I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: VIOLET ARCHERS-End of Part One (2005).

The Violet Archers are the new(ish) band for Tim Vesely from the Rheostatics.  I’ve conveniently waited until The Rheos completely broke up before really really getting into them.  And it took me some time before deciding that I needed to get The two Violet Arhcers discs.  And then I discovered they were pretty much unavailable.

But the nice folks who used to sell their discs got me in touch with Tim himself, and he very nicely sent me the two CDs (for a most reasonable price).

When a band breaks up it’s always interesting to see what the solo members do…if they try to go very different from the original band or if they stay the same.  Well, the Rheos were a pretty unusual band, and if these two discs are any indication, it seems like Tim may have been the pop song writer.

“End of Part One” starts with a guitar and cool organ opening before the song kicks into a mellow rocker.  “Coordinates” has more interesting keyboard sounds (these sound strange to me because the The Rheos weren’t very keyboardy).  Lyrically, it’s a great collection of rhymed verses that lead to a wonderful na na na chorus.

The middle songs are a nice mixture of slightly fast rockers and almost folky ballads.   Vesely has a great knack for sing along choruses, but he’s also been alt-enough to know when to throw in an unexpected twist, or an interesting sound (the guitar sound in “Saved Me” is great) and the simple melody of “Simple” makes for a beautiful campfire song.

“Time to Kill” is a delightful gentle rock song with a great chorus and instrumentation.  It sounds like an outtake from a fantastic 1960s compilation.  It’s followed by “All that’s Good” which sounds like an awesome long-lost Neil Young song.  The guitar is spot on and the vocals work wonderfully.

“Fools Gold Rope” is a nice ballad with vocals by Ida Nilsen.  And the last four tracks are all shorter pieces.  “Life and Then” features keyboards prominently, while the oddly titled “Track Display” has some nice guitar work.

This is overlooked pop gem. Nothing is overly commercial, and yet it’s all fun and an enjoyable listen.  I’m glad Vesely is still writing great tunes.

[READ: September 28, 2010] “Sifting the Ashes”

This Dept. of Disputation piece is about cigarettes.  I’ve never smoked and I’ve never been much of a fan of cancer sticks.  However, I find myself siding with Franzen on a few points ion this article.

Franzen has evidently quit smoking several times (it’s even unclear from the way this is written if he’s actually smoking now (1996) or not).  But he never blames Philip Morris or RJ Reynolds for his addiction.  He argues correctly that marketing to kids reserves you a place in hell, but that really, parents and pop culture probably got more kids to smoke than Joe Camel ever did.

He makes some funny observations about smoking (getting freaked out about getting lung cancer?  Why not light up to calm down).  But mostly he notes how all of the attempts in the past to curb smoking have resulted in more hegemony for the big players: The ban on TV advertising saved the industry millions of dollars and froze out new competitors.  Even tax increases on smokes in 1982 were a way for the industry to also raise prices (and make more money) all the while blaming the tax.  And what we wind up with is that no plaintiff can realistically claim ignorance of tobacco’s hazards, therefore the companies will never be deemed negligent for selling cigarettes.

He also mentions the book Cigarettes are Sublime, which I bought back when it came out, because although I don’t like smoking I have a sort of bizarre fondness for old depictions of smoking (it’s like Mad Men was made just for me).  I never got around to reading the book (and this article didn’t make me want to necessarily), but the attitude from the book sounds interesting.  I’m also delighted to check out some of the cigarette TV ads that are mentioned in the article: “Silva Thins, Silva Thins” and the Philip Morris Benson & Hedges “brilliant ” commercials.  [Here’s a great site with all manner of old cigarette ads–I particularly love the “feminism” of the Virginia Slims ad (on page 2)].

Cigarettes hold an undeibale place in American culture.  And even if they go away in most places, they will always be around.  This was an interesting article no matter what your opinion of the things.