Another Form of Relief

Note for long domain fans: Another Form of Relief is now accessible via http://www.anotherformofrelief.com. Exciting, no?

It occurs to me that during the writing of this blog, I never really get to write about the songs I really like. This isn’t a slight against the songs I do write about as there is a lot of great material there, but I never get to write about my favourites. This is mostly down to the fact I’m largely writing about new bands or new material from established ones and the such. As such, this post is my small attempt to rectify this issue, by writing about some songs I just really, really like. Whether this will be a regular or recurring type thing, I don’t know.

MP3 Weezer - Falling For You (expired) (Pinkerton, 1996)
Weezer were one of the first bands that I seemed to get obsessively into, and it was this album that did it. While I liked ‘The Blue Album’ an awful lot, it was ‘Pinkerton’ that really grabbed me. So much so that I don’t think they have come even close to it with any of their material since. It’s hard for me to pick a particular favourite from the album, but ‘Falling For You’ would be right up there. It’s one of the more messy Weezer songs, all screaching guitars and distortion while Rivers sings about falling for a girl who he thinks is far too good for him. It also features wonderful little comments (”Holy sweet goddamn” / “little ol’ three-chord me”), giving it a far more real feel than most songs of it’s nature.

MP3 Ozma - Natalie Portman (expired) (Rock And Roll Part Three, 2001)
It wasn’t a particularly deliberate decision when picking the songs, but this one actually covers much the same ground as ‘Falling For You’. This is something made all the more fitting given how similar early Ozma and ‘Pinkerton’ era Weezer are. ‘Rock And Roll Part Three’ could easily be passed off as a third Weezer album with very little to challenge that notion. Anyway, ‘Natalie Portman’ is about wanting someone you can’t have (in this case, Natalie Portman) and not being able to do a thing about it. It’s slower and more introspective than most Ozma songs, and all the better for it. Let’s hope that the newly reformed Ozma can get back to the goodness of this first album.

MP3 R.E.M. - Find The River (expired) (Automatic For The People, 1992)
I don’t tend to think of myself as much of an R.E.M. fan, despite owning all but one (’Reckoning’..) of their albums. I think this is mostly down to my general disappointment in everything they have put out since 1996’s ‘New Adventures In HiFi’, which I feel was their finest work. ‘Find The River’ though is just about my favourite R.E.M. song of them all, nearly four minutes of utter perfection. The abstract lyrics are here. Michael Stipe’s restrained vocals are here. Fantastic use of piano is here. I don’t know of any album closer that betters this song.

MP3 Malcolm Middleton - A New Heart (expired) (Into The Woods, 2005)
I’m relatively new to Malcolm Middleton, only discovering him earlier this year. His album, ‘Into The Woods’ is one of the best discoveries that I’ve made this year, being a wonderful essay in despair. ‘A New Heart’ is about the most upbeat song on the album, a thundering piece where Middleton spits out his words with such urgency through the three minutes. It has a wonderful unfinished air to it all, with some lines never reaching their end before he bursts into the next.

MP3 Rilo Kiley - Pictures Of Success (expired) (Take-Offs & Landings, 2001)
Oh how I like Rilo Kiley. I discovered them when XFM playlisted ‘The Execution Of All Things’ for all of a week back in 2003 and I’ve been a fan ever since. One of the most fun parts about discovering an already established band is that you get to explore the older material to find new treats. This is the case with ‘Pictures Of Success’, one of their finest songs, from ‘Take-Offs & Landings’, which I didn’t get hold of until a year later. A nice little downbeat song about getting used to the adult world (”I’m not scared, but I’d like some extra free time / I’m not scared, but the bills keep changing color”) with a wonderful use of trumpet, something that we don’t hear anywhere near enough of on pop songs.

Well that’s about it for now folks. Tonight I might be going to see some local folk bands which could be an interesting experience. Who says Kent doesn’t have a music scene? Back tomorrow with a report on the horrors of that. Or not if we just end up in the pub instead.

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