The B-list provides an opportunity to compile a list free of the constraints and pressures of the A-List. To give a hearing to some tunes of choice without the limits of PC or taste. So i was a bit piqued to find my choices and list were less varied, less offensive, and more user-friendly that i had hoped for. (I used a bigger shoehorn too!) Almost too damn pretty of a list. I think Wyngatecarpenter may have put his finger on it – “Clearly this subject brings out a softer side in some of my favourite artists.“ Slim pickings this week for hard rock, metal, punk, thrash, grunge, and hardcore hip-hop. On the upside – a banner week for 60′s grooviness, earthy blues, psychedelia, folk, culture, goth, indie/alt and J-pop.
B-list for me meant no pressure to tick boxes, choose crowd-pleasers, or debate wasting a zed opportunity for a classic or favorite. Consequently all songs on the B-list here were new to me, and i thank you for these. As well as for the songs that (painfully!) just missed the cut (a lot of them!) and for all other tunes duly nommed. Fantastic batch of tunes on offer this week. Thank you to all on this Thanksgiving Day.
Many tunes here were somewhat obscure or without much online supporting information available. Apologies in advance for any errors in facts or interpretation – pedantic correction and clarification most welcome.
July – Dandelion Seeds Bluesy 60′s psychedelia trips out on dandelion seeds drifting upon the breeze. Typical hippies, on their own trip blowing on dandelion heads with nary a thought to the eventual havoc the result will wreak on the lawn – sorry, garden. Have to concur that the Lemonheads do a bang up cover.
New Riders of the Purple Sage – Garden of Eden Planet Earth as the Garden of Eden. Touchingly earnest appeal to us all to not tear the whole thing down. Do have to wonder where some of the “in the air… smoke fillin’ everywhere” might possibly be coming from. Deadtastic.
The Dentists – Strawberries Growing in My Garden (And it’s Wintertime) Achingly gorgeous Byrds – influenced tune by this Medway indie pop band.
Levellers – This Garden 90′s alt-folkies don’t much approve what you’ve got up to in this garden. Seems to be some financial type voodoo, with some fox-hunting to boot – so their mate turned Tory? Donding Sonofwebcore‘s sentiment – ba****d scum!
Meat Puppets – Chemical Garden Another 90′s tune, this by Arizona alt-rockers. Thought that title might imply some sort of horticultural eco-abuse. Alas, apparently not. Delightful paean to psychedelics and psychedelia, fuzzy guitars and all.
The Marionettes – Savage Garden 80′s goth rockers invite you to follow them to their savage garden underground. A grave? (something about “in 200 years i will reappear”). I’d take them up on the invite anyway – sexy vocals and Cult-ish guitarwork are pied pipes to your temporary sub-guru.
Echo and the Bunnymen – Over the Wall Used up my “1 shoehorn free” card to get this song on the list. Ominous, paranoid, and more than a bit desperate. Over the wall – into or out of the (alleged) garden? Epic. (ps to Wyngate – agreed, epic drumming too. Not to mention bass.)
Pulp – Weeds II Hypnotic track compares weeds to the, er, common people. “Found flowering on wasteland unnoticed, unofficial, accidental. Weeds do not thrive under hothouse conditions & wilt when in competition with more exotic strains.” Can be passed around and smoked at dinner parties too. (Hope i was an especially potent strain of skunk.)
Luscious Jackson – Water Your Garden Smooth Asian – tinged pop funk from this NYC trio seems to compare a garden that needs watering with a relationship that needs tending. Sanskrit chant at the end hints at deeper meanings.
Tom Waits – Buzz Fledderjohn Never expected to list a Tom Waits tune. The man isn’t exactly hurting for zeds, but just couldn’t leave this beautifully sleazy backwater blues tune off. Young child looks down on neighbor’s forbidden lawn – er, garden – from his rooftop next door.
Sin Fang Bous – Advent in Ives Garden Sublime Icelandic indie pop tune. No clue what it means, but some disturbing hints of cruelty to animals.
Ani DiFranco – Garden of Simple Beautiful slice of indie folk. Singer dreams of a “garden of simple”, reunited with an estranged lover, stripped of the baggage acquired in this modern world.
The National – Gospel “Hang your holiday rainbow lights in the garden”. Song by this Brooklyn indie band seems to reference the Emily Dickinson poem “Tie the strings to my life, my Lord”, with the singer preparing to leave the life he used to know. Hints of rueful anti-war sentiment. Haunting and extraordinary.
Cathedral – The Garden This opus by Coventry – based doom metallists, based on Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, begins with a full 1 1/2 minutes of electronic drone. Oh joy, 30 minutes worth of tiresome proggery by ELP wannabees. Guess again. The drone leads into an etheral folky segment, followed by a heavy metal bit straight into a righteous blast of proper banging thrash. Hallelujah. Styles shift over the whole duration – an entire playlist packed up into a single piece. Bless, Chinny.
Bonus Track #1 : Lawnmower Deth – Lawnmowers for Heroes, Comics for Zeroes
Spotty only, except for a Myspace video. I’m totally obsessed with this song. Can’t stop listening to it.
Bonus Track #2: Guitar Solo of the Week
Johnny Marr for The The – I’ve Been Waiting for Tomorrow (All of my Life)
Bonus Track #3: Marv Johnson – I’ll Pick A Rose For My Rose
Marv! Where have you been all of my life? Couldn’t quite fit this on the list, but he’s still my new boyfriend.
Bonus C- List – Grab Bag of Culture / Instrumental Pieces
Because some pieces are just too special for a list as pedestrian as an A or B.
Jessye Norman (Strauss) – September
Leontyne Price – Knoxville Summer of 1915
Andres Segovia – Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Santana – En Aranjuez con tu Amor
(Please don’t shoot me for that, culture snobs! I loved all versions of that song.)
Captain Beefheart – Flower Pot
*The Necks were also A- listed!
(PS to Bethnoir – would loved to have included your Steve Hillage- Garden of Paradise but my bladder protested mightily.)
Thanks for the 2 b-listers. I was quite hopeful of getting the much donded, John Peel favoured quirkiness of The Very Things into the A List, but never mind, 2 B Listers will do nicely.
When I first heard Over The Wall as an angsty teen I imagined it may be referring to the Berlin Wall as that was a very 80s obsession and it has that feel but no apparently it is the garden wall as seen by a child. I’ve searched for the quote to back me up but can’t find it. Never mind, shoehorning is a tradition that we must keep alive.
I have no idea either what the Marionttes track is about but I like their sense of melodrama.
I’m hoping to actually find the time and space to give the full list a listen, but despite it being my week off the dreaded decorating has taken over.
I tried to like The Very Things as it got so many recommends, but i just couldn’t, although i could appreciate it! I wonder if i would have maybe A-listed it though.
I had to crack up on the A-list blog over there, i was waiting for someone to call me out on the Bunnymen, and Shiv did! He had the same idea about it that your teen self did.
I am so, so impressed, Amylee. Can’t write? Nooooooooooooooo!!! This is so brilliant. Very exciting lists, love both the B and the C List! Thanks for one on each! Chinny’s Cathedral song is the big surprise for me. I didn’t go that far into it to give it a fair hearing. Glad you did.
Cool list, AmyLee. I quite understand about the Steve Hillage song, my husband comment similarly when I played it to him! Happy Thanksgiving by the way x
Great job Amy – Got family over for Thanksgiving so these will have to wait for the weekend but looks like fun. Have a great turkey day.
Well done Amy ! ! ! Wow ! ! ! You really worked hard ! ! ! Thank you so much for putting it together for us.
Once i come home I am really look forward to listening to them ! ! !
Thank you so much for your hard work
Sakura xx
RE: B-gate
I think i have a solution that may work. Which is to start a separate blog for the B-list each week. Also signups, comments, etc. Unless anyone is interested, i’d probably be the ideal person to take on the setup of it as i already have unlimited hosting, servers, and am a decent coder. Or we could do a Blogger blog, but as most here are already familiar with the WP system, that would be the best way to roll i think. May not be able to get it done by Thurs – busy week, and i have to buy a domain name and get it set up, as well as figure out how to work out multiple contributors. See if we can toss some ideas around here and come up with something.
Anything you can do that will scratch my recommending itch is fine with me, Amy, particularly as I’ve just thrown a JackDaniels-fuelled molotov at the bridge leading back to the Grauniad.
That was harsh, DsD.
Possibly, but it was then and remains today absolutely true of my feelings on the subject. I didn’t take the huff at just that comment, but it was the catalyst that sparked the explosion of several weeks of stockpiled frustration. If I stayed on RR, I’d have poisoned the very waters I was so proud of having helped keep clean for so many different creatures to drink from. RR (& at times, The ‘Spill too) is much better off without my grumpy presence. I’m weaning myself off slowly-but-surely …
Mixed Metaphors ‘R’ Us.
Gah. I’ll get my sorry arse outta here.
Time for bed.
G’night.
You had better not be weaning yourself off of the Spill!) Like you’re the only grump on here??)
Just to muddle things a bit more – as usual i guess i wasn’t clear about what i meant when i said “PC or taste”. I meant taste in the sense of decorum, not personal taste. If there was, say a really great sweary hardcore hip hop tune, or some of Chinny’ more difficult fetish noms, or child molesters, i’d feel free to list them on a b-list in a heartbeat if i loved them, but i’d probably think good and hard about putting them on an A list.
Amy, I’m humbled and honoured and delighted that you chose Cathedral’s The Garden for your B-List!! Warmed all sorts of cockles in my heart! And both SakuraDarling!!! and, now, you have done sterling work on the B-lists. You’ve both set a high bar for all who follow.
(Oh, and I’m glad SpottyDicky was surprised by Cathedral!! And I’m so grateful that Amy’s endorsement means that it will probably get a few more listeners than it otherwise would have!)
DsD – entirely respecting your conscientious objection… I have many misgivings myself. But, on balance, for me, taking part remains less painful than not taking part! (But I haven’t seen this week’s topic yet, so I may have spoken too soon!)
Chinny! Delighted to see you here on the Spill! Know you’re busy, but don’t be a stranger.
Sorry, entering the fray late here…
I think it’s grand if there are volunteers for a *readers recommend* list, but I’m all for keeping it on this blog, not starting yet another one. It seems to me it would be a well-received ‘Spill feature – and let’s face it, it’s not exactly difficult to find your way over here from the Mothership – where most of us would be interested to read what someone else has to say, possibly maybe perchance some or other of us would be prepared to dip an occasional toe in the water, and if after a while there are no takers, well OK, then it’ll have gone the way of EOTQW (i.e. occasional appearances appreciated all the more)
Kudos to amylee for doing this week’s, also to Santa Gazer and Vater Hachi for volunteering for the Festive Stuff – that’s what makes this blog worth retutrning to again and again.
Night all.
Keep it ‘Spill, ‘Spillers!! Anything else would massively disappoint the silent majority.
Darce, and I’ve asked The Blog Elves to check too, and we have noted no ‘Spill grumpiness whatsoever.
and one more for luck
Cheers, O Happy Blimpmeister.
Rich – I’m with Blimpy here.
…and as for Jon, who still can’t fathom our annoyance at ‘JonDennis decide’ rather than the title of ‘readers recommends’….
….well – I still try and play the game despite his blinkered approach and unwavering belief in his own importance in the playing of RR.. totally understand how mad it makes you.
by the way – loving the readers lists – but as I said on the results section:
(and I will host recommends again on the ‘spill when the paper takes it’s Christmas break – until it is officially sanctioned by the Graun to do a ‘readers list’ (t)here….then I will keep it over on the ‘spill out of their space and Jon’s column)
As Maki will attest, i too had a massive problem with the “songs not worth listening to” bit, that’s a bit harsher than just personal taste. After all, at least some people found it totally worth listening to. But given my own awkwardness with a turn of phrase, after awhile i gave a benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe it just came out wrong. It does kind of break my heart that the Midnight Rambler might never make an A – list because its not worth listening to
If Blimpy is cool with anyone wanting to do a B-list posting it on the Spill, that’s ideal then. Just didn’t want to make any presumptions.
Be forewarned to any inclined to listen to all of the songs and make a B-list – after i got back from dinner on T’giving, i looked at the songs on the new topic and the titles made my head spin. I was enjoying the silence so much that i couldn’t even bring myself to click on links to listen to songs. Have been enjoying silence ever since, and coincidentally, my productivity has shot through the roof.
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