I was lucky to have albums of songs I only wanted the singles from and ended up loving the whole thing. August... And Everything After was a mainstay on my stereo. I'm trying to chill to a podcast about Counting Crows, another band I never had anyone to share with. Lyrically, it was a little odd, mostly depressed but still uplifting in parts. Years later, I went up to a busker and gave him some money for singing Rain King. 'Round Here was in a book about songs that were needlessly depressing, and I disagreed with the statements, it's still a song I go back to and feel struck by it. (This podcast is annoying me because they can only play five second clips for copyright I assume, maybe it was longer on Spotify). There were so many other amazing songs but I went to school with the kids who only heard the singles, didn't listen to much outside Nirvana and Metallica, and here was me listening the closest thing I had to a country music album.
Recovering the Satellites hit harder and heavier, I stayed up listening to this through grade ten, while I was still in my home alone on a Saturday night where I was the most comfortable. My brother had moved out, I kinda just had the one end of the house to myself. It was ten pm and my parents knew where I was. Later I tried to make a list of the references of names and other repetitive themes, when I was in my list era. Another Horse Dreamer's Blues was something I belted out to get out of my skin. But that was all I had of them for a while. It was something that faded into the background but it was criminal to me Angels of the Silences wasn't massive.
I knew about This Desert Life and heard Hangin' Around but didn't pick it up until I was halfway through college. I played Colour Blind and the Buffy fan recognised it from Cruel Intentions. It brings up a lot of harder memories even with the lighter songs. I had it on when I was on the bus to Bristol, I got a laugh out of someone with the hidden track, Kid Things is such a bop. Mrs Potter's Lullaby is kind of a magnum opus song that's fun to listen to but seems to go on too long without overstaying its welcome, you can just see the whole song play out as a montage in a movie.. Wish I was a Girl is fun to sing (in the way How Can I Sing Like a Girl? by the Giants is fun - and I just remembered the cancelled show is this Wednesday). I wasn't enough into weed culture to listen to their shit stoned but I still loved it. They talked about Speedway and I totally forgot I knew it, there are a couple later songs I don't remember the titles of.
By the time Hard Candy came out, I was over the band but dying to see them live. I managed to catch them before they cancelled their tour in 2004. And the podcasters admitted to not being with the band for this either, it's another I didn't rip onto my laptop. I wasn't a big fan of Big Yellow Taxi. But I remember seeing some teens in the barely full audience having so much fun to the new album but just not vibing with the older shit, and I was kinda smugly dancing along to the classics. I was in a crowd of Green Day fans who didn't recognise Longview or the famous line I belted out obnoxiously on my own.
I'm disliking this podcast, however. I found a live album for ten bucks so I got it, I think I saw it years ago and just decided not to buy it. I had to get by with my CDs and my Discman for many years, getting a job meant I could afford an iPod. That changed my life. But these guys completely glossed over Hard Candy, which is kind of hilarious, they just trashed Big Yellow Taxi and moved on, and I kinda was curious what their opinion might be but they were like, yeah, first two albums awesome, third okay, crap they're on the Shrek soundtrack. Oh they did a Joni Mitchell cover. The End. But they're right, not a lot of people talk about the Crows. I guess they're my Phish. You just don't get it.
Listening to the live album now, it's totally jarring hearing Round Here stripped down to a guitar and read out more like a beat poet performance, but it's growing on me. I just don't remember them doing this when I saw them. This is basically their answer to Unplugged but it's so stripped back, it's all folksy and maybe I could've previewed these first but this isn't bad. I stopped to check out Round Here's original version from Adam's previous band, and holy fuck this is an amazing song. Like how in the fuck did this not become an actual hit? Like I'm already spinning it again. Fuck me this is just the Crows if they were the Cure, but it's so fucking good. Fuck. Like, had I heard this in high school I would've been so fucking obnoxious about it not being on the radio. People would play the Crows version and I'd be like, nah man, this is the shit. Luckily it ended up on iTunes and I could actually buy it. Fucking hell. But I went to Catapult from the live CD and it's fucking amazing. I used sing this a lot, it was another thing I had to belt out in the quietest voice possible. I think I would've loved this whole thing had I bought it back in the day but I was kinda frugal with pocket money at times and must've assumed it was just a live rendition of what I already knew.
And now I've hit Mr Jones and you would've even recognise it. I can't stay up all night doing a blow by blow but shit, it's tempting to. Fuck I wish I had bought this in high school, I would've been obnoxiously trying to force it on everyone and they would've hated it. And they slip in the lyrics from Perfect Blue Buildings which isn't played (I love when Tori mashes up her songs like this). This is all just putting me in a bar in the Midwest right now. Rain King is just so languid and it's only hitting me now I would drive to this and just not come home again. (and they sneak in lyrics from Good Night Elizabeth, which isn't on here either). Mercury's about as close to the original as it can be. Ghost Train's heavier and darker than before. Anna Begins is also giving me the feel of how Tori really restructures her songs live and to be honest, more bands should fucking do this. Make new arrangements for the live shows, make something of a unique experience that you may not capture again. Anna Begins has more beat poet moments but it's still beautifully slow and romantic for how fucking miserable the song is. (Hearing James Van Der Beek sing this in Rules of Attraction is so funny). They tap out after that (so it's the end of disc one besides one song I don't know since it was part of this CD.)
I went through the second CD and it was less folksy and more rock, but the arrangements were still unusual. It has some cool moments, I'd have to give it a few spins to see if I really like it. Otherwise I don't know if I would be that interested in any current day material. I didn't go to their cover album tour, I liked I got to see them once and have them on my list of bands I wanted to see live.
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