Andraste

So, I finally finished updating those notes.

*falls over and becomes one with inner self*

Confessions & Lamentations: A Babylon 5 Soundtrack (13216 words) by Andraste

Fandom: Babylon 5
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Summary: The story of thirteen prophecies, eleven tragic romances, eight wars, and one very special space station.

A fandom soundtrack for Babylon 5, originally made for the Fandom Soundtrack Project in 2005. Now 'remastered' and available on 8tracks.

Irony alert: the notes for this FST are almost twice as long as the longest story I have ever posted to the AO3. But hey, you try explaining all of Babylon 5 in less than 13,000 words with musical accompaniment. Especially when you've made a net addition of twenty-three tracks since the first time you did this.

I have no idea if anyone will ever read any of it, but I restrained myself from making notes like UGH, LORIEN and LONDO AND G'KAR HAVE A DRINK AND IT IS THE GREATEST THING EVER and LONDO IS SAD AND IT'S JUST AS WELL BABYLON 5 DOESN'T HAVE KARAOKE NIGHT anyway.

So, I was wondering: is there anyone, anywhere on the internet, who happens to have kept a copy of the Babylon 5 soundtrack I made a decade ago? It turns out that between moving computers and getting rid of many of my physical CDs, I have managed to lose a couple of tracks. The things I'm missing are Berceuse Pour Un Lion by Daniel Lavoie and Gracias a la Vida by Mercedes Sosa. (I would cheerfully buy them, but Australian iTunes doesn't have them and I don't speak either French or Spanish well enough to go looking for them somewhere they might actually be.)

I ask because I am finally getting around to putting it up on 8tracks and the AO3 along with the rest of my fandom soundtracks.

Of course, since it has been almost exactly ten years since I first posted it, I decided that I had to do a Special 10th Anniversary Edition. And since I am no longer trying to jam things onto actual CDs (was that really only a decade ago?) I decided I could make it longer! And now it is sixty-five tracks. (It was going to be sixty, but then I had to sneak an extra song into Season Four, and then it looked unbalanced so I tossed in a few more to even it out.) Naturally I'm going to be dividing it up into five when I post it to 8tracks, or nobody will ever get past the John Cage track in Season One.

I quail at the idea of expanding the notes - they're already so long that they broke livejournal when I first posted them. It's nice to finally have songs for all the people and things I left out the first time, though, like Na'Toth and the Mars Resistance.

It also gave me an excuse to watch Parliament of Dreams again and relive the moment when I fell in love with G'Kar. (He was singing to his dinner. I couldn't help it.) Also Londo becoming one with his inner self, and Na'Toth's introduction, and the parade of faiths, and all the other things I love about that episode. ('You will know pain.' 'You will know fear.' 'And then you will die. Enjoy your flight!')

I am not rewatching any of the Season Five telepath arc just to make notes on Byron, though. Finding him a song was bad enough. (I already had one for Lorien, whom I hate far more, but it got cut for space on the original version.)

I have my membership at eMusic back, and all I had to do was move to Lincolnshire. Well, move my IP address to Lincolnshire, anyway. They are currently operating under the impression that I am in Grantham. This should be fine as long as they don't ask me where Grantham actually is ...

Mind you, this is a crime I almost hope I get caught at just so I can point out how utterly ridiculous it is that I have to resort to using a proxy server to legally purchase music on the internet.

I download plenty of free stuff, legally and otherwise. I've got no issue taking songs as samples to see if I like an artist, or acquiring tracks that haven't been released commercially. Nor am I very scrupulous about paying royalties to people who have millions of dollars already when I'm unemployed. When it's independent musicians that I know I like, though, I feel that I should support them. Even when I have to defraud their music store in order to do so.

In the interests of spreading free samples of great music, some things I downloaded with my technically illegal account.

Alabama 3: U Don't Dance 2 Tekno Anymore

Best known for the theme song from The Sopranos, these guys are crazy geniuses. This is the acoustic version of the song, from Last Train to Mashville.

Architecture in Helsinki: Hold Music

Tremendously fun local Melbourne band. Be warned, they have real gift for earworms - this one isn't quite as insanely catchy as That Beep, but it'll stick in your brain.

Ben Kweller: Wait

eMusic is particularly good at fuelling my love of covers. This comes from the same Beatles tribute album that proved the soundtrack for my Hiro/Ando vid.

Joseph Arthur: Black Lexus

The person who introduced me to this singer-songwriter said 'he's like Jeff Buckley, only alive.' This seems as apt a description as any I could come up with.

Lemon Jelly: Nice Weather For Ducks

I used to think that electronica wasn't my thing, but these guys single-handedly changed my mind. They're clever and funny and I really enjoy their stuff. And really, what doesn't go better with ducks?

Lil John & the East Side Boys: Get Low

There's a whole essay in whether hip-hop is actually more misogynist than the rest of popular culture or just more up front about it, and the many issues that raises. Since this is just a music post, though, all I have to say is 'to the windooooooow, to the WALL!' Whatever you think of the content, it's a brilliant track.

(If you do feel bad about the lyrics, go watch this also brilliant vid and cheer.)

The Distillers: City of Angels

Hard driving punk lead by Melbourne-born singer Brody Dalle, although as the title implies the song is about Los Angeles. I love her voice.

The Donnas: 40 Boys In 40 Nights

If the Ramones were a girl band, they would be the Donnas. It's always refreshing to hear female musicians singing about sleeping with a different guy on every stop of the tour and taking their underwear as trophies.

The Mountain Goats: First Few Desperate Hours

It's kind of impossible to know where to begin in the Mountain Goats back catalogue; John Darnielle is bewilderingly inventive and fond of folk-rock song cycles. Here's a random slice of genius to get you started.

The Polyphonic Spree: Sonic Bloom

When the Polyphonic Spree came to Melboune I kept walking up to people and saying 'the Polphonic Spree are in Melbourne!' Then they would ask me who the Polyphonic Spree were and I would make a sad face. As Wikipedia puts it: "the Polyphonic Spree is a self-described "choral symphonic rock" group from the Dallas, Texas area. The band generally consists of a 10-person choir, a pair of keyboardists, as well as a percussionist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, flautist, trumpeter, trombonist, violinist/violist, harpist, French horn player, a pedal steel player, theremin player, and an electronic effects person." If that doesn't make you want to listen, I don't know what will.

Thea Gilmore: Mainstream

British singer-songwriter Gilmore is wonderful and comes to you recommended by Neil Gaiman. She does great covers, too, but this is one of her originals. (One of these days, I will sit down and make the New Who vid for this, but the producers keep stubbornly inventing more female characters I want to put in it ...)

Tom McRae: One Mississippi

Speaking of vids, if you watch my Torchwood efforts you'll already be familiar with another British singer-songwriter. He's unusually upbeat on this track, if not exactly cheerful.

Townes Van Zandt: Pancho & Lefty

My favourite country song, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who knows me.

Special Bonus non-eMusic Track: Tom McRae: La Nuit Je Mens

Not commercially available, this cover of Alain Bashung's song sees McRae in a more typical mood. He sounds dead sexy in French, although I have little idea what he's saying. Babelfish claims that the song contains the phrase 'adjuster of spitz, dynamiter of aqueducts.' Sadly, this seems unlikely to be the case.

'Anything Goes' month at fst is more than half over! I really ought to knock my project into shape and post it. However, I'm in need of the following:

- A version of Mack the Knife where the singer remembers all the words. (I only have Ella's Grammy-winning version where this, er, fails to happen.)

- A version of Stardust not by Willie Nelson. Male vocalist or instrumental fine.

- The Richard Cheese cover of Creep. (If you're reading this, evilfuzzydoom, I think Sendspace has a self-explanatory interface.)

- Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo a la Turk.

(Rest assured, I usually buy my .mp3s, but I'm in a hurry here and most of the people on this fst are not in a position to collect royalties due to being dead.)

Authors for Multiverse have now been made public! I was holding off hoping to get the last two stories in before the big reveal, and there is indeed an extra story up now. It's Two To Make Peace by Kathryn Andersen, so please check it out. Especially if you happen to be marag ;).

... well, to be 100% honest, I was planning to get the author names up yesterday, but I went to the pub instead. People who know me IRL are probably incredulous, but you see I WENT THERE TO SEE PETER COMBE. (For non-Aussies, a very popular children's performer from the eighties. My generation's equivalent of the Wiggles.) It was COMPLETELY AWESOME. You have not been to a gig until you have jumped up and down with a room full of drunken twenty-somethings while singing along to Newspaper Mama.

I had a really good time. Now that they've banned smoking in pubs and clubs, the atmosphere at the Esplanade is a lot friendlier to me. I think I may have to go see more live music there in future. Since the workmate I went with got fired on Thursday - long story - I think we'll have to become concert buddies instead *g*.