Two Approaches to the Human Spirit

The human condition has one great thing that keeps it going in times of the end of things: hope. When things go bad, the human spirit kicks in and thinks of the future and hope fills us with the ability to contiune. I've read to drastically different, yet similar books in the past few weeks. One is the post-apocalyptic novel The Road and the other is the memoir's of Jean Dominique Bauby entitled The Diving Bell & The Butterfly. Both are tales of desperation with an underlying theme of hope.

After seeing the brilliant No Country For Old Men last year, I had a large interest in reading the works of Cormac McCarthy, whose novel inspired the harrowing Neo-Western. Rather than start with that book since I just saw the movie, I looked up his other novels and noticed another one was coming out this year as a film adaptation. Simply titled The Road I immediately seized a copy after reading what the novel was about. A father and his son wander the wasted and scorched world after some cataclysmic event ends civilization. Being a fan of this scenario, the post apocalypse, it sounded like something I needed to read immediately. I got it for Christmas with a lot of other books and decided to read some of the lighter books first, such as Born Standing Up, the genius memoirs of Steve Martin's short but explosive career in stand up. After some time away from reading, I picked up The Road when my mind was fully ready for it. Needless to say, all the talk and awards it recieved over the novel is rightly warranted.

Cormac McCarthy has a way of writing that really shoots you into the roles of the characters. Even the cannibals and militants and thieves of the land in a America that has nothing to look forward to have motives and feelings that you can't not but feel bad about and not disagree on some level. I know this sounds ridiculous, but something about this story shows that although some extreme measures may come in such a situation, there is only one true feeling that may shine through the animal instincts that come in human calamities and that is Hope. The way the father wants and hopes there is some sort of future out there for his son is truly moving and beautiful. A scene where the man shares a Coca Cola with his son who has no idea what it is is moving in it's simplicity. Needless to say, I'm stoked that John Hillcoat, the director of The Proposition is helming the project to bring this story to life.

The next book I read might be the polar opposite in everything except theme. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, is more of a beautiful tale of hope then one where only shards of light shine through. Bauby suffered a massive stroke that gave him whats called "locked-in" syndrome. All his brain functions work fine but his entire body is inert. Minus the ability to blink his eyes, he is cut off from the world entirely. Luckily, he was able to communicate in a very innovative way by blinking his eyes and we are given the beautiful and touching story of what it's like to be locked away in your own body. Unlike the last novel I talked about, I saw the film first. In it's own right, the film is unbelievable. They tell the story very true to the novel and somehow capture what it could be like stuck in your own body. Most of the film is shot in first person and with skewed vision. It's quite beautiful and it is a truly uplifting tale.

What is most important, though, is the very way this story is told. The memoir never strays into self loathing or depression, but is a glowing testament of the human spirit. It shows that you can have it as bad as it gets, but as long as the human spirit stays alive, as long as you can imagine and enjoy your thoughts, the other things in life seem a lot less important. The ultimate end of the memoir, which you know right away, is that Bauby died two days before it's official release. His hope and joy to the very last page makes it even more poignant knowing that sometimes the human spirit can outlive the human body. And this case is definitely one of those reads that just explodes of the page and lifts you out of your seat and gives you the realization that life ain't all that bad. I think this memoir should be read in every school at some point to give perspective on life and death.

Hope is a common theme in any novel. Whether it's the story of your life or the end of times. What is better for conflict than someone striving for the betterment life in general? Hope is something that anyone can attain even if the things we hope for are next to unattainable.

The Dynamic Duo Return

On David Byrne and Brian Eno’s first record in 27 years, the song “Strange Overtones” declares “this groove is out of fashion, these beats are twenty years old.” It may be a testament of Byrne showing his age and the fact that the music overall on the new album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is a delightful throwback to the poppier side of Talking Heads. When first hearing that the duo was teaming up again since their last record, the daunting and pretentious My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, I was ultimately very excited. That album from 1981 is unlike anything you’ve ever heard. World music mixed with strange samples and “found objects” like frying pans and cardboard used as instruments is something that takes a lot to digest. With 27 years behind them, things are quite a bit lighter.

The good news is, that even though two musical giants are treading no knew ground, they have created a wonderful album of pop tunes that they proclaim are “electric gospel.” This proclamation is a bit of a stretch. The titular track has a gospel feel with a dreamy chorus of Byrne’s making a delightful dreamscape of a melody over the music that Eno creates with soft synths and a percussionless atmosphere. Beyond this, the Gospel element is lost somewhere. Regardless, the album still shines past this.

The process of the album was much like that of The Postal Service with Brian Eno recording and writing the music and Byrne taking care of the vocal arrangements and lyrics.The folky opener "Home" is a beautiful sweeping track. The most funky track with the strangest style is "I Feel My Stuff." Byrne dons his silliest voice since "Swamp" from Speaking in Tongues and the overall funky beat with scattershot piano and lots of percussion sounds much like what Talking Heads would sound like today if still together. "Life is Long" and "The River" are two wonderfully crafted back to back pop anthems filled with hopefull lyrics and fun instrumentation. "Life is Long" brings some horns in for a great flavor while "The River" is one of Byrne's finer vocal outings on the record. "Strange Overtones" is by far the best song on the record with it's breezy 80's feel and it's poingant lyrics of two aging musicians going through the song making proccess again after years of inactivity together.

If anything, Byrne and Eno know how to craft great pop songs. The music as a whole is nothing new and is almost archaic in ways. Although it seems a bit dated, the retro movement of bands trying hard to sound like New Order, The Smiths or any other slew of 80s pop bands, I have no problem two giants of that decade doing what they do best. It's great that they are doing through digital download first then physical release. It's seeming to be the way that artists who don't need support from a label can get out there and release it on their own. To work on something your own and without interference from a label is what artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails and even Byrne & Eno should be doing at this point in their career. True artists need not be censorered.

Album Catch Up

The 25 albums list is done, but there was a lot of music I wanted to write about that I didn't get a chance to yet discuss. Here I will write a few reviews in one shot, but a little bit shorter than usual.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig! Lazarus! Dig!

Only recently have I gotten into the Bible thumping goth God. Much of Nick Cave's tales of depravity and sinners is a modern Edgar Allen Poe tale, but with less words ending in "ore" and more amazing rock music. The thing I've learned about Cave is that he loves these tales so much that over every album, he weaves essentially the same stories of those who commit these sins and the innocents who get sucked up into the kind of carnage that can come from that. On the new album, he resurrects poor Lazarus in the middle of New York City, a dingy town in the words of Cave. Most who sing about NYC don't talk about "a soup queue, a dopefiend, a slave, then prison, then the grave." It's not the kind of New York State of mind you hear about, but it's one that's all too real. "More News From Nowhere" plays like a noir version of a Dylan story song filled with ladies of the night "100 foot" men and people transfusing with panda blood. It's a long track filled with great imagery. The album is filled with less melodic vocals like some other Cave albums and is almost spoken word at points, but it's overall a good listen and another decent album in Cave's prolific career. The best part of the album is the cocky swagger of every song. I would love to hear The Rolling Stones do a rendition of "Today's Lesson."

Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Not gonna lie, this may be Coldplay best album. It's nothing brilliant, but it's a damn good showcase of a band who was known to recycle their own sound from Parachutes to X&Y. This time, they change it up and decide to mix in some new sounds. This may have been with the help of producer guru Brian Eno, but I think it may also have been a conscious effort for the band to show that they aren't talentless hacks. The concept is very run-of-the-mill, but the songs about revolution and romanticism are ones that are at least heart felt, if not a bit stale and cliche. Needless to say, it's a fantastic pop record. "Viva la Vida" takes a page from The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" by pouring on the melody with strings and some small backing instrumentation. Dare I say it's one of the most addictive songs I've heard this year? Yes it is. "Cemeteries of London" and "Lost!" are also two fantastic pop songs. The rest of the songs lack a bit of editing as most have to parts to them that don't fit together. Again, it's not brilliant, but it's a great pop music record that falls somewhere in the middle road of records that have come out this year. It's definitely worth taking a spin or two.

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Death Cab can't write a bad album, but they can't really write a great album. And there is not a damn thing wrong with that. Narrow Stairs is a slice of pop music, just like Coldplay, but with a little bit better songwriting. Gibbard and Co. know how to write a good tune and a good lyric. They even wrote an epic! The eight-minute "I Will Posess Your Heart" swoops with grandiosity much like Wilco's "Spiders (Kidsmoke)." For those with ADD, there is a radio edit out there. My personal favorite, "Long Division" sounds like a b-side from Transatlanticism with it's hooky guitars. Then again, most of any Death Cab song would fit on any of their albums throughout there career. I think that is what brings me back. Consistency isn't something to harp on. If a band does the same thing over and over but does it well, why complain? Electric Six has been putting the same record out for years now too and do I love them? Sure do. The streamlined production on Narrow Stairs is the best thing about it. The melodies float in the air and inside your ears. They know how to write a song and they continue to write good music.

Ratatat - LP3

Instrumental music is something I've grown to love more and more over the past few years and Ratatat is one of the catchiest instrumental bands. Using synths and guitars that sound like synths and hip-hop style beats, they write these melodic songs that just make you want to dance or chill. Another great thing about Ratatat is their way of genre mixing. They have songs like "Mi Viejo" which is a mixture of electronic music and classic spanish guitar sounds. "Mirando" sounds like the back beat to a hip-hop jam much in the style of MF Doom mixed with M.I.A. It's tribal beats and funky synths seem like they could have an amazing jam written to them, however sometimes I feel like it would ruin the vibe of the track if there were lyrics. "Falcon Jab" is a personal favorite and not because of the imagery of a giant bird face punching you, but for it's Brian May sounding guitars and it's funky beat that gets my dance juices flowin'. The album as a whole is a little more diverse in tone than their bast two efforts making it stand out, but it's again the same from a band that has it's formula and doesn't entirely change it or fuck with it. It's also a band that doesn't have to change what they got. They are a unique musical act and should keep it up.

Dr. Dog - Fate

I can't not like Dr. Dog. Their music is to enjoyable, but I can hear why the critics aren't so in favor for them, or at least the ones I've heard talk about them. Their latest is a re-hash of We All Belong and the band can't seem to get past their love of Syd Barret and Rubber Soul era Beatles. And can you blame them? What's not to like about late 60s psych folk? It's fun and Philadelphia has a lot of bands with the similar vibe flourishing right now (i.e. Lemons are Louder Than Rocks, An American Chinese, etc.) Dr. Dog knows how to write great love songs and great melodies. "The Old Days" sounds perfect for a good old 8mm family video of some kids playing in the yard, eating cake or just all around silly youthfulness. I love songs with that kind of vibe. "From" is one of those excellent love songs that is filled with awesome harmony and solid musicianship. As much as Dr. Dog emulates the greats like the Beatles, they still have some vibe all their own. Their ain't nothing wrong with taking a page out of the classics book.

Be sure to check out Left of the Dial for my write up on the new Jet Age record which is fantastic. And I am currently working on another stand alone piece on the new David Byrne/Brian Eno record.

2008 is shaping up alright so far. Hopefully that Autolux record and that Secret Machines record drops soon.

All that is now, all that is gone and all that's to come

This may be the perfect album. Perfectly crafted and meant to be an album. To take a song outside of context would be murder, yet when you hear one of the songs off of this album, it's still great. At this time, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is more ceremoniously their best album than my favorite. However, it is the most memorable and probably the most influential to my life than maybe any other album. That and Tommy and maybe one or two others from this list. Floyd was a band you always heard about. They were the first band I ever heard having a "cult following." As a kid, that seemed kind of imposing and scary, but it turns out I am a part of many a cult following. Floyd especially. It's been a part of my life from day one. This really is the mother of all albums.

And day one was back in the end of Grade School. I bought the record finally after some time hearing the songs out of context and my young mind was immediately expanded and blown to bits. Just as many of the other classics discussed before getting to this one, it was just insane hearing the kind of sounds and music a band could conjure up. This album is timeless. It's of an age and place not yet seen or heard. As much as other bands tried, no other record really sounds like this one. It flows from track one to the end, minus the small break in between "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Money" which is, of course, because the vinyl needs a flippin'. It's this constant flow of music that struck me as the most impressive. I was used to song after song rather than a continuing flow of sounds and visiuals that blur the lines of track titles and track numbers. It's the perfect album for vinyl. Obviously, the band knew how to use this medium and obviously other bands had been doing this before 1973, but this is one of those mystical records that transcends that. It's a hypnotic record.

This hypnotic nature made it perfect for reflection, night listening and just sheer headphone magic. The reflective nature of it has the best memories attached to them. One early summer after my first year of high school, a group of friends sat around on a shore front deck whilst staring out over the cool summer waters of the Atlantic and played Dark Side of the Moon and mostly were in a prayer like silence. It was a moment in my youth that I remember so well and love so much that it transcends the greatness of the music to the greatness of being. I used this in my "Nostalgia Trip" article I wrote senior year of college to set in motion some events that will make up a trance-like state and get the nostalgia juice flowin'. I spent some nights at my parents abode after both my sisters were away at college and I was in high school sitting on the back roof staring up at the night sky and listening to Dark Side of the Moon. In darkness and surrounded by minimal stars in the suburbs of Philadelphia, even then it evoked a cosmic greatness. The music just helped show the beauty and fragility of reality. It all could be taken away at any time. These moments were usually the ones I associated with headphone magic, but my mom had these amazing studiolike headphones that had the best sound and listening to the tape I made of Dark Side with other stuff on the other side of the tape was sweet greatness.

Lord knows I love the band as a whole. Listen to these guys!

To break the album track by track is almost futile, but I will say that "Time" is one of the only classic rock songs that can bring a tear to my eye. Why? Not because of some attached memory or because it has some sad subject matter, but because the music itself moves me. After the clamour of the bells and the doomy single note guitar and percussion intro, the music gives way to the main verse with it's intense vocals care of Gilmour. The chorus is laden with a choir and brilliant harmonies. Then at 3:28, David Gilmour's classic guitar work juices up the tear ducts. It's a simple solo, but one that sends shivers down my spine every time. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, this music makes this man get all watery in the eyes. Especially when the guitar hits the high notes. Warmth runs through the body and melancholy in my soul. It doesn't help that "The Great Gig in the Sky" may be the most beautiful moment on the album followed up by this song. It's the best one track into another up with "Amazing Journey/Sparks." It's a musical, spiritual and nostalgic experience that definitel redefined my life as a music lover.

This whole list, these 25 albums deserve even a little more praise. So, in usual fashion, I will be making a playlist of one song from each album (unless the double songage is needed to emote the meaningful nature behind the album.) So here it is, the final list of albums and then the playlist will be posted after careful crafting.

1. The Who - Tommy

2. Beck - Odelay

3. Television - Marquee Moon

4. Weezer - Pinkerton

5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science

6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born

7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul

8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home

9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape

10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection

11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights

12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

13. Jeff Buckley - Grace

14. Warren Zevon

15. Black Mountain - In The Future

16. XTC - Skylarking

17. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

18. Nick Drake - Pink Moon

19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple

20. The Clash - London Calling

21. Arcade Fire - Funeral

22. The Velvet Underground and Nico

23. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

24. Queen - Greatest Hits

25. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Give out the good, leave out the bad evil cries

What young kid doesn't love Queen? Maybe a lot of them. Maybe not. Lord knows this one loved them. I was trying to figure out what album would represent my days as a youth and the only logical choice was that of Queen's Greatest Hits. I guess it's kind of a cop out to include a collection of a bands best songs, but to be honest, this list is more about influencing the way I look at music after 25 years of being a music lover. My childhood would not be the same without it. It was vital to it, I'd say. If you go back to my old grade school and take a look at my 8th grade tile, a tradition of Saint John's, you will see the Queen logo painted on it. My earliest memories of using a jukebox was to order up some Queen. It's just the kind of epic rock music and one of the 70's and 80's best. It's what true rock bombast should sound like.

Grandiosity x Velocity = Queen.

So on to some of these memories. My first jukebox selections were Queen after my young soccer leauges completion of an undefeated season. No shit! What young kid doesn't want to play "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" after a long season of kicking some ass? I think we all have those moments. What young romantic didn't want an opera behind them singing along to "Somebody to Love?" I may have been alone on that one, but I have many memories of being a young kid thinking he wanted love or something and this amazing song was something that may have been a kind of random companion in those times. I would listen to this collection nonstop that I had to buy it multiple times. My current copy, luckily, transfered over nicely to my iPod therefore stopping my need to replace the analog copy.

It's easy to say why a greatest hits collection is amazing. It's a band showcasing the best of what they have to offer. Queen just has a way of rocketing into the psyche of a young man's mind. There was nothing like air guitaring to songs like "The Seven Seas of Rhye" or "Play the Game." If there were ever a rock and roll voice to try and emulate, that would probably be Freddie Mercury. His range was fantastic and the rock swagger in his voice, especailly on songs like "Another One Bites the Dust." I even have memories of the goofy track "Body Language." Have any of you heard this song? Ah GAHD it's just hilarious 80s goodness.

The main problem with this collection, and many others like it, is the omission of amazing Queen tracks. But something about this collection, with the forgotten-until-Shaun-of-the-Dead classic "Don't Stop Me Now" and 80s pop epic "I Want to Break Free", it was a collection of excellent tracks and some that I never heard up until this point. I've carried this record past my childhood. I have had moments at Karaoke with these songs, moments at parties dancing to Queen and sing-a-longs while running cross country to Queen. It's less about this collection and more about the band, I guess, but for me to include them on this all too important list, I must say that Queen's Greatest Hits is all too important. Even if greatest hits are for house moms.




1. The Who - Tommy
2. Beck - Odelay
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science
6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape
10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Warren Zevon
15. Black Mountain - In The Future
16. XTC - Skylarking
17. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
20. The Clash - London Calling
21. Arcade Fire - Funeral
22. The Velvet Underground and Nico
23. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
24. Queen - Greatest Hits

Final Album: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

I thought there was a virtue in always being cool

It's great hearing a band you thought was something else become something even more than you originally thought. Especially when you write them off as a one trick pony. In my younger days, I was always a huge fan of "She Don't Use Jelly" by the Flaming Lips, but then they fell off the face of the earth on alt. rock radio never again to surface to my ears. Or so I thought. Then in 2002, during my first months of Wow Video, I stumbled upon this album among the many rows of records in Tunes and figured, hell wtf I have a new income, am out of High School and ready to be more daring with my musical tastes. Why not purchase this record? Good move, Tsikitas. It was totally worth whatever amount cds were going for back in the old days of 2002 and it became the soundtrack to a summer of indifference. I say indifference because the world was changing, my life was changing, my relationships with people were changing and I was totally indifferent to a lot of these changes. Something about this record helped me forget these things and in turn, became a record that really influenced my life in a big honkin' way.

The album itself is about such indifference to many themes. Mortality, pacifism, gender roles, battling the futility of this world. That were some of the thoughts crowding my mind at the time. I was moving on to a college where I knew just a handfull of people and out of my four year comfort zone of Camden Catholic. It was a great four years, but I had no idea what was in store for the next and possibly last four years of my life as a student. Tumult all around. The only thing that was stable at that point was my dead end job as a video store clerk. At least I got free movies out of it. My love of film grew at this point, so it was no surprise that a very cinematic album would be something I was deeply interested in. I listened to this at work all the time. It definitely was the album of the year and rivals Arcade Fire & Black Mountain as the most important records of the Oughts.

It also reminds me of Noringo. Strange, yes but this was the summer of Noringo. Our songwriting was the best and our many many trips to the KFC/Taco Bell were spent with our drummer donning a bike helmet in the trunk of our bassist's SUV and blasting all kinds of shit, this included. It was a summer of outdoor shows and rocking out with new friends. Beyond these moments, Yoshimi is nothing but a mere soundtrack and a musical moment of greatness.

The album really just flows well and reminded me of a lot of 70's psychedelia that I was into. I wasn't one to experiment with mind altering substances, I just let the music do the work. And Lord knows Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is one of those mood altering, mind numbingly ether albums. A friend once said "I want to be smoking the drugs These guys are on!" And I said "I want to smoke these guys!" A song that to this day is one of those bone chilling faves is "Are You a Hypnotist??" Something about this will remind me of that time forever. Maybe it's mythical sound. "Fight Test" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" are the standouts that littered the radio waves of my radio show going into college. The heartfelt ballad "Do You Realize??" is just a perfect song. Nothing about it is imperfect. It's catchy, it has beautiful melodies to it and amazingly straight forward lyrics. "Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell" is another one of those songs that will remind me of random moments of time frozen forever to the ethereal buzz and drone of the song. It reminds me of lazy nights sitting along the Jersey shore with the breeze in my hair and a good book underneath the hot, summer sun.

This album is one that I assume will be a favorite of my kids, if I ever have one. When they look up to you and your music catalog, this is the kind of album that will transcend time and pop genre. It's like breaking out your parents records and discovering what it was like to be growin up in the Oughts. It's a great time-capsule record and a definite stand-out among many of the records of the past 8 years. I feel like it's a necessity to own this album. It's at the same time complex as it is straight forward. It has some existential elements that are poignant. "All We Have is Now" is one of those moments. Live in the moment and revel in the past, but don't be worried for the future.




1. The Who - Tommy
2. Beck - Odelay
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science
6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape
10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Warren Zevon
15. Black Mountain - In The Future
16. XTC - Skylarking
17. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
20. The Clash - London Calling
21. Arcade Fire - Funeral
22. The Velvet Underground and Nico
23. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Up next: Queen's Greatest Hits

Ok, That's kind of breaking the rules, but you'll hafta wait why this compilations has to be on this list.

There's always someone around you who will call

Knowing nothing about a band before you buy their music is sometimes an amazing thing. I did it many times, but this one was different. I always had heard about The Velvet Underground and how important to rock music they were. I knew Lou Reed already, so I knew that it had to be cooler than I ever would be. When I finally decided to dive in, I dove in head first into the amazing Peel Slowly and See boxed set of CD's. Five discs. The four studio albums in full with a large amount of bonus tracks, a lot of live cuts and some various mixes of the songs as well as a disc of the early demo of their eponymous debut, The Velvet Underground and Nico. It was truly the way to do it as VU is very cumbersome at first. Especially someone who never really listened to anything as radical as this his entire life up to this point. And so, there I was with five discs of very different and interesting pop music. What to do? Where to start? Start at the beginning. And what a way to go. The familiar voices of Nico, who I only knew from The Royal Tenenbaums and Lou Reed of "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Perfect Day" (which, btw is probably my most treasured 45... A Side Wild Side, B-Side Perfect Day? SO GOOD!) Anyway, the musical journey began.

This album was probably the first album that made me realize something... I didn't really have much talent songwriting wise at all. I was in a band for almost three years when I got this disc and it kind of made me realize that anything I tried to write was just poor songwriting. Not because the songs on this record are anything super brilliant, but it showed me that I, a white suburban middle class kid had no life experience with anything worth rocking about. Not in the least. It was at this point that I knew I could never write a song again, at least lyrically. I still tinker here and there with my drum machine, but that's about all I can do. The Velvets really struck a chord in me that I wasn't meant to make music, but maybe write and talk about it nonstop. So that's what I did. I decided that I still enjoyed performing, but the thrill was really in the listening and appreciating and sharing of music. This is what The Velvet Underground and Nico did to me. It made me appreciate the art that music can be more than any other album had.

The thing that makes this album amazing is it's grit. Unlike anything else I can think of from 1967, it's just mind numbing that a band could see the future of so many sounds and styles at least ten or twenty years before these themes and sounds would come to more popularity. Without this, you don't get punk rock, noise rock, avant garde experimental music, glam rock or even grunge. To my mind, it was like finding the Garden of Eden of music. It was the life spring that so many things came from, and it was catchy as hell. The boogie piano behind the grungy guitars and tribal drums of "I'm Waiting For the Man" or the viola infused howl and drone of "Venus in Furs" are just two very stark and different songs that I had never heard the likes of before. I had heard hints of this in other styles of music, but not to this eclectic nature and sheer harrowing beauty. This is an album that bores a hole in your head and doesn't let you stop. It's not for everyone but it should be. It's like watching Citizen Cane. It's a daunting task, but it's so influential and brilliant that you have to at least appreciate if not enjoy it (I, for one, enjoy this album about 50 times more than I enjoy Citizen Cane.)

The Nico tracks on the album are the poppiest of the bunch, but her haunting German man voice is something so intense and beautiful on its own. "Femme Fatale" and "I'll Be Your Mirror" are two cutesy pop songs and "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a dirge-like pop music masterpiece. I wonder how different this album would be if Andy Warhol didn't force Nico into the fray. That's neither here nor there, really, but it is interesting to think about. The course of the album just goes into a wild frenzy by the end with "The Black Angel's Death Song" and "European Son." I never heard anything like it before and it wouldn't be until I dove head first into bands like Yo La Tengo or Sonic Youth that I would understand just how great this kind of noise rock could really be at times. It's music not fer everyday, but it's still something refreshing.

Needless to say, this was my first foray into more underground music. I stepped out of the slipstream of mainstream classic rock and found something that sounded futuristic, yet from the past. The other VU albums also are worthy of note. White Light/White Heat may be the coolest record ever made and definitely the first punk rock record. The Velvet Underground is so melancholy and filled to the brim with amazing songs that it gets shrouded by it's counterparts. Loaded is where the band finally let pop music have its way and they really should thank them for it as some of their best songs can be found here. But nothing makes the impact that The Velvet Underground and Nico does. It hits a home run of musical brilliance right into your ears.

It also lended me with the better of my two radio show names: Peel Slowly and See. This is the way I look at music. Peel back the things you know and you will see what else is under there.



1. The Who - Tommy
2. Beck - Odelay
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science
6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape
10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Warren Zevon
15. Black Mountain - In The Future
16. XTC - Skylarking
17. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
20. The Clash - London Calling
21. Arcade Fire - Funeral
22. The Velvet Underground and Nico

Up Next: The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

We’re just a million little god’s causin rain storms turnin’ every good thing to rust

I feel like every self respected music lover will go through a heavy phase of listening to Funeral by the Arcade Fire nonstop. It's just something I feel is unavoidable at this point. When I first heard of this band while spinning records during the Peel Slowly and See phase of my college radio career, I thought it sounded like a band I could never like. I never heard them, just heard of them. Random people I knew loved them and knowing the kind of music they liked, it was strange so I had some pre-decided idea of what this Arcade Fire sounded like. Given this prejudgement, I thought I'd never listen to the band. A friend who had his radio show before me liked them and burnt me the album along with the Mars Volta record of the time on a data disc. I quickly listened to Frances the Mute and enjoyed certain tracks and others thought were mush. The CD with this album on it slipped into my collection and took a few months to resurface. At this point, I still had no idea who or what the Arcade Fire sounded like. I figured what the hell, let's put on this Arcade Fire and hear what they are all about. Things changed forever.

Needless to say upon first listen I was hooked. Something so urgent about the record. It demanded to be listened to constantly. It had grandiose pop leanings and harsh, passionate vocals. It was beautiful and raw at the same time. It was polished and gritty. It had this strange enrapturing flavor to it that just stuck with me for months. Nothing but Arcade Fire to listen to. And nothing else seemed to matter. When I discussed this with other people I knew who enjoyed the album, they agreed 100% that it just had that effect on them. It's a maelstrom f pop music that sucks you in and begs you to stay. It's a beggar you enjoy giving your time to. Something about this record overtook me. It took me at the very end of my college career and into a relationship that went nowhere fast, but was a flash in the pan. It was the post graduate suck zone, but it was filled with beautiful music. It was an album to match the bitterness inside but the beauty outside of the world. I guess it really hit home the duality of man idea. Lord knows post-graduate life has been a duality of man fest.

It's a borderline concept album and as this list shows, I'm a sucker for concepts. I have yet to bring the concept into an idea, but the recurring title of Neighborhoods and such leads me to believe there is something going on underneath it all. The sumptuous nature of the record, the overwhelming feeling of loss yet the idea of moving on down the road after such a loss. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is just about as epic of an opening track as you are ever going to hear. The anthem of "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" is jsut as effecting, yet in a less grandiose and more harsh and rock infused way. It's the kind of pounding drums and harrowing guitars that get under your skin and get you moving. "Crown of Love" is a ballad for the ages and one of the new millennium's finest works of brilliant musicianship and theatrics. It's half opera and half disco epic. It's the kind of song that you hear it once and you need to hear it again because you were too busy getting caught up in the moment that it sweeps you off your feet. You miss it because that tear wells up in the side of your eye and you are too strong to wipe it away. The dance outro helps get that pesky tear rolling. "Wake Up" is about as good as it gets. The chanting chorus, the rollicking guitar riff that doesn't really change and the strings welling up near the songs midsection just sweep you off your feet. It's basically the song that defined the moment in time that I couldn't stop listening to it. "I guess we'll just have to adjust" was the kind of advice I needed to get over the fact that life was totally different now.


Funeral may just be the best album of the last 8 years of the 2000's. It's just nothing but enrapturing music. It's something ahead of it's time but rooted in the classic baroque pop of the 60's and of ages past with it's accordians and string arrangements. I could see people in France in the 1700's enjoying this music. I can see hippies dancing to this. I can see sadsacks in the post 911 age getting a great deal of hope from it's message of redemption in a time of loss. I can see a loser like myself in his post graduate life trying to figure out what the fuck he needs to do with the rest of his life in order to get some sort of happiness or enjoyment from the world. Sometimes music has this power to transcend the murk and mire of the real world. Arcade Fire got this right and gave myself and probably many others happiness in sharing their emotional landscape and ideas of life and love through beautiful, meaningful music. Maybe I think way into this album, but even if I didn't I couldn't deny it's utter magnificent beauty.

I had to add this video with Bowie joining Arcade Fire. it's just too good.




1. The Who - Tommy
2. Beck - Odelay
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science
6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape
10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Warren Zevon
15. Black Mountain - In The Future
16. XTC - Skylarking
17. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
19. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
20. The Clash - London Calling
21. Arcade Fire - Funeral

Up Next: The Velvet Underground and Nico