Love is in the air.
Sep 162009
Sep 152009
Here’s my own personal They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To gripe. I’m at the point of my life where I mourn the passing of 120 Minutes‘ ’90s heyday, when they showed videos by weirdo bands that had managed to snare major-label contracts.
Arguably, there is no weirder album from this era than Shudder To Think‘s Pony Express Record (Epic), which mixes glam, prog, hardcore, pop, beat poetry, and rock ‘n’ roll, probably in that order. It has a twisted sensibility which gloriously sets it apart from a lot of the painfully earnest rock of that era. Also, this is an album that you have to hear a couple of times to understand. (I actually picked it up in a used bin about 2 years ago.) The album doesn’t present itself as a mass-pleasing easy-to-love hook-fest. You have to meet it on its terms, and I’d argue it’s a rewarding experience.
I bet the above video will piss off a number of you for any number of reasons. (These comments from lead singer Craig Wedren make for a good read.) So tell me about your favorite Way Weird Albums From Major Labels, all the better if, like Pony Express Record, they were perhaps-inevitable commercial failures. Also, am I wrong in thinking these kinds of albums don’t come out anymore?
A few other notes:
1) Shudder To Think reunited a year ago, and have just released a live album, which you can stream for now here.
2) If you can track down their rendition of “The Ballad of Maxwell Demon” from Velvet Goldmine, you can hear the best fake Bowie song ever. Sadly, the version on YouTube is from the film, featuring the band’s backing track, but with that unfortunate lead actor singing lead instead of Wedren.
Sep 152009
With tomorrow’s re-release of their catalog looming, this is as good a time as any to broach a seldom-discussed topic on Rock Town Hall: The Beatles.
Specifically, as the topic indicates, we’re looking for your opinion on what the actual most underrated Beatles song is. In a song line up as well-known as this, you might think it difficult to decide, but I’m sure such a straightforward question will allow us to easily reach a consensus.
“I’m still thinking it over…”
I’ll ask you to observe two qualifiers for this discussion. First, let’s keep things limited to the music you could find on the original albums, Magical Mystery Tour, and the first half of Yellow Submarine (unless you feel strongly that, say, “Pepperland Laid Waste” is the answer), plus all the singles-related material you could find on the Past Masters collections. Second, you can not choose “Rain.” As arguably the most famous least famous Beatles song, it is my firm belief that “Rain” has so thoroughly acquired a reputation as the most underrated Beatles song over the years that it is no longer truly underrated. Protest if you want, but any running and head-hiding will not change the fact that “Rain” is off the board for this discussion.
As always, you are encouraged to show your work on Rock Town Hall, so please explain why you think your particular nomination qualfies as the most underrated song in the Beatles’ catalog. Thank you in advance.
Sep 152009
Not a lot to say, but I thought the Hall’s Prock enthusiasts might enjoy this, especially Travelin’ Townsman Hrrundivbakshi.
Sep 142009
I’m comfortable admitting to you that I’m mildly funny, and even if I’m wrong about that, I’m confident that I’m funnier than Pauly Shore. That’s not admitting much, but in terms of my comedic skills I’m willing to go out on a ledge and suggest that I may be funnier than Adam Sandler.
I’ve since been thinking about how my humble musical skills match up with the pros. Excluding Sid Vicious, how far out on a ledge am I willing to go in admitting that I think I’m a better musician (amateur guitarist/songwriter, specifically, in my case) than someone well known? In all fairness, I will not claim to be “better” than any artists whose music I despise yet acknowledge displays superior skills. I am not willing to admit that I’m better than anyone in Journey, for instance. Musically better, that is.
As a guitarist, I am comfortable admitting to you that I’m – at the top of my game – “capable of playing within my means.” I’m confidant that I’m a better guitarist than anyone in The Shaggs. That’s not admitting much, but in terms of my guitar skills, I wonder if I’m technically better than one of my heroes, Joe Strummer. As a guitarist, I must stress!
How about you? Admit it: regardless of your instrument and your level of skill, what’s the furthest out you’ll go in suggesting that you top the musicianship of a well-known musician? Is there some musician more accomplished than a musical Pauly Shore that you think you can edge out in terms of talent?
If you’re going to answer this hard-hitting question, please don’t cop out on us. Admit it.
Sep 142009
If I were a real, professional blogger with industry cred, I might be compelled to cover the following topics:
- Kayne West pulling the VMA trophy from Taylor Swift and making a complete ass of himself and all the white folks who fell for him in the first place because his album titles promote the fact that he’s a credible hip-hop musician who also graduated college, or something like that.
- Jim Carroll‘s death. Don’t get me wrong, I loved “People Who Died” as much as the next guy, but the rest of that debut album was kind of pedestrian to my ears and, maybe sadly, I never got around to checking out his poetry. The little bit I once saw of that Basketball Diaries movie looked good, though. If Carroll looked like Leslie West rather than a cross between David Bowie and Kevin Bacon would I be feeling less compelled to cover the man’s passing?
Sorry, I’m in a bit of a grumpy mood today after a blow-out, fun weekend only interrupted by my boys’ soccer team’s second-half collapse and news of a friend dying. My friend Tim never wrote anything as catchy as “People Who Died” or chronicled his life as a teenage basketball star and junkie, but in his short life he lived through more hardships (eg, heart transplant at 16, loss of his seemingly healthy nonsmoking wife to lung cancer at the age of 33, a few battles with cancer himself until this last one beat him) than any hardships most celebrities can cook up to induce on themselves. Tim was a solid, soulful guy from the time my friend Mary Beth first introduced him to me as her new boyfriend to the last time I saw him. I’ll always remember the penultimate time I saw him.
Last October, my friend Pete and I met up with Tim and his brother at the prescribed inning along the concourse down the third base line at Citizens Bank Park to watch an inning of the Phils-Brewers’ division playoff game. Throughout the second half of the 2008 Phillies season, we’d been making a habit of meeting during the same inning of all games on our season ticket plan. It was becoming a good luck inning, and that night we got to witness Brett Myers‘ shocking and epic at-bat against CC Sabathia, which was punctuated by Shane Victorino‘s grand slam! As the ball traveled before our eyes, we grabbed each other and hugged with all our might. We hugged anyone in reach. Man hugs. Women hugs. Kid hugs. Love was in the air, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of complete strangers conceived that night, seconds after the ball cleared the leftfield wall.
I still have no interest in discussing Kanye West, but I’m now better able to empathize with whatever some of you may be feeling about Jim Carroll.
Sep 092009
I was listening to the Hoodoo Gurus‘ album Stoneage Romeos today. It’s a fine mod-’80s rock album, in retrospect not especially “new wave.” One song really stands out from all the others:
[video:dailymotion:xb1nk_hoodoo-gurus-i-want-you-back_music]Obviously there’s another well-known song of the same title:
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Maybe “I want you back” is a feeling many songwriters might be drawn to. My challenge to the collective wisdom of Rock Town Hall is to name another title that shares two (or more?) songs this good.
