GIHYB best of 2008

album of the year
erykah badu "new amerykah part one"
if there was a weirder better album, then send it my way.

runner up:
she & him "volume one"
blushing

2nd runner:
black keys "attack and release"
"i got mine" righteous
fuck ike turner for turnin this shit down and RIP

highlights:

drive by truckers "brighter than creation's dark" album

the hold steady "sequestered in memphis" single

tv on the radio "dear science" album

beck "gamma ray" single

rem "accelerate" album
about fucking time millionaire pricks

nick cave and the bad seeds, "dig lazarus, dig" video

bob dylan "tell tale signs" box
how many great takes of "mississippi" you got? fucker

steve wynn, "crossing dragon bridge" album
i really was expecting to hate this out of the box, but this M'FER is on a 3-4 album tear that is unprecedented for a dude that "peaked" in 1981. and this one sounds NOTHING like the 2 that came before.

delta spirit "trashcan" single
you're on a VERY short leash

paul westerberg "49:00" album (download)
stay right the fuck where you are. it suits you.

here come ole flat top

for fuck's sake ...

Rock 'n' roll's most macabre historical artifact (ed. note, "ahem") will go on the block when the family of the late 1950s pop star J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson auctions his casket on eBay sometime in the next few weeks - almost 50 years after "the day the music died."

The Big Bopper's 16-gauge steel casket was exhumed last year from his original grave at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont so it could be moved to a more visible location with a life-sized statue and historic marker. The disinterment also offered forensic experts a chance - with his family's blessing - to examine the pop singer's unautopsied remains after his death in rock 'n' roll's first great tragedy.

On Feb. 3, 1959, Richardson died at age 28 in the crash of a small plane in a field near Clear Lake, Iowa, that also killed 1950s rock stars Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens and sent a shock wave around the world. The accident has since been immortalized as "the day the music died."

Richardson was buried a few days later in his Beaumont hometown with great fanfare, including tributes from Elvis Presley and others.

Jay Richardson, the Bopper's son, plans to sell the empty casket on eBay to raise money for a musical show about his father and to keep the Bopper's memory alive. Born three months after the crash, Jay, who lives in Katy, never met his father in life - but saw him for the first time at his exhumation.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to bring Dad back to life?" Jay, 49, said recently from Canada, where he was touring with a tribute act to his father, Holly and Valens.

"I have no personal use for the casket," he said. "When you get down to it, it is just a metal box. More important is what this particular metal box represents.

"In another 200 years, will people care about rock 'n' roll?" Jay asks. "Who knows? But why would I want to destroy it? Even though it was Dad's resting place for 48 years, it's also a unique opportunity to learn more about the early years of rock 'n' roll."

The exhumed casket is in surprisingly good condition after 48 years in the muddy gumbo of Southeast Texas. It bears minor rust spots and a white lime stain showing where several inches of water once leaked into the surrounding vault, but there was no evidence water had ever seeped into the casket itself.

Inside, forensic examiners found the Big Bopper's well-preserved corpse, dressed in a black suit and a blue-and-gray striped tie. He wore socks, but no shoes. Most remarkably, his thick brown hair was still perfectly coiffed in his familiar, 1950s flat-top.

best post-VU story

from elvis costello's (kinda) interesting new tv show (he's a good interviewer but the pacing is off). the guest lou reed brought the best story i've heard in a long while:

Lou Reed: "’Save the Last Dance for me,’ can you imagine writing something like that? Do you know the story behind that?” (Costello doesn’t) "On his wedding day (Doc) Pomus, who (wrote the song) suffered from polio, was confined to a wheelchair." According to Reed, "Pomus wrote the lyrics to the song on a wedding invitation while watching the guests dance with his new bride."

who's the coolest dude?

john doe + mats = something

these 2 posts are by no means definitive cuts, but shit, tunes by my (maybe fave band) by my (maybe) my fave singer of the last 20 years, fuckit. this is cool.

john doe + mats

eddie hazel revisited

godihateyourband "the t-shirt"

hey, we read our mail. every day, "where can i get my t-shirt, coffee mug, baby-t, spaghettti strap, onesie, coffee mug, etc???". well, faithful readers, in the eye of an economic meltdown, do your part to save this nation and visit godihateyourmerchandise.

you're welcome mr. prez-elect.

wow, doofus was a prophet

he saw thomas dolby!!!

the best post-VU record

our latest gift to the blogzaphere is our crack staff's attempt to find the best solo record made my a member of the velvets. as nico and cale left before the band ended, we start from their moment of departure.

we start with the newest member of the GIHYB crew, liveoakblues:

lou reed, berlin

Before describing why I chose "Berlin," I'll let you in on the additional criteria I gave myself for this choice. No compilations of any kind (Lou's consistently inconsistent studio albums would nevertheless provide for a Greatest Hits package I would put against anyone's, so that's cheating); nothing recorded before 1971.

"Berlin" is simply the most devastating album I have ever heard. Nothing even comes close, nothing by Pink Floyd (who always tried too hard), nothing by Elliott Smith (whose music becomes devastating in its connection to his biography). In college, I'm not kidding when I say I do not think I listened to this record once without the aid of drugs. By choice, I have not listened to it in years, and certainly not since becoming a father.

It is also a masterpiece and easily Lou's most consistent record (the quasi-concept album form helps this). The arc from euphoric romance to darkest tragedy is brutal and determined, each song more unforgiving than the last. By the time the listener gets to "They're taking...her children...away/Because they she said she was bad mutha" the day, nay, the week is ruined. When "Sad Song" rolls around it is a fait accompli and the listener is left with how to get out of the fetal position.

Some have said Lou dips into melodrama with "Berlin" but I say hell no...he earns every damn bit of the emotional power this album produces. Those who want redemption in their music need to look elsewhere. This record offers none. What it does deliver in spades is the kind of beautiful darkness that he threatened elsewhere.

_________________________________

As much as I like John Cale's post-VU work, it doesn't approach Lou's. In fact, I've often wondered how much someone would truly dig any of Cale's albums upon first listening, if they did not know it was John Cale.

A very good case could be, by the way, for Mo Tucker's, "I Spent a Week There" but it's not a disc that "endures."

TMIB

a slide show of photos taken by marty stuart, as well as a podcast of yesterday's segment on all things considered. pretty great stuff, but this pic of johnny cash ... allegedly the last portrait ever taken of him is astonishing. stuart said he wanted it to look "presidential".

a better title

"GUNS 'N ROSES - THE MOTION PICTURE"

chinese ... er ... democracy

i've had in my hands the new gnr record for a day. i normally wouldn't give a crap ... i'll be honest, i think gnr is a pretty tepid experience. a decent hard rock band with a shitty lead singer (sweet child is a fine enuff single but the middle section is horrific). i listened to the first album and was amazed at what peeps thought ... "this is gonna show the poisons of the world where they stand" ... wow, you beat up on hair metal. ROAR!!! "use yr illusions" were silly (those vids were beyond amazing), and that "punk rock" record showed em for what (most of em) were, dude's who listened to punk in retrospect. fuck, even metallica got their punk record right. in the meantime via behind the muzaks we've gotten to learn what a shithead axl was, whatever ... then we got a listen to the muscle of the band as velvet revolver (possibly the most tuneless band i've ever heard). but you know what, i'm going in with an open ear. takin it for a walk tonight.

(written at 6:30pm ... aren't you dying???)

clapton is godihateyourband

10 eric clapton songs i can remotely stand*

an old acquaintance put it best, "there is simply NO reason for an eric clapton solo record"

badge (beatle helped him)
let it rain
layla (beatle wife helped him)

*yardbirds excluded

MFers!!!!!

startin a friday right

dear bruce

love the special effects. you gonna leave the grunts in there?

the seven dwarves nod during the solo made beer come out of my nose! i don't get enough of that ... props!

1:46

and the first 12 secs ...

The Chills #2

jaysus! fave tune x10

The Chills

this might not end soon ... flying nun ruled!!!!!!!

The Clean

while on the NZ highway ... another fave from The Clean

The Verlaines

as an absolute goof, i entered one of my favorite bands into youtube. they happened to be there. The New Zealand band The Verlaines, with one of my fave songs of all time "Death and the Maiden".

dbt vs hs

let me say this from the start. terminal 5 is an awful venue. bad sound (if you gotta do it, hit the second floor, somewhat better). a glorified airplane hangar. i know this show was probably a bigger drinkin crowd than normal ... but bar and pisser lines were woodstock(the famous one)-esque.

missed the truckers opening tunes, but hit "man i shot" (which i'd played 3x en route)! a blase mode until they woke again with "zip city" (cooley is rock personified). missed the intro to "wallace" (PISSER LINE!!!) which apparently reduced friends to tears. rest of show typical DBT rock fest, and by typical i mean the best rock show on the planet. "puttin people on the moon" came and the place was crazy, then nuthin ... oh yeah, opener. sad. alot of friends went on thursday when they headlined. gone are the days when i see great bands open.

was interested to see the headlining Hold Steady. i haven't seen them live since '02. pre-fame, pre-albums, etc. i am a hold steady fan. "boys and girls" was a huge fave and 'sequestered' is still my fave song of '08. opening 'summer' was pretty great. they followed with other rockers like 'chips ahoy' (another fave). i was stunned. they've grown into an amazing live band. finn is a great leader (less woody allen, more stephen colbert). ultimately though, they've only got the rockers.

i've always felt their reach ends with the rockers. the other 'stretching' songs always seem forced, and live it's even more pointed. finn works his ass off, and the fans respond like an english football crowd, but after a few songs you feel as if you've walked into an office party where you don't work. 1.5 hours is too much.

the "bruce is gonna play" talk was abuzz as the encores set in. never happened. a cute 'history lesson- part II' (hold steady version) ensued, and patterson and the 'other' guitar player came out, but that and some classic rock karaoke ended the evening. i ain't complainin.

... and my cab driver decided that spring street is an acceptable cross to the east side. $30.

new day rising

... i'm not feeling particularly partisan today. mccain and bush gave pretty extraordinary speeches last night and this morning, and obama gave what i hope people in all of their exhultation remember was ultimating a pretty sobering message and a outright challenge to respond.

i've got no messiah aspirations for obama. this is going to be a ridiculously tough stretch to work through. strangely though, i feel ownership of it now. last night as i fell asleep i actually pictured myself showing up in DC and sayin 'what can i do'? (it ended with me making a giant pot of coffee)

one fact i heard however blows my mind. there is no longer a single republican member from the new england congressional delegation. say what you want about the liberal major cities, but losing those suburbs and the small towns is borderline unreal. add the defection of latinos across the board and the jewish vote in florida. this victory has been called (COUGH) reagan-esque, but it's so much bigger.

america finally looks like i thought it should when i was in 1st/2nd/3rd grade. i feel vindicated. and last, but not least ... virginia ... props!

vote aqui

ominous looking lines broke apart once i found an election official that told me the location of my district booth. that wasn't easy spec w/ g in tow (pictured). lots of people were left standing in an extra long line very confused. i've voted in the same place now for 12 years and have never seen anything like it--especially at 11am.

was the boy's first time in the booth. thought it was important he be there. this being an election more about the future than any i've ever been a part of, and my first national election as a dad. i've previously given my endorsement, so i got nothing to add in that dept. after a hellish 8 years, i'm not feeling nervous, not feeling particularly vindictive, i'm feelin a calm, a relief ... and i'm just waiting to exhale.

i wish i was a stoner

sebadoh bubble and scrape

cuz ... i love this record too much. hey, fake name guy, bust me!

douchebag of the week?

this is a tough call.

in this corner:


vs.

RIP Levi Stubbs

fuck. this one hurts.

ode

to xmastime's post

i'm done

with keith olbermann. enough.

when did (formerly CRAZEEEEEEE!!!!!) become the voice of reason? don't agree with his mccain winning, but at least he calls it (relatively) straight.

jesus's of cool

my ex-DT compadre bob tipped me to this. vintage rockpile playing nick's bangin "so it goes". hitting YT now for some more.

45 du jour

bob dylan, someday baby (alt version from modern times)
from the forthcoming tell tale signs

dylan doin bruce doin dylan. innerestin.

judgin from the outtakes of this collection, oh mercy must be the greatest overlooked record ever (ed. note- nada). on a side note, the live shit on tell tale is blistering.

hall and fucking oates

sarah smile?

gov't oversight for wall street = OK?
gov't oversight for health care = disaster?

80 minutes?

before mentioning clinton ... let it slide

51 minutes?

it took 51 minutes for biden to bring up bush. not good.

44 baby!!!!!! (happy bday to me mix)

(simulcast w/ g spot)

fun fact of the day

you can get a ringtone of "shoot out the lights". a must send to all potential breakups.

RIP

You know, I got a hunch, fat man. I got a hunch it's me from here on in. One ball, corner pocket. I mean, that ever happen to you? You know, all of a sudden you feel like you can't miss? 'Cause I dreamed about this game, fat man. I dreamed about this game every night on the road. Five ball. You know, this is my table, man. I own it.

i stand corrected

this RAWKS!!!!!!!

this is

beyond comical at this point. this is basically ME as mccain's VP choice, answering questions at the nest after a few yesterday. money quote at the end of the reel.

the mission

the marley bros. why ain't rock tuned into this?

why is it?

every time i hear the studio version of "i want you to want me", i'm surprised how lame it sounds.

my only time seeing cheap trick live was about 4 years ago on a saturday afternoon at a horsetrack in miami. yes, of course they played "the flame".

sean hannity

is this guy for real? i've never really seen him. his interview w/ palin is beyond ridiculous. he makes HER look non-partisan. phrasing questions for her???

all by myself

battle of the (light) heavyweights

it makes no difference - the band
vs.
maybe i'm amazed (live version) - paul mccartney & wings

two SAPPY tunes wit amazing lead vocals. heard both of these in last couple days. danko and macca unintentionally squarin off. i dunno.

this actually made me laugh out loud

you can't make this shit up:

Student GOP leader resigns over Obama remark

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The leader of a statewide group of college Republicans has been forced to resign after posting racially insensitive comments about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on the Internet.

Adam LaDuca, 21, the former executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans, wrote on his Facebook page in late July that Obama has "a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)"

LaDuca, who previously had called Martin Luther King Jr. a "pariah" and a "fraud," also wrote: "And man, if sayin' someone has large lips is a racial slur, then we're ALL in trouble."

The College Republicans asked LaDuca to resign after his remarks were publicized by the Pennsylvania Progressive, a blog written by a Democratic committeeman from Berks County. The group announced LaDuca's resignation on its Web site Friday.

was trying to get a mental picture of the guy, and then i remembered i went to high school with about 400 of him.

BBPFF

breakin shit

i've gone on record before about the "crossfire" tv coverage ... and i don't think there's much more worthless than the obligatory opposition 'response' ... but is there anything worse than a larry king 'response' show?

hooked on drugs

must say. mccain's last 10 minutes were pretty impressive. some good points, some great points, and a life story that's off the charts heroic, admirable, and (fuckit) patriotic as all get out. USA!!!! (or should I say say, no "DRILL BABY DRILL" ... aka, rudy as an applause happy drunken retard) ... makes his palin choice even weirder (what a week, and let's be honest, it's HER party now) ... cause i kinda believed him when he says he wants every american to succeed, and wants the citizenship to get involved (KUDOS). he ain't bush, and he ain't the trad repub party.

that being said, i got some weird dole '96 flashbacks (roll him out and get him outta the way). it ain't enough john, you got some crazee friends & their serious baggage you're draggin around.

no vote here.

ps - obama, where the hell you been? need a fix.

i live to get high

funniest blog-quote in quite a while, courtesy xmastime:

Ohoh...NYC panoramic shot behind Rudy! Wouldn't it be awesome if in slow motion a plane comes flying in, and Rudy jumps up and smacks it down into the water? "Not in MY house, dawg!"

THE MIGHTY HIGH

random thoughts on the speech ...

bring it the fuck on! watchin palin was like watchin the vintage '00 SC republican primary, but with rove makin all the speeches. they finally got a tina fey they can let do the dirty work (and she was superb at it). marge gunderson accent and a constant smile on her face.

as i see it, biden has carte blanche to manhandle her in the debates (i for one, cannot WAIT until they pull the girl card).

i love the elitist talk! LCD barroom BS. i was waiting for her to make fun of obama's post-graduate studies. meat eating, sarcasm-spewing ... making fun of community service was really special. true colors.

in the long run i don't see how the numbers work for this type of speech. pro-teen pregnancy w/ a supportive family is a great thing to watch, but where's the nod to the non-resourceful poor kid who grows up to be reagan's "welfare mom"? where's the new politics "cross the aisle" lieberman was clamoring about? this speech had the vitriol of team gingrich in the mid-90s. for all the talk of how close the popular vote is, i still see obama with a comfortable margin in electoral votes (this is the statement that bites me in the ass every november)

after watching, i'm wondering where mccain's going with all this. maverick rhetoric aside, these two have little in common. she's stapled to the right and he's made his career jabbing the party line. as scarborough mentioned the other night, he's gonna be looking out at a crowd where many outright hate him. she may have a populist streak, but it's not grounded in the little guy, it's all about bureaucracy. she's now the party doll. i can see that eatin his grill.

to extend our campaign coverage ...

one more thing. can we agree not to use the phrase ... "Sarah Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton" anymore? literally read it about 5 times just today.

suggested alternative:

"Sarah Palin, you are no Miss Alaska"

promo shots 101

when you're approaching the age of dirt, it's best to cover as much of your face with your hand. thanks babe.

perfect song ... a call

been a while since the "best songs"

mulling a most perfect song ever

start thinkin ...

to extend our campaign coverage ...

congrats palins on the new babe to be! gihyb salutes you!

this reminds us of another famous palin.

sammy davis hagar jr.

from tmz.

Van Halen management tells us the band had no idea McCain was planning on using "Right Now" during his big entrance in Ohio telling us, "Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given."

For the record, Dubya used the same song during a bunch of his campaign speeches back in 2004, but sources close to the band tell us, "They're not political, they're just rock and roll."

maybe it's time to break out "And The Cradle Will Rock..."???

here it is folks, all-time worst blog post ever!!!!! happy labor day fuckerzzzzzz!!!!!!

dude, where's my VP?

john john, you picked the wrong sarah

RIP Steve Foley

never saw ya, never heard ya, but nonetheless sad.

to extend our campaign coverage ...

huckabee on colbert ... A+

convention day 3

spielberg flick: tastefully done (surprised)
kerry- who fuckin cares. still pissed at him for '04. dickhead.
b clinton- bout what i expected. good. hil better.
beau biden- my wife was bummed to find out he was married. she's currently searchin facebook.
joe biden- my dude, speech was wordworthy, but not lifechangin at any point. just not noteworthy. he's a dog, not worried, but fuck, his wife's looks were more effective.

to return to the muzak portion of tha blog. the music/THAT BAND was AWFUL (and i liked most of the orig versions of the songs)

i would be remiss

talked it over with ms. gihyb. smitten x10.

good lord

ryan adams is putting out a book. inneresting, cuz "heartbreaker" aside, i can't even make a mixtape (to be fair, maybe a couple w'town tunes). even funnier is that yours truly AND xmastime both logged time at the imprint that's publishing it.

gihyb (hearts) hillary

damn ...

don't believe the hype

nod to pitchfork (again).

never forget the first time i heard the aforementioned tune. fell off a fuckin chair. check this quick doc of one of the top 5 albums of the 80s. gihyb's fave producers EVER (the bomb squad).

money quote (which is actually unnecessary in hindsight):

you gotta look at this as the beatles looked at sgt. pepper ... rap music was album music

5:05

apparently throwin a medley of dinosaur rawk w/out attribution will get you kicked off amazon.com. imagine that! paul westerberg responds, for $0.99 or $5.05 (opt for the former, it's funny, but not memorable) with the remaining 5:05 missing from his 49:00 release, now deleted from the website.

money quote(s):

"fuck you"

"oh darlin!"

tha learning curve

vin scelsa joined glen jones to talk about the early days of the greatest radio station on the air today, WFMU. Hit on the Aug 10 link.

it's new to me

michael franti & spearhead, all rebel rockers

after a promising start, this folds into a by-the-numbers 'california rock' record. at its best, it's a stiffer "welcome to jamrock", franti's still fightin the good fight (see bragg/strummer), at its worse, well, a few too many shitty acoustic songs ("more than words" redux???) and kravitz-esque blah. when he wants to, he can turn the hell out of a phrase, and i'm diggin the heavy bass up front, but it ain't holdin together. dude has his heart in the right place as always, but, technically, most everyone's heart is in the right place ... except that baby glen talked about in 'raising arizona'

say that reminds me ... hit it at 2:40

the lazarus files

she's back. solo. shilpa ray from beat the devil. (ed. note. fave new band of '07).

how'd we miss this?

a ms. gihyb fave. given the bowie treatment (another ms. fave).

retread

think #4 misunderstood me. the title was a verb, not a noun. sorry pack (& vikes) fans.

trailer of the day

it's new to me

paul weller
22 dreams

after a semi-promising start, this settles in a hazy (lazy) MOR mush (i'm not gonna say "dad rock", but I'm gonna think it-- maybe "dad with grown kids rock"). i'll be honest, i think the friggin Jam are wildly overrated (save a few classic singles). i do remember diggin the first couple Style Council records. i'd never listened to a paul weller solo album before ... (file next to scissor fighting)

retread

not our fave dino jr song (but top 10), righteous nonetheless (kinda funny bein picky) ... note to murph, (think) bill ward wears shirts.

courtesy of pitchfork

oh yeah

the gnarls. always a good watch. still ain't totally lovin the record, but the vid is great.

paul (was) a dead man

paul westerberg
49:00


if you'd asked me yesterday what i expected from a new paul westerberg record, i'd probably begin with 'not a listen from me'. his last release "folker" was so tepid, half-assed, and generally unlistenable, that i still stare in scorn at the cd when i pass it. but hell, yesterday, i didn't even know about this new westerberg release.

i don't know the origins of this record. i have an inkling. apparently he gave a bunch of songs to his manager (recorded god knows when). according to the "liner notes", he plays everything. guess mr. epstein said "PRINT"!

leave it to westerberg to release his most exciting record in eons for 49 cents (money quote-- "worth every penny"). fuckit, 2nd money quote, "it's the most 'mats-like record he's released since 1987" (grandpaboy?, save "lush and green", that stuff was garbage). and i'm not one of those who was wishing for a 'mats like experience. i thought "stereo/mono" was fuckin brilliant, but just got tired of that 'hit record, play something' template. was gettin tired.

the format works for him. 49 minutes ... one long mp3 file. his slapped together tunes sound like a great (well, good) college radio show. tunes meld into others, overlap at times ... appear for seconds (p dub as GBV?). and on some of the tunes, he's TRYING. he's really going for some amazing angles. on most post-mats records he's doing the same thing over and over, this one, he's taking chances vocally ... sometimes for seconds ... but, i'll take it.

the last few minutes are awe-inspiring, endin classic rawk montage is hilarious. and we finally get a definitive (half) take of the partridge fam's "i think i love you". finale with his kid is great.

the good news is we haven't heard him shred on the guitar like this in a while. always forget what a great gtr player he is.

i'll be honest, there's alot of crap on here. singer-songwriter BS that he's been farting with for 20 years. this should probably be called "20 minutes". in true westerberg fashion, alot of the greatest hooks are in the song snippets.

BUT, i like this record alot.

we'll end with paul's money quote from the record

"i'm on the brink today of writin somethin memorable"

nuf sed.

why they (should) hate us ...

or, one blog's alternative for waterboarding:



an inner hatred for clapton aside ... what's worse, the leroy neiman custom strat, or his shorts???? 'clapton is god'? let's hear it for atheism.

i'm your fan

know nothing of this band (no age). seein the name alot, everytime thinking it's 'no trend' (from dc days). great tune/vid ... yeah, it's basically a superchunk/'late 80s flying nun thang ... is that a bad thing??? nada

it's new to me

the hold steady, stay positive

recipe: guitar to piano ... woody allen (you know, same as the last 2 records).

thoughts:

-really hated this record on first 2 listens, then came around a little. some hooks really emerge: "constructive summer", "stay positive", hell, "sequestered" is DBT worthy-- though ... don't recall them writing hooks.

-harpsichord nod to "two sisters" in "one for the cutters" is rad, but actually found the characters and storyline in "two sisters", uhm, interesting.

-write a new song already. the constant use of "OH OH OH" choruses nailed on previous record reminds me of a bad brains' record that will come out some time in the next 3-4 years (ed. note: the hold steady's "boys and girls in america" was GIHYB's 1st or 2nd fave record of '06). the attempts at stretching fall a little flat.

-question? self-referencing band lyrics work best when referring to a) being an american band, b) being a cowboy on a steel horse, c) believing you are a walrus, or d) bein' down wit OPP?

-the bruce homage (see recipe) is getting really tired (ed note: GIHYB gets squeamish during operatic brawls that don't feature ghostface, bobby darin, or david geddes).

-don't hate this record, finn's a stud and they got another one in em, just a little underwhelmed.

smitten

necrophilia is the new 20 ...

athens ga. circa late 80s

a flick. i'll admit, i walked out of in a theater a bunch a years ago, but for what it is, a document of a pretty fertile scene. fuck, it's got dexter romweber (a major talent, and a transplant), who steals it.

gotta give props to pitchfork tv. minin' some cool shit lately (cept for that narcissist beyond wild liz phair 'exile' doc) ... and we love that album.

i shit you not ...

overheard weds night, round 7pm at mccarren baseball field while watching two adults throw an inflated rubber ball back and forth. "fuck you, I'M the best 2nd baseman in the kickball league!"

it's new to me

beck, modern guilt

dangermouse meets the end of the world. cee-lo mighta thrown a party ... meanwhile beck's bangin some serious demons ... concisely.

feelings

know i've made a point previously about reunion shows (if you think i'm finding the post, you haven't read this blog), but the feelies are the fuckin feelies. and for once, high expectations gave way to higher results. for starters, the sound at battery park was incredible, they opened with the 2 starting tracks from "the good earth", add in the overlooked "doin it again" and a bunch of other GREAT ones (did i just slight their BEST record???) ... the new songs didn't suck. and jesus were they tight.

story:

my first trip to my now home NYC was in the spring of '86. understandably overwhelmed as hell. ended up on st. marks pl. at sounds. picking through records-- many of which i'd only read about at the time. as we were leaving the checkout guy gave us passes to a coyote records release party at the limelight that evening. i knew coyote had a relationship w/ twin-tone so we decided to go (like we had anything else to do). turns out the release was for "the good earth" by the feelies- who were playing. it was the closest thing i can imagine to seeing the velvet underground blindly. a complete mind-fuck of percussive tension. took me 6 more years to move here, but that sealed the deal.

(as that sage eminem sed, 'back to reality') the 7/4 show. "raised eyebrows" live was one of the coolest things i've ever seen. again, i can't honestly believe how tight they were. their encore cover of wire's "outdoor miner" (nice call halling-- a song i'd completely forgotten about from "chairs missing") was way cool. and the closer "fa ce la"? give it up. go jersey.

*shout out to todd f. for the tix.

jesse helms rip

you find out the weirdest shit in obits ... "a state champion tuba player in high school" ... and a fucking sweetheart ... will wait patiently for that box set

45 du jour

the hold steady, stay positive, (off the upcoming album stay positive)

remember vividly as a kid listening to some follow-up to a hit song that sounded exactly like the hit. thought to myself, "that's brilliant, everybody will instantly love it" ... then she cheated on me ...

these dudes

are my favorite rock peeps right now. wish i had a pic of them in their badass gray suits. they should be in every band. got that hold steady?

whites only

all this rumbling about the beatles "white album" has got us to thinking. would it be better as a single album? (well, that's an easy one. yes) where do you side? GIHYB sees the record as lennon's finest (and ringo's for that matter). we encourage you to post your 10 to 14 sequenced track listing here ... and let the argument begin.

let's have em. here's mine:

1 Dear Prudence
2 Ob La Di, Ob La Da
3 Happiness Is a Warm Gun
4 I'm So Tired
5 Piggies
6 I Will
7 Julia
8 Everybody's Got Something to Hide
9 Sexy Sadie
10 Long, Long, Long
11 Savoy Truffle
12 Cry Baby Cry

7 Lennon cuts
2 Macca cuts

not done sequencing, stuck with the actual listing minus deletions, but suddenly realized how badass leading off with prudence is.

never seen it

now everbody can. as far as i'm concerned, greatest band of the 80's (not their greatest song, but it's a good un)...

the who cares (update II)

(named for that long lost band who recorded "sell out", an ongoing online dialogue between jimmy eight cats and gihyb. geekr'y off the friggin charts)


Jimmy Eight cats wrote:

In response to Kiko Jones' heartfelt defense of "Who's Next", the problem isn't that those songs have been played to death like so many other "classic" rock bands, it's the nature of the songs themselves. With "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", Townshend appoints himself the Voice of a Generation (note the use of "we" in WGFA), something the Beatles never did, and they had a pretty good claim to the title. Moreover, they're self-referential, but not in a Chuck Berry "Rock and Roll Music" kind of way.

Although I'll grant you that the White Album has a lot of bad songs, but it's not a great album. (ed. note: GIHYB and JEC disagree on this topic, though GIHYB is impressed with the fact that our mutual friend Jack owns one billion albums, including the complete Shaq discography, but not the white album)

As for the Who vs. the Dolls, the New York Dolls original two LPs are far superior to anything the Who released after "Sell Out", and more fun too. They're rock and roll records and much more meaningful than any of Townsend's self-pitying, self-important, self-indulgent wankings. Outside of a few singles (and by that I mean "The Seeker" and "5:15" -ed. note: xmastime loves "you better you bet" ... no prisoners today!!!!), almost any song on the first Dolls album is better than almost any Who song recorded after 1968. It's like Townsend threw away his Chuck Berry albums.

And the Who were better when Daltrey was a singer and not a vocalist. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"

Where's Screamin' Jay when you need him?

bangdittyditty ...

finally a sane thinker ...

from BBC News

.....Kid Rock said his record company Atlantic had asked him to "stand up for illegal downloading" a few years ago because it told him "people are stealing from us and stealing from you".

"And I go: 'Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?'

"I was telling kids - download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live."

Asked whether he was worried about illegal downloading, he replied: "I don't agree with it. I think we should level the playing field. I don't mind people stealing my music, that's fine. But I think they should steal everything.

"You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank off and drive off, they're not going to miss it."

the who cares (update)

(named for that long lost band who recorded "sell out", an ongoing online dialogue between jimmy eight cats and gihyb. geekr'y off the friggin charts)

gihyb wrote:

going back to your idea about artists you don't get, how about we start with an album i don't get? the who "who's next". to me, the who could have been the greatest rock band ever. "tommy" fucked it up. flashes of brilliance everwhere after (and during). townshend remains an amazing presence, and i loved his solo records (well, the 2 relevant ones in the early 80s and alot of quadrophenia), but the who ceased to exist to me once daltrey became (and it was pre ... whatever) robert plant.

jimmy eight cats wrote:

Robert Plant is a thousand times cooler than Daltrey, at least since Zep broke up.

I don't quite hate "Who's Next" as much as you and Jack do("Bargain" is one my favorite Who songs), but for my money it's not only the album that killed the Who, it's the album that launched classic rock, and therefore deserves infamy. Truth be told, for my money you can blame 90% of what went wrong with rock in the seventies on Townsend.

gihyb wrote:

the fact that alison krauss is killing wet dreams everywhere makes bob plant one cool MFer

bargain is a great song ... and i'm sure an argument could be made on some other planet that won't get fooled again has a certain resonance. on a side note, tell me something, what other "important classic" has as big a piece as shit song as my wife? that might be a topic. worst songs on great albums

jimmy eight cats wrote:

The problem with "Who's Next" is that's it's the moment where Pete Townsend starts writing about being a rock star, and worse about being in the Who. You can mostly divide the songs into two categories,the relationship songs-"Love Ain't For Keeping" and "Bargain" and the "I'm the guy who wrote that brilliant rock opera that changed the world and you should listen to me because I'm so much fucking smarter than the average rock star" songs. I think "Behind Blue Eyes" falls into that category. And Entwistle is Flavor Flav. Think about it.

gihyb wrote:

good point on the self-conciousness

i'd say entwistle is more like easy-e (ed. note- going to hell for that un).

monday afternoon, 3:30pm

the best show

in addition to being the most aptly named show on the airwaves, tom scharpling and his "fot's" have now done the unthinkable ... a real time musical collaboration with ted leo and the pharmacists resulting in (the unthinkable part) ... a REALLY cool song.

if you haven't gotten caught up in the best show (or wfmu in general), get on it.

it's new to me

Erykah Badu
New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

with all due respect to others i've crowned too soon. album of the friggin year (ed. note: so far).

full disclosure. i don't know a damn thing about her. i guess she had a hit (hits)? just happened to read a review that sparked my interest. badassss. speakin about stuff most of her stature don't go near (think outkast w/ an agenda campin at late 60s/early 70s james brown's place AND payin rent!). trippy/funkadelic-y/stream of conscience/wacked out/great singin ... i.e., shit that moves (me). damn.

word

Beat the Devil - RIP

One of my favorite new NYC bands of the last couple years have called it quits. According to their myspace page ... "YES MY FRIENDS THE BAND HAS BROKEN UP" and continues, "So the rumors are true, Beat the Devil is no longer a band."

Their live schedule had dwindled as of late, with lead howler Shilpa Ray playing mainly solo shows w/ her "happy hookers". I was still hoping to hear that long mentioned album they were working on (HINT HINT).

In the future, check out bassist Mishka Shubaly's drunk'n'twisted country-folk solo output. His "How to Make a Bad Situation Worse" from last year is required listening for all past & future breakups (on both ends).

... can't get that LES staple "rehab is for quitters" outta my head

beat it

this pic and it's accompanying story have been crackin me up for the last couple days. got me to wonderin whether it would've done the trick for xmastime back in the day.

husker done

can't tell when this article came out in filter. the credit says this month, but the end sez '07. regardless, it's a pretty incredible post-mortem by the band. one of our faves.

as xmastime and i always remind ourselves, name another group (besides the foo fighters) with 2 more incredible songwriters ... and so it's on the record, the warner bros years (save a few amazing cuts, well a bunch, but by their standards, not enuff) are pretty unremarkable. (for the real deal see new day rising, flip your wig, zen arcade, metal circus ... in that order ... land speed record had 2 dozen chances, still awful).

post-du required:

grant hart "good news for modern man"
bob mould "workbook"
sugar "copper blue" (name a better 4 song starter, there are, but we need comments)
grant hart "intolerance"
husker du " the living end" (released post-mortem, from their last tour)

ladies and gentlemen ...

the rolling stones' parents

once again, we ask you

WTF?

how's my ass look?

(all apologies to fred rogers)

"would you like to be my neighbor?"

bueller, anyone????

is there a lamer muzak website posting* than the constant "(enter band name) reveal new album track listing"????

*gihyb posts don't count in this survey

and they say GIHYB hates ...

bruce. "the ghost of tom joad" is tha slice. top 3 springsteen. i could deal without the 2nd solo, but morello is what he is (but i ain't heard audioslave) ...

williamsbeard

sometimes i'm guilty of letting my friends rag on our nabe of williamsburg a bit too much ... condos, idiot hipsters, kickball, etc, etc, etc. sometimes i'm not quick enough to remind them of some of the finer aspects of it (great restaurants, a bar for every citizen, a place where kokie's used to exist). imagine my pride when I caught word yesterday that it had been named by the hip intelligentsia as the "beard capital of the USA". our immigrant population has put us on the map! kudos.

smokers outside of turkey's nest circa 1864. courtesy brooklyn historical society

"is you satisfied?" (update)

the replacements, reissued first four albums

alternate title: "are we recordin this? ... i ain't singin"

they're here, and it's a bear of a listen ...

i'm throwing it out there as always, i love 'let it be'. it's probably in my top 20, maybe top 10 occasionally. there's no denying its importance, its highlights, and fuckit, its place in my life, but i've always considered 'hootenanny' the greatest replacements album. it's a non-starter argument. it has everything that was great and awful about the band. it's the breadth of westerberg in 2 sides (no offense to all involved, but it was always him). sloppy, concise, bad, mocking, even to quote em 'tedious' at times, but my ears heard brilliance. no compromise, no self-doubt, nuthin, pure band at the top of its pre-world game. everything after (however brilliant) reeked in self awareness. this was band in enclosure, feelin their home grown atmosphere. and smart. the squad.

random thoughts (pt. 1) ...

the mats knew how to edit themselves, stinker cuts on albums be damned-- most of these outtakes are downright boring (as was the case on the sire comp a few years back).

anyone "caught by surprise" by the maturity of westerberg's writing on 'let it be' should take a re-listen to "if only you were lonely" on the sorry ma cd. this gem appeared on ... oh yeah, the first record they ever put out (b-side of "i'm in trouble" single).

the sorry ma cd kinda stunned me. in the past i've too easily dismissed it. it's a terrific record. reeks of adreneline. and to FINALLY get to hear the demo tape that caught twin-tone's ear is pretty great. a seed of an idea, with the horse pulling the buggy way beyond its speed

bob stinson deserved to die for not letting the mats do "you're getting married" (stink cd). great to finally hear it on something other than a 19th generation cassette dub. that's right, i said it. sorry bob.

surprisingly candid interview w/ the normally cantakerous (is that a word?) westerberg.

and tommy

GIHYB Contest!!!

a randomly chosen mixtape for the contestant who can explain the meaning of this to me.

sorry, "frankly my dear ..." is already taken.

old skool

ron wood, gimme some neck (columbia)

we're breakin out tha vinyl!!!!!!

we just bought a new turntable. had been without for far too long* to justify the 4000 lbs of plastique takin up more acreage than kitchen-related products. dug this outta the heap.

bought during stones-frenzy in high school due mainly to the involvement of all the band (cept wyman). this was also the album that wood's "new barbarians" (including keef) toured behind. side two holds the main revelation, a cover of dylan's previously unreleased "seven days". a friggin killer cut given its just before the flood treatment. otherwise, pretty inspired all round with a great cast. wood's on his game.

ronnie's always interested me. appeared on 1 1/2 decent stones albums, but his best days were already gone. jeff beck group + the fucking faces (unsung heroes and shoulda been rulers of the world ... if ya don't agree, punch yerself in the eye really hard & listen to this). who gets to sing one of the greatest songs ever just cuz ronnie lane (tha co-writer) wrote it for rod (biggest waste of talent ever ... 30 some odd years & countin!) stewart & he just didn't think he had the pipes to man it? props mr. wood (and who gets to be called mr. wood? dag).

this is worth seeking. none of his other solo joints hold a candle (and I should know ... since i spent 3 pre-internet years looking for em all).

% listened to before either skipping/turning off/deciding to never listen to music again: 100

revisionist rating (out of 10): !!!!!

rating after original purchase (ed note, possibly as made up as revisionist): !!!!!!!

*ok, we had several, but were too lazy to find needles. need a turntable?