Inexplicably beautiful music: Nominations

[Dale]

OMG....i did a google-image search on fist...

WHAT ARE YOU...NUTS? I warned you.

[Dale]

I think the archetypal "inexplicably beautiful" is Tom Waits.

No arguments from me on that!

Taxi, we'd rather walk, huddle a doorway with the rain dogs
For I am a rain dog, too...

Ever heard the Gavin Byars/Tom Waits recording of "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet?"

Dale

[Maeloc]

I only heard that versión of Jesus Blood once, and was shocked!! It was as if the sentence meant something different each time he repeated; but apart from that I've haven't heard anything else by Tom Waits, Could you recommend any of his records?

By the way, Amelia by Joni Mitchell is my choice

[chas]

I only heard that versión of Jesus Blood once, and was shocked!! It was as if the sentence meant something different each time he repeated; but apart from that I've haven't heard anything else by Tom Waits, Could you recommend any of his records?

What to recommend by Waits is a toughie -- it depends on what you're looking for. He sings about the darker parts of society, kind of like Richard Thompson. Nighthawks at the Diner is mostly spoken, and he tells some great stories. Heart of Saturday Night and Blue Valentine have some of his most accessible and beautiful music. On BV he does a great version of "Somehow, Somewhere" (not sure about the title, it's from West Side Story), as well as another tearjerker called "Postcard from a hooker in Minneapolis." Small Change is probably his funniest, definitely not for play in mixed company.

Waits was a heavy smoker and drinker. Rumor had it that he honed his voice by smoking FIVE packs of Old Gold a day. You never saw him without a cigarette. Then he got married, gave up smoking and drinking, but continued to sing as though he lived in the gutter. He's living proof that having a great voice and being a great singer are not necessarily the same thing.

Never heard Jesus' Blood, I'll have to check it out.

[dubhlinn]

"never be the sun" by dolores keane is a really beautiful track as is tom waits "kentucky avenue". "a case of you" by joni mitchell is my all time favourite thing of inexplicable beauty.

[Montana]

Thing of beauty, music of yearning: music from the Pas de Duex section of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
And for emotionally compelling, Wagner's "Liebstod" from Tristan and Isolda is not bad...

[OnTheMoor]

I'm going to nominate Stan Roger's (see picture at right) Lies, love that song. Reminds me of my grandmother.

I'll also throw in Venice is SInking by Spirit of the West. The song just plain makes me smile.

[emmline]

is it just me or does anybody else think of bob marley when a re-run of the banana splits comes on tv?

Sorry Tower. We don't get reruns of the Banana Splits in the U.S. I have to rely on childhood memories there.

[gonzo914]

I'd have to say "Three Little Fishies." The Kay Kyser rendition, with Ishkabibble.

Down in the meadow ina itty bitty poo'
Fwam fwee wittle fiddies and a momma fiddie too.
"Fwim," said da momma fiddie, "fwim if you can."
and dey fwan and dey fwam wight over the dam.

<All together, now, everyone>

Ooop bop diddem daddem waddem choo.
Ooop bop diddem daddem waddem choo.
Ooop bop diddem daddem waddem choo.
And dey fwan and dey fwam wight over the dam.

The sheer power of emotion in that song just overwhelms me. I think it touches on the humanity of all of us. Every time I hear it, I just want to pound on the table and cry like a baby.

[Wombat]

Gee, where do you start on this one.

Diamanda Galas, Meditation and Prayer just keeps going in and out of focus in the most extraordinary way.
Archie Shepp, Fire Music really angry music that somehow manages to be beautiful at the same time.
Captain Beefheart Lick My Decals Off and Trout Mask Replica Howling Wolf meets free form rock and roll.
Sham 69 That's Life a punk opera, I kid you not.
The Village Fugs: any early album before they learnt to play their instruments and started hiring people who already did.
The Soweto String Quartet Zebra Crossing A string quartet playing township music. It works.

[kevin m.]

Gee, where do you start on this one.


Archie Shepp, Fire Music really angry music that somehow manages to be beautiful at the same time.

Last week,I was listening to 'The Bonzo dog doo-dah band' performing a track called 'The Bigshot' (Viv. Stanshall doing a 'film noir private dick' type pastiche monologue-extremely funny).It struck me that the honking saxes and the 'drumkit falling down a staircase' backing music was VERY much like Archie Shepp,circa 1967/8!

[Wombat]

Gee, where do you start on this one.


Archie Shepp, Fire Music really angry music that somehow manages to be beautiful at the same time.

Last week,I was listening to 'The Bonzo dog doo-dah band' performing a track called 'The Bigshot' (Viv. Stanshall doing a 'film noir private dick' type pastiche monologue-extremely funny).It struck me that the honking saxes and the 'drumkit falling down a staircase' backing music was VERY much like Archie Shepp,circa 1967/8!

Have the Bonzo's records been reissued on CD? They are definitely right up there with the weirdest. What was it now? A Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse?

For weirdness the Temperence Seven were quite good in their more limited way.

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

Those who like My Bloody Valentine and the Lost In Translation soundtrack might also want to try The Pastels' "Illuminati" (a remix version of The Pastels' earlier album "Illumination"). Contains some lovely and weird sweeping soundscapes crafted by MBV, Stereolab, Cornelius, Jim O'Rourke and quite a few others. The Pastels are quite possibly the most profoundly influential part-time band you've never heard of. They've been around nearly 20 years now and lead singer Stephen Pastel has never sought to give the band a high profile and still apparently works in a quiet bookstore on Byres Road in Glasgow.

Hmm...inexplicably beautiful. Yeah, I'd also have to go for Tom Waits there. Gleefully awaiting the short vignette involving him and Iggy Pop in Jim Jarmusch's new film "Coffee and Cigarettes"... Then there's Apocalyptica, the cello players that do exclusively Metallica covers...much better than the band itself.

Umm...what else?

Keith Jarrett...

Joy Division...Around the time the film "24 Hour Party People" was coming out, I went out and got some JD stuff to see what all the fuss was about. I'd always liked New Order and admired the way they gave preppy 80s teens and yuppified cokeheads a common point of reference...But that VOICE. Talk about "transmission"...Ian Curtis' songs transmitted such eloquent, pained emotion, yet with such relentless drive and energy...No wonder he hung himself at 23. Normal people do not sing like that...In another life, he'd have probably made a hell of a sean-nos singer. And those high-fret bass hooks really stick with you, too.

While on the whole Manchester thing, Vini Reily (aka The Durutti Column...one of the greatest names for a rock band ever...) has done some good stuff too. Dodgy vocals but utterly goregeous guitar work...

Neko Case's "Blacklisted" ought to put the Nashville country music establishment to shame...

Nick Lowe's "Dig My Mood" and "The Convincer." Who'd have thought that a guy who started out getting out of a record deal by singing songs in praise of the Bay City Rollers and later produced Elvis Costello in his early pissed-off- at everybody-years would wind up becoming one of the great crooners of our time. It's like Johnny Cash (his ex-father in law) and Marvin Gaye are fighting for control of his brain. Too good for words...

And lastly, if you don't yet have a copy of Caoimhin O Raghallaigh and Mick O'Brien's "Kitty Lie Over," then shame on you.

[pipingturtle]

Hmm...

For a track which elicited the most surprising response from me... I can't remember the name or the track number but it's on Te Vaka (the first album by the Polynesian band of the same name) and it's about a weird witchy type woman predicting what white settlers would do and includes a piece which sounds very much like someone running from slavers. For me, having only recently returned from Palestine when I bought the album, it was both very beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

TTFN.

[burnsbyrne]

At the risk of exposing my cultured? :roll: side, my all-time favorite is a chorus aria from Giuseppi Verdi's opera Nabucco. The name of the piece is "Va, pensiero". It gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.
Mike