3.16.2002

 
Feedback

Instapundit was kind and tipped a hat to Palmermix today. Thank you, kindly. Does this mean that now that we've gotten 30 hits in one day, I have to proofread?

Reader R. R. Ryan notes that Elvis Costello's next record is to be a rocker. I often worry when bands hype their next album as a "return to their roots" or "a return to their rock sound." The textbook example of this is REM's Monster, which aside from "What's the Frequency Kenneth" -- probably one of the ten best singles of the 90s, in my not-so-humble opinion -- was dead on arrival. Part of the problem is that they strive so much for the "sound" -- plugging in the amps, getting that loose attitude all up and out there -- that they forget to pen some worthy songs to take with them into the studio.

The final note on this is Rod Stewart. Before you roll your eyes, remember that with the Faces and with his first solo album or two, Rod did some of the best blue-eyed soul singing this side of Bill Medley and the Young Rascals. Then he made the choice (a devil's bargain) to change his sound, to mainstream it. Now in his material he bears more in common with Elton John than he does with Ron Wood or Ronnie Laine. And every so often, Rod tries to comeback with a "rocker" song, and it fails miserably. Once he chose to leave it, he lost it. Need further proof? When Ronnie Laine wrote "Ooh La La" for the Faces, Rod turned down singing it; it ended up being sung by Ronnie Wood. A slap in the face for poor Ronnie Laine, to refuse to record what is arguably Laine's best song. Then years later, on a solo record during the 90s, Rod deigned to record "Ooh La La," with inevitably awful results.

posted by Anon. 6:35 PM

 
Overheard

In the early 90s, the Breeders' Last Splash -- thanks in no small part to the singles "Cannonball" and "Divine Hammer" -- was the most successful (and one of the best) product to emerge from the post-Pixies Boston power pop scene, a wave that included the Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Juliana Hatfield, and former Breeder and Throwing Muse Tanya Donnelly's short-lived band Belly.

Led by former Pixie bassist Kim Deal, the band had a hit record, a major berth on a Lolapalooza tour -- and a giant collapse on its hands. It all seemed to fall apart shortly after Kim's sister Kelley was busted trying to receive heroin through the mail. (I forget if she was using Fed Ex or UPS.) Well, one of the highlights of this Sunday's all-music issue of the New York Times Magazine is a piece on the Breeders' attempting a comeback -- with both Deals on board. The interaction between the twin sisters is priceless -- and may suggest that this comeback might not last too long.

posted by Anon. 11:38 AM

 
Overheard

Peter Himmelman has spent the last twenty years recording airy power pop, music that I think is most similar to Mark Eitzel and David Baerwald. He's also done his fair share of scoring, including the music for CBS' Judging Amy. His website is one of the better that I've seen on the Web in terms of design, but it also has an intriguing new feature: for $1000, you can get Peter to write and record a song for you about you, a loved one, an enemy, whoever. It gets more interesting in that part of the process is the creation of a website where people can post things about the subject of the song, for Peter to draw inspiration from. For $1500, he records it with a full band. When will John Hiatt offer this opportunity to his fans?

posted by Anon. 9:56 AM

3.15.2002

 
Little Riffs

Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. My current guilty pleasure? Someone gave me the Dixie Chicks' two albums, Wide Open Spaces and Fly.

Do I like the albums? No, not really -- they're too "poppy" in that Garth Brooks over-produced way. Well, in the way of most "New Country." But there are songs that I do like.

The title track of Wide Open: I like the line, "she needs room enough to make a big mistake." And off Fly, "Cowboy Take Me Away," with its talk of getting one's hands in the earth, makes me smile. "Goodbye Earl," the abused wife kills her husband song, is just flat-out-bizarre, where the chorus starts with "'Cause Earl had to die!" and then follows with "Nah-Nah-Nahs" sounding like they came off of a Bon Jovi record.

Now, is my appreciation of these songs just out of the Liz Phair Factor? Where a guy listening to music naturally likes hearing attractive women talk openly, candidly, and frankly about their desires for him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Unholy Spirit of Desire? Very likely. I'll keep you posted for further updates.

posted by Anon. 8:48 AM

3.13.2002

 
Over the Croon
Thoughts on Elvis Costello

Within Elvis Costello beats the heart of a self-hating rocker. It's clear, sometime around Spike, after he achieved his one Top 10 hit in America ("Veronica"), Elvis C. started going through a career crisis similar to Steve Martin's attempt to flee from arrow-in-head stand-up and re-invent himself as a New Yorker-published playwright and humorist. In both cases, the artist turns his back on what he does best, and longs to be something he's not.

In Costello's case, he's attempted in the last ten years to turn himself into a crooner, a lounge singer, an interpreter of standards. That might work if one has a voice like a Van Morrison. It doesn't work when like Costello has the equivalent of a face made for radio: a voice made for punk. I think there's a reason why the most vital music Costello has ever recorded have almost consistently been rockers, whether it's the loose abandon of "Oliver's Army" or the Stax-influenced soul of "Temptation" and "Strict Time." Mostly, his ballads bore me. (The exceptions can be found on his last very good record, King of America, where ballads like "Little Palaces" and "I'll Wear It Proudly" retain power.)

Since then? He's either embraced his role as a songwriter's songwriter, or tried to refashion himself into a crooner, like with the boring Bacharach album or, even worse, the mind-numbingly boring Juliet Letters that he did with the Brodsky Quartet. There have been occasional hiccups of hope: a couple of times on the Attractions' reunion record, Brutal Youth, he showed signs of life. But mostly he seems to have run from the past, forgetting what made his past a particularly glorious one.

I can think of few other rockers that have had such a dive in quality upon hitting mid-life. You could say Bowie, but I'm the wrong person to opine on the Thin White Duke, seeing as how my favorite recordings of his are "Modern Love" and "Helden," the German version of "Heroes."

Neil Young, Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel -- all these artists have hit their forties and still had moments of greatness.

Only Sting has perhaps had a more disappointing fall from relevance than Costello, going from an Angry Young Man to the limey boy version of Bonnie Raitt in only fifteen years. Costello at the very least can still manage an oddball cover, as he did with his version of Dylan's "I Threw It All Away" from Nashville Skyline on Kojak Variety. And Costello has not yet reached the point where he's scoring Disney films: Phil Collins and Sting need not feel threatened.

But still, my expectations were low for his project of last year, where he produced, arranged, and, in a couple cases, duetted with classical singer Anne Sofie Von Otter. Classical music and pop music are dangerous bed partners. Think of that Billy Joel song where Billy kindly added lyrics to an old Beethoven symphony. ("This Night," I believe it was called.) Or Queen. Or the Brodsky Quartet record mentioned above.

But low expectations often reap pleasant surprises. Who knew that when Elvis Costello teamed up with one of the world's great classical singers, a Scandinavian, that the end result would be -- an acoustic ABBA album? Yes, and Benny Andersson, one of the Bs in ABBA, plays on this record to boot! And really, where else last year did you find an album that featured covers of songs by Tom Waits, Kate McGarrigle, Elvis Costello, Ron Sexsmith, Brian Wilson, Lennon/McCartney, and Ruben Blades?

Not to say that the record is exhilirating. It has its rough patches, where things feel a little too staid and stale. But on the Costello originals "No Wonder" and "For the Stars," the latter featuring vocals by Costello, too, the acoustic guitars and lush violins give great flourish to Von Otter's angel pipes. And her take on the Beatles' "For No One" is just lovely.

It seems like Costello had a good time helping Van Otter make this record. Maybe on his next solo album, he'll be kind enough to let the listeners in on the fun.

posted by Anon. 6:12 PM

3.12.2002

 
Little riffs
The name game

Tonight's two Bud Light conversation, with Mr. Phil Hay, brought up a perennially great question: band names.

The Beatles is a bad band name; the Rolling Stones, a good one; the Who, a great one.

REM, bad; the Replacements, good; the Box Tops, outstanding.

Wilco, bad; The Faces, good; Cowboy Junkies, excellent. Velvet Underground? Great. Yo La Tengo? Great -- except that the band doesn't sound like a Yo La Tengo.

One rule I'd like to put forward: misspellings of actual words for band names is a bad idea. Examples: Phish, Staind, Led Zeppelin, the Byrds, the aforementioned Fab Four.

I have always dreamed of leading a small country band -- someone on piano, a drummer, a couple guitarists, an accordian player, an organ player (hey, to this day I think one of the key's to Springsteen's sound is that he has both an organ player and a pianist), and me on third guitar. Okay, so it wouldn't be so small. Anyway, we'd call ourselves the Buffalo Nickels.

One last story. During the years I lived in Providence, the Phoenix newspaper would often have in its listings announcements for a band that charmingly called itself Facial Defecation.

The evil side of me hopes that they were a folk trio.

posted by Anon. 9:24 PM

3.11.2002

 
Overheard
The New Jersey Symphony is premiering an oratorio by Hannibal Lukumbe about slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Sounds interesting; here's the AP article about it.

posted by Anon. 3:54 PM

3.10.2002

 
Overheard

Evidentally, Wynton Marsalis has missed having the soapbox that his role in Ken Burns' Jazz mini-series a year or so ago gave him. That was, if you need reminder, a mini-series ostensibly about jazz, but more successful if seen as an ideological pamphlet by black cultural conservatives Marsalis, Stanley Crouch, and Albert Murray.

In Columbus today, Marsalis decided to get back into headlines by resorting to an old favorite of line of his: blasting hip-hop. He went so far as to call modern rap music a "minstrel show." But hold on, kids: just so you don't think Wynton is some silly old out-of-touch fogey, he did say that he does like rock music.

I'm dying to know if, like his interest in jazz history, his interest in rock music ends at around 1960. I mean, I love Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Elvis, and Ray Charles, too, but...

posted by Anon. 11:32 PM