Movietone: The Blossom Filled Streets

In the current issue of Word magazine, David Byrne is asked a question that is close to my heart, "There are more cultural products — music, TV, film, books, websites — being produced than ever. How do you decide what to devote your time to?". Byrne's answer kind of surprised me:

I guess I do what anybody who's a music fan today does. I go to music websites, I read some print reviews, and if it seems like something I might like I go online to hear some of it… I don't think you need to listen to anything else for influences, or to glom [sic] on to the zeitgeist. I just do it because there's great stuff out there.

It surprised me because I didn't think many music fans were so review-led. I'm certainly not. Reviews are one of the signposts to stuff I might like, but not the only one or the main one — radio, both broadcast and interactive (like Last.fm), are more frequent starting points for me. There are few print journalists whose reviews I trust implicitly; though I am more influenced by sites like mapsadaisical and the no-longer-published Tangents in the areas they have made their own.

All of that is a pre-cursor to saying that it was a review — and a review alone — that inspired me to put The Blossom Filled Streets on my Amazon wishlist, whence my mum picked it as a Christmas present in 2001.

I wasn't particularly taken with it at the time. Listening again, I can see why I was underwhelmed, but I can also see how wrong I was. This is a gentle off-kilter folk-pop that has become gradually more prevalent, and, briefly, fashionable, over the eight years since the album came out. But there are no obvious hooks here; this is music that defiantly hides its light beneath a bushel.

I know nothing about Movietone beyond what's on their Wikipedia entry. Andy knows them better, I think — look, we can spy on exactly which tracks of theirs he's played. Someone call the Open Rights Group. Oh, they already know.

MusicBrainz entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm

Comments

[Andy]

I clicked on that link expecting to come across a Movietone expert and was surprised to find it was me! I know as much as you do about them (now I've read the Wikipedia entry). I do know that I was very taken with their first album many years ago and that's the one I tend to reach for.