Harmonizin': Spins Around Around Around

Low Red Moon

"Strange moon. Strange land. Strange man."

Don't think I quite got the redness of the moon that night.

Lyrics and title from an old Belly song

Harmonizin' the Bicentennial

Start off with a little Hem:


Add a dash or two of G. Welch:




Simmer with a little Plastic Jesus:


Top it off with some splosions:


Now what?

Oh wait, first this:


Okay. Now what?

Harmonizin': Better Climb in the Window

A little more live Belly:

1. "Full Moon, Empty Heart," my second favorite song of theirs, which was used to great effect on an old episode of Homicide:


2. "Super-Connected":


3. "Dusted":

Harmonizin': Take Your Hat Off, Boy

Some Belly from back in the day.

1. "Gepetto," performed on the old John Stewart Show back in 1993:


2. "Feed the Tree":


3. A video for "Super-Connected," off of their second album:


4. And a video for my favorite Belly song, "Now They'll Sleep":

Harmonizin': Something to Swoon Over

So, one of my favorite musicians, both for her voice and her songwriting, is a woman named Tanya Donelly. She helped found Throwing Muses and The Breeders before forming Belly, way back in the dark and distant nineties. Belly broke up after two fine albums, and since then, Donelly's been putting out the occasional solo album. For me, she's up there with Tom Petty and Hem and old Rush and Tom Waits and so on and so forth. Some of her songs are a vital part of that personal soundtrack that's never far from the front of my mind.

Anyhoo, she has a website here, called "Slumberland." One cool thing, or two cool things are some songs she's put up there.

First there's some demos for songs from Belly's first album, Star. Apparently, some of these were originally meant for The Breeder's second LP (Donelly was still part of the band for the first album and the first EP), and Kim Deal plays on a couple of tracks, including "Feed the Tree," which ended up being one of Belly's bigger hits. (It's the one that goes "So take your hat off when you're talking to me, and be there when I feed the tree.")

Second there's a live gig recorded at the Windham Hotel in Vermont in 2004. (Her most recent LP was a set of new songs called "This Hungry Life," recorded at the same venue.) If you only sample one or two, grab a song called "Swoon" or one called "Manna," both originally off of her "Lovesongs for Underdogs" album. Or grab "Keeping You," originally off of "Beautysleep."

(There apparently used to be demos from "Lovesongs" and "Beautysleep," but those seem to no longer be up.)

Anyhoo, yeah, Tanya Donelly. Good stuff.