Alanis Unplugged - Alanis Morissette

It would be really surprising if one hasn't come across one of her songs before - Ironic, Hand in my Pocket, You Oughta know... etc are some of the most popular ones. This album as the title tells contains the unplugged versions of her best songs and simply put they are just brilliant!

The music and singing apart, whats really the captivating part is the Lyrics. The songs in this album are one of the best examples for some solid song writing! I always liked this album, but i appreciated it so much more only recently when I was in this weird mood and could so closely empathize with the songs. Guess, thats what actually makes a gr8 song, when you can get the listener to empathize with it.

These R the thoughts -

"These are the thoughts that go through my head

In my backyard on a sunday afternoon

When I have the house to myself and I am not

Expending all that energy on fighting with my boyfriend

Is he the one that I will marry?

Why is it so hard to be objective about myself?

Why do I feel cellularly alone?

Am I supposed to live in this crazy city?

Can blindly continued fear-induced regurgitated

Life- denying tradition be overcome?

Where does the money go that I send to those in need?

If we have so much why do some people have nothing still?

Why do I feel frantic when I first wake up in the morning?

Why do you say you are spiritual

Yet you treat people like shit?

How can you say youre close to god

And yet you talk behind my back as though I am not

A part of you?

Why do I say Im fine

When its obvious Im not?

Whys it so hard to tell you what I want?

Why cant you just read my mind?

Why do I fear that the quieter I am the less you will listen?

Why do I care whether you like me or not?

Why is it so hard for me to be angry?

Why is it such work to stay conscious and so easy to get stuck

And not the other way around?

Will I ever move back to canada?

Can I be with a lover with whom I am a student and a master?

Why am I encouraged to shut my mouth

When it gets too close to home?

Why cannot I live in the moment?"

Verdict: A definite must-have in your collection!

Tool

I'm sure Tool is quite popular in the knowledgeable circles, but when this song popped up on my playlist the other day, I couldn't get it out of my mind.



You gotta love any song that emphatically says "Fuck Hubbard"!

Fuck L Ron Hubbard and
Fuck all his clones.
Fuck all those gun-toting
Hip gangster wannabes.

Learn to swim.

Fuck retro anything.
Fuck your tattoos.
Fuck all you junkies and
Fuck your short memory.

Learn to swim.

Fuck smiley glad-hands
With hidden agendas.
Fuck these dysfunctional,
Insecure actresses.

Dilate - Ani DiFranco

The first time I came across Ani DiFranco was through madcap's Last.fm charts some two years back. I see 'Napolean' still tops his 'Top Tracks', so anyways on asking who is she, he asked me to listen to 'Dilate', but somehow i was never able to get that album, until last year when i went to US. That time i remember listening to 'Napolean' and falling in love with it but somehow never listened to the entire album.

The first time i 'Listened' to it was probably a few months back. But somehow never got around to blogging about it. Well today again was listening to it after a long time and heard so many things which i didn't remember hearing before. You know thats the weird thing, you have to be in certain moods to totally appreciate certain music. Beauty of a sad song may be totally lost or i may not be able to appreciate it as much, say if 'm in a gay mood. And your impressions 'n interpretations of the song to a great extent depends on your current state of mind. Well, anyways what the hell 'm i doing stating the obvious stuff.

Coming back, 'Dilate' is a brilliant "album". Notice the album in quotes? just to emphasize that all the songs in the record are good and not just one or two, in which case they may just have been released as singles. Darn i do keep shooting off on tangents. Anyways if you haven't listened to Ani DiFranco before, you should defi start with this one. She is an amazing artist with lot of guts 'n spunk which is reflected in her songs. For more info, you can check wikipedia as usual. And this time when i went to US, a colleague there who went to college in Buffalo, NY was telling me that his friends were designing/creating her website when in college.

Anyways, coming back to music, Her talking singing style is refreshingly different. It defi doesn't come under the universally likable category, so i can't say you will defi like it, you will have to just go listen and find out for yourself. An album can't be gr8 without some powerful songs, be it either the music or the lyrics. Pretty much all the songs in this album are great, so can't really pick top songs, but generally i think Napolean and Dilate are more popular.

Dilate

Life used to be life-like
Now it's more like showbiz
I wake up in the night
And I don't know where the bathroom is

And I don't know what town I'm in
Or what sky I am under
And I wake up in the darkness and I
Don't have the will anymore to wonder

Everyone has a skeleton
And a closet to keep it in and you're mine
Every song has a you, a you that the singer sings to
And you're it this time, Baby, you're it this time

When I need to wipe my face
I use the back of my hand
And I like to take up space
Just because I can

And I use my dress
To wipe up my drink
I care less and less
What people think

And you are so lame
You always dissapoint me
It's kind of like our running joke
But it's really not funny

And I just want you to live up to
The image of you I create
I see you and I'm so unsatisfied
I see you and I dilate

So I'll walk the plank
And I'll jump with a smile
If I'm gonna go down
I'm gonna do it with style

And you won't see me surrender
You won't hear me confess
'Cuz you've left me with nothing
But I've worked with less

And I learn every room long enough, to make it to the door
And then I hear it click shut behind me
And every key works differently, I forget everytime
And forgetting defines me, That's what defines me

When I say you sucked my brain out
The English translation is I am in love with you
And it is no fun, But I don't use words like love
'Cuz works like that don't matter

But don't look so offended
You know, you should be flattered
And I wake up in the night
In some big hotel bed

And my hands grope for the light
And my hands grope for my head
The world is my oyster, The road is my home
And I know that I'm better off alone

plagiarism

'In interviews promoting Amused to Death, Waters asserted that Andrew Lloyd Webber had plagiarized themes from "Echoes" for sections of the musical The Phantom of the Opera; nevertheless, he decided not to file a lawsuit regarding the matter.

Yeah, the beginning of that bloody Phantom song is from Echoes. *DAAAA-da-da-da-da-da* [sic]. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It's the same time signature - it's 12/8 - and it's the same structure and it's the same notes and it's the same everything. Bastard. It probably is actionable. It really is! But I think that life's too long to bother with suing Andrew fucking Lloyd Webber.[6]

Waters did, however, respond by adding a reference to Webber in the song "It's a Miracle" on the Amused to Death album:

We cower in our shelters, with our hands over our ears
Lloyd Webber's awful stuff runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre, but the operetta lingers
Then the piano lid comes down and breaks his fucking fingers
It's a miracle'

source - wikipedia

Bloc Party

"Silent Alarm" is the first time I've heard Bloc Party and I think they're quite good. Music is energetic all the time without ever getting into the "noisy" zone and the lyrics aren't the worst you will come across either, thoughtful without becoming overly dramatic.

The song that caught my attention was "Helicopter" which many believe is a criticism of American life in general or in particular of George.W.Bush, although the band denies it.

For the last couple of days, I've been tripping on this song "Like eating glass"
Influences are cited as Blur, Smashing pumpkins, Radiohead, Depeche mode etc.

Like eating glass

It's so cold in this house
Open mouth swallowing us
The children sent home from school
Will not stop crying

And I know that you're busy too
I know that you care
You got your finger on the pulse
You got your eyes everywhere
And it hurts all the time when you don't return my calls
And you haven't got the time to remember how it was

It's so cold in this house (2x)

I can't eat, I can't sleep
I can't sleep, I can't dream
An aversion to light
Got a fear of the ocean

Like drinking Poison, like eating glass (3x)
Like drinking Poison, like eating

It's so cold in this house (3x)
It's so cold in this bed

Like drinking Poison, like eating glass (3x)
Like drinking Poison, like eating

Come and show me how it was

We've got crosses on our eyes
Been walking into the walls again
We've got crosses on our eyes
Been walking into the furniture
We've got crosses on our eyes
For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse
We've got crosses on our eyes
We've been walking into the furniture

Knight Of The Blue Communion - Peter Ivers Band

yesterday evening, was going through the albums list in my ipod, looking for something new to listen to, when i came across 'knight of the blue communion', wanting to check out whoz the artist, i went ahead. And the 1st note of the 1st track got me hooked. The last time i remember that happening was when i first listened to 'White Rabbit'. Incidentally both the songs are carried by some tremendous female vocals.

So, after listening to the entire album, couldn't wait to find out more about this brilliant band. But unfortunately google doesn't give much information. Looks like this was one of those brilliant one-off works, that happened by coming together of some amazing people, and it just clicked. While googling i found out that a certain 'Asha puthli' sang a couple of songs for this band. Imagine a famous singer with my name, well almost... :D Anyways the female vocalist i was talking about was not her, though even she is also brilliant, its 'Yolande Bavan', she is just freaking brilliant. Listen to 'scratch cat fever' or any other song in the album.

As far as the album, there is no comparable. It reminds me of a fair...all eccentric, wonderful, weird stuff coming together to make one heady experience. Blues,rock,psychedelia,classical,jazz,world music....it has everything. All i can say is listening to this album, is a trip unlike any other.

Goodbye and Hello - Tim Buckley

Just realized when i typed out da above words - 'Goodbye and Hello'.....so apt to my life right now, in so many ways.... bitter-sweet, thts what it is... hmm...though it can be 'sweet-sweet' or 'bitter-bitter' as well depending on situations...
yea i know da above sentence was bad...'n dont think this is the blog 4 such stuff neway...
So, coming back to 'Goodbye and Hello', yes its this brilliant album by Tim Buckley. Kinda re-discovered it on my ipod yesterday. Tim Buckley was highly recommended to me by one of my friends and i would do just the same now :)



Its one of the best psychedelic albums 've listened to. But psychedelic is just one of the sounds in the entire album. The album is much more. than that, the outstanding part is of course Tim Buckley's singing. And lyrics is like poetry... just checkout 'Goodbye & Hello' or 'No Man Can Find The War', and you will know what i mean...and that too coupled with his singing...its just amazing...
My Fave songs.....hmm...will probably be 'Hallucinations','Goodbye & Hello' 'n 'Once i Was'...

Once I Was

Once I was a soldier
And I fought on foreign sands for you
Once I was a hunter
And I brought home fresh meat for you
Once I was a lover
And I searched behind your eyes for you
And soon therell be another
To tell you I was just a lie

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me

And though you have forgotten
All of our rubbish dreams
I find myself searching
Through the ashes of our ruins
For the days when we smiled
And the hours that ran wild
With the magic of our eyes
And the silence of our words

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me