In 1976, the New Musical Express ran a story about a Clash fan who bit off her boyfriend's earlobe during a London show — behavior Jones says "wasn't unusual" at their early club performances. "I've got to be honest — it was just a piece of the lobe," he says. "Like a Mike Tyson kind of thing."
Don't blow it out of proportion, NME, for the sake of selling a few papers, eh wot?
Since I'm still computer challenged at this point I'm going to recommend you read the following bit of music minutae, an extremely engrossing essay on the late, great Lester Bangs. Music critic for Creem magazine and all around scuzzbag. Love him or hate him (I'm of the former camp), this is one interesting and insightful read.
Big Bangs Theory
In Almost Famous, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the late rock critic Lester Bangs onscreen. But the only way to get Bangs right is to get Bangs on paper.
By David Pulizzi
Late one evening about two years ago I was reading about one dead man, Elvis Presley, when I encountered the work of another, Lester Bangs. I was well into the endnotes of Mystery Train, Greil Marcus' popular treatise on rock music. Following a couple dozen pages of detailed notes on Presley, Marcus arrives at what he calls "the finest, or the most final, words of obituary spoken on the occasion of Elvis Presley's death. Lester Bangs was writing in the Village Voice, August 29, 1977, in a piece titled 'How Long Will We Care?'":
If love is truly going out of fashion, which I do not believe, then along with our nurtured indifference to each other will be an even more contemptuous indifference to each other's objects of reverence. I thought it was Iggy Stooge, you thought it was Joni Mitchell or whoever else seemed to speak for your own private, entirely circumscribed situation's many pains and few ecstasies. We will continue to fragment in this manner, because solipsism holds all the cards at present; it is a king whose domain engulfs even Elvis's. But I can guarantee you one thing; we will never agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. So I won't bother saying goodbye to his corpse. I will say goodbye to you.
Those were the first words of Bangs' I had ever encountered and they numbed my brain for a while.
...read the rest HERE
A musical snob, guilty of snobbery, is a person who adopts the world-view that some people's musical tastes are inherently inferior to others for any one of a variety of reasons including real or supposed knowledge (how long has one been listening/ collecting music), wealth (the number of albums in one's collection), education, ancestry, etc. Often, the form of snobbery reflects the offending individual's socio-musical background. For example, a common snobbery of the musically adept is the affectation that one's place in the rock snob heirarchy is either the cause or result of superior aural abilities. However, a form of snobbery can be adopted by someone not a part of that group; Pseudo-rock snob is a type of snob. Such a snob imitates the manners, adopts many of the tastes of true rock snobs and attempts to pass themselves off as a true connesseur of great music. It affects their world-view and affects the lifestyle of a social class of people to which he or she aspires, but does not yet belong, and to which he or she may never belong.
If that weird little banjo pickin' dude from Deliverance formed a band with Kurt Cobain, Nels Cline (from Wilco) and Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips they would've sounded a lot like Califone. This is skewed Appalachian Americana at it’s best and most haunting. The musicianship and variety of instruments played on Roots and Crowns is impressive as well. Here, take a peek at the credits:
Tim Rutili (vocals, guitars, piano, electronics, field recordings, organ, synthesiser, banjo, loops, bowed balalaika)
Ben Massarella (pistons, Zuni rattles, counting stick, bronze fork, gourd shakers, glass, oak chimes, ribbon crasher)
Jim Becker (violin, banjo, bass, xylophone, cajun accordian, mandolin)
Joe Adamik (drum kit, bass clarinet, wurlitzer, piano and organ, vibraphone, Dr. Sampler, bells, melodica and prepared metaliphone)
This is one of those "damn glad I kept it" discs because even though I couldn't quite get into it at first it eventually grew on me and now it's a favorite with weekly spin honors.
The itunes review states that Roots And Crowns "sounds like nothing so much as the perfect experimental country rock band that Wilco And Sonic Youth have yet to get together and form", and they're pretty spot on. Except this isn't like the Sky Blue Sky Wilco, more like "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" or "Ashes Of American Flags" Wilco. It's dark, organic and experimental all at the same time and I highly recommend you pick up a copy and see for yourself. If I wouldn't have been brain dead when I first picked this up in 2006 it would've probably ended up topping my year end lists.
I’ve rediscovered the joys of headphones.
Lately I’ve the need to escape the day to day pressures of working for a newspaper (just google “newspaper troubles” and you’ll see why) and the best way to zone out is to connect a good pair of headphones to the old iPod, imbibe in your favorite beverage and let the music take you to another place. Other than seeing a band live, headphones are the best way to experience music. With no outside distractions you’re free to let the music take charge of your brain and decimate the days trials and tribulations. Little nuances appear that were too subtle to hear on your car stereo, the bass sounds fuller and, in the case of your more psychedelic offerings, the full power of stereophonic sound floats from ear to ear demanding your full attention. And it doesn’t have to be a “prog” album, or a “producers” album to be a good headphone album either; many of the great headphone albums I own are acoustic offerings, or bare bones albums, if you will.
Who needs a $14,000 surround sound audio system when one can purchase a good pair of $100 ‘phones? The great audio equalizer, that’s what I say!
Here are just a few of Uncle E’s favorite “headphone” albums. What’re yours?
Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd
Screamadelica, Primal Scream
John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan
Sgt. Peppers, The Beatles (natch!)
Tommy, The Who
Moon Safari, Air
Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
The Great Escape, Blur
Catch A Fire, Bob Marley
Avalon, Roxy Music
Califone, Roots And Crowns
Surrender, The Chemical Brothers
Deserters Songs, Mercury Rev
The Soft Bulletin & Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Flaming Lips
Low, David Bowie
Fun House, The Stooges
In The Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra
Grace, Jeff Buckley
Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon
Band On The Run, Paul McCartney
The KLF, The White Room
How I Quit Smoking, Lambchop
Post War, M Ward
Blue Lines, Massive Attack
Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis
Z, My Morning Jacket
CASH, Nasty Rox, Inc.
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel
U.F. Orb, The Orb
Wildwood, Paul Weller
Steve McQueen, Prefab Sprout
A Ghost Is Born, Wilco
Apple Venus, Vol 1, XTC
….and a gajillion others…
Our main computer crashed over the weekend, and I'm having difficulty retrieving the 12,000 or so songs from the hard drive. I've got them on my iPod, but I'm not technically savvy enough to transfer them to the iTunes folder on my laptop.
So...I'm gonna have to start it all over again, downloading cd by cd. That's not such a bad thing, really, the thing was due for a thorough scrubbing anyway. I'll try to post stuff as often as possible, but perhaps they won't be as frequent as they have been, for a while anyway. Every other day most likely, maybe more. If any of you out there know how I can transfer the contents of my iPod to the laptop (other than just the "purchased through iTunes songs--I have a lot that weren't!), please tell me how in the comments section. Thanks much.
Here's a fun new blog that you folks should participate in. It's called Six Of The B(L)est and it's loads of fun! Here's the author's first posting:
"Each week, I'll be picking a topic for the list, and at the end of the week I'll post the six most popular suggestions in no particular order.
If you grew up in London in the 70s, you might remember Capital Radio's Nicky Horne did a weekly show of the same name and same concept.
To kick things off, I polled some friends and colleagues for my first list, which I've put below, with a few comments, as a hands-on introduction to the kind of thing SixOfTheBest is about.
This week's introductory list is
SONGS TO PLAY TO A RECENTLY-DEPARTED WISDOM TOOTH
and the playlist goes like this:
6. "Oops Upside Your Head" - The Gap Band (interesting....)
5. "Pulling Teeth" - Green Day (just a bit too obvious)
4. "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better (When You're Gone)" - The Byrds (that's more like it)
3. "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" - Bob Dylan (oh, very good)
2. "Tusk" - Fleetwood Mac (ho-hum)
1. "Something Inside So Strong" - Labi Siffre (clearly a fellow-sufferer)"
Halloween is just around the corner, folks, and before Tim Burton slithered onto the screen there was...RANKIN-BASS AND THEIR MAD MONSTER PARTY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!!
What makes this retro stop animation special so...special...is that Harvey Kurtzman wrote the kitschy screenplay and Jack Davis created the artistic templates for the "monsters". If those names don't ring a bell then you need to brush up on your pop culture trivia. These are two of the most important names in all of comicdom, the former the co-creator of MAD magazine and the later a prolific artist for MAD, Madison Avenue advertising campaigns and about a zillion other high profile comic concepts.
Check out the rock band in the video below. Look familiar...?
M Ward, who released my favorite album of 2006, Post War, has announced that he will finally release the follow up in February 2009. It features an all star cast of musical royalty, including (but not limited to) Lucinda Williams, Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy fame) and Zooey Deschanel.
No word yet on the release of Ward's collaboration with Jim James and Conor Oberst yet.
Here's the track listing for the new one, entitled "Hold Time":
01 For Beginners
02 Never Had Nobody Like You
03 Jailbird
04 Hold Time
05 Rave On
06 To Save Me
07 One Hundred Million Years
08 Stars of Leo
09 Fisher of Men
10 Oh Lonesome Me
11 Epistemology
12 Blake's View
13 Shangri-La
14 Outro
Why the hell does Sandinista! get such a bad rap?
The 4th album by The Clash, Sandinista! has always been my favorite by “The Only Band That Mattered”. I mean, come on! 3 slabs (2 on CD) of everything that made the Clash so enjoyable; dub experimentation without compromise, political musings with a punk edge, pure pop and loads of heart and soul. What more could you ask?
Most critics point out that this would have made a fantastic single disk, but I say “what the _____?” Sure, after the all-over-the-map sonic brilliance that was London Calling, Sandinista! may have seemed like bloated pretentious meanderings. Honestly though, the meanderings and experiments are what make it a favorite, of not just myself but legions of Clash fans all over the globe. But the only place I have ever seen this album top a list was in a “Best Of” 1980 in The Village Voice.
Damn shame, but all the better for me. I’ll let the punters have their London Calling and the eponymous first release and I’ll just sit back and play “Somebody Got Murdered” and “Charlie Don’t Surf” until the cows come home.
…and God said, “Let there be Raves, and “E”, and Career Resurrections!”, and so it came to pass, and it was good…
Happy Mondays, Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches
Neil Young, Ragged Glory
Iggy Pop, Brick By Brick
Uncle Tupelo, No Depression
Replacements, All Shook Down
Urban Dance Squad, Mental Floss For The Globe
Nick Cave, The Good Son
Ozric Tentacles, Erpland
Boo Radleys, Ichabod And I
Prefab Sprout, Jordan: The Comeback
Jellyfish, Bellybutton
Paul Simon, The Rhythm Of The Saints
They Might Be Giants, Flood
Brian Eno, Wrong Way Up
808 State, Utd. 90
Stereo MC’s, Supernatural
KLF, Chill Out
Public Enemy, Fear Of A Black Planet
Urge Overkill, Americruiser
Waterboys, Room To Roam
Black Crowes, Shake Your Money Maker
Bob Dylan, Under The Red Sky
Van Morrison, Enlightenment
Pixies, Bossanova
Teenage Fanclub, A Catholic Education
Nick Lowe, Party Of One
Pet Shop Boys, Behavior
Flaming Lips, In A Priest Driven Ambulance
Renegade Soundwave, In Dub
Lloyd Cole, Lloyd Cole
The Charlatans, Some Friendly
Inspiral Carpets, Life
Dave Edmunds, Closer To The Flame
Depeche Mode, Violator
The Lemonheads, Lovey
Edwyn Collins, Hell-bent On Compromise
The Fall, Extricate
Galaxie 500, This Is Our Music
And up next, one of my favorite years in all of modern music...1991.
This sure has been a month for rediscovering old classics. OMD’s Dazzle Ships, Love’s Da Capo, Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True and now Lou Reed’s The Blue Mask.
The Blue Mask came out in 1982 and at that time it wasn’t too hip to be lovin’ Reed. He just came off a string of poorly reviewed albums (Growing Up In Public, The Bells) and was competing with bands that couldn’t hold a candle to The Velvet Underground yet, stylistically and lyrically, owed them and Reed a humongous debt.
The Blue Mask is notable in the fact that Lou was clean and sober for the first time in many years, and the songwriting is clearer and concise. That is to say there are actual songs on this record, unlike his abhorrent Metal Machine Music (I don’t give a rat’s ass if the Chemical Brothers and a host of ambient and sub-par industrial bands think it’s fantastic, it’s shit!) .
To be honest, I think it’s his best since the Velvet Underground, even one upping the magnificent glam artifact that is Transformer and two upping Coney Island Baby and Street Hassle. The fact that Reed’s playing guitar again helps as well. Just listen to the metal feedback of the title track, pure organized chaos. Robert Quine adds a healthy dose of the danger with his evil power chords and Lou’s singing is at it’s most nakedly emotional and angry.
The rest of the album, most notably the eerie The Gun and The Day John Kennedy Died, is equally great.
Just because I was in the mood I also downloaded Street Hassle, which is a mini horror opera that Pete Townsend would’ve killed to pen. It’s worth it for Bruce Springsteen’s short but extremely effective cameo in which he cribs his own lyrics from Born To Run.
My daughter, I think, may have sprained her ankle.
She's 8.
She has a boy "friend" named Dylan who is the most thoughtful, caring little man I think I have ever met. A few weeks ago while we were camping at Mount Lassen, my youngest daughter (aged 4) fell in a river (as she often does) and Dylan offered my shivering little angel his shirt.
Now, with my eldest hobbling around like Captain Ahab, he is coming over to our house to offer her his walking stick. What a gentleman!
It must have something to do with his mom and dad, two of the finest folks I know.
Thanks buddy!
Levi Stubbs, Motown legend, passes away at aged 72. In honor, here's Levi Stubbs Tears as sung by Billy Bragg...
