Well, Alec and I survived Bonnaroo '08, 4 days of sun, rain, dust, mud, sleeping on the ground and music. The original plan was to stay in a house where a friend of mine's parents live that is really close, but my friend ended up having to go out of town for work. So $200 worth of camping gear and non-refrigerated food later, we were roughing it.
Thursday
We got everything packed on Wednesday night and had the car packed with everything except the cooler. The original plan was to get up early Thursday morning and head out. I decided that sleep would be in short supply over the weekend, so we slept later on Thursday and took our time getting on the road. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Manchester and we found that we had to go all the way down to exit 127 (another 13 miles) to exit. We stopped at a gas station and topped off the tank, just in case. I had filled up before we left but wanted to make sure we had as much gas as possible in case of long lines. We also hit the restroom, which was our last sighting of a flushable toilet until late Sunday night. We got back on the road and followed the traffic and signs. We were cruising along for a few miles and then hit the line. It took 3 hours to travel the next 8 miles.
We finally got in and had a quick car search (they just looked in the glove box and console). We got routed to our campsite, which was in Camp Randall "Pink" Floyd (all the camps are named after movie characters). When we parked, I was able to leave a pretty big gap between me and the car next to me, which gave us more camping room. We jumped out and put up our canopy, then put the tent up under it. We got everything situated and headed up to Centeroo. It was about a 15 minute walk from camp to Centeroo. We walked around a bit and then got some ice cream. We wanted to catch one of the shows in the comedy tent and got in this long line. We get up to the very front and they have a sign about getting passes before the show and then getting in line. So we bailed out of the line and gave up on comedy.
We headed to That Tent and caught the end of Grupo Fantasma, a Latin orchestra that was pretty good. After they finished, we were able to get up pretty close for the next act, The Sword. They are a heavy metal group from Austin, TX. They were LOUD. We were standing in a direct line from the PA speakers and pretty close and I could feel my skin vibrating. They were good, I just couldn't understand 99% of the lyrics, because of the mix, not the singer. After their show, we went back outside the tent, but hung around to catch Lez Zeppelin, a female Led Zeppelin cover band. Their show was good, but nothing special. They did play "The Ocean", which is my favorite Led Zep song, so they get bonus points for that. After their show, we called it a night and headed back to camp. I don't think I've ever fallen asleep so fast.
Friday
I woke up early to bright sunlight, heat and one of neighbors whistling. Then he started rummaging through the ice in his cooler, it seemed like his cooler was inches from the tent. We woke up, brushed our teeth using bottled water and had some Pop Tarts. I realized that the canopy would only block sunlight when the sun was almost directly above it, so I pulled the tarp out from under the tent and hooked it up on the east side of the canopy (using my wisely purchased multi-length pack of bungee cords). I then realized that we only had about 10 square feet of space to sit two chairs and a cooler that was shaded. So we decided to move the tent to the "back" of camp, where only the very front of the tent was under the canopy. We would only be using the tent at night, so didn't really care if it was shaded. This gave us much more room and we would just have to move the tarp to the west side in the afternoon. We played cards for a bit then headed out at noon to catch Drive By Truckers, one of the coolest bands around in my opinion. They played a great set, although I was hoping for a few more songs off the "The Dirty South" album (specifically "Where the Devil Don't Stay"). We had planned on catching Umphrey's McGee, but we quickly learned that looking at a schedule on paper and planning shows to fill your entire day is much easier than actually hanging in the heat and crowds all day. We knew we had a big night ahead, so decided to walk back to camp, eat and rest up for the night. We headed back at 4 to catch The Raconteurs. I'm a huge fan of the Raconteurs and Jack White so my expectations were high. Those expectations were exceeded 100%. They put on one hell of a show. They played just about every song on their new album and a few from their first.
We had a pretty good spot, so we just decided to stay right there and eat vendor food. $30 later, I had a chicken pita and lemonade and Alec had a couple slices of pizza and tea. When it was time for Chris Rock to start, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammet from Metallica came on to introduce him. Chris did an awesome set, joking about performance enhancing drugs and how cheap pancakes would be if he invaded IHOP. Chris Rock returned the favor and came out and introduced Metallica as "the greatest fucking rock band in the world." I happen to disagree, as the greatest fucking rock band in the world wasn't scheduled until the next night. Anyway, Metallica came out and did not fuck around. They started the show with "Creeping Death" and didn't let up for 2.5 hours. They played mostly old stuff, there was only about 3 songs after the ...And Justice For All album. Speaking of which, they played the song "…And Justice For All", which I've heard they never play live. It is my favorite song on the album, so that was pretty cool. The only thing about the Metallica show was that it felt scripted. I imagine that everything, even James Hetfield's crowd interaction is exactly the same night after night.
After Metallica, we followed the massive tide of people over to the Which stage to see My Morning Jacket. It was rainy and crowded and the Superjam started in about an hour, so we decided to go ahead and go to the Other tent to catch that. We got just inside the tent so we weren't getting rained on, although people kept trying to squeeze in and take our spot. I was tired, wet and getting pretty pissed at everyone's inconsideration. Then they announced that the show would be 20 minutes late. After 30 minutes it finally started. It was Les Claypool on bass and a group called Gogol Bordello. Unfortunately, we were extremely uncomfortable and tired, so we could only hang for a few songs. I saw several people recording, so I figure I'll just find the bootlegs later. Turns out Kirk Hammett showed up as well.
We got back to our camp and found a little water in the tent. I think we just didn't have it zipped all the way. Luckily, nothing was too wet. Right after we got in the tent, it started pouring rain again.
Saturday
I actually slept til almost 9 on Saturday because it was overcast and cooler. We hung out and then headed up around noon and caught Two Gallants, a band from San Francisco. The "band" is just two guys, one on guitar/vocals and one on drums. They sounded really good and put on a great show. I got one of their songs from a free iTunes coupon for Bonnaroo artists and may look into buying their album. We then watched Against Me! a political punk band. They sounded good, although all their songs started sounding the same. We headed back to camp to eat and rest up for the night. It was entertaining to listen to our neighbors, there were 4 of them and they were giving one guy hell the whole weekend. I began to feel sorry for "Big Ed."
We went back up at 5 to watch Zappa Plays Zappa, which is Dweezil Zappa and band playing Frank Zappa's music. Wow! I've never been a huge Zappa fan, mainly because no one I know listens to him and I've been reluctant to just buy any of his albums without hearing any of it. I will be buying some of those albums now. Then we headed over to the What stage to find a spot for Jack Johnson, buying dinner along the way (another $30, this time for 2 baskets of chicken and fries, lemonade and tea). Actually, we wanted to find a good spot for Pearl Jam, it's just that Jack Johnson was on first and we were going to find a spot and keep it. Jack put on a good show, it was better than I expected. I've only heard his radio singles and he has some stuff that is a little less "strummy" and laid back. He forgot the lyrics at one point and laughed it off. He said he was looking forward to Pearl Jam playing that night and said he just couldn't wait, so out comes Eddie Vedder. They played a song together (don't know what it was).
10:15, time for Pearl Jam. I had told Alec that I had no idea what they would open with because sometimes they open with a rocker, sometimes something slow. I said they played "Corduroy" (my fave PJ song) 2nd quite often. They opened with "Hard to Imagine", which is a slow B-side. Then they launched into "Corduroy." Man, it sounded good. Next up was "All Night" from their Lost Dogs collection (same as "Hard to Imagine"). I found out later that this was the first time they had played "All Night" live. Next up was "Why Go", then Eddie talked a bit about Bonnaroo and how they thought they wouldn't ever play a festival again (some fans were killed at a festival in Denmark in 2000). He compared it to a small town and they started "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town". They kept going, playing their asses off. They were obviously digging the crowd and the crowd was definitely digging them. They wrapped up the set with The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me", which Eddie sang like his life depended on it, "Do the Evolution" which fuckin' rocked then "Rearviewmirror" with an extended jam ending. They left the stage and the camera man showed their encore set list on the big screens. They ended up changing a few things on it though.
They came back out and played a cool, laid back version of "W.M.A." Then Eddie started the intro to "Better Man." We all sang along and everyone was holding up their lighters. As usual, Ed stops singing and just lets the crowd sing during the song. After the 2nd verse he stopped playing and said "That's fucking beautiful." After the song, he said he hadn't realized how many people there actually was out there. Then he said he didn't want to ruin the good vibe, but they were going to play "the saddest song we know" and they played "Black." They finished out the encore with "Life Wasted", "Crazy Mary" (with Ed climbing off the stage and giving someone in the audience his bottle of wine) and "Porch" (with a break in the middle while Ed ranted about politics). At some point in this encore, the moon, which was almost full, was directly over the stage, which was very cool looking.
For their 2nd encore, Ed came out alone and talked for a bit about the war and his friend, Tomas Young, the guy who helped make the movie "Body of War." He was paralyzed in Iraq and has become an anti-war activist. Eddie was saying that he went into a coma a few weeks ago and is not doing well. He then played "No More", the song he did for the movie. The rest of the band came back and Ed said they normally don't play their next song at that point in the show, but he was dedicating to a friend whose father had died the day before. The song was "Release", which was beautiful. Then they rocked out on "Alive", I can't even begin to describe the feeling of being in the middle of 70,000 people singing "I'm still alive…" They left the stage again and I kept telling Alec "they have to play Yellow Ledbetter." It was on the set list they showed earlier. Instead, they came back out and played an absolute blistering version of "All Along the Watchtower." In total, they played almost 3 hours and it was exactly what a rock concert should be like. It's funny, but I never once said "I wish they had played …" Yes, there were songs of theirs I would have liked to hear live, but the show was so good, I didn't miss hearing them. Besides, if they played everything I wanted to hear live, the show would have been about 6 hours.
We were planning on going to watch Phil Lesh & Friends and then check out a little of the Kanye West show, simply because his light show was supposed to be spectacular. As we were leaving Pearl Jam, Alec and I talked and decided to just head back to camp as there was a mass stampede headed toward Phil Lesh plus I had just seen my favorite band in the world and wanted to fall asleep still hearing their show ringing in my ears rather than Kanye West. That was probably the best decision we made that weekend.
Sunday
That morning I walked down to the port-a-potties and was standing in line. Everyone was talking about how bad the Kanye show was. I asked a guy what happened and he said that first, the organizers asked Phil Lesh (you know, from the Grateful Dead and one of the original artists to support and play at the first Bonnaroo?) to end his set early (he was scheduled from midnight to 4am) because of the Kanye show at 2:45. Now, they were playing different stages, not the same stage, so it wasn't like Phil couldn't keep playing during the Kanye show. Anyway, he ended early and 2:45 came and went and no Kanye. They didn't even start setting up the stage until 2:45. This apparently took a while and they announced that the show would start at 3:30am. 3:30 came and no Kanye. He didn't take the stage until 4:30am and when he did, he didn't apologize or even acknowledge he was late. He just said "Good morning" and started the show. That was the last thing he said to the audience at all. The sun was coming up during his show, which pretty much ruined the whole light show thing (the very reason they scheduled him at 2:45am, he was originally schedule to play earlier around sunset). Less than an hour later, his show was over and he just walked off the stage. From what I hear, there were a lot of boos following him. All day, we saw "Kanye Sux" spray painted on the fences (where they let people put up graffiti).
Sunday was a late starting day, we didn't get much sleep in the morning, but the acts we wanted to see were later in the day. So we did a lot of hanging out at the camp, eating and playing cards. We played an epic game of Rummy to 500 points. I led most of the game, Alec took a slight lead and then we ended up both just a few points away from 500. Alec had 485 and I had 480. We knew the last hand would decide it. I got some good points early and only had 2 cards left, but couldn't get anything to match up. Then Alec started getting every freakin' book possible. He ended up with over 200 points in one hand, I've never seen that many points in a game of Rummy (and I've played a lot of it). We discussed possibly leaving that night instead of in the morning as a few cars around us were packing up to leave. We couldn't get out of where we parked unless enough of them left, but it looked promising based on who was packing. We went ahead and packed up everything except the tent, canopy and cooler just in case. We had brought a watermelon that we hadn't eaten, so I gave it to our neighbors (Big Ed and his friends). The guy I offered it to thanked us, but didn't seem real excited about it. But we heard Big Ed when he found out about and it sounded as if we had given them a steak dinner. That made us happy because we had started to feel bad for him, hearing his friends give him hell all weekend.
So we headed up toward Centeroo around 2:45. We wanted to see Harrybu McCage at 3. They are a jazz trio consisting of organ, bass (standup) and drums. The drummer is this guy named Matt Cameron, who has played for these other bands you may have heard of: Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. We got there right after they started and it was awesome. They played some very cool music and we were standing 20 feet from Matt Cameron playing drums.
We found a bit of shade to sit in and figure out where we were going next. We could hear Robert Randolph still playing. We had wanted to see him, but we had seen him before opening for the Black Crowes, so we chose Harrybu McCage. So, we strolled over and listened to the end of his set. Then we headed to the big stage to listen to Yonder Mountain String Band, a bluegrass band. We found a stretch of fence in the shade and sat down. We couldn't see the stage, but we could hear it. Neither one of us are big bluegrass fans, but their music was catchy. They did say something like "We'll play the late night light show next year and do it right!", which was a nasty dig at Kanye. People walking by were still randomly yelling "Kanye Sucks."
I noticed that Sunday had a higher number of girls who were topless than any other day. Honestly, I had only seen 1 or 2 topless until Sunday. I saw 4 or 5 on Sunday, one poor girl I saw could have gone topless anytime. At least 50% of the guys there had bigger breasts than she did.
During Yonder Mountain, we wandered over to the market area again and looked around a bit. Then we decided to head to the cinema tent and sit in the shade and A/C for a while. Sunday was the hottest day there and it was draining being out in the sun all day. They were showing "Charlie Bartlett" and we came in during the movie. We left before it was over, but I liked the bit I saw, I will have to rent it.
We had to leave so we could find a spot for Robert Plant and Allison Krauss w/ T Bone Burnett. By that time, we had decided that we were going to try to leave that night, so we sat way back from the stage. Robert Plant and Allison Krauss were wonderful. It was a pretty laid back show, with some bluegrass, blues, old country and rockin' stuff. I only recognized a few songs, all Robert Plant stuff. They played "In the Mood" (from his solo work); a very cool, slow version of "Black Dog", which you could only recognize by the lyrics; and a spine-chilling version of "Battle of Evermore", a song I've always loved and to hear them sing it together was awesome. After their show, we grabbed another $30 dinner. Alec: cheeseburger and tea, me: Greek salad w/ chicken and lemonade. I forgot to tell them to hold the sauce (that white Greek sauce), but by that point I didn't really care. It was cooked meat and vegetables and it was wonderful. I told Alec after I ate it that I don't know what I had craved more, the meat or the veggies.
Next up was Widespread Panic. I'm not a huge fan, I only have 1 of their albums. Alec has never listened to them at all. I told him we would probably head out in the middle of their show to get on the road. I told him if he just wasn't digging the show to let me know and we would go ahead and head out. About 3 songs in he leaned over and asked if I was ready. We stayed through one more song ("Climb to Safety", a song I knew from the album I have) and then headed back to pack up camp. Panic was putting on a good show, we just weren't into and both of us were ready to get home.
We packed up the tent, canopy (which took a few minutes to realize there were release buttons we had to hit before folding it up) and cooler and headed out. Traffic leaving wasn't bad until we go to the main road. Even there, it wasn't real bad. It just took 10 minutes or so to get out. We turned back the way we had come in, and I realized we were going to go way out of the way and should have turned right. We turned around and sure enough, the interstate entrance was right there. We made it about 20 miles and Alec was asleep and I was tired. Plus because of some change falling down in my car lighter, we didn't have my iPod to listen to, so I had to keep switching stations to find something halfway decent. I pulled off in Murfreesboro to get a Coke. Since we were so grubby, I thought I would just go thru a drive-thru. Unfortunately, everyone else who had left Bonnaroo with us had the same idea. We tried Taco Bell, gave up and hit McDonalds. It seemed quicker until after I had ordered, then the line just stopped. We finally got back on the road and made it back in about an hour. It was a luxury to take a shower and have a real toilet.
So, how was Bonnaroo as a whole and would I do it again? Let me start by saying I am glad I went. The music was amazing and Alec and I had a great time together (it was probably the coolest thing a teenager and dad could do together on Father's Day, although I missed not seeing Zack, who was on his way back from Disney World). Plus it was a learning experience on a personal level, seeing all the things we think are "necessary" that aren't really.
I had heard about how friendly everyone was and that was partly true. There weren't really any "rude" people, but it wasn't like everyone was friendly either. I'm sure if we had been consuming some of the various drugs most of the people seemed to be consuming, they might have been friendlier. The first few days, the only people that really said anything to us were selling t-shirts or drugs or wanting to buy drugs. Saturday, a girl walked by, obviously stoned and said we looked too grumpy to be at Bonnaroo. Of course it was hot, muddy and we were walking through the area where there were port-o-potties on both sides of the road and the smell was quite fragrant, so we may have had a sour look on our face. The last day we did talk to more people, one girl came by our camp and asked us where we were from and if it was our first 'roo and were we having fun. While we were sitting in the shade of the fence Sunday, a guy came up and sat down and we chatted for a minute. He then offered Alec a lighter for a drink of his water. We had brought a couple of extra bottles with us, so I gave him a full bottle (and let him keep his lighter).
My biggest surprise and disappointment was in seeing the litter created by everyone. The crowd there typically leans to the left, politically (as evidenced during Chris Rock's show when he mentioned Obama, virtually everyone there cheered). This is the crowd that is, or claims to be, at the front of the environmental movement. There was a lot of information about being green there and they offered recycling cans right next to the trash cans. When we arrived, we were given a trash bag and another bag for recycling. But by the end of each day, there would be so much garbage on the ground it was ridiculous. Leaving the What stage every night, you would literally wade through piles of trash. There were trash cans everywhere, but most didn't seem to care. They dropped their bottles, plates, pizza boxes and cups right where they stood. Alec and I were always careful to throw all our trash in the cans. I think Saturday night, we had 2 cups that we didn't get in the trash. We had them with our stuff to carry out after Pearl Jam, but during the show, they got kicked away from us. It was just really disappointing to see the lack of concern for our environment on such a large scale. I was proud because when we tied up our two bags at camp before we left, we had twice as much in our recycling bag as we did in the trash bag.
Would I go again? I'm still not sure. It was an ordeal, but the music made it worth it. I'm uncomfortable in crowds and have a pretty large personal space bubble and most people there don't seem to have any concept of personal space. I got very annoyed with the way people walked through the crowds. Everyone would be sitting down waiting for a show to start and people seemed to pick the most difficult way possible to get through, stepping on people's blankets, kicking their stuff, sometimes even kicking the people. I got kicked in the arm once and I saw another guy get kicked in the head. Several times, we almost had our lemonades and teas get spilled and at $5 a pop, I would have been pissed. You weren't supposed to bring full sized chairs in, but I saw several people with them. One lady in particular set hers up directly in front of us before Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. We were already pretty far back, so could only see the video screens and she was smack dab in the middle of that. I think part of the problem with getting annoyed with people and where they stand is that none of the stages are set up like most amphitheaters. There's really no hill (there's a slight one at the What stage, but not much). So you aren't able to look over the people in front of you and it makes it difficult to see. I had one guy in front of me at Pearl Jam who kept switching which leg he was leaning on, so his head would be in one spot and I would look over his right shoulder, 30 seconds later he would lean to the right and I had to lean to the left to see over his left shoulder. This went on every 30 seconds for 10 minutes. And I'm sure my moving affected the guy behind me as well. Finally he moved over a bit and sat down during some songs.
Overall, I'm glad I went and I would probably do it again, depending on who was playing. I do know one thing, had I been a cave man I wouldn't have invented the wheel, I would have invented the chair with cushions.
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Two Close Ones and other stuff
This time last year, the baseball team was 1-3. This year, we are 4-0! The last two games have been close ones. Saturday, we kept the game close until the 3rd inning when we gave up a lot of runs because of walks and steals. Zack did hit another double, this time on a fly ball to left. He is hitting so much better this year. Bottom of the 3rd, we were out of time so it was our last at bat, we were down 14-8. Our #7 hitter led off the inning with a hard line drive right up the middle, his first hit of the year. A couple of walks and steals later, we're only a couple of runs down and it's looking like we might actually have a chance. A hit by our #4 hitter scored a couple to tie it and he ended up on 3rd. I told him he was the winning run and to get to home plate however he could. A couple of pitches later was the 4th ball on the batter and the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher, who turned around and started shuffling back to the mound not looking. The player on 3rd just casually started walking toward home and when he got halfway, took off. If the pitcher had thrown it, he might have got him out, but he tried to run to the plate instead. Ballgame.
Last night, was another close one. After 2 innings, it was tied 6-6. We scored 1 in the top of the 3rd, with the same steal by the same player as Saturday. We put in a new pitcher and just shut the other team down in the bottom of the 3rd. We still had time, so I was hoping we'd get some more runs as padding in the top of the 4th, but they had their ace pitcher in as well and no one was hitting. They get up for their last at bat at the top of their lineup and we start off with a strikeout. Next two batters walk. Now they have 2 of their fastest kids on base and their #4 hitter up with 1 out. It's not looking good for us at this point. A hit to the outfield is almost guaranteed to score the two baserunners. First pitch is a strike. 2nd pitch, the boy smacks a hard line drive to the right side of the field. I didn't even have time to think "It's over" before it was over, but not in the way I thought. Because Zack was playing 2nd base and the ball left the bat and about a half second later was grabbed out of the air by Zack's glove. The runner on first was headed to 2nd and before he knew what was going on, Zack tagged him. Unassisted double play and ballgame. He got the game ball for that.
I never posted anything about my trip to Cleveland to see Dream Theater. Alec and I drove up on a Saturday (August 11th), caught the show, crashed in a nice hotel and drove back the next day. It was an 8 hour drive, but it was worth it. It was a great show and the people in Cleveland were very nice. I had always had a bad impression of people from Ohio, but everyone was cool. I was wearing my Rush Snakes & Arrows shirt and Rush was coming to Cleveland on the 30th, so I had several people (even a cop) ask me if I had already seen them and how it was. It was great getting to spend that drive time with Alec too. From talking with other fathers of teenagers, I consider myself extremely lucky that I can spend 16 hours in a car with my son and we actually have conversations and don't argue.
I've also started school again. I'm doing the RODP (the online degree program), majoring in Organizational Leadership. I'm taking 2 classes this semester, hoping to increase after I get back in school mode. I have US History and Music Appreciation. I'm hoping to finish my bachelor's degree before Alec goes to college.
Last night, was another close one. After 2 innings, it was tied 6-6. We scored 1 in the top of the 3rd, with the same steal by the same player as Saturday. We put in a new pitcher and just shut the other team down in the bottom of the 3rd. We still had time, so I was hoping we'd get some more runs as padding in the top of the 4th, but they had their ace pitcher in as well and no one was hitting. They get up for their last at bat at the top of their lineup and we start off with a strikeout. Next two batters walk. Now they have 2 of their fastest kids on base and their #4 hitter up with 1 out. It's not looking good for us at this point. A hit to the outfield is almost guaranteed to score the two baserunners. First pitch is a strike. 2nd pitch, the boy smacks a hard line drive to the right side of the field. I didn't even have time to think "It's over" before it was over, but not in the way I thought. Because Zack was playing 2nd base and the ball left the bat and about a half second later was grabbed out of the air by Zack's glove. The runner on first was headed to 2nd and before he knew what was going on, Zack tagged him. Unassisted double play and ballgame. He got the game ball for that.
I never posted anything about my trip to Cleveland to see Dream Theater. Alec and I drove up on a Saturday (August 11th), caught the show, crashed in a nice hotel and drove back the next day. It was an 8 hour drive, but it was worth it. It was a great show and the people in Cleveland were very nice. I had always had a bad impression of people from Ohio, but everyone was cool. I was wearing my Rush Snakes & Arrows shirt and Rush was coming to Cleveland on the 30th, so I had several people (even a cop) ask me if I had already seen them and how it was. It was great getting to spend that drive time with Alec too. From talking with other fathers of teenagers, I consider myself extremely lucky that I can spend 16 hours in a car with my son and we actually have conversations and don't argue.
I've also started school again. I'm doing the RODP (the online degree program), majoring in Organizational Leadership. I'm taking 2 classes this semester, hoping to increase after I get back in school mode. I have US History and Music Appreciation. I'm hoping to finish my bachelor's degree before Alec goes to college.
Friday, July 27, 2007
New Music
I've gotten a lot of new music lately and haven't had time to post reviews of everything, so I'm going to do one post and just do a quick review of everything.
Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge Box Set
It's a pretty well known fact that I am a HUGE Pearl Jam fan. In my iTunes library, PJ has the highest number of tracks out of all artists (619 tracks or 629 if you want to count the Temple of the Dog album). This box set contributed 100 of those tracks. 8 hours of music, all live, all recorded at The Gorge in George, WA. There are 3 complete shows represented, 1 in 2005 and 2 on back to back nights in 2006. The music covers PJ's entire history, going all the way back to the beginning, even including early stuff that wasn't on Black like Wash. Technically, they go back to before the band existed as Crown of Thorns (originally done by Mother Love Bone, Stone and Jeff's original band). The 2006 shows include a lot of new material from the 2006 self-titled album.
The sound is great, song choices are great, it's live Pearl Jam so what else would you expect? PJ knows what playing live music is all about. They truly appreciate their fans and it shows. How many bands are willing to record every show they do and make it available to their fans? One of the things that makes me love PJ so much is represented on this box set: when they record a live show and release it, they don't "clean it up" or fix mistakes, you get the real thing. On the 2005 show, Eddie misses some lyrics in "Off He Goes" and they just laugh it off. He totally blows the lyrics to "Do the Evolution" in one of the '06 shows, but they didn't go into a studio and re-record that part. Live music isn't about perfection.
Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell
I bought this the day it came out, after listening to the first 3 songs on their MySpace page. Punk has always been considered a young person's genre, but this group of 40-somethings show the kids what punk really is. BR has been around since 1980, I remember hearing some of their early stuff on the local college radio station back in the early 80's. I forgot all about them until 1994 when they released Stranger Than Fiction. A lot of fans view it as their "sell-out" record because they went with a major label. I leave the "sell-out" argument to the hipsters and those that care about that kind of thing. A band exists to make music and if that music is good, it doesn't matter what label they are on.
New Maps of Hell is a fast and furious sonic assault. It rocks out of the gate with "52 Seconds" and stays balls to the wall through the first 5 songs. These 5 songs (52 Seconds, Heroes & Martyrs, Germs of Perfection, New Dark Ages and Requiem for Dissent) are the best on the album. That doesn't mean the rest of the album isn't good, it's very good. Other honorable mentions are Grains of Wrath, Scrutiny, Prodigal Son and Submission Complete. The music is fast and hard, but still has those great BR melodies. And, of course, there are plenty of vocal harmonies. The lyrics are very topical and, as always, scathing attacks on society and government. Like most BR albums, you will probably need a dictionary at some point. How many punk bands can pull off lyrics like
Velvet Revolver - LibertadI liked the first Velvet Revolver album (Contraband), but it never got to that level of "that's an awesome album." I couldn't even tell you the last time I actually listened to the whole thing all the way through. But I've listened to Libertad 4 or 5 times since I got it 4 days ago. That's all the way through, no track skipping. You can tell they have gelled as a band now. Stand out tracks are: the album opener "Let It Roll" which kicks ass, the first single "She Builds Quick Machines" which is a catchy rocker, "The Last Fight" is this album's "Fall to Pieces", great wah guitar on "Pills, Demons & Etc.", "Messages" has a beautiful Slash guitar melody, bringing up memories of "Sweet Child O' Mine". And check out their cover of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", they did it justice.
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
This isn't a new release, but I just got it. I've been hearing about The Mars Volta for a while now, but never really checked them out. I'm glad I did. This isn't music for the casual listener though. They use lots of weird time signatures and changes, poly-rhythmic stuff, ambient noise and strange lyrics, which sometimes flow between English and Spanish within the same song. So if you like progjazzpunk music, check this out.
Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge Box Set
It's a pretty well known fact that I am a HUGE Pearl Jam fan. In my iTunes library, PJ has the highest number of tracks out of all artists (619 tracks or 629 if you want to count the Temple of the Dog album). This box set contributed 100 of those tracks. 8 hours of music, all live, all recorded at The Gorge in George, WA. There are 3 complete shows represented, 1 in 2005 and 2 on back to back nights in 2006. The music covers PJ's entire history, going all the way back to the beginning, even including early stuff that wasn't on Black like Wash. Technically, they go back to before the band existed as Crown of Thorns (originally done by Mother Love Bone, Stone and Jeff's original band). The 2006 shows include a lot of new material from the 2006 self-titled album.
The sound is great, song choices are great, it's live Pearl Jam so what else would you expect? PJ knows what playing live music is all about. They truly appreciate their fans and it shows. How many bands are willing to record every show they do and make it available to their fans? One of the things that makes me love PJ so much is represented on this box set: when they record a live show and release it, they don't "clean it up" or fix mistakes, you get the real thing. On the 2005 show, Eddie misses some lyrics in "Off He Goes" and they just laugh it off. He totally blows the lyrics to "Do the Evolution" in one of the '06 shows, but they didn't go into a studio and re-record that part. Live music isn't about perfection.
Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell
I bought this the day it came out, after listening to the first 3 songs on their MySpace page. Punk has always been considered a young person's genre, but this group of 40-somethings show the kids what punk really is. BR has been around since 1980, I remember hearing some of their early stuff on the local college radio station back in the early 80's. I forgot all about them until 1994 when they released Stranger Than Fiction. A lot of fans view it as their "sell-out" record because they went with a major label. I leave the "sell-out" argument to the hipsters and those that care about that kind of thing. A band exists to make music and if that music is good, it doesn't matter what label they are on.
New Maps of Hell is a fast and furious sonic assault. It rocks out of the gate with "52 Seconds" and stays balls to the wall through the first 5 songs. These 5 songs (52 Seconds, Heroes & Martyrs, Germs of Perfection, New Dark Ages and Requiem for Dissent) are the best on the album. That doesn't mean the rest of the album isn't good, it's very good. Other honorable mentions are Grains of Wrath, Scrutiny, Prodigal Son and Submission Complete. The music is fast and hard, but still has those great BR melodies. And, of course, there are plenty of vocal harmonies. The lyrics are very topical and, as always, scathing attacks on society and government. Like most BR albums, you will probably need a dictionary at some point. How many punk bands can pull off lyrics like
Amid the heat and the wrackIf you like BR, it's a no-brainer, go buy it. If you are younger and think Green Day invented melodic punk, you need to pick this up and learn where Green Day got their influence. One complaint, it seems that CDs now are getting louder and louder. Not a good louder, but one that causes distortion when listening with headphones. This album is guilty of that and the vocals are at times buried in the mix.
Hot boots invested and cracked
Poor candidates jacked into gray light
An ultra-violent call summoning both poet and thrall
Sweet catalyst for the acolytes
-Heroes & Martyrs
Velvet Revolver - LibertadI liked the first Velvet Revolver album (Contraband), but it never got to that level of "that's an awesome album." I couldn't even tell you the last time I actually listened to the whole thing all the way through. But I've listened to Libertad 4 or 5 times since I got it 4 days ago. That's all the way through, no track skipping. You can tell they have gelled as a band now. Stand out tracks are: the album opener "Let It Roll" which kicks ass, the first single "She Builds Quick Machines" which is a catchy rocker, "The Last Fight" is this album's "Fall to Pieces", great wah guitar on "Pills, Demons & Etc.", "Messages" has a beautiful Slash guitar melody, bringing up memories of "Sweet Child O' Mine". And check out their cover of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", they did it justice.
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
This isn't a new release, but I just got it. I've been hearing about The Mars Volta for a while now, but never really checked them out. I'm glad I did. This isn't music for the casual listener though. They use lots of weird time signatures and changes, poly-rhythmic stuff, ambient noise and strange lyrics, which sometimes flow between English and Spanish within the same song. So if you like progjazzpunk music, check this out.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Chris Cornell Review
I'm going to kill two birds (pun intended, you'll get it later) with one stone and review both Chris Cornell's show in Nashville Thursday night (May 31) and his new album "Carry On" that came out Tuesday (June 5).
Live Show Review
When I saw that Chris had left Audioslave AND was going on tour AND that tour was going to hit Nashville, I was very happy. Don't get me wrong, I liked Audioslave and they made some good music, but if you listen to Chris' previous work with Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and his solo stuff, you realized how much Audioslave limited his style. I think the other 3 musicians from Audioslave are great musicians, but when you have 4 or 5 songs on an album where the guitar solos are the same tired "make weird noises that sound like record scratching" solo, you're not really pushing new musical boundaries.
On to the show, I met up with a friend of mine earlier in the afternoon and we drove by City Hall to see if there was a line. There were about 10 people waiting, so we went back to his office to meet up with a couple of other friends. We had a couple of drinks and walked down to the venue. The line was around the corner. We didn't wait too long and when we got in, we ended up about 75 feet from the stage, right in the middle. It didn't take long til they killed the lights and the band came out. Chris has put together a great backing band. He opened with Spoonman and the whole band was rocking it just as hard as Soundgarden ever did. I had never seen Chris live before with any of his bands, and let me tell you, his voice will just blow you away. It sounded just as good live as it has on any studio album. One of the guys I was with, Ace, always says if he had a voice like that he would never talk, he would sing everything he had to say. I have to agree.
After Spoonman, they rolled into Outshined, which has always been one of my favorite songs. It just plain kicked ass. They did some Audioslave songs, Original Fire sounded great. He sang "No Such Thing" off the new album, which wasn't out yet. I had heard 2 songs of the album and this was not one of them. It sounded great live. Then he reached back to the Temple of the Dog album and did Hunger Strike, which was great but I did miss hearing Eddie on it. Then Chris said something about it being great being able to play some of the old stuff and said that they hadn't played the next one yet. Then the opening notes of Say Hello to Heaven rings out. Man, I was floored. I first heard that song about a year after my mom died and it's just one of those songs that reminds me of her. It was great getting to hear it live.
He introduced Rusty Cage by saying something about he still gets a high when he thinks about Johnny Cash recording one of his songs. It was freakin' loud and hard and amazing. After Sunshower, the band took a break, but Chris played acoustic versions of Can't Change Me (the only song he did from Euphoria Morning), Scar in the Sky (from the new album) and I Am the Highway. He started Call Me a Dog from the Temple of the Dog album acoustic and the band came back in halfway through. Listening to Chris just singing with an acoustic guitar is further proof that he is an amazing singer and musician. I think one of his talents has always been creating such great melodies on top of the music. He uses his voice as another instrument and the melodies he creates are just amazing. At that point, the words don't even really matter, he could sing his grocery list and it would sound good.
After the acoustic set, they did some more Audioslave songs. This was the point I started realizing it was hot. I don't mean "fan your face a little" hot, I mean it was fuckin' hot. I had on a lightweight button down shirt and a t-shirt and when I took off the outside shirt, it was soaked in sweat. He did a couple of songs from the new album, including Billie Jean. Yes, that Billie Jean. It's a completely different take on the song and it sounded really good. That was followed by Like a Stone one of my fave Audioslave songs. Then, wait, is that...holy shit, that's Loud Love! (from Soundgarden's 2nd album Louder than Love). That was rockin' and then when they kicked into Jesus Christ Pose, I about lost it. That song is one of the heaviest, hardest hitting songs ever. And Chris' backing band did it justice. Those guys are pretty damn good to be playing music from 3 different bands, especially considering those 3 bands consisted of Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Matt McCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Tom Morello and the bassist and drummer from Audioslave (I can't remember their names and I'm too lazy to go look it up). Plus playing stuff from Chris' solo albums, which are all over the place stylistically.
After Jesus Christ Pose, they all left the stage and we waited patiently for an encore. I was drained after JCP, but was ready for more. They came back out and open with that great guitar riff that starts off My Wave. They did a great job on it. Then Chris said something about he hadn't played the next song in a long time and the guitarist starts picking Seasons. Holy shit! I mean, if you had asked me before the show what songs I thought he would play, Seasons would have been way down at the bottom of the list. But it would have been near the top of my list of songs I would want him to play. It is a song he did solo for the Singles soundtrack (Soundgarden also had a song on there). It was amazing hearing it live. They followed that up with Black Hole Sun. That's one I loved when I first heard it (I bought the Superunknown album the week it was released), but after the radio and MTV wore it out, it's one of those songs I usually skip over. But hearing it live made me love it again. I loved it without the vocal effects that are on the album.
The house lights actually came on toward the end of Black Hole Sun. They finished up and Chris thanked everyone and left. I found out later that they actually were going to play a 2nd encore with Never Be Your Man (new album), Be Yourself and Slaves & Bulldozers (which would have been awesome), but they got shut down because it was so hot and people were passing out. Even without the 2nd encore, it was an amazing show. He played for at least 2.5 hours, maybe a little more. We definitely got our money's worth. I'm still pissed about paying $35 to go see Sting 7 years ago and he only played for 1:45, which included a 10 minute acoustic version of Roxanne, and what made it 10 minutes was mostly him repeatedly singing "Roxxxxaannne". I spent the same amount for this show and was close enough to read the Gibson name on the headstock of the guitar and Chris put on a fucking show. I included the setlist below, thanks to someone on the Chris Cornell forum.
Spoonman
Outshined
Original Fire
Show Me How to Live
No Such Thing
You Know My Name
Hunger Strike
Say Hello to Heaven
Fell on Black Days
What You Are
Rusty Cage
Sunshower
Can't Change Me (Chris solo)
Scar in the Sky (Chris solo)
I Am the Highway (Chris solo)
Call Me a Dog (started Chris solo, band came back at end)
Doesn't Remind Me
Cochise
Your Soul Today
Billie Jean
Like a Stone
Loud Love
JCP
Encore:
My Wave
Seasons
Blackhole Sun
Album Review: Carry On
Carry On is Chris Cornell's new album that was released yesterday. He apparently recorded it immediately after recording Revelations with Audioslave. In February, he announced he was leaving Audioslave and releasing a solo album. I was always a bigger fan of Chris' work in Soundgarden and solo than Audioslave, so I was pretty happy to hear that. I've heard that he is pretty much an asshole to work with and that he is egotistical. If I had his talent, I would be freakin' unbearable. I don't really care if he's a jerk, I just know I like the result of his musical creativity.
The album opens with No Such Thing, which starts off as a up-tempo rocker. The guitar riff at the beginning is pretty generic, if you've listened to any alternative in the past 10 years, you've probably heard it before. But the music suddenly drops to just an acoustic guitar and light drum, with Chris' vocals. The choruses go back to that generic riff with Chris singing. I guess it's a good opener because it's one of the harder rocking numbers on the album, but it's just not one of his best. But, my opinion of the song went up a few points when it got to the bridge. It shifts into a great sounding arpeggioed guitar with Chris' vocals split over the left and right channel. On the right, he's singing in that high falsetto he has (not the primal scream) and the left channel is his lower pitched, rougher voice (think of When I'm Down on Euphoria Morning).
Up next is Poison Eye, which doesn't have the best lyrics, but the chord progression, riff and melody makes up for it. Arms Around Your Love starts out sounding very poppy and radio friendly. And it stays there. That's not a bad thing, I'm sure some fans who only want to hear him sing Outshined for the rest of his life won't like it, but that's their loss. I think pop sounding songs like this are great when the artist is authentic. It's the manufactured pop music or the bands that say "hey, Pearl Jam sold millions of records, if we sound like them we'll sell millions too." (ahem, Creed) and even worse "hey, Creed sold millions sounding like Pearl Jam, we'll sell millions sounding like Creed sounding like Pearl Jam" (ahem, Nickelback). And I can't even bring myself, okay I guess I can, mention (I cringe even typing it) Hinder, which sounds like a rip off of a rip off of a rip off of Pearl Jam. Ok, back to the review.
Safe and Sound is a great song. It's got a bit of a bluesy feel, which I love when Chris does blues flavored songs (Call Me a Dog, When I'm Down). The lyrics are great, concerning a utopian view of society. Next up is She'll Never Be Your Man, which is written from the point of view of a man who's woman left him for another woman. Apparently Chris knew several people this happened to and he wrote this song about it. It's a very catchy song and has a great vocal melody and the lyrics are catchy. Ghosts has a some great guitar chords opening up, which fade into a great sounding acoustic strumming. I'm definitely going to have to learn the chords to this song.
The next song is Killing Birds (we finally get to the source of my pun at the beginning). Very interesting sound, opening up with a low-key acoustic guitar and some electronic drum sounds. After the chorus, it kicks into a more rocking tune with either a piano or guitar playing some weird notes while the rest of the band plays a straightforward rhythm. And the guitarist has great tone on the solo. The lyrics sound very personal and intense. Up next is Billie Jean and as I said above, yes the Billie Jean written by Michael Jackson in the 80's (back when he was cool). First thought is the guy from Soundgarden covering Michael Jackson?!? But you should check it out. Hit iTunes or Amazon and listen to the 30 second preview. He has rearranged it into a slow, bluesy tune with subdued vocals during the verses and cutting loose during the choruses.
Scar on the Sky is a pretty song that would sound at home on a Soundgarden album. That is followed by Your Soul Today, which I think is my favorite on the album so far. It's got an infectious guitar riff and a funky beat. Finally Forever has a Beatles feel with a slide guitar. Silence the Voices starts off sounding vaguely like an old school Soundgarden sludge-fest. But the vocals and drumming change that feel. It's actually a tough song to classify. Interesting. Disappearing Act is next. I wondered if it was related to Disappearing One from his last solo album (Euphoria Morning). It's a pretty, mostly acoustic song. Closing out the album is You Know My Name, which you've heard if you saw Casino Royale. It's a good song, with great lyrics and music. Chris collaborated with a composer on it and the orchestration in the song blends well with the standard guitar/drums/bass sound. Being a Bond fan and a fan of several Bond songs, I love that Chris has added one to the list*.
*Cool Bond Songs
Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney
The World is Not Enough - Garbage
A View to a Kill - Duran Duran
You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
Live Show Review
When I saw that Chris had left Audioslave AND was going on tour AND that tour was going to hit Nashville, I was very happy. Don't get me wrong, I liked Audioslave and they made some good music, but if you listen to Chris' previous work with Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and his solo stuff, you realized how much Audioslave limited his style. I think the other 3 musicians from Audioslave are great musicians, but when you have 4 or 5 songs on an album where the guitar solos are the same tired "make weird noises that sound like record scratching" solo, you're not really pushing new musical boundaries.
On to the show, I met up with a friend of mine earlier in the afternoon and we drove by City Hall to see if there was a line. There were about 10 people waiting, so we went back to his office to meet up with a couple of other friends. We had a couple of drinks and walked down to the venue. The line was around the corner. We didn't wait too long and when we got in, we ended up about 75 feet from the stage, right in the middle. It didn't take long til they killed the lights and the band came out. Chris has put together a great backing band. He opened with Spoonman and the whole band was rocking it just as hard as Soundgarden ever did. I had never seen Chris live before with any of his bands, and let me tell you, his voice will just blow you away. It sounded just as good live as it has on any studio album. One of the guys I was with, Ace, always says if he had a voice like that he would never talk, he would sing everything he had to say. I have to agree.
After Spoonman, they rolled into Outshined, which has always been one of my favorite songs. It just plain kicked ass. They did some Audioslave songs, Original Fire sounded great. He sang "No Such Thing" off the new album, which wasn't out yet. I had heard 2 songs of the album and this was not one of them. It sounded great live. Then he reached back to the Temple of the Dog album and did Hunger Strike, which was great but I did miss hearing Eddie on it. Then Chris said something about it being great being able to play some of the old stuff and said that they hadn't played the next one yet. Then the opening notes of Say Hello to Heaven rings out. Man, I was floored. I first heard that song about a year after my mom died and it's just one of those songs that reminds me of her. It was great getting to hear it live.
He introduced Rusty Cage by saying something about he still gets a high when he thinks about Johnny Cash recording one of his songs. It was freakin' loud and hard and amazing. After Sunshower, the band took a break, but Chris played acoustic versions of Can't Change Me (the only song he did from Euphoria Morning), Scar in the Sky (from the new album) and I Am the Highway. He started Call Me a Dog from the Temple of the Dog album acoustic and the band came back in halfway through. Listening to Chris just singing with an acoustic guitar is further proof that he is an amazing singer and musician. I think one of his talents has always been creating such great melodies on top of the music. He uses his voice as another instrument and the melodies he creates are just amazing. At that point, the words don't even really matter, he could sing his grocery list and it would sound good.
After the acoustic set, they did some more Audioslave songs. This was the point I started realizing it was hot. I don't mean "fan your face a little" hot, I mean it was fuckin' hot. I had on a lightweight button down shirt and a t-shirt and when I took off the outside shirt, it was soaked in sweat. He did a couple of songs from the new album, including Billie Jean. Yes, that Billie Jean. It's a completely different take on the song and it sounded really good. That was followed by Like a Stone one of my fave Audioslave songs. Then, wait, is that...holy shit, that's Loud Love! (from Soundgarden's 2nd album Louder than Love). That was rockin' and then when they kicked into Jesus Christ Pose, I about lost it. That song is one of the heaviest, hardest hitting songs ever. And Chris' backing band did it justice. Those guys are pretty damn good to be playing music from 3 different bands, especially considering those 3 bands consisted of Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Matt McCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Tom Morello and the bassist and drummer from Audioslave (I can't remember their names and I'm too lazy to go look it up). Plus playing stuff from Chris' solo albums, which are all over the place stylistically.
After Jesus Christ Pose, they all left the stage and we waited patiently for an encore. I was drained after JCP, but was ready for more. They came back out and open with that great guitar riff that starts off My Wave. They did a great job on it. Then Chris said something about he hadn't played the next song in a long time and the guitarist starts picking Seasons. Holy shit! I mean, if you had asked me before the show what songs I thought he would play, Seasons would have been way down at the bottom of the list. But it would have been near the top of my list of songs I would want him to play. It is a song he did solo for the Singles soundtrack (Soundgarden also had a song on there). It was amazing hearing it live. They followed that up with Black Hole Sun. That's one I loved when I first heard it (I bought the Superunknown album the week it was released), but after the radio and MTV wore it out, it's one of those songs I usually skip over. But hearing it live made me love it again. I loved it without the vocal effects that are on the album.
The house lights actually came on toward the end of Black Hole Sun. They finished up and Chris thanked everyone and left. I found out later that they actually were going to play a 2nd encore with Never Be Your Man (new album), Be Yourself and Slaves & Bulldozers (which would have been awesome), but they got shut down because it was so hot and people were passing out. Even without the 2nd encore, it was an amazing show. He played for at least 2.5 hours, maybe a little more. We definitely got our money's worth. I'm still pissed about paying $35 to go see Sting 7 years ago and he only played for 1:45, which included a 10 minute acoustic version of Roxanne, and what made it 10 minutes was mostly him repeatedly singing "Roxxxxaannne". I spent the same amount for this show and was close enough to read the Gibson name on the headstock of the guitar and Chris put on a fucking show. I included the setlist below, thanks to someone on the Chris Cornell forum.
Spoonman
Outshined
Original Fire
Show Me How to Live
No Such Thing
You Know My Name
Hunger Strike
Say Hello to Heaven
Fell on Black Days
What You Are
Rusty Cage
Sunshower
Can't Change Me (Chris solo)
Scar in the Sky (Chris solo)
I Am the Highway (Chris solo)
Call Me a Dog (started Chris solo, band came back at end)
Doesn't Remind Me
Cochise
Your Soul Today
Billie Jean
Like a Stone
Loud Love
JCP
Encore:
My Wave
Seasons
Blackhole Sun
Album Review: Carry On
Carry On is Chris Cornell's new album that was released yesterday. He apparently recorded it immediately after recording Revelations with Audioslave. In February, he announced he was leaving Audioslave and releasing a solo album. I was always a bigger fan of Chris' work in Soundgarden and solo than Audioslave, so I was pretty happy to hear that. I've heard that he is pretty much an asshole to work with and that he is egotistical. If I had his talent, I would be freakin' unbearable. I don't really care if he's a jerk, I just know I like the result of his musical creativity.
The album opens with No Such Thing, which starts off as a up-tempo rocker. The guitar riff at the beginning is pretty generic, if you've listened to any alternative in the past 10 years, you've probably heard it before. But the music suddenly drops to just an acoustic guitar and light drum, with Chris' vocals. The choruses go back to that generic riff with Chris singing. I guess it's a good opener because it's one of the harder rocking numbers on the album, but it's just not one of his best. But, my opinion of the song went up a few points when it got to the bridge. It shifts into a great sounding arpeggioed guitar with Chris' vocals split over the left and right channel. On the right, he's singing in that high falsetto he has (not the primal scream) and the left channel is his lower pitched, rougher voice (think of When I'm Down on Euphoria Morning).
Up next is Poison Eye, which doesn't have the best lyrics, but the chord progression, riff and melody makes up for it. Arms Around Your Love starts out sounding very poppy and radio friendly. And it stays there. That's not a bad thing, I'm sure some fans who only want to hear him sing Outshined for the rest of his life won't like it, but that's their loss. I think pop sounding songs like this are great when the artist is authentic. It's the manufactured pop music or the bands that say "hey, Pearl Jam sold millions of records, if we sound like them we'll sell millions too." (ahem, Creed) and even worse "hey, Creed sold millions sounding like Pearl Jam, we'll sell millions sounding like Creed sounding like Pearl Jam" (ahem, Nickelback). And I can't even bring myself, okay I guess I can, mention (I cringe even typing it) Hinder, which sounds like a rip off of a rip off of a rip off of Pearl Jam. Ok, back to the review.
Safe and Sound is a great song. It's got a bit of a bluesy feel, which I love when Chris does blues flavored songs (Call Me a Dog, When I'm Down). The lyrics are great, concerning a utopian view of society. Next up is She'll Never Be Your Man, which is written from the point of view of a man who's woman left him for another woman. Apparently Chris knew several people this happened to and he wrote this song about it. It's a very catchy song and has a great vocal melody and the lyrics are catchy. Ghosts has a some great guitar chords opening up, which fade into a great sounding acoustic strumming. I'm definitely going to have to learn the chords to this song.
The next song is Killing Birds (we finally get to the source of my pun at the beginning). Very interesting sound, opening up with a low-key acoustic guitar and some electronic drum sounds. After the chorus, it kicks into a more rocking tune with either a piano or guitar playing some weird notes while the rest of the band plays a straightforward rhythm. And the guitarist has great tone on the solo. The lyrics sound very personal and intense. Up next is Billie Jean and as I said above, yes the Billie Jean written by Michael Jackson in the 80's (back when he was cool). First thought is the guy from Soundgarden covering Michael Jackson?!? But you should check it out. Hit iTunes or Amazon and listen to the 30 second preview. He has rearranged it into a slow, bluesy tune with subdued vocals during the verses and cutting loose during the choruses.
Scar on the Sky is a pretty song that would sound at home on a Soundgarden album. That is followed by Your Soul Today, which I think is my favorite on the album so far. It's got an infectious guitar riff and a funky beat. Finally Forever has a Beatles feel with a slide guitar. Silence the Voices starts off sounding vaguely like an old school Soundgarden sludge-fest. But the vocals and drumming change that feel. It's actually a tough song to classify. Interesting. Disappearing Act is next. I wondered if it was related to Disappearing One from his last solo album (Euphoria Morning). It's a pretty, mostly acoustic song. Closing out the album is You Know My Name, which you've heard if you saw Casino Royale. It's a good song, with great lyrics and music. Chris collaborated with a composer on it and the orchestration in the song blends well with the standard guitar/drums/bass sound. Being a Bond fan and a fan of several Bond songs, I love that Chris has added one to the list*.
*Cool Bond Songs
Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney
The World is Not Enough - Garbage
A View to a Kill - Duran Duran
You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Summer Concerts
This is going to be an awesome summer for music. I have tickets for 3 concerts this summer.
First up is Chris Cornell May 31 at City Hall. I have been a huge fan of Chris since I first heard Soundgarden back in 1990. He has continued to make great music as a solo artist and in Audioslave (Soundgarden was much better though). He has left Audioslave and has another solo album coming out. Should be a great show.
Next is Rush in Atlanta on June 13. Since Starwood has closed, there's no amphitheater here, so Rush isn't coming to Nashville on this tour like they usually do. So I am taking Alec, who is a huge Rush fan and has never seen them live, and a friend of his to Atlanta to see them.
And to finish up the summer, I'm going to Cleveland, OH to see Dream Theater on August 11. I've been a fan of theirs since 1992. I've never seen them live, since they never come to Nashville. I am very excited about this show. Alec and a lot of his friends love DT also. I bought the tickets on the spur of the moment because I happened to check on them right after they went on sale and had the opportunity to get pretty good seats. We'll be in about the 30th row, right in the center in front of the mixing board (which is typically where the best sound is). I bought the tickets just a couple of days before Alec's birthday, so they were part of his present. I printed a map with the route from Nashville to Cleveland, then pasted Dream Theater's logo above Cleveland. I handed that to Alec at his party. It took him a few seconds to figure out what it was. A friend of his was looking over his shoulder and I could see his reaction when he recognized what it was. I did tell Alec that since the concert is 2 days after my birthday, he had to buy me a t-shirt at the show.
First up is Chris Cornell May 31 at City Hall. I have been a huge fan of Chris since I first heard Soundgarden back in 1990. He has continued to make great music as a solo artist and in Audioslave (Soundgarden was much better though). He has left Audioslave and has another solo album coming out. Should be a great show.
Next is Rush in Atlanta on June 13. Since Starwood has closed, there's no amphitheater here, so Rush isn't coming to Nashville on this tour like they usually do. So I am taking Alec, who is a huge Rush fan and has never seen them live, and a friend of his to Atlanta to see them.
And to finish up the summer, I'm going to Cleveland, OH to see Dream Theater on August 11. I've been a fan of theirs since 1992. I've never seen them live, since they never come to Nashville. I am very excited about this show. Alec and a lot of his friends love DT also. I bought the tickets on the spur of the moment because I happened to check on them right after they went on sale and had the opportunity to get pretty good seats. We'll be in about the 30th row, right in the center in front of the mixing board (which is typically where the best sound is). I bought the tickets just a couple of days before Alec's birthday, so they were part of his present. I printed a map with the route from Nashville to Cleveland, then pasted Dream Theater's logo above Cleveland. I handed that to Alec at his party. It took him a few seconds to figure out what it was. A friend of his was looking over his shoulder and I could see his reaction when he recognized what it was. I did tell Alec that since the concert is 2 days after my birthday, he had to buy me a t-shirt at the show.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Monday, May 15, 2006
Proud dad
I am very proud of A, my oldest son. Tonight was his school's awards ceremony. For the second year in a row, he won Best Percussionist for his grade.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Upcoming Concerts
Awesome, I just heard The Black Crowes are playing this summer and Robert Randolph and the Family Band is opening.
June 27 at Starwood, tickets go on sale Saturday (May 13). Anyone want to go?
And as mentioned by the photogenic Jane, Steely Dan is playing Starwood on July 10, tickets are on sale now.
I need to start saving my pennies for tickets.
June 27 at Starwood, tickets go on sale Saturday (May 13). Anyone want to go?
And as mentioned by the photogenic Jane, Steely Dan is playing Starwood on July 10, tickets are on sale now.
I need to start saving my pennies for tickets.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
New Music
I've been sitting on this post for a week and a half, I just haven't had time to throw it out here.
A couple of new bands and an old band w/ new music...
Damone - Out Here All Night. I got the title track as a free iTunes download and liked it. It reminds me of 80's hard rock. I listened to the samples of the rest of the album and bought it. It's pretty good. I don't imagine it will stay in heavy rotation once it falls out of my "New Songs" playlist, but it's nice to hear a guitar solo that's more than 3 notes in modern music.
Wolfmother - Dimensions EP. I got Dimension as a free iTunes download and just went and bought the 4 song EP. Awesome. Take 3 Aussies, lock them in a room with a guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. Only let them listen to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd for 6 months and this is what you get. They just released a full LP, but I haven't picked it up yet. Target has it for $7.99 vs. iTunes at $9.99.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium. It's not out yet, but I grabbed the single "Dani California" and it's really good. I haven't been really into RHCP since Mother's Milk/Blood Sugar Sex Magic, but their new one is on my wishlist.
A couple of new bands and an old band w/ new music...
Damone - Out Here All Night. I got the title track as a free iTunes download and liked it. It reminds me of 80's hard rock. I listened to the samples of the rest of the album and bought it. It's pretty good. I don't imagine it will stay in heavy rotation once it falls out of my "New Songs" playlist, but it's nice to hear a guitar solo that's more than 3 notes in modern music.
Wolfmother - Dimensions EP. I got Dimension as a free iTunes download and just went and bought the 4 song EP. Awesome. Take 3 Aussies, lock them in a room with a guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. Only let them listen to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd for 6 months and this is what you get. They just released a full LP, but I haven't picked it up yet. Target has it for $7.99 vs. iTunes at $9.99.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium. It's not out yet, but I grabbed the single "Dani California" and it's really good. I haven't been really into RHCP since Mother's Milk/Blood Sugar Sex Magic, but their new one is on my wishlist.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Something/Anything?
OK, so I'm a little late to the party. Todd Rundgren is one of those artists that I've heard on the radio and liked, but I've never really listened to him. Since today* is iTunes allowance day (why do I have to have 2 accounts to give myself an allowance? Apple, can you please tell me why?), I bought Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren. Wow! I've been missing this for all these years. Of course, I've heard "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me" before, but hearing them in the context of the entire album makes them sound even better.
*Actually yesterday was allowance day but I was busy all day and didn't have time to do any music shopping. More on this later.
*Actually yesterday was allowance day but I was busy all day and didn't have time to do any music shopping. More on this later.
Friday, February 10, 2006
New Will Hoge CD
It came in the mail today! Sounds good so far. I've listened to the first 5 tracks and "Woman Be Strong" stands out the most. "The Man Who Killed Love" just started and it's got a killer guitar lick. I've got a meeting to get to, so I'll have to finish listening this afternoon. It's loaded up on the iPod ready for the drive home.
Listening: The Man Who Killed Love - Will Hoge
Listening: The Man Who Killed Love - Will Hoge
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
The Man Who Killed Love
I just ordered the new Will Hoge CD "The Man Who Killed Love" that came out yesterday. Can't wait for it to arrive. I've gotten spoiled by iTunes, I just click Buy and I'm listening to it. I had to order this the old school way directly through his site. I will review when I get it.
Listening: Improve/Amazing Grace - Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Listening: Improve/Amazing Grace - Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
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