Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - So Good at Being in Trouble 

Taken from UMO's staggeringly good second album, this track will not leave your head all day once you hear it.

Don't say you haven't been warned. 

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Foxygen - Oh Yeah

We've already highlighted our disliking towards the band's name, but we can't help but love Foxygen's quirky  
electro sound. This single is taken from their brilliant new album 'We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic (album title of the year, anyone?) and is accompanied by this great video, that has the band titting about in what appears to be their nan's front room.

Something for the Weekend #13

I am Kloot - Some Better Day

There is something in my eye....honest!

15 Favourite Live Albums...

As the VO is primarily in it for the 'live' experience I have long considered compiling a list of my own favourite live albums and inspired by the recent Quietus list of the same thing I decided to give it a go. On first consideration I thought that I would only have a handful of live albums and rather than being a list of the best it would be a pretty lame list of every Live LP I own. But on closer inspection I have bunches of the things. Some of them are dreadful (where did Barclay James Harvest come from?) and most are barely even worth mentioning as their difference from studio to live is minimal to say the least (Oasis' Familiar to Millions?). I have decided to not include Peel Sessions (so no Fall) or 'Live Studio' albums as thats surely cheating.

So here is a list of my 15 (ten is never enough) favourite live albums. Please feel free to add your suggestions to this list below.

  

Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl

Bonkers level of screaming from the first second to the last and I doubt the man to woman ratio has ever been so skewed anywhere. Ever. I read an account of a guy who was at the gig who claimed the crowd was the loudest thing he had ever heard and that after the gig he had more sex than he had ever had before or since. Not sure what to make of that but its a lot more eventful than the usual VO night. The music? Sometimes you can just about make out some of the drums. The opener Twist and Shout is a highlight.

Talking Heads Stop Making Sense

Whilst this is undeniably all about watching the movie of the same name and its gradual on stage build up of musicians and sounds, the LP is a great art-funk addition. If you haven't heard the live versions of Psycho Killer and Once In A Lifetime I suggest you do so asap.

Radiohead I Might Be Wrong

Worth its inclusion in this list alone for containing their best non-album track True Love Waits which sees one of Thom Yorkes finest vocal performances. Also it’s never a chore to hear Radiohead's (other) finest moment Idioteque live in all its bleeping glory.

  

Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert

I’m not the biggest Rolling Stones fan but I do love this one, which is here as much as anything for the fun Jagger has with the screaming crowd between each song: “I think I popped a button on my trousers, I hope they don’t fall down. You wouldn’t want my trousers to fall down now, would you?” What a cheeky champ he was.

Street Fighting Man, Honky Tonk Women and Jumpin’ Jack Flash are three more good reason whys this is a truly, great live album.

David Bowie – Stage

This double LP of the 1978 tour covers the two (best) albums of the previous year, Heroes and Low, and also relies heavily on Station to Station and oddly Ziggy Stardust. About as good as it gets in my book.

The instrumentals from Low and Heroes sound incredible live and there is a great version of Station to Station, which apparently is made up from several different live recordings. This either shows how good Bowie and the band were live, or how slick Tony Visconti was at recording it as it sounds fantastic. The tracks are presented in a chronological order unlike the actual concert which began with Bowie entering the stage conducting the band into an epic Warszawa. Wish I was there.

Death in Vegas Satans Circus (live in Brixton)

I know they wish they were Kraftwerk, but so do I. Every single fucking day. This live CD that accompanies their (underrated) 2004 album is a great modern live electro album piping the likes of Justice and Daft Punk from my collection.

  

The Cramps – Smell Of Female

Possibly the finest charity shop 50 pence ever spent (aside from the Bowie LP above which was also purchased for 50p at the same time- someone obviously hated their live albums). six tracks of super-pumped and frantic psychobilly make this one of the most exciting 30 minutes of plastic in my possession and if these were in any particular order would probably be at number one. A live show that you really wish you were at, which is surely a live albums intention. Also one of my favourite album sleeves.

Throbbing Gristle - Heathen Earth

Christ knows what it was like to be in that room when they recorded this, but I have a (slow) growing warped fondness for this record and I think it does one good to dance like a demented loon every so often. Tracks like Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think make that quite easy, although most are a little harder to find a way into. The World is a War Film sounds like its title suggests and the words on the sleeve ‘Can the world be as sad as it seems?’ makes me feel sadder every time I look at it. Mint.

Pulp- This is Glastonbury

A fan club mail out mini CD from 1998, Jarvis is on fine form for these seven tracks. Highlights include the industrial opening guitar suspense of the Fear and a blinding version of Party Hard.

  

Raw & Alive: The Seeds in Concert at Merlin's Music Box

When the Velvet Owl Time Travel Gig Collective starts this will be the first stop. I think the Seeds made five of the best songs EVER made. (If you're interested to know which ones they are check out No Escape, Mr Farmer, Pushin' Too Hard, No Escape, Can't Seem To Make You Mine). EVERYTHING else they did sounds EXACTLY the same as these songs. in fact they ALL sound the same as each other. In fact the WHOLE live concert sounds like one 3 minute psychedelic garage pop song on repeat. But what a brilliant tune it is. Remember kids, No Seeds = No Fall. 

Hawkwind - Space Ritual

On my quest to discover the roots to something or other this gem came my way and it instantly made a large chunk of my CD collection seem a little pointless. For me this dispels a few prog myths as it isn't posh kids blending longwinded, rubbish re-writes of Beatles songs with even longer classical influences. Its far more interesting, in fact it's fucking bonkers. Who actually went to this gig? How do you recover from that and try to lead a normal life? My Dad once told me that when my Grandad was a milkman in the 70s, he met Hawkwind the morning after the night before on his rounds outside the venue they had been at the previous evening. Feeling somewhat indulged they shared a crate of milk and smoked some Woodbines. Cosmic.

DJ Shadow - In Tune and On Time

Bit biased as I saw DJ Shadow on this tour, but as far as I’m concerned this recording, just after his second album the Private Press, is James Lavelle at his very best.

  

Ash - Live at the wireless

One of the first CDs I ever bought. All the good un’s from 1977, plus (the best) Ash song Petrol and a blistering Ween cover What Deaner Was Talking About. Whilst Ash feel a little out of touch these days this makes me want to thrash about like a teenager in a way nothing else could ever do.

Eels- With Strings Live At Town Hall

Could be trimmed down a bit but does what I want a live album to do; something a bit different to the studio versions and its a good reminder of how many lovely songs Eels have penned.

Hookworms - Live Vol 1.

And something new! The mini-album recorded in Leeds in 2011. Five tracks of looping, psych-rock that when live sound transformed from the studio.

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Granville - Jersey

When pop music is this perfect, who gives a flying onion if you don't speak the lingo. I bet you still throw yourself around the bedroom when Plastic Bertrand's Ca Plane Pour Moi comes on the radio. 

Something for the Weekend #12 MBV

 

Sunday morning, Match of the Day re-run, cup of coffee, daughter quaffing Coco Pops and a fresh download of the new My Bloody Valentine album. Eh?

Yep, this isn't an elaborate hoax IT'S REAL. After hearing the news late last night I anticipated the website surge and thought I’d leave it until the morning. We’ve had to wait, so now they can. But I now have THE NEW MY BLOODY VALENTINE ALBUM playing before my very own (bleeding) ears with a slab of vinyl heading my way before the end of the month too.

So is it any good? As if that is important! Yet. No one SERIOUSLY thought Be Here Now or Kid A were better the first time, right? And although over time they weren't, the point I'm trying to make is just try to enjoy the moment. Next time MBV release I’ll be in my early 50s. But in answer to the question is it any good? Of course it ruddy is.

This is now the second ‘kid on Christmas morning’ feeling of the year with Bowie dominating my ear space for January with his gloriously stylish and actually musically impressive comeback. 2013 you are the year that just keeps giving. What next? Will Lee Mavers get his arse in gear and make the follow up to the Las debut?  No chance...

Whatever MBV turns out like (after the 50th listen) the cover, which incidentally looks like a still from the opening credits of the Bill, won’t be as good as this albums sleeve.

 

Sonic Cathedral, who brought us last years great Yeti Lane LP, have gone waaaay beyond with this compilation album: Psych for Sore Eyes. Double red and green vinyl, screen-printed kaleidoscopic Hawkwind-in-a-blender sleeve and a pair of 3D specs. The music isn’t half bad either with the opening track being from my current favourites, Hookworms (whose debut is out in March). This is from their 2011 EP...

...but this Spacemen 3 like lovliness from the Band in Heaven closes the LP, which also includes tracks from modern psychedelic loons Ttotals, The Vacant Lots, White Manna and Lorelle Meets The Obsolete.

If that wasn’t enough, buying the record (which is now sold out, suckers) entitles the owner to two tickets to see Hookworms and a bunch of others play at the launch night at the Red Gallery in London in a fortnight. Phew. And it’s a bring your own booze affair, psych for sore eyes indeed.

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Teenage - Veronica Falls

This song, the video and even the bloody band name remind us of those days lying in our bed on a Saturday morning hungover from a night on the Thunderbird, watching the Chart Show and hoping that this week's specialist chart would be 'Indie' just so we could get the chance to hear the new Jesus and Mary Chain single.

Something for the Weekend # 11

We've been big fans of Sweet Baboo here at VO towers ever since we caught a mesmerising performance by him at the Green Man Festival a couple of years ago, and we're expecting big things for him this year. Here's the first single Let's Go Swimming Wild from upcoming album Ships that is due for release on the Moshi Moshi label in the spring.  

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Matthew E. White - Big Love

This track has been on permanent rotation at Velvet Owl towers ever since Uncut magazine named White's debut album Big Inner (released in the US in August 2012 and now finally out in the UK) their album of the month. Handclaps, funky piano, gospel singers and an infectious bassline are just a starter for ten in listing why this is so damn good.

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Suede - Barriers

As release dates go, Monday 7th January 2013 will always be remembered as the day David Bowie (surprisingly) released his first new material in 10 years. Imagine, therefore, Brett Anderson's face that morning when he woke up to find TV channels, radio stations and social networking sites alight with the news of Bowie's return on the very same day that Suede were also releasing their first new material in a decade. Shame really, as 'Barriers' deserved a bigger fanfare than it actually received, as it's a fine return for Anderson and co. 

Velvet Owl Single of the Week (2)

David Bowie - 'Where Are We Now'

While it would be rude not to have this beautiful return from the Thin White Duke as our second single of the week, we can't help but be reminded by the video of Vic and Bob's 'Marvin and Otis' sketch - 'watching the ships sail in and back out again...' 

Welcome back Mr Jones, it has been too long. 

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Goat - Let it Bleed

Fellow Owl and blog contributor, Sammy Merry, was waxing lyrical about Goat's debut album 'World Music' several months ago. So with the album featuring in a number of end of year best of lists, we thought it was worthwhile reminding you of how ruddy good they sound. 

Velvet Owl Single of the Week (2)

Popstrangers - 'Heaven' 

All the best pop songs usually clock in at under three minutes and have an instantly hummable chorus that lodges itself into your brain and will only be teased out with a saucer of warm milk. New Zealanders Popstrangers tick all the boxes with their new single 'Heaven' taken from the soon to be released debut album 'Antipodes'. There's also a nice little nod to The Mighty Boosh in the video too. So everyone's a winner.

Velvet Owl Single of the Week

Allah-Las - 'Tell Me (What's on Your Mind)' 

Despite its late arrival in 2012's release schedule, the debut album by the L.A.four-piece the Allah-Las featured on a number of 'end of year best of' lists (including our very own). With their blend of four-part harmonies, jangly chords and obvious nods to the mid-sixties sounds of The Byrds and The Zombies, the band are a real tonic as we take our first tentative steps into 2013. 

 

Spoilt Bastard Christmas Wishlist

With everything Facebook has got on me I'm always surprised that their 'pages you might like' researchers (in the right hand side column) don't delve a little deeper into the mind of my click finger than pushing adverts for Airwaves chuddy and Italian Weddings. They must know I ain't clicking. But this week they caught my eye with this monstrosity. Yes, it is that flower. Good, God no. What am I doing that makes Zucherberg and co think I would like to buy the 'James ultimate boxset'?

Look at the size of it! Mind you its not as big as some of the 'bundles' I've just spent the past hour Googling.  Whatever happened to asking for ONE CD for Christmas? So in the spirit of everyones favourite Viz character- Spoilt Bastard- I shall give you the run down of what's (not) on my list to Santa.

"Would you like your Gran to get you a CD from that Andy's Records son?"

"Oh ay' Mother. Can you tell her to get me the 'Blur 21: The Box + Parklive: Deluxe 5 Disc Set + T-Shirt + Mug + Tote Bag Bundle'?"

"Fair enough son. how much is it going to cost her?"

"£205. And tell the greedy fuck I want a Mars selection box too..."

Quite frankly if you still haven't got round to picking up a copy of Parklife I wouldn't bother. It was good, but unfortunately you've missed the boat. And if there is a disc somewhere in there amongst all the that tat called 'LIVE AT THE BRIT AWARDS 2012' you're probably better off with the James collection above.

And what the frig is a tote bag anyway? Pretty sure from my school days they were the PE kit bag of shame. Speaking of shame, I bet when the Manic Street Preachers promised to make one album and then clear off in a blazing ball of rock'n'roll credibility, they never imagined it being re-branded like this? 

"But why don't you like your Xmas present son? You said that all you ever wanted for Christmas was a 'Generation Terrorists' dog tag?"

"No you cretin. I wanted a 'Holy Bible bracelet' to wear with my 'Gold Against the Soul nose ring'. GET IT RIGHT MOTHER!"

"OK. Pass that big red tin of Fox's Chocolate biscuits over son. I'm parched for one of those gold foil-wrapped ones." 

"Gettaway Mutha! It's the 'Screamadelica 20th Anniversary Limited Collector's Edition' you daft twat!"

"Oh sorry son! I am a dick."

Is there anything more soul destroying than a 'making of' DVD even if it is for an album as great as Screamadelica? Thanks all the same but I don't really want the extra tracks that weren't good enough for the original. 
The T.Rex album The Slider was one of the first records I ever heard (cheers Dad) and it is indeed a fantastic LP. 'A' being the important word. THIRTEEN top tunes on ONE album. Not all this toss.

  

Aside from a million versions of the album it comes with essays, sheet music, Bolan fan club letters, membership cards, rosettes, concert stubs, posters, stickers, patches, bags, locks of Bolans pubic hair (probably) and its own video trailer, but, "I STILL WANT MORE!"

Hold on Josh. I thought you were a DJ not a hitman dentist, because this is just plain creepy. What is that? Every single tune, mix, scratch and fart from the once great Mr Shadow himself. Complete with essence of DJ Shadows actual shadow reformed into an acrylic kryptonite slipcase.

And finally the 'flogging a dead record' award goes to... as always... THE STONE ROSES! Listening to music used to require an amp and a turntable but you need planing permission to own this beast. IT ONLY HAS ELEVEN TRACKS! (Which are all pretty good I might add) although this no doubt has fifty times that. But you get a bunch of really cool artwork postcards and a presentation box. Great.

So there you have it. Even in the Boxing Day sales your £15 HMV voucher isn't going to go very far. So tell your Gran to stick her vouchers, get out the plastic and order one of these many Pink Floyd box sets.

More of this type of cynical nonsense can be read HERE. Merry Christmas.