52% intelligent. 9% modest. More monkey than bear.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

she calls my name....

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>>>>>ST's ALPHABETICON - Part xii: L<<<<< Previously in the Alphabeticon: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K

Evening. Welcome to the weekly rundown of "not my whole record collection". As always, this is just a run down through one particularly dusty set of shelves. It's not supposed to be definitive, and it's just for fun kids!

262. Mark Lanegan Band – Bubblegum

I first discovered Mark Lanegan through his work with the Queens of the Stone Age on "Songs for the Deaf" (a brilliant, brilliant album). He's got a fantastically bourbon and cigarette smoke soaked voice, a bit reminiscent of Tom Waits, and very, very distinctive. His work with Screaming Trees and QotSA aside, he's also made a bit of a name for himself in recent years through his solo work and for the (Mercury Music Prize nominated) album that he did with Isobel Campbell. This album made a few "best of the year" type lists back in 2004 (quite right Ben), and it's a very good album indeed.

263. The Libertines – Up The Bracket
264. The Libertines – The Libertines

Well, it's hard to argue with one of their own lyrics, isn't it:

"What a waster, what a fucking waster
You pissed it all up the wall"

Over the course of these two records, Pete Docherty and Carl Barat showed that they had some talent. Unfortunately, they blew it and hit the self-destruct button amidst burglaries, recriminations and drug addiction. Pete Docherty is hailed in some quarters as a genius, and presumably his claim to greatness is largely contained on these albums. Well, if that's the case, then I think he's somewhat overbilled..... there's some good stuff on here, but there's also a lot of shit. They were hardly The Smiths, were they? They were a good band, but not half as good or as important as some people (not least the band themselves) would have you believe. They've actually just put out a Greatest Hits album... and amidst the great moments, there's still some filler. As claims to greatness go, this one is just too thin (not to mention the minus points Docherty gets for his subsequent career as a staple of the tabloid press).

265. Led Zeppelin – Remasters

I used to have a load of Zeppelin albums on cassette, but this is the only one that I ever bought on CD (and this is a replacement, as my original copy was stolen when I was still at school). They're very much in the news at the moment, of course, and they are credited with pretty much inventing heavy metal and hard rock.... but I can't help but feel that they're a bit overrated. They're good enough, I suppose (and the "Immigrant Song" is one of my favourite songs ever), but I find their pastoral stuff very hit and miss indeed, and I'm now just bored by "Stairway". Good band though, and Robert Plant is a Wolves fan, so you have to give them credit for that.

266. Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray

I saw the Lemonheads performing at Glastonbury in 1993 and I thought they were great. I think Evan Dando was off his tits and they didn't play "Mrs Robinson", their biggest hit at the time, but they did play an amazing cover of Suzanne Vega's "Luka" and were certainly the best thing that I saw on the second stage that Sunday afternoon (a lineup that included the Verve and, erm, Dodgy). This album is stupidly short, and it sounds a bit "of its time" now... but it sounded great back then. And Dando was supposedly stepping out with Juliana Hatfield too, the lucky bastard.... Mind you, wasn't she famously still a virgin? Perhaps he hadn't been so lucky then?

267.Love/Hate – Blackout in a Red Room
268. Love/Hate – Wasted in America

Wow. This is one from the depths of my lost teenage heavy metal years. I don't remember very much about the band except that I thought they were brilliant, and had one unforgettable song called "Don't Fuck With Me":

"Don't fuck with me 'cause I don't look like you
We can be brothers and wear our different colors too
Don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you"

Beautiful sentiments, I think you'll agree. And how's this as a motto for life:

"Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you.
Don't fuck with me, and I won't fuck with you.
Yeah."

Me and my friend Des thought they were ace. If he didn't live in Hong Kong, I'd probably drag him all the way to the Rescue Rooms for the Love / Hate reunion in December.....

269. Leftfield – Leftism

I can't really tell you much about this as I've barely listened to it since I lived in a flat on campus at the University of Warwick and a chap called Dominic used to play it all the time. I think it's quite good. Well, it sounded it back then, anyway.

270. The Las – The Las

Ah, the great lost band of the 1990s. "There She Goes" is timeless, of course, but the rest of the album holds water too. It was one of the great moment of Glastonbury in 2005 when I got to see this lot performing live. They played their biggest hit about halfway through the set, so all those floods of people turning up at the very end just to hear the encore must have been very disappointed indeed. Against all the odds, they still sounded brilliant. You wouldn't want to be in Lee Mavers' head though.

271. Ray Lamontagne – Trouble
272. Ray Lamontagne - Till The Sun Turns Black

Big beard, big voice. I first saw him on Jools Holland, I think, and was intrigued enough to check out the album. The second album is even better. It's a good voice. A great big, booming voice. But it's quite a splendid beard too. Do I have to decide? Can't I have both?

273. Long Blondes – Someone To Drive You Home

Kate Jackson wears a mean beret, I know that much.

274. Lush – Ciao!

Worth it just to hear "Ladykillers", which I think may be one of my favourite ever songs.

Lost in iTunes: Los Campesinos!, Low, Lucky Soul, Lulu, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Next time: Morrissey! Oh yes, a lot of Morrissey.....

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Shuffleathon 2007 Update

Right, come on now. If you haven't yet sent out your CD, then please pull your finger out and get it in the post as soon as possible. If you sent your CD a while ago and it looks like it hasn't been received, then we need to start thinking about re-sends. Likewise, if you have received your CD and haven't yet reviewed it or perhaps even told me that you've got it..... well.... Don't make me come over there....

ShufflerPosted
Received
1. Tinayes
review
2. Sarahyes

3. Cody Bones
yes
yes
4. Mark
yes
review
5. Michaelyes
yes
6. Hen
yes
yes
7. Cat
yes
review
8. bedshaped
yes
posted
9. Pynchonyes
review
10. J
yesreview
11. The Great Grape Ape
yes
review
12. Ian
yes
review (sorry)
13. Martin


14. Monogodo
yes
yes
15. Threelightyes
review
16. Paul
yes
review
17. Charlieyes
review
18. LB
yes
19. Katyola
yes
review
20. Lisa
yesreview
21. Graham
yes?

22. Del
yes
review
23. Spins
yes

24. Ben
yes

25. Dragon
yes
yes
26. Adem
yes
review
27. Mike
yes
review
28. JoeInVegas
yes
yes
29. Wombat
yes

30. Max Bob
yes
review
31. Stevious
yes
review
32. Asta
yes
review
33. Alan
yes
review
34. Russ L
yes
review
35. E.
yes

36. Mike T-D
yes
yes
37. JamieS
yes

38. Briskate
yes
review
38. Me
yes
review

Big hello to YokoSpungeon and equally big thanks for the whole original Shuffleathon concept.....

Labels: , ,

19 Comments:

  • At 12:44 am, Blogger ian said…

    I told you I'd received it! And you ignored me. Anyway, I've written about it now too.

     
  • At 2:48 am, Blogger Ben said…

    Never really got into Bubblegum, to be honest - some good moments, but never quite did it for me. (It's 2004 rather than 1994, BTW.)

    My Earworms piece should be in your inbox now - sorry for keeping you waiting...

     
  • At 3:46 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Fuck yeah!
    Never did see Love/Hate back in the day

    Des

     
  • At 1:16 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    HA! Hollow threats don't scare me!
    If you're going to come over and sort me out, you better bring some left-over chile.
    Er, but I did leave the CD at yours. Be over to pick it up in a tic...

     
  • At 3:22 pm, Blogger Cat said…

    I wondered when we'd get to M is for Morrissey... Did you get tickets? I completely forgot!

     
  • At 8:09 pm, Blogger ian said…

    I think he's doing it alphabetically, Cat. I'm expecting M imminently, followed by a couple of Ns... New Order, Nirvana? Shall we play "guess the contents of ST's shelves"?

     
  • At 8:33 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    Well, you say that Ian, but actually The Smiths are filed under "M", just as John Lennon and Paul McCartney are filed under "B" (well, not just like. If it was just like, then Morrissey would be filed under "M". My shelves, my rules though, eh?)

    Cat - that's the exact same week that I'm on holiday in Italy. I did get Mark a pair of tickets for the Friday though)

    ST

     
  • At 8:33 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    ...I don't think I've got any New Order on CD either.

     
  • At 8:33 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    ...and would you have guessed Love/Hate for "L"?

     
  • At 9:06 pm, Blogger Cat said…

    I see they're trading on eBay for hundreds of pounds already - bastard touts. By the time I remembered, they'd sold out. I could have only done Friday or Saturday, and it would have been an expensive weekend by the time I had flights and, of course, shopping, so maybe for the best. But still.

    Ian, you are a cheeky monkey. However, if we're playing a guessing game, I'll plump for my old favourites, New Model Army?

     
  • At 9:31 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    ^^^ Under that system, Morrissey would be filed under "S", of course, not "M"

    Perhaps I should have just left this rather than try to over explain it, but I'm a pedant and I can't help myself. Seeing it up there, wrong and laughing at me, I had to correct it.

     
  • At 9:32 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    ...but I hate New Model Army. Nearly as much as the Levellers.

     
  • At 11:20 pm, Blogger ian said…

    Given that the constant elements seem to be...

    something obvious,
    something rock,
    something embarrasing,
    something illogically catalogued,
    something missing (elsewhere),
    and a glaring omission...

    I'm going for Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, N'Sync, Tricky (for his work with Nearly God), New FADS
    and New Order

     
  • At 7:48 am, Blogger swisslet said…

    Ian - nice. I think that actually works (although I do have pretty much every note New Order have ever recorded, but only in electronic format, no pun intended - although I've got all that too).

    ST

     
  • At 10:57 am, Blogger Stef said…

    Wow, I'd completely forgotten about Love/Hate. I had both albums (on vinyl of course) and saw them at the Krazy House (seriously) in Liverpool. What a superb gig, I got my lip split open in the mosh... Ah, happy days.

    *goes off to download them*

     
  • At 11:02 am, Blogger Stef said…

    Hey, Love/Hate are on tour and are playing London on the 17th Dec and Nottingham Rock City on the 22nd!

     
  • At 9:24 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I put up my review of Del's entry now.

     
  • At 3:51 pm, Blogger Cat said…

    Nothing to add, except thanks for reminding me about New FADs. What a blast from the past. I am off to trawl that big box of tapes which is languishing under my bed. And while I'm there, I'm also going to dig out some Ride albums.

    (And will we have any Ned's Atomic Dustbin in the N section?)

     
  • At 5:54 am, Blogger Michael said…

    I would like to finally say, I've sent my CD out, and received mine. I'll be listening to the disc over the next few days and put in my best effort to get a review up by Wednesday.

    Sorry about the delay to my recipient and sender. Working while going to school full time makes things... rough.

     

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