SILVER JEWS



Silver Jews is the music outlet of Nashville-based (as of 1999) writer David "DC" Berman. Early on thought of as a Pavement side project due to the involvement of college pals Steve Malkmus and Bob Nostanovich, who appeared on early (and awful sounding) EPs Dime Map of the Reef and The Arizona Record, which gave the band its initial lo-fi reputation. Malkmus/Nostanovich also play on half of Silver Jews' six albums (Starlight Walker, American Water and Tanglewood Numbers).

Having said that, it's always been Berman's project and it's his often arcane lyrics, evocative wit, clever use of puns and cliches and dry, sly and sometime goofy sense of humor that have defined the band since its formation in 1989.

The music, in general, could be described as half the time, a kind of laid-back country-rock, and other times, a disheveled rollock.



No. Track (Album)
1. Trains Across the Sea (Starlight Walker)
2. Dallas (The Natural Bridge)
3. Random Rules (American Water)
4. Time Will Break the World (Bright Flight)
5. Horseleg Swastikas (Bright Flight)
6. Friday Night Fever (Bright Flight)
7. Punks in the Beerlight (Tanglewood Numbers)
8. Animal Shapes (Tanglewood Numbers)
9. The Poor, The Fair, and The Good (Tanglewood Numbers)
10. Suffering Jukebox (Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea)


Weighted heavily in favor of Bright Flight and Tanglewood Numbers because they are his best records, IMO (some would argue for American Water as his best).

RIYL - baritone-delivered dark, dry humor, slacker country-rock, occasionally revved-up slacker country-rock, countrified American Music Club/Mark Eitzel, Mutations/Sea Change-era Beck, Sebadoh, Pavement, Why?.

/end thread

4. One Of Our Submarines

why

Thompson Twins sucked.

don't let that stop you

Ice Cream Hands

and 2) they're in the running for worst band name of all time.

Legendary Shack Shakers

1. The Sheriff's Ranch For Boys Hunkerdown 1998
2. No Such Thing Pandelirium 2006
3. Fistwhistle Boogie Believe 2004
4. Easter Flesh Swampblood 2007
5. Wild Wild Lover Cockadoodledon't 2002
6. Bible, Candle And Skull Pandelirium 2006
7. Help Me Believe 2004
8. Preachin At Traffic Swampblood 2007
9. Hoptown Jailbreak Cockadoodledon't 2002
10. That's What I Know Hunkerdown 1998

Whether prefaced with The, Those or Th', Legendary Shack Shakers bring the 'neckbilly.

Although his songs were covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley, country-soul pioneer Arthur Alexander remains largely unknown to the general listening audience -- nevertheless, his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries....

During the summer of 1961, Alexander and Hall crossed the Tennessee River to build a recording studio in the town of Muscle Shoals, transforming an abandoned tobacco warehouse into one of the most fabled facilities in popular music history. The first record incubated within Muscle Shoals was Alexander's 1962 classic "You Better Move On." The product of the singer's roots in both country and R&B, its earthy, backwoods flavor anticipated the deep soul popularized by Memphis labels like Stax and Hi, reaching number 24 on the national pop charts following its release on Dot Records. Later covered by the Rolling Stones, "You Better Move On" earned Hall enough money to begin work on a new Muscle Shoals Studio, but the deal with Dot effectively halted his collaboration with Alexander, who arguably never reached the same heights again. Dot producer Noel Ball next assigned the singer the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil composition "Where Have You Been All My Life," which barely scraped the Top 60. Worse, the label buried the Alexander original "Soldier of Love" on the flip side. But his third Dot effort, the self-penned "Anna (Go to Him)," was a Top Ten R&B smash and was later covered by avowed fans the Beatles, who also recorded "Soldier of Love."

Although singer Steve Alaimo enjoyed considerable success in 1963 with the Alexander-penned "Every Day I Have to Cry," Alexander himself struggled to deliver a follow-up -- "Go Home Girl" couldn't even crack the Hot 100, and after a series of little-heard singles such as "You're the Reason," "Ole John Amos," and "Detroit City," Dot terminated his contract in early 1965. Alexander soon resurfaced on the Sound Stage 7 label with "(Baby) For You," but after "Show Me the Road" a year later, he did not release a new record until 1968's "I Need You Baby." Accounts vary as to the circumstances dictating Alexander's fade from recording and touring at this time -- he later admitted to suffering a long and debilitating illness, and there were rumors he became something of an acid casualty well before psychedelia blossomed in full. Sound Stage 7 issued a single a year for the remainder of the decade -- "Love's Where Life Begins" in 1968, "Another Place, Another Time" in 1969, and "Cry Like a Baby" in 1970 -- but otherwise he was almost completely absent from music for the latter half of the 1960s, albeit reportedly cutting a session for ABC/Dunhill that remains unreleased.

In 1971 Alexander resurfaced as a staff songwriter at Nashville-based Combine Music, working alongside the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Billy Swan, Tony Joe White, and Donnie Fritts. Combine executives soon orchestrated a recording deal with Warner Bros., and he entered Chips Moman's renowned American Studio in Memphis to record his first LP in a decade, a self-titled affair highlighted by readings of Dennis Linde's "Burning Love" (later a smash for Elvis Presley) and the Penn/Fritts collaboration "Rainbow Road," as plaintive and beautiful a record as Alexander ever made. Neither the album nor its accompanying singles made any noticeable commercial impact, however, and he soon exited Warner Bros., finally giving up on Nashville three years later and returning home to Florence. There he signed to Buddah, going back to Muscle Shoals to cut his own rendition of "Every Day I Have to Cry," a minor hit that would prove his final commercial success of note. "Sharing the Night With You" appeared the year following, and after one last effort for Music Mill, the aptly titled "So Long Baby," Alexander quit the music business altogether, driving a social services bus for a living. Elektra/Nonesuch coaxed him out of retirement to make a comeback album, 1993's Lonely Just Like Me, but while on tour in support of the record he fell ill, passing away in Nashville on June 13, 1993.