Musicheads talk about Clinic, The Bird and The Bee, and Earl Greyhound

I really love Inara George's songs and also her work as "The Bird and The Bee". Yes, the lyrics are not the most complicated... but I'm a pretty simple person. haha. If you've never heard her solo album All Rise, check it out. Especially her Joe Jackson cover on that record.

Is this a repeat?

Thanks for the tip on that solo album, Jill, making a note of it...

moozeekfan nah. Did you get doubled audio or something? I missed the show last night and I'm firing up the podcast now.

Is this a repeat?

I heard this one before too online last week. I haven't listened to it again, but I remember that Mark likes the play on names "Earl Grey (tea) Greyhound (bus=Americana).. and they all like the Clinic album to varying degrees, even though hey haven't broken any "new" ground on the new release. Don't know if it was a glitch or something, or if someone got overly ambitious and posted it accidentally, but I definitely heard this one on the podcast page last week.

That aside, not enamored with the Earl Greyhound or the Clinic personally. The Bird and the Bee I could see enjoying in bits and pieces, don't know if I'd like the whole thing in one go. It was playing at B&N this past weekend over the sound system and it was pleasant shopping muzak, but nothing that tickled my fancy too much.

To Melanie and Mark; seeing Clinic live is a let-down. Saw them after the Internal Wrangler album at the Entry and it was a total let down. Less than 30 min. show... To be honest I've sorta given up on them because of that.

I guess this episode could technically be called a repeat. We had some problems with the origonal podcast upload. Many had recieved nothing but white noise. So, we figured since very few heard the episode we would run in on the airwaves for you.

Did you hear about Earl Greyhounds van crash? It's easy to understand why very few bands tour the midwest in the midst of winter.

Ahh... that explains it. Thanks, Bill.

Thanks for clearing that up Bill - no wonder it escaped me but was caught by the savvy among us.

As to their Chev Gladiator crash, yeah! Their site had a note about it, I guess they had to cancel some shows later in the tour. What a drag. In the scheme of things tipping a van is better than other historical incidents.

I can't get The Bird & The Bee out of my head. It drives me nuts sometimes (in a good way) but the songs are just so good. Apparently there's the potential for this album to be huge; how else would they have wound up on Jay Leno?

I've given Clinic plenty of chances over the years, from "Walking with Thee" to "Winchester Cathedral" to now. "Winchester Cathedral" was alright but I haven't enjoyed the rest as much as I should have. My feelings about Clinic are like my feelings towards Spiritualized: they're a band I feel like I should like, and all signs would point toward me liking them, but I just can't get into it.

I can understand Brett's dismissing Clinic for playing a 30 minute set. I too would be very disappointed if I ponied up for a ticket and the band played a set that short.

Clinic also seem to be a bit of a, "one trick pony." But, it's a pretty good trick! Maybe they should t ake one out of the KISS playbook and do an, "Unmasked" tour and album?!

Clinic unmasked! I'm sorry Bill, that's just funny. It somehow wouldn't pack the same punch as the KISS w/o makeup happenin'. In other news those medical masks have a certain nightmarish quality Ace Frehley's stars never did.

To their music...Clinic's short song work is a good point. It takes a lot of work - or skill, usually both - to make a short song both good and complete. I don't think they need to push the song length. They obviously have *cough* a distinct approach and they know what they want. Ignore the critics, gang. But even with your short songs play a longer set, at least for Brett.

As for the stranded-in-Bismark Earl Greyhound, I just gotta listen to the whole album. Mark called their sound "massive" and I can kinda hear it. It certainly has a big solid push to it, and I wouldn't think twice if I heard it at the motorcycle repair shop. Inexplicably, it makes me want to wash and wax a car. Compliment? You decide.

There's a lotta la's in the The Bird and The Bee, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing considering the diversity of sounds beneath it. Jill graciously described it as "not the most complicated" above. One of the heads talked about the production and I couldn't agree more: this baby was produced and there is nothing wrong with that. Bill asks "Is it workin' for ya?" and I say... sure, in small doses. I might laugh at odd moments. Something tells me some of these songs will work themselves into playlists as a bright and slightly bitter note.

Brett's aside about Clinic got me thinking. Don't we expect a certain amount of bad behavior from rockers? From artists?

The Bird & the Bee's Inara George's songs certainly have little in common with her father Lowell George. Inara's poppa had a very idiosyncratic songwriting style with the band Little Feat. He wrote such hits as the truck driver's anthem, "Willin," & also penned, "Fat Man in the Bathtub" & "Dixie Chicken." Not a lot of la la la's in his songs!

Sadly, Inara George barely knew her father. He died of a heart attack in 1979 when she was still a child.

I subscribe through itunes, and about once an hour, it downloads the latest podcast, plus four other ones, even after I delete them. I can't get it to stop! It just wants to be on my computer so bad.

moozeek, I dunno right this minute but we're looking into it. I'd like to point out the positives of good music and conversation wanting to be on your computer so bad but this might not be the best moment for "looking on the bright side" *grin*

We'll figure it out. Thanks for wavin' the flag on it.

Thanks for the trivia-fill, Bill. Now I have "Out on the road late at night I seen my pretty Alice in every headlight" running through my mind...

Hey Julia,

I'm very impressed that you can quote Little Feat lyrics! I LOVE the opening lines to "Willin"..."I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow, I'm drunk and dirty don't ya know." Very poetic!

If only Earl Greyhound had any lyrics that good??

"I'm going to make you love me, I'm gonna make you monkey!"
What more depth do you need while you're washing and waxing the car?!?!

Bill, I have a sick, sick stack of driving-theme music. Sick. That's about as far as it goes! That is a super opening line. There's another line in there about being kicked by the wind that everyone should be able to relate to.

Well, well, Mark Wheat joins us. Glad to see you! Mark, if the temp wasn't stable at 10 degrees maybe I would go out there with a bucket and boombox, ready to wash & wax to the sounds of eee-leck-trick guitar. Bill might disagree about the lyrics now. *grin*

Down to tech business: moozeek you shouldn't see that problem. Flag me fast if you do.

Thanks, Julia! The problem seems to be gone.

Alright! Don't ever hesitate to flag me on the funk. If I can't fix it the very very smart people I'm lucky to work with can...and will.

I'm confused I thought this group would be more about local minnesota music, is this not the case ? Can someone set me straight ? :)

Thanks in advance

Hi Mike - I'm Julia, MPR's Interactive Producer. For background, Musicheads is a weekly show and podcast brought to you by Minnesota Public Radio's The Current.

Our hometown DJs and other musicheads talk about the spread that is music: artists, new releases, whatever. Bill's article is cross-published to the Minnesota Music group because the viewpoints and station are local, even if the music itself might not be.

I love to see comparisons and trivia about the universal artists that influence our amazing local bands, so dive right in!