Friday, July 22, 2011

Dig That Bap: A Bap Kennedy Sampler


I still remember getting the Irish singer Bap Kennedy's cd Lonely Street in 2000. I really liked his first two releases (Domestic Blues and Hillbilly Shakespeare), but I must confess to a bit skepticism in reading the liner notes as it seemed like a not so great concept album about Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm a skeptic rather than a cynic since Lonely Street soon became one of my all time favorite cds (if the term desert island discs still meant anything, I'd say it was one of mine). Really, it's hard to imagine a more perfect album from start to finish - every song is a gem, the sequencing is spot-on, and he makes the not quite a concept album concept work brilliantly.

Now his two albums (The Big Picture and Howl On) since then haven't quite matched up, but there are several splendid tracks and really, how could they compare? All of his releases are still available with the exception of Hillbilly Shakespeare (you can also get his solo releases as well as a lot of his stuff with 90s band Energy Orchard - at emusic.com)

According to his website, he's just completing a new cd, so to hold you over, here's a little sampler including several Energy Orchard tracks.


Lost Highway Bap Kennedy
My Money Bap Kennedy
Wasted Energy Orchard
Fireworks Bap Kennedy
Elvis Hank and Me Bap Kennedy
Dirty Old Town Bap Kennedy
Tell Your Mother Energy Orchard
Irish Moon Bap Kennedy
Hey Joe Bap Kennedy
Born To Lose Bap Kennedy
I'm No Angel Energy Orchard
Sailortown Energy Orchard
My Sweet Love Aint Around Bap Kennedy
The Beautiful Country Bap Kennedy
Hanks Last Waltz Bap Kennedy

Friday, July 15, 2011

Nightcaps at David Lynch's - Side B


As promised here's Side B (well, you could fit them both on a 90 minute cassette ;) of Nightcaps at David Lynch's.


Love Letters Carol Hadley
You Can Depend On Me Brenda Lee
Oh What I Wouldn't Give Jimmy Scott
Black Night Johnnie Morisette
Bring It On Home Sonny Boy Williamson
Midnight Blues The Detroit Cobras
White Trees Flat Duo Jets
Red Bats With Teeth Angelo Badalamenti
Trouble Is A Lonesome Town Lee Hazelwood
The Cold Hard Facts Of Life Porter Wagoner
Farewell Good Night's Sleep Lay Low
Funeral In The Rain Chris Isaak
The Comedians Roy Orbison
Anything To Say You're Mine Etta James
Town Without Pity Gene Pitney

Friday, July 8, 2011

Nightcaps at David Lynch's


I was a big fan of the movie Blue Velvet when it came out back in the late 1980s. But it'd been almost twenty years since I'd seen it when I happened to come across it while channel surfing a while back. I'd always loved the use of Roy Orbison music in the movie, but when I watched it again, I remembered how much I liked the music of the late 1950s and early 1960s. For a long time, the period was dismissed as a wasteland - i.e. the period between Elvis' heyday and the Beatles. I think the period has since been redeemed in a lot of folks' eyes - sometimes we need a little revisionist history, right. :) I mean, there's just something about the weirdly understated melancholy and the lugubrious (in the very best sense of the term) piano in so many songs from that time period that I love - perfect for drinking (or drunk slow dancing) late at night at a bar straight off the set of a David Lynch movie. So here's a bunch of cuts from that time period as well as other songs that really should have been written in 1960. :) I'll post Side B next week.


Blue Velvet Bobby Vinton
But Not For Me Ketty Lester
Smoke Rings Sam Cooke
The Beast Milt Buckner
Reconsider Baby Lowell Fulson
Tired Of Being Shoved Around Gay Crosse
Since I Fell For You Nina Simone
Blue Moon Elvis Presley
I've Lost My Heart to You Charlie Rich
Cry On Irma Thomas
Rockin' Back Inside My Heart Julee Cruise
A Girl I Used To Know George Jones
When You Need a Laugh Patsy Cline
Porchlight Neko Case & Her Boyfriends
The Little White Cloud That Cried Johnnie Ray