rsjbraz

I was pretty much obsessed by him in late 90s/early 2000's and personally think the earlier Songs:Ohia stuff is far superior to any of the Magnolia stuff he has done in last 5 years or so, though agree that Let Me Go is one of his best though ,simply incredible, I much prefer him stripped down than in the dull Magnolia rock arrangements.

I'd reccomend Access & Ace as a good one, some amazing songs on there and obviously Didn't It Rain & Ghostropic are flawless.

Make sure you have the Magnolia Electric Co bonus disc which came with some copies and has him doing whole album solo and is really special!

He has some great low key releases like the tour CD Protecction Spells and The Ghost (if you think Let Me Go is bleak,check out The Ghost!!), plus numerous 7" tracks which are well worth getting, I compiled a 2cd comp of them all a number of years ago.

here's a great track from Access & Ace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhbQ5gssqOo

I was pretty much obsessed by him in late 90s/early 2000's and personally think the earlier Songs:Ohia stuff is far superior to any of the Magnolia stuff he has done in last 5 years or so, though agree that Let Me Go is one of his best though ,simply incredible, I much prefer him stripped down than in the dull Magnolia rock arrangements.

I'd reccomend Access & Ace as a good one, some amazing songs on there and obviously Didn't It Rain & Ghostropic are flawless.

Make sure you have the Magnolia Electric Co bonus disc which came with some copies and has him doing whole album solo and is really special!

He has some great low key releases like the tour CD Protecction Spells and The Ghost (if you think Let Me Go is bleak,check out The Ghost!!), plus numerous 7" tracks which are well worth getting, I compiled a 2cd comp of them all a number of years ago.

The Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me is pretty perfect to me as it is.

For me it's all about Your Funeral My Trial,Tender Prey & The Good Son. Nothing since has really grabbed me as much.

Whereas for me the first three records are wonderful and everything after is as dull as dishwater, Yerself Is Steam is just such an incredible record!

I'ver never liked "The One I love" either but not sure why, there's just something about it which bugs me. I't was probably the first REM song I heard too. I've never really liked Document too much either,it just has a coldness to it which bugs me.

Green is my favorite album by a long shot, I love everything about it,the stupid songs included. It was first first REM album as it happens too! I don't get why people dislike it so much but so be it!

Definately get Dongs Of Sevotion, is a wonderfully dark album with some of his best tunes, Bloodflow,Cold Discovery,Permanent Smile etc.

Also the lovely Kicking A Couple Around ep is essential.

Beware is absolutely awful,the worst thing he has done by a long mile, imagine the worst bits of Lie Down In The Light (I like most of it at lot), remove any semblance of a song and then add more hokey fiddles and you'll come close.

If he's been working on this for three years then its time well wasted! A massive disappointment

This review sums it up perfectly

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/13960/reviews/4136223

The new Bill Callahan bodes much better!!

Annoyingly they havn't included the whole of that live show, there's another 4 songs or so on the bootleg, sure they could have fiited on!

Before the great crash of 08, I had 50 gb. I"m back up to about 15.

I have the 160gb and is perfect still have nearly half left, I've heard that Apple are discontinuing it since they apparantly people complain it's too heavy which is ridiculous.

John Cale's scream in particular at the end of his version of I'm Waiting For My Man is something to behold. There are some live versions from late 70s/early 80s when he was generally out of it that are truly blood curdling!

Will have to check it out, been having a bit of a James revival recently and been rediscovering Laid the album all over again (as it happens, the title track is my least favorite and ruins the flow of a near perfect album)

Also loving Cresecendo from Goldmother, one of their loveliest!

Does anyone have mp3s of the original Roughtrade Come home & Sit Down cd singles

A little nostalgia trip, remembering sitting on the hill with a big pint of cider watching this!

Was in late 89 and was reading the now defunct Sounds music paper and having bought Galaxie 500's wonderful On Fire based on their review I went back to re read the review and saw below it a small review for a band called American Music Club where the reviewer said that if you liked the G500 album then you'll love this.

The review for for AMC's 'United Kingdom" was suitably fascinating for me to go buy it but on first listen it was rather bleak and didn't really get it but I dubbed it onto a blank cassette as was the style of the time & returned it to get something else.

I must have tried listening again a few weeks later because soon I was totally spellbound by the unique mood & lyrics of the album, it was certainly unlike anything I had heard as a 15 year old.

Naturally when I tried to rebuy it I couldn't find it anywhere, like most of AMC's pre major label releases they suffered from woeful distribution (all are still out of print) and so It took me a while to eventually find it again. By then it had been reissued with their previous album "California" on the same disc and that proved to be as good if not better.

I caught them live pretty soon after and they were incredible and those three albums Engine,United Kingdom & California still are still the best run of three albums in a row that I've come across!

Green for me, there's just something so special about that album.

Then probably Murmur & Reckoning & then Out Of Time.

The one I really don't like is Automatic, it's such a bland album.

I remember Jeff did a feature in Uncut a couple of years back saying John Cale's Paris 1919 was his favorite album, I'll try and dig up the article.

There's a great podcast of one of the recent shows in Washington up on the NPR All Things Considered Site.

Boy have you got a great catalogue to work through, v jealous.

I actually think Vintage Violence is one of his weakest but as the others said,go with Paris 1919 next and then the 2CD Island years.

After that hunt down Music For A New Society which has been out of print for years but is his emotional tour de force, dark and utterly beautiful.

The live album Sabotage recorded in late 70s has a collection of wonderful raw tunes that were never recorded in the studio.

The other two early 80s albums Honi Soist & Carrabean Sunset have some great rockers too.

His last couple of albums , Black Acetate & Hobosapiens, have been prett great too seeing him expore a more electronic style.

Finally the wonderful live solo album Fragments Of A Rainy Season which is a great summation of his live repetoire in the early 90s.

I saw them in London at the Mean Fiddler in December 1992 when it was Jeff, Jay & Bill. Didn't know much about them at the time bar an interesting review of March 16th a few weeks earlier in Melody Maker so thought I'd check em out.

They were pretty good but wasn't blown away, kind of regret not paying more attention at the time, was with a rather attractive girl that night who was distracting me somewhat!

I didn't know any of the songs at the time but I rememberered afterwards them playing the slow version of I Wanna Destroy You beacause I thought it was a pretty good name for a song. The rest of the show was pretty loud if I recall and light on the acoustic stuff. Wasn't very full at show.

Never saw them again which was a real shame.

Talking of bands I wish I could go back in time to see, both The Waterboys & The Replacements circa 1986 would make me v happy!

Well between them they made two of my favorite live albums, Lou's Live Take no Prisoner's & John's Sabotage, both released around the same time when they were actually at their most similar musically!

A friend of a friend was Cales manager in 80's and still gets the early news on things and have heard rumours of Carribean Sunset finally get a cd release,be nice for music For a New Society to get one two and while we are at it a proper CD/DVD of the live Drella performance which I though sounded better than the studio version!

Shows in Spain (by any band) are hardly ever taped,it doesn't seem to be such a big thing over there sadly.

thanks for the news.

 

I love the John Denver and AC/DC cover albums next after Ghosts. Both are surprisingly great.

I've seen him live twice this year and he's played a bunch of new songs at both which have been simply stunning so it bodes well for album. Granted he could ruin them with a dodgy arrangement but pretty excited.

If you don't have Songs For A Blue Guitar by RHP then go get it,beautiful stuff!

I've been a fan since first RHP album and don't see much difference between the SKM/RHP stuff bar him maturing/evolving gradually as a musician, Duk Koo Kim was a an RHP song whichhe was playing back in 2001.

I always loved Carls voice the most, I could listen to Long Promised Road forever! Shame his solo album was a bit average.

Cuddle Up is a might fine song though by Dennis though.

I love that story of how when Mike Love heard about Dennis sleeping with his daughter,they were onstage & Mike threw a piano stool at Dennis who ducked and it ended up taking out Mike's family who were sitting in the front row! Sigh!

I wish they would have kept "Heartland" on that album and not replaced it with "Trip Through Your Wires", which I really dislike, at the last minute. I think they said that it made more sense with Trip so they ended up putting Heartland on Rattle & Hum instead but it would have made that second half of the album pretty damn great IMHO!

They definately are sbds,all three shows there are available,I downloaded them all from the old Murmurs torrents site about 6 months back.

the Kanye sample came after all that... they've been pretty fucking huge in the US in terms of live shows for a while now

I can't believe they are still going and so popular! When I was an old techno DJ I used to see em do live showcases back in 94 in tiny dingy clubs around UK,they havn't done much of note for a number of years but that live show does look good!