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Monday, February 04, 2008
Random Mondays
Get ready, this one has the hits! I ripped off The Onion and blab about what my iPod brings me. Mp3 links work on the blog even if they're being screwy on the RSS feed.
Prince, "Let's Go Crazy" from Purple Rain Listen here! Buy here!
What can I say, this album is the high point of Prince's whole career. I love Dirty Mind and Sing O' The Times (Hell, I even listen to some of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale from time to time) but it doesn't get any better than the emotional and spiritual epic that is Purple Rain. This is exactly how a great album opener should sound, with that out-of-tune organ and Pastor Nelson's sermonizing. Right upfront you know that this album will feature killer guitar work and wisdom about not letting the elevator getting you down. I don't know what the Hell an elevator has to do with all this but hey, it works as a great lyric. I can never get tired of this album
Meat Puppets, "Lake of Fire" from II Listen here! Buy here!
Like most people born after 1979 (well, like most people in general to be honest) I discovered The Meat Puppets thanks to Kurt Cobain inviting them on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged show. Thinking abut it now it was quite an amazing thing to do. Millions of eyes were on Nirvana and they decided to use that fame to help a band they liked that before were only known by barely a thousand. I checked out II thanks to that appearance. I was surprised how much different "Lake of Fire" was to the what was played at the Nirvana show. This, along with the rest of the album, can only be described as "punk rock Neil Young" and I think ol' Neil's pretty punk rock to begin with! It's pretty ballsy that anyone associated with SST Records would go "you know what's cool, old time country and roots music" but I'm thankful that the Brothers Kirkwood did just that. As I've said before the only punk rock I can dig now is something that looks towards the history of American music. You'd be hard press to find a better example than this album.
The Clash, "Police On My Back" from Sandinista! Listen here! Buy here!
Hey, more Clash. Sandinista! is maligned by conventional wisdom. Listening to that version of "Career Opportunities" with the kids singing it's easy to see why. But this song, actually a cover of a reggae song by Eddy Grant of "Electric Avenue" fame, is just as good as anything on their debut or London Calling. Those guitars sound like knives and Strummer truly sounds like a man on the run when he screams "what have I done?" Is he asking the police that or is he asking himself? The song keeps it ambiguous. The only thing that's clear is the mental distress of our narrator.
Permanent Link: 10:47 AM |
1 comments
Comments:
The elevator brings you up or down, get it?
Me, I've always thought that while the movie was fun, the album wasn't one of his best efforts. It just seemed sloppy and unfocused to me. Which doesn't mean that I don't get a kick from a lot of those songs, esp. "Crazy" and "Darling Nikki"!
Sign 'O' The Times and Dirty Mind have always been my favorites. Underrated later album: Come.
# posted by Johnny B : 1:14 PM
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