30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 5

Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone

I came -> || this close to posting another song, but the less I'm reminded about her, the better, so I went with this instead:

"Third Eye" by TOOL (Listen to it here)

"Today, a young man on acid realized that matter is merely energy condensed into a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there's no such thing as death, life is just a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.

Here's Tom with the weather." - Bill Hicks (1961-1994)

This isn't as much a meme entry as a shoutout to my cousin Terry Million. During my misspent youth, he was the one I misspent most of my time with. He's a great guy and an amazing artist. He opened my mind to many things, including the band TOOL.

Our paths took us in different directions, both physically and philosophically, but still, I wouldn't be what I am had he not been in my life.

As for the song itself, it took many years to grasp its full meaning, intent, and impact on me, but I'm eternally grateful for having been introduced to it.

At 13:45, it is a long one, but it's not so long that you start to lose interest, as each note, word, and anticipatory instrumentation draws you in deeper. It opens with three statements by the late, great comedian Bill Hicks. If you want a mind-opening experience, find some of his bits and listen to him. He's like late-career George Carlin only with about one-quarter of the cynicism, because he genuinely believed mankind could pull itself out. (Watch this to see what I mean).

But I digress...

The song is ultimately about drugs, unashamedly so. So much so that it actually sounds like an acid trip. I imagine that this song would be enhanced by ingesting a mind-altering substance, but I wouldn't know. (Any insight into this would be appreciated)

The tone and tempo of the song slowly builds over time, until the climax at the end. It does repeat itself, and the lyrics and drum seem to be off-time, with the lyrics in 4/4 time and the drums in 3/4. Oddly enough, though, it works, and makes for a mind-blowing finish to an amazing song.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 4

Day 04 – A song that makes you sad

"Going Through Changes" by Eminem (Hear it here)

I tried very hard not to use more than one song by a particular group or artist, but I can't help it. Eminem has been big for me these past several months, and this song more than fits today's theme.

"Going Through Changes" outlines the artist's slow, inexorable decline into addiction and suicide after the death of his best friend, the rapper Proof, and shows how true love can bring anyone back from even the deepest abyss.

The hook of the song is sampled directly from the chorus of "Changes" by Black Sabbath. The contrast in tone is striking because although both songs deal with loss, Sabbath's song is pining for a lost love, while Eminem is trying to find a way to survive without someone he grew up with, close as brothers. Even so, Ozzy's slow, pining declaration seems to fit perfectly in each section of the song.

The issues touched on in this song are the issues that are present all through Recovery: the death of Proof, the price of fame, Em's own disappointment in his previous work, and his drug addiction and near-fatal overdose. In this track, however, they're woven into a narrative that illustrates the fall and fall of Eminem in the years following Proof's death. The emotion carried by the song is a complete contrast to the near-monotone delivery. In fact, the delivery amplifies the emotion by not getting in its way - Eminem has a voice and a style that can overpower any song. This song shows he can do subtle as well.

There'll be at least one more Em song on this list. You have been warned.

BTW, if you don't at least tear up the first time you hear Hailie say "Daddy", you have no soul.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 3

Day 03 – A song that makes you happy

"Motteke Sera-fuku (Lucky Star Theme)" Watch here

Screw your judgment.

I love Lucky Star, and am unrepentant in doing so. After seeing scenes chopped up in YouTube Poops, I sought out the series and watched it. Needless to say, once I started watching the series in full, I was completely hooked.

Okay, now that that's out of the way...

I fell in love with this song from the first moment I heard it... on a video that had little to do with Lucky Star and more to do with Konata buying sausage.

There has never been a moment where hearing this song has not lifted my spirits. It's a happy, peppy, upbeat song about those cute little sailor-suit school uniforms.

What else can I say about this song? If you don't like it... MOTTEKE!

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 2

Day 02 – Your least favorite song

I hemmed and hawed on this one for a while, tossing several choices back and forth before finally deciding on...

"My Own Prison" by Creed (listen here)

No band makes me reach for the radio knob faster than Creed, and no Creed song makes me want to stick a flaming shish-kebob into my eardrums like My Own Prison.

Some background: Me and religion, particularly that of the Judeo-Christian variety, parted ways many years ago. Why would take too long to explain - suffice to say that I have learned things that I can't unlearn, not that I would if given the chance - but as a result, I'm not a fan of blatantly religious or religious-advertising songs.

Don't misunderstand; I'm not disparaging anyone else's right to believe what they want. It's when people try to make you believe what they believe that gets me angry. I don't advertise my lack of religion to you, so please don't advertise your religion to me. Good? Good.

Now then, this dovetails into my utter hatred for Creed. A lot of their music has subtle Christian overtones that make it hard to listen to to begin with.

...that and trying to marry such ideas with the man who sings them, Scott Stapp, with all his personal, legal, and public problems, is mind-twisting, to say the least. Yeah, hypocrisy doesn't sit well with me either, but we'll leave that here, as that is just one petal on the hate flower I have grown for Creed.

This song in particular makes no attempt to hide its Christian roots, its preachiness, or its suck. Stapp's voice is particularly hard to listen to on this track, aside from the lyrical content, as he tries to wring a bucket of pathos from a thimble of material. You can tell that he's trying REALLY hard to evoke an emotion from the listener, but all he does is make me cringe. Listening to his voice in general is like slowly rubbing my soul with steel wool.

Add to that the lyrics... wow. I think Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank summed it up best.

"I hear a thunder in the distance
See a vision of a cross
I feel the pain that was given
On that sad day of loss
A lion roars in the darkness
Only he holds the key
A light to free me from my burden
And grant me life eternally" - Creed, "My Own Prison"

Again... wow! These lyrics are about as subtle as a bible flung at your throat. If I wanted to be proselytized to, I'd go back home.

Even outside the issues I have with the singer and the lyrics, it's just plain unlistenable. Even if you had a random person hum the melody over the instrumental track, it would still suck sixteen balls and a long shaft... not to mention the pool table itself.

Anyway, I hate this song. My hate for this song could fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools before you get to the real seething anger. It's brooding, preachy, blatantly religious, and just plain sucks as a song.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 1

(It's still May 1st somewhere...)

Hey, everyone!

While I work up the courage to finish recording my first review and/or post a text review of some kind, I thought I'd give you an idea where I'm coming from musically with a 30 Songs in 30 Days meme.

Music has always been a part of my life, and I tend to retain things I hear more than things I see, and I impress/annoy friends and family with my ability to recognize and sing songs after only hearing a little bit of it.

That's why I'm choosing to go this route primarily with my reviews, but I will probably review other things in my other blog(s).

For now, though, let's jump in with...

Day 01 – Your favorite song

"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" by Jim Croce

This song is, to me, the perfect song. It tells a whole story from beginning to end in the course of the lyrics. The instrumentation is amazing without overpowering the singer. And Jim Croce's voice fits this song perfectly: hovering between calm confidence and emotional surrender, but never quite reaching either.

Jim Croce is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. He knows how to tell a story well, based on his other, more well-known songs, and nothing he does is overdone or underdone: the lyrics aren't overly emotional or bland, and his singing is likewise.

A lot more songs that you will see on this list are more emotionally attached to me, but this one will always and forever be my favorite.

WTF, Grammys? (Rant warning)

I know that the voting process for these awards is already batshit insane, but this, I feel, deserves a rant.

Here we are, less than a week removed from the Grammy awards, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around one thing:

Album of the Year

Now, as anyone who knows me know, I'm a huge Eminem freak. Recovery saved my sanity, blah, blah, blah... so, yeah, I'm pissed that Recovery didn't win best album, but that's not what is vexing me.

Here's a pop quiz. What do these three albums have in common:

Eminem's Recovery
Lady Antebellum's Need You Now
Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster

All three were nominated for Album of the Year, plus Best Album in their respective genres, and each of those albums won in their category.

Know what else they have in common?

THEY DIDN'T WIN ALBUM OF THE YEAR!

Know what album isn't on that list?

No, not Katy Perry's Teenage Dream

It's Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. You know, the album that won?

Know what it didn't win? BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM!

So, basically, we have a Best Album of the year that wasn't even the Best Album IN ITS OWN GENRE!

Let's think about that for a moment: The Black Keys' Brothers won Best Alternative Album over The Suburbs.

Now, we could easily say that it was a close contest and The Suburbs came in second, but it's entirely possible that it came in dead last. The Grammy voting is by secret ballot. We may never know how close or not the voting was.

What does this mean? It means that the best Rap, Country, and Pop albums were not better than an also-ran in the Alternative genre - that at least one if not more albums THAT WEREN'T NOMINATED are better than the best albums in three different genres.

Fuck you, Grammys.

A cut in format

In thinking about my show Cover to Cover, I realize that I'm trying to do too much. And, like anything where you try to be more than one thing, you're not as good at any one of them as you could be.

As such, I am trimming my scope, focusing primarily on the albums (i.e., the namesake of the show), and leaning toward the mediocre and bad albums. (I mean, because how many ways can you say "this is awesome" before it gets annoying)?

Occasionally, I will do an off-schedule short where I analyze a cover song (Convering the Cover), because I have a few of those I'd like to hit (the first of which will probably be my Depeche Mode triple-shot). Also, I'll be doing a wide range of covers, good, bad, and ugly, turning it into a combination of old vs. new and "OMG WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT SONG, YOU BASTARD?!" (...and I have the perfect candidate for that one)

Plus, I may do unscripted vlogs on occasion, describing new songs and CD's I purchased, or, perhaps moreso, mashups that I have taken to listening to.

I just need to relax and do what I do. Will I get famous? Probably not, but I'm doing this for fun, and letting what happens happen.

That said, once I wet my feet on this other vlog I'm doing (see my other blog for details), I'll get to work on my first selections.

Here is a tentative schedule, with no dates in mind. Look for updates every two weeks or so until I get into a groove:
Show 1: Calling All Stations by Genesis
Show 2: Invincible by Michael Jackson
Show 3: Double Feature: 5150 and III by not-Van Halen
Show 4: 12 Inches of Snow (yeah, right) by Snow
Show 5: Polka Party by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Show 6: Fairweather Johnson and Musical Chairs by Hootie and the Blowfish

Details as they become available. For now, it feels good to actually pare this down.