boring and stuff

okay, this little contest, which posed the questions "do I have any readers?" and "if so, do they know the following songs?" went quite long enough with no participation whatsoever. Both questions have been answered, the latter with a resounding "not applicable." here are the solutions:

1. The Eraser - Thom Yorke (The Eraser)
2. Your Heart is an Empty Room - Death Cab for Cutie (Plans)
3. Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers (By the Way)
4. D.A.N.C.E. - Justice (Cross)
5. There's No Night Out in the Jail - written by John Harold Ashe (the version I have is by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on their b-sides collection)
6. My Enemies Have Sweet Voices - written by Peter Morgan (the version I have was set to music by Al Stewart on his album Zero She Flies)
7. I Don't Remember - Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel III)
8. The Dear Green Place - Battlefield Band (On the Rise)
9. Race Among the Ruins - Gordon Lightfoot (Summertime Dream)
10. Obstacle 1 - Interpol (Turn On the Bright Lights)
11. Round Here - Counting Crows (live version from Across a Wire)

information

Beyonce's new album is called "I Am... Sasha Fierce."

it's the ellipsis that makes it art.

the radio, just starting to change

more random trackery...

the best line from 10 songs, randomly chosen by my iPod
(I thought it would be fun...)
Who can name them?!
(don't cheat...)

1. you'll not end up in this song

2. and there on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

3. your image in the dictionary, this life is more than ordinary

4. under the spotlights, neither black nor white

5. like breakin and enterin and stealin cars, or just not supportin their wives

6. I think you would have cried, I was falling back on failure, the failure stepped aside

7. empty stomach, empty head, I got empty heart and empty bed

8. and the price to pay was another day, to fight the anger and despair

9. if you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon

10. she puts the weights into my little heart

those ended up being easier for the most part than I expected. and the one in the title makes 11...

(now let's see if I actually have any readers...)

no fear shall we know

One of the primary benefits of a digital music collection is that it acts as natural selection for your music. Personally, I didn't really understand my tastes until I started using iTunes about four years ago. Up until then, because I generally listened to an entire album at a time, slow or mediocre songs counted against an artist just as much as great songs counted for them. Because I can now skip songs that are unappealing, jump around, and keep accurate information on my listening habits, the best music is naturally highlighted. Some artists and genres benefit enormously from a way of listening to music that separates wheat from chaff. The joy of the shuffle is not merely a matter of a short attention span or an obsession with juxtaposition (the mix tape effect). The truth is that not all great music comes in the form of a well paced, consistent album, and not every great song is lucky enough to be on one. Obviously, I still appreciate an artist that can produce a great album (and a digital music collection still allows you to listen this way, the shuffle is a possibility, not a rule) but it's one of many worthwhile forms.
Bright Eyes is a good example of an artist that benefits from this. As a songwriter, Conor Oberst has periodic flashes of brilliance, but seemingly no internal censor to gauge the quality of his own work (I suspect this is also why his output is so high). But the fact that most Bright Eyes albums are plodding and uneven doesn't stop me (and many of his other fans too, I suspect) from enjoying his best songs (see Appendix A). Another example is the Dave Matthews Band, whose music I had largely left behind for years until I imported it all to my computer, and discovered a number of great songs that I hadn't had the patience to notice in my younger days (Appendix B). I would also credit iTunes with saving my love of Irish folk music. I was so used to being inundated with it in my parents' house that I stopped listening to it entirely when I moved out, but the ability to recieve it in small doses brought it back into my favor.

I finally obtained the new Al Stewart cd, Sparks of Ancient Light (whose initials look like "So, Al). I rarely see much of his selection in music stores, but like a miracle, I walked into a Borders and found exactly one copy standing in front of the obligatory greatest hits compilation that is all you can usually find. Overall, I'm a bit disappointed. Al's albums don't usually take me multiple listens to appreciate, I generally begin memorizing them before I've even finished with the first time through, but in this case I've been through three or four times and have yet to latch on to any favorites. It has plenty of the jaunty quality of his recent work, but I miss the heartache that he was so able to capture for most of his career. Mr. Stewart's previous cd, 2005's A Beach Full of Shells had the same sort of sound, but balanced with emotional honesty ("and I hope that she's reading King Lear, but it's Twelfth Night instead"). When Sparks of Ancient Light does slow down, it feels disingenuous. It's not a bad album, and I'm sure I'll eventually develop a fondness for some of its songs that makes me kick myself for this, but it would certainly offer little to anyone who is not already a fan.


Appendix A, top 5 Bright Eyes songs:
1. Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh (Fevers and Mirrors)
2. Make War (Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground)
3. When The Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass (Fevers and Mirrors)
4. If Winter Ends (Letting Off the Happiness)
5. Nothing Gets Crossed Out (Lifted...)

Appendix B, top 5 Dave Matthews Band songs:
1. Grey Street (The Lillywhite Sessions)
2. Two Step (Crash)
3. Big Eyed Fish (The Lillywhite Sessions)
4. Angel (Everyday)
5. Lover Lay Down (Under the Table and Dreaming)


(And, I thought I'd tack this on, because I've been watching Life on Mars on TV, and it's awesome...)
Nonsequiter A, top 5 David Bowie songs:
1. Ziggy Stardust (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars)
2. Rebel, Rebel (Diamond Dogs)
3. Starman (Ziggy Stardust)
4. Life on Mars? (Hunky Dory)
5. Something in the Air (Hours...)

not about you

random tracks:

Ghost of a Good Thing - Dashboard Confessional
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths
Suddenly Everything Has Changed - The Flaming Lips
Blackout - British Sea Power
I Misunderstood - Richard Thompson
Sulky Girl - Elvis Costello
Nobody's Baby Now - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
Reservations - Wilco
Continental - Alkaline Trio
Why Can't I Be You? - The Cure
Train in Vain (Stand By Me) - The Clash
Mother of Pearl - Roxy Music
Turn - New Order
Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) - Eels
The Wind - Cat Stevens

I am no-no-no-no-no-nothing of a builder

As of last week, my Al Stewart collection is no longer complete and as a result I've had the sensation of sitting at home while missing some incredible party ever since. The irony here is that plenty of other people haven't bought the new album and don't care. Still, it's what I care about and this is my blog so... expect a review as soon as I get my hands on a copy.

I did recently get British Sea Power's latest album Do You Like Rock Music? and I'm prone to more or less agree with Pitchfork's review of it. (Yes, I read other critics, of course.) It's a shame when you have a band lauded for their ability to blend melodic inspiration, strong lyricism and a raw rock quality, and they come back with an album that leaves out everything but the rock. Isn't this pretty much what happened to The Flaming Lips on At War With The Mystics? The new BSP album is listenable, but it's mostly just loud and unmemorable.

I love that I can't write about music and listen to music at the same time on my decrepit laptop without iTunes skipping. Wasn't skipping supposed to be over as of the digital era?

This is funny.

Will Smith was saving that bacon.

The thing about the trend of Chuck Norris facts, or Jack Bauer facts or Vin Diesel facts is that they're all the same: just ridiculous overstatements of superlative machismo. The comedic point that they miss is that machismo is not the only thing that's funny in a random, absurdly exaggerated "fact." And so, I thought we might turn to the world's most impressively mellow celebrity, for a true spectacle of cool good-guyness.

Will Smith facts:

Will Smith is a nice guy in real life.

Will Smith has never been angry.

Will Smith is so nice because, yes he's from Philly, but he also spent time on Sesame Street as a child.

Will Smith is married to Jada Pinkett Smith.

Will Smith has a partner named Jazzy Jeff and they are best friends.

Will Smith is a good tipper.

Will Smith got in one little fight and his mom got scared.

Will Smith makes this look good.

Will Smith drives a Bentley convertible.

Will Smith loves his kids.

Will Smith has been drinking, bitch.

Will Smith changes his identity more often than he changes his underwear. Oh wait, that's Fletch.

Will Smith was only in The Legend of Bagger Vance as a favor to a friend. He'd make a bad movie for you too, if you asked.

Will Smith doesn't have to curse in his rap to sell records.

Will Smith just can't sit, and the reason for that is that he's gotta get jiggy wit it.

Will Smith almost played Neo.

Will Smith thinks gangsta rap is whack.

Will Smith needs you to hold this pie.

(I'm not really expecting this to become an internet phenomenon, but feel free to contribute if you like.)

Will Smith is expecting this to become an internet phenomenon.

and turn it up

While my resolve to update this blog regularly remains uncompromising, I seem to have somehow missed the whole of August, and now find myself much like Rip Van Winkle - largely unread. Permit yourself a chuckle. I guess I just thought that the entry in which I ripped the hell out of Katy Perry (glossed up harlot) would be enough to satisfy what few readers I had for some time. No, the truth is that my new living situation creates a confluence of circumstances that tend against my updating, but I will try more diligently to swim against the current. I've also been thinking about creating a new blog to house my film reviews, but don't worry, this would ideally be like a sister project, rather than a complete change of focus.

I'm not much of a nerd (my definitions of "nerd", "geek" and "dork" may require some clarification, but suffice it to say I consider myself to be only the latter two), so those who are should be warned that the following information will seem pretty obvious, and everyone else should be warned that it will seem fairly boring. I recently discovered that the various data tracked by iTunes, which happens to be one of the most compelling reasons for using it, can be exported and manipulated with other software. One of my experiments subsequent to this discovery was to compare the total number of plays of songs by each artist. I found that if you were to take the top few artists as sorted by this total - five or so of them, just to choose a number at random - you come up with a list of artists that looks very much like the personal top five that I gave in my first entry. You may recall:

1. Al Stewart
2. The Pogues
3. Guided By Voices
4. Damon Albarn
5. The Smiths

That list was something I came up with on my own as a thought exercise. The list created by this new method was remarkably exact for the first three entries, but with certain adjustments to the last two:

1. Al Stewart
2. The Pogues
3. Guided By Voices
4. Elvis Costello
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Now, Damon Albarn's absence is to be expected, as he has a tendency to record under various different names/projects. For the record, Blur comes in 16th place, Gorillaz in 22nd and The Good, The Bad and The Queen doesn't rank in the top thirty. Combined, his various works still only come in 6th. Meanwhile, The Smiths, venerable as they are, reach only 9th by number of plays. In any case, it seems the others will have to welcome Mr. Costello and Mr. Cave to the top five, as honorary members.

I warned you it was boring.

When I'm at a party or a bar and in a sufficiently festive mood (an element which I assert is not entirely determined by the presence of alcohol) I have an unfortunate proclivity towards singing. I have an accomplice with a similar predilection, and a obsession with music that resembles my own in scale, if not in form. Indeed, we've discovered that while our tastes diverge in many places, they overlap at such unlikely points as KMFDM, The Misfits and Alkaline Trio. The last of these in particular, he assures me is perfect for singing in front of a crowd (what's our angst for, I suppose, if not to amuse and terrify other people?) and so we have taken, at social gatherings, to doing just that. My friend's taste runs toward the more anthemic, Radio, Blue in the Face, This Could Be Love... great songs, all. But as far as I'm concerned, the most important quality in a song for this purpose is the presence of that devious wordplay that fans of the band so appreciate. Which leads to my own choices for the Top Five Alkaline Trio Songs to Sing Out Loud:

5. We've Had Enough (Good Mourning)
What could be more appropriate at a party in this day and age than a song with the line "please turn that fucking radio off" in it? Maybe "please turn that fucking iPod loaded with stolen T-Pain songs off." Doesn't really flow though.
our bed's this concrete floor and it's all we have left to live for

4. Emma (Good Mourning)
The lyrics to this song sorta speak for themselves. I mean... uh... okay, there's every possibility that that statement was either nonsensical or tautologous, but anyway:
a pointsettia in poison rain
traded true love for insult and injury
washed it down the drain
with one silver bullet and two vicodin
Brilliant, right? The imagery there is great, and it's quite singably catchy. Lines like "into my lap like a heart attack" suggest painful and destructive love/hate, which makes it perfect for singing over a strong drink.
a nightmare on my street the day she arrived

3. Private Eye (From Here to Infirmary)
We actually had a third guy join us on this song, and it got pretty raucous. At least, for as much of the song as we all could remember the lyrics, which are quite complex. Despite sounding nothing alike, the song evokes Elvis Costello's Watching The Detectives lyrically. I'm also fond of the bit starting "New Year's Eve was as boring as heaven" and of course "I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit." We can all cheer that one together, can't we?
raisin dry

2. Continental (Good Mourning)
Most memorable for its refrain, which may be better simply replicated than described:
you had nine lives and one by one you chewed em up,
your final coffin nail's been driven way too much
"this won't take long," you said, "I'm not going far
go wait in the car"
Rich with lines that use clever puns to speak volumes emotionally, this is in my experience one of Alkaline Trio's most popular songs, and not for nothing.
a mess like this stuck on your hands with crazy glue

1. All On Black (ibid)
Probably the high point for Alkaline Trio wordplay, with a motif of color running throughout and riddles for refrains. A vocal barrage of intricate lyrics delivered in a breathless rush by Matt Skiba which is hard to emulate... but that shouldn't prevent you from trying.
no color you're all dressed in

You might notice that most of those are from the same album. My reply would be... Well... that shit happens sometimes. I like their other albums too. I promise. Except Crimson.

So, I guess Counting Crows and Maroon 5 are like a thing now. Do most people feel about Maroon 5 the way I feel about CC (which is to say, that anyone who can't appreciate them is overlooking something)? Because I think Maroon 5 is sonically repetitive and lyrically illiterate tripe for children.

The new Penny Arcade comic that went live today is about Jonathan "Motherfucker" Coulton. I can only assume the robot he seems therein to have just made carnal acquaintance with is VH1's mascot. That's right sir, you are still on the fallen hero list.

geek: Anyone with a consuming interest or hobby that involves the collection of information that most would consider esoteric.

dork: A person who, while not entirely without social graces, can be socially clumsy at times. (Especially applies when the pursuit of a geeky hobby is to blame.)

nerd: One who pursues esoteric knowledge of a particularly academic or technical nature, and is proficient in such fields.

I'm a fan of all three, really.

to ease your painful lives

From Wikipedia's article on Robert Pollard:

"Pollard has stated that during a Lollapalooza, he and the other guys in GBV beat The Beastie Boys and Billy Corgan in a basketball game. He also stated that Kim Deal and Kelley Deal were cheering for them during the game and that Steve Drozd was riding on a bicycle during the game."

I think my favorite thing about Wikipedia is those editors who seem to know exactly what information is essential to the readers of each article. Points also to Pollard for knowing what names to drop for maximum geek reaction. I only wonder how Billy Corgan ended up on a team with The Beastie Boys, the other associations seem so impeccably natural that they might as well have been assumed.

In a moment of channel flipping desperation, I recently landed on VH1's Greatest Songs of the 90s, for all of about 10 minutes. Even that brief exposure was enough to confirm that the editorial staff of that renowned station is still unashamed as ever to stand up for what's bad, but it also delivered a punishing blow in the sight of the ordinarily unimpeachable Jonathon Coulton among the myriad ranks of their accomplices. Only Pollard's pharmacist proved capable of delivering relief, in the form of an extended Guided By Voices rock-out session.

On the subject of medicine, I'm not proud to admit that my now considerable fondness for Iron & Wine's song Passing Afternoon didn't begin until some time after the doctor's fateful bus crash.

viva hate

As far as I can tell, Katy Perry's song I Kissed a Girl is intended only for children and those few unfortunate adults with the pathetic musical incuriousity to think its subject matter is something new in the world. Without whatever shock value the track provides if you've had a tame and sheltered existence, there's little to be interested in. The song's profound lack of emotional authenticity could be forgiven if it sounded good, just as the brazen attitude it presents would be justified if the song were at all sexy; unfortunately it doesn't and it isn't. Like Amy Winehouse before her, Katy Perry is an artist who has successfully used supposed controversy and cavalier sexuality to get a free pass from mainstream critics on the issue of her marginal talent.

I haven't had a chance to hear the entire album yet, and at least the title track does recapture the sense of musical urgency that made A Rush of Blood to the Head so satisfying (and was noticeably lacking from much of the middling X&Y); but am I the only one who began to worry after the third or fourth listen to Viva La Vida that Chris Martin's best lyrics have all been written? It's not that what he does on the new song is bad, it's the impression that he's trying so hard to be good and that this is the best he's come up with.

just the same

Attention producers of TV's "Weeds": Your program's theme song is irritating as hell. This cannot possibly be news. It could be performed by the London Philharmonic, it would still be irritating.

talking without speaking

Blender Magazine lists Paul McCartney, Bernie Taupin and Ben Gibbard among the worst lyricists of all time. Their list of the worst bands includes the Goo Goo Dolls and Live. The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel sits alongside tracks by The Beatles and REM on their list of rock's worst songs. But at least they aren't afraid to stick up for Justin Timberlake, making a point of excluding him from N'Sync's entry on their list of "wusses". Journalistic excellence on par with that of their frequent partner VH1, a cable channel best known for hard-hitting documentary television chronicling the romantic lives of the formerly famous.

I'm sorry

Grant-Lee Phillips' cover of Boys Don't Cry = pretty damn good. Grant Lee Phillips' cover of So. Central Rain = not even a little bit good at all.

I've been away, but now I'm back

yeah, it's been awhile, but don't worry... I haven't abandoned this thing. quite the opposite in fact, my intention has been and continues to be to post one entry for each week, but that's obviously contingent on having an idea in mind that I feel ready to articulate. the time since my last entry has been spent in a couple of ways. the prospect of doing another "great album" entry has been occupying a lot of my attention, but it's also a bit intimidating. in addition to that, there was a week of vacation with my family, and a week spent firmly in the clutches of this great book I was reading.

anyway, let's get back to it. on the menu for today, my top five favorite male/female duets:

5. In a Lifetime - Clannad
(Moya Brennan and Bono)
A combination of Clannad's usual new agey folk sound, their patiently building soundscapes and dramatic vocals, with a slightly more pop/rock destination. The legendary Bono doesn't stand out here, which is to say that he doesn't define the song. Rather, he functions exactly as a Clannad vocalist ought to: his voice is expressive and powerful, but he is just a part of the overall effect of the song. We already knew he had to be a good team player for U2 to be such a great band... The rest of the song is a calculated product, a well oiled machine. The vocals, instrumentation and abundant production are in perfect musical synergy.
without color, faded and worn

4. 9 Crimes - Damien Rice
(Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan)
Although Lisa Hannigan is an intrinsic part of all Damien Rice's work, her familiar haunting vocals whisper the first lines of his second album, 9, and one of the few true duets between the two of them. Hannigan's role on O was often more accurately described as backing vocals, providing a strong finish to songs like The Blower's Daughter and Older Chests. (She also carried some songs herself, particularly the hollow, desperate Silent Night, which features no sound at all beyond her own voice.) There were true duets as well, such as Volcano, but 9 Crimes tops them in terms of both the caliber of the lyrics and the effective use of the male and female vocals to express characters in a story.
this is not what I do

3. Sometimes Always - The Jesus and Mary Chain
(Jim Reid and Hope Sandoval)
The recurring theme of this list is the use of male and female vocals to dramatize a romance, and simultaneously tell both sides of the story that is formed. Of this list, only number 5 does not use this technique, and only this song gives the story a happy ending. Sometimes Always is a jangling, upbeat and catchy rock song, somewhat uncharacteristic of JAMC, but nonetheless showing their ability and indie rock influences. The collaboration of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval is appropriate given the dreamy feel that is present in both bands' work, and her chemistry with Reid and overall contribution to the song are excellent.
lucky son of a gun

2. Nothing Better - The Postal Service
(Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood)
The very definition of bittersweet, from its perky electronic beat, tempered with heavy synth tones to the superlative declarations and reluctant refusals found in the lyrics. According to Ben Gibbard, this song is inspired by the Human League's Don't You Want Me?, a fun little song in its own right. The genius here is the way that the dialogue between these two characters balances realism with poetry, achieving cinematic proportions. Gibbard's writing style has always been characterized by the meeting of the fantastical and the mundane, and it's hard to think of another of his songs more heart-wrenching than this exchange between two exceptionally well-spoken lovers.
your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures

1. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl
(Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl)
Where to start? MacGowan's crowing lyrical achievement, the best Christmas song of all time, the best duet I can damn well think of... Well, okay, even if you don't believe all that, this is undeniably a remarkable song. Opening with a distinctive piano theme, the song's prelude is a touching ballad of frank nostalgia, leading into a rollicking Irish tune. The lyrics take a turn here too, from reminisince to vivid joy, the musical equivilent of a flashback, then to despair and ultimately concluding with heartfelt contemplation. Again, the dialogue is the principal way that the story is told, and this song pulls no punches. "You're a bum, you're a punk" shouts the wife, "you're an old slut on junk" replies the husband. The emotions in each part of the song are captured with equal bluntness, the lyrics reveling in the highs and unflinchingly rendering the lows, in the tradition of the great Irish ballads. The story is tragic and compelling, and the rousing, classic quality of the music unforgettable.
can't make it out alone, I built my dreams around you

got two reasons why I cry

Feeling a bit gloomy today, so I thought I might do a top five mopey songs list. Trouble is, about 90% of all great music (and not-so-great music, for that matter) is mopey. Furthermore, you've got a number of bands (The Smiths, The Cure, REM to some extent, etc) whose musical output is almost entirely devoted to such songs. So, instead I decided to do a playlist of the first really good 20 or so to come to mind, without reusing any particular artist. I'm trying to do less downer songs, and more... comforting-on-a-shitty-day sorts of songs, but nonetheless, I'd advise you to skip it if you don't wanna read about sad bastard music. Oh, and the exercise is a bit stream of consciousness, which I like...

1. I Am a Rock - Simon & Garfunkel
2. You're Beautiful - James Blunt (people like it for a reason. as much as I can't stand the whole phenomenon of people assuming that because a song is popular, it must be good, the opposite annoys me just as much. this is a really well written song. or, for a song that caused pretty much the exact same reaction a couple of years earlier, go with Five For Fighting's Superman, which is also a really cool songwriting exercise.)
3. Everybody Hurts - REM (I've been listening to Automatic for the People a lot the past two days...)
4. Somebody - Depeche Mode
5. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
6. Hang - Matchbox Twenty
7. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish - The Smiths (or substitute Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want or Asleep, depending on your disposition)
8. Konstantine - Something Corporate
9. Ain't to Proud to Beg - The Temptations (this is where I took an inexplicable turn toward Motown. I also thought of the equally good next song...)
10. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin (yeah.)
11. Creep - Radiohead (how did I not think of that one earlier?)
12. Sour Times - Portishead (again, a no-brainer)
13. Nobody's Crying - Patty Griffin
14. Cannonball - Damien Rice (or substitute any Damien Rice song, really)
15. With Or Without You - U2 (another one that's popular for good reason)
16. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers (I was trying to think of a good mopey song by a band that isn't really associated with mopey songs. my first thought was Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones, but it doesn't really sound mopey)
17. Tender - Blur (obligatory Blur song!)
18. Just Like Heaven - The Cure (probably their greatest song matching this description, though obviously you could substitute just about any Cure song)
19. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
20. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (hands down the best recording of this song, and it isn't even a little bit open to discussion)
(and for this sorta list, you've sorta got to close with...)
21. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

uh... so yeah. there it is.

a man will fall from the sheer face of love

just some miscellaneous impulsive thought exercises:

top five Elvis Costello songs:
1. Everyday I Write the Book (Punch the Clock)
2. I Want You (Blood & Chocolate)
3. Oliver's Army (Armed Forces)
4. Brilliant Mistake (King of America)
5. Alison (My Aim is True)
(yeah, Everyday I Write the Book. I can't lie, I just love it.)

top five Elvis Costello albums:
1. My Aim is True
2. King of America
3. Armed Forces
4. Imperial Bedroom
5. Blood & Chocolate
(as one can see, individual songs in the top five don't really make or break an album.)

top five U2 songs:
1. Endless Deep (Sunday Bloody Sunday - single)
2. The Sweetest Thing (The Sweetest Thing - single)
3. If God Will Send His Angels (Pop)
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday (War)
5. The Fly (Achtung Baby)
(I was going to call this blog entry "it's alright, it's alright, it's all right", but I had to change it once I realized that Mysterious Ways didn't even make my top five.)

top five U2 albums:
1. The Joshua Tree
2. Achtung Baby
3. Pop
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
(the hard part for Pop was getting on the list at all. once I had the guts to put it at number five - ironically, it's a fairly unpopular choice - I kept impulsively moving it up.)

top five Smiths songs:
1. There is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Queen is Dead)
2. This Charming Man (The Smiths)
3. Girlfriend in a Coma (Strangeways, Here We Come)
4. Hand in Glove (The Smiths)
5. How Soon is Now? (Meat is Murder)
(it really pained me to not be able to fit Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want and Panic on the list.)

(...The Smiths only had four albums...)

one other thing: I sorta rediscovered Tim (The Replacements album) recently and I've played the shit out of it. I can't seem to articulate enough about it to even think about a "great album" entry, but the sound is fascinating.

cause you only get respect when you're kickin ass

great album: Nihil - KMFDM (1995)

From their earliest material until the release of Angst in 1992, KMFDM's sound was an almost pure example of the industrial label, a genre in which they are now considered pioneers. Relying mainly on drum machines, synthesizers and samples of metallic/machinery noise, the result was highly electronic, minimalist, and generally in keeping with dance music song structures. Angst marked the transition between this and a more listenable, rock structured sound; particularly with with the songs Light and Sucks. However, it was on Nihil that they perfected this new style, and applied it to every track on the album (except the originally secret title track) to create a consistent and polished album, the most impressive of their catalogue.

Undeniably, one of the major reasons for the creative improvement of Nihil over other KMFDM releases is the heavy involvement of Raymond Watts (PIG), whose presence is felt both as vocalist and lyricist for a great deal of the album. While Watts turns up frequently in the band's history, his artistic involvement here and the unique collaboration between himself and KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko goes above and beyond the norm. (A similar collaborative spirit between Konietzko and Tim Skold resulted in the band's second reniassance with 2002's Attak.)

The following two albums, Xtort and Symbols followed in the footsteps of this one, producing some of the band's better songs (Megalomaniac, Son of a Gun, Anarchy) but never reaching the same level of overall quality until the band's sound shifted again around the time of their breakup and reformation in the late 90s/early 2000s.

standout tracks:

Ultra - a hell of a kickoff, this song is one of the more clear embodiments of the combination of electronica and metal that characterizes KMFDM's work.

Juke Joint Jezebel - a more grandiose and lyrically outstanding example of the same. Also uses female vocals to highlight the refrain, a recurring KMFDM technique.

Beast - incredibly catchy and lyrically audacious. This also includes another KMFDM trademark: the repeated use of certain phrases, which rewards long-time listeners. This one contains a throwback to Kickin' Ass, from their early album What Do You Know, Deutschland?

Terror - a fitting title. Terror is easily the most aggressive song on the album, with a smashing guitar riff (worthy of the phrase "ultra-heavy beat") and furious shouted lyrics.

Disobedience - my personal favorite by the band, and the standout of the album. The combination of an excellent guitar riff with the use of a horn section creates a highly memorable outcome. Another example of the band's penchant for ostentation and melodrama.

Brute - another song that deserves its title, Brute comes in a close second to Terror in terms of scathingly rock-out tracks on this album.

New Order's on the turntable, we're dancing

my (top 5!) favorite songs of 2007:

5. Dashboard (We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank) - Modest Mouse
For any Smiths fan that keeps up with the contemporary indiesque to even the smallest extent, this was a hugely anticipated album. Modest Mouse are a band that, even if (like me) you never exactly loved, it's impossible not to be at least aware of, and maybe acknowledge some level of craftsmanship on their part. With the news that Johnny Marr, the guitarist responsible for the delicious half of The Smiths' sweet and sour formula, had straight-up-no-shit JOINED the band, it seemed that the forthcoming album couldn't help but be fresh, addictive and complex. The actual result was something less than that, often a product of lazy songwriting and noisy sonic repetition (The Parting of the Sensory might be a candidate for the worst song of the year). But on this, the seductive first single from a disappointing album, the listener is invited to imagine what could have been.

4. Kingdom of Doom (The Good, The Bad and The Queen) - The Good, The Bad and The Queen
If Damon can't get along with the old blokes from Blur, at least it's good to hear him rocking alternatively again. (Not that the poppier, dancier Gorillaz albums haven't been good. They're awesome.) Still, this entire album is a return to what made Blur's best work so great. The theme of life from the point of view of a contemporary Londoner hails back to Parklife in particular, the source of many of Blur's greatest songs. This song, second to Herculean (which was released as a single in 2006 and is therefore ineligible for this list) epitomizes those qualities best of any from the new project.

3. Reckoner (In Rainbows) - Radiohead
A lot of people who more or less share my views on music have been huge Radiohead fans for a good long while (hey, me too!), found the four years since Hail to the Thief's release in 2003 far too long to wait (again, guilty), and would probably want to kick me in the dentures for not putting Radiohead up higher on the list if anybody were reading this. They might also be puzzled by why I chose Reckoner, generally not considered the best track from the new album. No, don't skip ahead, there isn't another Radiohead song higher on the list. The fact of the matter is that Reckoner is the best song on In Rainbows, a moody yet melodic, familiar but not redundant, lyrically necessary endeavor. Oh, and it's the title track. Or didn't you notice?

2. Phantom Limb (Wincing the Night Away) - The Shins
A marvel of a song, Phantom Limb manages to simultaneously capture The Shins' own particular sound and integrate other influences (particularly The Jesus and Mary Chain - appropriate given the song's dreamy tone) while delivering lyrics that feel achingly relevant and insightful. Lead singer/songwriter James Mercer presents the life of a teenage lesbian with incredible attention to detail, and achieves the sort of depth, fullness and emotional acuity that is worthy of the best written fiction.

1. Born Losers (Hospital Music) - Matthew Good
Though my second or third introduction to Matthew Good's work, I suspect that almost any listener would find this song to be a revelation on some level. Musically, the song is a combination of folk and country influences with the aggressive soul of a rock song that matches its subject matter perfectly. The lyrics are a portrait of twentysomething discontent: the narrator is young enough to lack direction, but old and world-weary enough to have outgrown the illusion of freedom. With lines like "what doesn't kill us now just makes us better whores" and this stanza:

"when the lights come on, this whole place gets ugly
but when they're out, strangers fall in love
she could never say that flat out she don't want me,
cause I could never say that halfway ain't enough",

Matthew Good has written a song that may be about himself, or may be about no one in particular, yet seems to be about all of us in a certain stage of our lives. There are enough details in the song to resonate with any listener, and those that don't match our lives we can nevertheless imagine matching our mood. In other words, the song has the power to transport its listener to the relevant place in their own life as it exists in memory or imagination. Hundreds of songs have been written about adolescence of a certain kind. This song trumps many of them with its honesty and genuine introspection about a much more specific state of mind.

with LPs of Mary, and photos of God

A couple of nights ago, after I first posted my little manifesto on Al Stewart, a friend and I got drunk and listened to some. My friend seemed impressed by what he heard, so we listened to some more, and I offered to do a CD for him. I thought I'd share what I ended up putting together. Now, I know this differs somewhat from my earlier recommendations about how to approach the Stewart canon... chalk it up to space restrictions, an attempt to appeal to my sense of another person's tastes, as well as the simple fact that my own favorites within Al's oeuvre are constantly changing.

1. Year of the Cat (Year of the Cat)
2. On the Border (Year of the Cat)
3. Flying Sorcery (Year of the Cat)
4. Apple Cider Re-Constitution (Modern Times)
5. The Dark and The Rolling Sea (Modern Times)
6. Clifton in the Rain (Bedsitter Images)
7. Gethsemane, Again (Zero She Flies)
8. Manuscript (Zero She Flies)
9. Burbling (Zero She Flies)
10. Electric Los Angeles Sunset (Zero She Flies)
11. Running Man (24 Carrots)
12. The Last Day of June 1934 (Past, Present and Future)
13. Joe the Georgian (Between the Wars)
14. Class of '58 (A Beach Full of Shells)
15. Mr. Lear (A Beach Full of Shells)
16. Katherine of Oregon (A Beach Full of Shells)
17. Almost Lucy (Time Passages)
18. The Night of the 4th of May (Orange)

Now, go ahead and download it from your preferred legal music service. Don't steal music, especially not music this good.

By the way, there supposedly exists a much longer (13 minutes or so) version of the rock and roll tribute epic Class of '58. I haven't heard it myself, it may only be available on the single, but if you get a chance to hear it, it should really be something.

every word, that I've said, that you have heard

Although there are those unfortunate souls who aren't familiar with a single one of my top five artists, it seems like Al Stewart is the most unknown of them. This strikes me as particularly tragic, since he's also my probably my single favorite songwriter and recording artist out there. Now, maybe I'm just the kind of guy who can't develop that kind of attachment to anybody that's a household name, but I've found that there really is no other songwriter whose body of work I find as reliably resonant and enchanting as Mr. Stewart's.

On my last birthday I completed my collection of what I saw as Al's complete discography. He's released 17 albums, from his 1967 debut to 2005's A Beach Full of Shells, with a new one on the way quite soon. I include in my count his two live albums (one of which was released with a handful of then-new studio tracks as well) but don't include any of the various compilation albums that have been released under his name. It was the culmination of 11 years of fandom, beginning with my theft of his most famous record, Year of the Cat (1976) from my dad's collection in 1996.

Al's fans in general have a love/hate relationship with Year of the Cat. On the one hand, the radio hits that resulted from Al's collaboration with Alan Parson's tend to obscure the bulk of Al's prolific catalogue. Year of the Cat itself and Time Passages probably aren't the first songs I would play anybody to try and show them who Al Stewart is as an artist. On the other hand, they're both very good albums. Every single track on Year of the Cat and almost every track from its follow-up, Time Passages, is a success both sonically and artistically. It would be impossible for me, and I suspect many other fans to deny that these two albums are what got us hooked on this artist.

But they don't necessarily give the right impression of what the bulk of Al's catalogue is all about. Sure, he's had his weak moments, and the least of his albums are dotted with poppy, trendy sounding attempts at rejuvenated radio success. But Al Stewart himself is at the core a songwriter, one who has shown himself to be continually capable of exceptional insight and poetic achievement. Personally, I find myself returning most frequently to Al's earliest work, his days of twentysomething student obscurity in the coffee shops of London, writing insecure romantic epics like the 18-minute Love Chronicles, or Night of the 4th of May. But there are other flavors to his work that are equally valid. In particular, Al has a preoccupation with historical subject matter that has been the inspiration for a number of great ballads. He has the ability to put himself into a convincing reproduction of what might have been a historical figure's mind, and the listener into their world. There's a quality of idealism in these songs that isn't tarnished by their lack of naivety.

I could write much more about Al, and likely will as this blog continues. But for now let me bring this somewhat rambling argument to a close with some examples of where I think one should begin to enjoy this phenomenal singer-songwriter:

• The debut album Bedsitter Images, particularly the title track and Cleave to Me, a successful attempt at a bit of Elizabethan style poetry. The entire album has a great college town coffeehouse feel to it.
• Manuscript, from Zero She Flies, his first attempt at historical songwriting. Also Electric Los Angeles Sunset from the same album, which is the song where he first discovers an electric rock sound.
• The Night of the 4th of May, from Orange.
• The album Past, Present and Future, on which Al tells a story from a different decade of the 20th century on every track.
• The non-album track In The Dark, recently released as a bonus to the newest edition of Famous Last Words, in which he gives a fictionalized account of the Charles/Diana divorce before it ever happened.
• The latest album, A Beach Full of Shells. These days Mr. Stewart has found renewed confidence, knowing he'll never be a full fledged rock legend, he's more comfortable being himself.
• Year of the Cat and Time Passages, of course.

Expect my thoughts on the new record as soon as it comes out.

Here's a link to an entry from another blog with much the same thrust as this one. Though I don't agree with all of its analysis, it is much more in depth than what I've written here.

now, to business gentlemen

five underrated REM songs:

1. Half a World Away (Out of Time) - If the sheer essence of REM's appeal is Michael Stipe's ability to sorrowfully croon, then this mournful masterpiece may be the highest synthesis of their talent. The tone isn't as melodramatic as the band's lyrics can sometimes be, instead telling of a more subdued, everyday, personal pain with lines like "my mind is racing, as it always will/ my hands tired, my heart aches..." Never a single, the song also serves as a reminder that Out of Time may be one of the band's best efforts, rather than just the album that had Losing My Religion on it.
this lonely world is wasted

2. At My Most Beautiful (Up) - While this may be a bit of a stretch for an underrated song, considering its status as both successful single and fan favorite, it's also damn likely to be the best song Michael Stipe has ever written, and is rarely recognized as such. With symphonic backing (a recurring device in the work of REM) and lyrics that express romantic longing with incredible imagistic clarity, the result is lovely and haunting. After all, all the best songs are about unrequited love, right?
I've found a way to make you... I've found a way... a way to make you smile

3. You Are the Everything (Green) - As much as At My Most Beautiful is complete and emblematic, You Are the Everything is fascinatingly offbeat and experimental. It's high school poetry, almost "emo", if you're one who likes to throw around that term. It isn't as polished or articulate as much of Stipe's best lyrical work, but the emotional state that it attempts to communicate is many times more complex. The lyrics are a breathless, manic flurry of delicate images and illogical superlatives, and there are many gems to be found among its lines.
the stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen

4. Imitation of Life (Reveal) - An unsuccessful single, and widely dismissed by fans as an attempt to recreate Losing My Religion with its rambling, stream of consciousness lyrics (compare that song's "I think I thought I saw you try" to this one's "c'mon, c'mon, no one can see you try"), this song nonetheless contains a great deal of strong lyricism, and catchy pop sound that represents REM at the top of their talent in that particular area.
charades, pop skill, water hyacinth, named by a poet

5. Texarkana (Out of Time) - Another non-single album track from Out of Time, this song is almost entirely the work of Mike Mills, and is one of those great examples of a song by another member in a band that is usually dominated by a single songwriter (another great example: Graham Coxon's fantastic You're So Great in the middle of Blur's self titled album). Again, this song shows REM's ability to do catchy pop tunes, and demonstrates the great track-to-track longevity of the Out of Time album.
I would give my life to find it, I would give it all

I'd also like to give an honorable mention to Everybody Hurts. Somewhere along the line, it became fashionable to treat that song as a joke (blaring from Dwight's car radio on an episode of The Office probably wasn't its finest hour) and I know people who think it's quite overwrought, but I still remember it as poignant, affecting, and an important moment in the band's history.

some other business:

Neil Finn has a cover of The Smiths' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out featuring Johnny Marr on his live album that I haven't been able to hear enough of for several months now.

Tycho, from Penny Arcade, wrote a rant about Paramore's abysmal song crushcrushcrush a while back on that blog that everyone should read.

No doubt due to its use in the ridiculously cool looking trailer for The Pineapple Express, my resistance to the M.I.A. song Paper Planes has been worn down completely. I now like it, and am deeply shamed.

what I'd like to do here is this...

If I'm going to write this blog, and you're going to read it, then I guess I have two principal things to confess here. The first is that I'm highly opinionated about almost everything in art and culture. There's no getting away from that, as most of my friends would tell you. I shout out my opinions at a volume slightly higher than what's normally considered conversational, and I hold to them like facts. The good news is, I respect anybody else's right to do the same. If I'm wrong, I'd love to hear why. What I won't do is treat matters of taste as some kind of intangible, sacred thing. No one is entitled to have an opinion without reasons behind it in any other area of discussion, and I won't stand for it in conversations about music, film and art either. To do that is to take these things outside of the realm where substantial conversations can be had, and to me, that's quite unacceptable.

My second confession is that I'm not the world's foremost expert on anything. In the greater arenas of the internet, or even the world of music blogging, there are sure to be people whose knowledge and expertise outmatches my own by far. This is a hobby for me, albeit one I've had for a long time now and care about quite a bit. What I'd like to do here is write for whoever's interested about the musical opinions of one guy with a little bit of game and some fairly diverse tastes. Oh, and we may branch out into other matters, particularly film and television at times. I haven't decided yet.

I wanted to start off with some kind of music survey, to more or less cover all the bases and serve as an introduction to my own tastes, but I couldn't find a set of questions anywhere to serve that purpose (maybe the subject of a future entry if somebody could refer me to one). So instead, in the style of the masterpiece High Fidelity, I'll just start with my own personal top five recording artists.

1. Al Stewart
2. The Pogues
3. Guided By Voices
4. Damon Albarn (Blur/ Gorillaz/ The Good, The Bad and The Queen)
5. The Smiths

I assembled the list when I was tired of being hopelessly flustered and unsure of where to start when people asked me what kind of music I listened to, usually after berating them for one sonic misstep or another in my presence. It's not the whole picture, but hopefully it will serve as a somewhat effective introduction. And, with all that as my preface/disclaimer, enjoy what's to come...