Blue Over Blue
Currently listening selections from Bill Orcutt, Al Green, Penguin Cafe and more.
A few recent spins.
Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet Tiny Desk
In some ways, the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet reminds me of Orcutt’s absurdist Ramones plunderphonic loop, A Mechanical Joey. Orcutt is joined here by Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza and Shane Parish, each on a four-stringed Jazzmaster or Telecaster. The conceptual repetition builds up to something much more than the sum of its parts, suggesting one triumphant mega-guitar playing endlessly.
Clientele, “Blue Over Blue”
To paraphrase Bob Dylan, those British bad boys The Clientele are back. Imagine Fairport Convention covering OMC’s “How Bizarre” or The Go-Betweens giving Cornershop’s “Brimful of Asha” a run through and you’re on the right track. Standard Clientele descriptors like “autumnal” or “wistful” still apply, but with this song, you could simply declare, “It’s a bop!”
Jim Hall, with Jimmy Woode, Daniel Humair, “Young One, For Debra”
It beings with a slowcore bedroom pop strum and then it’s off to grand, practically galactic vistas.
Al Green, “Loving You”
You don’t always think of acoustic guitar when you think of Al Green, but in 1977 he went Gordon Lightfoot meets Curtis Mayfield on The Belle Album, manning the instrument and joined by an ad hoc band for his some of his loosest and rawest work. He would go full gospel soon after, but this proves he was already there.
Penguin Cafe, “In Re Budd (Strings Version)”
Carrying on in his late father Simon Jeffes’ stead, composer Arthur Jeffes creates music that beckons you back into that same imaginal cafe that originally inspired PCO in the early ‘70s. Named in tribute to Harold Budd, this one is lovely, playful, and engaging—and an A+ music video to boot.
Really enjoyed all of this, thanks. New clientele is, of course, really good, had no idea they were doing something new. Also, did not know the son continues penguin cafe orchestra, just got obsessed with them recently.