I had heard of him. So this is my first experience with his music. I feel that I would have enjoyed this more if I had a lyric sheet in front of em, cos I really didn't understand much of it. But I can see why some people would like this a lot. Cos it doesn't seem objectionable at all. So anyway the first experience was definitley not what I accepted. His voice contrasts well with the simple piano.

All in all:
1) Velvet Underground
2) Oh Comely
3) Kentucky Avenue

[bowieee]

Originally posted by BadCoverVersion
Christ Bowieee...I've been eagerly awaiting YOUR picks since the thread started. I'm having a real dodgy time with Kazaa at the moment (it just doesn't seem to be connecting). I'm going to try to download WinMX and hope for the best!

I haven't missed one yet...I'm certainly NOT going to miss this weeks picks! ;)

Wish me luck...

Good Luck :)

~I'm glad you enjoyed some of them HarryHood. Nuetral Milk hotel took me awhile to really like. I bought the cd and it laid dormant in my collection for about 2 years and all of a sudden one day I pulled it out and replayed it and fell deeply in love with it. Aeroplane over the sea is one of my top ten favorite albums now.

[BadCoverVersion]

Well...I've managed to find 'em...But Velvet Underground is a wee bit of a bastard (It's refusing to complete)! I'll try downloading that one later!

Okay, first and foremost...I've heard great things about both of the following artist's, but never actually heard any material (not that I'm aware of). I've always fancied listening to a bit of "Tom Waits" but never knew where to start...and THAT is the sole reason why I absolutely LOVE these little weekly threads!

Oh Comely (Neutral Milk Hotel)

I liked this one straight away...the vocal's are superb, and very distinctive! A few gorgeous little key changes and a real warble there. Intriguing lyric's, amusing diction ("bright and bubbly...friend you could need to say comforting things in your ee-aaar") ;). It's quite a magical little tune, and a subtle build-up... I really liked the mellow interlude in the middle and the dark tone it slowly began to take. The mood of the song changed pretty bloody frequently, I didn't know what to expect (which was nice). I'm not even sure what's it all about....but I'm inclined to find out! A GREAT choice, and I didn't even notice that the little beauty was over 8 minutes long!

Kentucky Avenue (Tom Waits)

I couldn't agree more with the comment's Asyouwish made. I envisioned somebody....tired, desperate...a dimly lit street...rain...and that packet of "Lucky Strikes" of course! For some reason it reminded me of "Tom Traubert's Blues/Waltzing Matilda" (in a nice way). That plinkity plonk..and such a fucking great raspy voice, totally unique. Top marks!

Great Picks all round Bowieee! I'll keep an eye out for "Velvet Underground" and hopefully I'll have a bit of joy before Sunday evening!

[bowieee]

Originally posted by BadCoverVersion
Well...I've managed to find 'em...But Velvet Underground is a wee bit of a bastard (It's refusing to complete)! I'll try downloading that one later!

Okay, first and foremost...I've heard great things about both of the following artist's, but never actually heard any material (not that I'm aware of). I've always fancied listening to a bit of "Tom Waits" but never knew where to start...and THAT is the sole reason why I absolutely LOVE these little weekly threads!

Oh Comely (Neutral Milk Hotel)

I liked this one straight away...the vocal's are superb, and very distinctive! A few gorgeous little key changes and a real warble there. Intriguing lyric's, amusing diction ("bright and bubbly...friend you could need to say comforting things in your ee-aaar") ;). It's quite a magical little tune, and a subtle build-up... I really liked the mellow interlude in the middle and the dark tone it slowly began to take. The mood of the song changed pretty bloody frequently, I didn't know what to expect (which was nice). I'm not even sure what's it all about....but I'm inclined to find out! A GREAT choice, and I didn't even notice that the little beauty was over 8 minutes long!

Kentucky Avenue (Tom Waits)

I couldn't agree more with the comment's Asyouwish made. I envisioned somebody....tired, desperate...a dimly lit street...rain...and that packet of "Lucky Strikes" of course! For some reason it reminded me of "Tom Traubert's Blues/Waltzing Matilda" (in a nice way). That plinkity plonk..and such a fucking great raspy voice, totally unique. Top marks!

Great Picks all round Bowieee! I'll keep an eye out for "Velvet Underground" and hopefully I'll have a bit of joy before Sunday evening!

I'm glad you liked them! That Waits song I believe is the greatest song ever written on the childhood experience. The lyrics about the boy building wings for his friend in the wheel chair gets me everytime. I can see how it sounds like Tom Trauberts Blues. This stuff is the complete opposite of all the stuff people love by him. About 3 years later he began to really experiment and it comes off brilliantly but I still have a fondness for his earlier ballady stuff.

~Oh Comely is like a giant dream. The reason I picked it is because it has some of my favorite lyrics of all time. An Example:

Your father made fetuses
With flesh licking ladies
While you and your mother
Were asleep in the trailer park
Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums


Puts me in awe. Thanks everyone for contributing to these song threads and I can't wait for BubbastrangeLoves picks on Sunday.

[The Postmaster General]

Jonathan Richman - "Velvet Underground":

I've already expressed my fondness for this dude. What a great guy! Richman can go all over the place and still sound sincere. He has a sense of humour, but doesn't sound cynical or like a smart ass. This is a very endearing song that a man wrote about a band that influenced him. What else can you say?

Did everyone realize this was the guy with the guitar in There's Something About Mary?




Neutral Milk Hotel - "Oh Comely":

This reminded me of the Violent Femmes, which for me is a great thing. Much more serious, though. I'm having a hard time grasping the theme of the lyrics, but I recognize the emotion on display here. I dig this song mostly as a mood piece. It's pretty powerful.


Tom Waits - "Kentucky Avenue":

Well, you did it Bowieee. I've never been to into Waits -- That was until about the last minute of this great song. The orchestration was overwelming. Waits is someone, who when you are listening to his music, you ask, "Okay, lay it on me."

I'll be listening to this song many more times, and definiately exploring this album.