Somnambulist

Like seeing Jeff with the Ric.

Oddly, Howard Stern has mentioned that he is a huge Phoebe Snow fan. I think he even knew her personally. I'm sure he'll have an interesting take on her passing on his show.

Picked this up on a whim at the local used CD store. Been humming the tunes all week.

XTC - Thanks for Christmas

Actually, Raul Malo had a nice Christmas album out a few years ago.

Growing up, I loved John Fahey's Christmas Album.

Jens Hannemann

Always liked this one as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_R3yazUat8

Love this band as well. Looking forward to 01/11. I tend to go through phases where all I listen to is Cake for a few weeks.

I was watching the Ken Burns Baseball 10th Inning movie and in the section on Boston winning the 2004 World Series, the background music was Phish. I thought it was a nice touch with Phish being from New England.

A number of years ago The Smithereens had an album called A Date with the Smithereens. Lou Reed played guitar on two of the tracks. I read an interview around the time where Reed said something like, hey, I'm not a huge fan of these guys and I'm not a great guitar player but they asked me to do it so I said yes. I'm sure The Smithereens were thrilled with that one.

Holliston Stops documentary/Astronaut

Now defunct band from LA but this is a clip from a documentary about them. The look on their faces when they walk into Air studios is priceless. The piano player is the songwriter.

Also, The Dodos "Time to Die" has been getting a lot of plays at my house.

I really liked "Greatest Living Englishman" when it came out. I'll have to look into these. Thanks.

Blitzen Trapper - The Man Who Would Speak True

Although already mentioned, Black River Killer by Blitzen Trapper is also a nice one. Can you say that about a murder ballad?

Metal Baby - Teenage Fanclub

He did write some great tunes. What always stood out to me was his bass playing on either his songs or Andy's. You can hear it on their earliest records and you can't say "The Mayor of Simpleton" bassline isn't one of the coolest in their catalog.

Ditto on Owen Meany. Big John Irving fan.

Currently reading: Who knew there was such an adult crazed fan community for LEGO.

Lithium (Ch. 24 I think) on Sirius is a total 90s flashback station.

Cake is one of my faves from that time. They should have a new album out soon and their website news section is always an interesting read.

A high degree of technical skill can be beneficial, but is not a requirement in most styles of music. Moe Tucker was just as good in the Velvet Underground as Billy Cobham was in Mahavishnu Orchestra, but neither of them would have been able to cut it if they traded gigs.

Great observation. I agree.

How's this? - I haven't gotten around to get it yet.

If you can believe, mellower than Songs From Northern Britain. Norman's songs are the standouts for me. Gerry has one that would not be out of place on a Clientele album.