The Music Court

Does this look weird to you?

There was something weird about the Beach Boys and no, it wasn’t the looming insanity of Brian Wilson (well maybe it was). Their music is incredibly well-known, well-respected, creative and quite catchy. I am sure every music fan can name at least one Beach Boys song that they like, whether it be songs about coupes, the sun, surfing, or electro-theremin inspired good vibrations. Pet Sounds is widely considered one of the greatest albums of all time (it is ranked #2 on Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time) and Paul McCartney praises it as being his favorite album and the inspiration for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which coincidentally is ranked #1 on the Rolling Stones list. McCartney and the Beatles were and will always be the only band to trump Pet Sounds.

Anyway, this link is not about the great Beach Boys songs, favoring some of the more peculiar songs that they recorded. On the A.V. Club’s 17-song list includes one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, “Vegetables,” which is off the chart in weirdness. Look, the song is odd. It was written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks (which you would think to be a band but he is not) for the album Smiley Smile. Beyond the fact that the song is an excellent portrayal of the detachment of Brian Wilson from reality, none other than Paul McCartney provides the percussion with vegetable chewing noises in the background.

Check out the rest of the list: http://www.avclub.com/articles/give-me-some-root-beer-17-particularly-peculiar-be,35789/

So, on that note, recordings from the Beach Boys, The Doors, Bob Marley and others have been named as 2010 inductees to the Grammy Hall of Fame. “This year’s Grammy Hall Of Fame inductees highlight a diverse array of masterpiece recordings that have had a profound impact on our musical history,” Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow said in a statement. Great list of some very worthy songs including “California Girls” by the Beach Boys. Personally I believe I am most happy for “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano because I believe it may be the most timeless song on the list. If you have not heard it thirty times already since we are post-Thanksgiving then I believe you may live in a radioless box.

Check out the rest of the list: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/11/25/beach-boys-doors-recordings-join-grammy-hall-of-fame/

The Element of Freedom

Moving on, and away from the boys of the beach (I promise), let’s take a quick peak at the album releases for tomorrow, December 1. It looks like various diseases have made the list. Rock band Yellow Fever and Deer Tick (which may cause Lyme Disease with a bite) are both releasing an album and EP respectively. I hope they both do not leave you down with any sickness. Also, the healthy Alicia Keys is releasing her fourth studio album.

Album Release for December 1

The Element of Freedom by Alicia Keys

– In an interview with Billboard magazine Keys described her new album as an album that, “eliminated all of the boundaries and all the limitations, so that you can feel your freedom and express your freedom in every way you possibly can.” The fourteen track album’s anticipated release should bring good sales for the already succesful R&B performer.

       This is a promising edition of court links. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, and Jimi Hendrix; a very interesting combination.

       Let’s start with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young, the famous musical feud that best alludes to Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues. The supposed feud I should say. For those who do not know, Skynyrd in their most famous song “Sweet Home Alabama” which has been taken solely as a conservative masterpiece speaks directly to Neil Young, “Well I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don’t need him around anyhow.”  Young, whose anger towards southern segregationist policies seeped through his music was not very much liked among those committing these heinous injustices. They hid behind the words of the so-called conservative response from Skynyrd. The song and band are both widely misunderstood according to a thought-provoking argument provided by thrasherswheat.org. Skynyrd, especially lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, looked up to Neil Young and recorded the song as a wide joke just to play to southern ignorance. The messiah for conservative policies may have turned over to the other side but I guess no one will ever truly know.

Check out the article: http://www.thrasherswheat.org/jammin/lynyrd.htm

And…

      In a big surprise a recent musicradar.com poll shows that Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” has been voted the greatest guitar riff of all time. Wow, I never would have guessed. “Nearly 40 years after his untimely death, Jimi Hendrix is still the undisputed heavyweight champion of rock guitar,” said Musicradar.com editor Mike Goldsmith. True now and probably true another 40 years down the road. In 40 years I’ll run a poll and we will see what the consensus is then.

Check out the rest of the list: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/jimi-hendrix-has-greatest-riff_1123881

Labelle

Everything is getting a day pushed back this holiday week. Today I am posting some links for your pleasure and then tomorrow, supposing I have some time at night (for I will be driving home for Thanksgiving during the day) I will be posting the next lyricist on the seemingly endless list of top 100 lyricists (well it definitely has an end, it just may take several years out of my life, someone should do the math…someone that is not me).

Anyway on to some awesome linkage. The A.V. Club has some awesome articles and I suggest everyone who checks out this blog to check them out. Today I bring you their list of 19 foreign phrases we would not know had they not been in popular songs. My personal favorite is “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)” from Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Everyone knows this song but do you know what they are singing. If you speak French you do and you are laughing. It means Would you like to sleep with me (tonight). Just tonight, how about the entire day. Well thanks for being subtle about it…I’ll get back to you…just kidding.

Check out the rest: http://www.avclub.com/articles/ca-plane-pour-wha-19-foreign-phrases-we-wouldnt-kn,35644/ 

Notable  CD’s Release Yesterday (Monday, Nov. 23)

“For Your Entertainment” by Adam Lambert

The American Idol runner-up’s debut album featuring guest appearances from Lady GaGa, Pink and even Matthew Bellamy of Muse. The Huffington Post calls the album, “An Instant Classic” and I will have check it out because I am intrigued. Could this be the biggest album from any American Idol contestant. It certainly may be the most anticipated. From Lambert’s flamboyant album cover to performance on the American Music Awards he has certainly drawn a lot of interest. Personally, I can care less what the man does on stage or on his CD’s. If the public does not like it then they do not have to buy it, or watch it. It is only for your entertainment!

Buy the album: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Entertainment-Adam-Lambert/dp/B002QEXN3O

I don’t care what anyone says, I like Ringo Starr.

What is there not to like, he was a Beatle, he is talented, and he seems like a genuine nice guy. Starr continues to release albums for the love of music and he does it with class, and other musicians. On his new release, the closest thing we all have to a Beatles’ reunion comes true with a Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr duet which will certainly require a listen. Also featured on the album are musicians like Joe Walsh and Ben Harper.

Link: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/starr-duets-with-mccartney-on-new-album_1123072

You know who I also like, The Talking Heads. I also like interesting concerts on German rock television shows. I also like the song “I Zimbra,” which may sound and look like gibberish, but is actually adapted from a poem by Dadaist poet Hugo Ball. And, would you look at that, this link has everything.

Link: http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4782230

This embodies Weird Al Yankovic

Everyone has had the experience of listening to a Weird Al Yankovic parody song and thinking it was the original. Heck, I would even go out on a limb and say that Weird Al has introduced more people to Rock and Rap than the radio. Come on, tell me you have not listened to “Amish Paradise,” “Eat it,” or any of Weird Al’s neverending catalogue of comical songs. Cracked.com, a humor and video site, asked Weird Al to write them an article about his favorite parody songs and to make a list of stories behind songs he wanted to parody but couldn’t. And, in normal Weird Al fashion, he went well above and beyond the call of duty.

Check it out:  http://www.cracked.com/article/203_the-9-most-underrated-funny-songs-according-to-weird-al/

Now boys and girls, this archaic bagel shaped disc was called a CD-Rom. People used to listen to music that was stored on this.

Notable November 17th CD Releases

John Mayer: “Battle Studies”

– Mayer’s fourth studio album mixes blues and stories and track 7 is his own version of “Crossroads” based on The Creams version. If that is not enough to buy this album I do not know what is.

The Chairs: “Nine Ways”

– “The Chairs released its first full-length last spring, and has since pro­duced two EPs, and now a sec­ond album. Due out on the 17th, Nine Ways is sim­ply an incred­i­ble album, some­thing not even the out­stand­ingly high quan­tity of work The Chairs pro­duced this year could sti­fle. The album show­cases nine rather unique ways to die, or more accu­rately, to be killed, not only in each of its tracks (dur­ing which a total of eigh­teen peo­ple pass away) but on the var­i­ous album cov­ers (yes, there are mul­ti­ple cov­ers), each cor­re­spond­ing to a track and method of death. But Nine Ways is not just more mor­bid than the band’s last album: it is also more exper­i­men­tal, more detailed, and more intel­li­gent. Nine Ways is noth­ing short of an amaz­ing album.” Review from Plumbiferous: http://plumbiferous.com/1312/nine-ways-the-chairs

Them Crooked Vultures: “Them Crooked Vultures”

– The much anticipated debut album from the supergroup that includes vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss), bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana). An interesting combination of hard rock that is certainly worth checking out