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dollarbin · 2 months ago

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Dollar Bin 51:

Nils Lofgren's Flip

Yeah, I know, this record looks like it's gonna suck. I hauled it out of a dollar bin for the proverbial buck at some point in the last year and have never - until now - felt brave enough to give it a listen.

Why have I waited so long? Um, well, before I drop the needle let's count the reasons:

A band member on the record is credited with playing the Casio.

Another member, who offers T as their entire first name, plays nothing except the Oberheim PPG. That's not one of the droids we're looking for in the dollar bin. Google tells me that the Oberheim PPG is a synthesizer that was discontinued in 1985: the year this record came out. Imagine submarine dealerships - there have got to be such places, right? - halting all sales on yellow ones the moment Ringo announced that we all live in one. That's what happened with the Oberheim PPG. Likely the fine people at Synthesizer Emporium or wherever wanted to disassociate themselves altogether from Nils's crummy record and his dude T.

I'd never seen this record or knew of its existence before I got it for that buck. Neither did you. Nils must have sold about 7 copies. Plus I own over a thousand other records which I know are actually good. Why would I prioritize a single listen to Flip?

No one I've ever heard of plays on this record - except Nils of course. A Nils record could have Neil Young on it. After all, Nils had shown up uninvited on Young's doorstep 15 years earlier as a teenager, hat and guitar in hand. Neil, who, like an ancient Achaean must have feared any potential angering of Zeus, lord of all supplicants, responded by inviting Nils right in and telling him to play piano, an instrument the kid absolutely nothing about, on a little song he was currently recording entitled Southern Man. By 1985, when Flip came out, they'd made music together, on and off, for well over a decade. And yet there's no Shakey on this record. I guess he was too busy recording Old Ways 6 or whatever.

Young isn't the only great artist who failed to show up and make this record appealing. Nils' Crazy Horse bandmates Billy Tablot and Ralph Molina were apparently too busy doing absolutely nothing at the time to appear on the record. Also missing are Jimi Hendrix, Nick Drake, Jane Austen and Aristophanes. At least they had an excuse: in 1985 they all were dead.

The credits feature other troubling indicators. Someone is credited with doing the make up; someone else served as stylist. That's about as unpunk rock as imaginable. Wikipedia also claims there is software somehow associated with the record but that suggestion is surely some kind of insider Wikijoke.

Finally, someone named Lance Quinn co-produces. He appears to be a prolific disco engineer but the internet also tells me that Lance Quinn serves on the Pastoral Team at Grace Immanuel Bible Church in Jupiter, Florida as the Vice-President of The Expositors Seminary. He has been in continuous vocational ministry for over 35 years, including 25 years as Senior Pastor of two churches in both Arkansas and California. Lance sounds like a great guy! Next time I'm in Jupiter, Florida and have replaced my personality with that of an entirely different person I'll be sure to look him up. It's like I always say: there's nothing better than a pastor who splits his time between three states and produces disco records on the side.

Flip's art and marketing department was totally stuck. Nils was not famous for making hitless records, though he'd made many; nor was he famous as a songwriter or as a singer or as a band leader. Rather, he was famous for just one thing: doing flips on stage while playing guitar next to BRRRUUUUCCCEEE in the E Street Band. Plus, the record's opening track was entitled Flip Ya Flip. There was no choice but to put Nils upside down, mid-flip, on the cover. The move is cool, sure, or at least I guess it is, but one would be hard pressed to claim that music sounds best when it has been recorded while upside down.

Indeed, perhaps the number one reason why I have yet to listen to this record is because it appears to be riding on the coattails of Van Halen's incredibly annoying earworm from the previous year. Those guys clearly had a whole team of Casio players, stylists and make up artists in attendance while they sucked on eggs and bathed in the cash produced by this shite.

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Dear Lord Baby Jesus, I hope Nils's record isn't this bad.

Jump inexplicably set the world on fire in 1984; I was nine, however, and was unimpressed. Vin Skully, not Eddie Van Halen, was my hero and my favorite song was probably Surfin' Safari.

But when a stage rose unexpectedly out of the freakin' ground in Tomorrowland as a band performed Jump in spandex with instruments that looked like Magic Alex prototypes...

... nine year old me choked on my Disneyland corn dog and engaged in pre-pubescent mindcontrol techniques I invented on the spot so as to not wet my pants. The whole thing - which, now that I think about it, was surely lip synced - blew my tiny mind.

So, who knows, maybe Flip will do the same thing. One thing is for sure: it's high time I poured myself two, no, make that three, fingers of bargain scotch and dropped the needle.

Okay, the first thirty seconds of the title track actually sound pretty great. Nils' voice is usually pimply and weak. But here he sounds world weary in a wonderful way and the drums bounce along merrily around him. Yes, there are some keyboards answering questions no one ever should have asked and at the end we get into some synthetic YMCAish handclaps and a key change that gives me the momentary willies, but now that my kids are too old to go out there and break their necks on the thing maybe I ought to buy a trampoline for the backyard and do like Nils says and lift my precious dreams so as to hold them high while I flip my flip.

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Secrets in the Streets follows and it opens with what may as well be the signature sounds of 1985: a dumb synthesizer building an impossible, Lego-shaped empire of suckiness. But that whole heinous intro disappears and makes way for a perfectly serviceable anthem about dancing in the rain while, once again, living out your precious dreams. So far, Flip seems to be a concept record about living your dreams. Nils's guitar solo, when compared to the one in Jump, is soulful greatness. And when the Lego empire reappears at the end of that solo I still hate it but I hate it less.

This record kinda rocks so far: that's the secret in the street.

And check it out: we even get a vintage video for this track! Nils flips in the street for a strikingly teenage ladyfriend! He's got magic shoes and she's got a varsity jacket! He's like 34 years old at this point and he's still busy meeting the folks and hoping to make to second base without the dad finding out. Nils, you may have boyish good looks, but you are way too old to date teenyboppers.

And then Nils does a whole gymnastic bar routine! This video is so awesome that I'm choking on my corn dog all over again.

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The next track is called From the Heart; I fear we may have already heard the good stuff. A bass player shows us his moves and then the Casio gets involved.

Once again Nils announces in this song that he has a dream. That's three songs in a row that focus upon the ancient art of oneirology, or dream interpretation. Maybe Nils was undergoing Freudian analysis when he wrote this record; perhaps he was seeking to put an end to his creepy penchant for adolescent girls.

I hereby announce a drinking game for he rest of this post; feel free to play along. Every time Nils instructs himself or us to live out our dreams we all must drink. In fact I'm gonna start the record over and refill my dwindling cup...

... it's ten minutes later; I'm back to From the Heart and already two out of three sheets to the wind; good thing I didn't buy that trampoline yet. In fact, I'm cancelling - for myself anyway - the drinking game. I've gotta go to work tomorrow. Feel free to go on without me.

The third song: it's less good; my second drink: it was too good.

But Delivery Night is lovely! Nils wants us to know that he needs someone to love; indeed, he needs someone to care. These are some complex lines of verse! He does not have a single dream to speak of here but this song has me swaying and grooving and...

Nevermind and oh, gross! I swear to god the following line is in the second verse: I've wet dreamed of your naked touch. Yuck! Nils Lofgren, I hereby order you and your troubling 7th grade dreams outta this record. We don't want to hear about it!

There are, count them, three dream references in Delivery Night so, if you're still at it, drink up; maybe if you keep it up you'll soon forget we ever heard about Nils' sticky sheets.

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King of the Rock ends Side 2. There are no dreams in this song, thankfully. And nothing is wet. Praise god. Rather, the whole thing is about Nils' inability to sleep: it seems he always wakes up dancing. Is that a real medical condition? Nils says it's true and he seems like the kinda guy who probably did medical school on the side in this era so I'm gonna take his word for it and lock up my dancing shoes from this day forth at bedtime.

He also says he is born, born, born and destined to rock. The word alacrity is used; Nils must own a thesaurus. This song is the worst thing so far. I'd almost rather he tell me more about his fetid dreams. At least there's some good guitar happening under the nonsense; the solo once again is pretty great.

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Drink up people: Nils works dreams into the working class techno pop blues number Sweet Midnight that opens Side 2 and then proceeds to recommend that the overtaxed laborers among us consider dancing our troubles away. (Side 2 is so obscure that youtube doesn't even have the tracks available so you're just gonna need to take my word on how things sound from here on in.) Is there a Lofgrin song in which he does not consider his dreams and reccommend dancing? Apparently not. He must want you to get really, really drunk.

Once again the guitar manages to save what is otherwise a staggering, flatulent hippo of a track.

New Holes in Old Shoes is a weird detour: no dreams, no dancing, no Casio (unless the Casio produced the song's drum machine). Nils at least takes the time to tell us he was born to love in this song, keeping alive some kinda thematic link. At the end of the track trash can drums join in. The song is kinda awesome. This whole album is kinda awesome. And we got you a whole song-long drinking break. You needed it.

And now break time is over: get chugging because the next song is titled Dreams Die Hard.

For this song Nils invites in some nice electronic piano for a Springsteenish protest track. War, it turns out, is bad for one's dreams. I never knew that until Nils told me so; until now I was convinced that war led to lovely dreams. Thanks Nils!

I don't know why Nils makes what is the record's most pessimistic song so far sound like a suped up version of If You're Happy and You Know It but I trust that my lack of understanding has to do with all the drinking I had to do before I realized what I'd mistakenly signed up for. I think he sang the word dream 7 billion times in this song. Someone better get you a bucket.

Okay, we made it to the last song. I'm really not making things up when I tell you that the second line of Big Tears Fall asks don't dreamers get the blues? He seriously brought up dreams in all but one song (or was it three - you count cuz I'm too lazy; oh never mind, I forgot: you're sloshed) on this entire record.

Here's Nils years and years later, playing the track. He seems like such a great guy. I'll bet he'd weep even bigger tears if he knew how drunk he got you.

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I swear to god: I really did write all this in real time and I had no idea you'd have to drink so much. My sincere apologies to everyone out there who is currently running around their house naked, screaming and plastered.

If that's you, please listen carefully: do not, I beg you, go attempt a Lofgren flip on your kids' trampoline. Rather, follow my lead and fill your entire dollar bin with water and get chugging. You'll flip ya flip.

#Youtube #nils lofgren #van halen sucks #neil young #bruce springsteen

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freaxs-blog · 2 years ago

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Hey, rock 'n' roll fam! 🤘 Today, let's dive into the soul-stirring ballad that is "Estranged" by Guns N' Roses. 🎶 This iconic track, released in the early '90s, has touched countless hearts with its emotional intensity and powerful storytelling. 🌟

"Estranged" takes us on a journey through heartache, loss, and the struggle to find oneself amidst the chaos of life. Axl Rose's hauntingly soulful vocals, coupled with Slash's unmistakable guitar mastery, make this song an unforgettable listening experience. 🎵

Speaking of Slash, let's take a moment to appreciate the incredible talent behind those mesmerizing guitar solos! 🎸 Born as Saul Hudson, he adopted the nickname "Slash" during his youth due to his penchant for drawing slashes on his school books. 📚 His upbringing was heavily influenced by his father, who designed album covers for legendary musicians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

Did you know that today, July 23rd, marks Slash's birthday? Despite his image as a rockstar with his signature top hat and long curly hair, Slash is actually a huge fan of horror films and has a fascination with all things related to the supernatural! 👻🎬

The "Use Your Illusion I and II" albums, where "Estranged" found its place, were a smashing success, catapulting Guns N' Roses into the stratosphere of rock stardom. 🚀 The double albums showcased the band's diversity and established them as one of the greatest rock acts of all time. 🏆

Unfortunately, like many legendary bands, Guns N' Roses faced internal conflicts, and Slash's departure from the band was a significant turning point. The split was marked by creative differences and personal tensions, leaving fans heartbroken. 😢

Yet, Slash's musical journey was far from over. He explored various ventures, collaborating with iconic musicians like Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, and even forming his own band, Slash's Snakepit. 🐍 Additionally, his work with Velvet Revolver showcased his enduring brilliance and musicianship.

Fast forward to today, and the rock gods have smiled upon us! Guns N' Roses has reunited, and Slash is back in action with the band, thrilling audiences worldwide with their electrifying performances. 🔥 The new Guns N' Roses tour is a celebration of their timeless hits, reminding us all of the enduring legacy of rock 'n' roll.

Happy birthday, Slash, and thank you for the unforgettable music! 🎂

#guns n roses #slash #axl rose #gnr #estranged #music history

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maximyles · 1 year ago

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It was the thirty first of October, Halloween, or, All Hallows Eve. To Max it was the best time of year. It was the one time of year they actually got to be a *kid.* They got to have a break from all the monsters, and Upside Down *chaos* that came with Hawkins, that some people were beautifully oblivious too.

The red has always enjoyed Halloween, more so since Susan met Neil. Neil was the type of man that *made* them be in the kitchen with their mother on the day, manically clean the entire house in time, put up the shitty, cheap decorations that looked like Max had made when they were five. But even five year old Max could have made them better. Halloween was *nothing* like that. Neil and Susan were always out on the day, probably getting drunk somewhere out of town, Billy was probably at a party. Max? Max was out in a costume their mother hated, a Michael Myers costume. She always deemed Maxine to be ‘too young’ for such movies, whereas her actual father was the one that got her into them. Neil, of course, couldn’t care less, as long as they got home by a certain time, if not? It became everyone’s problem.

Billy had miraculously survived the Mall, which of course Maxine was thankful for. However, that did not stop the guilt of not *moving* crippling the reds mind. Twisting and turning in their mind like a toxic vine. Like the vines that ran through the upside down. Vecna of course pounced on it like a lion on a deer. A few songs had managed to save the reds life, even if it was by the skin on their teeth.

Currently, Maxine was in the Hargroves car, being ready to be dropped off at the arcade. It was the drop off point where they’d meet all of their friends and go do whatever it is kids do on Halloween. Trick or Treating was definitely on the list. Scaring people shitless. Maybe they could make Lucas scream like a little girl again.

Once out of the car, the party went on their way. Talking amongst themselves, shared laughter, memories that would stick with them forever. Everything seemed normal. Swinging their bucket around their finger, Max continued to stay near the party. Well, that was the plan, until they heard an all too familiar growl that crept closer and closer. The twig snapping underneath the ‘Demodogs’ feet. Seeing its shadow and *hearing* it, was enough for Maxine and the party to just *bolt* all the way to the house they were supposed to call home, whereas everyone else had ran to Steve’s. Running as fast as their legs could carry them, taking every shortcut that came available, body swerving and dodging past the people that took over the street.

Lungs felt like they were about to collapse, but they made it. Face red from the cold, and from running, Max flung the door open, practically tumbling inside the house, before slamming the door behind them, frantically locking it before their back met the door as they breathed heavily, sinking down the door until they met the floor. A hand going through their hair so it wasn’t covering their face.

#stranger things #max mayfield #billy hargrove #steve harrington #stranger things fandom #stranger things role play #stranger things roleplay #stranger things rp #eddie munson

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amoveablejake · 2 years ago

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My Five Key Songs of July 2023

Into the second half.

The song choices that will soon follow for July are a bit of an odd selection. The tracks themselves aren't odd but rather this time around there wasn't a clear front runner to be the key song of the month. In fact, all five songs seemed to have stumbled their way into the list as July was one of those months without a clear musical focus which meant that instead of five key songs, it probably should have been more like twenty. However, that is not the format and so five it is, and whilst we're here I suppose we should probably find out what those five are exactly so as a certain Italian journalist says, here we go.

First up for July, 'Angela' by Bob James.

I am starting this month's picks with what is actually the most recent discovery on the list. I had heard 'Angela' about a month ago in a show that I was watching but then in the last week or so as I have been listening to quite a few scores it seemed to crop up unexpectedly and I am so very glad that it has done. Now, I have not seen the show 'Taxi' however, I would very much like to so I think that I will need to try and track it down on DVD as it seems like the sort of show that I would really get along with. Its musical choice for the title has all but confirmed that for me as this is perhaps one of the strongest title pieces that I have ever heard and bare in mind that I am saying that without any emotional connection to the show itself, as of yet that is. Bob James' gentle 70s classic never fails to help me to relax and settle and I have found that I have been listening to it quite a lot over the past week particularly as I have been walking back from working at a few events in the city centre. It won't be the key song this time around but I think give it a few more weeks in my headphones and perhaps a viewing of the show attached to it and soon it will be one of the key players on my roster.

Second on the call list, 'Run from Tears' by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Usually when I turn to Crosby, Stills and Nash I head straight to 'Just a Song Before I Go' which is one of my favourite songs, but over July it has been more of the case that I have been listening to 'Run From Tears'. Now, as 'Run From Tears' is also from the self titled album with one of my favourite photographs of musicians on or actually one of my favourite photographs ever adorning its cover, it makes it all the more attractive as putting this song on does mean that I get to look at that album cover again. But 'Run from Tears' is more than that. It is a track that manages to encapsulate what Crosby, Stills and Nash are as a group. It has their harmonized vocals, it has the moments of peace and gentle romanticism whilst also being able to pick up the pace and display their always stellar guitar work. The song in many ways feels funnily enough like a Neil Young track and I would very much like to have heard a version of it with Young singing the lead lyrics however, the trio still manage to make it a truly wonderful number even without their missing fourth member.

The third song for July is 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' by Donovan.

At the end of February, over the course of a couple of days I watched David Fincher's 'Zodiac' film for the first time and then a second time. Whilst ofcourse the subject matter is very disturbing and dark, I found 'Zodiac' to perhaps be Fincher's most underrated film and I think my favourite of his titles. My love affair with the 'Zodiac' film has continued as I have listened to various podcasts about it and have been thinking about it a great deal but the real legacy that it has for me is its soundtrack which features hit after hit that feel like they are the zeitgeist song of that moment within the pursuit of Zodiac themselves. Over July I have been working through the entire soundtrack so to single out one track from it is rather difficult but really I think that this time around it does have to be 'Hurdy Gurdy Man'. The sound that Donovan creates here to surround the song with this ethereal air from the outset is quite something and I don't think that I have ever heard anything like it or really ever will. It's use in 'Zodiac' is perfect, well, actually the entire film is so perhaps that isn't as strong a compliment as I want to give it but I think the point still stands.

The penultimate song for this month is 'Coral Reef' by Shigeru Suzuki.

Really, I think that this is the key song for July but this time around I have gone with a more emotional choice which we will get to in a minute. Also, I don't feel that there is any pressure to choose 'Coral Reef' now as I am sure that it will claim the top spot at some point down the line. When I stumbled across 'Pacific' it was Haruomi Hosono's name that caught my eye but now that I have listened to it again and again, it is Shigeru Suzuki who is my stand out from the record and that is most apparent through 'Coral Reef'. 'Coral Reef', I don't know what it is, there is just this quality to this song that really hits me. Its the sort of song that makes me actually stop typing as I look off into the distance to try and work out exactly what it is that I would like to stay but I'm not quite sure. On a practical level, it sounds a little like what may have inspired Dan Mason, the artist who is often floating around the top spot for my artist of the year over the last couple of trips around the sun. But really, it is more than the similarity to Mason's work. It has this quality to it of something that feels very unique, it feels of its time in Japan in 1978 and listening to it takes me to that time or rather that my vision of it. I don't know, I suppose 'Coral Reef' is my version of the beach paradise that adorns the album 'Pacific's cover, it is paradise and words can't really do it justice but the feeling that it inspires, that is enough. More than enough.

And finally, the key song for July 2023 is 'Germany, 1944' by John Williams.

'Germany, 1944' is the song that hits me the hardest from the 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's score. Going into the film, I was aware that hearing the 'Raiders March' musical sting would be rather emotional as the whole viewing experience itself would be. The thing is, 'Raiders March' never truly made a full experience, instead it worked itself into a few of the tracks as a gentle nod to Williams' iconic cinematic score from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. And really, I think that I preferred this use of the song, it meant that on one hand 'Dial of Destiny' could be its own thing and that it was looking back at its predecessors in a respectful way rather than in one that was solely using its previous adventures to propel the story forward. When 'Germany, 1944' played and when I first heard that sting from 'Raiders March' it felt truly heroic, as Indiana Jones always does, and more than that it served as a reminder that whilst a song may not be playing all the time, it is never really gone and is always there when you listen for it out there in the Universe.

So there we have it, the key songs for July 2023 and with one month of summer left it feels like there has not been a true 'summer' pick as of yet to be the key song of the month. Maybe August will change that, we shall have to wait and see and I for one am excited for the month ahead and for the adventures it will have in store and the music that they will inspire.

-Jake, a man still looking for his own Indiana style hat, 30/07/2023

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sinceileftyoublog · 3 months ago

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Ty Segall's Life Cycles

(Drag City)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Throughout his career, prolific fuzz rock wunderkind Ty Segall has consistently revealed new combinations of sounds, and tricks. 2024 was no different. In January, with Three Bells, Segall combined the melodic psych folk of Sleeper with the glam funk sprawl of Manipulator and Freedom's Goblin. The album is a 15-song, song cycle, produced with Cooper Crain of Bitchin Bajas, that reads like a treatise on overcoming existential panic. In August, Segall released Love Rudiments, a not just fully instrumental but all drum album, inspired by the cycles of life and love. Both of these records contain moments of insularity and blasts of outward expression.

Even when Segall involves his band members, he's the true driving force behind the songs and their ability to bewilder you. Three Bells features collaborations with Denée Segall and Emmett Kelly, and occasionally, the rest of the Freedom Band. Of course they shine on a song like the thrilling "Move", which sports Denée's deadpanned, spoken vocals atop Segall and Kelly's dueling guitars and Charles Moothart's monstrous fills. But the album's highlights are directly representative of Segall's anxious inner monologue. Take "Void", where Segall's vocals lurk atop nervy acoustic guitars, as if to foreshadow the song's halfway about-face into a mopey, strummed tune with distorted guitars that almost sound like horns. "In here, I realize it's all fake, what I've seen outside," Segall sings, doubting his own past perceptions as you try to parse what you're hearing. "Eggman" plays like a sonic experiment, sounding slowed down before actually slowing down, its elements subsumed with noise as if the song is being boiled. "Your mouth's agape and caked with eggs," Segall deliberately sings, the rhyme scheme the only thing less expected than the song's aural turn. And at first, while a song like "Denée" seems like a showcase for the album's instrumental palate, Segall simply repeating his wife's first name and allowing the instruments to take shape, Ben Boye's spacey keyboard licks criss-cross with Kelly's bass and hand-clap percussion to create an odd time signature, making you forget how the song started in the first place.

If some songs on Three Bells represent Segall's efforts to capture the absurdity of the world, the more traditional and introverted tunes seem like a necessary contrast. "Out there, I'm too dizzy," Segall declares on "My Room". In other words, when he's inside, he can fool around, flip through his record collection, and craft songs. Three Bells gives you your quintessential T. Rex-indebted strut with "I Hear", drippy Goodbye Bread-era ditty with "Watcher", and Neil Young stomp with "Repetition". Segall's great ability to propel a song with acoustic guitar shines on "To You"; even the sweetly whirring breakdown fails to prevent the main melody from wriggling its way into your ear. "Just keep singing so we can dance forever," Segall requests, to others and himself, as if it's his mantra.

Well, except for the fact that Love Rudiments, on the other hand, has no singing and much less than normal you can dance to. Three of its four tracks are longform wanderings that, even upon entering a groove, take a left turn. "Getting Ready / Arrival / The Dance / Walk Home Pt. II / First Touch", beginning with trilling xylophone and panning snares, eventually makes its way into a 4/4 beat, with a forward march that could stand up to his excellent cover of Hot Chocolate's "Every 1's a Winner". Soon, though, its layered mallet instrumentation melts into something that sounds like rustling around a pile of silverware, and the song rolls to its end. The clacking boom bap of "Honeymoon / Life / Confrontation / Argument / Separation / Realization" also gives way to skittering drum rolls. Its ambient whooshing recalls the feeling you get from hearing Segall's trap kit playing on opening track "First Look / First Conversation / Walk Home Pt. I": that the songs are crumpling in on themselves. The titles on Love Rudiments suggest a love that starts and ends over decades, but as with any cycle, it's not linear time that's important as much as repetitions on a theme. Three Bells and Love Rudiments are Segall's attempts to find patterns in a senseless world.

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greensparty · 5 months ago

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Concert Review: Pearl Jam

9/17/24 @ Fenway Park (Boston, MA)

Just last week I got to see Jane's Addiction literally implode onstage. This week I got to see their alt-rock peers in Pearl Jam play a lot nicer. This was PJ's second night at Fenway Park of this tour. Let me just say at the onset of this review that there is a reason Pearl Jam is considered one of the greatest live bands on the planet! I was lucky enough to see them in Aug. 2000 at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA. I, then, had the pleasure of seeing them in 2018 at Fenway Park (read my review here) and was struck by how they had actually gotten better since the first time I saw them 18 years earlier. I also got to review their 2017 live CD / DVD Let's Play Two, which covered their 2016 shows at Chicago's Wrigley Field, and it showed the sheer fandom that singer Eddie Vedder had for the Chicago Cubs. Which is why it was classy to hear him speak so respectfully about Fenway Park and its history and place in baseball history. Bassist Jeff Ament wore a Larry Bird t-shirt and guitarist Mike McCready wore a shirt of the band Boston. So the fact that PJ are returning to Fenway Park was something super special!

PJ onstage

Going into this concert, I knew it was going to be an epic show, but I was speechless by where I was watching from. I was on the turf at Fenway Park, easily the best seats I've ever had for a concert at Fenway Park! I felt like I was at the center of the universe - unbelievable! I missed opening act Glen Hansard, who performed with Olivia Vedder (yes - the daughter of some guy in PJ). I was a fan of the 2021 Flag Day soundtrack that featured Glen, Olivia and her dad, so it's too bad I missed it, but fortunately Glen Hansard came out in the middle of PJ's set and sat with Eddie Vedder for a cover of "Falling Slowly", Glen's famous song from Once.

One of the many cool visuals during PJ's performance

PJ brought their A-Game to Fenway. Not just Eddie, but Guitarists McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Ament, drummer Matt Cameron and touring keyboardist Boom Gaspar and multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer (he appeared on Eddie's 2022 solo album Earthling) were all in top form. They did a ton of hits off of Ten, Vs., and Vitology, and some songs off of albums they've released since (although surprisingly nothing off of Binaural, Pearl Jam, or Lightning Bolt), but what I was most excited to see in this concert was hearing them do songs off of their most recent albums Gigaton and Dark Matter. Sadly for everyone Gigaton had the misfortune of being released in March 2020 shortly after lockdowns and we didn't get a proper Gigaton tour. At this show, the only song they did off that album was "Superblood Wolfmoon". It would've been cool to get some of the other songs off that album like "Retrograde", but beggars can't be choosers. But since Dark Matter is the newer album, that overshadowed Gigaton and they played five of the 11 songs off the new album.

Vedder takes center stage

Gossard's solo

no this wasn't taken during "Red Mosquito"

McCready's solo

nothing like playing Fenway Park

Highlights of the show for me were "Daughter", "Untitled", "F***in' Up" (a Neil Young and Crazy Horse cover they've been doing for decades now), "Why Go", and "Yellow Ledbetter". Earlier this year, Eddie hinted in the press that the band may only be around for another album or two. While I hope that's not the case, this particular show is very much a tough act to follow. But if anyone can top themselves it's PJ!

For info on Pearl Jam

#concert review #pearl jam #eddie vedder #mike mccready #stone gossard #jeff ament #matt cameron #music nerd #glen hansard #olivia vedder #once #neil young and crazy horse

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thisaintascenereviews · 8 months ago

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Vinyl Obscura, Episode III: Stealin’ Horses - S/T

All of the albums I got that I’m starting this series with are from the 1980s, and it seems like it’s because a lot of stuff was happening in that decade. I mentioned that in the last episode, but tons of different styles of music were being pioneered or perfected, including new wave, post-punk, AOR, hair metal, hip-hop, hardcore, and tons more stuff. Because of that, so many bands formed, got signed, released an album or two then disappeared. One of these bands is Kentucky roots-rock / Americana band Stealin’ Horses. I found a copy of their 1988 self-titled debut at a peddler’s mall, and I was really taken by the album cover, so I figured I’d check it out.

As is the course with this series, I didn’t know anything about this band going into this, so I did some research and found that they were a band from Lexington. They got signed to Arista in the mid-80s after some hype from another band a couple of the members were in. From what I read, their debut album sold about 100,000 copies, but they were dropped from the label due to them saying that the band didn’t have a top 40 single. What’s odd is that Stealin’ Horses’ self-titled debut album is actually pretty solid, and I’m shocked this band never got any bigger, because the debut has some songs that easily could been big singles. Maybe not a number one hit, necessarily, but there’s a lot of potential in the debut album.

The vocals are quite good, vocalist Kopana Terry has a really good voice that really elevates these songs, especially when a lot of this record is relatively generic folk-rock / roots-rock. It’s nothing new, but it sounds like an 80s modernization of the 70s Laurel Canyon scene. At the time, something like this was rather unique in the mainstream, but like with Lone Justice, maybe that’s why they never caught on. What’s crazy is that Neil Young plays harmonica on the song “Harriet Tubman,” but the band never got that much exposure. This record is pretty good, albeit nothing amazing, and that could be why it never truly caught on.

I think this band deserved better, especially because they got dropped by Arista, released another album in 1991, and then broke up in 1992. Despite the record selling decently, especially for 1988, it’s weird they never got any bigger. Maybe it was because their sound wasn’t what was popular at the time, or they didn’t have a single that could transcend its sound, but they’re an obscure band that those in the know are sure to enjoy. I’m glad I heard this album, and it’s worth hearing if you enjoy country-rock, and its adjacent genres, even if it may not blow you away or be something completely unique and off the wall.

#Stealin horses #lexington #Kentucky #folk rock #roots rock #country #country rock #vintage vinyl #vinyl #neil young

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lastchancevillagegreen · 1 year ago

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Thursday, 22 February, 2024:

Dume Neil Young and Crazy Horse (Reprise) (originally released in Archives II in November 2020; this reissue released on 23 February, 2023)

I'm not sure what non-Neil Young fans must think about the endless product Young shifts. For the past five years, maybe even longer, he has been releasing four albums a year. That's a new album every three months which is an insane amount of product. I'm not always sure what I think about his endless quest to release things and I'm a huge fan. It does get tiresome, especially for completeists. There was a point when I bought Neil's work on both CD and LP but those days have long gone. I can't afford both nor do I see the point (I'm starting to question that act on just about all bands I do that with). Now, I just buy whatever Neil puts out on vinyl.

This album came on CD only inside of his Archives II box, much like Odeon Budokan (which was in the same box). Dume is the sessions that ended up comprising the majority of Zuma which came out in 1975. Credited to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, it was actually a hodge-podge of music recorded by Young with Crazy Horse as the predominant backing back. Only two songs failed to include the band (one of which included Young with Crosby, Stills and Nash, a song people tend to forget exists in that band's oeuvre). I think Dume makes for an excellent listen and myself, I happily bought this as soon as possible (unlike Odeon Budokan, which I equally enjoy, but I didn't bother buying it until almost six months after it came out).

Above you see the cover and the back of the album. Below you can get a glimpse at that hype sticker up close.

The album is a gatefold and you can see that shot below.

Since this is a double album, I'll show you the front and back of the inner sleeve that holds each album followed by the labels for both sides. First up is Record One's inners and labels.

The next four photos reveal the inner sleeves and labels for the second album in this double album.

As seems to be the case these days, most of Neil's albums come with a giant lyric sheet. This isn't quite as large as most, but it is still pretty large. You can see it below.

Much like Odeon Budokan, the album art underwent some changes from its Archives II version to a stand alone release. Below you will see the CD that I took from Archives II so you can see the differences. You will see the cover, the gatefold (which did not change), the back of the digipak and then the CD.

Since Dume's artwork recalls Zuma's artwork (which I appreciate, after all, it is the same sessions) I thought I would include what Zuma looks like. Imagine those who aren't fans and how confusing all this must appear. Below you will see my original copy (which I bought in Carbondale back in 1976 used at Wuxtry's). First up is the album cover and then the back of the album.

Below are both sides of the record label.

It was years later that I learned this had custom inner sleeves (I'm pretty sure I looked at my brother's copy when I discovered this piece of information). My original copy came in a plain white sleeve, probably because whoever owned it lost the original inner sleeve ( i had someone steal the custom inner sleeves out of some of my albums down in C'dale, for reasons I still don't understand). So, the inner sleeves you see below are from the Neil Young Archive reissue of 2015.

My original copy also lacked a lyric sheet, so the lyric sheet below comes from that same 2015 NYA reissue. See how confusing record collecting can be?

Note how much smaller this lyric sheet (and it is the same size as the original '75 print) than Dume's lyric sheet?

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all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus · 1 year ago

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album #7 of the year, and i'm back on my neil young bullshit with after the gold rush

i really hate talking about albums like this. not because it's bad, not at all, it's really good. i just... don't quite like it as much as i'm supposed to on initial listen

most albums sag in the middle imo, and the start of side 2 is the problem here; the oh lonesome me cover is sluggish to the point where it loses me, and birds kinda passes me by, except for that gorgeous chorus. throw in the full band arrangement of don't let it bring you down, which is a great song but oddly sounds less intense than in its guitar-only guise on young shakespeare than here and it drags ever so slightly

the rest of it rules though. it's interesting coming back to early neil, given i've mostly been listening to the ditch trilogy onward, there's a very different vibe to it. it's not really less sad, per se; there's just as much humour on his later albums, and just as much sadness here, but it feels... less desolate in its sadness, i don't know. the sadness on this album feels like being alone on a dark wet evening, where sure, you feel it as much as any other time, but you know the sun's just around the corner, whereas later on it becomes outright depression. until it blasts into a rocker about growing your own weed, at least, but you get the gist

anyway, the start of side 2 is only so disappointing bc side 1 is flat-out jawdropping, especially since it has the good grace to start with two of the most beautiful songs ever written. tell me why is just stunning, absolutely note-perfect, saturated in that lovely melancholic optimism from the raggedly beautiful harmonies (i love the harmonies so much on this album) to the lyrics. i'm so weak for simple summaries of profound emotion, and by-and-large i find neil's lyrics more interesting when he's waxing wry intricate metaphor than when he's being straightforward, but the second verse of this song is such a pure and delightful description of love, it's wonderful

nothing else on here quite compares, but there's a lot of bangers yet. i've been familiar with the title track all my life, and i haven't got bored of it yet. mind you, how could anyone get bored of a song with a flugelhorn solo like that? only love can break your heart is the saddest "cheer up mate" song ever written (i have no idea if this actually cheered graham nash up, maybe he needed the sympathy rather than the pepping up) but it's so tuneful, and the heavy-hearted piano, particularly in the chorus, twists your gut

and then southern man smacks your around the face. i'd like to think these days it'd be a fairly uncontroversial, if blunt, attack on racism but, uh, lmao. i'm sure a lot of the backlash came from people indignantly going "#NotAllSouthernMen" or something, so nothing changes there, i guess. tbh there are many people vastly more qualified than me to talk about this song and racism as a whole, so i'll just say i don't particularly find this song unreasonable and move on to the music. it's the only time on the album you get Guitar Hero Neil, and it's not a bad showcase; the repeated hammering onto that dissonant chord just before the fadeout is just breathtaking. the chorus is the real kicker here, with neil's screaming angry vocals and that bass! in years i'd never noticed that bass, why was this the only album of neil's this guy played on?

the other seriously great song here is when you dance you can really love, which has more top-notch melodies and harmonies and some real strange decisions that kinda pay off? idk why neil didn't bother to write a second verse, but the desperate repetition of "i can really love, i can really love" weirdly ups the intensity so much, and the piano kind of clutters the place up some of the time but makes the chorus with that incessant banging. i'd love to hear an acoustic version of this, actually, the vocals are really gorgeous again. beyond that, i believe in you is nice, and the two snippets at the end of either side are goofy and cute

i must admit, after till the morning comes i was ready to rave about this album. i still love the vibe, and there's some absolutely wonderful stuff on here, it's just a little sad it doesn't manage to maintain its momentum

#neil young #folk rock

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rhapsodynew · 4 months ago

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#new music

⚡️ ROCK N'ROLL HALL OF FAME 2024

➖ The performance of Dua Lipa and Cher and her introduction

Dua Lipa performed a song in honor of Cher, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

At the beginning of the evening, the pop star performed part of the 1988 hit "Believe", and then Cher herself joined her to sing the rest of the song

➖ Induction into the Foreigner Hall of Fame and their performance

Foreigner were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday night. The award ceremony was attended by original vocalist Lou Graham, keyboardist Al Greenwood and bassist Rick Wills.

Mick Jones and Dennis Elliott did not attend the ceremony, and Ian McDonald and Ed Gagliardi died in 2022 and 2014, respectively. Sammy Hagar, who hosted the band, said:

I'm really sorry Jones isn't here today. Mick, we love you, miss you and congratulations

Hagar also talked about his experience listening to Foreigner music, especially songs like "Jukebox Hero" when he started out as a rock singer himself.:

When you first heard this song, you realized that you were jealous. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest rock vocal performances in history.

After Hagar's performance, a joint performance of their songs took place with the participation of Hagar, Slash, Chad Smith, Demi Lovato and Kelly Clarkson

➖Peter Frampton 's speech and his introduction

Peter Frampton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several music industry stars came to the event on this occasion

Roger Daltrey of The Who was tasked with officially inducting Frampton into the Hall of Fame. He began his opening speech with what many in the audience were thinking:

I was surprised that this guy wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame 35 years ago. All I can say is it's about time.

The posthumous introduction of Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 as a recipient of the Outstanding Musical Achievement Award. Despite being nominated since 1998, Buffett was never inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The singer-songwriter received the award posthumously on Saturday night during the opening performance of Dave Matthews, who became one of the winners in 2024. Matthews performed a solo acoustic version of Buffett's 1974 song "A Pirate Looks at Forty".

James Taylor inducted Buffett into the Hall of Fame, noting:

For many of us, Jimmy was like a hero from a Greek myth. His adventures were our adventures. We shared his great love of life. He loved being Jimmy Buffett.

He was out of this world, but at the same time he was always sane and always himself. Jimmy was a man who achieved everything on his own, and there will be no other like it.

Ozzy Osbourne 's performance and introduction

Ozzy Osbourne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming the 27th artist to be inducted more than once, and joining celebrities such as John Lennon, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young.

Osbourne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by actor and Tenacious D frontman Jack Black:

The greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll is Ozzy Osbourne. Blizzard of Ozz cover "was the most metal thing I've ever seen, and I didn't even know what metal was" Then I went back to Ozzy's early albums, to Black Sabbath. And I thought, "Damn it, that bastard invented heavy metal... the darkest, heaviest shit the world has ever heard."

➖Completion of the ceremony

The ceremony of induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 ended on Saturday evening with a performance by Talking Heads with the song "Burning Down the House"

On Friday, it was 40 years since the release of Stop Making Sense, a concert film by Talking Heads, which included the song "Burning Down the House", as well as accompanying live album

THE DOORS turns 60 years old🎉

THE DOORS band actually broke up a long time ago, but formally it still exists and is even going to celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. On this occasion, a series of six vinyl records "The Doors 1967-1971", an anthology book and some other bonuses will be released. Among them will be the live album "The Doors - Live in Detroit" recorded on May 8, 1970. It will be released on vinyl for the first time.

THE 38 GREATEST HEAVY METAL BANDS

Last week, Forbes magazine compiled a list of heavy metal bands.

In their opinion, it was these 38 bands that "had the most significant influence in the metal genre." This rating took into account the history of the genre as a whole.

And to be honest, there are some "questions" for some of the groups on the list.

38. Carcass 37. At The Gates 36. Exodus 35. Behemoth 34. Napalm Death 33. Kyuss 32. Dream Theater 31. Nightwish 30. King Diamond 29. Danzig 28. Converge 27. Cannibal Corpse 26. Anthrax 25. Meshuggah 24. Machine Head 23. Lamb Of God 22. Mastodon 21. Sepultura 20. Type O Negative 19. Motörhead 18. Death 17. Dio 16. Megadeth 15. Gojira 14. Korn 13. Rammstein 12. Deftones 11. System Of A Down 10. Avenged Sevenfold 09. Tool 08. Slayer 07. Slipknot 06. Ozzy Osbourne 05. Judas Priest 04. Pantera 03. Iron Maiden 02. Black Sabbath 01. Metallica

Metallica. 1985.

"Being Better: The Story of Robbie Williams"

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A teaser trailer for the movie "Being Better: The Story of Robbie Williams", a biopic of Robbie Williams, has appeared. Unlike most films about musicians, here the main character is played not by an actor, but by a computer monkey, which was voiced by the singer himself.

At the beginning of the trailer, Robbie Williams admits that he has always felt somewhat wild – which is probably why he appeared in the image of a monkey. The video features one of the main characters of the music, "Let Me Entertain You" and the album "Life through a Prism" (1997). The original title of "Better Man" is the song "Sing When You Win" (2000), which is part of the Robert Williams song of the same name.

#new music #robbie williams #Youtube #Spotify #music #my music #music love #musica #history music #spotify #rock music #rock #rock photography #my spotify #ROCK N'ROLL HALL OF FAME 2024

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dollarbin · 1 year ago

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Dollar Bin #25:

Stephen Stills' Manassas

Okay, I'm afraid it's finally time to listen to some Stephen Stills. As I've previously mentioned, my famous brother claims that Manassas is Stills' masterpiece and that after listening to it I'll make a pilgrimage to the shrine of all things Stephen, make penance on bended knee and then be forced to invent a new villain for this blog.

But I refuse to believe it. First of all, excoriating Stills makes me happy, so why would I ever stop doing so? All the other potential villains I can think of are fictional beings (you know, Sauran, the Ewoks), or are actually evil and therefore not fun making fun of (you know, Putin, Trump) or are too obscure to continually mock (Danny Kortchmire, destroyer of potentially great records by Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Don Hendley and Carole King, comes to mind).

But it's not fair to not give poor Steve, and my famous brother, a chance: objectivity rules in the Dollar Bin, yes? And so I must submit to my famous brother's advice and, as George Michael instructs me, listen without prejudice to Stills' double album of dog droppings.

So, let's do this: Manassas, Stills' substitute-supergroup-screw-you to C,N and Y from 72 (C, N and Y collectively shrugged and made better music without Stills). Someone get me about 16 beers and a punching bag so as to periodically take out my anger.

Song of Love opens Side 1 and, despite the fact that Neil Young probably has sixteen different unreleased songs coming out on Archives 7 in 2048 with that same sucky name, this song doesn't suck as much as we expect it to, at least at first.

Stills doesn't sound too much like a dope as he opens his pie hole to honor Song of Love's lousy lyrics, and there's space in the mix for the keyboards, bass and drums to hold their own. But then we get to the guitar solo, which could be pretty sweet - after all there's a worthwhile surprise in it as Stills unexpectedly climbs the flagpole of his own enormous ego then greases his way back to down in a flourish - but in Stills' coked-up, record mixing, hands his solo glides around the stereo space: check me out! Stills brags; I'm in your right ear now; but watch while I slide the mix over the right side - and back again! Hey everyone, Stephen brags, I learned how to spin a dial: aren't I a very stable genius?

Even so, if the rest of Manassas is as good as this song, I'm gonna have to eat some meaty crow dropped by an Amazon drone. It'll be yet another gift from my famous brother.

Next up, after a pretentiously teensy song gap, comes a song called Rock and Roll Crazies. Nice title, Stills. Come to think of it, all his titles on this record suck (seriously: there's a song called Blues Man; another is called The Love Gangster. Someone Get Me a Bucket is not a song title from the record, rather it's a request I am now making because I already need something to puke in. Apparently there is no Stills' penned number on this album entitled I'm A Giant Dickhead; that must be an outtake.)

This song sucks. Stills is dispensing advice on how to avoid being stuck up should you become, like him, a Rock and Roll God; meanwhile his rhythm section, led by the from-this-point-forward forever intolerable Joe Lala, justifies its existence by beating on its entire wall of cowbells at once. I'm a devoted pacifist. And yet I already want to punch Stills in the face.

But it gets worse! Rock and Roll Crazies is apparently part one in a medley of musical torture. After covering us with peanut butter and inviting over a whole school of starving rats in Rock and Roll Crazies, Stills crushes us into jelly with an elephant ass called Cuban Bluegrass. 51 years later Cubans everywhere are still shaking their fists at Stills in rage.

And then it gets even worse! What circle of hell are we now in? This thing claims to be a three part medley but there are at least 7 different jams stacked up. Imagine Guided By Voices's Alien Lanes reissued as a double album, but the never before heard Sides 3 and 4 completely undercut every wonderful bit of the frantic, drunken, homemade colleague that is the original record. That's what's happening in my ears. Stills apparently spent days and days in the studio making this crap up without ever sleeping. I wish he'd taken a goddamn nap.

Currently he's telling me he is part of the Jet Set. It sounds like everyone in the band has their shirt off and is flexing while hired ladies shave their chests and pay them false compliments. I don't own any Jimmy Buffet records dedicated entirely to covering Santana because this is what I imagine them sounding like.

At the end of Side 1 the bongos go nuts and there's actually some pretty cool guitar and keyboard in Anyway and especially in the somewhat hummable Both of Us. Someone/s other than Stills sings too, which is a relief. Much of the time it's probably Chris Hillman, who, after giving up on Gram Parsons, made a career of riding the coattails of increasingly annoying people, from Stills to Crosby to disco era McGuinn. Joe Lala owes me an apology for everything that's happened in this experience so far. Stephen Stills owes me another beer. Go get it Steve!

Before we flip to Side 2 I want to introduce a few big picture reasons why all of us should hate this record/band/Stephen Stills. Many more will follow later in the post and for as long as I continue to write this nonsense:

Stills claims credit for his "compositions" on this record. Dude, you made this swaggering nonsense up on the spot, and then made us listen to it. You didn't "compose" anything. I teach English for a living, so here, Steve, is an example of a composition: Dear Stephen Still, You Suck. Sincerely, The Dollar Bin. Now, someone, take away Stevie's composer baton before he accidentally puts out Joe Lala's eye.

There is no clear order of the sides. The records (remember, this is a double album, so get comfortable as I probably have 6,000 more words of anger left to spill before this is over) say that Song of Love opens Side 1, but the back of the cover says that's the start of Side 3; the inside gatefold muddles things even further. But who am I kidding, no one really gives a flying fugelhorn, because I'm the only person on earth who currently listens to this record. But still, Dear Stills, decide on a song order and stick to it. Or tempt my wrath further!

And what's the name of this band anyway? Stephen Stills is on the spine. Manassas is the name of the album. But that's the band's name too. What the hell is happening here? And who let Stills name his band after a Confederate victory? If there's a statue of Stills anywhere on earth it too needs to come down, pronto.

Okay, it's time to listen, with a very open and marginally sober mind, to Side 2.

Fallen Eagle opens. But wait. I should note before I go any further that all of Side 1 had its own subtitle, The Raven. Aside from pretension, there is absolutely no explanation or excuse for this title, let alone any title, for what we just sat through on Side 1. As near as I could tell the songs were about either nothing or about being a rock and roll star. I trust that Edgar Allen Poe's descendants sued Stills' ass.

But where were we? Ah yes, Side 2. This one gets an equally pretentious subtitle, The Wilderness. Apparently Stills wants us to travel with him into the country, where he will reveal his mastery of yet another musical form. We're down home with Stills and crew now. There are nutty fiddles and more dull lyrics. Yee-haw.

Next up Stills has thoughts on Jesus Christ. Jesus, he tells us, Gave His Love Away For Free. Thanks for the homily Father Steve. The piano here is lovely though. There is a piano player in the band, Paul Harris, but Stills lists himself as another pianist generally so we never know who's responsible for any given note. This is reason #648 for why I hate this crap.

The third song is one of Stills' best: I admit it, he has a few good songs. But that does not lose me the bet, not by a mile, famous brother. But I'll play nice and let you all give a listen to the first thing on this record that's worth your time, Colorado.

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All the vocals are tasteful, the piano and steel guitar are lovely. But is it the best song with that title from this era? Of course not! Everything one of the six good things Stills has ever done is second fiddle to all the truly good things in life. So, let's take a deep breath here and listen to Linda Ronstadt's Colorado instead:

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Wow, that was a nice break. Back to work:

The song that follows Stills' Colorado, So Begins the Task, is also perfectly nice; indeed it's pretty good. Both songs would have been reasonable inclusions on Deja Vu. The fact that Stills was capable of making music this straight-forwardly enjoyable but chose instead to write songs like Rock and Roll Crazies is making me crazy.

The fiddles return for the side's fourth track, Hide it So Deep. This song is not as good as the previous two songs, but it's not atrocious . If someone were singing this at a farmer's market with their case open for tips I'd give them a buck and a nod, but I wouldn't stick around.

The Wilderness wraps up with what sounds like an International Submarine Band outtake, Don't Look at My Shadow. Stills returns to his favorite lyrical topic: describing how hard it is being as famously awesome as he is. I guess that's why he understands Jesus...

Anyway, Stevie Nonwonder wants us to know that after playing for 20k adoring LA fans a handsome man like him craves a little me-time. Poor Steve, it's such a hard life he has as a young, physically fit, white, male celebrity. Don't worry Stevie, we won't look at your shadow, or you, ever again as soon as this record is over.

Here at the 1/2 way point I want to complain about the album's lousy aesthetics. The album's two pull out sleeves have identical photos of Stills on all four sides. Steve, if you wanna be a big deal 70's artist and splurge for sleeves that aren't blank, or are adverts for other artists on the label, or that encourage us to send $1.99 for Loss Leader collections, then use your investment to make your record cooler. Please ask Neil Young to show you his pull outs for Live Rust as a sweet example, Steve. (And please note, dear George Lucas, who I'm sure is among my legion of followers, those are Roadeyes, not Jawas, on stage with Neil; there is no connection whatsoever between the two hooded beings, at least according to Young and his legal representatives.)

Thanks for checking in with Neil on how to do pull out sleeves right Steve-O. And while you're at it, please tell Neil that I'm sorry I spent a whole afternoon listening to your music instead of his.

But there are more complaints to be registered about the pull out's. Stills's two Manassas sleeves a) have an identical bad concert photo of Steve on all four sides and b) that bad photo is a straight up rip off image from Dylan's cover from Greatest Hits Volume 2, which had come out six months earlier. Proof displayed:

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen: you are not, and have never been, a peer to Dylan. If you're looking for a peer, track down my old next door neighbor Ken. His front yard was full of broken toilets.

Stills could have put his "supergroup" bandmates on these pull outs or given us something interesting to look at, like, for example, every one of Stills' guitars and football jerseys in a beautifully flaming heap, or Stills' cat giving him a dirty look. But instead he uses the pull outs as further proof of his own suckyness.

(A quick note on the term "Supergroup": adding Chis Hillman and Joe Lala to his lineup does not qualify Stills' group to supergroup status. Supergroups do indeed exist. The Traveling Wilburies come to mind, as does Yo La Tengo, or, say, The Beatles; each is made up of people who could be a huge deal on their own but set aside their egos (at least for a moment) to elevate one another as equals. My famous brother is in an actual Supergroup as we speak. When he records his next record with me, Fuzzy Samuels and Stills my famous brother will not call it a Supergroup; he'll call it a pity project.)

Don't pawn the record's artistic ineptitude off onto someone else: alongside every other credit he dreams up for himself on this record Steve also says he's the Art Department. Every photo on the entire album, except, incongruously, two little shots of his, surely furious, engineers, are out of focus, lame and self-obsessed. Stills is as bad at making art as he is at making music.

Okay, Side 3 is called Consider. I'm considering the use of a lot of four letter words I swore I'd never use in this blog at this point; Stills is busy trembling in his Velveeta Castle (which is surely Steve's favorite kinda cheese), sure I will at last hurl such invectives at him.

It Doesn't Matter is better than the average Stills track, and once again there's pretty good guitar solo, but saying "better than the average Stills track" is like saying better than my average episode of flatulence.

I've already spent time on the second song, Johnny's Garden, and unlike Stills, I'm not a plagiarist, even of my own writing, so go reread my recent Ringo piece if you really want to hear my analysis a Stills song that rhymes "shine my shoes" with "singin' the blues." The song does have some nice guitar picking, I guess. Steve's probably better than me at picking... his nose. Ha! Even my humor is currently descending down to Stills' level at this point. Next thing you know I'll be claiming responsibility for my own art department.

Bound to Fall is a cool change of pace. Stills didn't write it or sing it, so that helps. And there's a sweet Moog thing going on. Stills takes credit for playing the Moog, of course. He's probably telling someone right now that he invented the internet too.

How Far... Move Around... do you really need me to write about these songs? They're fine: Stills sings about nothing and everyone knows how to play their assigned instrument. Move Around is actually sorta pretty with the Moog again swerving about. I hope I never hear either of these songs ever again.

But we've gotta spend a moment on The Love Gangster, which ends Side 3. The perpetually grumpy Bill Wyman, bass player for the Stones, showed up to help write it. Stills and Wyman are great peers for one another: both were forever whining about having to share the stage with bandmates who made them look special (Neil Young and Jagger/Richards, respectively). Plus, both Stills and Wyman eventually ditched their masterful peers, sure that their solo greatness would be instantly recognized, George Harrison style. But instead, to no one's surprise except their own, both men sucked solo. Both dudes are still with us; they should start a band. Eric Clapton could play lead guitar, Stan Lynch would handle drums. They could open for Jay Farrar. We'd call the whole thing Comeuppance.

The Love Gangster, in case you care, is a wandering mess. Whoever sings with Stills (it's gotta by Joe Lala) is an even more atrocious singer than he is. Thanks for stopping by and making this all even worse Wyman!

And while we are on the subject of Wyman, we need to just stop everything for a moment and read this excerpt from his Wikipedia page. Feel free to drop your jaw in advance:

In 1993, Wyman's son Stephen Wyman married Patsy Smith, the 46-year-old mother of Bill's ex-wife Mandy Smith (with whom Wyman had begun a sexual relationship a few years before, when she was 14 and he was 48; they eventually married, then divorced). Stephen was 30 years old at the time. Therefore, the ex-Rolling Stone became his own son's ex-son-in-law, the father-in-law of his ex-mother-in-law, as well as the stepgrandfather of his ex-wife.

No, I did not make any of that up. Stills has had three wives, not to mention his affair with Rita Coolidge which led to the first of CSN&Y's many breakups, but none of his relationships were straight up criminal. Apparently we need to list Wyman alongside Trump in the "too evil to mock" category for this blog. And "The Love Gangster" must also be the non-tongue-in-cheek title of Wyman's biography. Let's not read it.

Ready for Side 4 of this monstrosity? It's called Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay and I'm frankly tempted to lie and say I listened to it already and just wind things up right here. But, like the poor lady in Julie and Julia who had to eventually cook all those gelatinous meat molds, I need to finish this terrible task.

Let's get Side 4 over with in one sentence shall we? What To Do is another piece of anthem rock crap; Right Now involves guitar slides that can surely only be performed while in spandex (Stills must have invented spandex too); The Treasure (Take One) may be better than takes 2-96 of the song and involve some sweet piano licks underneath the pomposity but it sounds like donkey testicles falling onto your dinner plate and involves wackachicka guitar moves a full five years before disco, plus the rhythm shifts make me wanna shift my own status to dead; and the last song is called Blues Man: Stills wrote it about himself and performs it solo so I'll just let you imagine the horror, the horror.

There, I did it: I listened to Manassas.

I'll see my famous brother next at Christmas. I'm already carving him a piece of coal in the shape of Still's terrifying goatee.

#stephen stills still sucks #bob dylan #neil young #manassas #julie and julia #Youtube #joe freakin' lala

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noendsonlymeans · 1 year ago

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i just have some thoughts to dump .

youtube

i first heard of wednesday a few years ago and "fate is..." was definitely in my top 5 most listened to songs on spotify in 2021 or 22. i didnt know til recent that mj lenderman was a member and didnt know til like yesterday that they might be even better (to me!!!!!).

my first full listen to their live album they put out in later 2023 was yesterday and it changed things for me. embarrassingly enough i only took interest in tyler childers a few months ago. after this neocountry ( i know thats not what its actually called ) awakening within me ive been on a quest to find a good country sounding band that fused with my other genres of interest well. like better than pinegrove well. a honky tonk shoegaze project would be an incredible thing to stumble on, though no im not sure how its going to work with time keeping and all that whatever, no ones proven to make it happen since. but mj is the closest i have ever gotten.

about halfway through the album, i was able to identify something about mjl's familiar vocal... cadence? and place it with neil young. from referencing dylan, john daly, rodeo clowns, michael jordan, tom brady, jack nicholson, jackass, and rust on a grill left in the rain, american citizenship and our often borderline-unbelievable and ever-entertaining popular culture in the digital age help define mjl's sound, especially on this combination of previous releases. from ethel introducing gen z coastals to dale sr. to realtree camo being in casual rotation in an urbanites closet for work or dive hopping, americas "middle" aesthetics are becoming more recognized and thus more commodified. as someone raised in the rural midwest to now residing in the urban midwest, the sudden "trendiness" of articles of clothing or topics of conversation that used to embarrass you if your dad sported either in public, is both affirming and maddening. if you have ever been to a meat raffle, if the deer and fishing openers were treated like holidays in your hometown, or if youve ever resided at a residence within 1 mile of a "trump store", then you know there is a certain valor that comes with it. it wasnt pleasant. it wasnt comfortable. but it was something you did, you survived, and you still probably feel like home there. im getting incredibly off topic and wil probably revisit this concept in a seperate manor........

anyways all that above is to be said because i need you all to know that i do recognize the sin i am committing in this next statement which is to refer mjl's voice with noneother than ontarian neil young. their tenor-ish ranges, along with each of their tendencies to undermix in favor of a raw, though mjl isnt pushing any major life lessons or reflecting on their 20s in any of this album (yet).

knockin, the second track, is where i officially got hooked. i love bob dylan. i love obscure interpolations used within songs. but the only other artist to reference a lyric as common as "knocking on heavens door" that comes to mind IMMEDIATELY is lana, and mjl did it complete justice. on similar note, rudolph was able to become a highlight for me for, once again, a dylan interpolation.

screaming "you are very girl to me!" doesnt have the same affect as passively referring to a love gone as simply "a sunday", but mjl's lyrics immediately reminded me of a few childers lyrics. i cant help but think these asheville guys are childers fans due to the addition of the cover of 'long black veil'. yeah sure its a classic country!, but mjl's lyricism suggests to me that this is more of a reference to a reference, of course referring to "jersey giant" (ORIGINALLY BY TYLER CHILDERS).

dunno how to wrap these. i was just so so impressed with this album and happy i finally bit the bullet and took the internets suggestion to give them a chance.

8.5/10, id like to listen to their discog and hear the studio versions of each song as well.

#mj lenderman #wednesday #music #emo #country #shoegaze #twang #writing #blog #review #album review #im trying to listen to albums again and this is a fun way to stay accountable #itll be snappier next time i prom prom #Youtube

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ghosttotheparty · 5 years ago

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I’ve Been Waiting For You (And You’ve Been Coming To Me)

also on ao3

I’ve been waiting for you And you've been coming to me For such a long time now For such a long time now

Sander knew it was ridiculous.

That he had seen this boy, this beautiful boy, a total of two times before now.

Once, under the moonlight, white masks covering both their faces. The boy hadn’t seen Sander, nor his camera, under the roof of the warehouse, hadn’t noticed Sander watching him, Sander’s face hidden behind the mask and under the hood of his jacket, hidden by the camera when he held it up to snap a picture of him.

There was a moment, as Sander watched him, where it felt like Sander’s heart slowed to a stop, where it felt like all the blood in his veins stopped moving, a chill went down his arms and back, where his lungs let out a sharp breath like a sigh and a gasp, where his face softened, and he forgot about everything except the boy in front of him. It felt like a realization, like a moment of familiarity, a feeling like he’s finally come home after years wandering the universe, looking.

Oh. There you are. You’re what I’ve been waiting for.

It hardly hurt when he watched the boy kiss Noor, the girl he knew from school, the girl that was friends with Sander’s girlfriend (who was far from his mind). It still disappointed him, still made his heart drop just a little, though the butterflies still fluttered like they were trying to escape him.

The next time, in the skate park, a group of teenage boys walking past.

A whim, a wild hope, that maybe the boy with the pretty eyes and the brown hair, could be one of them, and Sander glanced up.

And there he was.

Looked at Sander.

And how beautiful he was.

In the same jacket he wore the night Sander first saw him, with his fluffy hair around his head like a halo, looking lonely even with the boys he walked with. Sander had looked at him as he walked past, thinking that this could maybe be his last chance to see him, his last chance to look at this nameless boy, and he caught the boy glancing back at him.

That was all it was.

Just a glance.

But it was all that was on Sander’s mind for days after. Days and days, rushing through his mind like a film, like a gif, like it was all that existed in his world, in his universe. He’d done messy sketches of it, but ended up erasing it so many times the paper ripped under the rubber, or he crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it to the bin in the corner of his room, or he ripped it up, the angles, the lashes, the shine in his eyes, just not right.

Just a glance.

But in the light, Sander caught the brown of his eyes, caught the shine of them against the sun, caught the curiosity that overtook the loneliness, just for that short second.

And in that moment, Sander was okay.

He looked different in the sun than he did the moon. The light wasn’t as pale, though it was a cloudy day.

There was a gentleness about him, a softness that Sander could only just see. A gentleness hidden behind the intense exterior of a disguise. It hurt Sander’s heart to see it, this disguise that the boy was hiding behind. The disguise was in the way he walked, his hand stuffed into his pockets, just a step behind his friends, in the way all three of them spoke as the boy glanced to Sander, the way none of them noticed the pained, sad look on his face.

The look that might have disappeared when he looked at Sander.

For just a second.

Like he felt it too.

That was when Sander decided that was it.

He would do whatever he had to.

Go over any obstacle, break any locks, shatter any barrier, to get home.

So he did.

And he found himself in a beach house, surrounded by friends of Britt’s, friends of Noor’s, friends of his in a way, though he barely knew any of them.

Except, of course, the boy with the brown jacket.

He’d had something planned to say to him, had something he wanted, needed, to say.

He doesn’t remember what it was.

It was probably something flirty, something bold, something that would have caught him off guard, that would have made him smile.

But he forgot everything he was supposed to say when he showed up, when he and Sander made eye contact through the window, just a few seconds between the moment and when he walked through the door, a few seconds for Sander to try to calm his heart down, to make something up, to have a script in his head so he didn’t just stare blankly at him, awestruck and starry-eyed.

So he talked.

And it did manage to make him smile, a crooked, confused smile, a quiet “Huh?” that made Sander burst out laughing.

His voice.

It fit him.

A quiet, low voice that matched his eyes, that made Sander’s heart fill with butterflies. He did his best to hide it, to disguise how shaken he was, to pretend he was fine, to be casual and friendly, like every cell in his body wasn’t screaming finally.

“Sander, by the way.”

“Robbe.”

Robbe.

Robbe. Robbe. Robbe.

It was like the name was stuck in Sander’s head, like a song he didn’t know all the lyrics to, an unfinished melody, and he had to make sure not to say it, not to let it out as he made conversation with the boy, Robbe, on their way to get groceries.

He had to make sure not to let his hands shake as he grabbed food from the shelves, as he made Robbe laugh with his mime impression.

And he hoped, he prayed, his face wasn’t flushed bright pink as he talked to him, and he twirled him around on the shopping cart, as he looked into his eyes, and as Robbe looked back like it was the most natural thing in the world.

If he’s completely honest, Sander forgot about Britt.

She didn’t exist in those moments, the moments where Sander was with Robbe, in the kitchen as Sander told him about his masterful croques, the moment where Robbe kneeled to the ground to get a pan and looked up at Sander, twirling the pan in his hand, a small smile in his eyes like he was proud, the moment where they turned the stove on together, Sander’s curled fingers pressed against the side of Robbe’s hand, and they both looked at each other, smiling just because. (Robbe’s smile was beautiful. It put sunsets and fields of flowers to shame. Robbe’s smile lived rent-free in Sander’s head.)

And then the moment where Sander moved past Robbe to turn up the radio, pressed his hands to his back even though he had plenty of space to get around him, let one hand trail across his back, taking up every fraction of a second he could.

Robbe smiled when Sander sang, when he moved his fingers in time with the music, when he acted like the dork he was, he didn’t roll his eyes, didn’t complain about “Bowie again?” He even swayed his shoulders, grinning at Sander, like he was dancing but wasn’t meaning to.

Robbe didn’t say much.

But he didn’t really have to.

Sander knew he felt it too.

He could feel Robbe’s eyes on him, as he sang and talked, felt Robbe’s eyes on him as he slid his tongue along the edge of the paper of the joint, and he tried not to let his self-consciousness show, even though it felt like his body could have exploded had he let it. He tried to hold himself upright, tried to look confident and secure, pretended he wasn’t screaming inside.

It was finally happening, he thought as he took a drag from the joint, as he smiled at Robbe. It all felt so natural, all felt so real. He knew it was silly, to be this head over heels for a boy he’d only met that morning, but he couldn’t help it.

He couldn’t help the way he looked at Robbe, the way his eyes softened and smiled even though he was trying to act normal. He couldn’t help the way his heart sang as he held the sandwich up and Robbe took a tentative bite, the way he had to stop himself from giggling like a little girl when Robbe looked at him blankly as he chewed, like his mind was blank, like he was feeling exactly what Sander was feeling. He couldn’t help the way he wanted to just gaze at him for days, the way he wanted to curl his fingers into Robbe’s hair, wanted to kiss him until they were both breathless (even though Sander already felt a little breathless just seeing him).

He couldn’t help the way he startled when he heard Britt’s voice, the way he really just wanted to close the door in her face, to take Robbe and hide from her where she couldn’t find them, to forget about Britt completely. It wouldn’t hurt.

He tried telling Robbe, after Britt had kissed him, tried to tell him Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine. This isn’t really real. He could see it in Robbe’s eyes, could see you the slightest bit of anguish, of disappointment, of pleading, even through his small, pained smile as Britt spoke to him. Sander apologised to him, looking at him with Britt’s cheek pressed to his.

The truth was, nothing Britt did, none of the touches, the kisses, ever felt even remotely close to what he felt when he shook Robbe’s hand, when their hands touched on the stove, when their fingers brushed as Sander passed him the joint. Nothing Britt did made Sander feel so electrified, made him feel like he was where he was supposed to be. Nothing she did made Sander feel so beautifully wrecked, so perfectly ruined.

Britt showed him something after they left Robbe in the kitchen.

Sander doesn’t remember what it was.

His head was too distracted, too consumed by the memory of Robbe’s smile, his eyes, the way his hand felt against Sander’s.

He felt at peace for the first time in a very long time. Like the planet was rotating again after years of standing stationary. He felt okay.

This is what he’d been waiting for all his life, what he’d been looking for.

This is where he was supposed to be, with this beautiful boy with his brown eyes.

Someday, he thought, he would kiss him. He would hold the side of his face, would brush his fingers over his jaw and cheek, over the side and back of his neck, before sliding them into his hair, where he would tighten his grip, would clench his fists in the soft curls, would pull and tug as Robbe slides his arms around Sander’s waist. He would probably smile against his mouth, might have to pause, pull his head back, their foreheads pressed together, just to smile, his eyes closed, feeling Robbe close. How blissful that would be.

Someday, he thought, he would draw him. Really draw him, with his face, and his eyes, and his smile lines, and the curls that fall across his forehead, not like the drawings he did of him with the while mask covering his face, not like the drawings he did that were just colour and shapes, just brushstrokes against paper, colours and shapes that he didn’t think through, colours and shapes that just felt right.

He knew no one else would look at them and think of them as portraits.

But they weren’t for anyone else.

And he did kind of like the idea of the art being his little secret. Paintings of his love.

He knew it was ridiculous.

But even so, it just felt right, it felt okay, it felt real.

For such a long time now For such a long time now

#so yeah #i think i just rly like sanders pov its fun #and ofc sander is a hopeless romantic and so am i #also art #and yes the lyrics are from a bowie song #its actually a cover of a neil young song #but yk #wtfock #wtfock fic #sander driesen #robbe ijzermans #sander x robbe #sander and robbe #sobbe #sobbe fanfic

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scumbag-monthly · 2 years ago

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The Young Ones - Interesting 🎉

Original air date: 7.12.82

Reviewed by: @the-tardis-in-221b-baker-street

I’m going to jump right in and explain why I chose to talk about this particular episode. With a show consisting of 12 exceptionally and fantastically written episodes, it is just too difficult to select an all time favourite episode of The Young Ones. However if you had to hold me to ransom, I’d still not be able to choose but the episode Interesting, is pretty much up there amongst the favourites. The added fact is, it’s also a PARTY!

The opening sequence to the show is something that changes from series one to series two which I must say, series one’s opening is the preferred out of the two. If you were to show this show’s opening to anyone who had never seen it before, I feel like you would be able to build a pretty good picture into what the show entails and what sort of characters you’re dealing with. Points to mention, Vyvyan, the looks of which would stereotypically not be that of studying to be a doctor, Rick with the protesting, Neil the hippie looking bored with his studies and Mike paying someone on the side for his degree. I don’t think that you could have used anything else to use for the opening’s music. Cliff Richard, The Young Ones, it’s cheesy, need I say more. Already an iconic song but I think it just makes it even better to know that the guys sung it themselves. It’s got that added touch.

The first scene of the episode, we see Rick and Neil attempting to move the furniture around, as well as Mike’s TV. After it breaks in Neil’s hands, they are both quick to cover up what they had done when Mike walks into the living room. The way they acted when he came in could be compared to a parent walking in to find their kid had done something naughty. It has been said multiple times by the cast members that Rick and Vyvyan were supposed to be the naughty children and Neil and Mike are the Mum and Dad of the group so this really solidifies this. You can really tell who is the alpha of the house and that is most certainly, definitely Mike. When questioned about the fag butt on the carpet, Rick and Neil are so quick to blame Vyvyan, almost like their necks are on the line.

The disgusting hovel of a student house the boys are in is just as iconic as the characters themselves. The more you pay attention to the background, the more you notice and the little hidden items, left open for interpretation. For instance, the horrible (I think it’s cool though) 70s bar covered in tat. The mounted deer head above the doorway to the living room (I’d hate to think where they got that, probably nicked from a pub). The vases, fancy lamps etc were probably put out to try and show off to the guests of the party. The Anti Nuclear Campaign poster that clearly Rick put up. The mismatched furniture, really stereotypical of a student house.

“He says he’s only got to do two jobs ‘cause he hasn’t got many friends, you know.”

“What are you on about, Neil? He’s got loads of friends.”

“Oh, yes, but apparently he doesn’t like any of them.”

Enter Vyvyan with the frankenstein hoover. When I say this scene made me laugh the first time I watched it, I absolutely HOWLED. The physical prop element of the 80s is always a favourite of mine, whether it be an obvious dummy (my favourite) or it be a hoover that has a mind of its own and sucks up hippies.

“This is absolutely brilliant! You can’t get any cleaner than that!” - Vyvyan

The vegetables in the fridge are worth a mention too. The props department must have had an absolute whale of a time creating them. It’s just the disgusting, exaggerated, gross student fridge coupled with vegetables begging to be eaten even though they had seen better days, is genius. The fourth wall breaking when Rick pushes Neil’s friend into the fridge was also a genius move. They are self aware that kids might be watching. It makes me wonder whether the BBC actually had seen what they had done and made them put a warning on it, or that they had decided to do that as a fourth wall thing.

“How was that for you darling?” “Electric.” This little silly prop when Mike pulls the plug out the socket is one of my favourite moving props out of the entire series. That coupled with the quick throwaway gag is just top tier for me.

I was listening to the Talking Bottom podcast and when interviewing Paul Jackson, they had mentioned the sandwich that falls on Dawn French (which by the way was hilarious foreshadowing) the props department had shown the original sandwich prop that they had made to the producers, which took ages to make. They then turned around and told them to make it ten times bigger!

I know he doesn’t really tolerate Neil as such because he’s stuck in that house for the university year, but the way he immediately tells Neil to “Tell it (Neil’s friend) to get out” so aggressively, it really makes me wonder about Rick’s tolerance for hippies in general. I would say with all the bickering, squabbling, punching, kicking, bullying etc, what it really boils down to is that although these four misfits are stuck together, they’re really friends with each other. So even with that in mind, if Rick is sort of friends with Neil, does that mean Neil is an exception to his opinion on hippies?

“Look I'm afraid you’ve got the wrong house, I don’t believe in God.”

“Well then how do you know his name, smart arse?”

Dawn French’s small performance in this episode was so memorable and further reason why this is one of my favourite episodes is because it has some of the most excellently written gags.

“Ah! A locust!”

“No, I'm supposed to be an ant.”

Silly, clever, genius. Need I say more.

Coming from an interest in the costuming of the show, it’s very interesting to note the costume changes in this particular episode as it doesn’t happen much outside of this episode. Rick’s blazer and jeans swapped with canary yellow dungarees and two pins from his blazer for decoration. Whatever possessed him to have yellow dungarees, I shall never know. It makes me wonder whether he spent ages deciding which badges to put on his dungarees, or what was going to impress the people coming to the party. Or whether he just went “those ones will do” and be done with it. Even Neil had made a tiny effort but an effort nonetheless. I think the addition of a yellow waistcoat over his usual outfit made me laugh when I originally watched it. I can imagine he keeps it for special occasions.

Although Vyvan doesn’t have a costume change per say, it’s worth noting the forbidden blue drink that causes Vyvyan’s hair to fall out, which technically could be counted as a change in costume. I really want to know what that drink consisted of both contextually in the show and the actual physical drink that Ade had to down rather quickly. It looks like car de icer! From what’s been said in the past about Ade having a stomach of steel (looking at you Eddie Hitler which was confirmed by Ade that it was in fact actual lard he ate), that drink couldn’t have tasted that good. Also to add, I love that he is not even phased by this random woman who is in their living room calling him a ‘BEAST!’ and acts like what has just happened is normal. The 666 tattoo on his head is also a nice touch to the character. How and when did he get it done? We shall never know. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Mike when it came to dressing up for a party and no less than one of my favourite artists of all time, Adam Ant. I keep mentioning different interpretations but I can just imagine Mike looking up to Adam Ant. Adam Ant was, after all, a sex symbol of his the day. With his Prince Charming album released in 1981, it’s quite possible Mike saw that and went ‘Now there’s a man that can get the ladies’ and decided to copy him.

The scene with the four horsemen of the apocalypse to me was a good idea but something that could have been cut shorter, but worked for the gag with the sandwich. I did however like the effects of the background and that Death was just a skeleton dummy on the horse.

“Five minutes till the most important party of my life and then the house gets wrecked by a giant sandwich!”

It makes me wonder why they (mainly Rick - I think the others are just there because it’s their house as well) think this party is so important. I have several theories as to why they were throwing a party but here’s a few: 1) Rick probably went to invite a girl over, she saw it as an invitation for a party and not that he just wanted her over, so rumour spread around the campus that there was a party on and half of Scumbag turned up. 2) They genuinely made the effort to throw a party in order to A) get off with girlies and B) try to become popular and the guests mainly there because Mike invited them all, including the people from Rick’s class. Or 3) Rick just wanted an excuse to have Dr Morrison over and the invites got out of hand. The relationship that Rick has with Dr Morrison and indeed Mr Morrison with his students is a weird one. A lot of people will claim ‘it was a different time’ but it’s something about his chill vibes around his students that seems a little off to me.

“Look Rick, it’s only five minutes!”

“Tell that to Roger Bannister!”

Enter student party goers. Something tells me Rick isn’t used to throwing parties as when a couple of early students arrive, instead of being cool about it, he flies off the rails at them. The general annoyance of Rick is just so true to the character. Another favourite throw away prop gag is when Jennifer Saunders’ character actually says to the moving bannister that they were only five minutes early! Genius! If I could place myself somewhere in The Young Ones series, Jennifer Saunders’ character is exactly where I’d be. She’s clearly someone Rick knows as she’s got the blazer full of badges, but her outfit is the exact kind of outfit I would wear!

Vyvyan coming down the stairs and trying to impress the girls with his incorrect ‘press ups’ absolutely made me laugh so much when I first watched it. Also knowing from listening to Talking Bottom, I thought it was fascinating that it was said that the BBC originally wanted to cut it because it could be seen as ‘sexual’ but they went “bollocks!” because it’s literally just general stupidity in a boy trying to impress girls by doing a press up, like Vyvyan thinks he would impress them with.

“Hi Vyvyan, what are you doing?”

“Shut up, you girl!”

The sandwich that flew out of the sky and hit Dawn French doubling up as a sofa to the guests really adds the element of fantasy that The Young Ones so brilliantly has. Throughout the series, we see weird objects and scenes happening as if it’s a normal thing, like this exists in the realm of this madness. So using a sandwich as a sofa, totally makes sense as a concept.

Within five seconds of the record being played, we see the police coming in and smashing it up. This is a very tongue and cheek scene and as anarchic as Rick claims to be he smiles at them sweetly and even gives them a thumbs up! It really gives Rick the ‘all mouth, no trousers’ (ooer) personality.

The whole scene with Rick stealing Jennifer’s handbag and having a rifle through it is nothing but pure genius. Traditionally, or to my knowledge that I've always been told, there’s an unwritten rule about going in a woman’s handbag. This scene breaks that unwritten rule and throws it in the bin all because of one very silly, ignorant boy. Rick believing she had “brought him a present” when he had a tampon in his hand made me laugh so much when I first watched it which then made me cry with laughter when he realised what he had done. You can just feel the secondhand embarrassment radiating in the room, not just for Rick but the girl who he had stolen the handbag from and the other party goers.

Enter Mike The Cool Person. Mike’s joke “No, but I soon will be.” after someone says “Hi Mike!” is one of my favourite throw away gags in the entire 12 episodes of the show. It’s such a highly underrated joke! Neil’s entrance to the party couldn’t be any more Neil, It even looks like he brushed his hair! The incense was just the icing on the Neil cake.

The whole storyline of Cinderella coming round to the party for Mike was a weird one, but like I mentioned about the sandwich, it’s one of those things that makes you go “Oh, of course this is happening.” It would explain how Mike was dressed as Adam Ant. Her being turned into a pumpkin and then Mike, not realising it is Cinderella, carves into it really makes you go “OH NO!” It’s just so silly. I also love that Mike refers to her as “my girlfriend” even though she probably most definitely wasn’t and he was just saying it to show off.

Rip, Rig and Panic’s performance of You’re My Kinda Climate was a great song to get everyone hyped for the party. Seeing cut scenes of Neil, Vyvyan and Rick dance along to the music were a perfect representation as to how I could see those characters dance. Neil’s a bit more floaty hippie, Vyvyan is jumping up and down like a kid that’s had too much pop and Rick just awkwardly dancing in the corner. As much as the song is great, I almost become a bit more fixated on what’s happening in the background. You can see people bobbing along to the music but in certain scenes, you can see Rick, Vyvyan and Neil talking to one another looking like they actually, almost get on.

It’s amazing how quick that the other party guests get to the party straight after the pubs close. It’s almost as if they would much rather do anything other than go to the boys party. Also, by this point, it’s got to be around 11pm or slightly later because that’s when the average pub closes in the UK. The kind of guests that turn up, you can see the stereotypical people who have been invited, clearly Vyvyan’s mates turn up, Neil’s hippie friends(2), and all Ricks ‘friends’ congregate with the other people who were already there. It’s almost a wonder how many people just followed the crowd from the pub and aren’t actually students.

I like that when Rick talks to the anarchist who spray paints Rick’s face, that no one for the rest of the episode tells him that he has spray paint on his face and he fails to notice it’s even there. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that no one bothered to tell him. When Rick walked back to the kitchen, one thing I noticed was that he flinched when Vyvyan’s friends walked past him. It almost makes you wonder what they have done to him in the past. Or how come he’s frightened of them?

Neil running off to get anywhere but out of the grasp of Tommy Balowski and answering the door to party crashers made me laugh. It made me think that Neil has definitely tried hiding a joint from the police before. And it’s apparent that he smokes not only in the TV show, but also the Bachelor Boys book and Neil’s Book of the Dead. He doesn’t say anything at the door but coughs and blows smoke out of his nose and somehow still scares off the party crashers. Genius!

The next scene where Neil takes a puff on Warlock’s bong, is one of my favourite scenes in the whole episode. An honourable mention about this scene is that we get to see an angle of the house that we had previously not seen before, which gives us a better understanding of the scale of the space to the house. Neil floating off properly made me laugh the first time I watched it because it was such a perfect physical representation gag of getting high, quite literally. It’s so strong, he goes to space and sees robots on the moon! It’s certainly up there with the more surreal piece from the show that I absolutely ADORE. I’ve not mentioned before, but with a lot of older films and TV (specifically 80s comedies) I absolutely can’t help but laugh at obvious dummies. I don’t know whether it’s the unnatural stiffness of the body, the obvious wig on a dummy or the that you just know something is slightly off but it just makes me howl with laughter. You just can’t beat it. So seeing Neil come back down to earth as a dummy and it switches to actually him, will never not make me laugh.

It’s worth mentioning that with the scene where Vyvyan brags to his friends that he had just been wrecking the bathroom, even though it’s his house, how different but at the same time similar his outfit is to theirs. Their outfits follow the similar vibe of studs, chains, belts and even studs in their heads but theirs are black making Vyvyan really stand out in the blue denim. Note the studs in the head, it makes it look like they are almost part of a gang and Vyvyan is either one of them or trying to be part of their gang. Vyvyan’s two chains attached on the back of his jacket match the back of David Lloyd’s jacket. OR, is HE the gang leader? Evidence of this is where he orders them all to get stuff so they could perform surgery on the guy they had just knocked out.This might be me pulling a theory out of thin air though!

There is so much chaos in a small amount of time just seconds after this scene. The party crashers from earlier falling off the roof, the chimney sweep going down, Father Christmas falling down the chimney and Vyvyan being catapulted into the ceiling. It’s scenes like this that remind me of how very stupid this show is.

(Neighbour banging on the wall) “Shut up you old witch!” (cuts to a scene with a witch putting her broom through the wall hitting one of the punks) UNDERRATED THROWAWAY GAG!

A seemingly high Neil happened to come across the punks at the wrong time. From listening to Podcasto Catflappo (The Filthy, Rich and Catflap podcast - if you haven’t listened to it, WHY NOT because it’s fantastic!), there was an interview with David Lloyd and he confirmed that “KILL THE HIPPIE!” was an ad libbed line! Even though it was an ad libbed line, it’s one of the most memorable lines in the entirety of the show. Well done David Lloyd! The episode ending so suddenly after the brawl with Neil thinking it was all a dream was such a silly but appropriate way to end it.

Here we get to see another angle of Neil’s bedroom that we had previously not seen. You can build an idea of what sort of a person is like by their bedroom without seeing the person. Of course we know this is Neil’s bedroom, but if you take him out of the picture, you can see his rubber plant, Wayne, all the mysterious bottles (I would actually like to know what is in them), his guitar and the one thing that would throw you off, is the poster of seemingly Che Guevara. You know, I don’t think he’s known for his hippie approach?! But as we see that Neil in bed is actually the dream and he’s actually having his head kicked in by the punks, It now almost makes sense he had the poster because it’s not the reality. Apart from the personalisation of the room, I love how the bare bones of the room looks like a typical room you would find in a bedroom in a student house, even now. Props to the set designers.

Overall, like many of the other episodes, I don’t think you can actually fault this particular episode at all. There are so many perfect elements to the episode that not only can be left to interpretations, but are just genius pieces of writing. I know I've picked this appart to no end but it was so hard narrowing it down! If I had to introduce anyone into the world of The Young Ones, this episode along with Bambi might be the ones I would show them. Each episode is so excellently crafted that you don’t even need an introduction into the characters. You’ll feel like you already know them.

The Young Ones is such an important and timeless piece of British comedy history that should never be forgotten. Having only really got into the show since January 2021, it’s been a whirlwind of a time. Who knew a TV show with only 12 episodes would totally turn my world upside down to a point of no return. From making online friends, to making the costumes, to introducing me to a world of alternative comedy, I've enjoyed every minute. To top this all off, I got to meet one of The Young Ones in person, Nigel Planer, and got to tell him how much this silly little show means to me, whilst standing in front of him dressed as his character! To see him get a tear in his eye over my kind words and get so happy to see something I'd made inspired by him, and beaming when he saw me again at the photoshoot area meant every morsel of the world to me. You just can’t top that. To know that someone saw Nigel Planer leave the venue of the con I went to with MY can of Neil’s lentils that I designed myself and let him keep in his hands, makes my heart melt (and not to get all girlie but a little tear comes to my eye too every time I think of it).

I’m so happy to be a part of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the show and here’s to many, many more years celebrating it.

You utter, utter, UTTER… legends.

#the young ones #tyo #interesting #reviews #scumbag monthly #forty years of the young ones

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desertsquiet · 3 years ago

Text

Album of the Year

1969

Runners up (7-2):

Winner: Tommy (The Who)

First let me just say: what a great year for album covers as well! These are all almost as gorgeous as the albums themselves. Five Leaves Left is yet another incredible debut album by yet another artist who deserved to get so much more recognition *while* he was still alive. I can’t get over the fact that the first line on his first song, “Time has told me, you’re a rare, rare find/A troubled cure for a trouble mind”, seems to perfectly define all his music. Then we have a sophomore solo release by the hero of the moment, Neil what-an-absolute-legend Young (yes that’s actually his middle name), staying particularly true to his name here. As an album, it’s probably the one I have more affection for as it was the perfect soundtrack for so many roadtrips growing up. Plus I’ve recently found out he wrote Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River, and Cowgirl in the Sand ON THE SAME DAY. That is beyond insane. What can I say about Abbey Road? I love every minute of it. The album that truly made me fall in love with The Beatles and, slowly but surely, with Paul McCartney. Track by track it’s just their strongest in my mind, no faults at all. Plus the production is *so* immaculate it gives it such a cohesive sound and feeling despite the songwriting being as varied as it gets. The cherry on top is of course the Abbey Road medley, undoubtey Paul’s melodic magnus opus (and that is saying something) and just one of the greatest pieces of music you can hope to hear. Let It Bleed, on the other hand, was a recent revelation for me. I basically only knew Gimme Shelter and You Can’t Always Get What You Want going into it and even though they’re the opener and closer they really don’t prepare you for what the album is going to sound like. This is the Stones country-rock album. You can tell Keith had a new bff when even a Robert Johnson song sounds more country than blues for some reason! So many underrated gems on here, like the title track, You Got the Silver and Country Honk. I have talked at lenght about Townes Van Zandt’s self titled on here but I never really get tired of saying how much I love it so here we go: the second album he recorded in 1969 and they are both unbelievable. Here, unlike on Our Mother the Mountain, the heavy themes always present in his music are a lot more balanced by lighter, brighter and tasteful arrangements (particularly adore the gentle use of the harmonica in every single song). Having said that, the more stripped down production also allows the lyrics and sorrowful delivery of Waiting Around to Die, the first song he ever wrote, to finally hit the listener with their whole stark, bleak devastating effect. Perhaps his greatest talent. If Gram Parsons had my attention when I listened to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, by the time I heard The Gilded Palace of Sin (not that long after) he had my undying love and admiration. I have no words to describe how incredible it is. It’s the most perfect, balanced fusion between country and rock ever created but not at all in a “washed up” way. Both influences are equally strong and equally clear and get to shine so brightly through some truly inspired songwriting. The feel of this album is apocalyptic and psychedelic and joyous and desperate all at the same time. There’s nothing like it. And finally, not only my favorite album of 1969, but my favorite album full stop. Its impact on my life cannot be overstated. It wasn’t the first full album I listened to. It was the first that made me realize what an album *could* be. That every song could have a purpose and a reason for being placed where it was, that you could tell a cohesive story with it, that you could create the most immersive experience and totally transport the listener into another dimension. I’m not kidding when I say it was probably all I listened to for a couple of months after, just Tommy on a loop. I couldn’t get enough of it. I still can’t. It’s incredible to me how such an ambitious (some would say even “pretentious”) project can still feel so personal and raw and emotional. Yet it somehow always does.

#I still had so much to say about tommy but tumblr told me it was too long lol #so I’ll say it here #it’s the only album that is equally incredible in the studio and live version #but in two completely different ways #album of the year #the who #the flying burrito brothers #townes van zandt #gram parsons #the beatles #the rolling stones #neil young #nick drake

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