Listen closely and you can hear Charles emitting guttural hums over his opening electric piano chords. Then, eighteen seconds in, once through the simple chord progression, the drums come in and justify my posting this song and your giving it another listen. The drummer's unrelenting persistence on the ride and its bell explains why that cymbal is so named. He alternates between rim shots and hits on toms tuned so high that they sound like their heads might bust open - a fitting tension for such a salaciously taut song.
The vocals are flawless and leave no doubt that they emanate from the mouth of a most gifted lover. [Buy]
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Sounding like a Valium-addled Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band attempting an attempted murder ballad, "Barcelona" is a weird song.
Though Oldham certainly behaves badly in the song - throwing his wife out of a Barcelona hotel room window - I nevertheless feel for him when she leaves and marries someone else. Call me a romantic. [Buy]
Posted by Jordan at May 12, 2005 4:16 AM"What'd I Say"... What a classic.
Some good extra background on the song at Rolling Stone.com, where it placed as 10 in the top 500 greatest songs of all time.
Man, that dip into madness on "Barcelona" sounds -so- Montreal to me, somehow, that delve from cutesy sing-and-answer into noisy nonsense blur (with horns). Those horns are total Neutral Milk Hotel, too. It's great!
Your post made me laugh, twice.
Posted by: Sean at May 12, 2005 1:07 PMYou can't go wrong with Ray. Thanks!
Posted by: muruch at May 12, 2005 9:31 PMI know I'm off topic but am I the only one reading STG who did not know Kate Maki made such great music? Lonesome music has a link to her album with the free mp3s up.
annette