Now Hear This!

The Ottawa Citizen's Weekly Arts and Books section included an article that could not be more apropos if I had edited it myself: Bruce Deachman reviews 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. How do you tackle a 960-page tome? Deachman compares his own (short) list of "must haves" to the book, and bases his judgement on whether or not those certain few gems are included. It is a good way to do it: an album everyone agrees on is certainly a must-hear. I will refrain from publishing my own set of prerequisites; the book has (so far) not disappointed and I will spend too much time thinking about what should have been included. If you think about it, 1001 albums is really too much. The editors must have been scrounging for semi-worthy albums (one major omission, I must say, is Dylan's Desire. It includes "Hurricane," which is enough, but also other gems, such as "One More Cup of Coffee." Like I said, I could go on for a while with this). Deachman's article isn't that great. But I like the coincidence.
I'm at 1996. Next up: 1997.

Flowers for Algerbon

My Valentine's flowers from the Drake. :) I can't show you the jelly beans because I ate them all.

Love notes in the laundry room...

I came across this note at Found Magazine, which publishes ephemera found by the magazine's readers. This particular note is too weird/scary to not post about.I would like to find this guy and put him in a dryer until he is dried to my satisfaction.

1982 and counting

Since I'll be reading 1001 Albums for a while, I figured periodic updates were required. I'm at 1982 now - finished with punk, California rock (=Eagles) and heavy metal. New Wave is just beginning, as is "post-punk," which seems to be a catch-all phrase for bands that seem smarter than The Sex Pistols, which is pretty much everybody. Rap and hip-hop are also burgeoning: I just read about Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. But the most interesting synopsis of a 1982 album is also the most obvious:

"Thriller is surrounded by a cloud of statistics - the biggest album in history, it sold more than 40 million copies on its first release; it shifted a million copies a month in the first half of 1983; of its nine tracks, seven were hit singles.
It does not stand up as well as Off The Wall overall, but some of its meticulous fusions of pop, rock, and R&B manage to improve on even that template. Ignore the ridiculously camp title track - a song that drains the life out of the record at the end of side one - and concentrate on the undisputed masterpieces. The funk opener "Wanna Be Startin' Something" serves the same funtion as Off The Wall's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" - a minimal, riff-based framework for Jacko's hyperkinetic hiccups. It also "borrows" rather heavily from Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" (Jacko's lawyers made a large out-of-court settlement). Elsewhere you will thrill to the airbrushed funk-rock of "Beat It" (Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo was cut and spliced from 50 different takes); while "Human Nature" is a digital ballad so beautiful that Miles Davis covered it.
But the star turn is "Billie Jean," on which a creepy, electronic bassline gets under your skin while the dubious lyric asks you to side with the paranoid millionaire superstar rather than the impoverished single mother. Like the rest of Thriller, it is machine-tooled pop that has been painstakingly crafted by state-of-the-art session men for months, but there is not a note out of place.
Jacko's increasingly freakshow lifestyle should not detract from the brilliance of this album." - John Lewis

Ahhh the good old days. I've actually reached albums that I remember listening to. I enjoyed Thriller, both the album and the song, of which I think the reviewer failed to account for its popularity among five-year-olds. Don't forget to watch the Olympics. Another medal for Canada today.

the Homepage of Mr. David Hutton

As a former editor of the U of S student newspaper, Hutty has certain views on "freedom of the press"; I'm delighted to see that that includes linking to those incendiary cartoons. Power to the people, Dave!

My Buddy Kenny

Be sure to watch the Olympic bobsleigh event in the next couple of weeks - a friend of mine, Kenny Kotyk, is on the 4-man team (thanks for the link Jamie!). Kenny starts on the 24th, so be sure to watch!

Check out CBC's bobsleigh site here.

Revolver is the greatest

I'm reading this great, great book right now called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (edited by Robert Dimery). Though I normally don't dwell on death (I'd call the book 1001 Albums That Make Life Great), this book is a great read. It's more in depth than Rolling Stone's Top 500 albums, and it's ordered chronologically to give a less subjective feel. The descriptions give, I think, a good idea about why the particular album is on the list, as well as what other albums are linked to it and thus should also be listened to. I've only reached 1973 (Stephen Stills and The Byrds appear a lot, surprisingly, along with the usual suspects), and I started at 1961, so I've got a bit to go. I have tried to put on the albums that I own after reading its review: Music From Big Pink, Moondance, Led Zeppelin III, All Things Must Pass, The Velvet Underground and Nico, Who's Next, Bridge Over Troubled Water; so far the best listen, and review, belongs to Revolver:

"Once The Beatles were fab and gear; now they oozed self-assurance. It is there in the mysterious black-and-white cover, a line drawing-cum-collage created by Klaus Voorman, whom The Beatles knew from their Hamburg days. It is there in the ambiguous title - so much cooler than the mooted Abracadabra, Magic Circles, and Beatles on Safari.
And it is there in 14 unimpeachable tracks. Or 11 if you were American in 1966, since Capitol put "I'm Only Sleeping," "And Your Bird Can Sing," and "Doctor Robert" on Yesterday and Today, a hodgepodge of album and single cuts that Revolver actually knocked off the top of the Billboard chart (again, very cool).
Revolutionary at the time - 'I am sick,' declared McCartney, 'of doing sounds that people can claim to have heard before' - Revolver resounds down the decades. Earth Wind and Fire brought the brassy strut of "Got To Get You Into My Life" into the disco era. The Jam carbon-copied the rifftastic "Taxman" for their UK chart-topping "Start!" And The Chemical Brothers based a career on "Tomorrow Never Knows."
Revolver is cited as the point when The Beatles broke up: they played their last paying gig weeks after its release, Lennon and McCartney were no longer writing together, and Harrison was rumbling with resentment.
The payoff was astonishing, and summed up by its sole single, "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby": one side a children's song that will outlive us all, the other a string-driven lament that even today sounds nothing at all like pop music - yet is still, like its parent album, simply brilliant." (Bruno MacDonald)

I hadn't listened to this album in a while and was blown away all over again: "She Said She Said," "For No One," "I'm Only Sleeping," "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Eleanor Rigby" - the rest of the songs are great, too. Give it a listen next chance you get. Then read 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Knoop admits false identity of writer JT LeRoy

More identity forgeries in the world of literature. This is becoming scandalous: the literary world is well on its way to being as reputable as baseball or wrestling. Or, in the defense of authors, editors and publishers are becoming lazier. I'm sure that most publishers insist on meeting an author face to face. Perhaps a valid driver's license should be required before signing a contract. Of course, authors are resourceful if not nefarious and could easily obtain the proper identification. Gee, sounds like a novel.

CBC Arts: Knoop admits false identity of writer JT LeRoy

A Chance Meeting With the PM

I guess I should've reported this last week, but I was too excited. On Friday I was working at Chapters when who else but (now former) PM Paul Martin comes in. He's got his goons with him and everything, and he browsed the Social Science section before heading to the Travel section, which happened to be in my general direction. In fact, he walked right toward me. I took the opportunity to say hello and shake his hand. I also thanked him for his (seemingly) honest final press conference; I appreciated the candor, I said, and he responded with a (I'd like to think) genuine thank you. What I didn't say was that he could've used such polite manners during the campaign. He might still be in office had he done so. Anyhoo, apparently he picked up some books on Turkey, so perhaps that's as far as he has to go to get away from the embarassment that was the Liberal loss. Also, he's much taller than I guessed: at least 6' 3'' in my opinion. I don't know why that's important, but there you are.

Confessions...

I've been listening to a lot of interesting music lately and I thought I should share my list of favourite songs with everyone since I'm not posting about anything else (insert apology here). I'm not sure what to call this list; there is no unifying theme other than they're on my hot list this week.

Local God - Everclear. This gem from the Romeo and Juliet Soundtrack is a true rocker released before they got too big for their britches.

Morning Bell - Radiohead. Both versions have been on repeat. I recommend listening to the Kid A version first and then kicking it up a notch with the Amnesiac version.

One More Cup of Coffee - The White Stripes. This is a Dylan cover from The White Stripes' first album.

Helpless (live) - Neil Young and The Band. I recently picked up The Last Waltz, a concert film about The Band, and determined that this version of "Helpless" is one of the best performances on the DVD. Neil never fails to impress.

Snowbird - Anne Murray. This may surprise some, but if you've never heard it before, I recommend that you take a listen before you pass judgement.

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - We Are Scientists. This new cut is pretty catchy.

Sirena - Calexico. Another catchy tune, this time with horns and a "south of the border" sound.

The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash. The title track from Cash's last studio album is the best song on an album that includes covers of "Hurt," "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Personal Jesus."

You Only Live Once - The Strokes. The latest album from the Strokes is still in heavy rotation.

Movies of Myself - Rufus Wainwright. Rufus's voice is a little bit much at times but here it's just right.

Publish My Love - Rogue Wave. All you fans of The O.C. know this song.

Hung Up - Madonna. {no comment}

What They Really Think About Monkeys

Read Craig Taylor's article at CBC about The Arctic Monkeys and Britain's pop machine.