I’m rebooting my plyometrics/weights program this evening. And after my failed fartlek run yesterday, Lord knows I need to. So I’ve been hydrating my ass off today through my morning swim workout and, well, here’s hoping this goes a bit better. Afterwards, I’m going to sit in on a yoga class for some additional core strengthening but, first, I have these damnable hopping and leaping drills to complete. My ear candy throughout is the ‘The Sound of Speed‘ album by The Jesus & Mary Chain.
‘The Sound of Speed’ is really just a compilation of singles and rare tracks by the Scottish alternative due; the second in a trilogy of “odds n’ sods” releases (click HERE for the first).
The period covered here is 1989-1993, collecting most of the B-sides from ‘Automatic‘ and ‘Honey’s Dead‘. ‘Snakedriver‘ provides the best reason for picking this up, a classic Jesus and Mary Chain song in the sleazy, bluesy, “Beach Boys on lots of smack” mold. ‘Write Record Release Blues‘ skewers the Man while poking fun at themselves; one major demand: “Leave me in peaceful abject misery”. The radio mix of ‘Reverence‘ doesn’t sound any friendlier than the original, adding two minutes to the wailing beast of an ending and what almost sounds like The Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog‘. Maybe it’s just me. Whatever it is, desperate, immature malevolence doesn’t get any better.
Speaking of reverence, this album offers another clutch of covers, including Leonard Cohen’s ‘Tower of Song‘ (pleasantly dirgeful), The Temptations‘ ‘My Girl‘ (because, hey, why not?), Willie Dixon’s ‘Little Red Rooster‘, the 13th Floor Elevators‘ ‘Reverberation‘ (jug-free), and Jerry Reed’s ‘Guitarman‘. How’s that for eclectic?
Other highlights in this decent package include the nasty ‘Lowlife‘ and an eight-minute version of ‘Sidewalking‘ that should please those who like the sludgy battering of the regular version. The only throwaway really is ‘Deviant Slice‘. What the fuck guys?
Anyway, it was good soundtrack for a totally sweaty ass-kicking. I swear, now that the area is closed there is literally no air moving whatsoever and this just happens where I set up all my stuff for my 3 sets of plyometrics. By the end of the first set, I was already leaking bodily fluids at a stupid rate…especially after the 10 “Sebastians”. What’s a Sebastian you ask? Suck personified…that’s what. Never mind three sets of them. Anyway, I got them done along with the other drills in my set and completely soaked through my shirt in the first 8 minutes alone. Needless to say, I didn’t smell too great either.
