Heavy Rotation 03/09/06
Maybe was all the talk about the Friday Thing this week – made me think a little of the old callthecops.com thing again. Maybe something we’ll come back to as unfinished business and I still have a couple of sacks of t-shirts clogging up my loft.
But anyway, we used to have a column with all the stuff that week that had kept us going on our travels that week – you know – the music; film; bars; restaurants etc that get you through. Anyway the Friday Thing connection comes from that time – We both started around that period. I have two large dustbin bags of left over t-shirts and they have … well I’m not actually sure what they have but I suspect more than a loft full of quality cotton.
Well have a friend in New York and he used to send out a track each week to his friends etc that was available for a day or so on his site together with a link to where to buy it. He hasn’t done it for a while and so thought would pick up a slack for a bit. With an occasional series of the 5 tracks that I’ve probably played most that particular week. You can get from my idisk for a day. But if you like ’em buy ’em.
First track is from the new Dylan album (Modern Times) which is quite frankly incredible (as indeed the two previous records have been). This is the track one side one of that record – ‘Thunder on the Mountain’. One of those songs that gets under your skin. As a side note the album is 10 tracks – all excellent – no spoken intros or stuff that really has no place there. Just ten new songs. You remember those days?
“I was thinking ’bout Alicia Keyes couldn’t keep from crying but she was born in Hell’s Kitchen I was living down the line
I wonder where in the world Alicia Keyes could be
I been looking for her clear through Tennessee”
Fantastic.
Track two – ‘Harlem Blues’ . This is from the Spike Lee ‘Mo’ Better Blues’ which on the whole got pretty much slated. I can see all the criticisms (plot doesn’t hang together; dialog occasionally embarrassing; anti-semetic and with just a hint of misogyny ) but it looks amazing, has some great Spike directorial flourishes which I’m a bit of sucker for quite frankly and Denzel (and indeed the bulk of the central performances are excellent) – oh and the music is occasionally very special. In particular this track from the end of the film.
Track three is the single you can’t avoid – Christina and ‘Ain’t No Other Man’. The album may be a sprawling mess that could have done with some judicious editing but the single is no doubt occupying the ‘Crazy in Love’ space on most people’s ipods this summer.
Track four comes from the Mike Scott album ‘Bring ‘Em All In’ (from I think ’95 or around there) and just always makes me think of my friend Paul as he introduced me to the record and watching football in The Butchers Arms in Headington. It is a track that never fails to life me.
Track five and last is the Stevie Ray Vaughn instrumental version of ‘Little Wing’. This always makes me think of a Paul – but a different one. This Paul used to wake me up in the morning by setting fire to me. But, he did introduce to the amazing Stevie Ray Vaughn. This track used to always soundtrack coming up on MDMA – back in the day when the word ‘ectasy’ actually meant something. Can remember many the moment sat between two large Kef speakers listening to this and thinking life ain’t too shabby.
Was reminded of Stevie Ray reading one of the interviews given by Dylan in recent days for the new record (see above) – the interviewer mentions seeing a tear in Dylan’s eye at the mention of his name. Just one of those awful stories – a drug fuelled wreck for years and then sorts himself out and then gets into the wrong helicopter (it was apparently Eric Clapton’s ride but he was doing another encore).
Filed under: Music
Absurdity 