Warren Zevon, Ten Years Gone

She's so many women

He can't find the one who was his friend

He's hanging on to half a heart

But he can't have the restless part

So he tells her to hasten down the wind

Sooooo…. Warren Zevon.  He has been dead 10 years as of September 7th.  That… is a day that will live in infamy. I never really knew what to do with him.  I knew he was west coast and was buddies with Jackson Brown and Waddy Wachtel and the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt and… everyone.

I knew “Werewolves of London” in all of its ubiquitousness.  It was...everywhere and it was funny… and annpying… and brilliant… and everywhere.  I was aware that he had a lof interesting songs.  In college I would blast “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and “I’ll Sleep When I am Dead”.  He was biting and ironic and could really pound a phrase and he made me smile but other than “Excitable Boy” I did not feel the need tp buy a lot of his music.

My eyes are stapled open wide,

As I lay down on my side.

I am bouncing off these walls.

As I focus on the clock,

Time stands still, but I cannot.

I should strap myself in bed.

I guess I'll sleep when I am dead.

But over the years he crept into my consciousness.

I found out he wrote “Hasten Down The Wind”.  I truly became obsessed with the song “French Inhaler”

How're you going to make your way in the world

When you weren't cut out for working?

When your fingers are slender and frail

How're you going to get around in this sleazy bedroom town

If you don't put yourself up for sale?

but “Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School” though a clever title with some awesome people on it (Springsteen and T-Bone Burnett)  it did not impress.. other than the haunting “Play It All Night Long”,

I'm going down to the Dew Drop Inn

See if I can drink enough

There ain't much to country living

Sweat, piss, jizz and blood

"Sweet home Alabama"

Play that dead band's song

Turn those speakers up full blast

Play it all night long

“The Envoy” released in 1982… lost me completely.  It was only later I found he was losing himself as well. In 1987 he comes back and with some help from REM releases “Sentimental Hygene” for my law school graduation containing the unstoppable…”Boom Boom Mancini”. one of the best boxing songs….ever.

Hurry home early hurry on home

Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon

Hurry home early hurry on home

Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon

Lyrics from eLyrics.net

“Transverse City” in 89 woul have allowed him to be forgotten by me again, but for the song “Splendid Isolation”.  “Mr. Bad Example” in in 1991 allowed me to forget him...again.  In 2009 he came back with “Mutineer” and it was all good, rollicking and smart but crowned by “The Indifference of Heaven”.

Time marches on

Time stands still

Time on my hands, time to kill

Blood on my hands

And my hands in the till

Down at the 7-11

Gentle rain falls on me

And all life folds back into the sea

We contemplate eternity

Beneath the vast indifference of Heaven

The frightiningly named “Life Will Kill You” gave us nothing but “My Shits Fucked Up”.  He finished his studio albums with “The WInd” which was uneven and brilliant and heartbeaking as he was dying.

But when you go back and read the lyrics.  The lyrics were always tight and brilliant.  Perfect and brilliant.  Brilliant and brilliant. Everyone admired the guys brilliance.  So I read the lyrics.  His son came out with a book of them shortly after his death and I was wowed all over again, and again.  So I went out and bought his first wife’s biography of him, “I’ll Sleep When I Am Dead (The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon).  And it was great and depressing.  If you love the west coast music scene of the last 30 years it is classic.  His ex wife Crystal did not write the book so much as just put together paragraphs by other people ranging from… everyone who ever knew him.  Relatives, girlfriends, musicians, singers, songwriters, agents, producers… all vaguley chronological.  And it is worth reading.

It is amazing as you read this… what a scared, arrogant, unhappy, brilliant, admired, insecure bastard he was.  When concerned about music he abused his women, serially.  He was a hopeless alcoholic, until he straightened himself out and had several years of revered sobriety before diving back in. Devestating to read.  Painful but true and realistically he could not live through it.  Happy for his friends success.  Bitter that he never got rich from his talent and always suspicious that he was a fake.  More than anything else reading the book as he struggled with people and music and alcohol and drugs to find pleasure that his life was the portrait of a godless life and the emptiness he found in that life ate him up, and those around him.  But God he could write.

Now, at this point in my life, his albums are a soundtrack for my life and perhaps all of ours.  Not always a happy sound track but a portrait of searching and sadness which resonates with anyone who  is lucky enough to remain living.  He was a beautiful, unhappy, sad mess.  I hope that he sleep peacefully now that his dead, but I suspect whether in heaven or hell he is making some righteous noise.  

I miss him or even more I miss the idea of him.  Sometimes the world needs reckless, self destructive beauty.  

But don't it make you want to rock and roll

All night long

Mohammed's Radio

I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful

On the radio, Mohammed's Radio

Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath

Keep me in your heart for a while

If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less

Keep me in your heart for a while

CD REVIEW: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME

Readers of these tepid pages who pay attention to my musical proclivities and total, atonal, lack of taste will have take prior note of my total obsession and drooling praise for John Darnielle and his band The Mountain Goats. His CD "Heretic Pride" was my runner up best of the year for 2008.

If I have not mentioned it before (but I think I have) I am a loather of "Christian Rock". The songs tend to a monotonous sameness that does not resonate in my secular world or frankly with my questioning and often confused "faith". I do love it though when pop stars explore some of their own faith issues for us. Darnielle carries an excellent recall of scripture with a secular Christian questioning and sometimes more then a little disdain for people who are so confident of their faith.

In this context I was REALLY excited to hear that the Mountain Goats new release would feature 12 songs with Bible verses as titles. Darnielle who has explored Christian themes before is cryptic about the CD's motivation and in Darnielle’s own words, “twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of.” Not that he’s suddenly had a conversion experience (Darnielle is still as religious as he ever was; that is, somewhat so, but unconventionally). The CD took a while to grab me but has now become one of those obsessive things that I listen to over and over agin and each time I pick another line that haunts or intrigues or just makes me think. Since it is in the context of faith and Bible verses it seems doubly deep and grave to me... which is really just silly but the fact is.... and you heard it here first.... this is some good shit. I have printed out each verse below not for anyone's benefit but my own as this might make for a somewhat amusing (to me) Bible study some time

Songs:

1 Samuel 15:23: King James Bible
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Psalms 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my goings.

Genesis 3:23 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Philippians 3:20-21 20For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Hebrews 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Genesis 30:3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.

Romans 10:99That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

1 John 4:16 6And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Matthew 25:21 21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

Deuteronomy 2:10 The Emims dwelled therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;

Isaiah 45:23 23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.


Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace (I picked the last verse...very heavy, all of Chapter 7)27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

This is an eclectic list of scripture borrowing heavily from old and new testament. Right now 1 John 4:16 is my favorite. The song is just beautiful, and mournful and so sad. The chorus comes through with this and I do not know what it has to do with that great Bible verse but:

"and someone leads the beast in on it's chain... and I know your thinking of me cause it's just about to rain".

Who thinks of words like that. Some of the themes become kind of monotonous. Getting your perfect body back..."I won't give up, someday I'll be free. I am not this body, that imprisons me". On the iTunes version he also includes Enoch 18:14 which I was not familiar with but was evidently pat of the dead sea scrolls. Apparently enoch was taken to heaven by God and did not see death. At least that what it says in Genesis. I did not know that.

Indeed.

Psalm 40:2 is the most anguished and reminds me most of last years "Heretic Pride". Be certain that the imagery he provides in the songs is troubling in most cases from this songs dark road trip through Missouri and Kansas to another trip across the country to sit at the deathbed of a cancer patient. Whether a lover or friend we don't know but... dark. And contemplative. And sometimes for those of us who believe but view what our Christian leaders tell us with a somewhat jaundiced eye... thinking is good... and the music is good with excellent percussion by John Wurster and occasionally my favorite mournful cello by Erik Vierlander.

Go give this one a listen. Listen 3 times.

Here are some pics from their Chicago show at the Metro from our intrepid reporter Jon Becker:

http://mangosquash.tumblr.com/post/234843531/the-mountain-goats-with-opener-final-fantasy-live

8 1/2 Slingers on the 10 scale.

Talented Crap

Gary Louris
Vagabonds






I listen to a lot of new music. perhaps by long established artist but new none the less in that most of it is previously unreleased. If you look at the Diner Review for these reviews you would see for the most part that the reviews are favorable.
This is for two reasons:

1. I tend to buy things from artists I already know and like; and
2. It is hard to review crap because i listen to it once and never again, filijng it in the rack of shame in my basement, never to see the light of day again. I do not even attempt to re-sell these CD’s used because it seems wrong to put them back into circulation. Someone else might buy them.

Gary Louris is an extremely talented guy. With Mark Olsen in the 90s they fronted one of my favorite all time bands “The Jayhawks” whose CD “Hollywood Town Hall” is likely on my desert island list of the the CD’s I would have with me under that ever increasingly likely circumstance brought about by global warming. Even after Olsen left the band to record awful, truly awful music by himself and to marry and divorce the open wound known as singer/songwriter Victoria Williams, Louris kept the Jayhawks going and put out some great pop and alt-country CD’s.

The Jayhawks were his band and it puzzled my why he would want to release solo. Was the band limiting him? Did he want the fame? The answers were all too obvious when I played the solo CD. It is pretentious, wan, smug, pretty, pretentious, effeminate, preachy, trite and pretentious. This si the worst CD of 2008. He put together a very competent little band highlighted by bassist/multi instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson and steel guitar guru Josh Grange and a band of his L.A. pals “The Laurel Canyon Family Choir” (me making gagging sound). A lot of people and recording artists have been ruined by California. Add him to the list.

I went to his website after listening to this piece of shit 10 times because I was so dumbfounded by how bad it is. And it is consistently bad. There is not one song on here that you would remember for anything other then utter insipdness. The website fortunately explains it all and I urge you to check it out.

www.garylourismusic.com. I did not have the heart or the stomach to look at his My Space page.
Seriously? This is a guy who has written a lot of fun music and been in a lot of fun situations with the Jayhawks and tghe alt country super band Golden Smog. And he gives us this Connor Oberst (without the talent) mope? My life is too short.

“Strip it down to what you can rescue.
Pass it on, what is right and true blue”.

Seriously? That line is from the cleverly named “True Blue” and is emblematic of the simple truths he so annoyingly conveys. We get it Gary. You reached middle life. You find life confusing but beautiful. You have absolutely nothing interesting to say about it but want to anyway.

Sample of annoying song titles:

“Meandering”
“We’ll Get By”
“To Die A Happhy Man”
From the epochal “Meandering”:
Laying Down Among The Dogwood
In The Corners of my mind
Seems the faster I’m running
The further I get behind”

I honestly started to make me angry to listen to this bad, recycled Dan Fogelberg album. If i were a moody, misguided, introspective, unhappy 13 year old boy I might be deluded enough to think that sensitive songs like this would make girls find me attractive and get me laid. I would be missing the point that they would also be vomiting and/or laughing at me and the music. It is at best a cyst upon the music scene and if he makes another solo album it could blossom into a cancer. Avoid it like you would a leper. You have been warned. lets hope he either records no more or goes back with the Jayhawks and views this as a learning experience. And for God’s sake, move back to Minneapolis Gary...SAVE YOURSELF!
0 Sliders (for the first time ever) on a ten scale.

Other Views:

Paste Magazine:

Former Jayhawks frontman releases first-ever solo album
Gary Louris is one of the unsung heroes of contemporary roots music. His band The Jayhawks made one of alt.country’s landmark albums, 1992’s stately Hollywood Town Hall, and since then he has collaborated with a range of artists including Jeff Tweedy, Rhett Miller, The Sadies and the Dixie Chicks. Strangely, Vagabonds is his first solo album, shuffling onto shelves some 20 years into his career and three years since the (permanent?) dissolution of The Jayhawks. All of the Louris hallmarks are present: the low-key choruses on “Omaha Nights” and “D.C. Blues”; the dusty harmonies of “True Blue” and “Meandering”; the country-rock hooks of “She Only Calls Me On Sundays” and the title track. Certainly, Vagabonds sounds warmly familiar, but over 10 tracks, the album settles into a genial lull that even the punchy “I Wanna Get High” can’t rouse. Too low-key to rival his best work, the album nevertheless serves as a reminder of Louris’ continued relevance.
See the Slant Review at:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1295

The Old 97's: Blame It On Gravity and at The Pageant

I have had a long time affair with Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s. It has gone through a lot of ups and downs overcoming him dropping out of college, starting a band, getting semi famous, getting a model for a wife, trying and failing at a solo career, getting back together with the band and well, kind of mailing it in. I would estimate that I have seen them play live about 12 to 15 times. More then any other band. I think Los Lobos would be second and Wilco is in there somewhere.

So it is always with some trepidation that I see that they have a new album coming out. Additionally they are of course touring behind it and I need to see them live. Trepidation comes because they are a very unlikely band to break through to new ground. They have a nice rocking, twanging sound. Ken Bethea gets better on guitar but he is not a virtuoso but he is just what the band needed. Miller is good looking, Murray Hammond adds heart and earnestness. Not a bad combo but also not a group you can expect to evolve like say... a Wilco.

And they have not.

Lets make clear. I still love these guys and Rhett is still cute but... there is not much growth. Still, growth is not all it is cracked up to be and certainly not for everyone. The new CD “Blame It On Gravity” came out last month and it is an excellent tuneful yet unremarkable collection. It starts with “The Fool: which rollicks along like ANY Old 97’s song. It tells a story of a guy in love. A fool in love. Who would have thunk it? Dance with me is Rhett Miller, breathy, I am singing about the girl but want the girls to be thinking about me, song. Only a girl could like it and maybe not even them. The third song “No Baby I” is much better and gives you hope. It has the poetry of Millers best work with the tag line “blame it on gravity, blame it on being a girl”. It is soft, lilting and works.

”My Two Feet”... I don’t know. I like it but seems a lot like all their new songs since Satellite Rides. The rhymes, work, the songs cute, Bethea's guitar jangles but, do I really give a shit anymore? “Ride” brings it back with quality again but there is very little rawness and it is still kind of a “look at me” song though Bethea gives us some high points as Rhett takes us on a ride. “She Loves The Sunset” is at best, insipid. “I love a girl, she loves the sunset”. Seriously? it tries to do an island hawaii thing. Lets just call it a mistake. “This Beautiful Thing”, Murray contributes... sort of. Murray is big, funny looking and bespectacled. he is married to singer songwriter Grey De Lisle and... I have never know what to do with Murray and this song does nothing to clear up the riddle.

“I Will Remain” finds Miller heading back to surer footing and is a good listen for someone who loves his voice like I do. I could listen to him chant the phone book but this is just a pleasant little ditty and an ode to eternal, lost, and unrequited love. “Early Morning” tries to become another “Four Leaf Clover”. Perhaps time will make me love it. I am not counting on it. “The Easy Way” might be the best song on the CD. It finds Rhett singing about love, Texas, jukeboxes and things he knows best. No guitar heroics, just Bethea slashing away the way he does best, in perfect time. “Heres To The Halcyon” seems to be about a ship, it tries to be too poetic and does not work. “Color of a Lonely heart Is Blue” is Murray Hammond at his best, which is singing just about the same note. If you didn’t listen to the words you would think he was singing “West Texas Teardrop”. But do not listen to the words. Fittingly they close with the best song “The One”. Miller sings about the band and relationships and bank robbery. My recommendation would be to download three or four of these songs from iTunes and call it what you need. Strictly a CD for a fan and a completist.

So that leaves us with their live show. The bottom line is that if you love them it is great live show. Rhett is still cute, albeit pudgier. He still can sing. Bethea is finally comfortable as a lead guitar player and is no longer embarrassed of his chops. Murray Hammond is talented and air tight on Bass and rhythm if needed and always solid on backing vocals and his songs where he sings are always a nice break from Rhetts too pretty vocals. I know I wrote all this without mentioning their longtime drummer Philip Peeples. He is a non entity on album or stage but like Mike Heidorn from Uncle Tupelo, it is not the band without him and if they lost him they would probably be done. Drummers are funny.

CD REVIEW: THE WOOD BROTHERS: LOADED

So occasionally you stumble on a good CD. Well made, nice tunes, very tightly played. You listen to it a bunch of times and claim it as your own... and then your standing in the Starbucks waiting for your vente (whatever the hell that means) black iced tea (unsweet) and suddenly you hear one of the songs from the CD. Does it ruin it? Does it validate your taste? Or is it a non-event and you are only considering how it e you because you are so dramatically self involved. Yes that is probably it.

This was recently my experience with The Wood Brothers new Cd “Loaded”. It was released in March and I listened and then listened again and... damn i thought these were fine songs. The Wood Brothers have been around for a long time and through at least three CD’s. They are Oliver Wood on guitar and vocals and Chris Wood on bass. Chris is one of the founders of the (I never got it) Medeski, Martin and Wood. Medeski produced this one and it is just a fine, listen-able tuneful CD.

One of the things I love about it is that it does not seem front loaded. Some of the best tunes are buried in the middle and the back. it is definitely a CD you could put on while chatting with some friends and having a drink and sooner or later someone says “who is this?” And as a music snob that is about all you can ask for. Oliver has a kind of young Levon Helms or Levon helms pre throat cancer type voice that just sounds real and mournful right from the start on the opening cut “Lovin Arms”. The happily named postcards from hell carries it on but aside from an interesting little noodling guitar line there is not too much there. Pray enough is a little more bluesy with even a New Orleans lilt with some sweet organ by Medeski. “Loaded” is a mournful drinking song which you have written and sung a hundred times. “Walk Away” is a throw away followed by “Don’t Look Back they make up the low part of the Cd both lyrically and energy wise. “Twisted” starts to ramp it back up and they really hit stride on Fall Too Fast” where he sings:

“Don’t let me fall to fast.
I want to fall slowly.
I want my fall to last”.

Amen brother Oliver.

After that lyrical delight they go into the boringly named but beautiful “Angel” which is just...just a great song. Written by that nobody Jimi Hendrix it just is lilting and nuanced and...great. they then cover Dylan’s “Buckets of Rain” in a pleasant romp that does not borrow too heavily from the man which is really the nice thing about both covers. they made them their own. They close it out with “Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor” and a song called “Still Close” and they are both listenable and would be a nice inclusion on anybodies CD.

These guys can just flat out play and there is something about brothers who have been playing together for so long and have so much history where the groove just...grooves. Buy it and smile and do not worry too much about the Starbucks thing.

www.thewoodbrothers.com

8 Slingers on the 10 scale

Record Review: Mountain Goats "Heretic Pride"

Mountain Goats
Heretic Pride








John Darnielle has supposedly made 17 CD’s under the the guise of The Mountaingoats since 1991. He is almost as prodigious as Ryan Adams and of late he has been a lot more interesting to listen to. His CD’s have always had a decidedly low-fi feel with classics such as “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton” which makes you laugh and cry as he sings their ballad with the chorus...”Hail Satan” sung in a half hearted, decidedly un-deathmetal way. Darnelle’s sturm and twang has been the voice and the sound of the group much as Bright Eyes serve Connor Oberst, Built To Spill serve Doug Martsch and The Decembrists serve Colin MeLoy. As I said he is always interesting to listen to but the production has always masked (or protected us) from his voice. Before the current Heretic Pride he sounded more like a Will Oldham whining, ranting style then anything else but on the recent CD we can hear all the lyrics and... who knew? Darnelle can sing. In a couple of different styles.

This is a really good solid mope rocking indie CD with some great songs. The use (over use) of the cello strikes oddly first... but then it starts to sound beautiful, mournful and... brilliant. Eric Friedlander who has played with a lot of people but does a lot with saxophonist Pete Zorn is just impeccable in this lightly orchestrated love letter of angst. Along with multi instrumentalist Annie Clark (sometimes of Sufjan Stevens fame) there is a lot of talent on this CD.

The first four songs get better with each listen. The Guardian praised the album as getting more interesting on every listen and I beg to agree. I hate to be such a fan but this is the best thing the guy has done and he is very talented.
The rack listing is as follows:

1. "Sax Rohmer #1" - 3:41
2. "San Bernardino" - 3:19
3. "Heretic Pride" - 3:43
4. "Autoclave" - 3:34
5. "New Zion" - 2:55
6. "So Desperate" 3:21
7. "In the Craters on the Moon" 3:32
8. "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" - 3:49
9. "Tianchi Lake" - 3:20
10. "How to Embrace a Swamp Creature" - 3:27
11. "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident" - 3:21
12. "Sept 15 1983" - 3:43
13. "Michael Myers Resplendent" - 2:52

“Sax Rohmer” is a great start which goes into “San Bernadino” which is just a pretty wistful song full of cello regret (I am thinking about registering this term) and... well I love it.The title cut is just too much and it comes third. “The transfiguration’s gonna come for me at last / and I will burn hotter than the sun,” he sings; “I will be so proud when the reckoning arrives.” For a drop dead nice essay on this song go to:

http://prettyfakes.com/?p=1298

My favorite song is Autoclave. How pretentious and obnoxious can one snobby indie rocker be?

“I am this great, unstable mass of blood and foam
And no one in her right mind would make her home my home
My heart’s an autoclave
My heart’s an autoclave”

I guess when your a pretentious indie boy there are no limits and you also have an obligation to extend your listeners vocabulary.

So not only is he an unstable mass of blood and foam... but his heart is an autoclave. Wikipedia tells us that an Autoclave is:

“a pressurized device designed to heat aqueous solutions above their boiling point to achieve sterilization. It was invented by Charles Chamberland in 1879.[1] The term autoclave is also used to describe an industrial machine in which elevated temperature and pressure are used in processing materials.”
Dude, that is his heart he is talking about.

One of the best critically reviewed songs on the Cd has been “Love Craft In Brooklyn”. Talk about angst. I will let his lyrics speak for themselves.

“...woke up afraid of my own shadow
Like, Genuinely afraid
headed for the pawnshop
To buy myself a switchblade
Someday somethings coming
From way out beyond the stars
To kill us while we stand here
It will store our brains in mason jar
And then the girl behind the counter asks "How do you feel today?" and I say "I feel like Lovecraft in Brooklyn!"
So at least he is a happy guy. This is no Vampire Weekend. This is a crafted CD, well instrumented and a beautiful mix of words and lyrics. This is, despite my condescending tone, a CD you absolutely should buy. So sayeth the Diner Review. 9 Slingers on the 10 scale,

Record Review: Cat Power Jukebox

Cat Power
Jukebox
 Chan Marshall as Cat Power has long fascinated, enthralled and infuriated me.  Her whispered, atonal mewing is enchanting and yet sometimes there is jus t a sameness to the whole thing that is numbing.  With a few exceptions her original songs have been unremarkable and her gifts as a singer has always been through interpreting other peoples works.  Sometimes it is brilliant, sometimes the song selection is questionable, but it is never uninteresting to see what she does with someone else’s tunes and while her covers may be eclectic and more geared to music snobbery then tunefulness her CD Covers was very well received and had a number of memorable tunes on it.  Her cover of the Oasis anthem “Wonderwall” stands as the brilliant mark by which any artist should be judged, reinventing the song in a way never envisioned by those pretentious little twits the Gallagher's or in the much ballyhooed Ryan Adams cover.  Find it on iTunes….BUY IT NOW!
 
So it was with some apprehension and anticipation that picked up her knew CD “Jukebox”.  Once again a collection of covers, some old, some new, some borrowed, etc… She did this one with the help of pretty much the same Memphis session players she used for her last CD, the critically acclaimed but ultimately disappointing “The Greatest”.  These musicians are brilliant and understated with Judah Bauer on guitar, and Greg Foreman on Organ accenting  her voice and framing her tunes.  This CD also has special guests on it like the brilliant Spooner Oldham on piano and organ and Matt Sweeney on guitar.  It is a sweet band for a sometimes silky sweet voice.
 
She kicks off with “New York” and she is no Frank Sinatra and you immediately think ooohhh! That was a mistake but… it grows on you like a fungus or in you like a cyst and now (although I would never want to drunkenly sing it at a bar) it has become my favorite.  She moves into a muted version of the Hank Williams (not Jr. or III) tune Ramblin (WO)MAN and it lilts along in a most pleasing way with it’s steel guitar muted in the background and frankly…beautiful.  The third song is hers, “Metal Heart”, and it is surprisingly good.  Lee Clayton’s “Silver Stallion” lilts along followed by “Aretha, Sing One For Me” which unhappily sounds a little trite coming from a woman who does not by any estimation have a “big” voice.  James Brown’s “Lost Someone” is a non starter… and even after it fails to start it goes no where.  “Lord Help The Poor and Needy” seems to resonate but I do not know if that is because of her cover of it, or because it seems to be a relevant song to life right now.
 
She veers suddenly to brilliant again inn her cover of Dylan’s “I Believe In You” which you can also find on the sound track of the recent non hit movie “I’m Not There”.  This song works on every level with a great, almost Keith Richards on Xanax like guitar rift that counterpoints her reading of a song that when Dylan does it is almost unintelligible.  She follows up with her own “Song To Bobby” with the usual disappointing results and then reaches out and fails on the Billie Holloday song “Don’t Explain” before closing with a one two punch of Spooner Olhams “Women Left Lonely” followed by a really thoughtful version of Joni Mitchells under rated “Blue”.
 
The CD is cohesive and at times brilliant and enchanting but even as it fits together the unevenness of Marshall’s performances and commitment to these songs as she goes through it is distracting.  I think that when she stops recording she is going to leave us with a really sweet greatest hits package and I guess that is feint praise indeed for this critics darling.

Best Music of 2007

Diner Review Best of 07 Composite

In the Diner Reviews constant, unrelenting, never-stopping, emotionally engaged and as always completely selfless effort to provide a service to it’s hapless (hopeless) readers, here is the Diner Review Best of 2007 Composite CD. If you drop me an email with your mailing address I will burn you a copy because... well that is just the way I roll. So if you want it, drop me an email at wantonbecker@gmail.com or post a comment here...whatever. Do not panic. This will be followed up an over all “best of including books, movies, concerts.... Merry Christmas!

OH! ONE MORE THING! Make some additions, post your own list here or email it to me and I will post. Do it!

One more thing. This link was forwarded by a friend. It amused me:

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_worst_band_names_of_07?utm_source=avclub_rss_daily

1. “Our Life Is Not A Movie or Maybe” (Okkervil River: Stage Names) The whole CD grows on you but Will Sheff and the boys have ripped off another sweet little psychotic CD complete with hooks, rhymes and a nice back-beat. This song of course leads you to the conclusion that your life is like a movie... and not a good one. His songs never end well. I like that.

2. “Fire It Up” (Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before The Ship Ever Sank) The Mouse returns with quasi tragic, surreally brilliant CD which is... chock full of quality indie rock. “Fire It Up” can be read a lot of ways but will of course be regarded as a stoner anthem... why not? As the ice falls off the roof and the snow piles up outside, why look for deeper meaning?

3. “Black Like Me” (Spoon: GaGaGaGa) I have decided that this Spoon CD is likely one of the underrated CD’s of the year and this song begs for inclusion in a “hip” TV series. Perhaps on fax...maybe the new one called “Quarter Life” about all those interesting, self involved 20 somethings coming out. Good, self pitying and tuneful. Who could ask for anything more?

4. “Flat Head”(Fratellis: Costello Music) A curve ball. A 2006 release which of course did not capture the imagination until those taste makers at Mac put it on a iPod add. Who said the Brits are dead. This song thrums along in post punk hum along way that brings us to an in tune Clash.... that sold out. Awesome.

5. “We’re Not Alone”(Dinosaur Jr.: Beyond) Because sometimes, even if it is not his best work, you just need to hear a little J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. The album rocks but because I am old I grabbed a softer song with understated guitar and plaintive vocals. Sweet.

6. “This Better Be Good”(Fountains of Wayne: Traffic and Weather) The boys from Jersey are back and this pretty little ditty of teen age angst and betrayal plays right into their sweet spot making cultural references to Dockers, the Gap and some girl who evidently is not telling the truth... heartbreaking in a way that you cannot feel bad about.

7. “Spirit Road”(Neil Young: Chrome Dreams II) Neil Young off of “Chrome Dreams”. Might not be a brilliant album but this is a song I can see him peeling out at concert for the next 20 years or so. Neil scathes indignantly searching for meaning as he lectures us on “the path”. Do not look for Dali Lama brilliance from Neil but crank it up and perhaps even open up the windows. The emperor still has clothes, even if their not new.

8. “Weird Fishes”(Radiohead: In Rainbows) From the formerly free on line Radiohead CD “In Rainbows”. This song is just tuneful and reminds me of the best art rock of my youth. Pretentious and precious Michael York. You other love the guy or you visualize blowing his head off gangland style... but this is a pretty song and the whole CD is pretty great.

9. “15”(Rilo Kiley: Under The Black Light) Rilo Kiley big disappointment for 2007. Big swinging horns and Jenny Lewis lilting voice make this song a really good one on an otherwise lackluster album. Your standardized song about having sex with a 15 year old girl. Sure Jerry Lee Lewis (no relationship to Jenny) did it better 40 years ago but what the hell?

10. “Either Way”(Wilco: Sky Blue Sky) Jeff Tweedy and Wilco’s pean to middle age “Sky Blue Sky” is... even as I prepare to leave middle age, a brilliant, sweet, tuneful masterpiece and this sad, sad song about a relationship (marriage) which is...ending or perhaps restarting is great. Even the sweetened strings don’t ruin the earnestness of his voice or his prose. Buy the CD.

11. “Soul Singer In A Session Band”(Bright Eyes: Cassadega) Connor Oberst (The Oracle of Angst From Omaha...not to be confused with Warren Buffet) turned out a really nice e CD in this years “Cassadega” and it has a lot of good songs on it and this is one that I did not play to death but it show cases his ability to turn a phrase and make something out of nothing. Also, his band plays very tightly on this one.

12. “Sunshine Super Man”(Rickie Lee Jones: Party of 5 Soundtrack) Another curve ball. 1995 release on the “Party of Five” sound track which I had never heard before. This was one of Donavan’s funkiest and coolest little songs and when you throw in Rickie Lee Jones voice... she reads it like she reads everything else... like a stoned beat poet. Made me smile.

13. “A Little Bit More” (The Good Life: Help Wanted Nights) The Good Life... more mopers from Omaha on a side project to the band Cursive. This guy can really whine in a way I love and plays a nice subtle electric and acoustic guitar interplay here as he complains to the poor girl who he thinks he loves... Omaha must really suck and the girls there must all be whores.

14. “England's Latest Clown”(Graham Parker: Don’t Tell Columbus) Graham Parker is one of the greatest singer
songwriters of our time and is so well regarded by critics as to elevate him to almost god like status and he puts out great music every year. Fo a 50 something he can really song too and this song about Pete Doherty of Baby Shambles and his trials and travails (oh to be a heroin addict rock star) as the next best thing is biting and poignant.

15. “Don’t This Look Like The Dark”(Magnolia Electric: Sojourner. download only) Simply a brilliant song by Magnolia Electric in the Jay Farrar Sun Volt/Uncle Tupelo mode he tears along with a a soft Neil Young guitar over his strained, throaty vocals as he despairs... and then despairs again but this is one of the best songs of the year.

16. “Jericho Road”(Steve Earle: Washington Square Serenade) Steve Earle comes back with a CD about his move and his life in New York and being in love but in the middle throws us this night metaphorical song about life, love, family, betrayal...etc... good shit.

17. “Single Girl, Married Girl”(Levon Helm: Dirt Farmer) The Band is dead! Long live the Band! Levon helm shoots back at throat cancer and the world with his one of a kind voice on a great album. Helm as the bands drummer always carried the weight with his voice and back beat and this CD is a triumphant one. This song is kind of an old timey throw away but it has his voice, some nice backing vocals and some tasty picking. Pick it up.

18. “Act Naturally”(Dwight Yoakem: Dwight Sings Buck) Dwight Yoakem sings an albums worth of songs by his late friend and mentor Buck Owens. Dwight has always been a better singer and player then the “Big Hat” country boys and in his honest readings of Owen’s sometimes brilliant work he proves it again and again. I included this one because it makes me smile. If you do not know Yoakem’s voice you should.

19. “Underneath The Stars”(Peter Case: Lets Us Praise Sleepy John) Peter case is one of the greatest living singer songwriters and though the whole CD is breathtaking but this song about a homeless lady and her cohabitants who sleep out. With Carlos Guitarlos singing back up it is a song that tells you everything you don’t want to think about in regard to a life and a reality that we refuse to think about and with our current government are encouraged not to. It is easy to slip.

20. “Simple Twist of Fate”(Jeff Tweedy: I’m Not Here Soundtrack) Nothing new by Dylan this year but Jeff Tweedy’s reading of this beautiful...beautiful song from the “I’m Not There” sound track demanded inclusion. The great thing about tweedy here is that he is every bit as tortured as Dylan... but you can make out all the words. Download it and remember what great song writing really can sound like. Miss it.

Record Review 20: Levon Helm "Dirt Farmer"

Dirt Farmer





Soooo... what do you say about Levon Helm? Drummer, mandolin player, guitarist, bassist and ragged american voice for one of the quintessential American (Candaian) bands aptly called... “The Band”. The Band was originally “The Hawks” and at one time Levon and the Hawks. They made some good music but Dylan recruited them as his touring band in 1965 and 1966 and then they recorded The Basement Tapes with him and then went on to their own career which includes classic albums “Music From The Big Pink” and “The Band”. In classic over blown fashion they memorialized their swan song in the movie “The Last Waltz”. Helm’s status as cultural icon was more then sealed when Elton John recorded the song “Levon” about him.

Since that time Robbie Robbertson has had a minor but interesting career but Helm was always the interesting one in the group. His voice gave the textures to their great songs “The Weight”, “Ophelia” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. After the band broke up he continued to record and to act in a lot of movies, most significantly being in the picture “Coal Miners Daughter” and as the narrator of the movie “The Right Stuff”. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1990 which might have ruined his voice or... might have made it better depending on your own tastes. Helm has been hosting what he calls “The Midnight Rambles” on a regular basis over the past few years at his barn in Woodstock New York and among the hipster intelligentsia they have gained an almost mythic word of mouth. You can check out the Rambles as well as some unusual CD offierings at www.levonhelm.com.

He has not had a lot of solo material out there but the cancer and the midnight rambles have served togive him a sound and a voice that any alt-country fan can grab hold of and chew on like a bone. His new CD is a bunch of blues and country traditionals along with some originals written by other people. recorded at his studio in Woodstock his band includes Amy helm, Larry Cambell and Theresa Williams and they hold down a nice musical low end which sets up most each and every song for his plaintive, raspy, former tenor. Some of it is haunting along the lines that Ralph Stanley’s version of “Oh Death” was haunting but most of it just rolls like a river and is soothing in an earthy way that works you over from your gut to your brain.
“False Hearted Lover” kicks it off with a nice whine and twang and rolls right into the title cut where he adds an accordian and a fiddle. Both are traditionals but then he breaks into Steve Earle’s “The Mountain” which Earle recorded with the great Del Mc Coury Band and while this does not have that type of bluegrass sensibility it is kind of a wrencher. He adds the great guitar player Buddy Miller on vocals and it is a great cut. He rattles off a couple of more traditionals in “Little Birds” and “The Girl I lef Behind” before taking on Byron Israels “Calvary”. Calvary starts with a little guitar reminiscent of the late Chris Whitley and he rambles on giving you a little pump organ along the way. Good stuff. he does a song called “Anna Lee” next wish is about... Anna Lee.

He then does two songs by a guy I am not familiar with named Paul Kennerly. A little wikipedia research and googling tells me that he is an english singer song writer who was married to Emmylou Harris from 85-93. These are blusier songs set to nothing much more then Helm’s voice and a mandolin. he moves into a little sing along called “Single Girl” which has some nice backing vocals by Theresa Williams and then the traditional “The Blind Child” before closing with a bluesy ramble (yes I said it again) called “Feeling Good”.

The CD does not have an artsy feel. I wonder how long it took to make because it has an “I can do this all day” feeling to it but I am sure since it was recorded at his home studio that it probably labored over a ton. This is an excellent effort and for those of us that lived and died over The Band’s remake of Springsteens “Atlantic City” (everyone should download that on iTunes today) this CD really scratches an itch.
8 Slingers on the 10 scale

Vacation VI: Amoeba Records

Amoeba Records is the largest independent music store in the country. It boast 250,000 titles. that is not 250,000 CD’s my 20 year old pointed out to me “but separate titles dad.” they probably have close to a million CD’s on site. It started in Berkley and then a second one in San Francisco before migrating south. My son and I have never been blessed enough to attend the northern California stores but no trip to southern California is acceptable without a pilgrimage to Amoeba.

As I have bemoaned in this space before, the internet and big chains have killed the independent record store. In St. Louis we only have two of any consequence (Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records) and even our local chain of Streetside has fallen by the wayside. So an independent music store like an independent book store is to be treasured and admired and when it claims to be the biggest one in the world... pay attention.

The place sits on Sunset in Hollywood and although we fought 2 1/2 hours of mid day traffic through Orange County and L.A. to get there it is an inspiring place. It is huge and imposing. They have an acre of pop/rock CD’s but the real beauty of the place is stated on little placards where they admonish you to check their used CD section because they are cheaper and indeed they are. The place is a music snobs wet dream. When you find the slot for an obscure band like Okkervil River the place card also directs you to look in the sections for Will Sheff and Shearwater.

My mind tends to go blank when I walk in and my carefully disciplined shopping plans get flung to the four winds. I look at the many names over the CD’s (ignoring the new releases section as you can find those at Best Buy if you need them) and start wandering around and thinking of slots I need to fill... T-Bone Burnette’s back catalogue... oh look a life recording of a set by J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.) playing solo at CBGB’s., two out of print Okkervil River EPs. A Magnolia Electric EP where they cover “Werewolves of London.” All good stuff that you simply cannot find anywhere else...even on iTunes (gasp!)

We were on a surgical strike having to return to the rest of the family by five and I was deathly afraid of the traffic returning home so I only looked wistfully at all the great poster art and concert art they had on display knowing I could lose an hour there is I started to look and i had neither the time nor the budget. I scanned their “folk” and “country” sections impressed by the mass of quantity and quality (They had over 30 different Johnny Cash CDs for instance) and then looked at the comprehensive vinyl section which was larger then any St. Louis record store all by itself.

Equally joyful is watching my son shop. I tell him I will buy him four CD’s and I feel pretty good about that until I see him separating out the 4 most expensive for daddy’s charge card. he is getting some rare Decembrist’s, Modest Mouse, Mountain Goats and some bands so pretentious I do not even know their names. I beam with pride as we check out and ring up 130 dollars in purchases. They have like 20 check out stations and the last time we were there on a Saturday night it took a half hour just to check out. Bottom line is that the place is amazing and that whenever in L.A. or Berkley or San Francisco... hit Amoeba and be AMAZED!

Record Review 19: Neil Young: Chrome Dreams II

Soooooo... what does a real fan of Neil's have to say about yet another Neil Young CD? Neil turns 62 on November 12th. Including his Buffalo Springfield and CSNY albums he has now put out 50 (that does not include 6 live albums and three compilations) albums over those 62 years. I think maybe...maybe with the exception of Dylan, no one has that body of work. During that time...for the last thirty years and certainly since “Rust Never Sleeps” Neil has been jesus (little j) in the holy trinity of Mike Becker’s rock pantheon along with Dylan and Elvis Costello. His body of work is overwhelming and even as a fan I would argue inconsistent and often frustrating but he has struggled mightily, kept playing whatever was interesting him at the time and kept himself relevant.

So. Chrome Dreams. When you hear the first song :Beautiful Bluebird” you have a fear that we are going to be suffering through (for me at least) another “Prairie Wind” attempt to recreate one of his seminal albums “Harvest.” “Harvest” was a moment in time frozen and one of the things that made it so brilliant was the change of pace it represented from California rocker to Nashville tune-smith. He went the opposite way here from when Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk festival and it was brilliant. He was also at the very height of his creative game and all attempts to recreate “Harvest” (including in reverse order “Prairie Wind”, “Silver and Gold” and “Old Ways”) have been major disappointments. Between the mournful harmonica and the starting lyrics regarding his pickup and bluebird and then the chorus... well I threw up in my mouth a little.

The banjo picking which starts “Boxcar” reminds me of his early, eerie non-hit “Turnstiles” from “On The Beach” or even “Captain Kennedy” from Hawks and Doves and here the CD starts to pick up. This is a good tune and Neil is not mailing it in which is comforting. (At this point I picked up typing a brilliant review which I failed to save so from here on is an attempt at reenactment...it was brilliant though...I swear!) Boxcar rocks and then we move on to “Ordinary People” which clocks in at over 18 minutes. This is classic Neil ranting that we have all come to cherish. It is a picture of America and politics and all that is right and wrong....with horns. “Shining Light” moves towards weak and gay and trite. Once again it could be a bad “Harvest Moon” out take. Skip it other then listening for his voice which is...sweet.

“The Believer” picks up again with a little reggae one drop thing but once again it is just his voice, he mentions songbirds and church bells and being a believer in a girl (stealing from the Monkees?) Other then the cheesy background vocals it works. “Spirit Road” is next and it just kicks ass bringing up “Zuma” road songs and all that is grand and glorious about being a Neil Young fan. It has to be hard to rock hard at 60 plus years but this tune delivers... and then delivers again. It is a song that makes you miss Crazy Horse but it stands alone and is the best tune the CD hands down.

“Dirty Old Man” is self explanatory. it rocks more like “Fuckin Up” or “Welfare Mothers” and frankly that works but then he goes into “Ever After” which other then it’s steel guitar offers me almost nothing. I would argue that he is struggling with the slow paced country songs on this CD. Some of my favorite Neil has been in this genre but this is not it. The tune is much more interesting then the lyrics and though the playing is flawless it is flawed by silly back ground humming and just feels mailed in.

“No Hidden Path” seems self indulgent at 14 minutes after the earlier 18 minute cut. You get the feeling he is trying to deliver a “Cowgirl In The Sand”/”Down by the River” one two punch that is hard to deliver when you are out of your twenties. Still...though long...this song rocks and it is worth repeated listening. The CD topples in on itself with “The Way” which seems like an Omaha..indie rock children's sing along. I am sure it is heartfelt and comes from somewhere beautiful but jeez. On the same album as “Spirit Highway” you need to give me this. I really hate it and it is a downer.
All and all this is a good CD. It has the requisite 3 songs that make it worthwhile and since it is Neil it is always worthwhile even while your wading through the average stuff which I am very harsh about it is still great. You grade harder because it is Neil. I do not worry...i do not think it will hurt his self image.

8 Slingers On The 10 Scale

Record Review 19: Neil Young: Chrome Dreams

Record Review 18: Radiohead: In Rainbows

Soooooo... did Radiohead just suddenly change everything? Somehow it seems unlikely but in any case...how cool was that? On October 10th (my birthday) those pretentious English fucks Radiohead released their brand new CD “In Rainbows” on their own web site. Not on iTunes. Not in stores. Just on their site. Other people, bands etc... have released songs on their own site and sometimes given them away but no one has released a whole CD for free on a web site for nothing. Of course it was not really for nothing and that was the kind of cooler part.

You could pay them whatever you wanted. You just filled in the blanks. How ever much you wanted to pay... in pounds of course. Anyway...once you heard about it and logged on it was rather surreal going and typing in an amount and getting to download the songs. You could also agree to pay a lot more for a special boxed set. But why? The exciting thing and the big difference was because this was one of the most popular bands of all time, arguably at the height of their game. So how did they do? Wired magazine said this:

Estimates: Radiohead Made $6-$10 Million on Initial Album Sales
By Eliot Van Buskirk October 19, 2007 | 11:35:45 Am

Thom Yorke's representative told me that the band have "decided not to give out any figures" for sales of Radiohead's In Rainbows album, but that isn't stopping people from making their best guesses based on what little information is available.
The Seminal estimates that Radiohead sold about $10 million-worth of albums as of 10/12, assuming that their source was correct that approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the album from the site, and that the average price paid per album was $8 (we heard that number too, but also heard that a later, more accurate average was $5, which would result in $6 million revenue instead).
Meanwhile, Forbes and BigChampagne revealed that on the first day the album was available, 240K people downloaded it for free over BitTorrent, and that over the following days an average of 100K people per day did the same, for a total of over 500K BitTorrent downloads over the initial week of its release.  It appears that even though the album was available for free on InRainbows.com, plenty of people preferred to use BitTorrent rather than Radiohead's site, which required an email registration (although some of those BitTorrent downloads may have been the result of slowdowns on the ordering site).
We're working on getting some sales numbers through another channel, and will post those if/when we can.

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

Wired Magazine cannot be wrong. Can it?
Anyway...what about the CD itself? Radiohead has always been problematic for me. Their “Genius” being somewhat hard for me to get at behind the drum machine and synth heavy tunes. Still, even for me there was no denying “OK Computer” being one of the top indie rock CD’s of all time. Thom Yorke aside from being a pretentious Brit prick has an ear for the tune and through his work has established serious indie cred both for himself and his high school band-mates from Oxfordshire.
“In Rainbows” is in a word... dreamy. I have listened to it about 15 times now ensconced in my office and the same word just keeps suggesting itself. I am still bothered and somewhat distracted by their reliance on electronic effects for percussion and that plays out right away in the opening track 15 step. Something I had not noticed before was how Yorke’s vocals often mimic Ray Davies of the Kinks. I look at that as a good thing. The second song is a rocker with a crunchy guitar called “Body Snatchers” and the Ray Davies thing is reinforced for me pretty dramatically.

The Yorke slows it way...way down with something that sounds like it should be a soundtrack cut because your mind conjures up all kinds of visuals...and then he starts to sing and it is just... a weird song he calls “Nude.” Then the Cd gets really good with a well crafted soft pop tune called “Weird Fishes” and this is classic Yorke for both song style and lyrics:

“I get eaten by the worms
Weird Fishes
Picked over by the worms
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape”

That type of shit. But it is compelling and you cannot explain but have to listen. “All I Need” follows up with a plodding synth and drum beat that is very radio ready. It is all symbolism and metaphor with Yorke being... in order

1. The next act waiting in the wings
2. An animal trapped in your hot car
3. A moth
4. In the middle of a picture

Until he starts to tell you as the song winds down...Its all wrong. It’s all right.” No shit.
“Faust Arp” Sounds like a soft Jack White song set to strings. It is really very pretty and Yorkes’ voice is hard to fault. The strings and guitar remind me of a late seventies Fogelberg album and sadly I do not mean that in a big way. In a lot of ways this song like a lot of their songs is just so well put together, so well produced and played that it is just...too pretty.
“Reckoner” has an edgier feel and you really get an appreciation for the brevity of Yorke’s lyrics. There are no sweeping epics. Stories do not get told. He does not take you from point A to point B but each song is like a separate picture hanging in a museum with the words and tune providing color and perspective and sometimes you can even make out a picture. But it is murky. “House of Cards” clocks in as the longest track on the CD at 5:28 and it is just pretty.

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” other then the drum machine is just an excellent pop song. I like it because i think I can discern what he is singing about which is the bad end of a relationship. That is what music is supposed to be about. Leave the sweeping themes to novelists...that is what daddy says. The end with a dreary little ditty called “Videotape’ which starts with a plodding one finger on one key piano which makes me think Neil Young is about to start singing “A Man Needs A Maid.” But he doesn't. But the song does sound a lot like that tune in style. it is either about dying...or about a great date. I guess they could be the same.

My whole sense of the CD is that is probably more accessible then any of their work since “OK Computer”. perhaps the appearance on Southpark made them take themselves less seriously but with Yorke I doubt it. He is one of those guys that I would be anxious to see what he could do outside the studio sitting at a piano by himself writing and singing all stripped down and unpretentious. There is unfortunately nothing that is uncomplicated by about Yorke and his mates or this CD. You have to listen... and listen again and hope that you can get it...because all the cool kids do. And this album is probably worth the study time.