Like a Specter

The iTunes Chronicles: Day 27 – The Clash, Cliff Martinez

2012-02-11T14:54:00.000-06:00

When it comes to The Clash, all roads lead to LondonCalling. It was this classic album that recruited me into Clash fandom, andalthough I’ve since added the self-titled The Clash and Combat Rock to mycollection, neither has garnered the affection I hold for London Calling. That’snot to say I don’t enjoy The Clash or Combat Rock—I have listened to each afair amount—but at some point during almost every session of listening toeither of these, I always find myself wanting to switch to London Calling. Andso it was this time around, as the two lesser albums served as appetizers forthe main dish.

Other highlights of this session were compositionsby Beethoven and Wagner (performed by the Cleveland Orchestra), the amazingCliff Martinez score for the Traffic soundtrack, and the first of many Coldplaysongs found in my library (the mostly forgettable Blue Room EP, and dull stand-alonetracks “How You See the World No.2” and “The One I Love”). As usual, I wasovertaken by the pathos of the Martinezscore, but London Calling stole the show.

Songs Conquered: 68, from “White Riot” by TheClash to Coldplay’s “The One I Love” (live)

Favorite Album: London Calling by The Clash

Favorite Song: “Helicopter” by Cliff Martinez

Music Listened To For First Time: --

Guilty Pleasure: “Yakety Yak” by the Coasters …“don’t talk back”

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“LondonCalling” by The Clash

Song That Made Me Sleepy: --

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Charlie Brown” bythe Coasters

Embarrassing Revelation: The most embarrassing thingabout this post is the fact that it has been four months since the last one.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 26

2011-10-06T18:37:00.003-05:00

Over a month since my last post? Time is reallyflying by. I started a graduate program in August, and since then I’ve beenfocusing my energy, rightly so, on my studies. However, I didn’t want thisseries to be completely abandoned, and that’s what it’s felt like. I enjoywriting about music too much to let it go, and I don’t want it to be yetanother project that I leave unfinished, like this,or this,or this. Plus, there are afew people out there who were reading these posts, so I don't want to leave my audience hanging.

So, here’s an attempt to get back into this,albeit at a slower pace and with posts that are a bit more concise than those Ihad been writing before school began.

Today’s highlight was Come With Us, the extremelyunderrated album by The Chemical Brothers. It’s the rare album that is nearlyperfect from start to finish, and even those who are not traditionally fans ofelectronic music will find themselves drawn in. It’s my go-to album for days atwork when I need to forget I’m sitting in a cubicle before I can actually get into anysort of productive flow. It’s at once playful and introspective, danceable and chill,and crafted in such a way that it all balances out.

The other big album of the day was TheChieftains’ An Irish Evening, which is a recording of the band’s performance atthe Grand Opera House in Belfast.This album makes me wish I were Irish—not just of Irish descent, but a native. The songs are so beautiful they instill in me a pride for a culturethat’s not even my own. Pretty powerful stuff.

The day also featured: Charlotte Gainsbourg, performing“Heaven Can Wait” with Beck; a lesser Chemical Brothers album (Dig Your OwnHole); Chris and Thomas, whose catchy acoustic number “Take These Thoughts” was introduced tome years ago by NPR’s World Café; a few solo tracks by Chris Cornell; ChubbyChecker on “The Twist”; Citizen Cope; Clarence Carter’s “Slip Away,” from theAlmost Famous soundtrack; and a few others.

I closed out with the first few songs from TheClash’s self-titled album, but I’ll hold off on discussing The Clash till nexttime.

Songs Conquered: 65, from “Mockingbird” by Inezand Charlie Foxx to The Clash’s “Complete Control”

Favorite Album: Come With Us by The ChemicalBrothers

Favorite Song: “Star Guitar” by The ChemicalBrothers

Music Listened To For First Time: --

Guilty Pleasure: “Theme from the Godfather” asperformed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (it’s definitely one of the greatestmovie themes of all time, but sometimes I listen to it on repeat, and that seemsa little weird)

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Seasons” by Chris Cornell

Song That Made Me Sleepy: Wagner’s “Lohengrin(Bridal Chorus),” performed by Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele (I’ve been to alot of weddings in the past couple years, so this song has a lost a bit of itsgrace for me)

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: Franz Schubert’s “AveMaria,” performed by Chris Cornell and Eleven

Embarrassing Revelation: I have a Chumbawambasong in my library and it isn't this one. How does thishappen? You own a lot of soundtracks. The song is “Mary Mary,” and it comes from the Stigmata soundtrack. Ifyou were wondering, no, it’s not very good. Still, it’s better than Cornell’srendition of “Ave Maria”—I’m not going to post a link to that song, because Idon’t want to hurt your ears.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 25

2011-08-23T08:50:00.001-05:00

This was another one of those days with apotpourri of artists. There were albums by The Cardigans (Super Extra Gravity),The Cars (Greatest Hits), Cat Power (The Greatest) and Cee Lo Green (The LadyKiller), and there were singles, soundtrack contributions, or other stand-alonetracks by The Cardigans, Italo-French singer-songwriter Carla Bruni (whohappens to be the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy), Italian pop starCarlotta, Carmen Twillie and Lebo M. (from The Lion King soundtrack), folkster CatStevens, indie rockers Catfish Haven, “The Voice of Café del Mar” Cathy Battistessa, Celedonio Romero and Celín Romero withothers performing Vivaldi on classical guitar, Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora and early rockers The Champs. While TheCardigans’ contribution to the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack (“It’s War”) andtheir album Super Extra Gravity provided a nice start to the day, theirpresence was overwhelmed by the unapologetic arena pop guitar riffs of The Carsand the luscious voice of Cat Power.

To call myself a fan of The Cars would be inaccurate,since I only own their greatest hits collection and have never listened to any of theirother albums, but I definitely have a deep-rooted affection for them that I’m reluctantto admit. I don’t know where it comes from—maybe it’s because I have Ohio in my blood (my father is from Portsmouth;Cars frontman Ric Ocasek grew up in Ohio)—butsomething about their in-your-face ’80s sound connects with me. I hear a songlike “Drive” and—rather than being revolted by the glamorous synthesizers,which I’d find cheesy if played by most other bands from that era—I have theurge to put the song on repeat until I’m overdosing on audio. So, this is mybig confession for the day: I kind of love The Cars (or at least their hitsongs).

Cat Power’s The Greatest followed The Cars andswiftly changed the scenery from city lights reflecting off the windshield of aDeLorean to moonlight brilliantly glimmering off the murky puddles of a fetidMemphis alley. All the guilt from my Cars listening washed away in the tide of Cat Power’sstunning vocals. My introduction to Cat Power came via the owner of All That Jazz, an independent record store in Steamboat Springs, Colo., whoprovided CDs to the Steamboat Pilot & Today during my tenure reviewing music there. The owner seemed to me an old hippie (he looked like a thinner DavidCrosby), so I was surprised when I walked in one day to pick up my week’s worthof listening and he asked me if I had heard the new Cat Power. Having neverheard of Cat Power before, I stood there shaking my head “no” while wonderingif he was really about to give me a disc by some Spice Girls wannabe. If you’venever heard Cat Power before, don’t be deceived by her stage name as I was. TheGreatest remains one of the best albums I’ve come across in the past fiveyears. If you’re curious why, check out my old review from the Pilot & Today.

The rest of the day featured some notabletracks—“The Wind” by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, “Oh Home” by Battistessa,Cee Lo’s cover of the Band of Horses hit “No One’s Gonna Love You” and Évora’s rendition of “Besame Mucho”—but nothing reached the height of CatPower.

Songs Conquered: 69, from “It’s War” by TheCardigans to “Tequila” by The Champs

Favorite Album: The Greatest by Cat Power

Favorite Song: “Drive” by The Cars

Music Listened To For First Time: ---

Guilty Pleasure: “Drive” by The Cars

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Just What I Needed” by The Cars

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Hate” by Cat Power(it’s not that it’s a bad song; it’s just a huge downer)

Embarrassing Revelation: I’m glad no one wasaround when I reached The Lion King’s “Circle of Life,” performed by CarmenTwillie and Lebo M., because a 29-year-old man jamming to that song wouldprobably seem a little weird.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 24

2011-08-18T11:29:00.003-05:00

One last Built to Spill album and a track each byBurnt Friedman and Butthole Surfers were the final markers in the B’s. Friedman,a German electronica producer who somehow found his way into my collection, andButthole Surfers provided a disappointing encore following Built to Spill’s Youin Reverse, the band’s clumsy yet endearing follow-up to Ancient Melodies ofthe Future. After Friedman’s “Suzuki” and the Butthole Surfers’ “The Lord Is aMonkey” (the so-called “Rock Version” found on the Beavis and Butt-Head DoAmerica soundtrack), I leapt onto the letter C. I began the C’s with 1,525songs behind me, a total of more than 100 hours of music.

Calexico’s Carried to Dust was a nice surpriseto kick off my third letter. I first heard the band at Lollapalooza ’06, butwith the exception of “Cruel” from their album GardenRuin, I had not listened to any of their recordings. Fortunately, a friend ofmine hooked me up with Carried to Dust a couple months ago. The band’s Southwest sound is apparent from the album’s first few seconds on the song“Victor Jara’s Hands,” and I spent the duration of the album recalling the highpoints of my brief visit to Santa Fe, N.M.

After Carried to Dust, I covered Calexico’s “Cruel”and the Canadian Brass rendition of Vivaldi’s “null: Allegro” beforetransitioning to some Swedish pop rock with The Cardigans’ First Band on theMoon. I’ve had this album for years but somehow each time I listen to it theexperience ends up dominated by two songs: “Lovefool” and the cover of BlackSabbath’s “Iron Man.” I feel like “Lovefool” should haveworn out its welcome years ago, when it was played on alternative radiostations endlessly as one of the singles from the soundtrack of the Baz Luhrmannfilm Romeo + Juliet, but I find it as delightful today asI did back then. “Iron Man” remains one of the most unique and interestingcovers I’ve ever heard. It’s a complete reinvention of a classic metal song intoa slowed down pop song, trading gritty guitar riffs for clean jazz tones andmelancholic keyboards. More Cardigans music awaits on Day 25.

Songs Conquered: 40, from Built to Spill’s “Goin’Against Your Mind” to “Choke” by The Cardigans

Favorite Album: You in Reverse by Built toSpill

Favorite Song: “Iron Man” by The Cardigans

Music Listened To For First Time: Carried toDust by Calexico

Guilty Pleasure: “Lovefool” by The Cardigans

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Goin’ Against Your Mind” by Built to Spill

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “The Lord Is aMonkey” (Rock Version) by Butthole Surfers (apologies to my friends who digButthole Surfers, but this one doesn’t do it for me)

Embarrassing Revelation: Maybe it should be embarrassing toown the Beavis and Butt-Head Do America soundtrack, but it's not.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 23

2011-08-12T10:33:00.008-05:00

Contrary to what that idiot drummer fromMetallica tried to make everyone believe many years ago, Napster actuallybenefited some bands. Built to Spill was one of them.

Back in 2001, I was a freshman at Illinois State University,and like so many college students at the time, I spent several hours each weekvoraciously downloading music on Napster. A friend of mine had included Builtto Spill’s “Stab” on a mix CD she gave me, and I was so intrigued by the band’sguitar work that I sought out more of their music on Napster. Soon after, Ipurchased Keep It Like a Secret, then Ancient Melodies of the Future, thenPerfect From Now On and There’s Nothing Wrong with Love. Since my introduction,I have purchased nearly all of their albums, defying that Metallica asshole’stheory that Napster dissuaded people from purchasing music.

I got to indulge in my Built to Spillfanaticism on this day of listening. I opened with the second half of Live,beginning with their somewhat tedious 20-minute cover of Neil Young’s “Cortezthe Killer” and ending the album a few songs later with another 20-minuteperformance, this one of their fiery “Broken Chairs.”

Although Live has a few killer tracks, particularlythe epic performance of “Broken Chairs,” the album feels perfunctory (like a releaserequired by the label to meet a contractual obligation), so I was happy to moveonto the studio albums. Unfortunately, I first had to trudge through The NormalYears. The Normal Years is a compilation album that includes early singles,live songs and previously unreleased material. It was my first listen, so I wasexcited to jump in, but I quickly found that with the exception of “Car” and“Sick and Wrong,” the album is at best underwhelming and at worst irritating.

Perfect from Now On finally landed me onto thegood stuff, with its meticulous production and grand song structures (thealbum’s songs average almost 7 minutes) offering a stark contrast to the leftoversfound on The Normal Years. The album had been a favorite my senior year ofcollege, and I listened to songs like the philosophical “Randy DescribedEternity” and the serene “Kicked It in the Sun” while remembering those salad days.

Next, There’s Nothing Wrong with Love took meback to the band’s earlier days (in a good way, as opposed to the unpolishedNormal Years) before I finished with a taste of the new in the band’s brilliant2010 release, There Is No Enemy. The album is one of their most focused, skillfullybalancing Doug Martsch’s inclination toward extended solos with his meditativelyrics. It’s this balance that makes songs like “Life’s a Dream” and “Tomorrow”classics in the Built to Spill catalog, the latter closing the album with thesewords of wisdom:

The more you have to life for, the more youlove your life

The harder it will be for you to die, and weall want living and dying easy

Soon after, the song makes a very gradual fade in a wistful three-minuteguitar solo that’s among the finest moments of Built to Spill’s recordings.

There's one Built to Spill album left in my library before I move onto the letter C, and their looming exit feels like an old friend departing after a long-awaited visit.

Songs Conquered: 47, from “Cortez the Killer”to “Tomorrow,” all performed by Built to Spill

Favorite Album: There Is No Enemy by Built toSpill

Favorite Song: “Tomorrow” by Built to Spill

Music Listened To For First Time: The Normal Years by Built to Spill

Guilty Pleasure: none to own up to today

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Stab” by Built to Spill

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Cortez the Killer”by Built to Spill

Embarrassing Revelation: I’m sure I’ve heardNeil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” but I’ve heard the Built to Spill cover somany times that I can’t remember what the original sounds like.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 22

2011-08-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

I began the day's brief listening session by finishing the second half of BruceSpringsteen’s Greatest Hits, this half being dominated by hissynthesizer-heavy low-tempo tunes, like “My Hometown,” “Human Touch” and“Streets of Philadelphia.” If it weren't for caffeine, one of these would have knocked me out. There was also “Secret Garden,”from the Jerry Maguire soundtrack, which falls into that same category of synthed-up slow Springsteen songs, but I’m not going to lie, I actually really dig this song.

All the slowerSpringsteen songs had me itching for some heavier rock, so I was anxiouslyawaiting my arrival at Built to Spill. All that stood between Springsteen andBuilt to Spill was Bugge Wesseltoft’s “Existence,” which appears on Café delMar: Volume 6, one in a long series of compilations of chill-out music meant to deliver the sonic ambience of the popular bar of the same name on theSpanish island of Ibiza. Wesseltoft is a Norwegian jazz pianist whose style seems to be of the experimental variety, if “Existence” is any indication. The moody grooveof “Existence,” smoothly blending a delicate piano riff and somber synthesizerswith driving hand percussion and a bouncing bass line, cleaned the slate forBuilt to Spill’s entrance.

Built to Spill served up the much needed rock I was missing during the easy Springsteen listening, but I’m not going to delve too deepinto the band today since I’ll be saying a lot about them in the next post. Instead, I’ll just note that my listening this round covered myfavorite album by Doug Martsch and co., Ancient Melodies of the Future, as wellas the album that introduced me to them, Keep It Like a Secret. I finished theday with half of their live album, simply named Live, which is a compilation ofrecordings from various performances.

Songs Conquered:35, from Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” to Built to Spill’s “Virginia ReelAround the Fountain”

Favorite Album: AncientMelodies of the Future by Built to Spill

Favorite Song: “Carrythe Zero” by Built to Spill

Music ListenedTo For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure:“Secret Garden” by Bruce Springsteen

Song ThatInspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “Broken Chairs” by Built to Spill

Song That MadeMe Sleepy: ---

Song I MostWanted to Skip: “Brilliant Disguise” by Bruce Springsteen

EmbarrassingRevelation: The Jerry Maguiresoundtrack seems somewhat embarrassing, just because it’s a Tom Cruisemovie and hating on Cruise has turned into a favorite pastime since he went all wacky on Oprah, but it’s a really great compilation. Check out the track listing.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 21

2011-08-04T12:25:00.003-05:00

It was a day of indie rock darlings, withalbums by Bright Eyes, Broken Bells and Broken Social Scene leading the way. Acollection of Bruce Springsteen hits popped up at the end, but “The Boss”couldn’t contend with the trio of Cassadaga, Broken Bells and You Forgot it inPeople.

It was my first true listen of Cassadaga, but Ialready knew most of the album thanks to the barista at MoJoe’s Café in Chicago’s Roscoe Village whoalways played it while I sat there working. I still possess only an incipientimpression of Bright Eyes but it’s enough to give me the feeling that ConorOberst’s songwriting is peerless among his generation and class of artists.Songs like “Soul Singer in a Session Band” and “I Must Belong Somewhere” alreadysound classic, and the mystical “Coat Check Dream Song” puts Sting’s “DesertRose” to shame—this is how you use Middle Eastern chanting in a pop song withoutsounding cheesy (unless it's a Middle Eastern pop song, which gets a free pass, of course).

As much as I enjoyed my first time through Cassadaga,Broken Bells stole the show. I’m a sucker for James Mercer’s songwriting andvoice, and when those are paired with Danger Mouse’s production, it’s hard tosway my attention elsewhere. Broken Bells was among the most played albums inmy collection in 2010, so this listen mainly served to whet my appetite for thenext release by James Mercer, which seems likely to be a Shins album in 2012,according to NME and other sources.

Broken Social Scene’s You Forgot it in People remainsa bit of a puzzle for me, which is probably a result of having listenedto it just a few times. It starts off with two of my favorite opening minutes to an albumwith the instrumental “Capture the Flag” and continues strong with the driving “KcAccidental” and “Stars and Sons,” but somewhere along the way I always seem toget lost, and that remained true with this listen. “Pacific Theme” and “Lover’s Spit” both stand out among the album’slater tracks, but as a whole I haven’t yet gotten my head around this one. Maybe it just requires more time to steep.

I had to call it quits halfway through Springsteen’sGreatest Hits—“Born in the U.S.A.”always stirs up nostalgia, and it seemed best to end the day riding that wave. WhenI was about six years old, my older sister used to drive me around while she ran errands, and she was always playing music by Springsteen, CyndiLauper, the Charlie Daniels Band and Bob Seger. “Born in the U.S.A.” is oneof the songs I identify with those times spent with my sis.

Songs Conquered: 48, from “Clairaudients (Killor Be Killed)” by Bright Eyes to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”

Favorite Album: Broken Bells by Broken Bells

Favorite Song: “Coat Check Dream Song” byBright Eyes

Music Listened To For First Time: Cassadaga byBright Eyes

Guilty Pleasure: “Resting Place” (live) by Bruce Hornsby

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Strawberry Letter #23” by the Brothers Johnson

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Lime Tree” byBright Eyes

Embarrassing Revelation: I own the Woodstock 1999 album. Youknow, the album from the shitty “Woodstock”festival known for incidents of rape, douchebags starting fires and awful actslike Korn, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Creed and, well, I could go on, but then I’dend up naming half the acts from the festival. I bought the compilation becauseI thought the fact that it includes tracks from the likes of Red Hot ChiliPeppers, Elvis Costello and The Roots would make up for all the crap. I waswrong. I forgot I had portions of the album in my library until it popped up today with the Bruce Hornsby track, for which I happen to have an affection.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 20

2011-08-02T09:33:00.003-05:00

After a couple days consisting primarily of BobDylan, I moved onto a patchwork of music that included reggae (Bob Marley), bigband (Bobby Darin), early rock (Bobby Rydell), indie rock (Bon Iver), power pop(the Bon Mots, Brendan Benson), classical (the Boston Symphony Orchestra performingBeethoven), hip hop (Brand Nubian), ambient (Brian Eno, Brian Reitzell andRoger J. Manning Jr.) and bubblegum pop (Brian Hyland). Whew, that was amouthful.

The day began auspiciously, led by a string ofstirring Marley songs that included “Waiting in Vain,” “Redemption Song” and “Exodus.”Afterward, I was absently drifting through a few songs by Darin and Rydell whenthe wistful guitar riff of “Perth,”the opening track from Bon Iver’s self-titled album, stopped me in my place.Literally. I was mowing the lawn when the song came on, and I was so fascinatedby the sound that I had to turn the mower off for a few moments to take it in.

Rarely have I enjoyed my first listen of analbum as much as I enjoyed this first listen of Bon Iver. I appreciated BonIver’s first album, For Emma, Forever Ago, but had not found it particularlyremarkable, so I hadn’t rushed to listen to the second album when a friendpassed it my way. I had also pigeonholed BonIver into some sort of acoustic indie rock genre after listening to For Emma, Forever Ago (sort of like a more matureDashboard Confessional), and so the depth of the production of this secondalbum took me by surprise. There are layers upon layers of tracks, withguitars, horns, synthesizers, choruses of vocals, banjos and much more. It’s arich album that's in the same ballpark as Sufjan Stevens’ The Age of Adz. “Beth/Rest,”the album’s closing track, even steps back into the bombastic production of the’80s, drums dripping with reverb and a synthesizer riff that would make aperfect theme for a brat pack movie. My friend JT put it bestwhen he said it’s like Phil Collins took over the studio on this last tune.

When Bon Iver ended, I tried in vain not tolook forward to Brian Eno. Eno’s ambient music is amongmy favorite listening and stood as the biggest listening milestone after Marley. Everythingbetween Bon Iver and Eno passed without much inspiration, and I spent theremainder of the day enjoying Music for Films, Eno’s concept album of scoresfor imaginary films, and his songs borrowed by the Traffic and Trainspottingsoundtracks: “An Ending (Ascent)” and “Deep Blue Day.”

Songs Conquered: 81, from Bob Marley’s “Waitingin Vain” to “Shibuya” by Brian Reitzell and Roger J. Manning Jr.

Favorite Album: Bon Iver by Bon Iver

Favorite Song: “An Ending (Ascent)” by BrianEno

Music Listened To For First Time: Bon Iver byBon Iver

Guilty Pleasure: none today

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Breathing Backwards” by the Bon Mots

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Itsy Bitsy TeenyWeeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland

Embarrassing Revelation: I can’t explain why “ItsyBitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” is in my library.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 19

2011-07-28T08:34:00.006-05:00

I spent the majority of the day finishing theremainder of my Bob Dylan library—Blood on the Tracks, Desire, The Freewheelin’Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited, Modern Times and an alternate version of “Shelterfrom the Storm” found on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack—but rather than anotherpost celebrating Dylan, I’m going to offer praise for Bob Marley, whose musiccomprised the finale of the day’s listening.

I spend a lot of time talking about music (Alittle too much, I’m sure you’re thinking), and over the years I’verealized Marley has fewer critics than even the greatest icons of pop music. I’vemet plenty of people in my life who have expressed distaste for Bob Dylan orThe Beatles—I’ve even met a few unfortunate joyless folks who have told me theyhate The Beatles—but never have I met someone who has said they dislike Marley.Sure, there are the typical enthusiastic fans who are in your face professingtheir Marley fandom—stoners, ski bums, corporate managers who wish they were stoners orski bums—but I’ve learned even the most unsuspecting folks can be counted amongthe Marley ranks. For example, my 14-year-old niece, who otherwise only listensto poppy country music that hurts my ears, loves Bob Marley. Of course, when I heardher singing “Buffalo Soldier” and asked her if she knew what the song wasabout, she gave me a bemused look. But still, the point remains that I canthink of few other artists with such universal appeal. And it’s warranted.

Marley is an underappreciated songwriter. Itseems that too often he’s thought of merely as a reggae artist who landed a load of mainstream hits. But his ability to write songs that continueto appeal to an immensely diverse audience while touching upon weighty topics, oftenvery explicitly, as is the case with “Buffalo Soldier,” is remarkable. Now Ijust need to put my money where my mouth is and actually buy a Marley albumbeyond his greatest hits.

Songs Conquered: 63, from Bob Dylan’s “TangledUp in Blue” to Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”

Favorite Album: Blood on the Tracks by BobDylan

Favorite Song: “Shelter from the Storm” (alternateversion) by Bob Dylan

Music Listened To For First Time: ---

Guilty Pleasure: it’s hard to find a guiltypleasure among a day of listening to Bob Dylan and Bob Marley

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Lively Up Yourself” by Bob Marley

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: none (this is thefirst day this has happened)

Embarrassing Revelation: As much as I respectand enjoy Bob Marley’s music, my collection includes only his greatest hitsalbum and a couple of singles.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 18

2011-07-25T08:53:00.005-05:00

With apologies to the rest of the day’s music,today was all about Blonde on Blonde.

I had been anticipating Bob Dylan for severaldays, but at some point while listening to Blur, which immediately precededBlonde on Blonde, I forgot he was just around the bend. Then, I concluded Blur’s13, the hypnotic, mechanical-sounding “Optigan 1” marking the album’s end, andas the song’s gradual fade slipped away into the late-night saloon insanity of“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” the sea change from passive listening to deepengagement was complete. All that had come before during the day—the remainderof Blackalicious’ Blazing Arrow, a single each by Blind Faith and Blind Melon,four singles by Blondie, one unfortunate tune by Blues Traveler and a handfulof Blur (their self-titled album, a few soundtrack songs and 13)—suddenlyseemed inconsequential. Five years ago, my reaction may have differed.

It took me many years to get Bob Dylan. Ofcourse, I had become acquainted with a number of his songs throughout my life, butI didn’t listen to his music in earnest until I was 20, when a good friendburned me a copy of Highway 61 Revisited to accompany me during a semester in

Italy

.I listened to that album on several occasions during those four months abroadand somehow it never clicked. I kept wondering why I didn’t appreciate it inthe way I felt I should. It’s not that I didn’t like it—I just didn’t get it.At the time, the songs seemed to me to meander about without direction. Perhapsit was a matter of realizing that his songs are about the journey rather thanthe destination.

I never had a light-bulb moment with BobDylan’s music—I didn’t suddenly turn onto it one day—but around the time Imoved to ColoradoI had connected with it. I started to understand. And now, when I listen to BobDylan, especially Blonde on Blonde, I often get this feeling like an old friendis telling me stories from his time on the road. Or it’s a mentor sharing hissagacious advice on life. And then, my muddled feelings about what it means tobe an American suddenly sort themselves out. Now, when one of his longer songsplays, like the 11-minute Blonde on Blonde closer “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” rather than growing impatient halfway through(as I once had), I instead wistfully hope that the song will keep playing.

Songs Conquered: 62, from “Nowhere Fast” byBlackalicious to Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”

Favorite Album: Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan

Favorite Song: “4th Time Around” by Bob Dylan

Music Listened To For First Time: ---

Guilty Pleasure: “Song 2” by Blur

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Swamp Song” by Blur

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Battle” by Blur

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “After What” byBlues Traveler

Embarrassing Revelation: I’d point to the factthat it took me 25 years to enjoy Bob Dylan, but I’m certain I’m not alone.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 17

2011-07-22T12:20:00.003-05:00

This day started off as pleasantly as adingleberry festival. After finishing the remainder of my Björk collection(this isn’t the unpleasant part)—the last three songs from Post, “All is Fullof Love” (featured on the Stigmata soundtrack) and “I’ve Seen It All,” her duetwith Thom Yorke—my ears were assaulted by three and a half hours of The BlackCrowes and Black Eyed Peas (this isthe unpleasant part). Lessons learned:

Just because you like three or four of a band’ssingles doesn’t mean you need to have their entire greatest hits collection inyour iTunes library. Sure, I like The Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels” and “Remedy”every once in a while, but why do I have 16 of their songs on my hard drive? “Thornin My Pride” and “Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye” were a burden, “GoFaster” sounds like a NASCAR theme song, and “Blackberry” … ugh. What’s up withrock bands using easy metaphors about how they want a dark-skinned lady? TheRolling Stones pulled it off with “Brown Sugar,” but, come on, they’re theStones. A blackberry is dark and sweet. That’s so clever, Black Crowes.
Liking a group’s performance at a festivaldoesn’t mean you’re going to like their albums. I first saw Black Eyed Peas at WarpedTour ’99, when they were touring in support of their first album, and theyimmediately left an impression on me because they were the first rap group Ihad seen perform live with a band. They had this jazzy sound that was arefreshing break from the festival’s punk acts. Plus, at one point they cameinto the crowd and one of them took a drag off some festivalgoer’s joint (I wasapparently easily impressed at 17). So, I bought Behind the Front,which had many of the songs they played at Warped Tour, and it was decent. Notgreat, but decent. Then I bought their second album, Bridging the Gap, and it’s mostly filled with the obnoxioustypes of songs they’re known for nowadays.

No offense to Björk but, considering I’m only acasual listener of her music, it’s pretty bad when I’m pining to return to hermusic, as I was while listening to The Black Crowes. And somewhere in themiddle of the Black Eyed Peas, The Black Keys began to appear like a mirage.

Things returned to a happy state with the Keys’Attack & Release, which was followed by Black Oak Arkansas’ obnoxious “Jim Dandy” and BlackSabbath’s “Paranoid,” both from the Dazed and Confused soundtrack. And I wasreally rolling by the time I reached Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Black Star,with their masterful self-titled album. I finished the day with the firstquarter of Blackalicious’ Blazing Arrow.

Songs Conquered: 83, from Björk’s “I Miss You”to “4000 Miles” by Blackalicious

Favorite Album: Black Star by Black Star

Favorite Song: “K.O.S. (Determination)” byBlack Star

Music Listened To For First Time: ---

Guilty Pleasure: Black Eyed Peas’ earlyreleases

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Remedy” by The Black Crowes

Song That Made Me Sleepy: ---

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Release” by BlackEyed Peas

Embarrassing Revelation: I own zero BlackSabbath albums. Not one. I just lost all of my hard rock cred.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 16

2011-07-20T14:06:00.004-05:00

Lots of ground covered on Day 16—in fact, themost songs I’ve listened to on a single day so far. It also turned out to beone of the most lackluster days in that there wasn’t an album in this stretchthat I’d normally claim as a favorite.

I started off with my first listen of Big Star’s#1 Record/Radio City, an album best known for its ties to "That ’70s Show," whosetheme song is a cover of the album’s “In the Street.” Aside from “In the Street,” Ihad never before listened to Big Star, and #1 Record/Radio City left a positive impressionon me; the vocals and guitar tones struck me as similar to those of GeorgeHarrison.

Afterward, I passed through a series of tunesby my friends’ rap group called Bijalord Crew, as well as a pair of singlesby Bill Withers, before I lolled around to 36 of Billie Holiday’s greatesthits. Then, I landed on Billy Corgan.

I used to be a Smashing Pumpkins fan, and by “fan”I mean a fanatic. They were my favorite band earlyin high school, and I used to try to purchase everything they released,including singles, remixes of singles, and any soundtracks they were featuredon. After the Pumpkins split the first time, I fully embraced Zwan (I actuallyreally enjoyed that band). I even tried to like his solo album, TheFutureEmbrace,but I had one leg off the bandwagon the moment I saw its cover art, which features a shirtless Corgan in a very obnoxious pose (and by theway, why are there no spaces between the words in the album title?), and soonturned in my fan card when he revived The Smashing Pumpkins.

As a result of my previous fandom of all thingsSmashing Pumpkins, my collection includes a few odd soundtracks that featured contributions by Corgan—the Ransom and Stigmata soundtracks. Ransom includes six instrumental guitar-driven songs with an industrialsound, and while these ones may have matched Mel Gibson’s madness in the film(or in real life for that matter), they aren’t all that enjoyable to listen toon their own. The Stigmata soundtrack, on the other hand, features 11 ambientcompositions (performed with Mike Garson) that are nearly on par with theexcellent soundtracks Cliff Martinez has penned for Steven Soderbergh’s films.In between these two I listened to TheFutureEmbrace, which remains a largely forgettable album.

I completed the day in Björk territory, firstconquering Debut and then finishing most of Post. My initial introduction to Björk,with Debut, came by way of a friend whom I consider an unlikely fan of her music—he's a hockey player who would likely tell you FrankSinatra or The Doors are his favorite musicians. I can’t tell you what I wouldhave imagined a Björk fan would be like, but I wouldn’t have guessed he’d beone. Yet, that’s how I came to appreciate Björk, though I consider myself avery casual fan of her music. Debut is the only album I enjoy as a whole, andPost was purchased in a failed attempt to enjoy another of her albums. Iended the day just short of finishing Post.

Songs Conquered: 123, from Big Star’s “Feel” toBjörk’s “Possibly Maybe”

Favorite Album: Debut by Björk

Favorite Song: “Venus as a Boy” by Björk

Music Listened To For First Time: #1Record/Radio City by Big Star

Guilty Pleasure: Billy Corgan

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Don’t Lie to Me” by Big Star

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “I Cover theWaterfront” by Billie Holliday

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Rats” by BillyCorgan

Embarrassing Revelation: One of my favorite songson one of my favorite albums contains a sample from a song on another album Iown, and I just now realized that. “Mutual Slump” on DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing…prominently features a sample from Björk’s “Possibly Maybe” from Post.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 15

2011-07-14T10:35:00.002-05:00

Day 15 was fairly unremarkable, so I’m going to keep this post simple. I started with The Beta Band’s The Three E.P.’s, a compilation album known best to some for its appearance in "High Fidelity" when John Cusack’s character Rob declares, “I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.’s by The Beta Band.”

Next up was Better Than Ezra’s Deluxe, an album that I still thank my sixth-grade self for picking up. It’s one of those relics from the ’90s that gets unfairly tossed in with a lot of the garbage on the radio at the time (I’m not saying it’s a great album, but it’s better than most would assume). I also covered the band’s “Circle of Friends,” from the Empire Records soundtrack.

Betty Carter’s “Open the Door,” from the American Beauty soundtrack, provided an awkward transition to Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot ... The Son Of Chico Dusty, where I closed out the day with my head bobbing to jams like “Daddy Fat Sax,” “General Patton” and “Be Still.”

Songs Conquered: 42, from The Beta Band’s “Dry the Rain” to Big Boi’s “Back Up Plan”

Favorite Album: The Three E.P.’s by The Beta Band

Favorite Song: “In the Blood” by Better Than Ezra

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: Better Than Ezra

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “In the Blood” by Better Than Ezra

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Push It Out” by The Beta Band

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Coyote” by Better Than Ezra

Embarrassing Revelation: The first time I heard The Beta Band I couldn’t wait till it was over. That’s because the first time I heard them was in 2001 when they opened for Radiohead at Chicago’s Grant Park, and I was too excited about seeing Radiohead to listen to anyone else. And now I'm saying one of their albums is a favorite. That's a reminder that my first impressions aren't always trustworthy.

Better Than Ezra - In The Blood (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Better Than Ezra

Illinois State University's Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures features me on its site

2011-07-12T09:58:00.000-05:00

Somehow, one of the most mediocre language students at Illinois State's Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures has become a model for future students.

The Big Bang

2011-07-11T12:17:00.002-05:00

Sunsets and Silencers has published one of my pieces. Read it here.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 14

2011-07-11T11:40:00.001-05:00

It wasn’t easy, but I successfully passedthrough the rugged United States of Ben, comprising Ben Harper, Ben Weaver andThe Bens (a short-lived supergroup featuring Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and BenLee).

My ride through Ben Harper’s Fight for YourMind and The Will to Live was a bipolar experience. Scattered throughout thesetwo albums are songs I’d include among my all-time favorites (“Another LonelyDay,” “Number Three” and “Glory & Consequence”), but there are also ahandful for which I have an equal distaste (“Excuse Me Mr.,” “Power of theGospel” and “Widow of a Living Man”).

Ben Weaver’s The Ax in the Oak was the firstunheard album I’ve encountered in many days, and—no offense to whomever sharedthis album with me—I found it unremarkable. As a result, I was happy to returnto familiar territory with The Bens.

The discography of The Bens consists solely ofa self-titled, four-song EP, and it happened into my collection while reviewingmusic for my college newspaper years ago. The EP’s highlight is the openingsong, entitled “Just Pretend,” on which Folds, Kweller and Lee rotate on leadvocals and harmonies. The rest of the EP finds each Ben taking aturn leading the way through what would pass as a b-side if “Just Pretend” hadbeen released as a single, while the other two act as the backing band. Leeborrows from The Cars on “Xfire,” Kweller drones on through the spastic “Stop!”and Folds contributes the predictable but pleasant “Bruised.”

Afterward, around halfway through a series of Mozart serenades bythe Berlin Philharmonic, I started to realize none of the day’s listening was worthyof the “Favorite Album” title. Then I landed on Best Coast’sCrazy for You, one of the best albums I’ve been introduced to during the past year.The indie surf-rock act’s short-but-sweet debut album saved the day.

Songs Conquered: 63, from Ben Harper’s “AnotherLonely Day” to Best Coast’s “When I’m WithYou”

Favorite Album: Crazy for You by Best Coast

Favorite Song: “Number Three” by Ben Harper (unfortunately, I can't provide a video of this song because EMI has blocked access to the song on YouTube; I've put up a Best Coast song instead)

Music Listened To For First Time: The Ax in theOak by Ben Weaver

Guilty Pleasure: “Burn One Down” by Ben Harper

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Glory & Consequence” by Ben Harper

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Give a Man a Home”by Ben Harper

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Power of theGospel” by Ben Harper

Embarrassing Revelation: This is onlyembarrassing because I have a lot of friends who are Ben Folds fans: Aside fromBen Folds Five’s Whatever & Ever Amen and The Bens EP, I’m not too crazyabout his music. I usually find it either overly silly or overly sentimental.Whatever & Ever Amen is the one album I feel reaches a good balance.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 13

2011-07-07T15:48:00.003-05:00

Listening to six Beck albums in a row sparkedsome interesting thoughts, the main one being that I feel like having sex witha drum machine (read this if you’re puzzled by that reference).Starting onDay 12 with Guero and The Information, and continuing a day later with MidniteVultures, Mutations, Odelay, and Sea Change, I ventured through the bulk ofBeck’s catalog (with the exception of Modern Guilt, Mellow Gold, and his earlyindependent releases, all of which are absent from my collection) and spent much ofthe time comparing Beck to Bob Dylan, hopping back onto a train of thought that originatedduring a late-night discourse with a friend several years ago.

Before you begin yelling “blasphemy!” at thiscomparison and decide to never again visit this blog, understand that I’m in noway arguing that Beck is as good or influential as Dylan. Rather, I’m simplystating that Beck is in some ways a modern incarnation of Dylan. Like Dylan,Beck’s an artist with a somewhat enigmatic personality and background who writes lyrics that inspire closer analysis and who hasdefined himself by changing his style so frequently that he is largely indefinable.

As Dylan often baffled and irritated his fans bychanging his sound—moving from folk to rock, rock to country, country to somehybrid of folk and rock—Beck has similarly jumped around stylistically, often tothe detriment of his commercial success.

Following his breakout song “Loser,” Beckbecame an alternative rock hero with the sample-fueled Odelay, which carriedthe hits “Where It’s At,” “Devil’s Haircut” and “The New Pollution.” Then, likelyto dismay of the executives at Geffen Records, Beck dropped the hip-hop soundand recorded Mutations, a country- and blues-influenced album helmed byRadiohead producer Nigel Godrich that featured no major hits. He then changedgears again with Midnite Vultures, a funky album full of dance songs that leftfans wondering if Beck was heading back toward the sound that gained him somuch success on Odelay. Not quite. Next, he threw another curveball with Sea Change, thebrilliant, Godrich-produced confessional filled with acoustic numbers reflectingon his breakup with a longtime girlfriend. It wasn’t until Guero, the follow-upto Sea Change, that Beck returned to something resembling Odelay.

Beck’s transformations alone don’t warrant theDylan comparison, but the fact that he has excelled with each of the genres inwhich he has experimented does. Midnite Vultures, Mutations, Odelay and SeaChange are all great albums, and each is dramatically different from thenext.

After Beck, Bedrock’s “For What You Dream Of,”a trance song from the Trainspotting soundtrack, and reggae artist Beenie Man’s“Street Life” bridged the transition to Ben Folds.

I conquered a couple stand-alone tracks by BenFolds as well as his terrific album Whatever & Ever Amen—I still get chills when I listen to “Brick”—before landing on Ben Harper, where I called it a day two songs into Fight for Your Mind.

Songs Conquered: 67, from Beck’s “Sexx Laws” toBen Harper’s “Ground on Down”

Favorite Album: Sea Change by Beck

Favorite Song: “Paper Tiger” by Beck

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “For What You Dream Of” byBedrock

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” by Ben Folds Five (okay, so this was more "air piano," but close enough)

Song That Made Me Sleepy: no Zzz’s here

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “High 5 (Rock theCatskills)” by Beck

Embarrassing Revelation: Another embarrassingsoundtrack in my collection; this time it’s the Godzilla soundtrack, which features songs by Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Puff Daddy (doing his best toruin a Led Zeppelin classic, though, I admit that I enjoyed the song as anignorant high school freshman), and Ben Folds Five, whose underappreciated song“Air” was heard during this session.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 12

2011-07-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

Revolver, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper’s LonelyHearts Club Band all arriving so soon on this audio journey spells ananti-climactic ending to the tour months down the road. Here I am, just 12days in, listening to three of the greatest albums in my library (havingalready listened to Abbey Road, The White Album and other greats during theprevious two days) and realizing that when I do finally finish listening to thisentire library, the finale will probably be an album by Zwan or a song by ZZTop, instead of, say, “Hey Jude,” which was also tackled during this session. Asdisappointing as that will be, I guess it’s appropriate: The Beatles arrivedand left more than 40 years ago, and there remains an implicit agreement amonglisteners that pop music will never again reach such a height.

In addition to the three heavyweight albums,this session included over a dozen number one singles from The Beatles that aren’tincluded on any of their albums in my collection, such as “I Want to Hold YourHand,” “Day Tripper” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” I waved goodbye to TheBeatles with the fantastic “Get Back” b-side “Don’t Let Me Down,” which felt absolutelyperfect, since I feared everything in my library following The Beatles would bea letdown by comparison.

Fortunately, I transitioned directly into one of the most beautiful songs in my library, Bebel Gilberto’s “TantoTempo.” The song by the Brazilian bossa nova singer is so transcendent that bythe time it ended and the roaring guitar riff on "E-Pro" that kicks off Beck’s Guero arrived, I almost forgot I had been listening to The Beatles minutes earlier. Almost,which was at least enough to appreciate the fact that I had six Beck albums ahead of me.

I completed Guero and The Information, as wellas the song “Deadweight” from the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, beforeconcluding the day.

Songs Conquered: 86, from “Taxman” by TheBeatles to Beck’s “Deadweight”

Favorite Album: Rubber Soul by The Beatles

Favorite Song: “A Day in the Life” by TheBeatles

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: nothin’ this time around

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” by The Beatles

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Motorcade” by Beck

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Farewell Ride” byBeck

Embarrassing Revelation: My collection lacksseveral of The Beatles albums, mostly those from their very early years. Absentfrom my library are Please Please Me, With The Beatles, Beatles for Sale and YellowSubmarine.

NPR: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker

2011-07-05T07:49:00.001-05:00

An excerpt from a touching story about a victim trying to save the man who attempted to kill him:

"I strongly believe executing him is not a solution. We will just simply lose a human life without dealing with the root cause, which is hate crime," Bhuiyan says. "In Islam it says that saving one human life is the same as saving the entire mankind. Since I forgave him, all those principles encouraged me to go even further, and stop his execution and save another human life."

Read and listen to the full story here.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 11

2011-07-01T12:16:00.002-05:00

Today’s journey is documented in the form of one very terrible haiku:

White Album helped let

It be on a hard day’s night

With magic, myst’ry

Songs Conquered: 80, from “Back in the U.S.S.R.” by The Beatles to “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles

Favorite Album: The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles

Favorite Song: “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” by The Beatles

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: the sillier songs from The White Album, like “Wild Honey Pie,” “Piggies,” “Rocky Raccoon” and “Birthday”

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “I Me Mine” by The Beatles

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Revolution 9” by The Beatles

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Revolution 9” by The Beatles

Embarrassing Revelation: I love Let it Be, and conventional wisdom says you’re not supposed to love this album, at least not in the grand scheme of The Beatles catalog. It’s flawed and is better known as a recording of the greatest band in its lurching decline than for its many outstanding songs, but I find the album’s imperfections endearing.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 10

2011-06-28T23:15:00.007-05:00

My initial inclination upon reaching Licensedto Ill was towrite that any credit the Beastie Boys had earned when I listened to three oftheir later, more mature albums the previous day was swiftly washed away bytheir raucous, at times obnoxious, debut album. My retrogression from the 1994album Ill Communication at the end of Day 9 to the 1986 release Licensed to Ill was more awkwardthan looking at Carrot Top’s before-and-after photos. For example, Licensed to Ill’s “Girls” featuresthese well-known lyrics:

Girls - to do the dishes

Girls - to clean up my room

Girls - to do the laundry

Girls - and in the bathroom

Girls - that's all I really want is girls

Two at a time - I want girls

Contrast those lines with these words I encounteredthe day before on Ill Communication’s “Sure Shot”:

I want to say a little something that's long overdue

The disrespect to women has got to be through

To all the mothers and sisters and the wives and friends

I want to offer my love and respect to the end

A whole lot changed for the Beastie Boys ineight years, and I was tempted to make some snide remark about their earlierfrat boy mentality before I realized that perhaps what I found so irksome aboutLicensed to Illwas not the Beastie Boys’ one-time douchebaggery, but instead, my own. Afterall, I was not long ago an immature young man listening to this album whiledriving to teepee a high school foe’s house. In this way, during this listen Iagain found myself somehow and unexpectedly moving closer to the Beastie Boys.

In addition to spurring reflections on growingup, this run through Licensed to Ill was noteworthy in that I realized just howfanatical the Beastie Boys were about Led Zeppelin (this was probably never asapparent in the past because I rarely listened to this album in its entiretyafter I began appreciating Led Zeppelin): “Rhymin & Stealin” samples thedrums from “When the Levee Breaks,” “She’s Crafty” samples the riff from “TheOcean,” “Time to Get Ill” samples the riff from “Custard Pie,” and “The NewStyle” references Jimmy Page in the lyrics.

Up next was Paul’s Boutique, which was a bit ofa wildcard after Licensed to Ill; I bought the album during a Beastie Boys phasewhile in high school but only gave it a few listens—the album is less poppythan their others (“Hey Ladies” was its sole single) and probably requires moreattentive listening than my teenage ears were willing to give at the time. Paul’sBoutique turned out to be a pleasant surprise—for the first time I understoodwhy it’s considered the Beastie Boys’ masterpiece: having moved on from RickRubin’s audacious production on Licensed to Ill, Paul’s Boutique is lessbombastic and lyrically finds a happy medium between the party animal mentalityof their first album and the more worldly approach of their later work.

I concluded the shortened day with the greatestmilestone on the journey so far: reaching The Beatles. And because there isnothing I can say about Abbey Roadthat hasn’t already been said, I’ll instead offer this tidbit about the albumthat I recently acquired: “Her Majesty,” the acoustic ditty at the very end of Abbey Road, wasoriginally planned to sit between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” but wasremoved after it was decided the song didn’t fit in with the medley toward theend of the album; one of the audio engineers had been ordered not to throw away anyof the tape from the recordings, so instead of tossing it, he tacked it onto the very end just to cover his ass,and it ended up remaining there. Read the full story here.

Songs Conquered: 45, from “Rhymin & Stealin”by the Beastie Boys to “Her Majesty” by The Beatles

Favorite Album: Abbey Road by The Beatles

Favorite Song: “You Never Give Me Your Money”by The Beatles

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: none

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” by the Beastie Boys

Song That Made Me Sleepy: none

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “The New Style” bythe Beastie Boys

Embarrassing Revelation: I always assumed the sampling of gun sounds inhip hop originated with West Coast gangsta rap, but here I was, listening to “HighPlains Drifter” from Paul’s Boutique, encountering looping samples of reloadingguns while three Jewish guys from New York show their love for Clint Eastwood.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 9

2011-06-17T00:01:00.006-05:00

I finally listened to Pet Sounds—not just heardit (as I had on several occasions), but truly listened to the album that I’vebeen told for so long is among the all-time greats of pop music. It’s worth thepraise. Anchored by hits “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “God OnlyKnows,” Pet Sounds is amazingly rich both in its production and in its lyricalcontent. Songs like the confessional “That’s Not Me” contain introspectivelyrics whose depth will surprise those who are only familiar with the band’s fun-in-the-sunsongs—there’s an ache in Mike Love’s voice as he sings the song’s opening words(“I wanted to prove that I could make it alone but that’s not me, I wanted toshow how independent I’d grown now but that’s not me”) that makes me want toreach through the headphones and give he, Brian Wilson and lyricist Tony Ashera hug and assure them everything will work out. “God Only Knows” shows an honesty that is equally as stirring—“I may not always love you, but long asthere are stars above you, you never need to doubt it, I’ll make you so sureabout it” (sure, rhyming “you” with “you” and “it” with “it” is lazy, but howrefreshing for a love song to begin without the wishy washy romance and instead offer up a dose of reality, basically saying: “Hey, the truthis life is fleeting and love is as mortal as we are, but I’m going to make themost of it while we’re here on this planet”).

After Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys transitionedto the first of my library’s five albums bythe Beastie Boys, Check Your Head. I entered Beastie Boys territory with cautioussteps; I’ve seldom listened to these guys since my high school years, a time whentheir music was on heavy rotation for me, and I wondered whether I mightconclude upon reaching the end of Paul’s Boutique that, like Andrew Bird, Ireally don’t care for these guys too much any more.

The funky Check Your Head was a nice way to ease back into the Beastie Boys. It'smusically the most interesting of the group’s albums, with instrumentally-drivenmellower jams like “Lighten Up,” “Something’s Got to Give,” “Groove Holmes,” and“Namasté” accompanying brilliantlysampled party starters like “So What’cha Want” and “Pass the Mic.” It didn't take long before I was bouncing around to the beats with a smile on my face.

Next up was Hello Nasty, whose tracks “Remote Control,” “Body Movin’,” and “Intergalactic”stoked some good teen memories, but it couldn't keep my attention. I started to tire out during the secondhalf, which was no surprise since the album is a staggering 22 songs long andwas never among my favorites. Once Ill Communication kicked off with “SureShot,” though, I was once again jamming, and I soon realized that, far fromreceiving the Andrew Bird treatment and finding themselves shunned, the BeastieBoys might just experience a resurgence in my library.

Songs Conquered: 77, from “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”by The Beach Boys to “Transitions” by the Beastie Boys

Favorite Album: Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Favorite Song: “That’s Not Me” by The BeachBoys

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: the Clueless soundtrack, whichcame into play here with the Beastie Boys’ song “Mullet Head”

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“So What’cha Want” by the Beastie Boys

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Dr. Lee, PhD” by theBeastie Boys

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Heart Attack Man”by the Beastie Boys

Embarrassing Revelation: I feel like I shoulduse this space to defend my ownership of the Clueless soundtrack, sinceClueless is, after all, one of the quintessential chick flicks. At the timethat I bought the soundtrack, as is true now, I was a huge Radiohead fan, andthe soundtrack happens to have an acoustic version of Radiohead’s “Fake PlasticTrees.” This was several years prior to Napster, so my only choice to own this song was to buy the soundtrack. No regrets.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 8

2011-06-12T09:54:00.047-05:00

Day 8 passed peacefully, as I floated throughan album and a half of Band of Horses, four instrumental Barry Adamson songsfrom the Lost Highwaysoundtrack, and nearly 20 of The Beach Boys’ greatest hits.

I started off with the final three songs fromBand of Horses’ first album, Everything All the Time, after running out of timeto finish the album the previous day, and then drifted through Infinite Armslike a leaf on a gentle stream. The band’s most recent album ranks among thoseI’ve listened to the most during the past year, so there were no surprises fromthis one.

The Adamson tracks included a pair I oftenadded to mix tapes and CDs during my high school days—“Something Wicked ThisWay Comes” and “Hollywood Sunset”—and I had to resist the urge to put these twoon repeat for a half-hour (doing so would have broken one of the rules Iset forth when I began this series, that rule being that I listen to the songsfully in order, breaking that flow only to pause a song when necessary).

The Beach Boys hits were smooth sailing—abunch of songs averaging less than 3 minutes with lyrics about surfing andpretty girls—nothing controversial, nothing much to think about.

The greatest point of debate this day was choosing a favorite song, but after weighing Band of Horses' "Dilly," Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," and two Adamson tracks, I went with the underdog and took an Adamson song.

Not far in the distance, perhaps two days of listening away,looms The Beatles catalog.

Songs Conquered: 37, from “I Go to the BarnBecause I Like The” by Band of Horses to “Kokomo”by The Beach Boys

Favorite Album: Infinite Arms by Band of Horses

Favorite Song: “Something Wicked This Way Comes”by Barry Adamson

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“NW Apt” by Band of Horses

Song That Made Me Sleepy: no snoozers in thisset

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Mr. Eddy’s Theme2” by Barry Adamson

Embarrassing Revelation: Unfortunately—forentertainment’s sake, that is—nothing strikes me as embarrassing this timearound.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 7

2011-06-10T09:32:00.026-05:00

After completing 408 songs for a total of more than 29 hours of music, I reached my first major milestone of the odyssey by completing the A’s. Finishing my summit of the A’s and venturing into the B’s was not without peril, however; I had to first climb over a set of 16 Audioslave songs, the bulk of which belonged to the band’s tedious third album, Revelations.

Having grown bored with Audioslave’s first album the previous day, I began Day 7 with the last four songs from that album. That I had found this album so dull on the sixth day of listening that I ended the day early was cause for concern with Revelations looming; I had once actually enjoyed the band’s first album, but I never cared for Revelations. Because I was a fan of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine in my early teen years, I was enthusiastic when Audioslave’s first album was released in 2002. But after I got over the thrill of hearing Tom Morello’s guitar solos again, the luster wore off and the album fell into the basement of my music library, rarely getting played. Revelations only came into my collection because I was assigned to review it while working for the Steamboat Pilot & Today, and it did not receive one of my kinder write-ups. With the exception of a few of its songs, such as “Original Fire” and “Broken City,” Revelations sounded as stale on this listen as it did when I reviewed it years ago.

With Audioslave behind me, I started the B’s with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” by B.J. Thomas and was soon rolling through a pair of Bad Religion albums, Generator and No Control, which provided my journey’s first dose of punk.

I finished the day with The Band’s self-titled album, and two Band of Horses albums, Cease to Begin and Everything All the Time. I didn’t quite make it through the latter of these two, saving the last few songs for the next day.

Songs Conquered: 82, from Audioslave’s “Bring Em Back Alive” to “Weed Party” by Band of Horses

Favorite Album: Cease to Begin by Band of Horses

Favorite Song: “The First Song” by Band of Horses

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” by B.J. Thomas

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “Progress” by Bad Religion

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Moth” by Audioslave

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Somedays” by Audioslave

Embarrassing Revelation: I have two albums by Audioslave, a mediocre supergroup consisting of members of two bands that were fairly successful in the ’90s and whose music remains influential among hard rock bands, yet only one by The Band, a group of such magnitude that it served successful stints as Bob Dylan’s backing band and whose independent songwriting remains immensely influential and respected. I’m ashamed.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 6

2011-06-08T13:12:00.054-05:00

I returned to the road during my sixth day oflistening, this time traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to Chicago.Arcade Fire fueled my journey through the city, into the suburbs, and outbeyond the sprawl for the first couple hours of my drive. As I sped throughnortheastern Ohio toward Indiana while listening to Funeral, NeonBible, and The Suburbs, I found myself gaining an even greater appreciation fora band I’ve always enjoyed, because I discovered they provide a great drivingsoundtrack. “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out),” “Wake Up,” “Intervention,” “No CarsGo,” “The Suburbs,” and “We Used To Wait” are just a few of the songs that hadme cruising carefree down the interstate.

The tunes that followed Arcade Fire were astrange bunch of bedfellows. They included songs by such disparate artists as Aretha Franklin, Britishpop-punk band Ash, electronic act Asian Dub Foundation, and German “digitalhardcore” (as categorized by Wikipedia) group Atari Teenage Riot. Then, Ientered my journey's first extended foray into classical music.

On the previous day, I ran through a short series of Vivaldiconcertos performed by Anshel Brusilow, Eugene Ormandy, and the PhiladelphiaOrchestra. These concertos blended well with the rest of the listening, whichhas been dominated by genres of pop music thus far, because of their shortertrack times (only one exceeded 5 minutes). Here, though, I encountered threeMussorgsky pieces performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, together clocking in at nearly50 minutes: “Night on Bald Mountain,” “Pictures at an Exhibition,” and“Introduction to Khovanshchina.” Five days of pop music had ill prepared me forthe 33-minute “Pictures at an Exhibition,” which required a pit stop and somecaffeine to complete. Classical music necessitates much more attentionthan pop music, and having feasted on five days of the instantgratification that is pop music, classical music was more difficult to digest,especially during a long-distance trip. It seems my listening experience will likely be unfairly skewed toward a preference for pop music as a result of this conditioning, but I'm going to attempt to more pro-actively engage the rest of the classical music in my library during this experience.

I rounded out the day with Audioslave’s self-titled album, but for the first time during thisventure, I found myself unable to complete an album in one listening. By thetime I was three quarters through the album, Chris Cornell’s vocals wereblistering my ear drums. I decided to switch to NPR for the remainder of mydrive into Chicagorather than sit through the album’s final four tracks; I’d take my chances withthem at the start of the next day.

Songs Conquered: 58, from Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood#1 (Tunnels)” to Audioslave’s “Hypnotize”

Favorite Album: Funeral by ArcadeFire

Favorite Song: “No Cars Go” by Arcade Fire

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “Kung Fu” by Ash

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session:“Cochise” by Audioslave

Song That Made Me Sleepy: Mussorgsky’s “Picturesat an Exhibition” by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Sick to Death” byAtari Teenage Riot

Embarrassing Revelation: I own one of thoseobnoxious Now That’s What I Call Music! compilations. Wait, wait! I have a goodexcuse for it. While spending a semester in Italy during my university years, Idecided I needed a memento of all the European pop music being played at barsand clubs during my time there. So I picked up one of theItalian versions of the Now series, All The Hits Now, which includes two of thesongs I encountered on this stretch of the journey. They were “The Last Goodbye”by Atomic Kitten, and “We Don’t Care” by Audio Bullys, both of whom I’d never heard before listening to this compilation.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 5

2011-06-03T09:59:00.001-05:00

I took a day off following the Andrew Bird debacle. When I began this project, I wasn’t expecting it would lead me to new feelings (particularly negative feelings) about the music in my library; I assumed it would be a way to get reacquainted with lesser listened-to sections of my library. I figured the music I already liked would be favored that much more, and the music I disliked would continue making me question its reason for a place in my library, so finding myself bored with an artist I have previously enjoyed was somewhat shocking. Fortunately, I returned on Day 5 to an agreeable set of tunes that eased me back into things.

I began with Animal Collective’s lush, brilliant Merriweather Post Pavilion. If the Alice in Chains albums through which I previously passed were stormy seas, Merriweather Post Pavilion is a thriving rainforest whose songs are dripping with a diversity of sounds (yeah, I’m going to use the hell out of this music-as-landscapes metaphor). I enjoyed this album even more than I had on previous listens, and I already loved it. Thanks to Animal Collective for assuring me everything will be just fine.

After regaining confidence in my established tastes, I drifted through a dozen Vivaldi string concertos, briefly touched upon a couple songs from film soundtracks, then finished the shortened day with Aphex Twin’s classic Richard D. James Album.

Songs Conquered: 40, from Animal Collective’s “In the Flowers” to Aphex Twin’s “Girl/Boy” (Redruth Mix)

Favorite Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective

Favorite Song: “Daily Routine” by Animal Collective

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: no guilty pleasures to confess this time

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: none (the only true rock song in today’s mix was the song I had to resist skipping)

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Insensatez” by Antonio Carlos Jobim (because it'so peaceful, rather than because it is boring)

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “I Don’t Want to Live Today” by Ape Hangers

Embarrassing Revelation: Is it embarrassing to have the Empire Records soundtrack? Because that’s where the awful Ape Hangers song comes from.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 4

2011-06-01T07:01:00.002-05:00

This session provided the soundtrack during a drive from Louisville, Ky., to Columbus, Ohio, and unlike the past couple days, the listening on Day 4 induced no teeth-gritting.

Things kicked off with one of my very favorites, American Football’s self-titled album, a nine-song chronicle of a breakup that was at the heart of my listening during the period between the end of high school and my early college days. As usual, the album stoked waves of nostalgia as I followed the Ohio River east toward Cincinnati.

Afterward, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s Source Tags & Codes turned things into high gear as I entered downtown Cinci to the album’s raucous opener, “Another Morning Stoner.”

Sometime after the hills of Southern Ohio had worn down into the flat farmland of the state’s center, I reached Andrew Bird’s Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs, an album I’ve generally regarded highly but haven’t listened to in quite some time. Maybe it was the humdrum scenery, but the album didn’t speak to me as it has in the past. Bird’s vocals often sounded tired during this listen, and several of the album’s compositions felt tedious and repetitive. I still found myself excited by songs like “Sovay,” “Fake Palindromes,” “Skin Is, My,” and “Tables and Chairs,” but on the whole, I was eager to move on from Andrew Bird.

After arriving in Columbus and giving my ears a rest, I resumed listening later in the night with the Angelo Badalamenti scores for David Lynch’s Lost Highway and Twin Peaks soundtracks, each somehow simultaneously haunting and soothing.

The day concluded with Ani DiFranco’s sparse but bubbling Not A Pretty Girl.

Songs Conquered: 71, from American Football’s “Never Meant” to Ani DiFranco’s “Coming Up”

Favorite Album: American Football by American Football

Favorite Song: “Another Morning Stoner” by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: nothing I’d classify as a guilty pleasure in this session

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “How Near How Far” by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Safari” (James Holden Remix) by Andre Kraml

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Opposite Day” by Andrew Bird

Embarrassing Revelation: Andrew Bird is kind of boring. That’s only an embarrassing revelation in the face of those of my friends who adore Andrew Bird, and it’s likely to draw their ire. I respect him, and I do enjoy him on some occasions (enough so that I’ve seen him perform twice), but his music was not doing it for me at all on this occasion.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 3

2011-05-30T11:52:00.003-05:00

I finally reached the end of the AL’s after a sometimes arduous listening period (thanks to Alanis Morissette, Alkaline Trio, and the first Alice in Chains album, Facelift). Although Facelift and Alkaline Trio’s Maybe I’ll Catch Fire were trying to get through, the rest of the day was smooth sailing. It consisted of my favorite Alice in Chains release, the acoustic seven-song song EP Jar of Flies, for which I have an enduring appreciation due its role as one of my gateways into rock music at the age of 12, as well as the band’s MTV Unplugged album and their acoustic Sap EP (I’ve always preferred the acoustic side of Alice in Chains to their grunge/metal side).

After completing my voyage across the somber Alice in Chains sea of sorrow, I drifted through Alkaline Trio, then finished the day with a series of more upbeat stand-alone tracks by All Saints, the Allman Brothers Band, French singer-songwriter Amélie-les-crayons, and America.

Songs Conquered: 55, from Alice in Chains’ “We Die Young” to America’s “A Horse With No Name”

Favorite Album: Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains

Favorite Song: “Nutshell” by Alice in Chains

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “Pure Shores” by All Saints

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “Man In the Box” by Alice in Chains

Song That Made Me Sleepy: too active to get sleepy

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Love Song” by Alice in Chains (this is the hidden track from Sap)

Embarrassing Revelation: More embarrassing than All Saints? They’re a pop girl group. (In my defense, I only have that song in my library because it’s on The Beach soundtrack, though owning that soundtrack in itself might be an embarrassing revelation, depending on your perspective.)

Wikiflections

2011-05-28T12:07:00.000-05:00

Yet another creative venture: http://wikiflections.blogspot.com/

Follow along as my friend Sean and I use Wikipedia's Random Article function as fodder for pseudo-intellectual discussions and mildly humorous observations about the world.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 2

2011-05-27T22:43:00.002-05:00

The second day of the journey got off to a perilous beginning. Only a few songs into Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill and I was already cursing myself for adding all those albums from my middle school days to my iTunes library. If the bog that is Jagged Little Pill were the swamp from The Neverending Story, I’d have left Artax behind around the time I reached “Ironic”. Fortunately, I found a haven from mid-’90s pop in The Album Leaf. But after a two-album respite there, I realized a crucial mistake in the mapping of this journey when I came upon the stormy sea of Alice in Chains. Nearly 70 Alice in Chains songs in a row may have excited me when I was 13, but now it’s a little brutal. I’m wishing I had done this alphabetically by album title rather than artist, but it’s too late to turn back now. Having made it through the self-titled album (also known as Tripod) and Dirt, I’ll begin the next leg of the journey with four more Alice in Chains titles.

Songs Conquered: 68, from Alabama 3’s “Woke Up This Morning” to Alice in Chains’ “Would?”

Favorite Album: One Day I’ll Be On Time by The Album Leaf

Favorite Song: “Wet the Day” by The Album Leaf

Music Listened To For First Time: none

Guilty Pleasure: “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “Over Now” by Alice in Chains

Song That Made Me Sleepy: “Carpe Diem” by Aldebert

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette

Embarrassing Revelation: This leg of the journey included the theme songs for both the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The iTunes Chronicles: An Odyssey through a Bloated Music Library, Day 1

2011-05-27T09:16:00.005-05:00

I listen to music nearly without pause during my workdays. Some people don’t function at work without coffee; I don’t function without music. Yesterday, following a friend’s lead, I decided to try something different: I began listening to my entire music library alphabetically by artist name (starting with a-ha and ending with +/-, which iTunes tags on after the Z’s), with the rules that I won’t skip past or fast-forward through any songs. After realizing how epic this journey will be (the 8,900 songs in my library total over 600 hours of music), I thought I’d better document it.

Day 1 began with a few standalone tracks by a-ha, AC/DC and a few others before I ventured into an EP and album by rapper Aesop Rock. I was in no mood for Aesop Rock, so after fighting the urge to skip over a swath of his tunes, I finally arrived at an oasis of albums by French duo Air—Moon Safari, Talkie Walkie, and The Virgin Suicides soundtrack—where I spent the bulk of the day. I closed things out with Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”

Songs Conquered: 95100*, from a-ha’s “Take On Me” to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”

Favorite Album: Moon Safari by Air

Favorite Song: “Alone in Kyoto” by Air

Music Listened To For First Time: Adele’s 21 and portions of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack

Guilty Pleasure: “Gone Shootin’” by AC/DC

Song That Inspired Greatest Air Guitar Session: “Gone Shootin’” by AC/DC

Song That Made Me Sleepy: Adele’s cover of The Cure’s “Lovesong”

Song I Most Wanted to Skip: “Food, Clothes, Medicine” by Aesop Rock

Embarrassing Revelation: The Mission: Impossible soundtrack is found in my library.

*Edit: I miscounted the number of songs I listened to on Day 1; I actually made it through exactly 100.

The King of Limbs leaves us guessing

2011-03-11T13:07:00.002-06:00

When Radiohead released The King of Limbs a few weeks ago, the digital sale of the band’s eighth album came with little pomp. Its announcement arrived only a week prior and its sale lacked the “pay what you think is fair” scheme employed for In Rainbows. With the exception of offering a special “Newspaper Album” package (no idea what that means, but it costs only $50), the album’s release was so nonchalant it felt like the band had just finished an impromptu weekend recording session and decided to share it. Of course, anyone listening will realize there was a lot of work put into the album, but Radiohead apparently didn’t want to make a big fuss about it. Perhaps taking a cue from the band, most fans have reacted with similar indifference. Still, there’s an unspoken consensus that we’re unsure just where this album stands.

Radiohead has ascended to the enviable pinnacle very few artists reach, one from which even moderate fans are cautious to criticize their music (BBC offered a humorous take on this). This is clear when reading reviews of The King of Limbs. Prior to the album’s release, I skimmed half a dozen write-ups in an attempt to get an idea of what the album would be like and quickly recognized a pattern in which each reviewer tiptoed about, careful not to plant a firm opinion on the album.

My favorite review went something like this: If The King of Limbs was an album by anyone but Radiohead it would be a brilliant accomplishment, but among Radiohead’s catalog it’s merely a solid effort.

And then there was the review that said The King of Limbs may not be a great album, but then, maybe Radiohead is no longer concerned with making a great album.

Huh? I’ve heard that Thom Yorke and gang have questioned the validity of the album in this era of mp3s, but I’m doubtful they are getting lazy. If their questioning of the validity of albums had any impact on The King of Limbs, I’d guess it was a driver behind the album’s relatively short track list (only eight songs, though at just under 40 minutes, it’s still longer than most punk albums).

What these critics are actually saying is that they’re not sure what they think of the album, and while they’re thinking it’s a bit of a letdown, it is a Radiohead release, after all, and they don’t want to be the ones looking foolish if, months from now—after the album has had time to rotate in our music libraries—it is decided The King of Limbs is a landmark album. I’m not criticizing these reviewers, because I’m just as hesitant to comment on the album’s constitution beyond discussing the songs I currently favor and those I’m less interested in.

Nearly every Radiohead fan I know has approached the album in this way. I’ve found two exceptions: one friend said that he loved it only days after its release, and another, without hesitation to my query, said simply, “weak sauce.” Otherwise, the thinking seems to be that it requires more concentrated listening to appreciate, or that, like many Radiohead albums, it will grow on the listener over time. In either case, there’s an underlying air of curiosity about the band’s intentions with this album (e.g., Why is it so short? Why are two of the songs, “Feral” and “Give Up the Ghost”, nearly void of lyrics?)

Even though Radiohead fans have learned by now to avoid approaching the band’s albums with any deep-rooted expectations, nature makes it impossible for us to press play on a new album without some set of preconceptions about what it will sound like. I expect that this is at least partially responsible for this guarded response to The King of Limbs.

In Rainbows may have given fans the false impression that the band was finally making a full-fledged return to guitars. The King of Limbs finds Radiohead once again deeply embedded in a sound defined by sampled beats and spacey loops. Guitars are present but rarely in the spotlight as they were on In Rainbows. The King of Limbs stands out among Radiohead releases as the most understated and ambient of their albums. Even Yorke’s vocals seem complementary to the whole, merely another element in the album’s passive, atmospheric composition (there are exceptions, i.e., “Separator”, where he repeats the already well discussed line, “If you think this is over, you’re wrong”).

Ambient music is subtle and by its nature a challenge to process. It doesn’t engage with a direct embrace but, instead, eases into your peripheral while you trudge through the workday or sit in an airport watching people while awaiting a flight. I have a feeling after The King of Limbs has had some time to ferment, listeners will begin to find it more favorable.

Then again, maybe we just don’t get it. Or maybe, as that critic wrote, Radiohead has quit trying to make great albums. I doubt it.

Daily Postcard

2011-01-08T13:59:00.000-06:00

I recently partnered with a friend to launch a website called Daily Postcard. The idea behind the project is best summed up by the mission statement I included on the site:

Daily Postcard was born from a love for travel and from a necessity to travel by armchair due to the constraints that prevent most of us from exploring our world as often as we would like. In Daily Postcard we offer a stage for stunning travel photographs. Each day a new user-submitted travel photo is featured. We offer an opportunity to share your travels with the world through your photographs.

If you're like me and you could spend hours flipping through travel magazines, dreaming about all the places you'd like to visit, you'll enjoy the site. If you've done a lot of traveling yourself and have wonderful photos from your journeys that are doing little more than taking up space on your hard drive, consider submitting some to the site. The more submissions we get, the better and more diverse content we'll be able to provide.

Silver Bells!

2010-12-28T10:11:00.000-06:00

This is a little late, but I forgot to post this during Christmas ... my longtime friend and musical comrade Sean has talked about recording a Christmas album for a while. This year, we made a small step toward his goal by recording a playful rendition of "Silver Bells." It was our first time jamming together in over a year and we took a much different approach than our previous sessions recording our own music. Rather than recording our individual parts separately and mixing the overdubs together, we used one microphone and positioned ourselves around it while we sang. We were rather pleased with the quality of this "live" approach and surprised at the balance and clarity of all of the elements in the recording (both of our vocals, a guitar, a mandolin, and a tambourine), even if our playing became a little sloppy at a few points in the track. Enjoy it here.

The Reluctant Muse

2010-11-03T21:40:00.001-05:00

Check it out! Diverse Voices Quarterly has published a short story I wrote with Anoush Rima Tatevossian. You can find it on page 37 of the latest issue.

Pause

2010-07-07T20:55:00.000-05:00

This blog is obviously on hiatus, but I wanted to announce that I've joined a writing group called The Undeniables (still unsure why it's called that), and as part of the group I'll be attempting to write a short piece of fiction each day. It's a way to enforce creative discipline upon myself. I'll be posting the products of my daily writing sessions here. Hopefully my endurance for this project doesn't fade as quickly as it did for my Top 100 Favorite Albums list (which, by the way, will be completed by my 33rd birthday, and not a day later). Cheers.

Scatterbrain

2010-03-12T14:30:00.000-06:00

Your voice is rattlin’ on my window sill
Yesterday's headlines blown by the wind
Yesterday's people end up scatterbrain

- Radiohead

A friend recently convinced me to finally join the masses on Twitter. He won me over by arguing that the follower base I can develop could be a powerful tool for later ventures. Until this argument, I had remained steadfast in my resistance to join, much as I had been when Facebook arrived years before (ironically, this same friend, who now works as a social media consultant, poked fun at me at the time for giving into Facebook). His argument planted in my mind the thought of one day having thousands of followers to whom I could advertise the publication of a first book, or, at least for the present, using Twitter as a means to increase readership of Like A Specter.

I can't give my friend's argument all the credit for winning me over, though. The election protests in Iran last summer were probably the best marketing Twitter could have received. Suddenly, a tool I had viewed as little more than another forum in which people could gripe about all the minor inconveniences filling their lives had become a tool of revolution. Reading reports of the protests based on the tweets of Iranian youths probably not too dissimilar from myself was inspiring. Here was evidence of social media's ability to influence events and empower the people. It was a sea change in the control of information for which many have waited very long, and it provided proof for skeptics like myself that people won't always waste technology on cheap entertainment.

But even as I've embraced Twitter, I wrestle with many issues related to it and other social media. I worry about the increasing fragmentation and polarization of societies as we individually narrow the scope of information we receive to fit our existing views and interests. I ponder how, as the so-called "mainstream media" dwindles in influence, we will ever resolve debates when there is no accepted standard of information (Fox News only precipitated this by working tirelessly to discredit other news organizations, and I'm sure at some point in my lifetime they and the other cable networks will be discussing how they remain relevant and solvent just as newspapers are currently doing). As a former journalist, I worry about the quality and accuracy of information coming from people with no training in media ethics and for whom the difference between an editorial piece and a news story is not always understood.

On a personal level, though, I mostly find myself scatterbrained as I try to keep track of the different social media sites to which I belong. With active accounts on Facebook, Twitter (@likeaspecter), Blogger, LinkedIn, YouTube, Wikipedia (I make occasional contributions), Picasa, and Yelp (I try to add reviews for particularly good or bad restaurants and services), my attention is pulled in many directions. Add the fluidity of the technology to the volume of social media I'm engaging in (I recently chose to ignore Google's Buzz rather than spread myself further) and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. If you're not privy to the constant changes in the social media landscape, there are plenty of Twitter feeds that will keep your head spinning with info. A few of the friends whom I follow whose feeds tend to orbit around social media include @Eveloff, @artate, and @cynthiagoldberg.

At times I'm inclined to disconnect myself from social media, but then I realize doing so would only leave me behind socially and likely be detrimental on a professional level. For the time being, I take some solace in the fact that I'm still keeping a safe distance from mobile media. At least I can escape the din of information when I leave my home.

DC freeze

2010-02-10T19:34:00.001-06:00

Spending a winter in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where 300" of snow for the season is nothing extraordinary, gave me a thick skin when it comes to snowfall. When I hear that the blizzard bombarding DC, which has earned monikers like "Snowmageddon," has helped set a new city record with 54.9" of snow (more than 40" of that coming during the past week), I'm inclined to think, "Is that all? I've seen worse."

Then I walk outside, and I realize I haven't seen worse. There's a difference between Washington getting 40" of snow and Steamboat Springs or Chicago getting hit with that sort of snow. Steamboat easily brushes its streets clear before much snow can accumulate, and Chicago is used to harsh winters. Washington, on the other hand, is quickly handicapped by any serious snowfall. I remember someone telling me when I moved here that I'd enjoy the winters because "winter in Washington only lasts two weeks." In this case, Mother Nature is really getting her value out of those two weeks.

Tara and I drove to Pennsylvania for some snowboarding at Seven Springs Ski Resort on Friday, thinking we'd have some fun with the snow. After spending Saturday on the slopes, we got back on the road for the three-hour drive back to DC. It wound up taking more than 5 hours, largely due to the fact that I-270 leading into Washington looked like one of the ski runs we had just left in Pennsylvania. If snowplows had been at work, I couldn't tell. We made it home in one piece, though with some shaky nerves after driving on packed snow in a Camry for the final 60 miles of the trip.

When we arrived back in the city Saturday night, we found it nonfunctional. With the exception of some bars and restaurants (mostly Chinese places), everything was shut down, and people were just wandering around the streets as the sidewalks were buried.

Sunday saw a slight return to normalcy, with a break from the snowfall and businesses re-opening, but Monday schools and government offices closed, and then came the news that more snow was to arrive Tuesday and Wednesday — 10 to 20" more! Schools and much of the city closed Tuesday and again today, and I'm not sure when I'll ever get to use my car again. It's fairly well buried, like nearly every car on the streets.

*****

The view from the window of our condo earlier in the day.

My poor car. It could be worse. Notice the mounds behind it? Those cars are completely covered by the snow.

The snow outside our building reached up past our knees.

The snowdrifts nearly overtook this chain-link fence.

This goddess turned into an ice queen.

I don't think the swimming pool will be used any time soon.

Nor will this bench.

Taking a seat in the snow.

Tara rides down a hill in the front of our building.

Visions of Vancouver

2010-02-05T22:06:00.000-06:00

A week from today the Winter Olympics will kick off in Vancouver, and visitors arriving for the games will be greeted with endearing hospitality by a burgeoning city comprised of a richly diverse population that's cradled in immense natural beauty. My friend Jeremy and I explored Vancouver at the end of 2008, living it up in a city known as one of the world's most livable and hitting the slopes at Whistler Blackcomb, a resort frequently recommended to me as one of the best. I'm not sure my time in the city provided ample experience to assess its most livable title, but Whistler, with over 8,000 acres of terrain to explore, certainly satisfied my mountain appetite.

*****

We spent the bulk of the week at the resort, which is about 2 hours north of the city of Vancouver. Whistler Blackcomb, with more than 200 trails spread across two mountains, made me feel like a kid visiting Disney World for the first time. The area has more than two times as much terrain to explore as Steamboat, the mountain from which nearly all of my previous riding experience came. Even after four days, I'm certain there are large swathes of the two mountains I hadn't touched.

The first couple days delivered relatively tame snowfall, but we were riding through some serious powder during the second half of our visit. We ventured up to the 7th Heaven area of Blackcomb on our last day on the mountains, and up there — gliding through knee-deep snow while gazing down at the clouds obscuring the lower mountain below, and with the sun shining through the flurries around us — I experienced one of those rare moments of true bliss. I'm not the type to get all giddy over powder, but I was overtaken.

Speaking of powder, here's a good amount of it along a lift line that I dragged Jeremy through.

This was only Jeremy's third time snowboarding, so he was a little wary of going down un-groomed trails, and probably for a good reason: We arrived to Vancouver just after eight snowmobilers had gone missing when they were buried during an avalanche. The story made me pause before heading into the trees, and it seemed whenever I started to forget about the incident, I'd hear dynamite going off somewhere on another part of mountain — part of an effort to prevent such an avalanche from occurring at the resort.

Proof that Jeremy didn't spend all his time sitting in the snow.

I grew this beard to increase my mountain cred. It mainly ended up just collecting a lot of ice ...

... so I wound up going with my classic riding look: snowboard assassin with the masked face.

Our condo looked out over the main thoroughfare leading up to the base of the mountains. Like its mountains, Whistler Blackcomb's ski area offers an endless amount of exploration. Bars, restaurants, dance clubs, breweries, coffee shops, grocery stores, high-end retail stores, the Whistler Blackcomb ski area dwarfs any other ski area I've visited.

On the flip side, it didn't seem there was much to do if you ventured away from the mountain. Whereas Steamboat Springs has a respectable downtown with an identity separate from the mountain, Whistler Blackcomb appeared to me to be much more mountain-centric. Although we found some good places for drinks and eats, it doesn't usually take long before I feel a sense of ennui in such "plastic" tourist areas as ski mountain bases, so I was soon pining to get back to Vancouver and explore the city I had read so much about.

We arrived in Vancouver proper on the first Friday of 2009. We stayed downtown on Pender Street, not far from Harbour Centre. After unloading our bags, we meandered around downtown, eventually ending up on the famous Granville Street.

This condo development, not far from our hotel, serves as a good representative of the very modern, but somewhat prosaic, architecture that fills much of Vancouver's bustling skyline.

The skyline, which is one of the busiest I've seen (I think that says a lot as someone who grew up near Chicago), is filled with scenes like this. But as a skyline enthusiast, I found Vancouver's to be much more about quantity than quality. Although busy with development, it lacked in style.

Among the perks of visiting Canada, at least for a hockey fan, is that you're no longer in the minority in the sports world. Jeremy, a lifelong hockey player and fan, was at times during the trip so glued to the hockey games on TV that it was a struggle to get him out of the hotel room or whatever bar we were drinking in. So we made a stop at General Motors Place, home of the Vancouver Canucks, to appease Jeremy's hockey appetite with a tour that took us up to the press and luxury boxes, as well as down to the locker rooms.

As someone who is fairly ignorant of hockey, I found myself surprisingly interested in the tour, even though our guide, a petite middle-age blonde woman who spent a lot of time flipping her hair, seemed to know barely more about the game than I do.

Our journey down Granville Street led us to Granville Island, where we perused the stalls of fresh fish and other produce lining the Granville Island Public Market and walked around the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design before finding a place for dinner.

We found the island, filled with art shops and upscale restaurants, quite a contrast to Granville Street, much of which displays seedier elements of Vancouver. Granville Street is one of Vancouver's main roads, and it's home to a lively nightlife, but you're also likely to encounter a number of vagrants and drug peddlers (Vancouver's approach to marijuana is fairly liberal, however, so the several people who offered to sell us pot as we walked past might not be frowned upon as severely as they would be in another city).

Burrard Street Bridge as seen from Granville Island. We enjoyed a tasty dinner on the island at a restaurant called The Sandbar, and planned to return to Granville Street to check out some clubs shortly afterward. The plan was slightly delayed thanks to some of the friendliest people I've met while traveling.

Shortly after we sat down at the bar, a couple of guys next to us started offering advice about what to see in the city, and they were curious that Chicagoans would find their way to Vancouver. Apparently they were unaware of Vancouver's glowing international repuation. It didn't take long before we had a group of about 10 people with us, mingling and welcoming us to the city by buying us drinks. When we finally left the Sandbar some time after midnight, we ended up in a taxi with several of our new friends and wound up at a nightclub on Granville Street until the early hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, the next day was less eventful thanks to a snowstorm. Vancouver's winters are better known for rain showers than snow, and the snow kept most of the city indoors.

Kansas City ... Hey, hey, hey, hey

2009-12-13T15:45:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine recently moved to Kansas City, and I first reacted to this news with mild befuddlement. I don't mean that as a slight to the city; my friend, an artist with whom I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, always struck me as the kind of person who'd one day pick up and move to New York. But the more I thought about it, the more the move made sense.

I made my first visit to the City of Fountains two summers ago. Tara's family lives in Lenexa, outside of the city on the Kansas side, and I joined her there for the Fourth of July. I arrived knowing little more about the city than its history as a jazz and cattle hub, its famous barbecue, and Royals baseball (particularly this scene, pivotal to my years as a developing baseball fan). I use its moniker "City of Fountains" ironically here, because before my visit, I never would have guessed it boasts more fountains than any city in the world, with the exception of Rome.

I imagined KC as a decaying Midwestern city with a forgotten downtown and a vast suburbia sprawling across a tediously flat landscape. This view partly came from descriptions of the state of Kansas — rather than of the city itself, much of which is located in Missouri — presented in books like Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (don't bother by the way; it struck me as more of a polemic in reaction to the Bush presidency than a serious analysis of Kansas) and Capote's "In Cold Blood," and although there's some truth to my preconception (KC's vast suburbs and fairly diminutive downtown do kind of give it the feel of a lion with a house cat's head), there's much more to Kansas City than most realize.

Of course, because of its location, Kansas City will never get the recognition it may deserve — just ask Chicago, which is often ignored by those on the coasts — but it's made a respectable effort to battle that cow town reputation, and it continues to put up a fight against the decline that faces so many mid-size Midwestern cities. With a Spanish-inspired shopping district that does such a good impression of Europe that I left pining for a trip across the Atlantic, a World War I memorial and museum as impressive as any of its peers in DC, and a hometown brew to be proud of (Boulevard), it's understandable why KC appeals to those like my friend who are looking for a change of direction and a new scene.

As one of Kerouac's stops "on the road," KC possesses adventure cred, and the flight of so many from its downtown to its suburbs throughout the years leaves the city fairly open to be molded and defined by those who find the road more traveled in cities like New York and Chicago a little too typical. I think my friend may find a unique opportunity in KC, and I'm sure he'll enjoy it.

*****

Tara stands on a corner in Country Club Plaza, a Spanish-inspired shopping district on the west side of Kansas City.

When I first saw these flags flying on a bridge over Brush Creek near the Plaza, as Country Club Plaza is commonly called, I told Tara how surprising it was to see French flags flying in a city located so near an area known to be very conservative. Later I learned these flags might actually be city flags, as Kansas City's flag is identical to the French flag but with a symbol located on the white center.

Liberty Memorial houses the National World War I Museum and offers outstanding views from the top of its tower. If you visit the memorial during the summer, don't plan to spend much time enjoying the vista as Kansas City can be very hot and humid.

The museum within the memorial is captivating — offering a thorough look at the war both before and after America's involvement — and is one of the finest I've visited. Tara and I spent nearly three hours in the museum and covered only half of its area. Despite its quality, the memorial and museum are not governed by the National Park Service. Tara's mother told me multiple requests to turn over the memorial to the National Park Service have been denied. It is run, rather well, by a non-profit organization.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 9

2009-11-27T23:24:00.001-06:00

Although fleeting, our time at Denali National Park certainly inspired. I spent most of the trip avoiding my proclivity for reflection in an attempt to have a proper vacation, but Denali compelled me to finally put pen to paper as I sat waiting for our train to Fairbanks.

Our trip concluded with a rather fancy train ride to Fairbanks, the city of over 30,000 only 125 miles from the Arctic Circle. My grandmother, Aunt Rose and my mom enjoy some cocktails in the dining car.

The second floor of the train cars featured glass ceilings, providing unhindered views of the frontier.

We arrived in Fairbanks too late to give the town anything beyond a cursory look. The rest of my family called it a night early, leaving me on my own to take a peak at high-latitude living. Nothing special about this photo — just a parking lot at the University of Alaska Fairbanks —except for the metal meter-like poles at the head of each parking space. These poles contain electrical outlets for automobiles. During the frigid winter months, when the average low sits around -15 F, drivers plug their vehicles into outlets such as these to help prevent their cars from freezing. And for anyone wondering why the campus appears dead, this photo was taken around midnight on a weekday. That's right. Midnight.

The University of Alaska Museum of the North features architecture that brilliantly merges a sleek, modern design with a North Pole motif — it reminds me of an aerodynamic iceberg. My walk didn't span the entire campus, but I saw a good portion of it and this was the only building that caught my attention.

A reminder: these photos were taken at midnight. Walking around with this much sunlight at midnight made the otherwise unexceptional town feel like a dreamscape.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 8

2009-11-23T23:09:00.003-06:00

For me, the most anticipated leg of the trip was our visit to Denali National Park. We had limited time in the park — considering the park is bigger than Massachusetts, that means I saw very little of Denali — but I savored every moment of it. A note to anyone visiting the park: Aramark (the massive food services and facilities management company) runs just about everything related to food and or lodging in and around the park and they use this monopoly to their advantage. Unless you're planning to camp during your stay, expect to shell out a hefty amount of cash.

Mt. McKinley (Denali) stands at a mammoth 20,320 feet. The driver of the bus that we rode into the park explained that the mountain creates its own weather patterns and is often not visible from a distance as a result. My dad took this shot of the mountain looming like a giant over the "small" mountains nearer to us.

A photo of the lone road winding through the park. Unlike many national parks, Denali has only one road providing access to its interior, and very little of it is paved. To get an idea of just how large this park is, consider that Wonder Lake Campground, the closest campground to Mt. McKinley, is located at mile 85 on this road (this takes nearly 6 hours to reach by bus), and it's still 26 miles away from the mountain. Not far from here we spotted a grizzly bear with two cubs frolicking in the distance. All of us stood mouths agape as we watched the cubs wrestle (they were far enough away that my camera couldn't capture a shot worthy of sharing here, but I can assure you, it was as amazing as anything you'd see on a nature channel documentary).

The next morning, my dad and I took a whitewater trip down the Nenana River, just outside of the park. We're the two in the front paddling while everyone else is relaxing.

A flower on a short loop hike near the Wilderness Access Center.

A creek near the Wildnerness Access Center.

Top 100 Albums - #85. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik

2009-11-17T21:09:00.001-06:00

Released: 1991

This project has stirred a sort of reawakening in my love for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Before I started writing this list, I hadn’t given the Chili Peppers a serious listen since 2006, when I saw them perform as the headliners at Lollapalooza in support of Stadium Arcadium, an album I purchased but never gained an appreciation for, despite several attempts. As with Californication, I included Blood Sugar Sex Magik in the pool of nominees for my favorite 100 albums largely because it had been a staple album for me during high school, and I had expected I might cut it from the list. But here it is, faring pretty well, and had I given it more listens before writing out my list it probably would have received an even better number.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik is hands down the Chili Peppers’ greatest album. Still heavily steeped in the funk influences of the band’s earlier days (it’s easy to forget when listening to their more recent releases that these guys were recording with George Clinton at one point during the 1980s) but balanced under the production wing of Rick Rubin, Blood Sugar Sex Magik is one of those rare instant classics. There’s not a single misstep to be found, which is pretty amazing considering the band in this lineup had existed for a little more than a year prior to the recording sessions — founding guitarist Hillel Slovak died as a result of a drug addiction in 1988, which led to founding drummer Jack Irons (who later played with Pearl Jam) to leave shortly after, and John Frusciante and Chad Smith joined on for Mother’s Milk, released two years before Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

Listening to this album is a pleasure, in part because it’s evident that these guys got so much pleasure out of creating it. One of the reasons I’ve always admired the Red Hot Chili Peppers is that, unlike many rock bands, these guys actually seem to care about one another (check out these lyrics from “My Lovely Man,” a tribute to Slovak: “Just in case you never knew, I miss you slim, I love you too/ See my heart, it’s black and blue, when I die, I will find you”). There’s no domineering ego in the band; all of the songwriting is credited equally to all four members. There’s a sense of unity and brotherhood that is audible throughout, and maybe it’s this brotherhood that allows an album that is fairly wide reaching in both musical styles and lyrical content to cohere. Their brotherhood has surely also helped make them one of the most enduring bands in modern pop — they’re not far from their 30th anniversary.

Best Known For: “Give It Away,” “Under the Bridge,” “Breaking the Girl,” “Suck My Kiss”
Favorite Song: “My Lovely Man”
Favorite Moment: Among popular rock guitarists from the ’90s, John Frusciante is by far the greatest protégé of Jimi Hendrix’s music, and Blood Sugar Sex Magik is a showcase of Frusciante’s brilliance. He really takes off on his guitar solo on the album’s second song, “If You Have to Ask.” The rest of the band and members of the production team can be heard applauding Frusciante as his solo winds down at the end of the recording.
Memorable Lyrics: Although not typically thought of as a political band, Anthony Kiedis sprinkles a liberal (pun intended) amount of sociopolitical commentary and criticism throughout the lyrics on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, most notably on “The Power of Equality” and “The Righteous & The Wicked.” Here are a few lines from the latter of those two songs.

Are we fireflies flashing in the night?
Big thunder rumble fish, did you get it right?
Headstrong battle song, exploding souls be gone
Marvin Gaye, my love, where did we go wrong?

"My Lovely Man" lyrics

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 7

2009-11-14T19:25:00.010-06:00

Royal Caribbean lost a few fans on the first day of the land-based portion of our trip. After debarking in Seward, we got on a bus for a 4-hour ride to Anchorage, where we were provided some time for lunch before being forced to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It's not that I had any objection to visiting the Center (I'd actually rank it among the National World War I Museum in Kansas City and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. as the most interesting museums I've visited in the U.S.), but considering I was feeling sluggish after a long day of travel, you can imagine how the majority of those in the cruise group—nearly all of whom were much older than I—were feeling. The Heritage Center displays full-size models of all of the native Alaskan tribes' traditional housing styles, as well as the bones of a killer whale, as seen in this photo.

Anchorage has one of the most strangely (and poorly) planned downtowns I've seen. Notice the little houses sitting along the street in the foreground, right in the middle of a commercial district.

And in the same area, an enormous parking lot eats up what would appear to be prime downtown real estate (I'm restraining myself from making a joke at the expense of those who think Sarah Palin, former governor of the state that created this terribly planned downtown, would make a good president).

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy Anchorage during the brief time I spent there. I ate some delicious halibut tacos, reindeer sausage (you can purchase this from vendors on the street, though I got mine with an omelet at a diner), and sampled a few of the many tasty Alaskan beers.

After half a day in Anchorage, we hopped back on the bus, venturing north to Denali National Park. Here's a view of the southern edge of the park.

Paper birch in the southern part of Denali National Park.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 6

2009-11-06T21:41:00.006-06:00

We spent our sixth day cruising north. Our ship ventured into Yakutat Bay, and then further in until we reached Disenchantment Bay, home of Hubbard Glacier.

The bay was filled with the glacier's offspring, some of them bearing remarkable features.

The setting creates some wonderful images. This one is among my favorites from the trip.

This one, which turned out looking like a night photo of the moon reflecting off the water, is the result of shooting a photo of a blindingly bright reflection of the sun off the bay. I think the glowing ripples on the water resemble a fingerprint. It's another one of my favorites from the trip.

After ambling around the bay for a while, the ship headed back out to sea, and we were on our way toward Seward, where we would exit the ship and begin our final half of the trip, a bus- and train-based journey inland to Fairbanks.

Top 100 Albums - #86. Green Day: Dookie

2009-11-06T11:12:00.004-06:00

Released: 1994

Perhaps more than any other band I listened to in my youth, Green Day stoked my interest in rock music. It all began with Dookie, or more specifically with the single “Basket Case,” a song that probably turned my parents into just that on those days when I listened to it on repeat for long periods.

This album was the soundtrack of sixth grade (I’m sure Green Day’s early “punk” fans would love to think about little kids listening to the band, though all of them probably abandoned Green Day for selling out long ago), an exciting time for me as it was my first year in public school after attending a small Christian school. I was soon wearing a Green Day t-shirt to school, something that wouldn’t have been possible at the church school, and a friend of mine and I later celebrated the end of that school year by dyeing our hair green with Kool-Aid. I can’t imagine how the teachers at the Christian school would have responded to me showing up on the last day like that.

Sometime during that year I began learning the guitar, though I guess "learning" isn't a very accurate description of what was going on. I would walk in one night a week for my lesson, this smelly, nappy haired hack would try to teach me to play "Ode to Joy" from some second-rate "Guitar for Beginner's" book, and I'd try to wait until the end of the lesson to ask him to teach me to play a Green Day song. It didn't take long for me to realize I could learn these simple tunes on my own, and I quit lessons until I found a better teacher a few years later who opened my ears and my mind to blues, jazz and classical guitar.

My obsession with the band led me to picking up their two earlier, non-major label albums, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk, the latter of which introduced me to The Who with a cover of the song “My Generation.” Suddenly my dad’s record collection seemed much cooler.

More recently, my friend Sean and I were including a slowed down, acoustic version of “She” in our open mic night set lists, which rekindled an appreciation for Billie Joe Armstrong’s songwriting — I had fallen off the Green Day bandwagon long ago, never gaining the appreciation for American Idiot that some of my friends had.

Best Known For: “When I Come Around,” “Basket Case,” “Longview,” “She”
Favorite Song: “Welcome to Paradise”
Favorite Moment: The final half of “Chump,” which serves as a bridge into “Longview.” Mike Dirnt plays a driving bass line while Tre Cool pounds out a tribal beat. By the time Billie Joe Armstrong joins in with his guitar, the song is sliding into a frenzy that subsides half a minute later with the start of “Longview.”
Memorable Lyrics: As crass as it may seem, the lyrics of “Longview” are memorable for me because this was the first recording I owned with the word “fuck” in it. My mom was quite strict in the early part of my childhood, and she wouldn’t allow me to own any CDs with “Parental Advisory” stickers on them. Fortunately for me (and not because I love cursing but because of the album’s influence on my musical preferences), Dookie didn’t have one of those stickers on it. The first time I listened to this song, sitting on my bed in my room, I jumped up after this first verse so I could put my headphones on and hide the words from my parents.

I sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on
I change the channels for an hour or two
Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit
I'm sick of all the same old shit
In a house with unlocked doors and I'm fucking lazy

"Welcome to Paradise" lyrics

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 5

2009-10-31T23:39:00.001-05:00

Our trip to Alaska wasn't all sightseeing. It was a cruise, after all, and we did our fair share of recreating. Aunt Ruth and I took on the climbing wall on the ship's deck.

Ruth was content to sit back and watch after tackling the wall once.

I, on the other hand, kept going up until I met a course that bested me.

My grandmother surprised me by wanting to play miniature golf.

So we spent some time goofing around on the ship's putt-putt course.

Grandma and her partner in crime, Aunt Rose, were happy to see all of us enjoying ourselves.

We also spent a lot of time talking over games of cards and drinks of coffee and tea, all the while watching the amazing scenery pass by.

Dinners in the dining hall consisted of full courses served by a colorful staff. On our last night aboard the ship, they performed a theatrical song and dance.

When we returned to our cabin each evening, we'd often find little pleasantries left behind by the cleaning staff, such as this strange towel creature.

And here I am, resting in my little fold-down bunk. The bunk reminded me of my days in the dorms.

Top 100 Albums - #87. Outkast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

2009-10-29T23:33:00.002-05:00

Released: 2003

Sometimes referred to as the “White Album of hip hop,” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below followed Outkast’s extremely popular Stankonia with one of the more experimental albums in the history of mainstream rap.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is essentially two solo albums by Outkast’s Big Boi and Andre 3000, much like The White Album was largely a compilation of John Lennon and Paul McCartney solo recordings with the rest of the Beatles serving as a backing band. Big Boi’s half of the double album, Speakerboxxx, is closer to the standard Outkast fare and was responsible for the singles “The Way You Move” and “Ghetto Musick,” while Andre 3000’s The Love Below, a fusion of jazz, pop, funk, rock and hip hop, produced “Roses,” “Prototype” and the massive hit “Hey Ya.”

Although The Love Below gained more widespread attention because of its genre-crossing appeal, both halves of the album are equally strong and together surpass the group’s preceding work, Stankonia — no small feat considering that album’s success and the brilliance of such songs as “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” — cementing Outkast’s position as one of the greatest acts in the history of rap. Even if comparing Speakerboxxx/The Love Below to The White Album is overstating its influence, it’s certainly fair to say Andre 3000 and Big Boi are the Lennon and McCartney of rap. Consider that “Hey Ya” was one of the best and most infectious pop singles of the year only a few years after the group released “B.O.B.,” which was easily one of the best rock songs of 2000 and among the top songs of the decade. These are quite impressive accomplishments for a group that is neither a pop group nor a rock group.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below succeeds in truly crossing these genres. Stankonia, despite all its glory, toed the line a bit. It felt as if the group wasn’t yet quite sure how far to push, but Speakerboxxx/The Love Below plunges in. Even Big Boi’s more conservative half of the album is fairly experimental. “Ghetto Musick” evokes ghosts of “B.O.B.” — it should be obvious I really love that song — and “Bust” is an all-out rock jam.

Unlike Aquemini, the group’s masterpiece, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is not flawless — Lil’ Jon’s guest appearance on “Last Call” is a horribly poor production choice and a few of the skits are tiring — but it is a monumental album.

Best Known For: “Hey Ya,” “The Way You Move,” “Roses,” “Ghetto Musick,” “Prototype”
Favorite Song: “Reset”
Favorite Moment: The skit “Where Are My Panties?” from The Love Below features an inner monologue from Andre 3000 in which he reflects on a woman he spent the previous night with. In the skit, there are a couple of times when he’s trying to convince himself to be cool as he prepares to talk to this woman he only just met hours earlier and is now lying next to, and a voice in the background representing his conscience yells out “ice cold!” Always makes me smile.
Memorable Lyrics: The protest lyrics from Big Boi’s “War” have long been some of my favorite lines criticizing the events leading to the invasion of Iraq.

When will we all a-wake up out this dream?
Come here and smell the Folgers, the soldiers are human beings
Man actin’ as if he was the supreme bein’,
Clockin’ the souls of men out like he was G-O-D and
W-A-R-uh, there'll be no tomorrow but sorrow
And horror will follow the hollow hearts battle for dollars
Politicians, modern day magicians,
Physicians of death, more healthcare for poor health
Who makin’ us ill, they makin’ us kill
That's makin’ me spill my guts (chill Big, lay in the cut)
For what? I refuse to sit in the backseat and get handled
Like I do nothin’ all day but sit around watch the Cartoon Channel
I rap about the presidential election and the scandal that followed,
And we all watched the nation as it swallowed
And chalked it up, basically America you got fucked
The media shucked and jived, now we stuck, damn

"Hey Ya" lyrics

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 4

2009-10-28T18:47:00.014-05:00

Next stop on our tour was Icy Strait Point, which is the cruise line's name for a part of an island located on Icy Strait known as Chichagof. The island is home to a village called Hoonah, as well as several tourist attractions such as a historical salmon cannery and gift shops. It was the one stop on the cruise that could be reached only by climbing aboard a small passenger boat that pulled up alongside the cruise ship.

Uncle Dave, my dad and I decided to check out the island, but quickly found ourselves bored by the tourist attractions and instead ventured onto a "hiking trail." The trail was a little too well maintained for my taste, and felt more like a bike path in a city park.

Despite the trail's overly groomed state, it did have some nice flowers.

This photo didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped it would. The cat in this photo, sitting on the porch of a little cabin, is watching a hummingbird that flew out of the frame just moments before I took the photo.

The dock leading out from the old salmon cannery.

Getting clever with my flower photos.

A view of our ship.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 3

2009-10-26T12:18:00.001-05:00

My dad checks out the scenery in Skagway, our third stop on the cruise.

Uncle Dave explores with his binoculars. Our cruise ship sits in port in the background.

Uncle Bill and my dad reflect upon the reflection of a nearby mountain.

Skagway is located on a fjord at the northern part of Alaska's panhandle.

Skagway's wooden sidewalks remind of its days as a gold rush town.

A train took us over a pass to the border with Canada's Yukon Territory. The town is located in the center of the photo, below the white peaks.

Uncle Bill took this shot of my dad taking a photo me while my mom looks on.

The water at the apex of the train ride is the purest I've seen, with amazing hues of blue.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 2

2009-10-24T20:25:00.001-05:00

Dad and Uncle Dave walking down a street in Juneau, the second stop of the cruise.

Mendenhall Glacier is just a short ride from downtown Juneau.

Mom, Dad and I attempted a 2-mile hike near Mendenhall Glacier but were stopped halfway through the hike when we came upon a bear. I was the first to spot the bear, which was sauntering about and crossed the trail hardly more than 20 yards ahead of us, and I quickly grabbed my parents' arms to notify them. We stood there gasping for a moment, and then, when the bear was out of sight, we turned around and headed back the way we came.

Native florae.

Juneau's a quiet little waterfront town with some great scenery.

Land of the Midnight Sun, part 1

2009-10-24T13:30:00.001-05:00

About a year and half ago I went on a cruise to Alaska with my family. The trip was at least a decade in the making, originating with my grandfather, who wanted to take his sons and their families on a trip to the Last Frontier. Unfortunately, he passed away before the trip came into fruition, but my grandmother carried on the torch, and she took my mom and dad, his two brothers, my aunts and I on a trip that began in Vancouver and ended in Fairbanks. It was a wonderful and rare occasion for family bonding, and its memories will be a legacy of my grandmother's kindness and love that will endure throughout my life. Here are some of my favorite photos from that trip.

*****

Unfortunately, the only sights I saw in Vancouver came from the deck of the cruise ship.

I believe we were still moving along a strait near British Columbia, but this little fishing boat sitting alone on the vast water seemed a perfect reflection of what it feels like in sparsely populated Alaska.

This land is the visual definition of pristine. Even our large cruise ship seemed to hardly bother the water.

The first of many sunsets I would watch over the water.

Our first stop was Ketchikan, a little town on an island north of British Columbia and south of Juneau.

During a stop at the town's Eagle Center, where injured birds rehabilitate before being released back into the wild, I learned that an eagle's claws have a very interesting feature. According to a guide at the center, when an eagle dives for prey, its talons will lock upon contact and the eagle's tendons will not voluntarily release until the bird lands. While this characteristic ensures eagles don't lose their meals, it also leads to occasional fatalities for the birds. Eagles will sometimes catch fish that are too big for them to carry and, unable to release the fish over the water, the eagle will fall into the water and drown with the fish still in its claws.

My dad and I in Ketchikan.

The town is proud to be "Salmon Capital of the World."

Top 100 Albums - #88. Dr. Octagon: Dr. Octagonecologyst

2009-10-22T20:49:00.002-05:00

Released: 1996

There’s a sample in the Dr. Octagon song “Halfsharkalligatorhalfman” that poses the rhetorical, “Is he weird?” It’s a jocular bit of self-awareness; Dr. Octagon is very weird. Hell, the guy wrote a song called “Halfsharkalligatorhalfman.” Enough said. But, just how strange is Dr. Octagon? If a clone were produced from the genes of Dr. Dre and Frank Zappa, he’d probably sound something like Dr. Octagon.

I’ve heard people describe Wesley Willis — the schizophrenic Chicago musician who was responsible for such goofy songs as “Rock N Roll McDonalds” — as a genius. It always seemed to me that this praise came from an inability to understand his train of thought. His music was so bizarre that people assumed he must be on a plane of thought above their own. Aside from the novelty of his Casio keyboard music, I never thought much of it. Dr. Octagonecologyst, though, is a work of genius, and not because of its eccentricity, but because of the pairing of Dan the Automator’s superior beat production and Kool Keith’s frenzied flows.

It doesn’t really matter that nearly all of the stream-of-consciousness lyrics are completely nonsensical (e.g., these lines from the titular track: “It's costing androids leaving humans with hemorrhoids, thinking more of what they can't explore, like the cartoon Donald Duck is giving fellatio on the floor, with Reed Richards, looking at The Thing's naked pictures”). The album is a masterpiece, though few discover this because they can’t get past its bizarre lyrics (there is a full-length instrumental version of the album for those who really can’t tolerate the rhymes).

I became a fan of the album during my sophomore year of high school. My friend and I were watching a skateboarding video one afternoon when “Halfsharkalligatorhalfman” began playing as an accompaniment to one of the segments. We were both awed, having never heard anything like it, and we rewound the tape so we could hear it again. My friend bought the album not long after, and it has been one of my favorite hip hop recordings since, though I don’t have much luck gaining anyone else’s interest in it. I remember my roommate’s response when I turned it on one night at my townhouse during my junior year of college. He sat there for a few songs, in a happy drunken daze, and then he turned to me with a look of incredulity and said, “Mike, what the hell is this shit?”

Best Known For: Rhymes that are nearly incomparable and some really amazing beats.
Favorite Song: “Halfsharkalligatorhalfman”
Favorite Moment: There’s a hilarious little blip on “Technical Difficulties” near the 1:50 mark that sounds like a Muppet squealing “Nah.”
Memorable Lyrics: Some of the strangest lyrics I’ve ever heard. These words are from the beginning of the song “Dr. Octagon.”

Live, November 6, 1996, at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California,
Dr. Octagonecologyst and Chewbacca Uncircumcised perform with Kurt Cobain and Roger from Zapp

The plane managed to land, the skeleton at the controls
A place called the Twilight Zone
Are extraterrestrials able to accomplish this?
I will explain but you'd become more puzzled at the possibilities,
Earth ending trilogies, wacky stuff
Like gas-passing dinosaurs
While I stroll in circles blindfolded

"Blue Flowers" lyrics

Top 100 Albums - #89. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication

2009-10-18T09:34:00.001-05:00

Released: 1999

The summer following my sophomore year of high school was one of the most memorable times of my young adult life. Two of my closest friends had graduated from high school and would leave for college at the summer’s end, and their looming departure was a change that filled me with both excitement and anxiety. I happily tagged along as they attended parties throughout the summer, always thrilled to get a taste of college life a few years earlier than my peers, but there was also a constant realization that the end was just around the corner. I knew my friends would soon be gone and I’d have to change my social circle come the beginning of the school year, but I did my best to push this out of my mind.

The three of us worked as “park rangers” that summer. This is a misleading title for a position that consisted of little more than riding a bicycle. We were hired to patrol Aurora’s nature trails and report any trail violations to the park district police, but with the exception of a few minor incidents – people drinking alcohol or kids riding motorized vehicles – nothing happened the entire summer. So we rode, talking about girls and music, and we goofed around a bit (this is bound to happen when you give a 16-year-old an unsupervised job with his two buddies). It was a great job. I rode a bike 35 to 40 miles every day with my friends (most of this time was in shaded forest area so it wasn’t too hot) and was in great shape as a result, and then we got off work and played video games or found house parties.

Californication was the soundtrack of that summer. We listened to it on the drive to and from work, while we hung out, while we partied, and even during our days on the trail (after a month of work we got bold and started bringing a Discman with a small pair of speakers with us on the bikes, stowing the little sound system in the storage bags on the backs of our bikes and probably rupturing what little semblance of authority we may have had).

“Scar Tissue” was an infectious summer anthem, the hook that piqued our interest in the band after the previous album, One Hot Minute, had left that interest adrift. It’s such a perfectly simple song and was a great stage return for guitarist John Frusciante, absent for a few years because of drug issues that left him replaced by Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. The rest of the album follows the suit of “Scar Tissue,” relying on the reunited Frusciante and bassist extraordinaire Flea to add color to the album’s relatively basic song structures with their enthralling interplay of Hendrix-inspired guitar licks and masterful bass lines.

Ten years have been unkind to a few of the songs, most notably singles “Around the World” and “Californication," which sound stale probably partly because of being played ad nauseam on the radio, but as a whole the album remains a strong work. I’ve relegated it to iPod shuffle duty, but it’s always a pleasure when songs like “Easily,” “Emit Remmus” or “This Velvet Glove” come on.

Best Known For: “Scar Tissue,” “Otherside,” “Californication,” “Around the World,” “Parallel Universe”
Favorite Song: “This Velvet Glove”
Favorite Moment: The mellow kick drum at the beginning of “Porcelain” spells the arrival of a very different side of the band. Although it wasn’t the first time the Red Hot Chili Peppers embraced their softer side (“I Could Have Lied” from Blood Sugar Sex Magik is another good example), it was certainly the furthest into this territory they had ventured. A lot of people skipped this song when listening to the album, considering it a boring transition track, but it’s always been one of my favorites.
Memorable Lyrics: The Chili Peppers have long been known for some overtly sexual references (see the lyrics of “Sir Psycho Sexy” or the cover of the album Mother’s Milk). This imagery never seemed very shocking for a funk rock band, and despite the more straight-forward pop sound of Californication, they didn’t abandon this inclination. Anthony Kiedis drops some lines in the song “Purple Stain” that elicited a double-take the first time I heard them.

To finger paint is not a sin
I put my middle finger in
Your monthly blood is what I win
I'm in your house now let me spin

"This Velvet Glove" lyrics

Top 100 Albums - #90. U2: The Unforgettable Fire

2009-10-13T22:04:00.002-05:00

Released: 1984

Long before Bono sang incoherent Spanish introductions to the band’s singles and before he was being brutally lambasted on “South Park” for taking himself far too seriously, he was sporting a hilariously terrible mullet and venturing into a lyrical obsession with America as his band wisely recorded its fourth album under the production of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

The Unforgettable Fire took a sharp turn from War, the band’s third album, heading away from the fervent, punk-influenced sound that had previously defined their music and toward a dreamy, ambient pop that they later fully harnessed on The Joshua Tree. Relying more heavily on The Edge’s guitar-work for the music’s mood — likely a result of Eno’s influence leading to a more ambient texture — The Unforgettable Fire is the most mystical U2 album, and probably the most underrated.

Critics point to songs such as “4th of July” and “Elvis Presley and America” as indications that the band was in an exploratory stage and taking experimental risks that didn’t pay off with an instrumental (the former) and a rambling poem accompanied by music (the latter), but I tend to find these songs charming and within an overarching vision for an album that an ambient producer such as Eno would direct. Criticizing U2 for including an aimless but pathos-filled instrumental is like criticizing Radiohead for including “Fitter Happier” on OK Computer. The song is a key transition in the album — even if it has no value as a pop single — and it is because of these “riskier” songs that I view The Unforgettable Fire as such a noteworthy album for the band.

The album bridges two distinct brands of U2, the original being what is found on their first three albums, a sound now fairly classifiable as “classic rock,” and the second being the very pop-centric sound that yielded the classic The Joshua Tree but later evolved into the band’s less stellar 1990s work. For this reason, it’s an album lacking perfect cohesion, but there is much to be loved in the imperfection.

Lyrically, the album is significant for Bono’s focus on America for subject matter, particularly with Martin Luther King, Jr., who is the inspiration for two of the songs, “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “MLK.” Other America-inspired songs include “Promenade,” “4th of July,” “Indian Summer Sky,” and “Elvis Presley and America.”

Best Known For: “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Bad,” “The Unforgettable Fire”
Favorite Song: “Indian Summer Sky”
Favorite Moment: The introduction of the title track. The Edge’s guitar — with its standard digital delay — lets out several arpeggiated notes and squeals as Larry Mullen counts off the beat with a few clicks of his sticks. Meanwhile, the keyboard comes in, and by the 0:24 mark Adam Clayton’s driving bass line begins and the song hits full tilt.
Memorable Lyrics: The stream-of-consciousness lyrics of “Promenade” apparently had a significant influence on me — I unintentionally stole part of one of its lines for a song I wrote called “Roman Candles,” which I recorded for an album a few years ago. At some point, long after I recorded the album, I was listening to “Promenade” when it struck me — “Oh shit, I used the same words for my song!”

I'd like to be around
In a spiral staircase to the higher ground
And I, like a firework, explode
Roman candle lightening lights up the sky

In cracked streets trampled underfoot
Side step, sidewalk
I see you stare into the space
Have I got closer now behind the face
Oh, tell me, cherry you dance with me
Turn me around tonight
Up through the spiral staircase to the higher ground

"The Unforgettable Fire" lyrics