What a disappointment. What poor handling of a band’s legacy.

The more I hear about the forthcoming remaster/reissue of the Rolling Stones’ seminal Exile On Main Street album, the more my enthusiasm gets tempered. On Record Store Day, I was thankfully able to score one of the limited edition 45s of “Plundered My Soul,” the first of the unreleased Exile cuts that make up a bonus disc in that set to make its way out. Watch the official video here & give it a listen yourself:

Not too shabby, right? At first glance it’s a shot of the classic, southern-fried, soulful rock that makes Exile so remarkable, but I was troubled by what I heard: something was off. Having never heard the song in unreleased/bootleg format, I had nothing with which to compare it, but parts of it sounded too clean, too polished to really be an outtake from that era, especially when lined up against bootlegs of a similar vintage. It also sounded sluggish to me — something about the pacing is off.

I did some poking around and found this listing of recording credits for the song:

Personnel:
Mick Jagger: Vocals, Guitar & Percussion
Keith Richards: Guitar
Charlie Watts: Drums
Bill Wyman: Bass
Nicky Hopkins: Piano
Mick Taylor: Guitar
Bobby Keys: Sax
Lisa Fisher: Background Vocals
Cindy Mizelle: Background Vocals

Okay, Mick, Keith, Charlie, Bill & Mick Taylor are all accounted for. Nicky Hopkins and Bobby Keys, too — they both were involved in the Exile sessions. Wait, Lisa Fisher? One of their current background singers? She has a hell of a voice, yes, but she was about 13 when the album was recorded, and I doubt a pre-teen would have been in the basement of Keith Richards’ house in southern France to record backing vocals for anything (actually, I’m pretty sure that Keith Richards’ basement is the absolute last place a pre-teen girl should have been in the early 70’s).

I’d heard that Don Was had been put in charge of assembling the added disc of outtakes & bonus tracks, and Rolling Stone (whose attractive new website won’t cough up the story/link) had reported, much to my dismay, that fresh instrumental overdubs had been added to some tracks, while another song, which only existed as an instrumental, had completely new lyrics written and vocals recorded for it by Jagger. This is an absolutely horrible bit of revisionist history — I just can’t see any need whatsoever to tinker with something like that. I’d rather hear the sounds of a band working through ideas, finding their way towards the greatness of songs like “Tumbling Dice” and “Loving Cup” than to hear something that’s neither here nor there. There were reasons why songs like “Pass The Wine” didn’t make the initial cut — let me find out why (maybe with better sound quality than on available bootlegs) on my own rather than trying to recapture the essence of a nearly 40-year old sound which, as the weird vibe all over “Plunder My Soul” proves, absolutely does not work.

I’m still in for purchasing the expanded reissue of Exile — I’m an Exile completist, and am surprised to only have a handful of the unreleased songs on bootlegs — but I wish they’d just let the unreleased stuff speak for itself instead of trying to re-interpret it. Thinking about this has driven me to begin putting together a Reissue Done Right for Exile, along the lines of what I put together for Sticky Fingers a few months back — you’ll see it before this “Exile” set hits, I promise.

I was inspired by Sam’s nuclear post to put together my own list of radioactive music. I grew up at a time of transition for the world. I was born the day before the Watergate break-in (so I have an alibi), when I was six months old the last men walked on the Moon, my entire school life existed under the shadow of the Cold War, a Faustian trade-off for being the first American generation in a long time to not have to march off to war. Right after I graduated high school in 1990, things heated up around the world again, and now of course we’re living in the post-USSR but also post-9/11 world. I know it left an indelible impression on me; growing up knowing that there was a “button” somewhere in the Oval Office that, if pressed, would blow up the world sixteen times over. I see this most clearly when I look through any creative writing I did in high school - there is a subliminal yet detectable apocalyptic undercurrent to everything. My last-inning at bat in the Cold War paranoia game links me in an odd way to an older generation that had birthed “Fail-Safe” and “Dr. Strangelove”, “no nukes” and “ban the bomb”. It also separates me philosophically from a younger generation that grew up during the blissfully unaware years between glasnost and jihad.

Anyway, here’s my Cold-War-inspired list of glowing recommendations:

1. Bonzo Goes To Washington, “Five Minutes”
Former Modern Lover and Talking Head Jerry Harrison leapt upon the opportunity given to him when Ronald Reagan made an off-the-cuff joke into what he thought was a dead mike. Harrison found a copy of the audio, recruited Bootsy Collins (BOOTSY!) on bass, and built a simple electro-funk track to run behind his primitive and repetitive sampling of the joke. It’s along much the same lines as Paul Hardcastle’s “19″, or Keith LeBlanc’s “No Sellout”, only with an 80s Cold War slant.

2. U2, “Seconds”
This song is wedged neatly between the hits “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day” on U2’s fantastic album “War” - and in fact fits there perfectly, combining the rhythm and biting commentary of the first with the blood-red sky apocalyptic imagery of the second. With lyrics like “lightning flashes across the sky, east to west, do or die” and labeling all the world players as “puppets on a string”, the song labels the nuclear threat as the actual enemy, holding the human race under its thumb.

3. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, “Two Tribes”
Here’s one that most will remember for its sublimely satirical Godley & Creme music video, featuring the leaders of the world engaged in a bloody battle in a wrestling ring. The much longer album version also features calmly and coldly read Cold War Era instructions on how to survive a nuclear attack, adding to the overall “we all lose” theme of the song.

4. Roger Waters, “Four Minutes”
Waters has written some of the most pointed anti-war songs in the history of pop music, and in this he finishes off his “Radio K.A.O.S.” opus with the button actually being pushed, and all the world forced to face their final few minutes. Thank goodness he added on his Live-Aid-inspired “The Tide Is Turning” to leave us with at least some hope.

5. Hiroshima, “Atomic Cafe”
And now to prove that not everything apocalyptically-themed has to be a downer, here we have a jazz ensemble named after the first bloody chapter in the Atomic Age, performing a song named after a famous Cold War documentary, and it’s bouncy acid jazz fun! I don’t know what that really means, but I hope you hurry up and enjoy the song. We begin bombing in five minutes.

Download: Bonzo Goes To Washington, “Five Minutes” (AAC)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: U2, “Seconds” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Frankie Goes To Hollywood, “Two Tribes” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Roger Waters, “Four Minutes” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Hiroshima, “Atomic Cafe” (AAC)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download the whole list as a ZIP file:

Download: Half-Life Crisis (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

I work in a place that’s got a nuclear policy bent, and my week at work has been frenzied thanks to President Obama’s nuclear security summit. In honor of the assembled leaders’ pledge to corral loose nuclear material, I thought it would be fun to put together a nuclear playlist — enjoy!

• Nena, “99 Red Balloons”
  The Watchmen movie did a respectable job of setting the stage with nuclear tension by including this ditty by German pop band Nena, which tells a story of 99 balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by military forces.
• The Postal Service, “We Will All Become Silhouettes”
  The post-apocalyptic/fallout shelter imagery is haunting stuff — thankfully, the video is more warped than creepy. Or maybe it’s creepy because it’s warped:

• Genesis, “Land of Confusion”
  Okay, the song itself isn’t necessarily about nuclear weapons, but the nuclear imagery of the music video was burned into my brain as a kid:

• Keith Richards, “Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me”
  I’d never encountered this recording before thinking about putting this list together. It’s a cover of a Charles Mingus recording (from the 50’s? 60’s? I can’t find any info about its origins) that features a host of Rolling Stones collaborators: Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, longtime backing vocalist Bernard Fowler, keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and the Uptown Horns all appear. Loose, fun stuff.
• Tom Lehrer, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”
  If you’ve gotta go, you might as well go with a smile: this wry take on nuclear destruction was recorded at Harvard’s Sanders Theater in back in 1959.
• “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”
  Fallout makes for some great holiday cheer: “Oh, it’s Christmas at Ground Zero/And if the radiation level’s okay/I’ll go out with you and see the all new/Mutations on New Year’s Day”
• Electric Six, “Nuclear War (On the Dancefloor)”
  These awesome hair metal riffs are offered without comment.
• Electric Six, “I’m The Bomb”
  I had to double-dip with the Six, because this pair of songs go so well together. The catchy disco beat & melody are paired with an impressive Kenny Powers-style bravado, especially when it climaxes in the chorus: “3-2-1 I’m the bomb/And I’m ready to go off in your shit.”

Download the songs here:

Download: Nena, “99 Red Balloons” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Postal Service, “We Will All Become Silhouettes” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Genesis, “Land of Confusion” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Keith Richards, “Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Tom Lehrer, “We Will All Go Together When We Go” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Electric Six, “Nuclear War (On the Dancefloor)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Electric Six, “I’m The Bomb” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

This ZIP of the entire list is da BOMB:

Download: That’s noo-klee-er (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Things around these parts have been pretty dormant for months, and I’m sorry about that. Life has a habit of getting in the way, and when you’re feeling down, it’s really hard to sit down & write about something as seemingly trivial as music.

It’s been almost six weeks since my grandmother Alice Leveton passed away. She fought a months-long battle against a variety of ailments that were precipitated by a serious fall in the home she shared with my mother in Florida. We all called her Mac: it was a nickname she gained while serving as an Army nurse during WWII, short for McAlister, her maiden name.

Today, as my iPhone shuffled during my AM commute, Johnny Cash’s touching cover of “We’ll Meet Again” played, and all I could think about was Mac. His Rubin-era recordings have been the accompaniment to my experience with her illness: I was listening to his Unearthed collection before I got some serious news about her condition in January, and the only CD I had or driving music while in Florida at the time of her passing was his most recent posthumous set, American VI: Ain’t No Grave. Listening to Cash coming to terms with his mortality and spirituality at the same time I was considering Mac’s and my own was equal parts upsetting and comforting, but I can’t imagine any better voice for the experience.

Grave is an emotional rollercoaster of an album, and the one song that will forever hit me like a sledgehammer is “I Don’t Hurt Anymore.” I was with Mac at the end, and her final hours, her silent gasps for air, seemed like such a struggle — I know the song is really about a breakup, but that sentiment, “At last I am free/I don’t hurt anymore,” makes me feel both barrels of the pain and relief of her passing every time I hear it.

Mac and I had a shared love for many things — The Late Show with David Letterman, cheeseburgers with grilled onions from the now-closed Paul’s Famous Hamburgers in Milford, CT, — but we had very different taste in music. The tapes (tapes!) I remember her playing most came from her sons, my late uncles Peter and Philip, and I think the fact that they came from her boys meant more than any of the music therein.

There are 3 artists who will forever be associated with Mac in my mind. First: Polish-born chanteuse Basia, who, on the cover of her album Time and Tide, I mistook for Tiffany. Mac’s favorite, tho, was London Warsaw New York, which featured this bit of deliciously mangled English, “Cruising for Bruising”:

The second is Michael Franks, who’s giving off a classy pedophile vibe on the cover of the uncomfortably-titled Skin Dive:

Yikes. I never heard her listen to Skin Dive, but that creepy album cover stayed with me all these years. Check out some of his synth “jazz”:

Mac’s absolute favorite singer, though, was Barbara Streisand, who she often just called “Barbara.” Every time she was on TV, it was appointment viewing for her. I remember her listening to Back to Broadway most, a collection of showtunes from the Great White Way:

The last gift I gave Mac was a CD of Barbara’s, her last album, Love Is The Answer. Mac was hospitalized and not completely coherent, and she didn’t have a CD player or radio anywhere in her hospital room, but I thought just having it would bring her a little bit of joy. The back cover photo was a bonus, too, because it featured a little white dog that looked like her last dog Dolly.

After Mac passed, my family began the process of cleaning out her bedroom, and we came across Barbara’s CD, still sealed. My mother offered it to me, but I declined.

I guess there’s no tidy way to sum up and end this post, so I’ll say goodbye to Mac the way Johnny Cash said goodbye on Ain’t No Grave with a tender cover of “Aloha Oe” — we’ll meet again, indeed:

Download: Johnny Cash, “Aloha Oe” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Last therapeutic, over-personal venting for a while, I promise. New lists & other recommendations to come.

As I think we’re all aware, it’s getting harder and harder these days to find a complete album that’s enjoyable to listen to al the way through. With most people downloading single tracks from iTunes or Amazon (if they pay for them at all), the very concept of an album seems to be falling by the wayside. But every once in a while something does come along that is crafted as a whole, an immersive experience, even going so far as having intros, tracks blending together, skits, whatever. The Decemberists gave us a virtual rock opera last year with “The Hazards Of Love”, and that almost made my list. …Almost. Here’s what did (in no particular order). Thanks as always to Sam for showing me most of these.

1. “Hospice” by The Antlers
This is a perfect example of what I was talking about; all the songs ebb and flow into each other, often drifting off into washes of ambient noise and flutter only to resolve back into simple but poignant chord structures. The vocals are choked and hushed, the lyrics impenetrably personal and melancholy, the overall effect feeling a bit like this is a work of music-as-therapy. Haunting and beautiful, a cross between Antony & The Johnsons and Neutral Milk Hotel, this closes with a stunning and jarring transition between crescendo and epilogue, as if the singer has simply given all he can and just turns himself off and disappears right in front of you, leaving the album echoing in your emotions. Although this is best enjoyed as a whole, if I had to pick two stand-out tracks they would be: “Bear” and “Two”.

2. “Go God Go” by Fred
This album snuck up on me, offering up single track after single track until finally I realized the whole damned thing was good. This is a work of exuberance, a joyous romp, a rollercoaster of bright pop music that never rests on any laurels, instead always striving to surprise with the next twist of song arrangement or guest appearance by off-beat instrumentation. Stand-out tracks: “Fear” and “The Lights”.

3. “Lungs” by Florence + The Machine
A kick-ass soulful voice, big sprawling arrangements, a HARP as lead instrument? There really wasn’t much like this last year, but it’s not some quirky experiment, this is solid quality stuff. Setting aside the Ting-Ting-y single “Kiss With A Fist”, there’s barely a guitar within earshot - this is the sound of pop music done right, what all the Lady GaGas of the world COULD be doing with their time, but don’t really need to in order to sell records (records? what are those?). Stand-out tracks: “Cosmic Love” and “Dog Days Are Over”.

4. “vs. Children” by Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Another album that’s really all one big thing, this sounds a bit like one woke up Zach Galifianakis from a dead sleep, hit “demo” on a cheap keyboard, thrust a newspaper in front of him, and forced him on the spot to come up with songs based on the headlines. The songs are wonderful little fables with clever wordplay and structure, blatant and specific lyrics, and simple but whistle-worthy melodies, every bit as home-made - and as GOOD - as anything by Baby Bird. Stand-out tracks: “Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)” and “Traveling Salesman’s Young Wife Home Alone On Christmas In Montpelier, VT”.

5. “You Can Have What You Want” by Papercuts
Every once in a while something comes along that really does sound like it fell through a wormhole from long ago, and you wonder what has possessed this new young band to record it. Do you guys not know you could be selling a lot more songs if you just made whiny teen angst pop punk? Okay, nobody tell Papercuts, because for whatever reason they’ve decided to marry the hypnotic dreamy fuzz of Velvet Underground with Moog-y garage surf psychedelia, and we’re all better off because of it. Stand-out tracks: “Future Primitive” and “Dead Love”.

6. “Technicolor Health” by Harlem Shakes
Another work just bursting at the seams, this almost defies description, it’s just a big old good-mood machine perfectly suited for recovering from your post-Grammy woes. Equal parts quirky analog dance and folky mountain music, this always sounds as if it’s teetering on the edge of falling apart or crossing over into pretension, but it manages to reign itself into jumpy fun little mini-symphonies. Stand-out tracks: “Natural Man” and “Marian”.

7. “La Roux” by La Roux
This would be a guilty pleasure if it wasn’t so damned GOOD. Electronic club music infused with soulful singing and R&B chord changes, this is a simply irrepressible throwback to the New York club scene 80s when women quite possibly, however briefly, ruled the roost of pop music. Do you miss Yaz/Yazoo? Come check this out. Stand-out tracks: “Fascination” and “Bulletproof”.

(I originally had “Weathervanes” by Freelance Whales listed as #8, but apparently it’s not being released here in the States until later this year, so that gives me the opportunity to add the following)

8. “The Love Language” by The Love Language
This collection of beautiful piano-based anthems seems somewhat at cross-purposes. On the one hand, these are tried-and-true traditional chord progressions that Hank Williams would be proud to still see in heavy rotation. But on the other, all the vocals are recorded with over-the-top distortion, possibly in an attempt to still seem “quirky” and “indie” even though the guy really can sing and makes wonderful use of harmony. The overall effect sounds a bit like taking a Belle & Sebastian album, plugging it into Spinal Tap’s amp and cranking it up to 11. However, all the lo-fi in the world can’t disguise these well-crafted pop arrangements, plinky pianos and jingle bells creating a warm wintery tone to everything, until the whole album reaches a chorale crescendo that would make Frankie Valli proud. Short, sweet, heartachingly gorgeous, and highly recommended. Stand-out tracks: “Providence” and “Gray Court”.

9. “Dusk Till Dawn” by Breakestra
Yeah I’m not buying it. I know they’re trying to say this is brand-new music by current musicians using instruments and recording techniques from the heyday of funk and soul, but really, if it was that easy why haven’t we heard anything this good for 30 years? And yeah I know they went and put Chali 2na on a track to make it seem new, but come on, that’s just overdubbing. This is just a new compilation of previously unheard tracks from The Meters, The J.B.s, Funkadelic, Weather Report, Mandrill, The Blackbyrds etc. Because there’s no way anyone around these days could be this good and not walking away with every award in the music biz. Stand-out tracks: “Lowdown Stank” and “Back At The Boathouse”.

10. “Reservoir” by Fanfarlo
There was no Arcade Fire last year. And Matt was sad. Then Matt discovered that Arcade Fire had merely snuck over to London and recorded an album under the name Fanfarlo. …Or at least that’s what it sounds like. And so now Matt is happy. Stand-out tracks: “Luna” and “Drowning Men”.

Hello and happy holidays! It’s that time of the year again, when we SS-ers take a break fom being mere purveyors of fun recommendations, and resize our music-snob-critic hats for yet another year’s worth of “songs from this year that we loved but you may not have heard”. I’ll try to keep the accompanying text down to a dull roar this year…

01. The Airborne Toxic Event, “Sometime Around Midnight”
Sometimes I’m glad I’m not as tuned into the world of popular musical criticism as most (well, most who would go on to write something like this). Case in point, the way I was completely unaware of the whole Airborne / Pitchfork debate until after I’d already loved this song for far too long for any of that ridiculousness to make a difference. Rather than rehash that whole tete-a-TATE, I’ll simply say this: sometimes how you relate to a song has a lot to do with how you feel about yourself and your life at that moment. …Maybe that is in fact everything to do with how you relate to a song. For while I don’t disagree with anything that Pitchfork said about this song, I gotta say I heard all the same stuff and liked it anyway. And as a thought experiment, I’ve pictured this song as recorded by Coldplay (possible biggest hit song of the year?), or as recorded by Sum 41 (a laughable whiny mess well-deserving of Pitchfork’s disdain).

02. Florence And The Machine, “Cosmic Love”
Sam gave me F+TMs stuff early on this year and I fell in love with “Dog Days Are Over”, just knowing it would end up on my end-of-the-year list. Somewhere along the way I got to like this song better - perhaps only as a matter of sequence, maybe if I’d discovered this song first I would have eventually gravitated towards the other, I don’t know.

03. Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard, “Broken Broken Broken Heart”
Lewis’ “Back When I Was 4″ was such a delightful discovery that I’ve perked up and listened to everything he’s done. This is yet another example of his whimsical quirky delivery of clever word imagery, a baring of the soul about not only not knowing what you have until it’s gone, but knowing that you drove it away.

04. Fred, “Fear”
The word “exuberant” comes to mind as this jumps out of my headphones and into the pleasure center of my brain. I’ve often bemoaned the way that most pop music is just an interesting first 30 seconds and then lather-rinse-repeat, no interesting bridge, no unexpected key change, never going anywhere. This happily blows that out of the water with an entertaining roller-coaster ride of ups and downs, always leaving me in a good mood once I’ve heard it.

05. Camera Obscura, “Swans”
Sam admonished me that this new Obscura album sounds just like the old one. Good, I replied, I loved the old one! Some more of that Spectorish girl-group fun I’ve been happy to see creep back into pop music over the past few years.

06. Chali 2na, “Comin’ Thru”
Sure, the state of pop rap music these days is in dire straits, as I’ve ranted about far too much elsewhere. But even if I do have to keep digging deeper and deeper to find good stuff, there’s thankfully still something waiting there to be found. In this case it’s a catchy bouncy track from one of my favorite rap vocalists’ second solo album.

07. Marilyn Manson, “We’re From America”
While I’ve always appreciated Manson’s artistry, creative spirit and willingness to push the envelope, his music has never really done it for me - and it seemed that the songs were the least of what he was going for anyway. But this one grabbed me, slightly more melodic than most of his other work, and seeming more in keeping with the spirit of The Stooges than some new goth sensibility.

08. The Antlers, “Bear”
This was an early find in 2009, an album that offered a complete enveloping melancholy experience. Obviously coming out of extremely personal experiences, this seemed like one of those good old artistic products that just had to be made, to get this stuff out of his head. This song in particular contains some pull-no-punches lyrics that may make one wince, but I for one am glad that I purchased this album and did my part to help his therapy along.

09. The Aliens, “Blue Mantle”
A year after we lost Richard Wright, “Those Who Were Once Beta” have given us this lasting tribute to his sound and the whole 60s psychedelia movement, with just a hint of the organ from Led Zep’s “Thank You” thrown in for 70s flavor.

10. The Submarines, “You, Me & The Bourgeoisie (Tonetiger remix)”
Okay so the song actually came out (and drove us nuts in commercials) last year. But this remix jumped out and surprised me, switching the time signature and phrasing around to achieve a whole new slightly hip-hop feel to it.

11. Papercuts, “Future Primitive”
This was a last-minute addition to my list, a hypnotic slice of surf / psychedelic nostalgia that I simply could not get out of my head. There. Now it’s out.

12. Marina & The Diamonds, “I Am Not A Robot”
This might be my favorite song on the list, a spacey angelic pop song that is tragically not yet available here in the States.

13. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, “Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)”
Another album that I loved as a whole, giving us all the quirky melancholy sadly lacking on recent eels projects.

14. Throw Me The Statue, “Ancestors”
Another song that just chugs along and then remembers to stop and give your ear something different here and there. Breaking off into a ukulele? Really? Cool!

15. Gin Wigmore, “Dying Day”
Another song that is not yet available here in the US, there’s nothing new in the songwriting but her voice is stellar heartbreaking stuff.

16. The Grouch & Eligh, “All In (feat. Gift Of Gab & Pigeon John)”
Okay so yes, it’s one of those damned songs with a thousand “featuring” subtitles I can’t stand. But in this case it works, each guest vocalist coming up with his own way of adapting to the fast double-time tempo. Gift Of Gab (of course) embraces the challenge most elegantly, his non-stop style perfectly suited for this kind of groove.

17. The High Strung, “Bad With My Hands”
I didn’t think this would end up on my list, but then it just kept popping up in my head and I had to reward it. This is the sound of a Phil Spector parade going by your first-floor window, waking you up at 2 AM. The single lyrical metaphor pays off well, and in today’s world of the simpler-than-simple chord progression (if any), I adore the way this song takes measure after measure to build up its chord changes to their final resolution. This will most likely not mean anything to anyone else, but what it reminds me most of is Toots And The Maytals’ song “Watermelon” - a song that really only cycles through its progression a couple of times because it takes so long to get there. Well worth the wait.

18. Soulsavers, “Can’t Catch The Train”
Sam gave me this and I immediately latched onto this dirge. Lanegan’s voice conjures up Cohen and Dylan, perfect for the overall cold dark midwinter tinge to this song.

19. Terribly Empty Pockets, “A-Okay”
This was a fun little EP full of very well-produced songs, this being my favorite. Unfortunately the beauty of this track is slightly marred by what I can only think are mastering issues. Over-compression results in some odd volume shifts, and there are a couple of disembodies clicks (perhaps upload / download issues?). But overall, a wonderfully anthemic end to my year in song.

Sorry for the delay in posting this, folks. Turns out I’ve had to unfortunately deal with a few of my rough, tough, existential fears over the last couple of months, which is one of the reasons why it’s been so quiet around these parts. Anyway, onto the list — I’ll keep it short & sweet:

1. Elvis Costello, “Veronica”
   This is the most deceptively peppy song I’ve ever heard. Co-written by Paul McCartney, it’s an absolutely heartbreaking portrait of losing someone to a form of dementia like Alzheimer’s.
2. Manic Street Preachers, “Ocean Spray”
   The first song that singer James Dean Bradfield wrote for the Manics is their most direct single ever. In it, he details sitting at his mother’s bedside while she dies in hospital, pleading for her to “stay awake.” This song will level you, especially if you’ve ever had to watch a loved one deteriorate in a hospital.
3. David Bowie, “My Death”
   Every once in a while, I have a multi-day case of insomnia thanks to a dream about my death. Been a while since I’ve had one, but hearing Bowie’s song again today will likely mean a sleepless holiday season for me.
4. Eels, “The Stars Shine In The Sky Tonight”
   E unfortunately seems to specialize in elegiac laments, and this number from the often overlooked Blinking Lights and Other Revelations packs a whallop: never has the feeling of being left behind after the loss of a loved one been more vivid.
5. Tom Waits, “The Earth Died Screaming”
   Waits’ description of the apocalypse is as unsettling as the arrangement.
6. David Bowie, “Always Crashing The Same Car”
   The fear of getting into an accident is the biggest reason I finally got my driver’s license at 32.
7. Pearl Jam, “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me”
   The only really creepy song on my list, PJ veered into “Revolution 9″ territory with this nightmare-inducing sonic pastiche. I first heard it late at night while listening to my vinyl copy of Vitalogy for the first, and, until compiling this list, only time. Unsettling stuff.

Download: Elvis Costello, “Veronica” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Manic Street Preachers, “Ocean Spray” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: David Bowie, “My Death” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Eels, “The Stars Shine In The Sky Tonight” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Tom Waits, “The Earth Died Screaming” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: David Bowie, “Always Crashing The Same Car” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Pearl Jam, “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Nachtmares!” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

We all have things that scare us.

C’mon — you know as well as I do that that “thing” underneath the fridge is definitely scary. Or maybe somebody like Glen Beck or Dennis Kucinich makes you tremble in fear. Or maybe it’s just green tea that makes you faint.

Whatever the case, the Uncles have you covered! We’re peeling back out own inner protective layers to reveal some of our own neuroses and fears, as realized in songs written and performed by other people (who obviously eavesdropped on our deepest, darkest thoughts to pen the lyrics — scary!).

Enjoy?

• Onkel Rudi’s “That which scares me… scares me!”
• Uncle Sam’s “Nachtmares!”
• U.N.K.L.E. Matt’s list coming soon!
• The Man(del) from UNKLE’s list coming soon!

Sure, there are things that scare me - plenty of ‘em. I’m just not sure how many have been summed up in songs that haven’t already been claimed by my fellow Uncles.

But there are things that scare me - death, dismemberment and loss being the big three. I try not to let fear rule my life and daily existence. Imagine me, a person who loves to ski down rock chutes, through tight stands of trees, off of cliffs into steep, snow-laden bowls, being so overcome by fear that I hesitate during a crucial point in my descent? That could - and likely would - be lethal. Same thing goes for my go-for-broke descents on my marathon bike rides: I can’t dwell on the potential for harm, I simply must go.

Fear is just part of living. It’s not the biggest controlling factor in my life, but it’s there - and it’s here, in this playlist, so enjoy!

1. “Kid Fears” - Indigo Girls (from In With The Out Crowd)
   Fear: loss of innocence
   This song is a bit of a catch-all of common childhood fears and neuroses. I remember seeing the Indigo Girls perform this song at the 1991 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, with David Wilcox singing the refrain that Michael Stipe sang on the album version. This song speaks on many levels, but mostly seems to be a plea to bring back the simple, primal fears of childhood as a replacement for the complex issues of adulthood.
2. “Taking It All To Tennessee” - Vance Gilbert (from Somerville Live)
   Fear: losing touch with close friends
   Having a best friend move away is tragic, no matter your age. This song was written in response to Vance’s close friend, Ellis Paul, moving to Tennessee from Massachusetts. It’s one of those songs that lays out the raw feelings of hurt and betrayal that, while often irrational, do exist but get buried under a sense of obligation not to hurt any feelings.
3. “Mother” - John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory (from Christmas Present)
   Fear: not reconciling with one’s parents
   My relationship with my parents isn’t what many would call good. Then again, few can say that they have 100% wonderful relationships with their parents, so I’m certainly not alone. John Lennon had a very tenuous relationship with his natural parents. His mother, Julia, was not the best mother, eventually ceding parental responsibilities to her sister, Mimi. While Julia taught John to play the banjo and guitar, she wasn’t a close parent, and was killed when John was 17. His father, Alf, was an itinerant sailor who drifted in and out of his son’s life. And this song, written while Lennon was under the treatment of Arthur Janov and his “primal scream” therapy, is an open-book plea to his departed/estranged parents.
4. “The Sun Is Burning” - Simon & Garfunkel (from Old Friends)
   Fear: nuclear holocaust
   When I was young, there was a TV movie that raised the hackles of many parents across America: The Day After. This movie depicted a nuclear attack and the after-effects of such devastation. Life was changed in a quick, blinding flash, and those who didn’t die often suffered a more gruesome, painful descent into death. This song, one of the earliest from Simon & Garfunkel, paints a rosy picture of life that is brought to an end by a nuclear bomb.
5. “Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads (demo version)
   Fear: being the victim of a murderous rampage
   David Byrne is a weird dude - cool, but weird. I tend to like almost everything he does, both musically and socially (he’s a huge proponent of cycling over automobile as urban personal transit, amongst other things), but he’s still a weird guy. And this, one of the earliest songs by the Talking Heads, is proof positive. Only RISD could produce this kind of warped sensibility, right? This is the demo recording they made for CBS Records, back in the day.
6. “Let The Devil In” - TV on the Radio (from Return to Cookie Mountain)
   Fear: the devil
   An eerie tune by a group that scares me: so talented, yet not always able to reel in the talent to make something that’s truly lovely. This song is scary, in and of itself, so it all fits.
7. “Boris The Spider” - The Who (from A Quick One)
   Fear: arachnophobia
   John Entwistle’s classic tune about a curious spider named Boris. He meets a sticky end.
8. “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” - Pink Floyd (from Atom Heat Mother Goes On The Road)
   Fear: dismemberment by axe blade
   Roger Waters has always had a rather…. obscure and frightening sensibility to his songwriting. While much of it has centered around the death of his father during World War II, some of his early writing for Pink Floyd involved mistakes that had tragic results. The roots of this one-line song are often disputed: some think it’s a reference to how Jerry Garcia lost part of his finger, others think that it’s a reference to a horror film. Whatever the case, Waters’ blood-curdling scream at the mid-point of the song is one for the ages. This performance is from a live concert in Montreaux, Switzerland, in 1970.

Download: “Kid Fears” - Indigo Girls (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Taking It All To Tennessee” - Vance Gilbert (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Mother” - John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Sun Is Burning” - Simon & Garfunkel (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Let The Devil In” - TV on the Radio (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Boris The Spider” - The Who (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “‘That which scares me… scares me!” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Vacations and other deadlines have conspired to make me late this month, kids — apologies for the delay.

In keeping with the theme (and in an effort to finally wrap up our September lists), I’m going to make this quick: my goal was to assemble a list of songs that were just short enough to leave you wanting more, songs that made you skip back & listen to them again right away. Here we go:

1. Ten Minute Turns, “Stars Burn OUT”
   A perfect combination of dusky atmosphere, foot-tapping melody, and a stirring build in voices and instruments to the song’s end.
2. Beastie Boys, “Super Disco Breakin’”
   Hello Nasty got off to a hell of a start with this 2-minute shot of city-street adrenaline. Features one of my favorite Beasties lines ever: “Sometimes I like to brag/Sometimes I’m soft spoken/When I’m in Holland I eat the pannenkoeken.”
3. Willie Nelson, “I Never Cared For You”
   From Willie Nelson’s 1998 collaboration with Daniel Lanois, Teatro. Lanois hypnotically transforms Willie’s devastating country oldie with a spare but atmospheric arrangement, a Latin-informed beat, and lovely & haunting harmony vocals from the unparalleled Emmylou Harris. Worth multiple listens.
4. Blur, “Song 2″
   Before it became a staple of touchdown and goal celebrations in sports arenas, it was the breakout single in the US from Blur’s self-titled 1997 album.
5. Elastica, “Generator”
   I didn’t discover Elastica until after frontwoman Justine Frischmann had broken up with beau Damon Albarn (yep, from Blur) and the band was about ready to implode. The tension in the band’s ranks made for some explosive, intensely catchy punk songs, and this is my favorite of the bunch from their swan song The Menace.
6. The White Stripes, “Hotel Yorba”
   This garage-folk number from White Blood Cells introduced me to and got me hooked on the White Stripes. Don’t think Jack White’s been ever catchier.
7. The Two Man Gentleman Band, “Rabbit Foot Stomp”
   Some practical advice from the 2 Gents. Great, now I’m hungry, too.
8. Florence And The Machine, “Hospital Beds”
   This Cold War Kids cover (I’ve never actually heard the original) was one of the first FATM songs I heard, and I was instantly captivated by Florence’s voice. The song ends just as it reaches fever pitch, too, which left me wanting much, much more.
9. Bill Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine”
   When evaluating songs for this list, I was shocked at how short this classic is. Never gets old.
10. Eels, “Ant Farm”
    Picking a favorite of Mark Oliver Everett’s short, memorable pop songs was tough, but Lisa Germano’s violin vaulted this heartfelt folk ballad to the top of that long list.
11. Ramones, “I Remember You”
    Punk balladry at its best. I saw U2 cover it in NYC shortly after Joey’s death, too — a magic moment.
12. Blink-182, “What’s My Age Again”
    Early-twenties confusion never sounded so fun.
13. Sam Cooke, “Wonderful World”
    I think this may be my favorite pop song of all time. Really.
14. The Pipettes, “I Love You”
    This song’s Spector-like economy and punch actually defined my personal criteria for this month’s challenge: it ends just as the song feels like it’s come to a boil, and it continues to get loads of repeat listens.

Download: Ten Minute Turns, “Stars Burn OUT” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Beastie Boys, “Super Disco Breakin’” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Willie Nelson, “I Never Cared For You” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Blur, “Song 2″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Elastica, “Generator” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The White Stripes, “Hotel Yorba” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Two Man Gentleman Band, “Rabbit Foot Stomp” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Florence And The Machine, “Hospital Beds” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Bill Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Eels, “Ant Farm” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Ramones, “I Remember You” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Blink-182, “What’s My Age Again” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Sam Cooke, “Wonderful World” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Pipettes, “I Love You” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download everything in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Short Cuts (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)