Nothing like crayons to welcome students back to universities after winter break. Who doesn’t like variegated symbols of joy and youthfulness? How this has anything to do with college, I don’t know, but aren’t you now happy? This post is already so colorful. Let’s keep it that way.
As some of you know, I have just started the spring semester of my senior year at Binghamton University. In May, I will walk across the stage of my school’s events center to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstances,” (which I just found at today was originally written to profile young men dying in war. A quick shout out to the Cracked.com article). I’m not Van Wilder-ing my college experience. But there may be graduate school in my future, so I guess more college can be on its way.
Anyway, all this school talk had me thinking. What are some of the best songs to listen to when you are going back to school after a break? So I have taken the time to compile a list tonight of my top five school songs. The list encompasses school pride created by the Beach Boys and school…uh…indifference from Animal Collective. It takes elementary school and college and mashes it together into this amalgamation of pencils, chalk and locker room effluvium. So, in my best Mr. Mackey, “school is good, mmkay.”
Check out the posted songs and vote. Plus – this is the best part – if you think I’m an idiot and another song deserves a spot on our list, you can vote other and comment on why your song should be on the list.
It has been 27 years since the release of 1984, the zenith of Van Halen’s success. It has also been 27 years since David Lee Roth was kicked out of the band. 1984 was not only a tremendous success, but it was the boiling point. Van Halen did not release an album as good as 1984 in their band history. 1984 featured hits like “Hot for Teacher,” “Jump,” “Panama,” and “I’ll Wait.” The album only came up short to Thriller on the charts and, I mean, Thriller is pretty damn good.
2011 (MMXI – embedded Halen joke) may see an in-studio reunion between Roth and his former bandmates, the first since 1984 was recorded. There are no guarantees that smoking cherubs will be seen again, but this is good news for Halen fans. According to Stereogum, the album has started being recorded. No release date has been revealed yet.
I know, let that sink in. While not even Bob Dylan can confirm that January 24, 1961 is the exact date of his arrival to New York, most believe that the traveling, tremendous, troubadour first came to the big apple on this day 50 years ago. He was 19 years old and hit the streets of New York during one of the most brutally cold winters in its history.
Nice article profiling Dylan’s first days in New York in the Rolling Stone today.
Fark Gem Alert. Credit to Fark for including Django Reinhardt on their happy birthday link list. Django would have been celebrating his 101’st birthday yesterday if he did not die back in 1953. Who was Django Reinhardt? He was a little known jazz guitarist who is known for his development of the “hot” jazz style of guitar playing. Little known to most people. To jazz guitar aficionados, that’s another story. He created this style with two good fingers. After a caravan fire, his third and fourth digits were partially paralyzed but Django didn’t need them. Listen to this old-time jazz classic.
So there I was stumbling around in this dark house. It was completely empty beside my own mindless stupor. I was attempting to watch the patterns I created on the floor with my random but strangely pre-meditated directional changes, but I knew that I was ultimately destined to be distracted by the pictures on walls. And I mean, well, you had to be there… I felt like I was in a seven-eleven at 4am… and tired. Which means that every square inch of the said walls was glowing with pure color, and possibly edible. And it wasn’t just any ordinary color, it was pixelated, which means it had the benefit of hurting your eyes if you stared at it for years. And my eyes did hurt… how many years have I been here?
Staring around me I noticed that it was just pure randomness in terms of content. Funny videos, pictures from nights out, miss-spelled text, and carefully targeted advertisements. It all seemed sort of surreal, like I actually knew why I was seeing all of these seemingly pointless things, even despite the intense notion that I was being completely un-productive. In a moment of clarity I hastily looked for an alternative. I mean the shadows on the floor created by the seemingly arbitrary setup of furniture which i had just noticed around me did look really neat. But before I wrestled away my full attention from the colors, I noticed one square, and it didn’t let go. I had definitely gazed at it hundreds of years ago and quite possibly even wrote for it. A blog. That realization, combined with a momentary hundred year guilt trip, felt like a grenade suddenly exploding in some random filing-cabinet in my head. After a brief paper cleanup I came to the hasty conclusion that my thoughts can change my surroundings… by writing on them. I was now excited and running steadfast with eyes closed, no way to hit the wall that way.
Hopefully it won’t turn out that my thoughts will actually be broadcasted to others, not that I care, it’s just that judging by what I’ve been reading for all these years… they might not be able to handle it. I realized how completely irrelevant that previous notion was when compared to my now questionable attention span. I dwelled upon it for only a bit, because I had to stay focused. I didn’t feel like tripping anymore, and the only way to keep critters from running under your wheels is good-old fashioned gonzo-journalism, and hitting the floor was only fun for the first few-hundred times and quite honestly at this point, I didn’t also really know what I was writing or even thinking about, but that it made it all the more adventurous. Besides whats the worst that could happen? It’s not like the walls were lying to me and it actually turned out this room was inhabited by drunken kids and Matt Coleman was yelling at me about why I haven’t posted on his blog in a while.
hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha
Matt actually didn’t yell at me at a party about his blog… he did that earlier in the day. I just felt like the subsequent party was a more suiting setting. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m just one of those individuals who needs motivation from time to time after all. &)
So… I hear more people need help journeying to the center of their minds. I just needed a break cause it gets tiring making that trip back and forth every weekend. I was beginning to see the I-95 in my nightmares.
But I’m back with warm presents!
Nothing like some peaceful country psychedelia to start off this chilly semester.
Really there is no way to describe this fully. His voice is awesome. And as a result all of whatever it is he is actually saying just turns into a warm fuzzy blur. Something about atoms splintering and a river? Physics! Trippy shit man.
The CD version has the benefit of bird noises, but that is really just arguing semantics at this point. Amazing band with a powerfully versatile style which is all connected by this sort of psychedelic brand ever so liberally hinting at christian rock. Whatever that means haha. All of their music is awesome, so listen to it. But if you are lazy then for now just get their latest album Set em wild Set em Free and I guess I will come back to them one day… Where was I again?
P.S. Listen to their song Don’t be afraid, you’re already dead for some brilliant, almost beatle-esque brand of ironic mind-fuck psychedelia which is actually just a nice pretty song… if you think you can handle it!
&)))))))))))
extra: imagine being there with akron/family when that video took place. i’m willing to bet it was chill
On The Spine - I am not in this picture. But I should be
Today marks the last time I will make the trek up to Binghamton University in anticipation for either Fall/Spring semester. I have reached the Spring semester of my senior year of college. In May I will adorn green and white and graduate with a BA in English – Rhetoric – Creative Writing – whatever other English specification you want to pack into my degree. I am excited to enter the “real world.” I may be continuing my education at a Graduate level in hopes of achieving a masters in journalism. Or I may immediately enter the work force and become a member of the working population. For now, I will enjoy my last semester of college.
Since today is the last time I will be heading up to Binghamton after winter (or summer) break, it also is the last time that I will feature “Going Up The Country” by Canned Heat paired with my farewell Long Island post. This classic, that was made iconic by the Woodstock movie, is not only a Woodstock anthem, but also an ode to my departure to the north country. Upstate New York…where the water tastes like wine?
The Canned Heat recording from Woodstock also makes the perfect driving song. In it you can hear Bob Hite say that he really needs to pee but there is nowhere to go. A problem when you are driving up deserted 17 as well. So, for good luck on my final trip, here is Canned Heat with “Going Up The Country.”
July is perhaps best known by the eclectic group of UK 60’s psychedelic album collectors. Do not let this specific title draw you away from this post. If you are a fan of psychedelic music, modern or original, this post should be of interest to you. I will reserve “Journey to the Center of the Mind” posts to explorations into the eccentric world of psychedelic music. Occasionally blogger Peter Mosur will join us on our trip down mind-bending, kaleidoscopic lane. Today we will explore a single released by July in 1968 and the coinciding album that has garnered much attention even in its mediocrity.
July came out of a verdant psychedelic scene in Britain. Hallucinogenic music still maintained its cult popularity and bands were still experimenting with different sounds. July was the product of a merger between two separated bands. In the early 1960s a band named the Dreamers began playing pop music. The band changed its name to The Tomcats because of Freddie and the Dreamers and also changed their genre to blues/rock. In 1965 the band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Tom Newman, bassist Alan James, guitarist Peter Cook and drummer Chris Jackson. And, in typical band fashion, this incarnation of The Tomcats broke up in 1965.
Also exploring the London music scene was a band named Second Thoughts. They also broke up in 1965. Second Thoughts were an R&B band that featured conga player, flautist and keyboardist Jon Field, guitarist Tony Duhig, singer Patrick Campbell-Lyons future Thunderclap Newman vocalist and keyboardist Speedy Keen. Keen wrote Thunderclap Newman’s one-hit-wonder “Something in the Air.” Also, just for those who are interested, Thunderclap Newman was created by the Who’s Pete Townshend to showcase Keen’s songwriting (which produced one huge hit). Keen was the Who’s chauffeur. The music business is all about connections.
Anyway, the two bands combined forces and a new Tomcats line-up was created with Newman on vocals, Duhig on guitar, Field on flute/keyboard, James on bass and Jackson on drums. Newman and former Tomcats member Peter Cook began writing more psychedelic music for the Tomcats and in 1968 the band changed its name to July. They were picked up by Spencer Davis (of his group) and produced by watched most attentively by Tommy Scott on their 1968 eponymous release off Major Minor Records Limited. Those who have the record understand that joke. I actually have the CD.
The band broke up in 1969 after their singles and album flopped. Newman actually went on to produce Mike Oldfield’s work. But their legend lives on.
July is overall a mediocre psychedelic album. But, the first two tracks on side one are exceptional pieces of psychedelic music. “My Clown” and “Dandelion Seeds” were released as a single in 1968. Today, 43 years later, this single is widely regarded as one of the best psychedelic singles ever released. No. I am not kidding. This London-based psychedelic band managed to slip through the cracks of obscurity and are now finally being recognized. Let’s explore these two songs.
The track immediately sends us into the normal psychedelic repetition. I just love the track manipulation that is a constant in psychedelic pieces of that era. You also can spot some classic British elements of psychedelic music in that it maintains solid pop harmonies. The chorus is wonderful. The voices are precise and melodic. The song shifts into hard psychedelia at around the 1:25 mark. It is there that we hear a guitar solo. We can also hear vocal manipulation which is interesting and well done. Perhaps my favorite part of the song is the conclusion. The voice echoes and then falls into some conga and distorted flute.
“Dandelion Seeds” is immediately different. This is what makes this single so great. What you hear immediately is rhythmic and distorted blues. The verse follows this progression with awesome mind-melting lyrics. Then at 50 seconds the verse becomes almost poppy and effervescent. It’s cool. You can really hear the R&B influences. Then something odd happens. At 2:30 the song changes completely. It becomes drawn out with keyboards and almost seems like a scene out of a psychedelic movie. It has a soundtrack feel to it. But, in the background (almost like a nightmare) is the originally beat of the song which replaces the odd sound and we come back again. The song ends with a guitar solo (no backing).
Nothing like crayons to welcome students back to universities after winter break. Who doesn’t like variegated symbols of joy and youthfulness? How this has anything to do with college, I don’t know, but aren’t you now happy? This post is already so colorful. Let’s keep it that way.
The Music Court 