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Video re: Afghanistan raid & attempted cover-up
March 27, 2010 04:08PM
I won’t pretend to have neat, easy solutions for Iraq or Afghanistan. I think Powell got much right when he said “You break it, you own it.” I opposed both wars/occupations before they started, but unfortunately once begun, the answer can’t be as simple as a quick withdrawal from either arena. Yet repeating the same mistakes is no solution, either. This video from Rethink Afghanistan shows the importance of continuing to treat Pentagon reports with great skepticism (warning: contains disturbing images):
www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=379707337434
(I'm not on Facebook, but the page is publicly accessible.)
17 Seconds, The Motorcycle Boy (UK), David Scott & the Smokescreen, The Last Battle (UK), etc.
March 24, 2010 05:19PM
Just discovered the most fabulous lost album – the Motorcycle Boy’s Scarlet was recorded circa 1988 but never released. A single, “Big Rock Candy Mountain” (certainly not the one I was expecting!) had reached #22 on the John Peel listeners’ Festive Fifty. The MCB's (and please don't confuse 'em with the more recent LA band of the same name) made gorgeous & fun pop, sweet but (post) punkish enough to avoid being too cloying, which featured beautiful guitars (strongly rhythmic, sometimes ringing & often fuzzed but never wankish), dulcet female lead vocals, and plenty of hooks as well as interesting lyrics. Anybody who knows me at all knows I can’t describe/compare music reliably, but I’d highly recommend this to anyone who likes Blondie, REM (for some of the guitars but not the overall sound or lyrics), VU, the Smiths, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Martha Wainwright, PJ Harvey, The Cranberries (but the MCB’s are more interesting to me) or The Fawns (but the MCB’s are less twee). And I am definitely reliable in saying this is a WONDERFUL album we’ve been missing some twenty years.
Download in full here:
marvik.blogspot.com/2009/02/motorcycle-boy-scarlet-unreleased-album.html
Listen to "Big Rock Candy Mountain here (sorry the b-net blogs won't embed code):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PEcPKbv-s&;
More info & download the singles/b-sides here:
www17seconds.blogspot.com/2008/08/great-scottish-bands-4-motorcycle-boy.html
17seconds.co.uk/blog/2009/02/14/motorcycle-boy-re-post-2/
The MCB’s guitarist, David Scott, has a recent release I’ve been listening to a lot over the winter. It’s a very different direction, far more personal & less pop, but also a GREAT album. Beautifully direct & by turns haunting, poignant and wry, it’s also charming, with some sublime & unexpected smile-inducers. A classic singer-songwriter album (guitar-based but nicely produced with all sorts of interesting touches & contributions from the backing musicians), it’s best discovered for oneself without a lot of preamble (which can mislead or over-reveal), and the same caveat as above still applies, but I’d recommend this for anyone who likes Robyn Hitchcock, Richard Thompson (avec ou sans Linda), some Morrissey, the gentler sides of Wilco/Jeff Tweedy & Beck, the Beatles, Hardin/Buckley/Van Zandt and especially Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Listen/purchase here:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Love-Death-Peace-Release/dp/B002N8ASGI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1269457197&sr=1-1
www.myspace.com/davidscottthesmokescreen
A couple of the tracks also remind me of the Minus 5’s latest, Killingsworth, in the use of a female backing chorus. It’s such a distinctive & freshly retro sound, and though I love all the intertwined male-female harmonies I’ve been hearing over the last couple of years, this is a really nice change. (The two songwriter’s sensibilities are very different, though, and sometimes make curious counterpoints.)
While you’re clicking around 17 Seconds, have a listen to The Last Battle (also UK, not the disbanded teen thrashers from Syracuse, though they’re kinda fun, too!):
www.myspace.com/thelastbattleuk
Enjoy! 
Yes, it is, Joe...
March 23, 2010 06:46PM
…and yes, we did!
It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s a huge & hugely overdue step forward. There will inevitably be improvements & adjustments (and unfortunately, maybe setbacks, too) down the road, but it’s a badly needed start.
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| Real Name: | Plain Jane From Maine |
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