Ten Thousand Tears Won't

This week I drove to Hayward each day. I have a black binder of CDs that I usually only take when I know I'm going to be driving a lot, like if I've rented a car over Christmas weekend. This binder is updated every holiday season with albums I know I'll like/other people I might be with might really like. I opened a page each day at random and took out the four CDs to listen to each day.

Day 1:

10CC - 10CC/Sheet Music

Prince - Purple Rain

Pavement - Crooked Crooked Rain reissue disc 1

Yes - Close to the Edge

Listened to CRCR the whole way through. The album sounded nice and fresh, I remembered every song. Near the end, the instrumental track and "Hit the Plane Down" aren't very good, but almost every other track is. I've always hated how the drums are on Pavement albums 2-5. SM's voice sounds really young. After the album proper the bonus tracks were all pretty groan-y. I didn't skip them because I was too focused on finding the place I was going, but I should have.

I put in Prince afterwards, it got about one minute into "Lets Go Crazy" and then began skipping and the CD player spit it out. Scratched.

Listened to 10CC/Sheet Music, skipped a few of the tracks from their first album, but some stood out as AMAZING, like "The Dean and I" and "Sand in my Face". Sheet Music was spectacular, I know it too well to be surprised or amazed by anything, but if you haven't heard it yet you will be both. I love almost every track and am even coming around to "Oh Effendi" which used to be too effensive for me to listen to. Skipped the bonus tracks.

I did not listen to Yes.

Day 2:

Laurie Anderson - Big Science

Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom

Gillian Welch - The Revelator

Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

Listened to Rock Bottom the whole way through, the beginning and the end stood out. Due to the weather I was more focused on driving, I remember during "Alifie" thinking 'oh, I missed the guitar solo'. Put in Captain Beefheart afterwards. Liked it more than I remember, especially the third quarter of the album. I remember almost none of the song names, but there's a rocker that then saxes from the middle to end that in particular I loved.

Put Laurie Anderson in, got really in the zone during the first track, it began skipping heavily on the second track. Put in Gillian Welch, who I didn't expect to complement Laurie so well. She's sings "I was thinking last night about Elvis" to Laurie's "O Superman", both albums feature minimal and repetitive musical accompaniment, both assisted by a musical counterpart (Laurie's Roma Baran and Gillian's David Rawlings), they are both from the midwest. Things to consider. A truck caught fire by the side of the road, so I got to listen to The Revelator twice, skipping both Ruination Days the second time. "I Dream A Highway" was particularly well-received.

Day 3:

Wings - Greatest Hits

Louis Moholo Octet - Spirits Rejoice

Compilation - Ire Feelings

Avalanches - Since I Left You

Wings lasted about halfway through each of five tracks, and then Ire Feelings, apparently the twelveth compilation I burned in 2005, as markered to the face, got its chance. Some tracks are still very much a part of my mental repertoire, like the title track by Rupie Edwards and "Obvious" by Aztec Camera. Others were awful, there was an unidentifiable electro track and a terrible Fiery Furnaces song with bad drums. Some were interesting, "I turn my Camera On" by Spoon had some nice moments but never built to anything, "Center of the Universe" by Built To Spill brought back a fond memory of buying that album as soon as it came out in 199x and loving that track, "So Begins Our Alabee" by Of Montreal was pleasant and had a few good hooks. There was maybe one eye-opening Chills song that I don't remember the name of.

The Avalanches I wasn't thrilled about putting on, but had to have something to drive to lunch to and wasn't ready to play the Moholo card. It was immediately fun, but very same-y with everything repeating in units of four except the vocal bits (with one obvious exception) and I think I turned the CD player off at around track 6.

Louis Moholo was amazing and satisfying and I hurt my voice inventing harmonies above the melodies and throughout the solos in each song as usual. Had enough time for 5/6 of Rock Bottom (which I'd left in the van) and got my attention and enjoyment in.

Day 4:

Compilation - (Untitled Mix CD with squiggle)
Compilation - 'Arthur Russell'

Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ

Genesis - Foxtrot

The Untitled Mix CD (made in December 2008) was good, lots of still-faves, kind of un-noteworthy in that way. The songs that stuck out most were Fun Boy Three and Bananarama's "It Ain't What You Do (Its the Way That you Do It)" for its plainness and The Shadows "Wonderful Land" for its age.

Bruce climbed in the car on the way to lunch, I felt immediately cool with "Blinded by the Light" and then felt a little bit less cool for the next couple of songs. Skipped a few with lyrics about people hanging out and descriptions of cowboy clothes. Felt really cool again for "I Came For You" and then ejected it after "Its Hard to Be A Saint in the City".

The Arthur Russell compilation included many of my favorite songs of his, but similar to the first compilation, I was less surprised, as I frequently spend time with these songs. "You And Me Both" from Calling Out of Context was a positive jolt, didn't expect to like it as much as I did, almost skipped it. "Habit of You" and "Your Motion Says" are amazing. Didn't listen to Genesis, though I would have liked to.

I almost cheated by bringing Haircut One Hundred's first album and Built To Spill's "There's Nothing Wrong with Love".

Day 5:

Win - Freaky Trigger

Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback

Terry Allen - Lubbock (on Everything)

Elvis Costello - Punch the Clock

I made a noise of moderate excitement upon flipping the CD book open this morning at around 5:50 a.m. What good CDs! We began with Freaky Trigger, getting about six tracks in, switching more for traffic reasons than from glee exhaustion. Can't believe this album isn't on everybody's top faves list, "We could go crazy with the Coca-Cola!".

Terry Allen brought things to a more Highway 17 place, drawly and piano-y. There are about four tracks that begin 'well she was...' with very similar musical accompaniment, skipped those (except Wolfman of Del Rio, which is SO GOOD) and there are a few tracks that don't play fair, (the ones about art) but many tracks were savvy winners of my morning.

At lunch, put on Punch the Clock and had to contain my enthusiasm for both opening tracks while behind the wheel. Between the lunch journey and the beginning of the trip home, got to about track 10, greatly appreciated many of them, especially Shipbuilding. Prefab Sprout on the way home, several tracks had scratches, but not enough to eject the CD, sang most strongly along to Carnival 2000, Moondog, and All Boys Believe Anything. Paris Smith was the most unfortunate scratch casualty. Finished off the Arthur Russell compilation.

Exhausting week!

Spring and So Forth

We went on tour. It was spectacular, I keep having dreams about it. My dream last night- we were driving around in a tiny car made of hair and wire. I went to take a tour of an abandoned Wal-mart that people had been squatting in and when I came back the other rabbits had converted the hair car into a sporty one-seater, which was frustrating! But it looked cool and went much faster. I checked to see how long it would take to get to Tacoma from Sacramento, I looked at a video screen and it showed a monster from Rampage! tearing down a building in Tacoma. I then remembered that we could just use Dylan's van to get there.

Here's a clip of our show in Riverside where Conner and Dylan did double drums throughout George Gershwin.

In my room/on walks/buses/dreams I am working on a new album. We're playing a bunch of shows this month around town and mini-jaunts here and there and then are hunkering down in our Summertime bunker to record. Spencer, Max and I have a Prefab Sprout-related surprise in store. Tour(s) sometime in the future, we'll let you know.

Records I'm enjoying greatly -

Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Karyobin
Immediately after our last show at Zami I found myself in a mid-to-heavy blues (the No Motion Blues) and put on a sad song to celebrate this grief. Michael woke up and came in to ask who the band was. I looked for something more low-key, finding Karyobin first. I wrote my first song in a long time as it played. Everybody came home from the wharf and shared a hilarious experience.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Sublime - Sublime
Came up on our way down to San Luis Obispo, after my initial protest-vomit sounds ceased, I was surprised to find myself having remembered al the words.

Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin - Hush
In Bolinas Vanessa played this for Maria and I while we fretted over the sudden disappearance of Rachel, who had been captured by fortune tellers.

Paul Bley - Open, To Love
"Ida Lupino" is my waking up on the weekends jam.

And two top songs -
Get Away Free by Pangea
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