Dean and I were talking: there's an album hidden in 'Surrender' and 'Come With Us' to equal the first two Chemical Brothers LP. Find it.
Challenge accepted!
This is my tracklist, show me yours:
4:54 [a1] Come With Us
7:18 [a2] Out Of Control
8:35 [b1] It Began In Afrika (Electronic Battle Weapon Version)
4:49 [b2] Hey Boy Hey Girl
4:46 [b3] Galaxy Bounce (Tomb Raider Version)
5:20 [c1] Music: Response
4:16 [c2] Under The Influence
6:23 [c3] Star Guitar
6:32 [d1] Hoops
8:39 [d2] The Sunshine Underground
Most importantly, this allows "The Sunshine Underground" to shine as the epic,"Private Psychedelic Reel"-esque album-ender it truly is rather than stifling it in the middle of an awkwardly sequenced LP. Also: it puts the full version of "Galaxy Bounce" - surely the best track from the 'Come With Us' period - on an album rather than a too short, anti-climactic edit. Win/win.
(Sadly, despite a handful of amazing tracks, there's not a full LP to salvage from the messes that are 'Push The Button' and 'We Are The Night'...or is there?)
(There isn't.)
In anticipation of their forthcoming second LP - which can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned - The Whip have set up a fancy new web site. At said web site, you can stream and/or exchange your e-mail address for an mp3 download of a DJ Mixtape by members Bruce and Fee.
A nice way to start the spring as far as I'm concerned, though it is a bit sad they didn't sneak in a preview of new material in the set. Oh well.
It's mix time again!
This year was a little tricky for a few reasons. One: while albums as a whole were a bit disappointing in 2009, plenty of individual tracks shone through and it was tough to not only pick the best to go together but also getting them to play nicely with each other. Two: formatting was a bitch this year with plenty of stuff being either digital- or vinyl-only so trying to find the best possible source for a track proved kind of tricky. And three: the effing loudness wars - seriously, it is getting a bit ridiculous. Check it:
Really? Shouldn't Trent and/or someone in Jane's Addiction know better? For shame.
Anyways, so getting it all to sound good when put in a row was tough and I'm sure it could be better, but there you go.
Anyways, get someone to keep us company:
01 Little Boots - New In Town
single from the LP 'Hands'
02 V.V. Brown - Game Over
single from the LP 'Travelling Like The Light'
03 La Roux - Tigerlily
should've been single from the self-titled LP
04 Dragonette - Liar
highlight from the LP 'Fixin To Thrill'
05 The Hidden Cameras - Mind, Matter and Waste
from the "In The NA" EP and the only worthwhile thing to come out of the 'Origin: Orphan' debacle
06 The Sound of Arrows - Into the Clouds
remix of Freemonster's single of 2009
07 The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
single from the LP 'Conditions'
08 The Big Pink - Stop the World
non-album single, though why it wasn't on the album is beyond me
09 The Breeders - Fate to Fatal
EP title track
10 Charlotte Hatherley - White
single from the LP 'New Worlds'
11 Jane's Addiction - Whores
2009 studio recording of a 20+ year old live only track
12 Kasabian - Where Did All The Love Go?
single from the LP 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
13 Ash - Arcadia
the "C" single from the A-Z singles project
14 Sugababes - Thank You For The Heartbreak
essentially the Sugababes goodbye single
15 Pet Shop Boys - The way it used to be [Richard X Mix]
remix from the "Did you see me coming?" 12"
16 Annie - Songs Remind Me Of You
single from the finally released LP 'Don't Stop'
A friend and I have an e-mail conversation that has been going on for years that covers any number of pop music topics at any given time. Sometimes we'll dive deep into a given artist - it may or may not have started about tracking down promo-only Sugababes mixes, I can't recall - and sometimes it will touch many artists at a time.
In any case, Suede came up [again] recently and we were discussing their career showcase at the ICA back in 2003. For those who don't know, the short version is leading up to the release of the 'Singles' album, the band played five nights at the ICA in London with each night dedicated to one of their five albums. The first three nights they did 'Suede', 'Dog Man Star' and 'Coming Up' respectively from front to back for the main set plus an encore of period b-sides, fan favorites and new single "Attitude". For nights four and five, they did 'Head Music' and 'A New Morning' in their entirety but changed the running order for the gig. Despite having bootlegs of varying quality of the shows since they first appeared, I've never really given them a good listen. [The 'A New Morning' night in particular is of terrible quality...and it doesn't sound that great either.] Anyways, in the discussion it was suggested that listening to the albums in their "ICA configurations", if you will, paints an entirely different picture of the two oft-maligned albums.
First, I'll say that 'Head Music' is without a doubt my favorite Suede album - I know, I know. The idea intrigued me, though - I recall reading a review at the time how the band took the stage for "Hi-Fi" at the beginning of the 'Head Music' night all Kraftwerk-like and blew everyone's mind. So I was game.
First off, to play along at home you need the following playlist:
"Hi-Fi"
"Head Music"
"Savoir Faire"
"Can't Get Enough"
"Asbestos"
"Electricity"
"Elephant Man"
"Down"
"He's Gone"
"Indian Strings"
"Everything Will Flow"
"Crack In The Union Jack"
"She's In Fashion"
Having given the album a listen this way twice, I would only make one change and that would be to flip-flop the positions of "Electricity" and "Elephant Man". Other than that, though, you get a very different picture of a misunderstood and - let's be honest - not fully realized album.
With "Hi-Fi" in the starting position, you get a very different idea of the album in your head from the get go. The first half becomes a very nasty electro-monster before roughing things up a bit with the endearingly goofy "Elephant Man" and then the now side-a ending thrill of "Electricity". [I don't care what anyone says, I still find the track fantastically exciting ten years on.] Side-b, on the other hand, is incredibly heavy and hopelessly gorgeous with a string of increasingly sad and lovely songs before ending with the ray of sunshine that is "She's In Fashion". It ends up sounding more like a bonus track than part of the album, much like "Honey" on 'New Amerykah Part 1', but somehow it works that way.
The exercise does serve to remind that an album can be more than the sum of its parts and that track order can make all the difference in the world. I do think it might even change your mind about the album if you weren't a fan to begin with.
Unfortunately, it also makes the last decade of Suede-related nonsense even more disappointing. *sigh*
I suppose I should give 'A New Morning' an "ICA" listen. Maybe it will change my mind...
Dean and I were talking: there's an album hidden in 'Surrender' and 'Come With Us' to equal the first two Chemical Brothers LP. Find it.
