max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular

fine videos daily:
1960s on mon
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri


feat. the beatles, aretha franklin, neil young, dr. dre, will oldham, serge gainsbourg, the kinks, harry nilsson, dusty springfield, the clash, the smiths, al green, rolling stones, cat power, yo la tengo, stevie wonder, antony, wilco, elvis, talking heads, elliott smith, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, velvet underground, the monochrome set, randy newman, cure & queen


i write for the nyo, live in nyc, am 25, please email here


"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck


see the archives & a random post


"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso


"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul


"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus


"she had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits


"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum. -john cale


"i’ve still got things inside me, sad things, happy things, that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn


"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly


"i'm going to boogie my scruples away." -lowell george


"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex


gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom


"keep a clean nose, watch the plain-clothes." -bob dylan


"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson


"i could even find it in my heart to love mike love." -belle & sebastian


"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" - shoot the piano player


"i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne


"lyrics choochoo from my mouth like locomotion." - pato banton


"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector


"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen


"they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe


"he's got a mind like a sewer, and a heart like a fridge" -elvis costello


"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home." -gram parsons


"i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face." -woody allen

"where have you been all my life?" -
emmylou harris


"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police." -david bowie


brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk


ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch


#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun


"the only word is love." -john lennon


thelonious monk's middle name: sphere


"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff." -radiohead


"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash


"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues


"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead.” -pete seeger


"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau


mashable.com says about us: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy." and 33 1/3 says: "it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."


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the left banke - pretty ballerina (1967)

well, i’ve found a new favorite song. the verses sound like belle and sebastian covering the velvet underground, the chorus is elliott smith playing a bach cantata, and the bridge is so perfect that leonard bernstein tried to do it live on his 1967 tv show (if anyone has footage of that, i’d appreciate it). also, the left banke’s pianist wrote the song, but it’s about the bassist’s girlfriend. sigh.

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#602: belle and sebastian - your cover’s blown (2004)

in honor of the fine folks at free williamsburg, who figured out a way to get tickets to belle and sebastian’s upcoming new york outdoor extravaganza without lining the pockets of those nefarious gigglers at ticketmaster, here are the nine songs i’m most excited to hear when stuart murdoch and his scottish lads show up in a few months. a song for each dollar you’ll save! and with corresponding lyrical gems!

1. your cover’s blown: “hey lady, meet my mum and dad”

2. jonathan david: “there’s room on my wooden horse for two”

3. lazy line painter jane: ”being a rebel is fine, but you go all the way to being brutal.”

4. take your carriage clock and shove it“he paused in the silence to pull down his tie and observe the melee” 

5. step into my office, baby: “she gave me some dictation, but my strength is in administration, i took down all she said”

6. the model: “i’m not too proud to say that i’m okay with the girl next door who’s famous for showing her chest”

7. judy and the dream of horses:  ”you will fall asleep with ants in your pants”

8. the loneliness of the middle distance runner: “the future’s looking colorful, it’s the color of blood, chaos and corruption of a happy soul”

9. the boy with the arab strap: “i compare notes with your older sister, i am a lazy gett, she is as pure as the cold driven snow”

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happy thoughts about belle and sebastian’s upcoming nyc show aside, i wonder what would happen if their perfect album covers had a bloody battle to the death with the smiths’ very extraordinary cover art (and posters). who would win? no one can say for sure, although certainly there would be a lot of very well art-directed carnage.

happy thoughts about belle and sebastian’s upcoming nyc show aside, i wonder what would happen if their perfect album covers had a bloody battle to the death with the smiths’ very extraordinary cover art (and posters). who would win? no one can say for sure, although certainly there would be a lot of very well art-directed carnage.

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#583: beach boys - surfer girl (live, 1964)

brian wilson always gets his due, because he writes songs that are pure and sweet and true and perfect. and just look at the way he holds his bass! but it’s important to remember his underappreciated band mates. “i love my carl, i love my brian, my dennis, and my al,” belle and sebastian once said, “i could even find it in my heart to love mike love.”

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a beautiful painting i made, #1: no offense to the other guys (and girl) in the band, but wouldn’t it be nice if all the members of belle and sebastian looked like lead-singer stuart murdoch? i made this picture a moment ago, and i hope it makes you say: “hahahah. charming!”

a beautiful painting i made, #1: no offense to the other guys (and girl) in the band, but wouldn’t it be nice if all the members of belle and sebastian looked like lead-singer stuart murdoch? i made this picture a moment ago, and i hope it makes you say: “hahahah. charming!”

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#13: belle and sebastian - step into my office, baby (2003)

writing in the yale daily news five years ago, i called this video “a volkswagen advertisement on ecstasy.” (that’s the best line in the article, which is not very good—i was 18).

watch out for the entire band’s cameo in the video’s wonderful party scene.  oh and this is the last belle and sebastian video for a quite a while.

so enjoy it, baby.

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#12: belle and sebastian - lazy line painter jane (1997)

i don’t know why the scottish singer monica queen never sang with belle and sebastian ever again, but maybe it’s because the tune she joined them on was so twangy and perfect that it couldn’t be bettered. poor monica queen.

i’m not crazy about the first half of this video, but then we get to see late-90s belle and sebastian rocking out in a little room together: clapping hands, jumping with guitars on, thumping pianos, and harmonizing like little indie rock cherubs.

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#11: belle and sebastian - jonathan david (2001)

there’s a section in heaven roped off just for glasgow art bands that make hilariously kitschy videos for their insanely catchy pop music. in other words, god made belle and sebastian and then he smiled and said: “they are totally a great band.”

i wish i could say jonathan david is my favorite belle and sebastian song, but what about judy and the dream of horses, or get me away from here i’m dying, or the model, or especially take your carriage clock and shove it? tough to say.

this i know for sure: jonathan david is the best song about a love triangle i know of, and maybe the peppiest song about heartbreak too. and this video? the fake mustachioed 70s singer? the sad clown? the kiss? pure gold!

it makes me so giddy that i’m posting two more belle and sebastian videos later today.

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