Music For Listeners 09/27/2008

1) The Beastie Boys-"Country Mike's Theme"  From the CD 'Anthology'.
2) George Jones-"The Race Is On"  From the CD compilation 'The Best of George Jones (1955-1967)'.
3) The Spinto Band-"Vivian, Don't"  From the forthcoming CD 'Moonwink'.
4) Oppenheimer-"I Don't Care What Anyone Says About You, I Think You're Alright"  From the CD 'Take the Whole Midrange and Boost It'.
5) Friendly Fires-"Jump In the Pool" From the CD 'Friendly Fires'.
6) Slow Club-"Come On Youth"  From the CD E.P. 'Let's Fall Back In Love'.
7) Primal Scream-"Beautiful Future"  From the CD 'Beautiful Future'.
8) Late of the Pier-"The Bears Are Coming"  From the CD 'Fantasy Black Channel'.
9) Birdmonster-"Lost At Sea"  From the CD 'From the Mountain to the Sea'.
10) Paul Weller and Bobby Gillespie-"Big Brass Buttons"  From the UK Double A-Side CD single for "All I Wanna Do Is Be With You"/"Push It Along".
11) Mercury Rev-"Snowflake In A Hot World"  From the forthcoming CD 'Snowflake Midnight'.
12) The Verve-"Columbo"  From the CD 'Fourth'.
13) Mates of State-"Great Dane"  From the CD 'Re-Arrange Us'.
14) Slings-"This Ain't No Last Dance"  From the CD 'The Old Hopeful Trail'.
15) Bears-"Another Tiger Romance"  From the brand new CD 'Simple Machinery'.
16) Dark Captain Light Captain-"Jealous Enemies"  From the CD 'Miricle Kicker'.
17) The Gaslight Anthem-"The '59 Sound"  From the CD 'The '59 Sound'.
18) CSS-"How I Became Paranoid"  From the CD 'Donkey'.
19) Ra Ra Riot-"St Peter's Day Festival"  From the CD 'The Rhumb Line'.
20) Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit-"The Box"  From the CD 'A Larum'.
21) Bill Drummond-"I'm The King Of Joy"  From the vinyl LP 'The Man'.
22) Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis-"Take Your Time"  From the CD 'Indian Giver'.
23) Mogwai (Featuring Roky Erickson)-"Devil Rides"  From the CD E.P. 'Batcat'.
24) Nethers-"Autumn's Bride"  From the CD 'What the Wind Will Never Tell'.
25) Dr Dog-"Hang On"  From the CD 'Fate'.
26) Noah and the Whale-"Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down"  From the CD 'Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down'.
27) Laura Marling-"Cross Your Fingers (Live)"  From the limited edition promo live CD 'Verses from the Union Chapel'.
28) The Orb-"Secrets (I Love A Woman In Uniform Mix)"  From the UK double CD 'Orblivion (Remastered and Expanded)'.
29) "The Mid-Morning Recording"                 Lush-'Gala'
Here's an album that should have been played sooner. I guess the only reason I haven't played it before is because it's really a compilation of their first three E.P.'s and a couple of extra tracks. (I used to have loads of rules for the "Mid-Morning Recording", but in the past year or so, I have relaxed them a bit.) So while Orlando, (an unknown person to me at the time), was across town collecting the seperate E.P.'s, I was working at a music store in a mall that is no longer open today. (Yep, a whole mall that is completely closed and vacant.) This must have been in late months of 1990 as this album was released during that time. I was already a huge Pixies fan, so I was certainly aware of the wonderful 4AD record label. When this first U.S. release by Lush was thrown behind the counter, I knew it was going to be something I wanted to hear. After listening to it in the store, I immediately begged my manager to let me have the CD for my collection. It took him a day or two, but he finally relented, and this early 90's promo copy of 'Gala', is what you hear tonight. This is certainly an album that blew me away the first time I heard it, and even today it still has a great power. Even before the grunge scene would take over a couple of years later. About that same time, (and most likely the same month), I first heard Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans, and Ride....a great time for british music for sure. Then in early 1991, I would meet Orlando at an Inspiral Carpets show. I remember seeing him there, but I didn't really talk to him. We didn't become friends until after talking to him at one of the greatest concert bills ever assembled. Orlando and I basically became friends while seeing Ride and Lush together on a co-headlining tour. This show had Lush playing first, and it was just as well, as I will have to admit Ride blew Lush of the stage. That said, I think if you put The Who on the same stage as the Cocteau Twins, as good as they both are, the later would be blown off a stage as well. Ride was intense and forceful, while Lush was steamy and atmospheric. It was at this show that Orly and I would become great friends through our love of great music. Strangely enough the next time we saw Lush, I assisted Orly with an interview he was then producing for his public access show "Indievision". We even got to go to their hotel room and talk to them there. A little sad to think about now as we talked to the late Chris Acland at that interview. Such a nice guy, and it's so sad that he took his own life. It horrified the rest of the band so much, that they couldn't play anymore as Lush, and they subsequently split. On a lighter note, it was at that interview that I also fell into a hugh crush with the lovely Emma Anderson. When questioned, she said that she listened to Brian Eno and Massive Attack, and back in the early 90's, hearing a beautiful girl listening to those artists was a rare occasion indeed. From that moment I had a huge crush for the English brunette singer/guitarist. Sadly I haven't seen her in person since that day. Crushes, their break up, and their great music aside, Lush is certainly a band that has big connections with Orly, Bart and I being friends. I can honestly say if it wasn't for this band, Music For Listeners wouldn't be on the air; certainly not as it is today. "Only to stay, only to breathe, only to see that space and light is what I really need".
Michael - MFL
30) James-"Sayonara"  From the CD 'Wah-Wah'.