Bright Eyes - "Reinvent The Wheel"Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker - "Cubano-Be, Cubano-Bop"
Ryan Adams - "To Be The One"
Can you really like a musician and kinda loath the artist? You bet! Ryan Adams has mad skills (as the kids say). I liked his band Whiskeytown a lot, but even those records did not prepare me for just how good Heartbreaker is. The 2000 release is a bonafide roots rock classic. This track is just one of many standouts ("Come Pick Me Up" and "Oh My Sweet Carolina" top the list), and even 8 years later I haven't tired of this record. So what happened to the boy wonder? Too many famous girlfriends? Drugs? Or times mistaken for Bryan Adams? Not sure, but now when you read about him today it's mostly because he's gone and done something ridiculous or annoying or both. And yet, he continues to make good music (Jacksonville City Nights)...mixed with bad (Demolition). He's just the sort of self-indulgent artist that needs an ego adjustment and an editor. But I try to block it all out, and especially when it comes to Heartbreaker, it's pretty easy to cut through the noise...for now.
Versus - "Janet"
Billy Bragg and Wilco - "Blood Of The Lamb"
The Beastie Boys - "B-Boy Bouillabaisse"
I'm a little bit in shock right now. I temporarily forgot the awesomeness that is The Beastie Boys, for one. And I think I never realized that all of the nuggets that make up this 12 minute pastiche of B-Boys rap and funk are all one song. I guess that's what happens when you used to primarily listen to an album on cassette (the most irritating of all formats!). But seriously, Licensed To Ill (every white boys first rap record), Paul's Boutique (a genre bending blueprint for sampling thanks to the Dust Brothers) and Check Your Head (the world's greatest party record) make up a pretty good run. Meanwhile, there are so many good lines and samples to chew over in "B-Boy Bouillabaisse," but this is the couplet that struck me this time:
Sat across from a man reading El Diario
Riding the train down from the El Barrio
Went from the station to Orange Julius
I bought a hot dog. From who? George Drakoulias
Hold on, George Drakoulias? Isn't he the guy who produced The Jayhawks' Hollywood Town Hall which I recently relegated to all-time status? Why yes, it is. Hollywood Town Hall was released on Rick Rubin's American Records and, of course, Rick produced Licensed To Ill. So you have it, there's only one degree of separation between The Jayhawks and The Beastie Boys. Who knew?
The Beatles - "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Okkervil River - "Savannah Smiles"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 9
Total minutes of music (approx.): 47
Song with the most previous plays: "To Be The One" - 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I read that Iron Man made gobs of cash over the weekend? Do I want to see Iron Man?, I wondered. Conclusion not yet reached.
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5 comments:
You've probably seen Iron Man's good reviews, which make me want to see it. But then, as the NY Times review points out, once again, conforming to the laws of the genre, the villain must be a bald man. It's not right.
It's true. Baldness is just a sign of bad thoughts, not necessarily deeds.
I heard Iron Man was disappointing.
Interesting how your Beastie Boys sandwich is enclosed by so much alt-country.
I'm a man of many tastes, CP - - just not the balds, obviously.
I liked iron Man- all of these comic movies have to go the same route in the last 3rd of the movie, its like a law. but the first 2/3rds are real good thanks to Robert Downey. the very last line is cool too.
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