Momus and the Devil

Well a bloke with the hairstyle of the devil anyway ;-)
As promised a couple of older Momus tracks.

One from his 1995 album Slender Sherbet
which was a album of new versions of songs from the 80s. "The Hairstyle of the Devil" is an acoustic take on the original beats and keyboards version. There is an obvious heavy debt to Jacques Brel throughout this version.

The Hairstyle of the Devil (mp3)

Momus has unfortunately been overlooked in the history of the development of the pop and dance music synthesis. He was making the same connections as the Pet Shop Boys and New Order, but never got the credit for it.

And on to the best album the Pet Shop Boys never made, 1993s Timelord.
"Enlightenment" is one of the finest songs written about AIDs that I know (oh except for the PTBs "Being Boring" obviously).

Enlightenment (mp3)

Songs in Hard Times: Richard Thompson

I have been listening to the excellent Decemberists a lot recently, a band that has obviously studied the English Folk-Rock genre in detail, so a post on one of its major players seemed timely.
Richard Thompson has been making excellent music since the sixties, when he was a founding member of Fairport Convention. Then a sort of Jefferson Airplane for the UK but later on and many line-up changes later pioneers of English folk-rock.
He also played on Nick Drakes classic “Bryter Layter” (they were both on Island records, and both discovered/produced by Joe Boyd).
He has a huge talent for writing memorable songs, backed with astounding note bending acoustic and electric guitar playing. In Autumn 2003, Rolling Stone rated Richard Thompson No. 19 of the World’s 100 Greatest Guitarists.
His excellent website Beesweb has many mp3s available for download, mostly unavailable on cd.
One of his most interesting recent projects has been “100 years of Popular Music” A cd a tour and soon a DVD!