Handsome Furs - "Sing! Captain"
A song about how everyone wants you to fail, until you succeed, and then they're glad you succeeded. About performance as a simultaneous taking-care of the audience (as from a sickness) and fighting them to the death. A win for the performer, as in this song, gets a shout of "sing! captain" from the crowd. A loss would be, well, too depressing to mention, I guess. [Buy]
Stevie Nicks - "Wild Heart (backstage bootleg)"
I'll wait until the last day of our lives to tell you how I truly feel about you. I'll save it all up, keep it all to myself, and maybe even never let you have any of it. Here Stevie Nicks gets right to what makes this song great, what it ought to be. The original is rambling and scattered, and while this is only a peer through a window, a drive past, it's indication enough that inside there's a leaping, galloping, wondrous song. [Buy]
Posted by Dan at April 13, 2007 6:37 PMStevie Nicks has really pulled a 180 on me. Everything I hear from her lately just sounds so much better than it used to. I hope that doesn't start happening with Carly Simon.
As always, nice work, Dan.
Posted by: Greg at April 15, 2007 12:16 PMThat Handsome Furs song, the first I have heard by them because I've eagerly awaiting the full album, reminds me most immediately of Beck's earlier work, particularly the album "One Foot in the Grave." Boeckner's voice even seems to be more slurred than his usual Springsteen-like drawl, even closer to Beck's now than it has been in the past with Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic, where he has tended to yelp and yell more.
Posted by: Sam at April 15, 2007 3:29 PMI actually discovered that Wild Heart demo on youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ePqn6BDB098). It's sad that some of this woman's best work is trapped in demos.
Posted by: Jenna at April 20, 2007 2:25 AMThe musical line in that performance is from a Lindsey Buckingham song off of Mirage. He wouldn't let her use it for Wild Heart. Also,
I personally think Stevie is the victim of zealous producers and record companies seeing her strong melodies and voice as fodder for hits. She also notoriously lacks confidence in her music and its arrangement.
