There are so many — so very many — wonderful things about this video/performance. How many can you spot? Use your eyes!
I look forward to your responses,
HVB
Jul 122007
Jul 122007
These ladies should TOTALLY be suing Avril Lavigne.
Jul 112007
Judging a book by its cover
For some reason, earlier this year, I’d been keeping my eye on a late-2006 release I spotted on eMusic*, The Trials of Van Occupanther, by a band I’d never heard of called Midlake. It was probably the thumbnail of the cover that got my attention. It had a Fairport/Incredible String Band/Nick Drake look to it that I’m always a sucker for, at least in terms of graphic appeal if not the actual music delivered by these quirky British folk-rockers. So I sampled some songs and then downloaded half the album. I’m digging it.
There’s some of that British folk-rock in the music, but moreso the half album I downloaded is a journey to Psychic Oblivion. Or so I think. I’m curious to hear what experienced travelers of the roads to Psychic Oblivion think, Townspeople like Mwall and Dr. John. I’m also curious to hear what you think. Check out the following tracks.
“It Covers the Hillsides”
Let’s start with “It Covers the Hillsides”, which features a bizarre and perfectly inappropriate overdubbed instrumental section coming out of a more standard solo. Anyone who’s spent time in a studio with me is probably aware of my penchant for perfectly inappropriate overdubbed instrumental parts. I also dig the fringed mocassin-style bass playing on this and other songs. When I first realized that I was liking this song, I tried to recall whether I liked hearing bands like Firefall on the radio when I was a kid. I don’t think I did, but I do love those mid-70s Jefferson Starship songs like “Miracles”. This song may fit in with that form of Psychic Oblivion.
Continue reading »
Jul 112007
Did Avril Lavigne rip off the chorus to her smash hit “Girlfriend” from obscuro New Jersey ’80s pop-rockers The Rubinoos? You be the judge!
Here’s Avril:
And the Rubinoos:
BREAKING EVIDENCE!?!? Continue reading »
Jul 102007
All-Star Game Edition
“Mustang Sally” or “Bring it on Home to Me”?
Over the course of your life, have you spent more time listening to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” or reading about it?
Name a move by a rock band more tired than playing the Hollywood Bowl.
OK, name a move by a rock band more tired than playing accompanied by an orchestra.
Name a move by a rock band more tired than playing the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by an orchestra.
Has anyone heard the Midlake album The Trials of Van Occupanther?
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters (not the drummer version from Nirvana): Good egg or enough already?
What’s your favorite interview with a sideman that you’ve ever read?
What song or album has been impressing you of late?
What song or album has made you hear music in a new way of late?
I look forward to your responses.
Jul 102007
I don’t remember LEGOS being this intricate.
Jul 102007
Had more dinners than most
I get why people like The Byrds. I also get why they’re credited with bringing a fresh synthesis of already established and important sounds to rock that would be perfected about 25 years later with a few great, late-70s power pop singles and a run of solid Tom Petty records. What I don’t get is why they’re considered a major player in rock history. The best example, and this has bugged me since I first spent my hard-earned money on a Byrds’ “twofer” in 1980, is The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, which dedicates an entire chapter to The Byrds! Right between Dylan and Folk Rock is an entire chapter dedicated to a band with few more than a dozen great songs, probably eight of which are essentially the same reworking of a verse from a Dylan song. I don’t get it.
Had a chapter, a box set, the works…
Oh, I get the super-cool Roger McGuinn specs. I get the Rickenbackers and the perfect combination of lean legs and well-cut trousers. I get the pretty cool hair and the American Beatles appeal. I even get the dozen jangly songs with Dylan-lite delivery and mid-period Beatles harmonies. The Byrds are one of those bands for which Greatest Hits albums were made, but even then the dozen greatest hits pretty much hit exactly the same mark. Take away their couple of psychedelic hits, in which McGuinn played some cool guitar solos, and you’ve got a bunch of songs that would be George Harrison‘s contributions to mid-60s Beatles albums. Without being a member of The Beatles, would George Harrison’s 8 variations on “If I Needed Someone” and his best late-Beatles songs have been worthy of a full chapter in any rock history book? I think not.
I could, but I won’t rest my case!
Continue reading »
