I reviewed the Dead’s final concert ever yesterday and here I reviewed a night at MSG in 2009. As a writer I was trying to write less densely here, sixteen days after posting my first rock nyc story, after a couple of more weeks I gave up on the effort. As for this review? You’re gonna like it, but not a lot
Murder In The City – Brandi Carlisle – I prefer her album to Kacey Musgraves, and this deep song about a brothers love for his sister is very moving and very lovely, “don’t go revenging in my name”, Brandi’s brother tells, the bands unbreakable. Her father says, “I love you and I’m proud of you both in so many different ways” – A
The shift in the sales tracking week related to the new global release date will result in adjustments to when our charts, and charts-based editorial content, will be finalized and presented on Billboard.com. All charts will be refreshed each Tuesday morning on Billboard.com starting July 14 (as opposed to the current Thursday). As has historically been the case, Billboard’s charts are post-dated to the second Saturday following online posting (now 11 days later). So, charts that go live on Tuesday, July 14, will be dated July 25
Every time I write about business I am more disgusted then the time before, We are well past the time when people of good faith may differ, there is no good faith anywhere and Tuesday’s dead.
Damned – Miguel – To close out his huge new album, here is a straight up rock and roll circa right this second track: a pouning anthem of dark desire, “I’m damned for loving you”. Well, now we know – B+
So given the facts, I neither want to provide a link and barely want to mention them at all. I just went in search of a quote of one of their dumbass reviewers, but all three I read were pretty good so here is the upcoming albums. You know what to expect right, Jason Isbell, The Chemical brothers and Tame Impala and that’s just next week…
Julie Burchill, Adrian Thrills, Danny Baker (who singlehandedly turned me back on to r&b), Lester Bangs (the only Atlantic cross over star), Nick Kent, Charles Shaar Murray, all under the leadership of Nick Logan and his second in command Neil Spencer. I actually interview Nick when the face came out, which he owned, and for me, there was no difference between Nick (and Julie, who I also interviewed) than John Entwistle. Hell, even the letters pages were excellent.
The World: Greece Made easy – they are defaulting on $300 Billion in loans and Eurozone (the one currency European new world order) won’t bail em out without austerity measures aka cutting pensions, etc. The Greek’s just voted on it, and said no. Now the world awaits. PS The Germans are getting mean again.
Pure Imagination – Fiona Apple – Fiona takes on Willy Wonka and finds the gothic downbeat horror in the spectacular dreams of children, she sings it perfectly but the high drama music is a major downer. I am sure why you would do it – C
And didn’t the Dead used to be a blues band some of the time, rock band mindfuckers? They sounded like Americana, tasteful country jams? This is all rural psychedelia. More magic mushrooms than LSD (or heroine for that matter). Bashful jams that tailed off because they couldn’t figure out where to go.
By the end of the damn thing you’ll realize none of it made the slightest bit of difference even within the Terminator universe. So, beware of # 6 which has at least this going for it, it can’t be much more of a waste of time for a movie that opens with its best moment: young and old Arnold battling each other.
I am searching Van Morrison on Apple Play (nothing much), listening to Weezy on Tidal, putting together an overview of last week’s releases on Spotify, adding a Godfather scene to a song sharing page I belong to on youtube, watching the Nina Simone documentary on Movietube and finally, I have MLB’s “Fare Thee Well” open waiting on 8pm for the Dead at Chicago
Cool For The Summer – Demi Lovato – This won’t win the summer sweepstakes and maybe shouldn’t ether, but the hook is the stickiest thing you’ll hear all summer and it has a very sexy vibe that is, plainly, undeniable. That’s the thing about pop in 2015, you can’t count anyone out – A-
A female English teacher got 22 years in prison for having sex with three 17 year old boys and aborting a pregnancy with one of them. 22 years? Murderers don’t get that, violent rapists don’t get, Ponzi schemers don’t get that. Jennifer Fichter? She gets that. Incidentally, if any of these guys happened to kill someone, suddenly they would be adults in the eyes of the court. This is fear of female sexuality
The US gave Japan a spectacular drubbing in the FIFA Women’s World Finals, four goals in the first 16 minutes. A spectacular win and revenge for 2011 (not to mention Pearl Harbor), Carli Lloyd’s hat trick, three goals before the game had even kicked into gear was too much for Japan to come back from. The Yanks still in first place (by one game!)
What, you ask, is young Lionel doing at the top of the charts? Well, apparently he was better at Glastonbury than he was at the awful show I saw at Barclay’s Center last year. And so, after 23 years, he returns to the top of the charts. Those British are crazy.
The Rita Ora is new to me, but it is a real good, nice little use of a cliche and checkout OMI, makes me think there might not be a flat out winner this year, no “Call Me Maybe” or “Blurred Lines”. Not bad MOR dance pop music for the masses. We’ve had worse.
I just checked on Itunes Store… they aren’t there either. Does Prince want to protect his copyright so much he doesn’t want to sell the albums at all? It is so very strange, These can’t be albums he isn’t proud of, Crystal Ball alone is better than anything he released this decade. The man is a nutcase, he should put all his music anyway but at least he should sell them.
The problem is, Weezy has been off his A Game since 2008, and the man has all the gifts he needs to be the top of the game. Yet he isn’t any more. When I saw him with Drake last year, he more than held his own. On record, he can’t catch up with his student. Weezy needs to free himself as well as his album.
Whiz, bang, boom, shangalong, I don’t know about domestic animals but some humans (hi guys) loath the rockets red glare, noisy, smelly and dangerous, and, if you’ve ever been in a war zone, an instantaneous flashback. National back slabbing day,hope you had a good time!
My Heart Races On – Lil Wayne – A terrific central part of the puzzle from Weezy’s new album FWA, or do I mean mixtape?. His second one this year and here is the keeper, a self portrait so sweet it bleeds all over the hook by… who he? Jake Trouth… the best line either the one where the devil exchanges his soul or the one where he turns back to see what second place looks like – A-
Why was Costello the great rock and roll savior? I might claim he was my savior because he was the first rock start to look like me but he didn’t really, he was better looking than me in 77 and he is fatter than me in 09. And his love life wasn’t mine -he may have been getting fucked over but he was getting fucked anyway unlike, well, certain unfortunate 18 year olds.
I’m not saying Jake McElfresh doesn’t deserve some form of punishment, maybe all his punishment. What he doesn’t deserve is to be condemned by EVERYBODY, most of whom have no business condemning anyone. Will the world be happy when he kills himself for texting a dick pick?
This is all about Taylor Swift and two nights at Metlife, the eagerly anticipated 1989 reaches ground zero (nearly, oddly enough no nyc gig though I did catch a preview of this show at Jingle Ball last December). I have tickets for both nights, pretty good seats as well, and I have sky high hopes that this will be her best show ever. Still, perhaps it is time she began including more of her old catalog? We will see this Friday and Saturday.
Memories Are Made Of This – Val Doonican – This doesn’t swing, it sways, the definition of easy listening, it takes an innocuous and lovely song and turns it into fluff. A gift the late Irish crooner had in abundance – B+
Celebration time, at 240 years of age the US is in the middle of their difficult 20s and who knows where it all ends. ends? Perhaps the country finds in feet and becomes a superpower Europe, or perhaps it divides itself back up? Whatever the answer is, there is no greater countr. Who else has invented jazz AND rock and roll (and the teenager).
not quite as filled with goodies as last week but I never what you are staring at excitedly! But guess what? You ain’t gonna heart it. It is only available through Tidal tomorrow, the second big get for Tidal in two days. The other was being the final streaming platform allowed to stream the Prince catalog. So ignore Lil Wayne, and what do you have? I’m sick of Ghostface Killah, so pass on that, Little Boots, Veruca Salts grand return, The-DReam (aka missed the boat after 4) and… Cradle Of Filth???
Some people kill themselves because they are sad and in pain and they don’t think it will ever ever change and they may well be right, it is a lost wire or something, maybe a spiritual difference, there is nothing but constant pain and now for those who remain, as Julie noted, they lose their sadness but gives it to the survivors.
Fatal Flaw – Titus Andronicus – As we get closer to the release of The Most Lamentable Tragedy, it becomes clear there is a whole lot of baggage to go along with Patrick Stickles epic disaster disaster, sort of “Inside Outside” for solipsistic egomaniacs. And with songs as great as this, a flat out masterpiece and one of his greatest Stickles’ songs of all time, I could care less.
there must be some reason there is nothing to do today, with the possible exception of the Soft Parade, the great Doors cover band, at BB Kings. Meanwhile, the big rumor of the moment is Pearl Jam are performing at this year’s “Global Citizen’s Festival” on September 26th. This will be my third year, so far I’ve seen (among others) Stevie Wonder and No Doubt each perform great sets. Finally, P-Funk on Governors Island.
Future Is Mine – DJ Cassidy – Featuring Chromeo, this takes the sound of prime disco and tries to copy it, to exhilarating effect, this is like a step backwards into the present, tinny but smooth as well – B+
Really, talk show hosts? Really? I am getting one day off from my advertising job and no days off from rock nyc, and what are the other half doing? They are getting two weeks of reruns. Not for nothing, but do some damn work. What the hell is this. If I was James Corden I would go out of my way to make sure I’m working. God save Conan, the only guy to wake up and do his job. A two week vacation… I dunno, man…
The thing to keep in mind about this week is it is much less a great song than great album week, the albums accumulate force but without too much stuff sticking out. “people Want to Hear About Love” is the perfect example of a pretty good song on a pretty good album. Most things here are pretty good and also? There will be a lot more of them…
Believing the confederate flag should be taken down from Government buildings is not the same as approving TV Land canceling The Duke Of Hazards… This is the problem with attempting to do the right thing, censorship, in this case completely ridiculous censorship, is the next step… I don’t know of the TV show being a gateway to racism anywhere at anytime TVL is the problem not the solution
– Nobody Hangs Out Anymore – London O’Connor – This is the modern equivalent of bedsitland, a place where young people mope to a purpose, but it is great, a beautiful low key triumph for the rap slash singer songwriter wondering where the good times have gone – A-
What is with this institutionalized lying? It is a little on the unseemly side, especially for a website whose job is to give a fair counting of sales. Perhaps, and I’m just saying here, it has something to do with their advertisers here? Why bite the hand that feeds you?
So far I’ve gone from Highway To Hell to Back In Black to the latest and have done nothing but enjoy it. Welcome AC/DC to the 21st Century, stream em now.
This is awful bland though Billboard made an interesting comment, Silento is the third rapper, Fetty and T Wayne were the first two, to go viral on youtube and then break pop. None of the songs are particularly good, though they aren’t terrible either. The “nae nae” hook is addictive. Otherwise, another boring week on the charts.
How could the charts be any more jumpy? Five new releases, two newish releases, and three holdovers from 2014. One neo soul, one American, one country, one old school, and five pop albums. Break it down any way you cant this is a highly caffeinated piece of work, and if you added up all the units, you would go Gold combined.
Some weeks are bigger than others and some are just ridiculous in their greatness. This is one of the biggest weeks for pop records in recent history: Miguel, Vince Staples, Neil Young, The Internet, Bilal and Joy Williams all had potential albums of the week. And I can’t listen to them fast enough.
Hells Bells – AC/DC – From the death knoll that opens it to the blues breaker lick that follows, all the way through the end of the song, this does two things at the same time, it toughens out AC/DC even in the midst of intense loss, and connects the extremeness of power pleasure and power sorrow: a mythic “you’re only young once but you’re gonna die” – A+
Overlord – Lamb Of God – Three years after their last release, Randy on the bombs sound more like Soundgarden than anything human, and while the plod of the hard rock first three minutes is new territory it is only new for them, the final three minutes is business as usual but the riff remains the same and it isn’t one of their best – C
And so the wars begin in earnest and at first look, Apple has done a good job of integrating their streaming service into their Itunes library. I said at first look, I am already having problems on the client. I prefer the Itunes search engine to Spotify but otherwise, Spotify is superior
Candidate – Johnny Marr – With his first solo album, he had at least a handful of ace songs to go along with his guitar playing and what this boring piece of UK rock proves is… now he doesn’t – C
Live is where he comes into his own as a no nonsense UK rocker who has a better feel for harmolodics then you might imagine, everything here is about arranging a sound where nothing sticks out and nothing goes under, just like Be Here Now taught us, it is like a mountain that is all peak.
The Monsanto Years – Neil Young And And Promise Of The Real – From “Harvest” to “Harvest Moon” to “Wolf Moon”, this isn’t the devolution we have been promised but rather a wildly eccentric rock and folk mash up, that works better than anything Young has done since Psychedelic Pill. Even the seven minute song that gives the album its title is a goodie, plus it is politically smart – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – B+
Unlike most months you can think of, June belonged to two songs, Dawes “All Your Favorite Bands” and Titus Andronicus’ “Fatal Flaw”. The former is easily their best song, a genius benediction to a former love and the latter was so good it made the brilliant “Dimed Out” sound like an also ran. If these don’t end up in the top five singles of the year, I assure they will be in the top ten.
Before This World – James Taylor – A late career masterpiece by Sweet Baby James Uncle, songs as sweet and strong as memory and as strong and lasting as this exact moment, as though before this world there was this world and just this world was then and now.
Marshall Crenshaw’s album by segments is now in its second year and sixth installment with no lessening in quality: six new songs, six covers, six live songs, six re recordings, and all about exactly what you would’ve have hoped. Much like the Easybeats cover here, “Made My Bed, Gonna Lie It”, it is youthful, quirky, superbly arranged with some great harmonies
You Are In Love – Taylor Swift – As my own personal Taylor Swift backlash continues unabated, I so regret she lost her balance and became removed from the world she created and I guess I’ll feel that way till I see her on stage next week. Meanwhile, this song, written for Lena Dunham, reminds us how though the world has changed her, it hasn’t infected her songwriting – A
