USE/BE SOMEBODY

It's been almost a month since a drunken post about my band. Why has it been so long? Because it's hard work.

Starting a completely new profession from scratch is hard. It's especially hard because for the first 30 years of my life I have deliberately shied away from anything that I didn't take to immediately. I worked in music because it was easy. I liked bands because it was easy to like them. I have friends who are easy to get on with and it's not hard to keep in contact with them, or to maintain the friendships.

Things I didn't do because they were hard:

Learn an instrument

Do something worthwhile

Have girlfriends

Now I am completely changing my life but not really the way I live my life. I'd like to be somebody a little better than who I am. And I could use somebody to help me do that. But in the age old catch 22 scenario, I can't get somebody unless I change, but I need somebody to help me change.

Bugger.

But hey, at least the new Mogwai album is good.

Fuck it, this may all be to do with going to ANOTHER wedding. 

Circa '65

Making a beeline for this as soon as term is over.

Such a sweetheart

The music may not be as amazing as it used to be, but the live show is even better now.

THE BAKERSFIELD PRISON PHILARMONIC

My band, The Bakersfield Prison Philarmonic, are in the studio at the moment. Let me tell you, it's been good bouncing off each other to make the music, but my job as band leader is becoming increasingly difficult. 

For a start, its really difficult to come up with vocal melodies. I know I should start with that but the chemistry between the band is so good that we work on the music first and those songs sound so good that I have to put the melodies to the music, which is a difficult way of working. Should I be just writing the lyrics and the melody comes after? Well, we'll see.

Tracklisting so far is:

Advanced Knife Skills

Clouds

Dial S Twice For The St. John Smythe

An Increase In Positive Mass

Taking The Bridge Is Our Only Chance Of Safety

I will make a crude videos for a couple of songs to upload them soon, as it appears you can only upload videos and not music to blogger.

RUN FOR COVER

Alkaline Trio is making it into the Top 10.

Current ipod playlist currently is:

Paramore - Decode

Alkaline Trio - Over And Out

Alexisonfire - No Transitory

Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody

Ladyhawke - My Delirium

Backstreet Boys - Incomplete

The Bronx - Six Days A Week

Amerie - Gotta Work

The Bronx - History's Stranglers

Razorlight - Wire To Wire

Oasis - The Turning

Still reading:

That's the Count Of Monte Cristo for all without a mirror.

GEEKCORE

With only x weeks until the end of the year (insert applicable number), it may aswell be time to draft the album of the year list. There's not much still to come (that I haven't heard) and I'm not holding out much for the Killers album after the first single.

So here we go

1-5 (in no order - yet)

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement: A late surge after the Electric Proms show - watch it HERE

Panic At The Disco - Pretty. Odd.: Best reinvention of 2008

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: Released last year I know, but not in UK.

The Bronx - The Bronx: Third album, just got it, still listening to it. Expect a climb after the gig tomorrow.

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges: Brilliantly 70s. How about the Black Cab Session of Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt 2 HERE (and Bon Iver too)

6-10 (in no order - yet)

Metallica - Death Magnetic

Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night

Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

That's all at them moment. I'll need two more albums of course. And Fall Out Boy is still to come.

DESKCORE

Here is my desk (without the computer which is being used to take the picture while Pulp plays on Adam & Joe on 6music in the background. I used to think I liked Pulp but it's not me - too British).

Things to note about the photo:

1. Everything's reversed for some reason. Does Photobooth always do that?

2. Files - You may notice that the Option Module and Maths Specialism are upside down. I will have to rectify that.

3. Hole punch with NEATO written on it in tippex. That's so you know it belongs to NEATO.

4. Videos - there are four on the desk. One is a pre recorded VHS by the Red Hot Chili Peppers called Psychedelic Sexfunk Live From Heaven. I don't think it is available anymore. The other three contain bits I've recorded from the TV. I would like to put them onto DVD one day but I'm not sure what the quality is. I haven't had a VHS player for three years. But what is on the 3 I hear you ask. Well I'll tell you.

The first one says Glastonbury on it. I think it is from 1995. I recorded a lot of clips from channel 4. Listed are: Oasis, Supergrass, Prodigy, Reef, Ash, Live, Boo Radleys, Jeff Buckley, Jamiroquai, Tommy Cockles, Noel Gallagher, Offspring, Bootleg Beatles, Morphine, Verve, Elastica, Tricky.

The Second One says Will's Tape Bog Off. Included are: Pearl Jam Unplugged, Wicked Garden - Stone Temple Pilots, Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms, Insane In The Brain - Cypress Hill, Soul TO Squeeze - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Farnborough 1st Round FA Cup Report, No Rain - Blind Melon, Creep - Stone Temple Pilots, Stone Temple Pilots Unplugged, Life Of Agony Report, Oasis on Jools Holland, Without Walls The Kinks, Ozone Oasis Special, MTV Oasis, Wonderwall - Oasis.

Finally the third one says: Live Unplugged, dEUS live, Green Day live, David Letterman w/ Oasis (written Dave Letterman), Beatles Thing, Oasis on Jools Holland (a different one).

Also on the desk are:

Bumblebee Man

Glasses

Rubberband ball

Business Cards

Kleenex

Some CDrs

Purple stapler

I KNOW THEY'RE WATCHING

Dorian Gray: I enjoyed it but it was almost too Oscar Wilde. Obviously that book (and others) are what he's known for but it was like he was stuffing it full of as many epigrams as humanly possible. I was quite impressed with myself of remarking to Chester that I thought the three characters were the three sides to his personality, and then I read elsewhere afterwards that that is what he said himself. Or maybe that is so obvious that anyone could see it.

Dig Out Your Soul: Maybe the first album without the almighty lighters in the air moment that you're waiting for. I like, but I see it as a sound rather than an album. Almost a project for them rather than the album you've been waiting the last two years for. And now we have to wait another two years for the next one. 

Only By The Night: There's another small step towards being the next U2. It's no Joshua Tree but in Use Somebody they have their first stadium anthem. I think there will be more to come.

X Factor: I like Diana the best, but by week 3/4 they'll start saying she's a one trick pony. There's only so many indie ballads you can turn into floaty acoustic numbers. God help her on the Abba round.

Maths: College has given me a renewed interest in Maths. I watched the History of Maths programme and now I'm obsessed with Fibonacci and the golden ratio. If I could cut and paste properly, I would imbed the youtube video of the Fibonacci series in Lateralus, but instead I'll just link it here.

College: Since school fortnight, the group is now quite chatty and the divides are being breached on a daily basis. Hopefully we can all be friends and not just the people that seemed to have paired up. 

A Thrice gig I'm planning to watch is here.

I need to organise my room a bit as it seems to contain my life at the moment.

Since I bought the Mac and all the iTUnes history got deleted, the most played song is Metallica - The Unforgiven III (27 plays)

I'm contemplating a Facebook purge. Haven't you all got a load of 'friends' who you either met once, were friends of people you no longer talk to, or people from your past who you have no intention of seeing ever again? And will they know if you delete them?

Current reading: A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

Current playlist: Oasis - Bag It Up

Kings Of Leon - Be Somebody

Paramore - Decode

Tool - Lateralus

Funeral For A Friend - The Sweetest Wave

Oasis - The Turning

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

Backstreet Boys - Incomplete

The National - Apartment Story

Oasis - Falling Down

Fall Out Boy - I Don't Care

Coldplay - Lost

Current watching: Entourage, X Factor, The History Of Maths, Spongebob Squarepants (especially this bit)

GIRLS TALK

One week into my new life and this is what I have to say: What do women talk about?

There's about 230 people, about 200 are women and about 30 are men. No one has met anyone before (or so we assume) and they all arrive randomly to a location for the same time. The only thing they have in common is that they are there for the same reason (which they all know). After two hours, some of the women have divided into twos, threes and fours. Then men are pretty much all together. The next day, some of the women are arriving together, having lunch together and talking continuously, whereas the men will still have lunch in threes or fours. 

By then end of day three, the women are in their groups of three and four and are pretty much inseparable.

I like to think of myself as affable although I don't approach people unless I have something to say and small talk is something I find very hard to do without shared subject knowledge. But I can in no way talk to someone I've just met for the amount of time that these women have. What are they talking about?

I can only conclude that either women are friendlier to each other than men are, or they have more in common with each other. Men like football (some do), music (but there are different types) and women (but not all do). I won't talk to people about women unless I know them very well, so that leaves music and football. And that can only last so long.

Or maybe they like to judge people on their personality and not their appearance, like me. For shame.

QUIET NUMSKULLS

I can't go in the bathroom. The floor looks (and feels) like treacle. There's a small piece of wood to lean to when I attempt a bath later this evening. God this is becoming a bind. As the Americans would say, 'just finish already'.

Currently re-hooked on Little Steven's Underground Garage. I especially like the little film clips inbetween the songs and then something brilliant like Last Train To Clarksville kicks in. I can just about let him off playing Elvis Costello and the Sex Pistols. I don't hate Elvis Costello like I do the Sex Pistols, I just can't get into him. It's the voice I think. As for the Pistols, well I accept how important they were, but Black Flag and the Germs were doing it without ever really knowing about what was going on in London, Black Flag especially. If you want to learn about making a statement against the then current life in the late 70s/early 80s watch American Hardcore.

So now Curbishley has gone as well (as well as Keegan who hasn't gone). I think these managers are a little quick to jump ship just because they don't get their way. So what if one of your players got sold. Who do you think you are? Chelsea? Man City? The problem with it is that the managerial merry-go-round continues. No one gets a chance these days so it'll be some Frenchman or other we've never heard of or whoever's been out of work for the last few months (Big Sam?). What's come out of this latest transfer window is that football clubs are becoming so close to actual businesses rather than how football clubs used to be run. In any other business you wouldn't consult your team manager if you wanted to bring someone in, nor would you care if you had to lay someone off for monetary reasons. But what do I know, I hate business.

MONEY - THAT'S WHAT I WANT

Shit, completely forgot to wax lyrical about the transfer deadline.

Berbatov - Well that always ended up how it was going to, but nice one Spurs for making them sweat and pay what they asked for. Frazier Campbell for a season loan means sod all in terms of money value. But Spurs got over £30m and a backup striker. So they win. And well done Man City for trying to scupper the move (although that may be the end of Mark Hughes becoming United manager - but most people said that when he joined City). Personally, if I was Sir Alex, at 23.30 I would have just said "Sod it, let's just get Owen for £4m". But it seems not all people like him.

Robinho - Well well well. Two points to make here. 

1) Does he know where he's going? I'm sure he does; I'm also sure he's getting paid £120k a week too. Yes they are in Europe and yes Ronaldinho went to Barca when they weren't even in Europe, but that was Barca. I just don't want him to piss off when this season doesn't work out exactly as planned.

2) I also hope these new owners get all shirty when City don't finish fourth. It took Chelsea a few seasons to get in the 'elite'. Thaksin made zero friends when he sacked Sven so Doctor Whatshischops will make even less if Sparky gets the boot for Guus Hiddink or Frank Rijkaard or whoever they're willing to pay for.

But the upshot of all this is that both Villa and City have made serious in roads to the 'Top 4'. We may see a change in heirarchy soon. And why not? It's only been like this for a few years. Before there was Liverpool and Everton, Newcastle etc. Every club is one investor away from the top 4. Shit, QPR have enough cash now to buy the Champions League.

Anyway, no one will care about any of this if England lose to Croatia and limp past Andorra.

LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD

I take back what I said; I now do like the new Metallica song. And Cyanide, the other new one. The video is here. It helps when you see them playing it. And if I've read the email correspondence properly, I should be seeing them on 15th. Nice.

As well as Ryan blogging about his current tour, Noel is too. 

College starts tomorrow. Apprehension isn't as rife as it should be. I remember being the most anxious (body anxious, not just mind anxious) before I was about to go to university. But I suppose that was when I was leaving home for the first time aged 18, and now I'm 30 and have been living alone for 2 1/2 years. I bought a nice red paper file type thing, and stuck a Revelation Records sticker on it - Hardcore. Maybe I still am 18.

BOTTLES AND CANS

Does Deborah Meaden (or however you spell it) invest in anything? Or should I say, does she ever say - I like this. I'm going to invest. I don't watch Dragon's Den religiously but as far as I've seen she only invests when someone else wants to so she doesn't look stupid. So, in my opinion, she's the shrewdest 'Dragon'.

Best songs in the world right now:

Slipknot - Sulphur

Three Dog Night - One (Apple advert I know)

Anything by The MC5

The Verve album isn't that good, but it's only had one listen.

As much as enjoy having baths every night, it really is eating into my telly/film time. Yes, I can now watch TV from the bath but my glasses steam up from the hot water. So roll on the shower being fitted. The tiles look nice, even without grouting. And as soon as it's done it's time to move out.

Other things to enjoy:

Cardinals blog

Rotation Game

Rollo Grady

Apples & Raisins

THE ART OF PROCRASTINATION

With less than two weeks before the new life starts, I have still got things to do. As with everything I do, one thing has to finish before the next starts, multi-tasking (so long business speak) is not my forte. So as I wait for a sofa to be delivered, instead of doing the tasks or reading some textbooks, I am watching cycling at an angle from a freshly moved sofa. 

The flat will look great but I won't be experiencing it.

But three tasks in a week and a half won't be tricky. As long as I do them.

I am obsessed with that 100m final on Saturday. I didn't see it live as I was in a church. First time we've seen locals out the front of a church as we, the guests, went in. Not sure if they were there at the end as we went out the back and it was raining pretty hard by then. But that Usain Bolt is amazing. Every time I watch it I feel like I'm watching some sort of superhuman. How fast can a man actually run? But I don't think he's as fast over 200m. Michael Johnson's record will stay, maybe.

CLAAADS

WHERE ART THOU BRODY?

Albums Of The Year 2003 (written 17/12/2003)

10. Ryan Adams - Rock N Roll

The antidote to his two part aborted album Love Is Hell. Straight up rock - no frills.

Standout track: Wish You Were Here

  9. The White Stripes - Elephant

Jack and Meg beef their sound on their fourth album, but stay true to their blues roots

Standout track: Ball And Biscuit

  8. The Donnas - Spend The Night

What could be better than four girls singing about boys in a Ramones style?

Standout track: You Wanna Get Me High

  7. The Darkness - Permission To Land

Spandex, guitar solos and falsetto vocals. Irony sold separately.

Standout track: Stuck In A Rut

  6. Oceansize - Effloresce

Could launch the new wave of prog rock. The closing three songs is half an hour of wonder.

Standout track: Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs

  5. Kings Of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood

Three brothers and a cousin rocking tales of American south church town life.

Standout track: California Waiting

  4. The Electric Soft Parade - The American Adventure

The brothers White turn their back on Britpop for a Pink Floyd inspired masterpiece.

Standout track: The American Adventure

  3. The Strokes - Room On Fire

Second album and business as usual, with added inclusion of Soul and Reggae.

Standout track: Reptilia

  2. Josh Rouse - 1972

Written to sound it was made in 1972. If only everything released that year was this good.

Standout track: James

  1. The Distillers - Coral Fang

Brody Dalle combines the break up of one relationship and the beginning of another (with Tim Armstrong and Josh Homme respectively) to great effect with this intense album. All hail Brody, the new queen of rock.

Standout track: The Hunger 

CAPE N ORC 2

Six Of The Best: New Prog Masterpieces (written 03/11/2003)

1. Mansun - Six

Lyrical References include Winnie The Pooh and The Marquis De Sade, and all are included on the front cover too. Six has two parts and an interlude featuring Tom Baker

2. Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Ladies & Gentlemen was packaged as if it was a pill from a pharmacy, and featured Dr John on 17 minute final track Cop Shoot Cop.

3. Sigur Ros - ( )

No album title, no song titles, no information bar a website address on the inlay, lyrics in Icelandic and a made up language and only 8 tracks. Genius.

4. Mogwai - Mogwai Young Team

The debut album from the Scottish instrumentalists is built around two ten minute plus songs, Like Herod and Mogwai Fear Satan. The transition from barely audible guitars to sonic waves is mind blowing.

5. Tool - Lateralus

Tool's third album runs in close to eighty minutes and includes a 'trilogy' of songs, Disposition, Reflection and Triad, to be listened to as one.

6. Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden

Following three albums of near New Romantic pop, Mark Hollis shunned singles in favour of an album of 4 spiralling tracks. Their record company subsequently dropped them, unjustly.

(PS I just got a Mac and posting pictures like this has become the biggest bitch because I can't seem to resize any of the pictures)

THROW YOUR CAPE OVER AN ORC

Is Your Favourite Band Turning Prog? (written 01/11/2003)

Without even knowing it, you could quite easily be slipping into a world of Prog Rock. This doesn’t necessarily mean concept albums of orcs and 12 minute bass solos, but there is a danger it could be. Here are nine tell tale signs that you’ve just bought a Prog rock album.

1. It has come in unique, fancy packaging.
2. There are only 9 tracks.
3. One or more tracks is over seven minutes in length
4. Tracks don’t have titles
5. There are no vocals, but the songs are profoundly named
6. The album has two parts, and perhaps an interlude.
7. There are two discs, each with a different title
8. The band are influenced by Talk Talk
9. It is produced by Tim Friese-Greene

It is as if every artist has a Prog album in them, bursting to be recorded. The Electric Soft Parade have gone from Britpop to Pink Floyd in one step and it seems as though Elbow are desperately fighting their Prog masterpiece. Even Gareth Gates has released a double album following Prog rule number 7.

Many bands fail to recover from their Prog album. Mansun released two fantastic concept albums but then took all of that away on their third album, Little Kix. This was nowhere near as good as Attack Of The Grey Lantern and Six, and now the band is no more. Spiritualized tried to replicate the style of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space on Let It Come Down, but failed to repeat the success. To combat this, Jason Pierce has taken a garage rock attitude and recorded Amazing Grace in two weeks. Cave In went from 8 track albums to a straight up rock album. They have now been reported saying that they will take the style of Prog hardcore band Isis for their next album.

There are many acts who we wait and see what they do next. Tool have grown from writing 5 minute rock songs, to a standard time of eight minutes. But this has taken three albums to get there. Where next for Tool? Will they take a leaf out of Yes and Talk Talk’s book and record an album of four songs? Or like Mike Patton’s Fantomas and release a CD containing one seventy minute track? Sigur Ros’s last album had no title, no song names and no words, so how can they ever take another forward step from there?

Where next for bands such as The Mars Volta and Oceansize. Both have released mammoth debut albums this year, with seemingly no room for growth. How do you follow an album with 3 ten minute songs on it? They certainly aren’t going to start writing 3 minute pop songs

The question is, although the pomposity will always be frowned upon, can the band’s overblown Prog album ever be topped? So if your favourite band is about to turn Prog, be careful, it may just be the best thing they will ever do.

THEY CALL ME THE SWAN

Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits (written 30/10/2003)

Under The Bridge
Give It Away
Californication
Scar Tissue
Soul To Squeeze
Otherside
Suck My Kiss
By The Way
Parallel Universe
Breaking The Girl
My Friends
Higher Ground
Universally Speaking
Road Trippin'
Fortune Faded

Save The Population

The previous best of album the Red Hot Chili Peppers put out was rightly entitled What Hits?, as only two tracks from the release ever made into the charts. One of those songs, Under The Bridge, features on this compilation, correctly titled Greatest Hits.

It is no coincidence that the Chili Peppers hit big with their fifth album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. They had a new record label, a fantastic producer in Rick Rubin and the same line up for two consecutive albums for the first time. Blood Sugar was a wonderful album, a classic if you will, and four of its tracks are featured here. These tracks, along with Blood Sugar outtake Soul To Squeeze, show the true wonder of guitarist John Frusciante (check out documentary Funky Monks to see Frusciante putting everything into the recording of these songs).

After Frusciante left the band in 1992, the Chili Peppers struggled to find a guitarist that fit with the band. To compare sixth album One Hot Minute with any of the other albums featured on this Greatest Hits collection would be wrong. When a band writes as equally as this one, the songs will be driven the guitarist, and Dave Navarro and John Frusciante come from different schools. When you listen to Navarro’s later work on his solo album and latest Jane’s Addiction album Strays, you can tell he is more straight rock than the soul of Frusciante. With the band currently not playing any songs live from One Hot Minute, it is understandable that only My Friends is included here.

Frusciante’s return from professional heroin addiction in 1999 heralded Californication, the Peppers’ most successful album to date. A more mature Anthony Keidis sings much more than usual and Flea almost completely leaves behind his trademark slap bass. Wisdom is shown in the slower songs like Otherside and Scar Tissue, but the most remarkable difference with this album was the introduction of Frusciante’s vocal harmonies. Sublime.

The band continued to move in the same direction on their most recent, and arguably best album, By The Way. The songs from that, along with new song Fortune Faded, show how much the band has changed, not only from the beginning of their career but also from Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

All in all, this is the Greatest Hits of John Frusciante. It is a shame that the singles released do not show the guitarist’s full range. Album tracks such as My Lovely Man, This Velvet Glove and Minor Thing are sadly missing from a collection based purely on singles. But then again, you should own all the albums anyway.

MY LOVELY MAN

Six Of The Best: Rick Rubin produced albums (written 28/10/2003)



Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Rubin transformed the Chili Peppers from funk wannabes into fully-fledged songwriters, and whilst doing so was welcomed into the band as their studio fifth member.




Rage Against The Machine – Renegades

Shortly before they split, Rage Against The Machine recorded this album of cover versions that show off their talents as performers and raises a glass to the bands who inspired them.




Johnny Cash – American III

All of Cash’s American Recordings should really be included, but the third in the series, entitled Solitary Man, gives sparse and isolated recordings of Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down and most notably U2’s One.




The Mars Volta – De-Loused In The Comatorium

Having split At The Drive-in, Omar Rodriguez and Cedric Bixler were intent on making challenging music. In the hands of any other producer, this could have turned unlistenable, but Rubin hones all the ideas and skills to create a stunning album.



Beastie Boys – License To Ill

Having already produced the two ends of the popular music spectrum with Run DMC and Slayer, Rubin brought the two together for the first time on the Beastie Boys’ No Sleep Till Brooklyn, on which Slayer’s Kerry King played guitar. The Beastie Boys will always be remembered for this album.



Audioslave – Audioslave

Originally called Civilian, it was Rubin who brought together Chris Cornell and the musical section of Rage Against The Machine to form an unlikely band. The album brilliantly combines the individual qualities of both parties.

LISTENING TO NEBRASKA

Six Of The Best: Americana (written 22/10/2003)


Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac

The second album from Ryan Adams’ previous band is an alt. country masterpiece. While Adams’ later work references New York and Los Angeles, Strangers Almanac tells tales of old souls from nameless small towns in the heart of America.
Best tracks: 16 Days, Houses On The Hill
See also: Faithless Street, Pneumonia



16 Horsepower – Sackcloth N Ashes

Even the front cover of 16 Horsepower’s first album scares the hell out of you. The sound of the Appalachian Mountains via Denver, 16 Horsepower deliver a thoroughly terrifying sound fronted by the incredible banjo-playing son of a preacher, David Eugene Edwards.
Best Tracks: American Wheeze, Heel On The Shovel
See Also: Low Estate, Secret South



Calexico – The Black Light

Drawing on Ennio Morricone as a main influence, Joey Burns and John Convertino took the lessons learnt from playing with Friends Of Dean Martinez and Giant Sand to create one of the finest Americana albums ever. The whole recording sounds as if you were on the American-Mexican border (hence Calexico) and superbly blends instrumental cinematic pieces with songs of fleeing town and bloodshed.
Best Tracks: Minas De Cobre, Trigger
See Also: Hot Rail, Feast Of Wire



Midnight Choir – Olsen’s Lot

Although coming from very un-American Norway, Midnight Choir head a strong European alt. country movement (followed closely by St. Thomas). Their second album, Olsen’s Lot, brings together the sounds of Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and Chris Isaak and is a monumental recording.
Best Tracks: Jeff Bridges, Heavy Rain
See Also: Amsterdam Stranded, Unsung Heroine



Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska

Perhaps the original alt. country album, Bruce Springsteen recorded Nebraska by himself on a 4 track, fully intending to turn each song into a full band composition. However, it was decided that the songs, with their subject matter of small town criminals and loners, were better suited to the way they were originally recorded.
Best Tracks: Atlantic City, Johnny 99
See Also: The Ghost Of Tom Joad



Gillian Welch – Revival

Before she made her name on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, Gillian Welch made two albums with her partner (both musically and personally) David Rawlings. The first of these, Revival, breathes new life into the front porch country sound.
Best Tracks: Pass You By, Tear My Stillhouse Down
See Also: Hell Among The Yearlings, Time (The Revelator)

SPRING CLEAN

With literally only 5 working days left at this job, I have been clearing out the work computer so that whoever gets it in the future doesn't see all the pictures and crap I've stored up over the last 7 years.

However I have found a series of reviews and articles I wrote when we had a website and I was required to write something every week. Obviously this didn't last very long as there aren't that many, but between late 2003 and early 2005 I was a writer.

So while I wait to finish work and use my free time to do something inspiring, I will post some of these.



REVIEW: RYAN ADAMS - ROCK N ROLL (written 10/10/2003)

This Is It
Shallow
1974
Wish You Were Here
So Alive
Luminol
Burning Photographs
She's Lost Total Control
Note To Self: Don't Die
Rock N Roll
Anybody Wanna Take Me Home
Do Miss America
Boys The Drugs Not Working


Ryan Adams is a great rock star. He has been in band that split just before they would have become huge, he smokes, he is regularly drunk on stage, he has admitted to using a variety of drugs, he lives next to two of The Strokes and he has dated celebrities.

He also has public outbursts (a slanging match with Jack White through the music press) and has threatened to quit music on his message board (due to his record company supposedly rejecting his Love Is Hell album). But most of his outbursts come across via his records. On the title track of his new record, Rock N Roll, he references his threat to quit with the lines “Everybody’s cool playing rock n roll, I don’t feel cool, feel cool at all.” This song however, with its up tempo title, is the most melancholy, sonically, on the album. The rest listens like an eighties rock homage. And it is very rock n roll.

Opener This Is It seems like a direct response to the Love Is Hell debacle – “Don’t waste my time. This is it. This is really happening.” And with his reputation as the prolific songwriter extraordinaire, it is fitting that the entire album starts with the words “Let me sing a song for you that’s never been sung before”.

On his previous album, Gold, Adams aimed high with his songs. Touch, Feel And Lose was a blatant soul song, and Nobody Girl had a 5 minute guitar solo. This time around, he has not over exerted himself, but adds parts to the songs that take them to greater levels. Wish You Were Here could have been only an adequate song, but Adams vocals take off in the last thirty seconds. A snarl worthy of Liam Gallagher lifts both 1974 and Note To Self: Don’t Die, and a Morrissey like vocal on So Alive makes the song what the title suggests.
The great thing about Ryan Adams now, is that after the three different albums of Heartbreaker, Gold and Rock N Roll, you have no idea where he will go next. Rest assured, it won’t disappoint.