To Be Beautiful

Back from my vacation in the sun, recreated and ready for the job in my new office today and filling this little part of the internet with my personal views and music. It was a great time spending the last weeks with some good friends in a sunny place even if we had to stand a few days under heavy raining. The recent days I found the time to check out some old and some new music as well and I was surprised that a band I almost have forgotten released a new album. Madder Rose released their new album To Be Beautiful after a hiatus of 20 years. Some of you might remember when they released their first album in 1993 that sounded a bit like a record that Throwing Muses always tried to make and I have to admit that it was a record that was far over the edge of these days. Now they reduced their speed for a more introspective and melancholic mood. The title track features Mary Larson's great vocals, Billy Coté's Velvet inspired guitar added with some kind of 60's ba-ba backing vocals and I can't get this song out of my head since I heard it the first time. I Don't Know How To Love You could be a highlight on many record by Lee Hazlewood or by Prefab Sprout. Big names for sure but I simply like these songs.

 


Here's a song from their first recording to hear the difference since then:

Beautiful John

Lee's Instrumentals

Most of us will know Lee Hazlewood as a great songwriter and artist who had released some superb albums throughout his career and his collaboration with Nancy Sinatra. Less will know that in his former times after his military duty in Korea he worked as a DJ and collaborated with Duane Eddy. He produced and co-written a lot of songs in the rockabilly and twang era. From time to time there are some re-releases of his output and I got a second hand record from a few years ago. Rockabilly and mariachi-sound is't the music I can hear every day but these songs still work after 60 years.

Later this day I will see how Stuttgart will play and if they are able to win after a period of five games and only got two draw. Anyway, I won't moaning because some of you get this feeling almost every week.

Duane Eddy - Shazam
The Livley Ones - (Dance With) The Guitar Man
Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks - Muchacho

Babelsberg

Studio Babelsberg in Berlin/Potsdam is the oldest big studio film studio of the world and the biggest film studio of Europe. It is also the title of the latest album by Gruff Rhys, the Welsh multi talented musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. But the title has nothing to do with film studio in Potsdam it is a synonym for building the Tower of Babel. He delighted me during the last years with timeless albums with timeless music. American Interior from 2014 was played often when I was at home. So I was excited to listen to his new record and I wasn't disappointed. He wrote great songs again and recorded them with the 72-piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The more I listen to the songs I think he moves more and more to a nowadays edition of Lee Hazlewood and he can't deny the influences of Ray Davis and The Kinks. For me, Babelsberg is one of the nicest records released this year.

Nocturne

A few days ago the ticket for Mark Lanegan's concert in Stuttgart arrived. My area is sadly a desert for good live music and can't be compared to Cologne or Hamburg. All the great (new) bands mostly don't stop here. As far as I know one of the reasons is that the government requests a lot of taxes for concerts. Anyway I am glad that Mark Lanegan will appear in four weeks because his latest record Gargoyle is one of his best. I know him since his early days with Screaming Trees and later with Queens Of The Stone Age and liked his way of singing. His baritone is unbelievable and expressive. I think only Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen are more punchy. The more I listen to Gargoyle the more I think that this is one of the best records this year - so far.

I'm gonna go as fourteen dollars will take a fool like me

Let's start the day with one of my a song by the great Lee Hazlewood. It is one more song of getting departed and that is not the way I feel now. But I think, no one could these feeling better than him. The song is taken from his 1970 record 'Cowbow in Sweden' when he went there not to get drafted.

Enjoy and have a good weekend

Lee Hazlewood - Forget Marie