Tunes

Silicun... Thanks for the links....nice.... And Fraser, that doco' looks good man...

Silicun, love those old blues tracks, specially lightnin hopkins.

Keeping the folky blues line but diverting to despondent country...Townes Van Zandt. His classic Pancho and Lefty, might have the best opening verse of any song...

Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath's as hard as kerosene
You weren't your mama's only boy
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams

Waitin round to die. Fucking sad.

So to lighten the mood....Father John Misty camping it up for the cameras....

OK I'm done, back to trawling this thread.

This is a bit more lightening like...

And another Hopkins I like to listen to pre-dawn

I love playing and singing Pancho and Lefty! Also this one, without the double time strumming! Mandolin, banjo and the best fiddle solo you'll ever here......but it strips down nicely to a steady four four strum and some easy chords.

http://m.

Yep, I dig it! Actually the fiddle really reminded me of this track by French band, Louise Attaque. Awesome band, made only a couple of really cool albums. Starting at 2:50 is maybe a challenger for The Fiddle Solo title, except there are two playing and it's more violin than fiddle. I love the growing chaos that keeps returning to the melody of the song.

Ok shit I've gone into a violin thing here...Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part. Yet another melancholy album I bloody well love. Hallelujah has to be one of the most sorrowful melody lines I know (tho probably a cello?). And How's the violin and the guitar here on Oh My Lord around the 4 minute mark and then again at 5:20. Epic.

Oh man, then that takes me to Sigur Ros Untiltled 8. The live version blows my mind. A blind guy singing in a made up language with so much tension building through the song before exploding in a rage of industrial noise.

And he's playing his guitar with a violin bow, so it sort of counts! This album is one of my favourites of all time. These guys are amazing. Man I love it.

One for Fraser and the other south aussie boys who like a bit of hardness..... 75 odd seconds of pommie blitz;

benski wrote:

Epic thread everyone. I've been getting into older reggae and ska lately. Not obsessing so don' t know too many bands

I can post a tonne of great links, Benski, but here's a fella I go back to again and again and again. Prince Buster, the original jive-talking, wise-cracking, bad ass. Fella could dance, sing, box, and crack jokes, also did the first court room scene that later became a ska cliche (The Specials, Symarrip)

Judge Dread (Judge 400 Years)

"Now I am from Ethiopia, to try all you rude boys for shooting black people."

Nice one man thanks! I'll explore that rabbit hole for a while. I really like the heavy rhythm of that early ska. The more recent up tempo brassy stuff from the 80s on (I guess) is a bit dull for my taste but the mellow groove of the older stuff really strikes a chord.

Great stuff, the ska/reggae, folk and blues stripped down and bare are incredibly powerful forms. BB im jealous of you muso types that get to enjoy the playing as well as the listening. Benski you should look into the development of reggae from ska to rock steady to dub and reggae its a really interesting. Stu I just started listening to Billy Brag again after hearing him on the radio as he played around Aus for the march, have you listened to Rory Mcleod at all? Similar but maybe more aligned with the british folk tradition.

Hey benski speaking of violin have you listened to Andrew bird? He does a mean whistle as well, his latest album" break it yourself "is epic, I'm also with you on father John misty , great stuff, he must be putting out a new album soon hopefully , i was lucky enough to get tickets to the queens of the Stone Age show in Hobart on monday night, only 1000 people venue, it was outahand , their new album " like clockwork " is awesome, iron and wine has been getting a run lately as well. I'm enjoying everyone's suggestions especially pancho and lefty, cheers

Tom Waits is in my Top 5, with Taj Mahal being my No.1 .

I always get a good laugh outa this one... when I'm having Fri Nite pissy yootoob concerts twistin' 'em up.

>>> Neil Young inducts tom Waits into RnR Hall of Fame, with ref to Lightning Hopkins >>>

Legendary 1979 Aussie interview... they can't do this shit on TV no more.

>>> Don Lane / Tom Waits Part 1

>>> Part 2, with the Nickel Man over there

Sid... I see your Tom.... And I raise you an Iggy.... ;)

Raise ya > Joe Strummer Biography - The Future is Unwritten.

WARNING: Hope you've got a spare 3 hours.

WHITE RIOT, I WANNA RIOT, WHITE RIOT, I WANNA RIOT.

Theres only one place you can go from Iggy

Yeah, indo... Posted that one last week... Great minds think alike.... Awesome, aye... :)

Here's something that filled the void between Stooges and 1976....

This thread's gone to some interesting places of late. In a late 70s/early 80s british ska vein, THE SELECTER are touring the UK as we speak and killing it, sold out shows, great reviews, the whole ball of wax! A song for the times, here & the UK?

and yes, from one of the best bands from SA ever, THE EXPLODING WHITE MICE, & on a STOOGES tip, here's one of their best recordings! From the old new century for the new old century (Arise Sir Pository of Wisdom):

Oh, & these blokes:

Magazine, Risqué Humour, The Lizard Train.

I like some of Iggy, but to be honest, I feel the same way about Iggy music I do about MP surfing, its a bit too far on the seedy side of life for me.

(Apologies to fans of both, but as a young tacker seen the devil in "its" eyes and it scared me for life. Which was probably a good thing.)

Seedy side of life?????? Iggy was a saint compared to these guys......

getting a bit hardcore for me Sheepy, maybe it was the environment I was raised in, which was pretty laid back, with a West Coast US influence.

(so I won't bore you with Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Eagles, Steely Dan or the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.)

or the Bullamakanka bush grass band

Tom Waits, damn yeah, only just started discovering him too. Was on the road a lot last year and found late one night after a killer series of flights I was sitting in some airport in Germany waiting for a final very late night flight. Sitting in a deserted departure lounge with only distracted cleaners mopping the tiled floors for company I was trying to get through some work when this song started in my ears. I hadn't listened to the full album yet but it came up on shuffle...Hell Broke Luce from his album Bad As Me:

I damn near bashed the shit out of the keyboard as I fired up and started motoring the the work to be done. Sometimes inspiration and motivation strikes at the strangest times for one reason or another. It was the thumping marching rhythm pitted against his angry gravelly voice. Throw in the dark, dark use of a nursery rhyme against machine gun fire and you've got one hell of a song.

And for fun, I don't even know how to describe the first track of the album but it's great!

therealneil, just listening to Andrew Bird now. Very nice, thanks for the tip. Really cool. Classical instruments in modern music is something special I reckon. Gees, there's a lot of layers in here eh?

silicun I've been meaning to do as you say actually. I was chatting to someone about a similar thing and they sent me this link and I thought, right I have to look further into it. Being a style free rhythmless white boy I look and listen in awe at this particular guy talking about reggae, ska and rocksteady - he has a certain, cool.

Love ya work Sid, the Tom Waits interview I hadnt seen before, interesting to see how he develops the persona! The Strummer doco is one of the best music doco's Ive ever seen, makes me nostalgic every time I watch it. Indo/Sheepie, what can I say - punk royalty right there. ShatBass I dig that Iron Shieks track and The Selecter ive not heard - real trad sound :)

Here are a couple of bands that mates of mine play in along the line of where we've gone in this thread. The Porkers if anyone listened to Aus Ska during the last 20 years might know em -

And some violin with a twist for you Benski, Willow plays violin tracks through an effects box to build up layers of loops and sounds, this is her band The Imprints -

Benski,

Back to the early ska, rocksteady, reggae thing:

Check 'Fabulous Greatest Hits' by Prince Buster. Every song is fabulous (and great!). It's lyrically wicked, Prince Buster toasts and sings scat over the top of seriously wicked grooves. He's the top of the pile for mine.

'The Heart of the Congos' by The Congos was recorded when the uptempo, lively beat of ska and rocksteady was slowing into the groove of early reggae and raga. The lyrical content also changed. Rastafari took centre-stage and the Congos championed it completely: living off the land, catching fish, using only what you need, getting back to Ethiopia. It was Jamaica's Morning of the Earth moment.

'Engine 54' by The Ethiopians. You've probably heard the ska standard 'Train To Skaville' 100 times but The Ethiopians recorded plenty of other great songs. Engine 54 is actually more rocksteady, but whatever, it's a good consistent record. Like most bands of the time they recorded lots of singles so it's worth chasing down 'Best of..' albums or anything that has late-60s/early-70s Ethiopians.

On that score, you can't go too wrong with any Studio One or Trojan collection from the same era. Hundreds and hundreds of songs were recorded and you'll have a ball uncovering some long-forgotten gold. And they'll all lead you down some wild li'l rabbit holes.

silicun the imprints are cool man cheers.

And stunet, above and beyond mate. Sensational!

Reckon I might have to tune out of the thread for a while. Got some listening to do.

Im glad you mentioned 'The Heart of the Congos' Stu, I have about 3-4 crates of reggae records and this record probably gets the most play, a real prototype sound, vocals from falsetto to baritone and driving bass lines - produced by Lee 'Scratch' Perry of Black Arc Studios. Like Studio One a prolific producer of ska/reggae/dub.

Another cool song that is easy to play...

http://m.

Nice, real nice!

Ok, my No.1 favourite muso, uncontested for near 20 years. Taj Mahal.

Ain't Nobodies Bidness but my own...

Taj has been playing for 50+ years, from his early days playing with Ry Cooder, Howlin' Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters and many more since. Born in Harlem, lives in Kauai. Worth checking his hula blues stuff. Each year he holds a Blue Water Fishing & Blues gathering in Costa Rica. A truly amazing body of work that traverses both generations and genre'. His more recent African fused music is erie as he revisits his Zanzibar negro roots, such as Mkutano Dhow Country.

I do believe we have a world class surfer named after him. something like that, or so I'm lead to understand.

Sid fishious wrote "so I won't bore you with Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Eagles, Steely Dan or the Ozark Mountain Daredevils"............................ Thankyou, Sidney....... Thankyou very, VERY much....... Was stuck on a prawn trawler for 6 weeks up in torres straight once.... The only two music tapes on board were... The best of the eagles...... and Fuckn meatloaf bat outa hell......... If i never hear that music again, I will be happy..... ;)

Anyway, here's some softer stuff I do like..... Both songs remind me of a home that no longer exists..... late 70s to late 80s Qld..... strawberry wax....... single fins.... early tri fins..... goodvibes...... youth...... sunshine........ laughter........ chicks..... old tshirt with a knot in it for a rashy......... sunburn...... sore nipples.........bush buds........ triple z.........chicks........ hmmm....

stunet wrote:

Cheers SD. And here's another old one. Billy teaming up with Wilco to sing Woody Guthrie's scrapbook songs. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwcQAlRn0Gs

stu , thanks for reminding me of billy and wilco . how was " way over yonder " with natalie merchant on backup .... speaking of her ( not much cred . ) but fare song none the less ..
mayeb i should of been in this thread earlier today sid . ;-)
"

Let's take Billy Bragg and Wilco a step further and into real hipster territory. A really deep and dreary voice, and a bit of squeezebox or something in there too.

Something about the entire album though that doesn't quite link up, from section to section, ya know

is anyone more prolific , ( maybe i'm biased ) , and almost nail everyone he touches .
"

speaking of woodie guthrie , covers , and it was St Pats' day last week , about as far from Billy Bragg as you can get ....
"

and to be traditional

"

all good things come in threes .....
from the soundtrack of the best movie in years " the departed " .
"

spotted something off the side of sheepies Go-Between track. Since we love this great land, had to give it a run. This is from CD I had (lost), which I will get again. A compilation of classic Aussie covers by Jimmy Little. Spacey and laid back, with that timeless Jimmy twist...

Anyway, here's some softer stuff I do like..... Both songs remind me of a home that no longer exists..... late 70s to late 80s Qld..... strawberry wax....... single fins.... early tri fins..... goodvibes...... youth...... sunshine........ laughter........ chicks..... old tshirt with a knot in it for a rashy......... sunburn...... sore nipples.........bush buds........ triple z.........chicks........ hmmm....

Great times sheepie, but lots of all that is still happening in my world, and that, ay.

Was huge on the Warumpis and Colored Stone...

Always had a lot of black in me, had a humpy onto of Currumbin hill when I was kid, used to kidnap Karla Gilbert and take her to my humpy, just kids stuff, wasn't abduction or nothing sinister. One of my first memories of a New Years Eve, about 5 yo, fancy dress , I wanted to be Aboriginal, so I made the olds paint me in milo, was great till it rained.

If you ever get to see this guy live, do it, big and powerful, he makes the earth shake... Frank Yamma...

Ahhhh Sid, love it. Quick story: About six months ago I moved the family from Sydney down to the Coal Coast. Lotta space, great neighbourhood, better waves. My eldest made friends with the kid two doors up the street. His Dad is a founder of the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy and still well involved (just got made head of the Land Council). 

Sometime over summer the tent embassy was celebrating its anniversary and Pete and Alice told us to come down. All week they were busy preparing, had brothers, sisters, cousins and more travelling in from every part of Australia. Their house was pretty busy.

On the Saturday I walked my boys down there to have a gander. Got the ochre and checked out the scene. Very first act I saw after we arrived was Coloured Stone. Had a tent set up overlooking Macauleys Beach and the wider vista of Sandon Point, tunes belting out, fires to sit in front of, food to eat, people to talk to. We bounced around all day, no drink or funny stuff and heard some great acts. Frank Yamma came on mid-arvo and sent a chill through the bones. Went home buzzing.

Good to see that stuff is still happening on the coast. Reckon you woulda loved it too.

southey wrote:

is anyone more prolific , ( maybe i'm biased ) , and almost nail everyone he touches .
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBCAgvO15Qw&feature=kp"

Pretty good live vid, i really dig there first three albums but kind of lose me after that, great vid though and great cover.

The bass player Steph originally was in another great Melbourne band of 90,s "Sandpit" IMO quite underrated

thermalben wrote:

I was a late to the party with Hunters and Collectors.. this video is from '82! 

Was only thinking yesterday when my Ipod was on shuffle and played one of there older tracks how good some of Hunter & Collectors stuff is didn't get into them until the late 80,s along with the Oils and Hoodoo gurus, all those bands stuff from that era still sounds amazing today.

Early oils..... Edgy....... Finally got to see them in 83/84...... One of the best live gigs ever....

I remember when I was a grom, we scaled the fence and snuck into the Royal Antler to watch The Oils support Rose Tattoo, one of the Oils first gigs. Holy shit, what an eye opener. One of the many gigs of the early Oils I got to see at my local.

Now we're talkin'. The Oils were the first live concert I was allowed to go to with my mates. SEC in 1983.

Sounds a bit rough but still have heaps of old Oils on my phone-

And The Celibate Rifles a decade or so later at the Playroom, mad night that was-

Here you go Sid, I've always liked this song-

Here's a classic-

And this sweet little thing, god rest her soul-

Awesome Zen.

indo-dreaming wrote:

southey wrote:

is anyone more prolific , ( maybe i'm biased ) , and almost nail everyone he touches .
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBCAgvO15Qw&feature=kp"

Pretty good live vid, i really dig there first three albums but kind of lose me after that, great vid though and great cover.

The bass player Steph originally was in another great Melbourne band of 90,s "Sandpit" IMO quite underrated

Totally agree , i was into them before steph " defected " .....
am still shattered i can't find my original " hunting game " cd .... so devo ...
I still question myself , if someone i know tookk it for themselves ... didn't realise they were on youtube ... did a short google search last night ....
gave up , and put on a " dambuilders " cd instead .

Australian greatness