vain, selfish & lazy.

SIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHH: so my TWO attempts to do this now have been thwarted, this most recent time by blogger. it's as if the system knows, "oh, YOU didn't contribute money for the new server so you shall not reap its benefits." so let's keep the intro brief: hey, i made a mix-cdr. hey, it's my first. but actually it's not, but i'm not telling you about that now. i tried, oh HOW i tried, but FORGET IT. oh, i'm too nice. it IS the second one i've made, the first was made during my tenure at that last joint i worked at and the less said about that era the better: i am all about moving on. i've cast aside my beloved tape-deck and blank tapes in the name of technology; given all that they've meant to me over the years, it seems rather callous the way i did away with them so unceremoniously, but know one thing about me: i am all about moving on. so here's the tracklisting, with whatever comments i FEEL like writing.

mc5, "kick out the jams"
- one's rock n' roll education is incomplete without this song in the curriculum. which, i THINK, means you, mr. ewing. i was reminded of it by the rock's back pages list of the 100 most intense songs of all time, which i found courtesy of catherine. it's intense, it IS intensity. i feel sweaty just listening to it, but that's probably due as much to the concomitant shouting and jumping as to the intensity. then again, that shouting et. al. is probably a result of the intensity. either way.

elton john, "saturday night's alright (for fighting)"
- what an odd title and conceit for an elton john song. i can imagine a conversation between elton and bernie, in which bernie says something like: "saturday night's alright," and elton replies: "yeah...." and bernie interrupts: "FOR FIGHTING" and then elton says, "sounds like a song!" i never liked the song because it sounded too clean and i didn't buy elton as a rocker, and yes, i realize it sounds ever cleaner next to "kick out the jams," but i soon discovered that it rocked. oh yes.

husker du, "makes no sense at all"
- another thing i never liked: husker du. too shouty and non-melodic for my tastes and then i came across this, and i love it because i can sing it until you beg me to stop but the riff remains indistinct and hazy to me. two husker du songs almost made this cd -- "too far down" the other candidate -- as i was thinking "do the du," which was replaced by "don't," so i didn't.

destiny's child, "survivor"
my new favorite band. rocking in their own way. i've said too much about this. but i reviewed it here.

bee gees, "tragedy"
- steps covering this, the idea of them doing it, seemed like a dream. they could whip up the bpms, unleashing the dragon, and the female voices could replace the always somewhat grating falsettos of those brothers gibb. yes, yes, the idea of them doing it. the actual product sucked and only gave me more appreciation for the original, screechiness and all. if you were to ask, "is that a bolt of thunder preceding the return of the chorus after the break?" i would tell you "yes. yes it is. isn't that fabulous?" the bee gees, man.

my bloody valentine, "map ref 41n 93w"
- likely the last thing we'll ever hear from them, but a nice curtain call. hopefully they don't pull a wire and return in the 2010s with a bunch of shitty albums.

new radicals, "you get what you give"
- along with "...baby one more time" and "bombs over baghdad," "ygwyg" forms the triumvirate of pop songs that have ultimately had the most impact on me personally in the last five years, the moments when i realized that pop music still had the power to move and mystify and change lives, all of that. sure it's been "subverted" for commercials lately, but that takes away none of its glory and, hey, it was probably gregg alexander's goal in the first place.

squeeze, "tempted"
- for a long time i wrestled over whether this was good or not, but this was at a time when i was much more measured and calculating, determining by scientific method what was alright for me to claim to like and what wasn't. what freaky trigger has enabled me to do, what their greatest gift was to me was to realize that everything was worthy of a chance, that all artists probably have the ability to make at least one classic single. sure the idea was nicked from chuck eddy, but i knew tom ewing before him anyway.

lovin' spoonful, "you didn't have to be so nice"
- when this song was playing over my headphones, the idea for this question on i love music was born. so for all of those clamoring for me to answer what group i had in mind, the answer is: the lovin' spoonful. the lovin spoonful for me were "summer in the city" and "do you believe in magic?" which for a long time i thought sucked. mike put a song by them entitled "darlin' be home soon" on a mixtape and i loved it and all of what i'm saying here corresponds to what i just said in regards to squeeze. i ended up buying a lovin' spoonful anthology, discovered this song, and fell in love again. thanks, mike.

left banke, "pretty ballerina"
- left banke also did "walk away renee." the four tops did a cover of it. their version, the tops that is, is much better. to me, at least. the banke version is pretty and weepy and all, but after hearing the tops version, the solitary tear that runs down michael brown's face as he wistfully looks out on a future without his titular sweetheart can't compare to the torrent of tears levi stubbs conjures up. kris i think was a big proponent of "pretty ballerina" so i gave it a chance, and it's something that works much better for the banke and their singular brand of chamber-pop. there's no real need for emotion so the violins and violas can do their thing in a sterling fashion and make "pretty ballerina" the masterpiece that it is. i need to buy a left banke compilation.

velvet underground, "sunday morning"
- the last three songs, including this one, were meant to comprise a precious pop section: i think it works well. actually, the idea for putting this one on, another song i once didn't care for, came after mike had me download a song called "sunday morning" by coco, which made use of this song. in order to stop myself from walking around singing "sunday morning, brings the dawn in..." i had to put it on a mix. so i did. it still strikes me odd that the legacy of the velvets begins with this innocuous and unabashedly gorgeous pop song, and i wonder what went through the mind of those few who bought the album as they listened to it, asking what they'd gotten themselves into...

tim buckley, "i've been out walking (live)"
- it occurs to me that i'll probably not buy a better record this year than morning glory, the recent anthology of buckley's music put out by rhino. he's always an artist i meant to investigate, but his records are scarce and i had no idea where to begin. enter this double-disc set, which covers all of his moods, from the uptight folkie to the lecherous soul man. what i love most about this song, and buckley in general, is the indescribable freedom that his voice projects. the song closes with the line "ain't it great just being alive?" which is happy/sad, just like the album. happy because the song, his performance make you want to scream out "YES!!!" in response to the question; sad because you wonder what made him think otherwise.

guns n' roses, "patience"
- this made it cos i heard it on the radio the other day. it still amazes me how led zeppelin iii this sounds. the randomness of my personal memories also still amazes me, like how right now i can remember sitting on a bus, heading off on an elementary school field trip to points now unknown with this song on a tape i'd made off of mtv, and how i'd lend that tape out to fellow classmates, urging them to remember to return it to me.

elton john, "come down in time"
- hey, it's elton again! this time he's in downtempo mood, this track taken from tumbleweed connection which yielded no hit singles and i'd say is his best album, said with the wisdom of having heard none of his other albums. this is a beauty: love that paul buckmaster. if rufus wainwright had been worthy of all of the hype, i'd reckon this is the album he'd be able to make. a great closing line, unusually tender by taupin standards: "there are women and women and some hold you tight while some leave you counting the stars in the night."

willie nelson, "september song"
- i've heard several versions of this song. frank sinatra did it as a young man, and he sang it in his very professional way, but like a young man for whom the lyrics had no meaning, as of yet. he also did it as a young man, and then it sounded like his own personal reminsicence and a very private plea to his loved ones to gather near before it gets dark. lou reed did a version on a weill tribute and the idea struck me as ridiculous, but the song itself turns out to work quite well. it's the most boisterous of the versions, backed by a horn section, but reed does a fantastic interpretative job, delivering each line as if he were just discovering for the first time that he's now what society would consider old and the lines "and these few golden days, i'd like to spend them with you" are rendered with a tenderness nearly unparalleled in his own work. musically, willie's version sounds the most remorseful with booker t.'s regretful piano setting the scene, but nothing that willie applies his voice to can be sad unless he says so, so his version is as warm as any i've heard.

walker brothers, "no regrets"
- i have no idea why this song is not mentioned more when people discuss mr. walker. it contains what is one of his best vocal performances ever, and certainly his most understated. i'm shamed to add that this song was very personal for me at one time, so that may explain my attachment to it. but it's really a class tune and you should seek it out immediately.

bee gees, "to love somebody"
- quite likely my favorite bee gees song ever. sure, others have sung it better, james carr for one, but for a reason i can't quite place -- maybe the production, maybe the wimpy sincerity of the brothers gibb -- this remains the definitive version for me. surely to cause others to "hem, hem" and cluck their tongues, but i'd take a best of the bee gees over a best of the beatles any day. for me, there remains a magic in the work of the bee gees, an unexplainable joy, that has long since been sapped from the majority of the beatles catalog, be it by the endless specials and tributes, a long succession of critics deconstructing everything they've done in the process of glorifying the band, or by the surviving members themselves.
-fred solinger | steal this link! | discuss

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