Good News for Jay

Mr. Tolz has thrown in his 2 cents on selected past DYN discs and Sommerdale is miraculously out of the bottom 10. Atta girl.

Shortest Meeting Ever- You May Again Rejoice!

It was a concise, tight (like Monsta's tush) meeting. We zipped through the reviews, wallowed in our decades, had a couple of beers and called it a night. Just like a town zoning meeting. Everything was right with the world. Greg got another sub 2 scored selection, Coldplay a tepid 2.56 and BB was king with a close to 4 rating. D'Arcy and I battled for "dick of the month" but I was edged out by .5 points. Maybe next month.

A little graphical Down Your Nose:

Decade graph (top is 1965, bottom is 1995)



We are mostly groovy hippies....




And since it was a quiet month I figured I would post our last unanimous 5 rating;

Scarlet Johannson's Yabbos, Again there is rejoicing.



Next Meeting
December 9, 2008

Old- D'Arcy/ Monsta (Yayhoos- Fear Not the Obvious)
New- Jay/Alan
Host- Sandy

My Shortest Reviews Ever- You May Rejoice!

Coldplay- Viva La Vida

Yes, I had a bad attitude going into this, and nothing changed it. I found nothing of interest. It was pompous Muzak. The only song with any pop was “Death and His Friends”. (1.0)

TV and Science- Dear Science,

Fairly interesting but not as compelling as the critics raved. I felt it was monotonous. The same shtick over and over again. (2)

Pink Floyd- Saucerful of Secrets

There are songs I like, but I already had them on Relics. I like experimental but a few of these got a bit too disjointed and weird. (2)

BB King- Singin’ the Blues

Back when BB could sing. BB pioneered bringing blues, more specifically Chicago blues, to the masses. This disc is a great representation of his work. I never thought he was a great guitarist but instead a great performer- and I mean that in the highest regard. (3.5)

Dramarama- Best Of

Excellent representation of this very underrated band. Eastlake is one of the best satirical lyricists around. Not a bad cut on the disc and there is not a one I would add.

My Decade

I broke mine into two periods. I assumed re-issues do not count.

1/65 through 6/72

This era gives me my favorite Beatles, Stones and Early Dylan and Neil Young releases. I also get Sabbath, Velvet Underground, Zeppelin, Mott the Hoople, Creedence, my favorite Who “Who’s Next”, great Kinks, Chicago Transit Authority, the Woodstock recording and Cash’s Folsom Prison recording. I also get the end of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. I arguably consider this the most creative period of rock. Just before the corporate take over. A period when anything was okay. Garage rock. I would have a tough time not having this available to me.

9/90-4/93

This period is a mini renaissance of creativity. It gives me “Ragged Glory”, “Goo”, “Brick by Brick”, the genesis of Nirvana and the new grunge, some Pearl Jam, Social Distortion, the start of Matthew Sweet and Lemonheads, the middle of the Smithereens- basically the whole resurgence of power pop. I get the last of the good Prince, start of Cracker and Cure songs I love in live form as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I sacrifice “Blood on the Tracks” my favorite all time recording, “Tonight’s the Night”, “Exile in Guyville”, the new wave and punk movements, most of the hair bands, the earliest rock and roll greats from the 50’s, early blues/jazz and all the bands since 1993 that I love today like Drive By Truckers, all but the earliest Southern Culture on the Skids and Okkervil River.

November Disappointments

Pink Floyd - Usually this type of self indulgent, self absorbed, overly self- conscious attempts at creating avant- garde music annoy me to the point of rage. So why do I find this so…..well, quaint. Maybe it’s the amateurishness of it all. Maybe it’s the earnestness of it all. Or maybe I’m just getting soft. Anyway, it doesn’t annoy me to the point of rage, but Pink Floyd cannot go blameless. This and its predecessor (as well as a couple other records) should have been dismissed by all, allowing the failed experiment to copy and or expand upon Sgt Pepper to go quietly into the night. But, no, it eventually spawned all manner of self-indulgent, self absorbed, overly self-conscious but not at all avant-garde shit. So it only gets a 2.

ColdPlay - I just don’t get it. Not awful, but how in god’s name does this band sell out the Civic Center. The band that spawned many boring bands, but I think I prefer the likes of Keane and Snow Patrol more than Coldplay and I think I gave Snow Patrol something like a 3. Music for people who think they’re hip. In the past these people used words like tasty to describe music and they routinely mistake vocal volume for passion. Sort of like EMO for the suburban set. As Dave Berg and Roger Kaputnik would say….Blleeccchhh. 2

BB King - Kinda neat hearing the early versions of songs that have become blues standards…or are they classics…hmmmm. Nice as a document and I’ll probably listen to it occasionally. 3 for listenability, 4 for importance, so we’ll split the difference. 3.5

TV on the Radio - Second thing I’ve heard of theirs and while this seems more coherent than the last one, it suffers from the "too much syndrome." It's all jsut too much at times. Many good moments end up lost as they extend the ideas beyond my ability to follow them. Very creative at times, but creative doesn’t mean good. Very dense at times, but dense does not mean good. Highly acclaimed, but a tough listen for someone like me with an advanced case of ADD. 3 for style, though

Dramarama – When I first discovered Dramarama around the time that Hi Fi Sci Fi came out in 1993, they seemed to have much that I liked in a band and it didn’t hurt that former Blondie Clem Burke was in the band. I liked it, but there was much to like in those days and they simply got overshadowed. Listening again, I can hear what initially drew me to them and this became better with each listen. I actually think that at least half a dozen songs sound like they could have been written by …..dare I say it….the Replacements. Yes, I said it and I mean it. The self-deprecation, the deadpan humor, the pop culture references and even the plain sensitivity remind me of my heroes. And there is plenty else to like as well. Unjustly ignored, these guys were just a bit ahead of the modern rock explosion and maybe just a little too smart to have made it then anyway.



Time periods

Easy ’68-72 Starts with Let it Bleed and ends with Exile. End of story. Throw in favorites by the Allman Brothers, Iggy, Bowie, Little Feat (just missing Dixie Chicken, though), Rod Stewart, Beatles and on and on. This period defined my tastes for decades…well at least until...

1975-1979 - Ramones, Clash, Sex Pistols, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks plus Born to Run and Darkness and a whole bunch more.

Sadly, I lose the Replacements and Sonic Youth, but they were essentially alone in their brilliance at their peaks (let's face it the '80's blew), so I had would have to choose quantity of music during the periods I chose rather than choose two of my favorite 5 bands.

10 years is never enough but will have to do

BB King
I am a firm believer that blues is a music that should be heard live and is done a disservice whenever it is recorded. This is a perfect example of this. While BB Kings playing is great it never is really explosive. I am sure live it would have been inspiring. This probably is caused by the production. Because not only is the guitar subdued the background instrumentation is totally lost. Which is a shame because I would have liked to have heard more interaction between the horns and the solos, instead I got standard fills.
2.0

Coldplay
The problem I have with Coldplay is that there cd’s just are so flat. Yes you have Chris Martin soaring vocals. Yes there music is brit pop with grandiose tendencies. But other than the singles the rest of the cd’s tend to just blend together. This one is no different. The singles are okay with some decent guitar work. But the rest is buried behind a wall of sound obscured by rather average keyboard work. 1.5

Pink Floyd
Was driving to work at 4 in the morning the other day, and this cd was still on. I thought how appropriate. The last time I probably listened to a full Pink Floyd cd was at 4 in the morning. Of course I was still awake from the night before, there were a lava lamp and smoking paraphanalia were also present. Which might explain why I was listening to Pink Floyd. Haven’t felt the urge to do so that recently either. Was impressed with musician ship but got easily lost in the psychadelia of it all. Started off great with a good rock beat and then the tangents set in. Doubt a Pink Floyd cd will grace my ears anytime soon but if it does I will reach for Animals and pass on the Saucers. 1.5

TV on the Radio
Saw these guys on Letterman and thought why all the hype. Yes multi racial band with multi format pedigree, but so what where are the tunes. So now I am listening to the cd and thinking, A bit better but not great. First two tunes are truly good then the next are decent but as we go along it does really improve that much. Not sure of the multi format hype. Just sounds like a straight ahead pop record with some extra studio help 2.5

Dramarama
I can tell you the moment that I knew these guys were special. It was a toads they had just started their second song, 70’s TV, and Clem Burke had broken three drumsticks just in the intro. The song kicked in and I said wow. Went and bought the whole catalog the next day and have been listening to them ever since. And what’s not to like? Two strong guitarists that share both lead parts in a strong double guitar attack. A collection of excellent drummers supported by interesting bass. And John Easdale. An exceptional front man who writes great lyrics. Yes some of his Pop references are a bit dated, but he has managed to put Laurie Partridge, Wonderama, Jacks, Pez and quote Nancy Reagan, in his songs. That’s just awesome. His look on life has led to a catalog with hardly any filler songs. Last Cigarette, Incredible, Haven’t Got a Clue are just brilliant songs. And they even throw in an occasional great cover song too. Have seen them every time I can, and hope that one day I will again.


My dates. 1974-1982 and 1993

Hey I am a seventies guitar rock/ New Wave of British metal sort of guy. And this was the pinnacle of that music. Be it Queen, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Priest and Iron Maiden all their best were released here. Plus it is the time that I started to see everyone and anyone who was touring. But the kicker is that I am a sucker for classic AM radio pop singles. And I defy anyone to find more guilty pleasures in an era better than that.

Finally I threw in 1993 because that way I get the Wildhearts first cd, the Manic Street Preachers second, and one Dramarama cd. Then all my favorites are covered.

I do miss the college rock years, but I get the early police and talking heads to cover that, and hell I’ll just turn up my punk cd’s. Would rather be listening to the Damned, Ramones and the Clash anyway. (although I bid adieu to the Replacements, Husker du and Soul Asylum.

Now the best year in rock history has to be 1973 and I didn’t even include it my range. If you look at the list of cd’s released that year it is incredible. Now although most of these discs aren’t in my regular playlist it is because of them I now listen to what I do. I may like cd’s that came out later, but this is the year that changed rock.

FIve Years...My Brain Hurts A Lot

TV on the Radio "Dear Science"- A band that's new to me. I like how they fuse alt guitar with hip-hop beats... "Crying" is a good example. It's an update on the old American Bandstand's, "it has a good beat and you can dance to it". The most surprising part of this CD to me was that for such down lyrics, the overall feel of this was uplifting and a lot more poppy than I expected (eg: Family Tree) 3 stars.

Coldplay "Viva La Vida" - OK, I'm a hater. It's sounds like Chris Martin goes commercial. Or worse, infomercial. If I wanted this type of music, but with real emotion, I'd listen to "OK Computer". Not a big Brian Eno fan either, so it leaves me cold...and not wanting to play.
1.5 stars.

Pink Floyd "Saucerful of Secrets" - This was released just before my time, that is, the time I started listening to rock rather than pop, so it's a first listen. It was a fun step-back to take...until about 1/2 way through the title track...when it got too acidy for me. After I got by that, I started to appreciate the other tracks, and it became a fun listen again. "See Saw" sounds like something Brian Wilson would have put out at the time, had Capitol Records let him. The whole of this only suffers by comparison to later PF classics... 2 stars.

BB King's first album - I love the blues, I love BB King and with an eye toward musical history, these are the seeds from which the Rolling Stones grew. The non-technical, "1-2-3 roll tape and play" aspect of this is fascinating...it's not "How Blue Can You Get", but how PURE can you play electric blues with horns and percussion, and with the possible exception of Muddy Waters, this is as pure as it gets.
4.5 stars.

Dramarama - Again, first I've heard of them - I guess I've been living in a musical vaccuum since 1985 - and for me, it was the case of a band getting closer to what it set out to do and sounding better the deeper into their career you listen. I liked "Wonderamaland" a lot, but the other earlier stuff was far too anachronistic sounding, then, I gave them props for the Ian Hunter/Mott cover, and they turned a corner with me on the songs from "Vinyl", which I will absolutely add to my i-Pod. Thanks for the turn-on, D'Arcy.

The 10 year challenge was most difficult, but I believe that if you take the year you first got into music - probably an early teen year - as a base year, you have to build a five-year period around it because it is most likely when you were most influenced by new music. Then, the other five year period is all about personal taste, genres, your historical perspective and your favorite artist(s). Turns out for me, it's 10 straight years...

1970-1974 gave us Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street from the Stones, Fragile and Close to the Edge from Yes, The first 4 Queen albums, Mott, The Hoople, and All the Young Dudes, the very best of David Bowie, Led Zep 4 and 5, The Raspberries, The first 3 albums from Aerosmith, Randy Newman's "Sail Away" and "Good Old Boys", Most of the great Philly sound singles from the Stylistics, Spinners, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and the OJ's...the back-end of Motown's peak, some GREAT one-hit wonders, and Sinatra's return to the big stage.
I could listen to all this, and not much more, if need be.

The second period for me was 1965-1969...the best of the Beatles, Beach Boys and, argueably, the Rolling Stones. The heart of the "Motown Era". That's the bedrock of my musical listening. It is the yardstick by which I measure other music. What I'd regretfully miss are the sounds of the bands/artists that inspired them. Rockabilly, Elvis, Little Richard, great older blues, country, jazz and Sinatra's Capitol period. What I wouldn't miss is disco, 80's dance music, electronica, and such. I would miss Ramones, Dictators, Marshall Crenshaw, Matthew Sweet and much of the power pop and punk I've grown to love over the years.

Foster Post for Greg

Pink Floyd – Saucerful of Secrets – 3.5
It’s pretty clear that Pink Floyd fit right in with the times in 1967, it doesn’t get much more psychedelic than Saucerful of Secrets. They had a real knack for changing with the times, but were always on the forefront musically. Although you do need to be in the right frame of mind to listen to this, I’ve never forwarded through “Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun”. Because Pink Floyd’s writing style changed so much after Roger Waters and David Gilmour took over the duties it’s hard to think of this as “Pink Floyd”. If you are expecting The Wall, you might not be happy with SOS, but no doubt, this laid the groundwork for the bands future works.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida – 4.5
I’m sorry, I know there are a lot of Coldplay haters out there, but from the second I heard the title track I was hooked on this cd. Like him or not, Chris Martin can write a catchy song. The songs aren’t always fluff though, they are well written songs with enough instrumentation to make them sound substantial and they are just as thoughtfully produced.

TV on Radio – Dear Science – 3.5
What a diverse CD. At any moment I got rap style songs or flowing melodies. I also had to check a couple of times to see if my iPod jumped to a Prince song though. I do like the singer’s voices a lot. I preferred the slower songs, but they all had something that kept me interested. All in all a very listenable cd.

BB King – Singing the Blues – 4
What can I possibly say about B.B. King? Actually all blues pretty much sounds the same to me, but I can listen to it for hours, or at least one at a time. B.B.’s voice has certainly changed over the years, but I suppose that that’s what happens when you spend 50 years in smoky bars. I would have liked to spend one day hanging out with him.

Dramarama – GH – 2.5
To me this sounded like two different bands, one I like and one not so much. Songs like Emeral City and Scenario were right up my alley. I’m finding that I gravitate toward les more polished sounds and less toward the raw edged bands. Catastrophe might as well have been a Who song.

You have a ten year window of music from which you are allowed to listen to. You will not be allowed to listen to anything that wasn't released within this window. You can however break the ten years into two separate periods, but no more than two, and only less than three.
Why did you choose this era with in music history? What did you have to let go that you will truly miss?

1945 - 1951Big bands and swing. Great musicianship with analog instruments.

1977 – 1981
For me this was the most consistent period of music. It was also the most impressionable time of my life and the songs that came out during this period just had a certain song that felt good. A completely emotional decision.

As an addition name the best year ever in music history? Why? And is it within your window?

Never gonna happen!
Remeber just ten years. Those who go beyond the limitations will sacrifice all choices and be forced to listen to our bottom 10 rated cd's for eternity.

This work for me since most of them are mine anyway.

Missouri Meanderings

Coldplay – Boy, does this band want to be U2. On several cuts, they hit the mark. In particular, the title song (on my short list for song of the year) and “Death and All His Friends” are absolutely great. However, the rest really sounds like a band with a severe case of Bono/Edge envy, and they just don’t have the songwriting skills to match their reach. They’ve never quite lived up to the promise of their debut, and they sure aren’t U2. What they are is a band that regularly produces competent, reliable, radio-friendly material. No shame in that. 3 stars

TV on the Radio – So we now have the answer to the question “What would a Prince album sound like if Brian Eno produced it?” Despite my severe anti-electronica bias, I enjoyed most of this disc. Songs are well constructed and the styles are varied enough to keep my attention. The Prince influence is obvious, but I hear a lot of Bowie & Gabriel on this disc as well. “Family Tree” in particular sounds straight out of the “Scary Monsters” era. Love the “Surfin’ Bird” rip-off on the opening cut. 3.5 stars

BB King – The man is a national treasure, and in my eyes can do almost no wrong. BB’s less-is-more approach on his soloing is fantastic, and though I’m not sure who the players are, the backing musicians are first rate. What struck me listening to this disc is how much more “authentic” his vocals sound on more recent discs, as if age and life experience gives him more of a right to sing the blues at age 80 than when he was 40. The vocals here are almost too pretty, that bear-like BB growl hadn’t been developed yet. 4 stars

Pink Floyd – At the heart of the best Pink Floyd material, there are some quality songs. They may be difficult to find amidst the spacey, time-travel sound effects, but they’re there. What makes this particular disc so insufferable is the lack of anything resembling a decent tune to wrap the acid trips around. There is nothing but pointless psychedelic meandering, bereft of melody and structure. How anyone can claim listening to “Corporal Clegg” or the title track is an enjoyable, or for that matter, musical experience is absolutely beyond me. Proof that Mr. Mackey is indeed correct, “Drugs are bad, mmm-kay?” 0 stars

Dramarama – Good collection from a band that I had heard little of before. Sound is very much rooted in the 80’s. Highlights for me were “Work For Food” and “Everybody Dies”, both of which reminded me of vintage Soul Asylum. Don’t know if this was arranged chronologically, but the disc got stronger as it went on.

Discussion Question:

First 5 years for me has to be 1975-1980. During that time, the following were released:

Clash’s debut through “London Calling”
“Born to Run”, “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “The River”
“Blood on the Tracks”, “Desire”, “Basement Tapes”, “Before the Flood”
“Some Girls”
“Tonight’s the Night”, “Zuma”, “American Stars &Bars”, “Comes a Time” and “Rust Never Sleeps”
The first three Ramones , Police, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson albums
First two Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds albums
First 4 Warren Zevon albums
First 4 Tom Petty albums

I picked these 5 years probably due to the fact that they were my formative listening years, and listening to these albums turned me into a music geek. I would venture to say that damn near half of my top 20 faves of all time come from this period.

It isn’t much of a variation, but I went with 1969-1973 for my other 5. Check out that list:

Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who’s Next, Quadrophenia, Let It Bleed, Get Your Ya Ya’s Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Lola vs the Poweman, Muswell Hillbillies, Zep II through Houses of the Holy, All Things Must Pass, Abbey Road, the first 4 CCR’s, Velvet Underground, Moondance, the first 4 Randy Newman albums, the first two Jackson Browne albums , the first EIGHT Elton John albums including “Yellow Brick Road”, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Greetings From Asbury Park, The Wild Innocent & E-Street Shuffle , Dark Side of the Moon, Gram Parsons, Flying Burrito Brothers, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, etc… Ironically, Dylan sucked during these 5 years (Dylan, Self Portrait, etc...)

I had to pick these 5 years simply due to the overwhelming quantity of great albums that were made. The Stones and the Who output alone during these years justify it.

Most of what I miss will be country & twang. The years I picked were not Johnny Cash’s strongest eras, plus no Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Drive By Truckers, Two Cow Garage. I’m getting depressed thinking about it. I’ll also miss early 60’s-era and 1990-present Dylan.

Hawks;Doves;Right;Left;Sarah;Bama;What to do??? Sing the Blues!!!

Sandor's Music Club Ruminations:

B.B. King: Singin' The Blues
This album is an absolute classic! It's B.B. proving that in 1956 he is already in a league of his own. Talk about having the blues--- "Nobody loves me but my mama, and she could be jivin' me too." Gotta give it a 4.5

Coldplay: Viva la Vida
Call it what you want. British Art Rock; Brit-Pop; Anthemic Rock- whatever. I like it and I think Coldplay (for me anyway) holds an almost permanent residence at the top of the heap. The cd comes to life with a stylish instrumental opener- although I keep wishing it would break into a full-blown track with brilliant lyrics and all the trimmings. Lost is one of my favorite songs of the year- that tribal drum beat does it for me. Then comes 42- bittersweet if ever a song was. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love is another great tune, even if it is a little U2-esque. Ok, I'll stop. Viva la Vida gets a solid 4.

Pink Floyd: A Saucerful of Secrets
This trippy cd took me right back to the 60's. And for Pink Floyd it was the "shape of things to come". This is music that is definitely better after a couple of hits off the bong- just like celtic music is better after a few Guinness'. Let There Be More Light; Remember a Day;Jugband Blues; and See-Saw are my fav's on this one. I give it a solid 3. Thanks for the memories.

TV On The Radio: Dear Science
I keep going back and forth on this one. Once in a while I find it annoying and other times I really like it. It's definitely different. Take the song Halfway Home; elements of which I find very cool, very ambitious, and even a little complex. Yet if I listen to it too often- it starts to annoy me. Overall however, the hits well outweigh the misses. Love the funk and Prince-ness of Golden Age. Family Tree could almost be played on WCCC. Red Dress could replace You Can Leave Your Hat On in the movie 9 1/2 weeks. Love Dog and Shout Me Out are brilliant. This cd is as cool as the names Tunde and Kyp. TV gets a 3.5

G'Hits: Dramarama
Never heard a Dramarama song until now. On first blush I thought this compilation was pretty boring- a couple of ok tunes but nothing special. Repeated listenings however have opened a new appreciation for me. Why haven't I heard of these guys before? Allmusic says it best "hard rock wallop, alternative rock smarts, power pop songcraft, and punk rock urgency". What's not to like???