Leonard Cohen x McCabe & Mrs. Miller

What a combination! One of my favourite films of all-time alongside one of my favourite singer-songwriters of all-time. Perfect! Along with 'The Stranger Song' (above), the film also uses 'Sisters of Mercy' and 'Winter Lady.'

Leonard Cohen Tonight!

Tonight, my fiancee and I will finally see Leonard Cohen live in concert! He's playing in the Malmö Arena and after looking at the setlists we should be in for a treat! The standard setlist so far has been:

Set 1

Dance Me to the End of Love

The Future

There Ain't No Cure for Love

Bird on the Wire

Everybody Knows

In My Secret Life

Who By Fire

BORN IN CHAINS (Tour debut & World Premiere)

Chelsea Hotel #2

Waiting for the Miracle

Anthem (No "The Flood")

Set 2

Tower of Song

Suzanne

Sisters of Mercy

The Gypsy's Wife

Feels So Good

The Partisan

Boogie Street

Hallelujah

I'M Your Man

Take this Waltz

Encores I

So Long Marianne

First We Take Manhattan

Encores II

Famous Blue Raincoat

If It Be Your Will

Closing Time

Encore III

I Tried To Leave You

Leonard Cohen - tower of song from giulio bottini on Vimeo.

CLASSIC: Bill Fay - Time of the Last Persecution (1971)

Incredible album. Kinda like Nick Drake in the sense that during the 70s he was pretty much ignored and only recently started to get the recognition he rightly deserves. If you like Dylan, Van Morrison, Cohen, Nick Drake or any other singer-songwriters from that era this is for you.

Take a look at this NME review from 1971:

"Another rather tuneless singer who writes his own songs, Londoner Bill Fay is 28 and has the right sound in his voice for today’s folk tunes… He plays piano and is backed by a six-piece at times, including guitarist Ray Russell, who helped produce his second LP, which is versatile and interesting’ – NME, 20/2/71"

Tuneless, but has the right sounds in his voice and is still versatile and interesting?? Huh??? The production is amazing and the LP is haunting, beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measures. It took me a while to get into this album, but once you do it'll be with you for life.

The album isn't on Spotify, but there is an excellent compilation from last year called 'Still Some Light' that collects both old unreleased versions of many of the songs found on 'Time of the Last Persecution' and some from his self-titled debut, as well as last years home recorded album full of new songs.

My most listened to artists of 2009

Most blogs tend to release a Best of 2009 around this time of the year, but what you think was the best music of the year doesn't always match up with what you actually played the most:


1. Bob Dylan (427 plays)
2. Leonard Cohen (316 plays)
3. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti (254 plays)
4. The Felice Brothers (250 plays)
5. The Brian Jonestown Massacre (195 plays)
6. Raekwon (194 plays)
7. Black Lips (162 plays)
8. Tom Waits (128 plays)
9. Blitzen Trapper (124 plays)
10. Animal Collective (112 plays)


http://www.last.fm/user/markwales

Feel The Warmth December micromix

Here's a little mix I made on Spotify:


Feel the Warmth December micromix


01 The Delfonics - Delfonics Theme
02 The Intruders - (We'll Be) United
03 Leonard Cohen - Memories
04 The Honeycombs - Have i The Right
05 Moby Grape - 8:05
06 Love - Dream
07 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - I Won't Hurt You
08 The Beach Boys - Forever
09 The Byrds - Goin' Back
10 - The 13th Floor Elevators - Splash 1
11 Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Little Hands
12 Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren
13 Jefferson Airplane - Today