Waking Up From A Dreamin'

Today's selection is forty six minutes of Low. 

 

In just over a week from now (6th November), it'll be two years since Mimi Parker passed and Low effectively came to an end.

 

As a celebration of the music that Mimi and husband Alan Sparhawk created, I've curated a 10-song selection gleaned entirely from Uncut and Mojo magazine promo CDs, which were effectively my introduction to Low's music. I've since caught up with all of their studio albums, and it's an incredible body of work to say the least.

 

Low were regular features in both magazine's end of year Best Of countdowns and it's little surprise. The music was by turns abrasive and challenging yet also heartrendingly beautiful in it's complexity, especially when Mimi sang solo or harmonised with Alan. 

 

Most of these are lifted straight from the albums, with a few exceptions. Disarray appears on 2018 album Double Negative, here receiving a slight edit to the intro for the version given away with Uncut. 

 

Uncut magazine also presented cover version compilation CDs in 2019 and 2021, focusing on Wilco and Bob Dylan, so I think Low's contributions to both may be exclusive to those releases. Not wanting to be left out, Neil Young also gets a tribute, also an Uncut magazine freebie, this time with Dirty Three. It's an astonishing version, Mimi once again to the fore.

 

Given the disjointed way that the song choices for today's selection arrived, I'm pleased with the sequencing, which I think makes for a coherent and satisfying listening experience. Let me know what you think.
 
1) What Part Of Me (2015)

2) Witches (2011)

3) Just Make It Stop (2013)

4) Breaker (2007)

5) Down By The River (Cover of Neil Young): Low + Dirty Three (2001)

6) War On War (Cover of Wilco) (2019)

7) Disarray (Edit) (2018)

8) Everybody's Song (2005)

9) Hey (2021)

10) Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Cover of Bob Dylan) (2021)

 

2001: In The Fishtank, Volume 7 EP: 5 

2005: The Great Destroyer: 8

2007: Drums And Guns: 4

2011: C'mon: 2

2013: The Invisible Way: 3

2015: Ones And Sixes: 1 

2018: Electric Wonderland (Uncut magazine promo CD): 7

2019: Wilco Covered (Uncut magazine promo CD): 6

2021: Dylan Revisited (Uncut magazine promo CD): 10

2021: Hey What: 9

Waking Up From A Dreamin' (46:46) (KF) (Mega)

Seeing Nothing But Blue Sky Shining On My Soul

I am heartbroken to read that Mimi Parker has passed at the age of 55, just under two years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Singer, songwriter, drummer and co-founder of Low, Mimi's contribution to the band and music as a whole cannot be adequately expressed. 

Mimi's voice is beautiful, sweet, gentle, achingly melancholic when the song calls for it and, paired with husband Alan Sparhawk, an emotionally charged, soul-stirring harmonious sound seemingly not of this world. Mimi and Alan's acoustic cover of Bee Gees' I Started A Joke from 2008 is as good an example of this as any.

I have a dozen Low albums (a couple are technically mini-albums), from 1996's third album The Curtain Hits The Cast to 2018's Double Negative. I've been meaning to get last year's album Hey What for some time and I had also been hoping to see Low at Komedia in Bath on 15th November. Mimi had shared her diagnosis in January this year and in August, the band cancelled their planned tour as "Recent developments and changes in treatment have made extensive travel impossible at this time".

 

On Sunday, Alan posted the following message on Low's official Twitter:

 

Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but 

 

She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. 

 

Love is indeed the most important thing.

 

I'm still trying to process the sad news but a couple of Mimi's performances immediately came to me. I remember seeing Low on Later With...Jools Holland but I hadn't realised that it was nearly a decade ago, promoting 2013's album The Invisible Way. It was the first of only two appearances on the show, including this version of Just Make It Stop, featuring Mimi on lead vocals.

 

The first song I ever heard by Low was the opening song of their 1999 mini-album, Christmas, a five-second shuffling beat and jingle bells before Mimi's angelic voice comes in. Just Like Christmas has been a festive staple at Casa K ever since and is one of my favourite Christmas songs of all. 

There are few live performances of the song available on YouTube, but this is a wonderful version from Low's "Christmas Tour" show at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon in 2010, the day after I turned 40.

Rest in peace, Mimi, you will always be loved.