Early: The Late Edition

Unlike some of my fellow Star Makers, I do not have a collection of rarities to draw upon. So I have had to approach this theme differently. But just as rarities have their stories, so, sometimes, do first albums. Before we leave our early theme, let’s hear some of those stories.

Michelle Shocked: (Don‘t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister

[purchase]

Michelle Shocked made her recording debut, quite by accident, in 1987. She never knew she was making an album until she heard that, not only had it been released, but it was charting in England. The album was The Texas Campfire Tapes. Shocked attended the Kerrville folk festival in 1986. She brought her guitar, and was singing and playing for her own pleasure when she was overheard by a producer named Pete Lawrence. Lawrence asked Shocked if he could record her, and made a tape of 21 songs with Shocked’s comments. Given that the recording was made on a cheap cassette recorder, (with low batteries, it turned out!), Shocked had no reason to think the tape would ever be released.

But Lawrence chose a sampling of the songs, left out all of the comments, made up his own titles to songs he didn’t know the names of, and released the album without Shocked’s consent. Eventually, Shocked gained possession of the tapes. And in 2003, she released the full recording, with the sound adjusted to compensate for the low batteries, and with all of her comments restored, as The Texas Campfire Takes.

One song included in both versions was (Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister. If you are familiar with Shocked’s career, you may know the full band version she recorded on the album Captain Swing.

Billy Joel: Falling of the Rain

[purchase]

Billy Joel made his debut as a solo artist with Cold Spring Harbor in 1971. He had previously been in two unsuccessful bands, The Hassles and Atilla. His bad luck would continue a little longer. There was a mistake in the mixing of Cold Spring Harbor. It was released at the wrong pitch, giving Joel’s voice a high whiny sound. The album was the first of a ten album contract with Family Records. Family owner Artie Ripp, (who I hasten to add is no relative of mine), owned the master tapes. Cold Spring Harbor, as originally released, went out of print fairly quickly, and remained that way for many years as Joel’s popularity grew. Finally, in 1983, Joel’s contract with family was running out. Ripp decided to capitalize by releasing a remastered version of Cold Spring Harbor. Ripp stripped out the original orchestration and added synthesizer and drum machine parts to “give the album a more up to date feel”. This was done without Joel’s consent, and is the version of Cold Spring Harbor that we have today. Despite this, the songs are worth hearing. The album features the original recording of She’s Got a Way, as well as Falling of the Rain and several others that are as good as anything Joel ever wrote.

Jane Siberry: The Mystery at Ogwen‘s Farm

[purchase]

Jane Siberry is a Canadian artist. Far too many worthy Canadian artists never have there work released here in the United States. Others have their work released here, but without real marketing support. Siberry was luckier than most. Her self titled debut, which includes The Mystery at Ogwen’s Farm, was originally released only in Canada. She debuted in the United States with her second album, which established her here as an artist with a “cult following”. And her third album cemented this status. Her American label decided that that was enough to justify releasing her Canadian debut here, and I for one snapped it up immediately.

The debut is different from anything else of hers that I have heard. It is mostly acoustic, and has an innocence and simplicity to it that I find quite refreshing. Where her later work would often make my jaw drop in amazement, this one always makes me smile. And sometimes, that is all that is needed.

Sports: The Hockey Edition

Kathleen Edwards: Hockey Skates

[purchase]

Jane Siberry: Hockey

[purchase]

Although I had plenty of songs I could have chosen for this theme (lots of baseball, and even a boxer... no, not the Simon and Garfunkel one), I'm not really a sports person - of course, at the eleventh hour, I remembered a tune I'd love to cover... and then discovered BoyHowdy already had...

So... since it's been a while, I'm re-upping that one... which made me think of the other one - Jane Siberry is a favorite for a few of us on this blog, and this song (although it drops a few f-bombs) is from her Child holiday live ensemble double-CD. From the liner notes:

"The wintry scenario depicted in "Hockey", though, was all fun in its performances here: The song takes a wistful look back at the fading joys of youth, and ends with the children who are playing hockey on the frozen river being called home for dinner. One by one, Jane called home her band, each member regressing back into childhood and comically expressing their displeasure."

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Last-minute bonus topical track from Boyhowdy himself: THESE Hanson Brothers are a faux Canadian punk band named after the boys from the film SlapShot; they make entire albums about hockey in full-blown Ramones-era style...

The Hanson Brothers: The Hockey Song

[purchase]

Black and White: The White Tent The Raft

Jane Siberry: The White Tent The Raft

[purchase]

So far this week, my fellow Star Makers and I have done a good job of covering the black part of our theme. The white songs that have appeared so far have been linked to black musical counterparts. But there are many fine songs with white titles, that are not linked to anything. The White Tent The Raft is one of these.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Jane Siberry’s songs are always straightforward and sweet, based on what I’ve posted of hers before. But I usually think of her songs as being rushes of surreal imagery, with shifting musical settings under the words. It’s like being woken suddenly from a dream. You are left with a jumble of pictures and feelings that almost make sense. There are repeating motifs, whose meaning is just beyond your grasp. You want to go back to sleep, and reenter the dream, in hopes that it will sort itself out. And every time I listen to Jane Siberry’s best songs, I have that sense of reentering a dream. The White Tent The Raft is a fine example of what I mean.

1989: Three More

I would love to have time for three more posts this week, but I don’t. Each of these songs and their albums are worthy of a full post of their own. But I certainly didn’t want to leave any of them out.

Kate Bush: The Sensual World

[purchase]

Mmmmm... yes! I have mentioned elsewhere that Kate Bush’s work with Peter Gabriel inspired her to become more creative, freeing her to incorporate various elements that she had never before considered into her own music. For me, 1989 represented one of the finest results of that process. The album The Sensual World found her adding elements of Celtic music into her sound, and also working with traditional singers from Hungary. Bush stirred it all together, and what resulted sounded like nothing else, but it all made sense. And, for my money, the song The Sensual World is one of the sexiest songs ever recorded.

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band: Here I Am

[purchase]

During the 1980s, Lyle Lovett went through a process of his own. He started the decade making music that somewhat related to country, and both he and his label hoped he would breakthrough on the country charts. But Lyle Lovett was always to quirky for that to happen. By 1989, he and his label had decided to stop trying, and Lovett was free to make whatever music he wanted to. So 1989 marked the recorded debut of his large band.

Lovett added horns to his sound, and the fans he had won stayed with him. His quirkiness came to the fore. Here I Am is certainly a song he would not have tried to pitch to Nashville, but it highlights his wonderful sense of humor, and the musicianship of the band is on full display.

Jane Siberry: Everything Reminds Me of My Dog

[purchase]

!989 saw the release of Bound By The Beauty, by Jane Siberry. By now, Siberry was already known for her surreal lyrics and imaginative musical settings. And Bound By The Beauty did not disappoint. But Everything Reminds Me of My Dog is relatively straightforward. And the song has been a favorite in our house ever since it was released.

Jingle Bells: Carol of the Bells

Holly Cole, Rebecca Jenkins, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Jane Siberry, Victoria Williams: Carol of the Bells

[purchase]

George Winston: Carol of the Bells

[purchase]

The Nylons: Carol of the Bells

[purchase]

From Wikipedia:

"Carol of the Bells" (also known as the "Ukrainian Bell Carol") is a choral miniature work originally composed by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych. Throughout the piece, a 4 note motif is used as an ostinato and was taken from an ancient pagan Ukrainian New Year's chant known in Ukrainian as "Shchedryk". The original work was intended to be sung a cappella.

The composition was premiered in December 1916 by students at Kiev University and was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its concert tour of Europe and the Americas. It premiered in the United States on October 5, 1921, at Carnegie Hall and was later adapted into English language version by Peter Wilhousky in the 1930s.

The rest of the story can be found here...

I offer up my three favorite versions: haunting harmonies, melodic piano instrumental and layered a cappella... and, as Joni says, "you know, there may be more" - enjoy!

Leftovers (The Sun): The Sky Is So Blue

When I first joined Starmaker, I was a guest poster for quite some time. The procedure at first was that I would send my text, along with the mp3, to Paul, Dean or Boyhowdy. They would add the coding, find the image, host the file, in short do a lot of work on my behalf that I knew nothing about. So I would like to thank these three fine gentlemen again, now that I can appreciate just how much you did for me. Double thanks to Paul, who handled this all by himself at first, and also to Boyhowdy, who finally, and with immense patience, showed me how to do it all myself.

One thing that sometimes happened in my days as a guest poster is I would submit a post late in the week, and hope that one of the guys would have time to get it in before the deadline. Some of those posts never made it. This happened at the end of Sun week. So here, at last, is that post.

Jane Siberry: The Sky is so Blue

[purchase]

Jane Siberry, who now goes by the name of Issa, is a Canadian artist who never became as well known in the United States as she deserved to. No Borders Here, her stateside debut, was released on the short-lived High Street label. High Street was an imprint created by the Windham Hill label when they attempted to branch out into singer-songwriter material, but the link to Windham Hill meant that every release had to overcome the new age label. Not all of them did. But the new age label certainly doesn’t do justice to the music of Jane Siberry. Her lyrics are often enigmatic, and she sings in a sweet soprano voice, but her arrangements are often more complex than they seem, and are emotionally rich.

“The Sky is so Blue” comes from Siberry’s self-titled debut album. Originally a Canadian only release, it was eventually released here as well. The song fits the sun theme perfectly, even though it does not have the word sun either in the title or anywhere in the lyrics. The song describes one of those beautiful sunny mornings that follow a night of thunderstorms, and Siberry’s vocal and arrangement here even sound like sunshine.

If you would like to further explore the music of Jane Siberry, I encourage you to visit the website of Sheeba Records. Here you can purchase mp3s of most of Siberry’s songs at the price of your choosing. Just keep in mind that Siberry does this because she receives a greater percentage of the revenue from each song when you buy it here, instead of a third-party vendor.