It's Friday, and it's our work Christmas do tonight. Sadly, we're not going bowling. We are doing shuffleboard though, which is almost as good. I won't be sticking around after that for the drinking. I'm taking my advice from Liz...
Next up today, we have an Aussie punk band from 1980, with a message that I wholeheartedly endorse...
And finally, New Yoik's own Ed Hamell. Not so much a song, this: more a cut scene from a Scorcese movie set to a minimalist backing track. The opener to Ed's excellent 1999 album Choochtown...
Y'know, I dream of the things I'll do, with a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe...
More thoughts on the musical year that's ending, interspersed with lyrics from popular song to make them more palatable.
Wasn't it great to see perpetually despondent clown Bob Smith get out of bed for the first time in 16 years and think about making a new record? Of course, Songs Of A Lost World is wonderful, and given more time to wallow in it, I've no doubt it would have edged its way into my Top 24. Because of his "advanced" years - come on, he's 65, a spring bloody chicken! - Sideshow Bob does find it harder to get going, which is why many of the songs start with a 3 minute intro before he mumbles some lyrics about the end of the world and the price of make-up in Superdrug these days. If there's a smile on his face, it's only there trying to fool the public. But it's all good. Just don't wait so long before the next one, eh?
Someone else doing the resurrection shuffle this year is one J.R. Cash. Often erroneously referred to as John R. Cash, though his actual name is just J.R. Apparently his mum wanted to call him John and his dad wanted to call him Ray... so they settled on the initials. Johnny is just a stage name.
But anyway, he's back, making light of this dull, dull day. And fortunately it's not some nightmarish AI version (although, give it a couple of years... I bet Colonel Tom Parker's Estate is seriously investigating the Elvis-shaped possibilities), just some songs J.R. left lying around in the early 90s when Rick Rubin came along and gave him a better offer. They've been dusted off and given a respectful reworking by his son, and it makes for a nice enough collection. Though clearly not in the same ballpark as the American Recordings stuff, it's good to hear his voice again... for a few moments, I'm able to kid myself that not everyone I know goes away in the end...
Now's as good a time as any to mention the new Nick Cave album, Wild God, which I fully expected to be part of my year end countdown... but it isn't. Yet. I guess it's a life of surprises - it's no help growing older or wiser. After my initial excitement died down, I couldn't get into it... so I put it back on the shelf to revisit later. I feel this is my failure, and I can only apologise for that. After all that we've been through, Nick, I will make it up to you - I promise to!
We close today with the Avett Brothers, another band I can't keep up with, since the last time I paid them any attention was back in 2009, and they've released another four albums since then... five if you count this year's eponymous offering, which I do, because it's very good indeed. Too good to be forgotten! Now what more can I say...?
I've been walking these street so long, singing the same old song, that I've grown mighty tired of writing year end reviews. It feels like an obligation now, so to spice up this year's offering, I decided to throw some random lyrics into the mix and see if anyone can identify them. Google has made lyric quizzes much less fun, but if you're not sure which the lyrics are... maybe that'll make it less of a chore. Or maybe I'm a lonely man who's in the middle of something that he doesn't really understand. Who can say?
Speaking of lonely men, and I'm not one to point fingers, but San Francisco's Glenn Donaldson doesn't appear to have much of a social life. Not if the amount of songs he writes, records and puts out on that bandcamp is anything to go by. I've only really listened to one of them - Unwishing Well - but he's put out another four since that one dropped in April this year. Sha-na na-na, sha-na na-na na, get a job, Glenn! Anyway, here's a nice description of that collection which saves me the trouble...
"Crystalizing the tragic self-celebrating kingdoms of fortunate failures, false heroes, music press deities of limitless deceit, hometown dive gods and humanity in the grips of all its romanticized wonder and woe..."
Someone who's giving Glenn a run for his money in the prolific stakes is Willie Nelson who, at 91, seems to be averaging two albums a year. Makes me glad we help the aged and don't just put them in a home. Can't have much fun when they're all on their own... and Willie still seems to be having lots of fun, even if he does feel like the last leaf on the tree...
A couple more old-timers from the country scene are Dave Alvin & Jimmy Dale Gilmore, who put out their second collaborative collection earlier this year. I've been a fan of Jimmy Dale since his foot slipped over the line while he was bowling in The Big Lebowski...
He certainly entered a world of pain that day. Fortunately, he survived, and a quarter of a century later, he's still here...
I had a dream last night, but I forget what it was. Fortunately, I didn't forget to include this little ditty from Brooklyn's Bad Mary in my year end review. It's like a song of love that clings to me...
There's a voice that keeps on calling me. Down the road, that's where I'll always be. So if you want to join me for a while, you'll be glad to know more great songs from 2024 will appear here soon. How soon?
