My gift of music today is from an album and artist I’d never heard of until stumbling across it on eMusic last week. You can shake the package, sniff it, what have you, but until you unwrap it and have a listen, you probably won’t know what’s coming.
As Mr. Mod requested, let me tell you a little about what this humble track means to me. It’s got an open-hearted, no-bullshit vibe about it that’s nestled somewhere between dry, early ’70s singer-songwriter stuff packaged in textured, sepia-toned sleeves and Pub Rock. As much as I love rock ‘n roll that blasts out of the speakers and grabs my family jewels, it’s a welcome relief these days to find something sincere and innocent – and pretty catchy, if a minute or two longer than necessary. This song sounds like something a friend would play for me, with the knowledge of that friend right on the surface of the recording, for better and for worse.
Thanks for a fun year, Rock Town Hall.
Thanks, KingEd! I’ll agree it is a little too long, but it’s real warm down here in Florida and that was a nice song to drift in and out with while I ate my orange this morning. It helped set the tone for the day quite nicely.
I really liked this song, too. It reminds me a little of The Feelies and also of early Dire Straits and maybe even a Tom Verlaine solo track. Now can you please tell us what it is?
I’ll just say I have a guess as to who this might be. Am I permitted to venture one, under the bylaws of this exercise?
The vocals remind me of Trip Shakespeare but the production sounds more early eighties….
Yes, Oats, you may venture a guess. That goes for anyone this week. I’m sure at some point that BigSteve or The Great 48 will find a way to run a digital analysis on whatever tracks I post from Townspeople and have found a way to wipe clean of identifying characteristics. In fact, I’d bet that G48 has, in his nifty database, the ability to sort by track length and/or byte rates. By whatever means necessary, feel free to guess. Eventually I see no reason why KingEd won’t share the track’s identity and performer.
OK then. I think it’s either Brinsley Schwartz or Ian Gomm solo.
Odd co-incidence Dbuskirk – I was just listening to ‘Across The Universe’ this morning.
Reasonable guess, Oats, but nope! The album from which the track comes is well before the ’80s and right at the tip or just before what would be known as Pub Rock.
Anyone who has iTunes can do this simply by going into the View menu, hitting View Options, checking on the “bit rate” option and then that category will be displayed. Then you would just have to hit that column header to sort in either ascending or descending order.
As for the track length (“Time”), this is checked off by default so you just have to click on the column header there, too.
Don’t burst my bubble, Berlyant. I like to think that The Great One’s database is of his own creation and MUCH more powerful than anything even the might iTunes empire could design.
I thought this song was pretty good. It certainly isn’t the thing I usually listen to, but it is pleasant, even if it is a bit long. I really like that slow part that comes in 3/4 of the way through. It took me by suprise and helps justify the long length.
Actually…um, yeah, I do.
The intro and coda suggest that this is actually an atyoically poppy track by a and that’s usually Considerably more proggy. So…I’m gonna say…Man?
Glad you checked this out and, for the most part, found it interesting/enjoyable. The song is called “Dog Star”. It’s from a 1971 album called Control, by Jackie Leven. I swear I’d never heard of him before last week! Here’s a bio on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Leven. Interesting story. The album was originally released under his ’60s pseudonym, John St. Field. Love that name.
I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to comment on this before the reveal, but I liked this quite a bid and had no idea who it was.
“John St. Field” and even “Sir Vincent Lone” are indeed great pseudonyms. Both bring to mind the Dukes of Stratosphear, I think.
Leven appears in Mirror Man, the ‘opera’ by David Thomas (Pere Ubu), which has been performed live a few times and the first act of which was issued on CD in 99. Linda Thompson and poet Bob Holman are on there too. I always wondered who this ‘Jackie Leven’ in the credits was, and now I know.
Has anyone ever heard this guy’s later releases? I’d never heard of him either. When KingEd sent me this track I, too, thought of the Brinsley Schwarz scene.