"Oh, Hölderlin, yes I'm a fan!"

1972!
Germany!
Spalax!

I can't think of a single record that Spalax has put out that wasn't amazing. Partly because I am completely devoid of taste and will praise any prog record from the Continent (Britain sux), partly because Spalax releases amazing records. This one record, Hölderlin's Traum by Hölderlin, is new to me, and it has reminded me of my passion for prog once again. The record is essentially a rather traditional folk record with singing in German, but has passages of jazz and progressive inspired styles intervowen. And unlike me, it does not sound totally lame.
And you don't have to be a Evrofaggot like me to like this - in fact, it will even save you the trouble of reading Hölderlin's poetry, so there.
I've uploaded the most prog song, Waren wir. I hope you like it.





















Waren wir

Where did everyone go?

This is just a short entry to make up for my blatant, yet unintended SCLV-hiatus. But however brief, it is no less heartfelt. Right now, there's a couple of songs I'm spinning incessantly, and apart from Reigning Sound's Find Me Now, I'm real big on this Junior Parker song Mystery Train. If it sounds familiar, you're probably thinking of either the Elvis version of Junior's song or the wonderful Jarmusch flick; both go by the same name. It was in fact on the CHEESE for the picture that I stumbled upon Parker's invigorate blues song and craved to hear some more. Though I'm not gonna upload the soundtrack for a movie you guys (probably?) haven't seen, it contains some real good stuff, but for now, just listen to Junior Parker, get nostalgic or whatever for only a moment, and get up and join me out there under the dwindling yellow tombola in the sky. All of you.

It's blues, alrite.

Would you take my mind out for a walk?

So yet another weekend has come to an end - and what a darn good one. Spring has finally showed her face - about time, too - and it had me thinking that now I need not listen to eerie psychelia no more. Instead, I decided to bid Sister Sping welcome by blasting Tiffany Shade's eponymous 1968 record out of my speakers.



This record first caught my attention last year. I'd never heard about The Tiffany Shade 'til then, but it was arguably among my favourite discoveries in 2006 and the nifty opening track Would You Take My Mind Out for a Walk quickly became the anthem of my summer. Not only due to its ingenious title, but it really sums up everything that's great about the running-through-the-flowery-meadow-while-searching-
for-the-ultimate-trip genre. While Would You Take... followed by the dreamy No Reality is the unquestionable highlight, songs such as A Quiet Revolution, Not Worth the Pain, Come Softly to Me, and One Good Reason also contribute to the dazed teenage expression of the record.
Bearing in mind the fact that the band consisted only of teenagers, this record just has a special feeling attached to it and while I'm sure many would find it mediocre, it just does the trick for me. See, the sound on Tiffany Shade is very naivistic, but the lyrics written by the twisted teenage mind of Michael Barnes make it borderline hallucinatory. The catch frases "Would you take my mind out for a walk...." and "I wanna be where there's no reality / where I can't be forced to see" really say it all.
Tiffany Shade is a true gem from the psychedelic vault and to me it's an all-important record. It's dreamy, shimmering, and full of harmonies that you'll keep humming all summer. For that reason I've - for the first time in the short history of Sing C'est La Vie - made an entire album available for download.

Take my mind out for a walk!

"She looked at me long and hard, like some painting she didn't understand"

Many a pleasant hour we have spent @ Tobias' place. And many a good song we have enjoyed. Mostly Exploding Hearts, of course...
But there is one song that we (benzedrine and I) always ask for and yet have never heard down there in that Dungeon. I am talking, of course, about Find Me Now by Reigning Sound.
I won't pretend that I know anything about this stuff, but Reigning Sound is one of many great Memphis bands. Fronted by Greg Cartwright of Oblivians and Compulsive Gamblers fame, this is like nothing I have heard before, yet so classical. What can I tell you, it's simply heartbreaking. Just listen to Find Me Now:
Reigning Sound - Find Me Now

Young Hearts Be Free Tonight!

Everybody knows who Rod Stewart is, and most of us do not want to listen to that shit. But one song has made an outstanding impression and touched our souls deeply; Young Turks.

In 1981 Rod Stewart composed this masterpiece of a song, and it was an outstanding track from Tonight I'm Yours. The record itself is not that great, but this song still stands as one of the best spring/summer-tracks of all time. There is a great power pop feel to it and sometimes it is pure new wave. The good new wave, that is. Okay - the song might not be that great, but it reminds you of young girls with blond hair, beers with your friends, bonfire on the meadow, long summer nights,  and just having a plain ol' good time.

This song goes hand in hand with escapism when you are sitting in a cold classroom with 45 min. to the next break. 

"Young hearts be free tonight
Time is on your side"

- skeetles and slapschack

Music lovers, take note!

You've all heard the Zeppelin cover, but did you ever check out the original version of Dazed and Confused? In brief, it's genius and so is the album on which it was released. Jake Holmes' 1967 debut called Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes never ceases to astound and excite me to the point where those vibrantly melodic songs reminiscent of both Tim Buckley and Linda Perhacs, yet altogether summery make my heart jump to my throat and my palms to my thighs, drumming out that little, naïve boy from inside of me. Though it clocks in at little more than 30 minutes, it's a well-rounded album that'll make you suckers beg for more posts. But for now, I'm out.

Oh yeah, and I'll post a song when the sun sets and my reptilian blood cools to a temperature that doesn't hinder sit-downs.

Edit: Dazed and Confused. Even if it's not one of the happy songs, it's a great one indeed, and it was already out there on the good ol' 'net. I'm lazy.

Revolution and pasta

Before I make pasta and salmon in cream sauce, I'm going to take Sing C'est La Vie to the next level by making a song available for download.
Here you go, it's Donald Byrd's Places and Spaces from the eponymous 1975 record.

Places and Spaces

Strapping Fieldhands - Wattle & Daub

Did I ever talk about this gem? Though the first listen made me make faces equivalent to that of kids eating spinach, I really picked up on it when I heard it after weeks of ignorance. Having released their first record on the Siltbreeze label in the early 90's, Strapping Fieldhands manage to put the topsy-turvy lo-fi so typical of mentioned label to good use on their second one, Wattle & Daub. It's hard to pin down exactly what's so charming about the ramshackle indie rock that they play, but with someone as untidy as myself, these weirdly titled songs hit a soft spot. My best guess as to its greatness is that it's how the excentricity is instrumentated in these 12 great songs about tortoises, blue kangaroos and Demeter on scuttled kayak odysseys. It's probably a real spinach kind of thing--either you're into it or you just don't get it. I dig it golddiggingly much.

Nick Nicely

I tried rewriting Shakespeare's 18th Sonnet (you know, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day," etc.) into a write-up on one-hit-wonder Nick Nicely, but no matter how hard I tried, it could never be as cheesy as his music.
Apparently, his Hilly Fields was a minor hit in 1981, and even though he kept making music, he never received much press ever since. His music, a Lennon-esque synth pop, deserves better than total oblivion, though, and in 2004, Psychotropia was released by Castle. Psychotropia spans his entire output and some unreleased songs, most notably two great songs from 1998.
If you like Paisley Underground stuff, this is definitely worth tracking down.

Les Copains D'Abord

After 7 hours of reading Euripides and watching Troy in school today, I'm completely worn out, but before passing out I just had to hear this one song by Georges Brassens, Les Copains D'Abord. A sweet song of French folk--a niche of which Brassens is no doubt the master, though he's certainly entirely unique compared to both his predecessors and his contemporaries--I find that its sweet guitar and its rich vocal melody evoke some of the brilliant, summery landscapes that I missed out on when behind school bars earlier. Perhaps my having visited his tranquil hometown Sète somewhat adds to the experience in terms of making the inner pictures more vivid, but his music is wholly worthwhile, even if I am not able to make out the words.

Oh, and speaking of words, I gotta say that while our writing in English might come off as quite pretentious, I like it this way. Not the pretentiousness, that is, it just has a fitting atmosphere to it, just like Les Copains D'Abord does on a sunny day's night. Posting this, I'm still listening to that one song by that moustached Frenchie.

A little sumthin' about hot sausages

Wow, for a change it really looks like this is going places. Now all we need is a crowd. And I'm trying out different types of fonts.

Lately, I've been listening to this insane break beat compilation (125 songs and just got to Edwin (Starr) in the alphabet) and all the time it feels as if my ears are about to catch fire due to the pure genius of all the songs. Unfortunately, the compi has no name so actually there's no point in me passing this on. But I tell ya'll, it's one really hot sausage.
Thus far, my favourite song is Donald Byrd's Places and Spaces, followed closely by Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes. Places and Spaces is like something I haven't heard in a loooong time with violins, flute, uuh-uuh choir, trompet, and basically everything one could wish for in one song. The other one is just outstanding in that very typical soul-manner - like the remainder of the track list. Thank you to whoever put this thing together. My blessings to you.

Speaking of hot sausages; I think our first "project" on Sing C'est La Vie should be that each one of us makes out a list of ten must-hear xian folk records. Or any genre. You know, just to keep the engines running. How about that? Give it a few days.

The Three O'Clock - Baroque Hoedown

It is nothing new and it is not obscur, but hot damn - it is a great record! Baroque Hoedown was released in June 1982 by the L.A band The Three O'Clock
(formerly known as Salvation Army).

The record shows a band in a fantastic development. The first record, Salvation Army - s/t, reminded you more of garage-punk, than it did of The Byrds, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Where the first record is a good example of catchy 2-3 chord garage-punk songs with noisy guitars, this record lets the band go crazy in psychedelich pop music. Some times Michael Quercio's high, creepy and almost boyish voice reminds you of the late Syd Barrett's voice, but you can't really compare it to anything or anyone. Mixing the raw live-ish sound of Salvation Army with the more polished popsound, The Three O'Clock probably made on of the best Paisley Underground records - if not the best. It is the best Three O'Clock record, indeed.

If you are lucky enough to get hold of Baroque Hoedown released on the French label Lolita Records you are in for a treat. On the french version there is three additional tracks indcluding a cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" and The Byrds' fantastic song "Feel A Whole Lot Better", which makes this version just a tad better than the American one, released on Frontier Records.
- slapschack

Rex Holman

In 1970, several years before appearing on Star Trek, Rex Holman made this lovely psych folk gem. Here in the Land of Victory. When I introduced a friend to this record, I described it as an "evil Tim Buckley," and that's not only a super awesome thing to say, but also quite fitting. Apart from the country-ish closer I Can't Read My Name, this record is thoroughly claustrophobic and unpleasant (one song is entitled Listen to the Footsteps, need I say more?), although very beautiful folk. One of my best discoveries in 2006.

100% Pure Poison

Now, before I make my first serious entry (and my very first in general), I would like to make a request for some warmer colours. The colour scheme on this site makes me not want to post anything. So, I beg you, monsieur d, warm my vision.

Other than that, I'm about to hit the telly and episode 16 of The O.C. for God-knows-which-time (I'm sure if there were God, he would forbid me in doing so). However, before I make my way across the room to my love sack, I would like to call attention to this marvellous gem from 1974 by soul/funk group 100% Pure Poison:



Don't let the name scare you. Think Skull Snaps (evil name, soft music), pre-disco, and just let that smooth and mellow Chi-town soul vibe implode your brain (though, apparently, it was recorded in Germany. Wonder where they got their inspiration from). The songs 'You Keep Coming Back', '(And When I Said) I Love You', and 'My Little Someone' are too sweet to put words to in this dark room. 'Windy C' is the sort of tune one of those shit head rappers would sample and earn a lot of $$$$ on. Just like when Kanye West violated Curtis' 'Move On Up'.

And that's about it from me. I'm Tobi, I like parentheses, Newport Beach, and superficiality.

*h5*

No introduction needed or wished for, this is just a demonstration of my goodwill. Hello.

Nick Garrie - The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas

This is exactly the kind of discovery I like to make. Released in 1969 and until recently, completely obscure and impossible to find. That, and a collection of 12 great minor chord pop/folk songs. Like Sunshine Pop on a rainy day.
Others out there all compare it to Nick Drake, but I never cared for him, so I'd rather compare it to the orchestrated recordings of Bill Fay. The same feeling of brooding and hopelessness lurks just beneath the surface of the simple songs of both these artists.

"I'd like to love you, if that means anything,
and watch your eyes turn deeper tones of blue"

Sing C'est La Vie

Welcome to Sing C'est La Vie, a music blog about records and artists that I like or find interesting.