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Thursday, December 16, 2004
The Perfect Soundtrack to Wearing Black, Thick-Framed Glasses
This post isn't about comics because honestly, I've been thinking about them all week and I need a break. I didn't even buy anything this Wednesday and I'm still going over the latest events in the comics industry in my head before I go to sleep. It hardly seems healthy so I thought, in an effort to relieve myself, I would post about music instead. Taking a cue from what I see many other bloggers here on the comics blogosphere do, I decided to give you a rundown on what I've been listening to a lot:
Transformer by Lou Reed. Really it's been "Vicious" and "Satellite of Love" over and over again. The first just might be Mick Ronson's (a terribly underrated guitar player) finest moment. He rivals the fretwork of one James Williamson's on Iggy & The Stooges Raw Power, easily my favorite album and my favorite guitar playing. With "Satellite" it's just been one of those songs that have hypnotized me lately. I've been playing it on guitar a lot trying to unlock it's secrets. It's that outro that comes out of nowhere with the harmonies and Bowie's backing vocals that kills me every time. Every friggin' time. And of course I'm always listening to my Velvets albums, one of the few bands that I'm a nerd-obsessive about.
Singles Gone Steady by The Buzzcocks. There isn't a month that goes by where I don't listen to this album. The Buzzcocks are one of those bands who have achieved what I believe is ultimate perfection in music: Mixing melodic and smart pop with aggressive and loud punk rock. It's what I try to achieve with my music (I'm going to look into how I can post mp3s here so I can showcase my tunes) and what I come back to again and again with my journeys through music. I love Joe Strummer and Polly Styrene but let's admit folks, Pete Shelley was the best lyricist from the British punk rock era. His words perfectly fit the simplicity of the music with the complexity of the emotions behind the scene and the age of the people making and listening to the music. Great voice, too.
Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds by Teenage Fanclub. These guys did a great job with the pop/punk mix on Bandwagonesque but most of the discography is great, Big Star-influenced power-pop. These Scottish lads do it better than most people when it comes to coming up with a catchy melody, singing beautiful harmonies and playing ringing guitars. It's the whole reason to get up out of bed. "Everything Flows" is one of the most beautiful pieces of work a rock band has ever come up with.
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus. You didn't think it was all going to be rock, did you? Ever since I first saw it name checked in Jim DeRogatis' biography of Lester Bangs I've been listening to this album. It actually does have a lot of similarity to The Stooges and White Light/White Heat in terms of how raw and aggressive the sound is. The three tracks basically lead up to the 18+ minute final track that is the closest music has gotten to sounding like a busy city street filled with all different types of people in the same modern-day panic.
Highway 61 Revisted by Bob Dylan. From this and Black Saint you can deduce that I've been reading Fortress of Solitude (expect a review soon). This was from the middle of that great three-album run of Brining It All Back Home, Highway and Blone on Blonde. Dylan was really into the Willaim Blake, symbolism lyrics at the time. Stuff like "Tombstone Blues" just gets to me how imaginative and smart, not to mention how snide, it is. The title track is to me the ultimate Dylan song. Anything I would ever want out of his music is in that one song. I also enjoy the PJ Harvey cover.
In Utero by Nirvana. My favorite album by my favorite band of all time. Nirvana is basically "Creating Music 101" for me. I've studied these songs like some study Einstein's theories. The mighty pop/punk mix (a term I admittedly am uncomfortable with because people start thinking of Blink 182 when I say it) was perfected on Nevermind but here the band turns the guitars and screaming up for a tour-de-fucking-force of brilliance. Not to mention the drum playing. If Dave Grohl did nothing else in his life except this album he would still be known as one of rock's best drummers just because of this record. Steve Albini brings a sound out of Grohl that sounds like Apocolypse as a backbeat. Can you guess what box set I want for Christmas?
Also enjoyed lately: the aforementioned Harvey's Rid of Me, Cheap Trick's first three albums, two Phil Ochs mix CDs Dorian made for me, the Stroke's two albums and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.
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