Saturday 17 October 2009

Week 9 - A Tale of Three Cities

Songs about cities, eh? Is this another excuse to crowbar a Ryan Adams song into this blog? Well, no.

I could've very easily put his New York, New York into here as I do love it, but there's only so much Adams one blog can take! For now, at least.

So what will it be? Paris in the Springtime? London Calling? LA Woman? Again, all good, but nah, too easy.

Instead I've gone for songs about Las Vegas, Chicago and
Manchester by artists from Georgia, Detroit and, erm, Eccles.

The first, as mentioned, is about Sin City, the gambling capital of the world, neon Mecca, or if you're Spanish, The Meadows.

Gram Parsons is rightly achieving the notoriety he deserves. From his time in the Byrds, to his death and alleged burial in the Joshua Tree National Park, Parsons never led a straight-forward life. He pioneered 'space country' and lived the archetypal West Coast rockstar life. Indeed it was his death in 1973, at the age of 26, that really fuelled his legend. Passing away from an overdose of morphine and alcohol, his manager, Phil Kaufman, decided to carry out Parsons' request. It appears Gram had asked his manager that, should he die, he wanted to be cremated in the Joshua Tree National Park. Parsons' body was due to be flown to his parents' in Louisiana, so Kaufman and a friend stole it from LA Airport and, in a borrowed hearse, drove it to Joshua Tree. Obviously they were being chased by police, but managed to outrun them. Once in Joshua Tree, they tried to cremate his body by pouring gallons of petrol into his coffin. This resulted in a huge fireball in the middle of the desert.

Anyway, the song about Vegas is Ooh Las Vegas. Having been to the city, it's a wonderful evocation of the glimmering lights and clanging slot machines...and the booze.

Secondly, and moving to the end (or start) of Route 66, we are welcomed by the ecstaticly blissful Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Devotchka may be the main artists on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack, but Stevens' mix of triumphant strings, brass and emotional vocals is one of those songs you can't fail to love. Beautiful.

But, and a little closer to home, is the song of the week.

A lot of you may not know Aidan Smith, but he's a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Eccles, Salford. He first came to my attention when he was signed by Badly Drawn Boy's record label Twisted Nerve. I went to see his first gig, when he supported Mr Gough at the Comedy Store, and his first solo gig at Matt n Phreds in the Northern Quarter. I've met him a couple of times and he's such an unassuming character, seemingly bemused by the life of a recording artist. Although I never met this guy, Aidan Smith reminds me of Nick Drake - some excellent and touching songs, but Smith adds wry humour to his songs (see the lyrics to John Peel favourite Song for Delia Smith)

Song for Manchester
is a typically humourous track, in which Smith sings about how his songs aren't particularly popular in places like London and Nottingham, but he doesn't really care. However, when performing in Manchester he wants people to like them and, in turn, the audience gives him a renewed energy for songwriting.

Enjoy.

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