New Live Fiery Furnaces - "Wicker Whatnots"

If you've seen two Fiery Furnaces concerts, odds are one left you totally blown away, and the other left you totally confused. The Friedbergers do not play the same show twice -- not in song choice, and definitely not in song arrangement, each show bringing de novo interpretations of tunes' structure, time signature, composition, etc. Often the only thread's the lyrics. So where most live albums are basically documents of a band's stage banter on a given tour, a Fiery Furnaces live record stands to be an aggressive, progressive Fiery Furnaces covers record -- performed by the Fiery Furnaces. So, pretty cool that they're releasing one.

Remember is a 51-track double record (triple LP), spanning the whole catalogue, from various performances dating back to 2005. The sample we've got for you here comes from last year's Widow City. "Wicker Whatnots"' album version is all jagged shards of rhythm guitar and busy backbeat. It's streamlined on Remember, and certainly reinvented: the verses coming with full on acid jazzy vamping, the chorus (Eleanor asking "How do you arrange a room around a baby grand piano...") trading the original's creepy duskiness for an uplifting major key shift, all winding organ tones and brief release. It's a great take, and you may as well hear it now, because you'll never hear it this way again.

The Fiery Furnaces - "Wicker Whatnots (Live)" (MP3)

That pic's from their set at Bonnaroo this year, where they kicked a lot of ass, and had cardboard cutouts of Eleanor's glam Converse photo shoot surf the crowd. The Friedbergers have one more show on their spring tour, and it's this weekend at the Pemberton Music Festival up in Canada. We have a photographer on the grounds, so expect some photos from the fest soon.

Remember is out in late August via Thrill Jockey. Here's the massive tracklist:

Disc 1
01 "Intro" 0:41
02 "Blueberry Boat" 8:27
03 "Single Again" 3:33
04 "Two Fat Feet" 2:28
05 "Don't Dance Her Down" 3:26
06 "Single Again (Reprise)" 2:03
07 "Wicker Whatnots" 2:55
08 "Little Thatched Hut" 4:12
09 "I'm In No Mood" 2:59
10 "Black-Hearted Boy" 2:38
11 "Bitter Tea" 2:47
12 "Waiting To Know You" 1:34
13 "Vietnamese Telephone Ministry" 2:46
14 "Oh Sweet Woods" 2:31
15 "Borneo" 3:30
16 "Benton Harbor Blues" 1:41
17 "Japanese Slippers" 2:23
18 "Benton Harbor Blues (Reprise)" 1:03
19 "Whistle Rhapsody" 1:52
20 "Crystal Clear" 1:39
21 "Whistle Rhapsody (Reprise)" 1:15
22 "Teach Me Sweetheart" 3:41
23 "Evergreen" 1:37
24 "Bitter Tea (Reprise)" 1:30
(TT 1:03:12)

Disc 2
01 "Chris Michaels" 6:57
02 "Quay Cur" 8:17
03 "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found" 2:52
04 "Spaniolated" 2:01
05 "Name Game" 2:27
06 "Birdie Brain" 2:28
07 "1917" 3:08
08 "Slavin' Away (Intro)" 0:18
09 "Tropical Ice-land" 3:29
10 "Asthma Attack" 1:44
11 "Tropical Ice-land (Reprise)" 0:26
12 "The Wayward Granddaughter" 4:38
13 "The Garfield El" 1:48
14 "A Candymaker's Knife In My Handbag" 1:08
15 "Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second St." 2:40
16 "Slavin\' Away" 2:58
17 "Seven Silver Curses" 1:40
18 "Clear Signal From Cairo" 1:37
19 "I'm Gonna Run" 2:26
20 "Here Comes The Summer" 3:15
21 "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" 2:31
22 "Automatic Husband" 1:38
23 "Ex-Guru" 2:34
24 "Clear Signal From Cairo (Reprise)" 1:39
25 "Philadelphia Grand Jury" 1:13
26 "Navy Nurse" 0:59
27 "Uncle Charlie" 2:17
(TT 1:09:13)

Posted at 5:31 PM by amrit in MP3
Tags: The Fiery Furnaces

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8 Comments

Hi! It's The Lemur over @ The Lemur Blog http://thelemurblog.blogspot.com/
Sunday July 27 is my birthday and I'm reaching out with this mass-created message to all 100-something blogs in my blogroll asking them to send me a nice birthday track! I would like a track to thelemurblog@hotmail.com by Sunday, when I will be posting all tracks in a nice mix - of course linking to the blogs by their respective tracks! Thanks in advance!

Yours sincerely, The Lemur

Posted by: The Lemur at 07/25/08 5:45 PM | Reply
Score = -4

Yeah, and while you're at it, please forward $1 to my PayPal account.

Posted by: Chris in reply to The Lemur's comment at 07/25/08 5:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Sold. Hook, line, sinker. This beats having to listen to their grams tell long, wandering stories, anyway.

Posted by: Dainon at 07/26/08 2:12 AM | Reply
Score = 0

Eleanor is so damn sexy

Posted by: Artie at 07/26/08 3:22 AM | Reply
Score = 1

hey, I'm looking for a download from somewhere round jan 06 to july/august 06 but i forget the name of the band, can you please help?

Some of the lyrics are;

i flew to you!!
You met me, long distance, you screamed my name!!!

Somewhere downloaded with micah p hinson...

Posted by: lars shalom david at 07/26/08 9:05 AM | Reply
Score = 1

Sounds great.. this actually sounds more like an in-studio recording than a live one, the mix is so clear.

Posted by: Richie at 07/26/08 3:04 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Very funky. The arrangement and lyrical delivery sound a little like mod beatnik. I might just have to pick this one up.

Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison at 07/27/08 12:18 AM | Reply
Score = 0

yay! Eleanor actually sounds good on this track, all the live shows i've seen she's been shouting all the words and i got completely turned off any live stuff. might buy this one.

Posted by: sophie at 07/28/08 6:04 AM | Reply
Score = 0