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Bulldog · 01-08-2011, 06:59 AM

Never knew that Costello was a Pitney fan, although seeing as artists he's cited as influences on his career do make for great and essential listening to anyone, I might have known. And now that you mention it, I can definitely see the similarities between their vocal styles too. Painted From Memory with Bacharach's the more obvious place where it shows, but his take on Pitney's style really does shine through on the Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet too. I might get round to talking abouteither one of those albums in this thread yet.

And that Rain Tree Crow album is absolutely phenominal. I must have listened to it about 500 times in the week that I got hold of it. It's easily among my all-time favourites now. I just love how it brings the talents of Mick Karn and Steve Jansen in creating ethereal and thoroughly atmospheric musical backdrops into a new, much more modern-sounding generation of sounds. It's an album I'd recommend to absolutely anyone. I just wish they could have followed it up before Mick Karn died.

And, I suppose I'd better talk about a song or two while I'm here...

Artist: Primal Scream
Tuneage: Free

You know how occasionally you'll come across a song that just completely blows you away, loses you in its awesomeness and makes you pity those who've never heard it before? This is one of those songs, at least with me.

I first came across when, after a few years of owning only a best of and a copy of Screamadelica that I never listened to that much at first, I decided to get hold of Give Out But Don't Give Up. Part of it was out of a hipsterish desire to fill out as many discographies in my music collection as I could, but mostly it was because the singles from it like Rocks and Jailbird just kicked arse all the way, whether or not they were pretty shameless Stones rip-offs.

I won't lie - the singles aside, I hate that album. That is, of course, with the exception of this little ditty. It simply oozes the kind of emotion and soul that so many other albums, let alone the rest of this one, wishes they could. It's another example of how much good a brilliant vocal performance (this one from Primal Scream's then-backing vocalist, Denise Johnson) can do for a song. Just sit back, press to play and enjoy.

As for the other portion of each update, here's another gem from Sylvian and Sakamoto;

World Citizen

Were it not for the fact that Forbidden Colours exists, this would be my favourite song that Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian had written and performed together. If both Forbidden Colours and World Citizen didn't exist, it'd be the Scent Of Magnolia. If Forbidden Colours, World Citizen and the Scent Of Magnolia didn't exist...you get the picture. Each song that Sylvian and Sakamoto have worked on are basically one of my favourites of all time, which is why I'll always hold them in the highest regard when it comes to musical collaborations.

While Forbidden Colours will always be my favourite song of all time no matter which angle I see it from, this one is simply one of the most bleak, tightly-rendered and ethereal songs that I have ever heard. I don't really want to go into it in detail, what I think the lyrics mean and all that, as that'd suck the fun out of the song. Rather, I'm gonna leave it to you to find out

As for me, I'll just say that this song would've been a perfect fit with the soundtrack for Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within.

01-08-2011, 06:59 AM	#38 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Never knew that Costello was a Pitney fan, although seeing as artists he's cited as influences on his career do make for great and essential listening to anyone, I might have known. And now that you mention it, I can definitely see the similarities between their vocal styles too. Painted From Memory with Bacharach's the more obvious place where it shows, but his take on Pitney's style really does shine through on the Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet too. I might get round to talking abouteither one of those albums in this thread yet. And that Rain Tree Crow album is absolutely phenominal. I must have listened to it about 500 times in the week that I got hold of it. It's easily among my all-time favourites now. I just love how it brings the talents of Mick Karn and Steve Jansen in creating ethereal and thoroughly atmospheric musical backdrops into a new, much more modern-sounding generation of sounds. It's an album I'd recommend to absolutely anyone. I just wish they could have followed it up before Mick Karn died. And, I suppose I'd better talk about a song or two while I'm here... Artist: Primal Scream Tuneage: Free You know how occasionally you'll come across a song that just completely blows you away, loses you in its awesomeness and makes you pity those who've never heard it before? This is one of those songs, at least with me. I first came across when, after a few years of owning only a best of and a copy of Screamadelica that I never listened to that much at first, I decided to get hold of Give Out But Don't Give Up. Part of it was out of a hipsterish desire to fill out as many discographies in my music collection as I could, but mostly it was because the singles from it like Rocks and Jailbird just kicked arse all the way, whether or not they were pretty shameless Stones rip-offs. I won't lie - the singles aside, I hate that album. That is, of course, with the exception of this little ditty. It simply oozes the kind of emotion and soul that so many other albums, let alone the rest of this one, wishes they could. It's another example of how much good a brilliant vocal performance (this one from Primal Scream's then-backing vocalist, Denise Johnson) can do for a song. Just sit back, press to play and enjoy. As for the other portion of each update, here's another gem from Sylvian and Sakamoto; World Citizen Were it not for the fact that Forbidden Colours exists, this would be my favourite song that Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian had written and performed together. If both Forbidden Colours and World Citizen didn't exist, it'd be the Scent Of Magnolia. If Forbidden Colours, World Citizen and the Scent Of Magnolia didn't exist...you get the picture. Each song that Sylvian and Sakamoto have worked on are basically one of my favourites of all time, which is why I'll always hold them in the highest regard when it comes to musical collaborations. While Forbidden Colours will always be my favourite song of all time no matter which angle I see it from, this one is simply one of the most bleak, tightly-rendered and ethereal songs that I have ever heard. I don't really want to go into it in detail, what I think the lyrics mean and all that, as that'd suck the fun out of the song. Rather, I'm gonna leave it to you to find out As for me, I'll just say that this song would've been a perfect fit with the soundtrack for Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within.