SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Vol. 4 (1972).
When I was younger I liked this Sabbath album a lot more than I do now. There are some absolutely stellar tracks on here, but most of the songs are a rather peculiar for Black Sabbath. It showcases ballad-y nature that Ozzy would have for some of his biggest hits twenty years later.
“Wheels of Confusion” opens the disc with a fascinating bluesy sounding guitar solo that turns into a straightforward rocker. But, as it’s 8 minutes long, there’s a lot of twists and turns. And it ends with a two and a half minutes of upbeat guitar soloing (with a tambourine keeping the beat!).
“Tomorrow’s Dream” opens with a rocking bendy guitar riff but in the middle the chorus turns the song into a delicate ballad. This is followed by “Changes” a full-on piano ballad (!). It’s catchy, no doubt, and I loved it when I was younger, but I’m not entirely sure it passes the test of time. This is followed by “FX” which is literally almost two minutes of echoing blips and bleeps, some of which go back and forth on the headphones. It’s a very strange addition to any disc and is really the perfect example of “filler” unless by some chance this was majorly cutting edge at the time.
This is redeemed by “Supernaut” one of the all-time great Sabbath tunes. It’s heavy, fast and features a great guitar riff.
“Snowblind” is a another fantastic song. A great riff, and of course, it’s totally pro-cocaine! How can you tell? Well, because at the end of the first verse, you can hear a very unsubtle whisper of “cocaine.” My, how the band has changed in just a couple of years. This song also features a ballady mid-section. It also features an awesome middle bit that rocks very hard (and can be summed as: don’t tell me what to do). The drugs hadn’t deteriorated Sabbath’s songwriting yet, but give it a couple more records!
“Cornucopia” is one of the weird songs that you find on the second side of a Sabbath album. It’s a got an awesome slow, doomy opening riff which then turns into a speedy rocker.
When I was kid I really liked “Laguna Sunrise” and I still do. It’s a pretty acoustic guitar number (with keyboards or strings or something). After “Changes” you’re not surprised by anything that Sabbath will throw at you, but this song is really shockingly delicate.
“St. Vitus Dance” is probably the most schizophrenic Sabbath song. The opening guitar riff is so incredibly upbeat, happy and boppy; who knows what will come from it. And then the verses turn dark and edgy with lyrics about a breakup. And then the happy guitar bits come back!
The disc ends with “Under the Sun/Everyday Comes and Goes.” It is once again another wonderfully sludgy guitar riff that turns into a fast rocker (“I don’t want no Jesus freak to tell me what it’s all about!”). After the verses, you get this wonderfully weird guitar solo that’s like an ascending scale on acid. Fun! About three minutes in, it turns into “Everyday…” an uptempo rocker that’s not out of place with the other half of the song, but which does seem like an odd placement.
This disc was strangely experimental for Sabbath. And, while it’s nice to see them not getting stuck, some of their choices were certainly weird. And yet all Sabbath fans seem to regard this disc pretty highly (I think it’s the iconic cover that we all remember so fondly).
[READ: December 10, 2009] Unseen Academicals
Terry Pratchett knows football (soccer)??!! In all the years of Discworld books, I don’ think there has been any mention of football (or even any sport). Who knew he had a 400 page book about football in him?
Oh, and what is wrong with US book publishers? Look at the utterly lame US cover at the top here. First of all, the book is about soccer…why are they reaching for the ball with their hands?? Second, look here at this awesome UK cover by Paul Kidby (the official illustrator of Discworld). Does he not have publishing rights in the US?
American readers, check out this cover. It is awesome! It gives you the whole cast, it gives a wonderful graphic of just what you’d be up against when you play this team. Look, there’s the Librarian! And, of course, the drawing is great. Well, at least we have the internet.
But back to the football. As with any Pratchett book it’s not just about football. There is a whole bunch of stereotype-busting, inner-strength growing, pop-culture raspberrying, and general hilarity as well. Oh, and Rincewind is back! Hooray! (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-Let It Die (2004).
I’ve recently discovered Feist through Broken Social Scene. I know that she is huge (and “1,2,3,4” is a really great song that we used for our son’s 4th birthday video), but it took me a while to catch on.
It’s seductive and very pretty. In many ways the disc reminds me of Fiona Apple (although I think Fiona has a stronger more interesting voice and a better selection of background instrumentation).
Amelia tries to make friends in the new neighborhood. And the boys she hangs out with are Reggie (whose goal is to become a superhero) and Pajamaman (the one unrealistic character in the story, although he does achieve more depth than just the “weirdo who wears pajamas all the time” as the comic continues). Amelia also gains a nemesis, Rhonda, who has a thing for Reggie but who is generally too cranky to do anything but snark about everything). 
SOUNDTRACK: JARVIS COCKER-Further Complications (2009).
I really enjoyed Pulp’s Different Class album when it came out. In fact, I liked it so much I made sure to get This is Hardcore and even the one before the got big, His n Hers. I felt like the earlier stuff was just okay. So either they hit their stride or they got lucky just before they broke up.
SOUNDTRACK: DEERHUNTER-Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008).
Somehow, I can never remmeber what this disc is going to sound like when I pop it in. Once it gets going the songs are all familiar and very good, its just that initial listen, where I forget that the band is rather delicate and poppy. I tend to forget this because well, the bands name doesn’t sound delicate, and the album artwork has skulls all over it. So, to put it on and hear pleasant keyboard songs is alwaya bit of a surprise.
SOUNDTRACK: UI-Sidelong (1996).
I mentioned this band in my review of The New Yorker because Sasha Frere-Jones writes the music column for the magazine and he’s also the main guy here.
I Just Read About That... 