July 11, 2008 Earworm

Before the dawn of Creation, the label to love was Stiff, and one of the major reasons to love Stiff was Nick Lowe. When not acting as staff producer and songwriter he threw out some great singles and one e.p., the giggle inducing "Bowi". "Bowi" may have been chock full of little jokes but the music was a delightful three track blast of summer sing-a-long plus one dashboard slapping surf/drag/dance instrumental, "Shake That Rat", which seems to be a good tune for a rainy Friday that starts what looks to be a soggy weekend.

The "Bowi" tracks and other stray singles and collectibles were recently collected in the Yep Roc re-issue of Nick's "Jesus of Cool" L.P. Yep Roc, of course, is shaping up to be the label to love as it collects yesterdays heroes and a handful of young, snotty, hopefuls who are mindful of their label mate elders.

Have a great weekend.

July 10, 2008 Earworm

With every new Coldplay release come the moments when I think about what exactly is missing from Coldplay. I buy the albums, marvel at the sound of it, and then get a craving for music. There are hooks aplenty and there have been plenty of songs that are saved by their hooks and more than making up for other weaknesses. So what, exactly, is it about Coldplay that makes me want more?

As "Viva La Vida", both album and single, descend from their respective number 1 peaks and the parade of magazine covers begins to wane, I realize that Chris Martin and company may be humble about their abilities but they still want to be the biggest band in the world. To that end, they write songs for everyone about everything and, in most cases, end up creating musical Twinkies where the bigger they get, the less filling - in every sense of the word.

By accident(?), the song "Viva La Vida" and its telling of revolutions and rulers past and the downfalls of both seems quite timely as the world waits for January 20, 2009, searches the airwaves for the successor, and finds little more than re-packaged ideas that appear increasingly lacking of ideals. And, with so much hot air blowing little more than smoke up our asses, it just may be Coldplay who end up ruling the world.

July 09, 2008 Earworm

Holding true to the threat of falling fire, Iran issued a long range test missile last night and I am declaring Firefall's "Strange Way" as todays earworm because it may be a sign of some sort...

Not that you ever wondered but Firefall had a pretty good pedigree that touches the family trees of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Stone Ponys, Manassas, CSN&Y, and of course, The Eagles. How they all came together is too long a story for a guy who is late for his morning shower to write so go Wiki it.

I love "Strange Way" although years may go by without me playing it. It's weird in that LA way and arranged to darken the setting and possibly to distract the listener from the fact that the singer is probably a misogynistic ass. It only works some of the time...

July 08, 2008 Earworm

Moving forward(?)from the disco/soul accoutrement of "Z", My Morning Jacket run a muck through the history of country rock, stopping for updates of Allman Brother thrashes, Nashville soul, LA desperado daydreams, Lonestar crossovers, and, oddly enough, the gloss of Firefall. Yep, you read that right - Firefall. And that list doesn't even include the poppier aspects of "Evil Urges"

Fortunately, it's not the bouncing and behaving "You Are The Woman" moments of that practically forgotten band (Right? You know you thought, "Oh my god, Firefall", in disbelief a paragraph ago...) but the darker and, thankfully, better moments like "Cinderella" and "Strange Way".

So, just because My Morning Jacket's "Thank You Too!" is today's earworm, don't be surprised if you don't get an earworm tomorrow babbling about "Strange Way". And if you just wanna cry to somebody, don't cry to me...

Besides, it could just as easily be Little River Band's "Reminiscing". That, my friends, is exactly how a muck My Morning Jacket's "Evil Urges" is running.

To watch:

Good silly fun

July 07, 2008

There I was, minding my own business, when a half price Hall and Oates compilation entered my line of vision. Considering the fact that Sony/BMG issued an "Essential" collection in 2005 - the 2004 "Ultimate" collection with a different cover - I wasn't surprised to find the 2001 "Very Best of" in the bargain bin. At $9.99, it seemed a good enough reason to investigate an act that I had long ago tossed onto the heap of the overplayed and the obvious "soundtrack to a decade" claims that only served to remind me that my decade was quite a bit different than others perceived it to be. Plus, the track list actually included a few "single version" notations - usually a sign of a decent compilation. Of particular interest to me was "It's A Laugh", a song I loved back in 1978, but hadn't heard in years.

Even then, I recognized that the chorus was, indeed, laughable and that the song may have been best titled "It's A Rant". Still, the noise around it is pretty damn good: a densely arranged wall of noise as deceptively impenetrable as most rants are with a lyric that is so beautifully bitter and dismissively snide that I actually can't help but laugh. Taken at face value, it was probably too mean spirited to deserve more than it's #20 peak, but that peak suggests that some folks found some relief in hearing the same tired domestic dialogue that seemed to dominate their daily lives set to a different beat. I know I did.

To watch:

To watch:

The future?