Sometimes I wish people should really take a different path than the one they're currently on. For the second time tonight, I'm listening to the Radio Scotland programme Thank You For The Music featuring King Creosote in conversation with Janice Forsyth and playing songs unaccompanied on the accordion and guitar and it's absolutely brilliant.
KC, I wish you would give up the clunky live band and sing these songs on your own, they're full of depth, honesty and beauty and they kinda get lost in the big arrangements and when they're totally stripped down like they are in this programme then they sound so much more powerful. The version of Snakes From Single Socks he plays (about 34 minutes in) is up there with the one I saw him play at his "secret" request gig in Edinburgh last year (he's just said in the programme that he wants to have songs "bedded in truth", would they be more truthful if they were completely bare?). Anyway, you can hear the programme yourself by clicking on the link below, scrolling down to Thursday and clicking on "Thank You for the Music" -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/programmes/features/
His new LP is out on Monday, I know I'm going to buy it, there's a song on it called Leslie, which I found out is the song he opened his set at the Green Man festival last year and I remember it blowing me away, pure simplicity, him and his accordion. That set I remember really enjoying, I had never seen him live before, solo or otherwise, and it was great seeing him have so much fun. I mentioned the secret solo gig last year and that was extraordinary, those glorious, gorgeous tunes completely and utterly played from the heart, it was hard not to get a lump in your throat as he strained in the voice at certain points.
But, I know why he does what he does now and there's enough quality in what he does to draw me in, I probably shouldn't like the new single but it's quite a lovely little pop song and I'm sometimes a sucker for lovely little pop songs. (don't worry, I go and listen to Melt Banana or Slayer right afterwards to get that balance back...) I'll probably buy a ticket to see him at the Queen's Hall later this month, I left his set at this year's Green Man early to go and see Bill Callahan on the main stage, mainly cos I was annoyed at the lumpy version of Not One Bit Ashamed he and his band did, but it could have been an off-night. I'll go in hope that he strips it down completely, but I know that's unlikely to happen so I know I'll just enjoy those songs for what they are. He's not perfect, he does have his flaws, but that makes him all the more rounded and real and true.
KC, I wish you would give up the clunky live band and sing these songs on your own, they're full of depth, honesty and beauty and they kinda get lost in the big arrangements and when they're totally stripped down like they are in this programme then they sound so much more powerful. The version of Snakes From Single Socks he plays (about 34 minutes in) is up there with the one I saw him play at his "secret" request gig in Edinburgh last year (he's just said in the programme that he wants to have songs "bedded in truth", would they be more truthful if they were completely bare?). Anyway, you can hear the programme yourself by clicking on the link below, scrolling down to Thursday and clicking on "Thank You for the Music" -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/programmes/features/
His new LP is out on Monday, I know I'm going to buy it, there's a song on it called Leslie, which I found out is the song he opened his set at the Green Man festival last year and I remember it blowing me away, pure simplicity, him and his accordion. That set I remember really enjoying, I had never seen him live before, solo or otherwise, and it was great seeing him have so much fun. I mentioned the secret solo gig last year and that was extraordinary, those glorious, gorgeous tunes completely and utterly played from the heart, it was hard not to get a lump in your throat as he strained in the voice at certain points.
But, I know why he does what he does now and there's enough quality in what he does to draw me in, I probably shouldn't like the new single but it's quite a lovely little pop song and I'm sometimes a sucker for lovely little pop songs. (don't worry, I go and listen to Melt Banana or Slayer right afterwards to get that balance back...) I'll probably buy a ticket to see him at the Queen's Hall later this month, I left his set at this year's Green Man early to go and see Bill Callahan on the main stage, mainly cos I was annoyed at the lumpy version of Not One Bit Ashamed he and his band did, but it could have been an off-night. I'll go in hope that he strips it down completely, but I know that's unlikely to happen so I know I'll just enjoy those songs for what they are. He's not perfect, he does have his flaws, but that makes him all the more rounded and real and true.
1 comment:
i must try to see king creosote on this tour...i really must! x
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