These days the Internet means you don't even have to wait for a record to be cut, pressed and delivered if you want to rush-release something. Just get it on tape, into the computer (assuming you don't just record straight into the computer and bypass the tape stage entirely), turned into an mp3 and posted to a server. You can have it on the Net within minutes of recording it, in theory, and people can hear it almost as soon as it's done. No need to wait for records to be made and shipped out to radio and shops.
With the outbreak of war in Iraq we've seen a few performers take advantage of technology in the past couple of weeks to rush-release songs protesting the current world situation. This evening I took it upon myself to listen to five of them. There are others more capable than I of loudly complaining about the politics involved, so I'll let them do that if they feel so inclined. I'm more interested in them as songs... although unfortunately on that count the news isn't entirely good.
Bottom of the pile by some distance is The Beastie Boys' "In A World Gone Mad". Let's be honest, it's just a complete bore. Even if I liked the band in the first place and had some tolerance for the whiny voices, there's still nothing much going on here to interest me; preachy lyrics, fairly unvarying arrangement. No reason to get "hysterica" indeed. Not much better is Billy Bragg with "The Price Of Oil". This time there's a tune but it's a bit of a yawner; and though Bragg has some good points to make, the lyrics he couches his points in tend to the trite end of the spectrum. It's not exactly "Waiting For The Great Leap Forward".
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