Nick Drake

Your reaction to the discovery of Nick Drake’s music may have been different than mine. I had always been a music lover, but this was different music. This music was organic, and it was real. The words that he sang were his words. The music that he played was written by his hand. Not only that, but the music was delivered bare – stripped of production – without gimmicks and layers to hide behind. This music was what I needed to wash away the taste of Lita Ford and Vanilla Ice.

I found Nick Drake through a David Wilcox bootleg tape that had been passed around my college campus. At the end of a trip to see Wilcox perform live, I walked up to the stage following his show and talked to him as he packed away his gear. I didn’t want to be a fanboy that gushed about how wonderful his performance had been (and it was incredible) so I asked him about Nick. I wasn’t just trying to be cool, I really wanted to know who Nick Drake was. This was B.G. (Before Google) and the answer to every question wasn’t available at your fingertips.

Wilcox’s eyes lit up when he answered, “Nick Drake was an amazing musician. He was a dreamer living in a world that didn’t have room for dreamers. He was run over by the train that he couldn’t stop.”

Beck covers Which Will originally recorded by Nick Drake.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Whole Brevity Thing - Summer '07

While loading up the magic phone with music for this unexpectedly awesome weekend, I discovered a mixtape that never made it to the blog. It was a sad realization. (I held the tears at bay with a promise to post it over the weekend) I’ve been listening to this playlist all day, and it still serves. I hope you enjoy this two-year step back in time. …

[download whole brevity thing - summer 2007 mixtape]

1. Be Your Husband / Jeff Buckley
2. Searching for the Ghost / Heartless Bastards
3. Hospital Rooms Aren’t For Lovers / Bear Colony
4. 10 A.M. Automatic / The Black Keys
5. Baby Fratelli / Fratellis
6. Hang Me Up to Dry / Cold War Kids
7. Side with the Seeds / Wilco
8. Faberge Falls For Shuggie / Of Montreal
9. Forget Myself / Elbow
10. 23 / Blonde Redhead
11. Naive / The Kooks
12. Back to the Life / Spoon
13. We’re from Barcelona / I’m from Barcelona
14. Fake Tales of San Francisco / Arctic Monkeys
15. Lazy Eye / Silversun Pickups
16. 7/4 (Shoreline) / Broken Social Scene

For the rest of the mixes available via whole brevity thing, here’s the link: original soundtrack

I’m out of words now…

Go West

Jumping back into the series known as Ode to Saving Silverman with a nice little cover of a song off of the soundtrack to Pretty Woman.

William Fitzsimmons covers King of Wishful Thinking originally recorded by Go West.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Bob Marley

I posted this one on extraawesome earlier in the week, and it’s just too nice to not post here.

Jason Mraz covers One Love originally recorded by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Savinelli Slowdown (B-Side)

The original playlist was comprised of 103 tracks. In the spirit of the CD, I try to limit my mixes to be burnable for the standard car stereo. So Savinelli Slowdown was a version, my best version, of a CD for mellowing a bit.

But after a couple of days passed by, I thought “man, I wish ‘x’ would have been on there.” And, “Gah! I can’t believe that I cut ‘z’ from the list.”

So Here is the B-Side to Savinelli Slowdown – the regrets.

Cheers, friends! …

[download savinelli slowdown b-side]

1. Empty (Live) / Ray LaMontagne
2. Typical Situation (Acoustic) / Dave Matthews Band
3. Come Down (Acoustic) / Bush
4. Straight To Hell (the clash cover) / Josh Rouse
5. Out to Get You / James
6. Re: Stacks / Bon Iver
7. Dreams (fleetwood mac cover) / The Morning Benders
8. Looking For The Heart of Saturday Night (tom waits cover) / Shawn Colvin
9. Speed of Sound of Loneliness (john prine cover) / Amos Lee
10. How Can I Tell You (cat stevens cover) / Ben Taylor
11. My Love (justin timberlake cover) / Tender Forever
12. Kid A (radiohead Cover) (live) / John Mayer
13. Albion (Acoustic) / Pete Doherty
14. Sting – Roxanne (Live) / Sting
15. Rocket Man (elton john cover) / Jason Mraz
16. Hello (lionel ritchie cover) / Blackbird Harmony
17. These Days (jackson browne cover) / Denison Witmer
18. Hallelujah – Live (leonard cohen cover) / Ari Hest

For the orginal version, here’s the link: the big easy

I’m out of words now…

Whole Brevity Thing: Savinelli Slowdown

There are days.

There are always days.

There are days when I’m thankful for traffic jams that stretch the drive home at the end of the day from the normal 15 minutes to 30 or so. It’s not a sadistic pleasure, this is a decompression necessity. I love The Dramatic and the Little Dudes and Dudette, and I think that it’s best that they not see me when I’m frustrated by the immovable objects that exist at my place of employment.

On those days, rather than driving home to the jaunty rhythms of Los Campesinos! or the good ol’ Beasties, a more mellow vibe is needed. So my good friend Mr. Savinelli and I meander home via the long way with the chilled Savinelli Slowdown mix.

Because you may also have the need for an attitude adjustment from time to time, I’m sharing the goods. Not Mr. Savinelli, the tunes, man…

[download savinelli slowdown]

1. Details In The Fabric (Feat. James Morrison) / Jason Mraz
2. Float On (Live Modest Mouse Cover) / Ben Lee
3. Be Be Your Love (Live At KCRW) / Rachael Yamagata
4. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own (Live In Studio) / U2
5. In the Middle / Mat Kearney
6. No Envy No Fear / Joshua Radin
7. Dance, Dance, Dance / Lykke Li
8. Heretics (Early Version) / Andrew Bird
9. Love Vigilantes (New Order Cover) / Iron & Wine
10. Modern Love (David Bowie Cover) / The Last Town Chorus
11. Running To Stand Still (U2 Cover) / Elbow
12. Naked As We Came (Iron & Wine Cover) / MDL
13. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (The Postal Service cover) / Jonna Lee
14. You Really Got A Hold On Me (The Miracles Cover) / She & Him
15. All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down (Hank Williams Jr. Cover) / Elliott Smith
16. Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me) / The Flaming Lips
17. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Paul Simon Cover) / Julie Doiron
18. She Says (One-U2) / Howie Day
19. To Zion / Lauryn Hill

For the rest of the mixes available via whole brevity thing, here’s the link: original soundtrack

I’m out of words now…

Hall of Famers - KISS

This one is from the early days of the acoustic cover collection. Sorry that I have waited so long to share it.

Toad The Wet Sprocket covers Rock And Roll All Night originally recorded by KISS.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Billy Idol (circa 1984)

Middle school madness in the mid-80′s. That’s how I remember Billy Idol. Then on to Motley Crue and Van Halen followed by Black Flag and Dead Kennedys it was an awesome period of time for obnoxious, nonsense music.

Queens of the Stone Age cover White Wedding originally recorded by Billy Idol.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Justin Timberlake

Volume 40. That’s nuts.

Glen Hansard (of Once fame) covers Cry Me A River originally recorded by Justin Timberlake.

Four for 40 Easter Eggs:

Dr. Dog – Heart It Races (Architecture in Helsinki Cover)
Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassal (Vampire Weekend)
Ryan Adams – Like A Virgin (Madonna Cover)
Bon Iver – I Believe In You (Talk Talk Cover)

I’m out of words now…

The Outfield

…I can hear the speakers strain now as I cruise around in the ’85 mini-blazer. You know?  You can make your stereo sound louder, if you just crank the treble!

Bon Iver covers Your Love originally recorded by The Outfield.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Feliz Naviblog! on extraawesome.com

Please try out my Feliz Naviblog! extraawesomeness while I take a mini break from this theme for the month of December.

i’m out of words now…

Truly excellent.

Ben Folds covers In Between Days originally recorded by The Cure.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

I’m undecided. Either this cover is incredibly bad, or it’s so bad it’s incredibly awesome.

Lightspeed Champion covers If You Want My Love originally recorded by Cheap Trick.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Time to get all Halloweeny. Or is it Halloweenie?

Ben Gibbard covers Thriller originally recorded by The Gloved One.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Cake. Muppets. Acoustic rules broken. It had to be done.

Cake covers Mahna Mahna originally recorded by The Muppets.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Some folks say that this is the only way covers should be done. Make it your own, completely different from the original version.

Iron and Wine covers Love Vigilantes originally recorded by New Order.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

The best cover song… ever. If you don’t agree, then prove me wrong. Please.

Jeff Buckley covering Be Your (My) Husband originally recorded by Nina Simone.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

This week’s acoustic cover song is a re-run, but due to the season, I couldn’t avoid re-posting this beauty. Last night’s Vice Presidential debate was the most highly anticipated VP debate since… OH, COME ON! It was a Vice-Presidential debate! Cowboys vs. Redskins has a bigger impact on America than a Vice Presidential debate. (Holla!)

Nevertheless, it is fun to see how charged up folks are over Palin. Anytime folks express much passion about their options in elected leadership it is good for us all.

Here is the ever passionate Eddie Vedder covering I am a Patriot (via 2000′s Nader Rocks the Garden) originally recorded by Little Steven.

I am out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Toad The Wet Sprocket is one of my favorite late 80′s-90′s bands. They produced consistently great tunes. Here’s lead singer Glen Phillips covering I Want A New Drug originally recorded by Huey Lewis And The News.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)

Straight outta Denmark crazy, hipster, white kids Alphabeat covering Digital Love originally recorded by Daft Punk.

I’m out of words now…

(not-so-hidden easter egg)