I've been groovin' on a couple of pretty good protest type songs. Let's start with the first, and actually better, of these, from a guy named Bruce Thiessen aka Dr BLT. Hearing the big publicity run-up about Neil Young's Bush-bashing record, BLT offered a preemptive strike – kind of like the U.S. in Iraq. It's a point of pride that he beat Neil to market with "Neil Young (Have You Forgotten?)".
The obvious point is BLT wrote a Neil-style song to make his counterpoint. He's got a nice raw guitar throb Neil would have been proud to write. However, this is better put together than Neil's mostly half-assed idea of making records. I won't say this unknown BLT is more talented than Neil, but he has at least as good a basic musical idea between just these two songs.
Plus, BLT also obviously put considerably more careful attention to working out his ideas. Compositionally especially, there's just more to BLT's actual SONG. But Neil Young's "Let's Impeach the President" is a pretty fair little jam. I'm highly critical of Neil Young's common rock and roll mode of working.
In the name of spontaneity, he pretty much comes in with maybe one basic piece of melodic hook, and just bashes it out real loud again and again over the same unimaginative, generic chords. In other words, he just slops out a lot of half-assed crap without bothering to put in the work of developing it properly, justifying it on the basis of being "passionate." Likewise, when last I saw my two-year-old godson, he was most passionate in his desire not to go to bed – but we didn't call that tantrum a work of art.
In fairness though, "Let's Impeach the President" works more effectively than it should. The chords are plain vanilla harmonically, but he does make it swing in a tasty way. There's really only a couple of dozen notes of melody, enough for "Let's impeach the president for lying, and misleading our country into war."
That little bit is pretty much all the basic melody there is, but it's catchy. The bits of trumpet are the extra little thing that adds enough unique flavor and style, and at least a sconce more melodic content to put the whole thing over. This sounds most excellent cruising the country roads at midnight with the window down.
By the way, the big important political lyric is the weakest part of the song. Regardless of any liberal/conservative leaning, it's just a ridiculous excuse for songcraft. I'm all in favor of a song about impeaching the president. Hey, rock and roll! But you need something better than this.
Saturday Night Live got to the big point about this whole album with their faux ad for Living With War, casting Kevin Spacey as Neil Young with his SUBTLEST album yet. The SNL version has a song called "George W Liar", in which Spacey/Young asked, "What did you have for breakfast, Mr President, a big plateful of LIES? Did you wash it down with a nice cold glass of LIES?" That really is about the childish level Young is working at. If one were less than charitable, they could argue that it's less than dignified for a 60-year old man to act like a hysterical teenage girl.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - zingzing
i dunno... that blt song is really just as boring and putrid and obvious as the neil young song... but neil young is neil young and blt is a sandwich... jesus christ... my mother thought of that name for a band back in the 70's... stood for bruce, lois and tom. icky. dr. blt... larf.
2 - Dave Biagini
You obviously are not a Neil Young fan. Neil can play a couple of notes and we can tell it's "Old Neil". It't good to hear how the other side thinks though.
3 - Al Barger
Zingzing, "BLT" are Bruce L Thiessen's initials.
Mr Biagini, I'm a part time Neil Young fan. Thirty years ago he made some outstanding records. Far be it from me to deny Harvest or Tonight's the Night.
Again though, I'm not picking as a representative "for the other side." My "side" in this debate is the cause of good music. Note that I am giving Neil a reasonably good review here- and if anything, I'm being a little generous.
4 - zingzing
i know. i just wouldn't go by my initials if they were blt. would you?
if your name was alan aaron schmidt, would you go by your initals? nope. what if your name was nathan adam-zachary ignacio?
5 - Al Barger
OK Zing, but I bet you remember Dr BLT longer than you'd remember Bruce Thiessen.
6 - Martin Lav
AB,
I think your review is way off base and sounds very subjective based either on your political views or your hungering for BLT sandwiches. How in the world could you dare to review these two on the same page? BLT must pay his dues before he's mentioned on the same page as Neil Young. As far as Neil's record goes, I think it will go down as one of his greatest of all time. It's hard driving and angry and illustrates why this record had to be made and the times we are living. You make think the lyrics simple and a bit out of bounds, but quite frankly I think it's direct and refreshing and leaves nothing to the imaginatiion. The arrangement is beautiful and the rythmn is urgent and passionate. I don't know if you've ever taken a ride out in the country at midnight, but this record rings true anywhere, but at this time. Listen to this record after you've read the news on the Iraq war or a letter from a mother who's lost her son and tell me it doesn't pound home.
As far as Dr. BLT, no disrespect intended, but go pay somebody credible to write your bogus review next time, because anyone who has the nerve to mention you in the same review as Neil Young, just doesn't have any credibility with me.
Sell it somewhere else.
7 - Al Barger
Martin, not to put too fine a point on it, but your comments are illegitimate. For starters, you're obviously the one judging stuff based on politics. I went to some effort to sort out the musical craft of both of these songs from my political beliefs.
Also, this "how dare you mention BLT in the same sentence with Neil Young" is absolute nonsense. You're purely arguing from Neil Young's supposed authority, without regard to what kind of records they've actually made. This record of BLT's is musically superior on pretty much every level to "Let's Impeach the President."
Worst of all, it sounds like you haven't actually listened to BLT's song to be making any judgment of it at all.
"Let's Impeach the President" has the strength of Neil's convictions, and I like some of that raw rock sound- but there's no way in hell that this will be regarded as one of his best songs a generation from now. There's just not enough song to it.
My objection to the lyrics isn't that they're simple, but that they're largely stupid and ridiculous. It's not that the song's "out of bounds" or goes too far- but that it's just dumber than shit, especially that baseball stuff.
I will, however, admit to liking a BLT sandwich- though I prefer to substitute spinach for lettuce.
8 - Tim Wohlgamuth
I see you don't like Neil Young but how can anyone argue with anything he sings about on this CD?The Bush administration has got to be the most corrupt that this country has ever seen.How anyone that can think for themself's still support bush?Just renbember all you super moral people (NO ONE DIED WHEN CLINTON LIED!)
9 - zingzing
al, blt's song is really bad. it's poorly produced, repeditive, out of tune and worst of all, dull. i tried to listen to the whole thing, but after about 3 or 4 minutes of it, my head was starting to hurt and i had really stopped paying attention to the lyrics... toby keith writes better. ugh.
the neil young song may not be great. i haven't heard it. but crap is crap and blt's song is really, really crap. no offense to anyone associated with it. just a bad song.
10 - Al Barger
Zing, I'm glad to see that you're talking about the actual song rather than the politics. However, I don't see how you get so negative a view based on the record.
It's not out of tune. I'm not saying that he's the greatest singer ever, but BLT is competent to carry a tune. Perhaps you're reacting to the flat affect of the composition of the vocal melody- the part that I'm likening to Midnight Oil.
Neil Young, on the other hand, does struggle somewhat trying to hit the intended notes in his song. He was never much of a vocalist, and age hasn't improved that.
"Repetitive" is, I suppose, an arguable point. Paul Simon talks in interviews about discussing the idea of repetition with Brian Eno while they were working on Surprise. How much repitition is good, and when does it become boring?
The bass part under BLT's song is perhaps repetitive, though I would describe it instead as "relentless" rather than simply repetitive. Mileage may vary, but there's enough other stuff going on melodically and lyrically on top of those basic guitars to more than justify them in my mind.
The whole song clocks in at 4:33, so it's not like it's drug out. There's no good reason based on the record for it to cause your head to hurt, but perhaps like Jethro Tull, you're too old to rock and roll. Perhaps you might prefer a nice Celine Dion record.
11 - to ms. b5, from your editor
dude. blt is NOOOOOOOO brian eno. i'm a big fan of repetition when done correctly. like the fall. or faust.
too old to rock n roll? nah. you don't know me too well. i liiiiive to rock, if i must say so. blt's song is weak, and that's about as nice a thing as you can say. if that is rock, i'll go listen to some fucking squeeze. and i fucking hate fucking squeeze. i won't list off any artists that rock 1000 times better than this, because that would take the whole day and all of bc's bandwidth just to load it.
12 - zingzing
oh, that last one was me... zingzing... i was just fucking with someone over on the b5 post... i don't know why i do these things.
13 - Al Barger
Well gee Zing, I won't feel so bad about you not liking BLT if Squeeze singing "Pulling Mussels from a Shell" or "Tempted" are considered not up to snuff.
14 - Martin Lav
AB,
I agree I AM judging based on politics as this is obviously what BOTH songs are about. Neil's whole album is a PROTEST album and it must be taken in that context. Your friend Dr. BST (spinach) wrote his silly song in response to Mr. Youngs. Therefore, we both (you and I) must listen to both of them in that context. Regardless, BLT is all fat and no meat and is trying to profit from taking an opposing view and on top of that his music sucks. I had my kids listen to this song and they all agreed that it blew. This Dr. BLT is a shameless promoter of himself and he's hired hacks like you to jump on his bandwagon and to create a stir by going against Neil Young. These transparent tactics of both of yours' is comparable to George Bush using a aircraft carrier to declare the end of military combat operations in Iraq. It's nothing more than a ploy to tug on the hearts of passionate people to benefit your own agenda. You and the Dr. should be ashamed.
PS: Impeach the President is not the best song on this album and it is an album.
15 - Al Barger
Martin, you're factually wrong and malicious and hateful, among other things. For starters, I'm certainly not in any form being paid by BLT. He seems like a nice enough fellow, but I'm not particularly "friends" with him. I think we've had maybe two email exchanges, in which I asked permission to post his mp3 to my site and sent him the URL for my review.
Oh, and Neil Young isn't a cheesy publicity hog? You think he didn't contemplate and relish the publicity buzz for his waning career in writing a song called "Let's Impeach the President"? Why is it legitimate for Young to write about the president, but not legitimate for another musician to write about him?
Also, that IS the best song of the album, and the promoted single.
I suppose I could substitute the reported opinions on music of some liberal hacks' supposed children for my own, but that ain't happening, is it?
Also, you're taking a really stilted view based on politics. There's more to life than politics. If I want to go on about foreign policy and such (and I sometimes do) then that's what I'll write about.
But this story is about MUSIC, and I do separate out issues of songwriting and craft from how much I agree or disagree with someone's politics. That's not really all that difficult. They're completely different issues.
From anything I can tell in your remarks on this thread, you neither know nor care about MUSIC, which is the topic here. You're absolutely insistent on just hacking away with you leftwing conspiracy stuff to the extent of conjuring up some fantasy scandal on my part because I like a record that expresses a political sentiment that you disagree with.
I should be ashamed. After all, obviously no honest person could disagree with your idea of what is necessary and appropriate to defend the country.
16 - Martin Lav
AB,
The song and the entire album was called a protest album by Mr. Young all along. The lyrics were meant to spark debate and it appears they have. All I'm stating is that it has to be listened to in that context and so does the "nice enough fellow" Dr. BLT response song.
Now in regards to the music itself, without this context and no lyrics, I am not an expert on musical arrangements or compositions and I'll have to take your word for your opinion on this matter. I am not objective in this matter because I can't listen to Mr. Young's album without hearing the words and putting it in the context that Mr. Young states that he intended. In regards to Mr. Young being a cheesy publicity hog, I doubt you could find any person within the industry and with any knowledge of his career that would agree with you on this. It is flat out wrong and proven by sheer common sense. Why would a man at 60 and with his impeccable record as an artist, resort to anything cheap for publicity? That does not make sense and just like not liking this song or his album (of which you obviously did not listen too if you think this is the best song and publicized one) because of the context it was produced (creating dialog) you can't truly critic anything if you don't know or consider all of the facts. Therefore as I stated before, your credibility is bogus and your opinion is questionable.
17 - zingzing
neil young's career is doing just fine. and you know that, al.
as for squeeze, they are boring pop-lite. there was so much more intersting stuff going on at the time. i will admit that they did have a way with an arrangement, but the arrangement just plays second fiddle to their fluffy m.o.r. pop-rock songwriting, which is cliched and derivative. it has all the edge of a marshmallow.
and al, the 'political sentiment' of blt's song is "but, neil, they, well, not "they," but someone with similar arab features, bombed us, well, something like that anyway, and now... and now we have to go kill lots of them in an unrelated way, not because they bombed us, not quite, but because, how did he put it... oh yes, "to spread freedom and democracy..." wait, what does that have to do with bombs, i mean airplanes... shitfire, i'm fuckin myself up here..."
18 - Martin Lav
zingzing,
Thanks for the help.
Truth be know, BLT has shamelessly promoted/posted to a NY fan website previously, along with his "free" downloads, so I'm pretty sensitive to who this guy gets to promote his crap.
Hey Al, .... you may not be getting anything from Dr. Spam, but he's getting his from you. If you are an innocent pawn in all this, I apologize, but really his song sucks and I wish you would listen again. In fact why don't you listen to Neil's "entire" album which is streaming on his website for free. Yes that's right Dr.$$$ free, not something you are willing to do on yours...
19 - Al Barger
Martin, I've got most of the album, including specifically "Flags of Freedom" "Roger and Out" and "Shock and Awe." There's not a memorable bit of a tune between them. "Let's Impeach the President" is the only thing he put even half a real effort into.
When you carry on about how we have to listen to it "in context" as a protest album, that sounds to me like what you're saying is that you agree with his political sentiment, so we have to recognize that this makes it a great work of art. That is incorrect.
Even if I were crazed with hatred for President Bush, this album would suck, and the single would still be about halfway decent. I could give a rat's ass about "context" if there's no tune under it.
Plus, it's ridiculous that you act like it's some kind of evil blackhat trick that BLT might "shamelessly" try to promote himself to Neil Young fans. What would be the supposed shame in that, exactly? What, marketing is categorically illegitmate?
Hell, he's GIVING the song away- where exactly is your wartime profiteering here? He wrote a simple rock song, and is giving it away for free downloads, and you're getting some kind VRWC thing out of it. You know, talking like that's liable to make people think that you're a couple of fries short of a full Happy Meal.
You're just so far out of whack from reality with this stuff, like you're trying to claw for some little piece of moral highground. Pay attention. This isn't about moral highground, it's about songwriting and playing.
So for the sake of argument, I'll concede that you're better and more moral, you and Neil. When you finish your little superior dance, perhaps you can entertain us with your alternate ideas on how better to defend the country.
In the meantime, Neil Young conjured up one half-decent song in a whole crappy gimmick of an album. BLT is a heartless, souless bastard, and I'm a mercenary bastard- though I don't see how any of this pays me other than the satisfaction of contribution to the public discourse. Still, the evil BLT conjured up a clearly superior piece of actual songwriting in at least this one case than did the aging master.
However, I will not only echo but amplify your insistence that my opinion is questionable. That is good. Do take my opinions with a grain of salt, and do keep in mind the possibility that on any given topic I may possibly be full of it. Of course this applies to you and everyone else as well.
I love you Brother Zing, but you seemed to have swallowed this pinko kool-aid to enough of an extent that you're hallucinating re-writes of BLT's lyric to make him say the stupid things that you want to criticize rather than anything like what he actually said.
Plus, politics aside, I suspect that his feelings wouldn't be too badly hurt to hear you say that he's no better than Squeeze.
20 - Glen Boyd
Al,
You really need to meet RUBBERNECK. The guy who has been flaming my Neil Young articles for months. He dosen't have your sense of humor, but I think you'd like him. I really do. He's great at getting hits for one thing.
The BLT single is mediocre at beat by the way.
-Glen
21 - Martin Lav
Al,
I went to Dr. BLT's website, I couldn't find a free download or any streaming. The link you had earlier on your review, does not work. He's charging for all of his music, which I don't hold against him, however, he is "shamelessly" promoting himself on Neil Young's back. Hell his song has NY name in the title. That's profiteering in my book.
I wish you would have picked a different song to review though, cause it's not my favorite. Restless Consumer is by far the best song on this album and that's without the "context" that I continually mention that you abhor. My only point of the context is that Neil Young publicized this as a protest song and you criticized the simplistic lyrics. You made fun of the lyrics, so I pointed out what the artist himself was trying to convey based on his own word. I think it's fair and balanced for me to cite this and if you missed the point, then please read your own critique to understand.
Again, anyone can make a BLT sandwich it's a common recipe, however, no one can claim to be the original maker of it....my analogy is simple Neil Young is the original, he is consistent in his style, grace and art and your beloved BLT is nothing but a cheap profiteer using Neil's name to make his own, even though his own is also another copy.
Nice review on your site Glen.
22 - Al Barger
Martin, BLT has some stuff available for free, and some that he wants paid for. Overall though, I will say gently that I'm not impressed with the layout of his website. I found it hard to use- which is a big reason I went to the bother of getting the Neil Young song over to my site. I know that link does work- though anyone might have a momentary glitch now and again.
You're awfully anxious to cast BLT as some horrible exploiter because he would dare write a song about Neil Young, but I find that argument to be utterly without merit. Why should his holy f'ing name be sacrosanct, and beyond criticism? This song is a perfectly legitimate point of public discourse, whether you dig the song or not.
23 - Martin Lav
Al,
I'm not anxious at all, I'm just pointing out the obvious and expressing my opinion just like you did. In fact I think I'm giving Dr. BLT and you a lot of lee-way as compared to your BarBQn of Neil Youngs song, his "common" rock and roll style, is slopped out half assed crap, comparing his artistic passion with your 2 years old Godson's whinning. I mean come on man. You total trash one of the most respected artists of all time, claim not to be influenced by your "philosophical" political differences and then go on to rave about a guy that "beat" Neil's protest record to the airwaves, by jumping on the bandwagon that was made possible by Neil Young in the first place. I mean if Neil Young hadn't written this album what would the good Dr. have to beat? You sir are a fraud and your sanctimonious tone is as tranparent as your lack of objectivity and political leanings. And unless Dr. BLT is the only other musical artist to write a retort of sorts to anyone elses WAR PROTEST ALBUM, I would still suspect that you are somehow beholding to him.
Your review was mean and nasty and now your replies to me are more of the same. Typical.
24 - Al Barger
Martin, I don't see how I've been "nasty" to you. Indeed, I've tried to be careful to be extra polite as you're slinging allegations of cheap venality at me, being on some mythical BLT payroll, like we're on some orders from the VRWC. I should be "ashamed" of myself for liking this song more than Neil's. Oh, and I'm a "fraud."
Frankly, that kind of crazy paranoid leftwing foolishness directed to me is just an invitation to vicious but highly entertaining mockery. I'm sorely tempted to make such sport of you, but I have so far used angelic restraint. Don't tempt me.
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Also, in your determined us vs them setup that you've conjured in your mind, you seem incapable of comprehending what I'm actually saying. If you can get past what it is you think you are expecting to hear, you'd see that I gave the Neil Young song a pretty positive review. I certainly did not "totally trash" Neil Young.
25 - RUBBERNECK
Note: Rubberneck has visited.