Once again, along comes one of these things where my immediate reaction is “I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this already.”
I’m talking this time about The Black Cab Sessions: musicians record a single track, in a single take, in the back of a black cab, and the results are then webcast to the world. As they put it “The sessions are all about great music and the venue strips this to its essence.”
Of course the venue might just be a gimmick, but when you drop in the right artists, it turns into a thing of beauty.
I found out about it because Amanda Palmer recorded one, wherein she covers Creep on the ukelele. It’s pretty great.
But then I got a look at the list of other performers. Ryan Adams, Calexico, Badly Drawn Boy, and so many others… Oh wow!, it’s Man Man, bringing a piano into the cab!
And, of course, most impressive of all–at least IMNSHO–is Mr. Richard Thompson, who brings along a couple of backup singers (and actually sneaks in more than one track).
This the kind of slightly-off-center madness that I love, and the way that modern tech reduces the barrier to entry in this kind of production makes me happy to live in these times. One more RSS feed in my reader for sure.
