Real Estate - 'Real Estate'
I finally got my paws on the Real Estate album. I jumped into their gig a few minutes late missing the first four or five songs of the set. I'm very sad to say I missed my favourite tune off of the album - "Beach Comber". It's a must hear. I think this band's strongest tunes are the ones they don't sing on, live and recorded.Thursday October 7, 2010
Trouble, Trouble. I've snapped and bought five CDs this week so far. Yikes.
Neil Young - 'Harvest Moon'
Neil Young - 'Harvest'
Released twenty years before 'Harvest Moon' in 1972 this album dazzles me nearly forty years after its release. Neil Young is one of those artists that I could pick out if my Dad were to ask me who's playing, but I never really launched into his material on my own. In buying these CDs I have gravitated to listening to the familiar or big hits - this album showcases two stellar ones - "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man." I can't get over that incredible intro for "Heart of Gold," it's so damn iconic.I think I'd give an arm to see him play at Massey Hall.
Blossom Dearie - 'Give Him the Ooh-La-La'
Blossom Dearie has been a much more minute character in my mind shelf. I first heard her in a three disc Verve compilation with the song "Moonlight Saving Time." It was her pretty '50s appeal that really won my heart and wallet over to purchase her album. I have always shuttered at buying compilations, so finding a full-length digipack makes me extremely happy. Looking over the liners I was very unimpressed to find that Dearie didn't write her material herself. I was slightly relieved to find that she plays her piano parts herself as well as all of her vocals. So in my books, she stands on her own.I gathered that the tune from this album was "The Riviera." The song has a fun upbeat pick up half way through the tune. She's definitely having fun on this track.
There's something really charismatic about this woman between her looks and her actual music. She's got a really distinct jazz voice that separates her from the pack and I'm a fan.
Monday October 4, 2010
Deerhunter - ' Halcyon Digest'
This album made me really think twice about singer Bradford Cox's vocals. I though to myself - "Are they really that good?" My trailing answer screamed YES. This band is fun and lively. There's something really polished about his vocals - despite how imperfect they actually are. The band live are tight and they swim with great confidence. I dig it. It's almost too bold because they could easily come off as cocky. Regardless, this band is a heavy hitter in my heart.
'Halcyon Digest' really moves beyond in instrumentation - that's the big difference from this album and the last. I just hope they can recreate it live, even if they're only a five piece again.
This album really lacks the gel and fluidity that the last album really embodied. The album moved me with its transitions between songs, where I needed to listen to the album as a whole.
The Walkmen - 'Lisbon'
What a great week in music. I also bought the Walkmen's new album 'Lisbon.' I was really jazzed when I initially saw the artwork, but sadly that was my climax, the insides don't live up to the exciting exterior. I am really sad to say that there is no removable liner notes that came with the album. I immediately felt let down once I opened up the packaging. I am grateful it's in digipak format.For as much as I love the Walkmen's angsty songs like "In The New Year" and "The Rat," I love them even more for their dazzling slow tunes like "Lisbon" and "While I Shovel the Snow."
This album is totally worth the seventeen bucks you'll pay for it.
Sunday September 26, 2010
This purchase was spurred because I recently watched the brilliant film 'Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town' at the Toronto International Film Festival. I have never been a big Bruce Springsteen fan but I grew up in a house with one. I have great memories of my father being completely ecstatic about recieving the Springsteen boxset 'Born to Run' ten years ago and at that time, I coudn't careless. Springsteen has also become kind of an icon amongst people my age these days. 
However years ago an old co-worker told me that Springsteen 'back then' was someone your older sisters would like.Here's to my thoughts.
Thoughout watching the film, I couldn't help but think what a looker he was in 1978. Not so much anymore.
Sam Cooke - 'The Best of Sam Cooke'
Sam Cooke is a totally crooner and I love him for that. Between the years 1957 and 1964 he had 29 hits in the US. Cook lived a very short life dying at the age of 33. Cookes tunes have outlasted time being well-remembered through covers. While his death over forty-five years ago has fizzled out remembrance of his name. A dirty model named 'Sam Cooke' has dominated search engine image results. Pity.
