Sorry kiddies... despite only making three posts in the last three weeks, I exceeded my bandwidth limit for the month. That U2 track turned out to be a bit more popular than I expected. I've gone ahead and uploaded the tracks from the last two posts to an alternate hosting service, but if you're wanting to listen to anything else from the past month, you'll have to wait two days until my fileden bandwidth resets. Apologies 'n stuff.
When I started this month long series of acoustic b-sides, I figured I was going to stick to stripped down alternate versions of album tracks. Posting this song breaks that guideline on two counts... one, there is no album version of this song, it's purely a b-side, and two, it's not entirely acoustic. Oh well, rules are made to be broken. I really like this song, and I wanted to post it while it's still actually summer. And since it looks like it's going to be a rainy day here in Nashville, it seems appropriate enough.
U2 - "Summer Rain" (mp3)
In addition to being the b-side to Beautiful Day, this song was released on the Target exclusive EP 7, and was also included on a limited edition of All That You Can't Leave Behind as a one song bonus disc. So it might be U2's least rare b-side.
I had hoped to get a post written for a monday morning b-side while I was in Montana, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Due to sick family members, I spent the first half of my vacation babysitting my niece and nephew, and the second half I didn't have access to a computer... which was actually really refreshing. I had such a great time hanging out with my cousins that I didn't miss being online at all. It's kind of nice to unplug for a while, and I couldn't have been in a more gorgeous place to do it. So in lieu of the usual weekly feature, today you get a mini mix commemorating my vacation. Consider it an audio postcard from nine days in the most beautiful place in the country.
Venus Hum - "Montana" (mp3) from Big Beautiful Sky
Prince & The Revolution - "Mountains" (mp3) from Parade
Frank Sinatra - "It's Nice To Go Trav'ling" (mp3) from Come Fly With Mephoto by Josh Schwartzman
So for last week's monday morning b-side, I posted a song that I initially thought was an acoustic mix of the album version, but it was actually a completely different recording entirely. This week I'm absolutely positively one hundred percent sure that this is an alternate mix of the album recording. Sugar originally released this version on the Changes single, and it was later included on the Besides compilation.Sugar - "If I Can't Change Your Mind (Solo Mix)" (mp3)Sorry to be so brief today, but I'm in Montana right now, and it is too beautiful a day to spend any more time sitting in front of a computer.
The Black Angels, with The WarlocksExit In, Nashville, TNSaturday, July 5, 2008You know how sometimes you can look forward to a concert so much that it's almost impossible for the actual event to live up to your expectations? Well, that totally wasn't an issue on Saturday night. I'm not sure I had looked forward to a concert this much since in years. Directions To See A Ghost, The Black Angels new album, has undoubtedly been my favorite of the year so far. It's been in constant rotation since April, when I first wrote about it, and my love for it has yet to show any signs of waning. And live, the band were everything I'd hoped they would be, and then some. Their set was 75 minutes of mind blowing aural magic. I've always wondered why more bands don't incorporate projections into their light shows. The combination of old 50s film reels and psychedelic oil projections added a perfect visual element to the band's tripped out sound. During songs like "Mission District," with it's heartbeat rhythm, I honestly can't imagine it would have been any cooler seeing Pink Floyd in 1967. Seriously. It was that good.The Black Angels - "Doves" (mp3) from Directions To See A Ghost
The Black Angels - "Paladin's Last Stand" (mp3) from Black Angel Exit (promo only)The Warlocks were an example that sometimes you can put two chefs in the same kitchen with the exact same ingredients and wind up with completely different tasting dishes. The first time I saw them (two years ago in Atlanta), they didn't do much for me. It probably didn't help that the smoke was so thick that you couldn't actually see the band members on stage, only their shadowy outlines. This time the smoke machine was under control, but I still couldn't connect with the band. Though they share a brooding, drony sound with The Black Angels, they do a lot less with it. It seems like every song followed the same template... guitarist starts an echoey riff, the other two guitarists chime in playing the same riff, drums and bass come in, then repeat every four minutes. It got boring real quick. If you're going to have three guitarists in a band, you need to do something with them. Having them all playing the same part all night is a waste.
The Warlocks - "So Paranoid" (mp3) from Heavy Deavy Skull Lover photo by Steve Cross, more at Nashville Cream
It took me a while to get into Pearl Jam. Part of it was that Ten struck me as a little too slick, but mostly I think it was the hats that Jeff Ament wore in the early 90s... those things were ridiculous. I started coming around when Vs. was released, but it really wasn't until I saw them in concert that I fully realized what a great band they were. Their show in Las Vegas in 2000, on the tenth anniversary of their first show together, was easily one of the best concerts I've ever seen.I had always thought that today's b-side du jour was just an acoustic mix of the album version. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized it was a different take entirely, complete with slightly different lyrics. Apparently the length of the title was a reaction to the fact that up until then all of their song titles were simply one world. It's was released on the Go single, which is now out of print.
Pearl Jam - "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (Acoustic)" (mp3)
Last night I'm sitting at East Park with a few friends, enjoying the downtown fireworks when an ice cream truck pulls up. This was mildly annoying, because we were trying to listen to the radio broadcast of the Nashville Symphony that accompanies said fireworks, but whatever... ice cream trucks are synonymous with summer, so it's hard to hate on them. So we're sitting there watching the rocket's red glare to the soundtrack of ice cream truck jingles, and after a few seconds I turned to one of my friends and asked "Is that 'Deck The Halls? ' " Turns out my suspicions were confirmed... the ice cream man was indeed rocking Christmas carols. A few seconds later, we were treated to "Jingle Bells." Now setting aside the obvious faux pas of playing yuletide tunes outside of the period between Thanksgiving and New Years, who the hell programs an ice cream truck to play Christmas songs??? Unless you live south of the equator, you probably don't patronize the bringer of frozen goodness in December. So dear anonymous East Nashville ice cream man... in the future please stick with "Yankee Doodle," or "London Bridge," or "Pop Goes The Weasel," or "Dixie." Those are the songs that will make me crave a rocket pop, not "Silver Bells."Van Halen - "Ice Cream Man" (mp3) from Van Halen
Remember sparklers? Of course you do. In fact, you might be twirling one around later this evening. The other day I heard a story on NPR about fireworks that said those little things burn at 2000 degrees fahrenheit. Wha wha what? Seriously? I spent my childhood running around with the equivalent of a tiny butane torch in my hand? That's kind of scary... and also kinda awesome.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - "Coming To America" (mp3) from Have Another Ball
This is probably the only modern patriotic song that I like. I even like Neil Diamond's original version, but this cover is a thousand different kinds of awesome. It was originally released on the Generations Vol. 1 compilation, and it's being re-released on Tuesday on the Gimme Gimmes' new singles collection Have Another Ball. If memory serves, I think Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong is playing guitar on this track. And to get nitpicky, the song is actually just called "America."
Soundgarden - "4th Of July" (mp3) from Superunknown
Since I posted a song called "4th Of July" last year, I thought I'd do it again and make it a tradition. I'm all about the obviousness.
Frank Sinatra - "America The Beautiful" (mp3) from The Reprise Collection
And to wrap things up, we close with something a bit more traditional. Happy Birthday America. You don't look a day over 30.photo by Tom Oliver
Ever since the economic stimulus package was announced this spring, companies have been offering all kinds of promotions to get their greedy hands on your money entice you to help consumer spending by purchasing their products. Of course the catch is that to qualify for most of these offers, you have to spend your entire check in one place. I don't know about you, but in this failing economy, there really isn't anything I'm dying to spend six hundred bucks on. However, I'd gladly spend fifteen bucks to get five great rock albums.
For a limited time (probably as long as it takes them to sober up and come to their senses), Theory 8 Records is running a special; get any five of their albums for just fifteen bucks. In case you're bad at math, that's just three dollars apiece. You do have to pay for shipping, but that's only another two bucks. Over the past eight years, they've released albums by Nashville stalwarts like De Novo Dahl, Caitlin Rose, Forget Cassettes, Apollo Up, and The Carter Administration, along with a few out-of-towners like Copeland, so you ought to be able to find five albums you'd dig. And if you can only find three or four, take a chance and pick one or two at random... for only three bucks it's worth a gamble, and you might discover something awesome. You can check out their complete catalog (complete with MP3s) here, but you need to hit up this link to take advantage of this offer (just list the five albums you want in the special instructions field).
Need suggestions?
Apollo Up! - "Situation: Hot!" (mp3) from Chariots Of Fire
Caitlin Rose - "Dead Flowers" (mp3) from Dead Flowers EP
De Novo Dahl - "Be Your Man" (mp3) from Cats & Kittens
The Carter Administration - "The Wake Up Call" (mp3) from Here Comes The CopoutForget Cassettes - "Quiero, Quieres" (mp3) from Salt
