washerman's dog: Saturdaynight Sundaymorning: Chip Young, Carrie Rodriguez,Sofie von Otter, Elvis Costello

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Saturdaynight Sundaymorning: Chip Young, Carrie Rodriguez,Sofie von Otter, Elvis Costello

Chip Young, Carrie Rodriguez
Sofie von Otter, Elvis Costello

I used to buy Mojo magazine very regularly. My favorite feature was to be found on the very first pages of every edition. The same set of questions would be posed to three singers or figures of popular culture. The first record you ever bought? Who, besides yourself, you wanted to be? What do you sing in the shower? Your favorite Sunday morning record? Your favorite Saturday night record?

The answers are revealing not only of the person’s musical tastes but personality foibles. Some give irritated answers, “I don’t sing in the shower, thank you!”. Others, wax lyrical about the obscure or pedestrian leaving a lingering smell of BS.

It is Saturday night here in Australia. Tomorrow is Sunday. Here are my current answers to a couple of those questions.

Saturday night record: Chip Young and Carrie Rodrigues The Trouble with Humans. Unabashed, eloquent, wry, joyfully sung country duets by one of the better combos of voices to come together in recent years. They sing as if they were born to do so, together. They understand each other intuitively and bring the same playful intensity to the music, most of which is by Mr Young, himself. Their voices blend and bounce off each other just perfectly. Her’s is aching. His laconic, and tired. Perfection!

Sunday morning record: Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello For the Stars. This record came out more than a decade ago and sank with barely a trace. Deemed a bit pretentious and too ‘constructed’ by rock critics and too ‘lame’ by classical critics, it fell between the cracks of the labels in the record store. Costello is very much the driver but his voice is only heard on a couple of tracks, giving the honors to the Swedish opera star, van Otter. The material covers a wide range of writers (Tom Waits, Costello included) and while this record will not get your blood racing who needs/wants that on a Sunday morning? It is music to sit with in quietness and a cup of coffee. Especially in front of a window with a nice scene to gaze upon.