About 5 years ago I decided to put together a mix CD of “tough” songs so that I could play it on RANDOM in my car stereo and determine which of the dozen or so songs was the most kick-ass of my selections. The mix included some usual suspects among my preferred kick-ass listening habits, but to my surprise a song I don’t play too often was declared the winner:
Continue reading »
I know you’re hungry for season 2 of Hear Factor, the interactive Rock Town Hall event in which Townspeople are asked to live in another Townsperson’s ears, listening exclusively to a mix CD from a possibly challenging slice of another Townsperson’s taste in music, and then reporting back their experiences to the Hall. If you weren’t around for last season’s Hear Factor and want to catch up on all the excitement, a fine summary of season 1/preview of season 2 can be found here. For a limited time, you can find links to downloads of the full mixes that Townspeople were subjected to in 2007.
I’m happy to report that submissions are rolling in, and I’m already getting some ideas of how I might redistribute these mixes so that they best challenge participants. As was the case last year, as I got to preview these mixes, there are some strong songs in all styles submitted. As a little preview of what may be coming the way of our participants, I’ve randomly selected a cut from each of the first 3 CDs I received and posted them here, without title or artist information, as our participants will receive their mixes!
Hear Factor, Season 2, Sample 1
Hear Factor, Season 2, Sample 2
Hear Factor, Season 2, Sample 3
If any of these are tracks you submitted, please don’t reveal that. Our hope is that participants will listen to their mix CDs without knowledge of the compiler. They will be welcome to guess at each compiler in their reports back to the list. Fear. Enjoy. What have you!
In the ’80s, Shonen Knife released a song that held immediate appeal to me based solely on the song’s title, “Making Plans for Bison”. Would this somehow be a response to XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel”? I bought the record, which was pretty cool on its own merits, and realized that not only the title played off the XTC song, but one of the lyrical hooks also was carried over. Satisfying.
Today’s Last Man Standing seeks Song Titles That Play Off Preexisting Song Titles. Richard Thompson‘s “Roll Over Vaughn Williams” is another example that comes to mind. Posting one title (and the original song title on which it’s based, if it’s not totally obvious) per Comment, show us what you’ve got!
Except for the fact that he initially lacked a drummer and bassist, the concept of Billy Bragg, when he first hit the scene, was right up my alley: Clash-inspired, heart-on-his-sleeve type with more than a dash of righteous Paul Weller; meat and potatoes chord changes and no-punches-pulled vocal style; distinctive album art; DIY game plan; seemed like a great bloke. To this day he retains all those qualities, plus he’s not against using a rhythm section now and then. I truly wish I could embrace the records of Billy Bragg, but all I’ve ever owned by him is the Joe Boyd-produced Workers Playtime, which is strong and includes the one Billy Bragg song I’ve always loved without reservations, “The Great Leap Forwards”. I check him out every few years, sampling songs I might download and hearing new stuff on the radio, but beside his songs on that first Woody Guthrie album he did with Wilco, I don’t come close to embracing his music. Maybe it’s because he’s a little too focused, too put together. Are there nooks and crannies in Billy Bragg’s music? He always seems to be shoving his Braggness in my face. His accent almost seems like a put-on. Is it for real or an affectation? And the solo electric guitar performances, although cool in concept, don’t cut it for me. An unaccompanied electric guitar usually sounds silly to my ears.
It’s too bad. Bragg seems like a guy who’d be cool to hang with. We would talk about Joe Strummer and other topics near and dear to our hearts. We’d drink a few cups of coffee and take in a sporting event. Someone would recognize him while we were standing in line for sausages, and I’d be impressed by how gracious he was with this stranger. Is there any hope for me and Billy Bragg?
I don’t think I’m alone in having experienced this: a pattern of falling for a certain stylistic description in record reviews and recommendations from friends emerges, one that includes a mix two or more artists I already love. The description may be easily believable – or so unbelievable that you find yourself falling for it hook, line, and sinker:
“The band sounds like Revolver-era Beatles as played by Captain Beefheart!”
After buying 5, maybe even 10 records that fail to fit this ideal description, you finally come to the conclusion that you’ve fallen victim to a Sucker Mix. The recommendation from that favorite reviewer or trusted music friend is sincere, but once you’ve sniffed out a Sucker Mix, there’s no going back. Just the other day I recommended that an old friend check out a band that I described as a mix of “Talking Heads and Pink Floyd.” I truly thought I was doing him a favor. I immediately had visions of how I would spend my “turn-on points.” Instead he waved me off, saying, “No man, I’m not falling for that one again!” He’d been suckered one too many times by a description of what, for him, was once a dream pairing.
Have you ever fallen victim to a Sucker Mix? How many albums fitting this description did you buy before you finally realized it was an impossible dream?
Like teaching a curveball to a young boy whose arm has not yet matured – or starting that same preteen boy on a heavy course of weightlifting – are there bands or albums that can be harmful to a young person’s musical development if exposed at too young an age?
This came up in a recent discussion with Townsman Andyr. I was telling him about our preadolescent boy getting into ELO‘s “Do Ya” and “Living Thing” and asking me to play him more of their music. When I told Andyr that my son asked me if “Do Ya” was the first heavy metal song, Andyr said, “Did you use this as an opportunity to open a discussion with him on The Move vs ELO?” My old friend knows me too well. Of course I did, and I made a mental note to play him the original “Do Ya” in the coming days!
Then Andyr asked me if I was going to turn him onto Roy Wood‘s Boulders. “No,” was my immediate reply, “he’s too young for that one.” That’s when Andyr brought up the curveball analogy. Having my boy jump ahead to a premature appreciation for Boulders (longshot that it might be) could mess up his musical development. It’s not that the material is “inappropriate,” in some prudish sense, but possibly loving it before working his way through the fundamentals of that strain of British pop music might give him a skewed idea of rock ‘n roll. He might blow out a forearm muscle and never learn to properly play power chords. You know what I mean?
I once had a similar feeling as a flea market, when a 12-year-old boy wanted to buy a used copy of John Cale‘s Slow Dazzle from a bin I was manning. Beside the fact that I didn’t want this boy leaving with a copy of an album I felt sucked and didn’t deserve to ever be resold (even if it was my own dreaded copy I was looking to move), I was worried that his possibly liking that album without first liking a great John Cale album might hinder his ability to ever discern good from bad Cale albums.
To those of you who’ve been entrusted with the musical development of young people, have you ever faced such a dilemma? I look forward to your sharing.
I think that’s a bottle of “The Clear” sitting on the counter in the opening shot, and at the 1:35 mark she’s definitely working “The Cream” into her skin!
