An unusual mix

kiya@evpl — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:22:00 GMT

I’ve been going through the CDs at Red Bank lately, trying to figure out how to fit more in, and have come across a couple I’ve enjoyed listening to.

The first is Low Strung, which has 11 rock classics arranged for and performed by master cellists who got a little tired of always playing the harmony line… I love the sound of the cello anyway, and these were very pleasing to listen to. I went to the band’s website, and found that they have a new CD due out soon. I also learned that they performed in Evansville a little over a year ago – they provided a link to the great review Roger McBain wrote for the C&P about the show. You can listen to a couple of the songs on their MySpace page.

· Low Strung’s website

· Low Strung’s MySpace page

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I also found a singer from my past – J. D. Souther. I had a couple of his albums on vinyl, and loved them. I particularly remember “The Moon Just Turned Blue” and “‘Til the Bars Burn Down” from my grad school years. (My neighbors from that time might recall them, too. I used to crank the volume when cleaning house.) Somehow, when everything changed over to CD, I never got around to replacing Souther's, and sort of forgot about him. EVPL owns two of his CDs (and his new one will soon be here), and now JD is back in my life. The bonus? While writing this blog post, I discovered he’s also the narrator on the downloadable audiobook of Jimmy Buffet’s A Salty Piece of Land. I’m loading it onto my mp3 player now – this should be interesting!

· J D Souther’s website

· J D Souther’s MySpace page

(Please visit the site to view this media)

"Bridging the Distance: A Portand OR Covers Compilation"

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:38:00 GMT

Every once in awhile I stumble upon a hidden gem when looking for music. This happened recently when I was doing a search for the bands the Minus 5 and Loose Fur, both side projects for Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, and found Bridging the Distance: A Portland OR Covers Compliation.

Bridging the Distance is almost exactly what the whole title eludes to, a collection of cover songs from Portland OR area bands. The bands enlisted for this album aren't household names. In fact, before checking it out I had only heard of three of the bands before: The Decemberists, The Minus 5, and Blitzen Trapper. The songs on the other hand are quite recognizable. Most of the songs included were famous chart toppers of the 70s and 80s from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and Led Zeppelin.

As with most cover albums, there are some hits and misses. Some of the standouts on the album include The Decemberists rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Think About Me" which has been stuck in my head for days, and Whip's slow folky interpretation of Billy Idol's "White Wedding". The hits outweigh the misses, but the glaring cover that could have been skipped is Lacktherof's cover of Michael McDonald's "What a Fool Believes". Of course, this fool believes there is no appropriate version of that song and it would've landed on my miss list no matter who covered it, but don't let that deter you from checking out this steller compilation album.

Music Blog : classic rock

An unusual mix

"Bridging the Distance: A Portand OR Covers Compilation"