Category Archives: Rock

Best of Mandatory Fun 2014

This is scary in the right light

Watch this record spin

I don’t know if I’ve made it clear but I don’t feel well versed enough to review new music, in reality, I question my ability to review any music. Which is fine because that has never been the purpose of this blog. This blog has always been about my relationship with music, and that means that I don’t need a good technical understanding of music I just have to have ears and feelings.

However, I have had a new Weird Al Yankovic album thrust upon me, and I feel I must comment on this album that entered the billboard top 200 at number 1. I have been a fan of Weird Al for a long time, in childhood he was the one who let me know (and Gonzo from the Muppet Babies) that I was ok even though I didn’t fit in, I wore the epithet “weird” proudly even when it hurt. But that will be more important when I talk about my favorite childhood Weird Al Yankovic album. This post is about a new album that shows the relevance of Weird Al and his adaptability.

With Tea Cup

Weird Al, coming off of a solid but not well received album by the public found himself in a pickle. When this album came out the label made it clear they wouldn’t be making his videos so he had to find a different way. He did, he proved not only to be relevant but savvy. He released 8 videos in 8 days on 8 different websites.

But, this post is not about how amazing Weird Al is, it is just my annual Best of Mandatory Fun 2014. Listed below are the categories I find important.

Just typed up some lyrics

Best song upgrade (This parody actually improved the song)
Word Crimes

Best Breakout song with male twerking
Tacky

Best song that the video does no justice for
Mission Statement

Best parody that introduced me to an original song that I really like
Handy

Best Pixies style parody
First World Problems

Best style parody of a band I never heard of
Lame Claim to fame

Best school fight song ever
Sport’s Song

Song that should have been made into a video as the theme song to a pretend new show
Inactive

Best song that could almost be a parody of Dr. Seuss’ Things I Saw on Mulberry Street
My Own Eyes

Song that reminds me of how glad I am to be married
Jackson Park Express

Best Parody
Foil

Best Song on Mandatory Fun
Now That’s What I Call a Polka

If you think Bohemian Rhapsody is good you should listen to the rest of the album.

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A Night At The Opera

Queen had just come home from a successful tour of their third album Shear Heart Attack and after selling many albums found themselves broke. Apparently there was some impropriety on the side of their manager. The new manager sent them to the studio where they made their most expensive album to that point in time, A Night At the Opera. The album starts with a Freddie Mercury song Death on Two Legs, where the singer has the opportunity to express his feelings over his former manager. I will not quote you any lyrics, I will give you the opportunity to listen to the song and let it speak for itself.

Queen’s new album showed off the raw talent of the band, and the mastery of the engineers. The writing and the music were powerful and the effects never detracted but added a new layer. In one song, Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon, the vocals were sung into a microphone replayed through a set of headphones in a metal bucket to provide a specific sound. We take for granted that songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, and The Prophet Song, sound so majestic and even eerie, but I know that personally I never consider how that work was accomplished.

Cover

I was introduced to Queen sadly through the movie Wayne’s World, I say sadly not because I have any problem with the movie but that I will really only ever remember it as the movie that introduced me to Queen. I loved The Bohemian Rhapsody and for a while that was all of them I knew. But just as the love of this band was being birthed in me they were also growing into the central favorite band of my close friend Chris. It was through him that I placed songs I already knew to Queen. Before I knew that Another One Bites the Dust belonged to Queen It was simply the entrance theme for the Junkyard Dog in the WWF.

Old and New

Later when I found out that the theme to Highlander was written and performed by Queen I went out to buy a CD. At my father’s recommendation I bought their greatest hits album. I loved it and then had the opportunity to fall in love to Queen myself. Over time I bought A Kind of Magic and Live At the BBC. They moved very quickly to an all-time favorite but I don’t know if I ever really felt like true fan until I picked up A Night At the Opera from Shangri-La Records in Memphis TN, used for 5 dollars. I found this album in the early 2000’s and have loved it ever since. I debated for months when I started collecting again as to whether I would buy a new pressing or just continue to use the old one. I decided, just recently, to buy a new pressing and frame my old copy.

This album shows me a band that, even in their hardest work, doesn’t take themselves too seriously. When I play this album I prance around like I’m on stage to Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon and Seaside Rendezvous. I sing along to ’39 imagining a great rocket leaving our atmosphere. When the Prophet Song comes on I am a prophet on the mountainside of some long lost people. I sway to You’re My Best Friend and Love Of My Life, thinking of my wife. When I am really angry at someone I need Death On Two Legs. I chuckle at Sweet Lady and laugh at the innuendo of I’m in Love With My Car. God Save the Queen provides a wonderful ending, and then there’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and I hope there always will be.

I don’t own a CD of this album, I don’t have the digital copies, I don’t know if I want them. Someday I might buy a cassette deck to wire in so I can copy them down and carry a Walkman again but I fell in love with this album on Vinyl. There is something poetic about that. I never knew this album digitally.

If all you know of this album are the popular songs you are missing something big in your life. So one day when you’re lazing on a Sunday afternoon, take some time to listen to this album, and seriously just listen, no better yet, prance around like the rock star you really are.

Inside the cover

Summer Trips and Record Stores

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Chess Logo – Friday Vinyl

The summer is a difficult time for writing. I assumed it would be easy but alas with my children home from school, trips all over the country, and family trying to make every moment special who has a time or energy to sit down and write. As weeks of not posting pass more records stack-up that would be perfect for a post.The summer is really a great time for collecting vinyl, as long as we are careful and remember that hot cars can damage our children, animals, and records. Let’s just say that my collection has been growing by leaps and bounds. Three weeks ago my family drove up to Memphis, Tennessee to see a show and while there we visited some of my favorite record stores.

Queen, Bill Withers, Yusuf, Simon and Garfunkel, Pink Floyd

I began collecting used vinyl in Memphis, I never bought reissues. I never had to I was never more than 15 minutes from stores dedicated to vinyl records with hundreds at my disposal. While living in Memphis my proclivity toward old things lead me out Saturday mornings to antique shops and my hobbies lead me out to juke joints at night for dancing. Sometimes if my friends weren’t in the mood for live music we would just gather at my friend Amanda’s house do dance. One night I noticed that the music we were dancing to was being played on a turntable. Watching the record spin while dancing blew my mind. I was just beginning to own a vintage look and nothing said vintage like vinyl.

Vinyl reminded me of my childhood, the smell of records, the sound, and the time spent just sitting and listening, actually listening to the music. I was never nervous about setting the needle down on the record, I never assumed I was holding something special, or at least something that would become special. But that story is for another post, this post is about Memphis. Vinyl in Memphis took on an entirely new meaning, it reminded me of the heart of music.

G-Love and Special Sauce

I was spoiled in my early collecting, I had just assumed that every city has at least one record store. Years later when I walked into Morning Bell, I didn’t realize that it was my only real option in Jackson Mississippi. So the first place I stopped at in Memphis with my family was Goner Records. I had never really been a big shopper at Goner while living there, but the anemia of my Jackson options set me on Vinyl binge. I collected a small stack of vinyl that set me back quite a few dollars, then we stopped at Huey’s Midtown for lunch.

Al Green, Check Berry, Johnny Cash

There are a few very important things that make Huey’s Midtown a great place. First the food, voted best burger in Memphis over and over again makes it a clear choice, second, you shoot toothpicks in the ceiling and finally, there is a record store right across the street called Shangri-La, and it truly is like its namesake. Years earlier I bought my favorite Queen Album there for seven dollars, still my favorite album. But today’s post isn’t about the vinyl I bought there years ago but the vinyl I bought there a few weeks ago.

Between Goner and Shangri-La I left with

On 33 1/3

Bill Withers – Menagerie
Cat Stevens – Greatest Hits
Pink Floyd – Wish you were here
Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubles Water
Queen – Queen 1 (Self-Titled)

On 45

Johnny Cash –Walk the Line
Check Berry – Maybellene
Al Green –Precious Lord

On New 33 1/3

The Black Keys –Turn Blue

On 33 1/3 10-inch

G-Love and Special Sauce –Blues Music

I decided weeks ago I needed to start buying some 45’s they are generally cheap even though they are often in bad shape. I really just don’t have any. I generally buy based on artist and label. I won’t buy an artist I don’t like but I will buy a song I don’t love if it is an original Sun or Chess record. I have a few 45’s and none in good shape but, still worth owning.

My older child spent plenty of time looking and buying records as well, while the younger one sat on a chair in the corner, bored. I don’t blame her it isn’t her thing, but it was exciting to see another generation want to take the time to enjoy music on vinyl.

Walk the Line

Scott Pilgrim: In Regard to a List of Things I’ve Liked for A Thousand years.

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There are two important things to note about this blog. First, this is not the third post on Zeppelin I and second, this is a movie soundtrack. I wanted to take my time with the final Led Zeppelin blog and I was working with a lot of new material, this LP is one I know well from movie and music.

Scott Pilgrim Vs the World

I would generally avoid buying movie soundtracks on vinyl, but there is something different about this movie, this movie is about music. On the back of the record sleeve Edgar Write says that the music leaps off the pages of the original source material and also that these songs became the soundtrack for the lives of all the people involved with the movie. The movie sets itself in the middle of the Toronto indie rock scene therefore this soundtrack lives there. I know what you’re saying, “There were so many better option to start with, why didn’t you start with the Blues Brothers or Spinal Tap,” well there is a good answer to that, I don’t have a copy of the Blues Brothers and I didn’t really care for “This Is Spinal Tap.” And I probably wouldn’t have started there anyway, if you think they are so great write your own blog.

I should also say on the front end that I am not a movie critic, I base the goodness and badness of movies on whether I walked away saying, “That was fun I liked that.” Unless of course it was a sad movie then I base it off of the statement, “That movie explored deep issues and was important.” I make this clarification because for some reason critics didn’t like this movie and many thought Michael Cera gave a week performance, to those things I say very clearly, “Eh maybe but, the music was great and Michael Cera did what Michael Cera does.” But then I am not here to talk about some movie that came out forever ago, instead I am going to talk about the LP. I will probably mention the movie on more than one occasion but then this is a soundtrack.

I noticed something when I watched this movie, I liked the band Sex Bob-Omb. I don’t just mean the characters but also the music. The great thing is that was before I found out that the actors were playing and Beck wrote their songs. I have never been a big fan of indie-rock rock per-say but I would have loved seeing these shows, when I was younger and before I found my own Ramona Flowers. The music, as I move through the record, is so diverse and there is a tone that makes fun of itself. I walked away singing about going for a ride on a garbage truck… truck truck truck truck.

Spinning Pilgrim

These songs and the scenes being described remind me of the time from college to my late 20’s when I was catching live shows like they were going out of style, of course, I could list them off but you’ve probably never heard half of them. The difference between my scene and Toronto was the style of music, sure there was weird rock, but I was out mostly listening to blues, swing, and Rock-a-Billy. I spent a lot of time in Bars and Juke Joints, don’t get me wrong I would order a drink, but I was there for the live music and the dancing.

Of course not all the music is Indie and Beck, for instance “Under My Thumb” recorded by the Rolling Stones. The stones provide great anchor point, of course if you are looking for that sound throughout you may want to look into something else. The fact is, if you are an old feller who can’t open up to different styles you may want to just buy something else. This music was very different than my normal music that was why I loved the album.

One of the things I love about the physical construction of the album is the color, red. Or at least some weird variant thereof. The LP has a great look even though it was made with thin vinyl. That is normal with first issue releases. Most bands aren’t going to start with 180 gram vinyl until they have a big enough base to support them and with this record being a soundtrack it would have to garner major support. I do, however, believe that this record is important in any collection if you are a fan of the genres represented, if not however, don’t worry about it, you will only miss out on some great indie-rock and Beck, but if you are looking for a good music that will make you feel bad and think about stuff, you should check out this album.

In Search of Lead Balloons Part 2: Air Guitars Unleashed

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Led Zeppelin I Side One

I had planned on letting my new Zeppelin LP sit in its box for the weekend because I was going on a camping trip the next day, the kids were running around, and I had work to finish before I left. Then I told myself I would just open the box and look at the sleeve, admiring the work. Well, after opening the box I decided I would just hold the record and enjoy the touch, then somehow the record ended up on the record player. I figured by this time I would go ”all in” and pull out my old air guitar, moments later I was strutting through the music room playing and singing about the days of my youth when I was told what it means to be a man.

This band was not created but evolved out of the work of many musicians. We can’t actually talk about this evolution without mentioning “The Yardbirds” which involved not just Page but Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, and somehow Keith moon got involved with John Entwistle. And when Page thought it would be great to form a band with these two but one of them said, “That would go over like a lead balloon.” They played a series of shows together and even recorded a song, but in the end this groups never solidified for one reason or another, the chemistry just wasn’t there but it is good to know the family history. It is good to know that all the good musicians played together but didn’t try to force something that wouldn’t work. Two years later when Page with Robert Plant, Jon Bonhom, and John Paul Jones decided to form a band Page remembered the old conversation about lead balloons.

Led Zeppelin I

As a teenager I didn’t know much about the history, I didn’t need to, I just knew how the music felt. The music filled me, when the song started I could see strobe lights and lava lamps, I could hear screaming fans, but more than that I could hear the moan. As a teenager I felt this feeling through all the girls that said no and the masses I was too afraid to ask. As a medical chaplain I heard it in the cries of those who were left behind when a loved one died, and as a Mississippian I heard in the crickets and juke joints. The moan was something more than just rock and roll. It is heartbreak, love, hate, joy and sadness, it’s blue.

This music became a major part of the soundtrack to my youth. It would be playing in the background when I was playing Nintendo, or writing in my journal. It played while my friends and I sat and did nothing on short summer days. And it mattered that it was old, it mattered that it was classic. I never really looked at the song breaks, the changes in the midst of the song would walk me down brand new path so often I thought the albums were made up of 30 different short songs. I appreciate that, during the middle of the song, the band seams to take a break just so they can take their guitars for a walk. There was something fearlessly heartbreaking in the music.

In an earlier post, I said this album was close to impossible to obtain before the reissue. I asked once if the record store clerk had Zeppelin 4 in stock, he laughed. In fact, he told me that when a copy would come in it didn’t last the day. I remember passing on a copy once in Memphis Tennessee 10 years ago I often think back to that day in sadness, and I have no clue what happened to my father’s copy. However, I had never seen any of their other albums. Sure I could get one of the compilations but that just wouldn’t be the same.

This set is the first reissue of the original source material since Atlantic stopped pressing the records. As a child I listened on cassette to Led Zeppelin I and II, but had my father’s copy of IV to listen to. I only know the rest through the compilation albums. I look forward to my new walk through of Led Zeppelin albums on LP. There is something special about holding this record in my hands… Strangely, when I feel the smoothness of the vinyl and the ridges of the grooves I can’t help but hear an echo saying, “They call me the hunter… that’s my name”

Don’t forget to check back for part 3 that will focus on the bonus material of the LP.

You’re Like a Thorn Tree in the Wind.

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I remember many years ago when I was still in seminary one of my suitemates gave us the news that Johnny Cash had died. That statement did not affect me, in fact, I didn’t know really who Johnny Cash was. Sadly, I was living in Memphis at the time. It wasn’t until years later when Walk the Line was released into theaters that I realized what I had been missing. Some of the shooting was no more than a block from where I was living. It was because that movie came out that I began to find my interest in Cash’s music. The first album I bought was this two disc set released for the movie. I loved it, played it over and over, and I memorized all the words. Thing is, those weren’t the first Cash songs I’d heard. The first was actually for a TV commercial, the song was Hurt.

I knew of Nine Inch Nails, my brother was a big fan, but I really wasn’t so I didn’t understand two important things about this song, first, is was in fact Johnny Cash singing, second, it was by Trent Reznor. When I found out, long after the movie had come out, I was even more in awe of this man who was willing to remake songs that came after him. I was intrigued by a man who loved music so much that he didn’t have to be the greatest, he loved music so much that he was willing to make any good songs, regardless of when or who wrote them.

Just think of my shock when I found out that he had six albums worth of other people’s music. He called these albums American Recordings, today I will be talking about the last one released before his death American IV: The Man Comes Around.

I have to admit that the reason I picked this album was because of the song Hurt. I can’t help it, it is amazing. I am in good company though, Trent Reznor, originally thinking the idea was campy, found the song deeply emotional. The rest of us realized Cash might have just owned this song. I think the song is so powerful because of Cash’s history, because of his life story, a life of hurting himself and others. OK, so maybe he didn’t take it from Reznor, however, he made it something new. Reznor considered the video art, telling one newspaper, that it gave him chills just thinking about it. For me, I really became a Nine Inch Nails fan after this Cash song, because I saw something special, an artist wrote an amazingly personal song that was personal for others. I respect the hell out of Reznor for his gift to music in this song, but sadly I will always prefer Johnny Cash’s version.

Of course, if we were talking to Cash about this album he would probably want to talk about The Man Comes Around. The song that became the album title. One of his last songs written, the entire back half of one album sleeve has a note written by Cash to his listeners talking about why he wrote this song. In the letter he says that he spent more time on this song than any other, and that this song started with a dream where he visits the Queen Elizabeth II. The song is full of Biblical imagery, a lot of stuff from Revelation, and one important line from Job. It tells the story of Death walking amongst us after the apocalypse. This is the first time I have heard the song so I don’t have a lot to say, however, it makes me wonder sometimes if he is using some of this Album to say goodbye.

I love music that is about music, from the title of these albums we can know that these were songs that Johnny Cash thought we should all hear, or maybe just songs he always wanted to sing, but that they are a part of our experience. I know that when I die I hope someone plays his version of Danny Boy at my funeral. Maybe I will leave that to my readers, who knows? Though, that is probably sometime away. Cash isn’t afraid of anyone in this album, he sings Hank Williams, The Eagles, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, even Depeche Mode. He says good bye with the song We’ll Meet Again, it is important to note that Cash’s American experience involves music written by and popularized by British artists. Cash knew that we are best when we are willing to look to the people who do things well, and learn from them. I think that is something we should always remind ourselves. So if you ever get nervous that someone else does something better than you remember that even Johnny Cash hurt himself one day.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts,
And I looked and behold: a pale horse.
And his name, that sat on him, was Death.
And Hell followed with him.