Doom & Gloom Dispatch #1
Flore Laurentienne, Lou Reed, Yo La Tengo, Linda & Lowell, Sonic Youth
Flore Laurentienne - Volume II
Some ravishingly beautiful orchestral works from Flore Laurentienne (AKA Canadian composer Mathieu David Gagnon) for your Bandcamp Monday. Volume II starts off sounding a bit like a Philip Glass tribute, but soon moves into other realms, expertly mixing swirling synths with gorgeous strings and pianos. Unabashedly lush and romantic, it’s the kind of music that carries you away into a dream.
Lou Reed - Mile End Sundown, London, United Kingdom, November 1, 1972
November, already? Here’s something for your Halloween hangover, taped 50 years ago today. Lou in London! With the Tots, of course. This period is an interesting one — Lou’s self-titled solo debut didn’t make too many waves and Transformer was just about to be released (Have you checked out Transformed yet?).
You kind of wonder what Reed’s state of mind was. Was he confident that rock stardom was imminent? Or did he think: “Well, if this doesn’t work, it’s back to Long Island for me”? Most of this set is made up of vintage Velvets tunes, with just two Transformer tracks present. And Lou sounds a little fragile, a little vulnerable — attributes that wouldn’t be present for the remainder of the 1970s.
The coolest part of this half-century-old audience tape is what Lou calls “the folk portion” of the show — a mini-set that sees him and a couple of the Tots playing very stripped-down versions of “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Some Kinda Love” and “After Hours,” the vocals extremely delicate and laid-back. “Some Kinda Love” is particularly nice, I don’t think it was done like this before or since.
And hey, let’s hear it for the Tots. The band isn’t quite as on it as they’d be for the Ultrasonic performance in December, but they have a good energy here, very loose but engaged and enthusiastic. Funky and fun on “Lonesome Cowboy Bill,” slow and hazy on “Waiting For The Man.” “Walk On The Wild Side” is kind of hilarious, with the audience trying (and failing) to clap along to this soon-to-be hit. “You’re off-beat!” Lou reprimands them sternly.
One more reason this London show is worth your time: the bizarre 18-minute “Sister Ray” finisher, which sees Lou and the Tots joined by opening act Phillip Goodhand Tait. Have you ever heard “Sister Ray” with barrelhouse piano and blown-out harmonica? I haven’t. Endless boogie, indeed.
Yo La Tengo - Westbeth Theater, New York City, November 2, 1997
The big news today is that there’s finally a new Yo La Tengo LP landing early next year — This Stupid World! You can check out the first track now. Sounds great, obviously. Once again, YLT redeems this stupid world.
The other big news? Well, it’s the 25th anniversary of this show, which 18-year-old me attended way back when. What a time! I was a freshman in college, very much adjusting to a weird new life on the east coast. The Westbeth run was kind of a precursor to Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah gigs — four shows in a row over Halloween weekend. I caught the last two, including this fairly unique afternoon set with Magnetic Fields opening up. The 3pm start-time gave the affair a slightly more casual flavor, but Ira, Georgia and James still delivered the goods; I don’t have a ranking but it’s definitely in the upper echelon of the many YLT gigs I’ve seen over the years.
The highlights are many: I remember fully levitating during the closing section of “We’re An American Band”; Stephin Merritt provides the droll spoken-word accompaniment on the rarely played “Attack On Love” (he plugged his ears with his fingers during the noisy section); the triple-drum blowout with Sleepyhead’s Rachel McNally on “Shaker” > “Autumn Sweater” > “False Alarm”; the way the epic “Blue Line Swinger” fades into a whispery “Did I Tell You” … As one audience member (I don’t think it was me) exclaims: “Yo La Tengo is LIFE!” It elicits literal groans from the band members, but all these years later, I’m still inclined to agree.
Lowell George & Linda Ronstadt - WHFS Studio, Bethesda, Maryland, March 19, 1974
“I’ve never had this much fun at a radio show before!” Linda Ronstadt says during this all-too-brief broadcast from way back in 1974. And yeah, it is a lot of fun — Linda and Lowell George seem to be having a blast, goofing around, singing a few songs, gossiping with the DJ. A lot of chatter about Van Dyke Parks’ Discover America, which Lowell played a significant role in, of course. Even in this very casual setting, the pair sound so good that you wish they had cut an entire duets album together — Linda & Lowell! Oh well, this will have to suffice … Tune in to WHFS!
Sonic Youth - Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, November 14, 1982
The opening date on the SAVAGE BLUNDER tour! Just about 40 years ago, Sonic Youth and Swans set out from NYC to bring No Wave to the masses. Or the dozens, at least. Was this stuff even No Wave, or was No Wave over by 1982? Not sure.
Swans’ Jonathan Kane remembered: “It was both bands’ first tours: 10 of us in one airless, seatless van with a trailer at the back for the gear. Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth named it The Savage Blunder Tour and indeed it was; parading around the US being met with indifference or hostility.”
Hell yeah. Actually, the (admittedly pretty small) crowd at the Cat’s Cradle on this recording sound pretty receptive to the feral/primal Sonic Death that SY bring to the stage. But it’s hard to imagine any of them predicting the trajectory of the band over the next decade or so. It’s raw, uncompromising stuff — though it may have been the Monkees compared to Swans. “Following Swans was not a good idea,” recalled Thurston Moore many years later.
From the Doom & Gloom Archives
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Spooking the Horse
So I was perusing Neil Young & Crazy Horse setlists from 1996 and 1997 (as one does!), and noticed a number of rarely played tunes, some of which I’d heard, some of which were revelations to me … who knew he played Silver & Gold’s “Horseshoe Man” with the Horse? Or “Out of Control,” a lovely number from the 1999 CSNY reunion LP? Not I. I had to hear this stuff, so I gathered a bunch of these oddities together in one handy 80-minute compilation, which I’m calling Spooking the Horse. It’s good! There are a fair amount of Mirror Ball tunes here – pretty much the last time Neil revisited that record. There’s also the weird, still-unreleased “Modern World,” a poppy number that sounds a bit more like mid-80s Neil than mid-90s. And speaking of the mid-80s, the Horse also tackles the very seldom-performed “Hard Luck Stories,” from Landing On Water … the answer to all of our prayers, I know. I also love the big, billowing electric “Natural Beauty” that opens the collection. Sometimes it pays to spook the horse.
Tracklisting
Natural Beauty / Modern World / I’m The Ocean / Horseshoe Man / Throw Your Hatred Down / Out of Control / Act of Love / Hard Luck Stories / Truth Be Known / Downtown / Razor Love / Scattered / Don’t Spook The Horse
Currently Reading: Berta Isla by Javier Marías
can you please refresh the YLT link, seems to be inactive
thanks
and love your site