November update

There is a lot going on these days that is exciting in terms of music releases.

Digital remastering

In terms of digital remastering, there has been a tremendous amount of activity. The Beatles back catalogue has been released. I bought Abbey Road and love it. Black Sabbath are systematically releasing their old albums and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

I have read that Fleetwood Mac are also looking at some remastering. My guilty pleasure album of all time is Tusk, and I would love to hear a digitally remastered version.

Listening list

As previously commented, I have been listening to The Fray - The Fray. This is a great album. The sound is that of somewhere between Coldplay and Snow Patrol, but with a bit of a better edge to it.

I have also heard the Muse album The Resistance and really love it. This band is one incredible, bombastic and creative unit! The album is a frenzy of creative work, with lots of nods in the direction of Queen and our old classical composers. I would love to see Muse live again.

An old album that I have just discovered is that of the Eels - Souljacker. It is full of really great material. I am definitely going to have to catch up on their back catalogue.

The new Arctic Monkeys album - Humbug, has always appealed to me considering the link to Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal - two of my favourite bands). I can report that it is a real gem.

Coming up

I have read that there is a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release called The Live Anthology. I can't wait to get my hands on this. I have always enjoyed the 'Pack up the Plantations' live album, and have heard that this is way better.

Book: Mark Oliver Everett - Things the Grandchildren should know

I never intended this blog to include book reviews. I have read several Rock biographies and autobiographies, but a book review is something completely different to an album review. What I have decided to do is briefly mention a good Rock related book if I come across one.

 

This brings me to mentioning an excellent Rock related book that I have just finished reading.

 

Recently Amazon lured me into recommendations that were Eels related, and brought my attention to a book called ‘Things my grandchildren should know’ by Mark Oliver Everett. Usually this author goes by the shortened name of E and fronts the band called the Eels. This book is his first autobiography, published in 2008 and therefore pretty much current. It takes us through his childhood, teens and struggles in life and the music industry up to today, and all I can say is that things have been pretty tough so far.

 

The book is well written in very direct prose that uses the actual story to capture the reader, and not necessarily other more subtle literary devices. It works for me and as the cliché goes ‘I could not put it down’.

 

The over-riding message that I got out of it is that one must never give up. When other people are trying to guide you in certain directions - stick to your principles. Over and over again one hears tales of how the record label does not like the new album and wants certain changes made. This book describes several of these incidents and how E handled them. The music industry is really tough and it takes a lot of dogged determination to succeed. I think that that is an excellent message for young people starting out in the industry to understand.

 

Of course, the his struggles in the music industry are described against the backdrop of the terrible struggles E has faced throughout his personal life too. The message about perseverance and determination is even more important in this context. There is never the feeling that E is saying ‘don’t bother me with your problems as mine have been so much worse’, the inherent message is more that life can be challenging, and as an individual one should remain true to oneself if there is to be any hope of rising above it all.

 

This is a well written, thought provoking book. Everyone should read it as it helps to put life into perspective.

 

On another note, please take time to check out the Eels website. It is definitely one of the best I have ever seen, and also makes some rare recordings available.

 

http://www.eelstheband.com/

 

 

Great Song Lyrics Collected

I would like to keep this post running as a collection point for people's favourite or most evocative song lyrics. Please add a comment stating which song lyrics especially appeal to you, and what the reason is. I will constantly update the post with the best comments.

As an example, one of my most favourite phrases in a song (simply for the imagery that it conjures) is Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust for Life’ where he sings ‘…dance like you’re hypnotising chickens…’.

Another of my favourite lyricists is Nick Cave. I’ll provide some more concrete details, but some that immediately come to mind are ‘The Carny’, ‘The Weeping Song’ and ‘When I get home’.

Then for pure fun phrasing and rhyming, I would have to have AC/DC up there at the top of the list. Even some of their less musically brilliant songs are saved by a great turn of phrase and innuendo such as ‘Mistress for Christmas’, ‘Money Talks’ or ‘Big Balls’.

Hopefully this has provided an indication of what I am looking for, please mention the song name, the band, some snippets of the lyrics and why they are important to you.

June 10, 2008

OK I have a comment from 'Bluedaisy' relating to:

The Doors (i.e. Jim Morrison) with 'Child's fragile eggshell mind', pretty cool.

I have come up with a few more too:

Lloyd Cole in 'My Bag' says 'I'm your Yes Man, yes Ma'am I'm your Yes Man' which for some strange reason really appeals to me (the whole song is a roller-coaster of witticisms).

The Hold Steady in 'Party Pit' say '..gonna walk around and drink some more..' which relates to the introspective 'what am I doing at this party' part of me.

Eels in 'Novocaine for the soul' say '... Jesus and His lawyer are coming back..', very clever lyrics indeed.

Keep them coming guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CD Review: Eels – Useless Trinkets B - Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased

Compilations of B-sides can be a risky purchase if there is not some underlying level of consistent talent relating to the band or artist concerned.

I have always been more of an album guy, buying an album rather than a single with the view that singles are generally the tip of the ice-berg and one needs to assess the artists entire offering before coming to hasty conclusions.

What this tends to mean though, is that I generally snap up B side and rarity compilations of bands as it is generally guaranteed that I would not have heard the songs before.

Some of my favourite albums are thus The Pixies’ ‘B sides’ and Nick Caves ‘B sides and rarities’. Nick Cave’s offering is a sheer extravaganza, sprawling over three CD’s, containing one highlight after the next. It drives home everything that can be good about this type of compilation, such as finally getting versions of songs that have only appeared on movie soundtracks, or getting a glimpse of the artist when they are just relaxing and having some fun in the studio. Often these types of compilations include cover versions, which provide further insights into a band or artist with regards to their influences. Further, these compilations also often include stripped down or reworked versions of well known songs, which also provides food for thought where the listener can imagine how things are probably turning out in a parallel universe (I could not resist this ‘Eels type reference’). All in all compilations like this are normally the best way to really get to know a band.

Back to the Eels though and I must state up front that they have been one of my favourite bands for a very long time. The main member of the Eels is an individual known as E (His real name is Mark Everett, but he had two childhood friends who were also called Mark so they started using surnames, eventually shortening them to initials only). Oddly enough I missed the whole ‘Beautiful Freak’ period (their debut album) and only became aware of them through their next album ‘Electro-shock blues’ which created a huge positive impression on me. Since then I have been following their progress pretty closely and therefore became aware of the dual releases in 2008 of both a Greatest Hits and the B sides and rarities compilation. I have not checked out the greatest hits album yet as they are both very expensive in South Africa, and my thinking was that I probably have most of those songs. Therefore I decided to spend my hard-earned cash on the rarities album. Expensive though it is, I must point out that it consists of two CD’s and a DVD, as well as a fairly substantial set of liner notes with entries by E himself. Each CD has 25 songs on it with the DVD containing six songs too, so that totals to 56 songs by the Eels that I have not owned before.

Justification I suppose, unless they are all throw-away junk songs…..

But let me start with the DVD. The DVD contains six songs from the Eels’ 2006 Lollapalooza performance. As I understand it, the live Eels band can take on many configurations, this one being pretty stripped down with only 4 people on stage. However, the performances are satisfyingly off-beat and fun with my favourite being a great version of their early song ‘Not Ready Yet’ which includes an extended jam with E handing over his guitar to the 'security' guy at one stage to carry on with the riffing. Sound and image quality are good and the only complaint I have is that the six songs are over too soon.

Next are the CD’s. After three listens, I can report that there are no tracks that have me reaching for the skip button. That in itself is saying something about the consistency of this compilation considering that there are 50 tracks. There are great live and alternative versions of familiar songs such as ‘Novocaine for the soul’, ‘I Like Birds’, ‘My Beloved Monster’, and ‘Hospital food’ to name a few. Then there are some really weird offerings such as ‘Waltz of the Naked Clowns’ and ‘Jelly Dancers’. The firm favourite for now is the Moog Cookbook remix of ‘Novocaine For The Soul’. Also worth a mention is the fact that this compilation includes two covers of Prince songs, which one would not naturally associate as an influence on the Eels, but it all makes sense now (both actually coming from the same album ‘Sign O the Times’). But then who can be impervious to the influence of the Royal Purple Funkmaster?

Overall there is never a dull moment on this set of CD’s and as I hoped, it really does provide some deeper insight into E (I think it is time to order his autobiography from Amazon). They remain one of my favourite bands and hopefully there is a lot more where this comes from (I wonder if I should try to send a note to E warning him of the hazards of smoking those huge cigars he often pictured enjoying before he splutters out).