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Pete Wareham recommended White Chalk by PJ Harvey in Music (curated)

 
White Chalk by PJ Harvey
White Chalk by PJ Harvey
2007 | Singer-Songwriter
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Now that we're talking about it, I realise that a lot of these albums are trying to merge those two worlds: the classical or jazz aesthetic with the trashy, rock & roll, electric kind of thing. Obviously PJ Harvey would normally fall on that rock & roll/indie rock side of things but this album is different from all her other albums. It's a real step between those two worlds. It feels really ghostly. It's funny because I was obsessed with this album for a long time, and I didn't listen to it again for ages. Then I started listening to it again earlier this year and I've become obsessed with it again with the same intensity as before. It's just so incredibly evocative of colours and textures and sounds. It's just so delicate but heavy as well. She hasn't been explicit on the meanings of the song from this album but I know that the subject matter is extremely dark."

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Freedom at Point Zero by Jefferson Starship
Freedom at Point Zero by Jefferson Starship
1979 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Jane by Jefferson Starship

(0 Ratings)

Track

"This one is kind of a rare bird - it’s one that I think rock lovers from the ‘70s and ‘80s will know. It was my Dad’s favourite song and it was his karaoke song. I think I have a video somewhere of him wailing it in a car when I was growing up. He could hit all the notes and I was always in awe of him. My Dad had such a beautiful voice and a big range, and he still does to this day. We’d sing along to it and all do air guitar to the crazy guitar solos. “It brings back childhood memories, but it’s also just a badass rock ‘n’ roll song, and it was my introduction to rock music. I love southern rock and it definitely has an influence on the music I make with DNCE now."

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This was a very descriptive, intriguing read. It kept my interest and I enjoyed it. I find it interesting that at one point Penny Dreadfuls are blamed for young male crimes (suicides, murders, etc) similar to how Video Games are sometimes still blamed today. Before that was Metal music, Horror movies, Rock n' Roll, etc.
  
Platinum Collection by David Bowie
Platinum Collection by David Bowie
2006 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Jean Genie by David Bowie

(0 Ratings)

Track

"It all started with us on the bus with a few guitars just singing the melody to what became 'The Jean Genie', but it was just naïve and silly. Then, a week later, Bowie came and said: 'Alright, I've finished that one!' And it was of course nowhere near what we had been singing lyrically, but the feel was there. It was one of those nods to good time rock & roll from the early days, spanning from the blues days right into the future. Although it was a very simple song, the lyrics were almost like a rap before rap came out, just with a blues rock backing. He was rapping about the weird scenes we were hanging out in in New York at the time. It just seemed to sum up a whole few years of the 1970s for us. There was weirdness in there, things you couldn't understand, sex, drugs and rock & roll are all in that song. It was, again, David going ahead and churning out a hit. And that one was a first take – that's what's on the record."

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Frank Black recommended Peace & Harmony by The Heptones in Music (curated)

 
Peace & Harmony by The Heptones
Peace & Harmony by The Heptones
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"They’re a vocal group and started back in the heyday of very early reggae records. It’s the Jamaican parallel universe of rock & roll. It echoes rock & roll, R&B, Motown, soul. It has all the vocabulary of great 50s rock & roll. It’s pop music. It has this work ethic and immediacy: “We’re just making records, and making records, and making records.” It’s like surf music. It’s guys around the world in cheapo studios just digging deep. I love the vocalising of The Heptones. Even later records. I always loved them. I’m a sucker for the 60s records. All of their early records are singles. The first time they got compiled was probably the 70s. There’s one song called 'School Girls' that I almost covered a few years ago [Black essentially covers it for the Quietus there and then]. It’s so heartfelt and heartbroken. It’s like, it’s like, it’s like when I listen to 'The Great Pretender' [sings] “Oh yes! I’m the great pretender…” The Platters were a lot smoother than The Heptones. But The Heptones have that beautiful harmonising and soulfulness. Whenever I hear The Heptones I think, I wish I could sing that good. They do an amazing version of 'Knock On Wood'. They fuckin’ own it, man! It’s already a big hit for whoever the fuck recorded it. They sell it, they own it, they wear the hat."

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Julia Cafritz recommended Gimme Shelter (1970) in Movies (curated)

 
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
1970 | Documentary, Music, Thriller
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"So it’s only appropriate that by 1969, when Mick Jagger steps out of a helicopter at Altamont Speedway, in the brilliant rock doc Gimme Shelter, he is promptly punched in the face by a rabid fan. It’s all downhill from there. Here is Mick at his best and worst—decadent druggie, preening queen, rock ‘n’ roll showman, heart-of-gold hustler, unsuccessful snake charmer. David Maysles, Albert Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin are there to beautifully capture the idealism of Woodstock melt and turn into this bad acid trip."

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