Hats Off

"When Charlie speaks of Lester, you know someone great has gone...
The sweetest swingin´ music man, had a Porkie Pig hat on..."

Here´s three versions of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, the immortal ´59 tribute to recently deceased tenor great Lester ´Pres´ Young by ´angry man of jazz´ Charles Mingus. The bassist´s original, which became a jazz standard over the years, simply flows and flows.

In ´68 British folk experimentalists Pentangle - featuring the dual guitar wizardry of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn - tackled the song with a totally different, all-acoustic approach. It remained jazz somehow though.

And Joni Mitchell even set Goodbye Pork Pie Hat to words in ´78 when she was collaborating with Mingus in what proved to be the last months of his life. "We came up from the subway, on the music midnight makes, to Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone, in taxi horns and brakes..." Oh yes.

Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

Pentangle - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

Joni Mitchell - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

And as a bonus, here´s Lester Young (1909-1959) himself. All dig the Pres.

Lester Young - Love Me Or Leave Me MP3

Lester Young - Red Boy Blues MP3

Lester Young - Gypsy In My Soul MP3

Keep On Truckin´

I gotta admit I was a bit late in discovering the Drive-By Truckers. Guess people just plain forgot to tell me about them or something. And when I finally did wake up to these southern rebel rousers a couple of years back, they crept up on me only slowly. Haven´t got a clue to the why, but it took me a quite while to acknowledge that the Truckers are probably the finest American roots rock band since... well, Uncle Tupelo maybe?

For some reason, their music works especially well while driving. So if you´re going on a road trip today, just load the tracks below - five personal faves, all from different albums - in your iPod and see what happens. Happy trails.

Drive-By Truckers - The Three Great Alabama Icons MP3

Drive-By Truckers - Tornadoes MP3

Drive-By Truckers - Daddy Needs A Drink MP3

Drive-By Truckers - The Night G.G. Allin Came To Town MP3

Drive-By Truckers - Panties In Your Purse MP3

If The Rain Comes...

Winter´s coming... and me no like. After more than five months of sunshine, wearing shorts and flipflops at all times, it´s kinda hard to adjust. Today was the first day I had to put on my trusted leather jacket, while inside the heater had to be turned on again. Last Saturday, it proved still possible to enjoy lunch outside, in shirtsleeves while sporting sunglasses, but now the weather has definitely turned. Living in a mediterranean climate, it would be hard to maintain that it´s colder than a witch´s tit, or even a well digger´s ass out there, but it sure feels that way to me at the moment. Oh well, at least the mozzies are a goner.

Another drop in temperature is expected, and the weatherman says it´s going to pour tomorrow. Which gives me an excellent opportunity to provide you with a musical ten pack about the rain. I´ve left out the most obvious ones, so no Beatles (you´ll get a fun cover version though), Temptations or Ann Peebles this time around. Now where´s that umbrella again...

Meat Puppets - Look At The Rain MP3

Keith Hudson - In The Rain MP3

Beatle Hans & The Paisley Perverts - Rain MP3

The Velvet Underground - Hey Mr. Rain MP3

The Pogues - Rain Street MP3

Lonnie Johnson - Pouring Down Rain MP3

Townes Van Zandt - None But The Rain MP3

Prince Far I - Rain A Fall MP3

The Rising Storm - The Rain Falls Down MP3

Blacktop - I Think It´s Going To Rain MP3

Faits Divers

No that´s not a new supergroup, it´s just French for odds and ends. Would make a good band name though... but anyway. Here´s a collection of assorted sounds that kept me busy over the last few weeks. Featuring amongst others the return of a former Joy Division and New Order stalwart, the post Pop Group postpunk-funk of Rip Rig & Panic, and some more happy Len.

First up is Bernard Sumner´s new band, named after a pretty good movie starring Harvel Keitel. Got this one in the mail and didn´t expect a lot of it to be honest, but Sink Or Swim proved to be a pleasant surprise. Hit!

Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim MP3

Rip Rig & Panic rose from the ashes of The Pop Group, and featured wonderwoman Neneh Cherry on vocals. An impressive avant-garde funk ensemble, they had a way with wonderful song titles, and are now sadly forgotten. Their highly original ´81 debut God didn´t even get a cd release yet. And that´s just plain ridiculous.

Rip Rig & Panic - Those Eskimo Women Speak Frankly MP3

Rip Rig & Panic - Constant Drudgery Is Harmful To Soul, Spirit & Health MP3

Another postpunk gem I just can´t stop playing is I, Bloodbrother Be (£4,000 Love Letter) by the Shockheaded Peters. A dark and jazzy gay anthem that even caused a bit of a scandal back in the early eighties, my sweeties...

Shockheaded Peters - I, Bloodbrother Be (£4,000 Love Letter) MP3

Some dear friends of mine surprised me with a cd called La Cantina by Mexican/American singer Lila Downs recently, and I quite like her postmodern take on traditional Mexican fare. And hey, is that the mighty Flaco Jimenez on accordeon here? Yup. What´s more, he even wrote the song.

Lila Downs - Tu Recuerdo Y Yo MP3

Have also been on a total Bowie trip over the last few months. Used to be a huge fan, but can´t say I´ve given the Thin White Duke much thought over the last couple of decennia, probably because he never released an even half-decent album since Scary Monsters came out in ´80. His classic stuff still stands though, as I was glad to find out. Here he covers Jaques Brel. And he does that very well.

David Bowie - My Death MP3

As a Mountain Goats fan from stage one, I usually prefer their early lofi stuff to the more polished recent output. But the newly released The Life Of The World To Come has me converted. I repent, Mr. Darnielle, I repent. A masterpiece.

Mountain Goats - Matthew 25:21 MP3

Let´s end this mixed bag with the song I liked most from Leonard Cohen´s recent Barcelona concert. "I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get? Hank Williams hasn´t answered yet... But I hear him coughing all night long, a hundred floors above me in the tower of song..."

Leonard Cohen - Tower Of Song MP3

Pure Mountain Air

You can slowly feel the autumn coming on now in these parts and I almost immediately caught a cold like you wouldn´t believe. This afternoon´s garlic soup helped somewhat, but I could really do with some pure mountain air right now to clear the head.

As that´s not possible alas, let´s settle for some timeless tunes from the mythical mountains of Kentucky. These field recordings were made in ´59 by neo-folkie John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, and feature a bunch of old folks sittin´ on the porch in some backwood holler, pickin´ and fiddlin´ the time away, often performing traditionals some long-forgotten forefathers took with them on the boat over from the British Isles way back when.

If you´re into Harry Smith´s Anthology Of American Folk Music, you won´t be disappointed with the pureness of these tracks. Pay special attention to the amazing Mr. & Mrs. Sams: they do the greatest version of the oft-played Wagoner´s Lad I´ve ever heard.

Mr. & Mrs. Sams - The Wagoner´s Lad MP3

Roscoe Holcomb - Hills Of Mexico MP3

Bill Cornett - Pretty Polly MP3

Granville Bowlin - Wild Bill Jones MP3

James Crase - Fox Chase MP3

Puzzled As The Oyster

"Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you hare when I was fox?
Now my foolish boat is leaning,
Broken lovelorn on your rocks..."

Tim Buckley´s immortal Song To The Siren is a classic you´re probably all familiar with. But have you ever heard the early solo take he performed in 1968 on the Monkees tv show? Do yourselves a favour, it´s a twelve-string diamond. Note that the lyrics differ slightly: "I am puzzled as the oyster" later became "I'm as puzzled as the new born child", allegedly because singer Judy Henske, married to Buckley´s producer Jerry Yester, laughed out loud at the original line. I see her point...

As a bonus, there´s the lush studio version released two years later on the Starsailor album. Anyone know why this masterpiece has been out of print for ages btw? And last but not least check out the remarkably tasteful eighties cover by goth forerunners This Mortal Coil, which even managed to spawn a Buckley revival of sorts.

Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren (solo) MP3

Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren MP3

This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren MP3

Down On The Farm

"The cows bawl, the pigs bawl, the horses bawl, too..." Over lunch yesterday, my 8 year old daughter told me that she wanted to live on a farm when she would finally be all grown up. Far from the madding crowd, surrounded by nature and with all kinds of animals to tend to. For some reason, this totally made my day.

Little Feat - Down On The Farm MP3

The Kinks - Animal Farm MP3

The Bently Boys - Down On Penny´s Farm MP3

The Carolina Tar Heels - Got The Farm Land Blues MP3

Gary Higgins - Down On The Farm MP3

Lenny Tonight

Going to see a true legend in concert tonight. Leonard Cohen´s in town and we´ve got tickets, 12th row centre stage no less. Added bonus: it´s happy Len´s 75th birthday. Got quite a scare this weekend when it was reported that Cohen had fainted because of food poisoning during last Friday´s Valencia gig, but apparently all is right again. Just a bad prawn or mussel in his paella... Guess it´s going to be an intense evening. Groomed my goatee already... now where´s that black turtleneck sweater?

To celebrate all this, here´s some wonderful live Lenny from back in the days. Chelsea Hotel #2 and Story Of Isaak were recorded at the famous Olympia Theatre in Paris in 1976. Avalanche and Joan Of Arc (a fine duet with Julie Christensen) stem from a show at the Congresshalle in Zurich in 1993. "I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best, I can't keep track of each fallen robin..."

Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel #2 (live Paris ´76) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Story Of Isaak (live Paris ´76) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Avalanche (live Zurich ´93) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Joan Of Arc (live Zurich ´93) MP3

Two From Frederick

"Trouble, you can´t fool me, I see you behind that tree..." I wrote a piece about Ry Cooder´s fine cover version of Trouble, You Can´t Fool Me on the Groover´s Paradise blog recently. Check it out, it´s still up. Had to admit I´d never heard the original by an Alabama soulman called Frederick Knight, who recorded it as Trouble for the mighty Stax label back in the early seventies. But I finally managed to track down a copy and it´s easy to see why Cooder picked it. Man, that choppy guitar is funky.

And maybe even better is another Frederick Knight song I found while I was at it. You´re probably familiar with I´ve Been Lonely For So Long because of Mick Jagger´s interpretation on his solo album Wandering Spirit from ´93. Knight´s version is the real deal though. "Just can´t seem to get ahead in life, nothin´ I do ever turns out right, won´t somebody help me please..." They sure don´t come any sadder than this one.

Frederick Knight - Trouble MP3

Frederick Knight - I´ve Been Lonely For So Long MP3

Married Man´s A Fool

"Ever since you walked right in, the circle's been complete,

I've said goodbye to haunted rooms and faces in the street,
To the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun,
I love you more than ever and I haven't yet begun..."

Thanks for that, Bob, could not have said it any better myself. As it happens to be my - umpteenth - wedding anniversary today, here´s a tenpack of songs about that weird phenomenon called marriage. Married man may be a fool, Ry, and granted Tom, I do indeed have to ask permission when I want to go out fishin´, but that´s cool with me.

"And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on,

'Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone..."

Ry Cooder - Married Man´s A Fool MP3

Bob Dylan - Wedding Song MP3

Tom Waits - Better Off Without A Wife MP3

George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Golden Ring MP3

David Bowie - Be My Wife MP3

Blind Willie Reynolds - Married Man Blues MP3

Freda Payne - Band Of Gold MP3

Jimi Hendrix Experience - 51st Anniversary MP3

Replacements - You´re Getting Married MP3

Moby Grape - Gypsy Wedding MP3

Enthusiastic And Likable

Back from my hols, but not really full of inspiration yet to be honest. Still in a laidback, beach bum kinda mood, you know how it is. But I can´t resist to draw your attention to some very interesting reading material in today´s edition of British newspaper The Observer. In a piece called The Thrill Of It All, novelist and music lover Nick Hornby stands up for music bloggers everywhere. Take notice, The Man, as the Arsenal-crazy writer of High Fidelity and About A Boy presents some serious arguments in favour of the likes of us...

An excerpt: "It took me longer than it should have done to work out that the internet is one giant independent record shop – thousands and thousands of cute little independent record shops, anyway – and they don't actually charge you for the music they stock. The MP3 blogs that stretch for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, down that stretch of the net that isn't reserved for pornography, are staffed by enthusiastic and likable young men and women who absolutely don't want to rip the artists off: they are always careful to post links to iTunes and Amazon, and the songs they put on their sites are for sampling purposes only. (...) It works for me. I listen, and then I buy what I like, because owning music is still important to me". Right on bro! Read the full article here.

As a soundtrack to all this, here´s some stuff that might just be up mr. Hornby´s alley. Or yours for that matter. Featuring something old (the mighty Sonny Rollins), something new (a fresh ditty by the David Wax Museum), something borrowed (a crazy cover by Japrockers the Golden Cups), something blue (´Jesus, this is Iggy...´). And Brian Ferry & co of course. Oh, the thrill of it all...

Sonny Rollins Quartet - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World MP3

The David Wax Museum - Jalopy Heart MP3

Golden Cups - Hey Joe MP3

Iggy Pop - Turn Blue MP3

Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All MP3