The Baroque Pop Blog

New baroquepop blog

2011-09-24T00:21:00.002+01:00

For my new baroque pop blog, go to www.baroquepop.com where you will find listings and reviews of 'baroque pop' related albums from the last 40 years.

See you there!

The Conversation Starter

2011-08-01T13:03:00.000+01:00

Sorry for no music updates, I've been preoccupied with Nattery, my new web development project. It's basically a "no registration required" forum to aid in group communications.

I came upon the idea for Nattery when I got fed up of the mess when emailing a group of people and trying to make sense of the responses. Some people click 'reply all' some don't. All-in-all there isn't much of a thread for the group to follow.

So now there is www.nattery.com, something I describe as easier than email, and a whole lot more versatile. Not just enabling the thread of a conversation to be followed but also enabling polls, images and file uploads.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Sufjan Stevens live in Chicago Oct 15

2010-10-17T16:13:00.002+01:00

Set list
Seven Swans
Too Much
Age of Adz
Heirloom
I Walked
Now That I’m Older
Vesuvius
Futile Devices
Get Real, Get Right
The Owl and the Tanger
Impossible Soul
Chicago

Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
Decatur, or, Round of Applause for your Stepmother!
Casimir Pulaski Day
John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Reviews
consequenceofsound.net

Sufjan Stevens live reviews

2010-10-14T23:43:00.006+01:00

October 2010 tour

Massey Hall, Toronto Oct 13

“Drama queen that I am, writing about love was like writing about the end of the world,”

"All Delighted People"
"Heirloom"
"Too Much"
"Futile Devices"
"Age Of Adz"
"I Walked"
"Now That I'm Older"
"Vesuvius"
"Get Real Get Right"
"Enchanting Ghost"
"The Owl And The Tanager"
"Impossible Soul"
"Chicago"
"Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois"
"John Wayne Gacy, Jr."

1. www.chartattack.com
2. www.exclaim.ca
3. www.eyeweekly.com
4. www.theglobeandmail.com

Metropolis Montreal (12 Oct)
http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette

Sufjan interviews

2010-10-12T22:19:00.005+01:00

There's a few of these on the web for your perusal. We find Sufjan feeling as refreshed as someone would be after doing a spring clean. I'll pick out the common points in tomorrow's post, but for now here are 3 interviews. Let me know if you come across others.

1. The Quietus
Unusually Sufjan talks mainly about Christian theology, in a down-to-earth way.
2. Drowned In Sound
3. Irish Times
4. www.nytimes

Buy Direct from AK or from Amazon?

2010-10-11T12:39:00.002+01:00

This statement from Asthmatic Kitty made a bit of a stir a couple of weeks ago:

We have it on good authority that Amazon will be selling The Age of Adz for a very low price on release date, not unlike they did with Arcade Fire’s recent (and really terrific) The Suburbs. We’re not 100% sure Amazon will do this, but mostly sure. We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing. Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan’s music and to this wonderful album. For that, we’re grateful. But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte.

Of course by then I (and no doubt a good many other Sufjan fans) had already preordered the CD. I paid £13.50 ($18.44) including shipping to the UK. I can't help thinking this was a kneejerk response from AK, realising that their most loyal fans were about to get badly stung, paying pretty much double the price of Amazon or Play.com

Anyway, this morning the sting was complete when my battered crumpled copy of The Age of Adz arrived in the post in its flimsy inadequate 'packaging'.

ASTHMATIC KITTY, IF YOU'RE GOING TO CHARGE TOP DOLLAR TO YOUR LOYAL FANS PLEASE AT LEAST PACK YOUR CDS CORRECTLY!

Review: The Age of Adz

2010-10-09T22:41:00.004+01:00

I'm more than a week into this now, enjoying at work, rest and play. Great on the stereo or whilst driving, but mostly this is a brilliant headphone album. My eardrums are loving this like a great massage. It might even cure my tinnitus, at the very least I'll certainly forget about it for 75 minutes running time.

It's easy to think of this as Sufjan's pop album, but it's more than that. This time it's personal and current (no songs about the Columbia Fair or his stepmother). Nearly every song in the first person addressing his current state of mind in ways that many of us can relate to. He even namechecks himself in one song. One of the most deliberate of artists, I can detect a narrative arc to the song order. I'm so looking forward to sitting down with the lyric sheet.

Futile Devices is a trademark short acoustic number that Sufjan does so well. Pity the unwary listener who doesn't realise the electric mayhem that awaits. It's a good opener but it ain't no Concerning the UFO (a track that still mesmerises five years later.)

I'm not sure that Too Much is the best introduction to this electro-classical pop album. The leading melodic motif is a little banal and I feel the tune outstays itself at six minutes plus. Never mind, it's all glory from here.

The Age of Adz is a stunning and sophisticated track, rightfully taking its place as the title track. The portentious triplet of tuba-style notes giving the song a booming gravitas onto which the random army of synthesized noises are unleashed, and just beneath it all is a plucked guitar that gradually emerges. The moment at 6:20 which the choir chimes in is as good as any orchestral climax. And the words in context are quite moving...
And when I die, when I die
I'll rot
But when I live, when I live
I'll give it all I've got

I Walked is a lovely pop song, which succeeds where Too Much fails. Who knows, this could even be a pop radio hit.

Now That I'm Older stands apart with its swirling array of treated voices backed by little more that some tickling keyboards. This song is so mature it should carry a "not for teenagers" warning. The background voices remind me a lot of Kate and Anna McGarrigle's angelic tones. It feels like one of those Sufjan slow burners that gradually become a fan favourite.

Get Real Get Right is a great pop tune with a scintillating background of Sufjan's trademark fluttering woodwinds and emphasising female choir. It works in the same way as I Walked, which similarly hits the five minute mark.

Bad Communication is more of a declamatory interlude. For me the least convincing track here.

Vesuvius feels like a welcome breather being lighter on the electronic. It's a very Sufjan song... in many respects, he even namechecks himself. I love the flutes/recorders/panpipes at the end, which makes me nostalgic for his first album, A Sun Came. Classic Sufjan. If you like how Sufjan makes you feel, this is your track. And if you love this, you should check out A Sun Came.

All For Myself's time signature seems to be derived from a 33rpm record stuck in a groove, perhaps while going backwards. In old language it would be regarded as a typical Sufjan off-kilter ballad.

I've worn out my fingertips on the desk trying get the time signatures for I Want To Be Well, this fascinating uptempo song is firstly in 7/8, briefly flirting with 4/4 in the transition then settling into a raucous 5/4 for one of the album's most notable sections, which includes the repeated declaration that "I'm not fucking around"> His voice, and the treatment thereof, is fantastic. There's a real edge to it. Six minutes of top notch Sufjan.

Which leaves us with the 25 minutes of Impossible Soul. Having experienced the 17 minute jam of Djorariah just a few weeks before, I bet I wasn't the only one expecting a similar long jam with an even longer repeat and fade out. But Sufjan confounds again! It's easier to think of this as a five song suite:
Part one is a very strong mid-paced melody, incredibly well arranged with keyboard, frantic snare-drums, chorus, and a signature Sufjan guitar solo...
part two, "don't be destracted" interrupts, led by a female voice which gives way to a multitude of horns, sounding something like the Blood Sweat and Tears of old. After 10 minutes we're into...
part three "Stupid Man", the notorious Autotune section. I like the music, a dreamlike tape loop, but I guess I'm one of many that is conditioned against Autotune, so it's hard, but really it's well done I guess and pretty brief, and soon transitions into...
part four "We Can Do Much More Together", a cheesy cheerleader chant. I could really see the media picking up on this, TV sports highlight packages and the like. Lyrically this track feels like a breath of fresh air as if Sufjan has finally managed to cast aside his various neuroses and insecurities. It winds down with a beautiful usage of electronic noises as it runs through some key changes, until...
part five "I Never Meant To Cause You Pain", an acoustic segment that perfectly mirrors the opener, Futile Devices, some 70 minutes earlier.

What a journey!

New Sufjan Stevens forum

2010-09-02T14:05:00.003+01:00

Due to the current lack of forums for Sufjan Stevens, I've created one at www.baroquepop.com

If you're a fan, please drop by and contribute. Let's see if we can get a Sufjanite community going!

Baroque pop blog favourite albums of 2009

2010-02-06T14:47:00.004Z

Not saying this is all the best music of the year, but this is the stuff I enjoyed and rated the most.

1. Various Artists: Dark Was The Night
Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, The National, Feist, The Decemberists, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens all contributing new material to this charity compilation. It introduced many of us to unfamiliar artists.

2. DM Stith: Heavy Ghost
Nine months after its release I still play it regularly. Beautifully played and sung music (often called psych-folk), textured with multilayered harmonies like a choir, with strings and horns punctuating the music in a sublime way.

3. The Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
Being more baroquey and folky I don't enjoy much straight rock (electric guitar, drums etc), so this was a treat. David Longstretch's angular compositions twist and turn with unexpected drama, jagged african style guitar vying for attention with adventurous female harmonies.

4. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
As if enough music fans didn't despise them enough already they go and write a rock opera! The sixy-minute suite doesn't hit the mark all the time, but there are enough highlights to make an enjoyable listen, and Colin Meloy can sure write a beautiful tune when needed.

5. Gabriel Kahane: Gabriel Kahane
A little known very talented artist, a classical pianist singer/songwriter with real craft. Perhaps a little too mannered for most, but the songs are good, lyrically and musically detailed. Incidentally, it is Mr Kahane who plays the piano cadenza on Sufjan's track on Dark Was The Night.

6. Northern Howl: All That's Under the Night's Sky
A charming self-made debut from these rustic Minnesotans. Banjos, violins, trumpets give shades of Sufjan.

7. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (2009)
The breakout album! Whilst there's no doubting the immediacy of some tracks, I'm not sure it marks an artistic progress from Yellow House.

8. Sufjan Stevens: The BQE
His first foray into classical music is a multimedia treat. At the end of the DVD is Sufjan's first original song in several years. And it's very good!

9. St. Vincent: Actor
Annie Clark gives us another dose of quirky punchy pop. Not sure about the muddy production.

10. Patrick Watson: Wooden Arms
After the promising Close to Paradise comes this surprisingly experimental work, the Satie influence is there again, so are Watson's distinctive vocal, and so too is a lot of percussion.

Also of interest to baroque poppers

Clare & the Reasons: Arrow
Essentially now a duo with unkempt French husband Olivier, this contains some cute compositions but lacks the weight and development of some of the tunes on 2006's The Movie.

Papa Rufus!

2009-07-11T00:55:00.009+01:00

In musical terms this is a momentous night for me. Let me explain...

I've always loved music in its multitude of forms, from my rock and pop teenage years, to my explorations of jazz, blues and country in my early twenties. I started to explore classical music and at the age of 28 I 'discovered' opera.

There's literally hundreds of years of classical music and operas to be explored and I managed to avoid listening to ANY non-classical/opera music for 12 years. My rock and pop collection gathered dust, except for the 600 LPs that my mum donated to the firemen's jumble sale. (Kids, learn from me...take your music with you when you leave home!)

At some point in 2004 there was an interview on a TV arts program with a guy named Rufus Wainwright. I'd heard the name before, but it didn't mean anything to me. The interview took place in the Royal Opera House, London, and this singer turned out to be a passionate fan of Giuseppe Verdi and opera in general. That piqued my interest! Even more so when I learnt that he was the son of Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle.

Who they, you might ask? Well, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, folky Montreal sisters, were my favourite performers from the late seventies. I had all their albums and had seen them in concert many times. If you look at the sleeve notes of their first classic eponymous debut album you'll see a credit to the babysitter for looking after baby Rufus!

Man, I suddenly felt old, but I checked out the recordings of this 2nd generation Wainwright/McGarrigle and found a fascinating artist. His sophisticated pop made constant references to classical music and opera, sometimes obvious, sometimes very subtle.

A couple of years ago the news came that the Metropolitan Opera in New York had commissioned Rufus to write an opera. Astonishingly, the relationship seemed to founder because Rufus wanted to write his opera in French, not English. (Strange, I've been to the Met several times and never heard an opera sung in English!)

Thankfully, a canny person at the Manchester International Festival stepped into the breach and offered to stage the premiere performances of Prima Donna.

I haven't heard or seen it yet, but the preview clips sound fantastic. 19th century French opera, complete with REAL TUNES!

I doubt I'll get to Manchester for a performance, but I'm pleased to see that the production is already scheduled for London, Melbourne and Toronto.

If you wondered why Rufus has sprouted a beard, I think the answer lies here, with Papa Verdi:

2009-04-14T16:25:00.002+01:00

Following on from Melbourne Tourist Board use, and not put off by its creepy use in The Strangers, Victoria's Secrets has used the Sprout and the Bean for the new TV ad. I like it, the filming suits the music well.

Heavy Ghost, by DM Stith

2009-04-07T00:17:00.013+01:00

ALBUM REVIEW

1 Isaac's Song 1:38
2 Pity Dance 4:21
3 Creekmouth 4:10
4 Pigs 4:54
5 Spirit Parade 2:23
6 BMB 2:43
7 Thanksgiving Moon 3:59
8 Fire of Birds 5:13
9 Morning Glory Cloud 3:56
10 GMS 2:35
11 Braid of Voices 5:26
12 Wig 2:35
How many things?
How many things can I say to you?
And expect shock-horror, shock-horror, shock-horror, hallelujah
To descend again in sweet oblation
Your God's a lion, recently fed, drowsy
And the body, the body, the body, the body, the body, it waits for obliteration

I'm not very good at reviewing at the best of times, but I've just encountered an album that leaves me speechless and wordless. Where the hell has this guy come from?

Baroque pop nerds, and Shara Worden fans will know the name, Bring me the Workhorse was recorded on his laptop, and if you own the album you'll see him listed in the credits. Ok, so he's on the fringe of the Sufjan Asthmatic Brooklyn posse. Perhaps you won't be surprised to learn that he comes from a musical (and churchy) family. He's musical. That much is clear. VERY musical. So the folks at Asthmatic Kitty asked him to make an album... and here it is. Possibly the most astonishing debut album I've ever heard.

It starts with an austere somewhat classical clash of piano and voice. It's harsh, confrontational, and says this album demands your attention. Put it on, and listen, damn you! So Isaac's Song, which is very much the prelude rather than a song, soon gives way to Pity Dance a tense and eerie waltz-time tune (the album's lead single), led by a picked/strummed classical guitar and one of the most effortless and effective tenor/falsetto voices I've heard since Jeff Buckley. The layering of concert-grand, electronics, electric guitar, harmonies, hand-claps sets the theme of what is to come: Lush, dark, dramatic, chilling, intriguing, never a moment when it's less than interesting.

The drama continues with Creekmouth. This song consolidates the soundscape, tribal rhythms replacing the concert piano. The ensemble voices are present again, very much the signature feature of this album. Pigs moves things along, by now you should be familiar with the complex and entrancing world of Stith. The multi-tracked background vocals are amazing.

If you find Animal Collective fine in theory but not in practice, perhaps you should try Spirit Parade a rhythmic drama, not for casual listening! After barely two minutes it yields to the gentle vocal piano-basedBMB. Bass clarinets chime in beautifully after the first verse, and a shimming string quartet adds further lustre. Then, it's as if nothing else can be said, the song rapidly dissolves into chordal shifts and dissonance.

Stith's understated but accomplished guitar appears again in Thanksgiving Moon, augmented by a meticulously charted horn section and marimba. The tune is impressive, carried by a scintillating background chorus.

Fire of Birds contains the most uplifting chorus, although I find it a little pedestrian and repetitive. "We danced like we were all on fire." goes the refrain.

Morning Glory Cloud is as close as Stith comes to a guitar and vocal style, and he transcends the form with a captivating 3/4 rhythm. This track seems to have a part-two piano section which tonally hovers in the Supertramp/Steely Dan realm for a few moments.

GMS is a Sufjaneque piano interlude, think Redmond.

Braid of Voices is one of the album's big hitters. A big, dramatic and melancholy tune...
from the back of my head tied to the back of my head tied
to the back of my head tied...
a braid of voices: david, david
Those last lines, saying his own name are chilling.

Anyone who has ever been to a classical concert will recognise the opening of Wig as Marla Hansen's viola tunes up. It's a meditative drone, and a perfect ending.

In summary, I cannot recommend this album highly enough, particularly for Sufjan fans impatiently waiting for his next installment. Buy it!

ps... and David, if you read this... nice booklet, I get the joke! Please, please, please get some signed prints to sell at your gigs, I'll be at the Dublin date.

It's turning into a vintage year for baroque pop

2009-03-31T23:13:00.007+01:00

More CD reviews coming soon! Debut CDs by Gabriel Kahane and DM Stith (video above).

Both of these are extraordinary in the own ways. It's taking a while to digest them, but I'll write them up in the next week.

Beyond that, May sees the release of Patrick Watson's and Grizzly Bear's new CDs, the previews of both sound awesome.

Dark Was The Night, by Various Artists

2009-03-29T20:24:00.006+01:00

CD REVIEW

The Red Hot Organisation’s AIDS-related charity has been releasing an annual fund-raising compilation CD since the 90's, initially a grunge-orientated offering, their roster of contributing artists has always moved with the times.

The 2009 double CD, Dark Was The Night, features two hours of music by many leading indie/baroque pop artists together with some more esoteric contributions. Curated and led by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, they have given us a surprisingly cohesive collection. The various collaborations that occur on various tracks give the album of the feel of a team effort: Feist + Ben Gibbard, Feist + Grizzly Bear, Antony Hegarty + Bryce Dessner, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) + Aaron Dessner, etc.

It kicks off brilliantly with a Dirty Projectors and David Byrne partnership, Knotty Pine. Bright and catchy enough to be a hit single. Grizzly Bear's Deep Blue Sea is a little more orthodox than much of their output but it charms. Antony's reworking of an obscure Bob Dylan song is the surprise success here. The first CD ends with 11 minutes of Sufjan Stevens wide-ranging aural assault on the Castanets' You are the Blood. If one track can be any indication of where an artist is going then Sufjan is going in multiple directions at once, a glitchy electronic start gives way to a huge band sound, trombones, guitar, keyboards and more. It also features one of the few piano cadenzas to ever appear in pop music, courtesy of the talented Gabriel Kahane! It brings to mind Rufus Wainwright's Do I Disappoint You, and Rufus might not have the field of bombastic pop to himself for much longer.

To my knowledge these recordings are all new on this collection, sometimes new compositions or covers, and a few reworkings of old favourites. It would take too long to list all my favourite tracks, but suffice to say the first CD ('This One') is very much the stronger and would be worth the price alone. The packaging, as can be seen in the picture, is a triple fold digipack with a separate informative booklet. Excellent.

This Disc
1 The Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine 2:23
2 The Books feat. José González - Cello Song 3:54
3 Feist & Ben Gibbard - Train Song 3:02
4 Bon Iver - Brackett, WI 4:03
5 Grizzly Bear - Deep Blue Sea 3:46
6 The National - So Far Around the Bend 3:43
7 Yeasayer - Tightrope 3:18
8 My Brightest Diamond - Feeling Good 3:53
9 Kronos Quartet - Dark Was the Night 3:51
10 Antony & Bryce Dessner - I Was Young When I Left Home 4:55
11 Justin Vernon & Aaron Dessner - Big Red Machine 4:39
12 The Decemberists - Sleepless 7:53
13 Iron & Wine - Stolen Houses (Die) 1:06
14 Grizzly Bear & Feist - Service Bell 2:23
15 Sufjan Stevens - You Are the Blood 10:14

That Disc
1 Spoon - Well-Alright 2:45
2 Arcade Fire - Lenin 4:06
3 Beirut - Mimizan 2:42
4 My Morning Jacket - El Caporal 3:33
5 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Inspiration Information 4:05
6 Dave Sitek - With a Girl Like You 3:26
7 Buck 65 - Blood Pt. 2 (Remix) (feat. Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) 3:36
8 The New Pornographers - Hey, Snow White 4:25
9 Yo La Tengo - Gentle Hour 5:31
10 Stuart Murdoch - Another Saturday Night 2:55
11 Riceboy Sleeps - Happiness 8:37
12 Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues - Amazing Grace 3:34
13 Andrew Bird - The Giant of Illinois 4:44
14 Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch - Lua 5:53
15 Blonde Redhead & Devastations - When the Road Runs Out 3:28
16 Kevin Drew - Love vs. Porn 3:57

What is baroque pop?

2009-03-21T02:01:00.007Z

Yes, the question is asked again, and I spend far too much of my life trying to answer this trivial question. If you've ever visited Wikipedia, you'll know what a mess this topic is. No-one agrees, and the list of baroque pop artists is frankly absurd. The media (music journalists) lazy usage of the term doesn't help!Witness the currently usage of 'freak-folk'. (btw freakfolk.com is safe in my possession :-))

So here's my latest thoughts on baroque pop:

Baroque pop is to pop music what progressive rock is to rock music.
It's a more complex form, likely to have more varied instrumentation and/or more ambitious song structures. Whilst the term baroque pop originated in 1960's music journalism during a fad for using a harpsichord in pop songs, the term as used by music journalists has come to mean something more ornate and complex than most pop music. In terms of modern artists, the two most often cited are the classically influenced ostentatious pop songs of Rufus Wainwright, and the complex arrangements of Sufjan Stevens' music with their non-standard time signatures, instrumentation and harmonic counterpoints.

Dear readers, do you have any thoughts on what baroque pop is? interested in your views. Perhaps we can sort out the Wikipedia entry one day!

Introducing Soren Anders

2009-03-17T01:34:00.004Z

Here's an artist I'm keeping an eye on.

(With liberal cutting and pasting from Wikipedia!)

Soren Anders (born John T Fischer) is an American composer, singer, record producer and instrumentalist from southern Illinois. He is the creator of the multi-award winning band Shimmerplanet.

With its string backing it fits nicely into baroque chamber pop realm. I'm not sure he's found his voice yet, the tracks I've heard seem like ambition student works, unlikely to make an impact on a larger stage, but there's certainly enough here to grab the attention of baroque pop enthusiasts.

Ander's has gained much critical success as the creator of the band Shimmerplanet has been called “a breakthrough creatively” and “brilliant”. “It takes artistic courage to be this lyrically honest and musically experimental,” wrote Indie-Music.com^[2]. Awards from The Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Independent Music Awards, and Talent In Motion Magazine followed.

Anders has worked with 60s recording icon Lesley Gore, 80s recording icon Chris Stein (of Blondie), and recently scored and conducted a choir for one of his favorite bands, Menomena. The recipient of numerous awards, international airplay and critical accolades, Anders is very busy, not just with Shimmerplanet, but with various other collaborations (Darren Ockert, Carolyn Eufrasio, Molly Bea).

No commercial releases yet, but plenty to listen to on his Myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/sorenanders

Joanna Newsom's quotable lines

2009-01-22T01:18:00.003Z

Some of my favourite Joanna Newsom quotes

There are some mornings when the sky looks like a road
There are some dragons who were built to have and hold
.....Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie

Your skin is something that I stir into my tea
.....Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie

dried rose petal, red-brown circles
framed your eyes and stained your knuckles
.....Cosmia

You came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I'm in
.....Emily

The ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever
.....Emily

Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being
.....Emily

Never get so attached to a poem
You forget truth that lacks lyricism
Never draw so close to the heat
That you forget that you must eat,
.....En Gallop

oh, the hills are groaning with excess
like a table ceaselessly being set
.....Monkey and Bear

And I have read the right books
To interpret your looks
You were knocking me down
With the palm of your eye
.....Peach Plum Pear

Down where I darn with the milk-eyed mender
you and I, and a love so tender,
is stretched-on the hoop where I stitch-this addage:
"Bless this house and its heart so savage."
.....Sadie

And all that I want, and all that I need
and all that I've got is scattered like seed.
And all that I knew is moving away from me.
(and all that I know is blowing
like tumbleweed)
.....Sadie

and in a moment of almost-unbearable vision
doubled over with the hunger of lions
.....Sawdust and Diamonds

And all that I've got, and all that I need
I tie in a knot that I lay at your feet.
I have not forgot, but a silence crept over me.
So dig up your bone, exhume your pinecone, sadie
.....Sadie

though my wrists and my waist seemed so easy to break
still, my dear, I would have walked you to the very edge of the water
and they will recognise all the lines of your face
in the face of the daughter of the daughter of my daughter
darling, we will be fine, but what was yours and mine
appears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes
but if it's all just the same, then will you say my name:
say my name in the morning, so I know when the wave breaks?

I wasn't born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilight
no, I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright
so enough of this terror we deserve to know light
and grow evermore lighter and lighter
you would have seen me through
but I could not undo that desire
.....Sawdust and Diamonds
(Dumbstruck! One of the most beautiful lyric sequences I've ever heard)

the difference between
the sprout and the bean
is a golden ring

When you go away
I am big-boned and fey
.....The Sprout and the Bean

Do you want to sit at my table?
My fighting fame is fabled
And fortune finds me fit and able
.....The Book of Right-on

Do you want to run with my pack?
Do you want to ride on my back?
Pray that what you lack does not distract
.....The Book of Right-on

And Jamie has eyes black and shiny as boots
and they march at you, two-by-two (re-loo, re-loo)
when she looks at you, you know she's nowhere near through:
it's the kindest heart beating this side of the blue.
.....This Side of the Blue

The new baroque pop forum

2008-03-05T23:02:00.001Z

It's here!

... what we've all been waiting for, a place where you can read and talk about your favorite baroque pop artists, such as Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird, as well as the classic acts of the 60's and 70's.

The forum address is simply www.baroquepop.com. Please drop by and introduce yourself.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Sufjan, live in Australia

2008-01-05T23:01:00.000Z

Preceded by his reputation I think...

Thursday 10 January:: The Tivoli, Brisbane *SOLD OUT
Saturday 12 January:: State Theatre – Sydney Festival *SEASON SOLD OUT
Sunday 13 January:: State Theatre – Sydney Festival *SEASON SOLD OUT
Monday 14 January:: State Theatre – Sydney Festival *SEASON SOLD OUT
Wednesday 16 January - The Forum, Melbourne *SOLD OUT
Thursday 17 January - The Forum, Melbourne *SOLD OUT

Okay, so most of this article consists of the kind of details already know to Sufjan fans, but still worth reading.

The spiritually infused music of Sufjan Stevens is almost impossible to classify, writes Iain Shedden | December 29, 2007 (The Australian)

Also making the journey are Joanna Newsom (playing at the Sydney Opera House) and Andrew Bird (Speigeltent!)

Sighs... wish I could be there.

My New Sufjan Stevens CD

2007-12-11T23:05:00.000Z

2007 has been the first year in a while without a new Sufjan Stevens CD release, and it's been tough! After Avalanche and Songs for Christmas in 2006 I guess we've been spoilt.

However, trawling the internet for anything Sufjan, soon reveals a varied bag of out-takes, B-sides, orphans, one-offs, tribute songs etc. I reckon I've collected most of them by now, but I'd be deluding myself and others if I claimed they were all fantastic. Oh no, they're not all great by any means, but some of these neglected tracks are really good - too good to remain internet curiosities. They deserve better... they deserve to be enjoyed on your CD player.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands by making my own 'new' Sufjan CD. After discarding some grungy and glitchy tracks like The First Full Moon and All Delighted People, as well as some live oddities like Sufjan's own Star Spangled Banner, I'm left with a collection of acoustic bluesy numbers of surprisingly high production quality.

I'm not sure about the origins of all the tracks although most have the hallmarks of the Michigan or Seven Swans sessions. If you love The Avalanche then you won't need any further convincing about the worth of Sufjan's out-takes. If you prefer Seven Swans to the state CDs this will be right up your street.

So here's the running order of the 39 minute CD, which I've called:

Wolverine, and other cruelly neglected songs by Sufjan Stevens.

1. I Went Dancing With My Sister
2. Wolverine
3. Damascus
4. I Can't Even Lift My Head
5. Waste Of What Your Kids Won't Have
6. Opie's Funeral Song
7. Far Physician's Son
8. Borderline
9. The Lord God Bird
10. Variations On Commemorative Transfiguration And Communion At Magruder Park
11. Woman At The Well

Disclaimer: This is not an official Sufjan Stevens CD. It's not even an unofficial one. It's just my idea of a CD that could exist.

Clare and the Reasons, The Movie

2007-12-11T00:52:00.000Z

J'adore Clare & the Reasons.
Pardon my French, but there's something so sophisticated and chic about this CD.

Clare hails from Martha's Vineyard, daughter of musician Geoff Muldaur, but not Maria! Following her studies at Berklee College of Music she is now resident in Brooklyn. Likewise, most of the Reasons too.

This CD, released on their own Frogstand label, is her first, although she's had exposure with other ventures previously. I only have a promotion CD so my information is sketchy, but as far as I can tell it's a six-piece, including the string section!

A paean to Pluto is first up, consoling this remote rock of its recent demotion from planet status. I don't suppose it really cares, but it got me thinking about the nature of solar system and its sparce beauty. Pizzicato strings provide the unusual backing, immediately establishing the band's baroque pop credentials. In terms of jaunty rhythms and instrumentation it brings to mind Sufjan's Come on Feel the Illinois (Part 1). Add a sprinkling of Mr Sandman and you've got the idea.

Nothing/Nowhere starts slowly with lush strings, before turning into a catchy pop tune, a duet between Clare and Sufjan Stevens. Well worth downloading.

The quality of Clare's songwriting is fully evident on Under The Water a slow paced and elegant ballad that calls to mind Rufus Wainwright, in fact that is the best comparison I can offer throughout.

Alphabet City is a gentle walk in the park, full of easygoing charm. If somebody remade Amelie in Brooklyn this would be on the soundtrack. A B C D, just you and me, sings Clare, and it's hard not to call to mind Feist's 1,2,3,4. I like my Feist CD's but Clare is jazzier and a lot more fun.

The most notable lyric is that which opens Cook For You
I like to cook for you in my underwear,
cause our kitchen points to a wall,
and I like to talk to you while I brush my teeth
because I have so much to say

the cuteness of the lyrics bely its melancholy and the gentle string-laden waltz timing calls to mind Sibelius's Vals triste. When the bedroom-style strummed guitar is added to the mix this track is exquisite.

I believe Rodi is the first single, kind of like Rickie Lee Jones Chuck E's in love, with a Stevie Wonder harmonica. It's catchy for sure, but a little repetitive.

Sorry to say that the quality drops at this point, with Sugar in My Hair and Go Back not matching the inventiveness of the previous tracks.

Van Dyke Parks contributes piano to Love Can Be A Crime, and this Billie Holiday-style torch song is the better for it.

Things perk up a little with Science Fiction Man, which has its moments particular towards the end with some Electric Light Orchestra string flourishes.

The CD ends as it began with Pluton, (French for Pluto, and sung in French) and this time with a shimmering piano in place of the strings. The tune is worthy of a second airing, particularly given its different treatment here.

Clare and the Reasons easily find a niche in the world of baroque pop, but it's hard for me to see where the rest of their fanbase will be. I fear that this seemingly easy-listening CD, could end up as coffee shop background music, and that would be an injustice to Clare and the band's talents.

Perhaps I seem critical, but the fact is there is a lot to criticise. Thankfully there is more still to enjoy, and this continues to get repeat plays on my stereo. I recommend it to baroque pop fans of particularly if you enjoy Sufjan, Rufus Wainwright, Feist etc.

For the next CD, Clare, we need something deeper and more expansive. The talent is certainly there, but is the ambition?

Close to Paradise, by Patrick Watson (2006)

2007-11-24T17:47:00.000Z

1 Close to Paradise 5:02
2 Daydreamer 4:34
3 Slip Into Your Skin 3:37
4 Giver 3:27
5 Weight of the World 4:40
6 The Storm 3:12
7 Mr. Tom 2:48
8 Luscious Life 3:09
9 Drifters 4:27
10 Man Under the Sea 3:29
11 The Great Escape 3:07
12 Sleeping Beauty 5:33
13 Bright Shiny Lights 2:34

Solo artists are more likely to be classified as baroque pop than bands. Perhaps it's because they are free to give vent to their artistic vision, without being constrained by having to keep the band's rhythm section occupied? Therefore, finding a baroque pop band is a rare pleasure. (The bassist will sometimes play the glockenspiel, whilst the drummer seems content noodling around on all kinds of percussion.)

Despite its name, Patrick Watson is a band, with a member of the name, (kinda like Manfred Mann I guess). They hail from Montreal and this is their second CD. They're a four-piece - keyboard, guitar, bass and drums - although a lot of other instruments have cameos in the mix too.

At the time of writing they seem to be busy touring, trying to build fanbase in Europe, so far with limited media exposure. I believe the CD has been relaunched in Europe for the tour.
Their sound world is somewhere between Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Tom Waits and Rufus Wainwright. The songs on the CD are varied and interesting, with keyboard and guitar augmented by strings, horns and some studio trickery. Classical influences are easy to detect, particularly Debussy, Satie and Weill, and they enhance the texture of the music considerably. (Three of the band met at music college.)

As well as being a creative songwriter Patrick Watson has a striking voice, with the tone of Nick Drake and Nina Simone.

Close to Paradise makes for a very accessible opening with its sustained slide guitar providing obvious echoes of Pink Floyd. It also establishes the strong axis of keyboard and guitar that underpins much of the music.

The Erik Satie influence first appears in Daydreamer, a disconcerting keyboard scale is mixed with what sounds like backward loop samples. A banjo adds further texture as the tune gets going.

Slip into your Skin is the collection's first ballad, a charming 3/4 tune, keyboard, bass guitar, brushed drumkit and a heap of harmonies. Soft horns add still more class.

Giver seems a little more orthodox, but closer inspection reveals clever shifts in time signatures. The bass guitar adds nice little counterpoints to the vocal line.

Tom Waits would be proud of a song like Weight of the World, with its creepy fairground vibe. Watson plays an instrumental that looks like a keyboard and sounds like an accordian. Anyone know what it's called? Strings and horns, including a tuba(?), are beautifully arranged.

A picked acoustic guitar lick provides the introduction for The Storm, but soon things get more complex, with electric guitar, girly backing singers and more backward loopy things. A great track. (My pick for a download).

Mr Tom is an instrumental, a piano-based tune in 6/8 with a clear nod to Erik Satie again. Add some Dark Side of the Moon spoken voice samples and you've got the idea.

Luscious Life is a seemingly orthodox band number, quite straightforward, although largely in 7/8 time!

A rapid arpeggio piano introduces Drifters, a uptempo and melodious song, filled with harmonies again. What I like on Drifters (as on so many of the songs here) is that there's always something happening, a new instrument, a key change, a tempo change, a strip back, and that makes for an interesting listen.

The highlight of this creative set of songs is the Beatle-esque Man Under the Sea. It shares many good attributes with previous songs, but adds a joyous epic climax. The song is a keystone of PW's live show, although the version they perform is surprisingly different. See the links below.

***

OK, here's the thing...had I been their record company, I'd have ended the CD right at this point, however there are three more tracks to go:

If PW are know for anything it's probably The Great Escape, a melancholic ballad featured in Grays Anatomy. It's a good song of its type, but I don't know if it sits well with the previous tracks.

Quite simply, Sleeping Beauty should have been left on the cutting room floor. It feels like it was picked up off the floor and reassembled. There are some interesting moments towards the end, but suffers from the lack of a good tune.

Bright Shining Lights is an elegiac gospel song, complete with hammond organ. A good song, but I'm not sure it belongs on this CD.

Recommended? YES, highly recommended to fans of baroque pop. An interesting and very musical CD that could dominate your music system as it has mine. See them live while they're still in smaller venues.

LINKS:
A cute live performance of Man Under the Sea (well worth staying with this until 3:30!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNhnuuNOoGg

The Great Escape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2h9PrIUxs

It's a string thing!

2007-08-09T23:22:00.000+01:00

A great article in The Times, latching on to something we on this blog already know, that the violin has a firm place in well-crafted modern pop. Many of this blogger's favourites are quickly name-checked - Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens are the first mentioned. Although hardly household names, they are certainly clear reference points for people who know about music. (I love to see Joanna and Sufjan mentioned in the same sentence!)

Rightly, the greater part of the article concerns the wondrous stage-craft of Andrew Bird.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2229501.ece

Rufus Wainwright at Glastonbury

2007-06-23T09:49:00.000+01:00

No, I wasn't there, but watched it from the comfort of my living room on Friday evening. It was recorded a few hours earlier to judge from the daylight situation.
    Playing with an all-male band with 3 pieces of wind and without strings or girly voices Rufus attempted to recreate the major part of Release the Stars. I liked the band's mixture of informal stripy suits. Let's leave the jeans and T-shirts for the endless parade of Brit boy guitar bands on the main stage!
    Rufus usually makes a good fist of performing live anything he has recorded, however baroque or concert-unfriendly some pieces might seem. Release the Stars, the song, comes off pretty well as the opener, although his voice doesn't carry well in the mix. The band are up to the job.
    Rules and Regulations is introduced as his next single. Festival-friendly.
    The Art Teacher proves a crowd pleaser, and given that this only exists in live form (on Want Two), he manages a faithful rendition!
    Between My Legs has concert staple written all over it. Rufus's voice struggles with the low notes of the first verse, but the upbeat second tune bails him out. This songs has the secondary interest of who will do the voice-over. This time it was his sister Martha reading from the obligatory piece of scrappy paper. (Is that the same bit of paper they've all used? They really should get it laminated before it falls apart!) Rufus promised Martha would be back, but sadly the BBC decided to continue with their slavish devotion of Arcade Fire, so if she did come back I didn't get to see it.
    The dreary Going to A Town got a faithful rendition, just in case any visiting Americans weren't pissed off enough with the brooches and black stripes of the stage's backdrop.
    Slideshow comes across well, although I struggled with Rufus's exhortation to imagine he is Heart's Ann Wilson playing a festival in 1977.
    Do I Disappoint You was a unlikely inclusion, and afterwards Rufus called it surreal. I'd call it foolhardy.
    Sanssouci was played far too slowly. Not really a crowd pleaser.
    The (TV) set finished with the rousing 14th Street.
    Were you there? Got a picture I could post?

And the next state on Sufjan's musical tour is....

2007-06-18T19:23:00.001+01:00

Discovering the identity of the next state to receive the Sufjan musical treatment preoccupies not just of Sufjanites (like this blogger) but increasingly of the music press in general. So when rumours surfaced of 'Oregon' (often touted as a most-likely next state), Pitchfork were keen to get the details:

Pitchfork's Oregon news

As for Sufjan's current activities, I suspect he's consumed with matters closer to home, namely the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which will premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave festival in November 2007. As well as the multi-media BQE piece orchestrations of old songs plus some other new items are promised!

Release the Stars, by Rufus Wainwright

2007-05-15T17:05:00.000+01:00

1 Do I Disappoint You 4:40
2 Going to a Town 4:06
3 Tiergarten 3:26
4 Nobody's Off the Hook 4:27
5 Between My Legs 4:26
6 Rules and Regulations 4:05
7 I'm Not Ready to Love 5:51
8 Slideshow 6:21
9 Tulsa 2:19
10 Leaving for Paris No.2 4:52
11 Sanssouci 5:16
12 Release the Stars 5:20

My Review of Release the Stars

Absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder, particularly while waiting several years for Rufus to release a CD while he'd rather be prancing around with his Judy Garland tribute. Let's face it, his previous 2004 Want Two hardly left his reputation on a high point. Despite some audacious baroque pop highlights, it felt like warmed-up leftovers from Want One.
    Insider gossips, leading up to the release of this CD said that Release the Stars was sounding 'fabulous', but to me the 'Going To A Town' leak on YouTube sounded handsome and yet mundane. Should I even buy the CD? I wondered at one point, however with a holiday imminent I was looking for new music so my MP3 was well stocked for the travels, and this just had to be one of them.
    My first impression was that sonically this is as beautifully produced and performed as any record you'll hear... just listen to the quality of the strings and horns, mostly arranged by Maestro Rufus himself. Despite the musical bombast of Do I Disappoint You, the opener, I must respond with yes it does a little. I'm not convinced by the lyrics, and it's hardly Rufus's most elegant melody.
    'Going to a Town' improves with a few listens, but it still strikes me as formulaic until a free ranging chord sequence in the latter part.
    Things perk up with 'Tiergarten' a lugubrious summer pop song, with a rhythm that seemed perfectly suited to my first listens to it on long distance trains in Poland and Ukraine. Could this be a hit? No doubt it will be in Berlin. Has a park ever had a better song written about it? Let me know!
    'Nobody's Off The Hook' proclaims Rufus on the fourth track, backed by an exquisite string quartet. The tune is good, Rufus's singing is good, but the title reminds me of Big Brother a couple of years back.
    Next up is the trademark Rufus that people love and hate in equal measure. 'Between My Legs' commences with the kind of verse that any old pop group could write, a simple repetitive melody set square over its rhythm. And then it reaches its second theme and Rufus leaves the aforementioned pop group trailing in his wake as the song takes off with a change of pace and a vibrant tune. The grand chorus that follows is excellent with Rufus's vocals soaring against a huge and exciting backing, which then repeats with Sian Phillips speaking the words as if its something out of King Lear. Seemingly there's nowhere to go after that, but the signature chromatic tune of Phantom of The Opera seems so appropriate. This song is great fun, there's no denying it.
     Coming after such musical high jinks, the mid-tempo pop of 'Rules and Regulations' seems low key, but taking it in isolation, it's one of the CD's highlights. Nice lyrics, and a great trumpet duet sequence in the breaks.
     'Not Ready For Love' is the slowest song in this collection, and finds Rufus singing in his upper register (a la David Gates of Bread). One of the good things about Want One was that the slower ballads were also the shorter songs, whereas at nearly six minutes this one drags.
    Not to worry, normal bombast is resumed in 'Slideshow'. The strummed opening verse and high-drama chorus calls to mind the searing 'Go or Go Ahead' but the subject is rather lighter here, enlivened by the esteemed Richard Thompson's guitar noodling. The opening lyric is simple but highly effective:

Do I love you
Because you treat me so indifferently?
Or is it the medication?
Or is it me?

    One of the most talked-about tracks 'Tulsa', with its eyebrow raising lyrics and Eleanor Rigby style backing, is ultimately a shallow throwaway. Seeking to make a point about another performer is indulgent even by Rufus and baroque pop standards!
    I've found the previous Rufus albums to be front-loaded as far as good songs go, but this time the album ends with the strongest sequence, starting with 'Leaving for Paris No. 2' (no, I don't recall the first one either!). Vocal backing aside, it's the most stripped-back song in this collection, just Rufus on piano and Jeff Hill on bass (the upright type). This is one of the disk's musical highlights for me, the piano chords shift between keys to great effect, and Jeff Hill's multi-tracked bass adding great atmosphere. The song finishes with a long 'goodbye!' that recalls the Sound of Music (the one where the kids are on the stairs.) A little gem, and if Rufus ever delivers the basic album he's long promised, this points to something very fine indeed.
    Rufus has a real talent for elegant mid-tempo pop, which is amply demonstrated on 'Sanssouci'. I like the way the melody shifts and progresses in each successive line. With such a strong and infectious tune, the backing of fluttering flutes is superfluous, and yet delightful.
    Finally we get a slice of big band bombast with the title track 'Release The Stars'. With its raunchy rhythm, blowsy trumpets and choir of female backing vocals this is a turn-up-the-stereo blast. A fitting finale!
    ...except of course for the dreaded bonus tracks. My copy features a voiceless Do I Disappoint You, but other buyers appear to have different songs. Based on my experience of the bonus tracks which litter RW's back catalog I don't expect I'm missing anything.
    And what of the artwork? It's exceptionally poor. Someone should tell Rufus that lederhosen isn't a great look. I'd rather have the lyrics printed at a readable size in place of the surfeit of lederhosen and gnome pics.
    This is a good CD, not a great one. The unloveable Do I Disappoint You, the dragging Not Ready For Love and the throwaway Tulsa, together with some unappealing lyrics elsewhere, are more than enough to bring the rating down. If you're looking for Rufus's first truly classic CD, you'll have to wait a while longer. But, with its grand, stimulating music and clever tunes, I still recommend this as an essential baroque pop purchase.

Reviews

Observer Music Monthly
MusicOMH

Ys, by Joanna Newsom

2006-11-14T08:00:00.000Z

1 Emily 12:08
2 Monkey & Bear 9:28
3 Sawdust & Diamonds 9:55
4 Only Skin 16:53
5 Cosmia 7:17

My Review of Ys
Whilst Newsom's 2004 debut, The Milk-eyed Mender, was a quirky but loveable debut, it scarely hinted at the quantum leap that would take us to Ys, and Newsom to packed concert halls around the world just two years later.
    Dating from the age of vinyl records, I have a particular respect not just for the music but for its packaging too. Much as I love my internet-buying, MP3-listening lifestyle, it doesn’t replace the quiet thrill a music loving teenager got from the tactile record sleeves of his newest aquisitions, read and enjoyed on the bus or train home from the shops, like the aperitif before the main course of actually putting the vinyl on the turntable. Hence, the first thing to impress me about Ys is the embossed slip case (we oldies are suckers for a nice bit of embossing!) , with its Holbein-esque portrait of Newsom. Very fetching. Next comes the gilt-edged 30 page booklet, most of which are printed with beautifully laid out lyrics. What's not to like so far? I put on the CD and play it in the background while I mess around on the computer (i.e. work). Joanna caws and crows and coos, and talks and sings and squeaks and squeals, and sometimes just seems to spit out the words, and it seemed on first listen that she barely stops for breath the whole 55 minutes running time. Despite a few nails-on-blackboard moments I like what I hear.
    Several plays later and some of the words are stuck in me like barbs, like on the opening track 'Emily', a song to her sister.
    The refrain is like a song within a song. “I promised you I’d set them to verse, so I’d always remember,” declares Joanna, and then delivers on that promise.

The meteorite is the source of the light
And the meteor's just what we see
And the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee
And the meteorite's just what causes the light
And the meteor's how it's perceived
And the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

    It's been noted elsewhere that the above statement isn't technically correct. However, given that sister Emily is an astrophysicist and sings backing vocals on the track we can safely assume this is a private joke. In fact all of the lyrics are private, says Joanna in an interview. The listener is left to savour the pure poetry of her familial ode of love and commitment. To her well-travelled sister Newsom later sings:

Emily, they’ll follow your lead by the letter.
And I make this claim, and I’m not ashamed to say I know you better.
What they’ve seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter.
Let us go! Though we know it’s a hopeless endeavor.
The ties that bind, they are barbed and spined, and hold us close forever.

    'Monkey and Bear' tells the story of two circus escapees, and their conversations, it's safe to say this is an aesop-like fable... of our inability to escape from the expectations of others? Like much of Newsom’s lyrics it’s an dense and inscrutable as Eliot’s Wasteland. I’d live to read somebody’s analysis of the bear’s second escape.
    The first two tracks are considerably enlivened by the creative orchestrations of Van Dyke Parks, but he and the orchestra take a rest for the central track, Sawdust and Diamonds and it's a testament to Newsom's prowess as a vocalist and harpist that the listener may take a while to note the orchestra’s absence. It’s a good artistic move, showcasing Newsom’s harp playing, while giving the orchestrations a breather, but certainly not the listener as the pace barely lets up for 11 minutes, Newsom spitting out such as:

I wasn’t born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilight
No, I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright.

    In the days of vinyl the 17 minutes of ‘Only Skin’ could have occupied a full side, and in many respects it would benefit from such a physical separation. The range of melodies, the numerous changes of pace, the variety of backing instruments, and the scope of lyrics is engrossing and handsomely repays a listener’s (and reader’s!) attention. The climactic tune, a duet with boyfriend Bill Callaghan, is thrilling.
    The last song Cosmia is (from what I understand) an emotional ode to a passed-away friend. At 7 minutes it’s the shortest and most direct and moving of the songs, and is my favourite. The harp motif and the rapturous refrain that follows it, would do justice to any great classical composer.

And all those lonely nights
down by the river
You brought me bread and water, water in
But though I tried so hard, My little darlin
I couldn’t keep the night from coming in.

    I’ll nail my colours to the mast. Ys is a landmark recording in music, one which I’m sure will stand the test of time for generations. This quirky twenty-four year old musician must now be considered a fully-formed talent, but hopefully without the knock-knees!

Media Reviews
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/7242/joanna-newsom-ys/
HULIQ.com Rapturous comments about Ys

Grizzly Bear, Yellow House

2006-09-04T01:14:00.006+01:00

1	Easier	3:43
2	Lullabye	5:14
3	Knife	5:14
4	Central and Remote	4:54
5	Little Brother	6:25
6	Plans	4:17
7	Marla	4:56
8	On a Neck, On a Spit	5:47
9	Reprise	3:20
10	Colorado	6:14

My Review of Yellow House

Choose your definition...

The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as the silvertip bear, is a subspecies of brown bear (Ursus arctos) that lives in the uplands of western North America.

Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band!

One thing the bear and the band have in common is I admire them both, although have yet to encounter either in the flesh. That aside, it’s a slightly misleading name for such an urbane outfit from the most cosmopolitan city in the world.

Currently on Warp Records and consisting of Daniel Rossen (songwriting/guitar), Ed Droste (songwriting/guitar), Chris Taylor (bass/woodwinds/electronics/vocals) and Christopher Bear (drums/vocals). The band employs traditional and electronic instruments, ranging from a recorder to a laptop, and all four members contribute vocals. Their sound is categorized as experimental rock, folk rock, or just indie rock, and is most dominated by the use of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies.

Yellow House is the band’s second album, but the first recorded as a real quartet, and arguably the beginning of the Grizzly Bear we know. The title come from Edward Droste’s mother's house where it was recorded, and where I presume the photos that dominate the booklet are taken, although this isn’t explicitly stated.

The first thing to be said is that I missed this for a year (I’m a music fan, not a critic so I don’t get everything dropping on my doormat at the time of release!) Here’s the thing... the band’s name and the soft-toned album cover didn’t trigger my alerts. However, finally I happened across their sound and was compelled to obtain this CD.

So what does it sound like? Not like the cover art, and with little resemblance to grizzly bears! Ostensibly this is a band of guitar, bass, keyboard and drums, but that does little to prepare you for the sound they make. Yes, that’s the instrumentation, but these instruments and many others (piano, xylophone, glockenspiel, autoharp, banjo, clarinet, flute, saxophone) played by the band feel like they’re orchestrated rather than simply played, you’ll rarely hear the drummer keeping a steady background rhythm for long, his percussion is very much part of the orchestra. Add in their accomplished harmonies and we have an intriguing brew for baroque pop fan.

The flute & wind ensemble that kicks off Easier instantly shows this is nor your normal band. Folk? Rock? Pop? Wind, electronics, glockenspiel, finger picking, brushed percussion, and effortless harmonies. The song is more of a prelude than a complete song, a framework onto which they lay their beguiling sounds.

Lullabye teases. It’s moody, not willing to fully reveal itself. Grizzly Bear prove themselves masters of the half-song, just enough of a framework on which to lay their awesome musical structures.

Knife is the band’s signature tune to date, a portentious drama let by a beautifully fat-toned electric guitar. For the first time on this CD we have a familiar verse-chorus structure.

Central and Remote sounds like a madrigal reimagined by Elliott Smith, the breathy intakes of breath seem almost a homage to the late singer.

Little Brother pits a picked banjo and fluttering flutes against a vocal ensemble that evokes the swirling south seas with a sprinking of Weill.

Plans shows there’s no drop in inspiration yet, a bizarre 2/4 tune with a rude tenor saxophone pumping out as much rhythm as the drummer. With the sax, soaring harmonies and diliberate drama, I puts me in mind of Supertramp, and it’s not often I say that!

Marla is dominated initially by its atmospheric waltz time upright piano The strings arranged by Owen Pallett are effective, giving the piece a nostalgic ghostly echo. Then a vocal tune and harmony appears that seems lift straing from Dark Side of the Moon, except here the music is more interesting.

On a Neck, On a Spit is perhaps the most upbeat track, and apart from its acoustic guitar riff makes it difficult to say this is a folk band as they are often labelled.

Each day, spend it with me now, All my time, spend it with me now, But each day spend it with you now, All my time, spend it with you now, But out here, no one can hear me, Out hear no one can hear me

Reprise is a subtly gorgeous, harmonically rich song, led by a Sufjaneque banjo riff.

My love's another kind. From the first morning light, I can follow along, chance to stumble and find, what turns out to be wrong. And my love's another kind. From the top, children yell. You can't talk to me now. You can search for a while, when you're rumbling around.

Colorado, has a fugal harmony dominating its stately six minutes. An utterly satisfying final track to this CD, an atmospheric masterpiece.

The Avalanche, by Sufjan Stevens

2006-07-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 The Avalanche 3:14
2 Dear Mr. Supercomputer 4:40
3 Adlai Stevenson 2:34
4 The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies 1:49
5 Chicago (acoustic version) 4:40
6 The Henney Buggy Band 3:16
7 Saul Bellow 2:53
8 Carlyle Lake 3:15
9 Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair 4:17
10 The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself) 3:24
11 Kaskaskia River 2:15
12 Chicago (adult contemporary easy listening version) 6:06
13 Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne 1:25
14 No Man's Land 4:45
15 The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake 1:38
16 The Pick-up 3:23
17 The Perpetual Self, or "What Would Saul Alinsky Do?" 2:24
18 For Clyde Tombaugh 3:43
19 Chicago (multiple personality disorder version) 4:35
20 Pittsfield 6:41
21 The Undivided Self (for Eppie and Popo) 4:59

My Review of The Avalanche

Looking forward to reviewing this wondrous collection when I get a chance. Meantime, feel free to comment.

Gulag Orkestar, by Beirut

2006-05-09T00:00:00.000+01:00

1 The Gulag Orkestar 4:38
2 Prenzlauerberg 3:46
3 Brandenburg 3:38
4 Postcards From Italy 4:17
5 Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) 3:15
6 Rhineland (Heartland) 3:58
7 Scenic World 2:08
8 Bratislava 3:17
9 The Bunker 3:13
10 The Canals of Our City 2:21
11 After the Curtain 2:54

Illinois, by Sufjan Stevens

2005-07-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois 2:08
2 The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience, But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!" 2:14
3 Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream 6:45
4 John Wayne Gacy, Jr. 3:19
5 Jacksonville 5:24
6 A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons 0:47
7 Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother! 3:03
8 One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman 0:06
9 Chicago 6:04
10 Casimir Pulaski Day 5:53
11 To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament 1:40
12 The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts 6:17
13 Prairie Fire That Wanders About 2:11
14 A Conjuction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze 0:19
15 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! 5:23
16 They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbours!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! 5:09
17 Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell 0:40
18 In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth 0:35
19 The Seer's Tower 3:53
20 The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier / Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now 7:02
21 Riffs & Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds and The King of Swing, to Name a Few 0:46
22 Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run 4:21

(The bold items are the 13 actual songs, the rest are instrumentals, preludes and postludes.)

My Review of 'Illinoise'

    I'm sure many other music fans would have said 'Sufjan who?' when they saw this CD getting critical praise from left, right and centre. Certainly I wondered, and it took a lot of reading to convince me that this wasn't simply a case of 'indie-darling of the week'. I took the plunge, and wired more of my cash to Amazon.
    First impressions: It's long! The music is cute, softly sung, generally upbeat, and dense too. And did I mention how long it was? At 75 minutes this equates to a double LP in old money.
    How enviable it is to earn a living as a music reviewer, and yet I pity them for having to quickly make sense of something as varies and densely packed as this, and from an artist who might have been unknown to them at that point. I'd have to burn the midnight oil to fully comprehend this CD in a week in rotation with others, and then write a cogent review.
    Some background details are in order here. Illinoise is the second of Sufjan's so-called '50 state project'. Greetings from Michigan (his home state) in 2003 was the first. Thus, the songs in this collection are inspired by his neighbour state of Illinois, if not in content then in the quirky titles. Sufjan plays a long list of instruments, so we're listening to a multi-tracking feast, and multi means more than just a handful. Produced and recorded by Sufjan too, as likely in somebody else's apartment (on borrowed instruments), or perhaps late at night on a piano in a church. Speaking of church, Sufjan is a Christian, and this sometimes informs the content in the most striking and subtle ways.
    I'll abbreviate the titles in this review (the full ones are shown above), starting with Concerning the UFO, a rather striking, mystical, disorientating song backed by piano and flutes. It's probably the only song you'll ever hear in 65/16 time, so enjoy it!
    Unusual time signatures are a Sufjan trademark, as his habit of joining tracks into continuous suites, such as here when Concerning the UFO give way to a choir of portentous voices and a bracing drum and horn fanfare, 'The Black Hawk War'.
    Notwithstanding the double prelude which introduces this musical journey, the CD really kicks off with the punchy piano opening of 'Come on Feel the Illinoise'. The exhuberant 5/4 rhythm of 'Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition' brings to mind the music from Peanuts by Vince Guaraldi. Atop the jagged rhythm is a great little tune shared between Sufjan and his familiar posse of girl-nextdoor backing singers. But that is just part 1. After two minutes the song reaches a middle instrumental section, heralded by a variation of the opening piano lick. Various musical themes emerge, a string quartet trading licks with a fuzzy electric guitar, while the horns blast out a theme similar to The Cure's Close to Me. The music slides effortlessly from 5/4 to 4/4 and the earlier motifs for guitars, strings and horns are combined to provide a lush background for Part II Carl Sandburg Visits Me In a Dream, in which one of Chicago's notable poets questions the singer about his artistic integrity.

I cried myself to sleep last night
And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window
I was hypnotized, I was asked
To improvise
On the attitude, the regret
Of a thousand centuries of death

Whilst, Sandburg's questioning is voiced by the girl 'Illinoisemakers'.

Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?

On any other album this seven minutes of musical joy would be the absolute pinnacle, but this isn't any other album, there are other tracks here that could easily make such a claim...
    ...and it's the next song which is possibly the most written-about. Stevens' attempt to empathise with 'John Wayne Gacy Jr' runs the risk of seeming apologist as the formative years of Chicago's notorious child killer are laid out for us. But in this tender number (backed by piano, picked acoustic guitar and bass) Stevens' voice perfectly conveys the horror of this man's deeds, gasping for breath in his falsetto as he sings:

Twenty-seven people
Even more, they were boys
With their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God
Are you one of them?

    'Jacksonville' is the most conventional song so far, a mid-tempo soul-rock number, enhanced by the interwoven thread of a string section within the full compliment of band, horns and voices. It desolves into 'A Short Reprise for Mary Todd' a simple string-based outro.
    The squeezebox and banjo backing on 'Decatur' give it a back-porch feel very different from the rest of the CD. Sufjan squeezes every possible rhyme out of Decatur. The harmonised voices of Sufjan and Matt Morgan proves a winning combination. 'One Last Woo Hoo for the Pullman' is merely a six second outro, so not worth buying on iTunes!
    'Chicago' is the hit song from this CD. It's one of the simpler tunes here but contains all the trademark backing of strings, horns and voices, together with a catchy soft verse/loud chorus. Through its use in the media (Such as Little Miss Sunshine), this is the one song that has gained a life of its own beyond this CD. There are much better tracks on this CD but few that are as immediate. The song fades out with a vocalisation that hints at the windy city.
    Along with Chicago, 'Casimir Pulaski Day' forms the double centrepiece of the CD. Whilst the tune is a fine one, with a strong counterpunctual banjo motif, it's the stark and moving lyrics that grab the listener, the story of a teenage girlfriend's death from bone cancer, and how the narrator tries to reconcile that with his faith. The whole lyric is quotable but I'll settle for:

Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse

In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared

    'To the Workers of the Red Rock Valley Region' functions as an outro, and although I've seen this album criticized for its instrumental track, I think the device works well in giving themes and moods some breathing space, and this one provides a breather between two of the most diverse songs on the album.
    'The Man From Metropolis'plays the loud/soft game again, a strident guitar riff (the rockiest moment on the CD) alternating with tender acoustic verses. It all comes together beautifully towards the end, before and dreamlike fading in and out.
    'Prairie Fire' couldn't be more different, a curious fugue-like chant in praise of Peoria which soon yields to...
    'A conjunction of Drones' which is merely an excuse for another quirky title, and provides a suitable lead-in to what is arguably Sufjan's most ambitious, subtle and beautiful composition, 'The Predatory Wasp'. If somebody states that this is their favourite track, you know they're a serious listener. Musically, it is fascinating, the flute and guitar verse, leading first to sixteen bars of pure Philip Glass, and after the second verse, to a lyrical and melancholic trumpet solo, and then the Philip Glass occurs again, this time as a backing for a dramatic chorus, finally to a multipart instrumental and vocal of not unlike an operatic quartet, a pity it ends too soon. The story is ambivalent to say the least, and concerns a childhood visit to The Palisades. Is it a tale of pubescent homosexual attraction? Is the writer speaking from female perspective? Somebody ran away, but who, and why? Like most of Sufjan's childhood tales it is beguiling. The final fugal verse has a power, atmosphere and tension that defies the gentleness of the arrangement. It ends with the following words, by which time you are losing count of the number of vocal and instrumental lines weaving in and out of each other.

I can't explain the state that I'm in
The state of my heart, he was my best friend
Into the car, from the backseat
Oh, admiration in falling asleep
All of my powers, day after day
I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed
Deep in the tower, the prairies below
I can tell you, the telling gets old
Terrible sting and terrible storm
I can tell you the day we were born
My friend is gone, he ran away
I can tell you, I love him each day
Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged
I can tell you, I love him each day
Terrible sting and terrible storm
I can tell you

    The storm becomes a sonic crescendo of electronic noise, finally broken of by the spacious opening guitar chord of 'They Are Night Zombies'. A cool funk bass riff establishes the tempo of the song, and soon other riffs from guitar, horns and strings and staccato female chanting are layered over it. Later Sufjan layers a stunning falsetto tune on top of an already glorious pudding of counterpunctual sounds. It suddenly yields to 'Let's hear that string part again', which for 16 bars does exactly that.
    'In this Temple' is another intro, leading to the stark 'The Seers Tower', a song rich in biblical symbolism, until interrupted by an amazing personal confession:

In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel
In the powers of the earth, we wait until it rips and rips
In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel
Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us

Not everybody likes this song, but be patient, it'll get them one day.
    Sufjan proves to be a master of pacing and mood, after the preceding track ends with a respectful few seconds of silence, the gentle rhythm of bells leads perfectly into the finale, The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders. The sheer exuberance of this song (in 11/4 timing) proves that more than an hour in, Sufjan has inspiration left to burn.
    'Riffs and Variations' is as expressive as a one note 46 second trumpet solo can be. However it perfectly links the preceding song to the album's only full instrumental 'Out of Egypt', a beguiling piece of Steve Reich style minimalism. The tune end with instruments dropping out until we are left with a finger hammering down on a single note on a piano, and then that stops and we hear the creaky foot-pedal of the piano of St Paul's Episcopalian Church in Brooklyn being released. The sharp-eared listener will recall the first sound on this CD (75 minutes ago) was the same foot-pedal being pressed down. A strange and poignant moment.
    Writing this review, and listening to this CD 2 years after its release, I don't know whether it's the best album ever made, but if you like baroque pop, I think it might be.

Media Reviews
Slant Magazine
dotmusic (Yahoo)
cokemachineglow

The Mysterious Production of Eggs, by Andrew Bird

2005-02-08T08:00:00.000Z

1 (Untitled Instrumental 1) 1:05
2 Sovay 4:41
3 A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left 4:59
4 Fake Palindromes 2:52
5 Measuring Cups 2:51
6 Banking on a Myth 4:28
7 Masterfade 4:10
8 Opposite Day 4:31
9 Skin Is, My 3:36
10 The Naming of Things 4:57
11 MX Missles 4:21
12 (Untitled Instrumental 2) 1:08
13 Tables and Chairs 4:44
14 The Happy Birthday Song 5:03

Want Two, by Rufus Wainwright

2004-11-16T08:00:00.000Z

1 Agnus Dei 5:45
2 The One You Love 3:44
3 Peach Trees 5:59
4 Little Sister 3:22
5 The Art Teacher 3:51
6 Hometown Waltz 2:33
7 This Love Affair 3:13
8 Gay Messiah 3:14
9 Memphis Skyline 4:51
10 Waiting for a Dream 4:14
11 Crumb by Crumb 4:13
12 Old Whore's Diet 8:54

The Milk-Eyed Mender, by Joanna Newsom

2004-03-23T08:00:00.000Z

1 Bridges and Balloons 3:42
2 Sprout and the Bean 4:32
3 The Book of Right-On 4:29
4 Sadie 6:02
5 Inflammatory Writ 2:50
6 This Side of the Blue 5:21
7 "En Gallop" 5:07
8 Cassiopeia 3:20
9 Peach, Plum, Pear 3:33
10 Swansea 5:05
11 Three Little Babes 3:42
12 Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie 4:21

My Review

I'm looking forward to reviewing this when I get a chance. Meantime feel free to leave comments.

Want One, by Rufus Wainwright

2003-09-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 Oh What a World 4:23
2 I Don't Know What It Is 4:51
3 Vicious World 2:49
4 Movies of Myself 4:31
5 Pretty Things 2:40
6 Go or Go Ahead 6:38
7 Vibrate 2:44
8 14th Street 4:44
9 Natasha 3:28
10 Harvester of Hearts 3:35
11 Beautiful Child 4:15
12 Want 5:11
13 11:11 4:27
14 Dinner at Eight 4:31

Greetings from Michigan, by Sufjan Stevens

2003-07-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid) 3:43
2 All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace! 4:33
3 For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti 3:57
4 Say Yes! to M!ch!gan! 2:46
5 The Upper Peninsula 3:23
6 Tahquamenon Falls 2:18
7 Holland 3:26
8 Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) 8:20
9 Romulus 4:41
10 Alanson, Crooked River 1:18
11 Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie 2:52
12 They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For the Homeless in Muskegon) 6:21
13 Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?) 9:23
14 Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou) 2:02
15 Vito's Ordination Song 7:06

Weather Systems, by Andrew Bird

2003-04-02T00:01:00.000+01:00

1 First Song 4:19
2 I 3:13
3 Lull 5:09
4 Action/Adventure 4:04
5 (Untitled Instrumental 1) 1:36
6 Skin 2:53
7 Weather Systems 6:31
8 Don't Be Scared 3:40
9 (Untitled Instrumental 2) 5:10

Weather Systems marks the start of the solo Bird, free of collaborative names of his previous works (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Bowl of Fire). It's a stripped down production, a couple of guitars and some sparce drums. But then there's Andrew Bird's multi-tracked violin, bowed, strummed and plucked, his whistling, and his handsome voice.

    The record kicks off gently with the appropriately named 'First Song', a seemingly simple folk ballad in waltz time, just a violin, an acoustic guitar, and their respective voices (Nora O'Connor.)
    With an electric guitar and Bird's plucked violin motif the CD gets a harder edge with 'I'. It all sounds a bit grim to me, not one of my favourites.
    Luckily the downer is short-lived with the gentle driving rhythm and effortless harmonies of 'Lull'. I like the witty navel-gazing lyrics:

being alone it can be quite romantic
like jacques cousteau underneath the atlantic
a fantastic voyage to parts unknown
going to depths where the sun’s never shone
and i fascinate myself when i’m alone
i’m rambling on rather self consciously
while i’m stirring these condiments into my tea
and i think i’m so lame
i bet i think this song’s about me
don’t i don’t i don’t i ?
i’m in a lull

(to be continued)

Poses, by Rufus Wainwright

2001-06-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk 4:44
2 Greek Song 3:56
3 Poses 5:02
4 Shadows 5:35
5 California 3:23
6 The Tower of Learning 4:47
7 Grey Gardens 3:08
8 Rebel Prince 3:44
9 The Consort 4:25
10 One Man Guy 3:31
11 Evil Angel 4:43
12 In a Graveyard 2:22
13 Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) 3:58

The Hour of the Bewilderbeast, by Badly Drawn Boy

2000-06-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

1 The Shining 5:18
2 Everybodys Stalking 3:39
3 Bewilder 0:48
4 Fall in a River 2:17
5 Camping Next to Water 3:50
6 Stone on the Water 3:58
7 Another Pearl 4:27
8 Body Rap 0:45
9 Once Around the Block 3:44
10 This Song 1:32
11 Bewilderbeast 3:30
12 Magic in the Air 3:43
13 Cause a Rockslide 5:55
14 Pissing in the Wind 4:19
15 Blistered Heart 1:50
16 Disillusion 5:19
17 Say It Again 4:41
18 Epitaph 3:50

My Review

I'll review this when I get a chance. Meantime feel free to leave a comment.

Heart Food, Judee Sill

1973-01-01T08:00:00.000Z

A1 There's a Rugged Road 3:42
A2 The Kiss 4:32
A3 The Pearl 1:50
A4 Down Where the Valleys Are Low 4:12
A5 The Vigilante 3:48
B1 Soldier of the Heart 3:30
B2 The Phoenix 2:35
B3 When the Bridegroom Comes 4:10
B4 The Donor 7:55

Judee Sill, by Judee Sill

1971-01-01T09:00:00.000+01:00

A1 Crayon Angels 2:35
A2 The Phantom Cowboy 1:40
A3 The Archetypal Man 3:35
A4 The Lamb Ran Away with the Crown 3:10
A5 Lady-O 3:10
A6 Jesus Was a Cross Maker 3:20
B1 Ridge Rider 4:28
B2 My Man on Love 3:23
B3 Lopin' Along Thru the Cosmos 3:00
B4 Enchanted Sky Machines 2:40
B5 Abracadabra 1:54

Pet Sounds, by The Beach Boys

1971-01-01T00:23:00.000+01:00

Sadly, blogspot only accepts dates from 1971 onwards, this was released 13 May 1966.