Some Frippery

The thought of Nick Cave merrily humming along to Pink Floyd, Yes and ELP as a youngster sure made me chuckle. Can't remember him singing their praise when wreaking havoc with postpunk enfants terribles The Birthday Party... He confessed as much in a recent issue of his Red Hand Files though, while also heaping praise upon Robert Fripp's King Crimson, the prog band St. Nick names as a big influence on his own Grinderman project.

King Crimson - Starless
Grinderman - Super Heathen Child (feat. Robert Fripp)

Tips His Hat

Reinhard Kleist, who drew an amazing graphic novel about Johnny Cash a few years back, now points his surrealist pencil at Nick Cave, and the results are nothing short of breathtaking. Kleist dives deep into Cave's murky universe, starting down under with the Boys Next Door, and moving from rainy London to icy Berlin with the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds. The ending sees St. Nick in his trusted Jag, hightailing it from the fabled crossroads all the way to Geneva with none other than Robert Johnson riding shotgun. You need this, it's a hallucinatory Rinky Dink Special, with a little umbrella too.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jangling Jack

Better Watch Out

The Boys Next Door, precursors to the mighty Birthday Party, take on a Gene Vincent rockabilly gem. Instant mayhem of course. Like to hear the original, too? Thought so.

Boys Next Door - Cat Man
Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Cat Man

Mister Mister

Hey psst, mister... Indeed, my amigos da musica, it's six pack time again. Stay tuned and play it cool, there's more to come.

Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff
Sonny Boy Williamson - Mr. Down Child
The Heptones - Mr. President
Randy Burns - Mr. War
The Birthday Party - Mr. Clarinet
The Killer Kane Band - Mr. Cool

...And Queens

"Playing with the queen of hearts, knowing it ain't really smart..." As I tend to keep my promises, here's part 2 of a royal megamix. Enjoy and buy some albums if you like what you hear ok?

Dave Edmunds - Queen Of Hearts MP3

The Birthday Party - King Ink MP3
Sparklehorse - Homecoming Queen MP3
Cannibal & The Headhunters - Zulu King MP3
Palace Songs - Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow MP3
Elvis Costello - King Of America MP3
Julie Brown - The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun MP3
Espers - Dead King MP3
Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Tina, The Go-Go Queen MP3
Junior Byles - King Of Babylon MP3

A Custard-Coloured Superdream

Psychedelic invocations of Mata Hari at the station anyone? A few exceptions notwithstanding, Nick Cave´s post Birthday Party stuff never really did it for me. And then, out of the blue, a track appears on his brand new album with Grinderman that really bowls me over. The stately Palaces Of Montezuma, complete with lazy Gimme Shelter shuffle and over the top imagery, is prime Saint Nick. "The spinal cord of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroe´s negligee I give to you..."

Grinderman - Palaces Of Montezuma MP3

"Yeah I recognize that girl, she stumbled in some time last loneliness..." As a bonus, here´s a dark old Birthday Party favorite of mine. "Yeah I recognize that girl, I took her from rags right through to stitches... oh baby, tonight we sleep in separate ditches..."

The Birthday Party - Deep In The Woods MP3

Seven!

Just a quick post tonight as it´s my daughter´s seventh birthday tomorrow and we still have to inflate tons of balloons, get streamers and decorations up, bake the cake and finetune the party. As my daughter´s name just happens to be Joni, tonight´s theme is easy though.

Let´s start with Sonic Youth and Hey Joni, from their classic Daydream Nation (´88). Guitars all over the place. "Tune out the past and just say yes." Lee Ranaldo once remarked the song "was some wry take on Hendrix´s Hey Joe, but I was definitely listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell at the time." For some reason Neil Young never recorded Sweet Joni, an obvious tribute to fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. He played it live only once, in Bakersfield on March 11 1973. We can only hope a decent soundboard recording of this gem will show up on his Archives Collection sometime. And speaking of Joni Mitchell, here she is herself singing Coyote (from Hejira, ´76). Competition is tough, but this one would definitely make my personal Joni Mitchell top ten.

It may be just a little far-fetched to put up a song by The Birthday Party in this context, but what the heck. Big Jesus Trashcan comes from the Junkyard album (´82), so way before Nick Cave started to sport that silly moustache. Tracy Pew´s bass is amazing. Last up is Dutch pride Bettie Serveert with the classic Kid´s Alright from their debut Palomine (´92). Because she is. Happy birthday kiddo!

Sonic Youth - Hey Joni MP3

Neil Young - Sweet Joni (live 11-3-´73 Bakersfield) MP3

Joni Mitchell - Coyote MP3

The Birthday Party - Big Jesus Trashcan MP3

Bettie Serveert - Kid´s Allright MP3