Christmas song decision tree
(Graphic rendering of April’s theorem.)
Song of the moment: "Rock Me on the Water"
Jackson Browne: “Rock Me on the Water”
This may well be one of my top ten favorite songs, but I always seem to forget about it until it manifests itself in shuffle at an opportune time. Beauty and apocalypse mix with a Browne vocal so real you can hear him chuckle at the irony in one of the verses — and I generally find him stilted. I’d love for Ben Folds to cover this.
Although I’d heard it before, it first stuck with me when it popped into my shuffle as I was taking a long walk to clear my head during the confusion of September 12, 2001.
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Guilty pleasure: Jim Steinman
I like to think that I have impeccable, yet Catholic musical tastes. But there’s always been a certain collection of songs that I know violate every rule of good music. They do so without any pretension at subtlety, play on the cheapest human emotions and contain the cheapest of single entendres and bad puns. Treacle and bombast can. and do, coexist.
As a youth, I didn’t know that these songs had anything in common, although I should have: Keep Reading
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Songs of the moment: Dylan and Jackson
Bob Dylan: Everything is Broken
The car, the pool, the computer, the economy, my nasal passages. Ack.
Mahalia Jackson: “If We Never Needed the Lord Before”
Rediscovered Mahalia via the closing credits of an exceptional episode of This American Life. And we could all use a little help these days. Keep Reading
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LP blogging
I’ve noticed an uptick lately in the number and quality of what I’d call LP blogs — sites primarily dedicated to posting audio and cover images from long out-of-print vinyl records.
This is an invaluable service, spreading around good, great and sometimes intentionally awful music that would otherwise be lost to the ages. And even the most jaded RIAA-lovin’ copyright fanatic can’t reasonably object to the dissemination of these mostly obscure out-of-circulation albums without a discernible commercial market…
Eh, come to think of it, they probably could, would, will and do find a way to carp. But they’d be better off watching to see what’s popular on these blogs as a bellwether for the reissue and compilation market.
Here are some of the LP blogs that make my daily feeds and cause my hard drive to overflow: Keep Reading
If that ain't country
Finally, country music appears in RockBand 2!
Oh, wait. You said Brooks & Dunn, Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, and Brad Paisley?
Sigh. Nevermind.
Bonus tunes:
Hank Williams III: “Dixie” from Straight to Hell. – NSFW
Robbie Fulks: “Countrier than Thou” from Georgia Hard
Song of the moment: Son Volt's "Exurbia"
Obviously, I think a lot about cities and the way that neighborhoods and suburbs interact.
I didn’t catch on first listen to the most recent Son Volt album, but apparently Jay Farrar does too.
“Exurbia” by Son Volt. From The Search.
Preview: Elvis Costello's Spectacle
I do loves me some Elvis Costello, particularly when he stretches himself by mixing genres, going symphonic or starting a talk show that looks to be much more in-depth and interesting than your average gabfest. I may have to bump the DirecTV subscription a level on the basis of this show alone. And the upcoming episode with Lou Reed may well make my head explode with fanboy glee.
Preview videos of episode 1 with Sir Reginald:
Keep Reading
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"I pray to God and Chevy, lighten up the load that's heavy"
Max Stalling’s “Dime Box, Texas” is the most uplifting sad song ever.
That is all. Keep Reading
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Song of the moment: "Ain't gonna suck itself"
To be clear, I’ve never worked for Virgin Records. Nor have I ever stolen a master tape of Sticky Fingers. But somehow this Cracker tune summed up my mood on the drive home tonight: