Top 5 Songs to Convince Yourself That the Day's Drama is Because This Day Really Doesn't Exist:
1. Tomorrow Never Knows, the Beatles. Turn off my mind, indeed.
2. 99 Problems, Jay-Z/Linkin Park version Well, any version really. MJ knows my obsession with that one. But this version's really rough, and I need the rough right now.
3. Break Stuff, Limp Bizkit. Twice in a week I've had to reference that one. SHIT-TASTIC.
4. Eight Miles High, Husker Du. Screaming, violent, distorted cover. The noise will eliminate the dissonance in your brain.
5. Killing in the Name, Rage Against the Machine. Yeah...

It's Friday. Make it count.

Labels: top 5 lists

Ok, I watched it. One of my girlfriends recommended that I see it, even though I avoided it when it was in the theater. I was skeptical. Remember the Sgt. Pepper debacle? I still have nightmares about setting Beatles tunes to a story. But, Judy was raving about it, so on to the Netflix it went.

Top Five Scenes that Didn't Completely SUCK in Across the Universe:
1. The bowling alley scene worked. The slightly whimsical song "I've Just Seen A Face", with its somewhat manic tempo and ladidas fit the surrealistic images of falling in love in a 60s era bowling alley.
2. Any scene with Sadie worked, with the exception of one. But I'll get there in a minute. She was the singer in a bar band, channeling Janis and some delta blues, and she could sing like no one's business. So, she was an enjoyable character.
3. Bono kind of played to the caricature of himself, a larger than life asshole garnering all the attention, and that worked. Well.
4. Interesting cameos by Joe Cocker (very brief, but I knew it was him almost immediately), Salma Hayak, and Eddie Izzard (who is hard to distinguish).
5. The "Let It Be" montage, although pulling on the heart strings. I got a little misty at the very end.

Fair to middling, until the end. On the roof. Singing "Don't Let Me Down". Like some nightmarish alternate ending to "Let It Be". I actually started yelling at my tv "no, no you didn't no. no. no. NO!" Ruined it. Absolutely took it exactly down the hellish rabbit hole of suck I thought this movie would be. I should have listened to Brian. I was left with the lingering aftertaste of, "how can you be a Beatles fan and tolerate one second of this ending?" Sure, this may solidify my reputation as a music snob, but, to hell with all of you. This movie was awful.

Top 5 Beatles Songs That Survived Being Mutilated for "Across the Universe", meaning, by the grace of the music gods, they did not appear in this film:
1. In My Life
2. Norweigian Wood
3. Tomorrow Never Knows
4. A Day in the Life
5. I've Got a Feeling

Labels: across the universe, beatles, the SUCK

iTunes Random 5 Songs from my library:
5. Super Duper Love - Joss Stone
4. Mirror In The Bathroom - The English Beat
3. Reckoner - Radiohead
2. Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
1. Runaway - Sugar Ray

My Sister's "Rob Gordon" list
5. I Fought The Law - The Clash
4. All The Answers - Social Distortion
3. Come Dancing - The Kinks
2. The Killing Moon - Echo And The Bunnymen
1. Your Lucky Day In Hell - Eels

Songs I Included on EVERY Mix Tape I Made in 1988
5. Spiderman - The Cure
4. Little Red Corvette - Prince and the Revolution
3. Tenderness - General Public
2. It's My Life - Talk Talk
1. Uncertain Smile - The The

I think we can keep this going for quite some time. Plus, I can't think of anything to talk about. My sister went to Foo Fighters this past Thursday night, and we were going to see the Bravery, until the snow made her bail on me, unnecessarily.

Lame.

But, I'll keep going with this HiFi run as long as we can.

I am the self-proclaimed queen of the mix tape. This title has spawned more arguments over the years between me and my friend Brian than I care to count. Brian is of the opinion that songs should never be re-organized into collections like that; the album was perfect the way it was, and mix tapes just corrupt that original feel. Pardon me, Brian, but for the 9546th time, go fuck yourself on that one. So, when he and I saw High Fidelity in the theaters, likely opening night, we spent the entire night arguing about one of the film's major devices--the mix tape. I, of course, love them. Sometimes, the tape says more about what you're really feeling than your own paltry, oft-used and abused vocabulary could ever dream.

And, of course, there are rules, as Mr. Gordon so eloquently illustrates.

"To me, making a tape is like writing a letter--there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again...A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick it off with a corker, to hold the attention...and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs, and ...oh, there are loads of rules"

And, how many mix tapes have we made about breakups over the years? Seriously, we're either using them to get someone to like us, or to console ourselves when they don't. So, my final list for Rob Gordon week combines the movie and book's major premises, break ups and mix tapes. So, without further ado...

Top 5 Songs That Remind Me of a Breakup, or Love Gone Wrong:
1. Sorry I Am, Ani DiFranco
2. Within Your Reach, The Replacements
3. Drowning, Joe Jackson
4. Perfect Example, Husker Du
5. How Can I Tell You?, Cat Stevens

Enjoy, kids. Don't get too weepy. ;)

Labels: breaking up is hard to do, mix tape, rob gordon

Can we talk about John Cusack here for just a second? Sorry, MJ, but my longest lasting schoolgirl crush is the man of the week, here. I saw Better Off Dead at the age of 13, and John has held the top spot in my celebrity loving heart for all eternity. If he walked in here and said "run away with me," well, it's been nice knowing you all. Maybe it's those lovely brown eyes, maybe it's the hipster-nerd persona, maybe it's the IMMPECABLE taste in music (he consults on all the soundtracks of his movies, did you know that? See, Courtney, his longest fan/stalker knows that), whatever. He maketh me swoon...

...done now. So, in keeping with Rob's compulsive list making, I bring you my version of one of the film's lists, and two new ones...

Top 5 Side One Track Ones:
1. "Something I Learned Today", Zen Arcade by Husker Du.
2. "No Action", This Year's Model, Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
3. "Either Way", Sky Blue Sky, Wilco
4. "Two of Us", Let It Be, the Beatles (sentimental favorite)
5. "I Will Dare", Let It Be, the Replacements. Their finest album. Just trust me.

Top 5 Songs Mentioned or Played in the Movie that Did NOT Make the Soundtrack:
1. The River, Bruce Springsteen
2. Crimson and Clover, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
3. Suspect Device, Stiff Little Fingers
4. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot
5. Not Dark Yet, Bob Dylan
(and no, I'm not telling where. Go have your own High Fidelity scavenger hunt. ) ;)

And, finally, My "List"...
1. John Cusack
2. Matt Damon
3. Donnie Wahlberg (even as a NKOTB)
4. Johnnie Depp
5. Reese Witherspoon (weren't expecting that one were you? Well, MJ was...)
(honorable mention to the dear departed soul of Heath Ledger)

MJ, thoughts?

Labels: top 5 lists

It's Rob Gordon Week. I think I need to make some lists, and so, we'll see who wants to play along.

Top Five Early Monday Morning Songs
5. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man - Prince
4. Have A Heart - Bonnie Raitt
3. The Space Between - Dave Matthews Band
2. Lying My Way - Linkin Park
1. Ramble On - Led Zeppelin

Top Five Songs From the 70's - which I realize covers a shitload of ground, but fuck it. I'm the reigning expert on the 70's that you'll read today, so recognize.
5. What Is My Life? - George Harrison
4. Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
3. Young Americans - David Bowie
2. One Nation Under a Groove - George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic
1. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Last one.

Top Five Albums You Should Own, But Probably Don't
5. Rum, Sodomy and The Lash - The Pogues
4. Love and Theft - Bob Dylan
3. Pink Moon - Nick Drake
2. Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
1. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight - Richard and Linda Thompson

We'll see what Courtney has to say. Lots of content this week, hopefully.

For those of you who have been talking to me in the last 24 hours, this is kind of where I'm at.

I would like to thank my darling co-consipirator first for this song, and second, for talking me off of the ledge earlier.

Enjoy your weekend, darlin's.

District Line, Bob Mould’s latest release, dropped this past Tuesday. Looking at my iTunes play count, I see I’ve listened to the entire album 10 times already, and the song “Again and Again” 18 times. Which would explain why this review hasn’t dropped sooner; I’ve been too busy listening. By the sheer number of plays, you can surmise I find this album to be a really good time, but don’t take my word for it. Make it your own.

For those of you familiar with Bob’s body of work, you will recognize the themes and sounds instantly. Fuzzy, bigger than life guitar, vocals that snarl and soothe at turns, electronic subtleties that sharpen the edges. It’s all there, mostly seamless, although I find “Old Highs, New Lows” slower than I’d like. But here’s what struck me after I’d spent a few days with it: Bob Mould really did help usher in emo. Like, the old DC hardcore scene emo, with Minor Threat and Fugazi. Emo in it’s original gut-wrenching form, serrated and raw, not the binky bands that pass for emo today. Certainly, living and working in the heart of the old DC scene will imprint its ghosts on you, as well as having Brendan Canty play drums on your album, but Bob was there in the Zen Arcade days; this is not a new trip for him. And it’s fantastic.

The song I find myself thinking about when I’m away from the stereo is “Very Temporary”. On initial listen, it is upbeat, and a little poppy, very much like Sugar in its top form. But lyrically, he’s tearing his heart out with a spoon. Or, to be accurate, a razor blade.

“This is very temporary, I know that’s all you want, I know, I know, you’re the reason I keep breathing, and I’ll give up the fight if you go, cut my heart out with a razor now”

I mean, if there were such a thing as “textbook emo”, that’s it. And it sucks you in completely.

I find myself not wanting to contribute to the press noise surrounding this album, and let you make your own impressions. So, listen. Carefully. You’ll find it echoing in your mind long after the last note.

Album stream.
Electronic press kit (worth the watch)
Buy it.

----------------
Now playing: Bob Mould - Walls In Time
via FoxyTunes

Labels: Bob Mould

The lights in the hall came down, and a spotlight shone to the right of the stage. I expected an entrance from that side. Instead, I hear a a bass drum, and wailing from the doors at the center of the auditorium, and a droning like bagpipes, though not as loud, or shrill. The trio moved through the first section of the auditorium like an ancient Celtic ceremonial march, and climbed the stage stairs. The droning was a hurdy gurdy, played by Thompson, and his percussionist and vocalist continued the chanting. Suddenly, I wanted a bonfire, and a grove of oaks, and a robe like his vocalist was wearing. I wanted to be twirling and stomping with abandon. This music was from another world.

And so went much of the first act of Richard Thompson’s 1000 Years of Popular Music, which stopped Friday night at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, MA. The story of this tour goes, in 1999, Playboy asked musicians to rate their favorite songs of the millennium, and Thompson, being, well, Richard Thompson, took this approach:

“… I was asked to submit a list, in late 1999, of the ten greatest songs of the Millenium. Hah! I thought, hypocrites - they don't mean millennium, they mean twenty years - I'll call their bluff and do a real thousand-year selection. My list was similar to the choices here…, starting in about 1068, and winding slowly up to 2001. That they failed to print my list among others submitted by rock's luminaries, is but a slight wound - it gave me the idea for this show…The idea is that Popular Music comes in many forms, through many ages, and as older forms get superceded, sometimes the baby is thrown out with the bathwater - great ideas, tunes, rhythms, styles, get left in the dust of history, so let's have a look at what's back there, and see if still does the trick. I am unqualified to sing 98% of the material here, but me having a go could be considered part of the fun.” (source)

And Friday night, he certainly showed us those many forms. With a set list that ranged from a ballad written by Richard the Lionhearted in the style of the troubadors to an utterly astounding re-working of a Nelly Furtado song, and period art on the back screen, he showed us that popular music really was the music of the masses.

This show solidified for me that Thompson is one of the most talented guitar players this century has produced. And his connection with his audience is unquestionable. Find me another modern artist that could make today’s music consuming public care about seeing Italian Renaissance ballads or old English mining songs performed live. In fact, find me a modern artist who can do it at ALL. Part of the magic was Thompson’s ability to tell a story; those of us who know his body of work know full well how he does it with song. He’s equally as talented in telling stories about songs, setting a context in order that those of us who were not music history majors at university could connect with the music the way our ancestors who performed it connected. Some of the songs he played are listed here, with more variations in the 20th century portion of the set. What I pulled away from this evening was an appreciation of the craft of songwriting. A good structure will lend itself to many interpretations and renditions, and still ring true. And a dramatic deconstruction, such as the way he deconstructed Nelly Furtado’s “Maneater”, will often reveal more subtle meanings, or sharpen edges you didn’t think were present in a club dance song. Seriously, he made that song sound as if he had written it, and she was performing the cover, and a fluffy one at that.

Thompson also showed us his own personal connections to the songs he chose, including a story about seeing a young band called The Ravens play at the local youth hall he attended in England. As he explained, that band of brothers became too good for the music hall, changed their names to The Kinks, and, well, we knew the rest of that story. His version of “See My Friends”, was performed as lovingly and expertly as if he had written it himself, as was the early American ballad “Shenandoah”, and Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”, which is one of the finest songs in popular music, without question.

All in all, the evening was astounding. It makes me think of the quote we have on this site, “ah music, …a magic beyond all we do here”. Magic indeed.

Labels: Richard Thompson