Auld Lang Syne

The other day I was talking to a friend who claims that she's never heard "Auld Lang Syne." I found that incredibly hard... no, impossible to believe, but even after singing her the first verse she still claimed to not recognize it. It's possible that this had more to do with my off-key singing than her exposure to traditional holiday songs, but I don't think I'm THAT bad a singer.

Anyway, while looking for a website about New Year's Eve traditions to forward her explaining how she's basically been living under a rock her entire life, I found this entry from The Book of Ratings that absolutely cracked me up...

"It's always funny to hear people sing Scots poetry while wearing shiny hats. I usually try to get everyone to launch into "Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver" to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon" as an encore, but by then everyone's putting on coats and calling babysitters so it's never really gotten the ensemble treatment it deserves."

Their take on all the various New Year's Eve traditions are hilarious, so it's worth taking a look at before you head out for your end of the year revelry. I'm seriously thinking about forgoing the kissing at midnight so I can instead ring in the new year by standing on a chair eating grapes.

Holly Jolly Hollywood

David Gedge probably isn't the first person you'd think of to write a sentimental Christmas song. The first time The Wedding Present released a holiday single in 1992, the a-side was called "No Christmas," and the lyrics didn't contain a single reference to anything yuletide related. In fact it's probably one of the bleakest breakup songs he's ever penned. Of course, the b-side was a spirited cover of Elton John's "Step Into Christmas," so obviously he can get into the mood of the season.

This year the Weddoes have released a proper holiday single called "Holly Jolly Hollywood." It's a jovial duet with Simone White, and though it's closer in sound to Cinerama than any of The Wedding Present's recent releases, it's completely awesome. I first heard the acoustic version that is included on the EP a couple of weeks ago, and it really didn't do a lot for me. Last night I finally got around to downloading the proper version of the single, and I basically haven't stopped listening to it since. Maybe because it's because the arrangement has more pep in its step. Maybe it's Simone White's almost breathy vocals. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm feeling kind of smitten right now that has me susceptible to the song's charming sweetness. Whatever the reason, it has made an indelible mark on the soundtrack to my Christmas this year.

The Holly Jolly Hollywood EP is available exclusively on iTunes, and the video can be seen above. In addition to regular and acoustic versions of the title track, it also includes a very cool, subdued cover of "White Christmas."

Albums Of The Year 2008

When I first started doing the obligatory year end list a couple of years ago, I made a decision to limit it to my favorite five albums from the previous twelve months. It was partly because I like the aesthetics of a top five, but mostly it was to keep the focus on albums that I really, truly loved. Like most music geeks, I listen to a lot of music during the course of a year, and while I may really like a lot of them, there are only a few albums that I truly connect with.

That said, I had a really hard time limiting this list to just five albums. I seriously thought about expanding it into a...

You're probably wondering why this post just stopped. Unfortunately the original post was deleted by Blogger for some unknown reason (they never sent me notice), and I've had to recreate it based on a partial copy of it I found on Elbo.ws, and the raw data from Hype Machine's 2008 Music Zeitgeist. If it ever shows up on archive.org, I'll get the complete reviews reposted, but for now, here is what the list looked like.


1. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost

The Black Angels - "Doves" (mp3)


2. R.E.M. - Accelerate




3. The Duke Spirit - Neptune




4. Hotpipes - Future Bolt

Hotpipes - "The Future Is Where We Belong" (mp3)




5. Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords

Flight Of The Conchords - "Business Time" (mp3)

Honorable Mention:
The Wedding Present - El Rey
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Sunday At Devil Dirt
All We Seabees - MKUltra
Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Matthew Ryan - Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State

Happy Birthday Ol' Blue Eyes

I've mentioned before how I think today should be a national holiday. Really though, Frank Sinatra's birthday just gives me a good excuse to post a song by my favorite singer.

This song was recorded in August of 1991 for a children's charity album that was put together by his daughter Nancy. Several takes were done with his longtime pianist Bill Miller, but the final version ended up being with his son Frank Jr. on the keys. Sinatra hadn't been in a recording studio in three years at the time, and though there is a definite frailty evident in his voice, it seems to add a certain poignancy to the song. In 2004, these tracks were given significant studio polishing and fleshed out with a new orchestral arrangement by Johnny Mandel. Though the final result bears little resemblance to this original track, it turned out quite well. The new version can be found on Frank Sinatra: The Christmas Collection.

Frank Sinatra w/ Frank Sinatra Jr. - "Silent Night" (mp3) from 20 Christmas Stars II

Always Crush Me

I'm an infrequent contributor to Tuesday night trivia at the Flying Saucer. In the past six months, I've probably only been there like half a dozen times. But during that period, I had yet to miss on a music question, which made me like fifteen for fifteen or something. I hesitated on one last month, and only gauged my certainty at about 65 percent, but considering that the answer was *NSYNC, I didn't consider that a bad thing (and yes, I guessed correctly).

In baseball, there's an unwritten rule that you never mention a no hitter in progress, especially to the pitcher. And in my once-a-month appearances, I had established a rep as the go-to music guy... the closer of pop culture queries. So after our group won last month, a friend mentioned to the rest of the crew that I had yet to miss on a music question. From that point on I felt doomed.

Last night the law of averages finally caught up with me. I was flying high going into the final round. Not only had I aced the first music question of the night , but I also nailed two movie questions and a sports question. But when the second music question of the evening came up, I drew a blank.

The question was "What song contains the lyric 'My jobs ain't a job, it's a damn good time.'" I'm sure at this point, half of you reading this know the answer. And I should have. I own the fucking album. But I had nothing. No inkling, no educated guess, not even a wild stab in the dark. It was pathetic.

Am I blowing this way out of proportion? Yeah, probably. But this stung. A lot. It's not just a chink in the armour... it's a giant hole in the cataphract that is my pride.

Unless You Hate Baby Jesus...

When Aimee Mann released One More Drifter In The Snow in 2006, she promoted it with a Christmas variety show tour that combined songs, skits and storytelling from her and various special guests. To promote the tour, she did a couple of short videos in which she conspires with Paul F. Tompkins on the best way to ask her various celebrity friends to participate. Part 1 stars John Krasinski, Emily Procter, Patton Oswalt, and a great cameo that I won't ruin by telling you about it beforehand...



Part 2 features Bob Odenkirk and Fred Armisen, and part 3 has bits with Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell. They're all pretty funny, so if you're looking for something to kill a few minutes at work today... you're welcome.

Aimee's 3rd annual Christmas tour kicks off it's east coast swing tonight in Ridgefield, CT, and continues through the 19th. The remaining tour dates and ticket info can be found here.

Aimee Mann - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (mp3) from One More Drifter In The Snow

Santa Claus Is Coming...

It's December 3, and I haven't posted any Christmas songs yet this year. Let's fix that...

Like a lot of music aficionados, I pick up a lot of weird CDs if it looks interesting and it's cheap enough. Quite a while back I got a copy of MAS! A Caribbean Christmas Party for like two bucks. It was put out by Rykodisc, who's stuff usually doesn't suck, and I'm always up for adding something new to my Christmas music library. Honestly, most of the CD didn't make much of an impression, except for this song. It popped up on my ipod yesterday and immediately brought a huge smile to my face. I could try to describe it to you, but words don't do it justice. You just have to hear it. Seriously. It's completely awesome, and one of my absolute favorite Christmas tracks.

Joseph Spence - "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (mp3)

Apparently this song was recorded in Boston just a few days after the Bahamas born Spence saw snow for the first time in his life. Knowing that makes this performance even better.

Love Take Me Down To The Streets

Last weekend I went to see Role Models. I had a pretty good idea going into it that I'd like it, since it was directed by David Wain, and starred Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks (one of the few blondes to ever make my celebrity crush list), and nearly half the cast of The State. I didn't just like it though... it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

So why am I writing about it on a music blog? Because it's chalk full of music jokes. There are so many Kiss references (this one is my favorite) that you'd almost think they paid for product placement (and given Gene Simmons' history I wouldn't be surprised if they did). But the one that really got me was a recurring joke about a Wings song that doesn't exist. During the movie, a couple of characters briefly sing the hook to the chorus of the madeup song. So I was a bit surprised when the credits rolled and I suddenly heard the voice of Paul McCartney, singing the imaginary Wings track. I started thinking that maybe they dug up some unreleased track, or got Sir Paul to record a new track for the movie. After sitting through the music credits, it turned out to be none of the above. The song was written by cast member A.D. Miles and Charles Gansa, who's written music for several of the the ex-State members movies, and sung by Joey Curatolo, who plays Paul in the Beatles tribute act Rain. And it's uncanny how much it sounds EXACTLY like Wings. They absolutely nailed the production, and Curatolo is a dead ringer for McCartney... he even nails that half assed scream that Macca does.

"Love Take Me Down (To The Streets)" (mp3) from the Role Models soundtrack

There is no soundtrack for the movie (NOTE: there is now), so it took some hunting to track down this MP3. The song can also be heard playing in the background of the website for the fictional Sturdy Wings organization.

An Ethical Dilemma

So it turns out my old high school band has an alumni page on Facebook. If I join it, does that make me the biggest geek ever?