Thursday Random Eight (06/18/2009)

Curtis Mayfield - Between You Baby and Me: I bought The Essentials because I am always so enthralled by the Afghan Whigs' cover of "If There's a Hell Below." That said, I'm not sure I truly appreciate Mayfield's music, especially these slower, mellow tracks.

Marillion - Slainte Mhath: The opening track from the live La Gazza Ladra release culminating the band's era with Fish at lead vocals and main song writer. Covering the first four albums, this is a pretty nice collection, especially in the day when it wasn't possible to download practically every show from these tours off the internet.

Edith Piaf - J'ai qu' a l' regarder: No real strong reactions from me. These are fun songs to hear, but not much more than that.

Sugar - The Slim: Dismal song from Bob Mould about an acquaintance dying from AIDS. As the tours went on, this song became more and more emotional, and subsequently miserable, to the point when he stopped playing it.

Dengue Fever - Tap Water: Another fun song from the Dragon House CD. It bugs me that the band was playing at The State Theater in our area a few weeks ago and I didn't realize it until we were driving past the venue, the night of the show, on the way to dinner. Oh well, maybe next time.

Velvet Underground - That's the Story of My Life: A short song probably most notable for preceding "The Murder Mystery."

Galaxie 500 - Fourth of July: A band that I think would be very hard to not like. The relatively recent reissuing of all their releases (tongue-twister intentional) was a nice bonus for fans, although I've stayed away from the live DVD which I read isn't terribly high quality (something that really bugs me about reissues at times).

Archers of Loaf - South Carolina: Sing about it all you want, I'm not going back there.