Friday 8-Track

No particular theme today. A random smattering of good stuff.

Joseph Arthur - "Slide Away" - Nuclear Daydream

I just got turned on to this album. I need a few more spins before I give it a good mental review but so far, this track is the standout. Sructurally it's a pretty simple song but the atmospheric production really adds a lot. The background vocals are fantastic. Download it.

Matthew Good Band - "Hello Time Bomb" - Beautiful Midnight

Remember MTV2? At one time it was a really cool channel that showed a lot videos you would never see on TV. That's where I first discovered this album. This is a tight performance with cryptic and angst-ridden lyrics, good guitar tones, and a lot of straight-up rock.

Kathleen Edwards - "Westby" - Failer

A great songwriter with a lot of attitude and a filthy mouth. I love it. This is a really good album especially considering it was her first. The band can really play and Edwards' stories are funny, painful, and heartbreaking. This particular track is about an affair with an older man and a very knowing female lead:

Got your little secret no I will not tell
You're trying to sober up in the highway motel
And my hands are covered with your smell
You begged me to stay and sing you a song
I dance dirty for you cuz it turns you on
And I'm a little bleeder with white pants on

And if you weren't so old I'd probably keep you
If you weren't so old I'd tell my friends
But I don't think your wife would like my friends

I've got a hit for everyday of the week
I gave you something of mine that was so sweet
That I've been holding on to since I was sixteen
You call me Danny and I call you Mable
You passed out so I flicked through cable
And I stole your gold watch off the bed-side table

The Beatles - "With A Little Help From My Friends" - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I heard this song for the first time in a long while just the other day. When you stop and think about it, it really is amazing how wonderfully advanced their songwriting was in the midst of a lot of "straightforward" pop music. The way that the end of "Sgt. Pepper's" modulates into the intro, the multi-layered vocal parts, and that ending...so sweet.

The Refreshments - "Banditos" - Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy

This song kicks ass. Plenty of rockin' guitar with a Star Trek TNG reference, what more does a boy need?

Electric Light Orchestra - "Do Ya" - A New World Record

I'm not much of an ELO fan but Jeff Lynne is a solid songwriter. I mean, the guy got to be a Wilbury so that's gotta mean something. I do find it amusing that this song and Sweet's "Fox On The Run" are somewhat interchangeable but what the hell. The guitar intro is real nice and it's got a great hook. While this track is littered with 70's Big Production flair, at its heart it's still just a plain ol' rock song.

The Wallflowers - "Angel On My Bike" - Bringing Down The Horse

Drunk in a shitty motel room in Dewey Beach last weekend (loooong story) I came across the Wallflowers performing on god knows what channel (it was 2am and my bunkmates were crashing through the door). I hadn't even thought about this band in years so when I got home I pulled out this album and you know what, it's just about as good as I thought it was 10 years ago. I never thought it would hold up but, waddayaknow. Little Boy Dylan got all of the press but he did have a top-notch band. The guitar playing on this album is really good and done with a lot of taste. This is one of my favorite tracks from the album.

Drive-By Truckers - "The Day John Henry Died" - The Dirty South

Is this a repeat? I feel like it is, but fuck it. Awesome tune. The song is waaaay better than the "John Henry was steel driving man" songs we used to sing in elementary school music class:

It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run.
They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high.
That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well,
So they left him laying where he fell the day John Henry died.

Who doesn't love their rock served with a bit of commentary regarding the impact of industrialization on the 20th centruy American labourer? I sure do. Anyhorse, this song is a good introduction to what the Truckers are all about -- definitely worth downloading.