listen.

i sold my heart to the junkman

as with most of my posts this is two days late but not a dollar short.

but i was mostly done with it so i figured i would still post it so it wasn't a waste of time.

pretend as you read this that is between 11 am and 6 pm on thursday feb 14th. THANKS!

--------------------------------

hey hey listeners.

so, unless you live somewhere where the government has outlawed a lot of western things you are somehow plagued with (or celebrating) valentine's day.

for most post modern young cynics like myself this is just a greeting card gimmick in order to make money and force people buy more stupid crap that will end up floating in that garbage landfill island in the pacific. 

that being said i figured we could enjoy some 60's girl group songs about love with a little emphasis on the  heart break aspect of love.  i really love songs about heart break -- you could say i am melancholy by nature but i think mainly i just love the juxtaposition of heart break and doo wop in a song.  they are also pretty dramatic which is hard not to enjoy.

(all these songs were brought into my life when my friend micah made me a copy of his collections of girl group songs. it was a really wonderful addition to my music library and i have become rather obsessed with some of the songs.)

OKAY! so let's start with some truths:

the first cut is the deepest, pp arnold.
she was a back up singer for tina turner and then she had a solo career. and damn if this isn't a song for the history books. first, it's true: the first cut is the deepest but you'll always try to love again. second, the trumpets.   i just can't get enough of this song.

every little bit hurts, brenda holloway
a great motown singer and a great song.  every little hurt counts. ah, life.

okay. moving on. i call this next section REALIZATION:

you don't love me no more, madeline bell
rockin song, intense back up vocals.  similar to the magnetic fields' song i don't want to get over you it's good to have this song in your music library because there may be a time when you'll need to listen to it a lot.  it'll make you feel better or it will allow you to wallow - either way IT will never leave you.

you're no good, dee dee warwick
until i got these cd's from micah i just assumed this was a linda rondstat song. oops.  you left someone for a tool bag who winds up being no good. i'm sure you're friends warned you not to.  you live and you learn, right?

let's call this next section PRIDE:

crying in the rain, carole king
i love carole king. i enjoy this song. i think the flight of the concords song i'm not crying (is that what it's called?) is a modern answer to this song. i'll just go out in the rain and sob and then you won't be able to tell - unless you're really sobbing and your face contorts in that ugly crying face, then everyone will be able to tell you are crying carol, sorry...

girl don't come, sandie shaw
does this fit in the pride section? maybe.  why do you keep asking this girl out? she keeps standing you up!  i think it's your pride. i love this song: dramatic story, brass and string instruments and her voice is really awesome.   i love how the song never gets to a point where the person realizes they are better than this girl - the girl just never shows up. ha.

and since not everything is doom and gloom the final section is LOVE:

cause i love him, aldar ray   

isn't that nice?

oh, and for good measure here's the song that gave me the title for the post:

i sold my heart to the junkman, the starlets

i believe in love
g

more live music!

okay, so it's been kind of a live music binge here at listen. lately.  as you know, we saw sleeping states and horse feathers (twice) last week.  in case you missed it, here are some photos:

sleeping states at mercury lounge, 10.08. how cute is markland?

horse feathers at knitting factory, 10.09.

horse feathers at silent barn, 10.10.

anyway, all of these shows were totally awesome, and i'm not going to shame you for not being there, but i will say you missed out.

but there's going to be ANOTHER totally awesome show this tuesday night at the living room. and i think it's free!

at 11:30 (late for a school night, i know) Jennifer O'Connor is playing.  Now, when i was just a young buck, fresh off the train from Idaho, I spent a lot of time at the metropolitan, which for those of you who don't know (who are you?), is a gay bar in williamsburg. (that sentence sort of makes it sound like i don't still spend a lot of time at the metropolitan, which may or may not be the case.)  well, i quickly made friends with my favorite bartender, this awesome chick named Jennifer. we talked a lot, i bitched to her about stupid guys that broke my heart, etc etc. Well, i knew she played music, and then the next thing I know she gets signed to Matador and is like this hot-shi* indie folk rocker. so that's kind of awesome, and she's totally awesome, and her music is totally awesome. so listen up:

Jennifer O'Connor - Sister
this is a really sad, honest, kind of deceptively upbeat song about losing her sister. 

i know a lot of people are haters on the indigo girls these days, and frankly i haven't heard like their last 3 records, but i used to be obsessed with them (there. i said it.), and in some of Jennifer's stuff I hear shades of earlier Amy Ray in top form.  like this next one!

Jennifer O'Conner - Exeter, Rhode Island

and one of the earlier performances tomorrow night is Hotel Lights, which incidentally is the ex-drummer for Ben Folds Five.  I'd never heard of Hotel Lights, but i checked it out and it's really great, so I'm excited to see him.

Hotel Lights - Small Town Shit

(there's more to listen to on his website, i highly recommend listening to you come and i go.)

in subway ad news, i really wanted to share with you all my own personal favorite ad these days which is the new manhattan mini storage ad featuring a painfully attractive mostly naked man that either cheers me up or makes me angry, depending on my mood, but i cannot for the life of me find a digital image of it to post.  so the next time someone sees it, can they take a photo with their phone for me? thanks.

>ben

The Battle of Bettye LaVette! A Bettrospective.

So last night Amanda and I went and saw (for the second time in two years) Ms. Bettye Lavette at the Highline Ballroom (the first time was at Knitting Factory).

Overpriced drinks ($7 for a Bud, $20 minimum on credit cards), an entirely seated audience area with compulsory purchases (and an old and unattractive audience), and even shoddy soundmixing couldn't -- and didn't -- stand between us and Bettye's so-intense-it-hurts-so-good soulful wail. Not to mention her skintight black outfit or her nail-thin stiletto heels, on which she strutted around the stage with the impressive self-assurance of a 61-year old diva who has been around the block at least a few times over the course of her 45-year career. Which is exactly what she is.

now, i can't really go into all the details of bettye's career here, but she basically got screwed over by her record label a long long time ago, and was sort of off in the sidelines because of it for the next few decades while ladies like Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner (bless their hearts) got lots of attention.  Then a couple of years ago she came out with a brilliant album, "i've got my own hell to raise," with genius covers of female songwriters, and people started paying attention to her again. then this year she just came out with another new album, "the scene of the crime".

anyway, she's a really amazing performer. a commanding presence, a voice that rattles your bones, and she's really a f***ing hot 61-year old. amanda leaned to me at one point and said "they just don't make performers like this anymore." so true, so sad.

in any case, i thought today we could have a little bettrospective, if you will. and i hope you will.

first some tracks from the new album:

Bettye LaVette - Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye Lavette)
this was probably the highlight of last night's performance. as far as i know, it's the only song she's ever written, and it basically sums up everything she's been through. amazing. my favorite part is when she says "i was singin' R&B back in '62, before you were born, and your mama too."  and then she references sleepovers with (awesome soul singer) david ruffin. bettye!

Bettye LaVette - Talking Old Soldiers
this one is an Elton John cover. heartbreaking and tragic. i don't think i've ever heard the original but something tells me bettye might teach elton a thing or two with this interpretation.

now, this next one is from the Janet Reno-curated (you heard me) 3-disc "Song of America" set that just came out, featuring Devendra Banhart, Andrew Bird,  Martha Wainwright, and lots of others. I can't even really conjure a comment about that right now, so I'll just share this Bettye cover of the Boss.

Bettye LaVette - Streets of Philadelphia

and a couple faves from I've Got My Own Hell To Raise:

Bettye LaVette - Down To Zero
compare to Joan Armatrading's original, which we posted last week!

Bettye LaVette - Sleep to Dream
her cover of one of my favorite Fiona Apple songs. she really makes it her own, right from the "take your ass over there."

and now some of her brilliant early stuff from the 60s and 70s!
Bettye LaVette - It Ain't Easy
a David Bowie cover.

Bettye LaVette - Heart of Gold
in my opinion, the definitive version of this Neil Young song.

Bettye LaVette - Games People Play
it is my life's mission to find every version ever recorded of this song, but Bettye's take on it is right up there with Petula's if you ask me.

and just for a treat, a super-early clip of Bettye performing sometime before '65, meaning she was younger than 20 (and sounded 61 even then!).  adorable. and i really like the song.

>>bennye

[ADDENDUM: I forgot to give credit where credit is due: "Bettrospective" © 2007, Amanda Duarte, LPW]