rifling through the music bin

No Direction Home (Bob Dylan)

2007-09-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

dylan is one of my favorite artists of all time. he creates music that when listening at times is akin to a spiritual experience.

this album, no direction home, is the soundtrack to the documentary of the same name which was directed by martin scorsese. the documentary goes from the beginning of Robert Allen Zimmerman's (his real name) career, through to the motorcycle crash in 1966 which is seen as the major turning point in his career. the soundtrack is two discs long, with 28 tracks in all. the first album focuses on the folky side of dylan, and the second is mostly comprised of songs from the post-bringing it all back home era, when dylan had gone electric.

i am generally partial to dylan's earlier folk-oriented songs, though i cannot deny the appeal of his electric sound too. dylan is dylan, no matter what he plays.

the beauty of this soundtrack is the insight it seems to have in the evolution of dylan's sound, as well as his persona. the first track is a home recording that i believe has been dated to when dylan was about 15. you can hear the youth in his voice, but there is still an assertiveness present even then. through the next couple songs you hear the influences of woody guthrie, culminating in "song to woody," which is possibly my favorite track on the first disc:

"hey hey woody guthrie, i wrote you a song. / about a funny ol' world that's a-comin' along. / seems sick and it's hungry and it's tired and it's torn. / it looks like it's a-dying and it's hardly been born."

here, have a listen.

Bob Dylan – Song to Woody

there are also several alternate and live versions of "blowin' in the wind" as well as folk classics like "this land is your land" and "man of constant sorrow." all are excellent in their own right. stand-out tracks are "i was young when i left home" and "a hard rain's gonna fall." this album is dylan, front and center.

the second album begins with an alternate take of "she belongs to me," and suddenly there is bass, rhythm and lead guitar. the shift to this new sound is jarring, and i can only imagine what it was like back when all this was going down and people were boo'ing him and worse. it's different, sure, but it's brilliant. the songwriting and lyricism is still there, but the tempo has sped up to keep pace with his ideas. the alternate takes and live versions on the second disc are just as well-chosen as those on the first disc. "desolation row," and "tombstone blues" are stellar.

the magic, though, is in the energy from the organ player and dylan's vocals in this live cut of "ballad of a thin man." please listen.

Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man (Live version)

no direction home excels as a documentary and a soundtrack. to some, this 2-disc set would be a little too much dylan. and i can understand how some people can only take so much. nonetheless, this is a stellar collection and a wonderful way to begin exploring the dylan discography.

and the documentary could not be recommended enough. below is a great scene i had found posted on youtube of dylan just playing with language:

disc 1 rating: 8.9 / 10

disc 2 rating: 9 / 10

No Review Today

2007-09-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

today is my wife's birthday. well, at least for another 5 minutes. i elected to spend time w/ her instead of my ipod. i think i made the right decision. emily, i love you.

Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday

Back to Black Rating Breakdown

2007-09-05T22:08:00.001-07:00

this will not be done on all posts. however, to demonstrate how i will be reaching my rating, i shall illustrate:

"rehab" 5 stars
"i'm no good" 4 stars
"me & mr. jones" 5 stars
"just friends" 3 stars
"back to black" 4 stars
"love is a losing game" 3 stars
"tears dry..." 5 stars
"wake up alone" 3 stars
"some unholy war" 2 stars
"he can only hold her" 3 stars
"i'm no good [remix]" 5 stars

total amount of stars: 42.

total number of tracks: 11

42 / 11 = 3.81

3.81 x 2 = 7.63

this was then rounded to: 7.6 / 10. bokay?

Back To Black (Amy Winehouse)

2007-09-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

amy winehouse has been in the news lately, for (ironically) going to rehab and also cancelling her U.S. tour. and very recently, for an incident involving her husband.

she's a stormy, fickle character who's prone to extremes. her music on this album also seems to capture that. you can hear and feel that she has troubles, and this petite little english 20-something sings with an amazing amount of soul.

the album starts out strong with "rehab." by now, everyone knows this song. and by now, most people know she shouldn't be saying "no, no, no." the following two songs, "you know i'm no good" and "me & mr. jones" are all stellar. the songs convey a sense of regret and jelousy.

"just friends" does not impress me as much. the vocals do not seem to match the music.

the title song "back to black" is good. the image of being a man's second woman, being painfully aware of it, and surviving is compelling.

"love is a losing game" is my least favorite song of the album. on it, winehouse tries to sing softly, which is something she should never do. her voice is powerful, and filled with soul, however, it is lacking in softness. she should sing nothing quieter than forte. it's strange, but her trying to be quiet sounds more forced than many artists who try to be louder than they really are.

thankfully, the album bounces back quickly with "tears dry on their own." the tempo, rhythm, melody and chorus all work together nicely. it truly conveys the feeling of someone walking away. one can easily imagine someone storming from a flat and out into an endless city.

"wake up alone" is alright. i don't really have much to say on this one. i can take it or leave it. it doesn't stand out from any of the other songs.

"some unholy war" i just don't like. the vocal tricks are nice and all, the background vocals are good too, but it's just shrug-worthy.

"he can only hold her" has the feeling of a final song. it tops the album off nicely.

then there's a remix of "you know i'm no good." this is good too.

overall, this is a very good album that has served to update soul in an interesting way and has brought some good music to the mainstream. amy winehouse's tabloid antics are somewhat tiresome, but for the most part her album is not. it is easy to find yourself listening to this album over an over, which is always a sign of good work.

rating: 7.6/10

oh, i almost forgot. i saw amy winehouse in concert last month at lollapalooza. her are couple photos (i have others on flickr):

new rating system

2007-09-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

in future posts, i will be rolling out a new rating system. at the end of every review each album will be given a rating out of 10.

the rating will be reached by an calculating an average. i will rate each song individually in itunes, which allows for songs to be rated between 0-5 stars. half-stars are not allotted by the software, and i have no need for them. i'm not not that indecisive. the ratings of each song will be added, then divided by the number of songs on the album. this number will then be multiplied by 2 to reach a factor of 10. voila. a rating is born.

new reviews coming soon!

Special Edition: 90's Music Retrospective

2007-09-04T19:37:00.001-07:00

musically speaking, the 90's kinda sucked. (i'm referring specifically to popular music.) especially when you look at the decades that preceded the 90's.

the 40's and 50's had the rat pack, billie holliday, all manner of jazz and blues greats, and elvis. things were nascent. there was a sense of novelty to the decade, and a quiet sense of rebellion among youth.

in the 60's, the rebellion became outright. there was free love, hippiedom, and rock and roll. musically, they had the beatles, the doors, jimi hendrix, bob dylan, the band, the who, the kinks, the monkees, the mama's and the papa's, and on and on.

the 70's had funk, disco, and metal. disco was hopelessly decadent, and funk was experimental. metal was angry.

the 80's were interesting. postmodernism was just setting in. computers were invading popular culture. in music you had the smiths, the pixies, hair metal, peter gabriel, talking heads, r.e.m., phil collins, echo and the bunnymen, and MTV when they actually played music videos. i never really like 80's music until recently, but looking back the era did have some very good bands and artists.

and then there's the 90's.

when it comes to popular music, the 90's pale in comparison to every other decade. when you look at the popular bands from the 90's, there are about 4 greats: nirvana, pearl jam, smashing pumpkins, and radiohead. these are the artists that are emblematic of the 90's. nirvana and kurt cobain are credited for saving the world from endless hair metal with "smells like teen spirit." with nirvana, "alternative music" became mainstream. pearl jam was right there with them.

other bands came around, like soundgarden. sonic youth. but none of them really reached the pinnacle that cobain's or vedder's or corgan's bands got to. and to the detriment of the alternative music genre, no alt. band ever surpassed what these bands did musically or lyrically and achieved such commercial success. the airwaves were filled with copycats, with every bandleader sounding like vedder or playing like cobain or vice versa.

i understand the importance of nirvana, pearl jam, and the smashing pumpkins has to a lot of fans. and many people likely know their music much better than i do. but i don't think anyone can refute the fact that no other alt. bands have ever come close to making music as good as these original bands did and have had as large an impact on the culture in general as these bands have.

radiohead is an exception. their sound in and of itself has evolved, and they stood out from the crowd. i don't really know how to specifically work them into this current line of thought, though.

but the disappointment of the alt. genre is only half the story of the 90's. the other half is even worse: boy bands, britney spears. throw up.

boy bands were cultural fads and corporate hacks. their pretty voices were only secondary to their pretty faces, which were the main impulse for all their pre-pubescent fans. they were all the negative aspects of consumerism incarnate: shallow, petty, cheap, and discardable.

and britney spears has and always will be a little bit loopy. worse things have been and could be said. but that's for somebody else.

personally, i'm quite disappointed that my generation did not have a band or sound that we could rally behind and march as one to. or heck, not to be so philosophical about it: that we could all listen or dance to together. when "smells like teen spirit" came out, i was 9. i kinda missed that moment in rock history by a bit. by the time i could appreciate music, it sucked, and i listened to christian music and dave matthews band instead. when compared to the other eras, the selection of great popular music that would be destined to become timeless was pretty slim.

a case could be made to the redeem the 90's. in fact, if someone could make one, i'd love to hear it. were there any bands i overlooked or was there anything i got wrong? or was i hopelessly spot-on? gosh, i hope not.

American Pie & Other Hits (Don McLean)

2007-08-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

it's been a while. but that doesn't mean i can't revive this blog and the intention for which is started it! if you want to know the main reason for the long delay, please refer to my post for today on my main blog, here.

don mclean makes perennial music. he makes a type of music that can be listened to whenever a mellow, thoughtful singer-songwriter is called for. it's the kind of music that can be played in the background when you have friends or family over, and if there's a lull in conversation, no one seems to mind. his music is easily the topic of conversation.

his style of music is such that you don't feel like he should be performing on a stage in front of you, but on a chair or stool next to you. it's intimate. it's right in your ear.

i'll admit that i am not all to familiar w/ his music. my wife is. in fact, this is her album i'm reviewing.

the album starts off w/ a truncated version of "american pie." this is the kind of song i typically don't comment about, b/c there is so little new to say about it, and the nature of this blog at this point is more off-the-cuff than reflective. it's followed by "and i love you so," and "babylon," which is the best audience-participation-sing-a-long song i've ever heard. "starry starry night" or "vincent" is one of my wife's favorite songs.

a singular criticism: the album order stacks all his most well-known hits at the beginning, making it feel almost top-heavy. the rest of the album suffers b/c of that choice.

good stuff, though.

Maybe This Christmas Tree (Various Artists)

2007-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

this one was weird. mainly because it's march. and this is a christmas album. but the spirit of this blog is to do things in order, and this is the order. so there.

if i had to listen to one christmas album in march, it would be this one. it has the polyphonic spree, death cab, pedro the lion, and lisa loeb. new takes on old classics, that kind of thing.

this is one of my favorite christmas albums, though, and about the only one out there that will drop f-bombs and use derogatory terms for homosexuals in an ultimately endearing way (in order to understand that last sentence, please listen to "fairy tale of new york" by pilate on this album).

i'm a little too tired to say anything else about this, though.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Soundtrack)

2007-03-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

i love wes anderson movies. he's one of my favorite directors. he also does a bang-up job when it comes to compiling soundtracks for his movies. every aspect of his movies is meticulously calculated, and this includes the soundtrack. each musical cue serves a purpose, and becomes just as powerful as the cinematography, stages, and acting. in a way, the music of his movies has its own narrative. powerful imagery coupled with powerful music makes a movie multi-dimensional, and w.a. understands this.

the most commonly discussed feature of this soundtrack is the performance of David Bowie songs by Seu Jorge, sung entirely in portugese and with only acoustic guitar for accompaniment. these tracks are other-worldly. nonetheless, it's been overdone. so i'll leave it at that.

wes anderson has a partner in crime, mark mothersbaugh. i don't know much about him, though i believe i've read at least one interview with the fellow. he's also prominent on the rushmore soundtrack. he composes the instrumental pieces that are scattered throughout the album. his composing is exquisite, and upon hearing it you are immediately familiar with what scene it goes with in the movie. that's quite a feat.

by talking about the other choices of songs on this album, i'd be even more redundant than i already am. i love this album. it's got bowie, joan baez, iggy, and devo. the glaring omission on the album is the absence of sigur ros. sigur ros' song "Starálfur" (that's right, i said it) is used in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie, and it isn't credited at all with a slot on the official soundtrack. that's the one disappointing note on an otherwise exemplary soundtrack, on par with tom waits' "goin' out west" not making it onto the fight club soundtrack. alas, no one is perfect.

LCD Soundsystem [Disc 2] (LCD Soundsystem)

2007-03-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

trying to get back in the habit of updating this blog. the last couple weeks were crazy w/ finishing my paper for school.

anyways. i'm not too invested in this album at all. just a brief entry.

another improperly filed “Compilation” album, this is the second disc of the two-disc 2005 debut of LCD Soundsystem. i really dig the first two songs; they have a cool beat and the lyrics are rife with sarcasm and wit. The third and fourth songs are a little much for me. and the last three are variations of the same song. I like it, but to be honest I’m a little indifferent to this disc when compared to the first one.

Keep It Together (Guster)

2007-03-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

this album marked a departure for guster. on most tracks they abandoned their mixed percussion sound for a standard drum kit. the effect on the music is palpable. still, it's a great album.

i'm writing my paper right now, so this won't get a very good treatment. i may update this entry at another time. if not, suffice it to say you need to give this album a listen.

Vertigo (U2)

2007-03-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

as far as u2 albums go, this one is middle of the road. it suffered from being over-delayed and over-hyped. how to dismantle an atomic bomb produced at least three singles, but only one, "vertigo," was truly worthy of the u2 canon. when this album came out, it received rave reviews from most sources--four star reviews that the album may or may not have deserved. around the same time, i was talking with a friend who was a huge u2 fan, and he said something i found wholly appropriate. he said that u2 is at a point in their career where harsh criticism of the band is unlikely to occur because of the general quality of their past work and the legacy they've left for the rock scene. in other words, criticizing u2 is practically verboten.

how to dismantle does not venture into unknown or unexplored territory for these dubliners. the tone and pace of their songs are familiar to us now, and they stuck with what they knew on this album. it was not a departure from their prior albums, like achtung baby was in contrast with the joshua tree. it remains a solid album, but does not lead us anywhere new. maybe if the album hadn't followed the tremendous success of all that you leave behind, i wouldn't consider how to dismantle in this light.

the looped, clean sound of the edge's guitar is a pleasure, and on songs like "sometimes you can't make it on your own" the guitar melody itself is enough to sustain the song where the lyrics may be lackluster. but some songs, like "miracle drug" and "crumbs from your table" seem superficial. bono usually writes such emotive and layered lyrics that can be interpreted in about 15 different ways, and that impression isn't made on these songs. but other songs, like "vertigo" and "love and peace or else" attain that depth we expect of him.

how to dismantle an atomic bomb is a mixed bag. i skip some tracks. others are wonderful. the album is flawed, but still beautiful. it is not like their other masterpieces, but we cannot expect each album to be masterpiece-quality.

Hopes and Fears (Keane)

2007-03-10T19:49:00.000-08:00

i recently updated itunes. that matters because it changed how some things were ordered in the "browse" function of the program that i am using as a way to go thru all my music here. but from what i can tell, the only thing that has been affected so far has been the addition/rearrangement of basement tapes to the compilations tab.

keane is a band i have mixed feelings about. they are a more pop-friendly version of bands like travis, who i think have considerably more talent than these guys. interesting fact: i've read that they originally had a guitarist, but he quit the band and they decided to keep playing anyways. they've made it just fine w/o the guy. but make no mistake: these guys are no ben folds five.

this album is mediocre. initially, they didn't impress me much. they make good pop songs, but that isn't always my cup of tea. i used to cringe when em would play them. revisiting this album though has made me appreciate the band at least a little bit more. the piano melodies and refrains are friendly. some of the lyrics are respectable. my favorite songs are "we might as well be strangers," "everybody's changing," and "she has no time."

the detriment of the band for me isn't in the musicians, it's in the singer. i just don't like the guy's voice that much. it's good, but also a little bland. his voice, style, and melodies are derivative. and i saw him dance like an idiot on snl once. that didn't help my opinion of him.

i am obviously coming to this album with considerable bias. but i never promised to be objective. nonetheless, after having listened to the album a couple more times, i have developed a capacity to endure their music. i may even voluntarily put their music on from time to time.

Greatest Hits (Steve Miller Band)

2007-03-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

talk about an album with a lot of great singles. this is the music you know every word to, tap your feet to the unchanging rhythm, and sing loud. you can feel your white-ness emanating from your very being, but you don't care. the music is that catchy and that good. you can't deny it.

Gorillaz (Gorillaz)

2007-03-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

this album has some of my favorite singles on it. "clint eastwood" and "19-2000 (soulchild remix)." "rock house" is also the song that plays in my head when i imagine that i can dance.

yet another album that may not belong in the "compilations" tab, but, ours is not to question why, as dr schenck would say. gorillaz is very raw and in a way unpolished. it is experimental and expansive, but occasions to stretch itself a little too thin at times. damon albarn's signature is all over this album. when compared to demon days, which was produced by danger mouse, this album doesn't seem as tight or focused.

but given the album's historical context, at the time the gorillaz were as much about the idea of the cartoon as the music that the cartoon band created. now that we've all reconciled ourselves to the existence of a non-existent band, perhaps i am now more critical of this earlier album than i might have been if i were writing this in 2001 . although this entry once again falls short of true criticism, and is really nothing but a truncated, undeveloped reflection. ah, well. i've got a paper to write. cut me some slack.

Good Dog Bad Dog (Over the Rhine)

2007-03-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

the nucleus of over the rhine is a husband-wife team. the husband plays the piano, the wife sings and also plays guitar. she has a lilting voice, with a bit of a country drawl on her vowels. (they're from ohio, go figure.) she sings effortlessly, and with a soulfulness that if you pay too much attention will make your eyes well with tears.

otr's good dog bad dog is typical of their general repertoire: very slow and intimate. they sing songs that make you want to melt into your loved one. listening to them now, i feel as if i'm relaxing with emily somewhere. i'm in nashville again. that's the power of otr----to bring those cherished moments back.

"willoughby" is a stand-out track. an instrumental classical-guitar piece with a great rhythm and melody, with enough playful picking to make it very interesting the whole way through without seeming showy. the opener, "latter days," causes the melting i mentioned earlier. "go down easy" is a delightfully suggestive song.

this is another one of those albums that have no business being in the "compilations" tab as far as i can tell, but nonetheless there it is.

Garden State (Soundtrack)

2007-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

what can be said about this album that hasn't already been said? you've heard it, i've heard it. your mom has heard it. it'll be playing in elevators in two years, having settled so deeply into america's subconscious.

props to zach braff for producing a great soundtrack to an equally great movie. with the exception of the final song on the soundtrack, this album has a great sense of flow, and a wonderful array of different artists: the shins, frou frou, thievery corp., nick drake, simon & garfunkel, et al. this is the kind of album you can listen to any time. everything segues to this album. so what are you waiting for? draw it up on your media player and rock out, braff-style.

Fossil Soundtrack Volume 5

2007-03-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

a quick near-lunchtime break from studying to post. this album was a freebie from the Fossil store. according to the info itunes imported for the album it's from 2004, which seems about right. unfortunately, i wasn't able to get a totally accurate track-listing because the info was imported as "various artists," so i don't know all the bands that are featured on the album. on top of that, some of the track names could be wrong too, because at least one of them was filed incorrectly. a song by the shins, "kissing the lipless" from chutes too narrow was called "will you come and fetch me," so that definitely casts doubt on whether anything is named correctly at all on this whole album. and unfortunately, so far i haven't been able to find an accurate track listing online yet. i don't really expect to, either, but i was able to find a not-very-authoritative list of artists on the album from somebody trying to sell a free cd on an ebay listing (granted, only for $.59).

so, the supposed artists are:

Fossil presents Soundtrack Vol.5. Used. Various Artists. Luna, Josh Rouse, Burden Brothers, polyphonic Spree, The Shins, Moving units, of Montreal, Pedro the Lion, Billionaire Boys Club, Calexico, Mates of State, Architecture in Helsinki, By Divine Right, Fellside. Promotion of upcoming artists. 2004

despite the lingering annoyance and doubt about not knowing who i'm really listening to, there are some songs on here that i really enjoy. some of them are staples from 2004, like the shins song noted above, as well as a track by the polyphonic spree and pedro the lion (!). i really like the first song, "beautiful night." there's a song that might be perfect for my upcoming wedding called "good girl." the chorus goes "i love ya, would you marry me?"

on a different note, the sample track by pedro the lion (one of my favorite artists ever) is "transcontinental," which is not a track i personally would choose for a new listener, because the subject matter deals with a man getting his legs cut off by a freight train. there's also some lemons tossed in, too. i don't really like the song called "kindling," though while i'm listening through it, the chorus is "it's a beautiful night to be here," so even more doubt is cast on CDDB's ability to import the right info about this cd. so why don't i end the entry here?

if i ever find the case to this cd, i may update this post with the right info. but we know that the probability of that happening is pretty high.

ok, so here's the idea.

2007-03-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

i realized lately that i don't listen to that much of the music on my computer. the plan with this blog is to post about the music i never listen to, in hopes of changing just that. the broad goal is to post something about each album in my itunes catalog. i would like to do this once a day, but we'll see how my resolve and my schedule will allow for this.

so we're starting at the beginning, in the "Compilations" tab. some of the albums that are grouped in this category don't really belong, but somehow were grouped as such. you could say that about the album i'm currently enjoying: Abraxas, by Santana.

i don't really know if you can fault this cd. there are some true classics on this album: 'black magic woman' and 'oye como va' are both muy bueno. and there are some tracks which i can say i've overlooked before, like 'mother's daughter.' that track is just phenomenal. i love the quick bass line, how it never stays in one place and just keeps moving. 'samba pa ti' has some great guitar work. and did i mention the organ? i LOVE the organ, and this album has plenty!

carlos santana is a wonderful guitarist. forgive him his forays w/ matchbox 20.

hope to see you again soon.