Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Concert’ Category

Richard Thompson (Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, October 9, 2016)

Posted in Concert, Fairport Convention, Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA on October 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 9, 2016] Richard Thompson

2016-10-09-15-21-28I saw Richard Thompson play back in February at McCarter.  I saw him open for Wilco (well, I saw some of his set since I was late) back in June.  And now I’ve seen him in October.

That’s a lot of Richard.  But I couldn’t pass up this show because the Sellersville Theater is one of the most intimate venues around.  I scored Row G seats like in McCarter although Sellersville’s row G is a bit further back because they have tables in the front.  But it was still like having him play in my living room.

I’ve seen him play in many different styles over the years.  This summer he also toured with Bonnie Raitt with his trio.  I would have gone to that one, since I haven’t seen his trio, but prices were way too much and I don’t like Bonnie Raitt–well, her music anyway, I’ve no opinion about her.  Like the last two times, this was just him and his acoustic guitar.  And while I would love to have gotten a different setup, there is nothing wrong with just him and his guitar.

This was a matinee show (2PM!) thrown together kind of at the last minute (it was announced less than a month ago).  He joked about how matinees are usually played fro 5-year-olds or 95-year-olds–either playing 1930s covers or Puff the Magic Dragon.  He was glad that we were between those ages.

And like last time, there was the man just six rows away.  And I got to watch every amazing solos and chord changes and capo placements and tuning and everything else he could do with that one guitar.  For the McCarter how he played for 2 hours.  We only got 90 minutes (he said “I have three more minutes before I turn into a pumpkin”) which is a little skimpy (although probably about the normal length for a show).

And while no RT show is disappointing, I was a little bummed that his setlist was almost exactly the same as the one he played at McCarter.  The first two songs were different, but almost all of the rest were the same.  And there were no requests or improvs, apparently.

I mentioned last time that he doesn’t play a lot of songs from his new album.  Which is a shame both because his newer albums have been outstanding, but also because he works pretty hard at them (I assume), and he should get to play more from them.   Of course, I totally get that he is practically contractually obligated to play “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” “Beeswing” “Persuasion” and something from Fairport Convention.  But holy cow, he has so many songs.   He could play a different setlist every night for a month!

But enough griping, because the show was great.  he sounded fantastic and the acoustics in Sellersville are really top-notch. (more…)

Read Full Post »

An Evening with Todd Rundgren (McCarter Theatre, May 21, 2016)

Posted in Concert, Late Show with David Letterman, Marvin Gaye, McCarter Theatre, Nazz, Princeton, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, The Tubes, Todd Rundgren, Tom Jones, Utopia on May 23, 2016|

[ATTENDED: May 21, 2016] An Evening with Todd Rundgren

2016-05-21 22.05.52I was astonished to learn that I’ve gone most of my life not knowing that Todd Rundgren wrote “Hello, It’s Me” and “Bang the Drum All Day.”

How did I not know this?

Indeed it turns out I didn’t know much about Rundgren.  I knew he was in the band Utopia and that they played weird prog rock.  And I also thought he was kind of a control freak.  But I didn’t realize he had those huge hits (which might explain how he makes so many weird albums–and he has a lot of weird albums).

I don’t even know what made me get a ticket of this show.  I had recently been hearing a bit about him. I had looked him up on line or some reason (that’s how I knew he wrote those songs) and I recognized the photo to the right, an iconic photo from Something/Anything (which was used as the backdrop for the show).  When I saw that he was playing at McCarter, I decided it was time to check him out.  Now, I was going to see a show the night before and normally I don’t like to do two nights in a row, but since this show was so close by (and I knew I’d be home by eleven) I decided to go.  And I had a great time.

The blurb for this show started: “The classic rocker Todd Rundgren may be 67, but he shows no signs of slowing down.”  And that’s very true.

I managed to score a seat in Row J, which was so close to the man I could see him sweat (ew).  The only problem was the very tall man sitting in front of me (I should have asked him to switch seats with his tiny wife).

While I was waiting for the show to start, a woman sat down next to me with her husband and some friends.  She was super friendly (and a bit drunk) and we started talking.  She asked how big a fan I was of Todd.  And I had to admit that this was my first show.  She told me that she first saw Todd when she was 16 (or 19 who can remember) and has seen him every tour since then (she’s in her 50s).  She said he tours constantly and she will see him twice a year sometimes.

Normally I’m not much of a talker during a show, but I enjoyed having her next to me to occasionally guide me through what I was hearing.  Unlike the louts at the end of the row who were talking really loudly and making jokes throughout the show (and getting up to go to the bar every couple of songs).  They were big fans I could tell (they knew every song), but such disrespect I’ve never seen.

The lady (whose name I never got) told me that Todd makes a new playlist for each show and decides what he’s going to play an hour before he goes on.  That was pretty cool.  She told me a few other things that were interesting about him (he has a house that he built in Hawaii but he never goes there because he is always touring).  And that, amazingly, she’d never actually met him after all these years.

And then the lights dimmed and the band came out.  Followed by Todd.  And the crowd went berserk!  It was especially amusing because it was practically like a  Tom Jones show, with women throwing themselves at him (my seatmate remained remarkably composed).  These women (mostly) stood and applauded after each song, waved their arms and were so utterly into it, I was amazed. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Richard Thompson (McCarter Theatre, February 9, 2016)

Posted in Concert, Fairport Convention, George Bernard Shaw, Linda Thompson, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Richard Thompson, Set in New Jersey! on February 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 9, 2016] Richard Thompson at the McCarter Theatre

2016-02-09 19.19.51This was my fourth time seeing Richard Thompson at McCarter Theatre (he says it was his 492nd time playing there).  And this time, I got my tickets early and scored ROW G!  Right in the center!

2016-02-09 19.24.13So there was the man just six rows away.  And I got to watch every amazing solos and chord changes and capo placements and tuning (that’s why I can’t play his songs) and everything else he could do with that one guitar.

For indeed, that’s what it was, just him and his acoustic guitar.  Standing in front of us for 2 hours and blowing us away.  When I bought the tickets, he was touring with a trio (last summer), so I assumed that this show would be the trio show.  But nope, it was just him.

And, more amazingly, he played with no opening act!  The night before he was at the Sellersville Theater (which sold out before I found out and although they called me about the waiting list, it was about 2 hours before show time, so there’s no way I could have gone) and had an opening act.  And the next show after this one he had a different opening act.  But we got just Richard (and we were home by 10, which is pretty awesome for us old people). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Richard Thompson (McCarter Theatre, October 4, 2013)

Posted in Concert, Fairport Convention, Frank Loesser, Jonathan Franzen, Linda Thompson, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Set in New Jersey!, Teddy Thompson on October 8, 2013| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 4, 2013] Richard Thompson at the McCarter Theatre

Back again for the (semi) annual Richard Thompson show at the McCarter Theatre.  RT himself said this was his 15th year playing there more or less every year.  And it seems like quite a lot of the concertgoers were multi-year attendees.

This time, Richard Thompson’s son Teddy opened.  About fifteen years ago I saw Teddy open for Richard in Boston.  That set was really enjoyable and I bought Teddy’s debut album.  But I haven’t thought all that much about him since (he has released a number of albums since 2000).

I spent some time at this show thinking about how strange it must be to tour with your father if he is a guitar wizard.  Teddy is not a guitar wizard and doesn’t try to be one.  [There’s an article that I’m going to be posting about in a few days by Jonathan Franzen which  deals with coping with successful fathers, so it was on my mind].  Indeed, in an article from a few years ago, Teddy said that at first he never listened to his parents music because it was folkie and he like rock.  But after a while: “I started to be more aware of how much people loved [my parents],” he said. “When I started doing (music) for a living, I felt, ‘I’m not as good a guitar player as my dad. My voice isn’t as good as my mother’s.'”  His mother is Linda Thompson who does have an amazing voice.  So it must be intimidating to be on with a guy that is so good and so beloved.

But Teddy has a great voice as well (more powerful than Richard’s), he sounds a bit like Neil Finn from Crowded House.  Teddy played about a dozen songs.  I actually didn’t recognize any of them, but I enjoyed them all.   As I said his voice is strong–and is really the selling point, because while the melodies are very good, they are also rather simple.  I don’t know that anything was as catchy as the songs by his dad, but of course plays a very different style of music–a kind of country folk with an occasional hard edge (both Thompsons only played acoustic guitar for this show).

I don’t know what their relationship is like (I always assume that famous (relatively) people’s children hate them.  But it was clear that Richard was proud of his son when he came out.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Tessa Hadley–“Bad Dreams” (New Yorker, September 23, 2013)

Posted in Concert, Dreams, Kiss, Marriage Trouble, Metallica, New Yorker, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Tessa Hadley on October 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_09_23_13Brunetti_spine.indd 220px-Alive_IV_KISSSOUNDTRACK: KISS SYMPHONY-Alive IV 2/28/03 (2003)

This CD is a bit out of order in the Kiss chronology, but since I’ve just looked at a few live Kiss albums and looked at “Atom Heart Mother,” the ultimate orchestra rock, it seemed like a good time to throw this in.

This is from a Kiss concert in Melbourne Australia.  The disc (and I assume the concert) is broken into three sections: regular Kiss, Kiss with the Melbourne Symphony Ensemble and Kiss with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The first six songs rock pretty hard.  It’s an interesting collection of songs from throughout their career.  “Deuce” and “Strutter” sound good.  “Let Me Go, Rock n Roll” is a surprise and one that I like a lot, (although I find it weird that Peter Criss says exactly what he said at the end of the song on Alive! –it was in audible then and it is inaudible now).  Of course I wish they hadn’t chosen “Lick It Up” but it is better than on Alive III (I like the way he turns the “I want you, I need you” into a simple plea “to clap your hands”).  It makes me laugh that Paul is still using the “rock and roll pneumonia” schtick thirty years after I first heard it to open “Calling Dr. Love”.  And then there’s the new song, “Psycho Circus,” I haven’t mentioned that album yet but it’s a new song and they play it with verve.

The one thing about the disc that is especially obnoxious is how proud of themselves they are about doing this tour with an orchestra.  Paul says, ““Some people said we were crazy to attempt this Maybe we are crazy but that’s what makes us Kiss.”  And yet, clearly it’s not an original idea (I mean even Metallica, the most obvious comparison did theirs three years earlier).

When the Ensemble comes out, they play 5 mellow songs.  The first (and most obvious) is “Beth”.  But man does it sound lousy here. Peter doesn’t seem to have any of the oomph to make it sound any good.  (The orchestra sounds good though).  The next obvious song is “Forever.”  What I find odd about these “Ensemble” songs is that it sounds like the band is using acoustic guitars which just add a strange percussive sound (since you can barely hear the guitar over the orchestra).  I understand being unplugged for the Ensemble, but it sounds weird.

The huge surprise comes with “Goin’ Blind” in which Gene sings in a quite pretty falsetto.  He sounds old (for sure), but it’s a surprisingly pleasant voice.  Another huge surprise is the inclusion of “Sure Know Something “ from Dynasty.  And then the craziest surprise of all is “Shandi.”  “Shandi” is one of those songs that I used to joke asking if Kiss played it live.  I cannot believe they played it (even with an orchestra)  I wonder if Australia especially liked the Dynasty/Unmasked era.  Of course, I love that era as well and am thrilled to hear this song live (even if Paul sounds a little stilted singing it).

Then comes the bloat.  Disc two brings in the full orchestra and the sound is…weird.  The orchestra is sort of playing along with the band (mostly like added strings to pop songs and swells as needed). The big surprise is that the strings don’t play the iconic solos—which would be frankly amazing–imagine the whole string section playing the solo to “Detroit Rock City.”  Rather, the sounds that we hear most from the orchestra are the horns, which make it sound kind of like a marching band playing Kiss.  But the real problem is that the band seems to be fighting with the orchestra.  Since the guitar and entire orchestra are playing the same thing, you can’t really hear one or the other very well.  Worse yet, by the end, both Paul and Gene seem to be screaming to be heard over the orchestra, which makes them sound quite bad.

It’s not a total disaster.  Some songs work just fine.

“King of the Night Time World” had orchestration on the album, but in this version, they just seem to be throwing in strings everywhere.  “Do You Love Me?” works great in this setting for the exact opposite reason that I didn’t work in Unplugged—the orchestra brings up the chorus to higher levels.  “Shout It Out Loud” is pretty successful with the orchestra although Gene seems really flat.  The orchestra works well on “God of Thunder” probably because the music itself is so spare that the orchestra fills in the gaps nicely.

I’m always disappointed when Paul plays around with the vocal styling in popular songs—he does it a lot in “Love Gun.”  I’m not saying that every song should sound just like the record, but it’s weird unsettling when he mixes things up in weird ways as he does here. The orchestra is good for this one though.  And, the strings work great with “Black Diamond.”

On the other side of things, It is very creepy to have a children’s choir sing to the groupie-anthem “Great Expectations” but it does sound good—until the end when Gene doesn’t even seem to care a bout the spoken words.  “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” gets less disco and a bit more rock here.   And the set ends with “Rock n Roll All Nite” which is something of a throwaway here.  It’s the inevitable conclusion to the show, with the orchestra being little more than accents.

So the orchestra is not really a very successful addition to the set.  It may have been great to see live (the orchestra in Kiss makeup and all), but the recording leaves something to be desired.  The set list, on the other hand is pretty great and I would love to have these songs in any future show that I see.

[READ: September 25, 2013] “Bad Dreams”

I’ve enjoyed most of the Tessa Hadley stories I’ve read in the New Yorker.  And most of them have had similar themes.  But this one is quite different.

I’ve been finding with a lot of stories lately that I really like the way a story starts out and that I kind of wish it would keep doing whatever the story is doing, but that the author has something else in mind.  It’s hard to complain about that because it is the author’s story, not mine, but it still bums me out a little even if I ultimately like where the author went with the story.

So in this one, a child wakes up in the dark.  We get a glimpse of the house and where she is at, but the crux of her waking up is that she had a dream about her favorite book, “Swallows and Amazons.”  The really cool and spooky thing about the dream is that she dreams an epilogue to this story that she has read so many times.  And the epilogue is disturbing—not horrifically, but just enough to freak out a young girl.  She dreams that that one of the boys drowned, that her least favorite girl, the plainest girl went on to a long happy life, etc.

This is such an interesting idea tha I couldn’t wait to see where it went.  Of course, I can’t even imagine where you could go with that, and maybe Hadley couldn’t either.  Because instead we leave the girl’s room and head to her father’s study.

We learn about her father but during her visit she decides to upend all of the furniture in the room.  Not out of malice, but in a dreamlike state.  And then she imagines her parents’ reaction to this and thinks it will be very funny.   She vows to never admit that she did it.  Then she goes back to sleep. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Ron Geesin–The Flaming Cow: The Making of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother (2013)

Posted in Biography, Books about music, Concert, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Pink Floyd, Ron Geesin on October 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

flamingSOUNDTRACK: RON GEESIN & L’ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE RADIO FRANCE-“Atom Heart Mother Suite” (2012).

geesin“Atom Heart Mother” is one of my favorite prog rock songs.  And it’s amazing how much I didn’t know about it (which is what this book is for).  This recording of the “Suite” is an extended version that Ron Geesin created for Radio France.

I’m fascinated by this version of the song because while it is basically the same (Geesin added a few extra measures for the cello solo), it sounds so “professional.”  The original (as the book points out) was kind of slapdash and it has a very loose feel.  This version is almost too perfect (although it’s not perfect as you can tell by the guitar solos).  Nevertheless, I love that this song has broken free of an obscure Pink Floyd album with a cow on the cover.

You can see and hear the extended 2012 version here:

[READ: September 27, 2013] The Flaming Cow

Big news (to me) is that Ron Geesin created the orchestral score for Pink Floyd’s “Atom heart Mother.”  He had nothing to do with side two of the album Atom Heart Mother (although he does say where the album title came from, and shows the proof–the first woman with an atomic pacemaker was in the news that day), but he was instrumental (ha) in creating the 23 minute epic.

I actually knew of Geesin from his score with Roger Waters for The Body (a vinyl album I own from when I was really into Floyd, but which I haven’t listened to in decades).  But so here is the full explanation of how the crazy beast (which my high school friend Kevin deemed the number one “seriously drug induced” song) came to be.

Except that Geesin has a lot to say about himself first.  The book is 120 pages (about half of those pages are pictures) and he doesn’t get to the song until Chapter III.  At first I wasn’t all that interested in his biography, but it actually pays off when you see what his musical background was and how it was ideal for him to create the score for “AHM.”  His musical background is interesting in his DIY approach and “one man band” esthetic.  But really, we got this book to hear about this Epic (which is what it was called first).

And on that front, well, he doesn’t have a ton to say, believe it or not.  We learn that Nick Mason (who was friends with Geesin and who wrote the Foreword to this book) and Waters had created the basic structure of the song.  And they called on Geesin to flesh it out.  So Geesin used his understanding of writing scores to create some really unexpected tones for this otherwise fairly simple song.  It also turns out that (for me) recounting someone else’s recounting of recording a song is kind of boring, especially since there were no astonishing revelations.

I did enjoy reading that the band would make more money if the suite was broken up into various parts rather than one 20 minute song, so that’s where the arbitrary section names came from.  And Geesin does give a fairly detailed explanation of why he did what he did in the score, but it only last for about three pages.  Suffice it to say that although it was a very hectic schedule (and Geesin almost did come to blows with a horn player) the recording was not too dissimilar to other recording sessions that I’ve read about.

What was interesting was that the band had gone from really liking it to dismissing it.  And that the band seemed to want to distance themselves from it because they wanted to go in a different direction (Meddle, their next record, also has a 23 minute song (the awesome “Echoes”) but it is very different from AHM).

Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was the life that the song has taken since the recording.  In 2008 Geesin wrote an extended version of the suite for the Chelsea festival.  The song was performed on two nights and on Sunday,  June 15 2008, David Gilmour played guitar for the piece (he wasn’t able to make the Saturday night show).

There is a lengthy video from this concert as well (just below).  For the first 20 minutes Geesin introduces the piece (which is basically a prelude to the book).  The introduction is a little more dramatic than the book (but not all that much).  In this video, the audio is quiet (and not that great) and there’s no actual video (just stills), but it is still entertaining.  Then there’s the song itself.  And it includes a reprise (with more Gilmour slide guitar) of the end of the song.

Someone also nicely recorded the Gilmour version (and included some video at the end of the piece)

The Radio France version above was commissioned for an entire evening of Geesin works.  As I said above I only have his “music from The Body” which he recorded in 1970 and which was his second album.  I have no idea what the rest of his work sounds like.  But he was on hand to play the piano for “Atom Heart Mother” and the rest is history.

This book proves to be more about Geesin than “AHM,” but it’s still an interesting read.

Read Full Post »

Roddy Doyle–The Commitments (1989)

Posted in Africa, Aimee Mann, Babies, Ben Folds Five, Books about music, Cam’ron, Charlie Parker, Common, Concert, Consequence, Curtis Mayfield, Dublin, Ireland, Etta James, Fiona Apple, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Funny (ha ha), Game, Gil Scot-Heron, GLC, Hank Crawford, Hot Press, Irish Writer, James Brown, Jamie Foxx, Jay-Z, Jealousy, Jon Brion, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Miles Davis, Nas, Paul Wall, Q-Tip, Racism, Ray Charles, Really Doe, Religion, Rhymefest, Roddy Doyle, Short Books, Talib Kweli, The Commitments, Trilogy on August 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

commitSOUNDTRACK: KANYE WEST-Late Registration (2005).

I lateregcan’t get over how much I’ve been enjoying Kanye West’s music as of late.  So much so that I went back and bought Late Registration.  I wanted to check out his early stuff, so naturally I started with…his second album.  And it’s a really enjoyable, soulful, gospel-filled rap album. Complete with Kayne’s bizarre, humorous and often offensive lyrics.

Musically the samples are wonderful—they create a very specific feel of pop soul that both works with and sometime against the lyrics.  The album suffers from two things that I’ve found I do not like in rap, and in articular in Kayne’s albums.  It bugs me when rappers intro their songs with several “uh, yeah”s.  I don’t know why but it does and that’s how Kanye opens the disc.

And, I wish there weren’t so many guests on the record.  While I understand the guest singers who provide backing vocals, I don’t get all the guest rappers (and there are a lot: Paul Wall, GLC, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Game, Jay Z, Really Doe, Nas, Cam’ron Consequence).  I mean, I’m not here for them, so why devote so much time to others, it makes you seem like you couldn’t thin of enough to say (and we know that’s not true about Kanye).  After a few listens, I have grown to appreciate the guests, but I like Kayne’s style so much that the other guys are just distractions.

Late Registration is largely produced by Jon Brion, who has made some amazing music with Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann—and while it is certainly stripped down Brion, the flourishes that Brion often employs are apparent here.  Like the tinkly pianos and farty bass that opens “Heard ‘Em Say.”  There’s some falsetto R&B-esque vocals from the singer from Maroon 5 here—I had no idea he sang like that.  It fits very well with the song.  And the instrumental section at the end is very Brion.

“Touch the Sky” uses a long sample (slowed down quite a bit) of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on Up.”  But the sample is so much of that original song that it almost seems like cheating.  Except that he has slowed it down and modified it somewhat, and…his raps work perfectly with it.  The other really crazy sample is from Gil Scot-Heron which samples “Home is Where the Hatred Is.”  The strange thing is that the song is 1:44 and the last 45 seconds of the song are just Scot-Heron’s song playing along by itself.  It’s weird to have given up that much to another song…but it sounds great.

“Gold Digger” is a very funny song about, well, gold diggers.  The topic isn’t new (the fact that it samples an ancient Ray Charles song attests to it), but the chorus of “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggers” is great.  There’s also an intro section with Jamie Foxx doing his now patented Ray Charles.  It’s a pointed song but done with a very funny twinkle in his voice (the Kayne twinkle).  “Drive Slow” is a cool slow-tempoed number with a great sample from Hank Crawford and an interesting slowing effect at the end of the song.  “Crack Music” is a great political song equating making records to selling crack.  The metaphor works well.  And this is one of Kayne’s strong pro-black songs.  It’s really powerful.

The surprising thing is the two really sensitive songs: “Hey Mama” which is a sweet song to his mother in which he promises to go back to school and get his doctorate and “Roses,” which is an angry but beautiful song about his grandmother being in the hospital.  There’s a great verse about her being poor and therefore not getting the best care: “you telling me if my grandmother was in the NBA right now she’d be okay”   As well as a line about a nurse asking for his autograph while they are worried about his grandmother—although, realistically, how often is a nurse going to meet a star like Kayne?  The end of the song has some great soulful crooning by (as far as I can read) an uncredited singer.  And I feel like Brandy, who opens up the next song really falls flat in comparison to this unnamed singer (I don’t care for the way newer black singers wail their scales).  But the Etta James sample of “My Funny Valentine” that floats through “Addiction” is gorgeous.

“Diamonds from Sierra Leone: is a surprisingly political song that samples “Diamonds are Forever.”  There’s two version on the album.  I like the remix featuring Jay-Z a lot less, in part because I’ve never been a huge Jay-Z fan, but also because his verses completely interrupt the flow of the song.  “We Major” has  a very retro, almost easy listening vibe. There’s a lot of backing vocals going on and they remind me somewhat of Ben Folds Five’s backing vocals (which is pretty weird, I suspect). This song is interesting for its talk of worrying about daughters—as with many rappers, women are bitches and hos unless they are your grandma, your mama or you daughter—which is kind of awkward, really.

“Celebration” is perhaps the weirdest juxtaposition of contents.  It’s a celebration, bitches.  A celebration apparently about the fact that he and a woman (who had a fatty) accidentally had a baby (“You my favorite accident”).   That line makes it sound like the child is at the party, which makes the chorus “Grab a drink, grab a glass, after that I grab your ass” hard to fathom.

 “Gone” has a nifty piano melody (and some cool interstitials very Brion-infused melodies) that plays under Cam’ron and Consequence’s raps.  The song is kind of a muddle (although a funny muddle) until Kanye comes in at around 4 and a half minutes.  I really like the way the album ends: with Kayne rapping “Sorry Mr West is gone” and the music completely cutting off.

The bonus tracks include the original of “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” and “We Can Make It Better” (which features Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Common and Rhymefest). It’s an interesting track (especially the sped up backing vocals) but it seems like a bit of a throwaway (which is surprising given the number of guests).  “Late” is a unlisted bonus track which is very strange.  There’s lots of “ah ha ha has” in a posh sounding falsetto).  But there’s some witty lines in here, especially this verse:

They said the best classes go to the fastest
Sorry Mr. West there’s no good classes, and that’s what yo’ ass get
Not even electives? Not even prerequits?
You mean I missed my major by a couple of seconds?
Now I’m in the shop class or the basket weavin
With all the rest of the muh’fuckers underachievin

So Kayne is clever and stupid.  A great rapper and a not so great singer.  And amazing producer and a good song writer.  And this is as good an album as I’ve heard it was.

[READ: August 8, 2013] The Commitments

I have been reading a number of big, heavy books lately (which I have yet to post about…later in the week), so I decided to take a break with a light, fun book. And one that I’ve read before (and seen the movie of many times).  I looked on the inside cover where I wrote the date of acquisition (a thing I did for a while until I realized it was kind of silly, and yet I’m glad i did it here) October 1993, almost twenty years ago.

But aside from Jimmy playing songs on vinyl, there’s very little that’s dated about the album–which may even be the point of the book.

This is the story of a bunch of misfits in Ireland who join together to form a soul band.  The nucleus of the band is Jimmy Rabbitte, a local kid who lives and breathes music.  He had Frankie Goes to Hollywood before anyone else and he knew they were shit before anyone else.

Some of his mates have started a band (called hilariously And And! And) which plays new wave.  Jimmy tells them they should play soul instead.  He plays them some James Brown and they love it.  Which leads to the talk of music and sex.  And they are really into it.  And then there’s  the oft quoted line from the movie: “The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once and say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud.”

And so they begin a quest to find the rest of the band.  Jimmy puts an ad in Hot Press (the Irish music magazine) and interviews everyone (some very funny jokes in there).  And the recruits form a crazy quilt of characters.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Nick Hornby–Songbook (2002)

Posted in Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Folds Five, Bruce Springsteen, Concert, Decadence, Essays, Marcel Dzama, Mark Mulcahy, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Nelly Furtado, Nick Hornby, Paul Westerberg, Rod Stewart, Rufus Wainwright, Sex, Short Books, Soulwax, Suicide, Teenage Fanclub, The Bible on July 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

songbookSOUNDTRACK: songs from Songbook (2002).

songbook2Songbook came with an 11 song CD.  I’m curious, given the way he speaks so lovingly of the songs in the book how come more bands/labels didn’t want to be included on it.  The proceeds went to charity and it would just be more exposure for the artists.  There were a lot of songs I didn’t know and would love to have heard (or would love to hear while I was reading).  And frankly I see no downside to throwing a track on a compilation which is a collection of someone’s favorite songs.  Of course, things were very different in the music world in 2002.  Now, someone will just make a playlist on their iPod of theses songs, and post them to Spotify.

PAUL WESTERBERG-“Born for Me.” I’m much more of a fan of Westerberg with the Replacements, as he got a little too polished as a solo guy.  But this song has a fun, shambolic quality to it (it doesn’t even sound like Westerberg singing).  It wouldn’t be a favorite song of mine, but it is a nice one.

TEENAGE FANCLUB “Your Love is the Place Where I Come From” and “Ain’t That Enough.”  I really like Teenage Fanclub a lot.  They are one of my favorite jangly pop bands.  So these two songs rank pretty high for me.  Although I admit to liking their slightly more rocking songs a bit more, “Your Love” is a very pretty ballad and “Ain’t That Enough” is just gorgeous.

THE BIBLE- “Glorybound” Hornby says he knew these guys.  It’s an okay song, a little too slick for me and very of its time.

AIMEE MANN-“I’ve Had It”  I like Aimee Mann very much.  I can’t say that I paid a ton of attention to the lyrics of this song (I didn’t know it was about touring) but I’ve always liked it—the understated yet beautiful melody and chorus are very nice.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT-“One Man Guy” I like Rufus a lot.  I don’t own any of his music, but I really like everything I hear from him.  His delivery is so louche, it makes me smile every time.  This song is actually one his father wrote and sang many years ago (very differently).

ROD STEWART-“Mama You Been on My Mind” Hornby’s essay on Rod Stewart is hilarious.  And his defense of early Stewart is wholly believable.  I, of course, know Rod from his later, laughable stuff, so I never considered his early work  But this track is pretty good.

BADLY DRAWN BOY-“A Minor Incident” Sarah and I love Badly Drawn Boy, and this soundtrack in particular.  Hornby’s discussion of how he Damon got to do the soundtrack is very interesting.

BEN FOLDS FIVE-“Smoke” I’ve liked Ben for years now (going to see him in two weeks).  This song has always been a favorite both for the lyrics, which are great and because that weird harp-type sound is him playing the strings of his grand piano with a pick.

MARK MULCAHY-“Hey Self Defeater” I don’t know Mulcahy at all.  This song has a beautiful wavery guitar and gentle vocals (it’s funny to read about Hornby rocking out when most of this disc is quite mellow).

ANI DIFRANCO-“You Had Time” I was a huge Ani DiFranco fan back in the day, but this song is unknown to me, or should I say unfamiliar to me.  It’s on one of her very early albums.  Perhaps it’s more that I must have ignored the piano opening, which Hornby pays close attention to and really explains it in a useful way, showing how it is more about a beautiful melody being born from chaos.  And now I respect the song a lot more.

[READ: 2002 and July 1, 2013] Songbook

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written this very book in my head….  A list of favorite songs and why they are so important to me?  How cool is that.  I have no idea how come Hornby got to write it (I know, High Fidelity), but still, what a nice cozy assignment.  And to have this book illustrated by Marcel Dzama is even cooler.

This book came out in 2002 after About a Boy (and in the year that About a Boy was being turned into a film).  Hornby had recently hooked up with the McSweeney’s gang and began writing for The Believer in 2003.

I had no idea that the book was released in the UK under a different name (31 Songs) or that they also released an accompanying CD (A Selection of Music from 31 Songs) with 18 songs on it (see my comment above about CDs).  Although we got fewer songs on the disc in the US, at least ours came with the book. (more…)

Read Full Post »

#OccupyGaddis (2012)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Air, Big Books, Canadian Music, Concert, David Foster Wallace, Feist, James Joyce, Radiohead, Supergrass, The Velvet Underground, Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis on June 11, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-“Femme Fatale” (2011).

The funny thing about The Velvet Underground is that it seems like it would be very hard to fail at covering them.  Their songs are pretty open to interpretation.  But, it’s even more true if you wanted to do it pretty straight.  I mean, while Lou Reeds voice is unique, Nico’s isn’t really.  It’s slow and languorous, sexy and distant.  I would never have thought to describe Feist that way and yet she fits into the Nico mold very nicely.

This cover comes from the Velvet Underground Revisited show from 2011, with a band comprised of members of Radiohead, Air and Supergrass.  Feist did vocals for this one.  It’s not an earth-shattering cover.  In fact it’s pretty spot on.  Maybe everyone who hears this will start a band too.

You can hear it here.

[PLANNED: Summer 2012] #OccupyGaddis

I had my books all planned out for the summer.  A series of smaller books to get through before trying to tackle any really big books that are on my shelf (and there are plenty).

And then came #OccupyGaddis.

William Gaddis is an author, like Thomas Pynchon, who writes large, unwieldy novels which are something of a bedrock for contemporary American fiction–like The Velvet Underground–not many people have read him, but those who have all went on to write wonderful books.  And he forms a kind of continuum of (among many many others) Joyce>Gaddis>Pynchon>Wallace which means that I ought to be reading him.

I read JR about a decade ago.  I remember a few things about it–basic plot details and the fact that you never know exactly who is speaking.  I wasn’t keeping this blog then, so I didn’t exactly take notes on it or anything.  It’s kind of a blur.

So Lee Konstantinou is running #Occupy Gaddis this summer.  It is meant  to be an Infinite Summer type-deal.  Unlike Infinite Summer which was weekly, he’s planning on posting every two weeks.  I’ll try to do my weekly post (work permitting), by picking a midpoint as a Spoiler Line.  Since my recollection is that JR is like one large block of text with no breaks anywhere, my spoiler line will be pretty arbitrary.   But here’s his:

June 29: pp. 150

July 15: pp. 300

July 31: pp. 460

August 15: pp. 610

August 26: done!

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Ursula K. Le Guin–“The Golden Age” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Anachronisms, Books about writers, Concert, Fantasy, History, Michael Chabon, Neil Young, New Yorker, Playboy, Sci-fi, Sexism, Squeeze, Tarkio, The Decemberists, Ursula K. Le Guin on June 6, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-Live on KGBA (from Omnibus) (1998).

Tarkio released an album called Live on KGBA in 1998.  Omnibus collects 4 songs from that release (according to various websites, the other tracks include “Kickaround” “Neapolitan Bridesmaid” “Helena Won’t Get Stoned” “Caroline Avenue” and “Candle”  (from the I Guess… album) “Weight of the World” (from Sea Songs) and “Whipping Boy” (the only song that’s not elsewhere on Omnibus).  This live record was distributed in some fashion way back when and there are copies floating around the internet.  I’m not willing to risk a virus by clicking on these links though, so I’ll stick with the few tracks on Omnibus.

The sound is excellent, and the full collection would no doubt be a welcome addition to anyone’s Tarkio fandom.

“Carrie” has a very Neil Young feel, from the rough acoustic guitars to the aggressive strumming technique.  It doesn’t sound like any Neil Young song in particular but you can imagine Neil looking on and smiling.  Even the solo is kind of Neil-ish (electric guitar over the acoustic main song).  “Am I Not Right?” sounds like a newer Decemberists song—there’s some very cool abrasive chords at the chorus “Knowledge!”  “Mess of Me” is a boppy acoustic number that’s fun to sing along to.  It opens kind of like the Decemberists song “The Infanta” but quickly turns into something else entirely.  “Goodbye Girl” is a cover of the Squeeze song done with a dominant banjo.  Although it lacks the original’s punch, it works well as a folk number.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “The Golden Age”

I feel like I’ve really been missing out by not reading any Le Guin.  The more I read from her now, the more I feel like I should be dropping everything and reading her output.  And I will read at least some of Earthsea eventually.

But in the meantime, I can enjoy pieces like this.  She talks about how science fiction has never really been considered “literature” and how it’s always been relegated to the genre ghetto.  Be that as it may, she’s also disappointed when science fiction writers try to deny their ghetto by saying, “Pay no attention to the spaceships…[this] is Literature.”  She thanks Michael Chabon for smashing down at least some of the ghetto walls.

Which allows her to look back at the past and the early Science Fiction Writers of America conventions.  She remembers the fun talk and open mindedness—except for a notable few who were deeply conservative, a surprise for a group of men who were supposed to be looking forward, not back.  And yes…men.  There were very few women sci-fi writers back in the fifties (in “The Golden Age”).  Indeed one SFWA member wanted to create a members-only necktie! (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »