iLove the internet

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of two albums set to drop by two of my favorite artists (on the same day none the less): Ryan Adams and The Cardinals as well as The Cure. Come October 28, don't call the Vesneski house because we won't be answering. In the meantime I have been treated to numerous live recordings featuring the new songs. On top of that, The Cure played a show in Rome that featured the entire new album in order and filmed it. The entire thing is up on youtube as well as various other trading sites. Now Ryan has posted the entire new album on iLike. They both sound great. Then again, they would to me.

Check them out!

Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within

Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within is one those albums that has been a stronghold on that list of albums to bring if stranded on a desert island. This live album is kind of like a best of (minus a few classics). The tracks are pretty evenly split between Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry songs. It is just such a beautiful album and the live versions of the songs capture a depth of sound that they never reached in the studio. They do a wonderful job blending world, ambient, goth, and ambient elements into their own sound. I have been listening to this quite a bit lately and just love it. There was a sister video released with the album that documented the same show. Here are a few of my favorites.

Rakim
Cantara
American Dreaming

... And The Other One

The other song that I just can’t get enough of will officially be released tomorrow as a digital single from iTunes and the likes. Ryan Adams and The Cardinals have been playing “Fix It” live quite a bit lately and it is classic Ryan Adams heartbreak rock.

Studio Version (cut)

The new Cure and Cardinals albums both land on October 28. Until then, the singles and bootlegs will have to do.

I absolutely love both of these bands and highly recommend either of them to anyone that loves music. They both make fantastic albums, but the real magic happens on stage. Any live recording of either of these groups comes highly regarded by yours truly. It's worth a visit to their fan sites.

http://www.ryanadamsarchive.com/? is a great spot for information and downloadable shows.

http://craigjparker.blogspot.com/ is like the bible for info on the Cure. They often put up links to cool live stuff as well. No torrents though :(.

The Perfect Pop Song

The Ear Candy holding pattern persists. Life in Rutneski Land has been quite hectic with Carley working now and our mad scramble to make sure that we have battened down all of the hatches before the winter season is upon us. I may have been neglecting my Ear Candy duties in this time, but my time listening to music has not been compromised in the slightest.

There are two songs that I have just been in love with recently. Yes, if you know me, you can probably predict the artists. No surprises here.

Today I want to talk about The Perfect Boy by The Cure. It was the final of the four pre-album singles released this summer. I enjoy most everything that the Cure puts out, but there are some songs that just rise above. This song could easily go down as one of their best singles. Live version.

It is a perfect pop song. It’s catchy as hell. Robert is adept at capturing a moment in time as well as the euphorically gleeful sense of infatuation. Robert also loves to implore broad innuendos that run the risk of being too vague or directionless. Not so here. All the references, but one are obtuse; yet narrow enough to make their sentiments clear. (Your take on the “Laurel Kismet Hardy” line is as good as mine)

In the first verse he takes on the voice of the female hopeless romantic. Her sentiments are unapologetically optimistic and deliberately naïve. “Oh Girl, He Is The Perfect Boy.”

The second verse takes on the voice of the male that is less idealistic and plays off of the female’s confessions with just enough of a tweak to the language to turn her forever ideals into his for-now seductions. “Oh Girl, He’s Not So Wonderful.”

And in light of the dismissed romanticism our heroin sees us out with an unscathed and boundless hope of finding The Perfect Boy.



THE PERFECT BOY

“YOU AND ME ARE THE WORLD”
SHE SAID
“NOTHING ELSE IS REAL
THE TWO OF US IS ALL THERE IS
THE REST IS JUST A DREAM…
ALWAYS MEANT TO BE
I CAN FEEL IT
LIKE A DESTINY THING
WRITTEN IN THE STARS
INESCAPABLE FATE
Yeah IT’S OUT OF MY HANDS
FALLING INTO YOUR ARMS”

“AND I DON’T WANT TO GET INNOCENT
BUT I WOULD LOVE YOU TO TAKE MY TIME
WE'RE ON THE EDGE OF A BEAUTIFUL THING”
SHE SAID
“COME ON…
LET’S STAY HERE FOR A WHILE”

Oh GIRL!
HE IS THE ONE FOR SURE
Oh GIRL!
HE IS THE PERFECT BOY

“Yeah ME AND YOU ARE A WORLD”
HE SAID
“BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE I NEED
THE TWO OF US IS NEVER ALL THERE IS
THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN FOR REAL
IF IT WAS MEANT TO BE US
IT WAS MEANT TO BE NOW
DON’T SEE THE SENSE IN WASTING TIME
IF YOU’RE SO SURE ABOUT THIS
LAUREL KISMET HARDY THING
YOU KNOW TONIGHT YOU’RE MINE”

“AND I DON’T WANT TO GET OBVIOUS
BUT I HAVE TO BE GONE BY THREE
WERE ON THE EDGE OF A BEAUTIFUL THING”
HE SAID
“SO COME ON…
JUMP WITH ME”

Oh GIRL!
HE’S NOT THE ONE FOR SURE
Oh GIRL!
HE’S NOT SO WONDERFUL
Oh GIRL!
HE’S NOT THE ONE FOR SURE
Oh GIRL!
HE’S NOT THE PERFECT BOY AT ALL

“YOU AND ME ARE THE WORLD”
SHE SAYS
“NOTHING ELSE IS REAL
THE TWO OF US IS ALL THERE IS
THE REST IS JUST A DREAM… ”

AND HER HEART MAY BE BROKEN
A HUNDRED TIMES
BUT THE HURT WILL NEVER DESTROY
HER HOPE…

THE HAPPY EVER AFTER GIRL
ONE DAY FINDS THE PERFECT BOY

Benny Lava!

The internet is filled with all sorts of wacky stuff. The wackiest stuff has to come from India.

Thriller

Benny Lava

Sadly, the videos are even funnier without the subtitles.

Feeling Dandy

Summer is over and it is back to work. August was filled with all sorts of wonderful tunes.

The Dandy Warhols – Earth to…
I don’t think that I have read a single good thing about this record. Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Blender all gave the most recent effort from Portland’s finest some of their lowest ratings. All of their reasons are true. A good deal of the lyrical wit is gone. There are some clear pop singles that don’t have the solid hooks that previous singles have had. There are some random genre shifts, but is that really a bad thing? If you have followed the Dandys, this is the path that they have been on since “13 Tales From Urban Bohemia.” They have been indulging in their whims and obsessed with making cool hipster psychedelic music since then. If you like them for what they are about, then this is a great album. Even more so, this is their first independent release since their mid nineties debut. Corporate constraints are no longer pushing the pop single. What it comes down to is it’s fun, much like all of their other records.




Tricky – Knowle West Boy
I thought that Tricky was done. He fell off the radar for a few years. This album snuck its way into record stores and online sites. And what a pleasant surprise. It is just fantastic. The trip-hop feel is still there, but in a far more organic way with some bluesy influences.




The Rolling Stone – More Hot Rocks
I recently picked up the sister compilation to the quintessential Stones collection, Hot Rocks. Like Hot Rocks, More Hot Rocks focuses on The Stones through the early seventies. Although this collection is weak compared to it’s counterpart, it is still a fun ride and interesting perspective on the roots of one of the greatest rock bands ever. A number of cover songs serve as a reminder that they had their own idols and were initially, just another rock band in the early stages of their career.

The reunion pt. 2

What is the true value of the reunion?

The notion of what could have been is as powerful as what already has been.

Recently, the Police reformed to take on a world tour that netted record profits. All of the original members got back together and they put together a solid nostalgia set for their long lost fans to reminisce to. Despite the astronomical ticket prices, I support this effort. Yes, it was a ploy to make some money, but the bulk of their audience is middle-aged people that are obviously willing and able to dish out a few Franklins in order to relive that 80’s vibe. The expectations were clear from the beginning; pay us lots of money and we will give you what you want. They did their tour and have once again, gone their separate ways. Their legacy is left intact. People still don’t know what more they could have offered.

There are acts that start like this, and then try to take it further. These are dangerous waters. Fleetwood Mac and The Bauhaus went out as legends with solid legacies. Each of these acts reformed in the late nineties for tours much like The Police (minus the outrageous ticket prices). Each then put out a live disc documenting the tour. Great! I love them both. That was great, but then they gave in to the temptation to add a new chapter to each of their stories. A comeback is a dangerous thing. A mediocre comeback can scar your reputation in the eyes of history. Fleetwood Mac’s Say You Will maintained and lived up to their reputation. Bauhaus’ Go Away White, written as a long overdue swansong, really brings their integrity into question.

When you are part of a disbanded legend, there is an unspoken expectation that whatever you were doing that was so great was going to get even greater. If you reform and put out an album that is just as good as the one that people remember you for, then that is the least that people expect. That is a very high and impractical standard to meet. From what I’ve heard of comeback discs, the ones that hold up the best are often the ones that take the music somewhere it hasn’t gone yet and often are met with skepticism by die hard fans.

How to make it work:
Say You Will blended classic Mac type songs that sit perfectly next to their songs from 20 to 30 years ago with songs that sound new. There is some real poppy stuff as well as some noisier stuff that reflects what Lindsey Buckingham has been up to on his own. It is a solid record that maintains their reputation and puts them in a position to either move forward or call it a day again without marring their place in rock history. Moving forward and adding new elements is key. Skinny Puppy broke up in the mid nineties under the duress of drug addictions, a tragic death, and a record label that abandoned them. The two remaining members went their own ways and grew artistically through their own projects. When they reformed in 2004 and brought all that they have learned over the past decade to the table, they created the most focused and brilliant record of their career.

How not to make it work:
Go Away White sounds remarkably like what the Bauhaus were doing during their short career in the early eighties. This would have been great if it were 1983. I like it, but it answers the question, “what more could they have done?” with a less than stellar answer: not much. Jane’s Addiction did the same thing. They retired as alternative rock gods. When they reformed and recorded a new record that was ok, it left the listener thinking, “Oh, I guess that was all they had to offer.” The question of what could have been is answered with a definitive answer, which is never a good thing. The Eagles also recently reformed and recorded an album of songs railing against the trappings of corporate America. And they released it exclusively through Wal-Mart. The fact that their comeback is a faux stand up to the man effort completely shatters their reputation in my eyes. It could be two discs of the best songs ever written, but it will still be a zero for its lack of integrity and sincerity.

The Beatles, Nirvana, The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tupac Shakur, Bob Marley and the Wailers, etc. These are all groups that will never reunite due to a lack of key members that are living. Because of this, their reputations are all the stronger. They are not only maintained by what they have done, but they are further immortalized by the notion of what they might have gone on to do but never will. They have never had to reach the point of revealing the fact there was nothing left to offer. If Curt Cobain had not killed himself and put Nirvana back together for a new album, I don’t think that his reputation as a genius would hold as well as it has and is set to.

As a general rule of thumb, the reunion isn’t a good idea long term. A band is really a complex relationship. When that relationship goes bad and you break up, it is kind of like milk that has soured. When it is bad, you throw it out. You don’t put it back in the fridge and hope that it will be better tomorrow.