Seven Songs for the Week #138 - 26th Nov 25

Took this record off the shelf this week and it really is very good. The most recent Beck album, it felt like it slipped out compared to other Beck records. Perhaps that's due to the fact that it came out at the end of 2019 and the pandemic delayed the tour. This performance of Uneventful Days from Jimmy Kimmel is well worth checking out. https://youtu.be/6M3HW_YfZoI

Mentioned on Hoffman Forum thread, from 1980 it still sounds contemporary - like a Gorillaz track, but with a pop Kraftwerk backbeat.

This week I went to see Aja - Ireland's number one (or only?) Steely Dan tribute band. They were very good and reminded you of all the tunes that SD have as well as the joy in their music. They went off-piste from the core 1970s Dan catalogue twice: Jack of Speed from Two Against Nature, and this solo Donald track.

This week I finally watched Magnolia - it's very good, isn't it?

Ok, so when box set season began at the end of August, I was going to have to prioritise and economise. I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy some. The Monkees Pisces box was a no brainer, that was never not going on the shelf. The John Lennon set was also going to have to be bought eventually and I was able to pick that up. All the others would be streamed: Stones, Dylan, Broooce, Split End and Bowie. Bowie is so expensive. Then there is Who Are You. A Who album I never rated having bought the CD 35 years ago. When the track listing was announced, the absence of Pete's demos seemed like a terrible idea - they've been the highlight of earlier Who sets. Apparently Universal wouldn't pay Pete to include them. It's a pity but as it turns out, we're going to be ok. Listening to the box on streaming, and seeing the packaging - excellent use of colours and fonts, tipped this into the buy pile. And it's very good, because Who Are You is an album that became an inflection point in the Who's history, so the box set and the music gets to tell a story. Rehearsals with Keith, the slow assembly of the record, the collapse of the Glyn Johns' work and mixes, the album itself, the death of Keith, the arrival of Kenney, his rehearsals and the emergence of a very different band in 1979. The whole thing is quite compelling. Recommended!

Anthology 4 arrived 29 years after Anthology 3 with only 13 previously unissued songs, and two of them are Free As A Bird and Real Love remixes. So 11 new old songs. Within that small group, there is gold. This solid rocking take of BYARM with Paul obviously having a ball and bringing John along for the ride and never wanting the track to end.

Saw Bob Dylan this week. My first Dylan gig was in 1989, and last night was my eighth. There's a lot I've forgotten about these 8 gigs. I've just looked at the 1993 setlist here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bob-dylan/1993/point-theatre-dublin-ireland-53d52799.html and 2025 me would be delighted to hear I and I live, I wouldn't have known it at the time. Anyways, last night was great, I brought my kids, with varying results, but I wanted them to have seen Bob Dylan. I had to check, but he played all of Rough & Rowdy Ways (except Murder Most Foul) which was 9 of the show's 18 songs. He ended with a cover of Rainy Night In Soho, because even though his is inscrutable in his onstage demeanour, he is never not present in the moment. Is this the last time I'll see him? Well, when he didn't play Ireland on his European tour a year ago, I thought I wouldn't get the chance again. But really, anything is possible.