Christmas comes early

Now that it occurs to me that I'll be gone for Christmastime, I'm doing a sudden, early dive into holiday sounds. Belle and Sebastian are probably the last people who should be attempting to cover James Brown. This effort is like an office Xmas party make-out  — probably made a lot more sense when plastered, was ill-conceived, but ultimately forgivable and will be repeated more awkwardly next year.

Belle and Sebastian - Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto

Labor party

As Labor Day approaches, I find myself again compelled to swerve away from American tunes. It still bugs me that the holiday is a totally neutered version of an actual salute to Labor. Forget about a nod to unions, and how even the khaki-est of office drones has benefited from their struggles. I'm not a fan of politicized national holidays, but a little knowledge of roots would be nice. But then, this is America, and we are dumb by profession.

Apropos of that, here's one from an obscure Belgian prog band that was loosely associated with the stridently lefty Rock in Opposition crowd. Nothing strident about this track though. The guitar even has a whiff of mellow sunsets about it. Forget that it's in 5/4 time, and you might even find yourself putting this on come barbecue time.

So, between the holiday and a little bizness trip coming up, Songblague is gonna lay low next week. Cool? See you back on 9/13.

Cos - Zuviel Manner