Let’s flow with some alt-country today. You know what I like about alt-country? No, not the ridiculous genre name. I like that it’s music I wouldn’t feel ashamed to listen to in the car with my grandmother. It might not be to her taste exactly, but it would go a lot further than listening to, say, the new Slayer song.
And when I think alt-country the first name that comes to mind is N.C. native Ryan Adams. For starters, he’s put out eleven – yep, eleven – records since 2000. And one of those was a double album. The dude’s more prolific than Woody Allen, and while there’s all kinds of evidence out there on the internet to suggest he’s a little crazy, or rude, or out of his mind on drugs he nonetheless knows his way around a song. Here’s a live performance of “Let it Ride” from 2005 with his band the Cardinals:
The band Bright Eyes most often gets lumped into folk territory (and rightfully so) but here’s Conor Oberst getting Travis Tritted in this great B&W vid for the song “Four Winds”:
Don’t forget the ladies. Here’s Neko Case and her lovely white Gibson SG playing “Hold On, Hold On” apparently on some A&E show:
And then there’s this song by the Avett Bros. which has an opening that I have been unable to get out of my head for months now. It’s called “Murder in the City”:
There you have it. Enjoy your Thanksgiving and we’ll see you soon…
In these tough economic times it’s important to remember that not all musicians have the amount of gold lying around in T-Pain’s mouth. Even worse, some of them do reach the mountaintop of success only to find it a cold, uninviting, oxygen-deprived place that can’t sustain them for more than say a couple of months or even weeks. Bands like Fastball, for example. Remember them? No? Well, I bet you remember half the lyrics to this song:
What about this one?
I’ll take the candy, please. If that doesn’t satisfy your Marcy Playground cravings, go here and read about a “minor controversy” between the band and the guitarist from the Butthole Surfers over some album artwork. But then get right back over here and sing this one into your imaginary microphones:
That’s actually Harvey Danger, not crazy Bruce Campbell. And did you know that the band released an album in 2005 as a free download on their website? Take that Radiohead! It was apparently even downloaded over 100,000 times in just two months if we’re to believe their Wiki page (and why shouldn’t we?).
These three bands may have never found repeated success and probably don’t run around town in Ferrari Enzos, but you know I think these three tunes are actually pretty damn good. I mean, I’d much rather hear these three songs than anything by Eve 6, Eagle Eye Cherry, or Semi-Sonic. It’s so easy to poke fun of a band for having a one hit wonder. There’s no bigger example of how easy this is than the existence of television shows dedicated to the sole purpose of poking fun at one hit wonders…on the very same networks that MADE them one hit wonders in the first place.
I remember hearing a DJ make fun of the Spin Doctors once and it was on a radio station that I know for a fact played the living crap out of the Spin Doctors when they were popular. You can’t have it both ways, dipnuts! It’s ridiculous.
So keep that in mind as we weather out the current financial crisis. Invest your emotions wisely in the music you hear on the radio that you choose to secretly admire, because this will later determine what you are and are not allowed to make fun of. Some songs, like the three examples here, are in fact good and it’s at no fault of the musicians that they became so dang popular so dang quickly. You try following up that success, hot shot. It ain’t easy. So, pick on something that truly sucks instead. Like Hinder.
Here we are. The Day After. And while Dr. Pepper struggles to come through on their promise, W. Axl Rose came through on his. Chinese Democracy exists and is available for purchase. Currently, it’s on my iPod, my computer, and my coffee table, yet I’m still kind of amazed to see it there, let alone hear it. I’ll leave a traditional review for the traditional press and instead list ten entirely biased reasons why you absolutely should buy this album.
10. Because the drummer from Hinder doesn’t like it. He said it “almost sounds too artsy.” He then went back to playing this song, which apparently is just artsy enough to suck.
9. Because the drummer from Hinder was asked his opinon of Chinese Democracy in the first place. You know why that is? Because there are publicists and label people out there who are desperately trying to tell us that bands like Hinder, Nickleback, Creed, Staind and 3 Doors Down are what we’re supposed to enjoy in the category of modern rock these days. Chinese Democracy is better than anything these bands will ever do. Ever. Those bands write singles. Axl wrote an album.
8. Because it sounds more like Guns N’ Roses than Velvet Revolver. I know, the math doesn’t work. Velvet has three former Gunners and Chinese only has one. And I like those two Velvet records, but at the end of the day is there anything on them that really sounds that different from Stone Temple Pilots? Sadly, no.
7. Because they’ll never get into the nickname hall of fame, but guitarists Buckethead and Bumblefoot (along with lame-names Robin Finck and Richard Fortus) are actually pretty good. The solos by Slash from his work in Guns can’t be touched. That goes without saying. But listen to the chaotic tweaky divebombs in “Shackler’s Revenge” or the smooth melodic (and “Estranged” sounding) lead in “There Was a Time.” Some cool shreddin’ going on here, Guitar Heroes.
6. Because Axl can still hit the high notes. Listen to “Riad N’ the Bedouins.” Holy crap.
5. Because the one-two punch of “There Was a Time” and “Catcher in the Rye” come at the middle of the record. Anybody with half a brain knows that what seperates a good album from a really good album is the quality of the songs after the first three or four tracks. “Paradise City” was track six on Appetite; “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was nine. Democracy has foruteen tracks and while there’s no “Sweet Child” hiding for you in the 2nd half, there’s enough good to keep you listening and excited to the end. Even when you first hear “This I love” and think “Oh my god, what is this? Musical theater?” you’ll still find yourself oddly amazed by what you’re hearing and probably end up later thinking, “I kind of want to hear that musical theater song again.” It’s okay. Nothing wrong with that…
4. Because Cool Hand Luke gets sampled again. Along with Mississippi Burning, Braveheart, Casualties of War, and Seven. All in the same song (“Madagascar”).
3. Because nobody writes about Axl like Axl. And thank goodness the lyrics are included in the liner notes. You can pick and choose at random and no doubt will find something that we can only assume is Axl answering some of those questions many of us have had regarding his sanity over this lengthy journey that has been the making of Chinese Democracy. In “Catcher in the Rye” he writes “But every time I see them makes me wish I had a gun. If I thought that I was crazy, well I guess I’d have more fun.” Intrigued, hmm? What about “Better” when he says “No one ever told me when I was alone. They just thought I’d know better.” Is he talking about us? Didn’t we all think he’d know better than to take fifteen years to make an album? Or in “I.R.S.” when he sings, “I bet you think I’m doin’ this all for my health.” Or in “Prostitute” when Axl asks “Why would they tell me to please those that laugh in my face?” That’s a good questions, isn’t it?
2. Because it’s way, way better than Phantom Menace. And you waited sixteen years for that.
1. Finally, because Axl’s already won. You can sit and stew and not buy the record or make fun of it even. You can laugh at Axl’s hair, his weight, his voice, and his decisions that make up the story behind the music. (Guilty.) You can envision some fantasy where the original lineup stayed together all these years making great album after great album that all sound like Appetite for Destruction and all those classic songs you still hear in movie trailers and at sporting events. (Guilty again.) You can somehow convince yourself that even after 20 years and the loss of 4/5 of a line up, that you know exactly how Guns N’ Roses should sound in 2008. You can tell yourself that Axl should’ve just released Chinese Democracy as a solo album. But that’s kind of missing the point. What matters at the end of the day is what the music is, not what it could’ve been, should’ve been, or anything in between. And the one thing you can take away from all of this with absolute certainty is that the music on Chinese Democracy is exactly what Axl wanted it to be. The rest is up to you.
Today I’m gonna run a mix on your head holes (ears) that’s going to go in about a thousand different directions, so strap in and don’t put too much thought into my reasoning because I can assure you that I didn’t. Here’s “Hey Now Now” by the Cloud Room:
Note to Cloud Room: why haven’t I heard anything from you guys in like three years? Moving on, the Friday energy continues. Dance everybody! Here’s MGMT and “Kids”:
That’s a fan video. Not actually MGMT. Kinda weird, no? Well, not as Weird as this:
Ahh, those Japanese and their crazy tv shows. Hey, you know who else is Japanese? Boris:
Calm down. It’s too cold outside for that kind of excitement. Tell ‘em, Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer:
That song makes me think of Mad Men, which has an amazing opening theme that goes something like (but not exactly) this:
But you don’t care about TV shows on a Friday. You just want one thing:
Yesterday was “better”, today it’s even better. After holding on to his baby for more than a decade, Axl Rose is now making it available for free. The entire Chinese Democracy album is streaming over at the Guns N’ Roses MySpace page right this instant. Go rock the vote by clicking here. Crazy.
Kind of impossible to top that, so why bother? Go listen.
