Today's new releases include Belle & Sebastien's The BBC Sessions on Matador. This double CD release is a marvelous collection of the band's performances for BBC Radio in their early years, including wonderful renditions of "The State that I Am In", "Judy and the Dream of Horses", and "Sleep the Clock Around." The recordings are from 1996 to 2001 and include four tracks from a Christmas show in 2001 that were never subsequently released on albums and feature Isobel Campbell's last appearances with the band. So, that's pretty damn interesting stuff for completists, even if the songs themselves don't seem particularly special. There's also a live CD from a show in Glasgow included in the double CD available now at Matator.
The full track listing is as follows:
01 The State I Am In (Mark Radcliffe Session; 07/96) Disc Two - Live in Belfast (12/21/01): 01 Here Comes the Sun
02 Like Dylan in the Movies (Mark Radcliffe Session; 07/96)
03 Judy and the Dream of Horses (Mark Radcliffe Session; 07/96)
04 The Stars of Track and Field (Mark Radcliffe Session; 07/96)
05 I Could Be Dreaming (Mark Radcliffe session; 12/96; abbreviated version)
06 Seymour Stein (Evening Session; 07/97)
07 Lazy Line Painter Jane (Evening Session; 07/97)
08 Sleep the Clock Around (Evening Session; 07/97)
09 Slow Graffiti (Evening Session; 07/97)
10 Wrong Love (later recorded as “The Wrong Girl”) (Evening Session; 07/97)
11 Shoot the Sexual Athlete (John Peel session; 05/01)
12 The Magic of a Kind Word (John Peel session; 05/01)
13 Nothing in the Silence (John Peel session; 05/01)
14 (My Girl’s Got) Miraculous Technique (John Peel session; 05/01)
02 There’s Too Much Love
03 The Magic of a Kind Word
04 Me and the Major
05 Wandering Alone
06 The Model
07 I’m Waiting for the Man
08 The Boy With the Arab Strap
09 The Wrong Girl
10 Dirty Dream #2
11 The Boys Are Back in Town
12 Legal Man
Also out recently is a new Stars EP titled Sad Robots. This six-song EP has electronica elements that are reminiscent of their 2001 debut album Nightsongs as opposed to their later more rock sounding releases. The addition of a live version of "Going, Going, Gone" further ties this EP to their debut release. I absolutely love the effort, especially the track below, which is possibly stronger than anything on In Our Bedroom After the War.
The Smiths, who made #1 on my recently finished list of Top 10 bands of all-time, have released a bunch of "best of" collections in the two decades since they broke up, but they've just come out with what has to be considered the "definitive" edition with this month's The Sound of The Smiths, which includes 45 tracks, including a few "unreleased" singles and live versions of released tracks that maybe haven't been heard by everyone yet. The songs on the double CD are a who's-who of the best Smiths songs ever made, from "Hand in Glove," which kicks off the album (and was their first single) to "The Queen is Dead," my #4 favorite song of all time. Unfortunately for me, I don't think there was a single track on the collection I didn't already own, except for maybe the live versions of "Meat is Murder" and the "New York Vocal" version of "This Charming Man", which were both worth the price of admission anyway. But for completists out there, or anyone who hasn't heard "Jeane" or "What's the World?" or "Wonderful Woman" or some other rare tracks included, it's definitely worth checking out.
Kaki King, a female singer who I know nothing about, released a joint EP with John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats) titled the Black Pear Tree EP. There are some wonderful and spellbinding tracks within, including the title track below.
Darnielle also has released a limited edition EP on both vinyl and available for download with a "pay your own price" system (a la In Rainbows). Check out the site here. It's called Satanic Messiah and I tend to think this musical distribution method may be the future of how bands get paid perhaps, but I'll have more to say about that in an extended post about the future of indie rock coming tomorrow (hopefully). Here's some old Mountain Goats for you, because why not?
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Download The Mountain Goats - "Fall of the Star High School Running Back".mp3
- And the only song I know that can make "Hail Satan!" repeated over a simple strumming guitar sound so majestic...
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Download The Mountain Goats - "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton".mp3
And last but not least, Canada's Woodpigeon have released an advance track from their upcoming album, due out February 9th for End of the Road Records. I'm just now falling in love with their debut release Songbook, and this song "Knock Knock" leads me to believe they could be onto something great.
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