Music Bullets, 6-18-07

• A couple of Bonnaroo notes from the weekend: 1) Get well soon, Mr. Ornette Coleman. He's slowly starting to get the recognition he's deserved for a while, and he needs to stick around a while. 2) Ben Harper, John Paul Jones, and ?uestlove doing a Zeppelin medley? Wow. 3) (Also from that last link) Lily Allen can drink.
• A Lou Pearlman money scheme. Not surprising--he's been bilking customers out of their money for years. Seriously, it's hard to think of one person who did more to damage the state of popular music (which damages itself just fine) than this guy.
• I’m just now putting 2 and 2 together on this one: this year marks the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper, the 30th anniversary of Nevermind the Bollocks..., the 20th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, and the 10th anniversary of OK Computer. Which begs the question...when is this year’s amazingly, earth-shatteringly momentous album going to be released? And by whom? My guess: Kanye. Well...he’s the most likely to try, anyway.

Read More...

Summary only...

Saturday Night Music Club...

With the release of their latest album, Era Vulgaris, on Tuesday, I figured now's a good time for a nice Queens of the Stone Age flashback...here's some "Little Sister" for you...

Read More...

Summary only...

Paris Co-Hosting "The View"

One of the certain secondary stories in the histories to be written of this god-forsaken, self-indulgent period of our nation will be how often integrity and principle lined up on one side and Barbara Walters was on the other.

Read More...

Summary only...

Knocked Up

Saw "Knocked Up" today. It's good. Don't have much to add that the other bloggers haven't hit on. Didn't get as much out of the stoner guys as some reviewers, but it may have been because my wife was with me. The Boy and I used to go to some teenage sex movies without her (with no askance looks from others in the audience, I assure you) because she thinks some things and guys are too gross for words, much less to laugh at. It's good she didn't visit The Boy more often at college, I think, especially his last year getting his MBA.

In any case, the story is good, sweet, and responsible, which are neither liberal nor conservative, and neither group should condemn or claim the movie. How low have we gotten in our discourse when two oddly matched people fall in love and start a family, whether it was their original plan or not, causes debate? The movie is right. Make your plans, make yourself ready to have them blown up, take responsibility for what you get, and move on. That's a message we need to hear a lot more of in our movies, one every segment of our society should take seriously. Let's hope this starts a trend in Hollywood. The Boy and I will keep taking my wife if they will.

Read More...

Summary only...

Sgt. Pepper vs Revolver

M. Duss has a nice post up over at Alter Destiny regarding the ongoing discussion of Sgt. Pepper (it's come up a lot lately due to its 40th anniversary). He discusses the ongoing 'Sgt. Pepper vs Revolver' debate, and he makes a point about George Martin that I'm not sure anybody's explored in great enough detail...at least not in any of these magazine articles.

If I have one nit to pick with Rosen's article, it is that while he recognizes Sgt. Pepper's as a nostalgic look back on Old England, he does not go the next step of recognizing the figure in the studio with the Beatles who represented, to some extent, a connection to that England, and who became the midwife, so to speak, of the musical and cultural revolution which the Beatles brought forth: George Martin. Fifteen years older than the Four, the picture of buttoned-down, proper Englishness, Martin was of the generation from whose hands the Beatles and their cohort would wrench the torch. Ironically, perhaps, Martin would help them do it. It was Martin who, after they had been rejected by other London labels, decided to take a chance on the group, recognizing in them the charm and humor that would make them not just musical but cultural icons. It was Martin who, unable to decide which of the four should be featured as the group's leader, made the seminal decision they were best presented as a group. Most importantly, it was Martin whose traditional musical education, and own playful experimentalism, enabled him to realize on tape the sounds that the Beatles heard in their heads. If there's any revisionism which needs to take place here, it's that Martin should be better recognized as a key component to the Beatles' music and moment.

In the middle of leaving a long comment about it in response, I realized that said comment could/should be a post of my own. So here's my (slightly edited) comment:

Sgt. Pepper has always been regarded by the general public as The Beatles' greatest album, and that's fine I guess. I will always prefer Revolver, and my main test of how strong a "Best Albums of All-Time" list is is whether or not they have Sgt. Pepper #1 (I consider ranking it #1 as a major cop-out, and I immediately discount the quality of the rest of the list...but then, I can be a major snob sometimes*)...however, I guess I do need to acknowledge that Sgt. Pepper's cultural impact was unprecedented.

That does mean, though, that as time continues to pass and the number of people who lived with the impact of Sgt. Pepper in the present tense begins to diminish, my guess is that its perception too will diminish, at least slightly. Cultural impact will mean less and less, and pure song quality (and Revolver is far superior in this regard) will matter more.

* As a sometimes major snob, I also feel compelled to mention that I'm slightly dismayed that conventional wisdom (among music nerds and magazines who claim to be written by music nerds, anyway) is beginning to lean towards Revolver. Major snobs enjoy being in the vocal minority. And they are never ever satisfied when they get their way.

Kind of like Republicans.

Read More...

Summary only...

Best Songs and Albums of 2007 (so far)

Welcome to Good Nonsense! Be sure to check out the Music archives here and on the left sidebar. And don't be afraid to leave comments!

---

We’re officially 43.3% of the way through 2007, so you know what that means...another “Best of 2007 (so far)” list!

And just in case you don’t read all the way to the bottom, I'll say this now: I’m soliciting advice on other purchases to make here. What great 2007 albums/songs have I missed out on so far? And for the love of God, where the hell is the hip hop? This has so far been the worst year of hip hop that I can recall. Granted, Talib Kweli’s new album is finally dropping in July (after like a decade of delays), and that will help, but...what else is out there? I've got to be missing something. One solid hip hop album is pathetic.

Songs
1. Rehab, Amy Winehouse
2. Truth Is, Brother Ali
3. You Know I’m No Good, Amy Winehouse
4. You Got Me, Elk City
5. On and On and On, Wilco
6. Intervention, Arcade Fire
7. Spitting Venom, Modest Mouse
8. What Light, Wilco
9. How Come You Don’t Hold Me No More?, The Hot Puppies
10. I Must Belong Somewhere, Bright Eyes
11. We’re Not Alone, Dinosaur Jr.
12. Tears Dry on Their Own, Amy Winehouse
13. (Antichrist Television Blues), Arcade Fire
14. Soul Singer in a Session Band, Bright Eyes
15. Dashboard, Modest Mouse
16. 2 O’Clock in the A.M., Swati
17. Find You, Andy Zipf
18. Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
19. Cler Achel, Tinariwen
20. Gallina, Ozomatli

Honorable Mention:
1980 World Champion, The Bad Plus
Esa Morena, Ozomatli
Everybody Knows, Ryan Adams
How Do I Let a Good Man Down, Sharon Jones & the Dap-King
If the Brakeman Turns My Way, Bright Eyes
Keep the Car Running, Arcade Fire
Parting of the Sensory, Modest Mouse
Side With the Seeds, Wilco
Walken, Wilco

And while we’re at it, let’s look at the best albums as well.

Albums
1. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black – As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not impressed with excess, and the travails of Winehouse’s excess have definitely made the rounds. It helped her get on the cover of Rolling Stone, for instance. But when the album’s this good, it doesn’t seem to matter as much. For instance, Pete Doherty is the current king of excess, but he hasn’t exactly made the RS cover. It still takes talent and success (I guess it still sometimes only takes the latter, not the former). This album is just fantastic. As you see above, it has two of my favorite three songs from 2007 on it (and four of the Top 20), and the mix of current R&B and old Motown sound (and a bit of hip hop) is beyond refreshing. And you have to love that she used the word “f---ery” as one of the key lyricals components of one of her songs (“Me and Mr. Jones”). It will take quite a bit for this album to not end the year as #1 on my list.

2. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky – As has been mentioned here many times before, Wilco never does what is expected of them. With Nels Cline onboard, it would have just been too easy to make a rocking powerhouse of an album. Instead, they stepped back and created a set of reserved, mature songs, and while the “I love it when Wilco rocks out!” side of me was disappointed, there is still nothing but quality here...really, not a single misstep.

3. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible – I loved it the first time I heard it, I was underwhelmed the second time, then I really loved it the third time. Guess I just have to be in the right mood for it...

4. Brother Ali, The Undisputed Truth – The only hip hop album on the list, which I addressed above. There’s really only one major standout track on the album (“Truth Is”), but every song is good. Ali’s mix of honesty, emotion, and battle-rapping skills mean just about anything he raps on is going to be good, and there’s nothing better than when he raises his game a notch here and there. If anything, the lack of diversity in production on this album holds Ali back a bit (things start sounding the same after a while), but the lyrics, subject matter, and delivery are high-quality.

5. Bright Eyes, Cassadega – This one’s growing on me. The first time I listened to it, I thought it was fine, but nothing amazing. The second, I thought much higher of it...guess I need to keep listening to it then.

6. Elk City, New Believers – This might go up or down after a couple more listens, but for now I’ll stick it here. I mentioned the discovery of Elk City in my latest My Month of Entertainment, and I’ll expand a bit here. Start with the sound of every European band with a female singer, pull out every trick in the Garage Band bag (that’s what it sounds like, anyway...not saying they actually used Garage Band for this), move every song in a completely different direction, and you end up with something like this. Like Brother Ali’s album above, there’s only one true standout song (the phenomenally quirky “You Got Me”), but this is an especially enjoyable listen. So far I’d have to say that EC is my 2nd favorite 2007 discovery behind Amy Winehouse. The Butterfly used to say that I don’t like female singers. Well, take THAT!

7. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank – And speaking of quirky...a new Modest Mouse album never fails to wear me out the first couple of listens—they’ve just got so many unique and strange things going on at any one time. That said, the more I get acclimated to it, the more I like it. I loved “Spitting Venom” from the first time I heard it, but now more and more songs are growing on me—“Dashboard”, “Florida”, “Parting of the Sensory”...well, basically every other song on the album is growing on me at this point.

8. Ozomatli, Don’t Mess with the Dragon – I tried not to penalize this album simply because it wasn’t nearly as good as their last release, Street Signs. It’s still good, but there’s a pretty transparent attempt at a radio sound here. They’ve always had fantastic hooks and grooves, but they seem to be forcing it here. Nonetheless, when you’ve got a fantastic band like Ozo, their disappointing material is still more than listenable.

9. Dinosaur Jr., Beyond – A nice comeback effort from these guys. They still sound like the same band, but they’re not stuck in the early-‘90s. I’m impressed.

10. Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life – One of the better African albums I’ve come across so far (not as good as Afro-Rock, but that wasn’t from 2007, now was it?). Bluesy guitar and creative harmonies...you close your eyes, and you can practically see the desert at night in the background.

And finally...just for fun...

Best Other Songs (i.e. not from 2007) Purchased/Obtained in 2007
You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure, Funkadelic
Apache, Incredible Bongo Band
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times, Bruce Springsteen
Lived in Bars, Cat Power
Jacob’s Ladder, Bruce Springsteen
Girl in the War, Josh Ritter
American Terrorist, Lupe Fiasco
To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High), Ryan Adams
Maggot Brain, Funkadelic

Read More...

Summary only...

My Month of Entertainment – May 2007

After the explosion that was April, this was a pretty slow month. And a single-faceted one.

Books

None. I gots plenty to read already.

DVDs

Muppet Show, Season 1 – Why? Why not! I’ve just not had enough Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in my life lately.

This month’s Netflix rentals: none. That’s right, a combination of our being pretty busy and our being bored with our Netflix queue made us super lazy in the DVD department. We’re Netflix’s favorite customers now...paying our monthly fee and demanding nothing of them. Actually, I’m open to suggestion here...we’re going to retool our queue and try to actually find some movies we’re interested in...ideas? What’s a great movie you’ve rented/seen lately? We split this subscription with The Butterfly’s parents, and they prefer new releases...keep that in mind...

Music

Friendly Fire Recordings Sampler
Independent Music Awards Winners Sampler

One good thing about eMusic is they put out lots of free samplers for download. One bad thing is, they always sucker me into downloading the free samplers, and 99% of them suck. For the most part, the Independent Music Awards Winners sampler was pretty sorry for two reasons: a) horrible sound quality of the downloads, and b) horrible song quality of the performers. There were a couple exceptions, but not just a ton to write home about. And who knows, maybe I'd have like some of the songs if they'd been better sound quality.

As for Friendly Fire Recordings...this was decent. I was unimpressed for the most part, but it did allow me to discover an artist I’d have otherwise overlooked: Elk City. For one thing, one of my high school’s main rival schools was the Elk City Elks (one of the few schools in the country with school colors of brown and white). I saw the name and got excited. Turns out this group is from New York, which was a bit of a buzzkill...but they’re good anyway. They’ve got a quirky, very indy sound, and their lead singer, Renee LoBue, is really really interesting. Downloading this sampler caused me to download Elk City’s latest album, New Believers, but that took place in June, so you’ll have to wait a month for that review, now won’t you? They’re impressive, though, and since the point of these samplers is to introduce you to music you wouldn’t have otherwise found, I call Friendly Fire a success and Indy Music Awards a failure.

Dinosaur Jr., Beyond

I’ve never been a big fan of J Mascis’ vocals--I don't need a powerhouse voice, but his voice is thin enough to get lost in the mix occasionally--and the vocals are the same on Beyond as they ever were, but this album is a success. “We're Not Alone” has the best guitar solo I’ve heard in a 2007. It's an unbelievable song, and while that’s not all the album has to offer ("Almost Ready", "Crumble", "Back to Your Heart", "I Got Lost" and others are solid), it’s definitely the biggest highlight. I love that bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Mission of Burma are finding their footing again.

Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water is Life

My ongoing dabbling into African music—which had gone dormant for a couple years after my initial discovery of Orchestra Baobab, Baaba Ma’al, and Ali Farka Toure—continues to pick up steam in recent months. This was recommended to me by a friend, and it was worth it. Not as good as Hugh Masekela or the Afro-Rock collection, but solid.

Incredible Bongo Band, Bongo Rock

Not sure what possessed me to pick up this 30+ year old mostly-percussion album, but wow...what a revelation. First of all, just about every damn song on the album has been sampled in hip hop at some point, most notably “Apache”, which is the highlight of the album along with the remix of "Last Bongo in Belgium". I’ve mentioned many times on here that I’m basically a groove whore...I love good beats, and I will go to great lengths to find them...and wow, did I find a good selection of them on Bongo Rock.

Funkadelic, Live: Rochester, MI, 9-12-71
Funkadelic, Cosmic Slop

My embarassingly late discovery of Maggot Brain last month led to a couple more purchases this month. Not sure why the Rochester ’71 show was released as a live album since the band was breaking in a new rhythm section at the time, but it’s still a good show. I was worried about the sound quality, but it holds up. And songs like “Maggot Brain” and "All Your Goodies Are Gone (The Loser's Seat)" make it worth a few downloads.

As for Cosmic Slop...“You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure” is my favorite song of the month. Better than anything on Wilco’s album or anything else. It’s the perfect encapsulation of every single Funkadelic song into about 4 minutes. You can’t listen to that song without a smile on your face. The album as a whole is a bit weaker than Maggot Brain, but “You Can’t Miss...” is unbelievable.

Bright Eyes, Cassadega

I really appreciated what Conor Oberst was trying to accomplish in simultaneously releasing two very different albums—I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn—in 2004. I was curious how his next release would incorporate the two disparate sounds—the acoustic folk/country of Wide Awake and the electronic noise of Digital Ash. Well...Cassadega’s decent. Good, even. Oberst really is as good a song-writer as there is today, but the subject matter here is a little less urgent than in the past. Oberst secured his reputation as a political songwriter by performing “When the President Talks to God” on Leno, but a majority of his songs are anything but political. Oberst’s main songwriting strength isn’t talking about struggle directly, but talking about life...of which struggle is a part.

The main problem with Cassadega is the lack of a true, unbelievable, standout track. "Soul Singer in a Session Band" is great, but it doesn't pack much emotional punch. "Lime Tree" is good and emotional, but...upon first listen at least (it'll grow on me, I'm sure), no song on Cassadega does for me what "Hit the Switch" or "Arc of Time (Time Code)" or "Train Under Water" or "Road to Joy" did on 2004's albums.

Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

The Heartbreaker download was a simple course correction...I realized I should have gotten this album years ago and never had, so I picked it up. It's long been known as probably Adams' most solid work, and I needed it. Plus, the country-rock feel got me in the mood for Wilco's new album. My favorite track: "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)".

As for Sky Blue Sky, I wrote a bit about it here, and I guess I'll expand a bit. I agree with part of Rolling Stone's review:

With guitar whiz [Nels] Cline on board, they seemed to be heading in a more rocking direction -- for many of us, the 2005 live album Kicking Television was their finest hour. Cline's presence is more low-key here, but so is everything else about the album. Sky Blue Sky (great title -- Allman Brothers via Laurie Anderson) is understated, erratic, often beautiful, disarmingly simple music; it really sounds like six guys playing in a room, and no doubt that's how they wanted it.

This is People's Exhibit Q for the fact that Wilco never ever ever ever does what's expected of them. That doesn't mean I didn't like Sky Blue Sky--not even close--but it once again caught me off-guard.

Finally, a question before I go: Do you see any new hip hop on this list? WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE NEW HIP HOP?? By my count there's officially been one good hip hop release in 2007...Brother Ali. Five months into the year, and that's it. That's awful. Along with Netlfix rental suggestions, somebody please point me toward some good new hip hop. This is depressing. The end.

UPDATE, 8:27pm: Upon further review, the guitar in Wilco's "Side With the Seeds" competes very well with that of Dinosaur Jr's "We're Not Alone", and "I Must Belong Somewhere" on Cassadega is as good as anything on one of Bright Eyes' other albums. So there you go.

Read More...

Summary only...

Reality Sadism

I’ve never been a fan of any of the “reality” tv shows, somewhat because I know how scripted and reshaped after filming those things are, but mainly because of the degrading way they deal with people, even the “uplifting” house reconstruction shows. The major selling point of even the “who wants to be the next person to have a half hour show early on Saturday mornings on the Food Network?” shows is to show us people subjected publicly to criticism, much of it staged for tv effect. Yes, I realize this attitude is dyspeptic and makes me even more of an outlier, in this world but not of it, but I’ve found a kindred spirit at Discover’s Mind & Brain blog. A very good analysis of how these shows are in real reality a repeat of Stanley Milgram’s old electro-shock experiments that almost single-handedly brought on institutional review boards and hyper-vigilance in how universities now do research. Here’s the key quote:

Sooner or later those of us feasting on this orgy of tele-sadism will have to accept our complicity in the process. After all, in Milgram’s experiments the real subjects were not the recipients of the electric shocks but those administering them. As the virtual reality versions have proved, it doesn’t matter whether what’s happening is real or staged: We react as if the pain inflicted were real. By sitting still for the elaborately staged social experiments of reality TV, we supply further evidence for Milgram’s main conclusion: “Ordinary people . . .without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process.”

Wish I’d said that.

Read More...

Summary only...

Music Bullets, 5-30-07

• Well...the DRM-less iTunes files are ready for download...the price for the individual DRM-less songs are $1.29...which is a TON for a single song...however, entire albums are still $9.99. Considering I only buy full albums, that makes me very happy.
• A couple of interesting notes from Salon...if you’re not a subscriber, you’ll have to sit through an ad...but if I’m linking to it, it must be fantastically wonderful and worth it, right? First, whoever convinced 50 Cent to take 10% stake in the vitamin water company (and convinced them to give him 10%) instead of a set amount should, honestly, run the music industry. Good god, that’s a lot of money. Let's spell it out in all caps to see if it seems like even more. FOUR HUNDRED TEN MILLION DOLLARS. Yup, that makes it seem like even more.
• Next, an interview with Rufus Wainwright, one of the most interesting and unique (for better or worse) people in music. As good as Want One was, I’ll probably end up with this album at some point.
• And finally, not from Salon...looks like Amy Winehouse has officially made it big... we take all kind of pills to give us all kind of thrills, but the thrill we’ve never known...is the thrill that’ll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone...

Read More...

Summary only...

Brain vs iPod: Wilco Edition

In addition to my ongoing Primer Series, I thought I’d look a bit into how the iPod has made its way into my life and how it has affected my tastes and habits. Being that Wilco just released a pretty strong album, I’ll use them as the guinea pig for this experiment.

Wilco has released six albums (not including the lovely Kicking Television live album or their Mermaid Avenue releases with Billy Bragg). Below are how I would rank them completely off the top of my head, with no regard to anything but the regard in which I hold each release:

1. A Ghost Is Born (2004). For reasons unbeknownst to me, this album brings out a lot of emotion in me. As I’ve said about other things before (“Desolation Row”, Huff), this is like listening to an anxiety attack. It’s tense, it’s technically proficient, it’s emotional, and “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” is my favorite Wilco song.

2. Summerteeth (1999). The fun songs are as fun as Wilco has gotten, and the dark songs are as dark as Wilco has gotten. Quite the roller coaster, but it works...and it was a giant leap up from Being There.

3. Sky Blue Sky (2007). Every album is more mature and technically sound than the last, and that trend has continued with the latest. I’ll have to expand on it later, but it’s good.

4. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002). This was a sonic leap for the band, and they justifiably got a lot of attention for it (go pick up Greg Kot’s Learning How to Die for detailed information about the drama that was this album...seriously, do it now...great read...) there are plenty of fantastic songs (“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, “I’m the Man Who Loves You”), but it’s just not as enjoyable a listen.

5. Being There (1996). I love that this album has a Pekin, IL, reference (“I wanna be your kingpin, living in Pekin” from “Kingpin”)—it is my father-in-law’s hometown, and until a couple of decades ago, their school nickname was amazingly the Chinks, and writing about this song finally gives me the opportunity to mention that—plus, songs like “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” are fantastic live; however, it’s just not quite as enjoyable as any of the four albums above.

6. A.M. (1995). It's good--and extremely Uncle Tupelo-esque--but it has been surpassed (in my ears) five times in the twelve years since its release. Wilco has matured deeply with each album, but they had to start somewhere.

For the most part, I’m ranking these albums based on the fondness and feeling I have for them. In all, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was far more of an achievement than Summerteeth, but I enjoy listening to Summerteeth more (same with a band like Pearl Jam—Ten and Vs were bigger achievements at the time, but gimme Yield any day of the week). I’m pretty sure everybody does basically the same thing.

But what does my iPod tell me about how I think?

A while back, I wrote about how the iPod has changed my tastes and listening habits, and I thought I’d revisit the issue by looking at how I rated the songs on each album. If you remember (and I’m sure you do), I give a song a star rating while listening to the iPod in the car or at work—I can pretty much do this without taking my eyes off the road at this point, so fear not, mid-Missouri drivers. Here are the Wilco albums ranked in order of the average rating I’ve given to each songs.

1. Summerteeth: 4.14. Five-star songs: “Can’t Stand It”, “A Shot in the Arm”, “I’m Always in Love”, “Nothing’severgonnastandinmywayagain”, “Via Chicago”

2. A Ghost Is Born: 4.09. Five-star songs: “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, “The Late Greats”, “Hell Is Chrome”, “Company in My Back”

3. Sky Blue Sky: 4.00. Five-star songs: “Walken”, “What Light”, “On and On and On”

4. Being There: 3.95. Five-star songs: “Misunderstood”, “Monday”, “I Got You (At the End of the Century)”

5. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: 3.91. Five-star songs: “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, “Heavy Metal Drummer”, “I’m the Man Who Loves You”

6. A.M.: 3.62. Five-star songs: none

Okay, it’s roughly the same. What does this mean exactly? Well, if you know Wilco, you realize that a majority of the 5-star songs are the rockin’ kind...Jeff Tweedy does navel-gazing and introspective as well as anybody, but when he and the band let their hair down, they rock as well as any band I know.

This probably also explains why I enjoy Summerteeth so much...while it has plenty of downbeat songs like “She’s a Jar” and “We’re Just Friends” and “Via Chicago”, it also has lots of good hard rock songs.

Unlike my last iPod post, when I realized that an album like Counting Crows’ Hard Candy had ‘ratings’ as good as Exile on Main Street*, my song ratings seem to be a pretty accurate and telling representation of the album as a whole, which is good, because I was wanting to use my song ratings in part to create a Best Albums of 2007 list soon. I also figure this is a fun way to discuss bands that people are more familiar with (and therefore really don’t need a ‘Primer’ type of write-up), so stay tuned. I’m sure you will.


* I should note that, after a little friendly mocking from Michael Atchison, I revisited Exile on Main Street, and it turned out that I must have been in a really pissy mood when I rated Exile songs...upon further review, I upgraded the ratings for about half the damn songs on the album, and it now rates higher than Hard Candy. Justice has prevailed.

Read More...

Summary only...

Music Bullets, 5-25-07

• Here's an interview with Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5. Actually, I guess that would be solo artist Chali 2Na now. Still a little hard to accept. Hip hop is in dire need of every talented act it can get, so while it's great that Chali's releasing a solo album--he's so good at his craft that I imagine it'll be pretty good--J5 was a proven entity, and hip hop will miss them.
• Seriously, where's the good hip hop??? I think I've bought like one hip hop album (Brother Ali) this year. I'm desperate. Anybody out there know of anything new worth buying here? I know it won't come from The Fugees, who aren't together again after all. From Pras: "You know, unfortunately Miss Hill, she got some things she needs to deal with. I wish her the best, but life goes on." Lauryn Hill's Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was just an amazing album--as I've mentioned before, Fall 1998 was the high tide moment for hip hop with Lauryn Hill, Outkast, Jay-Z, and Black Star all putting out amazing albums, but it looks like a combination of her own head and the record industry has damaged Ms. Hill pretty significantly.
• Happy Belated Birthday, Bob!

Read More...

Summary only...

I'm your worst nightmare!

So a friend of mine just showed me this trailer for John Rambo (2008). Which couldn’t have come at a better time for Sly after his recent fiasco. But I gotta say, the second half of the trailer is pretty good – and may not be suitable for audiences. It’s a little gruesome at times. But, enjoy!

Read More...

Summary only...

Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) Mas Bella Final Update

Welcome to Good Nonsense! Be sure to check out the Telenovela archives here and on the left sidebar. And don't be afraid to leave comments!

---

Now that "Ugly Betty" (ABC's far superior homage to the classic "Betty La Fea" compared to Univision's way-off-the-tracks "La Fea Mas Bella") has finished its first year and "La Fea" has reached its "ultimos capitulos," I'm going to put an end to these updates with this 38th. (It takes a special person to write 38 of these.) First, let's give you a few links to some recent "Ugly Betty" stories and hope they're still up if you click them. Then we'll have our own final thoughts about the two series.

USA Today had a nice piece with "Ugly" cast members relating their ups and downs of the season. More sad than funny, but interesting insights into each actor. . . . A more detailed article on the cast comes from U of S CA's campus paper, believe it or not. (America Ferrera is still a student there.) You get a pretty good taste of how each actor sees his/her character. . . . This interview with America was in a bunch of papers, and it's yet another impressive presentation of the young star. You do hope she can keep her head this straight for the rest of her career, especially in a time when Lindsey Lohan is every male's ideal apparently. . . . Entertainment Weekly had its own interview with Ferrera here. Not as much context but different questions and quotes. . . . Tired of America interviews? Well, here's one with her counterpart, Eric Mabius. . . . Finally, a touch of "La Fea" in all the "Ugly Betty" stuff. A quick interview with Angelica Vale (the "La Fea") who did a cameo in the "Ugly" finale. Seems to have a brain in her head as well. Maybe that's a requirement for this part. It's a nice thought, anyway.

Now for final deep thoughts. The "Ugly Betty" finale really should be considered the last two episodes, not just the last one. The prior episode set up next season well. It appears that someone with a grudge against Betty's father, probably in the family of the man he killed, will play a major role, and the young guy who massaged Hilda's foot for her will likely be there to help her get over her grief from losing Santos. The best revenge would be to take someone Ignacio loves away from him, so I'm betting Hilda gets a bigger and different role next year.

The penultimate (!) episode also featured several motifs from the usual telenovela, including seers and signs and prophecies and the reunion of the child (sorta) with the parent who did her wrong before the parent departs the planet. This is all good telenovela tradition. One thing did strike me wrong, although it was a funny line. If telenovelas are constantly on the Suarez tv, why didn't Betty know that her "embarrasada" when she tried to say she was embarrassed would sound exactly like the Spanish for "pregnant"? If there's one word you learn from telenovelas, it's pregnant.

But the final episode, of course, also set up so much for next year amid telenovela conventions. Amanda's got a new mom, Christina has an abusive husband who's likely to show up, Claire's on the loose and with a mission to bring down Milhelwina, as Daniel called her while drunk. The old "using pregnancy by one guy to get the hero" trick is fully in play, and so is the vengeance of the "losing" heroine. As for the car crash, in a telenovela we would have seen the car flying through air at least. Since they're not going to kill off Daniel, they couldn't have it bursting into flame on new impact, a favorite convention, but I see this as the way to get Rebecca Romjin off the payroll and introduce new emotions and tensions into the Meade family members. Finally, one of the most common telenovela elements is the sudden and unexpected violence and the killing of cast when you don't expect it, a la Santos. The guy did go out with some class, and I wonder, given the way the camera focused on the masked shooter, if that shooter isn't going to show up again. That's the most speculative I'll get. In any case, very good finale, well played and making us all ready for the next season to already be here.

In the case of "La Fea," as I've made clear, I wanted that finale about 3 months ago and, had it remained true to the wonderful original, it would been then. Now it's got two or three weeks to get the leads together and send Aldo off to be noble elsewhere. They've drained all the pathos out of the initial characters. Betty would never have been "Aurora," Nicolas NOT getting the girl was the right and most believable thing in "Betty," and the resolutions of the other cast members' problems have now either vanished or aren't even on a back burner. I realize the show has gotten the networks good ratings through all, and Angelica and the others have really done nice work. But the story and its message were what was important and lasting in "Betty La Fea," and this remake has betrayed both. "Betty" will still be a classic a decade from now. Univision will likely be doing another remake by then. But that's all "La Fea" will ever be. A remake.

Read More...

Summary only...

"Ugly Betty" Finale Recaps

I'll finish up the "Ugly Betty" updates over the weekend, but for now here are some of the recaps of last night's finale from various sites with comments, a few not idiotic.

www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20039428,00.html

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/ugly_betty_why_well_be_wearing.html
www.dailypressandargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070518/ENTERTAINMENT/70518002

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/18/070922.php

www.tvsquad.com/2007/05/18/ugly-betty-east-side-story-season-finale/

One thing, folks. If Santos were just wounded, Hilda would have been running to the hospital, not on the floor crying into her sister's arms. Oh, one more. Could the person who cut the brake lines on Bradford's car be the person Alexis paid to kill him? I swear, sometimes I think I'm coaching 7-8 year olds soccer again.

Read More...

Summary only...

A few words about season finales...

...watched The Office and Smallville tonight. Gotta say, both were absolutely fantastic. About Smallville...this is turning into The Butterfly's favorite show, so I've taken the necessary steps to get into it too--turns out it actually is a very good show--and all I ask for from it is creativity and entertainment. All the rumors were saying that some major cast member was going to die. And in the commercials throughout the week, it was very obviously Lana (Kristin Kreuk) getting into a car, and the car blowing up. All I wanted was for something other than that to happen--I absolutely loathe the habit (started by NBC, I believe) of showing the giant surprise in the commercials. If a major cast member is going to die, I don't want to know who it's going to be beforehand. Surprise me.

Well, they surprised me.

(Warning: spoiler after the 'Read More')

They killed everybody.

Well, not exactly. It really was Lana in the car that blows up--halfway through the episode--and I was pretty pissed off about it. However, you don't actually see her dead body or anything...meaning, knowing this show, there's at least a 50/50 chance that she's not actually dead. But when the episode ended 30 minutes later, it was possible that any (or all) of Lana, Clark, Lois, Chloe, and Lionel (pretty much everybody but Lex...who was busy getting arrested) could be dead when the next season ends. Creativity? Check. Entertainment? Check. Nice cliffhanger, I must say.

I must also say, I enjoy this show more than The Butterfly's other major love, Buffy. But don't tell her I said that.

And I also don't want to give the impression that, by pulling off a strong cliffhanger, the CW's off the hook for this. There will still be hell to pay.

Read More...

Summary only...

"Friday Night Lights" or Friday Night Lights?

During a well-deserved rant against the TV network suits, Bob Sassone at TV Squad went off on NBC’s placement of Friday Night Lights on a bad tv night next season:

Yeah, and a new one begins. This is a show about community and family and football, right? So why put it on Friday nights at 10, which is probably the only time slot worse than Saturday nights? It's as if NBC said, "OK, it's not getting great ratings, but we're going to stick by it. Sort of." I've always wondered why NBC doesn't just dump Sunday's Football Night In America and put Friday Night Lights in there instead. Sure, it's up against 60 Minutes, but Sunday night has a built in audience for football, and there's a game on right after. And with dad, mom, and the kids all home on Sunday nights, I think they'd find an audience.

Uh, Bob, here’s why it’s even stupider. What’s going to be happening on Friday nights this fall in every town in America??? It’s called . . . high school football. NBC just took a show with a presumed audience of high school football fans and scheduled it when those people WILL ALL BE AT THEIR SCHOOL GAMES. That’s right up there with ABC scheduling “Ugly Betty” opposite “La Fea Mas Bella” on Univision, a class of idiocy that could only happen in TV and DC. And anywhere else Jim Inhofe lives.

Read More...

Summary only...

Music Bullets, 5-16-07

• First up, Trent Reznor slams the music industry! No, really!
  
  

  In an angry message posted on the official NIN website, Reznor says that despite all his efforts to reimagine the album release in a post-Napster era, his label is conspiring against his fans. Reznor recently found out that Year Zero sells for $34.99 in Australian dollars, or $29.10 U.S. By comparison, Avril Lavigne’s new album sells for $21.99 AU ($18.21 US). The reason, as a label rep told Reznor: “We know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.” And the record industry wonders why album sales are slumping?
  
  This brand of intentionally screwing the fans is just one root of a big tree of problems plaguing major labels. In another attempt to prevent his fans’ wallets from being exploited, Reznor has banished a planned European maxi-single for the song “Capital G,” opting instead to release a Year Zero remix album in the future. This way, the fervent U.S. fans won’t have to spend $30+ to import a two-song single that includes one new remix. Who would have guessed that Trent Reznor would emerge as the Ralph Nader of the music industry?

• Second up, Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky did indeed come out yesterday (where did yesterday go? I was going to post about it last night, and suddenly it was Wednesday). Wilco’s a band whose albums I need to listen to at least twice before I can totally digest what’s going on, so while I’ll be writing a review of it, it might not nearly as soon as I want it to be.
• Overshadowed by Wilco’s release was Rufus Wainwright, whose Release the Stars also came out yesterday. I’m sure I’ll end up with it at some point—I absolutely loved Want One, though Want Two did little to nothing for me—but I need time to digest Sky Blue Sky. Oh, and for those of you out there who are sick of gay people trying their hardest to appear not-gay, apparently Rufus will apparently “recreate Judy Garland’s famed performance at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on September 23, exactly 46 years after it took place.” Now THAT’s someone who’s open and comfortable with his sexuality.

Read More...

Summary only...