LC, the title of the second Durutti Column album from 1981, stands for "Lotta Continua". The struggle goes on. This could be Vini Reilly's struggle with food. Apparently he has got an inclination to anorexia and must force himself to eat. Therefore he is thin like a match. In an old NME article I read that in 1980 he used to have his main meal around 5pm. And it wasn't a good idea to meet him after the meal as he would be feeling very weak and ill.

The guitar and the singing of LC were recorded at home at night when his mother slept in the next room. Maybe this is the reason for his unobtrusive almost ghost-like singing style. They then added Bruce Mitchell's drums and the piano in the studio (interview source).

Sketch for Dawn I The first song on the album. The way the drumming, the guitar, the piano and the singing on this track meld is perfect. There is this typical floating quality of the guitar and piano which is reinforced by the unorthodox drumming. Vini's voice adds the melancholic touch.

The Missing Boy This is the favourite song of many Durutti Column aficionados including me.

Vini is singing about the epileptic Ian Curtis here, the lead singer of Joy Division who had hanged himself the year before. I can hardly imagine a song more sad and beautiful. One of those songs of which I'd want to say that you cannot be my friend if you are not moved by it. Stupid and not very mature probably, I know but this is how I feel.

Sandpaper sleeve -> situationism -> 1968 -> anarchism -> Spanish civil war etc. If I had had the sandpaper LP of the first Durutti Column album it would have damaged Nick Drake's Fruit Tree box and Bob Dylan's Gaslight Tapes box. The damage would have been limited as those are solid cardboard LP boxes.

Sketch for Summer Are those electronic or real birds? Is it important? There is a guitar there which is real. It is Vini's guitar. Vini says that he never saw a point in trying to play like Jimi Hendrix. Because nobody will ever play more hendrixish than the master himself. Therefore Vini plays the guitar his way. Without a plectrum. It sounds as if someone is putting beads on a braid to create a beautiful chain. In the morning sun. The chain is glimmering and shimmering. You can't take your eyes away from it. Vini can say whatever he wants about his music (that it is bad and rubbish) but it will always be his.

Madeleine A bonus track from the CD. Skip the first 45 generic seconds. But then there is this magic in the arpeggiated guitar chords which evokes a sparkling glistening diamond. Reflecting the sunbeams in all directions. Or the haziness in the distance on the road in summer. When the fata morgana is more real than the oasis.

Is 'Man Needs a Maid' ridiculous?

I love those threads on ILM on individual songs. This song on Harvest appears to have two serious flaws. First the seemingly macho lyrics. Then the over-orchestration by Nitzsche. Jay Kid explains nicely that the song is about someone who has lost love and finds it again. Jody says that

which is ingenious as a remedy to get over a past love. The string arrangement is so over the top that it is good again. On this page there is a live version of the song played at the Royal Festival Hall, London from 1971 in case you want to listen to it (again).

I have been falling in love with Eleni Mandell's gorgeous voice this afternoon. So sensuous, so expressive, so clear. She has a new album out called Afternoon which is scheduled for release in Germany this autumn. Her recent live show at Morning Becomes Eclectic (38 min video) was absolutely fabulous in its haunting relaxedness. She has the pure folk attitude of early Michelle Shocked coupled with the dreamy languidness of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. Plus a lot of charm. She will tour Germany (which she loves) later this year(?).

More links:

• EuroRanch: "Eleni Mandell - 5 Tracks from 'Country for True Lovers'" (her country album)

• EuroRanch: "Eleni Mandell - 4 Tracks from 'Snakebite'"

• Morning Becomes Eclectic March 2003: video from March 2003 with the country songs, program from June 2002

• Recent interview with the German Rolling Stone

• Slate overview from last year with audio snippets

A couple of albums I couldn't resist to start downloading this afternoon (via brian's radio blog):

• Björk - Medulla
• Ramones - Ramones
• Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
• The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
• Royksopp - Melody A.M.
• Daft Punk - Discovery

There is also the new Kings of Convenience and the first Nick Drake. Too much good music to listen to in one afternoon.

From the soon to be published first volume of Bob Dylan's memoir Chronicles :

On Blood on the Tracks:

From the talk with David Gates:

I ask myself the question who was first. The self-mystificator Dylan or the media product Dylan? Was inventing stories about himself his way of fleeing from the disadvantages of fame (gatecrashers, stalkers, paparazzi) or was it just a trick to even accelerate the hype? What he writes there sounds quite plausible but I can't believe that he just was a normal singer/songwriter who wanted to lead a tranquil family life whose life plan was destroyed by the evil media.

The biggest waste is the waste of time. Because you will never get it back. Or always if you believe in Nietzsche's eternal recurrence. But that is probably even worse.

wird man auch nur genannt, wenn man entweder noch kein Mann oder nicht mehr jung ist. Höflich sein heißt ironisch sein. Ich glaube damals kam ich mir bei dieser Anrede schon genauso verarscht vor wie heute. Wobei vielleicht hat die Bäckerin es vorhin ja doch so gemeint. Sie war bestimmt 15 Jahre älter als ich. Eine ziemlich junge Frau im Vergleich zu meiner Mutter...

Bush vs. Kerry

P.S. There is a serious flaw in this. Where is Bush's most loyal supporter, Mr Ralph Nader? How can anyone in the world be so obstinate? He must be payed by Bush, there is no other possibility.