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Kisses On The Bottom

2012-02-14T16:41:00.002-06:00

Paul McCartney - Kisses On The Bottom

OK, first things first. The album title. It's terrible. I'm sure Paul liked the cheekiness of it (pun intended), but he really should have thought better. In theory, it's a line from the album's opener "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter," but here's the thing; I've probably heard a couple of dozen versions of that song, and I've always heard it sung "kisses AT the bottom," so it's not even the right line. But I digress...

I’ll admit that despite being a fan of both McCartney (definitely my favorite Beatle) and what’s known as “The Great American Songbook,” I was only marginally interested in checking this album out when I first heard about it. For the last few years it seems like the CD section of your favorite discount store is littered with albums of aging rockers doing their interpretations of old standards. But my interest level shot up about one hundred percent when I learned that Macca had Diana Krall and her band backing him up on the project. Rather than the kind of milquetoast orchestral schmaltz that Rod Stewart has been releasing for the past decade, McCartney and company turn in an understated and elegant set of overlooked classics. While a handful of the songs do have orchestral arrangements, most of the record is just McCartney singing with Krall’s quartet. A few of the songs are hardly obscure, but he mostly stays away from the obvious choices, which makes the album seem a lot fresher than similar projects from other artists. And it’s a testament to his continued skill as a songwriter that unless you’re looking at the credits, you’d be hard pressed to pick out the two new originals (“My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts”) from the songs that are older than he is (the deluxe edition of the album also includes a new take on “Baby’s Request” from the final Wings’ album, Back To The Egg).

It’s almost surprising that it took Paul so long to make an album like this. From the beginning of his career he’s written songs in this kind of style, so a project like this almost seemed inevitable. But the results were definitely worth the wait. It’s probably the most engaging solo album he’s made since he teamed up with Krall’s husband, one Declan McManus, for 1989’s Flowers In The Dirt.

2012 Grammy Awards Live Blog

2012-02-12T18:52:00.032-06:00

I've made a last minute decision to live blog the 2012 Grammy Awards, since the slate of performers actually looks watchable this year, and I don't have anything better to do. So with five minutes to go, I'll grab a drink, and we'll get started.

7:03 - Dear all country stars, please learn from The Boss how to write a pro-America song without sounding jingoistic. Springsteen... never not awesome.

7:06 - My wife... "LL Cool J looks like a ninja turtle."

7:12 - Bruno Mars - Prince would be proud.

7:24 - Every single performer nominated against Adele tonight has to know that they really don't have a shot in hell.

7:36 - Way to be unpredictable with the Rap award Grammy voters.

7:39 - Kelly Clarkson wins the award for least flattering dress. She sounds great though. She could easily have a country career if she wanted.

7:48 - Playing drums for the Foo Fighters is my dream job.

8:02 - I know that Coldplay wants to do everything that U2 has done, but they should have let them have the Rhianna collaboration. Common denominator... both of them sucked.

8:06 - Is it just me, or does Coldplay's bassist kinda look like Adam Levine?

8:25 - Fun fact (for me anyway); I saw The Beach Boys in 1985. It was awesome. I'm not sure I'd bet on Brian to make it through this reunion.

8:34 - The new Paul McCartney album is surprisingly awesome. I'll have a review up on Tuesday.

8:45 - Dear Taylor, the whole "Wow, I cant believe people are clapping for me" face is getting old.

8:56 - Just when you think Katy Perry's costumes cant get any more ridiculous...

9:07 - The only thing bigger than Adele's voice are her eyelashes.

9:22 - This Glen Campbell tribute started off great, and has gotten progressively worse, at least as far as the songs go.

9:38 - Best way to improve award shows? Quit letting the presidents of the organizations talk.

9:45 - Since the whole Whitney Houston tribute was inevitable, that was actually fairly understated and bearable.

9:58 - Dance music might be fun to experience live, but it's not very compelling television.

10:10 - Nicki Minaj was hands down the weirdest performance I've ever seen on an awards show.

10:20 - Poor Lady Gaga... all dressed up and no one cares.

10:30 - That finale was awesome. I figured there would be a medley, but to get THAT medley was pretty badass.

Albums Of The Year 2011

2012-02-11T11:02:00.000-06:00

2011 unfortunately saw me probably the least involved musically as any year I can remember, as evidenced by the scarcity of my posting over the past twelve months. But that doesn't mean I wasn't listening, and it certainly doesn't mean there weren't any records that I didn't absolutely love. So here it is, from the "better late than never" file, but favorite albums of last year.

1. The Duke Spirit – Bruiser

At this point The Duke Spirit ought to be a household name, at least among the more musically minded. They have an incredible live show, they’re road warriors that are almost constantly touring, they’ve got a great sound that isn’t derivative of anyone else, their songwriting keeps getting better and better, and they have possibly the best front woman out there right now. This is their third album on their third different label, a run of bad luck that would derail the path of less dedicated bands. Bruiser manages to sound a bit more lush and melodic than Neptune, but without going soft. The hooks are bigger, but without sounding overly polished. After being released over the pond last September, and getting a digital release in the states in November, it finally got released domestically on CD last week (with bonus tracks!), so go find out what you've probably been missing out on.

2. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Dave Grohl and company get back to doing what they do best… rocking the fuck out. Sure, there are still plenty of arena sized anthems, but they come without the MOR blandness that was starting to infect their last couple of albums. If I were ranking albums based on how often they got cranked up to a deafening volume in the car this year, this album would be number one with a bullet. Read our original review from May.

3. Epic Ditch – EP

The first time I heard the debut release from Epic Ditch I was in a friend’s machine shop, which was a perfect setting for the introduction. With his new band, Superdrag’s John Davis strips away pop flourishes of his previous work and leaves only the hardened punk edginess. Davis and fellow singer/guitarist Stewart Pack have a kind of Bob Mould/Grant Hart thing going on, with Davis doing the more aggressive, politically charged songs, and Pack providing the more melodic tracks. Regardless of who’s doing the singing, it kicks all kinds of ass.

4. Beady Eye – Different Gear Still Speeding

Raise your hand if you thought Liam Gallagher’s first post-Oasis album would be better than his brother Noel’s… yeah, me neither. But I’ve heard four tracks from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and so far and none of them have been enough for me to go out and buy it. Beady Eye may not be blazing down any new paths, but unlike his big brother’s, this album is actually fun. Read our original review from April.

5. R.E.M. – Collapse into Now

Conventional wisdom may say otherwise, but thank God R.E.M. didn't break up seven years earlier. While I am sure there are plenty who think the band should have hung it up the moment Bill Berry walked into the sunset, it would have been monumentally depressing if their swan song had been Around the Sun, the one album that most band completists don't even own. Instead they went out with two albums that may not have equaled their late 80's and early 90's triumphs, but at least harkened back to that era. Read our original review from March.

Best In Show 2011

2012-01-17T21:40:00.002-06:00

Surprisingly, I haven't done a concerts of the year post since the very first year I started blogging five years ago. So it's a big odd that I am doing one for the year that I have blogged the least. Despite the fact that I felt somewhat disconnected from music last year, I still saw some great shows. So here are the top five...

1. U2
Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, TN - 7/2/11

I hate stadium shows. They are big, they are impersonal, and during the summer they are a hot, sweaty, stinky mess. Despite all that, U2 takes the top spot as my favorite show this year. And that speaks to what an amazing live band they are. They overcome the distance between the performer and the poor schmuck who has seats in the top row of a football stadium, and make it feel as intimate as a club show. Sure their massive stage is a spectacle, but lots of bands play on big massive stages and can’t make you feel the way U2 does. Twenty four years after the first time I saw them live, they are still the best live band I’ve ever seen. Read our original review from July.

2. Taylor Swift
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 9/17/11

Yeah, seriously. Ever since she released Speak Now last year, I’ve really grown to not just appreciate Taylor Swift, but actually like her. She is a great songwriter, and if some indie darling wrote a line like “you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter,” it’d be hailed as genius. Her songs are full of clever wordplay, and I think if it weren’t for the fact she’s cute, young, and admittedly a mediocre vocalist, she’d get a lot more props for her songwriting than she does.

That said I’d have never gone to this concert if my wife hadn’t wanted to go. But I’m glad she did. It definitely shattered expectations, pretty much from the moment we entered the building. The first thing we noticed is that the average age of the crowd was a lot older than we would have expected. It was definitely predominately female, and while there were a fair share of teeny boppers, there were also a whole lot of twenty and thirty somethings. As the lights went down to the sound of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” the crowd went apeshit, and Taylor literally exploded on to the stage to the sounds of “Sparks Fly.” At the end of the song, I half expected her to start quoting Sally Field award speeches as she put on her trademark surprise face, like she didn’t expect to get such a thunderous response. It took a few minutes to get used to completely unspontaneous nature of the show. It seemed like every facial expression and hair toss was choreographed. But as the show went on, you realized this was almost more a broadway production than a concert. There were multiple set and costume changes, dancers and acrobats, and more pyro than you’d see anywhere outside of a Kiss show. Once you got used to the fact that this wasn’t going to be a typical concert in the way you’ve come to expect it, you could just sit back and enjoy what was one hell of a show. Swift is a born entertainer, and on stage she’s as much an actress as a singer. The way she can work a crowd almost gives Bruce Springsteen a run for his money. Combine all that with a parade of hits performed with more enthusiasm than most bands can muster and you have yourself one hell of a fun evening.

3. Guided By Voices
Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN - 1/14/11

Score one of nostalgia. While it wasn’t as magical as the one time I got to see the “classic” Guided By Voices line up at Exit/In back in 1995, it was definitely better than any of their shows I’ve seen since then (and that’s not a knock, GBV has always put on a great show). Even after a year of touring together, you could tell that Uncle Bob, Toby, Mitch, Greg and Kevin were having a blast playing together, and the fact that the setlist was damn near perfect meant two hours of pure pop bliss for indie geeks. Read our original review from January.

Guided By Voices - "Official Ironman Rally Song (Demo)" (mp3)

4. Rush
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 4/3/11

I’d pretty much given up on Rush over the last decade or so. Not only had I not bought one of their new albums since Counterparts, but I’d also skipped out on seeing them live on their last few tours. But time heals all wounds, and the stellar documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage not only rekindled my love of the band, but also introduced my wife to them. You pretty much know what you’re going to get when you go see them live… note perfect renditions of their songs played with musicianship that most jazz cats would envy. And though they’ve incorporated videos into their concerts for years, they seem to be doing it with more humor than ever before, which made the concert even more fun. Read our original review from April.

5. Interpol & School of Seven Bells
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 5/2/11

If I was ordering this list by my favorite concert moments rather than the entire concert, Interpol performing “Lights” at the Mother Church would top the list. It was one of those absolutely transcendent concert moments that only happen a few times during the course of your life. This concert also marked the first time in years that’d I’d been so impressed by an opening act that it necessitated a trip to the merch stand to buy their CD. Read our original review from May.

School Of Seven Bells - "Windstorm" (mp3) from Disconnect From Desire

All My Rowdy Friends Are Going Home

2011-10-08T10:00:00.005-05:00

This is Rockin' Randy. He dances to the Monday Night Football theme. Old Randy used to occupy a proud spot in my bachelor pad kitchen. Then I got married. Now Randy occupies a box in our basement.

For the last 20 years, Monday Night Football has been introduced by Hank Williams Jr's iconic theme song, based on his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight." Earlier this week, after Bocephus made a ham fisted comment on Fox News comparing President Obama to Hitler, the Disney owned overlords at ESPN decided to pull his opening in response. After Hank Jr alternatingly apologized and defended his actions, ESPN decided to make the move permanent. Williams responded by claiming it was his decision to pull the song for good after ESPN violated his freedom of speech, which is basically like saying "you can't fire me, I quit!"

How will we know if we're ready for some football now? ESPN made a short sighted, knee jerk move by pulling a song that has been a part of the MNF tradition for two decades. Sure, what Williams said was stupid, but consider the source... he's Hank Williams Jr for pete's sake. He has basically made a career out of saying stupid things. And as Pro Football Talk pointed out, ESPN didn't seem to have an issue a few years back when he choked a waitress. How does revealing yourself as a tea bagger trump battery these days?

Despite the momentary PR black eye, ESPN will lose nothing over this. Ratings will continue to be sky high, at least until the St Louis vs Seattle matchup in week 14 (I'm a Seahawks fan, and I still guarantee you I'll have tuned out by halftime). Bocephus' checking account however will be taking a substantial hit. Those TV broadcast fees ain't chicken scratch.

As the dust is settling down on this whole kerfuffle, I'm left with one nagging thought... why cant Faith Hill make a comment comparing Joe Biden to Mussolini so we could get rid of her godawful Sunday Night football theme too?

Til The Day Is Done: RIP R.E.M.

2011-09-23T19:20:00.000-05:00

R.E.M. has called it quits.

A lot of cynics would say this move is coming about fourteen years to late, and that the band never should have reneged on their handshake deal that they'd break up if any of the original members left the group. That opinion would be wrong. Of the five albums Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills have recorded since Bill Berry left the band in 1997, only one (2004's Around the Sun) was truly a stinker, and the last two (Accelerate and Collapse into Now) have been damn good. And perhaps that's the best reason for them to throw in the towel now... it's better bow out on a creative high than to, as Nashville Scene music writer Adam Gold put it so cleverly on Twitter Wednesday, "go out with a murmur."

R.E.M. was my gateway drug into the world of college radio and alternative music. It was listening to my friends copy of Lifes Rich Pageant, and then my own copy of Document a year later, that probably did more than any other band to shape my current musical tastes. It was those two albums that really primed me for falling so completely head over heals with The Church's Starfish, which lead to The Cure's Disintegration, which then splintered into loving a million different bands, some famous and others very much not.

In honor of 31 years of making (mostly) great music, and having a more profound impact on the American indie scene than most people realize, here are my top five R.E.M. related memories.

1. The first time I heard New Adventures in Hi Fi it was pushing midnight, and my friend Jimmy and I were on our way back to his apartment in Knoxville after having some beers with a friend of ours. A DJ on the UT college station had gotten an advance copy of the album and was playing it front to back. I'm not even sure if "E-Bow The Letter" had been released as a single yet, so it was the first we were hearing anything from it, and it was entirely awesome. We ended up driving around aimlessly for an hour so we could hear the whole thing. I remember when "Departure" kicked in, both of us were kinda of like "wow." It's still my favorite R.E.M. album.

2. When R.E.M. played the Murphy Center at MTSU in 1989, my friend Jimmy and I snuck into the band's dressing room before the show and left a note asking them to play two covers; Television's "See No Evil," which they had recently included on a b-side, and Johnny River's "Secret Agent Man," which had been included on a well circulated bootleg from their early club days. The band did play "See No Evil," though whether that was because of our note or not is debatable. And while they didn't break out the River's tune, Mike Mills did make a reference to the bootleg that it came from when during a jazzy improvised interlude he walked up to the mic and said "welcome to the Starlite Club." For two dorky teenagers who were still on a high from actually having managed to get backstage to leave the note, it was the highlight of our night.

3. When R.E.M. played at Starwood Ampitheater in 1995 on the Monster tour, I went with my Dad. We originally had lawn seats, but the day before the show he got reserved seats from a client, so I sold our lawn seats to a friend and we upgraded. And thank God we did. During the song "Undertow," with it's chorus of "I'm drowning..." the sky opened up and a torrential downpour started. All my friends who were sitting on the grass still say it was the worst rain shower any of them had ever been caught in. Even in our seats well under the confines of the roof, the wind was blowing enough moisture our way that we were still a bit wet. Fun fact - Radiohead opened this show, which makes me possibly the only person in the world who can say he saw Radiohead with his Dad.

4. When Robyn Hitchcock played the Belcourt Theater in 2007, my friends and I were really excited. Most of us had seen Hitchcock three or four times, and on this tour he was touring with the newly formed Venus 3, which consists of Peter Buck and R.E.M.'s touring rhythm section, drummer Bill Rieflin and bassist Scott McCaughey. After seeing nothing but acoustic shows, we were all excited to see him backed by an actual rock band. And then a couple of weeks before the show, the listing changed from the Venus 3 to the Nashville Crawdads. Another damn acoustic show. Once we got to the show though, it turned out to be a pretty amazing night. In addition to Buck and perennial Nashville special guests Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the lineup also included Led Zepplin bassist John Paul Jones on mandolin. So yeah, no complaints.

5. In 2009, after seeing Hitchcock perform acoustic shows a half dozen times over a decade, I finally got to see him in front of a rock band when the Venus 3 played the Exit In. The show was everything I could have asked for. The set ran the entire gamut of his career, and had just about every song I could possibly have wanted to hear. About half way through the show, one of my friends notice Mike Mills hanging out by the bar. Forty-five minutes later he was a little harder to miss, as he took to the stage to play guitar and the rest of the band played musical instruments (Buck ended up on drums). They tore into a rambunctious and ramshackle version of "Listening To The Higsons," a fun end to one of those "only in Nashville" nights.

Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill, thanks for everything.

R.E.M. - "Radio Free Europe (Live)" (mp3) from the Strange Currencies cd single
R.E.M. - "Begin The Begin (Live)" (mp3) from the Bang & Blame cd single

Sing For Your Meat

2011-09-15T21:17:00.002-05:00

Various Artists - Sing For Your Meat: A Tribute to Guided By Voices

Tribute albums are always kind of a mixed bag. Usually no matter how much you like either the artist being honored or the bands and singers doing the covers, you usually end up with an album where you really only like a few songs. That's definitely not the case with Sing For Your Meat. Guided By Voices has always been one of those bands that, while not hugely popular among the masses, they are massively beloved by their fans. And a lot of those fans happen to be fellow musicians.

For most of these songs, the artists strike a perfect balance between using the same lo-fi techniques that have always been part of GBV's appeal and putting their own spin on things. The songs stay true enough to the originals to appeal to the faithful without sounding like carbon copies of the source material. In general, the first half of this album is front loaded with the covers that sound closer to the originals, while the second half gets a little more adventurous, and a little more rewarding. Though there are several good tracks by big names you would recognize (The Flaming Lips, Thurston Moore, Lou Barlow, and ex-Breeder Kelley Deal's second career cover of an GBV song), it's the names that aren't quite so recognizable that really shine. La Sera turns "Watch Me Jumpstart" into organ fueled chamber pop. Blitzen Trapper bring out the undercurrent of bluesiness in "Hot Freaks" until it becomes a juke joint jam. Elf Power's lo-fi remake of "Man Called Aerodynamics" sounds like it might have if Pollard and company had recorded it on Bee Thousand. There really isn't a weak track on this album, and unlike a lot of compilations, it's one that you'll probably end up listening to more than just the first few weeks after you buy it.

Western Civ - "My Valuable Hunting Knife" (mp3)
La Sera - "Watch Me Jumpstart" (mp3)
Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Gleamer" (mp3)

The Sound Of Silence

2011-09-11T19:53:00.000-05:00

This gave me goosebumps.

If you've been online at all today, you're probably all 9/11'd out. But take four minutes and watch this video of Paul Simon performing "The Sound Of Silence" at the World Trade Center memorial dedication this morning. It's pretty amazing.

Apparently he was scheduled to do "Bridge Over Troubled Water," but made a change at the last minute. It was a pretty inspired choice.

Anniversary

2011-09-11T08:50:00.002-05:00

Five years ago today I wrote this.

Yesterday I wrote this, as part of this project. My friend Tyge has compiled stories from 20 different people remembering their day 10 years ago. It's strange... after 3,652 days, and countless articles, books, movies, documentaries, and TV reports about September 11, 2001, you would think there wouldn't be much left to say that you'd be interested in hearing. But as I sat on the couch this morning drinking coffee and checking out the other contributions to the project, I found that reading other ordinary peoples thoughts and recollections from that day was a lot more compelling than watching a TV news special recounting the events. I don't need to see those images again. They are burned into my mind, and it was something that no one who was alive to experience it will ever forget. Ten years later and this day is still as confusing and conflicted as it was when it was happening.

That said, I will now spend the rest of my Sunday watching football and avoiding listening country radio, which will be full of terrible songs by Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and that godawful Lee Greenwood song that everyone gets the title of wrong.

Here is a patriotic song that doesn't suck. I even like Neil Diamond's original version.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - "Coming To America" (mp3) from Have Another Ball

Go Titans!

Soul Survivior

2011-08-10T06:57:00.001-05:00

Life, by Keith Richards

The Beatles or the Stones? Since the mid 1960's, it's a question that all music fans have had to answer. As Uma Thurman said in Pulp Fiction, you can like both, but everyone prefers one over the other. And despite the fact that I would definitely fall into the Beatles camp, I have probably read more books about The Rolling Stones than any other artist. I think it's because even though The Beatles had a far greater impact on both music and society at large, the Rolling Stones story is a lot more compelling. Sure arrests, drug overdoses, and concert riots are pretty much standard fare for a lot of rock music bios, and any Stones book has those in spades. But it also has murder, political scandals, and inter-band mate swapping rivaled only by Fleetwood Mac. And it's been going on for six decades. No other band can touch that kind of longevity at the level the Stones have done it. And that makes for a great story.

You might wonder if there is any new ground to cover after all the ink that has been laid to paper in recounting the tales of Keith Richards and company. Honestly, the answer is no for the most part, but the book does give fresh insight into the stories and tall tales that have surrounded the Glimmer Twins for years. Richards doesn't hold back, so there really isn't any issue that he doesn't address. He debunks the myths surrounding the fabled Mars bar incident and rumors of having his blood changed in an effort to detox from heroin. He is incredibly frank about his issues with drug use over the years. And he details the ins and outs of both his personal and musical relationships throughout his life. And that is where the book really shines.

There were two things about the book that really stood out to me. First is that it barely mentions Bill Wyman at all. He basically is mentioned only three times in 547 pages: 1) The main reason he was asked to join the band is because he was the only one who owned an amplifier, 2) He was the band member who reached out the most during Keith's arrest in Canada, and 3) that he quit the band three years before it was publicly announced. And the second big surprise was that the bitterness and infighting between Keef and Mick Jagger lasted well past the Steel Wheels album and tour. I always thought that they had kissed and made up in 1989, but Richards talks about how they were still avoiding each other in the recording studio five years later while recording Voodoo Lounge.

The best book about the Stones remains Stanley Booth's The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. And if you're looking for pure entertainment value and are less concerned about actual facts, the tabloid trash of Tony Sanchez's Up and Down with the Rolling Stones can't be beat. Life will mostly appeal to Stones fans, but it's an enjoyable read for anyone who liked a good rock and roll biography.

Keith Richards - "Wicked As It Seems" (mp3) from Main Offender

Ukulele Songs

2011-07-22T07:11:00.001-05:00

Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs

If there isn't an old saying that states "a little ukulele goes a long way," there should be.

It's hard to say that you didn't know what to expect with this album... it's right there in the album's title, so I kind of feel stupid for complaining about it. I really liked Eddie Vedder's solo work on the soundtrack to Into the Wild, so I figured I'd give his first proper solo album a whirl. And it's not like it's bad or anything. Despite the fact that his career began an angry young singer from the Seattle grunge scene, his various solo material has proved that Vedder sounds equally great singing with acoustic backing. But after sixteen songs with pretty much nothing but ukulele as accompaniment, things start to get a little same-y. The credits indicate that he used at least six different kinds of ukuleles in recording the album, but that just doesn't give it the sonic variety that it really could have used. The appearance of cello on one song ("Longing To Belong") indicates the kind of subtle accompaniment variation that could have been accomplished by adding a few different instruments to the mix while still keeping the theme of the album. I just can't help but think I would have enjoyed this album more if there was some acoustic guitar or piano in the background.

That's not to say there aren't some good songs on here. The first half is front loaded with originals, including a new take on "Can't Keep" from Pearl Jams's Riot Act. Four of the last five songs are covers, and it's at that point that the album really starts to wear out it's wecome, despite the appearances of Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Glen Hansard (The Frames/The Swell Season) on backing vocals. I keep wanting to compare it to the scene in Blue Valentine where Ryan Gossling serenades Michelle Williams. It's a great scene, but if Gossling would have been playing ukulele in every scene in the movie, it would have gotten old pretty quick. I feel like if Vedder had released in EP called Ukulele Songs instead of an album, I'd have liked it a lot more. Maybe when the songs pop up individually on shuffle on my iPod, I will.

Eddie Vedder - "Sleeping By Myself" (mp3) from Ukulele Songs

I Touch A Red Button

2011-07-18T06:43:00.001-05:00

Considering their shared penchant for dark moods and strange images, it's almost surprising that Interpol and David Lynch have never collaborated before now. For this year's Coachella music festival, the band approached Lynch about providing visuals for one of their songs, and he provided them with the following short film to accompany their song "Lights" (which as I mentioned in my concert review from earlier this year is hands down my favorite song from their new album). The result is just as weird as the original video for the song, but with none of the creepy sexuality.

You can read a post where the band discusses the collaboration here.

Talk Talk Talk

2011-07-14T07:04:00.000-05:00

The Psychedelic Furs
Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
Thursday, July 7, 2011

On Thursday afternoon, the Mercy Lounge sent out a tweet warning the rock o' clock-ers not to show up for The Psychedelic Furs show at 10 pm, because the band would be going on promptly at 8 pm. They weren't kidding. The Butler brothers and company took the stage just a few minutes after the advertised start time and immediately tore into "Dumb Waiters," the opening track from the evening's advertised performance of their sophomore album Talk Talk Talk. Although there was a decent sized crowd at the beginning of the show, the empty spaces steadily filled in throughout the first set, and anyone who showed up late missed out on their biggest hit, "Pretty In Pink," which occupies spot number two on the album's tracklisting. Like most acts on nostalgia themed tours these days, they performed the album front to back, so there weren't any surprises to start the show. Despite the fact that they had been playing the album in this manner for the past year or so, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. And if the crowd wasn't as familiar with the album tracks, they certainly didn't show it. The Furs got a enthusiastic response throughout the first set.

After a 15 minute break, the band returned to the stage one by one to the opening strains of "Sister Europe." The rest of the set was basically culled from All of This & Nothing, their 1988 "best of" album. After another 50 minutes and a two song encore it was over. And therein lies the rub. It's not that it wasn't a good show. The band was in top form, and apart from wearing glasses and looking a little looser in the neck area, Richard Butler looked and sounded as great as he did when I saw them at 328 Performance Hall in 1991. But I couldn't help feeling like the show would have been perfect if it was just ten minutes longer. I'm sure I wasn't the only person who left the venue lamenting that they didn't play "The Ghost In You," though I was probably the only one disappointed that they didn't do anything from Book of Days or World Outside, their final two studio albums. Maybe they know their audience better than I do. The room was full of forty- and fifty-somethings who obviously hadn't been to a club show in years (honestly, it felt nice to be in the lower end of the age demographic for a change). Most of the crowd seemed content to sing along to "Love My Way" and "Heartbreak Beat." Personally I would have killed to have heard "House," or "In My Head," or even their final big single "Until She Comes." Alas, it was not to be.

In a Nashville Cream interview, bassist Tim Butler hinted that the band was working on a new album, which would be their first in twenty years. Richard Butler proved on his solo album (Richard Butler) a few years back that he's can still write great songs, so here's to hoping that the next time the Furs tour, it's for something a little more vital than just a greatest hits tour.

The Psychedelic Furs - "Make It Mine" (mp3) from the Until She Comes single

U2, Music City... Magnificient

2011-07-13T21:55:00.002-05:00

U2, with Florence + The Machine
Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, TN
Saturday, July 2, 2011

When you have already seen a band four times, you have a pretty good idea what to expect when you see them again. And when that band is U2, you pretty much know that you're going to see a amazing show. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of concerts, and U2 occupies two spots the list on my top five favorite concerts ever (Murphy Center in Murfreesboro in 1987, and Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY in 2001). In fact, they only time I've seen them and it wasn't great was at the Liberty Bowl on the Pop Mart tour, and even that was a good show, it just wasn't spectacular. You can bash them for being self important, for excessive preachiness, or even for not making a truly great album in 20 years. While I may not agree with you, I can at least see your point on any of those issues. But the one thing no one can ever say about U2 is that they aren't a truly phenominal live act. The only other performer I've ever seen who has the ability to make an arena or a stadium feel as intimate as a club show is Bruce Springsteen.

Getting to the show was a nightmare. The lack of public parking on the Vanderbilt campus means you've got to hoof it to the stadium, and with the temperature in the mid-90s and the humidity in the same range, everyone was a hot, sweaty mess by the time they got to there. Vanderbilt Stadium has only four gates to allow entrance, which isn't a problem when you have the smallest stadium in the SEC and you still usually play to a half empty house on Saturdays in the fall. But when you have a sold out concert of 47,000 people, and one of those gates is effectively closed due to the backstage area, the bottleneck trying to get in is insufferable. It didn't get much better once you got inside, as the already narrow concourses were cluttered with beer stands (Vanderbilt usually doesn't allow alcohol sales on campus). So basically by the time I got to my seat, I was both utterly frustrated and practially soaking wet. Once I sat down, I found that the $110 ticket which the seating chart had led me to believe was on the side of the stage was actually a lot closer to the back. I kept thing how much better the setup would have been and LP Field,* and was beginning to think maybe I should have just stayed home and watched Live at Red Rocks.

My mood didn't get much better when Florence + The Machine took the stage. I hadn't heard a lot of them before Saturday night, and their set didn't make me want to hear much of them afterwords. It wasn't terrible or anything, but it definitely wasn't my bag. Despite the presence of a harp player, the music came off as pretty generic mainstream modern rock. Imagine a less bombastic version of Muse fronted by Stevie Nicks singing opera. I guess I am just not a fan of those kind of big voiced singers.

Considering the start the evening had gotten off to, I was legitimately concerned that the night might be beyond repair. But when U2 took to the stage, it was like suddenly being transported to another place... a cooler, dryer, happier place. It's not like it suddenly cooled off, but the heat definitely didn't seem so bad. They kicked things off with a four song blast from Achtung Baby before going all the way back to their debut album for "I Will Follow." And with them really working the 360 degree stage, the seats really didn't seem so bad after all. Over the course of two and a half hours, they played probably the coolest setlist I've ever seen them do. Sure all the concert staples were there, but sprinkled in between their greatest hits were a lot of songs that I didn't expect to hear, "Zooropa" and "Miss Sarajevo" among them. Hell, I had forgotten that "Scarlet" from October even existed! "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" reminded fans that there was once a time when Bono and The Edge could do songs for a superhero project without it being a unmitigated disaster. They even gave new life to songs I was never crazy about in the first place. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and "Discoteque" are definitely not two of my favorite tunes, but I've got to admit that the remixed medly of the two sounded great.

Given that this tour has been going on for two years (there were only nine shows left after Nashville), much has already been written of their massive stage, nicknamed "the claw." It was truly an impressive set up, even before giant circular video screen descended and expanded during "Zooropa." For a lot of bands, the gimmicks are needed because that's what makes the show. But with U2, the setting merely enhances what is already going to be great concert (as mentioned earlier, my favorite two shows of theirs were arena shows without all the bells and whistles).

I think the thing that really made this such a great show was the sense of spontaneity that you usually don't get from a production like this, and even that despite their reputation I had never seen like this at a U2 show before. At the end of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," Bono whispered into The Edge's ear, and they segued into "The Wanderer" as an impromptu tribute to Johnny Cash. But the real magical moment of the show came at the very end. After playing "Moment Of Surrender" and taking their final bows, Bono started talking to a fan in the front row as the rest of the band made their way off stage. You heard him ask "What do you want to play?" and a minute later security was helping the guy onstage as Bono asked a roadie to bring him his guitar. The whole scene was was surreal... it was truly odd and you couldn't really believe it was happening. As everyone found out the next day, the guy was blind, hence all the help he needed getting on stage and getting the guitar strapped on. Once Bono and the crew got him all set up and he professed how nervous he was, he started strumming the chords to "All I Want Is You" with Bono singing along. After the second verse, the rest of the band started coming in one by one, with The Edge playing piano. It was one of those goosebump inducing moments that you very rarely get, especially in a spectacle filled stadium show. And it's exactly why for my money, U2 is without a doubt the best live band I have ever seen.

U2 - "The Fly (Lounge Fly Mix)" (mp3) from The Fly single

*Apparently LP Field was the band's first choice of venue to hold the concert, but the Tennessee Titans weren't interested. The CMA Festival (held the first weekend in June) has it in their contract that no other concerts can be held at LP Field in the thirty days before or after their event without their permission, but it turns out that the Titans never bothered to ask them. Perhaps the fact that U2 has had to pay to resod basically every field with natural grass that they've played had (Vanderbilt included) had something to do with that.

photo courtesy of Blue Shoe Nashville

RIP WRVU

2011-06-13T21:28:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday, June 7 at 2:56 pm, longtime WRVU DJ (and host of hands down the best show on that station, Nashville Jumps) Pete Wilson played Johnny Thunder's "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory." And then... nine hours of static. At midnight, Nashville's beloved college radio station 91.1 WRVU became Classical 91.1, the all classical affiliate of Nashville Public Radio's WPLN.

This story has been brewing for a long time, so I won't post the details. It's been covered in more detail here, and if you need background I suggest you read Nashville Cream's articles regarding the rape and pillage of Vanderbilt's student run radio station. As much as people rallied to fight it, I think deep down most of us knew it was a forgone conclusion once Vanderbilt Student Communications said they were "exploring the option" of selling the stations broadast license. The writing was definitely on the wall. VSC's director, Chris Carroll, has a bit of a history of dismantling college radio stations. And while there were many students, alumni and staff who were dedicated to making the station great, a vast majority of Vandy's students just didn't give a shit.

I've been a regular listener of WRVU for over 20 years. It was where I first heard bands like R.E.M., Arcade Fire, The Replacements and Soundgarden long before they broke into the mainstream. I can't tell you the number of bands I now love who I first heard because a clued in volunteer DJ wanted to share them with the world. I've been in bands that were interviewed and performed on the station. I've attended more benefit shows than I could count. And in a round about way, I started this blog because of WRVU. It was by reading online counterpart to WRVU's Out The Other that first got me reading music blogs, and eventually deciding that I should start one myself. To say that WRVU has had a huge influence on my life, musical and otherwise, would be an understatement.

While WRVU isn't technically dead, it will never be the same. Online streaming is great, but it doesn't match the local reach and accessibility of terrestrial radio. And while it will still be broadcast over WPLN's HD3 channel this fall, raise your hand if you own an HD radio? Yeah, that's what I thought. If my favorite DJs and shows are back on the station this fall, I'll seek them out via online streams, but I can't say I'd blame them if they walked away. I hope they don't.

Wasting Light

2011-05-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Foo Fighters have been one of my favorite bands since I saw them open for Mike Watt before their first album was even released. But over their past two albums, they had kind of reached a point where the singles were good, but the rest of the albums were a little too close to MOR classic rock for my tastes. I never even got around to buying Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, which is something considering what a completest I normally am. Although the news of them working with producer Butch Vig (who you might remember also produced a little known album by Dave Grohl's old band) was encouraging, he had also done the two new tracks on for their Greatest Hits album, and "Wheels" left me kind of empty.

Then in February one of my friends sent me a link to the Foos website, which had a 30 second preview of "Bridge Building," and I've got to say, it definitely got me paying attention. That song opens Wasting Light, and pretty much sets the tone for what's to come... an almost unrelenting wall of hard rock and crunching guitars. It's not that they've suddenly stopped writing hooks, but the songs are backed by a much harder edge than they've had recently. Part of that can be attributed to the return to full time status of Pat Smear, which means most of the songs have at least three guitarists on them, and on songs like "Rope," it allows for three distinct simultaneous guitar parts. And when there are only two parts, like on "White Limo," there is a lot more OOMPH. Basically this is the hardest the Grohl has rocked since his Probot side project, and the best Foo Fighters album since their sophomore effort, Colour & The Shape. Call it a welcome return to form.

I'll also warn you that buying the Best Buy exclusive expanded version is pretty much a waste of money. The remix of "Rope" is unlistenable for most rock fans, and the other track, "Better Off," is hardly essential. So unless you like owning videos that are otherwise available on Youtube, save a couple of bucks and just buy the standard edition.

No D In Threesome

2011-05-08T20:33:00.003-05:00

Interpol, w/ School Of Seven Bells
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
Monday, May 2, 2011

I've always made it a point to get to concerts in time to see the opening act, even if I'm not familiar with them before hand. There are a lot of reasons for this. Part of it is I've played in bands off and on since high school, so I know how much it sucks to play to a half empty room. But I've also discovered some of my favorite bands by seeing them open for someone else. Of course it's not always that way. Sometimes you have to sit through 45 minutes of pure crap, as was the case last time I saw Interpol at the Ryman, and Liars opened.

This time more than made up for that though, as School Of Seven Bells were fantastic. They definitely have a bit of a shoegazer vibe, falling somewhere on the musical venn diagram between Curve and The Cocteau Twins. Guitarist Benjamin Curtis (ex-Secret Machines) looked like a dead ringer for Joe Jonas, but his guitar playing was a perfect combination of Kevin Shields and The Edge. With last falls departure of founding member Claudia Deheza, her twin sister Alejandra was left to cover vocals on her own, but the songs definitely didn't suffer from the lack of harmonies. And the addition of live drums gave the songs an extra kick from the loops that make up most of their recorded output. It certainly had a different feel than their albums, but it sounded equally great.

I was curious to see whether I'd enjoy Interpol as much as I did last time for two reasons. One was that bassist Carlos Dengler had departed just after releasing their latest self titled album. The other was that I found that album, Interpol, to be a huge letdown. So I was kind of surprised that either the new songs sound a lot better live, or they just seem cooler when surrounded by selections from the rest of their catalog. Opening with "Success," the eighteen song set was equally divided between their four albums, with the early b-side "Specialist" thrown in for good measure. The highlight of the set came exactly at the halfway point with "Lights," the one standout track from their new album which sounded even more incredible live.

Throughout the evening, guitarist Daniel Kessler's epileptic Fred Astaire moves had his roadie playing cord wrangler, and Paul Banks exuded the kind of slightly goofy charm that reminds you of that guy in high school who seemed to move effortlessly through all the various cliques and was friends with everyone. Casual fans might not have even noticed that Carlos D is no longer in the band, as touring bassist Brad Truax had the same wide legged, low slung stance that Dengler often had. But there were a few moments, like on the verses of "Evil," where the bass wasn't quite as locked in with the drums as you'd want it to be. Granted, its probably not something most people would notice, but when you've spent your whole life in the rhythm section like I have, these are the things you hear. But aside from being nit picky, it's also totally forgivable, as Truax has only been playing with the band for a few weeks. And when they send you home with a killer version of "Slow Hands," it's hard to complain about anything.

School Of Seven Bells - "Windstorm" (mp3) from Disconnect From Desire

photo courtesy of Nashville Metromix

Different Gear, Still Speeding

2011-04-30T20:37:00.002-05:00

Beady Eye - Different Gear Still Speeding

I always thought that Oasis without Noel Gallagher would suck. Turns out that's not the case at all. I guess it shouldn't be all that surprising. As the band went on, Noel began ceding the songwriting duties, to the point that on their last three albums half the songs were attributed to other band members. It was said that Beady Eye considered carrying on under the Oasis banner without him, but changing monikers was probably a good move. Though it hardly frees them from their history of being one of England's biggest bands of all time, it does allow them to put a new spin on things.

Their debut album really isn't a huge departure from their old band's catalog. It's a similar concept... catchy ass pop songs born from the DNA of sixties and seventies rock. That said, there is a new energy throughout the album that Oasis frankly hadn't had in years. It does suffer from some of the same weaknesses. For instance, the lyrics sometimes border on banal. But there is no doubt that Liam and the boys are having a lot of fun, especially on tracks like then anthemic "Bring The Light." And when they do evoke the sounds of their heroes, it's less of a ripoff and more of a homage. For instance, "Beatles And Stones" manages to evoke the early sixties singles of both bands without directly ripping off either. Different Gear Still Speeding manages to be familiar and fresh at the same time. Frankly, they couldn't have picked a more perfect album title.

Record Store Day 2011

2011-04-14T19:02:00.002-05:00

Over the last four years, Record Store Day has grown from a valiant effort to get people to support their local mom and pop, brick and mortar music retailers into a veritable Christmas in April for music geeks. The list of RSD exclusive releases has grown to almost 300 titles this year, and the parties surrounding the event have become must-attend events whether you're a huge music fan or not (and really, who isn't???).

Here in Nashville, you've got five places you can get your indie on... Grimey's, The Groove, Third Man, and both location of The Great Escape. I was going to post a breakdown of all the scheduled live performances and specials, but Nashville Cream has done a much better job that I would have, so I'll direct you over there for specifics, and I'll just hit the highlights.

Grimey's - Nashville's finest record store was throwing the equivalent of Record Store Day parties before there even was an official RSD, so most locals already know what to expect. Undoubtedly the first stop for all serious local vinyl nerds, Grimeys gets started at 10 am, and will have the RSD exclusive releases stocked in the back parking lot. Expect big crowds, live music starting at noon, DJs throughout the day, a sidewalk sale, giveaways, movie screenings in The Basement, food, booze, and an afternoon signing by Matt and Kim. So yeah, nothing to see here.

The Groove - Though I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses the sweet Five Points location, the boys will make the short walk to the corner of Calvin and Gallatin Rd worth your while starting at 10 am. Along with 15% off everything in the store (RSD releases excluded), they have a full slate of local bands performing, deep discounted vinyl and CDs outside, giveaways, food and booze.

Third Man Records - The house that Jack White built hosts what is undoubtedly Nashville's biggest event on Saturday... a live LP recording by the the Killer himself, Jerry Lee Lewis. Though the concert requires a paid admission, anyone who swings by Third Man on Saturday will be able to pre-order the album (which is set to be released in just a months time) in it's limited edition black and blue pressing. Though no other live appearances at the store have been announced, I'd imagine that anyone who showed up there expecting to see something special wouldn't be disappointed. It's probably also your best bet to score the four RSD releases that Third Man is putting out... brand new singles from Karen Ellison and the new Danger Mouse project ROME, as well as reissues of the first two White Stripes singles. TMR's festivities start at 11:30 am.

Great Escape - Though neither location will feature any live music, they will have 20% off all used music, sales on new product and giveaways. They'll also be your first chance to score the exclusive RSD releases, as both stores open at 9 am.

If you don't live in Nashville, you can hit up the official Record Store Day website to find out where your nearest participating indie record store is, as well as peruse the official list of the RSD exclusive releases. My personal wish list includes...

Foo Fighters - Medium Rare (a vinyl only collection of all the various covers they've released over the years, including two brand new tracks)

Green Day/Husker Du "Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely" split 7" (Green Day covers my all time favorite Huskers song, with the original on the b-side)

Various Artists - Sing For Your Meat (a Guided By Voices tribute featuring Superdrag, Lou Barlow, Thurston Moore, Elf Power, and others)

Time Machine

2011-04-10T23:35:00.001-05:00

Rush
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday night I managed to do something that my teenaged self could only dream about. I had a date for a Rush concert.

And I wasn't the only one. It seemed like there were a whole lot of wives and girlfriends getting their prog rock cherry broken by Canada's finest power trio. This was my sixth Rush concert, and I've never seen so many chicks at one of their shows (the band even made a joke about it in one of the video vignettes that bookended their set). Evidently between I Love You, Man and last year's fantastic documentary of the band, interest in the band by the finer sex is apparently at an all time high. We met some friends for dinner before the show, and our friend Anna said the same thing that my wife thought... that she had little knowledge or interest in Rush before watching Beyond the Lighted Stage.

Billed as the Time Machine tour, the concert came with the promise that you'd be treated to a steady steam of their greatest hits. So after opening with "The Spirit Of Radio," I was surprised by how much of their first set was filled with songs that seemed to be late period albums... till it dawned on me that "Time Stand Still" and "Marathon" both came from albums that were released when I was in high school. Still, of the eleven songs played in the first set, only three predated what many fans derogatorily refer to as "the synth years." After closing the first act of the evening with "Subdivisions," the band took the intermission that has been a standard part of their opening act-less shows for the past decade.

The second set started the same way the first did, with a video introduction that featured the band in costume (and Alex Lifeson nearly unrecognizable in a fat suit), telling "the real history of Rash." And with a video count off by their pint-sized doppelgangers, "Tom Sawyer" kicked off the evening's advertised performance of 1981's classic Moving Pictures album in its entirety. Though it was cool to hear "The Camera Eye" performed live, picking this album to perform was basically a marketing gimmick. Any given Rush concert in the last 30 years already featured the entire first side of the album as concert staples, and both "Witch Hunt" and "Vital Signs" were performed regularly during the 80s. That shouldn't be considered a complaint, just an observation. I will never get sick of hearing the opening riff to "Limelight" barrelling through arena speakers, and the video of drummer Neil Peart pantomiming Lifeson's guitar solo during "Tom Sawyer" was hilarious.

After previewing their forthcoming album Clockwork Angels with the brand new song "Caravan" (one of two new songs recorded in Nashville last spring that they performed) the second set headed down the home stretch with Peart's always impressive drum solo, "Closer To The Heart," and the opening suite from 2112, before closing with the best Rush song of the last decade, Snakes & Arrows' "Far Cry." The encore featured the epic instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" and a reggae-fied version of "Working Man," and the show came to a final end with a hilarious video that Paul Rudd and Jason Segal fans might want to check out.

Rush - "Circumstances (Live)" (mp3) live in Tuscon, November 20, 1978

photo courtesy of American Songwriter

Oh Canada

2011-04-03T16:00:00.004-05:00

I think I've always had a big of a soft spot for the Great White North. It was the first foreign country I ever visited. Over the years a lot of my favorites bands have been from there. And because I grew up just an hour and a half drive up I-5 from the border, I'm very familiar with their currency. As a kid it seemed cool to have money from another country, until the first time you hit up a vending machine only to find you can't get that candy bar you wanted because one of your quarters turned out to be Canadian.

Over the next week, my wife and I will be taking in two of Canada's finest exports... Rush and NHL hockey. Tonight we're going to see the holy triumvirate of rock, and then we have tickets to the last two Predators home games. I haven't bought a new Rush album in well over a decade, but they're performing Moving Pictures in its entirety, so I'm pretty excited about seeing "The Camera Eye" live for the first time. And the Preds are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, so it should be a great atmosphere.

So with our social calendar dominated by all things Canuck, it seemed only appropriate to post the following video, Neil Peart's version of the second Canadian national anthem, the Hockey Night theme.

Collapse Into Now

2011-03-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now

The pre-release hype trumpeted that R.E.M.'s fifteenth studio album was a return to their classic sound. If you're a fan, my advice to you is to ignore that suggestion. Unless you consider Automatic for the People as classic Stipe and company, you're setting yourself up for a letdown. There are a lot more acoustic oriented numbers, and Peter Buck's mandolin makes a return appearance. But apart from the opener "Discoverer," which evokes sonic memories of "Finest Worksong," and Mike Mills throwback harmonies on the unfortunately titled "Mine Smell Like Honey," the only thing that really evokes the bands mid-to-late eighties period is that they've put a lot more reverb on Michael Stipes voice.

It took me a couple of listens, but once I got past the idea of what the reviews said this album should be, I'm able to really enjoy it for what it is... a good album by one of America's best bands. As a friend of mine put it, there is a little something for everyone. "All The Best" picks up where Accelerate left off, and though the thought of Eddie Vedder basically yodeling might sound like a nightmare, it works great on the "Let It Be"-esque code to "It Happened Today." Other guest appearances include Patti Smith on "Blue" (the bastard lovechild of "Belong" and "E-bow The Letter"), and Peaches on "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter." So if the distortion riddled blasts of their last studio effort was a little too Monster-esque for your tastes, Collapse Into Now might be just what you need to Athens, GA's finest back into your good graces.

Maggie May

2011-03-17T07:40:00.001-05:00

One of the great things about being married is that the quality of my birthdays has increased exponentially. To put it mildly, my wife spoils me rotten. Among the incredible haul I received on my last placenta emergence anniversary was The Pogues box set, Just Look Them Straight in the Eye & Say Poguemahone! With five CDs of demos, b-sides, outtakes, alternate versions, rehearsals, and live cuts, it was an awesome enough gift in itself, but it was made all the better by the fact that despite being released in 2008, I had no idea that it existed. The damn thing is just incredible, and if you're the slightest bit of a Pogues fan, you simply need to own this.

There's so much good stuff on here, it's hard to pick a highlight, but for me this is definitely it. For my money, it is easily the greatest cover song I've ever heard.

The Pogues - "Maggie May" (mp3) from Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say Poguemahone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Thoughts on The Suburbs

2011-02-19T20:39:00.004-06:00

So with Arcade Fire shocking pretty much everyone by winning album of the year at the Grammys Sunday night, I figured it be a good opportunity to weigh in on The Suburbs, especially considering that I didn't include it on my 2010 Albums of The Year list.

So why didn't I? Well, the easy answer is that there were five albums I liked better. If I had done an "honorable mention" category this year it probably would have made that. But the honest answer is I just couldn't ever really connect with it. Maybe it's because they were trying to reflect the mundane uniformity of suburban life, but it all seemed a bit samey to me. It just didn't have the same dynamic range that their previous albums have. That said, I totally understand why it won the Grammy. Their competition for album of the year included some hugely popular artists, but their CDs were more collections of songs. The Suburbs is an album in the truest sense of the word. It's a cohesive whole. And in this age where the single song download is king, it's becoming rare that artists actually make albums that are meant to be listed to an hour at a time.

Despite the fact that I didn't love the album, I'm thrilled that they won it. How can you not like a band that has stuck with it's respected indie label when it easily could have jumped to a major? Or that after winning the Grammy, they dropped the price of the album on their website to $5.99? I was so unimpressed with the list of Grammy nominees this year that for the first time since I can remember, I didn't watch a single second of the broadcast. So it's good to see for an awards show that lost it's credibility with me a long time ago, they can still occasionally get something right.

Future Past Perfect

2011-02-10T21:23:00.002-06:00

The Church have always been an incredibly active band. When they haven't been touring or recording albums as a collective whole (something they're now in their fourth decade of doing), they have kept busy with so many solo projects, collaborations, and guest appearances that it takes an entire website to keep track of it all. So it's not surprising that they've decided that one tour isn't enough to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Last spring they toured the country for An Intimate Space, an acoustic tour that had them playing one song from each of their albums in reverse chronological order. Now they're taking a break from recording their twenty-fourth album and returning stateside with their effects and amps in tow. This time out, the Future Past Perfect tour will present three of their albums in their entirety. Starting with their most recent, 2009's Untitled #23, they'll proceed back in time to through 1992's Priest = Aura, and conclude with their breakthrough classic, 1988's Starfish.

The tour kicked off last week in Los Angeles, and has already hit San Francisco and Seattle. The remaining dates are as follows:

Feb 11 - Chicago, IL - Park West
Feb 13 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
Feb 15 - Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
Feb 16 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
Feb 17 - New York, NY - B.B. King's
Feb 18 - Foxboro, MA - Showcase Live
Feb 21 - Greenville, SC - Handlebar (acoustic)
Feb 22 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

The Church - "Deadman's Hand" (mp3) from Untitled #23
The Church - "Mistress" (mp3) from Priest = Aura
The Church - "North, South, East, West" (mp3) from Starfish

And as if touring and recording with the band he's fronted for over thirty years isn't enough to keep him busy, last week also saw the release of White Magic, Steve Kilbey's second collaboration with All India Radio's Martin Kennedy. People who order the CD through Bandcamp will also receive 5 digital bonus tracks and a link to download a 15 track fan remix album of songs from their first release, Unseen Music Unheard Words, including one by Nashville's own Fraze Tempest.

Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy - "The Other Place (Fraze Tempest Remix)" (mp3)