Top 10 Albums of 2010: American Slang - The Galight Anthem

Best Song: The Diamond Church Street Choir

Track List
1. American Slang
2. Stay Lucky
3. Bring It On
4. The Diamond Church Street Choir
5. The Queen of Lower Chelsea
6. Orphans
7. Boxer
8. Old Haunts
9. The Spirit of Jazz
10. We Did It When We Were Young


Before this album I was never a big fan of The Gaslight Anthem. Their influence from Bruce Springsteen is pretty obvious but on The ’59 Sound they end up sounding like the middle point between The Hold Steady and The Killers, two other Springsteen disciples. There is nothing wrong with this sound (“Here’s Looking at You, Kid” was a great song) its just that I would rather listen to the bands that make up their sound.

American Slang works to forge a new identity for the band. The decide to leave the harder punkish sound to The Hold Steady and the spacey echoing sound to The Killers and instead pick the middle speed semi loud rock that Springsteen really excelled at. Turns out The Gaslight Anthem excels at them too. The title track sets the quality of all that follow a great anthem that I could here working in an arena better then any other venue. It just feels so big. The best song here is “The Diamond Church Street Choir”. It feels extremely old school with a pure Rock ‘n Roll pattern and sure enough a Choir in the middle of the song hidden for those who want to notice.

There is really only one downside to this album. Just like most albums by their idol; diversity is not the spice of life. It is hard to talk about each song because they all meld together. But as a cohesive whole or taken individually each track is worth something. Try playing it while driving to get the best effect from the songs.

Now we talked about a sound track and a very traditional rock album. But next we will start to get into more experimental and unusual sounds when we continue our list in 2011, Happy New Years everyone!

Top 10 Albums of 2010: #10 Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Best Song Soundtrack: Garbage Truck
Best Song Score : Katayanagi Twins vs. Sex Bob-Omb

Soundtrack Track List:

1. We Are Sex Bob-Omb
2. Scott Pilgrim
3. I Heard Ramona Sing
4. By Your Side
5. O Katrina!
6. I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad
7. We Hate You Please Die
8. Garbage Truck
9. Teenage Dream
10. Sleazy Bed Track
11. It's Getting Boring by the Sea
12. Black Sheep
13. Threshold
14. Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl
15. Under My Thumb
16. Ramona (Acoustic Version)
17. Ramona
18. Summertime
19. Threshold (8 Bit)

Score Track List: Oh, just go check Wikipedia before this gets ridiculous

Technically this is two albums but who cares. Scott Pilgrim was a fantastic and fun movie, and a large part of that had to do the movie’s score and soundtrack. Both fit perfectly in context but the test of a good soundtrack is how well it works out of the frames of the movie. This is a test that both pass exemplary.

Now lets take a quick look at the score first. It was primarily written and arranged by Nigel Godrich, an extremely talented producer/engineer who has worked with Radiohead, Pavement, Paul McCartney, and R.E.M. Each piece is a complete composition, a strength that many movie scores fall short on. But each track here portrays a mood that flows into the next. My favorite in this department are “Love Me Some Walking” “The Vegan” and “Bass Battle”. But even if you don’t like scores there are a couple of essentials even for you. “Slick (Patel’s Song)” is complete fun combining a Middle Eastern style of sitars and strings with some great 16-bit video game runs sprinkled through out. Another essential is the great electronica vs. punk “Katayanagi Twins vs. Sex Bob-Omb”, which is the best version of the song “Threshold” on both albums (and trust me there are a LOT of different versions).

The Soundtrack while having even more highlights does also have the misfortune of having some songs that just don’t work out of the movie. Both versions of “Ramona” just aren’t worth my time and bore me without the visuals to help them along. It also doesn’t help that they have the song Beck was emulating earlier on the album. “Teenage Dream” is one of T. Rex’s best with the mid-tempo and light tone with a slight reverb to everything to make this fantastic echo. And I hate to break it to Beck but he is no Marc Bolan and “Ramona” just plods along with an acoustic tone you have heard a thousand times before.

So Beck may have fallen short on his performance on the album, but his writing is extremely strong. If you see the name Sex Bob-Omb listed as the artist it is a must listen. Every one of them is a dirty, riff driven, garage rock standouts. Out of all of them “Garbage Truck” is my personal favorite followed by “Summertime”. “Threshold” is great in any form but I feel the “original” is actually the weakest (as I said the best version is on the score, but the soundtrack also has an 8-bit version).

As for none Sex-Bob-Omb songs we get the fantastic New Wave song “Black Sheep” from Metric. Then there are the two classic rock interruptions (the aforementioned “Teenage Dream” and the Rolling Stones “Under My Thumb”) that break the flow just as I am getting sick of the very hipster feel.

The fact that such great albums as these merely take the number 10 spot just shows what a great year for music 2010 has been. So tune in next time as we climb the ladder towards #1.

2010 In Review: Top 10 Covers

As you may well know I am a huge fan of covers. I think they are a perfect way to get into new acts and to be introduced to new songs/band through your favorite artists. These are the covers that I think are the absolute best of the year. You will notice a lack of ironic indie acts covering pop songs on this list. That is because sincerity is what catches my eye more often then not. Plus how many solo acoustic covers of “Bad Romance” do we really need?

1.) Summertime – Brian Wilson

 Janis Joplin version

Now I will be talking about the album this is off of a little later, but this song is something special. It is a pretty commonly covered song that has been preformed by Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke and perhaps most famously by Janis Joplin. But you can take all those versions and throw them to the wayside. This is the definitive version of the song, the well placed orchestra, light jazz piano and restrained vocal delivery really drive it home.

2.) My Body is a Cage – Peter Gabriel

Original

I actually heard this version before hearing the Arcade Fire original, and a result of that is I hate the original. It just sounds so weak and distant when compared to this monster. Most artist who use a string section bring them in to play a simple and basic part. Peter Gabriel lets them be a symphony, slowly building tension before bursting out in all its fury. This cover could work as a classical piece and that is where its real strength lies.

3.) In Germany Before The War – The Extra Lens

Original

The last thing I expected to find on this John Darnielle side project was a cover of a Randy Newman Song. What I expected even less was for this cover to be the best song on the album, Undercard is a good album but certainly isn’t excellent. The accordion is what makes the song, accentuating the distant sadness of the song. It just feels my mind with an image of the story teller gazing off with glazed grey eyes absentmindedly play the insurment. Just beautiful.

4.) Let’s Call the whole thing off – Brian Wilson

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

This one is just fun. Most people have heard some version of this Gershwin song before, even if only the time Christopher Walken did it on SNL. Again this is probably my favorite version; it is just a rollicking good time that puts a smile on your face.

5.) Fuck You – William Shatner

Original

Once again this is just fun. It is live and delivered with that usual later life Shatner vocal delivery. If you like Has Been you will love this cover. It is played up and over the top which makes it all the better.

6.) Power of the Heart – Peter Gabriel

Original

Now after that little fun interlude we get another powerful orchestral cover by Peter Gabriel, this time of one of my favorite Lou Reed songs. Again the strings are excellent, and the vocal delivery just breaks my heart.

7.) Bulletproof – Steel Train

Original

When you hear an indie band cover a dance song you expect it to be an ironic cover. Well Steel Train is special. They take this excellent La Roux song and make a version that isn’t poking fun at it, or pointing out some flaw in the lyrics or melody. The are covering it to pay homage/put there own spin on a song the love. The focus on acoustic instruments with spare electric lines throughout is a brilliant stroke

.8.) Turnpike Ghost – Tegan and Sara

Original

Speaking of Steel Train, they came out with an album this year. And (more importantly to this post) came out with a companion album which had every song from the album covered by a female artist. Now all the covers are good, but only one is as good if not better then the original song. They slow it down a little and using an electronic backing that is catchy beyond belief.

9.) Solsbury Hill- Lou Reed

Original

In return for Peter Gabriel covering my favorite Lou Reed song, Lou Reed covers my favorite Peter Gabriel song. But unlike Gabriel, Reed’s cover doesn’t equal the original. It is still an interesting listen. It has been completely transformed into a Lou Reed song full of distortion and feedback that plods along at a hypnotizing pace.

10.) You’ve Got a Friend in Me –Gipsy Kings

Original

Another Randy Newman cover. The Gipsy Kings covered this song for Toy Story 3 (which is my favorite film of the year). It is quick catchy and done in that flamenco style that the Gipsy Kings do so well.

2010 in Review: Disappointments

Well we talked about some of the good now lets hit the bad. There isn’t really a whole lot to go here most albums that came out this year have been good to amazing, even still there are a few that just didn’t hit the mark.

Recovery – Eminem

As much as I talked about how much rap has finally penetrated my listening habits, I still don’t like Eminem. Sure he has a couple of good track but the rest of his stuff is just bad. Now that means that this album wouldn’t really be a disappointment, except that everyone was raving about how great it was. I heard everything from “his best album ever” to “finally got me into Eminem/rap”. So I figured what the hell…what a bad idea on my part. There is only one good song on the entire album “Love the Way You Lie” and that has more to do with producer Alex da Kid then Eminem. Every other song either bores me or grates my ears.

Lady Killer – Celo Green

How did he mess up so badly? The internet favorite “Fuck You” is a brilliant song that sounds like it belongs on Stevie Wonders Songs in the Key of Life (except for the lyrics content of course). The rest of the album is taken up with mediocre to awful faux Motown sensibilities. And since most people would argue that Motown was mostly made of false sentiment when I call this fake Motown you know we are in deep shit. When any song comes up besides “Fuck You” I have to wonder to myself; why am I not just listening to Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye or the Temptations.

Lawrence of Euphoria – Beck

The last two were bad albums with one good song on it. This is a good album with one song that disappoints me so much that it almost ruins the entire thing. This is from Beck’s Record Club where Beck got together with Wilco, Fiest, and Jamie Lidell and covered every track from one of my favorite albums, OAR by Alexander “Skip” Spence. They do a pretty good job on every song except for one, one that happens to be my personal favorite. The original “Lawrence of Euphoria” is only 1:31 and is a manic acoustic tune barely in tune with a jangle that captivates. So Beck and Co. extend it to 5:18 and make it a stripped down dance tune that doesn’t succeed at being a good tribute or a good dance song.



Contra – Vampire Weekend


Out of all the albums in this post this one isn’t actually bad, but it still ends up being the most disappointing. The main problem is Vampire Weekend’s debut was nothing short of brilliant, and Contra is just good. I talked about this album before but what it really boils down to it the song writing has taken a hit. They feel like they just tried to use an electronic sound to mask the fact that these songs just didn’t hit the level they did on their debut. They even do it on songs when without the digital sound they would be amazing. I like the song “California English” but with out the autotune it would be brilliant. Once again this album isn’t bad, but it certainly doesn’t have me excited to see what they do next like Vampire Weekend did.

2010 in Review: Surprises

The year is coming to a close and all the albums that are on my radar are out. So it is time to look back at the gold and shit from 2010. Now going into this year there were several acts that I knew where coming out with albums that I was excited for and expected to be excellent, but even with all these treats waiting I managed to stumble onto somethings that surprised me. These are artists or albums that I had never heard of or albums that I thought were going to suck that were actually good or maybe even great.

I won’t be going into great detail here on most albums since some of them will be included in my Best albums of the Year list and others I have little more to say then “It is worth a listen/skip it”

Rap/hip-hop

This year is the first to convince me that rap albums are worth owning. Let me elaborate. For a long time I hated rap, there was nothing you could do to get me to listen to this shit people were passing for music. In fact until this year I could count the rap albums I owned on one hand (Nerdcore Rising, Secret from the Future, Fight with Tools, 3Feet High and Rising, Demon Days). As my opinion started to soften I began to consider rap artist as single based acts, a fact that is basically true for many acts. There just weren’t any hip-hop acts that I wanted a full album from unless you were MC Frontalot, The Flobots, or Gorillaz.

2010 has changed all that. Sure I got good albums from both MC Frontalot and The Flobots, and an excellent one from Gorillaz, but that wasn’t the defining moment that started my new hip-hop awakening. That came from B.o.B.‘s debut “B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray”. Now I don’t want to talk too much about this album here, but it caught my attention. It was a great example of how close the line between those who consider themselves “street” and geeks has been blurred. And it was through this album that I discovered another breakout artist of 2010.

Janelle Monáe probably shouldn’t be in the hip-hop section because she is so much bigger than that. Again I don’t want to get to deep into it here but she is and artist who gives me hope for the artistry of album making and the ambition of concepts.

Now after talking about two artist that I can’t really get into yet lets talk about the biggest surprise of the year Kanye West. With all the stupid build ups and stunts to it, “My Dark Twisted Fantasy” should have sucked. And the first taste of it certainly didn’t help. Runaway was the first song people heard, along with a 30min mini movie music video for it. I will link to neither since they are both abysmal. So when the album came out I got it with plans of tearing it a new one…too bad it is an amazing album. Not a single song is truly bad except for “Runaway”. In fact “All of the Lights” is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Another established rap act that I just discovered is Sage Francis. His new album “Li(f)e” is a marriage between rap and indie rock in a way that will turn off the more hardcore fans of either genre, but for me this is like peanut butter and chocolate together at last. The best track of this is “Best of Times”, it made me cry the first time I listened to it. It is just a very powerful songs for someone who grew up as kind of an outsider in school.

Collaborations

Another aspect of this year’s music is how many artists have collaborated with good results. Now one would think when two great acts get together they should be able to spin straw into gold, but more often it just doesn’t happen. Every hear Eric Clapton’s album with B.B. King? But this year gave us a great set of collaborations.

There is Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Strokes form Broken Bells, Jim Bryson And The Weakerthans release “Falcon Lake Incident”, David Bryne and Fatboy Slim come out with “Here Lies Love” with a plethora of guest vocalists, Ben Folds and Nick Hornby’s “Lonely Avenue”, John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno putting out an Extra Lens album “Undercard”, and Elton John and Leon Russell give us “The Union”. Every album one of these albums is at least good and several of them are amazing.

Veterans

The acts that people consider musical dinosaurs seem to all either fall into a pattern or fall to banality and never escape. But there has been some truly amazing music from some so called Dinosaurs. Both Peter Gabriel and Brian Wilson came out with one of the best albums of the year. We also got a very interesting statement from Devo, who, after years of preaching DIY mentality release a completely market tested album, with fans choosing everything from the songs on the album to the color of their hats. It is a really fascinating move and I suggest anyone who is interested in the music industry look into it. Other old acts with good albums this year include Iron Madien, Joe Satriani, Santana, and Peter Wolf.

They're still around?

So what about the bands that seem to have disappeared from the main public view? Well this year say releases from Barenaked Ladies, Shonen Knife, James, Jakob Dylan, and The Crash Test Dummies. The Crash Test Dummies album “Oooh La La” is especially interesting, the album is based around old analog toy synthesizers. You would think a gimmick like that would overpower and album, but listen to the opener “Songbird” and tell me if you spot a gimmick.

So over all this has been a really great year for music that is both accessible and ambitious. I will go into this more once I get to talking about specific albums, but before we get there we have one more stop. Like I said overall 2010 has been a great year for music fans full of more good then bad…which doesn’t mean the bad doesn’t exist. Next time I will take you through my biggest disappointments of 2010, which albums just didn’t meet expectations.

Before Art and After Science: Generative Music

My Updates have really be taking a hit recently as I am wrapping up the semester at school. So in place of an album review I am posting a paper I wrote on the topic of Generative Music. Hopefully you find it interesting. I will be done with finals on the 17th so once those are over I will start reflecting on the past year of music.

Before Art and After Science: Generative Music

-William Leetch

            Music has always been set in stone. Even a live performance, something most would consider the most pliable form of the art, is limited in scope by the way the song was written, but what if that didn’t need to be the case? Through the innovations of composers and musicians, such as Terry Riley and Brian Eno, the ever changing art of Generative (also known as procedural) Music has been formed. Generative Music is the next step in the evolution of music and will be a crucial tool for pushing the boundaries of the art-form.
            What exactly is Generative Music? It is the idea that a piece of music can go on eternally changing all the time. It is an idea that has been around for quite a while. Terry Riley is considered one of the most influential and innovative minimalist composers of all time, and his piece In C is one of the first showcases of the idea of Generative Music, before it was called Generative Music. The piece consists of fifty-two bars of music; now on a normal piece the musician would just play those bars and then be done, but not on In C. Each musician is supposed to play each bar until they feel like moving on to the next one. For example the musician might like playing bar one a lot and proceed to play it thirty times, but once they move on to bar two they might find they hate it so they will only play it three times (Eno). With each individual performer or conductor choosing a different number of times to go through each bar the songs will never be performed exactly the same way twice, and that, in a nut shell, is the idea behind generative music. In C is also one of the few non-digital examples of procedural music.
            Another example of analog generative music is Steve Reich’s It’s Gonna Rain. The piece consists of two identical recordings of a preacher repeating the phrase “it’s gonna rain” played on two different tape machines. Due to the inconsistencies present in the analog equipment the recordings begin to fall out of sync. This process changes the way the songs are perceived; as the sounds change. In Brian Eno’s words, “They start to sound like an echo. Then they sound like a cannon, and gradually they start to sound like all sorts of things.” (Eno)
            It is hard not to immediately think ‘computer’ when the word procedural is uttered; which makes it very fortunate that the roots of modern generative music lay in screen savers. Musician and famed producer Brian Eno, the man who is the crux of all things ambient in music, had discovered this screensaver called Stained Glass. What the screen saver did was take an image and “then it sucks them out, multiplies them, chops them about, collages them together in different ways” (Eno). Eno then realized that if he placed another screensaver into Stained Glass as the source image he could create very basic, but fascinating, generative paintings. Eno saw this as a realization of one of his own goals, creating art that never ended. (“B.E. In Con”)
            Eno has stated on multiple occasions that the fact that a record never changes (and has drastic jumps in mood) started to irk him. He solved the latter with his innovation in ambient music which he discovered when someone put a record on to softly during a rainstorm when he was bed ridden (Amirkhanian). Now to fix the former he needed to turn to more computer literate people. Most innovations have two parts: the idea, the shoe maker, and the execution, the elves. Eno is the shoe maker and he just needed his elves. He found them in the British company Sseyo. Sseyo developed procedural software that allowed the user to make a generative song with the preinstalled instruments. The user adjusts the delay and the scale that they wish to use and then the program creates it for the artist. (Eno)
            One of the greatest innovations of procedural music is the way it allows those without musical talent to produce for their own amusement and pleasure. On the iPad there is an app called Bloom. Bloom allows the user to create songs using different moods, simply by touching the screen in different places. A higher point in the screen produces a higher pitch. This creates an interesting bridge in the divide between creator and consumer in the world of ambient music, which has been the goal of that type of music all along.
            So the next question is, what does all this mean to those not interested music creation as an art? In comes Lauri Gröhn, a physicist behind the program Synestesia. The purpose of this program is to generate, using some very complex math, a piece of music for a painting or photo. This allows an artist to exhibit their art with a musical backing without the need for licensing music. Like Bloom, Synestesia is a way for amateurs to work at the same level as pros.
            The most interesting question, one that seems to be on the horizon but has not become fully articulated is, when does this cease to be a form of art? If this progresses further will there be any need for musicians or will mathematicians fill the role just fine? Both are valid questions, and both are curmudgeonly conservative. Anyone who wants to look to the future needs to find a way to adapt to, instead of denounce, new technology. The truly great will always find a way to place their personality in their work; they will find a way to make this new form of music, as Brian Eno put it, “Familiar and new […] like watching a river” (“B.E. In Con”).

Works Cited

Amirkhanian, Charles. “Brian Eno Part 1.” Latest Speaking of Music Rewind podcast from the Exploratorium. 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 27 July 2010.

“Brian Eno In Conversation.” Artscape. ABC, 21 July 2009. Web. 28 July 2010.

Eno, Brian. “Generative Music.” Imagination Conference. San Francisco. 8 June 1996 Web. 27 July 2010

Gröhn, Lauri. "Lauri Gröhn: Translation of the Text "Musiikkia Kuvista 2003", 12.12.2003." Synestesia Software Music: Copyright 2001-2007 by Lauri Gröhn; Synestesia Music Generated from Pictures. 12 Dec. 2003. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .

Mitts, Håkan. "Interview with Lauri Gröhn – Listen to Your Images!
The 3 Inch Canvas." The 3 Inch Canvas
Dedicated to Promoting Art on Mobiles. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. .

#41 The Sunset Tree/ So You Want To Get Into...The Mountain Goats Part 3

Best Song: Dilauded vs Dance Music

Track List:

1.) You or Your Memory
2.) Broom People
3.) This Year
4.) Dilaudid
5.) Dance Music
6.) Dinu Lipatti’s Bones
7.) Up The Wolves
8.) Lion’s Teeth
9.) Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod
10.) Magpie
11.) Song for Dennis Brown
12.) Love Love Love
13.) Pale Green Things

Yes this post is serving two masters. Not only is this the next step of my journey through The Mountain Goats; it is also one of my favorite albums. The timing worked out extremely well… almost as if I had planned it! (wink, wink)

When I first heard this album my mind rebelled against liking it, and looking back I can’t reconstruct my reasoning. Was it the personal tone of the record? The theme of abuse? Or more realistically was it the fact that I didn’t think about the lyrics at all? If I had to guess it would probably be the last point. When you get right down to it without the lyrics this album is just good, with them it is brilliant.

Because the best way to describe The Sunset Tree is as the best book that I have never read. Every story told is beautifully blunt and cathartic. From the drunken youthful angst of “This Year” to the savage revenge dreamed in “Lion’s Teeth” to the distant sorrow expressed in “Pale Green Things”. Every word is in the right place.

Not that this album doesn’t work well musically either. It contains John Darnielle’s greatest work as a composer: “Dilauded”. This is the song that made me think that maybe The Mountain Goats were worth my while. The desperation expressed in the lyrics and vocal delivery are only matched by the driving strings. This song can only be matched by the one it flow into. “Dance Music” is all about escapism. The juxtaposition of the terrible scene depicted with the upbeat piano driven music of the song is captivating. But still the feeling that one can hide in their favorite music is one that even the happiest most well adjusted person can relate to, it is the emotional in for the album.

Now unfortunately we get the only stinker on the album after those two master pieces. “Dinu Lipatti’s Bones” isn’t a bad song, in fact I would love it…except for the fact that the vocals repel me like it’s a can of Raid. I won’t get into it here because my problem with this song is much better represented on Get Lonely which is the next album I will talk about.

The Sunset Tree is the greatest thing to ever come out of John Darnielle’s brain. It is his magnum opus and I doubt he will ever top it. He certainly didn’t with the next album he came out with.

Till next time.

So You Want to get into…The Mountain Goats Part 2

Part 1


Life of the World to Come

Best Song: Hebrew 11:40

1.) 1 Samuel 15:23
2.) Psalms 40:2
3.) Genesis 3:23
4.) Philippians 3:20-21
5.) Hebrews 11:40
6.) Genesis 30:3
7.) Romans 10:9
8.) 1 John 4:16
9.) Matthew 25:21
10.) Deuteronomy 2:10
11.) Isaiah 45:23
12.) Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

So after my opinion of the Mountain Goats was sofftened by Heretic Pride, I had to get his newest release when it came out. And wouldn’t you know I really liked it. It was way more consistent then Heretic Pride, keeping me interested throughout its entire span. This was actually one of the first albums I talked about on this site, almost a year ago in my Top Albums of 2009 posts. Listening to it again my opinion has not changed much. “Hebrews 11:40” is still one of the best songs that John Darinelle has ever written. It showcases everything he is good at. Amazing arrangement of strings, interesting percussion, and a vocal delivery that sounds detached and distant, which ups the effectiveness of the song by a great deal.

“1 Samuel 15:23” still bores the hell out of me. If it wasn’t for the fact that some earlier albums have strong openers, I would guess that I would just hate all Mountain Goats openers based on Heretic Pride and The Life of the World to Come. The only other bad song on the album is “Deuteronomy”; in fact this is the only place where my opinion has changed. I used to let “Dueteronomy” go based solely on the emotion behind it, but I don’t even let it pass on that any more. When it comes down to it the song just drags on and on never drawing me in and never playing with my emotions.

Other then that the entire album is made up of good songs, few really stand out but I really have a special place for this album in my journey through the world of John Darnielle. It is because of The Life of the World to Come I chose to delve back into the Mountain Goats discography. My next stop would be a great one, to the best album in The Mountain Goats discography. I am of course talking about….

…To Be Continued

#42 Who's Next

Best Song: Baba O'Riley

1.) Baba O'Riley
2.) Bargain
3.) Love Ain't For Keeping
4.) My Wife
5.) The Song Is Over
6.) Getting In Tune
7.) Going Mobile
8.) Behind Blue Eyes
9.) Won't Get Fooled Again


Who's Next is a masterpiece with one flaw. All the songs are over shadowed by the opener. Not only is “Baba O'riley” the best song on the album, it is one of the best songs ever written. The synth loop was ground breaking and avoids the usual dated feel that comes with most synths. The song manages to send chills down my spine every time I listen to it. The synth comes in and I am anticipating the drums and bass. Then I am waiting for the vocals to burst in with Daltrey's signature roar. The guitar is really just the icing on the cake at this point. One of the things that makes the song is how minimal the song is, while still being an arena shaking tune. Every arena band after The Who wishes they could have a song like this in their catalog and not a single one comes close.

But like I said after "Baba O'Riley" nothing seems quite as good till the last three songs pick it up again. That doesn't make the rest of the songs bad, just underwhelming. Both "Bargain" and "Love Ain't for Keeping" are two great songs that showcase the musicianship of the band just fine. "My Wife" is our John Entwistle song on the album and is one of his best. It is a little dark like all his songs, but it showcases his arrangement skills more then anything else. The interplay between the bass and drums is certainly the main focus of the song, as it often is with The Who. The guitar is there to keep everything together, bass, drum, piano, and horns all can use it as their time keeper.

"The Song Is Over" is a little pretentious and the synth part seems a little dated so if you where going to pass on one song it would be this one."Getting in Tune" on the other hand is one of those songs about music full of comparisons between music and life. Not only is he getting in tune with the song but with life. Just like all of the songs the rhythm section makes the song reach another level. John Entwislte is my favorite bassist, and Keith moon is my favorite drummers. They both knew how to keep their parts interesting without going off track with pointless fills and solos.

Of course now I can really get pumped again, "Going Mobile" is almost as good as "Baba O'riley". I love the acoustic guitar part that feels like it is being played by Pete Townshend sitting in the passenger seat of a car with his feet out the window. The entire songs succeeds in filling the mind with images of traveling, making it one of my favorite songs to listen to in my car. "I'm an air-conditioned gypsy." is probably my favorite line on the entire album. "Behind Blue Eyes" is all about the slow build. I have heard people complain about the arena rock bridge almost ruining the song. This is the exact opposite of the truth. "Behind Blue Eyes" needs the full arch to make it work. It needs to build dissipate and resolve so it can stand alone and appear to be attached to the final song. A lot of penultimate songs suffer the fate of being considered an intro to the closer and "Behind Blue Eyes" avoids that.

And what a closer we have! "Won't Get Fooled Again" is over 8min long but never once feels like it is over staying it's welcome. Well maybe a little during the guitar solo but it earns that little indulgence with the main body of the song. Rebellious to the core but in a call to arms to be savvy, not to just follow because they are told to. Who's Next fell in a string of classic albums by The Who that started with The Who Sell Out and ended with Quaraphenia. Who's Next is merely the third best of these four classics, what are the next two? We will just have to wait and see won't we...

So You Want to get into…The Mountain Goats Part 1

So I was reading over my Frank Zappa post and I think I realize the problem, I tried to put too much into one post. So from now on this feature will be a multipart chronicle of my own personal journey through an artist catalog. So with no further ado let’s begin

Heretic Pride

Best Song: San Bernardino

1.) Sax Rohmer #1
2.) San Bernardino
3.) Heretic Pride
4.) Autoclave
5.) New Zion
6.) So Desperate
7.) In the Craters on the Moon
8.) Lovecraft in Brooklyn
9.) Tianchi Lake
10.) How to Embrace a Swamp Creature
11.) Marduk T-Shirt Men’s Room Incident
12.) Sept 15th 1983
13.) Michael Myers Resplendent

When I was first introduced to The Mountains Goats I hated them. I was not a fan of lo-fi and wasn’t interested enough in the lyrics to let them lift the song. While John Darnielle does a good job at tugging at your emotions and it a great writer, he will never be my personal savior or my favorite lyricist. It was a couple of years after that initial taste, while getting some music from my sister, that I first heard “Dilauded” off Sunset Tree. I asked her “If he can write songs like this why doesn’t he do it more often?” I was immediately directed to get Heretic Pride.

Heretic Pride is without a doubt the place to start if you don’t like lo-fi (If you love lo-fi more then anything you may want to avoid this one at first). The use of strings is near perfect through-out but it suffers from a songwriting perspective as compared to his earlier stuff. I tend to lose focus about halfway through the album and really have trouble remembering how the later songs go. I could also do without the opener. “Sax Rohmer #1”. Its not that it is bad, it is just an inferior version of “Autoclave”: Same acoustic pattern, same vocal delivery, but the lyrical hook for “Autoclave” makes “Sax Rohmer #1” completely superfluous.

The highlights are what make this album worth it thought. Both the title track and “San Bernardino” are among my favorites Darnielle has ever written. “Heretic Pride” uses the upbeat music and vocal delivery as the perfect foil to the scene in the lyrics of the heretic being burned. “San Bernardino” is…just beautiful. The drawn-out and pizzicato strings, the rolling guitar, and the best lyrics on the record. It is a masterpiece. “New Zion” is the poppiest thing on the album, a great song to sway to, and full of stray guitar lines. “So Desperate” is a very simple song; nothing but guitar, voice, and some pizzicato strings. It is the perfect song to close the album on…

But wait a minute, THERE ARE SEVEN MORE SONGS!!! Well not for me there isn’t. I just lose all will to keep listening after “So Desperate”. Which really isn’t fair since at least one of these songs is the best on the album. “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” is just as good a song as my other favorites, and is one of the rare opportunities to really see Darnielle ROCK. But because I am done with the album by this point I don’t think of it as being off Heretic Pride. To me it like a single and not part of the whole.

So despite this album only keeping me interested half of the time I give it a good and hearty recommendation, if only because once you assimilate Heretic Pride you are ready to start reaching into the brilliant encyclopedia of songs by John Darnielle. But before we delve back lets take another step forward for the smooth transition between this and the older work.

Next time on So You Want to get into the Mountain Goats: Life of the World to Come

#43 Aerial Ballet

Best Song: One

1.) Daddy’s Song
2.) Good Old Desk
3.) Don’t Leave Me
4.) Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song
5.) Little Cowboy
6.) Together
7.) Everybody’s Talkin’
8.) I Said Good Bye to Me
9.) Little Cowboy (reprise)
10.) Mr. Tinker
11.) One
12.) The Weeping Willow
13.) Bath


Ah Harry Nilsson, one of my absolute favorites. Beyond creating amazing music, he was simply a fascinating person. He would follow up his biggest commercial hit with an album full of bluntness and profanity, only to follow that album with an album of Hollywood standards. A real anomaly in the music world it is nice to still feel his echo in some indie bands today.

Ariel Ballet starts with the very bouncy “Daddy’s Song” which immediately sets the tone for the first half of the album, with amazing vocal overlays that showcase Nilsson’s confidence in his voice. This is followed by the greatest ode to a piece of furniture ever “Good Old Desk”. Harry Nilsson once joked that the song was actually about the initials of the song, G.O.D; but had to constantly tell people that it was a joke. Another treat is “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song” a story of a pop star that goes from famous to washed up but still loved. The vocal wah-wahs at the end are my favorite on the whole record. If you are wondering about the weird title on this one, well it has a simple explanation. Mr. Richland was a music publisher and this was his favorite song on the album.

“Little Cowboy” is actually a lullaby that Nilsson’s mother used to sing to him which it just sweet. “Together” is an anthemic song that serves as the side closer if you are listening to this on vinyl. Even with out that physical break, it still represents the end on the good times of the first half with its final line.

The second half start extremely strong one track that everyone probably knows already, a cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”. There is no doubt that this is the definitive version of the song, the rollicking upbeat guitar is the perfect foil for the subtle darkness of the lyrics. “Mr. Tinker” is another story of a has-been but unlike the singer in “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song” the tailor is no longer needed.

After the depression of “Mr. Tinker” we get treated to the greatest song about loneliness ever written. “One” is among the best songs Harry Nilsson ever wrote. The simplicity of the piano is what makes it. What is the perfect amount of notes to represent feeling lonely? Why one of course. It also has the most profound line on the record, “Two is just as bad as one it’s the loneliest number since the number one”; suggesting that it takes more then just being with someone to be happy. Unfortunatly we do get a small let down in the final track. “Bath” isn’t bad; it just feels like a fake Hollywoodish ending after all the depression of the second half. If you don’t mind tinkering with the artistic vision of an album I would suggest changing it on you MP3 player so “Bath” starts the album instead of ends it. This won’t be the last we here from Harry Nilsson, oh no. This is the first of four on the list.

Brandon Flowers: Flamingo

Best Song: Swallow It

1. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
2. Only the Young
3. Hard Enough
4. Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts
5. Playing With Fire
6. Was It Something I Said?
7. Magdalena
8. Crossfire
9. On the Floor
10. Swallow It

Deluxe Edition
11. The Clock Was Tickin'
12. Jacksonville
13. I Came Here to Get Over You
14. Right Behind You

Looking at his recent output, it is increasingly impossible to pin Brandon Flowers as the guy who wrote that good but not great song “Somebody Told Me” that launched The Killers into the public eye. He is one of the few songwriters today who seems to understand what is working the best for him at any given moment. You can map a clear evolution from Hot Fuss to Sam’s Town through songs like the title track on the latter. Then through the song “Read My Mind” you can see the beginnings of Day & Age. And once you get there you get Flamingo.

Flamingo makes one thing clear; picking up a Brandon Flowers solo record is going to be just like picking up a Tom Petty solo album. The only real difference is the lack of band members to balance out personal tastes. So while Tom Petty without the Heartbreakers goes full Dylan, Brandon Flowers without The Killers goes full New Order.

Now this may not be a popular opinion but I think this would be a great direction to take The Killers in, and for one reason. Day & Age was without a doubt The Killers best on a song by song basis, but as an album it has trouble. You just get lost amoungst the spaciness of it all. Flamingo, on the other hand, has the cohesion of Sam’s Town with a sound closer to Day & Age.

The opening track “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” is a great start and firmly sets the tone, this is an American album. And this doesn’t sit well with some people, usually the same people who hated Sam’s Town. The sound is so very from British bands (except the couple of countryish elements) so how dare he, a Las Vegas born man, incorporate his own experience into the music. Yeah I don’t find this opinion at all valid. There is no longer a split between US and UK sounds. There hasn’t been for a long time.

After “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” we have another highlight. Hell I could just go through and name every song since everyone is a highlight. Instead I am only going to mention a few. “Only the Young” is the song I would probably use to introduce people to the album. It is a very poopy slow burning song. The absolute best song is the closer “Swallow It”. A meditative song about taking your time and not trying to do to much at once. If there is one songs the rest of The Killers wished they had tied to the name my guess is it would be this one.

Now I know Deluxe Editions of albums can be tricky business, some are worthless and some are priceless. Flamingo falls neatly into the latter. Seriously I can’t imagine not have these songs on this album. “I Came Here To Get Over You” could practically BE a New Order song and “Jacksonville” sounds like an elctronicfied Joy Division track. The best of them is “The Clock was Tickin’”. It is a great country song in fact if more country songs sounded like this then country wouldn’t get such a bad reputation from mainstream listeners.

So Final Verdict on the ablum is a big and hearty Thumbs Up!

So You Want to get Into...Frank Zappa

In this new feature I will advice new listeners how to beginning listening to difficult artist to get into. And I am not starting small. Frank Zappa has one of the most difficult discographies in all of rock music. Scratch that all of music in general.

Unlike British invasion bands whose difficulty usually derives from American basteradization of albums, Zappa’s difficulty is from the pure size of his discography. I doubt there is a single person out there who has heard all of Zappa’s studio and live albums, including the man himself due to a surplus of posthumous releases.

Once we get past the size we come to the next problem: the content. Zappa will follow a completely instrumental experimental album with an album of doo-wop. It can be really frustrating for fans of either as they dig deeper. I know a few people whose Zappa journey went like this “Oh Zappa he is the jazz-fusion guy I like his stuff…what is this doo-wop shit?”

Now one more thing before we get to my actual suggestions for albums (told you I didn’t start small). If you are easily offended by foul language, dirty humor, political incorrectness and general smuttiness then turn back now. Beyond maybe the song “Joe’s Garage” Zappa is not the man for you and I just saved you from getting offended by a dead man.

So now those I haven’t scared away lets begin…

…with a three part rock opera. The album “Joe’s Garage” may seem intimidating at first but two things make it accessible. First is the music is relatively simple for Zappa. Second the plot is extremely easy to follow for a rock opera. The title track even gets some radio play which is fitting since it is the best song from the album. “Catholic Girls” and “Fembot In A Wet T-Shirt” are two other standouts with the rest of the album being of equal quality.

From “Joe’s Garage” the next album on your list should be either “We’re Only In It For The Money” or “You Are What You Is”. Both are Zappa’s masterpieces. Both have great social commentary with some amazing music. “We’re Only In It For The Money” is Frank Zappa’s lampooning 60’s culture especially the hippie counter-culture. Best song there are “What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?” and “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dane”. “You Are What You Is” is basically one big standout being my personal favorite Zappa album. Pay special attention to the title track and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”.

From here you are on your own. When ever you pick up a new Zappa album you are playing the lottery. As a helpful hint I like “Sheik Yerbouti” and “Freak Out!” but would avoid “Lumpy Gravy”

#44 Guitar Monsters

Best Song: Brazil

1.) Limehouse Blues
2.) I Want to be Happy
3.) Over the Rainbow
4.) Meditation
5.) Lazy River
6.) I'm Your Greatest Fan
7.) It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)
8.) I Surrender Dear
9.) Brazil
10.) Give My Love to Nell
11.) Hot Toddy


I was going to start by saying that Les Paul and Chet Atkins where the greatest early era guitar players, but that isn’t right. Les Paul and Chet Atkins are two of the best guitarist to every live. And Guitar Monsters, their second collaborative album, displays this perfectly.

Now I believe I need to clarify something before I move forward. Being a good guitar player does not mean that you can play hundreds of notes per second. Being a good guitar player means not having a single note out of place; it means always getting the right tone for the song. And lastly it means letting the instrument construct a song and not just play for the sake of playing.

Moving on. Guitar Monsters not only displays great technique but is also has a great sense of humor and is just plain fun. The opening two tracks may not be the best but they defiantly set the tone of what the album is about. "Limhouse Blues" is a swinging instrumental that alternates between Les Paul’s ringing runs and Chet Atkins’ twangy licks. "I Want to be Happy" is more of the same but this time with some banter before and during the song that lets you know how relaxed these sessions where. “Dolly Parton is big on TV” “She’s big everywhere isn’t she?”

Their version of Over the Rainbow and Meditation are both fine, nothing fantastic but perfectly listenable. It is with the 4th track Lazy River were it really starts to get good. The jazziest track on the album, it builds slowly till about a minute into the song when the guitars really starting singing, and I mean singing. Who needs a vocalist when you have Les and Chet playing in concert. Next we have I’m You Greatest Fan which is one of the best on the entire record. It has Les Paul and Chet Atkins telling each other that they are the others biggest fan, but pretending they don’t know any songs the other did. Really it is just 4 minutes of two people who admire each other making fun of each other, which is awesome.

"It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)" is a Duke Ellington standard being performed by there two; ‘nuff said. Now before we can move onto my favorite we do need to sit through the one stinker on the album, "I Surrender Dear" isn’t bad, just boring. So, in the context of the album is it a downer. It slows the pace and just makes you want to hit next.

Which is a good Idea considering Brazil is the best song here. The first time I heard a version of this song was in the Terry Gilliam film Brazil (which I highly recommend) and it is probably one of the catchiest, earworm inducing songs ever. And this right here is my favorite version. I am dancing in my chair just thinking about it which I bet makes me seem strange if anyone was watching me.

The last two tracks are both good, "Give My Love to Nell" is the only one that has them singing …which is fine since neither of them have good singing voices, especially since Chet Atkins was in his 50’s and Les Paul was in his 60’s. It is still a charming track, mostly because it is a traditional song so not being able to sing well doesn’t really factor in too much.

Now out of all the records on my favorites list this is one of the ones that I would not be surprised if most people didn’t like it. Being almost all instrumentals will be enough of a turn off for most people, and the fact that it is two old geezers will scare the rest away. But give is a chance…you might be surprised.

#45 Bone Machine

Trying out a new format that works as a cheat sheet to the review. Of course the "Best Song" will stay, but in addition I am including the whole track list. On this list I will make the stand out tracks red and the tracks that are stinkers (to be demonstrated on later albums cause this one doesn't have any) blue. As always I will try and link to audio files/YouTube videos of songs I mention if I can find any. Well, enough of this. On to the review!!!

Best Song: Dirt in the Ground

Track List:
1.) Earth Died Screaming
2.) Dirt in the Ground
3.) Such a Scream
4.) All Stripped Down
5.) Who Are You
6.) The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7.) Jesus Gonna Be Here
8.) A Little Rain
9.) In the Colosseum
10.) Goin' Out West
11.) Murder in the Red Barn
12.) Black Wings
13.) Whistle Down the Wind
14.) I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15.) Let Me Get Up on It
16.) That Feel

Tom Waits is fantastic. Just have to get that out of the way. Once you adjust to his voice and unusual use of percussion and musical tropes from the 30s you will like just about anything he does to some degree. Now Bone Machine isn’t my favorite Waits album but it is the one that I listened to first. I am not going to lie, if you aren’t already a Waits fan it will take some time to get into. This is not an easy album to assimilate; how could it be considering it is THE album about death.

The opener “Earth Died Screaming” is a great indication of what a wild ride you have signed up for. The percussion sounds like rattling bones and the growl used on the song is Waits at his most primal. “Dirt in the Ground” is my personal favorite and has Waits adopting a lamenting falsetto over subtle, and I mean subtle instrumentation. You won’t notice the bells, or the tapping unless you are really listening for it.

“Who Are You” is a sorrowful ballad that can’t be beat and always makes me think of a person looking out at the ocean while on the edge of a cliff during sunset; which works well with the next song “The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me Today”. Now this song is creepy… no not creepy, that is too nice. Terrifying is more appropriate. Try listening to it in the dark with good headphones so it sound like it is coming from your own mind.

“In the Colosseum” is another growling song along the line of “Earth Died Screaming” just as good but more ethereal than earthy which is appropriate. “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” (which was later cover by The Ramones) is a perversion of juvenile acoustic tunes and as such becomes a real highlight. There really are no bad songs on the entire album but there are sixteen songs. That makes it hard to talk about all of them with out rambling. This is the album that introduced me to Tom Waits and I would suggest it as one of two albums as a gateways, probably the more difficult one, into the Waits’ work. What is the other one? Well we will just have to wait and see won’t we.

#46 Really Rosie

Best Song: One was Johnny

The greatest thing Carole King ever did. Now this is a pretty bold statement seeing as Tapestry is one of the most celebrated albums of the singer songwriter movement. Am I really saying it isn’t as good as a children’s album…well of course I am.

Really Rosie is a musical based on the work of Maurice Sendak, who also provides the lyrics. This is really important to note, Carole King DID NOT write the lyrics. Why do I feel the need to stress this? Well, like I said this is a children’s album and King could have easily gotten away with writing trivial and cliché melodies and no one would have noticed or cared. But instead she wrote some truly inspired music to accompany some great story lyrics.

King’s vocal delivery reaches a level of passion and, on some tracks, frenzy that she could only hope to reach on any of her other albums. Screaming and Yelling (could only find a clip online? really?) wouldn’t seem out of place on any other of King’s albums and would be a highlight where ever it showed up. The Ballad of Chicken Soup is a dark song about choking on a chicken bone that has the only line on the entire album that I feel is out of place. “quicker than a winky” just does not work with the tone of the song.

My absolute favorite is the song One Was Johnny. It is one of the shortest but that only works to its advantage. It is a simple count to ten then count backwards concept but the lyrical flow and walking piano really works. Drum fill and funky bass signal the bridge continue to the end bring the song to fruition. Pierre should also not be missed and even though One Was Johnny is my favorite song the end of Pierre represents my favorite moment on the whole record.

#47 Honkey Chateau

Best Song: Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters



Elton John at his very best. Both musically and lyrically Elton John and Bernie Taupin have always had two sides: the fun side that borders on lightweight and the serious side that borders on pretentious. And when it comes right down to it there was a serious problem getting those sides to play nice on a single album…except this one.

I mean the two best known songs (and two of the best) show these polar opposite sides and I don’t question them being on the same disc at all. Honky Cat is a great piece of honky-tonk with some very clever lyrics about being a bum. Rocket Man on the other hand doesn’t need an introduction. Elton’s most well known song and…well you all know it anyways.

The absolute best is Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters which is tied for the best lyrics in an Elton John song (with Good Bye Yellow Brick Road). It is an ode to New York, and who knows if it is praising the city or condemning it. The tickling piano and sparse bass serve as an amazing back drop until the mandolin shows up after the first chorus, which takes the song to a whole new level.

The rest of the songs are all great too. Well Amy is almost bad but it is saved by an exquisite Jean Luc-Ponty electric violin solo. Slave is a great country song showing that the problems with that genre lay with the performers not the genre itself. Also make sure you don’t skip I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself. It features some great juxtaposition between the cheerful music and lines like “I think I’m gonna kill myself/ cause a little suicide” before actually changing to be musically appropriate…for like 20 seconds.

# 48 Les Paul and Friends: American made, world played - Les Paul (and various others)

# 48 Les Paul and Friends: American Made, World Played

Best Song: Fly like an Eagle


Les Paul is the father of modern music. That is a plain and simple fact that everyone needs to know. He invented multi-track recording and overdubbing and many many other things. He is the most important man in rock and roll and he never played it until very late in his life. He was a phenomenal guitarist who went from country to jazz and his best work can be found on his albums with Chet Atkins (which we will talk about at a later date).

But right now I am talking about this little album, released when the man himself was 90 years old and most of the time he gets lost underneath all the classic rock big names showing him what they have done with his techniques. Now I am going to be honest, this is not that great an album in general. It includes some very good covers but very few are essential, and it even contains a butchered version of “How High The Moon”. But the tracks that stand out are worth everything else and hey now a days it is so easy to skip songs why bother focusing on the bad and the few good are so good that they make this album jump from good to great.

Now the song everyone needs to hear is the version of “Fly Like An Eagle”. I can already hear people going “Oh no not that song I am so sick of that song”. Well listen to the original and in can almost tell that Steve Miller knew he was going to be sick of that song too. But here is a fun little fact: Les Paul was Steve Miller’s godfather. The track starts with a clip from some family gathering when Miller was about 5. Steve says singing makes him embarrassed and Les tells him that he should keep doing that and that he is going to go places…and then a Les Paulified version of the intro to the song takes you into a version where you can tell that Miller is actually having fun with the song again, playing with his mentor.

Another essential is the version of the “Caravan” where everyone spends time making guitars not sound like guitars, which of course is what Les Paul was famous for. He would take a guitar and make it an orchestra. The second best track though is “69 Freedom Special”. All the other tracks are labeled as “w/ (insert name here)” but this one is w/ Les Paul and Friends and is shows. This is all the greats coming together to have fun and jam, not just record.

As I said the other tracks are all good (except “How High The Moon” I don’t actually know who is doing it but they are no Mary Ford). If I was to pick one that represented the over all quality it would be “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo”. Really if you want to just get the highlights I would not begrudge you that but if the only way you can locate them is to get the full album don’t hesitate just get it. It really shows how talented Les Paul is even at 90 to be able to just blend in to all these styles.

(It is actually pretty hard for me to find the versions of the songs that are on the CD so I will add them as I find them)

#49 "Weird Al" Yankovic

#49 "Weird Al" Yankovic

Best Song: I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead



Now Weird Al gets a lot of grief. At least he used to until everyone thought that “White and Nerdy” was the best thing since slice bread and for the first time in his over 20 years of recording he had a top 10 hit. But either way his earlier work is still very niche and under exposed. Now Al has always done the parody stick and has always done a good job but with that it is easy to keep following the same tropes and cliches. (great example is the song “Grapefruit Diet” which is where he put all the fat jokes that weren’t good enough for “Fat”)

Which is why his debut is also his best and my personal favorite of his. Some of his later albums have betters songs but this is the most consistent from beginning to end. The parodies don’t ever feel like they were forced and chosen only because that song is popular now. The sense of humor is also much dryer then latter releases. “Ricky” (a parody on Mickey by Toni Basil) is simply about ‘I Love Lucy’ and includes the talented Tress MacNeille. “I Love Rocky Road” is a treat because out of all the parodies it is the one that represents what is to come.

But of all the parodies the best are “My Bolgna’ and “Another One Rides The Bus”. My Sharona and Another One Bites The Dust respectively, both really strip Weird Al to his core basics: accordion, nerdy vocals, and juvenile noises that are used to humorous effect.

But where this album really shines is the original material. While on later albums the originals would be style parodies these are not attempting to mock a style. Happy Birthday is a very chipper driving force as Al tells you to enjoy your birthday before the world goes to shit…kind of morbid but it really makes me chuckle. The closer Mr Frump In The Iron Lung is a delightful shuffle about a man stuck in an Iron Lung that the character of the song treats as a good friend and conversationalist.

But the best is I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead. Now this song would not be out of place on a Frank Zappa record mocking the hippies. Well it is less complex then Zappa but that makes it easier to enjoy. While there are some funny images the song is actually a pretty serious denouncement of hippie/yuppie life style. I actually think this is a great song that doesn’t deserve the obscurity it gets simply because it is done by a “novelty act”

#50 The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered

Okay.. so I haven’t updated this in an inexcusably long time but I am back and can guarantee an update a week for at least the next year. The problem I had updating was I never knew what to write about and would stress about if it was interesting or not. Well I solved that because once a week I am going to be counting down my top 50 favorite albums! I will do this in conjunction with other posts, about new albums that come out or whatever, as the mood strikes but once a week I will guarantee a post with the next album. So lets kick it.

#50 The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered

Best Song: Living Life Eels vs Sun Shines Down On Me Guster

This album is a two disc cover album of Daniel Johnston (who is not dead despite what the name would have you believe). One disc is the original Johnston versions and the other is for the covers. Now for this one I am only going to talk about the covers as quite a few of the originals are from an album further up the list.

And the covers are amazing and I would suggest anyone who doesn’t see the big deal about Daniel Johnston get this album. Out of all the songs only two aren’t very good. Teenage Club and Jed Fair (of Half Japanese) take on “My Life is Starting Over Now” and it is just a disoriented pretentious mess like everything fair does. The other one is Calvin Johnston on “Sorry Entertainer”. He takes Daniels greatest disjointed rocker and makes it very droning and boring.

But those are my only complaints as the rest of the album runs from good to brilliant. Now I am not going to name check all the songs but there are four specific ones that are worth noting above all the rest. The first is the absolute best; Eels loving cover of Living Life. One of Johnston’s greatest that I would love to see redone by the man himself as the original is so damaged that it is almost unlistenable. But E (I love your music man but ‘E’, really?) knows the beauty that lies behind the crackling tape and brings it to the forefront along with his longing hopeful vocals that, for the first time on an Eels song, don’t always sound like he is on the verge of tears. And right as the song ends we get treated to another highlight from TV on the Radio. Their versions of Walking the Cow is very true to the original except for the great use of feedback that is very Pavement like which only adds to the mystery of the song that has always made me feel confused in a good way.

Now let us skip down to the last two songs. First we have Guster on The Sun Shines Down On Me. Guster doesn’t know how to not be perfect, which is actually the downfall of a lot of their albums for me. I get bored as I feel like I am listening to a mathematically precise album that does very little to tug at the heart. Well that doesn’t happen here and I am willing to say that this cover is the best song Guster has ever done. The way they let the dissonance take over about halfway through is brilliant and they absolutely NAIL the most heartbreakingly hopeful line Johnston had ever written, “I’m walking down that empty road/ It ain’t empty now because I’m on it”. After this we come to the weirdest and most difficult to assimilate song on the album, but Tom Waits fans must have it. Wait’s take on King Kong is simply fantastic. The way he takes the acapella original and infuses it with primal roars and mouth percussion later joined by jazzy bass and sparse guitar licks….well just listen it is something else. In fact while all the bands stamp themselves on the songs they do Waits is the only one to do so while taking all the Daniel Johnston out of it.

Lost Gem: Oar

Oar – Alexander “Skip” Spence
Best Song: War In Peace

This is the greatest album ever made by a mad, and I mean MAD, man. Skip Spence was a former drummer of Jefferson Airplane and one of the brains behind the ambitious Moby Grape. Spence wrote this album while being held at a mental institution and recorded all the parts himself (he was in after attempting to kill two of his former Moby Grape band mates to “save them from themselves”), and you can tell that this is a man who isn’t all together.

Oar it with out a doubt the greatest psych folk album ever released. The entire atmosphere fills you with images of Skip sitting in his bed in the madhouse, a guitar in his hands, rocking back and forth as if he is by some river in a rocking chair (which is where he probably thinks he actually is). It is a very difficult listen and very few people would chose to put this on for the joy of listening to this music (I myself am an exception).

As far as tracks that should stand out to the listener there are five major ones. The opening “Little Hands” is a great almost upbeat poppy number. Then there are two rambling dark folk numbers. “Cripple Creek” would not have felt out of place on Leonard Cohen’s debut and “Diana” is a song so out of focus that it is beautiful. Another track not to miss is the manic (compared to the rest of the album) “Lawrence of Euphoria” which I would guess Spence wrote after taking some meds.

The song that is the absolute master piece of the album is the lo-tech psycho anthem “War In Peace”. While other psychedelic bands were searching for new technology to advance their sound Skip manages to out do them all with a very basic pattern and minimalist solo. (and a great distortion of the famous “Sunshine of Your Love” riff).

Oar has truly been lost to many listeners. While other “mad albums” such as Madcap Laughs and Third/Sister Lovers have managed to gain cult followings Oar, which I will say with out a doubt is better then both Madcap and Third, has been thrown to the wayside. If you can track this down you should pick it up, a true lost classic.

An Explaination Part 2

Oof sorry this took longer to write then I thought and I still am not sure it is any good.

So what exactly about Billy Joel’s music makes people hate it? I think it is the complete lack of irony in his music. He is direct and honest. With any of his songs you can guarantee he felt that way when writing it. When he wrote “Piano Man” he was just one more lonely person in a bar of losers at a dead end in life (at the time he was working at the piano bar to wait out a bad contract). When he wrote “Allentown” he was concerned about the working class of those steel and coal towns that were facing difficulties. The hipsters of today can’t believe that people can be so direct without being ironic. You can’t be a balladeer with out mocking the form. You need to be a Bruce Springsteen who hides his mockery of the working class and chest beating patriotism behind a sound and image that makes him THE working class hero. You need to be John Lennon’s “Imagine” and not Paul McCarthy’s “Silly Love Song” or George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord”.

Romanticism is a big part of understanding Joel’s music. His music is not here to analyze but to just be understood upon listening. “River of Dreams” is a very religious sounding song and includes lines about the “Jungle of doubt” and Mountains of Faith”. Now these are not actual references they are just there to give the feel of spirituality. Joel is not a literary master like Nick Cave so he doesn’t try and be. It is not surprising that he writes his music first and then writes the lyrics (the exception being “We Didn’t Start the Fire” which is why the melody on that one is pretty much nonexistent).

Okay I need to take some time out here to address something that has been bugging as I do research about why people hate Billy Joel. Stop talking about “She’s Always a Woman to Me”, just stop! Have you ever actually listened to the song? You are trying to do it in a critical way and you say you don’t like it and that is fine but seriously stop calling it misogynist. If you are going to analyze the music that is very subjective and emotional but if you are going to start commenting on the lyrics it is time to show you actually understand what is being said. We live in a world were there are traits that are feminine and masculine, and a lot of these things are not based on society but on some preprogramming in our brains. This song is telling a woman who many consider a bitch that she isn’t; that she still can be successful without sacrificing her feminine traits for masculine ones. (I could write an essay on the way most feminist act and how they are actually hurting the cause of making feminine and masculine equal and are instead discarding feminine and making themselves masculine but this is about Billy Joel not that so lets move on).

Another thing I have heard against Billy Joel is how much they don’t like his voice. Well I find that a little hard to believe because he doesn’t have “a voice” he shapes his voice to the song he wants to sing. (Here is a great clip of him talking about how everyone is trying to sing like Ray Charles). He is a great interpreter of musical styles, as seen on the album An Innocent Man and the incorporation of Beethoven’s “Sonata Pathétique” into “This Night”.

His music is also a snap shot of his life and mind set something that makes him very accessible. It is fascinating and real instead of abstract and far away. I am going to mention a song of each of his albums and what they show us
On “Tomorrow is Today” he is a suicidal (was actually a suicide note he wrote) early twenty something that is deciding if it is worth it all
On “Piano Man” he is lounge player Bill Martin who keeps getting told he is to good to be here but knows this is the only way he can get out
On “The Entertainer” he is a traveling musician that knows what needs to be done to make it and has no illusion about how fickle fame is
Then you get to Turnstiles with “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “New York State of Mind” and you see this estranged son of New York ready to come home.
With “Vienna” we get a man who realizes that growing old isn’t something to be scared of as long as there is a place we can still be useful (inspired by him seeing an old woman sweeping the streets when visiting his Dad in Vienna and upon asking why this old woman was sweeping the street being told “She has a job and feels useful and needed”)
“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” again finds him thinking about his relevance and trying to stay up to date without sacrificing what he likes about music
On Nylon Curtain Billy Joel shows his sympathy for those he can’t fully relate to anymore but still wants to try and understand on both “Allentown” and “Goodnight Saigon”
All of An Innocent Man is nostalgic to the nth degree, recreating sounds of Joel’s youth by the likes of Frankie Valli and Smokie Robinson
The Bridge is Joel in a creative dry spell needing to bring on guest stars such as his hero Ray Charles on “Baby Grand”
“We Didn’t Start The Fire” is Joel looking over his life and realizing how much has happened since he was born
And Finally we have what I think is the most touching song Joel every wrote “Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)” a lullaby he wrote for his daughter Alexa after she asked him about death when Joel was putting her to bed.

This isn’t the best thing I have ever written, there was no way it could be. I am here to defend how I feel about Billy Joel’s music and I doubt I will ever be able to convince those that don’t like him to come over to my way of thinking. So who knows if this is convincing, or relevant, or even coherent but it is all I can do. Just do me a favor, before you judge Joel put on something besides his Greatest Hits. Listen to the second half of Glass Houses, 52nd Street or Cold Spring Harbor. Don’t judge after “Just the Way You Are” listen to “Falling of the Rain”, “Half a Mile Away”, “All for Leyna”, “Vienna” and “Lullaby”. If you still don’t like him then leave him but he is my favorite and expect to see his music show up here again.