Mark Burgess - View from a Hill (2007)

I’ve been a Chameleons fan for ages (yet another instance where I got into them right after they broke up, in this case for the second time), but I seem to do a poor job of following news about them. With their history of record label relationships gone sour and dodgy distribution deals, they’re hard to keep track of. Somehow I didn’t even know this book existed until recently!

[View from a Hill.]

There are a few versions of View from a Hill. It was originally published in 2007 by Guardian Angel, then later edited and republished in 2014 by Mittens On. My copy is from 2010 by Metropolitan and seems to be the original text. The first thing one notices is just how big the book is! It’s 555 pages with rather small print. No wonder it was subsequently edited, although the later version is still around 480 pages.

And unfortunately, this is a book that could really use some better editing. Apart from countless typos and some poor formatting, it’s just way too much. There are 65 pages about Burgess’ childhood and adolescence before he gets to the point of forming his first band, The Clichés. I cannot imagine who in their life is interested in that level of detail about which schoolkids and teachers were idiots in the early 1970s. I ended up skimming sections out of boredom.

Once he gets to the Chameleons, of course things get more interesting. I love reading about the origin of their classic songs and how the band navigated their music career through the many tricks and contrivances of the industry. Of course, reading about how thoroughly they got screwed over time and again is hard, but I appreciate that Burgess stresses to readers the importance of good management. I always admired their independent-minded approach, although I’m sure it cost them quite a bit in terms of their reach and financial success.

Once the narrative gets to the Strange Times era circa 1986, it’s clear that Burgess wasn’t doing well, presumably from stress, but it’s unclear exactly what was going on with him. He describes some scenarios of blacking out and having visions, supposedly not caused by drugs. His relationship with his bandmates was disintegrating and he felt misunderstood by everyone. Somehow he got hung up on the idea of going to Israel, and he ultimately went and brought along Sally, a younger friend that later becomes his first wife. He spends 45 pages describing their time in Israel, where they apparently spent a few months having spiritual experiences and hanging out with Palestinians, until he panicked that his newfound friends might have nefarious intentions. They fled and returned to England, where Burgess finally seemed to be at peace and see things more clearly.

After a successful final tour of the USA with the Chameleons, he quit the band, although he doesn’t go into much detail about what exactly the conflict with guitarist Dave Fielding was all about. He accuses Fielding of being drug-addicted, mean-spirited, lazy, and financially short-sighted, but it really makes one wonder what the other sides of the story are. (Certainly Dave’s recent habit of leaving nasty comments on Mark’s YouTube videos doesn’t put him in a good light.) When the band ultimately reforms around 2000, there is conspicuously far less detail about that period, and Burgess lays the blame on their second breakup squarely on being ghosted by Fielding. Clearly Burgess’s relationships with drummer John Lever and guitarist Reg Smithies was better; Lever performed in Burgess’s subsequent band The Sun and the Moon, his solo albums, and early incarnations of ChameleonsVox, and Reg has joined a semi-reformed Chameleons in recent years.

The rest of the book is all over the place. Burgess doesn’t go into too much detail about The Sun and the Moon, his solo career, Invincible, or White Rose Transmission, only describing record label difficulties, some interpersonal struggles, and the occasional concert, but never describing songwriting or lyrical subject matter. He spends more time writing about renovating a rich Londoner’s Scottish manor, doing manual construction labor elsewhere in Scotland, hating the image-conscious culture of LA, working the Manchester City ticket counter, and contributing writing and design for the 1996 video game Drowned God. The final 30 pages are an extended treatise on metaphysics and politics. It’s a lot.

It’s hard to recommend this book. The sections closer to the music were great, but most of the else was tedious, obscure, or outright superfluous. I could never tell what Burgess really wanted to convey. I mean, his journal entry from 1986 on the state of affairs in Israel-Palestine is right on and just as accurate today, and back in 2007 I also thought that Germany handled their difficult legacy well. I no longer feel that way, but I still prefer the socio-political climate here to the USA, as Burgess did/does compared to the UK. But I would’ve been better off not knowing that Burgess edited a UFO newsletter for a while.

I’ll admit I enjoyed his description of the transcendent acid trip on a hill that inspired the great song and the name of the book, but did I really need the story about a young man’s unexpected encounter with a trans woman? I was amused that Burgess got into UNIX, but I wish he could’ve done better than describing every woman as beautiful and few other adjectives. I suppose that if, like me, you can’t resist reading this book, you should feel no hesitation or shame in skipping large sections of it.

Score: C

The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976/2007)

The Modern Lovers have a bigger name than an actual recorded history. I knew about them because countless other great bands had covered them: Siouxsie & the Banshees, John Cale, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc., and the band shared a keyboardist with Talking Heads (Jerry Harrison). However, the Modern Lovers never recorded an album during their short early 70s lifetime and broke up with nothing but some demos to show for it. As singer/songwriter/guitarist Jonathan Richman began rounding up a second set of Modern Lovers in 1976 (but this time explicitly labeled as his backing band), Beserkley Records compiled some of the demos the original band recorded (mostly produced by John Cale) and released the album years after the recording process. The album has been reissued a few times and now boasts a host of bonus tracks from the various demo sessions.

Artist: The Modern Lovers
Album: The Modern Lovers
Released: 1976, reissued 2007
Recorded: 1971-1973
Label: Beserkley, reissued on Castle/Sanctuary
Produced by: John Cale, Kim Fowley

Tracklist:
01. Roadrunner
02. Astral Plane
03. Old World
04. Pablo Picasso
05. She Cracked
06. Hospital
07. Someone I Care About
08. Girlfriend
09. Modern World

Reissue (2007) bonus tracks, all of which are just outtakes:
10. Dignified and Old
11. I'm Straight
12. Government Center
13. I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms
14. Dance with Me
15. Someone I Care About [Alternative Version]
16. Modern World [Alternative Version]
17. Roadrunner [Alternative Version]

In some ways, I think the Modern Lovers wished they were the Velvet Underground. Richman is known to have hung around the band band in the day, and the band frequently covered "Foggy Notion" and perhaps a few other Velvets songs live. The band line-up is total rock-'n'-roll: guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, nerdy singer. The band is called proto-punk, and for a reason. The musical structure is ridiculously simple (anyone can play it); almost every song is a two- or three-chord rocker. "Pablo Picasso" is one riff based around one chord, and the slower songs don't get very complex either. In addition to the accessible and fairly traditional structures, the sound is usually a bit loud and distorted, and the various instruments use a fair amount of improvisation within the chord changes. The lyrics show a stand against what seemed like the dominant cultural hegemony of stadium rock and hippyism.

The music here has such a great sound to it, but what really makes the Modern Lovers a winning band is their lyrics. Richman sounds like a young, naïve, nervous and weird man who just wants friendship and love. Many of his songs are about romance, but his approach is very un-rock-'n'-roll; it seems that his obtuse nerdiness is his main impediment to love, and instead of the same old "let me hold your hand" sort of business (sorry, Beatles), he sings things like, "I don't want just a girl to fool around with / I don't want just a girl to ball / What I want is a girl that I care about" in "Someone I Care About". It's so plain and straightforward, so simplistic and innocent. However, it is very self-aware, and it's not like Richman doesn't know about the rest of the world. He just wants his good old way.

In "I'm Straight", Richman shows his awkwardness and dislike of drug and hippie culture: "I saw you thought today walk by with hippie Johnny / I had to call up and say how I want to take his place / ... / See he's stoned, he's never straight". In "She Cracked", Richman again expresses his style of conservatism: "She'd self destroy, necessary to self enjoy / I self develop, necessary to self help", "She'd eat garbage, eat shit, get stoned / I stay alone, eat health food at home". That one cracks me up a lot. He gets things pretty clear in "Old World" when he sings, "Well the old world might be dead / Our parents can't understand / But I still love my parents / And I still love the old world". He's aware that times have changed, though, and he's willing to accept that; he finishes the song with, "Alright, now we say bye-bye old world / Gotta help the new world". He even acknowledges that the old world isn't perfect: "I see a '50s apartment house / It's bleak in the 1970s sun".

On the whole, the lyrics are genius. I love the mild awkwardness, the desperate search for affection, the glorification and appreciation of a mix of traditional and modern values, and the somewhat subtle humor. "Astral Plane" is about a sort of imaginative dream-world where Richman can picture himself with his love, and "Roadrunner" is an absolute declaration of love of the highway and AM radio. Richman loves his old world and health food but simultaneously declares, "And me in love with modern moonlight / Me in love with modern rock-'n'-roll / Modern girls and modern rock-'n'-roll / Don't feel so alone, got the radio on". "Modern World" similarly expresses his unsubtle modern love: "I'm in love with the USA now / I'm in love with the modern world now". I greatly appreciate Richman's sort of postmodern attempt to appreciate both the past and present and try to get the best out of both world. Like me, Richman prefers things like music, love, health food, and the imagination instead of drugs and unnecessarily destructive behavior.

I have been focusing on the words a lot, but I do greatly appreciate the music, too. (However, I suspect Richman must have shared my priorities here, since in concert he would apparently stop the music and recite the words if he thought the audience wasn't paying enough attention). "Roadrunner" is glorious two-chord rock-'n'-roll (although admittedly a third chord crops up a few times). That song starts the album to a great start and sets the scene. The drums thump along in a simple, steady, upbeat rhythm, the guitar chugs along, Lou Reed style (a la "What Goes On" or something), the bass follows with a few flourishes, and the keyboard flows around the scale. It's great. Throughout the songs, the keyboard and guitar both get a few solos here and there, but nothing too dramatic or superfluous. Rhythm and tempo remain mostly consistent except for "She Cracked", an already great song (with its quick chugging, distorted guitar, dark keyboard, and simple but great melody) which slowly begins getting dissonant and messy before suddenly running right back into the chorus without missing a beat.

"Pablo Picasso", a witty song about the artist (sort of: "Well some people try to pick up girls / And get called assholes / This never happened to Pablo Picasso / ... / Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole / Not like you") that sort of points out the power of fame over ordinary life, has what is probably the most blatant guitar solo, but even here the solo is fraught with what could be considered mistakes (sort of like Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" solo with all the thuds of trying and failing to hit artificial harmonics). The best is when part of the solo is just Richman turning his distortion pedal on and off.

"Hospital" is a slow, longer song that sort of cracks me up: "When you get out of the hospital / Let me back into your life / ... / And when you get out of the dating bar / I'll be here to get back into your life", "I go to bakeries all day long / There's a lack of sweetness in my life". He sounds so down and self-deprecating when awkwardly mumbles, "And when I walk down your street / Probably be tears in my eyes". I guess I can't stop talking about the lyrics, so here's one more: "Girlfriend" opens with a reference to being in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (a city which he mentions in several songs) but declares he'd pretty much rather have a girlfriend, which he then proceeds to spell out, only he spells it quite clearly wrong: "g-i-r-l-f-r-e-n". Who knows. The song has a great walking bassline under the somewhat slow and sparse feel of it all. At one point the drums even break the beat and hold the snare crack back a beat.

It's a sad fact that the Modern Lovers were so short-lived. Some of Richman's later work with different sets of Modern Lovers might be interesting, but after this outfit, he mostly traded his distortion and electric guitar for an acoustic guitar. The core set of songs here is incredibly well-written, and for demos, the recordings are of good quality and the performances are great. It's not quite right to say Richman was ahead of his time, but he certainly didn't fit in with his own. He wouldn't quite have fit in with the late 70s punks, but it probably would have been less awkward than the early 70s types. At least they had the sympathetic John Cale on their side.

This is a great album. The last five bonus tracks are of lower quality (in terms of both performance and recording) and not as essential. Find the album on cheap vinyl, or find an older CD reissue with just the first few bonus tracks, or go all out, but this is a great album, and it clearly meant a lot to plenty of other musicians.

Score: A+

Control (2007)

This past week Control made its premiere in St. Louis, showing on one screen at one theater. I went and saw it with a couple friends and my brother, and although I have no desire to usurp my brother's venture of reviewing films, I would like to review this movie on the grounds that it is quite clearly about music. Specifically, Control is about Joy Division, one of the most hailed post-punk bands of the late 70s, and their lead singer, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide right as the band was getting serious recognition.

The film is sort of based off of Touching from a Distance, a memoir about Ian by his wife Deborah Curtis, but is supplanted by plenty of other sources. (If you are concerned about the accuracy of the depicted events, the surviving members of Joy Division have approved the content of the film.) Unlike some biographies of Ian and the band, Control tries to combine the personal aspects of Ian's life with the story of the band, and since the two do go hand in hand, it works out well. It was directed by Anton Corbijn, who might not be a big name, but he has been a longtime photographer (taking pictures of Joy Division when they existed 27+ years ago) and music video director (known for doing Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" and Joy Division's posthumous "Atmosphere" videos), and this is his first film, a fairly appropriate choice considering his history.

I don't want to detail all of Joy Division's history, so if you don't know it but want to, see the movie or read it on Allmusic or something. The movie chronicles Ian's first encounters with Deborah (followed by their very young marriage and childbirth) and the rest of the band (at an infamous Sex Pistols concert), then shows the growth of the band (becoming managed by Rob Gretton, playing on TV by Tony Wilson, recording the first album and singles with Martin Hannett, etc.), and then shows the troubling aspects of Ian's life and their toll on the band (namely marriage problems and epilepsy).

Fans of the band or scene might remember 24 Hour Party People, which focuses mostly on Tony Wilson, the co-owner/manager of Factory Records, but depicts some of the same events. Whereas that movie makes no attempt to separate fact from fiction (explicitly stating that the myths make better stories anyway), Control is more focused and aims to set the record straight. (My one question is the validity of the scene in which Joy Division signs to Factory: supposedly Wilson wrote the contract in his own blood, but I've heard conflicting reports to the truth of that. Beyond that one scene, every other event depicted appeared legitimate to me.)

Control isn't just an accurate biography; it's also a well-made film. The acting is solid, the visuals are good, and the soundtrack is great. The film alternates between black-and-white and sepia tones, which usually swap unnoticed. After Ian's first seizure, the film jarringly switches from a dark outdoor sepia scene to a bright, indoor black-and-white scene that will nearly blind you, and although it's a bit annoying, it sure does serve as a wake-up call that something's not right. Ian was never fond of his hometown of Macclesfield, and the monochrome suits the bleakness of the area (and matches most of the historical photography of the band).

The real winning touch, though, is the soundtrack. It combines music from the era that influenced the band (Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Kraftwerk), original recordings by the band, new soundtrack recordings by the surviving members of Joy Division, and live material recorded by the cast for the concert scenes. The thing is, you wouldn't know that the concerts aren't actual Joy Division recordings – the cast does a really good job of accurately covering the material, affecting the band's demeanor, and actually sounding like the real thing. One of my favorite scenes merely traces Ian's walk to his boring job at the employment agency, but it's set to the early Joy Division song "No Love Lost". The song has a great bassline and a solid drumbeat that starts right as Ian starts walking and follows his pace. When we see the backside of Curtis, his jacket has the word "hate" scrawled on it.

The movie gets fairly intense in the latter half as the line between Ian's onstage dancing and seizures becomes more and more blurry and his affections shift from his wife to a Belgian journalist. The band keeps writing, recording, and performing, but Curtis' condition becomes worse and worse until he simply cannot take it anymore. The juxtaposition of the Joy Division songs that the band is shown recording or performing with the events going on make evident a connection that I never thought much about before. The band is shown working with songs in mostly the chronological order they were originally written, and the lyrics of each song seem to correspond eerily close to real life. The (real) band and other involved people have said before that the warning signs of Curtis' suicide were all there in his lyrics, but even I never credited his lyrics as actually applying the real life very well. After seeing an epileptic girl at the employment agency, Curtis sings "She's Lost Control", which lends the film's title and serves as a foreshadowing of Curtis' own problems. Later, after a troubling scene with Deborah, the band is shown recording the music video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart", a song whose lyrics strike a deep chord in response to the Curtis' relationship. Other songs throughout the movie similarly reflect real events (albeit perhaps less obviously).

Everything about this movie comes together well: the music goes with the visuals quite well. One could complain that the last third seems to move at a slower pace, but the movie does manage to pack a lot into just two hours without leaving much out. Many scenes make reference to events that a non-fan might not catch, which could make much of the movie alienating, but for those that know the story, it all comes together in a sort of "wait a minute, that crazy producer dude is Martin Hannett!" sort of way. Not to spoil the ending (although it is history anyway), but after Curtis' death the rest of the band sits at a table looking sombre, and drummer Stephen Morris has brought his girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, along. Although she isn't named and no words are spoken, this clearly alludes to the dawn of New Order (which consists of the three remaining members of Joy Division plus Gilbert). Actually, the whole set of scenes in the last few minutes made a big emotional impact on me: there's the drama of everything falling apart, and it's all set to the Joy Division single "Atmosphere", which is already a haunting, moving piece.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. If it plays in your city and you know anything about the band, go see it.

Score: A

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth & Collected Works (1980/2007)

I don't remember how I learned about Young Marble Giants. Maybe it was when I heard Belle & Sebastian's semi-obscure cover of "Final Day". Who knows. But recently, I heard that their entire recorded output (one album, one single, one EP, one Peel session, one compilation track, and one set of demos, although a couple demo tracks and a live recording are absent) was being released as a three-disc set at a decent price. Not having heard a single song, I went for it. It might be really minimalist and limited in appeal, but I think it's great.

Also, my apologies for the lack of reviews as of late. I think I might like this format a bit better, but I might still use the old here and there.

Artist: Young Marble Giants
Album: Colossal Youth & Collected Works
Released: February 1980, reissued 11 September 2007
Label: Rough Trade, reissued on Domino Recording Co.
Producer: Young Marble Giants & Dave Anderson (Disc 1), unknown (Disc 2), Dale Griffin (Disc 3)

Tracklist:
Disc 1 (the original album):
01. Searching for Mr Right
02. Include Me Out
03. The Taxi
04. Eating Noddemix
05. Constantly Changing
06. N.I.T.A.
07. Colossal Youth
08. Music for Evenings
09. The Man Amplifier
10. Choci Loni
11. Wurlitzer Jukebox
12. Salad Days
13. Credit in the Straight World
14. Brand – New – Life
15. Wind in the Rigging

Disc 2 (from Salad Days, a set of demos recorded 1979 but released 2000, and other sources as labeled):
01. This Way [Testcard EP, 1981]
02. Posed by Models [Testcard EP, 1981]
03. The Clock [Testcard EP, 1981]
04. Clicktalk [Testcard EP, 1981]
05. Zebra Trucks [Testcard EP, 1981]
06. Sporting Life [Testcard EP, 1981]
07. Final Day [Single, 1980]
08. Radio Silents [Final Day b-side, 1980]
09. Cakewalking [Final Day b-side, 1980]
10. Ode to Booker T [Is the War Over? Compilation, 1979]
11. Have Your Toupee Ready
12. N.I.T.A.
13. Brand – New – Life
14. Zebra Trucks
15. Choci Loni
16. Wind in the Rigging
17. The Man Shares His Meal with His Beast
18. The Taxi
19. Constantly Changing
20. Music for Evenings
21. Credit in the Straight World
22. Eating Noddemix
23. Ode to Booker T
24. Radio Silents
25. Hayman
26. Loop the Loop

Disc 3 (from a Peel session recorded August 18, 1980):
1. Searching for Mr Right
2. Brand – New – Life
3. Final Day
4. N.I.T.A.
5. Posed by Models

If there's one thing you notice about the Young Marble Giants, it's how incredibly minimalist their music is. One guy (Philip Moxham) plays bass (and what a great bass he plays – he plays in the higher register and carries much of the melody, similar to Joy Division's Peter Hook; I wish I could write basslines that well). One girl (Alison Statton) sings. The other guy (Stuart Moxham) alternates between a very trebly, usually muted guitar and an organ, both of which he is quite proficient with. The only other sounds are simple drum machine rhythms, occasional extra noise provided by a friend, and the rare overdub.

Somehow, it all works. The stark clarity of each instrument stands out, and you can easily distinguish the few but perfectly interwoven parts. The music is quite well-composed. The guitar tends to play short chords while the bass winds around the chord changes. The few times the bass repeats a root note like a modern rock song's bassline, it feels nearly out of place, but even then, the tone is always trebly, prominent, and higher than a typical bass. In the songs with organ, the organ is usually played with both hands – meaning that there is a bass part on the organ, too. Usually, that part holds the root notes while the bass guitar goes on its merry way, filling out the chords with little flourishes. The singing, though, is plain, and admittedly done by an untrained singer.

Lyrically, many songs seem to deal with love lost or just general relationship woes, but it's all a bit removed and obscure. Rarely do the words come out a say the story directly, except perhaps the stand-out track "N.I.T.A." (also represented by a demo and Peel session version), where Stuart writes and Alison sings, "It's nice to hear you're having a good time / But it still hurts 'cos you used to be mine / This doesn't mean I possessed you / You're haunting me because I let you". The rest of the lyrics of that song are in sharp contrast rather abstract. "Eating Noddemix", referencing what is apparently a Swedish cereal bar, alternates discussing morning routines with various catastrophes.

Other songs are outright obscure with no hope of understanding, most notably "Choci Loni", a six-line piece about someone who eats through his house or something. "Salad Days" is a three line piece: "Think of salad days / They were folly and fun / They were good, they were young". Simple, but it tells it all (and lends its name to the demo compilation). YMG's one single, "Final Day", is an apocalyptic piece: "And the world lights up for the final day / We will all be poor having had our say".

The band is usually uptempo, keeping pace with a steady but moving drum machine at all times. Some pieces have simply fantastic instrumental work – not by virtue of virtuosity, but just in how the instruments interact. I love "N.I.T.A." and the instrumental "Wind in the Rigging" (featuring a great bit of counterpoint between organ and bass). No song exceeds much more than three a half minutes (only a couple come close, but two demos do reach four and a half). Their ideas are comparatively short but still wonderful.

The Testcard EP, released around a year after the album, features six instrumentals. "The Clock" features what sounds like an acoustic guitar that actually strums fuller chords and picks a few notes out, but the dancey "Clicktalk" is my favorite of those six, with a great hummed sort of baritone line. The demos aren't all that amazing; they're mostly just lower-fi versions of tracks from the rest of the output, but a few are subtly different, and four tracks are unique to the demos. The Peel session is likewise not particularly revelatory but mildly interesting to hear the band semi-live.

I think this album stands as a great example of post-punk radicalism. Instead of loud guitars or a wall of sound, the band chooses precise, clean, and clear tones to distinguish each part and let the gaps speak for themselves. It's a bit arty, slightly pretentious, and very unmarketable... or so I would think.

Score: A

Mat Kearney / Tyler Burkum / Jesse Irwin - Live 2007.09.28 Webster University, Webster Groves, Missouri

Band: Mat Kearney
Venue: Parking Lot E, Webster University
City: Webster Groves, Missouri
Date: 28 September 2007
Opening Acts: Jesse Irwin, Tyler Burkum

Setlist:
01. Crashing Down
02. Break Her Fall
03. Bullet
04. Chicago
05. In the Middle
06. Renaissance
07. Wait
08. Where We Gonna Go from Here
09. Girl America
10. City of Black & White
11. Nothing Left to Lose
12. All I Need
13. Undeniable

Encore:
14. Breathe In / Breathe Out
15. Won't Back Down

This won't be too long, since although I was present for the entire concert, I was also working at it. After helping set up for an hour before my classes and then returning after working an extended regular shift, I mostly blocked people from entering from the back corner and then checked IDs. I was pretty busy and distracted for most of the show, but I did manage to snag a setlist while taking down the stage setup. On a personal level, separate from the music, it was an enjoyable experience for me to be such a part of a concert – I had an event staff shirt and an access pass. It's always good to feel like you're on the inside.

So, I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of Mat Kearney until I heard he was coming. I mean, that's simply because he comes from a movement that normally doesn't interest me, and his singles are played on radio formats that I ignore and in television shows that I avoid. I figured I'd give him a chance, especially since I'd be there anyway due to my job.

The first opener, Jesse Irwin, was a Webster graduate who had played at Webster before, both at our old unplugged series as a student and at Homecoming as an alumni. He played a short set based on a sort of acoustic country feel. Not my thing but not bad or anything. Thereafter, Tyler Burkum came on. Burkum is apparently Kearney's guitarist but makes his own mostly-acoustic music on the side. I must confess my large degree of distraction, but what I did hear sounded pleasant. He played a short set, and I believe he did a song or two with some other guys.

Mat Kearney finally came to the stage and was accompanied a handful of musicians who handled additional guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums. Kearney himself played guitar and sang. I didn't catch lyrics nearly at all, so I really can't get deep here. In general, the music was on the lower-key side of things, which is to say, not metal. The sound was usually clean and largely straightforward (as in, not a lot of complex structure or intricacies – which shouldn't be taken to mean I thought it was dull, just that I didn't notice anything crazy on the basis of music theory). There were brighter, more upbeat songs, and slower, minor chord pieces. (Does that describe every concert or what?) During the long instrumental beginning of the first song, one of the bartenders near me said it sounded like the Smashing Pumpkins. I couldn't disagree – the tempo and general sound or feel of that first song sort of did feel Pumpkinesque. After the second song, the bartender said it sounded like Coldplay, and again, I couldn't disagree – Kearney's vocals are a bit similar, and the music seemed to be moving in a bit of that sort of modern alt-rock sound direction.

I must repeat, my attention was not as focused as it should have been to be writing a review, but I have to say the general sound was good enough for me. I can only guess about lyrical content, which is normally very important for me, but the sound was pleasant enough. Probably not something I'd listen to a lot, but not bad if I happened to catch it somewhere. I did notice that Kearney pulled out a few raps, which I found interesting. A few of my coworkers and friends seemed to disapprove, but from what I heard, he did a decent job of it.

Kearney pulled out his two singles at the end of the main set ("Nothing Left to Lose" and "Undeniable"), and the audience really reacted to both of those. We had maybe 800 people, and they were pretty into it at that point, even if a significant fraction were local high school girls. I'd call it a fun time, even if it wasn't down my aisle of style. Clearly, it attracted other people well enough.

[Retrospective Scores:
Mat Kearney: D
Tyler Burkum: C
Jesse Irwin: D]

P.S. I know I said my next review would be David J's Embrace Your Dysfunction, but I felt like writing this spur-of-the-moment before finishing that. I also decided to forego reviewing my own performance Wednesday at the Red Sea with the Awesome Black Hole, as that might be a little too indulgent.

[Note (2014.06.03): The original version of this review was posted with a general score of C, although this was quickly amended to a D.]

They Might Be Giants / Oppenheimer - Live 2007.09.15 The Pageant, St. Louis, Missouri

Band: They Might Be Giants
Venue: The Pageant
City: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 15 September 2007
Opening Act: Oppenheimer

I don't remember the exact setlist or anything from the show, but it was pretty great. (For someone else's transcription of the setlist, see This Might Be a Wiki.) I went with a large group of people based around my band and met a few other friends who went afterward (specifically, the dudes over at Highway 61 Revised, who also wrote a short review). Oppenheimer, a Northern Irish sort of electro-indie pop duo, opened. They played about nine fast songs and got a little bit of crowd movement. They relied heavily on samples for most of their tracks, but the live parts (drumming, singing, guitar, and some keyboard) were spot-on.

Once They Might Be Giants came on, the crowd was pretty excited. There was some movement with the dancier songs. The mood was good but seemed calmer than I would have expected – and I think the two Johns that compose the core of the band reflected that. Flansburgh, who handles the guitar, seemed in a mostly good but slightly sedate mood, while Linnell, the keyboardist/accordionist, seemed a bit more down. He didn't really smile much, but he did perform well. The two Johns traded singing roles and were accompanied by another guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer, all three of whom seemed to be having a good time.

I enjoyed it all pretty well. The song selection included plenty of old favorites ("Ana Ng", "The Guitar", "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Why Does the Sun Shine", "Istanbul", "Dr. Worm", "Particle Man", etc.) and was mixed with some back catalogue fun, like the really weird "Spider", and a bevy of songs from the new album, The Else. The classics were all done really well, but typically extended or toyed with just a little bit to make them interesting (which, by the way, is exactly what I like bands to do with their standby classics). "Why Does the Sun Shine" included a little bit about something like the atom-smashing reactions on the sun being caused by "a failed foreign policy, a failed domestic policy, and a failed presidency", which got a large round of applause. "Istanbul" was preceded by a long and impressive acoustic guitar solo by the second guitarist.

I did miss out on a lot of what seemed to be in-jokes and obscure references, since I'm not an obsessive fan but dig their material. There was a big thing about Buddy Ebsen and pretending to call him from beyond the grave, and I really couldn't figure out what was going on too well. I didn't feel too alienated, though, because they did joke about Mississippi Nights, the now-gone St. Louis venue that the band had played at several times before. The music was good, and when the humor came out here and there, they were usually funny (although I had expected even more humor), so all was good. They make for a really fun show.

Score: B+

[Retrospective Score for Oppenheimer: B-]

The Polyphonic Spree - Live 2007.08.04 The Pageant, St. Louis, Missouri

The Polyphonic Spree are quite likely the craziest band I have ever seen. If nothing else, they are undoubtedly the craziest 21-member rock band in existence. Actually, apparently the band comprises an occasionally-changing cast of characters around a central trio, so the numbers can vary. But for now, it is 21. There's also the fact that they were all dressed identically – in black near-military-style uniforms. Now, since I've never heard anything by the band before, and most of the songs weren't introduced (they sometimes just segued from one into another while one instrument would sort of provide the change in key), I won't be able to produce a setlist today. The date, though, was August 4, 2007, and the venue was The Pageant, right in my current hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

As I said, there were 21 members, all put to good use. Tim DeLaughter is the sort of director and lead singer, but also on the front of the stage were two keyboardists (one of whom had a laptop to sometimes add some effects), a flutist, and a three-piece horn section. Behind them were a cellist, a violinist, two guitarists, and a bass guitarist. (One of the guitarists looks a lot like me, without red hair... so weird.) Behind them were two drummers (one on a set and one with a huge variety of percussion instruments, including tubular bells and a timpani), a harpist, and a six-piece female choir. In addition to DeLaughter and the choir, the flutist would often sing into her flute's mic (but from a distance, so it may not have even appeared in the mix), and the keyboardist with the laptop sang into a mic too. There's a lot going on all at once.

The Polyphonic Spree's music is all very upbeat, just very sunny. Incidentally, references to the sun appeared all over the lyrics, when I could catch them. There was so much going on that it wasn't always easy to catch the lyrics, and with so many instruments to try to pick out of the mix, and a video screen on top of that, I had plenty of distractions from the lyrics. The video screen seemed to blend input from two people on the sidelines with cameras and clips from all sorts of sources, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which is appropriate, since the band appeared on the soundtrack). Effects were mixed in live, so it made for an interesting display.

The songs tended to be mid-tempo or a bit faster, and every musician played on every song. It's truly symphonic rock. DeLaughter was clearly the most prominent member, but everyone was active. The choir frequently backed him up. The drummers would do snare or timpani rolls all the time, and crash cymbal hits abounded. The keyboards provided several tones, be it normal 80s string-synth sort of stuff, more atmospheric Eno-esque sounds, Radiohead Kid A tones, or a good old piano sound. The horns, perhaps the least utilized, nonetheless appeared all the time and high in the mix. The bass was quite discernible and the guitars kept rocking (although it was hard to pick apart which guitarist played what). The guitarists usually played clean-toned electric rhythm parts, but sometimes they turned up the distortion, played lead bits, and/or traded for acoustics. The flute was mic'd well and easy to hear in the mix – it seemingly was the lead instrument. Unfortunately, the violin, cello, and harp were near impossible to distinguish. I rarely could pick out their input.

Earlier, I said this band was crazy. Well, they're really good and make really driving, dramatic songs that just feel really good, but they match their sound with great enthusiasm. DeLaughter ran all over stage and had a little box to climb on to kind of elevate himself as what nearly looked like a cult leader. (The box was the same shape as a good-sized monitor speaker but was visibly hollow.) The band was really in to it all, too. The flutist ran around, danced, and sang whenever she wasn't playing. On one song, she played a melodica, but when finished with it mid-song, she just tossed it up fifteen feet in the area to someone off-stage. The harpist and cellist rocked their instruments back and forth vigorously. The choir danced their hearts out. It must be hard not to have a good time when this band comes together.

I was a bit disappointed when after just barely over an hour into the show DeLaughter said they were about to play their last song. The song was even more upbeat and dramatic, even a bit anthemic. It ended by continually repeating a long segment while bandmembers one by one got up, waved, and ran off stage. It ended with just the harpist playing, which was a nice conclusion.

I knew there'd be an encore, but I wasn't expected what I got: the band came through the front doors of the venue, walked through the crowd, and climbed on stage. Now they were all wearing white robes, apparently the traditional garb of the band (see the above album cover). The encore lasted well over an hour, making it a bit longer than the actual set was. The band would play a song or two, and DeLaughter would say something like, "Should we keep going? Come on, it's Saturday night! Let's do another!", and sure enough, they would.

Things only got crazier during the encore. DeLaughter's son came out and just kind of hung out on stage for the whole encore. He suggested songs now and then and at one point told a story about buying the mask he sometimes wore. He had a drummer-boy sort of drum that he would sometimes play (right in rhythm), but he mostly just kind of walked around. I still didn't recognize any of the songs except for one. DeLaughter started talking about audience participation and excitement, and partway through his talking, one of the guitarists started playing a strangely familiar riff. When DeLaughter was ready, the band launched into a fully-arranged version of Nirvana's "Lithium". It was awesome. (Better than Patti Smith's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on her latest album.)

During another song, the entire band except for DeLaughter (and his son) froze, and stayed frozen for a good three minutes (at least). One of the keyboardists stayed frozen with his hands playing a synthy chord, but all the while DeLaughter walked around, moved the string-players' arms to bow their instruments, played the keyboard upside-down, strummed one of the guitars a bit, and then sang some words before the band finally came back in. I was hoping they'd do something really big, but they just kind of did a little thing before halting briefly and then starting what sounded like a different song.

The band was only all the more excited and enthusiastic during the encore. Not only were the guitarists and horn-players joining the singer and flutist in running around on-stage, but the violinist and cellist did too. The violinist would jump up and down really excitedly at times, but the cellist really cracked me up. She was fairly short, but she somehow managed to pick up her cello and walk around while still playing. I was impressed.

The band just kept on going and must have endless reserves of energy. The music was all so bright and positive, and although those sounds like potentially dangerous adjectives, I assure – this was good stuff. I had no idea what to expect, but it was a great show. This was a fantastic introduction to the band.

Score: A

P.S. If that wasn't enough, check out my friend Gabe's review at Playback STL. [Edit 2019.11.14: archived link.]

The Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (2007)

As I more or less promised in my earlier post about The Smashing Pumpkins' return to the stage after seven years, I bought the new album, Zeitgeist, as soon as I could, and I meant to review it before leaving for Michigan, but I failed on that account. Now I am ready to make amends. I've listened through the album multiple times already, I've read through the lyrics, and I've listened to several more live bootlegs from the tour. There's a lot to discuss.

Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Album: Zeitgeist
Release Date: 10 July 2007
Label: Reprise Records
Producers: Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, Terry Date, Roy Thomas Baker

Tracklisting:
01. Doomsday Clock
02. 7 Shades of Black
03. Bleeding the Orchid
04. That's the Way (My Love Is)
05. Tarantula
06. Starz
07. United States
08. Neverlost
09. Death from Above [available only on the Japanese, Best Buy, and Amazon.de versions]
10. Bring the Light
11. (Come On) Let's Go!
12. Stellar [available only on the iTunes version]
13. For God and Country
14. Pomp and Circumstances
15. Zeitgeist [available only on the Target and Müller versions]
[Edit: To further mess with fans, Best Buy reissued the album four months after the initial release with a black and white cover and yet another bonus track, "Ma Belle", along with "Stellar", "Death from Above", and a bonus DVD.]

Analysis:
The first thing you may notice is that depending on what version of the album you get, you may or may not get various bonus tracks. This is perhaps the worst marketing decision the band could have made. Presumably, actually, it wasn't the band's call, since other recent releases on the Reprise label have been released in a similarly confusing manner, such as Pete Yorn's Nightcrawler. In any case, what a horrible way to screw over consumers and independent record stores. I'm not going to buy three versions of an album. That's stupid. I thought I could get around it by buying the exclusive iTunes track, maybe finding the "Tarantula" single, which has "Death from Above" on the b-side, and getting the Target version, but in turns out you have to buy the whole album on iTunes to get the bonus track. I still got the Target version (the first and last album I will ever buy there), and I cheated to get the other two tracks. I admit it, but I don't care – I want my music and I already put enough money down. Anyhow, because each version has its own unique color, my copy actually looks like this:

I really can't why imagine the band would do that. If they weren't entirely confident of the tracks or something, why not do what Brian Eno would do sometimes and add the tracks to the end as an "appendix"? The fact that there are five album cover colors (the HMV version has a green cover (but no extra tracks) in addition to the standard red, Target/Müller purple, iTunes blue, and Japanese/Best Buy/Amazon.de yellow) is pretty unnecessary, and I doubt the value of the sixth (!) version, containing 76-page booklet. I passed on the idea of paying $10 or so for the extra album art and instead found a place online with scans of the extra artwork; I'm not missing too much:

I think I'll proceed to the music itself. "Doomsday Clock" is a good opener, with Chamberlin's all-over-the-place drumming leading into Corgan's trademark multi-layered guitar storm, distorted in the same vein as his self-labelled "cybermetal" staple, "Zero". It works here. There's some vocal multi-tracking in the choruses, which isn't particularly something I remember from older Pumpkins output, but it shows up a lot on Zeitgeist. The lyrics are Corganesque but cover a new topic not usually hit by the man: contemporary politics. The words and seriously depressing: "I'm certain of the end / it's the means that has me spooked" and then "I'm guessing I'm born free, silly me / I was meant to beg from my knees".

"7 Shades of Black" is similarly cybermetalish and also has dark, foreboding lyrics, but compared to "Doomsday Clock", the words here are more vague. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on, but the chorus line of "'cause I want you bad" sounds lazy unless I think of it in a greater context (perhaps he's talking about liberty, his rights, something like that). Not a great song, but not bad either.

"Bleeding the Orchid" has a little wordless double-tracked vocal intro that's pleasant, and I love the heavy guitar sound that dominates most of the song. The verses with the lighter guitars are a welcome relief from continual distorted onslaught, but the main vocalizations and guitar sound are great. I haven't figured the lyrics out yet, really, but I'm continuing to sense a dark mood.

"That's the Way (My Love Is)" is supposed to be the second single, released in September. This song has less overtly loud guitars, thankfully, and as always, the tones Corgan pulls off sound great. Some keyboard shines through in the background, to good effect. The lyrics focus on love, obviously, but Corgan loves to talk about love in a bigger, grander, perhaps even somewhat spiritual way. The mood of the album shines through, but mostly the lyrics concern a sort of semi-generic romantic love.

"Tarantula", the first single, has more loud, cybermetal guitars, but certain parts feature palm muting or some great harmonic work (as witnessed in the intro). A weak point is the bridge where the music quiets down except for one dramatic lead guitar. It feels forced and obvious, but if the guitar wasn't so blatant, it wouldn't sound bad. The lyrics follow the trend: "I don't want to fight / every single night" and "we are surreal / because someone gave us up". It's not a bad song but could perhaps be better.

The first painful song title comes with "Starz", which continues the trend Corgan set on his solo album, 2005's The Future Embrace, which featured the song "Strayz". What's with the Zs? These aren't words! "Starz", though, is somewhat brighter than some of the other songs. The obvious line is "we are stars" but lines like "don't you know we cannot die", "Heaven is everywhere", and "we forget we are free" also clue me in. There is some positive attitude here, something about surviving through whatever turmoil there is in the world. There's also a weird name-check of Hendrix's "Purple Haze", but more importantly, a bit of negativism here and there: "torn from god and flung towards night / don't you want what I can't fight". The music alternates medium-soft guitars with very loud guitars, throws in some crazy drumwork, a bit of keyboard, and some harmonics.

"United States" appears to be a key track. It lasts for almost ten minutes and seems to be the only really epic, truly dynamic piece on the album. There are several clear parts to it, from the extended percussive intro, the loud guitar riff, the first verses and choruses, the spacey interlude, some jamming, some more verses and choruses, and a loud, extended jam section to close things out. The main chorus part is "revolution / revolution / revolution blues / what will they do", which not only references an obscure Neil Young song ("Revolution Blues" off On the Beach), but makes it clear what's going on here. Corgan wants some change, but doesn't know what's going to happen. Like "Starz", there is hope: "I've got to survive / freedom shines the light ahead". The loud later chorus part more or less repeats "I want to fight a revolution", laying it down straight. There are plenty of guitar riffs here, and many things going on. I love the almost chime-sounding cleaner guitar that strums once per riff repetition in the beginning, but to make up for that is the unnecessary production effect of the delayed repeats of the last words of the last few lines, complete with the clichéd lowering of pitch with each repeat. I do like, though, that in some of the live performances, Corgan starts playing the "Star Spangled Banner" during his tremolo-effects-laden guitar section in the middle of the mid-song drum break.

"Neverlost" has some strong keyboards all over it, and the quieter sound is quite welcome; on the standard album, it is one of two songs without any cybermetally guitars. There are some chorus parts that have a bit more volume, but they aren't overdone or as loud as most of the other songs. The lyrics combine Corgan's normal spiritual/love sort of thing with the dark mood of the album. "Death from Above" is another quieter song, loaded with keyboards and pulsing, driving beat. Of course, it's really only available on a few versions of the album and the "Tarantula" single, but it's a great track. The title appears all over the lyrics, and I'm not quite sure what it means other than talking about something like divine retribution or a supernatural force striking down a person, perhaps at the instigation of another.

"Bring the Light" starts off great with some keyboard and lighter, muted guitar but then amps up to the cybermetal standard of the album. It switches between the two sounds throughout. This song feels like it could be a single. It's a rather good song and exactly what I think could be on the radio. I again think these lyrics reflect hope shining through: "if you just want to survive / go grab a glimpse of any star in heaven's high / I never felt so real and loved and alive / no shadows follow me unsung". There's some good guitar workouts, and I think the song works very well.

"(Come On) Let's Go!" gets my vote for worst song title, following Zwan's trend of bad titles with exclamation marks. (Zwan was Corgan and Chamberlin's band after the first Pumpkins breakup, if you didn't know, and their lone album, Mary Star of the Sea contains two titles even worse than "(Come On) Let's Go!": "Baby, Let's Rock!" and "Yeah!" Ugh.) This is one of the somewhat weaker songs; there's less going on, more of the same, and although the lyrics do fit the mold, they feel a bit more forced and bland: "c'mon let's go / beyond the great unknown", "anesthetized I'm hollow / playing to the dark back row". I almost wonder if this song or "Neverlost" have to do with reforming the band or something.

"Stellar", the iTunes bonus track, keeps up the to the quality level of the rest of the album. The song is noticeably less loud, with more medium-volume guitars and keyboards. It's somewhat longer and features a little mid-song softer break section. The song fits in well, although the lyrics are a bit more of a stretch to the theme: there's more of a sense of religious discussion: "the wait hurts worse than the blows" and more obviously, "is it wrong to say / there's God and there's faith?". Is Corgan differentiating between God and faith or just defending his beliefs? I think I'll return to this topic.

"For God and Country" is another song that detracts from the loud formula throughout much of the album in favor of some quieter bits, more keyboard, and some different guitar tones. The placement near the end of the album feels appropriate: the song seems to admit that there are problems but they should be worked with, and ultimately, the good is worth fighting for: "for God and country I'll fight / for God and country I'll die", and even better: "I want to live where no one's watching my way home / I want to give until I'm bursting with unknown". In case you aren't aware that there are problems, Corgan pleads: "It's time to wake up!" but then says "I can't help you though I should". Hmmm, sounds like internal conflict to me!

"Pomp and Circumstances" has an orchestral sound, with its string-synths and cymbal crashes. The song again seems to reflect the times: "what was once praised now wrong", "don't we face / war, sunshine and grace", and so on. The lyrics are totally politically loaded, but aren't painful. Somewhat more painful is the total sound of the song; it feels a bit overdone, and the predictable loud solo guitar doesn't help.

Then comes the total exception, only if you have the Target / Müller (a German pharmacy chain) version: the solo acoustic title track, "Zeitgeist". I never knew that Corgan had a solo acoustic side, really, until I started digging deep into Pumpkins catalog, namely the "Tonight, Tonight" b-sides and some demos and live shows around the Adore and Machina eras. Then I noticed that Zwan had some Corgan solo bits, too (such as "My Life and Times", a song I rather liked that appeared in fragments on the Mary Star of the Sea DVD), among the many acoustic concerts the band did (despite few of those songs seeing release). When I heard about Corgan going solo, I thought he might do something like that, and initially, his 2004 one-off concert at the Metro led me to believe that – he played fourteen acoustic songs about Chicago, which he said he'd make a DVD out of but never did. Then The Future Embrace came out and it was all electronic. Here, finally, the acoustic side sees official release. Note, though, that as of late in concert, Billy has been playing acoustic songs at every show: "Thirty-Three", "Rocket", some other favorites, and then a series of newly-written songs (not including "Zeitgeist", but including "For God and Country" and others written on the road). Of all the songs on the album, I would say this song is not the most representative of the titular word. However, the chorus bit ("lost on this road, are there any real Sundays to find? / lost on this road, are there any real souls?") is a bit foreboding. I like the song, though. It works well and makes a better conclusion than the too-dramatic "Pomp and Circumstances".

Before I make the general review, a few comments. What's with Billy's sudden religious obsession? He used to write songs like "I Am One", "Zero", and "God" that were never outright religious or anti-religious, but clearly removed from the field and more detached or vaguely spiritual at times. I felt very comfortable with those lyrics, considering my own beliefs. The final commercial Pumpkins album pre-breakup (Machina) was even subtitled The Machines of God in a sort of giant storyline that was almost pagan. The opening track, "The Everlasting Gaze" featured the line "the fickle fascination of an everlasting god" (with that exact capitalization in the liner notes), which, no matter you take it, isn't very nice. Then Zwan comes out with Mary Star of the Sea, a direct reference to Mary, the (Christian) mother of God. The title track was medleyed with the traditional song "Jesus, I" ("Jesus, I've taken my cross / all to leave and follow thee"), and the album also featured "Declarations of Faith" ("I declare myself / declare myself of faith"). Pretty clear. In concert they'd even do the traditional "God's Gonna Set This World on Fire", and Corgan credited himself on the album as Billy Burke, an evangelist.

Corgan's solo album was less obviously religious, but Zeitgeist has spiritual references all over ("For God and Country"...), and the first people Corgan thanks in the liner notes are "God, Jesus Christ, [and] Mother Mary." I don't know how much that really means, though, considering that the band also thanks Paris Hilton, but I think that's because she's on the cover of the "Tarantula" single, frighteningly enough:

Review:
I've got to say, Zeitgeist ain't a bad album. In fact, it's pretty good. It doesn't live up to the glory days, though, no matter what album you like best (with the possible, but still unlikely, exception of Machina). The electronics don't prevail quite as much as Adore or Machina, and it simply doesn't have the grunge of Gish, but more importantly, it unfortunately lacks the guitar mastership and structural wonders of Siamese Dream and the epic scope and varied sound of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The main problem is that the album basically sounds like "Zero" and maybe some "Ava Adore", and that's about it. There isn't much in the way of dynamics. It's loud, full of distorted electric guitars, and uncompromising. There are a few slower or softer songs, but outside of "Neverlost", they're all bonus tracks not available on the general release. "United States" and a few other songs have slower or softer sections, which helps, but other than that song, none of them have the scope and vision of songs like "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" or "Soma" or many other wonderful, longer pieces. In fact, outside of "United States" and "Death from Above", every song is around three to four minutes long, which is kind of boring. (Oddly, the concert-only "Gossamer" is an extremely long (15-30+ minutes) super-dynamic piece, going all over the place.)

Also, the keyboards don't even show up until the fourth track. They do become more prominent as the album continues, culminating in the nearly guitar-less "Pomp and Circumstances", but the dominant sound is just plain loud, "cybermetal" guitars. Jimmy Chamberlin's drumming is great, thankfully, and that spices things up and keeps some of the Pumpkin feel. But there isn't quite enough variety going on. I always admired Corgan's ability to whip up all sorts of guitar tones, but here, he sticks to a more limited selection.

One still has to ask about the legitimacy of this reunion, as I did in my previous article about the live shows. The liner notes make it clear in the credits: "Jimmy Chamberlin: Drums / Billy Corgan: All the Rest". Huh. There is a live band, but the album is mostly Billy. The two members thankfully weren't the sole producers, but I think Corgan exerts enough control over any producer to basically do whatever he wants. I wish D'arcy or James Iha were back to makes things more balanced (I'd even take the temporary replacement back in the day for D'arcy, Melissa auf der Maur). Honestly, this could be a Zwan reunion, except that Corgan gave up on his bright, cheerier attitude and shimmering, bright guitars, even the ones that appeared on Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie. More accurately, this is just Corgan's second solo album, with Chamberlin upgraded from part- to full-time drummer. (He played on one song on The Future Embrace, just as Corgan sang one song on the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex's Life Begins Again.)

Anyway. So this is definitely a concept album. The album cover with the drowning Statue of Liberty and sinking/rising sun, coupled with the title, should make it obvious, but the lyrics and song titles prove it true. I'm alright with that. Sometimes the lyrics stretch too much or get a bit bad, but not really much worse than Corgan ever was in the first Pumpkins incarnation. (His Zwan lyrics weren't very good, and his solo album was just difficult to figure out, although not bad.) He still has his general collection of spiritualism (now more pronounced) and love (in whatever sense), but now it's wrapped around the state of the nation, the zeitgeist. There you have it. It's a good album, but not great. My expectations weren't too high because I feared for the worst, and this isn't at all the worst, just not the best, either.

Score: B-

Logic: Corgan is capable of better, and he's using the Pumpkins name for questionable reasons and with questionable fairness. However, I can't deny liking the album and enjoying listening to the recent concerts, which are filled with old songs, several of which are yet again rearranged ("Blue Skies Bring Tears" and "Heavy Metal Machine" (complete with some lines borrowed from Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"!) most notably), plus some obscurities ("Translucent", available only on the Mashed Potatoes bootleg, some previously-unplayed Machina II songs) and new, written-on-the-road material, which progresses from show to show. Maybe I'll do another concert review. Anyway. Don't worry too much about it, it's really not a bad album. Just don't set your bar too high.

John Cale - Circus Live (2007)

You might have gotten tired about hearing about John Cale after my review of his live show, but his new live album seems to stand out to me and really is pretty good. And as word has been sparse about it on this side of the ocean (since it hasn't yet been released in North America as far as I know), I figure I'll spread the word. It's actually a bit odd that John Cale doesn't get much respect in America. His input into The Velvet Underground is often overlooked in favor of Lou Reed, who may be cool, but isn't actually as cool or straight-up creative as John Cale. What can Lou Reed do? Play a mean guitar and sing like a rock star. John Cale, though, can play viola, keyboard, bass, guitar, probably anything, and sing like an angry punk or a melodic troubadour. Cale has worked with Brian Eno several times (such as the famous June 1, 1974 concert with Nico and Kevin Ayers, Cale's mid-70s Island albums, which featured Eno's synth all over them, and Wrong Way Up, a collaboration between the two), but Cale is an influential figure himself. As I mentioned in my review of the concert of his I saw, he arranged, produced, and played most of the instruments on most of Nico's albums, produced Squeeze's first album, the Modern Lovers' only album, the Stooges' first album, Patti Smith's first album (Horses), and Siouxsie & the Banshee's last album. Bauhaus loved to cover his obscurity "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores", Billy Bragg does "Fear Is a Man's Best Friend", David J (bassist of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets) does "Fear", "Antarctica Starts Here", and "Ship of Fools", Siouxsie & the Banshees do "Gun", and The Teardrop Explodes do "I'm Not the Loving Kind" (as I've mentioned before). Put simply, Cale rules.

I apologize right now for how ridiculously long this review is. It's a long album, after all.

Artist: John Cale
Album: Circus Live
Release Date: 19 February 2007
Label: EMI

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:
01. Venus in Furs [originally performed by The Velvet Underground]
02. Save Us
03. Helen of Troy
04. Woman
05. Buffalo Ballet
06. Femme Fatale [originally performed by The Velvet Underground] → Rosegarden Funeral of Sores
07. Hush
08. Outta the Bag
09. Set Me Free
10. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
11. Look Horizon
12. Magritte
13. Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll

Disc 2:
01. Walkin' the Dog [Rufus Thomas Jr. cover]
02. Gun
03. Hanky Panky Nohow
04. Pablo Picasso [Modern Lovers cover] → Mary Lou
05. Drone – Into Amsterdam Suite
06. Zen
07. Style It Takes
08. Heartbreak Hotel [Elvis Presley cover]
09. Mercenaries (Ready for War)
10. Outro Drone

DVD:

Electric Rehearsal:
1. Model Beirut Recital [partial]
2. Sold Motel [partial]
3. Gun
4. Reading My Mind [partial]
5. Heartbreak Hotel [Elvis Presley cover]

Acoustic Rehearsal:
1. Dancing Undercover
2. You Know More Than I Know
3. Gravel Drive
4. Chorale
5. Ghost Story

Extras:
1. Jumbo in the Modern World [promo video]
2. Gravel Drive (Blathamix) [audio track]
3. Big White Cloud (2007 Version) [audio track]

Analysis:
The songs here were recorded by Cale and his live band during his 2004 and 2006 European tours, and it's interesting to compare the song selection with what I saw on his 2007 European tour. To be honest, all the songs come from a slightly bigger collection of songs that he liked to play these days. Looking at other setlists, you can clearly see he has a certain number of songs that form his basic repertoire and he picks a good count to do at any given moment. I'll mostly discuss what I think sounds particularly interesting here and maybe compare a little with the performance I saw.

The album opens with The Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs", which was written by Lou Reed but is mostly memorable for Cale's thick droning viola. The performance here is faithful to the recording, and it works well. Cale then proceeds to do "Save Us" and "Helen of Troy" from his Island years and then "Woman" from his latest album, 2005's Black Acetate. This sort of mix of old and new forms the basis of this album. "Helen of Troy" rocks pretty hard, even more so than the recorded version, and now that I've heard the live version several times, I prefer it to the original version. The female spoken parts in the original kind of annoy me now, and although I like the horn part in the recording, the riff works just fine on an effects-laden live guitar, too.

"Buffalo Ballet" is done quite faithfully and shows the sweeter, more melodic and acoustic side of Cale that shows up now and then. Later in the album, Cale does similarly low-key versions of "Set Me Free" and "The Ballad of Cable Hogue". All three are beautifully done and contrast well with the more rocking material. The concert I saw had a very large number of these types of songs, which I thought worked really well.

The first really interesting song is the medley of the Lou Reed-penned "Femme Fatale" (originally sung on the first Velvet Underground record by Nico) with Cale's obscure b-side "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores", a song perhaps better known a staple from Bauhaus' live performances. The medley skillfully interweaves the two songs, mostly playing around with the main riff of "Rosegarden" while alternating verses from both songs and changing the root of the riff as necessary for "Femme Fatale".

The newer song "Hush" doesn't seem to go anywhere and is the first weaker track. If you listen to the album so that there are gaps between each song, you can clearly hear the fade-out of the song (as it must have kept on going), but without the gap, it sounds like the band just suddenly shifts into the recent single "Outta the Bag", which is quite an improvement. They may have done it that way in concert, but depending on your playback system, the production either sounds kind of tellingly bad or really good. "Outta the Bag" has some weird sampled effects, but the song sounds rather good, and I love the wordless vocalizations over the ending jam, presumably done by Cale's backing musicians.

"Magritte" is a fairly good song introduced as being "about [his] favorite painter", which in itself is pretty cool, but the song is also one of the few Cale ever does on viola. It is followed by the thoroughly rocking "Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll", which is perhaps even better than the original. The piano sound and the guitar workouts work so well. The song goes on for a bit while everyone jams their heart out.

The second disc features more radical reworkings of classic Cale songs. "Walkin' the Dog" is an old standard by Rufus Thomas Jr. that a lot of people like to cover for reasons I fail to understand; I don't think the song is all that great, but I guess it's kind of fun, and Cale does a fairly good job with it. (He had previously released a version of the song on his first live album, Sabotage/Live in 1979.)

"Gun", which in the studio was a long, seriously rocking song with a two-man solo featuring Brian Eno throwing his effects board on the guitar solo, is here presented as an even longer piece, more atmospheric and slow. Considering the nature of the song, I think that's a poor choice as it drags too much and gets a bit boring. It's not too bad, though, and the best part of the rendition is that it seamlessly transitions into Cale's classic "Hanky Panky Nohow". I didn't even notice the segue the first time I listened until Cale started singing the chorus. The version here is very minimalist, but for the song it works well.

The "Pablo Picasso" → "Mary Lou" medley is also pretty good, albeit maybe a little indulgent in the extended jam that links the songs, but this is a rock band, after all. The medley rocks pretty hard, and it feels like the musicians are really into the songs. "Pablo Picasso" seems to be one of Cale's favorite songs to cover, which is interesting considering that it's a Modern Lovers song, and he produced the album the original recording is found on. I can't help but like Cale's sneering rendition of the repeated line, "Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole". The lyrics aren't really amazing, but the point that fame can lead people to overlook character flaws still comes through. This is the last song before the "Amsterdam Suite", and the main "set" appropriately ends with Cale repeatedly singing "goodnight" throughout the outro of "Mary Lou".

The so-called "Amsterdam Suite" is basically a fragment of a spacey acoustic set Cale did with a few different musicians in Amsterdam in 2004. (A video of the whole concert can be found here. [Edit 2014.06.16: Not anymore, apparently.]) When I first saw the tracklist, I hoped that the "song" "Drone – Into Amsterdam Suite" implied that Cale would do a version of his old song "Amsterdam", but such is not the case. It's just a long drone, just like the "Outro Drone". These two tracks are largely worthless (except to prove that "outro" is a word) but they do mimic the intro and outro of the concert I witnessed.

"Zen" goes by slowly and has a pretty, shimmering keyboard throughout. I think this song and Cale's homeland inspired the name of his biography, What's Welsh for Zen?, which is a great title. "Style It Takes" is from Cale's 1990 collaboration with Lou Reed, Songs for Drella, which was a song cycle dedicated to Andy Warhol, the "producer" of the first Velvets album. This particular song is a bit humorous and self-referential, and it sounds great due to some great keyboard, sound effects, and banjo.

"Heartbreak Hotel", the Presley standard, is done as a slow, atmospheric piece, devoid of the rocking guitars of Cale's normal version, although the version he played at the concert I saw was noticeably different from either version. This version is totally minimalist and barely holds together. It's cool that Cale is experimenting around, as it works okay here, but when I couldn't even make out a single word he sang in his pitch-shifted version at the concert I saw, I count that as a bit of a drawback.

"Mercenaries" largely has the same story as "Gun" or "Heartbreak Hotel", which can be seen as unfortunate or interesting. I've never heard the original version, because the studio recording was only released on a vinyl single and never reissued anywhere (since the master was lost), and the other common version is the live take on Cale's first live album, Sabotage/Live, which I cannot find a copy of anywhere. My understanding is that the original rocks out, which is quite contrary to this version. It's so slow and drawn out, which could be cool, but it feels like this song could have benefited from a bit more of something. [Edit 2014.06.16: I have since heard both of these earlier versions, and indeed, they are powerful rockers.]

So this is a long review. Anyhow, the whole thing comes with a DVD, too, which has some interesting material on it. The rehearsal features a bunch of songs that don't appear on the CDs, several of which were performed at the concert I saw. (You can even see the drummer playing his box as I mentioned in my live review! [Edit 2019.01.07: That instrument is called a cajón.]) Since these are rehearsals, a few of the songs break down or are edited, but you do get to see several full performances. There's also the requisite banter, but the best is when Cale dons his old ski mask as he used to in concert (and as seen on the cover of the Guts compilation.)

The electric rehearsal tracks include another protracted version of "Heartbreak Hotel" in yet another arrangement. This version rocks a bit harder but is still fairly abstract. The version of "Gun" is here done closer to the rocking original version, but they somehow play the song in three minutes instead of eight. The acoustic rehearsals include some solid renditions of Cale classics like "Dancing Undercover", "You Know More Than I Know", and "Ghost Story", which is a real treat. The "Jumbo in the Modern World" video is a CG-heavy affair featuring weird creatures that consume all beauty in the world and then each other, ending in the last surviving member vomiting up the entire world.

The two audio tracks are fairly interesting. "Outta the Bag (Blathamix)" isn't really very great, but I haven't actually heard the normal version, so I don't know how much is the song versus the mix. I suspect it's the mix that fails, as it's overly electronics-laden and it doesn't go anywhere. I accidentally listened to it once while fast-forwarding my DVD at 1.5 speed, and it sounds noticeably better and doesn't drag as much. "Big White Cloud (2007 Version)" is simply an update of the original, with a bigger atmospheric background. It isn't particularly revelatory, but it's certainly not bad.

Review:
The album was culled from Cale's 2004 and 2006 tours, but like the show I saw in 2007, Cale plays a wide array of material. He's got old Velvet Underground material, songs from his earliest albums, several songs from his famed Island years, and several songs from his last few albums. The mix is interesting and flows fairly well, and he re-arranges a lot of his songs, for better or worse. Perhaps even more than the concert I saw, the record relies on a bit more recent material than older, which makes sense as Cale does have older live albums with some of the same material, and he's only really re-arranged a limited number of his songs so many times. Still, it's a good listen, but I should warn that I adore Cale's 70s albums but know little about anything thereafter (and I love the Velvet Underground), so many of these songs were completely new to me. He's backed by a solid band, and he can rock out on request.

The album's actually a fair introduction to the man and his music, and it's a great album for a longtime fan. I only wish that his new arrangements of old songs were less dependent on just being long, droning space-versions. I know Cale loves his ambience and drones, but I think he could do some really more interesting things. Or just provide more variety. All the medleys, be they done that way live or just skillfully mixed in the album production, work really well. The two medleys that were clearly done live (that is, "Femme Fatale" → "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" and "Pablo Picasso" → "Mary Lou"; I'm not entirely confident about the "Hush" → "Outta the Bag" or the "Gun" → "Hanky Panky Nohow" segues... they could have been done live or via post-production) are two of the best tracks on the album, and both were fairly cleverly arranged. Do note that slower songs are not necessarily bad: as I said before, "Buffalo Ballet" and "Style It Takes" (among others) succeed well with the more thoughtful approach.

The DVD also makes for a fun little viewing. It isn't totally enlightening or anything, but you get to see the band having fun and playing parts of songs you don't hear on the CDs. Not fantastic, but it's there and it's not bad. The video is worth a watch, and the audio tracks are worth a listen. Unlike the CDs, which I think merit repeated listenings, the DVD probably has a more limited appeal.

Scores:
CDs: B+
DVD: C+
Whole package: B
Full "Amsterdam Suite" performance as seen here [Edit 2014.06.16: Sorry, no longer available.]: B-

Patti Smith - Twelve (2007)

I'm going to break away from strict reviewing narrative again for a moment to introduce a few changes to my blog here. First, I'm adding a new section to my reviews. As you may have noticed, they have so far consisted of a wandering introduction, factual information such as the setlist or tracklist, and a lengthy review. I am now going to try splitting the review into two parts. The first part will be a somewhat thorough analysis. This would be the section where I'll probably ramble the most and make the more obscure references. The second part will be the actual review, where I'll discuss the work or performance as a whole and make more general connections and commentary. Thus, the hardcore fan of whatever I'm writing about would ideally be interested in both parts, but a less dedicated reader may only want to weather the review. [Edit 2014.06.08: I gave up this format a long, long time ago, although some parts remain. These days I do whatever I feel like I need to do to get my ideas across.]

The second thing is that I want to begin rating these works and performances. I'd thought about it, but shied away until instigated. I'll be using letter grades. That means a "C" is average, "B" is fairly good, "A" is great, "D" is disappointing, and "F" is outright horrible. Pluses and minuses may be used too. (For reference, I'd give Morrissey an A, John Cale an A-, the Teardrops an A, and Smashing Pumpkins a B+.) [Edit 2014.06.08: See the About page for a better discussion of scoring.]

I'd also like to mention Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork is a music news and review website focusing on indie and alternative music. I'll say it now: I read their news section to keep up on what's going on, but I generally completely disagree with their reviews. Today's review will be a prime example.

Finally, to make it official, it is seriously a goal of mine to mention Brian Eno in each post. I'm not joking when I say he is basically the god/patron saint of good music. I may have to stretch sometimes, but his reach is far. Since he did favor a certain crowd, I may make connections through other musicians, and if I've already made that connection in a previous post, I won't explain the whole thing every time. Make sense? Feel free to propose other or better connections if you are aware of them. [Edit 2014.06.08: Obviously I stopped doing this at some point but I probably could still do it, if asked, for almost every review I've written.]

And now for the review. I'd heard about Patti Smith's Twelve a few months ago, and I was interested. I love Patti Smith even though I only have her debut album, Horses. It's such a great album that I almost fear disappointment in getting the following albums. The concerts from that period (circa 1975) are fantastic, too. The cover is great, the songs are great... it's one of my favorite albums.

Now, Twelve is a covers album, but Smith has always done covers of rock standards, straight from the start: Horses opened with an extended poetic discourse version of Them's "Gloria" and Chris Kenner's "Land of 1000 Dances" (made famous by Wilson Pickett) appears juxtaposed in the middle of one of Smith's extended originals. I promise I'll stop going on about Horses after one final comment: it was produced by John Cale (and John Cale → Brian Eno, as previously mentioned).

Artist: Patti Smith
Album: Twelve
Year: 2007
Label: Columbia

Tracklist:
01. Are You Experienced? [Jimi Hendrix cover]
02. Everybody Wants to Rule the World [Tears for Fears cover]
03. Helpless [Neil Young via Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young cover]
04. Gimme Shelter [Rolling Stones cover]
05. Within You Without You [George Harrison via the Beatles cover]
06. White Rabbit [Jefferson Airplane cover]
07. Changing of the Guards [Bob Dylan cover]
08. The Boy in the Bubble [Paul Simon cover]
09. Soul Kitchen [The Doors cover]
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit [Nirvana cover]
11. Midnight Rider [The Allman Brothers cover]
12. Pastime Paradise [Stevie Wonder cover]

Analysis:
I find it funny that I know a lot of these songs by other covers (Devo does "Are You Experienced", The Sisters of Mercy do "Gimme Shelter", Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds do "Helpless", Echo & the Bunnymen do "Soul Kitchen"), but these songs make for interesting choices for Patti Smith. She's hailed as a punk (and rightfully so, at least back in the 70s), but only "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is anywhere near punk here - and Smith does it acoustic! She may have tamed down, but she's still a great singer.

My other effectively useless but "interesting" comment is that every song Smith covers (except "White Rabbit") was sung by a male, and every single additional musician that appears on the album (except her own daughter) is a male. She's always been sort of a tomboy (again, see Robert Mapplethorpe's cover shot on Horses) and persevered as one of few women in the rock/punk movement, but she clearly has no problem working with countless other men and many of her idols are clearly also men. That's fine, but she's arguably not much of a feminist. [Edit 2014.06.08: What was I thinking!?]

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is the only new wave song she covers, and she admits in the liner notes that she isn't very familiar with the song or band. A pity, but she does a good job with the song. She does a low-key take, which is a consistent theme on the album, but the point comes across well and the song works.

"Helpless" is done pretty straight-up. It's not really an improvement on the original, but it's a fun version. Some accordion helps with the feel. "Gimme Shelter" is also done pretty straight but feels more suited to Smith's style. Neil Young and The Rolling Stones are both idols of hers, but a poetic reading of Young's "Down by the River" would have suited better than "Helpless", and that same logic makes "Gimme Shelter" work. Tom Verlaine (once the guitarist/singer of Television, whose first demos were produced by Eno) and Flea (bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) guest on the song. Both are effective but feel a bit underutilized. (Both also appear on "White Rabbit", where they are even less utilized.) Where's the ripping Verlaine guitar solos as seen on "Break It Up"?

"White Rabbit" contains a few little poetic additions, but "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has an extended little spoken poetic bit after the second chorus to add a bit of personal Patti touch. Beyond that, the song is one of the more developed covers. It's done with banjos, acoustic guitars, and a violin, and although it's a bit weird, it works well. "Within You Without You" is the other winning cover, taking Harrison's spacey Indian philosophical drone and making the song groove a bit more like a rock song, with droning acoustic guitars throughout. The original isn't a bad song; it is usually overlooked in favor of some of the bigger songs on Sgt. Pepper's, but Smith treats the song well with her tribute.

Review:
This may not be a great record, but it sure is enjoyable. Smith should probably stick to throwing rock standard covers in the middle of her songs and mashing some oddball poems in the mix too instead of doing straight covers, but still. Pitchfork, in a fit of what must be spite, gave Twelve a 2.7 (of 10). Many of the songs here are fairly straight renditions ("Midnight Rider", "Helpless", "Soul Kitchen"), but I love a lot of these songs anyway, and it's not like Patti ever does a bad version, just sometimes nothing special. It's a fun listen, though. Enjoyable, if only arty in the case of the few inspired and creative renditions ("Within You Without You", "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). Other reviewers bash "White Rabbit", but I think that and "Are You Experienced?" sound great, if not too far out there.

Patti Smith is getting old, and as my mother commented when I mentioned the album, it's amazing that she's still going and still sounds as good as she does. Watching her "My Generation" performance on SNL makes me remember how crazy/cool she was. She's mellowed out, and I wish she'd play more guitar again (but I suppose she has so many friends in the business she doesn't need to), but she still makes good music. I love her craziness, her poetricks, her spite, her weird covers, her androgyny, and so on. I need to buy more of her records. And clearly, I should write a separate review for Horses.

Score: C+