Best of 2006 Albums (according to me)

Making my “Best of this year” list is always a rather difficult chore for me (check out my 2005 version which featured 19). This year out of the 127 2006 albums I’ve got I’ve picked 25, with notable others bringing the total list up to 54.
The Irish blogosphere’s best ofs  - Sinead Gleeson ; In Fact Ah; Fergal @Tuppenceworth.

1. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

I listened to this so much when I bought first that when the 3 concerts in the Point came around last month, I didn’t think I’d be able to listen to it again. The concerts were amazing and the album withstood the fatigue test.

1. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

The first song, Crane Wife Part 3, is possibly the best rock/indie song of the year.

1. The Weepies – Say I Am You

Deb Talan’s delicate voice brings their lyrics to perfection – “Thunder rumbles in the distance, a quiet intensity / I am willful, your insistence is tugging at the best of me  / You're the moon, I'm the water / You're Mars, calling up Neptune's daughter / Sometimes rain that's needed falls  / We float like two lovers in a painting by Chagall”

1. Cat Power - The Greatest

It’s certainly her greatest album.

1. Alejandro Escovedo – The Boxing Mirror

I was a little bitter with Alejandro after I bought a fairly standard tribute CD to him to support him with his Hepatitis C. The Boxing Mirror has assuaged that bitterness and more.

1. The Gossip – Standing in the Way of Control

Missed them in the Temple Bar Music Centre, and while I don’t like the politics, the energy on this album is amazing.

1. The Minus 5 – The Minus 5 (Gun Album)

The Minus 5’s “Down With Wilco” album didn’t prevent Wilco and REM bandmembers from singing Scott McCauughey’s songs. (That version sounds better than mentioning that Wilco of course played on “Down with Wilco”)

1. Hem – Funnel Cloud

I love Hem. I know not many people have heard of them, but they’re making some of the most consistently beautiful music today.

1. Seth Lakeman – Freedom Fields

I blogged about this album back in April - But unlike Damien Rice, Dempsey or any other of these new folk/acoustic/singer-songwriters from these islands, Lakeman is an original, singing his own songs about, well, “Freedom Fields” is about the 1643 Civil War. And he sings about it like he was there. (I doubt Damien Rice could even spell 1643.) He plays the violin like he means it. The production is immaculate and the album was made in his Devon kitchen. The drums are reminiscent of red-coated garrison men, marching with the sun reflected in their brass buttons, before their canons explode. He sings about mermaids, mariners, riflemen, soldiers who came “a courtin a maid, took her home, stole her beauty, took no gold” and the like.

1. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat

Rising up with fists.

1. Isobel Campbell with Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas

A surprising duo delivering the goods.

1. The Killers - Sam’s Town

From track 5 on, it’s superb. Pity about the first few songs.

1. The Blood Arm – Lie Lover Lie

Almost standard 2006 indie rock, but as the track 7 says “Do I Have Your Attention?”, one is tempted to throw fists to the wind and scream wildly.

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go

Unless he developes a latent ambition to become 6th member of Boyzone or record a duet with Red Hurley, The Prince, will always be on my top albums list
.

1. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar

It’s a standard choice for 2006 best albums list, and it deserves it.

1. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

A great album. And a great concert in Crawdaddy a few months ago.

1. M. Ward - Post War

An Americana triumph.

1. Shooter Jennings – Electric Rodeo

My effusive praise back in May still applies - This album inspires me to get to a greasy bar stool in Carolina with a large bottle of Jack Daniels before driving away in a beat up pick up truck with Shooter beside me and playing loud on the stereo. “You can’t see the tears behind my aviators” and his heartfelt admissions of caninicide – I’m in love. Or lyrical lust or something. My holidays are over, so I’ll have to settle for the next best thing. Men of the Red Cow Inn watch out

1. Amos Lee – Supply and Demand

His sophomore album seems to be more lyrically memorable and RnB tinged than his first – and is way better. Night Train is simply gorgeous.

1. Kelley Stoltz – Below the Branches

Introduced to me by Sinead, she’s dead on about this one.

1. Eric Church – Sinners like Me

Probably the only artist on this list that I wouldn’t mind having a poster of in my bedroom – Eric Church is a pretty gorgeous country singer – and what’s a rightwing girl to do but swoon when she hears lines like this – I believe that gas is too damn high / The tax man and the devil share the same address / I believe dogs are better than cats / And I believe that Jesus is comin' back before she does”. He’s even got Merle Haggard singing a tribute song to himself. As he sings himself - I know where I come from: How 'bout you?

1. Old Crow Medicine Show – Big Iron World

Perhaps the most raucous bluegrass band around, this album is faithful to a tradition that deserves the creativity and virtuosity of this group and their producer, David Rawlings.

1. Ollabelle – Riverside Battle Songs

Gospel, bluegrass, country – it’s all here with fab vocals.

1. Bob Dylan – Modern Times

Better than some of the new stuff, not as good as some of the old stuff, but holding it’s own.

1. The Wailin’ Jennys – Firecracker

Named after Waylon Jennings, these girls know how to sing folk.

Best of the Rest –  (kind of in order)
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
The Be Good Tanyas – Hello Love
Amy Milan – Honey from the Tombs
The Duhks – Migrations
Crooked Still – Shaken By A Low sound
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Joanna Newsom  - Ys
The Pipettes – We Are The Pipettes
The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
Drive by Truckers – A Blessing and A curse
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Calexico – Garden Ruin
T Bone Burnett – The True False identity
TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
The Subdudes – Behind the levee
Howe Gelb – ‘Sno Angel Like you
Lambchop – Damaged
Ray LaMontagne – Till the Sun turns Black
Paul Simon – The Surprise
Damien Jurado – Now That I’m In Your Shadow
Matisyahu – Youth
The Little Willies – The Little Willies
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
Islands – Return to the Sea
The Mountain Goats – Get Lonely
Slaid Cleaves – Unsung

The Leftovers = (I had them all typed up to make the list so here they are) =
ALO – Fly Between Walls / Muse – Black Holes & Revelations / Ben Harper – Both Sides Of The Gun / Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope / Imogen Heap – Speak For Yourself / Joan As Police Woman – Real Life / Built to Spill – You In Reverse / Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris - All the Roadrunning / Tom Waits - Orphans / Yo La Tengo-I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass / Allison Moorer - Getting Somewhere / Rosanne Cash - Black Cadillac / Van Morrison – Pay the Devil / Tom Petty – Highway Companion / Thom Yorke – the Eraser / Shearwater – Palo Santo / Sarah Harmer – I’m A Mountain  / Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man Soundtrack / Roseanne Cash – Black Cadillac / Lou Rhodes – Beloved One / Carrie Rodriguez – Seven Angels on A Bicycle / Josh Rouse – Subtitulo / Jolie Holland – Springtime Can kill you / Jerry Lee Lewis – Last man standing / Hem – No Word From Tom / The Elected – Sun, Sun, Sun / Cara Dillon – After the Morning / Califone – Roots and Crowns / Bonnie Prince Billy/Tortoise  - The Brave and the Bold / Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers / Pajo – 1968 / Band of Horses – Everything All the Time / Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Etiquette / Centro-Matic – Fort Recovery / Dave Alvin – West of West / Deftones – Saturday Night Wrist / Elvis Costello / Allen Toussaint – The River in Reverse / Emily Haines – Knives Don’t Have Your Back / Fionn Regan – End of History / The Fratellis – Costello Music / G. Love – G. Love’s Lemonade / Johnny Cash – Personal File / John Legend – Once Again / Jolie Holland – Springtime Can Kill You / Julie Roberts – Men and Mascara / Kasey Chambers – Carnival / Lindsey Buckingham – Under the Skin / Magic Numbers – Those the Brokes / Mary Lorson & Saint Low – Realistic / Mindy Smith – Long Island Shores / Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks / Rhett Miller – The Believer  / Rhonda Vincent – All American Bluegrass Girl / Shawn Colvin – These Four Walls / Shawn Mullins – 9th Ward Pickin Parlor / Teddy Thompson – Separate Ways / Tom Russell – Love and Fear / Willard Grant Conspiracy  - Let It Roll / Willie Nelson – Songbird / Jens Lakeman – Oh You’re so Silent Jens / Brigitte Demeyer – Something After All / Richard Buckner – Meadow / Chatham County Line - Speed Of The Whippoorwill /

How Many Albums Did You Get in 2006?

Attempting to do a best of 2006 album list. I got a little confused with 2005 albums I listened to in 2006 and 2006 albums so I decided to make a list of the 2006 albums in my itunes.

I’ve 127.

Heard Harry Crosbie talking about music and property on Eamonn Dunphy’s RTE radio 1 show on Saturday morning and he discussed how there is simply too much music/books/TV/films and now quantity has replaced quality.

I know there are several albums in that 127 I’ve long dismissed, but still, I think I might have an addiction.

Not Prostitutes, Styrofoam Helmets

Was how Ryan Adams described the meaning of his song “Starlite Diner” (I think!) tonight in the Olympia. One could also use the line to describe the vast character difference between the 2 live Ryan Adams – the one I was disgusted with after his last concert -  an hour long, Jack Daniel’s fuelled narcisstic “Rock n’ Roll” performance – and this one – the sensitive, witty, intense songwriter/musician with the Cardinals, his tight and talented, if slightly ugly band.

He played right up to 11, playing everything from old favourites such as Firecracker, New York, To Be Young, Shakedown on 9th Street, Bartering Lines – sounding like fantastic covers of his own songs to new stuff – Peaceful Valley, A Kiss Before I Go, Let it Ride and The End.

The old Ryan has returned – the one who invented Whiskeytown and stole my heart with that delightfully sexy photo on Heartbreaker – indulgently lying back with a cigarette clamped between his lips. He ended the concert by saying “text me later, we’ll talk”. With a performance like that, I don’t want to talk – I just want to hear it all again. And soon.

Came So Far For Beauty

Was a very long concert – after 4 hours of some beautifully arranged Leonard Cohen songs, I’m fatigued in a happy-tired way. Some were not so good and I wonder if Hal Willner had adhered more tightly to the adage “leave them wanting more” would I think it was a better concert.
Beth Orton was amazing as was Nick Cave, Teddy Thompson, Antony (minus the Johnsons), Perla Batalla, Jarvis Cocker and the Handsome Family – actually, Separate Ways by Teddy Thompson and Through The Trees by the Handsome Family are playing as I type!
The highlight was of course Cohen’s writing – stunningly beautiful as ever, even in the arrangements I didn’t like – Gavin Friday + Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Hallelujah or Robin Holcomb’s Closing Time. Gavin Friday is a person I can barely stand – but slouched with his hands shoved in his pockets, warbling through a surprisingly good version of Everybody Knows, I briefly liked him. He dedicated it to Bertie Ahern – meet Dermot Ahern on the way into the concert – I don’t know if he was still there to hear it.
IF you can get tickets for Thursday night – go along, it’s a great evening.

(And if you can’t, here’s a link to Teddy Thompson’s superb cover of “Tonight Will Be Fine”)

Johnny Cash's Worst Mistake

will be released on DVD at Hallowen entitled "Johnny Cash In Ireland – 1993".

Forget drink and drugs, as all Irish Johnny Cash fans know Sandy Kelly was his worst mistake.

Killing Me Quickly

I have yet to actually hold my Killers tickets for the Point but I know the friend who has them is minding them carefully. Up to this evening, based on “When We Were Young”, I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect of the concert, the new album, the whole “we think this is our best album” thing that every interview with them seems to have.
Now I have “Sam’s Town” in my sweaty paws and have spent the evening making Nigella Lawson’s Brownies (which makes 48 brownies, a fact I didn’t realise until I saw the mixture in the tin) and then eating same brownies, all while listening to it. Unlike the cool kids among you, my brownies have only 1 chemical substance – chocolate – and despite being 72% solid, it’s not enough to make me this excited. Sam’s Town, however is a different prospect – discounting “When We Were Young” and “Sam’s Town” – the album is brilliant – complete with enterludes/exitludes  (we hoped you enjoyed your stay…) – especially from track 5 (For Reasons Unknown”) onward.
I’m very excited – about the concert, about listening to this album over and over again, about the rest of my life. It’s that kind of album.

New Music

I've put up some of the newish albums I'm listening to at the moment in the side bar. Will try to review some of them soon.
There's something for everyone there, except for fans of Backstreet Boys - there's this (or the ever touching real thing.

Blood Red Circle on the Cold Dark Ground

I hadn’t listened to Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising in a long time – then last week when I was reodering the CD shelf (well, shelves, stacks and bendy free standing holder thing), I decided to put it on again.

While some part of my mind registered the 911 anniversary bit, I was struck with emotion hearing it again – of all the post-911 stuff I have, The Rising speaks directly to the heart of the matter, “tears on the pillow darlin' where we slept”. The prosaic agonies of loss –  “your house is waiting for you to walk in”, those left behind when their loved ones act on honour - “I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher somewhere up the stairs into the fire”, the sense of a shifting centre “God's drifting in heaven, devil's in the mailbox I got dust on my shoes, nothing but teardrops” .

While on holidays in New York in May (and following a particularly disastrous experience of American baseball), I took the subway back into Manhattan from Yankee stadium. Standing beside me was a tall well built guy, chatting to his friends about his job as some sort of financial analyst. I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but I just can’t help it – he spoke about his best friend who was lost in the WTC and how this was the 1st subway ride he taken since 911 – he just wasn’t comfortable with the subway since.
While reading the plaques around ground zero a random business man approached us – he was from Chicago and everytime he came to NYC he came to appreciate the “nothingness” where “everything once was”.

I’m one of the few who supported, and supports various wars on terror and damning of evil axes, but regardless of where you stand, things were “forever changed in a misty cloud of pink vapour”.

Tut, Tut Readers

I am most disappointed with you, my readers – I go out of my way to provide a time wasting fun music quiz and you all only get 1 correct answer – coming from NineMoons. Those marked with an * are the easiest – song title comes from the first line! Come on people, I expected more from you.

1. Mercy on the Fallen - Dar Williams = Oh my fair north star I have held to you dearly


2. Hold on, hold on - Neko Case = The most tender place in my heart is for strangers


3. *Johnny Cash/Nick Cave – Running Kind  = I was born the running kind


4. *Susan Tedeschi – Security = Security…I need some security


5. The Saw Doctors - Never Mind the Strangers = It takes 2 to get together and time to make it last


6. Buddy Miller – Quecreek =At the Quecreek mine the miners went down


7. *Loretta Lynn – Don’t think = (Well you thought) I’d be waiting up when you came home last night


8. The Highwaymen (Woody Guthrie) - Deportee = The crops are all in and the peaches are rotten


9. Bruce Springsteen - Part man, part monkey - They prosecuted some poor sucker in these united states


10. Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces = Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about?


11. Neil Young – Walk On = I hear some people been talking me down


12. *Dashboard Confessional - Picture = Carry this picture for luck


13. *Whiskeytown – Well, excuse me while I break my own heart (..tonight)


14. Richard Shindell – By Now = Window open wide blowing through the north woods


15. Alejandro Escovedo – Sex Beat = Johnny’s got a lot on his eyes, Shirley’s got a lot on her lips


16. Billy Bragg and Wilco - Way over yonder in a minor key = I lived in a place called Okfuskee


17. Jayhawks - Come to the river = My heart is tuned to the morning wind


18. Wolf Parade - This hearts on fire = She tells you rock and roll


19. **Gomez - Love is better than a warm trombone  (It’s the 1st line and the title exactly!)


20. Vashti Bunyan - Here Before = Once I had a child and he was wilder than moonlight


21. Caitlin Cary/Thad Cockrell - Something less than something more = It’s a pretty tired story now it happens all the time


22. Bob Dylan - Just like a woman = Nobody feels any pain


23. Minus 5 – Out there on the maroon = I had 6 white Russians tonight and 2 of them were people (Dealga’s fantasy! Great band)


24. Willie Nelson - Big Booty = She said I ain’t gonna fix you no more sausage


25. Gretchen Peters - Circus Girl= I work the highwire in the centre ring

That wasn’t that hard! (was it?)

George Bush sings "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

Honestly.
And it's weird.

Good Pancreas Music

The New York Times have an article on "While in Surgery, Do You Prefer Abba or Verdi?"
I hate surgery with a passion, so despite having to work as surgical intern for 6 months (and being the cunning dosser that I am, I'm only doing 3 months of actual surgery!), the chances of me having to choose music for theatre are very slim. Which is unfortunate as I own a rather extensive CD collection.
As a student, I avoided theathre as much as was feasible - I never heard music in a Dublin OR, but my personal study would carry very little statistical significance.
(Please note smooth segue from medical news to album endorsements)

New Music in my life includes -

Shearwater - Palo Santo
I originally got into Okkervil River because I liked the cover of their album Black Sheep Boy. I bought it on the impulse and really enjoyed it. But Shearwater, Okkervil River's side project, is excellent. Well worth checking out.

Paul Simon - Surprise.
Simon and Garfunkel in the RDS 2 summers ago was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. There's nothing surprising about Surprise - Father and Daughter the song that's been played a lot on the radio is probably my favourite.

Johnny Cash - Personal File.
As if I could find fault with the great man.
I organised a musical wake for him when he died.
I'm officially a fan for life.

The Wreckers - Stand Still, Look Pretty.
Mindy Smith joins up with some other girl (I'm too lazy - you know where google is yourself) to make an album that's pleasing to any country fan's ear.
Certainly beats the Dixie Chicks for those of us who have bailed out of their meandering long way.

Song of the Week

has to be Reconnect by Director, a band from Malahide.
You can hear it (and watch video) at their myspace site or their main website, where they stream a few more songs.
I downloaded a few weeks ago after myspace slowed up after about 12 listens.
Didn't listen to again until this morning and according to itunes am now at play number 34 (in 6 hours).
Must buy album in next few days before I overdose on Reconnect.

Conservative Top 50 Songs

The New York Times cogs National Review's list, saving me money on resubscribing today. (which I'll do once I start earning money!)
I posted about the list here a few days ago and have gotten loads of google searches about it. It's the first time I've checked my stats in ages. There's some interesting search terms there that will probably merit a post when I'm back in the land of broadband.

The Common Folk and The Conservative

One of the things I like about Richard Waghorne is his ability to take himself very seriously. Given that I agree with him a lot of the time, this blog has seldom anything to say about him.
Today, though, I'm laughing.
His blog Sicilian Notes tells us, with regard to Lyric FM , that “Those who consider nativist fiddling to be a taste of some sort could then listen to their peasant music on their own frequency without disrupting the balance of my carefully calibrated working environment.” (How can one express a catty screech in computer language? Is there a modified smiley to say "Ewwww"?)
Those little throw away comments from Richard are akin to Ann Coulter's trademark quotes - almost witty, but empty and sometimes downright intolerant.
Richard has disabled comments and recommends we email him. This is a public email. First off, I recommend that Richard buys an iPod or a CD player, thereby ensuring his work environment remains perfectly “calibrated” and free from those pesky peasants with fiddles.
Irish traditional music is not just peasant music nor does its worth an artform stem from its "nativist" quality. Calling it as such just makes Richard look uber-snobby and exclusive. But I think that's exactly how he wants us to think about him.
He's right about radio licensing here, but unfortunately his reliance on the old Tory image of conservatism just doesn't convince.

Jesus = A Dead Rabbi with A Girlfriend?

The title is from Mark Shea's interview with Matt Cooper on the Last Word about the Da Vinci Code, where he rubbishes the notion that the Council of Nicea voted that Jesus was divine.
As a blog title it's useless, as it tells nothing about the post's content, but as a line it's fantastic.
I actually want to talk about the top 50 conservative rock songs of all time - John Miller lists them in this month's National Review.
I'm no longer a subscriber to National Review, simply because I forgot to renew my subscription. But now I'm getting increasingly bored with what passes for conservative analysis in the States - I feel I've heard it all before. I think this stems from relying on bloglines to read blogs more so than the magazines/sites that I used to. So I'm unsubscribing from a rake of blogs that are currently preventing me from reading (and blogging about) interesting things.
Most of my recent blogging output has been about music, but now that my life is slowly returning to a semblance of a routine, I'll hopefully have more serious stuff.
But the top 50, as introduced by John Miller - On first glance, rock ’n’ roll music isn’t very conservative. It doesn’t fare much better on second or third glance (or listen), either. Neil Young has a new song called “Let’s Impeach the President.” Last year, the Rolling Stones made news with “Sweet Neo Con,” another anti-Bush ditty. For conservatives who enjoy rock, it isn’t hard to agree with the opinion Johnny Cash expressed in “The One on the Right Is on the Left”: “Don’t go mixin’ politics with the folk songs of our land / Just work on harmony and diction / Play your banjo well / And if you have political convictions, keep them to yourself.” In other words: Shut up and sing.

But some rock songs really are conservative — and there are more of them than you might think

Number 1 goes to the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again".
The Volokh Conspiracy provides the dirt. Might re-subscribe to NR digital over the next few days to get the rest of it.
"The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naive idealism once and for all"

Bruce Springsteen – This is NOT an Objective Review

There are at least 2 things that this blog simply can not be objective about.
The first is Cillit Bang, cleaner extraordinaire that actually works (I know it sounds like I’ve been sucked in by those happy people on the ad saying “Cillit Bang it really works” but it does, honest).
The second is Bruce Springsteen’s music. Just his music – I will always say it’s brilliant, even the songs I don’t like are brilliant in their own indomitable Springsteen way (Born in the USA and Dancing in the Dark). I’m not a big fan of the Bruce-as-John-Kerry’s-supporter-numero-uno nor the posting entire 3 million word Al Gore screeds on his website phase, but other than that everything the man does can be classified as perfect in my book.
Last year I thoroughly enjoyed my Springsteen in the Point evening, which is becoming a delightful annual event.
Therefore, the 2 and half hours I spent in the Point listening to him tonight was perfect. Made more perfect by the presence of both Dr Cox from Scrubs and John Kelly in the balcony to my right (well, they didn’t actually improve my listening enjoyment at all, but a girl’s gotta do some name dropping)
We Shall Overcome is an amazing album – the kind of album that you just want to keep listening to. Every song is uplifting, multi-layered and thoughtfully arranged and fantastically compelling. It still doesn’t reach the lofty heights of “Auds’ Favourite Springsteen Album” which remains The Ghost of Tom Joad but it’s catching up.
I listened to We Shall Overcome before each of my clinical exams last week and was inspired by lines like “Keep your eyes on the prize / Hold on”; “We shall overcome”; “Brothers and sisters don’t you cry / There’ll be good times by and by”; “we’re climbing higher and higher”; “My Oklahoma woman blowed away / Mister as I bent to kiss her / She was picked up by a twister” (giggle); “Pay me my money down” (after 6 years of unpaid undergrad-ism that should be self-explanatory) ; “Low bridge everybody down” (it’s not inspirational as such – I just like it).
There were moments of lyric-induced panic – mainly to do with Old Dan Tucker’s unfortunate demise – I was afraid I would diagnose an ulcer or something as a “toothache in his heel”.
Anyway, the album’s great. And the Boss is the boss live. He owns the stage, strutting, swinging, singing, strumming. The man’s a genius.
Bruce is the sort of man that pleases a woman early on and keeps her there for the rest of the evening – last year I said I love my music and love evocative lyrics that I can really relate to and my emotional involvement in a song reached its zenith with Reason to Believe. Using Tom Waits type vocal distortion and harsh mouth organ accompaniment, Bruce transported my soul to a Depression era Mississippi church with a wizened preacher demanding relief from the dead dogs and hard earned days (not that I've ever been to Mississippi and at 22 years of age didn't get must Depression action!) His shiny worn cowboy boots raising dust from the plank of wood as he stomped in perfect time was just amazing. I felt like I was involved in some American Gothic Flannery O'Connor novel.....I had a reason to believe after this song and could have left the Point fully sated.....but I didn’t!
Well, this year, a stunning arrangement of Johnny 99 from Nebraska left me similarly fulfilled, only this time the Mississippi church was home to a foot stompin’, heart pounding, hand clapping revival where the congregation was high on the Lord (or something stronger). And the night was only getting started.
All the new songs were played roughly the same as the album (all except Shendadoah and Froggie which weren’t played). And it was the oldies that got me going – along with Johnny 99, Adam Raised a Cain was superb. Also from Nebraska, Open All Night was unrecognisable save for the lyrics – it became an Ooby Dooby, jivin’ rock n’roll extravaganza. From the Rising, City of Ruins got a good spin (I cried when he played this in the RDS, so my emotional involvement in the song had peaked a few years earlier) My sister was particularly chuffed with “You can Look, but you better not touch”.
Patti Scialfa (Mrs Springsteen) got a few lines at the mic for John Henry’s “red headed wife” and Bruce also acknowledged his fairly crap prounuication of “Mrs McGrath” – the only complaint I have is that he didn’t banter more.
“Erie Canal” is probably my favourite song from the album and it was done superbly, as was “When the Saints go marching in” – last song, wow.
Last year’s review had a dedicated curtain discussion – multicoloured with blue chandeliers and a movable scene thing which got a moon for “Buffalo Gals”.
I’m going to stop gushing now, it’s not very ladylike. I love Bruce. And it wasn’t me you saw til the wee hours standing outside the Merrion hoping to catch a glimpse of the great man. No, it just looked like me.

Check out my blog-twin Chris at alt tag, who like me enjoyed Springsteen@the Point and blogged about it late Friday night AND is in New York this week. And we're probably the only 2 Irish blogging gals who would have voted for Bush.....

Music to do Exams By

I had my 4 hour surgery written paper today and had medicine Monday. If you’re interested in what’s hot in Irish medicine as expressed in the MB, BAO exams – latent TB.  Herceptin (draw a diagram question! Hello? I can’t draw a diagram of this – a monoclonal antibody against a breast cancer growth factor! My version looked a chocolate biscuit that was dipped in a mug of tea for too long and a whole lump just plonks off.) Treatment of MRSA positive patients. Prostate cancer screening and how’s it’s a bad thing. Resus of a young man in a road traffic accident.
Tomorrow is psychiatry, where we’re expected to know Freud along side the latest neuroleptic drugs. The joys.
So to get through this purgatory (hell starts in 2 weeks with clinical exams), I complied a play list. This was not procrastination but active stress management.
I’m so laid back I’m horizontal, as I’ve been told many times. This play list helped….

1. Breathe (2am) - Anna Nalick. A necessary part of any pre-finals night. 2am comes and the hyperventilation sets in. Listen to Anna. Breathe.


2. Porushkya-Paranya - Bering Strait. They’re a Russian bluegrass band and when I make vaguely phonetic sounding noises as “singing along” I convince myself of my superior linguistic talents. Look at me, I’m singing in Russian gibberish.


3. To Live is to Fly - Cowboy Junkies. Townes van Zandt wrote it, so it’s damn good – “shake the dust off your wings and the sleep out of your eyes”. Useful advice I should have followed and got out of bed at 645 this morning instead of falling back to sleep to 820 and barely getting breakfast and to the exam on time, without looking over all of orthopaedics, which I don’t know, and thankfully didn’t appear on the paper.


4. The Gambler – Kenny Rodgers. Who doesn’t gamble on what’s coming up?


5. Mercy of the Fallen - Dar Williams. Need I say more?


6. Hard Times -  Eastmountainsouth. The self pity.


7. Death Came A Knockin’ – The Duhks. The nights are the worst.


8. Trouble and Care – John Gorka. Oh woe is me.


9. Helpless – k.d. lang. A poor student helpless in the face of the every changing face of medicine. Oh it’s exciting alright. But not before exams. It’s hard enough learning the old stuff let alone the new stuff. By old stuff I mean Hippocrates and co as well as dudes like Colles, Burkitt and Stokes, who apparently did things to actually deserve getting wards in Dublin hospitals named after them.


10. Not the Tremblin’ Kind – Laura Cantrell. Laura makes me snap out of above misery and say to the professors of medicine/surgery “You can play master but I won't wear your chains”


11. Old Fashioned Morphine – Jolie Holland. Better than a lot of the new stuff, I say.


12. Radiation Vibe – Hem. Apparently radiation is important in medicine. Or so I’m told. X rays and radiotherapy.


13. Nightingale / Alexander Leaving – Leonard Cohen A girl needs some Leonard love at times like this.


14. San Andreas Fault – Natalie Merchant. Yes, it’s all bloody Andreas’fault.


15. Tired of my Tears – Susan Tedeschi. Well I haven’t cried, yet. But I’ve all of Freud to study yet tonight, so it remains a possibility. Seriously, who cares if toddlers are anal?


16. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams – I’m dreaming of going somewhere – heaven = “Cotton fields stretching miles and miles, Hank's voice on the radio, telephone poles trees and wires fly on by”


17. Theme from Emma – Rachel Portman – ‘cos it reminds of Mr Knightley. A girl needs some natural endorphins now and again.


18. Share the Darkness – Saw Doctors – my all-time fav SawDocs’ song – “When the world belongs to distant dogs / And the air is dark and still / And drunken conversations beneath the window sill / And there’s someone singing Elvis songs as they make their way back home and all your fears and worries attack when you’re alone”


19. Willie Stewart/Molly Rankin – Eddi Reader - from her album “Sings the songs of Robert Burns”. Really really good stuff.


20. By the Mark – Gillian Welch. The only Easter spiritual preparation I’m doing – “On Calvary mountain where they made him suffer so all my sin was paid for a long, long time ago”


21. Dance with me now Darling – Hem – Life will get better, I know.


22. Gotta Have You – The Weepies – New album. Very enjoyable – “No amount of coffee, no amount of crying, no amount of whiskey, no amount of wine, no no no no no nothing else will do I’ve gotta have you”. In this “you” stands for a medical degree.


23. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight – Richard & Linda Thompson The only lights I’m seeing tonight is my bright study lamp.


24. Sing Me Spanish Techno – The New Pornographers. Sing me anything that doesn’t involve the words diagnosis, management, differential, multidisciplinary/multimodality, evidence base level 1 or monoclonal antibody against TNFalpha.


25. The Bag of Cats – Sharon Shannon. Description of my rather cantankerous personality at the moment.

Post Exam Wish list part of playlist. (Working on the carrot/stick principle here)
Sleeping is THE Only Love – the Silver Jews. How right they are.
Lived in Bars – Cat Power. If only. Given I don’t really drink it’s probably not the best plan, but still.
Streets of Baltimore – The Little Willies. A New York country band with Norah Jones as female vocalist, named after Willie Nelson. Song by Gram Parsons
Sailing to Philadelphia and Prairie Wedding – Mark Knopfler. Beautiful
Marching Bands of Manhattan – Death Cab for Cutie. Cannot wait for my NYC holiday.

Now that this exercise in narcisstic playlist making and sharing, pathognomic of my generation is over, I will go study. And listen to the playlist.

T Bone Burnett has an album coming out

I don't know how many of this blog's readers will be as excited as I am over this news. (I'm guessing not many)
He's also doing a US tour with the Wallflowers' Jakob Dylan - but like Hem, he plays New York the week before I go on my holidays there. (Damn laws of time and physics squared)
I first heard of him when I became obsessed with Gillian Welch's music and I traced everyone she worked with on Hell Among the Yearlings, which he produced.
I then got the reissued version of his self titled album and I was hooked.
By right, everyone should own all Gillian Welch's albums and be holding their breaths for the next one (and the amazing live shows that should accompany it!)
So you should go buy them, and in the meantime, join me in watchful waiting for T Bone, who's delivering in a few weeks!

Want to hear some truly beautiful music?

Download one of the songs from Hem's new album - "No Word from Tom" from The Rawking blog. It's Hem's cover of Rem's South Central Rain.
Give it listen and then go buy all their albums. This song barely does them justice.
And I've just realised that I'm in New York 2 days after they play the Bowery Ballroom with Josh Ritter. The only consolation is that I'll be listening to Bruce Sprinsgteen in the Point the same evening. But it's still upsetting.
Damn the laws of time and physics.

Ultimate Joy

is getting 2 tickets for Bruce.
And my roommate got 2 using her credit card. Part of me is glad there's a 2 a person limit, which is fair. And another part of me is annoyed at the extended web of phoners/interneters that had to be arranged last night to ensure tickets.
Never mind. I'm going to Bruce.

From the liner notes of We Shall Overcome, by the great man himself -
It was a carnival ride, the sound of surprise and the pure joy of playing. Street corner music, parlor music, tavern music, wilderness music, circus music, church music, gutter music, it was all there waiting in those songs, some more than one hundred years old. It rocked, it swung, it rolled. It was a way back and forward to the informality, the freeness and the eclecticism of my earliest music and then some.

This is a LIVE recording, everything cut in three one-day sessions (’97, ’05, ’06) with no rehearsals. All arrangements were conducted as we played, you can hear me shouting out the names and instruments of the players as we roll. This approach takes the listener along for the whole ride, as you hear the music not just being played but being made. So, turn it up, put on your dancin’ and singin’ shoes, and have fun