"Have you worked with maniacs before?"

Guess what! There's a new Coyle and Sharpe boxed set out, with 3 CDs and a DVD. I can only imagine that it will, in time, be supplanted by the long-dreamed-of definitive megalithic slab of technological derring-do and archival quarrywork that presents all their incredible man-on-the-street pranks, but in the meantime this is a friggin' goldmine.

(BTW, you know what strikes me about the difference between then and now? The general grace, well-spoken-ness, and eager-to-please-iosity of their interview subjects compared with folks in a similar position today. Not one of Coyle and Sharpe's marks grabs his crotch and screams "I'm on the radio, bitch! WOOOOOT!")


•Coyle and Sharpe: Microphone in Brain (via RapidShare)
•Coyle and Sharpe: Maniacs in Living Hell (via RapidShare)
•Coyle and Sharpe: Lathe and Sponge (for Simon Mailer) (via RapidShare)

The above cuts are from Audio Visionaries (Street Pranks And Put-Ons), an album not contained in the boxed set but which is available through eMusic's no-strings 25 free MP3s offer.

Coyle and Sharpe home myspace cdbaby

Best. Cover. Ever.

OK, not really, but this might be Best. Cover. Of. Worst. Song. EVER.



(Thanks to Bradley for the heads-up.)

What light

Has it really been so long since I updated this thing? To my faithful readers: sorry, mom.

New Wilco track. I might have heard the whole album (Sky Blue Sky, available May 15) somewhere... (*cough*). It's either extremely subtle or totally boring, i.e. either it will reveal its layers over time or you'll only want to listen to it when you're on Xanax. But this new track (available free through Wilco's official site, yes) is a real winner, one of my favourites in their whole catalogue.

•Wilco: What light (MP3)

Wilco home myspace

Battle of the song titles, v. 4.0

It's long past due: the Duel Toooooo Theeeee DEATH!

•The Lettermen: Shangri-La (via RapidShare)
•The Kinks: Shangri-La (via RapidShare)

Emily Haines: Expecting to Fly

Despite my protestations to the contrary, I guess I do have a predilection for covers. At least, ones that add something to the original.

Here's a really nice one: Emily Haines of Metric doing a version of Neil Young's most overblown, overproduced psychedelic number, solo with only a piano for accompaniment.

•Emily Haines: Expecting to Fly (live on the Current) (via RapidShare)

Come all ye...

Best known as one of Bob Dylan's early mentors in the Greenwich Village folk music scene of the early 1960s, Dave Van Ronk should more properly be known as one of the finest interpreters of songs from the folk tradition.

I recently bought Inside Dave Van Ronk on vinyl. Had some friends over for dinner and put it on when we were all half-cut and in food-coma repose. When "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" came on, everyone was struck thoughtfully mute as we let the music wash over us. Simultaneously fragile and masterful, this is a truly haunting rendition. Dig it, chilluns.

•Dave Van Ronk: Fair and Tender Ladies (via RapidShare)

•Inside Dave Van Ronk available through eMusic's 25 free MP3s offer

A St. Patrick's Day miracle!

rbally is back. Shore & begorrah, sodom & gomorrah. Drink up and drown, my little bootlegweasels.

The Beauty Way

This studio version of "The Beauty Way" doesn't do justice to the way she's been doing it live lately: full of fire and fury and desperation and toughmindedness. When she played it at the Ironwood a while back, the whole room went stone-silent and the hairs on the back of my neck tried to escape.

But until she comes back through town it's the best you'll get.

•Eliza Gilkyson: The Beauty Way (via RapidShare)

Eliza Gilkyson home myspace

The really invisible republic

Can I point you to a great article about the "Ramblers Step" missing from Greil Marcus's Invisible Republic?

Dylan did not learn Harry Smith's lessons directly from the Smith Anthology. He got them mostly second-hand — that is, he learned them, but mostly in translation. I'm now convinced that the single most important vehicle delivering Harry Smith's peculiar message to Dylan in those early days — the widest pipeline between Harry and Bob — was The New Lost City Ramblers.

The whole article can be found here.

•Invisible Republic

•The New Lost City Ramblers

•Harry Smith

•More from the Monochord: Beyond the Anthology

A smoky snatch ...

... of whiskey-soaked late-night corner-bar Americana (get your mind out of the gutter), Melissa McClelland's "Passenger 24" is one of those rare songs that grabs you by the goolies from first listen. Available free from eMusic (email me for details).


•MM: Passenger 24 (via RapidShare)

Watch the video at her much-too-spiffy website. On second thought, don't.

Melissa McClelland myspace