‘Your post was reported for violating Facebook’s Community Standards on nudity’? Of course it is totally false, Tom Grant has never posted any nude pictures, and he is a very ethical guy who has even deleted comments, if they were too accusatory against Courtney Love or anybody else.
The Rolling Stones have been teasing out alternate takes from the new Sticky Fingers deluxe upcoming release for weeks now. Translation? No unreleased new songs old material on the album. Jagger has noted he wished he hadn’t given it all to Exile On Main Street. Too late now.
Things Happen – Dawes – This is meant to be the introduction to a very very big album, and it might be and it might take a coupla spins to introduce itself in any real way, but an early listen shows a well played not very good song, a touch oversung – B-
What Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry prove on this last Autumnal tour is decay is a process of the body first, the brain follows it sadly and Tuesday night, we followed the Who down, as they seemed bother eternally Mod kids (I mean the opening, better portion of the show) and elder statesmen battling forces beyond their control. They were kids in old men’s bodies.
The 385,000 units shifted of “Bad Blood” is pretty impressive though I personally am not so crazy about the Kendrick verse as the rest of the world. Plus, not my fave track on the album at the best of times though Taylor certainly keeps changing the plot on us, doesn’t she
Would I have wanted “Tulane”? Sure. “Fake Friends”? -I’d have taken “Fake friends” over “Cherry Bomb”. “Star Star”? Fuck yeah. But the diminutive spitfire looked ageless and sounded timeless and she had no problem filling an arena. Long may Joan be what she is.
I bet Twenty-One Pilots are opening up the bottles oc champers, whatever the downsize of the music biz in 2015 might be, the upside is everybody gets to have a # 1 album. This is the seventh by a new act, this year. Meanwhile, in the smaller share US, the Billboards award catapulted Taylor, Meghan and Ed. Finally, Bradley Gilbert has a song with featured singers Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett. Or as we like it to call it, a breesome.
I saw Refused at the FYF fest three years ago, and they were absolutely terrifying, I mean their fans were and the result was not only a very chaotic scene but also an apocalyptic vision at the end of their set. I had never stepped on so many lost wallets, broken glasses, and trashed shoes in my life
Back in the late 80’s, Don (Mr. Hollywood) Butler and I discovered the sounds of this wildman. I cannot remember who heard him first…me, him or Little Richard, but I do remember we were instantly hooked by the wild piano playing and insane vocal stylings and his crazy hair-do
What does it mean when you don’t hear great music because it was never written? It is like me, childless, all the wonderful kids I never had and all the wonderful songs I never heard because they weren’t written or because I couldn’t find them and that is the great sorrow of this maybe great moment in pop music. We can’t hear it.
Hours before I go to see the Who perform a Greatest Hits set, here is a 2012 viewing of Quadrophenia, and I am interested in how much difference three years makes. I enjoyed this show, but I saw it two more times before the year was over and it wore off me…
I’m going, though it is gonna be a long night (looks like till midnight), I’ve wanted to catch the band for months now and finally I don’t have to go to fucking Brooklyn. I’ve haven’t been to a club.. oh wait, I went last week. Anyway, I’m still going
Illusion – Zedd, Echosmith – Brutally bad, EDM mainstream pop, it is so annoying it seems to twee in your ear like an irritating bird. Zedd is the poster boy for lame EDM and Echosmith give twee whole new vistas of meaning – C-
‘Disappointed with the Satellite’s pittance is privilege policy’, he wrote. ‘Why do musicians go for this crap? I’m just now reading this show advance for tonight and will never play there again. No pay, no parking, no area-plays 2wks prior, no soundcheck, and ‘just checking in to see how promotion is going?’
I wasn’t crazy about Rocky when I caught him at MSG, and “1 Train” had worn off, but this is a huge album in the middle of a very good year. “LSD” is the best song he has recorded, and the Rod Stewart, Miguel and Mark Ronson featured “Everyday” is a pop move that may well break pop, and the darker stuff features the likes of M.I.A. and Kanye West. At the least, acid is a lot more interesting than weed – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
I only go to New York if I have to, nothing feels special there when you’re creative, everyone feels like they’ve seen and done it all, hard for me to be inspired.’
The Bullfighter Dies – Morrissey – Moz, defender of those who can’t defend themselves, and bullpit for causes no one has the power to approach. It is a shame that he doesn’t have a better balance or better songs, this has neither. “Hurray hurray the bullfighter dies and nobody cries…” isn’t gonna cut it – B-
The thing to keep in mind here, is this was Bruce as superstar, as popstar, as icon, as white Michael, as God, but what he gave was a performance for the ages which made a mockery of questions of sell out. Preaching to the converted, sure, but some of them were the newly converted.
None of it makes the slightest bit of sense, all of it is Disney pretty nonsense, the acting is bad, really really bad, three people wrote the script and if any of them can make sense of the story they chose not to share it. Why is the world gonna blow up in 58 days? Something to do with people not caring but why would that mean the… ah screw it, it isn’t worth the effort.
The woulda’s and coulda’s all day are going bye bye,’… she deleted the tweet afterward of course. The blocked fans couldn’t believe it and tweeted ‘i can’t believe the person i idolize has blocked me. after me paying vip for the pinkprint tour and everything. Nicki Minaj blocked me… because i told her i can’t afford tidal and i asked her to put the videos on Vevo.’
When Bruce Springsteen performs a three hour set we get 30 songs, when Paul McCartney does the same length set we get 25% more as last nights truly epic 41 song set at London’s 02 proves unhesitatingly. Paul is the Ramones of 60s rockers!
‘George came up to me at a party once and said ‘my Paul is to me what your Paul is to you.’ He meant that psychologically they had the same effect on us. The Pauls sidelined us. I think George felt suppressed by Paul and I think that’s what he saw with me and my Paul. Here’s the truth: McCartney was a helluva music man who gave the band its energy, but he also ran away with a lot of the glory.’
There is a Las Vegas bidding war between the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, The Venetian and Caesars Palace, and is in line to ink a $40 million deal.Look, if Adele was willing to do an Arena tour the chances are excellent you could gross in the $150M level. But if she isn’t willing to play Arenas, where is the money?
All endings is my ending, time is so inexorable, so relentless, so infinite but not for me, every change, every wedding, every death, every hope… I haven’t much watched David Letterman in many many years but if ever anyone seemed to be sick of having a Late Night TV show by the end of it, Letterman seemed sick of it. He was ready to leave. But his left is our left and the least sentimental television personality brings out the sentimental in me!
Love 3 X – ZZ Ward – I saw Ward a coupla years ago at Beacon Theatre opening for Gary Clark t Beacon Theatre and wasn’t thrilled, indeed so unthrilled arrived late at another gig she was opening, but this is a major breakthrough. Bubblegum blues as catchy as you could hope for, saucy, sexy cool, crazy shit – A
There is so much music out there that I feel if you could find all the good stuff the 2010s would be the equal of the 00s… but how do you find it? Overhere at rock nyc we try and save you time by telling you what to listen to (that’s also why we use grades so liberally, so you don’t even have to bother reading it). The next decade should be interesting at the very least…
The UK invasion isn’t very invasive any longer. And when you aren’t quite sure what to think, grade C covers it all. You’re all average and hey.. that’s ok
Seems this weeks singles have the combined appeal of bananas and sardines. Leave it to the UK to show us Americans what theyre made of.
We’re on the verge of irrelevance. You have to make stuff relevant to you and where you’re at, make an honest account of what you’re going through. If that’s relevant to other people, great. But we don’t know.’ So why do U2 now think they could be relevant with this new music? Looking at their recent setlists they play a lot of these innocent songs, while the Stones play ‘Sticky Fingers’!
Despite what his label pretends, Jack White has declared music sacred because he is a pompous royalty pissed off that the system allows kids to get his music for free. He is angry that Tidal is going to sink, because why would anyone pick Tidal over Spotify or YouTube when you can use these two for free?
That leaves only Three Day GA and some superduper expensive tickets which, when my ship comes in, and let’s be honest, unless more of you cats read this music website might not be in this lifetime, I would buy in a heartbeat
With Ed off on his stadium tour, which reaches New York this week, I thought it might be worth remembering his set at Mercury Lounge three and a half years ago. Already a star in the UK, he hadn’t broken the US yet, hadn’t become best friends forever with Taylor Swift and hadn’t recorded the double album X. Though he was still thinking out loud… at the 200 capacity Mercury Lounge!!
LSD – A$AP Rocky – Here is where, well, actually, what the hell? This is rap? It sounds like indie rock on a 60s psyckick, the rap is minimal, just a verse, but the rest of it sounds like a dream of sex and power runs, this is a song of the year – A
The pitch is never really great and its total lack of believability means that the pleasures of the first movie, of real life, it felt real and possible, are blown to smithereens. I’d have had everybody grow up a year and let new recruits in and see what helps in the second year.
“Maybe we’ll never do another one. Futurology was such a brilliant summation of who we are, who knows? Everything Must Go is 20 years old next year as well, so we might even just do a couple of gigs doing that. I think we need to replenish our inspiration, you know?”
“If this album hadn’t been so impactful to the fans, if they hadn’t gone out and broken so many records and made sure that I knew that this album was the most important one to them and the one they liked the most, I probably would have had to pull more old hits into the set.”
The Who never really recovered from Keith Moon’s death, and that’s true: it was a bigger disaster than you can even begin to imagine, despite Moon falling apart in the last few years. And the complaints about the 2013 tour? Not exactly unwarranted. But I end up with my Beethoven comparison… would you say “yeah, I don’t wanna see Ludwig, he’s too old and he’s deaf”? Neither would I. I’m going to Tuesday a Barclay Center. They’re also playing Saturday at Forest Hills.
‘If you don’t like to rock Starbucks, a coffee shop/Well, you better change your station ’cause that ain’t all that we got/Yeah, I want a cup of coffee, but I don’t want a GMO/I like to start my day off without helping Monsanto/Monsanto/Let our farmers grow/What they want to grow’
Is Memorial Day any excuse for the music world to take the day off? A good question and my reply is simple enough…. apparently. This is it, more or less, for new releases? Where is everyone? June 2nd has a Tsunami of new sounds but getting there? I guess I’ll go with the Vaccines.
Her songs often had an unconventional and unexpected structure, but at the first listening, I could tell that the tone was personal and intimate, giving the type of performance you can only call authentic in default of another word. ‘This is the most honest thing I’ve ever made.”
King Kunta – Kendrick Lamar – This is as playful as Kendrick ever gets, for a full fledged rap superstars he isn’t a particularly cheerful fellow though you think he would be on this Roots sage – B+
I like the kid a lot, but don’t love him, still he has a handful of cracker songs. Two of his best songs are here, one of them “Even My Dad Does Sometimes” is MIA. Plus a little skimpy? I figure he is giving 90 minutes.
Back three years to opening night at the Barclay Center and the vibe around Jay Z’s performance is mammoth. I wish I was writing back in the “Fade To Black” reunion days… mow that was a concert. This one? It didn’t live up to the hype but what does, right? 2012, Hov was still a minority stock holder and Barclay Center was opening..
Here is an idea I’ve been dwelling on, rating the rock deaths (or pop -I am an equal opportunity low life) because I want you to know at a glance what we think of those who died, their age, their abilities, the way they died – all of it in one big gulp of information. I feel bad about this, not unlike the way I used to feel after reading “Celebrity Skin”.
. Meanwhile, for want of anything else, American Idol fell apart the second they lost Paula Abdul, the initial judges were clearly the best, dawg. So take the chance to watch her on Kelly And Michael.
Taylor Swift borrowed all the latex outfits, she and her friends are wearing in the clip, from a Los Angeles erotic boutique. Shawn Gentry, director of operations for The Stockroom, said that the shop will make a ‘full run’ of the outfits worn by Swift and her friends.
Serenade – Franz Schubert – No less than Franz Liszt dubbed Schubert our most poetic composer and really this melody echoes effortlessly through time, it is beyond gorgeous, and dating from 1826 he wasn’t yet 30 (and wouldn’t make it to 31), pop learnt how to compose melodies from this guy, hell Gershwin learnt off this guy – A+
Denise and Chloe are two ferocious young women, they both have an extraordinary presence on stage, bold and fearless, but do they really need to admire someone like Love to show they are badass? Is it now cool to have love for Love? Love is a lot of thing but a role model she isn’t!
The songs don’t quite interlock, but still they connect to the myth and then back away from it, it is Lennon as careerist and perhaps this is the one album you can really compare to mid-period McCartney. Say McCartney’s Pipes Of Peace and, yes I know I’m biased, but Lennon’s genius shines through: it is important stuff despite its intentions in ways Macca isn’t.
How can you go into another business when the business you have is not under control. Where is the full tilt power rush to get new customers? Why are the messing around with new ideas when the old ones aren’t firmed up?
