Wednesday is Music Time
More in a bit, but let's get this week's song out of the way. Frustrated by a quick tour through YouTube, I'm being lazy on relying on my old friends in R.E.M. They just released a live CD/DVD that will probably be the first official release of theirs that I don't buy, because it focuses on recent material that I'm not crazy about. But "Leaving New York" is one of their best from the last 10 years or so, and here it is from the DVD:
posted by JMW at 10:57 AM
2 Comments:
Let's talk some music.
Come on, now. You have to stick with your heroes through the thick and thin. Just as a matter of principle, you should own every release from your favorite band. Now, let me see you go out there and buy the new REM live album. Someone has to buy it.
It is getting near to the end of the year, and I hope that you do your annual end of year "Best of" lists.
Musicwise, I was not overly impressed with what came out this year. I've got three standouts off the top of my head, and the funny thing is, two of the three are albums of covers. Even funnier, they are both albums of covers of the same artist.
First, the new Springsteen album, I am happy to report, is his best album since BORN IN THE USA. Easily. He finally remembered the power of melody, this is the catchiest set of tunes The Boss has put together since I was in Middle School. He even stretches out a bit and tries some things he usually doesn't do, such as on my favorite tune of the new album, "Your Own Worst Enemy". Bruce delivers a tune with definite Byrdsian overtones, and it works wonderfully. LOVE the song. Actually, I love most of the album. Single "Radio Nowhere" rocks real hard, and I hear he is opening his shows with it to kick-ass effect. Can't wait to catch this tour. "Gypsy Rider" and "Devil's Arcade" are two other faves. The whole thing is strong. The album is called MAGIC, by the way.
My other two favorite releases this year are two albums of Bob Dylan covers. The first is from Bryan Ferry (of Roxy Music fame), and is called DYLANESQUE. He does covers the way they need to be done. Instead of slavishly trying to recreate the originals, Ferry filters them through his own asthetic. My favorite is by far his ghostly version of "Positively 4th Street".
Finally, the double disc soundtrack to the new film 'I'm Not There' is full of great Dylan covers by a stellar line-up of artists, such as Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth, Calexico, Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, Roger McGuinn, Los Lobos, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nelson, Yo La Tengo, The Hold Steady, Tom Verlaine and many others. It is capped off with the killer title tune from the vaults done by Dylan with The Band in their prime.
Anyway, those are my three faves this year.
Biggest disappointment: the new Neil Young CHROME DREAMS II. I was really looking forward to this one, as it is a mix of new and older tunes from the vaults. On the whole, they should have stayed there. The only exception is the great "Ordinary People", a 17 minute epic considered by many Neilophiles to be one of the great lost songs until it was finally released officially on the new album. Of course, on iTunes, it is the ONLY song from the album you can't donwload individually. And it is the only song worthwhile from the album.
Oops, in case you couldn't guess, the above post was from Dezmond.
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