Ben Folds - Ben Folds Live

Ben Folds - Ben Folds Live

Published 2002

Wikipedia

Wait a second, I hear you say, that isn't the new Queens of the Stone Age!  You're right, I lied.  I am going to do it, but I want to make sure to do it justice, and I think that I can just write this one without editing.  So, fuck you, delete key on my mac, let me pick an album at random from my gigantic playlist of things that I have on my computer.

Ben Folds! That's a great idea, alphabetically listed by Artist's name column on my iTunes!  Hey, we'll even get to do a live album for this one! Fluffed notes! Audience Applause! Jackholes screaming to get on the album!

Maybe this is the wrong one to talk about those three problems.  Ben Folds' audience is way too nice to not listen appreciatively to his beautiful songs.  It's like listening to a Canadian rock album (Quick, I have done Rush before this right?  I haven't!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!????!?!?!??!??!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?  Jesus, Moving Pictures is on the list.  I'm coming for you, Today's Tom Sawyer. [By the way, taking time off from doing these write ups has really showed me how much I intended to do, and haven't.])

This album is interesting to me, because I feel like someone said to Ben Folds, "just play the hits" listening to it now, but it may be because these recordings of his songs are so popular.  Is it a selective feedback that these songs have lodged themselves in my conscious because they are some of my favorite versions of his songs or am I remembering correctly that these are the most popular in general, and therefore became some of my favorites?

Fred Jones Part 2.  This song is just amazingly beautiful.  You should know it completely forwards and backwards.  It's a lovely, melancholy, haunting, and sad song.  This performance is just beautiful.  The duet is well done, and the piano is incredibly expressive.  I love this song. Also, his cover of Tiny Dancer is just awesome.

I have to recommend this album.  If you're a Ben Folds Fan (I'm looking at you, Jake), you already know how good this album is, and probably are shunning me for not getting on it earlier.  If you're not, you owe yourself to check him out.  I'd probably, very generously, because my opinion matters like crazy, favorably compare him to Elton John and (Old, awesome) Weezer style songwriting.  Or something, whatever.  I'm just writing this to keep you people off my back.

Moving Pictures and ...Like Clockwork are coming soon.  Feeling inspired to write.  This bodes well for the next like month.  Who knows after that.

"I'm not crazy!"
"Said the man to the dog."

Matt

Ryan Adams - Gold

Ryan Adams - Gold

Published in 2001

Wikipedia

First off, let's all thank Will for his album suggestion. He's good people. 

I'll be the first to admit that I have a have blind spot in my musical knowledge. I'm not the only one, and I certainly try to have a diverse taste in music, but country has largely remained a mystery to me. 

I think the reasons for this are a little interesting, so let's talk about it. First off, in my life time, country music has become a bastion of a certain kind of politics that I personally find distasteful. It's a shame that this even enters into the equasion, but popular country has seemed very right wing, and that rubs me the wrong way. This is not a deal breaker for me, obviously, because the gender and sexual politics of hip hop has not prevented me from finding great appreciation. 

Second, there is a deep undercurrent of religious subtext and overt text in country that doesn't appeal to me, mainly the overt stuff.  However, this is something that many of my favorite artist have that I don't and it isn't the end either. 

Thirdly, in mind and to my ear, it all sounds kind of samey. It just doesn't pull me in at all, and the structures all sound the same. I have gotten into bluegrass, folk, and everything that lives around country, but country is still a frontier for me.

Finally, there is an element of looking down from both sides involved. I think all of the above things somewhat strongly, and think those who write songs about the attractive qualities of farm equipment or putting footwear in the posterior of other human beings as if it is our countries sole contribution to the world are not using their songwriting ability to their highest potential. Then, they call me a liberal elitist snob who doesn't know anything from their giant piles of money, so they at least have the height on their side. It's a contentious relationship.    

This album might be my way in. Maybe. I'm definately a Ryan Adams fan now, so that means that I am into at least one country(ish) artist, but I cannot tell how representative he is of the whole of country music. I simply have not heard country music like this before. 

Will specifically asked me to talk about the second half of the album, so that is what I am going to focus more on, but the beginning of this album is a hit parade. The songs are well performed, massively open, and they are very inclusive. I quite enjoy the first half of this album, but it is obviously the easier side to like. 

The second half of this album is amazing. It's well written, smart, funny and engaging. It's a complex work written by someone who obviously has not pidgeonholed himself into one kind of music. 

If I were to single out a favorite song on the album, I would have to say that Sylvia Plath is far and away my favorite. It's a wildly quiet, with hints of humor and genuine emotion behind it.  It's one of those b sides that yu stumble across and are completely absorbed by. I'm happy to have this album on my iPod just for that song. 

The album is beautifully produced, and doesn't fall into the trap that many fall into of trying to sound a certain way. Some tracks are pure rock, some are ballads and some are more traditional country style songs, but they are wide open.

They're also smart. Just really smart songs. They have an elegance you rarely hear, and that is independent of any other consideration.

This is a great album, you should listen to it right now. Get on it, boys and girls.  Thanks again Will! 

"But enough of my yapping, let's boogie."

Matt

PS: Check out some of the blogs up and to the right. Comment, and tell me more albums. 

PPS. I love Johnny Cash, so any complaints must be filed with that in mind.    

A-HA - Hunting High and Low

A-ha - Hunting High and Low

Published in 1985

Wikipedia

"We're talking away
I don't know what
I'm to say I'll say it anyway
Today's another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love, OK?

Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two"

First off, thanks to Jake. I don't know why I am thanking Jake, because as I saw on a shirt once, he is a Jerk, but I guess I'll thank him anyway, for suggesting this album.

The Album Project Bureau of Jokes and Other Sarcastic-cies has been working hard to research all of the eighties trivia that I need to make fun of because of this album.  The tireless public servants have been researching for hours on the internet about a decade that I was not actually a part of in any meaningful way.  I will refer you to our honorary historical joke director, Mr. William Joel.  He has a pretty good primer on Youtube.  Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and the removal of their collective bargaining rights (timely for four months ago!  Also, probably timely for now, what with the NFL collapsing like a flan.) the department had to be let go, because this album is actually pretty damn good.


You see, when you crack open an A-ha album, you seem to have some prebuilt assumptions.  One, that they are as much of a joke as they have become.  Two, that the other songs are going to be the the eightiesist things that you have ever eighties heard.  And three, that you won't enjoy it.


But this album holds up.  It's surprisingly well written, the songs are good, they don't overly use anything but the drum machine.  The songs are somewhat catchy, and the album is pretty short and sweet.  You are rarely stuck in one song too long, and when they get old, they fade out and go into a new one.


They are no joke too.  They play some pretty on fire new wave, and they do some really cool things with their instrumentation.  They play some pretty damn good music, and while the songs aren't anything spectacularly out there, they are solidly made and produced.


Yes, there is some dating, but actually, it's not as bad as I expected.  It doesn't sound like a parody of itself, it just embraces it's eightiesness in a way that is endearing and not annoying.  They have a pretty solid piece of work here.


I just don't have a lot to say about it.  It's not good enough that I think anything other than Take on Me deserves to be held in high regard, but that song is a pop culture masterpiece, even getting future TAP artists Reel Big Fish to cover the song.  It's one of those songs that instantly gives something a place and time to be tacked on to, like Huey Lewis and the News.


So, thanks again Jake, and hope to get more suggestions from you,


"You can't Fax glitter!" "Well, not with that attitude!" "NOT WITH ANY ATTITUDE!"
Matt


PS. Do something good and Give Phil Five!

Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World

Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World

Published in 2006

Wikipedia

First off, let's all say thanks to Cole, for having an interesting enough life to make a blog about himself, and secondly for suggesting this album.  So, thanks Cole.

As someone who is into music (could you guess), I have noticed something of a conspiratorial air about. Someone out there in the universe has declared that folk music is going to be the new thing for indie kids.  Why this is happening, well I have some theories, but it's happening more and more, and the Freak Folk mantle is being brought up quickly to the in-thing.

As I said in my Mumford and Sons write up, I don't understand 'Freak Folk'.  I understand that people don't want you to confuse old folk with new folk, and it is strange to hear the two versions in the same area, but really, is there such a big difference between classic folk and modern folk?  Both of them deal with subjects that were important to those writing the songs.  I don't think that folk has ever been considered the pinnacle of formulaic art, and actually one of the reasons it is folksy, is because it deals with realistic subjects important at the time of the song's writing.

One reason I think modern folk is doing well is because it is so appealing to a side of people who just want to hear good performers playing simple music.   The nostalgia bumper crop appeals to people who either grew up with this on their radios, or (like me) listened to a lot of Prairie Home Companion as a kid.  There is a certain appeal to this kind of music that sounds down home, and simple, and that is a beautiful thing.  

Old Crow Medicine Show is a group that is making perfectly serviceable folk music.  I mean that in the most neutral way possible.  I don't think they are as good as Mumford and Sons, but that is because I listened to them first.  I think they sound somewhat similar, although Mumford and Sons is a bit darker, and it makes a difference for the listening experience.

The lighter moments on the album though, are some of the best.  I love that they included the singer screwing up on the first verse and the band starting again.  I think that the funnier songs are good, and as a child of the I-95 corridor, good stuff is on this album.  

I cannot say that this album is anything but optional, but if you're a fan of folk music and bluegrass, you should probably pick it up,  it's fun and light and enjoyable.  If you don't really like bluegrass, this could be a way in, but I'd look other places first.

Anyway, thanks again to Cole, I hope I did this album a little justice, and I can't wait to hear how I am wrong about it Mike H. style.  

"Love is about compromises, Zorak, compromising your future to the city council of Bethesda Maryland."

Matt

PS.

Phil! Five? Give Him!? 

Muse - Resistance

Muse - Resistance

Published in 2009

Wikipedia

iPod, so there.

First off, thanks to Lena for suggesting this album.

I don't know how to feel about Muse, but this might be my fault. You see, I am of two minds when it comes to them. One side, the sober side thinks that they play some really technical and clean rock, that is obviously appealing, but never really lights my fire. It's fun to sing to, fun to listen to, but I will get overwhelmed after a couple of tracks and have to esacpe from it. The songs I really like I enjoy throughly, but I have trouble paying attention.

The drunken me has two reactions to Muse. One is that this shitis tons of fun to sing, the lyrics are enjoyable and they encourage you to get involved and sing along. The second is to ascribe a certain deepness to their lyrics that the sober me would laugh at.   It's a disappointing dichotomy, but I must live with it.

That might be the real problem. This record sounds like the band really, really, really wants to be liked, and whatever you like, they'll try to do it for you. Like electronic music? Here you go! Like ballads? Here, sample this. Like classic rock? Here you are! It's such a buffet that I don't really know what I like about Muse.

Which sucks, actually. I like them, but I can't tell why, and if this blog indicates anything, I'll devote hundreds of words to why I like something, and figuring out why, but when a band tries to make me like them, I get gun-shy?

Muse seems like a good example of this eternal problem of taste. Why do we like some things and hate others? What is it that make our brains love one thing and hate another? Why are we subject to these whims?

The drunk me, in objection to what I wrote above would slur something like the following:

If you like something, but you can't understand why you like it, you must like it for surface reasons, the sound, the feel of the music is more important to your primitive brain than the deeper signifiers. Knowing that you like it has given you insight, but to understand that insight is what your brain has been programmed to do, and it is in that confusion that comes with justifying your taste that you lose the enigmatic part that you liked in the first place.

Sober me, then retorts:

But as this blog proves, breaking things down into peices and trying to understand them is something that my brain does with everything. While it does not always lead to full satisfactory understanding, the joy that I take in writing these is partly related to the act of breaking things down to figure them out. As we've seen, the ones that confuse me most run the gamut from most loved to most hated, so I disagree.

Drunk me:

And yet, you agreed that you like this album at some level. The difficulty only comes with the breaking down of the album, so just talk about what you like in general and hope that clarifies it for you.

Sober me:

Okay, I'll try that.

I think the song writin on display is some of the more clever that I've heard on an anthemy rock album like this. I find the lyrics to ironically wink at the source material, while still treating it gravely enough that it isn't annoying.

I think the performances are spectacular, however I don't enjoy some of the more electronic style choices, because I feel it detracts from the image presented. But, of course, the musicians are all spectacularly competent and the music is produced with flair, vim and even vigor.

I think United States of Eurasia is one of the most fun to sing along songs with in history, behind 1. Seal - Kiss from a Rose 2. The Eagles - Hotel California and 3. Weezer  - Say It Ain't So.  Obviously, it is in good company.  I also think that Resistance and Uprising are good, if not great, and Breaking Through is pretty damn okay too.  The rest of the album, I am not as entranced with.

I want to like them so bad.  Maybe this problem would be solved if I listened to a non-concept album by Muse, but I have no idea.  I just have this one to write about, Jeez, get off my back.

But of course, if you love Muse, and want to tell me why I am a jackass, and why drunk me is right, please do so in the comments, and get us ever closer to the goal of Bequeathing Phillip Half of a Hamilton.

"Five Four Three Nose One"
Matt

PS.  More albums please, I'm devouring these!

Tool - Lateralus

Tool - Lateralus

Published in 2001

Wikipedia

First off, thanks to Paul for recommending this album.  I actually have a ton to say about Tool, so this should be an interesting one.

I have several friends who are big Tool fans.  I try not to hold this against them.  It's one of those strange things that I have a problem with, but I think one of them clarified it for me.

You see, even Tool doesn't like Tool fans.  I know this for a fact, because Mr. Keenan beats the ever living shit out of his fans if they try to get close to him. I hope that video is up on Youtube, because it serves a warning about what everyone thinks about Tool fans.  So thank you Mr. Cooney for teaching me that I can like Tool and not be an asshole.

Not that I really like Tool, even to this day.  I've had a long and complicated history of loving some of their stuff and haaating other parts of it.  It is with this mindset that I get down to writing about Lateralus.

This is a great album by a band that is incredibly accessible to the wrong kind of people to be listening to this music.  The ideas of the album are deep and the music is incredibly complex, and these things make people feel like they are just like the person writing it.  The problem is, the people who are feeling that are not as deep as the people making the album.  They are just a bunch of drunken assholes in shirts, who tell you that just because you don't think that Tool is the greatest band in history, you are a fucking asshole.

I don't mean to keep writing about Tool fans, but it's one of those groups of musical snobs that I cannot get over.  As is obvious by my blog, I attempt to have a diverse taste in music.  I really enjoy listening to things that are different, and I love finding something new that intrigues me.  So anyone who latches onto one band to the exclusion of great music elsewhere is doing themselves a terrible disservice, and they are doing the band a disservice.  If you are going to try to get people to like your favorite band, the best way is not to say, "this is a pile of shit that you are listening to, you need to listen to this and this alone."  People seem to be turned off by that.

Okay, Matt, it's time to focus on the album.  Please let these assholes get out of the way of you enjoying the album, so that we can all go home and feel good about ourselves.

Because of the asshole quotient of their fans, I have never actually listened to a Tool album all the way through, and I rolled my eyes at doing so when I heard this suggestion.  But because I love my readers and people who suggest things, I've been trying to open my mind to it, and I have to say, I'm incredibly impressed.

The music is driving, meaningful and deep. It has incredibly good song structures, and it always leaves you guessing where it is going.  The lyrics deserve to be singled out, because they inspire the perfect amount of pathos and rage, showing how well the band understands the lonelyness and anger that lie under isolation.  

The songs are well performed, and tight.  There are no wasted minutes, because this is an album of feeling, not an album of songs.  The music is designed to be listened to from one edge to the other.  The songs are spaced by intros and outros, letting the album flow from one place to another.

Schism, the big hit of this album is the closest thing that this album has to a popular song, but that is only because the rest of the album desires to be exclusive.  Schism is a great song.  It's one of the few songs that I heard on the radio and purely wanted to sing along to, because it just fucking speaks to people.  It's brilliantly written, and I can remember getting totally into it on trips and in cars all the time.

Parabola is an amazing fucking song too.  If you don't believe me, get this album, really get into it, sing along to Schism, and then wait for the moment when Parabola comes along.  You cannot miss it.  It's like a groundswell of immense sound after a quiet moment on the album.  Seriously, the album is worth it just for that moment.

The length of songs is actually one of the things that I think this album has going for it.  This band would be terrible at writing a three minute pop song, but given a canvas wide enough, they can create Last Supper like music.  Building complexity is only possible given the space to grow and change songs.  There is a bit of Dreamtheater in there, where the music is fantastically complex and requires multiple listens to get into, but of course, that is part of the appeal of the album.

It is a long fucking album though.  Clocking in at 79 minutes, it's something you really need to devote yourself to listening through.  Unless you get hooked early, you are going to be in for a long trudge.  It took me one or two listens before I was locked in and could really get into it, too.  The thing is, the mood that you have to be in is actually much more introspective (at least for me) than I thought it would be.

It's incredibly strange to me that these guys are known as a hard rock group, because all I hear is a fantastically emotional pleading group, looking for acceptance in a unforgiving and strange world.  Their purity in emotion is just hyper clear to me, and I love that they do this.  The musical contrast to this emotional tone creates a dissonance between the raw emotion and the rage that people feel under it.

And that is the space in which their fans lie.  When I think of the proto-tool fan, I think of the teenage kid who seems to desire to be a non-conformist (I was one of these as a teenager, so I can talk about them).  He thinks that the people around him are stupid and don't understand, and that they are against him.  He retreats into music and videogames because these are the places that have rules and make sense to him.  He finds peace in these things, and slowly understands that everyone else is going through the same thing, and finds his way out of his shell, or doesn't, retreating further, and not understanding why everyone doesn't understand him.  

So, Tool fans, the next time you are at a Tool concert, or buying Keenan's wine or whatever, please look around you, and recognize that there are people there with you, enjoying what you enjoy, and feeling your feelings.  Make it into a beautiful moment of collective catharsis, not a bunch of drunk assholes complaining about how no one understand them before they punch the guy in the same shirt as them right next to them in the face for something retarded.  Treat the women at the concert, not as objects, but as members of your tribe.  You'll find that you actually have a ton of friends.  And maybe, just maybe, if I hear you are doing better, I'll come to one of their concerts and hang out with you guys, and you can tell me why Tool is even better than I said here.

Look, I'm trying to keep writing, because this album is still on it's third play through, but seriously, this motherfucker is fucking 79 minutes long.  It would take a fucking book for me to write anything nearly as long as this.  It's one of those insane albums that I actually have less to say about than time it takes to listen to it.  This is my third time through, which means that I have spent a total of four hours listening to this album, and I could only start writing after two.

It's good.  Go get it. Listen to it (once), and if you like it (and I think you will), become a sane fan of Tool.  Thanks to Paul and Michael for getting me into them, just a little bit.  I know that I was hyper critical of your co-fans, but I think you guys are some of the sane ones.  Please make more fans like you, and we can go see the "amazing" shows that I hear about.  I just don't want sweaty assholes in my face the whole time for wearing the wrong color or liking the wrong album or something.

"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."

Matt

PS. Comment x 100 = Give Phil 5!  Matt - 5lbs. = Give Phil 5! Comment x 100 = Matt - 1Beer = Matt - lbs = Matt - 1Beer = Matt - lbs = Give Phil 5!

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

Published in 1979

Wikipedia - and trust me, you need it.

First off, this was actually a suggestion, so I am supposed to thank Tommy Clark for suggesting it.  I say I am supposed to, but I am still reeling from listening to this thing.  

WHAT THE FUCK, FRANK ZAPPA?

Okay, now that my confusion has been expressed, let me give you some opinions.  You know why rock operas are so incredibly obscure and strange?  It's because they are by nature subversive and strange.  Instead of recognizing this and trying to formulate a regular thing around this, Mr. Zappa has chosen to take it to the other extreme, and just go fucking crazy with it.

This is the first album on the album project to do various things, allow me to list them, so you can be baffled if you haven't heard it.

• Wet t-shirt contest dedicated song
• Incredibly diverse mentions of VD
• Appliance Sex
• Dystopian future where music is banned (rock opera edition)
• "Subtle" allusions to Scientology
• Detailed Appliance Sex Music
• The fact that to have sex with appliances, you need to speak another language
• Catholic Girls are whores
• "Gimmie that, gimmie that, Bloooowwwjob."
• Breaking the fourth wall, referring to "two songs ago"
• And much much more.

Seriously.  I'm not making one of those up, and I am amazed that I don't think that I could.  It's like an album that was designed to completely fry your logical brain.

However, the non rational side of your brain is going to be fucking loving this shit.  It's incredibly fucking strange, but beautiful and strange as shit.  It is entirely non commercial, but it's fucking awesome.

You know what it is, it's the Aqua Teen Hunger Force of rock operas.  It's obviously written while people were on fucking insane amounts of drugs.  It has no recognizable structure.  The acts are delineated by who the fuck knows what, and the resolution is crazy as the rest of it.

I'd never really listened to Frank Zappa in any capacity before, so this was a... something... experience for me.  I don't believe that, even if I started doing drugs today, I will have ever done enough drugs in my life to fully understand what is going on in his mind.  The writing is fucking insane, not in a bad way, but in a incomprehensibly amazing way.

Seriously.

However, if you listened to it just for the music, there are some real amazing bits in there.  Mainly the parts between the weird fucking shit.  However, even the weird shit is pretty musical.  It's about 50 - 50 amazing music - fucking insanity.

So yeah, you should listen to this album.  It's an  assault on everything in the world, and it's amazing for it.  If you didn't listen to it once, I'd be surprised, because what are you, some kind of coward?  Cowards don't read the Album Project, now go out there and get crazy.

Well, thanks to Tommy for the robot fuckingest album I have ever heard.  You're out of your damn mind, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Since this is the ATHF of music,

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I've been a bad host, would you guys like some juice?"

Matt

PS. GIVE PHIL FIVE, OR DIE!

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Published in 2006

Wikipedia

AVClub - Best of 2006 #1

So, today is February 17th in my reality, but if you're seeing this, it's actually March 26th to you.  So, I'm working at about a month backlog, which is quite nice.  I've found that this is about as far ahead as I can get without getting burnt out.

I figured I'd do an inside The Album Project post for a couple of reasons.  First, I have no personal attachment to this album, so I can be more objective in the way I am treating it.  Second, Best of March is kind of boring to write about, because they albums are generally too good, but not my style.  Third, I'm sitting at school on graduation day, just waiting for time to pass.  So maybe I'll get a bit more of a backlog by the time this is done, but I can always spend some time on this.

When I sit down to write an album project, my first step is, unsurprisingly to listen to the album at least once.  I try to not do that much while I am doing that, chatting on the internet is the most time consuming task, and I don't find it that distracting.  I actually enjoy polling my friends that I chat with about their opinions about bands and sounds and what they like.  This makes it a lot easier for me to get the writing flowing too.  So, last night, after I finished writing some stuff for another project, I put on The Hold Steady, and just hung out and chatted with people.

Since I don't personally know that any of my friends were big fans, I just chatted and set up the header for this album project.  Usually just three searches on google, one for album cover, one for the wiki and, in this case, one for the AVClub.  I actually try to avoid reading these, because I am trying to give you just my opinions without being shaded by the outside.  Some albums are already spoiled for me, but these are usually the ones that I already have a bunch to say about.  The header, if you've noticed is the only thing that stays reasonably consistent through the whole project.  So, there is that.

I did all of that stuff last night, so that today, I could sit down and start writing.  I usually look for some kind of in on the album, or something that I have a bit to say about.  This is generally the hardest part of the writing process to me.  Once I get some words flowing out of me, I can usually just go until the end, but getting the flow started takes some doing.  (Notice: I have used this as the spike to get the writing flowing, so I am good to go for the rest of this project.)

The Hold Steady is the center of my world at this point.  It is dependent on the album, of course, because the more I enjoy the album, the more locked into it I get.  I try to listen to the album at least three times if I like it a ton, two times if I am not completely into it.  This number is entirely variable.

The album that I am listening to is actually pretty incredible on the second listen.  Last night, I was just trying to get locked into the album, and get a sense of the space and time of the album.  I usually will attempt to put the recording into a place, so with The Hold Steady, I am seeing a small empty bar, a place of dark wood, that is the place that everyone goes before the house party later that night.

Then, I attempt to look at the music itself.  It's interesting to me that The Hold Steady keeps an interesting tension between the subjects of the songs and the sound.  What I mean is that the songs are obviously about drugs, alcohol, sex and youth, but the world weary voice and the sound of the music is obviously designed to make you think that it is a retrospective look at the life lived.

The music is usually the next thing, because it (in a good album) enhances these themes or (in a bad album) detracts from them.  The Hold Steady's lead vocalist has an incredible talent for injecting every syllable with feeling and the tension that I mentioned before.  The hints of keyboard and the general talent on display is pretty amazing.  The songwriting is good, and the touches of jazz, blues, folk and other major styles really enhances the sound of the album.

About here is where I start thinking about good ways to wrap up the project.  I'm looking for that thing to go out on, that I am happy to leave the conversation at.  I usually have written myself into a corner praising the album at this point, so I have to think really hard about the things that I don't like.  For instance, while I understand that Chillout Tent needs the different voices to highlight the different perspectives, it was somewhat shocking and unfortunate, because the lead singers voice is so distinctive that it is difficult to listen to other voices when you could hear his.

Anyway, this album is incredibly good, well done, and really fun to listen to.  It actually reminds me of Bruce Springsteen a ton, which is a good thing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and hope you enjoyed this peek behind the album project.  I'm going to get to work on the next one.

"The parrot wipes it's beak, even though it is already clean."

Matt

PS. Comments are good! Give Phil Five! Want to write an album project?  Want to read one about your favorite album?

PPS. Thank God, Best of March is over.  HIPSTERS!

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Published in 2008

Wikipedia 

AVClub - Best of 2008 #1 

First off, "Hey Jerk, where is 2009?"

The Best of 2009 #1 album was Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which I wrote about already.  I could use this opportunity to do an actual album project about it, but that would be 1. too easy, and 2. I'm not going to.  Shut up, you.

I actually am somewhat excited to see if out there in my fans there is someone who can explain why they like this album to me.  I have some interesting (for me) ideas to share (at you) and I'd love to hear some others about this.

TV On The Radio is one of the bands that I have never really listened to, but I know a bunch about because of the AVClub.  I use the AVClub to pass time at work, and to get my pop culture fix, so the things that they like, I know lots about, but the things that they are ambivalent towards, I am a bit hazier on.  TV On The Radio is strictly in the former category.

It's somewhat hard for me to see why this was picked as the album of the year.  Well, that's not strictly true.  I totally understand that they love these guys over there, and with their way of picking winners, it is more likely to be something that they love than someone completely insane (except Kanye).  So, I don't know if they collectively agreed that this was the best, or if they collectively enjoyed it, and it squeaked by.

This album is perfectly pleasant to listen to.  It's actually a delight in how enjoyable it is, and how easy it is to get into.  I've been listening to it for about an hour and a half now, and I am not tired of their sound.  It's well made, well produced, and it just is solid in every place that it should be.

The vocals are incredible, the band is great, the songs are well written, and it's just fun to listen to.  So why don't I like it more?

First off, I think that it is missing that hook that I need to get into it.  Remember when Gnarles Barkley came out with Crazy, and everyone knew that song was amazing?  I just do not hear that kind of song in this album.  I can't put my finger on why that is, because they obviously are killing it in every other department, but there is just no song that I am unable to turn off.

Secondly, it's a little too easy for me to just drop in and drop out of listening.  Over the course of this hour and a half, I have consciously found myself listening to it about 20 times, which is pretty damn low.  I'm talking about those moments where you recognize that your focus is entirely on the music playing and not on anything else.  Now, I am writing a blog while I am listening, which decreases my focus on the pure music, but usually, I hover somewhere near 45-60 for a good album and I have trouble writing when it is a great album.

Thirdly, it sounds a little ... flat?  I guess.  It sounds like there isn't a huge variation in the sound of the album, and without that depth, it is hard for me to get totally into it.  I hear all of the individual parts somewhat washing together, which is unfortunate, because whenever I separate the parts out, it sounds amazing, but it takes a great deal of focus to separate them.  The songs are amazing, but I can't hear the range of it, because it seems that the whole of the album is squished together behind the vocals.

Now, to be  clear, I think you should hear this album, because I think it is very good.  I just think it might not be my cup of tea.  Also, I think there might be the Dreamtheater effect here, where not knowing where the band comes from and what kinds of songs they are striving for is getting in the way of my enjoyment.  I just don't think this is anything other than an optional album.

Anyway, if there is anyone out there who would like to tell me why I am wrong, you can help Phil earn 5 bucks of my hard earned Korean Won, and if you have any album suggestions, you can throw them down in the comments.

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."

Matt

PS. Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! USA! USA! USA! USA! LET'S GO TEAM! LET'S GO TEAM!

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy Soundtrack

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Published in 2010

Wikipedia

One - iPod

So, yeah, this is going to be a weird one. I was going to do a different soundtrack for this one, but a bus ride with my limited iPod has somewhat forced me to choose this one, because I had it and couldn't sleep.

Let's talk about soundtracks for a second. Soundtracks exist in a strange place between music and movies. Some movies are enhanced by their soundtracks, while others are completely dated by them. Dirty Work, dates itself completely by featuring two of the ninetiesist nineties songs to ever ninties ever in it's first couple of minutes. However, there are the iconic ones that will never leave your head. The End, by the Doors, playing over the end of Apocolypse Now (that whole soundtrack captures something ineffable about the time and place of the movie.) the Pixies at the end of Fight Club. Steeler's Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. These are songs that have been repurpsed to fit a particular moment, making it have a heightened resonence.

The other side of this is the orchestral score, or the music composed for the film. Imagine Star Wars without the music by John Williams. Or for that matter Jurassic Park, ET, Jaws, Indiana Jones. How would all those French horn players make any money? Or The Social Network without the bizarrely intense Trent Reznor score. Or a musical like Nightmare Before Christmas.

The distinction that I am making is that movie soundtracks generally fall into an either or proposiion. Either it is used by the movie because it is a pop culture song, or it is made for the movie. In general, the latter fit better than the former. Mainly because when you are hearing the song of last summer for the thirtieth time in a movie that year, it has a certain distracting quality to it that our friend Mr. Bale knows quite well. (Two year old pop culture ephemera joke? Sign me up!)

Tron: Legacy dealt with the soundtrack issue very well. They brought in two of the most talented digital associated artists and seemingly gave them carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to. What you get is actually a quite impressive mixture of the two kinds of music that normally accompany movies.

Daft Punk is an enigmatic group, performing sampled and created music from behind a dj booth. Their albums in general are consistantly good. They have super dance party music. They make thinking people's electronic music.

However, on this album, I think it is their more orchestral prices that stand out for me. They have a different flavor than just the pure electronic ones, and I think that gives them a texture that your average daft punk song lacks, or at least isn't striving for.

This is a fucking cool album. It's maybe not particularly repeat listenable, but it has some really moving and amazing parts. The highlight is of course the scenes from the bar in the movie, just because that plays to their strengths so much, but the rest of the soundtrack sounds good. It also fits well with the tone of the franchise, for better or worse.

Now, because I have to, let's talk about the movie. I appreciated what they did with it, and I actually quite enjoyed it, but I can see the flaws. I just took those flaws as hearkening back to the insanity that was the first movie. Also, any movie with Jeff Bridges acting in two roles is somewhat cool, although CLU was a monster deep in the uncanny valley if you looked at him.

However, give me the moment where Renzler slams into CLU saying "I fight for the users" any day of any given period of time, and I will be completely psyched. I don't care how silly it sounds, it was spectacular just to see that little bit.

Never mind the fact that they threw a bunch of mythology away to make this, it was quite fun.

A good soundtrack doesn't get in the way of the images on screen. A great soundtrack adds feeling and depth to those images, creating pathos and feeling behind the images. By this standard, Tron succeeds incredibly. If you have an ear for music, you can pick out whose music cues are whose, and you can hear the movies universe going by. And who wouldn't want to spend more time in a universe where lightcyfles exist and programs are made to fight?

Thanks for bearing with me through this one. I hope you could give a couple of tracks a spin. I particularly like End of Line.

Next week - KANYE

There is only one way to end this one.
"I fight for the users!"
Matt

PS. Hey Kids! Give Phil Five! OR BURN! IN HELL! FOREVER! Also, comment below, and I'll Give Phil Five for you, cause I am buying my way to heaven five dollars at a time.

PPS. We're done with May at this point, so suggest some more damn albums so I can stop doing ones that I love.  It's really hard to be critical of shit that I suggest myself.

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not

Published 2006

Wikipedia

Weird one today, and also iPod-riffic, so blame it for anything super strange.

... And the time and place album. 

Or a tribute to Dr William Hollingsworth. 

Imagine that you were told a day before that you were going on a road trip. That you would take it with two of your good friends and a guy who you thought was cool, friendly and interesting that you didn't know so well. Imagine that the purpose of this trip was to go to an alien landscape and get very, very ,very drunk with a bunch of other college kids who you have never met and anticipate never meeting again. Imagine that you had a couple hours on the road with an iPod and three other guys. 

This is a recipie for one of two things. Thing one: a ton of awkward picking of weird music to try to out indie each other, or thing two: a group of guys picking awesome music screaming at the top of their lungs about tire fires and how crazy they were going to get. 

This is the situation in which I was introduced to the arctic monkeys. And what an introduction. I probably never would have given this band a shot if it had not been for that introduction.

For a first album, it's suprisingly well put together and obviously well done. This is one of those bands that everyone you know will claim to have known about them first and that you are late to the party. Because all your friends are pricks. Or something. Wait where was this going. 

Oh right. There are albums that exist to be heard in a certain time and place. They must be heard there or they might not flourish into the album that you understand. For an obscure comparison, it's like that flower that mr Wilson cultivates In the Dennis the menace movie, which only blooms every forty years or something. 

This is an album that needs to be heard in the company of people who want to enjoy a good solid rock album. This is not an album to be listened to alone. Which I am violating just by writing this solo, but fuck it right. You need to have some Streets to build on, you need to have some Man Man to follow up with and of course some Death from Above to finish it off. 

These are not the greatest artist ever, but they fucking try to be. They obviously attended the Liam and Noel Gallagher school of becoming brother pop stars, but in this case it is not to be begrudged. They make some really solid songs along the way and want to make some people fucking move. So fucking hats off to the fucking monkeys and don't listen to any of their other albums because they are mediocre as shit. 

Anyway, thank you Will. I still consider you one of the coolest people I know, and I wish that we had more time together. But I guess that is what the next roadtrip is for.    

Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory

Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory

Published in October 1995

Wikipedia

First off, iPod so there is that. Also, thanks to Sarah who asked me when I was going to do this album, unwittingly telling me to get off my ass and get back to work.

(What's the story) Morning Glory is a lot like getting into a time machine and setting it within your own life. Every part of it is familiar and yet you don't really know why but t all feels just a little wrong. Listening to this album reminded me or my childhood, but at 24 I feel like being nosolgic is a little strange. 

The reason that this album makes me pine for days gone by is because there was a time in my lifetime when Oasis was the new shit. I remember kids being excited about them coming to the patriot center and them being in the news. 

In fact, one of the few concerts I attended with my friend Zach was an Oasis and Black Crows concert that we attended because we got free tickets and also for a much more cynical reason. 

I wanted Noel and Liam Gallegher to beat the shit ot of each other on stage in a glorious bottle smashing fist flying melée. What can I say, I was a seventeen year old boy. I'm not proud of wishing that the two of them go all Cain and Abel on each other, but since they were probably going to do it anyway, I was happy to go see the concert and hope.

I'm not sure if I was alone in my desire to see these two fight, and I am pretty sure I wasn't, but I had forgotten how much of a pleasure it had been to see them until I started listenig to this album. They were tight in performance, and if they just could have laid off the sauce and the brotherly love, they could have been one of the formative bands of my youth. Jnfortunately, plagued by the kind of press that slowly destroys your musical cred, they ended up with assholes like me combing to their converts to watch them get biblical on each others asses. 

It's a shame. I really enjoyed this album, and I know the 12 year old me would have really liked it. It's nice and pop rocky, great hooks and super fun and enjoyable. The singles are still resonent and the other songs are tight, well produced and skillful. 

Let's talk about singles for a second. I have some friends who really like to get their favorite single tracks and play a mash of songs. It's not my strategy, but I understand it more and more. This group of songs are singleriffic. I am tempted to skip through and just listen to the songs I remember, because they are so good.

As a collection of singles, this album is the tits. As an album, it's good. It doesn't present a full picture of the band and it is a little to all sounds the same for me. 

I guess what I am saying is if you liked Oasis the first time around, you'll probably enjoy it this time. Don't look back in anger and wonderwall held up extremely nicely. If you were ambivilent or turned off by te image that was presented of them, give it a shot. If you can't stand Oasis, this album isn't for you, and you know that. 

Thanks to Sarah for suggesting this album. It was lovely to listen to and it's been lovely seeing you once or twice a year. 

I like my women like I like my coffee, covered in bees

Matt

PS. Next week jj - jj n*2 (a dooooooooomsday production.)

Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs

Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs 

Published 2005

Wikipedia

First up, thanks to Alex Claxton for suggesting this album. I've been looking to do this one almost since the beginning of the project and I'm glad I finally got to it. 

Second, this was originally written on my iPod because my school decided that they needed me to go on a school trip. This was a mistake on their part. If there is anything in the world that I am not good at, it is sightseeing in Korea. Any major mistakes can and will be used against the iPod at the appropriate time in it's trial on it's warcrimes against humanity.   

Anyway, to the album. I think I'll start out by saying something that is going to sound like the beginning of

a back handed compliment, but I honestly mean it. Andrew Bird would best be described in my mind as technically proficient. I mean this in the nicest way possible. He sincerely plays some of the most technically proficent music that I have listened to on the project thus far. The fact that this is also a performer's album makes it even better. 

What do I mean by a performer's album? Well, I'm glad you asked, person from my brain who asks me to clarify things that I wrote. It's an album type I usually associate with singer songwriter types who to for that stripped down sound. I'm talking the early stuff for these artists, who then go on to do what Andrea Bird does so well. The album is truly a showcase of the artists talent and ideas about music. It's usually a solo and guests only type of deal. 

And this is why I appreciate what Mr. Bird did here. This is a performer's album which sounds and feels like a big band effort. It is exclusively performed by him, but there are a ton of instruments used beautifully and proficiently.

See, I have a multi instrumentalist cousin ( if were being honest, I also have another cousin, two uncles, a grandmother who are multi instrumentalists, and everyone in my family has played instruments and sang), I somewhat understand how much work he has done on his instruments to just be technically proficent.  

So when I say technically proficent, I mean it as a high compliment. He plays beautifully on all of the instruments. The little flourishes are wonderful and the whole album is genuinely well played. The only real problem that I have with it is that I just don't feel enraptured. Not to say that it isn't moving or beautiful, it is, it's just not the kind of thong that I get deeply into.

Musically, it's kind of an indie jazz album. It's good but nothing super special to my ears. The production makes a huge difference.  And knowing that Bird did all of the playing makes a huge difference.   

If you are the kind of completionist who needs to hear this whole album, it's a good one for daytime driving and newspaper reading. I will say sovay is one of my favorite songs off of this album so perhaps you should give that a spin. 

Once again, thanks Alex, I hope that I didn't desparage the name and hope you'll throw more suggestions my way. 

Ooh a big blinking lighty machiney thing. Big blinking lighty machiney things have my name all over it. Well not yet, but give me some time . . . And a crayon. 

Matt

PS. Up next Nas - Illmatic

PPS. Happy New Year

Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade

Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade

Published in 2002

Wikipedia

First off, I want to thank Zach's friend Luke, who probably doesn't even remember suggesting this album or who the fuck I am.  As the first person who I don't know personally to suggest an album, I want to say thank you and hope that you will leave a comment or something.

This was written on my iPod just so you know, so if there are any crazily innappropriate mistakes, that is why.  Well, not the ideas, if those are bad, that is all me.

Coheed and Cambria is a difficult band for me to get into and an even harder one for me to write about.  It is a study in contrasts. They play some awesome rock and roll. They obviously know how to make a catchy song. They really like playing their instruments. And they remind me of the best parts of Rush (and if you hate Rush, you've got a severe mental block against awesomely cheesey rock).

Then there is the other side of them. The side that chooses to do the looney tunes interlude, just like Dream Theater, but actually more out of place than in that album.  They have the 'whispery breathy deep voices talking over our songs is awesome and not stupid' weirdness that just doesn't turn me on at all. And then there is the Cousin Jerry effect.

I feel like a prick for doing this, but I feel like I have to.  This is what I picture in my head. Coheed and Cambria are sitting in the garage that they practice in, between epic d and d sessions and listening to progressive rock. Then momma C&C comes out into the garage and tells them that they need to include their Cousin Jerry in the band, because he is not having fun, and she won't take no for an answer.  Cousin Jerry doesn't have any musical ability per se, but he really really likes screamcore and really really is being forced into the band by mom. So Cousin Jerry becomes the guy who screams in the background, behind the choruses and shit and drives me up the goddamn wall.

Just when I am getting into a song, just when I really am enjoying it, fucking Jerry comes in and pops a blood vessel in his brain by screaming. The fucking song is so good and enjoyable and that prick comes in and ruins it. It sounds like someone is just attempting to piss me off. Through my ear. It sounds how I must imagine syphilis must feel when you are just trying to take a nice long satisfying piss.

I'm listening to it right now, and it just stresses me out. Fucking every other part of the band, I am a hundred percent behind. But that prick makes me wish that I had a time machine so I could go back to the studio and fucking cut his mic and slap him around a bit for inflicting that scream-y shit on me.

The amount of vitriol in this post is probably a little overboard but I really want to enjoy this album. I just want the whole to be more like 33 where they attempted to use harmony instead of just fucking yelling. This is a really good album and the band has a ton of talent. If they could just dump Cousin Jerry, this album would definately be not optional, but that is the price you pay when you make my ears bleed with stupid decisions. And yes, I realize that this is probably someone's favorite part of the band, and that this is just like, my opinion, man, but it really did drive me up the wall that much.

Anyway, thanks again to Luke and I hope he'll suggest more albums that I'll he a complete and utter prick about and spew a bunch more words about.  Once again, I want to say I liked everything else about this album, so if c&c got rot of that guy, give me that album, and I'll sing it's praises.

It's two hundred miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack or cigarettes, it's dark out and we're wearing sunglasses,
Matt

The Who - Who's Next

The Who - Who's Next

Published in 1971

Wikipedia

I'm writing this album project from my iPod, so if I mess anything up, that is why.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. I have a four hour trip to Busan, South Korea, and if I can get some of these projects done on the trip, I'll not feel like a complete price of dirt.

However, there is the speed of typing issue, and catching up to these songs can be a bit hard. Especially when you are talking about a band as driving and great as The Who.

Who's Next is a classic for many reasons, and as a person who enjoys albums it's hard to not just gush all over it.  Listening to this album is like listening to your favorite classic rock station, because this is just a plain awesome classic album.

Interestingly, at least to me, it is not a incredibly hard album. I know, this was a simpler time, when a rock album could have things like feelings and ideas without being an emo scream cry whine fest.   What happened? Why did we leave this behind?  This classic has the same classic problem that most classics have, though, which is that it sounds a bit cliched. But, of course,  that is beacause it has been blatently ripped off and stolen from.

It's suprisingly gentle for a rock album. It's not about distruction and death, but it is about singing and finding. It's quiet and reflects some of their later experiments (ugh, nothing sounds as pretentious as saying 'experiments' when talking about music) with epic length stories and songs.  You never feel lostin these longer songs thoug, but whether that is because they stick to the formula well or because the quality of the songwriting leads you through the song.

I cannot tell if The Who are just an enigma or if they are actually what they appear to be.  What I mean is, are they actually as pensive as their songs would lead us to believe, or are they just trying to present themselves that way?  It's actually a question that I have about a lot of these classic albums.  Everyone says that the state of music has gotten simpler and dumber over the past 45? 50? years, and that when they were kids, the music used to mean something, man.  Which sounds like a huge load or bullshit to me, because some of these songs are very pedestrian in content, but would probably be hailed as 'better songwriting' than most of the modern music. I have a theory though.

What I think most influences a musical group is what is permissable in the culture surrounding us.  The role of the art, according to the eminent philosopher Douglas Adams said, is to hold up a mirror to the world and show it itself.  The world was less permissible in certain areas, so the band was reflecting a fundamentally different surface than the one that we see today. My point is not that The Who would be singing Linkin Park songs or something today, but that the classic rock that they perform is another form of nostalgia that we indulge in. We find the mirrors of the past to be smaller and easier to look at then he ones that are reflecting our own time, especially when we can see them as great.

This mirror is one of my favorite classic rock albums. Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again are two songs that can bring the house down, no matter where yuu are, and even CSI: Miami cannot ruin that scream for me.  It's a moment of glorious anticipation, feinting and darting, coming up and finally satisfying you.  Much like this album.

Anyway, this is probably a not optional album, but the not optional nature is implied by it's classic nature.  I don't have anyone to thank for this one, so I'll just link you to the Seoul Survivors website www.survivorsrfc.com and tell you how it goes.

We all know Sanchez was a loose cannon,
Matt

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Published in 1971

Wikipedia

Welcome back to TAP: Classics, where we expand your mind, body, and soul by writing literally hundreds of words about albums that almost everyone has already heard and given consensus that it is awesome and add our two cents to that amazingly large pile of money that has accumulated, stacking upon itself on list after list of best album evars and top rock and roll albums, and whatever else you think of.

I have to say, I'm not actually that excited to talk about Led Zeppelin IV here.  First, about what I am calling it, I know that the album doesn't officially have a name, so I have decided to go with the common convention and just call it Led Zeppelin IV.  But the real reason that I am not that excited to talk about it is because this is one of the grounds that has been tread over and over by people, and it's obvious what the strengths and weaknesses are of this album.  If you hate Stairway to Heaven, you will hate this whole album.  It has a real JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, fantasy vibe to it, and if that is not your cup of tea, then this will not be the cup of tea for you.

However, I promised that I would pump out some words about this album, so I'm going to.  I think that the way in here is the difference between digital media and analog media, and how the switch has made some interesting and strange changes to what we call an album today.

Ever since I was pretty young, there has been an optical data storage and retrieval system.  What this means is that the whole thing is based on a piece of round plastic being spun around at a pretty quick pace with a laser sweeping across it.  The system was created to hold a great deal more information on a bit by bit level than an  analog data storage and retrieval system.  This system traditionally was used in two areas.  One, computer data storage, where a magnetic tape was run forwards and backwards in a programmed sucession to retrieve data, preceded by punched cards that were just a very early optical storage system.  Two, audio storage, which also used magnetic tape for a while, which moved a tape over a magnetic head which read the bits and converted them to audio, which was preceded by a thing called a record.

A record is an interesting thing.  It's a round bit of pressed plastic with a continuous groove running in a spiral from the inside to the outside.  (Anyone older than me is rolling their eyes at this description, anyone younger is rolling their eyes at how stupid this was.)  The groove was pressed to different depths, and was traced over by a needle, which was set vibrating by the grooves, and produced sound on the other end.  This was the technology for a really really really surprisingly long time. Just to be clear, the first time this technology was used, a guy named Thomas Edison shouted his favorite nursery rhyme into it, and played it back.

The record is amazingly better than it's predecessor though.  The predecessor was a thing that took in large amounts of energy, could completely go off the chart, was highly inconvenient to pack up and carry, required free drinks at parties, and cared how you looked at it when it played funny.  These were called live people, and while they are really good for parties, they were somewhat inconvenient at parties, especially when there were limited amounts of drinks.  I'm not saying that a good party can't have a live band, but these considerations must be put into ones mind.

The record had some drawbacks too though.  For it's orders of magnitude better portability, it was somewhat limited by the fact that it could only play the songs that were on it at that time, and couldn't change any of the songs.  It was also pretty weak against water and fire based attacks (seriously, a pokemon joke, oh my god, I want to shoot myself for that one), and, in fact, it wasn't all that portable.  It took a lot of them to have a wide variety of songs, two turntables to keep them going constantly, and we're always getting scratched or fucked up by drunk friends (or so I hear, and am told by movies).

The format is to have a certain length of time on one side, followed by a certain length of time on the other side.  These two grooves are unchanging, and they play the same songs every time, only changing with the wear on the record.  The analog interaction between needle and record slowly wore away the fineness of the grooves over time, and gave the tones an interesting, warm sound that is desirable to many people.

Why am I talking about this in association with Led Zeppelin IV?  Because this is a record on which you can hear the two distinct sides, even today.  The first four songs are one side, and the second four songs are the other side.  They are carefully picked and put together that way, and it makes sense for them to go in that order.  The record has a natural ebb and flow and a very natural division.  I think it speaks to the difference in thought between a record, which is naturally two sided, and a cd, which is a one sided, front to back affair.  If you want to draw something on one side of a piece of paper, it's all there, there is no need to look at the other side, but to make one side flow into the other side takes skill and dedication.  

This is a great album, one that should be listened to.  Stairway must have been an amazing experiment at the time, because it is hard to not joke about it now.  It's a moving interesting record, from Black Dog, all the way through When the Levee Breaks.  It has many blues and rock influences, and is obviously an influence for a lot of bands to come.  But it is mostly, in my mind, a demonstration in the fact that making a record and making a cd are different processes, and have a different goal in a lot of ways.  Maybe the amount of data that is given to the producers of music is not a more is better proposition, but that more is more.  

Anyway, it's something to think about.  I want to thank Led Zeppelin for giving me a context to talk about all of this in, and you for reading it.  Also, I want to put the call out for more albums.  If this project is going to go for five days a week for however long it goes, I need two albums a week from the masses.  I'm covered for the next couple of weeks, but some more suggestions and more variation is always a good thing.

Next time, Gadget, Next time.

Matt