Chocolate

Hullo! Though it's a new month, this is not an artist of the month post. If you read the little sidebar, you'll notice it's on hiatus. You'll also notice I've provided one of my SM:TV Live gifs for your viewing pleasure. I have no idea when I'll return to doing the artist of the month. I've bought a lot of new music lately, but I haven't listened to a lot of it. This is a very strange time in my life - you must excuse me. But I shall be posting!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

It's no secret I'm a fan of 60s music, but my obsession doesn't end there. I just want to take the whole era and put it in my pocket. The good, the bad, and the smelly.

I watch a number of television shows from the 60s, and one of my favourites is The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Last month I read Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which is a biography about the Smothers Brothers and their show (mentioned above). Their show aired from 1967 to 1969. It began as a typical comedic variety show, but it soon became too revolutionary for its own good. Tom and other writers on the show constantly fought the censors to say what they wanted to say (whether it be a slightly off-colour joke or social commentary). The war raged on until The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was cancelled after its third series, even though a fourth series was contracted.

Dick and Tom Smothers are (believe it or not) really brothers and their last name is truly Smothers. When I first started watching the show, I assumed it was all a gimmick. :P

I made the mistake of not finishing this post when I started writing it last month, so most of that nice biographical information I obtained about  Dick and Tom is gone. I do remember they started out as a folk trio in the early 60s (and yes there was a third man at the time), which eventually morphed into them doing folk/comedy as a duo, with Dick being the straight to Tom's funny man.


One of our favourite songs the Smothers Brothers do is a song called 'Chocolate' which opens with the line: "I fell in a vat of a chocolate..." Its punchline is hilarious as well. (You have to listen carefully, though, cause Tom says it very quickly.)

They perform it on the second season of their show, but sadly that clip is not on youtube. But luckily, it was also on their 1962 folk/comedy album The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers, so you can listen to it, at least!





(Supplemental link: Watch them perform 'My Old Man' on the third season of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. I know it must be the third series since they have moustaches. :P)

Paloma Faith

Pardonnez-moi!  I've been terribly absent from everything. Life got away from me. I'm grabbing it for now to belatedly bring you June's artist of the month, Paloma Faith!

Paloma Faith is an English songstress and songwriter of whom I can't get enough these days. I first heard of Paloma when she was a panelist on a show that I shan't admit I sometimes watch. I was entranced by her zany personality and clothing, and was extremely desirous to know more about her. I think I might've even watched her on another show (NMTB, this time) before actually listening to her music, but it's possible I listened to a couple of her songs in the interim between show-watchings. (I can no longer remember.)


A few weeks ago, she released her new album (Fall To Grace), but you must excuse me for I am still stuck on her first effort from 2009, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful.  I don't know why I used the word "effort" - in my mind that sort of implies it fell short of some undefined mark. It certainly didn't! (Er, doesn't!) Her music is pop/soul that's a little more mainstream than my usual far-off-the-beaten-path choices, but that's not to say her music is akin to the general tripe that shoots so shockingly up the charts. Her songs and whole being are very theatrical, which is hardly surprising considering she is also an actress and has held the various jobs that are theatrical in nature.

My favourite song off Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful is 'New York' - a song that is a plea to a lover whose left for 'another lady' with a slight twist from the usual. I can't stop listening to this, as it combines beauty and catchy-ness into an irresistible combination.


Listen:


(Supplemental link: Watch a clip Paloma [and Noel Fielding!] being adorable on Never Mind the Buzzcocks here.)

Polly Scattergood

I had May's artist of the month picked out before April's. True story. The artist in question is Polly Scattergood, and what happened was this: I bought her album at the beginning of April and fell head over heels in love with it. But I knew all along I would wait till May to make her artist of the month. I have to become acclimated, you see, and make sure my favourite song doesn't all the sudden become my least favourite or something.

Polly Scattergood a singer/songwriter from my the grand old UK (born in Essex, but is now living in London, I believe). Her first album, Polly Scattergood, was released in 2009, and she is working on her second at the moment. Her music is hard to explain... I'm not sure what genre to assign to it. Wikipedia says "Indie pop",  "Experimental", and "Alternative rock". Sure, why not? Why do we spend so much time obsessed with genre anyway? (In my mind I'm throwing my hands around like a self-righteous philosophy student. Ha.)

A criticism I've heard of her album is she bleeds her heartache all over it. Heck, that's why I love it. I'm not even going to pull the female card when I say that. I love the emotion she portrays with her voice, her lyrics, her instrumentation.

My favourite song of hers is 'Please Don't Touch', which was my introduction to her music. I ran into the music video on youtube and took immediate interest. Very soon afterward I decided that, yes, I was a big fan.

Listen to 'Please Don't Touch':


 (Supplemental links: another favourite is 'Breathe In Breathe Out' which you can listen to here.)


This post is disjointed. Sorry about that. I got overcome by my hovering depression while in the middle of writing it and had to walk away. I'm back now - more stable, but not very focused. But I've introduced you to the wonder that is Polly Scattergood, and that is all that matters!

No One Can Hear You Cry

I think I can just squeeze in another post before April ends! It's on my to-do list, so I better do it, right? I'm extremely strict about such things.... *snickers*

I've been really digging obscure 60s and 70s music again, so appropriately I'm posting a song from an old favourite: Susan Christie.

Susan Christie is yet another talented woman who is terribly obscure and hard to gather information on. I do know she was with a band called The Highlanders, but it was her solo recording of the novelty song 'I Love Onions' with which she gained some footing in the musical world.

She then made her first and only album: Paint a Lady. The album was released in 1970. Or it would have been, at least, had the record company not done what they did, which was limit the pressings of her album to a very small amount, because they had no faith in the commercial possibilities of her material. (I've heard there were only three vinyls made!)

I am amazed Paint a Lady ever got reissued. Amazed, but grateful, I must say. The album is brief, only eight tracks long. As far as I know, all the material is original except for her cover of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky'. Of course, this album does contain the nine minute 'Yesterday Where's My Mind?' An acid folk number that I must confess I've never made it all the way through. (It has a frightening intro!) Of course, I haven't tried to listen to it in years; I might be able to handle it better now. :P

Her songs are full of loneliness, which is quite apparent on my three favourites from the album: 'Rainy Day', 'Paint a Lady', and 'No One Can Hear You Cry'. Being a teenaged girl, perhaps that is why I love all three of these songs. I'm a sucker for a good song about, well, sad things.

The song 'Paint a Lady' is perhaps more indicative of what she is capable of, but I have a soft spot for the song 'No One Can Hear You Cry' so that is the one I'm posting. (But you'll notice I've included 'Paint a Lady' as a bonus on the playlist, if you want further listening!)

This post was actually surprisingly easy to write! I though it would take much longer. (Using the new Blogger was a pain, though.)

Marj Snyder

As the song goes, "April, come she will"... and before I'm quite ready for her. As usual, I deliberated over what artist to make artist of the month, before deciding the only artist I felt like raving over was Marj Snyder.

Marj Snyder... I confess, I don't know much about her. She was a little-known singer-songwriter who released several albums in the 70s. Though few knew of her, those who did were blessed by her music.

The bio for her at last.fm states simply: "Hippy lady from California who loves that God." Ha! It's hard to tell whether or not it was a fan who penned that gem; but yes, Marj was from California and she loved "that God". (Read: she was/is a Christian.)
I can't state positively how many records she released, but I know for sure of two: her 1971 album, A Time of Peace, and her 1972 album, My Lifetime Now. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Marj was only 17 when A Time of Peace was released.)

I can't remember exactly how or when I came across the music of Marj Snyder. I think it was last summer, when I somehow stumbled across her song, 'God', which is from the album A Time of Peace. Her gentle style and beautiful, thoughtful lyrics grabbed my attention, and the more I listened to the song, the more I grew to appreciate it.
Sadly, except for the song 'God' and another song called 'I Am the Light', I've not heard any more from A Time of Peace. (Ah, the woes of loving obscure music!)

But semi-recently, I was able to find a download of her 1972 album, My Lifetime Now. While it does contain a regrettable foray into country music ('Knees Knocking') and Southern gospel ('For Those Tears I Died') and the inevitable 'Amazing Grace', My Lifetime Now is a fine album. (For the genre complaints, the songs themselves are alright, I'm just not a fan of those two genres.) My Lifetime Now is certainly a million steps above the cookie cutter "Christian music" of today.

I'm posting two songs today; the first is 'Chicago / Walk By My Window' from My Lifetime Now. (Which technically is two songs, but they segue into each other and they were put on the same track in the version I downloaded.) Unlike the rest of the album, they aren't religious. But they are pieces of her life wrapped in the packaging of lovely folk music, much like the second song, which is the aforementioned 'God' (a song of more religious nature, obviously - but definitely worth a listen, even if you're not interested in the spiritual side of life.)




(Supplemental links: Another favourite from My Lifetime Now is the song 'I'm Dying'. I love the pure anguish of this song, which you can listen to here, if you so desire.
Here is the blog I downloaded the song 'God' from and the blog I downloaded the album 'My Lifetime Now' from. Also, one of Marj Snyder's song is on the compilation Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies from the Canyon, which can be bought on amazon.)