Music To Dance By

Seriously, who isn’t a Bowie fan? I picked this record up about a year ago, for something like four bucks, and was immediately reminded of my mom as soon as the needle hit the wax. Let’s Dance made a regular appearance in the soundtrack of my eighties childhood, to which my mom was the principle DJ. Spending time with this today was a lot of fun. Here are some little facts and things I that I really enjoyed learning.

Released in 1983, Let’s Dance features a lot of surprising collaborations, most notably Stevie Ray Vaughn’s work as the lead guitar player. Wild, hunh? Being able to recognize SRV’s blues style supporting the heavy layer of dance-pop really struck me and caused a total change in how I listened to this record. For whatever reason, the record gained an instant depth that I couldn’t hear before.

China Girl is a quirky, sexy crowd pleaser for any karaoke lover. Bowie’s sings with this odd, low, growly whisper; a total contrast to the jerky, high pitched waver he uses in songs like Shake It and Modern Love. The aha moment for me was that the song was written with Iggy Pop to be used on his album The Idiot. Sense makes! You can definitely hear him on this track like it was made for him, because it was.

K, what else. Well, the song Cat People (Putting Out Fire) was a collaboration with celebrated film/dance score composer Giorgio Moroder for the remake of the movie Cat People, for which the song received a Golden Globe nomination. They didn’t win, nor was the film nominated for anything else. Hard to believe because it was clearly sooo awesomely good.

Criminal World is a cover of a song by UK glam group Metro. Check out the difference between the two versions:

Finally, some research I did revealed that some releases of this record included Under Pressure as a secret track. Ho-hum, my record doesn’t have this feature, but perhaps someone out there can tell me if theirs does.

In any case, thumbs to Let’s Dance. Good times. The best video I found on the subject was Iggy Pop performing China Girl (1991). Still bad ass. Why are his pants undone? Not sure it matters.

Enjoy.

Satisfaction

I am overjoyed to announce the birth of a brand new weekend that is to be filled with three, no wait, make that FOUR new albums for me to savour.  I know that this is a little late for me as three out of four titles were released 2009 or 2010, proving that I can be a slow mover, at times, but I am excited that I will be with at least some of the non-illegally-downloading masses and on the front page of demolishing Radiohead’s new release in one bite. Finally, I too can be “with the times”.

On the menu this weekend are the following albums:

                                          Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record                                                            The National: High Violet                                                           Silversun Pickups: Swoon

                                                    Radiohead: The King of Limbs

I shall report the trip upon its completion… or perhaps this is only the beginning.

In search of elusive vinyl.

I speak the truth when I say that Modest Mouse’s “The Moon and Antarctica” is an exceedingly excellent album.  Some would even go so far as to say that it “Super Exceeds” most expectations of the little band from Seattle, and blasts away nay-sayers and critics alike with a great dark tale told in a swirling, whirling circular motion wrapped in swirly goodness. The album I received was released as a tenth anniversary commemoration, but I am happy to report that MM have much more than this title on vinyl. What a treat! And so I can cross off just one of many albums on a long list of “wants” and “must haves” hanging on my fridge, some of which I already have on CD.

What I am most impressed with are the well chosen breaks in the album decidedly necessary due to the A-B-C-D sides.  When listening to the CD one can tell that these breaks are present through the changes in mood, tempo, and subject matter as defined chapters are underlined, though it seems the “sound” of this tale never really seems to stop.  The difference between mediums leaves me wondering about how I would have experienced the record had I heard one or the other first, like one reading a book before or after the movie is out.  This is especially wondrous as I ponder these effects on the “Lonesome Crowded West”, determined to be my favourite MM package ever!

Note: I have reserved the longer debate on wax vs. CD for another blog. Let’s keep this one short, people! I know you’re thanking me, and so I’ll boldly say “you’re very welcome”.  How very polite.

So what of this album, eh? What difference might the warm tendrils of a vinyl record offer to the already colossal movement of LCW? Perhaps I shall never know it for, although there are many titles to choose from, this particular selection has turned out to be the rarest on vinyl, which surprises me a great deal considering the seemingly mounting surge of vinyl re-releases that have saturated the alterna-cool small-time-record shop crowd. Boo-urns. Whats more is that it shall not be coveted for less than $180.00 American dollars. Alas, out of reach, I’m afraid.  What to do?

I’ve since joined an online sort of record-wish-list club called  www.discogs.com to keep tabs on the availability of the album, as well as the usual big web stores.  I have also declared to my husband that should I find it in one of our local digs, or abroad, that I shall purchase it no matter the price. This is just one of those things that I can’t do without. I’ve been raised to a higher echelon of listening bliss!  Time for saving pennies has never been more important.