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Archive for July, 2007

What I learned… (8) [Typos]

Posted in Digression on July 12, 2007| Leave a Comment »

I am a terrible typist.  I have known this for some time.  I learned to type by a hunt and peck method which is now a basic knowledge of the keyboard, but really, that’s all.  I almost never use my pinkies.  It’s horrible.  As a result I make egregious typo’s and misspellings, even though I am quite a good speller.  Overall, I find this presents a very poor public face.  I have been re-reading my posts and realized how much I need to proof before publishing.  And to you, my readers, I apologize.  I fear that my bad typing has left a shameful scar across the validity of anything I have to say.  So, I have been correcting my old posts.  I think they now meet a minimum standard for English.  But it has also meant I haven’t been keeping up with new posts, which I will endeavor to get back on track.  The funny thing about the bad typing is that my handwriting is just atrocious, and barely legible.  You’d think I would have learned the second time around.

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Douglas Coupland–JPod (2006)

Posted in Canadian Content, Douglas Coupland, Funny (ha ha), Laurence Sterne, Meta, Richard Thompson, Squeeze, The Go-Betweens on July 11, 2007| 1 Comment »

jpod.jpgSOUNDTRACK: SQUEEZE-Singles 45s and Under (1982).

squeeze.jpgThis record came out in 1982. When I was in college in the late 80s, we used to joke that every freshman was issued a copy of Steve Miller’s Greatest Hits, because it was played virtually every day by someone. It seemed that Squeeze’s Greatest Hits may have been issued as an alternate. I never really thought much of this record back then. I enjoyed it, especially “Pulling Mussels From a Shell,” but I never really considered the quality of the record. Since then I learned that Difford and Tilbrook are up there with Lennon and McCartney and Jagger and Richards, or, if not that grand, at least with Forster and McLennon of the Go Betweens. So I grabbed this CD to play at a party and gave it some scrutiny, and I have to say it is a terrific album. I know for a Greatest Hits, it should be, but man, they can write songs that are stories, or observational or even funny and yet not sound twee or noveltyish. (more…)

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Frank Portman–King Dork (2006)

Posted in Frank Portman, Funny (ha ha), KT Tunstall, Mr T Experience, Music, Set at School, The Descendents, YA Books on July 9, 2007| Leave a Comment »

king-dork.jpgSOUNDTRACK: KT TUNSTALL-The Eye to the Telescope (2006).

tunstall.jpgSuch a pleasant album. I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to get this, aside from the fact that it was on virtually every respectable (in my opinion) critics’s 2006 Top Ten list. I don’t think I’d heard any of the songs before (somehow so many of them sounded familiar, and evidently she was everywhere, and yet, I wasn’t sure what she even sounded like). So, I did research, and decided it was worth the purchase. And I was right.

Every song sounds like you’ve heard it before (but in a good way), every song is catchy, and the whole album feels comfortable. There’s nothing even that remarkable about it overall, it’s kind of a heavy folksy style, and KT’s voice is in the range of Joan Osborne without being quite so bluesy or quite so intense (when Joan does that tone). And, yet her voice has good substance, and the songs are all strong. It’s not nearly as esoteric as what I usually listen to, but I can find nothing at all bad to say about this record, except that maybe it could be two songs shorter. It’s also a wholly inappropriate album to tie in with the book below!

[READ: Summer 2006] King Dork.

My wife checked this book out for herself, but I snatched it away before she had a chance to (more…)

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Cecil Castellucci & Jim Rugg–The Plain Janes (2007) [Minx #1]

Posted in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Boston, MA, Cecil Castellucci, Graphic Novel, Jim Rugg, Richard Thompson, Set at School, YA Books on July 6, 2007| Leave a Comment »

plain1.jpgSOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Small Town Romance (1984), Guitar Vocal (1976), Starring as Henry the Human Fly (1972).

This is the last batch of RT CDs before I get to Sweet Warrior. I saved these for last because of their esoteric nature.

small-town.jpgSmall Town Romance: This is a collection of live solo recordings in NYC from 1967-1982. The sound quality isn’t always the best, and RT’s voice isn’t always up to snuff. I’m thinking that all the songs are Richard & Linda or Fairport Convention works. I don’t like the early material as much as his later work so, aside from appreciating the venues and the cozy atmosphere, this isn’t a favorite disc of mine. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #17 [Made to Look Like It Came in Your Mailbox] (2005)

Posted in Dystopia, McSweeney's, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Sarah Manguso on July 5, 2007| 1 Comment »

mcsweeneys17.jpg SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Sweet Talker (1992), Mirror Blue (1994), You? Me? Us? (1996).

Even though I’ve been raving about the “bootlegs” from RT’s collection, I’m not reviewing them here, because what’s the point. I’ll just rave. Go to his site, pick some songs you like on a disc, and get it. Simple. Although if you really like his guitar workouts then I totally recommend More Guitar, great solos on this one! The funny thing about RT’s work and the man himself is that he is a very funny, genial guy both in concert and in person, and yet his songs are (mostly) so bitter and angry (and yet also catchy). It is simply hard to believe that on one record you could have “Beeswing” and “Mascara Tears” (Mirror Blue, below). What an exceptional writer.

sweettalker.jpgSweet Talker. I found this used. It’s a mostly instrumental soundtrack to a film no one (including me) has seen. There are a couple of “real” songs on it, but mostly this is notable for the origin of “Persuasion” a tremendous instrumental song that RT has reintroduced in recent times with lyrics. I think as a duet with Tim Finn. I’ve also heard it as a duet with his son Teddy, and it is truly a great song. This album can easily be overlooked though (even though, blah blah blah the songs are solid and well played, they are mostly just designed as background music).

mirror.jpgMirror Blue. Allmusic.com is pretty harsh (as harsh as they get with RT that is) about the production of this record. I didn’t notice anything bad about it on this listen (they claim it is very keyboardy and washed out, but I didn’t hear it). The one thing I did notice though is how the first song on this record is not a hit (almost every other one has a song that leads off and you go YEAH!) and, oddly it sounds an awful lot like a Neil Young song (“Cinnamon Girl,” anyone?) But after that the album really picks up and anything resembling being derivative is gone. In fact: “I Can’t Wake Up to Save My Life,” “MGB-GT,” “Easy There Steady Now,” all superb. Allmusic also says that “Mascara Tears” is just a mean song, but I disagree. Plus, I’m still singing the chorus several days later!

youmeus1.jpgYou? Me? Us? As I mentioned before, this is the first RT album I ever bought. Weird place to start I guess. It is designed as a double CD with a Voltage Enhanced and a Nude disc. As you can tell the one disc is electric rockers, the other is acoustic (somewhat solo). My only gripe with the record is that usually the balance of soft and hard songs really compliments the record nicely. So, with this one, you don’t really have that. I also realized that since I was more of a rocker when I bought this, I listed to the Voltage disc a lot more than the Nude side. And why not? “Razor Dance,” which appears on both, and is strong in both incarnations, is really just sublime in the Voltage version. Such rage and such a great choppy electric guitar. This song really sold me on RT. Some other great tracks are “Dark Hand Over My Heart,” “Put It There Pal” (most of the lines of this song are always running through my head), and “The Ghost of You Walks.” A beautiful ballad is “She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair.” I don’t have as much to say about the Nude side, even though I did listen to it twice today and it was all pretty familiar and good. I guess I think they did two versions of “Razor Dance” and “Hide It Away” and figured they’d make it two discs instead of one long one. Which is fine. I would have liked the two discs intermingled is all.

[READ: June 30, 2007 ] McSweeney’s #17.

This has got to be the strangest McSweeney’s package ever. It comes to you in a big clear bag “Made to Look Like It Came in Your Mailbox.” All of the items are addressed to “Maria Vasquez 4416 N 16th St Arlington, VA 22207.” (more…)

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Maile Meloy–A Family Daughter (2006)

Posted in Books about writers, Britney Spears, Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Maile Meloy, Marriage Trouble, Richard Thompson, Unreliable narrator on July 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »

fa.jpgSOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Industry (with Danny Thompson) (1997), Mock Tudor (1999), 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003).

My wife heard the new RT song on the radio (hooray for WXPN, Philadelphia…oh and go listen online, it’s great stuff!) and asked if he had a new song out. She likes RT but isn’t a huge fan; she was amazed at how she knew immediately that it was him, but that it didn’t sound like an older song that she knew already. I think that’s a great feature of RTs style. He is clearly himself, and yet he’s not afraid to experiment.

(more…)

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