I’m always weary about biopics about musicians, especially those whose music I really enjoy (I was quite fearful about Walk The Line before I saw it), but the trailer for Control hints at a potentially powerful film. Check it out:
http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/08/control_trailer.php
Also, I really hope the whole film is in B&W.
Joy Division – She’s Lost Control
Rilo Kiley’s newest Under the Blacklight has been the subject of some debate among the music blogosphere because of its slick, overproduced sound. Listening to it last night, the album seems unfocused and there are a couple of just plain bad songs.
For instance, I mentioned on DeadOn that “Dejalo” sounded like a bad Miami Sound Machine song and lo and behold, Joshua Klein’s review of the album on Pitchfork connects the same dots. (The P’fork review is one of their maddening types of reviews where at some points they seem to praise the artist for their intentions (in this case, going for the “pop” brass ring) but damn their execution. I guess my problem is the stupid number system they have. Try and read the review without looking at the “number rating” and try to guess what it will be. The tone of the review never seems to fit the number rating. In Klein’s review, the middle four paragraphs all appear to be positive, yet the album gets a 5.1. I get the feeling that if the album was the debut of some previously unknown band, it would have been something like a 7.5)
So here is “Dejalo.” Unfortunately, I have no Miami Sound Machine songs to compare it to, so, I dunno, go to a wedding or something and you’re bound to hear “Conga.”
I know I’ve written a lot about Okkervil River lately, but I think their are highly deserving of the honor because The Stage Names is one of the best albums of the year and like any good album, it’s presenting more and more to me upon repeated listens.
The sharpest lyrical turn of the album is “The Plus Ones” where lyricist Will Sheff creates a tale that packs in references to famous numerical pop songs. For instance, Sheff references “99 Luftbaloons” in the line “And no one wants a tune about the 100th luftballoon.” The whole song is wickely clever and deft and after hearing it, I really wanted to through the song’s lyrics and create an annotated version, complete with mp3s for all the tracks referenced. However, Blogs Are For Dogs beat me to the punch. Go there and check out the goodness and then come back here for the solo demo of “The Plus Ones.”
Okkervil River – The Plus Ones (Solo Demo)
Photo Credit – Mary Sledd www.sleddphoto.com
Because on 10/2, The Stax/Volt Revue Live In Norway 1967, a concert DVD of the legendary Stax-Volt Revue is being released. The Stax-Volt Revue, featuring some of the greatest names in Soul/R&B of the time, blew minds across Europe in 1967 with their intense, raw stage shows. From All About Jazz by way of Idolator:
The Stax/Volt Revue Live In Norway 1967 includes a wealth of staggering performances from start to finish. Otis Redding delivers jaw-dropping versions of “Shake,” “Satisfaction,” the only known filmed concert performance of “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)” and a six- minute version of “Try A Little Tenderness” in which he comes back for four encores. Sam & Dave show why they were nicknamed “Double Dynamite,” with powerful performances of ”Hold On! I’m Comin’,” “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” and a chilling version of ”You Don’t Know Like I Know.” Other highlights include Booker T & The MGs’ scorching rendition of “Green Onions,” Arthur Conley’s definitive version of his big hit “Sweet Soul Music,” Eddie Floyd’s soulful “Raise Your Hand,” and the Mar-Keys’ grooving take on their top-five hit “Last Night.”
The Stax-Volt Revue has become legendary for a number of reasons, mainly because of the incredible energy of the performances and because it was the first time such a large group of soul/R&B artists toured Europe. The revue blew the collective minds of those Europeans, brought Stax Records a newfound fame in Europe as well as back in the States and got the label name checked by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, among others.
So after years of reading about it, we finally get to see it. To say I’m atwitter is an understatement.
Otis Redding – Try A Little Tenderness (Live From Monterey Pop Festival 1967)
Otis Redding – Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) (Live In Europe)
Sam & Dave – When Something Is Wrong With My Baby
Sure you can go through this awesomely compiled list of entrance music for Major League baseball players and make fun of some of the horrible choices (Nickelback? Backstreet Boys?! Vengaboys?!?), or you can criticize their lack of creativity (“This Is Why I’m Hot” comes up like eight zillion times). Or, you can give props to the apparently small minority of major leaguers with some good musical taste.
I’ve never heard of Peter De Santis of the New York Yankees (which is somewhat surprising because I’m a Yankee fan) but his choices of “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath and “Icky Thump” by the White Stripes are inspired. Fellow Yankee Shelley Duncan is also a fan of “Icky Thump” apparently, which offsets the horrible music of teammate Johnny Damon.
Boston reliever Brendan Donnelly, the Phillies’ Cole Hamels, Atlanta’s John Smoltz and Seattle’s J.J. Putz all go with “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, which I have long thought would make a great entrance music for a closer and as an added bonus, is way less played out than grossly overplayed “Hells Bells.”
Cincinnati outfielder Ryan Freel goes with the curious Suzanne Vega pick, but gets props for choosing something different.
The Tiger’s Curtis Granderson obviously has a penchant for early 1990s West Cost rap, and really, who can blame him?
Tupac ft. Snoop Dogg – 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted
The Mets’ Aaron Heilman, is perhaps unaware that he plays in New York, not London:
But more importantly, Heilman has a fever and there is only one cure:
Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear The Reaper
Shane Victorino is from Hawaii, and must love that Maui Wowee:
Damien Marley – Welcome to Jamrock
However, the Mariner’s Raul Ibanez might be the winner here:
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
Something you want to tell us, Grady Sizemore?
Finally, though I never seriously entertained the thought that I could make the major leagues way back in my little league days, my choice for entrance music has been firmly implanted in my brain for a while:
I spent this last weekend packing boxes and listening to Cookies, the excellent debut album from the Scottish band 1990s (Note to bands: I know band names like “1990s” and “!!!” are cool and abstract, but it makes it really difficult to google your damn band). The album is filled with sharp little pop songs, focusing on the two eternal rock song subjects; doing drugs and girls.
While the album mostly features short, sharp guitar powered tunes, Cookies takes a detour on the album’s finale, “Situation,” invoking Television, the legendary NYC band, with its purposeful mispronunciation of the word “Situation,” to its interlude of interlocking guitar leads. As I have said before, if you are going to rip off a band, make sure it’s a good one, and Marquee Moon-era Television is mighty fine place to start.
The pop song…
…the Television homage…
…and the original:
You should get a record player. Seriously. The other day, one of my neighbor’s was basically selling all her stuff on the sidewalk; actually, she was giving most of it away for free. I noticed a crate full of LP’s and she said I could take anything that caught my eye. I grabbed a bunch of good stuff, Destroyer by Kiss, Graceland by Paul Simon, a couple of Police LP’s and a Count Basie album. For free. That’s why it’s worth paying money for a new turntable when you can get good albums for free or a lot cheaper than other used music.
They still make vinyl LP’s for new records, but the major problem for me is that while I do enjoy listening to records at home, it’s really not a portable medium. A bunch of indie labels (is there anything they can’t do?) have rectified the situation by including coupons for digital downloads in with vinyl copies of new albums. The last two albums I’ve bough on vinyl (Ted Leo’s Living With The Living and Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga) have both come with digital downloads of full albums. Not only that, they’ve included downloads of bonus discs that come with CD versions of the record.
Of course, this is just smart business, as the indie labels realize that vinyl nerds also have iPods and computers and probably listen to most of their music that way. But it’s nice to be able to get a vinyl album and get all the extras as well.
From Ted Leo’s Mo’ Living:
From Spoon’s bonus disc Get Nice!:
As you may have noticed, posting has been light lately and will continue to be light in the future. This is because of three things: (1) filters at my work computer have blocked wordpress, meaning it’s difficult to write anything for this site. They have also blocked all means of me to share my music, which is a bad thing for a blog about music. (2) I spilled coffee on my laptop and despite putting it in front of a fan for several hours, the coffee has permeated the keyboard and prevented me from typing the letters “c, v, b and g.” This kind of puts a cramp into my writing style. (3) I’m going to be in the process of moving in the next few weeks, so despite a busy schedule, I will try to post every week or so.
Look for something tomorrow and hopefully the two people that read this will be able to get by somehow.
Two great tastes together? You have to wait for the end to hear John Darnielle’s guest verse, but it’s totally worth it.
Aesop Rock (featuring John Darnielle) – Coffee
Hat tip – MOKB
Enjoy it!
The Specials – Friday Night, Saturday Morning
The Jam – Here Comes The Weekend
Ghostface Killah – Saturday Nite (shout to Kansas Fried Chicken!)
