Flop Eared Mule A Country Music Death Beast and Worker in the Dylan Industrial Complex | Sydney, Australia | Est. 2004

Yes I know the cinematic remakes of beloved 80s TVs shows thing is getting old but I am totally on board with this.

Somewhat busy, but today is traditonally* the day for a new Muxtape. Have no great plans as yet, but if you have a request for a genre or theme or something you'd like to hear my take on leave a comment with your suggestion!

* it must be a month by now.

In addition to Richard Shindell, another muso with his thinking cap on is David Byrne. It has pie charts!

I've made money, and I've been ripped off. I've had creative freedom, and I've been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will. It saved my life, and I bet I'm not the only one who can say that.

What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.

The following is mostly a plea to Zoe on account of her awesome new food blog.

Time to get back to core business. This week's muxtape is 12 of my very favourite country songs. I kept it classic, none of the dreaded alt.

I have this poster-sized Time cover. I don't mind confessing I brazenly stole it from out the front of a newagent's in Strathfield.

Update: I replaced the second Jones song with a Kris. I wanted that one originally anyway, but only just now found the disc.

I had seen a few references to The Paper around the innertubes in the last few days and thought: weird. The Michael Keaton movie? Weird. If any of 1994s cineofferings was going to make a comeback to the zeitgeist, you'd think it'd be The River Wild. But then I read some recommendations of a couple of my favourite TV-related blogs (they both link to this) and I understood there was a new MTV reality series of that name. Of course it is not on telly here but of course I acquired it anyway. It follows the exploits of the Cypress Bay High (Florida) student newspaper. After the first minute I had to check Wikipedia to see that it was actually a reality show, so staged and scripted it seemed. But of course to a teenager in 2008 reality TV is so completely normal and even something to aspire to and we have reached the point where mock- has seamlessly cycled into doc- (umentary).

Mock will eat itself.

I don't require musicians I like to be rational, sane, compassionate, intelligent, thought provoking and in general good people. But it's awfully nice when one of them turns out to be so. The superb singer/songwriter Richard Shindell has some thoughts here and more here on being an artist in the age of illegal downloading. He speaks sense.

While I think a lot of anti-piracy measures and attitudes have been hamfisted, insulting and obnoxious (and I don't use P2P myself), I don't make my living from music so I can't begrudge those who do their strong feelings on the matter. Still, when he talks about the "better angels" attitude, and respect between consumer and artist, that makes sense to me. I think there are lots of things that can be done to turn pirates into people who support artists -- not least of which is "the passage of time" and "embiggening of musical tastes" since (IIRC) it's teens/uni-aged kids who do it on the grandest and most unthinking scale, and it's mostly directed towards the more top 100 end of things. eMusic's corporate line has long been that it pitches the long tail and independent acts to "mature" music fans who are vastly less likely to fileshare. This was actually borne out when Random House tracked piracy of it's eMusic DRM-free audiobook files and found ... none. (can't dig up the thing I read about this, will add link later.)

Richard still thinks it's important the artist gets paid (in this case, him) but he's actually doing some constructive, realistic things about it. Go, Richard!

Time for a new muxtape. Since Laura alerted me to this particularly witless example of crushingly unfunny and pointless op-ed busy work and since I got a few Google hits in the last week looking for a "jazz muxtape", I thought I'd do a jazz muxtape. And they say bloggers are undisciplined, narcasscistic jerks -- Schembri (practically everytime I read him) more than proves you don't need to be 13 and writing in your PJs in your mother's basement to write like you're 13 and writing in your PJs in your mother's basement.

Hear my muxtape here.

Anyhow. I'm very much a "don't know much about jazz, but I know what I like" and this is pretty much the first 12 things I came to, with some exceptions because a lot of tracks (ie. everything I have by Charles Mingus) is over the Muxtape limit of 10MB in size. Also kept it to instrumentals. Jazz vocals is a mux for another week.

These are the albums the tracks are from:
Robert Mazurek- Playground. This was recommended on a message board thread about "heroiny jazz."
Sonny Rollins-Way Out West "I'm an Old Cowhand" is my fave but I put that on a mux before.
Art Pepper-Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
Irving Fields Trio-Bagels and Bongos
Getatchew Mekurya-Negus of Ethiopian Sax. African jazz is a whole topic by itself.
John Coltrane-Plays for Lovers
Dizzy Gillespie and Machito-Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods
Andre Previn- West Side Story
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins
Thelonious Monk - Blue Monk
Buddy Rich with Dizzy Gillespie-Monterey Jazz Festival 1958-1980
Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans-Know What I Mean?

Taking my cue from Phineas and feeling like I need to impose some order on my acquisitions, here is about everything I downloaded from eMusic this month. It looks like a lot all listed out like that, and it is a lot but I found myself with 125 extra credits this month so it's rather more bloated than usual. I actually don't have much trouble giving everything a good listen. The jazz, say, I don't need to sit and intently listen to every track -- I just don't have the technical knowledge to make that worthwhile. But I know what I like, and I often have my jazz playlist on in the background at home, and if something stands out I can explore it further. Actually if I'm doing something that requires special attention I prefer instrumental sounds because lyrics totally distract me. And I've started making my iTunes playlists work for me, keeping them neat and updated so everything is close at hand and I can efficiently and enjoyably cycle through my new and old stuff. Basically all this cost me the price of a couple of new CDs.

Country/Blues/Rock
Straight from the Heart -- Daryle Singletary This month I did some exploration of the contemporary, mainstreamy country catalogue. Since eMusic doesn't have the major labels represented, these are the guys who've found themselves punted from the big boys and end up on small labels. I mentioned Daryle before, a very Merle Haggard voice.
That's Why I Sing This Way -- Daryle Singletary Mostly classic country covers with some cool harmony/duets including Dwight Yoakam and Rhonda Vincent. There's one more album of his there which I will definately be getting.
Different Things: The Acoustic Mixes -- Tracy Byrd On the slick side but the acoustic thing keeps it lean. "Cheapest Motel" is my fave, for all your stern sermonising needs.
Rollin' With the Flow -- Mark Chestnut The only thing here I wouldn't recommend. I love the song but Chesnut just recreates the Charlie Rich version without an ounce of the Silver Fox's swing or swagger. Only a single though, not an album, so only cost me one download to find out.
Coal -- Kathy Mattea Enjoyable new collection of coal mining songs in a roosty folk-country style.
Testifying -- Country Soul Revue I don't know about the "revue" part, just seems like a various compilation rather than a single project but can hardly go wrong with Tony Joe White, Dan Penn, Bonnie Bramlett, Donnie Fritts ...
Blues with a Message -- Various Phineas recommended this and it's a great collection, as you'd expect from the too-good-too-be-true annals of Arhoolie.
The Good Life -- Justin Townes Earle Still going strong, one of the most satisfactory albums of this year no doubt.
Blues de Musicien -- Pine Leaf Boys Energetic new Cajun.
On Your Sleeve -- Jesse Malin Covers of classic rock/pop songs. Nice enough.
Boris Grebenshikov: Russian Songwriter Grebenshikov was the lead singer/writer for Akuarium, one of the biggest underground rock bands in the Soviet Union. After the Fall, was a bit fashionable in the West for a brief moment (recorded an album with Dave Stewart or somesuch). Saw him and the band a few times in Moscow. BG has a very seductive voice and this is a very intersting and varied collection, but makes me sad my Russian is so hopeless.
"I'm A Lonesome Fugitive" from Bird Doggin': The Complete Challenge Sessions -- Gene Vincent Only this one track for now but may revisit for more (its a double album.)
Blues & Boogie Explosion -- Bob Hall, George Green and Ian Stewart Hot jams, lots of fun. Apparently a bit obscure which is strange, but Prof. Google gives up little info. I think I read somewhere Ginger Baker is also playing on it. Or was it Jack Bruce?

Jazz etc
West Side Story -- Andre Previn Where's my martini?
Charles Mingus Presents -- Charles Mingus No idea really, but it's a fun trip.
Fine and Mellow: Ella Fitzgerald Jams. I have quite a bit of swoonful Ella but what I'm really digging about this one is the real solid bluesy vibe at times. The whole thing is perfect.
The Song is You -- Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette
Gimcracks and Gewgaws -- Mose Allison Mose is a strange trip and I need to be in the right mood.
Live at the Village Vanguard -- Mary Stallings I've had "You're Sensational" from this for a while but went back for the rest. Jazz after midnight type stuff, which is according to the review " by far her best recording because she is at the height of her musical powers, four-octave range, and is singing songs that are intimate to her but speak to the soul in everyone."

African Most of these come from the songs on the African muxtapes I linked to earlier, plus browsing from those starting points. One of the interesting threads is how American musical forms with their roots in African music, are fed back into contemporary African music and reinterpreted. Wheels within wheels!
Succes Des Annees 50/60, Vol. 1 -- Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz
20eme Anniversaire - 6 juin 1956 - 6 juin 1976 vol.1 -- Franco Sounds like a Spanish name and indeed there are a lot of Latin flavours here.
"Osain" from Cafe Cantane -- 10pm
Congo Life -- Kékélé Where's my mojito?
Bookor Beats -- Bookor Band The muxtape I discovered these guys on mentioned their unusual use of harmonica as a lead instrument and it certainly lends the whole sound a wonderful and distinctive driving qualilty.
African Troubadour: Best of African Singer-Songwriters. This is quite an amazing collection, and a number of the artists are earmarked for full album downlaods.
The Danque!!! -- Various Heavy African funk sourced from obscure vinyl.
Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76 -- Various
10 ans de succès - Bembeya Jazz National

Soul/Funk etc
Melting Pot -- Booker T and the MG's Pretty damn perfect. If you only get one Booker T and the MG's disk, this should probably be it.
With A Little Help From My Friends -- Steve Cropper The man who can make me disappointed I missed the last Guy Sebastian tour.
Soul Masters: My Aborable One -- Percy Sledge This is labeled "re-recordings". Maybe they are but they are phenomenal nonetheless. I just love his version of "I Still Miss Someone" which is on my current muxtape.
Searching For Soul: Rare And Classic Soul, Funk And Jazz From Michigan, 1968-1980 -- Various Still need to listen closely to this compilation and the New Orleans one below to draw out the individual songs but on cursory listening there's a lot to love. Funk has taken longer to grow on me but I think I'm getting it. I like the kind of funk that has screaming horns rather than the types that's just the wah wah bass thing.
An Introduction To New Orleans R and B -- Various Old skool. Haven't worked oout if and how New Orleans soul is different from Chicago or wherever soul. The piano?
Live at the Olympia -- Ray Charles
Protest Anthology -- Nina Simone Didn't get the whole album because a lot of it is interview tracks but it's NINA so I'll probably go back for those. I will tell you this though : the versions of "Nobody", "I Wish I Knew How It Felt to Be Free" and "Strange Fruit" are mind-blowing.

I was (thesis? What thesis?) searching Youtube for "cold chisel", "khe sahn", "jimmy barnes" AS YOU DO (don't lie I KNOW YOU DO) and I came across this. It's like years old but I do my best to avoid stand-up comedy (*shudder*).

It amused me but what Adam Hills should do it recreate it on the Spicks and Specks Christmas Special and then -- right, he starts? But then? After the into? JIMMY hisself comes out and the crowd goes wild and Jimmy does it properly -- I mean the national anthem set to WCM properly. Because no offence Adam, but I know Jimmy Barnes. You're no Jimmy Barnes. Just sayin'. That would be cool.

I whined a little down the page about the lack of reviews in print of the fabbo John Hiatt gig, Drum Media took their sweet time but they've got one. Don't squint, click for big version. I didn't mention Henry Wagons in my review, I thought he was pretty good. His band had their album launch at the Hopetoun a weekend or two ago and I almost got my act together to go. Almost.

A new muxtape, the theme is soul/jazz covers of country songs. I have a casual hobby of collecting them. I'd especially like to find some more jazz ones, especially instrumental ones with a improv sort of vibe. Perhaps I want too much. Please let me know any covers which fit into the soul/jazz type area or any other less likely genre (salsa? hip hop?) I exclude rock and blues covers from this project just because they're pretty common, although exceptional examples welcome to apply.
Photo.
I have fudged it a bit in that the Tina Turner is really a country version; a soul singer but a country version, pedal steel and all. The Aretha is a bit the same, with Duane Allman on guitar. And Keely Smith is probably covering Ray Charles' version which straddled the genres to begin with.

Based on accidentally viewing half an episode of the original Battlestar Galactica, there are a few obvious ways the new one has improved on it.

-- no obese Cylons so shiny they hurt
-- no cute children in main cast, especially ones called "Boxey."
-- And especially no furry animatronic teddy bears! especially ones called "Muffit."
-- better insults. "Go rust yourself" is no match for the frack family of cusses.

I bought an eviiiil chocolate confectionary product -- which happened to have a Free iTunes Download promotion attached.

Leave a comment with the song you absolutely think I need to hear and I just might download it.

Visit Me in Music City -- Bobby Bare, Jr
From the End of Your Leash
I first heard this on an MP3 blog, can't recall which one. I 'm not totally on board with his more rawky stuff but this whole album is ace. And this song can't be beat. I could do a whole mux on songs that bag Nashville, so the affection in this one is a nice change.
YouTube: "Your Adorable Beast" set to 101 Dalmations vision. Heh.

Once in a Very Blue Moon -- Chris Smither
It Ain't Easy
All up my favourite Smither album. From the All Music review: "Armed simply with guitar and voice, Smither delivers a dozen tunes (14 on the CD reissue) that embody the best tradition of blues and folk. Whether it's his originals, a standard like "Glory of Love," or material by the likes of Randy Newman, Chuck Berry, Mississippi John Hurt, and Howlin' Wolf, Smither infuses every track with the same timeless quality."
YouTube: Live at some festival.

Mellow Down Easy -- The Chambers Brothers
Live
Funk, soul, blues, rock and gospel all in one. What more do you want? Well, maybe some country but one mustn't be greedy.
YouTube: People Get Ready.

Deep Blue Sea -- David Johansen and the Harry Smiths
Shaker
I bought this and their first CD in Moscow. David Johansen is the New York Dolls singer but this is his blues band. It's been five or six years, he's busy with the Dolls reunion but I hope he gets back to this.
YouTube: Furry's Blues from the first Harry Smiths record.

As Long As The River Flows -- Johnny Cash
Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian
One of my favourite albums, Cash originals and Peter LaFarge covers. Cash is country, but Cash is also a major folk singer, which gets lost sometimes.
YouTube: Johnny with Pete Seeger (and June) talking about the album and singing. I hesitated a bit because he's obviously way, way, way out of his tree but there you go. I recommend it anyway as a document and a reminder of this album -- and the performance is definately powerful (song starts about 4.30 in).
.

When I Was in Love with You -- The Greencards
Viridian
I'm a casual fan, but this is my favourite song of theirs.

Real Emotional Girl -- Randy Newman
Trouble in Paradise
My favourite Randy song. We're so used to embracing our music totally, it's a strange trip when you know you can't trust it.
YouTube: Linda Ronstadt and Randy.

I Wanna Be Loved -- Dinah Washington
I Wanna Be Loved
I really wanted to use Dinah's "Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning" but it clocks in at 11MB, and the mux limit is 10. Any Dinah is sublime though. It's kinda a sly bit of programming after the Randy.
YouTube: The Alberta Hunter version of Nobody Knows The Way ... Dinah's is about six minuttes longer.

Kay -- Daryle Singlatary
That's Why I Sing This Way
One of those who flirted with mainstream country success in the 90s, and has evidently been punted from the big label because he's now on eMusic (which has "independent labels", not the Big 5 or 3 or however many there are these days.) Trace Adkins, Trisha Yearwood, David Ball, Clint Black also seem to fit into this group. Daryle Singletary sounds just like Merle Haggard. A friend introduced me to this song (ta, Pete) in the original John Wesley Ryles version. It's one of those wordy songs like Gentle on My Mind which I imagine must be a bugger to sing.

Effect and Cause -- The White Stripes
Icky Thump
My fave song of that record, maybe not the most substantial one but infectious nontheless.
YouTube: The song.

Sleepless Nights -- Lucinda Williams
This is from the "Return to Sin City" Gram Parsons tribute concert. You can buy the DVD but there isn't a CD for some weird reason. I had to make my own.
YouTube: Keith Richards and Norah Jones on "Love Hurts" from the same gig.

Song for You -- Ray Charles
Live a the Olympia
Every man and his dog has covered this song and I have alot of them. Can't go past Brother Ray though.
YouTube: Ray Charles, Leon Russell, Willie Nelson.

Bruce-phemy indeed.

The African muxtape I raved about yesterday is gone. Such is the poignant fragility of the mux, mirroring perhaps our own fugacious existence in this vale of tears.

Same dude has a new mux though, of "contemporary rock songs from Houston."

Update: But. Here's an equally good one of Congolese music. Very informative notes here.

My three videos from the Kasey and Shane gig are on YouTube. Not exactly Imax quality but the sound is OK for a dinky point-and-shoot. Note Kasey charmingly snarking on the chatters before the beautiful "One More Day." The encore was "Hallelujah." Now, Various Positions is one of my desert island discs and the John Cale tribute album version is rather genius but apart from that I'm quite over hearing covers of it. The Buckey version misses the emotion of the song despite consisting of nothing but Emotion. Plus, he left out the best verse. This is a fascinating analysis of the how such an odd song became the go-to track for melancholy TV dramedy montage. But still, K&S do a good job.

Also: my dodgy photos on Flickr.