Sœur Sourire (The Singing Nun) "Avec toi"

Sœur Sourire
(The Singing Nun)
Her Joy, Her Songs
LP
(Philips, 1963)

In the early 1960s, Jeannine Deckers, aka Sœur Sourire aka The Singing Nun aka Luc Dominique aka King Diamond, lived and worshipped at the Fichermont Convent in Waterloo, Belgium. Jeannine liked to write songs and play them for the other sisters on her acoustic guitar, so the convent decided to let her record an album's worth of her compositions. As unlikely as it seems, the song Dominique became a huge hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

After her initial success, however, things went downhill. Her second album, Her Joy, Her Songs, did not match the first in terms of popularity, and, in 1965, the convent announced that her singing career was over. In 1967, however, she left Fichermont and reemerged as Luc Dominique, under which she recorded at least two albums, I Am Not a Star. and Dominican. Her final release, as far as I know, was a 1982 disco version of Dominique.

At some point, the Belgian government decided she owed an extraordinary sum in back taxes, for the money made from her early, hit records. She had given the majority of her earnings to the convent, but did not have receipts. In addition, the convent apparently did nothing to exonerate her. Perhaps because she had recorded a song in praise of birth control, La pilule d'or (The Golden Pill), or perhaps because she was living openly as a lesbian with her long-time partner Annie Pécher? I honestly do not know. Despondent over their debts, Jeannine and Annie committed suicide together in their apartment on March 19, 1985.

Once again, I've cheated a bit with this entry. That's my copy of her second LP in the photo above, but it's in lousy condition, so I pulled my favorite song from it from a wonderful, two-CD compilation I have called Best of Sœur Sourire. It has all the tracks from The Singing Nun, Her Joy, Her Songs, and I Am Not a Star., plus the disco version of Dominique and a bunch of tracks from who-knows-where. Unfortunately, the liner notes are scant (and straightwashed), with no indication of the sources for any of the songs.

---

The original Dominique

Let's disco!

The Trees Community "I Will Not Leave You Comfortless"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

The Trees Community
The Christ Tree
CD boxset
(Dark Holler • Hand/Eye, 2007)

When I read the booklet that came with the quadruple disc, deluxe reissue of the 1975 album The Christ Tree by The Trees Community, something jumped out at me immediately. The last paragraph of the mini-bio of group founder and leader William Shipen Lebzelter states

. . . he contracted an incurable disease. He was gone so quickly that no one knew quite what had happened. He was just 44 years old when the Lord took him from us.

The time frame for his death would've been the 1980s, and incurable disease sounded suspiciously to me like a euphemism for AIDS. Hmmm . . .

Late one night a few months ago, I finally decided to Google Shipen to see if my suspicions were well founded. I found group member Katherine Shishonee Krupa's blog, Seven Story Bus: The Story of the Trees Community, which covers the history of the group. Though she wrote nothing about his death, Shishonee did write a fair amount about Shipen and fellow founding member Philip Ariel Dross's homosexuality and some of the challenges it presented both to the group and to outsiders.

As I read random blog entries that night, I started crying. The homosexuality of some group members was so clearly important in their history, yet the booklet completely straightwashed them. About Ariel's leaving the group and falling in love with the man with whom he spent the rest of his life (to the best of my knowledge), the booklet simply says, After four years with the group, he moved back to his home state of Florida where he found the love of his life.

All that aside, the album is absolutely wonderful, no matter one's religious affiliation or lack thereof. The Trees Community's approach to music making was a unique take on folk music with what we would today call world music instrumentation. There are gorgeous vocals, mellifluous melodies, and striking dashes of avant garde experimentalism. Today's song is from their 1973 cassette album A Portrait of Jesus Christ in Music, which takes up most of disc two of the box set. The piece was re-recorded for The Christ Tree, but in a radically different version.

Sorten Muld "Ravnen"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Sorten Muld
Sorten Muld
CD
(Intermusic, 1996)

Another Wayside Music discovery! I assure you that posting two in a row was not intentional, however.

Denmark's Sorten Muld are one of a number of Scandinavian groups to mix traditional folk melodies with elements of electronica, dance music, etc. They were not the first, as the two others I know, Garmarna and Hedningarna (both Swedish), had releases out earlier. Regardless, though, they are my favorite of the tiny genre.

Their first release, the eponymous Sorten Muld, was pretty much entirely re-recorded as Mark II, their second release. Why? Perhaps because Sorten Muld was released in an edition of only 1,500 copies? Maybe they thought they could do better if they redid the songs? Maybe they were held at gunpoint by an insane person who made them redo it? I have no idea.

Today's jukebox selection is the Sorten Muld version of Ravnen. It was the lead-off track on the CD, yet was relegated to track six status on Mark II.

The Mark II version was also released as a CD single with three different mixes:

1. Ravnen 444 4:44
2. Ravnen nat mix 9:27
3. Ravnen album version 6:48

Nat is Danish for night, in case you were wondering. The nat mix is pretty cool, and I almost used it for today's song, but it's not as immediate as this version. You'll note the song time is 6:48 on the album version, but the album lists the track is being 6:50. Curiouser and curiouser . . . or not.

Fraser & DeBolt "Don't Let Me Down"

Fraser & DeBolt
Fraser & DeBolt (with Ian Guenther)
LP
(Columbia Records, 1971)

I remember listening to today's song for the first time, and thinking, That's a Beatles song! By the time it was done, however, I started to doubt myself. I checked the songwriting credits on the label, and, indeed, it was the Lenny Mac half of the Fab Four. Sure, it was just a b-side, but it's a pretty great song, nonetheless. This interpretation, however, replaces the electric-rock-quartet-plus-guest-keyboardist backing with two acoustic guitars and a fiddle, played by guest Ian Guenther. It also boasts a rather different arrangement (surprise!). It's the final track on Fraser & DeBolt's stunning debut album, and is a beautiful closer. The whole album is an impressive mélange of acoustic, folk rock and atonal, avant garde experimentation. I can honestly say I've heard little else similar to it, as their second album, With Pleasure, was recorded with a full backing band and a reigning in of atonality (it's still a wonderful album).

When I bought my first device for burning CDRs from my stereo ('twas a stereo component CD player/recorder), the very first things I burnt were the two Fraser & DeBolt albums and the first two Hanatarash albums. Fallout Records released a pirate version of the first album on CD and LP a few years back, if you want to find a relatively inexpensive copy. I was all excited when it came out 'cause I thought it was legit. It arrived in the mail and looked suspicious to me, and my suspicions were confirmed when the first song on side two was preceded by a very loud needle drop. Great quality control there, bozos; you should be crushed. Fallout was the successor to Radioactive Records, after they got busted. I guess Fallout got busted, too, as they now release stuff under the name Phoenix Records.

---

*I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone cover Genesis, come to think of it. On the other hand, the lone time I saw Axehandle they did a devastatingly heavy and acrimonious cover of Phil Collins' I Don't Care Anymore. I was bummed that it didn't end up on their sole album. Or their soul album, which does not exist.

Today's selection gets the friend recommendation tag as my friend Marlo Donahue suggested I check them out when I told her 15 years or so ago that I was getting heavily into Tim Buckley. I kept my eyes peeled and came across a copy of With Pleasure a year or two later, and loved it.

Mariclare Costello "Stay Forever, My Love"

Mariclare Costello Let's Scare Jessica to Death feature film (Paramount Pictures, 1971)

Today's entry is a beautiful folk song from my all-time favorite horror movie, Let's Scare Jessica to Death. It's sung by Emily (played by Mariclare Costello), a squatter the titular Jessica finds living in the old house she and husband Duncan have just bought and are preparing to make their home. The song was written for the movie, and that's Mariclare herself singing it. The low drone that joins in is Duncan accompanying her on the double bass, as he's a (former?) musician with the New York Philharmonic. The scene switches back and forth from the kitchen to the hallway, so I've taken the liberty of adjusting the volume in sections to keep it as consistent as possible. There's a bit of dialog interspersed, as well, but I have no way of scrubbing that. The scene itself is below the jump, if you'd like to watch it.

The Corries "Peggy Gordon"

Oh, dear! You must not have a compatible version of flash!

The Corries
The Very Best of The Corries
CD
(EMI, 1990)

So a few months ago I was taking a shower whilst listening to the most recent Melvins album, The Bride Screamed Murder, for the first time. All of a sudden, as it approached the end, I heard a melody I knew I knew. Luckily, I was in the dry cycle by then and was able to listen more intently. After a few more moments, it hit me . . . it was a Scottish folk song that I knew via The Corries, whom I knew via my mother buying me a cassette of the above pictured CD when my 'rents went to Scotland for a trip eons ago. Yes, I loved it so much I bought it on CD and gave the tape back to my mother. Ain't I sweet?

Circle of Ouroborus "The Judgement Star"

Circle of Ouroborus
Star / Rise
cassette
(Northern Sky Productions, 2006)

Now that ゆらゆら帝国 have called it a day, Circle of Ouroborus just might be my favorite currently extant band. A good deal of their releases are cassettes, and, as of this writing, I have 15 of 'em. Roughly half are cassette-only, such as this one, which was released in a limited edition of 50 unnumbered copies.

Circle of Ouroborus are an interesting bunch. I first heard them on a split CD I bought for the tracks from the Dutch band Urfaust; I ended up liking the CoO stuff more, though. Their music ranges from acoustic, folky material, such as presented here, to post-punk à la Joy Division to raw black metal. Both members, Antti and Rauta, also play in a few other bands. I have several CD's and a tape by Rauta's band Vordr, and I highly recommend them. They come across to me as sort of a black metal Rudimentary Peni.

Cindytalk "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "A Song of Changes"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Cindytalk
Wappinschaw
CD
(Touched Recordings, 1994)

Gordon Sharp is one of my (many) favorite vocalists. He initially gained a bit of recognition singing on some Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil records, but Cindytalk is his baby, and it kicks those other group's collective asses. Plus, he's never had song titles like Eggs and Their Shells or Pearly Dewdrops Drops. I like a few Cocteau Twins songs but, good gracious, their titles are so precious I feel compelled to engage in violent projectile vomiting.

So, anyhow, this pair of songs is from their third album, and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, by English folkie Ewan MacColl, never fails to give me chills. When the judges called it a Roberta Flack song on American Idol a few years ago, I nearly burst a blood vessel.

Tim Buckley "Sing a Song for You"

Tim Buckley
Once I Was
CD
(Strange Fruit, 1999)

Well, hello and welcome to my jukebox! My goal is to have a new song up every day around 9 a.m., Eastern time. We'll see how well that works. ^_^ So, for my first selection, I decided to go with something "song"-related, and this was the first thing that popped into my lil' noggin'.