Wednesday, September 30th
more
Arthur Russell (1951-1992, vocals, cello), “This Is How We Walk on the Moon” (A. Russell), 1980s
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Tag: Arthur Russell
2020
Monday, September 21st
Last night, driving in Chicago with the windows down, I had this track, recorded thirty years ago, on repeat.
Arthur Russell (1951-1992, vocals, cello, keyboards) with Jennifer Warnes (1947-, vocals), “That’s Us/Wild Combination” (A. Russell), late 1980s
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
2019
Friday, January 11th
more
Arthur Russell (1951-1992), singer, songwriter, cellist, producer
“You and Me Both” (A. Russell)
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“This Is How We Walk on the Moon” (A. Russell)
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“Springfield” (A. Russell)
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lagniappe
reading table
I’m saying this and it’s saying me
—Peter Gizzi (1959-), from “Archeophonics”
2019
Friday, January 4th
like nobody else
Arthur Russell (1951-1992), singer, songwriter, cellist, producer; “That’s Us/Wild Combination” (A. Russell), with Jennifer Warnes (Calling Out of Context, 2004)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2014
Wednesday, November 12th
two takes
“A Little Lost” (A. Russell)
Sufjan Stevens (1975-), 2014
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Arthur Russell (1951-1992)
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, 1940s
2013
Saturday, October 5th
alone
Arthur Russell (1951-1992), “Soon-To-Be Innocent Fun,” 1985
2011
Wednesday, 12/14/11
What I get from this guy I can’t quite put my finger on. But I do know this:
I don’t get it anywhere else.
Arthur Russell (1951-1992), singer, songwriter, cellist
“You And Me Both”
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“This Is How We Walk on the Moon”
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“That’s Us/Wild Combination”
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Terrace of Unintelligibility, live studio performance, 1985
Part 1
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Part 2
(First three clips originally posted 11/23/09.)
2011
Saturday, 7/16/11
what’s new
(an occasional series)
James Blake, “The Wilhelm Scream,” Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 7/14/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
favorites
(an occasional series)
Hearing JB brought this MCOTD fave to mind (originally posted 11/23/09).
Here’s Arthur Russell, the “seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist and disco producer” who died in 1992 at the age of 40 (of AIDS-related complications) and is the subject of both a recent documentary, Wild Combination, and a new book, Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992.
Arthur Russell
“Get Around To It”
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“You And Me Both”
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“This Is How We Walk on the Moon”
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“That’s Us/Wild Combination”
(Yeah, the fact that I’m posting four tracks by this guy shows how much his music, which I just encountered recently, has been getting under my skin.)
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[Russell’s] various distinctions—folkie, art-music songwriter and improviser, dance-club maven—seem incoherent until you hear several of his records. When musicians get angry about being categorized by critics, I usually feel frustrated: readers, after all, want to know what the record sounds like. With Russell, I take the musicians’ angle. Just listen to it and you’ll understand.
—Ben Ratliff, “The Many Faces, and Grooves, of Arthur Russell,” New York Times, 2/29/04
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For Arthur, there was no cachet to being eclectic. Rather, he played across genre because it would have required a colossal and entirely counterproductive effort on his part to stick to one sound. . . . Drifting into an ethereal, gravity-defying zone, Arthur had come to embody the interconnectivity of music.
—Tim Lawrence, Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992 (2009).
2010
Saturday, 9/18/10
replay: a clip too good for just one day
Here’s Arthur Russell, the “seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer” who died in 1992 at the age of 40 (of AIDS-related complications) and is the subject of both a recent documentary, Wild Combination, and a new book, Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992.
Arthur Russell
“Get Around To It”
*****
“You And Me Both”
*****
“This Is How We Walk on the Moon”
*****
“That’s Us/Wild Combination”
(Yeah, the fact that I’m posting four tracks by this guy shows how much his music, which I just encountered recently, has been getting under my skin.)
(Originally posted on 11/23/09.)
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lagniappe
[Russell’s] various distinctions—folkie, art-music songwriter and improviser, dance-club maven—seem incoherent until you hear several of his records. When musicians get angry about being categorized by critics, I usually feel frustrated: readers, after all, want to know what the record sounds like. With Russell, I take the musicians’ angle. Just listen to it and you’ll understand.
—Ben Ratliff, “The Many Faces, and Grooves, of Arthur Russell,” New York Times, 2/29/04
*****
For Arthur, there was no cachet to being eclectic. Rather, he played across genre because it would have required a colossal and entirely counterproductive effort on his part to stick to one sound. . . . Drifting into an ethereal, gravity-defying zone, Arthur had come to embody the interconnectivity of music.
—Tim Lawrence, Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992 (2009)
music clip of the day 