TDDS - 2020 Shelter-in-Place on a Desert Island Music Draft - BONUS 5
- Thread starter VF21
- Start date
With my ninth pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft, I select:
Poodle Hat - "Weird Al" Yankovic (2003)
Track Listing:
1 Couch Potato
2 Hardware Store
3 Trash Day
4 Party at the Leper Colony
5 Angry White Boy Polka
6 Wanna B Ur Lovr
7 A Complicated Song
8 Why Does This Always Happen to Me?
9 Ode to a Superhero
10 Bob
11 Ebay
12 Genius in France
It just wouldn't be right sheltering in place without something to listen to that's just plain fun. I had really no choice but to select a Weird Al album, the only question was which? It's hard for me to say that I have a FAVORITE Weird Al album, but Poodle Hat at least comes in among the top. The opening track, "Couch Potato", is perhaps my favorite parody he has done, though I can't say who it's a parody of as the artist hasn't been picked yet (nor can I for the other four parodies on the album - so enough of those). I can point out that "Bob" is a Bob Dylan style parody (not a parody of a specific song) and the only song I know that dares to ask the question "May a moody baby doom a yam?" and then insists "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog!" (Yep, the whole thing is in palindromes.) "Hardware Store" always makes me think of my dad - if my dad was on hard-core amphetamines. And "Wanna B Ur Lovr" is the ultimate in bad pickup lines strung together for six minutes: "You're absolutely perfect/Don't speak now, you might spoil it/Your eyes are even bluer than the water in my toilet."
But the song that really pushed me over the edge to choose Poodle Hat was the closer, which is my kind of diss track, where Al spends almost 9 minutes going off on France while doing a frenetic style parody of - of another artist whose work hasn't yet been selected in this draft. "When I'm in Provence/I get free croissants/Yeah I'm the guy every French lady wants" - what more can you ask for?
(PM sent)
Poodle Hat - "Weird Al" Yankovic (2003)
Track Listing:
1 Couch Potato
2 Hardware Store
3 Trash Day
4 Party at the Leper Colony
5 Angry White Boy Polka
6 Wanna B Ur Lovr
7 A Complicated Song
8 Why Does This Always Happen to Me?
9 Ode to a Superhero
10 Bob
11 Ebay
12 Genius in France
It just wouldn't be right sheltering in place without something to listen to that's just plain fun. I had really no choice but to select a Weird Al album, the only question was which? It's hard for me to say that I have a FAVORITE Weird Al album, but Poodle Hat at least comes in among the top. The opening track, "Couch Potato", is perhaps my favorite parody he has done, though I can't say who it's a parody of as the artist hasn't been picked yet (nor can I for the other four parodies on the album - so enough of those). I can point out that "Bob" is a Bob Dylan style parody (not a parody of a specific song) and the only song I know that dares to ask the question "May a moody baby doom a yam?" and then insists "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog!" (Yep, the whole thing is in palindromes.) "Hardware Store" always makes me think of my dad - if my dad was on hard-core amphetamines. And "Wanna B Ur Lovr" is the ultimate in bad pickup lines strung together for six minutes: "You're absolutely perfect/Don't speak now, you might spoil it/Your eyes are even bluer than the water in my toilet."
But the song that really pushed me over the edge to choose Poodle Hat was the closer, which is my kind of diss track, where Al spends almost 9 minutes going off on France while doing a frenetic style parody of - of another artist whose work hasn't yet been selected in this draft. "When I'm in Provence/I get free croissants/Yeah I'm the guy every French lady wants" - what more can you ask for?
(PM sent)
For my next selection my round 9 pick is (The talking heads). They are a group who I have really enjoyed.
I could of picked a few different albums from them but I really like more than one or two songs on this one.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Burning down the house
Making flippy floppy
Girlfriend is better
Slippery people
I get wild/wild gravity
Swamp
Moon rocks
Pull up the roots
This must be the place
I could of picked a few different albums from them but I really like more than one or two songs on this one.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Burning down the house
Making flippy floppy
Girlfriend is better
Slippery people
I get wild/wild gravity
Swamp
Moon rocks
Pull up the roots
This must be the place
Of the singles I like them in that order. I was familiar with Green Day when this was released but not really a big fan beforehand and when Longview dropped it was such a breath of fresh air since thrash (which largely replaced punk/hardcore for me) had kind of died out and everyone was getting slow and introspective and boom here are these dudes blatantly aping the band I won't mention that they clearly aped and it was like I was in middle-school again except I was in college and they were playing a free show right before school started up and *spoiler alert* it did not end well.
Cher - Dancing Queen (2018)
https://www.allmusic.com/album/dancing-queen-mw0003202360
Singing covers of old ABBA songs, this scratches two itches with one album (this isn't a soundtrack for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, it's a studio album). We have tickets to go see her in May October (darn coronavirus!) at the G1C, so another semi-cheat but I'm OK with that. ABBA is a guilty pleasure on occasion and Cher does a pretty good job with the source material.
From allmusic:
From Wiki:
Track List:
1. Dancing Queen
2. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
3. The Name of the Game
4. SOS
5. Waterloo
6. Mamma Mia
7. Chiquitita
8. The Winner Takes It All
10. One of Us
https://www.allmusic.com/album/dancing-queen-mw0003202360
Singing covers of old ABBA songs, this scratches two itches with one album (this isn't a soundtrack for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, it's a studio album). We have tickets to go see her in May October (darn coronavirus!) at the G1C, so another semi-cheat but I'm OK with that. ABBA is a guilty pleasure on occasion and Cher does a pretty good job with the source material.
From allmusic:
From Wiki:
Track List:
1. Dancing Queen
2. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
3. The Name of the Game
4. SOS
5. Waterloo
6. Mamma Mia
7. Chiquitita
8. The Winner Takes It All
10. One of Us
Prior to our last draft, I foolishly thought of this band as a random one-hit wonder that exploded on the scene with a particularly catchy song, then faded into obscurity.
Padrino set me straight, formally, if indirectly, introducing me to the avant-garde art-rock band from Brooklyn that led an indie post-punk revival during the early aughts in the long shadow of 9/11.
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio (2006)
Of course, the song that garnered the attention of the mainstream and me was Wolf Like Me. And it's still a monster track of pulsing raw energy with a killer hook. Can rock this in mixed company any day at a party and earn some happy head-bobbing and smiles.
Yet, I don't find the hit single very representative of the rest of the album as a whole. The album is ... interestingly challenging, I suppose I might call it. There are a lot of falsetto voices mixed with walls of noise and, at times, unsettling sounds, layered with more traditional rock band conventions nearly relegated to the background. All of which of course was not at all what I was expecting with the lead in of Wolf Like Me.
And still I found it engaging, entrancing, and frankly beautiful. Take for example the other single from Return to Cookie Mountain, Province with backing vocals from David Bowie. To me, this more closely aligns with what one can expect from the album.
I am mystified by this album, and I'm excited to continue exploring its intricacies.
Also bonus points for referencing Super Mario World in the title.
Tracklist
Padrino set me straight, formally, if indirectly, introducing me to the avant-garde art-rock band from Brooklyn that led an indie post-punk revival during the early aughts in the long shadow of 9/11.
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio (2006)
Of course, the song that garnered the attention of the mainstream and me was Wolf Like Me. And it's still a monster track of pulsing raw energy with a killer hook. Can rock this in mixed company any day at a party and earn some happy head-bobbing and smiles.
Yet, I don't find the hit single very representative of the rest of the album as a whole. The album is ... interestingly challenging, I suppose I might call it. There are a lot of falsetto voices mixed with walls of noise and, at times, unsettling sounds, layered with more traditional rock band conventions nearly relegated to the background. All of which of course was not at all what I was expecting with the lead in of Wolf Like Me.
And still I found it engaging, entrancing, and frankly beautiful. Take for example the other single from Return to Cookie Mountain, Province with backing vocals from David Bowie. To me, this more closely aligns with what one can expect from the album.
I am mystified by this album, and I'm excited to continue exploring its intricacies.
Also bonus points for referencing Super Mario World in the title.
Tracklist
- "I Was a Lover"
- "Hours"
- "Province"
- "Playhouses"
- "Wolf Like Me"
- "A Method"
- "Let the Devil In"
- "Dirtywhirl"
- "Blues from Down Here"
- "Tonight"
- "Wash the Day"
- "Untitled" (Ambient Audio)
- "Snakes and Martyrs"
- "Hours (El-P remix)"
- "Things You Can Do"
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Ropin' the Wind - Garth Brooks - 1991
Welp. Guess it's time I jumped on the 1991 bandwagon.
I love Garth Brooks. Virtually every playlist I've ever created has songs of his on it. There's no shortage of albums to choose from but this one contains what has to be among the best of the stereotypical country songs.
1 Against the Grain
2 Rodeo
3 What She's Doing Now
4 Burning Bridges
5 Papa Loved Mama
6 Shameless
7 Cold Shoulder
8 We Bury the Hatchet
9 In Lonesome Dove
10 The River
It's tough to find a Garth Brooks version of this on YouTube...lots of covers but nothing beats the original.
This is fantastic album, but you almost have to take my word for it. There's just very little Garth Brooks on YouTube.
Prior to our last draft, I foolishly thought of this band as a random one-hit wonder that exploded on the scene with a particularly catchy song, then faded into obscurity.
Padrino set me straight, formally, if indirectly, introducing me to the avant-garde art-rock band from Brooklyn that led an indie post-punk revival during the early aughts in the long shadow of 9/11.
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio (2006)
Of course, the song that garnered the attention of the mainstream and me was Wolf Like Me. And it's still a monster track of pulsing raw energy with a killer hook. Can rock this in mixed company any day at a party and earn some happy head-bobbing and smiles.
Yet, I don't find the hit single very representative of the rest of the album as a whole. The album is ... interestingly challenging, I suppose I might call it. There are a lot of falsetto voices mixed with walls of noise and, at times, unsettling sounds, layered with more traditional rock band conventions nearly relegated to the background. All of which of course was not at all what I was expecting with the lead in of Wolf Like Me.
And still I found it engaging, entrancing, and frankly beautiful. Take for example the other single from Return to Cookie Mountain, Province with backing vocals from David Bowie. To me, this more closely aligns with what one can expect from the album.
I am mystified by this album, and I'm excited to continue exploring its intricacies.
Also bonus points for referencing Super Mario World in the title.
Tracklist
Padrino set me straight, formally, if indirectly, introducing me to the avant-garde art-rock band from Brooklyn that led an indie post-punk revival during the early aughts in the long shadow of 9/11.
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio (2006)
Of course, the song that garnered the attention of the mainstream and me was Wolf Like Me. And it's still a monster track of pulsing raw energy with a killer hook. Can rock this in mixed company any day at a party and earn some happy head-bobbing and smiles.
Yet, I don't find the hit single very representative of the rest of the album as a whole. The album is ... interestingly challenging, I suppose I might call it. There are a lot of falsetto voices mixed with walls of noise and, at times, unsettling sounds, layered with more traditional rock band conventions nearly relegated to the background. All of which of course was not at all what I was expecting with the lead in of Wolf Like Me.
And still I found it engaging, entrancing, and frankly beautiful. Take for example the other single from Return to Cookie Mountain, Province with backing vocals from David Bowie. To me, this more closely aligns with what one can expect from the album.
I am mystified by this album, and I'm excited to continue exploring its intricacies.
Also bonus points for referencing Super Mario World in the title.
Tracklist
- "I Was a Lover"
- "Hours"
- "Province"
- "Playhouses"
- "Wolf Like Me"
- "A Method"
- "Let the Devil In"
- "Dirtywhirl"
- "Blues from Down Here"
- "Tonight"
- "Wash the Day"
- "Untitled" (Ambient Audio)
- "Snakes and Martyrs"
- "Hours (El-P remix)"
- "Things You Can Do"
This performance on David Letterman is what me clued into the band. Tunde's got moves!
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000):
01 3rd Planet
02 Gravity Rides Everything
03 Dark Center of the Universe
04 Perfect Disguise
05 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
06 A Different City
07 The Cold Part
08 Alone Down There
09 The Stars are Projectors
10 Wild Packs of Family Dogs
11 Paper Thin Walls
12 I Came as a Rat
13 Lives
14 Life Like Weeds
15 What People are Made of
Genre(s): Indie rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Other participants in this draft have identified important years in music, and as I mentioned in the write-up for my previous pick, the year 2000 was a fantastic year for seminal albums. By this I mean that there were a handful of watershed albums that would go on to define the following two decades of music in fascinating and unexpected ways.
2000 was not necessarily a consistent year for music on the whole, but the best albums from that year were absolutely incredible and deeply influential. If I were to rank them as a top-5, it would go something like this:
1) [Artist yet to appear on the board - Album yet to be picked]
2) Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (Picked by me)
3) At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (Picked by @hrdboild)
4) [Artist already appeared on the board - Album yet to be picked]
5) Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (Picked by me)
I probably won't select my favorite album of the year, as I've selected it in a prior music draft, and I prefer to tread new ground. I may pick the #4 album if I'm feeling so inclined later in the draft (and if an enterprising drafter doesn't suss out which album it might be and pick it for themselves).
For now... The Moon & Antarctica. The title of Modest Mouse's third album was taken from a headline on the front page of the newspaper that Rick Deckard is reading when he is introduced in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner (the full headline reads "Farming the Oceans, the Moon and Antarctica"). I did not know this when I fell in love with The Moon & Antarctica, which I encountered a few years before I became a Blade Runner obsessive.
This album is not necessarily "futuristic" in the classical sense. It's not reaching for sounds that represent a typical "vision of the future." However, it is without question Modest Mouse's most adventurous and experimental sonic outing, as the band finds all kinds of interesting opportunities to lift their sound through the atmosphere. And, lyrically, it is consumed with some of the same themes you'll find in works like Blade Runner. Alienation. Degradation of the human soul. Collapse of the environment.
The Moon and Antarctica can be effectively summed up by the opening verse of the album's opening track: "Everything that keeps us together is falling apart." It feels like an appropriate sentiment for our current moment, and The Moon & Antarctica is the perfect album for taking an hour-long vacation from this Earth, only to end up exactly where you were, a place that is unquestionably human.
01 3rd Planet
02 Gravity Rides Everything
03 Dark Center of the Universe
04 Perfect Disguise
05 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
06 A Different City
07 The Cold Part
08 Alone Down There
09 The Stars are Projectors
10 Wild Packs of Family Dogs
11 Paper Thin Walls
12 I Came as a Rat
13 Lives
14 Life Like Weeds
15 What People are Made of
Genre(s): Indie rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Other participants in this draft have identified important years in music, and as I mentioned in the write-up for my previous pick, the year 2000 was a fantastic year for seminal albums. By this I mean that there were a handful of watershed albums that would go on to define the following two decades of music in fascinating and unexpected ways.
2000 was not necessarily a consistent year for music on the whole, but the best albums from that year were absolutely incredible and deeply influential. If I were to rank them as a top-5, it would go something like this:
1) [Artist yet to appear on the board - Album yet to be picked]
2) Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (Picked by me)
3) At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (Picked by @hrdboild)
4) [Artist already appeared on the board - Album yet to be picked]
5) Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (Picked by me)
I probably won't select my favorite album of the year, as I've selected it in a prior music draft, and I prefer to tread new ground. I may pick the #4 album if I'm feeling so inclined later in the draft (and if an enterprising drafter doesn't suss out which album it might be and pick it for themselves).
For now... The Moon & Antarctica. The title of Modest Mouse's third album was taken from a headline on the front page of the newspaper that Rick Deckard is reading when he is introduced in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner (the full headline reads "Farming the Oceans, the Moon and Antarctica"). I did not know this when I fell in love with The Moon & Antarctica, which I encountered a few years before I became a Blade Runner obsessive.
This album is not necessarily "futuristic" in the classical sense. It's not reaching for sounds that represent a typical "vision of the future." However, it is without question Modest Mouse's most adventurous and experimental sonic outing, as the band finds all kinds of interesting opportunities to lift their sound through the atmosphere. And, lyrically, it is consumed with some of the same themes you'll find in works like Blade Runner. Alienation. Degradation of the human soul. Collapse of the environment.
The Moon and Antarctica can be effectively summed up by the opening verse of the album's opening track: "Everything that keeps us together is falling apart." It feels like an appropriate sentiment for our current moment, and The Moon & Antarctica is the perfect album for taking an hour-long vacation from this Earth, only to end up exactly where you were, a place that is unquestionably human.
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Believe me, if I had seen him in concert I'd already have this album on my list.
When I was starting to compile my album wishlist, I made a list of all the bands/artists I have seen in concert over the years. I was mind-boggled to realize how much good music I had been exposed to. The sad part of the list was the number of bands who have broken up/artists who have passed.
Silver Apples of the Moon - Morton Subotnick (1967)
https://www.discogs.com/Morton-Subotnick-Silver-Apples-Of-The-Moon/release/60977
Silver Apples of the Moon is the first full length, electronic LP to be commissioned by a record label, and to this day nothing else sounds quite like it. It is still one of coolest sounding records and is one of my very favorites. One of the neat things about these early electronic records is they frequently come with in depth information about the music they contain. Here's an excerpt:
https://www.discogs.com/Morton-Subotnick-Silver-Apples-Of-The-Moon/release/60977
"The modular electronic music system (which is the core of my NYU studio) was built by Donald Buchla for Ramon Sender and myself at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The Three of us worked together for more than a year to develop an electronic music 'machine' that would satisfy our needs as composers. The system generates sound and time configurations, which are predetermined by the composer through a series of 'patches' consisting of interconnecting various voltage-control devices. It is possible to produce a specific predetermined sound event . . . and it is also possible to produce sound events that are predetermined only in generalities . . this means one can 'tell' the machine what kind of event you want without deciding on the specific details of the event . . . and listen . . . and then make final decisions as to the details of the musical gesture. This gives flexibility to score sections of the piece in the traditional sense . . . and to mold other sections (from graphic and verbal notes) like a piece of sculpture." - Morton Subotnick
Tracklist
01 - Silver Apples Of The Moon (Part One)
02 - Silver Apples Of The Moon (Part Two)
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Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000):
01 3rd Planet
02 Gravity Rides Everything
03 Dark Center of the Universe
04 Perfect Disguise
05 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
06 A Different City
07 The Cold Part
08 Alone Down There
09 The Stars are Projectors
10 Wild Packs of Family Dogs
11 Paper Thin Walls
12 I Came as a Rat
13 Lives
14 Life Like Weeds
15 What People are Made of
Genre(s): Indie rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Other participants in this draft have identified important years in music, and as I mentioned in the write-up for my previous pick, the year 2000 was a fantastic year for seminal albums. By this I mean that there were a handful of watershed albums that would go on to define the following two decades of music in fascinating and unexpected ways.
2000 was not necessarily a consistent year for music on the whole, but the best albums from that year were absolutely incredible and deeply influential. If I were to rank them as a top-5, it would go something like this:
1) [Artist yet to appear on the board - Album yet to be picked]
2) Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (Picked by me)
3) At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (Picked by @hrdboild)
4) [Artist already appeared on the board - Album yet to be picked]
5) Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (Picked by me)
I probably won't select my favorite album of the year, as I've selected it in a prior music draft, and I prefer to tread new ground. I may pick the #4 album if I'm feeling so inclined later in the draft (and if an enterprising drafter doesn't suss out which album it might be and pick it for themselves).
For now... The Moon & Antarctica. The title of Modest Mouse's third album was taken from a headline on the front page of the newspaper that Rick Deckard is reading when he is introduced in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner (the full headline reads "Farming the Oceans, the Moon and Antarctica"). I did not know this when I fell in love with The Moon & Antarctica, which I encountered a few years before I became a Blade Runner obsessive.
This album is not necessarily "futuristic" in the classical sense. It's not reaching for sounds that represent a typical "vision of the future." However, it is without question Modest Mouse's most adventurous and experimental sonic outing, as the band finds all kinds of interesting opportunities to lift their sound through the atmosphere. And, lyrically, it is consumed with some of the same themes you'll find in works like Blade Runner. Alienation. Degradation of the human soul. Collapse of the environment.
The Moon and Antarctica can be effectively summed up by the opening verse of the album's opening track: "Everything that keeps us together is falling apart." It feels like an appropriate sentiment for our current moment, and The Moon & Antarctica is the perfect album for taking an hour-long vacation from this Earth, only to end up exactly where you were, a place that is unquestionably human.
01 3rd Planet
02 Gravity Rides Everything
03 Dark Center of the Universe
04 Perfect Disguise
05 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
06 A Different City
07 The Cold Part
08 Alone Down There
09 The Stars are Projectors
10 Wild Packs of Family Dogs
11 Paper Thin Walls
12 I Came as a Rat
13 Lives
14 Life Like Weeds
15 What People are Made of
Genre(s): Indie rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Other participants in this draft have identified important years in music, and as I mentioned in the write-up for my previous pick, the year 2000 was a fantastic year for seminal albums. By this I mean that there were a handful of watershed albums that would go on to define the following two decades of music in fascinating and unexpected ways.
2000 was not necessarily a consistent year for music on the whole, but the best albums from that year were absolutely incredible and deeply influential. If I were to rank them as a top-5, it would go something like this:
1) [Artist yet to appear on the board - Album yet to be picked]
2) Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (Picked by me)
3) At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (Picked by @hrdboild)
4) [Artist already appeared on the board - Album yet to be picked]
5) Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (Picked by me)
I probably won't select my favorite album of the year, as I've selected it in a prior music draft, and I prefer to tread new ground. I may pick the #4 album if I'm feeling so inclined later in the draft (and if an enterprising drafter doesn't suss out which album it might be and pick it for themselves).
For now... The Moon & Antarctica. The title of Modest Mouse's third album was taken from a headline on the front page of the newspaper that Rick Deckard is reading when he is introduced in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner (the full headline reads "Farming the Oceans, the Moon and Antarctica"). I did not know this when I fell in love with The Moon & Antarctica, which I encountered a few years before I became a Blade Runner obsessive.
This album is not necessarily "futuristic" in the classical sense. It's not reaching for sounds that represent a typical "vision of the future." However, it is without question Modest Mouse's most adventurous and experimental sonic outing, as the band finds all kinds of interesting opportunities to lift their sound through the atmosphere. And, lyrically, it is consumed with some of the same themes you'll find in works like Blade Runner. Alienation. Degradation of the human soul. Collapse of the environment.
The Moon and Antarctica can be effectively summed up by the opening verse of the album's opening track: "Everything that keeps us together is falling apart." It feels like an appropriate sentiment for our current moment, and The Moon & Antarctica is the perfect album for taking an hour-long vacation from this Earth, only to end up exactly where you were, a place that is unquestionably human.
Also, I've got my pick nearly ready but I'm having some difficulties with work today and only have a brief moment here to check in. If everyone can chill out for about 2 hours (maybe listen to some of the great music that's already been posted!) I'll return with my selection around 7pm. /PSA
There are just a few artists on my bucket list to see in concert. Cher is one of them. Garth Brooks is another.
When I was starting to compile my album wishlist, I made a list of all the bands/artists I have seen in concert over the years. I was mind-boggled to realize how much good music I had been exposed to. The sad part of the list was the number of bands who have broken up/artists who have passed.
When I was starting to compile my album wishlist, I made a list of all the bands/artists I have seen in concert over the years. I was mind-boggled to realize how much good music I had been exposed to. The sad part of the list was the number of bands who have broken up/artists who have passed.
Fortunately we lived through some great times for music.
Unfortunately all we have of that era of music is the music and the memories of the performers past and present that are still with us.
It’s been said by many of the singer, performers when asked if they could write or compose the songs they did at the beginning. Most of them will tell you they are a different person with different surroundings and influences from years ago.
All we can do is to enjoy it.
The National - Boxer (2007)
(https://www.allmusic.com/album/boxer-mw0000580600)
01. Fake Empire
02. Mistaken For Strangers
03. Brainy
04. Squalor Victoria
05. Green Gloves
06. Slow Show
07. Apartment Story
08. Start A War
09. Guest Room
10. Racing Like a Pro
11. Ada
12. Gospel
Another band from Brooklyn that started in 2001 (just like TV on the Radio), The National have slowly grown into one of the more successful Indie bands of the the last decade. In the past few years I've seen both of them perform sold-out headlining shows at the Hollywood Bowl which is no small achievement for bands which have grown their audiences largely without major label support through word of mouth and relentless touring.
The National's brand of understated rock music is built around the swirling textural guitar playing of twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner with drummer Bryan Devendorf's precise snare, tom, and kick patterns mixed right up in front where they often take on the role traditionally reserved for lead guitar. Tying it all together, Matt Berninger's baritone vocals soberly recount the inconsequential details of a modern urban existence with detached indifference and subtle humor.
I've heard their songs variously described as "dad rock", growers which take several listens to appreciate, and music for drummers -- all of which is probably true -- but they are also notable for Matt's idiosyncratic lyrics which manage to walk a difficult tightrope of skewering the narrator's pompous self-importance while at the same time being ever so slightly self-important themselves. It shouldn't work and if it drifts too far in either direction it wouldn't work but the fact that it so often does is a testament to his songwriting prowess.
In "Mistaken for Strangers" he describes the anonymity of friends passing in the night unnoticed under the silvery light of an illuminated Citibank sign -- a kind of Great Gatsby moment for the new millennium. In "Green Gloves" he attempts to reconnect to old friends by watching pictures and videos online and ends up feeling even more alienated (a feeling which has become all too familiar for many of us). In "Guest Room" he laments that the misbegotten freedom of his youth has been replaced with the stodgy formality of adult polite company: "They'll find us here, here in the guest room, where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my"
I don't think I've ever related more fully to a lyric than I do to this line from the song "Slow Show": "Looking for somewhere to stand and stay, I leaned on the wall, the wall leaned away, Can I get a minute of not being nervous, and not thinking of my ****?" It's not a flattering admission! But that's what I enjoy the most about the entire aesthetic of The National. They are a band that has created their own shadow world of college-educated white collar characters living out lives of quiet desperation but fighting like hell to keep that little scrap of peace they do have. It's as if a rock band were fronted by Samuel Beckett. If any of that sounds appealing to you, congratulations you may have found your new favorite band!
As I'm writing this I just received a gift pack in the mail from The National that included a wristband, knit hat, 3 limited edition records, and some guitar picks because I joined their fan club last year. What a pleasant surprise! I had no idea any of this was coming. Also, as I was writing about At the Drive-In a couple days ago I watched a video with Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine talking about his guitar gear (a video I'd seen before mind you, years ago) and I realized for the first time that the guy doing the interview was actually wearing an At the Drive-In t-shirt! I made my draft plan weeks ago -- who's watching me?
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I've become pretty convinced this one is safe so I keep skipping over it, but I think I've reached the point in the draft where most of my other picks are going to be safe.
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
Everybody knows the big singles, Undone - The Sweater Song, Say It Ain't So and of course the mega-popular Happy Days themed video for Buddy Holly.
Haters may say that video is the only reason anyone ever cared about Weezer but there truly is not a bad song in the bunch, my favorites are No One Else, Surf Wax America, and In the Garage which is my personal favorite of the bunch.
Incidentally this appears to be the first album I've picked where the CD running order is the default. Cool?
1. My Name Is Jonas
2. No One Else
3. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
4. Buddy Holly
5. Undone – The Sweater Song
6. Surf Wax America
7. Say It Ain't So
8. In the Garage
9. Holiday
10. Only in Dreams
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
Everybody knows the big singles, Undone - The Sweater Song, Say It Ain't So and of course the mega-popular Happy Days themed video for Buddy Holly.
Haters may say that video is the only reason anyone ever cared about Weezer but there truly is not a bad song in the bunch, my favorites are No One Else, Surf Wax America, and In the Garage which is my personal favorite of the bunch.
Incidentally this appears to be the first album I've picked where the CD running order is the default. Cool?
1. My Name Is Jonas
2. No One Else
3. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
4. Buddy Holly
5. Undone – The Sweater Song
6. Surf Wax America
7. Say It Ain't So
8. In the Garage
9. Holiday
10. Only in Dreams
I've become pretty convinced this one is safe so I keep skipping over it, but I think I've reached the point in the draft where most of my other picks are going to be safe.
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
Everybody knows the big singles, Undone - The Sweater Song, Say It Ain't So and of course the mega-popular Happy Days themed video for Buddy Holly.
Haters may say that video is the only reason anyone ever cared about Weezer but there truly is not a bad song in the bunch, my favorites are No One Else, Surf Wax America, and In the Garage which is my personal favorite of the bunch.
Incidentally this appears to be the first album I've picked where the CD running order is the default. Cool?
1. My Name Is Jonas
2. No One Else
3. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
4. Buddy Holly
5. Undone – The Sweater Song
6. Surf Wax America
7. Say It Ain't So
8. In the Garage
9. Holiday
10. Only in Dreams
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
Everybody knows the big singles, Undone - The Sweater Song, Say It Ain't So and of course the mega-popular Happy Days themed video for Buddy Holly.
Haters may say that video is the only reason anyone ever cared about Weezer but there truly is not a bad song in the bunch, my favorites are No One Else, Surf Wax America, and In the Garage which is my personal favorite of the bunch.
Incidentally this appears to be the first album I've picked where the CD running order is the default. Cool?
1. My Name Is Jonas
2. No One Else
3. The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
4. Buddy Holly
5. Undone – The Sweater Song
6. Surf Wax America
7. Say It Ain't So
8. In the Garage
9. Holiday
10. Only in Dreams
The story is that after the commercial & critical failure of the second, Rivers decided he'd never write from the heart again and now he keeps spreadsheets full of lyrical phrases and guitar riffs and just composes by mashing them together. I do not know how much truth there is to that but at least in theory Max Martin writes like he's a computer and owns contemporary pop radio so you would think it wouldn't have held Weezer back as much as it has?
I've become pretty convinced this one is safe so I keep skipping over it, but I think I've reached the point in the draft where most of my other picks are going to be safe.
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
Weezer - Weezer (1994) (The Blue Album)
Back in 2008 I went with a different Weezer album, and I still think that one is superior in many ways but they ultimately make a perfect pair. And given the current times I'd rather have the pop album than the emo one.
I'm pretty sure that 'Say It Ain't So" is the best song they've ever done, but aside from that the second half of the album (which is like a 7.5 instead of the 9.5 of the first half) drags it down a tiny bit for me. But "safe"? Heh.
Well...I don't know if I'd say it was safe. I didn't intend to take it because I prefer the one you picked in 2008 (which I picked in the last album draft). But it was always there in the back of my mind, and maybe I'd have changed up and gone for it at any moment.
I'm pretty sure that 'Say It Ain't So" is the best song they've ever done, but aside from that the second half of the album (which is like a 7.5 instead of the 9.5 of the first half) drags it down a tiny bit for me. But "safe"? Heh.
I'm pretty sure that 'Say It Ain't So" is the best song they've ever done, but aside from that the second half of the album (which is like a 7.5 instead of the 9.5 of the first half) drags it down a tiny bit for me. But "safe"? Heh.
There are just a few artists on my bucket list to see in concert. Cher is one of them. Garth Brooks is another.
When I was starting to compile my album wishlist, I made a list of all the bands/artists I have seen in concert over the years. I was mind-boggled to realize how much good music I had been exposed to. The sad part of the list was the number of bands who have broken up/artists who have passed.
When I was starting to compile my album wishlist, I made a list of all the bands/artists I have seen in concert over the years. I was mind-boggled to realize how much good music I had been exposed to. The sad part of the list was the number of bands who have broken up/artists who have passed.
https://www1.ticketmaster.com/cher-...-california-10-14-2020/event/1C005759922537D8
We are going to be over in Section 210.