Bill Withers- Still Bill

It's been a busy past two weeks for me  and that's why I haven't been keeping up with posts.  Between homecoming, driving home last weekend, mid-terms, and Nellie chewing through my laptop charger, I haven't had a lot of free time to post, but I'm back now.

Bill Withers is an American soul musician that has had success with songs such as Lean on Me and Just The Two of Us.  Here is his iconic album, Still Bill.  I'd like to thank Harder for constantly playing this on the porch during September.  Credit also goes to the guy selling the Trey/Blackhawk shirts at the Toyota Park show this past summer.  Post-show we were  hanging out at my car and listening to Use Me when he recommended the whole Still Bill album.

Getting Ready for the Weekend

So the other night I finished watching the 10th Inning.  I must say the documentary was fantastic and the music was splendid.  The Chemical Brothers were used twice and Chalk Dust Torture was played during the segment on the Bosox/Yankees brawl in 2004.  Also I think that Dirty Water is the best song played after a win/goal/touchdown/homerun etc.

Here are some songs that I am playing in my car right now.

Paper Planes (DFA remix)

The Strokes- I'll Try Anything Once- This song is used in Sofia Coppola's new film, Somewhere, and is a demo version of You Only Live Once

Canned Heat- Going Up the Country

Faithless- Insomnia

The Rolling Stones- Slave

Beach House- Zebra

Erol Alkan and Boys Noize- Lemonade

Kleerup- Hero- from the 2009 Yacht Week trailer

Dan Deacon- Crystal Cat- the man who brought you Drinking out of Cups

Laurent Wolf- No Stress

Dizzee Rascal- Bad Behavior (Tiesto Remix)

Faith No More- Easy Like Sunday Morning

Delorean- Seasun

Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream

After a successful debut album in Gish, the Pumpkins came back with Siamese Dream.  Gish sort of got lost in mix after the grunge explosion, but Siamese Dream cemented the Smashing Pumpkins as one of the most important bands of the 1990's.  The Smashing Pumpkins are a band out of Chicago and frontman, Billy Corgan, actually grew up about 15 minutes from my house in Elk Grove.  Corgan was the driving force behind the Pumpkins both creatively and physically.  Stories later leaked of Corgan overdubbing the guitar  and bass track of James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.  Such control over the band and its music partially led to the departure of Iha and Wretzky from the band in 2000.  Siamese Dream also features the last of Billy's long hair.

The tracks for Siamese Dream were not uploaded in the correct order into my Mediafire account, so just be careful in which order to add them to iTunes.

Cherub Rock- the best opening song to any album ever

Disarm

Mayonaise

I know this song does not appear on Siamese Dream, but this is my absolute favorite song and I didn't know when I will get a chance to post some Smashing Pumpkins again so here is 1979.  It is also one of my favorite music videos of all time as well.

and for good measure here is Billy singing Morning Dew

Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

BOOM

Morphine- Like Swimming

Morphine is a jazz/rock band out of Boston.  I don't have much to say here, I don't know too much about them other than the bassist plays a two string slide bass and the saxophonist sometimes plays two saxophones at once, which is pretty cool in my opinion.  Here's their album Like Swimming.

Morphine- I Know You (Pt. 3)

Morphine- Murder For the Money

Morphine- Empty Box

Boardwalk Empire and The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Boardwalk Empire is a sick show and made even better by the song that plays in the opening credits, Straight Up and Down by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.  They're basically the creation of Anton Newcombe, who is a musical genius and crazy asshole (they seem to go hand in hand generally), and have had a revolving lineup since their inception.


The Devil May Care

Anenome

Going to Hell

In My Life

Whoever You Are

Dropping Bombs on The White House (Bring Me the Head of Heather Mills on a Wooden Peg)

Movie Soundtracks

I love movies almost as much as I love music and part of what makes great movies so good is the music that is set to the best scenes in the movie.  The jury is still out for me on whether or not a score or a carefully crafted soundtrack are the way to go with a movie, but i enjoy either if they are quality.  Here are some of my favorite songs used in movies.

ELO-Showdown (Kingpin)

Bob Dylan- The Man in Me (The Big Lebowski)- sorry this is a shitty live version, the studio version used in the film is not up on YouTube

Kenny Rogers- Just Dropped In (The Big Lebowski)

KC and the Sunshine Band- Boogie Shoes (Boogie Nights)

Tom Jones- You Can Leave Your Hat On (The Full Monty)

Hot Chocolate- You Sexy Thing (The Full Monty)

The Champs- Tequila (The Sandlot)

The Band- The Weight (Easy Rider)-  this version is from The Last Waltz and the only version I will listen to now, when you hear it you will understand why I only listen to this version.

Zero 7- In the Waiting Line (Garden State)

Sigur Ros- Staralfur (The Life Aquatic)

Dusty Springfield- Son of a Preacher Man (Pulp Fiction)

Aerosmith- Sweet Emotion (Dazed and Confused)-  I will argue to my death that Aerosmith is a shitty, overrated band, but the combination of the first 10 seconds of this song and Kevin Pickford rolling into Lee HS parking lot in his Grand Am combine to make this the best opening scene to a movie ever.

Richard Wagner- Ride of the Valkyries (Apocalypse Now)- Charlie don't surf!

Smokey Robinson and The Miracles- Tracks of My Tears (Platoon)

The Rascals- Good Lovin (The Big Chill)

The Rolling Stones- Can't You Hear Me Knocking? (Blow)

Elton John- Tiny Dancer (Almost Famous)

Underworld- Born Slippy (Trainspotting)

Q Lazarus- Goodbye Horses (Silence of the Lambs)

Peter Gabriel- In Your Eyes (Say Anything)

Wayne Newton- Danke Schoen (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Phil Collins- Sussidio (American Psycho)

The Beta Band- Dry The Rain (High Fidelity)

Groove Armada and Richie Havens- Hands of Time (Collateral)

Kenny Loggins- Danger Zone (Top Gun)- Kenny Loggins was created to write perfect songs for movie soundtracks.

Joe Espositio- You're The Best (Karate Kid)- Johnny, sweep the leg.

Dueling Banjos (Deliverance)- Truly a WTF scene in a WTF movie.  Be careful in Appalachia folks.

Chuck Berry- You Never Can Tell (Pulp Fiction)

Steelers Wheel- Stuck in the Middle With You (Reservoir Dogs) - C'mon, you didn't think I was going to leave this off, did you?

EDIT:  Gary Jules- Mad World (Donnie Darko) I can't believe I forgot this gem.

and to Tim who commented on this post, you are right, "Where is My Mind" in Fight Club is a great song in a great movie.  I was just posting my personal favorite uses of songs in movies.  This was probably my longest post thus far, I could have given you guys about 30 more songs, but I had to cut it off somewhere.