Top 5 Old Bridges on Placemats

OK, I accept that even by my standards this is a little weird. Back in the days when I was growing up and living with Mum & Dad we'd have big family get-togethers which would pretty much be the only time we all ate together sat round the big table. Mum & Dad had some placemats that dated back, I think, to their wedding and had pictures of old bridges on them. I spent a lot of time looking at the pictures. Big family meals involved a lot of "grown up" talk I often wasn't interested in or didn't have much to contribute to so I'd amuse myself looking at the bridge on my placemat and imagine what life might be like living in the picture.

Obviously I had my favourites. Actually, I had one favourite. Dachet Bridge. I really liked the look of the old higgledy piggledy bridge and what was going on in the picture. I always wanted to visit it in real life and see what it looked like. Dachet isn't far but for whatever reason I only got there late last year and had a huge shock. The bridge was demolished in 1848 and never replaced. Here's an exert from Wikipedia which explains why this happened.

The first Datchet Bridge was a wooden bridge commissioned by Queen Anne as the crossing was a convenient back-way to Windsor Castle. Responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the crossing later passed to the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire over whose boundary the bridge spanned. There followed many decades of dispute between the counties over who should pay for what. This culminated in 1836 with each county deciding to build their own half, in different materials and not touching in the middle. The resulting "crazy erection", Buckinghamshire's side in wood and Berkshire's in iron, known as The Divided Bridge, was demolished in 1848 and is the only case on the Thames where an established bridge crossing site has completely disappeared.

So, I was down at Dad's the other day and he still has those placemats. They're looking a little faded and shabby now (and my photo skills haven't helped) but I couldn't resist taking a set of pictures. They are all of bridges or places (we've got Eton College & Windsor Castle too) that are near to where I grew up but provide a glimpse of a time long forgotten. Now I'll never get to see Dachet Bridge I felt I wanted to somehow commemorate my love of a bridge I'll never cross.

1. Dachet Bridge

2. Hampton Court Bridge

3. Henley Bridge

4. Richmond Bridge

5. Kew Bridge

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Chop's CD Roulette - H33 "The Presidents of The United States of America" by The Presidents of The United States of America

My CD rack has 11 rows of occupied shelves and approximately 68 slots from left to right. If you pick a letter (from A at the top to K at the bottom) and a number between 1 and 68, I play that CD and blog (or tweet) about it. What could be simpler? #chopscdroulette #chopscdrH33

Guest Top 5 Songs by The Walkmen by Justin Howell

Justin writes the prodigious website Station To Station which has enough music content to keep you amused for years. He recently ran a Top Artists of All Time readers poll which spanned several months and was a lot of fun to take part in (even if the Pixies failed to win). So, I'm delighted to hand the reigns over to Justin for his top five songs by American East Coast indie rockers The Walkmen.

I'm usually not good at picking a topic for a list but once I've got one lodged in place (a random thought or usually, a moment with the IPOD) I can get a clearer vision of what that list will be. This list came to me when I dropped my 5 1/2 month old daughter Sydney at daycare Wednesday. It's funny, the first thing I thought of when Chop asked me for a Guest Top 5 was Five Songs I'd Sing To Entertain A 5 Month Old...but each 5 month old is different and mine is really digging only 4 songs I sing to her right now (James Brown medley of Get On Up/I Feel Good, Passion Pit-I'll Be Alright, R.E.M.-Stand and Elton John-I'm Still Standing which she REALLY is fascinated by). Anyways, we get in the car and "Sound & Vision" is the first song that bops us along on a gorgeous spring day for the 4 minute jaunt to home care for Sydney. The IPOD in the car is usually set to a mix of new stuff I'm digging (Foxygen, Phosphorescent, Kurt Vile, Mikal Cronin, etc.) and favorites from my past. Sydney seems impartial to Bowie when I stop to drop her off. Her mood is neither enlightened nor frustrated from the glimmering keys and stutter beat of the "Low" classic. Maybe she'll dance to it when she's older. It's when I get back in the car and start my way to work that the next song jump starts this Top 5 in an instant. "Little House Of Savages" from The Walkmen's 2004 LP "Bows + Arrows".


I'm staring at 40 in late September. The first thing that comes to mind is reflection when I hear the pulsating drumming of Matt Berrick and the wail of Hamilton Leithauser reminding me "Someone is waiting for me at home." The Walkmen have officially taken up a decade of my life...my 30's. Is it tough to stomach that 9 years have gone by since the first time I saw them perform "The Rat" on late night TV? Not at all. But it seems like such a long time ago now. I rushed out the next week and bought "Bows + Arrows" and a few weeks later got their debut "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone." They were in modest rotation for me for awhile but their follow up "A Hundred Miles Off" left me a bit cold with the band. Maybe I'd had my fill after two LPs (though "Louisiana" from the album which just missed this five is still a great horn driven fiesta). It wasn't until a friend mentioned to me how great "You & Me" was in 2008 that I got back on The Walkmen train for their next three albums. The Walkmen have usually been consistent to me. Born out of the garage revival of bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes but much more savvy to just stay juxtaposed to just that sound. Their "rockers" are tour de forces...in a Walkmen sort of way. Their mid-tempo songs aim to make you nod your head in cool and cocky agreement. Their ballads make you swoon along with Leithauser's torch song like delivery. They are as complete a band as there is in the decade of my 30's. Their lack of a real pop sensibility is the only thing that has held them back from mass appeal.

I got to go see them live in my hometown of Pittsburgh in 2010. Seemed like a great bill with Japandroids opening up for them (another favorite band from my "late" 30's period). And it was a good show even if a Japandroids fan who accidentally snatched my PBR for a moment insisted that The Walkmen pretty much blew. I shrugged that off quickly. Sure they aren't an anthem laden machine like Japandroids are. They are their own entity with a hint of underlying loneliness brought together by strong songwriting and a whole lot of yearning instead of righteous declarations. Maybe the bill was a mismatch. But it was worth the 350 mile trip back home to just see "New Country" performed in the Walkmen's encore. Give me back my beer.

Oddly enough, I wouldn't point to them as the band that defined the past ten years for me either. There are several artists I'd put ahead of them (Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, The National, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Spoon, Drive By Truckers to name a few). If this was a list to name ten bands from my 30's I'll hold dear forever, I'm afraid the Walkmen would even fall out of that group. They're the guys you want to hang out with at the pub and eat spaghetti with before their concerts. Not the rock stars who are going to exhilarate you to pump your fist in the air and tell a stranger "Hey, have you ever heard of the Walkmen before?" If other artists I've admired from the past 10 years were honor roll students, The Walkmen were the B+ students who took the same classes as the smart kids but didn't participate in extra curricular activities for anyone to take any notice. I've never pushed for anyone to listen to the band or recommended them to anyone. But yet here they are with a decade worth of strong material as I look at a new decade for myself peaking it's head at me around the corner. And they keep popping up on my IPOD this Wednesday. "The Love You Love" from their 2012 release "Heaven" has me singing along as I edit at work on Wednesday morning. I find myself crooning along with Leithauser to "Stranded" and it's gorgeous horns from their Portugal infused and aptly titled "Lisbon" from 2010. It's like the band and My IPOD are telling me to dust off my 5 favorites and send them to a blog overseas because though I've visited England once in 2010 for a vacation of London and Dublin, I didn't leave a mark behind. Only an Oyster card for the Tube that I didn't use all the pounds I paid for it. So here's what I'll send back to the UK. My TOP 5 songs from the Walkmen....we'll say my 18th or 22nd favorite band of my 30's. (Looks like I need to get on that list of bands in October).

The Walkmen: Dad's 18th favorite band of his 30's

5. In The New Year
Anytime Leithauser is waxing shiny optimism on the surface you have to take it as either a comical or sarcastic approach. So the fact that he croons "It's gonna be a good year" comes off as hokey (See Lisbon's "Victory" for another happy ironic loser). And the jangly guitar intro is standard Walkmen fare. So what makes "In The New Year" great then? That brilliant Christmas time organ that rises up from the fire like a phoenix and holds on to each chord with stranglehold force. Oh, and Leithauser delivers my second favorite Walkmen line of all time "Out of the darkness, and INTO THE FIRE!" with so much conviction you want to buy the guy a pint and listen to his gospel. Is this a good song to play every New Year's Eve. Absolutely! Especially if your sisters have married all your friends and if your family is asking you how long will you ramble. Damn straight the next year is gonna be a better year.

4. Angela Surf City
You say the Walkmen can't do surf music? Yeah it doesn't seem plausible but here's a song where all of The Walkmen's strengths click at once. Silky romanticism, a roaring chorus, persistent percussion and a whole lot of great guitar work. And Leithauser sings this one to the rafters instead of shouting it out to the neighbors across the street. It showed the band maturing and incorporating a lot of great elements on a terribly underrated album with "Lisbon." It's coda ends with a bittersweet reminder that it's back to work and school and that life goes on all around you. I wonder if he won that girls' heart or not?

3. Heaven
2012's release of "Heaven" by the Walkmen left me thinking the band had lost a fire they once kindled on the first few listens but I admit it grew on me slowly through the year. This wasn't the same band that exhibited an uncanny passion for sloppy but smart nocturnal songs anymore. They sounded more mature in their songwriting. Nowhere is that on display as much as on the self titled song from that album. The chorus is angelic in every sense of the word. Leithauser delivers the line: "Remember, remember...all we fight for" with a conviction he never showed before. And the band sound as convincing as ever too. Growing up is hard to do especially in music but they pulled it off on songs like "Heaven."

2. The Rat
"When I used to go out I knew everyone I saw, now I go out alone if I go out at all." Favorite line in a song in my 30's? Well it's pretty close to perfect. And "The Rat" is pretty much perfect all together as a song. It rages without being pretentious. It tugs at your emotions with thoughtful simple call outs. Sure Leithauser sounds like a gravelly Rod Stewart to me even nine years on. His one line call outs of a relationship deteriorating is nothing short of breath taking. And as for the rest of the band on "The Rat"? Well they play with as much REAL intensity as anyone in the past decade. I love the way the bass comes in on the second line of each verse. "The Rat" is a locomotive in all terms of a song, one of the best of the 00's. "Can't you hear me I'm pounding on your door!!!!!"

1. Four Provinces
So I've got two "You & Me" songs in my 5 (along with "In The New Year"). "Four Provinces" has all the trade marks that make me want to feel alive in a song. A bossa nova backdrop, jangly high end guitars, stories of heartbreak, gin, cigars and an actual bar I believe called Sophia's Place, and that bridge where the guitars glide alongside a tambourine....I absolutely love "Four Provinces". Leithauser in the chorus garbles with a drunken undertone to his love "Hey Leah, am I getting through?" And then tries a little bit of flirtation "Your shining eyes are brighter in the moonlight." That one's for each of us that have tried a dumb line or twenty in a bar before. For all the heartbreak and half drunken tales of frustration that the Walkmen have crafted, nothing tops "Four Provinces" for me. It would be my number 1, although "The Rat" is probably their best moment.

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Chop's CD Roulette - G57 "So Far ... The Best Of" Sinead O'Conner

Chop's CD Roulette - A43 "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" by A Silver Mt Zion

Top 5 Songs of 2013 - March/April (& the first half of May)

It's Thursday night and too late to be thinking about writing a new top five from scratch, but it's been far too long since my last and I reckon I can do this one quickly. 2013 has continued to offer up exciting and brilliant new music so I'm fairly positive I can keep this going as a semi-regular post.

1. Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer "Willies Lady (Child 6)" - I'd not clicked with Anaïs Mitchell until I heard this track on a Cerys Matthews session. The Child Ballads are a series of traditional ballads originating from England and Scotland and collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. Mitchell & Hamer's album of selected tunes really bring them to live and Willie's Lady is the tune that most captures my imagination. It tells a great story, features some spellbinding guitar picking and is beautifully sung.
http://anaismitchell.com/
http://www.jeffersonhamer.com/



2. Wire "Love Bends" - Marc Riley's influence over my musical taste is becoming all encompassing. I'm not a long standing Wire fan (I do have a compilation tucked somewhere in the dark recesses of my CD collection but I never really took to it) but the lead single from their excellent new album, Change Becomes Us, really caught my attention. There's a corking bass line rumbling along throughout and some wonderfully angular guitar and keyboard noises flying about in between.
http://www.pinkflag.com/



3. Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs "Things We Be" - More 6music goodness. Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs not only have a good look and a cool name they also have an impossibly thin front man. I've a feeling I'm going to feel massively out of place if I ever catch them live, not that that's ever stopped me, but I love this tune especially the 12 string guitar riffage.
http://charlieboyerandthevoyeurs.bandcamp.com/



4. Public Service Broadcasting "Signal 30" - British Sea Power pick the best support acts you're likely to see. Unfortunately I missed PSB play with BSP but their name caught my eye and when I finally heard their music (2012's Spitfire) I wasn't disappointed. Public Service Broadcasting use samples from archive public information films and splice these seamlessly into their music. This track rocks out inbetween some brilliant dialogue - "No drinking & driving", "Not even beer?", "Not even water!"
http://publicservicebroadcasting.net/



5. Purson "Leaning On A Bear - Another band it took me a while to like, another band introduced to me by Marc Riley and another band who have supported. This song sounds like some long lost rock classic from the seventies. It's a bit of a psychadelic wall of sound but the tune shines through.
https://www.facebook.com/pursontheband



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Chop's CD Roulette - J11 "Copper Blue" by Sugar

Chop's CD Roulette - K9 "Fever To Tell" by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Chop's CD Roulette - "Winter Words - Hits & Rareties" by All About Eve

The next entry in the Chop's CD Roulette series is exactly the type of album I was hoping to find. Something I've not listened to for ages, and if I'm honest am not entirely sure why I bought.

@Sidaway1 selected A9 which corresponded to Winter Words - Hits & Rareties by All About Eve (1992)

Winter Words is a compilation released by record label Mercury shortly after an acrimonious split with the band. It features all the bands best known singles from their first three (and most succesful albums) along with a number of rare and unreleased tracks. I'd been a big All About Eve fan up to that point and probably had most of this stuff already but clearly felt there was something essential I was missing. My music purchases are more varied these days, I'm certainly less completist about bands that I like. I suppose All About Eve appealed to the folk element of my musical taste. I also had a bit of a thing for Julianne Regan.

I tweeted this listen live, which was fun and provided some useful interaction along the way.

The first track is Our Summer, an odd choice for an opener as it's an unreleased version, possibly a demo. I vaguely remember it being a live fave but it gets this compilation off to a wonky start. It's a bit of a stodgy mix which doesn't help and is a little underwhelming if I'm honest. All About Eve had recently split with their original record company, Phonogram, so this was a cash in spitefully released to coincide with the band's fourth album, and first for MCA, Ultraviolet.

Track 2 is much more like it. Flowers In Our Hair was the last of the band's four self released singles and is subtly different to the version that made it on to their debut album. Though if I'm honest I didn't notice and only found out thanks to the help of Wikipedia. In The Clouds continues in much the same vein. This is one of their better tunes with a booming bass line and multi-tracked Julianne vocals. Lovely.

I'm trying to work out why I was so into All About Eve. They had a bit of a Goth connection, Julianne singing on an early Mission single and Tim Bricheno eventually leaving the band to play guitar with Sisters of Mercy, but I wasn't into those bands at all. If anything I guess between 1988 and 1992 I was going through something of a transition from Heavy Metal kid through Indie to all stops Alternative. Things got a mixed up as I discovered lots of new music and didn't always filter out the crap.

Ah, Martha's Harbour, pretty sure this is the tune that really won me over. A delicate acoustic guitar melody and a really pretty vocal from Julianne Regan. This was All About Eve at their most folky and definitely their biggest hit. You might remember them performing it on Top Of The Pops when they failed to hear their cue and ended up standing still looking silly while the song played. Think they got to go back the following week to do it properly.

Every Angel sounds a bit more rocky. Definitely one of my favourites from their live shows. Tim giving it some on the Guitar and a nice vocal from Juilianne. I think, if I'm honest, the main attraction to All About Eve for me was Julianne Regan.

I'm so shallow.

On Twitter @substandardnerd recommended Julianne Regan's other band Mice. They released one album in 1996 called "... Because I Can". I've a feeling someone lent me a copy of this ages ago and I never got round to playing it, so will try and dig it out.

Wild Hearted Woman and What Kind Of Fool round off the singles from their debut album. This compilation is helpfully in chronological order so next up are the singles from second album Scarlet & Other Stories. Road To Your Soul shows the bands sound maturing a little. Tim's guitar sounds warmer and they've taken advantage of the benefits of a plusher recording studio. Scarlet is a fine album though, I saw them play the Royal Albert Hall two nights in a row on this tour, which is a little hard to comprehend now. I had a a real cross section of friends who also liked them so went with people I probably didn't see many other bands with.

The title track Scarlet has a really nice semi-acoustic (I'm guessing) guitar intro. There's a bit of Spanish guitar too and a lovely vocal. Hints of Kate Bush which explains why at least one of my mates liked them (Hello Martyn!). December starts slowly but builds into quite a dramatic tune. There's a hint of Marillion in the guitar sound, believe it or not.

Tim Bricheno left the band after Scarlet (having split up with Julianne too). Marty Willson-Piper replaced him on guitar and Farewell Mr Sorrow was the first single from the new album Touched By Jesus. There's a fresh sound about this track, more of a pop sensibility perhaps. Marty's guitar sound is not massively different from Tim's sound, but does bring something a little different to the band. Strange Way is not quite as captivating and is the second song (and second single) written about Tim Bricheno. Ouch! Dreamer has a bit of fuzz pedal and indicates a slight shift in direction. I think Marty gave the band a new lease of life but unfortunately that wasn't reflected in sales.

We're into the rareties now which might have been the lure that coerced me into buying something with so much stuff I already owned. Paradise is up first but not hugely memorable. Candy Tree is a track that I think dates back to AAE's earliest days. I saw them play this live and was desperate to get a copy. Bit of a folk-rock vibe kicking off.

Somehow we still have four tracks to play. Drowning is first, it's got an echoey intro, quite atmospheric. Wild Flowers seems like an identikit AAE tune - Add a bit of acoustic, dig out a semi hippy lyric, get Julianne to sound wistful, job done. Ah, two "new" unreleased tracks close the album. Theft was apparently wrongly titled and should have been called If I Had You. That's blindingly obvious if you listen to the song. Then it's all over with Different Sky. Both tracks feature Wayne Hussey of The Mission on guitar, which kind of brings us full circle.

Not sure I'll be digging this out again in a hurry but it did bring back some nice memories. I suspect I've also used the word lovely more than any sane person really should.

Guest Top 5 - Bands Featuring Members of Jane's Addiction by Here_Comes_B

After a few weeks of non-top five blathering you'll be relieved to see me hand the reins over to someone who actually knows his subject really well. This is @Here_comes_B second guest top five of the year. If he carries on at this rate he'll have done more top five posts this year than me! Mat's previous guest post was about bands or solo artists associated with the Brian Jonestown Massacre. I mentioned in that intro Mat was a fan of Jane's Addiction too, so here he is to complete the circle.

I grew up with the music of Jane's Addiction. It's been with me all of my adult life, through thick and thin. They're one of the bands I've always tried to see when they've been in England and I've seen them about 8 times since 1990 (with Eric, without, as a support band (for The Wonderstuff), on festival bills and headlining). I liked the sense of theatricality about them. That the visual and art aesthetic was equal to the music and the message (probably a reason why the group photo on "Strays" failed to inspire since the other LPs had featured some art). Their music seemed to encapsulate a bit of everything: love, sex, death, art etc. They also seemed to thrive on conflict, which is why Ritual de lo Habitual is my number one album of all time (I think they all pretty much hated each other by then, half were full time junkies and Perry was keeping the vast majority of the money as he wrote, sang and did some production. They didn't record it together, just went in separately and recorded their parts). When they split in 1991, I was obsessed with buying up all the music they put out separately (Deconstruction, Porno for Pyros, Dave Navarro's "Trust No One", Perry's electronica LP Song Yet to be Sung, Eric Avery solo LPs and later, the 2 Jane's sans Eric LPs they did) to try and recapture some of that Jane's voodoo magic. Here's the top 5 of the non-Jane's output.

Psi Com

5) "Xiola" Psi Com (Perry Farrell and some LA goth/punks) - This for me is the first Jane's Addiction song. I wish they'd rerecorded it under the Jane's banner. It's only got Perry on it (from Jane's) but probably has some of his most Perry-est singing ("Xiooolaaaaaaaah"). It's also about the same person (Xiola Blue) that "Three Days" is about. It's proper LA goth/punk sounding too. Dates to about 85.

4) "Fire in the Hole" Deconstruction (Eric Avery & Dave Navarro from Jane's...guest vox from Gibby Haynes)-
Surely born out of the Lollapalooza tour (Butthole Surfers played the first one I think), this track welded Texan madman Gibby Haynes onto LA psychedelic rock from Eric and Dave following the Jane's split. 2 minutes 30 in, it has a guitar solo worthy of Jane's at their peak, obviously it follows on from Gibby screaming.

3) "Kimberly Austin" Porno for Pyros (Perry Farrell & Steve Perkins of Jane's plus Peter di Stefano & Martyn LeNoble) - For all the chaos and ferociousness of Jane's, there's always been a pretty, simple side too (see "Classic Girl" or "Summertime Rolls"). This one is much the same: "I like to watch her sway, she's luck before I'm going away". Pure lovely.

2) "Sadness" Porno for Pyros (Perry Farrell & Stephen Perkins from Jane's plus Peter di Stefano) - But for the production, which is a bit tinny, this would be one of the best songs Perry has done. The right mix of psychedelia, menacing banshee vocals and interesting rhythm holding it all together.

1) "All Remote & No Control" Eric Avery - "Strays" by Jane's sans Eric was a straight up rock record in my opinion. It has its moments but lacks something. This track from Eric Avery, off of "Help Wanted", for me, demonstrates where some of that voodoo went. This LP and the one he's doing now ("LIFE.TIME" up on Bandcamp) have some truly wonderful art rock on them with Eric's lovely, almost baritone vocals. "Maybe" off the same LP has one of the all time great indierock duets, Eric singing with Shirley Manson (of Garbage, who Eric has toured with playing bass). "Fade (after Elliot's Hollow Men" off the current LP is well worth a look, while yer here).
"This is how the world ends. This is how the world ends".

Honourable mentions to "Awesome" by Satellite Party (Perry & Etty Farrell, Stephen Perkins and him from Extreme) which Etty told me came from when they had one of their babies ("what I behold is awesome"). Gets me every time. Also to "Song Yet To Be Sung" from Perry's solo electronic LP of the same name. Also to "Bali Eyes" off of the 2nd Porno for Pyros LP, pure beautiful. Finally to "Underground" off of "The Great Escape Artist" which is every bit as magical as anything off Ritual or Nothing's Shocking. "I'm a hustler, hustler, I'll never give up the underground".

Eric Avery

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