Comments on: Dark Was the Night – Red Hot Compilation

By: kata rokkar

kata rokkar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:29:29 +0000

Good indie comps are few and far between. This one is a fuckin’ gold star. Bravo.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:54:31 +0000

Oh I wasn’t defending it in the sense that I was insisting what a brilliant song it was, just saying that I could understand how it came to happen.

By: teamturnip

teamturnip — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:41:57 +0000

Well I agree that folk music, and actually all music, begs, steals and borrows from everything else, and that an artist obviously has to have the freedom to release whatever they want to release based on whatever whim takes their fancy.

But, I’m still just a little disappointed by the SM track and I thought that, given the company, he might contribute something “better” (in my subjective view) than he did. He has such a way with melody that I find it weird that he should appropriate something else, especially something so mundane.

But, as you say, perhaps he just likes it, in which case, furry muff I suppose.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:31:05 +0000

on the subject of the stuart murdoch track i think you have to remember that not every song is written with the intention of being something original or even whether evreryone will like it or not. this goes for the new beirut album as well. although people wont like it(and i know this is a forum for exactly these kind of comments) but you cant always question the motives of drastic changes in style because it might just be that beirut was in the mood to make some cheesy casio type electronic sounding music and who gives a shit what everyone thinks. however we do also all have the right to piss all over it. which we have done.

By: Shonagh

Shonagh — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:57:46 +0000

What a great version of Cello Song!! This already sounds like a interesting mix, and for a very good cause.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:12:35 +0000

Well folk music is generally full of that kind of re-working, so it’s not entirely against the spirit of the genre. Maybe he just liked the tune and wanted to do something with it. That might not have worked well within the context of a Belle & Sebastian album, but would be perfect for a project like this.

By: teamturnip

teamturnip — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:39:47 +0000

I’m not sure I see the point of Stuart Murdoch using a folk tune/Burns’ song (whatever it is – can;t think of the name of it) and giving it different lyrics. I’d be interested to hear his side of the story. Perhaps he’s trying to bring some Scottish heritage to a wider audience (which would be a good reason) but, if so, then why change the lyrics?

I’ve been keeping tabs on this as the songs have come out on the myspace and my favourites are the Sufjan track (which is ruddy mental) and the National track (which is an excellent pop song).

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:49:28 +0000

I don’t even like Feist or Death Cab that much, but Train Song is amazing, you’re right. The Books one is great too.

There are definitely a couple of misses on this, but overall it’s really good.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:34:56 +0000

The first two tracks are both fantastic, aren’t they.

The male/female vocal interplay on the Feist song is spot on, and thankfully there are no silly cod-medieval accents to be heard.

The Books track is built on a very effective blend of acoustics and electronics.

And the Stuart Murdoch song is frankly a bit listless and derivative. I’ll probably be reaching for the track skip button for this song when I get the CD.

But an exciting prospect overall!

By: Dylan

Dylan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:01:43 +0000

I was reading about this compilation in The Skinny.

It does look like an irresistable smörgåsbord of delicious treats.