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 Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:51:29 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/2005/11/19/125129.php John SchroederI remember it well, despite the alcoholic haze. I was in college, many many years ago and I was at a party. More than half the keg into the evening this song came drifiting through the party and before it was over, everybody was shoutingI like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes, a big kosher pickle and cold draft beer, well good God almighty which way to I steerAnd thus I was introduced to Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band, the biggest bar band in history.Lo, these thirty years later, Jimmy still packs the house and it is one of the best and most enjoyable concerts you can attend. Seems that in the fall of '04 he finished his usual summer tour in Fenway Park in Boston, did some skit about removing the Curse of The Bambino and the Red Socks one the World Series. How's that for an accomplishment for some guy that just makes good party music?Buffett's recordings, particularly in the early years are good, but the quintessential Buffett experience is a concert. It's less about the music than it is the experience. The recording and accompanying DVD of that fated Fenway concert "Jimmy Buffett, Live At Fenway Park" captures that very well.To be frank, the CD is not all that good. It suffers from mediocre engineering. Excessive applause breaks, or silent periods while something is going on on-stage, and the musical performance is not always that good. If I want to hear Buffett music, I'll get out his studio albums.But the DVD makes up for everything. With that you experience the magic of a Buffett concert. The DVD concentrates, rightly, on what makes it so fun, the crowd. Yeah, you see the band on stage, and you hear the music, but you mostly see the crowd, see what fun they are having, and if you have a few friends over with a case, you can just join right in. This thing is clearly aimed at people in Boston and Buffett fans (they are after all legion). If you are such, this is a must have. If you are new to Jimmy, may I recommend his greatest hits compilation "Songs You Know By Heart." Listen to it twice and you will know the songs by heart, then have a few friends over and let the party begin.But if you've been there with Buffett, "Live At Fenway Park" is a great way to enjoy it all over again. Editor's note: This now has another venue for success - and more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a place affiliated with about 12 newspapers.One such site is here. Music39772@blogcritics.org Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:51:29 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/23/183326.php John SchroederFew groups have had a more important place in the history of rock and roll than The Band. While not the hottest selling they were among the best. So I got pretty excited when the opportunity to review "The Band's A MUSICAL HISTORY 5-CD + DVD BOX SET" came along.Wish I could review it. All this reviewer received was a 18-cut CD/sampler -- pretty similar to a "greatest hits" album. But offerings like this are about so much more than just the music cuts. This is how the press material describes the offieringExecutive produced by Robbie Robertson, The Band's new career-spanning box set, A Musical History, is the most comprehensive collection ever created for the group. Packaged within a 108-page hardcover book brimming with previously unseen photos and memorabilia are five CDs and one DVD documenting The Band's entire recording career from 1963 to 1976. Among the set's 111 audio and video tracks are 37 previously unreleased recordings and filmed clips captured live and in-studio. To be released on September 27 by Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing, this definitive collection features a cover painting of The Band by world-renowned artist Ed Ruscha and extensive biographical liner notes by the Grammy-winning writer Rob Bowman. In-demand producer partners Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval, who also teamed for the in-depth restoration of The Band's original Capitol albums in 2000 and 2001, joined Robertson on the project.That's pretty exciting stuff. If I could, I would tell you about all the great information in the book and on the DVD. If I could, I would tell you about how this set clearly documents the extraordinary place of The Band in modern musical history. If I could I would tell you that this set is a must have for any serious lover of rock and roll and it's history.As it is, I can tell you that The Band made great music. I can tell you that the very few of the 37 previsouly unreleased cuts I was able to sample are really good, but then that is not surprizing from this group.Boxed sets like this are not really about the music. People that would consider laying out this kind of cash for music likely already have all the original recordings. Nope, boxed sets like this are about the "extras" - the video, the unrelased material, the written word -- the story that goes with the music. Wish I could tell you about that. Music38380@blogcritics.org Sun, 23 Oct 2005 18:33:26 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/24/101716.php John SchroederSomewhere, somehow, disco replaced 70's soul and the world grew dark. Beat replaced music and real R&B fans everywhere were forced to dark corners of record stores and small clubs to find the sounds they loved.But in the middle of that dance driven mass hysteria that was disco a clarion voice arose. Fusing the disco beat with great soul riffs, incredible jazz breaks, and a show that you simply could not take your eyes off of, Earth, Wind, and Fire soared out of the crowd and strode above it, somehow managing to be fantastic muscians and great entertainers.Drawing, this reviewers believes, on the lessons and traditions of jazz where the line between showmanship and muscianship was carfeully monitored so that the music would not suffer, this band made it happen and achieved incredible popularity. The bio released with their latest album "Illumination" put it this wayWhen Memphis-born Maurice White left his plum gigs as a Chicago session drummer and member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio - as the `60s became the `70s - he had a plan. He wanted to form a band that abolished the lines between musical genres, freely borrowing from all styles without regard to convention. "I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before," Maurice explains. "Although we were basically jazz musicians, we played soul, funk, gospel, blues, jazz, rock and dance music...which somehow ended up becoming popThey were huge!What goes up, always comes down and their popularity waned. But good music lasts, even if popularity doesn't. Taking a break and pursuing solo projects the members of the band have continued very successfully in the music industry. But they have been back for a while and getting better and better.This latest album, Illumination, is a collaborative effort with some of R&B's biggest players today, but unlike so many collaborative efforts these days, it is not the old-timers trying to cash in one last time by strapping themselves to the current craze. This album is the old-timers taking the kids to school.This is a distinctive EWF album. Oh sure, it has a few rap breaks, and features everyone from Will.I.Am to Brian McKnight to (shudder) Kenny G, but it is clear their job was to find a place among the masterful muscianship of EWF. From the retro cover art to that fat, fat sounding horn section, this album, dare I say it? - swings! (My jazz buddies are going to kill me)If anything, EWF is better than they were in their hey-day - well, except for the fact that Maurice isn't on the road with them. I also miss the soaring high register vocals of Phillip Bailey. Age, as it does with all of us, has thickened his vocal chords enough that he cannot soar as he once did, but he does show moments of that flight and is still a top notch, first rate vocalist.But the real point is this, without the incredible showmanship requirements that popularity places on a band, they have been able to focus on the music. And while I loved the over-the-top shows of the late '70's and early '80's it was the music that made them great, and it is the music that makes them amongst the best these days.Illumination is no nostalgic trip down memory lane. It's an exploration of what made EWF great and the trends of today. That exploration results in the discovery that the basics matters. No amount of marketing, imaging, or other industry concerns can make great music. Only great musicians can do that, and EWF are GREAT musicians.Best cut is "Liberation." Without lyrics, but with harmonic voices performing as instruments, this cut comes dangerously close to being pure jazz. Maybe that's the point of the title, they are liberating themselves from the need to be pop, and just making a great song. They certainly succeeded. The album is without clunker, and reasonably even accross all 13 cuts. Somehow, even when paired with the otherwise almost unbearable Kenny G, they make great music.If you like jazz, if you like soul, if you like funk -- if you just like music. Illumination by Earth, Wind and Fire is the album for you. Music36737@blogcritics.org Sat, 24 Sep 2005 10:17:16 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/08/120919.php John SchroederEven the casual observer knows that things in the comic industry are changing radically. Just this week there were two important articles concerning reorganization and realignment in the industry. The Wall Street Journal carried this article (subscription required) about Marvel reorganizing to make more movies: Marvel Enterprises Inc. completed a $525 million, seven-year debt facility to finance 10 films based on its comic-book characters, and will change its name to Marvel Entertainment Inc., reflecting the company's expanding Hollywood presence.Publishers Weekly carried this piece about new hires at DC: Continuing its efforts to reorient its sales and marketing efforts towards the book trade, DC Comics has appointed two experienced book industry professionals to senior marketing positions. John Cunningham, former v-p and associate publisher at St. Martin's Press, has been named v-p of marketing; and Nellie Kurtzman, former associate director of marketing at S&S children's and its Spotlight Entertainment imprint, has been named director of marketing, reporting to Cunningham.It is interesting that both the major comics houses are making moves in seemingly opposite directions, but centered on a central theme. It is also interesting that DC, owned by entertainment giant Time-Warner, is making moves in print, and Marvel is doing alternate-media deals. But the central theme is what is most fascinating, two themes actually. The first is the more-mainstream acceptance of the material, and the other is the move away from the traditional serial story form, into the story arcs of the mini-series (gathered and bound into book form), the graphic novel, and the movie script.This has all been driven by the collectors' glut that began in the late '80s, and took off like a rocket with the publication of Frank Miller's miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Prior to that event, comics were a niche market, but Miller tapped the pop vein. More important, the phenomenal sales of those four books drove collector's prices through the roof, which drew in speculators instead of fans.The industry responded by increasing mini-series publishing, wherein the perceived high-value #1's could be churned out with great regularity. As the market expanded to those not steeped in the traditions and legends of the form, "continuity" became less of a concern. Characters could be reinvented, reimagined, and repackaged over and over, in an endless stream of mini-series.This also meant the audience for this material grew up. The key market was no longer the 12-year-old male, but the 30-year-old with considerably more disposable income. But alas, publishers really did glut the market in response to the collector's market, and as is inevitable in such a glut, prices and quality dwindled. Soon the speculators moved on and the bottom dropped out.That was a problem, but two discoveries were made that have helped tremendously. One was the influx of Japanese material via the video game; manga is largely dominated by the graphic-novel form. The other was that a good quantity of fans had been created amongst the speculators, who were no longer willing to just haunt the specialty stores for the next issue, but were more than willing to pick up a book-bound copy of a whole miniseries when they were in the mall, and read it for sheer pleasure. They were also willing to shell out big to see their favorite characters on the big screen.To a long-time fan of comics (my personal collection is somewhere near 8000 magazines dating back to the '60s), these moves are both good and bad. The bad is that they break apart the clubby fan atmosphere and us-and-them mentality that many of us have enjoyed for years. They also take away the thrill of being able to recall references from something that happened in a title 20 years ago, getting the joke, and knowing most other readers had no idea.The good news is that these moves preserve the medium when it might otherwise go the way of the dinosaur. As a result, some pretty good stuff has been done&#8212the best example I know of lately is Marvel's 1602 by Neil Gaiman. The movies have been at least reasonably good, and it truly is convenient to pick up the a graphic novel at the bookstore, and not have rush to the specialty store every week to get this week's shipment.As these trends continue, the industry would do well to remember the lessons of the very silly Batman TV series of the '60's. It was so successful, and created such a demand for the comics, that publishers started to gear the comics for the TV audience. The result was disastrous and the Batman comics really did not regain form until Miller, nearly 20 years later. The publishers need to remember that these are, at their essence, pulp-fiction, serialized characters. The ability to reinvent and recycle them into other media may provide the economic basis from which to continue the essential character development in the comics, but if they begin to cater to the new media forms, they run a severe risk of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Edited: PC Books35732@blogcritics.org Thu, 8 Sep 2005 12:09:19 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/26/091550.php John SchroederPossibilities by Herbie Hancock is scheduled for release August 30. I have been privileged to receive an advance copy for this review.Herbie Hancock is a bit of a cipher to me. His musical credentials are impeccable having played with the likes of Miles Davis and written jazz near-standards like "Chameleon" and "Watermelon Man." However, it is as if, from time-to-time, he is overcome with the desire to be mainstream and he churns out stuff like the wildly popular, but ultimately inane and boring "Rockit"The Possibilities album is a duets album in which he is paired with people ranging from Carlos Santana to Christina Aguilera. Duet albums are usually designed to create sales for artists whose time has past, and for those with which they are paired to pay homage to those great artists. Typically the duet partners work to blend themselves with the style and sound of the primary artist.This album is precisely the opposite. Hancock works diligently to suit himself to the work of the artists with whom he is paired. The result is an album that lacks any central themes or sound. This is just another nail in the album form's coffin. It becomes impossible to review it as an album -- the best one can do is look at the individual cuts.There is nothing bad on this CD, but of the 10 cuts only a few could be called "good." In large part the cuts are indistinguishable background music falling basically in the realm of "smooth jazz." Four cuts deserve special mention."I Just Called To Say I Love You" a Stevie Wonder cover pairs Hancock with Raul Midon and contains some very interesting musical ideas which are fascinating to listen to, but ultimately they fail to please."Sister Moon" pairs Hancock with Sting. The cut pleases without being truly outstanding. "When Love Comes To Town" pairing Hancock with Joss Stone and Jonny Lang is a remarkably innovative cover of the old BB King blues standard. They have succeeded in breathing new life into this old song and it is a joy to hear.Far and away, the standout cut of the CD is "Stitched Up" pairing Hancock and John Mayer. A great blending of soul and jazz, this tune puts a smile on your face and keeps your foot tapping.While not an album I could list as great, it is an album well worth the price of admission. I just wish it bore more of Herbie Hancock's stamp and less of his partners.Cross posted on Blogotional Music34858@blogcritics.org Fri, 26 Aug 2005 09:15:50 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/23/092240.php John SchroederTransition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip Hop by John Wertheim is a must-read for any serious basketball fan, and particularly for those fans that have enjoyed basketball in and about the State of Indiana&#8212on all levels.Using the 2003-2004 season of the author's alma mater, Bloomington North, as a framework, Wertheim examines the huge changes that have been wrought in the basketball-crazed state of Indiana since his own high school days in the late 1980's. You can only imagine how it struck this reviewer, whose days in Indiana basketball date to the early 1970's.The book is a masterful chronicle, but falls well short of truly examining the phenomena that it reports. The book makes no attempt to examine the root causes of the enormous shift in the game in Indiana, nor does it endeavor to make a significant value judgement about the changes.The structure of the book, with its emphasis on the Bloomington North Cougars' march to the Semi-State, seems to say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same," but that conclusion is impossible to maintain given the chronicle laid out in the other chapters of the book.The author devotes but a single chapter to the role race has played in the transition, and fails to look much of the issue squarely in the eye. For example, he rightly points out the lack of public support for the Oscar Robertson-led high school state championship for Crispus Attucks in 1957, particularly as compared to the storied Bobby Plump-led victory for Milan the year before&#8212the win on which the movie Hoosiers was based. He fails to examine that&#8212in my day, I knew the Milan story, but it was Oscar Robertson who I wanted to play like. One was legend, but the other was just good basketball.In sum, the book is good reporting, but lacks sufficient analysis to give it real importance and depth. It is a must-read for basketball fans, but disappointing in that it could have been so much more to the society at large.I am restricting this post to being a straighforward review. I will post some more personal reactions to this book, which affected me deeply in another post at my own blog. Cross posted at Blogotional. Edited: PC Books34654@blogcritics.org Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:22:40 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/16/134300.php John SchroederSo much that is American music has flowed out of the black experience. In this politically correct age, we work so hard to acknowledge that fact that we sometimes overlook the amazing contributions that were made to these music forms by whites. That becomes even more complicated by the fact that in the rush to modernity, the roots can get overlooked.As a music form, everybody knows the blues, but, in this hip-hop and pop age, they are underappreciated. Further, while most casual followers of the music know the absolute greats -- BB King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker... -- few know how they came to know them. With the possible exception of King and Buddy Guy, most of the true blues masters played in a age of discrimination when their music was laregely consigned to small clubs in black neighborhoods. So how did America at large come to know these musical giants?Because a few brave white suburban kids ventured into those clubs and learned from those masters and then took the music to the masses that only white people then had access to. It happened when Bix Biederbecke when to listen to King Oliver and Louis Armstorng for jazz and it happened when the people in the Chicago Blues Reunion whent to hear Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf.That historical context makes the CD/DVD set Chicago Blues Reunion: Buried Alive In The Blues on of the more enjoyable bits of media that I have run into in a long time.The DVD, while a bit self-agrandizing, does a good job of letting you know who these people are and the context in which they came to be very, very good blues players. It also helps you see how the blues moved into the mainstream, and this author for one, hopes it will help them move there again.The CD is excellent. There is not a bad cut on it, and a couple of really outstanding one. My favs were "Drinking Wine" and "GM Boogie." "Drinkin Wine" is almost a blues standard, but this rendition has a great all around sound and even at 10 in the morning made me want to go our drinkin'."GM Boogie" was written by Harvey Mandel and is intended to show off his guitar virtuosity, which it does to great affect. However, in it you can hear so much that was and is the blues. The solo heavy later part of the song is very traditional, but the early part is extremely reminiscent of one of the great modern blues bands -- ZZ Top -- that is almost had me do a double take when I first heard it.All-in-all this is a great album and the DVD onoy adds to the experience. Highly recommended. REF: CMP Music32686@blogcritics.org Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:43:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/15/184136.php John SchroederThe good news -- the Batman movie franchise is alive and kicking. The bad news -- this is not the best Batman movie that could be made.It is hard for someone that is as much a fan of the superhero genre, regardless of its expression, and is as intimate with a characater like Batman for as long as I have been to be fully objective in reviewing a movie like this. Of necessity, when a character has had as many outlets and incarnations as Batman, the essential question for a fan such as myself becomes -- "Is this the 'true' incarnation, or the 'best' incarnation?"I am going to try and set those questions aside in this review and just critique movie on it's own merits. Let's start with the negatives.Biggest negative - the mano-e-mano fight scens are done with a very rapidly moving camera and extreme quick cuts. It give the impression of a fight, without really seeing what goes on -- that is annoying, particularly during Wayne's training phase. Christian Bale is good as Batman (far better than either Kilmer or Clooney, and in some ways better than Keaton, but not in all ways) but not outstanding.Biggest complaint -- the movie is so dark it forgets its cartoonish origins. Certainly the Schumacher movies (here and here) were way too campy, but the Burton films (here and here) while dark, never forgot that a guy dressed up like a bat to fight bad guys was essentially silly. This movie takes itself just a little too seriously and expects us to take Batman far more seriously than he should be taken.Minor irritants -- the homage to sequel is just a little too "in your face." Katie Holmes turns what could be THE pivitol supporting role into just another bit of eye candy. That fact doesn't really take away from the movie, just keeps it from being better. The big "surprise" regarding the bad guy is not the least bit surprising to any person that is at all a Batman comics fan.High points -- supporting performances by Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and most especially Gary Oldman are superb. Michael Caine truly moved me, and if it wasn't for the type of movie this is, I would think Oldman a serious "Best Supporting" contender.Thematically, the movie explores the line between redemption and condemnation. This is the theme that has been most addressed by the underlying legend certainly since the comics code. The movie and the legend seem to contend that the fight for redemption is what matters. I have never been comfortable with this. Redemption demands sacrifice. Wayne's sacrifice, his parents, is not a result of his demons, so in the end it is insuffcient for redemption, and therefore in the end, redemption can never be achieved. While that drives the legend forward, it never leaves me satisfied.In summation, Batman Begins is a triple, maybe even with an RBI or two, but it is not a home run. Definitely worth the price of admission, but not wholly satisfying. Video31080@blogcritics.org Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:41:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/09/195420.php John SchroederSo reading Christweb I ran across this post talking about a new Paul Anka record doing swing versions of recent rock hits.Curious, I went looking and found this site where you can sample all the tracks.It's not as bad as you might think. Some of the cuts are pretty awful, but some are stupendous. My fav? - "True" originally by Spandau Ballet, maybe because even in its pop arrangement it had some swing to it. Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" holds up remarkably well also. I was really rooting for Clapton's "Tears in Heaven," but the clip never got to the hook so it was hard to tell.Anyway, that set me to wondering -- if a song handles a new arrangmenet well, does that make it a great song? I certainly feel that way about some. My favorite of all time - "Shameless" written by Billy Joel, but rearranged magnificiently by Garth Brooks.The more I think about it, the more I think this is true. Good lyrics and a strong melody will stand up to just about any arrangement. Cuts that sound fantastic in one genre, but don't hold up are likely too gimmicky -- a pleasant collection of sounds perhaps, but not necessarily rising to the level of a song. Music30795@blogcritics.org Thu, 9 Jun 2005 19:54:20 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/06/202503.php John SchroederThe trailer for the upcoming Narnia movie is now available. I watched it and cried like a baby -- much as the recent LOTR trilogy seemed to hit the right resonant cord with my personal visualzations of the books, this trailer does the same thing.Speaking of crying, there was a wonderful cartoon of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" in 1979. I saw it in TV, watched it with my girlfriend in the social room of her sorority house. I cried when Aslan resurrected. Not the coolest thing for a college guy surrounded by good looking women, but I lived to tell the tale. I started thinking about that when the tears came while I was watching the trailer, and it gave me a thought.In my opinion, Aslan is the best literary metaphor for Christ ever. The reason is the fantastic ways in which Lewis described the great lion. I think of all the times Lewis juxtaposed the love and fear of the lion. "Beautiful, but terrifying," is the phrase that comes to mind. As I think about it, it is impossible to depict that sort of thing. I cried when I watched the cartoon not because I thought the Lord had risen, which I did when I read the book, but because I shared the joy of the kids at his appearance.Aslan figures prominently in the trailer, which is good. However, I am preparing myself for the fact that I will not think him holy as I do when I read the books, because I am not sure you can depict holiness. I did not think the Christ in "The Passion" was holy either. I am trying to develop a mindset that allows me to enjoy the movie in the same way I enjoyed LOTR -- a great depiction of a story I love. The trailer sure does excite me. Video30640@blogcritics.org Mon, 6 Jun 2005 20:25:03 EDT