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Taken from Keb’ Mo’s second album, Just Like You, in 1996, ‘Perpetual Blues Machine’ is today’s pick not only because it’s an awesome song, but also because any song title that hints at violating the First and / or Second Law of Thermodynamics in the name of blues is alright by me.

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My first introduction to Keb’ Mo’s music came when I started blues dancing last year—His music lends itself pretty nicely to being danced to. In fact, here’s some dancers at Emerald City Blues Festival 2008 dancing to another Keb’ Mo’ song - ‘Dirty Low Down And Bad’

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Dancing aside, here’s the history bit:

Keb’ Mo’ was signed to Okeh records — one of the oldest labels in the world (est. 1918) and one with a very significant and rich history in blues and jazz recordings by African-American artists — and Keb’ was one of the first artists to be signed to the label upon its reactivation in 1994.

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Though Mr Mo’ stepped away from the more traditional Delta Blues stylings of his debut album, with Just Like You, to explore arguably more forgettable, altogether softer and less bluesy songs, the album still won the 1997 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. To be honest, to me, that feels like a slightly debatable accolade to give to at least a third of the songs on the album, but ‘Perpetual Blues Machine’ is one of the few tracks in a much more traditional vein. 

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He went on to win a second Grammy award for 1998 album, Slow Down and a third for the 2004 album, Keep It Simple. Just to add to his blues credentials, he’s appeared on albums by Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, and in 1998 he even played Robert Johnson in a documentary called Can’t You Hear The Wind Howl. But, my favourite thing - he pops up in the final episode of The West Wing singing at the inauguration of the new president (perhaps don’t watch if you’re not into spoilers).

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An honour indeed.

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KS

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Anathema are one of those bands that have hugely transformed themselves from album to album. Beginning in Liverpool in 1990, they were a doom metal band, complete with doom-y death growls from vocalist Darren White. Upon Darren’s departure from the band in 1995, guitarist, Vincent Cavanagh took over singing duties, lending Anathema a much cleaner sound and beginning the next chapter of the band’s sound—a sound that was firmly established by the time Judgement was released in 1999, on British metal label Music For Nations. Judgement also marked the first album on which Danny Cavanagh took over the bulk of the song-writing (after bassist Duncan Patterson left the band) and was at the peak of what I like to call Anathema’s particularly “dark & twisty” period — characterised by melancholy, depressing lyrics, with atmospheric and melodic (though still fairly heavy) music that was clearly drawing a lot of influence from Pink Floyd.

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“That was a big changing point, tuning up to Eternity. At the point, I think we found our voice. We were still very melancholic, extremely so, really. There are moments of real anger and intensity, and maybe even joy, but it’s very hard to find. Alternative 4, I think, was one of the darkest periods in the band - personally, musically, in every way.”

- Vincent Cavanagh, interview on Sea Of Tranquility

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I think ‘Deep’ is one of the real highlights from Judgement. It’s anthemic (every time they play this live, even now, the crowd sing every word), that little guitar riff is brilliant and Vincent’s voice sounds awesome. It also really shows off the melodic heart that was always present in their music (a concept they explored recently by revising their early material on Falling Deeper).

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These days, Anathema seem an altogether happier band, both personally and musically. 2011’s We’re Here Because We’re Here album marked yet another chapter in Anathema’s evolution and saw a kind of positivity replace the darkness of the previous albums. Looking back at songs like ‘Deep’ within the context of where the band are at now, it’s interesting to see just how raw and publicly they laid out their problems, but it’s also striking to notice how the beautiful melodies that weave themselves through the newer material were hiding just under the surface all along.

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sad Anathema…

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…happy(er) Anathema

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KS

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3 Reasons why this is today’s pick:

1. Don’t you just want to get up and dance? And clap your hands through the chorus?
2. This line: “This guitar and a microphone // is all you need to grow your own”
3. It’s Saturday. This is certainly a Saturday song if ever I heard one.

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Have a nice weekend!

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KS

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‘Save Me A Saturday Night’ is taken from Neil Diamond’s 2005 album 12 Songs — his first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. Rubin’s trademark style of stripping songs back to their most simple form is once again at the forefront and is actually incredibly effective at highlighting how good a songwriter Diamond is.

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Here’s 3 reasons why this is an awesome song you should hear:

1. It has a lovely melody. Definitely whistleable (is that a word? It is now)
2. This is a song only works by virtue of how stripped back it is. Imagine it with ‘Sweet Caroline’ style production. Odd isn’t it? *shudder*
3. That glockenspiel thing? Cute. Not a word I thought I’d use about a Neil Diamond song.

If you’re particularly interested in music nerdery, here’s a video of Mr D himself talking about the origins of the song:

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Until tomorrow, folks!

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KS

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Last Thursday (5th April) marked 10 years since the death of Alice in Chains’ vocalist Layne Staley. Unique among other Seattle grunge bands specifically because of Staley’s vocal stylings, it feels as good a time as any to pull an AIC track from the archives and have another listen.

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‘Down In A Hole’ was released as a single in 1993, taken from the album Dirt and was performed as part of AIC’s MTV Unplugged set in 1996 (which actually ended up being one of the band’s last ever performances with Staley). The song’s a bit softer than typical AIC fare and the movement of the song through the softness of the intro and first verse to the crushing dark storm clouds of the chorus make it a real stand out moment in the Unplugged set.

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So many of the words written about Staley refer to the uniqueness of his voice, and the way that his vocals interplayed with Jerry Cantrell’s. His technique for recording his voice was unique too:

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“It was on Alice in Chains’s sophomore album Dirt that Staley would develop what became his signature sound: heavily layering his vocals in the studio by recording two or three vocal tracks in multiple intervals. The technique, called stacked vocals, “was totally Layne,” Alice in Chains producer Dave Jerden says. Staley hadn’t discussed or explained in advance his idea for stacking his vocals to Jerden: “What he would say to me when we did that stuff is he had it all worked out, and he would just say ‘Give me another track.’ ‘I want to double it.’ ‘Now let’s triple it.’ He was just telling me what he wanted to do, and we’d do it.”“

- David De Sola, ‘How Alice In Chains Found The Most Memorable Voice In Grunge’, The Atlantic

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Of Staley’s performance on ‘Down In A Hole’ AllMusic’s Ned Raggett writes:

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“His half-strangled but still amazingly evocative performance, especially when Cantrell backs him up, is heartfelt and almost yearning. The end result feels like a ruined man looking for some sort of comfort, hoping to escape, even when the lyrics talk about “feeling so small” and being kicked in the teeth, a struggle without end.”

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And that’s the core of it really. The “ruined man looking for some sort of comfort” is a character embodied so completely by Staley’s voice on this song, that it’s just killer to listen to. And if you like the sound of ‘Down In A Hole’ check out the rest of the MTV Unplugged set

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KS

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So much talk about John Mayer seems to focus on him as a celebrity, or as AOR-friendly radio fodder. There’s a lot of talk about who he’s dating, who he’s been dating, who he might’ve been dating…and now about how he’s had to cancel his tour to save his voice. So I’d just like to draw your attention to something you might’ve missed…

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…John Mayer is a great blues guitarist. You can’t watch that video and deny he’s a bit on the talented side. And it’s a nice little blues song too about being a bit bitter but moving on (and a thousand times less creepy than Adele’s stalker-tastic ‘Someone Like You’). In fact, here’s John Mayer having a rant about blues:

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“Who can’t react to it? […] Blues music is just…if you’re a human being, you get it. Right?”

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Right, John. Right.

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Besides, if B.B. King’s happy to jam with him, and Buddy Guy’s happy to jam with him, he’s ok by me.

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POST-BANK HOLIDAY BONUS: Even though essentially mute for a while, he’s still playing guitar. Hurrah! Here’s a swirly, twiddly, guitar-only cover of Lana del Rey’s ‘Video Games’

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KS