Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Another five random songs from my iPod’s Shuffle function. Like before, Any Major iPod was in a mellow mood. That is perhaps because a high percentage of the music on it is mellow…

Alexi Murdoch – All Of My Days.mp3
Murdoch’s “Orange Sky”, from the astonishing Four Songs EP, received a lot of coverage on several TV shows. Off-hand, I remember it featuring in The O.C. and Prison Break, as well as on that wonderful film Garden State. Alexi Murdoch remains a staple on TV drama series, and yet he is not very well known at all. That is a pity, because his Nick Drake-channeling music has greater depth than inclusion on the soundtrack of Brothers & Sisters, or whatever, might suggest. Indeed, his full debut, last year’s Time Without Consequence recalled Drake even in requiring a few listens before it really clicks. “All Of My Days”, which kicks off the album, manages to sound at once laid back and intense, gentle and urgent. Good choice, iPod.
More Alexi Murdoch here and here.

Missy Higgins – Nightminds.mp3
Apparently Missy Higgins is absolutely massive in Australia. Now that the Aussies have turned that objectionable shit Howard out of office, made fools of themselves at the rugby world cup and have given us the adorable, wonderful Melissa Higgins (and Bob Evans and Auggie March), I can now object only to their cricket team, with the spit-rubbing captain. “Nightminds” comes from Higgins’ excellent 2004 debut, The Sound Of White. It’s one of those rather intense ballads on the album. I take it that the song addresses somebody with either depression or an addiction, with Higgins offering support and understanding. In the initial verses, the solitary piano and Higgins’ delivery communicate a sense of emotional pain. With the chorus, a cello (or something with strings, I can never really tell) and drums come in, and the melody and lyrics become more hopeful. A beautifully constructed song.
More Missy Higgins music here.

Gram Parsons – She.mp3
Not to be confused with the Charles Aznavour hit covered by Elvis Costello. Here, Gram Parsons (one who is too easily overlooked in the “gone too soon” stakes) infuses his country/rock with soul, perhaps having just listened to Donny Hathaway (another one often easily overlooked in the “gone too soon” department). Of course, a song about a slave girl who could sing requires a soul influence. But what Parsons — formerly a Flying Burrito Brother and a Byrd — accomplishes on this track from 1973’s G.P., his full debut solo album, is to show just how close country and soul used to be. Parson’s lifestory can make you weep: his father committed suicide on a Christmas Eve when Gram was 13; his mother died on the eve of his graduation; and Gram was dead of a heart attack by the time he was not yet 27, leaving behind a rich musical legacy (without Parsons, no Wilco) and our regret at how much more he might have accomplished in shaping modern music. Read about Parsons’ death soon after the release of G.P. here.

Jam – Eton Rifles.mp3
This is the joy and the trouble with the iPod Shuffle function. You get into a particular mood during a sequence of certain kinds of songs, and then something completely different comes on. And so it is here: Alexi, Missy and Gram create a kicked-back mood, and then the sharply dressed threesome go all The Who on us, with ripping guitar chords and incendiary singing, punctuated by the menacing backing heys. “Eton Rifles” is an air-guitar anthem for those who would feel stupid playing imaginary instruments to “Freebird” or ’80s hair rock. Play it loud and don’t forget to time your triumphant leap in the air at the smack-in-the-gob end.

Dobie Gray – Drift Away.mp3
The soul song even soul-hating rock fans could love, sort of an inverse to Parsons’ “She”. The Rolling Stones covered it, Uncle Kracker (newsmaking sidekick to the revolting Kid Rock) covered it with Dobie Gray, even Michael fucking Bolton covered it before he decided he wasn’t Otis Redding after all, but Luciano Pavarotten. I don’t recall Bolton’s version, but surely even he couldn’t mess this song up. Or could he? The excellent Echoes in the Wind blog has a vinyl rip of the Dobie Gray album on which “Drift Away” originally appeared.

The iPod Random 5-track Experiment Vol. 1

The poll results are (well, they have been for a few days): more than half of Any Major Readers want to beat James Blunt severely. You were given a choice of four answers, and voted to the question “What shall we do with James Blunt?” as follows:

Celebrate is talent…………………….7%
Let others listen to him…………..12%
Beat him severely…………………..53%
James who?……………………………20%

I reckon the administration of a severe beating is a little harsh on Mr Hillier-Blount. I actually do like some of his songs, so I’d be in the 12% who’d advocate tolerance. I have to: my wife is a big Blunt fan.

I can quite understand why people might hate Blunt’s music, even why they think his existence is toxic to pop music (but surely pop has always survived such artists). I can’t understand though why Blunt attracts such irrational reactions from people who are usually quite tolerant. It reminds me a little of the Disco Sucks movement, when whatever merit there was in the music would be disregarded in favour of a Taste Police-led mob mentality. What I really cannot buy into is the notion of Blunt’s upper middle-class background somehow disqualifying him from making pop music, or that this should influence our reading of his music. The sociology of pop leaves me cold (even as a sociology graduate!); Blunt should be judged on his music alone.

I have reviewed Blunt’s new album, All The Lost Souls, for publication (a copy of the review is here) and, some misgivings aside, found it mostly inoffensive and in parts even attractive. As a bit of a fan of the Bee Gees’ late ’60s/early ’70s ouevre, I rather liked “One Of The Brightest Stars”, which totally rips off the chorus of “Run To Me”. Frankly, should the Gibb brothers sue Blunt for plagiarism, our floppy-haired friend would receive a metaphorical severe beating. That song’s piano intro borrows liberally from another song, but I can’t work that one out (I thought perhaps something by Gilbert O’Sullivan, but can’t place it at all). Any readers have an idea?

James Blunt – One Of The Brightest Stars.mp3
Bee Gees – Run To Me.mp3