The Nicsperiment

Bruce Springsteen -- Lucky Town

2012-02-17T12:57:00.000-06:00

6/10

Lucky Town starts off strong. "Better Days" seems like about as autobiographical a song as Springsteen could write in 1992. It's pretty simple to see that the better days he speaks of involve his new life with his new wife (and now wife of over 20 years), and his time out of the spotlight.
Well I took a piss at fortune's sweet kiss
It's like eatin' caviar and dirt
It's a sad funny ending to find yourself pretending
A rich man in a poor man's shirt
It's all well and good that Springsteen is disenchanted with being a huge star traveling around the world on a magic carpet made of money. It's great that he realizes that life isn't him, and that he is attempting to get back to being a simple man. It's great that through his trials he's learned humility. Divorce is a sad topic, but befitting this change, Springsteen even traded out his supermodel wife for a plain old Jersey Girl from right down the street. Though this collection of songs came out on the SAME DAY as the recently trashed by The Nicsperiment Human Touch, there is more grit and truth in Bruce's voice on this one track than on all of that album. But unfortunately, Bruce hasn't come to a place where he realizes he can both humble himself AND create great music. So once again, barring a few standouts, Lucky Town is another weakly produced album of less than stellar tracks.
The one major positive element that lifts this album above its fraternal twin is Bruce's palpable excitement at starting this new life, one true to himself. This feeling never falters throughout the album, even when Bruce puts a false twang into his voice (which isn't being dishonest...that forced twang is true to who Springsteen is). This makes Lucky Town at least listenable, despite the lackluster nature of Bruce and his new band's music...if only there was a band Bruce had better chemistry with than this one...

Looks like that Jackson fellow is still playing bass...

1992 Columbia
1 Better Days 4:08
2 Lucky Town 3:27
3 Local Hero 4:04
4 If I Should Fall Behind 2:57
5 Leap of Faith 3:27
6 The Big Muddy 4:06
7 Living Proof 4:49
8 Book of Dreams 4:24
9 Souls of the Departed 4:18
10 My Beautiful Reward 3:55

Bruce Springsteen -- Human Touch

2012-02-16T13:32:00.001-06:00

5/10

My major complaint with Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love is the uninteresting, uninspired music. Bruce follows that album with a collection of b-sides that takes the most lackluster elements of that music and runs with them. What's that? These aren't b-sides? These are the real songs and the guy who made Nebraska made them? I can't believe it.
Human Touch is a collection of lightweight pop songs with little substance. Though Bruce has a new backing band for this album, it often sounds like he is programming beats into a cheap keyboard (it's actually ace session drummer Jeff Porcaro, but who can tell the difference?) and playing along with his electric guitar locked onto the least edgiest setting his effects board has. Also, you know that really boring guy from American Idol who always says "Dawg" or "Yeah, Dawg, I'm not feeling it?" I've never sat down and watched that show, but I've seen him say "Yeah, Dawg, I'm not feeling it" in enough commericials to make me really not want to watch that show. Well, he plays bass on this album. I'm definitely not feeling it, Dawg.
Take "Roll the Dice" for instance. It's one of the few songs where Bruce actually tries to get something going. He tries to rock out at the start, but see if you can make it to the minute and a half mark.

Nothing exciting happens there, it's just the moment I get bored.
Human Touch is the sound of your friend who just got married and doesn't want to hang out anymore. Human Touch is the sound of the closing credits in a box office flop. It is the sound of a high school dance DJ'd by the principal. It is the sound of the adult contemporary station playing in the bathroom of a corporate firm. It's the sound of Michael Jordan trying to play baseball.
The worst thing about Human Touch is, it is the sound of a man running away from his destiny. It is almost as if Springsteen is making the most minor music he can possibly make, dodging the shadow of his own greatness for some corner no one will ever want to look. He saw for a decade just how great he could be, found no personal happiness in it, so tried to do something else (and tried to do it without the great band that got him there in the first place). It doesn't work and it's a shame.

1992 Columbia
1. Human Touch 6:32
2. Soul Driver 4:39
3. 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) 2:28
4. Cross My Heart 3:51
5. Gloria's Eyes 3:46
6. With Every Wish 4:39
7. Roll of the Dice 4:17
8. Real World 5:26
9. All or Nothin' at All 3:23
10. Man's Job 4:37
11. I Wish I Were Blind 4:48
12. The Long Goodbye 3:30
13. Real Man 4:33
14. Pony Boy 2:11

Bruce Springsteen -- Tunnel of Love

2012-02-15T13:42:00.000-06:00

7/10

After Born In the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen found himself at the height of fame and adoration. He was now married to a woman the Elite Modeling Agency referred to as a "perfect ten package." He had everything he thought he ever wanted...
In the true spirit of the human condition, three years after Born In the U.S.A., Springsteen returned with a forlorn album full of disappointment.
Tunnel of Love's title is true. Every song revolves around a romantic relationship between a man and a woman. These songs are lyrically as deep as anything Bruce has ever written, but knowing later what he was going through casts them in a more difficult light. Tunnel of Love was released a year before Springsteen and his spouse filed for divorce. That explains the reason most of the relationships described in Tunnel of Love's songs are on the rocks. This also sets the stage for the album's greatest asset: the juxtaposition of Bruce's desire to act like a man with his own disappointment that he hasn't turned out to be man he thought he would. On those terms, Tunnel of Love becomes a confessional, and another honest narrative from a great artist.
There is a reason I don't rank Tunnel of Love among Springsteen's greats, though:
Lack of energy. Bruce performed the majority of Tunnel of Love without his usual co-horts, the E-Street Band, and the deficit shows. On one hand, their near absence makes sense. Bruce seems kind of sick of himself here, and purposely (Nebraska was sort of a happy accident) strays far from his trademark sound. Little here is upbeat, which would be fine if the album had more oomph, but it doesn't. The tempos and sounds are a little too similar throughout (this is the other hand) , and some spontaneity would have been appreciated. Then again, spontaniety is something Springsteen was known for, so perhaps this is a willing departure as well. Whatever the case, Tunnel of Love is a landmark release in Springsteen's catalog, but due to limitations inherent in its own nature, a minor one.

1987 Columbia
1. Ain't Got You 2:11
2. Tougher Than the Rest 4:35
3. All That Heaven Will Allow 2:39
4. Spare Parts 3:44
5. Cautious Man 3:58
6. Walk Like a Man 3:45
7. Tunnel of Love 5:12
8. Two Faces Springsteen 3:03
9. Brilliant Disguise Springsteen 4:17
10. One Step Up Springsteen 4:22
11. When You're Alone Springsteen 3:23
12. Valentine's Day Springsteen 5:11

Bruce Springsteen -- Born In the U.S.A.

2012-02-14T13:37:00.003-06:00

10/10

Born in the U.S.A. should not work. Its canned snare drum, heavy synthesizer use (sounds like I just accused this album of having a drug problem), and earnest vocals should crash and drag against my ears like a busted tailgate on the interstate. Somehow, not only does that not happen, but this album, twenty-eight(!) years later, sounds like a bonafide classic.
That previous sentence was strange to type. When The Beatle's Abbey Road was twenty-eight years old, I was old enough to drive. In some ways Born in the U.S.A. is better than that album. The music, while fun, and timeless in it's datedness, is not timeless in the way Abbey Road's is. But on the other side of the token, Abbey Road is miles behind the stories and character portraits Bruce Springsteen sets to 80's pop-rock on Born in the U.S.A. I only compare these two albums to show how revolutionary Born in the U.S.A. truly is. (Yes, I'm going to write this review like a high school paper).
Thesis: Born in the U.S.A. became a classic album and contained a record number of hits (seven top ten singles) because it melded Springsteen's classic rock stylings with the pop sentiments of the day, but more importantly, because it layered them all on a foundation of true-to-life characters and lyrical voices.
The title track is case in point. "Born in the U.S.A." sounds like some patriotic 80's American anthem, but the lyrics sing a different story.

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Until you spend half your life just covering up
Man, that doesn't really sound like an uplifting "Go Team!" anthem. The song goes on to describe the life of a man born into tough breaks, who is quick into trouble, sent to Vietnam to fight, comes home to a jobless economy, and has no options. People who just like rousing anthems get a chorus they can nod their heads to. Thinkers get a story on which they can ruminate. Everybody wins. The ambiguity of the chorus is also a selling point--"I was born in the U.S.A" but is that a good or a bad thing?
In a way, this is the same cast of characters as Springsteen's previous albums, and side one of Born in the U.S.A. is basically a full-band continuation of Nebraska. The second side has a more victorious feel, but it still seems like the same guys and girls, standing defiant now in the face of their trials. The progression through the album works, and in my opinion, perfects Springsteen's "four-corners" approach, starting each side with an up-beat sounding track, and ending with a more low key one. Side one ends with one of Bruce's best quiet songs, "On Fire," a haunting portrait of unrequited lust. I covered this for my wife of five years way back when she was dating someone else. I am awesome.

The second side closes with "My Hometown," about a man who has seen his place of birth go from idyllic to less than savory. Still, true to the album, there is hope in the new life of the narrator's son, who sits on his father's lap in the family car and gets a tour of his town, just as the narrator's old man gave him. It shows to Springsteen's new maturity that he could now think of things more important than running. He is no longer born to perfom that action, but ready to stand up and fight in the place of his birth, proud of who he is even if he isn't happy about it. That strangely American attitude permeates Born In the U.S.A., and gives deep roots to the album's pop tendencies instead of a simple glossy sheen. This is where Born In the U.S.A. is revolutionary: when is the last time a pop album had subtext?
Conclusion: Born in the U.S.A. is an album of many talents. While its sound should date it, it only adds to its endearing nature. Springsteen may have decided to make the biggest, most popular album he could make, but at this point his talent was so ripe, he couldn't fail in making a classic. That's just what Born in the U.S.A. is.
A+
(Do they still give A+'s now, or did they ban them for making the other children feel bad?)

1984 Columbia
1. Born in the U.S.A. 4:39
2. Cover Me 3:26
3. Darlington County 4:48
4. Working on the Highway 3:11
5. Downbound Train 3:35
6. I'm on Fire 2:36
7. No Surrender 4:00
8. Bobby Jean 3:46
9. I'm Goin' Down 3:29
10. Glory Days 4:15
11. Dancing in the Dark 4:01
12. My Hometown 4:33

When Wimpy Indie Bands Win Grammys (Grammies?)

2012-02-13T19:04:00.000-06:00

I wish all of Bon Iver's songs were as full-bodied and muscular (even if it's just little egg biceps) as this SNL performance of "Holocene." It's cool when someone not many people know of win big awards in front of 40 million people, but I wish Bon Iver and his soft-rock indie ilk didn't have to sound so wimpy all the time.

The Dream of the 90's is Alive in Portland

2012-02-13T13:23:00.002-06:00

The skinniest strongman is alive in Portland.

Bruce Springsteen -- Nebraska

2012-02-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

10/10

I hate reviewing stuff that's awesome. It's way harder to praise something perfect than to bash something terrible. I'm reviewing my own collection, and I generally only buy stuff I like, so the scores are generally going to be high, but every 10 I hand out, I do with an almost heavy heart. In this case, the only heaviness in my heart is coming from the fact that I know I can't do this album justice.
I am convinced that every non-Springsteen fan has an inaccurate image in their head of who Springsteen is and what he sounds like. Nebraska is that image breaker. Whatever you think Bruce Springsteen sounds like, it is probably not this.
But jeez, what does this sound like, rambling idiot?
Argh...well, it...it...I could give history. Bruce recorded demos at his house on a four-track with mainly just a guitar a harmonica, and his voice, than attempted to re-record the tracks in the studio with his band. Unfortunately for his band, Bruce apparently had had one of those rare, direct-line-to-God moments when he recorded the original demos, and that magic could not be re-created. Fortunately for the human race, and also miraculously, the record label allowed their bankable star to do something very non-bankable: they released Bruce's original demos as is, and those demos are Nebraska.
Nebraska's songs come from the point of view of the losers, downtrodden, and the down-and-out. Three songs come from the point of view of someone facing law enforcement. One of these, "State Trooper," got me hooked on this album. I've previously mentioned that I first heard the song in high school on the Sopranos, and if I gained nothing else from that show, I still gained a great deal.

New Jersey Turnpike
Riding on a wet night
Beneath the refinery's glow
Out where the great black rivers flow
License, registration
I ain't got none
But I got a clear conscience
About the things that I done
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me
Please don't stop me, please don't stop me

Maybe you got a kid
Maybe you got a pretty wife
The only thing that I've got
Been bothering me my whole life
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me
Please don't stop me, please don't stop me

In the wee wee hours
Your mind gets hazy
Radio relay towers
Lead me to my baby
Radio's jammed up
With talk show stations
It's just talk, talk, talk, talk
Till you lose your patience
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me

Hey, somebody out there
Listen to my last prayer
Hiho silver-o
Deliver me from nowhere

Now I have a kid AND a pretty wife, but I can still identify with this song more than just about anything. I don't see how any living human being wouldn't, at least at some point in life. All of the songs have this kind of lyrical depth and emotion. Some are almost emotionally unbearable. "My Father's House" details a man who leaves the safety and grace of his father, only to return home too late.

Last night I dreamed that I was a child
Out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest
Before the darkness falls

I heard the wind rustling through the trees
And ghostly voices rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
With the devil snappin' at my heels

I broke through the trees, and there in the night
My father's house stood shining hard and bright
The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran till I fell, shaking in his arms

I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
I got dressed, and to that house I did ride
From out on the road, I could see its windows shining in light

I walked up the steps and stood on the porch
A woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story, and who I'd come for
She said "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore"

My father's house shines hard and bright
it stands like a beacon calling me in the night
Calling and calling, so cold and alone
Shining across this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned

Alright, it's probably about more than just that. This album isn't all downtempo acoutic songs, though. There are some great songs where Bruce lets it rip, like Atlantic City, which rocks harder than most of his full band tracks with just his voice, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and a mandolin.

Another up-tempo track, "Reason to Believe," closes Nebraska. It's repeated refrain of "at the end of every hard earned day, people find some reason to believe" is subtle and ambiguous. Some say he is being sarcastic, including the person who subjectively authored Nebraska's Wikipedia page, but to me Bruce seems optimistic about the fact that even after the worst of times, people can still find reasons for going on. This great album is filled with these kind of questions, and is well worth listening to for a lifetime. Anyone from Dustin Kensrue of Thrice to Ben Harper have attempted to cover Nebraska's songs. My cover of "State Trooper" is never going on Youtube, but that's not going to stop me from trying to do it better the next time. No one is going to do these songs the justice they are served on this album, but the fact that people keep trying is proof of its perfection.
Hey, I tagged this as a "tribute" for a reason.

1982 Columbia
1. Nebraska 4:31
2. Atlantic City 4:00
3. Mansion on the Hill 4:08
4. Johnny 99 3:42
5. Highway Patrolman 5:40
6. State Trooper 3:17
7. Used Cars 3:10
8. Open All Night 2:58
9. My Father's House 5:07
10. Reason to Believe 4:08

Bruce Springsteen -- The River

2012-02-09T13:18:00.003-06:00

6/10

The River is Bruce Springsteen's big, dumb record. People like to pretend like there is some great juxtaposition of his more subtle, serious minded songs with more frivolous rocking songs, but that presumption is false. The majority of this 20-track double-album is big, dumb, tongue-hanging out rock. Unfortunately, these songs also have more of a dated sound than the rest of Springsteen's catalog. Born In the USA may use more canned drums, but that album still has an inherent timelessness that The River lacks. I am not sure what chronological plane The River runs through, but it is my least favorite band of sound the Boss has occupied. 4/4 time, plenty of doo-wop organ, not much spontaneity, and general The Nicsperimentdoesn'tlikethisness abound. This is the sound people who think they don't like Springsteen think of when they think about Springsteen (PROOFREADING EDIT: nailed that sentence).

While even some of the ballads are overblown ("Drive All Night" could not be used as a hamburger topping according to the Jewish religion), the saving grace of The River are those few scattered quiet, thoughtful songs...and I do mean "few." There aren't a lot of them, "Wreck On the Highway," "Stolen Car" and their small amount of siblings barely redeem The River for me. "Stolen Car" in particular paves the way for Nebraska, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.
(This version fits...I reviewed straight from vinyl)

1980 Columbia
Disc 1
1. The Ties That Bind 3:34
2. Sherry Darling 4:03
3. Jackson Cage 3:04
4. Two Hearts 2:46
5. Independence Day 4:50
6. Hungry Heart 3:19
7. Out in the Street 4:17
8. Crush on You 3:11
9. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 2:37
10. I Wanna Marry You 3:30
11. The River 5:01

Disc 2
1. Point Blank 6:06
2. Cadillac Ranch 3:03
3. I'm a Rocker 3:36
4. Fade Away 4:46
5. Stolen Car 3:54
6. Ramrod 4:05
7. The Price You Pay 5:29
8. Drive All Night 8:33
9. Wreck on the Highway 3:53

Bruce Springsteen -- Darkness on the Edge of Town

2012-02-08T13:36:00.003-06:00

10/10

Springsteen comes off of, Born to Run, his biggest success yet, with an album that tones down the theatricality, and focuses more on individual characters. Basically everything I complain about in my Born to Run review is absent here on Darkness on the Edge of Town. I'm not just trying to be a contrarian by saying the less popular of these two albums is better--it's just logically better, and here is why:
1. Subtlety: The arrangements are elegant but less busy than Born to Run. The album sounds grittier and less polished, but still professional. The band sounds tighter together than ever. When there's a saxophone, it's because there is supposed to be saxophone.
2. Flow: These ten very different songs fit well together and feel like they tell a complete story. Springsteen repeats certain phrases and musical patterns throughout to lend to the feelings of cohesion and consistency. Also, Darkness on the Edge of Town actually builds to a moment of catharsis, "Prove It All Night" that feels earned because:
3. Emotion: The stories Bruce tells here about desperate people who really need to get away from where they are are finally starting to feel fully formed and not just like caricatures. The more real a song is, the more emotion it can contain. When Bruce sings "Adam Raised a Cain," obviously referencing his own troubled relationship with his father, you can feel it a lot stronger than a song about someone asking someone else to get on their motorcycle with them. It also probably helps that "Adam Raised a Cain" sounds like the band is playing in the scariest blues bar ever at midnight over the sound of a black river.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is easily better than anything Bruce released before it. More cohesive, better songs, solid theme. The band sounds tighter. Bruce is a grown up. There is no logical level that someone can argue Born to Run is better than Darkness..., except that it sold more copies.
Now go listen to Bruce and his band rock out, or face the wrath.
1978 Columbia
1. Badlands 4:04
2. Adam Raised a Cain 4:34
3. Something in the Night 5:14
4. Candy's Room 2:48
5. Racing in the Street 6:54
6. The Promised Land 4:29
7. Factory 2:19
8. Streets of Fire 4:03
9. Prove It All Night 4:01
10. Darkness on the Edge of Town 4:29

Bruce Springsteen -- Born to Run

2012-02-07T13:37:00.003-06:00

8/10

Springsteen's breakout album is an undeniable change in sound. For one thing, any sense of rambling is gone. This is a straightforward, defiant affair. Max Weinberg (yes THAT Max Weinberg) takes over the drumset from Vini Lopez, and the ADD drum sound (I don't mean that as an insult) of the first two albums is reined in for what I guess is a more professional sound. Roy Bittan takes over piano duties and adds a more theatrical vibe to the music. The saxophone is also more prominent than ever. I hate to call this album Bruce Goes Broadway, mainly because I've never been to New York and all I know are stereotypes, but that's the feeling I get with Born to Run in comparison to Bruce's previous work.
I know that this is one of The Boss' most heralded albums, but to me it is the least personal. Maybe it's personal to him and the whole "I gotta get out of (run from) Jersey thing," but to me it seems more like a calculated bid to finally make it big. I don't know when I first became a fan of the guy...maybe late high school when I first heard Nebraska (thanks to a Soprano's episode featuring the song, "State Trooper") or maybe from all the singles from Born in the USA getting blasted at every Parish fair of my childhood. I don't have any kind of personal attachment to this album, though, and listening to it objectively, it's quite good, and I like it a lot, but it's not one of the best ever and it's not even Bruce's best. To me it just feels like it doesn't quite get started. All of the songs are good, and some of them fit together well, but I don't feel like I am getting any kind of complete package. I'm glad that Bruce cut the unnecessary fat that larded up his previous album, The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Only two of the songs on Born to Run are over five minutes...but there are only eight of them. Really, though, I don't think that's my problem with the album. My problem is that by the time I heard the vague, West Side Story dramatics of "Jungleland," I had already heard Bruce's highly detailed character portraits in Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. Why would I want to come back to this?
Sorry for the blasphemy. I'm just being tough because I know this isn't the best there is.
It's still better than almost anything.

1975 Columbia
1. Thunder Road Springsteen 4:49
2. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out Springsteen 3:10
3. Night Springsteen 3:00
4. Backstreets Springsteen 6:30
5. Born to Run Springsteen 4:30
6. She's the One Springsteen 4:30
7. Meeting Across the River Springsteen 3:18
8. Jungleland Springsteen 9:35

Watch Justified, Dangit!

2012-02-03T09:02:00.000-06:00

There are some really terrible shows on TV, and there are some really awesome ones, but why would you watch the terrible ones when you have better options? Watch Justified, people. You only have three episodes to catch up on this (the third) season, and you can jump in without having seen the first two seasons. After you do that, go watch the first two seasons because they are awesome.
The actors are awesomely likeable in their roles.
The characters are awesomely sharp and well drawn.
The dialogue is awesomely clever and witty.
The show is awesomely scripted and filmed.
It awesomely doesn't take place in New York or Los Angeles. Flyover country represent!
So awesomely watch it and feel awesomely happy and awesome or else those horrible women on whatever Real Housewives Of show you watch will come out of your TV The Ring-style and pull you down into their well of television mediocrity. And they won't awesomely do it, I promise you.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle

2012-02-02T13:53:00.002-06:00

8/10

Springsteen's sophmore effort is thicker and a bit darker than its predecessor. Though two songs shorter, it's ten minutes longer. He doesn't abandon any of the sounds from his debut, but adds a little more guitar effect on some songs and really more of everything considering all but three of the tracks are more than seven minutes long. While this gives Bruce a bigger canvas to paint his stories, some of these songs undoubtedbly do go on a bit too long. Though the energy rarely flags, it's clear that this album would have made a better forty minute listen than forty-eight. TWTIATESS (why is it so fun to do that?) does pay off almost every flagging moment, though, and rounds out solidly.
One of the best things to come out of this album is the last minute of this video. Does this even happen to the Bieber? Would the Bieber play it this smoothly? (Also, more bands should be bi-racial. RIP Clarence)

1973 Columbia
1. The E Street Shuffle 4:31
2. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 5:36
3. Kitty's Back 7:09
4. Wild Billy's Circus Story 4:47
5. Incident on 57th Street 7:45
6. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 7:04
7. New York City Serenade 9:55

Lovely Bloodflow

2012-02-02T11:48:00.000-06:00

Holy bad words, this is beautiful.

Bruce Springsteen -- Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

2012-02-01T13:35:00.003-06:00

9/10

I am not going to lie. I was not looking forward to revisiting this album. I envisioned it as a bunch of cheesy songs about teenagers racing around in cars or something. It's not. I was also scared all of these songs would just be weak prototypes of "Born to Run." They aren't.
On this, his debut, Bruce is already a fully-formed artist with a vision. The stories he tells here are full of genuine emotion, varied in their sound. "Mary Queen of Arkansas" is an acoustic song that could have been recorded yesterday. "Lost in the Flood" and "The Angel" are similarly downbeat and emotive (and mention but don't revolve around automobiles), but there are also plenty of upbeat tracks featuring the classic freewheeling bass and drum playing inherent in 70's rock. There's even a soul song, "Spirit in the Night," that's a lot of fun.
I mentioned Bruce's storytelling above, and I think he establishes himself as a master storyteller right off the bat here, but man does he pack some words into these songs. The closer, "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" is about just what the title says and boasts a lyric sheet a mile long in three minutes. It's a great song, but one has to get the feeling that Bruce himself saw the humor in the fact that two and a half minutes into the recording, he was already out of breath. Fortunately, he still had and has a lot left to say.

1973 Columbia
1. Blinded by the Light 5:04
2. Growin' Up 3:05
3. Mary Queen of Arkansas 5:21
4. Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? 2:05
5. Lost in the Flood 5:17
6. The Angel 3:24
7. For You 4:40
8. Spirit in the Night 4:59
9. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City 3:13

I Have To Say, I Prefer This To His Acting

2012-01-30T19:01:00.001-06:00

And I don't mind his acting.

Bring Me the Horizon -- There is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It, There is a Heaven, Let's Keep it a Secret

2012-01-26T13:41:00.003-06:00

6/10

It's been less than a year since I posted a rambling 5/10 review for this album.
Absurdly, I still find myself popping it in from time to time...why? I don't understand it. I hate this band's image. I hate their dumb, profane, narcissistic lyrics. I hate how repetitive some of the songs get, and how some of the four minute tracks seem to go on for four hours. I hate that I've listened to the song "It Never Ends" more than all but five other songs in the last two years.

I mean, look at this dude. He looks like a frat boy from hell. And that stupid, overdramatic intro, and that cheesy choir, and that chopped-up post-chorus, and that pretentious ambient section before the outro...CRAP!!! I'm listening to it again...

2010 Epitaph Records
1. Crucify Me 6:19
2. Anthem 4:49
3. It Never Ends 4:34
4. Fuck 4:55
5. Don't Go 4:58
6. Home Sweet Hole 4:37
7. Alligator Blood 4:31
8. Visions 4:08
9. Blacklist 4:00
10. Memorial 3:09
11. Blessed With a Curse 5:08
12. The Fox and the Wolf 1:42

Brendon Small -- Homes Movies: Bonus CD

2012-01-25T13:44:00.000-06:00

9/10

Home Movies was one of the best television shows in history, and possibly the greatest cartoon series ever aired. Unfortunately, few people have heard of Home Movies, fewer have watched it, fewer have bought the season four DVD boxset, and even fewer have noticed that there was a free soundtrack for the entire series tucked inside. I noticed, though, and I loved it, and I don't care if anyone else does because I am going to review it right now.
My thesis here is that you don't necessarily have to be a fan of Home Movies to enjoy this soundtrack.
Do you like Franz Kafka?
Do you like rock operas about Franz Kafka?

You are in the right place because guess what tracks two through five are? Brendon Small, Home Movies' co-creator, is also a music major, and he took great joy in combining his passion for comedy and music in one place. As funny as some of these songs are (and most are hilarious without needing any context...I mean, who doesn't like a song about fighting by using jazz?), there are also some quite beautiful compositions. Nestled right after "Septopus," a ballad about a seven-tentacled sea-monster who lives on top of a submarine and is always eating pies, the instrumental,"Heart Smashers Theme" is as wistful as a Sunday afternoon.

So there you have it, a near perfect soundtrack full of laughs and beautiful music. You have to purchase the final season of the show on DVD to get it, so you might as well just buy all four seasons and watch the whole thing. You'll thank me later, if you're courteous, I guess, and not some mean, pie-hogging Septopus..

2006 Shout! Factory
1. Season One Opening & Closing Theme 0:45
2. Franz Kafka! Intro 1:19
3. Turnin' To A Bug 0:21
4. Livin' Like A Bug Ain't Easy 0:49
5. Franz Kafka! Finale 0:16
6. Louis Louis Rap 0:37
7. Don't Put Marbles In Your Nose 1:12
8. Don't Kill Children 0:41
9. Season One Act 2 Theme 0:22
10. Season Two Opening Theme 0:21
11. Crazy Legs 0:51
12. Crazy Legs Ballad 0:34
13. Jason's Theme 1:22
14. Jazz Fight 0:48
15. The Birthday Song 1:21
16. Sunset Theme 1:59
17. Alone 1:01
18. President King's Theme 1:29
19. Starboy & The Captain Of Outer Space 0:49
20. The Compliments Song 1:31
21. Hot Dog Music 1:31
22. Victory 1:33
23. Mr. Pants 1:17
24. Bad Coffee 0:58
25. Duanetastic 3:11
26. Duane Outro 1:34
27. Landstander Theme 1:17
28. El Escapo 1:43
29. No Skin Off My Ass 1:19
30. The Ballad Of King Arthur & Robin Hood 3:37
31. Duane's Practice 0:28
32. Jimmy's Big Solo 0:56
33. Duane's Big Solo 0:43
34. Trust Yourself 1:47
35. We Are Artists 0:39
36. Coffins & Cradles Theme 0:53
37. Welcome 2 Hell 2:12
38. Bye Bye Greasy (Medley) 6:01
39. I'll Race (Reprise) 0:33
40. Septopus Theme 1:41
41. Heart Smashers Theme 1:31
42. The Wizard's Baker Rock Opera 1:37
43. I'm A Kid Again 1:28
44. Psycho-Delicate (Medley) 4:16
45. Dog Training Montage 1:48
46. Brendon Steals The Test 0:40
47. Brendon Cheats 0:51
48. Bagpipes 0:52
49. Ping Pong & Too Koo 1:01
50. Timmy! (Medley) 2:37
51. Brendon's Camera 1:10
52. Season Two Closing Theme 0:33

Rare Personal Thoughts

2012-01-24T08:49:00.001-06:00

I know six years ago I posted my naked thoughts on everything and revealed personal details of my life as if I was going to die tomorrow, but I haven't done that in quite a while. I use six years (The Nicsperiment hits eight this year) because that was the turning point in my life. I found a wife, moved to her city, quit blogging for more than a couple years, knocked her up (my wife, not the blog), had a kid, did a bunch of things. Now I am back in my country homeland, except now I've got a spouse of five years and a son. The weird thing about it is, I felt like my life had literally limitless directional possibilities six years ago, and now that I've returned, I see the result of one, arguably, the absolute best one. But what if I'd gone another way?
What if I went through with my plans to attend grad school? What if I'd gone to grad school in a distant corner of America? Would I be back here now, or would I be resettled? What if I had joined the Peace Corps? I was about two months away from signing up. Would I live in another country right now? How many languages would I speak? Would I be dead? What if I had given up on grad school, flaked out on Peace Corps, and just stayed where I was, ignoring my feelings for the woman who became my wife? Would I still be working at that library in Zachary and living in the country? I'd have a bridge to get there quickly now. Would I still be living in the same spot I am now, in the same home, but alone? What things would I have accomplished in Pointe Coupee parish these last six years? Anything? Would I be depressed? Would I have suffered from depression these last six years instead of enjoying the emotional roller-coaster of married and parental life? Where would my wife be? My son would not exist. Those two thoughts are certainly the most frightening. Where would my church be (I only came to know of it because my wife was a member)? Who would have led the youth, helped with the children, played the drums, played the bass? Most likely more importantly, where would I be without the church? Would I have married someone else, and have strange, faceless, mystery children? (Don't worry, babe, I don't want any other wife, or any other children. You're the only one for me!)
I really don't care about any of that stuff because there is only one reality and it is the one I am living in right now. I am only reminded of that time because I am back in my homeland again, and the last time I was here, I was in the same position I am now...limitless possibilites, and a lot of good options to choose from. I just pray that I make the correct decisions again. Whatever happens, I am glad I have a desert rose ;) and a sea creature-phile along for the ride with me. Wherever we're going, I can't wait to get there...then again, it is the journey, right?

Brave Saint Saturn -- Anti-meridian

2012-01-23T13:30:00.000-06:00

8/10

Excellent middle chapters are tough to follow. I like Return of the Jedi as much as any 80's kid, but let's face it: it's not as good as the Empire Strikes Back. I actually really enjoyed the second Matrix film, but I don't think the third film was what anybody wanted it to be. Brave Saint Saturn's Anti-meridian is in the same spot. What should it be about? How should it feel? How should it sound? To compound the pressure more, Reese Roper was put in perhaps the worst place an artist can reside: he had infinite time on his hands to work on the album. Instead of having to just roll with the decisions compounded time in a studio would offer, Reese was faced with the proposition of making a decision, having the time to undercut it, and then having the time to undercut it again. In this mode things can sometimes never sound right. On top of everything, Roper's bandmates were spread across the country, making collaboration difficult. All of these factors should form a recipe for disaster, but miraculously, Anti-meridian, while not matching its predecessor, is a solid album and a worthy closer to the Brave Saint Saturn trilogy.
...
One thing that marks this album though, is, surprisingly, darkness. It probably isn't as dark as its predecessor, but...
On the surface, Anti-meridian is the tale of how the surviving members of the USS Gloria make it back to Earth, and what happens after they return. Underneath it's about a lot of things, American social issues, the church, feelings of failure and undeservingness, and basically everything that had been on Reese Roper and Dennis Culp's minds in the five year interim between Five Iron Frenzy's demise and this album's release. The thickest strand is perhaps Roper's character's feelings that despite his crew's accidental successes, their mission was a failure, which one can't help but transpose into Roper's feelings about Five Iron Frenzy and that band's dissipation. Sure, Five Iron is back together now, but in 2008 they were deader than expressions involving disco, and Reese's feelings of disappointment is perfectly understandable, even the disappointment he feels toward himself, and just how much fans of the band can get to him. I'm sure Five Iron Frenzy devotees never expected to hear Roper say "I hate you all!" but his repeated screams of this at the end of "Fortress of Solitude" are as convincing as anything he's emoted. Hey, I said this album was surprisingly dark, didn't I?
Most of Roper's tracks are predictably great, though the album-opening ELO cover feels a little out of place, and Roper original "When You Burn Too Fast" is just a little over the top. His "Always Just Beneath the Dawn," which describes the problematic relationship Reese has had with his father is an emotional highpoint, though it certainly is at the right place smack in the middle of the darkest patch of songs. Perhaps the biggest disappointment on Anti-meridian is some of Dennis Culp's output. While his two contribution's to The Light of Things Hoped For were both quite strong, Culp's first contribution to Anti-meridian, "Underground" is by far one of the band's weakest songs. It's tired topic of the current music market is out of place on the album, and the song isn't great to begin with. "Hero's Homecoming" is a bit better, particularly benefitting from an unexpected bridge, and "Fields of the Fallen" and "Begin Again" and are both back in the realm of high quality we expect from Mr. Culp. While I'm knocking flaws, sixteen tracks is probably a bit overkill, though two are ill-advised interview segments with the surviving Gloria members about their now ended mission. The news broadcasts on The Light of Things Hoped For worked far better, though these two short segments aren't bad enough to be distracting.
Despite these flaws, Anti-merdian holds its own. "Mercenary" and "Starling" might be the best one-two punch Reese has conceived, except for the double-closers on this same album, "These Frail Hands" and "Invictus." "These Frail Hands" closes out the USS Gloria's story, as, far in the future, the astronauts reflect on their need for God as they fade into the night. The repeated refrains from "Gloria" and "Daylight," the album closers from Brave Saint Saturn's previous two albums, over the final chorus of "These Frail Hands" are particularly affective. "Invictus" is just straight up worship, a powerful song, and another candidate for Reese Roper's most passionate vocal performance. "Invictus" is a wonderful conclusion for the album, but it's also an excellent finale for Brave Saint Saturn's entire trilogy. Roper's wife Amy's background vocals give the saga an even greater feeling of completion.
Overall, Anti-meridian is a lovely and fitting conclusion to one of the more intrepid musical endeavors of the last decade. It might not be perfect, but it's got the Spirit of a Champion.

2008 Department of Biophysics
1. Here Is The News 3:41
2. Mercenary 3:21
3. Starling 4:00
4. Underground 3:46
5. When You Burn Too Fast 3:04
6. Through Depths of Twilight 3:09
7. Hero's Homecoming 3:34
8. Ammodramus 1:56
9. Fields of the Fallen 3:57
10. Always Just Beneath the Dawn 3:52
11. Fortress of Solitude 4:16
12. Blessed Are the Land Mines 4:57
13. Aegolius 1:49
14. Begin Again 3:37
15. These Frail Hands 6:05
16. Invictus 3:19

Brave Saint Saturn -- The Light of Things Hoped For

2012-01-19T13:44:00.001-06:00

10/10

In my lifetime I've heard the "we're not a Christian Band, we're Christians in a band" argument ad naseum. I remember going into Wal-Mart after DC Talk dropped Jesus Freak and seeing it on the end of the isle with a huge sticker that said TO BE FILED UNDER ROCK/ALTERNATIVE. Even the most audaciously-titled Christian album of all time insisted on not being categorized as a Christian album. Meanwhile, publications make "Greatest Christian Albums Of All Time" lists that further blend the line. In my opinion Christian music is the same as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's view of pornography: I know it when I see it...or rather, when I hear it.
So why all the setup? Because I'm about to review one of the most unfairly overlooked greatest Christian albums of all time.
...
In the spring of 2003, Five Iron Frenzy frontman Reese Roper was facing the dissolution of his band. Not only that, but he had been scorned badly by several women, engagement rings rusting in his apartment, and he had lost friends dear to him. In other words, it was time to make the Dark Night of the Soul album he was always destined to create. Even better (for the listener...maybe not Reese), Roper's side band, Brave Saint Saturn, had already released a semi-concept album about a ship exploring the moons of Saturn. Why not nab that lingering concept and run with it? On The Light of Things Hoped For, Reese uses the concept of feeling distant from the light of Christ to that of a space crew marooned in the everlasting darkness of a deep space eclipse. If that sounds heady, it's not...or rather, it is not emotionally alienating--it's actually quite the opposite.
I don't know if an actual, real Christian has made an album this honestly harrowing. When Reese tells his ex-fiance on "Enamel," "Here's to me saying fare thee well, and when you here this song, I hope it hurts like hell," he isn't trying to shock. He really feels this way. Roper and his crew (Five Iron bandmates Keith Hoerig (bass), Andy Verdecchio (drums), and Dennis Culp (various musical contributions, and writer and singer of some songs of his own)) are drawn in comic panels in the CD booklet, and the story is told there and in segue tracks on the album. The songs follow the band members' thoughts, first Reese's optimism at going home, his dark thoughts on his failed relationships, the darkness consuming as the ship is lost behind the eclipsing moon, Titan, the crew's reflections and regrets of their life on Earth as death approaches 800 million miles from home, and finally, a last shot at redemption.
As I just said, the angrier songs come early, and the second half is more reflective, lifting off with the so painful it would be unbearable if it wasn't so beautiful, "Estrella." The song is about Reese's friend, Matt Estrella, who died at 25 of Neurofribromatosis. Reese beautifully and sadly illustrates how Estrella's own life and faith was a bonfire to Reese's tiny hotel match. That most beautiful and mysterious of instruments, the musical saw, makes an appearance on this song, and its ethereal beauty adds yet another cosmic layer to the density of The Light of Things Hoped For.

The album contains dozens of deft touches like this, breaking strongly from the simple acoustic/electro pop of Brave Saint Saturn's debut.
Culp's two songs in this latter half are also quite strong: "Heart Still Beats" describes his impotence at being any kind of assitance to a down and out neighbor, while "Recall" remembers that before Culp screwed everything in his life up, there was light in his life. And finally we get to the final track, "Daylight."
Storywise, the crew is at the end of their rope, making a last chance at seeing the sun again and regaining communication with the world...but the song is about Reese's desperation and last grasp at hope. If anyone has put more passion in their voice than Reese does at the end of this song, it isn't on record.

Did you hear the news today?
I'm not coming home
And I wished it all away
I felt so alone
And the darkness crept it's way
Like stars we know will die too soon
There is never any sunrise here
in the shadows of eclipsing moons
Crawling on a tightrope
The bravest thing I have is hope

Daylight, save me
Daylight, save me
Tonight, tonight

Halogen, the lights will flicker
Incandescent burning lies
And the silence stands for nothing
Desperate I search the skies
Aching for a spark
Trembling in pitchest dark
Daylight, save me
Daylight, save me
Tonight, tonight

I'm not going to spoil the ending to the song, but that's it up to the bridge. People talk about "J"s per minute, but I don't think it matters because often it doesn't mean anything but marketing. Few modern songs or albums for that matter have earned or mean their "J" count like this one. The Light of Things Hoped For is one of the best Christian albums of all time, and a great album all around. I highly recommend it, and I suggest anyone who likes their music honest and full of feeling should check it out immediately.

2003 Tooth & Nail
1. Prologue 1:12
2. The Sun Also Rises 3:15
3. Binary 3:54
4. Mercury 0:42
5. Enamel 3:32
6. Anastasia 4:18
7. Titan 3:35
8. Gemini 1:06
9. Estrella 4:37
10. Heart Still Beats 4:28
11. Babies Breath 4:07
12. I Fell Away 3:13
13. Recall 4:21
14. Atropos 1:08
15. Daylight 6:24
16. Irides of M 2:06

Brave Saint Saturn -- So Far From Home

2012-01-18T13:44:00.004-06:00

7/10

About thirteen years ago, Reese Roper was left at the altar. I am going to imagine this set off what he must now think of as his "dark period (he's married to someone else now, is a nurse, and seems to be doing great)." The only good to come out of his misery was some really great music. His main gig, Five Iron Frenzy released the best thing they ever made, and Reese formed this side band, Brave Saint Saturn. That isn't to say that So Far From Home, or even the entire Brave Saint Saturn trilogy is based on Reese's breakup, but a major component of the anger, isolation, lonliness, and sadness found within takes form from it.
For instance, the song that kicks everything off compares Reese's feelings to those of a robot marooned in space...and it is quite sad. When a song involving a robot can elicit tears, that song is most likely not about a robot.

While So Far From Home is the first part of a trilogy, the band hadn't quite yet formed its identity or the story it wanted to tell. While some of the themes are in place here, the album overall is pretty helter skelter, and far less dark than the following two albums. Those who've only heard those two might be surprised at the light-heartedness of some of these songs, particularly the unfortunate, but fairly humorous joke-rap of "Shadow of Def," or the random Michael W Smith cover. Despite this, there are some inarguably great songs on this debut, enough to make this a decent listen even with its misteps, and the closer, "Gloria," really hints at some of the expression to come.

2000 Five Minute Walk
1. Prologue 1:31
2. Space Robot Five 4:45
3. Indpendence Day 4:34
4. Shadow of Def 4:25
5. Resistor 4:19
6. Fireworks 3:41
7. Under Bridges 4:16
8. Data Stream One 0:38
9. Rocketown 4:45
10. Moon Burns Bright 3:08
11. Two-Twenty-Nine 5:40
12. Gloria 3:34

Coming Up for January's Back Half

2012-01-18T10:27:00.004-06:00

The B's keep moving, another album gets a 10 (if any letter gets more 10's than B, I'll B surpised...yuk yuk). Also, Reese Roper proves that if you break up with him he will write an entire space trilogy of albums about it, and you won't come off too well. And finally, the Boss makes his appearance. But is he just an overrated by Rolling Stone washed up has been? Or has he earned his moniker? Stay tuned...unless I die, in which case I demand that this picture be posted on this blog every day until the Internet crumbles into oblivion.

Bob Marley -- Legend

2012-01-17T13:48:00.004-06:00

10/10

My first memory of music is my mom waking me up from my afternoon naps with Bob Marley's "Jamming" (the vinyl single with the live version of "No Woman No Cry" as the B-Side). Well, that and Barnes and Barnes' "Fish Heads," but she usually did that song acapella (and in a slightly lower octave).
Anyway, "Jamming."
I can't really think of a more calming song for a two-year old to wake up to in late afternoon sunshine than "Jamming." Almost all of Marley's most relaxing jams are here on Legend, but his angrier protest songs are also represented, as well. This balance shows the loving care that went into this song selection, and gives the dead legend his due. While reggae is the genre Marley pioneered, many "sensitive" guys with a guitar have attempted to cop his good vibes with their own "sound." They often fail for one simple reason: Marley's music was actually about something, and their's isn't. This is what sets him apart, and the difficulties of life he sang about make the "love" he also sang about actually seem earned and real. It's nearly as affecting as "Fish Heads."

1984 Island
1. Is This Love 3:50
2. No Woman No Cry 7:08
3. Could You Be Loved 3:57
4. Three Little Birds 3:00
5. Buffalo Soldier 4:18
6. Get Up Stand Up 3:17
7. Stir It Up 5:30
8. Easy Skanking 2:57
9. One Love/People Get Ready 2:52
10. I Shot the Sheriff 4:40
11. Waiting in Vain 4:16
12. Redemption Song 3:48
13. Satisfy My Soul 4:31
14. Exodus 7:40
15. Jamming 3:31
16. Punky Reggae Party 6:52

Pulaski

2012-01-16T16:56:00.000-06:00

She was fresh out of college
First one in her family to go
And California seemed like heaven
Pulaski, Tennessee was her home

She worked on losing her southern accent
Turned her back on her Baptist ways
She bought some clothes that barely covered
Her fair skinned body, went to Nashville and caught a plane

The clouds rushed beneath her
As the L.A. smog filled the air
And she smiled when the airlock opened
And the Pacific breeze blew through her hair

She thought about the boys from Alabama
Who came into town every Friday night
And drank beer out of big glass quart bottles
And left their trail of blood and tears behind

She thought the men in California would be different
She'd grown up watching them on her TV
But the men she came to know in California
Left her longing for Pulaski, Tennessee

Good ideas always start with a full glass
And just breathing here can make a girl's nose bleed
Dreams here live and die just like a stray dog
On a dirt road somewhere in Tennessee

The storefronts are all filled up with eyeballs
As the policemen clear out the street
For a line of cars with their headlights burning
Driving slow through Pulaski, Tennessee

Hollywood Sucks

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-06:00

NBC deceived me into watching this year's Golden Globe Awards. I was promised Ricky Gervais devasting all of the celebrities that I dislike. I missed his opening monologue (thanks, Eli Manning!), which was apparently most of his screentime because for the next 2.5 hours he was barely onscreen. So instead I was stuck with more Hollywood gluttony. Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet having to act shocked and surprised that they were receiving yet another mansion doorstop. What was worse, all of the celebrities were taking shots at Ricky that he really wasn't getting a chance to respond to. You could tell by the way he was widely sidestepped by all of the actors that they didn't want anything to do with him. They definitely had a "we're better than you, pathetic little man" thing going on. How unfair! Lower-middle class Southernors want to see all the people they are jealous of taken down a rung, not their champion vanquished. I mean, LSU, the Saints, they all got whipped this week. Now the pompous fame-whores were getting the last laugh as well?
Finally, as the show ended, Ricky came out to say goodbye:
"Thank you. That's it. Congratulations to all the nominees and all the winners. Thank you so much for coming. And I hope you enjoyed the goodie bags and the Champagne and the gold. I hope that took your mind off the recession, for a little while. Thanks, goodnight."
The sad thing is, that comment only convicts those of us with a conscience. So as all the debutantes rose from their seats to hit another party, you can bet they didn't bat a pretty little eyelash.
NOTE: Apparently some people didn't get the joke...The humor is that while those of us suffering from the economic recession are watching this program in our homes and struggling to pay our cable bill to do so, the Golden Globe attendees arrive in limos, are wined and dined, given jewelry and other gifts, and have their egos lifted into the sky. Gervais was sarcastically taking them down a peg, showcasing the hypocrisy of an event where wealthy people who lie for a living are spoiled and spoken of in the highest manner, as if they are the most valuable, incredible humans alive.

Alabama Sucks

2012-01-12T08:53:00.000-06:00

Imagine that one night I call you up, tell you I am going to beat you, come into your house, and beat the crap out of you in front of your wife and children. You stay home for two months healing, thinking about nothing but me, while I am out scrapping and barfighting, taking on and defeating all comers. One night I get a phone call from someone saying you are on the way to my house. Who is more prepared to kick the crap out of who? Who is more motivated?
That's right, Bama, you are, you bunch of sniveling brown-nosers. How can you even hold your trophy high given the back problems you must be having from all the bending over backwards you've done begging the BCS to let you into this game? I had absolutely no idea that there are practice games 3/4 of the way through seasons. I didn't realize that the NCAA approved of teams playing warm-up matchups against its opponents. Why practice against your own squads when you can simply practice against and test the weaknesses of the teams you have to play? Losing to them doesn't count because it's just practice. Heck, why even play a regular season? After we played AND BEAT YOU the first time, why didn't the BCS just declare the season officially over and announce that the whole season to that point was complete and that LSU and Alabama would now play again for the NCG.
Why?
Because after beating a team in their own house, we had to prove that we were worthy to play them again by playing more frequent and more challenging games than they would. What was the point of any of those games? Why force other college's athletic programs to waste money on their November schedules? Just pack it up and go home, guys. Season's over. Alabama got their practice shot at LSU. Now they're ready for their DO-OVER.
That's right.
All of the commentators need to get something straight: Alabama is not the only team that can beat LSU. Alabama is the only team that can beat LSU if they get a do-over.
Alabama, your abomination of a championship means absolutely nothing. You won the moment it was announced you would be playing. No one outside of your state cares, and ESPN couldn't wait to get the headline off their website. Your 12-1 record means nothing. The 13-1 team you just beat already beat you in your own home in one try. Your wife and children saw it happen, and even as they draw a "14" on your helmet, they know the truth. You won a game on a stage your disinterested opponent already cleared.
Did LSU and their coaching staff stink it up on January 9th? Sure they did. It's pretty difficult to work up the desire to kick someone's butt when you've already done so in front of their loved ones.
Screw Alabama. My grieving schedule runs backward, just like the logic that allowed the Crimson Turds a two-month grace period. Alabama Sucks.

blink-182 -- Neighborhoods

2012-01-11T13:32:00.003-06:00

7/10

The assertion that Neighborhoods picks up right where blink-182 left off nine years ago is close to correct. Neighborhoods is leaner and meaner than its predecessor, with most of the fat shaved off. Unfortunately, lack of fat means lack of comfort, though there is still the simple comfort inherent in hearing Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus sing on the same song. The impetus for the self-titled album's bleaker tone seemed to be romantic trouble, but here the guys seem to be going through an absolute existentialist nightmare. Their thoughts are far more adult in tone, though the junior high potty language knocks this down a bit. As usual, Travis Barker's drumming is blink-182's secret weapon, constantly pushing forward, more complex than ever. His energy is unbreakable, and every dark sentiment on this album can't bring it down. The first half is particularly dreary. Though things brighten up a bit in the second half, we still get lines like "It's a long road through the night."
Bleak doesn't mean "bad," though, and all the songs here are absolutely solid. Every band member is better at what they do now, and Neighborhoods sounds like a true collaboration, all three guys working together to create good music. And a quick rant: several critics half been severely half-assing things by looking at this album title and assuming and proclaiming in their reviews that Neighborhoods has something to do with the suburbs, like Arcade Fire's pompous misfire from 2010. It doesn't. Neighborhoods designates the different territories of music and thought intersecting throughout the three very different band members' collaboration. It's a joy to hear that collaboration once again functioning, though I hope next time blink will be coming from a happier place to create a sunnier album. As it is, though, Neighborhoods ain't a bad place to live and is about as good a come back as one can expect after a nearly decade long hiatus.

2011 Interscope
1. Ghost on the Dance Floor 4:17
2. Natives 3:55
3. Up All Night 3:20
4. After Midnight 3:25
5. Heart's All Gone 3:15
6. Wishing Well 3:20
7. Kaleidoscope 3:52
8. This Is Home 2:46
9. MH 4.18.2011 3:27
10. Love Is Dangerous 4:27

Les Miles Will Not Be Getting a Raise This Year

2012-01-10T08:19:00.000-06:00

Well, that wasn't very fun. LSU was truly peeleed, and while I think Les Miles might be one of, if not the best coach LSU has ever had, he coached the worst game of his LSU career last night. His stubborn refusal to change an offensive gameplan that wasn't working behind a quarterback who wasn't executing, while the man who led us to eight straight victories, including wins over this year's Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl champions rode the bench is absolutely unfathomable. Miles said he wanted to keep in the guy who could "move his feet," but what he really needed was a quarterback who could move the ball down the field.
Miles took away a chance to win the game. It was only a chance,. Lee may very well have thrown an interception on his first pass, but would he have tossed anything as abyssmal as Jordan Jefferson's shovel pass interception? No. That was as bad as it gets.
I've stuck with and defended Miles through the quarterback fiasco of the last four years. Both Lee and Jefferson were thrown into situations they weren't ready for due to the injury of Andrew Hatch and Ryan Perriloux's Ryan Perriloxing . Now both Jefferson and Lee are gone. I hope they both find success in whatever fields they choose (I think it's pretty clear their football careers are over). Next year it looks like we will be starting off with a young quarterback who has not only been immersed in our offense for a year, but has actually taken game snaps and thrown the ball. Whatever weird streak of loyalty Miles has had to Jordan Jefferson, which seemed to be the biggest flaw in Miles' mostly stellar career at LSU, has finally reached its end. Anyone yelling "fire the coach" obviously hasn't been paying attention for the last seven years. Miles is a great coach whose "never give up" attitude infects his players. But last night, and highly uncharacteristically, Miles appeared to give up.
Well, it's time to cut out all of the advertising. Get back to what you do best, Miles. Drop the Cane's chicken fingers, rebuild in the offseason, and on September 1st lead your 2012 Tigers into Tiger Stadium to demolish North Texas and begin your path to another great season, hopefully one with a happy ending this time. And along the way, remember who you are. Last night we wanted the riverboat gambler who never quits. Not an invisible man.
Bring back The Hat.

Postscript Quote
"I told my team that I did not see it coming, and I think that's my fault," said Miles. "I wish I could've done something to help them. For the players to put themselves in a position to win a game like that," he continued, "to them I owe a lot. We have to do better."
And that's why I love you. See you in nine months, coach.

blink-182 -- blink-182

2012-01-09T13:02:00.002-06:00

8/10

A band "maturing" can be a good thing, or it can be a terrible thing. Branching out and trying to be more sophisticated can have the unintended consequence of revealing an absence of talent. On their self-titled album, blink-182 reveal themselves to be a truly talented band.
From the get go, there's obvious growth. "Feeling This" is a sex song, but instead of distractedly turning on the TV "What's My Age Again" style, blink-182 actually want to have it. For a band like blink-182, that's honestly a step up. It means they can focus on one thing, and are over their ADD--and this album is certainly focused.
I think the secret to this album's success is that while blink experiments a lot, particular in guitar sounds, they focus on things they know. There aren't any salsa songs here. Drummer Travis Barker is one of the most talented in the world, so obviously any work he does programming beats, which occur from to time, is coming from a percussively knowledgeable place. Bassist and guitarist/co-vocalists Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge were both obviously huge dorks/emos in high school, so adopting a bit of a Cure-like sound (to the point of actually having Robert Smith sing on a track!) on some songs makes perfect sense. The best idea the band had, though, was not sapping the album of energy. Sure, there are some slower, balladesque songs, but there is enough high energy, fast-paced material to offest them so the album never bogs down. Most importantly, the emotions here don't seem false. Over-emotive at times? Sure. But even at their most heart-on-the-sleeve moments, like "Always," blink-182 still sound genuine. It doesn't hurt that they still have a sense of humor, even if it isn't nearly as overt.

2003 Geffen
1. Feeling This 2:53
2. Obvious 2:43
3. I Miss You 3:47
4. Violence 5:20
5. Stockholm Syndrome 2:42
6. Down 3:03
7. The Fallen Interlude 2:13
8. Go 1:53
9. Asthenia 4:20
10. Always 4:12
11. Easy Target 2:20
12. All of This 4:40
13. Here's Your Letter 2:55
14. I'm Lost Without You 6:22

Get Pumped!

2012-01-09T08:51:00.001-06:00

It's finally here! After all the waiting and waiting, the National Championship Game will happen tonight. Go Tigers!
I know some people hate football, but that doesn't diminish my love for the game one bit. You have to think, a lot of these guys have athletic skills the rest of can only dream of, given by God, and what better way to glorify Him than to use them. What I am saying here is that playing football can be an act of worship just as much as well...anything. That leads me to something else awesome.
Last night Tim Tebow and the Bronco's won their playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I used to hate the guy when he played for Florida because he was LSU's enemy, but now that he is in the NFL, I feel differently. Tebow has shown himself to be a true believer, which makes him my relative, which means I have to pull for him. ESPN recently put a microphone in Tebow's helmet for a game. While I must warn that he sings about as well as I do, check it out.

"No matter what, Lord, win or lose, give me the stength to honor you." This is the correct attitude. Bob Costas once ripped on players who claimed that Jesus lifted them into the air and helped them catch a game-winning pass. As there are people praying on both sidelines for victory, there really isn't any kind of way to understand who God wants to win a football game, or if he even cares. What Tebow prays 5:40 into this video is the right attitude. In life I want to win, but more than anything, I want to glorify God with my actions. That is by far the more important thing. And on that note, here comes another blink-182 review.

blink-182 -- Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

2012-01-06T13:48:00.001-06:00

8/10

blink-182 pick up where they left off with Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. The music is still fun and fast-paced, but slightly darker and a little more mature. When I say, "A little more mature," put extra emphasis on the "little," and take another look at the album title. I think I just made that dirtier somehow...
Anyway, this album is probably a bit more profane and raw than Enema of the State, and probably not quite as fun, but the tiny increment of maturational increase just barely makes up for it. I prefer Enema to this (the album, not the bowel cleansing), but Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is not any worse of an album.
Maybe I was just too old for this in 2001.

2001 MCA
1. Anthem, Pt. 2 3:48
2. Online Songs 2:25
3. First Date 2:51
4. Happy Holidays, You Bastard 0:42
5. Story of a Lonely Guy 3:39
6. The Rock Show 2:51
7. Stay Together for the Kids 3:59
8. Roller Coaster 2:47
9. Reckless Abandon 3:06
10. Everytime I Look for You 3:05
11. Give Me One Good Reason 3:18
12. Shut Up 3:20
13. Please Take Me Home 3:05

blink-182 -- Enema of the State

2012-01-05T13:46:00.001-06:00

8/10

I have a few friends who swear blink-182 sold out when they signed to MCA. Like most of my peers, the first time I heard blink-182 was the song, "Dammit" on the soundtrack of the overrated film, Can't Hardly Wait, so I can't vouch for that first sentence. I can say that blink-182's 1999 debut for MCA, Enema of the State, is insanely catchy, fast-paced fun.
This is the tape you steal from your sister when she isn't around and jam out to it in your car when you are seventeen and...what, they don't have tapes anymore? Kids don't jam out in their cars anymore? Rock music is dead? Well, crap. Nevermind.
Maturity isn't the name of the game here and shouldn't be. "What's My Age Again?" is the perfect anthem for a seventeen year old, or at least for me as a seventeen year old (This song was gleefully blaring at so many functions I attended in 1999, I can't fit half of them here). Six years later, co-singer Mark Hoppus's assertion that "nobody likes you when you're 23" sadly turned out to be correct for me, too. But at 23 or...GASP!...30, this album is still enjoyable, even if you've only got a little youth left in you. When I don't like this anymore, I'll know I'm officially old.

John Henson, come back!!!

1999 MCA
1. Dumpweed 2:23
2. Don't Leave Me 2:23
3. Aliens Exist 3:13
4. Going Away to College 2:59
5. What's My Age Again? 2:28
6. Dysentery Gary 2:45
7. Adam's Song 4:09
8. All the Small Things 2:48
9. The Party Song 2:19
10. Mutt 3:23
11. Wendy Clear 2:50
12. Anthem 6:09

Based on a Poo Story

2012-01-05T08:11:00.001-06:00

I just passed the most recent ugly billboard for the film The Devil Inside. Like every movie involving demonic possession recently released to theaters, the tag "Inspired By True Events" is plastered on every advertisement. This of course gets people curious, but something needs to be cleared up.
Here are the true events The Last Exorcism is based upon:
There was an exorcism once.
That's it.
I need to make a movie where I eat a sandwich then get kidnapped by terrorists and kill them all with a hamburger bun, then I eat the hamburger bun, then aliens beam me into their starship lair but the transportation process makes my stomach wobbly and I vomit the hamburger bun onto the aliens and it turns out their only weakness is human bile and they all collapse into toxic piles of acid and I pilot their starship back in time and prevent the JFK assassination by accident because I was actually attempting to attend the first screening of Star Wars in 1977 but since I am in 1963 I just go see a double bill of "War is Hell" and "Battle Cry," coincidentally the same screening Lee Harvery Oswald was attending when he was captured but he is not captured because he is as flat as Kiera Knightley under my starship. You know, I did eat a sandwich once, so:
INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS!!!

Also, sorry, Kiera Knightley...

Another Stupid Pitchfork Review

2012-01-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

I haven't exactly been vague on the subject of my distate for Pitchfork.com. I still visit regularly, though, so I must hate myself or something. Anyway, I've complained heartily about their overuse of hyperbole, but here I would like to complain about an offense even more egregious: Pitchfork staff writing reviews based on a narrative the author has already pre-set, and not based on the actual music the writer is reviewing.
My case in point today: Andrew Ryce's review of The Weeknd's Echoes of Silence. Ryce gave the album an 8.1 out of 10, a score with which I actually agree. It is the content of his review that disturbs me. My complaint revolves around Mr. Ryce's description of the song "Initiation."
Says Ryce, " It's (previous song "XO/The Host") transparently deceptive, and it slips into "Initiation", a cringe-inducingly detailed tale of drug-fueled kidnapping and gang-rape told through the part-grunted, part-rapped exhortations of an inhuman goblin." Man, that is some lurid detail there. What a shocking description of a song. It's like he's talking about a snuff film or something.
The Weeknd's 2011 mixtape trilogy is filled with some pretty depraved content. The protagonist, if one can possibly call him that, does drugs all day, engages in meaningless sex, thinks he is the greatest person in the world, and hates himself. He gets ticked at the girl he usually sleeps with on Thursday for calling him on Wednesday. When he finally consents to come over, he tells her to let him keep his eyes closed so that he can imagine he is with someone else. He's cold, and he's a huge jerk. Actually, at times, most people are. But just being a self-obsessed jerk is quite far from kidnapping someone and raping them.
If Echoes of Silence revolves around a theme, it's that girls who mean nothing to the protagonist throw themselves at him because he is famous, but couldn't care less about him, while the girls he does care about don't love him, and love other men (which is, of course, ironic). By the end of EOS, he actually seems to have found love, singing in "Next," "I got my baby waiting home/She been to good to let that go." But outside of this one woman near the end, he is extrememly jaded on women and the way they perceive him. On "Initiation," he sings to a girl who is tagging along and trying to get with him, "I got a test for you/you say you want my heart/well baby you can have it all/there's just one thing that I need from you/it's to meet my boys/I got a lot of boys." The word "boys" can have at least two meanings here. The first is literal, and means that he is asking the girl to sleep with all of the guys in his crew. The second, and more heavily implied, is that his "boys" are the copious amounts and varieties of drugs he has been taking for the majority of the trilogy. The lyrics, imagery, and tone of the song all jibe with this interpretation. Both are disgusting, and it's obvious that what the protagonist really wants is for this girl to just go away. She never gets kidnapped, and she never gets raped. Whatever horrible, messed up things that happen in this song are consensual, and reflect the awful psychologist's dream of this three-part mixtape series.
If you've made it this far into my diatribe, you know that description I just gave was long and actually required me to think outside of just composing an eye-catching sentence. But Ryce heard the song, noticed the dark, agressive vibe, picked up on a few words, took the meaning he wanted and ran with it. In doing so, he actually undersells the depth of an album he is attempting to recommend.
So to use your own tactics once again, Pitchfork: you suck.

My 2011 Booklist

2012-01-03T13:32:00.002-06:00

At the end of 2010, tired of having people ask me what books they should read, I posted a list of every book I read that year. I found doing that strangely fulfilling, and also a great record for myself, in case my book journal is ever lost. With that said, here is a complete list of the books I read in 2011 in the order I read them with notes by favorites or disappointments.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym -- Poe (Absolutely incredible. An unrecognized classic that deserves its due)
A Contract With God -- Eisner
A Life Force -- Eisner
Dropsie Avenue -- Eisner
The Shadow Knows -- Madden (An excellent, haunting collection of short stories. One day Madden will be remembered as the master he is. Hopefully his two Pulitzer nominations help.)
Imaginary Jesus -- Mikalatos
A Fire Upon the Deep -- Vinge (This book blew my brain apart. Vinge is brilliant)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Twain (2nd Reading)
Decision Points -- Bush
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies -- Golden
My Life -- Clinton (Between this and Decision Points, I am seriously considering never voting again. I am not kidding. And was 1,000 pages really necessary?)
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex -- Denning
Fear Agent: Re-Ignition -- Remender (Art by Moore)
Fear Agent: My War -- Remender (Art by Opena)
Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye -- Remender (Art by Moore)
Tales of the Fear Agent -- Remender and Others (Art by many...you should really check this one out.)
Fear Agent: Hatchet Job -- Remender (Art by Opena)
The Fox and the Hound -- Mannix (Incredible and CERTAINLY not for kids. I can't believe this is out of print.)
Candide -- Voltaire
The Giver -- Lowry
Fear Agent: I Against I -- Remender (Art by Moore)
A Good Man is Hard to Find -- O'Connor (My tenth time through the titular story, first through the collection.)
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction -- Allston
Abducted by Circumstance -- Madden (Writing better in his 70's than most young men)
The Silmarillion -- Tolkien (I thought it would be a chore, but I think it is now one of my all time favorites. Awesome.)
What Would MacGyver Do? -- Vaughan
Fear Agent: Out of Step -- Remender (Art by Moore and others)
Tender is the Night -- Fitzgerald (Currently 202 pages in, and currently pretty disapponted.)

The Nicsperiment's Nine Best Albums of 2011

2011-12-31T08:14:00.003-06:00

Well, it's that time again. The Nicsperiment's claim to miniscule fame, the Top Nine, is here again, celebrating its seven year anniversary (though no Top Nine was held in 2006-2007). I'm going to lay off the hipster bashing this year, simply because I am becoming so far removed from that scene, I am not even sure what music they are all up on this year. A singing goat in skinny jeans with ironic facial hair? Who knows, and who cares.
Of all the stuff I heard this year, here is my top nine:

9. Foo Fighters -- Wasting Light

The problem with Foo Fighters is they can kick out hit single after hit single, but making a full, enjoyable album has seemed out of their reach. The closest they've come is There is Nothing Left to Lose, but with Wasting Light, they've finally done it. Perhaps it's the determination to rock that drives the album, or maybe it's just that Dave Grohl is getting older and has more life experience to draw from. Whatever the case, legit, emotional songs like "These Days" are packed between the singles instead of filler this time. Nice job, dudes.

8. Blindside -- With Shivering Hearts We Wait

Six years is easily enough time to build up unreasonable expectations, but WSHWW is just different enough to completely subvert them. WSHWW features the cleanest production and most electronic and orchestral touches of any Blindside album to date, but the heart and soul of the band is still there beating away (and performing whatever onomatopoeia souls are capable of). On "Our Love Saves Us," particularly, Blindside don't sound like a new band, but one reinvigorated and hopefully ready to produce another ten year run of consistent releases.

7. M83 -- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

HUWD features a great song, "Midnight City," which has been featured all over the place, and always mentioned as a highlight. Fortunately, there is more to this double-album than one song, and all 22 fit together for a highly rewarding listen. While overdriven keyboards are a key component of M83's sound, the 80's nostalgic instrumental work and vocals are good all around, especially the slap bass on the sublime "Claudia Lewis."

6. Eisley -- The Valley

Eisley have always projected talent, but their fairy-tale whimsy can be a little tough to take sometimes. Unfortunately, the band member's lives haven't exactly been Disney fables lately. Divorces, broken engagements, and other sad drama could have devastated Eisley, but instead they've used their heartache to create easily their best album to date. They have finally realized every Fleetwood Mac comparison made about them in the highest capacity possible. To make matters excellent, the band have all moved on to much greener personal pastures, while we still get awesome songs like "Smarter" (just as good as "Go Your Own Way") to listen to whenever we want.

5. The Weeknd -- House of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes of Silence

This dirty, druggy R & B trilogy is the closest trippy escapist music I guess we will get to Portishead, while Portishead Portisheads around. Of course, Portishead isn't this vulgar, but... House of Balloons is pretty much perfect, while the following mixtapes make for a great middle and finale in this messed up tale. Thursday might have the best song of the year, "The Zone," or at least my favorite song in the last 12 months. Also, these are all free. Crazy how so much of the best music was free this year...
4. Josh Garrels -- Love and War and the Sea in Between

There really wasn't a precedent for Josh Garrel's new album this year. It came out of nowhere as a free download on his website. It's one of the most diverse things released this year with the power of Sufjan-like compositions, folk, some rapping, and just about everything else, and every single thing works. Love & War & the Sea In Between is stocked full of passion, honesty, and creativity. It amps up what is to be expected of a singer/songwriter, Christian or otherwise. You will like it, your girl/guy will like it, your dog will like it, your fish will like it, and I will like that you like it. It's still free, by the way, so DOWNLOAD IT NOW.< Also, "Ulysses" might be the most beautiful song of the year. Of course, there is a difference between "beautiful" and "favorite," but this one is up there.

3. Explosions in the Sky -- Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

I know it's wrong, but I've always considered Explosions in the Sky to be a sort of Godspeed You Black Emperor-lite, sort of in the same vein as Coldplay is to Radiohead. Not anymore. While Godspeed ended their run slipping deeper and deeper into stinky instrumental protest music, Explosions in the Sky have been consistently creating full canvas works of art, none more beautiful than their newest, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. Their previous album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, had a title that alluded to Catcher in the Rye. With Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, Explosions in the Sky have proven themselves to be the purveyors of the novel without words, musical compositions divided into massively beautiful chapters, each one better than the last. "Let Me Back In," this album's denouement, is their most mysterious track yet, and its emotional aspirations are as brilliantly achieved as this album is as a whole.

A NOTE: EITS is also one of the few bands whose album artwork and packaging match the feel of their music. Buying a physical copy in this case (which literally contains a home for the album) is most definitely worth it.

2. Drive-By Truckers -- Go-Go Boots

Drive-By Truckers can rock out better than anybody, but they really stretch their storytelling abilities on Go-Go Boots. The result is the most endearing, entertaining old friend of an album this year. Some of these tracks sound like they could be sung on the front porch, but my favorite is a dark, fireside tale, "The Fireplace Poker."

This year, though, a new friend was the overall best...

1. Hands -- Give Me Rest

Some things are perfect, and imperfect people like me will falter in attempting to describe them. The lazy thing to do is just not try, but this album deserves at least some type of description. Anyway, life is hard, and sometimes it doesn't make sense. All of us who walk with the Lord have some pretty intense discussions with him, at times. This is one of those conversations. There is yelling and screaming. There is more than pleasant singing. There are moments of intense anger. There are moments of intense worship. There are some moments of absolute devastation. There are some moments of absolute beauty. Nice ambient touches are the cherry on top. That is about enough words from me. Buy this now, or hear about it in their own words. Whatever. Just hear it.

Of Note: The Tenth Man!
10. Craig's Brother -- The Insidious Lie

Craig's Brother are finally back, and with a fine album in tow. Its only weakness is a slightly slack third quarter, but other than that, it is quite excellent to have this band back, and I hope they have even more in them for 2012. Some of the work on The Insidious Lie, particularly the heartingbreaking "Aaronic Blessing," is the best Craig's Brother have done.

Also of note:

Major/Minor -- Thrice
Major/Minor flows as one long, excellent song, hard to break into fragments. "Blinded" might be my favorite, but it's tough to call.

True Widow -- AHATHHAFTCTTCOTE
While AHATHHAFTCTTCOTE is a solid, albeit ridiculously named album, "Boaz," the sixth track, might be my favorite song of the year, battling The Weeknd's "The Zone" for ultimate domination of my ears.

The Appleseed Cast -- Middle States
Man, I wish this was a full length album. As it is, we just get four awesome songs, though none is better than the title track.

Coldplay -- Mylo Xyloto
What the heck is this? No, seriously, what is this? Rihanna duets? The vomitous rainbow cover of this album is appropriate. A bunch of pretty noises thrown on each other until they aren't all that pretty anymore. Well, some of them still are. I really like, "Charlie Brown," in particular. I can't even tell if Coldplay are trying to ditch their populist tendencies, or if they have amped them up so high they don't even sound like anything anymore.

A Plea for Purging -- The Life and Death of a Plea for Purging
This band refines their sound even more, and the result is some really awesome, really heavy songs, unfortunately broken up by some monotonous acoustic tracks that kill the momentum every time they roll around, which is too often. Culling those songs into one acoustic track would give the album back its flow, and would lend powerful tracks like "My Song," even more heft.

Embodyment -- Forgotten
Embodyment have been dead for eight years. Songs recorded right before the Texas rock band's demise have been floating around the Internet ever since. Finally, all of the songs tracked during the band's final session have been compiled in a goodbye EP, and their high quality makes Embodyment's long absence all the more distressing.
Here's the final track, "Hindsight." You can buy the EP for ridiculously cheap on Amazon. Have a happy New Year. And also, Embodyment, if Five Iron Frenzy, The OC Supertones, The Insyderz, Further Seems Forever, and EVERY SINGLE BAND THAT BROKE UP IN THE LAST DECADE can get back together, you guys better get on it...NOW!

.

Winding Down

2011-12-22T15:01:00.003-06:00

Well, that's it for the Every Album I Own Reviews for this year. It was a pleasure to end on a band I have so much love and admiration for, and I will be resuming this feature early in 2012 with the rest of the letter "B" reviews running the gamut from Blink-182, to Brave Saint Saturn, to the Boss. Should be pretty interesting...AT LEAST TO ME!
The annual Top Nine feature will make its 2011 appearance in a little over a week, and between now and then, maybe a few random posts will show.
On a personal level, I am bringing my family back to my fatherland, the place I was born and feel alive, and also a place that is really muddy right now, so hopefully we get some sun this week to ease the moving. I could go on about my love of countryside over the city, but maybe in another post. Until then, Merry Christmas to you and yours, and if you get a chance to talk to any type of help line, be sure to tell them the same so that you can get an awesome awkward silence. I just told the lady from the electric company "Merry Christmas" and received a delightful stutter before I got the perfunctory "happy holidays." Gotta love this messed up country. We will all be scared to breathe for fear of offense pretty soon.

Blindside -- With Shivering Hearts We Wait

2011-12-21T13:21:00.001-06:00

8/10

After a six year gap between full lengths, Blinside are back in full force with With Shivering Hearts We Wait. The band took their time with this release and it shows. Everything on this album seems meticulous, including the pared down ten track count, the shortest of any Blindside album. This extra time also allowed Blindside to focus on exactly what kind of sound they wanted to go for.
WSHWW is heavy on strings, and electronic elements, keyboards, and even programmed beats at some points, but underneath is still the same Blindside we all know and love. Blindside have been compared to Muse more than anyone else with what they've done on this album, and while that comparison isn't off, Blindside still sound more like Blindside than anyone else, even on the most experimental tracks, like "Our Love Saves Us."

Perhaps the best marriage of the various musical themes found throughout WSHWW occurs on the closing track, "There Must Be Somthing in the Wind." It's got all the strings, beats, and electronic stuff in full force, but it also features the band playing their instruments at the height of their powers, and Christian Lindskog singing at the top of his game.

Also true to good old Blindside is the lyrical depth. WSHWW is more relationship focused than any other Blindside album, whether that be between humans, or between God and man, and the album title in regard to these lyrical explorations is quite apt. Song titles and certain lines hint at a depth that can only be reached with multiple listens, and six months after its release, With Shivering Hearts We Wait is still growing on me and changing every time I hear it.
Despite this album almost functioning as a comeback for Blindside, it also sounds as if it could be a goodbye. I really hope that is not the case. Six years between albums is tough, but no more albums is much worse. Let's hope this isn't the last we hear of Blindside. Seventeen years into their career, they still sound as vital as ever.

2011 Red Ink
1. There Must Be Something In the Water 3:56
2. My Heart Escapes 3:41
3. Monster On the Radio 3:09
4. It's All I Have 3:50
5. Bloodstained Hollywood Ending 3:13
6. Our Love Saves Us 3:27
7. Bring Out Your Dead 3:39
8. Withering 3:33
9. Cold 3:22
10. There Must Be Something In the Wind 7:03

Blindside -- The Black Rose EP

2011-12-20T13:00:00.001-06:00

8/10

I like to refer to a feeling existent in some music as "after the party." Not "the after party," but something else entirely from my imagination. Essentially, the feeling creates the atmosphere of two or three AM, long after the band have played their set, and the crowds have gone home. With almost all the lights off, and the moon high above, the band come back onstage and play a different set to an empty room. That is what I mean by "after the party." I don't really think anything about The Great Depression denotes "party," but The Black Rose is the set Blindside play after it, in the middle of the night, to an abandoned concert hall.
The slightly-electronically charged first four rock songs all fit this mold, as well as the dark, acoustic title-track that follows.
"The Way You Dance" is the best example of my thesis.

And here is "Black Rose" just because I'm nice, and also because it greatly proves my point, as well.

These songs fit together perfectly as a quick, complete experience, but Blindside also added three live songs as a bonus. Blindside is a band whose performances of songs get better with time (I've seen em four times, and each show was better than the last). It is obvious that these three Great Depression selections, recorded at Sweden's Hultsfred Festival, haven't been sitting in Blindside's arsenal for very long. While these songs are well-recorded (you can even hear the bass!) and full of energy, Blindside aren't quite yet there with them. They still make a fine bonus to the meat of the EP, though, so I won't knock the score down on their account. This is a fine effort.

Also, you can buy it straight from the band for only $4.99!

2007 Wasa Recordings
1. The Way You Dance Blindside 3:30
2. Slow Motion Blindside 3:59
3. Pretty Nights Blindside 3:00
4. The Color of My Eyes Blindside 3:29
5. Black Rose Blindside 5:09
6. My Alibi Blindside 5:34
7. Fell in Love with the Game Blindside 3:30
8. When I Remember Blindside 4:45

Blindside -- The Great Depression

2011-12-19T13:43:00.002-06:00

10/10

Man, this is a good one.
At some point in late 2004/early 2005, Blindside's vocalist/lyricist, Christian Lindskog, took a trip to South Africa. He was emotionally devastated by the things he saw there, from people living in extreme squalor, to orphaned children dying of AIDS. Upon his return to the Western World, he realized something even more devastating: many people In America and Northern Europe, despite having every necessary resource available at their fingertips, despite being in good health, with doctors and medicine never out of reach, despite having televisions more expensive then most of the people he had just left's houses, were absolutely and completely depressed. This shocked and angered him, and this dichotomy, between the appalling situation of the needy in the third world, and the woe-is-me attitude of the privileged in the first world drives The Great Depression.
These themes aren't spelled out, nor do they hammer the listener over the head. There isn't anything preachy about The Great Depression. The album simply travels through Christian's anger and sadness at the things he has seen and the restoration of his own joy through Christ. Also, the irony of the fact that he himself is depressed isn't lost on him. This all makes for one dark, really honest album, one that a lot of fans weren't ready for.
The change in sound may not have been expected either. While there was a huge sound change between the first two independent releases, and the two major-label releases, the two major-label albums are pretty similar in style. For a lot of the newer fans, the major-label version was the only Blindside they knew. This isn't major-label music. This music is raw, desperate, and wounded.
Check out "Put Back the Stars," one The Great Depression's more beautiful tracks.

It sounds like the band is crawling through thick mud in the dark. Every instrument and the vocals are given moments to struggle. I think a word I would give to each musical element on this album is "sacrificial." Everything does what is needed of it, when it is needed. If the guitar should be minimal, it is minimal. If it needs to be loud and in the forefront, it is there. Chops never get in the way of anything. Nothing is fighting to be the star. Every element is working together.
On "Ask Me Now," for instance, Simon Grenehed's guitar is content to let Tomas Näslund's bass handle the main riff for the verse until he takes over the chorus, and both are content to let Marcus Dahlström's drums carry the song.

Blindside also don't use heavy as a gimmick. When Christian's anger is at its height, the album is at its most intense. For instance, "Yemkela," a song about a sick child Christian met in Africa (the piano in this song leads directly into "Put Back the Stars.")

Wasted disposable dying scum
Two months tops before silence replaces your small beating drum
Isn't that what we're all waiting for
So we can go home and celebrate our good life

But I feel gun powder
Burning under my skin
Don't say another word
You might set off a spark
Cause i've got gun powder
Burning under my skin

Take me back to tv-land
Numbness is a safe zone
They never trained me for reality
I'm a reality-tv clone
Now did you say your 10 going on 11?
Something is terribly wrong
Somehow I'm dying with you

But I feel gun powder
Burning under my skin
Don't say another word
You might set off a spark
Cause I've got gun powder
Burning under my skin

Yemkela

There are no gimmicks here. Honesty is the name of the game, and whatever Blindside were feeling musically and lyrically is what is there unfiltered on The Great Depression. They recorded this at home in Sweden without executives staring over their shoulders, and with a friend as producer, and it shows.
The Great Depression is also easily the most musically diverse of Blindside's albums, but everything flows organically so that every song feels at home.
"My Alibi" is almost a techno song but doesn't sound the least out of place.

One factor that might explain why the kids didn't jump all over this album:
Blindside don't sound like kids on The Great Depression. Stand-up bass, violins, and sophisticated lyrics may have been too much for scene children.

That was "This Time," The Great Depression's penultimate track. Perhaps what I just said in the previous paragraph is ironic, too. The next track, album closer, "When I Remember," starts with the line "The boy is gone." Lindskog isn't referencing an African orphan in that song. He's talking about himself, and he is right. This is a heavy album for grown-ups that isn't always heavy, but is always heavy. It doesn't have to rely on theatrics or show, but does whatever is necessary whenever it is necessary. Instead of over-indulgent orchestration, all Blindside needs to hammer the final chorus home is for Lindskog to screan "my skin! my bones! my soul! my feet! my love!" instead of sing it. That kind of subtlety makes an album about the biggest topics in the world seem more intimate than...well, I hate that word, but that's what The Great Depression is. It is intimate, intense, honest, and one of the best works of art any Christians have ever produced. I hope one day it is recognized as such.

2005 DRT Entertainment
1. The Great Depression 1:27
2. This Is a Heart Attack 3:10
3. Ask Me Now 3:34
4. We're All Going to Die 3:00
5. Yemkela 3:38
6. Put Back the Stars 3:57
7. Fell in Love with the Game 4:07
8. City Lights 3:13
9. We Are to Follow 4:02
10. You Must Be Bleeding Under Your Eyelids 4:56
11. My Alibi 4:33
12. Come to Rest (Hesychia) 4:29
13. This Time 4:47
14. When I Remember 4:27

Star Wars: Dark Times -- Out of the Wilderness # 3

2011-12-16T15:56:00.000-06:00

Middle chapters can be notoriously difficult to pull off. The third issue of Dark Times "Out of the Wilderness" arc does everything it needs to, turning the plotlines temperatures closer to their boiling points, while edging the various disconnected plots and characters closer to chaotic union. It does one better, though, offering tantalizing glimpses into Jedi Dass Jennir's character by unveiling unexpected bits of history from his childhood. All this, plus the incredible artwork of Douglas Wheatley, Dan Jackson's atmospheric color work, and Randy Stradley's gritty, snappy writing continue to make this comic a must read.

Buy it for $2.69!
Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date:November 30, 2011
Format:FC, 32 pages
Price:$2.99
UPC:7 61568 18817 2 00311

Blindside -- About A Burning Fire

2011-12-15T12:15:00.000-06:00

8/10

About A Burning Fire really could have been something. It's got some of Blindside's best songs. It's pretty good. But it could have been great. The could-have-been theme is in the title. Vocalist/lyricist Christian Lindskog has had it with recording in L.A., and is ready to get back to his wife and home in Sweden. Missing home makes him feel opressed, cold, and alone, and he wants God to basically burn these things away from him, bring him home, and make him new. This could have been an epic album, but those themes are only present on half of the tracks. The middle of the album contains two critiques of consumerism that sound like B-Sides from Blindside's previous album, Silence. There's a yodeling song that is surprisingly good ("Shekina"), but doesn't really fit, and a slow jazzy song that isn't great ("Roads") and doesn't fit either. If this album was cohesive, it could be a classic, but as it is, it's just a collection of songs that contains some classics. I know that the band had to not only deal with studio demands (this is their second and final release for Elektra Records), but was also infighting over which songs would make the cut. This second part isn't rumor. The band released studio videos leading up to AABF's release that contain some of these arguments, including guitarist Simon complaining, "I want to put the songs that are awesome, but Christian wants to put the songs that suck." Of course, Blindside's members are lifelong friends and not about to let petty things like that ruin their relationships with each other, but unfortunately for the listener, we get an album that doesn't come together as well as it could.
Again, though, there are some truly great songs here, including "All of Us," which might be Blindside's best.

As you can hear, Blindside sound as passionate as ever on this song, and they do on most of the rest of the tracks on this pretty good album. It's most certainly still worth checking out, even though you'd be hard pressed to hear me heap more complaints on an album I gave a final score of an "eight" to.
Also, the closing title track crushes in A Thought Crushed My Mind mode (again, out of nowhere). So there's that.

2004 Elektra
1. Eye of the Storm 4:02
2. Follow You Down 3:01
3. All of Us 3:32
4. Shekina 4:46
5. Hooray, It's L.A. 3:17
6. Swallow 2:26
7. Die Buying 3:19
8. Across Waters Again 4:13
9. After You're Gone 2:58
10. Where the Sun Never Dies 4:18
11. Roads 4:15
12. About a Burning Fire 4:36

Blindside -- Silence

2011-12-14T13:46:00.000-06:00

8/10

Something really weird happened in 2002. Blindside, a band few had ever heard of, signed to a major label. This was particularly strange because Blindside's most recent album at that point, A Thought Crushed My Mind, is about as far from major label as possible. I mean, it's called A Thought Crushed My Mind. While I had introduced friends and relatives to Blindside, I didn't know many outside of our circle who had heard of them. In all honesty, Blindside were probably a little too nuts for most of the people in my inner circle anyway.
That being said, Blindside getting signed felt like seeing my best friend's garage band jump to a major (not that Blindside and I were best friends, but I had hung out with them by this point...those dudes are nuts!), so it was a little strange to suddenly see so many people listening to them. I mean, they were on Conan. From Solid State Records sales-underachiever to Conan.

I mean, look at the gesture Conan makes at his throat when he greets them after the song. Worlds colliding violently!
Anyway, Blindside was given a shot at the big time. This is where the band really showed their talent. While I don't like Silence nearly as much as A Thought Crushed My Mind, simply for genre reasons, I must say Blindside essentially showed up to the modern hard rock party of 2002 and blew every other band out of the water. Some screaming garage band from Sweden isn't supposed to do radio rock better than all the American bands already toiling away at the genre, but Blindside do.
Radio rock is actually a bit of a misnomer. This album did get radio play, but Christian Lindskog still screams a decent amount. Sure, his melodic singing dominates this time around, but the screaming is there. The "radio" element is more in the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure of the songs. Structure appears in Blindside's earlier catalogue, but on Silence it almost seems as if they are making a mockery of the whole concept by the ease with which they perfect it.
Also, there are a few tender, quiet songs that any of those radio rock bands would be hard pressed to pull off. The title-track is an excellent example of minimalism, but the full sound of "Midnight" might be even more powerful.

Also, there's a funny pun in the first verse.

2002 Elektra
1. Caught a Glimpse 3:25
2. Pitiful 3:14
3. Sleepwalking 4:03
4. Cute Boring Love 3:36
5. The Endings 3:44
6. You Can Hide It 3:11
7. Thought Like Flames 3:54
8. Time Will Change Your Heart 2:58
9. Painting 3:36
10. Midnight 4:12
11. Coming Back to Life 2:49
12. She Shut Your Eyes 2:59
13. Silence 5:37

On the Way to the Fourth Decade Pt.2

2011-12-14T09:59:00.003-06:00

* A series of observations as my 20's end *

One of the lamest things that has happened in the last few years?
The process of getting sick.
When you are young, you run around outside (well, not you kids today, you are probably inside playing Angry Parrots on your IPass) all day, and all of a sudden when you go inside for dinner you start coughing, and your nose starts running, and then you don't sleep well, and you are sick the next day, and your mom takes care of you, and you are fine tomorrow.
Here is what getting sick is like right before you hit your fourth decade:
My kid is sick again. Uh-oh. I hope I can get some sleep.
Have to get in for work early tomorrow now. Less sleep. Dang.
Kid isn't sleeping because he is sick. No sleep for me at all and have to work a long early day. Great.
There's that old feeling in my throat again. The one I can see a mile off, like a marauding army on a hillside miles away. Great, I'm going to get sick.
Three days later: Now my throat really feels bad. Here we go.
That night: Don't sleep well.
The next day: Feel bad. This is when you tell your wife, "I am getting sick."
The next day: Feel even worse. Have optimism that you have a 24-hour bug, even though it took almost a week to develop.
The next day: Near death. There is no way you could have possibly felt this bad when you were a kid. How would you still be alive?
The next day: Things take a downturn.
The next day: Plateau.
The next day: Starting to feel a little better. "Little" is a tiny increment.
Three days later: You aren't "well," but you can function fine.
Three days later: Your kid is sick again. Here we go.
Of course because you are an adult in 2011, you couldn't afford to take off from work for more than a day or two. So you have been working the whole time.
You are old.
Brilliant.

Blindside -- A Thought Crushed My Mind

2011-12-13T13:35:00.001-06:00

10/10

I've already done an entire tribute to this album in an attempt to describe how good I think it is. That doesn't excuse it from the "Every Album I Own" feature, though, so here I'll try to do something a bit different and a lot briefer(...is briefer a word? The more I look at "brief," the more it doesn't seem right either. Sigh...English. It's not even this band's first language, so what does it matter?). Why is A Thought Crushed My Mind so much better than Blindside's self-titled debut?
Easy. It is focused. With the recording of one studio album under their belt, Blindside had a good idea of what they wanted to do for their second. After touring with a spate of heavy bands, most notably P.O.D. and Project 86, Blindside decided they wanted to do their own spin on "hardcore" music. They definitely put their individual stamp on it (this band could re-record "Hey Jude" and make it sound like they wrote it). Blindside's undefinable uniqueness is their greatest edge over their peers.
At some point Blindside also figured, "what these songs really need is a string quartet." They were right. I can't really think of any band outside of Sigur Rós (must be a Scandinavian thing) that's used strings to augment their music this successfully. The strings don't pop up on every song, but every moment they appear is a moment they should.
The strings bring the most to the final track, "Nothing But Skin." I mentioned in my review of Blindside's debut that their trademark passion arrived out of the gate. Well, here that passion is focused to a point of beautiful breaking. A Thought Crushed My Mind's theme is a brutal personal battle to lose all selfishness and become nothing but a vessel for God. Even if you think that the idea of Jesus Christ is equatable with that of the flying spaghetti monster, "Nothing But Skin" will move you. If it doesn't, I guess you really were created by flying spaghetti because you are not human.

2000 Solid State Records
1. Vow of Silence 3:47
2. As You Walk 4:07
3. King of the Closet 4:03
4. My Mother's Only Son 5:43
5. Act 3:46
6. Silver Speak 3:27
7. Where Eye Meets Eye 3:46
8. Nära 4:44
9. In the Air of Truth 3:00
10. Across Waters 4:28
11. Nothing But Skin 17:10

Blindside -- Blindside

2011-12-12T10:38:00.001-06:00

8/10

When many people talk about Blindside and say "The First One," they are referring to Silence, Blindside's major-label debut. What those people are missing out on is two fully-realized, excellent albums during Blindside's indie-label days. This self-titled album is actually Blindside's first.
Blindside is a bit of an anomaly in Blindside's discography, and in the music world in general. It has no genre. It's heavy, but it's not quite metal. Sure, vocalist, Christian Lindskog, screams sometimes, but he sings just as well, and he never sticks to a pattern of scream verse/sing chorus. He does whatever the emotion calls for at the moment. The music is certainly not nu-metal, but it's too heavy to simply be tossed off as hard-rock. It is a 44-minute blast of pure energy from start to finish.
Blindside is unpolished, especially compared to the band's major label work, harsh, but with a bit of atmosphere. The passion one would expect from a Blindside release is already intact here at the start, but if anything gets in the way of counting this among the band's best, it's the band's youth. While all of Blindside's releases show diversity, here it seems less from the band's collective talent and imagination, and more from not quite being sure what Blindside is yet.
Regardless, this is a solid release, a knockout debut, and not to be missed.
Check out "Empty Box" for a taste of the uncharacterizable chaos:

Hear Christian Lindskog sing like Kurt Cobain on the bridge of "Liberty"

And finally, for Blindside taking on a big, atmospheric sound, "Born"

1997 Solid State Records
1. Invert 3:06
2. Burn 3:28
3. Empty Box 4:05
4. Superman 2:43
5. Nerve 2:45
6. This Shoulder 3:15
7. Replay 2:46
8. One Mind 4:12
9. Liberty 3:13
10. Daughter 2:24
11. Teddy Bear 4:27
12. Never 4:26

Back to CD's and also, My Phone is Broken

2011-12-09T20:52:00.009-06:00

I've bought two MP3 players in two years, and they've both bit the dust. I dropped the first one from a height of three or four inches, and that was enough to make its fragile little heart give out. I treated the second one with nothing but love and care, and it still failed me. Also, my phone is broken, but it didn't play MP3's anway. BTW, if you've tried to call or text me recently...my phone is broken.
Right now my car is full of ancient artifacts from a long lost civilization called the United States. The United States flourished for about 225 years but is now just a footnote in the history books, which are all in Mandarin (you must be reading this through translation software, and if so, be careful because Beijing doesn't take kindly to that). In the mid-1980's, the United States pioneered the use of a musical media device called the CD, which was prominent for about twenty years, until people suddenly realized that they could just get music for free, because really, who does that hurt? Bands don't need to eat because they are all rich and ride around in golden tour busses chaufered by supermodels. Anyway, thanks to our glorious overlords in Beijing, may they reign forever, we all make the same amount of money according to the jobs assigned to us, nation be praised.
What was I talking about?
CD's. My car is full of them. I am really enjoying being forced to make an actual effort to listen to music. Opening a case, pulling out the CD, putting it into the player. I feel like I have so much more at stake when I listen to music now. Basically, all that stuff I said two years ago. CD's are awesome. It's like I'm really having an experience and not just passing through.
Also, sorry CD's, for marginalizing you for the sake of electronic devices that let me down. You never did anything to let me down, and I shouldn't have forsaken you.
Also, thank you CPC for not shutting down my blog. May the waters of the Yangtze forever reflect your all knowing gaze into the depths of the heavens.

The Blind Boys of Alabama -- Higher Ground

2011-12-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

7/10

A bunch of really old, blind men singing gospel songs mixed with modern ones, backed by a very young Robert Randolph and his Family Band and sometimes Ben Harper. That is the best oversimplification I can give for Higher Ground. Admittedly, sometimes the Boys sound too old, and the secular crossovers feel a little too deliberate, but then sometimes the songs sound like this one, and if I was a Catholic I would listen to it every day and cry:

Seriously, that is one ridiculously powerful performance, and the album version is just as good. While none of the other songs reach those kind of heights, there are some pretty great standouts scattered throughout. These guys may not be anywhere close to boys anymore, but they still know how to move.
CONFESSION: Yes, I only found out about this album after hearing "I Shall Not Walk Alone" on "Confidence Man," one of my favorite episodes of the television series, Lost. Dang, that was a good show.

I mean, seriously, wasn't Sawyer an awesome character? Anytime someone from the South is portrayed as having a brain it's appreciated, but that was an especially good one.

2002 Real World Records
1. People Get Ready 3:22
2. Spirit in the Dark 3:15
3. Wade in the Water 3:34
4. Stand by Me 3:01
5. The Cross 2:47
6. Many Rivers to Cross 3:56
7. Higher Ground 6:14
8. Freedom Road 3:37
9. I May Not Can See 3:37
10. You and Your Folks/23rd Psalm 5:42
11. I Shall Not Walk Alone 5:26
12. Precious Lord 3:52

Bleach -- Farewell Old Friends

2011-12-06T21:44:00.000-06:00

7/10

Let's get topical. No one really breaks up anymore. Just this year we've seen veteran after veteran come back from the dead. Five Iron Frenzy. Further Seems Forever. Earlier this year I got to witness a band live that I thought I would never see because I missed out eleven years ago, and then they "broke up." Breaking up just doesn't serve a purpose anymore in the current musical landscape. Things aren't anything like ten years ago. Unless your key members DIE, you might as well just say you are going on indefinite hiatus. When you can make an album in your basement, completely funded by your fans, what's the point in permanently disbanding?
Bleach announced their imminent demise in 2003, performed a "final show" the next year, and released their "swan song," Farewell Old Friends, in 2005. Bleach sound exhausted and sentimental on Farewell, but if they could have seen they would be back barely half a decade later, maybe they would have had a bit more energy on this album.
I complained about Bleach not exploiting their more experimental tendencies on my review of their album previous to this, Astronomy. They rectify that here. They even take a shot at a ten-minute song, and it is pretty good, even re-fashioning elements from an older song to great effect. The songwriting is pretty good throughout, but the problem is that the rowdiness present on their previous two Tooth and Nail albums is largely missing. Most of the songs are unfortunately mid-tempo, and the attitude throughout is definitely that of a band sad about saying goodbye. Plenty of these songs are good, but the album is really bogged down in the middle by them. A few more uptempo tracks sprinkled in would have worked wonders for the pacing. The album's best track, and one of the best songs Bleach have recorded, period, is "Good As Gold."
Check it out for a taste of what Bleach could do by this point in their career:

"Good as Gold" is fun, faced paced, but still shows more maturity than any of the uptempo songs in their back catalogue. At the end, they had all the elements to put together a truly great album, but they seemed so focused on their own demise that they missed the opportunity. And yet...no matter! Everything old is new again, and Bleach is back. They have the tools, experience, and momentum to this time seize the opportunity and make their best album yet. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

2005 Tooth & Nail
1. Write It Down 3:09
2. Clear the Air 4:09
3. Gonna Take Some Time 4:44
4. Took It by the Hand 3:36
5. Condition 3:37
6. To the Top 4:07
7. Sufficient 10:14
8. Weight of It All 2:50
9. Good as Gold 4:24
10. Farewell Old Friends 11:49

Bleach -- Astronomy

2011-12-05T19:38:00.000-06:00

8/10

Bleach retain all the energy that materialized on their Tooth & Nail debut with their sophmore outing for the label, Astronomy. However, Astronomy is an entirely different creature from its predecessor. A certain weariness crops up that wasn't present before, but this works as a strength. While some of Astronomy's tracks are the rowdiest Bleach have ever done, these songs about patience and exhaustion balance things out nicely. In other words, this is still a fun Bleach album, and even though they sound like they've been through some things, they are still coming out on top. The band also do a little experimenting with their sound this time around, especially on "Patience," which sounds like Bleach's take on Pet Sounds. Even the spare live version doesn't sound like any of their other songs:

...which might actually highlight the weak spot on this album. When you see that Bleach can be versatile, it's kind of annoying that they don't do it more often. As long as they are pumping out excellent songs like "Tired Heart," that is okay, but a little more of this kind of mixing it up could go a long way in raising Bleach from the level of good band to great band.

2003 Tooth & Nail
1. Get Up 3:10
2. December 2:47
3. Plan to Pull Through 3:40
4. Jaded Now 4:40
5. Astronomy 2:55
6. Living 3:06
7. Nineteen 3:34
8. Patience 3:33
9. Breakthrough 4:21
10. Tired Heart 4:48
11. Moving On 3:13

Bleach -- Again, For the First Time

2011-12-02T21:07:00.000-06:00

8/10

Arriving early on our one and only trip to the Cornerstone Rock and Roll Festival in the summer of 2002, my compadres and I attended the only set of shows on day one, aka, Tooth & Nail day. We were quite surprised to see the band Bleach performing on this day, as
1. We didn't even know they were still together, and
2. We didn't have any idea they had just signed to Tooth & Nail, a much more rough and tumble label than Forefront, their previous home.
We were also surprised at the passion and energy of Bleach's live show, and eagerly attended a second set they put on a few days later. That passion and energy is easily apparent on Again, For the First Time, their Tooth & Nail debut, but the even bigger surprise is Bleach's new found maturity.
Actually, this shouldn't be a surprise at all considering that the passing of time often brings maturity whether we want it or not, but somehow a lot of bands never find it. Bleach sounds older and wiser on Again, For the First Time, but somehow more fired up than on any of their previous releases. Whether this is from the label change or the injection of new blood by way of new members, it is quite welcome. Dave Baysinger's voice has matured, kept some of the britty Rivers Cuomo tones, but dropped any likeness to Billy Corgan. He sounds like a man now, singing about more sophisticated topics, bringing the newfound energy, edge, and passion to even the more balladesque tracks, like the powerful "Knocked Out"
Obviously, with the 90's finished, the more alternative leanings have morphed into a modern rock sound, but this actually favors the new lineup, and helps make Again, For the First Time Bleach's most solid album yet. The title couldn't be more apt.

2002 Tooth & Nail Records
1. Intro 0:17
2. Baseline 2:25
3. Celebrate 2:40
4. Broke in the Head 3:07
5. We Are Tomorrow 2:53
6. Fell Out 2:38
7. Weak at the Knees 2:48
8. Found You Out 3:05
9. Said a Lot 3:17
10. Almost Too Late 2:08
11. Andy's Doin' Time 3:39
12. Knocked Out 3:40
13. Jenn's Song 1:47

Bleach -- Static

2011-12-02T21:03:00.001-06:00

Bleach -- Static

7/10

Bleach's Static is a solid alternative rock album from start to finish. At times they betray their Weezer influence, at others their Southern roots. The amount of J's per-minute is fairly high, but they sound like they mean it, so it isn't a detraction. Vocalist, Dave Baysinger (how could you not be a vocalist with a name like that), sounds like a cross between Billy Corgan and Rivers Cuomo on this album, but Static still sounds pretty timeless, a welcome shot of 90's nostalgia.

1998 Forefront
1. Static 3:17
2. Super Good Feeling 3:18
3. Rundown Town 4:53
4. Land Of The Lost 3:16
5. Hurricane 2:19
6. Warp Factor Five 3:51
7. Rock N Roll 3:47
8. Code Of The Road 3:42
9. Lonestar 3:59
10. Drive 2:48
11. Country Western Star 3:17
12. Waving Goodbye 3:39

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- American X: Baby 81 Sessions

2011-11-30T12:34:00.000-06:00

8/10

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's American X: Baby 81 Sessions sounds like a broadcast from an unknown signal on an old radio in a burned out shack after the apocalypse. It's rock music, mostly settled noisy repetitive bluesy grooves (screw commas on this review).
I should preface my criticism by saying that outside of this EP I've never listened to this band. I was watching Friday Night Light's one night (not a Friday...either a Tuesday or a Wednesday) and an instrumental guitar track caught my ear. I thought it was just work by show composer (and Baton Rouge native), Snuffy Walden,(commas, you know I can't forget you! Also, parentheses, I love you, too!) but after some research I discovered it was actually the closing track for this EP.
The song, "Last Chance for Love," is a moody, emotional composition and sounded right at home on that excellent television program, as you can hear here:

The rest of this EP precedes this song in like manner of emotion, but not sound. As I said before, it's groove-oriented, dirty rock music from the end of the world. EP opener, "The Likes of You," exemplifies this sound perfectly:

According to the Wikipedia (which I'm just gonna make my source for everything), these songs were possibly left off the full length Baby 81 album because of their "uncharacteristically dark sound." Hey, good for me, because that's how I like it, and I like this EP (and commas) a lot. If this sound gels with you, too, you unfortunately cannot find American X in stores, but you can do like me and order it for a fair price from Amazon. At the end of the world, they're going to be the only company left,(just like this is the last comma) anyway.

2007 Red License
1. The Likes of You 5:11
2. Vision 5:01
3. The Show's About to Begin 5:02
4. MK Ultra 4:25
5. Whenever You're Ready 3:12
6. Hours 5:04
7. Last Chance for Love 3:59

Björk -- Biophilia

2011-11-29T13:30:00.002-06:00

7/10

Björk composed most of the music for Biophilia on an IPad for an IPad app or something like that, but I don't really care. She took that music, tinkered it into a full-length album, and I only know Biophilia in that context.
Björk intended this music to cover the scope of a tiny cell all the way to the circumference of a planet. With that thought in mind, she should have used something other than an IPad to make the majority of the music. While mostly lovely, this music also feels very small. For a Björk album, Biophilia feels too safe. There is nothing at stake. On her previous great work, her emotions seemed nakedly on display admist vast, epic landscapes. Nothing here sounds large or important.
Listening to Biophilia is mostly enjoyable, though, and the scientific facts Björk tosses out (did you know that the Atlantic Ridge drifts at the same rate as your fingernail grows?) are interesting, but the experience is also, unfortunately, mostly forgettable. Only a few of the songs actually stick, but like all Björk albums, there are highlights. The best track might be "Virus," which compares the battle between a cell and the titular organism to a love/hate relationship between two humans. In fact, the best thing Biophilia has going for it is Björk's lyrical scientific metaphors for human interaction. She has obviously put a lot of thought into them, and it shows. That, if anything, helps keep Biophilia from being a completely minor work.
Unfortunately, it has now been a full decade since Björk released a truly great album. While she is aging gracefully, here's to hoping that she is not past her prime but just transitioning into the next stunning phase in her career.
Just listening to this song gives me hope.

Björk -- Virus

2011 Universal
1. Moon 5:44
2. Thunderbolt 5:15
3. Crystalline 5:08
4. Cosmogony 5:00
5. Dark Matter 3:22
6. Hollow 5:49
7. Virus 5:26
8. Sacrifice 4:02
9. Mutual Core 5:06
10. Solstice 4:41

Björk -- Voltaic

2011-11-28T13:15:00.002-06:00

7/10

Even Björk regarded her 2007 album, Volta, as "just okay." She immediately recorded a live album after Volta's release, and even though it is entitled Voltaic, her lack of faith in the new material can easily be seen by the lack of Volta tracks found within. Less than half of the eleven "live in the studio" tracks come from that album. This isn't the only reason Voltaic is a better listen than the album whose title spawned its moniker.
The key to Voltaic's enjoyability is its cohesion. Björk brought the brass band that played on some of Volta's tracks into the studio for this live recording. Their constant presence, even on old favorites like "Hunter" and "All Is Full of Love," makes Voltaic a much more satisfying, comforting experience than Volta. While the performances of each song are a bit businesslike, the flow from track to track is excellent. The only real problem with Voltaic is that the tracks that weren't great on Volta, namely "Innocence" and the woeful "Declare Independence," still aren't good songs, despite the change in sound. As I've previously mentioned, though, there aren't many of those songs to be found here.
Voltaic is good fun for any Björk fan, and yet another fairly accessible window into Björk's world for newcomers. Also, this trumpety version of "The Pleasure Is All Mine" is really nice. I'd love to see all of Medúlla performed in this fashion. Plus, whoever made this video deserves a medal. How fitting.

2009 Nonesuch
1. Wanderlust 5:46
2. Hunter 4:18
3. The Pleasure Is All Mine 3:20
4. Innocence 3:59
5. Army of Me 4:20
6. I Miss You 3:30
7. Earth Intruders 3:51
8. All Is Full of Love 4:04
9. Pagan Poetry 5:14
10. Vertebrae by Vertebrae 5:08
11. Declare Independence 4:18

Now Is the Time for War!

2011-11-27T15:13:00.002-06:00

When driving through the cold and rainy, late-November, South Louisiana weather, accept no substitutes!

Reason # 256 That My Wife Might Be Better Than Your's

2011-11-26T13:59:00.002-06:00

She enjoys the films of Terrence Malick.

Björk -- Volta

2011-11-23T14:48:00.003-06:00

7/10

Björk's sixth album, Volta, follows a very simple rule:
If a song's got a bunch of horns, it's good. If it doesn't have a bunch of horns, it isn't.
Björk worked with producer Timbaland on three of Volta's tracks. Those three don't really have any horns. Go figure. The true problem with this album isn't necessarily Timbaland, though. The problem is that Volta sounds like Björk only realized what the musical theme of the album could be when time had already run out. If I haven't pounded in what that theme is by now, it involves horns. All the best songs on Volta have them. One of these songs, "The Dull Flame of Desire," is one of the best Björk has ever done. It's also one of her only duets, and she should really, really do more:

There are plenty of lovely songs like this one, though I am particularly partial to "I See Who You Are." The problem is that there just aren't enough of them. Volta turns out to be Björk's album that could have been. If she had stuck to the tribal percussion + horns sound, she could have been looking at another classic. Instead we get some good tribal percussion/horn mashups mixed in with laser gun pew-pew Timbaland dance songs that just don't work. Man, I still can't even talk about it...

2007 Atlantic
1. Earth Intruders 6:13
2. Wanderlust 5:51
3. The Dull Flame of Desire 7:30
4. Innocence 4:27
5. I See Who You Are 4:22
6. Vertebrae by Vertebrae 5:08
7. Pneumonia 5:14
8. Hope 4:02
9. Declare Independence 4:13
10. My Juvenile 4:03

Björk -- Medúlla

2011-11-22T18:14:00.000-06:00

8/10

I've been doing these reviews for four months, and none have given me headaches like these Björk ones. Her music is not only hard to describe, but the ways in which it has been described are extremely repetitive. Not only do I need to describe the hard to describe, but I have to describe differently from the sludge of the masses. Medúlla might be the easiest of all Björk's albums to describe, but also perhaps the most difficult to enjoy--and for the same reason: Medúlla is simply an album of vocals. There are a few light instrumental touches, but for the most part, the beats, basslines, vocals, and sounds of Medúlla are all made by humans.
This ends the skyward trajectory Björk has been on since Post. She seemed like some kind of beautiful alien singing upon and about alien landscapes. On Medúlla she and the music sound unmistakably human. Honestly, this isn't really what I want from Björk. I want a foreigness made intimate, not a humanity revealed, which is what Medúlla does for Björk. Her age and the limits of her estimable vocal ability finally begin to show as everything but voice is stripped away. A lot of the songs here are quite good. The best have a medieval, late fall feel, while the worst sound like a class project, the kid in the back doing the beat, the two dorks in the corner doing the trumpets. Sometimes the best and worst qualities happen in the same song, but the song is still somehow good.

Making something of all this can be difficult. It's easy to enjoy going along with things up until around the ninth track, "Oceania." It's clear that this song is supposed to be a single, but something about all the singing gets a little stale, and the feeling never really leaves over the next five tracks. Maybe if Björk had culled a little more tightly, this collection could be on par with her previous albums. Some of the short tracks sound completely useless, and could easily be ditched in order to keep out the voice fatigue that sets in. This is a shame, though, because up through the beautiful ballad, "Desired Constellation," which breaks the rules and uses a sample as a backbone, things really do work. That's eight songs of almost nothing but vocals, and they all work together. Maybe picking the best two out of the next six would have been a better idea than padding the material out with the most tracks on a Björk album ever.
Regardless, Medúlla is an obvious must have for Björk fans, and even those curious new listeners may find something to enjoy here. Just don't expect to be able to spin the whole album without taking a break.
Another difficult Björk review down, and I hope it is not as difficult to read as it was to write.

2004 Polydor
1. Pleasure Is All Mine 3:26
2. Show Me Forgiveness 1:23
3. Where Is the Line 4:41
4. Vökuró 3:14
5. Öll 1:52
6. Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right) 3:57
7. Submarine 3:13
8. Desired Constellation 4:55
9. Oceania 3:24
10. Sonnets/Unrealities XI 1:59
11. Ancestors 4:08
12. Mouth's Cradle 3:59
13. Midvikudags 1:24
14. Triumph of a Heart 4:04

Björk -- Vespertine

2011-11-21T12:29:00.000-06:00

10/10

How about a rant instead of a review?
Björk's Vespertine is a perfect album that's received terrible reviews. I don't mean that the scores or grades it received were poor. On the contrary, Vespertine was one of the most positively received albums of 2001. But just about every review written about it either just took quotes from Björk herself about the album, and made that the review, or overgeneralized so heavily that the descriptions of the album weren't even close to accurate. The general consensus of these reviews is that Vespertine is about Björk staying in her house and whispering. And yes, sometimes she whispers--but sometimes she sings louder than ever. And yes, she sings a little bit about being inside--but most of those songs are about her being in her bedroom having sex, so does that really count? And really, if anything, isn't this album about the tension between staying insular and (at points literally and graphically) letting somebody in? Stressing about the consequences of opening yourself to the world versus just relaxing and taking the day as it comes?
There's also the sentiment that this album is about intimate, small things--

Threading the glacier head, looking hard for moments of shine, from twilight to twilight...I tumble down on my knees, fill the mouth with snow, the way it melts, I wish to melt into you That actually sounds pretty epic to me. Also, she doesn't whisper these lines, but anyway. Those choirs sound pretty loud, too. And the percussion is SOMEONE MARCHING THROUGH SNOW.
Anyway, I think Vespertine is obviously a very personal album for Björk, but it's also a very easy album in which to lose yourself. Like its predecessor, Homogenic, it is a musical journey from start to finish. There is certainly a kind of darkness to be found within as well, especially toward the end--sometimes letting people in doesn't always work. "An Echo, a Stain" is actually pretty frightening, and "Harm of Will" is beautifully disturbing.
So to conclude my badly organized rantings, Vespertine is a beautiful, complex album. It's not the type of thing that can be summed up by buzzwords and generalizations. As you would expect, considering the artist, it's a complete original, something that has to be experienced to be interpreted, not something that can be accurately described. And that's it.

RANDOM THANK YOU FOR THIS REVIEW: Thanks to the DJ's at KLSU the semester this came out (and the first that I DJ'd!) for playing this ad naseum and gushing about it in non-traditional, excited terminology, while I watched the winter sunset from my car in the parking lot of the abandoned Delchamps next to my apartment because I didn't want to go home. One more for the road?

2001 Elektra
1. Hidden Place 5:28
2. Cocoon 4:28
3. It's Not Up to You 5:08
4. Undo 5:38
5. Pagan Poetry 5:14
6. Frosti 1:41
7. Aurora 4:39
8. An Echo, A Stain 4:04
9. Sun in My Mouth 2:40
10. Heirloom 5:12
11. Harm of Will 4:36
12. Unison 6:45

Björk -- Selmasongs

2011-11-16T13:23:00.002-06:00

6/10

Selmasongs, featuring music from Björk's film debut, Dancer in the Dark, is a strange beast. It starts out as a film score with the big hopeful "Overture," but the found sound beats of the film begin on track two, "Cvalda." Machinery noises from Björk's character's workplace make up the rhythm of the song, and Björk and actress, Catherine Deneuve, provide the vocals just as they do in the film. This approach changes immediately on track three, "I've Seen It All," where actor Peter Stormare's shaky, character-filled vocals from the film are switched out with vocals by Radiohead's Thom Yorke. This makes for a great song, but with Peter Stormare's vocals cut along with the deep, frightening background work by some fieldhands, "I've Seen it All" doesn't fully resemble what can be heard on Dancer in the Dark, and the emotion is completely different. I prefer the version from the visually stunning film, which may be because I saw it before I heard Selmasongs, despite the fact that I love Yorke's vocals on the new cut. I'll let you decide which is best(but you really should watch the film anyway--it is easily one of the best musicals of this young century):

vs

I am glad Björk kept the train on the tracks percussion.
The rest of the numbers on Selmasongs follow suit. They are still backed by the film score, which sounds to me like the hopeful music in the first twenty minutes of an 80's horror or disaster flick before everything goes wrong. The rest of the songs are also slightly different from what is found on the film. As such, I think Selmasongs is a decent listen for fans of Dancer in the Dark, who can still connect with the songs, and fans of Björk in general, though I would be hard pressed to recommend this to anyone else. Radiohead fans may enjoy Yorke's appearance on "I've Seen it All," but the rest is hit and miss for non-Björkites.

2000 Elektra
1 Overture 3:38
2 Cvalda 4:48
3 I've Seen It All 5:29
4 Scatterheart 6:39
5 In the Musicals 4:41
6 107 Steps 2:36
7 New World 4:23

Björk -- Homogenic

2011-11-15T13:05:00.001-06:00

10/10

While Björk's first two albums are quite enjoyable, they are also quite sonically scattered. They were, however, aptly named, and Homogenic, Björk's third album, is as well.
Homogenic is Björk's first album to feature a cohesive, homogenized sound. Björk, facing some heartbreak and pehaps a little growing up, sounds more focused than ever, employing an excellent combination of simple, sometimes aggressive electronics, and strings (there's an organ, harmonicas, accordians, and other organic instruments which fit in nicely, as well). This makes for an album that is epically icy, yet calming, glowing, warm. If that doesn't make sense in the context of other music, it's because Homogenic doesn't really sound like any other music, and Björk's voice doesn't really sound like that of any other singer.
Homogenic also features another mark of a great album--movement. It starts in a relatively cold, confused place, and ends in a place of understanding and comfort. There is a definite beginning, middle, and end on this late night journey through a frozen canyon full of scattered, roving, neon lights.
And finally, I think it says something that a primarily electronic album that sounded awesome 14 years ago still sounds awesome now. Homogenic is a modern masterpiece. If entering Björk's cannon has proved chillingly difficult, this album is an easy way in. I think that was a double entendre, but i'm not sure. In that spirit, here are two Björk robots making out:

THANK YOU NOTE: Thanks X-Files: Fight the Future, for featuring "Hunter" on your soundtrack and again giving my high-school self some much-needed Björk exposure.

1997 Elektra
1. Hunter 4:15
2. Jöga 5:05
3. Unravel 3:21
4. Bachelorette 5:12
5. All Neon Like 5:53
6. 5 Years 4:29
7. Immature 3:06
8. Alarm Call 4:19
9. Pluto 3:19
10. All Is Full of Love 4:33

Björk -- Telegram

2011-11-14T13:25:00.000-06:00

5/10

I won't mince words here: re-mix albums are usually pretty pointless. Björk's Telegram doesn't do much to reverse this sentiment. A bunch of really good songs, all from Post sans one, get mugged by generic techno music, or lightly touched up to the point that their inclusion is useless. The one new track, "My Spine" was left off of Post for a reason: it is terrible. There is one reason and one reason alone to have anything to do with this release, and that is the new version of Post's best track, "Hyperballad." This is the version I used to listen to on loop in high school until five a.m. For some reason, my hair always looked really good the next day.
Björk re-recorded her vocals for this track and handed them over to the experimental Brodsky (string) Quartet. The result is a primarily electronic song being transformed into nothing more than strings and Björk's wonderful vocals, and it's one of the best songs Bjork ever put to tape.

Check it out, and forget about the rest of this (except maybe the trippy version of "You've Been Flirting Again," which is pretty decent) unless you are really, really interested in the deconstruction of a song, in which case you might find more to dig into here.

1997 Elektra
1. PossiPossibly Maybe [Lucy Mix] 3:03
2. Hyper-Ballad 4:21
3. Enjoy [Further Over The Edge mix] 4:21
4. My Spine 2:33
5. I Miss You [Dobie Rub Part One-Sunshine mix] 5:35
6. Isobel [Deodato mix] 6:11
7. You've Been Flirting Again [Flirt Is A Promise mix] 3:20
8. Cover Me [Dillinja mix] 6:22
9. Army of Me [Masseymix] 5:18
10. Headphones 6:17
11. I Miss You [Original mix] 3:59

Björk -- Post

2011-11-10T14:08:00.001-06:00

9/10

So this is where I fell in love. Impressionable teenagers can always be easily swayed by singing Icelandic pixies and sub-par Russian tennis players (hey, she was an ace at Doubles!). Everything is better on Björk's sophmore album, from the songwriting and production, to even the singing. A key word here is nuance. A lot of the sounds on Debut were simple and concrete. There's a lot more mystery to be found on Post.
Björk starts off in tough-girl mode with "Army of Me," the music and her voice already sounding far more alien than anything on Post's predecessor. She quickly turns vulnerable, though, or at least as vulnerable as Björk can be on,"Hyperballad," the song that made me a lovelorn 17-year-old. Really, what weird 17-year-old boy isn't going to fall in love with this?

Again, there is that combination of the future--weird electronic stuff, bass, and beats--and history--the lovely strings in the background--that I mentioned in the previous review, but the mix is far more sophisticated and less obvious.
The day-glo feeling of the front cover continues into "All the Modern Things," but takes a far left into the histrionic with "It's Oh So Quiet," a journey into shrieking, big-band insanity. It is Björk's highest charting song to date.
"Enjoy" is a return to the more electronic-based sound, albeit menacingly, followed by the short, symphonic "You've Been Flirting Again."
"Isobel" is the centerpiece of the album, and rightfully so, as it is an amalgam of all the sounds found on Post and contains one of Björk's ongoing lyrical themes--love/emotion/nature vs. technology/callousness/modern society. "Possibly Maybe" follows as another song to make a strange 17-year-old fall in love. It's trip hop, the lyrics are a little naughty, and she does that thing where she grinds her voice. What's not to love?

Speaking of voice-grinding, there's a decent amount of that on "I Miss You," the closest thing to a traditional dance song on Post, though not that close. This song also features a pretty sweet horn-breakdown around the mid-point.
"Cover Me," the pen-ultimate track, is a short, mysterious song that works as a nice counterpoint to "You've Been Flirting Again."
"Headphones," Post's beautiful, unexpectedly subdued closer, is even more fitting considering it's the perfect "headphones in the bathtub with the lights out" song (I keep recommending this, but no one is close to as cool as me to actually try it). A soft, calming beat and bassline, and a gentle army of Björk's wash around the speakers for five and half minutes, then Post is over, better than its predecessor in every way, and a fine promise that even better works lie ahead.

1995 Elektra
1. Army of Me 3:54
2. Hyper-Ballad 5:21
3. The Modern Things 4:10
4. It's Oh So Quiet 3:38
5. Enjoy 3:56
6. You've Been Flirting Again 2:29
7. Isobel 5:47
8. Possibly Maybe 5:06
9. I Miss You 4:03
10. Cover Me 2:06
11. Headphones 5:40

Björk -- Debut

2011-11-09T13:18:00.002-06:00

8/10

There was a time I think I was in love with Björk. Don't worry, my wife doesn't have anything to be concerned about. I was a teenager, and Bjork wasn't pushing fifty. Yes, this was a different era, the President was from Arkansas, Napster wasn't even born, and Björk wasn't PUSHING FIFTY. How the heck is she now almost fifty? How am I so old? WAHHH!!!
Anyway, that time has long passed, and even back then, Björk's Debut was half a decade old. The song that led me to her like the smell of pie on a windowsill was "Hyperballad," which is still an album away, so now it's time to make sense of Björk's 18-year-old freshman album (if you don't count that stuff she recorded as a child...I don't).
The lead-in, "Human Behavior," is still one of Björk's most well known songs, and for good reason. Björk has one of the most distinctive voices in the world, one thousands have failed to describe aptly. I won't try here, though I can say it feels like butterflies fluttering around in and hollowing out your chest. If Björk was simply paired with standard pop music, her voice wouldn't make as big a difference. It's the innovative sounds she's had behind her that have propelled her into greatness. There is a sense of something new, yet there's also a sense of history involved, coming out in "Human Behavior" through the ancient, crackly orchestral cue that pops up and swiftly disappears 1:58 seconds into the song. Also, there was a weird video:

What's strange is that the second track, "Crying," is conventional, dated, early 90's dance music, and it isn't the only track of its kind on Debut. Every other track on the first half is disappointingly like this, surrounding the excellent (I know surely written about me) "Venus as a Boy," which because of its prominent use in Luc Besson's film, The Professional (THANK YOU LUC BESSON!), was some of my first Björk exposure. Thankfully, conventionality isn't the case with the final five tracks.
"One Day" sounds like a good dream. "Aeroplane" is jungle jazz music, animal noises intact. "Come to Me" is another dreamy song from somewhere past the end of time, and contains more orchestral input, the organic settling cozily with the technological. "Violently Happy" is sadly a return to the more basic dance sound, but is completely subversed by the lyrics. "The Anchor Song" is a fine ending, a duet between Björk and a bunch of NPR ready horns.
Overall, Debut is a bit more down to Earth than one would expect given Björk's later, celestial works. That said, it's still a varied listen, contains plenty of great songs, and well displays the timeless, unmatched quality of the various patterns of sound soaring skyward from somewhere beneath Björk's lips.

1993 Elektra
1. Human Behaviour 4:12
2. Crying 4:49
3. Venus as a Boy 4:41
4. There's More to Life Than This 3:21
5. Like Someone in Love 4:33
6. Big Time Sensuality 3:56
7. One Day 5:24
8. Aeroplane 3:54
9. Come to Me 4:55
10. Violently Happy 4:58
11. The Anchor Song 3:32

The Billions -- Never Felt This Way Before

2011-11-08T13:59:00.001-06:00

8/10

Well, this is a weird one.
One of the only things I don't miss about my DJ days is the huge amount of mediocre CD's we got in the mail that sounded exactly the same as the last. Anything that sounded different was a welcome respite. One day we got an album with Braile on the front cover from a label called Northern Records. We played it out. We loved it.
The Billions' Never Felt This Way Before is pretty different. In fact, it's so different, I don't really know how to review it. I could say it is 70's style midwestern rock with odd indie, 80's rock, and Beach Boy pop touches, but that doesn't really make a lot of sense. Also, most bands don't have three separate vocalists/songwriters (two of them, brothers). As I am pretty sure I cannot paint an accurate picture of this music with words, and as I am also pretty sure almost no one in the world has ever heard this album or even heard of this band (I haven't been on the radio in seven years, and listeners, apparently I don't trust your memories), I am just going to post each song for streaming and comment.
1. "I Won't Turn Away"

The song starts off like it could be Kansas except for all the tinkling bells. Then the drums come in, and it seems like a straightforward acoustic rock song, until the tom-tom and Rhodes pre-chorus builds up a fury with the guitar into the chorus again. This is a good song, though the music has already stopped making sense.
2. "Hey Girl"

Sounds like a love song from the nerdiest paramour alive. "Hey girl, why you walking, when I'll take you anywhere you want to go?" He sounds like he's on a really geeky bicycle. "I don't know you, but I'd like to learn all about you" Kind of creepy stalking language, yet still sounds sweet, like he will listen to her talk while he stares wonderously through his thick-framed glasses. Dorky keyboards, an irrestible, driving, palm-muted 80's guitar riff, and an early 70's folk flute, plus a surprisingly agressive, drum-roll-y bridge make this quite and enjoyable song. Great outro, too. What the heck is this?
3. "My Life"

Uh, oh. Looks like we've got our first ballad. But wait, all these weird tossed in "La, la, la" background vocals are pretty interesting. So is the piano arpeggio before the chorus. Also the random Eric Clapton guitar. This band must have a list of influences a mile long.
4. "Never Felt this Way Before"

The title track might be the most conventional on the whole album. Maybe the most hardrocking, but not a major departure from anything else. Not really any weird touches, just a decent, straightforward rock song.
5. "Everybody's Waiting"

Kind of a laid back little jam, definitely keeps the 70's vibe. Nice nostalgic lead guitar and keyboard in the background.
6. "Asya"

Another nice weird one, kind of a slow, dreamy duel between an acoustic guitar and a big symphonic keyboard (and trumpets?) over a girl who won't give the singer the time of day.
7. "Another Lonely Day"

A trumpety ballad about missing a dead loved one. Might be the weakest track, as it's a bit plodding, but it's not a bad song, and it doesn't kill the tone.
8. "Cure the Sea"

Now this is the one. An album like this needs a big, powerful track to seal the deal, and this is it. "I am the cure to calm the sea. Cast me out. Throw me overboard into the sea. I am the cure." Nice fakeout near the beginning with the tinkling bells promising this will be more whimsical fun, when they are just about to get blown away by the wind. Great, timeless song that packs a whallop and builds to a hurricane of a crescendo. I also enjoyed the vocal trade-offs. If you skip everything else, don't skip this one.
9. "The Reason We Sing"

If you've found nothing else weird yet, I offer you this track. "Quirky" is an understatement in regard to this synth/organpop anomaly, but its Outfield-like guitar line between chorus and verse and its honest delivery make it a winner, but probably an acquired taste for many. My old cat used to love this song.
10. "Into the Light"

When you've balanced whimsy and power throughout an album, it's probably best to end with power, and The Billions do. I love the story in this song, and how it changes with age. In my early 20's I thought the line "the night came softly and tried to steal my past" was threatening, but as I hit 30, I realize that in the context of this song, the theft is a gift to be received. A really great song.
Well, there you go. This is the best I can do for an album that has stuck with me for nine years. I hope this gets somebody else to listen.

2002 Northern Records
1. I Won't Turn Away 4:38
2. Hey Girl 3:29
3. My Life 3:14
4. Never Felt This Way 3:27
5. Everybody's Waiting 4:32
6. Asya 3:47
7. Another Lonely Day 4:37
8. Cure the Sea 6:42
9. The Reason We Sing 2:40
10. Into the Light 3:58

Between the Buried and Me -- The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

2011-11-04T13:20:00.002-05:00

6/10

The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues is not only Between the Buried and Me's first EP, but also their most relentless recording to date. Unfortunately, this may not be a good combination.
Parallax's three songs are just as jam-packed with variation and innovation as anything Between the Buried and Me have done, and stil come out to thirty minutes of total music. On their own, they are all pretty good songs. The problem is that a three song EP doesn't really serve Between the Buried and Me's sound. While there are a few brief respites in each song, and a particularly entrancing intro on the EP closer, "Lunar Wilderness," a key component from the last three albums is missing: a breather. The Great Misdirect has those two wonderful, well-sung songs sequenced with the four brain-crushing ones. Colors has longer, relaxing passages spaced throughout. Alaska has those incredible, epically beautiful instrumentals. There is never a half hour stretch without a break on those albums, but that is exactly what this EP is.
That flaw causes others. Hypersleep Dialogues is supposed to be part of a larger whole, the first in a two part album, but the lack of a break or some sort of transition makes it feel even more incomplete. This is particularly disappointing because, as I've said, these three songs are quite good on their own. "Lunar Wilderness" may be one of the best, most emotional songs Between the Buried and Me have ever recorded.

Listen to Between the Buried and Me's "Lunar Wilderness"

The band's incredible instrumental talent still shines through, and the lyrics, which may be about a restless scientist accidentally destroying the world, or may be about absolutely nothing, are intriguing as always. While the follow up may render Hypersleep Dialogues in an entirely different light, for now it is a half-baked, but decent listen.

2011 Metal Blade
1. Specular Reflection 11:21
2. Augment of Rebirth 10:19
3. Lunar Wilderness 8:22

Between the Buried and Me -- The Great Misdirect

2011-11-03T13:27:00.001-05:00

8/10

Between the Buried and Me's The Great Misdirect starts off with an unexpectedly lovely song. Vocalist, Tommy Rogers, sings longingly over carefully picked guitar and complicated, yet subdued rhythms. There isn't a scream or a shade of death metal to be found.

This isn't even the only song in this vein--"Desert of Song" is just as beautiful. On top of this, some of the songs have actual, catchy sung choruses. However, despite an intro worthy of the title, The Great Misdirect is one of the heavier, more insane things Between the Buried and Me have released.
Second track, "Obfuscation," begins with an anthemic riff, but before you know it, Rogers is growling and screaming, and the instruments are grinding it out. The madness of Between the Buried and Me begins again. The Great Misdirect is an hour long, but contains only six songs. This tips that something crazy is afoot, and after the 18 minute riff-session, album closer, "Swim to the Moon," it's easy to feel exhausted. The band pack in just as much variation and unpredictability as previous releases...in fact, they pack in an overwhelming amount. My first listens to this were pretty similar to my first week of college Spanish class. I got almost nothing out of it. I thought The Great Misdirect was impenetrable. It wasn't until almost two years later, after ten or more listens, that things started falling into place. As I began to remember the myriad riffs, where the quiet moments were, The Great Misdirect went from completely disarming, to kind of comforting. The lyrical themes (there are so many lyrics, I found myself unable to even read through the booklet after buying the album) start to gel together to form a picture of misinforming governmental powers,growing despite oppression, and maybe six or seven thousand other topics.
Colors sounded like the band doing every thing they knew, and The Great Misdirect sounds like the same band with two years additional knowledge. Between the Buried and Me might come off like a kid randomly spouting knowledge, but closer listening proves that this band has memorized the textbook...with the textbook being exciting, engaging music, and not like, Organic Chemistry or something. Actually, I guess Math, Science, and English are applicable. You know how sometimes you come up with a bad metaphor and can't get out of it? Well, here is my solution for this one:

RANDOM POINTLESS RAMBLE NOTE: I compared a segment of one of this band's songs to Radiohead the other day. Radiohead has a song called "Sail to the Moon." "Sail to the Moon" is 4:18 long. Between the Buried and Me's "Swim to the Moon" from this album is 17:53 long. Think the time difference is due to the different modes of transportation?

I think that did it.

2009 Victory Records
1. Mirrors 3:37
2. Obfuscation 9:15
3. Disease, Injury, Madness 11:02
4. Fossil Genera -- A Feed from Cloud Mountain 12:10
5. Desert of Song 5:33
6. Swim to the Moon 17:53

Between the Buried and Me -- Colors

2011-11-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

9/10

Colors is Between the Buried and Me's 5th studio album. Colors' centerpiece is a thirteen-minute track called "Ants of the Sky." The first 15 seconds is death metal. The next 15 seconds is punk rock. The next 40 seconds is intense guitar and drum soloing, followed by ten seconds of church music, then 30 seconds of 70's freewheeling guitar solos, then a minute of organ-led death metal, followed by spastic riffage, and then more death metal. The three-minute mark is broached. 3:45 in, it sounds like the guitar player from Boston is jumping in, then at four minutes, the one from Pink Floyd (whose Dark Side of the Moon, Colors' cover is an obvious homage to). Then there is an organ and cowbell duet, then more crazy, shifting death metal. At 5:52, some sort of samba happens for about 40 seconds until the metal starts again. At 7:40 the death metal vocalist turns into an angel and sings pleasantly while his band does quiet, building things, then heavier things with big tom toms (and the ghost of his death metal growl still hovers), until 9:40, when all of the heavier sounds go away, the music sounds like Radiohead, and the vocalist continues to sing prettily. At 10:50 the band shifts into what I can only describe as "Weather Channel Music," until the 11:30 mark magically transports "Ants of the Sky" to the floor of a backwoods Kentucky bar (rowdy voices and all). Of course, there is still a minute and a half left, and at 12:20 the victorious 70's guitar riff returns to play out the song over the death metal vocals and some keyboards.

(This guy posted the lyrics underneath the song, showing the thought maelstrom you're getting tossed into, as well)
This is only 13 out of 64 insane minutes that flow as one song. The rest is awesomely much the same. I hinted in my review of Between the Buried and Me's previous album that they would soon find balance between heavy and pretty, but after listening to Colors for the first time in a while, that statement is not accurate. There is no balance to be found on Colors. What makes Colors a great album is the fact that ANYTHING can happen at ANY moment without regard to whether it SHOULD happen, or if it HAS HAPPENED before--this could have led to disaster, but the band threw everything in their nutty heads at the wall and everything stuck. This is an incredibly technically talented band reaching an artistic peak, paving roads through disparate rainforests of sound on quicksand soil, yet somehow still forming solid ground.

2007 Victory Records
1. Foam Born, Pt. A: The Backtrack 2:13
2. Foam Born, Pt. B: The Decade of Statues 5:20
3. Informal Gluttony 6:47
4. Sun of Nothing 10:58
5. Ants of the Sky 13:10
6. Prequel to the Sequel 8:36
7. Viridian 2:51
8. White Walls 14:13

Between the Buried and Me -- Alaska

2011-11-01T13:37:00.004-05:00

8/10

"If you thought that SYSTEM OF A DOWN was "originally bizarre" and that THE MARS VOLTA was "strangely ethereal," and that TOOL was "weird but awesomely heavy"...well...welcome a band that you never knew existed...the deranged, progressive, maniacal yet tranquilizing world of... BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME."

Who could resist such a welcome? While visiting FYE after a hard day's work administering disaster relief food stamps to Hurricane Katrina victims, I saw this on a sticker cloaking the front cover of a CD titled Alaska by a band called Between the Buried and Me (I love me some long sentences). Pockets often empty suddenly flush with cash from the insane amounts of overtime I was working and wanting of course to keep the Louisiana economy going, I picked this CD up for a bargain price. The first two of the three bands listed had been rocking my world all year (in fact, they were probably releasing their career best work in 2005), and Between the Buried and Me were about to join the fray.
After about a minute of listening to Alaska, one thing became clear: beyond the "anything can happen" feel, Between the Buried and Me did not sound like any of the previously mentioned bands. They were insanely heavy most of the time and actually fit the second part of the sticker pretty aptly: deranged, progressive, maniacal, yet tranquilizing. Perhaps the best description of this album can be found in the best song, "Selkies: The Endless Obsession." The beginning of the song is an anvil hurricane, the middle is progressive, and the ending is wonderfully tranquil:

This song shows off everything Between the Buried and Me can do well, ridiculous brutality, insane guitar solos, almost supernatural technical ability on each instrument, nutty time changes, and soothing melodies. The rest of the album is quite good, though the mix of heavy and pretty is tilted quite far toward the former, which is really the Alaska's only flaw. Blast-beat riffage can get old after a while, and when you can do pretty so well and have a vocalist with such a great singing voice (check "Backwards Marathon" from 2:30 to 6:30

and all of its instrumental descendant, "Medicine Wheel" for more pretty), why not do it a little more? There are enough surprising and surprisingly beautiful moments to make this album quite good, but the band hadn't quite perfected the mix to the degree they would soon. Still, I was quite happy with my purchase six years ago, and I like Alaska just as much now. It's as brutal and beautiful as the state it's named for.

2005 Victory Records
1. All Bodies 6:12
2. Alaska 3:57
3. Croakies and Boatshoes 2:22
4. Selkies: The Endless Obsession 7:23
5. Breathe in, Breathe Out 0:55
6. Roboturner 7:07
7. Backwards Marathon 8:27
8. Medicine Wheel 4:18
9. The Primer 4:46
10. Autodidact 5:30
11. Laser Speed 2:53

The Benjamin Gate -- Untitled

2011-10-31T14:19:00.000-05:00

8/10

When I DJ'd at KLSU, my show had several regular callers. One of my favorites was "Thundar," who often got off of work during the middle of my Sunday night show. Every week, Thundar called without fail, and every week, he requested "something good." It was always implied that what he meant was, "Play me some Benjamin Gate!"
The Benjamin Gate was a five-piece rock band from South Africa, featuring effects-heavy guitar work, driving bass and drums, and the ethereal vocals of Adrienne Liesching. Liesching went on to move to America to marry CCM star Jeremy Camp, which subsequently ended the group. It's a shame she couldn't have cloned herself so that the copy could continue to front this band because they were really on to something. Untitled is the...title of their first album, and while it suffers from a few minor flaws inherent in most debuts, it's quite a good listen.
The dominant feelings on Untitled are atmospheric and arty. The guitar work is fairly unconventional, taking cues from the noisier pages of U2's songbook. The marriage of music to vocals is excellent, as Liesching's voice is perfectly suited to this type of sound. The band hits perfection by their third track, "All Over Me," and doesn't quite hit it again...because perfect is the best, get it?
Forgive their appearance, they're South African, remember?...

The rest of the album is very solid, though gets to be a little bit samey, except for "Rush," which tries to do things the band shouldn't be attempting, including rapping. Maybe it's better they stuck to their signature sound throughout, though the reverb-heavy piano ballad, penultimate track, "Hands," is pretty good stuff, and shows directions the band could have perhaps further explored if they'd made it a few more years. They didn't, though, so for now we have only two complete Benjamin Gate albums, though their debut stands as a great slice of confident, arty, optimistic pre-9/11 rock.

2001 Forefront Records
1. How Long 3:35
2. Scream 4:28
3. All Over Me 4:10
4. Heaven 3:54
5. Lay It Down 3:19
6. Nightglow 4:10
7. Blow My Mind 2:48
8. Halo 3:35
9. Rush 5:35
10. Secret 4:37
11. Hands 4:18
12. Live Out Loud 6:37

Louisiana, Late October

2011-10-29T13:15:00.005-05:00

Nothing like waking up to cool air, getting a wife-on-the-way-to-work-sent text that says thanks for the Coldplay CD, u a good one, waking up your son, feeding him and watching dolphins and whales jump on the TV lazing in bed, heading over to Bluebonnet Swamp, not even caring that you forgot your camera because it could never capture the 48-degree breeze dragging leaves over the mud and gravel with cypress knees below and trembling branches up above as the smell of smoking cajun sausage travels through the thick alleys of trees, and taking a break at a bench while the kid eats puffs, leans against your chest, and pats his hand on your knee because he is your son, watching slow moving water lap against the trees as they slowly go to sleep, and then the kid walking down the path, sitting, drawing with a stick for hours, and no one there in the early morning to bother the kid, and no camera flash to bother the kid, and the kid happy and you happy, and a wedding to go to later, but now a bowl of steaming noodles and manda sausage and bell peppers and onions and tomatoes and cayenne and football on the TV while the kid sleeps.

Becoming the Archetype -- Dichotomy

2011-10-28T13:21:00.001-05:00

8/10

A progressive death metal band like Becoming the Archetype could only come from the South. I say this because only in the South are we this crazy.
Dichotomy is Becoming the Archetype's third album for Solid State records. It is purportedly based on the C.S. Lewis novel, That Hideous Strength. I haven't read the book, but by the artwork and lyrics of Dichotomy, I can only guess it is about man's failure to transform himself through science and technology, when he is already created to be who he is by God. One of the most musically-straigtforward (except for the ELO-like intro riff) songs, "Artificial Immortality," features the lines, "I am not a mechanism, I am part of the resistance. I am an organism, an animal, a creature. I am a beast!"
Did I mention this band was kind of crazy? If you prefer a lot of singing with your heavy, screaming music, you are not in luck here. There are a few random sung lines here and there, but death metal growl-screams are the norm. That said, you never know where a choir will show up. The one on "Self Existent" pops up out of no where, chants "He is alive, He is forever!" as vocalist, Jason Wisdom, sings the same thing. This of course descends into the loud sound of a beating heart, before transitioning to the next track, "St. Anne's Lullaby," an acoustic guitar instrumental that could easily soundtrack a renaissance festival. And then the next song begins like a film score.
I haven't mentioned the strings, keys, pianos, and harpsichords yet, but there are some Danny Elfman-esque creepfests that pop-up and disappear just as you're noticing they are there. Of course there's a ton of chugging, shredding, string-bending, and solos as well--at it's heart, despite all the weirdness, Dichotomy is still, somehow, a traditional metal album.
The brutal "Evil Unseen" continues the albums themes--"I am not of this world/And science cannot explain me/I will transcend death/This body will not contain me"--and leads into more leftfield territory with a straightforward death-metal cover of the classic hymn, "How Great Thou Art," building acoustic-intro, blazing solos, and everything. I'm not even kidding.

Becoming the Archetype take it into outer space on Dichotomy's final two tracks. "Deep Heaven"'s got a piano break underneath a belting Pink Floyd-style soprano singer, then a weird piano/drum n'bass tango, before the heavy outro is led out by Wisdom's cries that "Eternity has overtaken me/Eternity is inside of me." The final track, "End of the Age" features just about every crazy thing that's come before just one last time, and some new stuff, including the sound of a lion roaring--I'm serious--and ends with some seriously triumphant lyrics, "With the valleys of the seas exposed/And the surface of the earth laid bare/He reached down into the void/He reached down and took hold of me!/Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"
Dichotomy is perfect for those who like experimental metal that still sounds like metal. It's also great for Christian heavy music fans who long for actual spiritual content that is neither insipid, nor un-inspired. In other words, Dichotomy is great for anybody who likes untraditional but anchored heavy music.

2008 Solid State
1. Mountain of Souls 5:14
2. Dichotomy 4:23
3. Artificial Immortality 3:56
4. Self Existent 4:16
5. St. Anne's Lullaby 1:51
6. Ransom 4:02
7. Evil Unseen 4:02
8. How Great Thou Art 4:27
9. Deep Heaven 4:36
10. End of the Age 6:30

Beck -- The Information

2011-10-27T13:04:00.002-05:00

9/10

If Beck's Midnite Vultures is the party before the apocalypse, his highly underrated The Information is the party after. However, while Beck's lyrics were the sore spot on the former, they are the most intriguing element of the latter.

Nausea Lyrics:
i’m a sea sick sailor
on a ship of noise
i got my maps all backwards
and my instincts poisoned
in a truth blown gutter
full of wasted years
like blown out speakers
ringing in my ears

its nausea, oh nausea
and we’re gone

i’m a straight line walker
in a black out room
i push a shopping cart over
in an aztec ruin
with my minion fingers
working for some god
who could see his own reflection
in a parking lot

its nausea, oh nausea
and we’re gone

like a priest teenager
on a tower of dust
i’m a dead generator
in a cloud of exhaust
i eat alone in the desert
with skulls for my pets
i rate the days 1 to 10
with lead cigarettes

oh its nausea, nausea
and we’re gone

The overall feeling is disappointment with a life lived on a wasted Earth. The word "desert" pops up on almost every track of The Information, usually in reference to what has become of civilization. Beck himself said "The Information" refers to the current information overload of the Internet, Facebook, Mylife, etc, and that theme is easily noticeable: misused technology alienates us from each other on a planet we've destroyed. If this sounds bleak, The Information also houses some of Beck's most comforting songs, like the acoustic/futuristic/electronic lubllaby, "New Round." "There’s no escape hatch/no submarine/that could take you to the moon/rake you in the leaves/and keep you just as safe/as you are in my hands/that someday, someday will say goodbye..." Sorry about the sound quality on this video, but it's too awesome not to link to:

So I've mentioned the dystopic lyrics, but not the music. The thing is, with The Information, the two are almost interchangeable. Beck raps more than he's done in quite a while, as if this is the only way he can get out all he wants to say in a reasonable time. He can still rap without sounding stupid, and his singing voice sounds better than ever. The music follows the usual patterns of unpredictably often featured on a Beck album. There are plenty of acoustic sounds, big beats, real drums, eerie, random voices, strings, scary electronic noises and samples. The Information also features more big bass grooves than any Beck album I can recall. This all flows together to create the sound of a party attended by ghosts on an old, empty dance floor, windows open to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It really is quite haunting, beautiful, and above all, fun.
I have talked this album up a lot, but it has a flaw. The inundation of information also reflects the inundation of music. There are too many songs, and a couple of the weaker tracks ("No Complaints," "1000 Bpm") should have been cut to take the running time under an hour. I guess this could easily be remedied by skipping them, though I hesitate to recommend skipping anything. Regardless of The Information's bloated length, there is an underrated masterpiece within, well worth your time.

ANOTHER BECK NOTE: I think I really undervalued my appreciation of Beck before starting on these reviews. I really, really enjoyed listening to these four albums. I think I am going to go back and purchase all the ones I skipped out on, or at least Guero and Mutations.

2006 Interscope
1. Elevator Music 3:38
2. Think I'm in Love 3:19
3. Cellphone's Dead 4:45
4. Strange Apparition 3:48
5. Soldier Jane 3:58
6. Nausea 2:55
7. New Round 3:25
8. Dark Star 3:45
9. We Dance Alone 3:56
10. No Complaints 3:00
11. 1000BPM 2:29
12. Motorcade 4:15
13. The Information 3:45
14. Movie Theme 3:53
15. The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton 10:36

Now Look What Scientology Did!

2011-10-27T08:28:00.003-05:00

With all this effusive praise for Beck's music and joking around, I don't want anyone to think I've gone soft on Scientology. Scientology certainly hasn't gone soft on anyone.
In November of 2005, The Nicsperiment gleefully reported on South Park's hilarious "Trapped in the Closet" episode, which mocked Scientology's beliefs and behavior. As South Park regularly mocks every religion or belief system (including my own), nothing seemed out of the ordinary about this. Well, it must have seemed out of the ordinary to Scientology because their public response was fairly extreme, and there were even rumors that Tom Cruise himself attempted to have the episode pulled from re-airing. Now we know Scientology reacted even more ridiculously and dangerously than previously believed.
According to news reports, Scientology heavily investigated South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in an attempt to discredit them. This investigation process reportedly entails: "...an escalating gradient of techniques beginning with quiet investigation and moving up to infiltration, identification of and use of influential friends and contacts of [Parker and Stone], loud investigation, threats, attempts to harm [them] financially, intense propaganda to discredit, and ultimately, if all else fails, utter destruction of the [humorists] through overt harassment."
Man, Scientology doesn't sound like a dangerous cult at all.

Beck -- Sea Change

2011-10-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

10/10

Some albums are just depressing. If you are up, these albums can drag you down, and if you are already down, they can pull you further. "Misery Wallows," I like to call them...as in, I just coined that term as I was typing that sentence, and I liked it. More rarely, there are albums that come from a place of depression, but are as uplifting and comforting as an old friend.
Beck recorded Sea Change shortly after discovering his girlfriend of nearly a decade was having an affair, and their subsequent breakup. He hesitated to put his feelings on display to the public in song, but eventually realized that the emotions he was feeling were universal. That's what makes Sea Change not just another "I'm depressed" album. By focusing on the more all-inclusive aspects of his feelings, Beck seems like a friend facing tough times--never a mopey, self-centered drag. Beck also waited just long enough after hitting bottom to record Sea Change. As the album progresses, there are more and more signs of hope to be found, particularly on "Sunday Sun," though the melancholy shades of the album are never abandoned.
Obviously, with this kind of lyrical theme, Sea Change isn't going to be a party record musically. The focus is mostly on acoustic instruments and strings, though the production still features plenty of unexpexted touches. "Guess I'm Doing Fine," showcases some particularly nice 70's folk-style electric guitar.

Beck's voice sounds deeper and more resonant than ever, and despite the scaled back arrangements, the music is still inventive, enjoyable, and full. As a testament to the enjoyability of this album, I just listened to it four times straight (the session with headphones was by far the best), starting in a particularly good mood, and 208-minutes later, I am still in a good mood. I needed Sea Change shortly after its release when I wasn't doing so hot myself, but it is just as good a friend in sunny weather.

A NOTE TO BECK: Plenty of reviews for Sea Change back in 2002 compared the album to the works of Nick Drake. I had never heard of Drake before that time, but after reading his name so consistently next to the name of an album I loved, I checked him out and loved him, as well. Thanks, Beck! You've not only given me years of listening enjoyment, you've also turned me on to other great artists. Also, your "Sunday Sun" is a great rebuff to Drake's own "Saturday Sun." I wish he could have seen the light at the end of the dark tunnels of life, as well.

2002 Universal Distribution
1. The Golden Age 4:36
2. Paper Tiger 4:35
3. Guess I'm Doing Fine 4:49
4. Lonesome Tears 5:37
5. Lost Cause 3:47
6. End of the Day 5:03
7. It's All in Your Mind 3:05
8. Round the Bend 5:15
9. Already Dead 2:58
10. Sunday Sun 4:44
11. Little One 4:26
12. Side of the Road 3:23

Beck -- Midnite Vultures

2011-10-25T13:31:00.003-05:00

7/10

Beck's Midnite Vultures is the party before the apocalypse. Released a month before the near world-ending Y2k (so close, end of the world, so close!), Midnite Vultures has the strange distinction of being at once Beck's most fun album, but also the most difficult. The reason Midnite Vultures is so difficult? Because it is absolutely ridiculous.
I remember reading an interview with Beck sometime at the start of my senior year of high school. Within, he announced that his last album of the millenium would be absolutely stupid. Midnite Vultures is pretty stupid.
HINT: Midnight is not spelled "midnite."
Perhaps one track out of eleven ("Beautiful Way") can lyrically be taken seriously. The other ten are strange, sexual non sequitors that make little sense and seem to be composed solely for laughs. Thankfully, the music is up to par, and probably the main reason is (skip the next part, I'm being ridiculous again)
Beck – synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals, choir, chorus, producer, vocoder, horn arrangements, mixing
David Campbell – viola, string arrangements, string conductor
Larry Corbett – cello
Joel Derouin – violin
Brian Gardner – mastering
Bernie Grundman – mastering
Greg Leisz – pedal steel
Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel
Johnny Marr – electric guitar
Michael Patterson – mixing
Herb Pedersen – banjo
Fernando Pullum – horn
David Ralicke – trombone
Joe Turano – horn, background vocals
Arnold McCuller – background vocals
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Joey Waronker – percussion, drums
Beth Orton – background vocals
Chris Bellman – mastering
The Dust Brothers – scratching, programming, producer, engineer
Robert Carranza – string engineer
Steve Baxter – horn, background vocals
Justin Meldal-Johnsen – synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, background vocals, handclapping, shaker, upright bass
Steve Mixdorf – second engineer
Valerie Pinkston – background vocals
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – organ, synthesizer, piano, tambourine, background vocals, choir, chorus, clavinet, percussion, shaker, vocoder
Mickey Petralia – programming, producer, engineer, mixing
Shauna O'Brien – project manager
DJ Swamp – scratching
Eve Butler – violin
Charlie Gross – photography
Arroyo Bombers – choir, chorus
Arroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choir, chorus
Jon Birdsong – trumpet
Derek Carlson – second engineer
Eye – artwork, art direction, design, collage
Gimbop – layout direction
Michel Gondry – collage
Tony Hoffer – guitar, programming, producer, engineer, editing, mixing, wah wah guitar, sound design
David Arthur Brown – tenor sax
(resume reading) Good grief, that's a lot of people. I don't mean to repeat myself, but this is even more performers than I wiki-quoted in my Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour review the other day. I'm not trying to say that more performers equates to better music, but when an album has that much musical variation, it's tough to get bored, especially when the music is well-written and being played at a high level of skill. Speaking of Midnite Vulture's music, it is a weird sort of funky, futuristic R & B, though somewhere, buried miles beneath, is Beck's tender, folky side waiting to burst out, though it rarely ever does (a little on the "Milk and Honey" outro, with it's acoustic guitar and flute(?), and bits of "Beautiful Way," which includes a nice harmonica solo).
So what we have here is an album featuring great, original music, with Beck belting out "I want to defy the logic of your sexx laws (yes, two x's)", "Give those pious soldiers another lollipop, cuz we're on the good ship, Menage a Trois," "I can smell the V.D. in the club tonight," and "I wanna get with you, only you girl, and your sister, I think her name's Debra." The last lyic comes from album closer, "Debra," which some kid made an awesome live action drama to:

So anyway, if you have a sense of humor and like fun music, this is an enjoyable album, but if you are looking for Beck's serious side, or any seriousness whatsoever, steer far away--or simply steer to his next album, reviewed tomorrow (and in the case of its title, this pun works! You would be steering away from the good ship, Menage a Trois, to Sea Change. Get it? I'M SO BRILLIANT!).

NOTE: I hope it's clear that this review is scattered because the album is, too. I try to write with the feel of the music...whatever...

1999 DGC Records
1. Sexx Laws 3:39
2. Nicotine & Gravy 5:12
3. Mixed Bizness 4:10
4. Get Real Paid Beck 4:20
5. Hollywood Freaks 3:59
6. Peaches & Cream 4:54
7. Broken Train 4:11
8. Milk & Honey 5:19
9. Beautiful Way 5:43
10. Pressure Zone 3:06
11. Debra 13:48

Beck -- Odelay

2011-10-24T13:28:00.000-05:00

9/10

Is Beck a Scientologist?
Yes.
There, googlers, I hope you are happy.
Odelay is Beck's fourth album, but his first work with the producer duo, the Dust Brothers. Bologna is awesome and chocolate is awesome, but the two don't go that great together. In this case, Beck is chocolate, and the Dust Brothers are peanut butter. I made up this analogy myself. Chocolate, or in this case, Beck Hansen, provides the sweet flavor base, with well-written, catchy verses and choruses. Peanut Butter, or Michael Simpson and John King (the Dust Brothers), is a huge, thick slather of unpredictable ancient samples, beats, and additional instrumentation (there might be a banjo or two, and there might be some stuff that is completely unidentifiable) that...well, I was going to say some stuff about Peanut Butter, and how you can't get it out of your mouth, but that is just gross, and music goes in your ears, not your mouth, but if you put peanut butter in your ears, that would just be weird and uncomfortable, unless you like that sort of thing of course, and in that case, you probably wouldn't be able to hear anything through the peanut butter anyway, so I'm not sure what you would do. Probably not listen to Beck. Wow, this analogy bombed.
Anyway, Odelay is a lot of fun, not only because it features good, well-written songs, but also because of its aural unpredictability. The variation is excellent, with rowdiness, eclecticity (if I'm going to make bad analogies, I might as well just make up words, too), and quiet acoustic moments all getting their due. With hip-hop, trip-hop, rock, folk, and everything else under the sun featured, Odelay should have probably been the death of genre, but it wasn't, so as payback for history, everyone go listen to the song "Novacane" and write a five-hundred word essay on what genre this song falls under, because as everyone knows, everything can only be one thing:

2. Compare and contrast with the song that follows "Novacane" on Odelay, "Jackass."
What genre is it? Are they the same genre? Give examples.

3. Get two pieces of bread. Put a Hershey's Bar and three slices of bologna between them. Toasting is optional. How do the flavors combine?

1996 DGC Records
1. Devils Haircut 3:13
2. Hotwax 3:52
3. Lord Only Knows 4:14
4. The New Pollution 3:39
5. Derelict 4:11
6. Novacane 4:38
7. Jack-Ass 4:00
8. Where It's At 5:25
9. Minus 2:32
10. Sissyneck 4:02
11. Readymade 2:43
12. High 5 (Rock the Catskills) 4:10
13. Ramshackle 4:49

On the Way to the Fourth Decade Pt.1

2011-10-23T21:02:00.003-05:00

* A series of observations as my 20's end *

One of the oddest things about the back half of my 20's:
An inverse in beverage preference.
In my early 20's, I wanted and drank beer, and I loved it. Then, somewhere around 26 or 27, something changed: my tastes completely regressed. Beer started to taste like pee again...but root beer started tasting awesome again.
So awesome, that in any given situation, I will take Barq's over Budweiser (or fancy craft beer or any liquid with alcohol in it).
Weird.

So Now What Do You Think About the Beatles? Well, I'll Tell You! Reflections on Seven Years of Beatlemania in Three Weeks

2011-10-21T13:31:00.002-05:00

Nothing is real.

Well, that was intense. I've never been the type of person to go through phases. I like to think I'm a pretty well-rounded individual. Listening to almost nothing but one band for three weeks is something I'm completely foreign with. At times I felt like The Beatles were taking me hostage, even though I did this by choice. It probably did make me a little crazy, so in that spirit, here's an interview with me, by me:

With their moppet haircuts, those Beatles look like the Biebers of their day! The words even sound the same, so it must be so! Which Bieber...I mean, Beatle, is your favorite?
Ha. This is something I actually thought about while listening. Since I play all of the basic instruments The Beatles did, I didn't lean any particular direction based on that. The cool thing to do is say that George is your favorite. He seemed the most distant and chill, and he didn't put himself out there as much as the two front guys. Plus, when I was a kid, and my dad had a mustache, I thought they were the same person. It's no doubt that while George only wrote a small percentage of Beatles songs, he wrote some pretty good ones, especially near the end. His playing added a lot of soul to the band, as well, and his guitar solos always elevated the songs. The oddball, or even more leftfield hipster thing to do, would be to say that Ringo is your favorite. Obviously, he is wanting as a singer, and he only wrote two songs for The Beatles, both only decent. Also, his drumming isn't the most technically proficient work ever done. He did bring the perfect feeling to every song, though. He never overplayed, and he rarely underplayed. He was pretty darned good. The lame thing to say if you weren't a teenage girl at the height of Beatlemania is that Paul is your favorite. He wrote the poppier songs, and he has the most traditional appearance. Then again, the guy also wrote some geniunely weird songs, sometimes even more leftfield than John. Afterall, Sgt. Pepper and the Magical Mystery Tour were both his ideas! He was far more creative than he's often given credit for, and some of his songs are the best the band recorded. Then, of course, there's John, who most people like to claim as their favorite. The guy wrote a bunch of great songs, a bunch of weird songs, and he had the attitude most people think of when they think of the Beatles. Then again, without his Yoko dalliances, the band would probably still be together. Also, it seems that he could be kind of childish and petty. Actually, they all seem to have kind of been that way. They were in their early 20's, afterall, and they were certainly no role models. Musically, I don't think I could pick, so I would say that I like them all together, and not really very much on their own. I haven't been able to get into hardly any of their solo stuff (just a little bit of Lennon's), so I think it is obvious to say they were much better than apart. Lennon kept Paul weird, and Paul kept Lennon grounded. They both assured that only the cream of Harrison's crop would rise to the surface. Ringo was back doing what he did best. Untethered, they just aren't the same. Also, two of them are dead.

Well, you just reviewed TWELVE albums! What Beatles album is your favorite?
I have to say, even though I gave Abbey Road a better score and like that album a whole heck of a lot, I really love Magical Mystery Tour. I don't know why I'm drawn to that one so much, but I think maybe I have a stronger childhood connection to it, and it kind of defines what The Beatles mean to me. It certainly makes me feel the best when I'm done with it.

Not a lot of comments. Did anyone actually read your Beatles reviews?
Shockingly, traffic more than doubled during these reviews. I was really worried interest would be low, but apparently people still google "The Beatles" almost as often as they google "Is Zach Braff a Scientologist" or "What is the difference between dubstep and techno?" They even google it more than "i want 2 c a narked vargina with penes incide," which sadly hasn't led anyone to The Nicsperiment in a while.

So are The Beatles the greatest band of all time?
That question is completely subjective. I reviewed 12 Beatles albums and only gave out one "10." I reviewed nine Appleseed Cast albums and gave three "10's." If I were to tell The Appleseed Cast that I thought they were better than The Beatles, they would probably slap me in the face. Several times, probably.

Now what are you going to do?
Keep reviewing the letter "B." There's a ton of good stuff left, including Beck, Björk, Blindside, Bruce (I'm going in first name, not last name order, because that's how my Zune does it), as well as a bunch of lesser known stuff...it should be interesting...or it should be something.

You smell nice today. What is that?
Well, I don't generally wear cologne, as no particular scent really sticks to me. I am wearing Brut Stick anti-perspirant/deodorant, which is getting increasingly hard to find. I don't know why. I've been wearing it since I was twelve. It's awesome.

Interesting? Do you find that the things you enjoy are becoming more and more uncommon?
Yes, it is interesting. You know, I'm not sure if they're becoming uncommon any more than they're just becoming harder to find.

Huh. So is it an access issue? At a time where access to information seems almost unlimited?
Yes, you see, me, that's the problem. The good things just don't stand out anymore because they are completely swamped by everything else. Everything is exposed now, naked so to speak, and anyone can have it, it's just a matter of thumbing through the garbage...so to speak.

So, so to speak, are you still happy?
That's the goal, yes.

The Beatles -- Let it Be

2011-10-20T15:08:00.001-05:00

6/10

And it's the end of the road. I mentioned in the previous review that The Beatles recorded Let it Be before Abbey Road, but it was tinkered with by producers, and released the year after. I also mentioned that this was a shame because Abbey Road would have made for an excellent swansong. Let it Be is a swansong of a different sort.
A detriment most often pointed out against Let it Be is the wall of sound touches Phil Spector added to the material. The truth is that these touches very rarely show up to the point that they can't really be blamed. The most egregious example is "The Long and Winding Road." Spector's Lennon-approved orchestral and choir touches on this song are oft-cited as a reason Paul McCartney left the band. However, Spector was just taking the song to its natural conclusion--it already sounded adult-contemporary in its untouched form. It's cheesy and over the top with the touches, but without them, it's just cheesy. It's hard to tell if the same changes are a benefit or a detriment to Lennon's "Across the Universe," though. It's obvious by the title that this is a very cosmic song, so strings fit, but with them, the song loses a lot of the ocean slowly lapping at the shore feel it has without them. Regardless of these two songs, the production touches aren't the problem with the rest of Let it Be. The problem is a lack of good songs.
Things start off strong enough, though. "The Two Us" is a great duet between John and Paul. It captures the rawer, more natural feel the band was originally going for in the Let it Be sessions. Lyrically, it's a good song for these two guys who have done so much together in the last eight years. The whistling of the melody from the end of Magical Mystery Tour's "Hello Goodbye" near the finish adds to the intimate feeling. The next track, "Dig a Pony" is a decent song, and again sounds like The Beatles are playing in the room next door, especially with the chatter after the song. "Across the Universe" follows and is, as said before, perhaps the only really good song possibly negatively affected by the production additions. George Harrison's "My, Me, Mine" comes up next, and is reminiscent of his previous "As My Guitar Gently Weeps." It's a good, hardrocking track, and the added strings are barely noticeable. "Dig It" is just a throwaway snippet of a Bob Dylan cover, and obvious filler. This is maybe the first clue that the label was low on material to add to this album, but it's also followed by maybe the best song Paul McCartney or anyone ever wrote, "Let it Be." You've heard it before, and you already know how good it is. The production touches neither add nor take away from the song. It's perfect. Also, George Harrison's guitar solo here is one of the best arguments that it's not the amount of notes one plays, but the amount of feeling one imbues in them.

The album takes a noticeable nosedive in quality from here on out. "Maggie Mae" is another snippet of filler. "I've Got a Feeling" is okay, but nothing much--it sounds like several ideas jotted down musically, and that's about it. "One After 909" is John and Paul's ridiculous attempt at a train song. It sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis on Quaaludes. This is followed by McCartney's drag of a song, "The Long and Winding Road," which has already been mentioned. "For You Blue" is one of the weaker songs George Harrison penned for The Beatles, though it is slightly elevated by the weird sound of John Lennon playing slide guitar with a shotgun shell. Now we're already done, but for "Get Back," which is a decent Paul rocker, but far from his best work.
Instead of speculating at what might have been, this is it:
The Beatles recorded a final album. It is called Abbey Road, and it is awesome. Then they broke up. After this, Let it Be was pieced together from some pre-Abbey Road studio work the band was not happy with. It's an okay album. The best song from those sessions by far isn't even on it, anyway:

1970 Apple Corps
1. Two of Us 3:36
2. Dig a Pony 3:54
3. Across the Universe 3:48
4. I Me Mine 2:25
5. Dig It 0:50
6. Let It Be 4:03
7. Maggie Mae 0:40
8. I've Got a Feeling 3:37
9. One After 909 2:53
10. The Long and Winding Road 3:38
11. Fore You Blue 2:32
12. Get Back 3:11

The Beatles -- Abbey Road

2011-10-19T13:38:00.001-05:00

10/10

And here are The Beatles, teetering on the brink of world domination and absolutely falling to pieces. Abbey Road is the last thing they ever recorded together (Let it Be, which I will review tomorrow, was actually recorded before Abbey Road, but released with production tweaks after). From the first notes of the album, it's clear The Beatles are at the peak of their powers, and as each anthem rolls off their guitars into the eternal vaults of history, it's also clear that time simply doesn't allow such things to continue.
Even songs that could be toss offs, like "Octopus's Garden," are elevated. This is, afterall, a song written by the drummer, only the second song he's ever written, about being octopuses and living on the ocean floor, and it's still somehow timeless. When even your "C" songs are elevated to "A" songs, you can pretty much do no wrong, and on "Abbey Road," The Beatles don't. George Harrison's two tracks on Abbey Road, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun," sound as if Harrison tapped directly into Heaven. His guitar arpeggios and lead lines throughout the album are so far elevated above what he was doing on Please Please Me, I'm tempted to go back to my previous way of life of never listening to that album at all. John's guitar playing is almost baroque at times. Paul is singing and writing better than ever. Ringo pounds at the drums in a frenzy--he almost sounds like Keith Moon at points. Also, there are Moogs. Every member of the band is working at the peak of their artistic and technical prowess.
Then of course there's that whole rock opera thing on side two. The energy and zest of this section has been long noted, and I can't really add comment. It's awesome, and it leads to perhaps my favorite Beatles song, "Carry that Weight." I think it's my favorite because it showcases something The Beatles always did well, taking a simple phrase and infusing it with meaning simply by singing it. "Boy, you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight a long time," is sung with conviction by all four Beatles together and gives the feeling of inescapable time, and that the things we do and endure don't just go away. It's pretty tough stuff, and the line in the middle of the song, "...and in the middle of the celebrations, I break down" sums up the idea well, and is also heartbreaking in it's delivery (I won't even go into the obvious parallels this has with where The Beatles were at this point in their career and their imminent breakup). This last medley of songs, "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End," is the best thing the band ever did, says me.

Everyone gets several solos during "The End" before Paul's final line "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make," which is about as good an ending as this band could have hoped to have.
I mean, this guy thought the same, so really, it's gotta be so:

Of course, "The End" isn't even the ending to this album, let alone The Beatles' career. After several seconds of silence, Paul comes back solo for the lovely, 23 second, "Her Majesty," which is easily the best 23 second song ever.
I hope Let it Be is the best 35 minute and 16 second album ever, but I hear it is not. I have never listened to it outside of the singles, so I guess I will find out. I doubt it will come close to Abbey Road, though, which is as good a swan song as any band could ever hope for. It solidifies The Beatles place in history. These songs will be floating around the Earth's atmosphere until it burns into nothing.

1969 Apple Corps
1. Come Together 4:19
2. Something 3:02
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer 3:27
4. Oh! Darling 3:27
5. Octopus's Garden 2:50
6. I Want You (She's So Heavy) 7:47
7. Here Comes the Sun 3:05
8. Because 2:45
9. You Never Give Me Your Money 4:02
10. Sun King 2:26
11. Mean Mr. Mustard 1:06
12. Polythene Pam 1:12
13. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window 1:58
14. Golden Slumbers 1:31
15. Carry That Weight 1:36
16. The End 2:21
17. Her Majesty 0:27

The Beatles -- The Beatles

2011-10-18T13:41:00.000-05:00

9/10

The Beatles is simply the sound of The Beatles proving they can do absolutely anything. Paul, often accused of being soft (by myself included), proves he can rock hard enough to inspire Ozzy Osbourne. He and every other member prove they can do anything, even be terrible, but mostly good, and sometimes great, enough to make The Beatles easily essential. I can say this without jumping the gun.
The title of the record is perfectly apt because it shows the band's full scope. The artwork is perfect for The Beatles because instead of facing an every color of the crayon makes brown sludge scenario, every song comes together to form some strange purity that no other band could achieve. Even the Billy Corgan one. And if that much complication can create simplicity, why waste more words trying to describe it? Get in the bathtub and put your headphones on.

1968 Apple Corps
Disc 1
1. Back in the U.S.S.R. 2:43
2. Dear Prudence 3:55
3. Glass Onion 2:17
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 3:08
5. Wild Honey Pie 0:52
6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill 3:14
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 4:44
8. Happiness Is a Warm Gun 2:44
9. Martha My Dear 2:28
10. I'm So Tired 2:03
11. Blackbird 2:18
12. Piggies 2:04
13. Rocky Raccoon 3:33
14. Don't Pass Me By 3:50
15. Why Don't We Do It in the Road? 1:41
16. I Will 1:45
17. Julia 2:56

Disc 2
1. Birthday 2:43
2. Yer Blues 4:00
3. Mother Nature's Son 2:48
4. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey 2:24
5. Sexy Sadie 3:15
6. Helter Skelter 4:29
7. Long, Long, Long 3:06
8. Revolution 1 4:15
9. Honey Pie 2:41
10. Savoy Truffle 2:54
11. Cry Baby Cry 3:02
12. Revolution 9 8:22
13. Good Night 3:15

The Beatles -- Magical Mystery Tour

2011-10-17T13:43:00.004-05:00

9/10

From the first of these Beatles reviews, I've mentioned that The Beatles' music reminds me of my grandmother's house for some reason. One very tangible reason is that when The Beatles Anthology documentary mini-series aired, right before my fourteenth birthday, I watched it at my grandmother's house. For some reason, the thing that stood out to me most about the documentary was the subject of The Magical Mystery Tour film, and how the band (and a lot of my older relatives also watching the documentary) considered it to be their most abject failure. I found that hard to believe considering how much I was enjoying the music on that part of the documentary, but today the music is considered to be the best thing to come out of that bungled film. I've still never seen it, but half of the Magical Mystery Tour album is extra songs compiled by the label, not used in the film, so context means nothing in this case. The Beatles never meant to make these songs fit all together, but that doesn't stop Magical Mystery Tour from being one of their best albums.
Magical Mystery Tour kicks off exactly like it's predecessor, Sgt. Pepper, with an intro song that sets up the concept (the concept simply being that here are a bunch of magical, adventurous songs). This self-titled track actually bests the one for Sgt. Pepper, though. The hook is more fun, so much that I heard it as a kid, once again when watching the documentary sixteen years ago, and still remember it. Also, the outro is an awesome, kaleidoscopic piano and drum drip down a funky hallway, pure 60's, but it leads to maybe the worst juxtaposition on the album. The next track should really begin far out, but "The Fool on the Hill" starts off so low-key and traditionally, it could be starting a whole new album. That's not to say it's a bad song--once the multitude of flutes burst in at the halfway point, things already feel back on track, and the rest is good, flutey fun. The next track is--GASP!--an instrumental, led by a keyboard, a driving drum beat, and a wordless melody. It's called "Flying," and it really couldn't be called anything else. The positive song ends on a bad drug trip and leads directly down George Harrison's "Blue Jay Way" rabbit hole. The song is about Harrison's attempt to stay awake as he awaits his friend's visit on a very foggy night. It sounds exactly like that, too, and it might just be the best "headphones in the bathtub with the lights out" song The Beatles ever recorded. It leads into maybe the only inconsequential track on Magical Mystery Tour, Paul McCartney's "Your Mother Should Know." The rest of his work on the album is fine, so he gets a pass here, plus, the song isn't bad at all, it just isn't as out there as the rest of the stuff on the album. Speaking of out there...
John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" is the next song, and it closes out the first side, which is actually the soundtrack side. Side Two are the new tracks not used in the film. Also, I'm not sure what film "I Am the Walrus" could ever support because, good grief, it is weird. I remember visiting a book store with my father one time (and maybe only one time). The Star Wars section was across the isle from the music one, so while I sat on the floor and looked at the pictures from the making of The Empire Strikes Back, my old man read Beatles' lyrics out loud to me. When he got to this one, he stopped for a moment, then began:
"I am the eggman. They are the eggman. I am the walrus. Goo goo g'job. Mr. City Policeman sitting, pretty little policeman...what the hell is this? I wonder how many drugs he took on that one?" My guess is, a lot. The song begins with...oh yeah, right, like I am going to try to describe this song. It's fun, it's weird, and I will never do acid.
Side Two starts with Paul McCartney's "Hello, Goodbye," which is almost hilariously straight-laced after the previous song. It's still weird in it's own right, with the title of the song repeated as a mantra, some excellent shouting by Paul, some good drum-freakouts from Ringo, and another outro good enough to be its own song. It's a nice little trippy pop-song, but the next track is called "Strawberry Fields." John Lennon essentially traps "Hello Goodbye" in a psychedelic sandwich. Something that I think is strangely missing on the commentary for "Strawberry Fields" in the last 44-years--the fact that the recording of Lennon's voice is so slowed-down, it's almost unrecognizable. This makes Lennon's self-reflecting voice comforting, even though slowing down usually makes things scarier. The music sounded like nothing at the time, and really nothing now, and to highlight perhaps why, here is the song , and here is the personnel who played on it (thanks Wiki!):
Part one
John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar, piano, maracas
Paul McCartney – Mellotron and bass
George Harrison – electric slide guitar
Ringo Starr – drums and backward cymbals
Part two
John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal
Paul McCartney – timpani
George Harrison – swarmandal and bongos
Ringo Starr – drums, percussion and backward cymbals
George Martin – cello and trumpet arrangement
Mal Evans – tambourine
Neil Aspinall – guiro
Terry Doran – maracas
Tony Fisher – trumpet
Greg Bowen – trumpet
Derek Watkins – trumpet
Stanley Roderick – trumpet
John Hall – cello
Derek Simpson – cello
Norman Jones – cello
Both parts
George Martin – producer
Geoff Emerick – engineer
Dang. That is a lot of people. The fact that every Beatle member had a large hand in the song as well is a testament to how talented the four of them were by that point. Also, swarmandal.
The last three songs are interesting, as well. "Penny Lane," another poppy Paul song, is written well with some more idiosyncratic instrumentation. John's "Baby Your a Rich Man" follows in the same vein, albeit sounding a bit more topical, and more of the time.
Magical Mystery Tour ends with one of The Beatle's most well known tracks.
"All You Need Is Love" is one of those songs that sounds as simple as can be, but has some pretty weird timing going on, and generally the kind of cool weirdness we don't see done well too much these days. I really, really wish that more bands would realize how well The Beatles used horns--the horn really doesn't get enough attention these days. It seems like almost every track here has them, and they really make the sound. Horns.
"All You Need Is Love" bookends nicely with the title track, making the album a very well-rounded, cohesive listen, despite the piecemeal construction by the label. Magical Mystery Tour is a great sibling to Sgt Pepper, possibly more trippy, but actually less abrasive and more poppy at points. It shouldn't work, but it really, really does.
And now I've got only three to go. The monster White Album will probably take a while to review (it's thirty songs!), I'm skipping Yellow Submarine (only six tracks, some recycled, do not an album make!), then Abbey Road, then the original Let it Be. Almost there, and yet still so far!

(I think these are the three Beatles videos I remember best. Coincidentally, they are all from this album. When I said earlier (or maybe I didn't), "The Beatles I remember," this is definitely it.

1967 Apple Corps
1. Magical Mystery Tour 2:50
2. The Fool on the Hill 2:59
3. Flying 2:15
4. Blue Jay Way 3:55
5. Your Mother Should Know 2:28
6. I Am the Walrus 4:35
7. Hello Goodbye 3:28
8. Strawberry Fields Forever 4:07
9. Penny Lane 3:00
10. Baby You're a Rich Man 3:01
11. All You Need Is Love 3:52

The Beatles -- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2011-10-15T09:21:00.002-05:00

9/10

Man, 44 years can create some dissonance. Maybe you've heard a cover of The Beatles' song, "It's Getting Better" at the end of certain commercials. This song is from their Sgt. Pepper album, and the lyric the commercials use is "I have to admit, it's getting better/it's getting better all the time." People smile as they interact with the product the commercial is promoting, and everyone is happy. So on the actual, original recording, what is the back up vocal after this line?
It can't get no worse!
The song also features the line, "I used to be cruel to my woman/I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved/Man, I was mean, but I'm changing my scene/And I'm doing the best that I can." This would have been the perfect line to sell cars and TV's, and I really don't know why they cut it out of the commercials, too.
Anyway, my point is that after 44 years of people calling Sgt. Pepper "the greatest album ever made" and "a psychodelic masterpiece," what the heck is it? Is it what everyone remembers it as? Has it made history, or is it what history has made it to be?
Well lets talk about what I think this album's strongest point is first:
There is always a lot going on. The Beatles and "fifth Beatle," producer George Martin, put a ton of work in recording and adding odd sounds, cutting up and splicing tape, and generally being as different as possible whenever appropriate. This was a pretty original approach 44 years ago, and most pop music these days is just a keyboard, a beat, maybe a sample, and some vocals, so in a way the Sgt. Pepper approach is still original. I've only given three "10's" in this review series, and two of those were given to what is essentially a double album, The Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl. The Appleseed Cast follow a similar approach in creating a full sound, except instead of whimsy, which The Beatles emply on Sgt. Pepper, The Appleseed Cast employ a type of dramatic ephemerality. The lyrics:
"Sowed a broken blue ocean with old wire hands/found in vacant lots, the lonely shells of flowered plans/outside there for nothing/wives and lovers in ageless sorrow/on now to the wasted rooms and gardens and stricken yards" are a bit different from "Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain/ Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies/ Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers/ That grow so incredibly high," but does the seriousness really best the surrealness, or are these lyrics really incredibly close? What the heck am I talking about?
Trippy music is trippy music, I guess. The crux is, can you keep a cohesive feeling throughout your trippy album, and does it actually sound like something somebody will want to listen to? And will this review only be composed of introductory paragraphs?
Sgt. Pepper kicks off with a cool introductory track, getting the listener pumped for the rest of the album with a bunch of horns and clapping and fanfare. I bashed Paul for being a step back from the rest of the band on my Revolver review, but he really takes charge here, writing and singing most of the songs, throwing himself into the craziness, and doing things differently than he ever has before. He came up with this crazy Sgt. Pepper concept himself, and he never wavers from it. Even his token cheesiness gets subverted wonderfully...but I'll get to that. Track one ends with Paul shouting "Let me introduce to you, the one and only, Billy Shears!" Billy Shears turns out to be Ringo, as Ringo takes lead vocal on the second song, "With a Little Help from My Friends." It's a fun little song that gels perfectly with the feeling of the album, but there's a problem if you were born in the late 70's, or early 80's...

You heard Joe Cocker belt the hell out of this song every week before The Wonder Years, and by the time you got around to hearing The Beatles song, it just sounded like a jokey cover of the one that preceded Kevin Arnold's emotional journey every Wednesday night of your childhood.
Yeah, go ahead, listen to the Billy Shears one:

Anyway, if there is an album to bunny trail on, I guess this is it. "With a Little Help" flows into Lennon's awesomely trippy, (and aforequoted song that involves pies made of a popular confection) "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." This track might fit the album cover better than any of the others, and this is largely thanks to the creepy old fantasy organ played in the background (thanks Paul!) and the lyrics. Of course, now I can't hear this song without thinking of a bunch of hippie scientists dancing to it around an Australopithecus skeleton and a campfire in the African night. Thanks a lot, Professor Manheim! If I link to your book, can I get a cut?
And then that song from the commercials comes on. "Getting Better" is far...better than it's been given credit for in its pop-culture raping. The reason is, of course, the excellent subversion found throughout the song. It could be just a slightly trippy (thanks tambura!(thanks George!) version of one of Paul's cheesy pop-songs, but his lyrics are beautifully black. He sings about how wonderful things are now that he's basically found a girl he can't beat anymore...because...how could things really be worse? Beating women, and beating anyone really, isn't funny or beautiful in the least, but writing a pop song that promotional companies will brainlessly institute into advertisements for their products is. And afterall...he doesn't beat the new girl, does he? And the the next song, "Fixing a Hole"...
"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in/ and stops my mind from wandering/ where it will go" and there's a trippy harpsichord and electic guitar, and a steady beat. Sounds good to me. Somehow no one's ruined this one yet. Sounds just like you would think this album should sound.
Then there's "She's Leaving Home", a weird sort of call-and-response between a sort of Greek chorus singing about a girl running away from her parents to shack up with a guy, and the baffled parents themselves. Oh, and the band doesn't play, just a string section and a harp. It's weird, kind of wonderful, and not something even the most innovative ad man could push a car with...and I'll probably eat these words before Sgt. Pepper turns fifty.
The weirdness continues with the almost frighteningly carnivalistic "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," featuring John barking circus-related terminology over a variety of circus instruments and the rest of the band. Nothing could really follow this except for a weird sitar track from George, so "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is followed on side two by a weird sitar track from George. "Within You Without You" actually features George, a sitar, and a BUNCH of Indian instruments, and it's a pretty hypnotic earbug, which almost makes it easy to understand how it was originally a thirty-minute song, and not the five minute track it was culled down to...wait, a five-minute track?! From the Beatles?! Yes, the Beatles actually get out of the three-minute pop-hit time range on Sgt. Pepper, and that in itself is awesome.
Of course, a five-minute sitar-jam from George can only be followed by a two-minute cheesy love song from Paul, so...actually, "When I'm Sixty-Four" is all shiny whimsy on the surface, but pretty bleak under a microscope, as the protagonist is still wasting away, waiting for an answer from his love at the end of the song. The mood and sound also fit the rest of the album. Past the halfway point, we still have cohesion.
Paul posits another goofy love song that's secretly kind of twisted in "Lovely Rita," about a female parking ticket-giver he is quite clearly taunting. Also, "Lovely Rita" has a killer outro that I wish lasted three minutes instead of 30 seconds, but that just makes me want to listen to the song again.
"Good Morning" follows in a sort of annoying fashion. John's cadence is a little irritating, and the horns are a bit much, but all the ridiculous animal sound effects are fun, and the mood of the album never drops. Plus, George gets a raging guitar solo (I assume it's him). Then we get a reprise outro of the first track, and the album could be over, and just a pretty decent one, but as the sound of applause fades we get Sgt. Pepper's best song, and maybe the best one The Beatles ever recorded.
I think people have probably written entire books about "A Day in the Life," and this review is already reaching novella length, so I'll try to be brief by just making a list of reasons this song works so well:

1. The actual song:
2. It's placement on the album: Sgt. Pepper feels like a closed experience with the intro/outro, and a cohesive feeling throughout. "A Day in the Life" is like finding out you have a secret present waiting behind the tree after you've already opened all the others and thought you were done. It's a Red Ryder BB Gun called "A Day in the Life," and it's better than all the other pretty excellent presents you've received.
3. "A Day in the Life" holds you hostage. The three big orchestral buildups ratchet up the tension so high throughout the song that the final, resounding, releasing chord sounds like the most beautiful sound humans have ever created in the known universe.
4. The lyrics. The first and third verses, John's, sound timely, but have nothing to do with each other. The second verse, Paul's, is a nostalgic look at a day he had as a schoolboy. The combination of outer world and inner experience makes it feel like the song is somehow about everything.
5. That melody John sings in the bridge. People have been ripping it off ever since.
6. Nothing can follow it.

So there you have it. A great song to end a great album. But is Sgt. Pepper pefect?
No, it's not. I'd love to give it a "10" and say it's perfect in its imperfections, but a perfect album doesn't have as many weak moments as this one does (and shockingly, they are Lennon's fault this time). Groundbreaking doesn't mean perfect, and this album is only the former. Even so, it's a great listen--after 44 years of noise have dulled its impact, there's still only one Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (and where would Joe Cocker be without it?).

1967 Apple Corps
1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2:02
2. With a Little Help from My Friends 2:44
3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds 3:28
4. Getting Better 2:48
5. Fixing a Hole 2:36
6. She's Leaving Home 3:35
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr.Kite! 2:37
8. Within You Without You 5:04
9. When I'm Sixty-Four 2:37
10. Lovely Rita 2:42
11. Good Morning Good Morning 2:41
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) 1:19
13. A Day in the Life 5:39

The Beatles -- Revolver

2011-10-13T13:34:00.003-05:00

8/10

I read somewhere (and I wish I could remember) that Revolver is the sound of each individual Beatle peaking at the same time. I've read a lot of stuff similar to that, too, but I just can't get behind those statements. Rubber Soul sounded like all of the Beatles peaking at the same time, at the end of a first phase...Revolver sounds like a transition to the next one. Don't get me wrong, it's quite good, but in the present context of reality, based on the quality of each song, and each song flowing into the next, this isn't the greatest album ever made, and it isn't even the best of the first seven albums The Beatles recorded.
Revolver starts strong with "Taxman," which rocks harder than most of their previous songs. George Harrison really seems to be filled with confidence, blasting out jagged electric riffs, and belting lyrics that have absolutely nothing to do with romance. This is followed by the symphonic "Eleanor Rigby" with only strings backing Paul McCartney's vocals. It's clear by this point that The Beatles are, um...experimenting, as the next track "I'm Only Sleeping" features a backwards tracked guitar throughout, and the fourth, "Love You To" features only traditional Indian instrumentation. "Here, There, and Everywhere" would be a classic cheesy Paul ballad, but the melancholy melody of the song completely counteracts the lyrics. Same goes for "Yellow Submarine," which is a jaunty lullaby with a surprisingly sad underpining, perhaps due to Ringo's delivery (this is his only lead vocal on the album, but it's a good one). Then again, what kid wants to go to sleep?
Hey, speaking of Ringo, his drums sound great on the next track, "She Said, She Said," which finds Lennon doing more childhood introspection and coming up with trippy results.

The second side starts with McCartney's "Good Day Sunshine," which is an okay song, but kind of redundant at this point on the album. The arrangement is nice, the production is good, but it doesn't really add anything to the record--in fact, it kills the momentum.
"And Your Bird Can Sing" picks the momentum back up with it's electric swagger and rolling beat, but then McCartney's "For No One" grinds things to a halt again. Again, it's not a bad song, and the horns are nice, but it's like McCartney is on a different planet on this side of the album. He is lying under a tree taking a nap, not realizing that "I'm Only Sleeping" was seven songs ago. "Doctor Robert" picks up the pace again, but it's just not that good of a song, perhaps Lennon's only disappointment on Revolver. Things get back on track with George Harrison's "I Want to Tell You" (Harrison's tracks come close to owning this album). McCartney's "Got to Get You Into My Life" is delightfully raucous, yet his romantic lyrical aspirations are what knock Revolver down. Again, he sings about romance just like he did on the last six albums, while his bandmates seem to now be focusing on all aspects of life. It almost reaches a point where just hearing McCartney's voice kick off a Revolver track causes frustration--you know exactly what you are about to get. It's like the whole band is aching to get to some transcendant level musically, but only two are attempting to do so lyrically (Ringo don't count). Harrison and Lennon are looking at the whole scope of life, while McCartney is making googly eyes over their shoulders at some girl he sees. I can't remember if this ever gets better--I hope it does. McCartney proves on his first track here, "Eleanor Rigby," that he CAN do better, singing achingly about loneliness--so maybe that's why I am so disappointed with the rest of his lyrical output--and also why I am using so many dashes and the word "again" again and again.
Everybody else is more than solid, though, and Lennon's trippy closer, "Tomorrow Never Knows," proves that the Beatles are a great band, albeit one with members not quite on the same page.
Here, go eat some oreos:

Apple Corps 1966
1. Taxman 2:38
2. Eleanor Rigby 2:06
3. I'm Only Sleeping 3:00
4. Love You To 2:59
5. Here, There and Everywhere 2:24
6. Yellow Submarine 2:38
7. She Said She Said 2:36
8. Good Day Sunshine 2:09
9. And Your Bird Can Sing 2:00
10. For No One 1:59
11. Doctor Robert 2:14
12. I Want To Tell You 2:27
13. Got To Get You Into My Life 2:29
14. Tomorrow Never Knows 3:01

The Beatles -- Rubber Soul

2011-10-11T13:31:00.002-05:00

9/10

Rubber Soul is the sound of a band creating songs they enjoy, and using their instruments to realize the sounds in their head. On the first two Beatles' albums, and large sections of the third, fourth, and fifth, it's easy to see a music executive barking orders at the band. I can't see anyone telling them what to do when I listen to this. I don't say this because I read it in a Rolling Stone article or something--for all I know, The Beatles could have been ordered around just as much during the Rubber Soul Sessions as on any before them. I say this because I've been listening to the previous five albums non-stop for the last week, and this one is so much better than those, it's almost unbelievable that this came only two and a half years after the first one.
For me, the biggest difference is the timeless nature of the music. Sure, some of the tracks on the first couple of albums, and a decent amount of tracks on the others before this are timeless, but this whole record exists in some special place where nothing sounds dated, and every note sounds original.
Maybe this is because the lyrics finally start stretching their legs--I don't think "girl" gets rhymed with "world" one time on the whole thing. Maybe it's that George Harrison sounds like he is having all the fun in the world expressing himself musically (this is the one where he starts playing the sitar!). Maybe it's that Paul and John sound like two artists writing songs together, and not two businessmen (Old Ringo sounds better than ever on the drums, as well). Whatever the reason, this is the first Beatles album I can listen to willingly (and not just because I am reviewing it) from front to back without skipping a track.
I mean, this guitar riff and these harmonies and that crazy keyboard bridge:

Listen to The Beatles "In My Life"

It would be one thing to have just a couple of songs like this surrounded by filler, but this whole album is just as fun, witty, and inventive.
I just listened to Rubber Soul five times straight. That definitely says something...I might like The Beatles now...I guess we'll see...time for Revolver.

1965 Apple Corps
1. Drive My Car 2:28
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 2:04
3. You Won't See Me 3:19
4. Nowhere Man 2:43
5. Think for Yourself 2:18
6. The Word 2:43
7. Michelle 2:42
8. What Goes On 2:48
9. Girl 2:31
10. I'm Looking Through You 2:26
11. In My Life 2:26
12. Wait 2:14
13. If I Needed Someone 2:22
14. Run for Your Life 2:23

The Beatles -- Help!

2011-10-10T13:40:00.002-05:00

8/10

The Beatles continue to slowly grow on Help! Beatles for Sale showed the most promising signs of potential yet, and Help! goes even further. The songs are just a little more well written, and a little more varied in sound. The greatest flaw is still there, namely sometimes cheesy, romance-based lyrics, but the situation of the various relationships is more complex than before. The lyrics rarely hit a level where the schmaltz is too heavy, but rarely doesn't mean never: "It's Only Love" is so sentimentally disgusting, it's hard to believe the biggest band in history actually wrote and recorded it. There are more than enough great classics to tip the balance far into the good column, though. The title track is a blast of wonderful energy, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "I've Just Seen a Face" are better than the entirety of Please Please Me, and "Yesterday" is absolutely timeless.

That song in particular is as far away from the initial Beatles' sound as anything they had yet done (to be fair, it's also the only song up to this point featuring just one Beatle, in this case, Paul). In fact, Help! has less looks back to that orignal sound than any Beatles' album yet, though the freak-out closing number, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," goes back to the old blueprint of finishing with a wild cover of someone else's song. It still works.
As much as I talk about the tiny, always forward steps between each Beatles' record, this is their FIFTH album in barely over two years! Today we get about three years between TWO albums from most bands, and we are quite lucky if those bands take any steps forward at all. Help! is already worlds apart from Please Please Me and it's only been half a presidential term (or in this case, an assassination, a succession, and a re-election...I guess things just moved faster back then).

1965 Apple Corps
1 Help! 2:19
2 The Night Before 2:34
3 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away 2:09
4 I Need You 2:28
5 Another Girl 2:05
6 You're Going to Lose That Girl 2:18
7 Ticket to Ride 3:09
8 Act Naturally 2:30
9 It's Only Love 1:56
10 You Like Me Too Much 2:36
11 Tell Me What You See 2:37
12 I've Just Seen a Face 2:05
13 Yesterday 2:05
14 Dizzy Miss Lizzy 2:58

The Beatles -- Beatles for Sale

2011-10-07T19:32:00.003-05:00

8/10

"We got more and more free to get into ourselves. Our student selves rather than 'we must please the girls and make money', which is all that "From Me to You", "Thank You Girl", "P. S. I Love You!" is about. "Baby's in Black" we did because we liked waltz-time ... and I think also John and I wanted to do something bluesy, a bit darker, more grown-up, rather than just straight pop." >--Paul McCartney on recording Beatles for Sale

While there are tiny steps forward between The Beatles' first, second, and third albums, there is a tangible shift between A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles for Sale. This is obvious from the sarcastic album title, the moody album cover, and the songs themselves.
"No Reply" starts things off with a notable jump in songwriting quality and attitude. Lennon (who for the most part, owns this album) sounds as real as he did on "Twist and Shout," except this is the first track on the album, and he actually wrote this song. The quiet/calm, loud/intense dynamic is excellent, the buildup is wonderful. The lyrics, still romance-based, are far more introspective, and the chord changes are surprising and moody. It might be the first Beatles-penned track that is truly great, not just as a crowd pleaser, but as a song.

The second track is called, "I'm a Loser." If you can't tell from the title, the tempo set by the first track doesn't ebb in the second. Even "Baby's in Black," which takes the token third track ballad spot, is idiosyncratic and morose. Speaking of ballads, McCartney even manages to write and sing one that doesn't sound like it's drenched in Aunt Jemima's. It's called, "Follow the Sun," and it's a wonderful, shame-free song. There are covers again on this album, but instead of regressing from the all-original, A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles really make these songs sound their own. And screw you, 1960's critics and Allmusic.com--"Mr. Moonlight" is an excellent cover! How can any song that starts with John Lennon's voice sounding like this be bad?

The weird,slightly creepy organs in "Mr. Moonlight" are great as well as Ringo's tumbling drumbeat.
Unfortunately, the second side of the record (or the second half of the CD) doesn't take nearly as many risks. "Eight Days a Week" plays with recording techniques, but doesn't break any ground as a song. The covers sound safer. Lyrics are a little more shallow. None of the songs are bad, though, they just pale next to the first half. On the flip side, Ringo adds more to this recording than on any previous releases. "What You're Doing" isn't that interesting of a song, but Ringo's big intro/outro beat is a classic.

Overall, Beatles for Sale finally sees the band taking a leg out of the teeny-bopper pool and dipping their toes into the vast ocean of the history they were soon to make.

POSTSCRIPT EDIT: I talked about some of the memories this music stirs in me in the Please Please Me post. For some reason Beatles for Sale reminds me of my grandmother's driveway in Morganza. I have no idea why.

1964 Toshiba
1. No Reply 2:16
2. I'm a Loser 2:30
3. Baby's in Black 2:04
4. Rock & Roll Music 2:31
5. I'll Follow the Sun 1:48
6. Mr. Moonlight 2:38
7. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! 2:38
8. Eight Days a Week 2:43
9. Words of Love 2:04
10. Honey Don't 2:57
11. Every Little Thing 2:03
12. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party 2:34
13. What You're Doing 2:30
14. Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby 2:27

The Beatles -- A Hard Day's Night

2011-10-06T13:39:00.004-05:00

7/10

The Beatles return with more of the same, and yet something completely different on A Hard Day's Night. I remember watching this film on the Disney Channel one night when I was a child (and Disney was a completely different channel that actually geared some programming toward adults), and not knowing what to make of it. All I knew was that these girls were chasing these four guys in suits around everywhere, and they rode on trains and stuff, and there were catchy songs in the background. That's all I remember, anyway, so all I can do is take this album as something that stands on its own--which returns me to the opening sentence.
Musically, this doesn't sound much different from the first two albums: twangy, rocking songs, mixed with slowed-down ballads, all straightforward. If there's a difference, it's a noticeable growth in swagger--for this album, and for the first time, The Beatles wrote every song themselves, and this increase in confidence shows in the music. They sound a bit tougher, even though they still sing constantly about crying because of girl-trouble. Yes, the lyrics employ slightly bigger words and are more thematically cohesive (coming and going being the obvious common thread), but they still can't liftoff past the teenage romance stage. That is what seems to be holding the band back more than anything. You can tell by some of the additional instrumentation (which you can also find in the previous two albums) that they want to break the mold, but they don't have the experience or talent to yet do it. Then again, the three albums I've so far reviewed came out over the span of barely more than a year, so maybe I should cut these kids a break.
Lord knows they need it.

1964 Toshiba
1 A Hard Day's Night 2:34
2 I Should Have Known Better 2:43
3 If I Fell 2:19
4 I'm Happy Just to Dance with You 1:56
5 And I Love Her 2:29
6 Tell Me Why 2:08
7 Can't Buy Me Love 2:11
8 Any Time at All 2:11
9 I'll Cry Instead 1:45
10 Things We Said Today 2:35
11 When I Get Home 2:16
12 You Can't Do That 2:34
13 I'll Be Back 2:26