#16 Nirvana: In Utero
Weeds. They are all over the place. In my yard. The flower bed. The golf course. The heat isn't helping either. While the grass gets browner, the weeds get greener and taller. Look at 'em. So smug. But what can I do. How do you weed them out? HOW DO YOU WEED OUT THE WEEDS? I don't know, but if you ever need to weed out a few fans, you can always ask Kurt Cobain. Nirvana's first major label album 'Nevermind' (which will appear later in the blog) was coated in a pop shell that kind of lessened the impact of the true musical genius of Cobain's songs. Butch Vig produced an album for Nirvana that while still very good, might not have been what the band wanted. However, it was good enough for the guys at Geffen records. It sold over 30 million copies too, so in the eyes of a record company, it was a total success based on its budget of $65,000...hell it'd be a success if it cost $5 million to make. For the next album, Kurt wanted more control. He wanted to create the sound he had originally envisioned for Nevermind. To do this he got the producer that made the Pixies "Surfer Rosa" album, a favorite of Cobain's. Steve Albini came in with the band and recorded the album in two weeks using very few studio tricks, overdubs, or embellishments of any kind. The result, was a disaster. At least in Geffen's eyes. The album was believed to be not commericially viable. The rumors and stories are everywhere and no will know for sure what really happened. Apparently the band was also not happy with the final result, and brought in another producer, after Albini refused to mess with it any further. The final mix of the album that most people hear, is the one with some extra mixing by Scott Lit. The Albini mix is out there, and if you have a lot of money, you can buy it. I think the Scott Lit version is great just the way it is. The record company suits (the MAN) still hated it, and didn't want it released. Turns out 'In Utero' would go on to sell over five million albums worldwide, not the huge number 'Nevermind' produced, but it probably did weed out the unwanted Nirvana fans that just didn't get this whole 'alternative rock' thing.
Side one begins with a great big BOOM. Starting on a hard B7 chord that will announce the intentions of the album, Nevermind era Nirvana fans might be thrown for a loop. The polished sound is gone. The studio tricks of Butch Vig are gone...Laughing time is OVER! With one chord, Kurt and the guys have distanced themselves from their poppy major label debut. Into the verse the song uses picking on some B7 and F# chords to a very satisfying over all sound. You can't fake tone like this...you can dress up a thousand pop musicians in flannel but they'll never be able to create this raw of a sound. The mixing is all different...quieter vocals until the screaming arrives, loud guitars, feedback is left in, the bass and drums roar and hit with a dead thud. This is what Nevermind was supposed to be. The vocal delivery of the chorus is fairly relaxing, not stressing the voice, plenty of songs to do that later. The solo features a somewhat sloppy sound that would embarrass some guitarists...but its all show, its supposed to be that way, so stop complaining! Oh listen there, you can hear Kurt coughing in the background. That's right producer, leave it all in. Next up comes "Scentless Apprentice" another song that breaks the Nevermind mold. I mean seriously, this is Nirvana, Quiet/Loud/Quiet/Loud/Bridge/Loud/Outro? Isn't that how it goes? At 15 I sure thought that's how it goes, I wrote every song for about 4 years in that style, I just thought that's how you write a song. This is now two songs in a row they use a new formula....Loud/Repeat. It sounds like something fresh. The song continues on its merry way using abrasive guitars, dissonant tones, and a very nice climb up the neck of the guitar to reach the release at the chorus. The solo once again focuses on NOISE more than anything. Back to the main riff and we're chuggin' right along. The main riff is pretty infectious. There's a poppy riff buried in it somewhere, but its been run over with a truck and hung out to dry so long its pretty much unrecognizable. Wow, I'm enjoying this! Just when you think loud/quiet/loud is gone, here it comes in the form of "Heart Shaped Box." This song starts with a very clean and perfectly played riff in drop-d tuning. Its very Pixiesque by remaining quiet until the chorus comes along. The chorus lets the guitars roar with what seems to be a fuzz pedal. That's right, Kurt's beloved Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, that is featured on everything seems to be absent here. The chorus uses some great string bending on both guitar and the bass. The effect on the bass is very interesting and really, other musicians should take note of this technique's resulting sound. To punctuate the heavy feel of the chorus, Grohl hits the toms with reckless abandon. Back into the verse and second time around you can really feel the bass line. Using what I'm going to describe as a staccato approach to playing bass, the notes come out very suddenly and quite abbreviated. Back into the chorus we go, identical to the first time around, and then its off to the solo. The solo uses VERY fuzzed out guitar and played a very short string bending exercise before its back to the final verse. The song concludes on a very heavy version of the chorus which allows Grohl to 'explore the studio space' with his ride cymbal. (BE LOUD). The next song, which resulted in Walmart altering the packaging of the album is "Waif Me." Wait...that's not right...is it? According to Walmart, that is the name of the song, because that's what they changed it to when they deemed "Rape Me" a little too much for their customers. The band really didn't care that much...the song was left alone on the album, its just four letters on the back of the sleeve that were altered. The song uses a very simplistic approach of the same chords for the verse and chorus...one presented clean, one presented distorted. The music doesn't really have much to say, but Kurt sure does. Kurt had spoken out against rape many times before during interviews and at concerts. Honestly I can't think of anyone coming out in support of rape, but maybe he just felt someone had to make sure people remembered: rape = bad. The more you know... "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" is a song that sneaks up on you. With a very quiet and clean riff at the start it suddenly roars in and out before reaching the verse. The verse uses this same dynamic of loud/quiet/loud to great effect before finally fully releasing in the chorus that goes for the throat. The chorus is fueled by overpowering drums that beat the hell out of the toms and crash cymbals. The bridge is very "Teen Spirit" with its low to high chord progression but its definitely not "Nevermind" material, its still a brutal assault. You know, listening to the lyrics, it seems Kurt enjoys his world of depression. "Dumb" is a track that catches most casual fans off guard. Reminiscent of "Polly" or "Something in the Way" the track stays acoustic and features some kick ass cello work. The song appears to be an ode to substance abuse and all the wonderful ways to get high. Lyrically not my cup of tea, but who cares...its still a classic Nirvana tune. For me this track is very interesting in retrospect...it hints to the musical path the band would eventually take with their Unplugged set, which for me, was an amazing accomplishment for a 'grunge' band.
Side two is an assault on the poppy ears of those needless Nirvana fans. It starts with "Very Ape," a track with an ever whining guitar echoing in the background throughout the song. The song takes an almost punk attitude with some pretty nonsensical lyrics. The basic dynamic of the song is just sliding power chords up and down the neck in time with the frantic drumbeat. Its not a long song, but at this pace, it doesn't need to be long. The next wall of noise is "Milk It," a song that starts with some poorly played guitar followed by some heavy hitting power chords. The verse then takes over with very quiet and Pixiesque (there's that word again) structure. The chorus brings back the power chords and a hammering of the crash cymbals on the quarter notes for a very heavy sound. The vocal delivery is just pure Cobain scream, the melody is there, but its hidden underneath the almost throat mutilating yell. The solo uses the poorly played guitar again in an insult to 'dual lead guitar' bands everywhere. It fits the feel of the record...to...a...T. The song finally rips through one last assault of screamed lyrics and crash cymbals before it finally concludes. The abrupt conclusion leads us into a personal favorite of mine. "Pennyroyal Tea" has the loud guitars, has the quiet verses and the manic bridge, but it all feels different. There's a distinct urgency in the vocal delivery like Kurt is really trying to tell us something. Something bad. The song has overtones of heroin abuse, depression, and all shades of things to come. Oh the warning signs were all there. The unplugged version of this song is even harder to listen to knowing what comes next. Its a sad song, and as played on the Unplugged album; solo and unaccompanied, it sounds like the last rights of a great musician. Next comes "Radio Friendly Unit Shift," a term that comes from the music biz. Basically, this term describes a catchy song that will guarantee you will sell some records. Interesting title considering this song is about as far from that as you can possibly get. Feedback, repetitive bass and drums, flatly delivered vocals and an intense feedback driven conclusion that leaves your ears completely spent. That was exhausting...and its not over yet. Next up is a brief intense song with no real lyrics, or musical value of any kind. That's why it NEEDS to be on this album. "Tourettes" uses fast power-chords, crashing the ride cymbal and start/stop crunch to give one last big flurry of pure noise rock. The album concludes with a nice drop-D tuning song. "All Apologies" brings the cello back and the vocal delivery of the verse varies between calm and somewhat stressed. The chorus roars to one simple power-chord before a sudden stop features a pounding drum fill. The song concludes with a trailing off overly distorted version of the basic riff with a little feedback, a sort of soloing guitar and drums that slowly fall apart to nothingness. The song concludes with the drums playing like a heartbeat slowly coming to a stop. Basically, what you have is the whole album, every piece, every style, and every manic moment in one song. Wow...well played.
So, after listening to that, are you still a fan? I hope so, cause this album is amazing and blows away 'Nevermind.' I have to admit I did a little song skipping when I first got it on tape back in 1993, I was a touch hesitant. But I just kept listening over and over and soon I discovered this was the band that Nirvana needs to be. Yeah, we all know how it ends, this was the last studio album they ever released and we'll never know what they would've done next, but that's a pretty big 'what if' for the music world to ponder.
Strongest Song: Pennyroyal Tea
Weakest Song: Everything on the album, NEEDS to be on the album.
Song You Know: Heart-Shaped Box, Rape Me
Why You Might Hate It: You're one of those 'Nevermind' only Nirvana fans.
Buy
It? YES, own this album. I've owned this album on Tape, CD, MP3 and Vinyl...and you should too.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Homme is Where the Heart Is.
#15 Queens of the Stone Age: Self Titled
A weekend at home. After many weekends traveling to Baltimore and various other places outside the DC area its finally time to just stay at home. Its kinda nice to just enjoy being home, and tonight we'll also be enjoying Homme...Josh Homme that is. The Queens of the Stone age feature a revolving door of musicians with a common bond, they all want the opportunity to work with Josh Homme. At last count it was somewhere around 30 musicians who have contributed to Queen's music. The common bond amoung them all? They just want to play rock until it bores into your brain and never leaves. Well...let the hypnotizing begin!
Side one begins with a kick ass song...actually make that two...no...FOUR kick ass songs. "Regular John" starts with a droning guitar that Josh Homme has used in just about everything he does. He likes a signature sound and wants people to recognize Queens about three seconds into the song. With this track, Queen's fans will recognize the style in about one second. When the drums kick in the framework for the solid groove has arrived. This groove is repeated, charging ahead at breakneck speed until the riff is beaten into your soul. The vocal style is not overpowering, no yelling necessary when you've got this much instrumentation behind a song. The chorus is a great breakdown of quarter note descending drums and heavy ride cymbal. The bridge of the song uses a quieter approach by the guitars, with volume swells almost mimicking the vocal style of the song. Next up is "Avon" another hard rocker that can be found being performed live on youtube, with Dave Grohl beating the hell out of the drums. AVON CALLING! The riff is fairly simple, just pick apart the three root notes of a power chord and stick to it. While crashing the ride the drums keep the constant pace and wall of noise throughout the song. This song kinda feels like a runaway train, and you have to either enjoy the ride, or get off the tracks. The chorus uses some nice falsetto do do do vocals and the drums slowly riding down the toms. After this standard and awesome pattern the song breaks to a kick ass drum fill. Rock needs more drum fills like this, it just hypes up the song even better. The formula is as follows: heavy riff + drum fill + 2 seconds of silence + back to main heavy riff = profit. You can't argue with math. "If Only," is a little slower and somewhat less heavy (for Queens anyway). Instead of using the ride cymbal or hi-hat as is standard, the song uses a tambourine to keep its time. It definitely adds to the laid back flavor of the song. I can almost picture this song being played by musicians just kind of sitting around on bar stools or on some worn out studio couch. The chorus gets a nice start/stop drum sound which eventually leads to the guitar solo. The solo uses rapid fire notes followed by a nice long sustaining note...fading into oblivion. The last of the four opening tracks is "Walkin on the Sidewalks." This song uses a somewhat non-standard beat, at least as non-standard as 4/4 time can be. While other tracks use constant steady pounding on the drums to drive the message home, this song uses fewer but heavier sledge hammer shots on the drums. I'd say the best way to describe the song would be heavy chaos. The chaos finally comes together on the chorus which locks every instrument into sync. After a brief breakdown the chaos returns, but this time with some soloing! After riding this train for quite a while, with a few changes here and there, it finally and suddenly concludes. Hop up, flip it over and move on to the next side.
You Would Know kicks off side two and gives us an interesting start/stop riff with drums to match. The vocal delivery is very drone like, almost like the singer is hypnotized. The guitars in this track are numerous and all offer something different. The grounding overall riff, little lead fills, and extra little tweaks thrown in here and there. The chorus gets a couple bars of solid groove before returning right back to start/stop. The final chorus stays around a little longer and starts to step up the volume and intensity until, it releases into a full blown bridge with ride cymbal crashin' away before it all halts for one final riff. "The Bronze" starts off innocent enough, a little light riff in standard Queens guitar tone. Suddenly the main riff breaks in very fast and intense. The chords actually are played somewhat slower but the drums are what creates the frantic and urgent sound. The solo is played with what sounds like a wah pedal generally sitting still at about halfway. Hendrix used this often on his solos to add a little extra bite, and the Queens use it well here. The chorus kicks in very heavy and this time the wah pedal goes all over the place with some slashing riffs. The song concludes with some fuzzed out bass and a few blasting hits on the drums. "How To Handle A Rope (A Lesson in the Lariat)" is a song with an interesting name, but well...nothing that new and exciting. Its still a great tune, it has a solid riff beaten into your head, some lead guitar fills, a great solo and booming drums. I swear, I'm not saying its bad...this is what Queens of the Stone Age does.
Side three begins with "Mexicola," which immediately starts with a heavy bass riff played on a nicely overdriven instrument that sounds very Lemmy. That bass drives right into an equally heavy and very awesome guitar. This track has a groove that somehow just outdoes some of the others on the album, it definitely goes the extra mile. This time the vocals stand out a little more, reaching almost a scream instead of the casual delivery heard on side one/two. The song alternates between two distinct heavy riffs, the intro/bridge and verse/chorus. The first is slow and grinding, the second is fast and furious. "Hispanic Impressions" starts out very different with alternating hits of snare and crash on the drums and a guitar riff that isn't that heavy, but becomes so because of the drums. After using many very interesting and seemingly dissonant tones, the song comes to a halt...but its not over yet. Back to the dissonant tone riffing but this time we'll add some guitar solos. As mysteriously as this song began, less than three minutes later, its over. "You Can't Quite Me Baby" picks up with an equally as mysterious sound, but this time a little slower and lighter. Led Zeppelin once sang that "I Can't Quit You," but Josh Homme being more awesome than the world decided that YOU can't quit him. I'm not gonna argue with that claim. The song uses some very echoy and slidy guitar for a spacy feel right before going into the solo. The solo itself uses that same formula, not quite as spacy, but still, I'm freakin' out...man. The song remains with these general elements throughout its entirety, until the end when we crank up the speed and everything just comes to a final failing chaotic stop. The next song is a title that every nerd in the world will love, including my own inner-nerd. "These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For" has an unusual beginning of completely random instrumentation but much like Stella, finally gets its groove back and starts to rock pretty hard. The guitar playing is very stressed but sounds amazing. It sounds like someone is just strumming really hard, adding to the overall push of the sound through the pickups. In the end, the rhythm falls apart, we're back to chaos, and it seems we still haven't found those droids we were after.
Side four gives us three final songs, and I assure you, it might not be worth the wait. They're still good, they're up to par with the rest of the album, but they're either too up to par, or just wierd. "Give the Mule What He Wants," continues the string of entertaining song titles and also continues the overall tone of the album. RIFFS, DRUMS, POWER. If it ain't broke, make lemonaide. No, wait, its gotta be your bull. Aside from the expected Homme formula, this track offers...umm...well, it offers nothing different. Moving on, "Spiders and Vinegaroons" is another spacey track that starts out with a strange guitar riff and some hand-clapping for percussion. Its the kind of song you'd expect to hear at a campfire being put on by some strange cult right before they sacrifice a virgin. So...if you're into that kinda thing, enjoy. It eventually becomes very heavy with booming drums and some strange sounding synthesizer noise, but its still feeling like a soundtrack to something terrible about to happen. For the rest of us, there's the final song on the album, "I Was A Teenage Hand Model." Aside from having the greatest song title, maybe, ever, this track starts with a little...piano? And running water...and sound effects. Wait...is this the same album? Oh, there it is...Josh finally starts singing and that familiar Queens vocal comes back to us. The song continues with some strange instrumentation and sound effects before the final decent into what sounds like a video game on a Commodore 64 and a phone message mixed together. That was....odd.
Through 14 tracks this album presents mostly two styles: Riff oriented heavy rock, and lighter spacey rock. There's really no need for anything else (side four, I'm looking at you) because Homme does these two thing so well. I guess I'm OK with some experimentation, the last side of the album isn't bad, its just...odd.
Strongest Song: Avon or Mexicola
Weakest Song: Side Four
Song You Know: Regular John or Avon, if any.
Why You Might Hate It: you hate riffs
Buy It? I like my vinyl copy, but a CD or MP3s is probably sufficient here.
A weekend at home. After many weekends traveling to Baltimore and various other places outside the DC area its finally time to just stay at home. Its kinda nice to just enjoy being home, and tonight we'll also be enjoying Homme...Josh Homme that is. The Queens of the Stone age feature a revolving door of musicians with a common bond, they all want the opportunity to work with Josh Homme. At last count it was somewhere around 30 musicians who have contributed to Queen's music. The common bond amoung them all? They just want to play rock until it bores into your brain and never leaves. Well...let the hypnotizing begin!
Side one begins with a kick ass song...actually make that two...no...FOUR kick ass songs. "Regular John" starts with a droning guitar that Josh Homme has used in just about everything he does. He likes a signature sound and wants people to recognize Queens about three seconds into the song. With this track, Queen's fans will recognize the style in about one second. When the drums kick in the framework for the solid groove has arrived. This groove is repeated, charging ahead at breakneck speed until the riff is beaten into your soul. The vocal style is not overpowering, no yelling necessary when you've got this much instrumentation behind a song. The chorus is a great breakdown of quarter note descending drums and heavy ride cymbal. The bridge of the song uses a quieter approach by the guitars, with volume swells almost mimicking the vocal style of the song. Next up is "Avon" another hard rocker that can be found being performed live on youtube, with Dave Grohl beating the hell out of the drums. AVON CALLING! The riff is fairly simple, just pick apart the three root notes of a power chord and stick to it. While crashing the ride the drums keep the constant pace and wall of noise throughout the song. This song kinda feels like a runaway train, and you have to either enjoy the ride, or get off the tracks. The chorus uses some nice falsetto do do do vocals and the drums slowly riding down the toms. After this standard and awesome pattern the song breaks to a kick ass drum fill. Rock needs more drum fills like this, it just hypes up the song even better. The formula is as follows: heavy riff + drum fill + 2 seconds of silence + back to main heavy riff = profit. You can't argue with math. "If Only," is a little slower and somewhat less heavy (for Queens anyway). Instead of using the ride cymbal or hi-hat as is standard, the song uses a tambourine to keep its time. It definitely adds to the laid back flavor of the song. I can almost picture this song being played by musicians just kind of sitting around on bar stools or on some worn out studio couch. The chorus gets a nice start/stop drum sound which eventually leads to the guitar solo. The solo uses rapid fire notes followed by a nice long sustaining note...fading into oblivion. The last of the four opening tracks is "Walkin on the Sidewalks." This song uses a somewhat non-standard beat, at least as non-standard as 4/4 time can be. While other tracks use constant steady pounding on the drums to drive the message home, this song uses fewer but heavier sledge hammer shots on the drums. I'd say the best way to describe the song would be heavy chaos. The chaos finally comes together on the chorus which locks every instrument into sync. After a brief breakdown the chaos returns, but this time with some soloing! After riding this train for quite a while, with a few changes here and there, it finally and suddenly concludes. Hop up, flip it over and move on to the next side.
You Would Know kicks off side two and gives us an interesting start/stop riff with drums to match. The vocal delivery is very drone like, almost like the singer is hypnotized. The guitars in this track are numerous and all offer something different. The grounding overall riff, little lead fills, and extra little tweaks thrown in here and there. The chorus gets a couple bars of solid groove before returning right back to start/stop. The final chorus stays around a little longer and starts to step up the volume and intensity until, it releases into a full blown bridge with ride cymbal crashin' away before it all halts for one final riff. "The Bronze" starts off innocent enough, a little light riff in standard Queens guitar tone. Suddenly the main riff breaks in very fast and intense. The chords actually are played somewhat slower but the drums are what creates the frantic and urgent sound. The solo is played with what sounds like a wah pedal generally sitting still at about halfway. Hendrix used this often on his solos to add a little extra bite, and the Queens use it well here. The chorus kicks in very heavy and this time the wah pedal goes all over the place with some slashing riffs. The song concludes with some fuzzed out bass and a few blasting hits on the drums. "How To Handle A Rope (A Lesson in the Lariat)" is a song with an interesting name, but well...nothing that new and exciting. Its still a great tune, it has a solid riff beaten into your head, some lead guitar fills, a great solo and booming drums. I swear, I'm not saying its bad...this is what Queens of the Stone Age does.
Side three begins with "Mexicola," which immediately starts with a heavy bass riff played on a nicely overdriven instrument that sounds very Lemmy. That bass drives right into an equally heavy and very awesome guitar. This track has a groove that somehow just outdoes some of the others on the album, it definitely goes the extra mile. This time the vocals stand out a little more, reaching almost a scream instead of the casual delivery heard on side one/two. The song alternates between two distinct heavy riffs, the intro/bridge and verse/chorus. The first is slow and grinding, the second is fast and furious. "Hispanic Impressions" starts out very different with alternating hits of snare and crash on the drums and a guitar riff that isn't that heavy, but becomes so because of the drums. After using many very interesting and seemingly dissonant tones, the song comes to a halt...but its not over yet. Back to the dissonant tone riffing but this time we'll add some guitar solos. As mysteriously as this song began, less than three minutes later, its over. "You Can't Quite Me Baby" picks up with an equally as mysterious sound, but this time a little slower and lighter. Led Zeppelin once sang that "I Can't Quit You," but Josh Homme being more awesome than the world decided that YOU can't quit him. I'm not gonna argue with that claim. The song uses some very echoy and slidy guitar for a spacy feel right before going into the solo. The solo itself uses that same formula, not quite as spacy, but still, I'm freakin' out...man. The song remains with these general elements throughout its entirety, until the end when we crank up the speed and everything just comes to a final failing chaotic stop. The next song is a title that every nerd in the world will love, including my own inner-nerd. "These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For" has an unusual beginning of completely random instrumentation but much like Stella, finally gets its groove back and starts to rock pretty hard. The guitar playing is very stressed but sounds amazing. It sounds like someone is just strumming really hard, adding to the overall push of the sound through the pickups. In the end, the rhythm falls apart, we're back to chaos, and it seems we still haven't found those droids we were after.
Side four gives us three final songs, and I assure you, it might not be worth the wait. They're still good, they're up to par with the rest of the album, but they're either too up to par, or just wierd. "Give the Mule What He Wants," continues the string of entertaining song titles and also continues the overall tone of the album. RIFFS, DRUMS, POWER. If it ain't broke, make lemonaide. No, wait, its gotta be your bull. Aside from the expected Homme formula, this track offers...umm...well, it offers nothing different. Moving on, "Spiders and Vinegaroons" is another spacey track that starts out with a strange guitar riff and some hand-clapping for percussion. Its the kind of song you'd expect to hear at a campfire being put on by some strange cult right before they sacrifice a virgin. So...if you're into that kinda thing, enjoy. It eventually becomes very heavy with booming drums and some strange sounding synthesizer noise, but its still feeling like a soundtrack to something terrible about to happen. For the rest of us, there's the final song on the album, "I Was A Teenage Hand Model." Aside from having the greatest song title, maybe, ever, this track starts with a little...piano? And running water...and sound effects. Wait...is this the same album? Oh, there it is...Josh finally starts singing and that familiar Queens vocal comes back to us. The song continues with some strange instrumentation and sound effects before the final decent into what sounds like a video game on a Commodore 64 and a phone message mixed together. That was....odd.
Through 14 tracks this album presents mostly two styles: Riff oriented heavy rock, and lighter spacey rock. There's really no need for anything else (side four, I'm looking at you) because Homme does these two thing so well. I guess I'm OK with some experimentation, the last side of the album isn't bad, its just...odd.
Strongest Song: Avon or Mexicola
Weakest Song: Side Four
Song You Know: Regular John or Avon, if any.
Why You Might Hate It: you hate riffs
Buy It? I like my vinyl copy, but a CD or MP3s is probably sufficient here.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Please Put Your Seat Backs and Tray Tables in their Full Upright and Locked Position
#14 Parliament: Mothership Connection
It seem the heat may finally be breaking. After 3 or 4 days of near 100 degree weather here in our Nations Capital, it might finally be time to cool down. So how does one cool down in D.C.? Well with Funk music of course! Now I must admit, I don't have much funk in my collection. As you can see from my previous posts and frequently used labels, I tend to lean toward the rock side of things. But good tunes is good tunes. I wasn't that aware of George Clinton or Parliament until the movie PCU came onto my radar about 1997. I know, that's pretty sad that my gateway to funk was a movie about a bunch of preppy college kids, but whatever. As Beanie from Old School says "Columbus wasn't looking for America, my man, but that turned out to be pretty okay for everyone." On to the music!
This album is a journey though interplanetary funk, and since you will be punching many frequent flyer miles, it starts just the way it should, with a nice introduction and a few instructions on what you should be doing to fully enjoy the album. Its basically the funk equivalent of the instructions a flight attendant gives at the start of a trip on good ole Southwest Airlines. The lyrics for this song go on and on and on. The music is pretty tight though. Utilizing the full compliment of instruments we hear drums, horns, guitars, keyboards, synth and Bootsy Collins slappin' an envelope filter bass. Next up is "Star Child" which introduces George Clinton's alter ego for the album, Star Child. Honestly, story-wise, I have no clue what the hell is going on, but who cares...funk doesn't have to make sense. It kinda sounds like just a room full of people partying into the early hours of the morning and apparently they've invited you, for some reason. The rhythm remains very steady and just allows the vocals and horns to explore the intergalactic journey. If you so desire, you can get down to the real theme of the album, George Clinton has described it as placing African American's in places that seemed far out in the 1970's, including outer-space, he was after all, a self described Star Trek fan. The third track "Unfunky UFO" kicks in with strong vocals and another solid groove. The lyrics (from what I can tell) seem to imply that funk, can save the world, without, the world will die. I don't know about you, but I fear this lack of funk more than global warming. Mainly this is because George Clinton makes a stronger case than Al Gore ever did. I mean come on, he's got Bootsy Collins backin' him up...case closed! Anyway...where was I?
Oh yeah, track four..."Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication," and yes, I did copy that title from Wikipedia. I'm not typing that on my own or having some horrible attempt at auto correct ruin it. The second side begins with synthesizers flying in all directions and some interesting bass vocals. Under all this is a group of backing vocalists putting out the general rhythm of the song. The root of the song actually stems from a simple three note pattern of keyboard notes playing over and over, but you'd never know it casually listening. That's what makes Parliament so interesting, you hear something different every time you listen to this album. The chorus of the song takes a strong walking bass line and rides it all the way to the bank. What's that mean? IT MEANS IT GETS RESULTS! Track five has the simplest title on the album; "Handcuffs." This tracks struts down the street in a confident manner, possibly with a cane, just for effect. While the Rolling Stones 'swayed' down the street in a drunken stupor, "Handcuffs" makes it a much more impressive strut that commands a little more respect of our traveler. Next we roll into a song that brings back the complex titles: "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)." The bassline of this song is pretty awesome, so please, pay close attention, there will be a test later. In a few parts of the song, the bass and the drums are all that holds it together. But wow, you've never heard two instruments do so much. The album closes with "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" another bass heavy song that seems to turn up Bootsy just a little bit more. Well it seems we've reached the end, I hope you enjoyed flying on WEFUNK airlines, and we hope you'll choose WEFUNK for your next intergalactic journey.
The interesting thing about this album is the seemingly repetitive nature...repetitive to the passive listener, but give this album its due, something is always changing. While the basic rhythm does repeat and I'm sure the drummer at times is suffering from repetitive stress disorder, the rest of the band is always adding new elements and their own little pieces of flair. However you listen to this album it can deliver what you need...as a soundtrack to an evening of dancin' around the house, it offers solid grooves, rhythm and a non-stop party. As an interesting musical odyssey, it gives you complex instrumentation that changes after almost every line. If you made a list of every little nuance and small detail of the music you'd require about 500 plays and around 100 volumes of notepads. Any music that keeps you on your toes that much is surely worth listening to.
Strongest Song: Handcuffs
Weakest Song: FALSE
Song You Know: Give Up the Funk
Why You Might Hate It: you hate paying attention and dancing.
Buy It? A great vinyl purchase, any album with this much bass deserves analog listening.
It seem the heat may finally be breaking. After 3 or 4 days of near 100 degree weather here in our Nations Capital, it might finally be time to cool down. So how does one cool down in D.C.? Well with Funk music of course! Now I must admit, I don't have much funk in my collection. As you can see from my previous posts and frequently used labels, I tend to lean toward the rock side of things. But good tunes is good tunes. I wasn't that aware of George Clinton or Parliament until the movie PCU came onto my radar about 1997. I know, that's pretty sad that my gateway to funk was a movie about a bunch of preppy college kids, but whatever. As Beanie from Old School says "Columbus wasn't looking for America, my man, but that turned out to be pretty okay for everyone." On to the music!
This album is a journey though interplanetary funk, and since you will be punching many frequent flyer miles, it starts just the way it should, with a nice introduction and a few instructions on what you should be doing to fully enjoy the album. Its basically the funk equivalent of the instructions a flight attendant gives at the start of a trip on good ole Southwest Airlines. The lyrics for this song go on and on and on. The music is pretty tight though. Utilizing the full compliment of instruments we hear drums, horns, guitars, keyboards, synth and Bootsy Collins slappin' an envelope filter bass. Next up is "Star Child" which introduces George Clinton's alter ego for the album, Star Child. Honestly, story-wise, I have no clue what the hell is going on, but who cares...funk doesn't have to make sense. It kinda sounds like just a room full of people partying into the early hours of the morning and apparently they've invited you, for some reason. The rhythm remains very steady and just allows the vocals and horns to explore the intergalactic journey. If you so desire, you can get down to the real theme of the album, George Clinton has described it as placing African American's in places that seemed far out in the 1970's, including outer-space, he was after all, a self described Star Trek fan. The third track "Unfunky UFO" kicks in with strong vocals and another solid groove. The lyrics (from what I can tell) seem to imply that funk, can save the world, without, the world will die. I don't know about you, but I fear this lack of funk more than global warming. Mainly this is because George Clinton makes a stronger case than Al Gore ever did. I mean come on, he's got Bootsy Collins backin' him up...case closed! Anyway...where was I?
Oh yeah, track four..."Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication," and yes, I did copy that title from Wikipedia. I'm not typing that on my own or having some horrible attempt at auto correct ruin it. The second side begins with synthesizers flying in all directions and some interesting bass vocals. Under all this is a group of backing vocalists putting out the general rhythm of the song. The root of the song actually stems from a simple three note pattern of keyboard notes playing over and over, but you'd never know it casually listening. That's what makes Parliament so interesting, you hear something different every time you listen to this album. The chorus of the song takes a strong walking bass line and rides it all the way to the bank. What's that mean? IT MEANS IT GETS RESULTS! Track five has the simplest title on the album; "Handcuffs." This tracks struts down the street in a confident manner, possibly with a cane, just for effect. While the Rolling Stones 'swayed' down the street in a drunken stupor, "Handcuffs" makes it a much more impressive strut that commands a little more respect of our traveler. Next we roll into a song that brings back the complex titles: "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)." The bassline of this song is pretty awesome, so please, pay close attention, there will be a test later. In a few parts of the song, the bass and the drums are all that holds it together. But wow, you've never heard two instruments do so much. The album closes with "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" another bass heavy song that seems to turn up Bootsy just a little bit more. Well it seems we've reached the end, I hope you enjoyed flying on WEFUNK airlines, and we hope you'll choose WEFUNK for your next intergalactic journey.
The interesting thing about this album is the seemingly repetitive nature...repetitive to the passive listener, but give this album its due, something is always changing. While the basic rhythm does repeat and I'm sure the drummer at times is suffering from repetitive stress disorder, the rest of the band is always adding new elements and their own little pieces of flair. However you listen to this album it can deliver what you need...as a soundtrack to an evening of dancin' around the house, it offers solid grooves, rhythm and a non-stop party. As an interesting musical odyssey, it gives you complex instrumentation that changes after almost every line. If you made a list of every little nuance and small detail of the music you'd require about 500 plays and around 100 volumes of notepads. Any music that keeps you on your toes that much is surely worth listening to.
Strongest Song: Handcuffs
Weakest Song: FALSE
Song You Know: Give Up the Funk
Why You Might Hate It: you hate paying attention and dancing.
Buy It? A great vinyl purchase, any album with this much bass deserves analog listening.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Oklahoma City Thunder Need HELP!
#13 The Beatles: HELP!
I don't watch the NBA. I wouldn't say I hate it but I find it boring for many reasons. I don't care for the players, I don't care for the lack of effort, I don't care for...well you get the point. I don't care. Actually, I'll go ahead and say I hate it. However, tonight is the one night of the year I'm actually tuning in to the NBA. From what I can determine, based on my limited knowledge of NBA, Lebron and the Miami heat are villains. People don't want Lebron to get a championship, ever. Well the upside of the Heat winning is everyone can finally shut up about wanting Lebron to lose. If he never wins a championship all the world will get is years of anger aimed at someone who I really don't care about. So maybe, just maybe, the Heat winning would be good. But no, everyone wants them to lose. For this to happen, Oklahoma City better get it together pretty quick. Its just after halftime and it is currently 59-52. OKC needs some 3 pointers, some defense, but mainly what they need is....
HELP!
The Beatles know a thing or two about that, and they do it far more interestingly than any NBA team ever could. In 1965 The Beatles starred in their second movie, HELP! The movie is rather entertaining, and is a great way to listen some classic songs. But this isn't a movie blog, so lets talk about the soundtrack of the album, strangely called: HELP! The copy I have in my collection is the American release, the British release is actually a double album which contains 14 tracks. The American release features only twelve tracks, five of which are instrumentals. The cover features the Fab Four spelling out, in semaphore, NVUJ. Wait..shouldn't that be HELP? Nope, the semaphore for HELP just wasn't interesting enough, so instead The Beatles just put their arms up in a more visually pleasing way and just happened to spell NVUJ instead. Now that we have that explained, lets get to the music.
Side one starts off with a little brief intro of spy like music, it feels very James Bond. It then launches right into the title track, "HELP!" Immediately in the song you will notice the harmony vocals which compliment very well throughout. The dueling lead vocals are both John Lennon, using the magic of dubbing, then finish off with Paul and George doing backing vocals. You also hear a great descending electric guitar riff that apparently was pretty tricky to get right. If you listen carefully you'll hear John Lennon thumping a beat on his acoustic to help his fellow guitarist nail the timing. The chorus features Ringo laying into the ride cymbal with a good hard crashing sound, this gives a great wall of sound for the whole chorus...or is it prechorus? Whatever, either way its a great. Next up is "The Night Before," a song that uses the Call and Response vocals that we all learned about in the last entry on the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. The Stones used this technique in the blues, where it is expected. The Beatles decided early on to use it in a pop song, a very interesting choice. Like a lot of Beatles songs, this one uses some perfectly timed minor chords to change the overall sound of the song. The songwriters handbook has a lot about minor 4th chords, and point to Paul McCartney as one of its biggest fans. Its hard to listen to this song without bopping your head. The rhythm really drives forward and even throws in a little Latin sounding drumbeat during the bridge. The solo for the song features an interesting sounding guitar, harmonized? doubled? Whatever it is, it stands out...that's a good thing in this case. Since this is a soundtrack album, a few instrumentals can be found. The first uses some sitar and provides a great mystery/suspense sounding mood. Back to regular Beatles tunes we get "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," arguably the best song on the album. This also ranks up as one of my favorite Beatles tunes, top 10 I would say. The constantly changing, constantly charging ahead chord changes are thanks to a 3/4 shuffle time signature. The descending chords leading into the chorus play just perfect in the waltz time before they go back up for the first chorus line. The solo's in the song are played on a tenor flute, an instrument I have to admit, I've never heard of before. The song features a mistake in the lyrics by Lennon, singing "Two Foot Small" instead of "Two Foot Tall." He decided to leave it in the song because he was quite aware of the painstaking effort people were putting into analyzing everything in their lyrics (see I Am the Walrus). The George Harrison penned song, "I Need You" features some fairly simple, yet effective guitar technique; volume swells. Its pretty easy to accomplish, strum the chord, then turn up the volume. Harrison used a volume pedal to achieve this, while others will use the volume knob on the guitar. The song features an interesting sequencing of chords and gives a little preview of what was to come by George on Rubber Soul, in particular "If I Needed Someone." The side closes with another instrumental, this time using a very ceremonial/anthem like sound. It also features a break of very grand orchestral music that would feel right at home on the Fantasia soundtrack.
Side two begins with "Another Girl" primarily written by Paul and featuring a very strange slightly off tune, slightly bendy sounding guitar. The guitar work was done by Paul, when he had a clear idea of the guitar sound he wanted, he sometimes just did it himself. Next up is another instrumental, this time featuring "Hard Days Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" on the sitar and some other unidentifiable (at least to me) instrument. Something kinda flute like..er...recorder...whatever. The next song gets us back to 12 string heaven, "Ticket to Ride." The 12 string Rickenbacker guitar and fantastic minimalist drum beat open the song and carry the verses really well. The choruses step it up a notch and give a double time feel that gets your foot tapping along. Interestingly enough, this is the first Beatles single and only track on the album to go over three minutes. Another instrumental comes in next, this one featuring some suspense! It works in the movie, but on the album, its kinda boring. The last real song on the album is "You're Gonna Lose That Girl." This song has a doowop sound to it and once again uses Call and Response lyrics. The guitar solo, though brief and fairly simple is quite effective in the song. The album concludes with another instrumental, this one far more irritating than the others. It features the Eddie Van Halen of sitar solos and suffers from the unfortunate condition known as "too many notes."
While the album has its dead spots due to the soundtrack format, there are actually some fantastic songs on it. When its strictly the Beatles playing and not some orchestra, the results are quite satisfying.
As far as the Oklahoma City Thunder go, well, they didn't get the help they needed. With four minutes left things are looking pretty grim. That sounds to me like four minutes until I can go back to ignoring the NBA.
Strongest Song: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Weakest Song: the instrumentals.
Song You Know: HELP!, Ticket to Ride
Why You Might Hate It: well...it is a soundtrack album.
Buy It? Get the MP3s of the essential tracks, anything not labeled "instrumental"
I don't watch the NBA. I wouldn't say I hate it but I find it boring for many reasons. I don't care for the players, I don't care for the lack of effort, I don't care for...well you get the point. I don't care. Actually, I'll go ahead and say I hate it. However, tonight is the one night of the year I'm actually tuning in to the NBA. From what I can determine, based on my limited knowledge of NBA, Lebron and the Miami heat are villains. People don't want Lebron to get a championship, ever. Well the upside of the Heat winning is everyone can finally shut up about wanting Lebron to lose. If he never wins a championship all the world will get is years of anger aimed at someone who I really don't care about. So maybe, just maybe, the Heat winning would be good. But no, everyone wants them to lose. For this to happen, Oklahoma City better get it together pretty quick. Its just after halftime and it is currently 59-52. OKC needs some 3 pointers, some defense, but mainly what they need is....
HELP!
The Beatles know a thing or two about that, and they do it far more interestingly than any NBA team ever could. In 1965 The Beatles starred in their second movie, HELP! The movie is rather entertaining, and is a great way to listen some classic songs. But this isn't a movie blog, so lets talk about the soundtrack of the album, strangely called: HELP! The copy I have in my collection is the American release, the British release is actually a double album which contains 14 tracks. The American release features only twelve tracks, five of which are instrumentals. The cover features the Fab Four spelling out, in semaphore, NVUJ. Wait..shouldn't that be HELP? Nope, the semaphore for HELP just wasn't interesting enough, so instead The Beatles just put their arms up in a more visually pleasing way and just happened to spell NVUJ instead. Now that we have that explained, lets get to the music.
Side one starts off with a little brief intro of spy like music, it feels very James Bond. It then launches right into the title track, "HELP!" Immediately in the song you will notice the harmony vocals which compliment very well throughout. The dueling lead vocals are both John Lennon, using the magic of dubbing, then finish off with Paul and George doing backing vocals. You also hear a great descending electric guitar riff that apparently was pretty tricky to get right. If you listen carefully you'll hear John Lennon thumping a beat on his acoustic to help his fellow guitarist nail the timing. The chorus features Ringo laying into the ride cymbal with a good hard crashing sound, this gives a great wall of sound for the whole chorus...or is it prechorus? Whatever, either way its a great. Next up is "The Night Before," a song that uses the Call and Response vocals that we all learned about in the last entry on the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. The Stones used this technique in the blues, where it is expected. The Beatles decided early on to use it in a pop song, a very interesting choice. Like a lot of Beatles songs, this one uses some perfectly timed minor chords to change the overall sound of the song. The songwriters handbook has a lot about minor 4th chords, and point to Paul McCartney as one of its biggest fans. Its hard to listen to this song without bopping your head. The rhythm really drives forward and even throws in a little Latin sounding drumbeat during the bridge. The solo for the song features an interesting sounding guitar, harmonized? doubled? Whatever it is, it stands out...that's a good thing in this case. Since this is a soundtrack album, a few instrumentals can be found. The first uses some sitar and provides a great mystery/suspense sounding mood. Back to regular Beatles tunes we get "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," arguably the best song on the album. This also ranks up as one of my favorite Beatles tunes, top 10 I would say. The constantly changing, constantly charging ahead chord changes are thanks to a 3/4 shuffle time signature. The descending chords leading into the chorus play just perfect in the waltz time before they go back up for the first chorus line. The solo's in the song are played on a tenor flute, an instrument I have to admit, I've never heard of before. The song features a mistake in the lyrics by Lennon, singing "Two Foot Small" instead of "Two Foot Tall." He decided to leave it in the song because he was quite aware of the painstaking effort people were putting into analyzing everything in their lyrics (see I Am the Walrus). The George Harrison penned song, "I Need You" features some fairly simple, yet effective guitar technique; volume swells. Its pretty easy to accomplish, strum the chord, then turn up the volume. Harrison used a volume pedal to achieve this, while others will use the volume knob on the guitar. The song features an interesting sequencing of chords and gives a little preview of what was to come by George on Rubber Soul, in particular "If I Needed Someone." The side closes with another instrumental, this time using a very ceremonial/anthem like sound. It also features a break of very grand orchestral music that would feel right at home on the Fantasia soundtrack.
Side two begins with "Another Girl" primarily written by Paul and featuring a very strange slightly off tune, slightly bendy sounding guitar. The guitar work was done by Paul, when he had a clear idea of the guitar sound he wanted, he sometimes just did it himself. Next up is another instrumental, this time featuring "Hard Days Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" on the sitar and some other unidentifiable (at least to me) instrument. Something kinda flute like..er...recorder...whatever. The next song gets us back to 12 string heaven, "Ticket to Ride." The 12 string Rickenbacker guitar and fantastic minimalist drum beat open the song and carry the verses really well. The choruses step it up a notch and give a double time feel that gets your foot tapping along. Interestingly enough, this is the first Beatles single and only track on the album to go over three minutes. Another instrumental comes in next, this one featuring some suspense! It works in the movie, but on the album, its kinda boring. The last real song on the album is "You're Gonna Lose That Girl." This song has a doowop sound to it and once again uses Call and Response lyrics. The guitar solo, though brief and fairly simple is quite effective in the song. The album concludes with another instrumental, this one far more irritating than the others. It features the Eddie Van Halen of sitar solos and suffers from the unfortunate condition known as "too many notes."
While the album has its dead spots due to the soundtrack format, there are actually some fantastic songs on it. When its strictly the Beatles playing and not some orchestra, the results are quite satisfying.
As far as the Oklahoma City Thunder go, well, they didn't get the help they needed. With four minutes left things are looking pretty grim. That sounds to me like four minutes until I can go back to ignoring the NBA.
Strongest Song: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Weakest Song: the instrumentals.
Song You Know: HELP!, Ticket to Ride
Why You Might Hate It: well...it is a soundtrack album.
Buy It? Get the MP3s of the essential tracks, anything not labeled "instrumental"
Friday, June 15, 2012
Just In Time for Father's Day...a Classic from My Dad's Catalog
#12 Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Last weekend was a great time in Baltimore. My brother and I went to see the Orioles beat the Phillies, then wandered the streets of Fells Point in search of more fun. It was a great time visiting a few bars and watching hockey, basketball and replays of the O's game, and of course, music was involved too. At several locations I noticed that we were getting repeat songs. Three times we heard "Wild Horses," twice by the Rolling Stones, and once by The Sundays . Checking Wikipedia, it seems everyone has covered this song, from Neil Young to Kelly Clarkson. That shouldn't come as a surprise, its a great tune. With all this Rolling Stones in my system after a great weekend I decided I needed an album's worth today. I have a few Stones albums, but being that its Father's Day weekend, why not break out one of his old records...
The Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" came out in 1971 and gave the rock world a new arsenal of popular hits. From ballads (Moonlight Mile, Wild Horses) to hard rockers (Bitch, Sway) to the blues (You Gotta Move, I Got The Blues), its all here, so lets get this show on the road...
Side One starts out with a big hit, "Brown Sugar" an ode to every random thing floating through Mick Jagger's head at the time. I guess if you had to sum it up, it'd be sex, drugs, and rock n roll...and a whole lot of other scandalous themes thrown in for good measure. If you're easily offended, don't look for the meaning of this song, just enjoy the overall sound. The song features a LOT of instrumentation, which isn't uncommon for the Stones. While most bands like a prominent guitar riff to dominate, Keith tends to lay back and focus on the song as a whole. "Brown Sugar" is no exception, his powerful riff is always there, but the horns, singing and rest of the band fill out the track very well. "Sway" is a tune that features some great fuzzed out guitar, piano, and a slower beat that seems to casually 'sway' down the street...its lame when you describe it, but its musical perfection when you hear it. The song includes a few hard breaks where the slow build releases before a final increase in overall rhythm fades the song out. Next is the track that got stuck in my head for the past week "Wild Horses," a perfect ballad after the opening barrage of rock. Featuring 12 string acoustic, and 6 string electric and acoustic, this song shows off some great interplay between Keith and Mick Taylor. The lyrics are very well written, even if they land it in the category of "prom song," as a personal love letter its pretty beautiful. All love songs have the potential to become lame when some guy uses one he didn't write to pick up chicks in his Camaro outside the local Dairy Queen, hopefully this has enough integrity to resist that. "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" brings us back to the fuzzed out guitar and what can only be described as a strung out and desperate rock and roll sound. This song always reminds me of the movie "Casino" and a little bit of "Goodfellas", even though it only appeared in the former. The song stays in the same format until about three minutes in when it reaches its extended coda. Trailing off into infinity is an interesting jungle rhythm and saxophone. Apparently the long end of the song wasn't planned, it just kinda happened in the studio cause the 'vibe' was working. Side One concludes with "You Gotta Move" a straight slide blues cover written by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Rev. Gary Davis (think old timey bluesmen). The song is very deep delta blues style and shows directly the influence artists like Robert Johnson and Son House had on the Stones.
Side Two starts off with the most straight ahead rocker on the album. "Bitch" uses a simple rock riff in the verse followed by hard chords in the chorus. On to the interlude and you get some more horns added that remain throughout the song. The song even includes a reference to Pavlov's dog...that may have helped me in Psychology 101 at Frostburg. Next up is "I Got the Blues," a slower and very clean guitar-centric song. The style of play is very laid back using delicate arpeggios, and in the case of my copy of the vinyl, a crap load of static. Hey its 41 years old, cut it some slack! Next up is "Sister Morphine" a song written and originally released by Marianne Faithful, with some help from Keith and Mick. The song builds slow then turns to a good rock track which features a very interesting sounding slide guitar from Keith, I may have to try and figure out his tone setting on this one and steal...er...borrow them. "Dead Flowers" is a Lebowski approved tune, or should I say "Dude" approved. I sometimes forget this track is on the album. It almost gets lost in the power of the others. Don't let this one pass you by without taking notice of a great Stone song. The album concludes with one final gem, "Moonlight Mile," a song that I used to hear plenty growing up. Anytime this song comes on my Dad describes a scene on an airplane flying back from Europe, at least I think it was Europe. He said this song came on while flying over a layer of clouds with moonlight brightly shining over cloud tops. On one of my trips to San Diego in recent years I decided to load up Moonlight Mile on my iPod and find the right moment. Though I didn't get the clouds the same way, after taking off on a late night flight, there was the moon, beaming down on the landscape as we moved east back to Baltimore. I can see why that memory was so firmly burned in my Dad's mind, it was absolutely breathtaking, a perfect soundtrack. Its hard to say much more about this song to describe it, you just have to hear it.
I doubt that when my Dad bought this album 40 years ago he thought his son would be enjoying it just as much as he did, but isn't that interesting how things work out. Scratched, dusty and sounding a little rough, the songs still come through the static and I would imagine are just as powerful now as they were then.
Strongest Song: Tracks 3, 10, 1, 4, 3, 2, 8, 9, 3, 10, 5, 7, 6, 10, 3
Weakest Song: not one.
Song You Know: Brown Sugar, Bitch, Wild Horses
Why You Might Hate It: Don't try me.
Buy It? Required for any Vinyl collection...original copy, reissue, whatever you can find.
Last weekend was a great time in Baltimore. My brother and I went to see the Orioles beat the Phillies, then wandered the streets of Fells Point in search of more fun. It was a great time visiting a few bars and watching hockey, basketball and replays of the O's game, and of course, music was involved too. At several locations I noticed that we were getting repeat songs. Three times we heard "Wild Horses," twice by the Rolling Stones, and once by The Sundays . Checking Wikipedia, it seems everyone has covered this song, from Neil Young to Kelly Clarkson. That shouldn't come as a surprise, its a great tune. With all this Rolling Stones in my system after a great weekend I decided I needed an album's worth today. I have a few Stones albums, but being that its Father's Day weekend, why not break out one of his old records...
The Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" came out in 1971 and gave the rock world a new arsenal of popular hits. From ballads (Moonlight Mile, Wild Horses) to hard rockers (Bitch, Sway) to the blues (You Gotta Move, I Got The Blues), its all here, so lets get this show on the road...
Side One starts out with a big hit, "Brown Sugar" an ode to every random thing floating through Mick Jagger's head at the time. I guess if you had to sum it up, it'd be sex, drugs, and rock n roll...and a whole lot of other scandalous themes thrown in for good measure. If you're easily offended, don't look for the meaning of this song, just enjoy the overall sound. The song features a LOT of instrumentation, which isn't uncommon for the Stones. While most bands like a prominent guitar riff to dominate, Keith tends to lay back and focus on the song as a whole. "Brown Sugar" is no exception, his powerful riff is always there, but the horns, singing and rest of the band fill out the track very well. "Sway" is a tune that features some great fuzzed out guitar, piano, and a slower beat that seems to casually 'sway' down the street...its lame when you describe it, but its musical perfection when you hear it. The song includes a few hard breaks where the slow build releases before a final increase in overall rhythm fades the song out. Next is the track that got stuck in my head for the past week "Wild Horses," a perfect ballad after the opening barrage of rock. Featuring 12 string acoustic, and 6 string electric and acoustic, this song shows off some great interplay between Keith and Mick Taylor. The lyrics are very well written, even if they land it in the category of "prom song," as a personal love letter its pretty beautiful. All love songs have the potential to become lame when some guy uses one he didn't write to pick up chicks in his Camaro outside the local Dairy Queen, hopefully this has enough integrity to resist that. "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" brings us back to the fuzzed out guitar and what can only be described as a strung out and desperate rock and roll sound. This song always reminds me of the movie "Casino" and a little bit of "Goodfellas", even though it only appeared in the former. The song stays in the same format until about three minutes in when it reaches its extended coda. Trailing off into infinity is an interesting jungle rhythm and saxophone. Apparently the long end of the song wasn't planned, it just kinda happened in the studio cause the 'vibe' was working. Side One concludes with "You Gotta Move" a straight slide blues cover written by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Rev. Gary Davis (think old timey bluesmen). The song is very deep delta blues style and shows directly the influence artists like Robert Johnson and Son House had on the Stones.
Side Two starts off with the most straight ahead rocker on the album. "Bitch" uses a simple rock riff in the verse followed by hard chords in the chorus. On to the interlude and you get some more horns added that remain throughout the song. The song even includes a reference to Pavlov's dog...that may have helped me in Psychology 101 at Frostburg. Next up is "I Got the Blues," a slower and very clean guitar-centric song. The style of play is very laid back using delicate arpeggios, and in the case of my copy of the vinyl, a crap load of static. Hey its 41 years old, cut it some slack! Next up is "Sister Morphine" a song written and originally released by Marianne Faithful, with some help from Keith and Mick. The song builds slow then turns to a good rock track which features a very interesting sounding slide guitar from Keith, I may have to try and figure out his tone setting on this one and steal...er...borrow them. "Dead Flowers" is a Lebowski approved tune, or should I say "Dude" approved. I sometimes forget this track is on the album. It almost gets lost in the power of the others. Don't let this one pass you by without taking notice of a great Stone song. The album concludes with one final gem, "Moonlight Mile," a song that I used to hear plenty growing up. Anytime this song comes on my Dad describes a scene on an airplane flying back from Europe, at least I think it was Europe. He said this song came on while flying over a layer of clouds with moonlight brightly shining over cloud tops. On one of my trips to San Diego in recent years I decided to load up Moonlight Mile on my iPod and find the right moment. Though I didn't get the clouds the same way, after taking off on a late night flight, there was the moon, beaming down on the landscape as we moved east back to Baltimore. I can see why that memory was so firmly burned in my Dad's mind, it was absolutely breathtaking, a perfect soundtrack. Its hard to say much more about this song to describe it, you just have to hear it.
I doubt that when my Dad bought this album 40 years ago he thought his son would be enjoying it just as much as he did, but isn't that interesting how things work out. Scratched, dusty and sounding a little rough, the songs still come through the static and I would imagine are just as powerful now as they were then.
Strongest Song: Tracks 3, 10, 1, 4, 3, 2, 8, 9, 3, 10, 5, 7, 6, 10, 3
Weakest Song: not one.
Song You Know: Brown Sugar, Bitch, Wild Horses
Why You Might Hate It: Don't try me.
Buy It? Required for any Vinyl collection...original copy, reissue, whatever you can find.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Fear These Women...The Forever Reigning Queens of Grunge
#11 L7: Smell the Magic
I never attended Lilith Fair. Perhaps it has to do with me being male, or perhaps its because they just didn't have the kinda music I wanted. Oh sure, they had some OK acts performing there. Sarah McLachlan is pretty good, so is Fiona Apple, I even like some Tracy Chapman now and then. But the one style they failed to display could easily been added with any number of all female hard rock/grunge or even metal bands. Why are these bands so frequently forgotten? Babes in Toyland would've been great, Kitty would scare the hell out of the average Lilith Fair attendee, but would've brought in quite a crowd. Or they could've gone for something that mixed Grunge and Punk in a fantastic heavy crunch. I'm talking about L7. I was fortunate enough to see L7 in 2000 before they broke up for good. At tiny little Fletcher's in Fells Point (Baltimore) L7 tore through about 12 songs in 40 minutes that left the crowd exhausted and completely deaf. I haven't seen a band, before or since that was as heavy live. Today's album "Smell the Magic" shows the raw power and aggression that Lilith Fair was very much lacking. Peace, Love, Metal!
The Vinyl version of this album is an EP, the CD version gets you a few extra songs that I can't really speak to. Side one starts with a distorted bass riff that could wake the dead. When the rest of the band kicks in on "Shove" you can't help but bob your head and maybe start smashing into the walls in your house. Seriously, listen at your own risk, I almost ran into our fish tank and scared the hell out of the dog. From there the beat stays lively and tears right into "Fast and Frightening," which could serve as an overall title for the album. Also, listen to the lyrics, you will hear some pretty hilarious stuff that based on the reputation of the band, is probably autobiographical. "(Right On) Thru", sung by Jennifer Finch is also anchored by her bass line that is rather simple, but very effective in holding together the chaos. Ok, now take a break, stop your nosebleed and flip the record for side two.
Side two doesn't let up on the intensity and starts with the droning Deathwish. This song is very Queens of the Stone Age, as Josh Homme says, a solid riff pounded into your head over and over. The song also features some great harmony during the chorus and some of the better singing as far as L7 goes. "Til the Wheels Fall Off" starts with guitars and stick with 'em. This song uses a little more riffing than most L7 songs, but also features the standard punishing power chords. The lyrics, well...whatever, that's not the point on this song so just keep jumping around and stop paying attention too much. The EP concludes with "Broomstick" which starts very hauntingly with bass and feedback before getting back into the guitars drop D tuned crunch you've gotten used to on the rest of the album. Some great dueling guitars push this song a little higher than the others as far as musicianship and really utilize the good old grunge formula of feedback as part of the song. A little bit slower than the other tracks its serves as a good conclusion to a great and HEAVY album.
Strongest Song: Shove
Weakest Song: maybe Deathwish, but not really.
Song You Know: most likely none of them...maybe "Shove"
Why You Might Hate It: Too much noise and screaming
Buy It? I'd say the CD might be worth it..the vinyl is scarce, not really expensive, but scarce, and the CD gets you three more songs.
I never attended Lilith Fair. Perhaps it has to do with me being male, or perhaps its because they just didn't have the kinda music I wanted. Oh sure, they had some OK acts performing there. Sarah McLachlan is pretty good, so is Fiona Apple, I even like some Tracy Chapman now and then. But the one style they failed to display could easily been added with any number of all female hard rock/grunge or even metal bands. Why are these bands so frequently forgotten? Babes in Toyland would've been great, Kitty would scare the hell out of the average Lilith Fair attendee, but would've brought in quite a crowd. Or they could've gone for something that mixed Grunge and Punk in a fantastic heavy crunch. I'm talking about L7. I was fortunate enough to see L7 in 2000 before they broke up for good. At tiny little Fletcher's in Fells Point (Baltimore) L7 tore through about 12 songs in 40 minutes that left the crowd exhausted and completely deaf. I haven't seen a band, before or since that was as heavy live. Today's album "Smell the Magic" shows the raw power and aggression that Lilith Fair was very much lacking. Peace, Love, Metal!
The Vinyl version of this album is an EP, the CD version gets you a few extra songs that I can't really speak to. Side one starts with a distorted bass riff that could wake the dead. When the rest of the band kicks in on "Shove" you can't help but bob your head and maybe start smashing into the walls in your house. Seriously, listen at your own risk, I almost ran into our fish tank and scared the hell out of the dog. From there the beat stays lively and tears right into "Fast and Frightening," which could serve as an overall title for the album. Also, listen to the lyrics, you will hear some pretty hilarious stuff that based on the reputation of the band, is probably autobiographical. "(Right On) Thru", sung by Jennifer Finch is also anchored by her bass line that is rather simple, but very effective in holding together the chaos. Ok, now take a break, stop your nosebleed and flip the record for side two.
Side two doesn't let up on the intensity and starts with the droning Deathwish. This song is very Queens of the Stone Age, as Josh Homme says, a solid riff pounded into your head over and over. The song also features some great harmony during the chorus and some of the better singing as far as L7 goes. "Til the Wheels Fall Off" starts with guitars and stick with 'em. This song uses a little more riffing than most L7 songs, but also features the standard punishing power chords. The lyrics, well...whatever, that's not the point on this song so just keep jumping around and stop paying attention too much. The EP concludes with "Broomstick" which starts very hauntingly with bass and feedback before getting back into the guitars drop D tuned crunch you've gotten used to on the rest of the album. Some great dueling guitars push this song a little higher than the others as far as musicianship and really utilize the good old grunge formula of feedback as part of the song. A little bit slower than the other tracks its serves as a good conclusion to a great and HEAVY album.
Strongest Song: Shove
Weakest Song: maybe Deathwish, but not really.
Song You Know: most likely none of them...maybe "Shove"
Why You Might Hate It: Too much noise and screaming
Buy It? I'd say the CD might be worth it..the vinyl is scarce, not really expensive, but scarce, and the CD gets you three more songs.
Friday, June 8, 2012
The Rush Ratio
#10 Rush: Moving Pictures
The link between music and math is pretty well known. Its all about counting, patterns, and sequencing. Its been widely proven that an education that includes music will help boost grades in math. One of the lesser known theories of music is one known as "The Rush Ratio." The Rush Ratio clearly states that for every 100 songs you release, 7 will be good. Steady and strong, Rush has made 20 albums and well, if you really wanted to, you could boil their career down to about 20 good songs. I know, its harsh, but its true. Endless lines of D&D fans and Canadians will argue they are the greatest musical force ever unleashed on North America, but lets face it, deep cuts are just unnecessary for a Rush album. Rush proves many things about music...double neck basses and 40 piece drumsets are good for no one, ability doesn't always equal talent, and if you write enough songs, you're bound to hit a gem every so often. Hell, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. All this adds up to one interest listening today, Rush's 1981 album "Moving Pictures" which shatters the Rush ratio by giving us a full side of good songs.
The album is front loaded big time, Side One starts with "Tom Sawyer." This track gives you a great Les Paul/Marshall riff, some synthesizers and of course Geddy hitting notes that you weren't sure were possible by a male voice. This song is always fun to play on guitar, even if I lose interest halfway into playing it. Next up is "Red Barchetta," a great song about...umm...well I have no clue what the song is about and don't care to find out. Neil Peart is the driving force behind lyrics for Rush and without a very specific knowledge of the classics and science fiction, you're not going to understand what the hell he's talking about. Instead of confusing yourself with lyrics, just enjoy the harmonics that Alex Lifeson fires out on the guitar. Next up is "YYZ" a delightful instrumental about...an airport? Yes its true...YYZ is the international airport code for Toronto Pearson Airport, the home terminal of the band. They always know a tour is ending when they see their baggage is marked YYZ, apparently no one tells them the actual schedule so they have to use this somewhat stupid method of predicting that the end is near. Since nothing can be easy with this band, they also have to throw in an interesting code at the beginning of the song. With 1/8th notes as dashes and 1/16th notes as dots, the opening phrase of the song (in 5/4 time) is morse code for YYZ. Oh Rush, you clever devil you. The song dives into solos and fills for all members of the band, allowing them to further show off what they can do. The guitar playing is fantastic and is one of the more interesting solos you'll hear out there. Geddy's bass is in perfect fat bottom form and Neil...well Neil is Neil. Side one concludes with "Limelight" another straight ahead rock song like "Tom Sawyer." The song is fairly simple for Rush as far as the music goes. The lyrics focus on the adjustment the band members (particularly Neil Peart) have made to being in, you guessed it, the limelight. The guitar solo for the song is an interesting one that finds Alex Lifeson actually slowing down. Usually he suffers from the unfortunate condition known as "too many notes," but he reigns it in this time and the results are pretty satisfying.
Here ends side one, and basically, here ends the album. There are three songs on the second side of this album. I rarely play them, but I went ahead and played the album in its entirety. The songs aren't awful, they're just boring. Do yourself and the rest of the world a favor, skip side two. But for the love of GOD, don't tell a true Rush fan I said so, they can get pretty defensive and violent.
Strongest Song: Tom Sawyer, YYZ
Weakest Song: Side 2
Song You Know: Limelight
Why You Might Hate It: You don't want to be mistaken for a Rush fan.
Buy It? Get side one on MP3s. Or don't.
The link between music and math is pretty well known. Its all about counting, patterns, and sequencing. Its been widely proven that an education that includes music will help boost grades in math. One of the lesser known theories of music is one known as "The Rush Ratio." The Rush Ratio clearly states that for every 100 songs you release, 7 will be good. Steady and strong, Rush has made 20 albums and well, if you really wanted to, you could boil their career down to about 20 good songs. I know, its harsh, but its true. Endless lines of D&D fans and Canadians will argue they are the greatest musical force ever unleashed on North America, but lets face it, deep cuts are just unnecessary for a Rush album. Rush proves many things about music...double neck basses and 40 piece drumsets are good for no one, ability doesn't always equal talent, and if you write enough songs, you're bound to hit a gem every so often. Hell, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. All this adds up to one interest listening today, Rush's 1981 album "Moving Pictures" which shatters the Rush ratio by giving us a full side of good songs.
The album is front loaded big time, Side One starts with "Tom Sawyer." This track gives you a great Les Paul/Marshall riff, some synthesizers and of course Geddy hitting notes that you weren't sure were possible by a male voice. This song is always fun to play on guitar, even if I lose interest halfway into playing it. Next up is "Red Barchetta," a great song about...umm...well I have no clue what the song is about and don't care to find out. Neil Peart is the driving force behind lyrics for Rush and without a very specific knowledge of the classics and science fiction, you're not going to understand what the hell he's talking about. Instead of confusing yourself with lyrics, just enjoy the harmonics that Alex Lifeson fires out on the guitar. Next up is "YYZ" a delightful instrumental about...an airport? Yes its true...YYZ is the international airport code for Toronto Pearson Airport, the home terminal of the band. They always know a tour is ending when they see their baggage is marked YYZ, apparently no one tells them the actual schedule so they have to use this somewhat stupid method of predicting that the end is near. Since nothing can be easy with this band, they also have to throw in an interesting code at the beginning of the song. With 1/8th notes as dashes and 1/16th notes as dots, the opening phrase of the song (in 5/4 time) is morse code for YYZ. Oh Rush, you clever devil you. The song dives into solos and fills for all members of the band, allowing them to further show off what they can do. The guitar playing is fantastic and is one of the more interesting solos you'll hear out there. Geddy's bass is in perfect fat bottom form and Neil...well Neil is Neil. Side one concludes with "Limelight" another straight ahead rock song like "Tom Sawyer." The song is fairly simple for Rush as far as the music goes. The lyrics focus on the adjustment the band members (particularly Neil Peart) have made to being in, you guessed it, the limelight. The guitar solo for the song is an interesting one that finds Alex Lifeson actually slowing down. Usually he suffers from the unfortunate condition known as "too many notes," but he reigns it in this time and the results are pretty satisfying.
Here ends side one, and basically, here ends the album. There are three songs on the second side of this album. I rarely play them, but I went ahead and played the album in its entirety. The songs aren't awful, they're just boring. Do yourself and the rest of the world a favor, skip side two. But for the love of GOD, don't tell a true Rush fan I said so, they can get pretty defensive and violent.
Strongest Song: Tom Sawyer, YYZ
Weakest Song: Side 2
Song You Know: Limelight
Why You Might Hate It: You don't want to be mistaken for a Rush fan.
Buy It? Get side one on MP3s. Or don't.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Prophecy of Doom: The Double Album.
#9 Guns 'N' Roses: Use Your Illusion
The double album...the epic journey of musicianship that often presents the best and the worst of a band, spanned across multiple LP's. The double album is interestingly enough, a double edged sword. It may be praised forever, in time it may be refereed to as a band's magnum opus. Ultimately, what it really is the lighting of a fuse for well placed explosives that will destroy the band's creativity and longevity. Don't believe me? The Beatles release the "The Beatles", two years later, they're done. Well, they did release "Abbey Road" after the "White Album", but they also released "Let It Be," so that's a wash. How about Pink Floyd? "The Wall" is an amazing double album, but it proved to be the last well crafted creative gasp of the Floyd. Not enough evidence? I will raise the stakes...After "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" the Smashing Pumpkins released "Adore" and that "Machina" crap. Led Zeppelin created "Physical Graffiti," then wasted the next five years in a drug and alcohol induced stupor. Then of course, there is today's record.
Guns 'n Roses were a hard rock powerhouse when they released "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987. In order to beat that amazing debut, Axl and the boys (mainly Axl) decided to create an epic double album that would end up released as two individual albums on the same day, September 17, 1991. "Use Your Illusion I and II" show you everything about Guns 'n Roses, the good, the bad, and the bloated. Today's blog will focus on the first half of the double effort "Use Your Illusion I," which on vinyl is, by itself, a double album.
Side One begins in grand Guns fashion with a hard rocker, "Right Next Door to Hell." The frantic pace allows the listener to rekindle their love of the Appetite album, a distant four years in the past. Next up is "Dust N' Bones" another rocker that features Izzy Stradlin on lead vocals, a rare moment that shows Axl is willing to share, or so it seems. Next up, the band throws in a cover, "Live and Let Die" which takes the McCartney and Wings classic and really fires it up a few notches. Slash's guitar being used for the xylophone parts is just amazing. "Don't Cry" became a huge smash single from the album, thanks to its great guitar playing, low to high vocals and of course a great music video. This was the first Slash guitar solo I ever learned, and I often find myself unconsciously playing it. Listen for Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon on the backing vocals, he adds to the big sounding finish. "Perfect Crime" is a fast pace almost ridiculous song that well...probably makes up either the 'bad' or 'bloated' part of the album.
Side Two starts with "You Ain't the First," an acoustic number that reminds us of "Patience" and some of the tracks on the "Lies" EP. Axl, Izzy and Shannon Hoon take the lead vocals on the song which strangely is written in 3/4 time, so if you ever wanted to waltz to a G'N'R song, here's your chance. "Bad Obsession" kicks off with a little cowbell and introduces instruments one at a time; harmonica, Izzy's guitar then finally Slash's Les Paul/Marshall slide guitar growling into the song. Its a solid tune that is purely anchored by Slash's slide work and a very blues boogie piano. "Back Off Bitch" is Axl at his 'Axlest.' If that's not a word, I apologize, and it should be. If you can overlook Axl's bitching, Slash has some great guitar to offer in an otherwise forgettable song. Stradlin comes in at song #9 with "Double Talkin' Jive." Its exactly what you'd expect from Izzy, hard rocking, lots of guitars and at the end you feel just kind of "eh."
Side Three starts with the second longest song on the album at almost nine minutes, "November Rain." Its one of two songs on the album that gives song writing credit to just Axl. Including piano, strings, and an epic somewhat chorus-less song structure, this is definitely more of the bloat included on this album. But who cares, its still a great Guns song, and features one of the best Slash guitar solo's you'll hear this side of Appetite. Solo one is the standard Clapton "Woman Tone," no treble and a creamy smooth sound. The final two minutes of the song get back to the hard rockin' and are probably two of the most satisfying minutes of the album. Slash wails, Axl wails, and the crowd goes wild! The next two tracks find us apparently lost in some sort of green labyrinth. "The Garden" is an interesting track that really doesn't resemble anything else on the record. It features acoustic guitar, clean electric guitar, slide guitar, and fuzzed out electric guitar. I have no idea how many tracks it took to make this song, but I'm sure it was plenty. The song also has Alice Cooper doing vocals on the very heavy choruses. Our next stop is in "The Garden of Eden" another ridiculous song, similar in style to "Perfect Crime" but not quite as forgettable. If you've ever seen the music video for this thing, you see how the song totally fits. "Don't Damn Me" is a good rocking tune that has Axl spitting fire throughout. At times, the words per minute of the vocals are probably faster than most people type.
Side Four has finally arrived and there's only three tracks to go... first up on this side is "Bad Apples," a song that includes four members of the band in song writing credits. The song is pretty solid rock through the verses but really seals its solid status when you get to the chorus. The walking guitar and vocals really play well together to leave the listener quite satisfied. "Dead Horse" is another good song that kind of gets lost in the album at song 15. At this point you're just waiting for the end. Then, there is song number 16, "Coma," the final entry and in my opinion, the best thing that Guns 'N Roses ever did. Mighty words I know, but the song backs them up. The song starts with Duff and a heart beat and it builds with feedback and drums. When the main riff kicks in it feels like you're being slapped upside the head. The lyrics of the song are quite interesting. It can be viewed in many ways, but is most likely a song about isolation, something the band probably knew a lot about while making this collection of songs. With references to suicide, drug abuse, and overdose, it takes us to a pretty dark place in the bands history. Slash and Axl are the standouts on this ten minute track, with Axl going from shrieking highs to subtle lows on the vocals and Slash playing rapid fire solos and laid back dreamy sequences on the guitar. After a few shocks from the defibrillator, and a visit from some angry ex girlfriends the song reaches its final two minutes. Much like "November Rain" this part of the song is the pay off. If there was ever a perfect two minutes of music ever written this is pretty close to it. Axl breaks his own record for words per minute and flies through a rant that will leave you wondering what the license plate of that truck was that ran you over.
In the end, Use Your Illusion I and II probably could be shorter. Part I does include some great music, but its so scatter-shot its hard to call it any kind of concept album, instead its just a great collection of individual songs. There are many lists presented where people take the 30 songs on the Illusions and reduce them down to their favorite 12-14. I've tried to cut out songs and create my ultimate single Illusion album, but I always feel like I'm leaving something out, and that is truly the hallmark of a great album.
The lesson for today: if your bad is about to fall apart anyway, might as well make a double album and go out in huge overblown style.
Strongest Song: Coma
Weakest Song: Perfect Crime
Song You Know: Don't Cry, November Rain
Why You Might Hate It: You like your albums short, and to the point.
Buy It? If you listen to both Illusions I and II on vinyl, that's 8 sides. Get the CD or MP3s, its just easier.
The double album...the epic journey of musicianship that often presents the best and the worst of a band, spanned across multiple LP's. The double album is interestingly enough, a double edged sword. It may be praised forever, in time it may be refereed to as a band's magnum opus. Ultimately, what it really is the lighting of a fuse for well placed explosives that will destroy the band's creativity and longevity. Don't believe me? The Beatles release the "The Beatles", two years later, they're done. Well, they did release "Abbey Road" after the "White Album", but they also released "Let It Be," so that's a wash. How about Pink Floyd? "The Wall" is an amazing double album, but it proved to be the last well crafted creative gasp of the Floyd. Not enough evidence? I will raise the stakes...After "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" the Smashing Pumpkins released "Adore" and that "Machina" crap. Led Zeppelin created "Physical Graffiti," then wasted the next five years in a drug and alcohol induced stupor. Then of course, there is today's record.
Guns 'n Roses were a hard rock powerhouse when they released "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987. In order to beat that amazing debut, Axl and the boys (mainly Axl) decided to create an epic double album that would end up released as two individual albums on the same day, September 17, 1991. "Use Your Illusion I and II" show you everything about Guns 'n Roses, the good, the bad, and the bloated. Today's blog will focus on the first half of the double effort "Use Your Illusion I," which on vinyl is, by itself, a double album.
Side One begins in grand Guns fashion with a hard rocker, "Right Next Door to Hell." The frantic pace allows the listener to rekindle their love of the Appetite album, a distant four years in the past. Next up is "Dust N' Bones" another rocker that features Izzy Stradlin on lead vocals, a rare moment that shows Axl is willing to share, or so it seems. Next up, the band throws in a cover, "Live and Let Die" which takes the McCartney and Wings classic and really fires it up a few notches. Slash's guitar being used for the xylophone parts is just amazing. "Don't Cry" became a huge smash single from the album, thanks to its great guitar playing, low to high vocals and of course a great music video. This was the first Slash guitar solo I ever learned, and I often find myself unconsciously playing it. Listen for Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon on the backing vocals, he adds to the big sounding finish. "Perfect Crime" is a fast pace almost ridiculous song that well...probably makes up either the 'bad' or 'bloated' part of the album.
Side Two starts with "You Ain't the First," an acoustic number that reminds us of "Patience" and some of the tracks on the "Lies" EP. Axl, Izzy and Shannon Hoon take the lead vocals on the song which strangely is written in 3/4 time, so if you ever wanted to waltz to a G'N'R song, here's your chance. "Bad Obsession" kicks off with a little cowbell and introduces instruments one at a time; harmonica, Izzy's guitar then finally Slash's Les Paul/Marshall slide guitar growling into the song. Its a solid tune that is purely anchored by Slash's slide work and a very blues boogie piano. "Back Off Bitch" is Axl at his 'Axlest.' If that's not a word, I apologize, and it should be. If you can overlook Axl's bitching, Slash has some great guitar to offer in an otherwise forgettable song. Stradlin comes in at song #9 with "Double Talkin' Jive." Its exactly what you'd expect from Izzy, hard rocking, lots of guitars and at the end you feel just kind of "eh."
Side Three starts with the second longest song on the album at almost nine minutes, "November Rain." Its one of two songs on the album that gives song writing credit to just Axl. Including piano, strings, and an epic somewhat chorus-less song structure, this is definitely more of the bloat included on this album. But who cares, its still a great Guns song, and features one of the best Slash guitar solo's you'll hear this side of Appetite. Solo one is the standard Clapton "Woman Tone," no treble and a creamy smooth sound. The final two minutes of the song get back to the hard rockin' and are probably two of the most satisfying minutes of the album. Slash wails, Axl wails, and the crowd goes wild! The next two tracks find us apparently lost in some sort of green labyrinth. "The Garden" is an interesting track that really doesn't resemble anything else on the record. It features acoustic guitar, clean electric guitar, slide guitar, and fuzzed out electric guitar. I have no idea how many tracks it took to make this song, but I'm sure it was plenty. The song also has Alice Cooper doing vocals on the very heavy choruses. Our next stop is in "The Garden of Eden" another ridiculous song, similar in style to "Perfect Crime" but not quite as forgettable. If you've ever seen the music video for this thing, you see how the song totally fits. "Don't Damn Me" is a good rocking tune that has Axl spitting fire throughout. At times, the words per minute of the vocals are probably faster than most people type.
Side Four has finally arrived and there's only three tracks to go... first up on this side is "Bad Apples," a song that includes four members of the band in song writing credits. The song is pretty solid rock through the verses but really seals its solid status when you get to the chorus. The walking guitar and vocals really play well together to leave the listener quite satisfied. "Dead Horse" is another good song that kind of gets lost in the album at song 15. At this point you're just waiting for the end. Then, there is song number 16, "Coma," the final entry and in my opinion, the best thing that Guns 'N Roses ever did. Mighty words I know, but the song backs them up. The song starts with Duff and a heart beat and it builds with feedback and drums. When the main riff kicks in it feels like you're being slapped upside the head. The lyrics of the song are quite interesting. It can be viewed in many ways, but is most likely a song about isolation, something the band probably knew a lot about while making this collection of songs. With references to suicide, drug abuse, and overdose, it takes us to a pretty dark place in the bands history. Slash and Axl are the standouts on this ten minute track, with Axl going from shrieking highs to subtle lows on the vocals and Slash playing rapid fire solos and laid back dreamy sequences on the guitar. After a few shocks from the defibrillator, and a visit from some angry ex girlfriends the song reaches its final two minutes. Much like "November Rain" this part of the song is the pay off. If there was ever a perfect two minutes of music ever written this is pretty close to it. Axl breaks his own record for words per minute and flies through a rant that will leave you wondering what the license plate of that truck was that ran you over.
In the end, Use Your Illusion I and II probably could be shorter. Part I does include some great music, but its so scatter-shot its hard to call it any kind of concept album, instead its just a great collection of individual songs. There are many lists presented where people take the 30 songs on the Illusions and reduce them down to their favorite 12-14. I've tried to cut out songs and create my ultimate single Illusion album, but I always feel like I'm leaving something out, and that is truly the hallmark of a great album.
The lesson for today: if your bad is about to fall apart anyway, might as well make a double album and go out in huge overblown style.
Strongest Song: Coma
Weakest Song: Perfect Crime
Song You Know: Don't Cry, November Rain
Why You Might Hate It: You like your albums short, and to the point.
Buy It? If you listen to both Illusions I and II on vinyl, that's 8 sides. Get the CD or MP3s, its just easier.
Friday, June 1, 2012
New Records and Lyle's Large Band
#8 Lyle Lovett: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Today was my unofficial 'record store day' with my friend Adam. We set out this morning around 10:00 and first checked out Record and Tape Exchange in Fairfax. Nothing too exciting there today, the store usually is hit or miss. I came very close to buying a Huey Lewis record...on second thought, maybe I should go back for that one. The next store on the agenda was Blue Groove Soundz in Arlington. We had planned on hitting a few other stores, but after Blue Groove, there was no need. This store was amazing. Tons of records, an amazing selection, and some very rare finds. After passing on an overpriced copy of the Chili Peppers classic "Blood Sugar Sex Magic," I settled for two records that should help add some twang to my collection. First is an Ernest Tubb tribute style album, which features many artists (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson...) covering Ernest Tubb songs in their own style, often in duets with E.T. Hopefully that'll get a listen pretty soon, for now its just waiting in the queue. Which reminds me, "queue" is the only five letter word, that if you remove four of the letters, its still pronounced the same. Anyway...the second record purchased today is another from my musical past. Its an album that reminds me of evenings at home in Westminster, or happy hours down in Ocean City.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band was released in 1989 and features quite a range of music. From blues, to big band, to country, Lyle leaves no stone unturned as he showcases his musical roots in 41 enjoyable minutes.
Side One begins with a great introduction. "The Blues Walk" doesn't bring Lyle to the forefront of the album but instead focuses on "His Large Band," which uses just over two minutes to announce what they have come to offer, solid beats, big brass and a lively sound. From there, Lyle makes his presence known in the entertaining and very catchy "Here I Am." The song is a mix of funny dialogs between Lyle and the listener and big chorus's that make your toe tap no matter how hard you might fight it. The next track, "Cryin' Shame" is all about some solid guitar playing. The song is anchored by the blues that features some great clean electric guitar pickin'. "Good Intentions" brings back the entertaining lyrics from the second track and tells us about a woman who 'wasn't good, but had good intentions.' The song is very mellow, featuring brushed drums, piano, and a dueling solo between a jazzy electric and folky acoustic guitar. The interplay between the guitars is definitely the high point of the song. On "I Know You Know," a similar formula to the last track is used again. This time the guitar solos are substituted with a horn section that provides a very laid back atmosphere. This is cocktail music for sure. The first half concludes with "What Do You Do/The Glory of Love." The Large Band is again at its finest but this time, we get dueling lead vocals, Lyle and Francine Reed. The first side is dominated by big band swing, but don't get too used to it, things are about to change.
Side Two finds Lyle moving back to his country side. "I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You," features great steel guitar and a standard country beat. Even the theme of misguided love is found here in grand country fashion. Wait...didn't he marry Julia Roberts? Something tells me this song was not a premonition. Next, is a cover of a country classic, Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." Unfortunately for those of us who remember the movie "GoldenEye," we can't help but recall a crappy Russian accented karaoke version of this song. For those who don't have that stuck in their head's, this is a great cover and remains faithful to the original in every way, with the exception of the obvious lack of a female lead vocalist. "Which Way Does That Old Pony Run," stays country and once again gives us the standard country beat with steel guitar. The next song is a ballad which finds Lyle singing at his mellowest. With piano and acoustic guitar, the song is really a showcase for Lyle's sing/songwriter side, and it does a fantastic job of it. "If You Were to Wake Up" is a good song, but does feel as if its been done before on this album. But this time the formula includes fiddle! The album concludes with "Once is Enough" which ties together some musical themes from the whole album, a little country, swing, folk and even jazzy guitar are featured, a perfect capstone for the musical journey that is "Lyle Lovett and His Large Band."
Strongest Song: I Married Her Because She Looks Like You
Weakest Song: Nobody Knows Me (and it ain't that bad)
Song You Know: Here I Am (maybe)
Why You Might Hate It: You likes records that fit your neat little categories.
Buy It? I think its a vinyl must, but I would imagine a CD would suffice in most cases.
Today was my unofficial 'record store day' with my friend Adam. We set out this morning around 10:00 and first checked out Record and Tape Exchange in Fairfax. Nothing too exciting there today, the store usually is hit or miss. I came very close to buying a Huey Lewis record...on second thought, maybe I should go back for that one. The next store on the agenda was Blue Groove Soundz in Arlington. We had planned on hitting a few other stores, but after Blue Groove, there was no need. This store was amazing. Tons of records, an amazing selection, and some very rare finds. After passing on an overpriced copy of the Chili Peppers classic "Blood Sugar Sex Magic," I settled for two records that should help add some twang to my collection. First is an Ernest Tubb tribute style album, which features many artists (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson...) covering Ernest Tubb songs in their own style, often in duets with E.T. Hopefully that'll get a listen pretty soon, for now its just waiting in the queue. Which reminds me, "queue" is the only five letter word, that if you remove four of the letters, its still pronounced the same. Anyway...the second record purchased today is another from my musical past. Its an album that reminds me of evenings at home in Westminster, or happy hours down in Ocean City.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band was released in 1989 and features quite a range of music. From blues, to big band, to country, Lyle leaves no stone unturned as he showcases his musical roots in 41 enjoyable minutes.
Side One begins with a great introduction. "The Blues Walk" doesn't bring Lyle to the forefront of the album but instead focuses on "His Large Band," which uses just over two minutes to announce what they have come to offer, solid beats, big brass and a lively sound. From there, Lyle makes his presence known in the entertaining and very catchy "Here I Am." The song is a mix of funny dialogs between Lyle and the listener and big chorus's that make your toe tap no matter how hard you might fight it. The next track, "Cryin' Shame" is all about some solid guitar playing. The song is anchored by the blues that features some great clean electric guitar pickin'. "Good Intentions" brings back the entertaining lyrics from the second track and tells us about a woman who 'wasn't good, but had good intentions.' The song is very mellow, featuring brushed drums, piano, and a dueling solo between a jazzy electric and folky acoustic guitar. The interplay between the guitars is definitely the high point of the song. On "I Know You Know," a similar formula to the last track is used again. This time the guitar solos are substituted with a horn section that provides a very laid back atmosphere. This is cocktail music for sure. The first half concludes with "What Do You Do/The Glory of Love." The Large Band is again at its finest but this time, we get dueling lead vocals, Lyle and Francine Reed. The first side is dominated by big band swing, but don't get too used to it, things are about to change.
Side Two finds Lyle moving back to his country side. "I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You," features great steel guitar and a standard country beat. Even the theme of misguided love is found here in grand country fashion. Wait...didn't he marry Julia Roberts? Something tells me this song was not a premonition. Next, is a cover of a country classic, Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man." Unfortunately for those of us who remember the movie "GoldenEye," we can't help but recall a crappy Russian accented karaoke version of this song. For those who don't have that stuck in their head's, this is a great cover and remains faithful to the original in every way, with the exception of the obvious lack of a female lead vocalist. "Which Way Does That Old Pony Run," stays country and once again gives us the standard country beat with steel guitar. The next song is a ballad which finds Lyle singing at his mellowest. With piano and acoustic guitar, the song is really a showcase for Lyle's sing/songwriter side, and it does a fantastic job of it. "If You Were to Wake Up" is a good song, but does feel as if its been done before on this album. But this time the formula includes fiddle! The album concludes with "Once is Enough" which ties together some musical themes from the whole album, a little country, swing, folk and even jazzy guitar are featured, a perfect capstone for the musical journey that is "Lyle Lovett and His Large Band."
Strongest Song: I Married Her Because She Looks Like You
Weakest Song: Nobody Knows Me (and it ain't that bad)
Song You Know: Here I Am (maybe)
Why You Might Hate It: You likes records that fit your neat little categories.
Buy It? I think its a vinyl must, but I would imagine a CD would suffice in most cases.
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