Hello, folks (if there are any folks out there...).
I haven't written in about three weeks, so I wanted to stop in and basically say Hi and hope that eventually one or two people will see and be entertained by my Blog. But it's just a guy and his opinions, so it's more for my fun than anything else, I guess. I'm fine with that... for now.
1) Bogus Reactions - Circus Devils: I bought a Guided By Voices album years ago, and really enjoyed it, and then their albums after that (2003's Universal Truths and Cycles) I sampled and didn't find quite as good and far-out, nor have I gotten a great feeling from Robert Pollard's solo stuff. But Circus Devils is just a completely different animal. There's like 32 songs on there and they're all short and they're all zany and they're all fun. Buy this record and enjoy it.
2) Planet Earth - Prince: Have had this since the fall of 07, but haven't been able to 'absorb' it, but this is a cool, classic Prince rock/funk ballad. It's nice to hear him step out of his 'Little Bitch' box and get 'serious' for a few minutes and put together a cool little composition like this title track from his 2007 album, another good one.
3) Society - Eddie Vedder: From the grandiose soundtrack to the grandiose movie 'Into the Wild.' I read the book many years ago (thanks, Marc V for the gift), and my wife read the same copy years later and we went out and saw it the same day she finished it. It was tough, though, because we had to chase the movie around the state of New Hampshire a little bit to find it showing at the Wilton Town Hall, a really cool place to see a flick. Eddie, you're great on this whole album, good ideas, captured the movie great and I hope you have a great time at Bonnaroo! Still thinking about it.
4) Rag & Bone - White Stripes: Another great call-and-response between Jack and Meg, it's always fun when can let her non-drumming voice (you know, the kind of voice for which you need your larynx) be heard. Otherwise, this is a classic, let's play some feel-good rock'n'roll because we're bored type of White Stripes song.
5) Shanaya - Balkan Beat Box: Speaking of Bonnaroo, this is from the festival's own live recording series. This multicultural funk/middle eastern/hip-hop combo came on at about 1 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning. My wife and I had briefly fallen asleep after an otherworldly, senses-draining headlining stint by Radiohead. I wanted to stick around the main fairgrounds for a 2 a.m. show by Dr. John as the Night Tripper, but this band was the one I remember most (besides Radiohead) from that Saturday night. They got us jumping, that's for danged sure.
6) David Bowie - Phish (1993/08/13 Indianapolis, IN): Off the recently released Live Phish Download series. This comes in very quietly and unassuming, with a simple exchange of conversation between bassist Mike Gordon and guitarist Trey Anastasio. John Fishman is in the background rap-a-tapping his hi-hat. After 2:30 of that, it gets quieter and darker (though has Phish ever really been dark? No, not really). At 4:10, they're in the song as it's presented on Junta. This is just the beginning of the trip (hate to sound so hippy-ish there, sorry), as this is a 20-minute opus. I'll stand on a stack of Grateful Dead records, though, and say every day that 'I LOVE LONG SONGS!!' and 'I LOVE JAMS!!' They test a musician's true skill, mettle, talent and ability to create on the spot (which even punk bands do when they're writing songs, right?). Try and do that in front of an audience and keep it tight and sounding like it was rehearsed (really, I'm guessing that Phish worked out a lot of their jams before shows to a slim degree at least). They throw the Picture of Nectar instrumental 'Magilla' in the middle of the jam, which is nice to hear. That was always one of my favorites that didn't seem to get too much live play.
7) The Dream - Miles Davis w/Michel LeGrand: A very calming trumpet lullaby from the all-time master of the instrument from his soundtrack for the movie Dingo.
8) Let It Rain - Eric Clapton - Ah, what to say about this one. An instantly recognizable riff of tenuously assured guitar opens it up, and goes right into a chord sequence that has a grand feeling. No one uses these chords in 21st century music, save for maybe My Morning Jacket or Pearl Jam, but even the latter seems to sometimes settle for mid-tempo rock more than writing classics these days. And I love how things are 'taken down' for the solo, which seems like it's being held back by some unseen force, gurgling through the raindrops. Coming out of the chorus, his guitar is like a new person, recharged and pulling out those 'F$%-YEAH!' high notes. Yeah, just classic classic rock. I love how at the end, all the different ingredients go their own way, giving you a better sense of the layering within the song.
9) Workin' on Leavin'... - Modest Mouse - From Building Nothing out of Something, a recent acquisition. I really like this early, pure, angular Modest Mouse of the '90s rather than the poppier Modest Mouse of the later 2000s. Another sad example of a once-great unknown band whose success watered down their sound.
10) Back on the Chain Gang - The Pretenders - A post-'band apocalypse' of sorts for Chrissie Hynde's group, just recently reformed after the deaths of James Honeyman Scott and Pete Farndon. A very well-known song that I've always loved. A great, jangly guitar riff is its trademark, but I really also love the sound of the guitars during the verses and chorus, drowned in the chorus effect (a little stereo phasing?).
But the glory of this song, the part I always jam up on the volume is the bridge. Tony Butler's bass kicks in, the guitar sounds sharp as a razor blade, and Hynde strips away the charm of the verses and chorus to get down and dirty with an ambiguous delivery.
11) Oye Mi Guaganco - Tito Puente - I added this in making a mix to represent The Cat Empire's roots. The bongos and timbales really echo in this one. In a very symphonic way, the horns move along, very controlled, very brazen. Knowing they've got to kick some serious A to compete with the sweet cacophony of percussion.
12) Champion Sound - Fatboy Slim - A great melange as always from Norman Cook, a great dancehall/hip-hop mix.
13) My Baby's Gone - Blind Willie McTell - The reason I love 'Shuffle Songs' on iPods - look at these last four songs. What a great variety, and now the roots of nearly all of the stuff we've heard except for the Balkan Beat Box and the Titon Puente songs, pretty much.
14) Further On (Up The Road) - Bruce Springsteen w/The Sessions Band - Definitely not the old jump blues from Bobby 'Blue' Bland, but a different, folkier tune that here is presented with a pan flute that makes it sound like you're standing on a Scottish Highlands peak. The mix of brass band and Celtic with a backdrop of 4/4 acoustic rock is a nice mix.
15) Dance - Voicemail: From roots to Jamaican-Urban dancehall, another great Shuffle clash. Tough to just sit here and work while this butt-shaker is circuiting through my 'phones. But that's work... Til next time, always listen to good music.
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