AMR couldn't post the FMD today so I'm filling in. Since he usually kicks things off by talking about new music he's listening to I will take this opportunity to mention that I streamed the new Flaming Lips album The Terror. Didn't do a lot for me -- a lot of space age gobbledygook. Also picked up the new GBV e.p. Down By The Racetrack. It's probably only for completists. On that positive note, hopefully we'll see some rad lists today.
All posts by freealonzo
Classic Album Reviews: The Pogues — Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (1985)
By 1985, punk rock was storming off in all sorts of musical directions. There was proto-punk, country-punk, art-punk, dance-punk, and hardcore-punk. One of the more interesting sub-genres was Irish or Celtic-Punk. Irish Punk was thought of as Irish folk songs or Irish folk-inspired songs revved up to a punk like speed. Locally, the band Boiled in Lead was a fantastic purveyor of traditional Irish music with a punk sensibility. Nationally, however, The Pogues were front in center and Rum, Sodomy & the Lash was the album you had to have if you were into Irish or Punk music.
The Pogues were a perfect Irish band: You had the lead singer, Shane MacGowan - skinny, horrible teeth, hard drinking, gravelly voice; a band with upwards of 7 to 10 members, depending on who was sober or healthy at the time, and a bunch of traditional Irish songs. The album was a blast with songs about drinkin', bleak industrial city living, Jessie James, war, lovers who left, and drinking. The album kicks off with The Sickbed of Cuchulainn an Irish romper sing-along. Dirty Old Town is exactly about what the title says: what it is like living in an old industrial-era city that is crumbling around you. The songs open with the classic line: "I met my love by the gas works wall..." You get the picture.
Other favorites include Sally MacLennane which again is fast, fiesty sing-along. I'm sure this was sung at many going away parties. The highlight of the album is The Band Played Waltzing Matilda which describes an Australian's horrifying experience fighting the Turks in WWI. One of the strongest anti-war songs ever written and it makes me think sadly of our soldiers coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan with broken bodies, never again able to dance.
The album is a fun, singable, danceable ride. The musicians are top notch and the songs are a great combination of old and new Irish songs. A bunch of these songs would be perfect for any party tape, wedding dance, or just to listen to get the blood pumpin'. For that reason Rum, Sodomy & the Lash I consider a classic album. What do you think?
Classic Album Reviews: Woody Guthrie — Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)
Released in 1940, many consider Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads to the first “concept album.” Listening, it is easy to see why as the name really says it all: Woody Guthrie with guitar and harmonica singing ballads about the dust bowl, it’s just that simple. These aren’t just songs about the Dust Bowl, however. They about the poor sharecroppers, farmers, and family folk impacted by the dust storms of the 1930’s. Through these songs you can see the dust, taste it, smell it, feel it all over your body. The songs are that powerful. The first song (The Great Dust Storm) tells the story. You see that big dust cloud, you learn how the farmers reacted, how scared they were and you can’t believe how bad the storm was, that it could be related to the devastation wrought by a Hurricane Katrina or the wildfires in Colorado Springs.
Dust Bowl Ballads contain songs that are probably familiar to most, even if you don’t know the names or who even sang them: Dusty Old Dust (So Long It’s Been Good To Know You) and Blowin’ Down the Road (I Ain’t Gonna Be Treated That a Way) are so familiar that they’re ingrained in our musical DNA. Pretty Boy Floyd has been covered by so many folk artists, it’s hard to keep count. A musical highlight for me is Do Re Mi, a song about the Okies moving to California and finding out it isn’t the paradise it was advertised as. The fact is that there were so many people moving to California that the local farming communities passed anti-vagrancy ordinances and the Okies had to prove that they either had a job or money (do-re-mi).
Finally one can’t have a song about the Dust Bowl and not mention The Joads. Woody Guthrie loved the movie Grapes of Wrath so much that he wrote a seven minute song (broken into two parts) that basically tells the entire Grapes of Wrath story (with a riff stolen from an older folk song). It’s just as heartbreaking as the book and movie. If you ever need a seven minute refresher of Grapes of Wrath, you may want to check out Tom Joad I and II.
Woody’s voice is quite plaintive but ironically it’s his voice that really gives these songs their texture. The guitar and harmonica are simple, as are the lyrics. But it’s Woody Guthrie’s gift that he could take complex issues and boil them down to their very core. Very few songwriters have been able to do that and to do it over a whole album and it makes Dust Bowl Ballads one of those foundational albums that everyone should have, regardless of your musical tastes.
Supposedly you can stream the album from the Smithsonian here. But I couldn't get it to work.
Classic Album Reviews: Weezer — Pinkerton (1996)
As Bootsy likes to remind me, Weezer basically sucks these days. Sure they’ll have a decent song here or there (Hashpipe anyone?) but one could argue that they’ve been mailing it in for a while (Hurley…really?). However, Weezer still has a decent fan base, a base built on their first release and ironically enough, it’s follow up, Pinkerton. At its core Pinkerton is basically about love, sex, disillusionment, and relationships. However it is written from the perspective of a young man struggling with fame and its impact on having mature relationships with the opposite sex.
When Pinkerton first came out in 1996 it was considered a big disappointment. Fresh off the heels of the “Blue” album, which included the novelty hit and video Buddy Holly, Weezer’s second album seemed to fall into the sophomore slump category. There wasn’t a quirky hit like Buddy Holly or The Sweater Song and the first released single, El Scorcho, was musically hard to listen, sing along, or dance to. The whole album had a harder edge to it and some of the songs seemed to be in a minor key, which also made it difficult to immediately embrace. In fact Rolling Stone readers voted it the 3rd worse album of 1996. The album’s negative reception was hard on the band (mainly Rivers Coumo) and it took five years for Weezer to get back into the studio.
The love/relationship songs on Pinkerton are written from the perspective of someone immature in handling relationships. As young men, instead of showing vulnerability, we tend to act cocky, acting like it doesn’t matter, that there’s always another chick to conquer. The singer is befuddled, as men usually are when dealing with the opposite sex, but it’s covered by boastfulness. Tired of Sex is a classic example. The song is about how much tail he’s getting and that it’s all soooo boring. He’s both boasting and wanting something more. Getchoo is a song about a guy who has done his girl wrong but now is surprised she’s not coming back. Why Bother takes it one step backward: He knows he’s going to get hurt in the end, why even start the relationship? It’s just not worth it. It’s a tact many young guys take when deciding whether to enter into a relationship or continue to hang with their bros.
Vulnerability does sneak in toward the end of the album. Across the Sea is about a fan in Japan who would be a perfect girlfriend if she didn’t live so far away (plus there are some bonus mother issues thrown in to boot). Pink Triangle is about falling in love with someone who is unavailable (in this case a lesbian). This song contains the classic line “Everyone’s a little queer, why can’t she be a little straight.” Finally in the album’s second to last song the singer finally finds someone he can settle down with. But it’s a little nerve wracking, he doesn’t want to get his heart broke. The last verse really sums it up:
I'm shaking at your touch/I like you way too much/My baby, I'm afraid I'm falling for you/And I'd do about anything to get the hell out alive/Or maybe I would rather settle down with you.
Despite its initial negative reaction, the album has grown in stature over the last 16 years and is now considered a classic and regarded as Weezer’s best album. In 2002, Rolling Stone readers, just six years after saying it was the 3rd worse album of 1996, voted it the 16th best album of all time! Other music publications have placed it in their top albums of the 90’s lists. Unfortunately for their fans, Weezer has not reached the heights suggested by Pinkerton and are more than willing to put out albums of lesser and lesser quality.
Champions Leage Final: Chelsea v. Bayern-Munich
What: UEFA Champions League Final
Who: Chelsea (England); Bayern-Munich (Germany)
Where: Allianz Stadium Munich Germany
TV: Fox, Game at 1:45p
Stakes: Bragging rights as top football club in Europe
Today is one of international soccer’s biggest days, probably only behind the World Cup or perhaps the European Cup finals. The Champions League final is this afternoon and if you don’t mind spending a couple of hours inside watching the game, I think you will enjoy it regardless of your soccer knowledge. To give you a little edge if you do decide to watch, here are a few reasons why each team could win. I’ll stay away from the technical aspects but Andrew, Pirate, Homer Dome or others feel free to chime in through the comments. If you want a technical review, this one is pretty good.
Continue reading Champions Leage Final: Chelsea v. Bayern-Munich
Classic Album Reviews: Let’s Go Scare Al — Gear Daddies (1988)
Besides having the coolest name ever for an album (well maybe one behind The Replacement’s Tim) and having the saddest, scariest looking clown to ever grace an album cover, Let’s Go Scare Al is a classic album full of countryish songs about loveable losers, drinking, small towns, heartbreak, drinking, and drinking. An album like this could only be performed by Minnesotans: Its unpretentious, simple, self-deprecating, and chock full of meaning behind its sparse vocabulary.
I almost included both Let’s Go Scare Al and Billy’s Live Bait as one review because they are similar albums covering similar stories. The music doesn’t change much between the two albums nor does the subject matter. But I landed squarely with Let’s Go Scare Al, because of the album name (especially as a debut album) and because it really introduced the Gear Daddies to a broader audience (they had been playing in local bars for a good year or so before this album came out and demo tapes were being passed around left and right). Now some 25 years after it’s been released we still look forward to the occasional reunion show by the band.
As I mentioned above, musically these songs are pretty simple. It’s basic country rock with no outstanding guitar or vocal work. Structurally the songs are pretty simple as well with the time-tested verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, verse 3 (or repeat verse 1) and chorus organization. What makes the songs special is the songwriting. Even if you haven’t actually lived what’s being described in the song, you can identify with what the singer is saying. For instance Statue of Jesus opens with this verse:
I’m sittin’ downtown cryin’ ‘neath the statue of Jesus
Both of us so lonely and cold, hope no one can see us
I know I’m drunk here but I don’t think that he cares
Surely he must understand these crosses that I bear
So I’m sittin’ downtown cryin’ ‘neath the statue of Jesus
Now, I’ve never sat under a statue of Jesus crying, but if I ever did, I’m pretty sure that song would sum up pretty how I felt. Heavy Metal Boyz is another song that describes perfectly what it is like being a teenager living in a small town, whether it’s a rural area or a suburb. I’m sure there are many, many women who can identify with Boys Will Be Boys and tell me one person who hasn’t Drank so Much that They Just Feel Stupid?
After all these songs of too much drinking, lives gone astray, broken hearts, and shitty jobs the singer hasn’t given up. The last song, Strength, has the singer asking for strength to do what’s right, to “change this fucked up life of mine.” Surely if the singer can still want to change things, to make things better, so can we. We don’t know if he’ll get there but at least he’s trying.
Classic Album Review: Gang of Four — Entertainment! (1979)
Considered one of the greatest albums to come out of the British post-punk period (1979-1984), Entertainment! is an album of grim politics, alienation, and loathsome sexuality. However it is also an album that musically breaks out from the typical 12…1234 cadence of most punk albums. Ambitious in scope, leftist in its politics, jarring in its music, Entertainment! is one of my favorite albums from the 1970’s and one that sounds just as vital today as it did over 30 years ago.
One of the first things one notices upon playing Entertainment! is that it is funky. The bass is deep and heavy throughout and the album is extremely danceable. In fact a popular Minneapolis band from the early 1980’s, The Phones, covered two songs from this album and would fill the dance floor singing Damaged Goods and I Found that Essence Rare (good thing we weren’t listening to the lyrics, as they are somewhat of a downer). Besides the bass, the guitar work also deserves mention. Always jarring, at times sounding like china busting up into shards in an all-tile bathroom, the guitars were played in a way that was never heard on a major label album and have been copied many times since. Vocally, the lyrics are sung in that deadpan, affected British accent that was made popular by other British bands like Wire and Joy Division. The album ends with Anthrax, with its feedback-heavy wailing guitars while two different lyrics are being sung-spoke in each ear (one is basically a treatise on why Gang of 4 doesn’t do love songs). Amazingly enough, the original single has even harsher guitars (yes I have the single too).
Even if you don’t want to listen to the lyrics, the album is a great listen either alone or at a party. It really is the high water mark of those art-school educated British bands that came out in the late 1970’s and 80’s and as I said above, just as fresh today as it was in 1979 (You recently heard the opening guitar riff from Nature’s Not In It in a Xbox Kinect commercial). I’ve carried this album with me since 1981 and listen to it often whenever I need an uplift and want to listen to something that you don’t hear much anywhere else. For that reason, Entertainment! is a classic that deserves your attention.
EDIT: BTW, when listening to this album, turn it up to 11!
Classic Album Reviews: Some Girls — Rolling Stones (1978)
As the last great Rolling Stones album, Some Girls came out at a time of enormous flux in popular music. In 1978, disco was still hugely popular and of course all the cool kids knew about punk. A lot of the rock giants from the 60’s were either burnt out, gone, or easing into the nostalgia circuit. But not the Stones, they delivered one of their finest albums, one that covered disco, punk, and of course straight ahead rock and rock. There is/was only one band that could pull off such an effort and make it work, and for that reason deserves to be considered a classic album worthy of review at the WGOM.
One reason I really like Some Girls is that it not only reflects the times in which it was made but also reflects where the Rolling Stones were as a band and as individuals. By 1978 the Rolling Stones were nearly a decade into their “Greatest Rock and Roll Band” persona, with all the money, groupies, drugs, and adulation that goes with it. Jetting off to Rio, St. Moritz, or New York, was a monthly occurrence and the Stones obliged by having houses, girlfriends, and parties at all the world’s hot spots, always ready to hit the scene with other beautiful people.
Thankfully the Rolling Stones music didn’t suffer with all this jet setting, in fact, at the time of Some Girls’ recording, Keith Richards was cleaner – drug wise – than he had been for years. The recording sessions were in Paris and by all accounts were extremely productive. In fact the song Start Me Up was first recorded for Some Girls but Keith argued against its inclusion because he thought he stole the riff (turns out it was his own riff he stole). Just think how great this album would have been if it had also included Start Me Up?!! Wowza!
The album crosses many musical genres with the Stones putting their signature on Disco (Miss You), Country (Far Away Eyes), Motown (Imagination), and Punk (Shattered). The rest are straight ahead rock and rollers with the song Respectable an overlooked classic that should be dissected and taught in Rock School. The album ends with the song Shattered which perfectly described New York City circa 1978. The album got a lot of radio play and I purchased it shortly after it was released (with the Farrah Fawcett and Lucille Ball images on the cover -- since changed due to lawsuits) and hungrily lapped it up in all its rock and roll glory. Besides the songs listed above, Keith Richards’ Before They Make Me Run and Beast of Burden were favorites. It was the perfect Rolling Stones album with a solid rhythm section, Keith’s fantastic riffs, and Mick’s vocals unmatched before or since.
The album ended up being one of the Rolling Stones biggest selling albums and for better or worse resurrected their career and ensured that they would be recording and releasing albums of new material well into the next millennium. While not considered as strong as some Stones classics like Sticky Fingers, Beggars Banquet, or Exile on Main Street, I would argue that Some Girls is a fantastic rock album and somewhat slightly forgotten about over the years. If you haven’t listened to it for a while, I strongly encourage you to give it a spin.
Classic Album Review: Workingman’s Dead/American Beauty — The Grateful Dead (1970)
I know I am cheating by including two albums here but Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty were recorded about five months apart and in total clock in at just under 70 minutes, which today could fit on one CD. More importantly these two albums are quite similar musically as they cover folk, blues, Appalachia, as well as country and western in a way that is still fresh some 40 years later. Furthermore, along with The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, these albums ushered in a new era of country-rock that would flourish throughout the 1970’s and is still being felt today.
Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty were huge departures from the Grateful Dead of the 1960’s. Gone was the psychedelica that anchored the San Francisco hippie music scene and in its place the Dead explored traditional-flavored American music with lyrics that were more winsome than mind blowing. However it was these two albums that propelled the Grateful Dead into the mainstream and created a band personae that went way beyond the cult following of the Dead’s early career. The fact that at least four songs from these albums can still be heard on classic rock radio station such as KQRS (and occasionally on The Current) is a testament to each album's staying power and popularity.
Workingman’s Dead came out in June 1970 and must have been a huge surprise to Dead fans. Uncle John’s Band kicks-off the album and although it is somewhat trippy, it was much more country than anything else previously from the Dead. This song has personal resonance too as it was played at my friend Bill Fadell's funeral. The second song, High Times, is practically Jerry singing acapella with just a bluesy guitar in the background. Cumberland Blues comes straight out of the West Virginny coal mines, while Casey Jones is an acid-washed, country-tinged bluesy train song.
If fans thought that Workingman's Dead was a one album fluke, American Beauty, which came out only five or so months later, quickly disabused them of that notion. The album starts with one of the singularly most beautiful songs ever written – Box of Rain – which was written and sang by Phil Lesh for his dying father. It’s a song about a son trying to understand the meaning of life in the face of his father’s death. Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, and especially Ripple (all of which became concert favorites of Deadheads for the next 25 years) are songs that could easily be found on an album from an old-timey folker or from a smart ass alt-country band from Austin, Texas. The songs are that timeless. The album ends with Attics of My Life and its beautiful 3-part harmony and of course the fan (and KQ) favorite Truckin.’ With Truckin’ the Dead look back and close the door on the 60’s with the now classic line “What a long, strange trip it’s been."
Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t musically spare country or folk songs with guitar and rhythm section consigned to the background. No, the songs are highly textured with most have at least three guitars, mandolins, etc., playing different parts. It’s pretty heady stuff and I think most Dead fans, then and now, could get their freak on with both these albums. Another highlight is the harmonies. Most of the songs on Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty have at least 2-part, if not 3-part harmonies and Jerry was never in better voice. Garcia’s guitar work is stellar and the rhythm section is top notch, especially during the “boogie” songs such as Cumberland Blues and New Speedway Boogie. These aren't two sides of one album either. Workingman is a little bluesier, Beauty a little more folk and country.
As I mentioned above, these albums, for better or worse, ushered in the era of country rock and bands such as the Eagles, Poco, Linda Ronstadt, etc., would shortly become mainstays on the American pop charts. However, these two albums are as vital and influential today as they were some 42 years ago and are one of the reasons why the Grateful Dead became such cultural icons. The Dead deservedly have earned their hippie jam band reputation and their fans can be a little much but if you can get past those stereotypes, I think you will find Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty quite wonderful albums.
Classic Album Review: Guided By Voices — Bee Thousand (1994)
Since it’s my birthday I just had to go with Bee Thousand. Admittedly I was not one of the cool kids when it came to Guided By Voices. God how I wish I was. You know, one of those guys that just knew a band was awesome from the start, even though no one else knew of them or someone who would go to the record store for sole purpose of scoring a self-printed 7-inch. Unfortunately when Guided By Voices hit the indy music scene, I was busy with raising little kids and fixing up an old house in SW Minneapolis.
I’m pretty sure I’ve related this story before but it bears repeating because I think it’s common with GbV fans. I didn’t hear Bee Thousand until 2006 and for that I have to blame/thank Mary Lucia (DJ 89.3-The Current) for turning me on to Guided by Voices. Sometime in the summer of 2006 Mary Lucia played the song Motor Away and made some quip that GbV was her one of her favorites. Now of course I’ve probably heard Motor Away and I Am A Scientist over 100 times but I thought to myself “now there’s a band that I really don’t know very well.” So I downloaded a couple of songs, liked them; started reading up on the band, and pretty much decided that Bee Thousand was the album to take the plunge. It took a few listens but six years later I am a total GbV geek with over five hundreds of songs on my I-pod and GbV-related CD's, DVD’s and books scattered around my house like a tossed-aside Robert Pollard lyric. I regularly check the GbV websites, and am waiting for the day when I can actually buy one of those hand printed 7-inchers.
Call it lo-fi, indy rock, DIY, or just plain weird, Bee Thousand (rhymes with Pete Townsend?) is all that but so much more. Guitars drop in and out in the middle of solos, songs break off after one chorus, and the album sounds like it was recorded in someone’s basement on a four-track machine – which of course it was. Arcane lyrics, fuzzy guitars, and off-key harmonies predominate. Even though there are 20 songs…with the longest song only 3:09, and many more under 2:30... it clocks in at a lean and sublime 37 minutes.
But oh what a glorious 37 minutes! If you can imagine infectious little songs with a Midwest twist on British Invasion-era pop you kind of get the idea of what you’re in for with Bee Thousand. If there was any justice in the pop music world, songs like Hardcore UFO’s, Tractor Rape Chain, Echos Myron, Queen of Cans and Jars, and I Am a Scientist would be as familiar as any song by the 60s/70s-era Kinks, Raspberries, Bad Finger, or from any Brill Building song writer. Alas, Bee Thousand will have to conquer the world one unsuspecting listener at a time. The good thing is that it is doing just that. A virtual cult has grown up around this album with books, blogs, listening parties, and groupies all dedicated to any and everything Bee Thousand.
Now I’m part of the cult and proselytizing on its behalf. If you want your music so slickly-produced that it can sell accounting services on TV with lyrics that are poll-tested and easily deciphered, well then Bee Thousand probably is not for you. However if you want to hear something that was written and sung for the love of music, that is both quirky and familiar, momentous yet fun, I implore you to check out Bee Thousand. Careful though, you might end up like me. I'll give the last word to Robert Pollard (from Echos Myron):
Most of us are quite pleased
With the same old song
And all of a sudden I’m relatively sane
With everything to lose and nothing to gain
Or something like that