8.30.2002
posted by fred solinger 8:09 PM
22. chairmen of the board, "pay to the piper"
why here? i wanted to end the disc on an upbeat note.
why this song? after "band of gold," this is the finest thing holland-dozier-holland had anything to do with in the 70s. after they left motown, they set about creating a blueprint for post 60s pop/r&b that was as fabulous as it was short-lived. like many of those early hot wax/h-d-h numbers, the track itself is hysterical, motown laced with mania. lyrically, this is one horny-ass song: it's about this guy, the lead singer, who's seeing this chick, spending his last dime on her, and is getting no play. the pre-chorus goes, "i played the tune, you dug the beat, now come on girl, be nice to me"; if not for matters of censorship and of good taste, it should have been, "i played the tune, you dug the beat, now come on girl, and suck my meat." it even rhymes better. in the annals of pop, blue balls have never been made to sound so joyful.
posted by fred solinger 6:57 PM
21. shangri-las, "dressed in black"
why here? see number 20. "dressed in black" segues into the unfettered horniness of the track 22 than it does into the refined jauntiness of "la vie en rose."
why this song? the b-side of "he cried," "dressed in black" deserves to be spoken in the same breath with other shangri-las classics like "leader of the pack," "past, present and future," "give him a great big kiss," etc. it's something of a sequel to "leader of the pack," but stripped down to chilling effect. the lyrics read like pages from a teenager's diary as only shadow morton could write them. parents forbid girl to see boy. girl espies boy, dressed in black, from her window. girl is implicitly dressed in black because black is how she feels on the inside. the chorus is a towering, two-hanky affair, images of lips locked and embraces shared as painted from memory. best of all is the ending: a spoken vocal is accompanied solely by a knocking meant to symbolize feet climbing stairs. love has gone forever and the silence is disquieting.
posted by fred solinger 6:30 PM
20. edith piaf, "la vie en rose"
why here? i fucked up, i admit it. i forgot that i had this song on the list. the question became not where do i want this, but what song would sound better seguing into the other?
why this song? i was walking around the house singing, "deeeeeee de de de de de deeeee de de de de de deeeeee de de de de de deeee deeeeee" and that had to stop. compilation disc as exorcism.
posted by fred solinger 6:10 PM
19. derek & the dominos, "bell bottom blues"
why here? at this stage in the disc, why not? starts sharply and ends sharply, can be sandwiched between most any song combo.
why this song? this song was at the core of my derek & the dominos dilemma. it's remarkably well-made. in complimenting it, i sound like the rolling stone record guide: "stinging guitars...pleading vocals." and then further praise, "well-developed melodically...the band plays as one..." comes across as something you'd find on a rock 'n' roll report card. maybe it all boils down to passion: i have a hard time believing that someone as dull and as tasteful as eric clapton can really feel something; God knows i've rarely heard it in his guitar playing, and so i'm loath to say it's 'passionate.' maybe once i get past this stumbling block i'll be able to admit to myself why i like this album. it could be the passion.
posted by fred solinger 5:59 PM
18. beatles, "paperback writer"
why here? similar in tempo to "home in your heart." a capella openings almost always make for good transitions.
why this song? there seems to be something a cult around "paperback writer," and i never seemed to understand it really. yeah, released between rubber soul and revolver, it marks their departure from writing pop songs for the sake of writing pop songs, which isn't without a significance, but significance never made my captain beefheart records sound any better. a few days before making this disc, i heard it on cbs-fm and thought it sounded really great: bass high in the mix, scraggly guitars, classic wide stereo separation. sometimes i find songs just click like that when i'm in my car and at the mercy of the radio.
posted by fred solinger 5:12 PM
17. solomon burke, "home in your heart"
why here? one of those mood-setters i'd mentioned earlier (along with track 22, it was the other song i considered opening the disc with). i decided that i had enough of the pussy shit and needed a rollicking soul anthem. begging in soul meant making a lot of promises to the loved one, but it rarely involves self-effacement.
why this song? solomon just doesn't sing about it, he is about it. he'll travel over mountains and through byways; he'll give you candy-coated moonbeams and nights, ho ho, nights filled with love and sweet dreams. the rhythm section is bumptious in both the literal and onomatopoeic senses, trying to keep pace with burke, grooving all the way.
posted by fred solinger 4:14 PM
16. tim buckley, "song for jainie"
why here? alpert fades long and slow; this track comes in very quietly with a rickenbacker. thematically, they're very similar.
why this song? well, the last time i was at my sister's, they were watching not another teen movie. some of you may pretend to forget that, in the trailer, the boy decides to sing a song with his beloved's name in it and he chooses "jainie's got a gun." music idiot that i am, this was the first thing i thought of during that scene and it would've been just as unfunny as "jainie's got a gun," and it would've been quite bewildering as well. anyway, tim buckley courts his love with poesy and a clover ring, and if you examine the goods he brings, it seems pretty silly. but it's a lovely song and it only encourages my feeling that early buckley was little more than a florid micky dolenz. which is still a good thing.
posted by fred solinger 4:06 PM
i'd like to say thank you to everyone for their kind words regarding the vmas. and, also, to those of you who were kind but whose urls didn't show up in my referrers, you need to try harder.
8.29.2002
posted by fred solinger 11:23 PM
oh, good night.
posted by fred solinger 11:23 PM
there's something in axl's eyes that i can't quite describe, other than that they look different. he also seemed downright humble with kurt loder right after the show. and sounded almost philosophic during the interview. i guess that's what growing up does to a person.
posted by fred solinger 11:21 PM
well, i guess imx (formerly immature) and b2k aren't the same group.
posted by fred solinger 11:18 PM
what's amusing about this new guns 'n' roses is that none of the members have forsaken the image of the band they were formerly a member of.
posted by fred solinger 11:13 PM
i think this is "madagascar" they're playing now, which was one of the best songs from the rock in rio set a couple of years ago.
posted by fred solinger 11:12 PM
i really wish i did have a tape in the vcr. what an inscrutable looking bunch.
posted by fred solinger 11:10 PM
GUNS 'N' ROSES!!!
posted by fred solinger 11:10 PM
best video: eminem, "without me." it'd been a bad year for videos. normally, the white stripes would be lucky to get a breakthrough nod. eminem looks genuinely chastened after that last outburst. too bad.
posted by fred solinger 11:08 PM
alright, how wasted is nelly?! bringing a drink on stage! HOLLA.
posted by fred solinger 11:02 PM
it seems like the surprise will be g'n'r, if that's what jimmy fallon was implying with his sung clue of "patience." unless he was referring to the lloyd cole song of the same name.
posted by fred solinger 11:00 PM
viewer's choice award: michelle branch, "everywhere" michelle branch?! is this payola for during the sorority life theme?wait a second, michelle branch is drunk too? what's going on here? isn't she like 16?
posted by fred solinger 10:56 PM
there's something very goldenpalace.com about j.c.'s shirt.
posted by fred solinger 10:56 PM
wait a second, justin's wearing a different hat...
posted by fred solinger 10:53 PM
did the clipse just lipsynch?
posted by fred solinger 10:51 PM
the clipse and justin may be the most improbable pairing of the year.i know justin really loves michael, but he has to accept that usher is better at imitation, except justin's falsetto sounds eerily like jacko's. perhaps he has a little m.j. in him after all...uh.
posted by fred solinger 10:49 PM
whoa, it's like a stereo, but it's really big.
posted by fred solinger 10:46 PM
except frank black was too heavy to have pelle's ego (at least on stage) and kurt was never as good looking as nicholls.
posted by fred solinger 10:41 PM
it's sort of nirvana vs. the pixies, isn't it?
posted by fred solinger 10:40 PM
there probably aren't two different lead singers than howlin' pelle almqvist and craig nicholls, the former, good-time guy who doesn't write his own songs (supposedly), the latter, troubled genius.
posted by fred solinger 10:38 PM
the hives are fun.
posted by fred solinger 10:36 PM
HA HA HA HA. this is what the show needed -- antagonism between moby and eminem. despite his music, eminem really is a humorless bastard.
posted by fred solinger 10:35 PM
best male: eminem, "without me". christina & em reunited for the first time. no hugs exchanged, though his boys are giving her the eye...
posted by fred solinger 10:33 PM
psst, someone should tell christina aguilera that her (enhanced?) breasts are hanging out.
posted by fred solinger 10:33 PM
wow, i really can't tell the difference between moby and the guy from linkin park.no, you weren't the only one who saw the glimmer of fear in the eyes of the olsen twins after the r. kelly crack.
posted by fred solinger 10:30 PM
the osbournes seem uncharacteristically non-judgmental in these viewer's choice spots...
posted by fred solinger 10:25 PM
maybe i should've watched that sheryl crow performance but it seemed more harrowing than i was in the mood for at the time.
posted by fred solinger 10:20 PM
no, i couldn't see rudy introducing guns 'n' roses either.
posted by fred solinger 10:20 PM
it's terrible having an "oo" sound in your name. it makes it seem that people are always saying "boo" when they call your name in unison, cf. rudy giuliani, bruce springsteen, xuxa.but at least rudy grabbed some of that j. lo booty.
posted by fred solinger 10:18 PM
did j. lo get an invite to puffy's party?
posted by fred solinger 10:12 PM
jimmy fallon seems to speak of the g'n'r rumors...or at least he said, 'what you may have heard is true. you won't want to miss it.'
posted by fred solinger 10:11 PM
pink: "i'm too drunk for this."
posted by fred solinger 10:10 PM
best female: pink, "get the party started"
posted by fred solinger 10:09 PM
not very punk rock of avril to be presenting with the daughter of the king of rock n' roll...though that dismissal, "yeah whatever she said," was fiesty.
posted by fred solinger 10:07 PM
hate all you want, and i have, but that was the best performance of the show. i mean, pogo sticks.
posted by fred solinger 10:05 PM
hey, is that wade robson dancing with puff?
posted by fred solinger 10:05 PM
i hope diddy isn't scuffing his shoes with all of this activity. that would be the anithesis of 'fly shit.'
posted by fred solinger 10:04 PM
didn't tlc do this planet rock routine a few years back?
posted by fred solinger 10:03 PM
lest ye forget, puff daddy, as he was called then, invented the remix. michael jackson, on the other hand, invented usher's steps.
posted by fred solinger 10:02 PM
i hope they got invites to puffy's party for that "hardest working man in show business" line.
posted by fred solinger 10:01 PM
it seems like run-dmc have been on every mtv show since 1999 or so.
posted by fred solinger 10:00 PM
except there's a lot more drunken bawdiness at a wedding and a shitload more grandstanding -- and showmanship! -- in a school play.
posted by fred solinger 9:59 PM
the show so far feels more like a wedding or a school play, the people behind the scenes hoping that everything goes off without incident.
posted by fred solinger 9:56 PM
best group video: no doubt, "hey baby." drummer still in pants. guitarist in mickey mouse shirt still looks unexplainably morose. i really feel like i'm watching video (as opposed to videos).
posted by fred solinger 9:54 PM
but the show must go on, so just as soon as they're ushered off, it's back to best group video. not the most comfortable segue.
posted by fred solinger 9:53 PM
t-boz and chilli carried themselves with dignity and grace in what must've been a difficult position.
posted by fred solinger 9:52 PM
God has been called by many names tonight: God, Jesus, Lord, Father, Ja.
posted by fred solinger 9:51 PM
apparently, there's more tlc to come. no confirmation on whethere or not they're changing the name to two-lc.
posted by fred solinger 9:50 PM
and she had "one minute man" dedicated to her! the injustice!
posted by fred solinger 9:50 PM
tribute to 'left eye' lopes. mtv is creating an aids scholarship in her name. aaliyah didn't get this kind of send-off...
posted by fred solinger 9:42 PM
when did eminem get buff? must be a recent development, otherwise i'm sure we would've seen him rapping topless before.
posted by fred solinger 9:40 PM
is that bono in the yellow glasses in eminem's "congress"?
posted by fred solinger 9:39 PM
what joke? "fat joe ate one of the olsen twins." feel free to ask again, 'what joke?' he won't feel so good about himself if joey crack pulls a big pun. and he shouldn't forget that fat joe's under investigation in a beating case...
posted by fred solinger 9:38 PM
he will not let that fat joe joke die.
posted by fred solinger 9:37 PM
oh, i forgot jimmy fallon was on this show.
posted by fred solinger 9:36 PM
best rock video: linkin park, "the end." did dave know beforehand? is that why he made the linkin park crack? will sammy make an effort to listen to linkin park now?
posted by fred solinger 9:34 PM
jesus, whose hair is worse? dave's or sammy's? they call sammy 'the red rocker.'
posted by fred solinger 9:33 PM
God, i hope the michael jackson thing wasn't meant to be the big 'surprise.'there were rumors that guns 'n' roses were going to perform. i'd take it, even if axl announced, "we're going to perform something long and ponderous from our forthcoming album. but first, here's a video presentation."
posted by fred solinger 9:31 PM
has there been a highlight yet? i love springsteen but sometimes i just feel like you've got to be there. "the rising" seems like such a perfect studio creation that it's impossible to improve upon unless you're in the crowd.
posted by fred solinger 9:29 PM
i like these slow-mo, self-congratulating 'vma moments' that bring the show back in from commercial. so glossy.
posted by fred solinger 9:27 PM
best new video: avril lavigne, "complicated." her worst nightmare realized: she's accepting an award from the very people -- prefab pop hopefuls -- she's railing against.it looks like there was some kinda of tie-up in kelly's attempt to give avril hug. perhaps avril was being punk to the very end and refusing the emrace of the SYSTEM.
posted by fred solinger 9:25 PM
kelly is holding the prize...is it prophetic?
posted by fred solinger 9:24 PM
scarier still, she's the second best artist in the bunch. after b2k.
posted by fred solinger 9:24 PM
i bet paula wishes she could say "yanking two big heads out of his tight ass" on fox!is there any truth to the rumor that there's a petition against ashanti's nomination for best new artist?
posted by fred solinger 9:23 PM
as usual, simon is dead-on with his assessment.
posted by fred solinger 9:23 PM
i was going to predict randy was going to say 'mtv, mtv, mtv.' hard to believe now, i know, but i really was going to.
posted by fred solinger 9:22 PM
pink sees this impersonation of ryan seacrest and bryan dunkleman and knows it's supposed to be funny but she can't make out why.
posted by fred solinger 9:15 PM
what a gyp. she didn't even reenact the animated sequence.
posted by fred solinger 9:13 PM
YES! i love that line. "beside her silicone i look minimal..."
posted by fred solinger 9:12 PM
shakira performing. but will there be LIVE puncturing of fake breasts? reason enough to stay tuned in for the next few minutes. unless you're the sort who goes for her hip-swivelling. in which case, it's just another reason.
posted by fred solinger 9:10 PM
best hip-hop video: j. lo ft. ja rule, "i'm real (remix)" well, i guess they had to give her some enticement to show up...meanwhile, sheryl crow is non-plussed.
posted by fred solinger 9:09 PM
so hip-hop, by mtv definitions, is the blurring of rap and r&b. or, more succinctly, the mix of rap & ashanti.
posted by fred solinger 9:08 PM
best hip-hop video? isn't rap the music, and hip-hop the culture...well, not unless j. lo represents the culture.
posted by fred solinger 9:08 PM
so the ones in p.o.d. are the swarthy ones, and the ones in linkin park look like moby and that one guy from 311. alright, that's settled.
posted by fred solinger 9:03 PM
i don't know that i can keep this up. it's kind of dull. and the show hasn't been great shakes either.
posted by fred solinger 9:03 PM
best rap video: eminem, "without me." eminem and the jackass crew on the same stage: everything wrong with america isolated.
posted by fred solinger 8:58 PM
they're like weezer for kids who don't like irony. but like sideburns and acoustic guitars.
posted by fred solinger 8:58 PM
but now, mtv 2 award: dashboard confessional, "screaming infidelities." DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL?! fuck this shit.
posted by fred solinger 8:57 PM
oh, if you couldn't tell earlier breakthrough video: the white stripes, "fell in love with a girl."
posted by fred solinger 8:56 PM
justin timberlake doesn't know quite what's going on.m2 award: never let it be said that mtv doesn't know how to promote its programs and channels. up next, celebrity kidnapped! with your host dave holmes.
posted by fred solinger 8:55 PM
anthony kiedis said "emo."
posted by fred solinger 8:54 PM
are the vmas the one major award show where no one really cares about who wins?
posted by fred solinger 8:49 PM
ah, nas 'is gonna play the big man' and hope for peace in hip-hop! unlike the belligerent jay-z...and then ja rule comes out and yells "MURDAHHHHH!!!!"
posted by fred solinger 8:48 PM
nas is now down with murder squad. if you ain't know, now you know. sadly, he's not raising the bar in his feud with jay-z.
posted by fred solinger 8:46 PM
is it just strange synchronicity that i was watching singin' in the rain earlier? GET OUT OF MY HEAD, JA RULE.
posted by fred solinger 8:45 PM
'ladies and gentlemen, tonight the role of ashanti will be played by christina millan.'
posted by fred solinger 8:45 PM
WHOA. b2k. they are live beings. and they look a bit like immature.
posted by fred solinger 8:44 PM
the white stripes and the olsens on the same stage: only in america. jack white looks SHARP! "thanks mary-kate and askley." meg looks good...and she talks.did i mention i had a dream about the white stripes the other night?
posted by fred solinger 8:43 PM
breakthrough video is a category i don't understand. i always thought it to meant a video which makes the artist a superstar. i don't think any of these were really hits. it seems to be more about being a left-field video.
posted by fred solinger 8:42 PM
even they seem incredulous as to the 'dirty deeds' they've allegedly done.
posted by fred solinger 8:42 PM
the olsen twins seem anathema to mtv.
posted by fred solinger 8:38 PM
by the way, i hope b2k win the viewer's choice and best new artist awards as i still don't quite understand them. perhaps a win will give them a platform on which to explain what they want, who they are and, most importantly, why they are.
posted by fred solinger 8:37 PM
i wonder when this osbournes skit was shot. i thought they'd be shameless enough to have sharon, live from chemo. was ozzy duped? was he told it was for a 9/11 special?
posted by fred solinger 8:35 PM
both the Lord and the matrix referenced in mary j.'s speech: what an interesting theology.
posted by fred solinger 8:35 PM
best r&b video: mary j. blige, "no more drama." i can't say i've ever seen this video.(somewhere, the neo-soulsters are griping at the generalization of r&b as 'get busy' music.)
posted by fred solinger 8:33 PM
kylie and enrique: what an unimpeachably pretty couple of human beings.
posted by fred solinger 8:32 PM
pink, ladies and gentlemen.
posted by fred solinger 8:31 PM
i don't like this transmission -- it seems to put a greater distance between myself and the show. it looks like an mtv becoming video.
posted by fred solinger 8:29 PM
i guess she's more of a singer/song-writer than an actress. j. love, that is.
posted by fred solinger 8:29 PM
funny she introduces pink since the tag 'singer/song-writer' as applied to jennifer love hewitt made me think of pink mentor linda perry. no i don't know why either.
posted by fred solinger 8:28 PM
'singer/song-writer jennifer love hewitt.'
posted by fred solinger 8:25 PM
i'm going to make a conscious effort to refrain from using the word 'well' for the next half-hour or so.
posted by fred solinger 8:25 PM
given the dire straits vh1 finds itself in, can mtv afford the hi-tech look of the show? perhaps if vh1 continues to simulcast mtv programming...
posted by fred solinger 8:23 PM
'go pee'? isn't that what ashanti's performance is for?
posted by fred solinger 8:22 PM
best pop video: no doubt, "hey baby." bonus: the drummer has pants on.
posted by fred solinger 8:19 PM
he looks more star trek than ever, except not even uhuru had boots that superfly.
posted by fred solinger 8:17 PM
well, michael jackson's appearance explains why the show still looks pre-recorded...
posted by fred solinger 8:16 PM
well, it's always nice to see james brown, regardless of the context...well, there was blues brothers 2000...
posted by fred solinger 8:14 PM
did anna kournikova get herself eliminated from the u.s. open so quickly so her pesky profession wouldn't conflict with the vmas?
posted by fred solinger 8:12 PM
...and telling people that they wouldn't want it.
posted by fred solinger 8:10 PM
sure, jimmy fallon rails against macy gray advertising her album, but isn't this whole opening just an implicit way of telling people he has an album out?
posted by fred solinger 8:08 PM
perhaps moby and eminem should team up on a version of "without me," to show that eminem really isn't a technophobe. perhaps not.
posted by fred solinger 8:06 PM
A.W.K.!
posted by fred solinger 8:03 PM
the way he's dressed, i don't think the boss could make it into diddy's party.
posted by fred solinger 8:02 PM
the way that a 'special location' had been bandied about, i figured he'd be performing from ground zero.
posted by fred solinger 8:01 PM
am i the only person who sees the similarity between james gandolfini and the boss?
posted by fred solinger 4:29 PM
'P.S. DO NOT DISTURB THE SEXY.', or the ten commandments according to p. diddy, e.g. 'thou shalt wax thy bush.' the rules that one must respect and adhere to in order to make diddy's post-vmas bash 'the greatest party of all time.' from the smoking gun; thanks to maura for the heads up.
posted by fred solinger 2:55 PM
i'll be watching the vmas tonight, talking back to the screen, monitoring the red carpet, and counting how many times forthcoming albums are plugged. check back here at 8:00 est for LIVE coverage.
posted by fred solinger 2:47 PM
15. herb alpert, "this guy's in love with you"
why here? electric pianos and electric light orchestras go so well together, i think.
why this song? one of those 'frame of mind' songs. besides that, it's a beautiful, breathless, hopeful thing, comfortably resting on the edge of a precipice, piano lines cascading like waterfalls. why bacharach thought to give this to alpert, i'll never know, but i guess that's why he's the master.
8.28.2002
posted by fred solinger 5:32 PM
14. olivia newton-john w/e.l.o., "xanadu"
why here? "when the last time" ends with a squiggle, "xanadu" sounds like a synthesizer aping a jet take-off. at this point in the disc, it's enough for me.
why this song? the best e.l.o. productions sound wind-swept, like sunshowers sweeping across fields, and this one is no exception. the octave pianos also make it sound like a low-rent abba -- which is what e.l.o. were, right?
8.27.2002
posted by fred solinger 9:12 PM
just watched nikki's performance of "edge of seventeen" on american idol and this thought occurred to me:
are karaoke bars to american idol producers what the mls is to the u.s. soccer federation? that is, developmental ground for talent that may never catch on with america?
posted by fred solinger 8:41 PM
thanks to matthew for the heads up on the new u2 single, "electricial storm" -- and if it were any good, he'd get a link too. (ha ha ha, just kidding.)great title; a shame to waste it on what is very obviously a single for a greatest hits package. g.h. singles usually offer up everything that a band does well presented in the most ramshackle fashion imaginable. sen. bono displays his typical optimism in the face of overwhelming odds; he sings the chorus in falsetto, reminding the listener that he used to be able to hit those notes full-voiced, and to show that he hasn't lost all of it by smoking and singing the refrain to "bad," he does a bit of moaning. meanwhile, larry mullen jr. bashes away on the drums; adam clayton stands around looking intelligent and, like most aging rock bassists, is the dignified foil to the outlandish frontman and quietly brooding guitarist; and the edge makes like an electrical storm before bumping into the guitar break from "walk on" -- one can imagine the song ending the way it does because it becomes obvious to even bono that they're getting self-parodic. essentially, g.h. singles leave the listener to listen to the other songs on the compilation to see how good a band can sound when the parts are assembled properly.
posted by fred solinger 5:08 PM
i'm listening to a track by england's the music called "the truth is no words," and it's one of the most unlikely things i've heard in some time. rock scholars have put forth the question for years and now this leeds-based band, one of the music press's latest raves, has arrived on the scene with the answer. the question: what if led zeppelin were a BAGGY band? the answer: why, they'd be the music. it's a preposterous, unthinkable thing, something you couldn't imagine existing in this millennium. and yet it does and it's absurd and i'm finding its charms increasingly harder to resist.baggy bands were always trying to be the stones or the beatles (and, sometimes, the zombies); i'm not sure why it never occurred to them to try to be led zeppelin...besides the fact that, well, you know, it's utterly INSANE. the 'e' is gone and in its place are the old tropes about squeezing the lemon and 'love' measured in inches (probably, i have no idea what the song is about). the singer is like jack white with a clamp on his scrote and the band emits a sense of groove that is decidedly, endearingly english. perhaps bell bottomed bluesmen derek & the dominoes explained it best, saying a little about their own appeal in the process: "it's all wrong but it's alright."
posted by fred solinger 1:12 PM
i bought two of the rolling stones remasters today, beggars banquet and let it bleed. i don't own any sacd equipment so i supppose my critique is akin to commenting on the digital technology of attack of the clones by watching it at a standard projection theatre.what i can tell you validly about beggars banquet is this: it's faster, ever so slightly. the press releases have touted this as the first time the album will be heard at proper speed. the difference is just tiny enough to have a disorienting effect on the listener. to me, it was like experiencing the world when one is sleep deprived: everything seems a wee bit off. i did the math: every minute on the remaster is equal to 61.2 seconds on the old issue.
let it bleed is also a shorter album now: the new cd more closely resembles the original lp as the 3-4 second intervals that were inserted between tracks on the original cd have been deleted, so it's now as it was meant to be heard. and after my first listening, again it's a small change but it's a definite improvement.
so what does it sound like on antiquated equipment? having listened to both the original and remaster of let it bleed, certain things make themselves clear. it feels as if the masters have been scrubbed: after listening to the new, one can hear, as if they were at a latter-day stones concert, the rust and age clinging to the vocals and instrumentation. there's no hiss and it's a lot cleaner, but not less murkier -- i'll use "gimme shelter" as an example. the drum parts have been bolstered and given more heft. the bass, which feels flat and amorphous on the original, now seems almost palpable -- it's now like a living, breathing entity, an onerous cloud that ambles and menaces. the miasma is still present, it's just better defined now.
posted by fred solinger 12:22 PM
"in 1986, abcko records released the first compact discs of the rolling stones catalog. over the years we have had many requests to re-issue these titles using the latest digital mastering techniques. however, we did not feel the improvements in cd mastering warranted this -- until now. with the right technology in place, we spent hundreds of hours researching, and more importantly, listening to the analog masters that exist in the vaults. it was a long and painstaking process, involving a quest on both sides of the atlantic to find the best and purest sources of the rolling stones' work.this disc actually has two layers. one is a normal cd. the other layer is a super audio cd (sacd) of the same repertoire. both layers benefit from the direct stream digital (dsd) encoding which captures every nuance of the original master tapes. you will hear the 'rawness' of the guitars, the vocal quality and the natural distortion of the band as it sounded in the studio. and you can hear it on any cd player you own today or any sacd-compatible player."
8.26.2002
posted by fred solinger 9:18 PM
13. clipse ft. kelis, "when the last time"
why here? because when he was young and passionate, this sort of thing would've pissed morrissey off, no end.
why this song? the follow-up to "grindin" opens like it's about to break into "rumpshaker," a great thing. then it has this synth squiggle that sounds like a pissed-off modem. kelis is given a featured credit though she doesn't seem to do more than sing a "la la la" or two -- these variations on the smurfs theme seems to be a new neptunes songwriting tic. pharrell is featured a lot more -- maybe they're just trying to float kelis's name back out there so that her album may be one day released in this country. he gets to be a bad m.f, which is always funny because he listens to steely dan and seems to be as soft as double-quilted t.p. per usual, he commands some silly girl to move her ass and she does and so will you.
posted by fred solinger 8:15 PM
ms. dynamite's "dy-na-mi-TEE" = what erykah badu should be doing right about now, that is making entertaining, self-mythologizing records instead of singles with boyfriends retreading said boyfriend's past extended metaphors.
posted by fred solinger 8:14 PM
12. smiths, "paint a vulgar picture"
why here? "the golden age" ends on one of those blips that radiohead made all the rage several years ago; the sharp beat of the drum seems a nice refutation of that.
why this song? i recently compiled a smiths disc and that necessitated a relistening to, among their other records, strangeways here we come. i was struck by how shiny and spangly the track was. oh, sure, the singles, the smiths best of volumes 1 and 2 followed by the very best of the smiths has made a mockery of the song's intent but, still, they can never taint you in my eyes.
posted by fred solinger 10:53 AM
11. beck, "the golden age"
why here? i just liked the way the strumming of guitar chords fit after the slow fade of "hold me tight." it's just chromatically pleasing.
why this song? apparently, winona (allegedly) stole more than just handbags and hair accessories: she also absconded with beck's heart, and the forthcoming sea change seems to be the break-up album. ever savvy though, beck has the good sense to seem vaguely depressed so there are no embarrassing andy partridge-like demonstrations of spleen. musically, that gram parsons tribute had quite an effect on beck as he's set out to create the 'cosmic american music' parsons was always talking about but rarely creating, and in the refrain he quotes george jones ("these days, i barely get by.") the voice seems to have changed a bit, now falling somewhere between gordon lightfoot and bruce springsteen when he's being unbearably earnest; lines like "you got to drive all night just to feel like you're okay" recall the latter's dark night of the soul wanderings in nebraska. taken as a whole, "the golden age" is expansive, sighing, surprisingly sincere and, to my non-fan ears, the best thing he's done.
contact me.
the following are some sites i visit
from time to time. you'd be all the better if you did the same:
nylpm
freaky
trigger
josh
blog
loatd
grr
skykicking
maura.com
popshots
matos
badger
catherine
pearls
the voice music section
submeat
perpetual motion
tmftml
the rub
no rock&roll fun
spizzazz
fluxblog
sex & sunshine
technicolour
