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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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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