A Perfect 'Ten'

Anabelle is always close by.

This picture will make sense later in the blog.

#34 Pearl Jam: Ten


Its 7:30 on a Sunday morning and for some reason, I'm awake. Actually this was by design, because a few weeks ago I did the same thing and found that Sunday morning is a wonderful time to be awake and outside. Most of the world is sleeping at this hour so you can have most of the outdoors to yourself. After a couple quick Eggos and some orange juice, I was out the door. Of course, I wasn't alone, I had Anabelle dragging me down the sidewalk most of the way. Since it was basically dead quiet outside except for the occasional echo of traffic, I had time to think. What do I think about in that situation? It can be damn near anything, its odd how often the brain just randomly fires and things creep into your head that you thought were long absent. Today, a record jumped into my thoughts. Since I never ignore an urge to listen to something, here it is.

Pearl Jam's Ten was released in 1991 and along with Nirvana's Nevermind it changed the blah, blah, blah...you probably know the story of grunge already and if you don't, you probably don't care. The interesting thing about this album, and why it popped into my head, are the songs that didn't make it to single status. Six song on this album became singles, just over half of the album. But what about the others? "Why Go," "Once," "Oceans;" all great songs in their own rite. So often a debut album will be about that one single that gets you to buy the album. Then you hear the rest of it and feel very ripped off. Not so with this one, all eleven songs stand on their own in my opinion, though as a fan of 90's music, I might be a little biased. You can thank Pearl Jam's amazing musicianship and dedication to their trade for such a tight debut album.

The album starts off with a convenient track. Convenient, because this is the one that popped into my head while out walking this morning. "Once" starts with a little noise and some fretless bass before the guitar introduces itself. The riff is pretty interesting, but uses a trill style of playing which makes it sound very fast. The chorus drops the intricate riffs and goes for just full chords and what sounds like a droning sound underneath it all. The solo and break down uses some wah pedaling and lots of notes, but its pretty solid. The drums are what you want for alt rock, lots of crash cymbals. I think its fair to say Krusen never saw a crash cymbal he didn't want to beat the crap out of. "Evenflow" is a song about a guy who may or may not hang out with our friend Aqualung of Jethro Tull fame. Its another ode to the homeless and even though many have misheard these lyrics, they actually are pretty interesting. Nearest I can figure, the verse goes something like this: 'hhhhheeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy yeah summa drumma comin do-a so damn any hey!'  Now, that's not an exact translation, but I think it is something we can all relate to. Anyway, the chorus is a little easier to understand, but has a neat vocal effect taking place. Big hall reverb and what sounds like reverse echo hauntingly dance around the main vocal track. Its a neat effect and I'd say in this song it works great. The bridge is a quieter version of the main riff, and allows Eddie a little time to climb stuff on the stage. After one last chorus, the outro uses a trem picking, almost Dick Dale style guitar riff riding up and down the E string before the song finally concludes. The next, and maybe best guitar track on the album is "Alive." The song is musically in A, which is pretty much the best rock and roll key/chord. Hit a good strong A and your guitar will roar. The song also uses one of the lost techniques of rock and roll that I just love. The guitar solo usually hides in the middle of a song, but not here. Here the solo is an extended outro that just builds and builds until the song finally collapses. Two other fine examples of this are Aerosmith's 'Amazing' and of course...Skynyrd's 'Freebird.' Listen for the wah pedal in the final solo as well, its used minimally, but it gets maximum effect in a very Hendrix like way. Lyrically this song means a lot to me, even if Eddie has his own idea when it was recorded. The real story behind the song involves finding out your father is actually your stepfather or something like that. Well, thanks Eddie, but I'll take what I want from it. For me, its a song I heard shortly after leaving the hospital with a defibrillator implanted in my chest. As you can imagine, that makes for an interesting time when you're recovering. I wasn't working, wasn't going to school, it was just my full time job to sit around and heal. That's never fun, because it gives you way to much time to sit and think about what the hell just happened. One day while loafing on the couch feeling sorry for myself, this song came on. The only lyrics I really needed to start feeling better were "I, I'm still Alive." It kind of hit me; who cares if things aren't good right now, just wait it out, at least you lived through it. Its almost ten years later, and I gotta say, thinsg did get better, much better. I'd be hard pressed to convince my 23 year old self that this is where I'd be down the road. Pretty easy to say, this is my favorite song on the album. Next up is "Why Go," a good noise rock song that uses some pretty heavy distortion, pick scraping, feedback and wah pedaling. There also sounds like a very heavy distorted bass, or low tuned guitar, or something crazy going on there. The solo is more frantic noise, but in a somewhat orchestrated way, it holds together without going too off the tracks. Lyrically, it matches the music well. Its apparently about psychiatric hospitals, so the 'flying off the tracks' feel of the music is quite intentional. The hits keep coming with "Black," single number five for the album. The song is a little slower and more reserved at the start with what sound like a guitar riff played through a megaphone. The vocals are more in control for this song, and Eddie shows off the softer quality of his voice. Jeff Ament, the bassist, is again using a fretless bass, at least I think its a fretless. The overdriven guitars only have a few appearances in this one, and generally are there in the background with an echoey sound to them. Oh, by the way, there's piano in this song, so, yay piano. The end of the song has a passionate and weeping cry for a lost love. Along with the vocals, the guitar wails away in a 'Layla-esque' style. Side one ends with "Jeremy," a song that's probably known as much for its music video as for its musical composition. The song is somewhat acoustic, but uses a range of guitar tracks for its sound. When it came out, it was just a song about that weird kid at school that everyone just kind of ignored, or maybe pushed around a little. In the end, he comes to class, stands in front of the room, and shoots himself in the head. Actually this song is apparently based on a true story, which had to have been an amazingly shocking tragedy. Now adays however, its not good enough to just kill yourself, now they try and take a few people with them. That's what makes this song so creepy. Had this video been made in 2012, it wouldn't be just Jeremy's blood spilled on his classmates. Musically, the song uses some very dissonant tones on the acoustic guitar which feel very unsettling, this especially rings out in the end of the song.


Side two starts with "Oceans" which features some very majestic sounding music. The drums have an almost orchestra timpani sound to them. Wait, did they actually use a timpani for this? I don't know for sure, its probably just boring old floor toms, but whatever, it sounds cool. Ah ha! Timpani! I knew it! Thank you internet for providing that information. Anyway, the rest of the song is good, but just know that it has a timpani. "Porch" gets right to it, music wise and profanity wise. Its much faster and more intense than some of the other stuff on the album. After the opening rage, they use muted guitars for the verse while it waits to unleash again for the chorus. Now, about that chorus. Its uses a great climbing chord progression which the bass follows as well. After everybody reaches the top and Eddie has no more octvaes above him, the song collapses into the bridge. This part features some good guitar playing, long sustained notes and finally some harmonized riffing that leads back into the chorus. The final chorus really gets starts to get crazy as now the guitars, drums, and vocals are all going at it more intense than ever. The only thing that seems to keep this from flying off the tracks is the bass which steadily maintains an even keel up to the end. "Garden" is a neat little tune that has some good clean pickin' on the guitar. Eddie is at his mumbly best again, but don't worry, you can take comfort that whatever he's saying would probably be misinterpreted by you anyway. The song has that familiar haunting tone that's been used a couple times before on this album. The chorus is the most evil sounding part of the song, once again helped along with a fretless bass. The guitar soloing is a good slow and sustaining style, very minimal on the notes, but effective on the feeling. The sound ends with one final release of the vocals, guitars and drums before a fade into the next track. That next track is, "Deep." This song has a looser feel to it, a very free form jam almost. The drums have that great not so precise beat that falls in between the cracks of perfect time. When done wrong, this technique sounds horrible. Pearl Jam gets it just right, but only because there are no weak musicians in this band. Some bands get away with having a crappy bassist, or an average drummer, or that one guitar player that just kind of strums. There's no room for that in Pearl Jam, and this song proves it. Both guitars work in unison, Gossard and McCready are good on their own, but together they are unstoppable. This can be rare, as two good guitar players will often spar with each other over who is louder, faster, more talented, yadda... yadda... These two understand how to play together, musically and tonally. Tonally is just as important. When I saw Pearl Jam live I noticed that one guitarist always had a heavy sounding Les Paul while the other had a twangy sounding Stratocaster, perfect compliments. Anyway, I kind of got distracted and used this song as a way to praise their musicianship, but that's ok, because it my blog and I make the rules. "Release" concludes the album in a nice easy listening kind of way. The song has a droning sound provided by a cello sustaining very long notes underneath the mix. The guitar stays steady, playing a nice little arpeggio like riff. Eddie sings over everyone and really lets his voice soar on the vocal track. After the conclusion of "Release," you get a little reprise version of the opening noise and fretless bass. I guess its a nice way to put bookends around the whole collection of music, and I'm not against creating a nice circular flow for an album.

Of all the 90's 'grunge' bands that came out, I'd have to say that Pearl Jam has been one of the most successful. Yes, Nirvana did sell a lot of albums, and continues to sell a lot of albums, but your lead singer/guitarist killing himself after three years of stardom is not the mark of success. While I haven't bought a Pearl Jam album in quite a while myself (I have the first four) I still do enjoy hearing their new stuff on Pandora now and then. Some bands have to grow up a little as they move further into their music career, but I think its fairly safe to say Pearl Jam already had their heads together before writing 'Ten.' There's no filler, no wasted songs, and the lyrics, while certainly  a little mumbled, do have something to say, even if most people misinterpret their meaning for their own therapeutic means. Thanks Eddie!

Strongest Song: Alive
Weakest Song: Maybe Oceans, but not really
Song You Know: Alive, Evenflow, Jeremy
Why You Might Hate It: Your like to understand lyrics and need song meanings spoon fed to you.
Buy It? You probably have it on CD already. The vinyl is very good, mine has the standard and Redux versions, for the Pearl Jam superfan, this is a must have.

The Dude Abides, But He Probably Hates This Album.

I'm too lazy to put the DVD on, so this will have to do.

#33 The Eagles: Hotel California

Well it finally happened. I should've known it would soon enough. Summer has ended. It is officially autumn/fall/pre-winter. I guess I should've known that in order to make a true Summer of Vinyl and play all my records, I would've needed about 2-3 records per day. I've fallen quite short of that mark, but have no fear, we will continue to bring you the best in reviews, and surely, I can offer a little more in my reviews than this: So Called Review. Well, lets kick off the Fall of Vinyl with something entertaining.

The Dude may have had a rough day, and man, he really hates the Eagles, but I didn't have a rough day, I had an awesome day. I also happen to like the Eagles, and I especially like the Eagles with Joe Walsh. After playing the roll of country/rock fusion artists, the Eagles decided to change things up for their 1976 album 'Hotel California.' This included bringing in Joe Walsh, a proven rock guitar veteran who really helped solidify the heavier side of things in the Eagles sound. I have nothing against the earlier Eagles, I have Greatest Hits 71-75, and its a great retrospective on what they'd accomplished to that point. I find it very interesting the Eagles released that greatest hits album in 1975. It was almost their way of saying, okay, we had some fun with that type music, here are the best songs from it, now lets move on. And move on they did. A somewhat concepty album, it uses California as the setting for its story about excess, lost love, environmental decline, and a missing rug that really tied the room together. Sorry Dude, PLAY!

The title track starts us off on this one and its one of the biggest FM radio hits ever made. Guitar wise, its basically perfect. Twelve string acoustic, regular acoustic, at least two electrics and many little fills thrown in for good measure. For example, right after the line "welcome to the Hotel California," you get a fantastic guitar riff played with expert precision to get the harmonics and very stressed sound. One song in, and you can already see the Joe Walsh influence on his new bandmates. Lyrically speaking, where is the Hotel California? Duh, California. No, metaphorically where is it? Trick question, also California. The song is about excess, so when you want to find excess, I'd say L.A. in the 1970's is a good place to start. When I think of L.A., I think of the Dude causing a little trouble in Malibu. The song concludes with a great dueling guitar solo. First, we get them one at a time, taking turns. By the time the end of the song comes around, they are both dueling on a great riff that fades into the last 30 or so seconds of the song. "New Kid In Town" uses a fantastic chord progression to acheive its sweet, then suddenly sour tone. In the verse, everything is quite nice and happy. Its main street USA and all is right with the world. Hell, I bet the high school team is undefeated this year. But wait, here's the chorus, the New Kid is here, and things are changing. Well fear not, we're back to the sweet side for the second verse, but this whole song now has that lingering feeling of trouble. What the band was going for with this song was the feeling that love (or a music career) doesn't always last forever. Its a very difficult thing to sustain for any meaningful amount of time. There's that cynical message, and those minor chords of the chorus just punctuate how you should feel. But wait! There's more! Now we have this descending distorted guitar riff just adding to the tone of the song. Just a drop down to...E? Maybe, it feels like an E. See, there's that new kid...everybodies talkin', and now, you hate him too as he steals your girl/career. Next its... Holy Telecaster! "Life in the Fast Lane," is another song about excess and living life at 100 miles per hour, but this one has a telecaster twangin' opening that speeds it up even more. The lyrics are framed around a couple who are trying to cram 30 years of partyin' in about 3 weeks of time.  This couple is living life on the edge with cocaine, pills, all the right people, and fianlly what may or may not be a car wreck that ends it all. Since everyone needs a definitive ending to a story, I'll say, yes, they die in a car wreck. The main riff is one of those that every guitarist has to learn within at least the first two years of playing. I don't care if you believe what the Dude preaches, you must like this riff. You can thank Joe Walsh AGAIN for this amazing riff, who developed it just goofing around in the studio. The long outro of the song lets the guitarists once again go crazy in their very 70's excess way. Oh, one more thing, according to the credits for the song, it features a clavinet...so...there it is. Time to slow it down, here comes "Wasted Time," and Don Henley is firing on all cylinders for this vocal track. Its a very sad song. The end is here for a relationship, and now its time to embrace loneliness. Nobody likes that sensation, but there is something worse. The thought that this whole thing was nothing but wasted time. So was it wasted time?  I will answer that: No. You try, you fail, you learn. I think Alanis had something to say about that a couple weeks ago. Some of us however don't learn as quickly, but fear not! Maybe someone else can learn from your misfortune. As a wise man once said, maybe the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others. Okay that wasn't a wise man, it was a poster I saw on some guys desk at work, but whatever, the message is solid. Musically, umm, I don't know, I've spent enough time talking about this song and obviously I don't want to waste anymore time for fear of offending Don Henley. Its got string arrangements and they're very nice. FLIP!

Oh listen to this! We have another chance to talk about the musical side of 'Wasted Time!' The second side starts with a reprise version of the last song, this time in pure orchestral form. Wow, this ain't too bad, very passionate sounding. This reprise is quite majestic compared to the more pop friendly version we just finished, and I like the segue into the second half of the album. Ready for some more guitar? "Victim of Love," is the best guitar track on the album, and that says a lot on an album like this. Now, they claim Joe Walsh didn't contribute to writing this song. I call BS, this has Joe Walsh style all over it. The verse uses great hard stops between chords, and a great technique of hard strumming followed by sliding the fretting hand on down the neck. The Chorus is a great mix of slide guitar flying up and down and slow arpeggios under the chords. The solo uses the slide guitar that really sounds like Walsh again, I could be wrong, but I'm not. So now that the music is pretty well covered, what about the lyrics? Pretty cynical I would say. This is about a woman who's not so interested in settling down and starting a family. Unfortunately, whoever is writing the words probably misunderstood her intentions and now its just a case of crossed wires gone horribly wrong. Cut your loses man, move along. One interesting musical note for this song, if you look just inside the run out groove on side two you will see 'V.O.L. is Five Piece Live', pressed into the vinyl, which is the Eagles way of saying this song has no overdubbing and was played live in the studio. The run out groove on side one says 'is it six o'clock yet?' but that's not nearly as interesting. "Pretty Maids All In A Row" is only the second song with Joe Walsh on writing credits, but oddly, its one of the slower songs. See that, there's shenanigans here. I can't really say this is my favorite song on the album, which is a shame, because Walsh is my favorite Eagle. Like the last track that really sounded like Walsh, this one uses another slide guitar. Its used here for fills and the solo and not so much for overall sound of the song. The rest of the song is pretty simple, piano, bass, drums and the orchestra again. I guess its really not a terrible song, and this album did need a few breaks from the riff heavy guitars, I just wish that the band would've let Walsh pen a rocker instead of something slow.

"Try and Love Again" is another song that doesn't quite fit the mold for this album, but is still pretty good. The guitars are there, acoustic and dueling electrics. The difference maker here is the vocals. No Henley, no Frey, its Randy Meisner. Now, some of you right now are saying 'who the hell is that?' Yes, I was one of those people too. Randy is one of the on again off again Eagles who has stayed out of the mix for reunions, so he's really just a memory for early Eagles fans. When I listen to this song I really think to myself "What Would Henley Do?" How would he have sung this song? I'm really curious about that. In fact, someone go on YouTube and find a live version of it sung by Henley. Meisner's voice, interestingly enough is closer to Walsh's in tone, but doesn't have that entertaining quality like you hear on "Life's Been Good." Hey, its still a great song, and the Eagles play the instrumental side of things flawlessly. The album ends with the greatest song Don Henley has ever written. No, its not 'Boy's of Summer,' or 'Dirty Laundry,' but I like where your head is at. Henley, as some of you know, is an environmental nut, I mean...conservationist, and this song is all about his observations of how people really waste more than just time. The song caps off the two themes of the album, excess and loss. Beyond just making ourselves crazy with these two things, Henley points out that our ways also damage our environment. Okay, I'm not a big fan of rock stars with opinions but, I'll let this one slide, because the song is so well done and he raises some pretty good points. For example: When Europeans made it to the new world, things probably could've been handled a little better with the native people. Also, how the beautiful natural landscape of Southern California has turned into one giant pile of concrete filled with really strange people. You know, the man's got a point. Musically, the song stays fairly low key with piano and sparse instrumentation but eventually builds to a great epic sounding conclusion. That final climb of the orchestra is a perfect ending to this album, I have therefore dubbed this last minute of the album: the final excess, because I'm guessing some guy in the studio probably thought that was a clever name for it right before he was fired for being an idiot.

Before I started doing this blog and was stuck with the same ten records over and over, this was one of the ten. Its now been about four months since I've listened to it, which is some kind of record for me. As a guitarist, there's just too much on this album I can't resist, dueling guitars, live studio work, and Joe Walsh. After Hotel Cali, the Eagles attempted a big rock and roll no-no: a double album. As we learned on the Guns N Roses Use Your Illusion post, this is almost always a mistake. The process of making a double album almost always destroys the band. A quick reminder of bands that died shortly after double albums: Smashing Pumpkins, Guns N Roses, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin. The Eagles didn't survive either. "The Long Run" was so frustrating to make that they didn't even get enough songs for the double album, and gave up with only ten songs complete. I guess topping Hotel California was just too much for a band so rich with egos to overcome.

Strongest Song: Victim of Love
Weakest Song: Pretty Maids All in a Row
Song You Know: Hotel California
Why You Might Hate It: Your name is not Lebowski, but the Dude.
Buy It? Its a great one to have, easy to find used on Vinyl.

Can't Decide What to Listen to? Try Bowie.

Played me some Bowie this weekend.

#32 David Bowie: Changesonebowie

Ever had one of those weekends where you have a long list of things you want to accomplish, but no two things are entirely similar? I had one of those weekends. I want to destroy the benches on our deck in the backyard, set fire to the remains, practice three songs on violin, play drums, play guitar, clean the kitchen, move the china cabinet two inches to the left...no, right, go to the driving range, read a few chapters of my current book, and of course, listen to a record.

But what record? I need one that is as varied and scatter-shot as my weekend has been. A soundtrack maybe? They seem to pull together a lot of tunes and just throw them on a record in whatever order seems almost appropriate. I have a few good soundtracks, Top Gun, Juno, Starlight Express....wait...Starlight Express? What the hell? Oh that's right, I've taken Beth to the record store a couple times, I gotta watch out for that. AH HA!  Here we  go. If you want randomness, look no further than David Bowie. Even better, its a compilation album: Changesonebowie. This should offer everything I need for a good album to cap off the weekend.


The compilation starts off in grand fashion with the track "Space Oddity." The song finds Bowie wandering space as a character known as Major Tom. Most of the song is a conversation between Tom and ground control. Released in 1969, the song has some pretty interesting stylistic moves. While people are always quick to heap praise on the Beatles and Beach Boys for their amazing production (yes, guilty as charged), only two years after their epic albums, here's Bowie going way out on a limb with this one. The song is all over the place, slow acoustic, big orchestral sounds, jazzy electric guitar, a mellotron, and a stylophone. So, what the hell is a stylophone? I had to look it up myself cause I wasn't familiar with this little toy. Check it out for yourself if you so desire. Each of these songs is unique in its own Bowie way, and I'll make my best attempt at comparing them to something else. This I'd say would have to fall into the space rock sound of early-mid Pink Floyd. "John I'm Only Dancin" starts with a solid beat based in the blues and leads to a nice walking bass line. The instrumentation is fairly straight forward, its definitely a rock song. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals, yup, that's rock. Its also under three minutes, the shortest on the album. If I had to put a style to it, I'd say its very Queen, which of course Bowie did collaborate with them so its no surprise.
"Changes" starts out with yet another new instrument, piano. I hate to admit, but I came into this album thinking I would find the one binding element among all of Bowie's work. I'm so tired of hearing the standard 'musical chameleon' cliche, but I just can't come up with anything else, its true. So what's different here? Bowie plays the saxophone on this one, so that's yet another instrument added to the mix. The song lyrically seems to convey a lot about youth going through a time of change, which can make it easily comparable to some of the Who's rock opera songs about youth in revolt. Musically its not quite as sonically explosive as the Who, but hey, its not easy comparing Bowie to anything. Next up is some straight up garage style rock. In "Ziggy Stardust," the fuzzed out guitar is right out front, while the rest of the band has a nice unpolished feel to it. If I had to guess, this song was done in one take. However, we know better than that, things don't happen by accident with Bowie, he's planned this out perfectly. Why? Because this isn't David Bowie, this yet another alter ego, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Maybe this guy just has a massive multiple personality disorder and his doctors decided this is the only to cope with it. Well it sure beats the hell out of going on some mind altering wonder drug. Stylistically the song reminds me of, hmm, Lou Reed? Velvet Underground? Maybe, Bowie has a little more fuzz in this one, but I'd say some sort of garage style late 60's band would be a solid comparison. I bet your in the mood for Arena Rock now? Well you're in luck, cause here comes "Suffragette City," another track from the Ziggy Stardust days. During these times, Bowie had a fantastic guitarist playing alongside, Mick Ronson. Ronson's playing is featured very prominently on this and the previous track as well. Arena rock always demands a great guitarist standing out front collecting the various undergarments being thrown on the stage. This song feels very E.L.O. with its use of synthesizers and wall of sound production. Now I know, E.L.O.'s first record was only a year before this song came out, but whatever, I stand by my choice. "The Jean Genie" is a song with a great pulsing and bluesy beat, very 60's British Blues, but with that extra Bowie gloss on it. Oh by the way, another new instrument, harmonica, mark it dude. Since this song is just steeped in 60's Brit Blues I have to go with The Yardbirds. I doubt you'll argue too much with that choice of comparison, it fits. FLIP!

Side two starts with "Diamond Dogs" and our new instrument of the track is: cowbell! Actually there's some slide guitar on there as well, which is a nice addition to the track. It has a very Rolling Stones kind of feel to it, think Exile on Main Street or perhaps Sticky Fingers. I just see Keith Richards doing his junkie swagger on stage right now.  The very primal drumbeat keeps the song very much alive and helps to maintain bluesy feel of the whole thing. Near the end of the song I could swear we are listening to "Brown Sugar" by the Stones. Next up is "Rebel Rebel" and the old garage rock guitar is back. Its another fantastic riff that dominates the song, much like Ziggy Stardust. The rest of the band is really just there to support that guitar, that beautifully fuzzed out guitar. Lyrically the song seems to be about transsexual rock stars. I'd say there's a little confusion in the air for this one, though I'm not sure if its Bowie, his mother, or us that's confused, since its Bowie, we won't ask questions, we'll just enjoy the song. This song seems to harken back to a simpler time in Bowie's career, back when he was known as Ziggy Stardust. I guess that means I'm comparing him to himself, can I do that? Yes I can do that, this song came out in '74, after Bowie had decided to break up the Spiders and put Ziggy to rest. Ready for another change? Well here comes a big one in "Young Americans," a song that seems to be in the style of 70's soul music. Its relies on the bass to set the pace, and the saxophone to provide the compliment to the vocals. Lyrically it dives into socially conscious soul music subjects of oppression, racism, politics...you know, what's going on, it just makes you wanna (turn on falsetto high) break down and cry! Very nice touch. Look out near the end of the song for the lyrical sampling of some Beatles. I'll give a nice comparison of Stevie Wonder for this song, I'm not entirely sure why, I don't have a specific Stevie song to go with, but it seems to be accurate. "Fame" is a song that uses a great lyrical delivery that done poorly, would probably make for a very cheesy sounding song. However, Bowie does it flawlessly. With an extreme emphasis on the word FAAAAAAME Bowie kind of laughs in the face of the word itself. Along for the ride on this song, and very much inspiring the whole production, is John Lennon. Yes, that's Lennon who actually delivers the outrageous line Faaaaaame in the song. Its a pretty cynical song about being famous and the pressures that come along with it. I'm gonna go out on a limb for this comparison and throw out The Cars. I know, I know, the Cars came after this era of Bowie, but go listen to a few of the less radio friendly Cars song, and you will see. Maybe its a stretch. The album concludes with "Golden Years." This is another interesting track by Bowie, again in the 70's dance kind of style. Unfortunately for me, CBS ruined this song for me years ago. In 1991, those bastards at CBS developed a TV series with Stephen King called "Golden Years." Guess what the theme song was? Twenty-one years later I still can't shake that connection from my brain. Thanks CBS and Mr. King. A VHS Quality Gem

Well there it is, the highlights of Bowie's first 15 years on the scene. Its a solid example of just how often he was changing things up, and you can see him adjust to the times as well. You get Stones, Cars, Stevie Wonder, Yardbirds, ELO and a cameo by John Lennon. I usually like to avoid compilations on vinyl because I prefer to here albums in their entirety. I made an exception for this one, because its so fun to listen to Bowie this way. Its a musical tour-DE-force, and by the end you really appreciate just how different all his song are.

Strongest Song: ALL
Weakest Song: Its a best of, if there's a weak song, something ain't right.
Song You Know: Again, its a best of.
Why You Might Hate It: You prefer your band to play the same 3 chords, in the same style, with the same instruments, with the same clothes and the same lyrics FOREVER.
Buy It? Its a good one to have, and for a whole 99 cents, its a bargain!

Baltimore's Team, and Baltimore's Band (in 1988)

This hat is older than the band.

#31 Kix: Blow My Fuse


The Orioles have won 81 games. Eighty-one. Do you know what that means? If you're a baseball fan you know what it means. It means that the Orioles will have their first winning season since 1997. Well that's assuming they get one more win, but that shouldn't be too hard with 20 some games left. Right? Yeah they'll make it, GO O's! The O's may seem like they've had the hardest time of anyone in all of Baltimore, but I assure you, there is another group that has had just as many hard times. Kix, the darling of Maryland 80's metal, had their last album in 1995. Two whole years before the Orioles last winning season, the boys in Kix got their last creative gasp out on CD. Kind of ashamed the way it played out for them. The tornado that was grunge came in and pretty much wiped the floor with bands like Kix. Had they launched in 1992, could they been produced in a different way? If they Alice in Chains style production, would their music have been huge to this day? If today's album "Blow My Fuse," was produced by say, Steve Albini and Butch Vig, would it have sold 30 million copies? Well, probably not, but as Ian Faith, of Spinal Tap fame, once said, they're not fading, their audience is just getting more...'selective.' Interestingly enough, Kix is still out there playing shows. After reforming in 2003, the band has been able to find shows all around America. The lineup is almost the same as back in the day, and the fans still love the songs, so like the Orioles, Kix has its own winning season going. Its nice to see an aging band that knows what people want, just play the hits! As long as they don't put out an album called 'Shark Sandwich,' I think these guys will forever have a slot on the smaller stages of America, they put on one hell of a show!

The album starts with REVERB. Well, actually its drums, but holy crap, that's a lot of reverb. "Red Light, Green Light, TNT" continues as the guitar kicks in and, well, you kind of know the basic format if you've heard any standard 80's hard rock. The lyrics really don't have much to say, Steve Whiteman has a pretty good voice for this kinda music, but don't expect him to say anything profound. The guitar soloing isn't too bad in the song. Kix's two axemen, Ronnie Younkins and Brian Forsythe were both fans of the Les Paul/Marshall combo, which is admirable considering most guys in the 80's were playing some ridiculous neon green/pink/purple Jackson or Charvel. Along with guitar you also get a little of Whiteman's harmonica soloing. Interestingly enough, there are a few 80's metal bands that stuck to the blues rock dynamic a little stronger than the others. They show a little more Led Zeppelin influence than others. Again, with the right production, this COULD be music for another generation. Next up is "Get it While Its Hot," which follows right where the last track left off. Well I guess its a little different, they use a cowbell, that's something, right? Again, the guitar playing is solid, it avoids the 80's pitfalls of relying on lame tapping and whammy bar tricks, and does well at playing the old pentatonic blues scales to a T. "No Ring Around Rosie" is yet another brainless pile of reverb and Marshall driven power-chords. This one seems to be about a woman with loose morals, oh, how original. Oh OK, I get it, now we're playing off Ring Around the Rosie...yeah there it is, 'we all fall down.' This is clever for someone who spends most of their life and money trying to get their primer gray '87 IROC Z Camaro painted one solid color. Next up is, hey wait a minute, what's going on here. Oh yeah, there it is, its ballad time!  "Don't Close Your Eyes," is a song that actually has a little more meat on its bones. Its no 16 oz New York Strip, more like a supreme taco worth of meat, but hey that ain't bad for a dirty band from Baltimore. The song is anti-suicide, with a message of be strong, hold on, don't give up. Not too bad, pretty good tune for them. The start of the song is VERY Motley Crue. Its basically a minor version of Home, Sweet, Home, but I like it. The chorus gets the heavy guitar back and a very well put together chord progression. You know, with the right production, (which means LESS REVERB) this could be a single today. Hell I'll admit it, great tune! For those who may have thought Kix was getting too intellectual for you with that last song, next up is "She Dropped Me the Bomb." It falls right back into standard 80's mode. Not too much to write about this one, solid guitar riffs, reverby drums, and of course some sound effects of bombs going off. So anyway, this song is still going. How long is this song?  3:45? That's gotta be an error, it sure feels like 8:45. Oh there we go, finally, here ends side one. FLIP!

Side two starts with a great crowd pleaser. "Cold Blood" is the one that really revs up the crowd. I can just see the old Hammerjacks pounding away with fists in the air. This song is pretty pedestrian when it starts, but wait for it, the chorus! That chorus is just pure frosting, remember that phrase, cause its coming back later. Its got great chords, its got great vocal harmony. They do this little trick where they skip to, WHOA...more explosions! Hell Yes! Anyway, the chords during the chorus. I'm not sure what's going on, I'm going to have to give it a run on the guitar later, but they use two leads, one straining out a couple high notes, one pounding out chords, a great combo! "Piece of Pie," is all about guitar. It starts with great riffs that run all around and just sticks with that formula throughout. Please, don't listen to the lyrics, you will actually get dumber hearing them. I'm fairly certain I lost about 5 IQ points exposing myself to this. Its probably not as sexual innuendo filled as I might think, but it sure comes off that way during a casual listen. The guitar doesn't use many tricks to achieve the fast riffs in this one, its just pickin' away at a nice rapid pace. The next track is "Boomerang," a nice little ditty that starts with strong harmonica playing, whatever that means. I really don't know what makes a solid heavy metal harmonica player. I know of John Popper and his insane 'too many notes' approach, but really I don't know how you earn style points on a heavy metal harmonica. The lyrics, you know the lyrics before it starts, but here's a few for your sampling: "Boom, boom, boom boom boom boom....boo boo boom...boom boom boom boo boomerang!" I'll give that a minute to sink in. Ok, now repeat, repeat, repeat, fade, and done. Next up, is the reason to buy a Les Paul and Marshall amp. "Blow My Fuse" starts with one of my favorite riffs in all of guitar-dome. Funny that it comes from a band I don't listen to that much. But just listen to it, playing low (frets 1-5) on the high strings (G, B, E). Some of you understand that, and know why its so boss to start a song that way. The chorus takes the same basic riff and drops its down to the low strings (E, A, D). The lyrics fit PERFECTLY, I gotta say this is one song that Kix knocked right out of the park, Orioles style. OK yes, the solo uses some tapping tricks and some other lame technique, but I give them a pass on that, cause just listen, IT WORKS. In fact, listen to it now... Blow My Fuse   The album concludes with "Dirty Boys," another 'par for the course' offering. This one comes in a little faster than some of the others, but uses most of the same techniques. The guitar is palm muted chords played really fast with the occasion full strum for effect. I guess they started the album this way, so might as well keep the bookends symmetrical.

Pure Frosting, before this was an album by the Presidents of the United State of America, this was a fantastic description of certain types of music, 80's metal being one of them. Cake is great, but getting a big chunk of frosting every now and then is pretty good. That frosting in popular music is what's called 'the hook.' Its what's pulls you into the song, it makes you want to hear more. Somewhere in the early 1980's, someone decided to take the hook of the music, and just make it the whole song. Yes, frosting is delicious, but most of us at some point in our lives learned that you don't eat a whole can of frosting in one sitting. The whole stylistic approach of 80's metal was one big overload and Kix did get a little of that. Its kind of lazy song writing, but I guess you can't blame them, they were just a product of their environment.

Strongest Song: Blow My Fuse, Don't Close Your Eyes
Weakest Song: The Frosting...about 5 or 6 songs
Song You Know: Blow My Fuse
Why You Might Hate It: You don't need a reason.
Buy It? No, you don't need it. I found it for $1 and couldn't say no. YouTube it for a flashback.

Happy Anniversary! Beth Picks a Record and Helps to Analyze

#30 Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill

It only took us 2 years to hang that photo up.

Three years! That's right loyal readers, Wednesday the 5th of September marks three wonderful years of marriage with my Wife, Beth. I could name countless wonderful things she has done for me over the past three years, but there are a few in particular that should be of particular interest to this blog.

1. She sparked my interest in Vinyl: while wandering an antique store in Hampden she found "Thriller" and Elvis's Self Titled album for $5.00 and suggested we start buying old records for a collection.
2. She decided her parents no longer needed their turntable so she confiscated it...with their permission, but still, awesome.
3. She bought our nicer JVC turntable at a church bazaar for $3.00.
4. Influenced numerous record purposes including, New Found Glory, Green Day, Diana Ross, and of course, today's subject record, Beth's pick:  Alanis Morisette's 'Jagged Little Pill.' You have no idea what I had to go through to get this record. Well, I guess its not that bad, just lots of waiting. I gave this to Beth for her birthday a couple years ago and holy crap, what an ordeal. Not only are there only about 1000 copies of this album on vinyl, but most of them seem to be in Europe and Japan. After winning an Ebay auction for a copy I waited, and waited, and waited some more. The auction ended in April. Beth's birthday was in May. Then its June...then July. Finally, EIGHT months later, there it was. FINALLY, Beth got her birthday, or by this time, Christmas present.


Side one starts with "All I Really Want" a song that begins with a very good overdriven and sustained out guitar. The song has a smooth feel to it, slinking along casually throughout. The vocal approach is pretty interesting, the verse is pretty flat, but soon rises into the prechorus. The chorus is a great low and high vocal in combination. Interestly enough, the lyrics seem to deal with a guy who just won't commit. Fitting for a blog that starts with a celebration of three years of marriage, sing it Alanis! Track two is the big one. "You Oughta Know" is one of the angriest songs and one of the biggest musical mysteries since "You're So Vain." Who's it about? Well Alanis has never offically said, but its probably about that guy from 'Full House.' Yeah I know, not as exciting thinking its about that guy. Musically the song includes Dave Navarro and Flea, who just happened to be hanging around the studio and were impressed by Alanis's songs. They definitely influence the frantic and heavy nature of the song. "Perfect" starts out with a nice clean guitar and a very angelic vocal from Alanis. Musically the song is very sweet sounding. Organ, guitar, drums and bass is basically what you get here and it all works well. Why does it work so well? Probably Glen Ballard, the producer of the album. A lot of people think he's the only reason this album was so big, but whatever, Alanis can write some good tunes by herself too. Okay, true she never duplicated the success of this album again, but hey, 33 million copies is tough to duplicate unless you're the Beatles or Michael Jackson. "Hand In My Pocket" is another of the singles from the album and starts and stays with a fairly simple electronic drumbeat and bassline courtesy of a synth, I think. The seems to be an ode to the down times in life, when things don't really seem to be working out, but hey, everything is gonna be fine, fine, fine. That's a message we can all get behind! The repetitive musical nature of the song is broken by a good harmonica solo, and really doesn't do much else. But hey, it doesn't have to, the song works. "Right Through You" is the next entry on the album. Its a good song, and Beth, the guest listener on today's album, has decided to chime in on her Alanis experience. She pointed out that ALanis inspired her to buy pair of pleather pants and dance around her room with this album on...so..there's that. She would also like to mention that pleather or leather pants are extremely hot and you will sweat the second you put them on. So, with that said...this song is pretty boss, enjoy it. "Forgiven" is, in my opinion, one of the better tracks on the record. It features that wonderful 90's contrast, which Beth so easily pointed out as being a staple of the time. The vocals climb from the fairly quiet verse, to a very agitated prechorus to a raging chorus. Its a great build in this song which reaches its ultimate apex a few minutes into the song when everything quiets down for a moment with just Alanis's voice and a classical guitar. One last thrashing chorus and the song gets to its tornado of an outro that sends us on to side two.

"You Learn," starts off side two with a somewhat electronic sound. The guitar is still there, its just hidden under a layer of synthesizer. The lyrics are all about experiences that go wrong, but you walk away from and 'you learn.' Pretty straight forward. I like when the message is fairly apparent. Unless I'm totally missing it, but I don't think so this time. Next up is the best song on the album. Yes I said it; its not "You Oughta Know." There's just something about the song "Head Over Feet." It has such an easy going flow to it, the lyrics roll off the tongue, and you just go head over heals for it. See that? Do you really see what's happening here? You're under her spell now. Now she will strike, and destroy you. Well, maybe that wasn't the intent. But whatever the goal was, Alanis really knocks it out of the park with this one. There's even another harmonica solo, its got it all! "Mary Jane," is decent enough song, but it kind of gets lost in this album of singles. The song starts out slowly, but builds up with the vocals. Long drawn out vocals are done flawlessly by Alanis on this one. Its important to note that all of the vocal tracks on this album were recorded in one or two takes. Not bad considering how far this song wanders through the human vocal range. As the song rolls along, and I hate to say this, it kind of gets a little long winded. I know, I know, I don't want to say it because I do like this album, but its true. "Ironic" is yet another single from the album and one that lists a lot of happening to various people, most of which are not ironic. Winning the lottery and dying the next day is not ironic, it just really sucks. Oh well, ironic, bad luck, whatever. Alanis may not own a dictionary, but she can write a good tune. Beth claims this is because she was educated in Canada, and maybe she just doesn't know any better. I guess that explanation is as good as any I can throw out there. Next up is "Not the Doctor," which is a list of things Alanis really doesn't want. The verse is pretty uninteresting, but the chorus, oh the chorus is so good. Beth has commented again, that while Alanis doesn't really have a command of the meaning of a few select words, she does know her math, and proves it by stating that 1+1=2. Well that's just super, good for her! Yes, not a doctor, but maybe a mathematician. The album concludes with the song "Wake Up." The electronic drums are back, actually I don't think they ever left, wait, has this been a drum machine this whole time? No, there's real drums on there. However it seems Ballard and Alanis did use quite a few electronic beats, maybe to simplify the writing process. This song is another good one, not a single, but still good. It has a great bass line grounding it and some interesting, but understated guitar. The song concludes with about five seconds of "You Oughta Know" before abruptly cutting off. Yup, this is vinyl, and there are time constraints. The CD and cassette version include a slightly different version of "You Oughta Know" and a hidden track called "Your House," but we don't have time for that here.

Alanis sure did put some impressive tracks down on this record. Which is really a good thing, considering this is where she started her musical journey: Too Hot (1991)  I apologize for anyone that clicked that without proper warning. I should state, this is basically a Canadian Paula Abdul kind of thing.

Strongest Song: Head Over Feet
Weakest Song: Not the Doctor
Song You Know: You Oughta Know, Ironic, You Learn, Head Over Feet.
Why You Might Hate It: You don't like any electronica in your alternative rock.
Buy It? You probably have it on CD, if you don't, you've accepted the fact you don't need it. Its ridiculously hard to find on vinyl, so I wouldn't advise looking.