For All Time.

So, you know how I promised I was going to do a happier tune this time....well I'm not, depressing, sad, melancholic, call it what you will, it's the music I enjoy the most and always have done. It's no reflection on my personality or anything, it's just what I enjoy, and what comes easiest for me to write. One day I might write about a happier song.

As with every post, I always find myself with a few options on what song to post. For this one I was swaying with; David Gray's 'This Years Love' which is an oldie, but it's a track I enjoy more now than I think I ever have,  Elliot Smith's 'Between the Bars' which is a song I heard for the first time a couple years back and Nick Cave's 'The Ship Song' which I fell in love with when a close friend of mine put it on around 5am at full volume after a night out and I was obsessed with the song from then on with the sheer power that Nick Cave has.

This one though is another delve into my 'favourites.' It's the song that made me fall in love with the band who I now consider to be one of my all time favourites. I was introduced to it by a girl I was seeing a long time ago in school who still remains a good friend, so I have her to thank for this!

The song itself makes me think of a scene in a movie, where there's a guy driving an open top car down a long straight road somewhere in America, with a beautiful girl next to him at sunset. I guess this image is suggested from the song title as well. The song is also on one of my favourite ever albums, from start to finish the record is flawless in my eyes, the ups and the downs. The song I'm writing about is preceded on the record by what is my favourite song on the album, and one of my favourite ever songs, I hate to be cliche about it, but it's one of those songs that has so many levels of meaning to me, from stand out times where I've listened to it to moments it's come on out the blue in certain situations and caught me by surprise, which is why I never want to write about it, there's too much I could tell that people probably don't want to know and don't need to know.

Hurry up and get to the point? Ok.

Death Cab For Cutie's 'Passenger Seat' from their 2003 record 'Transatlanticism.'

I'd say nearly everyone who reads this will know Death Cab, if not the song. To me their phenomenal. Between Death Cab and his side project The Postal Service, I rank Ben Gibbard as one of the best songwriters of the last 10-15 years., along with the likes of Thom Yorke and Jack White. He's also married to the very very beautiful Zooey Deschanel the lucky thing.

These are my opinions though. Death Cab have been around since 1997, and have enchanted fans around the world with their phenomenal records, which have the ability to move the listener from start to finish. 'Transatlanticism' to me is their strongest record, from the more up-beat tracks like 'The Sound of Settling' and 'Death of an Interior Decorator' to the slower numbers such as 'A Lack of Color' which helped launch their career when it was used in the soundtrack to 'The OC., to the epic building numbers of 'Tiny Vessels' and 'We Looked Like Giants.'

Unfortunately I have yet to see the band live. Every time they've played I've been unable to go, which is thee most upsetting thing, the fact I've had tickets on two occasions and had to shift them last minute for different reasons, perhaps I'm damned never to see them, or somethings holding me back until I do and it'll be the best live show I'll ever go to. Next time I'm sure!

So, no happy song this time like I said, but its 01.41 and I need to be up soon, so this song is perfect for sending me off to sleep reminding me of the summer when I was 17 (sounds like there's a Bryan Adams song in that sentence.) Lyrically brilliant, musically brilliant, imagery brilliant.

'Passenger Seat.' Listen, enjoy and hopefully you'll feel as I feel for this song.

Mercury Worthy.

Just a few weeks ago, The XX won this years Mercury Music Prize. I'll say it first, I don't get the whole XX thing. Over recent years the Mercury Prize has faced some opposition, in terms of it's credibility. I wholly agree in the celebration of good music, and particularly the celebration of 'the album,' which with modern technology and the ability to pick and choose songs to listen to, is an art form which is slowly dying, there is less emphasis on the whole piece of music, often artists are releasing a disc as a selection of songs, not a whole musical text.

I'm not saying for a second that the board in charge of the Mercury do not pick good music to shortlist, perhaps it is purely personal opinion, but I think the last few years winners were not the best out of the shortlist. 

This year saw The XX beat the likes of I am Kloot's 'Sky At Night,' Villagers' 'Becoming a Jackal' and Wild Beasts' 'Two Dancers.' The year before a relatively unknown winner, Speech Debelle, won and subsequently no-one bought into it, a flop for the supposed Mercury judging panel's expertise. The year before that, Elbow's 'The Seldom Seen Kid' won. Don't get me wrong, I love Elbow and this is a fantastic album, but it beat Radiohead's 'In Rainbows.' 'In Rainbows' is not only a phenomenal album, one of their best in my views, but it also totally shook up the record industry with it's 'pay what you like' release approach. For a record to do this, I think it deserved the prize, plus it is also an phenomenal piece of music.

I could go on and on, giving opinion and thought into the shortlist, winner and overlooked albums for each year, but I won't, I just believe that this year, after last year's major flop, Simon Frith and his board of 'experts' need to be confident in their judgement, and not go on what perhaps might be believed by the public to be right, in order to save their credibility. I hope it does too, as the Mercury is a great opportunity for bands to receive publicity and boost album sales, especially in current times in the recording industry. 

So to bring me to my song, 2005 seen at that time, a particularly unknown act win. British born but based in America, an issue that caused some controversy, but this time, based on the view of picking the best album, they were right to do so, the 2005 prize was awarded to the record 'I am a Bird Now' by Antony and the Johnsons.

The record was the bands second album, which after the first releases by the band was acclaimed by many well known artists, featured collaborations with the likes of Boy George, Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright. 

This genuinely is one of the most amazing records I have ever heard.

I don't want to give too much away about the band to those who don't know them that well, because I don't want any preconceived ideas or previous information to perhaps cloud opinion, thoughts or judgement, as when my friends and I discuss this band, we often come out with 'I can't believe that ......., I wouldn't have thought when listening that......' and the like.

So go listen to that record, from start to finish, no pauses, no interruptions, but if the digital age has got you by the throat, tracks 'Hope There's Someone,' 'You Are My Sister' and 'Man Is The Baby' are my favourites.

The song I post here is a cover they done for the film 'I'm Not There,' a movie about the life of Bob Dylan. A great film. It's a cover of 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' which they have totally made their own. 

I promised some people who I was speaking to about the blog I wouldn't write so much, got a bit carried away. Not talked so much about the act or the song, as I think if you've not heard the band before, the music is enough.

I'll try and write about an upbeat song next time, but right now this is what I want to listen to, and those that know me will also know that 'depressing/melancholic/slow' music is my favourite to listen to, even when I'm as happy as can be.

Go listen.