Once You Go Green...

Al Green – Call Me (1973)

If the only things you’ve heard from Al Green are the hit singles, like “Let’s Stay Together”, this is a good place to start to appreciate “funky old soul” as sung by one of its masters. This album has great rhythm to it, and the country covers are definitive and timeless. This is Al Green’s third album, and the for my money, it has the best vocal efforts of his classic albums which came out between 1971 and 1977, before the bathtub scalding and Reverend title and all that.
4 1/2.

Pretenders – Pretenders II (1981)

This is my favorite Pretenders album, though that might not be true today if James Honeyman-Scott would have lived and continued to be the great guitarist for this band. There’s no denying Chrissy Hynde was the queen of female rock vocals in the early 80’s and that her association with Ray Davies led to a couple of awesome covers, one of which, I Go To Sleep, is one of the standout tracks on this album. For my money, they were the class of the early 80’s and had a great sound for a “2 guitar, bass, drum” band
5.

Sitcom Neighbor – Charm (2012)

This CD had me at “Amphetemine”…right away I knew they understood their Beatles and Kinks and that it would be all over this CD. Sometimes it’s a little too derivative (Buy Your Farm = Taxman) but that’s a small price to pay. They’re best when they’re in the poppy ballad mode, and fortunately, that’s a good portion of the time here. Their rockers have that “throwback” sound too…almost thought I was listening to the Flashcubes on a couple of tracks, and that’s a good thing. All in all, 35 minutes of pop bliss that I’ll add to the rotation for exercise walks. 4

Dinosaur Jr. – Farm (2009) (Saw it in Dropbox, and reviewed again...)

I always mix these guys upwith Wilco…not musically, just the back story…two guys start this band, one gets pissed off at the other, puts all his energy behind a side project, that spawns another band…etc…except in this case, Barlow and Mascis get back together and this smoothed out, first release on a new label is great. You guys can all debate whether you like Sebadoh or Dinosaur Jr better, but this CD is just fine for repeated listening for me. 4


Greatest Hits – Ella Fitzgerald

You can’t go wrong with Ella…but maybe instead of both studio and live versions of “Our Love is Here To Stay”, maybe add “Don’t Be That Way” or “When Your Lover Has Gone”, or “I Concentrate on You” or Mr. Paginini”. Her trademark scat singing is
well represented here among the live tracks and that’s always fun to hear. All in all, this is a nice mix of one of the great female jazz voices of the 20th century.

Topic:

1- List your five favorite 8 minute or longer song. Live versions do not count.

Roll Over Beethoven – Electric Light Orchestra
Soliloquy – Frank Sinatra.
We Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Hurricane – Bob Dylan
Jungleland – Bruce Springsteen

2- List the last 5 songs you deleted from your MP3 player.

I haven’t deleted ANYTHING from my i-pod since I set it up…it’s 160 gig capacity is more music than I have.

3- Give us, we are all family, 3 guilty pleasures that you are actually embarrassed about.

I love Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons.
Tracey Ullman – I can listen to “You Broke My Heart in 17 Places” repeatedly.
Leslie Gore’s Greatest Hits.

4- Name an album you love but the rest of the world hates (beyond the DYN crew).

Mondo Deco – The Quick

5- Can sound effects/vocal effects/spoke word be vital to a song or a detractor? If you think it can be vital please list 5 examples.
It can go either way, but here are 5 examples of songs that benefited from effects…
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Space Oddity
3. Moonage Daydream
4. Money
5. Time

I'd like to spank the blonde chick from last night

Al Greene – Call Me - 2

One of the most boring voices in music as far as I’m concerned.  For those of you that didn't like Lovage go back and listen to it and then listen to this and you better not have rated this higher than a 2.  Al didn't moonlight as the singer for the Fine Young Cannibals did he?

Metric – Synthetica - 3

I have to admit that I bought this on a whim because I liked the song “Breathing Underwater”.  I hoped that the rest of the disk was similar, it isn’t.  It’s not bad and I’m glad I bought it.  It’s more “synthy” than I was hoping for, but I guess I should have guessed that from the title.  They have a touch of Berlin and a little Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that might be why I like them.  I wonder how they managed to get Lou Reed on the cd, as much as I think the guy stinks, they must be doing something right.

Pretenders - Pretenders II - 4

Without question, one of the sexiest women in music, or at least she was in hey glory days.  No other voice sounds similar.   The Pretenders have a sound that was perfect for the 70’s / 80’s transition, and they were able to avoid the 80’s sound and make great music right through and into the 90’s.  Amazing scream on “Bad Boys get Spanked”

Ella Fitzgerald – GH

Hello! Ella! She’s awesome.  One of the classiest voices in music.  I didn’t need the Christmas music, but I guess it was necessary.   I am a bigger Billy Holiday fan, like being a Stones vs Beetles, you have to choose only one.  She has a few more “Doo Wops” than I care for.   

Wooden Shjips – West – 3.5

Catchy out of the box and continued all the way through.  This is an awesome cd and just what I was hoping for.  Something emotional and with a steady moving beat.  A little Doors (the good stuff) and Pink Floyd Animals/Meddle era.     

Sitcom Neighbors – Charm - 3

Nothing fancy just straight forward easy listening pop.  I didn't get bored or angry listening to this.  One of those bands that is so familiar and I just don’t know why.  I just listened and thought, I think I’ve hear this band over and over.  They seem to have the formula pretty much figured out.  I’ll just leave it at that before I find something that I don’t like. 

*(this was posted in DropBox and I thought it was part of the meeting so I included it)

Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory – 1.5  (only for the music)

It’s interesting when one song is tolerable and the next makes me want to jam a pencil in my ear just to make it stop.  For having such a horrible voice you’d think that he would try to not annoy the crap out of you by using it the way he does.  The music had great potential if only they just stuck to it and shoved something down this guy’s throat when he opened his mouth to “sing”.  I guess they did tell the Rolling Stones something similar and look where they are.  One thing I do know is that these guys are no Rolling Stones.

1 - List you five favorite 8 minute or longer song. Live versions do not count.

1. La Villa Strangiatto, Xanado- Rush

2. Every Dream Theater song

3. Echoes, Dogs – Pink Floyd

4. In The The Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson

5. Third Eye, Rosetta Stoned - Tool

2 - List the last 5 songs you deleted from your MP3 player.

I’ve actually never delelted a song from my ipod.  The isea was that I wanted every piece on music I ever owned on the ipod incase someone ever came to my place and asked “do you have any Barry Minilow?”  The answer would be ”yep”

3 - Give us, we are all family, 3 guilty pleasures that you are actually embarrassed about.

Assuming you meant music guilty pleasures:

Most Air Supply Greatest Hits

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

4 - Name an album you love but the rest of the world hates (beyond the DYN crew).

Alex Lifeson – Victor

Andrew W.K I Get Wet

The Mars Volta - Francis the Mute

Pygmy Love Circus – Power of Meat

5 - Can sound effects/vocal effects/spoke word be vital to a song or a detractor? If you think it can be vital please list 5 examples.

I used to think that if it wasn’t real then it isn’t music.  I don’t feel that way anymore.  Now my feeling is that as long as you can record it, it counts as whatever you meant it to be. Reproducing it live is more of a challenge, and I’m not one for recorded sounds live, but I’m sure that more bands do it than we are even aware of.   

Bad Boys Get Spanked, Indeed....

Sitcom Neighbor – Reminded me a lot of Dr. Dog.  Better than average power pop, with the occasional clever lyric.   Doesn’t quite get to Fountains of Wayne level, but it’s an easy listen and one that I will no doubt go back to a few more times.  3.5 stars

Al Green – Long before Prince was mixing God and sex on albums, Al Green was.  “Call Me” is a great mix of secular, old school soul and gospel R&B.  Green has one of the most unique voices in music, and he uses it to great effect here.  Musically, its Stax 101, players find the groove and they stay in it.  Highlight for me is his cover of “Funny How Time Slips Away”, which is one of the rare covers that outshines the original (sorry, Willie).  4 stars

Pretenders – Because Pretenders II has the misfortune of being sandwiched between one of the greatest debuts ever recorded and “Learning to Crawl”, the band’s creative peak, its criminally overlooked.  While it falls a little short of both those records, it’s no slouch. The key of course is Chrissie Hynde, whose lyrics and vocals bridge the gap between the tough, sexy rocker of the previous album and the vulnerable but defensively independent woman of “Learning to Crawl”.  The band clicks on all cylinders, and is a reminder of what an absolute waste the subsequent OD’s of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon were. 4.5 stars

Ella Fitzgerald – No question that Ella is one of the greatest female vocalists of all time, and there is some great material on this disc, notably the stuff with Louis Armstrong.  Fearless Leader has put together a nice mix here.  The only problem I have is that I can only take so much scat singing in one sitting, and there’s waaaaay too much here.  That said, this is a keeper, and it will go great in a shuffle.

#1 – Favorite songs over 8 minutes long. Boy, was this a brutal cutdown….

1) “Like a Hurricane” – Neil Young
2) “Jungleland” – Bruce Springsteen
3) “November Rain” – Guns and Roses
4) “Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” – Elton John
5) “Dr. Jimmy” – The Who

#2 - Last 5 songs I deleted are whatever the last 5 songs on the Craig Finn solo disc are.  Not good

#3 – Guilty pleasures I’m embarrassed about –


1- The fact that I still love Billy Joel’s music and think late-career renaissance is not out of the question
2- The fact that I love the new Suzanna Hoffs disc, which is syrupy-sweet enough to send me into a diabetic coma
3- The fact that I crank up “The Boys of Summer” and “Summer of 69” every single time I hear them on the radio

#4  - Album I love that the rest of the world hates – Neil Young – “Everybody’s Rockin”

#5 - Definitely think spoken word and/or vocal effects can work. 5 best songs with spoken word vocals or intervals


1) “Dirty Blvd” – Lou Reed
2) “World of Hurt” – Drive By Truckers
3) “Boy Named Sue” – Johnny Cash
4) “Panama” – Van Halen
5) “Belong” - REM

Pretty Bad Experiment

Bob Dylan- Tempest:  3.5

Wow- the dude is 71 years old and I finally like his voice. Trust me you'll never mistake him for Pavarotti but his raspiness fits these songs to a tee. Not only that, but this is the guy's 35th record. AYFKM? Not only that, but he still has something to say. Not only that, but it's still vital. I'm not a huge Dylan fan and this is not his best, by any means, but it's good. So many times we see artists hit the scene with a great record and then subsequent recordings never quite hit the same mark. The fact that the guy can put out something this good for his 35th record is remarkable.

The O.A.E- The Witch's Whispering Tomes: 2.0

I don't think  the experiment worked.  At least, it doesn't work for me. This stuff is ok to put on for some background noise while you're working on a soduku puzzle or something like that, but to actually listen to it from start to finish is painful. I couldn't do it. There are some decent songs here and the cd does have some redeeming qualities, but I think you have to be stoned to fully realize them. 

Anti-Flag- A New Kind Of Army: 3.0

Well, well- aren't these guys full of piss and vinegar?  Talk about The Clash meets Green Day. How about it! As the first song started- I thought oh no. Punk music is not my favorite thing in the world. But, by the time That's Youth (track 4) came around they had me.  Not only that, but being an old hippie activist- I like what they stand for and I like what they're saying. Thanks to whomever (Ken?) for submitting this because I had never heard of these guys and now I'm a new fan. Minus 0.5 point for the annoying "buried" nonsense on the last track.

The Allman Brothers Band- 5.0

Legendary recording. If there can be any complaint of mine about this record it is that it is too short.

GHits- The Cult

I never got into The Cult. I think they started as a post-punk goth rock kind of band- not my favorite genre for sure. So I never really gave them a shot.  It's nice to have a sampling of their music that is not necessarily the "mainstream" hits. Maybe it's time to revisit these guys. Thanks Greg.

Discussion:

1Gomez  2Dr Dog  3Wilco 4The Band 5Collective Soul 6My Morning Jacket 7Beck 8Jayhawks 9Modest Mouse 10Black Crowes

First song by #5: December 

Fav lyrics #6:  "Touch me, I'm going to scream if you don't" off the album Evil Urges

Most memorable moment #8:  Driving to my parents up in Utica, NY with all the kids in the car and blasting Hollywood Town Hall much to everyone's total enjoyment.

Impact #1 on my life:  Gomez per se-nothing earth shattering. It's music that has impacted my life. Plato said it all a long time ago:

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."

When did you get into #2: Heard a concert on NPR- Live from WXPN in Philadelphia  in 2006. Next to Wilco- probably the band I listen to the most. I have everything they've ever done and their 2012 EP Wild Race is awesome.

How did I get into #3: Lineage.  Uncle Tupelo-Son Volt-Wilco

Fav song #4: Can I say every song on my favorite record of all time? Music From Big Pink. If you make me pick a single song then it's The Weight; no- I Shall Be Released; no, wait a minute Chest Fever tied with We Can Talk; scratch that Tears of Rage or Caladonia Mission.  Alright, alright,  I'm done.

Seen #9 Live: Never

Fav album #7:  Sea Change. The guy is a genius and this record is an absolute masterpiece. I never tire of getting lost in it.

Fav song #1: Oh boy! Here we go again. I guess today it's Devil Will Ride off of Liquid Skin. Tomorrow could be a different answer.

Half a Post...I'll Be Back Soon...

Music Group – October 2012

Ocular Audio Experiment - The Witches Whispering Tomes (Pt 1) 2012

So after enduring two tracks of psychedelic drone with very little melody and even less dynamic worth I got to track 3 and thought, “If this were vinyl, I’d immediately play Their Majesties Tapestry of Gloom at 45 rpm and see if it was any more tolerable”. After that amused me for a few seconds, my next thought was, “Make it stop!” This CD reminded of a word once used in a Casey Casem off-mike tirade captured by his engineer and distributed to other radio folks around the country…Ponderous, man, ponderous! OK…now I feel bad for being so negative. There are some positives here. First, I admire their cleverness with regard to song titles…”Blow My Head Off” was exactly what I felt like doing when I finally got to that track, and following it with “The Slow Road to Hell” was perfectly descriptive. Second, I really like the CD cover artwork. And most positive is that we didn’t get part 2 with this. 1

The Allman Brothers Band – The Allman Brothers Band (1969)

Listening to this with 20-20 hindsight was both enlightening and a little frustrating. It’s amazing to me that the signature sound of the band, Duane’s slide guitar, isn’t heard until halfway through the album, in “Trouble No More”. I’d also forgotten how great a lead guitar duo Dickey Betts and Duane without slide were. It is perfectly illustrated in “It’s Not My Cross to Bear”. The frustration comes in knowing how awesome a “jam band” they were, and having to listen to some of these great tracks fade out long before they really should have ended. Hearing this first effort with the original line-up when it was all fresh was terrific, though it does make me hate motorcycles even more as I get older. 41/2

Bob Dylan – Tempest (2012)

The last time I was excited about a Bob Dylan Album it was “Time Out Of Mind” and before that, it was “Blood on the Tracks”…there were a lot of years between those two, and I approached this CD with a little trepidation, but my fears were unfounded and what I think we have here is a great slice of Americana, albeit pretty dark. It’s mostly a CD that you have to be in a quiet mood for - Duquense Whistle and Narrow Way being the exception – but the more I listen to it, the more I like it as a cohesive body of work. I think his road band does the music justice and the addition of David Hidalgo from Los Lobos gives it that extra touch – a desperate, sometimes sad sound that fits the lyrical content to a tee. 3 ½

The Monstular Audio Experiment smelled like sulfur

Bob Dylan – I love that Bob is still out there doing his thing, and this disc contains some good moments, notably the title track. However, there’s 4-5 weak tracks, and surprisingly, its mostly the up-beat stuff.  Also lots of clumsy one-liners that he tries to get by with because he’s “Dylan”.  Frankly, the voice is a problem as well.  He’s never been Roy Orbison, but the tones are so gravelly at times it’s a distraction.  The 5 star reviews it’s getting are silly.  This is miles away from “Love & Theft”.   3 stars

Ocular Audio Experiment – The 25 lowest rated discs in DYN history (per the website) have a common thread, namely that I didn’t submit a single one of them. Well, eventually DiMaggio took an 0-for, and Cal Ripken had to sit out a day.   One of my choices now proudly joins such treasures as “V is for Vagina”, “Power of Beef” and of course, “Wilson Sings Gershwin”. Truth is, I heard one track I liked (#2), paid $.50 on bandcamp and put it out there without listening to it.  The tempo drags a little, no? Apologies, and its nice to finally be in the club.  1 star

Allman Brothers Band – Greatest band I’ve never bought a single recording of.  Their combination of blues, rock, and a touch of jazz is a distinctively unique sound.  Love the dueling guitars, the omnipresence of the Hammond B-3 and Gregg’s growling vocals.  Just about the only “jam band” I can listen to for any length of time; 20 minutes of “Whipping Post” is just fine by me.  4.5 stars

Anti-Flag – Competent enough punk rock with good guitar work throughout.  Problem with this disc, like a lot of hardcore punk discs is that there’s just not enough variety, and around track 6 I lose interest because everything sounds the same.  An occasional song in a shuffle will suffice me, no reason I’ll ever listen to this start to finish again. 2.5 stars

The Cult – I’ve always been pretty ambivalent about The Cult, and this disc changed my opinion somewhat.  They’ve got more good stuff than I thought, although their best song (“Fire Woman”) was inexplicably left off this collection.  One of those discs where I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.  Some of it definitely had that late 80’s / early 90’s feel, but the “Beyond Good and Evil” tracks sounded great and current.

Discussion Question




The Ramones
Lucinda Williams
Bruce Springsteen
Two Cow Garage
Gaslight Anthem
Drive By Truckers
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Wilco
Son Volt
The Who


1. “Great Expectations”
2. “Just cause I don’t run my mouth don’t mean I got nothing to say.”
3. Standing 2 feet in front of Nels Cline and just shaking my head in amazement multiple times throughout the evening.
4. Turned me onto a style of music that I never stopped loving.
5. 1998, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” bought it because of all the great reviews. Loved it & Lu ever since
6. I hated Bruce at first. Had to write a review of “The River” for my HS newspaper, and surprisingly, I liked it.
7. “135”
8. Three times, which is really twice more than anyone needs to see Son Volt….
9. “Hard Promises”
10. “The KKK Took My Baby Away” / "The Seeker" BOTH OF WHICH ARE VALID ANSWERS!!