Old Man Songs

Recently uncovered a cd I made a number of years ago entitled Old Man Songs. Listening, I thought, "This is good stuff, these songs really sound good together. What the heck, I should share this." So here it is.

1. If You Tolerate This - Manic Street Preachers bbc live

2. Leave - R.E.M.

3. Overcome By Happiness - Pernice Brothers Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness by SubPop

4. Mission Bell - Stan Ridgway

5. I Want Someone Badly - Jeff Buckley with Shudder to Think

6. Blue - The Jayhawks

7. I Don't Get You At All - AA Sound System. Not on YouTube or Soundcloud but I contacted the man and it will be soon, so I can fix this.

go here please

8. Lost Highway - Hank Williams



9. Just Really Want to See You - Shudder to think featuring Mimi Parker & Alan Sparhawk (first love, last rites sdtk)

10. Speed of Love - John Doe

11. Men Just Leave - Glen Phillips

12. Erecting a Movie Star - Liz Phair

Sorry, not on YouTube or Soundcloud. so it doesn't really exist, does it? Go here for a taste.

13. She's a Jar - Wilco Wilco -She's A Jar by mud_hut

14. Nobody's Fault But My Own - Beck



15. Lullaby -

16. No Distance Left to Run - Blur creepy video, though... 17. Tokyo - Bruce Cockburn



18. Crowned in Chrome - Crooked Fingers



19. Fall at Your Feet - Crowded House

20. Baby Britain - Elliot Smith

21.Sexuality - kd lang

graphic at top of blog by Michael Douglas. No, not that Michael Douglas, a much more talented Michael Douglas.

Luke Doucet: Let's Make His a Household Name

Every once in a while, I rediscover an artist I like and find that I am head over heels for their music. Luke Doucet is now that guy. His fine new album, Steel City Trawler, will be released August 31 in Canada and September 21 in the USA.

I first got into Doucet through his indie rock band Veal. Listen to Spiderman (2000) below.



The new album showcases Doucet's versatility. You Get It crosses Neil Young & Crazy Horse's fuzzy gee-tar and Tom Petty's roots rock. A cover of Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown sounds like Jim Cuddy fronting Drive-by Truckers. The Ballad of Ian Curtis offers a Hookian melodic bassline, flatly echoing Joy Division drums, and vaguely New Order meets The Cure guitar sounds over hyper-melodic vocals, listen below, then go to Doucet's MySpace and give up an email address for a free download.





Get the low-down on Steel City Trawler from the horse's mouth.



I get the feeling Doucet can do almost anything, alt country or amusing 80's pop. He could play with Sarah McLachlan (which he's done and still doing), produce NQ Arbuckle (did that one, too), or play with Social Distortion (which he hasn't done...yet).

The Lovecats



Broken One

Luke Doucet - Broken One by sikandar

Outlaws

Luke Doucet - Outlaws by TheAgencyGroup

Here's Doucet's Tour Dates. In Winnipeg, he's headlining the River Barge Festival at the Forks, which is really a floating dock with a real stage. Since he's already done cruise ship shows, Doucet is is evidently unafraid of unusual gigs on the water. How about we talk him into playing on an icebreaker in Hudson Bay? He's a former Winnipegger, he can perform in any weather, right?

08.28.10 Winnipeg, MB
River Barge Festival at the Forks 9:30pm
FREE


09.07.10 Los Angeles, CA
Hotel Cafe 8pm
TICKETS

09.13.10 Grand Rapids, MI
One Trick Pony 8pm

09.16.10 Nashvilla, TN
The Basement w/ Deep Dark Woods

09.16.10 - Atlanta, GA
Old Smiths w/ Deep Dark Woods

09.22.10 Buffalo, NY
Ninth Ward, 8pm (doors 7pm)
TICKETS

10.19.10 - WINCHESTER, UK
The Railway
TICKETS

10.20.10 - LONDON UK
Luminaire, 7:30PM
TICKETS


10.21.10 - BRIGHTON UK
The Prince Albert, 8PM
TICKETS


10.25.10 - BRISTOL UK
Bonaventure

10.27.10 - WAKEFIELD UK
Henry Boons, 7:30PM
TICKETS


10.28.10 - SHEFFIELD UK
The Grapes, 8PM
TICKETS

Buy Luke Doucet's music from Six Shooter Records, buy Veal from the same dang place.

The Name Game V.2: Red Rider VS. Red Riders

Photo by bobster 855 from here.

Has every possible band name based on the English language been used already? Probably not yet, but the tipping point may be coming soon. This series of posts is being created to ensure you can tell the which from the what.

Red Rider was a Canadian band that released four albums from 80-84. The band was distinguished by its thoughtful lyrics that often included a literate outlook, such as Scruffy's personal favourite, Neruda. Inspired by songwriter/vocalist Tom Cochrane's ideas about poet Pablo Neruda and his writings, the band hit its creative peak with Neruda's finely-tuned atsmospherics. Guitarist and pedal steel player Ken Greer was a prime example of a musician who served the song in an era when flashy finger-tapping from Eddie Van Halen was still considered cool. Below you can listen to/watch Neruda's Light in the Tunnel/Human Race, which was a gutsy choice for single and video considering that vocals don't even make an entrance for more than 2 minutes. Any resemblance to the chorus of ubiquitous 1997 hit Tubthumping by Chumbabwumba is probably coincidental, but if Chumba's lyricist happened to be in Canada in 1983 and heard any FM radio, Human Race could not be missed. You can also stream the whole album (as well as the other three Red Rider albums) on Ken Greer's website.



To backtrack for a moment, Lunatic Fringe was actually the band's biggest tune, it still gets airplay not only in Canada but in the States. I heard it on the radio in Vegas recently. Sorry I can't post the original video (embedding has been disabled on YouTube), it was even more dated than Human Race, terribly-synced music and video. If you'd like to see the original go here, or if you'd like to see a really rough live version by Todd Rundgren go here.



Red Riders is a band from Sydney, Australia who have released two albums so far. The newest, Drown in Colour, dropped July 10th, 2009. As opposed to the classic rock/sometime art rock of Red Rider and Neruda, Red Riders are potentially just a tad too clever for radio in North America at the moment. Their songs have hooks that aren't overly obvious, sweetly jangly guitars that temper restrained riffing, and a solid-but-subdued rhythm section (except on tracks like My Love Is Stronger Than Your Love where the bass 'n' drums are the engines in the verses). If The Church were younger, starting out today, and had ten cases of Jolt Cola under their belts, Red Riders' songs might be the result. Or a not-so-over-the-top dramatic Cure, perhaps - oops! Just checked their listed influences on myspace, and those two C-words were both listed. And I thought I was being perceptive. A funny kid's nightmare video for Ordinary to boot.

The video for You've Got a Lot of Nerve is not as amusing - quite dull actually, but I like the song, which you can download here.



So, which will you have - Red Rider or Red Riders? Do you think the name was taken from the holiday classic A Christmas Story?