Video of the Day: Au, “RR vs. D”
Wow. I have no idea what this song means, but it’s rare I feel like I’m hearing something wholly original, and this band’s heady combination of prog-pop and pop-orchestral music is simply something I’ve never heard before. I’m seeking out this Portland, Ore. band’s latest disc, Verbs, immediately. Again, wow.
Random 10 for Sept. 25, 2008
1. The Supersuckers, “Born with a Tail”
I’m going to make a bold statement right now, so hang on to your hat, or whatever else you might feel the urge to hold. The Supersuckers’ “Born with a Tail,” from the group’s rip-snortin’ 1995 album The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers, is hands-down the best rock song ever about raising hell. “Hope I don’t run out of gas / Bet my sacrilicious ass / Ain’t nothing down there that scares me.” Eat your heart out, John Milton — here’s the real Paradise Lost.
2. Ice Cube, “The Bomb”
3. The Clash, “The Guns of Brixton”
4. Husker Du, “Could You Be the One?”
One of the few Husker songs that actually flirted, however slightly, with mainstream success, this 1987 track from the Minnesota-based group’s final album was a harbinger of Bob Mould’s pop flourishes to follow.
5. Little Richard, “All Around the World”
6. Terence Trent D’Arby, “Penelope Please”
7. Randy Newman, “Lonely at the Top”
8. Coldplay, “High Speed”
9. Lovage, “Sex (I’m a …)”
10. Superdrag, “Sucked Out”
Yeah, it’s a gimmicky song, alright, but I’m a sucker (get it?) for power-pop.
– Chase
DVD Review: “Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition”
Rating: 96
When ABC put “Sports Night” on the air in 1998, there were no sit-coms operating free of laugh tracks, and Aaron Sorkin desperately wanted his creation to be the one. After several episodes he finally got his wish, but “Sports Night” was simply too far ahead of its time. A decade later, the best and brightest current television comedies rise or fall on the basis of the material rather than an outdated Pavlovian trick. With “Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition” hitting the racks, the show demands a full-scale reassessment.
Focused on a “SportsCenter”-like show featuring anchors Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) and Casey McCall (Peter Krause), “Sports Night” was never really about sports and was more about the lives of the people working for Continental Sports Channel. The Dan-Casey repartee was based on the chemistry between Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, but the show-within-a-show was just a setup for the romantic foibles of Casey and executive producer Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) and Sorkin’s exploration of the social issues that affect everyone — even people working on an insular sports show.
While Sorkin’s “walk and talk” style had been employed previously in “A Few Good Men” and “The American President,” “Sports Night” was where he perfected the technique before launching “The West Wing.” In contrast to the bare-bones 2002 release, the 10th anniversary edition is packed with extras, including a “face-off” with the “SportsCenter” hosts and eight commentaries. Few people saw it in its original two-year run, but “Sports Night” remains a remarkable experiment in uncompromised television.
Music Review: Lindsey Buckingham, “Gift of Screws”
Rating: 82
Once upon a time, Lindsey Buckingham solo albums sounded like nothing less than the onset of delirium tremens after the Topanga Canyon binge party of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”: brilliantly unhinged pop made without concern for commerce or coherence. But beginning with 1992′s “Out of the Cradle,” when it seemed like his Mac days were permanently in the past, Buckingham’s solo work was no longer his Frankenstein laboratory. Consequently, his latest disc, “Gift of Screws,” often sounds like Buckingham’s idea of how his band would sound if he didn’t have to deal with messy ancillary issues such as other people and their fragile egos.
Witness “The Right Place to Fade,” a frenetic second cousin to “Second-Hand News” in which Buckingham proves he can record a classic Fleetwood Mac song and mimic everyone’s roles, and yet it doesn’t sound like an enormous act of hubris. At first, “Did You Miss Me?” could like a leftover from his gauzy, largely acoustic 2006 disc, “Under the Skin,” but then a full band kicks in on a sweetly melancholy chorus, and it feels like a return to the old days when the only way he could end a relationship was with a song.
But unlike “Under the Skin,” “Gift of Screws” offers evidence that at 58, Buckingham might never fully kill his demons. Taking much of its lyrics from Emily Dickinson’s “Essential Oils Are Wrung,” the title track is punctuated by barking laughter and cascades of shouted background vocals, and might be the most unhinged song he’s recorded since the early ‘80s. “Gift of Screws” captures both the delicate beauty and sheer madness of the man, going his own way and going insane, like he always did.
Video of the Day: Hercules and Love Affair, “You Belong”
Musically, this sounds like early ’90s Eurodisco with Antony singing on the chorus, so listening to it is one step below having my temporal lobe sanded down. Visually, though, it’s damn freaky. Just play something tolerable in its place.
Random 10 for September 24, 2008
1. Malcolm McLaren, “Buffalo Gals.” One of pop music history’s most audacious Barnumesque hucksters went culture diving into New York hip-hop in the early ’80s, then turned around and got Anne Dudley and Trevor Horn to craft some Art of Noise beats that resembled or suggested the real thing. As one of McLaren’s other clients said a few years before, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
2. Jim Noir, “All Right.”
3. Chameleons U.K., “Tears.”
4. Dr. Octagon, “Trees.”
5. TV On the Radio, “Golden Age.” From Dear Science, one of the best discs of 2008, achieved maily because they stopped making music for funerals and decided to craft soundtracks for post-modern wakes. Wondering what a Bowie/Prince collaboration would sound like? Click above.
6. Georgie James, “Look Me Up.”
7. I Am the World Trade Center, “Dancing Alone.”
8. Kanye West, “Champion.”
9. The Shins, “Kissing the Lipless.”
10. Art Brut, “Formed a Band.” We’re just talking… to the kids!
Random 10 for Sept. 23, 2008
Nirvana, “Negative Creep”
The Kinks, “Tired of Waiting for You”
Another great throwaway gem from the early days of the Kinks, this 1965 single proved yet again that Ray Davies could wax wistfully about damn near anything.
3. Lou Reed, “Waves of Fear”
4. Love Tractor, “Crash (Instrumental Version)”
5. The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Head On”
What’s there to say about this 1989 classic? It’s just terrific. There, I said it, and I don’t care who knows it.
6. Dishwalla, “It’s Going to Take Some Time”
7. The Rolling Stones, “Laugh, I Nearly Died”
8. The Deathray Davies, “Clock in Now”
It’s only appropriate that we would shuffle from Ray Davies to this little-known Dallas-based rock outfit, named in honor of the aforementioned Kink. “Clock in Now,” from the group’s 2005 album, The Kick and the Snare, is fairly representative of the band’s garage-friendly, fuzzed-out, hook-laden aesthetic. If there were any justice in the world (and I think we all can safely conclude there’s isn’t), the Deathray Davies would be at least as well-known as Green Day.
9. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Black Tongue”
10. The Eagles, “Life in the Fast Lane”
– Chase
Wanda Jackson and Other Oddly Deserving Musicians Get the Rock Hall Nod
Wanda Jackson
Jeff Beck, Chic, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Metallica, Run-DMC, the Stooges, War, and Bobby Womack are this year’s nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. This is especially good news for us, given that Oklahoma’s own Wanda — I’ve always hated that construction, but what’re you going to do? — has been eligible about 30 years longer than Run-DMC but has not gotten the nod until now. Jann, you’ve done us proud.
Jeff Beck Group, “Shape of Things”
Chic, “I Want Your Love”
Wanda Jackson, “Rock Your Baby”
Little Anthony and the Imperials, “Tears On My Pillow”
Metallica, “One”
Run-DMC, “King of Rock”
Iggy and the Stooges, “TV Eye”
War, “Low Rider”
Bobby Womack, “Across 110th Street”
Who’s In Charge Here?
Thanks to Matthew Price at Nerdage, I’ve found a new way to waste time. Who’s In Charge Here asks readers to analyze publicity photos and determine who the leader is based on placement, body language, et cetera. Enjoy!
Either/Or: Episode 7 — The “Heroes” Season Three Premiere Edition
In Either/Or, we take two people in similar pursuits, and you choose between them. It can be based on any criteria: professional ability, personality, intellectual prowess, physical pulchritude, or who you’d want backing you up in a knife fight. It really doesn’t matter: just choose Either/Or.
“Heroes” heroes: Either Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet) …
Or Ali Larter (Niki Sanders).
Either Zachary Quinto (Sylar)…
Or Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli).
