Log #157 - Another Indie Folk Rock Band - Eddy Hears The Decemberists For The First Time

Two exciting new entries this week in The Decemberists and The Felice Brothers, plus a return to two artists I tend to group together for some reason although their albums are not necessarily similar: Scott Matthews and James Morrison. Bringing up the rear we take a listen to John Legend's debut album and revisit a perennial favourite - Gram Parson's two on one solo collection GP/Grievous Angel.

The Decemberists Picaresque

 Scott Matthews Passing Stranger

Gram Parsons GP/Grievous Angel
John Legend Get Lifted

James Morrison Undisclosed

Felice Brothers Yonder Is The Clock

Very grateful for the introduction to the The Decemberists. A friend told me they were his favourite band. I asked which album was the best to get (there are 8) and he said "all of them". I don't get all of anybody these days (once in the past I would collect everything by one artist but nowadays, like reading books, there is only so much time so I try and limit myself to the best). 

Anyway after a little bit of perfunctory investigation I decided to go for the band's third album Picaresque and what a stonker it is - packed to the hilt with dramatic songs of cow punk and indie folk - a mash of Fairport Convention, The Waterboys, Belle and Sebastian, REM, Tom Waits, The Tiger Lillies and The Felice Brothers.

Hear The Decemberists at their most theatrical here:

I won't be getting all 8 but can see me investing in at least half of them.

It's a short leap from The Decemberists to the fantastic Felice Brothers. There are many similarities - lyrical story based songs, fiddles and accordions, ramshackle arrangements, and a charismatic front man with a voice of gravel. If I was pushed to highlight a difference I'd say The Felice Brothers are more roughly hewn diamonds.

Yonder Is The Clock (already their 6th as early as 2009) is another excellent album from the Felice Brothers' catalogue. There are plenty of down tempo ballads on this album but the brothers never fail to serve up a crowd pleasing stomp or two. Run Chicken Run fulfilling that role here:

Chickens get no life after death! Who knew?

Gram Parsons' two solo albums of melodic love songs and ballads are conveniently collected on this 2-CD set. Parsons almost invented country rock and the genre is amply demonstrated throughout these 20 tracks which maintain a remarkable standard throughout. For CD collectors this edition is essential for any rock fan, along with Capt. Beefheart's Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot 2-CD edition.

Great singers both, James Morrison and Scott Matthews. The former a bit more souly and the latter more rocky. Two excellent albums that I return to fairly frequently.

Lastly this week comes John Legend's 2004 debut album Get Lifted. As explained in Log #155 I was alerted to Legend through a track in the Tarrantino film Django Unchained, and purchased this record and the follow up Once Again. The latter record grew on me. This one not so much to date. It has a more gospel leaning. Neither records quite reach the peaks of the Django track Who Did That To You?

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Log #88 - Tonight's The Zeit

A really strong series this week bolstered by new investments. I've been planning to get Tangerine Dream's classic Zeit album for ages and finally cashed in an amazon voucher for this and Midlake's Trials of Van Occupanther album. Charity pick ups this week come from US rockers Eels and UK festival favourite Scott Matthews. If that wasn't enough bringing up the rear is many people's favourite Neil Young album. I'm not sure Tonight's the Night is his very best but in a strong field I'd have it in my top 5.

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1. Tangerine Dream - Zeit

2. Tangerine Dream - Zeit cd 2 / The Klangwald Performance

3. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

4. Eels - Shootenanny!

5. Scott Matthews - Passing Stranger

6. Neil Young -  Tonight's The Night

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Zeit

Although this album is famously one (and probably the best) of Tangerine Dream's early ambient releases (before they introduced the pulses and rhythms) there is a lot of listening here. You need to play such static music a bit more before you can really appreciate it's subtle intricacies.  And then there is the bonus "live" album on top too.  It's gonna be great. Tangerine Dream are definitely one of the groups who have enjoyed a new lease of life in my listening since starting this blog. Tbc.

Shootenanny!

I've never heard any Eels before. I am only aware of the cover of their early album with the strange looking girl with the big eyes. This is pretty good in a rock guitar sort of way although many would accuse them of "rock by numbers". The laid back singing reminds me of that bunch of bands around Whiskeytown, Wilko, Golden Smog, Ryan Adams - not a bad bunch at all but this isn't particularly remarkable on early listens (it is so hard to be different in this crowded field). This is one of the more exciting tracks:

Passing Stranger

This, his 2006 debut album, is excellent stuff from Scott Matthews who obviously has a talent for acoustic, electric and slide guitar, soulful singing, and an ear for a great hook and a liking for some world music flavours. It even sounds a bit like Led Zeppelin (and Jeff Buckley and James Morrison) in places - not what I was expecting. Again a crowded market, being that solo soulful singer songwriter guitar player area, but different enough to warrant further listens.

Midlake

As I've said before this is an even more crowded market but this band is class. This was their "breakthrough" album released in 2006. First track "Roscoe" is a good place to start:

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young's Tonight's The Night is almost certainly his bleakest album (and there have been a few). Officially the final part of his "ditch" trilogy it was actually recorded in 1973 shortly after Time Fades Away and before 1974's On The Beach, but the release was delayed until 1975.

Most of the tracks were recorded over one night with the band in an apparent drug and drink induced state of relaxation. The songs are extremely raw and live. Whereas the roughest edges have been honed off of the similar On The Beach recording the production here, where it exists at all, is rough and ready, warts and all. Some of the songs sound out of tune and the volume and stereo separation is variable.

I used to play this depressing album to cheer me up. Things could never be as bad as this.

However it works! The band literally sound like they are in your front room. The underlying quality of the songwriting, the melodies, the bar room authenticity of the live band, and the heart rendering beauty of Young's solo tracks on piano or acoustic guitar, all shine through to make this one of his best loved collections.

Kids, this is what real music sounds like.

The album explores the depth of Neil's pain over the heroin overdose deaths of Crazy Horse's Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry. The bookends of Tonight's The Night are the title track which opens and concludes the album - the two versions are pretty indistinguishable, and apparently (in response to heckles to "play something we know") Young would repeat the song more than once in the same set when touring the album in late 1973:

Bruce Berry was a working man
He used to load that Econoline van
A sparkle was in his eye
But his life was in his hands
Well, late at night when the people were gone
He used to pick up my guitar
And sing a song in a shaky voice
That was real as the day was long

Early in the morning at the break of day
He used to sleep until the afternoon
If you never heard him sing
I guess you won't too soon
Because people let me tell you
It sent a chill up and down my spine
When I picked up the telephone
And heard that he'd died out on the mainline

Just wow, this is crushing stuff and it is relentless throughout this amazing record I will never tire of.

The personnel (courtesy Wiki) dubbed The Santa Monica Flyers included Young collaborators from the Stray Gators (Harvest), After The Goldrush, and Crazy Horse:

Neil Young – vocals; guitar on "World on a String," "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown," "Mellow My Mind," "Roll Another Number," "Albuquerque," "New Mama," "Lookout Joe," and "Tired Eyes"; piano on "Tonight's the Night," "Speakin' Out," and "Borrowed Tune"; harmonica on "World on a String," "Borrowed Tune," and "Mellow My Mind"; vibes on "New Mama"

Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar, vocal on "Tonight's the Night," "Speakin' Out," "Roll Another Number," "Albuquerque," and "Tired Eyes"; pedal steel guitar on "World on a String" and "Mellow My Mind"; vocal on "New Mama"; slide guitar, vocal on "Lookout Joe"

Nils Lofgren – piano on "World on a String," "Mellow My Mind," "Roll Another Number," "Albuquerque," "New Mama," and "Tired Eyes"; vocal on "Roll Another Number," "Albuquerque," and "Tired Eyes"; guitar on "Tonight's the Night," "Speakin' Out"

Danny Whitten – vocal, electric guitar on "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown"

Jack Nitzsche – electric piano on "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown"; piano on "Lookout Joe"

Billy Talbot – bass all tracks except "Borrowed Tune," "New Mama," and "Lookout Joe"

Tim Drummond – bass on "Lookout Joe"

Ralph Molina – drums, vocal all tracks except "Borrowed Tune," "New Mama," and "Lookout Joe"; vocal on "New Mama"

Kenny Buttrey – drums on "Lookout Joe"

George Whitsell – vocal on "New Mama"

https://tiny.cc/6am

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