Tindersticks live album

I'm well aware that I have written about Tindersticks far too much on here this year, but....nevermind.

Not only do they return to London on December 16th at Union Chapel but they will bring with them a brand new live cd. Recorded in Glasgow in October, during the same leg of the tour as the Brighton gig that I reviewed in September, it is a full recording of the gig and will be, therefore, absolutely brilliant.

Only sold on the Winter tour, you can hear a track from it, the magnificent 'The Turns We Took' at the band's Myspace here:

http://www.myspace.com/tindersticksofficial

Fleet Foxes on 'Later...'

My favourite song at the moment is 'He Doesn't Know Why' by Fleet Foxes.

Their debut album has grown on me an extraordinary amount. I'm slightly embarrassed by my initial review of it now. I liked it, but I didn't think it was special, not as good as the Bon Iver album for example. Silly me, although I guess, this is what album of the year lists are for. The best albums generally aren't immediate and many times in the last few months I've had a song stuck in my head and wondered what it was, then realising it was a Fleet Foxes song.

If you haven't seen their performance on Friday's 'Later With Jools Holland', go to BBC Iplayer and watch it now. In particular the performance of 'He Doesn't Know Why' is incredible. I'd heard that they were a lot better live than on record and it seems to be true. Watching Robin Pecknold hit every note and singing with such control and power is wonderful, one of the musical moments this year that has made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

I've got tickets to see them at the Roundhouse in February. Counting the days already.

The Smiths 'The Sound of The Smiths'

6am on a cold, wet, grey Monday morning. Walking to the swimming pool and contemplating, afterwards, a day at work. What else could I listen to but 'The Sound of The Smiths'?

If you perused the racks at a record shop (wikipedia it, kids) you would never guess that The Smiths are one of the greatest and most influential bands...ever. Their back catalogue has been left in such a shabby state that all we have are 1993 reissues of their studio albums and a couple of 'best ofs' put together without much thought or care. It was great news then, a couple of years ago, when it was announced that Morrissey and Marr would work together on a series of deluxe editions of Smiths albums and, at last, a proper boxset.

This collection is not actually a legacy of that announcement, although it is endorsed by Morrissey (who came up with the title) and Marr (who supervised the remastering) and it is the most comprehensive and best collection of The Smiths' music yet released.

Everyone should know these songs and to know them is to love them. I remember being introduced to the wonderful world of Morrissey and Marr by my best friend Lee, who made me a compilation tape which I still have. I remember playing the tape and being amazed by how joyous the music was, so far from the popular perception of what The Smiths are actually like. Morrissey's words and singing struck me first, how could they not, somehow it seemed I knew what he was going to sing next before I'd even heard it. Then I listened again and I could hear the most fantastic, innovative guitar playing. What a combination, what a band!

The start of this compilation is spookily similar to the start of the tape Lee made me. Only 'Still Ill' in the place of 'William It Was Really Nothing' changes in the sequence of the first six songs. The running order is roughly chronological, meaning that there is an absolutely stunning run of songs about two thirds of the way through...'the boy with the thorn in his side', 'bigmouth strikes again', 'there is a light...', 'panic', 'ask'. Seriously, how many bands can do better than that?

We can all quibble about some songs that are left out. What would a Smiths 'best of' be without 'I Know Its Over' and 'The Queen Is Dead'? But this is not a 'Best Of', it is the sound of the Smiths, and it is an extremely good representation of that. Listening to the bonus cd is for another day, for now I want the joy of listening to these wonderful songs again to last.

The World has moved on of course. Teenagers used to play Smiths songs on their walkmans while sitting on buses, now they play tinny, barely recognisable music out loud through their mobile phones. To paraphrase both Kevin Rowland and Thom Yorke...take me back to those old days, I wish it was the 80s.

Pop music gets no better than this.

9.8

['Sound of The Smiths' is out now on cd and 2cd]

The T&G 11

TracksandGigs is preparing its 'Album of The Year' list. In advance of this, it has nominated eleven albums to form the 'album of the year' shortlist. Each of these records has given T&G an enormous amount of pleasure this year. The list, in alphabetical order, is...

American Music Club 'The Golden Age'

A few weak tracks here but many strong ones and it features one of Eitzel's most beautiful songs, the incredibly visual and moving 'Sleeping Beauty'

Beck 'Modern Guilt'

Short and sweet, his most cohesive record to date. An exciting, tremendously alive set of songs.

Fleet Foxes 'Fleet Foxes'

Deserving of all the hype. A delicious mix of country, soul, pop and folk. Gorgeous harmonies and a great Summer record.

Jenny Lewis 'Acid Tongue'

Unfairly slated by some, this is a luxurious, rewarding album to listen to. It is also a lovely recording with plenty of space allowed and each instrument given room to breathe.

Micah P Hinson 'Red Empire..'

A warm and inviting country-noir album that is all the better for Hinson finally sounding happy and content.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks 'Real Emotional Trash'

Just about his best since Pavement. A guitar masterclass and some great songs too.

The Dodos 'Visitor'

Sweet ballads, innovative percussion and great songs. This came from nowhere but will stand the test of time.

The Mountain Goats 'Heretic Pride'

An album of horror, monsters, death and fun from John Darnielle. Some of his best 'loud' songs for years. A really consistent album too.

The Sleeping Years 'We're Becoming Islands, One By One'

Quietly beautiful folk/pop songs from ex-Catchers frontman Dale Grundle.

The Twilight Sad 'Here It Never Snowed...'

Atmospheric mini-album with the band playing in a completely different style from their debut LP. Including  a stunning Daniel Johnston cover.

Tindersticks 'The Hungry Saw'

Unconcerned with the past, this is a fresh, vibrant piece of music that has formed the centre-piece of the band's shows this year. It has left the band rejuvinated and open to all possibilities for the future. A near-perfect 45 minutes.

Full list soon.

gig of the year.....and it hasn't happened yet

Loads coming up in the next couple of days including, gasp, a gig review! But, you need to know that Tindersticks are playing the Union Chapel on 16th December. Tickets on sale NOW. Get them from wegottickets, they are nice.

So that is the best band in the World playing the nicest venue in the UK, for the first time. Get your tickets now. (It will be the third time TracksandGigs has seen them this year!)

single of the week...

Difficult decision this week with three great singles released, spookily all on nicely packaged white vinyl. 3rd place goes to Beck's 'Gamma Ray', he has already released the best single of the year so shouldn't be too greedy. In second place is Jenny Lewis' 'Carpetbaggers', complete with a thrilling contribution from Elvis Costello but single of the week is...

Low 'Santa's Coming Over'

Santa's coming over? Not yet, he's not. Unless Low know something we don't. They may well do, as they are releasing a Christmas single at the start of November and playing Christmas shows a couple of weeks later. Maybe its a Mormon thing?!

Anyway, this is a great single. Beautifully packaged in a snowflake sleeve and sounding NOTHING like Low's previous Christmas music. This is a dark Christmas song with foreboding drums and dirgy guitar and chanted vocals that make the arrive of Santa seem positively terrifying. It also sounds more like traditional Low than anything they have released in a long time. Bizarrely, the b side is a jolly reggae track.

Great single. Everyone should play this on Christmas Eve!

Belle & Sebastian 'BBC Sessions'

If you think of Belle & Sebastian's career thus far as having two pretty distinct phases, one with Isobel Campbell in the band and one without, this BBC sessions compilation is a pretty comprehensive record of phase one and almost works as a 'best of' from that era.

Since 200, B&S have discovered that playing live is fun after all and that making cohesive albums rather than a disparate collections of songs is a good thing. Their last two albums have probably been their best but some of the finest songs came from the first era. This collection of sessions for Lamacq, Radcliffe and Peel gathers most of these up.

The arrangements are sparse and intimate, meaning that a song like 'The State That I'm In' works perfectly, as gentle and touching as it is on record. Elsewhere, Stevie Jackson's 'Seymour Stein' probably wouldn't have got him anywhere on the X Factor but is marvellous; funny, heartfelt and somehow, righteous.

The most interesting session though, is the Peel recording from 2001 (which I vividly remember listening to on my old radio at my Mum and Dad's). The last set of recordings to feature Isobel Campbell, none of these songs made it onto 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' so are previously unreleased. It is the sound of a band at a crossroads. Stuart Murdoch's tribute to The Go Betweens, 'Shoot The Sexual Athlete', is fun, while Isobel Campbell's 'The Magic of a Kind Word' is perfect pop with a similar sound to their 'Legal Man' single. 'Miraculous Techinique' is the highlight though with Murdoch's shout out to 'JP at Maida Vale' particularly poignant. Hard to believe this was only seven years ago.

Since then B&S have undoubtably become a better band with professional gigs and consistently good records. This is a nice reminder of the old, ramshackle, innocent days. Plenty to love here.

8.6

[This was reviewed from a promo. 'BBC Sessions' is out on cd and 2cd (containing a live recording from Belfast) on November 17]