The Replacements

The Replacements are one of those great undiscovered rock bands. In a parallel universe they would have been bigger than Bon Jovi and Guns 'n' Roses. Instead, they have a cult following with a small fanbase who simply adore them.

Led by the charismatic Paul Westerberg, they released 7 albums in their 13 year reign from 1979 to 1991. Their widely-accepted career peak ran from 1984 to 1987 where they released their holy trilogy: Let it be, Tim and Pleased to meet me. Most of their other albums had moments of brilliance, but none were quite as good as those 3 albums.

Unfortunately, even the albums that made up that trilogy had their fair share of filler on them. I'm of the school of thought that the 'Mats (as they are affectionately known to their fans) never released a completely solid album. And while this is incredibly disappointing for me (being such a fan of the album format), they have left such an unforgettable legacy in their songs that you can't help but forgive the lads. In a way, it's all part of their charm -- you can't hold it against them for deciding to include a throwaway song like Gary's got a boner in amongst timeless tunes like Unsatisfied and Sixteen blue.

They played by their own rules, and they were all the better for it. Their film clip for Bastards of young was a black and white clip of a stereo playing the tune. Yes, you read that right. A still image of a stereo. Can you imagine any band getting away with that in the current era of cliched film clips, where record companies care more about style and image over musical substance? It just wouldn't happen anymore. Bands are simply brands nowadays, investments to record company shareholders. If they don't earn the moolah, they are sent on their merry way. The Replacements were a band who were clearly marketable, but they simply refused to let the possibility of worldwide success get in the way of their artistic vision. They kept it real throughout their whole career, and it paid off because they left us with a legacy of passionately real rock music. They are the antithesis of over-produced record company darlings like Creed, Nickleback and their ilk.

But there's more to these guys than just the music. Paul Westerberg is also the master of the witty lyric, and he has written many couplets that would make other lyrical geniuses like Elvis Costello proud. Here's a quote from Bastards of young from Tim:

The ones who love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we’ll die to please
If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them

Who can seriously say they cannot relate to this? How many times have you tried ever so hard to please someone that you have absolutely no respect for? Meanwhile neglecting those that you love, because you know (or at least you hope) they will always be there for you? Westerberg is up there with Tom Waits as one of the few real conveyors of human emotion through lyric.

I have recently come to the conclusion that the 'Mats are almost the ultimate mixtape band. As I said, they never released a masterpiece of an album. But they have so many brilliant songs tucked away on all of their albums that these songs need to be taken out of context and listened to as the microcosms of pop/rock perfection that they are. They are the first band that has inspired me to create and arrange a playlist on my iPod of their best moments.

Here's some of my favourite Replacements songs, one from each of their "career peak" albums. I think these songs cover a wide range of styles; Unsatisfied is emotion-driven rock at its finest (long before the unfortunate marketing term emo became overused), the aforementioned Bastards of young is one of their finest rock anthems and Skyway is an acoustic guitar standard that is almost unbearable in its beauty. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope it's the beginning of your love affair with the 'Mats.

The Replacements - Unsatisfied [Link Removed]
The Replacements - Bastards of young [Link Removed]
The Replacements - Skyway [Link Removed]

Let me know what you think!

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, AAC files have been replaced with MP3 ones. So you should now be able to listen to them through WinAmp, Media Player or whatever else you want to use. They will stay up for another week.

UPDATE: Song links removed.

A change is gonna come

You may have noticed something different in one of my recent posts. Yes, for the first time ever I actually included a song to download in the post. I have been thinking about where this blog is going and I have decided to start including downloadable songs in future posts. After all, it's much easier to appreciate a song if you can actually hear it rather than read about it.

Because I will be hosting the files myself, links to the songs will be removed one week after the date of posting them. All songs will be in AAC (.m4a) format, as that is the format that I use on the iPod. You can listen to these in iTunes, or download a plugin like this one which will allow you to play them in WinAmp.

I have a few questions for you, dear reader:

• Is this a good idea?
• Do you think it's a good way to get into new music?
• Will you download the songs I post here?
• More importantly, will you listen to the songs I post here?
• Will me posting songs make you more inclined to comment on this blog?

Please reply via the comments with answers to these questions; I appreciate any input.

Please note that I do not condone music piracy in any form. So after listening to the songs, either delete them or buy them. If you like the songs I post, you can ask me for more information. Maybe the album that the song comes from is a great one, in which case I can recommend the whole album to you. Maybe it's the one good song off an average album, in which case I can recommend that you buy the song from iTunes (or your prefered online digital music retailer).

In honour of the title of this post, here's the classic Otis Redding song (actually a cover of a Sam Cooke tune). Enjoy!

Otis Redding - A change is gonna come [Link Removed]

UPDATE: For some reason both FireFox and IE change the extension of the file to .mpeg when trying to save the file. Please rename the file so it has a .m4a extension before trying to listen to it and I'll try to figure out what's going on.

UPDATE: Song links removed.

Sayonara Señor iTrip!

I just got back from JB Hi Fi where I had my perfectly functional Pioneer stereo head unit replaced with a Sony CDXGT150. Why would I do something so crazy? Because this Sony head unit has a feature that my old car stereo doesn't have, an auxiliary (line-in) connector. This means that I can finally farewell my iTrip (well, at least in the car).

So it's goodbye to the following:

• No more iTrip falling out of the dock every time I drive over a bump too quickly (I have lost count of the number of times this has happened).
• No more poor static-y sound quality, especially when I go through a suburb that's broadcasting a local radio station on the same frequency as the iTrip (88.2 MHz was my current setting).
• No more switching between LX and DX modes on the iTrip in a lame attempt to improve the sound quality.
• No more little "click" sound when the iPod goes from one track to the next (probably due to the iTrip broadcast being cut off for a fraction of a second). [Unfortunately, the segue issue is still there.]
  
• No more having to make sure I pause the iPod before leaving the car. You see, the iPod has a cool feature where it pauses automatically when the earphones pop out (or in this case, the line-in connector). Since the iTrip was connected via the dock, I had to always ensure that I paused the iPod when I removed the iTrip.
• No more using the volume control on the iPod while I'm driving only to realise that it has no effect on the volume broadcast via the iTrip (the volume control doesn't affect the output through the dock connector).
  

My debut album with the new improved "iPod on the go" was Hail to the thief. When opening track 2+2=5 got to the loud bit and the iPod was all cranked up, I was in pizza-faced paradise. The comparison in sound quality is ridiculous. Listening to AM radio was even better than listening to my music through the iTrip. Listening through the line-in connector is just like listening to a CD in the car. I miss this sound quality :-) In fact, I'd been so disappointed in the iTrip sound quality that for the past few months I have totally avoided listening to albums in the car and listened to podcasts instead (where sound quality isn't so important and the iTrip is more than suitable).

Some may argue that this was a waste of money. Well, maybe it was. After all, I could simply listen to CDs when I'm in the car and listen to the iPod everywhere else. But I'd still have the dilemma of deciding which CDs to carry with me. And this goes against the whole reason for buying the iPod in the first place, to centralize my music collection and be able to listen to what I want when I want. Which includes driving in my car.

So if you are still listening to your iPod in the car via an FM transmitter and sound quality is of paramount importance to you, then I highly recommend upgrading stereos. It may be one of those situations where you don't realise what you're missing out on until you hear how it should sound. And it's not excessively expensive, JB Hi Fi are currently selling the Sony model I bought for about $168.

And while this may have come off as a major anti-iTrip rant, I still think that the iTrip is an elegantly designed device that has its place. It's great when you are out and about with no other musical options than listening to the radio. In this case you truly can take your music everywhere. But in the places where you listen to music the most, you can definitely get better sound quality through other means.

RIP: Grant McLennan 1958-2006

I was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Grant McLennan (founding member of the Go-Betweens) on the weekend at the age of 48.

I have been a fan of the Go-Betweens since about 2003, when I purchased their 2nd album Before Hollywood (a great recommendation from Pete). Since then, I have purchased all of their albums except for their debut Send me a lullaby which is quite hard to find. Their 1988 masterpiece 16 Lovers Lane is now one of my favourite albums of all time. Their last album Oceans apart made my top 10 albums of 2005 list. It's highly unlikely that Robert Forster will continue without him, so I guess it will also be their last album :-(

I'm so glad that I got to see them in concert in July last year. It's so easy to say "I'll see them next time they are around", and even easier to say that about a band who only have to come from Brisbane. I guess there's a lesson to be learnt -- if you really want to see a band, see them now! You never know what's around the corner.

Last night I listened to No reason to cry on my iPod, a Grant-sung song from Oceans Apart which is all the more poignant now.

Rest in peace, Grant. You will be sadly missed.

UPDATE: Song links removed.

A chat with Brian Nankervis

On Saturday night I was at the Pause Bar in East St. Kilda for my friend Sheri's 27th birthday party. My fiancee Lorin spotted Brian Nankervis at the bar early in the night, and just as we were leaving I spotted him near the rear exit and had a bit of a chat with him. For those who don't know, Brian is an Australian comedian and the creator and co-host of SBS music quiz show RocKwiz. Those who have been paying attention will know that yours truly, Pete and Dean have all had our moment in the spotlight on this show.

He's a genuinely friendly guy; I told him that I'd been on the show on the episode with Ross Wilson and he immediately said "Ahh yes -- Take me to the river" which was the cover version that Ross Wilson and Nessa Morgan (the other celebrity on the show) sung at the end of the episode. You can tell he has a real passion for the show, which is really great to see but also expected because the show is his creation and his "baby".

I also told him that I had been at a recent filming of a season 3 episode of RocKwiz, and I asked him to confirm that the shows are definitely longer now (the night ended after 11:30pm compared to 10:30pm in previous seasons). He confirmed that season 3 episodes were indeed longer, and after editing they will be 45 minutes on TV. He said he's heard mixed comments about the length of filming for season 3 episodes, and I told him that in all honesty it was a long night but that I still really liked the show. It sounds like the show may be continuing for some more seasons which is great news -- we need more shows like this on Australian television and less formulaic reality shows.

Sheri also told him that she had recently purchased the Let the blood run free DVD, and Brian said that the show will always have memories for him as it was the first "theatrical" TV show he had been on.

After posing for a photo or two, Lorin and I were on our way (we were actually leaving anyway). A nice end to an enjoyable night out!

Top 10 albums that have "the vibe"

‘In summing up, it’s the Constitution, its Mabo, it’s justice, its law, it’s the vibe and…. No that’s it. It’s the vibe. I rest my case.’

Dennis Denuto (The Castle, 1997)

Dennis Denuto summed it up best. Not everything can be explained, and sometimes it's better just to rest your case. I'm not going to try and explain why I love these 10 albums. But something about them draws me to them.

This is a truly self-indulgent list. I have no objective evidence to back up anything I say here. I'm not guaranteeing that these albums will have the same effect on you, as it's all in the eye (or the ear) of the beholder.

If there was a musical constitution in my world, these albums would be the founding fathers.

10. The Drones - Wait long by the river and the bodies of your enemies will float by

Yeah, there's the radio-friendly rockers like Shark fin blues and You really don't care on this album which won the inaugural Australian Music Prize. As good as those songs are, the heart and soul of this album can be summed up in the haunting opening bars of centrepiece Locust, when Gareth Liddiard emotes:

Georgie, I can't stop drinking
Seems like every time I try, I can't stop thinking

The delivery here is so real that you can smell the whisky on his breath and the cigarette smoke in his hair. There are other transcendent moments on this excellent album, and they all add up to a listening experience which is much greater than the sum of its parts.

9. Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

Dusty Springfield doesn't write her own songs which is not something I really like in an artist. But she is up there with Aretha Franklin as one of the finest female vocalists of the 20th century, and this album is her crowning achievement. Her vocals are so affecting that she truly lives these songs, and suddenly you don't care if she wrote them or not. These songs are her; she is these songs.

Her vocal performances are fantastic, but it would be unfair not to given credit to Jerry Wexler's fantastically understated production which gives the album its "vibe". A few spins of I don't want to hear it anymore or Just one smile are enough to make you thank God that Dusty and Jerry met up in late 60's Memphis.

8. Talking Heads - Fear of music

This is not the best Talking Heads album - that credit would have to go to Remain in light from 1980. It doesn't contain a lot of their commercial hits - Speaking in tongues would be a better fit for radio playlists. It isn't a party record, so if you are expecting an album full of pop nuggets like Burning down the house or Once in a lifetime you have come to the wrong place. Most of the songs are in a minor key and the lyrics talk about all sorts of interesting topics like war, heaven, animals and drugs.

While there are some great individual songs on this album: namely Heaven, Mind and the intense Cities; this album is more than just the sum of its parts. It is one of the most alienated and paranoid albums ever released; I have heard it being described as an OK computer for the baby boomer generation and this is a very apt description. It's not a particular pleasant listening experience but it's certainly fascinating.

7. Captain Beefheart - Trout mask replica

The longer an album takes the grow on you the longer you will appreciate it for. Or so I keep saying. If that is truly a musical law, then I will be appreciating this album until my dying day. On the first five listens, this album sounded like a complete mess. On the next five listens, some melodies start to come out of the woodwork. And suddenly you start to hear the promise of this 80 minute/28 track track concoction of free jazz, blues and surreal poetry.

I gave this album 3 stars when I first purchased it as I knew I didn't want to completely dismiss it but I also didn't want to praise it as a masterpiece when I didn't really understand it yet. I still haven't increased the rating because I still don't fully understand it. This album is as surreal as a David Lynch movie. It was released in 1969 and 37 years down the line nothing that has been released sounds like it. A truly unique work.

6. Interpol - Turn on the bright lights

I was very disappointed with Interpol's follow-up to this album, Antics. It had some great moments (namely Evil and A time to be so small). But their debut album was a lot more than just a series of good tracks, it had something special that elevated it above other albums of its ilk. It had a vibe; it couldn't be described in words, but it was there to be felt.

Just give a listen to Hands away, the last few minutes of PDA or the intro of Stella was a diver and she was always down. Hopefully you'll see, or feel, what I mean. These guys were clearly influenced by Joy Division on this album, but they are more than just copycats. They fused their influences into a stunning piece of work that's deep enough to keep revealing details after many listens.

5. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

This is easily the best Stones album. A lot of people who talk about this album mention the hits. And while Rocks off and Tumbling dice are good for what they are, it's side 3 of the original vinyl which is the heart and soul of this album (that's Happy through Let it loose on the CD).

Happy rocks, and gives us a chance to hear Keef on vocals. Turd on the run lives up to its weird title. Ventilator blues is pretty standard 12-bar blues. I just want to see his face is Mick Jagger doing his finest gospel (falsetto and all) in what sounds like it was recorded through a megaphone. Let it loose could be the finest Stones ballad (yes, even better than Wild horses!). The production on this album is murky; it sounds like the album was recorded in a tin shed. But that's all part of its charm - I'd spin this album 10 times before giving the over-produced and overrated Sticky fingers a single spin.

4. R.E.M. - Murmur

This was R.E.M.'s first album, and unlike their latter day albums you can't hear a single thing that Michael Stipe is saying. Pete has even given this album the affectionate name Mumble, which is very appropriate after giving it a listen. The run of songs from Sitting still to Shaking through is some of the most memorable music this band has recorded. There's some fine guitar jangle, some fantastic melodies just underneath the surface, and some interesting lyrics even though you can't understand them. But the best way to describe the sound of this album is to look at the album cover; never have I seen such an album cover that provides such an appropriate audio-visual link.

3. Tom Waits - The heart of Saturday night

Tom Waits is a freakin' genius. While he has made some brilliant late career avante-garde albums, this is his second album from 1974 when he still had a fairly normal singing voice and the music was more tradition bar-room jazz-blues. This is also the closest he ever got to releasing a concept album. The best way to listen to this album is in the car driving late on a Saturday night. The songs are immersed in loneliness and whisky bars. The delivery is honest and heartfelt. Many artists have tried to release an album that sounds like this, but nobody has succeeded quite like Tom did on this fine album.

2. Rodriguez - Cold fact

A criminally underrated artist, this is a lost classic from 1970 that I only discovered recently but I now feel like I have known my whole life. Jesus Rodriguez (or Sixto Rodriguez, depending on the source) is like a cross between Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens. Some of the songs in this album venture into protest song territory, but the best moments are the more surreal ones like Sugar man and Crucify your mind. The musicianship is understated, the lyrics often venture into novelty territory (Gomorrah being the biggest culprit here) but the unmistakeable vibe (which can't be described in words, it really must be heard) makes this album a classic for the ages.

1. Bob Dylan - Blonde on blonde

Bob Dylan has been recording music for five decades now; it seems like the only thing which will stop him is his inevitable death. He has released a plethora of classic albums since his debut in 1962: Highway 61 revisited, Blood on the tracks, The basement tapes, Love and theft -- the list goes on and on. But no other album encapsulates his brilliance as much as this double album from 1966.

This album doesn't contain a lot of hits; I want you, Just like a woman and Rainy day women nos. 12 & 35 only take 12 1/2 minutes of the 72 minute running time of this album. And the songs that make up this album aren't anywhere as immediate as his famous moments such as Like a rolling stone or Hurricane. What does make this album so amazing (and quite possibly my favourite of all time) is the perfect combination of surreal lyrics, laid-back instrumental backing and that drug-induced vibe that was so apparent to Dylan that even he gave it a name: that thin, wild mercury sound.

Normally when an artist comes up with a name to describe the sound of their album, I think they need some help to dig their head out of their ass. But never before has an artist described their music so aptly as Dylan has here. This isn't the first time I have waxed lyrical about this album and it definitely won't be the last. This is the album which inspired me to write this list. This album epitomises everything that is good about music. This is it.

Premature appreciation

It's an affliction which has affected many. Let me set the scene. You arrive home, and before you have time to properly shut the door you have already put it in. You give it time to sink in, and soon you are really enjoying the experience and getting into it. And then BAM. It's all over. Yes, you could say that listening to a CD for the first time can be an interesting experience.

I recently picked up Kelley Stoltz's new album Below the branches. It's an enjoyable album of quirky pop songs even if it isn't particularly innovative. The first listen was promising and the second listen was even better. By the third listen I was really enjoying it, and I started to picture my top ten albums of 2006 with that album taking pride of place in the list.

But here's the interesting bit - his previous album Antique glow took me about ten listens before I even started to get it. I'd bought it on a whim after reading a five-star review in the paper, and my initial impression of the album was disappointment to say the least. I wasn't quite ready to take it back, but none of the tracks really jumped out at me and made me want to listen to it again. Luckily, I did listen to it again and it was probably on about the tenth listen that it hit me. Subsequent listens unveiled gems like Mean Marianne which initially sounded like noise. I even gave it a spin the other day for the first time in ages, and I was hearing things on the album that I hadn't noticed before.

I'm now up to the sixth or seventh listen of Below the branches, and sadly I feel I have uncovered most of its layers. It's a much more catchy album than its predecessor, and on the third spin that was a virtue. We all love melody, and it's the tunes which bring you back to an album. But the strength of Antique glow lay in its subtlely, there was beauty beneath the lo-fi exterior and it felt like there was so much to discover. The enjoyment of Antique glow came from delayed aural gratification.

My experience with Below the branches is an excellent example of what I like to call premature appreciation. It's happened many times in the past. I thought Franz Ferdinand's debut album was a pretty amazing album on the first few spins. But like a lot of pop music, it quickly grew fairly tired. So much so that I really don't have the need to listen to it anymore.

Most popular music in the top 40 charts capitalizes on premature appreciation. The songs get their hooks in, and before the record company big wigs can count their ivory backscratchers, someone has already made a ringtone for the song and they are charging $5 for it online. The film clip ends up on Video Hits, the kids hear the ringtone on the train and before the thirteen year old girls can say oh Lee Harding he is such a spunk, his new song is on the top of the charts. But what goes up eventually comes down, and usually it comes crashing down at the same speed that it went up. There's something you will never learn in physics, kids.

Every now and then an album in my collection breaks the rules. Pulp's masterpiece Different class was an album which absolutely blew me away on the first listen, so much so that I had a huge grin on my face by the end of the album. Always a great feeling knowing that the $16 you spent at the CD shop in the Monash Uni union building was money well spent. And I gave Different class another listen the other day for the first time in ages, and it is still bloody impressive. On the surface, it's just another Britpop album but there is so much lyrical depth to that album that makes it not just another Britpop album but possibly one of the best indie pop albums ever. If you haven't heard this album, it's on sale at the moment for $10 at JB Hi Fi so go pick it up. I'm not going to guarantee that you will love it as much as I do, as it may be nostalgia at play here and it's difficult to be completely objective about music anyway.

Captain Beefheart's Trout mask replica is the most extreme form of delayed aural gratification I have in my CD collection. I've probably given it close to thirty listens and it's still not there for me. But something does keep bringing me back to it, and it's not just the reviews brainwashing me. I'll admit it that I gave it a listen the other night in a darkened room (I couldn't sleep) and it did take on an interesting quality that I hadn't noticed before. But maybe fatigue had something to do with it. I guess it's like those magic eye pictures -- they are supposed to look pretty amazing when the picture finally appears.

Unfortunately for me, I've never been able to see those damn pictures.

iPod random mixtape #002

Time for another post, and I'm going to take the lazy approach. So it's time for another iPod random mixtape!

1) Here comes a regular - The Replacements

Paul Westerberg sings this song about a guy who wastes his life away in the pub. It's not clear if this is song is autobiographical, about guitarist Bob Stinson, or about nobody in particular. What's clear is the emotions that Paul's vocal and lyrics stirs up inside you while listening to this song. Add to this some fantastic lyrics:

You’re like a picture on the fridge that’s never stocked with food
...
He says opportunity knocks once then the door slams shut

and you have the makings of one of the most brutally honest and emotional songs of all time. This is the perfect closer on their Tim album, and a perfect example of how the 80's weren't all that bad.

2) A poem on the underground wall - Simon & Garfunkel

This is actually the bonus version of the song from their Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme album - I think it's another take. It starts with Paul Simon saying "listen carefully to this thing because...I wanna go with on the arrangements" (the ... is where the producer or someone interrupted him).

It's a short song not unlike anything else they recorded, with some nice finger pickin' guitar pluckin', and an interesting lyric about what seems to be a graffiti artist writing a four-letter poem on the wall of an underground train station. Was it love? Was it a more rude word? Paul Simon doesn't give much away in this song. I suspect there's a deeper meaning to this song, but maybe I'm too shallow to see it.

3) Heaven can wait - Meat Loaf

I remember that when I bought Mr. Loaf's Bat out of hell album I thought it was one of the best albums I'd ever heard. But that was my 77th album purchase, and now I'm up to 906 albums. Yes, you could say I've come a long way. The songs from Bat out of hell can be divided into two categories: over-the-top rockers and over-the-top ballads. This is one of the latter.

It's cringe-worthy stuff, it's dated, but it's not without its merits either. The arrangement shouts out Broadway musical. The lyrics are overdone, like a bad meatloaf. But amidst all its daggy-ness you still gotta respect a guy who takes his schmultz so goddamn seriously.

4) All nighter - Elastica

I bought Elastica's self-titled album when I was really into Britpop. While a lot of Britpop albums have aged remarkably well, this one hasn't done so well. There are some good songs on the album, but this is a 90-second throwaway song that isn't particularly memorable.

5) Circus - Tom Waits

I have to admit that I found Tom Waits' latest album Real gone (the album where this song is from) a little disappointing. It had a too-difficult opener (even by his standards), a momentum-killing 10 minute 3rd track, and the absence of piano didn't help either.

Circus is a typical Tom Waits spoken word piece, with spare circus-like instrumentation and surreal lyrics that only Tom can muster. It's an effective track, harking back to his Franks wild years days both musically and lyrically. But it works more as a mood piece than a song, and probably works better in the context of the album than as an individual track.

6) I shot the sheriff - Bob Marley & The Wailers

Everyone knows this track, so I'm not sure what to say about it. Eric Clapton covered it, but the old adage that "the original is the best" definitely applies here. It's a typical early Wailers tune (from their rootsy Burnin' album), with political lyrics and falsetto backing vocals during the chorus from Bob's fellow Wailers.

7) Manmade horse - Something For Kate

This is not what I would consider a standout track from their excellent Echolalia album - but that says nothing about the quality of this track, just about the quality of some of its peers. This could quite easily be a standout track on another album.

Paul Dempsey's songwriting skyrocketed on this album, but credit needs to be given to the producer as well. While their previous album Beautiful sharks sounded quite murky in places (despite the great songwriting), Echolalia truly sounds like the work of a professional band.

This is a great tune, its lyrics are intelligent without being pretentious and Mr Dempsey puts in a fine vocal performance. Add some nice piano tinkling and you have a song which really should be a standout.

8) The ids are alright - Guided By Voices

I have 147 Guided By Voices songs in my CD collection (and therefore iPod). That's almost as many Beatles songs as I have, but most people probably haven't even heard of Guided By Voices. Why do I have so many GBV songs? Because they are so goddamn short, that's why! Robert Pollard writes pop music and doesn't waste any time. He gets his hooks in, and he gets right outta there before the songs grow tired. Many other artists could learn from his school of thought. The problem with the GBV catalogue is that so many of their albums are hit and miss affairs. For every pop nugget like To remake a young flyer you have to put up with a throwaway song like Big chief chinese restaurant.

So where does this song fit in? It's a typical short GBV number at a little over a minute. Robert's faux-British vocals sing about something that I don't really understand, which is also a GBV trademark. The tune is kinda nice but it doesn't seem to really get anywhere. I'd like to say that this is the kind of song that fits better in the context of the album, but last time I listened to Universal truths and cycles I remember thinking that it was pretty much all over the shop. So I'm not sure how listening to this song in the context of an album would help its cause.

9) Back to back - The Replacements

The 2nd 'Mats cut to make this random mixtape. This is from their penultimate Don't tell a soul album, which many consider to be the nadir of their catalogue because it has a commercial sheen and a lot of fans thought that it was a bit of a sellout.

Personally, I consider this album to be better than their last album All shook down. Why? Because it has good songs, and nothing on All shook down is as memorable as most of the songs from this album. Bad production can kill good songwriting (it happened on Elvis Costello's Goodbye cruel world). But good production can't improve average songs.

So, back to this song. It's not unlike a lot of the 'Mats earlier stuff, it's just a bit more pop and a bit shinier. Still an enjoyable listen, even if I wouldn't put it in my top ten 'Mats songs.

10) Something about England - The Clash

Sandinista! is a holy mess of an album. It's a double album (triple on vinyl) which is absolutely begging to be cut down to a brilliant single album. There's way too much filler on it. And despite its filler, it's also a true genre-hopper. It jumps from punk to waltz to dub to hip-hop all within the space of a few songs.

This is quite a "pop" song by their standards, with a typical Joe Strummer lead vocal and Mick Jones backing him at key parts of the song. Not one of the best songs from Sandinista!, but definitely in the above average category.

[OT] Yarra River from Federation Square

This is off-topic (hence the subject line) but here are a couple of photos that I took of the Yarra River from Federation Square tonight. They are a bit under-exposed, but when I tried to brighten them up with Picasa they lost a bit of sharpness so I thought I'd leave them as they are.

They were taken with my new toy, a Canon Ixus 55 which Matty kindly brought back for me from the US after I bought it online.

This is really just a test to try out Picasa's "BlogThis" feature :)

UPDATE: It seems that Blogger shrinks the pictures significantly, so now I'm hosting them myself. Click on the pictures to see them full-size.

Music appreciation: Objective or Subjective?

In July last year, Cokemachineglow writer Amir Nezar wrote a really interesting article about music appreciation entitled On Criticism: When Feelings Aren’t Enough. Another Cokemachineglow writer, Peter Hepburn, has recently responded with his own article The Subjective Approach to Music Criticism.

Take a read, it's really interesting stuff.

If you can't be bothered reading it, here is the gist. Amir's stance is that you can't talk about your appreciation of music without having objective evidence to back it up. He says that a good critic doesn't simply say "so and so have released a fantastic album that feels right" without giving evidence as to why it's right. He feels that there is a need for in-depth technical musical evidence here, right down to discussing the use of time signatures and chord changes as the basis for enjoying music.

Peter thinks that Amir is wrong for "attempting to place a technical framework on music criticism". He talks about how the Stooges hardly even knew how to play their instruments, but they gave birth to punk rock. He talks about some artists like Joanna Newsom and Will Oldham can be appreciated more based on their lyricism and delivery rather than their musical compositional abilities. He discusses how certain quintessentially British albums like Parklife, Different class and London calling will most definitely be appreciated on a different level by British fans than by American fans.

Which side of the fence do I sit on? I think it's fairly obvious from my posts on this blog that I most definitely agree with Peter's arguments. I'm not a muso. I've dabbled in a few instruments in my time, from recorder, clarinet and guitar. But it always ended in a cop-out when I couldn't be bothered anymore. Instead, I prefer to leave it to the experts and I do the listening instead :-)

Because I have less technical musical knowledge than some, does that make me a less capable music critic? Aren't the intangible qualities of music, which I generally talk about, just as worthy of discussion? After all, it's all good and well if you can discuss an artist's use of a 7/8 time signature and experimental chord changes, but is that going to make you enjoy the music any more?

Now I know some readers of this blog (one in particular springs to mind) may take offence to my comments so I'd like to be clear here. I'm perfectly aware that there is a difference between a technically competent musician and one who doesn't know their B sharp from their F flat. I'm not arguing that. I'm simply making the point that I don't think technical competence is in any way proportional to musical enjoyment.

Frank Zappa was considered one of the best composers of the 20th century. I've tried and I've tried (I have 7 of his albums) and I just can't get into his music as much as I'd like to. I'm not doubting that he's a master at composition, but just doesn't hit the right spots for me. Bob Dylan has a technically poor singing voice, but it doesn't mean that he isn't one of my favourite vocalists of all time.

In most cases, I can't put into words why I love a particular album, song or artist. There's something deeper going on here, and trying to treat music appreciation as a pure science with objective metrics doesn't gel for me.