Posts tagged playlist

Gimme Shelter

Isolated studio vocals from The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter. One of the most haunting things I’ve ever heard. Via: Sam Humphries.

Also, follow this link to read the sad story of the background vocalist, Merry Clayton, and hear her solo version of the song that the Stones wanted her to record.

Stream Sunday Valley’s new album

Wanna hear Lexington’s best band? Stream their new album here!!!

How I learned to quit worrying and love XTC (the band, not the drug)

When I was younger, my sole exposure to new music was my older brother Jeff. I had a pretty limited tape collection of, frankly, terrible music; some particularly cheesy Christian bands, Huey Lewis and The News, Steve Winwood, and, embarrassingly enough, Bruce Willis’ blues album. My brother, though, would come back from college with a lot of stuff I’d never heard before - Bands that were a revelation - like The Violent Femmes or The Dead Milkmen; bands that broadened my pallet considerably.

I remember looking through his vinyl albums one day and finding a record by a band named XTC. It had a song on it titled “Dear God.” I’m sure my first thought was that they must be a Christian band. One look at the album sleeve and the lyrics corrected that assumption. Dear God was a statement of unbelief; an open letter to the God of the Bible, detailing all the bad things he let happen on a daily basis and the writer’s conclusion, therefore, that he must not exist.

As a really religious kid growing up in a small Kentucky town, I was scandalized. Why would somebody write such a song? Why would anybody buy the album? Why did my brother have it?

Fast forward to last Monday. I’m sitting in a meeting at the church I work for, discussing content for the coming weekend’s services when my co-worker, Steve, says he wants to do a song called “Dear God” that he heard on a recent episode of Glee.

Imagine my surprise. It’s been twenty or so years since I first encountered the song. Since then I like to think I’ve developed a much deeper appreciation for music (I won’t say I have eclectic taste. Everybody says that and they almost never do) and a much sturdier spiritual constitution. After the initial deja-vu wore off, I became very excited at the notion of the church band doing the song. Yeah, it’s not exactly the kind of song you imagine hearing at church. I think that’s why I’m excited.

My church has always been really interested in acknowledging and addressing what the Christian faith must look like from the outside; and the fact is a lot of people have trouble accepting the idea of a loving God when there’s so much suffering in the world. This week we’re using a song to recognize that point of view - and then hopefully have a meaningful discussion about it. I like that. I hope that it makes people with similar doubts more willing to engage us. And I hope it makes some believers a little less likely to be traumatized by hearing song lyrics that don’t agree with their world view.

I have a friend who attends another large church here in Lexington. He teased my wife one day because Crossroads performs so many “non-Christian” songs. I’m sure that’s a stumbling block for some folks. In the thirteen years I’ve been associated with the church I’ve heard covers of songs by Radiohead, Queen, The Violent Femmes, The Avett Brothers, Jeff Buckley, the Beatles, Colin Hay, Depeche Mode, and LL Cool J (Don’t worry, it was an acoustic version, nobody rapped). I think that kind of thing is good. Not because we’re “totally not your father’s church” or some other stupid cliche, but because you almost never learn anything in an echo chamber.

UPDATE - Sara questioned the song being on Glee. I can’t find any evidence that it was. I’m not sure if I misheard Steve or what. Anyway, we’re doing the song. If Glee, indeed, wasn’t the inspiration then all the better in my opinion…

State of The Union: Music Edition

I like modern folk. I like music that’s inspired by bluegrass and old school country music. I like acoustic guitars, banjos, upright bass, and bass drums. I like what happens when formerly folky bands go electric and start exploring different spaces. I like a few songs and bands coming out of the current electronic/synth movement, but in general it’s not my thing. I like disposable pop songs in addition to classics that will never die - but only a few of both.

I like funk, I like soul. I like comebacks. I like old live albums by James Brown and Ike and Tina Turner. I like that sometimes an album sits in my iTunes for a year and suddenly I discover it for the first time. I like that sometimes you outgrow a band and sometimes a band outgrows you.

I like bands that work hard on stage. I like going to concerts, but I don’t usually like other people who go to concerts. I like bands that create a good vibe in a room and causes everybody to love each other. I don’t mind getting bumped by your elbow while you’re dancing, but if you keep doing it I’m going to push you down a flight of stairs.

I like local bands and I like following bands that not everybody knows about - but sometimes that turns you into a music elitist - which is silly because elitists are just people who listen to whatever Pitchfork tells them to. So like what you like and don’t turn your nose up at other people’s taste - unless you have a friend that goes to every Dave Matthews concert ever, in which case, you can tease him about it in a good natured way that says, “I’m making fun of you, but I know in a few years one of my favorite bands will be the new Dave Matthews and I’ll have some hard decisions to make.”

I like slow builds, and swells, and crescendos. I like crunchy guitars. I like bands that jam but aren’t jam bands. I hate endless noodling.

I hate rock stars but I love rock bands.

Lyrics are important. The only people who say they don’t listen to lyrics are kids who don’t want their parents to take away their rap albums. I like songs about redemption, forgiveness, and reclaiming your soul. Oddly enough, in spite of this, I don’t really like Christian music. I also like songs about girls that might not have been written about your girl but that you can pretend are about your girl.

I like songs with occasional screaming and/or talking in the background.

That’s the state of the union, music edition, for Patrick Drury, 37 years in.