DON'T: GO (HOTHOUSE FLOWERS)

Me, I bloody loathe Eurovision. Eh, say a whole continent across the pond, Eurovision? OK, the Eurovision Song Contest, to give it the full title, that yearly schmooze through all that's camp and kitsch, all the pop you can possibly bear, the pop that puts the pap in europop. It, like Strictly Come Dancing, a TV show about celebrities learning to dance, is now a very big thing in the UK, as we devolve further and further away from the continent. It hasn't always ben this way: a respectable and somewhat middle of the road song competition, wherein the countries of Europe compete for the honour of the best popular song their best writers can come up with, ballgowns and tuxedos required, an orchestra de rigeur. Pop music, 1950's style, that is. (Mind you, in those days Britain was far less the scourge it is seen by the rest of the continent, even winning from time to time.)

We used to watch it home, en famille, as a child, it's true, so I know all the smash hits from Cliff, Lulu and that ilk. Even good old Clodagh. It went on for hours, as the individual nations, "Good Evening from Helsinki", took ages to deliberate over the selection of tawdry songs. But one year I remember well. 1998. Hosted by the Irish in Dublin, as Johnny Logan had won the previous year, and they put on some craic for  the viewers waiting for the scores. A raggle taggle of ne'er-do-wells lurched onstage and played the best song of the night, a prime example of Celtic soul, with a pounding piano, some raw sawbones sax and a rousing chorus. "Don't Go", the singer pleaded and I didn't. I was glued.

Hothouse Flowers were already a thing in their homeland by that time, their debut release having been the then swiftest selling album in Irish chart history. I confess that, back then, I was too busy with Cowboy Junkies and The Men They Couldn't Hang to notice them at first. (Although, with it being also the year of Van working with the Chieftains and Mike Scott relocating to Spiddal for Fisherman's Blues, I should have had my ear closer to Irish turf.) But, once I heard them play that song at Eurovision, the second single from that first album, I was in. The band, based around singer and pianist, Liam Ò'Maonlai and guitarist, Fiachna Ò'Braonàin, two schoolfriends from an Irish speaking school in Dublin, and Peter O'Toole, not that one, a busker they met in the city and busking is how the band started their career.

For the next year or so they were everywhere, no summer music festival complete without their presence. A second album, not as successful but still worthwhile. Despite no shortage of original material, the best known song from it was a cover, a well received version of the Johnny Nash song, I Can See Clearly Now. They also, unbeknownst to many, contributed to and featured on the Indigo Girls' Closer To Fine. (Unbeknownst? Read uncredited!)

A third record and a bruising touring schedule had them pause for breath, in 1994, taking a collective year out. Or that was the plan, that year extending into four, the band shedding manager and additional members, the core three regrouping in 1998 for a different style, incorporating elements both of electronica and effects to an overall more organic and folkie based feel. 

Since then, and like many bands, they have never formally dissolved, reconvening sporadically, whilst undertaking separate projects apart, Ò'Maonlai having some solo success, particularly with more traditional fare. O'Toole officially left and later rejoined the band, and all three were present, in 2015, when I caught the band at Birmingham's Symphony Hall,  on a tour that took in the UK. Their distinctive tone was all the more characteristic as O'Toole, now playing as much guitar and bouzouki as bass, necessitated the addition of a second bassist, this time on stand up double bass. When both bassists play alongside, the assault is wonderful, as audiences at various festivals this summer, Glastonbury included, were able to affirm. Below is an interesting interview that gives an idea of their modus operandi.

And a taster for how they now sound. And look.

Don't go!!

War/Peace: The Warrior’s Code

Dropkick Murphys: The Warrior’s Code

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I suspect that many of you who read this blog also attend live music performances—or at least, you did before that stopped being a thing (temporarily, I hope). Musicians have been trying different ways to get live music out to their fans, some for free, some charging, some seeking “tips,” and others seeking charitable donations, while some are trying to use Patreon or other similar subscription type programs to try to partially replace the revenue lost from cancelled tours. I think that it is pretty well known that these days, most musicians make the bulk of their living from touring and merch, and not so much from streaming and music sales.

Since the pandemic closed most venues, I’ve watched some of my favorite musicians from the comfort of my house—Richard Thompson, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, Dan Bern, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, as well as her fellow Native Daughters, Amythyst Kiah, Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla, Ben Nichols of Lucero, Jeff Tweedy, Raul Malo, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Indigo Girls, and I’m sure I’m leaving some out. Most of these performances have come from the performers’ homes (or, at least where they are sheltering), except for an Isbell/Shires album release show from the stage of an empty Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville. These performances aren’t the same as being at a live show, but on the other hand, they are also more intimate—as one friend mentioned to me after we separately watched Richard Thompson, her husband was excited to be able to see the master’s hands close up while he played the guitar.

Last Friday, I watched most of an unusual performance—Dropkick Murphys, a band that is closely associated with the Boston Red Sox (they even were given World Series rings by the team one year), playing live on the field at an empty Fenway Park, with the band members all more than the now traditional six feet apart. The concert was organized to promote a number of charitable organizations, which is common for the band. For nearly two hours, the band ripped it up with their trademark Celtic flavored punk, and they were amazing. It wasn’t the same as when I saw them live at Warped Tour 15 years ago, but then again, what is? I had to reluctantly step away after two hours for a virtual college reunion Zoom session, but the next day, I found the video, and watched the end, when Bruce Springsteen appeared on the giant video screen in centerfield and performed two songs with DKM—one of theirs (“Rose Tattoo,”) and one of his, “American Land,” an appropriate anthem for our times, with its message of an America made up of immigrants and people of all races. Remarkably, considering the logistics, the entire concert sounded great, and I give much credit to whoever did the sound.

One of the songs that they played that night was “The Warrior’s Code,” which technically isn’t about war, but about a boxer, "Irish" Micky Ward. But since boxing and war often use each other’s metaphors and terminology, I’m OK with this. Also, back in 2016, I wrote about a different DKM song, a cover of “Fields of Athenry,” which is about World War I (and it is far from the only song by the band that references actual war, for example “The Fighting 69th” (Civil War) and “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye” (anti-war song written in Ireland in 1867), all of which were played at Fenway, along with a cover of The Standells' “Dirty Water,” which has nothing to do with war, but which I wrote about, here.)

The video of the show is still available here, among other places, so check it out, and send a few bucks to the charities.

Colors of the Rainbow: Tangled Up In Blue (Indigo Girls Version)

Indigo Girls: Tangled Up In Blue
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I’m going to keep this short, but you are going to get three colors for the price of one.

Considering the theme, it seemed like writing about the Indigo Girls made sense. Not only do they have a Color of the Rainbow in their name, they were LGBT activists before that was easy or popular. Their commercial and critical success in light of their openness about their sexuality in the late 1980s and 1990s helped to open doors and change attitudes. Back in 1994, I joined a law firm as an associate which had been started by three guys who I had worked with or known at a big Wall Street firm. I remember that during my first week on the job, I had to leave relatively early, because my wife and I had tickets to see the Indigo Girls at Radio City Music Hall, a couple of blocks from my office. And I remember getting shit from some of the partners because I was going to see a couple of lesbians perform. I should have realized what I was in for, but I missed that sign. It was a great show, and since then we have seen them perform a few times, all of which have been wonderful.

I’ve written in detail about the Indigo Girls here, and I’m not going to repeat myself, but there is a bunch of good stuff there about the band, and some pretty rare covers, so check it out.

In scrolling through my list of Indigo Girls songs, their cover of Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” jumped out at me, since it also references a color. It is a live version, recorded at a show in 1992 in San Francisco, from the band’s excellent 1200 Curfews album, most of which was actually recorded on the 1994-95 tour, although nothing from the Radio City show made the cut. I hadn’t listened to it for years, and when I let it rip, I realized that it was quite good. One of the highlights of the track is the violin part, and when I looked up who played it, I was pleased to find that it was Scarlet Rivera, adding to the colorful theme.

Rivera, I discovered, also played on some Dylan albums and toured with him, as a member of the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975 and 1976. It is hard to tell, because the sound quality is poor, but Rivera may well be playing on this rocking version of the song, performed by Dylan and the band at a show in Ft. Collins, Colorado on May 23, 1976.

Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue: Tangled Up In Blue

Public Domain: The Water Is Wide

Karla Bonoff (with James Taylor): The Water Is Wide

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Tim O'Brien, Darol Anger, David Grisman, Michael Manring, Bela Fleck, John Jennings: The Water Is Wide

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Indigo Girls, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan: The Water Is Wide

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From the Wikipedia entry:

"The Water Is Wide" (also called "O Waly, Waly") is thought to be an English or Scottish folk song that has been sung since the 1600s and has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century... Cecil Sharp collected this song during his journey to America in World War I.

The inherent challenges of love are made apparent in the narrator's imagery: "Love is handsome, love is kind" during the novel honeymoon phase of any relationship. However, as time progresses, "love grows old, and waxes cold". Even true love, the narrator admits, can "fade away like morning dew"...

This post came in a roundabout way, in that my first song choice for this theme was Shenandoah, and I remembered the Heritage CD I had, which contained a version by the lovely Jane Siberry - however, when I listened, it was over 7 minutes long and a child's voice chimed in and... it just didn't resonate... so I used only Laura Love's interpretation...

However, also on the Heritage CD (an amazing project produced by fiddler Darol Anger, with a terrific array of guest stars) was a gorgeous rendition sung by Tim O'Brien, joined by other brilliant musicians... which in turn made me remember the Lilith Fair collaboration (with Indigo Girls, Jewel and then Sarah McLachlan taking turns on the verses)... which brought to mind an old favorite a few years post-college by Karla Bonoff, joined by James Taylor who lends his distinctive guitar and voice....

All are different and all are goosebump-inducing - as Darol says in his liner notes:

"In my life between the cracks as an art/folk musician, I've always dealt with the metaphor of traditional music as a river connecting the present with our parents, grandparents and on back It's a good metaphor because you can just about tease it to death. In that spirit, I've been moved to try to bring some old songs a ways downriver... They've been alternately worn smooth and built up again and again, polished to mirrors, so we see ourselves in them. They are truly emissaries from upriver, reminding us of who we are and where we come from. Point us in a direction. Are you going upriver or down?"

Ten: You and Me Edition

As I was searching my collection for the songs I would post this week, a strange thing happened: I came across two songs, released sixteen years apart, with oddly similar titles. The only other thing they have in common is that I really like them. So I couldn’t resist posting them together.

Indigo Girls: You and Me of the 10,000 Wars

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First, 1990 saw the release of the Indigo Girls album Nomads Indians Saints. My first selection is not one of their best known songs, which just shows how deep in quality their catalog is. Indigo Girls have been politically active on various causes, but the 10,000 wars of the title have nothing to do with world events. Rather, these are the little wars that flare up in any relationship. The song is probably about a pair of lovers, but there is a line about a “prodigal daughter”. This could just as easily be about a parent and child.

Peter Mulvey: You and Me and the Ten Thousand Things

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Peter Mulvey’s song comes from 2006. Musically and lyrically, I can detect no influence from the older song, so I tend to think that Mulvey may not even be aware of it. You and Me and the Ten Thousand Things list off many reasons why modern life is discouraging, but then offers hope. Mulvey approaches the subject with his typically wonderful sense of whimsy, while the music swings and sways.

Ghosts and Zombies: Ghost (x4)

We've had two songs simply named Zombie this week. Seemed high time to give some similarly stark, soundalike spirit-world song titles a spin. Thus: some favorite songs named, simply, Ghost.

Neutral Milk Hotel: Ghost

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Lo-fi indie darlings Neutral Milk Hotel lasted less than a decade, but their envelope-pushing combination of odd lyrics, noodling electric production, and eclectic instrumentation are still cited by many children of the nineties now pushing their own indie blogs, and even more working to spread their own indie band names across the blogosphere. With catchy fuzzed out songs like this, it's easy to see why.


Mark Erelli: Ghost

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Erelli's star never rose as high as it did immediately following the release of Compass and Companion, a slightly countrified contemporary folk disk which led me to the local folk artist. Since then, I've seen him several times in concert, and reviewed his work more than once, but I still come back to this and other tracks from his earlier years. That raspy, adolescent's tenor never sounded more apropos as it does here, as a narrator haunted by his preference for the ideal over the real.


Indigo Girls: Ghost

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One of my favorite Indigo Girls songs, from my favorite Indigo Girls album - sweeter than their usual fare, and out of the context the album provides, almost too melodramatic for unembarrassed mixed company. Still, it starts so tender, and rises so far and so majestically, it's hard not to sing along.


Land of Talk: Ghost

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A ghost just needs a home... A bit more recent than our usual fare here on Star Maker Machine, but I couldn't resist this intimate, unplugged take on indierock trio Land of Talk's Ghost, if only because where so many ghost songs use the spirit as unobtainable object of affection, here, a rare reversal puts the ghost in first person. I know what it's like to be unseen, to feel adrift and out of place in the mortal world; I suspect we all do.

Guest Stars: Galileo

Indigo Girls: Galileo

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I was an active Indigo Girls fan throughout my teen years, and well into my late adolescent protogrunge period; though their first album Strange Fire and their subsequent major-label self-titled debut remain the gold standard for their dark acoustic alternative folk, in many ways, 1992 release Rites of Passage, which many ex-fans mark as the beginning of the end, was also the best of their subsequent high-production albums, most notably for the tight harmonies, full band orchestration, and percussive rhythms that pepper the disk.

My two favorite songs on that album, the one above and album denoument Let It Be Me, feature especially rich vocal mixes, starring the distinctive backup tones of both Jackson Browne and David Crosby. Their presence in the tracks themselves is light and sparse -- that's Browne on the three part harmony, and Crosby on the faint frills between the lines -- but the addition of such elder statesmen into the mix makes all the difference.

This and That: Romeo and Juliet

Dire Straits: Romeo and Juliet

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Indigo Girls: Romeo and Juliet

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So... I was having a discussion with a friend recently about the song Romeo and Juliet - she prefers the Indigo Girls' version and, much as I love them as a songwriting duo, I'm obsessed with the original by Dire Straits. The former is too urgently strident for my taste, while the latter is more achingly plaintive - in either case, whether a wailed Julie or a whispered Juliet, it's a stunningly classic tune I've loved for decades.

Who can resist Mark Knopfler's thinly-veiled brilliant references to girl groups ("hey la, my boyfriend's back"), West Side Story ("there's a place for us, you know the movie song") and the balcony scene in Shakespeare's play ("all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme, I'd do the stars with you anytime"?

Cliff Eberhardt: Romeo and Juliet

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Mark Knopfler: Romeo and Juliet

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Cliff Eberhardt offers up a folk/Celtic/rock/twang mix (with backing vocals by Patty Larkin) that bridges the gap between the DS and IG renderings - I've also included the amazing live performance of R & J on Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris' Real Live Roadrunning CD, which kicks off with a jaw-droppingly gorgeous piano solo and then segues into a 9-minute tour de force, which I tend to listen to on repeat play, loudly and often... :-)

1989: Love's Recovery

Indigo Girls: Love's Recovery (live version)

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How appropriate I'm posting this on Valentine's Day - for our 30th wedding anniversary (we've now been married 33 1/2 years), I made my husband a mix CD of love songs that portrayed the "it ain't easy, baby... but it's ours" side of long-term relationships (with this tune included). Marriage is a series of One Day At a Times - one can't experience the joie de vivre without the sturm und drang... and I try never to take my good love for granted...

This is yet another song with just-back-from-Puerto-Rico memories - I remember seeing the Closer to Fine video and falling in love with the Indigo Girls: one fair, the other dark; one soft-voiced, the other urgent; one romantic, the other realistic. Their combined yin-yang, flip-sides-of-the-same-coin captivated me in a way I had not been the previous 4 1/2 years - I was smitten and of course had to buy their eponymous recording (on cassette at the time, I confess). What a treat to discover the rest of the album as fine (pun semi-intended) as the song that introduced me - I don't think it left my car's player for weeks (and as a then-suburban mom, I spent a *lot* of time in my car!).

From Everything2.com:

"Indigo Girls", their first major-label album, was released in February 1989. Guest artists on the album included REM, Hothouse Flowers and Luka Bloom. "Closer to Fine", the first single, peaked at #52 on the Billboard chart. The album reached as high as #22, remained in the chart for 35 weeks, and was certified gold in September 1989. Also that year, "Indigo Girls" won a Grammy Award in the category "Best Contemporary Folk Recording". The duo was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best New Artist".

It took me years to hear Love's Recovery references to same-sex relationships ("not content to bow and bent to the whims of culture that swoop like vultures eating us away... to our extinction"), although it certainly fit all the criteria I had for my 'til-death-do-us-part mix as well - we've watched so many of our friends allow themselves to succumb to the hardships, rather than choose to continue the work necessary to maintain and further growth and connection...

"Nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust we're universal, to let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give" - Happy V-Day!