Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly

Well hello there, my farraginous faithful and welcome to this, the 21st edition of Farraginous Fridays! This week we’ll be looking at farraginous fallibilisms, fatalism and blind faith! That’s right, this week’s theme is of a religious nature!
Let us pray!

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys

Monsters Of Folk

Starting things off this week are uber-supergroup Monsters Of Folk. Made up of Jim James, M.Ward, Conor Oberst and long-time Bright Eyes member Mike Mogis; these guys managed to produce one of the finest albums of 2009. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F) is the opening track from the album so seemed a great place to start.

Bostonian crooners Willard Grant Conspiracy have never quite gained the cult status of Tom Waits or Nick Cave but Grant has written songs equally as beautiful and tortured. The Pugilist contains some of my favourite lyrics of all time. “Let God and the Devil wrestle for souls” sums up the torture and brutality of the song perfectly.

A bit of bluegrass next with country legend Bill Monroe and his cover of the Hank Williams classic I Saw The Light. I remember first hearing this song some years back when hearing Bob Dylan play it at Bournemouth International Centre. It’s joyful enough to make any atheist sing along with “Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”.

The Hidden Cameras

Joel Gibb and his Hidden Cameras are up next with a healthy slab of gay church folk music! Heaven Turns To is taken from the crazy Canadians’ 2006 album Awoo.

A second Farraginous Friday outing for soulful wretches Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. He’s been knocking out tunes since 1983 and this track from 2001 album No More Shall We Part is one of his most sensitive and touching efforts.

Ed Harcourt is a man who’s never quite reached the giddy heights of success that you feel you probably deserves. His first album Here Be Monsters was, or should I say is, a mini masterpiece and God Protect Your Soul is just one adventurous gem from it.

Taken from the The Pogues‘ 1988 album of the same name, If I Should Fall From Grace With God was the follow-up single to Fairytale Of New York and rather unfortunately only peaked at #58 on the UK singles chart. But, to me, it really captures the Irish folk-punk sensibility that made them a success in the first place!

Depeche Mode

Marc Bolan stole Norman Greenbaum‘s sound! There, I’ve said it. Listen to Spirit In The Sky from way back when in 1969 and tell me the riff, rhythm, lyrics and vocals don’t sound exactly like 80% of T-Rex’s output in the early to mid 70s. Go on, I dare ya!

Personal Jesus is taken from arguably Depeche Mode‘s finest album Violator. Numerous cover versions have been done of this 1989 hit. The most notable of which is Johnny Cash’s 2002 attempt which is definitely worth a gander.

Whether his soul will end up in heaven or hell is all that’s on Spiritualized front man Jason Pierce’s mind. This beautiful song is from the Rugby born group’s 2001 album Let It Come Down. Pierce wrote the entire album and it’s score over a four-year period following a relationship break up and is a truly challenging and heart breaking masterpiece!

That’s all for this week my delightful disciples so we close the sacred book of Farraginous Fridays for another 7 days. I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Godly suggestions and will add your own suggestions below!

Please, continue to invite new listeners to the blog! The easiest way is to invite people to the Facebook group dedicated to Farraginous Fridays. You can find it here – http://groups.to/farraginousfridays.

Laters
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys

Farraginous Friday #04 – Murder most horrid

Good day my farraginous favorers and welcome to the 4th installment of Farraginous Fridays!

Last week’s space adventure was a joyous journey of discovery and the future! This week’s future looks somewhat more bleak as we delve deep in to the darkest of the arts… MURDER!

Farraginous Friday #04 – Murder most horrid   (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #04 – Murder most horrid   (YOUTUBE)

The Clash

The first two tracks on this week’s playlist are inspired by true murder stories, though that is where the comparison ends (in true Farraginous Friday style). The pounding Mick Jones-penned track from The Clash is a powerfully worded piece highlighting society’s disregard for human life and the tragic anonymity of murder (“Somebody got murdered / His name cannot be found”). It is apparently based on the shooting of a shopkeeper across from Joe Strummer’s flat. One of my favourites from their epic Sandinista! album.

Tom Waits‘ twisted tale is derived from the 19th century Red Barn Murder; where a Suffolk gent murdered his mistress at their secret rendezvous in the country. I was spoilt for choice with Waits’ creepy back catalogue of music. His sleazy sepulchral voice on Murder In The Red Barn always sends a bone-chilling shiver down the spine.

The Wedding List, from Kate Bush‘s record-breaking album of 1980, Never For Ever, was based on the 1968 Francois Truffaut film The Bride Who Wore Black and tells of a bride who takes revenge on her husband’s killer(s). The album was the first number 1 album for a British female artist.

Rather humorously, if slightly naïvely, The Auteurs‘ Luke Haines once said “We released Unsolved Child Murders as our Christmas single”. Although Haines’ songwriting talent has always been clear to see, the skewed humour and quirky pop style has always limited his success.

Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue

Australia’s eeriest export Nick Cave (and his band of less-than-merry men The Bad Seeds) provides us with a next daunting ditty from his aptly titled Murder Ballads album. The swarming strings open the track and set a sombre scene for the story of obsession and death. The song features a career-best performance from pop diva Kylie Minogue. Again, many to choose from with Cave but the unusual collaboration and gorgeous arrangement meant Where The Wild Roses Grow could not be ignored. It is also Cave’s biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the Australian ARIA singles chart and is accompanied by Rocky Shenck’s beautiful video.

Excitable Boy, comes from Warren Zevon‘s 1978 album of the same name. No one can resist a bit of cheery D.O.R. especially when it’s peppered with such disturbing lyrics (“He raped her and he killed her, then her took her home”). I couldn’t decide if the delight taken from this hefty contrast was healthy or not. So I thought I’d test myself with another track of similar sentiment…

The gifted but often self-indulgent Beck came back from a minor career lull with Guero, his ninth studio album. Girl, has an irresistable summer feel to it with the dark lyrical content (“And I know I’m gonna make her die / Take her where her soul belongs”) almost going unnoticed over the chiptune backing and heavily layered acoustic guitars. From this, I decided that my original delight was healthy enough

Beck

Closing Farraginous Friday #04 this week is the unusual goth-rock-epic from the ever-negative Avenged Sevenfold. A wonderfully melodramatic and bloody blow-out, A Little Piece of Heaven seemed like the only true way to end the 4th installment such a right royal bludgeoning joy that is Farraginous Fridays.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the doom-drenched delights this week and will leave all your caring or caustic comments as always.

Please also encourage your friends to come visit subscribe either on here or join the Facebook group aptly title Farraginous Fridays.

Until next time….

Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #04 – Murder most horrid   (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #04 – Murder most horrid   (YOUTUBE)

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