SOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-YANNI: Live from the Acropolis (2010).
Although there was no official notice terminating the club, this release has proven to be the final installment of Beck’s Record Club (for now). And what a weird place to end. Cheesy new ager Yanni’s live blockbuster album. My buddy Joe (a major metalhead) got me into this album when it came out (really). And I have to admit it’s pretty awesome–the musicianship is nothing short of spectacular.
So I was very intrigued at the premise of these guys covering the album.
According to the Beck/Record Club website:
This installment of the Record Club takes on ‘Yanni Live At The Acropolis’. The original album featured Yanni with a full orchestra at the Athenian Acropolis. A TV special of the concert was played repeatedly on PBS through the mid 90′s. To flesh out the complex arrangements, several studio musicians were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Bobby Brown (and others). Beck and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth provided auxiliary music and noise, with Thurston improvising lyrics over the previously instrumental track ‘Santorini.’ Tortoise show up later on a few other tracks. Look for the complete rerecording of this musical monolith, originally captured at the bedrock of Western Culture, done here at Sunset Sound Studios on June 13th, 2010.
The big names for this release are Thurston Moore and Tortoise–who get to work together on two songs. Thurston seems to be on most of them–playing noise and occasionally singing (I don’t think there are any words on the original). I haven’t listened to the original album in ten years so I don’t really remember it very well. I am quite certain it sounds nothing like this cover version. I’m actually looking forward to playing it again now that I’ve listened to this, mostly to see if there is any similarity at all between the songs. But also to see if I still like it. I’m also very interested in the unreadable score (for track 8)
Santorini (2:53) Thurston makes up lyrics. The session musicians play a beautiful rendition.
Keys To Imagination (4:22). Tortoise & Thurston play together and the noise and samples run wild.
Until The Last Moment (5:50). This song is kind of muddy sounding with lots of cymbals and feedback.
The Rain Must Fall (2:55). More vocals on this one. With samples that sound like kids singing “rain must fall.”
Acroyali/Standing In Motion (5:46). This one has a cheesy synth tone. I think the vocals are by Beck on this one.
One Man’s Dream (4:26). Gentle piano and quiet feedback notes in this one.
Within Attraction (5:39) Tortoise is back with more samples and sounds. It also sounds like there are samples from the original Yanni disc.
Nostalgia (4:07) “Thurston and Beck team up again with a crew of heavyweight studio musicians to tackle an apparently unreadable score for another song from Yanni’s Live At The Acropolis, with Thurston adding lyrics.” I don’t know what they’re playing then, but it sounds good.
Swept Away (4:11). Gentle keys and “funk” interspersed with noise and effects.
Reflections Of Passion (8:21). This song opens in a very Sonic Youth style (the slower version of SY). It’s fairly delicate with vocals until about 3 minutes in when the big drums carry it through to the end.
I haven’t watched all of the videos in the Record Club because some of the earlier ones are “artsy” and just hard to watch. But this one is great for seeing just what they did to make these sounds (and who is singing). The INXS one was also good for this.
[READ: March 15, 2014] “The Mighty Shannon”
The mighty Shannon is of course the river in Dublin, even though it is barely mentioned in the story. The story opens with a man in pain–a migratory pain that has moved from his lower back to his shoulders to his neck. The doctors can’t find anything wrong with him and suspect it may have something to so with his personal life more than actual pain. He is reluctant to admit that, but when we learn what is happening in his personal life, it is quite plausible.
The narrator is married, but he has been having an affair with his son’s Spanish teacher (shame on them both). They first met at a parent teacher conference (where his wife seemed unimpressed by her) and then they encountered each other at the park when they were each going for a run. He offers her running advice for her upcoming marathon and the really seem to hit it off. Soon they start sleeping together. He feels badly about it but also believes that his wife, Sharon, (not Shannon) was having an affair first–based on a pocket dialed phone call. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 