Tim Buckley - This Song's For You

Some songs haunt your life. Some songs stick in your heart and followed you from the day when you first heard them. Tonight, I won’t talk about Joanne Robertson that I discovered last week as a support act of Emily Jane White or review the Aidan Moffat’s performance held during the Stage Of Art. Later. All I want is to dedicate today’s post to the woman I love. This one is for you Lucky Girl.

Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
‘til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle
And you sang
Sail to me
Sail to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am
Here I am
Waiting to hold you…

Song to the Siren's words were written by Tim Buckley's regular lyricist, Larry Beckett. "The imagery comes from Homer's Odyssey," Beckett says in the liner notes to Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology (2001). "I brought him my copy of the lyrics and put them in front of him while he was eating breakfast. There was a pause, he looked at them, picked up his 12-string guitar, and more or less played the song you hear. There were three or four of us around the table in complete amazement that something so beautiful could be born as we sat there."

Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren .mp3 from Starsailor (1970)

Photo Tim Buckley via flickr.com/photos/nuritwilde

Emily Jane White - Live @ Paris

I made a big mistake last Wednesday, I thought Emily Jane White was giving her first gig in France but, after reading her bio on her website today, I discovered that she used to play in Bordeaux during a post-collegiate sojourn with her first band the Diamond Star Halos. Anyway, wrong or not, I think it was her first performance in front of a French audience under her own name.
I was quite thrilled to see her on stage after all the good times that I spent last winter listening to the much moving Dark Undercoat. I was not the only one, the Point Ephemere was almost packed and everybody listened religiously the young Californian girl.
To my own surprise, Emily Jane White didn’t only play songs from her solo album, without introduction she offered few new ones mainly on piano. Also, she was not so much chatty and her behaviour on stage has nothing original, nothing like the young Chan Marshall, she and her contrabass player just stood in the middle of the stage and did their job. Then, there are quite no differences between the interpretation of her songs live and what is on the record, it’s just quite the same.
So what to say? Emily Jane White released an awesome record last year but on stage she’s just a singer-songwriter doing her act with no mistake, nothing fancy. I was expecting something a little bit different. Once again I was wrong with that show… Anyway, I was happy to see her at last and I'm looking forward seeing her again.

Web: emilyjanewhite.com
MySpace: myspace.com/emilyjanewhite
Label: Double Negative Records

Emily Jane White - Wild Tigers I've Known .mp3
Emily Jane White - Hole In The Middle .mp3
Diamond Star Halos - Snow .mp3
Diamond Star Halos - Wake-up Call .mp3

Photo: Robert Gil (photosconcerts.com) – Emily Jane White – le Point Ephemere, Paris – April 23, 2008 - Les Femmes s'en mèlent - 2008

Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw

Tindersticks will release their new album, The Hungry Saw, on Monday April 28.
The Hungry Saw was made in 2007 from January to December. “Along the way a studio, Le Chien Chanceux (The Lucky Dog), was built (in the very deep centre of France, in La Creuse) and in June there was an 8 day recording session from which most of this songs came and were realised”.
The return of Stuart Staples among the Tindersticks after a short solo break is more than welcome. You know sometimes the voice of Staples gets on my nerves a little bit – but what will be Tindersticks without it – however, this time with The Hungry Saw’s brilliant dressing and multi-instrumental gifts, Staples vocals grab me from the second track to the last. No problem.
The instrumental opener simply called Introduction set the mood, few drops of piano and here you are… lit up a candle and pour yourself a glass of a good Bordeaux wine… you’re introduced in the unique world of Tindersticks. The band now as a trio produced another album of music noir full of brooding songs about love and regret. A very special mention to songs like Boobar, the quite funny The Hungry Saw, the almost raw Mother Dear and the beautiful and touching All The Love. So far one of the best of this year, I warmly recommend this album.
Tindersticks will be touring The Hungry Saw record in major cities around Europe. The band will be a 12-piece comprised of David Boulter, Stuart Staples and Neil Fraser together with friends like the French drummer Thomas Belhom (Amor Belhom Duo). More info below.

Web: tindersticks.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/tindersticksofficial
Web: stuartastaples.com

Tindersticks - The Flicker Of A Little Girl .mp3

Stuart Staples - Old Friends .mp3
Tindersticks - Can We Start Again .mp3
Tindersticks - City Sickness .mp3

Greg Brown & Bo Ramsey - The Last Duet

The final chapter of Hervé Oudet’s Acoustic in Paris concert series at La Pomme d’Eve couldn’t have been written better then was last nights concert by Iowan’s Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey. This writer has long been a fan of both artists- Brown for his top-notch singing and songwriting skills and Ramsey for his fine guitar playing as well as his production skill of not only Brown, but also Lucinda Williams, Jeffery Foucault and others. In fact Brown’s 2006 release The Evening Call (produced and played on by Ramsey) is one my all time favorite albums. Slow, stately, spacious and excellently crafted, the album is, beginning to end, a joy! So, all of that being said, you can understand my excitement to have the opportunity to see them for two nights in the close confines of Paris’s La Pomme d’Eve. I’m not sure when either artist was last in Paris but folks really packed the small room to overflowing. I think a venue twice as large would have been too small. (More European visits might be in order Greg and Bo?).
Nevertheless, Bo Ramsey took the stage at just after 20H00 and proceeded to weave his subtle swamp, slurping guitar magic over a rapt audience. Barely touching the strings of his amplified acoustic guitar, Ramsey sang many of the songs from his latest release Fragile. Simple song stories wrapped around with reverb and vibrato soaked guitar notes were much appreciated by the standing room only audience.
A short break and back came the long partnered duo. Greg Brown, a big man, was in a Parisian mode tonight. Clutching a glass of red wine and with shades and beret firmly in place, both men saddled up and for the next 2 hours, gave us all a wonderful performance. Greg Brown has a low, baritone voice, which he uses with great command and uses the guitar more or less to frame his lyrics. A little bit of jazzy, ragtime influenced juice weaved itself into his songs but with Ramsey’s always tasteful lead guitar entwined throughout, there is a solidness about the music that makes it totally satisfying. Both nights were remarkable performances not the least made so because they played totally different songs each night! All the long years and miles were evidenced in Brown’s performance. A firm command of his material, the magic of two gifted musicians creating music together and the obvious joy and respect these artists feel for their music and audience, made this a concert that will long be remembered. As I left for home last night I was feeling that I had somehow been changed. That my soul had been stretched, messaged and then put back together in a slightly newer and better version of what it was at the beginning of the evening. The gift of music indeed!

Bookerfatz2

Photo: Greg Brown - La Pomme d’Eve, Paris – April 16, 2008

Photos and setlist: www.acousticinparis.com and blueumbrella.hautetfort.com

Web: www.gregbrown.org
Web: www.boramsey.com

Bo Ramsey - Sidetrack Lounge .mp3
Bo Ramsey - Stranger Blues .mp3
Greg Brown - Hey Baby Hey .mp3
Greg Brown - The Poet Game .mp3
Greg Brown - Late Night Radio .mp3 via acousticinparis.blogspot.com

Bonus: John Lee Hooker - No Shoes .mp3

Women Only 2008 - LFSM #11

In few days will start Les Femmes s’en mêlent #11. Remember last year, Leaky Sparrow (Women Only) spent some evenings discovering on stage female talents like Frida Hyvönen, Elk City, Rose Kemp, Juliette & the Licks, Electrelane. It was a great month of April.
This year, I wish to be able to relate to you some of the evenings who are scheduled. There are artists or bands that I already mentioned here on this blog like for example Mai, El Perro Del Mar or Emily Jane White (sure, I don’t want to miss her…). But many are unknown to me and this is why this festival LFSM is so excited.
It’s from April 16 to 29, mainly in Paris but also in some cities in France and in Europe (Barcelona, Madrid, Lausanne, Berlin and Brussels). You’ll find all necessary information here.

Ane Brun - Rubber & Soul .mp3
El Perro Del Mar - God Knows .mp3
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love .mp3
The Long Blondes - Once And Never Again .mp3
Robots In Disguise - Turn It Up .mp3
Tojiko Noriko - Shayou (Setting Sun) .mp3

Portishead - Third Tour

Leaky Sparrow just turned 2 last Sunday and to celebrate its second birthday no better way than to buy two tickets to see Portishead live at Cologne. Actually, I planned to see them in Paris in May, but the 2 dates were sold out in almost a week. Anyway, I had to go to Germany and, lucky me, the Bristolian ensemble scheduled a stop in Cologne while touring Europe few days before they will launch their Third album (April 28).
It was a sold out show at Köln Palladium concert hall (4.500 standing) last Sunday. Kling Klang a vague copy of Hawkwind opened the evening. Then we had to wait 30 long minutes before the PA system played Expecting to Fly from the Buffalo Springfield and here we go… Portishead on stage for everyone pleasure.
From the new album, I only know Machine Gun and I was very anxious to hear the new tunes eleven years after Portishead (1997) and fourteen years after Dummy (1994) one of the most influential release of the 1990s. To be short, it was obvious to me that like Low with Drums And Guns (2007), Barrow, Utley and Gibbons constructed there songs around drums or electro drum machines. But, it’s hard to have a quick judgement with people like Portishead, you need to listen and listen again every song before you understand the creative process and jump behind the complexity of each one. However, Beth’s voice is still amazing and I confirm that Third will be a great album. On stage, the band delivered a very very impressive set, so don’t miss them.

It was the perfect present for the little Sparrow.

Portishead, Palladium, Köln, April 6, 2008
Dummy (D); Portishead (P); Third (3):

01 - Silence (3)
02 - Hunter (3)
03 - Mysterons (D)
04 - The Rip (3)
05 - Glory Box (D)
06 - Numb (D)
07 - Magic Doors (3)
08 - Wandering Star (D)
09 - Machine Gun (3)
10 - Over (P)
11 - Sour Times (D)
12 - Nylon Smile (3)
13 - Cowboys (P)
-------------------------
14 - Threads (3)
15 - Roads (D)
16 - We Carry On (3)

Web: portishead.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/PORTISHEADALBUM3

Portishead - Sour Times .mp3
Portishead - Glory Box .mp3
Portishead - It's A Fire .mp3

Bonus: Silver Apples - Lovefingers .mp3

Photos and review (in German) here
Photo by christoph (thanks!) - Beth Gibbons (Portishead) – Cologne April 6, 2008

Patti Smith - Land 250 - Paris

The Fondation Cartier in Paris is hosting Land 250, a major solo exhibition of the visual work of American artist and performer Patti Smith. Bookerfatz2 and I, we met there during lunch time last Wednesday to discover that behind the expressive voice that we love so much is a multi-faceted artist.
It's not a surprise that Patti choose Paris to exhibit the various aspects of her creative process. She used to live in the Montparnasse district during her first Parisian sojourn in 1969 close to the cemetery where are buried poets like Charles Baudelaire, Robert Desnos, Serge Gainsbourg and Tristan Tzara as well as writers like Samuel Beckett or Susan Sontag. Also, the source of much of her inspiration has been key figures of French culture, including Arthur Rimbaud, Nicole Stéphane, Jean Genet, Antonin Artaud and René Daumal.
More than just assembling selected drawings, paintings, photographs, recording, short films or handwriting poems coming from all over the world (1967 to 2007), the exhibition as a carte blanche given to Patti Smith is intended to be a comprehensive project that expands beyond the exhibition space. For example, she organized herself the program of artistic evenings where she will perform solo or accompanied by her group and invited various musicians and poets to perform on stage (Jeffrey Lewis, Tom Verlaine, Fred Frith...).
For those of you like me who don't know what is a Land 250: it’s a Polaroid, the Automatic 250 Land Camera. My feeling is that it's not the quality of the photographs taken by Patti Smith who is interesting, it's her relation with what she seen or the ones she met. “I am not a photographer, yet taking pictures has given me a sense of unity and personal satisfaction. They are relics of my life. Souvenirs of my wandering. All that I have learned concerning light and composition is contained within them.”

At the Fondation Cartier from March 28 to June 22, 2008.

Web: pattismith.net
MySpace: myspace.com/pattismith

Patti Smith - Gimme Shelter .mp3
Patti Smith - Parade .mp3
Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit .mp3
Patti Smith - When Doves Cry .mp3
Patti Smith - A Poem_For Jim Morrison - The Nova Convention .mp3

Photo: Autoportrait, New York / Selfportrait, New York City
Polaroid/Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, March 28 – June 22, 2008
© Patti Smith/© Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain