rediscovered gem
so that pic is of the singer/songwriter (and mr. aimee mann) michael penn. you may remember michaels massive 1990 hit song 'no myth'.
while i was a passable fan of that tune, i was a pretty big fan of penn's second album "free for all" . tonight i discovered a tune that was in pretty heavy rotation for me back in the early 90's; "look what the cat drug in (long way down). this track kills me with it's simplicity (voice, guitar, cello & a just a touch of organ/mellotron maybe) and with the picture he paints with his words.
there's a review (click for complete review) online that sums up it up nicely: a quiet acoustic piece which belies the biting anger and ominous lyrics. the story of a love gone wrong brimming with the bitter veracity of another person's moral agenda. "now i would suppose that i'm not the only one and one never knows... but i got a feeling she's been sleeping with the whole wide world." hmmm a happy song :-)
don't know why i love this song so, but i suppose because it's in the same arena for me as indigo girls' "ghost" and aimee mann's "fourth of july". quiet, unassuming tunes with lyrics that can slay you with one listen. i absolutely love re-discovering a tune that i loved in years past. makes me a happy camper to be sure.
so here's my challenge to you; go to your cd collection and pull something out you havn't listened to in years. then post a bit in my comments about the song. dare ya :-)
2 comments:
Great idea. So I just rediscovered I Can Hear Music by Dump, circa 1994. Dump was a lo-fi, solo side project of James McNew, bass player from Yo La Tengo. The only liner notes in the CD say "Dump features a Casio rhythm section and is a little plain." The home-taped music is all static, echo and distortion, but this guy sings like an angel. He's half Neil Young and half loser that lives in his mom's basement.
This album never fails to depress me, but in the best possible sense of the word. It's heartbreakingly sad, but ultimately the idea that one lonely guy and a four-track recorder can create something so beautiful is really uplifting.
There was a time years ago when I listened to it at least once every single day. It's been collecting dust for a while now. Thanks for inspiring me to dig it up.
A song I dug back in the day -- but didn't have in my iTunes -- was "Here Comes Your Man" by Pixies. I downloaded it last night to hear it again. It reminds me of a boy from long ago. I don't think he really even liked the somg much, (He'd say, "Brian, there are BETTER songs on the album. Listen to the rest. Gah.") but whenever I hear it, I still think of him.
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