Wow, Has It Been That Long?

My little unplanned break from active blogging has suddenly turned into close to two months of no posts at all. I'd apologize, but I doubt anyone's really checking this site daily or weekly looking for stuff to read.

And really, if I don't have much worthwhile to write about or share with you (assuming "you" even exist), then why fill the space with posts regurgitating the news of the day followed by my snarky comments and criticisms?

So I just wanted to drop a quick note as a place holder to show I'm still here and the blog is still going. Not sure where or when.... but it's going.

With that, I'll leave you with a Top Ten list of stuff I've really enjoyed listening to recently:

1. John Wesley Harding - Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
2. Prince - Lotusflow3r and MPLSound
3. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
4. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
5. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
6. Otis Taylor - Recapturing the Banjo
7. Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi
8. Jerry Garcia Band - Kean College 1980
9. Tom Petty - Highway Companion
10. My 17-month-old son talking more and more every day

Radio Killed Led Zeppelin: The Top 10 Songs That Remain the Same

Today we mourn the death of a great band, Led Zeppelin, at the hands of big bad Classic Rock Radio. Sure, you could look at a couple tracks on the following list like “eh, that's not overplayed; I wish my station would play that one.” And that illustrates the point. The fact that we can all think of more than 10 Led Zeppelin songs that are so overplayed says something about classic rock radio.

1. Stairway To Heaven
2. Black Dog
3. Communication Breakdown
4. Whole Lotta Love
5. Immigrant Song
6. Rock'n'Roll
7. Fool in the Rain
8. D'yer Mak'er
9. All My Love
10. Dancing Days and Heartbreaker (tie)
    
    
    
11. Kashmir*

I remember when my brother got In Through The Outdoor on vinyl as a Bar Mitzvah gift. I spent a lot time obsessing on how the front and back covers were related.

I also remember hearing "Kashmir" on classic rock radio a lot when I was little. My dad and brother were musicians (I was just a drummer) and we used to listen and count and try to figure out the deal.... we thought the song was in 7/8 timing, but there was always something weird about it that messed with us. Turns out the guitars were essentially playing a riff in 3/4 while the drums were still in 4/4. Or not. Who knows....

Led Zeppelin had it all. The mystique... the albums named simply with numbers. Till the 4th one, which was so legendary and bad ass that it didn't have a title. Or it was self-titled. It had nicknames. Like Led Zeppelin IV and Zoso. And of course the song “Stairway to Heaven” was on that album. It was never actually officially released as a single and it is among the most played songs in radio history.

Then they started naming their albums and the titles were as killer as the tunes. Houses of the Holy. Physical Graffiti (which contained the song “Houses of the Holy”). Presence, which by the way is a great and vastly underrated album.

Now, thanks to Classic Rock Radio, they've been reduced to a cliché of riffs. How embarrassingly sad it is to see a grown man at a bar turn to his drinking buddy and scream out “Hey hey mamma say the way you move” and “been along time since-a rock'nROLL!” Radio made Led Zeppelin annoying by ramming it down our throats in succession with Boston, Elton John, The Eagles, Billy Joel, Heart, Bob Seger, Steve Miller, and Phil Collins everyday until we took Led Zeppelin’s awesomeness for granted.

So now we don’t think much about Led Zeppelin. We casually toss them aside because we’re “bored” with them. Or because we can only take Robert Plant’s voice in small doses. Or we just dismiss them as blues-ripoff artists… Thanks a lot, Classic Rock Radio. You ruined one of the best fucking bands in the world and you continue to stab its corpse everyday, once an hour, and every night when you “Get the Led Out.”


*Ah... but what about “Kashmir”?? The legendary “KASHMIR,” it should be in caps... with it's promise of “all will be revealed.” Its otherworldly sound. We do owe radio one small thanks: they actually played “Kashmir” for us. It's the kind of long weird cool song that they usually would fail to play. Sure they overplayed it, but we didn't mind. It's the one song on the list that is resistant to being played to death. Of course, some people think “Kashmir” is overrated. Maybe it is. Technically, The Beatles are “overrated” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t any good. But “Kashmir” reminds us that the Mighty Mysterious Led Zeppelin is still great, mighty, and mysterious. “Kashmir” lets us know that there’s more out there beyond “Black Dog” and “Stairway.”

The songs don’t have to remain the same.

With that in mind…. Here’s a bonus:

Top 10 Awesome Zeppelin Things That Cant Be Killed

1. The BBC Sesssions (2-disc live set)
2. How the West Was Won (3-disc live set)
3. 1973 5-18 Dallas, Texas (soundboard recording)
4. 1975 2-12 Madison Square Garden, NY (matrix of soundboard and audience recording)
5. 1977 4-27 Cleveland, OH (soundboard recording)
6. 1977-6-19 San Diego, CA (soundboard recording)
7. JOHN BONHAM (as should be apparent by all the live recordings listed above, the true awesome power of Led Zeppelin is best felt/heard on the live shows, not single songs on the radio. And the genius and raw talent of John Bonham is big reason why. Y'know, we learned that he drank himself to death so you expect him to be sloppy or something but he is an amazing monster and I mean that in the best possible way. So, no, John Bonham can't be killed.)
8. Physical Graffiti
9. Presence
10. The Possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour with Jason Bonham on drums

Top 10 Best Country Albums Ever

Keep in mind, these are just the ones that I love the best. NOT a list of the Most Important/Influential or what have you. Just my favorites. Some might be considered classic country, folk, alt.country, country-rock... doesn't matter. I promise these are all great records. In no particular order, but numbered anyway. Ah screw it, I'll give ya 11:

1. Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
2. Gram Parsons - G.P./Grievous Angel
3. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
5. Johnny Cash - The Legend of Johnny Cash
6. Ryan Adams / Cardinals Jacksonville City Nights
7. Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World
8. Old 97's - Too Far To Care
9. Bob Dylan John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline
10. Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day
11. Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead
    

The Day the Music Died

And we'll be singin.... bye bye miss American pie:

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa – It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The passing decades haven't diminished fascination with that night on Feb. 2, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight that lasted only minutes.

"It was really like the first rock 'n' roll landmark; the first death," said rock historian Jim Dawson, who has written several books about music of that era. "They say these things come in threes. Well, all three happened at the same time."

Starting Wednesday, thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. They'll come to the Surf Ballroom for symposiums with the three musicians' relatives, sold-out concerts and a ceremony as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame designates the building as its ninth national landmark.

And they'll discuss why after so many years, so many people still care about what songwriter Don McLean so famously called "the day the music died."

"It was the locus point for that last performance by these great artists," said Terry Stewart, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. "It warrants being fixed in time."

Stewart said the deaths still resonate because they occurred at a time when rock 'n' roll was going through a transition, of sorts. The sound of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Holly was making way for the British Invasion of the mid-1960s.

"The music was shifting and changing at that point," he said. "The crash put a punctuation point on the change."

All three musicians influenced rock and roll in their own way.

Holly's career was short, but his hiccup-vocal style, guitar play and songwriting talents had tremendous influence on later performers. The Beatles, who formed about the time of the crash, were among his early fans and fashioned their name after Holly's band, The Crickets. Holly's hit songs include "That'll Be The Day," "Peggy Sue" and "Maybe Baby."

Richardson, "The Big Bopper," is often credited with creating the first music video with his recorded performance of "Chantilly Lace" in 1958, decades before MTV.

And Valens was one of the first musicians to apply a Mexican influence to rock 'n' roll. He recorded his huge hit "La Bamba" only months before the accident.

The plane left the airport in nearby Mason City about 1 a.m., headed for Moorhead, Minn., with the musicians looking for a break from a tiring, cold bus trip through the Upper Midwest.

It wasn't until hours later that the demolished plane was found, crumpled against a wire fence. Investigators believe the pilot, who also died, became confused amid the dark, snowy conditions and rammed the plane into the ground.

The crash set off a wave of mourning among their passionate, mostly young fans across the country. Then 12 years later the crash was immortalized as "the day the music died" in McLean's 1971 song, "American Pie."

-By MARCO SANTANA, Associated Press Writer

JAYDIOHEAD

It's exactly what you think it might be: JayZ mixed and mashed up with Radiohead. Some tunes are really cool and some are just ok. Overall it's definitely pretty cool if you like either or both of these artists. And it's free to stream and/or downlowd from Jaydiohead.com.

Produced by: Minty Fresh Beats (www.myspace.com/mintyfreshmusic)

Track list:

1 - Wrong Prayer
2 - 99 Anthems
3 - No Karma
4 - Lucifer's Jigsaw
5 - Optimistic Moment
6 - Dirt Off Your Android
7 - Dreaming Up
8 - Change Order
9 - Fall In Step
10 - Ignorant Swan

Musical Interlude

My 13-month-old son is taking a nap. I'll show him this later when he's old enough to understand. But when we were watching the motorcades and introductions he would clap and then bounce to the marching-band music.

I remember when I was a kid, if Itzak Perlman was playing his violin it must be a pretty big important event. I was told and felt like I always knew that he is Jewish, and has some physical handicap. And that he was the greatest violinist in the world. It was a subtle "you can be anything in this world" feeling I guess.

Fleet Foxes

If you're interested in checking out some great new music... I recommend the Fleet Foxes self-titled album. Folky harmony vocals. Almost a Mamas'n'Papas-meets-CSNY vibe, which is strange coming from a group of 20-somethings from Seattle.

On my first few listens, I wasn't quite feeling it. Too mellow or something. But it's a real grower, and several listens later, I love it. Just a really beautiful, timeless album.

If you want to check out their live sound (pretty similar to the album, especially on this great-sounding soundboard recording), check out this recent show.




As always (if possible), don’t the Fleet Foxes great self-titled CD at BestBuy, Target or on Amazon. Support your local independent record store (while it still exists) and buy from them.

Born to Run From Your Principles: Springsteen Partners With Wal-mart

Yesterday it was announced that Bruce Springsteen would sell a new (another) Greatest Hits CD exclusively through Wal-Mart. He already has a Greatest Hits collection, and this one is certainly geared toward very new/casual fans who don't own any of his CD's. I don't have a problem with that part of it. Nor do I mind that recently he's been more than willing to appear on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and the upcoming Super Bowl.

What I do have a problem with is Bruce Springsteen getting in bed with a notorious corporation like Wal-Mart. I try to keep the art/music separate from the artist and his personal life and politics. But since Bruce has always been one to speak out on the socio-economical injustices in America and the world, he's opened himself up to some sort of scrutiny. While I don't begrudge him trying to make an extra buck or million, even through repacking old products and making mainstream TV appearances to maximize his exposure, I'm still a bit shocked that he would allow himself to be associated with Wal-Mart.

As many of you may already know, Wal-Mart has a notorious reputation as a company with serious blemishes on it's record relating to worker's rights and compensation, discrimination against women and minorities, the environment, and health care.

If you know me, you know that I've been a big Bruce fan since I was about 13 years old. I love his music, his legendary concerts always live up to the hype, and his willingness to speak out on social and political issues was almost always a little icing on the musical cake for those of us who agreed with him. But now this. Is it possible that Bruce's record company cut this deal and Bruce had no choice or control to stop it? Maybe. But I doubt it.

Shame on you Bruce. Yea, there's bigger fish to fry in this world... if you can still afford seafood in the present economy. And sure, I'm a hypocrite cuz there's several things in my house made in China and I've inadvertently given money to companies with sketchy labor practices. But unlike myself, Bruce Springsteen is one of the few people in the world who has the money, power, and platform to not only say no to corporations like Wal-Mart, but could speak out against them.

Please visit the following sites for more information about Wal-Mart:

Wake Up WalMart
WalMart Watch/issues
Facts from the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices

Time Capsules 2008: the Inevitable Best Albums of the Year List Thingy

“Time Capsules” is our way of putting some of our favorite albums from particular years into a... little, um, time capsule so music fans can read our reviews of notable releases from various years. We were going to take the actual CD's and launch them into space in real time capsules, or bury them in the ground so future generations and/or aliens could be sure to find the best CD's preserved. But that seemed a bit pricey and foolish. Plus, aliens (and/or future generations) aren't likely to go digging thru the ground looking for stuff, they'll probably just poke around on the internet. Let's hope they find this site sooner than later. Here's the best of 2008:

THE BEST
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

THE RUNNER UPS (OR IS IT RUNNERS UP?)
Stephen Malkmus – Real Emotional Trash
Drive-By Truckers – Brighter Than Creations Dark

THE BEST EP OF THE YEAR
One Day as a Lion – One Day as a Lion

THE REMAINING TOP 20
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig! Lazarus Dig!
Felice Brothers – Felice Brothers
My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis – Two Guys With the Blues
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Metallica – Death Magnetic
The Roots – Rising Down
Beck – Modern Guilt
KRS-One – Maximum Strength
Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Cardinology
Nas – the untitled album formerly known as Nigger
TV on the Radio – Dear Science
Kings of Leon – Only By the Night
Black Keys – Attack and Release
Mike Doughty – Golden Delicious
Bob Mould – District Line
Old 97s – Blame It on Gravity
Dr. Dog – Fate

THE ONE THAT DESERVES ITS OWN CATEGORY
Bob Dylan – Tell Tale Signs

THE BEST REMASTER/REISSUES
The Replacements – Tim and Pleased to Meet Me
U2 – Boy
Whiskeytown – Strangers Alamanac

THE '07 ALBUMS PLAYED A LOT IN '08 AS NEW TO ME
Public Enemy how you sell soul to soulless people who sold their soul
Magnolia Electric Company (Sojourner box... and all their stuff)
Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
Jason Isbell – Sirens of the Ditch
Radiohead – In Rainbows
They Might Be Giants – Here Come the ABC's


As always (if possible), don’t buy any of this stuff at BestBuy, Target or on Amazon. Support your local independent record store (while it still exists) and buy from them.

Axl’n’Roses Chinese Democracy

Just listened to this album. Not sure why.

If it sounds like an Axl Rose solo album dressing up as a Guns’n’Roses album for Halloween… it’s cuz that’s pretty much what it is. It's not the first band to have one person keep the name and use it, but yea, this is an Axl & Friends album obviously. And honestly this album woulda been just as weak 15-16 years ago. So it’s not that I’m “disappointed after the long wait” cuz I was never waiting for it and never much of a Guns'n'Roses fan anyway.

The incomparable Chuck Klosterman started his review this way:

Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom? I've been thinking about this record for 15 years; during that span, I've thought about this record more than I've thought about China, and maybe as much as I've thought about the principles of democracy.

If you read his whole review, he’s actually quite generous and seems to actually like the album. My review goes like this: Part boring, part horrendous.... mostly forgettable soulless schlock rock. Okay Axl, go away for another 15 years thanks.

But Klosterman sums it up better:

Sometimes it seems like Axl believes every single Guns N' Roses song needs to employ every single thing that Guns N' Roses has the capacity to do—there needs to be a soft part, a hard part, a falsetto stretch, some piano plinking, some R&B bullshit, a little Judas Priest, subhuman sound effects, a few Robert Plant yowls, dolphin squeaks, wind, overt sentimentality, and a caustic modernization of the blues.

Of course Rolling Stone magazine has it in the top 10 of their Best Albums of the Year list, which makes sense for a magazine that puts Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers on the cover.

But really, in the end it’s just hard to respect a guy who wants to be treated like a genius but cant even bother to show up for work. From TheAge.com:

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has been missing for two months.

The eccentric rocker has infuriated bosses at record label Geffen after disappearing without promoting the band's long-awaited Chinese Democracy album, which was released last week 15 years after the last Guns N' Roses LP.

A source told Britain's The Sun newspaper: People have been trying to contact Axl for two months and he's completely AWOL. It is frustrating because the album would have had a much better chance of going to number one if he had only been prepared to show his face.

You would have thought after spending all those years on an album you might do a few weeks of promotion.

Chinese Democracy was beaten to the number one spot in the UK album charts by The Killers' Day and Age, which sold 200,000 copies nearly twice as many as Axl's record, which is rumoured to have cost $13 million, making it the most expensive ever album.

The Raconteurs with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe

Just found this cool version of the song "Old Enough" from the Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely album. But this time Jack White and the boys rock it bluegrass style with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe. Intersting take on a great song, and a solid performance:

Hot Off the Presses: "Enraged" video

Just got an email from our good friends and rockers extraordinaire Girl Loves Distortion. You may remember we reviewed the CD HERE. Now comes word of their new video:

Greetings Earth Beings,
We have just posted our first-ever video for the song Enraged. Our great friend Josh Bolton (Drawing Lines) was kind enough to fly up from Florida this past Halloween Weekend and film the band performing live at the Artery 717 in Alexandria, VA. Most of the footage is from that night. We will also have more videos coming very soon including one for the song Luminance. Enjoy.

RIP Mitch Mitchell

Sad news yesterday... the passing of legendary drummer Mitch Mitchell, most famous for his work with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Mitchell was one of my favorite drummers of all time. He taught me that you can be jazzy and still rock out really hard, that you can respond/react to the other musicians you play with and push each other to new places, and that you can do anything and everything you want on a small drumkit. If Hendrix took electric blues and rock guitar to another level, perhaps it could be said that Mitchell proved that a drumset could be played like a lead guitar. Not sure if that makes sense as an accurate analogy, but it's as if Mitchell took the influence of great jazz drummers like Elvin Jones and Max Roach and somehow fused it with the innovation of Jimi's playing and stumbled upon something thunderous and other-worldly. RIP.

BREAKING NEWS: Rock Critic Makes a Good Point!

In light of my previous post, it's appropriate that I came across this quote in another review today:

The average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

Exactly, Mr. Critic. You got one thing right!



(okay, turns out this is actually a bit at the end of the cartoon movie Ratatouille...)

Reviewing the Reviews: Cardinology by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Maybe someone can write a “Ryan Adams Album Review Generator” program where some software will just spit out all the necessary buzzwords for a review that somehow says his new album is good and that his old ones are also good but do it in some sort of backhanded compliment way.

It must include the word PROLIFIC, as well as pastiche, antics, Gram Parsons, editor, enfant terrible and/or “bad boy,” Grateful Dead, focus, quality/quantity, and something about dating actresses or whatever...

Perusing 18 different published reviews of Ryan Adams and The Cardinals new Cardinology CD, I was amazed and amused at what I found. Sure, there’s was the usual varying of opinions (some loved it, some sorta liked it, some found it predictable and boring), but that’s to be expected with any album. Reading the reviews, apparently someone must have invented that “Ryan Adams Album Review Generator” software, cuz it’s obviously been put to some use.

Among these 18 reviews, the word “prolific” is used 12 times (including two mentions of “prolificacy” and one time Adams is even called “insanely prolific”). It is the very first word of one review, the second word of another, and it appears in the first sentence of five other reviews and in the second sentence of yet another two. One review claims that “he became obsessive-compulsive about recording anything that rhymed.”

The Grateful Dead is mentioned six times, Gram Parsons four times, and Neil Young three times. In what must be a software glitch, U2 and/or Bono is mentioned an astounding 11 times (more on that later). Variations on “quantity vs. quality” come up at least six times in addition to three references to “edit” or “editing,” and four mentions of “focus.”

With all the talk about being “prolific,” and in attempt to illustrate the “quantity/quality” point, we eventually reach the fuzzy math portion of these reviews. According to some direct quotes:

*Ryan Adams has been making music at an insane pace for more than 10 years.
*Focused on just the one LP this year (he put out three in 12 months not too long ago)
*He recorded three albums in 2005 alone (Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights and 29), and he hasn't missed a year since before this decade began.
*He's released 10 albums in nine years
*While it might be a short time between albums for many modern-day artists, 16 months is a long time in the world of Ryan Adams, who released three albums in 2005
*Their fourth album in as many years
*Ryan Adams returns with what seems like his millionth album,
*His first release in a year — notable for a guy who put out three full-lengths in 2005
*Five-year period starting in 1997 that spanned two bands and five exquisitely realized albums.
*Cardinology is Adams' fifth full-length album released in the last three years (not to mention the 2007 EP, Follow the Lights).

Ignoring the varying inaccuracies of some of these statements, the guy’s job is to make records. So he's made about 11 records over 9 years? (This includes Demolition, assembled from demos from unreleased albums to capitalize on the success of Gold, and the 7-song EP Follow the Lights with only 3 new songs.) Is that REALLY too much? Sure, it's a bit more than the usual 2-3-year wait between records to maximize hype that the Music Business Formerly Known as the Record Industry might prefer. But some of these reviews make it sound like he does 3 records every single year. It's actually really an average of close to one each year. As it should be.

The strangest thing I’ve found is that, all of a sudden, the Cardinals are often being compared to U2. Huh? U2? Other than perhaps his 2003 single “So Alive,” I don’t think Ryan Adams has ever sounded like U2 or even close enough to warrant comparison (including on this new album). I can maybe hear how, in “Go Easy,” when he sings "if only just to say this to you now..." the melody and delivery is kinda/sorty dripping with syrupy Bononess, but only slightly. And I don’t know if I ever would have thought of that if U2 wasn't mentioned in so many Cardinology reviews.

Again, actual quotes from the reviews:

*“Fix It” even dares to blossom into the type of stadium-filling chorus that U2’s Bono would be proud to call his own.
*U2 knock-offs “Go Easy” and “Cobwebs”
*“Cobwebs” …boasts one of the best choruses on the LP (and another that seems to be taking its cues from the U2 style of epic songwriting).
*“Magick” and “Cobwebs” cringe-worthy horrors that would shame even Bono.
*[In concert the band was] producing a hybrid that echoed Neil Young, the Byrds, Gram Parsons, U2 and the Grateful Dead.”
*…a couple of tunes veer close to overblown U2 territory.
*when he sings "Cobwebs," his voice ascends to Bono-like melodramatic heights.
*"Magick" echoes like prime U2
*…the slinkier "Fix It" (and its almost U2 moments -- ditto "Go Easy" on the Bono thing), etc.
*Cardinology is a classic-rock record to the bone, nodding to influences that Adams has conjured before but never so well: the country rock of the Grateful Dead and Gram Parsons, the arena anthems of U2.
*“Fix It” … with a soaring Bono-style chorus…

But wait, maybe it doesn’t sound like U2, since one reviewer declares “Those looking for anthemic rock will be better served by U2.”

That’s not the only contradiction these reviews are inevitably filled with. For example, after saying he's best known for quantity over quality, one reviewer then says: “Last year's Easy Tiger, billed as a return to form, was the sound of Adams trying too hard to edit himself. By making a concerted effort to rein in his self-indulgence, Adams also leeched away some of the recklessness and spontaneity that makes him so fascinating.” Very similar sentiment has also been applied to the new album in this and other reviews. They all cry (and have complained in past reviews) that he needs an editor and he's reckless and too prolific and unfocused. So he tones it down and “edits” himself, puts out a “focused” record (just ONE this year!) and then they bitch that he’s “leeched away some of the recklessness and spontaneity that makes him so fascinating.”

Another typical contradiction is that many of these same rock critics were the ones hailing him as a genius or The New Dylan following his solo debut Heartbreaker and then championing his inevitable rockstar breakout upon the release of its follow up, Gold. But now some of these same clowns write “Adams needed someone to sit him down and explain that he actually wasn't the musical messiah we'd all been waiting for.” Gee, wherever did he get that idea? At least none of them mentioned actresses...

By the way, I think the album is good but maybe not quite the mind-blower I’d hoped for. As a fan, I’m a tad disappointed that it is not as rockin and jammy as their great live shows. But the sound, courtesy of Producer Tom Schick, is very warm and organic. (Number of times Schick is mentioned in the 19 reviews I read: zero.) The songs are good; it’s a solid album that I can already feel growing on me…. And that’s all it needs to be. (UPDATE: After several more listens, perhaps this album is much better and deeper than I initially thought. It's actually, well, beautiful and very brave. And it sounds great. Keep the faith and stick with it.)


As always (if possible), don’t buy Cardinology at BestBuy, Target or on Amazon. Support your local independent record store (while it still exists) and buy Cardinology from them.

NOTE: The reviews discussed in this post came from: Wall Street Journal, New Music Express, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, Paste, Indielondon.co.uk, Buzzsugar.com, Inthenews.co.uk, Buffalonews.com, Entertainment.ie (Ireland), Entertainment Weekly, Courier-Journal (Louisville), AVclub.com, Allmusic.com, The Observer (UK), and student newspaper websites from Penn State, University of Maryland and even University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Tell Tale Signs

Haven’t posted in a couple weeks…. Didn’t even bother to write up a “review” of the third Presidential debate. I guess my summary would be, to borrow a popular phrase, “more of the same.” Barack Obama seemed smart, thoughtful, and presidential, while once again John McCain came off angry, unfocused, and desperate.

But now election day is getting really close, and I just cant be bothered to comment on the trivialities like the $150,000 spent on wardrobes for Sarah Palin (how small-town regular fiscally conservative gal of her!) or whatever else is passing as news these days. I’ve fallen in to a bit of a silent hopeful pregnant pause… a calm before the storm. I’m hoping that storm is a landslide victory for Obama, but still cautious that it could be the dark clouds of a looming McCain administration…

I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to Bob Dylan’s excellent new collection Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8, Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006. Some spectacular modern-era stuff on these discs from the legend who could dedicate earlier classics like “Masters of War” to McCain and “The Times They Are Changin’” to Obama.

So as we’re speeding toward the election (or are we creeping?), the economy is crumbling before our eyes and amid our financial worries there’s also very real concerns about voter suppression tactics by the Republicans (examined here) that could help ensure a McCain victory.

In the background I hear Dylan singing “Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape / We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape” and “Take a deep breath, feel like you're chokin' / Everything is broken.”

And yet I’m excited at the thought of Obama winning and ushering in a new era of… of…. everything: to live in a country with real, intelligent, and inspiring leadership. I know nothing will get better over night, and that this economy will take a while to bounce back, so it’s a cautious optimism for sure.

In the background Dylan is singing “Most of the time, I'm clear focused all around / Most of the time, I can keep both feet on the ground…”

Of course, these last few weeks and likely the next two, the McCain campaign and all the pundits on The Right have been downright ugly. Trying to scare us into these ridiculous notions that Obama is a Socialist and a terrorist sympathizer. By the way, haven’t we always had a progressive tax code? Has McCain proposed a (non-socialist) flat tax? If so, I must have missed it. And while we’re all distracted by the 15 minutes of fame for Joe the Plumber, the McCain campaign continues to drop hints about who’s “pro-America” and just how radical-liberal-socialist and anti-American Obama is. Meanwhile, they downplay Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama as a "black thing," claiming in various ways that Powell only endorsed him 'cuz he's black. Funny, I dont remember anyone saying Joe Lieberman only endorsed McCain 'cuz he's white...

In the background Dylan is singing “Have you seen dignity?”

And yet somehow…. After the 2000 and 2004 elections, after living through the atrocious Bush administration years…. With all the impending economic doom and gloom…. Amid my worrying and skepticism, I’m excited.

In the background Dylan is singing “Things should start to get interesting right about now” and “The air burns and I'm trying to think straight / And I don't know how much longer I can wait.”

CD Review: Earth Beings On Exhibit

The Jonas Brothers aren’t the problem. And we can’t blame Kanye West’s ego, Rolling Stone magazine, or the hype of the next U2 album. Nor can we blame The Eagles for charging $250/ticket to their shlocky concerts. And it’s not Kid Rock’s fault, and we cant blame Toby Keith. (OK, we can blame those last two guys for being no-talent symptoms of some things that are horribly wrong with society and popular music.)

To attempt an analogy, it’s almost like getting so caught up in the salaries, scandals, steroids, stadium-naming rights for corporations, merchandise marketing, and TV ratings that swirl around professional sports that it’s easy to forget that these are just games that we all played ourselves as kids and could simply go outside and play again right now with other people (if we still played outside and interacted with other live humans).

Somehow we’ve all managed to lose sight of the fact that music is…. MUSIC. It’s not product, though it certainly has been marketed and sold as such. Music is not a popularity contest, despite what millions of American Idol fans have been programmed to believe. Karaoke is not music. Guitar Hero is not music. Your myspace page and your iPod playlist may contain music, but it, itself, is not music.

Music is Girl Love's Distortion's debut CD, Earth Beings on Exhibit (Etxe Records). I say that because it’s not pretentious. Sure, they look cool in the photos and they made damn sure that the CD sounds great, but they aren’t trying to look cool or sound marketable or capitalize on a niche or do anything but just… play… music. So it’s aptly titled: Earth Beings on Exhibit…. This is us, this is our art. It is rock music, and like it or not, it is real.

And that’s what’s so rare. GLD is a band of actual people making artistic alternative guitar rock. As if that’s not a horrible and generic enough label, I’ll try to categorize it and “tell you what it sounds like,” even though that’s also part of what’s gone wrong. I hear a strong Sonic Youth influence even if it doesn’t actually sound like SY per se. But the elements are there: the guitar prowess, the feedback, the dissonance, the artsy factor, the presence of both male and female voices, the unconventional song structures juxtaposed among flashes of catchy pop (like the houseful of shaggy-looking weirdos living on the same block as the clean-cut Normal American Family).

While it’s great that technology and access has enabled millions of people to “start a band” and made it easier for existing bands to distribute and promote their music in creative new ways (and often without the “help” of Traditional Record Companies), it’s also spawned a whole new generation of amateurs posing as pros. And if they have the coolest clothes, the right haircuts, and a little bit of money behind them, you might not notice that they suck.

Well Girl Loves Distortion doesn’t suck (how’s that for a glowing endorsement?). They have serious chops to go along with their creative eyes and ears. Lead guitarist and bassist Steve Rubin manages to harness the fury of Crazy-Horse-era Neil Young guitar freakouts and filter them through the tasteful simple/unique approach of someone like The Edge. Guitarist/bassist Chris Goett compliments Rubin perfectly as a songwriter and player and manages to give his own songs a classic Lou Reed/David Bowie baritone that offsets Rubin’s imperfect inner Thom Yorke. Drummer Jenn Thomas isn’t afraid to let all of the creative voices in her head sing out loud, and it’s always refreshing to see and hear a drummer who plays a creative role within the song and makes the drums a real instrument. She doesn’t try to be Neal Peart but still manages to do more than just play along and keep a beat.

GLD’s Earth Beings on Exhibit CD is proof that real people still make real music and, in treating it like a serious art form while not taking themselves too seriously, the result is real good.

Shut Up and Sing

That's usually what you hear shouted from some of the masses anytime a rock star decides to take 30 seconds and excercise his or her right to free speech and utilize their large profile and public platform to convey a message they believe in: "SHUT UP AND SING!!"

Personally I've never had a problem with musicians or actors using their fame to offer their opinions on the issues of the day. Why not?

As a longtime Bruce Springsteen fan, and a current Barack Obama supporter, I'm certainly glad to see Bruce making a few acoustic appearances at rallies and voter-registration drives in key swingstates.

Here are the comments he made from the stage in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 4:

Hello Philly,

I am glad to be here today for this voter registration drive and for Barack Obama, the next President of the United States.

I've spent 35 years writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The Promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real. Opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence. These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.

I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities. The distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.

I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.

They will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts, and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, compassion, toughness, and faith, to help us rebuild our house once again. But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I want that dream back, I want my America back, I want my country back.

So now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come on up for the rising.

Video of his 42-minute set at the Philadelphia rally is available here.

01. The Promised Land
02. Ghost of Tom Joad
03. Thunder Road
04. No Surrender
05. Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street
06. The Rising
07. This Land is Your Land

The Replacements Reissues: Can't Hardly Wait

Today marks the much-anticipated release of Rhino’s remastered and expanded editions of The Replacements four Sire-era albums, Tim, Pleased To Meet Me, Don’t Tell A Soul, and All Shook Down. These new versions feature remastered sound, plus bonus tracks of unreleased demos and alternate versions.

A few months ago, their earlier material (originally released on Twin Tone) was given the same treatment. While Let It Be, from that earlier era, is often held up as their “best” (and I do like that one a lot), I’d say that Tim and Pleased To Meet Me are my favorites. I was working in a record store when Pleased To Meet Me came out and there was a ‘Mats fan there who would play it all the time. It grew on me and I ended up loving the Replacements too… I can't say enough about how monumental these guys were in influencing a generation of bands from indie rock to alt.country and every suburban music-lover inbetween who just wanted to crank up some great tunes and fuck off.

TIM was the band's last album fueled by the legendary original line-up of lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg, Chris Mars (drums) and brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson (guitar and bass, respectively) and their first on a major label, Sire Records. Rhino's newly remastered and expanded edition features the original 11 tracks plus 6 previously unreleased bonus tracks, including three tracks recorded at a 1985 session with Westerberg's idol, Alex Chilton, among them an electric outtake of “Can't Hardly Wait.”

Their fifth full-length and second for a major label, PLEASED TO MEET ME was recorded in Memphis with legendary producer Jim Dickinson. The new remastered/expanded edition from Rhino features the original 11-song classic album from 1987 plus 12 rare bonus tracks, half of them previously unreleased.

These great Replacements reissues are also available on 180-gram virgin vinyl, minus the bonus material. Don’t buy this stuff on Amazon or look for it at Best Buy. Support your local independent record store (while it still exists) and buy your ‘Mats reissues from them.

Time Capsule 2005: Another Side of the "New Dylans"

“Time Capsules” is our way of putting some of our favorite albums from particular years into a... little, um, time capsule so music fans can read our reviews of notable releases from various years. We were going to take the actual CD's and launch them into space in real time capsules, or bury them in the ground so future generations and/or aliens could be sure to find the best CD's preserved. But that seemed a bit pricey and foolish. Plus, aliens (and/or future generations) aren't likely to go digging thru the ground looking for stuff, they'll probably just poke around on the internet. Let's hope they find this site sooner than later. The following review was written in 2005:

With the release of 2005's first handful of great records, four of America's finest singer/songwriters have offered us yet another study of the duality of each of these recording artists: Beck, Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen, and Ryan Adams. While all four have at different times (and to various degrees) been cursed with the "new Dylan" label, one of the things they all really have in common is a refusal to be pinned down and labeled again. Perhaps by subconsciously taking a page from Dylan's book, they've each managed to explore their own duality as a means of throwing us curves and proving that sometimes following a muse means making lots of left turns.

Beck has been almost deliberate in presenting his two sides. His albums alternate between his funky playful mix-tape collages and his more somber acoustic folk material. After his wildly eclectic debut Mellow Gold spawned the unlikely hit "Loser" and offered an original mix of both of Beck's sonic personas, he re-released some earlier recordings: the first a noisey experimental affair, and the second a stripped-down song-oriented set. In 1996 he released what would prove to be his signature recording: Odelay, a masterpiece collaboration with producers the Dust Brothers. True to form, he would then get all somber/acoustic on us with Mutations (1998) before returning to the neon lights and party vibes of Midnite Vultures (1999) and then back to introspection and heartbreak with 2002's Sea Change. Critics loved it, hailing Sea Change for its mature songwriting and lush sound. But close to a decade after Mellow Gold and Odelay, critics and fans alike wondered if Beck would ever put all of his styles back together again.

Bright Eyes, the "band" that serves as creative vehicle for singer/songwriter Conor Oberst, became a critical and cult success with the release of Lifted, or The Story's in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground in 2002. With sprawling narratives, stunning/clever/rambling lyrics, and musical diversions that ranged from the stark to the symphonic, Lifted was at times as bloated and pretentious as its title. But it was also brilliant, earning the then-22-year-old Oberst the unenviable and predictably clichéd titles bestowed by the label-happy media of the new century: "alt-folk boy genius of the emo generation." Yet another "this generation's Bob Dylan." Recording since his first demo at age 12, this protégé from Omaha, Nebraska could've awoken in the aftermath of such success in danger of crumbling under the weight of the lofty expectations, his own prolific output, or both.

Bruce Springsteen, the veteran hall-of-famer and most rich and famous of this grouping, has been showing us both of his sides for more than 30 years. Signed as an acoustic singer/songwriter and perhaps the first in the long line of New Dylan's, he shook the comparisons with his wall-of-sound rock classic "Born to Run," and epic stories like "Jungleland" and "Thunder Road." He also established himself among rock's greatest live acts, building his reputation with marathon concerts. His dualities really started surfacing in the 1980's. After having a hit with "Hungry Heart," he took a chance and released a brutally stark acoustic album, Nebraska, that was essentially home demos. This was followed by the multi-platinum juggernaut Born in the USA that spawned 7 Top Ten singles and made Springsteen a pop superstar. So, he really started throwing some curves: the quiet Tunnel of Love examined self doubt and his failed first marriage; the arrival of the 1990's signaled the end of the E Street Band as Bruce simultaneously released Lucky Town and Human Touch in 1992 with a new batch of studio musicians; 1995's The Ghost of Tom Joad found him back in solo/acoustic mode; after releasing a boxed set of previously unreleased material and a greatest hits disc, he reunited the E Streeters for a tour and then a full-band album The Rising. So, 30 years after Born to Run, "Epic Springsteen, The Boss of Live Rock'n'Roll," is still battling "Joe Everyman, Acoustic Troubadour of the Dark Lonesome Highway" for creative control. Which Bruce would show up in 2005?

Asking which one will show up has been one of the few constants in the career of Ryan Adams. Would it be the heartbroken country singer with the golden voice or the bratty self-absorbed rocker, so drunk that he breaks his wrist falling off the stage? A detailed look at some of his solo work can be found HERE, but, like the artists mentioned above, Adams has an acute duality that's evident in his work: the acoustic Heartbreaker, followed by the more upbeat folk-rock of Gold, followed by Demolition, a diverse collection of unreleased tracks and demos. Then the lush and mellow mopey songs of Love is Hell, released concurrently with the disposable guitar-rock of Rock'n'Roll. Despite a few shortcomings, everyone agrees that Adams is an amazingly talented songwriter, perhaps too prolific for his own good. So, like in the case of Beck, people wondered if Ryan could stop messing around and put it all together.

As the sun rose on 2005, all four of these guys were readying new releases. On January 25th, Bright Eyes showed up first, releasing two separate albums at once, just as Springsteen and Adams had once done. That's always a tough trick to pull off. Bright Eyes succeeds, mostly because the albums, both lyrically driven, are very different in sound and instrumentation. He had originally considered splitting the ambitious Lifted into two separate releases, and by doing so with these new albums, he shows us the stark contrast of his two sides. Digital Ash in a Digital Urn lays a cold and modern electronic foundation for Oberst's whiny wails (not unlike the Cure's Robert Smith) and deathly meditations. It's a solid yet unspectacular effort, but the real gem is it's acoustic-based companion, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. This terrific set of folk tunes won't help Bright Eyes escape the Dylan comparisons, but it does cement his growing legend as one America's great young songwriters and recording artists. Wide Awake is just a simple and purely great album, highly recommended along with Lifted.

In March, Beck returned with Guero. The Dust Brothers are back at the production controls, and, at first listen, Guero sounds like Beck has once again followed a gloomy, mellow release with another funkfest. But further spins reveal a well-crafted and deeper album than the throwaway party hits of Midnite Vultures. It's not quite a true return to his peak form of Odelay, but more like a mature effort that proves Beck can unify his folksinger/songwriter self with his more outgoing mix-tape party host alter-ego.

A month later, Bruce Springsteen left the bombastic Bossman bandleader at home as his solo storyteller incarnation returned with a fine new CD, Devils & Dust. This mostly acoustic 12-tune set alternates between folk ditties, somber narratives, and a couple of formulaic upbeat rockers. Springsteen's songwriting is in fine form, as his ability to craft stories and characters benefits from Brendan O'Brien's production and more instrumentation and melody than the quiet, often-droning Tom Joad release. Devils & Dust, while embracing the twangy folk and country sounds of violin and steel guitar mixed with his own effective acoustic guitar work, also finds Springsteen exploring some uncharted territory of his vocal abilities as he employs a high falsetto on a few tracks. By meshing his quiet acoustic sound with some light and catchy rock tunes, Bruce is finding a potent middle ground where his two personas merge into one, or at least cross paths with great results.

Finally, in early May, Ryan Adams released the first of a reported three new albums slated for 2005: Cold Roses, with his band The Cardinals. Wow. This is the one that his fans have been waiting for: a finely crafted double album combining the subtly stellar songwriting of Heartbreaker with the full-band sound and accessibility of Gold. Adams and his band cruise through the 18 tracks as the acoustic, electric, and lap-steel guitars spiral up, intertwine, and cascade down as if they were conjured up by Jerry Garcia himself. The lyrics and titles, complete with references to roses, magnolias, friends, "stranger's angels," Cumberland, sweet illusions, and dancing all night, are more reminders of the Grateful Dead. But this is no boring set of trippy instrumental noodlings. There are some great, great songs here.

Packaged like a miniature gatefold LP, this folk-rock throwback features two Ryan trademarks: clever word play ("Let me go, I'm only letting you down" and "Telling me to take it easy but I took a photograph") and occasional wrist-slitting depression ("I aint afraid of hurt, I've had so much it feels just like normal to me now"). But while 2003 found Adams a bit brooding on Love is Hell and full of self-aware mockery on Rock'n'Roll, 2005's Cold Roses smells of the sweet fulfillment of a great talent who's finally letting his terrific songs speak for themselves.

-----------------------

As always (if possible), don’t buy these albums at BestBuy, Target or on Amazon. Support your local independent record store (while it still exists) and buy from them.