Words Of Regret

Two John Cale covers today. Mark Lanegan tries hard, but just can't beat the more menacing original. Sally Timms takes her own sweet time and gets it just right.

Mark Lanegan - I'm Not The Loving Kind
Sally Timms - Half Past France

In The Gluepot

John Cale alone on a stage is always a joy to behold. The following tracks were recorded live in 1983 at a place called The Gluepot in Auckland, New Zealand. "Looking for a friend, looking everywhere, to go walk down the boulevard, boulevard of friends..."

John Cale - Leaving It Up To You

John Cale - Buffalo Ballet

John Cale - Chinese Envoy

Ship Comes In

"A song will lift as the mainsail shifts...". As the final part of a triptych about the sea, here´s a six pack about ships. Again, picking only half a dozen songs wasn´t easy, but here goes.

Chris Bailey and his Saints were once known as a first generation punk band, but these Aussies were a great white soul combo all along of course. The blistering Ghost Ships is further proof of that theory. Meanwhile, John Cale gives new life to the old allegory of the Ship Of Fools. Find it on Fear, one of his stellar seventies albums.

Maki Asakawa is a Japanese artist I know nothing about really, but her jazzy Shipwreck Blues goes down a treat. As for David Ackles, he´s unjustly forgotten. Ballad Of The Ship Of State comes from his ´72 masterpiece American Gothic. "Is the ship going home? Will you take some old young men for crew?"

Tyler Ramsey´s contribution was part of last year´s impressive debut A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea. Hey Tyler, how about a follow-up dude? And for a closer, there´s Dylan´s majestic When The Ship Comes In. This piano-driven version stems from The Bootleg Series 1-3 treasure trove. "And the sun will respect every face on the deck... the hour that the ship comes in."

The Saints - Ghost Ships MP3

John Cale - Ship Of Fools MP3

Maki Asakawa - Shipwreck Blues MP3

David Ackles - Ballad Of The Ship Of State MP3

Tyler Ramsey - Ships MP3

Bob Dylan - When The Ship Comes In

Lou And Bob Vs. The Kids

In my post below, I agreed with the esteemed mr. Rigby that John Cale´s seventies output has stood the test of time a lot better than the albums his former Velvets partner in crime Lou Reed put out during that decade. I also made one exception, and that´s the masterpiece from ´73 called Berlin.

Leaning heavily on Bob Ezrin´s bombastic but apt production, Berlin is a concept album about a relationship gone horribly wrong due to drug use, depression, violence and adultery. It ends with the suicide of Caroline, a.k.a. the German queen, a.k.a. Lady Day, a.k.a. Mary Queen of Scots, a.k.a. Alaska. Some say the story concerns a ménage à trois, but I could never find any proof to back up that particular theory.

One of Berlin´s highlights is a song called The Kids. It starts thus: "They´re taking her children away... because they say she´s not a good mother." Lou sings it like a guy who knows he´s beaten. He´s - almost - beyond emotion. He´s the ´water boy´, just a tired man who probably made some mistakes too along the way, facing the fact that it all came to this and he was never able to turn back the tide. So he makes a list of all the shit that went down, with the black airforce sergeant, the girlfriend from Paris, the Welshman from India and all the others. Only one time his anger gets the upper hand, when he slurs "that miserable rotten slut couldn´t turn anyone away..."

Late in the song, the kids in question start crying in the background. A truly heart-rending sound. Shivers down the spine guaranteed... "Mommy! Mommeeey!" Producer Ezrin used his own children here, and the story goes he either hit them to get them to cry this way, or (gasp) told them their mother was just killed in an accident. Ethical? Not really, but all is fair in love and war as they say, and Ezrin sure got the result he was looking for.

Lou Reed - The Kids MP3

This post is dedicated to Stooges guitarist and occasional bassist Ron Asheton, who was found dead today. In his memory, here´s Louie Louie from the last ever Iggy & The Stooges show in the Michigan Palace in Detroit back in ´74 - we´ll forget about that ill-advised reunion crap for now. Asheton embodied raw power, guitar stylee.

Iggy & The Stooges - Louie Louie MP3

John vs. Lou

Over at Boogie Woogie Flu, one of my fave music blogs, former dB´s drummer Will Rigby tackles the solo legacy of John Cale. In his guest post, illustrated with a couple of great and not so well known Cale tunes and a fun video clip, Rigby writes: "Count me among those who consider John Cale's post-Velvet Underground work superior overall to that of Lou Reed. Not to belittle Dirty Boulevard or Waves Of Fear or Kicks or all the other LR songs I love (and I can't say I've gone ga-ga over a JC album in years), but Cale's albums from the '70s find their way onto my speakers more often."

Can´t agree more, Will. I still play the eccentric Welsman´s seventies albums quite a lot too, and found that the baroque Paris 1919 (´73), the stark Fear (´74) and the heavy live onslaught of Sabotage (´79) still sound remarkably fresh on a modern day iPod. And while Slow Dazzle and Helen Of Troy (both ´75) may not be that consistent, they still have their moments of utter brilliance. Of Reed´s solo oeuvre on the other hand, I guess only the dark (melo-)drama of Berlin (´73) has stood the test of time quite well. Of his other seventies albums, only isolated tracks (Perfect Day, the evergreen Walk On The Wild Side, Street Hassle, Kicks) stand out.

Here are two tracks from the aforementioned Sabotage/Live album. Not an obvious best-of-live collection but a fresh batch of terrific songs, it was recorded in New York City´s punk mecca CBGB´s with a John Cale who was ready for war.

John Cale - Mercenaries (Ready For War) MP3

John Cale - Baby You Know MP3

Just another grab bag Friday

But boy have I got some great stuff for you tonight. There´s a demo from the new Bonnie Prince Billy album, a chilling John Cale live song based on one of Sam Peckinpah´s legendary westerns and some Junior Murvin for all you reggae lovers out there. And these legendary Flatlanders are back by popular demand too. For your further reading pleasure I´ve included some links to other blogs that deserve your immediate attention. Check ´em out. And hey, if you´re interested in Bob Dylan´s special meatballs recipe, go here. Bon appetit!

These nice folks over at Drag City gave us a taster for the new Bonnie Prince Billy album Lie Down In The Light, scheduled for mid-May. Can´t wait. The former Palace Brother is an avid reader too apparently: you can find his rather odd choice of books here. An example: "At night I am reading Teach Yourself: Islam. In between, I am trying to read snippets of a sailing instruction manual, a book about local (Northern California) plant life, and a book about food that pushes the eating of animal products, specifically fats and organs." Is that cool or what?

Bonnie Prince Billy - So Everyone (demo) MP3

Read a shocking piece in the paper some days ago about a man in Dallas who spent 27 years in the slammer, but after a DNA test has now been proven innocent. He left court a free man last Tuesday. Apparently this was the 18th time a wrongly convicted man was freed there, the highest rate for any town in the States. "Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eye, a steel and concrete soul with a warm hearted love disguise, a rich man who tends to believe in his own lies, Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes..." James Woodward, this song´s for you.

The Flatlanders - Dallas MP3

Junior Murvin is best known for his song Police And Thieves, succesfully covered by the Clash on their debut. But the whole album of the same name, a classic Lee ´Scratch´ Perry production recorded in his famous Black Ark studio in ´77, is worth every minute of your time. Island records released a remastered version in ´ 03 with a couple of interesting bonus tracks, one of which is Rasta Get Ready, a rastafied take on Curtis Mayfield´s People Get Ready. By the way: for a variety of great reggae songs on the Police And Thieves riddim, head over to the excellent So Well Remembered blog. Many goodies there.

Junior Murvin - Rasta Get Ready MP3

Speaking of other blogs, I just read a nice piece on Sam Peckinpah´s classic movie The Ballad Of Cable Hogue over at Night Time In The Big City. Interesting commentary on that great western featuring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. Guess I´ll have to see it again some time soon. And my other fave Peckinpah flicks too come to think of it: The Wild Bunch, Ride The High Country, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia... John Cale based an amazing song on The Ballad Of Cable Hogue. This intense solo version was recorded live in Utrecht, The Netherlands on February 8, ´83.

John Cale - Cable Hogue (live ´83) MP3

There´s one more blog I´d like to shamelessly plug here, and that´s Star Maker Machine. I say shamelessly because I´m one of the contributing authors. But the fun thing is: you can contribute too, dear reader. Just follow the instructions and start blogging. There´s a theme to post about every week, but that´s about the only restriction you´ve got. This week´s theme is City Songs, and you could just go for it and write a short piece about a ditty you really dig. Elvis Costello´s nifty waltz New Amsterdam would fit the bill perfectly.

Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam MP3

Let´s sign off tonight with an obscure gospel-blues artist that was brought to my attention recently by a friend of mine. Thanks again bud! Washington Phillips recorded only 18 songs between 1927 and 1929, and then 2 of them were lost in the mists of time. The album The Key To The Kingdom (Yazoo) collects the remaining 16 and it´s a great find. And that´s not a guitar you hear by the way, it´s a zither.

Washington Phillips - What Are They Doing In Heaven Today MP3