Von den B-52's (neuerdings auch ohne Apostroph) gibt es zum Frühlingsanfang ein neues Album. Das Titellied Funplex kam gerade genau richtig nach diesem völlig verregneten deutsch-allzudeutschen Sonntag. Der Cocktail wäre jetzt auch nicht gerade schlecht, bin leicht verfroren im ungeheizten Souterrain.

Joni Mitchell is one of the two women I fell in love with by just listening to her voice. She is also one of the handful of musicians I had to buy everything which she had released after I heard her music first. The others I can think of right now were Neil Young (a delay of about ten years between first listen and record buying craziness though), Joy Division, Yo La Tengo and Giant Sand. My first Nick Drake was Fruit Tree, the complete works without demos and rare stuff. What did I want to say? Oh yes, I discovered a demo version of The Hissing of Summer Lawns over at the BigOZine blog. And I prefer it to the original. Which always bothered me a little because of the orchestral production. It is part of the phantastic run of studio albums from 1971-76: Blue, For the Roses, Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and finally Hejira. The first five songs of Hissing just on acoustic guitar and piano, that's a dream come true for every Joni Mitchell lover.

I listened to Amnesiac again. It matured extremely well, it is still as amazing as the first time I heard it. A block of weeping stones. Has alienation ever sounded more attractive? The music works like a magnet, it draws you into an abyss of forlornness, you would be a heartless monster if you resisted. The band who recorded that album should be deeply ashamed to release a collection of songs consisting mainly of lightweight soft-rock ballads as In Rainbows.

P.S. Cripes! I never wrote part 2 of that review. Shame on me as well then.

The next superfluous tribute/soundtrack album is already waiting in the wings. Sufjan is part of the team again. His soft voice and his baroque arrangements drive me nuts these days. The other two streamable Dylan interpretations by Cat Power and Jim James & Calexico are not there neither.

prince, an old-time admirer of joni dares to tackle one of her greatest songs, a case of you. with mixed results. his falsetto reaches record-breaking highs but it even irritated the bernese mountain dog next door who couldn't but respond with a drawn-out bark. the piano improvisations in the middle of the song are quite charming though. if it was prince himself, he should definitely play more piano.

and on it goes with blue. sarah mclachlan, a fellow canadian who must have been compared to joni a lot does an excellent version of it. it's very close to the original, some synths here and there but the most amazing is her voice. if i wouldn't have known that it was hers i might have taken it for joni's before the smoking took its toll on her vocal cords. very expressive and pure.

annie lennox sings ladies of the canyon. the instrumentation sounds false like coming from a musical box, probaly a laptop. an unnecessary version.

magdalene laundries is next. country chanteuse emmylou harris delivers a soporific performance for completists.

elvis costello and edith and the kingpin. an extremely slow, solemn version with classical instrumentation sucking out all the life and beauty from the original. unbearable crap, elvis, please shut up you bore.

k.d. lang covers help me. okayish but too slow again as this song lives from the speed in which the words are delivered.

finally james taylor finishes off this dispensable tribute album with river. the last yawn is the best.

sufjan stevens cooks an opulent meal from free man in paris. no connection to her song whatever. he must be a self-obsessed asshole, yeah i am in a bad mood, as usual.

björk is beurk. see sufjan. shut up, fairy from the land of ice.

caetano veloso does dreamland from the hissing of summer lawns or was it don juan's reckless daughter? another proof that if anyone else than joni sings her songs they lose all their charm.

brad mehldau and don't interrupt the sorrow. his main advantage: he doesn't sing. and he knows how to play the piano.

cassandra wilson and for the roses. a weird coupling. phantastic bass, nice deep feminine voice, welcome new interpretation.

(will be finished)

• Fave song? 15 Step
• Why? The electronic beats, the bass, the children shouting "Yeah", the dynamics.
• Worst song? Nude (Videotape may be even lamer)
• Why? It sounds like Radiohead mimicking Coldplay who are by default mimicking Radiohead.
• Most hypnotic track? Weird Fishes/Arpeggi with its repetitive guitar theme. Sounding like a woven texture.
• Song you haven't made up your mind about? Faust Arp as it seems like a beauty aging by 20 years within 2 minutes.
• How are the vocals? Mostly whiny, classical 90s Thom Yorke but on Reckoner his falsetto sounds like Bono's and it is a good thing.
• Most annoying instrument? The strings.
• Mini-review? A lot of songs start promisingly but run out of steam soon.
• Overall rating? Mainly for fans.

• 1 To Cry About
• 3 Body's in Trouble
• 6 When You Know Why You're Happy
• 9 Keeping You in Mind

am i the only one who doesn't like the new robert wyatt album? thanks anyways robert, it makes me love shleep even more.

Listening to the new Cowboy Junkies album is like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in ages and talking about nothing special. Yes, it is that good.