My Big, Gigantic Drum Kit

Oh, good. It looks like I won’t have to hate this thing exclusively on general principle.

If every dead rock star biopic is due to receive a wtf genre makeover, though, might I suggest the following:

Kurt Cobain: religious epic
Amy Winehouse: frathouse comedy
Elliott Smith: hentai
MCA: Roland Emmerich (damn right it’s a genre)

Jeff Buckley - “When the Levee Breaks” (Rarities from NYC)

A slight corrective to my old OW/OB post that I just linked. Besides “Night Flight” and “Kashmir,” he and his band also recorded this unreleased, seemingly off-the-cuff version of “When the Levee Breaks” during the Grace sessions.

(Source: fuelfriends.blogspot.com)

Penn Badgley doing a damn convincing Jeff Buckley on “Lilac Wine” to prep for his role in Greetings from Tim Buckley. More details here. I still think the whole idea of a Jeff Buckley biopic (or two Jeff Buckley biopics or two Jeff Buckley/Tim Buckley biopics or a Tim Buckley biopic with a Jeff Buckley cameo or whatever the current incarnation of any of these projects is) is largely stupid, but I concede that it’s a good imitation.

Those Bastard Souls - “The Last Thing I Ever Wanted Was to Show Up and Blow Your Mind” (Debt & Departure)

Here’s the last Jeff Buckley-related thing I plan on posting for a while; I didn’t want to include it in the actual One Band // One Week coverage since it’s more of a footnote/epilogue.

I doubt that any rock death of the last 20 years rivals Cobain’s for the sheer number of tribute songs inspired, but Buckley’s probably comes closer than most.  Naturally, approach and quality vary enormously based on artist and approach.  Hole’s only-slightly-Buckley-informed “Boys on the Radio” might get my vote as the single best song of the bunch, but Rufus Wainwright’s “Memphis Skyline,” P.J. Harvey’s “Memphis,” and this lesser-known song by Those Bastard Souls are in the running, too.

Those Bastard Souls were started by Grifters frontman and David Shouse in 1995 as a side project with a rotating lineup (sometimes including Joan Wasser, Fred Armisen, Red Red Meat’s Matt Fields, and The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd).  After his friend Buckley’s 1997 death, Shouse decided to create a more formal lineup with Fields and Wasser, who was romantically involved with Buckley when he died.  They enlisted Wasser’s Dambuilders bandmate and Shudder to Think drummer, Kevin March, and Buckley’s guitarist, Michael Tighe, to record Debt & Departure and tour.  

Debt & Departure isn’t exactly an album-length elegy, being composed partly of re-recorded songs from Those Bastard Souls’ first album, as well as a drastically remade Grifters song, “Spaced Out.”  But new songs like the title track, “The Wake of Your Flood,” and “The Last Thing I Ever Wanted Was to Show Up and Blow Your Mind” make it clear that the band members were coping with their friend’s death without leaning on him as subject matter, aside from the lovely “Hallelujah” call-out in “The Last Thing …” 

They only released the one album, with Shouse soon moving on to The Bloodthirsty Lovers, Wasser beginning her solo career as Joan as Policewoman, Tighe moving on to several projects with fellow ex-Buckley bandmates, and March playing with Guided by Voices, among others.  But, as you can hear from this song, Debt & Departure is well worth seeking out. 

hndrk:

So this just finished and while I may be ever so slightly biased (and shameless) in praising this here I can’t thank Dave enough for all the effort he put into his posts this week. I enjoyed this immensely and if you want to catch up with some great writing on Jeff Buckley over the weekend, the above link has all of the posts in chronological order.

Also, if you desperately want to talk to that boy/girl you have a crush on but never know how to start off, I think this would be an opportune link to send them via mail/facebook and go “Have you seen this? Some great writing there, love that blog in general.” and then casually follow up with something like “By the way, how have you been? Haven’t seen you around in a while” and hopefully you’ll take it from there.

But I digress. THANK YOU DAVE.

My writing (and OW // OB, in general) will help you get laid!  Follow this site!

It was my pleasure, Hendrik. 

Mind Science of the Mind - “To the Tender (Beauty Marks/Blisters)” (s/t)

As underappreciated as Shudder to Think may be, guitarist Nathan Larson’s side project, Mind Science of the Mind, is all but forgotten.  It’s a great, bizarre mix of soul, pop, and vaguely prog impulses that situates the Pony Express Record-era Shudder to Think sound in a substantially looser framework.  It’s also a supergroup of sorts, with Joan Wasser (now Joan as Policewoman, then a member of the Dambuilders), Mary Timony (Helium, Wild Flag), and Kevin March (the Dambuilders, Shudder to Think, Guided by Voices) pitching in. 

As mentioned here, Jeff Buckley played bass for the band on tour, but never recorded with them. 

oneweekoneband:

It wasn’t unwavering fandom that led me to choose Jeff Buckley for One Week // One Band so much as the opportunity to complicate an artist who is, all too often, oversimplified. Which isn’t to say I’m not a fan, but his work has had years to settle into my musical subconscious. So rather than…

I promise I won’t clog your dashboard with constant reblogs from my One Week // One Band stint this week.  But I should make you all aware that I’ll temporarily be using My Big, Gigantic Drum Kit as sort of a companion piece—a “Jeff Buckley Annotated,” as I mention in my Intro post. This will mostly consist of original versions of songs he covered, influences, etc., so they’ll probably just like stand-alone posts if you’re not following along. 

Due to some goofs this morning (due partially to me and partially to Tumblr, I think), I already have three fairly substantial posts up this morning.  This was not my intended pace nor is it indicative of how the rest of the week will shape up.  Annotations to come.