Does Night Fall Like A Grand Piano?

Hyacinths And Thistles-The 6th's

I was going to just write about one song on this CD, but then i listened to it again and decided to just write about the whole disc. The 6th's is one of the many guises of Stephen Merrit, who is one of the best lyricists in music. As Magnetic Fields, he wrote the opus "69 Love Songs" and also records as Future Bible Heroes (more of an 80's bent) and The Gothic Archies (more of a gothic bent, not surprisingly). The 6th's is his project where he brings in other singers to record songs. I find that many of the songs have a vague Bacharach-esque 60's feel to them. As a whole, this maybe shouldn't work...he brings in people as diverse as Marc Almond (of Soft Cell), Odetta (the folk singer), Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne, Gary Numan and Bob Mould of Husker Du (among others...the list kinda goes on and on). Maybe this shouldn't work, but its a beautiful CD, despite the diverse cast. Its kinda hard to pick a favorite...i love everything on this disc and think it has such feeling of hopeless romanticism. Although he can write about anything, he seems best when his heart's been broken. The chorus on "Just Like A Movie Star" (with Dominique A) is gorgeous....a slightly swirling carnivalesque feel. Sarah Cracknell is tailormade to sing these song of 60's influenced pop songs (if there is a more underappreciated vocalist in pop music, somebody tell me). She shines on "Kissing Things" all wistful and broken. Odetta is magnificent with her cracked voice on the vaudevilleish "Waltzing Me All The Way Home." Its hard to pick a favorite.

But i have one, of course.

"I have lain awake, through the longest hours, whether to cry or to scream. You can take my heart, it was always yours, but give me back my dreams".....Sally Timms of the Mekons on the gorgeous understated remarkably sad "Give Me Back My Dreams". Its 3:04 of all the feelings you go through when you lay awake and miss somebody. Simple as that.

Don't Come Down Here-Serena Maneesh

This self-titled CD by Norway's Serena Maneesh ended up on quite a few best lists. I liked it...but i thought it was a bit overrated. It suffers from being very good, very loud yet kinda forgettable in spots. Yet it has moments. And i am not exactly sure if its good for a band to have 3-4 great fantastic songs on a good solid but somewhat standard record. Does it make it better, or does it just highlight what could have been.

So "Don't Come Down Here"....you hear My Bloody Valentine mentioned as soon as their are 3 guitar tracks laid over them. Most of the time, that reference is a horrible fit....almost all bands will suffer from any comparisons to Loveless. What made that record so amazing, and what so few people who try to do that sound get, is that Kevin Shields and Co. buried actual songs under all the haze and fuckedupedness of the sound. This song gets that perfectly--even with the hard driving break in the middle. The melody keeps moving along through the haze...its just sheer wistfulness. I hope their next record has more of this.