SOUNDTRACK: The Best of Sessions at West 54th, Volume 1 (DVD) (1997).
Back in the 1990s, PBS ran one of their TV series devoted to contemporary music, Sessions at West 54th. It was primarily, but not exclusively adult alternative music, with a mixture of jazz and country thrown in as well. I never watched the show when it was on, but I was intrigued by this DVD because it has a number of artists that I liked quite a bit then. I haven’t watched it in ages, and when I watched it recently I was interested to see that I liked some other artists better than the ones I bought the disc for in the first place.
There was a recent radio show on All Songs Considered called Splitsville: Breaking Up with Your Favorite Band. This is something that I think about from time to time–bands that I loved and no longer do. Or bands that I loved and then stopped and maybe now love again. This show dealt with that very issue. Most amusingly, Robin Hilton, one of the cohosts had this wonderful quote that applies to me (and this DVD) almost directly.
It’s Not You, It’s Me (Bands We Grew Apart From): “I (dug) out my old CD books and dusted them off. And this recurring theme that came back at me, just haunting, I realized it was the whole Lilith Fair crowd. It was so painful. I had Shawn Colvin, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Paula Cole, Beth Orton. I just listened to that music non-stop. And now, maybe I’m not the sensitive, new-age guy that I used to be.” — Robin Hilton
So, what happened, Robin? The same thing happened to me. I still love the concept of Lilith, but I really just don’t care about the music anymore. And much of this DVD caters to the Lilith crowd. But it doesn’t start that way. It opens with
WYNTON MARSALIS-“Back to Basics” A fantastic jazz number. Wynton plays some wonderful stuff (I particularly like the “laughing” horns). It’s a really rousing opener.
SUZANNE VEGA-“Caramel” Vega is not a Lilith Fair person to me because I learned of her long before then. This is not my favorite song of hers.
RICHARD THOMPSON-“I Feel So Good” It’s funny to me that when I bought this I didn’t know who Richard Thompson was. It’s always great to hear him rock out like this.
SHAWN COLVIN-“Diamond in the Rough” I like Shawn Colvin, although not as much as most of the other Lilith Fairers. This is one of her songs that I don’t know very well
ANI DIFRANCO-“32 Flavors” I loved Ani and her self publishing empire. And her songs were good too. I saw her in concert once or twice and she totally rocked the house. Then sometime in the early 2000s she went in a new direction and I completely lost touch with her and pretty much stopped listening to her. It was nice to hear this song again, although it’s a bit slower than the way I know it.
NIL LARA-“How Was I To Know” I didn’t know who he was then, I’m still not sure who he is or if he’s still around. This is a pretty serviceable folk rock song
RICKIE LEE JONES-“Road Kill” I did not care for this song at all.
DANIEL LANOIS-“Orange Kay” this was a wild guitar solo and effects song. It was really quite different from anything else here.
EMMYLOU HARRIS-“Wrecking Ball” This song had cool harmonies although I’m not a fan of Emmylou in general.
BEN FOLDS FIVE-“Smoke” I love Ben Folds, and this song is wonderful (seeing him play the “strings” of the piano is very cool. And my god he’s so YOUNG!
KEB’ MO-“Just Like You” I like Keb’ Mo’ quite a bit and this is a good song by him.
SINÉAD O’CONNOR-“The Last Day of Our Acquaintance” Sinéad was another of those ladies who I loved before Lilith. I fact The Lion and The Cobra was one of my favorite albums. Then she got super political (and put out more amazing music) and then she got really weird. And I stopped listening. She’s an odd duck in this show as well (this was in her speaking only in falsetto phase, which is pretty odd. And she has a little grunted /spoken bit in the middle of the song which is pretty odd too). But for all of that, man is this song awesome. I haven’t listened to it in a long time, and holy cow I forgot how impactful it is. And live, with the electric guitars and the backing vocalists, it is really amazing. A definite highlight of the disc.
YO-YO MA “Libertango” Yo-Yo Ma is pretty awesome. I wouldn’t listen to a lot of his stuff (I like classical, but in small doses) but man, he rocks the cello. This is a great piece.
PATTI SMITH “People Have the Power” Patti Smith is a legend. An icon. Her early music is amazing. So why do I hate this song so much? The sentiment is wonderful, but gah, what a dreadful song.
JANE SIBERRY-“Love is Everything” I really like Jane Siberry. She’s a strange lady with a quirky but wonderful voice. This is a beautiful song, but a little slow (I find it works well amidst her other songs, but it’s a bit stodgy on its own).
It’s a fun collection of mellow songs (what I think of as the old PBS/NPR audience, since now they have shows that are much louder). And it’ always fun to see artists perform in an intimate venue.
[READ: April 12, 2011] “Shock Jock”
This is the first play that The Walrus has published. It is not so much in Acts as it is in Ten Scenes. Scenes 1-3 are printed in the magazine, while Scenes 4-10 are only available online. (Sadly 1-3 are not included online).
This is the story of a political shock jock, a Canadian version of Rush Limbaugh (these were the days before Glenn Beck). The opening scene shows him railing against everything and nothing. He proves to be very popular with his fans but when they call him up to tell him that, he abuses them too (but they don’t seem to mind–or to notice). It seems like a pretty straightforward parody of a radio blowhard.
But the next scene shows him at home, where he is not so much meek as completely incapable of making a decision. His wife seems like something of a harpy, but it’s clear that she has put up with this ineffectual man for nine years and has just had it with his inability to even communicate. These two scenes play off each other as somewhat obvious counterpoint and yet, they are strangely compelling enough to keep you reading. And it’s worthwhile to do so. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: THURSTON MOORE-“Patti Smith Math Scratch” (1995).
I couldn’t find any archives of Patti and Thurston playing together, so the next best thing is this song named after her.
SOUNDTRACK: MARTHA WAINWRIGHT-I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too (2008).
I’ve been a fan of Loudon for years. I also rather enjoy Rufus. So why not check out Rufus’ sister Martha and see how she stacks up in the family canon. Actually, it’s not fair to compare because she is an entity all to herself. And indeed, I feel that she sounds nothing like her family (maybe a weeeeee bit like Rufus, but not really).
I Just Read About That... 