Skip to main content

In Love with a View


I've seen many in-store acoustic performances at Good Records, but Neil Halstead's recent one was probably one of the best I've ever seen. Not to over-hype things too much, but his 50-minute set was nothing short of fantastic. Even with false starts and forgotten lyrics.

This past Saturday, Jenny and I walked up to Good about 20 minutes before "show time" and we found none other than Jimmy Menkena talking with Neil. Menkena's band is planning on featuring Slowdive's "Machine Gun" on their next record, so it was very apt to see the two of them talking. Noticing my Slowride shirt, Neil said he had never heard of Slowride, the great Dallas punk band. Sure was nice to introduce him to at least the name.

I mentioned to Neil about the last time he was in town (10-ish years ago) when he played the Gypsy Tea Room. I was fortunate to interview him with my friends Brad and Nick, and we even met Sid Hillman, Neil's opening act who happened to be from Kingwood. I wasn't expecting him to remember me or my friends, but I certainly remember the whole evening. It was one of the best shows I saw in the tea room, given how intimate things were since Neil only played with his acoustic guitar and harmonica.

This in-store featured a few new songs from his latest record, and he then took requests. He honored shouts for "Who Do You Love," "In Love with a View," "Prayer for the Paranoid," and "Sarah." Once he opened his mouth, I was immediately reminded of why I love Neil's work, solo, with Slowdive or Mojave 3. He might sing in a whisper, but it's so delicate and soothing at the same time.

I'm happy that this was the first show I took Jenny to. She might have not known Neil's work before, but she came away satisfied and a fan. This certainly helped the show experience, and she was kind enough to take a picture of me with Neil. Now to make a Mojave 3 compilation for her, happily sharing this fantastic music . . .

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J