Happy Songs Sell Records

Today we're gonna go way, way back to 2007.

I'd been meaning to pick your ears about a couple of reissues from last year that I figgered deserved a little more attention than some other more highly profiled second acts. Thought I'd take the time now, before heading back to the hills for that old timey stuff we all love and cherish.

So, outside of the lavishly, and deservedly, discussed Miles Davis "The Complete On The Corner Sessions" Box Set, these are my fave rave reissues from 2007.

Betty Davis: "Betty Davis" and "They Say I'm Different"

Jim Ford: "The Sounds of Our Time"

Jim Ford died in November of last year. It's a damn shame, as Bear Family had just released the collection "The Sounds Of Our Time". The collection contains his lone, classic (perfect?) album "Harlan County" and a slew of previously uncollected singles and unreleased tunes. I wrote about "Harlan County" way back in the day here.

Ford was a master songwriter, and Country Soul vocalist. He counted Sly Stone among his closest friends, and influenced everyone from Nick Lowe and Dan Penn, to The Drive By Truckers.

Here's what the Bear Family website has to say about the record:

"'Harlan County' inhabits the same territory as 'From Elvis In Memphis' or Dan Penn's 'Nobody's Fool,' and his record was every bit their equal. It occupies the land where R&B meets country, Memphis and Nashville meet Louisiana, and the Mississippi Delta meets Appalachia. Jim Ford blended the ingredients in a way that had never, and would never, be done again."

Yep. All true. Country Soul at it's very finest. It's a lost classic that deserves much wider recognition.

The first two songs below are from "Harlan County" proper. The last two are from the "unreleased/uncollected singles" portion of the record. The song "Happy Songs Sell Records..." is hardly representative of Ford's sound or genius, but it makes us smile. If you download only four songs from The Mountain this year, make it these.

Jim Ford: Harlan County (mp3)

Jim Ford: Working My Way To LA (mp3)

Jim Ford: She Turns My Radio On (mp3)

Jim Ford: Happy Songs Sell Records, Sad Songs Sell Beer (mp3)




Betty Davis is nasty. Completely filthy. The former Mrs. Miles Davis (she kept his last name, though only married for a little over a year) made some of the sleaziest, greasiest soulfunk records of the early 70's, full of blatant, almost pornographic sexuality and a commanding feminism that surely shocked some listeners at the time of their release. Lucky for us, Light In The Attic Records has rescued those first two records ("Betty Davis" and "They Say I'm Different") from the dustbin of obscurity.

Featuring songs with titles like "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up", "He Was A Big Freak", and "Don't Call Her No Tramp", Davis purrs, hollers, and wails her way through rubber-banded wah-wah grooves, and slimy bass thump, making Grace Jones look and sound like a little kitten. They're records for a night on the town. The kind of night where you finally draw up the courage to walk into that club without a name, behind heavy doors. You're not sure what's behind those doors, but the people going in sure are interesting to look at, and a little bit scary. Once your inside, it's the best night of your life, but you'll never be able to talk about it in decent company.

Betty Davis: Don't Call Her No Tramp (mp3)

Betty Davis: Game Is My Middle Name (mp3)


Please support your local, independent jukejoints and dance clubs.

Mining For Gold

First, please accept our apologies for the random changes in the appearance of this site over the next few weeks. I'm trying to make it more interesting to look at, but since I am woefully ignorant of web design, things could get a little funky looking for awhile, while I tutorial myself through various issues. Any missing links will be shortly fixed, also.

Now.

I promised last week I wanted to pay tribute to what I consider one of the few "perfect" albums ever made. Everyone, of course, has an opinion on what makes a "perfect" album, and everyone, I'm sure, has at least one or two records that they consider essential, if not perfect. I wouldn't pretend to have the inside track on what constitutes a perfect album for all ears, but, you know, I know what I like. (Feel free to insert any other cliches that spring to mind). For me, I have a small handful of records, maybe 10, I'd consider perfect (Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours" to name but two), and about a thousand or so "essential" records that fall just short of perfect (REM's "Automatic For The People", for example, could have been perfect if not for the abysmal and abysmally placed "Ignoreland"). There's no point in boring all y'all with the specific criteria as to what I think constitutes a perfect album (filler ratio, sequencing, etc.), since we live in an individually subjective world, but I'll tell you why the following album is.

The Trinity Sessions by The Cowboy Junkies.

20 years ago, The Cowboy Junkies released "The Trinity Sessions", an album recorded into a single microphone at the Gothic Church Of The Holy Trinity, in Toronto. I was well into my punk and college rock years, scoffing at anything that sounded remotely country (with the exception of Hank Williams, 'cause he was, you know, kind of punk rock in his own way). But the reviews of the album were intriguing, there was a cover version of the holy "Sweet Jane", and their name had a certain cachet that interested my wannabe hipster high-school self. So, what the hell, right? I'd give it a try. In the space of a year I wore out three cassettes of the album before investing in a copy on that newfangled technology, the CD.

Most of the damage caused to those three cassettes was in the shitty tape deck of my '72 Chevy Nova, rambling aimlessly through the country roads of middle Ohio in the dead of night.

It's that kind of album. Spare and intimate, hushed and built for radio static, the angelic and sleepy voice of Margo Timmins. And I'm obsessed with voices, not the "perfect" voice, but the voice that sounds the most human, or contains the most humanity. Margo Timmins is both, and she melted my teenage heart, sad, sultry, and sublime. The band, and ancillaries, hovering around the mic, you can picture it, with the lonesome accordion, the muted, solitary harmonica, and the 2 A.M. canyon echo of pedal steel, breathing a heartbeat of enclosed space ("Mining For Gold") and the freedom of open roads ("200 More Miles"). Music to fall in love to and with ("Dreaming My Dreams With You"), and music to be alone to. And with.

There is not a wasted note, breath, or vocal intonation on The Trinity Sessions. Every song belongs, and flows naturally into the next, even "Sweet Jane", reimagined as a lament ("heavenly wine and roses seem to whisper to me when you smile"). The acoustics of recording in a cathedral add to the late nite vibe, the (into the) mystic hovering like a sweet perfume over the proceedings, blessed and cursed by the things not seen, not known, and not explained.

What's striking is how well the album holds up 20 years later. It's timeless. It could have been produced by Owen Bradley in the 1950's, could have come down from the Appalachian Mountains in the 1920's, could have passed from generation to generation for hundreds of years from Europe to the Americas and back. It's still my go-to album in the still of night ("Blue Moon Revisited" indeed), whiskey in hand, the lights off, and only the sound of the crickets, the scattered cars on the street, and the Cowboy Junkies to keep me company. Perfection.

What's your perfect album?

I couldn't choose a favorite song from The Trinity Sessions. Below are three tunes that struck me most immediately at the moment I had to upload them onto my server. Five more minutes and I would have offered up three separate tunes. Do yourself a favor. If you don't already own the album, pick it up. If you already do, dust it off and give it another spin. You deserve it.

Cowboy Junkies: 200 More Miles (mp3)

Cowboy Junkies: Misguided Angel (mp3)

Cowboy Junkies: Dreaming My Dreams With You (mp3)

Thanks for stopping by. See y'all next time.

Super Tuesday

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting for a quick reminder. Half of all y'all out there in the U.S. of A get to vote today, on Super Duper Monster Tsunami Tuesday. So get up off yer asses already!

See you at the polls.

Vic Chesnutt: Super Tuesday (mp3)

The Staple Singers: Long Walk To D.C. (mp3)

Being in Chicago, I plan on voting at least 4 or 5 times.

Sin and Salvation

Almost missed January. Call it recovery time from the Holidays. Damn, I'm always making excuses for late posting.

Couple of quick hits before the music:

Over at Barstool Mountain, we're back up with a whole vat-full of Wynonie Harris! Grab 'em with a cold one.

Rev Frost is back! Hallelujah!

Special treat for all y'all today, then, in honor of Rev. Frost.

It's often said that all art is the search for god. While that may be true for some forms of artistry, we'd like to think that the good ole devil maintains a stake in the proceedings too. Without sin, where would the salvation be, after all? It's the classic conflict, innit?

Well, we're not exactly theologians here at the Mountain, but we know what we like. A little vice, a little sex, a little sip, a little glory hallelujah. And all shall be well.

So please enjoy the following mix (the first of many?) made especially for...you, sinner and saint.

Next post will a tribute to one of the few perfect albums ever made.

Mp3 link follows track listing.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Sin and Salvation Show Vol. 1

1. Aunt Molly (Billy Emerson)
2. Live The Life (Oblivians w/ Mr. Quintron)
3. Get Behind Me Satan and Push (Bille Jo Spears)
4. Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus) (Blind Roosevelt Graves)
5. Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well (Wynonie Harris)
6. When The Saints Go Marching In (Papa Lightfoot)
7. Whiskey Heaven (Fats Domino)
8. Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (Leonard Cohen w/ Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg)
9. Take The Devil Out Of Me (George Jones)
10. Slipping and Drinking (Tom House)
11. The Lord Knows I'm Drinking (Cal Smith)
12. Beer Drinking Christians (Bobby Bare and Lacy Dalton)
13. Didn't It Rain (Evelyn Freeman)
14. Down To The River To Pray (BigRock mix) (Alison Krauss)
15. Tight Like That (Little Axe)
16. It Must Have Been The Devil (Otis Spann)
17. Devil Do (Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs)
18. Wrestling With Satan (Lightning Beat-Man)
19. The Devil Gets His Due (Loretta Lynn)
20. Date To Church (Replacements w/ Tom Waits)
21. I'm Gonna Move In The Room Upstairs (Rev. Louis Overstreet)
22. Oh Happy Day (The Edwin Hawkins Singers)

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Sin and Salvation Show (mp3)

Please support your local den of iniquity on Saturday and your local house of holiness on Sunday.

I'm Bound To Leave This Dark Behind

Happy New Year's Eve!

We're finishing up the Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 Albums of 2007 today. Wednesday, we'll list our favorite re-issues. Then it'll be back to "normal" round these parts.

Here ya go. 4 great albums (2 at #2 and 2 at #1)

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 (ish) Albums of 2007, Part 4


2. Mary Weiss: Dangerous Game

Weiss was the voice behind the best songs of The Shangri-Las. In a perfect world, that would be all you need to know. But, wait, there's more. The album was produced by Greg (Oblivian) Cartwright, and her backing band on this Norton release is Cartwright's own The Reigning Sound. Earlier this year we wrote about this album. Here's what we said:

Weiss has a voice that makes good boys squirm and nice girls say their prayers. It's been places you can only dream about, and there's kerosene in those pipes. She's still pissed, still been done wrong, and still not willing to sit back and take it. She's got what some would call an attitude problem. And we like it. Teenage riot in the adult world.

The Reigning Sound provide the perfect backdrop for Weiss' vocals. With Cartwright writing the bulk of the songs, the band layers on with organ drenched, tambourine shaking, rocknrollgaragepop. It's almost sunny, a perfect summer album for the newly broken-up and lovelorn, with a noirish heartbeat. It's as if the past 40 years were compressed, and Weiss picks up right where she left off, all rebellion and shimmering chrome.


Mary Weiss: Cry About The Radio (mp3)

Mary Weiss: Heaven Only Knows (mp3)




2. Bettye LaVette: The Scene Of The Crime

Bettye LaVette's history and troubles with the music industry are well documented. She's been wronged, fucked over, and neglected for decades. But she's back, with a big middle finger. Few Soul voices resonate with the depth of LaVette's, a lived-in, club-tested powerhouse of hurt and defiance.

The Drive-By Truckers, of all bands, provide the backing on this record, with production by the Truckers' Patterson Hood. What seems like a horrendously bad idea turns out to be a genuine masterstroke. The Truckers leave behind the Southern rock to turn in a gloriously funky and slinky take on the Muscle Shoals sound, the "scene of the crime" referenced by the album's title. Better yet is the god-kissed electric piano work of the legendary Spooner Oldham, who imbues the proceedings with the very heart of Soul.

The real star, of course, amidst all the goings-on is LaVette, who howls, growls, and purrs her way through these songs of life and redemption.

Bettye LaVette: Before The Money Came (mp3)

Bettye LaVette: I Guess We Shouldn't Talk About That Now (mp3)




1. Porter Wagoner: Wagonmaster

Porter died this year. Between the losses of Wagoner and Hank Thompson, Country and Western's star grew a little dimmer.

What stings most about Wagoner is that he was back, and back in a big way, gifting us with the best Country album of the year.

Produced with love by Marty Stuart, "Wagonmaster" swung wide the honky-tonk gates, unleashing an Okie jamboree of hillbilly goodness. All the usual suspects are present: Rubber Room-style madness, cheating, loving, road trips, instrumental breakdowns and vocal hoe-downs, peculiar neighborhood characters, gettin' above your raisin', god and the devil. And death.

Wagoner's voice is slightly more fragile than memory serves, but his rich timbre finds a way through, and his phrasing is as impeccable as ever.

Before his death Wagoner gave us the greatest gift of all, a perfect honky-tonk record, a rarity in this day and age. Like last year's Mountain favorite, James Hand, Wagoner takes the whippersnappers and the pretenders out to the woodshed and lays on some heavy learnin' to their backsides.

Porter Wagoner: Be A Little Quieter (mp3)

Porter Wagoner: My Many Hurried Southern Trips (mp3)




1. Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying

And then, at last, is Miss Golightly, with our very favorite album of the year. Here's what we wrote when the album came out, lo these many months ago:

Golightly has always flirted with a little neo-noir Country styling, and this record seems inevitable. It's a sepia-filtered affair, drawn from a Southern Gothic that could only be imagined by a girl from a faraway land. Creaky and rattling, the tunes play from the back of a wagon, straw and hayseed clogging the amps. It's an eerie backwoods-styled album full of bad men and badder women, demons, devils, guns, and medicine water. And it features my song of the year, "Devil Do".

That pretty much sums it up, and finishes up our year.


Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Devil Do (mp3)

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Crow Jane (mp3)

Thanks for sticking with us this year, through the drinking songs and site hijackings, and whatnot. We'll try to do better next year.

There Ain't No Dark 'Til Something Shines

Welcome. It's day three of The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 (plus 10) Albums of 2007. Man, that's a wordy headline.

We've got two of our three favorite songs of the year buried in the following post. We'll try to draw them to your attention.

It's "old-timers" day today. Plus one "troubled" young'un. And a couple of guys who never went away. And two women who never stopped kicking ass, who've worked the clubs and the circuits and pulled every last drop of sweat from their audiences. Actually, it's not "old-timers" day at all.

It's a lot of Soul, Rhythm, Blues, and Ranting. Right when I had just about given up on Soul'n'R'n'B as a lost art now controlled by a clutch of hack, warbling divas with no chops, no voices, no melody, no soul, just boobs and a video, we had a year in which two ladies, and a, ermmm, "troubled" young'un, laid down and/or reclaimed the gauntlet, reminding us what it's really all about, and what it always has been.

But first, couple of cranky old men.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 (or 20) Albums of 2007, Part 3


4. Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire: Punk Rock At The British Legion Hall

Well, it's Billy Childish again, innit? Last year we bid goodbye to his Buff Medways combo, and this year we welcome in his new band, The Musicians Of The British Empire. There are few constants in the rock'n'roll landscape, change and "maturation" being the usual path followed by bands or artists who manage to last longer than a record or two. Childish hasn't "changed" in the last 30 years. Even more remarkable than the number years he's been at this, are the following statistics culled from the interwebs: 40 collections of poetry...4 novels...more than 100 full-length independent LPs...more than 2,500 paintings. And god knows how many singles and E.P.'s, and how many records he's produced or played on. The very definition of the modern auteur.

On his latest album, "Punk Rock At The British Legion Hall", his best in some years, Billy's more pissed off than usual, and that's saying something. Louder, faster, and more out of control, full of piss and vinegar, Childish leads the Musicians...through a glorious bluespunk trashfest, spitting vitriol and wry Childish-isms into the wind. It's a lesson to young set about who did it first, and did it best. Of particular note is "Bugger The Buffs", one of our Top 3 Songs Of The Year. It's a smackdown to the pretenders, with one particular red and white clad superstar getting his long due comeuppance from the master. If for some inexplicable reason you don't own a Childish album (Headcoats, Pop Rivets, Mighty Caesars, Buff Medways...on and on...), this is a great introduction. If you have any interest in music whatsoever, this is essential.


Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire: Bugger The Buffs (mp3)

Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire: Joe Strummer's Grave(mp3)


4. Von Sudenfed: Tromatic Reflexxions

Did we mention cranky old men? They don't get much crankier than Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Like Billy Childish, Smith has plied his unique brand of ranting and raving over too many years and too many albums to sanely keep count of. And as with Childish, there's no such thing as a "bad" Fall or Mark E. Smith album. Some are better than others, sure, but even a bad Fall album is better than most folk's best.

As Von Sudenfed, Smith teams up with electronic tricksters Mouse On Mars (wait, come back). It's a pairing that makes sense, in actuality. Smith has always had a dub and drone fixation, and with Mouse On Mars, he finds oddly fellow travelers. Laying down a sonic texture that includes disco(!), dubstep, noisy throbs, and straight up droney twiddling, Mouse on Mars create a sonic template that perfectly suits Smith's ranting delivery. Smith himself is in fine form, his "lyrics" as obtuse as ever, his ragged, soused voice playing in and out of the bed of rhythms, cajoling and threatening. It's like a Fall album you can dance to, albeit in a strange, herky jerky kind of way.

Von Sudenfed: That Sound Wiped (mp3)

Von Sudenfed: Dearest Friends (mp3)


3. Mavis Staples: We'll Never Turn Back

Mavis! Sweet Jesus! I've never made it an especially well-guarded secret that Mavis does things to me. As far as we're concerned she has the voice, the smoky soul of Soul. The rhythm of life, the essence of why we wake in the morning. If there is a god, his/her/its greatest creation was the voice of Mavis Staples. And we'll "... stand on Aretha Franklin's coffee table in our cowboy boots and say that" (paraphrased). We'll go tell it on the mountain, if necessary.

Enough fanboy gushing. What about the record?

Never forget that the Staples Singers were also, among their many accomplishments, a protest group. Along with Pops Staples' genius guitar playing, it was Mavis who carried the emotional weight of the group. And on her new record, "We'll Never Turn Back", Staples revisits classic songs of the Civil Rights and Protest era, and pulls them into a modern context. It's not a "political" album, but a "personal political" record. Mavis surveys the world around her, and reacts. In the only way she knows how. With her voice. Ry Cooder's production surrounds Staples with tribal rhythm and guests galore, but, naturally, it's Staples phrasing and considerable interpretation that shines above the proceedings.

It's a moving album, and, make no mistake, Staples has lived these songs. We're living these songs. She surveys the world around her, and finds solace in the communal nature of the song to transport us to a better place. She'll take us there. Indeed.

"We Shall Not Be Moved" is one of our Top 3 Songs of The Year.

Mavis Staples: Jesus Is On The Main Line (mp3)

Mavis Staples: We Shall Not Be Moved (mp3)


3. Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

Stop it. Just stop right there. We don't care about the tabloids. Hell, look at some of favorite artists here at the Mountain (Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan, Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Howlin' Wolf, Billy Childish,, etc., etc., and on and on). Each and every one of them has had, or still has, "issues" with "substances" and bad behavior. We do not give a fuck what People or US or the Daily Mirror has to say about it. We don't care what she's taking, or who she's sleeping or fighting with. What we want to know is, how does the record sound?

"Back In Black" is terrific. More than any other album by a "new" artist, it renewed our faith in Soul music, in the ability to create a record in this day and age that "still gets it", whatever it is.

Maybe Ms. Winehouse will never make a decent record again. Who knows? Who cares? We've got "Back In Black" right next to "Dusty In Memphis" on the rack, ready to be played again and again. And the sneering indie hipsters can go fuck themselves, and go back to their, ahem, "genuine" Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah records. Their loss.

There's really nothing more we can say about the album that hasn't been covered ad nauseum elsewhere. Just enjoy it. It's pretty spiffy.

Amy Winehouse: You Know I'm No Good (mp3)



3. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights

Oh my. There's a reason Amy Winehouse borrowed the Dap Kings for "Back In Black". If they're not the best combo out they're playing, laying down the sweetest grooves and grooviest rhythms, I'll eat my fedora. Like Booker T and the MG's, who they've oft been deservedly compared to, this band knows how to swing. They also know how to pull back and let the star take her turn.

That star, of course, is Sharon Jones. Forged in the fires of the clubs and the jukejoints, the dives and the showcases, Jones has worked. And she has the chops and pipes to prove it. And what pipes! Devoid of marketing machinations and pop machinery, Jones' voice is the raw funk and soul that dreams are made on. A slinky shout factory of insinuation and desperation, Jones swings, jives, cajoles, pleads, and demands your attention. It's a record that could only be made from experience. The road, the gig, the long hard slog to revelation. It's the party album of the year.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Be Easy (mp3)

We haven't forgotten the Country. Stop back on Monday, New Year's Eve, for our final part of our Top 10 Albums of 2007.

Feelin' Full Of Foolish Rhyme

After the eternal, rambling post from yesterday, let's keep it brief today. How does that sound?

We're counting down The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 Albums of 2007. Part 2 today. You'd be forgiven if you happened to notice that, in some cases, there are more than one album sharing the same ranking. You're not crazy, we just can't count here at the Mountain. We were English majors, not Math majors. Oh, and the groupings may or may not have some sort of stylistic similarities.

Onward and upward.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 (or so) Albums of 2007, Part 2

7. The Cave Singers: Invitation Songs

A lovely album. Fireside melodies, muted, and murmured over the sparest of instrumentation. It's not a folk album (and certainly not a, ugh, freak folk record), but something older and darker. Made by some young indie whippersnappers. The songs wonder and wander about, like a reel by the graveside, sad and joyous, a Wake, waking sleepy to a cloudy day of loss and rediscovery. Small and mighty.

The Cave Singers: Seeds Of Night (mp3)



6. King Khan and His Shrines: What Is?
6. Mark Sultan: The Sultanic Verses
6. Harlan T. Bobo: I'm Your Man
6. King Louie and the Loose Diamonds: Memphis Treet

Rawk'n'Roll.

Remember that? Not the bombast and emotionally taxing rock we get now, but the dirty, greasy, 3-minute songs about fucking, drinking, and fighting that bands like the Stones perfected, once upon a time, and a million stadium tours ago. And it had soul. Well, rock's not dead, and never has been. It just went back to the sweaty dive bars and regional labels that feed it's frenzy. It's everywhere PBR is sold for a buck-twenty-five. And just a shot away.

One could make an argument that bands like The Gories (Detroit) and the Oblivians (Memphis) were some of the most important saviors of rawk as god intended it. It's the Oblivians influence we're most concerned with today.

Hang on, cuz this gets tricky.


Mark Sultan goes by a variety of guises and "band names". He most famously, now, records under the moniker BBQ. As BBQ, Sultan has released two albums with King Khan (The King Khan and BBQ Show, to be exact). Their first, self-titled collaboration was originally put out by Memphis label Goner Records, which is run by Eric Friedl, better known as Eric Oblivian of, well, The Oblivians. The new Harlan T. Bobo album is on Goner Records. And Harlan T. Bobo plays bass and lap steel on the new record by fellow Memphis resident, King Louie and the Loose Diamonds which also features, wait for it, Jack Oblivian on drums tamborine.

Phew. And that's just a rough sketch.

So, why should you care about these 4 albums? What earns them their place in the Mountain's Top 10, outside of some bizarre six degrees of separation? Well, in the first place, these records kick ass. Not subtle, but true. They're maraca-shaking, tambourine-jangling, snare snapping, dirty boogie woogie, greasy, pig-hollerin', Country snarl, three chords and the truth slabs of rawk genius. And these guys might all be slightly mad.

King Khan brings boogaloo, voodoo, sex-obsessed soul'n'shake to the proceedings. Mark Sultan takes his one-man-band to new heights of trashy frenzy. King Louie rides a Memphis train straight to the dumpster. And Harlan T. Bobo? Harlan's had his heart broken, but he's fine. He'd just like to tell you about it.

You need these.

King Khan and His Shrines: Let Me Holler (mp3)

Mark Sultan: Beautiful Girl (mp3)

Harlan T. Bobo: So Bad (mp3)

King Louie and the Loose Diamonds: Gypsy Switch (mp3)


5. The Cakekitchen: Stories For Late At Night

There's something about the cluster of islands that make up New Zealand that breeds great music: The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, Chris Knox solo, The Smoke, Straightjacket Fits, The Bats, etc. to name just a few of the more recognizable groups to represent their country's recent recorded history. I've often referred to many New Zealand bands as having an Autumnal feel, an almost melancholic sense underlying the the jangles and drones they produce so well. Since the late-80's, Graeme Jefferies has been leading his "band" The Cakekitchen (essentially Jefferies plus guests who have included Hamish Kilgour and Alastair Galbraith) through an even more pastoral brand of New Zealand pop, to brilliant effect. On the aptly named "Stories For Late At Night", Jefferies weaves a dreamy, pastoral bedsit cycle of midnight observation and regret. It's an album for keeping the wind at the door, and a bottle of wine on the table.

The Cakekitchen: Another Dumb Mistake (mp3)



5. The Clientele: God Save The Clientele

We do, too, listen to indie pop, contrary to popular belief. The Clientele's new album is very much a piece with the aforementioned Cakekitchen's "Stories For Late At Night", in that it's not an album for "your fucking sunny day". The Clientele evoke rainy London streets and tea in bed. Shimmering and translucent, their fragile melodies swirl in minor key beauty. This album was recorded in Nashville, of all places, by Lambchop's Mark Nevers, who adds violin and pedal steel to the mix, creating a Country and Western album by way of a twee English pub. Autumn into Winter, an album for window gazing.

The Clientele: These Days Nothing But Sunshine (mp3)

To be continued on Friday. Mmmm hmmm.

Chained Upon The Face Of Time

Howdy! Hope your Holiday went well. Ours went especially swell, as Mrs. Mountain presented us with a present that is not only a gift to us, but to you as well. It's a device that's going to significantly expand the breadth and scope of keen tunes we can share with you. More on that down the line.

But now, welcome to the first part of world renowned Big Rock Candy Mountain Top 10 Albums of The Year. Over the next four days, we've got the 18-19 albums that made our Top 10, our favorite reissues, ummm...favorite television program, plus a bunch of other crap. How fun! Really, could it get any better than this?

Normally at this point I'd give some kind of year-end rant about how everything sucked this year, and rail against the record companies and marketing campaigns and PR-purchased music magazines, or some other nonsense. We're a bit curmudgeonly here at the Mountain. But I'm not going to do that this year. The whole pretending towards the "good old days" of music is more than a little disingenuous. Popular music, and the marketing and homogenizing thereof, has always existed, and for every Britney Spears and American Idol now, folks had to endure a "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" back in the "golden age". We're not so removed, we just have more cameras. A great tune, or album, has a way of persevering, perhaps hovering in a dark corner of your weird uncle's record collection, or in some vault of some obscure regional recording company, just waiting to be discovered. And shared. Perhaps by, oh, I dunno, some blogger on the world wide internets.

I realize that for the past 5 years or so, someone has proclaimed each year the Year Of The Blogger, or some sort proclamation similar. But this year it seemed, more than ever, that a slew of sites popped up that were more interested in sharing records and tunes from the farthest dusty corners of recorded history, than in posting the latest band or artist of the moment. Cultural preservation vs. cultural hubris? Populist vs. Popular?

Several "cultural critics" sniffed recently that music blogging, particularly the types who posted full, long out of print, and virtually public domain albums, were killing the long-cherished record-bin collecting trend. Several problems with that argument: The Internet has never stopped me from going to the record store; It assumes that everyone has access to the coolest record store, with all that prime obscure vinyl (whatever that is); And it contextualizes a record as a thing to own, not a thing to enjoy, to play for friends, whether they be in your home or part of more disparate worldwide community. And music has always, ultimately, been about the shared experience, barring the occasional late-night drinking song. Everyone benefits from those sites that say, hey, if you like Nirvana, try the Sonics (and this other record of forgotten garage punk), if you like Steve Earle, try Townes Van Zandt (and this other collection of old Hillbilly music), if you like John Legend, how about giving Stevie Wonder a try (and while you're at it, here's a scratchy collection of pre-rock Rhythm and Blues). And on the other side, since great new music is still be made, despite what the naysayers would have you believe, bloggers are bringing new sounds, stripped of marketing, to ears that might never have the chance to hear. Sure, there's a lot of crap to sift through, but there's a lot of crap to sift through at the grocery store and the record shop, but people still manage to find something they're looking for.

All of this merely to say, we're pretty excited about the state of music nowadays. The Music Industry may be in trouble, but fans aren't. Maybe we won't ever have another cultural unifier like "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Let It Be" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as I argued a year or two ago. Maybe we will. Who knows? I was wrong in my argument to suggest that that was a bad thing. Whether you like songs about umbrellas, rehab, faeries or pickup trucks, you've got more choice than ever. And we think, in the words of our favorite convicted criminal, that it's a good thing.

So, as promised, here's the first part of our Top Ten List. There are 20 records that made our list (hence the repetitive numbering) because we couldn't make up our minds. They may not be the "best" albums of the year, we're not qualified or psychic enough to make that far-reaching decision. But they're albums we thought were pretty swell, and listened to the most. Maybe you'll like them too.

10. Steve Earle: Washington Square Serenade

Steve sounds...happy. It's strange to hear Earle make a happy record. My initial thought was that I was going to hate this album, Earle's best previous albums being led by some kind of existential dissatisfaction with the world, himself, his addictions, the government, or the state of Nashville. But with this album, Earle comes out swinging, not at the world, but with it. He's obviously digging New York and his new wife, Allison Moorer, a great artist in her own right, who adds angelic vocals behind Earle's rough-hewn coal-into-diamonds voice. It's a city record through the eyes of a (jaded, to be fair) country boy. A love letter, to a woman and a town, that takes Earle on a whole new direction, at a time when he could have spun his wheels. We're intrigued where he's gonna go next.

Steve Earle: Down Here Below (mp3)


10. Josh Ritter: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Caveat: Josh Ritter's best record was "The Golden Age Of Radio". Go buy or download it now. It's flawless. Caveat: Singer-Songwriter albums make us tired and irritable. Caveat: This is a great E.P., not a great album. But it's one fucking hell of a great E.P. Working through his Dylan and Cohen obsessions, Ritter finds his own voice in the minutiae. His fascination with the animal kingdom is lessened, but in it's place is a more straightforward take on the human. The Americana elements are, likewise, pushed back, removing the album from the road and placing it on the back porch. Ritter's voice is the kind of sleepy voice you hear in the twilight, honeyed with a rye-whiskey edge.

Josh Ritter: To The Dogs Or Whoever (mp3)



9. Son Volt: The Search

S'funny. When Uncle Tupelo broke up, I followed Wilco. Sure, I bought the first couple of Son Volt albums, and "Trace", in retrospect, was a classic. But I was initially drawn to Wilco's "A.M." and, particularly, "Being There". Time and influence have a way of changing things, though, and the more Jeff Tweedy's band moved into Beach Boys territory and fiddly sound experiments, the more I began seeking out Jay Farrar's warmer, sand-blasted voice and tunes. Perhaps I was merely a victim of nostalgia. On his second album back with the "reformed" Son Volt, Farrar makes his best record since "Trace". "The Search" is just that, with Farrar taking his gravel road voice through the heart of America, in all it's ugliness and beauty. Lyrics are still as obtuse as ever, suggesting something you can almost touch, but frustratingly out of reach. Musically, the band speeds through Stones-ish raveups and pedals through canyon-sized atmospherics. And in "Adrenaline and Heresy", Farrar creates his most heartbreaking song yet.

Son Volt: The Picture (mp3)

Son Volt: Highway and Cigarettes (mp3)



8. Jim Mize: Release It To The Sky

And then there's the bar band guy. And, gee whiz, it's a Fat Possum album in our Top 10. Actually, this is less shocking than one might imagine, considering how far afield the label has gone from it's original modus operandi. Mize is a beer-drinking juke and VFW honed singer and musician in the vein of other Mountain favorites like Seasick Steve, Tom House, Cast King, and James Hand. He's been in the trenches too long to be pretty. Ostensibly, Mize is a blues singer, minus the guitar solos and throaty wails. He's taking you to a darker place, a wellspring of down and out beyond the cliches of the genre. His voice has a cracked weariness that matches his neon-lit, southern observations. A dark album that rocks, taking you to closing time with a shot glass and loneliness.


Jim Mize: Acadian Lullaby (mp3)

Stop back tomorrow for more of our Top Ten. Yep.

Wrapping Up Christmas

We made it! It's Christmas Eve (or Shane Macgowan Eve, since we've never met a joke we couldn't drive into the ground...but hey, the man's birthday is on December 25th)! We're not done yet, of course, as we'll finish out the year with our Top Ten lists and sumsuch, starting the day after Christmas.

Below you'll find our final Christmas Mix of the year. It's a greatest hits collection of the songs we posted this year, with nifty soundbites.

But first, the greatest Christmas song ever written. I do this every damn year, so it's no surprise. But in these increasingly cynical times, full of fear, manufactured or real, and isolation, where we retreat into our digital facades, and stake our lives on a sound bite, this song seems to take on more relevance to us here at the Mountain with each passing year. The song hopes to hope, and dreams to dream. Between the ragged voice from hell and angelic voice of heaven, the song becomes something human. And in the end, I guess, all we have is each other. I built my dreams around you, indeed.

The Pogues: Fairytale of New York (mp3)

Thanks to all who stopped by for the sleigh ride. Here's wishing you a better day, and days ahead, now matter how you choose to celebrate.

Link to mp3 follows track listing.

A Big Rock Juke'n'Jive Xmas

1.Christmas In The Congo (The Marquees)
2.Xmas Twist (Twistin' Kings)
3.Santa Claus (The Sonics)
4.Christmas Tree's On Fire (Holly Golightly)
5.Rockabilly Santa Claus (Wanda Jackson)
6.Christmas Boogie (The Barnstompers)
7.Bring That Cadillac Back (The Doc Bagby Orchestra)
8.Here Comes The Fattest Man In Town (Bob Chester)
9.Santa and My Semi (Dale Watson)
10.The Christmas Cannonball (Hank Thompson)
11.Cowboy Santa Claus (Prairie Ramblers)
12.On A Christmas Day (C.W. Stoneking)
13.Santa's Secret (Johnny Guarnieri)
14.Christmas In Jail (Leroy Carr)
15.Christmas Lights (Wild Billy Childish)
16.Blue Grey Christmas (King Coleman)
17.Hey Santa Claus (The Moonglows)
18.God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (Rev. Frost)
19.Will Hell Be Your Santa (Rev. J.M. Gates)
20.Santa Claus Boogie (Hasil Adkins)
21.Christmas Boogie (The Davis Sisters)
22.Christmas By The Bar B Que (Lynn August)
23.Christmas In The Mountains (Faron Young)
24.Gone Home For Christmas (Red Simpson)
25.Santa To The Moon (Sonny Cole)
26.Jingle Jangle Jump (Dexter Gordon)
27.Christmas Rush (Dead Moon)
28.Let Me Hang Your Stockings In Your Christmas Tree (Roosevelt Sykes)
29.Santa's Messin' With The Kid (Eddie C. Campbell)
30.Zydeco Christmas (C.J. Chenier)
31.What Will Santa Say (When He Finds Everybody Swinging) (Louis Prima)
32.Christmas Time Blues (Roy Milton and His Solid Senders)
33.If We Make It Through December (Merle Haggard)

A Big Rock Juke'n'Jive Xmas (mp3)

Peace.

Truckload of Toys

Hey! It's the Saturday before Xmas, so that must mean it's time for another Holiday Mix. How about 4 of 'em?

We're full of the Solstice spirit today, so for all y'all who might've missed any of our previous Yuletide mixes, we've got you covered. It's re-gifting Saturday. Below you'll find all the previous Christmas mixes from this year, re-upped, and ready for downloading. Be the hit of your family Christmas party this year with these super keen tracks of Holiday cheer!

And, gee whiz, can't get enough of these Big Rock Candy Mountain extravaganzas? Did you miss some of the swell Christmas tunes we posted this year? Well, come back and visit us on Monday, Christmas Eve, for a final Holiday gift from the Mountain (plus the greatest Christmas song ever written. Honest).

As ever, the mp3 link follows each track listing.

Git your Santa on!


A Big Rock Candy Cane Xmas

1. Christmas Spirit (The Wailers)
2. Don't Believe In Christmas (The Sonics)
3. Reindeer Boogie (Hank Snow)
4. Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus (Pee Wee King)
5. I'll Be Your Santa Baby (Rufus Thomas)
6. Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas (The Staple Singers)
7. Santa Came Home Drunk (Clyde Lasley)
8. Beatnik's Wish (Patsy Raye)
9. Deck 5 (Saturday's Children)
10. We Free Kings (Roland Kirk)
11. Merry Christmas (Lightnin' Hopkins)
12. Christmas Day (Detroit Junior)
13. Feliz Navi Dada (El Vez)
14. Old Man Spivey's Egg Nog (The Dalheart Imperials)
15. Christmas Carols By The Old Corral (Tex Ritter)
16. Santa Santa Santa (Gene Autry)
17. Santa Got A DWI (Sherwin Linton)
18. Santa Stole My Whiskey (The Rimshots)
19. The Mistletoe and Me (Isaac Hayes)
20. Xmas In Nevada (The Willard Grant Conspiracy)
21. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (Neko Case does Tom Waits)
22. I Wish I Was Santa Claus (Merle Haggard)
23. Please Come Home For Christmas (Little Junior)
24. Christmas Past (Mike Ireland)
25. Christmas Eve Can Kill You (The Everley Brothers)
26. What Do The Lonely Do At Christmas (The Emotions)
27. Go Tell It On The Mountain (The Blind Boys Of Alabama w/Tom Waits)

Big Rock Candy Cane Christmas (mp3)

The Big Rock Candy Mountain Junk Shop Christmas

1. Christmas Wish (Andre Williams)
2. Be-Bop Santa (Babs Gonzalez)
3. I'll Be Walking The Floor This Christmas (Ernest Tubb)
4. To Heck With Ole Santa Claus (Loretta Lynn)
5. Rocket Ship Santa (The Bellrays)
6. There's Trouble Brewin' (Jack Scott)
7. Santa's Doing The Horizontal Twist (Kay Martin and Her Bodyguards)
8. Empty Stockings (Floyd Dixon)
9. We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo (Big John Greer)
10. Santa Done Got Hip (Marquees)
11. Truckin' Trees For Christmas (Red Simpson)
12. I'd Like to Have An Elephant For Christmas (Hank Thompson)
13. Put The Loot In the Boot Santa (Mae West)
14. My Last Christmas (The Dirtbombs)
15. No Christmas For John Quays (The Fall)
16. Christmas In Jail (The Youngsters)
17. Christmas Date Boogie (Big Joe Turner)
18. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus (Mabel Scott)
19. Rockin' and Rollin' With Santa Claus (Hepsters)
20. I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus (Brenda Lee)
21. Dasher With The Light Upon His Tail (Kitty Wells)
22. Old Toy Trains (Roger Miller)
23. Blue Christmas Lights (Buck Owens)
24. Lonely Christmas Call (George Jones)
25. Christmas Comes But Once A Year (Amos Milburn)
26. Good Times Are Coming (Eddy Clearwater w/Los Straightjackets)

Big Rock Candy Junk Shop Xmas (mp3)

A Big Rock Candy Happy Hour Chrstmas

1. Poor Mr. Santa (Andre Williams)
2. Trim Your Tree (Jimmy Butler)
3. Mama's Twistin' With Santa (Mark Anthony)
4. Santa Looked A lot Like Daddy (Buck Owens)
5. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus (George Jones and Tammy Wynette)
6. Yulesville (Ed "Kooky" Byrnes)
7. Sometimes Santa Claus Is Brown (El Vez)
8. Santa Never Comes To The Ghetto (Yellowman)
9. Santa's Coming In a Big Old Truck (Red Simpson)
10. I Won't Decorate Your Christmas Tree (Loretta Lynn)
11. Merry Christmas Baby (Bellrays)
12. Merry Christmas From The Family (Robert Earl Keen)
13. Senor Santa Claus (Jim Reeves)
14. Santa Claus (Thee Headcoatees)
15. Six Tons of Toys (Dave Dudley)
16. A Real Live Doll (The Trashmen)
17. I Want My Baby For Christmas (Jimmy Liggins)
18. Dig That Crazy Santa Claus (Oscar McLollie)
19. Hard Candy Christmas (Dolly Parton)
20. They Shined Up Rudolph's Nose (Johnny Horton)
21. Christmas Time's A Comin' (Jerry Reed)
22. Holly and Her Mistletoe (Jim Lauderdale)
23. The Rocking Tree (Marguerite Trina)
24. Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney (Ella Fitzgerald)
25. I'm Gonna Tell Santa On You (Faron Young)
26. Santa Claus (Sonny Boy Williamson)
27. Gonna Wrap My Heart In Ribbons (Hank Thompson)

A Big Rock Candy Mountain Happy Hour Xmas (mp3)

A Big Rock Candy Aluminum Christmas

1. Cancel Christmas (Rocket From The Crypt)
2. Baby It's Cold Outside (Dean Martin)
3. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (Jimmy Smith)
4. Santa Claus Blues (Champion Jack Dupree)
5. I Want Elvis For Christmas (Holly Twins w/Eddie Cochran)
6. Xmas Lights Spin (Mark Eitzel)
7. Call It Christmastime (The Supersuckers)
8. Come On Santa Let's Have A Ball (Kay Martin)
9. Country Christmas (Loretta Lynn)
10. Santa Is A Texas Cowboy (Red Sovine)
11. Christmastime in the Mountains (Palace Brothers)
12. There's a Star Above The Manger Tonight (Red Red Meat)
13. Christmastime Is For Sinners (The Mono Men)
14. Rock'n'Roll Christmas (Cordell Jackson)
15. Goin' Home For Christmas (Merle Haggard)
16. Out On The Road For Christmas (Red Simpson)
17. My Mom and Santa Claus (George Jones)
18. Merry Christmas Fritz (The Buff Medways)
19. Sonny's Christmas Blues (Sonny Boy Williamson)
20. Santa Claus is Ska-ing to Town (The Granville Williams Orchestra)
21. We Wish You A Protein Christmas (The Fall)
22. Christmas In My Hometown (Charley Pride)
23. Silent Night All Day Long (John Prine)
24. Listening to Otis Redding At Home During Christmas (Okkervil River)
26. Fairytale of New York (The Pogues)

A Big Rock Aluminum Christmas (mp3)

Stop spending money. Relax and enjoy.