London Book of the Dead (Dig)

The Real Tuesday Weld | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 28, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Six Degrees
• ASIN: B000SNUNHO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,234 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blood Sugar Love

2. The Decline and Fall of the Clerkenwell Kid

3. It's a Wonderful Li(f)E

4. Cloud Cuckooland

5. Kix

6. Love Sugar Blood

7. I Loved London

8. I Believe

9. Song for William

10. Waltz for One

11. Ruth, Roses and Revolvers

12. Dorothy Parker Blue

13. Last Words

14. Into the Trees

15. Bringing the Body Back Home

16. Apart

Editorial Reviews

Pitchfork Media

"The Real Tuesday Weld's ambitious, anachronistic whimsy is an all too rare commodity in pop, particularly because Coates never deigns to remove the yawning distance between singer and narrator...the strikingly old-fashioned arrangements and the production and songwriting updating them make for some unusual and rewarding juxtapositions. There's a fine album here."

"Coates peruses various styles and eras, taking choice elements from each and blending them into palatable morsels that fit right into today's progressives styles. The London Book of the Dead gives yesterday's music its due, and in the process brings an elegance and refinement to the sound of today."

"Stephen Coates (aka the Real Tuesday Weld), a man obsessed with using styles from the past to create something quite new. He's not just sampling sonic bits from the dustbin. He's employing modern technology, and a stable of guest musicians, to cast music history in a decidedly avant light. His love of sonic antiques is genuine, and it's balanced with a gorgeous flair for the surreal. Ultimately, Coates has hit on a marvelous mean between the neo-jazz of Leon Redbone and the crinkly modernity of Coco Rosie, in the process blurring past and present into a time warp all his own."

Product Description

The Real Tuesday Weld, a.k.a. British singer-songwriter and audio provocateur Stephen Coates has charmed critics and audiences alike by wedding the suggestive hiss of vintage vinyl and ancient radio transmissions to the latest samples, loops and glitchy beats, creating a signature sound he calls "antique beat". London Book of the Dead may be a startlingly morose title, and it's true that the album's lyrical concerns drift dreamily between such weighty topics as death, religious faith, honesty, drugs, and disease. But even when the going gets dark and introspective, there's an element of whimsy that is never far from the surface. "Last Words" is possibly the most accessible track. This catchy "electro-pop" tune is now being used extensively in the highly anticipated film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See the world the way dreamers do..., August 30, 2007

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: London Book of the Dead (Dig) (Audio CD)

The Real Tuesday Weld aka the Clerkenwell Kid aka Stephen Coates has always been quirky. And "The London Book of The Dead" reaches a new apex of oddness for this British artist, who happily splashes the album with Tin-Pan-Alley electro-jazz weirdness, mingled in with misty ballads and colourful vintage pop.

A church bell. A gentle guitar melody tinged with bells. "I was born." More guity. "And not very much was said about it." With that opening, Coates slips into a melancholy little ballad that sounds like Sufjan Stevens underwater: "Life is good/when you're fearing love/life is good/when you're filled with blood" through bubbles and ripples.

Things get more uptempo with "The Decline and Fall of the Clerkenwell Kid," a sprightly pop tune full of banjo, sax and piano. And they continue along those lines with some serious fusion music, blending the new and old -- we get experimental and electronica, woven into the edges of vintage pop'n'jazz with a Tin Pan Alley sound. It sounds like it was hijacked from an antique radio.

And there are some songs that don't really fit into the Real Tuesday Weld's usual sound -- pale, ethereal ambient ballads, bittersweet violin melodies, and the gloriously tight "Ruth, Roses and Revolvers," which sounds like a quirky noir theme.

If "The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid" was a a bright, sunnier return from devil jazz, then "The London Book of the Dead" matches its melancholy title. Wickedly sharp lyrics ("... the cheapest thrills/they mean more to me now/than you do"), and a feeling of wistful beauty fill the songs, but Coates never quite loses his whimsical edge.

The music is a beautiful cacophony shaped into sprightly jazz-pop -- saxophone, harmonica, tambourine, guitar, flute, plinky and/or rippling piano, aching violin and jazzy drums all make the core of the songs come alive, heavily wrapped in electronic swooshes and squiggles. And then there are stretches of pure, exquisite ambient electronica, flavoured with a female vocalist murmuring something unintelligible.

The last detail would be some pretty samples sprinkled on the edges -- church bells, birds, water bubbling. And Coates filters certain songs so that they sound like they're being piped from an ancient radio, giving you the feeling that you've accidentally tripped over some ancient, forgotten record.

With music that rich, it almost seems superfluous to mention that there's actual singing here. But Coates' voice is worth noting -- smooth, mellow and meditative, singing songs of unsure love, disease, drugs, death "wonderful lies" and some film mockery ("Let's make a film/it'll be such fun/all you need's a girl and gun, apparently...").

"The London Book of The Dead" is less macabre than it sounds, but that whimsical music is pricelessly melancholy. Like sipping champagne in a beautifully ruined city.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing as usual.., January 19, 2008

By 

Ima Musicnut "DeeDee" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London Book of the Dead (Dig) (Audio CD)

I became familiar with the music of The Real Tuesday Weld aka Stephen Coates a few years ago. I can honestly say that I have never been diappointed with his quirky,funny, sometimes painfully honest lyrics and the wonderful music in which they are set. This is a great CD as are all of his releases.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, October 26, 2007

By 

Daniel B. Ward - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: London Book of the Dead (Dig) (Audio CD)

The first Real Tuesday Weld song I ever heard was "I Believe," on WYSO's eclectic radio show Excursions. Lyrics like "I believe in people who I believe believe in love" have a tendency to catch my attention.

Then I found "Bathtime in Clerkenwell" on their MySpace page, and was completely enraptured, even though there were no lyrics at all.

This is some really great stuff, and it's like nothing else I'd ever heard before. It's unique, catchy, engaging, funny and definitely worthwhile.