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I've picked up a couple of Fugs albums over the years, but can't claim to be a fan. The albums I had were patchy and spent a lot of time gazing at their own sub Frank Zappa navels. The mix of frankly pretentious wordplay and beatnik dope fiend posturing never impressed me and the music wasn't that inspiring either. That said, when they went with a fairly standard psychedelic acid rock style of song, they were capable of greatness. For me, one of the finest songs was off the 1968 LP - It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest - the opening Crystal Liaison.
It was downhill all the way after that track for me. It was ok, but nothing that really made me want to embrace their music as anything other than a footnote on rock history. I've never seen footage of them playing at all, so it was nice to happen across this video of them from Sweden today. There's some self indulgent padding around the track, but if you just want the music, jump forward to 2.20 and enjoy a stonking live rendition of said same Crystal Liaison. It's a pared down version to the rich production of the LP version of the track, but it shows the band strutting their stuff and an early stage dancer who'd put Bez to shame.
The first Great Lake Swimmers LP made my 2005 top ten of the year. It's mix of stark simplicity and captivating singing and song writing saw it getting many a play on the old headphones over the year. Apparently it was recorded in a grain silo in Southern Ontario - the whole album has a beautiful warmth and atmospheric feel to it.
The band's second LP has become a firm favourite of my wife's, so I thought I treat her to the first LP for Christmas, and whilst looking it up I thought I'd have a quick look to see if the band had made it to YouTube. Low and behold, there's some videos and live stuff on there, and this lovely live version of the LP's opening track is a worth the look - a great performance. I have to admit, the reason I checked the band out was I initially loved the name as it reminded me of Red House Painters. I'm glad I chanced on them as the music has been an accompaniment to some lovely times the last 18 months.
Well, you might be surprised, given my posts here, to declare I'm not a fan of music videos. Really, I'm not at all, often they're either pretentious, pointless or extravagant. Bands playing live are fine, I can just about bare a image montage or some such, but on the whole, I hate the idea of the music video and the bloated waste it has become in this age of corporations and mass consumption. Often, the ones I post here are more for the music than the imagery. However, once in a while I see one that blows me away - today we have probably one of my all time favourite examples of a video that actually works with the music it illustrates.
This video to Radiohead's Pyramid Song is simply one of my all time favourites. The mood it creates is like a sledgehammer. I'm a visual person, I love imagery and theatricals and the video has it all. The song is sublime on its own, for my money one of the best Radiohead have made in an uneven career as everyone else's favourite band. Anyway, if you've never seen this, take a look. If you have seen it, watch it again and just let it wash over you.
Dio Bach is a music fan who loves sharing his opinions on his favourite music and videos. Subscribe for regular nuggets.
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