The Best Songs In the World #32 - Peter Hammill - " The Comet, the course, the tail"

I may be partial to this guy, although I have seen play drunk this year in Gouveia Art Rock. But he grows everytime I listen to him. He is a force of nature, and I pity you if you never listened to his solo work! This one is from In Camera, 1974.

When I started this very personal series of the greatest songs in the world, I never said it would be easy. That's why I like it.



They say we are endowed with Free Will -*
At least that justifies our need for indecision.
But between our insticts and the lust to kill
We bow our heads in submission.
They say that no man is an island
But then they say our castles are our homes;
It's felt the choice is ours, between peace and violence...
Oh, yes, we choose, alone?

While the comet spreads its tail across the sky
It nowhere near defines the course it flies,
Nor does it find its own direction.

Though the path of the comet be sure,
Its constitution is not
So its meaning is possibly more
Than the tracing of a tail
In one brief shot at glory.

Love and peace and individuality,
So order and society are man-made?
War and hate and dark depravity,
Or are we slaves?
Channeling aggressive energies,
The Death Wish and the Will to survive,
Into finding and preserving enemies,
Is that the only way we know that we're alive?

In the slaughterhouse all corpses smell the same,
Whether queens or pawns or innocents at the game;
In the cemetery a uniform cloaks the graves
Except for outward pomp and circumstance.

There is a time set in the calendar
When all reason seems barely enough
To sustain all the shooting stars:
Times are rough.
I'm waiting for something to happen here,
It feels as though it's long overdue...
Maybe a restatement of yesteryear
Or something entirely new.

And the knowledge that we gain in part
Always leads us closer to the very start,
And to the founding questions:
How can I tell that the road signed to hell
Doesn't lead up to heaven?
What can I say when, in some obscure way,
I am my own direction?
Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/peter-hammill/the-comet-the-course-the-tail-lyrics/#lvlVB32j0gdsJbdD.99

The Best Songs In the World #31 - Van Der Graaf - "House With No Doors"

Sorry, guys and girls, back to 1970. This one is from the Van Der Graaf's Third Album and considered by many considered one of their finest. Loneliness and Claustrophobia, anyone?

There's a house with no door and I'm living there
At nights it gets so cold and the days are hard to bear inside
There's a house with no roof, so the rain creeps in
Falling through my head as I try to think out time

I don't know you, you say you know me, that may be so
There's so much that I am unsure of
You call my name, but it sounds unreal, I forget how I feel
My body's rejecting the cure

There's a house with no bell, but then nobody calls
I sometimes find it hard to tell if any are alive at all, outside

There's a house with no sound, yes, it's quiet there
There's not much point in words if there's no one to share in time

I've learned my lines, I know them so well, I am ready to tell
Whoever will finally come in

Of the line in my mind that's cold in the night, it doesn't seem right
When there's that little dark figure, running, somebody help me

There's a house with no door, there's no living there
One day it became a wall, well I didn't really care at the time

There's a house with no light, all the windows are sealed
Overtaxed and strained

Now nothing is revealed, but time
I don't know you, you say you know me, that may be so
There's so much that I am unsure of

You call my name, but it sounds unreal, I forget how I feel
My body's rejecting the cure, won't somebody help me

Vinil na Barata

A Livraria Barata, na Avenida de Roma, Lisboa, passou a ter uma pequena secção de vinil novo, com uma amostra necessariamente seleccionada, mas com cuidada. Tem algumas edições do Record Store Day, que normalmente são dificeis de encontrar porque têm muito pouca distribuição em Portugal.

The Best Songs In the World #30 - Terry Callier - "Dancing Girl"

Listen with good company and a good spirit at hand...

Leonard Cohen publica novo álbum aos 80 anos

Setembro, mês de "Popular Problems", de Leonard Cohen que em breve cumpre 80 anos.

Old, the new young?

Ginger Baker - Masters of Reality - Sunrise on the Sufferbus(1993)

Masters of Reality-Sunrise on the Sufferbus(1993)

O grande Ginger Baker, dos Cream, dos Blind Faith, dos trabalhos com Fela Kuti,  músico nos Hawkwind, nos Atomic Rooster, nos Public Image Ltd, trabalhos com Charlie Haden e Bill Frisell, etc,  também fez parte destes Masters of Reality nos 90. Vi há poucos anos em Londres com Pee Wee Ellis e foi um excelente (e intimista) espetáculo. Acaba de lançar um novo álbum com ele,"Why?". Baterista supremo e feitio insuportável...



Sobre os Masters of Reality, este é um texto retirado do inner sleeve. Abaixo está o link.

https://www.oboom.com/572XTYAH

The Best Songs in the World # 29 - Archie Shepp "There is a Balm in Gilead"

A religious song, sung with solemnity by Jeanne Lee, from the album "Blasé", recorded in 1969.

The Best Songs in the World #28 - The Style Council - "The Story of Someone's Shoe"

In the underrated "Confessions a Pop Group", Paul Weller's group Style Council created some remarkable pieces of pop music, including this almost a capella song which is a beautiful tale of parting lovers.

It's either, something in their eyes or something in the drink
But whatever it is, they both stop and think
There's no going back and nothing above
It's lust and loneliness, but never love

She takes a breath as he takes his keys
First name terms is the extent of it
There's no getting out as they're going in
But by tomorrow, they both will begin

To regret and renege on a bond they have struck
A small price to pay and casual luck
Some lose nothing, some lose a lot
Whatever we have is all we have got

He takes her hand and leads to the room
In half light and silence for their clothes to remove
There's doubt in her mind but hope in her heart
That this last one of many, may be the start

So they wriggle and writhe for an hour or two
But time has no place when two are consumed
They moan and they gasp but they don't really speak
As no conversation could fit this scene

And tomorrow as always, always comes
As she slips away, he still dumb
He felt the urge just as she felt the need
Now the need to get out, still carrying his seed

Which trickles down her leg onto her shoe
Onto the pavement, then out of view
Into the gutter, down to a drain
Joining a river, there to remain

There's no going back and there's nothing above
It's lust and loneliness that drives us along
It's lust and loneliness, but it's seldom love

Prog Português - Atrium

Acho que é dever divulgar o que é Português, quanto mais não seja para que saibamos que existe. O Prog português é muito fino, rarefeito e frequentemente colado a imagens já gastas. O que de melhor fizemos é de original nosso - v.g., Banda do Casaco. Estes Atrium não escapam a estereotipos estafados - mas aqui ficam, para divulgação. "Sintra, a place in the world"...

The Best Songs In the World #27 - Sonic Youth - Superstar

The Carpenters and Sonic Youth is one of the most improbalbe combinations you can get, but actually the fact they did this version of the  Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell tune  made popular by The Carpenters  made me pay more attention to the band. The Carpenters, as sugary as they can be, did some of the best covers of the 70's and produced remarkable music (if you don't think so, you might need to get reprogrammed). And Sonic Youth were their fans, that's why they did this version for "I if I Were A Carpenter".

The slow tempo and distorsion just add a more dramatic dimension to the song...

The Best Songs in the World #26 - Paatos - Hypnotique

This is a secret. Not many people know about them, I think. They are Swedish and belong to the nordic progressive scene and this song from their 2002 "Timeloss" album takes its time to grow on you. It is not only the vocals of Petronella Nettermalm, the guitar parts are laid back and mysterious, the mellotron gives the song that ancient sound, and the song has one clymax, breaks for the last verse and ascends towards the second clymax .



I'm a flower - smell me
One thing is certain - that is my destiny
Nourish me - and I will bring you happiness

You are my water - drown me
When we're together, there is harmony
Be with me - and all there'll be is hope and lust

Here I'm standing - naked
Your search for answers will end in agony
"loves me not or loves me do" - a game in vain

(instrumental)

Here I'm standing - withered
Thought I could keep you, made you a part of me
Miserly absorbed your false tears
"Cried for me"