From the Grave. Notable Posthumous Music Releases
Inspired by last entry on Johnny Cash & Jimi Hendrix's new albums, I have decided to create this brief list. Doing this makes me think that it is impossible to ignore, the fact that whenever an artist dies, there are always two kinds of people who want to take chance of the occassion. Some of them might actually wish to remark this person's importance to his medium, or save his legacy for the future generations, however, there is a whole other group of people who have a different idea in their heads (€€€).
Posthumous releases have been around for a while, that's probably because nobody knows for sure when their hour comes, and the hooded figure might just find them in the middle of their work. Famous literary examples are Machievelli's "The Prince" or Franz Kafka's "The Trial", "The Castle" and "America", which he made his friend swear to destroy. Which he didn't. I guess in movie industry, the most notable release, or the one gaining more attention, has been Heath Ledger's Joker performance on "The Dark Knight".
But my main passion is music, and therefore, I will briefly list some famous posthumous releases in the music industry. In no particular order (wikipedia appearance, jejeje.)
1. Joey Ramone - Don't Worry About Me
The perfect posthumous album has to be released with no more than a year of the artist's death. Even though, Joey released numerous albums as The Ramones singer, Joey Ramone's only studio album was recorded on his last two years of life, and released one year later in 2002. As is many the case with such releases, the album features a song which seems like the artist is talking to us from the grave. Joey's cover of Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World" is surely it.
2. Joe Strummer - Streetcore
Keeping in the line of diseased, once vocal frontmen from Punk bands, I continue with Joe Strummer. Strummer was the singer in The Clash for 10 years, until the band realized they were not worth it anymore. Strummer formed the band Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, and this was their third studio recordings, which features a lot of vocal tracks taken from a single take.
3. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
April the fifth, marked the date of the last music icon to die. That day, Kurt Cobain passed away at the scaring age of 27 (same as Morrison, Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix). Many have noted that the band's last performance for the show MTV Unplugged, scarily looks like a funeral, with candles and velvet all over the place, the only thing that could make it feel more like a goodbye is the closing track, Kurt's take on a traditional folk song.
4. Joy Division - Closer
Although Ian Curtis' most "from the grave" sounding song is found on the unreleased on studio albums "Atmosphere", accompanied by an excellent video by Anton Corbjin, Closer is far from sounding lively. Intesifying the sound which made a murky dark experience out of their debut Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division return with this gloomy masterpiece, which I admit to be personally scared of.
5. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill & New Moon
Elliott Smith always had emotional and personal problems which had reflected on his lyrics for his previous albums, therefore, it its not really a surprise that he ended up taking his own life in 2003. At that time, Elliott was working on From A Basement on the Hill, for which he had a colelction of 30 songs, some lacking vocals, which had to be narrowed down to a 15 tracks album. New Moon was taken from the sessions of the recordings of his 1995 self-titled album and 1997s Either/Or
Posthumous releases have been around for a while, that's probably because nobody knows for sure when their hour comes, and the hooded figure might just find them in the middle of their work. Famous literary examples are Machievelli's "The Prince" or Franz Kafka's "The Trial", "The Castle" and "America", which he made his friend swear to destroy. Which he didn't. I guess in movie industry, the most notable release, or the one gaining more attention, has been Heath Ledger's Joker performance on "The Dark Knight".
But my main passion is music, and therefore, I will briefly list some famous posthumous releases in the music industry. In no particular order (wikipedia appearance, jejeje.)
1. Joey Ramone - Don't Worry About Me
| Joey Ramone - What A Wonderful World .mp3 | ||
 | ||
 | Found at bee mp3 search engine |  |
The perfect posthumous album has to be released with no more than a year of the artist's death. Even though, Joey released numerous albums as The Ramones singer, Joey Ramone's only studio album was recorded on his last two years of life, and released one year later in 2002. As is many the case with such releases, the album features a song which seems like the artist is talking to us from the grave. Joey's cover of Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World" is surely it.
2. Joe Strummer - Streetcore
| Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - Coma Girl .mp3 | ||
| | ||
| Found at bee mp3 search engine | |
Keeping in the line of diseased, once vocal frontmen from Punk bands, I continue with Joe Strummer. Strummer was the singer in The Clash for 10 years, until the band realized they were not worth it anymore. Strummer formed the band Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, and this was their third studio recordings, which features a lot of vocal tracks taken from a single take.
3. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
| Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night .mp3 | ||
| | ||
| Found at bee mp3 search engine | |
April the fifth, marked the date of the last music icon to die. That day, Kurt Cobain passed away at the scaring age of 27 (same as Morrison, Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix). Many have noted that the band's last performance for the show MTV Unplugged, scarily looks like a funeral, with candles and velvet all over the place, the only thing that could make it feel more like a goodbye is the closing track, Kurt's take on a traditional folk song.
4. Joy Division - Closer
| Joy Division - The Eternal .mp3 | ||
| | ||
| Found at bee mp3 search engine | |
Although Ian Curtis' most "from the grave" sounding song is found on the unreleased on studio albums "Atmosphere", accompanied by an excellent video by Anton Corbjin, Closer is far from sounding lively. Intesifying the sound which made a murky dark experience out of their debut Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division return with this gloomy masterpiece, which I admit to be personally scared of.
5. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill & New Moon
| Elliott Smith - Pretty .mp3 | ||
| | ||
| Found at bee mp3 search engine | |
Elliott Smith always had emotional and personal problems which had reflected on his lyrics for his previous albums, therefore, it its not really a surprise that he ended up taking his own life in 2003. At that time, Elliott was working on From A Basement on the Hill, for which he had a colelction of 30 songs, some lacking vocals, which had to be narrowed down to a 15 tracks album. New Moon was taken from the sessions of the recordings of his 1995 self-titled album and 1997s Either/Or
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