What would December be without crass commercialism, rampant orgy-like spending, and random year-end lists?
It Was the Best of Concerts, It Was the Worst of Concerts
Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan, October 22, 2007 - In October the two music icons appeared at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Costello, armed with an array of guitars, delivered a memorable solo performance full of the spite, anger, humor, and occasional tenderness that mark his best songs. There was crowd participation, furious guitar playing, and a perfect “The Scarlet Tide” to close the set. Then Dylan ambled out, played a couple songs on guitar, and retreated behind his keyboard for a set that sounded like the end days. The mix was horrible, and Dylan could barely wheeze three words at a time as he growled his way through the murk.
Reunion Album That Reconfirmed It All
Beyond - Dinosaur Jr. - Sure, J Mascis looks like the guy you always see in Best Buy monopolizing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock while children wait impatiently for their crack at it, but Beyond was a tremendous reunion album. With its mix of guitar squall and buried melodies, it stands right alongside You’re Living All Over Me as a classic Dinosaur Jr. album.
Reunion Album That Ruined It All
The Weirdness - The Stooges - Forget that “Lust for Life” is now the theme song for a cruise ship commercial (with the lines about liquor and drugs carefully removed). This underwhelming album by the Stooges killed whatever mystique they had left. Even Steve Albini as “recorder” couldn’t save it.
Best Artist to Have a Song Featured in a Car Commercial
It was an interesting year for Band of Horses. After a spat with fans in San Diego over videotaping of the band’s July 6 performance, the Sub Poppers took some heat for licensing songs to Wal-Mart for use in an online campaign. In recent weeks, the band’s song “Funeral” has been in heavy rotation for a Ford television commercial, marking the strangest use of a song for commercial purposes since Volkswagen used Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” in 2000.
Best Artist to Not Have a Song Featured in a Car Commercial
Article comments
1 - Charlie
Finally! Someone put the new Dinosaur Jr album in their bezt-of list. It really was a return to form for them. Good to see Andrew Bird up there as well.
And as far as reissues, goes, Daydream Nation wasn't a bad choice, but I'd say U2's Joshua Tree reissue takes the cake.
You had to shell out $40 for the box, which contained the remastered album, a bonus disc of b-sides, a mini book that had insight of the album from pretty much everybody who worked on it, and a great DVD that had a documentary, some rare videos and a full concert.
Nice list overall though.
2 - Kevin Eagan
Yes, thank you for including the Dinosaur Jr. album. It almost made my list, but there were too many good albums to choose from. Also, I'm kicking myself for having missed The National's concert at the Duck Room, I only recently discovered there music and it's AMAZING and I wish I had heard the album earlier in the year. Thanks for the list.
3 - Rock Turtleneck
Nice article - I agree the Dylan box is pointless for fans, but that's not who it's for. It's basically a Christmas gift to give someone who knows he's supposed to like Dylan but has somehow never picked up any of his records. And Columbia has been doing an excellent job in recent years in bringing great stuff out of his archives, such as the No Direction Home DVD and CDs and the recent DVD of Newport Folk Festival performances.
4 - carole
Rock Turtleneck is right, the new Dylan release was meant for people like me. The only Dylan I had was the Vol I-II Greatest hits Lp's from the 60's. I was bored with what I was listening to and picked it up at Starbucks and now I have been turned on to his music. We all get old, it's a shame he has lost his voice but he still a musical genius. If he wanted to, he could get someone to sing with him to fill out his weak voice but then it wouldn't be Dylan.