Tag Archive for holly-golightly at Candied Pop

Tag Archive for 'holly-golightly'

Saturday Play List 5/27

Published by Scott May 28th, 2006 in Meta-Chatter and Album. 0 Comments

Only listened to a couple of full albums yesterday:

764-HERO - Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere (2002)
I was very happy this popped up on eMusic the other day. I’m familiar with their first three but had never heard this final release. It’s excellent. They sound kind of like a cross between Built to Spill and Versus. AMG calls them “emo-core,” which is a label I do not understand. To me anything labeled “emo” sounds like something I should avoid. I’d say they’re “indie-rock” but what do I know? John Atkins is also half of both The Magic Magicians and The John and Spencer Booze Explosion. I wonder if either of those projects are still going?

Holly Golightly - The Main Attraction (2001)
One of these weekends I’ll run out of Holly Golightly albums to write about. Or maybe I should just give up now. What else can I say except that all of her albums are consistently good? Here’s another collection of 60’s influenced, somewhat garagey pop-rock. This was her second album, which means it was probably originally released around 1996. “Just Once” is one of my favorite songs by her. Great stuff.

Saturday Play List 5/20

Published by Scott May 20th, 2006 in Meta-Chatter, Free Tracks and Review. 1 Comment

Secret Square - Secret Square (1997)
I grabbed this out of print album from the fine Elephant Six themed blog, Optical Atlas. It’s a side project of Apples in Stereo / The High Water Mark’s Hilarie Sidney along with Lisa Janssen, who has a Neutral Milk Hotel connection. Some pretty wonderful psych pop that borders on shoegaze. More than once I thought of the band Lush. Naturally it’s a bit Apples in Stereo-ish too. You can grab it free for a limited time here.

Josh Rouse - Subtitulo (2006)
I’m just now getting around to this one, although I did play it twice today. I loved Nashville and believe it or not that’s the only other Rouse album I’ve heard. I know his other works are held in high regard but sometimes I’m a freak like that. I didn’t even realize until I went to college that The Smiths had more albums than The Queen Is Dead and Louder Than Bombs. I was just so happy with those two that it didn’t occur to me to seek out more. I think maybe I don’t want to be disappointed by an artist’s other works when I come across something I really connect with. Then again I can think of a zillion other bands from whom I’ve heard one thing and rushed out to acquire the rest of their catalog. Who knows what my deal is but I thought Subtitulo was pretty good. I’d read some mixed reviews so wasn’t sure quite what to expect. It is pretty mellow and folky but there are moments of pop brilliance. The one-two punch of “His Majesty Rides” and “Givin’ It Up” is particularly awesome. I’m sure I’ll start working my way backward through his discography sooner or later…

The Flaming Lips - Oh My Gawd… The Flaming Lips (1987)
It’s quite a novelty to hear old Flaming Lips. They used to be pretty punk, although it was punk steeped in all things psychadelic. I think I heard this back in the day. Not when it came out but around the time Transmissions From the Satellite Heart broke big. Yes, that’s when I caught on. If only I had been more with it I might have caught the legendary show with Nirvana opening for them at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor during my freshman year at the University of Michigan. Oh, well. What can I say? One thing- All these years later Oh My Gawd is worth listening to. It’s not great but I enjoyed it. “Everything’s Explodin’,” “The Ceiling Is Bendin’,” and “Prescription: Love” are all choice cuts.

And of course I couldn’t give Billy or Holly the day off:

The Milkshakes - In Germany (1984)
Punk meets early Beatles and Kinks. A solid album although after a couple of listens there’s no single track that jumps out at me. The whole thing has got a curious reverb quality, like Billy and company recorded it live in a huge room. Without liner notes I can only guess.

Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other (2003)
Holly had drifted away from the garage by this point. It’s still a “rock” album though and reflects various 60’s influences. Every album I hear I think, “Is this her best one?” I’m leaning toward Serial Girlfriend as my favorite but Truly is outstanding. “She Said” (also on the Down the Line comp) is my favorite song of the moment.

Holly Golightly - Down The Line

Published by Scott May 19th, 2006 in Album, Review and 2006. 2 Comments

I’ve written about my ongoing Billy Childish / Holly Golightly binge on the last few Saturday Playlist posts and haven’t come close to overdosing on them yet. When Down the Line hit eMusic on Tuesday I lunged for it. No need to check the samples or track down reviews. It was new Holly and I had to have it. I was certainly surprised when I gave it an initial spin. Turns out it’s not new material at all but a compilation of songs from her various Damaged Goods releases.

I tried to do some research after the fact but was stonewalled on all fronts. Nothing on AMG, the label page, or Holly’s own site. No reviews anywhere. Pretty mysterious. My best guess is that it’s an internet only release since the only places you can even purchase it from is eMusic and a few other, ahem, inferior online services.

I was definitely disappointed at first that it wasn’t a new album, all the more so considering her last release, 2005’s My First Holly Golightly Album, was also a comp. That one consisted of nine previously released songs plus eight re-recorded “favorites.” I can’t really recommend it because it downplays her rough edged garage-rock-blues material in favor of more pop leaning tunes. I always think of those songs as Nancy Sinatra style Holly, but that characterization is really only based on the one song I know, “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” Still, that song serves as an apt comparison for the type of 60’s influenced pop-rock that fills My First Holly Golightly Album. Not that the compilation is bad or anything. It just misrepresents her body of work and is titled to mislead neophytes into using it as an entry point for her catalog.

Down the Line makes up for those shortcomings. It is far more inclusive in its representation of the different styles Holly Golightly plays and fortunately does not overlap with last year’s collection. The first four songs alone demonstrate this broader range. “I Hear You,” with its heavy tremolo/delay lead guitar, starts things off with a touch of psychedlia. From there it’s the honky-tonk flavored “Dear John,” Ventures inspired “High Time,” and the smoky blue-eyed soul of “Here Beside You.” Elsewhere there’s the killer garage stomp of “I Can’t Be Trusted,” girl group pop on “She Said,” and a stark percussionless heartbreaker from her first album called “The Last Time.”

With fifteen songs clocking in at just over forty minutes, Down the Line is a perfect bite-size introduction to an artist who has released more than ten albums and countless singles. If you want to check out what she’s like, you wouldn’t be wrong making this your first Holly Golightly album.

Saturday Playlist 5/6

Published by Scott May 7th, 2006 in Review. 0 Comments

Here’s a few things I checked out yesterday:

Junkyard Dogs - Good Livin’ Platter (1997)
A favorite go-to album. The ‘Dogs are really The Supersuckers in disguise. They play loose, acoustic singalong cowpunk. There are a couple of originals but most of the songs are covers, including “Gates of Steel” (Devo), “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” (Ramones), “Breakin’ the Law” (Judas Priest), and “Born to Cry” (Dion !!). This here’s drinking music.

Thee Headcoats - Elementary (2000)
This is a singles collection from what I’ve gathered. I would love to read the liner notes but it came from eMusic so no such luck. The second “disc” has a far more serious vibe than the first, which makes me wonder if the tracks are grouped chronologically or thematically. The whole thing is pretty awesome though. I got a real chuckle out of the Sherlock Holmes inspired “My Dear Watson” and the outtro to “She’s Got a Strange Attractor,” in which the narrator (Billy) quotes/imitates that “great feline free-thinker, Snagglepuss” to sum up his philosophy of life: “If it gives you pleasure, do it already.” Indeed. My Billy Childish bender continues…

Holly Golightly - Serial Girlfriend (1998)
… As does my Holly Golightly one. This is another first-rate album by her. I hadn’t heard it before but there are a few songs here that are also on the Single’s Round Up I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. She has some other albums on eMusic missing from my collection that I think I’m going to have to get.

Acid House Kings - Everyone Sings Along With Acid House Kings (2006)
The idea behind this EP is that the band asked a few of their favorite vocalists to sing their favorite Acid House Kings song. This was my first exposure to the Swedish pop band and to be honest it may also be my last. A bit too twee for my tastes. It doesn’t quite make sense that I really like Belle and Sebastian but can’t take this. I’ll probably give it another spin before I write them off completely.

Weekend Playlist 4/22 - 4/23

Published by Scott April 23rd, 2006 in Meta-Chatter and Review. 0 Comments

Spent Saturday and Sunday with Billy Childish and Holly Golightly. Okay, not literally. Listened to some of their stuff from the fine British indie label Damaged Goods that was just added to eMusic. Actually heard each one twice, no small feat considering the lengths of the comps. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it and hope to pick up some more when my downloads refresh Wednesday.

Holly Golightly - The Good Stuff (1995)
Her first album as a solo artist. She was also a member of Thee Headcoatees at the time too. I like her best when she’s rocking out in the garage and there’s plenty of that here. Highlights include “Virtually Happy,” “Expert,” “Comedy Time,” and “Without You.” The whole album is pretty great.

Holly Golightly - Single’s Round Up (2001)
A singles collection, if you couldn’t tell from the title. They’re basically lined up A-side / B-side in chronological order. The B-sides are of equal quality so it works out to be a really strong anthology. You’ve got the whole range of Holly: garage, indie-rock, twang, and blues. This would be an excellent place to start if you were unfamiliar with her work.

Billy Childish - 25 Years of Being Childish (1998)
A two-disc set, although that’s pretty much meaningless in the mp3 age. Let’s just say it’s 114+ minutes of his recordings through the years. His catalog probably rivals Robert Pollard’s, so here again is a great starting point for the uninitiated. I had some of his stuff before but won’t even pretend to be an expert. There were only a couple of songs out of the forty-two that I recognized. I don’t know how many bands he’s fronted, but all of the ones I knew are included: Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Milkshakes, and The Pop Rivets. There’s even some Holly Golightly / Thee Headcoatees songs. First rate, all the way.

I also checked out these, from our Belgian correspondent:

Yuppie Flu - Toast Masters (2005)
I was given Pavement and The Strokes as comparisons for this Italian guitar-driven indie-pop/rock band. Sure enough, you can hear bits of both occasionally. Sounded good the first time through. I especially liked the song, “Make a Stand.”

Triola - Triola Im Funftonraum (2004)
Wow! I really liked this one. I’m pretty ignorant as far as electronica artists go, so I have no idea who to compare them to or which of the many sub-genres in which to categorize them. It’s krautrock-ish in a mellow, ambient with a beat kind of way.

Search

Abstract Africa Alt Country Athens Austin Best of 2006 Best of 2007 Billy Childish Brit pop Brooklyn Concerts Country Disco DIY Dub Electronic Elephant Six Excuses Experimental Folk free MP3 Funk Garage Groove Halloween Hip Hop Holly Golightly House indie Indie Pop Indie rock Instrumental Jazz Kid Stuff Lame List Making Listening Live live music Lo Fi lyrics minimal Music New Music New York NPR Pop Post Punk Post Rock Power Pop Psych Psychedelic R&B Rhythm Rock San Francisco saturday playlist Soul Texas World

About

You are currently browsing the Candied Pop weblog archives for 'holly-golightly' tag.

Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.