absolutely stunning. this shanty-esque version of "innocent when you dream" is meant to sound like an old 78 record, complete with vinyl crackle and boxy sound.
the street organ(?) is what really makes the song for me, it gives it sort of a "pre-war coney island-style carnival documentary footage"-vibe, if you`re able to make any sense out of that. it really is an absolutely stunning track to close an album with.
"running through the graveyard
we laughed my friends and i/
we swore we`d be together
until the day we died/
until the day we died"
(often i`m a bit uncomfortable when it comes to posting lyric exerpts, in my opinion whether or not a lyric is great is too often dependent on the delivery of the lines and the feel of the music. to me, seperating the lyrics from the song can often lessen their emotional impact. does anyone else feel that way?)
originally written for marianne faithfull, but i prefer tom waits`s own rendition of this song.
a slow tango-esque piece with a sublime lounge band backing(if you can call a something featuring a banjo player a lounge band)and half-whispered, half sung vocals. i really appreciate the sound of the "big time"-album.
the backing music in the chorus of this song never fails to conjure up images of the tango band from "a nightmare before christmas" in my head, due to the similarity of the sound. did danny elfman fall in love with this song during the composition of the soundtrack, or does he and waits share a common, different source of inspiration? if so, i`d love to hear that song..
waits revisited the musical ideas of this song for "it`s over" (an outstanding song in it`s own right)from the "liberty heights" soundtrack, by the way. it`s always interesting to hear him experiment with and explore his own compositions, but then again i`m a sucker for variatons on musical themes..
totally amazing, swinging piece of japanese vocal-centered 60's big band sound. i�m especially fond of the tarzan-esque way her voice bends at about 2:54, and the uh! ah! sounds of the backup singers. this needs to get its own movie scene ala the big dance number in sabu's "monday", if anyone's seen that.
22 Oct 06 ·Sem Sinatra: I totally agree with the above. It's by far the best song I've heard by Jun Mayuzumi. Her later songs veer dangerously into Enka (Melodramatic and melancholy but largely very dull Japanese popular song) 22 Dec 07 ·sardonicsmile: oh, i own this 7" too! both sides are great, and so are her gutsy and fun vocals.
pretty straightforward mid-sixties garage tune.
what really grabs me about this is the ambience created by the organ/ drum combo in the refrain, wich gives it a kind of mideval/ primal feel. (feel free to arrest me on this one as i know virtually nothing about those genres. it's just the description that sprung to mind:)
don't know too much about the band, as this was a random file sharing find.
is there any kind of music that fits better into a compilation format than the countless garage one hit- or no hit- wonders of the sixties? didn't think so.
ultra-trippy middle east-influenced song celebrating the joys of gasoline, from french avantgarde easy listening composer/arranger michel magne. very heavy in the strings department.
it sounds like it was written for a commercial or something, what with the moany female vocals and all, but my french is pretty goddamn terrible, so i wouldn't know:)