Well, this whole crush thing has become a little easier to determine now that I’ve updated to a newer iPod and am using iTunes, which kindly tells me that the songs I’ve been listening to the most recently have been The Killers, “Read My Mind”, Regina Spektor, “On The Radio” and Amos Lee, “Careless”. I heartily recommend these to any and all. The Killers song you’d do best to just find and download that one song (legally of course), because you’ve already heard the other good song off that album, “When You Were Young”, and their choice for a second single, “Bones” is a fair representation of the fuzzy unmelodic mess that constitutes the rest of the album. In my opinion.

But setting aside new old favorites, I’d like to spotlight a brand-new crush of mine, one that once again reminds me of how behind the curve I can occasionally be with popular music. From the late 1980s until fairly recently, I was so immersed in the world of hip-hop, not to mention the creation of my own music, that I often missed out on some very good music being played above 90.3 on the FM dial. For instance, a little band named Nirvana - I’m embarrassed to admit that I knew next to nothing about them until the world’s reaction to Cobain’s death made me curious about what I’d been missing. To this day, the only Nirvana album I own is “Unplugged”. People gave me copies of their older stuff, and I of course enjoy and appreciate it, but it’s really never going to feel like it’s mine. I just was out of touch with grunge, and also missed (thankfully) the development of rap as pop music through Notorious B.I.G. and Puffy Combs, the re-emergence of the boy band and the sexy teen girl pop star, short on talent but long on leg. I can however recommend all sorts of great hip-hop and techno albums from the 90’s, most of which went unnoticed by the mass audience. Ah well, such is specialization I guess.

So into this black hole of ignorance fell Social Distortion. Weird thing - I actually had a Social Distortion logo sticker (the skeleton with the martini) on my boombox back in 1990 or so. I had no idea what it meant, I just liked the image. And as the years went on, I became vaguely aware that Social D / SD / SxDx were a band, a punk band I think, most likely one of those new ones who just play as fast as they can and hope their audience is too busy banging their heads into walls to notice that they have nothing interesting to say musically. And I could have gone on like this for the rest of my life but for the fortuitous intervention of a friend who told me about going to a Social Distortion concert recently. Curious, and in the mood for new music, I picked up a CD. The next day, I picked up all of their CDs.

What a pleasant surprise! Far from the Badbrains / Dead Kennedys / Minor Threat so-fast-and-rough-you-won’t-notice-we-aren’t-musicians thrash punk I dreaded, this falls sweetly into this wonderful subgenre I’ve discussed with friends: punks who really really wanted to be hardcore rebel punks and screw all the musical rules, but who found out quite to their surprise that they were just too good songwriters and musicians to suck. They may have been simple screw-the-world punk at one time in a basement somewhere, but after a few shows they discovered they were actually pretty good at this whole music thing. Some others who floated above the punk pack have turned out to be The Clash / Joe Strummer, X, Elvis Costello, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam, and more recently Sublime, The Flaming Lips, and Sugar Ray (who I really can’t stand, but Mark McGrath & Co. are perhaps the quintessential modern example of people who thought louder and faster was the answer, until Bradley Nowell died and they decided, with help from “What I Got” producer David Kahne, to continue his successful career since he obviously wasn’t going to be needing it).

So here is the song I’ve been growing tinnitus with for the past few weeks - Social Distortion’s “Angel’s Wings”, the last song on their 2004 album “Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll”. It’s a great example of their sound, for which I can come up with no better description than old Irish drinking song melodies set to power chords in predictible but reassuring progressions, topped off with singer Mike Ness’ gravelly but made-for-harmony voice grabbing you by the fauxhawk and imploring you to get more out of life. It’s big anthemic stuff, with choruses that exhort you to sing along at the top of your lungs. I find it to be inspiring stuff, not a downer to be found on any of their many albums. And the consistency is frightening. If you love this song, you will like their body of work. If you don’t like this, don’t bother looking further, because it’s all of a type. And what’s weird is, although I swear I’ve never heard any of their music before, it all has this eerily familiar feel to it, as if suddenly around the next corner will be a track I know from some movie or something. Nope, they’re just employing a sound that fits in smoothly right beside stuff like R.E.M., John Mellencamp, The Wallflowers, Foo Fighters, The Bosstones, some Psychedelic Furs (Ness’ voice is similar to Richard Butler’s), Fuel (another voice-similarity - Brett Scallions could actually be Ness’ son - as well as the big power chords) and X (a bit of that folksy rockabilly). It’s not really punk at all - it’s just good old, big old, Americana rock ‘n’ roll music. And I’m loving it.

Unfortunately, as it turned out with Nirvana, I seem to have discovered these guys just in time to never hear from them again. There’s been some quitting, some dying, and their website offers little hope that there is going to be any new continuing version of the band. Oh well, as my Dad used to point out, the only good thing about an artist you like dying or quitting is that now you can safely and confidently own it all!

Download: Social Distortion, “Angel’s Wings” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

This month’s crush focuses on the upcoming U.S. holiday, Thanksgiving. It’s a time of food, family, food, friends, food, shopping, food, watching movies, food, and more food.

Or littering.

Or dodging the draft.

(See, nice connection to “Selective Service,” eh?)

My crush is a song that fits the season to a T: Arlo Gurthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” a song that everybody has heard at least once - if not once a year.

As Wikipedia so stoically says about this epic song:

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (commonly referred to simply as “Alice’s Restaurant”) is singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s most famous work, a talking blues based on a true story that began on Thanksgiving Day, 1965, and which inspired a 1969 movie. The song lasts 18 minutes and 20 seconds, occupying the entire A side of Guthrie’s 1967 debut record album, titled Alice’s Restaurant (Warner Reprise Records). It is notable as a satirical, first-person account of 1960s counterculture, in addition to being a hit song in its own right.

‘Tis the tradition in many families to listen to this song in its entirety on Thanksgiving Day, enjoying its rambling story and Guthrie’s happy, youthful twang as he happily relates the three stories in his song:

1. Bering arrested near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving Day, 1965.
2. The trial for said arrest, featuring a mountain of photographs and a visually-impaired judge, as well as the prejudice against the hippie culture.
3. A story of being called up for the Vietnam War draft, and getting out of it for having a criminal record based on his littering arrest.

It’s a fun yarn that Guthrie premiered at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, then committed to record while it was still fresh. Since then, he’s performed it off-and-on - he does tire of performing an 18-plus minute song year after year - to great acclaim by his fans. To keep things fresh, he’s altered the lyrics a bit, even introducing a new bit explaining the missing Watergate tapes (the missing bit is, after all, about 18 minutes long).

He even wrote a completely different version of the song in 1967 as the “The Alice’s Restaurant Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair,” a paean to marijuana use and its role in the Cold War. You can get this version via the iTunes Store.

I’ve seen him perform it a few blocks from the Whitehall Street (NYC) Army Recruiting Center where the infamous draft interview took place may years earlier, and it was a treat.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy this Thanksgiving-time classic.

Download: “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” - Arlo Guthrie (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Much like last month’s crush, The Hold Steady, Badly Drawn Boy’s new disc Born in the UK helped lift me from my recent musical doldrums, and it was an unexpected treat, too.

The last proper Badly Drawn Boy album, One Plus One is One, was a bit of a disaster — it was somber and boring, and it made lots of folks, including me, wonder what Damon Gough (BDB himself) had left in the tank, especially since his career started off with such a bang: his debut The Hour of the Bewilderbeast was a gloriously complex and inventive mix of folk, rock, and chamber pop — it spawned a number of UK hits and won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 2000 — but each subsequent album, although having their own high points, seemed less inspired than its’ predecessor. One Plus One is One was certainly a career low point, so I was pleasantly surprised by how fantastic Born in the UK is.

Although not as solid as Bewilderbeast, Born in the UK is more consistently winning than his last couple of albums, and the songs are full of energy, interesting arrangements, and gorgeous melodies. The first single, “Born in the UK,” is a fantastic Brit-pop parallel to the Boss’ muscular original — BDB even peppers the song with piano where Springsteen would employ glockenspiel. The heart of the album, tho, is a pair of heartbreaking, dramatic ballads (”Nothing’s Gonna Change Your Mind” and “Promises”) and “The Way Things Used to Be,” a woozy, slide-guitar flavored country shuffle. “Promises” is the leader of the pack: Gough ruminates about relationships, pain, and mortality over his piano before the song slowly grows into a full band arrangement backed by an orchestra — it’s a big, beautiful song. Enjoy:

Download: Badly Drawn Boy, “Promises” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

I figured that this might be worth mentioning here, too — I’m giving away some great free stuff over at my other website, You Can Take The Boy Outta Brooklyn…!

One lucky reader will take home a copy of the soundtrack to the new Will Farrell/Emma Thompson movie Stranger Than Fiction. The trailer do look good, but why should you care about the soundtrack? Because it was partially composed by Spoon’s Britt Daniel, and it features “The Book I Write,” a brand new Spoon song. Awesome.

Want a taste of the tunes and enter the contest? Visit the contest’s post for all the details and a stream of “The Book I Write.” The contest runs until 6:00 p.m. (EST) on Monday, November 13, so get clickin’!

Visit: http://www.forepac.com/blog/?p=432

Good luck!

1. Pink Floyd, “Fearless”
   Rudi did say to pick favorite artists, right? Well the works of (The) Pink Floyd / Roger Waters make up a significant portion of my favorite songs and albums. Pink Floyd is my favorite band, though these days I don’t know how current that description is, whether I should say “were” my favorite… Anyway, I looked around for a couple songs that I personally love but don’t often hear get played or discussed. Some candidates were “Corporal Clegg” (a fun goofy semi-parody of / semi-homage to “Sgt. Pepper”), “Green Is The Colour” (from the More soundtrack) and “Childhood’s End” which foreshadows both David Gilmour’s solo work and the opening to U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name”. But in the end I went with these two songs, the first of which, “Fearless”, hails from the Meddle album; the last album on which the Floyd were an actual band playing different styles of music to see what would stick. What stuck was “Echoes”, and that begat a little something called The Dark Side Of The Moon. But here’s a good old funky rock song, like something The Doobie Brothers or Steppenwolf forgot to take off the master tape before Roger Waters came along and added his Barretty insane haunting lyrics (”Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd”). The sound of the Floyd just being a band and chugging it out, backed at the end by a soccer crowd singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Good stuff.
2. Pink Floyd, “Wot’s…Uh The Deal”
   From the similarly pre-Dark Side album Obscured By Clouds, this remains one of my favorite Floyd songs, right up there with “Nobody Home”. Again just kind of soft-rocky rather than psychedelic, this is the sound of the band the Floyd would have been had Alan Parsons and Dark Side not happened. I guess they never would have been remembered any more than The Faces or Bread or whoever, had they not finally put Dark Side to tape, but here you’ve got a song that exists comfortably next to The Eagles’ “Desperado”, and I don’t know of many who ever would think a Floyd song would sit in that position easily. This does.
3. Beastie Boys, “33% God”
4. Beastie Boys, “Dis Yourself In ‘89″
   Here we have the two B-side instrumental mixes of “Shake Your Rump” and “Hey Ladies”. Really Dust Brothers tracks showcasing the finest sampling work this side of The Art Of Noise or The Avalanches, these aren’t merely the same songs sans vocals. They’re complete funk instrumentals, re-worked and re-mixed by Mike Simpson & John King with minimal vocal samples by the Beasties, and featuring lots of samples that didn’t make it into the finished song. Two fantastic examples of the artistry of sampling, pre-”Transmitting Live From Mars” or “Alone Again (Naturally)”, let alone “Bittersweet Symphony”. The Dust Brothers did this one more time on the B-side of “Shadrach”, a track called “And What You Give Is What You Get”, with similarly impressive results.
5. The Flaming Lips, “Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair”
   Wayne Coyne & Co are my favorite current band (last rushed unfocused album notwithstanding), mainly because of the way they combine the quirky and the tragic. Following old roads paved by Neil Young, Brian Wilson and Roger Waters, The Flaming Lips’ songs often seem to hint at some great unseen battle between Good & Evil, Man & Nature, Life & Death, and of course little girls and robots. The Soft Bulletin is, in the right frame of mind, the perfect soundtrack to this secret invisible war, with songs like “Race For The Prize” and “The Gash” containing lyrics alluding to fighting and cures and some struggle between two unnamed sides, probably within Coyne’s psyche. I present here two songs from their experimental, 4-discs-to-be-played-simultaneously project album, Zaireeka. There were four discs, each containing part of a song - vocals, drums, guitar, effects, whatever - designed to be played simultaneously on 4 CD players creating an enveloping interactive feel to the songs. Back in 1998 I mixed this album to 2-track stereo (leaving the charming touch of the CD countdowns so you know when to start) and have dubbed countless copies for friends, since it proved prohibitive for most to experience and enjoy this album firsthand. The first song here, “Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair”, just breaks my heart it’s so tragic, and it’s a great example of a song about that great war between Sanity & Madness, Reality & Fantasy, that Coyne seems to be merely relating rather than creating. The song features some of his bleakest lyrics, about the search for a missing plane whose pilot went insane and “hung himself midflight in the bathroom”. God. The music’s cheery too, lots of processed strings and feedback loops bouncing around from track to track. I’m listening to it now and Coyne is just railing against the heavens, “Why?” I don’t know, man, but I do know that I might not want to be stuck in your head for more than an album at a time.
6. The Flaming Lips, “The Big Ole Bug Is The New Baby Now”
   Time to lighten things up a bit. Coyne is also just a natural raconteur and storyteller, as demonstrated well in the Lips’ recent documentary film. He’s got that great Oklahoma twang, and enough life has gone into that mind behind that graying hair that he’s just fun to listen to. In this song, he relates a simple quirky little story about how his dogs’ affection turned one day from a stuffed-animal to a big plastic insect. Well if you were owned by Wayne Coyne your value system might be a bit skewed too. This is fun because he keeps speeding up and slowing down his voice, and the music builds into a big anthemic “Hey Jude”-type chorus - only being the Lips, it’s not about love and loss, it’s about dogs and bugs. The moment at which he says, “stuffed animal baby”, all four discs had a short echo of his voice, all smashed together in this stereo mix. Mercifully I fade the song right as the dog barking begins, because on the original tracks it goes on for a long time and is by far the loudest thing on the album. Enjoy, and for a similar rambling anthem, check out “Thank You Jack White (For The Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)” from the Fight Test EP. Or just go and buy everything by the Lips from Hit To Death In The Future Head through Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. It represents the distillation of so much I’ve loved about music all my life - The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Roger Waters, Beck, all wrapped up in a Linklater-esque paranormal paranoid Oklahoma burrito. Take a bite and enjoy the trip.

Download: UNKLE Matt’s “Two (songs) Outta Three (bands) Ain’t Bad” (zip — YouSendIt)
(Click here for download instructions)

This month, we’re going to try something different: downloading the songs & XML playlist individually — let us know which you prefer by posting a comment!

Download: Pink Floyd, “Fearless” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Pink Floyd, “Wot’s… Uh The Deal” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Beastie Boys, “33% God” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Beastie Boys, “Dis Yourself In ‘89″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Flaming Lips, “Thirty-Five Thousand Feet Of Despair” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Flaming Lips, “The Big Ole Bug Is The New Baby Now” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: UNKLE Matt’s “Two (songs) Outta Three (bands) Ain’t Bad” (XML playlist)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

When I issued this challenge, it seemed easy at the time: pick a few of my faves, dig deep, float a list, no problem.

Then I actually sat down to assemble the list and said “woah - how’d I come up with this, again?”

Shaking off that doubt, I continued by laying down some personal ground rules:

1. I wouldn’t use The Beatles or Simon & Garfunkel for a “fave.” I figured that most of the “deep” tracks by these two are already common knowledge - and also came to the conclusion that I’d have a hard time narrowing the selection down to two or three tracks per artist. Perhaps another day, but this selection isn’t it.
2. I wouldn’t venture into the realm of jazz. Firstly, it’s too obscure. Secondly, I didn’t feel like blowing my entire time allotment on one artist - jazz folk tend to run long in my favorite styles (modal, early fusion, cool and hard bop).

Okay, that’s two rules, but it’s enough. So I went with two artists associated with the “untouchables,” and one additional artist that isn’t understood enough.

Paul McCartney was an easy first choice. Over the years, he’s been all over the map, writing and performing primarily pop and rock material that stuck closely to the formulae established by The Beatles. Yes, he’s written more than his fair share of “silly love songs,” and tends to be quite cautious with most of his material. But he’s also ventured into territory that his former partner, John Lennon, was noted for. Paul performed rocking protest songs. Paul ventured into house and ambient music, unbeknownst to the London club scene that couldn’t get enough of this cat called “The Fireman.” Paul also crooned with big bands, wrote some mean rockabilly, and has recently composed a slew of decent classical pieces. Yes, he’s had some stinkers - but so did John (anybody wanna argue the merit of “Number 9 Dream,” where John was merely happy that he was able to record a song that said “pussy” a lot?).

Next up is Paul Simon, who hasn’t exactly been a shrinking flower over the years. He, too, has reinvented his sound, but in a much more blatant regard than McCartney. When Simon & Garfunkel broke up, Simon’s first (actually second) solo album was a deliberately minimalist affair. And as the 1970s and 1980s rolled through, Simon kept tinkering with his sound, his songwriting process, and his own presence in songs he wrote. In the 1980s, after a failed reunion with Garfunkel, Simon experimented with synthesizer pop (Hearts And Bones), African vocal and instrumental influences (Graceland) and South American percussion (Rhythm Of The Saints). The 1990s saw Simon return to his doo-wop roots for an admittedly-flawed musical (The Capeman), and this new century sees Simon continuing to tinker with the formula.

I close with a set from The Who, a group that just released its first new studio album in 24 years, Endless Wire. The evolution of The Who from a mod group in the mid-1960s (then known as The High Numbers) to a pioneer in thematic rock albums (The Who Sell Out) and rock opera (A Quick One (While He’s Away), Tommy and Quadrophenia) is remarkable - as is their incredible staying power through adversity. In 1978, their charismatic and wild drummer, Keith Moon, died of a drug overdose. In 2002, on the eve of a world tour, John “The Ox” Entwistle died of a cocaine-induced cardiac arrest. Yet the two frontmen of the band, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, carried on to create incredible music. And the music isn’t always hard-edged rock: Townshend has an incredible understanding of sound and arrangement that transcends plain ‘ol “RAWK and ROLL.”

All three of these aritsts figure prominently in my musical influences and pop up a lot on my iPod - so let’s get to ‘em!

1. “Too Many People” - Paul & Linda McCartney (from Ram)
   After a fairly simple solo launch in 1970, McCartney’s second solo album opened with this corker. “Too Many People” rails against people “going underground,” being “pulled and pushed around” by handlers and trends. It’s the view of a friend watching his pals go off in directions that might not be the best choices - something easy for the farm-based McCartney to do in reference to his estranged partner, Lennon, and his public displays of political and artistic endeavors (”Too many people preaching practices/Don’t let ‘em tell you want you want to be.”). “You took your lucky break,” McCartney mused, “and broke it in two.” It’s a bombastic song, using a lot of the production techniques McCartney honed under George Martin’s wing at Abbey Road Studios, and it laid the groundwork for his later 1970s work.
2. “Fluid (Out Of Body And Mind Mix)” - The Fireman (from Rushes)
   McCartney has recorded two albums of ambient and house music under the pseudonym “The Fireman.” Both albums feature McCartney working with UK producer Flood to remix snippets of McCartney’s recorded output (from The Beatles to the then-present day) with loops, synthesized beats, spoken word, and other sounds to create a sonic tapestry that’s very, very different from the ballad work most Macca fans crave. The first fruit of this team, “Deliverance,” hit the dance clubs in 1993 to incredibly positive reaction from London-based DJs and club goers - none of whom knew that it was McCartney’s handiwork.
3. “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” - Paul McCartney & Wings
   Who said that Lennon was the sole owner of the “ex-Beatle protest singer” crown? Before Lennon penned “John Sinclair,” “Luck Of The Irish,” or “Woman Is The Nigger Of The World,” McCartney released this loud protest song. The theme was a common one for progressive-minded Brits: allowing Northern Ireland to retrocede into the Republic of Ireland. And Macca didn’t mince words in the song, earning an instant ban from the airwaves of the BBC. His follow-up single fared much better: a pop reworking of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
4. “The Side Of A Hill” - Paul Simon (from The Paul Simon Songbook)
   Some of you may recognize the lyrics of this song as the “Canticle” portion of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” - and you’d be correct. This song was part of S&G’s early live repertoire, and was eventually incorporated into “Scarborough Fair” (a public domain folk song arranged by Martin Carthy) to give Simon the right to file the song under his own copyright. Legally questionable? Yes, fine, but the lyric is a potent anti-war message wrapped in a beautiful, lilting guitar ballad. This recording is from an album that Simon recorded in the UK during a break from S&G in 1965: just Paul and his guitar, it’s the most simple and effective a recording of Simon.
5. “Night Game” - Paul Simon (from Still Crazy After All These Years)
   One of the more quiet songs from the ultra popular Still Crazy After All These Years, this is one of the few songs from said album that didn’t deal with his divorce from Peggy Harper. Instead, Simon tells the story of a baseball game that is brought to a halt when the pitcher of the game suddenly dies in the 8th inning - uplifting, no? So this might tie in with Simon’s divorce - death imagery and all - but it also shows Simon’s reverence of baseball, which has always been an influence in his life and songcraft.
6. “Ace In The Hole” - Paul Simon (from One Trick Pony)
   In 1978, Paul Simon was lured to Warner Brothers records under the promise of increased artistic freedom - including writing and starring in a movie, One Trick Pony. The plot revolved around a washed-up rock star who had one hit in the 1960s, a folk-rock ballad, and was staging a comeback. Having hit many personal struggles - writer’s block, a failing marriage, and substance abuse - the movie was somewhat autobiographical. While Simon’s acting was often a bit wooden, the movie featured an incredible soundtrack. The most interesting aspect of the soundtrack is that many of the songs were written in a style markedly different from Simon’s usual folk-pop ballad: harder, more rocking tunes, with a solid backing band and top-notch lyrics. “Ace In The Hole” is at the same tie one of Simon’s most obtuse tracks (”some people say Jesus, that’s my ace in the hole/Well, I’ve never met the man/So I don’t really know”), yet one of his most accessible and funny (”Once I was crazy and my ace in the hole/Is that I knew that I was crazy/So I never lost my self-control”). As song about self-doubt, writer’s block and the rough-and-tumble life of a rock star, it’s a lot of fun and shows a much less restrained side of Paul Simon.
7. “The Seeker” - The Who
   A early song from “The ‘Orrible ‘Oo,” this is a fine BBC Radio 1 recording of “The Seeker” that shows a band that’s in control of its destiny. And as wild as any of the playing sounds, it’s very much under control: Townshend’s manic guitar strums, Moon’s chaotic drum fills, Entwistle’s percussive bass, and Daltrey’s balls-to-the-walls vocals were used to calculated perfection. The sum was just edgy enough to sound like it could self-destruct, yet incredibly powerful. This song was a hit in the UK, but didn’t register in the USA - so give it a listen now!
8. “The Song Is Over” - The Who (from Who’s Next)
   Who’s Next is possibly the most balanced album from The Who. Every song on the album packs a punch, and many tracks on the album were hit singles in their own right. Heck, the producers of C.S.I. have certainly taken a fancy to tracks from Who’s Next, using “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and other power tracks from the album as theme songs. But this song is different: a bit lighter, with a great vocal arrangement and a balance of bombast and frailty. You may know this track, but it’s worth a re-visit.
9. “Blue, Red and Grey” - The Who (from The Who By Numbers)
   By 1975, the band had hit a bit of a rut. Drink, drugs and a relentless touring schedule had taken their toll on the band, and their new album, The Who By Numbers, was far from their strongest album to most fans - even the title alluded to being mired in routine. But the years have proven that the album is one of the most creatively varied albums in The Who’s canon. This song is unique in that it borrows a lot from American bluegrass and country influences, as well as the music of the UK’s Fairport Convention. While Pete Townshend explored similar sounds in his solo work, this is one of the few times that he used this sound with his powerhouse band - and to great effect.

Enjoy the listening - and I hope they pass the audition!

Download: Onkel Rudi’s “Sir Paul, a Paul from Queens, and something ‘Orrible” (zip)
(Click here for download instructions)

This month, we’re going to try something different: downloading the songs & XML playlist individually — let us know which you prefer by posting a comment!

Download: “Too Many People” - Paul & Linda McCartney (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Fluid (Out Of Body And Mind Mix)” - The Fireman (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” - Paul McCartney & Wings (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Side Of A Hill” - Paul Simon (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Night Game” - Paul Simon (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Ace In The Hole” - Paul Simon (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

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

Download: “The Song Is Over” - The Who (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Blue, Red and Grey” - The Who (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Playlist file (xml)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

I know Rudi’s guidelines were to pick our “3 favorite artists” for this this month’s challenge, but I feel like I’ve already been flogging 2 of mine a great deal here already (Anyone tired of Eels or Primal Scream yet? I’m not, but I don’t wanna burn you out…), so I took a slightly different approach: I picked the Rolling Stones using Rudi’s original guidelines (I refuse to spend almost $100 to see their stadium shows anymore, but I’m otherwise completely obsessed — you should see my Stones disc collection), but I selected Prince and Oasis (both in my top ten for sure) because I have a unique relationship to their catalogs.

My first Prince album wasn’t Purple Rain or Around the World in a Day, it was his Batman soundtrack. I was lured in because I was a nerd, but I got hooked by the sleek funk of “Electric Chair” and “Vicki Waiting.” I became more and more of a fan as he got weirder and weirder and loved each new album — I only discovered the joys of “Raspberry Beret” and “Little Red Corvette” through greatest-hits comps. As good as those classic songs are, I think I’m a bigger fan of his New Power Generation and 0(+> days than I am of his giant radio hits, and I wanted to share some songs with you that most people missed.

As for Oasis, I’m as voracious a fan of theirs as I am of the Stones and Primal Scream, and I was a huge collector of their early UK-only CD singes. Unlike many bands, Oasis’ b-sides weren’t tossed off filler — they were absolute brit-pop gems, and it’s a shame that most American fans never had much exposure to them. After their third album, Be Here Now, fell flat on the charts, most folks wrote them off, but there are some excellent songs on their more recent albums, too. I tried to address both of these issues in my playlist.

Anyway, enough about me — it’s the music, stupid! Enjoy…

1. Oasis, “Whatever”
   This single was released in the gap between Oasis’ first 2 albums, Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, and it straddles the albums’ different sounds perfectly: the raw, dense rock of Maybe comes through in the production and rough, jangly guitars, but you can also hear the band evolving towards the Beatles-esque pop of Morning Glory through the string section and gorgeous melody. It’s a classic single. As of today, it’s never had a proper release in the US, but it will finally make an appearance on their upcoming greatest hits set, Stop the Clocks, due mid-November 2006.
2. Oasis, “Gas Panic!”
   This song comes from Oasis’ widely ignored album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but I think this is an overlooked classic. The Gallaghers ditched longtime producer Owen Morris in favor of Mark “Spike” Stent, who had previously worked with electronic acts like Massive Attack, Keane, and the KLF. Stent gave the album a heavier, more psychedelic sound, and I think it suits this song perfectly: “Gas Panic!” chronicles Noel Gallagher’s battles with drug abuse, panic attacks, and depression, and the thick bass and swirling psychedelic strings and keys give the song an appropriately unsettling sound.
3. Oasis, “Underneath the Sky”
   During Oasis’ heyday, the b-sides to their UK singles were better than most bands’ proper albums, and here comes the science: “Underneath the Sky” was the b-side to the “Don’t Look Back In Anger” single, and it’s a fantastically catchy brit-pop number. The melody and lyrics are sing-songy, but the propulsive rhythm and rough, distorted guitar give the song a fantastic edge. I first heard this song when I snagged an import copy of the “Anger” UK single, but you can get ahold of it and a host of other should-be classic Oasis b-sides on the compilation The Masterplan.
4. Prince, “The Morning Papers”
   His name is Prince, and he is funky, but he’s also a masterful pop and R&B songwriter, as evidenced by this anthemic soul number from his Love Symbol album. That album made all sorts of scandalous headlines thanks to his assless chaps and the over-the-top eroticism of “Sexy MF,” and it unfortunately distracted the public from a very experimental, inventive album. It jumps all over the place, stylistically: he knocks out James Brown-style funk workouts (”The Sacrifice of Victor”), reggae (”Blue Light”), sweaty dancefloor jams (”The Max” and “The Flow”), sexy rock romps (”The Continental”), tender R&B balladry (”Sweet Baby” and “And God Created Woman”), all the while backed by the New Power Generation, easily the most talented band he’s ever worked with. If this song were released today, it would be hailed as a neo-soul classic — the paisley one was just way ahead of his time.
5. Prince, “Days of Wild”
   This thunderous funk workout dates back to 1993/1994, around the time that Prince changed his name to the unpronounceable symbol and shaving “Slave” into his cheek, but it didn’t see official release until this live version surfaced of 1997’s Crystal Ball, a 3-disc set of rarities he released after he’d freed himself from his WBR contract. Another live, somewhat lyrically edited, version was also issued as a single in 2002. I still haven’t come across a studio cut, but who cares — this version of the NPG is easily the best band Prince has worked with, and their furious, funky power is on full display here.
6. Prince, “Endorphinmachine”
   The Gold Experience was the first album of new material that Prince released after his symbol-name-change, and it’s an overlooked gem. Still backed by the New Power Generation, the album is a stirring reminder that Prince is an absolute guitar/funk genius. “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” is beautiful pop/soul, “Now” is a crazy shot of James Brown-style dancefloor funk, and “Gold” is a stirring, emotional rock anthem, but the real gem is this tune, a balls-to-the-wall, funky rock song that features one of the most blistering guitar solos ever put to tape.
7. The Rolling Stones, “Saint of Me”
   This is easily my favorite latter-day Stones song — it’s from 1998’s Bridges to Babylon album, and was produced by (gasp!) the Dust Brothers. Jagger dipped his toes back into religious territory (a la “Sympathy for the Devil”), and ended up penning one of his best songs in years. The Bros. employ a subtle drum loop that gives the song a loose, driving rhythm; the late, great Billy Preston’s organ creates a warm, gospel feeling; and Keith Richards’ acoustic strum counters beautifully against Ronnie Wood’s slide guitar solos. It’s easily their best single since “Mixed Emotions.”
8. The Rolling Stones, “Loving Cup”
   This is one of my favorite songs from the Stones’ “can-do-no-wrong” period: a soulful, piano-drenched, gospel-kissed ballad that often gets overlooked alongside classics like “Tumbling Dice,” “Rocks Off,” and “Happy.” From 1968 through 1972, the Stones released an unbelievably accomplished string of albums: Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St.. Although not as commercially successful as the others, Exile is probably the most consistent of the bunch — its’ a commanding blend of rock, soul, gospel, and blues, and it still sounds as vital today as it did almost 25 years ago. “Loving Cup” actually dates back to 1969 (the Stones debuted it at the 1969 Hyde Park concert for Brian Jones), but it didn’t see official release until it popped up on Exile.
9. The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Live at Hyde Park, June 5, 1969)
   In June of 1969, the Stones were going to play a huge outdoor concert at London’s Hyde Park to introduce Mick Taylor as their new guitarist. Taylor was replacing Brian Jones, whose drug habit had made him an unreliable performer and collaborator, but his intro didn’t go as planned. On June 3, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool (his death remains unsolved to this day), and the Stones’ June 5 Hyde Park concert turned into a celebration of and memorial for Jones. They closed the show with this near-20-minute version of “Sympathy for the Devil,” and it stands as one of the best performances of the song ever: Mick’s performance is loaded with passion and energy; Taylor’s smooth bluesy licks counter Keith’s rough, rhythmic riffing beautifully; and they’re joined by a large group of African drummers, whose percussion adds to the sturm und drang of the performance. The concert was filmed & recorded for British TV, but its’ never seen official CD release — this cut comes from a RoIO I’ve tracked down, and it’s remarkably clear.

Download: Uncle Sam’s “A Prince, two wankers, and the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band” (zip — YouSendIt)
(Click here for download instructions)

This month, we’re going to try something different: downloading the songs & XML playlist individually — let us know which you prefer by posting a comment!

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

Download: Oasis, “Gas Panic!” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Oasis, “Underneath the Sky” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Prince, “The Morning Papers” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Prince, “Days of Wild” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

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

Download: The Rolling Stones, “Saint of Me” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Rolling Stones, “Loving Cup” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Live at Hyde Park June 5, 1969) (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Uncle Sam’s “A Prince, two wankers, and the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band” (XML playlist)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Welcome to November!

What a lovely month, isn’t it? In the United States, we’ve entered the holiday season - shop ’til you drop, especially if you want to get any of the best toys for the kids this Christmas.

It’s also a time for a lot of political decisions here in the U.S. And much like a person’s preference for political party, congressperson or mayor, one’s choice of favorite musical act is sometimes questioned.

With that in mind, this month’s challenge is:

• Pick three of your favorite acts.
• Pick two or three songs of theirs that aren’t necessarily hits, but deserve to be known by a bigger audience.
• Wax prosaic about why these tracks and acts are worthy.

Okay, the actual wording of the challenge might not have been so clear-cut, but I wrote it at an ungodly hour when I was ready to sleep.

At any rate, the task here is to be a bit of an A&R rep, or a campaign manager, or even an attorney: sell your act, tell folks why these artists should be part of the daily listen. Perhaps show some alternate sides to a well-known artist: B-sides, one-off projects, alter-ego releases, and the like.

Above all: have fun, be creative, and let’s see what you’ve got!

• Uncle Sam’s “A Prince, two wankers, and the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band”
• Onkel Rudi’s “Sir Paul, a Paul from Queens, and Something ‘Orrible”
• UNKLE Matt’s “Two (songs) Outta Three (bands) Ain’t Bad”

A word to regular visitors: We’re trying something different this month: in addition to ZIP archives of each playlist, we’re also offering the songs and the XML playlist as individual downloads. Let us know what you think and which you prefer by posting a comment to this thread — thanks!