May 25th, 2007

Pass the Chronic(ology): 30+ years of Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)

Here’s some wacky idea that my sick mind came up with a few weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to find the right song. This one hit me yesterday, and I’ve spent altogether too much time making it happen. It’s seriously cut into my slacking off/doing nothing time that I had allocated for the past couple of days.

This was (of course) inspired by My Old Kentucky Blog’s Covers Projects — which has been going and going and going and keeps getting better. I think on this one I’ll just quiet my clickty-clackity fingers and let the music sing its own praises.

1962 – Bob Dylan – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – Duane Eddy – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – Odetta – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – Joan Baez – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – Ivy League – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – Johnny Cash – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1965 – The Seekers – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1966 – Waylon Jennings – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1968 – Nick Drake – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1968 – John Martyn – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1973 – Elvis Presley – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1989 – Bobby Bare – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1993 – Eric Clapton – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1995 – Indigo Girls w/ Joan Baez – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1998 – G. Quintana & J. Batiste – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1998 – Cock Robin – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
1999 – Ben Lee – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2002 – Allman Brothers and Susan Tedeschi – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2002 – Johnny Marr – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2003 – Liv Marit Wedvik – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2004 – The Waifs – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2005 – Davy Graham – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2006 – Emily Haines – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2006 – Susanna and the Magical Orchestra – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2006 – Metric – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)
2006 – Gatsbys American Dream – Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)

update: Had a small problem with the links and our player not recognizing them. Went ahead and redid them because I love you all justtttt that much. Sorry if it messed up any RSS feeds. You’ll get over it.

May 11th, 2007

Fribootdayleg. My Concert Forecast: Andrew Bird. Tonight. And from 1998.

Andrew Bird.  Like most mp3 bloggers, he is one of my favorite artists.  Unlike most mp3 bloggers he has been one of my favorite artists since late 1997.   If you don’t know who he is, then you probably couldn’t find your ass if you used both hands and had a map.  Get with the program, Jack.

The thing about Mr Bird is that every album he has released has been a stepping stone to his next sound.  They are all built on top of one another, but they are all so much different that you can’t really understand where he is going.  Comparing Thrills to Armchair Apocrypha is like looking at a fish and expecting it to turn into a human.   Nobody would expect it.

Andrew develops these sounds in his live shows.  His songs are usually wildly different live than they are on the album, pieces borrowed and traded between songs, melodies improved upon, and his vocals usually stretch much further than they did in the studio.   If his albums are stepping stones towards his ultimate destination — these live shows serve to connect the dots.

Tonight I get to see Andrew for the 15th (or so) time.  We’ll see if his transition to larger venues have changed the focus of his live shows.  Though I’m sure the all-ages crowd will be thrilled no matter what he does, hopefully he will continue forward with the evolution of his sound.

Here’s a show of his from Madison, WI — January 1998.

01: Andrew Bird – Glass Figurine
02: Andrew Bird – Candy Shop
03: Andrew Bird – Tea & Thorazine
04: Andrew Bird – Eugene
05: Andrew Bird – Cock o’ The Walk
06: Andrew Bird – Vidalia
07: Andrew Bird – Wishing for Contentment
08: Andrew Bird – Coney Island Shuffle
09: Andrew Bird – Honeysuckle Rose
10: Andrew Bird – Vidalia
11: Andrew Bird – Why?
12: Andrew Bird – After You’ve Gone
13: Andrew Bird – Wait
14: Andrew Bird – Depression-Pasillo

Note:  The sound quality certainly seems to change around tracks 8/9/10 — and you can see there is Vidalia on there two times.  I have no idea if this is actually two shows/two nights or if I just suck and posted a show that is in fact not really a show.  Deal with it.  Even though I’m as close to superhuman as you’ll find — I still make mistakes.  See you at the show.

May 8th, 2007

The Pitfalls of Blog Proprietorship. Oh, and She’s Having My Baby

I’ve been doing the ole’ in-out-in-out blogging thing for a couple of years now. Believe it or not there is a “code” that legitimate mp3 bloggers try and follow. I remember discussing it over at the elbo.ws forums when I first started. It was agreed upon (when the mp3 blogging community was MUCH smaller) that thou shall not deep-link to others mp3s, thou shall not learn about bands from blog a blog, blog about it on blog b and not give credit, and thou shall not post entire albums.

I’ve adhered to this ethos. I’ve maintained my site and my mp3s with these considerations in mind. I’ve played nice with others, but I’m getting irritated by the deep linkers out there. Just this week 5 or 6 small (smaller than this one, anyway) sites deep linked to our mp3s without nary a mention of who was giving them the bandwidth. It’s rude. If you do this, cut it out. Even though I love all you loyal readers, if you’re here to steal my mp3s then you can go pound sand into a rat hole. You won’t be missed. Seriously. I’ve blackballed your site and you’ll never get a mention here.

Does anyone know of a wordpress plugin or a server modification that I could make to prevent this? It’s important that google reader, hype machine and other places still be able to stream the tracks, so I believe that limiting the referals is not going to cut it. Anyone?

Enough with the buzzkilling. We’re here to promote music and get drunk and enjoy each others company — and I’ll get right back to it.

Kings of Leon. A band that I’ve heard about for years but I’ve never given a chance. Want to try and increase your chances of me not caring about your band? Put the term “southern rock” in every press release, bio, or otherwise mention of your band. Conjure up images of Skynrd. Come from Tennessee. Have long hair and look like every other hippie hemp band from the south. Go get big in Europe and get NME haircuts. This is how it works. I won’t care. You can continue to do your thing, I’ll continue to do mine, and our paths will head in different directions.

Kings of Leon was doing a good job holding up their end of the bargain, and I was more than happy to fulfill my end of the deal. Then something unlikely happened — a girl took my skeptical-and-ever-drunk-ass to school and played the opening track of their new record. I was blown away. Everything about it was brilliant. I had to give these guys a pass, take them off the southern rock shitlist and put them into the My Morning Jacket exception pile.

Unfortunately (or perhaps just as a mechanism to keep the earth in balance) the rest of the album isn’t as consistently brilliant as the first track. Caleb Followills voice is a pleasure, the backing is solid, and the production is good — but the songwriting is hit or miss. The single, On Call, is lyrically thin and shallow southern rock. Black Thumbnail has a guitar solo that could be note for note right off of Nuthin’ Fancy. The tracks below are some of the finest out this spring, however, and deserve your every ounce of respect. It’s ok. I give you permission.

Kings of Leon – Knocked Up
Kings of Leon – Fans

Tomorrow I’ll be back with even more southern rock — West Virginia is up in our tribute to the Great Fiddy!

May 2nd, 2007

My Concert Forecast: Amy Winehouse

Jump aboard the blog bandwagon, kids.  Today we have an extra special installment on how to beat a dead horse to death.  This Winehouse lady has been the subject of much blogging in the last few months.  I was resistant to her siren songs, I tried to keep strong and pass her off as a fleeting success.  I’ve failed.

Unfortunately, the margin by which I am cooler than the next guy is fairly slim.  At times his interests and mine are bound to share a common border or even overlap.  There are times when I’ll meet a random delta bravo (my new favorite term) in the bar and truly despise everything about him except for the fact he is rocking a badass RVCA hoodie or a copped flavor of my Obey steeze.  Occasionally, and clearly by pure accident, he might appreciate a band that truly does deserve appreciation.

We live in a world kept aspun with certain inarguable truths.  You would be as unsuccessful trying to convince me that newton did not observe an apples uncontrollable behavior as you would trying to convince me that Amy Winehouse is nothing more than an over-hyped pretty-face.   She is.  But she is more.  She is the girl with the pin-up girl tattoos that drinks too much — the one I lust after in bar after bar, night after night.   She’s the snarky jewish girl that beclevers me with witty parables.

She’s the girl I’ll be doing my damndest to see live tonight.  Scalpers are trying to be the monkey on my back — fetching $200 for a single ticket to tonights show.  Those that legitmately purchased tickets (the same ones that get drunk and join in my hatred of ticketmaster) are now trying to extort CRIMINAL sums of money from other music fans.  BASTARDS!

I’ll be there regardless — trying to lie, cheat, steal, sneak, beg, crawl, fly, knock out, or sweet talk my way in.  I’m usually pretty successful at these sorts of things, but I’ll be sure to keep you updated.  In the meantime check out these live tracks that serve as monumental evidence to just how talented this drunk actually is.  That voice.  Sigh…..

Amy Winehouse – Love Is a Losing Game
Amy Winehouse – Rehab
Amy Winehouse – Valerie
Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good

Also — can we work towards having every wikipedia entry for a person include their favorite cocktail?  Brilliant!

Winehouse’s favourite cocktail is a Rickstasy (three parts vodka, one part Southern Comfort, one part banana liqueur, and one part Baileys). “By the time you’ve had two of them you’re like, don’t even try and go anywhere. Sit down and stay down, until the birds start singing.”