Emily Portman – Two Sisters
Is there a more bewitching instrument than the harp? There’s magic in Emily Portman’s take on a traditional ballad of sororicide, revenge and unconventionally manufactured musical instruments. See if it doesn’t melt your own heart. – barbryn
Roachford – The Way I Feel
Why do I love/hate it so much? Andrew has always had a voice and way with phrasing that (to me, anyway) sounded authentic. Chuck in a decent tune, and some faux-gospel backing vocals, and you have a “pleasant” song which could hit on any of us. So I like it. But from the 3min mark on, I BLOODY WELL LOVE the guitar solo, and BLOODY WELL HATE the producers that first buried it in the mix, and then cut it off in full flow. – darceysdad
Bob Dylan – If You See Her, Say Hello
Bob’s not usually the best person to break up with if you want to come out of it well when he writes a song about you, but this is an exception. This is so good, in fact, it makes you want your currently blissful relationship to end so you can experience exactly what he’s singing about, right down to travelling around from town to town and telling people that your now ex is welcome to “look me up if she’s got the time.” – May1366
Jo-El Sonnier – Vien Dans Mu J’oin
This is a bit of cajun (as far as I can tell, to be Zydeco, the artist has to be black). I think it’s a really good “feel good” instrumental that you can’t help smiling to. – rockingmitch
Regina Spektor – Fidelity
In a lot of ways, this is not my thing, musically. Not at all. But I love it and it makes me weepy every time, and it’s currently lodged in my brain. If I could do anything as well as Regina Spektor writes a song I’d be a happy woman. – steenbeck
Chet Baker and Gotan Project – Round Midnight
I have 49 versions of this tune in my iTunes folder [for reasons previously mentioned here] I think this is one of my favorites, it got more airplay than most. I love the way Gotan Project have fused Chet’s original solo with street sounds and an accordion to create a totally new piece. – goneforeign
earworm@tincanland.com
I see Roachford has also queue-jumped one of my earlier-sent earworms, Maki. You struggling to make the outstanding one fit the overall vibe of a 6-song selection, mate?
Saving it for a special occasion.
Ooh, I actually know one already this week! And, more unusually, one nommed by steenbeck! Absolutely love that Regina Spektor track. Not got time to listen now, but will report back on the others later…
PS Great pic! How I chuckled…
May 1366: BOTT’s one of my favorite Dylan albums. When I first discovered it I started buying any version I could find, there was that business of him switching bands in the middle of the recording, as a result I have three different versions of this song in my iTunes. This one’s from the album and was recorded in the Minneapolis sessions, my favorite is from The Bootleg series Box Set, Rare and Unreleased, it’s just guitar bass and harmonica, it runs 3.29 and is very tender. It’s an alternate NY sessions take.
Wish I knew how to post into comments, I’d put it here for comparison.
Three real standouts for me this week – Regina Specktor, Chet Baker and, of course, Bob Dylan. All in a word – stunning!
Emily Portman was haunting and I also liked it very much.
Roachford were fine, but kept reminding me of Wham for some reason.
Goodly selection, Mr. Maki – ta for that!
Roachford – not really my thing, but see what you mean DsD – was really coming to life just before the fade-out began.
That’s one of Dylan’s very, very best, and I loved the write-up. The Bootleg version is great – the sleevenotes in my (dad’s) Blood on the Tracks LP quote a couplet that appears on the bootleg version, but not on the album: “If you get close to her, kiss her for the kid / I always have respected her for doing what she did.”
Cajun always fun.
Regina – I’ve listened to that album once or twice on Spotify, and really should buy it – remembered that song as soon as the chorus came in – definitely an earworm.
Enjoyed Chet Baker and the Gotan Project too – I saw them (sans Chet) live a few years ago, and did think they were the coolest people on the planet.
Thanks barbryn. Glad it’s not just me getting grumpy and cloth-eared in my old age.
My original overlong text in support of this song (before Editor Maki correctly reined us all back in) implied just how grateful I’d be to anyone who could provide me with an original soundboard recording of that whole take, so I could get the whole glorious solo, and put it right at the front of the mix.
Anyone any connections into Andrew Roachford or Martyn Phillips, or Steve Shin at Whitfield Studios, or Columbia Records, or…or…or…???
Test: if this works it’s the bootleg.
a href=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/531886/03%20If%20you%20see%20her%20say%20hello.mp3>if you see her – bootleg</a
almost GF:
a href=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/531886/03%20If%20you%20see%20her%20say%20hello.mp3″>bootleg</a
is the code you need and if you put angle brackets round it it looks like this
bootleg
a href=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/531886/03%20If%20you%20see%20her%20say%20hello.mp3>bootleg</a
GF that link is not “clean” where did the > (after mp3) and the < (after bootleg) come from? It’s that – not the brackets that is stopping the links from working. If you look at my link in the comment immediately above yours you should see the difference.
Muchas Gracious, but what do you call angle brackets, I used > < and it clipped 'em again.
other way round, GF first <
and > to close
Never quite got into Bob Dylan as much as I ought/he deserves – something to do with being that bit too young and feeling a little intimidated by that back catalogue/not knowing quite where to start, but this is lovely. Pick of the bunch (followed by Regina, as discussed earlier).
Not quite feeling the Roachford but like his voice – and have fond memories of the (oft-released) “Cuddly Toy”.
I’m afraid I don’t quite have the attention span (or musical knowledge necessary) for sultry instrumental jazz but can hear the ‘class’ in the Chet Baker.
The Emily Portman was a little long and repetitive for me (see above comment about attention span…). I’m sure that’s half its charm for the connoisseur, listening to the tale unfold, etc (and is doubtless par for the course with the genre)! The harp is lovely and soothing though. And it certainly is an earworm – that refrain is now lodged in my head!
And yes, the cajun is fun!
OK, the rest: oh it’s all about the voices this week, isn’t it?!
Emily Portman’s is just a little too trad folk for me, but the song IS lovely.
Dylan’s is still weapons-grade teeth-grinding to me, I’m afraid. I had to cut him off well before the end. I know, I know, but what can I say?
Cajun ALWAYS welcome chez DsD, instrumental of not. My favourite this week.
I didn’t know any Regina Spektor, and she had me in the palm of her hand for almost a minute, but then blew it with the annoyingly kooky
“… hea-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art…”.
Too irritating after that, but I tell you what, I’m off in search of some more from her when I’m next at the library.
No, wait, apparently I have 25 songs from her on my iTunes. Wow! That must be the hard-drive swap I did with my brother.
And I enjoyed the Gotan/Chet much more than I thought I would. Lovely piece, gf.
I know what you mean, DsD. I don’t have a problem with the kooky “heart”, but it slightly grates on me when Regina starts randomly glottal-stopping “betters” at around the 2min mark. For me, the songwriting wins out over the slightly bizarre delivery though.
I’m really hoping to have time to listen to EVERYTHING today.
But thought I’d just say…I know what you mean about the kookiness, but I’ve always thought it might have something to do with the fact that she spoke Russian first. Not the kookiness, exactly, but her fascination with the way words sound. I’ve encountered that before in people who speak more than one language. She has quite a few songs in which she’ll linger over a part of a word, or repeat a word until it loses meaning and just becomes a sound. Her eccentricity is one of the things that saves her music for me, so I don’t mind it too much, but I do understand how it might be irritating.
all good for me….even Roachford (but couldn’t shake the Cuddly Toy image!) Chet Baker was ace and the Dylan was new to me although i’m sure i’ve heard it before in my dim and distant past
If Mnemonic is reading this, thanks for the Dylan Dropbox folder, which I look forward to accessing later in the week (I actually do – sort of – “go from town to town” Mon-Wed, part of why my time on here and over there’s been so squeezed of late), a lovely gesture which stemmed from a brief discussion on the mothership, in which the Bootlegs version (mentioned by goneforeign and barbryn) came to my awareness.
Lovely stuff elsewhere – will be nice, when I get around to it, to reappraise Roachford. Never really knew what to make of him at the time, to be honest, so that’ll be intriguing.
Yeah, DsD, I think you called it correctly on the Roachford!
Hmmm… I enjoyed the list.
The harp piece was lovely. Almost too pretty.
Roachford – I did like it better when it started to mix it up a bit at the end, I agree they could have started that earlier. (Did you say that?)
Dylan – I love this. It’s a nice thing about earworms to hear a song you’re very familiar with in a new context.
Loved the cajun – makes you want to smile AND dance.
The real standout for me was the Chet Baker Gotan project. Strange and beguiling. It almost shouldn’t work, but it does.
Thanks, everyone!
Emily Portman, yeah! One of my albums of the year.
Lovelovelove that Regina Spektor! Yes, the glo”al stops are annoying – a bit of Lily Allen-aimed snook cocking, maybe? – but the song is aces.
His Bobness excels himself on the nasal twanginess front, but, again, it’s a great song. Initial thoughts were that it was a bit extended, but second listening was kinder.
Now, Emily Porter is definitely overlong for my taste. That’s my fault, not the song’s; it first appeared in the 17th century as a ballad, and that’s the way those things were then (weren’t they, Tinny?). I really like the bits that make it up, though, and the chorus line is lovely. The mighty Wiki says Regina Spektor recorded a version with Levon Vincent for a college film project. In case that’s interesting.
Roachford Having sucked lemons and listened, it’s actually pretty OK, apart from the diabolical production. Not promising to rush out and buy the Greatest Hits, mind.
Don’t think I’m in a particularly stone-cool mood, as I’m finding Chet and Gotan quietly listenable, rather than leap-up-and-down, proclaim-the-second-coming material. No doubt that’s also me, not the song.
Jo-El Sonnier, now, that’s a whole ‘nother dish of dirty beans and rice. I have loved cajun music since Joe Strummer first cited it as the last gang music in town (eh?). It’s the music that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to find common ground on with your parents. Just can’t not dance….
Yet another great list; well done everybody. Don’t look down, Maki!
And thank ‘ee kindly for the link you posted on RR, WB.
Love the Dylan song – always have done. My favourite track from my favourite Dylan album.
Also loved the Jo-El Sonnier Cajun tune which I’d never heard before.
And, of course, any version of Round Midnight is going to be, at the least, ok but that was the business.
Couldn’t come to terms with either Roachford, Emily or Regina on a first listen but I will give them a second go.