Everything Is Fine

Celebrating David Lynch, born 20th January 1946, whose death was announced on Thursday, days before what would have been his 79th birthday.

 

This wasn't the Friday post I originally had in mind, and is a hastily cobbled together selection of a dozen of David Lynch songs, remixes (of and by), cover versions and mash-ups. 

 

The collection starts and ends in possibly predictable fashion, Pixies' cover of In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song) in 1988 making as much of an impression on my teenage mind as the opening minutes of Lynch's 1987 film Blue Velvet. 

 

And yes, I know it's a cheat including Lana Del Rey's version over Bobby Vinton's cover, which was the inspiration for the film, but the latter makes a cheeky appearance in Voicedude's contribution to the intriguing (and sadly no longer available) 2008 compilation Mashed In Plastic: The David Lynch Mash-Up Album.

I got to see nearly all of David Lynch's films on the big screen, including a re-release of Eraserhead in the early 1990s, and with the exception of Dune (1984) and Inland Empire (2006). And on the small screen, I was left with an agonising wait to complete the Twin Peaks experience, as I headed off to Australia for a year after Season 1's cliffhanger ending on BBC2. 

Edisrehtoehtnoees

 

1) In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song): David Lynch & Alan R Splet ft. Peter Ivers (1976)

2) This Is David Lynch: Neiltomo (2008)

3) Pinky's Dream (Trentemøller Remix): David Lynch ft. Karen O (2012)

4) Girl Panic! (Remix By David Lynch & Dean Hurley): Duran Duran (2011)

5) Fuel To Fire (David Lynch Remix): Agnes Obel (2014)

6) I Know (Jon Hopkins Remix): David Lynch (2011)

7) Velvet Dreams: Voicedude (2008)

8) The Big Dream (Moby Reversion): David Lynch ft. Mindy Jones (2014)

9) Rockin' Back Inside My Heart (Tibetan Single Mix By Greg Royal): Julee Cruise (1989)

10) Blue Velvet (Single Version) (Cover of Tony Bennett): Lana Del Rey (2012)

11) Falling (Cover of Julee Cruise): The Wedding Present (1992)

12) In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song) (John Peel Session) (Cover of David Lynch & Alan R Splet ft. Peter Ivers): Pixies (1988) 

 

1982: Eraserhead OST: 1

1989: Rockin' Back Inside My Heart EP: 9 

1992: Silver Shorts EP: 11

1998: Pixies At The BBC: 12

2008: Mashed In Plastic: The David Lynch Mashup Album: 2, 7

2011: Girl Panic! EP: 4 

2011: Good Day Today / I Know EP: 6

2012: Pinky's Dream EP: 3 

2012: The Paradise Edition EP: 10

2014: Aventine: 5

2014: The Big Dream Remix EP: 8

Everything Is Fine (46:33) (KF) (Mega)

Bad Angel

Celebrating Angelo Badalamenti, 22nd March 1937 to 11th December 2022.

I had another late night working and an early rise this morning, so I haven't had much time to respond to the sad news of Angelo's passing and prepare a Dubhed selection. Instead, I trawled YouTube for a few examples of how wondeful this man's contribution to music and films has been.

 

Inevitably, there will be music drawn from his long-time collaboration with David Lynch but another partnership to start, with Tim Booth of James as Booth And The Bad Angel. I first heard Dance Of The Bad Angels on a compilation and it's remained my favourite track on their eponymous debut (and sole) album.

 

Next up is Sneaky Audrey, taken from a mammoth 212-track digital collection of unreleased soundtrack music from The Twin Peaks Archive, originally available in 2011 for less than ten US dollars . I don't own the whole album, but this is one of several tracks that I was able to, er, track down online a few years.

 

Another much-loved soundtrack to a David Lynch film (which I own on CD) in Lost Highway from 1996. This snippet, with fan-produced 'lost highway' video, is called Dub Driving.

 

Although Angelo is arguably best-known for his partnership with David Lynch, he wrote the music for many other films, including Danny Boyle's 2000 film adaptation of The Beach. Whatever you think of the film, the soundtrack album is something else, including the opening track Bizarre City, which was remixed by Barry Adamson. Beached, another rather special pairing with Orbital, was also released as a single.

 

Angelo also paired up with David Bowie in 1998 to contribute to Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove. Their choice of Gershwin song was A Foggy Day In London Town, originally recorded (as A Foggy Day) in 1937 by Fred Astaire for the film A Damsel In Distress.

 

Today's selection inevitably had to close with another choice from the Twin Peaks soundtrack, featuring another truly amazing artist who we sadly lost this year, Julee Cruise. When I posted a celebration of Julee's music in June, I chose another Lynch/Badalamenti song and The Wedding Present's cover of this one, Falling.

This time, I've selected Julee's appearance on Top Of The Pops, broadcast 22nd November 1990. Health warning: includes Anthea Turner, but Angelo's there on stage too, to Julee's left, on the Korg. Just beautiful.

Rest in peace, Angelo, your music will endure.

Your Smile Was Beautiful

Celebrating Julee Cruise, 1st December 1956 to 9th June 2022.

 

I first heard the sad news in the wee hours of this morning, about to go to bed, but not wanting to go with the original post that I'd planned. At that moment, I couldn't find the words and just posted the videos for Rockin' Back Inside My Heart and arguably one of the greatest cover versions of all time, The Wedding Present's take on Falling.

 

More than twelve hours later, I still don't have the words and, if I've honest, Post Punk Monk's tribute yesterday says it all beautifully. 

 

Like many, I only knew of Julee Cruise because of her musical collaborations with David Lynch and Angelo Badlamenti on the ground-breaking TV series Twin Peaks and the astonishing album Floating Into The Night. The former's use of the latter's music and Cruise's own appearances in the show, the prequel film and 2017's "limited event series" have inextricably bound her with Lynch and Badlamenti. It was a revelation but perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise to read that Julee Cruise was so, so much more.

 

Heartbreaking to read via NPR that Julee's complex and challenging life included some incredible achievements but a number of health and personal issues, including lupus, depression and substance addiction. Julee "left this world on her own terms", according to a statement by her husband Edward Grinnan, her last moments on this world soundtracked by The B-52's Roam, a band that she joined as touring substitute for Cindy Wilson. But clearly, Julee Cruise was nobody's substitute; she was sui generis. 

 

Post title taken from a lyric in Rockin' Back Inside My Heart. Float on into the night, you beautiful person.

 

Rockin' Back Inside My Heart (Album Version): Julee Cruise (1989)

Falling (Cover of Julee Cruise): The Wedding Present (1992)