gigsplurge 11: doves, oxford zodiac, may 2000

Doves, Oxford Zodiac, 20 May 2000

A month after the release of Doves' debut album, Lost Souls, Jimi Goodwin was the happiest man in music: genuinely overwhelmed by the opportunity to entertain people by playing songs, and to travel round the country in a big bus, which he breathlessly showed to GMS before the gig (hey--I'd never been on a bus that big). Understandable, given that their previous careers as techno producers in Sub Sub had culminated in a fire that destroyed three years' worth of work.

Lost Souls was Big Indie with a heart, rather than a cocaine habit; I haven't seen them since, nor listened to anything beyond 2002's Last Broadcast--I gather not much has changed, and I'm guessing Jimi is more than happy with how things turned out. But the show in 2000 was intense, drawing on the band's youths spent as Hacienda regulars, transforming bleak Northern ballads into Screamadelica epics.

“how high’s the water, momma?”

the old GMS stoop

Hello! My blog game’s been on hold for several weeks, in part owing to a tedious bonanza of floods. In the time off, I’ve done some thinking, and some growing. I think we all have. Hey people of the world, stop firing SUVs at the ozone layer! Anyway, peace to all flood victims, GMS readers and users of low-energy lightbulbs.

Here is a photo-documentary, from my extra lo-fi spy camera, disguised as a mobile phone. It's all enlivened by songs about flood-related issues! Enjoy.

tweez

Those Bastard Souls – ‘In The Wake Of Your Flood’ (from Debt & Departure)

Mark Lanegan – ‘The River Rise’ (from Whiskey For The Holy Ghost)

some folks just don't got no sense

Sandy Denny – ‘Down In The Flood’ (from North Star Grassman and the Ravens)

Delays – ‘There’s Water Here’ (from Faded Seaside Glamour)

taken from aston's eyot. the finest eyot in the whole of the o.x.

Bruce Springsteen – ‘Lost In The Flood’ (live, June 2005, original on Greetings from Asbury Park NJ)

Judee Sill – ‘Tumblin’ Down Comes The Waters’ (unreleased, I reckon; here's a comp)

"chant this anthem, swing like pete sampras"

Queens Of The Stone Age – ‘River In The Road’ (from Era Vulgaris)

Neko Case – ‘Fox Confessor Brings The Flood’ (live in Munich, 2006, from the album of the same name)

locals recreate the opening credits of 'Gentle Ben'

Delgados – ‘Everything Goes Around The Water’ (from Peloton)

Andrew WK – ‘I Get Wet’ (from I Get Wet)

"rougher than how DeBarge is, catching charges"

Beck – ‘Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods’ (live in London, 2003, original on One Foot in the Grave)

Phil Lynott – ‘A Little Bit Of Water’ (from The Philip Lynott Album)

south hinksey, gone all 'Spirited Away'

Doves – ‘Caught By The River’ (from The Last Broadcast)

Uncle Tupelo – ‘High Water’ (from Anodyne)