Seven Songs for the Week #82 - 30th Oct 24

This album came out in 1996, Wilco's second. I'm not sure how Wilco ended up on my radar at that time - I think I saw them on Letterman. Being There is a double album, proper, it's on 2 CDs. However, it's 76 minutes long, so it could be squeezed into one CD, but then it wouldn't be a double album. I have a problem with Tusk and Exile on Main St being on one CD; it's nice that the Beatles made sure the White Album would have to be a 2CD set. Anyways, two years ago, I moved 90% of my CD collection into slim vinyl sleeves, and CD1 of Being There was missing. Going through a 20 year old box of crap recently I found it at the bottom, gave it a clean, and it's as good as new. Forgot about Monday. It slams.

Following on from listening to Born Again last week, I had Sail Away in the car this week and it really is the best Randy Newman record. There's something to enjoy in everything he puts out, but on Sail Away there's a good balance between the tin-pan-alley Randy and the something-to-say Randy. With relation to the latter there is still a seething behind what he is saying, whereas on later records his satire can tilt into being overly arch.

Bryan Ferry put not a 5CD retrospective last week. I was checking it out on streaming, I wanted to hear his take on Whatever Gets You Through The Night (disappointing). I didn't know he did this version of Don't Be Cruel for a 2001 compilation celebrating Sun Studios. What I noticed about it is how incredibly faithful it is to Elvis' version, and how Ferry's voice fits in and sounds just like Elvis. Critics of Ferry point towards his vocal style being an affectation, but hearting it in this backdrop it makes a lot of sense.

My parents never had a record collection, however as a kid there was a suitcase of records under a bed which covered the era of "before kids". I remember nothing cool being in there: Perry Como, easy listening, no useful sixties records whatsoever. No Beatles records, except Beaucoups of Blues by Ringo Starr. At some point, the suitcase of records disappeared, but not before I rescued this for my own collection. It must have been bought because it was a country record, not because it was Ringo/Beatles. I never got to ask my dad why he bought it, but following on from last week's announcement about Ringo's country record, I gave it a spin.

My copy of this album has a different cover, a better cover but more non-descript. I saw this show when it came to Dublin in 2018 and it might remain my favouritist gig ever. I chose this song because most of the Talking Heads songs performed are quite faithful to the originals, no harm with that, but this one is different.

"I am not Jesus, but I have the same initials" is a lyric that's also true for me. This Is Hardcore is the best Pulp album. No further questions.

Found this in my Shazams. Catchy, vibey.