Collected Sounds

Album Name: An Evening with Ellery
Artist: Ellery
Year/Label: 2007 / Virt Records
[Buy at Virt Records]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I’ve been a fan of Ellery for some time now. They are Tasha and Justin Golden (husband and wife) and cute as buttons. I reviewed their EP, “Make Your Troubles Mine”. It was this EP that brought the attention of Virt Records, a great Indie label who also discovered Vienna Teng (from this site). After they were signed by Virt they released a fantastic full length album called “Laying Awake”.

Last year Collected Sounds hosted Ellery at our house concert series and they were wonderful. They are also two of the nicest people you could ever be lucky enough to meet.

This is a great concert video that contains songs from the full-length album as well as some surprises. The film was shot at the Carnegie Performing Arts Center in Covington, KY in 2007.

It’s beautifully shot and gives the viewer/listener a really good idea of what their lives shows are like. Tasha’s voice is so unique and lovely and Justin’s voice couldn’t match it any better. They are the epitome of “perfect together”.

It’s nice to hear Tasha talk a little about what the songs mean to her and how meaning changes, even to the writer, when live changes. They do a great live show and I do hope you will have the opportunity to see them live, but until you do, pick this up.

Those of you who have seen Ellery in concert will be happy to have this keepsake as well.

There is a version of this making the rounds on some PBS channels and is also possibly going to wind up on Cable and DirecTV. But it’s missing a bonus track so you’ll want this so you can get everything. Preview here:

August 6, 2007

Preview here:

Track Listing
1. Anna
2. Arizona
3. Pieces
4. It’s Alright
5. Long Coat On
6. Some Lovely Story
7. Song For Lovers
8. You’ll Get Through It
9. Thousand Lies
10. Just One
11. Inside My Head
12. You Did
13. Be Like This

[Ellery Official Site]

Album Name: Shut Up & Sing
Artist: Dixie Chicks
Year/Label: 2006 / Woolly Puddin’ Films
[Buy at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks’ music, but when that whole Bush fiasco happened I was actually quite supportive of them. I do believe that we should be able to say whatever we want. So I happily agreed to review this movie when the opportunity arose.

We open with them in the recording or at least a practice studio practicing, and reading stuff about themselves on line. They’re taking it all in stride and kind of goofing about it. But they talk about how people behind the anonymity of the internet feel they can say whatever they want even if it’s awfully mean. Boy do I understand that! You may not realize it but I get hate mail all the time. Just because I didn’t like some crappy band or record. But I digress…

We then see some footage of them being praised getting sponsorships, people cheering for them, them singing the national anthem at a game. But then we go to London where it all happened. The words, “We’re ashamed that the president is from Texas” are greeting with crazy applause and cheers. Then we see the backlash.

What was surprising to me is that their manager actually wanted the controversy. He said something like, “wouldn’t it be great if there were burning CDs?”

But then they start to realize that it could actually be good for their careers. Their publicist gets a little scared, even saying, “I think you’re giving too much credit to the American public” which made me chuckle.

The rest of the film is really more of just their tour, Emily having her babies, etc.

It was especially fun for me to see Dan Wilson. He co-wrote a lot of the songs on the new album (the one that just won a bunch of Grammys) and he’s from my hometown. I’ve been a fan of his since the 80s.

Anyone who’s not totally enamored with Natalie Mains after watching this isn’t’ breathing. She’s so charming and hilarious!

It’s very interesting to see what happens when someone speaks their mind and there are a lot of people that disagree. Of course in this case there are a lot who now do agree.

This is a really interesting film. I think that it’s a fun watch even if you aren’t a fan of the music. You just might be by the time it’s over!

Posted on February 25, 2007

Album Name: The DVD
Artist: Sugar Cubes
Year/Label: 2007 / Rhino

[Buy at Rhino]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I’ve been a Sugar Cubes fan since I heard/saw the video for “Birthday” on MTV about a century ago. OK it was in the mid 80s. But I’d only seen a couple of their other videos since then.

We begin with the Icelandic version of “Birthday”. Yes, it’s actually sung in Icelandic. What an interesting language.

These films are filled with colorful, interesting images and weird hairstyles. If you want to see Björk pregnant check out the “Walkabout” video, which is in the bonus section. She does glow; she looks beautiful and so young. She’s still beautiful.

I had not seen or heard the song “Luftguitar” and my guess is it’s one of their very early works.

The English “Birthday” is not the one I am remembering. The one I saw was at least partly, concert footage. So I wonder if there’s another version out there somewhere?

This DVD is not big on extras. They consist of just more videos. I do wish this had the option of audio commentary by one of the band members because many times I wondered ‘what the heck were they thinking?’ I would also liked to have seen a ‘making of’ one of the videos.

These guys are nothing if not odd. It’s fun to hear these old songs again. This is a good DVD to play for a Retro party.

If Rhino keeps putting out these DVD collections I won’t have to tackle the long put off project of converting all my Betamax tapes of MTV videos to DVD.

Posted on February 26, 2006

Track Listing
1. Birthday (Icelandic)
2. Coldsweat
3. Deus
4. Motorcrash
5. Luftgítar
6. Regina
7. Planet
8. Eat the menu
9. Birthday (English)
10. Hit
11. Walkabout
12. Vitamin

Visit [Sugar Cubes on VH1]
They don’t have an ‘offical site’, as they are no longer together as a band

Album Name: Something Like a DVD
Artist: Charlotte Martin
Year/Label: 2006 / Independent

[Buy at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

This is a performance video. That is, not crazy storylines or strange imagery (sorry I just watched the Tori Amos DVD collection). This is just Charlotte, her piano and a handful of fans.

The DVD is set up as such: Live performances interspersed with some snippets of rehearsals, recordings and other random footage, including fan interviews.

Most of the time this works just fine, but the first non-performance snippet was just confusing. They showed some rehearsal, some recording but never enough to really see what’s going on. This is interesting stuff but would have been greatly improved to have Charlotte doing some audio commentary on these so that we had a better idea of what exactly we were seeing and why it was important.

Her performances are fantastic. Since the stars are against my ever seeing Charlotte Martin live it was great to see this and to actually get to see how much she puts into her performances. There’s a ton of emotion in her voice and physicality. Stunning to watch.

The camera work could have used some help, or maybe a tripod. The herky-jerky movements made me dizzy. Happily, this was tamed more after the first couple of songs. There were some lovely close-ups.

There was some cute footage of Charlotte playing with a Donald Trump Doll and trying not to pee in a slow moving car. These little parts show how very silly and charming she is. If you don’t already want to be her best friend, you will after seeing this.

In her live version of “Madman” my prevailing thought was that she was channeling you-know-who.

These live scenes prove she is not just a good studio musician. She rocks live.

We get to see “Lost in Space” a song considered for “On Your Shore” but not used. The sound quality isn’t great, but the casual style of it makes you feel like you’re in the room. It’s a pretty song. She really is an amazing pianist. I’d like to see that song end up on another release.

One other great moment is when she played “Darkest Hour” and then it went right into Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill” but only for a second before it melted into…”Limits of our Love”. I thought, ‘Ah so it’s not just me who thinks that could be a Kate Bush song!’ I’ve always called this her Kate Song. I love it (more than I love Kate, I must admit).

Her performance of “Four Walls” was very cool. She used a drum machine/loop station sort of thing. It looks like she’s having a ball. Which, of course, makes us enjoy it all the more. It really makes me wish I’d been there.

“Step Back” is a studio outtake. A still-photo montage. Great photos and a very solid song. This is the closest thing to an actual video on here. Very nicely done.

I thought this was a great way to end the DVD but it was not over. We still had not heard “Something Like a Hero” which we all know has to be on here, given the name of the DVD. So the DVD closes with her performance of that song.

“Something Like A DVD” is like sort of an open love letter to her fans. Being a fan myself, I appreciate it. If you’re even a casual fan of hers I think you need to have this. If for no other reason, when she becomes super famous, you can show it to all your friends and say you knew her when.

The packaging is very slick. The photography is great. Especially the photo of Charlotte on a bench on the inside cover. Beautiful. Just like Charlotte.

Posted on February 26, 2006

Track Listing
1. Veins
2. On Your Shore
3. Madman
4. Steel
5. Girl I Left Behind
6. Up All Night.
7. Lost in Space
8. Bone
9. Every Time it Rains
10. Darkest Hour
11. Limits of our Love
12. Under the Gravel Skies
13. Four Walls
14. Step Back
15. Something Like a Hero

[Charlotte Martin Official Site]

Album Name: Fade to Red
Artist: Tori Amos
Year/Label: 2006 / Rhino Records
[Buy at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

I’ve been a Tori fan for a long time (I was the first person I knew who had heard of her, back in the “Earthquake” days). But I outgrew MTV (except 120 minutes) around 1989 so I didn’t see a lot of these videos before today. It was nice to see the intended visuals to see how alike (or unlike) they are from my own.

I watched the entire first disc before I realized there was audio commentary so I had to watch it all over again with it. I recommend doing this. Tori’s comments are fascinating.

About ¾ through the first song (Past the Mission) I realized I had goose bumps. It helps that I’m watching this on a 10-foot screen and with surround sound.

The videos are not in chronological order, we do first see two early ones, but the 7th song is from her latest release, “The Beekeeper”

“Crucify” reminds us of her love (lust?) affair with the piano bench. This one has some fascinating commentary. Anne Boleyn, Christianity, cheerleaders, oh my. I’ll have to watch this again to really understand it.

The art direction on most of these videos is spectacular. They seem to capture the feeling of Tori’s music. Even though she’s made it to the mainstream her ideas/images have always been far from ordinary.

I think many of us will agree that “Sorta Fairytale” is probably the most disturbing. In case you’ve forgotten, that’s the one where Tori is a head with only a leg in a high heeled pump for a body and Adrian Brody is a head with an arm for a body (he gets a watch). I can’t help but smile when the Tori head/leg hitches a ride on a passing skateboard. Well…that’s Tori for you. One of the bonus features was a behind the scenes of the making of this video. Very interesting.

“Spark” creeps me out, I love it. She gives us some insight to this song/video and the name on the tree, which I won’t spoil for you. I’ll just say this is my favorite piece on here.

I’ve always had a tough time with understanding “Cornflake Girl”. So I was so looking forward to learning more. But I am no closer to an understanding. I get that it’s about how women treat each other, but what the heck does, “Peel out the watchword” mean?

“Hey Jupiter” sees her in make up like I’ve never seen. The make up artists is Kevyn Aucoin. I don’t imagine that this was intentional, but I think he’s made her up to look like Sarah McLachlan. I have no idea why that would be an intention so it’s probably not, it’s just what I see.

In “Caught a Light Sneeze” I learned that the Dark Prince (not Satan) is a woman and she drives an ice cream truck. The visuals here are amazing.

“God” is about how different people and cultures worship differently and their respective rituals. You get to see Tori roll around on the floor with rats and dance with snakes.

“Talulah” is about investigation. But Tori herself said she actually had no idea what the video was about. She just let the director do whatever he wanted. She reminds us of her theme of being in a box. This shows up in a lot of her videos.

“Sweet the Sting” she takes a stab at artists who use dat tracks when performing live. She says they’re not really musicians. Ouch!! (but I agree).

“Professional Widow (remix)” is a culmination of all these videos edited into one. The song is unrecognizable. But still sounds pretty cool.

Packaging is beautiful from photographs to fonts and colors. It nicely depicts what’s inside.

Posted on February 26, 2006

Track Listing
1. Past The Mission
2. Crucify
3. Jackie’s Strength
4. A Sorta Fairytale
5. Winter
6. Spark
7. Sleeps With Butterflies
8. Cornflake Girl (U.S. Version)
9. Hey Jupiter
10. Silent All These Years
11. Caught A Little Sneeze
12. 1000 Oceans
13. God
14. Bliss
15. China
16. Raspberry Swirl
17. Talula
18. Sweet The Sting
19. Pretty Good Year
20. Professional Widow (Remix)
21. Cornflake Girl (U.K. Version)

[Tori Amos Official Site]

(note, this was a re-post of a review I did awhile ago, but it somehow got lost and fell off the site so I put it back on)

This is a performance video. That is, not crazy storylines or strange imagery (sorry I just watched the Tori Amos DVD collection). This is just Charlotte, her piano and a handful of fans.

The DVD is set up as such: Live performances interspersed with some snippets of rehearsals, recordings and other random footage, including fan interviews.

Most of the time this works just fine, but the first non-performance snippet was just confusing. They showed some rehearsal, some recording but never enough to really see what’s going on. This is interesting stuff but would have been greatly improved to have Charlotte doing some audio commentary on these so that we had a better idea of what exactly we were seeing and why it was important.

Her performances are fantastic. Since the stars are against my ever seeing Charlotte Martin live it was great to see this and to actually get to see how much she puts into her performances. There’s a ton of emotion in her voice and physicality. Stunning to watch.

The camera work could have used some help, or maybe a tripod. The herky-jerky movements made me dizzy. Happily, this was tamed more after the first couple of songs. There were some lovely close-ups.

There was some cute footage of Charlotte playing with a Donald Trump Doll and trying not to pee in a slow moving car. These little parts show how very silly and charming she is. If you don’t already want to be her best friend, you will after seeing this.

In her live version of “Madman” my prevailing thought was that she was channeling you-know-who.

These live scenes prove she is not just a good studio musician. She rocks live.

We get to see “Lost in Space” a song considered for “On Your Shore” but not used. The sound quality isn’t great, but the casual style of it makes you feel like you’re in the room. It’s a pretty song. She really is an amazing pianist. I’d like to see that song end up on another release.

One other great moment is when she played “Darkest Hour” and then it went right into Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill” but only for a second before it melted into…”Limits of our Love”. I thought, ‘Ah so it’s not just me who thinks that could be a Kate Bush song!’ I’ve always called this her Kate Song. I love it (more than I love Kate, I must admit).

Her performance of “Four Walls” was very cool. She used a drum machine/loop station sort of thing. It looks like she’s having a ball. Which, of course, makes us enjoy it all the more. It really makes me wish I’d been there.

“Step Back” is a studio outtake. A still-photo montage. Great photos and a very solid song. This is the closest thing to an actual video on here. Very nicely done.

I thought this was a great way to end the DVD but it was not over. We still had not heard “Something Like a Hero” which we all know has to be on here, given the name of the DVD. So the DVD closes with her performance of that song.

“Something Like A DVD” is like sort of an open love letter to her fans. Being a fan myself, I appreciate it. If you’re even a casual fan of hers I think you need to have this. If for no other reason, when she becomes super famous, you can show it to all your friends and say you knew her when.

The packaging is very slick. The photography is great. Especially the photo of Charlotte on a bench on the inside cover. Beautiful. Just like she is.

1. Veins
2. On Your Shore
3. Madman
4. Steel
5. Girl I Left Behind
6. Up All Night.
7. Lost in Space
8. Bone
9. Every Time it Rains
10. Darkest Hour
11. Limits of our Love
12. Under the Gravel Skies
13. Four Walls
14. Step Back
15. Something Like a Hero

Album Name: The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello
Artist: Elvis Costello
Year/Label: 2005 / Rhino / Wea
[Buy at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

Being a fan of VH1′s “Behind the Music” I love that you can choose to watch these with commentary by Mr. Costello himself. You can choose audio where it sounds like he’s sitting right next to you, watching along with you. Or you can choose subtitles if you want to play “Pop Up Video”. However I would suggest using both because the captions do not match exactly, and 9 times out of 10, what he is speaking is much more funny, and clever than what appears on screen. Plus, the inflections just aren’t there in print only.

I didn’t realized just how funny this man is, but there were many times when I was laughing out loud (and I don’t laugh easily). It was just so fun to watch the videos and listen to him telling you how drunk he was in this one particular one, or giving a little background story on the song or the video. It’s very charming.

What was nice for me is to hear/see some of these songs I had not heard before. I didn’t know he did a cover of “Sweet Dreams”. It’s the one Patsy Cline made famous (as opposed to the Eurythmics one) and it’s a very nice version. Now I want to go out and get all these records. Which I guess is kind of the idea, huh?

Just an aside: I have to say that Elvis Costello is one of those people that gets better looking with age. He was a funky lookin’ kid, what with those ginormous glasses and spacey teeth. But I think he’s quite handsome now.

Even if you’re a casual fan like me, I think you will enjoy this. I’ve always liked his music, I own a coupe of records (albums, yes!) but was not a fanatic. But this was very entertaining. This DVD is a must for any Elvis Costello fan.

Special features: there is a section of television appearances included. He says he particularly likes the ones where his lip-synching is off.

Posted on December 4, 2005

Track Listing
1. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
2. Pump It Up
3. Radio Radio
4. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
5. Oliver’s Army
6. Accidents Will Happen
7. I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down
8. High Fidelity
9. Love For Tender
10. Possession
11. New Amsterdam
12. Clubland
13. New Lace Sleeves
14. Good Year For The Roses
15. Sweet Dreams
16. You Little Fool
17. Everyday I Write The Book
18. Let Them All Talk
19. The Only Flame In Town
20. I Wanna Be Loved
21. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
22. Veronica
23. This Town
24. The Other Side Of Summer
25. So Like Candy
26. Sulky Girl
27. 13 Steps Lead Down

Special Features TV Archive Selections 1977 – 1983:
1. So It Goes (Uk) 1977
2. Revolver (Uk) 1978
3. Countdown (Netherlands) 1979
4. Pink Pop Festival (Netherlands) 1979
5. What’s In (Uk) 1981
6. The Tube (Uk) 1983
7. Mandagsboren (Sweden) 1983

[Elvis Costello Official Site]

Album Name: Live from Martha’s Vineyard: The Classic Concert
Artist: Carly Simon
Year/Label: 2004 / Independent
[Buy at Amazon]

Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds

Wow, is this DVD ever a blast from the past. When I first put it in, I thought ‘man; she has not updated her wardrobe in like 20 years’. Then I realized everyone else was wearing the same style. Then I looked at the back of the case and realized this is not a new concert. This is a concert that occurred in 1987, was filmed then and is only now on DVD. Whew, I thought I was losing my mind! You might think I ought to infer that from the title, “The Classic Concert” but to be honest I don’t think I even saw that. I just popped it into the player. I look at and hear lot of stuff, give me a break…

Anyway…that being said, this was entertaining. Carly Simon is a legend in pop music. We all know that. She’s fabulous. She’s a fantastic songwriter, entertaining to watch and has a gorgeous voice.

The DVD has a lot of extra features as well as the concert. There is an interview and behind the scenes stuff as well as a scrapbook of photos and a discography so you can go to Amazon and buy all the CDs that are missing from your collection.

If you are a sometime Carly Simon fan or only really like her really old stuff (70s not 80s) then this might not be a must have. But if you are an avid fan you will want this. But then again you don’t need me to tell you that.

Posted on May 23, 2004

Track Listing
1. Give Me All Night
2. Anticipation
3. You Have to Hurt
4. You’re So Vain
5. Do the Walls Come Down
6. Two Hot Girls
7. It Happens Everyday
8. Nobody Does It Better
9. All I Want Is You
10. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
11. You Belong to Me
12. Coming Around Again (Itsy Bitsy Spider)
13. Never Been Gone
14. The Right Thing to Do (previously omitted song)

+Extras

[Carly Simon Official Site]