The Tubes helped Dfine "wretched Xcess" in rock'n'roll back in the late '70s.
Never sure if they were sposta B a satirical rock-group send-up or some kinda twisted, over-the-top Broadway song&dance revue, they released a series of disappointing-selling albums on A&M. The critics sorta grudgingly admired the vitality & outrage of the group's stage show -- in which singer Fee Waybill sometimes appeared as glam-rocker "Quay Lewd," perched atop 3-foot-tall platform boots while surrounded by mostly-naked women dancers.... Meanwhile the same critics zinged the sneering cynicism of mosta the band's songs.
Summa the songs were kinda funny, tho I didn't hear them til later -- the outrageous "White Punks on Dope," "What Do You Want From Life?," "Don't Touch Me There," & the then-topical "Slipped My Disco."
But every1 knows satire's the stuff that dies in Peoria. Tho the 1st album mayB sold OK, the follow-ups YOUNG AND RICH & NOW wasted no time appearing in the cutout bins. Obviously the effectiveness of the stage show didn't translate 2 the albums.
After the WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIVE album failed 2 make them stars, the band returned 2 the studio late in '78 & recorded a pop concept album called REMOTE CONTROL. Todd Rundgren produced in his usual punchy, splashy, highly-commercial style. The result was, I think, the band's most successful studio album. "Artistically," at least.
The album's about TV addiction. Obsession, U might even say. But sevral of the songs R strong enuf that the concept doesn't even matter. Everywhere there's punchy instrumentation & catchy choruses & lotsa Xcited-sounding group vocals & it all Cms very NRgetic -- probly bigger than it really needed 2 B. Might even have made a great stage show.
From the cover photo, in which a baby stares helplessly at 1 of those old "futuristic" astronaut-helmet TV screens from the late '70s -- with a baby-bottle nipple attached 2 the front of it (the band appears in the old Hollywood Squares game-show tic-tac-toe set on the back-cover), it's obvious that TV's the album's topic. Specifically, the theme is TV's impact on "normal, middle-class" late-'70s America.
"Turn Me On" is a rockin' fast-paced curtain-raiser w/ bouncy synthesizers & lotsa forceful group vocals. "TV is King" amplifies the theme a bit more, & tho the punchy group vocals on the rather-good choruses help, it's probly the weakest song on the 1st side. But 1nce they get going....
"Prime Time" is a smooth, almost seductive duet featuring Waybill & dancer/singer Re Styles. She sorta plays the role of the seductive TV, if U can buy that. & if U can buy a love song 2 a TV, U might even like it. Coulda bn a hit, especially w/ those clever, underplayed chorus lines: "You get my prime time/I'm saving my prime time for you...."
Then it gets better. "I Want it All Now" appears 2 B about a TV character trying 2 imagine growing-up in then-current middle-class America. & tho it's the best structured, most dramatic piece here, it also has summa the album's sourest, most cynical lyrics:
"What is it like to kiss a real girl,
To say you're in love and get married to her,
Have lots of children and grow fat and old,
And die like a fish on the end of a pole...."
After a list of standard daily socializing habits & rituals recited moronically in unison by the group, the song turns a corner & moves in2 a drama-building call&response chorus Nding that's really marvelous. Coulda bn another hit! They mighta had 2 tone-down the sneering lyrics, tho....
The side-closer "No Way Out" follows mayB the same TV character who can't escape from Bhind the TV screen. Overall, a pretty punchy side. Not Xactly Music 4 The Ages, but catchy & memrable enuf, even w/ the sometimes cynical lyrics.
The 2nd side isn't as good, tho there's 1 standout. A coupla rather unpleasant, cold & brutal life-is-tough-in-capitalist-middle-America message songs un4tun8ly have titles that remind me of better songs by other artists: "No Mercy" (Nils Lofgren) & "Only the Strong Survive" (REO Speedwagon). This may B why I can't actually remember "Getoverture" or "Be Mine Tonight" at all. "Telecide" wraps up the album w/ a sorta medley of all the previous songs.
But then there's the standout: "Love's a Mystery (I Don't Understand)" sounds 2 me like yr standard broken-hearted Big Rundgren Ballad (he co-wrote it w/ the band), mellow & moody w/ big, heartfelt group-sung choruses, in the patented style Todd does on his own albums. It also sounds like a sorta dry-run 4 the Tubes' later big-ballad hit "I Don't Want to Wait Anymore." But it's punchy & dramatic & very good 4 what it is, if U like big ballads. What it has 2 do w/ the TV concept I couldn't tell ya....
So, 1 pretty solid side & 6 good songs outta 11. Not bad? Better than they'd ever do again. (& thank Ghod these folks apparently never Got Cable....)
After this the Tubes moved over 2 Capitol Records & smoothed-out w/ producer David Foster, who scored them minor hits like the obnoxious-but-funny "Talk to Ya Later," "Don't Want to Wait Anymore," & the just-obnoxious "She's a Beauty." The songs weren't as funny -- the liner notes on their 1st Capitol album THE COMPLETION BACKWARDS PRINCIPLE R funnier than NE of the lyrics.... Not sure what happened 2 the band after that. Drummer Prairie Prince was a touring member of the Grateful Dead 4 awhile....
A&M responded 2 the Tubes' latter-day success w/ a best-of collection called TRASH -- TUBES RARITIES AND SMASH HITS, w/ a photo of a garbage can on the cover. Funny, eh? That's where I 1st heard "White Punks on Dope" & "What Do You Want From Life?" But A&M could probly do what they wanted w/ that old material -- there was a rumor going around 4 awhile that the Tubes owed A&M $1 million....
I might notta thota writing-up REMOTE CONTROL, but some1 voted 4 it in Mark Prindle's recent "Top 7-3 Survey" of the best rock albums ever. REMOTE CONTROL was also 1 of the albums we played most heavily back in my 1st days working at the record store, so it has a special place in my heart. Summa the other albums we played constantly in the spring of '79 included the Rollers' ELEVATOR, the Records' 1st, Tarney/Spencer Band's RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, New England's 1st, the Jam's SETTING SONS, the Headboys' 1st, Shoes' PRESENT TENSE, 1994:'s PLEASE STAND BY, Jethro Tull's STORMWATCH.... None of 'em sold all that much, but they still sound pretty good 2 me, & they sure bring the time back....
Monday, March 1, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
No career 4 Dada
Group 87's 2nd album, A CAREER IN DADA PROCESSING (1984), isn't the lost treasure of the ages I was hoping 4, but it IS pleasant instrumental lite-jazz-rock background music, & it's growing on me after a coupla plays.
The problem is I never hadta wait 4 their marvelous 1st album (1980) 2 grow on me -- I was hooked B4 the Nd of the 1st track.
DADA apparently took 4ever 2 get recorded. Along the way, G87's drummer Terry Bozzio (4merly of U.K. & Frank Zappa's backing band) & bassist Patrick O'Hearn left 2 4m Missing Persons, & I guess keyboardist Peter Wolf was off writing songs w/ & producing Jefferson Starship & Heart. Producer/engineer Ed E. Thacker was apparently unavailable -- or G87 lost him when they left Columbia Records, which released the 1st album. DADA came out on Capitol.
This left trumpeter/keybsman Mark Isham & guitarist Peter Maunu, who were the heart of the group & wrote the best tunes on the earlier album. They drafted-in drummer Peter Van-Hooke & kept going. When this all happened isn't clear: O'Hearn got a songwriting credit on DADA's title track & is noted 4 "further contributions" along w/ 4mer Blood, Sweat and Tears drummer Bobby Colomby.
I've never missed a bassist B4, but DADA could use more bass. & replacing the flashy & splashy Bozzio must've bn tough -- like replacing Bill Bruford or Neal Peart: do-able, but.... Van-Hooke does fine here, but 1 thing he DOESN'T do is call attn 2 himself.
MayB all these changes R why DADA sounds kinda sad, downbeat, almost Dpressed. There isn't a single tune on it w/ the anthemic life-affirming power of the 1st album's "One Night Away From Day" or "Future of the City." There isn't even NEthing as hypnotic as "The Bedouin" or "Moving Sidewalks."
But in its own modest low-key way, DADA is Njoyable -- if U don't Xpect NE fireworks. I was hoping 4 some more, so I'm a little disappointed.
"The Mask Maker," the title tune & "Angels and Obelisks" sound the most like the 1st album -- tunes in which a repeating, slightly mutating pulse, rhythm or musical phrase is played over&over & then Isham's trumpet or Maunu's gtr R showcased on top of it. At its best this can make 4 some nice, haunting instrumental work, as it did in places on the 1st album, especially on trax like "Bedouin" & "While the City Sleeps."
But there this approach was a sorta backup 2 the drama, fireworks & impressive solos. Here the moody, haunting stuff is the best stuff there is. & if it don't grab ya....
Don't get me wrong. There's some nice tunes & textures here, & "The Apple Bites Back" is ... almost forceful. But the closing "Death of Captain Nemo" is a real downer, & there's definitely nothing here that'll jump outta the speakers & go 4 yer throat like parts of the 1st album did.
After this, Isham went on 2 do movie soundtracks & an occasional album, including the very-New-Age VAPOR DRAWINGS, which is all 4gettable keyboard-wash stuff w/ 1 standout called "On the Threshold of Liberty." I'm not sure where Maunu went, tho he wrote the best themes on the 1st album. G87 never recorded 2gether again. I'd imagine DADA sold even less than the 1st album. I'm sure '84 was an even-worse yr 4 an instrumental-rock mood-music album 2 get noticed than '80 was.
DADA may grow on me more, & if so I'll update WHY here. I'm sure I'll B playing it more, just 2 C if the haunting, gently flowing tunes lead NEwhere. But I wanted 2 B stunned again like I was w/ the 1st album (which I think is 1 of the top all-instrumental rock albums ever), & that ain't gonna happen.
I wouldn't recommend this 2 NE1 -- 2 quiet & moody & samey. But if U ever trip over a copy of that 1st album -- grab it!
The problem is I never hadta wait 4 their marvelous 1st album (1980) 2 grow on me -- I was hooked B4 the Nd of the 1st track.
DADA apparently took 4ever 2 get recorded. Along the way, G87's drummer Terry Bozzio (4merly of U.K. & Frank Zappa's backing band) & bassist Patrick O'Hearn left 2 4m Missing Persons, & I guess keyboardist Peter Wolf was off writing songs w/ & producing Jefferson Starship & Heart. Producer/engineer Ed E. Thacker was apparently unavailable -- or G87 lost him when they left Columbia Records, which released the 1st album. DADA came out on Capitol.
This left trumpeter/keybsman Mark Isham & guitarist Peter Maunu, who were the heart of the group & wrote the best tunes on the earlier album. They drafted-in drummer Peter Van-Hooke & kept going. When this all happened isn't clear: O'Hearn got a songwriting credit on DADA's title track & is noted 4 "further contributions" along w/ 4mer Blood, Sweat and Tears drummer Bobby Colomby.
I've never missed a bassist B4, but DADA could use more bass. & replacing the flashy & splashy Bozzio must've bn tough -- like replacing Bill Bruford or Neal Peart: do-able, but.... Van-Hooke does fine here, but 1 thing he DOESN'T do is call attn 2 himself.
MayB all these changes R why DADA sounds kinda sad, downbeat, almost Dpressed. There isn't a single tune on it w/ the anthemic life-affirming power of the 1st album's "One Night Away From Day" or "Future of the City." There isn't even NEthing as hypnotic as "The Bedouin" or "Moving Sidewalks."
But in its own modest low-key way, DADA is Njoyable -- if U don't Xpect NE fireworks. I was hoping 4 some more, so I'm a little disappointed.
"The Mask Maker," the title tune & "Angels and Obelisks" sound the most like the 1st album -- tunes in which a repeating, slightly mutating pulse, rhythm or musical phrase is played over&over & then Isham's trumpet or Maunu's gtr R showcased on top of it. At its best this can make 4 some nice, haunting instrumental work, as it did in places on the 1st album, especially on trax like "Bedouin" & "While the City Sleeps."
But there this approach was a sorta backup 2 the drama, fireworks & impressive solos. Here the moody, haunting stuff is the best stuff there is. & if it don't grab ya....
Don't get me wrong. There's some nice tunes & textures here, & "The Apple Bites Back" is ... almost forceful. But the closing "Death of Captain Nemo" is a real downer, & there's definitely nothing here that'll jump outta the speakers & go 4 yer throat like parts of the 1st album did.
After this, Isham went on 2 do movie soundtracks & an occasional album, including the very-New-Age VAPOR DRAWINGS, which is all 4gettable keyboard-wash stuff w/ 1 standout called "On the Threshold of Liberty." I'm not sure where Maunu went, tho he wrote the best themes on the 1st album. G87 never recorded 2gether again. I'd imagine DADA sold even less than the 1st album. I'm sure '84 was an even-worse yr 4 an instrumental-rock mood-music album 2 get noticed than '80 was.
DADA may grow on me more, & if so I'll update WHY here. I'm sure I'll B playing it more, just 2 C if the haunting, gently flowing tunes lead NEwhere. But I wanted 2 B stunned again like I was w/ the 1st album (which I think is 1 of the top all-instrumental rock albums ever), & that ain't gonna happen.
I wouldn't recommend this 2 NE1 -- 2 quiet & moody & samey. But if U ever trip over a copy of that 1st album -- grab it!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Posthumous
I predicted all this stuff yrs ago, in weak & undramatic science-fiction short-stories I couldn't sell 2 NE1.
MayB I wasn't convincing enuf. Or mayB no1 could Blieve that w/ all the wonders we had heading R way in the optimistic not-2-distant future, people could still B counted upon 2 make the absolute worst of it.
What I never predicted was that the technology was gonna come after me, 2....
In the morning while I try 2 wake up I switch on the computer, waking up slowly while I drink a potta coffee & try 2 figure out if I wanna B alive 2day or not. Sometimes I'll call-up CNN 2 C what new outrage occurred overnite. But usually I just use the laptop 2 regress in2 fantasy. Music, books, other people's writing & opinions -- something non-threatening. The Internet's great 4 fantasy or escape -- there's lotsa games & chatrooms & e-mail & blogs, lotsa chances 2 talk 2 people U're never really gonna meet, so they'll never havta B disappointed by U. Not in Reality, NEway.
When that gets boring, I've got CDs or the iPod, the same 200 familiar songs over & over. It's very comforting. & now & then if something gets boring I drop it & add something else. No chance of the unXpected ever happening & catching me off-guard.
Earphones plugged in, iPod attached 2 my belt, in 1 hand I've got the cellphone & I can call or text or keep up w/ CNN if I want, or check gas prices, or check directions 2 wherever I'm going -- not that I'm actually GOING NEwhere. I adopted Karl Malden's 1st Rule Of Travel a long time ago: Don't Leave Home.
I go 2 work, & bash on a computer 4 hrs. Sometimes I get phonecalls, more disembodied voices. Very seldom do I havta deal w/ Real People & their Dmands, thank Ghod. Mostly nobody bugs me, & I'm grateful. Just like the very few other people I interact w/ every day, when I go out in2 Reality I put on my Game Face -- all the walls go up & I am unreachable, unmoveable, unhurtable. Pretty comfterble in my isolation.
In the car I can plug-in the iPod, or I've got CDs. Who needs the radio? Ancient technology. The last thing I want is some1 else's tastes 4ced on me. Or commercials telling me what I SHOULD want, what I SHOULD need. I know what I want. I know what's best 4 me. When I'm out in Reality, mostly what I want is 2 B left alone.
2 make me even more portable & unattached 2 wires or accessories I've got the bluetooth phone, the works in my ear, so I can go NEwhere & talk if I have 2. MayB people think I'm talking 2 myself as I wander around a store or a park or a parking lot, sometimes loudly talking 2 whoever's at the other Nd. I don't care what they think.
But the truth is that in my unguarded moments I sometimes C other folks Cmingly talking 2 THEMselves as they wander around, sometimes raving in2 the air -- & I wonder if NEbody's listening. In their own little world, completely distracted, waving their arms around. I've Cn them walk out in fronta cars they didn't even realize were there -- never realized even after the car honked at them. Sevral times.
I C people wander thru stores w/ their bluetooths or earphones on, the phone or the iPod humming away, & sometimes they never say a word 2 NE1 -- they're like Stepford People or Pod People. 2 quiet. At lotsa stores now U can do a self-checkout: Scan yr groceries or whatever, slide yr card, bag up yr stuff & U're outta there in 30 secs & U never even hadta Xchange meaningless pleasantries w/ some cashier who probly wishes she was somewhere else doing something else, NEthing else. She's got her Game Face on 2, just trying 2 Get Thru It.
But when U look around at some other folks these days, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. At the other Nd of the spectrum, there sure are a LOTTA folks drinking a LOT of NRG drinks or NRG shots or various kinds of coffees or sodas, all hyped-up, in a REALLY big hurry. 2 go nowhere. 2 do nothing. & they're awfully loud & awfully anxious & awfully busy 4 people w/ nothing 2 do.
U C them on Fri's & Sat's, frantic 2 find a party 2 go 2. The traffic backs up 4 miles on the way 2 the stores & malls, people just released 4 their wknd, screaming 2 get 2 the stores, then we can mark that off R list & get on2 the next thing. Whatever that is.
All things considered, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. They don't interrupt me, they don't throw chaos in2 my quiet life, they don't get me thinking about what it all means. & during these long gray cold winters, I don't want 2 think at all. I want 2 disconnect. & it Cms like every1 else wants 2, 2.
In the words of '70s rock critic Lester Bangs, we have Bcome post-human, mimicking the things we worship. We would all like 2 run as smoothly & quietly & purposefully as the technology that surrounds us & that we've Bcome part of. But Real Life isn't always that smooth. & technology doesn't always work that perfectly.
Ever C how people react when the equipment doesn't work right or there's a glitch in the system, even 4 just a few secs? They get SO frustrated, as if: The technology's here, it's supposed 2 work absolutely FLAWLESSLY, 100 percent of the time.
I 1nce saw an apparently overly-busy & rudely preoccupied young woman SCREAM at a cashier at a gas station when she actually had 2 spend 10 secs walking from her car in2 the store 2 get a receipt 4 the gas she'd just bot. She was FURIOUS. She told the cashier: "You don't understand -- I don't WANT 2 have 2 deal w/ people. I don't LIKE having 2 deal w/ people."
I guess she'll never get those 10 seconds back. Or the 90 seconds she spent yelling.... But if she keeps going on like that, sooner or later she'll never havta deal w/ The Real World or real people again. Bcos nobody will talk 2 her.
More & more, I think this self-consciously busy young woman is speaking 4 all of us. More & more folks prefer not 2 deal w/ people. It's not worth the trouble. No frustration, no pain, no hurt, no miscommunication. & really, what have U lost? Remember the line from the Harvard Lampoon's old "Deteriorata": "Take comfort in knowing that a walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet."
Better 2 meet & chat on-line rather than take the risk of actually meeting some1 in Reality & mayB not liking them, or having them not like U (& what the hell's WRONG w/ U?), or possibly get yr feelings hurt. Way safer 2 deal w/ all Reality from the privacy of yr own little room, where U can mayB let down yr guard & B yrself safely Bhind yr own locked door. & mayB that's the only place. Reality can B pretty F'in frightening sometimes. Back 2 The Dungeon. It's better this way, really.
I'd like 2 think people R cutting themselves off from something important by trying so hard 2 avoid personal contact all the time. But I understand the need 2 escape....
So, pretty modern & slick & flashy & fast-paced, isn't it, Bing post-human? Also kinda cold & distant. Uncaring. I think people can still connect Dspite the technology. Seems like it. Hope so.
Otherwise the next word 2 B used 2 Dscribe all us slick, flashy, fast-paced, high-tech post-humans will B "posthumous."
MayB I wasn't convincing enuf. Or mayB no1 could Blieve that w/ all the wonders we had heading R way in the optimistic not-2-distant future, people could still B counted upon 2 make the absolute worst of it.
What I never predicted was that the technology was gonna come after me, 2....
In the morning while I try 2 wake up I switch on the computer, waking up slowly while I drink a potta coffee & try 2 figure out if I wanna B alive 2day or not. Sometimes I'll call-up CNN 2 C what new outrage occurred overnite. But usually I just use the laptop 2 regress in2 fantasy. Music, books, other people's writing & opinions -- something non-threatening. The Internet's great 4 fantasy or escape -- there's lotsa games & chatrooms & e-mail & blogs, lotsa chances 2 talk 2 people U're never really gonna meet, so they'll never havta B disappointed by U. Not in Reality, NEway.
When that gets boring, I've got CDs or the iPod, the same 200 familiar songs over & over. It's very comforting. & now & then if something gets boring I drop it & add something else. No chance of the unXpected ever happening & catching me off-guard.
Earphones plugged in, iPod attached 2 my belt, in 1 hand I've got the cellphone & I can call or text or keep up w/ CNN if I want, or check gas prices, or check directions 2 wherever I'm going -- not that I'm actually GOING NEwhere. I adopted Karl Malden's 1st Rule Of Travel a long time ago: Don't Leave Home.
I go 2 work, & bash on a computer 4 hrs. Sometimes I get phonecalls, more disembodied voices. Very seldom do I havta deal w/ Real People & their Dmands, thank Ghod. Mostly nobody bugs me, & I'm grateful. Just like the very few other people I interact w/ every day, when I go out in2 Reality I put on my Game Face -- all the walls go up & I am unreachable, unmoveable, unhurtable. Pretty comfterble in my isolation.
In the car I can plug-in the iPod, or I've got CDs. Who needs the radio? Ancient technology. The last thing I want is some1 else's tastes 4ced on me. Or commercials telling me what I SHOULD want, what I SHOULD need. I know what I want. I know what's best 4 me. When I'm out in Reality, mostly what I want is 2 B left alone.
2 make me even more portable & unattached 2 wires or accessories I've got the bluetooth phone, the works in my ear, so I can go NEwhere & talk if I have 2. MayB people think I'm talking 2 myself as I wander around a store or a park or a parking lot, sometimes loudly talking 2 whoever's at the other Nd. I don't care what they think.
But the truth is that in my unguarded moments I sometimes C other folks Cmingly talking 2 THEMselves as they wander around, sometimes raving in2 the air -- & I wonder if NEbody's listening. In their own little world, completely distracted, waving their arms around. I've Cn them walk out in fronta cars they didn't even realize were there -- never realized even after the car honked at them. Sevral times.
I C people wander thru stores w/ their bluetooths or earphones on, the phone or the iPod humming away, & sometimes they never say a word 2 NE1 -- they're like Stepford People or Pod People. 2 quiet. At lotsa stores now U can do a self-checkout: Scan yr groceries or whatever, slide yr card, bag up yr stuff & U're outta there in 30 secs & U never even hadta Xchange meaningless pleasantries w/ some cashier who probly wishes she was somewhere else doing something else, NEthing else. She's got her Game Face on 2, just trying 2 Get Thru It.
But when U look around at some other folks these days, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. At the other Nd of the spectrum, there sure are a LOTTA folks drinking a LOT of NRG drinks or NRG shots or various kinds of coffees or sodas, all hyped-up, in a REALLY big hurry. 2 go nowhere. 2 do nothing. & they're awfully loud & awfully anxious & awfully busy 4 people w/ nothing 2 do.
U C them on Fri's & Sat's, frantic 2 find a party 2 go 2. The traffic backs up 4 miles on the way 2 the stores & malls, people just released 4 their wknd, screaming 2 get 2 the stores, then we can mark that off R list & get on2 the next thing. Whatever that is.
All things considered, I'd rather have the quiet 1's. They don't interrupt me, they don't throw chaos in2 my quiet life, they don't get me thinking about what it all means. & during these long gray cold winters, I don't want 2 think at all. I want 2 disconnect. & it Cms like every1 else wants 2, 2.
In the words of '70s rock critic Lester Bangs, we have Bcome post-human, mimicking the things we worship. We would all like 2 run as smoothly & quietly & purposefully as the technology that surrounds us & that we've Bcome part of. But Real Life isn't always that smooth. & technology doesn't always work that perfectly.
Ever C how people react when the equipment doesn't work right or there's a glitch in the system, even 4 just a few secs? They get SO frustrated, as if: The technology's here, it's supposed 2 work absolutely FLAWLESSLY, 100 percent of the time.
I 1nce saw an apparently overly-busy & rudely preoccupied young woman SCREAM at a cashier at a gas station when she actually had 2 spend 10 secs walking from her car in2 the store 2 get a receipt 4 the gas she'd just bot. She was FURIOUS. She told the cashier: "You don't understand -- I don't WANT 2 have 2 deal w/ people. I don't LIKE having 2 deal w/ people."
I guess she'll never get those 10 seconds back. Or the 90 seconds she spent yelling.... But if she keeps going on like that, sooner or later she'll never havta deal w/ The Real World or real people again. Bcos nobody will talk 2 her.
More & more, I think this self-consciously busy young woman is speaking 4 all of us. More & more folks prefer not 2 deal w/ people. It's not worth the trouble. No frustration, no pain, no hurt, no miscommunication. & really, what have U lost? Remember the line from the Harvard Lampoon's old "Deteriorata": "Take comfort in knowing that a walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet."
Better 2 meet & chat on-line rather than take the risk of actually meeting some1 in Reality & mayB not liking them, or having them not like U (& what the hell's WRONG w/ U?), or possibly get yr feelings hurt. Way safer 2 deal w/ all Reality from the privacy of yr own little room, where U can mayB let down yr guard & B yrself safely Bhind yr own locked door. & mayB that's the only place. Reality can B pretty F'in frightening sometimes. Back 2 The Dungeon. It's better this way, really.
I'd like 2 think people R cutting themselves off from something important by trying so hard 2 avoid personal contact all the time. But I understand the need 2 escape....
So, pretty modern & slick & flashy & fast-paced, isn't it, Bing post-human? Also kinda cold & distant. Uncaring. I think people can still connect Dspite the technology. Seems like it. Hope so.
Otherwise the next word 2 B used 2 Dscribe all us slick, flashy, fast-paced, high-tech post-humans will B "posthumous."
The Good Olde Days....?
Turned the stereo on this aft 2 play some CDs, & my sorta-faverite local FM station (Seattle's KZOK 102.5 FM, "The Classic Rock Station") was playing Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding."
& I hadta just crank it up & let it go....
Took me back about 35 yrs, back 2 when my highschool buddy Jeff Mann & I would cruise up & down Nampa-Caldwell Blvd & thruout Boise, Idaho w/ Elton cranked-up loud & Jeff hanging-out the driver's-side window of his Mercury Capri at stoplites, screaming "Rock and Roll!!!" at startled passers-by....
In early '74, my fave local AM station (KFXD-AM 580 in Nampa) played "Love Lies Bleeding" more often than mosta the big hits & I always wondered why Elton & MCA Records didn't release that 1/2 of the song as a 5-min single -- coulda worked, & the song sure rocked more than NEthing else I remember ever hearing at the time.
When I heard it again this aft it occurred 2 me that the song's secret weapon -- even more than the long melodramatic opening, Elton's piano, David Hentschel's synthesizers, the strong tune, & Bernie Taupin's bitter lyrics -- is Davey Johnstone's driving, howling guitar, which punctuates brilliantly thruout the song's 2nd 1/2. The great backing vocals don't hurt either. It's always bn 1 of my faverite things that Elton ever did, I just hadn't heard it in quite awhile -- even tho I've got the GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD album in the house & could play it NEtime. Sometimes stuff just hits me harder when it comes unXpectedly outta the radio.
...& then they messed it up by following-up w/ ELO's "Evil Woman," which I always thot was boring & cliched, tho I know there R millions who feel diffrently....
4 me, The Good Olde Days run from the Nd of gradeschool up thru when I was sorta 4ced 2 Bcome a grownup -- from when I discovered music on the radio in the fall of 1970, up til when I went in2 the Air Force in Dec 1982. The period covers junior-high & highschool, my aimless 5+ yrs after highschool, my 3 yrs inna record store, & a yr of unemployment B4 I joined up. & there was music going practically non-stop (in my head at least) thruout it all.
At 1st I listened 2 & bot what every1 else did pretty much, but I got weird early & Njoyed & bot records that apparently made no known chart (& I'm still looking 4 some of them 2day) -- just Bcos they sounded good 2 me. By the time I met old buddy Jeff I'd given up buying 45's & was getting in2 albums. At 1st we talked all about the Beatles. Jeff was a HUGE Beatles fan. As soon as I hadda job I bot copies of the Beatles' '62-'66, '67-'70, ABBEY ROAD & the mindbending WHITE ALBUM -- followed shortly by the Moody Blues' 1st 7, which was my personal obsession & had bn since I 1st heard "Tuesday Afternoon," "Nights in White Satin," "Ride My See-Saw," "You and Me"....
Then Jeff Bcame a Wings fan & turned me on2 VENUS AND MARS. I already knew about BAND ON THE RUN. Then came Queen's A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, which Jeff played in the car on R way 2 R junior-yr school-newspaper banquet. I play NIGHT AT THE OPERA 2day & that nite still replays in my head.
Then came Kansas's LEFTOVERTURE, which Jeff & I both thot was something of a joke at 1st, but we caught on fast. On my own I was looking in2 Boston & Blue Oyster Cult & Journey, & we both were grabbed by Fleetwood Mac's louder stuff.
I was also looking 4 more stuff 2 follow-up the Moodies -- middle-period Genesis albums like A TRICK OF THE TAIL, & I stumbled over the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS after reading sevral rave reviews of it & grabbed it IMMEDIATELY, knowing only that it had 1 of my then-fave BB's songs on it, "Sloop John B," & "Wouldn't it be Nice," which I never really liked that much. The resta the album was a revelation....
Also tripped over the Incredible String Band's THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, which Cmd almost more like a comedy record in places. Nice but VERY diffrent from what I was used 2, tho my intrest in British folk sounds later led me in2 Steeleye Span & Fairport Convention & Nick Drake & Gryphon & Al Stewart & Amazing Blondel....
Around the same time I met highschool buddy & fellow frustrated fiction-writer Don Vincent, who urged me 2 continue looking in2 off-the-wall stuff. Don was the kinda music fan who would try something sight-unheard, just Bcos he liked an album's strange-looking cover. But 4 Don it always Cmdta pay off.
He bot David Sancious & Tone's TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) cos he liked the mysterious, cosmic cover painting of a guy hatching out of a giant egg. Inside the album was some rather Xtreme synthesizer-based jazz-rock ... which sometimes had some nice tunes, or themes, or motifs, or whatever. & the good stuff was so impressive & melodically strong that I Nded up buying a copy 2. Neither of us knew Sancious usedta play keyboards 4 Bruce Springsteen -- didn't matter. & this album sounded NOTHING like Bruce.
Don was willing 2 take a gamble on some pretty wild stuff -- specially if it was cheap. He was the 1st among us 2 try out Gryphon, Amazing Blondel, Nektar, Synergy, George Winston, Pat Metheny, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Rick Wakeman, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Return to Forever, & other off-the-wall stuff like Ethos, SFF, Eloy, Oregon, Shadowfax, Bo Hansson ... lotsa stuff. & he always Cmd 2 get something listenable out of it, the trick always Cmdta work 4 him. I'd pick-up something by some unknown weird band & Nd up w/ 40 mins of unlistenable noise....
I made a few discoveries. I was the 1st among R group 2 hear Providence, & Nded up buying copies 4 all my friends (at $2.19 each!) 4 Xmas gifts. After Don discovered RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, I was able 2 track down Gryphon's other albums & distribute summa those around the group 2. On my own I tracked down Happy the Man & Gentle Giant & finally found some King Crimson I could ACTUALLY HEAR, then later drifted in2 Al Stewart & Nick Drake & Sally Oldfield (Mike Oldfield came much earlier, TUBULAR BELLS was probly the 1st "Strange Music" album I ever bot, if it wasn't Yes's YESSONGS), Caravan & Camel & Renaissance & U.K. & Illusion & Steve Tibbetts & Sky & Group 87....
We sometimes copied each other's buying habits if R tastes were similar. When I worked at the record store I could stay pretty up-2-date on weird stuff & keep friends updated. & sometimes playing Group 87 in the store 2 C if mayB Don would buy a copy sold a coupla more as well.
But there was lotsa stuff that Don liked that I could never get in2, & lotsa stuff I loved that he thot was worthless -- & that was fine as long as we didn't inflict 2 much of it on each other. When Jeff, Don & I shared an apt in 1978, at least we all had bedroom doors we could shut 2 lock-out R roommates' unwanted music. Don & I useta have long discussions about whether Gentle Giant's GIANT FOR A DAY really was The Worst Album Of All Time. (W/ 30+ yrs of hindsight I can say w/ authority: Not Even Close. & I'd liketa find a copy of it 2day....)
When Jeff heard me playing King Crimson's "Red" & "Starless," he called it "mindfuck music," & that's stuck w/ me -- I think on some level KC's Bob Fripp would probly approve.... By that time, we thot Jeff's tastes echoed the hard-drinking hard-living crowd he hung-out w/ at work: Ted Nugent, Molly Hatchet, AC/DC, REO....
In some ways I'm following the same take-a-musical-chance mindset 2day, tho I try 2 do a little more research now B4 I put $$$ on the table. I would never have tried-out Van der Graaf or Can like I did recently w/o this "try anything 1nce" attitude in my background.
But I miss the days when I could just breeze down 2 the local record store & C what's new or what's available cheap in the cutout bins. If I'm lucky I get 2 hit my fave "local" used record store 1nce a yr -- it's 35 miles away, & I'm not even out in the sticks. It's just things R diffrent now & I live inna diffrent place.
Don's in Idaho & Jeff's in California & I'm in Washington, & I'll bet that no matter what the Xterior evidence shows, I'll bet none of us think we've changed all that much since 1978 -- less hair, a few more lines on the face, but not really that much diffrent, just a 50-yr-old teenager, still remembering The Good Olde Days just as clearly as if they were last wk.
I'm sure there's more good times 2 come. I'm not done yet. Far from it.
& I hadta just crank it up & let it go....
Took me back about 35 yrs, back 2 when my highschool buddy Jeff Mann & I would cruise up & down Nampa-Caldwell Blvd & thruout Boise, Idaho w/ Elton cranked-up loud & Jeff hanging-out the driver's-side window of his Mercury Capri at stoplites, screaming "Rock and Roll!!!" at startled passers-by....
In early '74, my fave local AM station (KFXD-AM 580 in Nampa) played "Love Lies Bleeding" more often than mosta the big hits & I always wondered why Elton & MCA Records didn't release that 1/2 of the song as a 5-min single -- coulda worked, & the song sure rocked more than NEthing else I remember ever hearing at the time.
When I heard it again this aft it occurred 2 me that the song's secret weapon -- even more than the long melodramatic opening, Elton's piano, David Hentschel's synthesizers, the strong tune, & Bernie Taupin's bitter lyrics -- is Davey Johnstone's driving, howling guitar, which punctuates brilliantly thruout the song's 2nd 1/2. The great backing vocals don't hurt either. It's always bn 1 of my faverite things that Elton ever did, I just hadn't heard it in quite awhile -- even tho I've got the GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD album in the house & could play it NEtime. Sometimes stuff just hits me harder when it comes unXpectedly outta the radio.
...& then they messed it up by following-up w/ ELO's "Evil Woman," which I always thot was boring & cliched, tho I know there R millions who feel diffrently....
4 me, The Good Olde Days run from the Nd of gradeschool up thru when I was sorta 4ced 2 Bcome a grownup -- from when I discovered music on the radio in the fall of 1970, up til when I went in2 the Air Force in Dec 1982. The period covers junior-high & highschool, my aimless 5+ yrs after highschool, my 3 yrs inna record store, & a yr of unemployment B4 I joined up. & there was music going practically non-stop (in my head at least) thruout it all.
At 1st I listened 2 & bot what every1 else did pretty much, but I got weird early & Njoyed & bot records that apparently made no known chart (& I'm still looking 4 some of them 2day) -- just Bcos they sounded good 2 me. By the time I met old buddy Jeff I'd given up buying 45's & was getting in2 albums. At 1st we talked all about the Beatles. Jeff was a HUGE Beatles fan. As soon as I hadda job I bot copies of the Beatles' '62-'66, '67-'70, ABBEY ROAD & the mindbending WHITE ALBUM -- followed shortly by the Moody Blues' 1st 7, which was my personal obsession & had bn since I 1st heard "Tuesday Afternoon," "Nights in White Satin," "Ride My See-Saw," "You and Me"....
Then Jeff Bcame a Wings fan & turned me on2 VENUS AND MARS. I already knew about BAND ON THE RUN. Then came Queen's A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, which Jeff played in the car on R way 2 R junior-yr school-newspaper banquet. I play NIGHT AT THE OPERA 2day & that nite still replays in my head.
Then came Kansas's LEFTOVERTURE, which Jeff & I both thot was something of a joke at 1st, but we caught on fast. On my own I was looking in2 Boston & Blue Oyster Cult & Journey, & we both were grabbed by Fleetwood Mac's louder stuff.
I was also looking 4 more stuff 2 follow-up the Moodies -- middle-period Genesis albums like A TRICK OF THE TAIL, & I stumbled over the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS after reading sevral rave reviews of it & grabbed it IMMEDIATELY, knowing only that it had 1 of my then-fave BB's songs on it, "Sloop John B," & "Wouldn't it be Nice," which I never really liked that much. The resta the album was a revelation....
Also tripped over the Incredible String Band's THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, which Cmd almost more like a comedy record in places. Nice but VERY diffrent from what I was used 2, tho my intrest in British folk sounds later led me in2 Steeleye Span & Fairport Convention & Nick Drake & Gryphon & Al Stewart & Amazing Blondel....
Around the same time I met highschool buddy & fellow frustrated fiction-writer Don Vincent, who urged me 2 continue looking in2 off-the-wall stuff. Don was the kinda music fan who would try something sight-unheard, just Bcos he liked an album's strange-looking cover. But 4 Don it always Cmdta pay off.
He bot David Sancious & Tone's TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) cos he liked the mysterious, cosmic cover painting of a guy hatching out of a giant egg. Inside the album was some rather Xtreme synthesizer-based jazz-rock ... which sometimes had some nice tunes, or themes, or motifs, or whatever. & the good stuff was so impressive & melodically strong that I Nded up buying a copy 2. Neither of us knew Sancious usedta play keyboards 4 Bruce Springsteen -- didn't matter. & this album sounded NOTHING like Bruce.
Don was willing 2 take a gamble on some pretty wild stuff -- specially if it was cheap. He was the 1st among us 2 try out Gryphon, Amazing Blondel, Nektar, Synergy, George Winston, Pat Metheny, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Rick Wakeman, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Return to Forever, & other off-the-wall stuff like Ethos, SFF, Eloy, Oregon, Shadowfax, Bo Hansson ... lotsa stuff. & he always Cmd 2 get something listenable out of it, the trick always Cmdta work 4 him. I'd pick-up something by some unknown weird band & Nd up w/ 40 mins of unlistenable noise....
I made a few discoveries. I was the 1st among R group 2 hear Providence, & Nded up buying copies 4 all my friends (at $2.19 each!) 4 Xmas gifts. After Don discovered RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, I was able 2 track down Gryphon's other albums & distribute summa those around the group 2. On my own I tracked down Happy the Man & Gentle Giant & finally found some King Crimson I could ACTUALLY HEAR, then later drifted in2 Al Stewart & Nick Drake & Sally Oldfield (Mike Oldfield came much earlier, TUBULAR BELLS was probly the 1st "Strange Music" album I ever bot, if it wasn't Yes's YESSONGS), Caravan & Camel & Renaissance & U.K. & Illusion & Steve Tibbetts & Sky & Group 87....
We sometimes copied each other's buying habits if R tastes were similar. When I worked at the record store I could stay pretty up-2-date on weird stuff & keep friends updated. & sometimes playing Group 87 in the store 2 C if mayB Don would buy a copy sold a coupla more as well.
But there was lotsa stuff that Don liked that I could never get in2, & lotsa stuff I loved that he thot was worthless -- & that was fine as long as we didn't inflict 2 much of it on each other. When Jeff, Don & I shared an apt in 1978, at least we all had bedroom doors we could shut 2 lock-out R roommates' unwanted music. Don & I useta have long discussions about whether Gentle Giant's GIANT FOR A DAY really was The Worst Album Of All Time. (W/ 30+ yrs of hindsight I can say w/ authority: Not Even Close. & I'd liketa find a copy of it 2day....)
When Jeff heard me playing King Crimson's "Red" & "Starless," he called it "mindfuck music," & that's stuck w/ me -- I think on some level KC's Bob Fripp would probly approve.... By that time, we thot Jeff's tastes echoed the hard-drinking hard-living crowd he hung-out w/ at work: Ted Nugent, Molly Hatchet, AC/DC, REO....
In some ways I'm following the same take-a-musical-chance mindset 2day, tho I try 2 do a little more research now B4 I put $$$ on the table. I would never have tried-out Van der Graaf or Can like I did recently w/o this "try anything 1nce" attitude in my background.
But I miss the days when I could just breeze down 2 the local record store & C what's new or what's available cheap in the cutout bins. If I'm lucky I get 2 hit my fave "local" used record store 1nce a yr -- it's 35 miles away, & I'm not even out in the sticks. It's just things R diffrent now & I live inna diffrent place.
Don's in Idaho & Jeff's in California & I'm in Washington, & I'll bet that no matter what the Xterior evidence shows, I'll bet none of us think we've changed all that much since 1978 -- less hair, a few more lines on the face, but not really that much diffrent, just a 50-yr-old teenager, still remembering The Good Olde Days just as clearly as if they were last wk.
I'm sure there's more good times 2 come. I'm not done yet. Far from it.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Update 10
Hey there y'all. Tooka coupla days off, hung out w/ the girlfriend & watched silly movies.
Also saw ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, an impressionistic '60s history connected by re-made Beatles songs (not unlike MAMMA MIA, tho MAMMA MIA was totally lite & silly, & ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a lot darker in places). It was pretty good, & summa the remakes were really Xcellent. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" made a BEAUTIFUL wistful, longing love ballad. & "With a Little Help From My Friends" made perfect sense as a lads' singalong. Especially liked the nod 2 Joe Cocker's cover-version of the song at the Nd of it. "Let it Be" was pretty moving, 2. Summa the other early Beatles tunes I don't know 2 well also worked really good: "Hold Me Tight" & "It Won't Be Long."
Summa the later songs don't work as well, coming off as mere cover versions rather than re-interpretations. Bono's version of "I Am the Walrus" doesn't quite work, but I think U gotta B REAL brave 2 sing that song these days -- still think David Bowie could do a great version of it.
But: Joe Cocker has a nice cameo during "Come Together," & Eddie Izzard is HILARIOUS doing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" The 2-disc DVD includes 2 outtakes of this song, & both outtakes R just as hysterical as the take they used in the movie....
So overall, worth Cing, & summa the remakes R quite Xcellent.
SOMEDAY fairly soon I'll B hitting the used book & record store w/ summa the stuff I've accumulated here over the past coupla yrs (like a lotta music I just CAN'T HEAR) & I'll C if there's something new (2 me) out there I can trip over. I'll keep ya posted.
Thanx 4 voting in the Strange Music poll -- there's still plenty of time 4 U 2 make yr vote count -- & so far my Iowa buddy Crabby is the only guy who wantsta join OGRENET. I'm kinda bummed....
More soon! -- TAD.
Also saw ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, an impressionistic '60s history connected by re-made Beatles songs (not unlike MAMMA MIA, tho MAMMA MIA was totally lite & silly, & ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a lot darker in places). It was pretty good, & summa the remakes were really Xcellent. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" made a BEAUTIFUL wistful, longing love ballad. & "With a Little Help From My Friends" made perfect sense as a lads' singalong. Especially liked the nod 2 Joe Cocker's cover-version of the song at the Nd of it. "Let it Be" was pretty moving, 2. Summa the other early Beatles tunes I don't know 2 well also worked really good: "Hold Me Tight" & "It Won't Be Long."
Summa the later songs don't work as well, coming off as mere cover versions rather than re-interpretations. Bono's version of "I Am the Walrus" doesn't quite work, but I think U gotta B REAL brave 2 sing that song these days -- still think David Bowie could do a great version of it.
But: Joe Cocker has a nice cameo during "Come Together," & Eddie Izzard is HILARIOUS doing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" The 2-disc DVD includes 2 outtakes of this song, & both outtakes R just as hysterical as the take they used in the movie....
So overall, worth Cing, & summa the remakes R quite Xcellent.
SOMEDAY fairly soon I'll B hitting the used book & record store w/ summa the stuff I've accumulated here over the past coupla yrs (like a lotta music I just CAN'T HEAR) & I'll C if there's something new (2 me) out there I can trip over. I'll keep ya posted.
Thanx 4 voting in the Strange Music poll -- there's still plenty of time 4 U 2 make yr vote count -- & so far my Iowa buddy Crabby is the only guy who wantsta join OGRENET. I'm kinda bummed....
More soon! -- TAD.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Dclare yr independence! ("Strange Music" poll)
Not trying 2 steal the thunder from NE1's recent readers'-survey results or best-music-of-the-decade blog posts or NEthing like that, but I thot it might B briefly amusing if we were 2 Dclare R independence from standard popular-music buying patterns (in honor of George Washington's birthday) & cast R votes 4 R Favorite "Strange Music" Albums Ever.
I'll lead-off, of course. I have a baker's dozen titles onna list already prepared -- & I doubt I'll havta Dscribe NE of them cos I've written about all of them here (or at the olde website) B4.
I'll take yr choice 4 yr fave weird album ever, yr Top 10 faves, yr Top 100 if U feel that NRgetic & brave. MayB we can get a dialogue going here, mayB we can turn each other on 2 some great new sounds. MayB it'll just B fun 2 C what all U guys out there listen 2....
Do I havta Xplain what I mean by "Strange Music"? Strange music is what U'r pointing at when U say something sounds strange or diffrent or just not Top 40 pop -- or whatever the standard radio 4mat is these days. Is there 1?
4 Xample, Fleetwood Mac's TUSK I would say definitely IS strange, while Mac's RUMOURS pretty definitely is not. If U were 2 counter that RUMOURS does subtly & subversively shed a diffrent lite on the morals & mores of American male/female relationships circa 1977, I could probly go along w/ that. But don't push me.
4 other Xamples: I'd say the Velvet Underground definitely IS strange, whereas the Ramones pretty definitely were not. At least based on my limited listening. I'd say Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span & the Incredible String Band definitely WERE strange, whereas the Kingston Trio definitely were NOT. Bob Dylan I'm not sure about. Lou Reed? He'd probly say Hell Yeah! Genesis was strange 4 at least 1/2 of their career, whereas Phil Collins definitely was NOT. Kansas clearly IS while Styx we're gonna havta make a case-by-case call on. Gentle Giant clearly IS while Whitney Houston clearly IS NOT.
All clear as mud? Great. Onward.
Here's my 13 fave Strange Music albums ever, & U should know me well enuf by now that U'll probly B bored w/ the list:
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE.
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN.
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER.
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS.
* Yes: YESSONGS.
* Gryphon: TREASON.
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT.
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS.
* Group 87: (1st).
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL.
* SOME Camel album, tho I don't know which 1: NUDE, THE SNOW GOOSE, BREATHLESS, Side 2 of THE SINGLE FACTOR -- something!
* Beach Boys: SMILE.
Mosta these hit me at an impressionable age, teens or early 20s. The newest of them is the Moodies album, preceded just slightly by SINGLE FACTOR, NUDE & Group 87. The rest R solidly in the '70s or earlier. What this sez about me I'm not sure, Xcept that stuff I loved at that age I played over & over, so it has left its mark even 2day.
So, wanna give this a shot? I'd love 2 hear more about yr faves. So far I think the biggest response I've gotten 2 NEthing lately was that piece about checking-out people's music & book collections. I thot mayB a poll would bring U all out & get U on the record about yr tastes.
So vote early & vote often....
In other updates: Currently reading Paul Theroux's THE HAPPY ISLES OF OCEANIA, about taking a long canoe trip thru the South Pacific. I ran outta rock-music criticism 2 read, & I'd 4got10 how good Theroux is, how wonderfully cranky he can B.
The book opens w/ Theroux & his wife breaking up, & him thinking he might have cancer. Then he's invited 2 take a book tour of Australia, & his crankiness really kicks in. He catches people at their worst & Mbarrasses them w/ their own stupid words. & he's not even trying 2 set people off....
We'll C where this goes. Theroux's travel writing (which I've written about B4 here) has only 1 drawback -- it can get a little overlong, & this is a long book. But it's also a breath of fresh air.
Also started Rush drummer Neal Peart's ROADSHOW, about touring the US & Europe on a motorcycle during Rush's 30th Anniversary Tour. The intro is funny & in4mative & I'll B getting back 2 Neal, but 4 now Theroux has shouldered him aside....
The weather is beautiful here, a wk of April in the middle of Feb, sunny & temps above 60. It's great. I feel really good 4 the 1st time in mo's, but I can't help but feel that the weather's setting us up 2 get zinged in Mar & Apr -- it's way 2 early 4 this. But I'm loving it while it's here.
Hope U all R well, & let me hear from ya....
I'll lead-off, of course. I have a baker's dozen titles onna list already prepared -- & I doubt I'll havta Dscribe NE of them cos I've written about all of them here (or at the olde website) B4.
I'll take yr choice 4 yr fave weird album ever, yr Top 10 faves, yr Top 100 if U feel that NRgetic & brave. MayB we can get a dialogue going here, mayB we can turn each other on 2 some great new sounds. MayB it'll just B fun 2 C what all U guys out there listen 2....
Do I havta Xplain what I mean by "Strange Music"? Strange music is what U'r pointing at when U say something sounds strange or diffrent or just not Top 40 pop -- or whatever the standard radio 4mat is these days. Is there 1?
4 Xample, Fleetwood Mac's TUSK I would say definitely IS strange, while Mac's RUMOURS pretty definitely is not. If U were 2 counter that RUMOURS does subtly & subversively shed a diffrent lite on the morals & mores of American male/female relationships circa 1977, I could probly go along w/ that. But don't push me.
4 other Xamples: I'd say the Velvet Underground definitely IS strange, whereas the Ramones pretty definitely were not. At least based on my limited listening. I'd say Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span & the Incredible String Band definitely WERE strange, whereas the Kingston Trio definitely were NOT. Bob Dylan I'm not sure about. Lou Reed? He'd probly say Hell Yeah! Genesis was strange 4 at least 1/2 of their career, whereas Phil Collins definitely was NOT. Kansas clearly IS while Styx we're gonna havta make a case-by-case call on. Gentle Giant clearly IS while Whitney Houston clearly IS NOT.
All clear as mud? Great. Onward.
Here's my 13 fave Strange Music albums ever, & U should know me well enuf by now that U'll probly B bored w/ the list:
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE.
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN.
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER.
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS.
* Yes: YESSONGS.
* Gryphon: TREASON.
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT.
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS.
* Group 87: (1st).
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL.
* SOME Camel album, tho I don't know which 1: NUDE, THE SNOW GOOSE, BREATHLESS, Side 2 of THE SINGLE FACTOR -- something!
* Beach Boys: SMILE.
Mosta these hit me at an impressionable age, teens or early 20s. The newest of them is the Moodies album, preceded just slightly by SINGLE FACTOR, NUDE & Group 87. The rest R solidly in the '70s or earlier. What this sez about me I'm not sure, Xcept that stuff I loved at that age I played over & over, so it has left its mark even 2day.
So, wanna give this a shot? I'd love 2 hear more about yr faves. So far I think the biggest response I've gotten 2 NEthing lately was that piece about checking-out people's music & book collections. I thot mayB a poll would bring U all out & get U on the record about yr tastes.
So vote early & vote often....
In other updates: Currently reading Paul Theroux's THE HAPPY ISLES OF OCEANIA, about taking a long canoe trip thru the South Pacific. I ran outta rock-music criticism 2 read, & I'd 4got10 how good Theroux is, how wonderfully cranky he can B.
The book opens w/ Theroux & his wife breaking up, & him thinking he might have cancer. Then he's invited 2 take a book tour of Australia, & his crankiness really kicks in. He catches people at their worst & Mbarrasses them w/ their own stupid words. & he's not even trying 2 set people off....
We'll C where this goes. Theroux's travel writing (which I've written about B4 here) has only 1 drawback -- it can get a little overlong, & this is a long book. But it's also a breath of fresh air.
Also started Rush drummer Neal Peart's ROADSHOW, about touring the US & Europe on a motorcycle during Rush's 30th Anniversary Tour. The intro is funny & in4mative & I'll B getting back 2 Neal, but 4 now Theroux has shouldered him aside....
The weather is beautiful here, a wk of April in the middle of Feb, sunny & temps above 60. It's great. I feel really good 4 the 1st time in mo's, but I can't help but feel that the weather's setting us up 2 get zinged in Mar & Apr -- it's way 2 early 4 this. But I'm loving it while it's here.
Hope U all R well, & let me hear from ya....
Saturday, February 20, 2010
I want more....
Well, it took me 30 yrs 2 hear them, but I think it was worth the wait.
Can's 2-CD ANTHOLOGY (2007) is the best new-2-me music I've heard in 4ever -- lighter & brighter than Van der Graaf, more involving than Fleet Foxes, way funkier than Norah Jones, tho not as hitbound as Jordin Sparks. Probly the best "new" stuff I've heard since the Dixie Dregs or Amazing Blondel's ENGLAND.
I like them. At their best, they sound like no1 else. I lean more toward their earlier, louder, more primitive stuff & would actually like some of it 2 B louder, wilder, more outta control. But I'm a sucker 4 Jaki Liebezeit's tribal-rhythm drumming & Michael Karoli's tasty & sometimes twisted guitar.
& the ... um ... vocalists? Malcolm Mooney & Damo Suzuki R both OK w/ me. Their twisted yowling & chanting & mumbling WORKS w/ this music -- if Liebezeit's drum patterns Rn't propulsive enuf, the vocals work up their own rhythm that keeps things moving. This is the 1st music I've heard in awhile that makes me WANT 2 move, tap my feet, bounce around the room.
A lot of this collection -- especially the earlier stuff -- is edited segments from longer pieces, & I'm keeping that in mind. I realize I may not B getting the full effect of these guys' work, but judging by the best stuff here, I'd like 2 hear more.
It mighta turned-out diffrently. The assemblers wisely opened the set w/ the hypnotic, repetitive "Father Cannot Yell," B4 plunging the listener (me) in2 the atonal gtr-chopping noise of "Soup." If they'd tried 2 B smart-asses & led the 1st disc w/ "Soup," I might not B writing this now. Instead, by the time I got 2 the track & heard Karoli apparently chopping in2 his gtr w/ a chainsaw, I was sorta ... ready 4 it & all I could do was laff.
Then came Suzuki's twisted mumbling on "Mother Sky," actually very pleasant. In this context, Mooney's singing on "She Brings the Rain" turns that song in2 a sorta gentle blues-jazz #, no big deal tho pleasant. MayB the compilers wanted 2 show all sides of the band. & that's fine. But from what I've read in other reviews, wouldn't "Deadlock" have been a better choice 4 another piece from SOUNDTRACKS?
More Suzuki on "Mushroom," more good mumbling & hypnotic rhythms. The repeating chorus-lines of "Outside My Door" coulda made it a hit (so what if that line's Bing shouted over & over?), & "Spoon" apparently went 2 #1 in Germany. I Blieve it -- also quite hypnotic.
I can't actually remember "Halleluwah" without playing it again (which I'll B doing soon), tho I Cm 2 remember more hypnotic rhythms. As 4 the abyss of noise that is "Aumgn," I find what sounds 2 me like a deep, delighted, demonic laff 2 B VERY disturbing, & I wonder what the full 18-min piece sounds like. & whether I'd survive it.
"Dizzy Dizzy" is very pleasant, w/ some nice murmured vocals by Karoli, possibly the 1st sign of these guys mellowing a little. Then the 1st disc closes w/ a big slab of "Yoo Doo Right," which has all the drive & great rhythms of the earlier stuff, but never Cms 2 get where it's going -- or the version I've got here has the climax edited off the Nd. As this long piece built slightly in in10sity, I wanted it 2 just get louder & wilder -- I wanted more thrashing, bashing, shrieking, freaking CRAZINESS ... & I was mildly disappointed when that didn't happen.
The 2nd disc plunges us back in2 more of the group's early recordings, from DELAY 1968 & UNLIMITED EDITION. "Uphill" is abrasive & jerky & loud, like much of the stuff here from MONSTER MOVIE. At 1st I wasn't sure, but I like it more each time I play it -- both the jerky, propulsive rhythms & the way Mooney sings it.
"Mother Upduff" is amusingly odd, & there's some great musical chaos going on Bhind Mooney's recitation & at the Nd. & summa the lyrics R just inXplicably hilarious: "Mother Upduff hadn't been out of Dusseldorf in 80 years...."
I skipped a few of the shorter trax from UNLIMITED EDITION & LANDED 2 get 2 summa the later highlights. & then Can started mellowing: In this context, "Moonshake," "Future Days" & "Cascade Waltz" R all quite pretty, & "Future Days" is very ... wet, like it coulda bn recorded in a bathroom. Or at the seashore. & the vocals on it R very nice....
& then they mellowed some more. "I Want More," "Don't Say No" & "Aspectacle" R pleasant enuf 4 what they R, but they show Can sorta Dvolving in2 pleasant, bouncy-disco mood-music w/ kinda nice murmured vocals & brief, catchy lyric lines ("No one can/Understand/You're dealing with/A crazy man...."). OK, but U can hear this kinda stuff elsewhere. It's pleasant, but it's not distinctive.
Liebezeit is still moving stuff along, but he sounds kinda "normal" now, not like a possessed master tribal drummer. Karoli's gtr is still pleasant & shows occasional noisy signs of life, & Irmin Schmidt's keyboards sometimes make some neat noises, but....
There's still 9 trax on this collection that I haven't played yet. There was a hint of some more attractive atonal noise at the start of "Below This Level," but I hadta go 2 work so I couldn't finish it. I'll listen 2 the rest (& go back 4 more on stuff like "Halleluwah") & if I stumble over NEthing major I'll add it here.
NE music that can get me bouncing around the room is pretty impressive 2 me, no matter what kinda noise they're making. The fact that Can at its best is propulsive, hypnotic, powerful, grating -- & I haven't had 2 turn NE of it off yet -- well, I'll B looking 4 more early stuff by these guys: MONSTER MOVIE, TAGO MAGO, SOUNDTRACKS, EGE BAMYASI, FUTURE DAYS, SOON OVER BABALUMA. From what I've read, there's a lot more great stuff out there 2 hear.
...& who's next? Oh I dunno -- mayB I'll try some early Brian Eno like Rastro urged me 2 do awhile back....
Can's 2-CD ANTHOLOGY (2007) is the best new-2-me music I've heard in 4ever -- lighter & brighter than Van der Graaf, more involving than Fleet Foxes, way funkier than Norah Jones, tho not as hitbound as Jordin Sparks. Probly the best "new" stuff I've heard since the Dixie Dregs or Amazing Blondel's ENGLAND.
I like them. At their best, they sound like no1 else. I lean more toward their earlier, louder, more primitive stuff & would actually like some of it 2 B louder, wilder, more outta control. But I'm a sucker 4 Jaki Liebezeit's tribal-rhythm drumming & Michael Karoli's tasty & sometimes twisted guitar.
& the ... um ... vocalists? Malcolm Mooney & Damo Suzuki R both OK w/ me. Their twisted yowling & chanting & mumbling WORKS w/ this music -- if Liebezeit's drum patterns Rn't propulsive enuf, the vocals work up their own rhythm that keeps things moving. This is the 1st music I've heard in awhile that makes me WANT 2 move, tap my feet, bounce around the room.
A lot of this collection -- especially the earlier stuff -- is edited segments from longer pieces, & I'm keeping that in mind. I realize I may not B getting the full effect of these guys' work, but judging by the best stuff here, I'd like 2 hear more.
It mighta turned-out diffrently. The assemblers wisely opened the set w/ the hypnotic, repetitive "Father Cannot Yell," B4 plunging the listener (me) in2 the atonal gtr-chopping noise of "Soup." If they'd tried 2 B smart-asses & led the 1st disc w/ "Soup," I might not B writing this now. Instead, by the time I got 2 the track & heard Karoli apparently chopping in2 his gtr w/ a chainsaw, I was sorta ... ready 4 it & all I could do was laff.
Then came Suzuki's twisted mumbling on "Mother Sky," actually very pleasant. In this context, Mooney's singing on "She Brings the Rain" turns that song in2 a sorta gentle blues-jazz #, no big deal tho pleasant. MayB the compilers wanted 2 show all sides of the band. & that's fine. But from what I've read in other reviews, wouldn't "Deadlock" have been a better choice 4 another piece from SOUNDTRACKS?
More Suzuki on "Mushroom," more good mumbling & hypnotic rhythms. The repeating chorus-lines of "Outside My Door" coulda made it a hit (so what if that line's Bing shouted over & over?), & "Spoon" apparently went 2 #1 in Germany. I Blieve it -- also quite hypnotic.
I can't actually remember "Halleluwah" without playing it again (which I'll B doing soon), tho I Cm 2 remember more hypnotic rhythms. As 4 the abyss of noise that is "Aumgn," I find what sounds 2 me like a deep, delighted, demonic laff 2 B VERY disturbing, & I wonder what the full 18-min piece sounds like. & whether I'd survive it.
"Dizzy Dizzy" is very pleasant, w/ some nice murmured vocals by Karoli, possibly the 1st sign of these guys mellowing a little. Then the 1st disc closes w/ a big slab of "Yoo Doo Right," which has all the drive & great rhythms of the earlier stuff, but never Cms 2 get where it's going -- or the version I've got here has the climax edited off the Nd. As this long piece built slightly in in10sity, I wanted it 2 just get louder & wilder -- I wanted more thrashing, bashing, shrieking, freaking CRAZINESS ... & I was mildly disappointed when that didn't happen.
The 2nd disc plunges us back in2 more of the group's early recordings, from DELAY 1968 & UNLIMITED EDITION. "Uphill" is abrasive & jerky & loud, like much of the stuff here from MONSTER MOVIE. At 1st I wasn't sure, but I like it more each time I play it -- both the jerky, propulsive rhythms & the way Mooney sings it.
"Mother Upduff" is amusingly odd, & there's some great musical chaos going on Bhind Mooney's recitation & at the Nd. & summa the lyrics R just inXplicably hilarious: "Mother Upduff hadn't been out of Dusseldorf in 80 years...."
I skipped a few of the shorter trax from UNLIMITED EDITION & LANDED 2 get 2 summa the later highlights. & then Can started mellowing: In this context, "Moonshake," "Future Days" & "Cascade Waltz" R all quite pretty, & "Future Days" is very ... wet, like it coulda bn recorded in a bathroom. Or at the seashore. & the vocals on it R very nice....
& then they mellowed some more. "I Want More," "Don't Say No" & "Aspectacle" R pleasant enuf 4 what they R, but they show Can sorta Dvolving in2 pleasant, bouncy-disco mood-music w/ kinda nice murmured vocals & brief, catchy lyric lines ("No one can/Understand/You're dealing with/A crazy man...."). OK, but U can hear this kinda stuff elsewhere. It's pleasant, but it's not distinctive.
Liebezeit is still moving stuff along, but he sounds kinda "normal" now, not like a possessed master tribal drummer. Karoli's gtr is still pleasant & shows occasional noisy signs of life, & Irmin Schmidt's keyboards sometimes make some neat noises, but....
There's still 9 trax on this collection that I haven't played yet. There was a hint of some more attractive atonal noise at the start of "Below This Level," but I hadta go 2 work so I couldn't finish it. I'll listen 2 the rest (& go back 4 more on stuff like "Halleluwah") & if I stumble over NEthing major I'll add it here.
NE music that can get me bouncing around the room is pretty impressive 2 me, no matter what kinda noise they're making. The fact that Can at its best is propulsive, hypnotic, powerful, grating -- & I haven't had 2 turn NE of it off yet -- well, I'll B looking 4 more early stuff by these guys: MONSTER MOVIE, TAGO MAGO, SOUNDTRACKS, EGE BAMYASI, FUTURE DAYS, SOON OVER BABALUMA. From what I've read, there's a lot more great stuff out there 2 hear.
...& who's next? Oh I dunno -- mayB I'll try some early Brian Eno like Rastro urged me 2 do awhile back....
Friday, February 19, 2010
Taxman
Sorry 2 havta get political on y'all, but this has bn buggin me 4 months....
THIS IS AN EDITORIAL. The opinions Xpressed below do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mployees of TAD's Back-Up Plan ... but they probly do. This editorial is about Washington state sales taxes & etc. We'll save an editorial on federal income taxes 4 a later time -- like when I actually have solid, scary #'s 2 work w/....
Washington's state budget 4 the new year has a $2.8-billion shortfall, & 2 recoup the $$$ Gov. Christine Gregoire has suggested new (or increased) taxes on cigarettes, gasoline, sodas, bottled water, candy, energy drinks, & bigger taxes on industrial polluters.
Washington already has some of the nation's highest taxes on cigarettes & gasoline, & possibly alcohol. In beautiful Wash., at my little store, a pack of Marlboro cigarettes will cost U $7.27 after the 8.9% state sales tax -- a case of double taxation. The state's built-in tax onna packa smokes is currently $3, & the Gov is suggesting raising it by another $1. A carton (10 20-cigarette packs) of Marbs will cost U over $60 after sales tax. In neighboring Idaho, where they don't have that built-in tax on smokes (or at least they didn't last time I was back home), a packa Marbs will cost U $3 less, almost 2 the penny. The cheapest pack of smokes in my store is $6.18 after tax. Compare that w/ where U live....
Last time I checked, Wash's built-in gasoline tax was 42 cents per gallon. It's probly higher by now. Which means a gallon of regular gas at my store will currently cost U around $2.83. Unless it's gone up 2day....
Why should I care? I'm still getting paid, right? & I don't smoke or drink, tho the gas tax gets EVERY1.
I care Bcos it all trickles down. I warn smokers when another price hike on cigarettes is coming -- I'm already warning them that smokes R probly gonna go up another $1 per pack. They usually don't pay a whole lotta attn til it happens, & THEN the bitching REALLY starts.
But they're bitching at the wrong guy. They needta go yell at those bozos down at the state capitol in Olympia.
If Gov. Gregoire thinks a 3-cent built-in tax onna bottle of soda or a penny-an-oz. tax on bottled water isn't gonna hurt NE1, she otta know better. She was the state's Attn Gen B4 she was elected Gov, so she knows how this stuff works: The tax goes up, the manufacturer raises his prices 2 recoup, the stores raise their prices 2 keep their profit, & U pay higher prices as a result.
& what's all that new tax $$$ go 4?
Wash started the Lottery & scratch-ticket sales 2 generate more $$$ 2 repair & build new roads & schools. I don't C that many major rd-improvement projects -- tho there was 1 on the rd right in front of my store last summer that did nothing but add a center-turn lane & a new surface over about 2 miles, did nothing 2 ease the massive traffic backup -- & it cost $3 million! & now the police R patrolling it heavily EVERY day & nite, writing speeding tickets 2 generate more revenue....
The only new school in Wash that I KNOW of that's bn built in the last decade was a brand-new highschool in Raymond, built 2 replace a non-earthquake-proof 75-yr-old 3-story structure from the early-1930s. It was cheaper 2 rebuild from scratch than 2 prop-up the old 1. & the new school was built in the Xact same spot, on a floodplain, right next 2 a river, 4 a student-body that had bn steadily Dclining 4 yrs, & probly still is.
The school cost $10 million. The state paid 4 about 1/2 of it, the school district passed a bond issue 2 pay 4 the rest. I was 1 of the guys who wrote local-newspaper articles Xplaining why the new school was needed, tho I didn't really Blieve it. But try 2 come out against a new school & a big Xpensive bldg project in a town that's dying & needs new jobs -- w/o Bing Cn as anti-school, anti-jobs, anti-community. U won't B living there 4 long. & if U R, nobody will speak 2 U NEmore.
& of course the new school looks XACTLY like a prison, as so many new schools Cm 2 these days. What in the heck R we saying 2 R kids?
1 of my roommates who both smokes & drinks & has there4 earned the right 2 complain about state gov't idiots, wonders how much U can legally tax 1 item. If the built-in tax on smokes is already $3/pack, how much higher can it legally go?
I think this is a legit question. Near as I can tell, Wash already has the 2nd-highest cigarette prices in the US, behind only New York state. As I've said 2 smokers so many times over the past few yrs, nobody zings U like Washington....
I'm more intrested in where the state's tax $$$ goes, & why they need so much, & always more more MORE.
At 1 point the Gov was projecting that the state's tax deficit might go as high as $10 billion+. With the economy in the toilet, tax revenues have bn slow 2 come in, people Rn't buying as much stuff so less tax $$$ is generated, & so on. When the deficit amount was reduced 2 $2 billion, there was apparently no Xplanation about where the other $8 billion went. The state also had a $2 billion "rainy day fund" a few yrs back. It's bn raining 4 months -- no idea where that $2 billion went.
More than NEthing, I wanna know where the LAST $10 billion we gave the state went. How R they spending R $$$? All on rd's & schools? Every time there's a really big road project, residents get taxed more 2 pay 4 it -- the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which we coulda had 4 free but we were 2 stupid), the proposed tunnel along Seattle's downtown waterfront 2 replace the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, the proposed new State Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington -- state residents will pay all new fees or tolls or taxes 2 build each of them.
Unlike some critics, I've bn 2 Olympia a few times, & I think there's a lotta unnecessary costs that could B cut there. I've bn inside the state Department of Ecology bldg, which has the most beautiful cafeteria I've Cn since I got outta the Air Force. It's a beautiful setting, really, a great place 2 eat lunch.
Why do they have it? They're a 2 MINUTE drive down the street from NE restaurant U'd ever care 2 have lunch at.
The Gov's staff has 2 many mgrs pulling down 2 much $$$ -- salaries at the highest level of state gov't have bn WAY 2 HIGH 4 YRS. They should all take a 10-percent pay cut 2 get us thru these tough times. The Gov should lead the way by Xample.
Don't hold yr breath 4 it.
As an alternative, I suggest the state close the Dept's of Ecology, Natural Resources & Fish and Wildlife. Closing those 3 dept's & firing the Mployees should save at LEAST $2.8-billion EASILY. & 1/2 of them have state pensions or retirements they can fall back on. In this state, the Dept's of Ecology & Natural Resources Xist only 2 tell people what they CAN'T do on their own property, & Fish and Wildlife has "managed" the wildlife in the state so horrendously badly (while also telling people what they can't do on their own property) that everybody goes 2 Idaho or Oregon 2 hunt or fish.
& buy cigarettes. Or other big-ticket items. Oregon has no state sales tax.
Why do I care about all this? I don't much, really. I'm not a home-owner, so I don't havta worry about rising property taxes while the value of my property goes DOWN. I don't smoke or drink, & I'm onna pretty limited income, tho the gas & soda tax gets me a little.
Washington state is so brutally, ruthlessly efficient about collecting child-support $$$, U'd think they could put summa that same ruthless efficiency in2 finding ways 2 save $$$ inside the state gov't.
(1 area that could use more efficiency is the food-stamp program. I don't doubt people need them, & every1 Cms 2 have a food stamp card under the current economy. But why is it almost EVERYBODY I C w/ a food stamp card also hasa wallet full of $50's & $100's, & is driving either a brand-new car or at least 1 WAY newer & better than mine? I wanna ASK some 1, but it's gotta B just the right person so they don't think I'm trying 2 imply NEthing ... Hey, I'm available 4 free $$$, I'm just not sure I wanna know how they got it....)
If I can get THIS upset about something that doesn't really hit me 2 hard, it must B so dead-obvious by now that 1000's should B protesting around the capitol bldg in Olympia. Why Rn't they? MayB cos life is hard enuf & Xpensive enuf out here that 1 more tax is just 1 more thing 2 shrug off.
There R already calls from some state politicos that now is REALLY The Wrong Time 2 talk about raising taxes again when the economy is still in the toilet & noises about "Recovery" sound like a cruel, MT joke. But don't Xpect those no-tax comments 2 amount 2 much....
The longer I live here the more I think Wash only hasa coupla good things going 4 it.
1 is that this is the only place in the country where I can do my current job & keep up w/ my bills. If I were 2 go back home 2 Idaho, I'd take a pay cut of over 1/2.
The other good thing is that it's the 2nd BEAUTIFUL day in a row & Spring MAY B here (tho it Cms 6 wks 2 early -- just the weather lining us up 4 a blizzard in March?), & I Cm revitalized by an NRG I haven't felt in mo's.
Hope U R the same, & sorry 4 the heavy serious real-life issues of 2day's post. We'll C if this really IS a free country or if the Powers That B try 2 shut me up....
THIS IS AN EDITORIAL. The opinions Xpressed below do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mployees of TAD's Back-Up Plan ... but they probly do. This editorial is about Washington state sales taxes & etc. We'll save an editorial on federal income taxes 4 a later time -- like when I actually have solid, scary #'s 2 work w/....
Washington's state budget 4 the new year has a $2.8-billion shortfall, & 2 recoup the $$$ Gov. Christine Gregoire has suggested new (or increased) taxes on cigarettes, gasoline, sodas, bottled water, candy, energy drinks, & bigger taxes on industrial polluters.
Washington already has some of the nation's highest taxes on cigarettes & gasoline, & possibly alcohol. In beautiful Wash., at my little store, a pack of Marlboro cigarettes will cost U $7.27 after the 8.9% state sales tax -- a case of double taxation. The state's built-in tax onna packa smokes is currently $3, & the Gov is suggesting raising it by another $1. A carton (10 20-cigarette packs) of Marbs will cost U over $60 after sales tax. In neighboring Idaho, where they don't have that built-in tax on smokes (or at least they didn't last time I was back home), a packa Marbs will cost U $3 less, almost 2 the penny. The cheapest pack of smokes in my store is $6.18 after tax. Compare that w/ where U live....
Last time I checked, Wash's built-in gasoline tax was 42 cents per gallon. It's probly higher by now. Which means a gallon of regular gas at my store will currently cost U around $2.83. Unless it's gone up 2day....
Why should I care? I'm still getting paid, right? & I don't smoke or drink, tho the gas tax gets EVERY1.
I care Bcos it all trickles down. I warn smokers when another price hike on cigarettes is coming -- I'm already warning them that smokes R probly gonna go up another $1 per pack. They usually don't pay a whole lotta attn til it happens, & THEN the bitching REALLY starts.
But they're bitching at the wrong guy. They needta go yell at those bozos down at the state capitol in Olympia.
If Gov. Gregoire thinks a 3-cent built-in tax onna bottle of soda or a penny-an-oz. tax on bottled water isn't gonna hurt NE1, she otta know better. She was the state's Attn Gen B4 she was elected Gov, so she knows how this stuff works: The tax goes up, the manufacturer raises his prices 2 recoup, the stores raise their prices 2 keep their profit, & U pay higher prices as a result.
& what's all that new tax $$$ go 4?
Wash started the Lottery & scratch-ticket sales 2 generate more $$$ 2 repair & build new roads & schools. I don't C that many major rd-improvement projects -- tho there was 1 on the rd right in front of my store last summer that did nothing but add a center-turn lane & a new surface over about 2 miles, did nothing 2 ease the massive traffic backup -- & it cost $3 million! & now the police R patrolling it heavily EVERY day & nite, writing speeding tickets 2 generate more revenue....
The only new school in Wash that I KNOW of that's bn built in the last decade was a brand-new highschool in Raymond, built 2 replace a non-earthquake-proof 75-yr-old 3-story structure from the early-1930s. It was cheaper 2 rebuild from scratch than 2 prop-up the old 1. & the new school was built in the Xact same spot, on a floodplain, right next 2 a river, 4 a student-body that had bn steadily Dclining 4 yrs, & probly still is.
The school cost $10 million. The state paid 4 about 1/2 of it, the school district passed a bond issue 2 pay 4 the rest. I was 1 of the guys who wrote local-newspaper articles Xplaining why the new school was needed, tho I didn't really Blieve it. But try 2 come out against a new school & a big Xpensive bldg project in a town that's dying & needs new jobs -- w/o Bing Cn as anti-school, anti-jobs, anti-community. U won't B living there 4 long. & if U R, nobody will speak 2 U NEmore.
& of course the new school looks XACTLY like a prison, as so many new schools Cm 2 these days. What in the heck R we saying 2 R kids?
1 of my roommates who both smokes & drinks & has there4 earned the right 2 complain about state gov't idiots, wonders how much U can legally tax 1 item. If the built-in tax on smokes is already $3/pack, how much higher can it legally go?
I think this is a legit question. Near as I can tell, Wash already has the 2nd-highest cigarette prices in the US, behind only New York state. As I've said 2 smokers so many times over the past few yrs, nobody zings U like Washington....
I'm more intrested in where the state's tax $$$ goes, & why they need so much, & always more more MORE.
At 1 point the Gov was projecting that the state's tax deficit might go as high as $10 billion+. With the economy in the toilet, tax revenues have bn slow 2 come in, people Rn't buying as much stuff so less tax $$$ is generated, & so on. When the deficit amount was reduced 2 $2 billion, there was apparently no Xplanation about where the other $8 billion went. The state also had a $2 billion "rainy day fund" a few yrs back. It's bn raining 4 months -- no idea where that $2 billion went.
More than NEthing, I wanna know where the LAST $10 billion we gave the state went. How R they spending R $$$? All on rd's & schools? Every time there's a really big road project, residents get taxed more 2 pay 4 it -- the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which we coulda had 4 free but we were 2 stupid), the proposed tunnel along Seattle's downtown waterfront 2 replace the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, the proposed new State Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington -- state residents will pay all new fees or tolls or taxes 2 build each of them.
Unlike some critics, I've bn 2 Olympia a few times, & I think there's a lotta unnecessary costs that could B cut there. I've bn inside the state Department of Ecology bldg, which has the most beautiful cafeteria I've Cn since I got outta the Air Force. It's a beautiful setting, really, a great place 2 eat lunch.
Why do they have it? They're a 2 MINUTE drive down the street from NE restaurant U'd ever care 2 have lunch at.
The Gov's staff has 2 many mgrs pulling down 2 much $$$ -- salaries at the highest level of state gov't have bn WAY 2 HIGH 4 YRS. They should all take a 10-percent pay cut 2 get us thru these tough times. The Gov should lead the way by Xample.
Don't hold yr breath 4 it.
As an alternative, I suggest the state close the Dept's of Ecology, Natural Resources & Fish and Wildlife. Closing those 3 dept's & firing the Mployees should save at LEAST $2.8-billion EASILY. & 1/2 of them have state pensions or retirements they can fall back on. In this state, the Dept's of Ecology & Natural Resources Xist only 2 tell people what they CAN'T do on their own property, & Fish and Wildlife has "managed" the wildlife in the state so horrendously badly (while also telling people what they can't do on their own property) that everybody goes 2 Idaho or Oregon 2 hunt or fish.
& buy cigarettes. Or other big-ticket items. Oregon has no state sales tax.
Why do I care about all this? I don't much, really. I'm not a home-owner, so I don't havta worry about rising property taxes while the value of my property goes DOWN. I don't smoke or drink, & I'm onna pretty limited income, tho the gas & soda tax gets me a little.
Washington state is so brutally, ruthlessly efficient about collecting child-support $$$, U'd think they could put summa that same ruthless efficiency in2 finding ways 2 save $$$ inside the state gov't.
(1 area that could use more efficiency is the food-stamp program. I don't doubt people need them, & every1 Cms 2 have a food stamp card under the current economy. But why is it almost EVERYBODY I C w/ a food stamp card also hasa wallet full of $50's & $100's, & is driving either a brand-new car or at least 1 WAY newer & better than mine? I wanna ASK some 1, but it's gotta B just the right person so they don't think I'm trying 2 imply NEthing ... Hey, I'm available 4 free $$$, I'm just not sure I wanna know how they got it....)
If I can get THIS upset about something that doesn't really hit me 2 hard, it must B so dead-obvious by now that 1000's should B protesting around the capitol bldg in Olympia. Why Rn't they? MayB cos life is hard enuf & Xpensive enuf out here that 1 more tax is just 1 more thing 2 shrug off.
There R already calls from some state politicos that now is REALLY The Wrong Time 2 talk about raising taxes again when the economy is still in the toilet & noises about "Recovery" sound like a cruel, MT joke. But don't Xpect those no-tax comments 2 amount 2 much....
The longer I live here the more I think Wash only hasa coupla good things going 4 it.
1 is that this is the only place in the country where I can do my current job & keep up w/ my bills. If I were 2 go back home 2 Idaho, I'd take a pay cut of over 1/2.
The other good thing is that it's the 2nd BEAUTIFUL day in a row & Spring MAY B here (tho it Cms 6 wks 2 early -- just the weather lining us up 4 a blizzard in March?), & I Cm revitalized by an NRG I haven't felt in mo's.
Hope U R the same, & sorry 4 the heavy serious real-life issues of 2day's post. We'll C if this really IS a free country or if the Powers That B try 2 shut me up....
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Proud member of OGRENET!
I'm usually not Mr. Reactionary or NEthing, but after reading the results of Mark Prindle's recent "Top 7-3 Readers' Survey" & some other best-music-of-the-decade blogs recently, I think mayB it's time 4 me 2 fess up:
I'm old. Done. Over the hill. Outta touch. Retired.
Which doesn't mean I'm giving up, of course. They can have my laptop when they pry it outta my cold dead hands. (Which is, hopefully, a LONG way off.)
I'm just saying that musically-speaking, I'm totally fucked in the head, dude.
As far as current music goes, I mean. But U probly already knew this.
Some Xamples: In Mark's huge list of "Best of the 2000's" results, I recognize a handful of titles. & I've heard mayB 1/2adozen of them.
My buddy Gardenhead has bn writing his ongoing "Distended Top 20 Albums of the Past Decade" since the middle of Dec over at ASLEEP ON THE COMPOST HEAP. Last time I checked he was about 1/2 finished. I'm still hanging on 4 more. His writing's really great. U can SEE the music he Dscribes, if that makes NE sense.
The thing that gets me is: I don't know NE of the albums he's written about so far. Don't know artists, titles, songs -- completely oblivious 2 all of it. & summa those folks R pretty popular....
So yr liable 2 C a few changes here at the Back-Up Plan. (Yeah sure, like what? Writing in Real English...?)
I'd like 2 start by announcing that I'm proud 2 B a member of the newly-formed OGRENET -- the Old Guys' Review Exchange NETwork. A group of opinionated guys who Just Can't Help blogging about their opinions on practically everything, but especially about music. & their lives. & sometimes books. Jobs. Old love affairs. & other stuff.
Of course, officially I'm the only current member of OGRENET. But I'm pretty sure I know some guys who'd join me....
My buddy R.S. Crabb at THE THOUGHTS OF R. SMITH would probly B thrilled 2 B a member of OGRENET -- consider this yr official invitation, Crabby!
The Crabster qualifies Bcos he rants & raves about stuff even more than me, & each wk he posts a Top 10 of whatever's playing in his CD player. That's good enuf 4 me. & tho I think he's mellowed a bit in the past yr, he can still get pretty cranky. & so can I, Ghod knows....
However, NE organization worth its weight in tax-free donations must have an Initiation. So, 4 the Crabsta's initiation, he must change the name of his blog 2 THE THOUGHTS OF EMERLIST DAVJACK.
...Rastro at LA HISTORIA DE LA MUSICA ROCK might B open 2 joining -- age-wise he qualifies, he's in his 40s -- but he's WAY more in-touch w/ current music than I am. WAY more. Not sure how cranky he is. But the invitation's out there, R....
Drew at DREW'S ODDS & SODS might qualify. Not sure about his age or how cranky he is, but judging by his fondness 4 '70s rock, I'd say he's probly a member-at-heart already.
Mark Prindle is probly just a touch 2 young 2 join OGRENET -- in his mid-30s, he's 2 young 2 B a curmudgeon just yet. & in his ongoing efforts 2 try 2 keep up w/ all the Hip New Bands That The Young Kids Dig, I'm sure he's probly on a 1st-name basis w/ some bands that would scare the living shit outta me....
U're probly wondering about the requirements 2 Bcome a member of this new society/network/conspiracy/task force/underground movement/whatever. Glad U asked.
U might B a potential member of OGRENET if:
* Yr cranky/grumpy/pissed-off/Dpressed at least 1/2 the time.
* U actually walk around telling people who don't care that "Rock & roll just ain't bn the same since 1971."
* U really think the Last Good Music Year was 1971. Or '72. '73. '77. '79. Or '82 at the absolute latest.
* ... & U have a list of reasons WHY.
* ... That U carry around in yr pocket....
* U spend 1/2 yr time searching 4 old songs & albums U haven't heard since U were 12 yrs old.
* U spend the other 1/2 of yr time Bing Dpressed when these songs & albums -- 1nce U find them -- don't sound as good as they did when U were 12 yrs old.
* U kick yrself Bcos U didn't grab intresting-looking off-the-wall albums 30 yrs ago when they were only $3.99 in the cutout bin of yr fave local record store. Now yr paying 4x that much 2 get the same albums on CD.
* U think the Who peaked w/ SELL OUT.
* U think Yes peaked w/ THE YES ALBUM.
* U think the Beatles peaked w/ A HARD DAY'S NIGHT.
* U think Led Zeppelin peaked w/ THE BROWN BOMBER.
* Pink Floyd peaked w/ PIPER....
* Rush peaked w/ PERMANENT WAVES... or 2112....
* U remember what band Terry Jacks was a member of....
Think U qualify? Comment below. I'll start collecting names.
We'll all get 2gether, mayB have R 1st Annual Convention at the Worland, Wyoming, Days Inn.
We'll need nametags. In BIG print, 4 those of us who can't C 2 well NEmore.
& a logo! Gotta hava OGRENET logo! How bout a cartoon of some old, withered, gray-haired, prune-faced guy, sitting in a rockin chair, right next 2 1 of those old Victrolas, w/ the horn sticking right in2 his ear? That'd B great.
Now if I just knew some1 who could draw....
I'm old. Done. Over the hill. Outta touch. Retired.
Which doesn't mean I'm giving up, of course. They can have my laptop when they pry it outta my cold dead hands. (Which is, hopefully, a LONG way off.)
I'm just saying that musically-speaking, I'm totally fucked in the head, dude.
As far as current music goes, I mean. But U probly already knew this.
Some Xamples: In Mark's huge list of "Best of the 2000's" results, I recognize a handful of titles. & I've heard mayB 1/2adozen of them.
My buddy Gardenhead has bn writing his ongoing "Distended Top 20 Albums of the Past Decade" since the middle of Dec over at ASLEEP ON THE COMPOST HEAP. Last time I checked he was about 1/2 finished. I'm still hanging on 4 more. His writing's really great. U can SEE the music he Dscribes, if that makes NE sense.
The thing that gets me is: I don't know NE of the albums he's written about so far. Don't know artists, titles, songs -- completely oblivious 2 all of it. & summa those folks R pretty popular....
So yr liable 2 C a few changes here at the Back-Up Plan. (Yeah sure, like what? Writing in Real English...?)
I'd like 2 start by announcing that I'm proud 2 B a member of the newly-formed OGRENET -- the Old Guys' Review Exchange NETwork. A group of opinionated guys who Just Can't Help blogging about their opinions on practically everything, but especially about music. & their lives. & sometimes books. Jobs. Old love affairs. & other stuff.
Of course, officially I'm the only current member of OGRENET. But I'm pretty sure I know some guys who'd join me....
My buddy R.S. Crabb at THE THOUGHTS OF R. SMITH would probly B thrilled 2 B a member of OGRENET -- consider this yr official invitation, Crabby!
The Crabster qualifies Bcos he rants & raves about stuff even more than me, & each wk he posts a Top 10 of whatever's playing in his CD player. That's good enuf 4 me. & tho I think he's mellowed a bit in the past yr, he can still get pretty cranky. & so can I, Ghod knows....
However, NE organization worth its weight in tax-free donations must have an Initiation. So, 4 the Crabsta's initiation, he must change the name of his blog 2 THE THOUGHTS OF EMERLIST DAVJACK.
...Rastro at LA HISTORIA DE LA MUSICA ROCK might B open 2 joining -- age-wise he qualifies, he's in his 40s -- but he's WAY more in-touch w/ current music than I am. WAY more. Not sure how cranky he is. But the invitation's out there, R....
Drew at DREW'S ODDS & SODS might qualify. Not sure about his age or how cranky he is, but judging by his fondness 4 '70s rock, I'd say he's probly a member-at-heart already.
Mark Prindle is probly just a touch 2 young 2 join OGRENET -- in his mid-30s, he's 2 young 2 B a curmudgeon just yet. & in his ongoing efforts 2 try 2 keep up w/ all the Hip New Bands That The Young Kids Dig, I'm sure he's probly on a 1st-name basis w/ some bands that would scare the living shit outta me....
U're probly wondering about the requirements 2 Bcome a member of this new society/network/conspiracy/task force/underground movement/whatever. Glad U asked.
U might B a potential member of OGRENET if:
* Yr cranky/grumpy/pissed-off/Dpressed at least 1/2 the time.
* U actually walk around telling people who don't care that "Rock & roll just ain't bn the same since 1971."
* U really think the Last Good Music Year was 1971. Or '72. '73. '77. '79. Or '82 at the absolute latest.
* ... & U have a list of reasons WHY.
* ... That U carry around in yr pocket....
* U spend 1/2 yr time searching 4 old songs & albums U haven't heard since U were 12 yrs old.
* U spend the other 1/2 of yr time Bing Dpressed when these songs & albums -- 1nce U find them -- don't sound as good as they did when U were 12 yrs old.
* U kick yrself Bcos U didn't grab intresting-looking off-the-wall albums 30 yrs ago when they were only $3.99 in the cutout bin of yr fave local record store. Now yr paying 4x that much 2 get the same albums on CD.
* U think the Who peaked w/ SELL OUT.
* U think Yes peaked w/ THE YES ALBUM.
* U think the Beatles peaked w/ A HARD DAY'S NIGHT.
* U think Led Zeppelin peaked w/ THE BROWN BOMBER.
* Pink Floyd peaked w/ PIPER....
* Rush peaked w/ PERMANENT WAVES... or 2112....
* U remember what band Terry Jacks was a member of....
Think U qualify? Comment below. I'll start collecting names.
We'll all get 2gether, mayB have R 1st Annual Convention at the Worland, Wyoming, Days Inn.
We'll need nametags. In BIG print, 4 those of us who can't C 2 well NEmore.
& a logo! Gotta hava OGRENET logo! How bout a cartoon of some old, withered, gray-haired, prune-faced guy, sitting in a rockin chair, right next 2 1 of those old Victrolas, w/ the horn sticking right in2 his ear? That'd B great.
Now if I just knew some1 who could draw....
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Funny Ways....
Spent some time over the past coupla days looking at the results of Grandpa Web-Reviewer Mark Prindle's recent "Top 7-3 Readers' Survey," a poll of what the readers of his website (http://www.markprindle.com/) think R the best rock albums ever.
...& I think some1 could score a pretty solid gov't grant 2 Xplore in more depth the demographic data revealed in this survey. Almost 370 readers took part. I think it's fairly safe 2 say that Mark's readers R drawn 2 Xtremes, that many of them Njoy music that hits them HARD -- & I'm just talking about the stuff I've either heard or know about by reputation.
Mark asked 4 his readers' Top 7 picks 4 All-Time Best Album, Best Album of the Past Decade, & Best Artists. I hadda damn hard time coming up with 7 albums I've loved since 2000, & as a result I only sent Mark 6....
(BTW, my Top 7 All-Time picks were: The Go-Go's TALK SHOW, Bangles' DIFFERENT LIGHT, Moody Blues' THE PRESENT, Gryphon's RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, Providence's EVER SENSE THE DAWN, Nick Drake's BRYTER LAYTER, & ... yes, the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.)
But there's some intresting stuff in the poll results, & if yr the kinda person who reads music-review websites & blogs like this 1 & Mark's, U otta look thru the list of also-rans. I won't spoil Mark's countdown by revealing the All-Time Best choice, but it's a very respectable winner that I'm sure U've all heard -- & it's not PET SOUNDS or SGT. PEPPER or DARK SIDE OF THE MOON or LED ZEP 4.
But I think the list of also-rans is REAL intresting, especially the LONG list of albums that got only 1 vote each. Among those finishing in the Top 73 were Nick Drake's PINK MOON (pretty good placement 4 an album that's sposta B stark & Dpressing, sorta the singer's Famous Last Words, tho the 3 songs I've heard from it R all great), King Crimson's RED ("Starless" is amazing & the pounding title track only slightly less-so, but the rest ain't that stunning, & the GREAT DECEIVER box didn't make it?), Captain Beefheart's TROUT MASK REPLICA, & (of course) the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.
Among the many off-the-wall runners-up were: Kate Bush's THE DREAMING, 2 by the Butthole Surfers, Can's EGE BAMYASI, TAGO MAGO & FUTURE DAYS, 4 Beefhearts, Miles Davis's obnoxious LIVE EVIL, IN A SILENT WAY, BITCHES' BREW & KIND OF BLUE, Genesis's FOXTROT & THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, Crimson's DISCIPLINE & LARK'S TONGUES IN ASPIC, Love's FOREVER CHANGES, 1 by Magma, Steve Reich's hypnotic MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS, Roxy Music's very smooth AVALON, 3 by Sparks including the robotic NUMBER 1 IN HEAVEN, Tangerine Dream's 2-disc ZEIT, & Yes's RELAYER.
Among the suprising 1-shots were: The 5th Dimension's MAGIC GARDEN (which Nick Drake reportedly loved 4 its mix of pop & orchestrations), Syd Barrett's MADCAP LAUGHS, the Beach Boys' LOVE YOU & SURF'S UP, Blue Oyster Cult's 1st 4, Kate Bush's HOUNDS OF LOVE & THE KICK INSIDE, 3 more by the Buttholes, the Byrds' NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS, Camel's MIRAGE (DEFinitely not their best album), 2 more by Can, another Beefheart, 3 by Faust, 1 by Bo Hansson (who's '70s albums have summa the most dated, primitive-sounding keybs ever), the Hollies' DISTANT LIGHT & ROMANY (Xcellent tho arty), the Incredible String Band's HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER & WEE TAM AND THE BIG HUGE, Jefferson Airplane's trippy AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S, 2 more by Magma, Mars Volta's DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM, Mellow Candle's SWADDLING SONGS (heard by even fewer people than Providence!), Pat Metheny's SECRET STORY, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.'s LIKE A DUCK TO WATER (what, no Tonto's Expanding Head Band?), Os Mutantes, Harry Partch (this 20th-Century modern-classical composer invented his own strange instruments & got his lyrics from hobos' grafitti), Soft Machine's THIRD, 3 more by Sparks, Triumvirat's ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE (by reputation, they're sposta B the German version of ELP), Tubes' REMOTE CONTROL (Xcellent pop concept album about TV-addiction), 2 early "hippie"-era T. Rex albums, Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS & GODBLUFF, Vangelis's BLADE RUNNER soundtrack, & Brian Wilson's SMILE reconstruction....
In the 21st Century countdown, my pleasure at Cing Fleet Foxes' 1st was sorta balanced-out by finding Animal Collective's MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION above it, & Brian's SMILE above that. Not that I wish Brian ill, he's bn thru enuf. I think his version of SMILE is gorgeous musically -- but Brian's voice is shot.
I also wonder if some1 w/ a sense of humor even weirder than Mark's was trying 2 have some fun w/ this whole survey idea. Among the REALLY suprising titles getting a vote each were: The Carpenters' SINGLES 1969-73, ELO's OUT OF THE BLUE, Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS, Dan Fogelberg's THE INNOCENT AGE, Elton John's TOO LOW FOR ZERO, Journey's ESCAPE, Stacy Lattisaw's PERSONAL ATTENTION, Steve Martin's LET'S GET SMALL (great album, really, & I guess there IS a LITTLE bit of music on it....), the Moody Blues' KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (their worst ever), Frank Sinatra's COME FLY WITH ME & WATERTOWN, Michael W. Smith's CHRISTMAS, & Richard Brautigan reading some of his poetry.... Rn't mosta these way 2 NORMAL 4 the kinda folks who read Mark's website? (I didn't vote 4 NE of these, BTW.)
...Overall, I think it's real intresting 2 C what Mark's readers Njoy listening-2. & of course there R 100's of titles in the list that I've never even HEARD, so it's also good 4 research purposes.
As 4 the Xtremeness of it all -- well, I haven't heard more than a handful of the titles on the 21st Century list, but as 4 the All-Time list ... I pretty-much think that I fit right in....
Now, about that grant....
...& I think some1 could score a pretty solid gov't grant 2 Xplore in more depth the demographic data revealed in this survey. Almost 370 readers took part. I think it's fairly safe 2 say that Mark's readers R drawn 2 Xtremes, that many of them Njoy music that hits them HARD -- & I'm just talking about the stuff I've either heard or know about by reputation.
Mark asked 4 his readers' Top 7 picks 4 All-Time Best Album, Best Album of the Past Decade, & Best Artists. I hadda damn hard time coming up with 7 albums I've loved since 2000, & as a result I only sent Mark 6....
(BTW, my Top 7 All-Time picks were: The Go-Go's TALK SHOW, Bangles' DIFFERENT LIGHT, Moody Blues' THE PRESENT, Gryphon's RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, Providence's EVER SENSE THE DAWN, Nick Drake's BRYTER LAYTER, & ... yes, the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.)
But there's some intresting stuff in the poll results, & if yr the kinda person who reads music-review websites & blogs like this 1 & Mark's, U otta look thru the list of also-rans. I won't spoil Mark's countdown by revealing the All-Time Best choice, but it's a very respectable winner that I'm sure U've all heard -- & it's not PET SOUNDS or SGT. PEPPER or DARK SIDE OF THE MOON or LED ZEP 4.
But I think the list of also-rans is REAL intresting, especially the LONG list of albums that got only 1 vote each. Among those finishing in the Top 73 were Nick Drake's PINK MOON (pretty good placement 4 an album that's sposta B stark & Dpressing, sorta the singer's Famous Last Words, tho the 3 songs I've heard from it R all great), King Crimson's RED ("Starless" is amazing & the pounding title track only slightly less-so, but the rest ain't that stunning, & the GREAT DECEIVER box didn't make it?), Captain Beefheart's TROUT MASK REPLICA, & (of course) the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.
Among the many off-the-wall runners-up were: Kate Bush's THE DREAMING, 2 by the Butthole Surfers, Can's EGE BAMYASI, TAGO MAGO & FUTURE DAYS, 4 Beefhearts, Miles Davis's obnoxious LIVE EVIL, IN A SILENT WAY, BITCHES' BREW & KIND OF BLUE, Genesis's FOXTROT & THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, Crimson's DISCIPLINE & LARK'S TONGUES IN ASPIC, Love's FOREVER CHANGES, 1 by Magma, Steve Reich's hypnotic MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS, Roxy Music's very smooth AVALON, 3 by Sparks including the robotic NUMBER 1 IN HEAVEN, Tangerine Dream's 2-disc ZEIT, & Yes's RELAYER.
Among the suprising 1-shots were: The 5th Dimension's MAGIC GARDEN (which Nick Drake reportedly loved 4 its mix of pop & orchestrations), Syd Barrett's MADCAP LAUGHS, the Beach Boys' LOVE YOU & SURF'S UP, Blue Oyster Cult's 1st 4, Kate Bush's HOUNDS OF LOVE & THE KICK INSIDE, 3 more by the Buttholes, the Byrds' NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS, Camel's MIRAGE (DEFinitely not their best album), 2 more by Can, another Beefheart, 3 by Faust, 1 by Bo Hansson (who's '70s albums have summa the most dated, primitive-sounding keybs ever), the Hollies' DISTANT LIGHT & ROMANY (Xcellent tho arty), the Incredible String Band's HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER & WEE TAM AND THE BIG HUGE, Jefferson Airplane's trippy AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S, 2 more by Magma, Mars Volta's DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM, Mellow Candle's SWADDLING SONGS (heard by even fewer people than Providence!), Pat Metheny's SECRET STORY, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.'s LIKE A DUCK TO WATER (what, no Tonto's Expanding Head Band?), Os Mutantes, Harry Partch (this 20th-Century modern-classical composer invented his own strange instruments & got his lyrics from hobos' grafitti), Soft Machine's THIRD, 3 more by Sparks, Triumvirat's ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE (by reputation, they're sposta B the German version of ELP), Tubes' REMOTE CONTROL (Xcellent pop concept album about TV-addiction), 2 early "hippie"-era T. Rex albums, Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS & GODBLUFF, Vangelis's BLADE RUNNER soundtrack, & Brian Wilson's SMILE reconstruction....
In the 21st Century countdown, my pleasure at Cing Fleet Foxes' 1st was sorta balanced-out by finding Animal Collective's MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION above it, & Brian's SMILE above that. Not that I wish Brian ill, he's bn thru enuf. I think his version of SMILE is gorgeous musically -- but Brian's voice is shot.
I also wonder if some1 w/ a sense of humor even weirder than Mark's was trying 2 have some fun w/ this whole survey idea. Among the REALLY suprising titles getting a vote each were: The Carpenters' SINGLES 1969-73, ELO's OUT OF THE BLUE, Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS, Dan Fogelberg's THE INNOCENT AGE, Elton John's TOO LOW FOR ZERO, Journey's ESCAPE, Stacy Lattisaw's PERSONAL ATTENTION, Steve Martin's LET'S GET SMALL (great album, really, & I guess there IS a LITTLE bit of music on it....), the Moody Blues' KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (their worst ever), Frank Sinatra's COME FLY WITH ME & WATERTOWN, Michael W. Smith's CHRISTMAS, & Richard Brautigan reading some of his poetry.... Rn't mosta these way 2 NORMAL 4 the kinda folks who read Mark's website? (I didn't vote 4 NE of these, BTW.)
...Overall, I think it's real intresting 2 C what Mark's readers Njoy listening-2. & of course there R 100's of titles in the list that I've never even HEARD, so it's also good 4 research purposes.
As 4 the Xtremeness of it all -- well, I haven't heard more than a handful of the titles on the 21st Century list, but as 4 the All-Time list ... I pretty-much think that I fit right in....
Now, about that grant....
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