The Big Cosmic Horror in the Nighttime Post
I'm still pretty out of sorts from going into my traditional sulky coma of isolation on New Year's Eve, and feeling pretty all-around rancorous. Too grumpy, in fact, to think of a theme even for today's mp3 post. Perhaps one will emerge as I let my mind wander and my eye guide me through iTunes.
Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), op. 4 [zipped; 27.6 megs]
Arthur Alexander - Detroit City
You know, I can already see where this is heading. This is clearly going to be my 2005 post-backlog clearing house. I've been meaning to post Transfigured Night and at least some Arthur Alexander, but never got around to it. Arthur Alexander, if you don't know, is quite an R&B nonpareil. Lots of folks re-recorded his songs (e.g. the Beatles & the Rolling Stones), but his unique, betrayed, fatalistic songwriting style really sounds best when sung in his own voice. This tune, of course, was not written by him... Not sure who really, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. I want to say Bobby Bare, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong.
Blossom Dearie - I Want to Be Bad
Cab Calloway - Smokin' Reefers
This and the track above are from a pair of undeservedly obscure compilations highlighting sorta-but-not-quite-famous American songwriters. Desylva, Brown & Henderson in the case of the former, Arthur Schwartz in the latter. The Blossom Dearie song makes me want to get drunk and start pinching strange women on the ass, and the Calloway tune is just a hoot.
Bobby "Blue" Bland - I Pity the Fool
I've been feeling really bluesy lately. It's mostly what I've been listening to, actually. And I really should've done a big Bobby Blue post long before this. There will be one in the future.
The Chairmen of the Board - So Glad You're Mine
I don't even really know who these cats are. They're kinda 70s disco (most of their other songs I've heard are crap), but also kinda soulful. This song's got a really catchy chorus, though, and I found myself singing it under my breath (but somewhat loudly) on the bus the other day. I wasn't even listening to it at the time, it just lodged itself in my brain somehow.
Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home
I put this on a mix CD for Kromelizard, but it's still poking around my subconscious. Maybe it's the whole 'lonely boy' thing. Then again, maybe it's the 'I can sing like a girl' thing, who knows. (I really can't, but that never stopped me from trying to rip out a Betty Everett tune in the shower.) You've gotta admire the chutzpah of a guy who basically stops singing his song to tell you he can also sing like a girl and like a frog, if you want. And then proceeds to do just that. I myself have never tried to sing like a frog. It sounds uncomfortable.
Diamanda Galas - Baby's Insane
A song that somehow always makes me feel nostalgic for the craziest excesses of the women I've dated. It's also a good song to put on mix cds of crazy girls you're trying to woo. Normally, Diamanda Galas scratches at the outer limits of what I find enjoyable in music, and she's really not a good blues singer, but this record that she did with Led Zeppelin bassist Jon Paul Jones is actually pretty groovy.
Dorothy Masuka - My Parents
Super-catchy fifties (sixties?) dance/R&B/jazz from South Africa. At least that's what the cover on the compilation claims. It doesn't quite sound like Afrikaans to me, but then it's definitely not English either. Basically sounds like a lost Louis Jordan song, with this young South African chick doing somewhat sing-songy vocals (her voice makes me think she's the girl in the playground all the boys want to make out with, and one day she will, she will).
The Impressions - It's All Right
On my mind because of an Okayplayer message board thread Dantelong was showing me, exhaustively admiring Curtis Mayfield's solo output while mostly acting like the Impressions never really existed. Frankly, I prefer the stuff he did with the Impressions.
Jackie Chan & Ani DiFranco - Unforgettable
Yes, they're duetting on the Nat King Cole chestnut. I mean, really. What the fuck.
Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), op. 4 [zipped; 27.6 megs]
Arthur Alexander - Detroit City
You know, I can already see where this is heading. This is clearly going to be my 2005 post-backlog clearing house. I've been meaning to post Transfigured Night and at least some Arthur Alexander, but never got around to it. Arthur Alexander, if you don't know, is quite an R&B nonpareil. Lots of folks re-recorded his songs (e.g. the Beatles & the Rolling Stones), but his unique, betrayed, fatalistic songwriting style really sounds best when sung in his own voice. This tune, of course, was not written by him... Not sure who really, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. I want to say Bobby Bare, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong.
Blossom Dearie - I Want to Be Bad
Cab Calloway - Smokin' Reefers
This and the track above are from a pair of undeservedly obscure compilations highlighting sorta-but-not-quite-famous American songwriters. Desylva, Brown & Henderson in the case of the former, Arthur Schwartz in the latter. The Blossom Dearie song makes me want to get drunk and start pinching strange women on the ass, and the Calloway tune is just a hoot.
Bobby "Blue" Bland - I Pity the Fool
I've been feeling really bluesy lately. It's mostly what I've been listening to, actually. And I really should've done a big Bobby Blue post long before this. There will be one in the future.
The Chairmen of the Board - So Glad You're Mine
I don't even really know who these cats are. They're kinda 70s disco (most of their other songs I've heard are crap), but also kinda soulful. This song's got a really catchy chorus, though, and I found myself singing it under my breath (but somewhat loudly) on the bus the other day. I wasn't even listening to it at the time, it just lodged itself in my brain somehow.
Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home
I put this on a mix CD for Kromelizard, but it's still poking around my subconscious. Maybe it's the whole 'lonely boy' thing. Then again, maybe it's the 'I can sing like a girl' thing, who knows. (I really can't, but that never stopped me from trying to rip out a Betty Everett tune in the shower.) You've gotta admire the chutzpah of a guy who basically stops singing his song to tell you he can also sing like a girl and like a frog, if you want. And then proceeds to do just that. I myself have never tried to sing like a frog. It sounds uncomfortable.
Diamanda Galas - Baby's Insane
A song that somehow always makes me feel nostalgic for the craziest excesses of the women I've dated. It's also a good song to put on mix cds of crazy girls you're trying to woo. Normally, Diamanda Galas scratches at the outer limits of what I find enjoyable in music, and she's really not a good blues singer, but this record that she did with Led Zeppelin bassist Jon Paul Jones is actually pretty groovy.
Dorothy Masuka - My Parents
Super-catchy fifties (sixties?) dance/R&B/jazz from South Africa. At least that's what the cover on the compilation claims. It doesn't quite sound like Afrikaans to me, but then it's definitely not English either. Basically sounds like a lost Louis Jordan song, with this young South African chick doing somewhat sing-songy vocals (her voice makes me think she's the girl in the playground all the boys want to make out with, and one day she will, she will).
The Impressions - It's All Right
On my mind because of an Okayplayer message board thread Dantelong was showing me, exhaustively admiring Curtis Mayfield's solo output while mostly acting like the Impressions never really existed. Frankly, I prefer the stuff he did with the Impressions.
Jackie Chan & Ani DiFranco - Unforgettable
Yes, they're duetting on the Nat King Cole chestnut. I mean, really. What the fuck.
posted by Unknown at 3:31 PM
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