Weekend Again With Music

Another week come and gone with no real content here. But at least there's music and YouTube!

1. Neko Case - Lion's Jaws
2. Neil Young - Alabama
3. Eric B & Rakim - Follow the Leader *** (might be better than that - not positive; that's the generation of rap I liked the most - though more Public Enemy, BDP, Run-DMC, up to NWA and De La Soul, which is more or less when I stopped listening. Not that anyone cares. Just reflecting...)
4. My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said **** - I'm not quite an actual fan of MBV, but here and there, their songs sound utterly wonderful, that swirling distortion, sighed vocals, and real melodies under it all.... some of those songs are perfectly addictive.
5. Distillers - Coral Fang - harmless neo pseudo punk. I had more hopes for this record, but it isn't bad I guess.
6. Elastica - Annie - ... given the degree to which the Distillers come off like a duller version of Elastica - who have tunes for those songs...
7. Big Star - I'm in Love with a Girl *** - the stars, I remind you, have to do largely with how often I want to hear the song - and a lot of my iPod listening gets done on trains and city streets - so... that tends to repress acoustic type songs. Which is why such a superb piece of work gets only 3 stars. Great song, great record, great band - but everyone knows that by now, I would hope.
8. Jay Farrar - Vitamins **** - I know I've shared my love of Jay Farrar before. This one particularly soars. "Really not mad at anyone you're just mad at the world."
9. Spirit - Nature's Way - another record I've commented on before (12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus) - I should rank more of the songs on it, but it's all good...
10. Built to Spill - I Would Hurt a Fly (Live) - **** - for the studio version anyway, which I think might be better, surprisingly. That Built to Spill live record is pretty damned good - but Perfect From Now on is a masterpiece, one of the best of the 90s.

There's quite a lot of options in this week's bunch - lots of good stuff in there. Let's celebrate the fashions of the 70s and one of the most underrated records of all time - Randy California and the boys, live in 1978....



Update! that's the wrong video! I thought I posted this one - that was from the 80s; this is 1978. both have their merits, though.