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Tunes

Best tunes of 1991: #20 My Bloody Valentine “Only shallow”

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1991’s “Loveless” is largely considered to My Bloody Valentine’s masterpiece. The band’s second album was recorded over a two to three year period, going through numerous studios and even more sound engineers, and causing a rift between the band and Creation label owner Alan McGee (who claimed the album nearly bankrupted him) in the process. Kevin Shields was either insane or a genius, depending on who you ask. He was obviously on to something in his mad scientist laboratory, concocting new and inventive ways of recording and making noise with his guitars. Despite not selling as well as expected, the album was lauded by critics, baffled the band’s peers at the time, and inspired generations of musicians.

You would think given the album’s legendary and god-like status in the shoegaze pantheon that yours truly would have loved it from the start. But not so. I tried and failed many times throughout the nineties to find value in the noise because I knew (I KNEW) it was in there somewhere. I think it finally took seeing a VHS on the shelf at my friend Alex’s apartment, live performances by the band (that also included Jesus and Mary Chain and maybe Blur?), and asking to put it on while we sat around drinking. My friend shrugged, it was his roommate’s tape and a little out of his jazz oeuvre. I remember that we were all pretty jarred by it, as out of our heads as we were by that point in the evening, and also quite jazzed (pun intended her).

“Only shallow” is the opening track and is a nuke to the head. The crunchiest guitars ever charge in and out during its duration, threatening to blow out any speakers not set at a minimum. The drum beat is merely a metronome that keeps vocalist Blinda Butcher on track. Her voice is breathy and sounding like it’s been run through a million effects pedals and distortion, and her words unintelligible, not that they really matter here. The guitars and the utterly destructive noise they create is the raison d’être.

And yes, it’s a great tune. It took almost a decade to realize it and to dig through the viscous noise haze, but that made finding the beauty and order in the chaos that much more satisfying.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Of Monsters and Men [2012]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir of Of Monsters and Men

Artist: Of Monsters and Men
When: August 3rd, 2012
Where: Green stage, Osheaga Music and Arts Festival, Montreal
Context: When festival organizers scheduled Of Monsters and Men for the relatively small Green stage in the middle of the afternoon, they hadn’t really broken yet. By the time the festival rolled around, though, “Little talks” was pretty huge and the Icelandic indie folk collective drew a massive crowd, probably bigger than should have fit in that space. I had already been at that stage for a couple of sets and so had a pretty prime spot right near the front. The band was still pretty green and they were still finding their stage feet but the energy from the both the crowd and band was just awesome.
Point of reference song: “Little talks”

Of Monsters and Men at Osheaga 2012
The other half of the stage for Of Monsters and Men, Osheaga 2012
Ragnar Þórhallsson of Of Monsters and Men
Brynjar Leifsson of Of Monsters and Men
Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson of Of Monsters and Men
Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir and Árni Guðjónsson of Of Monsters and Men
Kristján Páll Kristjánsson of Of Monsters and Men
Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson of Of Monsters and Men

*I started taking tons of photos at concerts in the days of my old blog, Music Insanity. I actually took down that blog in part because I was spending far too much time at shows taking pictures and jotting down notes for reviews and I wasn’t enjoying the music experience enough. Nowadays, I try to take to some good shots during the first few minutes and for the most part, put my camera and phone away for the rest of the set.

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #86 Pet Shop Boys “Always on my mind”

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The Pet Shop Boys were my favourite band for about five minutes when I was twelve or thirteen years old. My memory is vague as to what year it was exactly and whether it was the Grammys or the MTV Video Music awards that I was watching them perform “West end girls” at on TV. Nonetheless, I certainly remember thinking that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were so cool. Of course at that age, it was quickly on to the next thing and I probably didn’t even notice when they released this cover of “Always on my mind” a couple of years later.

The song was written by Johnny Christopher, Mark James, and Wayne Carson and originally recorded by both Brenda Lee and Gwen McCrae (see below) in 1972. The feel of these two versions is very similarly heartbreaking but the vocal styles markedly different, each blazing a path and fixing a mold for numerous future cover versions. It has been successful as both pop and country songs and in some cases, somewhere in between. Arguably, the two most iconic version of the song were recorded by Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley. And it was this last that actually led to the Pet Shop Boys doing the song as well. The story goes that they performed a synthed up cover of “Always on my mind “ on a television special commemorating the 10th anniversary of the king’s death and it was so well received, they recorded and released it as a single.

Perhaps it was so successful because it was so different from all the slight variations of the song that had come before. Instead of handkerchief soaking grief, regret, and longing, theirs is more celebratory, happy that we had the time together, rather than not at all. It’s bells, whistles, synths, and lasers, like a rave, almost before raves were a thing.

“Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time”

Dancing a party over the relationship’s ending is not what was likely envisioned when those words were written but man, do they work. Happy Friday all!

The cover:

The original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.