Tag: Indie

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Smiths “Hatful of hollow”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Smiths
Album Title: Hatful of hollow
Year released: 1984
Year reissued: 2011
Details: Remastered, gatefold sleeve, part of box set that includes booklet and poster

The skinny: Now that I’ve gotten through the four studio LPs, it’s time to start in on the multiple compilation albums that were released by The Smiths, starting with “Hatful of hollow”. I’ve mentioned in replies to comments on a previous post in this series that I actually prefer their singles, many of which don’t appear on the albums, over their proper studio albums. So for me, these compilations are where the meat of The Smiths best work resides. Released in 1984, “Hatful of hollow” gathers together recordings of the multiple live performances by the band on the BBC, all made prior to the release of their debut, as well as a few A-sides and B-sides of singles released around the time. This compilation is a compelling listen because those BBC versions are often quite different from those found elsewhere. Finally, of all the great tunes on this record, I’ve chosen the song below because this is the only disc in the box that includes “This charming man”. And well, it is a great tune!

Standout track: “This charming man”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Smiths “Strangeways, here we come”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Smiths
Album Title: Strangeways, here we come
Year released: 1987
Year reissued: 2011
Details: Remastered, part of box set that includes booklet and poster

The skinny: How do you follow an album like “The Queen is dead”? Apparently, you break up your relatively short-lived but beloved band and months later, release your final album. “Strangeways, here we come” is considered by some, including both Morrissey and Johnny Marr, as The Smiths’ best album. I’m not sure I’m completely on board with this but it definitely counts a couple of my favourites in its track listing, tracks like “Unhappy birthday” and the one I’ve highlighted below. Perhaps I’ll throw this one over to Geoff at 1001albumsin10years, who I know is a big fan of these Manchester legends but has yet to chime in on his favourite of the studio releases. How about it Geoff?

Standout track: “Girlfriend in a coma”

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #72 Cat Power “Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again”

<< #73    |    #71 >>

Just over a couple of years ago, I participated in a collaborative blog posting extravaganza, for which a number of bloggers around the world all posted words on the same day on Bob Dylan, a theme decided upon in advance. It was a fun exercise, albeit somewhat outside of this particular blog’s normally scheduled programming, and it was interesting to see how all these different writer’s chose to treat the chosen theme. In my case, I opted to write about the 2007 film “I’m not there”, an unorthodox biopic on the iconic singer/songwriter that chose to portray him using four different actors and telling bits about his life using multiple story lines. Of course, given my blog’s music bent, I spoke at length about the soundtrack as well, which is a super long (perhaps too long) double LP made up of covers, rather than the originals, by various artists across the musical spectrum. And perhaps both of these, the film and soundtrack, were as contrarian and confounding as Bob Dylan can be himself.

One of the three tracks I pointed out as amongst my favourites on the soundtrack was this cover by Cat Power of “Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again”. Though to be honest, it’s definitely less about the artist performing it than it is the song itself. I know next to nothing about the American singer/songwriter but she definitely stands up to the gauntlet laid down by Dylan on this track. Hers is just shy of the seven and half minute mark of Dylan’s original but her honey smooth vocals keep the energy and the feel true to the original. Both versions bounce and jive along and bring a smile to my face every time. I actually fell in love with Dylan’s original just shy a decade earlier when I heard it on another soundtrack, the one for the very excellent screen adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson classic, “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas”.

It’s just one of those songs that could go on for ever as far as I’m concerned, even if either singer just devolved into gibberish. And well, I can’t actually decide which version I like better on this one. Thoughts?

Cover:

The original:

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