Last Thanksgiving I mailed it in and posted about the things I'm thankful for. Well, I've decided to make it an annual tradition. When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. All the men would sit in the living room complaining about the Detroit Lions while the women cooked. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Pumpkin pie. Cherry pie. Apple pie. My grandma's amazing apple salad. My mom's amazing dinner rolls. The only time I saw most of my cousins was Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then we all grew up and started having our own families and everyone went their different ways for the holidays. Since we moved to Ohio, Thanksgiving is just me, my wife and our kids. I feel bad for my kids that they don't get to visit with their extended family, but I work in retail management and only have Thanksgiving day off. Sadly, that's more than most retail workers get these days. Anyhow, here's my list for 2013. Peace.
* The Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. It's the one day of the year everyone has to share in my pain. People wonder why the Lions play on Thanksgiving every year. The answer is Ford money talks and you know what walks:)
* My place of work being closed today.
* The Cheap Trick 180 gram vinyl box set.
* Bacon
* My wife making me Tom Collins' when I come home.
* The Tom Baker cameo on the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.
* Lucky Records. Thanks for all the hook ups; especially Fly By Night.
* The return of MST3K's Turkey Day marathon on the interwebs.
* Austin, Texas (and Denton). How do they produce so many great bands?
* 2nd row seats for Toad The Wet Sprocket. I know I said I'd post about it, but I haven't come up with a good take yet. It was a great show in an intimate venue and I'd never seen them before.
* The 12 string Rickenbacker 350. I hate to imagine how music would have evolved had this guitar not been invented.
* My wife.
* My kids.
* All my friends and co-workers who keep me sane in an insane world.
* All my peeps back in Michigan.
* Rush. Enjoy your year off in 2014!
A Living Will For My Music Collection
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Clockwork Angels Tour Blu-ray
I promise I'm not going to turn Sound Mind into a Rush blog, but 2013 has been a big year for the boys. Rock Hall induction. Awards. Band recognition. Individual recognition. Thousands of interviews. Magazine covers. A successful two year tour with strings. Blah blah blah:) Friday, I picked up their new concert Blu-ray for the Clockwork Angels tour and it made me feel like a real dick for not going to see them. There are several reasons I didn't attend this tour. First, I didn't want to see them with a string ensemble. For me, a rock band touring with an orchestra or strings is a "jump the shark" moment. After watching the Blu-ray, I was completely wrong. The string ensemble sounded great and it was fun watching Rush feed off their energy, as well as that of the audience.
The other major reason I didn't see this tour was the set list. One of the great things about Rush is they aren't a nostalgia act. They still write new, vital music and I like to see them perform it live. However, there were rumors that they would play Clockwork Angels in it's entirety. It turns out they played 10 songs from the album. Then they revived a bunch of songs from the mid-80's, which is the much hated keyboard era of Rush. So, when you factor in 10 new songs, a bunch of Power Windows songs, an intermission and goofy videos of Geddy, Alex and Neil as gnomes, there's not much show left. Consequently, they didn't play "Limelight", "Freewill", "Closer To The Heart", "Working Man" or "La Villa Strangiato". I know I'm being a hypocrite, because I wish McCartney would drop "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" from his set. But, imagine what would happen if The Rolling Stones put out a new album and played 10 new songs on their tour and dropped "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Satisfaction", "Gimme Shelter" and "Shattered". The arena would be torn down. If Rush are going to cut those songs, I want to see "Fly By Night" or "Jacob's Ladder" or other songs they never play live. The other obnoxious thing they did was change the set by a few songs each night. Now, when I saw them on back-to-back nights in 2002 in Detroit it was cool that they changed it up for a couple songs. But for a whole tour? And what if the show I went to had the crappier set list. So I took a pass. After watching the Blu-ray, I have to admit the set was pretty good. They did several of my favorite songs like "The Analog Kid", "Force Ten", "The Pass" and "Middletown Dreams". I was also pleasantly surprised by the amazing quality of the video and sound. I had been very disappointed in the quality of the R30, Snakes and Arrows and Time Machine concert videos.
There were also a couple petty reasons I didn't see this tour. First, it's getting too expensive to see them live when you know they will put out a Blu-ray of the show eventually. Also, I was pissed that they skipped Cleveland and Detroit on the first North American leg of the tour. By the time they came around on the second leg, I didn't care anymore. Anyhow, the Clockwork Angels Tour Blu-ray is fantastic and has lots of extras, unlike the Time Machine Blu-ray. Not that I'm bitter. In closing, here's my favorite part of "The Analog Kid". Peace.
Too many hands on my time,
Too many feelings,
Too many things on my mind.
When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find.
And when I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind.
The other major reason I didn't see this tour was the set list. One of the great things about Rush is they aren't a nostalgia act. They still write new, vital music and I like to see them perform it live. However, there were rumors that they would play Clockwork Angels in it's entirety. It turns out they played 10 songs from the album. Then they revived a bunch of songs from the mid-80's, which is the much hated keyboard era of Rush. So, when you factor in 10 new songs, a bunch of Power Windows songs, an intermission and goofy videos of Geddy, Alex and Neil as gnomes, there's not much show left. Consequently, they didn't play "Limelight", "Freewill", "Closer To The Heart", "Working Man" or "La Villa Strangiato". I know I'm being a hypocrite, because I wish McCartney would drop "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" from his set. But, imagine what would happen if The Rolling Stones put out a new album and played 10 new songs on their tour and dropped "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Satisfaction", "Gimme Shelter" and "Shattered". The arena would be torn down. If Rush are going to cut those songs, I want to see "Fly By Night" or "Jacob's Ladder" or other songs they never play live. The other obnoxious thing they did was change the set by a few songs each night. Now, when I saw them on back-to-back nights in 2002 in Detroit it was cool that they changed it up for a couple songs. But for a whole tour? And what if the show I went to had the crappier set list. So I took a pass. After watching the Blu-ray, I have to admit the set was pretty good. They did several of my favorite songs like "The Analog Kid", "Force Ten", "The Pass" and "Middletown Dreams". I was also pleasantly surprised by the amazing quality of the video and sound. I had been very disappointed in the quality of the R30, Snakes and Arrows and Time Machine concert videos.
There were also a couple petty reasons I didn't see this tour. First, it's getting too expensive to see them live when you know they will put out a Blu-ray of the show eventually. Also, I was pissed that they skipped Cleveland and Detroit on the first North American leg of the tour. By the time they came around on the second leg, I didn't care anymore. Anyhow, the Clockwork Angels Tour Blu-ray is fantastic and has lots of extras, unlike the Time Machine Blu-ray. Not that I'm bitter. In closing, here's my favorite part of "The Analog Kid". Peace.
Too many hands on my time,
Too many feelings,
Too many things on my mind.
When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find.
And when I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Black Angels and Other Random Stuff
I needed some record store therapy yesterday, so I took some of the money I'd been saving for the Cheap Trick vinyl box set and headed out. I picked up three CD's and decided to lump them into one post, rather than posting on them separately.
A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked me if I had ever heard The Black Angels. I had heard of them, but hadn't gotten around to checking them out at that time. Shortly after that, I was at the record store and saw an orange vinyl 7" by The Black Angels that came with a download for a cover version of The Zombies "She's Not There". Needless to say, I bought it and gave away the download card because I don't do downloads:) However, I did check out the cover of "She's Not There" on You Tube. It was really good and I started to check out some of their other stuff. They sound like a British 60's psychedelic band, but they're actually from Austin. By the way, how is Austin part of Texas? Anyhow, imagine The 13th Floor Elevators, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Rod Argent's organ playing and Syd Barrett's vocals and you have The Black Angels. So, yesterday I bought their latest CD, Indigo Meadow. I highly recommend it if you are into trippy, psychedelic rock with a splash of Black Keys bombast. The standout track is "Don't Play With Guns". "War On Holiday" sounds eerily like Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Pink Floyd. I know this makes them sound derivative, but they do manage to translate their influences into a unique sound.
Recently, my power pop bona fides were called into question because I didn't have Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, so I picked it up. I did buy 100% Fun when it came out, because I LOVED "Sick Of Myself", but that was the only Matthew Sweet I owned. Girlfriend is one of those albums that I've had in my hand to buy several times, but then I'd see something else and put it back. Obviously, it's a great CD and there were a few things about it that I didn't realize. I didn't recall that it was released in the epic year of 1991. 1991 is to album releases what the 1983 NFL draft class was to quarterbacks. Nevermind. Loveless. Automatic For The People. Bandwagonesque. Achtung Baby. Ten. Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In The Presence Of Greatness. And apparently Girlfriend. Speaking of Velvet Crush, I didn't know Ric Menck played drums on some of this album. One of these days I'll get around to posting about Mr. Menck.
Finally, I stopped being a contrarian jerk and bought a used copy of Pet Sounds. Yesterday was literally the first time I've ever listened to it. It was alright and I'm sure it was ahead of it's time, but I still love the songs about surfing and cars on their early records. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B", needless to say, are amazing and I also liked "That's Not Me". However, I don't agree with McCartney that "God Only Knows" is one of the greatest songs ever written. I know it's not Brian Wilson's fault, but I also hate how lazy music critics compare every album that's not straight up vocals, guitars, drums and three chords to Pet Sounds. Is it possible to impose a moratorium on this practice?
One more random thing, I'm going to see Toad The Wet Sprocket tonight. Look for a Toad post soon. Peace.
A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked me if I had ever heard The Black Angels. I had heard of them, but hadn't gotten around to checking them out at that time. Shortly after that, I was at the record store and saw an orange vinyl 7" by The Black Angels that came with a download for a cover version of The Zombies "She's Not There". Needless to say, I bought it and gave away the download card because I don't do downloads:) However, I did check out the cover of "She's Not There" on You Tube. It was really good and I started to check out some of their other stuff. They sound like a British 60's psychedelic band, but they're actually from Austin. By the way, how is Austin part of Texas? Anyhow, imagine The 13th Floor Elevators, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Rod Argent's organ playing and Syd Barrett's vocals and you have The Black Angels. So, yesterday I bought their latest CD, Indigo Meadow. I highly recommend it if you are into trippy, psychedelic rock with a splash of Black Keys bombast. The standout track is "Don't Play With Guns". "War On Holiday" sounds eerily like Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Pink Floyd. I know this makes them sound derivative, but they do manage to translate their influences into a unique sound.
Recently, my power pop bona fides were called into question because I didn't have Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, so I picked it up. I did buy 100% Fun when it came out, because I LOVED "Sick Of Myself", but that was the only Matthew Sweet I owned. Girlfriend is one of those albums that I've had in my hand to buy several times, but then I'd see something else and put it back. Obviously, it's a great CD and there were a few things about it that I didn't realize. I didn't recall that it was released in the epic year of 1991. 1991 is to album releases what the 1983 NFL draft class was to quarterbacks. Nevermind. Loveless. Automatic For The People. Bandwagonesque. Achtung Baby. Ten. Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In The Presence Of Greatness. And apparently Girlfriend. Speaking of Velvet Crush, I didn't know Ric Menck played drums on some of this album. One of these days I'll get around to posting about Mr. Menck.
Finally, I stopped being a contrarian jerk and bought a used copy of Pet Sounds. Yesterday was literally the first time I've ever listened to it. It was alright and I'm sure it was ahead of it's time, but I still love the songs about surfing and cars on their early records. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B", needless to say, are amazing and I also liked "That's Not Me". However, I don't agree with McCartney that "God Only Knows" is one of the greatest songs ever written. I know it's not Brian Wilson's fault, but I also hate how lazy music critics compare every album that's not straight up vocals, guitars, drums and three chords to Pet Sounds. Is it possible to impose a moratorium on this practice?
One more random thing, I'm going to see Toad The Wet Sprocket tonight. Look for a Toad post soon. Peace.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Keeping Time
This post stems from a conversation with a friend about the timeline of rock music. On one hand it seems like Bill Haley and the Comets were from another time. On the other hand, rock music is a fairly recent musical genre. My dad was born in 1943 and rock and roll didn't exist until he was a teenager. Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly began their careers in the mid-50's. By 1959, Chuck Berry was in jail, Elvis was in the military, Little Richard was a preacher and Buddy Holly was dead. Chuck Berry is still alive. In contrast to classical music, there is no one alive today who ever heard Beethoven, Bach or Vivaldi play live.
Now, let's consider The Beatles. In the early 60's, they were young men wearing leather jackets playing covers in a German club. By 1964, Beatlemania had come to America. Between 1964 and 1969, they made four movies, started a record label, lost their manager, got into drugs, broke up over money and women, then pulled it together to record Abbey Road. It's really amazing when you consider how many books have been written on The Beatles that they accomplished everything in the span of a single decade. When we think of them in the comparison with Elvis, we perceive Presley as the elder statesman of rock and roll and The Beatles as young upstarts. Elvis was born in 1935. John and Ringo were born in 1940. That's only five years difference in age.
In 1967, The Beatles released their iconic Sgt. Pepper album in response to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Here's a surprising list of albums that were contemporary to Sgt. Pepper:
* Velvet Underground and Nico
* Piper At The Gates Of Dawn- Pink Floyd
* Days Of Future Passed- Moody Blues
* Goodbye and Hello- Tim Buckley
* Moby Grape
* Absolutely Free- The Mothers of Invention
* Bee Gees
* David Bowie
* Miles Smiles- Miles Davis
* Sorcerer- Miles Davis
* Gentle On My Mind- Glen Campbell
* The Doors
Here's one more thing that's interesting about the timeline of rock music. Let's take Nirvana's Nevermind for example. It was released in 1991, which was 22 years ago. Therefore, Nevermind is as far removed from Arcade Fire's new album, Reflektor as it is from Led Zeppelin's first album in 1969. 22 years before that, Elvis was 12 years old. That's crazy! Peace.
Now, let's consider The Beatles. In the early 60's, they were young men wearing leather jackets playing covers in a German club. By 1964, Beatlemania had come to America. Between 1964 and 1969, they made four movies, started a record label, lost their manager, got into drugs, broke up over money and women, then pulled it together to record Abbey Road. It's really amazing when you consider how many books have been written on The Beatles that they accomplished everything in the span of a single decade. When we think of them in the comparison with Elvis, we perceive Presley as the elder statesman of rock and roll and The Beatles as young upstarts. Elvis was born in 1935. John and Ringo were born in 1940. That's only five years difference in age.
In 1967, The Beatles released their iconic Sgt. Pepper album in response to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Here's a surprising list of albums that were contemporary to Sgt. Pepper:
* Velvet Underground and Nico
* Piper At The Gates Of Dawn- Pink Floyd
* Days Of Future Passed- Moody Blues
* Goodbye and Hello- Tim Buckley
* Moby Grape
* Absolutely Free- The Mothers of Invention
* Bee Gees
* David Bowie
* Miles Smiles- Miles Davis
* Sorcerer- Miles Davis
* Gentle On My Mind- Glen Campbell
* The Doors
Here's one more thing that's interesting about the timeline of rock music. Let's take Nirvana's Nevermind for example. It was released in 1991, which was 22 years ago. Therefore, Nevermind is as far removed from Arcade Fire's new album, Reflektor as it is from Led Zeppelin's first album in 1969. 22 years before that, Elvis was 12 years old. That's crazy! Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)