This is going to piss off my readers who are eighties fans, but I want to be honest and put this out there right from the start: I'm more a child of the seventies than I am of the eighties. The eight artists I wrote about in the first eight chapters of this series (Jethro Tull, The Who, Pink Floyd, Yes, The Good Rats, Procol Harum, Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell) all had a tremendous part in forming my musical tastes, because most of them first got to me while I was still an open slate, a sort of musical larvae. By the time the eighties came along, those tastes were largely already formed by the artists of the sixties and seventies.
This doesn't mean that this next group of artists I'll be writing about aren't important to me. Just the opposite, in fact, as this whole series is about my "Favorite Artists". But it does mean that this next group of six bands are kind of the next tier down for me in my own personal pantheon of musical gods. They're "lesser gods," if you will. But lesser gods are still gods.
The bands in question are The Cars, The Police, Blondie, Eurythmics, The Smiths and The Go-Go's. The first three actually released their first couple of albums at the end of the seventies, but in spirit, I think most people associate them more with the eighties. I certainly do. Unlike my original pantheon of eight, who I remember primarily as WNEW-FM bands, these guys are all firmly classified in my head as WLIR bands, part of the so-called "New Wave" (although to be fair, I guess I actually first heard The Police and Blondie, and maybe even The Cars, I'm not sure about them -- on WNEW-FM.)
In comparison to the original eight, most of the bands in the second six had relatively shorter careers. Here are the numbers, in terms of studio albums (using Sputnik Music as the source, since there are some albums that can are classified by different sources as either studio albums or comp albums):
First eight: Jethro Tull - 22; The Who - 12 (including two double albums); Pink Floyd - 15 (including two double albums); Yes - 19 (including one double album); The Good Rats - 12; Procol Harum - 13; Bruce Springsteen - 19 (including one double album).
Second Six: The Cars - 7; The Police - 5; Blondie - 11; Eurythmics - 9; The Smiths - 4; The Go-Go's - 4.
So by and large, in addition to the original eight artists catching me more in my formative years, they also mostly put out a lot more LPs over the years to capture my attention (and my heart).
We're going to be talking about artists after these second six who actually started earlier than they did (examples: Fleetwood Mac and Rush). But although these artists were around longer, they didn't really make the list of bands I considered my bands until sometime after these six valiant new wavers did.
So anyway, within the next week or so (I hope), I'll be adding Part 9 to my favorite artists' series, as I take a look at The Cars. (I actually thought I was going to start writing about them here today. But as I began my intro, I realized that I really needed an interlude here before starting, so as not to take up half of The Cars' writeup with all of this intro stuff.) Anyway, see you in a few days.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Friday, April 24, 2020
Folk Contest: Round 1 Match 3
Here's the third matchup of the first round:
Augie March - Sunset Studies
It's Chamber Folk/ Indie Folk. An Australian band, this was their debut, and had some cracking tracks.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7tEwWmdqrQk7LcOeWKzvt7?si=WSkEmwMOQxWVjVerv1jsBQ
vs.
Eiza Gilkyson - Secularia
Gilkyson is an American folk artist based out of Austin, Texas. Secularia, her most recent LP, contains her musical musings on spirituality vs. religion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zMWd2Jbjz8&list=OLAK5uy_mog-g6-TVTgSsfwxI6D68cHio8gQdrCxU
The album is also available on spotify.
The Gilkyson album is my entrant for the tournament. It came out in 2018. As it happens, I had a spurt that year of creating pages on Sputnik for respected folk artists with whom the Sput Users were completely unfamiliar. I found this album really purdy, and full of quiet explorations of spirituality. I entered it in the hopes of getting more Users to give it a listen. (My other possible choice was John Gorka's album True in Time, which came out the same year.)
I just learned that Gilkyson put out a new LP two weeks ago, called 2020. But apparently that one is all political and social justicey, and you guys know how I feel about that. So I'm comfortable sticking with Seculalria. We'll see how the other contestants like it.
Augie March - Sunset Studies
It's Chamber Folk/ Indie Folk. An Australian band, this was their debut, and had some cracking tracks.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7tEwWmdqrQk7LcOeWKzvt7?si=WSkEmwMOQxWVjVerv1jsBQ
vs.
Eiza Gilkyson - Secularia
Gilkyson is an American folk artist based out of Austin, Texas. Secularia, her most recent LP, contains her musical musings on spirituality vs. religion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zMWd2Jbjz8&list=OLAK5uy_mog-g6-TVTgSsfwxI6D68cHio8gQdrCxU
The album is also available on spotify.
The Gilkyson album is my entrant for the tournament. It came out in 2018. As it happens, I had a spurt that year of creating pages on Sputnik for respected folk artists with whom the Sput Users were completely unfamiliar. I found this album really purdy, and full of quiet explorations of spirituality. I entered it in the hopes of getting more Users to give it a listen. (My other possible choice was John Gorka's album True in Time, which came out the same year.)
I just learned that Gilkyson put out a new LP two weeks ago, called 2020. But apparently that one is all political and social justicey, and you guys know how I feel about that. So I'm comfortable sticking with Seculalria. We'll see how the other contestants like it.
Folk Contest: Round 1 Match 2 Results
So here was my vote for this match:
I found this to be a tough choice.
Ksiezyc is experimental, and as such, it's inconsistent. Parts of it are beautiful and parts of it are dissonant and fairly unpleasant. (This is another one of those albums where my wife walked through during one of the dissonant parts where the women were just screaming, and asked me rather scornfully what the hell I was listening to).
The Jared Hart album is consistent, and decent throughout, but kind of generic and a little samey. For me, it doesn't reach the heights of the Ksiezyc LP, but doesn't hit the lows either.
My vote is for the Ksiezyc album.
This time, I was with the solid majority.
Final Results: Ksiezyc 12 votes, Jared Hart 3 votes
Winner: Ksiezyc
I found this to be a tough choice.
Ksiezyc is experimental, and as such, it's inconsistent. Parts of it are beautiful and parts of it are dissonant and fairly unpleasant. (This is another one of those albums where my wife walked through during one of the dissonant parts where the women were just screaming, and asked me rather scornfully what the hell I was listening to).
The Jared Hart album is consistent, and decent throughout, but kind of generic and a little samey. For me, it doesn't reach the heights of the Ksiezyc LP, but doesn't hit the lows either.
My vote is for the Ksiezyc album.
This time, I was with the solid majority.
Final Results: Ksiezyc 12 votes, Jared Hart 3 votes
Winner: Ksiezyc
Friday, April 17, 2020
Folk Contest: Round 1 Match 2
Here's the second matchup of the first round:
Ksiezyc - Ksiezyc
do you like your folk medieval, polish and like you're in some kind of apocalyptic luddite church? jam hard or die
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUEuajM4Geg
vs.
Jared Hart - Past Lives & Pass Lines
I fear he will not get very far in this tournament, cause his vocals are a little more than rough, but I love it so fuck it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mX3bHVn4fOwRRkSIZUe-6eP0j_PAQ4Qw8
The voting for this one ends next Friday. Listen along at home, if you like.
Ksiezyc - Ksiezyc
do you like your folk medieval, polish and like you're in some kind of apocalyptic luddite church? jam hard or die
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUEuajM4Geg
vs.
Jared Hart - Past Lives & Pass Lines
I fear he will not get very far in this tournament, cause his vocals are a little more than rough, but I love it so fuck it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mX3bHVn4fOwRRkSIZUe-6eP0j_PAQ4Qw8
The voting for this one ends next Friday. Listen along at home, if you like.
Folk Contest: Round 1 Match 1 Results
I know, I know. I was late with the last post, as this matchup is already over.
Anyway, here was my vote:
After the first listen, I was sure I was voting for the Pepper Proud album. It's obviously the brighter of the two choices, and I immediately fell in love with the track "Atlanta" (which is still my favorite track on either of the two albums.)
The first time through, I found a lot of what Amigo the Devil does annoying. He's a bit of a ham, and I don't like it sometimes when he suddenly blasts into his full voice. By the second listen, though, I started to hear more of his strong points, especially on his first song, and on "I Hope Your Husband Dies".
The third time through, I finally had the chance to listen to them back to back. My overall assessment is that Amigo the Devil is probably further along as an artist than is Pepper Proud, and objectively, I think "Everything Is Fine" is a slightly stronger album than "Water".
Nevertheless, my vote is for "Water", based on one simple thing: I just LIKE it better. It's consistent, it has my favorite song of the competition thus far, and there's nothing that irritates me about it. "Everything Is Fine" is a more peak-and-valley kind of thing for me.
So yeah, I vote for Pepper Proud.
However,
Final Results: Pepper Proud 5 votes, Amigo the Devil 9 votes
Winner: Amigo the Devil
Anyway, here was my vote:
After the first listen, I was sure I was voting for the Pepper Proud album. It's obviously the brighter of the two choices, and I immediately fell in love with the track "Atlanta" (which is still my favorite track on either of the two albums.)
The first time through, I found a lot of what Amigo the Devil does annoying. He's a bit of a ham, and I don't like it sometimes when he suddenly blasts into his full voice. By the second listen, though, I started to hear more of his strong points, especially on his first song, and on "I Hope Your Husband Dies".
The third time through, I finally had the chance to listen to them back to back. My overall assessment is that Amigo the Devil is probably further along as an artist than is Pepper Proud, and objectively, I think "Everything Is Fine" is a slightly stronger album than "Water".
Nevertheless, my vote is for "Water", based on one simple thing: I just LIKE it better. It's consistent, it has my favorite song of the competition thus far, and there's nothing that irritates me about it. "Everything Is Fine" is a more peak-and-valley kind of thing for me.
So yeah, I vote for Pepper Proud.
However,
Final Results: Pepper Proud 5 votes, Amigo the Devil 9 votes
Winner: Amigo the Devil
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Folk Contest: Round 1 Match 1
Here is the first matchup:
Pepper Proud - Water
Water has a nice variety of tones and emotions, and a bit of a new agey spiritual vibe with its references to nature and river spirits and themes of going with the flow and eschewing worry. an enchanting and calming listen, even when it goes into bittersweet territory like on the beautiful piano-and-voice closer. i feel like im lying under a tree or floating down a river in the summer when i listen to this.
https://pepperproud.bandcamp.com/album/water
Vs.
Amigo the Devil - Everything Is Fine
Really fun and dark "Murderfolk" with a bluegrass twinge
https://open.spotify.com/album/59vkWqeq9otcDeUaLGKqfO
I'll be back to let you know who I voted for, and who won the first matchup.
Pepper Proud - Water
Water has a nice variety of tones and emotions, and a bit of a new agey spiritual vibe with its references to nature and river spirits and themes of going with the flow and eschewing worry. an enchanting and calming listen, even when it goes into bittersweet territory like on the beautiful piano-and-voice closer. i feel like im lying under a tree or floating down a river in the summer when i listen to this.
https://pepperproud.bandcamp.com/album/water
Vs.
Amigo the Devil - Everything Is Fine
Really fun and dark "Murderfolk" with a bluegrass twinge
https://open.spotify.com/album/59vkWqeq9otcDeUaLGKqfO
I'll be back to let you know who I voted for, and who won the first matchup.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Folk Contest: Preliminary
Folk is an underserved genre on the Sputnik Music website. So I decided that since most of us currently have some down time <cough, cough>, I'd host a folk contest on the site, modeled on my friend Friday13th's annual prog rock contest.
I threw it out there and invited 15 other Users to submit albums by folk artists that had received 25 or fewer ratings on the Sputnik site. We got our 16 entries overall, and I put the numbers 1-16 through a randomizer, and we started with our first first-round matchup last Friday.
Here are the entries:
1. Eliza Gilkyson - Secularia (2018) - americana spiritual folk
2. Harrod and Funck - Live (1998) - pop folk
3. Augie March - Sunset Studies (2000) - chamber/indie folk
4. Jared Hart - Past Lives & Pass Lines (2015) - gruff folk
5. Pepper Proud - Water (2014) - new age spiritual folk
6. Clara Engel - The Bethlehem Tapes (2010) - bluesy folk
7. Laura Gibson - Goners (2018) - americana indie folk
8. Strand of Oaks - Leave Ruin (2009) country/americana folk
9. Matt Elliott - Farewell to All We Know (2020) - experimental/post rock folk
10. Borg - Woodland (2020) - medieval/renaissance folk
11. Gordon Bok - A Tune for November (1969) - New England sea shanty folk
12. Clem Snide - Forever Just Beyond (2020) - indie pop/alternative folk
13. Fire on Fire - The Orchard (2008) - apocalyptic folk
14. The Trees Community - Christ Tree (1975) - psychedelic "freak" folk
15. Ksiezyc - Ksiezyc (1996) - experimental ambient folk
16. Amigo the Devil - Everything Is Fine (2018) - murderfolk with a bluegrass twinge
So while we have a range of imaginative styles, all but three of the entries were recorded prior to 2000 (although the Borg album is a collection of traditional Swedish songs from the Renaissance period). My entry was the Eliza Gilkyson LP, which I reviewed on this blog a year or so ago. I've never heard any of the entries prior to the start of the tournament.
Round 1 has begun, and I'll be back soon to tell you about the first two contestants.
I threw it out there and invited 15 other Users to submit albums by folk artists that had received 25 or fewer ratings on the Sputnik site. We got our 16 entries overall, and I put the numbers 1-16 through a randomizer, and we started with our first first-round matchup last Friday.
Here are the entries:
1. Eliza Gilkyson - Secularia (2018) - americana spiritual folk
2. Harrod and Funck - Live (1998) - pop folk
3. Augie March - Sunset Studies (2000) - chamber/indie folk
4. Jared Hart - Past Lives & Pass Lines (2015) - gruff folk
5. Pepper Proud - Water (2014) - new age spiritual folk
6. Clara Engel - The Bethlehem Tapes (2010) - bluesy folk
7. Laura Gibson - Goners (2018) - americana indie folk
8. Strand of Oaks - Leave Ruin (2009) country/americana folk
9. Matt Elliott - Farewell to All We Know (2020) - experimental/post rock folk
10. Borg - Woodland (2020) - medieval/renaissance folk
11. Gordon Bok - A Tune for November (1969) - New England sea shanty folk
12. Clem Snide - Forever Just Beyond (2020) - indie pop/alternative folk
13. Fire on Fire - The Orchard (2008) - apocalyptic folk
14. The Trees Community - Christ Tree (1975) - psychedelic "freak" folk
15. Ksiezyc - Ksiezyc (1996) - experimental ambient folk
16. Amigo the Devil - Everything Is Fine (2018) - murderfolk with a bluegrass twinge
So while we have a range of imaginative styles, all but three of the entries were recorded prior to 2000 (although the Borg album is a collection of traditional Swedish songs from the Renaissance period). My entry was the Eliza Gilkyson LP, which I reviewed on this blog a year or so ago. I've never heard any of the entries prior to the start of the tournament.
Round 1 has begun, and I'll be back soon to tell you about the first two contestants.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Corona Corona, Oh Leave Us Alona
Just a couple of scribbles on how the Covid-19 is affecting the local concert scene. Bear I mind that when I write this, I'm writing specifically about how the virus is impacting on the concert scene because this blog is intended to be focused on music. I'm not trying to gloss over the human lives that have been lost, or the economic/societal impacts that the virus will have on our society and on other countries throughout the world. But I don't know if I'm qualified to write about those things anyway, and even if I were, I think I'm still too stunned by it all to pull anything coherent together.
As I mentioned in my Coronavirus Blues posts a few weeks back, I cancelled out on a couple of musicals and a library concert back in early March. And here on Long Island, for sure, the theaters and the libaries will be closed for the immediate future.
I didn't really have tickets pre-purchased for many shows in the months to come. Of those, the only one hat has definitely been postponed to a future date yet to be named was the Grouplove show at the Paramount. Assuming that they do go ahead and reschedule this for some time later in the year, it will probably screw me up, as a good part of the reason I decided to buy these tickets was to check out the opening act, an Irish singer who calls herself Jealous of the Birds. (And usually, if a concert like this gets rescheduled, it's with a different opening act. But who knows, I might wind up eating the tickets even if they do reschedule it. Right now, I'm not in any kind of a rush to put myself into a large crowd situation until I see this thing is really and reliably gone.
I also have a ticket to see Alice Cooper with Lita Ford and Tesla at Jones Beach in late June. So far, Jones Beach hasn't cancelled any of its summer concert series, although by this time next month, if there hasn't been a marked improvement in the New York situation, they'll surely have to start thinking about it. But if they do, the joke is on them, since I had a huge fight with Ticketmaster when I discovered that what I thought were print-your-own tickets were, at best, will-call (and they acted like they were doing me a huge favor to even make them will-call). So if they cancel the show, I should get the refund that they refused to give me earlier. If that happens, you know I'll be gloating about it on this page.
The only other show I personally have a ticket for in the months to come is The Go-Go's at the Westbury Music Fair in July, and it will be another month or more before we know if anything has to change with that one. Maybe.
Because here's the thing I really wanted to write about today. A couple of days ago, I got an email from The Patchogue Theatre, informing me they were cancelling or postponing all of their upcoming shows through September 1. September 1!
Now I'm not saying the Patchogue Theatre people know anything more than any of these other venues who still have shows planned for May or June. I doubt that they do. And maybe they're being just a little extra cautious because compared with most Long Island performance venues, their audience probably skews a little older.
But here's the thing. I'm sure the Patchogue Theatre needs the revenue as much as any of the other venues on Long Island, but they still postponed all of their shows for the entire summer. It kind of restructured my whole world view that a venue like this was willing to write off the entire next four months. It's not that I never pictured that such a thing as the virus lasting that long might be possible. But to envision such a possibility is one thing -- to see a venue of this size bet their whole summer on it is another.
As much as I love The Patchogue Theater, I obviously hope they're jumping the gun on this one. But maybe they're not. We could be in this for a longer time than we've been guessing, people. Let's hope not, but we could.
Anyway, stay safe out there, stay home, and maybe catch up on some albums and some video concerts. And whatever you do, for God's sake, wash your hands!
As I mentioned in my Coronavirus Blues posts a few weeks back, I cancelled out on a couple of musicals and a library concert back in early March. And here on Long Island, for sure, the theaters and the libaries will be closed for the immediate future.
I didn't really have tickets pre-purchased for many shows in the months to come. Of those, the only one hat has definitely been postponed to a future date yet to be named was the Grouplove show at the Paramount. Assuming that they do go ahead and reschedule this for some time later in the year, it will probably screw me up, as a good part of the reason I decided to buy these tickets was to check out the opening act, an Irish singer who calls herself Jealous of the Birds. (And usually, if a concert like this gets rescheduled, it's with a different opening act. But who knows, I might wind up eating the tickets even if they do reschedule it. Right now, I'm not in any kind of a rush to put myself into a large crowd situation until I see this thing is really and reliably gone.
I also have a ticket to see Alice Cooper with Lita Ford and Tesla at Jones Beach in late June. So far, Jones Beach hasn't cancelled any of its summer concert series, although by this time next month, if there hasn't been a marked improvement in the New York situation, they'll surely have to start thinking about it. But if they do, the joke is on them, since I had a huge fight with Ticketmaster when I discovered that what I thought were print-your-own tickets were, at best, will-call (and they acted like they were doing me a huge favor to even make them will-call). So if they cancel the show, I should get the refund that they refused to give me earlier. If that happens, you know I'll be gloating about it on this page.
The only other show I personally have a ticket for in the months to come is The Go-Go's at the Westbury Music Fair in July, and it will be another month or more before we know if anything has to change with that one. Maybe.
Because here's the thing I really wanted to write about today. A couple of days ago, I got an email from The Patchogue Theatre, informing me they were cancelling or postponing all of their upcoming shows through September 1. September 1!
Now I'm not saying the Patchogue Theatre people know anything more than any of these other venues who still have shows planned for May or June. I doubt that they do. And maybe they're being just a little extra cautious because compared with most Long Island performance venues, their audience probably skews a little older.
But here's the thing. I'm sure the Patchogue Theatre needs the revenue as much as any of the other venues on Long Island, but they still postponed all of their shows for the entire summer. It kind of restructured my whole world view that a venue like this was willing to write off the entire next four months. It's not that I never pictured that such a thing as the virus lasting that long might be possible. But to envision such a possibility is one thing -- to see a venue of this size bet their whole summer on it is another.
As much as I love The Patchogue Theater, I obviously hope they're jumping the gun on this one. But maybe they're not. We could be in this for a longer time than we've been guessing, people. Let's hope not, but we could.
Anyway, stay safe out there, stay home, and maybe catch up on some albums and some video concerts. And whatever you do, for God's sake, wash your hands!
Review of Future Bible Heroes' "Eternal Youth"
I posted this review on the Sputnik Music website just a few minutes ago.
Eternal Youth is the second of Future Bible Heroes' three LPs to date, and while it has its moments, it's ultimately the least successful. Nestled five years after the band's exceptional debut Memories of Love (1997) and nine years before their fine comeback album Partygoing(2013), Eternal Youth (2002) suffers from a variety of maladies.
For the unfamiliar, Future Bible Heroes itself is one of a number of side projects of Stephin Merritt, the mastermind behind the band The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs, 50 Song Memoir, etc.) As such, FBH, along with other projects like The 6ths and The Gothic Archies, has always served as a sort of sorbet to cleanse Merritt's musical palate between Magnetic Fields projects. The band is made up Merritt; his manager/friend/spiritual guide Claudia Gonson (who generally splits the lead vocals with Merritt, but sings all the leads on this album -- more on that in a bit); and keyboard madman Chris Ewen, formerly of Figures on a Beach. As opposed to Merritt's other projects, FBH plays in a style that Wikipedia refers to "electronica-based disco", thanks largely to the strange stylings of Ewen.
Don't get me wrong here, Eternal Youth isn't really a bad album. It's just that FBH's other two albums are so brilliant that Eternal Youth seems lackluster in comparison. This is due to a number of reasons.
For one thing, there are probably too many tracks here. The album lists sixteen songs, although in fairness, six of them are really just instrumental bridges, weird little interludes that are each less than a minute long. They don't really add much to the LP, though, and they make it feellonger than it is. I get it that they're there to break up the monotony, but that leads us to our next issue.
You see, unlike each of the other two FBH LPs, this is the only one where Gonson handles all of the lead vocals. I like her voice myself, but if I'm being honest, I have to admit that it's far from perfect. She's a little nasal, and at times, just slightly off key. FBH works really well when she trades the leads with Merritt's deadpan bass vox. When she's the only vocalist on the album, though, her voice isn't interesting enough to carry it off by herself, even if the songs are separated by little pieces of electronic instrumental whimsy.
And this is the worst sin -- the songwriting here just isn't as consistently strong as it is on the other two Future Bible Heroes LPs. There are three songs that I really like a lot, and find myself going back to all the time, and maybe three or four others that are flawed but worthwhile. But here's where the too-many-tracks thing comes back to bite the band -- three really strong tracks out of ten, or even six or seven really solid ones make you perceive an LP one way; three, or six, or seven out of sixteen makes you rate it entirely differently.
Let's talk about Eternal Youth's strong points, though. When this album first came out, "I'm a Vampire" wasn't even my favorite song on it. It's grown on me over the years, however. Now, it might be my favorite FBH song overall. The track features Claudia portraying an immortal bitch goddess, playing with her victim like a cat plays with a mouse and having a wonderful time doing it. Here, she explains exactly who she is: "I can turn into a bat, I can cast the evil eye/I have ever so much money, I'm gorgeous and I can fly/I've survived the inquisition, been a harlot, been a queen/Survived for seven hundred years, and I still look seventeen." Merritt loves writing about monsters, and this one is one of his best.
Another absolute winner is "Doris Daytheearthstoodstill". This imaginative number is sung from the viewpoint of an amiable race of aliens on a planet far away who find themselves unwillingly bombarded by our old television signals. They hate our ads (they have no way to buy this junk, after all), but they love our old movies, especially those featuring Doris Day, whom they perceive to be the "hippest chick on Thurth". We're accidentally causing them to grow new antennae, and they're considering sending a gas droid after us for disturbing their peace.
A simpler, but equally amusing track is "Kiss Me Only With Your Eyes". This one follows the life of the prim and proper Mary Daly, who upbraids her fiancé, her priest and the Lord Jesus in turn. Just as each of them is about to kiss her, she warns them to kiss her only with their eyes, as she despises any sort of physical affection. Unsurprisingly, her groom leaves her at the altar.
There are also a couple of songs that work better musically than lyrically. I love the slow moodiness of "A Thousand Lovers in a Day" and the song structure and Gonson's smooth vocals on "No River", but the lyrical narratives of both are kind of silly. As for most of the other songs, they're just OK.
Future Bible Heroes is actually my favorite of Stephin Merritt's various musical endeavors. The chemistry between him, Gonson and Ewen really works for me, and they usually manage to take his clever songwriting to another level. On Eternal Youth, though, the magic works on just a few songs. For FBH and Stephen Merritt completists, this LP is certainly a must-have. If you're just starting out with this band, though, don't start here. You'll be better served by listening to Memories of Love and/or Partygoing.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Review Summary: While this LP has its moments, ultimately it's the least satisfying of Future Bible Heroes' three full-length albums.
Eternal Youth is the second of Future Bible Heroes' three LPs to date, and while it has its moments, it's ultimately the least successful. Nestled five years after the band's exceptional debut Memories of Love (1997) and nine years before their fine comeback album Partygoing(2013), Eternal Youth (2002) suffers from a variety of maladies.
For the unfamiliar, Future Bible Heroes itself is one of a number of side projects of Stephin Merritt, the mastermind behind the band The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs, 50 Song Memoir, etc.) As such, FBH, along with other projects like The 6ths and The Gothic Archies, has always served as a sort of sorbet to cleanse Merritt's musical palate between Magnetic Fields projects. The band is made up Merritt; his manager/friend/spiritual guide Claudia Gonson (who generally splits the lead vocals with Merritt, but sings all the leads on this album -- more on that in a bit); and keyboard madman Chris Ewen, formerly of Figures on a Beach. As opposed to Merritt's other projects, FBH plays in a style that Wikipedia refers to "electronica-based disco", thanks largely to the strange stylings of Ewen.
Don't get me wrong here, Eternal Youth isn't really a bad album. It's just that FBH's other two albums are so brilliant that Eternal Youth seems lackluster in comparison. This is due to a number of reasons.
For one thing, there are probably too many tracks here. The album lists sixteen songs, although in fairness, six of them are really just instrumental bridges, weird little interludes that are each less than a minute long. They don't really add much to the LP, though, and they make it feellonger than it is. I get it that they're there to break up the monotony, but that leads us to our next issue.
You see, unlike each of the other two FBH LPs, this is the only one where Gonson handles all of the lead vocals. I like her voice myself, but if I'm being honest, I have to admit that it's far from perfect. She's a little nasal, and at times, just slightly off key. FBH works really well when she trades the leads with Merritt's deadpan bass vox. When she's the only vocalist on the album, though, her voice isn't interesting enough to carry it off by herself, even if the songs are separated by little pieces of electronic instrumental whimsy.
And this is the worst sin -- the songwriting here just isn't as consistently strong as it is on the other two Future Bible Heroes LPs. There are three songs that I really like a lot, and find myself going back to all the time, and maybe three or four others that are flawed but worthwhile. But here's where the too-many-tracks thing comes back to bite the band -- three really strong tracks out of ten, or even six or seven really solid ones make you perceive an LP one way; three, or six, or seven out of sixteen makes you rate it entirely differently.
Let's talk about Eternal Youth's strong points, though. When this album first came out, "I'm a Vampire" wasn't even my favorite song on it. It's grown on me over the years, however. Now, it might be my favorite FBH song overall. The track features Claudia portraying an immortal bitch goddess, playing with her victim like a cat plays with a mouse and having a wonderful time doing it. Here, she explains exactly who she is: "I can turn into a bat, I can cast the evil eye/I have ever so much money, I'm gorgeous and I can fly/I've survived the inquisition, been a harlot, been a queen/Survived for seven hundred years, and I still look seventeen." Merritt loves writing about monsters, and this one is one of his best.
Another absolute winner is "Doris Daytheearthstoodstill". This imaginative number is sung from the viewpoint of an amiable race of aliens on a planet far away who find themselves unwillingly bombarded by our old television signals. They hate our ads (they have no way to buy this junk, after all), but they love our old movies, especially those featuring Doris Day, whom they perceive to be the "hippest chick on Thurth". We're accidentally causing them to grow new antennae, and they're considering sending a gas droid after us for disturbing their peace.
A simpler, but equally amusing track is "Kiss Me Only With Your Eyes". This one follows the life of the prim and proper Mary Daly, who upbraids her fiancé, her priest and the Lord Jesus in turn. Just as each of them is about to kiss her, she warns them to kiss her only with their eyes, as she despises any sort of physical affection. Unsurprisingly, her groom leaves her at the altar.
There are also a couple of songs that work better musically than lyrically. I love the slow moodiness of "A Thousand Lovers in a Day" and the song structure and Gonson's smooth vocals on "No River", but the lyrical narratives of both are kind of silly. As for most of the other songs, they're just OK.
Future Bible Heroes is actually my favorite of Stephin Merritt's various musical endeavors. The chemistry between him, Gonson and Ewen really works for me, and they usually manage to take his clever songwriting to another level. On Eternal Youth, though, the magic works on just a few songs. For FBH and Stephen Merritt completists, this LP is certainly a must-have. If you're just starting out with this band, though, don't start here. You'll be better served by listening to Memories of Love and/or Partygoing.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Friday, April 3, 2020
March 2020 Song of the Day
For new readers, this refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month, one user hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The list of March songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day - March 2020.
1. The theme for the month was to "WINTER". We were looking for songs about snow, cold, ice, etc. We had pretty good participation for the month - I think 25 or so people contributed song recommendations, and thanks to people being housebound due to the coronavirus, we had higher participation in terms of people rating than the songs than we have in previous months. As I was the host this month, I was one of the lucky handful who got to make a second rec for the month.
2. My first pick for the month was a relatively unknown one by local New York City songstress Allison Tartalia. I don't even remember anymore when I first met Allison, but she did come out to Long Island at least once to play an LIMC show at the old Zen Den (the precursor to the Pisces Cafe) in Babylon. This is my favorite song of hers. It's called "Frost". (Allison Tartalia - Frost)
My second pick was by the British alt rock band Bush, and I think it might be their best song as well. It's called "The Sound of Winter". (Bush - The Sound of Winter)
3. My highest rated song of the month was a classic of the sixties, "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas and The Papas. (The Mamas and The Papas - California Dreamin')
This was also the highest rated song by the Sputnik Users as a whole. (So they got it right for once, heh heh!)
The link to the playlist for the month, minus the two songs that aren't up on YouTube, can be found at March 2020 Song of the Day YouTube Playlist.
1. The theme for the month was to "WINTER". We were looking for songs about snow, cold, ice, etc. We had pretty good participation for the month - I think 25 or so people contributed song recommendations, and thanks to people being housebound due to the coronavirus, we had higher participation in terms of people rating than the songs than we have in previous months. As I was the host this month, I was one of the lucky handful who got to make a second rec for the month.
2. My first pick for the month was a relatively unknown one by local New York City songstress Allison Tartalia. I don't even remember anymore when I first met Allison, but she did come out to Long Island at least once to play an LIMC show at the old Zen Den (the precursor to the Pisces Cafe) in Babylon. This is my favorite song of hers. It's called "Frost". (Allison Tartalia - Frost)
My second pick was by the British alt rock band Bush, and I think it might be their best song as well. It's called "The Sound of Winter". (Bush - The Sound of Winter)
3. My highest rated song of the month was a classic of the sixties, "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas and The Papas. (The Mamas and The Papas - California Dreamin')
This was also the highest rated song by the Sputnik Users as a whole. (So they got it right for once, heh heh!)
The link to the playlist for the month, minus the two songs that aren't up on YouTube, can be found at March 2020 Song of the Day YouTube Playlist.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Review of The Smiths' "...Best II"
I posted this review on the Sputnik Music site a few minutes. The album is essentially the second part of the two-album set.
Last week I reviewed the companion piece to this compilation album, Best... I. To briefly reiterate, The Smiths as a band released quite a bit of material that was never included on any of their studio albums. There are some other good Smiths comps out there, including Hatful of Hollow (1984) and Louder Than Bombs (1987) to help you catch up with some of these tracks. However, I've always been partial to this two-album set, which was released by Warner in 1992 right after they bought the rights to the band's back catalog.
Like Best... I, there are 14 tracks on this album. Five of them are in that category of Never Released on a Studio Album, while the other nine include some The Smiths' best and most famous songs.
The five non-studio-album tracks comprise three A-sides and two B-sides. The A-sides include two of their very best, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", which hit # 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Ask", which hit # 14. The third, "Shakespeare's Sister", only got as high as # 26. The B-sides include a really tasty (and atypical) instrumental number, "Oscillate Wildly", and "Girl Afraid", which was the B-side for "Heaven Knows...".
As for the previously released album tracks, they include a smorgasbord of Smiths treats, including "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side", plus "The Headmaster Ritual" (from Meat Is Murder), "Reel Around the Fountain" (from The Smiths), and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" (from Strangeways, Here We Come).
I doubt we'll ever see The Smiths get back together again. Even thirty years later, the acrimony between the various band members (especially the two songwriters, singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr) still seems to be too intense. Which is all the more reason to treasure the full discography (and not just the studio albums) of this great pop rock band.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Review Summary: A nice collection from one of the greatest pop rock bands ever
Last week I reviewed the companion piece to this compilation album, Best... I. To briefly reiterate, The Smiths as a band released quite a bit of material that was never included on any of their studio albums. There are some other good Smiths comps out there, including Hatful of Hollow (1984) and Louder Than Bombs (1987) to help you catch up with some of these tracks. However, I've always been partial to this two-album set, which was released by Warner in 1992 right after they bought the rights to the band's back catalog.
Like Best... I, there are 14 tracks on this album. Five of them are in that category of Never Released on a Studio Album, while the other nine include some The Smiths' best and most famous songs.
The five non-studio-album tracks comprise three A-sides and two B-sides. The A-sides include two of their very best, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", which hit # 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Ask", which hit # 14. The third, "Shakespeare's Sister", only got as high as # 26. The B-sides include a really tasty (and atypical) instrumental number, "Oscillate Wildly", and "Girl Afraid", which was the B-side for "Heaven Knows...".
As for the previously released album tracks, they include a smorgasbord of Smiths treats, including "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side", plus "The Headmaster Ritual" (from Meat Is Murder), "Reel Around the Fountain" (from The Smiths), and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" (from Strangeways, Here We Come).
I doubt we'll ever see The Smiths get back together again. Even thirty years later, the acrimony between the various band members (especially the two songwriters, singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr) still seems to be too intense. Which is all the more reason to treasure the full discography (and not just the studio albums) of this great pop rock band.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
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