We draw to a close to 2005 with the last four Friends Of Americana UK discs, covering September to December (Vol. 2 numbers 9-12). This was the first full year of these CDs and if you collected all of them you would be in a position to listen to 240 songs which were released that year with their parent albums all reviewed by AUK. In addition there are 12 hidden songs in total, one per disc and personally selected by our editor Mark. It’s a treasure trove really, a time capsule and it’s been interesting to see that several readers have commented on how much they miss their monthly fix from AUK. These days we have a monthly Spotify playlist which basically does the same job but for many folk, well, it just isn’t the same, is it?
Anyhow, a quick look at the website back then and there’s no change in its appearance in the last quarter of the year, pretty much the same banners, adverts and pleas for your money on display. And we’re still banging on about the threat to introduce I.D. cards. We do have an innovation on the reviewer front as our all male bastion was breached by Lynne Pettinger, our first female reviewer. In news stories we report that Tom Petty received the 2005 Billboard Century Award with Billboard co-executive editor Tamara Conniff saying “Petty’s songs and lyrics go to the root of the American dream. For over 30 years, Petty has been a rock icon who continues to inspire new generations of artists.” Meanwhile we noted that Bob Dylan was slated to become a D.J for XM Satellite Radio who said “Come March, the living legend will host a weekly show on XM’s Deep Tracks channel. In addition to a hand-picked playlist by the master himself, the hour-long program will feature commentary on music and other topics, interviews with special guests, and on-air replies to e-mail from XM subscribers.” Not to be outdone, Neil Young played four nights in a row on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” to promote his latest album ‘Prairie Wind’ (reviewed for AUK by Andy Riggs who gave the album a solid 9/10 score and a track by track analysis).
Our live reviews back then remain of interest. Mike Ritchie, nowadays a presenter on Celtic Music Radio (and an AUK Readers award winner) almost single-handedly covers the live scene in Glasgow with a slew of gig reviews. Pete Gow reviews Son Volt again (Carling Academy, Islington, London – 9th November) after our four-handed set of reviews of their May gig earlier that year and we have two reviews of Bob Dylan’s November gigs in London with both reviewers noting that Dylan encored with The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ on separate nights. The live gig review award however goes to Phil Edwards who attended James Blunt’s gig at Shepherds Bush Empire in October. Overall, Phil is a bit nonplussed by the performance but he is quite prescient when he writes of Blunt that “He waited until the end to play ‘You’re Beautiful’ which let’s be honest is what most people turned up for. Not the first artist to tease his audience in this way, but at least it gave them all ample opportunity to take lots of photos on their trendy Nokias’ to show off to their posh mates when back in the wine bar. Whatever happened to good old lighter waving? No doubt we’ll all be brandishing iPods that record (when they’ve been invented) at future gigs.” The iPhone was released two years later so blame them next time you’re behind an idiot filming a gig on his smart phone.
On then to the discs which contain, as always, 20 songs each (plus a hidden track). According to the song selections the last quarter of 2005 wasn’t a classic period with few of the albums featured really well remembered these days – Peter Bruntnell’s ‘Ghost In A Spitfire’ and Ryan Adams’ ‘Jacksonville City Nights’ are maybe the exceptions. Having said that there’s a brace of well known names – Calexico, Dolly Parton, Tim O’Brien, Chris Mills, Richard Buckner, Bonnie Prince Billy, Steve Wynn, Michael Weston King and Sid Griffin- along with the usual host of lost, forgotten, failed, or could have been contenders. Wading through the tracks is a delightful task for the most part as each of the four discs has more than its fair share of quality songs, far too many to mention here. The outstanding number is Sid Griffin’s take on The Flamin’ Groovies’ ‘You Tore Me Down’ which is a sparkling acoustic update of this fab Groovies number. It’s taken from Griffin’s superb second solo album, ‘As Certain As Sunrise’. Our favourite pick on September’s disc is Tim O’Brien’s fleet footed ‘Look Down The Lonesome Road’ while I’ve always had a soft spot for Jefferson Pepper’s ‘Christmas In Fallujah’ (not that Billy Joel song) which pops up in October. Our pick from December is Dan Israel’s ‘Cold Cold Winter‘ which is fittingly seasonal. In a nod to Yuletide the disc ends with a cut from a Christmas album released by Yep Roc Records, Marah singing ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’. Aside from that nod to the end of the year, December’s disc closes Volume Two of our AUK discs with little fanfare. In a sneak peek into Volume Three which covers 2006, we can reveal that in December of that year, subscribers received two shiny CDs, one, the regular December edition along with a “Best of 2006” compilation. For the low-down on that you’ll need to wait as we roll up our sleeves and head into 2006 in the next few columns.
As ever, our editor Mark chose a song for each of the discs, hidden away at the end, a reward for persevering? Perhaps. Anyhow, in order we get to hear the harmonious power pop of The Tyde’s ‘Your Tattoos’ , Loudon Wainright , sounding ever so gloriously miserable on ‘Pretty Good Day’, James Iha breaking away from The Smashing Pumpkins’ bluster on ‘The Sound Of Love’ and, finally the fabulous Fountains Of Wayne with one of their best outings, ‘Valley Winter Song’.
You can still be a friend of Americana UK in this digital age and, amazingly, it’s now cheaper to do so than it was in 2005. All details here.
Vintage screenshots grabbed via The Wayback Machine.
