Squeeze "Argybargy"

In honor of Squeeze's impending "reunion" (only a sorta reunion...its only Glen Tillbrook and Chris Difford...no Jools Holland...sigh) show at the Showbox on September 16th, I purchased the painfully excessive double disc version of their finest album Argybargy.

But why a TWO DISC version of an LP that is 3.99 or less in every Half Price Books in the US? Quite simply because it's the ONLY version of this album on CD, a fact that is fully absurd. Can't get an LP on yr iPod...well, okay, you CAN. But I can't.

There are probably no better pop singles of the era than "Pulling Muscles (From a Shell)", "Another Nail in My Heart" and "If I Didn't Love You", the latter of which contains on of my favorite lyrics of all time ("Singles remind me of kisses/Albums remind me of plans"). Some of the other tracks can be a bit clunky, but on the whole I find the album quite a bit more charming than the "singles and filler" clusterfuck that was Cool For Cats or the Argybargy follow-up, East Side Story.

This expanded edition of the album has a cracking live show on the bonus disc (if you want it you'll just have to shell out the bucks for it...not everything in life is free internet-mooch), which has me fully excited to see the band in just under a month. Well, not too excited. I know better than to get my hopes up lest I be shocked into a coma when gaggle of middle-aged men lurch onto stage. But, if they play "Vicky Verky", I'll probably scream.

Download Squeeze Argybargy Disc #1 (Original Album + Bonus Tracks)

Orange Juice "You Can't Hide Your Love Away Forever"

This record seems almost genetically created to fit into the "Things Eli Likes" catagory. Let's just see what we have here: Warblely, almost obnoxious vocals. Fey, heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics. Huge poppy hooks. Pasty white band members. Sly, Beatles-referencing album title. Yup. Pretty much just what I like.

This was Orange Juice's first proper full-length after a run of increasingly amazing 7"'s on the Postcard label. The released version is substantially different from the version that was re-issued as part of the The Glasgow Schoolby Domino in 2005. While that version was scrappy and raw, this proper version sparkles with a weird disco sheen that hints at the slightly yucky, white-bred funk that the band would adopt in it's subsequent releases.

But as far as I'm concerned, this is Orange Juice is all of its nervous, awkward glory. Members of both Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian have said that this band was a huge influence of their musical endeavors and, frankly, Orange Juice sound like the perfect amalgam of both those bands.

Download: Orange Juice You Can't Hide Your Love Away Forever

Miracle Fortress "Five Roses"

Last year everybody made a really big stink about that Panda Bear album. It was pretty poppy and kinda weird and it was made by one of the guys in Animal-Collective, who are the official "band-that-everybody-likes-for-no-explicable-reason."

But everybody was so busy jumping on that bandwagon (pun!) that no one bothered to mention that the Panda Bear album has exactly TWO (okay, maybe THREE) actual living/breathing/pleasurable-to-listen-to songs on it. The rest of it consists of a guy hitting a drum while turning some knobs and hooting and hollering into a toilet paper tube. Don't, get me wrong, I love a toilet paper tube hollering session as much as the next guy, but is this really ALBUM OF THE YEAR stuff?

That's where Miracle Fortress comes in. Miracle Fortress is the Beach Boys to Panda Bear's...um...less good Beach Boys. I suppose it's really more of a yin/yang thing. Panda Bear is the wild, unshaven artist and Miracle Fortress is still unshaven but at least he combed his hair and buttoned his shirt.

Five Roses was one of my favorite records of 2007 and I really can't think of a better new-ish album to be listening to when it's sunny out.

Oh, and if you live in the Seattle-area and watch television, you probably hear the song "Maybe Lately" about 20 times a day because it's in an advertisement for the Clean Forest and Rivers Initiative or something similarly Northwest-y.

Download the album here

The Kinks > The Beatles > The Rolling Stones

The Kinks are, quite simply, the greatest band ever to walk the face of the Earth. They could make "Powerman" the National Anthem and somehow this band would still be under appreciated.

It's tough to say exactly why The Kinks aren't given the same kind of massive respect that seems to be reserved solely for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. By my count, The Kinks wrote just as many genre-defining anthems as either of those bands. Sure, they weren't as attractive as The Beatles, or as delightfully sleazy at The Rolling Stones (but they were, generally, more attractive than the Stones and sleazier than the Beatles. Although, it would arguably be harder to NOT be sleazier than the Beatles).

My infinity for The Kinks might stem from my overwhelming, unwavering and unabashed love for The Beatles. From about 6th through 10th grade I listened virtually exclusively to The Beatles. I think the only other music I took in at the time came from Seattle's only oldies station (unless you count KIXI, which I don't) the sadly re-formatted 97.3 KBSG. And at a certain point things that once seemed shocking and innovative, just seem, well, dull.

The Kinks touched on subjects that other bands of the time seemed to just gloss over. Without being overly preachy or heavy-handed, they crafted touching odes to an England that had never fully rebuilt itself after World War II. They had plenty of songs that went "yeah, yeah, I love you, yeah." But they also had songs like "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Get Back In Line" which touched on deeper topics like personal isolation and the startling number of British people who were facing the day to day embarrassment of being "on the dole."

This is a two CD "best of"-ish collection. The first disc handles the generally poppier material and has all the singles that you are likely to know. And the second disc highlights the obscure gems and odd music-hall pieces.

Here's some tracklistings and download links:
Disc #1
1. You Really Got Me
2. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
3. Tired Of Waiting For You
4. Who'll Be The Next In Line
5. Well Respected Man
6. Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
7. You're Looking Fine
8. Sunny Afternoon
9. Party Line
10. Dead End Street
11. David Watts
12. Love Me Till The Sun Shines
13. Waterloo Sunset
14. The Village Green Preservation Society
15. Do You Remember Walter
16. Picture Book
17. Animal Farm
18. Victoria
19. Drivin'
20. Lola
21. Powerman
22. 20th Century Man
23. Muswell Hillbilly
24 Celluloid Heroes

Download here

Disc #2
1. Just Can’t Go to Sleep (Mono)
2. Stop Your Sobbin’ (Mono)
3. Nothin' In The World Can Stop Me From Worryin' 'bout That Girl
4. Don't Ever Change
5. The World Keeps Going Round
6. I'm On An Island
7. Holiday In Waikiki
8. Too Much On My Mind
9. Fancy
10. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
11. A House In The Country
12. This Is Where I Belong
13. Lazy Old Sun
14. Death Of A Clown
15. Autumn Almanac
16. Starstruck
17. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
18. Johnny Thunder
19. Days
20. She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
21. Get Back In Line
22. Strangers
23. This Time Tomorrow
24. Apeman
25. Skin & Bone
26. Alcohol
27. Sitting In My Hotel

Download here

(Note: Unfortunately the only way I could get iTunes to export these playlists was in .XML format. So...just load the MP3s into your iTunes like normal...then...choose FILE and then IMPORT from the top drop down in iTunes...and then...choose the .XML file. That should plop the playlist into your iTunes. If you don't have iTunes...um...good luck...)