Naked Lunch: Soundtrack

Last night I finished up with Nick Hornby's Songbook (highly recommended for music addicts)...so off to the "To Be Read" pile. On the top was the recently purchased The Adding Machine by William S. Burroughs. In the first essay, entitled "The Name Is Burroughs", his early ideas of what writers were supposed to be like:

As a young child I wanted to be a writer because writers were rich and famous. They lounged around Singapore and Rangoon smoking opium in a yellow pongee silk suit. They sniffed cocaine in Mayfair and they penetrated forbidden swamps with a faithful native boy and lived in the native quarter of Tangier smoking hashish and languidly caressing a pet gazelle.

Uh...OK.

So this got me to thinkin' about the time I rented Naked Lunch. My reaction to it was: "Wha...?". This was a little different when compared to my reaction to the book, which was: "Wha...???".

Anyway...the soundtrack, by Howard Shore (and executed by the London Philharmonic) and Ornette Coleman, is an entirely different thing. There are certainly a few "what the?!" moments in it (such as Coleman and Prime Time popping up right in the middle of some orchestration) but, compared to Burroughs "cut-up" method, this stuff is almost Kind Of Blue.

Sir Duke - Bill Ware & Marc Ribot

I'm not familiar with the work of vibraphonist Bill Ware (a quick Allmusic search says that he's played with the Jazz Passengers, Groove Collective and even Steely Dan) but I am a sucker for the sound of vibes. What's more, I'll buy anything with the name "Marc Ribot" attached to it (check out Book Of Heads if you don't believe me). I never get tired of his twisted and wobbly guitar sound.

But...on this particular disc, a set of Duke Ellington covers, the skronky guitar doesn't show up. This is good though, because it's very refreshing (after getting over the initial disorientation) to hear Ribot playing straight-ahead jazz....basslines, comping and everything. Honest!

So, it's Friday night. Me & the wife are hanging out in the coffee shop of a local bookstore (and here I will admit that it's actually the danged evil Starbucks shop inside of the danged evil Barnes & Noble. Hey, it's all we've got around here). It's been a long and exhausting week. I'm just sipping my tea (some sort of chai thing with waaay too much sugar...yummy tho) and staring off into space...

The first thing I notice is the painfully attractive young girl sitting one tier below me. She's leafing through some fashion rag full of emaciated models who somehow manage to look sexy despite their gaunt faces and skeletal frames.

Then, to my left, a guy takes a table and cracks open some Hillary-bashing book. He also digs into a large chunk of coffee cake. His slicked-back hair and preppy clothing somehow remind me of the generic minor character in an action movie: the one you take a quick dislike to...the one who gets shot first.

The painfully attractive girl gets a call on her cellphone, jumps up and exits, "Necrophelia Times" tucked under her arm. Less than a minute later an incredibly obese woman takes her place. She has with her a book on "scrapbooking".

I feel sorry for her. I mean, scrapbooking?

Mr. Young Republican leaves and his table is taken over by a guy and his cute little two year old son...who's been trying his best to knock over everything in the 'order here' line, but appears to be calmed at the idea of helping dad with a mini-chocolate bundt cake.

Over in the corner four high school girls are making enough noise to be heard all the way to the parking lot. They all have their cellphones out. It's a disease.

Me, I lower my eyes back down to the big slab of Charles Bukowski I've just purchased. The man had a way with words. And was crankier than me.

I feel like I'm in a Fellini movie...an Americanized version.

Honestly...I was just trying to figure out how to buy the latest Sex Mob cd (over at ropeadope) when I stumbled across an ad for a very interesting item.

The Cell Phone Jammer.

I knew that they had started using more large-scale versions of these things in Japan (for theatres and restaurants), but this one is a nice little handheld, disguised as a cell phone:

Make sure you have this phone jammer with you whenever you are out and about as you never know when you are going to need to use it. With this cell phone jammer switched on in your pocket you will be able to silence those anti-social types who insist on using their mobile phones in the most indiscrete way, the beauty is that they will not know it is you that has switched them off!, all they will see is that their signal has dropped on their phone. When you have had your meal or enjoyed your coffee in peace and quiet, you can then switch off your phone jammer and continue on your way completely stress free.

Hmmm....might be fun.

Let It Be...Naked

Wednesday evening I stopped by one of my local music mini-chains (Newbury Comics) and picked this one up.

Big deal, eh? Me and gawd knows how many other people did the same.

But I also had to purchase the original Let It Be. Never owned it. No vinyl, no 8-track, no cassette, no CD. Nothin'. I'm not even sure why. Just never got around to it. But given how the Beatles were basically everywhere, I am familiar with all of the music (though I'm not weighed down by the song order, the changes on the new release don't bother me...but I sure can sympathize).

While some longtime fans are bothered by the history being rewritten, I'm just grooving on the starkness of the un-Spectorized tunes. Never liked the orchestration on "The Long And Winding Road" or "Let It Be". And "Across The Universe", with that effect removed from John's voice (Spector extras gone here too) is, to me, more powerful than the original.

There's a single reason for me owning this disc. Kurt Elling's cover of Pat Metheny's "Minuano (Six Eight)" (from Still Life (Talking)). I thought it'd be interesting to hear vocals added to the song.

After several listening sessions...I still don't know what to make of Elling. See, it's a pretty unusual thing for me to buy jazz vocal music. Hmmm, halfway through that last sentence I realized that I own almost no male jazz vocal material. Yep, thousands of recordings and in there you'll find no Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Mel Torme...nothin'. No, wait..I do have a Frank Sinatra cd. Does that get me off the hook?

There's no good reason for this deficiency...I just don't enjoy the sound of a male voice in a jazz context. To be honest, I had to really think about picking up Man In The Air. I mean, just take a look at that cover photo. The guy looks like Mike Meyers' "Deiter" character! Certainly a shallow reason for not buying a record (probably just a weak as picking up that Brigitte Bardot compilation just for the, uhm...artwork).

Anyway, one thing I'll say is that Elling has a very unique style of vocalese (setting lyrics to melodies and solo segments). There's a lot of power in his delivery - of a kind that I don't normally associate with jazz vocals. This isn't a bad thing. Heck, I don't really know what it is. As weird as this sounds, this music is giving me flashbacks to my Radiohead experience: the stuff is both mesmerizing (initially) and confusing.

There are compositions here by some pretty heavy hitters: Bob Mintzer, Coltrane, Zawinul and Herbie Hancock. Also included is one Elling original ("The More I Have You"). The only flat spot is a cover of "Never My Love" (who did that? The Association?) I can't put my finger on it...it just doesn't work.

The lyrics are interesting in that they seem to slide from relative concreteness at one end to stuff that's more open to interpretation. In fact, I rememeber wondering what he was getting at during "Minuano". And then I read the liner notes:

On closer listening some settings present more than one possibility. Is "Minuano" about the excitement one feels coming home to a lover? Or is "Minuano" the song of a lonely spiritual disciple feeling quickened, sensing his guru's imminent appearance after a long absence? Are the guru and the lover the same person?

The music itself is presented by a fine quintet comprised of Laurence Hobgood (piano and Rhodes electric piano), Rob Amster (bass), Frank Parker Jr. (drums...the linchpin of this group, I think), Sefon Harris (vibes), and Jim Gailloreto (soprano sax). There are also appearances by ex-Metheny drummer Paul Wertico and Brad Wheeler on soprano sax (both on "Minuano"). This is definitely a band that can do the slow, bluesy burn..and then pick it up to swing like mad.

Man In The Air isn't for everyone (I'm not even sure it's for me!) It is a little different. If anything, it at least has made me realize that I've gotta go out and get some Tony Bennett records.

The one and only dance club I've been to was called "Decadence". This was way back in the late 1980's. Gees, what a scene: all surfaces painted black, dancers shakin' it in metal cages, and a PA system that I think mighta given me permanent liver damage. Everyone there seemed to be having a good time. Me, I wanted out within the first five minutes. For some reason, the place gave me a strong "I don't belong here" feeling.

Many years later I scan all of these articles about DJ's, clubbing and the various splinter-genres of electronic dance music (house, jungle, trance, etc.)...and I wonder if it's all like "Decadence". I also wonder about the phenomenon of the DJ as celebrity. Just what did it mean? Isn't he just queuing up records? What's the big deal?

Well, I still haven't been to a club (in the "modern" era)...but a while back I had an opportunity to see a good buddy's nephew in action. The occasion was his 40th birthday. Said nephew, who plays turntables in his band back down in Maryland, shows up at my friend's very rural Vermont house with his whole DJ setup. Fancy turntable, DJ CD player, mixer...all that stuff. That evening it was fun to see Sean matching beats and making stuff flow. The drinks were flowing too. As everybody got more & more lubricated we began to grope our way through the piles of records and CDs to look for the next tune ("Rapper's Delight" to the live "Psycho Killer" was particularly funny and resulted in much butt-shaking). Even in my more-than-slightly altered state I could see how this would transfer to a club setting (I still might not like it, but that's my problem.)

What's all this have to do with Great Wall? Actually, aside from the DJ thing, not a whole lot...except that I wanted to show that I'm not completely ignorant of the dance scene.

So is Great Wall any good? I have no idea. I might say that I love this thing and dance music/remix fiends may tell me I'm full of it (or, the other way around.) There are only three tunes here that I'm familiar with: David Gahan's "Dirty Sticky Floors", Madonna's "Hollywood" and Bjork's "Pagan Poetry". I'd have to give the nod to the Bjork track (since I love the original so much.) The rest of the program is definitely full of inner-organ-wiggling dance music (including one track, "Hypnotised", in which Oakenfold remixes Oakenfold.) I do like the nice mixture of the atmospheric sound and slammin' beats...knots of tension are allow to build and scatter (is that important at the club?)

Great Wall isn't gonna make me head out to the clubs anytime soon, but I think it can proudly take its place on my shelf next to the Photek, Squarepusher and Propellerheads CDs.

Book Of Dreams - The Steve Miller Band

It's been a long, twisted, confusing and ugly week (though the fantastic Pat Metheny Trio show last night did help a little).

So...time for a little musical comfort food.

Many artists, when asked to pick a favorite from their own discography, will lean toward their most recent release. Sure, I can see that. You work on new material, it's fresh and exiting, and right there in the front of your mind.

I've been wondering recently what Pat Metheny's response would be if he was asked to pick a favorite from his many trio lineups. Obviously, this is like asking him to do a little apple/orange comparing...and maybe that's not fair. But, given the chance, I'd have to ask.

The reason I've been tossing this question around in my head is that I'm going to see the latest version of the Pat Metheny Trio tonight at the Boston-area Somerville Theatre. With Metheny will be group alum Antonio Sanchez on drums and the always amazing Christian McBride on bass. As usual, I've been listening to as much trio music as possible as the date approaches. Here's my thoughts on the Metheny's various trio lineups (in reverse chronological order).

Trio 99->00 (1999)

I think the 'official' name was just The Pat Metheny Trio (not sure about that , the danged cd packaging was a little confusing). It was quite an interesting outfit with Larry Grenadier on bass and Bill Stewart (who's done a lot of work with John Scofield) on drums. The studio record contains some fine playing including a nice cover of "Giant Steps", the bouncy opener "(Go) Get It" and reinterpretations of Metheny tunes "Lone Jack" and "Travels". But if you want to get a more accurate idea of what this group was capable of, check out Trio Live. When I saw them in concert, I was immediately struck by the nearly telepathic interplay between Metheny's guitar and Stewart's drums. I can't remember the tune ("Question and Answer"?) but they opened the show with just guitar and drums ripping through the song. It takes a very musical drummer to pull that off. Also on this record is a shimmering "Into The Dream", Pat's Picasso guitar workout, and "Faith Healer", a room-clearing noisefest that makes me grin ear-to-ear.

Question and Answer (1990)

Dave Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Can it get any better than that? Probably not. This is Metheny's most straight-ahead trio date with covers of Miles' "Solar", Ornette's "Law Years" and the standard "All The Things You Are". Also offered are several Metheny originals.

What's crazy about Q&A is (again this surfaces) the level of interplay. You listen to their version of "Solar" and it sounds like they've been playing together for years. Not the case. Pat had a little time off at the end of 1989, the Power Station had a day open...so they just showed up and played. For eight hours.

Rejoicing (1984)

Another mini-supergroup. This time with jazz giant Charlie Haden on bass and equally great Billy Higgins on drums. It's an Ornette-heavy recording ("Tears Inside", "Humpty Dumpty" and "Rejoicing") that also has one of Pat's early noise-a-thons, "The Calling". Internet discussions on this song used to spread the rumor that this tune was somehow Pat's way of getting back at ECM's Manfred Eicher...a sort of jazz version of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. Not true. For as sweet as Metheny can (and tends to) play, he's just as likely to uncork some truly blasphemous noise. I've heard him play this tune with the Roy Haynes group, so it's no toss-off.

Bright Size Life (1976)

This one is often cited as the long-time fan favorite. Count me in that group. The playing is just stellar. It's hard to go wrong is Bob Moses on drums and Jaco Pastorius on bass. If you own no Pat Metheny albums, this is a good place to start. It has some of the feel of his early solo record New Chautauqua put together with some of the best jazz guitar trio work I've ever heard. I know that Pat is fond of this era because, all these years later, he still returns to these tunes in concert.

...and that's what I'm hoping for for tonight's show. Just one blast through the beauty of "Bright Size Life" and the electricity of the unison-crazy "Unquity Road"...and I'll be happy.

I spent the better part of yesterday sitting on the couch listening to records. It'd be cool to say that I just stayed home to enjoy a mental health day. The truth is that I frigged up my back this past weekend and good ole Mr. Sciatica finally forced me to bust out the ibuprophen, the heating pad, and a small pile of recently purchased used vinyl.

There are some great finds in this stack including a mint copy of Frank Zappa's London Symphony Orchestra ($10, but worth every penny) and Rockpile's Seconds Of Pleasure ($2!)

Also in the pile is a record called One Down by Bill Laswell's pick-up supergroup Material. Unlike the more modern Material, which plays a kind of spaced-out & dub-infused funk, this 1982 release sits more in the pop realm. What was it about the 1980's anyway? So many records sounded like they were recorded with the exact same set of instruments: the synths, the electronic drums, the handclaps. Even this record, with a diverse lineup including Fred Frith, Nile Rogers, Nona Hendryx and Nicky Skopelitis...manages to sound like the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie.

Despite the 80's production sound, there's one track on One Down that make me feel my five bucks wasn't wasted. "Memories", full of synth and electronic piano, also has..get ready...Whitney Houston on vocals and, even weirder, Archie Shepp on tenor sax. Just as you get used to hearing Whitney singing in this un-Whitney context, out comes Shepp to blow a skronkoid solo. It's jaw-dropping.

By the way, Mr. Sciatica is much more well-behaved today.

I tend to think of REM as two different bands, from two different times. There's the IRS years...and the Warner years. While there is a little overlap ("It's The End Of The World As We Know It(and i feel fine)", for example), REM's style began to move away from garagey folk on Green.

Now, this of course is my perception of REM. Do they think that such a stylistic shift happened? Was their songwriting process different? I don't have those answers...because they don't really matter. What does matter is that I've been listening to these guys for a long time. Songs like "Radio Free Europe" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" will always be associated with those college nights spent listening to albums like Murmur at my friend Gene's parents house up in Bangor, Maine. The music made a big impression on me, so that time period comes along for the ride. The rest of the pre-Warner days stuff is in there too because, let's face it, does anyone really feel like an adult when they first get out of school? Not me. It took a few years. A job. A marriage. A mortgage...and then REM comes out with "Stand"...and suddenly, it appears that things have changed.

This is not going to turn into an REM-bashing they've-sold-out-they-used-to-be-great-now-they-suck thing. No, my apparent "musical romanticism" and sense of loyalty won't allow that. So let's talk about...

REM, the Warner years. I think of this period as "REM, The Adult Years". What does this mean? So much stuff happened to me post-1988. The cover band, divorces (mine and others), war, new love, career weirdness, marriage. You know, the usual stuff. Do I attach specific events to songs? No. Instead...there are a few artists whose music I use as a source of inspiration (or sometimes refuge), and certainly REM fits here. When I'm sad, happy, or in need of a good kick in the pants - out comes Automatic For The People, New Adventures In Hi-Fi, or the more recent Reveal (my other music-as-therapy artists? Springsteen, Dylan, Pat Metheny, Greg Brown)

Like any other aging vinyl addict, what's the first thing I do after opening the package? That's right: read the liner notes. And In Time has some fantastic track-by-track commentary written by Peter Buck. I can never get enough of this kind of thing. Years of living with a body of music makes me wonder what the artist was thinking. Aside from your typical VH1-type details (why was a song included on (or left off of) an album, etc.) you get to see that Buck (and the other members of the group, I suspect) is also a fan of music. His description of working with Patti Smith on "E-Bow the Letter":

It was such an incredible experience watching Patti sing this song-a song we write! I had all the cliche reactions: chills ran up and down my spine, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, etc. My life did not flash before my eyes, but it was a close thing. When the session was over, I walked out into the night high as a kite, completely transported.

He also makes a terrific point about how songs can take on a life of their own when he speaks of "Everybody Hurts":

This song doesn't really belong to us anymore; it belongs to everybody who has ever gotten any solace from it."

It's not all serious though (ain't rock supposta be fun?) On "Orange Crush":

I must have played this song onstage over three hundred times, and I still don't know what the fuck it's about.

I don't know that I believe him, but it's still pretty danged funny.

Buck also talks about the ease with which "Losing My Religion" came together:

When I think about Losing My Religion, I think about the process of writing and recording it, and how dream-like and effortless it was. The music was written in five minutes; the first time the band played it, it fell into place perfectly. Michael had lyrics within the hour, and while playing the song for the third or fourth time, I found myself incredibly moved to hear the vocals in conjunction with the music. To me, Losing My Religion feels like some kind of archetype that was floating around in space that we managed to lasso. If only all songwriting was this easy.

So, for "REM, The Adult Years", this is a pretty good set. The big hits are here, some good tracks from the most recent records (which stand up quite well), soundtrack items, and even a couple of new tunes (more can be had on the enhanced bonus CD).

And what's next? Dunno. I was surprised when they moved on after what happened on the Monster tour, and after Bill Berry's retirement. Up wasn't one of my favorite releases, but Reveal showed some real promise. The cool "Animal", with its "Tomorrow Never Knows" vibe, leads me to believe (or hope) that there's something to look forward to in "REM, The Middle-Age Years".

I can never decide if I should be angry at record companies who do things like add bonus material to best-of collections. I mean, did I need to buy 18 Tracks (even though I already had the set Tracks)? Well, yes...because I needed "The Fever".

Do I need The Essential Bruce Springsteen? Yep, if only because I don't have a decent version of "Trapped" on cd. Plus, there really are some extra goodies on the third disc (from Backstreets):

1. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) - Unreleased, previously recorded by Dave Edmunds 2. The Big Payback - B-side to "Open All Night" 3. Held Up Without a Gun (Live) - Previously unreleased live version of the "Hungry Heart" B-side, from 12/31/80 (leaving the original studio version still unavailable on CD) 4. Trapped (Live) - Bruce's classic Jimmy Cliff cover, live with the E Street Band on 8/6/84, previously available on U.S.A. for Africa's We Are the World. 5. None But the Brave - Previously unreleased Born in the U.S.A. outtake 6. Missing - 1995 song from the film The Crossing Guard 7. Lift Me Up - 1999 song from the film Limbo 8. Viva Las Vegas - A post-E Street studio recording from The Last Temptation of Elvis benefit album 9. County Fair - Previously unreleased early-'80s outtake 10. Code of Silence (Live) - Previously unreleased, co-written with Joe Grushecky, a live version from 2000 at Madison Square Garden 11. Dead Man Walkin' - 1995 song from the film Dead Man Walking 12. Countin' on a Miracle (Acoustic) - Previously unreleased, though a Danny Clinch film of this country blues version played on the screens after many a Rising show

So yea...I'll be buyin' it. I've been sucked in. Can't really blame the record companies.

(The Essential Bruce Springsteen will be released on November 11th to be followed (November 18th) by Live In Barcelona, a concert DVD...which I probably won't have to will power to resist).

Savage Night - The Blue Hawaiians

For many years on Friday mornings I would listen to a show on the University of Lowell (now UMass/Lowell) radio station. The show was called "Martinis With Mancini" and featured all forms of exotica and other fun stuff including Rat Pack, Bossa, Mambo, Spaghetti Western sountracks, Henry Mancini, Esquivel, Cal Tjader, Perez Prado...you get the idea.

One of the groups the host was big on for a while was The Blue Hawaiians. I'm not sure how to categorize these guys ("dark surf", maybe?) but they do swank-a-licious versions of "Skakin' All Over" plus Tom Waits' "Jockey Full Of Bourbon".

Perfect for your next cocktail party.

gees, there's some screamin' and hollerin' going on over at Blogcritics about the reagan movie that cbs (cowardly broadcasting system) just pulled. man, you would think reagan was a fricken' king or something.

i don't really care. switch off the danged tv and read a book, will ya?

The world of electro-acoustic music is, well, a small one. It sits in a valley between 'real' jazz (read: acoustic) on the one side and full-blown electronica on the other. By 'small' I meant to imply that, being a sub-genre of an already marginalized art form, electro-acoustic music isn't in danger of gaining mainstream popularity anytime soon. And that's too bad...because some most interesting and innovative noises are coming from this field.

Matthew Shipp's Sorcerer Sessions is a fine example. It's just chock full 'o ideas. I'm not even sure where to begin. Let me say that the instrumentation can bring a person to believe that something cool is about to happen: along with Shipp on piano and synthesizer we have Gerald Cleaver on drums, FLAM (also on Shipp's Nu Bop and Equilibrium) on programming and synth, William Parker on bass, Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin and Evan Ziporyn (from Bang On A Can) on clarinet and bass clarinet. Definitely some 'tortured air molecule' potential there, I think.

Ok, the music. The pieces here seem to fall into a couple of categories: 1) quiet sorta-chamber jazz meditations spiced with freaky improv and 2) freaky improv spiced with sorta-chamber jazz elements. This may seem like a snarky little cop-out of a description but I swear that if I try too hard to nail this stuff down I just might injure myself.

The show begins with "Pulsar", a quiet piano meditation built on a short series of chords that is joined first by violin and then clarinet. As the chord progression continues the violin and clarinet weave melodies and counterpoint. Very pretty in a chamber orchestra kinda way. Oh...no freaky improv on this one.

If somebody tried to convince me that I would enjoy a tune that featured a computer keyboard clicking away...I woulda laughed them right outa the room. Sure thing. Music for nerds. Well, "Keystroke" proves me wrong in a big way. Clattering keys, super-angular notes from the piano, squeeely clarinet and, just to really weird the thing out...FLAM samples stuff, runs it through the software blender and adds it back into the mix. It just works.

Let the weirdness continue with "Lightforms". Shortwave radio static is superimposed over a trio of piano, bass and violin. Sounds like something you'd catch a snippet of from a World War II radio broadcast...until everything drops away at 2:42 to reveal a few distorted piano notes descending....and then the noise (and the other instruments) fade back in to complete the piece.

"Urban Shadows". This is by far my favorite track. The sounds of the city linked to and woven into some snazzy improvisations. Like this: police scanner, drum 'n bass, truck horn, motorcycle, bass & clarinet & violin, squealing subway brakes, violin & clarinet, train signal, jackhammer, lawnmower, police scanner, telephone, grass trimmer...and skittering violin. Reminds me of Ornette's "Harmolodics" done with found sounds.

The closing "Mist" starts with an ominous synth bass, click-track percussion, and swooshy synth wash. The strings pop in from the side as commentary to the occasional sparse piano chord. Below all of this a scary bass clarinet peeks its head out. The piano chords morph into occasional bits of melody...and everyone 'follows' along as the synth wash gives way to our old friend, the searching shortwave radio.

Other pieces on Sorcerer Sessions aren't quite as 'out' as "Mist" (though "Fixed Point" might argue back at me on that), but they do share a kind of ambient quality. Definitely a thought-provoking mix of improvisation, dissonance and a sort of chamber music.

This is a kind of music that has so much to offer, as it reveals something new on repeated listens.

Heck, I'm only through pass #7...and I still feel like a beginner.

Sorcerer Sessions will be released on November 18, 2003 on Thirsty Ear Recordings.

There are a couple of kinda odd (and completely unrelated) reasons why I'm reviewing this CD. One is that, after several listens, I've found some music here that I really like. The kind that makes me drive too fast. But there's also some stuff that I just can't stand. This is an unusual thing for me. I usually either a) totally come on board or b) throw up my hands and yell "PULL!" (more on that later).

The other reason? I read a Barenaked Ladies concert review and learned that they covered Public Enemy's "Fight The Power".

So...the love/hate thing. It's true. There aren't a whole lot of albums that I can go either way on. Because I tend to focus on the 'resonant' (read: musical 'gut' says "yea!") aspects of music, a new record can come along and win me over almost immediately. On the other hand, there are times when a song will come on and I'll want that thing out of my ears!...now!! Very seldom though, does a 'bad' song show up in the middle of a 'resonant' album.

Such is not the case with Everything To Everyone. The opener, "Celebrity", is a fun pop tune that employs its Beach Boy and Beatle-isms to full effect. "Maybe Katie" is great power pop that uses a wiggly Cars-like synth on its hooky chorus.

But then we have "Another Postcard" (in that BNL style I just can't deal with) and my index finger heads straight for the "next" button. The good news is that there's only one more tune that gets that treatment from me: "Shopping". Despite the cool appearance of Blue Man Group on "PVC percussion", the song is just too "la la la" for me.

Now, if I ignore the 'outtakes' (one is, of course, a huge radio hit) the rest of the album is right in my pop music wheelhouse. Full of some fun tunes spun up in quite a few different styles. "Next Time" is a lilting and catchy epic. "For You" has quite the folk/country flair, with great harmonies (gees, I wish I could sing like that) and cool instrumentation (is that a glockenspiel in there?) "Testing 1,2,3" is another fun one that mixes in a little XTC karma. On "Upside Down" you're surprised first with a full string section in the introduction...which then morphs into a pop song-cum-tango! (Hint: turn this up loud.) Honestly, there's not a bad song in the bunch.

And now it's back to that "Fight The Power" thing. I've had a lot of 'concert conversion' experiences. And while I haven't seen these guys live, I've heard from several sources that they do put on quite a show. So here's a meta-concert conversion experience. I don't know what they do to "Fight The Power" live, but there's just something appealing and subversive about a Canadian pop band covering Public Enemy.

So, in summary, I guess I love it...and I hate it.

"Money" - Easy Star All-Stars (Dub Side Of The Moon)

An old friend of mine sent this to me for my birthday. Dang, the lighter-flicking, bong-burbling, coughing intro to "Money" is just brilliant.

Maybe I should send a copy to Tommy Chong.

Every Thursday morning I point my browser to one of my favorite music review sites (aside from Blogcritics!). It's called The War Against Silence. Written by a guy named Glen McDonald, The War Against Silence is full of the kind of writing you're not likely to find at your typical CD review site. While his style may be too wordy for some, it's worth sticking with an essay just to see where it's going (and how it gets there). An article may start out with several paragraphs on, say, World Cup Soccer...and you're thinking to yourself "ok...what's up with this?" Well, there's always a point and it's always an enlightening activity watching it crystalize.

So, last week's review was about Japanese singer Chitose Hajime...and it contains one of the best (and funniest) descriptions of the current state of the music industry I've ever read. The quote follows a short discussion on region-encoded promotional material.

The CD, of course, has no region coding; the CD-audio format defines no such mechanism. Somewhere on the planet, no doubt, a cabal of oblivious music executives is currently bemoaning this fact. They would be happier if the CD was "protected", too. Half the CDs I get from Japan do purport to be "Copy Protected", in fact, although so far iTunes and my PowerBook have been completely untroubled by whatever that "protection" entails. Apple appears, at this stage, to be the only digital media company not spending the bulk of its creative energy on ways to keep its products away from its nominal audiences, with the result that "rights management" has become a booming business with the approximate market size, moral logic and future outlook of penile enlargement. And if the occasional no-allowance ten-year-old somehow manages to elude the music industry's welcoming rotating knives, they can always be threatened with remote computer detonation, having their single-parent's home and savings confiscated, or Lars Ulrich showing up on your doorstep to perform his impression of an insomniac leprechaun who blames you for his dysentery. The music industry's ritual self-disembowelment is now so enthusiastically underway that it's hard to even hear the radio over the squelching anymore. (And the only reason the movie industry appears to be patiently waiting their turn is that all their knives are props.)

Lars Ulrich the insomniac leprechaun. I like that.