Tag: music_history

Sunday Song Survey part 2

Seth Anderson0 comment

Plugged headphone into iPod containing 27,773 songs1, hit shuffle, and here’s what emerged. Added a two mile run on the treadmill to the beginning of this mediation, which did require me to skip an 8 minute cello piece; cannot keep a steady pace unless the music is moving too.

  1. Yardbirds, The– You’re A Better Man Than I


    Greatest Hits, Volume One

  2. Led Zeppelin– Immigrant Song


    BBC Sessions

    One of the few Led Zeppelin songs I just don’t care for. This live-at-the-BBC-studios version is better than most.

  3. Freddie King– Play It Cool


    Atlantic Blues: Chicago

    slinky guitar blues from 1969, about the sexual revolution, or something. Mini-skirts, my baby thinks she was put here forever, so she’s going to love as many (men) as she can, etc.

  4. The Velvet Underground– Rock & Roll (Demo)


    Fully Loaded Edition

    The vocals aren’t quite as tightly wound, and there is a flub in the last minute or two2, otherwise this could have been the final version. Thinner sound, perhaps, were there over-dubs on the final release?

  5. Cooder, Ry– Look At Granny Run Run


    Bop Till You Drop

    is this about a prototype of Viagra? 1979 seems a little early to be singing about a brand new pill that Grandpa takes that causes him to regain his, umm, energy for lovin’. Filled with tasty Ry Cooder guitar licks, of course.

  6. Thomas Mapfumo, The Acid Band– Chengeta Va Bereki


    Hokoyo!

    A favorite concert of recent vintage was in Manhattan a few years ago, at some benefit hosted by Bonnie Raitt. For me, the highlight was Thomas Mapfumo. Such a voice, full of expressive power with a hint of melancholy. A musical hero of mine.

  7. Cale, John– Child’s Christmas In Wales


    Paris 1919

    Buoyant pop tune, you’d never know that John Cale was the glowering rocker clad in black on the Velvet Underground’s first two albums just a few years prior to this album’s release in 1973. Some of the lyrics are obscure to me, but the melody compensates. Also, I’ll have to check, but that sure as hell sounds like Ry Cooder playing some slide guitar. You should probably own this album if you don’t, highly rewarding.3

  8. Led Zeppelin– The Song Remains The Same
    Conspiracy Theory
    Bootleg recording from 1975, to my ears, not recorded from the soundboard, despite. Still pretty good quality, so maybe it is from a soundboard. Not Jimmy Page’s finest guitar solo – it is kind of formless, and John Paul Jones is mostly buried in the mix, but John Bonham sounds fucking loud, possessed, and Robert Plant assures you everything small will grow. If you like Zepp, you should have this.
  9. Fred McDowell– Red Cross Store Blues


    Good Morning, Little School Girl

    Fred McDowell’s voice and his guitar perfectly in tune, limited range, but extremely powerful. In the days before Yelp!, one had record one’s complaints in song form, and hope for compensation. Whatever that Red Cross Store did to Mr. McDowell, they should be sorry. Damn. Probably racial, at least in part, but who knows. All we know is that he’s not going to that store any more.

  10. John Fogerty– Heaven’s Just A Sin Away


    The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

    Speaking of copyright theft, John Fogerty got screwed re: Credence Clearwater residuals for years. This country-pop song is pretty light-weight though.

  11. Akli D.– Azul – Salut à vous


    Anefas trankil
    not quite Raï, but similar in spirit. Tamazight, actually, a Berber language from North Africa4. Hypnotic, insistent, quite spectacular. Worth owning if you are at all fond of desert blues.

  12. Sun Kil Moon– Lily And Parrots


    Ghosts Of The Great Highway

    Really love this song, timbre of the lead vocalist reminds me of Neil Young, and now that I think of it, this could be a Crazy Horse record. Rocking, in other words.

  13. Big Star– September Gurls


    Keep an Eye on the Sky

    Probably my favorite box set of 2009 was the Big Star collection. Remastered, and filled with transcendent moments, including songs like this one. Love the backing vocals going “whoo-oooh”, among other subtle touches.

  14. Damned, The– Noise, Noise, Noise


    Machine Gun Etiquette
    I know The Damned are punk-rock legends, but this song doesn’t do much for me. Not that it sucks, but I’m not picking the needle up to play the tune again

  15. Thompson, Richard– Rockin’ In Rhythm


    Strict Tempo!

    Sprightly instrumental, did Richard Thompson overdub the second guitar? or does he have 25 fingers? Seeing as the only other musician credited on this seemingly out-of-print album is drummer Dave Mattacks, I guess Thompson does have 28 fingers.

  16. Boozoo Chavis– Who Stole My Monkey?


    Who Stole My Monkey

    ?
    Nearly instrumental, as a matter of fact, the lyrics are just variants of You Stole My Monkey, repeated over a danceable zydeco beat.

  17. Little Richard– Good Golly Miss Molly


    Greatest Gold Hits

    even after a thousand plays, still love Little Richard’s whoops.

  18. Helmet– Unsung


    Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Radio X

    In Grand Theft Auto, music plays on the radio in any car you steal. As the GTA franchise has gotten older, the soundtrack has gotten more expansive. This box set is actually pretty good, even though this heavy rock song is on it, not my typical listening.

  19. Wire– Strange


    Pink Flag

    such an unusual loping vamp in A and E5. R.E.M. covered the song , but the original is better. Love this song, love this album.

Part of the fun for me of this project is stretching my memory: can I remember what my impressions about a song are later when I am in front of a computer? Listening to music is, and has been, my most favored hobby for nearly my entire life, but I would not assert that I am an astute critic of what I hear. I’ll never get better explaining what I like and don’t like unless I try. Odds are, I’ll tire of it soon enough, and go back to mostly blogging about politics and corporate corruption.

Footnotes:
  1. out of a possible 61,676 [↩]
  2. Lou Reed can be heard laughing [↩]
  3. nope, turns out it was Lowell George, of Little Feat fame. Interesting. Though Ry Cooder did do studio work on Little Feat’s first album [↩]
  4. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and elsewhere [↩]
  5. if my guess is correct [↩]

Saturday Song Solipsism Part 2

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Haven’t gotten bored with this game yet- lower the lights, go into the sauna-pod, put on the headphones, and hit shuffle on my iPod. Here’s the latest results:

  1. El Rego et ses Commandos– Vimado Wingnan


    Legends Of Benin

    Delightful West African release of Afro-funk etc. If The Talking Heads were not listening to artists covered on this album, I would be very surprised. Chiming arpeggio guitars, funk drums, driving bass lines, infectious poly-rhythms, great fun.

  2. Young, Neil– Through My Sails


    Zuma

    A near-Desert Island disc. Still debating whether to splurge on the BluRay Neil Young archive Vol 1 or not. If it doesn’t include regular audio files that can be converted to MP3 and played on an iPod, will hardly ever listen to it. This lovely song is acoustic guitar, with backing vocals by what sounds like Stephen Stills and maybe even David Crosby.

  3. Observer All Stars, The– Rebel Dance


    Trojan Dub Box Set

    instrumental reggae, not much dub weirdness, thus not a great tune. Good for meditation though.

  4. Weezer– O Girlfriend


    Weezer (Green Album)

    gah what tiresome 1990s alternative rock crap. If I wasn’t an inveterate pack rat, I’d have deleted this annoyance long ago.

  5. Ramones, The– I Don’t Wanna Be Learned / I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed (Demo)


    Ramones

    whew, a welcome palate cleanser after the Weezer dreck. The Ramones only play two or three chords, but more energy in their demos than Weezer’s entire recorded output combined.

  6. Joe Higgs– My Baby Still Loves me


    Life of Contradiction

    I lean towards political reggae more than “sweet” reggae, but this is a decent enough “sweet” reggae tune. Can’t always listen to songs of institutional oppression, right? This is a good album to own if you want to branch out beyond Bob Marley, especially since Joe Higgs was extremely influential on creating the classic Wailers sound, mentoring Marley and Tosh in the early 1970s.

  7. Funkadelic– Hit It And Quit It


    Maggot Brain

    Before George Clinton decided if Parliament-Funkadelic was a rock band or a funk band, they recorded this album. Other than a somewhat annoying organ solo, a great tune. A template for all the Red Hot Chile Peppers and like-minded bands to follow; reverbed-like-crazy rock guitar, coupled with driving New Orleans style funk drums. Still remember purchasing this album from the now defunct Sound Exchange next to Mad Dogs and Beans and Les Amis. Ahh, youth.

  8. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier [Disc 1]
    Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 – Prelude #12 In F Minor, BWV 857- Leon Berben
    ahh, Bach.
  9. Reign– Padre Nuestro
    Silencio= Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux
    am a sucker for the Red Hot + comps. This a latin dance-club tune, or what I would call so anyway. Good in small doses
  10. Garcia, Jerry– Gone Home


    Almost Acoustic

    I don’t know this for a fact, but strongly suspect Jerry Garcia was in the depths of his heroin addiction when this dirge was recorded. Waltz-time, but slower. Though, to be fair, it is a funeral song, and has some fine mandolin bits, and bit of the High, Lonesome wild mercury sound that Bob Dylan is always muttering about. Not a shite song, just wouldn’t be good to listen while biking the lakefront, your bike might keel over.

  11. Dylan, Bob– You Ain’t Going Nowhere
    Genuine Basement Tapes
    I wish these delightfully fun tracks would get a proper release. They float around on the internet, but the bit rate is often low. Bob Dylan and The Band hanging out in Woodstock, having a probably illegal amount of fun. Lots of silliness, like in this track, probably one of the ones where the lyrics were written randomly1 by committee2; Richard Manuel backing vocals, and some classic Robbie Robertson guitar work. Wonder if Robbie Robertson’s copyright theft from the rest of The Band is part of the reason these songs have never been given a proper release?
  12. The Mamas & The Papas– California Dreamin’
    All Time Greatest Hits
    I first heard this band only a couple of years ago, before the whole incestual/attention grabbing news about John Phillips and his daughter, but the song is a classic slice of Americana, evocative of the time in which it was created. Undercurrents of foreboding, minor keys, but so damn catchy.
Footnotes:
  1. just pick up that oilcloth/cram it in the corner/I don’t care if your name is Michael/you’re gonna need some boards/get your lunch/you foreign bib/you ain’t goin’ nowhere [↩]
  2. this particular Basement track was polished up, all that remains on the Genuine Basement Tape version is the chorus [↩]

Netflixed: Almost Famous

Seth Anderson0 comment


“Almost Famous” (Cameron Crowe)

Held up better than expected on a second viewing, can this movie really be 10 years old?

Almost Famous is a 2000 comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering a rock band Stillwater, and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.

The film is based on Crowe’s experiences touring with rock bands The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In a Rolling Stone article, he talks about how he lost his virginity, fell in love, and met his heroes, experiences that are shared by William, the main character in the film. Kate Hudson earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of band groupie Penny Lane, while Crowe won the Oscar for his original script. Jason Lee and Billy Crudup co-star.

[Click to Netflix Almost Famous]

Speaking of the joys of vinyl records, this film’s poignancy partially based on nostalgia for a different era, an era where a suitcase full of records1 can be a talisman. If the film were set in 2009, you could not hand off a loaded iPod with the same emotional resonance.

Some Cameron Crowe maudlin moments, but nothing that gets in the way of the film’s narrative flow. Helps, probably, if the lead character’s personality (outsider, unusual family life, passionate music lover) resonates with the viewer.

There is a director’s cut, called Untitled,2 which adds some 34 minutes of footage, but as far as I can tell, this is unavailable in the US. Perhaps Dreamworks is working on a re-release?

Ebert raves:

Oh, what a lovely film. I was almost hugging myself while I watched it. “Almost Famous” is funny and touching in so many different ways. It’s the story of a 15-year-old kid, smart and terrifyingly earnest, who through luck and pluck gets assigned by Rolling Stone magazine to do a profile of a rising rock band. The magazine has no idea he’s 15. Clutching his pencil and his notebook like talismans, phoning a veteran critic for advice, he plunges into the experience that will make and shape him. It’s as if Huckleberry Finn came back to life in the 1970s, and instead of taking a raft down the Mississippi, got on the bus with the band.

[Click to continue reading Almost Famous :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews]

as does the anonymous NYT reviewer:

The power of popular music — its ability to give shape, meaning and intensity to the inexpressible emotions of daily life — is something of a motif in Cameron Crowe’s career as a director. Think of John Cusack hoisting his boombox aloft outside Ione Skye’s window in “Say Anything” or Tom Cruise hurtling down the highway in “Jerry Maguire,” spinning the radio dial in search of a song to suit his mood and happening upon Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.” Mr. Crowe has always used rock not merely as soundtrack decoration but also as a window into the souls of his characters.

In “Almost Famous,” a loose, affectionate look back on his earlier career as a teenage music journalist, Mr. Crowe has devoted a whole movie to the love of rock ‘n’ roll. The soul he lays open — a sweet, forgiving and generous one — is his own. The movie follows the adventures of William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a San Diego 15- year-old whose fairy-tale ascendance from nerdy schoolboy to Rolling Stone reporter mirrors Mr. Crowe’s own life story. But Mr. Crowe is less interested in biographical or historical literalism — he freely mixes real and fictional characters and prefers period atmosphere to period detail — than in evoking the joyful, reckless, earnest energy of rock in the years between 60’s idealism and punk nihilism.

[Click to continue reading ´Almost Famous´: With Sympathy for the Devil, a Rock Writer Finds His Way – NYTimes.com]

Footnotes:
  1. IMDb: The old records William looks through at the beginning are actually Cameron Crowe’s, saved from his younger years. [↩]
  2. Cameron Crowe wanted to call the movie this all along, but the studio balked [↩]

Sunday Song Survey

Seth Anderson0 comment

Today’s edition of Songs That Played During My Meditation Time1

  1. The Besnard Lakes– Disaster


    The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

    Like this pulsing bass line a lot, and actually this song is really growing on me. The band has a new album coming out early next year, I’ll probably pick up a copy.

  2. Destroyer– European Oils
    2006 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler
    I went to the Pitchfork Music fest this year2, I think, but I don’t remember seeing Destroyer. Probably would have been fun, as I like the album this song is taken from.
  3. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five– You Will Always Have A Friend
    Disc E: 1949-1950
    you will always have a friend, as long as you have money to spend. True, cynical, but true. Recently picked up a 5 disc box set of Louis Jordan: a slightly forgotten, R&B jump blues jokester from the 1940s and 1950s. Highly enjoyable. This is a danceable calypso-esque song, with horns, drums, piano and percussion.
  4. Beastie Boys– Get It Together


    Ill Communication

    With Q-Tip providing additional vocal contributions, one of the better tracks on Ill Communication, the last great album the Beastie Boys released, so far anyway. Ma Bell got the Ill Communication. Indeed.

  5. Stone Roses, The– Made Of Stone


    The Stone Roses

    from one of the many golden eras of British pop, now reissued and remastered.

  6. Marley, Bob & The Wailers– Duppy Conqueror


    Burnin

    speaking of ululation, this track from one of my Desert Island discs3 has some funky background vocal effects. I suspect Peter Tosh is making sounds with his mouth emulating a cat purring, but who knows. Lovely track, not my favorite on this album, but every song by the classic edition of the Wailers4 is excellent in my estimation.

  7. O’connor, Sinead– All Apologies
    Universal Mother
    and speaking of trills and spills, love how O’Connor’s Irish brogue is noticeable on words like marriage, buried. Also imagine she sings in the son I feel as one, instead of the Kurt Cobainin the sun I feel as one, but I could be wrong.
  8. Callahan, Bill– Diamond Dancer


    Woke On A Whaleheart

    Bill Callahan’s5 decent, observational song about a girl who danced by herself so hard she became a diamond, gave the world her light. His baritone is so emotionless, he probably irritates you or enthralls you, depending upon your mood.

  9. We The People– You Burn Me Up And Down


    Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, Vol. 4
    Florida based garage rockers, a favorite song from my favorite compilations of garage rock, the Nuggets series.

  10. Butthole Surfers– Mexican Caravan


    Psychic … Powerless … Another Mans Sac

    I came of age in Austin during the Butthole’s heyday, so of course I love this song and this band. Not everyone loves psychedelic punk rock songs about scoring Mexican heroin, that is their loss.

  11. The Black Keys– Stack Shot Billy


    Rubber Factory

    Modern garage rock, slightly derivative6 but still quite fun. One could compile an eclectic mix of Stagger Lee songs, ranging from the original recorded versions of bluesmen from the 1920s and 1930s, to the R&B versions in the 1950s to the 1960s British blues-rockers to The Clash to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to The Black Keys. That Stagger Lee is a bad motherfucker.

all in all, a pretty good meditative soundtrack

Footnotes:
  1. no playlist today, just a shuffle [↩]
  2. 2006 [↩]
  3. an album I would theoretically take with me if I had foreknowledge I was going to be stranded on a desert island [↩]
  4. before Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh left [↩]
  5. aka Smog aka (Smog) for some reason [↩]
  6. but then what rock music isn’t? [↩]

Wednesday Musical Meditation

Seth Anderson0 comment

Another installment of the music that plays during my evening meditation session1

  1. Felice Brothers– The Big Surprise


    Yonder Is The Clock

    are they really brothers? More alt-country, but this album and band has really grown on me.

  2. Joni Mitchell– Coin In The Pocket Mingus
    Charles Mingus talking about always having a little coin in his pocket. Not rich, but enough.
  3. Psycho Acoustic Sounds– Covered Wagon
    Godzilla vs. Ralph Records
    just like it says. Quick, full of energy, fun, but not music to play during family dinners.
  4. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio- London Symphony Orchestra

    I don’t know all that much about classical music, still, even after listening to it for more than half my life, but love this symphony. Also, in part because of my lack of musical training, I often visualize playing electric guitar in accompaniment – mostly on the sustained notes – whatever they are, oboe? French horn?

  5. Les Boukakes– Kallouha
    Marra


    “Marra” (Les Boukakes)

    Raï, with linky funk-esque verse, and heavy rock choruses. Not sure of the language, sounds Arabic, North African, or similar. Awesome. Get this if you can find a copy2.

  6. Joni Mitchell– A Chair In The Sky

    “Mingus” (Joni Mitchell)

    a very jazzy number, with fretless bass, slightly amorphous melody, some scat-singing by Joni Mitchell, an organ or vibes player that I could do without. All in all, an interesting song, but not a toe-tapper.

  7. Cluster– Rosa


    Zuckerzeit

    German instrumental electronica from 1974, always want to astral-project over meadows when listening to it.

  8. Andrew Jenkins– Alabama Flood
    People Take Warning (2 of 3) Man Vs. Nature

    “People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938” (Various Artists)

    tale of an Alabama flood, accompanied by guitar, fiddle and back-up vocal. How do they all fit into the can?

  9. They Might Be Giants– Withered Hope
    The Else
    meh. Not TMBGs best work, imo, lyrics are not sparkling. The Dust Brothers drum loops are ok.
Footnotes:
  1. generated from a iTunes smart playlist called This Years Models. Criteria is: added to iTunes library this year, more than four plays [↩]
  2. seems out of print [↩]

Vinyl Record Albums and Turntables Making Comeback

Seth Anderson1 Comment

A surge I could believe in…


“Audio Technica AT-LP2D-USB Fully Automatic Stereo Turntable with USB Output, Includes Recording Software and Dual Magnet Cartridge” (AUDIO TECHNICA)

At a glance, the far corner of the main floor of J&R Music looks familiar to anybody old enough to have scratched a record by accident. There are cardboard boxes filled with albums by the likes of Miles Davis and the Beach Boys that could be stacked in any musty attic in America.

But this is no music morgue; it is more like a life-support unit for an entertainment medium that has managed to avoid extinction, despite numerous predictions to the contrary. The bins above the boxes hold new records — freshly pressed albums of classic rock as well as vinyl versions of the latest releases from hip-hop icons like 50 Cent and Diddy and new pop stars like Norah Jones and Lady Gaga.

And with the curious resurgence of vinyl, a parallel revival has emerged: The turntable, once thought to have taken up obsolescence with reel-to-reel and eight-track tape players, has been reborn.

[Click to continue reading Vinyl Record Albums and Turntables Are Gaining Sales – NYTimes.com]

Kaulana O Hilo Hanakahi by The Kalima Brothers

If I had space, I’d love to have a room dedicated to a turntable, a quality headphone, and a wall of vinyl records. Sigh.

Tuesday iTunes Randomizer

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Non-Sequitur alert: a random playlist, as generated tonight during my meditation1. Ignore the goofy formatting and crazy number scheme, I made a typo in the HTML, and didn’t want to go back and redo all the code.

  1. Jason Isbell– Dress Blues
    Sirens of the Ditch
  2. Americana, sometimes known as alternative country, a tale of being a casualty of war, sleeping in Dress Blues
  3. Bob Dylan– Stonehenge
    TTRH Season 2 – 05 – Days of the Week
  4. what is the deal with Stonehenge? Bob ponders rocks of all time, and notes that currently there are two Starbucks and and Applebees inside the circle
  5. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach
    Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach – Menuet, BWV Anh. 114- Pieter-Jan Belder
  6. Ahhh, Bach
  7. The Velvet Underground– I’m Waiting For The Man
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2
  8. even after a hundred thousand listens, still love this garage rock tune, especially the occasional cha-ching double-time strum on one of the rhythm guitars
  9. Barack Obama– White Folks
    Dreams from My Father


  10. “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” (Barack Obama)

    There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you…

  11. Micachu– Eat Your Heart
    Jewellery
  12. meh, some free track from Amazon.com
  14. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 5 – Cantatas, Vol. 2 [Disc 4]
    Bach: Cantata #98, BWV 98, “Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan” – Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
  16. Louvin Brothers, The– There’s A Higher Power
    Satan Is Real
  17. Check the album cover. Nuff said. Actually a great LP.


    “Satan Is Real” (The Louvin Brothers)

  18. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
    Bach: Cantata #97, BWV 97, “In Allen Meinen Taten” – Ihm Hab Ich Mich Ergeben- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir

  19. With a good sustain guitar pedal, this would sound rockin’ translated as an Indie pop song.

  20. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 12 – Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 [Disc 12]
    Bach: 3-Part Invention In A Minor, BWV 799- Pieter-Jan Belder

  21. Bach friendly meditation tonight. I forgot actually what I was thinking here, I drifted into galactic space

  22. The Velvet Underground– It Was A Pleasure Then
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2


  23. “Peel Slowly and See” (The Velvet Underground)

  24. I’m lucky that I didn’t have a copy of this Nico rarity2 during my drug-addled youth, such a perfect song to listen to after being up for a few days straight on whatever. Not that I’d know about being up for days on end. That must have been someone else. Sounds like Nico singing, John Cale on squeaky viola, and Lou Reed on electric guitar, as far as I can tell.
  25. Iggy Pop– Repo Man
    Repo Man
  26. Iggy sounds like a thug here on the title track to the Repo Man soundtrack, love it. Bought a copy of this CD, used, this year, replacing my original vinyl version. Such memories invoked, of being a angsty-teen, of wondering what life would be like as a punk-rocker, etc. etc. I’m looking for the joke with a microscope!
  27. Circle Jerks– Coup D’Etat


    “Repo MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (REPO MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Plugz, Juicy Bananas, The Circle Jerks, Burning Sensations, Fear, harry dean stanton, emilio estevez, punk rock, art punk, 80’s) (michael nesmith)

  28. I even raised and shook my fist during the chorus of this song: Coup D’Etat!

  29. Stephan Smith– All Together Now
    Now’s the Time
  30. No idea where this song came from, but it isn’t bad. The singer has a slight lisp, but the acoustic guitar work is nice, and the lyrics are poignant and pointed enough to notice, about world unity. I’ll have to look for more music by this guy.
  31. Dubliners, The– Molly Malone
    Seven Drunken Nights
  32. This even goes further back: I remember learning this song in Mrs. Sullivans’ Fifth Grade class, South River, Ontario. I recall singing enthusiastically, in our children’s tenor voices.
  33. Barack Obama– Buy Your Own Damn Fries
    Dreams from My Father (Disc 2)
Footnotes:
  1. we have one of those one-person sauna devices, and I let the day’s worries leave my body while ruminating about whatever it is my mind decides to ruminate upon, while playing my iPod [↩]
  2. from Chelsea Girl [↩]

Liam Clancy, RIP

Seth Anderson1 Comment


“Liam Clancy” (Liam Clancy)

Such a clear, strong voice. If you’ve listened to The Pogues, Sinead O’Connor, or even U2, you’ve heard his influence.

Liam Clancy, an Irish troubadour and the last surviving member of the singing Clancy Brothers, who found fame in the United States and helped spread the popularity of Irish folk music around the world, died on Thursday in Cork, Ireland. He was 74.

His death was announced by his family and reported on the Web site www.liamclancy.com. He had been treated for pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease

…

Liam Clancy lived in Greenwich Village, where he befriended another young folk singer, Bob Dylan. They dated a pair of sisters, Mr. Clancy told interviewers. Recalling that time in an interview on Irish television two years ago, Mr. Clancy said that he, a Roman Catholic from rural Ireland, and Mr. Dylan, a Jew from a small Minnesota town, shared an important quality.

“People who were trying to escape repressed backgrounds, like mine and Bob Dylan’s, were congregating in Greenwich Village,” he said. “It was a place you could be yourself, where you could get away from the directives of the people who went before you, people who you loved but who you knew had blinkers on.”

Mr. Dylan told an interviewer in 1984: “I never heard a singer as good as Liam ever. He was just the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my life. Still is, probably.”

[Click to continue reading Liam Clancy, Last of Singing Brothers, Dies at 74 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com]


“The Makem & Clancy Concert” (Tommy Makem w, Liam Clancy)

There’s a documentary called The Yellow Bittern – The Life and Times of Liam Clancy, but it does not look to be available in the US, at least yet.

Special Edition Double DVD Box Set

Featuring exclusive footage, interviews and additional performances from the man Bob Dylan called “the best ballad singer I ever heard in my whole life. Still is, probably”

Free delivery within Ireland. Orders will be delivered to Irish addresses from October 30th and to UK addresses from Nov 9th.

This is a Region 2 DVD and may not be viewable outside Europe.
Please be advised that we can only ship to addresses in Ireland and the UK. We can not process orders outside of these territories.

Feature Run Time: 110’
Extras: Film Trailer | Interviews | Additional Performances including “Those Were The Days” from the White Horse Tavern, New York and “Brennan On The Moor” | Liam at home with friends

[Click to continue reading The Yellow Bittern – The Life And Times Of Liam Clancy]

I wonder if Mr. Clancy’s death will speed the release of this film in the Americas? Sounds quite intriguing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52mMuW2P38c

Here’s a YouTube clip from it:

In the interview he talks about The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Maken and their huge success worldwide, where they outsold the Beatles and played for JFK. The new documentary released in cinemas in 2009 is directed by Alan Gilsenan.

Music Reviews in the 21st CE

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Adina Levin has some interesting things to say about new media and music in response to a Christopher Weingarten article that’s making the rounds.

Strangers in the Night

For instance:

A more interesting critique is that people who aren’t professional critics write like fans. In music blogs, “You can find out about new bands without cranky snarky stuff.” The jaded tone of the professional critic is a music-world analog to the news journalism “cult of the savvy” as described by Jay Rosen. In an attempt to be “objective”, news journalists adopt a savvy, cynical attitude that can keep them from seeing the real story – for example, when “horse race” coverage predominates over actually covering the differing records and policies of politicians. Internet-style journalists don’t pretend to be dispassionate and free of opinion. They disclose their beliefs and desires, and are more credible for it.
Now, simple-minded music fandom is not very interesting. Look at youtube or last.fm shoutbox comments and you can see fans saying unedifying things like “awesome song!” and “best solo evar!”. Educated fandom on the other hand, involves discussing the sound, emotion, influences, performances – from the perspective of someone who continues to be excited and moved by the music. It’s interesting that when musicians talk about their heroes, mentors, who they’re listening to, they sound like fans, not like jaded critics.
Weingarten alleges that there has been a loss of venues to explain *why* a piece of music is good or bad is nonsense – “google: band review” will often find informed and insightful reviews and opinions about pretty obscure acts. What is actually missing is is better tools and venues for fans to have intelligent discussion. Currently,

[From BookBlog » Blog Archive » Music critic curmudgeon tells blogs & twitter to get off his lawn – Adina Levin’s weblog. For conversation about books I’ve been reading, social software, and other stuff too. ]

(via Jay Rosen’s twitter feed, of all places)

For my own spin – I listen to much more new music now than I ever did. I came of age before the internet democratized everything but after the first wave of radio megacorps. In my home town, there wasn’t much on the radio that interested me so I’d find new music by word of mouth or by random chance, flipping through the vinyl records at Waterloo Records or wherever. A music lover has a hell of a lot more options now, but actually I still depend upon word of mouth to find new things, just that the sources are not limited to roommates or dudes at the record store.

Reading Around on November 12th through November 14th

swanksalot0 comment

A few interesting links collected November 12th through November 14th:

  • More on Franken Amendment, elitism… at StarkReports.com – In an effort to increase my ability to do this kind of reporting, I’ve exchanged contact information with several Democratic Press Secretaries. I’ve explained that I am a progressive news service and that my goal is to quench a thirst for timely progressive news… that it’s not enough to complain about Fox, Nedra Pickler, John Solomen or an inability to get your message out… that growing a progressive media requires cooperation from the news-makers that want to see the progressive media grow…

    Perhaps I’m too impatient… But the truth is that I’m having a really difficult time getting my calls returned from most offices.

    That’s something I’d understand if my web videos hadn’t been viewed nearly 500,000 times. But hell, it’s clear my work is reaching people, so it’s difficult for me not to see a certain form of elitism in the Democratic communications establishment.

  • Hullabaloo That Commie Bastard Al Franken Broke the Rules – Are those Senators not insensitive to rape victims? It’s quite obvious that they are.

    The good news is that the Republican senators have learned their lesson:

    Privately, GOP sources acknowledge that they failed to anticipate the political consequences of a “no” vote on the amendment. And several aides said that Republicans are engaged in an internal blame game about why they agreed to a roll-call vote on the measure, rather than a simple voice vote that would have allowed the opposing senators to duck criticism.

    Right, they forgot to hide their misogyny. (Man, you let your guard down for one minute and those bitchuz are all over you.)

  • There is no time to be tactful – For fans of Mad Men it will prove difficult to learn of the story behind ‘Peace, Little Girl’ – a brutal 60 second television spot which first aired on September 7, 1964 – and not imagine the offices of Sterling Cooper. The ad was conceived by agency Doyle Dane Bernbach on behalf of President Lyndon Johnson, in an effort to kill off Republican candidate Barry Goldwater’s march to the White House. DDB, desperate for success with their first political client, threw 40 of their best men at the campaign and chose to aim for the jugular by capitalising on comments Goldwater had previously made concerning nuclear weapons. The following letter was written by DDB co-founder and legendary ad-man Bill Bernbach just months before the election, at a time when Goldwater had managed to regain the public’s confidence and the DNC had started to drag their heels.
  • Blind Man’s Penis -John Trubee’s infamously great song:

    I got high last night on LSD My mind was beautiful, and I was free Warts loved my nipples because they are pink Vomit on me, baby Yeah Yeah Yeah.

    Stevie Wonder’s penis is erect because he’s blind
    It’s erect because he’s blind, it’s erect because he’s blind
    Stevie Wonder’s penis is erect because he’s blind
    It’s erect because he is blind

    Let’s make love under the stars and watch for UFOs
    And if little baby Martians come out of the UFOs
    You can fuck them
    Yeah Yeah Yeah.

    The zebra spilled its plastinia on bemis And the gelatin fingers oozed electric marbles Ramona’s titties died in hell And the Nazis want to kill everyone.

Reading Around on November 11th through November 12th

swanksalot0 comment

A few interesting links collected November 11th through November 12th:

  • Joakim Noah is the spice in Rick Morrissey’s salsa escapade – TrueHoop Blog – ESPN – “When Noah was drafted, [Rick ] Morrissey wrote a column called “You Must Be Joakim” predicting Noah would be a bust, and promising to eat his column, with salsa, if Noah turned into a good NBA player.

    When I finally saw the video, one thing stands out: Joakim Noah is not only there watching, but he’s up out of his chair, cheering and dancing!

    After Morrissey’s droning preamble, in which he doesn’t really admit he was wrong, but instead asks Noah about how he got so dramatically better (as if nobody could have possibly foreseen this two-time NCAA champion succeeding — let the record reflect that when Noah was selected, David Thorpe said the Bulls would win a championship with Noah), it gets to eating time.

    Noah claps his hands together, shouting “NOW WE’RE EATING THE SALSA! NOW THE GOOD PART!”

    Indeed, because of Noah’s energy, this is the good part. ”

  • Letters of Note: Please – no preferential treatment – Asimov was a mensch

  • allmusic – Alone Again Or – Written by second guitarist Bryan MacLean in the early ’60s in musical tribute to his mother, a flamenco dancer, “Alone Again Or” is lushly beautiful, but also achingly sad, thanks both to MacLean’s distressed lost-love lyrics and Lee’s high-register vocals, which give the song an off-kilter quality due to the fact (also revealed in the reissue’s liner notes) that Lee’s vocals were originally meant to be simply a high harmony to MacLean’s gruffer lead, but Lee pushed his own vocals front and center, mixing MacLean out almost entirely, during the album’s final mix. In both respects, then, it fits perfectly as the start of Forever Changes, a jaundiced “no thank you” to the supposed sunshine and good vibes of the Summer of Love as well as Arthur Lee’s own Pet Sounds, the album he intended as his personal artistic summation.

Kraftwerk Remastered Disaster

Seth Anderson2 Comments


“Computer World” (Kraftwerk)


“The Catalogue” (Kraftwerk)

I was pretty enthused about the remastered versions of Kraftwerk’s eight best albums. However, David Cavanagh’s Uncut review has given me pause1

Sadly, the remaster is a fiasco. The soft tones of “Computer Love” become sharp, the wide spaces of” Home Computer” contract into tunnels, and “Pocket Calculator” bears down on us like a spiked ceiling in a horror film. Equally poor is the remastered Radioactivity, atmospheric crackles and hisses have been removed by noise reduction software. For pity’s sake, they’re part of the music! Autobahn, Trans-Europe Express and The Man-Machine have less sound-quality issues, but are all inferior to the original EMI CDs. Anyone planning to buy the 8 CD The Catalogue, would be well-advised to sample an individual remaster first.

Hütter is within his rights to tinker with Kraftwerk’s canon as he wishes, but a botched Kraftwerk remaster series is a bitter disappointment nevertheless. It’s not such an issue, thankfully, with the remaining three LPS; the lean, industrial Techno Pop {a re-titled Electric Cafe with added track “House Phone”}; The Mix (1991), a surprisingly addictive re-imagining of 11 classic tracks in dancefloor context; and Tour De France (2003), a cycling fetishist’s techno headphone soundtrack with a gorgeous five-note motif. For those who’ll never sport the yellow jersey, have no fear. It also works its magic if you’re on an exercise bike.

Yikes. Has anyone heard the remastered versions? Is it as bad as described?

Footnotes:
  1. not available online, but click here for a scanned version for your personal use [↩]

Speaking of Capitalism

Seth Anderson0 comment


“Romeo Bleeding: Live from Austin” (Romeo Bleeding)

In 2006, Ben Sisario interviewed Tom Waits about his frequent, necessary lawsuits against corporations that use a Tom Waits android to sell products, after these same corporations approach the real Tom Waits and are turned down.

Here’s the brief New York Times article that ran

Tom Waits (right), who has successfully sued in the past over the use of impersonations of his voice and musical style, is now taking on Opel, a European subsidiary of General Motors, in response to a new ad. ”I have a longstanding policy against my voice or music being used in commercials,” Mr. Waits said in a statement this week, ”and I have lawyers over there investigating my options.” Mr. Waits has sued Audi over imitations of his voice in commercials, and in 1993 he won a $2.5-million suit against Frito-Lay for a Doritos ad. In a statement, Opel responded, ”We actually are surprised about the fact that Tom Waits considers the music that goes with the current TV commercial ‘Lullaby’ for a range of Opel cars as a potential misuse of his voice and style of singing.” Opel said that the underlying music was by Brahms, that it had not approached Mr. Waits and that the only celebrity singer it had considered was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. ”But before even starting any negotiations, a Frankfurt-based singer was found who delivered an excellent rough voice interpretation for the ‘Wiegenlied’ theme in English,” the company added, referring to the Brahms ”Lullaby.” Mr. Waits said: ”If I stole an Opel, Lancia or Audi, put my name on it and resold it, I’d go to jail. But over there they ask, you say no, and they hire impersonators.’

[Click to continue reading Arts, Briefly; Tom Waits Objects to Another TV Ad – New York Times]

Today, Ben Sisario posted a transcript of the entire interview, including a topical bit about the power of corporations.

Ben S:It must be extremely time-consuming and expensive to pursue these cases. Why is it so important to you to do this?

I ask myself that sometimes. Because there are things I would rather be doing. It does take a tremendous amount of time, energy and money. But in a way you’re building a road that other people will drive on. I have a moral right to my voice now. It’s like property. There’s a fence around it, in a way. In Spain now there’s such a thing as moral rights. So that’s a good thing.

In both these cases — the Scandinavian/German Opel thing and the Spain Audi deal — they called me first to ask me if I would do the commercial. Then, when I politely declined, they turned around and hired an impersonator. So they’re really left hanging out there in the wind legally, since I had documentation that they asked me; it only strengthened my case. But there’s plenty of other situations where they just out-and-out do it. There’s a whole sound-alike industry, and it has to eat too. Like flies at a picnic, you know. “Enjoy your lunch, but we live here too.”

and corporations are used to getting their own way too often:

Ben S: Does it offend you more that somebody is copying you, or that they’re doing it to sell a product?

I don’t mind if someone wants to try to sound like me to do a show. I get a kick out that. They got these bands over there in Europe that do my songs, have a singer with a really deep voice. It’s my own little raggedy version of Beatlemania. [Laughs.] These little bar bands that try to sound like me.

But the product stuff, it bugs the hell out of me. The idea is to make it so commonplace that you barely notice that the whole world is being dominated and controlled by big business. I didn’t get into this to write jingles. I’m trying to have some effect on the culture, and my own growth and development.

I make a distinction between people who are using voice as a creative item and people who are selling cigarettes and underwear. It’s a big difference. We all know the difference, and it’s stealing. They get a lot of out standing next to me and I just get big legal bills. It’s like someone coming into your house and stealing something. It slowly erodes my own credibility. So that’s a pain.

Most of these companies operate more like countries than companies. They’re so large. And the way they behave is kind of like the might and the right of a country, the way they roll over you. They don’t think anything of taking something that they want, because they’re going to get a parking ticket. And it doesn’t even ever reach the brain of the company. The news of this is just like gum on the bottom of their shoe.

When it comes to the face that most of them want to put on for the public, they don’t want to wear corporate feathers. They masquerade more like one of us. So that’s why want to wear your music. It’s the first thing that gets your attention: “Hey, I know that song.” Now they’ve got ya — that’s the foot in the door.

[Click to continue reading Ben Sisario – Conversation with Tom Waits]

Tom Waits should be appointed the Czar of Culture…

Oh, here’s the Opel ad referred to, with the faux Tom Waits soundtrack

The case ended with Opel/GM/McCann Erickson settling for an undisclosed sum.

Continue reading “Speaking of Capitalism”

Rockers of Ages

Seth Anderson0 comment

I can’t say the Rolling Thunder era is my most favorite of Dylan eras, but this is humorous nonetheless.

Rolling Thunder Logbook
“Rolling Thunder Logbook” (Sam Shepard)

Rocks of Ages – New York Times … No one living has a better appreciation for the sneaky and unnerving power of American myth than Bob Dylan. In the fall of 1975, the United States was gripped by what the playwright Sam Shepard, who had been hired to work on a film about the tour, called “Bicentennial madness.” With 1976 fast approaching, America was obsessed as never before with its origins, and as Mr. Dylan knew perfectly well, there was no better place to launch his tour than the mythic landing ground of the Pilgrims. Mr. Shepard did not end up contributing much to the film, but he did publish a log chronicling the tour’s first six weeks. Included in the book is a bizarre photo showing Mr. Dylan and several fellow musicians peering over the side of the Mayflower II, a reproduction of a 17th-century vessel berthed at Plimoth Plantation. A stiff breeze is blowing, and two of the party are desperately hanging on to the brims of their cowboy hats as the front man of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn, speaks on a huge, ’70s-style portable phone. But perhaps the weirdest and wackiest portion of Mr. Shepard’s log describes how Mr. Dylan and his pals recreated the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. As the poet Allen Ginsberg sat beside the iron fence that surrounds the rock, chanting and chiming his set of Tibetan bells, Mr. Dylan haphazardly piloted a dinghy to the Plymouth shore.

Nate Philbrick’s essay continues
The book is a fairly quick, amusing read about what a major tour with rock stars is like, if you are Sam Shepard.

Wicker Park taqueria and whiskey bar takes shape

Seth Anderson1 Comment

More details on the new taqueria and whiskey bar in the former Pontiac Cafe space we mentioned earlier

Fire Roasted Veggies

the taqueria/bar in the former Pontiac space that he and his partners are working on, and he gave me the lowdown on the inspiration—the Bakersfield music scene of the ’50s and ’60s—for the hotly anticipated spot. Chef Paul Kahan has been dropping hints about his taco research on his Twitter—but up until today, very little was known about it. Today, Blackbird’s Justin Large spilled his (refried) beans at GrubStreet and Terry Alexander went on record with Chicago magazine.

As a fan of Buck Owens and some of the other California country acts, I thought it was an intriguing idea—though I can’t say Bakersfield-inspired-tacos-in-Chicago is a concept that visitors will immediately get. But I do like the idea—if only because I tend to think a curious clash of cultures often brings out a different kind of energy, of which Wicker Park could use a shot. Knowing that the principal partners are big music fans and that musician/Danny’s bartender Mark Hellner is going to be involved full-time, I’d say that the still-unnamed spot won’t be lacking for sonic style. The space has been totally gutted, and the layout will involve a central bar area that will serve drinkers on all sides.

The new joint won’t be some high-end, fancy, exclusive spot, but rather a street-chic joint where affordable food, cheap drinks and killer (mainly country) tunes rule. In other words, it doesn’t seem like the kind of venture that’ll put off the bohos and rockers who still wander Wicker Park. If anything, it should make them feel at home

[Click to continue reading Wicker Park taqueria and whiskey bar takes shape | The TOC Blog | Time Out Chicago]

This really sounds right up my particular alley of interest1, too bad I don’t live at Cortez and Paulina anymore, stumbling distance from Damen and North. And too bad this place isn’t next door to Blackbird2, even though that would mean less of a Wicker Park hipster vibe.

Former Pontiac Cafe Location

[what the Pontiac Cafe location looked like on September, 12, 2009.]

From Helen Rosner’s piece mentioned above:

“It’s definitely not Tex-Mex,” Large insists. “If anything it’s traditional Mexican with some California influence there.” If you think bourbon and tacos are an odd combination, all you have to do is look at the restaurant’s historical inspiration. The bar’s aesthetic and underlying theme is, as Dish noted, the Bakersfield sound that emerged in California in the mid-1930s, where westward-going Okies and northward-headed Mexicans collided, producing a southeast-meets-southwest hybrid that gave rise to the whole California country sound. But don’t look for vintage instruments decorating the walls — or even a Merle Haggard soundtrack. “I think it’s more what they’re going for in terms of bringing in the whiskey list,” Large told us. “Sort of a 1930s working man dirty south.”

…

To that end they’ll be making everything to order — right down to the tortillas.

Large is particularly jazzed about the L.A.-inspired al pastor taco, for which the kitchen has acquired a special trompo (the traditional spit on which the meat roasts): “What makes this spit great is that the actual spit itself is heated. It’s not like your traditional gyro cooker where it’s just flames on the outside charring this giant hunk of raw meat. The spit will be on display – we’re going to do it old-school style and carve the meat right off the spit onto the taco.” The other fancy kitchen object will be the wood-fired grill, on which Large is particularly psyched to make a wood-grilled fish taco. “I love a good fried fish taco, when done well it’s outstanding, but the wood-fired grill is like magic. The flavor and what it imparts to the fish is amazing.”

[Click to continue reading Everything You Could Ever Possibly Want To Know About The New Blackbird Group Taco Place (Except The Name) — Grub Street Chicago — Restaurant News, Openings, Chefs]

So, a healthy dose of Buck Owens, Louvin Brothers, Don Walser, Asleep at the Wheel, Gram Parsons with or without The Flying Burrito Brothers, Willie Nelson, The Flatlanders, throw in a little Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown and The Jayhawks, maybe even some Doug Sahm, Townes Van Zandt and Dwight Yoakam, marinate with some Bloodshot Records contemporary artists, toss back a couple of bourbons or more, chow down on an al pastor taco, sit in the fading sun, sounds like bliss. When’s it opening again?

Footnotes:
  1. is that a phrase? probably not [↩]
  2. which, truth be told, is not that interesting to my palate [↩]