Listened to the quite-good Nick Drake Special on BBC2, today. For the first few minutes I was reeling with cognitive dissonance (it's narrated by Brad "huge admirer of [Nick Drake] records" Pitt), but eventually settled in to enjoy the things that people other than Brad had to say. There was something very sad about the affection that lingered in the voices of Nick's (former) friends and colleagues. Definitely a better piece than 1999's A Skin Too Few doc.
At the end of the show, I resolved to post Norah Jones's "Day is Done" cover to the blog. When I went and listened to it properly, however, I changed my mind. Much too smooth, by the end; much too funky. In short - not noteworthy. For those of you who are still interested, however, seek out guitarist Charlie Hunter's 2001 record, Songs From the Analog Playground.
Instead of Norah-doing-Nick, then, here's Tom-that-Norah-did; a terrific track from the soundtrack to Big Bad Love, covered by Norah on Feels Like Home.
Tom Waits - "Long Way Home". This is neither Tom Waits at his most boisterous nor Tom at his most loony-romantic - instead, he treads the middle ground of Townes Van Zandt or Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen. A bass rocks back and forth, footsteps shuffle, and when the trumpet joins in it's as if the first fingers of orange light are breaking up the shadows. Tom's not desperate, or apathetic, he's just quietly determined - he'll not stop, he'll not stumble, he'll make it there eventually. [buy]
Broken Family Band - "The Perfect Gentleman". This Cambridge alt.country band fakes an American twang and swaggers like a mopey English cowboy. The song's methodical movements break down at the end in an appealingly noisy way - an organ warbles, darts and loops with a Grandaddy/Radiohead confidence. I don't quite know what the song's trying to say, but whatever it is, it sails unerringly through its choppy brown waters. (From the King Will Build a Disco mini-album. Thanks, Kieran!) [buy]
A Toronto woman has gone missing after attending a Billy Corgan show in Chicago. If you think you might possibly be able to help, please drop by Billy's blog for a photo, as well as the contact info for police, should you have any information. Let's hope she gets home safe. [via aaron]
Posted by Sean at May 25, 2004 2:22 AMI suppose you've heard Waits' "Cold Cold Ground"? (I heard it on the soundtrack to Leolo, but I don't know Waits' canon & so don't know how well-known it is).
Posted by tuwa at May 25, 2004 4:45 AMwhat a great t.waits song. So nice to hear a new one every now and then. How is the movie?
Posted by bw at May 25, 2004 8:34 AMThey showed a revised version of 'A Skin Too Few' on Saturday night here - I'm a huge Drake fan (since before his death, believe it or not) but I hadn't seen it before. The tape of his mother singing one of her own compositions was haunting. You could hear where most of Nick's style came from. The radio doc was OK, but Pitt was a stiff narrator (I find him a stiff actor too).
Dave
Posted by Dymbel at May 25, 2004 1:21 PM"Cold Cold Ground" is a great song - it's on Frank's Wild Years. And I haven't actually seen the film, Benjamen - it was playing when I wandered into a Blockbuster one evening, Tom Waits on the sdtrk, and I asked what it was...
Dave - I don't think I'll be able to get over the idea that there were people who liked Nick before he died. For me, his work (and his place in the cultural canon) is so firmly linked to his death...
Brad's an extremely stiff radio-voice, yeah, but I quite like his work in a handful of movies (Fight Club, Snatch, Twelve Monkeys...). I doubt very much that I'll see Troy, however.
Posted by Sean at May 25, 2004 1:44 PMExcellent Waits, I have just been listening to heartattack & vine and small change recently after taking a long break from him and you post a song of his! It's a sign, a sign that Tom Waits is excellent.
Posted by James at May 26, 2004 12:20 AMI'll give you 'Fight Club' and 'Twelve Monkeys'.
I tried to find a Nick Drake album on my first visit to London, in 1974, having heard two songs from 'Pink Moon' on a white label sampler I'd picked up and worked out who they were by. The guy in the first hip London record shop I went to said they didn't have any Drake, 'but I admire your taste' - so there were at least two of us. I got 'Bryter Layter' that day and my copy of 'Pink Moon' arrived the day after I read about his death. Still the only record that's ever made me burst into tears.
Posted by Dymbel at May 26, 2004 5:08 AMThanks for the kind words sean. I wasn't planning on posting the washington phillips (I was sending it to someone else and then I thought of you) but as long as you mention it, I might go ahead and do a full post.
Good ideas from the heart of the gramophone!
Posted by forksclovetofu at May 26, 2004 5:21 PM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
