I was downloading the other night. Fear and whiskey kept me going.
Anyway... there's a sequel to Stranded and it's edited by Phil Freeman! Phil was Jazzhermit back in our Table Talk days & contributes to Corwood's emag The High Hat. Phil on today's Soundcheck.
In other news I used this service to get three long out-of-print albums: Air Lore, Henry Threadgill's take on Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton (featuring the great Fred Hopkins), Ornette's Of Human Feelings, Xgau's no. 2 album of the '80s, and the one he said he would have named his top album of the nineties had he bothered to make a list, Guitar Paradise of East Africa. Haven't lived with them long enough to say whether I concur with his assessments. I will say that I dug the Ornette more than most other Ornette I've heard, but my appreciation of Ornette is more theoretical than aural. I like Guitar Paradise but it didn't knock me out like his top album of the eighties, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto -- which is of course an unfair measuring stick. But what did knock me out was the GEMM website! The albums (2 LPs, one CD) ranged from $12-$29--check the prices on all music to see how excellent that is--and even though I chose the cheapest shipping option for each I got all of them within a week: 1 from California in about 3 days, and one from England and another from Greece 3 or 4 days after that! Completely great experience. And no, I'm not getting a kickback.
But I am getting tired. Night all.
Aw, I love Of Human Feelings. It's funky!
And yeah, I'm happy for Phil for doing Stranded, although I'm disappointed (but not surprised) at how metal-heavy his writers' selections were.
Phil contributed to LiTG as well. He also got me Tom Waits' publicist's email.
Lots of names I like on that list: Raggett, Reynolds, Tate, Darnielle.
The original Stranded had a big impact on my record collection - mostly Greil's selections at the end. Though I did probably own every album in the original book at one point or another.
Ellen Willis' piece on the VU is still the best thing written about them.
The Mekons reminded you of Journey? Oh wait, that's not what you said.
Well to be fair, now that you say it, Retreat From Memphis does kind of provoke the same "Oh no! Ew!"-feelings as Journey the Band.
Retreat From Memphis does kind of provoke the same "Oh no! Ew!"-feelings as Journey the Band.
ITA. Least-played album in my collection, even less than Pussy, King of Pirates.
provoke the same "Oh no! Ew!"-feelings as Journey the Band
Talk about provoking "Oh no! Ew!"-feelings, uppercasing that B spawned the image of a reunion tour from hell with Steve Perry and Neal Schon filling in for Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. I'm still shuddering. And not from the out of control AC. Yuck.
The Guardian published a really nice overview of the early Australian punk scene: [link]
Archie Comics has the first Archies album on their web site: [link]
I am the whitest person alive: Kid Creole has been on staff at my firm for a year. I just found out.
