Perfect (Cover) Songs - Paris Summer

A lot of great songs are discovered as covers, but we usually become so accustomed to the cover that hearing the original can be jarring. In the case of this song, I had heard the cover first and instantly fell in love with the song and, yet, once I found the original, I was blown away that I hadn't already been deep into Lee Hazelwood's work with Nancy Sinatra. I knew her stuff, and had heard his name, but didn't really know anything beyond that. But I was deeply into The Last Shadow Puppets' first album, Age of the Understatement with it's dark, retro and vaguely cinematic feel. I was hunting for anything that had that sound, from them or anyone else - a sound I've since learned has been put under the genre Baroque Pop. So I dug into the b-sides of this side project from The Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Miles Kane, and found a live performance of a song called "Paris Summer" featuring The Kills' Allison Mosshart.

I mean, come on. That's just awesome. The mood, the narrative, the music, the twang, all of it. The back and forth vocals was something The Last Shadow Puppets were making their thing, but here, the way it supports the story of the song, painting a vivid picture of this forbidden, adulterous affair in the city of romance is just breathtaking. And who's better than Allison Mosshart? I had to find the original of this song and I was not disappointed when I did.

Lee Hazelwood's low droning voice can be a little hard to get into, I get that. But it's precisely what I think makes his work with Nancy Sinatra so great. Their voices compliment and contrast each other at the same time. While the original doesn't have the twangy guitar of the Shadow Puppets, the orchestration is deep and dynamic in a way that made me want to dig more into Hazlewood.

2015 Week 52: The Last Playlist

And just like that, the year is over. I actually stuck to this weekly playlist thing the whole year, even though I honestly had a hard time coming up with anything resembling a theme most of the time. I will not be doing it next year, though. I want to try to listen to some audio books next year which is going to be an interesting experiment in time management. It's weird that I sometimes wish I had a longer commute. I might post playlists form time to time, when I think of a good theme, but it won't be steady. And I need to get back to the Tom Waits discog soon.

The year started out with me writing for FDRMX, but that quickly stopped for several reasons. They've since changed their name and my stuff is still there (they've actually republished a couple recently for some reason) but since I'm not actually paying bills with my writing, I'd rather find a better match or just try to somehow (impossibly) grow my own site. I don't know, I could use an editor, though. A good one. But it's not like I have all the time in the world for writing, either. The year is ending with this sort of becoming harder for me to find the mental energy for and I feel like it shows. So, while having some sort of consistency throughout the year was an accomplishment, I'm not sure I'm in a place where I can really force this.

Next year I'm anticipating several new albums. There's The Last Shadow Puppets and Lucius and possibly Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I'm hoping to see some good shows. Right now, my list of people I most want to see is, in no particular order:

Nina Diaz/Girl in a Coma: Nina's solo album is due out next year. I'd love to see her with Girl in a Coma or solo. Either way.

Rachel Fannan/Only You: One of my favorite songs this year was "The Pressure," but everything I hear from her and see on YouTube is right up my alley. A full album would be great too.

Ruby the Hatchet: My number 9 album this year was Valley of the Snakes. I want to see it live.

Royal Thunder: My number 1 album of the year was Crooked Doors. Been wanting this for some time. There's a slight chance.

The Fantastic Negrito: Also one on my top albums of the year. This guy is electric.

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Nightsweats: Number 2 album of the year was. . .

The Last Shadow Puppets: With a full orchestra, of course.

Anyway, for the last playlist I gathered some songs that I feel captured the year for me. It was a year with some struggles and some good stuff in there too. Which I guess is every year, really. It's kind of stupid to try to some up 365 days of the complexities of everyday life with one big generalization. Still, I think this comes pretty close. And it features some of of my favorite songs to come out this year. So, there it is.