Note to Liam Gallagher: Leave the Beatles Alone

10 May

"Love, love me do" Photo: Forrest/Getty

Another day, another news article linking Liam Gallagher to the Beatles. After Oasis’ seventh and final studio album Dig Out Your Soul succeeded in consciously being a mock Beatles’ album, Gallagher is now embarking on a journey into Beatles film, buying the rights to The Longest Cocktail Party, which tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Beatles’ Apple empire.

When Ben Folds first played his keys on the music scene he was immediately compared to piano men like Elton John and Billy Joel. He responded by completely rejecting the comparison, and even going so far as poking fun at them. When the British fab four (five) part II came onto the music scene in 1991, they to were given the ultimate comparison to a budding Beatles. Yet, instead of rejecting this obviously false claim, they played right into it and eventually succumbed to the trap of constantly trying to be the Beatles. I am not claiming this is bad. Their music is catchy pop/rock and I enjoy some of it, but, come on Oasis (especially Liam Gallagher), leave the Beatles alone.

Gallagher’s recently formed “In 1 Productions” announced a few days ago that they plan to produce and develop a feature film based on Richard DeLello’s book.

It is unclear what role Gallagher will play, but, I doubt it will be anything minor. Gallagher probably cannot wait to get his hands on making this movie and, well, who could blame him? If you have it flaunt it right. At least we can be assured he will make the Beatles look good.

Link: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=[13193,147351]

On to some honorable news. Chicago, the incredibly successful veteran rock n’roll band, has recently teamed up with the American Cancer Society for a new promotion called “Sing with Chicago.” On Ebay, fans can bid on a special prize package that includes two tickets to a Chicago concert during their current U.S. tour and an opportunity to sing their hit 1976 song ‘If You Leave Me Now’ at the show on stage with them. Bids start at $500, or you can just bypass all of the bidding and buy the package for $1500. This is awesome. I always enjoy seeing worldly musicians giving back, and this charity is both creative and kind-hearted. A big tip of my hat (to quote Stephen Colbert) to the members of Chicago. 

Link: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=americancancersociety

Thank You Mom

9 May

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan

I cannot tell you how many times I received the last piece of some sweet concoction this way, and, it goes far past pie. My mother is currently spending mother’s day doing around 14 loads of laundry that I have brought home from college (I came home for summer yesterday). I don’t thank her enough. My mother is an extraordinary woman. She is a selfless hard-worker and, like most mothers, is not appreciated enough. So, today I will do two things. First, let me send a big I Love You to my mother and a round of applause to all of the other mothers out there. Second, to celebrate mother’s day, I am including song lyrics from…Good Charlotte. *GASP* This is “Thank You Mom.”


And I thank you, I’ll always thank you
More than you could know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I’ll always love you
There’s nothing I won’t do, to say these words to you
That you will live forever
Always, always and forever

 

 

Josh Ritter’s Other New World

6 May

The Show Must Go On

Robert Caro, an American biographer, once said,”You come in off the street, through the doors of the theater. You sit down. The lights go down and the curtain goes up. And you’re in another world.”

So Runs the World Away

“Curtains,” the first song on Josh Ritter’s fifth LP So Runs the World Away, prepares listeners for their 13 track journey into Ritter’s world. As “Curtains” ends, and the symbolic curtain rises, a flash of white light envelopes the listener and entraps them in a state of sensory paralysis where listening is the only option. A hyperbole, yes, but, not by much. Ritter’s new conquest is pure music gold. The album has a wonderful diversity of songs that combine ethereal sounds, bare acoustic riffs, Ritter’s keen sense of the existential lyric and his Springsteen-like croon (and troubadour status). Each song is engaging and brilliant in its own way, never repeating the same musical concept twice. Ritter has proven his ability to create skilled music before, but, as Bob Boilen of NPR’s “All Song’s Considered” program said, “this one took my breath away.”

In the album’s expansive “Another New World,” Ritter tells the tale of a polar explorer who is forced to sacrifice his beloved ship in order to survive the cold. It is a maritime love story; a type of lyric that Ritter has mastered. The explorer’s ship is called the Annabel Lee. Now, quick English lesson. Who has a poem named “Annabel Lee.” The only difference is the poem is not about a ship. Edgar Allen Poe wrote the story of Annabel Lee who is frozen and killed by angels. Ritter’s story is similar. His guitar picking sounds like the trochaic rhythm in Poe’s poem. This is a wonderful touch that may often go unnoticed. It is important to realize how intelligent Ritter, the son of two neuroscientists actually is…in English? What? Anyway, the song is euphonious and the lyric is masterful. It almost sounds like an optimistic dirge which I understands makes no sense at all. I believe the Annabel Lee can be used as a working symbol for Ritter’s album. Ritter himself is the mariner, and his companion, the ship, is his work on this album. In order to fully understand the album’s intimate intricacies, we must take apart the boat and, in a sense, use its contents for their potential warmth. So, let’s explore the inner portions of Ritter’s Annabel Lee.

The album, or ship for our purposes, consists of several of Ritter’s creative ideas. We are sent on a journey through an elegiac opener, to the odd affair between a recently awoken mummy and a pretty archaeologist (that is most similar to Ritter’s “The Temptation of Adam,” an unexpected lyrical chef-d’oeuvre documenting a romance in a nuclear missile silo), to a mock “Folk Bloodbath” that pins classic murder ballad names against each other, into a Paul Simon like “Lark,” and then back out again into a scientific/angelic “Orbital.” And, in the frenzy of travel, Ritter never misses an emotional moment. Each song has an underlying message behind its tender melody and wonderfully scripted lyric. This is what propels this album to a new level.

Ritter ends “Another New World” with a repetition of the verse:

“Sometimes at night in my dreams
comes the singing of some unknown tropical bird
and I smile in my sleep thinking
Annabel Lee had made it to Another New World”

And, this is absolutely true. Ritter’s own Annabel Lee, So Runs the World Away, reaches the a high pedestal of a jewelled release that, in my opinion, goes down as Ritter’s magnum opus at this stage of his career, and, is an early favorite for best album of the decade (to be compiled in December of 2019). It propels him to a symbolic “New World,” and Ritter should be proud and certainly smile at this. His, “Annabel Lee…made it to Another New World.”

“The Curse”

The Rolling Stones did drugs

6 May

This is somewhat similar to a past post about Willie Nelson and his marijuana usage.

In an interview with Absolute Radio, Sir Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones’ eccentric frontman, said that the pervasive usage of drugs did not thwart the band’s ability to write and play great music. According to Jagger, the party atmosphere actually helped inspire a lot of music, specifically the 1972 album, Exile on Main Street

He said in the interview, “That was a period of time when everyone took loads of drugs, it was very fashionable, but I mean, we did a lot of hard work as well, so it was a bit of a party atmosphere, loads of visitors, you know, there was a lot of drugs floating around, but not everyone was completely out of it all the time and we did a lot of good tracks, you know.”

And, the sky is blue. Everyone knows that the Rolling Stones delved in narcotics. But, I guess it is good to hear it from Jagger himself. I do like how artists like Jagger and Nelson are so open. I think that is what a lot of artists today lack. Today, artists live very private lifestyles where paparazzi continually tails them and pokes fun at every blunder they make. I am not saying it was different 40 years ago, but, I just believe the musicians back in those years were of a different breed. They played into the media frenzy better. Many also took a massive amount of drugs.

A Very Black Cinco De Mayo

5 May

We won the war!

OZZY and band

I want to congratulate the Mexican army for their fearless and unexpected victory over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla. What? That was 148 years ago. Oh. Well, great job Mexico. Yes, today is the voluntarily-observed holiday of Cinco De Mayo. The day, like St. Patrick’s day, has become synonymous with drunken revelry. It is also Bill Ward’s birthday. Ward, 62, is the original and current drummer for Black Sabbath, and, as one YouTube member put it, “is God.” Maybe not God (we will reserve that for Clapton), but he is certainly a very skilled and under-appreciated drummer. So, Happy Sabbath Birthday to Bill Ward, may all your “War Pigs” come true.

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