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konsu [profile] has commented on 74 tracks.
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Winkin, Blinkin and Nod  performed by The Big Three  1963
Recommended by rum [profile]

If you ask any industry bigwig right now what�s gonna be the next big thing, they�ll all say the same, �Sea Shanties�. Every one of them. You think I�m joking? Well listen up ignorami because I�m not.

You might have noticed ripples rolling in from the Indie scene on both shores of the Atlantic, as The Coral, The Decemberists, and others, have romanticised the plight of the seafarer, but now Shanties are due to hit the mainstream, and hard. As I write this Richard X is in his London studio working on the final mix of �Salty Seadog�, an explosive slab of �neo-shant� purred over seductively by Rachel Stevens. Cathy Dennis, my old pal from our days changing skates at Norwich Rollerama, told me yesterday that she�s just sold three �Shanties� to some �top name artists�. For legal reasons I�m not allowed to say who, but let me assure you these are white hot names. The kind of names that kids get on their knees and pray to. So, you see, Shanties are big business. I�ve also heard that Jennifer Lopez, J-Lo, �Loopy� Lopez, Jell-O, whatever, never one to miss a passing fad, is rumoured to be changing her name to One-Eyed-Jenny. Make of that what you will, might just be street talk. Now what concerns me is the forthcoming release from Britney Spears. This you may have heard about. It�s called, �Wingin�, Blingin� and Not!�, and it�s a �fresh� adaptation of the 19th century poem/song, �Winkin�, Blinkin� and Nod� by Eugene Field. I know this song from the glorious version by Cass Elliot�s pre-fame folk trio, The Big Three. It�s less a shanty than a bewitching lullaby, intended to lull a child into restful slumber, as Winkin� and gang sailed not in rusting trawler through the bleak North Sea, but, �in a wooden shoe/off on a river of crystal light/into a sea of dew.� And it contains some of the most hauntingly beautiful oooh ooohs and aahh ahhs ever waxed, as Tim Rose and Mama Cass harmonise the rolling waves of slumber. Nevertheless because of it�s sea-faring theme (�we�re going fishing for the herring fish/that live in the beautiful sea�), it�ll probably get caught up in the nets of the inevitable �Sea Shanty Fever� cash-in compilations that will soon litter our shores like syringes and floor tiling. I wanted to draw your attention to it now before it gets beaten blue and bloody by the Spears, and rattles out over supermarket tannoys the world over.

from The Big Three



  15 Apr 05 ·n-jeff: Obviously Mr Scruff is well ahead of the field then, with three songs about Fish (ing) on his first LP...
  15 Apr 05 ·tonyharte: Yo ho ho, me hearties. Well I never. Thanks for the tip/warning Rum (where's the bum and baccy?) I predict that this year (in the UK) will belong to The Coral.
  16 Apr 05 ·konsu: Um... what about Weens album "The Mollusk"? That was shit was shanty-city! So, whats next? Weavers laments??
Whatever Happened To Claudine Longet ?  performed by The Crooner  2000
Recommended by eftimihn [profile]

This is quite a serious question if you ask me, but then again, this might not concern too many people and unfortunately The Crooner isn't able to give an answer. But if you expect some mockingly ironic, tongue-in-cheek lyrics about mademoiselle Longet it surprisingly isn't. It's quite on the contrary actually, a heartfelt homage, though rhyming "footsteps on the sand" with "pussywillowland" might appear cheesy of course. The music itself is a fluffy piece of indie-pop with a bittersweet tone, with soft male vocals, soft synths, a great vibraphone playing throughout and some airy, well, Longet-esque female vocals in the background.

from Soft Escape, available on CD




  26 Apr 05 ·konsu: You kind of have to dissapear for a while after you kill someone and get away with it. I mean, you don't see OJ hurdling suitcases anymore do you? Cool song though. I thought it would sound like Momus just from the description, and it does bear a resemblance in a way... maybe more like early Jimi Tenor?
River Deep Mountain High  performed by Celine Dion  1997
Recommended by ajhorse21 [profile]

Powerful vocals... the verses have a strange and different tune- they sound almost like Celine's making it up as she goes along, but in a good way. Even if this isn't her most heartfelt song, it is very good and fun to listen to.


available on CD - VH1 Divas Live



  07 May 05 ·delicado: Celine Dion recommendations are like buses - you wait 5 years and then two come along at once!
  09 May 05 ·n-jeff: You should listen to the Ike and Tina Turner version, produced by Mr Spector P himself.
Mighty doesn't do it justice: it sounds like it's sung from the top of a mountain with the forcefulness to carry it clean across the ocean.

  10 May 05 ·konsu: I'm a digger of Harry Nilsson's version myself... But I agree with n-jeff, the Ike & Tina version is definative. I haven't heard the Celine version, but I imagine it being housed-up... ick.
  11 May 05 ·n-jeff: Harry Nilsson, eh? Interesting choice of cover for him, being something of a non-bombast type. I'll have to find that. Thanks konsu!
  14 May 05 ·konsu: Well... I wouldn't call his version bombastic, but it picks up nicely on the energy of the original without leaving it in their court. It appears on his debut "Pandemonium Shadow Show".I would have to say his earlier work just contains more verve in general. I would also recommend his "A Little Schmilsson in the Night" LP to any Celine fan. His range as a vocalist cannot be underestimated.
Sleep The Clock Around  performed by Belle & Sebastian  1998
Recommended by penelope_66 [profile]

Beautiful, uplifting synth-crossed acoustic sound with their typical hint of sinister mood lingering throughout. Streaming trumpet, whirling keyboard and delicate vocals singing of a hit and miss existence. "Take a walk in the park, take a valium pill/Read the letter you got from the memory girl/But it takes more than this to make sense of the day/Yeah it takes more than milk to get rid of the taste." This and "Electronic Renaissance" are my two favorites by this group, and incidentally stand apart in sound from everything else they've created. Do your ears a favor and hear it...


available on CD - The Boy With The Arab Strap (Matador)




  03 Dec 01 ·delicado: yeah, great song. 'electronic renaissance' is from 'tiger milk', right? If it's the one I'm thinking of, I'm a big fan as well; I particularly enjoy the way it appropriates the mood of New Order's 'Procession'.
  15 Dec 01 ·penelope_66: yes, electronic renaissance is from tiger milk, which is their first album, and best in my opinion. the synth does add a bit of new order quality to it, now that you meantion it. Mmaybe that's why i like it so much...
  01 Mar 02 ·two-headed boy: Has to be one of my favorite B&S songs for the simple reason of the bag pipe howl at the end. Incredible arrangers to be sure. "Electronic Renaissance" is a wonderful tune as well, establishes Tiger Milk as their best attempt, a sprawling masterpiece.
  25 May 05 ·frmars: "Delicate singing" stands here for bad singing and quaveringvoice, "streaming trumpet" for rather cheap synth preset. Melody is rather uninteresting and ultra repetitive. I have often tried Belle & Sebastian. It is a very mediocre band.
  28 May 05 ·konsu: This coming from a guy (fmars) who thinks Brian Eno can sing.
Cruel Sister  performed by Pentangle  1970
Recommended by rum [profile]

A bewitching song about a young woman who, to win the hand of a handsome knight, does her rival sister in. The dead girl then comes back to haunt the �black-haired bride� as a harp fashioned from her breast bone and three locks of her hair. �Cruel� may seem too kindly a description of a girl who when her sister pleads, �Oh Sister, Sister, let me live, and all that�s mine I�ll surely give� says, �It�s your own true love I have and more, but thou shalt never come ashore� before abandoning her body to the rough North Sea. Cruel? Should the sister therefore be scalded for her little� transgression? She�s an evil and monstrous sister, surely? But then this is centuries past, a time when sibling murder and human harps were commonplace. I am not likely to understand in this more civilised 21st century. Which may be why the kids don�t really dig British folk music anymore, or the mighty Pentangle. And it�s a crying shame because this is a stunning track, hauntingly sung by Jacqui McShee. I hesitate to use the term �masterpiece� in case that great oracle of musicaltaste.com, fmars, overhears and tells me that I�m wrong.

from Cruel Sister



  02 Jun 05 ·konsu: Alright.In your own special way you've convinced me rum. I've been told for years to pick up some Pentangle by certain freinds (the ones who hear me playing Steeleye Span). Surely I must be missing out on something... I will consult the great one.
  03 Jun 05 ·rum: Heh-heh, thank you. I�m certain you�ll appreciate these, you�ve got eclectic taste, you�re not gonna be out for my blood (unlike all those that have begged and borrowed, stolen from their dying grandmothers, to buy Manowar CDs). And they�re no way as folk folk as the Span, they spin out an equally eclectic mix of folk, jazz, blues, rock and Elizabethan dances. It�s time people stopped harping on how great it was that the Velvets, the Stooges, punk etc made you wanna go out and form a band. So simple they sounded. Pentangle are so incredibly talented, so learned, so jazz, but still so unassuming and cool, they make you want pack up the band, trash the guitar, and burn down your house. Or is that Jet? I don�t know now. Well anyway the �Sweet Child� album is the one.
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