Hello fair readers and "listeners". Michael here, as usual, in the middle of the week to give you last weeks playlist. I hope everyone had a good Labor day. I hope everyone got to rest a little more than I did. Now onto.... Music For Listeners 09/01/01 1)Orbital-"Tension" From the newly released CD "The Altogether". Me thinks it's the best Orbital in a long while. 2)Babyfox-"Gloria Graham/Rain" From the CD 'A Normal Family'. 3)Mercury Rev-"Night and Fog" From the newly released CD 'All is Dream'. 4)Bedbug-"Adventures of Orange Daisy Towel" From the CD 'The Happiest of Hours'. 5)Primal Scream-"Kill All Hippies" From the CD 'XTRMNTR'. 6)Built to Spill-"You Are" From the new CD 'Ancient Melodies of the Future'. 7)Rickie Lee Jones-"For No One (Live on Morning Becomes Eclectic)" From the KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic website. 8)Catherine Wheel-"Car" From the CD 'Like Cats and Dogs'. 9)Young American Primitive-"Emergence" From the unreleased CD 'African Cosmopolitan. Why didn't Geffen release this CD??? Guess where I got this... 10)Orb-"Egnable" & "Firestar" & "A Mile Long Lump of Lard". Two short ones and one long one from the CD 'Cydonia'. There really was a mile long lump of lard taken out of the London sewage system in 1998. 11)Bono and the MDH Band-"Never Let Me Go" From the CD soundtrack to 'The Million Dollar Hotel'. 12)Inspiral Carpets-"Song For a Family" From the UK vinyl LP 'Life'. 13)Chomsky-"Laughing" & "Up" Two from the new CD 'Onward Quirky Solders'. 14)XTC-"It's Nearly Africa" From the vinyl LP 'English Settlement'. 15)Poster Children-"Elf" From the CD 'DDD'. 16)Grandaddy-"Hewlett's Daughter" From the CD 'The Sophtware Slump'. 17)The Monkees-"You Just May Be The One" From the CD 'Headquarters'. Their best album, as far as my opinion goes. 18)Fleetwood Mac-"She's Changing Me" From the CD 'Heroes Are Hard to Find'. 19)Kate Bush-"The Dreaming" From the vinyl LP 'The Dreaming'. 20)The Fires of Ork-"Sky Lounge" From the CD 'The Fires of Ork 2'. 21)"The 3 A.M. Recording" It's been raining rather a lot around these parts lately. When I haven't been busy with the multitude of dealings that I have going, I've been kicking back with candlelight and a soothing record. I've been playing tonight's recording during most of these late night rain storms. The perfect dose of atmosphere and catchy tunes for lightning lit skies. When the band James decided to get ambient master Brian Eno to record their first album together, the band sat down in a rehearsal studio to figure out some songs for the upcoming session. Eno was amazed at how well the band fit together by just improvising tunes. They decided to record what would later become the album 'Laid' at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios. This was mainly because it had two studios next to each other for Brian's great idea. As they produced more coherent and rehearsed tracks in one studio, they concurrently worked into the late night in the other dim, candle-lit studio. The second studio would be a place to work out new material and please themselves with just letting the music flow. These are the improvisational songs that would eventually make up tonight's recording. They would jam for minutes or sometimes hours to make up a piece on the spot. Once they finished a piece, they would not go back to it. They would just move on to something else. Sometimes even Mr. Eno would sit in and make this a full-fledged collaboration. (Brian has produced three James CD's since, but only played on a handful of songs.) Eno's friend Marcus Dravs would sit behind the mixing board, practically in the dark, trying to record without any advance warning of instrument or level changes. (A great feat in itself.) These second, improv studio sessions were later edited down from hours of tape by Eno and Marcus. However, most of the pieces in tonight's recording were left untouched except for some effect enhancements, and very slight re-mixing for a more coherent flow. Some songs even were later re-recorded for other albums, just because the band thought they were that good. Anyone that has seen the band James live, knows what master musicians they are. Tight, seasoned, and electric. The first time I saw James was amazing. You could feel energy flowing from the band to the audience, and then full circle back to the band. A true sign of great performing. They even applauded us, as this was the first time they did a triple encore in the states. I've seen them twice since, and they never fall to appease. This album re-creates that energy of band member....instrument....and audience colliding in musical soundscapes. All of James' recordings do this somewhat, but none more spontaneous than that of "Wah-Wah". Turn down the lamps, light the candles....in it's entirety...."Wah-Wah", by the band James and Brian Eno. "Love's at the heart of everything. Let love be your goal." Peace to all, Michael recorded, and available for download to a computer near you.