Obsessive List #5.1: Beats of Different Drummers

Got an email this morning from ocassional Guest Blogger Jason, who used to have his own brief but enjoyable blog with a new list: personal favorite albums that were "uncommon." In other words, an album that YOU might love, but it's unlikely anyone else would put it on their list.

It seemed like 10 minutes after I agreed to it, I received his list, complete with commetary.

So without further ado:

1. PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love (1995) - Time Magazine called this album the worst of 1995. Fuck you Time, you also called Mariah Carey’s album that year one of the 10 best among all musical genres, so you have zero credibility with me. PJ is raw, powerful and bluesy all over the place, with a sexy-dark thing going on as well.

2. Sparklehorse: It's A Wonderful Life (2001) - Most of this album is very low key and completely lo-fi. Interspersed into this sweet, crackly atmospheric flow are some very rocking chunky guitars and fast-paced rock nihilism. Bonus points for guest appearances by two other favorite artists of mine, PJ Harvey and Tom Waits.

3. Shudder to Think: Pony Express Record (1994) - I don’t know how to describe Shudder to Think. Alterna-Pop torch songs sung in smooth falsetto, for starters. Whatever it is, this album is the Shudder to Thinkingest of them all. Their earlier albums were very obscure and their later ones kind of sucked, so I’m fairly certain this one is unique to me.

4. John Lee Hooker: Mad Man Blues (1973) - I suppose it’s possible somebody else I know would have a JLH album as a favorite, but he’s had so many great ones I feel safe picking Mad Man Blues, even though it contains cuts of some of his all time classics, like "Sugar Mama" and "In The Mood." I always said Hooker was the world’s best living bluesman - but then he died.

5. Winterpills: Winterpills (2005) - Once featured on NPR, but nobody listens to that so I’m safe claiming this one, right? Anyway, they’re a very fine, mellow, vocal/acoustic, folky kind of group from Northampton, Massachusetts.

6. Quicksand: Slip (1993) - This is college-boy angst alt-metal, a subgenre I don’t normally favor, but man did I ever wear this cassette tape out in college. The music and lyrics are just a bit fresher and more complex than a lot of similar, more popular bands of the time. I first was exposed to Quicksand at a Boston hardcore show just after their first EP came out. They went more mainstream with their first full studio album Slip, and then kind of bottomed out creatively.

7. Motörhead: The Best of Motörhead (2000) - Cheating a bit on this one, because what I actually love is the single disc I made from this 2-disc set, leaving off all of the not-110% awesome headbanging songs (Hawkwind, I’m talking to you). But I’m still left with 50+ minutes of absolute growly, lascivious and morbid perfection. And the presence of BOTH "Ace of Spades" and "Deaf Forever" automatically gets you in anyway, so there. Those are two of the best metal songs of all time. Period. (How can you forget "Overkill" in there? - ed)

8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Murder Ballads (1996) - This one is mine for it’s sheer misanthropic revelry in the deaths of human beings in all manner of ways and for all types of reasons. Or maybe that’s just my interpretation. Perfect for Halloween or any time I’m pissed at the world. Every song is a story of murder, hence the title.

9. The Freeze: Rabid Reaction (1993) - This is the only one on my list that I can truthfully say I have performed on stage with the band. Of course, it was at a youth center in Dennis-Yarmouth, MA, and there wasn’t really a stage per se, just a line on the floor. The Freeze is best known (if it can be said they are known at all) for the title track on the punk compilation This Is Boston Not L.A.. But they actually hailed from my own Cape Cod, so I got to see them several times as a yoot. Of their two full albums, this is the one I still hum to myself disturbingly often.

10. Boogie Down Productions: Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop (1989) - Rap is popular, and KRS-One was pretty famous back in the day, but this was in the era of Public Enemy, and I think BDP got largely overlooked and overshadowed (rightfully so) by Chuck D and Flava. But this is a great old school rap album, even if you are a soft silly low budget sucka like myself (have I mentioned I have the style you need at my house, on the shelf?).

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There you have it. Mine coming up next.

A Farewell to Structured Chaos

I was getting ready to catch up on some posts when I saw this posted on Time Magazine's website.

I think anyone who loves movies not only knows the work of Robert Altman, but also knows the singular vision he brought to cinema, from the early 70s classics M*A*S*H, NASHVILLE, and THE LONG GOODBYE, into the 1-2 90s punch of THE PLAYER and the awesome SHORT CUTS and beyond, creating quieter if no less intimate films like GOSFORD PARK and last year's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION.

Like others my age who have commented on his passing, my first Robert Altman movie wasn't a Robert Altman to me at all. To a kid of seven, there was only one name attached to that movie that mattered at all.

POPEYE.

I remembering loving that movie, bugging my mother for days to take us all to the theater to see it. When it arrived years later on television, my sister and I watched it constantly, singing along with Olive during "He's Large." The movie (and song) had the same impact on my wife, and we'll still occasionally break out a chorus or two when in the mood. To this day I still think the set design was fantastic, and in his own way I think Robin William's performance echoed one of Altman's signature calling cards in most of his films - that sense of things bubbling beneath the surface, a firm structure lying under the seemingly random burble of overlapping dialog used so well in many of his films. All of his mumblings and mutterings under his breath erupt in geysers of feeling whenever he's called upon to act.

Later on, of course, it was THE PLAYER that turned so many heads while I was in college. But for me SHORT CUTS was more signature Altman. I went to see it at first because it had Tom Waits in it, who I thought was the coolest guy on the planet (still do, actually). I came out of the theater stunned, not sure what I had seen, but knowing it was unlike what anyone else was trying who was considered a "mainstream" player.

Enormous casts, interwoven stories and dialog, structured chaos.

Over the weekend the Missus and I watched A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION. It was quiet, funny, sad, and brimming with the little flourishes that mark any film Robert Altman does. She hadn't seen as many of his films as I had, so we decided to rent a trio of his films via Netflix and have a little Robert Altman marathon. Yesterday NASHVILLE arrived, and we were deciding on the other two for this weekend. We were thinking about POPEYE again, or maybe A WEDDING, which neither of us had seen.

One more giant leaves the field, and the flicker grows a little more dim.

Anniversary Catch-Up - UPDATED

When I originally wrote this I was also simultaneously burning some CDs for the office. My poor computer is incapable of doing two things at once, and neither can I, apparently, since I forgot to go back and read the damn thing before publishing. Some of the mistakes were EMBARRASSING! I went back in and cleaned it up some. Sorry!

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Four years ago today I married my best friend. This would have been impossible, say, 15 years ago, as back then my best friend was Dave Baranowski (pictured right), whom, while possessing very fine knees, was not, as all the girls knew, the marrying kind.

That, and the fact he was a dude, of course.

So today was going to be a fun-filled day devoted to whatever the Missus decided she wanted to do - shopping, movies, dining out, going into the city - her choice. However, due to the discomfort of being "in the family way," right now she's sleeping off a big pancake breakfast and I'm catching up on the laundry and paperwork that needs to be done before I return to the office tomorrow.

Speaking of playing catch-up, here is a small list of things I've been reading/watching/listening to:

Been finishing up World War Z by Max Brooks. Brooks travelled all over the world recording the testimonies and recollections of survivors from the last Great War. Sounds like your typical history/journalism book until you realize (on page 1) that the War in question is the Great Zombie War.

Brooks takes the zombie premise (rooted firmly in the Romero world) and looks at what a global response to such an epidemic might realistically look like. Taking place over the course of 10 years, the novel reminds me a lot of another great zombie epic in print, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic, which deals with the same issue but follows a small group of survivors instead of taking a global view. The seriousness with which Brooks tackles his subject makes for a fun read.

The Missus finally woke up, which means we'll be able to make it after all to go see STRANGER THAN FICTION tonight. Last movie I saw in the theater was THE PRESTIGE, which was great, and one of those few instances where the movie was better than the book it was based on.

Not much on the DVD front - tons of movies sitting on deck, but not a lot watched yet. I recently did a double-shot of Tony Scott films, watching MAN ON FIRE and DOMINO back to back. I think Tony Scott has got to cut back on his caffeine. Maybe that and not watching so much MTV. A lot of great directors now working cut their teeth in the video world, but they make the images work for the story, not try to fit the story in the images they want to show. It was cool to see Denzel play a total badass. I didn't like TRAINING DAY at all, but he worked in this for me. Probably the biggest thrill (besides the lovely combo of Kiera Knightly and Rhada Mitchell) was how awesome Mickey Rourke's been lately. Between DOMINO and SIN CITY and his upcoming turn in KILLSHOT (adapted by the kickass Elmore Leonard novel), Mickey's stepping out from under the rock he's been under since trying to become a professional boxer all those years ago.

Music's been all over the map lately. I've been listening to a lot of Hank Williams. Between him and Johnny Cash lies the insipid, pedestrian world of contemporary country music. But those two rule. I don't know if he's considered country, but I've also been listening a lot to the double album Cold Roses by Ryan Adams with The Cardinals. Really tender, intimate music with shades of Grateful Dead (in my mind) thrown in to make for a nice time.

When together the Missus and I have been completely enveloped by the new Pearl Jam bootleg live recordings you can purchase for the obscenely cheap price of $9.99 per show (which is typically 30-40 songs and includes covers and pics from each show). Click here to experience the Rock N Roll goodness!

The Missus is calling for her food fix. More later.

Milwaukee

I don't think Milwaukee gets enough credit - it's one of the coolest cities I've vistied during my time with work. Couple of shots of the city at night:

Too bad it gets dark so early. My first class session ended around 4:30PM, by the time I got changed into street clothes and ran out the door it was already black. The downtown section of Milwaukee is surrounded by the river, and you can walk along the edges and check out the cool pubs and shops. They also have those cool sky ways for when it's 30 below out and you don't feel like getting frostbite. Right down by the old-fashion phone booth is a small Irish pub. The beautiful building it's connected to is the Wells Fargo building.

Across the hall from where our training was you could get a haircut, buy cigarettes and Playboy magazines, and purchase bus tickets.  Allcompanies should offer this.

Great beer here - I went to the Rock Bottom Brewery and had myself a Naughty Scotsman Scotch Ale which killed many brain cells. Had to make it an early night as I was training again the next day, so took a final phone pic before heading back:

It's Algonquin for "The Good Land"

Man, remember when WAYNE'S WORLD was fresh and new?

Leaving in a few hours for Milwaukee, WI to run a 2-day training class. There is an obscenely good German restaurant there called Mader's. Ox-tail soup and Sauerbraten, I come for you!

The back home again just in time to celebrate the wedding anniversary. 4 years married + 11 years dating = still apologizing for waiting so long to propose!