Sunday, December 28, 2014


Shirley Collins & Davy Graham - Dearest Dear

Saturday, December 27, 2014


Philip Catherine - Nairam

The triumphant return of Philip Catherine to these pages, and the triumphant return of "Nairam": I posted another version of this tune the other day. This version is probably better, but the band name on the earlier post was cooler, so it evens out.

And the only thing better than the sleeve pictured above is this sleeve:

Wednesday, December 24, 2014


Robert Fripp - Silent Night

Tuesday, December 23, 2014


The Phantom Band - Rolling

The triumphant return of Jaki Liebezeit (="Love Time"?), that supernaturally good drummer, to these pages. He's made recent appearances here and here.

Monday, December 22, 2014


David Stoughton - The Summer Had No Breeze

A lifetime doesn't last
And too much has already passed
It takes a while to realize that it's better to love than to despise
And too much of a lifetime is how long it takes to learn what lifetime is.

Right on, man. Right on. More cosmically, I'd like to add that the melodic motif that appears for the first time at 00:19 brings back pleasant memories of this.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014


Marcos Valle - Deixa o Mundo E o Sol Entrar

"A door at the end of a hallway... I come nearer... I must open it... It can't be... It is? Yes! A portal to a sea of stars, now spilling into the room. The sidereal tide rises... I must clutch tightly to my guitar."

The triumphant return of M. Valle to these pages. Reissues now going for cheap from Light in the Attic.

P.S. It's the suspended chord or whatever it is at 0:48 that makes this song for me. Oh, and the slight sputter in the double-tracked vocals at 2:09.

Monday, December 15, 2014


Justine and the Victorian Punks - Beautiful Dreamer

Slept on this when DFA reissued it in 2010, and when Thunderbals posted it in 2008, and when Colette released it in 1979, and when Stephen Foster wrote it in 1862.

I was hoping to find a version from pre-1920 to post alongside this, but couldn't. I did find this.

Stephen Foster, the author of "Oh! Susannah" and "My Old Kentucky Home", never lived in the South and visited it only once, in 1852. He died aged 37 in 1864, while residing in a hotel at 30 Bowery Street, about fifteen minutes on foot away from Electric Lady Studios, where Justine & co. recorded their version of "Beautiful Dreamer."

Sunday, December 14, 2014


Angel Maimone Entreprise - Question Piège

Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

Thursday, December 11, 2014


Michel Pagliaro -
Lovin' You Ain't Easy
Some Sing, Some Dance

Recorded at Apple Studios, London.

Love the labyrinthine bridge on Lovin' You Ain't Easy (the bit at 1:02 and following). Takes a few listens to be able to sing along with it. Is it even a bridge?

Friday, December 05, 2014


Gabriel Fauré - In Paradisum (from Requiem, op. 48)

Wednesday, December 03, 2014


Shiny Two Shiny - Waiting For Us (12" mix)

This was just reissued on Captured Tracks (thanks!), so I took the link down. Let's notice that the 12" mix places the snare drum on "1" and "3", with bass drums on "2" and "4", while the album version does not. In other words, the drumbeat is backwards. Off the top of my head, I can think of only one other song that does this, and there it happens only for a few bars (at the 2:12 mark).

Who can name some other songs that do this?

Monday, December 01, 2014


Tia Blake And Her Folk-Group - Turtle Dove