Thursday, December 21st, 2006

Judy Staring At The Sun

Obviously, as the year winds down there’s going to be less and less to write about. So in squeezing blood from a stone last night, I came up with this.

Filter had Rob Dickinson in their offices this week for a short acoustic session, the videos from which they’ve posted on their blog. Their latest issue also has a retrospective on Catherine Wheel that features interviews and reminiscences with Dickinson, guitarist Brian Futter, producer Tim Friese-Greene and guest vocalist Tanya Donelly.

Interesting that the version of “Judy Staring At The Sun” that appears on Happy Days (and one of the highlights of an otherwise overly-metal album) only features Donelly on harmony vocals but the mix that appears in the video (and presumably the single) has her higher in the mix and also gives her a whole verse to sing. And there’s a different guitar solo.

Back in the present day, Rob continues to milk Fresh Wine For The Horses with a short west coast tour in January but then he hops across the continent to one of the cities that loves him best – Toronto – for a show at Lee’s Palace on February 7. This’ll be the third time he’s played here since Fall 2005 and you might notice that my pics from the first two shows, like the one above, are liberally used throughout Rob’s redesigned website. Yay me.

Video: Catherine Wheel with Tanya Donelly – “Judy Staring At The Sun” (YouTube)

Elsewhere, Oxford Collapse, Thunderbirds Are Now! and Rock Plaza Central load into Lee’s on January 28.

Have you seen the new Shins video? Check it out. And also the amusing Benny Hill tribute on their website. Marty Crandall talks to AOL about the great expectations facing Wincing The Night Away when it comes out January 23.

Video: The Shins – “Phantom Limb” (MOV)

Marcus Congleton of Ambulance LTD may have lost all his bandmates but NME reports he’s picked up a pretty sharp producer for the next album – John Cale.

Chart says hello to Sister Vanilla, the new project from The Jesus & Mary Chain’s Jim and William Reid, sister Linda Reid and JAMC guitarist Ben Lurie. Their debut album Little Pop Rock was released in Japan last year but will be getting a UK release in March courtesy of Chemikal Underground.

np – The Field Mice / Where’d You Learn To Kiss That Way?

By : Frank Yang at 8:43 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Eugene says:

    Field Mice! cool!

  2. Bill Koch says:

    The "Judy Staring At The Sun" single also features, as the b-side, the version you described with Tanya singing a whole verse, with great results. After hearing that version, I’ve never been able to go back and listen to the version that appeared on the album. Definitely worth your time to seek out.

    I’ll see about posting it later today over on Ditching Boy.

  3. Roland says:

    Small world, I just posted some live Catherine Wheel the other day:
    http://udrivel.blogspot.com

    Thanks for the info!

  4. Jesus Christ says:

    thanks for the shins video. i looks like if kids directed losing my religion.