Terminalcoffee discussion

We'd discussed posting them in a seperate thread so they wouldn't get lost. Here it is.

My liner notes:

The Greatest Hits of The Flaming Lips

My history with The Flaming Lips starts with another band, Eels. Someone always brought their Eels cd’s to art class (usually Daisies Of The Galaxy, still my favourite Eels album) and when I created a Myspace account of course I had to become ‘friends’ with Eels. Through their profile I discovered Fiona Apple and The Flaming Lips. My love for The Captain and Slow Nerve Action originates from those early Myspace days. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics have accompanied me on many early morning bicycle rides to school and summer jobs.
For this shebang I tried to choose songs from as many different albums as possible. I ended up with 19 songs from 13 different albums, which I think is a pretty good score. Some albums get more than one song, and some albums are not represented on this list. Some of the better-known songs (such as The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song) aren’t on here, simply because I like others more. If you want more I suggest you listen to The Soft Bulletin, At War With The Mystics, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and Clouds Taste Metallic. I could easily make a shebang with just two or three of these albums.

1. Man From Pakistan (Hear It Is, 1986)
Though I have my own favourite Lips period – Clouds¬ to Mystics – I also like listening to the earlier records. This is their first album and they’re just at the beginning of the evolution that will lead to The Soft Bulletin, seen by most everyone as their master piece.

2. Unconsciously Screamin’ (In A Priest Driven Ambulance, 1990)
I own this on The Day They Shot A Hole In The Jesus Egg: The Priest Driven Ambulance Album, Demos And Outtakes 1989-1991. If you enjoy owning three different versions of the same song, this is the album for you. The previous three albums (Hear It Is, Oh My Gawd!!! and Telepathic Surgery) are compiled on Finally… The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid. You’re welcome.

3. Hit Me Like You Did The First Time (Hit To Death In The Future Head, 1992)

4. She Don’t Use Jelly (Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, 1993)
Their biggest hit. I used to own a bluegrass version of this, a b-side from the single.

5. Slow Nerve Action (Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, 1993)
Warning: sad dog story.

6. Brainville (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)
‘And I want to go to brainville, let’s get in, and overcome my inexperience.’ I imagine there’s a steam train waiting to take us to the most wonderful place on earth, Brainville. Other ‘brain’ songs by The Flaming Lips: Love Yer Brain (Oh My Gawd!!!) and their cover of If I Only Had A Brain (Stubbs The Zombie: The Soundtrack). Because you can never have too much brain.

7. Kim’s Watermelon Gun (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)

8. They Punctured My Yolk (Clouds Taste Metallic, 1995)
I was going to include This Here Giraffe or Christmas At The Zoo from this album, but this suddenly sounded better. Clouds is becoming my favourite Lips album.

9. A Spoonful Weighs A Ton (The Soft Bulletin, 1999)
I like the story in this (and in a lot of other Flaming Lips songs). ‘Being drunk on their plan they lifted up the sun.’

10. Suddenly Everything Has Changed (The Soft Bulletin, 1999)
This song reminds me of where I used to listen to it: on my bicycle, on my way home from cleaning old ladies’ toilets.

11. The Captain Is A Cold Hearted And Egotistical Fool (The Soft Bulletin 5.1, 2006)
The captain converted me. I will forever love him for that. This is a bonus track from the remastered Soft Bulletin, which is why I’m putting it here with the other Soft Bulletin songs.

12. Fight Test (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, 2002)
Another song with bicycle memories attached to it.

13. All We Have Is Now (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, 2002)

14. SpongeBob And Patrick Confront The Psychic Wall Of Energy (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, 2004)
This was my ringtone for a long time. I’m not a huge SpongeBob fan, but I know all the words to this song. ‘Does this mustache make me look like a man?’

15. My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (At War With The Mystics, 2006)
In the morning, on my bicycle, this worked really well with the sounds of birds waking up.

16. Haven’t Got A Clue (At War With The Mystics, 2006)
Somehow my brain convinced me this was a super rare b-side I would never hear again. I’m so glad it isn’t.

17. Silver Trembling Hands (Embryonic, 2009)
I’ve never been enthusiastic about Embryonic, it’s a departure from the Lips sound I love (and I’ve never been good at forgiving bands for not doing what I think they do best), but I like this song. I Can Be A Frog (with Karen O.) is a fun song from this album.

18. The Flaming Lips feat. Henry Rollins - On The Run (The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarves with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side Of The Moon, 2009)
In the years before this cover album happened if someone would have asked me which band I would like to hear cover another band, I would have suggested just this. I loved both The Flaming Lips and Pink Floyd and always thought they were somewhat similar. This isn’t my favourite Lips album, not by far, but I still love that they did it.

19. Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse feat. The Flaming Lips – Revenge (Dark Night Of The Soul, 2010)
I love this song. ‘Though I have all the means to bring you fuckers down I can’t make myself to destroy upon command.’ Fuckers!

OK, so I almost always like other people's versions of Dylan songs better than his own. He's not much for a bridge, doesn't seem to mind ten verses that are all melodically and dynamically the same, and then there's...you know...the voice. The songs I put on this shebang are either my favorite interpretations of my favorite Dylan songs, or in a couple of instances, the rare original versions that I think overcome his voice.
I left off a few big ones that I figured everybody has or knows: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Dylan or GNR version), All Along the Watchtower (Hendrix is the gold standard, but I don't love it), Like a Rolling Stone (my favorite was a live version by Black 47 that they performed on St. Patrick's Day 1993), Rainy Day Women, etc... but I included some other classics as well as some of my more obscure favorites.



1. 16 horsepower - Nobody ‘Cept You
I kicked it off with my all time favorite Dylan cover, a song pretty much nobody has ever heard, from his weak early 70s output. I love the dynamics in this version. It's the cheeriest song in the entire 16hp catalog, incidentally.

2. Kelly Hogan - It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
These days Kelly Hogan spends a lot of time singing backup for Neko Case, but she has had a pretty strong music career of her own in Atlanta and Chicago prior. I first heard her with the Jody Grind (which disbanded after two of their members were killed in a car crash) and the excellent Rock*A*Teens, but I truly fell in love with her voice when she performed Simon Zealotes in Daemon Records' Jesus Christ Superstar at SXSW.
This is off of an excellent Dylan tribute put together by a Georgia label around the time I was listening to all those bands.
One of my favorite Dylan songs.

3. The White Stripes - One More Cup of Coffee (the Valley Below)
I think I put this on another shebang, but I think it's a really excellent version of a really excellent song. I also have a kind of gypsy version by the Milagro Saints, but I thought this one would play better to all of you.

4. Concrete Blonde - Simple Twist of Fate
I have been a Concrete Blonde fan for a million billion years. Johnette is a great stage presence and I love the way her voice soars. This is a straight cover of an iconing song, except that you get the lovely Johnette vocal instead of the Dylan drone.

5. Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed
Example number one of a good use of the Dylan voice. I think he won an Oscar for this one, and it's part of his 2000s bluesy renaissance. The songs that work best with him singing them are the ones that he snarls. I think it's the ones where his real personality shows through, honestly. He's a mean old coot in this song, and it works.

6. Nico - I’ll Keep It With Mine
I didn't know this was a Dylan cover for the longest time. It doesn't sound like early Dylan to me at all. I like the emotion in her voice, which is as unusual as Dylan's in its own way.

7. Joan Baez - Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright
I know there are some Baez haters around here - too folky, too much vibrato, etc. I don't care. She does a great job with Dylan songs, maybe because of their history together. Have you ever seen D.A.Pennebaker's Dylan documentary "Don't Look Back"? The whole time Dylan is making an ass of himself to reporters and friends alike, Baez is standing in the background, playing guitar ten times better than him, a graceful presence in the shadows. I believe her when she sings those fantastic lines "I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind/You could have done better but I don’t mind/
You just kinda wasted my precious time/
But don’t think twice, it’s all right"
One of his best (and shortest!)

8. The Indigo Girls - Tangled Up in Blue
One of the first songs I learned to fingerpick. I love his story songs, and I love the energy in this live version, complete with the bluesy bridge-y bit that they adapted to break the song up.

9. Wilco w/ Fleet Foxes - I Shall Be Released
I've always loved this song too. This version isn't anything super special, but the harmonies are nice.

10. Dylan w/ the Band - Forever Young
Next example of when it's okay to let Dylan sing his own songs: the crack backup band. I love the Band sooooo much. This is the version off of the Last Waltz.

11. Richard Shindell - Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
If you'd given me another month or two I'd have put my new cover on here instead of the Shindell version. My band has been playing this for about seven years now. I have absolutely no clue what this song is about, and if anybody wants to tell me, I'm all ears. Richard Shindell is himself one of my favorite songwriters.

12. Glen Hansard & Markete Irglova - You Ain’t Goin Nowhere
An iconic song that always seems to come out when musicians gather. This is the only song on the shebang that I sought out because I didn't want to include any of the versions I own.

13. Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn/Quinn the Eskimo
You would never in a million years guess this was a Dylan song if nobody told you.

14. PJ Harvey -Highway 61 Revisited
It's taken about fifteen years for this version to grow on me. Highway 61 is one of the songs that I don't mind Dylan's version, and Polly Jean's dynamics often weird me out. Still an excellent song.

15. The Specials - Maggie’s Farm
I love, love, love this version.

16. The Travelin’ Wilburys - Tweeter and the Monkey Man
Dylan singing again, as part of the Travelin' Wilburys. Did I say already that I like his story songs best? This is a good story song, especially with all that fantastic Wilbury support.

17. Bob Dylan – Hurricane
And closing out with more of the real thing, my favorite Dylan-singing-Dylan. The story of Reuben "Hurricane" Carter. I know this song is about an hour long, but I love the fiddle breaks and the energy of the whole thing.

Mighty Quinn! I love that song! I only know Julie London's version.

The Band, ect (smetchie)

LINER NOTES

Allegedly, The Band was my first concert. I don’t remember it because I was just a baby but I like to think it’s one of the reasons I love them so. I can’t really call this a Greatest Hits because it isn’t. The Band has put out several of those themselves so I just made a mix of songs I like. Music is really personal and I never know what someone else will want to hear. I make shebangs for myself. Otherwise I’d never make them at all because I’d be too worried about what other people would think.

I’m usually pretty snobby about covers, especially when I love the original artist. But I put some songs from Endless Highway on this mix because I wanted to vary the sounds a bit. I think My Morning Jacket does a great job with It Makes No Difference, which is one of my favorites. It’s maybe one of the most pathetically sad unrequited love songs. (I am a huge sucker for songs like that) I also love what Death Cab For Cutie does with Rockin’ Chair. They have an unmistakable sound and yet this track still honors The Band. And that’s the point.

I used several songs from The Last Waltz, because they carry the amazing vibe of that concert and because I love collaborations. I used 2 post-production tracks as well: The Weight because it’s probably the best song ever (I used this version because it features The Staples Singers and they give me the chills.) Evangaline with Emmylou Harris because she’s Emmylou Harris.
I also included some solo work from Rick Danko and Levon Helm. I adore Levon Helm endlessly and wish he were my Grandpa. In fact, the real reason I chose The Band for this shebang was so I could put The Mountain on it. I’m sure some will find Anna Lee painful but I think his old gravelly voice sounds amazing on it. Dirt Farmer is my favorite Levon Helm album and you get to hear his daughter, Amy, sing backing vocals. The Rick Danko song was recorded in the year of his death. There are certainly better versions of Twilight, but I think hearing him sing it at the end of his life adds a haunting depth to the lyrics. It’s one of my favorite songs by The Band. I didn’t use any of Robbie Robertson’s solo work because I don’t think anyone should have to listen to him sing. You can hear him speak on some of The Last Waltz tracks and that’s much better. No offense to any fans of Robbie Robertson’s singing. I happen to love a couple of bad singers, myself. He just isn’t one of them.

I added some Ollablle because it’s Amy Helm’s band and I like them a lot. No one said it was ok to use family members but I did it anyway. Ollabelle sings gospel, which is not the same as Christian Rock.

Oh, I don't know any of the solo stuff or Ollabelle! I'm very excited to hear all of that.

P.S.
regarding:
"Ollabelle sings gospel, which is not the same as Christian Rock."
In case that comes across like I think you all didn't know that, it's a joke. Perhaps a private joke between myself and I! I gave my friend a bunch of Ollabelle and she loved them but called me all concerned to ask, "they say Jesus a lot. It's not Christian Rock is it?" Which I thought was so funny and adorable!

I wrote those liner notes a long time ago and I might have thought I was going to take that line out but then forgot to.

So to sum up: I'm not trying to act like you're stupid and there's nothing wrong with Christian Rock.

I like some gospel and I can't stand most Christian Rock, so I appreciated the difference.

I'm thinking of going to see Mavis Staples next week in Princeton. The DC show is sold out.

I included mine with the disk, but I thought I'd share 'em here in case anyone needs to reprint, copy & paste for any reason:

Heidi’s ELLA! Shebang Liner Notes & Playlist

She’s my all-time, hands-down, no contest, go-to-gal favorite ever in the history of all singers. Ella Fitzgerald. She’s known as the “First Lady of Song” and Lady Ella.” She was a regular at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom and popularized the children’s song A-Tisket, A-Tasket. In spite of her well-known shyness, she performed over the span of close to 50 years. FIFTY years. I only despise that I never saw her perform live. She’s got mad skill – she can swing it; she can do cheeky; she can do sarcasm; she’s a scat master, a vocal range master, a timing master, a pitch master; she conveys innocence and experience, light-hearted fun, and heavy themes with grace; she can mimic the horns like nobody’s business; she makes me want to break out in a random tap dance number; she can lull me to sleep and soothe me when I need soothing. This, my friends, is the magic of Ella. No one can dispute this convincingly. I’m sharing my personal favorites on this mix. I hope you like it.

x, h


1. Oh, Lady Be Good (Gershwins & Riddle) -

For years, this was my bedtime song. Originally written as a jazzy score, Riddle arranged it as a ballad. This one. A ballad about a small town girl alone in the big city. Nothing can ensure a good night’s sleep for me like a bit of lavender baby powder, a loose cotton shift, clean cool sheets, the low white-noise hum of a fan, and this song.

2. ‘S Wonderful (Gershwins) –

The first time I heard this song, I was stuck at a stoplight on Broadway and Capitol on my way to work. Before I knew it, I was doing a full tap dance on the driver side floor board (thank goodness I was stuck at a stop light!) and imagining myself whirling across a dance floor to this cheerful tune. Considering Gene Kelly does a remarkable little tap number to this song in An American In Paris, an inspiration to break out in tap should come as no surprise.

3. Prelude to a Kiss (Ellington, Mills, & Gordon) -

Johnny Hodges’ alto sax solo in this one is swoon-worthy. With Ella at the helm, this ballad is haunting and tender.

4. I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good) (Ellington & Webster) -

Another solo by Hodges… man, his sax and Ella’s voice could sure make magic. With its slangy lyrics, this song peaked on the charts around the WWII era.

5. The Lady Is A Tramp (Rodgers & Hart) -

This song is SO much fun. It’s ripe with era-specific lyrics. I got a nice little history lesson researching them. Incidentally, Sinatra’s version of this song is fairly popular, as well. An interesting anecdote – I remember reading once that during the height of her career, when asked what his thoughts on Ella were, Sinatra jokingly said something to the effect that Ella had no skill as a singer. Taking his joke as sincerity, her feelings were hurt. Sinatra eventually convinced her of his intended tone (sarcasm) and of his utter reverence for her as a musician. They went on to collaborate on many musical numbers together for years to follow.

6. Always (Berlin) –

Irving Berlin wrote this song as a surprise wedding gift for his wife Ellin and gave over a good portion of the song’s royalties to her. The song was used as theme music for the 1942 classic film The Pride of the Yankees. This jazzy number’s another that makes me want to break out in a tap dance and swirl across the dance floor.

7. There’s A Small Hotel ( Rodgers & Hart) –

According to Hart, this song was inspired by a visit to the Stockton Inn in Stockton, NJ. He was known to ad lib raunchy parody verses when performing it, much to Rodger’s chagrin. While in the company of my grandmother, when I first heard Ella singing this little ballad, I thought, “OH! They DID that back then? And SANG about it?!” I suppose that’s naïve thinking, but I just can’t picture my grandmother as anything but innocent. I asked her about it, and she just raised an eyebrow and gave me a cheeky grin.

8. Cottontail ( Ellington & Hendricks) –

Ellington pulled this one together after touring Europe in 1940. If you listen closely, you’ll recognize that it’s based on the rhythm changes in Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm. Neato, huh? Whooahoho… if you’ve never been impressed with scatting before now, Ella will make a believer of you with this one. Try to scat along with her. Go on. Try… I don’t care if you try it 50 times or 50 million times, no way you can possibly match her scat skill level. Ever.

9. Just One Of Those Things (Porter) –

I love Maurice Chevalier’s cover of this song! And apparently Holden Caulfield adored this song, as well - I read that somewhere. It’s got spunk. It’s comical and cool sophistication. And it’s a love song, though definitely not sentimental or sappy. This bad boy gives Ella a chance to show off her vocal chops in a big way. Man, she sure can sing it. I love that she mimics the horns when she starts to improvise vocals towards the end – a great demonstration on why she’s dubbed the First Lady of Song.

10. They Can’t Take That Away From Me (Gershwin) -

There’s just something about the sincerity of Ella’s vocal performance on this song that makes it so enchanting. There’s a mixed joy and sadness implied in these romantic lyrics - if the lovers should part, they would always have the memory of each other and that could never be taken away. George Gershwin was posthumously nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar for this song.

11. I’m Beginning to See the Light (Ellington & George) -

OHHH!!! Ella the horn! She matches Hodges’ sax performance note for note in this song. It’s cheerful and fun swing.

12. Love Is Here to Stay (Gershwins) –

Another song that makes an appearance in An American In Paris, this is the last song composition that George Gershwin wrote. His brother Ira wrote the lyrics after George died. I love that an instrumental version of this song plays on the television show The Honeymooners in some of the episodes when Ralph apologizes to Alice. Ella is sophistication when she sings this.

13. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart (Ellington & Mills) –

The melody is cheerful and peppy, the lyrics… not so much – hopeful at best. But when Ella sings it, it makes me happy.

14. The Man I Love (Gershwins) –

A song from the musical, Lady Be Good, Ella stays true to its haunting and hopeful tone.

15. I’m Old Fashioned (Kern & Mercer) –

I love this story out of Benny Green’s Let’s Face the Music: “Mercer recalled working with the older Kern, and how Kern reacted to the lyrics for ‘I'm Old Fashioned’: ‘We hit it off right away. I was in such awe of him; I think he must have sensed that. He was very kind to me, treated me more like a son than a collaborator. And when he thought I had a great lyric he said, 'Eva, Eva, come down here', and he kissed me on the cheek and he said, ‘Eva, I want you to hear this lyric.’ Well, of course I was thrilled that he liked it that much, you know. 'I'm Old Fashioned', that one was.’”

16. Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me (Ellington & Russell) –

This song highlights Ellington’s trumpeter, Cootie Williams. It was considered an R&B hit and is considered by many to be one of the high points, perhaps even a masterpiece, of Ellington’s body of work. Here’s an interesting fact for you… In August, 1942, the president of the American Federation of Musicians called for a recording ban, demanding that studios pay royalties instead of flat fees for nearly all recordings by AFM member musicians and orchestras. While the ban only lasted a little over a year, it contributed greatly to the demise of the Big Band Era. While the large orchestras suffered, vocalists (who were less likely to be AFM members) like Ella flourished.

17. Trav’lin’ Light (Young, Mundy, & Mercer) –

This song pops into mind every time I start packing for a trip. I never really do travel light, though. The song doesn't have anything to do with "Travlin' Light" in the sense I just mentioned, though, just the phrase sung by Ella is what pops into mind... that and the melody. :)

18. Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye (Porter) –

A fantastic display of Ella’s mad vocal skill… I think I remember reading somewhere that she always closed her live performances with this song. Neat, neat, neat! In Cole Porter: A Biography, Charles Schwartz describes the song’s attributes: “Its simple, elegaic, repeated-note melody--a Porter characteristic--and cogent harmony complement a superior text. One example of how closely Cole correlated words and music in this song can be seen by his switch from primarily major to minor harmony to correspond with the phrase ‘from major to minor’ in the lyrics for the refrain.”


More Ella faves/recommendations/essentials that just wouldn’t fit: Mr. Paganini [If You Can’t Sing It (You’ll Have to Swing It)]; Moonlight In Vermont; A’Tisket A’Tasket,; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; Something’s Gotta Give; Solitude; Summertime; Isn’t It Romantic; Day Dream; I Remember You; One Note Samba; Bewitched, Bothered, & Bewildered; I Concentrate on You; Love for Sale; Miss Otis Regrets; Out of this World; Lover…. Ooooohhh too many! I have 8 Ella CDs so far and plan to continue expanding that collection. I’d be happy to talk Ella with any of you, anytime, any place.