Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Neil Young’ Category

Ben Marcus–“Rollingwood” (New Yorker, March 21, 2011)

Posted in Ben Marcus, Marriage Trouble, Mojo, Neil Young, New Yorker, PJ Harvey, Short Story, Tom Waits, Work on April 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: PJ HARVEY-To Bring You My Love (1995).

After the intensity of Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love ratchets things down a bit.   In fact, it almost seems like Harvey wanted to explore a more mellow side.  I was disappointed in the disc when it came out, although I do think it has a couple of her best songs on it.  The overall tone is simply too atmospheric for me (and I like atmospheric music, I think I just don’t like her version of it).

She dumped the PJ Harvey band, and worked primarily with John Parrish on this disc.  But her voice is deep and resonant throughout the disc.  The disc seems to be easily broken into three styles of song:  brooding, quiet songs; distorted loud romps and catchy songs that have  kind of folk base.

The broody quiet songs dominate the disc.  “Working for the Man” is a very quiet–drums, quiet organ,and a shaker.  “Teclo” and “I Think I’m a Mother” are moody pieces.  After the dynamics of Rid of Me, you expect a big noisy section to come next, but it never emerges.

The louder, more rocking songs are sonically loud.  The title song is pretty much just her and a distorted guitar (not unlike Neil Young), while “Meet Za Monster” has a Tom Waits quality.  Of course, the real power comes from the devastating “Long Snake Moan.”  It’s a five-minute scorcher of a song full of screaming intensity.  And also from the amazing single, “Down By the Water.”  It has an intense distorted bass that buzzes seductively through the whole song.  And when the whispered vocals come in it’s an unexpected sonic triumph.

The third style, acoustic rockers, shows up on “C’mon Billy,” a gorgeous acoustic track with Harvey’s voice strong and proud, and “Send His Love to Me” another intense vocal song.  Both of these songs thread her wonderfully catchy acoustic guitar playing with her rocking sensibilities.

The final track on the disc doesn’t fit neatly into any camp.  “The Dancer” is a moody piece, but Harvey’s vocals are loud and strong and probably the most interesting on the disc.

Even though I don’t like this disc as much as her others, I still acknowledge that there’s some great stuff here.

UPDATE: My friend Lar mentions an interview with PJ Harvey in Mojo.  I’ve made it accessible here.

[READ: March 17, 2011] “Rollingwood”

This is a story about a man who is overwhelmed by his life.  But unlike those of us who suffer from general overwhelmedness, Mather has some very specific problems that conspire against him.

The second, and less obvious one is that his work is less than forthright to him.  His supervisor doesn’t communicate well, there are temps in his cubical and, worst of all, the daycare center where his son goes during the day is closed inexplicably.

The first and more obvious problem is his son, Andy.  Well, more to the point the problem is that his ex simultaneously doesn’t think he does a good job rasing their son, but she also has no problem leaving Andy with him when she runs off with her new boyfriend.

Of course, Mather doesn’t speak up for himself in any of these situations so he is not innocent in the problems.  However, Andy’s mother is pretty much a capital b bitch.  She takes off with her new boyfriend for an unspecified amount of time and doesn’t leave any kind of contact number (Andy has health problems, too), yet she still doesn’t accept responsibility for her actions.  And when Mather’s office’s day care center is closed, there’s not very much that he can do. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Douglas Coupland–Shampoo Planet (1992)

Posted in Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Douglas Coupland, Funny (ha ha), Greed, Marriage Trouble, Neil Young, Rheostatics, Technology, The Inbreds, tagged on February 21, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Live at the Bathurst Street Theatre, Toronto ON, April 4, 1997 (1997).

This concert is free as a download on the Rheostatics Live website.  According to the on-stage banter, the band had just finished a string of live dates with the Inbreds that were recorded for their amazing Double Live album.  They even say that this night’s show is also being recorded for the disc.  And the set list is pretty amazing.

Which is why this show is such a disappointment.  Part of the problem is obviously the quality of the recording, and you can’t fault anyone for that…a bootleg is a bootleg after all.  But the band makes some really odd flubs and some of the songs seem really lackluster.  This is all the more surprising because the band seems in really good spirits –making jokes with each other and with the crowd (they make someone take off a Mr. Bean T-shirt!).

The biggest gaff comes in “King of the Past” where (I think Dave) begins the chorus a measure early (yipes!).  “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” for some reason removes the loud rocking “Michael!” and “Jackson!” sections and replaces them with whispers.  It’s an interesting change, but the intensity is completely lost.  Something is also missing from “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine,” there’s no oomph to it.  And, my favorite song “Claire” sounds off to me (I think it’s the recording though).

On the plus side, “My First Rock Concert” is great and well-received.  Dave introduces it as if it was the first time they’ve played it, which is very exciting.  The end of the show picks things up and the band sounds better.  In fact the last two songs are really great (and you can really hear Neil Young’s influence on the guitar).  I’m willing to blame some of my disappointment on the sound quality…it’s missing a fullness that you really need to appreciate the band, but this is not an A+ show.  They played another show the following night there (also available online).

Heh, I just learned that they used a number of recordings from this show on Double Live.  They used “Torque, Torque,” “Claire,” “Bread Meat Peas & Rice” and “Feed Yourself.”  Listening back, “Torque” and “Peas” sound great in the set and “Jesus Was Once a Teenager, Too” is a fun, light version.  “Claire” still sounds funny to me (even on Double Live), but it’s definitely worse on this bootleg.  The mixing is so much better on Double Live (of course!), that it really accentuates the guitar solo and backing vocals much more.

[READ: February 1, 2011] Shampoo Planet

On the inside cover of my copy of Shampoo Planet, I scribbled my name and “December 1992.”  I was in a phase of putting my name on all my books (which is kind of cool looking back, but really rather silly).  This is Douglas Coupland’s second book, and I remember being very excited when it came out.

I’m sure I read it then, but upon re-reading it (admittedly almost twenty years later), I didn’t remember anything from it.  Does that mean I didn’t read it, or that the book was just ephemeral?  Well, in some ways it is ephemeral, because it’s such a document of its time.  It also seems to me that either Coupland is (or was) unique in his writing style, or that very few writers dealt with 90’s culture as directly as he did.  Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another writer who approached 90s culture in the same way

In many ways, this book is all about dealing with the wealth of the 90s, when money was everywhere and people felt free to experiment with their lives.  And, yes reading this now the story feels so light and free and I wish that I had the problems that these kids deal with.  I also wondered if anyone could write a story like this now, with youth culture being so very different.

The inside front and back cover are (different) periodic tables that he has personalized with 103 elements of the 90s.  (Lu=Moon, A=Ambition, Dd=The Dead).  This is the only nod to unconventional book tropes here (where Gen X had all of those definitions that he footnoted).  In fact, the novel is fairly straightforward and conventional.

The main character, Tyler, is a twenty year old who cares more for his hair (he has a vast array of products–my favorite observation: “always better to buy well-advertised products–preferably those products endorsed by a celebrity” (133)).  He was raised in a hippie commune off on Vancouver Island (the only real nod to Canada in the book), but when his parents divorced, his mother Jasmine took the kids to Lancaster, a suburb of Seattle.  And, as seems to happen, the children of hippies became proto-yuppies. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Brendan Connell–“The man who saw grey” (in Blind Swimmer: An Anthology of Eibonvale Press Writers) (2010)

Posted in Adbusters, Art, Artists, Brendan Connell, Canadian Music, Guided By Voices, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Rheostatics, Rush, Unlikable main character, Word usage, Yuck! on November 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-“We didn’t even suspect that he was the poppy salesman.” (2001).

Martin Tielli’s first solo disc is a proper solo release: it’s almost all him on acoustic guitar and his gorgeous alto voice.  I hadn’t listened to this disc in a while and I was delighted by how much of the disc I knew so well.

Te opening track, “I’ll Never Tear Your Apart” is deceptively simple: harmonic’d guitars and his gentle voice.  There’s a great video to go with it here.  That is followed by the wonderful “My Sweet Relief” which sounds like a great Neil Young folk song: great verses an a strong chorus.  Lyrically, though, it is all Tielli.  “Double X” highlights Tielli’s beautiful acoustic guitar work (and his dark lyrics).  “Voices in the Wilderness” is another delicate song (which opens with a sound that reminds me of Led Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song,” although in no way is the rest of the song like that. This song also (mis)quotes Rush very nicely: “‘If you choose not to be free you still have made a choice,’ said a high and squeaky voice.”

“Farmer in the City” is the only track that Tielli didn’t write.  It’s a nearly 8-minute song by Scott Walker.  I don’t know the original, but Tielli’s version is a bit too meandering to be really satisfying (although it fits in with the album style quite nicely).  It comes across as an atmospheric song more than a song proper.

It’s followed by the delightful “World in a Wall” which uses mice in the wall as a metaphor for a broken relationship (with wonderful detailed lines like: She’s like a mouse, I know she’s around It’s a gnawing sound. Leaves little brown poohs from a little pink bum.”

This is followed by the odd rocker “That’s How They Do It in Warsaw” (which features a woman speaking Polish–no idea what she’s saying).  It’s coupled with a slightly less rocky but still loud track “How Can You Sleep?” (which makes another fun musical allusion, this time about Guided by Voices).

“She Said ‘We’re On Our Way Down'” returns to the more ethereal sounding songs (although this has some great guitar tricks thrown in).  Like the bulk of the album, the song seems to eschew melody but then a gorgeous guitar or vocal line shines through and really sounds brilliant.  “From the Reel” is a beautiful, aching little ditty.  And the disc ends with the odd, seven minute “Wetbrain/Your War.”

There is a really wonderful review of post-Rheostatics work here at The Ohs.  He’s pretty harsh on the Bidiniband (although I haven’t heard the disc proper, just the live concerts that toured it, so I can’t say for sure) but his assessment of Tim Vesely is spot on (I love the idea of a Canadian Wilburys) as is his review of this disc.  I particularly like the Mary Margaret O’Hara comparison: Achingly beautiful but in need of an editor from time to time.

[READ: November 1, 2010] “The man who saw grey”

One thing I have really come to appreciate about Connell’s stories over the years is that he is not afraid to deal with dark aspects of humanity that many people would rather not think about.

The thing that surprised me about this story is that, in the past, Connell has used very specific language, one might even say two-dollar words (some of which I had to look up), to convey his ideas.  But in this story, he largely refrains from such language, keeping the language down to earth and familiar, much like his protagonists.

So this is a fairly simple story: a man hits his head and can thereafter only see in shades of grey.  What makes the story much more interesting than that simple plot is that the protagonist is a painter (well, his hobby is painting, in reality he is an administrator at the DMV). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jonathan Franzen–“Sifting the Ashes” (New Yorker, May 13, 1996)

Posted in Cigarettes, Death, Essays, Jonathan Franzen, Mad Men, Neil Young, New Yorker, The Violet Archers on October 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

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.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Madeleine Thien–”Su Na, Bird” (The Walrus, July/Aug 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, End of the World, Huron, Madeleine Thien, Nature, Neil Young, Short Story, Sloan, The Walrus, Thin Lizzy on June 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: HURON-“Corktown” (2010).

Huron‘s “Corktown” opens with a guitar riff that sounds like classic 70s rock (hello Thin Lizzy!).  But when the song kicks in for good, the verses are a light, jangly pop.  It makes for a really interesting mix of styles and it works really well.

Some of the other tracks include the screaming rock of “Big Dig” (which has chord progressions of Neil Young but sounds nothing like Neil Young).  It also features some wonderfully stupid fat bass sounds as the song nears its conclusion.  “Bloodfire” has another great guitar solo.  And the vocalist sounds an awful lot like one of the guys from Sloan (who knew Sloan could be so influential?)

Thanks CBC Radio 3 for introducing me to this great band.

[READ: June 15, 2010] “Sun Na, Bird”

This final piece is at the same time the bleakest and yet most hopeful story of the group.

It is the near future and in this suburban Canadian town, all the humans have fled, with no intention of returning (the TV is still on in the house where the story takes place). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Lisa Moore–“Mask” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Lisa Moore, Neil Young, New Yorker, Summer, The Walrus, Zeus on June 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ZEUS-“Kindergarten” (2010).

Continuing my march through CBC Radio 3: The radio announcer dude said that this album might make the long list for the Polaris Prize.

Zeus is a Toronto based band that has worked as a backup band for one of the guys from Broken Social Scene.  This is an acoustic guitar/quietly distorted electric guitar track that’s poppy and fairly commercial.

I wasn’t all that inspired by it, until near the end where these wild backing vocals come in (and it gets something of an Arcade Fire vibe).  The second song on Zeus’ page, “Marching Through Your Head” is much more promising.  A catchy bouncy pop track with enough weirdness to keep it interesting.

They do a cover of Genesis’ “That’s All” which is described as “raucous.”  And if you click on the link you’d be hard pressed to disagree with that assessment.

[READ: June 14, 2010] “Mask”

Hot on the heels of the New Yorker Summer Fiction Issue, I received this issue of The Walrus with their own Summer Fiction section called “Canadian Studies.”  This issue features nine authors.  They were all asked to write “the most Canadian story they could think of.”  Now, I’ll start out by saying I’m not Canadian, and I don’t want to suggest that I know what the most Canadian story should be like. At the same time, I read The Walrus, I watch a lot of Canadian TV, so I have a slight grasp of the culture.  So while I know a Canadian story isn’t going to be about igloos and elk, I’m certain that some more subtle stories will be lost on me.

Lisa Moore’s story is first in the collection.  It is quite short.   And I didn’t think it was especially Canadian, although perhaps, given one of my Vancouver friends’ proclivities, it is. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Joshua Dysart & Cliff Chiang–Neil Young’s Greendale (2010) [prepub]

Posted in Books about music, Canadian Music, Cliff Chiang, Concept Albums, Death, Joshua Dysart, Nature, Neil Young on May 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE-Greendale (2003).

This is a lengthy song story (rock opera?) from Neil Young.  It’s a pretty meandering story, musically, although there’s a lot of electric guitars involved, and Crazy Horse keeps the pacing pretty brisk.

The songs are all pretty long (from about 5 to 12 minutes).  And they are all employed for telling the narrative of the town of Greendale and its first family: the Greens.  The town of Greendale was named after a patriarch of the Green family.  The story focuses on his great-granddaughter ( I believe) whose name is Sun.

Her parents own the Double E ranch, where her mom sings and her father paints.  The story is set during Bush’s war in Iraq.  And as more revelations come out, Sun has more and more reason to fight.  She ultimately winds up fighting PowerCo, chaining herself to their giant eagle statue, wielding only a megaphone and the truth.

Later, she plans to travel to Alaska to protect the environment.

But there’s also ancillary characters.  Sun’s cousin Jed is trying to do anything he can to avoid joining the army.  But when his drug running comes to the attention of the cops he acts impulsively against someone he actually knows and is punished for his crimes.  We also meet Sun’s grandfather, a tough old man who speaks his mind just a bit more often than he speaks with his guns.

And there’s also Earth Brown, the boy that convinces her to go to Alaska with him.

Musically, the songs fall into a similar vein: long, loping, kinda sloppy jams, acoustic guitar over the top of Crazy Horse, and of course Neil’s voice.  There’s nothing revolutionary about the music.  It’s just a solid collection of tunes.  If you don’t like songs that last 12 minutes, this may not be your cup of tea.  But I find that if I engage with the story I really enjoy the disc.  And yes, there’s a few catchy choruses too.

[READ: May 11, 2010] Neil Young’s Greendale

Adaptations from one media to another are quite common these days.  So, to see a comic book made from a record (and a film) isn’t that surprising.  What is surprising is how this story comes to life on the page.  I haven’t seen the film of this record, so I don’t know how it compares, but this graphic novel really fleshes out the story from the CD.

I was delighted to get this as a prepub, as I didn’t even know it was coming out.  This preview copy of the comic is one of the first advance copies I’ve received that is not anywhere near the final version.  The final product will be in color, while my version has about ten pages in (beautiful) color and the rest left uncolored.  I didn’t count the pages, but I suspect that a fairly large amount of the final product was left out as well.  And that’s fine. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Matthew Loux–Salt Water Taffy 2: The Seaside Adventures of Jack and Benny: A Climb Up Mt. Barnabas (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Bruce Cockburn, Canadian Music, Carole King, Children's Books, Eliza Gilkyson, Gord Downie, Graphic Novel, Greg Brown, Guy Davis, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, Lynn Miles, Matthew Loux, Nature, Neil Young, Ongoing, Oni Press, Steve Earle, Summer, Supernatural, The Wailin' Jennys, Tom Waits on February 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK—DOWN AT THE SEA HOTEL (2007).

This has rapidly become one of my favorite CDs for our kids.  It’s a collection of lullabies written by some great artists with performances by: Guy Davis, Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, The Wailin’ Jennys and Lynn Miles.  They play either solo or in groups to create a wonderful collection of tracks which maintains an overall cohesive sound.

It’s nice to have a collection that, although it contains many different singers, retains a similar style, a style that feels like a group of folk singers playing together just to get you to relax.

The songwriters include: Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Bruce Cockburn, Gord Downie, Neil Young, Carole King, Steve Earle and more.  It’s a magical collection of songs. Perfect for any bedtime routine.  The only problem with it is that my daughter usually falls asleep before we get to the end, so I don’t know the last five or six tracks all that well (but I know the first batch from start to finish).

I also recently learned that you can get a very cool edition of this CD in a book format. It is an illustrated edition of the title song and it comes complete with the full CD attached in the back. The book is quite beautiful (and I wish I had gotten that version instead of just the CD).

[READ: January 26, 2010] Salt Water Taffy 2

This fantastic kids graphic novel series just gets better and better.  I enjoyed this story so much that I decided to read it to my 4 year old son.  I removed a few paragraphs and edited for length but he really enjoyed the story…leading him down a garden path to comic book enjoyment.

This book continues the story of 8 year old Jack and 11 year old Benny on their family summer vacation in the seemingly dull seaside town of Chowder Bay.   The first volume laid out enough backstory for you to know that the town is boring as all get out for the kids, with no TV even!  But the locals have plenty of adventure for the kids to get up to.

As this book opens, the family is on a nature hike.  The boys are collecting feathers to compete with Fisherman Angus’ fantastic collection of a feather from every (species of) bird on the island.  But they are easily distracted from this quest when their dad reveals that Angus isn’t the only one on the island with good stories.  For indeed, he himself once climbed to the top of Mt Barnabus (the tallest mountain around) where he fought Barnabus, the giant eagle, for the hat that he is wearing at this very moment.

The boys are awed by this and now hold thie rdad in slightly higher esteem.

Later, when the kids are playing (and one of them is wearing that very same hat), Barnabus the giant eagle swoops down and take the hat right of his head.  He proceeds to fly up to his cave on th etop of the mountain.

The rest of the book covers the boys’ decision to climb that mountain by themselves and rescue that hat.  They encounter many many dangers on the way (I edited down the wolf section a wee bit)but what they find at the top of th emounatin is by turns frightening and hilarious.  (I especially enjoyed the cameo of the little lobsters from Book1).

The resolution to the story is great, the drawings are great, and the entire sprit of the book if one of advneture and fun.  It’s a real treat to read, and I’m delighted that there;s a 3rd book already available.

The first story laid out all of the details of where and who they are.  However,

Read Full Post »

Renee Lott–Festering Romance (2009)

Posted in 3 Inches of Blood, Alexisonfire, Boredom, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, City and Colour, Death, Ghosts, Metric, Neil Young, Oni Press, Renee Lott, Romance, Rush, Supernatural, The Tragically Hip, Word usage on January 31, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:CBC Radio 3

I listened to CBC Radio 3 briefly when I had Sirius Radio, but I just learned that I could listen streaming online.  In addition to playing (as they say) Independent Canadian Music, they also have a really multifunctional website where you can input any band’s name, read about them and listen to bands’ tracks.  And of course, you can also listen to their live streaming station as it happens (you can even play recently played and even upcoming songs).

Since it’s a CBC station there are no commercials.  And since they are from the CBC they focus exclusively on Canadian bands.  I’m not sure how literally to take the Independent part; however, they don’t include Neil Young, Rush or The Tragically Hip.  But you can get City And Colour (and even AlexisonFire) and even Vancouver’s own 3 Inches of Blood!.

So let’s say you want to hear some tracks from Metric, a band you’ve heard good things about.  Type in their name, get to their page, and play away.  As far as I can tell, the band uploads songs and videos for you to stream.  And, unlike other streaming sites, you can listen to the same tracks multiple times.

If you like your music Canadian and independent, this is the place to be.  Check it out!

[READ: January 29, 2010] Festering Romance

Recently I complained that the Oni graphic novel Wet Moon had the worst title I have ever heard.  And then I found out that “wet moon” is actually an astronomical phenomenon, and I retracted that complaint.  Regardless, this graphic novel now replaces that one as the single worst title in the history of books.  Festering Romance?  Surely not.

Merriam Webster gives us this: 1. To generate pus  2. Putrefy, rot  3. To cause increasing poisoning, irritation, bitterness.

So, okay, the 3rd definition might work, but you have to overlook those first two really radically inappropriate definitions first. (And if you’re afraid to read a book with that title, rest assured, there is no festering pus of any kind in the book).

This terrible title does a huge disservice to what is a really, really great comic, and apparently the first self penned releases by Renee Lott. The artwork is fantastic (more on that in a moment) and the plot was really moving.  I enjoyed it enough to have already passed it along to someone else. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jonathan Lethem–This Shape We’re In (2001)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Dystopia, Funny (strange), Jonathan Lethem, McSweeney's, Neil Young, Short Books on February 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »

lethem.jpgSOUNDTRACK: NEIL YOUNG-Live at the Fillmore East (1970) & Live at Massey Hall (1971).

I came to the Neil Young ballgame much later than lots of fans. I’ve always more or less liked Neil, I really liked his Weld live album, and of course, I knew all of his classic rock, um classics. It was Sarah who really turned me on to Neil’s more mellow side, especially Silver and Gold. And, once you’re into the raucous and the mellow, well, that’s the whole oeuvre, pretty much.

So, I’ve been getting various records by him over the years. And there was so much buzz about these archival releases that I had to check them out. I’m not going to go into whether they were “worth the wait” (some complained about waiting twenty some years for these releases to get only 6 songs on the first one…but I wasn’t waiting terribly long for them, so I don’t care).

fillmore.jpgLive at the Fillmore East. This is a fun, rowdy little disc. I’m confused as to why it’s only 6 songs, as surely they would have played more at the time, but I’m not going to spend any real time figuring that out. The first two songs, “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” and “Winterlong” are fuzzy, brief versions of these cuts. They’re a good opening in prep for the twelve minute “Down By the River.” Two more short songs, “Wonderin'” and “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown” barely prepare you for the 16 minute “Cowgirl in the Sand” conclusion. I didn’t know that “Downtown” was a “Crazy Horse” song and not a Neil song. I’m not even sure where I know it from, but it was as familiar as most of his tracks. And it was interesting to hear one of the other guys sing the song.

This is Neil and Crazy Horse at their 1970s prime. They sound great, the extended tracks aren’t tiresome, and the quality of the recording is fantastic.

massey.jpgLive at Massey Hall. The same quality is evident on this recording as well. But this record is just Neil solo. It’s a more mellow affair, with the songs being pretty evenly split between acoustic guitar and piano. This disc has 17 songs on it and only one runs over 5 minutes (actually the closing “Dance, Dance, Dance” runs pretty long too, but it’s basically 2 and a half minutes of applause which Neil really should have cut).

What is most interesting/fascinating/cool about this recording is that so many of these songs, which at this point are rightly deemed classic, are heard here by this crowd for the first time. It’s really funny to hear a song like “Needle and the Damage Done” that doesn’t immediately generate a huge round of applause on the first note. You can hear the Toronto audience really listening to the songs. It’s pretty intense.

There’s two or three songs that he says something like, “I just wrote this song last week.” There’s also the really fascinating introduction to “A Man Needs a Maid/Heart of Gold Suite.” I’ve never much like “A Man Needs a Maid” but when he explains the context for writing it (that he’s making a musical (and whether that is true I have no idea) and you can hear the orchestral version playing along in your head) it actually WORKS! The only confusing thing is that he busts into “Heart of Gold” in the middle of the song, and no one bats an eyelash because no one has heard it before!

It’s a really cool collection of songs. I’ve not heard Neil banter so much on record before, and he sounds so YOUNG. It makes sense to hear him write and sing “Old Man” since he wasn’t an old man at the time.

It’s hard to pick one or the other because they are so different, but I think for historical value Massey Hall is the winner. Plus, you get the home town crowd cheering every time he mentions Canada.

[Read: January 28, 2007] This Shape We’re In.

This is a strange little book. It’s about 55 pages. I had never read any Jonathan Lethem before, and since this book was cheap from the McSweeney’s store I thought I’d give it a shot. And boy is it strange. The pun of the title is that the characters are indeed in a shape. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »