LateNightTales

Midlake disclosed their music preferences

The Late Night Tales series has already gained a wide popularity among music lovers from all over the world. The concept of these compilations, released by the independent Late Night Tales label, is pretty simple and this makes it even more attractive. The tracklist is compiled by a chosen famous contemporary performer and includes songs by those musicians who influenced this performer’s music most of all. This time, the authors of the collection are the musicians of the American rock band Midlake from Texas. The ensemble was assembled in 1999, but Europe got to know it not long ago. After releasing in 2010 their record The Courage Of Others, the Americans made a big step forward and drew even more support from beyond the States. This is Midlake who were honored to coordinate the new release from Late Night Tales, that will mark the tenth anniversary of this series. The collection features 19 tracks mostly presented by British folk-acts who played their best songs many years ago.

All those who had to be here

The selection of numerous performers from the United Kingdom is logical. Midlake’s last to date long player, The Courage Of Others (2010) certainly borrowed lots of ideas and tricks from the British music legacy of the distant sixties and seventies. Therefore do not be surprised to find here such tracks as Genesis Hall (Fairport Convention) or The Blacksmith (Steeleye Span). Midlake paid their tribute to the American scene as well. They have always expressed a certain attraction to The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Band. The presence of Bjork’s song Unravel is quite expected here too. The Scandinavian singer’s name is mentioned among personal favorites by so many musicians who work in completely different genre fields. Midlake are just one of them. However, beside what was well foreseen and looks quite explainable here, Late Night Tales also contains those tracks which infringe the stylistic harmony of the collection and turn into very pleasant surprises.

Late Night Tales sensations

One of the compilation’s biggest revelations is Midlake’s own contribution. They offered a very special remake of Black Sabbath classic Am I Going Insane. The hard rock legends could scarcely ever think that their music may sound so captivating if transformed into folk. Another standout piece is Coldest Night Of The Year, carried over to us by the old pop-music act Twice As Much and Vashti. The astonishingly impressive and catchy vocals turn a simple song into a big number. Discovery number one for the bug audience here is Time’s The Thief by the Scottish outfit Bread, Love And Dreams. This ensemble may be well-known only to most keen experts of the genre and released only three records about forty years ago. Nevertheless their song looks very suitable to this kind of collection. To sum up it is necessary to say that Late Night Tales from Midlake is a profound and attentive look into the preferences and music roots of the band. Moreover, the genre’s fans may find a lot of interesting performers whom they might have not known well before.