Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Tori Amos - Boys For Pele
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Phish - 12/30/2009 (Miami)
Steely Dan - Aja (particular focus on Home At Last)
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Jingle All The Way (yes, I realize it's May)
Jeff Beck - Live at Ronnie Scott's (Tal Wilkenfeld...ridiculous!!!)
I like to make up my own harmonies to songs I sing along with. Lately I have been harmonizing with the Porcupine Tree song "I Drive the Hearse" from beginning to end. I especially enjoy singing harmonies with the parts that don't have harmonies already in them. There is something so intimate about harmonizing, when you make that beautiful vocal pairing and that magic synchronization of voices happen...you feel so connected to the artist you are singing with. Like you are sharing something personal with them. I have found myself playing that song over and over again so I can experience that intimacy...not to mention I just really like the harmonies I made up with the song. ;)
I Drive the Hearse. Beautiful song
I don't harmonize to this song, I just sing along...this a very favorite version of a very favorite song - Father Lucifer.
Sound quality on this isn't the most ideal,but it isn't terrible...
My favorite song off Hot Rats (along with Peaches En Regalia, of course) - Willie The Pimp. What a jam!
Jeff Beck - no words necessary - though I must admit..I had a very hard time deciding which video to post. All so amazing.
I'm copying Steven Wilson a bit. I'll probably only update my list as often as he does (which isn't often), but I figured I would do it anyway. He won't mind, seeing as precious few people ever wander through my blog anyway.
:)
Bridges and Balloons: Joanna Newsom
The Raven That Refused to Sing and other stories: Steven Wilson
Deloused in the Comatorium: The Mars Volta
In Dreams: Topanga
Anesthetize: Porcupine Tree
The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories) is my favorite Steven Wilson solo album yet. The collaboration between Steven Wilson and his amazing band this time around is really what pushed this album over the top, musician-ship and composition wise. The concept of this album is so well done at every angle - through the music, the pictures, the stories, and the powerfully emotional video for the title track. Everything is seamlessly interwoven so that you almost can't imagine one aspect without the others- the artwork fits the music so perfectly. And, it almost doesn't even need to be said, but the sound on this album is outstanding.
Starting with the opening track of Luminol, we are thrust into the power of all these top notch musicians combining. I feel this song really showcases their creativity and energy. This song may just be one of my favorite songs ever. It starts off with so much kick and vigor you can't help but simply rock out with it. It seems to soar and float from one segment to another until you reach the middle, which gently transitions you into a beautifully quiet and dreamy stretch of sonic landscape and story telling. The harmonies are exquisite, which they most always are with Steven Wilson behind them. Finally, the song builds and builds until it reaches a spectacular finish that ties everything all in again...how could a song like that end any other way, really?
Drive Home is gorgeous. Some parts of it remind me of renaissance times...actually, there a few moments that remind me of renaissance times throughout the album, but I digress. There seems to always be one catchy, pretty little song like this in SW's work...but the ingeniously done solo at the end is really what sets it apart. I know comparisons can be annoying, but I have to say it: certain pieces Guthrie Govan's solos and guitar work/phrasing remind me very much of the late, great, Dimebag Darrel. A guitarist that I feel nobody would mind being compared to!*Edit - uhhhh....after seeing Guthrie live and educating myself on his work I have to say he is beyond comparison. Yes, Dimebag was a very versatile guitar player as well...but not like Guthrie! My face was melted off by him.
The Holy Drinker is a very dark and heavy song, it starts off very ominously but then has what I wold call a funk rhythm beating underneath somewhere when it gets into the first lyrical part of the song. The song just plain rocks out, but also takes you on a roller coaster journey of highs and lows...speeding up and slowing down..becoming very quiet and brooding, before blasting a downright nasty guitar riff out to end the song. The story is of a self righteous religious man who has his own evil vice in the form of a drinking problem. As the story goes on, this man challenges the devil to a drinking match. Of course he loses the challenge and is dragged into hell.
The Pin Drop. It is one of my favorite songs on the album. Steven must have been working on his vibrato, or maybe he has been waiting to break it out for just such a song as this, because his vocals in this song are very different, unique and refreshing to listen to. It almost doesn't sound like him as he belts out the beginning lyrics. Just as you are settling into the verse the song bursts forth into a lovely and almost frantic chorus that you may not quite expect. And just when you think you have a handle on the whole song...it ends. It's perfect.
The Watchmaker. I know how overused this word is, but..what an epic song. Another favorite. It is a complex song with many different segments, but they all need each other to tell this story. It is a massive, sweeping song that builds to a dark crescendo of a ghostly message repeating over and over again: "I'm still inside you." The story in this song is particularly defined to me, and really gets its point across from beginning to end - not to say the other songs don't, but this one just seems more thorough to me.
The Raven That Refused To Sing. Oh! What a powerful, emotional journey this song takes me on. Paired with that truly creative and impactful video- the feeling that song evokes from me is almost too much to take. The story for this song is particularly heartwrenching and really draws you into the characters and their sorrows. I personally feel like this is the most touching, beautiful, and delicate song Steven Wilson has yet written. Once again, when you add in the art work and/or video, the emotions are really enhanced. I love when music can make you feel such strong emotions and really touch you to your core as Raven does...it is a rare and elusive feeling that I'm glad I discovered through SW's work.
So, though in my eyes Steven Wilson can do no wrong, this album is beyond expectations. I happened to be lucky enough to procure the deluxe limited edition 128 page edition of this album- which was worth every penny. The illustrations, the stories, and of course the music was so carefully and thoughtfully put together it spoils you for any other artist's work.
Getting reacquainted with New England is taking just a little time. These bothersome blizzards and weekend snow storms aren't helping me acclimate any easier either, I'll tell you that much. There are some small annoyances that I wish would be remedied - for instance: The highways and roads in and around the Boston area are dreadful. OK, most of my gripes seem to be about the roads and/or driving around here..other than that, with the purchase of one very warm pair of fleece Garfield pajama pants, it seems I am prepared to be a New Englander once more.
Being in MA has its perks, too. Quite a few of them. At the top of the list, however, would be the music scene. To be more particular, Steven Wilson. Last year his "Grace For Drowning" tour came to Orlando. That was about 3 hours away from me. Worse than that, it was in the middle of the week. I couldn't go. I still regret it. Once again, his 2013 tour will come nowhere near South Florida. Lucky for me, I am now living near Boston, and I am counting down the days to his show. I got some AMAZING seats and feel like I did in my formative years, when I was filled with so much excitement and so anxious to see a show it seemed the day would never come!
Now, to the good stuff. Steven Wilson's new album - "The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories)." This, Steven Wilson's third solo work of art, is inspired by ghost stories of yore. Stories inspired by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe and early 20th century English writers like M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen. All of whom (save Poe) Steven has said he had been reading around the time of the album. These are not the cheesy gore or shock value type stories that riddle today's movie theaters and book stores...but the brooding, uneasy, macabre, slow sense of dread and doom and damnation type of stories that seem to only belong to that bygone era. Stories more about regret and loss, using ghosts both as a metaphor and as an actual entity. The album doesn't actually come out until February 25th. But there are a couple tracks that have so graciously been released early for our listening pleasure: "Luminol," which may just be one of my favorite songs EVER. And, the song the album was named after: "The Raven That Refused To Sing." That song. THAT. SONG. That song, is so powerful and moving and emotional and beautiful I almost can't take it. It was released with a video to go along with it that is just as powerful and beautiful and touching...it is just beyond words. The story seems to be about an old man, nearing death, and longing for his sister whom he loved so dearly but lost at a young age. The old man encounters a raven that he feels could be a sign from his sister...or perhaps it actually is his sister. He just wants so badly for there to be some kind of connection to her..to beyond..to know he isn't alone, won't be alone, - that he will be with her again. That she watches over him. That he won't miss her anymore. If the raven will only sing for him - he will know it is her. He will know it is a sign. He will know that she waits for him on the other side. He can have hope. But, the raven refuses to sing.
This song really resonates with me. Though the characters are different, the feeling is the same. My mother died when I was seven. Having death touch your life at such a tender age definitely changes you, it estranges you from your peers. You are forced to deal with the fact that things end. That there is a finality to all this. You can't help but ponder your own mortality, while other children are pondering Mickey Mouse.
Though I have an unusually large amount of memories of my mother and I, naturally there are a lot of things I wonder about, lament about, question, "what if?"...and many, many times, I still find myself missing her terribly. Though I'm not the least bit religious, I do look for signs from her, I guess I do want that reassurance, that feeling that she has been with me and will be with me until I can see her again. I think the search for these signs is only human. A human need to find solace. To find comfort in knowing our loved ones aren't ever really gone. That we really don't end. That we are never alone. I guess I'm always waiting for my own raven to sing.
"Sing to me raven, I miss her so much."
That's where I am so far. Touched to the core from the title track of Steven Wilson's new album. I would never expect anything less than amazingness from him, and he has yet to let me down. Such a brilliant man. And so, I am extra happy to be back in New England. Not only am I close to my family and best friends again...I am guaranteed to see Steven Wilson on any given U.S. tour! With that, I am off to work on my own music. Who knows, maybe someday my music will touch others the same way SW's music has touched me. I think that is what every real artist wants their work to do...
P.S. I just watched the video again for, oh....the billionth time. And I was just put through that powerful emotional journey again. That pairing of that amazing video and song...the story telling is just overwhelmingly gorgeous. It also brought back a memory. Watching the old man fearing death..the hands, the unknown monster coming to take him, and then seeing what/who he thinks is his sister protecting him...brought me back to a particularly dark memory of my Grandfather, in his late 80's. He had never quite gotten over my mother's death. On this particular afternoon as we were sitting in his living room talking about her he just broke down. He seemed to become delirious for a moment - and he was scared, bewildered. Then he exclaimed that he saw my mother before him - protecting him. He kept calling her name. When he finally came out of it he just cried gently. It was a side of him I had never seen, and it was unnerving. A moment I apparently chose to hide in the recesses of my mind until now. That's the power of song and film....
Blue songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey Blue, here is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well there're so many sinking now
You've got to keep thinking
You can make it thru these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs, lots of laughs
Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
Well I don't think so
But I'm gonna take a look around it though
Blue I love you
Blue here is a shell for you
Inside you'll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me
So, I have always loved Joni Mitchell. But you know those moments when you are in just the right mood and a song comes on that hits you right in your soul and connects you to that song/artist much more intimately than it had before? Well, I had one of those moments a while ago. Court & Spark came on in the car, and it immediately filled me with overwhelming emotion in the short 2:54 moments that it consists of. Just such amazing lyrics and musical composition. I have been on a Joni binge ever since.
My latest song obsession is "Blue." My god. Could that song be any more sadly beautiful? I'm going to go ahead and say no. I listen to it over and over again, like I usually do with songs I fall in love with (I'm looking at you - "Roulette Dares (the Haunt of)". )
Even more soul wrenching is what happened when I knew it well enough to sing it. Singing those notes - it is an amazing experience. I am addicted to that as well. When I get to the part "Blue, I love you," I feel like it's me who is baring my soul. Maybe I am. It just has that impact. It's very cathartic. It makes me feel fortunate that I am able to experience those notes - as we all know how there are many people who are not able to sing, or sing in key!
Anyway, I just thought I would get this all out since I have been on such a Joni kick lately. She is such an amazingly talented singer/songwriter. I am just continually blown away by her. I love when that happens. :)
It is said that of the five senses, smell is the sense that triggers a person's memory the most. I do not believe that is true for me. For me, it is sound - music. I can tell you what year and exactly what I was doing/feeling simply from hearing a song. I can get a mental image, a clear and concise flash of the moment I was in. As far back as my memory takes me - there is music there to trigger it.
When I am in the car, pretty much anytime I turn Sirius to "90's on 9" I have a blast. Every song that comes on evokes a different memory for me - school dances, jr high, summertime, crushes, high school, friends...it's like hopping into a time machine, I love the nostalgia.
By far the most vivid music based memories I have are related to major trips that I have taken. My first trip to Italy and Sicily when I was 12 was dominated by Guns n' Roses. "The Spaghetti Incident" had just come out and I remember going to a record store just outside of the Trevi Fountain to purchase it. There was also Nirvana, who was in Rome promoting their last studio album "In Utero."
My next trip to Italy and Sicily when I was 14 was mostly a soundtrack of The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's to be exact. With a little Sam Black Church and Tree mixed in here and there (random, I know). There was also an Italian club mix that reminds me of hanging out with my cousins down by the beach - "The Summer is Crazy" and the hilarious Italian rap song "Tranqi Funky."
My last trip to Italy was mostly a Tori Amos soundtrack - " To Venus and Back". Listening to any song off that album immediately reminds me of rolling Italian country side as seen from my window on the tour bus.
Las Vegas reminds me of TOOL. Mexico reminds me of a different Tori Amos album - "From the Choirgirl Hotel." And my very first trip to Key West reminds me of Pink Floyd, especially "Us and Them."
So, as you can see, the soundtrack to a trip is very important (for me, anyway). With that in mind, I have been planning what music I want to listen to on this upcoming voyage. I know there will be various Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree, since I have been infatuated with Steven Wilson and his music for a while now. I know there will be Pink Floyd, Beatles and TOOL.
I have been thinking of what other music will make the cut for this trip, but haven't completely decided on any other artists, yet.
I can't wait to add some musical memories on my fourth trip to Europe!
