Five CDs In No Particular Order, T=1

I have been meaning to write these types of posts for a while.  Why not start at 3 AM on a random Tuesday morning.

First off, some background.

The title of the post may will not be an obvious reference.  It is meant to refer to a segment that David Wisdom used to have as the host of Nightlines, on late Friday and Saturday nights on what used to be called CBC FM, which (I think) is now CBC Radio Two. The amazing Mr. Wisdom used to play 'Ten Singles in Alphabetical Order' where, one night at a time, he would go through his eclectic collection of singles, ten at a time, obviously in alphabetical order.  My CD collection is in alphabetical order by artist, not by title; I figured it might be boring to have to go through five CDs from the same artist in one post (if anybody actually reads this...)  So I will instead go through five CDs in no particular order.  To be crystal clear, whatever music recordings I own are nowhere as close to being as eclectic, complete, diverse, interesting, etc as David Wisdom's were.  (Also, I miss David Wisdom on the radio.)

Why five CDs?  I have a five CD player, for which I can hit a 'random' button, which quite obviously randomizes the music selection.  The point of this post is for me to write about the five CDs I have thrown into my antiquated CD player while they are playing.  I am aiming to finish whatever random ramblings I can come up with before the CDs end playing.

What will this accomplish?  First, it should not be CFL-related, which will be a relief to those of you (again, there may not be any of you) who do not want to read about the CFL.  Second, it will enable me to share some thoughts about some of my favourite music, whether it is about the CD, the artist that recorded it or how I came to appreciate it.

So, for the inaugural 'Five CDs In No Particular Order' post, these are the five CDs to which I am at this moment listening along with some random pronouncements:


- Danko Jones, My Love is Bold

I first saw Danko Jones, probably in spring 2000, play at the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, as the opening act for the Headstones.  He (or the band, I am never sure what the name refers to) played a solid set and just diffused pure, unadulterated energy.  Right then and there, I bought the My Love is Bold EP and a concert t-shirt which featured a pentacle and what ended up being the opening lines to the EP: 'My Mother raised a Devil child'.  I really think my late Mother would have seen the humour in that (or the reality, I am not sure...)

Thirteen years later, I have seen Danko Jones at least half-a-dozen more times in a number of Ottawa  venues, I still wear the t-shirt, Danko is still one of my favourite live artists and My Love is Bold still has some of my favourite rock song lines:

'My Mother raised a devil child...'

'What comes out of this mouth ain't called boasting, it's truthing'

'I'm the Mango Kid'  (OK, the line itself is not so great, it is the utmost confidence with which it is delivered...)

'Oh, baby I get so excited... God damn, I need a sex change.' (Again, not sure it makes sense when typing it out, but it just works...)


- Mary Gauthier, Drag Queens in Limousines

This is Mary Gauthier's first album. It is not the first one of hers I heard or bought.  I do like this one because of the title song (which begins 'I hated high school...'), the earlier, less dark version of 'I Drink' and the somewhat confessional nature of the album, which foreshadows some of her later, more personal (and more polished) work such as Mercy Now.  (That is where she sings the darker version of 'I Drink'.)  So, basically, it is a more accessible Mary Gauthier album.  For me, anyway...


- The Boomtown Rats, The Fine Art of Surfacing

I really did not expect this to be part of my first 'Five CD' blog post as, at some point, if only for posterity, I will have to write a complete post about this most amazing album.  It happened to be on the CD player, along with 2 other Boomtown Rats CDs; when I changed the mix, I kept that one in there.  The Fine Art of Surfacing has been one of my favourite, if not my favourite, album since it came out in 1979.  To me, the absolute worst song on this CD is 'I Don't Like Mondays' because it is the only damn Boomtown Rats song that anybody knows.  And that is a damn shame.  There are any number of songs on that album which should be universally known, other than the damn 'Mondays' song ....

OK, I will dial it back just a little bit with the superlatives, and just bring up two points (in advance of the forthcoming, probably very long, blog post about this album):

1) 'On a night like this, I deserve to get kissed... at least once or twice' is the opening line to the opening song of the album ('Someone's Looking at You').  And really, doesn't that just perfectly describe the optimism that anyone feels heading out on a Friday night?  Or even on a Monday night?

2) 'When The Night Comes' is the third part of a Dublin trilogy that started with 'Jimmy's On the Street Again' and 'Rat Race' from earlier Boomtown Rats albums.  It brilliantly describes the 'humdrum and the mundane' that people face when they are working in a nondescript 9-to-5 job and have to figure out how to somehow get some meaning out of their life when the night comes and they have to get beyond the 'three piece cunning camouflage' that they have to wear so that nobody can guess what they are thinking.

And, yeah, Bob Geldof is playing Centrepointe Theatre in Nepean on October 15th.  Go see him, dammit.  You will thank me.


- Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra, Theatre is Evil

This was also in the CD player when I replenished it and it stayed in.  In one of my attempts to try to stay relevant, I backed Amanda Fucken Palmer on kickstarter when it seemed, at least from twitter, that all the cool people were doing so.  What I got back for my $25 investment, other than feeling infinitely much hipper than I really am (which is not at all; so right there, not a bad return on that investment) was a gorgeously packaged CD and liner booklet along with a page from the yellow pages and some sort of 3D postcard.  I cannot go on enough about how gorgeous the 35 or so-page booklet that came with the CD is, which includes the song lyrics, pictures of AFP and the band as well as art work.

That being said, this is an interesting album, which debuted on the Billboard charts at no. 10 last week.  (Did I mention I feel hip?  Oh yeah, I am fucken hip...)  There are a number of songs which have clearly been written from the heart by AFP and express her deepest feelings, according to her tweets, her kickstarter updates and her other web postings.  And to be fair, songs like 'The Killing Type' and 'Grown Man Cry' sound extremely personal and emotional and work in that context.  Evidently, according to the countless tweets that AFP retweets, a number of her fans are breaking down in tears just listening to these songs, so they must be greatly cathartic.  Now, I gather that probably I am not in the target population to which these songs were aimed (female college students?  women in their late 20's? anybody hipper than me?) because I am not crying an wailing at these songs, and that is fine.  After listening to the album, however, what sticks rather than the personal, deeply emotional numbers, are great, hooking rock numbers like 'Do It With a Rock Star' and 'Want It Back'.  And, quite honestly, 'Do It With a Rock Star' is one of the most kick-ass songs I have heard in a while; it deserves to be a huge hit and known by the general public.


- Hitsville USA, The Motown Singles Collection, 1959-71, Various Artists, Disc Three

I am not entirely clear on the timing, but I think that around 1992, in order to celebrate the upcoming 35th anniversary of Berry Gordy founding his first record producing company (Tamla in 1958), two collections of Motown singles were released.  The first dealt with the years 1959 to 1971, when the Motown empire was set in Detroit; the second dealt with 1972 to some future date, the years after Motown was headquartered in LA, and lost its foothold on the sound of American pop culture.  I own the four-disc collection that deals with the 1959-71 period.  (BTW, best gift ever by the ex.)  This was the period when, with Gordy as owner?/executive producer?/Svengali? led the Motown music empire in consistently, year after year, defining American popular music.

Disc Three of the collection includes the Motown hits from late 1966 to late 1969 and covers the essence of the Motown sound.  To me, Disc Three stands out because it includes some of classic vocal harmonic hits from The Four Tops (i.e., 'Reach Out' and 'Bernadette', which may be my favourite song ever; the harmonies are god-ly) as well as classic Marvin Gaye duets with Kim Weston and especially Tammi Terrell.  This are Marvin's precursor years, just prior to recording What's Going On and really taking off with his own sound, when he is singing gorgeous duets with Tammi ('Ain't No Mountain'; 'Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing').  Throw in some classic hits by the Supremes ('Love Child'), early hits by the Temptations and other imminently recognizable Motown songs ('Jimmy Mack'!) and this is a collection that represents Motown at its best and makes me happily sing along and/or grin like an idiot.