I posted this on the Sputnik Music website this morning. It's a reworked version of a review I wrote for Good Times in 1999.
I first reviewed this album for a local Long Island music paper a number of years ago when it first came out. At that time I observed that one of the greatest joys in following a local music scene is to keep track of a band for a number of years, watching their growth and development, and then seeing them successfully capture the essence of what you liked about them in the first place on an LP. Love at Absolute Zero by the Long Island band My Favorite turned out to be the first of only two full-length albums ultimately produced by the band. It completely captured all of the promise of the young band I followed through live shows and previously released EPs. If you have any predisposition to like indie-pop, you’re sure to enjoy this album. You might even rank it as a CD for the ages. It’s really that good.
My Favorite consisted of Michael Grace Jr. on vocals, synthesizers, and piano, Andrea Vaughn on vocals and synthesizers, Darren Amadio on lead guitar and assorted other instruments, Gil Abad on bass, and Todbot on drums and percussion. The general sound here is sort of '60s mod meets '80s dance music. However, their songs are sophisticated and well written enough to make that description a gross oversimplification.
Vocally, the album is a sheer delight. Grace’s low, romantic crooning contrasts perfectly with Vaughn’s pure, sweet voice, as they trade leads both between and within songs. If you close your eyes, you might think you’re listening to a British '80s band, such as Human League – Grace even sounds British.
The songs themselves, however, are what really drive the album. The pace varies nicely between upbeat sing-along anthems such as “Let’s Stay Alive”, “Go Kid Go” and the “Informers”, and slow, dreamy synth-songs such as “Party Crashers” and “Between Cafes”. Meanwhile, the lyrics somehow manage to blend a sort of sad, world-weary cynicism with an unexpected optimism and love of life. When you listen to these songs, and to the way that Grace and Vaughn sing them, you can’t help but feel their sincerity. These are people who really like and empathize with their audience.
From a critical point of view, there are few flaws to mention. It might be somewhat disappointing to the band’s followers that popular favorites such as "Cult Hero, Come Home", and “Detectives Of Suburbia” were excluded from the album, and one could pose the argument that the older 7" single version of “Working Class Jacket” was a superior mix to the album version. Really, though, these points are trivial compared to the enormity of what My Favorite achieved on this album – a very complete fulfillment of the promise of their early years.
If you have any love at all for catchy pop tunes, do yourself a favor -- dig this album up and give it a listen.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Review of Future Bible Heroes' "Memories of Love"
This was posted on the Sputnik Music website on October 5:
Memories of Love is an album I've recommended to many friends who are lovers of '80s new wave music, and every one of them has come to back to me and thanked me for it. As for myself, it's my favorite album of the 1990s, even though most people have never heard of it.
Future Bible Heroes is one of the several musical projects of Stephin Merritt, best known as the main creative force behind the band The Magnetic Fields. The rest of FBH consists of Chris Ewen of the band Figures on a Beach on keyboards and strange electronic loops, and Merritt's lifelong friend/manager/social director Claudia Gonson on electronic drums and vocals.
It's hard to describe the sound of the album. I've recommended the requisite four "similar albums" requested with a Sputnik review, but while each shares something in common with Memories of Love, sometimes that commonality is more spiritual than sonic, with the exception of Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, which I find to be more sparse soundwise. I think the difference between those two bands' sound has to do largely with Ewen's synthesizers and the little electronic bits of weirdness he inserts to fill in the aural gaps. The Future Bible Heroes sound has been described variously as indiepop, synthpop and possibly most accurately by Wikipedia as "electronica-based disco." There are things in their sound that remind me of such '80s bands as Thompson Twins and The Human League, but those bands' synths flow a little more smoothly, while Ewen's and Gonson's electronic sounds tend to pulse.
As opposed to later FBH albums, where Gonson performs most of the vocals, here the leads are evenly split between her and Merritt, which keeps the sound constantly fresh. There's something a little nasal about Gonson's voice, but in spite of that, I find it kind of beautiful. Merritt has one of those really low voices in the range of Tom Smith of Editors or Matt Berninger of The National. It's probably an acquired taste for some, but I think it works well with his own material.
As for the songwriting, Merritt's lyrics are clever and funny at the same time they're often hopeless and despairing. He's more in the tradition of Morrissey or Boy George than of most happy new wave music, but with a real strain of some of the old moon/June-style songwriters of the '30s-'50s such as Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne (e.g., "You know why the lemmings fly from high terrain/You know why most flowers don't bloom/You know why sad children stay out in the rain/Sitting in your lonely room," from "And You're So Beautiful").
There are 11 songs on the album, and they range from stories in the tradition of '50s-style beach party sci-fi films ("She-Devils of the Deep") to humorous songs about lust and despair in a trailer park ("Hopeless").
This is the only album of the 1990s I've given a 5 rating too. If you're an admirer of '80s new wave, chances are you'll enjoy Memories of Love.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Memories of Love is an album I've recommended to many friends who are lovers of '80s new wave music, and every one of them has come to back to me and thanked me for it. As for myself, it's my favorite album of the 1990s, even though most people have never heard of it.
Future Bible Heroes is one of the several musical projects of Stephin Merritt, best known as the main creative force behind the band The Magnetic Fields. The rest of FBH consists of Chris Ewen of the band Figures on a Beach on keyboards and strange electronic loops, and Merritt's lifelong friend/manager/social director Claudia Gonson on electronic drums and vocals.
It's hard to describe the sound of the album. I've recommended the requisite four "similar albums" requested with a Sputnik review, but while each shares something in common with Memories of Love, sometimes that commonality is more spiritual than sonic, with the exception of Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, which I find to be more sparse soundwise. I think the difference between those two bands' sound has to do largely with Ewen's synthesizers and the little electronic bits of weirdness he inserts to fill in the aural gaps. The Future Bible Heroes sound has been described variously as indiepop, synthpop and possibly most accurately by Wikipedia as "electronica-based disco." There are things in their sound that remind me of such '80s bands as Thompson Twins and The Human League, but those bands' synths flow a little more smoothly, while Ewen's and Gonson's electronic sounds tend to pulse.
As opposed to later FBH albums, where Gonson performs most of the vocals, here the leads are evenly split between her and Merritt, which keeps the sound constantly fresh. There's something a little nasal about Gonson's voice, but in spite of that, I find it kind of beautiful. Merritt has one of those really low voices in the range of Tom Smith of Editors or Matt Berninger of The National. It's probably an acquired taste for some, but I think it works well with his own material.
As for the songwriting, Merritt's lyrics are clever and funny at the same time they're often hopeless and despairing. He's more in the tradition of Morrissey or Boy George than of most happy new wave music, but with a real strain of some of the old moon/June-style songwriters of the '30s-'50s such as Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne (e.g., "You know why the lemmings fly from high terrain/You know why most flowers don't bloom/You know why sad children stay out in the rain/Sitting in your lonely room," from "And You're So Beautiful").
There are 11 songs on the album, and they range from stories in the tradition of '50s-style beach party sci-fi films ("She-Devils of the Deep") to humorous songs about lust and despair in a trailer park ("Hopeless").
This is the only album of the 1990s I've given a 5 rating too. If you're an admirer of '80s new wave, chances are you'll enjoy Memories of Love.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Review of They might Be Giants' "Phone Power"
Posted on the Sputnik Music Website on September 30:
I had it in my head that this was going to be kind of a throwaway album, but there's actually some pretty good stuff on here.
For the unfamiliar, They Might Be Giants are essentially the duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell. In the mid-'80s, one of the ways they promoted themselves was by setting up "Dial-A-Song", where they would record a new song every day on their answering machine, and people could call in and listen to the song for free. Over the years, the Dial-A-Song service evolved, first into a website, and then into podcasts, until it was eventually discontinued in 2008.
In 2015, the TMBG announced they were reviving the Dial-A-Song service for a full year. Ultimately, the songs on the new service were released as three separate albums, Glean and Why? in 2015, and Phone Power in 2016.
I have to admit, I haven't listened to Glean or Why?, but when I was looking for some new music to check out earlier this year, I decided to give Phone Power a try. I'm glad I did.
There are 18 tracks on the album, and I'd be lying if I said all of them good. But I'd say that at least half of them are decent, and a few are excellent.
My favorite so far is a strange number called "Trouble Awful Devil Evil". This is a slow, dreamy song with sweet-voiced vocals and some weird electronic pulsing going on, as the protagonist describes blissfully sinking into a bottomless pit and falling for 10,000 years, all of the while remaining oblivious to an armageddon going on around him. And haven't we all been there?
Two other strong tracks are "ECNALUBMA" and "I Love You for Psychological Reasons". I'd describe both of them as being in the same classic TMBG style as their 1988 single "Anna Ng", where the individual lines of the chorus went on way longer than lines usually do, all the while slithering and twisting off into unexpected musical directions. "ECNALUBMA" describes the sudden destructive impulses felt by the singer at the birth of the title character of the song, who seems to be a sort of demon or elder god of some kind. As for "I Love You for Psychological Reasons", it could be about insanity. Or a psychologically abusive relationship. Or both. Or neither. I have no idea, as the lyrics wind along in a dizzyingly and maybe directionless fashion. The one thing I do know is that I like it.
There's also a speeded up and rockier alternate version of "Black Ops", a song originally recorded on the band's 2013 Nanobots album. I think this one benefits greatly from the speeded up pace.
As you can tell, the album abounds with examples of TMBG's strange sense of humor, as people go back in time to thwart one another's assassins (but not really), characters wear Yoda masks and talk like Lou Ferrigno at a convention, and shape shifters take over the planet.
They Might Be Giants has never been everyone's cup of tea. But if you've enjoyed their past material, you'll like them here too. Dial-A-Song or not, this is definitely not a throwaway album.
Rating: 3/5 stars
I had it in my head that this was going to be kind of a throwaway album, but there's actually some pretty good stuff on here.
For the unfamiliar, They Might Be Giants are essentially the duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell. In the mid-'80s, one of the ways they promoted themselves was by setting up "Dial-A-Song", where they would record a new song every day on their answering machine, and people could call in and listen to the song for free. Over the years, the Dial-A-Song service evolved, first into a website, and then into podcasts, until it was eventually discontinued in 2008.
In 2015, the TMBG announced they were reviving the Dial-A-Song service for a full year. Ultimately, the songs on the new service were released as three separate albums, Glean and Why? in 2015, and Phone Power in 2016.
I have to admit, I haven't listened to Glean or Why?, but when I was looking for some new music to check out earlier this year, I decided to give Phone Power a try. I'm glad I did.
There are 18 tracks on the album, and I'd be lying if I said all of them good. But I'd say that at least half of them are decent, and a few are excellent.
My favorite so far is a strange number called "Trouble Awful Devil Evil". This is a slow, dreamy song with sweet-voiced vocals and some weird electronic pulsing going on, as the protagonist describes blissfully sinking into a bottomless pit and falling for 10,000 years, all of the while remaining oblivious to an armageddon going on around him. And haven't we all been there?
Two other strong tracks are "ECNALUBMA" and "I Love You for Psychological Reasons". I'd describe both of them as being in the same classic TMBG style as their 1988 single "Anna Ng", where the individual lines of the chorus went on way longer than lines usually do, all the while slithering and twisting off into unexpected musical directions. "ECNALUBMA" describes the sudden destructive impulses felt by the singer at the birth of the title character of the song, who seems to be a sort of demon or elder god of some kind. As for "I Love You for Psychological Reasons", it could be about insanity. Or a psychologically abusive relationship. Or both. Or neither. I have no idea, as the lyrics wind along in a dizzyingly and maybe directionless fashion. The one thing I do know is that I like it.
There's also a speeded up and rockier alternate version of "Black Ops", a song originally recorded on the band's 2013 Nanobots album. I think this one benefits greatly from the speeded up pace.
As you can tell, the album abounds with examples of TMBG's strange sense of humor, as people go back in time to thwart one another's assassins (but not really), characters wear Yoda masks and talk like Lou Ferrigno at a convention, and shape shifters take over the planet.
They Might Be Giants has never been everyone's cup of tea. But if you've enjoyed their past material, you'll like them here too. Dial-A-Song or not, this is definitely not a throwaway album.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Review of The Good Rats' "Tasty"
I posted this review on the Sputnik Music website this morning:
It's hard to believe today, but in the 1970s, Long Island had a vibrant original music scene. The legal drinking age was 18. The vehicle seizure laws for DWI arrests were decades away. MADD wasn't yet mad. SADD wasn't yet sad. Consequently, on a suburban island where everybody drives everywhere, there was a vibrant club scene for live music, with large clubs that would pack them in on the weekend, and sometimes even during the week. Out of this scene came bands like Twisted Sister and Zebra. And the kings of pack, standing a step above them all were The Good Rats.
For awhile, it seemed like The Rats were going to break it big nationally. The played venues like Madison Square Garden, The Nassau Coliseum, The Philadelphia Spectrum and even The Hammersmith Odeon in England, playing on the same bill and sometimes headlining for bands like Rush, Journey, Kiss, Meatloaf, Aerosmith and Ozzy Osborne, and all the while receiving FM airplay across the country.
Why they didn't make to the same heights as these other bands is unclear. Some have suggested that at some point, they ticked off the wrong record executives and got blackballed for it. Regardless, if you listen to the Good Rats' music, you hear a hard rock band that elegantly mixed in elements of jazz and blues, a band with strong musical fundamentals and a powerful vocalist who was also a sophisticated songwriter. And as most Rats fans will tell you, Tasty is the band's masterpiece.
Weighing in at 10 songs, the album is a lean, mean masterpiece. It showcases the band's best-known song, the quirky title number, which still gets a little airplay today on so-called classic rock stations, plus a number of other first-rate tracks.
"Tasty" is an atypical number for the Rats. It starts out quietly, as lead singer Peppi Marchello sings about how various ex-band members were replaced, such as the "flying guitar man" who was "going nowhere fast", or the "man named Crazy Ott" who "overplayed his bass a lot", each fired from the band because they couldn't play "tasty". As the song progresses, the tempo picks up as each of the current band members gets to show off their chops. It's kind of a novelty number, but a clever one. Although it's probably their most famous song, it's not the best one on the album.
There are at least 3 songs on Tasty that I'd rate as "excellent". The first is "Injun Joe", based on the Mark Twain character. This is a mid-tempo song that features a driving Native American drumbeat, some of Marchello's angriest lyrics (as the title character rails against society with lines like "I'm gonna take their black robes/I'm gonna wipe my waste on them,") and an excellent instrumental bridge that allows guitarist John "The Cat" Gatto and the rest of the band to shine.
Also top-notch is "Papa Poppa", a powerful rock number that laments the personal frailty of the younger generation who get drawn into things like religious cults because they "worship Mother Dear," even as they cry out for rescue: "Papa Poppa, where have you gone? ... Disciplinarian, where have you gone?"
Perhaps the best of all is Marchello's most autobiographical song, "The Songwriter". This song closes the album, and by the end of Marchello's career, it was also the song The Rats used to close almost all of their live shows. "The songwriter can make you laugh or cry," he sings. "He's pumping gas at night just to survive/And all he asks of you is to sing his songs/and put his name in lights where it belongs."
All of the other songs on Tasty are at least worthwhile. The basic sound is hard rock, but with some sophisticated embellishments, and a couple of unconventional numbers thrown in for good measure (besides the album's title track, there's a tongue-in-cheek song called "Fred Upstairs and Ginger Snappers" which sounds like a number from a 1930s dance film). Marchello's vocals are somewhere between Geddy Lee and Meatloaf, the songs feature strong two- and three-part harmonies throughout, and while Gatto's guitar playing stands out, the rest of the band (Mickey Marchello on rhythm guitar and vocals, Lenny Kotke on the bass and Joe Franco on drums) are no slouches either.
Peppi Marchello and The Good Rats may not have ultimately seen their name "in lights", but they were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Tasty was one of the reasons why. Hopefully some new listeners will give it a listen, and partake in some of the pleasure it's given Rats fans over the years.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Sneak peek: My next Sputnik review, hopefully in a week or so, will be of Memories of Love by Future Bible Heroes.
It's hard to believe today, but in the 1970s, Long Island had a vibrant original music scene. The legal drinking age was 18. The vehicle seizure laws for DWI arrests were decades away. MADD wasn't yet mad. SADD wasn't yet sad. Consequently, on a suburban island where everybody drives everywhere, there was a vibrant club scene for live music, with large clubs that would pack them in on the weekend, and sometimes even during the week. Out of this scene came bands like Twisted Sister and Zebra. And the kings of pack, standing a step above them all were The Good Rats.
For awhile, it seemed like The Rats were going to break it big nationally. The played venues like Madison Square Garden, The Nassau Coliseum, The Philadelphia Spectrum and even The Hammersmith Odeon in England, playing on the same bill and sometimes headlining for bands like Rush, Journey, Kiss, Meatloaf, Aerosmith and Ozzy Osborne, and all the while receiving FM airplay across the country.
Why they didn't make to the same heights as these other bands is unclear. Some have suggested that at some point, they ticked off the wrong record executives and got blackballed for it. Regardless, if you listen to the Good Rats' music, you hear a hard rock band that elegantly mixed in elements of jazz and blues, a band with strong musical fundamentals and a powerful vocalist who was also a sophisticated songwriter. And as most Rats fans will tell you, Tasty is the band's masterpiece.
Weighing in at 10 songs, the album is a lean, mean masterpiece. It showcases the band's best-known song, the quirky title number, which still gets a little airplay today on so-called classic rock stations, plus a number of other first-rate tracks.
"Tasty" is an atypical number for the Rats. It starts out quietly, as lead singer Peppi Marchello sings about how various ex-band members were replaced, such as the "flying guitar man" who was "going nowhere fast", or the "man named Crazy Ott" who "overplayed his bass a lot", each fired from the band because they couldn't play "tasty". As the song progresses, the tempo picks up as each of the current band members gets to show off their chops. It's kind of a novelty number, but a clever one. Although it's probably their most famous song, it's not the best one on the album.
There are at least 3 songs on Tasty that I'd rate as "excellent". The first is "Injun Joe", based on the Mark Twain character. This is a mid-tempo song that features a driving Native American drumbeat, some of Marchello's angriest lyrics (as the title character rails against society with lines like "I'm gonna take their black robes/I'm gonna wipe my waste on them,") and an excellent instrumental bridge that allows guitarist John "The Cat" Gatto and the rest of the band to shine.
Also top-notch is "Papa Poppa", a powerful rock number that laments the personal frailty of the younger generation who get drawn into things like religious cults because they "worship Mother Dear," even as they cry out for rescue: "Papa Poppa, where have you gone? ... Disciplinarian, where have you gone?"
Perhaps the best of all is Marchello's most autobiographical song, "The Songwriter". This song closes the album, and by the end of Marchello's career, it was also the song The Rats used to close almost all of their live shows. "The songwriter can make you laugh or cry," he sings. "He's pumping gas at night just to survive/And all he asks of you is to sing his songs/and put his name in lights where it belongs."
All of the other songs on Tasty are at least worthwhile. The basic sound is hard rock, but with some sophisticated embellishments, and a couple of unconventional numbers thrown in for good measure (besides the album's title track, there's a tongue-in-cheek song called "Fred Upstairs and Ginger Snappers" which sounds like a number from a 1930s dance film). Marchello's vocals are somewhere between Geddy Lee and Meatloaf, the songs feature strong two- and three-part harmonies throughout, and while Gatto's guitar playing stands out, the rest of the band (Mickey Marchello on rhythm guitar and vocals, Lenny Kotke on the bass and Joe Franco on drums) are no slouches either.
Peppi Marchello and The Good Rats may not have ultimately seen their name "in lights", but they were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Tasty was one of the reasons why. Hopefully some new listeners will give it a listen, and partake in some of the pleasure it's given Rats fans over the years.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Sneak peek: My next Sputnik review, hopefully in a week or so, will be of Memories of Love by Future Bible Heroes.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Review of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick's "Sunfighter"
One of the things I like about the Sputnik Music site is it gives me a chance to review some albums (old or otherwise), to expose them to some people who may never have heard them.
The first review I wrote for the site was for Paul Kantner and Grace Slick's 1971 album Sunfighter. I'm copying it for you here:
Sunfighter was released in 1971 by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, a year before the dissolution of Jefferson Airplane and 3 years before the start of Jefferson Starship. For my money, it's stronger than anything they ever recorded with either of those two bands, a true unknown jewel of an album.
It starts right off with a bang with "Silver Spoon," Grace's ode to cannibalism, and how great is that? With lyrics like "Your mama told you never /To eat your friends up with your fingers and hands/But I say you ought to eat what you will/Shove it in your mouth any way that you can," this song grabs you right from the start and never lets go. I'd always assumed the song was a tongue-in-cheek critique of man's (or in this case, woman's) cruelty to man, but it turns out that Slick wrote this as a slap in the face to militant vegetarians. Regardless, the combination of a really superior Slick vocal, a piano line that holds the song together, and sprinklings of Papa John Creach's electric violin, makes this one of the two strongest tracks on the album.
The other is "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves," Kantner's nod to the feral life, wherein he imagines himself running through the hills at night with his pack while Gracie taunts him (and us) "I suppose you could yell at your dog/He'd be barking his face right back at you!" This song has a great slow guitar intro, then picks up the pace as the wolfpack launches into action.
There is also plenty of hippie chic and San Francisco psychedelia throughout the album, in songs like the title track "Sunfighter", a number that laments the destruction of the environment, and the beautiful rolling piano of "Million", a song about people coming together.
The album cover depicts two hands rising up out of the ocean and holding up a naked baby, who, in fact, was Kantner and Slick's daughter China Kantner. And although I think that their ode to her, "China" is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album, it's notable for the unfortunate first line"She'll suck on anything you give her," a lyric I'm sure the child really appreciated when she reached middle school. (Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad!)
"China" excepted, though, the album is generally first-rate, featuring most of the members of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship playing on various tracks, plus guest musicians and vocalists like Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Even the two shortest numbers, "Diana" and "Diana 2" pack an impact, as they are both not only worthwhile odes to the Roman hunter goddess, but also social commentaries.
Paul Kantner passed away this past January, but Sunfighter is great example of some of his, and Grace Slick's, finest work. It's an album that captures the spirit of the early seventies and it's also just a great deal of musical fun. I recommend it to all listener's open to the sixties/seventies San Francisco sound.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
It starts right off with a bang with "Silver Spoon," Grace's ode to cannibalism, and how great is that? With lyrics like "Your mama told you never /To eat your friends up with your fingers and hands/But I say you ought to eat what you will/Shove it in your mouth any way that you can," this song grabs you right from the start and never lets go. I'd always assumed the song was a tongue-in-cheek critique of man's (or in this case, woman's) cruelty to man, but it turns out that Slick wrote this as a slap in the face to militant vegetarians. Regardless, the combination of a really superior Slick vocal, a piano line that holds the song together, and sprinklings of Papa John Creach's electric violin, makes this one of the two strongest tracks on the album.
The other is "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves," Kantner's nod to the feral life, wherein he imagines himself running through the hills at night with his pack while Gracie taunts him (and us) "I suppose you could yell at your dog/He'd be barking his face right back at you!" This song has a great slow guitar intro, then picks up the pace as the wolfpack launches into action.
There is also plenty of hippie chic and San Francisco psychedelia throughout the album, in songs like the title track "Sunfighter", a number that laments the destruction of the environment, and the beautiful rolling piano of "Million", a song about people coming together.
The album cover depicts two hands rising up out of the ocean and holding up a naked baby, who, in fact, was Kantner and Slick's daughter China Kantner. And although I think that their ode to her, "China" is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album, it's notable for the unfortunate first line"She'll suck on anything you give her," a lyric I'm sure the child really appreciated when she reached middle school. (Thanks a lot, Mom and Dad!)
"China" excepted, though, the album is generally first-rate, featuring most of the members of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship playing on various tracks, plus guest musicians and vocalists like Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Even the two shortest numbers, "Diana" and "Diana 2" pack an impact, as they are both not only worthwhile odes to the Roman hunter goddess, but also social commentaries.
Paul Kantner passed away this past January, but Sunfighter is great example of some of his, and Grace Slick's, finest work. It's an album that captures the spirit of the early seventies and it's also just a great deal of musical fun. I recommend it to all listener's open to the sixties/seventies San Francisco sound.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Late September, and I'm So Behind
You'd think that with me hardly working all summer, I'd be all caught up on my new-music listening, but it actually works the other way. I've gotten so used to doing my new-music listening in my car, driving to and from work, that when I'm not working I actually get further behind. So I'll be really lucky to even have my Best of 2016 lists done by March like I usually do. Pretty sad.
Best new stuff I've heard since my last post are the new Garbage CD, which didn't grab me at first, but then it grew on me, and new the CD by Tegan and Sarah, which is catchy, although I have to say it seems like more of the same from these two. I'm not complaining (maybe I am?) -- I like what they do, so more of it is OK. But it doesn't seem like they're challenging themselves (or their listeners) at all, so I don't know. I'm still sorting out my feelings about it.
Meanwhile, I've got so much new music for 2016 that I've decided (reluctantly) to toss the Nightwish album out of contention for the Best of 2016 stuff. I love the album, but it's really from 2015. Would have likely made my Top 10, though.
While I've had some downtime, I've been continuing to use the Sputnik Music site. It works kind of like Wikipedia -- it's user driven. So I've been updating webpages in some of the more neglected areas of the site, including their obscure '80s bands (like Haircut 100), their southern rock bands (Poco, anyone?), and their (God help me!) soft rock bands (think Christopher Cross. OK, don't). I've also added some obscure novelty bands, like Killer Pussy, the Sic Fucks, Total Coelo and The Chainsmokers.
One thing makes me kind of sad, though. The majority of the site's users seem to be college kids and twenty-somethings, and there are a lot of metal heads on there. It can be kind of cool in some ways. For example, someone recently created a list of their top 20 (or so) albums by Finnish Death Metal bands. Now, I wouldn't have thought you could even get 20 different Finnish Death Metal albums in the U.S., and I'll be damned if I don't check a couple of them out -- I'm all about experiencing new things. So the site can be very educational.
But interacting on the site has really driven home to me that no matter how much you love music, and how determined you are to stay up to date with new music, sooner or later, your tastes just become more peculiar to yourself, and it's just impossible to stay relevant to the music of today.
You'd have thought having kids would have taught me that, but I've always just figured that your kids have to hate your music whether they really do or not. It's automatic. They'd get kicked out of the union if they ever admitted they liked something you like.
But my interactions on the Sputnik site have driven home to me that it's just impossible for a 59-year-old man to hear music the same way a twenty-something does. When I listen to '70s music, I'm remembering when it was still new, but when they listen to '70s music, they hear it as oldies, something from the distant past. And I hear new music differently, too. I hear it through ears experiencing it in context with almost five decades worth of music listening, while they're hearing it almost fresh.
So even the new stuff I like is very different from what they like, and it's not true just of me vs. the metal kids, but even of me vs. the alternative kids. I liked last year's Sufjan Stevens album, for example. I thought it was quiet, with some moments of real beauty. But there was also something a little off-putting about it. I think because of the subject matter, there's an aspect of it that was unpleasant, sort of like having to visit a friend in the hospital.
But these kids love it! It was near the top of almost every Best of 2015 list I've seen on the site. And stuff that was simpler, but for me more enjoyable, like the new Matt and Kim album, is kind of looked down on there. The number one alternative album of 2016 on Sputnik Music so far is the new one from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a band I've just never been able to drum up enough interest in to even check out.
I don't know. Maybe this is just particular to the users of this site. But I've noticed that even on YouTube, reviewers I like such as John of ARTV review a lot of stuff I like, but he hears it way differently than I do. And I have the uncomfortable feeling that a lot of what I'm hearing as cutting-edge pop rock, they're hearing as (gulp!) generic soft rock.
Basically, I think what I'm saying is I just can't get these damned kids off of my lawn!
Ah, what do they know? I think it's really that my taste is right, and theirs is underdeveloped. At least, that what's I'm going to keep telling myself.
***
On a completely different subject, I recently watched The Eurythmics' Peacetour concert DVD, and I thought it was first-rate. It inspired me to go and listen to their Peace CD, an album I never gave that much attention too. Unfortunately, the results for that were mixed. The first half of the album is excellent, but the last third or so is kind of boring. I do recommend that concert DVD, though. It features the best of the Peace album, plus a bunch of their classics. And Annie Lennox was in fine voice that night.
***
Anyway, I have to go take some Geritol and wring out my Depends.
Later, guys.
Best new stuff I've heard since my last post are the new Garbage CD, which didn't grab me at first, but then it grew on me, and new the CD by Tegan and Sarah, which is catchy, although I have to say it seems like more of the same from these two. I'm not complaining (maybe I am?) -- I like what they do, so more of it is OK. But it doesn't seem like they're challenging themselves (or their listeners) at all, so I don't know. I'm still sorting out my feelings about it.
Meanwhile, I've got so much new music for 2016 that I've decided (reluctantly) to toss the Nightwish album out of contention for the Best of 2016 stuff. I love the album, but it's really from 2015. Would have likely made my Top 10, though.
While I've had some downtime, I've been continuing to use the Sputnik Music site. It works kind of like Wikipedia -- it's user driven. So I've been updating webpages in some of the more neglected areas of the site, including their obscure '80s bands (like Haircut 100), their southern rock bands (Poco, anyone?), and their (God help me!) soft rock bands (think Christopher Cross. OK, don't). I've also added some obscure novelty bands, like Killer Pussy, the Sic Fucks, Total Coelo and The Chainsmokers.
One thing makes me kind of sad, though. The majority of the site's users seem to be college kids and twenty-somethings, and there are a lot of metal heads on there. It can be kind of cool in some ways. For example, someone recently created a list of their top 20 (or so) albums by Finnish Death Metal bands. Now, I wouldn't have thought you could even get 20 different Finnish Death Metal albums in the U.S., and I'll be damned if I don't check a couple of them out -- I'm all about experiencing new things. So the site can be very educational.
But interacting on the site has really driven home to me that no matter how much you love music, and how determined you are to stay up to date with new music, sooner or later, your tastes just become more peculiar to yourself, and it's just impossible to stay relevant to the music of today.
You'd have thought having kids would have taught me that, but I've always just figured that your kids have to hate your music whether they really do or not. It's automatic. They'd get kicked out of the union if they ever admitted they liked something you like.
But my interactions on the Sputnik site have driven home to me that it's just impossible for a 59-year-old man to hear music the same way a twenty-something does. When I listen to '70s music, I'm remembering when it was still new, but when they listen to '70s music, they hear it as oldies, something from the distant past. And I hear new music differently, too. I hear it through ears experiencing it in context with almost five decades worth of music listening, while they're hearing it almost fresh.
So even the new stuff I like is very different from what they like, and it's not true just of me vs. the metal kids, but even of me vs. the alternative kids. I liked last year's Sufjan Stevens album, for example. I thought it was quiet, with some moments of real beauty. But there was also something a little off-putting about it. I think because of the subject matter, there's an aspect of it that was unpleasant, sort of like having to visit a friend in the hospital.
But these kids love it! It was near the top of almost every Best of 2015 list I've seen on the site. And stuff that was simpler, but for me more enjoyable, like the new Matt and Kim album, is kind of looked down on there. The number one alternative album of 2016 on Sputnik Music so far is the new one from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a band I've just never been able to drum up enough interest in to even check out.
I don't know. Maybe this is just particular to the users of this site. But I've noticed that even on YouTube, reviewers I like such as John of ARTV review a lot of stuff I like, but he hears it way differently than I do. And I have the uncomfortable feeling that a lot of what I'm hearing as cutting-edge pop rock, they're hearing as (gulp!) generic soft rock.
Basically, I think what I'm saying is I just can't get these damned kids off of my lawn!
Ah, what do they know? I think it's really that my taste is right, and theirs is underdeveloped. At least, that what's I'm going to keep telling myself.
***
On a completely different subject, I recently watched The Eurythmics' Peacetour concert DVD, and I thought it was first-rate. It inspired me to go and listen to their Peace CD, an album I never gave that much attention too. Unfortunately, the results for that were mixed. The first half of the album is excellent, but the last third or so is kind of boring. I do recommend that concert DVD, though. It features the best of the Peace album, plus a bunch of their classics. And Annie Lennox was in fine voice that night.
***
Anyway, I have to go take some Geritol and wring out my Depends.
Later, guys.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Sputnik Music
So I've actually had more going on on the written webpage musicwise than I've had either viewing or listening to music. My latest passion is a webpage called Sputnik Music at www.sputnikmusic.com. It's not new, but it is new to me.
I've been looking for a decent site for new alternative music, and this one is pretty good. I read Pitchfork, but I find that I completely disagree with their taste -- albums that they say are great I usually find so-so, and invariably new albums I love are either not reviewed or given mediocre-to-negative ratings.
I like Sputnik Music largely because it's a little like Wikipedia -- it has a staff, but it's largely viewer maintained. Community members have the opportunity to write reviews and rate albums they like (or don't like). Members also have the ability to add albums to the site, and while there's a concentration on new music, they cover music going back to the '60s.
I've been adding artists previously missing from the site, like The Good Rats, Priory and Antigone Rising, and adding missing albums for bands like Future Bible Heroes and Quarterflash.
I'll probably put some reviews up for a few of the artists I've been working on. The site has been running a little slow for the last few days, though, so I'll wait until it gets up to speed.
These days, there are a couple of ways I find new music. I subscribe to Alternative Press, which is a little punk- and hardcore-heavy for my taste, but I usually find some interesting bands there. I also find good stuff on the satellite radio station Alt Nation (which Denise subscribes to), and on the Music Choice Alternative channel on my cable TV. And I keep up with new releases on Amazon.com, especially releases from bands I've already heard good stuff from in the past. (I really miss the annual Good Times Long Island Music Festival as a means of finding new local bands, though, although I do still find some interesting local bands in Good Times).
In the meantime, I've finally got some tickets for some upcoming live shows to look forward to, but I'll wait to post them until after the fact (so you don't all rob my house).
I missed out on the recent Twenty One Pilots show at Madison Square Garden. Denise bought tickets for the kids, but I passed because I wasn't that familiar with the band. Then, after she bought the tickets, I got to hear their "Heathens" song from the Suicide Squad soundtrack and decided I really liked it. Oh well. You snooze, you lose. (I also missed out on Mutemath as the opening act because we didn't know they were part of the show until D. and the kids got there). Anyway, they all loved the concert, although they didn't love having to stand for an hour and a half on the LIRR all the way home. So boo, LIRR. You guys suck.
Best CDs of the year that I'm enjoying so far are the self-titled album from Andy Black (otherwise known as Andy Bierstock of Black Veil Brides fame), and the new full-length album by promising young Poughkeepsie band Against the Current.
'Til next time ...
I've been looking for a decent site for new alternative music, and this one is pretty good. I read Pitchfork, but I find that I completely disagree with their taste -- albums that they say are great I usually find so-so, and invariably new albums I love are either not reviewed or given mediocre-to-negative ratings.
I like Sputnik Music largely because it's a little like Wikipedia -- it has a staff, but it's largely viewer maintained. Community members have the opportunity to write reviews and rate albums they like (or don't like). Members also have the ability to add albums to the site, and while there's a concentration on new music, they cover music going back to the '60s.
I've been adding artists previously missing from the site, like The Good Rats, Priory and Antigone Rising, and adding missing albums for bands like Future Bible Heroes and Quarterflash.
I'll probably put some reviews up for a few of the artists I've been working on. The site has been running a little slow for the last few days, though, so I'll wait until it gets up to speed.
These days, there are a couple of ways I find new music. I subscribe to Alternative Press, which is a little punk- and hardcore-heavy for my taste, but I usually find some interesting bands there. I also find good stuff on the satellite radio station Alt Nation (which Denise subscribes to), and on the Music Choice Alternative channel on my cable TV. And I keep up with new releases on Amazon.com, especially releases from bands I've already heard good stuff from in the past. (I really miss the annual Good Times Long Island Music Festival as a means of finding new local bands, though, although I do still find some interesting local bands in Good Times).
In the meantime, I've finally got some tickets for some upcoming live shows to look forward to, but I'll wait to post them until after the fact (so you don't all rob my house).
I missed out on the recent Twenty One Pilots show at Madison Square Garden. Denise bought tickets for the kids, but I passed because I wasn't that familiar with the band. Then, after she bought the tickets, I got to hear their "Heathens" song from the Suicide Squad soundtrack and decided I really liked it. Oh well. You snooze, you lose. (I also missed out on Mutemath as the opening act because we didn't know they were part of the show until D. and the kids got there). Anyway, they all loved the concert, although they didn't love having to stand for an hour and a half on the LIRR all the way home. So boo, LIRR. You guys suck.
Best CDs of the year that I'm enjoying so far are the self-titled album from Andy Black (otherwise known as Andy Bierstock of Black Veil Brides fame), and the new full-length album by promising young Poughkeepsie band Against the Current.
'Til next time ...
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