pretentious douche-baggery-ness

The Mong Music Group Commentary Nov. 2009

The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You – 5 Stars
Beautiful, heartfelt, masterfully-crafted songs with tons of hooks, thoughtful lyrics, and elegant production. A perfect album. If I was a little more Folksy than Rock & Roll, this would likely beat The Black Crowes as my (predicted) album of the year.

The Beat – The Beat – 3.5 Stars
Damn! Power Pop overload this month! And this after The Raveonettes and The Stone Roses (a few times each) ... But thankfully, The Beat helped me confirm that somewhere in my life I hadn’t just convinced myself that I like Power Pop; I actually do. Fun and catchy and decidedly NOT self-aware, The Beat is everything Power Pop should be: power AND pop.

Roseanne Cash – The List – 2 Stars
The list of what? People you can record with to try to offset how mediocre you are? In a word: yawn.

The Raveonettes – In and Out of Control – 2 Stars
The Raveonettes make catchy if wholly forgettable Power Pop wherein (even) a song titled, “Boys Who Rape Should All Be Destroyed,” can somehow be rendered pointless by the group’s Post Modernist resolve. A little less kitsch and a little more sincerity would have gone a long way here.

The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses – 2.5 Stars
Pretty much the same review as The Raveonettes: nearly forgettable, Post Modern Power Pop. Except here, maybe a little less earnestness and a little more brash would have been the solution. There are a few standout tracks, but still...

Dr. Dog – G’Hits
I was taken with Dr. Dog when I head “Easy Beat” in 2005 (and even put it in my top ten of the year...I think) but since then it’s really been more of the same, Beatles-inspired, trippy Rock/Pop and this G’Hits confirms that. Dr. Dog doesn’t suck but they are pretty much a one-trick dog.

TOPIC QUESTIONS

1. Brilliant debuts/Worthy Comebacks- name your top 3 in each category.

Pretty sure we’ve done this at least once already but this is always fun. Hmmmm...I don’t know...both questions too hard...so off the top of my head:

Brilliant Debuts:
- Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
(There first live album doesn’t count since that was just a ploy to get a major label deal and no one heard that album until after Nothing’s Shocking.)
- Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
(Yes, they did a split EP first but this is/was their debut proper.)
- The Cars – The Cars [Revision: I originally listed: Spoon - Telephono]

Worthy Comebacks:
Green Day – American Idiot
Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond

2. Cover song or songs that take the original in a different direction. Maybe even better (in your opinion) than the original, but not necessarily so. As many as you can think of- or none at all!

And again...probably different than last time I made this list. Here's a few:
1) Isolation – Matthew Sweet
2) Pinball Wizard – Elton John
3) King Kong – The Gravel Pit
4) Rocket Man – My Morning Jacket
5) I Will Survive – Cake
6) Like a Rolling Stone – Green Day
7) I Am a Scientist – New Radiant Storm King

3. Favorite instrumental songs-- any genre. Name your top 5.

For Rock and other genres of “Popular Music” it’s:
1) “YYZ” by Rush (That’ makes two of us, right, Greg.)
2) “Sartori In Tangier” by King Crimson
3) “Conspiracy of the Gods” by Trans Am
4) “Dig Your Own Hole” by The Chemical Brothers
5) “The Birth And Death Of The Day” by Explosions in the Sky
(3-5 subject to change.)

And for another taste of my pretentious douche-baggery-ness:

Classical:
1) “Air on the G String from “Suite No. 3 in D Major” by Johann Sebastian Bach
2) “Concerto Op. 3, No. 10: Allegro” from “Concerto Op. 3, No. 8-12” by Antonio Vivaldi
3) “Op 32 Venusfzgdffz, The Bringer Of Peace” from “The Planets Suite” by Gustav Holst
4) “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi - O Fortuna” from “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff
5) “Kust Tennen Kodu (How Can I Recognize My Home)” from “Litany to Thunder” by Veljo Tormis
(All subject to change.)

Movie Scores:
1) “The Morrow” from “Gattaca” by Michael Nyman
2) “You’re Renewed” from “Logan’s Run” by Jerry Goldsmith
3) “Iguazu” from “Deadwood” and “The Insider” by Gustavo Santaolalla
4) “Those We Don't Speak Of” from “The Village” by James Newton Howard
5) “Bible Study” from “3:10 to Yuma” (2007) by Marco Beltrami
(All subject to change.)

P.S. Fuck Jazz.

November Reviews

Avett Brothers – The parts are more than the sum of the whole. Rick Rubin’s production is flawless; this is by far the best sounding disc I’ve heard all year. There are some beautiful moments, notably the title track and “Ill With Want”. The Achilles Heel with this disc is a lack of variety. Every note is immaculately played and placed. Every lyric is a potential high school yearbook quote and delivered with Boy Scout earnestness. It’s too clean and becomes monotonous, particularly the middle third of the disc. No questioning the beauty of the harmonies and the playing. That said, some ragged edges both musically and lyrically would have gone a long way. 3.5 stars


The Beat –Jay has a knack for bringing power pop discs to the group. Typically, they fall into one of two categories, good or Somerville. This fits into the former. What’s not to like about catchy tunes, bouncy beats and clever lyrics? Like many bands, they ape the Ramones at times (“Work-A-Day World” and “U.S.A”). However, few Ramones-aping bands are versatile enough to also pull off a pseudo late 60’s Jagger/Richards ballad (“You and I”). A solid effort. 3.5 stars
Ravonettes – The Ravonettes are what they are style-wise. They’ve not changed their sound an iota over the course of their last 3-4 records. I don’t mind; their Spector-ish retro 60’s girl group sound combined with overdrive distortion is unique. When I hear a Raveonettes song, I know who it is immediately. However, by boxing themselves in that sound, the strength of their records is wholly dependent on the quality of the songs. On this release, the songs are just average. It lacks the killer single they typically produce, and the hooks just aren’t up to snuff throughout. Overall, a disappointment. 2.5 stars

Roseanne Cash – It’s a good collection but suffers a dearth of diversity. Her voice is lovely as always, the arrangements are nice, but it gets stuck in that mid-tempo, play it safe mode and it never leaves. The guests might have provided a change of pace, but with the exception of Elvis, they’re buried in the mix. If I hadn’t read the notes, I wouldn’t have even known Tweedy was singing. Highlight is the Springsteen duet. 3 Stars
Stone Roses – Thanks to D’Arcy for knocking one more off the “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” That said, I was under whelmed. It’s good, but the combination of Beatles-esque pop, REM jangle and trippy dance music didn’t blow me away. The sound is trebly and muddy and dated. I can hear how this sound would have influenced groups like Radiohead and Oasis. I’ll concede its importance, but dispute its greatness. 3 stars 

Dr. Dog – The Beatles versus Robert Pollard. Tragically, Robert Pollard wins. Obviously talented songwriters and competent musicians attempt to disguise said talent by going “low-fi”. Result is what appear to be decent pop songs destroyed by crap production and indecipherable lyrics. Adding insult to injury, one of the vocalists sounds just like Joe Walsh, whom I loathe.

Discussion

Best Debuts – Limiting to 3 was ridiculous, thanks for the headache Sandy…
Warren Zevon – S/T
Elvis Costello – My Aim is True
The Pretenders – S/T
Worthy Comebacks
Johnny Cash – American Recordings
Dylan – Oh Mercy
Paul Simon - Graceland
Cover Songs – We’ve “covered” this topic about 17 times already. Hence, I am making my own list.
Best covers of 2009 (so far)

Drive By Truckers – Rebels
Cracker (w/Patterson Hood) – Friends
Booker T – Hey Ya
Paul Westerberg – Streets of Laredo
Todd Snider – Corpus Christi Bay
Favorite Instrumentals

“My Favorite Things” – John Coltrane
“Quadrophenia” – The Who
“Take 5” – Dave Brubeck Quartet
“My Heart Will Go On (Theme From “Titanic”)” – Los Straitjackets
“Jessica” – Allman Brothers

Damn, that guy was annoying last night

Avett Brothers- I and Love and You – 3

I don’t even know why I bother. Inevitably I will trash a cd and then it will randomly show up months from now and I’ll love what I hear just to discover it’s the band I trashed months earlier. With that said, I thought that the Avett Brothers was largely unremarkable. I liked the cd but it just didn’t have anything that really blew me away. It was, for the most part, predictable. I think that overall it is a mood cd. When I don’t need to be motivated or inspired or lifted up, I might put on the Avett Brothers. Otherwise

The beat- The Beat - 3

I know who the Beat is, but I’ve never actually spent time listening to them. Since I know that they entered the scene after the Stones, Beatles, NY Dolls, Ramones and Springsteen, I know that the Beat didn’t influence these bands so I have to assume that they influences the Beat, A lot. Good, not great.

R. Cash- 4

Finally, a “Country” CD that I like. This was just a really good cd. It was like a female Chris Isaac disk. She’s better looking that Isaac though. Thoughtful sad country lyrics with just enough twangy country guitar made this a really good country cd.

Stone roses - The Stone Roses 3.5

I couldn’t have been more excited when I heard that Stone Temple Pilots and Guns and Roses were teaming up to form a real honest to goodness “Super Group”. I was a little disappointed that Axle’s voice had lost some of its edge, but maybe he gave up smoking. This is the One and Waterfall are rockin’ song as are several others. I’d like to have had a little more solid vocal presence. The music was catchy as were the lyrics, but the vocals were a bit weak. I liked it though. Did these guys sing the “Friends” theme?

Raveonettes- 4

Is Scarlett in this band? My understanding was that we are only reviewing bands that include Scarlett?

It actually does sound like her. Then imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only is Scarlet not in the band but there is a dude in the band. This is not dude music, it’s a bunch of hot chicks playing instrument music. Anyway, even with a dude I liked it. It was full of catchy haunting melodies and the singers sultry voice hooked me from the second the laser it the tiny little pits and reflected off in to the digital converter. My favorite of the month.

Dr. Dog – Greatest Hits

Not much time to truly evaluate fairly, but what I heard pretty much sucked. Actually it was okay, just not really my thing except the couple of songs that the woman sang.

1. Brilliant debuts/Worthy Comebacks- name your top 3 in each category.

Led Zeppelin - 1

Boston – Boston

Pearl Jam - 10

Comebacks:

Yes – 90125

AC/DC Back in Black

Aerosmith Permanent Vacation

2. Cover song or songs that take the original in a different direction. Maybe even better (in your opinion) than the original, but not necessarily so. As many as you can think of- or none at all!

All Along The WatchTower – Dylan - Hendrix

Whiskey in a Jar – Thin Lizzy - Metallica

Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac (1968) - Santana (1970)

You really got me – Kinks - Van Halen

Sunday Morning Commodores – Faith No More

The Scientist – Coldplay – Johnette Napolitano

3. Favorite instrumental songs-- any genre. Name your top 5.

YYZ – Rush

Jessica – Allman Bros.

He remembers! He remembers!

Yes I do remember that we meet this Tuesday and will be there on time. Two bits of administrative work for Tues;

1- Jay you ignorant slut- where are your reviews?

2- Monsta has made a worthy suggestion. for our annual dinner might we consider doing a 10 (20?) best of the decade since it is the end of the 00's.

over and out

poobah

Talk About Late

The Black Crowes: Before The Frost…Until The Freeze 5.0
This could be my album of the Decade. It’s certainly my album of the year. Love everything about it. Live recording. Levon Helm’s barn. Great songwriting. Great musicianship. Dynamic arrangements. Soulful vocals. Smoking jams. Two great cd’s for the price of one and not a single miss on either one. The Crowes get my first ever DNY 5.0 rating.

Cocktail Slippers: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre 3.0
A wicked cool record from Wicked Cool Records! I really enjoyed this. Who would have thought a kick-ass all girl rock and roll band (and it is rock and roll) from Norway, no less, could excel at such an American art form. They are like the Crystals, the Shirelles, and the Ronnettes meet South Side Johnny. Love the song “You Do Run”. The Slippers get a solid 3.0

Pete Yorn/ Scarlett Johansson: Break Up 2.5
First of all, I would just like to say that Scarlett Johansson is way hot. But we’re talking about music here. I like She and Him better and for that fact Zooey Deschanel is hot also.
If you ignore all the “artsy” hype over this album you’ll find a fairly pleasant light-hearted retro pop romp. It’s way better than her Tom Waits fiasco. I’ll give it 2.5

Sugar: Copper Blue 4.0
From “The Act We Act” through to “Man On The Moon” every song shines with the genius of Bob Mould. This is as good as anything Husker Du ever did. These are songs that sound as good today as they did in 1992. Catchy guitar riffs and lyrics that you can just pluck out of the air and start singing along with. What’s not to like?? 4.0

DADA: Ghits
Thanks D’Arcy. DADA’s music is just fun. Lots of catchy melodies and a nice, rambunctious pop sound make this an enjoyable listen.



1) You have the chance to see one living band that you haven't yet seen. Who is the band, (remember living, but reunions count), how far are you willing to travel, and how much will you pay? A: The Kinks- London- $200

2) Who is the one artist(s) that you always wanted to see but for whatever reason something always gets in the way? Do you still want to see them? A: Bruce Springsteen. Yes

3) What about concerts that you have recently been to have changed? Is it for the better or for worse? What is it that you miss the most about concerts? A: Everybody wants to sit! It’s for the worse. Getting in an altered state of mind.

4) Which is the better piece of music, the one that is in your must play list, or the one you know is a great cd, has great reviews, but rarely gets played by you? Why? And does this effect how you review cd's? A: Must play list. Music is very personal. I don’t pay much attn to critics. I know what I like and I like what I know. That was for you Lawless.