Synopsis- Way after the End of the Week (deal with it)

He Ho Let's Go.

Not going to be a witty synopsis this time as I was gooped up with flu (yes flu- the day after the meeting I was bed ridden and not for a good reason). Basically, no disc was universally panned. Byron's Marillion even evaded chiding. We had our typical one dissident per each disc; Neil bashing Marillion, Jen hating Muddy, Mike giving Ray Davies the business while kicking Ok Go when they were down. Other than that this was one of our more friendly outings.

Added (4/28/06)
To appease our Midwest correspondant I am adding general disc comments. Marrillion fared better than usual prog-rock CDs with most accepting it as OK. OK GO was our median choice as all fell in the basic same area. Mr. Davies was our high one of the group with 5 of us saying it was very good or better, especially lyrically. Muddy W was a bit more sporadic with 1 loving it, 1 hating it, 1 not realizing it was an oldie from 68' and the remainder in the same subset.

As for videos, we ran the gamut bouncing all over the place with only a couple of double mentions.

For The Upcoming Month:

Host- our beloved Neilnoseforbeer
GHits- Police
Topic- Who in the group has the best or worst taste in music? You may choose to take the low road, the high road or answer both questions. (absolutely brutal)

New- Artic Monkeys-Whatever People Say I Am, That' What I Am Not (Jen)
Old- Echo and the Bunnymen- Ocean Rain (D'Arcy)
New- Okkervil River- Black Sheep Boy (Mike M)
Old- Donna the Buffalo- Positive Friction (Ken)

Meeting will be, with no changes what so ever, even in death or flu or sleet or snow-
on May 9th at 7:30


For June's Homework
Ken- Host
Byron- New
Jay- New
Mike H- Old
Jen- Old

If anything above is wrong I blame the ebola virus I had at the meeting.

dpl's thoughts

Music group xx

Ray Davies

I first heard Thanksgiving Day when Ray Davies appeared on Letterman. I thought the tune was interesting and had a nice build leading to a great ending with a choir in the background. So I looked forward to this solo outing from someone whom I think is highly under appreciated when accolades for songwriting are given out. The first song is excellent. Unfortunately it is the best song on the cd. The rest are not bad, but they are not great either. Even Thanksgiving Day seems a bit muted compared to my memory. However his lyrics are still excellent and the songs are better than anything put out by any of his peers recently. 2.5 for the cd 3.5 for the lyrics.

Ok Go

This was a nice surprise. After hearing much hype of how catchy these guys were it was refreshing to hear that these guys lived up to the challenge. Good pop tunes that make you nod your head and tap your feet. Hell they even incorporate a cowbell to make sure that you are going to do this. Cd kept getting better with each listen 3

Marillion

This to me is the best prog rock record ever. Every time I listen to it and I listen to it regularly I appreciate it more. Catchy songs with two great singles, Lavender and Kayleigh. Epic songs as in White feather and Childhoods End, and the brooding middle so we can understand the message. Although they do have better songs on other cd’s Misplaced Childhood works better as a whole piece of work. 5

Guided By Voices

Some Great songs, some good songs, some what were they thinking songs. The rest of my time I give to Jay and Mike so they can continue there endless discussion on how
great these guys are.

Videos

Hurt Johnny Cash
Wait Until September Comes Green Day
Stacy’s Mom Fountains of Wayne
That was all that I wanted Belfegore
Vienna Ultravox

HM Hot for Teacher. Next time you watch just focus on how awful a dancer Alex van Halen is. For a drummer the man has no rhythm

Synopsis by End of Week

No other message here.

Back from the flu... KB's reviews

Music Club
March/April 2006

Ok Go-Ok No
There was a sense of familiarity with this disc. I felt, even on the first listen, that I knew where the songs were going to go. Sometimes that describes a stagnant, uninspired collection of songs. But in this case it’s a positive. The familiarity was because the songs are well crafted and feel natural.

Ok No was full of good hooks, melodies and positive energy. Though familiar each song had its own identity displaying the band’s style versatility. The lyrics fit the songs and it was nice to actually understand the lyrics sung by a rock band. A little Elastica, Love and Rockets and some Kaiser Chiefs make Ok Go just messy enough without diluting the strength of their chops. A good start to this batch of music. (4)

Ray Davies-Other People’s Lives
Sometimes there’s an automatic high five to a grand master no matter how good the work is. But this high five is well deserved. Other People’s Lives should be well received by past Kinks fans as well as fans of good song writing. Davies sounds as vibrant as he did in his hey day in the late 60s early 70s and his lyrical prowess hasn’t missed a bit. Only the Ray-ness of 2006 (not the one of 1971) could sing “Creatures of Little Faith” with any credence. There is only one stumble on this disc, the little overly dry “Getaway”, but the rest being close to spectacular. Davies can clearly still rock with intelligence, and luckily for us music fans, he hasn’t become Rod Stewart. (4)

Muddy Waters- Electric Mud
Buh BAH DAH Dum Dum. Dum Dum. Buh BAH DAH Dum. This simple cadence would not exist but for Muddy Waters. Ask most rock musicians of the 60s-70s and most would recite Muddy as part of their inspiration. This disc is not the Muddy most of the world knew. Being the aware of the music landscape, and his new found worshipers, he ventured into the psychedelic rock sound with over fuzzed guitar (Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner and Phil Upchurch) and raw, garage band engineering. But honest renditions of his classic standards; “I Just Wanna Make Love to You”, “Mannish Boy”, “She’s Alright” and “Hoochie Coochie Man”. If you like true blues, you will like this. If you are a blues purist, you may not. While his original versions of the mentioned songs are superior, Muddy’s experimentation with 60’s rock is still solid. Hard not feel cool when listening to this disc. (3.5)

Marillion- Misplaced Childhood
I will attempt to deflect a few shots for Byron…. I liked a lot of this disc. Probably because I like the Peter Gariel Genesis (in this case A Trick of the Tail Genesis), who I originally thought back in the day was the singer of the big hit here “Kayleigh”. Yes there are synthesizers. Yes there are dramatic lyrics. Yes there is a traumatic theme. Yes there is the over 9 minute opus “Bind Curve”- which actually didn’t feel like 9 minutes. But to me- take out “Bitter Suite” and I can see why this is a much heralded prog-rock album. The first three cuts, the middle being “Kayleigh” are a solid beginning. “Lavender” is well crafted with its nod to Burl Ives’ Disney song of the “Lavender Blue”. The segues from song to song are superfluous and the changes in tempo and instrumentation make sense with a great ending in “White Feather”.

There isn’t a weak musician in Marillion and while it is easy to dismiss them as prog rock same o same o it would truly be a disservice to do so without giving this disc its fair number of listens. Okay Byron you are now on your own…… (3)

Guided By Voice- Ghits
I expect to get a partial “Kiss My Ass FHead” from Mike, and a secondary FU from Jay. But I didn’t love all of this compilation. The recording quality (most likely by design) took away from what sounded like good songs. That compounded with Pollards wavering vocals created too much of a distraction for to over come. I say this but I also can see the allure and why they are cited as influences or used to compare other DIY bands to. There are concise, well written songs here. I liked the songs more as the disc progressed with the Alien Lanes songs being my favorite. I wish they didn’t embrace the low-fi sound as much as they did, because I know there are more songs there for me to like.

Videos
I have little to offer here. I liked the inane, stupid videos of the mid-80’s (Men at Work videos come to mind) and a few of the serious ones that came in that weren’t too pretentious. I now I’ll forget some but off the top of my head my 5 would be- in no order;

“Everybody Hurts”- REM
“Nothing Compares to You”- Sinead O’baldness
“Close to Me”- Cure
“Bastard of Young” –Replacements
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”- Nirvana

High Blinder's Narrow Minded Reviews

The High Blinder’s Myopic Narrow-Minded Reviews

Muddy Waters – An excellent disc to submit, as I’m a little embarrassed to say this is the first Muddy Waters CD I have heard start to finish. Not at all what I expected. Much more psychedelic and spacey. On some songs, it works really well, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” sounds great. Others, like “Hoochie Coochie Man” sound excessive, and can’t compare to the more stripped down original. I’m a big organ guy (Ken’ll vouch) and I love the Hammond B-3 sound on a lot of these tracks. Several of the tracks, if you stripped the vocals out, sound just like Cream. I can’t decide whether he is trying to sound like them, or whether they were influenced by this disc. I suspect the former, as this feels like an attempt to cash in on the hip sound of the day. The upshot is that this disc encouraged me to go back to discover some of Muddy Waters’ other works, which I like better. 3 stars

Marillion – I guess the nicest thing I can say about this disc is that if I didn’t have the cover in front of me, I would have thought this was an old Genesis album. The playing throughout most of the disc is tastefully restrained and the vocals are excellent by prog standards. “Kayleigh” is a very good song, and “Heart of Lothian” is pretty good as well. I can’t say I understand the implied concept behind this disc, but it didn’t make me want to fling it out the window. “Blind Curve” drags on a few minutes too long, and I think the slower, quieter material works better than tracks like “Waterhole”, but all in all not bad. I think this falls neatly into the Ken Boucher “good in its genre but not my bag” category. 2 stars.

OK Go – I had a hard time connecting with this disc, and I’m not sure why. There are some pretty good power pop songs, such as “Do What You Want”, but I thought most of the CD was rather generic. The better tracks sound like early Who/Kinks, the worst of it sounds like warmed over Franz Ferdinand. Guitarist and vocalist are fine, production is ok, but there just wasn’t anything that grabbed me one way or the other. 2 1/2 stars

Ray Davies – Ray is on my “Burp & Fart” list, meaning he could release a disc of himself doing said activities, and I would buy it the day it hit the stores. So, it came as a big surprise to me that I was really disappointed with the disc on the first several listens. Not enough guitar, and the songs weren’t up to my perceived standard of Ray’s material. However, the disc has really grown on me over the past several weeks, it seems to get better with each listen. The lyrics are first-rate, and Ray’s voice is in top shape. “Life After Breakfast”, “Runaway From Time” and “Thanksgiving Day” are excellent additions to the Davies catalog. I still think the album could have used a little more punch; it is surprising to me that Dave Davies’ presence is so pronouncedly missed. Especially well done when compared to what his peers (Townshend, McCartney) have done lately. 4 stars

Guided By Voices – Hard to render an opinion on the first 5 tracks, they sound as if they were recorded underwater on a Radio Shack tape recorder. There are some really good pop songs, “Big School”, “Motor Away”, “Don’t Stop Now” are the highlights. Other material, like “Hot Freaks” and “Auditorium”, is not as successful, the songs sound as if someone left the tape machine in the garage running. More than a few numbers feel half complete (particularly the “Alien Lanes” material), as if the band couldn’t be bothered to finish it, and threw it out there anyway. I cherry-picked about 40 minutes of this for my mp3 player posterity (mostly the Mid-Marine and “Do the Collapse” numbers); but ultimately, I found the low fidelity to be too much of a distraction on the rest of the material. I would love to hear what would have happened if the band could have recorded with a decent producer.


Discussion Question

I’ll say up-front, I hate most all music videos. It is my belief that the whole music video craze spawned by MTV some 25 years go is primarily responsible for the following societal problems:

- The now accepted belief in television (and many movies) that a shot can not be held longer than 2 seconds
- The fact that image matters far more than music in getting airplay
- The fact that Flock of Seagulls & Billy Idol had hit records.

It was very difficult for me to even think of 5 videos that don’t feature Sheryl Crow or Liz Phair worth discussing. I feel fairly confident I will spend a minute rotting in hell for every minute I wasted watching MTV, VH1, Fuse, etc. (an hour for each time I watched Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” battleship video).

The 5 videos that I would classify as artistic:

1) Hurt – An amazing piece of work by Cash & director Mark Romanek. Skips the pyrotechnics and relies on moody lighting. Simultaneously devastating and beautiful.

2) This Note’s For You – I absolutely loved Neil Young taking the piss out of the MTV establishment and several of his contemporaries. The fact that MTV banned it made it even funnier, particularly after they wound up giving it video of the year.

3) Bastards of Young – Another great anti-video, courtesy of the Replacements. If you haven’t seen it, the video consists of 1 shot of a speaker for the entire length of the song. Nothing else. Classic.

4) Don’t Come Around Here No More – I loved the marriage of Petty’s trippy, psychedelic song with the “Alice in Wonderland” story, especially the hookah smoking caterpillars. Petty is one of the few artists who consistently puts some thought into his videos.

5) Subterranean Homesick Blues – The original video, shamelessly ripped off by INXS in the 90’s.

I actually forgot about the second part of the question. But I subsequently decided my video would be Neil Young & Crazy Horse performing "F#$#%'n Up" over a montage of GWB press conferences.

The Female Perspective

CD Reviews:

OK Go – Oh No:
I saw this band open up for Phantom Planet several years ago and after a killer set and amazing cover of Toto’s “Hold the Line” I became an OK Go fan. Their debut album wasn’t even out yet but I made sure to be at the record store the day that it came out. That CD didn’t leave my stereo for months. It was infectious.

When I first began listening to “Oh No” I was little disappointed. I didn’t feel that it had the same spark that their first album had. But, luckily I gave it more attention and with each listen this album grew more and more on me.

One thing that OK Go does so well is dance-rock. They create great rock/pop tunes that also make you want to boogie, without sounding too much like all of the trendy dance bands out there today (i.e. The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, etc.).

I think this album is a step up from their debut when it comes to overall sound and cohesion, however it also may be a little too clinical in its precision…maybe a bit too overproduced with a lot of the songs keeping the same formula.
Score: 3

Ray Davies – Other People’s Lives:
I always admired Ray Davies for his tremendous songwriting with the Kinks. He knew how to tell a story and that is something that is seriously lacking in a lot of modern music. This album is rich with his storytelling and after almost 40 years of songwriting it never gets stale. “Other People’s Lives” is fresh and vibrant with great music and great lyrics. I was relieved to listen to it and hear that he had not lost his touch like so many other aging rock musicians have (cough…Rolling Stones…cough). The opening track “Things Are Going to Change (the Morning After)” and “The Tourist” were fantastic and the song “Is There Life after Breakfast?” was amazing. There were a few that didn’t keep my interest as well as others, but even the weak ones had something endearing to them.
Score: 3.5

Muddy Waters – Electric Mud:
As I’ve said in the past, I’m not a blues fan and cannot pretend to know much about it. I probably couldn’t distinguish a good blues record from a bad blues record. I can say that I enjoyed this more than the B.B. King, although the mix of blues and psychedelic rock was a bit awkward for me. I know it was produced in 1968, but the production sounds horrible. The guitars sound too hollow sounding and at times too screechy and the drums were overdone too. It is an interesting concept to mix the two sounds and I admire Muddy Waters for having fun with this one, but it’s just not something I would ever listen to again.
Score: 1.5

Guided By Voices – Greatest Hits:
I just don’t get why so many people worship this band. I respect them for their variety and there were a few catchy songs on this greatest hits CD, but I just don’t appreciate them like most of you do. At times I would start enjoying a song and then it ended abruptly at like 30 seconds. It’s a tease and I hate being teased. Many have tried to convert me to the psycho-obsessiveness that usually is a Guided by Voices fan, but few have prevailed. This being the ten-trillionth I have tried to listen to them, I have slightly warmed up to them a little more than past efforts, but I still cannot consider myself a fan.

Marillion – Misplaced Childhood:
I liked this album more than the previous Fish/Marillion that we listened to. Perhaps Byron has just softened me more to the prog sound, but this was very aurally pleasing. The songs are truly compositions. They have that classical feel to it that makes you want to relax and read a book. Have you made me a prog convert, Byron? Not quite, but I can appreciate beautiful music when I hear it.
Score: 3

Topic

Top 5 Music Videos:
Can I just say how painfully hard it was to just pick 5. I could easily do a top ten or 15, or 20. Here is my list, and with the exception of 1 and 2 the others could change if you ask me in a month or two.

1. Johnny Cash – Hurt (Directed by Mark Romanek): This video actually made me cry when I first saw it. It truly showed the pain behind the eyes of someone who knew that they were going to die soon. Beautifully done.
2. Fat Boy Slim – Weapon of Choice (Directed by Spike Jonze): Christopher Walken dancing in hotel…enough said.
3. White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl (Directed by Michel Gondry): Lego Jack and Meg White…brilliant!
4. Aphex Twin – Windowlicker (Directed by Chris Cunningham): This video is kind of disturbing and I cannot really begin to explain it, but it sticks in your head.
5. Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer (Directed by Stephen Johnson): This is the one video from my childhood that REALLY stood out as one of my favorites. It was quite groundbreaking at the time and to it entertained me immensely as a child and still does to this day.

I originally misunderstood the topic and came up with a video concept for an already existing song…which was lame so I came up with one that could work for any video…and this one rocks!!

Concept:
I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the Japanese movie “Battle Royale” but it is based on that movie. Quick summarization of the movie…the Japanese government passes the “Battle Royale” Act when the youth of Japan begin to get too disobedient. One entire class is chosen by lottery to take part in Battle Royale. They are taken to an island; each is given a weapon and they must kill each other off until one person is left. To add to the intensity, collars are put on the students to monitor their breathing (to keep count of who has been killed) and will also detonate – blowing up their necks – when the three days are up if there isn’t one sole survivor. So, basically they have to do it or they all die anyway.

Now, to my video concept…a band wakes up on an island with the metal collars on their necks and each is equipped with a bag containing the rules (shown so the viewers know what is going since there is no dialogue) and a weapon. They must kill each other off until one remains. Each has been dropped on a different area of the island and is unaware of the whereabouts of the others. The video follows them tracking each other down. One by one they take each other down until there is only the singer and bass player left…then out of nowhere at the end of the video they both get taken out at the same time by Britney Spears (a look alike dressed in school girl outfit from the “Hit Me Baby One More Time” video) making her the winner.

Nose For Beer's Curmudgeonly Reviews

As Neil’s computer has crashed, I am submitting a transcript of his reviews as verbally given at the Midwestern branch of the Down Your Nose Group meeting, held 4/11 at El Ranchito, Main Street, Union, MO.

Old Business:
· Neil re-iterated his dislike of the Fischerspooner disc from the last meeting.
· Neil bitched about people not blogging their reviews in a timely manner, or at all
· Mrs. Butcher


Muddy Waters – Neil liked this CD, noting he could see the influence Muddy Waters had on Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. He prefers more traditional Muddy Waters music, but thought this was a good CD. Not sure if it would be one he plays a lot in the future, though. 3 Stars

Marillion – Neil had a lot to say (by his standards) about this disc. In his words:
· “the disc sounds way too dated.”
· “too many guitar solos and they are all weak”
· “the concept didn’t bother me, but I didn’t care about the lyrics”
· “weak vocals”

His summary: “Sounds like Genesis with Night Ranger guitar solos” 1 ½ stars


New Business:

OK Go – Neil liked this one a lot and in fact had it in his top 10 of 2005. He said it was fun and upbeat. Thought the singer and the guitarist were good. He told me that he thought this band sounded a lot like the Kinks. However he changed his mind after I made him a Kinks best of. Now, they don’t sound so much like the Kinks. 4 stars

Ray Davies – He liked this one a lot from start to finish the very first time he put it on. Thought that Ray stayed true to what he knows how to do and wrote the kind of songs that he could build a consistent sound around. In Neil’s words, “he didn’t pull any of that funky Neil Young shit”. 4 ½ stars

Guided By Voices – Neil liked a lot of songs from the last half of the disc, but did not care for most of the first half. He agreed with my contention that many of the songs felt incomplete and that the production was so bad, it was hard to even give an opinion as to the songs themselves. He burned a number of songs from the latter half of the disc for posterity.

Discussion Question:

Neil does not like music videos except for live performance ones, and struggled to come up with 5 that were noteworthy. The 5 he ultimately decided on were:

“Hurt” – Johnny Cash
“Sober” – Tool
“Christ the Movie” – Crass – Neil indicated this is a black and white 30 minute video montage of the band’s album of the same name. He stated the video showed the harsh reality of life and religion. Draw your own conclusions...
“Mexican Radio” – Wall of Voodoo
“Beautiful World” – Devo

Weird Al just missed the cut...

He did not get into specifics (thank God) concerning directing his own video, but noted it would involve Gwen Stefani, a cattle prod and a jar of Vaseline.

Future Business:

Neil’s question for the next meeting (he is the host) is as follows:

Who in the group has the best or worst taste in music? You may choose to take the low road, the high road or answer both questions.

This led to a rather lengthy discussion about the question and an unauthorized, off the record, never happened discussion of the Police best of Neil submitted.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45