 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
On the official site are individual discographies for Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow.
This discography surveys EF and related recordings from the vantage point of a hardcore EF fan (me). Further down the page are listings for » Elysian Fields CDs
2005 Bum Raps and Love Taps
BRLT is, in my opinion, Elysian Fields' most accomplished disk. It has a cohesiveness as a disk that some of the band's prior CDs lacked (however good individual songs may have been). It's a bit darker and more experimental, yet it retains the same melodic intimacy that has characterized all of Elysian Fields' recordings. It's a shame that this disk is only available in France (so far), but even so it is a must buy. Must!
2003 Dreams That Breathe Your Name
DTBYN is finally available around the world. Gradually this has become my personal favorite of EF's CDs. It is probably the most melodic of all their disks and I often find myself walking down the street singing "Shrinking Heads in the Sunset" or "Baby Get Lost." This is a must-have disk so go buy it now! (And if you have any chance to see the band live, do so — a lot of these songs really shine when you hear them in the smoky ambience of a club.)
2001 Bend Your Mind (CD Single)
This extremely rare CD is not mentioned on either Oren or JC's official discography. Apparently it was put out by Flower Shop Recordings when they took over distribution of Queen of the Meadow in Europe. Most notably, it contains two b-sides: "Lie Low" and "Oyster." Both of these are really great tracks, and if you can find a copy of this CD, I recomment that you grab it!
(Not available at amazon)
2000 Queen of the Meadow
Queen is the disk EF recorded after breaking with their previous label, Radioactive/Universal, which still holds the band's "lost second album" in its vaults somewhere. (See below for more info.)
1996 Bleed Your Cedar
BYC was the band's first full-length CD. It may still be their best.
1996 Elysian Fields EP
This EP is a must-buy for fans of EF. It contains four really great tracks including "Star" (which is also on BYC), "Diamonds All Day," "Move Me," and "Get Rich" (which was written by Ed Pastorini).
» Elysian Fields Rarities, Collaborations, Cameos
2004 Tweaker, 2 A.M. Wakeup Call
Tweaker is the side project of Chris Vrenna, an accomplished sound engineer and the former drummer for Nine Inch Nails. Jennifer Charles contributes vocals to the track "Crude Sunlight," a long track that suggests what EF would sound like if they used more synthesizers.
2004 Jean-Louis Murat, Bird on a Poire
This is the second collaboration that Jennifer Charles did with Jean-Louis Murat. (See the entry for Murat's 1999 album Mustango below.) She sings on most of the album, but the only song she sings entirely by herself is "Monsieur craindrait les demoiselles" (which translates something like: Monsieur would fear young ladies.) While it's always a pleasure to hear Jennifer's voice, don't buy the CD if you're expecting a French version of EF. Overall the CD has kind of a retro Euro-pop feel to it.
2003 Ben Perowsky, Camp Songs
Ben (usually) plays the drums for EF, but he is also a noted jazz drummer in his own right. This disk features jazzy versions of Jewish camp songs, and Jennifer and Oren sing a kind of Hebrew chant in the song "Birkat Hamazon" (which is a traditional after-dinner blessing). Overall the disk is pretty interesting, and Ben is a fabulous drummer, though this track is not very EF-like.
2003 Sasha Argov, Great Jewish Music
Sasha Argov is a well-known Israeli composer. Jennifer and Oren cover the song "Ksheor Dolek" (When There's a Light in the Window) on this disk. It's a poppy, synthy song with a catchy melody and a mid-eastern vibe. It really grows on you, as does the whole disk.
2002 Frank London, Scientist at Work
This is a brilliant disk featuring dark, exotic compositions that, as the liner notes put it, "touch on Jewish prayer, Afro-funk, Jazz fusion, Middle Eastern Taqsim, and more." Jennifer sings the slow, hypnotic, beautiful "Shabbos Bride." It makes you imagine you're sitting in a desert oasis somewhere with Jennifer cooling your brow with a palm frond. Another must-have!
2002 Sybarite, Scene of the Crime
Jennifer does the vocals on the song "Scene of the Crime," which is a mellow electronic composition. It's one of her better cameos IMHO.
2002 John Zorn, IAO Music in a Sacred Light
This is a "seven-movement suite of Alchemy, Mysticism, Metaphysics and Magic" inspired by Aleister Crowley. Honestly I'm not a big fan of Zorn, but if you want to know what it would sound like if Jennifer did the soundtrack to a ghost movie, you could listen to her contribution to this CD, "Lucifer Rising." (For some reason it does not appear to be available on amazon.)
(Not available at amazon)
2002 Illy B, Drop the Needle
Jennifer does the vocals on "Double Game," a funky hip-hop track. It's a good tune that shows Jennifer's range, though you might not recognize her voice here if you didn't know it was her. It's not as sultry as her signature work.
2002 Various Artists, Thank You! A Tribute to Sisters of Mercy
Foetus covers the track "First and Last and Always" and Jennifer (who goes "criminally uncredited" on the disk itself) sings about two verses and some background vocals. Honestly I don't know the original song, so I can't say how good a cover it is. But on its own, the song is a pleasant, kitschy lounge version of what I imagine the original to be. The CD is very difficult to find, but from the vantage point of the EF fan it's really only for the hardcore.
(Not available at amazon)
2002 Tangled (DVD)
Although Jennifer mentions on her bio at the official site that she was working on a film score with Jonny Klimek and Reinhold Heil, somehow this never made it on to her official discography. Be that as it may, there are three EF-related tracks on this DVD. The Bob Dylan cover "Tangled Up in Blue" was recorded for this film, and there are two additional tracks featuring vocals by JC: "I Will" and "Alan's Photo Shoot." The first stands on its own as a song, but "Alan's Photo Shoot" is basically background music. Both are electronic compositions, somewhat similar to the Sybarite disk JC appears on. (Thanks Steve for crucial help and info!)
2001 Zoar, Clouds Without Water
This is a fascinating disk, electronic movie music without a movie. Jennifer recites a kind of crime-novel monologue on the track "In These Rooms." There's also a great track featuring the singer from The The. Another must-buy!
2001 Lovage, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
Lovage is a trip-hop disc that's been bringing fans of other genres to EF's music thanks to Jennifer's guest vocals on half a dozen tracks. My personal favorite is "Strangers on a Train," which must be one of the sexiest songs ever recorded. It makes you imagine you're James Bond and Jennifer is a Bond babe flirting with you.
2001 Oren Bloedow and Jennifer Charles, La Mar Enfortuna
This is a fabulous disk featuring renditions of Sephardic melodies arranged by Oren and Jennifer. And the original composition "Salome" is basically an EF track — and one of their best at that. Another must-have!
2001 Firewater, Psychopharmacology
Jennifer sings a duet on "Bad, Bad World." It's a pretty good song and, if for no other reason, you have to get it to hear Jennifer sing "I'm a bad, bad girl, I read it on a bathroom wall." Oren also plays the sitar on the track "Fell Off the Face of the Earth."
1999 Jean-Louis Murat, Mustango
Both Oren and JC appear on the songs "Jim" and "Bang-Bang." The latter is the more EFish song, and though Murat has a nice voice you find yourself wishing JC had done the vocals to the whole track.
1999 DJ Logic, Project Logic
The track "Spider Dance" features a remarkably sultry vocal performance by Jennifer.
1999 Various Artists, What's the Word, Volume 1
This disk features spoken-word performances by various artists. Jennifer reads a brief film-noir-ish text called "In the Early Light of Squeezed Morning." In the background a keyboard plays a kind of minimalist film score. I like this piece. It's a little bit like Lydia Lunch but with languor instead of angst.
1998 Marc Bolan, Great Jewish Music
EF covers "Life's a Gas." This is probably the best cover done by EF, a really great song.
1997 Serge Gainsbourg, Great Jewish Music
This is a tribute disk for the influential French artist Serge Gainsbourg. EF covers "Les Amours Perdues" (Lost Loves).
1997 DJ Cam, Elysian Fields Meets DJ Cam
DJ Cam is a French DJ well-known for his slightly jazzy touch. On this EP he remixes "Jack in the Box" and "Rolling." For each song, there is a version with and without vocals. Surprisingly, the instrumental versions are pretty good. You'd think the songs would suffer without Jennifer's voice — and I guess they do — but the music is still pretty good.
(Not available at amazon.)
1997 Live, Secret Samadhi
Jennifer sings backing vocals on the song "Ghost." Originally I hadn't even bothered to put this on the discography. You don't really hear her that much, so this is a track to buy only if you have to have every last thing Jennifer sings.
1996 Firewater, Get Off the Cross
The full title of this CD is "Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire." Jennifer does the vocals on two tracks, "The Circus" and "Mr Cardiac." The latter is a fun song kind of reminiscent of beer-hall music or maybe Tom Waits. It's a great song, another must-have for the hardcore EF fan. (Thanks Z for the extra info.)
» Live But Not Recorded or Released
1996 Crazy Old Man
A jazzy track featuring JC, piano, and bass played live on radio in Los Angeles on 5 March 1996. According to a source close to the band, "Crazy Old Man" stems from EF's earliest studio recordings, a "jazz" disk that also included the released versions of "Diamonds All Day" and "Off Or Out." Together these three songs were the selections on EF's original demo that got the band signed!
2001 José's Christmas Trees
Played at the Cologne gig on 14 December 2001. Apparently this is some kind of holiday song written by Oren. I've never heard it myself. One lucky individual who has written me claims to have a studio recording of it. (Cover scan. CD scan. Merci, Jean-Paul.) Anybody else have a copy?
2001 52 Pickup
Played at gigs in 2001, broadcast on French radio 1 Dec 2001. The title appears to come from the card game "52 Pickup." The chorus in the lyrics repeats "Rolling the boulders up the stairs / we're throwing the cards up in the air / it keeps us busy but we don't care / we could be happy / oh yeah but it's far too easy."
2001 Do Like Me
Played at gigs in 2001. No known recordings of this song exist. (Anybody got one?)
2001 To One in Paradise
This is a Poe poem set to music. It may be as old as 1998, but it was apparently played live in LA on 31 Oct 2001, and it was definitely played live and broadcast on French radio on 4 Dec 2001.
2001 Heaven Hop
Cover of a Cole Porter tune played live on French radio on 4 Dec 2001.
2002 I Cover the Waterfront
Cover of a jazz standard played on French radio on 9 September 2002.
2003 Ill Wind
A 1934 jazz standard played by the band on French radio, Black Session 16 June 2003. Billie Holiday, who is a big influence on EF, also did a pretty great version of this song.
2003 Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Cover of Beatles song played at gigs in fall 2003.
2003 This Is Hardcore
Cover of Pulp song played at Lille 13 Dec 2003.
2004 People Are Strange
Doors cover played live at Joe's Pub on 8 July 2004, the gig celebrating the American release of Dreams That Breathe Your Name.
1998 Black Acres
This was originally to be EF's second CD (also known as The Albini Record aka The Lost Second Album). It was produced by Steve Albini but, subsequent to a dispute with the record label, Radioactive/Universal, the disk was abandoned. "Black Acres" and "Hearts Are Open Graves" were re-recorded for Queen of the Meadow, leaving other tracks to languish in Radioactive's vault. Other tracks thought to be on this CD are: "Flatline" (written by Ed Pastorini), "Mother Hen," "Red Light Ramble," "Up Jumped the Kitty," "Violet Rays," "Watch the Sky," and "Witness." According to an article on the now-defunct site allstarmag.com, EF also considered doing a cover of either Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted to You" or Nick Gilder's "Hot Child in the City" for the album... Apparently a boot called "Clinical Trial," which features some of these tracks, has circulated privately, and rumor has it that it may be floating around out there on the internet as well. ;-)
199? Annabel Lee, To One In Paradise
In an interview, Jennifer mentions that, in addition to "Dream Within a Dream" (which appears on Queen of the Meadow), EF set to music (and possibly recorded) two other poems by Edgar Allan Poe: "Annabel Lee" and "To One in Paradise." Apparently the songs have been played live at two Poe festivals (see the gigography for info on these).
1999 Black Dahlia, Jealousy, Magic Toy
These three tracks were made available in RealAudio by goodandevil.net, the web site of the Brooklyn studio where Queen of the Meadow and Dreams That Breathe Your Name were recorded. Obviously these tracks were recorded there too, apparently for a collaboration between Jennifer and the "illbient" group Liminal (which features EF's usual drummer Ben Perowsky and Danny Blume, who also runs Good and Evil). Some other tracks (not featuring Jennifer) from these sessions were also made available on goodandevil.net and on perowsky.com. It's too bad this material wasn't officially released, because it's really, really good.
|
|
