Farraginous Friday #13 – Fellas flying solo

Good day my farraginous fanciers and welcome to the 13th edition of Farraginous Fridays! This week’s playlist will be investigating people who having been in a band and have gone on to persue solo ventures.  Oh and the band that the artist is from does not have to have disbanded!

Farraginous Friday #13 – Fellas flying solo (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #13 – Fellas flying solo (YOUTUBE)

Starting us off this week is the Pixies‘ Frank Black with a thumping track from his second solo album Teenager Of The Year from 1994. Having earned cult status with the Pixies, Black Francis (his previous nickname) has had an impressive rate of creative output releasing 18 albums since 1993. I can assure you this song will most certainly NOT give you a Headache.

Pete Townshend is next on the list. The Who guitarist who when not releasing albums devoted to the teachings of indian mystic Meher Baba actually knocked out some great pop songs. One of these great pop songs is Let My Love Open The Door from his 1980 album Empty Glasses.

Bryan Ferry

I remember seeing The New Pornographers live some years back and being astounded as to how many rousing pop songs they had in their back catalogue. All of these songs came from the wonderfully talented songwriting talent that is A.C. Newman, who’s solo efforts (including Secretarial) are of equal brilliance.

Let’s Stick Together is from Bryan Ferry‘s first solo album, of the same name, following the the disbandment of Roxy Music. Although not actually penned by Ferry, this reworked Wilbert Harrison cover is the definitive Bryan Ferry tune!

Pavement broke up in 1999 and broke many an indie kid’s heart (don’t worry, they reformed earlier this year). Stephen Malkmus‘ solo output has achieved very modest success on a commercial level and has never been as well received as Pavement. I am a huge fan of Jo Jo’s Jacket from Malkmus’ self-titled debut album from 2001.

Neil Young needs absolutely no introduction whatsoever. So I won’t bother. Oh, but I will mention that he was in Buffalo Springfield before going solo. He has also released 33 albums to date. And this track is taken from my favourite album of his, After The Gold Rush. But I still won’t bother introducing him…

Gram Parsons died of a morphine and alcohol overdose at the tender age of 26. He used to take LSD whilst UFO spotting at the Joshua Tree National Monument. When he died, his body was stolen by friends and taken to Joshua Tree where they used 5 gallons of gasolene to burn the body resulting in a huge fireball! It’s got to be the way to go.

Jarvis Cocker

Poor old Jarvis Cocker waited a long time to find fame with Pulp (or Arabacus Pulp as they were first known) but in 1992 they began the ascent to the giddy heights of indie royalty. Cocker’s solo material is very much hit and miss but Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time from his first solo effort, Jarvis, is a cracker! With a great music video too.

David Byrne of Talking Heads fame is a fucking legend and I’ll not hear a bad word about the man. His solo work, as with Talking Heads, has always been experimental, pioneering and often deftly catchy and infectiously fun! Miss America is from his 1997 album Feelings.

Finishing up this week is Julian Casablancas with Out Of The Blue. The Strokes smashed an almighty boulder through the indie scene in 2001 with their debut release, Is This It. I actually found this debut album from The Strokes front man decidedly disappointing but this track pulls the energy of the influential band and some fantastic pop production together to form this delectable ditty!

So that’s all folks. Thank you for reading & listening and I hope you’ve enjoyed Farraginous Friday #13′s little mix of solo efforts.

As always, please do leave your comments below and continue to invite new listeners to the blog! Most of you are aware of the Facebook group dedicated to Farraginous Fridays. You can find it here – http://groups.to/farraginousfridays. DON’T MISS OUT!!!

Peace
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #13 – Fellas flying solo (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #13 – Fellas flying solo (YOUTUBE)

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Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P.

Hello farraginous friends and welcome to the tenth installment of Farraginous Fridays. This week is the first Farraginous Special where we’ll be paying tribute to Sparklehorse‘s Mark Linkous who tragically took his life last week at the age of 47.

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (YOUTUBE)

Having been in many a small punk band in the 80s and early 90s and after an unsuccessful move to L.A., in an attempt to hit the big time, Linkous returned to his hometown of Virginia. There, he formed Sparklehorse and in 1995 released their debut album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. This was a hit with the British media and gave Linkous the chance to tour with Radiohead the following year. Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood said “They were great every night…[Mark's] first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends’ lives too.”

Mark Linkous

It was on this tour that Linkous nearly died. A combination of alcohol, anti-depressants and Valium resulted in him laying unconscious for 14 hours. His legs were trapped under him so when he was found and lifted, the sodium build up resulted in him going into cardiac arrest and he lost the use of his legs for  6 months.

This near-death experience is a strong theme in the 1999 album Good Morning Spider. Following the album’s release he said of the accident ““For a while there, I was really scared that when I technically died — which I guess I did for a few minutes — that the part of my brain that allowed me my ability to write songs would be damaged”.

2001 saw the release of It’s Wonderful Life, another haunting collection of tragically beautiful songs which although well received by critics and musicians alike, did not have a huge amount of commercial success. This album includes collaborations with Tom Waits, Nina Persson (The Cardigans), PJ Harvey and Dave Fridmann.

Linkous also had a close working relationship with the troubled singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston, who has had a life long battle with mental illness. He produced his 2003 album Fear Yourself and also The Late Great Daniel Johnston which saw him bring together many great musicians to cover the songs of the still-living artist. This album also features a collaboration with the Flaming Lips, which I have included on this playlist.

Dark Night Of The Soul

His last completed work was Dark Night Of The Soul. On this album he collaborated with Danger Mouse and David Lynch and brought another incredible group of musicians to contribute to the album.  James Mercer (The Shins), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Frank Black (Pixies) just to name a few. Although legal issues have meant the album has not had an official release, the album can be listened to in its entirity HERE.

On Saturday 6th March Mark Linkous took his own life by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle outside a friend’s home. He had apparently been drinking heavily and had been having many personal problems. Alcohol and depression was something he had battled with for the most part of his adult life.

His tender voice, bittersweet lyrics, intriguing collaborations and interestingly complex, yet subtle arrangements have always fascinated me. So many of his songs can make me simultaneously smile and cry. He will be sorely missed and I hope those of you less familiar with his work will enjoy some of the wonderful music created by this truly beautiful and honest artist.

Please do leave your comments and thoughts on the playlist and Sparklehorse or any feelings you have regarding Mark’s death or his music.

Thanks
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (YOUTUBE)