November is my least favorite month. Well, I’m not high on January, either, actually. They are both just such drags, coming off of the high of October and December, respectively. Bleah. You may remember that I have a philosophy about dealing with downers, vis a vis boobs and their efficacious curing powers therein.
‘Naked November’ by Gabrielle Chiapparini on flickr
I’ve decided to put that theory in to large play all this month, while exploring ideas about changing views of women’s sexuality, including mine. So welcome to NSFW November! Every day this month, I’ll be spotlighting Miss Novembers of Playboys past; it’s easier than searching out autumny-fancy-pants amateurs and, since I felt compelled to go commercial on this idea, part of pursuing that will be to explore the compulsion.
(Farewell, artistic free-spirited amateur nudes; I am switching over to commercial bullshit for the month. FOR SCIENCE.)
Maybe the interesting stuff to come out of this will be ideas about the photographs’ compositions, thoughts on the lady in question’s body shape, details of the model’s later contributions to society, or even factoids about the magazine itself at that time. We’ll see, yes?
I was browsing recently dropped records and singles yesterday when thanks to a really cool well-timed tip from a groovy reader across the Atlantic (thanks o, henri!) I stumbled via recordstore.co.uk over the debut album of McIntosh Ross, The Great Lakes, and my breath was totally taken away. Holy cats, you guys! So amazing!
The Scottish husband-wife-duo of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh have recorded together before, being longtime bandmates of the recently reunited Glasgow group Deacon Blue (Raintown, “Dignity,” “Wages Day”). As if they did not already have their hands full making landmark alternative music with that outfit, the pair also just released their first solo album September 28 (two days ago) and it is unbelievably beautiful. The music they wrote and recorded with Deacon Blue was mainly working class, alternative anthems about life in Glasgow and the like. The songs on this record, The Great Lakes, are just soaring and ethereal and purely, it seems, love songs to one another.
McIntosh Ross – All My Trust I Place In You
One day we’ll know
One day we’ll see
‘Til then we’ll walk
And believe
This video for me shows exactly why The Great Lakes is such a modest and beautiful record. What is most right and touching about the compositions on this LP is that these are not your we’re-young-and-hot, I-want-to-jump-you, Beyonce and Jay-Z smash hit sexytimes songs, either (no disrespect to hip-hop’s royal couple intended, I’m just saying they are new to the lovesong duet game, comparatively). This whole album is about enduring, longstanding love. Like this track, “Bluebell Wood,” and its repeated line, “Today’s the day we got married in June.” The haunting refrain sounds like an old folk song, and the way McIntosh glides her voice around it, it feels like you are hearing her call you across the moors, yet there is no mourning. It’s just … perfect.
McIntosh Ross – Bluebell Wood
Today’s the day we got married in June
All of the bluebells were out in the wood
We danced to our song
And stepped in the car
Drove under a blanket of stars
Today’s the day we got married in June
Simple words, a simple memory she is describing, yet it is somehow, in their hands, achingly poignant. Because it is …
I realized these Music Moment posts tend to run really long because I like music way too much, and can’t bear to only give you half the story on someone I think is really special, so click here to keep reading about wonderful McIntosh Ross and see more pictures, hear more music, and suchlike, because they are mind-blowing in their awesomeness… Continue reading, hear more music, and all of it!
The Thought Experiment 