Purple Haze

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:46:23 -0700

Seeing Butt Rock Ken post an orchestral version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" brought back a college memory for me. In 1986, I walked into a record store near the Virginia Tech campus and heard this wild version of "Purple Haze" playing in the store. It just blew my mind. That was my introduction to the Kronos Quartet and the world of new music — a world that I've since worked in. It was from their self-titled CD, their first disc on a major label. I think I walked out with the disc, but if not, picked it up shortly afterwards. I was a broke college student, and CDs were pretty pricey in 1986. (For those of you who don't r ember, there were very few places to manufacture them back then.) So, I'll share a little "Purple Haze" with you:

Purple Haze

Kronos Quartet

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Stuck in my head today.

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:14:37 -0700

I heard this in a coffee shop today. Man. The song is 25 years old.

Atom Tan

The Clash

Now the corporations stopped!
Stopped pushing fast food
Been a multiple shooting
Downtown at the bank
Reluctantly the panic begins
To catch fire
But it did not affect
The steady sale of junk
The state office looked
It looked like Hollywood
With make-up bleeding all over the cracks
Wo he blew his lines
Facing the cameras
He suffered the first
All live heart attack

Oh you've caught an even atom tan

The motor-cyanide
Cyanide suicide
He finally found the brick wall in his life
Shining up his engine
He dressed right up for it
At the top of the speedo
He crumpled the bike
There's plenty people runnin' runnin' for cover-
Hoping at best to hold off all the rest
Once last stand at the bunker fire
Machine gun and pitchfork at breast

Oh you've caught an even atom tan

But it isn't so easy
So easy for lovers
Chained in love stained
at the top of the tower
The pink hearse is leaving at funeral speed
Driving your heart
Away with the flowers
All night I waited
I waited for a horseman
His ever faithful
His Indian friend
I'm not the only one
Of the caped crusader fan club watching the sky
For mankind's prayers

Oh you've caught an even atom tan
Calamine

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On Repeat

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:32:43 -0700

OK. This has just been stuck in my head for a about a week now. Maddening how many times I've played it on my iPod.

Dream Baby Dream

Suicide

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Vox Hunt: It's Like You're There

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:09:28 -0700

Audio: Share your favorite track from a live album.
Submitted by -Lisa.

Gravity/Falling Down Again/Street Hassle (Live)

Alejandro Escovedo

What were you expecting? Freebird?

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I shouldn't do this, but you have got to hear this.

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:24:29 -0700

On May 8, The Bad Plus release Prog, they're forth studio album. it was produced by Tony Platt (the an behind the boards for many brilliant albums, including Back in Black). Bassist Reid Anderson composed "Giant," which I first heard in June at the band's Carnegie Hall debut. It floored me then, and it has floored me every time I've heard it since. It is one of the greatest compositions I've heard in years.

Is this jazz? It's beyond jazz.

I'm in a moral dilemma here. The album is in my hands nearly two months before it hits stores. I should keep it too myself. But I share it with you now, in hopes that you will get hooked and maybe even pre-order the album. And see them live every chance you get. (Give the drummer a hug and tell him Snyder sent you.)

Giant

The Bad Plus

P.S. Here's a short profile I wrote about the band back in October.

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Vox Hunt: Deserves To Be Heard

nobody@vox.com(Bill) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:33:23 -0800

Audio: Share something extremely rare that deserves to be heard.
Submitted by deusdiabolus.

I'm not sure what constitutes rare in an age where anything can be downloaded, so I'll take this to mean: I have it, you probably haven't heard it, but you really should. So, here we go ...

Pensacola

Jolene's 1996 album In the Gloaming was probably the best album nobody heard that year. It came out on Sire Records just as the label was falling a part. The North Carolina band sort of tapped into that same Southern mystery that early REM did. Beautiful.

The Mighty Stephen Hawking

MC Stephen Hawkins is bad ass. And his website has a good number of free MP3s to prove it.

Pretty in Pink (live)

Best I can figure, this recording of Elvis Costello covering the Psychedelic Furs comes from a flexi disc (if you remember those) Very cool.

What A Wonderful World

This came from a Warner Brother's Records promo disc. Nick Cave and The Flaming Lips doing "What a Wonderful World" at Lollapalooza 1994. It's not great, but it is cool.

There Stands The Glass

Ted Hawkins spend most of his life busking at Venice Beach. Just before he died, he got to record one record for Geffen. Two tapes he used to sell were posthumously collected on Songs from Venice Beach. A must own piece of acoustic soul/RB.

No Expectation

This is Beck and Beth Orton covering The Stones. I found it P2P. It's kind of sloppy, but I like it. I asked Beth where it came from and she said it was just them jamming before a radio broadcast.

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