Rock - what are you listening to?

[cybot]

One of all time favourites....and then some. They do a burning version of Can's 'Yoo Do Right' What do you think of these Jadarin? Anybody else?

[Ivor]

This is a lovely album, very atmospheric - well worth picking up if you see it around.


Fran

I was very briefly in town this morning so I bought that on CD. I'm lookin' forward to all that atmosphere!

I only had one listen but love it already. I suspect it will grow and grow too.

[cybot]

[Fran]

Via my new EL34 amp!!

[tony]

Whats this a new el34 amp? Manufactured in mondello?

[Ivor]

They're a valve that just loves electrostatic speakers. left alone they do filthy things to each other. The Airtight ATM1 has them in 'push-pull' configuration.

Now I want this t shirt.

[mcq]

Tonight, after watching Shinji Aoyama's breathtaking epic, Eureka, there's only time for a spin of David Ackles' immortal eponymous debut album before I retire to the land of Nod. A work of sincerity and honesty that endures and, like all of his work, will outlive me. It seems so hard to credit the lack of exposure this album received on its release. This is songwriting of genius that is imbued with an innate sense of wisdom that is rare. There is a confidence about his songwriting craft that belies a man of 31. And the vocal delivery is just perfect. His deep, rich baritone lends these finely tuned lyrics a perfectly judged sense of gravitas and weight (like ballast to a sail). You can never imagine anybody else singing these songs. Great things were to come with Subway to the Country and American Gothic, but tonight I'm playing this heartstoppingly beautiful crystallisation of pure emotion in which so much is said so sweetly, and, really, it's hard to ask for anything more. It is hard to single out one song but Be My Friend is such a great song, spoken directly from the heart, that almost serves as a manifesto for this deeply spiritual man. Make his acquaintance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0LjDKe ... re=related

[cybot]

Tonight, after watching Shinji Aoyama's breathtaking epic, Eureka, there's only time for a spin of David Ackles' immortal eponymous debut album before I retire to the land of Nod. A work of sincerity and honesty that endures and, like all of his work, will outlive me. It seems so hard to credit the lack of exposure this album received on its release. This is songwriting of genius that is imbued with an innate sense of wisdom that is rare. There is a confidence about his songwriting craft that belies a man of 31. And the vocal delivery is just perfect. His deep, rich baritone lends these finely tuned lyrics a perfectly judged sense of gravitas and weight (like ballast to a sail). You can never imagine anybody else singing these songs. Great things were to come with Subway to the Country and American Gothic, but tonight I'm playing this heartstoppingly beautiful crystallisation of pure emotion in which so much is said so sweetly, and, really, it's hard to ask for anything more. It is hard to single out one song but Be My Friend is such a great song, spoken directly from the heart, that almost serves as a manifesto for this deeply spiritual man. Make his acquaintance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0LjDKe ... re=related

A beautiful and yet idiosyncratic artist. Nobody but nobody could have sung any of his songs and lent them the gravitas and total uniqueness that David could....I'm not ashamed to say but that song moved me like no other. Thanks Paul....



David Ackles - Be My Friend lyrics
Verse 1
This world's a lonely place to walk around in,
This world's a place where life is hard to spend,
But we can help each-other live, Everyone can give
The simple gift, the words that lift, "Be My Friend"

Verse 2
Some days you wake up feeling nothing but fear,
Some days you wonder why God put you here,
Then all at once there comes a word, what was that you heard?
Why, someone said from Gilead, "Be My Friend"

Instrumental

Verse 3
This life may not bring much of comfort to you,
This world may lose it's touch of kindness too
And who's to blame? Why can't you see? Only you and me,
So if I may, I'd like to say, "Be My Friend"

[cybot]

Another perfect example of misunderstanding/not 'getting' it....I wouldn't dare play this for anyone for obvious reasons. I simply love it for what it is and the lyrics convey a wondrous cinematic feel helped along by the stunning orchestration and Dave's 'narration' is heartbreaking....Not for everyone.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYZAlBZo ... ata_player

[mcq]

A perfect song, Dermot. And it more than justifies its running time. There is no pompousity in the vocal delivery, nor are the lyrics unnecessarily verbose, nor the arrangement needlessly ornate. Everything is of a piece in this masterpiece. Whether taken out of context and listened to in isolation or listened to as the closing track to American Gothic, it is a powerfully vivid experience. The confidence of a man who can take what is bristling in his head and heart and articulate it so finely is to be admired. Heartbreaking, though, to see such a creative vision go so criminally unrewarded. According to his wife, who was interviewed shortly after his passing, he bore it stoicly to the end:

"Everybody who knew him would say he was very happy and optimistic," observes Janice Vogel Ackles of her late husband's life and the sometimes contrasting tone of his work. "He was saddened by the many vagaries and woeful conditions with life that we all have to encounter. In some cases, they affected him more deeply than others, like with most people. But it was hard for him to just kind of put them away and go on. They kind of ruminated within him and contributed to this sometimes overwhelming sadness about the condition of our planet. Having said that, he was a deeply religious and spiritual man. Not in the sense of evangelical or born-again, but a privately spiritual man who did in fact take part in a community of the church, had a daily ritual of prayer. He was constantly searching for meaning of things that we all have to deal with, and like all of us, didn't really come up with any answers."