http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 5 Nov 2002 17:38:07 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/11/05/173807.php Aaron CutlerHere are ten albums that every serious music fan should have, in no particular order.1. Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis Great soul from Dusty and Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, with that Atlantic Records sound. Deluxe edition has an album's worth of bonus tracks.2. Peter Tosh - Equal Rights For my money, the definitive reggae album, angry, passionate, brilliant.3. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual Seriously, this album is great start to finish. Really.4. The Flying Burrito Bros. - Gilded Palace of Sin Gram Parsons, Gram Parsons, Gram Parsons5. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo Gram Parsons, Gram Parsons, Gram Parsons6. Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball Take one of the best voices of all time, throw in a heaping spoonful of Daniel Lanois, songs by Neil Young, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, well, you get the point...7. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass Yoko may have ruined the Plastic Ono Band, but nothing could ruin Harrison's first solo album.8. Tom Waits - Closing Time Maybe not his best, but his first album is certainly the most accessible. A good introduction to Waits.9. Talking Heads - Fear of Music/Remain In Light/Speaking In Tongues Don't make me choose.10. Neil Young - Tonight's the Night Dark and soul-wrenching. Music1690@blogcritics.org Tue, 5 Nov 2002 17:38:07 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/10/30/153838.php Aaron CutlerThe 16th Annual Bridge School Benefit shows took place last weekend at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California. The Bridge School is a school for severely disabled children started by Neil and Pegi Young, and every year they bring together a diverse line-up of musicians to perform two mostly acoustic shows, capped off by a Neil Young set each night. This year's shows featured such varied acts as the Foo Fighters, LeAnn Rimes, Thom Yorke, and the post-Grateful Dead The Other Ones. I bought tickets to the Sunday show. Of course there was another big Bay Area event on Sunday, and I spent the morning looking for a portable television to watch Game 7 on during the show.We missed the Vanessa Carlton and arrived just in time to catch Tenacious D. Joke music isn't really my thing, but these guys are hilarious. They played the Fat Albert theme song as well as various songs about Sex and Rockin'. Real high energy (which was not a prevalent theme at this show) and pretty inappropriate given the group of Bridge School kids gathered on stage - but funny as hell.Next up was Ryan Adams. He's a great songwriter and a pretty good singer, but his music is pretty melancholy. He even did a song entitled "Sylvia Plath." Adams informed the audience that he is only funny after he has three beers, and then proved it by attempting some jokes. He was well short of three beers, apparently. Around this time, the game started, so I pulled out my little TV. Unfortunately, the amphitheater setting wasn't conducive to TV reception. And have you ever tried to watch baseball on a one-inch square picture? Not easy. Fortunately, I had back up in the form of an even smaller radio. At least I was spared Tim McCarver. So I spent the next three sets half listening to Jack Johnson, LeAnn Rimes, Thom Yorke, and half listening to Livan Hernandez lose the World Series in the first two innings. All I can say is that Jack Johnson is OK, LeAnn Rimes has a great voice and sings lame songs and I will not be rushing out to buy any Radiohead CDs. And Dusty Baker should have started Kirk Reuter. Next up were The Other Ones, comprised of ex-Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman along with Jimmy Herring (formerly of ARU, now playing with every band from the Sixties that's still around) Rob Barraco from the Zen Tricksters and Bill Payne from Little Feat. I was a huge Deadhead back in the day and have spent many hours (and dollars) watching these guys play at Shoreline. I've followed their post-Dead careers a bit and have been (usually) less than impressed. They opened with Truckin', played at about 1/2 normal speed, with the vocals about 1/2 step off key. At this point we're in the sixth inning, so I head down to the bar. Along with a lot of other people.The main bar at Shoreline turns out to be a great place to watch baseball - lots of little TVs, one huge TV and the music from the show being pumped in. The Other Ones improved steadily as their set wore on, but I have to admit I really wasn't listening all that carefully. The game was pretty exciting, with both teams pitching and playing defense really well. But in the end, the Giants couldn't pull off a win. They should have won the day before. Now drunk and depressed, I made my way back up to the lawn just in time for James Taylor. If you only have one way to get over your team losing the Series, make it a JT performance. How perfect. He stuck mostly to the hits, Carolina In My Mind, Fire and Rain, Sweet Baby James, etc. The guy's voice has not changed a bit and he has to be the most relaxed, laid-back individual on the planet. He closed his set harmonizing with Neil on Heart of Gold and then left the stage to Mr. Young.Neil Young never disappoints. Whether he is playing hard-driving electric rock or mellow acoustic stuff the guy is simply amazing. He followed up Heart of Gold with Old Man and Don't Let It Bring You Down, and then moved over to his old pump organ for Mother Earth and After the Gold Rush. His voice contains more raw emotion than just about anyone else. The show closed with most of the performers joining Neil and Pegi for Comes a Time.The sets by JT and Neil more than made up for the crushing loss of the Giants. And while some of the performers didn't really do it for me, it was a great time, supporting a great cause. Music1591@blogcritics.org Wed, 30 Oct 2002 15:38:38 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/10/04/143054.php Aaron Cutler Beginning with his work with the Byrds, Gram Parsons was one of the most influential musicians of the rock era, combining country with rock and paving the way for the countrified Rolling Stones, the Eagles and countless others, including the new wave of alternative country, bands such as Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and Whiskeytown. After Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which added pedal steel and fiddle to the Byrd's jangling, twelve-string sound, Parsons left the band with Chris Hillman to form the Flying Burrito Bros. and record the masterpiece The Gilded Palace of Sin. Along with Sneeky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel and Chris Etheridge on bass, Parsons crafted a beautiful album full of rock 'n' roll grit and soaring country harmonies. Neither Parsons nor Hillman had perfect voices, but taken together they sound quite good. Most of the songs on this album are Parsons/Hillman originals, but Do Right Woman and Dark End of the Street are both given a pedal steel-laden treatment, with excellent results. There isn't a bad song on this album, which ranges in feel from the rockin' Christine's Tune,the mellow, loping Do You Know How It Feels, the sorrowful Juanita and the gospel-tinged Hippie Boy. The musicianship is high quality throughout, especially Sneeky Pete's pedal steel, which is occasionally fed through a fuzz box, giving a quite unique sound. The Gilded Palace of Sin is a near perfect album that belongs in the collection of any serious music fan. Gram Parsons would go on to release two excellent solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, which also introduced the world to the wonderful Emmylou Harris, before his untimely death in 1973. And if you like his music I would highly recommend The Return of the Grievous Angel, and tribute to Gram featuring Emmylou Harris, Beck, Wilco, The Pretenders, The Cowboy Junkies and many more. Music1087@blogcritics.org Fri, 4 Oct 2002 14:30:54 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/30/141232.php Aaron Cutler It has been ten long years since he last put out a studio album, Us, and now Peter Gabriel is back with Up. As a fan, it was worth the wait. This album is unlikely to win him any new fans - there is no Sledgehammer here. However, this is a great album, very dark at times, and moody and atmospheric throughout. The production sounds great and the music is very interesting, with shifting rhythms and moods. It harkens back to earlier Peter Gabriel, mixing melody and dissonance very well. The whole album is filled with "world beat" rhythms and shimmering synths, that combination of tradition and technology that Gabriel has long been a master of. Long time Gabrielites David Rhodes (guitar) and Tony Levin (bass) are back, along with drummer Manu Katche, who played on So and Us. The gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama show up on several tracks, including my favorite Sky Blue, where they add a beautiful, soaring background to an already haunting song. Daniel Lanois (who produced So, among many other great albums) shows up and plays a little guitar and Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan adds his voice to Signal to Noise. Up is not a very radio-friendly album and the single The Barry Williams Show does not fit very well with the rest of the tracks. It sounds somewhat dated, being about a Jerry Springer-style talk show, and lacks the beauty of much of the rest of the album, but it has grown on me the more I've heard it. This is also a long album. Most of the ten tracks clock in around seven minutes, too long for commercial radio. It is an album that demands repeated listens, growing stronger each time around. Parts of it resemble Passion, Gabriel's soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ, or the Birdy soundtrack. Ten years was worth the wait for Up. Peter Gabriel has delivered an album that he knows his fans will like, and it is nice to see an older musician catering to his long-time admirers, rather than to the commercial music market of the time. This is a great album, and I highly recommend it.More on Peter Gabriel here, here, here and here. Music994@blogcritics.org Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:12:32 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/25/121646.php Aaron Cutler I had hoped to review Peter Gabriel's latest album for today's blitz, but I could not get a copy in time. So I decided to say a few words on one of my all-time favorite albums and movies, The Band and Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. Regarded by many as the greatest rock movie ever made (although I think that honor goes, just barely, to Stop Making Sense), The Last Waltz documents The Band's historic farewell event held at the Winterland in San Francisco on Thanksgiving 1976. Directed by Scorsese, the film not only documents a great concert featuring many of the biggest names in rock, but also serves as a look back at the history of The Band that is at times funny, touching and sad. First off, the newly restored film looks and sounds great. As the opening title says, "This film should be played loud." The concert was shot like a film, unlike the vast majority of concert movies, and the myriad cameras allowed Scorsese to get inside the action. There are very few shots that show the audience - the idea is to immerse the viewer into the action on stage so you feel as if you are at the concert, rather than watching other people have a good time at the concert. This technique works well with the stage design, which has the feel of an antique store. There is nothing flashy here, no crazy light show, no swooping cameras. It feels real and looks great. I've always felt that The Band were quite unique in their ability to be both a great backup band and a great "band" band, and they shift effortlessly between the two roles here. The guest list is remarkable- Dylan, Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Paul Butterfield, even Neil Diamond. The only real low point in the movie is the performance of Who Do You Love by Ronnie Hawkins. It is somewhat embarrassing, especially given the power of the rest of the performances. Some of the best highlights include Neil Young singing Helpless with Joni Mitchell harmonizing, silhouetted by a white sheet; an obviously drunk Van Morrison trying to do high kicks while belting out Caravan; studio shots of The Band with the Staples on The Weight and with Emmylou Harris on Evangeline. These are but a few; the whole movie is filled with amazing songs, performances and filmcraft. The Last Waltz is interspersed with Scorsese interviewing The Band about their long years on the road. They tell stories about long-gone roadhouses and old bluesmen. The scene with Rick Danko at the mixing board is particularly moving. They all come off as extremely weary and somewhat down. They look like they have seen it all, and they probably have. Video847@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:16:46 EDT