Song to the Siren

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NH0LLU2tP4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_DT87APtg

Three gems, with prices and purchasing links for those in the US.

Condition Blue (1992) – My fave Butcher album. He lets the songs run longer than usual, leaving room for some great instrumental work, but still features the usual literate lyrics. This CD was one of the few Jazz Butcher albums to get an American release, so in addition to being one his best, its also the easiest to find at good prices. Currently 75 cents at Half.com and $2.85 at Amazon.

Laughter (1989) – This UK Black Country band also had ties to the Liverpool post-punk scene, and…

We went to the big local fireworks last night; for some reason they were on the 3rd instead of the 4th of July. The sponsors were all the same, except for the radio station "partner" that broadcasts the music to go along with the display. It had changed from the classic rock to a country station, so my wife and I were wondering if the music selection may have changed.

It was pretty much the same. Early on they used Stars and Stripes Forever, God Bless the USA; and parts of two somewhat unpatriotic rock songs they always…

I decided it was time to take an inventory of my CD players, at least the ones I use.

• In-dash slot-loading factory-standard player in my 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser. Traded in my 1999 Chevy Cavalier (which was falling apart and had only a radio) for this new car last month.
• Pioneer PD-F907 101 CD carousel changer, in the living room stereo/TV system. I bought it used via eBay for $50 (shipping included) last year.
• CD-ROM drive in my Dell Dimension 2350 desktop home computer, also in the living room. I have a long audio cable from the sound card over…

I have a thing for the little 3 inch (8 cm) CD singles, once marketed as CD3. I have a few of the new ones that are being released over in Europe, but mostly I like buying the older ones from the late 1980s when they were first introduced, and then flopped. They dissapeared from the USA market pretty fast, and didn't last too much longer in Europe and Japan.

Amongst the reasons I think collecting them is cool:

• They are a "failed" format like 8-track tapes, yet can be played in most modern CD players.
• Getting hard to find…

I got a package of four CDs for $2 each yesterday (from the CD List Guy) and opened them up this morning. Three of them I remembered ordering, but the other one, Joyland, a 1993 album by Liberty Horses, I didn't recall. I flipped it over and read the back, and remembered. The band included Neill MacColl and Calum MacColl (both sons of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger) and the album had backing vocals by their half sister Kirsty MacColl (credited as "Kitty") and also Eddi Reader of Fairground Attraction. Neill and bassist Leroy Lender were…

I've always been a fan of the EP format. Longer than a single yet shorter than album, they are often overlooked gems. Major labels today shun the format, but some are still released by indie labels. To find some of the older ones on CD, one often has to buy an album reissue on CD to find the EP tacked onto the end, or a compilation of many works by an artist. One of the things I've been doing when ripping these CDs is to seperate the EP into its own folder under its own title, so I can easily…

"You can sing about the Light, or you can sing about what you see because of the Light. I prefer the latter." - T-Bone Burnett

I've been pondering posting something on this subject for several days, and tried to come up with something coherent, but failed. So I'm just gonna ramble on for a while.

One thing I've noticed since I've been on last.fm is that I don't match well with my neighbors. They either tend to match up with the "Christian" music I listen to, or they match up with the other music I like. Only a few others…

This is a revised and expanded version of this post from a last.fm forum thread titled Indie music you just don't get….

"The main reason we listen to music in the first place is to hear passion expressed." – Lester Bangs

I was reading a thread in the last.fm forum about music that people didn't "get", but it started to turn into a band bash. People were posting stuff like "band X sucks" and not even giving a reason. It got to thinking about the idea of not getting a band on a much deeper level than such simple bashing.…

Just thought of a music-related story I ought to tell.

Two months ago we went on vacation to the beach, and stopped off in Charleston, South Carolina on the way back. On the way out of town, we ate a late lunch/early supper at Hyman's Seafood, an institution in downtown Charleston.

We were able to get a table right away at that odd hour (part of why we waited), right near the front door at the bottom of the stairway. It was an older table with two leafs. I sat next to my four-year-old daughter, Gracie, and we discovered a…