Sep 052015
 
Do it again.

Do it again.

Do you ever listen to a song and think, “Mmm, I wish they could have done that part over.” It could be a particular verse or solo or middle eight, as is the case whenever I listen to an old favorite I spun on this week’s Saturday Night Shut-In, XTC‘s “Love on a Farmboy’s Wages.” I still love that song, but I used to love everything about it, even the bridge—so much so, in fact, that leaned on it as a model for quickly exiting a tricky bridge on a few of my own songs. I don’t remember exactly when I started to wish for a do-over on that bridge, but at some point in recent years the way it ends—”…and it’s breaking my back!”—started to feel a bit forced, as if my man Andy Partridge was laying heavy on that closing line to shut the door on any feeling the listener may have of him having abruptly exited that exciting, unexpected part of the song. (Andy, if you one day Google yourself in this piece and start getting worked up about this pathetic cretin who is trying to read your thoughts, etc, please know that I love your body of work, including this song, which is one of my favorite songs on the planet. This is a Rock Town Hall discussion, where we allow ourselves to pick apart even our most beloved songs and artists.)

Your rock ‘n roll do-over may be an entire album or stylistic shift, a Look, whatever, but keep it to subjects you really care about. For instance, unless you’re a die-hard Styx fan, some snarky comment about “Mr. Roboto” won’t fly. I’ll ask YOU for a do-over.

Let’s do it again, shall we?

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Sep 012015
 
Mom!

Mom!

This week, Mr. Moderator revisits records that made a deep, lasting impression on him from the first time he dropped the needle (or pushed PLAY or clicked a link). What records stuck with you and wove their way into particular moments in your life?

RTH Saturday Night Shut-In 144

[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital library by subscribing to the Rock Town Hall feed.]

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Sep 012015
 

In a recent post by eminent Townsperson funoka, we were asked what albums we initially hated but learned to love. A neat idea and one that just begs for the reverse – albums that you once loved but no longer tickle your fancy. We all have at least one that fits the case. In my case, it would have to be Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon.

I remember the first time I heard DSOTM. It was early 1973 and I was a freshman in college. I was sitting in a dorm room with a friend and we were both cruising along nicely on magic psilocybin mushrooms (absolutely vile tasting but brain-twisting too). A mutual acquaintance rushes in brandishing a black album with a curious prism-diffracting-light design—the clear plastic was still on the cardboard sleeve. We slap the brand new record on the stereo and I slipped on a pair of headphones while my friends listened via the speakers. Having been transported beyond infinity as “On The Run”‘s synthesizers burbled along, I nearly went out the window when the alarm clocks hit. Surviving that moment of mental shock, I fell in love with the album and bought it for myself the next day.

Since then, I must have heard DSOTM seemingly thousands of times on turntables, in CD players, via MP3 files, and over the airwaves. I have “reference” copies in both CD and digitized form in my music collection. By now I know every nuance, every ka-ching sound, every bit of mad laughter, and every note. It’s been quite a few years since I voluntarily put it on. Frankly, I don’t care if I ever hear it again. It remains a great album but I’ve become hopelessly bored with it. I still listen to other Pink Floyd albums on occasion but DSOTM seems to have dropped off my playlist forever.

So there you have it—my tale of a once-great musical love descending into ennui and indifference. Now it’s your turn. What album that you once loved have you become bored with?

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Aug 262015
 

I’ve been on a big Wilco kick the last week or so.  I guess I got kind of egged on by the free download for the new Star Wars album. I’ve been going back and listening to some of their older stuff on Tidal, even though I have everything except the new one on CD. (God, I can’t believe what I’ve turned into — too freaking lazy to dig out my CDs most of the time.)

I’m transported back 20 years ago when A.M.  came out — and remember the collective shrug that greeted its release. I sure didn’t like it much — and thought Son Volt’s Trace kicked its ass.  I still like Trace but have really came around on A.M. in the last 5 years — “Pick Up the Change,”  “Passenger Side,” and “I Thought I Held You” are pretty decent songs. Yeah, it’s straight ahead alt-country, but it holds up. The “hit”  — “Box Full of Letters” — is kind of cute for those of us that wrote or received love letters and remember trying to sort out “merged” album collections after break-ups.

Anyway, can you think of an album you initially dismissed, but have come to appreciate? I look forward to your responses.

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Aug 202015
 

Those crazy lads from Cream leave ’em in stitches once again! What’s causing canned laughter in your neck of the woods?

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