This Strange Engine

The Ten Best Things to Happen During the 2000's

2009-11-14T11:52:00.007-06:00

The music of the 2000's (I refuse to use the term 'aughts') is unfortunately going to be remembered for everything but the actual music. It will be remembered for the steady (yet somewhat deserved) decline of the previous century's music industry, as well as the splintering of musical tastes and disintegration of the mainstream.

The most notable thing about the decade's music was, in reality, the lack of any notable thing happening. Every decade/generation was defined by a band or movement: The British Invasion, Punk, Disco, New Wave, Nirvana, Britpop. For ten years, the 2000's screamed for a Nevermind, something to rid the world of post-grunge Creed clones and reinvigorate the musical landscape, and instead we got...Nickelback. Not to say there wasn't any great music in the last ten years, but nothing meaningful seemed to emerge from the clusterfuck of niches and cult bands to truly capture our imagination on a grand scale. Somehow, Billboard still compiles a top 100, which now consists of songs you probably haven't heard unless they've been used as the soundtrack to a viral YouTube video.

It's a strange decade we lived through (whether we survived is another matter entirely), but one that's better summed up in ideas, rather than albums you may or may not have heard. And so, the ten best things to happen to music in the 2000's:

1. Creed breaks up. It's easy to rail on their generic sound, scarcely concealed CCM lyrics, and Scott Stapp's desire to be the post-grunge Bono, almost too easy for it to be any fun. Admittedly, there were worse bands (Limp Bizkit) and worse frontman personalities (Limp Bizkit), but few combined soulless, corporate music with overreaching douchebaggery in a more obnoxious way than Creed. This wasn't the momentous event we hoped it would be, but at least we were spared from hearing "With Arms Wide Open" for a good chunk of the decade. Now if only we could get the guy from Nickelback on a helicopter...

2. The Internet

The internet may have killed the music industry and it's 50-year old business model, but it certainly didn't kill music. While the turn of this decade still brings more questions than answers about the future of music and the best way to reach an audience, the underlying truth is that people are listening to and discovering more music than ever before. It is a double-edged sword, in that the landscape is more cluttered with bands vying for any attention they can get, but 15+ years ago, they wouldn't have even had a prayer of reaching anyone outside their area code. While we're still waiting for the internet to provide the kind of filter radio provided in the 60's and MTV did in the 80's, at least the internet gave us a reason to never listen to Clear Channel radio stations again.

3. The Bush Administration/Iraq War
Okay, clearly this was the worst thing to happen to the U.S. in decades, if not in our country's history, but the minor upside was that it seemed to ignite a simultaneous spark in politically-minded artists in a way that hadn't been seen since Vietnam, both on record and on stage. Sure, Neil Young's Living With War is already a bit dated, but plenty of others weighed in with spectacular results, from Nine Inch Nails ("The Hand That Feeds," much of Year Zero) to Springsteen (Magic), resulting in some of their most inspired work in years. For the first time in over 30 years, there was a body of music created with a common purpose, something that was otherwise severely lacking in the musical culture of this decade.

4. YouTube/Twitter

This will also likely make the list of 'Worst Things,' but the effect both of these sites have had on the way we perceive music and musicians is indisputable. Yes, the guy next to you who insists on filming the entire show is the modern-day version of the "Freebird" guy, but being able to see performances that previously would have been mere legend is a godsend for music geeks. Sure, most are of dubious quality, but it's about sharing the live experience and getting even a taste of the buzz that was in the room that night. Likewise, artist Twitter pages have begun tearing down the wall between musician and fan in ways that were impossible ten years ago, seemingly ending the era of untouchable, larger-than-life rock stars. Youtube, Twitter, and other similar developments are facilitating a musical future that is about accessibility, participation, and interaction, and the artists that adapt to this landscape are going to be the ones who survive into the 2010's.

5. Deluxe Editions

The music industry sustained it's decades-old business model much longer than it should have by continually finding ways to sell people the same music repeatedly. While cash-in reissues still dominated the shelves, there was a small but welcome trend of fan-friendly deluxe reissues of classic LP's. The best of these instantly became essential listening: reissues of R.E.M.'s first two albums added full-length live discs from the band's raw, formative years, while definitive issues of the Allman's At Fillmore East and The Who's Live At Leeds finally restored the concerts to their full lengths. Amidst all the excrement, new and vintage, that the labels put out, year after year, it was refreshing to see a series of well thought-out reissues directed at the type of fans the industry needs most.

6.
It hasn't launched in the U.S. yet; whether the labels pull their heads out of their asses long enough to allow this to happen remains to be seen, but in Europe, Spotify has succeeded where almost all music startups have previously failed. By offering exactly what people want (on-demand, free streaming) in a simple, familiar interface that everyone can understand, the service has established itself as a serious contender for that oft-used "future of music" label. Unfortunately it's lack of fine-print, restrictions, and complications that give it such a straightforward user experience may be what keeps it from launching Stateside, but Spotify has proven that there is an audience for this type of online distribution, if the labels can back off enough to allow it to happen.

7. Bruce Springsteen

After spending most of the 90's unsuccessfully attempting to distance himself from the confines of the E-Street Band, Bruce reconvened the group for a well-received reunion tour in 1999. Beginning with the 9/11-inspired The Rising, Springsteen embarked on his busiest decade yet, releasing no less than 3 E-Street Band studio albums, the largely acoustic Devils & Dust and the big-band Pete Seeger tribute We Shall Overcome. While this year's Working On A Dream was clearly one album too many, the four major releases that emerged between 2002 and 2007 were among his best, and offered the kind of reflection and commentary on this tumultuous decade that few artists could equal. In between, Springsteen was a road warrior, mounting three extensive tours with the E-Street band, a 2005 solo tour, and the 2006 Seeger Sessions tour. After spending the previous decade stumbling for direction, both the sheer amount of material Springsteen unleashed, and it's high quality and diversity were among the most welcome surprises of the decade.

8. Vinyl

The vinyl comeback has been a bit overhyped, since it still only accounts for a very small percentage of overall sales, but after nearly a decade of mp3's, iTunes and a renewed focus on singles over albums, there is at least a revitalized audience, not only for analogue sound, but for the album concept in general. Whether it's just a retro fad or a permanent niche market, it has successfully led to hundreds of classic albums being reissued on high quality vinyl, allowing them to be heard exactly the way they were originally intended by a generation that grew up on often-questionable CD masters of Are You Experienced or The Unforgettable Fire.

9. Guitar Hero/Rock Band.
I've played Guitar Hero exactly one time, back in 2005 when it originated. I sucked at it. Royally. And while I understood some of the appeal, I have no idea how it became the phenomenon it did. But while, as a "real" musician, it seems a little silly, the fact that there's millions of kids playing digital air guitar to Deep Purple and Van Halen offers quite a bit of hope for the future of rock. If that's what it takes to gets kids excited by music and participating in it on some level, it's a positive thing. If even a few of them decide to try to learn those songs on real guitars, maybe in ten years it will be cool to be good at your instrument again. We can only hope.

10. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.
Raising Sand was critically praised to the point where presumably even Radiohead became envious, and while it's a brilliant, atmospheric piece of modern Americana, it is even more significant for what it signified for artists of Plant's generation. Granted, only the most elite of 60's and 70's superstars are in Plant's financial and career position, but Plant not only confounded expectations via his collaboration with Krauss, but singlehandedly axed the most potentially lucrative reunion tour in history to pursue it. Many of his contemporaries have dabbled in more experimental endeavors, but did so quietly without abandoning their endless stream of oldies tours. Hopefully Plant's recent activities will serve as inspiration for other aging rockers to continue evolving, experimenting, and above all, taking chances well beyond their glory days.

Review: U2, Soldier Field, Chicago 9/12 & 9/13, 2009

2009-09-15T10:55:00.008-05:00

Bono & Co. rolled into Chicago to open the U.S. leg of the 360 Tour, the band's first American stadium outing in over a decade, and possibly for the first time, Bono's presence (and ego) was not the biggest, most dominating thing in the room. The centerpiece of the tour, of course, isn't the band, or the songs, but "the claw," a 164-foot tall monstrosity that makes most Rolling Stones tours look like high school theatre by comparison. One could either praise the band for continually reinventing their stage shows, or deride them for placing spectacle over music, and both would be valid criticisms. In the end though, Bono's Spaceship and it's associated lighting and video elements were, if nothing else, a lot of fun, and certainly nothing anyone had seen before.

Basking in the sheer wonder of the structure certainly aided the first chunk of the show: four songs from the largely tepid and unfocused No Line On The Horizon opened the show, and even the only the fourth song, "Magnificent," really gained any traction onstage. Even one blast of "I Will Follow" sprinkled amidst the show opening would have been infinitely welcome, however it wasn't until "Beautiful Day" emerged that the crowd started getting into it. U2 clearly believes in their new songs, and delivered them as if they were playing "Out Of Control" on the Boy tour; and it was solely that energy that kept the show from crash landing before it had even begun.

After "Magnificent," though, U2 began giving the audience of 65,000 what they had come for: a solid romp through the back catalog only interrupted by the momentum-stalling "Unknown Caller" and the techno-fused Redanka remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," briefly harking back to the PopMart days of "Mofo" and "Discotheque" that for five minutes turned Soldier Field into the country's biggest rave. The set weighed a bit too heavily on the previous two albums; all four of All That You Can't Leave Behind's singles were played on Saturday along with "Vertigo" and "City Of Blinding Lights" ("Electrical Storm" was yet again left unplayed, sadly), which whittled down the first two decades of the band to about nine songs each night.

Whereas the Vertigo Tour was tilted towards the dedicated, 360 is clearly for the masses, and from that standpoint it succeeds, perhaps more than any stadium show ever conceived. However, with No Line failing to ignite fans or registers, one couldn't shake the feeling U2 was promoting a stage, not an album. It was an incredible, immensely enjoyable ride, but I can't say the hearstrings were pulled, or a message was communicated, which was what fuled most previous U2 shows. Whereas one can watch Rattle & Hum and have a revelation, the 360 tour is simply an extravagant night out with the biggest band in the world. Luckily for U2, for the vast majority of people filling the world's stadiums, that's enough.

New trend in album covers reminds us how much we love female genetalia

2009-07-18T15:26:00.004-05:00

Okay, what is it with metal album covers that look like artsy close-up shots from a hardcore porn flick? I may have a mental age of twelve, but I can't be the only one who wonders how both of these went through all the suits at the labels without anyone pointing out their record cover looks like the DVD covers in the creepy back room of the video store. (remember video stores?)

Review: Jenny Lewis @ Headliners, Louisville, KY 7/6/09

2009-07-07T01:14:00.010-05:00

Perhaps to the dismay of some and joy of others (this writer among them), Jenny Lewis has firmly established herself as a legitimate solo artist, separate from her duties as a member of (formerly) indie darlings Rilo Kiley, releasing two largely acclaimed solo LP's and hanging out with Elvis Costello. Her live show, however, affirmed that her solo career was more than just a sidenote, culling songs from the pleasantly understated Rabbit Fur Coat and its follow-up Acid Tongue into a enlightning and confident show, making it look like she'd been doing this solo thing for years. There is still plenty of evolution left in Ms. Lewis as a solo artist, but Monday night at Headliners, she made it look easy.

The most surprising thing about the set was that despite Lewis the solo artist being somewhat of an indie/alt-country poster girl, much of the show flat-out rocked. Acid Tongue was conceived as the polar opposite of Rilo Kiley's polished Under the Blacklight, recorded in a matter of weeks in a deliberate effort to capture a "live" feel in the studio. And while there's something to be said for not allowing your record's gestation period to reach Def Leppard-esque proportions, what was most apparent from last night's show was how much the songs gained simply from having the time to evolve. Even the opening "See Fernando," the LP's most grating ditty was delivered with such energy and grit that I reconsidered why I disliked it so much on record. "Carpetbaggers," "The Next Messiah," and especially "Jack Killed Mom" showed that no amount of studio calculations, rehearsals or planning can compete with a road-tested rock band. The softer side of Lewis' solo ouvure was not ignored; other than "Jack," the show's other high point was a breathtaking rendition of "Acid Tongue" performed acoustically by Lewis, with her band providing harmonies while gathered around a single microphone.

Lewis' band was a decidedly mixed bag, with Lewis feeding off standout drummer Barbara Gruska and percussionist/vocalist/occasional guitarist Danielle Haim, who provided virtually all the energy onstage. Bassist Jonathan Wilson did his job but was largely a non-factor, and both singer/boyfriend/guitarist Jonathan Rice and Farmer Dave Scher (guitar/lap steel) were competent, but looked like they'd have rather been anywhere than on the Headliners' stage. Still, the surprisingly thunderous drumming from Gruska was Lewis' secret weapon, propelling the show forward while being balanced by the stunning harmonies generated by her, Lewis and Haim.

Lewis also utilized the tail end of the touring cycle to preview a pair of tracks (presumably) slated for her next album, "Just Like Zeus" and "The Big Wave," both of which hinted at a more rock-oriented direction than any of her earlier studio work. Hopefully the energy and sound of the live band (or at least, the female half of her live band) will keep these tunes sounding as lively as they did onstage.

While the tremendously enthusiastic (and surprisingly young) sell-out crowd certainly made the performance look good, the proof that Jenny Lewis, the solo artist, had arrived lied entirely on the stage.

Setlist:

See Fernando, The Charging Sky, You Are What You Love, Jack Killed Mom, Happy, Carpetbagger, Rise Up With Fists!!, Just Like Zeus, Handle With Care, The Next Messiah, Born Secular

Encore:
Acid Tongue, The Big Wave, Sing a Song for Them

Review: Fleetwood Mac @ Sommet Center, Nashville 6/19/09

2009-06-20T01:06:00.012-05:00

It's odd to think that given the constant presence of Fleetwood Mac in our musical consciousness, that until this year, the band had technically never gone out exclusively on a cash-in greatest hits tour like virtually all of their 70's contemporaries. The band delivered more or less exactly what the audience presumably came to hear: 90 minutes of hits plus a few welcome album cuts, and Ms. Nicks doing the occasional patented Stevie twirl. Despite the tour being inexplicably dubbed "Unleashed," the tour's setlist has remained unchained since the tour kickoff, so four months in, the Mac delivered their 23-song set with the precision and automation of a broadway show.

And they're certainly entitled to it. Few pop bands have unleashed a trio of successive albums as strong as Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Tusk, which peppered with a couple of post-70's hits ("Gypsy," "Big Love" and Nicks' "Stand Back") provides a setlist that younger bands could only dream of, even without the much-missed Christine McVie. (her "Say You Love Me," with vocals split between Nicks and Buckingham, was by far the evening's low point) A set of songs that strong delivered with any level of authenticity and energy is going to make for an enjoyable night, but lacked the spark that makes for a truly great rock show. Fleetwood Mac's strengths were always the songs, harmonies, and Buckingham's Brian Wilson-esque studio wizardry, but their strength as a live act was built upon the tension and dynamic between the band's three principles. With that largely gone, the songs remain, and sound as good as ever, but the spark that makes for a trancedent rock n' roll show is much harder to come by. Buckingham, predictably, was the driving force behind the show, delivering his usual but firey extended solos on "I'm So Afraid" and "Go Your Own Way" and putting guitarists half his age to shame. Nicks, on the other hand, while giving a genuinely heartfelt nod to Nashville between songs, seemed a bit road-weary, and while her range has diminished in the last 15 years, seemed to struggle more than usual, particularly by the set-closing "Silver Springs." Fleetwood as well seems to have lost a step behind the drum kit, leaving the ever-reliable John McVie to anchor the rhythm section more than on previous tours.

The night's best moments onstage were when the setlist veered from the greatest hits and presented lost gems from Tusk ("I Know I'm Not Wrong," Stevie's ever-gorgeous "Storms," previously unplayed prior to this year) or the Peter Green-era "Oh Well," which predictably elicited the biggest and most enthusiastic facial expressions from Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. "Tusk," even a sampled marching band, remains the same twisted, brilliant piece of dimented pop it's always been, and Lindsey clearly relished digging out "I Know I'm Not Wrong" and "Monday Morning" with Fleetwood Mac for the first time in years. Despite a diminished vocal presence, the looping fun of Nicks' "Gypsy" and "Sara" remain as mesmerizing as ever, and I can't imagine anyone ever being tired of hearing "Landslide," maybe her most celebrated composition, delievered as only its writer can do.

Even though the show never truly gained the momentum needed for an arena show, even without the spark that fueled their most tumultuous yet inspired years, there's still something special about this band. While Nicks hasn't released any new music since 2001's underrated Trouble In Shangri-La, Buckingham's two recent solo LP's prove there's still some life in Fleetwood Mac's creative DNA. Their songs have proven timeless to the audience, but the relationships and experiences that spawned them are rooted in such a specific time (as well as with full public knowledge) that there was a bit of a disconnect stemming from virtually two hours of Lindsey and Stevie singing songs to each other while 30 years removed from their breakup.

But even while failing to truly ignite the Sommet Center crowd, Fleetwood Mac did what they set out to do, which is curate one of the most treasured catalogs of pop music of the past half-century. And until Little Big Town learns to write anything that can compete with "Second Hand News," it's still the best we're going to get.

And on a more serious note, when did Mick Fleetwood become Gandalf?

Setlist:

Monday Morning / The Chain / Dreams / I Know I'm Not Wrong / Gypsy / Go Insane (full band) / Rhiannon / Second Hand News / Tusk / Sara / Big Love / Landslide / Never Going Back Again / Storms / Say You Love Me / Gold Dust Woman / Oh Well / I'm So Afraid / Stand Back / Go Your Own Way

Encore 1:
World Turning/drum solo / Don't Stop

Encore 2:
Silver Springs

(photo courtesy of Yvonne Smith)

"Storms"

Review: Eddie Vedder at The Ryman, 6/18/09

2009-06-19T12:08:00.008-05:00

With the exception of a pair of sure-fire crowd pleasers from the early PJ catalog ("Porch" and "Elderly Woman"), the only blatantly nostalgic part of last night's show was Ed's flannel shirt, which combined with the return of his long hair gave the illusion that he was simply having a day off from the Vs. tour.

If there was any fault to the evening aside from the unusually (for the Ryman) obnoxious crowd, it's that the show seemed to lack direction, not in the music, but in it's purpose. Some artists can go out just for the hell of it, or for the paycheck, but this is Eddie Vedder, straight out of the Bono school of taking yourself (and your band) way too seriously. Clearly this wasn't designed to establish Ed as a solo artist (the Into The Wild soundtrack is almost two years old at this point, and Pearl Jam has a new record coming out in the fall), nor do Pearl Jam's fan-friendly setlists leave a need for Ed to explore the back alleys of the catalog. So the biggest challenge to the show was not accepting a Mike McCready-less "Porch," but accepting the idea of Eddie Vedder doing anything purely for fun that didn't involve surfing. (The $75 ticket price suggests otherwise, but that is another discussion)

Musically, there was little to complain about. The lack of "hits" eliminated any real anchors from the setlist, save for the main-set closing "Porch," which made the setlist flow more like an iPod on shuffle than a logical progression of songs. But up until the closing trifecta of "Wishlist/Lukin/Porch," the show had a consistently mellow, intimate vibe that worked well, regardless of what was being played. The PJ faithful was rewarded with tunes like "Soon Forget" and the vintage fan-club single "Drifting" that are rarely able to be aired in the kind of venues the band fills.

Like a real Pearl Jam show, the encore was the most focused part of the evening, featuring a pair of duets that were arguably the musical high point: Into The Wild's "Society" performed with the song's writer, Jerry Hannon, and "Throw Your Arms Around Me," the Australian "Free Bird," performed with Liam Finn, who, when not intentionally trying to not sound like his dad, sounds...pretty much just like his dad. Ed offered a small taste of Pearl Jam's Backspacer via "The End," before launching into the night's most intricate moment: a stunningly intricate, powerful, and pitch-perfect version of Riot Act's wordless vocal piece "Arc," a haunting, theatrical (almost) ending to what was otherwise a relaxed, laid-back solo show. After a slightly elongated second encore break, Vedder ended the show with a predictable but crowd-pleasing "Hard Sun" set to a colorful sky backdrop, although it's reliance on a pre-taped acoustic drum & guitar track seemed to fly against the spirit of the rest of the show. (Although the reel-to-reel tape deck to Vedder's left gets special mention as a subtle nod to early-80's Depeche Mode)

In the end, it was neither a definitive statement of Eddie Vedder the solo artist, nor was it a nostalgia trip. No offense to McCready, Ament, Cameron, or Gossard, but at this point Vedder is clearly not just the voice, but the spiritual leader of Pearl Jam. If we can accept that, Vedder's solo show functions less like a separate conceptual entity and more like an alternate view on Pearl Jam, with the songs coming unfiltered and directly through the band's mouthpiece, and proving even with limited instrumentation, why Vedder and Pearl Jam remain the last band of their era still standing.

Setlist:

Far Behind
Brain Damage/Sometimes
Girl From The North Country
I am Mine
I'm Open
Man of the Hour
Dead Man
No Ceiling
Guaranteed
Rise
Soon Forget
Driftin'
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Wishlist
Lukin
Porch

1st Encore:
Society w/Jerry Hannan
Throw Your Arms Around Me w/Liam Finn
Golden State w/Eliza Jane
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
The End
Arc

2nd Encore:
Hard Sun w/Liam Finn, Eliza Jane

Review: U2 - “No Line On The Horizon”

2009-03-05T23:13:00.002-06:00

This is a tough post. Not only has U2 been arguably the most significant band in my musical and personal life over the last dozen years, but the four-plus years they spend between albums amplifies the reaction it’s going to get, and the feelings I’m going to have about it. It’s hard to shrug off a mediocre U2 outing, since four or five years of your life may pass before they get around to releasing another one.

U2 has always worked for me because of a certain duality to their music. They’re a pop band in the best sense of the word. They write songs that fill stadiums with sound, soul, and sales in a way few others have managed, and their songs are melodic, straightforward, and catchy enough to transcend languages, cultures, and generations. At the same time, they make records full of intricate, dense textures and layers that continue to reveal themselves on every listen, which is why they’ve outlasted most of their contemporaries and spawned so many imitators.

However it is both of those factors working in tandem that makes a U2 record work, and while Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois have created another interesting sonic palate, the songs themselves fail to live up to the lofty production and long waiting period that the album brings. There’s certainly some potential; the title track is possibly the most adventurous thing on the record despite it’s bummer of a chorus, and “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” is a fun slice of Edge-driven mid-tempo pop. (although doesn’t quite match it’s Spinal Tap-worthy title) “Breathe” is another nice adventure, and one of the few times on the album where U2 sounds like a real live band, with Edge’s guitar again driving a 6/8 groove that has been rarely tapped by Larry Mullen before. And “White As Snow” is the hushed, understated tome of the album that finally succeeds where “Grace” and “One Step Closer” didn’t.

But therein lies the problem with Horizon. There’s things that could be described as reasonably adventurous, nice, or any other pleasant adjectives, but nothing that touches on “amazing.” There’s nothing as uplifting as “Walk On,” as much fun as “Discotheque” or as mind-blowingly epic as “City Of Blinding Lights.” There’s variety between songs, but nothing that truly stands out above the rest, and few, if any hooks to be found anywhere.

The problems start fairly quickly. “Magnificent” sets itself up to be the album’s high point: an energetic, four on the floor romp with a classic Edge guitar tone. But when the second verse begins, you realize that part you thought was the pre-chorus was it. The song builds up anticipation for a “Blinding Lights”-esque payoff that sadly never comes, although it does recycle the Edge slide solo from half the Atomic Bomb record. Still a solid song, but a frustrating missed opportunity. “Moment Of Surrender” runs seven minutes without a single truly memorable moment; feeling a bit like a retread of every U2 ballad you’ve ever heard, minus the catchy bits. Elsewhere, “Stand Up Comedy” attemps to be U2’s take on a Zeppelin riff, but sounds like a Stone Roses Second Coming outtake, and “Fez – Being Born” is another chorus-free song (with a completely unrelated ambient Brian Eno introduction) that probably should’ve stayed on the shelf. “Get On Your Boots,” in context, isn’t any better than it was as a standalone single, but it’s short running time and direct delivery is almost a relief compared to the reach of the rest of the album.

The main offender, however, is “Unknown Caller,” a song with inexplicable lyrics and an even more inexplicably awkward gang vocal delivery. “Re-start and reboot yourself”…”Password you enter here, right now.” It was bad enough seeing U2 shilling for Apple, but now they have a song that sounds like Steve Jobs’ subconscious. Makes you long for the days of intellectual tortoises and newborn babies’ heads.

Throughout the album, Bono is wordier than usual, often hindering the song’s ability to weave a direct, memorable melody line. His vocal delivery, in stark contrast to the atmospheric sheen of the Eno/Lanois production is raw, and often strained, as if he’s attempting to reconcile the raw energy he had on Boy with the overblown universe they’ve created. Occasionally the juxtaposition works, but just as often, it distracts from the music, particularly given how Bono tends to over-emote and dramatize to begin with.

In the end, the success or failure of a pop album depends on the quality of the songs and their ability to make an impact on a large number of people. However, as with any band of U2’s status and longevity, there is an underlying subtext that may explain how they got here, for better or worse.

There's a certain contradiction to U2's development. For being arguably the biggest and most recognizable post-60's band on the planet, their entire career post-Joshua Tree can be seen as a direct reflection of the opinions of critics. When they were derided for tackling Americana head on in Rattle & Hum, they returned with the darker, revolutionary Achtung Baby. When they took their electronica influences and sense of irony too far for the critics with Pop and the PopMart tour, they returned to their 'classic' sound with the enjoyable but safe All That You Can't Leave Behind. But after their equally safe follow up was derided for being 'too' safe, Bono promised us a second reinvention of U2, equal to the dramatic shift the band took in the dawn of the 90's.

One thing the band can't be faulted for is it's determination in all these changes. They didn't just dabble in American musical forms in 1988, they went to Sun Studios to do it. Achtung Baby not radical enough? They followed it up with the challenging, dark Zooropa album. Electronica? Get Howie B and Flood to produce. A conscious return to their roots? All That You Can't Leave Behind was the closest you were going to get without a flying DeLorean. One can question the motives or sources of their musical evolution, but even a U2 detractor has to admit they've taken each musical step head-on, for better or worse.

And so perhaps the underlying problem of No Line On The Horizon, beyond it’s lack of hooks or a single, is that it represents an unsure, tentative U2, attempting to strike a balance between musical risks and keeping the “U2 sound” rather than fully embracing one direction as they had previously. While the deeper involvement of Eno and Lanois than on any previous LP ensures the album will be a departure from Bomb, it isn’t enough of one to sound revolutionary to anyone who’s been listening to U2 for more than two weeks, which I’m assuming is anyone who cares enough to listen to their new record.

U2 has the benefit of having watched their heroes grow old ahead of them, and are clearly trying to avoid becoming the next Rolling Stones, selling out stadiums but being labeled “dinosaurs” and, worse, irrelevant. Unfortunately, in that context, Horizon seems forced and deliberate, and less of an attempt to “remake” U2 as it is to simply not repeat the last two records or be “safe.” If they released albums more frequently, or it came earlier in their career, it would likely be seen as a transitional album, much like Unforgettable Fire bridged the gap between War and The Joshua Tree. But a five year gap requires the end result to be a destination, not a pit-stop, but unfortunately No Line On The Horizon wanders aimlessly, searching for direction.

Nine Inch Nails - “1,000,000” Live In Sydney

2009-03-01T12:12:00.002-06:00

This has to be one of the coolest live videos I’ve ever found on the internets. Make sure you click the link to watch it in HD (Trent disabled HD embedding for some unknown reason). Nobody puts on a show like these guys.

NIN: 1,000,000 Live from on stage, Sydney 2.22.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

For further NIN goodness, check out this audio torrent compiled from the three shows Reznor released in January for a sort of "unofficial/official" live album, Another Version Of The Truth.

Review: Mark Olson & Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, Exit/In, Nashville 2/14/09

2009-02-15T12:57:00.003-06:00

As a significant latecomer to the Jayhawks, the band had already finished their touring cycle for Rainy Day Music and all but broken up by the time I discovered them in late 2004. Luckily, the first 'Mark Olson & Gary Louris' tour commenced in early 2005, and was, for my purposes, a Jayhawks show in everything but name.

But whereas the 2005 tour was a full-band marathon trip through the past (featuring an anonymous rhythm section who's main duty was to do as little as possible to keep from getting in the way of Mark and Gary), this one was a far more restrained affair, barely clocking in at 90 minutes and featuring just Louris and Olson on acoustic guitars along with an unobtrusive percussionist. I can't say I was sold on the large number of new songs they played anymore than I was from their studio versions (which is to say, not all that much), but hearing their vocals pushed to the front of the mix for the first time really brought out a new appreciation for the duo, providing an ultimate example of how the right combination can be so much more than the sum of its parts.

The stripped down configuration seemed to be the biggest factor in the setlist; rather than taking adventerous chances rearranging the back catalog, they stuck to the mostly mid-tempo Hollywood Town Hall LP with a few similar numbers torn from their other LP's ("Over My Shoulder," the inevitable set-closing "Blue"). One audience request went acknowledged but unfulfilled, with Gary commenting "An acoustic 'Ten Little Kids'...that would be interesting." The show never dragged, but did make it's short 90-minute running time seem appropriate without being able to draw from barn-burners like their Grank Funk cover "Bad Time" or any of Louris' more uptempo pop tunes from Smile or Rainy Day Music (unsurprisingly, the 1997-2003 era was completely ignored) that would have varied the mood a bit.

It was difficult to tell if this was a new beginning for Olson and Louris, or just a fun diversion. Both have established solo careers to varying degrees of success, and despite their best efforts to convince us otherwise last night, Ready For The Flood isn't the great reunion record we all hoped it would be. Predictably, the crowd was more willing to engage in shared nostalgia than to embrace the new material, but everyone simply seemed excited to indulge in the fact that we were able to watch these two guys play and sing together again, and it sounded every bit as spectacular as it did the first time around.

Too Old To Rock N' Roll, Too Young To Die

2009-01-31T01:54:00.005-06:00

Greetings. Yes, this blog is still alive. Life just sometimes gets in the way, aside from the fact that the end of the year is possibly the least inspiring time to be a music fan, since the only new music coming out is in the form of compilations and wretched Christmas LP's.

The big story now is, of course, the new U2 single, which was blogged and discussed to death by the entire internet within 24 hours of it's release. Pop was the first U2 record I actively remember hearing upon its release, so I can't speak for "The Fly" or "Numb," but I firmly recall the first singles off every U2 release since 1997. They took criticism for taking chances on Pop and then equal criticism for playing it safe on the last two records, but "Discotheque," "Beautiful Day," "Vertigo," and even "Electrical Storm" were kick-ass, memorable singles. "Vertigo" might have been a ridiculous song, but it was immediate, catchy, and to the point, while the other tracks were clear highlights of their respective albums.

"Get On Your Boots" is something else entirely, and for the first time, I'm not sure what to make of a U2 song. On the one hand, it's a different sound than the last couple albums. On the other hand, it sounds like "Vertigo" and "Fast Cars" mixed together and given a calculated "edgy" production. And while I'm excited to hear U2 collaborating so intensively with Eno and Lanois again, replacing Larry with a drum machine for half the song with such a simple beat is really, really irritating. I'm still hopeful for the rest of the album, but I can't help but feel that the track is a calculated attempt to recapture the spirit of sonic innovation and evolution of Achtung Baby and Zooropa that unfortunately fails to be moving or organic in the way those albums were.

I want to be excited about my favorite band; I want to scream from the digital rooftops (or at least my Twitter account) that U2 is BACK and that they've made the kind of record that will prove all the naysayers wrong, but unfortunately this isn't it. The song itself just isn't that memorable...it's an interesting piece, and I anticipate it could end up a bit like "Love And Peace Or Else" or "Mofo" as a worthy album cut that doesn't need a catchy or anthemic chorus to work in its proper context, but a hit single it isn't. Comparisons have already been drawn to the pre-album release of "The Fly," an equally unlikely single (but significantly better song) released more as a taster to the album's sound than an attempt to score a genuine hit...whether "Boots" is part of the same strategy remains to be seen.

The song has grown on me a bit since I've heard it, but given that "sexy boots" is the most awkward thing to come out of Bono's mouth this decade (and that is saying a lot), I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to fully come around to this one, although letting Larry play his drums when they perform it live would be a nice start.

The song is streaming here for at least the immediate future.

28 Years Ago Today...

2008-12-08T17:03:00.003-06:00

John Winston Ono Lennon: October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980

Many voluminous tomes, articles, and blog posts have been devoted to not only the life of John Lennon, but discussing what might have been had things been different on December 8th, 1980. And while it's a bit of a fruitless train of thought, I can't help but ponder about it as I listen to his music like I do every year on this day.

Of course, there would have been a Beatles reunion, although I imagine it would have been more along the lines of Pink Floyd's Live 8 performance rather than a full tour or album. Other than Ringo, the other three Beatles, firmly established as solo artists, would have had nothing to gain and everything to lose by tampering with the Beatles' legacy. A one-off performance, or more likely, a joint guest spot on one of those late-period Ringo albums would have been the likely catalyst.

But what I find a more interesting discussion, is what would have happened to Lennon himself; the man who seemed most at odds with his own fame, legacy, and status than any of the other Beatles. On the back of Double Fantasy's surprise success, John was contemplating going out on tour in 1981, presumably with the crack studio band that played on the LP. Unfortunately this tour never got past informal discussions, but had he lived even another year, I think the content of the tour would have provided more insight into Lennon's future than any interview could have. Ten-plus years from the breakup, would he have embraced his Beatles past head-on and performed "Help!" or "Revolution," or would he have consciously avoided that era (as Macca did on his first several Wings tours in the early 70's)?

It is hard not to draw comparisons between the two Beatles' principals in their post-band activites, but McCartney's transition to Beatles-heavy tour setlists was inevitable. McCartney was an entertainer who happened to write (some) amazing songs, Lennon was an artist who happened to be really good at music. Macca spent much of the 70's attempting to establish Wings as a separate entity, but by his 1989 tour realized making people happy required being the world's greatest nostalgia act. Lennon undoubtedly had mellowed by the time he hit 40, but would that have resulted in a similar path? Would Yoko have encouraged him to embrace his past? Would John have chosen the musical road less taken in an effort to remain musically relevant, or created safe, comfortable albums to try to retain a large audience and achieve chart success? It's hard to imagine the latter, but given John's insecurities, it's possible to concieve a late-period Lennon concerned with public reaction to his music. At the same time, he was making 'safe' music at the time of his death, so perhaps his Some Time In NYC days were behind him and Double Fantasy would have been the beginning of the second phase of Lennon's career: simply a master songsmith diligently doing what he knows how to do best.

Unfortunately, we'll never know these answers. The premature death of a rock icon, while uniformly tragic, does cement their legacy, eliminating the chance we'd have to hear John make a bad 80's album full of synthisizers and drum machines. But it also deprives us of his unique worldview as he got older. In the end, I'd like to think Lennon would have progressed along the lines of Springsteen or Dylan, making the music he wanted to make and presenting his 68 years of wisdom in a musical way that only he could.

But today is a day to enjoy what he did do in his forty years. I've been listening to the man practically since the day I was born, and he continues to amaze me year after year. R.I.P. John. You are missed.

Stevie Wonder - "We Can Work It Out"

2008-12-06T14:59:00.005-06:00

Despite what "Ebony And Ivory" told us, good things can come from the intersection of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Except for a handful of bona fide Motown classics ("Uptight," "My Cherie Amour," etc), Wonder's 60's career has been fairly marginalized other than discussions of his young age, before proceeding into a discussion about his string of deservedly worshipped 70's LP's. His transformation from a teenage Motown automatron to his fully realized creative vision of Music From My Mind and Talking Book, wasn't as sudden as some make it to be, and there are a lot of lost gems to be found on the highly transitional My Cherie Amour and Signed, Sealed & Delivered albums despite the abundance of cover material (as per all Motown LP's of the '60's).

The latter LP, however, is one of the more enjoyable listens in Wonder's catalog, stretching the Motown formula as far as it could be before he became artistically liberated with Where I'm Coming From in 1971. Along with a healthy dose of original material, the album contained a wonderfully funked-up take on The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out," proving either the strength of Wonder's natural abilities or the strength of the Lennon/McCartney songbook. It certainly wasn't the first time Motown artists had tackled the Beatles; Motown even issued a full compilation of such covers a few years ago, but it is undenyably one of the most successful of their Beatles tunes.

Soon, Stevie would move on to bigger and better things, creating an unparalleled string of albums between 1971 and 1976, but this track is indicative of his talents as an interpreter, something he rarely did after 1970. Granted, when you're Stevie Wonder, you don't need to do anyone else's songs, but you can't deny it would've been fun to hear him tackle a few more tracks like this during the late 60's-early 70's period.

Download: Stevie Wonder - "We Can Work It Out" [Play]

17 years ago today...

2008-11-25T02:42:00.004-06:00

Freddie Mercury, 1946-1991.

Musings on the release of 'Chinese Democracy'

2008-11-23T01:53:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow I will head out and do something I never thought I would be able to do: Buy a legitimate, Axl-approved version of Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy. Even after I conceded the LP would remain little more than a punchline, I still actively followed the project as much as the internet would allow. Partly, it's because I am an unapologetic Gn'R fanboy. But also just in amazement at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing.

Chinese Democracy signifies more than just the release of a long-delayed rock album. It is, perhaps, the last physical remnant of a bygone era; the era in which a label would not only spend millions upon millions of dollars for multiple producers, musicians, an orchestra, and possibly the spreading of democracy to China, but also succumb to the whims of an eccentric like Rose, who's lack of regard for deadlines pushed the cost of the record well over the $10 million mark. The era of overblown, big-budget albums died long before this day, but the endless (and as yet, unexplained) delays make it stick out amongst the current trend of safe, watered-down tripe the major labels call 'hard rock' these days.

And for that reason alone, it is significant. The world has never heard an album quite like it, and likely never will again. If you thought "November Rain" was pompous and overblown, it sounds downright amateurish next to Axl's newest creation. No hard rock album has undergone this much painstaking aural surgery or been built, disected, and pieced together so meticulously. The recording process itself directly contradicts everything that is rock n' roll: it's labored and precise, with every note, layer, sound and drum hit poured over by Axl in an attempt to realize on tape whatever was in his head. In many ways, the record is more akin to the writing of an orchestral score, except with ProTools replacing classical notation.

While that may irk the purists who believe rock is supposed to be raw, spontaneous, and reckless (despite decades of studio work proving that idea wrong), and even spits in the face of Gn'R's beginnings as a brilliantly sloppy, ragged gang from L.A., it actually makes complete sense in a lot of ways. Appetite For Destruction is Slash, Duff and Izzy's Guns N' Roses. Axl clearly had other ideas, envisioning the band taking on the orchestral grandeur of Elton John and Queen, his childhood heroes, which manifested itself on several Use Your Illusion tracks. Perhaps the reason the record took so damn long to get here was simply Axl battling with himself as to how to present, for the first time, his unique vision of what Guns N' Roses should be.

Given that none of us will ever be able to live a day on David Geffen's dime to sit around and play with knobs, let alone do it for a decade, it's hard to justify the means, regardless of how good the end result really is. But in the end, Chinese Democracy sounds like a $15 million record should sound. The record's fate will hinge largely on whether the songs are good enough to justify the expense. Some of them rank up with Gn'R's best, a few drown under their own excess, but either way, it's worth an hour or two of your time, if for no other reason than the fact that no one will ever be allowed to make an album like this ever again. And in an era when there's more music being made than ever before, that's saying a lot.

The question remains: does anyone care? In an era with no videos, radio apathy, and the slow decline of a format everyone under 30 gave up on at least a year or two ago, does the record stand a chance? Is the label going to give up on the LP after the first couple weeks of sales, like they usually do? Is Axl going to come out of hiding to actually promote the damn thing? You'd think after spending more than a decade on these songs, he'd be all over the place trying to get them heard. But both Geffen and Axl come from an era where such things weren't necessary. Whether they have to learn the hard way that it isn't 1991 anymore is anyone's guess.

But hey, at least you can all thank Axl for your free can of Dr. Pepper.

Sia, Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello on Letterman

2008-11-19T20:14:00.003-06:00

Yes, new posts are coming, but in the meantime, just a couple things I stumbled on lately. I unfortunately no longer have TV in my room so I seem to miss a lot of this kind of stuff, but apparently my favorite Australian songstress and favorite character from The Wizard but put in killer performances on Letterman this month. Sia performed one of my favorite songs of the year, "Soon We'll Be Found," and Jenny Lewis reprised her duet with Elvis Costello that I discussed in a previous post. Enjoy.

Sia - "Soon Will Be Found"

Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello - "Carpetbaggers"

Live - "Lift Me Up"

2008-11-04T00:33:00.004-06:00

I was going to devote my next post to explaining why, on just about every Rolling Stones record since 1978, my favorite songs on them have been the Keith Richards tracks. I had it narrowed down to two or three tracks I was going to single out, and had started mentally checking my Keef fanboy self at the door to make a logical defense of some of my favorite songs of the last 30 years.

And then something happened that changed everything: I went and saw Zack and Miri Make A Porno.

Being a huge Kevin Smith fan, I'll probably do a real writeup of the flick later, either here or on my other blog, but the short version is it's a 7 out of 10. It wouldn't have been possible without the success of the Judd Apatow movies, and more specifically, his casting of Seth Rogen in them, and yet, because of those movies, Zack and Miri doesn't quite feel new or fresh, treading much of the same conceptual ground as Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, or Superbad, just within a different context and setting. However, Smith's inimitable writing and some great casting make it a worthwhile entity, although I admit to being completely biased towards Smith's films, so your mileage may vary.

The best part of the flick aside from the always witty yet-unrealistically smart monologues-as-conversation script, was the movie's climactic scene, which I will attempt not to spoil here. I is, however, set to "Lift Me Up," an unreleased song by Live. As a longtime fan of the band, I literally spent the last third of the movie wondering what this song was and why I'd never heard of it, given that I owned their entire catalog and a slew of b-sides I'd found on the web over the years. Turns out it was a Throwing Copper outtake, originally held over to be on the follow-up Secret Samadhi, but again left in the vault. Yes, it's a sex comedy that's conceptually as deep as a plastic sandbox, and maybe I was just caught up in the excitement of hearing a killer song for the first time, but it was really one of those great moments where a song from a different time manages to capture the perfect feelings and mood for the scene.

Naturally, I spent the night scouring the internet for the song, discovering that in typical record company logic, Live has the potential for their first real U.S. hit since 1999 and the song is NOT included on the movie's soundtrack. (nor is it appearing on their upcoming Live At The Paradiso release as a bonus track of some type) Seeing as their label in the 90's (Radioactive) went under in 2005, it shouldn't be tough to license this recording for proper release. So either Sony is exercising their usual brilliant wisdom in keeping this song out of the hands of the thousands of people who saw the movie this weekend, or the band is completely clueless. Regardless, it's a frustrating missed opportunity. The scene (and the song) really are that good.

The best I could come up with (so far) is a set of demos for Throwing Copper that included "Lift Me Up." It's not the greatest recording, and lacks a bit of the majesty present in the more polished recording used in the movie, but I figured it was worth sharing, since presumably I'm not the only one crawling around Google looking for this song. After several listenings, I'm still wondering who allowed this song to be kept off Throwing Copper, but also sadly lamenting the truth that it and Samadhi (and this track) were a high point the band seems unlikely to repeat. Live fit in well in the post-Nirvana landscape, but were always far more influenced by the sweeping choruses and spirituality of U2 than anything remotely connected to grunge, which is why their music holds up fifteen years later (my god, has it been almost fifteen years?), even if it isn't discussed in the same circles as STP or Pearl Jam.

Apologies for the dodgy quality...let's hope a real recording turns up soon. Enjoy...and go see Zack and Miri.

Download: Live - "Lift Me Up" (demo)

Feeder - "Feeling A Moment"

2008-10-30T17:04:00.007-05:00

According to the source of all wisdom and truthiness in the universe, Wikipedia, Feeder apparently has six Top 10 albums and a shit-ton of charting singles in the U.K. And in all my years of infatuation with obscure British acts and Verve b-sides, I never once heard a damn thing about them. Maybe it's because the Gallagher brothers took up all the headlines and the critics were too busy giving an unending, universal hand job to Radiohead to notice anyone else, but either they've managed to be successful while flying under the radar, or they're England's Nickelback: a band that sells a lot of records while remaining completely irrelevant. I have no idea.

"Feeling A Moment" came to my attention a few years ago through a friend, who also had no idea who the hell Feeder was. In 2006 they released a singles collection, which I figured would be a good way to discover who these guys actually were. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit underwhelming. There wasn't anything awful about it, but it seemed to say more about the lack of great singles bands in the post-Britpop era than the strength of the songs themselves.

"Feeling A Moment," however, was the exception; A swirling 4-chord ditty right out of the Noel Gallagher playbook that trumps anything on the last couple Oasis LP's. Try it. Get in your car, open the windows, and turn it up like it's 1995 and you just took (What's The Story) Morning Glory? out of its shrinkwrap. Sure, we can't live in the past forever, but there was something so uplifting, and so ultimately satisfying about the whole 90's guitar-pop sound that even lesser entities like Spacehog or Cast managed brief moments of catchy greatness that entrenched themselves into the public consciousness.

The song's complete lack of modesty is really it's most endearing quality. The egos of Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft, or Damon Albarn maybe have turned off American audiences, but be honest - "Bitter Sweet Symphony" or "Live Forever" wouldn't have worked if their creators went out and said "yeah, I guess that's alright." Feeder isn't in that league, but that doesn't stop them from writing a song that's so blatantly Glastonbury-ready, and you have to give them credit for that.

I wish I could reccomend other tunes by this band, but nothing on their singles compilation really stood out besides this track. But download it, put it on your ipod, open your windows, and for four minutes, be transported to a world in which Coldplay never happened.

Download: Feeder - "Feeling A Moment"

Fleetwood Mac - "Blue Letter"

2008-10-24T16:59:00.005-05:00

It's one of my darker secrets, that I only really joined the Mac party around 1997 when The Dance came out and all of a sudden they were everywhere. It wasn't like "Silver Springs" was the song that pushed me over the edge, but that MTV special was the first time I'd ever really taken in their music in any visual way, and in a longer form than hearing "Go Your Own Way" or "Rhiannon" on the radio. Even in the horribly canned confines of a Burbank soundstage with approximately 300 auxiliary musicians onstage, there was definitely a unique chemistry there that made me an instant convert.

Oddly though, as I proceeded to dig through the good, bad, and brilliantly demented parts of the band's catalog, I've continually overlooked the band's first (self-titled) album with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, which essentially is their second-most revered LP after Rumours. Maybe because two of my favorite tracks on the album, "Monday Morning" and "I'm So Afraid" were released on later live albums in far superior versions (as was "Landslide"), and along with the overplaying of "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" by radio, I just never felt the need to listen to it.

As such, I ended up entirely forgetting about one of the band's best little oddities, a Buckingham-led cover of The Curtis Brothers' "Blue Letter." The liner notes of the 2004 reissue simply state the song is "a brisk country-rocker penned by Rick and Mike Curtis-aka The Curtis Brothers-who were making demos at Sound City that Fleetwood overheard." I'd be quite curious to hear Buckingham himself reveal how the song made the LP over one of his own compositions, but even more remarkable is how well the song fits into the contemporary Mac repertoire, seemingly aping Buckingham's simplistic lyrical structure and rhythmic tendencies before he'd even formed his own style within Fleetwood Mac.

The song was briefly issued as the b-side of Christine's "Warm Ways," which was quickly overshadowed by "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" leaving the single largely forgotten by both radio and the band itself. The energy of "Blue Letter" kept it in the live setlist through the 1982 Mirage tour, even being used as a main set closer through the Rumours tour. however it has laid dormant ever since, being relenquished soley to the minds of diehards and curiosity seekers. Even on this cover version on his first LP with the band, you can hear the sound he would bring to the band and quickly use to dominate the proceedings in the studio with great success on subsequent albums.

Here is the 'single version' of the song, a long-forgotten, slightly 'rockier' mix released as a bonus track on the 2004 reissue. Enjoy.

Download: Fleetwood Mac - "Blue Letter (single version)"

"Blue Letter" live in Largo, MD, 1975.

Lucinda Williams - "It's A Long Way To The Top"

2008-10-21T02:09:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to lie, as much as I enjoy most of Lucinda Williams' stuff, the main selling point of Little Honey, to my inner 13 year-old, was the album's closer: a cover of AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n' Roll)." On the list of "kick ass rock n' roll songs about rock n' roll," it has to be near the top of the list, if not at it's pinnacle. So the idea of the alt-country world's leading lady tackling one of the most primal rock songs of all time seemed fairly intriguing, with equal potential for brilliance or epic failure.

After sitting with the album (and the track) for a few listens though, it started to make sense. If anyone had the voice to tackle a song about the perils of the touring lifestyle, it's Williams', who's battered voice has always bore the scares of decades of excess (whether they're real or imagined, I have no idea...but for the sake of argument, let's just assume she lived the hard life for a few decades, it makes for a better story). This was less about her understanding AC/DC than her understanding what made this particular track great. Lucinda and Bon Scott couldn't have been farther apart musically, but they sound equally convincing singing about one night stands and being "ripped off and underpaid," and for that alone, it works.

The music itself undermines the paradox that is AC/DC. AC/DC made a career out of simplicity and (big) balls, yet their records, even early on, were extremely precise and well-crafted entities. On the best cuts, you felt like they were playing live right in your speakers, but when you stepped back, you also felt like they played the song several dozen times to get it so perfect and error-free. Lucinda's cover is the exact opposite, reaking of a boozy late night jam session that exemplified exactly what Bon Scott was talking about all those years ago. It's more polished than a first take, but not by much, and displays the kind of raw, sloppy, infectious energy you wish AC/DC could let themselves put on their own records.

Download: Lucinda Williams - "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)

Extreme - "Take Us Alive"

2008-10-04T23:54:00.003-05:00

Short post today while I watch the last innings of the Cubs-Dodgers series, which looks to be another epic collapse the likes of which only the Cubs can pull off so effortlessly. My heart goes out to you, Cubs fans.

Not really much to say about "Take Us Alive," coming from the Extreme reunion album released earlier this year. If you've ever listened to anything besides "More Than Words," the overbearing influence of Queen was a constant through most of their work, but they had both the instrumental and (more importantly) vocal chops to pull it off.

I've always considered Queen to be the ultimate rock band. Others may have been heavier or rocked harder, but no band could tackle so many styles and such a range of emotions as Queen, and while Extreme certainly never scaled those heights, the stylistic and experimental elements of their favorite band shown through, resulting in a unique blend of "funk metal" that unfortunately got largely overshadowed by their fluke hit ballad.

Saudades de Rock is easily one of my favorite records of the year, and "Take Us Alive" is hardly representative of it's sound, but the fact that a hard rock band could stick a faux-bluegrass tune on the middle of their record and not have it be a total embarassment wins a lot of points. It's not mind-blowing, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. Love him or hate him, Gary Cherone hasn't lost a thing vocally since his band's early-90's heyday, and Nuno Bettencourt shows there's no musical style he can't shred to. For a band who peaked with the decidedly serious III Sides To Every Story, it's a wonderful novelty to hear one of the ultimate "musicians' bands" having this much fun and not taking themselves too seriously.

Download: Extreme - "Take Us Alive"

Jefferson Airplane - "3/5's Of A Mile In 10 Seconds" (live)

2008-10-03T15:14:00.003-05:00

Like a lot of bands in the post-Clear Channel age (The Byrds come to mind as the largest victim), Jefferson Airplane's catalog and legacy have been reduced, in the eyes of the general public, to a very small handful of songs: "White Rabbit," "Somebody To Love," maybe "Volunteers" if you've seen Forrest Gump multiple times. And it's a shame, since despite their undisputed influence and status as one of the definitive bands of their era, Bachman Turner Overdrive still gets more airplay. Yeah, I don't get it either.

But before they were reduced to a pair of singles, they released one of the best live albums of the decade, 1969's Bless It's Pointed Little Head, a 55-minute exercise that exposes both the brilliance and excess that defined the late 60's. The album is bogged down by an eleven minute free-form jam at the end of side two, and the cover of Donavan's "Fat Angel" is about as exciting as, well, Donavan, but what is left is six of the best live tracks ever committed to vinyl. The band released two bona fide classic studio records in Surrealistic Pillow and Volunteers but never rocked as hard or with as much energy as on this live disc, and thus even with it's flaws, remains my favorite item in the Jefferson catalog.

The high point is Pillow's "3/5's Of A Mile In 10 Seconds," delivered at breakneck speed and with an urgency that renders the studio version all but obselete. Marty Balin, largely overshadowed in his own band by his bandmates, shines on the live LP, and on this track and "It's No Secret" in particular, more than on any other Airplane record. With Kaukonen's lead guitar and Jack Cassidy's bass playing also dominant in the mix, the album is a bit of a contradiction: an album that pushes the individual talents of each band member to the forefront yet demonstrates the power of the Airplane as a cohesive, collective unit better than any studio recording could.

It's interesting to note Bless It's Pointed Little Head as a bit of a milestone, being one of the first legitimate live albums released by a major, established rock act, predating Live Dead by nine months and live albums by The Who, The Doors, and the Rolling Stones by well over a year.

Download: Jefferson Airplane - "3/5's Of A Mile in 10 Seconds" (live)

Thea Gilmore - "Come Up With Me"

2008-09-24T23:54:00.002-05:00

It's odd to me that UK singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore remains virtually unknown in the U.S., given that her roots are the same as all the singer-songwriters cluttering up American bars and coffeeshops this decade: Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, and so on. Yet like Kathleen Edwards is to Canada, Gilmore filters these influences through a uniquely British lens, weened on punk and Beatles-influenced Britpop (even including a Buzzcocks song on her covers album Loft Music).

Liejacker, her seventh album of original songs, was released in the UK this summer, and is being released in the US this month. Of course, record labels being the geniuses they are, the UK version contains two songs not on the US version (including an amusing cover of "You Spin Me Round"), and the US version contains "Come Up With Me," arguably the poppiest song she's written in five years.

The move somewhat reaks of record company brilliance, along the lines of requiring her to write a "hit single" (whatever that means for a low-key singer-songwriter in the post-radio era) in order to have her album released in the States. It fits in quite well next to some of the lighter moments on Harpo's Ghost or Avalanche but sticks out quite a bit on what is otherwise a more stripped down, introspective record. On it's own though, it's a fun little song that probably won't get the exposure it was designed to get, but hey, it's catchy, and a nice contrast from the slightly darker side she tends to explore in her music.

Incidentally, while I'm on the subject of Thea, is it just me, or is almost every single 'posed' photo of her taken from above? Just wondering...

Link: Thea Gilmore - "Come Up With Me"

Genesis - "Man Of Our Times"

2008-09-24T00:31:00.002-05:00

Alright, I'm going to completely destroy all my art-rock credentials and just flat-out confess one of my darkest sins: My two favorite Genesis albums are from the Phil Collins era, or to some, "the entirety of space and time after 1975 in which Genesis like, totally sucked." Don't get me wrong. I love the Gabriel stuff, like any self-respecting prog-rock nerd, but I still put Trick Of The Tail and Duke at the top of my list.

Really, except for 1978's And Then There Were Three, the albums between 1976 and 1980 are the most interesting albums in their catalog. Simultaneously challenged and liberated by Gabriel's departure, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford not only evolved as writers, taking the melodic and progressive elements of the early stuff and packaging it into more concise form, but also were free to take the band in any direction they liked, without having to adapt to their former singer's lyrics or personality. Genesis with Gabriel certainly hadn't run it's course by The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, but following the split, both Genesis and Gabriel in his solo career experimented and evolved in ways they would have never been able to do as a unit.

Trick Of The Tail is my favorite Genesis record, and really deserves it's own post, but lately I've really begun a greater appreciation for 1980's Duke, arguably the last album that reflected the band's prog-rock beginnings in a significant way. The album spawned a couple of hit singles, the magnificent "Turn It On Again," and "Misunderstanding," Phil's first solo composition to reach the singles charts, perhaps the genesis (ha!) of Collins' solo career that would begin the following year, and for that, I suppose it could be considered a more hated song than "Invisible Touch."

The real gem of Duke though, is Mike Rutherford's overlooked "Man Of Our Times," a song that somehow manages to cram the epic nature of the band into five and a half glorious minutes. Perhaps it's a little underdeveloped, especially in the verses, compared to some of the album's more celebrated songs like "Duchess" or "Alone Tonight," but I think it sounds unlike any other track from that era. Phil's drumming is consantly shifting in crucial yet subtle ways, reaffirming his status as one of the most underrated yet facinating drummers of the era. But it's the chorus, offering a magnificent relief from the tension set up earlier in the song, that makes the song. It's not catchy, or much of a chorus for that matter, but it's delivered in such a fashion, between Phil's wail and Mike's booming taurus pedals, that you don't even notice.

For whatever reason, the song's been essentially forgotten by all but the most ardent of fans. It has never been played live, possibly due to the song's high vocal range, and was completely ignored on the retrospective interviews included with the recent reissue. A shame, although there's so many high points on the record that it's pretty easy for a song like this to slip through. But it's still one of my favorites, even if Peter Gabriel didn't sing on it.

Link: Genesis - "Man Of Our Times"

Yes taps tribute band singer for 2008 tour

2008-09-16T23:56:00.003-05:00

Not much to say about this that hasn't already been discussed ad nauseum on the internet when Journey did it last year, but holy shit, listen to this guy.

"Understudy" singer Benoit David of Montreal:

Yes performing "Close To The Edge" in 1975:

Closer listening definitely reveals some timbre differences between the two, but damn, Jon Anderson is one of the most dificiult vocalists to mimic in all of rock music, and this is probably as good as it's going to get as long as Anderson remains too unwell to tour. Granted, "talent" in my eyes lies more in creating and originality, but this dude has the pipes to pull this off, unquestionably. (He's also in a prog band called Mystery that's gotten some good reviews)

but I'm not sure who in 2008 is going to pay the kind of prices they will undoubtedly be asking to see 3/5 of Yes plus an (admittedly excellent) tribute band singer, but if it's cheap enough, I'd consider going. It may not be totally authentic, but from a performance standpoint, it's probably as good as we're going to see. Also, the possibilities for the setlist now including songs previously vetoed by Anderson and Rick Wakeman, more specifically stuff from Drama and Relayer, could make the show interesting and unique enough to overcome the fact that two of the band's seemingly irreplaceable members have been, well, replaced. Should be interesting to see how this pans out, so long as Skeletor...err...Steve Howe, makes it through yet another year on tour.

Richard Wright, 1943-2008

2008-09-15T22:06:00.003-05:00

Richard Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd, died this morning at age 65. Typically overshadowed by Waters' creative visions and David Gilmour's guitar heroics, Wright was somewhat of an unsung hero, but when you listen to Floyd (particularly the earlier stuff before Waters really took over), you realize he was absolutely integral to the Pink Floyd sound, preferring intricate textures and tasteful, restrained playing to the virtuosity of many of his 70's prog contemporaries.

While never recieving the same acclaim that his more famous bandmates did, Wright's writing credits prove his invaluable worth to Pink Floyd. As a writer, he'll always be most remembered for "The Great Gig In The Sky," but his name also graces several other songs on Dark Side as well as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." He also contributed significantly to the band's first several albums after the departure of Syd Barrett, most notable of these were "See-Saw" and "Remember A Day" from A Saucerful Of Secrets. Unfortunately after Wish You Were Here, Roger Waters largely took over the songwriting, although Wright would contribute the underrated "Wearing The Inside Out" to The Division Bell, his last solo composition (and lead vocal) on a Floyd album.

Perhaps my favorite Richard Wright song though, is buried on side two of the much maligned Atom Heart Mother. "Summer '68," aside from being a classic piece of late psychadelia, is interesting in that it is the first Floyd song about touring and the rock n' roll lifestyle, themes which would dominate the band's late 70's output, albiet in Roger Waters compositions. Musically, it's a bit of an oddity, like the rest of Atom Heart Mother, but it is one of the more successful tracks on the record, and one of my favorite obscure gems from the pre-Dark Side era. The track's lighthearted rhythmic feel, wordless chorus, and trumpet solo give the song a kind of Pepper-era Beatles influence, but the song's musical playfulness is something that the band would rarely attempt again, and seems a fitting way to remember one of the most influential keyboardists of all time.

Download: Pink Floyd - "Summer '68" [Play]

From David Gilmour's website:

No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend.

In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.

He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.

I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes'. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig In The Sky', both of which he wrote, what would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been? Without his quiet touch the Album 'Wish You Were Here' would not quite have worked.

In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early Nineties, with 'The Division Bell', his vitality, spark and humour returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him, (though not to the rest of us).

Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously.

David Gilmour
Monday 15th September 2008

Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello - "Carpetbaggers"

2008-09-11T19:38:00.003-05:00

I've been looking forward to Jenny Lewis' second solo LP, Acid Tongue, for awhile now. Until Under The Blacklight made Pitchfork readers scream in dispair at it's shiny pop goodness, I really didn't understand Rilo Kiley (and still don't really get what's so great about their earlier records), but I instantly fell in love with Lewis' solo LP, Rabbit Fur Coat. There was something really warm and comforting about it; one of those albums that is so modest and unassuming that it ends up being innocently brilliant, kind of like Keith Richards' Talk Is Cheap.

So I've listened to Acid Tongue twice now, and while it's definitely a more 'established' and planned record, it's also tremendously enjoyable, and manages that difficult task of not repeating the debut but not straying so far from it as to sound labored. There's a parade of guests, including an almost suicide-inducing turn by Connor Oberst (what the fuck is such an annoyingly sad panda doing on such a happy album?), but the rest are generally unobtrusive.

And the best? A shining guest spot by none other than Elvis Costello, returning the favor of Lewis' appearance on Momofuku. No surprises, but it's a hell of a lot of fun...and really, could the combined win of these two together result in anything bad?

Link: Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello - "Carpetbaggers"

New Keane single - "Spiraling"

2008-09-07T19:23:00.002-05:00

Spiralling - Keane

Okay, now I can't be that upset about this, it's just Keane. I enjoyed their first two albums quite a bit, and since Radiohead and then Coldplay ruined everything that Britpop created by creating an entire genre of UK mope-rock, Keane is one of the few bright spots of the last few years, with a string of bloody catchy singles and two mostly solid LP's.

So while they're not going to change anyone's life, their upcoming third album was definitely on my list of most anticipated albums this fall, but I'm having a hard time stomaching "Spiraling." Horrible, dated 80's production, bad synth bass, a lame chorus, and above all, the sheer awkwardness of Keane making a synth-pop-esque dance record. I don't want to hear them make Hopes And Fears Part Deux necessarily, but it comes off as Keane trying to be something they're not, rather than evolving as themselves. I'm waiting for the rest of the album to pass a real judgement, but this could be a pretty serious misstep.

The Best Singles That Never Were: James - "Crash"

2008-09-06T00:11:00.004-05:00

So I'm officially heading to Chicago in a few weeks to catch James on their reunion tour that includes their first U.S. shows in eleven years. Granted, while it isn't my primary motivation for the trip, I'm still pretty stoked, especially since my real introduction to the band was their live record Getting Away With It, which has since achieved a firm place onto my list of all-time favorite live albums.

To most, their best years may have been behind them by 1999, but for whatever reason, to me Millionaires is the most enjoyable and consistently listenable studio record in the James catalog, and more significantly to this post, features my favorite song in the James cannon, "Crash." Unfortunately in the shadow of the collective critical splooging over OK Computer and Urban Hymns, the record never had a chance. Like the subject of my previous post about The Guess Who, James were a quintessential singles band, and damn good at it, which unfortunately didn't earn you a lot of street cred with NME critics expecting every album to be the next Definitely Maybe or Parklife. The beauty of James is that they're about as subtle as a Slayer concert, with every single potentially loaded with a Wembley-sized singalong chorus. Take your new band's big hit single, multiply it by about 15 times, and that's probably James' setlist for the average show. At times, the songs may have the lyrical depth of a middle-schooler's diary, but they play it as if Tim Booth is emnitting musical Shakespeare. And so long as it sounds that awesome, I'll believe whatever he says.

The recent 2-CD singles collection Fresh As a Daisy issued last year to cash in on the UK reunion tour is really all the James any sane person needs, but sane people generally don't have music blogs, and so those people would be missing out on my favorite James track, "Crash," the leadoff track to Millionares. A pulsing, catchy-as-fuck pop tune in the same rhythmic vein as "Come Home," full of Brian Eno's subtle, magical production touches, particularly in the vocal harmonies, and the most energizing chorus on the record. Why it was overlooked in favor of two pleasant but less engaging tracks for singles, I will never understand. Suffice to say, the album went largely overlooked and "Crash" hasn't been played live since 2000. Would it have been as good as the early 90's anthems that brought them into the public consciousness in the first place? Probably not...but as part of defending my favorite James album, I really do believe it would've been a perfect first single, but alas, it was not to be.

And if you're reading this, and have no idea who these guys are, or think they just did that "Laid" song, for the love of god, go watch some YouTube videos. They may border on silly, but they know how to write a pop song. And if you're lucky enough to live in one of the few cities that constitutes their idea of a "US Tour," just go. Trust me.

Download:

James - "Crash"

The Guess Who - "Share The Land"

2008-08-26T02:28:00.005-05:00

The fact that The Guess Who are rarely mentioned by anyone other than Lester Bangs as being members of rock's elite bands is one of the major travesties in popular music. Maybe it's because critics tend to downplay great singles bands that happened to exist in the album-rock era. Really, the band only released a couple of great albums (American Woman and Canned Wheat), both of which have been largely overshadowed by the sheer number of more prominent, groundbreaking and influential albums released in 1969-70. So The Guess Who were a singles band. Big deal. The point is, you could stack their original 1971 Greatest Hits LP track for track against any slab of vinyl released that decade, and by the end of "Hang On To Your Life" you'd be ready to get a fucking Maple Leaf tattooed on your arse.

Which brings us to the guilty pleasure in The Guess Who's canon: "Share The Land," a song so overflowing with flowery, hippie bullshit that you're almost positive they somehow edited it into the Woodstock movie, despite the song not being written until 1970. Really, it's a pity the song wasn't written in time to be a flower power anthem. In fact, after Altamont, the split of the Beatles, and the emergence of Led Zeppelin, it's kind of amazing the song caught on at all. Even out of context, you can't help feel a little silly singing along, but at the same time, you can't help but sing along.

Never did the band write something so infectious, and arguably never did Burton Cummings assert himself in such a masterful way as one of the most powerful and emotive vocalists of his era. While the band never scaled the heights of many of their contemporaries, Cummings in his prime deserves to be mentioned next to Daltry or Plant in any list of classic rock singers. Shaking your hand and sharing the land sounds pretty silly, but in his hands, it sounds downright profound. If every song was sung the way he sings, maybe we really would be all living together holding hands on our free, communist plot of land, and we'd love every second of it.

The song's infectious hippy-dippy sappiness only really sinks in when the song takes a victory lap in the form of it's a-capella tag, in which Cummings unleashes a lifetime's worth of peace and love cliches in what amounts to 60 seconds of sheer ecstacy, rivaling the coda of "God Only Knows" in pure vocal brilliance.

The song might sound a little silly to our 2008 ears, jaded by decades of war, Reagan and two Bushes, but it's still impossible for me to blast this song and not smile afterwards, and think maybe, with enough effort and Burton Cummings singing, we might somehow be able to all live together.

Link: The Guess Who - "Share The Land" [Play]

Bruce Springsteen - "Thundercrack"

2008-08-21T12:01:00.003-05:00

In honor of tonight's show here in Nashville, I figured it's time for a Springsteen post.

Before there was "Rosalita," there was "Thundercrack," Bruce's first attempt at intentionally writing a "show-stopper" (per the man himself). Oddly, despite it being one of the longest songs of the pre-Born To Run era, it's lyrically one of the simplest, especially given that the lyrics to Greetings From Asbury Park take up multiple entire panels of the original LP artwork. The song is really just an excuse for an elongated instrumental section, padded out with meaningless dribble about a dancing chick.

It's a prelude to the multi-part suites like "Rosie" and "Jungleland" that would emerge in the following years, and sadly an idea Springsteen never really returned to after the 70's. "Thundercrack" is not only the sound of the early E-Street band doing everything within their power to tear the roof off wherever they were playing (even in the somewhat subdued studio version), but the sound of a brilliant band not yet having figured out how you're "supposed" to write and structure songs. As much as I love the song, it was definitely written to be a live piece, and it doesn't surprise me it didn't make any of Bruce's early albums, although it's a shame the song was largely dropped by the end of 1974. It's not the greatest song he ever wrote, but it's definitely one of the most fun tunes lurking in the depth of the Springsteen catalog. If you don't crack a smile at some point during the song, you officially have no soul.

Bruce never completely forgot about the song, resurrecting it at a 2003 Christmas show, at a few solo shows in 2005, and finally as part of the encore on the Magic tour. Unfortunately the song didn't last in the 2007 sets past the first month or two of the tour, since it was ten minutes of 90% of the crowd thinking "what the fuck is this?" But for the other 10%, it was the closest we were ever going to get to knowing what an early 70's Springsteen show was like. And it was pure magic.

Link: Bruce Springsteen - "Thundercrack"

Live In L.A. 1973:

Beth Orton - "Feel To Believe"

2008-08-15T01:42:00.005-05:00

My love of Beth Orton is no secret to anyone who knows me in real life. There are female artists I love who I find more intriguing (Tori Amos), catchy (Tina Dico), or groundbreaking (Bjork), but none as personally comforting as Ms. Orton. There's music you turn to when you're happy, there's other artists and albums you gravitate to when you're not, and somehow Beth, and the Central Reservation album in particular, seemed to always defy my mood, and make perfect sense no matter how I was feeling or what was happening in my life at the time. Undoubtedly this will not be the last post about her, but since this is generally regarded as her strongest album, it seemed like a reasonable place to start.

Like so many albums, Central Reservation is pretty front-loaded, with the album's big single ("Stolen Car") leading off, and the gorgeous ballad "Sweetest Decline," the epic "Pass In Time," and the title track (released in a wonderfully poppy remix as a single) all on (the hypothetical) side A. Side B (i.e. tracks 7-11) is a bit more of a conundrum: the trip-hop of "Stars All Seem To Weep" and the comparitively unremarkable "Love Like Laughter," followed by three stark, nearly-solo acoustic songs to close out the album. Each of them haunting and wonderful in their own right, but definitely have the feeling of being buried at the end of the disc. Perhaps mixing the haunting "Devil Song" amidst the lush sound of the rest of the disc disrupted the flow, or more likely, they were deemed the songs with the least commercial potential and relegated to the end.

So oddly, despite my fondness for orchestration, arranging, and overproduction, my favorite song on the album ended up being the closer, "Feel To Believe," which despite it's solo guitar arrangement, has more energy in it than anything on the album next to "Stolen Car." I don't have any information on the song's recording, but it definitely feels like a one or two-take demo, maybe even an afterthought for inclusion on the record. You can hear her voice crack a few times, bringing out the fragile nature of her vocals that endeared me to her music in the first place.

Oddly, it's a somewhat hopeful song, at least by Beth Orton standards. The process of losing someone we're close to to things we can't control is something everyone experiences at some point. The first few verses seem to imply that she's losing this person to another girl, but I suppose it could be drugs, depression, or anything else self-destructive. But that isn't really the point...It's simultaneously a song of subtle deseperation and disbelief, yet ends with a statement of hope for the future:

And I won't waste a single second
Living in hell as a nadir of heaven
And if one truth leads you to five,
I still don't believe in your reasons why.

And if one truth leads to another,
Isn't there one we can uncover?
If there isn't one that we cannot discover.
So it's our time.
It's our time to discover.

I've vowed to someday, somehow get the chance to ask her what the inspiration for this song was...she has so many songs about her own romantic relationships, and this just doesn't seem like one of them, so I've always imagined there's a really interesting (although potentially depressing) story behind it.

Anyways, enjoy my favorite song from possibly my favorite female artist on the planet.

Download

And, for good measure, a live version taped by someone who must've been standing right next to me at the Vic back in 2006...this was the performance that really sealed the deal for me with this song. Maybe it was the moment, and admittedly, I'm a bit biased, but there was definitely something in the air that night.

Great Songs From Crappy Albums #2: Primal Scream - "Country Girl"

2008-07-27T22:41:00.004-05:00

I've been on a bit of a Primal Scream kick lately, mostly attempting to digest their latest opus, Beautiful Future, a record which attempts to be the sonic opposite of today's topic, 2006's Riot City Blues, a well-meaning but somewhat uninspiring Stones-laced blues-rock album that was greeted with a collective shrug by most of the world. It wasn't embarassing, or even that bad, but the Scream had the misfortune of being so renowned as innovators, that making even one album of guitar-based trad-rock seemed to send the critics up in arms.

Personally, I find the record enjoyable, but simply lacking enough standout tracks to really make it work. However, they did manage one kick-ass rock n' roll single in the album's leadoff track "Country Girl," the kind of song you wish The Black Crowes were still capable of delivering. It proves that despite years of electronica and industrial experimenting, Primal Scream could still be one kickass rock n' roll band. Unfortunately for the album as a whole, they don't match up as kickass rock n' roll songwriters, but at least we got one great single out of it. And as an added bonus, a suitably entertaining video.

Download: Primal Scream - "Country Girl" [Play]

Live version from T In The Park...which makes me cry at the realization they'll probably never play the States again (c'mon guys, it's been 8 years...I know we suck at appreciating music, but throw us a fucking bone here)

Rush on The Colbert Report

2008-07-17T18:07:00.003-05:00

Nothing overly significant about the appearance, but when one of your favorite bands of all time does one of your favorite shows for their first TV appearance in 30 years, I figured I should make note of it. Stephen did a pretty good job with the interview, although it was pretty obvious that booking and interviewing the band was more his producer's doing than his, but it still made for some amusing moments.

Quote(s) of the day:

"You're known for some long songs. Have you ever written a song so epic, that by the end of the song, you were actually being influenced by yourself at the beginning of the song, because it happened so much earlier in your career?"

"You are yet to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Is there any chance your next album will be called 'That's Bullshit'?"

Interview + "Tom Sawyer"

Best of 2008...So Far

2008-07-17T12:44:00.003-05:00

Big Blue Ball (Peter Gabriel) - Big Blue Ball. As happy as I am to have anything new from Peter Gabriel, I was really pleasantly surprised how much I like this album, given the kind of clusterfuck nature in which it was made. Highly recommended; it will be unlike anything in your collection.
Big Blue Ball

The Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia. B-sides and oddities disc that is almost as good as the 'real' companion album. Who'd a thunk it?
Night Reconnaissance

Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers. Still think it ranks slightly behind Back To Me, but still a tremendous record nonetheless.
The Cheapest Key, I Make the Dough, You Get The Glory

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree. This one took awhile to reveal itself...I would've preferred further explorations into the direction they went on Supernature...this one's more of a retreat back to their early stuff and doesn't have that same sense of innovation, but it's a warm, cosy, organic record that really sinks in after a few listens more than I thought it would.
Caravan Girl (live @ Glastonbury)

Al Green - Lay It Down. Really, how can you say no to Al fucking Green?
Lay It Down

Van Morrison - Keep It Simple. Easily the best album he's done since Back On Top.
Keep It Simple

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV. A tough listen, but one of the most interesting things Trent's ever done. It could have been a self-indulgent mess, but instead is a fascinating exercise in a brilliant artist pushing himself to try something new, and succeeding.

R.E.M. - Accelerate. Finally...REM stopped being boring and started being a band again. Nothing revolutionary about it, but just a refreshing record from a band a lot of people (myself included) had left for dead.
Man Sized Wreath, Living Well Is The Best Revenge

Sia - Some People Have Real Problems. Probably my most played album of the year so far. I think I still prefer Colour The Small One but there's just something irresistible about both Sia and this record. Maybe it just has fit my mood a lot for the last few months too. Now if only I could buy it on vinyl.
Buttons (live), Soon We'll Be Found (live)

Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times. My favorite guitar player could probably poop out a record and I'd still give it a serious consideration for this list, but his first vocal solo album in 10 years was worth the wait. Far from a wank-fest, it's a well-crafted balance of concise songwriting and instrumental virtuosity that is pretty tough to achieve. Get rid of the annoying Steely Dan knockoff "Stab In The Back" (god, I fucking HATE Steely Dan) and you've got an almost perfect record.
Ever Changing Times

Faces reunion?

2008-07-17T02:42:00.003-05:00

Things have been a bit...confuzzled the past few days, so apologies for lack of posts, but things will be back to normal soon. But I did read this bit today that got me thinking a little.

Faces keyboard player Ian McLagan has confirmed the surviving members of the band, including Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, have been considering a reunion.

"We're hoping to get together later this year to play and then we may have some news, but I want it to happen, badly," he told BBC 6 Music. McLagan said Stewart was the only member uncertain about reforming. "Rod hasn't wanted to do it for a long time. He didn't see the need in it but I think he really wants to now."

It has been nearly four decades since the band, known for hits such as Cindy Incidentally and Stay With Me, first formed. "It's going to be great if it does happen," McLagan said.

Now really, let's face it. The reason this hasn't happened already is because Rod Stewart had the opposite career trajectory of everyone else from his decade. He somehow became more famous after the Faces broke up (although it goes without saying that his best output as a solo artist was done concurrently with the Faces stuff and featured a lot of the same players). You really think Robert Plant would've done the Page/Plant reunion if he'd become more famous as a solo artist than Led Zeppelin? Same with Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, David Lee Roth...the list goes on. The saddest part is, I bet Rod would sell more tickets playing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" than with the surviving members of the Faces, at least in the States.

But the real question is, would we really want to see this?

First things first...All the Ian McLagen hoping in the world is not going to resurrect Ronnie Lane. More than just keeping Faces albums from sounding like (better) Stewart solo discs by singing a few songs, Lane was a crucial part of the soul of the band. His presence, much more than the name on a concert ticket, is what would distinguish McLagen and Wood guesting at a Rod Stewart show from a real Faces gig.

Realistically though, I'd still go see a band with Ronnie Wood, McLagen, and this guy, even if they did call it the Faces. I mean, fuck, think of the setlist...take 15 or so of the most rockin' Faces tunes, maybe throw in a few of the Wood/Stewart co-writes from his solo albums like "Every Picture Tells A Story" and "Gasoline Alley," and you've got a rock n' roll setlist right out of Ocean Colour Scene's wet dream. However, maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I just have no desire to hear this guy sing "Flying." I mean, being born seven years after the band broke up, the opportunity to hear such a thing is very, very tempting, but I feel it would only result in disappointment. Nevermind the sins against rock that Stewart has perpetuated in the last few decades (although that Oasis cover never fails to entertain me), he just doesn't have the voice, let alone the swagger, to pull off those tunes in the kind of stripped-down, raw format he hasn't had to sing with in over 30 years.

I'm not going to lie and say the proposition isn't tempting (assuming Ronnie is sober enough to play, but more on that later), but I can't help but feel like it'd be a disappointment once the novelty wears off. It's the same reason I think Robert Plant is axing the once-inevitable Zep reunion tour. It's obvious McLagen is really pushing for it to happen, although whether his motivations are nostalgic or financial, I can't really tell, but for his sake (and the sake of Kenney Jones, who is hereby banned from future reference due to his lame drumming with the Who, but who probably needs the money), I hope it happens. I just wouldn't plan on it being the revelation we all wish it could be.

In the meantime, enjoy...

Kickass Dylan Covers: RPWL - "Masters Of War"

2008-07-09T19:35:00.003-05:00

Ever sat around and wondered what it would've sounded like if Pink Floyd covered Dylan? Me either. But RPWL has taken it upon themselves to find out anyway, including an otherwise inconspicuous cover of "Masters Of War" in the middle of their new album. The band is now ten years and several albums removed from their beginnings as a Floyd cover band in Germany, but while they've slowly discovered their own sound and written some excellent songs, each record they put out is really the next best thing to a new Floyd album (Gimour's last solo album notwithstanding, especially since he'll probably never do another one).

Dylan covers are always an interesting proposition. For all the detracters who point out that the guy can't really sing, no one has ever been able to emulate the sound of a Dylan record. He was the antithesis of The Beatles...he disliked the recording process and rarely attempted more than a few takes of any given song. Often times the musicians had little or no idea of the song they were about to play before a session began; even when they did, Dylan could change any element of the song or its structure on the fly, leaving in his wake a discography of brilliant but largely spontaneous recordings that would be impossible to emulate. Even Dylan himself has rarely attempted this with his live performance, choosing instead to reinvent old songs for the stage, rendering some of them barely recognizable.

So when covering songs by the second-most covered artist of all time (I think), bands are pretty much left to their own devices, which has yielded some amazing (The Byrds) and disasterous (Shatner?) results. But RPWL's Floyd-esque take on "Masters Of War" is kind of an interesting contradiction. Dylan's songs and records are immediate, direct and to the point. Floyd and their art-rock brethren made records that were intentionally the opposite: expansive, precise, epic works painstakingly created and shaped in the studio. Floyd records were many things, but "intimate" was never one of them. The whole intent was to sound like the record came from another planet, another state of mind, and be something you couldn't just pick up and strum on an acoustic guitar and stick on a 45.

So I present this without a real opinion on whether it's an affront to everything Dylan stands for, a novelty track, or a really unique presentation of one of the man's most topical songs. (since clearly the lyrical content is what prompted them to cover the song in the first place) But I do find it a really interesting take on a song I've heard done a certain way for so many years, not just by Dylan, but by equally confrontational bands like Pearl Jam. (Of course, it's also been covered by Cher, but hey, you can't win 'em all)

Given that the song is not about war itself, but about the distant, secritive politicians and beaurocracy that lead us there, and manufacture not only the industry but the conflicts themselves, does the dreamy, abstract Floyd-esque reading point out how far removed we are from the people who make these decisions? Or is it just taking the urgency and anger out of Dylan's version leaving a sonic mess in its wake? I can't really decide, but I think it's pretty interesting either way if you're a fan of Floyd or Dylan.

Download:
RPWL - "Masters Of War" [Play]

As a sidenote, check out Pearl Jam's kickass version here.

Great Songs From Crappy Albums #1: Liz Phair - "Love/Hate"

2008-07-07T02:17:00.002-05:00

Few albums by established artists seem to have been as universally reviled as Liz Phair's calculated, self-titled attempt at late-30's pop stardom, spread upon the masses in 2003 in the form of the Matrix-produced "Why Can't I?," which ended up sounding like Avril Lavigne, minus the punk...so, just like Avril Lavigne. And while the rest of the album is actually (mostly) better than that anonymous single, it didn't seem to matter, although to be fair, the album's cover probably did as much damage as the single in alienating the part of Phair's fan-base who wanted her to sing "Fuck And Run" till she was 50.

Now, I'm a self-professed Journey fan, so to me, there's no such thing as overproduction. But while I think Exile On Guyville is a really unique moment in time and one of the most fascinating confessionals ever to be turned into an album, the music itself sounds like it took little more than the album's running time to record it. I can't fault Phair for wanting to make a straight pop album, since much of her 90's work was the same type of pop songs, just minus radio-ready production. The downfall wasn't the decision to make a slicker record, it was simply that the note-perfect production didn't fit her decidedly imperfect singing. Phair is a lot of things, but a powerhouse vocalist has never been one of them, and that may be where the deeper flaw of Liz Phair lies.

However, for the few people who can make it all the way to the latter half of the album, there lies "Love/Hate," the greatest song Cheap Trick never wrote. Being from Chicago, it's not a stretch for Phair to have made such a direct homage to "Surrender," but what is surprising is how well it works. It's also one of the few tracks on the album where Phair sounds like her old self, just louder and with a better chorus. Not to mention, the almost-live feel of the song makes it stick out amongst the rest of the disc worse than one of George Harrison's Indian compositions, but in this case, it makes for the best 4 minutes of music Phair has given us this decade.

Seriously, put it on. Sure, the lyrics are simple and kind of silly, but it sounds fucking great, and I mean...it's War! With the whole wide fucking world! RAWK! While Phair succeeds in being Rick Neilsen and writing one of the most fun power pop songs in recent memory, she's unfortunately lacking Robin Zander's power, and one can only imagine if a stronger, real rock singer got ahold of this. But as is, it's one of the great 'lost' power pop classics of this decade, unfortunately buried on an album that tried too hard to be something no one wanted Phair to be in the first place.

Download/Play:

Liz Phair - "Love/Hate"

U2 - "The Fly" (Elevation tour version)

2008-07-06T01:51:00.007-05:00

I was going to start my inevitable series of either kick-ass or suicide-inducing Beatles covers today (I haven't decided which category to tackle first), until I read this (conveniently translated and posted at @U2):

U2's new public relations director, Daniel Lanois, told Le Journal de Montreal last week that the band has finished recording the new album, and all that's left is to "finish up some mixes." You can read the interview en Francais, or rely on this translation from our good friend Beth:

"It's going to be different in several ways, but I think it's similar from one point of view, namely that it's going to push the known limits in the sound arena, the way Achtung Baby did in the past.

"Currently we're working within clearly defined creative periods. We meet somewhere and we work for two weeks on everything we can. Then we all go do whatever for three weeks, before getting together again. It requires some administration, but for the creative process it's as if everything were fresh every time we reunite."

There will be much to come regarding my thoughts on the upcoming U2 record, although I imagine most of them revolve around the one question on everyone's mind: Did Bono stop saving the world long enough to spend more than 15 minutes on song lyrics this time? Time will tell, but in the meantime...

U2 is a band known for it's constant reinvention, from the punk and new wave influenced Boy to the Americana-tinged Joshua Tree to the electronic feel of Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop, and then back again (somewhat) on the last two records. It's both a blessing and a curse, especially as the band went from wanting to undermine the establishment to, in a sense, becoming the establishment. The heavier electronica of Pop was (and sadly still is) much malinged by casual fans and the music press, yet when the band "played it safe" with the back to basics All That you Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, some people were equally critical that the band hadn't replicated the same forward progression displayed on previous records.

However, U2 is known as one of the best live shows on the planet, and it is many fans' opinion (myself included) that live versions regularly better their studio counterparts, even without significant musical changes. There's just something about the dynamic and energy of a U2 show that elevates (no pun intended) the songs to a place no record can possibly go.

But one thing that rarely changes are the songs themselves. The band has evolved in so many ways since the early 80's, but "I Will Follow" and "Pride" are still played basically the same way as they were 25 years ago. There's been a few exceptions: The ZooTV tour introduced a killer guitar-based version of "Running To Stand Still," and Edge broke out a somber, slow version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in Sarajevo in 1997 that remains a chilling listen ten years later. But let's face it, U2 is not Bob Dylan, reinventing their songs from night to night, or the Grateful Dead, stretching "Bullet The Blue Sky" into an epic 20 minute jam.

Which brings me to the Elevation tour, which reintroduced "The Fly" after an eight year absence from the stage. Surprisngly, in a tour that tried so hard to be the opposite of everything U2 stood for in the eighties, "The Fly" was the only song the band saw fit to drastically reinvent for this new era, not only changing the arrangement but using it to close the main set of the shows, in lieu of a safer, more well-known piece.

The result was one of the most epic, sprawling, and above all, heaviest tracks in the U2 canon. Beginning with a hushed, almost hymn-like recitation of the chorus over a classic Edge arpeggio riff, it leads into perhaps the heaviest Edge riff ever recorded. Ditching the Strat for a Les Paul fattens the tone, and changing the key from E to A makes the riff a bit less muddy than the original incarnation, and that much more intense. The key change is what makes this version though. In the original key of E, Bono sings the verses in a dark near-whisper, emphasizing both the dark tone of the lyrics but also attempting to bring out the character of The Fly. In that sense, it works, but being forced to sing a fourth higher makes him ditch the character and just sing it as Bono - the fucking rock singer, and everyone was better off for it. Gone is the acting, the Fly costume, the falsetto chorus, the weak-sounding single-coil Stratocaster sound....replaced by an intensity in sound that I don't think the band has matched since, onstage or in the studio.

Unfortunately, the official tour DVD from Boston isn't the best performance of this version, but it's the only one I presently have in excellent soundboard quality, so it will have to do for now. Check out Edge's guitar solo, and that tone. Quite possibly my favorite piece of guitar work from the man, ever.

Mp3 - "The Fly" (Elevation Tour version)

Video:

The Verve - "Love Is Noise"

2008-07-02T15:26:00.004-05:00

When The Verve announced they were reuniting last year, I had some mixed feelings, despite my unwavering love and emotional attachment to their music. Here was a band so full of tension they managed to break up not once, but twice in a 3-year span, the second time after one of the biggest and most celebrated albums of the Britpop era. Richard Ashcroft went off to make three pleasant, reasonably successful solo albums in the Urban Hymns mold while Nick McCabe disappeared from the music scene almost entirely for nine years.

The writing was on the wall even back as far as A Northern Soul, where Ashcroft clearly saw himself as a brooding, epic pop songsmith on "On Your Own" and "History," the latter of which is still one of the greatest songs of the decade, but clearly sticks out musically from the swirling psychedelic sound of the rest of the disc. Urban Hymns even started out as Ashcroft's first solo record before McCabe came back to the fold and attempted to fit in as best he could to a group of songs that for the most part, he had nothing to do with writing.

So really I had more questions than anything else, especially when the reunion annoucement was accompanied by mention of a new album. Would the band return to it's early sound and feature McCabe prominently, or would the guitarist just be adding color to a bunch of Ashcroft solo tunes? Would the chemistry still be there, or would this have all the warmth, fuzziness and comraderie of a late 70's Fleetwood Mac gig? And above all, would the band be able to spend months on tour and in the studio without having another falling out?

Months go by, and finally, the first real results from the reunion have emerged (not counting the improvisational Thaw Session last year) in the form of "Love Is Noise," the first single from the upcoming LP. And the song....really doesn't answer a lot of questions. Old fans expecting a guitar-dominated echo-fest are going to be disappointed...McCabe seems largely absent from the recording, yet the song is more rhythmic and energetic than anything off Ashcroft's solo LP's. I'd be shocked if it isn't credited on the LP as a solo Ashcroft composition, but at least it's a valient effort to depart from the slow ballads he's been largely doing for the last 10 years.

As a first single, it succeeds in making me curious about the album, but doesn't seem to offer a lot of hints to the overal direction. It's obvious the band was aiming for another summer festival anthem to rival "Bitter Sweet Symphony," but unfortunately doesn't quite succeed in the studio. After watching live footage from Glastonbury last weekend, however, I think it may end up being a killer live track, with much more prominent guitar work and the kind of uptempo energy the band has rarely attempted.

You can jam the studio version at last.fm and the live version from Glastonbury on YouTube.

Studio Version:
The Verve – Love Is Noise

Download an mp3 of the live version here. I highly recommend putting this on your ipod instead. The whole set is floating around the torrent sites as well, and it's worth the download, if just to prove to yourself that the band hasn't lost a thing as a live band.

As a sidenote...maybe realizing the tune wasn't going to please fans holding out for another "Gravity Grave," the band recorded a new studio version of "Mover," an unreleased song the band played live in the pre-Northern Soul era. Not the greatest tune they ever wrote, but honestly, it just feels good to have the band back, sounding the way only they can. Not sure what's going to become of the track (it's not on the new album) beyond a one-week only download, but I'm putting it up here for posterity, it's definitely worth a listen if you're an old-school fan.

The Verve - "Mover" (2008 recording)

Links:
"Love Is Noise" (studio)
"Love Is Noise" (live video)
"Love Is Noise" (live mp3)

Verve Universe

Welcome To [My Nightmare/The Occupation/The Jungle]

2007-09-18T13:03:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my music blog...because the internet needs another music blog like television needs another reality show.

However, I can promise that this site will be different, in that it will be (as much as allowed) completely Pitchfork-related band-free, which I think is kind of a novelty in the music blogosphere. So let's see how this goes. Welcome.

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Now playing: Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine