Though they seem to be the biggest thing since sliced bread over in England, if you ask nearly anyone in America about Madness, they will probably respond, “Oh, they are that poppy English band that did our house!” This is extraordinarily unfortunate, as they have quite a significant body of work, spanning various genres and being generally awesome. I know I was personally a bit surprised when I first realized their association to 2nd wave ska, but after I had finally been introduced to One Step Beyond, it was pretty obvious that any hype about them has been completely deserved.

They had a few less interesting releases in the few decades between their ska era and now, but with 2005’s Dangermen Sessions, they not only had brought back the ska, they also brought back to quality, reviving my excitement in the band. And if anyone knows me (though you wouldn’t know it from my posts on here), I am all about the ska, so it makes even more sense that I’d give such a hoot.

And then they come up with a sprawling concept album, bereft of ska (except for a few moments where it sort of seeps in the cracks) — and wouldn’t you know it, I like it even more. The Liberty of Norton Folgate is a fantastic piece of work, full of unexpected genre changes (pop, polka, rock?) and more energy than can strictly be accounted. And even if the thing was awful, the beautiful ten-minute-long title track alone would carry the record. Of course, it doesn’t have to, with tracks like On the Town and NW5.

From The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Clerkenwell Polka

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So we’ve had this “classic” tag for ages, and have only used it once… until now! Oooh, exciting. I’ll try to give it some more regular use, and goodness knows there are enough classics to cover to last us several lifetimes. Harry Nilsson was an American musician who has not received the level of adulation that he deserved. Despite being the writer and original performer of One, everyone assumes it’s a Three Dog Night song as it’s the song that made them famous. To that, I say harumph! Since I’m posting Without You as well, I will head off all the proclamations of hypocrisy by saying… I know it’s a cover! It was originally done by Badfinger! His song Good Old Desk is perhaps the best example to show how different Mr. Nilsson is from other songwriters (unless writing a song about their good old desk is a common theme). He is something of an oddball in that regard, but his songwriting abilities are top-notch, and that should be enough for all of us.

It’s worth mentioning that I uploaded these songs with YouSendIt, which means the links expire in one week, which means grab ‘em while you can.

From Nilsson Schmilsson
Without You – (MP3, 4.7 MB)

From Aerial Ballet
One – (MP3, 4.1 MB)
Good Old Desk – (MP3, 3.6 MB)

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We love the classics here at either/or. While the term classic is certainly a most ambigious one, I generally classify it as stuff written or released before I was born (pretty sure my comrade in crime, Hugh, disagrees). Anyhoo, since we love the classics, we’ve decided that we’ll be taking time out once a month to bring you up to speed on some of those great old, well-known (and maybe not so well-known) classic artists of yesteryear, and what better artist to kick it all off than the legendary George Harrison.

Most of you are probably aware of ol George-y boy. If not, shame! While he was most famous for his role in The Beatles (and yeah, they’ll be here one month), his solo work was his chance to come out and shine, and boy did he shine bright. Having contributed songs like Here Comes the Sun with The Beatles, he revealed a wonderful flair for great tunes. From My Sweet Lord to What Is Life?, he garnered a pretty huge fanbase until his untimely (and sad) death.

In my opinion, he played a well evolved version of The Beatles music, particularly in their later days, but he didn’t shy away from some good old fashioned country twang either.

And so we pay our respects to Mr. Harrison!

I know what you’re all thinking: either/or is really scraping for some content. Perhaps yes, but hey, these are some of the origins of today’s music peeps! Embrace it!

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