Mix and The Poignant Santa (CMC Volume 4)

Poignant would seem to be an understatement, with a collection that runs the gamut from indecipherable yet haunting, to abusive, to untimely deaths, but with a few uplifting messages in there to keep Santa from opening his veins.

This has been an easier collection to review for obvious reasons; knowing 7 of the 10 songs fairly well makes for a comfortable listen, and knowing the musical mind (as much as one can) of Mighty Tom helps to fit the pieces together a little more tightly. Many hours spent staring idly as a cd spins in any of several devices and our minds engaged in little else.

My first run through this was on the way to the airport to pick up Faith after her week in California. Nearly the perfect distance and time for this album to complete its trajectory. What struck me almost immediately was the way the songs merged into one another. While perhaps not perfect, there is a remarkable instrumental/musical overlap between many of the songs on this collection. From one to the next they blend together quite well. At first I thought perhaps this alone was the theme or thread that tied them together. This was before the 'liner notes' were provided, and even before I was certain who a couple of the songs were by. Further listens, reading of MT's comments and of the lyrics has shown a different sort of connection.

Mighty Tom really pulled out all the stops for his introduction to the songs on the first half of this collection. He seems to have lost some steam as he rounded them out, perhaps pressed for time in his fleeting glimpses of the internet, or perhaps simply because he was tired from so much typing. Whatever the reason, an excellent batch of introductory comments.

And now on to the good stuff.....

1. Some Are - David Bowie
I can almost hear MT's 'sleigh bells and snow' but given that the rest of the lyrics seem to be right from my internet search, I'm going to say it's 'sailors in snow', still wintery, but definitely more haunting and odd as befits the song.

I sort of see this as the cousin of "Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin (also LZ III-see track 2). "They came from the land of the ice and snow where midnight sun and the hot springs glow....drive their ships to new lands...." These are the sailors in the snow, with calloused hands, some of whom are certainly bound to fail.

A very haunting song, with strange sounds (fell voices on the air?) in the background and that somber synthesizer/piano. I could see this song on the soundtrack to Clockwork Orange. It wouldn't make me run out to buy more David Bowie by itself, but I found it very interesting and quite arresting as a kick off.

2. That's the Way - Led Zeppelin
Boy. I am fully on the LZ appreciation train and this song gives me no reason to do anything but finish the journey. In addition to the usual stellar musical skill, this song is a remarkable lyrical tour-de-force. Such delicate and subtle stand against doing things as they've always been done. Just because mama says that's the way it's gonna stay doesn't make it right. You can see threads of environmental activism (fish in the dirty water dying) to race relations (darker side of town) from a band that to my knowledge never was known to be activist in any way.

It also continues my bewilderment that Led Zeppelin was a) 'heavy metal' and b) subversive or dangerous or whatever else may have been thought of them. It's hard to imagine a band playing a song like this worshipping the devil.

Just a lovely tune, and my admiration for it has grown immensely.

3. Most Peculiar Man - Simon and Garfunkel
Most of all the things that made S&G great, most notably Paul's amazing song writing and guitar playing, and also some of the great harmonizing that you expect, but with lyrics that are not exactly what you'd expect. They certainly had plenty of songs that were touched with sadness and somewhat haunting, but the matter-of-fact way that this subject is treated in this song, along with the generally upbeat arrangement really throws you for a loop. If you're not really paying attention you could easily be fooled into thinking the song was about something else entirely.

Paul really has/had an amazing ability at lyrical phrasing. Some of the deftness in the lyrics to this song and how they're bent to fit the requirements of the tune, but also the needs of the mood. 'Within a house, within a room, within himself.' Remarkable.

I was not familiar with this song, having really only ever heard greatest hits albums from S&G, but it is another gem. I really should drink more deeply from the S&G trough.

4. Caroline Says II - The Velvet Underground
Lou's manner of 'singing' is not for everyone, and his choice of subject matter is often so dark and to the point as to force you to deal with realities you may not wish to deal with. Magic and Loss is a very tough listen for that very reason, much consideration of death and dying and grieving - again, not for everyone. New York is a much happier album, one that is filled with great 'ditties', including Last Great American Whale ("as his painter friend Ronald says, stick a fork in their ass and turn them over. They're done").

I know this song from a greatest hits album of The Velvet Underground and haven't heard it as part of an album, until perhaps now?

I agree that music about depressing subjects is not necessarily a downer, otherwise both the blues and country music would have died out long ago. Listening to someone sing about, and by extension, thinking about sad or depressing things can be part of the healing process. Even if it makes you cry, that might be a good thing, and ultimately leave you in a better mood. And if you've never experienced the things the person is singing about but can feel empathy towards the singer perhaps it leaves you feeling better about your own place in the world. Or if you have, knowing that other people have felt like you feel helps you to take comfort that you are not alone, a very heartwarming idea.

If only this song featured Nico! Her soothing Teutonic inflections could have taken the part of Caroline.

Whatever it is about that studio in Berlin where this and DB's album were recorded, it definitely brings about a mood, and that mood was found and subverted quite nicely on Achtung Baby.

5. Photograph - Ringo Starr
I'm going to get some jeers for this, but when this first came on I thought it was the beginning of a Neil Diamond song. The arrangement is very similar to those used on a couple of Neil Diamond songs, particularly everything up to the point that Ringo starts to sing. Once past that, it's just a really good song with some lovely lyrics and that feel-good sense that you expect from Ringo, who seems to have never had a bad word for anyone. It would certainly fit with the Paul/Ringo - John/George conception of The Beatles. Paul and Ringo are so nice, spending time with them might have driven me to Yoko too.

6. Thorn in My Side - Eurythmics
I do love Annie Lennox's voice, as I have said before. The subtle uniqueness of her voice allows her to sing without the need for tremors or vibrato or any of the other crap that 'great' female singers often have to resort to (think of Maria Carey or even Whitney Houston). Her voice is remarkably pure and wonderful to my ears.

Lyrically, it's a fun little romp, so jaunty and happy sounding that you'd hardly guess that this was some sort of break-up song. This a song that holds up to time pretty well too, with little in it that screams 80's, unlike so many songs from that era. It's generally a straight ahead rock/pop song without much in the way of synthesizer or other weirdness. The sax solo is perhaps a little 80's, but the drums and the guitar would be happy in any recent era, at least to my ears.

7. Thinking About You - Radiohead
From an album by a band that Faith was way ahead of the curve on, and one that I tried to get MT to listen to for years. Pablo Honey was the source of Creep, the one Radiohead song that everyone in college during our era knew. It's a far more straight ahead rock album than anything they've done since (even more so than The Bends, although it's close), but it's filled with great tracks, including Creep (both uncut and radio edit). To my ears, they've not had a bad album.

I love this song, and have since the first time I heard it. Simple, elegant and wonderful. And as is apropos of this collection - remarkably poignant.

8. the end of the "Spoon" - Dave Matthews Band
I like Dave Matthews, though perhaps not as much as I once did. Under the Table and Dreaming was a great album, and very unexpected. Crash was really good as well, but it seems that his albums since then have been too much more of the same for my ears. He is a remarkable guitarist. He moves his hands on the guitar in ways that I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone play guitar. His chord changes seem to be extraordinarily deft.

MT's selection of this portion of a larger song - at least as far as I can make out, it's part of the song 'Spoon' though separated by a rather long silence - is an interesting move. Does it open the door to a new world of 'sampling' or even editing songs together? Probably not from me, but I will certainly be interested to hear from the others on this.

By itself it's a pleasant little tune, and perhaps could have been the bookend for Some Are, at least lyrically, but maybe also sonically. It has a certain spareness to it, though it tends to be more organic, with its liberal use of 'real' instrumentation (I'm a sucker for banjo particularly). The two are 'of a kind' as they say. Dare I say this might have been track 10?

9. We Live Again - Beck
Beck is also a very skilled lyricist, but in a very different way than the previously discussed Paul Simon. In this song he's working with what is essentially free verse, other than perhaps the chorus, but yet it goes together so well that you think you may be hearing them rhyme anyway. How do you make a pop song without rhymes? Hell if I know, and few have tried, probably for good reason. I doubt most could make it sound as luscious as this.

Big fan.

10. Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You - Led Zeppelin
Holy crap! This song blew my mind. Until I got that boxed set that MT mentions, I really had only heard IV and bits and pieces of Physical Grafitti and some others. I had never heard this, and it hit me like a freight train. This may be my favorite LZ song of all time, or at worst in the top 3. This song has everything that made them great, from the most delicate guitars to the explosion of sound and the unrepentent zeal in Robert Plant's voice - what more could you ask of a song. It's asking you for forgiveness and telling you to go to hell. It's drawing you in close and then clubbing you into unconsciousness.

Hard to express more love for this song than that. And keep in mind, this was the second song on their FIRST album - a 6+ minute ballad/epic that never had a snowball's chance to see radio airplay. FIRST album! Holy shit indeed.

Strange though, this song seems the most out of place on this collection to me, and I don't really feel like this is a song to end an album. It leaves me breathless and wanting more, and with no more to follow, leaves me adrift, like a sailor in snow....with no one to callout to....and so, doomed to fail....

more later.....?