Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax




I know Halloween's coming but really, no - I'm not trying to scare you with this morning's wax. (Wack?) Never really cared for Frankie as they were trotting out the singles..."Relax", "Two Tribes"...I mean, I guess. Sure it was exciting with the T-shirts and all and that guy in the leather who just dances there, pre-Bez. But musically? Not for me. UNTIL the release of the 2-LP "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome." The local radio station was hyping the release BIG TIME and upon its arrival, they played the LP from beginning to end. I tuned in as they we're getting to side three (AFTER the singles) and heard a BAND and not JUST a Trevor Horn production. The originals...the covers (Springsteen?) ...the lunacy - it just clicked. It was the soundtrack for Fall into Winter, 1984. Raking leaves. The sound of trains in the distance. A sort of sweet solitude. I was 17. And as the swell of "Mersey" slides in (here's listed as "Tag") I am again. (Whoops - gotta run to a meeting now that I'm, uh - 40.)

"Liiife goes on day after day after day after day..."


FGTH - Fury (Mp3)
FGTH - (Tag) (Mp3)
FGTH - San Jose (Mp3)
FGTH - Krisco Kisses (Mp3)
FGTH - Black Night White Light (Mp3)
FGTH - The Ballad Of 32 (Mp3)
FGTH - The Power Of Love (Mp3) (The 12" mix of the song, featuring actor Chris Barrie impersonating DJ Mike Read's banning of the single "Relax" on air.)

Friday, October 26, 2007

TVD's Weekend Shots



Ten Cole Porter-penned standards to keep you warm and dry this rainy weekend. (Just think of them as post-punk tunes and you'll be fine. Really.)

Betty Carter - Everytime We Say Goodbye (Mp3)
Bill Henderson - At Long Last Love (Mp3)
Billie Holiday - Easy To Love (Mp3)
Billy Ekstine - In The Still Of The Night (Mp3)
Dinah Washington - I've Got You Under My Skin (Mp3)
Fred Astaire - I Concentrate On You (Mp3)
Helen Merrill - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (Mp3)
Lena Horne - Love For Sale (Mp3)
Morgana King - Ev'rything I Love (Mp3)
Oscar Peterson - I Love You (Mp3)

TVD's Morning Wax



like a child could have the trigger and the best man needn't fall to understand that heaven could be any place at all just five colours set in motion and I try again to place it and it's features are obscured every time I turn to face it but I still chase it oh it's twists are cruel and hopeless like neglect has worn it thin and it could rip the sky wide open and let the rain come tumbling in and we wait on every whisper like it makes us more alive there's a sense we didn't have and I feel it in the other five see the pity and the pride in the same sea of emotion cup my hands and touch the tide and expect to feel the ocean it's just a notion and the knife has got my number and the number that you keep and the knife has called division and it's drawn when I'm asleep oh it's twists are cruel and hopeless like neglect has worn it thin and it could rip the sky wide open and let the rain come tumbling in

Aztec Camera - Knife (Mp3)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax



The ginko trees on the 1300 block of Corcoran Street, NW where I resided for 13 years would all seemingly - at once - turn the color of this cover. Boom. Orange. Coincidently, during this orange phase, Arnold's "Bahama" was #1 on the turntable making this very breezy, summer record, well...rather Fall 2001.

Arnold - Climb (Mp3)
Arnold - Tiny Car (Mp3)
Arnold - Hangman's Waltz (Mp3)
Arnold - Oh My (Mp3)
Arnold - Pavey Ark (Mp3)

By the way, don't ask questions -- just download these.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax



I had been thinking about The Faces this week after reading this:

Ron Wood: Keith threatened my life
Ron Wood says that Keith Richards threatened his life in an attempt to get him to stop freebasing cocaine in the 1980s. The New York Daily News published an excerpt from Wood's new autobiography, Woody. In the book, Wood writes, "Everybody was angry with me around this time, and after a row with Keith one day, he stormed off to get his gun... He returned with his derringer, pointed it at me and yelled 'You f***ing b**!' I calmly pulled out my .44 Magnum. And that was the last time Keith drew his gun on me... until the next time."

Wood recalls another fight between the pair: "He barged in, broke the glass bowl of the pipe, and came straight at my face... He smashed a bottle and cut me with it. I stormed out and went to find Mick (Jagger) and Charlie (Watts), who were working on a song in a room along the corridor. While I stood there bleeding all over the carpet, Mick looked up and asked: 'Have you got any ideas for the middle eight?'"

According to Wood after he returned to his hotel room, Richards "pulled out his huge ratchet knife, put it to my throat and yelled... 'I'd f***ing cut your throat, but your girlfriend would never forgive me for all the mess I'd make...' (This from a guy who) did heroin for 10 solid years."

Wood, whose battles with addictions have been an ongoing concern for him up until last year, says that he's not done creating good work. "(It) tells me I've been to quite a few places, and not done quite enough yet, but what I have done is very satisfactory. It's like when you're painting, really -- you don't know how far you've got, or maybe if you've reached your pinnacle, or if you've loads more to do."

The jokes write themselves. Seriously.

The Faces - Wicked Messenger (Mp3)
The Faces - Devotion (Mp3)
The Faces - Shake, Shudder (Mp3)
The Faces - Flying (Mp3)
The Faces - Nobody Knows (Mp3)

Monday, October 22, 2007

TVD Concurs:


Via HE: Speaking of '60s zeitgeist-reflecting movies, here's the single best moment in one of the most famous and justifiably admired of all the British- produced films of that decade.

TVD's Morning Wax



China Crisis - The Highest High (Mp3)
China Crisis - Strength Of Character (Mp3)
China Crisis - You Did Cut Me (Mp3)
China Crisis - Black Man Ray (Mp3)
China Crisis - Gift Of Freedom (Mp3)
...the antidote to every wrong thing.

Friday, October 19, 2007

TVD's Weekend Shots




Man, was I ever addicted to the build 'em up, knock 'em down stylings of the UK's now defunct Melody Maker newspaper. That's the way things happen, the music weekly seemed to infer: it's already going ON by the time you even NOTICE IT. And to underscore that notion, they'd slap a CD onto the cover to confirm that idea.

I moved recently and came across a box of these CDs from the 90's -- Melody Maker give-aways along with other CDs from other pubs that picked up on the schilling process. "A great idea for the blog" I thought, "I'm sure there are a TON of forgotten gems on these things."

Er, ...well. Nope. (Kenickie, anyone? Llama Farmers? Daytona? Ooberman? Seafood? Ten Benson? ...didn't think so.)

I had hope for a "Maker's Dozen" -- being pithy and whatnot -- but I struggled to find TEN tracks I thought held up less than ten years on. So the slant for this round of Weekend Shots went from, "Wow - wasn't the Maker so astute" to "Sheez...utter shite."

Yet, here's a crap free 1o-rounda' shots. How'd I do?



The Crockets - Blusterboy (Mp3)
Supergrass - Cheapskate (Mp3)
The Divine Comedy - Commuter Love (Mp3)
Arab Strap - Here We Go (Mp3)
Whistler - If I Give You A Smile (Mp3)
Stereophonics - Last Of The Big Time Drinkers (Mp3)
Warm Jets - Never Never (Mp3)
Annie Christian - Nothing Is Real (Mp3)
Terrorvision - Tequila (Mp3)
Silver Sun - Would've If I Could've (Mp3)

While TVD Awaits the Vinyl...


...preview with a clear conscience.

TVD's Morning Wax



Liverpool's It's Immaterial actually had a follow up to 1985's "Life's Hard and Then You Die" which very few (Wikipedia included) seem to be aware of. Released in 1990 and entitled "Song", Trouser Press noted, "an ironic title for an album that's more a collection of stories put to music than actual songs. (There's not a chorus anywhere to be found.) Whitehead's tracks — flowing, repetitive patterns, mainly based around piano — function as a soundtrack for Campbell's lyrics, which he both sings and speaks..." Far more somber and introspective than "Life's Hard..." and at times sounding like an early 90's Arab Strap, the wistfulness speaks to this colorless DC morning as storms approach...

It's Immaterial - New Brighton (Mp3)
It's Immaterial - An Ordinary Life (Mp3)
It's Immaterial - Heaven Knows (Mp3)
It's Immaterial - Homecoming (Mp3)
It's Immaterial - Summer Winds (Mp3)

TVD Remembers:


Lucky Dube

Lucky Dube - My Brother My Enemy (Mp3)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax



On September 4th 1995 some of the best bands and musicians in Britain entered studios all over Europe. Their intention was that by the end of the day they would each have recorded a track for this album, with the aim of raising money for and focusing, attention on, the children caught up in the war in former Yugoslavia. This album was a result of everyone’s HELP.

Mon Sept 4th 1995 - The cream of British Pop recording exclusive tracks against the clock in recording studios around the UK. Tues Sept 5th 1995 - Masters cut and flown to Blackburn for cut of CD and Holland for cassette. Wed Sept 6th 1995 - The first run of three hundred thousand copies of the album manufactured. Thur Sept 7th 1995 - Albums delivered to PolyGram's North London distribution centre. Fri Sept 8th 1995 - 'HELP' distributed to record stores throughout Britain. Sat Sept 9th 1995 - 'HELP' on sale from 9.00am.

Stone Roses - Love Spreads (Mp3)
Radiohead - Lucky (Mp3)
Suede - Shipbuilding (Mp3)
Manic Street Preachers - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (Mp3)
Terrorvision - Tom Petty Loves Veruca Salt (Mp3)

War Child International info...

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

U2's 'Joshua Tree' Blooms Again


A double-vinyl package is planned.
To celebrate the 20th birthday of its landmark album "The Joshua Tree," U2 is reissuing the set in four different incarnations on Nov. 20 via UMe. The album will be available as a remastered single CD, a 2-CD set, a 2-CD/1-DVD collectible box and a double-vinyl package.

The single-disc will be housed in a jewel case, but the 2-CD set comes in a hard back case. The 2-CD/1-DVD version has a base and lid to accommodate the discs as well as five portfolio prints. Band members have contributed new liner notes for the package.

Of most interest to fans is the inclusion of rare material on the expanded editions. Although details have yet to be announced, "Joshua Tree" demos, alternate versions and B-sides from the period are expected to appear.

The DVD is understood to comprise a July 4, 1987, show at the Paris Hippodrome, as well as the documentary "Outside It's America."

Produced by Brian Eno, "The Joshua Tree" shot U2's commercial fortunes into the stratosphere. The album's first three tracks were huge singles, with both "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
(via Billboard)

TVD's Morning Wax



Five from Gary Clark's post-Danny Wilson band King L:

King L - The Dumbest Story (Mp3)
King L - Dreamdays (Mp3)
King L - Life After You (Mp3)
King L - Two Cars Collide (Mp3)
King L - Lost and Found and Lost Again (Mp3)

(Make sure you listen all the way to the end of "Lost and Found..." to hear the secret tune "Last Cigarette." Songwriting at its finest...)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax



When it comes to the Posies, I always thought I was a Ken guy. Turns out I was a Jon guy. Five from one of the best releases from the year that was 2006 P.B. (Pre blog...)

Jon Auer - Six Feet Under (Mp3)
Jon Auer - Bottom Of The Bottle (Mp3)
Jon Auer - The Likes Of You (Mp3)
Jon Auer - Angelita (Mp3)
Jon Auer - You Used To Drive Me Around (Mp3)

Friday, October 12, 2007

TVD's Weekend Shots



Fifteen (count 'em - fifteen) tracks from Universal's 1999 set: 1 2 3 4 Punk and New Wave 1976-1979:

The Lurkers - Shadow (Mp3)
Eater - Thinkin' Of the USA (Mp3)
The Nosebleeds - Ain't Bin to No Music School (Mp3)
Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout (Mp3)
Suburban Studs - I Hate School (Mp3)
Menace - G.L.C (Mp3)
The Adverts - One Chord Wonders (Mp3)
Chelsea - Right to Work (Mp3)
The Killjoys - Johnny Won't Get To Heaven (Mp3)
The Drones - Bone Idol (Mp3)
Slaughter - Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone (Mp3)
UK Subs - C.I.D. (Mp3)
The Wasps - Can't Wait 'Til '78(Mp3)
Subway Sect - Ambition (Mp3)
The Saints - (I'm) Stranded (Mp3)

A 5-CD (I know, I know...) boxed set compilation of punk/new wave songs. Probably the most comprehensive and definitive punk collection - certainly the most lavishly packaged. The 100 tracks are spread over 5 CDs, each in its own cardboard envelope. The 5 envelopes can be put together to make one big picture. There is a booklet with a general introduction, followed by one page for each of the 100 tracks, containing information on the artist and recommendations of which of their records to buy. The booklet has 4 silver badges on the cover, and they poke through the front of the box to provide the title ("1 2 3 4").

TVD's Morning Wax



The rerelease of the Sprout's Thomas Dolby-produced "Steve McQueen" has had me rethinking the LP recorded after "McQueen" but released after their biggest commercial success "From Langley Park to Memphis." For me, this is where it all gels...not over-produced, less saccharine, and actually consistent from track to track. As much as I do adore "McQueen", it falls apart on side two for me...not here however.

Prefab Sprout - The World Awake (Mp3)
Prefab Sprout - Life Of Surprises (Mp3)
Prefab Sprout - Wicked Things (Mp3)
Prefab Sprout - Dublin (Mp3)
Prefab Sprout - Pearly Gates (Mp3)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

TVD's Morning Wax



I've noticed an unseen, yet strong undercurrent to what gets posted here each morning, almost like walking into a glass door when you thought no door was there at all. It's all seasonal—my relationship to music, enhanced by memory of a place and time—has it's own life in the trees, be them green, orange or simply bare. And in today's instance it's Fall, 1994 where this record spun continuously. I was single, living alone in the Cairo, ordering take-out nightly, the recipient of far too many noise complaints, and the leaves were turning—so loud you could hear it. Like this very morning when for the first time I put on a coat to head out into Fall, 2007.

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mockingbirds (Mp3)
Grant Lee Buffalo - Mighty Joe Moon (Mp3)
Grant Lee Buffalo - Lady Godiva And Me (Mp3)
Grant Lee Buffalo - Happiness (Mp3)
Grant Lee Buffalo - Honey Don't Think (Mp3)

(On Wednesday, November 9, 1994 it seems I saw Grant Lee Buffalo at the 930's first home at 930 F Street, NW. How do I know? I save each ticket stub and tuck it in the LP or CD. This show cost $9.00.)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

TVD: Just sayin.

TVD's Morning Wax



Lead singer/songwriter Justin Currie wrote in the liner notes for the 2003 rerelease of Del Amitri's first LP, "Of course we had a philosophy so strict that it eventually strangled us. No chords, no choruses, no distortion, no synthesizers and definitely no long hair. Melody was God. There are more tunes between the twin guitar parts and bass lines in one backing track from this era of Del Amitri than in every top-line melody I have written since. It was, of course, a crackpot idea, but in my rock-and-roll dotage it holds a lot of charm. Whether anybody else in this age of entertainment will be so disarmed I doubt very much. It is a curiosity I hope, not a monstrosity. Too many f*cking words though?"

Not for me.


Del Amitri - Hammering Heart (Mp3)
Del Amitri - Former Owner (Mp3)
Del Amitri - I Was Here (Mp3)
Del Amitri - Crows In The Wheatfield (Mp3)
Del Amitri - Breaking Bread (Mp3)

Tuesday, October 9, 2007