Adventures in iTunes land Day 5

I need to start by first clarifying a statement made in my previous post.  My husband never said he doesn't like The Allman Brothers.  That particular conversation we were discussing Lynard Skynard and in general the superiority of Rock bands coming out of England compared to those from the U.S.  It's still an on going debate, though I have conceded many points to him.  For such a small country Britain has produced a large amount of excellent talent. And when you compare similar artists, the British artist is often technically superior.   However that doesn't apply to all (ahem, Spice Girls) nor does that mean that the American artist doesn't have equal talent and musicality. And I feel that all of the examples where the British artist is better are from at least twenty years ago.   You always hear Zepellin, or Pink Floyd, the Beatles. The more recent examples don't make for as convincing an argument.  

Ok, moving on to today's listening.

Primus Antipop (1999), Antipop indeed.  I only know Primus as the group that did the South Park theme song. That, and the uber-funky bass sound. My sole reason for adding this to my iPod is that I love that bass sound.  It seems silly right? I was never much of a engineer/production geek ( You know the "I wonder what kind of effect they put on his vocal to get that sound" types) but something about that slap bass is so funky it draws me in.   Their Wikipedia page described the music as Funk/Metal.  Which didn't become very evident until I got to Laquer Head, which I would definitely describe as metal. Admittedly I'm not digging this song too much. At least it's more interesting that most metal is, and it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, which makes listening fun. But, I would definitely need to be in a certain kind of mood to pull this out and listen to it, and probably not the album in it's entirety.  I keep checking to see how many songs are left to go, I feel like I've been listening to this for hours and there is still more to go.  It's like I said about Metal in a previous post.  It's fun, it grooves but ultimately it's boring.  I could turn it down and put it in the background, or maybe put it on at a party. It's lively, you can bob your head to it and it won't distract you from conversation. As far as listening to it for listening's sake... I doubt I would.  I did like the last track, the kind of twisted carnival vibe of "Coattails of a Dead Man" and "The Heckler" (hidden on the last track) were the most interesting things to listen to on the album.  Fortunately there is some Aretha to bring me back to the music. "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" is hands down my favorite Aretha cover and is probably topping the list of the most played songs in my iPod.  Kudos to Otis Redding for writing this awesome song but let's face it, he could never do the song justice, and in my opinion neither could the Rolling Stones.  This should be the only version of the song people talk about, but unfortunately I think it's little known. I only discovered this until late in my Berklee career. Now, I'm a big fan of Aretha, so I'm a bit biased, but even I will say that not all of her soulful covers are great(i.e. "Elenor Rigby") but when she's on she's really on. This song just has so much energy when she's singing it, I only wish I could have seen this performance live, it must have been remarkable.  

"I Want You To Want Me" - Cheap Trick, always fun.

Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison ( 1968) I'll admit to being a bit of a Johnny Cash poser.  I never considered myself a country fan which I'm sure my music collection shows, but I knew 

Cash to be something of an icon. High Fidelity got me curious about reading "Cash" by Johnny Cash, which according to Rob is the best book he's ever read, and I generally trust his opinion on all matters of pop culture.  Even after that glowing endorsement I never bothered to check out Johnny Cash until "Walk the Line" came out.  I realized then "Hey this is good music!" So when I saw my boss had this album I snatched it up.  To add to my poser-ness I usually only listened to the songs that I liked from the movie. (I know it's shameful) My thoughts after a full listen through? While I still don't consider myself a country music fan I can see why so many people are. With it's simple harmonic structure and pretty melodies and lyrics that are so expressive you feel them in your soul, country music has a way of touching people that other styles don't.  The lyrics are never very profound, but they manage to, in very few words to perfectly express a particular emotion, or story. Painting this vivid picture in our minds of what is happening in the song. "Inside the bars of prison my body may be, but the lord has set my soul free" is a beautiful line, and that was written by on of the inmates!  

Throughout the album  the theme of a fallen then redeemed man plays heavily, I'm guessing that was intentional given the audience.  But it's a compelling theme even for someone not physically behind bars.  A man can feel trapped in many ways besides physically.  And the songs tell this story so fluidly, with a  playful narattive that takes some of the bite out of the sad stories .  Granted,  some songs are better than others, but that is the case with any album. I recently sat in on a song writing class where singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick was speaking.  She was asked by a student if she needed misery to write well; if that was the best inspiration for her songs.  She gave a resounding yes and then said it's ironic that some of the most joyous music is made by those who are the most miserable.  Suggesting maybe it was her white girl guilt that made her write songs of sadness and heartbreak.  What strikes me about this music is even though it is all about men down on their luck, miserable, lonely, or sick with love. The music is toe-tapping and the lyrics are whimsical.  The music, while being about misery, is an escape from it at the same time.  It's refreshing.

Avenue Q (2003)   I didn't think this would make the cut.  I know it's an award winning musical but come on... puppets?  Really?! But the few songs I have from the soundtrack are hilarious.  "Grab your dick and double click, the internet is for porn" is possibly the best lyric ever. Hilarious! I think I may need to make a trip to the library to get the whole album.  

Beyonce B'day(2006)  I'm discovering that I only like top forty singles.  All of the songs I didn't know from B'day fell short.  They would start with a nice catchy beat and then the vocals come in and ruin the nice set up.  I Love the sample at the beginning of suga mama,  then the rest  of the song is blah.  The one surprise was "Resentment".  I recognize the song they're sampling and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember it, but regardless, it is a nice old school sounding song and she is great on it.  I feel her strength is her live performances.  Whenever I hear her records I think "ehh" but when she's there with a live band performing it's always off the wall. That same energy is missing from the recordings.  I think the difference is the live band.  Call me old fashioned, but a machine can never replace or duplicate  the energy of a live player.  It's my main issue with most "R&B/ Hip Hop" music that's been coming out lately ( like the past 15 years!).  Beyonce is enough of a star to pull it off, most others aren't.  

I got to Back and Black, but I'm suffering from listening fatigue so I think I'd better stop. I'll post days six and seven shortly.  This post is really long so I'm going to try to listen a little everyday and keep the post shorter. Thanks for bearing with me as I figure this thing out.