3 things:

one, i'd like to see mike's unrequited love post expanded into either a short story or preferably, a short film, scored to neil young's 'rust never sleeps'. the closing scene should feature a 1979 version of a young man staring wistfully after a comely babe sashaying down a winding cobblestone street in brussels while 'ride my llama' blares in the background, taking us to the closing credits. brian, if you still have that videocamera, you need to get on this project stat!

two, though i've wholly embraced mp3/digital musical media, there's something sad about not really having a record collection anymore. yes, i still have maybe 75-100 vinyl records, dating back to around 1989, the year i purchased a cd player and stopped buying vinyl entirely. as a teenager in the mid to late 80s, more than half of my purchased music was in the form of cassettes, which were convenient at the time for walkman use but fairly useless now, given that i no longer own a tape deck and have either given away or thrown out all of my cassettes. this realization, triggered by stuart's question about re-discovering and re-digging old records, has prompted me to redouble my efforts to back up my current collection and locate some of those songs from the 80s in mp3 form...'That Petrol Emotion' and 'The Mighty Lemon Drops' are two likely candidates for imminent re-acquaintance.


three, stuart's mention of maya's newfound interest in u2 has me admiring u2. i haven't purchased an album of theirs since Achtung Baby (for the record, Stu, 'Unforgettable Fire' is my personal fave). and i probably won't purchase their new disc. but at least they're still putting out catchy, mostly interesting (okay, i probably won't be hired as their p.r. rep anytime soon) pop music. i can't think of any band approaches their 30 year anniversary that still engages the pre-teen crowds/the billboard charts in the same way. yes, there will always be classic rock devotees (my sympathies, mike. i'm sure it's just a phase) and a market for boomer retreads whose concert tour announcements appear each spring like dust mite excretion, bilking their only-too-willing-to-be-bilked cohorts into forking over cash for...okay this is just going to turn into another one of my anti-Eagles rants...but my point is...okay, how about in the form of a question, "Can you think of any bands that have been around for 30 years that are still putting out interesting music?"

Btw...though I'm all for engaging different viewpoints, there are wrong answers to this question. Chiming in with, "The Rolling Stones", for example, will result in you being suspended from posting for an unspecified duration. Just a friendly warning. :)

My kids are also getting into music that I used to listen to, but for the most part, it's stuff that I no longer like very much. My son tends to the heavier side - AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple etc. My other son hasn't really carved out a particular identity, but his favorite radio is the local classic rock station, which I find very tedious. My daughter has fallen under the influence of a friend with a strong interest in music, and she's started to go to concerts at local clubs. She's into ska and a variety of different genres that all sound like punk to me. I can't really say that any of them have re-introduced me to some old favorites. I do get the occasional nice moment of nostalgia when an old favorite from Led Zeppelin gets aired, but that's about it.

I do remember seeing "Live Rust" back in the '80s and loving it. The first time I ever heard of Neil Young was when I was living in Belgium in 1979. At the time, I was into all that heavy stuff that my son is currently listening to. I bumped into a girl at the local commissary (a girl that I happened to have an unrequited crush on) who was deliberating over a copy of "Rust Never Sleeps". Knowing that I was Canadian, she asked my opinion, assuming that I would know all about Neil Young. It was just one more awkward stumbling block confirming a relationship that was not to be.

well it seems my music life is being driven by my daughter who is now getting really into music...

I picked up a copy of Live Rust the live neil young movie circa 1978 which i last saw circa 1980 and though I am admittedly a big fan of neil I would have to say its hard to top this as a concert video, he is at the absolute pinacle of his game here, it has to be seen to be believed, his guitar work in like a hurricane resonates well...like a hurricane.... if any of you missed this it shows why we love him so....

also maya is gettiing into U2 , and i was mentioning to Derek bout the unforgettable fire cd which i have not played for 15 years and I am just loving it to death ....song after song is great , much more consistent as an album then i remember....

so any of you found old records that you have found staying on your music player that you hadn't listened to in years...???

I used to get a big kick out of the Pandora algorithms, and how they picked "similar" music. My favorite approach was to seed the engine with a single song, and see where it went. I've been doing the same thing with the Grooveshark autoplay feature lately. Yesterday I seeded it with "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot, and got a very strange result. Grooveshark alternately played Beatles songs and country songs by the likes of Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. I can understand the country connection, but I was expecting more of a folk selection. But a heavy dose of the Beatles? I didn't see that coming.

Agreed, a remarkable turn of events vis-a-vis Mr. Watson and technology. Why, only this morning, young Stuart emailed me a link to something that I could not fathom him having been able to find, without possessing almost hacker-like skills!

The explanation for this "linking miracle" was, as it turns out, somewhat less tech-reliant than it seemd on the surface, but I was prepared to give Stu the benefit of the doubt given his iPod expertise the other night.

My solution for this admittedly annoying conundrum is to use your computer as your source of palying music, and its iTunes screen as the reference to the music. Works pretty well, though ultimately I think I could see a wireless device that puts the song information onto your TV. I know, just me being a tech visionary again.

Because we (okay, mostly myself and Derek) often mercilessly deride him for not being tech savvy, I feel I must give props to Stuart for showing me how to shuffle songs within playlists and genres in my ipod. Believe it or not, in the past two days alone, this has been an invaluable tool for discovering, or in some cases, rediscovering, music I've downloaded over the past two months. Kudos, sir!

I'm now trying to return the favour by locating a device that would prevent you from having to get up from the comfort of your couch and walk over to the stereo/plugged in ipod in response to countless queries from your guests as to what song/artist they're listening to at any given moment. So far, I've only been able to locate this, which seems a little bit pricy. Perhaps a better bet is to ask your guests to get themselves iphone and then download Shazam.

I liked 'Post War', but I know what you mean about the reverb. I read a review that compared some of the songs to the 1980s album by Roy Orbison, which tempered my initial wild enthusiasm for the album. Will work on that other post, which I abandonned after deciding the steps outlined therein would have been a lot of work for most to bother, even if the result is kind of funny.

For now, I'll give you another reason to love Radiohead and a celebration (I think) of passionate, if vitrolic, music critics.

Haven't heard the new M Ward yet Kyle, but his last record left me strangely cold, so that's likely why. I think it was the super-reverby production that felt really self-conscious. Not entirely fair, but then how does one explain likes and dislikes?

Grizzly Bear is an interesting band...though I prefer Horn of Plenty, their lo-fi debut from a few years back, to their breakthrough album from a couple of years ago - Yellow House. To me their second one is a little annoyingly bombastic - perhaps songs over-developed. It's undeniably different though, and pretty arty.

Kyle, you should finish off your post of a few days ago - looks like fun.

Some of Grizzly Bear's previous albums (and yes, that sounded as surreal to type as it does to read) are now available on emusic. Am hoping the new one will be there as well. Anyone d/l the new M. Ward? If so, thoughts?

I tried searching for every (real) artist that stuart listed here in grooveshark and only added those that appeared on the list. If you want to create a grooveshark profile and upload some songs, I think you can even add these to my playlist (called stuart february 20th).

Stuart, you are just so hilarious my friend. And the Opera disk was Albanian, not Armenian.

Kyle, great comp, though oddly it doesn't include anything that I brought....just an oversight I'm sure :) . Interestingly, I noted that Department of Eagles (which I sampled last night and at first blush, really love) is a side project of Grizzly Bear, who have a new record coming out shortly, and whose song "Don't Ask" I am over the moon about.

Thanks for posting Stu. Thought it would be a nice recap for those who attended and those who could not to hear some of those tracks, courtesy of my new favourite little tool, the grooveshark playlist. Enjoy:

Nicely done Stuart. Love that first list especially Marc's box set. You were obviously on form this morning mate.

For those of you that enjoyed Kyle's selection of Tinariwen the other band that you might want to check out is Etran Finatawa which is available on e-music.

selections:
Dylan -Bootleg vol8 89-2006
The pains of being pure at heart -young adult friction
Roy haynes-we 3
ted macero-with the prestige jazz quartet
Department of eagles
Horace Silver-doing the thing
Electrelane- no shouts no calls
Sin fang bous
Cut Copy- in ghost colours
Glenn Mercer-wheels in motion
Animal collective-merriweather post pavillion
Art farmer-farmers market
J-live - the upgrade lp then what happened
open sky unit - sunshine star
tinariwen
the new year
lykke li - touith novels

and there wasnt a bad cd in there.........

sorry for the delay in the list......

Brians choices:
Jazz compilation: Jazz so rare we cant find it
Opera Disc: eastern Armenian all male choir sings their favorite songs from the 14th century

Derek:
I love to dance.....Whitney huston
I need your love stick....Rick Astley

Kyles :
The best of nickleback
Celine Dion: I love old bald men

Marc:
World music comp: All african music ever made (1000 disc box set)

Yeah, I'm thinking that this is another muxtape, waiting to be quashed by the labels, especially since I don't see any 'buy it here' type icons or any corporate branding. Seems like there's an ability to create playlists, as existed in muxtape, as well as the ability to email a song to a friend, so the friend can listen to a full stream. I'm in the process of 'creating a widget' which should, if it works, allow me to embed a little mp3 player with said playlist within the blog. will keep you all posted.

UPDATE: A little digging and I'm nervous about it's long-term potential. Still, I'm cheering these guys on.

UPDATE: Here's the playlist.

I don't get it - I'm currently listening to the latest album by James on Grooveshark. I was able to dial it right up and play it directly, which I always understood to be a copyright violation in itself (Pandora always allowed me to choose a song as a seed, but it wouldn't play that song right away because of copyright laws). I gather that Grooveshark also has an autoplay feature that suggests songs, although I'm not sure of the algorithm that it uses. But why is this service able to play in Canada if Pandora is not? I guess I should just enjoy it for as long as I can until some faceless bureaucrat shuts it down as well. Great find, Kyle!

Not sure if there are many others I can add to the list, other than Miki Berenyi of Lush and possibly Pat Benetar (one of my first pop music faves). Will second Liz Fraser, Emily Haines, Hope Sandoval, others but I guess I'm mostly curious as to when you all started drinking Irish whiskey....

Mike, I haven't had a chance to try out musicovery yet but I did come across grooveshark, which looks pretty good, though i should note that i'm typing this stateside and have not tested in canada. i'm assuming that it does work in canada, since i read about it in the globe and mail's technology section this morning.

i have to say that males outnumber females in my collection, that is not surprising as I would bet there are more males then females in pop rock, (as this is seen as a primary means of getting laid to all guys).
I am however very much enamoured by many female artists and find no difficulty in making a list of female artists who are at the top of my absolute favorite artisits.. (granted that is a big list)...
I will have to check out the cockteau twins and try for Nico once again though I fear Nico lands on my list of hip artisits I dont get... although Nico could also be on the list of artisits that Brian is frankly wrong about, and that is a big list too... )
Some of the favorites in no particular order are:
Bjork,
Janis
Sinnead,
Dionne Warwick
Stevie Nicks
Sandy denny
Neco Case
Emmy LouHarris
Patsy cline
Joni Mitchell
Kate Bush
Julie Doiron
Marianne faithfull
Natalie Merchant
etc....
all these gals spend much time every year w me so to speak...

Like Mike I also browsed my record collection and I was quite surprised at the number of female vocalists that I've taken a shine to over the years. Many of them do tend to fall in to the period of late 70s through early 90s with very few in the last 20 odd years. Similar to Suzanne Vega I suppose.

The likes of Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux (from the Banshees), Liz Frazer of the Cocteau Twins, Clare Grogan of Altered Images, Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, Bjork (with and without the Sugarcubes), the lovely Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Beth Orton, Michelle MacAdorey of Crash Vegas and Natalie Merchant were all a big part of my life through my late teens and twenties.

More recently I've enjoyed Neko Case, MIA, Tujiko Noriko and Emily Haines both her solo work and her music with Metric.

If I had to pick any one of these as a standout it would probably be Liz Frazer. Her ethereal voice, an almost indecipherable musical language and the complete lack of information about the band on their record sleeves (in a pre-internet age, pipping Belle & Seb by about a decade) lent an air of mystique to her that will likely go unsurpassed and unrepeated now that I'm a rather jaded and cynical music fan in my mid 40s.

Given the number of live shows I've seen over the years it's strange that with the exception of Neko Case and Stereolab I didn't see any of these artists in concert. When I see somebody live I usually hope to hear a band rock out and bring something more that just a regurgitation of a record to the concert hall. Is it possible then that with the exception of the Pretenders, as Brian brought up the other night, there just aren't that many female fronted bands or solo artists that are likely to bring that to the table?

I found your new post, Brian, misleadingly nestled among those older posts. Who'd have thought that MetaBeats would have such a burst of activity that we'd be in danger of missing entries? I was pleased to see that somebody picked up on my Zappa thread. And I found your challenge quite - well, challenging. I've been thinking about it and scanning my albums, and there are certainly lots of women represented, but very few that I would even consider as my favorite. My choice would have to be Suzanne Vega I think - I've got almost all of her recordings, and I've gone to see her in concert a couple of times. It's a less passionate connection than your unhealthy obsession with Nico, but I think it's the best I can do. When it comes right down to it, female musicians have generally not inspired me as deeply as male musicians have, and I'm not sure why that is. There are generally a lot fewer females than males in the business, but I don't think that fully accounts for it. I wonder if, at some hidden level, the female perspective is different enough from the male perspective that it impedes the musical and lyrical resonance that the very best music can produce.

Boys, I put up a lengthy yet typically intriguing post earlier today which was sent back to last week because that's when I started it. Just thought you might want to know that.

I agree with Kyle about the highly irritating pricing policies of Ticketmaster. I suppose it's really the scalpers that I find irritating, but Ticketmaster doesn't seem to exert much if any effort to control them, and the implication of this article seems to be that they might even be profiting from that mechanism. But apart from all of that, I think that concert tickets are ludicrously expensive now. When I was in high school, I went to quite a few concerts, and I seem to recall paying between 25 and 50 dollars for them. At the time, that was the equivalent of 2-4 albums, which seemed reasonable to me. These days, even at face value the ticket price for a big name act can be over $200. That's the equivalent of 10 CDs - does that seem reasonable? And yet, they seem to have no trouble filling up the stadiums.

As for whether bands have an obligation to play their hits, I am firmly in the "no" camp on that one. Performers can choose to perform anything that they wish, but they have to understand that the size of their following will be dependent on those choices. If Smashing Pumpkins wants to divorce itself from its catalog, it'll lose some large percentage of its current fan base. I think that the prospect of a smaller and more discerning audience probably has appeal to many artists as they grow older.

Finally, have any of you played around with Muiscovery? I recently stumbled across it - I don't find it as interesting as Pandora was, and I don't yet have a good sense of the breadth of its catalog (although I did notice that their list of genres didn't include either country or folk). But it is interactive, and it does have stream some good music.


Mike

Offhand, I'd say Calexico's Feast of Wire, which I didn't love off the bat but about 10 listens in it all came together, the mariachis, the brooding slow orchestral build of 'Black Heart', the sweet guitar strings of 'Not Even Steve Nicks', the twangy instrumentals, all make this one of my favourite of the decade. I also recall not liking The Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me after what seems now like many listens (apart from the odd song like 'Just Like Heaven' or 'The Catch', which were instant-pleasers) and now I find I myself going back to some of the lesser known tracks on the disc like 'The Perfect Girl' and 'Like Cockatoos'. I liked but did not love 'Kid A' after the first dozen listens but find it gets better with each listen, in a way that arguably a more accomplished or at least feted album like 'OK Computer' does; perhaps this is due to the layering of sounds or the beauty in the cacophony of tracks like 'The National Anthem'.

I'm sure there are some others....will think on it and add some more....

You're discounting the possibility that young Henry is/was a big Zwan fan and knew what he was buying into.

But rather than talk about albums that were bollocks upon release and remain so years later how about those albums that start off making barely a dent in your consciousness, whether you had high expectations or not, and yet end up being one of those "go to" discs that more than stand the test of time and you might have tossed aside after 5 or 6 listens and never ventured near again.

I've had this type of discussion with some of you from time to time but I raise it again having just read Tim Perlich's latest 5N review in Now Magazine of Dan Auerbach's (from the Black Keys) latest solo release. Up until yesterday, the release date, on the Nonesuch record label website you were able to stream the entire disc. I did so and as much as I enjoyed some of the music I kept waiting for it to wow me like a so called perfect disc is supposed to.

But of course in the real non-Pitchfork world most of us don't make bold statements about any record until we've lived with it for a long time and let it's magic, if it exists, have its way with us. Very rarely does that happen after a few cursory spins. Sometimes it can take years and having those whose opinion we respect continually harp on about what we're missing in a great album.

Which brings me to my question. Are there records for you which upon first, 3rd, maybe even 10th listen left you shrugging your shoulders and now you wouldn't be without. And likewise are there records that you have been told time and time again by those in the know that you just oughta love that you know will never click.

A few examples for me that remain treasures in my collection but took a lot of listens: Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", Olivia Tremor Control's "Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing"and Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs".

As perhaps one acclaimed record (two actually) I'll never feel warm and fuzzy about how about that Gram Parsons "GP/Grievous Angel".

As someone who has long bemoaned the exorbitant fees tacked on by Ticketmaster, I'm quite pleased to see them taking a PR beating, and perhaps a big financial hit, for their recent tactics with some big name concerts.

What stands out for me in the article (assuming you've read the link), apart from the evil genius that lies at the heart of scalping your own tickets and essentially forcing the casual concert-goer to take a leap into a whole new level of fandom by ponying up airfare-like prices to attend what will likely be two hours of uneven musical performance, is that, in the year of our Lord 2008, somebody actually paid $536 to see the *#!*ing Smashing Pumpkins. I mean, okay, $200 of those charges were likely 'handling fees', but still I'm wondering how Henryk Krajewski felt when, after having doled out $270 per seat, Mr. Corgan et al refused to play their old hits?

Discuss. Or tear out your hair. Or just chortle smugly.

Harkening back to your note on Zappa, Mike, I had (and maybe still have) a strong ambivalence towards his music. Partially this stems from the fact that my brother played "Joe's Garage" incessantly in my mid-teens, which, to say the least, got under my skin, and partially it's from the overarchingly satirical nature of his work, which I often find smug and annoying. Musically, however, I think there is a fair bit to experience, and so I've gone back in the past year and downloaded a number of his early records, including Freak Out and Absolutely Free. They are pretty enjoyable pop-psychedelic records, with strong song structures and arrangements. I've also picked up Hot Rats, which many think is his masterpiece, a jazz-fusion-pop record that needs a few listens, but is pretty dynamic musically, more along the lines of what you described Mike. Having said all of that, and at least I've given the man chance, if I'm being honest with myself he's never going to be one of my guys.

So nice segway (how the hell do you spell that word?) into your blog Derek. Frank Zappa is a good BD example of a much-lauded artist whom I don't much like. If you look him up on allmusic his bio starts with "was one of the most accomplished composers of the rock era". Seriously, I question that.

Which segways into records that I didn't like initially, but grew on me, there are lots...genius, or near genuis, often is harder to digest, I find. Even in pop music. Examples like Animal Collective's "Feels" album (more on AC momentarily), the Deerhof's Runner Four, VU and Nico, Stones' Beggar's Banquet, Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dreams, Pavement's Slanted, Nico's Desertshore (more on Nico later), even Juliana Hatfield's Become What You Are, were all records that I grew to like and then love after repeated listenings and despite initial wariness.

And re Kyle's mention of Pitchfork's 9.6 for Animal Collective, I'll start by saying, I like these guys. I think they make really interesting music, with lots of layers. But I find PM's unfettered adoration pretty far off the mark. And it's not just this record, it's all of them, plus the solo efforts by Panda Bear and whatever the other guy's nom de plume is. I'm nowhere near feeling the genius that Pitchfork does.... and it happens a lot with them, both on the overly positive and opverly negative side, so it shouldn't bother me as much as it does (but it does). For the record, I'm far better aligned to allmusic as a source of reliable reviews.

And finally, in chatting with Derek over a Jamieson's last night, I wanted to pose an additional question to the group. And here it is :

Who is the coolest female pop / rock artist of all time? (If you've been reading along you know who I'm about to nominate...yes, that's right, Nancy Sinatra!) OK nope, I would put forth Nico as the most fascinating, imponderable, strangely beautiful and uncompromising female artist - who, unlike many uncompromising pop artists, makes music I truly adore - of the pop age.

High praise, I know, and based mostly on two records (Chelsea Girl and Desertshore) and her work with VU. I can't get enough of this music. Over the past five years she is probably my most oft-played artist. Every few months I go through another period of deeply unhealthy mini-obsession. These two and a half records are outstanding, weird-but-very-musical statements that inspired a couple of generations of avant garde artists. A Big Wow.

Anyone else care to put forward their not-as-cool-as-Nico fave female pop/rockers?

That sounds highly plausible, Stuart. Probably the best summation of the Billy Joel discussion can be found in an article written by music writer Chuck Klosterman, collected in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I have a copy and will bring to Stuart's for those who care to borrow it.

So what's the best of 2009 so far? Beyond this.

Beast was reviewed within the last week in the star ben raynor....gots good marks...
and by the way what a coincidence, i was discussing the Billy Joel debate with some people I met in a new bar last week and turns out one of them is a booking agent and knows the guy who booked him with Elton john for this springs concert..so to make a long story short Billy Joel will be at the next cd club event at my house...so we can disparge him to his face..

Definitely a distinctive voice. At times she sounds bit like Shirley Bassey but also like this singer Res who had an album out a few years ago (Derek, for some reason I think you own a copy of her disc but I may be wrong). Not sure that I like most of the songs on the Beast album at emusic. Then again, I'm not sure that I dislike them either. The production seems overly elaborate but I get that that's the point so not really a valid complaint. It's an interesting sound and I may have to download just to see if it catches on with me. Interesting find, Mike!

I heard a song on the radio the other day that caught my ear. It was released in 2008, but it wasn't mentioned on any of the "best of" lists in this blog. The band is Beast - they're from Montreal. The song is "Out of Control", and the album is available on emusic. For me, the compelling thing about the song is Beatrice Bonifassi's vocals.

Speaking of Frank Zappa, are any of you fans of his? I've never really heard too much of his music, but I happened upon a radio show about him the other day. They were interviewing musicians who were in his band, and they were positively reverent about him. One woman (a vibraphone player) was describing his system of hand signals. Apparently he had a very complex system that he used to control the music in real time. She said that they'd be playing something, and she'd be really getting into it, and all of a sudden he'd make the gesture that meant that she had to launch into a particular musical phrase from a different song at top speed. She had to do this on command, whether or not it fit the current piece of music, which everybody else kept playing. He had dozens of these signals - some for individual musicians and some for the whole band. She was playing bits and pieces while she talked - really complex stuff. One piece had a time signature change in every bar. But it was not cacaphonic - despite the seemingly random way he called for these substitutions, it all fit together nicely. These musicians described him as a kind of a sonic sculpter. As I heard some of the snippets they played, I had the same reaction that I often have to jazz - I was impressed by the virtuosity, but it's only academic to me. Somehow it doesn't engage me on an emotional level.

Good morning gents. I'm just kicking back listening to Pandora at work. Such a great site. Today's choice is "Stan Getz Radio". Awesome.

Re Billy Joel, I think the man has more than his share of pure songwriting and performing talent, but he's hopelessly devoid of the cult of cool. In that way, perhaps he would fit in well at one of our CD clubs. Ha! Just a thought....

Anyhoo, my sense is he has different heroes than the rest of us - I'm guessing he might list Frank Sinatra, or Frankie Valli, possibly even Frankie Avalon, though likely not Frank Black or Frank Zappa. How else can you explain his output over the years, consistently nowhere near cool, albeit reflective of the aesthetic of the times....say, aware of the beating heart but more content to hang out in the fatty middle-aged spread. What other explanation for his apparent smugness, which is how I interpret his lame bad-assedness?

It's indisputable that guys like Billy exist in the pop music spectrum and have their moments in the sun. It's the length and breadth of his success in particular that's a bit of a stunner, and perhaps should be taken personally - hands up for those of us that own a BJ record - mine is up. Though I do take comfort in the fact that I bought it when I was 13.

I like the idea of a guilty pleasures list. And not the ones that seem like gp's but end up looking pretty good, like, say, digging Black Sabbath. More the Leo Sayer (got him), Toto (got two of 'em) type of thing.

Have a hand-clapping great weekend.

You might want to be careful about how you express your love for John Denver, Mike, at least when it comes to karaoke. It can cost you dearly in Bangkok, apparently.

You're right. Billy Joel does think he's a badass, and he has several totalled automobiles to prove it. And yes, the correct answer to the question, "Don't you just love/hate him?" is a quick shrug of the shoulders.

Giant ads featuring inexplicably popular musical acts at Yonge and Dundas? Say it ain't so! Thanks for the suggestion, D. I've added the link at the side right to beemp3, which I'll second as to its usefulness in finding popular mp3 songs you just can't bring yourself to purchase from itunes.

I've also added a link to iLike, which I discovered yesterday in my wanderings and seems to be a combination muxtape/pandora (with the benefit of actually working in canada, screw you and your us-based servers bri), with additional functionality with itunes, social networking sites, sharing of music, etc. There are some frustrating limitations but also some interesting features. Will continue to play around with it and post my discoveries here.

My 2 cents on the Billy Joel thing - he's never been a favorite, but he's a very long way from the worst thing in popular music. In fact, I'm surprised that his music would engender such a passionate dislike - I would have thought that offhand dismissal would be more appropriate. He's written some good songs and a lot of junk. I've always thought that the amusing thing about Mr. Joel is the difference between his own self-image and the way the rest of the world sees him. The article touched on this - he describes himself as a rock and roll badass, but he is pretty much universally seen as an adult soft-rock crooner.

Taking up Stuart's challenge to admit some musical guilty pleasures, I was a Neil Diamond fan long before it became cool. To be precise, I like the early ND - not "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and beyond. I started with "Hot August Night" and went backwards from there. I've also been a John Denver fan since way back - still waiting for that one to become cool.

To keep it brief, Bob Pollard is an idiot, Neko is a goddess and there are at least a handful of Billy Joel songs that I like so far be it from me to slag him.

Speaking of slagworthy there's a huge billboard above the Eaton Centre touting what must be Celine's latest release and it is titled "Taking Chances" and I almost dropped Ciaran as I laughed so hard as we passed by there yesterday afternoon.

Sites worth listing:

http://beemp3.com/ (better than Limewire or Kazaa and no software to download, if you're only looking for single tracks this is the place to go)

Clearly, this hasn't been the busiest day at work. As such, I've taken to looking at ways to update the blog, including (shock) writing in it as well as updating some of the links on the right side of the screen. If you have any suggestions for cool sites you think should be here, let me know. I'll be adding a couple of ones that I think you all would like in the coming days.

In the meantime, for your downloading pleasure, here is the new Neko Case single, from her forthcoming March 3rd release. Apparently, by simply posting this song for you folks on this blog, Neko will be making a $5 donation to an animal rescue society. Did I really need another reason to love her?

You knew that the ex-GBV frontman, was good for at least two albums per year but apparently in 2009 he's really gonna get off his ass. (I direct your attention to the line of text above the label and release date info). I hereby suggest a new category for 2009's end of year list making: Top 5 Robert Pollard Albums of the Year.

re: the Piano Man. I tend to like these types of 'shot-across-the-bow' articles where the writer takes on popular artists and knocks them down a peg, though one could argue that, given the unhip status of Mr. Joel, that it's more of the 'fish in barrel' type of shooting. And I didn't mind the Gram Parsons aside or the snide tone overall. I'm just not sure I buy his thesis that most Billy Joel songs are about contempt.

"Piano Man" seems more of a lamentation about failure and isolation in the modern world and which paints a mostly empathetic portrait of its sad sack characters rather than a derisive one. "She's Always a Woman" may contain a whole rash of cliches but does the writer really think that the point of this song is Joel expressing his contempt for women? The delivery of the lines he condemns ('hides like a child' and 'carelessly cuts you and laughs') and musical arrangement suggest quite the opposite.

Do I like "She's Always a Woman"? Not particularly. Do songs like 'We Didn't Start the Fire' or one containing line 'Heart attack ack ack ack' provoke a reaction in me akin to the discovery of a cockroach crawling up my leg? Hell yes. But I'd agree with Stuart that there's something to be said for great pop hooks and even in cases where I don't dig all those hooks, I can at least acknowledge them or understand why others do.

The only thing worse then music of the likes of Joel is santimonious smug art critics who like to promote how hip they are by putting down obvious targets.... I read his article for 5 minutes and felt that he was unlikely to add anything of interest to the debate....His obvious self laudatory aside about scooping the Gram Parsons cd is a stong indicator of this type of critic who looks to promote his uber coolness while mocking obvious targets...

Granted I am a big Backarach fan and he fits the catagory of someone who was laughed at but is now considered worthy of praise ( of varying degrees) , so i am biased towards overt pop, but I try to be fair about admitting i like something even if it is the opposite of uber cool...I would be curious to see your own guilty pleasures if you could bring yourself to blog them here...

He also mentions some pop music ( he dont like) gets unfairly reappraised as hip, but cant something be admired because it is a purly irresistable pop hook , why does it have to be cool to be liked? I have to believe it is much more difficult to write an indelable pop hook, then a generic ( read any Nickelback song or the like ) song by an unoriginal band , the likes of which populate the commercial radio dial constantly.,.. come on Piano Man ain't that bad.....

While you're contemplating the merits of the article trashing William Joel, an update and background on the Muxtape, that neat little website that was up and running for a few months last year. Apart from outlining his motivation for creating the site, he also outlines his experience with the major record labels, which is far more illuminating than any article on declining sales or lawsuits in capturing the desperation, pomposity, and overall confusion that reigns amongst the majors.

Thought this might generate some thoughts/discussion: Billy Joel yay or nay?

Big Dipper? Wasn't that your nickname in college, Bri?

Sorry I don't have much else right now. Just started my travels and don't have a lot of new music to talk about. Also, I don't want to spoil what is bound to be an exciting cd club meeting at Stuart's in less than 2 weeks time.

You voiced your disappointment with 80s music, and though I've blogged about this podcast previously, thought I'd repost for those of you who haven't had a chance to listen to it. Mostly funny, though I do take umbrage with the fact that they ignore some of the more interesting bands from that decade (i.e. The Cure, The Smiths) and focus on crappy top 40 stuff.

Given the inauguration today, Carrie Brownstein's (former Sleater Kinney member) blog post and musical suggestions are timely. I particularly like the inclusion of the Wilco track, 'Ashes of American Flags'.

I was more than a little pleased in surfing through allmusic's best re-issues of 2008 to see that a Big Dipper anthology had been released. I was even more (than a little) pleased when I found the anthology on emusic. Though fairly short-lived, they were a fantastic Boston-based band who had one outstanding album and a few other really great songs. The album is "Heavens" from 1987, and it's among my favourite indy pop records of all time. On the anthology, "Heavens'" songs begin with "She's Fetching" and end with "Mr Woods". My favourite tracks are the two above, plus "All Going Out Together", "Easter Eve", and "Wet Weekend".

Whenever I think the eighties were a weak decade of music (and I do) I fall back on a few records to convince me otherwise, and this is right at the top of the list. Interesting historical note, I played a couple of tracks at our first CD club at Kyle's apartment all those years ago (ten? twelve?). Anyway, if you've got a few free downloads at the end of the month, give it a listen.

Apologies for not having my cds ready for you but thanks much for yours...I have only listened to kyles thus far and it is fantastic...in fact so much so that for my year end cd simply make a copy of kyles and right in a (blue) sharpie "all the best from Stuart 2008" on it... Ditto for my year end favorite cd list....

hopefully I will get my siot together shortly but no time just now...

thanks for all the posts, kids. thought i'd end on a tasteful note.



see you all in 2009!

My post won't allow me to do any formatting...apologies for its annoying look.

To echo Kyle's sentiment, thanks to all for your blogs this year, however infrequent or distracted they may have been on occasion.

My 2008 was a middling year musically. While I found an ample supply of appealing pop music - as much or more than any year in the past few - I didn't find the one or two records that I had a strong connection to, over-listened to, was inspired by (thought I'd max out the dangling prepositions there...). In terms of Other-than-Pop, perhaps even less of a good year, despite a few gems. Most of favourite jazz of the year was 60's and 70's (70's which is still pretty new terrirtory for me). No doubt this is at least partially a reflection of the pace of my life, reliance on on-line sources for music, not being "out there" in any meaningful way. Didn't find an Illinoise, Van Occupanther, an Is This it, or Man Made.

So having lulled you into a state of torpor with all of that nonsense, my top ten favourite pop songs this year (and they may very well be from 2007, and hell, yes 2006...these things sometimes take time to percolate) are:

10. Flume - Bon Iver. I hate the term "soulful", but....this is beautifully soulful music. Much loved and commented on so I will keep it short.

9. For Science Fiction - Maritime. An outstanding mix of clean power and melody, great singer in the former Promise Ring's Davey Von Bohlen, anthemic like GBV could be. Best driving song of the year for me. From 2007.

8. Chinatown Bus - Bishop Allen. I love the elliptical story-telling lyric of this song, a window into a life from one moment's perspective. And there's a nice soft rhythmic acoustic feel here that is quite unique. These guys can get a bit too cute for my liking, but the best few songs on this 2008 record are really good.

7. You Can Stay There - The Capitol Years. Apparently this is from 2006. Who knew? Ear-pleasing shimmery power pop; great production and a few memorable songs ("Long Time"); really very good, and entirely unheralded. I would imagine they're due for a new record next year so will be looking out for it.

6. Chicago - The Uglysuit. In the absence of a new Sufjan record I managed to find a song about the midwest to curb my appetite. Ha! Actually these dudes are from Oklahoma, and "Chicago", which (again) is a gorgeous piece of lush pop, is at 4 minutes by far the shortest track on their record - from '08 this time (don't mention it). One of the better albums of the year.

5. Regret - Wye Oak. This is a quiet finger-picking acoustic number from a debut release. Boy girl sounds abound, and lots of range sonically on the album (also one of my faves), though often not all that far removed from the Yo Le Tengo archetype. I love the hushed Paul Simon-esque quality of this number.

4. Walk Away from a Good Thing - The Bicycles. I'm really fond of these slightly goofy Toronto-based popsters, and their second album, which came out in late '08, is more of the same witty, uber-melodic backward looking pop. Check 'em out. And let's plan to see them live sometime.

3. Summer Special - Land of Talk. These Guelph-based rockers had an '08 release that I haven't caught up with yet, but I spent a lot of time this year with their '06 record (Applause Cheer Boo Hiss), where this number is pulled from, and I think it's really strong - edgy but still frail, great guitar-driven songs with a memorable female vocalist.

2. Young Sensualists - Throw Me the Statue. I love this song, the story of two guys who meet at an airport, party together for a couple of days, until our protaganist steals the other guy's girl. Told in a detached but poignant way, feels like a short film. Nice mix of synthetic and real instruments to create the bittersweet musical backdrop. I saw the band at the El Mo in the spring and it is my favourite musical moment of 08.

1. Market Girl - Headlights. Just a fantastic song, a mix of driving rhythms, acoustic strumming, and layer upon layer of guitars, bells, and vocals. I love the bass in this song. More than any other this year, Market Girl is the song I wish I had written. Lyrically, a bit of melancholia, describing in turn a (current) leaky apartment, childhood memories of 4th of July fireworks, and a first love. And off one of the better albums of the year.

I won't bother with honourable mentions, though the rest of the songs on my "best of" CDs are all ones I enjoyed. I've ignored Plants and Animals and The Walkmen on this list, and like Derek, I'm not sure why. They are both very good and could easily be right in there. Mike, I have copies of my best of 08 disks for you (one pop and one not) for the CD club on Jan 31 if you make it (and how is that looking?).

My other favourite song of the year is actually from 2004 - Grizzly Bear's "Don't Ask" - which I eliminated given its vintage (even I have principles). This is a beautiful, simple song, which if you haven't heard, go grab from emusic soon. Incidentally, all of the music above is available on emusic.

In terms of albums, earlier woes aside, my favourites would be Headlights, Bicycles, Liam Finn, The Breeders, Earlimart, Wye Oak, The Bound Stems, The Uglysuit, James McMurtry, and Suzanne Vega (though this is 07 too).

From a jazz and other perspective, I loved Guillermo Klein's record this year, plus Avishai Cohen, Vijay Ayer, Gilfema, Dave Newman, Enrico Pieranunzi's jazz record (he also made an album of Scarlatti), Steve Kuhn (whom we saw playing piano for Joe Lovano you may recall), and Anne Mette Iversen's double CD, one of which has her jazz quartet playing with a string quartet. All on emusic.

Happy New Year to y'all! Keep the blog alive.

Kyle, I think you should invite Jeff to join. It aligns well with his midlife crisis.

Thanks for sharing these lists - I'm going to use them to drive my next few emusic months. I want to reciprocate, but it isn't easy for me to come up with a "Best of 2008" list. I spent a lot of 2008 digitizing my existing music collection rather than looking for new music. And I am generally not on top of new releases, so the albums I latch onto in a given year are not usually new. I'll probably stumble across some great 2008 albums over the next 2-3 years! However, I do have all my songs tagged with years, so I can fairly easily look at my collection and identify the 2008 discs. Having done that, here are the ones that I'd list as favorites (in no particular order):

REM - Accelerate
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
The Rosebuds - Life Like
Skydiggers - City of Sirens
Todd Snider - Peace Queer
Over the Rhine - Snow Angels

I wasn't going to include "Snow Angels" because it is a Christmas album, but after I got into this, I realized that I didn't actually have 10 favorite new albums of 2008, so I decided to include it to help fill up the list (and I really do like the album a lot).

OK my turn to sum up 2008 in my musical world.

Best tunes:

The Dodos - Fools
Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
Justin Townes Earle - Ain't Glad I'm Leaving
Department of Eagles - Teenagers
Jose James - Park Bench People
The New Year - The Company I Can Get
Odd Nosdam - Fat Hooks
Sigur Ros - Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur (track #2)
Walkmen - The New Year
Deerhunter - Never Stops
Vampire Weekend - Campus
Benga - Zero M2
Two Hours Traffic - Backseat Sweetheart
Last Shadow Puppets - Calm Like You
City and Colour - The Girl
Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice
Wolf Parade - The Soldier's Grin
TV on the Radio - Family Tree
Jay Reatard - Painted Shut
Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth

Favourite Albums: Walkmen, Deerhunter, Frightened Rabbit, TV on the Radio, Department of Eagles, Sigur Ros, City and Colour, Cut Copy, David Torn - "Prezens", Marcin Wasilewski - "Trio"

Albums that got all sorts of hype that came no where close to their billing: Lindstrom, Santogold, Portishead (are they paying music critics under the table?), Vampire Weekend, and Fucked Up.

And in case anyone is wondering what happened to Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Plants and Animals on my list something about the overlap, at least in my mind, on these 3 records prevented any one of them from really standing out as one of my favourites of last year as much as I enjoyed each of them.

Hope you all have a great xmas and all the best for 2009.

Probably my last post of 2008 so let me say: I very much appreciate all the divergent thoughts, rants, complaints, praise of all things musical that have been posted here in the last year. Even though my own contributions have been sporadic, and occassionally cruel or mocking (sorry, Stu), I have always enjoyed coming here and reading about what you’ve loved, loathed, or reflected upon this year. Please keep posting!

Okay, albums. I estimate with the number of downloads I get from emusic (90/month), buy from itunes (another half dozen), get from the odd torrent (another handful), and buy in cd form (again another handful), I've probably listened to 80-90 albums this year. Some of these are jazz and classical issues and the odd pop album from previous years but I would guess that around 3/4 or 60-70 of these were 2008 releases. Why do I mention this at the outset?

Well, mostly to put this whole list-making exercise in perspective. I haven't come anywhere close experiencing even a fraction of all the music released this year, certainly when compared to what the average music critic experiences each week. But I still think it’s a good enough sample size to allow me to truly separate ‘Best’ from the ‘Rest’.

My filter:

1) I keep going back to the album and playing it over and over
2) When I’m listening to the album in the background, I frequently stop what I’m doing in the foreground just to listen and admire
3) I start creating playlists in itunes that includes these songs for year-end compilation cds because I feel I have to share them with my friends
4) I will, or at least attempt to, sing this song in the shower

Here then are the discs of 2008 that satisfied 3 or more of the above conditions:

• Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
• Hauschka – Ferndorf
• Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
• Ben Benjamin – The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin
• The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust
• Deerhunter – Microcastles
• Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
• Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
• Pete and the Pirates – Little Death
• The Walkmen – You & Me

The next five:·

• TV on the Radio – Dear Science
• The French Kicks – Swimming
• Au – Verbs (perhaps a good accompaniment to No Age’s Nouns)
• Ida – Lovers Prayers
• Adele – 19

Worst of 2008

• Steve Malkmus – Real Emotional Trash (subtract the first two words and the title sums it up)·
• Portishead – Third (and yet it appears on most of the best of lists I’ve seen….why???)
• Mercury Rev - maybe one or two salvagable tracks off of 2 discs (one instrumental)?
• Coldplay -Vida La ...even the title goes on forever and annoys me
• Catpower – Jukebox – really really really bad covers of songs that don't need to be covered again by anyone ever (New York?)

Released in previous years but only discovered in 2008:

• The Microphones – The Glow Part 2 (hat tip to Brian for the suggestion)
• Odd Nosdam – Level Live Wires (hat tip to Derek for the suggestion)
• The Acorn – The Pink Ghosts
• Jason Palmer – Songbook
• Etudes - Geri Allen w/ Charlie Haden, Paul Motian

Artist of the Year:

Bradford Cox, of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. Deerhunter released 2 albums this year, Microcastles and a second album of more electronic stuff

Hope Santa brings you some nice music this week and Happy New Year!

Beautiful tracks and great finds, Mike. Good for those with downloads left on emusic.

I'm not sure that I'd put this on a best of 2008 list, because it is a Christmas album, but if you're tired of the same old Christmas songs, you might want to download "Snow Angels" by Over the Rhine. It is an album full of original new Christmas songs, some of which are excellent. My favorite is "White Horse", which I couldn't find on You Tube, so here are a couple of other examples from the album instead.

All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue

Darlin' (Christmas is Coming)

You think it's hard putting together a year-end list. Try working on this.

Sarah was listening to Q the other day when she heard about The Blogotheque, a site which films and posts videos of indie artists (Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, other bands which will appear prominently in my best of 2008 list) playing acoustic versions of songs in public spaces. I particularly like Bloc Party's rendition of This Modern Love.

Albums to come shortly, but for now, I thought I'd post my favourite songs of the year. Where possible, I have embedded YouTube clips. I'll save the deconstruction/explanations for the albums.

It goes without saying that many of these will be making an appearance on your christmas discs. Mike, since I won't see you in time for the holidays, I'll make you a special groundhog's day disc.

10. Fat Hooks - Odd Nosdam

9. Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie





8. Creeper - Islands


7. Dead Sound - The Raveonettes



6. In the New Year - The Walkmen



5. Creature Fear - Bon Iver



4. Never Stops - Deerhunter




3. Fairie Dance - Plants & Animals



2. White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes


1. Cape Canaveral - Conor Oberst


Honourable Mentions: Everybody Here is a Cloud - The Cloud Cult, Gila - Beach House, Sex Tourists - The French Kicks, Travel in Time - Marching Band, River Card - Atlas Sound

agree mike. the stripped down acoustic version of 'hamster' was easily superior.

I preferred the original version.

Early front-runner for song of the year, with a very timely and urgent message for us all to consider:

I didn't even know there was a Luna documentary. Will have to scour the local indie video store.

I am working on my year end list. Am trying not to read other year end lists, other than Exclaim's, which I recently mentioned here, so that my own list isn't just a rehash of what everybody else is picking. I don't expect I'll be able to avoid inclusion of a lot of the usual suspects but will try to craft my list accordingly. Time to hold your breath.... now!

All of which leads us to the inevitable, but still fun, process of choosing our best of 08. I've been giving it some thought but am not ready. Anybody prepared to throw together a list of music discovered / loved / hated / surprised by / indifferent to / disappointed by this year?

I saw the Luna documentary Tell Me Do You Miss Me this week (it's a couple of years old now) and really loved it. Has anyone seen it? Reminded me what how hard it is to be a musician, perhaps especially in a rock band, for a living, and was a really good portrait of the people in the band, particularly Dean and Sean, who couldn't be more different people. Really hard to believe they survived 10 years (maybe because Sean is a fantastic guitar player). Also, what great simple songs.

Sorry that the link did not work. I was referencing Mike's very moving tribute to his recently deceased friend. But you're right, Stuart's ode to Paradise Radio, which has appeared as a link on the right side of the blog for the past year or two, was also touching.

With regards to criticism, I've just found that so much of what has been highly recommended or rated this past year has been, for the most part, pretty damn mediocre. I suspect this has something to do with the fact that 2008 has been, imo, mostly a pretty mediocre year for pop music in general. The reason I linked to this article and posed the question is because I felt that too many mediocre or just not very good albums were being given a pass or graded on a curve.

Two relatively popular cases in point:

Example 1: Coldplay's Vida La Vida, a collection of shallow, overproduced songs trying to out-epic each other, received mostly glowing reviews upon its release this spring, most of which were based on the fact that the album wasn't as bad as its predecessor.

Example 2: Kanye West's latest 808s & Heartbreak, listless vocoder-enhanced whining that NOW magazine just gave a glowing 4 stars, similar to accolades received elsewhere.

Are either albums terrible? No. But the reviews either suggest brilliance or gloss over the shortcomings. I think I'd like to read more balanced assessments.

UPDATE: Lest you think I'm picking on some bigger names, easier targets, here are some examples of over-hyped new bands/releases see, "Ra Ra Riot", "Ladyhawke" and "Santogold".

Interesting query, Kyle. Before I get into a response, I'm curious to know which post you were citing in your first couple of lines, as the link didn't work. Probably one of Stuart's.

So....from my perspective, criticism is meant to highlight the extra layers in the art, the artist's influences and intentions, put it in the context in which it was created, and consider the context in which it might be reviewed in the future. And good critics find words to illuminate the beauty and power of art, and potentially the truth or falseness.

All of this is obvious, I know. But I truly don't veer far from that perspective when I read criticism, even something as puny as local-rag critiques of pop music. So I tend to think, not about whether the critics are using a negative or positive lens, which I'm sure happens, but whether their critiques ring true, inspire me to listen, look at, watch, make the art mean more to me.

Good/great critics can be generally scathing (think of Jay Scott) but have to convince you of their love for the medium to be compelling - if you like movies, you won't want to read a guy (not every day anyway) who always says they're crap. They can also be cheerleaders, like say Roger Ebert, as long as their knowledge of the art form works for me.

All of which is to say that, no I hadn't noticed a trend towards pollyanna-ism in reviews. And Malkmus for me is dead dead dead (incl, the latest). Too bad re Malkmus, possibly as much a function of me not wanting him to change that beautiful thing that was Pavement as him getting "worse" at writing and performing songs (but more likely just that). So any paper that touts his latest as one of the best of the year is describing a rough year in pop, and/or isn't listening to the good stuff. 

What to do when I haven't posted in awhile, and when others are frequently contributing poignant reflections? Link to (and thus leverage) another person's thesis in an attempt to drum up an interesting discussion? You bet!

The question: Are there too many positive music reviews? (As interesting as the initial post is, the comments below offer some thoughtful responses).

Several of us in the past have expressed our distaste for the manner in which some local music wags seem to delight in criticizing music, either to deliberately provoke or to project their indie credibility/sophistication/cultural know-it-all-ness. But has the pendulum swung too much in the opposite direction? Are we all too willing to embrace the mediocre?

In recent conversations with some of you, I've itemized some of my biggest disappointments of the year (to be posted here in coming weeks as part of year-end list making exercises, to which i look forward annually), like the Portishead and Stephen Malkmus discs, both of which appear--inexplicably to me--on Exclaim's Top 20 of 2008. I'm not sure the last time I read a negative review that wasn't also apologetic in tone, as if the author was embarassed by his/her reactions. I'm thinking some reviewers are becoming more sympathetic to their subject matter because 1) they know how little contemporary musicians are likely to make and 2) the reviewers probably have their own band as well and don't want to put themselves into a bad karmic position.

Thoughts?

I'm not sure why or how I never bothered listening to the Internet Radio despite the multiple lauds, but I finally did this week, and am pretty impressed. I found a pretty great jazz station called "DMT - Coltrane, Monk, etc" or something like that which I would also recommend. Great simple programming for an evening.

Also, not sure how many of you guys are using ITunes as your major source of music at home (connected to your stereo etc) but if you are, the relatively new Genius is pretty cool - makes great playlists automatically, lots of good info about the music etc.

Mike, sorry to hear about Randy. I liked the music, really soulful acoustic tunes.

Stuart:

My email address is michaeljgaines@rogers.com.

I completely agree about Radio Paradise. I discovered that station years ago and have listened to regularly since then. The owner/DJ programs sets of music that are generally cohesive in some way - the songs are connected musically, lyrically, thematicly or in some other way. He covers a broad range of styles (not all of which I enjoy) and there is very little talking. The web site has lots of nice features including discussion boards about the playlist, a database of songs and artists, a gift shop and lots of help for those who have difficulty listening because of firewalls or whatnot. I have often used Radio Paradise as an example of the huge potential of Internet Radio.

Mike can i have your email as I will need to email you my address should you wish to join us in january at the next cdclub session....some interesting selections in the tribute , I will check them out further tonight...

apologies, my blogg comment was being written, while you were putting the tribute on the site...
I meant no disrespect in disregarding the tribute....
My condolences.....

I dont know if I raved about this on metabeats before but I have to reopeat myself if I did...
You should check out paradise radio.....its on itunes radio under eclectic ...we play it all day at the office somedays and it is most incredible...They do what good radio should , which is mix music from many genres...country, rock , folk, alt rock, electronic and from the 60's to today. They also dont play just the hits, they pick the good but obscure album tracks that you never hear on commercial radio , mixed it with more well known tracks. For example last hour they played tracks off U2 unforgettable fire, Bob Dylan, blood on the tracks, Neil young , after the goldrush, the new , new pornographers, Elliott smith, some Beck off sea changes , ray charles , patsy cline, etc.....and a bunch of new bands I didnt know...generally they dont rock out hard, which makes it good for the office....

OK – I’ve got something for the blog. Late last week my friend Randy passed away. He’s been battling cancer for 9 years – 2 years ago, he was told he had 2 months left. I met Randy when our sons played on the same soccer team, and initially it was soccer and hockey that formed the basis of our relationship. Eventually, though, we discovered that we had some common ground musically. Randy came from Newfoundland, and he had a strong love of Celtic, folk and bluegrass music, but he also was into blues, jazz and world music. He was a pretty accomplished guitar player, but he shied away from performing, so I only heard him play when the two of us were playing alone. Whenever it was a larger group, he’d just listen. I had heard that he had taken a turn for the worse a few weeks ago, and I went to visit him. He looked much older and weaker, but after we talked about this and that, he said that he wanted to do some recording, and he asked me to come back with my guitar to help him. I did that a few days later, and we spent a couple of hours going over the material that he wanted to record. We were supposed to get together to do the actual recording a couple of days later, but he died before we could do that.

Over the years, Randy sent me a bunch of links to You Tube videos of performers that he liked. I had never heard of most of them, but most of it was very good. I believe I’ve mentioned him in a past entry in this blog, and included at least one of the links that he had sent me. I thought a fitting tribute to Randy would be to share a few more of them with you today. Enjoy!

The Subdudes - Standing Tall

HEM - Redwing

Martin Tallstrom - Freight Train

Griffin House – The Guy that Says Goodbye to You

Good God! What is up Metabeats? It's crazy quiet out there.

As the most recent blogger, I felt immune from the (dare I admit it) pressure to blog. Plus, I naturally assumed that, to a degree, the quietness stemmed from the reverence due such a bitching blog as my last one (and thanks).

But ignoring for a moment my crystalline brilliance in analyzing the music of the mid-90's, there is a genuine fear on my part that I won't be able to make it through another work week without a blog thread to amuse me. So I would ask that we each offer up what we are listening to on our IPods these days. Pop/rock? Jazz? Classical?

Derek, I haven't seen an actual CD, but do have downloads Nazz and Nazz Nazz.   Both are great...I see (from allmusic) there is a good looking anthology out there as well.   I think you have a shot at finding it (or others) at Soundscapes or some such, given the Todd Rundgren connection.   

And yes, it's definitely time for a CD club.    I've got some new music to play.    And could use a beer.

So my much anticipated 1994 list.  Really, anyone who knows me (and I think you all qualify) will recognize a huge number of my standard (I've heard I can be a bit repetitive) gotta haves on this list.  

Pavement - Crooked Rain 

Sebadoh - Bakesale

Sloan - Twice Removed       

Hole - Live Through This

Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand

Weezer - self titled (blue)

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea

Superchunk - Foolish

Blur - Parklife

Live - Throwing Copper

Luna - Bewitched

Beck - Mellow Gold

Nirvana - Unplugged

Green Day - Dookie

Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set

Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary 

Treble Charger - NC17

American Music Club - San Francisco

Len - Superstar

Tortoise (self titled)

Awesome list eh?  Really, undeniably one of the great years in rock and pop.

Problem is, 1993 is almost as good.   Maybe better.  

Nirvana - In Utero

Belly - Star

Dino Jr. - Where You Been  

Radiohead - Pablo Honey

Flaming Lips - Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (still my favourite record of theirs)

Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dreams

The Breeders - Last Splash

The Posies - Frosting on the Beater

Superchunk - On the Mouth

Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne

Eleventh Dream Day - El Moodio

Cracker - Kerosene Hat

Counting Crows - August and Everything After

Bad Religion - Recipe for Hate

Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Bloody amazing year too.   Really.   But I would tend to choose 94 based on the inclusion of Crooked Rain and Bakesale, maybe for me the two records most emblematic of the greatness of the 90's alternative rock scene.   As I write out all of these great records I still get a bit of a chill.  I remember the feeling I had at the time of being connected to the music viscerally, and yet also intellectually and profoundly.    Perhaps I knew in my heart that feeling this much of a thrill about music (one brilliant release after another) for a two year period was unlikely to last.   And to experience at the age of thirty or so was a little unexpected.   And it was probably sometime on 1997 before I realized that the magic period was over, and in a way, had been for a while.  

  

 

 

As we await the still to be posted definitive 1994 album list may I suggest that we are fast approaching the time for another CD club. Perhaps Mike you can participate by suggesting some records that are currently seeing air time in your world. And good luck with that October "winter" storm coming your way.

Thanks to Brian once again for that 60s comp that he handed out at the last CD club. I've been listening to the "Nazz Nazz" album by the Nazz tonight and it's a beauty. I might even have to go out and find myself a legitimate CD copy. Anyone seen this on disc?

Well admittedly, I might have been playing the role of disingenue there. If such a word exists. But it's not like me to turn the other cheek. However methinks we're getting away from the original point, which is, 1967 was a bitching year of music. As was....wait for it.....1994 (post forthcoming).

Another good blog question concerns the nexus of pop charts and good music. When (like, which year) were they most closely aligned? And why are they generally so far apart? Would top-selling albums provide a better barometer?

Picking, at random, the Billboard Top 20 from pretty much any year in the last 30 is like shooting fish in a barrel if you're looking for complete dreck. The Billboard charts have been a bellweather for nothing at all where timeless music is concerned. Take a look at 1987, 1995 or 2002 if you don't believe me. I think you're being rather disingenuous if you're trying to pump up the case for 1967 by citing "Reunited" and "The Pina Colada Song" as proof that it was a better year than 1979.

For purposes of full disclosure Le Freak, Good Times and Pop Music were some of my favourite tunes of that year. As for Heartache Tonight I think you all know how I feel about the Eagles.

A solid argument as always Mike. While I can't and won't attempt to deflect attention from the puerile qualities of our National and Provincial "songs", it's worth reminding all that 1979, with its undoubted high points, was a year when disco (Phase 1) was in its death throes - though clearly not fast enough. In fact, perhaps better to move off of this line of argument altogether, when you look at the Billboard Top 20 below, which despite the inclusion of The Knack (and I mean, c'mon, it's the Knack!) and Blondie, may be one of the worst annual top 20's in the pantheon of modern pop.

(And this is where Stuart jumps in and says "le Freak" and "I Will Survive" are great songs that he had a lot of early-teen romantic success with.)

01.My Sharona » Knack
02. Bad Girls » Donna Summer
03. Le Freak » Chic
04. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy » Rod Stewart
05. Reunited » Peaches & Herb
06. I Will Survive » Gloria Gaynor
07. Hot Stuff » Donna Summer
08. Y.M.C.A. » Village People
09. Ring My Bell » Anita Ward
10. Sad Eyes » Robert John
11. Too Much Heaven » Bee Gees
12. MacArthur Park » Donna Summer
13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman » Dr. Hook
14. Makin' It » David Naughton
15. Fire » Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy » Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love » Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass » Blondie
19. What A Fool Believes » Doobie Brothers
20. Good Times » Chic

Great points Brian. However, if you're going to truly compare years, you have to look at the bad as well as the good. Remember that '67 was the centennial year here in Canada, which gave us two of the worst national theme songs ever penned. Both the Ca-na-da (1 little, 2 little, 3 Canadians) song AND the equally timeless Ontari-ari-ario theme were created during that year, and between them they provide a substantial but hard to quantify offset to all of the gems that you listed.

For me (and, I suppose, countless others) the 60's was in all measurable ways the most remarkable period for pop music. Such an explosion and progression over such a short period, and coming from nowhere and nothing only a few years previously. It's the end of the war twenty years later, the demographic bubble, the new order of Europe and America, all of these things and more. And like Stuart, I delved so deeply into the music in my teens that I felt like I lived it (though I do get your point Derek). It was a big part of my youth, and still some of the most important music to me on all levels.

So I thought originally that I would choose my fave 60's year based on a sort of top five approach (since there's so much music), so was thinking 1968 based on The Stones Beggar's Banquet, The Beatles White, The Zombies Oddysey, The Kinks' Village Green, and Love's Forever Changes. Wow, I thought, what a Big Five. Plus I think of 1967 as primarily the year that psychedelia peaked (just listen to the Hollies playing sitar on their release from that year....boo hiss), which while in many cases is magnificent ear candy, in my gut I know hasn't aged as well as music before and after. So I felt good about 1968.

Stupidly, I suppose, while in the afterglow of my smug I've-nailed-the-right-year state, I glanced at the release date for Forever Changes, only to find that it was actually November 1967. I was surprised. OK, I figured, that's an important record, so let's make sure that if I lob it back into 1967 it doesn't tip the scales. And a bit of research (and just giving my head a shake becase I own all these records) more than convinced me that, really, 1967 wasn't all just hype. It was an unbelievable year, and yes, quite possibly the best single year of pop and rock records.

I'll throw a few out, and if you don't have all of these records, well, for Christ's Sake go get them.

Buffalo Springfield - Again
The Doors - self-titled
The Velevet Underground and Nico
Beatles - Sgt Pepper's
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
The Monkees - Headquarters (I kid you not this is a great record)
The Byrds - Younger than Yesterday
The Stones - Between the Buttons (plus, Satanic Majesties' Request)
J Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
Moby Grape - self titled debut
Cream - Disraeli Gears
Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gaets of Dawn
Love - Forever Changes
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
The Kinks - Something Else
Traffic - Mr. Fantasy
Dylan -John Wesley Harding

Those are kind of the obvious ones, the A list if you will. There's great B List of slightly lesser knowns as well:

Ten Years After (debut)
Donovan - Mellow Yellow
Nico - Chelsea Girl (one of my very favourite records)
Mamas and Papas - Deliver
Procol Harum - self titled debut
Arlo Guthrie - Alices' Restaurant
Absolutely Free - Mothers of Invention
The Turtles - Happy Together (amazing summer pop)
Big Brother and the Holding Company (self titled debut)
Yardbirds - Little Games
The Rascals - Groovin'

Lots more too. So, there you have it, my first choice for best single year, is, predictably (but not without justification) 1967.

I will have to look back at that year (1979) as it had already led to the Buzzcocks who have been getting lots of play on my ipod lately (thanks Derek)...I seemed to have been spending the last half of the seventies getting into 60's music so i missed the sharp change from disco to punk and only caught on in the early eighties, (which meant I missed it completely as the heart of it was so brief)....thanks for some of those more obscure late 70's tips....
I did look at 71 but without a beatles album....I couldnt quite justify it....68 is great too (wherefore art thou list Brian)....I thought you would pick 67 though....
actually 1989-91 is a very similar transition.(granted that is 3 years not 1) ..from oldies like the cure(disintegration, ) Lou reed new york, morrisey (viva hate) and newcomers stone roses pearl jam 10 nirvanna (nevermind) pixies (doolittle) again it is the changing of the guard...what about 1999-2001??

In terms of 1979, great pick...one, after all, that started this whole blog trail in the first place. Hard to argue with its importance to all of us guys in our forties (Kyle may not get it though). And such great music. I would add a couple of small-ish bur great release - The Records' Shades in Bed (which I loved then); Gang of Four's Entertainment (which I learned to love later), and Rolling Stones Some Girls, which although it came out in 1978 was the record I lived with most in 1979, and which started my life long romance with British pop/rock (Romancing the Stones?). So I think 1979 works equally well as both a personal and academic take on the best year in pop.

Well, I think to a degree it's about the way the human brain tends to organize itself, compounded by media, historians etc. Nobody's talking about 1989 or 1999 as breakthroughs, though arguably the early 1990's with Nirvana etc was truly revelatory.

I thought we might get some picks for 1971, with, off the top of my head, Led Zep IV, Who's Next, Sticky Fingers, Pearl, multiple others, or 1970, with All Things Must Pass, Derek and the Dominoes, Cosmos Factory, etc.

I find it very strange that the end of each decade seemed to be a turning point for musical styles and thus was very potent because you get the older and the newer styles fighting and producing great music... its strange how all stlistic periods in fashion, auto design, interior design etc....as well as music seem to match the datelines of the decade which are such arbitrary chronilogical markers...its almost as if the style makers have one eye on the calander and so with the turning of the new decade new shit starts to happen..

Looks like you've beaten me to the punch there Mike. And you've almost stolen the very words from my mouth where 1979 is concerned. This was indeed the pivotal year in my lifelong love of music. For me this year meant so much because at the age of 16 and actually living through this transitional period in music my hunger for the new was insatiable.

I'm sure that many of you, and some already have, could make a case for a year in the 60s but I'd find it difficult to pick a year where the music, the radio play, the live scene all pre-dated my enjoyment of the records. As much as I adore the Zombies "Odyssey and Oracle" there's no personal connection with any of the tracks on the record. I'll never remember where I was or how I felt when I first heard "This Could be Our Year". I distinctly remember how I felt upon first hearing "Making Plans for Nigel" and understanding that my parents would never ever get this song.

To add to Mike's already very complete list:

Squeeze - Cool for Cats
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
The Police - Regatta de Blanc
Blondie - Parallel Lines
The Cars - Candy-O (not as great as their debut but pretty great, the sort of reverse Strokes)
Buzzcocks - A Different Kind of Tension (the band along with the Jam that, more than the Sex Pistols, defined the late 70's UK music scene)
Cheap Trick - Dream Police
B52s - B52s
Stranglers - The Raven
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Gary Numan - Pleasure Principle
Pretenders - the album came out in 1980 but Stop Your Sobbing and Brass in Pocket were both singles in 1979
Flash and the Pan - Flash and the Pan

I've just reviewed my own collection by year, and it seems to me that 1979 produced a nice crop of music. It was a transition time for rock as the 70's hard rock and disco bands were being supplanted by punk and new wave. But really, I'm looking at this more from the perspective of music that I enjoyed, and it probably has something to do with the fact that I was personally awakening to the world of rock in 1979. Albums from that year include:

- Breakfast in America by Supertramp
- Daman the Torpedos by Tom Petty
- In through the Outdoor (Led Zeppelin's final studio album)
- London Calling, by the Clash
- Rust Never Sleeps AND Live Rust by Neil Young
- The Fine Art of Surfacing by The Boomtown Rats
- The Wall by Pink Floyd
- Caroline Mas (not a widely acclaimed record, but one that I've always liked a lot)
- Cheap Trick at Budokan (an early favorite of mine, and the band I saw at my first concert)
- Crusader by Chris de Burgh (again, more of a personal favorite than an industry milestone)
- Rickie Lee Jones
- Queen Live Killers
- Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
- Low Budget by the Kinks
- Communique by Dire Straits

And moving beyond my personal collection of music, we have:

- Armed Forces by Elvis Costello
- Setting Sons by The Jam
- Fear of Music by The Talking Heads
- The Undertones
- Drums and Wires by XTC
- The Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle by The Sex Pistols
- Labour of Lust by Nick Lowe

It doesn't compete with '69 from a rock history perspective, I don't think. But it's one of my favorite years.

Good choice Stuart.  1969 has got to be considered one of the greatest years of all time.     Despite being two years after the release of Da Capo.    Another good record in there was The Kinks' Arthur, and Love's actual 1969 release, Four Sail.   

Interesting how it is mostly the Brits though eh?  

Though the Airplane's Volunteers, the Dead's Aoxomoxo, and Santana's great first record (Santana) were all from 69 too.    Great year of music.

I'm going to nominate 1968, 198? (let's keep that one a mystery) and yes, 1993.   Though strangely I don't remember the scene from Juno.    I'll fill in the details in a separate note.

ok so its CSN , not CSY...
a few more....from 69
Rod Stewarts first album self titled
The bands second album...The band
The allman brothers first self titled album
Blind Faith
Love da capo ( ok so its a shit album ....Brian likes it}

ok ill take this on.....1969...because it still had very good albums and or songs from previous generations and had definative albums from all the top bands that would consolidate and then define the sound for generations to come.. ()ok I knoe that sounds like an old timer on a classics radio station but you take my point...its hard to pick 80's or later bands because they are so derivative of what came before, but I am sure i will get challenged on that front )
so ;
Beatles - abbey road and arguably let it be also..
Stones let it bleed
the who - tommy
led zepillin - I and II !!!
dylan- nashville skyline ( granted not his best but highly underrated)
Neil Young- everyone knows this is nowhere
velvet underground - self titled
fairport convention- 1st 2 albums!!!!
creedence clearwater --3 fucking albums!!!!..bayou, green river and willy
nick drake- 5 leaves
presley- suspicious minds , in the ghetto....
Neil diamond- sweet caroline
Johhny cash- a boy named sue
CSY- CSY

probably more if i think about it

I don't want to steal Derek's, um, thunder, since he's apparently dying to post on this.   But neither 1967 nor 1977 were mentioned.   Though they were both great years.   

1985.

Hahahahahahahahha!

I'm guessing this was a pissing match between 1977 and 1967, yes? Or did 1993 get into the mix, a la that scene from the movie Juno?

Elaborate, s'il vous plait.

I'm well behind on my posts, boys, just too busy these days.  Wanted to respond to Kyle's eighties post, but perhaps there has been too much water under the bridge.  Briefly though, I'll say that the eighties were a period, like the zeroes, when commercial radio was pretty weak, but in my view anyway, the various alternatives to commercial radio were very strong, and almost, though not quite, defined it as a "good" versus "bad" era in music.     I could list examples but I suspect we all know most of them.   From where we stand now, I tend to agree that the eighties doesn't stand up well versus the decades before or after.   But history re-invents these things regularly.  I distinctly felt in the eighties, that the seventies was a grim decade, other than the salvation of punk and new wave at its end.   Prog rock, disco, soft southern cali rock, and the genesis of metal in a plethora of bad "hard" rock, these were all things that the punks rebelled against, and rightfully so.  And yet, strangely, now, the seventies feel like a fertile decade of pop and rock.  

Which brings me to my next point.   Derek and I had a few the other night, and began a classic blog discussion on eras in rock music.  Ultimately we boiled it down to this: Which single year should be considered the greatest rock and pop year of all time, and which releases from that year support your argument?   

Derek had a strong opinion (a year, I mean) Friday night, and since this was his idea for a post, I'll leave it to him to expand on it, assuming Saturday morning didn't change his thinking.  I will chime in later in the week after giving the whole thing a little more thought.  

Read your post too quickly the first time, Derek. Seeing the words Ciaran and Elmo, I thought you were complaining that your only concert of the year thus far would involve an orange muppet. I was all ready with a snide comment too! (If you wanted simple song structure and childish lyrics why didn't you just get tickets to a Kimya Dawson concert? Rimshot! Your witty rejoinder: I wanted something more sophisticated. ba da dum. cymbol).

But now I realize you're talking about...Dr. Dog show. Enjoy!

And thanks for pointing the way to the gratis Mercury Rev instrumental stuff, which for some reason I suspect I'm going to enjoy more than the with-vocals new album.

Just as a follow up to the Mercury Rev posts most of you are probably aware that their new record is now available on e-music but they also have a second full-length (completely instrumental) that is available as a free download from their website.

And in the how do you know you're 45 department. This Friday night (yes October 3rd) I will be attending my first rock show of the soon to be departed 2008 at the Elmo. Shouldn't be too much longer before Ciaran has me beat in the live music department.

Has anyone seen anything live that's blown them away this year?