Tuesday, December 27, 2005
R.E.M. - Document
Document is the fifth studio album by R.E.M. and their sixth overall. It was released in 1987.
Document was R.E.M.'s first album co-produced by Scott Litt and the
band, a collaboration that continued through Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi, and may account for their success with this album as well as the following five. This album was significant not only in launching R.E.M.'s first US Top 10 hit in "The One I Love" (which reached #9), but also giving them their first platinum album.
After Document, their I.R.S. contract expired. With the band poised to become a major rock group—perhaps to the dismay of their college rock fans—R.E.M. signed a five-album deal the following year with major label Warner Bros. and saw their commercial fortunes grow exponentially.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 470 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, it ranked 49th in a Q readers' poll of the "Best Albums Ever".
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Sigur Rós - Von
Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.
It was originally released in Iceland to moderate critical acclaim but relatively unnoticed abroad. In the first year following the release, Von sold only 313 copies in Iceland. Following the band's popular international releases, Ágætis byrjun and , it was re-released in the United Kingdom in September 2004, and in the United States a month later. In December 2005, Von, together with Ágætis byrjun, were declared platinum albums in Iceland.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Paul Weller:Wild Wood
Paul Weller deservedly regained his status as the Modfather with his second solo album, Wild Wood. Actually, the album is only tangentially related to mod, since Weller picks up on the classicism of his debut, adding heavy elements of pastoral British folk and Traffic-styled trippiness. Add to that a yearning introspection and a clean production that nevertheless feels a little rustic, even homemade, and the result is his first true masterwork since ending the Jam. The great irony of the record is that many of the songs
"Has My Fire Really Gone Out?," "Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)" -- question his motivation and, as is apparent in his spirited performances, he reawakened his music by writing these searching songs. Though this isn't as adventurous as the Style Council, it succeeds on its own terms, and winds up being a great testament from an artist entering middle age. And, it helped kick off the trad rock that dominated British music during the '90s.
The Jam:All Mod Cons
All Mod Cons is a 1978 album by the British punk/new wave
group The Jam. This album, their third full-length LP, is regarded as their artistic breakthrough from the relatively straightforward mod/punk that dominated the first two albums, and the opening mark of the group's artistic peak that would carry them through Setting Sons and Sound Affects. Many fans and critics consider this The Jam's finest album. Upon its release, it was received as a critical and commercial return to form after their less successful second album This Is the Modern World.
group The Jam. This album, their third full-length LP, is regarded as their artistic breakthrough from the relatively straightforward mod/punk that dominated the first two albums, and the opening mark of the group's artistic peak that would carry them through Setting Sons and Sound Affects. Many fans and critics consider this The Jam's finest album. Upon its release, it was received as a critical and commercial return to form after their less successful second album This Is the Modern World. Strong undercurrents of British '60s pop influences, particularly The Kinks, run throughout the album. Most obvious is the cover of The Kinks' "David Watts", an album track off their 1967 album Something Else By The Kinks.
"Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" was one of the group's most successful chart hits to date, peaking at #15 on the UK charts, their biggest hit since "All Around The World", a non-LP single released between the group's first and second albums. It is regarded as one of Paul Weller's finest forays into social commentary: a first-person narrative of a young man who walks unsuspectingly into a tube station (known as a "subway" in American English) on the way home to his wife only to get beaten to death by right-wing thugs, reflecting the atmosphere of tension and paranoia amid the extremist skinhead violence inundating the headlines of the day.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Cover Cover Cover Archive
William Shatner
Tostoise & Bonnie prince billy
Mission Uk
Sinead O'connor
Nick Cave
Supergrass
Japan
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
twilight singers
REM
Dream Syndicate
Tostoise & Bonnie prince billy
Mission Uk
Sinead O'connor
Nick Cave
Supergrass
Japan
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
twilight singers
REM
Dream Syndicate
Friday, December 16, 2005
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
The album is mainly backed by acoustic guitar work and the
lyrics on many of the tracks are a sombre reflection of life in the mid-1990s in America and Mexico. Tom Joad(1995) is the hero of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
lyrics on many of the tracks are a sombre reflection of life in the mid-1990s in America and Mexico. Tom Joad(1995) is the hero of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The title track of this album has been covered by Rage Against the Machine and Junip.The album's release was followed by Springsteen's solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour.
In 1982, with Ronald Reagan in the White House and much of America torn between a newly fierce patriotism and the dispassionate conservatism of the dawning "Greed Is Good" era, a number of roots-oriented rock musicians began examining the State of the Union in song, and one of the most powerful albums to come out of this movement was Bruce Springsteen's stark, home-recorded masterpiece Nebraska.The Ghost of Tom Joad failed to find the same audience (or the same wealth of media attention) that embraced Nebraska, but on it's own terms it's a striking and powerful album, and certainly one of Springsteen's most deeply personal works.Thursday, December 15, 2005
Nico - The End
Nico's 1973 album, The End, was her fourth release. It was her
fifth collaboration with John Cale and third with him as producer, and the result was her darkest, most caustic work yet. It carried the same organic, harmonium-based gothic music heard on The Marble Index and Desertshore, but went one step further with the addition of Brian Eno's synthesizers and electronics. The mix of Nico's gloomy, hypnotic melodies and Eno's synthetic droning, as heard on "Innocent and Vain", produced an atmosphere of brooding apocalyptic destruction. Other songs that aren't as violently dramatic have a lingering distortion to them. "You Forgot To Answer" tells of the misery felt when she failed to reach ex-lover Jim Morrison by phone only to find out later that he had died. It's a simple mix of her vocals, Phil Manzanera's guitar, Cale's piano and Eno's synthesizer death-moans. The sound conjures up the Weimar Republic, with melodies reminiscent of Kurt Weill and angular, distorted electronics symbolic of Expressionism.
fifth collaboration with John Cale and third with him as producer, and the result was her darkest, most caustic work yet. It carried the same organic, harmonium-based gothic music heard on The Marble Index and Desertshore, but went one step further with the addition of Brian Eno's synthesizers and electronics. The mix of Nico's gloomy, hypnotic melodies and Eno's synthetic droning, as heard on "Innocent and Vain", produced an atmosphere of brooding apocalyptic destruction. Other songs that aren't as violently dramatic have a lingering distortion to them. "You Forgot To Answer" tells of the misery felt when she failed to reach ex-lover Jim Morrison by phone only to find out later that he had died. It's a simple mix of her vocals, Phil Manzanera's guitar, Cale's piano and Eno's synthesizer death-moans. The sound conjures up the Weimar Republic, with melodies reminiscent of Kurt Weill and angular, distorted electronics symbolic of Expressionism. All but two of the songs on the album were written by Nico: a cover of the Doors' "The End" and the German national anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen", which has been considered by some critics as the most significative interpretation of a national anthem since Hendrix's rendition to his country's hymn in Woodstock, 1969. In retrospect, The End is a precursor to ultra-leftfield acts, such as Death In June and subsequently the neofolk movement, that blend European folk and classical with cutting-edge electronic experimentation.
The End is Nico's most uncompromising record and has become a signature of her work.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Not quite the return to the "rock" side of Radiohead as originally
believed (although pretty close), the band's sixth album (produced again by Nigel Godrich) retains some of the experimental electronica elements of its predecessors Kid A and Amnesiac. Note that each of the tracks on the album has an alternate title, as does the album itself (aka 'The Gloaming').
Like all of the band’s best work, Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded.Amazon
Hail to the Thief , or "The Gloaming" as it is subtitled, is the sixth studio album by Englishrock band Radiohead, released on June 9, 2003 in the United Kingdom and June 10 in the United States and Canada. After two albums that mined a distinctive groove, with heavily processed vocals and few guitars, Hail to the Thief draws its ideas from every era of the band's existence, coupled with a new-found confidence and live energy — the bulk of the record was recorded in two weeks in Los Angeles.
The album is dedicated to "Patrick and Tamir and a future worth having." Patrick and Tamir are sons of Phil Selway and Jonny Greenwood, respectively, born since the release of Amnesiac.
believed (although pretty close), the band's sixth album (produced again by Nigel Godrich) retains some of the experimental electronica elements of its predecessors Kid A and Amnesiac. Note that each of the tracks on the album has an alternate title, as does the album itself (aka 'The Gloaming').Like all of the band’s best work, Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded.Amazon
Hail to the Thief , or "The Gloaming" as it is subtitled, is the sixth studio album by Englishrock band Radiohead, released on June 9, 2003 in the United Kingdom and June 10 in the United States and Canada. After two albums that mined a distinctive groove, with heavily processed vocals and few guitars, Hail to the Thief draws its ideas from every era of the band's existence, coupled with a new-found confidence and live energy — the bulk of the record was recorded in two weeks in Los Angeles.
The album is dedicated to "Patrick and Tamir and a future worth having." Patrick and Tamir are sons of Phil Selway and Jonny Greenwood, respectively, born since the release of Amnesiac.
Monday, December 05, 2005
The Yardbirds - Over Under Sideways Down
Beginning as one of rock's all-time great (and influential)
blues-rock bands, the Yardbirds had taken a turn toward the psychedelic side of things once Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton, as evidenced by 1966's Over Under Sideways Down. As with Beatles and Rolling Stones albums from around this era, the U.K. and U.S. versions would often differ with album titles and altered track listings, and as a result, quite a few tracks slipped through the cracks. The same was true of the Yardbirds. But the 2002 Repertoire reissue of Over Under Sideways Down finally compiles all the tracks from this era on one single disc -- the end result being 22 tracks of the Yardbirds at their creative peak. For anyone who was wondering if Beck could truly fill in for Clapton, he was silenced by the playful "Jeff's Boogie," which shows the guitarist was one of the more technically proficient blues-rock players of the time, as well as lending a gloriously Middle Eastern riff to the trippy title track. But the 2002 edition improves the classic original even further, as it includes selections from the Yardbirds' short-lived Jeff Beck-Jimmy Page lineup: "Happenings Ten Years Ago" and one of the group's most underrated tracks, "Psycho Daisies." For longtime fans looking to replace their vinyl or newcomers to '60s British blues, the 2002 Repertoire edition of Over Under Sideways Down is a must-have.
blues-rock bands, the Yardbirds had taken a turn toward the psychedelic side of things once Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton, as evidenced by 1966's Over Under Sideways Down. As with Beatles and Rolling Stones albums from around this era, the U.K. and U.S. versions would often differ with album titles and altered track listings, and as a result, quite a few tracks slipped through the cracks. The same was true of the Yardbirds. But the 2002 Repertoire reissue of Over Under Sideways Down finally compiles all the tracks from this era on one single disc -- the end result being 22 tracks of the Yardbirds at their creative peak. For anyone who was wondering if Beck could truly fill in for Clapton, he was silenced by the playful "Jeff's Boogie," which shows the guitarist was one of the more technically proficient blues-rock players of the time, as well as lending a gloriously Middle Eastern riff to the trippy title track. But the 2002 edition improves the classic original even further, as it includes selections from the Yardbirds' short-lived Jeff Beck-Jimmy Page lineup: "Happenings Ten Years Ago" and one of the group's most underrated tracks, "Psycho Daisies." For longtime fans looking to replace their vinyl or newcomers to '60s British blues, the 2002 Repertoire edition of Over Under Sideways Down is a must-have.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Album of Week Archive
- Bob Mould
- Bonnie Prince Billy
- Bryan Ferry
- Counting Crows
- Denim
- Devendra Banheart
- Fleetwood Mac
- Half Japanese
- James
- FireWater
- Marianne Faithfull
- My Bloody Valentine
- Nick Cave
- Royal City
- R.e.m.
- Teenage Funclub - man made
- Teenage Funclub
- Wire
These rock albums were chosen by Modern Music.We recommend you to listen this different kind of rock records.Also you can find reviews at the links above. Alternative/Indie-Rock,Folk/Country Rock,Pop/Rock or Punk...
Friday, November 25, 2005
Modern Music Reviews
A
Annuals - Be He MeAdam Green - Jacket full of Danger
Album Leaf - Into Blue Again
Arab Strap - Ten Years Of Years
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Audioslave - Revelations
B
Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UKBand Of Horses - Everything All The Time
Barry Adamson - Stranger on the sofa
Beach House - Beach House
Beautiful South - Superbi
Beck - The information
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller
Bert Jansch - The Black Swan
Billy Bragg - English Half English
Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
Bluetones - Bluetones
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Bob Seger - Face The Promise
Bonnie Prince Billy - The letting go
Brett Anderson - S/T
C
Calla - Strength In NumbersClap Your Hands and Say Yeah! - Some Loud Thunder
Clinic - Visitations
Cold War Kids - Robbers Cowards
Copeland - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
D
Dark Romantics - Some Midnight Kissin'Damien Rice - 9
Dears - Gang of Losers
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Divine Comedy - Victory For...
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
E
Early Day Miners - OffshoreEarlies - The Enemy Chorus
Ed Harcourt - Beautiful Lie
Electric six - switzerland
Eric Matthews - Foundation Sounds
Exploding Hearts - Unshattered
F
Frank Black-Fastman RaidermanFinal Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
G
Graham Lindsey:Hell Under the SkullbonesGrizzly bear - Yellow house
Gothic Archies - A Tragic Treasury
H
H.I.M. - Uneasy Listening Vol.1Hidden Cameras - Awoo
High Llamas - Can Cladders
Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
I
I Am X-The AlternativeIdlewild - Make Another World
Incubus - Light Grenades
Isobell Campbell - Ballad of the Broken Seas
J
James Dean Bradfield - Great WesternJack - Pioneer Soundtracks
Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
Jet - Shine On
Joanna Newsom - Ys
John Cale - Paris 1919 Remastered Edition
Jonny Greenwood is The Controller
Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
Junior Boys - So this is goodbye
K
Kasabian - EmpireKeane - Under The Iron Sea
Kristin Hersh - Learn to Sing Like a Star
L
Lambchop - DamagedLiars - Drum's not dead
Lindsey Buckingham - Under Skin
Lloyd Cole - Antidepressant
Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
Los Lobos - The Town and the City
Low - Drums and Guns
Luke Haines - Off My Rocker...
Luna:Best Of Luna
M
Magic Numbers - Those BrokesMemphis - A Little Place In The Wilderness
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Modest Mouse - We were dead...
Mojave 3-Puzzles like you
Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
My Chemical Romance - Black Parade
N
Neil Young - Live At Fillmore EastNew York Dolls - new album!
Nico - The Frozen Borderline
Nine Horses - Money For All
Noisettes - What's the Time Mr. Wolf?
Nora Jones - Not Too Late
Nouvelle vague - Bande part
O
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?P
Panda Bear - Person PitchPatrick Wolf- The Magic Position
Paul Weller - Catch Flame
Pere Ubu - Why i hate woman
Pernice Brothers - Live a Little
Pete Yorn
Peter & the Wolf - Lightness
Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
Pj Harvey - The Peel Sessions
Pop Levi - The Return to Form Black Magick Party
Primal Scream-Riot City Blues
Pulp - His'n'Hers (Deluxe Edition 2006)
R
Radio Birdman - Zeno BeachRay Davies - Other People's Lives
Razorlight - Razorlight
Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness
Robyn Hitchcock - Ole! Tarantula
S
Scott Walker-The DriftSean Lennon - Friendly Fire
Sonic Youth-Rather Ripped
Soulsavers - It's not how far you fall
Steely Dan - Definitive Collection
Sunset Rubdown - Shut up I am Dreaming
Swan Lake - Beast Moans
T
Tapes 'n Tapes - The LoonTeenage Funclub - Man Made
Tenacious D - The Pick of the Destiny
The Beatles - Love
The Decemberists - Crane Wife
The Drones - Gala Mill
The Format - Dog Problems
The Killers - Sam's Town
The Lemonheads - Lemonheads
The Long Blondes - Someone to Drive You Home
The Melvins - A Senile Animal
The National - Alligator
Tom Waits - Orphans
The Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
The Shins - Winching the night away
The Sleepy Jackson - Personality
The Walkmen - Pussy Cats
The walkmen-A hundred miles off
The Tragically Hip - World Container
Twilight Sad - Ep
Twilight Singers - A Stitch In Time
Thermals - Body Blood Machine
Tom Petty - highway companion
Tom Yorke - The eraser
Tracey Thorn - Out of the Woods
Tv on the Radio - Return to the cookie Mountain
X
Xiu Xiu - Covered & Remixed
W
White Whale - WWIY
Yo La Tengo - I'm not Afraid of You
Monday, November 21, 2005
eels - souljacker
One of my favorite release...
about album:
Unlike some of Everett's other albums, most notably Electro-Shock Blues, Souljacker is mostly based on stories of outsiders rather than on Everett's own life. Characters were inspired from various sources, including circus freaks ("Dog Faced Boy") and a recording engineer with an abusive past ("Bus Stop Boxer"). German director Wim Wenders called "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" his favorite Eels song. Wenders directed the video for the album's lead (and only) single, "Souljacker part I", which was released in the UK on 10 September 2001 and reached #30 in the singles chart. The second track on the album, "That's Not Really Funny", was used as the theme tune to the BBC's animated comedy, Monkey Dust.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
David Bowie:Let's Dance
Let's Dance is an album by David Bowie, released in 1983. It is a dance album
with co-production by CHIC's Nile Rodgers. It was a departure from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) for which Bowie received a bit of inside criticism; rather than joining the musical revolt against 1980s dance music, he had definitely joined the scene. Its title track has become a standard, and the album also featured the singles "Modern Love" and "China Girl", the latter causing something of a stir due to its suggestive promotional video. Oddly enough, "China Girl" was actually a new version of a song which Bowie had co-written with Iggy Pop for The Idiot. Let's Dance is also notable as a stepping stone for the career of the late Texan guitar virtuoso Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played on the album.
All songs written by David Bowie except "China Girl" lyrics and music by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, "Criminal World" lyrics and music by Peter Godwin, Duncan Browne, and Sean Lyons, "Cat People" lyrics by David Bowie, music by Giorgio Moroder.
with co-production by CHIC's Nile Rodgers. It was a departure from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) for which Bowie received a bit of inside criticism; rather than joining the musical revolt against 1980s dance music, he had definitely joined the scene. Its title track has become a standard, and the album also featured the singles "Modern Love" and "China Girl", the latter causing something of a stir due to its suggestive promotional video. Oddly enough, "China Girl" was actually a new version of a song which Bowie had co-written with Iggy Pop for The Idiot. Let's Dance is also notable as a stepping stone for the career of the late Texan guitar virtuoso Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played on the album.All songs written by David Bowie except "China Girl" lyrics and music by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, "Criminal World" lyrics and music by Peter Godwin, Duncan Browne, and Sean Lyons, "Cat People" lyrics by David Bowie, music by Giorgio Moroder.
David Bowie:Scary Monsters
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is an album by David Bowie.
It was Bowie's final album for the label and his first since the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger (1977-1979). Whilst critically a triumph, the trilogy had proved less successful commercially. With Scary Monsters, however, Bowie achieved a major coup on both counts, the music press heaping praise on the new album and public anticipation being high enough to ensure that it debuted in the UK charts at #1.
Amg:
David Bowie returned to relatively conventional rock & roll with Scary Monsters, an album that effectively acts as an encapsulation of all his '70s experiments. Reworking glam rock themes with avant-garde synth flourishes, and reversing the process as well, Bowie creates dense but accessible music throughout Scary Monsters. Though it doesn't have the vision of his other classic records, it wasn't designed to break new ground -- it was created as the culmination of Bowie's experimental genre-shifting of the '70s. As a result, Scary Monsters is Bowie's last great album. While the music isn't far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary, which is something Bowie lost over the course of the '80s. [Rykodisc's 1992 reissue includes re-recorded versions of "Space Oddity" and "Panic in Detroit," the Japanese single "Crystal Japan," and the British single "Alabama Song."
It was Bowie's final album for the label and his first since the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger (1977-1979). Whilst critically a triumph, the trilogy had proved less successful commercially. With Scary Monsters, however, Bowie achieved a major coup on both counts, the music press heaping praise on the new album and public anticipation being high enough to ensure that it debuted in the UK charts at #1.Amg:
David Bowie returned to relatively conventional rock & roll with Scary Monsters, an album that effectively acts as an encapsulation of all his '70s experiments. Reworking glam rock themes with avant-garde synth flourishes, and reversing the process as well, Bowie creates dense but accessible music throughout Scary Monsters. Though it doesn't have the vision of his other classic records, it wasn't designed to break new ground -- it was created as the culmination of Bowie's experimental genre-shifting of the '70s. As a result, Scary Monsters is Bowie's last great album. While the music isn't far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary, which is something Bowie lost over the course of the '80s. [Rykodisc's 1992 reissue includes re-recorded versions of "Space Oddity" and "Panic in Detroit," the Japanese single "Crystal Japan," and the British single "Alabama Song."
Interview with David Bowie
Modern Music 80s Rock
The recurring statement through your ’70s
interviews was about trying to shake off that middle class ball and chain.
“I’m lumbered with that problem. I mean, I’ll have it for the rest of my life. Ha ha.”
Succumbing to it?
“I think so, yeah. I think I’ve accepted that situation. There’s no way I can make myself other than what I am. (Bowie pauses and bursts out laughing) Now that’s a funny thing for me to say
isn’t it? (Laughter) What a ludicrous thing to say, David! But it is somewhere in there, yes. One faces up to all these things. I’m armed with all these things, my problems with my own background, my own personal problems, or whatever. I’m not so detached from myself any more. I feel in touch. (Mimes peace sign, laughing) Hey, I feel in touch with myself!”
How do you think your 17-year-old self would feel if he were confronted with your 36-year-old self?
“My 17-year-old self would think, er, especially regarding the drift to where I’m presumably going, that self would probably think, ‘Aw what a waste,’ ha ha ha, ‘It’s going to be really boring.’
Ha ha. And I’d say, ‘You wait ’til you’re 36! Ha ha. You won’t think it’s quite so exciting just working in dark areas.’ Ha ha.”
Last year Lou Reed said he was quite prepared to write rock’n’roll songs for adults. On ‘Scary Monsters’ you seemed to be addressing the young still.
“Did it really feel like that? That’s interesting. You could probably answer that better yourself, but I would imagine it seemed like that because the instrumentation, the actual effects of the instruments and quality of production…”
When you purged yourself of the Victoria incident (you’ll recall the time Bowie arrived at Victoria Station in a Mercedes limo with a theatrical flourish of outriders, salutes and loaded
statements), you were saying it was some people of Berlin’s far left that swayed you. How did they approach you on the incident?
“The most illuminating conversation about that was with a couple of guys who really took me to task about the things I said about fascism in 1976, and they made me very aware of how much
thought one should put into what one does and says.
“They weren’t responsible for making me fi nish with that whole drug period or anything, but they set me up and caught me on a very bad day, you know, ha ha. (In a heavy Teutonic tone) ‘So you still a Nazi, David?’ Oh dear! Crumbs! They gave me a real ticking off and that really put me straight, I think.
“It really sorted that out in my mind about not being quite so fl ippant or fragmented or stupid or stoned out of my gourd to let myself get involved with those kinds of just hideous reflections…
“My problem is that after I’ve written something, or when I’ve started writing something, I then try to intellectualise what I’m doing, And that’s when the problems usually begin! Especially when you try and intellectualize when you’ve just done a gram of cocaine, ha ha, and the offcoming statement is usually something that one doesn’t want to refer back to a few years later.”
Are drugs completely out now?
“Oh absolutely! Drugs are no part of my writing or recording or anything. It’s impossible to
consider your life worthwhile, or the life of those around you worthwhile, if you’re just fractured like that. I mean, God knows what would have happened to my son if I was continually stoned over the last ten years. I probably wouldn’t have him. He certainly wouldn’t have wanted me.”
He seems quite a sober character, from what you were saying at the press conference about his love for maths.
“Yeah, he likes Madness, though. Loves them. I thought he was going to start liking A Flock Of Seagulls, which worried me a lot. But he saw them on television and fortunately decided
they weren’t for him. Ha ha.”
Seconds to go: panic!!! David Bowie is modifying his reappraisal of his legacy, rightly claiming his past work can be played as photojournalist snaps of the mood and atmosphere of the time they were written, when his publicist arrives to bring the interview to a close.
“If you want to conjure up the atmosphere of any particular period, well, for me I can do it quite easily by putting on one of those albums. If you put on ‘Station To Station’ it couldn’t be from any other period than when it was written.
“I don’t know how the songs feel onstage, not being an audience for my own work. I don’t know if people can still treat them as contemporary pieces…”
Source:Nme Original 80s
<-Page 3
The recurring statement through your ’70s
interviews was about trying to shake off that middle class ball and chain.“I’m lumbered with that problem. I mean, I’ll have it for the rest of my life. Ha ha.”
Succumbing to it?
“I think so, yeah. I think I’ve accepted that situation. There’s no way I can make myself other than what I am. (Bowie pauses and bursts out laughing) Now that’s a funny thing for me to say
isn’t it? (Laughter) What a ludicrous thing to say, David! But it is somewhere in there, yes. One faces up to all these things. I’m armed with all these things, my problems with my own background, my own personal problems, or whatever. I’m not so detached from myself any more. I feel in touch. (Mimes peace sign, laughing) Hey, I feel in touch with myself!”
How do you think your 17-year-old self would feel if he were confronted with your 36-year-old self?
“My 17-year-old self would think, er, especially regarding the drift to where I’m presumably going, that self would probably think, ‘Aw what a waste,’ ha ha ha, ‘It’s going to be really boring.’
Ha ha. And I’d say, ‘You wait ’til you’re 36! Ha ha. You won’t think it’s quite so exciting just working in dark areas.’ Ha ha.”
Last year Lou Reed said he was quite prepared to write rock’n’roll songs for adults. On ‘Scary Monsters’ you seemed to be addressing the young still.
“Did it really feel like that? That’s interesting. You could probably answer that better yourself, but I would imagine it seemed like that because the instrumentation, the actual effects of the instruments and quality of production…”
When you purged yourself of the Victoria incident (you’ll recall the time Bowie arrived at Victoria Station in a Mercedes limo with a theatrical flourish of outriders, salutes and loaded
statements), you were saying it was some people of Berlin’s far left that swayed you. How did they approach you on the incident?
“The most illuminating conversation about that was with a couple of guys who really took me to task about the things I said about fascism in 1976, and they made me very aware of how much
thought one should put into what one does and says.
“They weren’t responsible for making me fi nish with that whole drug period or anything, but they set me up and caught me on a very bad day, you know, ha ha. (In a heavy Teutonic tone) ‘So you still a Nazi, David?’ Oh dear! Crumbs! They gave me a real ticking off and that really put me straight, I think.
“It really sorted that out in my mind about not being quite so fl ippant or fragmented or stupid or stoned out of my gourd to let myself get involved with those kinds of just hideous reflections…
“My problem is that after I’ve written something, or when I’ve started writing something, I then try to intellectualise what I’m doing, And that’s when the problems usually begin! Especially when you try and intellectualize when you’ve just done a gram of cocaine, ha ha, and the offcoming statement is usually something that one doesn’t want to refer back to a few years later.”
Are drugs completely out now?
“Oh absolutely! Drugs are no part of my writing or recording or anything. It’s impossible to
consider your life worthwhile, or the life of those around you worthwhile, if you’re just fractured like that. I mean, God knows what would have happened to my son if I was continually stoned over the last ten years. I probably wouldn’t have him. He certainly wouldn’t have wanted me.”He seems quite a sober character, from what you were saying at the press conference about his love for maths.
“Yeah, he likes Madness, though. Loves them. I thought he was going to start liking A Flock Of Seagulls, which worried me a lot. But he saw them on television and fortunately decided
they weren’t for him. Ha ha.”
Seconds to go: panic!!! David Bowie is modifying his reappraisal of his legacy, rightly claiming his past work can be played as photojournalist snaps of the mood and atmosphere of the time they were written, when his publicist arrives to bring the interview to a close.
“If you want to conjure up the atmosphere of any particular period, well, for me I can do it quite easily by putting on one of those albums. If you put on ‘Station To Station’ it couldn’t be from any other period than when it was written.
“I don’t know how the songs feel onstage, not being an audience for my own work. I don’t know if people can still treat them as contemporary pieces…”
Source:Nme Original 80s
<-Page 3
interview:David Bowie 80s
And it’s not satisfying because it’s not very
useful, except – as Brian Eno would say – for setting up a new kind of vocabulary. Now I’ve got the vocabulary I’m supposed to do something with it! Ha ha.”
On the other hand the subliminal aspect of electronics allows one to speak more through the music than does rock’n’roll, where the vocabulary is so well known it has lost its effi cacy.
“That’s the promise, surely, yeah. It does speak in those terms,but I think also to reach a large audience they’re not willing to listen to music, or play the records, if they’re couched in terms
they’re not really familiar with.
“I mean, they’re not going to sit and listen to that kind of music and accept it. It’s like American television; the record buying public of America is still very much in the television format mentally and it is impossible for them to listen to something that doesn’t make its point in the fi rst 30 or 40 seconds. And I’m starting to subscribe to that at the moment.”
Previously you’ve said you’re not worried about your experiments losing your old audience, that you were content to pick up new audiences as you go along.
“Hmm.”
Are you effecting a reconciliation with your old audience?
“I don’t think so. The music I’m writing at the moment is probably going to reach a newer audience for me. But if I am going to reach a new audience, then I’m going to try and reach it with something to say, which is on a very obvious and simplistic level.I don’t want to be the grandfather of the new wave by any means.
“For me, I’m writing something that I’ve never really touched on before, which is a one-to-one situation. I mean an emotional situation between two people. Such a situation seems to take up
at least five of the tracks on the album. The love situation, the emotional situation between two people seems to have escaped me – or I’ve avoided it is probably nearer the truth – since
I started writing. Usually, it’s been the man in isolation and all that. Whether I’m becoming either one, comfortable or two, complacent with myself – I dunno which it is – but it is something I can feel I can now get involved with as a writer.”
I suppose the obvious question to that is: is it a response to your personal situation?
“Very much so. Are you married? So you don’t have children? I would never have thought it possible, but for me the one most enjoyable and hope-giving quality of my life over the past four of five years is my son.
“That’s had a very positive and strong bearing on whatever I intend to do in the future. I feel I have to make a commitment to something more altruistic to that which I’ve been concerned with before. If that sounds like a turnaround, then it’s a turnaround, and it has to be and I would have to face that charge. But I don’t think it will quell my natural inclination to want to experiment with music, though I think it will modify it greatly.”
You wouldn’t want anything you do to upset your son?
“It would make me refl ect on anything that would produce the kind of nihilistic quality which was part of my early music.
“Hopefully I was falling out of that anyway. That period had a lot to do with my problems as a human being. To produce that kind of music, though it’s interesting to look at someone really
fucked-up writing music, it’s not very helpful.
“The very simple problem is that we’re on a terrifying voyage and the effects that have been brought about by those causes are really quite transparent and obvious the need to belong to small tribal units when there seems to be too many other people about; the mistrust of somebody who is not from one’s own origins.
“Those kinds of things are so obvious that I guess maybe it’s quite a good idea to write
about them in a very obvious way. And I want to utilise videos to the same extent.
“It’s easy enough to glamorise a pop song. I’ve done that often enough in the past! You know, give it a surreal quality, kind of detached. That’s fi ne if you’ve got time to watch promos at that level, but these videos reach too many people and, anyway, there’s too many of those kinds of videos.
“So it occurs to me that it would be a very good idea to utilise those four minutes of space and try to make them say something simple and as hard-hitting and as hard-selling as a commercial,
but in terms of human quality and human life as opposed to, ‘This is the kind of outfi t, this the way you wear it and this is the kind of cool you have to have to be able to carry it off.’”
Is it easier to deal with complexities on film than it is in song?
“That is the problem I’m having, dealing with it in song format. Sometimes you can end up sounding neo-Dylan or something and that is already stylish and part of a particular cliquey kind of songwriting. I’m not very good at it yet. I’m still working on the one-to-one relationship, and from within that situation trying to create an overall humanist feeling.
“It is hard. I think Jim – Iggy Pop – is much better at it than me. If he could be manoeuvred into that kind of situation he could produce some stunning social observations.
“‘China Girl’ (by Pop and Bowie) is another track on the album. Now that’s a committed piece of writing, it’s a very strong piece. Where, for instance, the subject matter of ‘Let’s Dance’ is
nebulous. There is an undercurrent of commitment, but it’s not quite so straightforward…”
How do you feel about your legacy of songs in light of your present positive attitudes? Can you still sing them?
“Oh quite easily, yes. No problem at all. I’ve started listening to a lot of my old stuff, gone back to fi nd out what I was writing then and why. I guess they kind of stand up in their own place in time.
I don’t think of them, like, that’s a great old chestnut, sounding
good year after year, but they’re all interesting.
“With every song I’ve written I identify so much with the time and place that it was written in. It’s hard for me to shake off the particular year or particular trauma I was going through at the
time. It’s much easier for the audience to do that.”
Page 2__Go to Last Page
useful, except – as Brian Eno would say – for setting up a new kind of vocabulary. Now I’ve got the vocabulary I’m supposed to do something with it! Ha ha.”On the other hand the subliminal aspect of electronics allows one to speak more through the music than does rock’n’roll, where the vocabulary is so well known it has lost its effi cacy.
“That’s the promise, surely, yeah. It does speak in those terms,but I think also to reach a large audience they’re not willing to listen to music, or play the records, if they’re couched in terms
they’re not really familiar with.
“I mean, they’re not going to sit and listen to that kind of music and accept it. It’s like American television; the record buying public of America is still very much in the television format mentally and it is impossible for them to listen to something that doesn’t make its point in the fi rst 30 or 40 seconds. And I’m starting to subscribe to that at the moment.”
Previously you’ve said you’re not worried about your experiments losing your old audience, that you were content to pick up new audiences as you go along.
“Hmm.”
Are you effecting a reconciliation with your old audience?
“I don’t think so. The music I’m writing at the moment is probably going to reach a newer audience for me. But if I am going to reach a new audience, then I’m going to try and reach it with something to say, which is on a very obvious and simplistic level.I don’t want to be the grandfather of the new wave by any means.
“For me, I’m writing something that I’ve never really touched on before, which is a one-to-one situation. I mean an emotional situation between two people. Such a situation seems to take up
at least five of the tracks on the album. The love situation, the emotional situation between two people seems to have escaped me – or I’ve avoided it is probably nearer the truth – since
I started writing. Usually, it’s been the man in isolation and all that. Whether I’m becoming either one, comfortable or two, complacent with myself – I dunno which it is – but it is something I can feel I can now get involved with as a writer.”
I suppose the obvious question to that is: is it a response to your personal situation?
“Very much so. Are you married? So you don’t have children? I would never have thought it possible, but for me the one most enjoyable and hope-giving quality of my life over the past four of five years is my son.
“That’s had a very positive and strong bearing on whatever I intend to do in the future. I feel I have to make a commitment to something more altruistic to that which I’ve been concerned with before. If that sounds like a turnaround, then it’s a turnaround, and it has to be and I would have to face that charge. But I don’t think it will quell my natural inclination to want to experiment with music, though I think it will modify it greatly.”
You wouldn’t want anything you do to upset your son?
“It would make me refl ect on anything that would produce the kind of nihilistic quality which was part of my early music.
“Hopefully I was falling out of that anyway. That period had a lot to do with my problems as a human being. To produce that kind of music, though it’s interesting to look at someone really
fucked-up writing music, it’s not very helpful.
“The very simple problem is that we’re on a terrifying voyage and the effects that have been brought about by those causes are really quite transparent and obvious the need to belong to small tribal units when there seems to be too many other people about; the mistrust of somebody who is not from one’s own origins.
“Those kinds of things are so obvious that I guess maybe it’s quite a good idea to write
about them in a very obvious way. And I want to utilise videos to the same extent.
“It’s easy enough to glamorise a pop song. I’ve done that often enough in the past! You know, give it a surreal quality, kind of detached. That’s fi ne if you’ve got time to watch promos at that level, but these videos reach too many people and, anyway, there’s too many of those kinds of videos.
“So it occurs to me that it would be a very good idea to utilise those four minutes of space and try to make them say something simple and as hard-hitting and as hard-selling as a commercial,
but in terms of human quality and human life as opposed to, ‘This is the kind of outfi t, this the way you wear it and this is the kind of cool you have to have to be able to carry it off.’”
Is it easier to deal with complexities on film than it is in song?
“That is the problem I’m having, dealing with it in song format. Sometimes you can end up sounding neo-Dylan or something and that is already stylish and part of a particular cliquey kind of songwriting. I’m not very good at it yet. I’m still working on the one-to-one relationship, and from within that situation trying to create an overall humanist feeling.
“It is hard. I think Jim – Iggy Pop – is much better at it than me. If he could be manoeuvred into that kind of situation he could produce some stunning social observations.
“‘China Girl’ (by Pop and Bowie) is another track on the album. Now that’s a committed piece of writing, it’s a very strong piece. Where, for instance, the subject matter of ‘Let’s Dance’ is
nebulous. There is an undercurrent of commitment, but it’s not quite so straightforward…”
How do you feel about your legacy of songs in light of your present positive attitudes? Can you still sing them?
“Oh quite easily, yes. No problem at all. I’ve started listening to a lot of my old stuff, gone back to fi nd out what I was writing then and why. I guess they kind of stand up in their own place in time.
I don’t think of them, like, that’s a great old chestnut, sounding
good year after year, but they’re all interesting.
“With every song I’ve written I identify so much with the time and place that it was written in. It’s hard for me to shake off the particular year or particular trauma I was going through at the
time. It’s much easier for the audience to do that.”
Page 2__Go to Last Page
The interview:David Bowie
The interview
The strongest impression left by your press conference was your concern about the worthwhile nature of popular music.
“For me, personally. My business is my business and it just strikes me… er, I don’t really have the urge to continue as a songwriter and a performer in terms of experimentation – at this moment. I feel that at the moment I’m of an age – and age has an awful lot to do with it – I’m just starting to enjoy growing up. I’m enjoying being my age, 36, and what comes with it in terms of the body. It actually physically changes. Mentally and emotionally there are
big changes, especially if you have been thrust in front of popular and mass observation.
“If you’ve been observed, as I have for the last 12 years, well, you have to contend with that one way or another. You either care about it, or you don’t any more. You think, ‘Well, as I have this
platform, there’s something I can do with it.’
“And, frankly, I don’t think I would want to continue performing any more if I didn’t think I could do something hopeful and helpful with my music, both for myself and my audience.”
How do you define music that is “hopeful and helpful”? What evidence we have from you at the moment is a celebratory dance record, as opposed to something that points anywhere.
“Yes. I think it will have a lot to do with (adopting a mock preachy tone) people shouldn’t fight each other. People shouldn’t kill each other and people should try to live together.”
Isn’t that a little simplistic?
“Yes, it is simple.”
Your positivism seems to parallel that of Jack Celliers, the character you play in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – leading by action and deed.
“Instead of intimating change try and do something about it.”
You identified pretty closely with the character, then?
“Yeah, I think I immediately identifi ed with him because of his own personal turmoils, his and mine stemming from different sources. With Celliers, he’s ridden with guilt most of his life
because of his relationship with his younger brother, which caused him to embrace that particular strength. That is pointed up a lot more in Oshima’s screenplay than it probably is in the book.
“I guess it’s the idea of through all my experimentations I have learned a lot and there must be something I can do with it on a very simplistic level now. I don’t have the urge to play around with musical ideas. At the moment. Any more.”
The present loss of urge to experiment… is that an indictment of the ‘Low’/‘Heroes’/‘Lodger’ period? Can’t humanity and technology sit together?
“It’s just another way of using my songs, I think I’m just a little tired of experimentation now. But electronics are rewarding in terms of playing around with atmosphere and trying to reach
different parts of the mind, funny corners of the mind…”
But there is a proliferation of synthetic instruments being used in that kind of icy cold vein.
“It’s such a wide sweeping statement that, at the moment, I feel it’s very hard to use those instruments without a kind of preconditioning already there. That if you use the synthesizer it
means this particular thing: that I’m part of this angular society.
Go to Page 1_Go to Page 3
The strongest impression left by your press conference was your concern about the worthwhile nature of popular music.
“For me, personally. My business is my business and it just strikes me… er, I don’t really have the urge to continue as a songwriter and a performer in terms of experimentation – at this moment. I feel that at the moment I’m of an age – and age has an awful lot to do with it – I’m just starting to enjoy growing up. I’m enjoying being my age, 36, and what comes with it in terms of the body. It actually physically changes. Mentally and emotionally there are
big changes, especially if you have been thrust in front of popular and mass observation.
“If you’ve been observed, as I have for the last 12 years, well, you have to contend with that one way or another. You either care about it, or you don’t any more. You think, ‘Well, as I have this
platform, there’s something I can do with it.’
“And, frankly, I don’t think I would want to continue performing any more if I didn’t think I could do something hopeful and helpful with my music, both for myself and my audience.”
How do you define music that is “hopeful and helpful”? What evidence we have from you at the moment is a celebratory dance record, as opposed to something that points anywhere.
“Yes. I think it will have a lot to do with (adopting a mock preachy tone) people shouldn’t fight each other. People shouldn’t kill each other and people should try to live together.”
Isn’t that a little simplistic?
“Yes, it is simple.”
Your positivism seems to parallel that of Jack Celliers, the character you play in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – leading by action and deed.
“Instead of intimating change try and do something about it.”
You identified pretty closely with the character, then?
“Yeah, I think I immediately identifi ed with him because of his own personal turmoils, his and mine stemming from different sources. With Celliers, he’s ridden with guilt most of his life
because of his relationship with his younger brother, which caused him to embrace that particular strength. That is pointed up a lot more in Oshima’s screenplay than it probably is in the book.
“I guess it’s the idea of through all my experimentations I have learned a lot and there must be something I can do with it on a very simplistic level now. I don’t have the urge to play around with musical ideas. At the moment. Any more.”
The present loss of urge to experiment… is that an indictment of the ‘Low’/‘Heroes’/‘Lodger’ period? Can’t humanity and technology sit together?
“It’s just another way of using my songs, I think I’m just a little tired of experimentation now. But electronics are rewarding in terms of playing around with atmosphere and trying to reach
different parts of the mind, funny corners of the mind…”
But there is a proliferation of synthetic instruments being used in that kind of icy cold vein.
“It’s such a wide sweeping statement that, at the moment, I feel it’s very hard to use those instruments without a kind of preconditioning already there. That if you use the synthesizer it
means this particular thing: that I’m part of this angular society.
Go to Page 1_Go to Page 3
Serious Moonlight
Modern MusicDavid Bowie 80s Special
It’s been a long, strange, tripfor David Bowie from ‘Scary Monsters’ to ‘Let’s Dance’, lasting two movies and three years, plugged only by three bizarre single collaborations.
There was Bowie and Brecht on the excellent ‘Baal’ EP, Bowie and Moroder on ‘Cat People’, the
overblown melodrama of which makes perfect sense when heard over the closing credits of the film and,finally, the oddest of them all, Bowieand Queen on ‘Under Pressure’!
"Yes, I found that quite odd,” smiles Bowie. “I’m not quite sure how I got involved in that really. They turned up in Montreux, which is not far from where I live in Switzerland.Needless to say when groups come to town to record, they fi nd out where I live… so this is how I tend to see
a lot of bands, under the influence of Switzerland.”
Once the shock of Bowie working with Queen passes, it stands up surprisingly well, and Bowie’s
words are consistent with both the sentiments of ‘Scary Monsters’ and the positive Bowie to come – his new LP, ‘Let’s Dance’.
Despite the persistent line about Bowie’s inconsistency, he has always been remarkably constant in those matters he cares most about.
His concern for the young dates right back to Ziggy Stardust when he was first alerted to the awesome responsibility that goes with mass popularity. His “inconsistent” taking and shredding of masks, his cultural leaps are all ways of keeping that responsibility fresh and his audience on their toes.I mean, can’t a man change his mind without being hauled over hot coals for doing so?
If rock critics have generally been loath to acknowledge his integrity, preferring instead to see only the chameleon figure intent on protecting his privacy from public scrutiny, the Japanese director Nagisa Oshima chose Bowie to play a godlike prisoner of war Major Jack ‘Strafer’ Celliers in his upcoming film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence precisely because he saw in him such a quality.
“People ask my why I cast actors from the world of rock,” remarks Oshima in the film’s publicity
notes. “It is because they are sensitive to what people want now, they are performers; their antennas are screwed on right and they don’t mind getting in there and having a go at the truth.”
The David Bowie sitting opposite is charming and chatty, laughing frequently to relieve the tension.
Now aged 36, he has never looked healthier. His sun-bleached hair is a natural straw colour, his face tanned an ochre brown by his recent working sojourns in Australia and the South Seas. He is spritely dressed in an olive green khaki blouse that emphasises his boyishness.
Within the confines of a 50-minute interview he is extraordinarily forthcoming about his work, revising opinions of his past in light of his present attitudes. Quite naturally he only lets slip so
much of himself as is relevant to what he is doing. Dare we expect more from our public figures?
Source:nme originals 80s
Go to Page 2
David Bowie:Space Oddity
Space Oddity which is originally released as Man of Words/Man of
Music, is a 1969 album by rock musician David Bowie.
His first ever hit single, the super-topical "Space Oddity," had scored on the back of the moon landing that summer, and so distinctive an air did it possess that, for a moment, its maker really did seem capable of soaring as high as Major Tom.
Still the song with which Bowie is most often identified, "Space Oddity" was a largely acoustic number augmented by the eerie tones of the composer's Stylophone, a pocket electronic organ.
Music, is a 1969 album by rock musician David Bowie.His first ever hit single, the super-topical "Space Oddity," had scored on the back of the moon landing that summer, and so distinctive an air did it possess that, for a moment, its maker really did seem capable of soaring as high as Major Tom.
Still the song with which Bowie is most often identified, "Space Oddity" was a largely acoustic number augmented by the eerie tones of the composer's Stylophone, a pocket electronic organ.
"Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed" reflected a strong Bob Dylan influence, with its harmonica, edgy guitar sound and snarling vocal. "Letter to Hermione" was a farewell ballad to Bowie's former girlfriend, Hermione Farthingale, who was also the object of "An Occasional Dream", a gentle folk tune reminiscent of the singer's 1967 debut album.
"Cygnet Committee", has been called Bowie’s "first true masterpiece". Commonly regarded as the album track most indicative of the composer's future direction, its lead character is a messianic figure "who breaks down barriers for his younger followers, but finds that he has only provided them with the means to reject and destroy him". Bowie himself described it at the time as a put down of hippies who seemed ready to follow any charismatic leader.
David Bowie:The Man Who Sold the World
The Man Who Sold the World, for most intents and purposes, is the
beginning of David Bowie's classic period.
The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the 'Spiders from Mars', the backing band made famous by The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972.
The album has been cited as influencing the goth rock, darkwave elements of work by artists such as and science fictionalSiouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Gary Numan, John Foxx and Nine Inch Nails.
beginning of David Bowie's classic period.The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the 'Spiders from Mars', the backing band made famous by The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972.
NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have said of The Man Who Sold the World, "this is where the story really starts".Much of the album had a distinct heavy metal edge that stands it apart from Bowie's previous releases, and has been compared to such contemporary acts as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
The album has been cited as influencing the goth rock, darkwave elements of work by artists such as and science fictionalSiouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Gary Numan, John Foxx and Nine Inch Nails.
Top 10 radiohead songs
#10 – 2 + 2 = 5 (Hail To The Thief)
This is the opening track to the band’s most recent, and indeed very strong album. It is a more rocking number which we have not been used to from Radiohead as of late, and so to open the new album with a song such as 2 + 2 = 5 catches the listener off guard, making the song seem all the better. Especially since at the start, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to rock that much at all. You get a bouncy, processed drumbeat and an oppressive but quiet guitar riff that rolls along with Yorke’s innocent voice at first. About halfway through the song suddenly bursts out of its shell, turning into a real rock monster of epic proportions. The drums pound into gear, the guitars become wild and distorted and wailing, and there is soloing all over the place as Yorke screams ”You have not been paying attention!” angrily. This song releases the tension perfectly and is a Radiohead classic already in my books.
#9 – Idioteque (Kid A)
Kid A is a great album, and that’s what it was good as, and album, a collection of songs. None of the songs could really be taken out and spoken of as “standout”. That is, except for this cheeky little dance number. When I say dance I mean dance, it has a dense backing thud that resonates throughout the whole song, and an upbeat, bouncing feel to it. But it is still Radiohead, thanks to Thom’s whining vocals, and they can pull off a dance tune just about as well as they can pull off any other type of song. There are of course stuttering processed drums and lots of atmospheric noises and bleeps and blips throughout this one, otherwise it wouldn’t be a dance tune! Seeing this one performed live is an experience, they turn it into an epic, and a lot more fun than it sounds when played in your home. Another signature tune of the band.
#8 – Knives Out (Amnesiac)
Taken from an exceedingly weird album, this one is an exceedingly normal sounding tune. Two guitars intertwine excellently in the forefront, creating a spooky, frightening riff and driving the song along at a pretty fast pace. Someone once said to me that this one is simply No Surprises from OK Computer played faster. I’m not sure I saw where he was coming from, but this one is certainly one of Radiohead’s finer and more disturbing tunes. Compared to the rest of Amnesiac, which is full of electronica, it’s a joy to hear the guitars. The two of them churn away, dominating the song, weaving a beautiful tune, and a couple of really neat instrumental parts. Yorke’s vocals add the perfect finishing touch to the intimidating, scary feel of this one.
#7 – The Tourist (OK Computer)
The closer on the album of the decade, this is the perfect easy-listening song, and one of the most beautiful and relaxing songs I know of. The guitar melody is heavenly, the vocals are pure, clean and innocent, the harmonies are even better, and the slow, sluggish pace of the track compliments all this and brings it together perfectly. Yorke owns the chorus of this one, sounding more anguished than ever as he stretches out words further than the limitations of most normal human beings. A big distorted solo almost begins early in the song, but holds off until later when it bursts out, not spoiling the calm, melancholy mood one bit. It all ends with the ting of a bell or something, very abruptly yet satisfyingly.
#6 – There There (Hail To The Thief)
The reason this one is placed so high is because it is one of those songs that just gets better and better with every single listen, it creeps underneath your skin and never crawls out. It is a dense and dark, but sleek and sexy tune. Oddly popping drums play a great beat, and some dominant groovy bass underlines the presence that this song has in the opening stages. Of course Yorke’s wail backs this up perfectly. Gradually the guitars work their way into the song, and at the end all the built up energy is released in a huge fiery ball of distortion and soloing as all instruments go into overdrive, and Yorke repeats ”We are accidents waiting to happen”. This one builds up and releases tension brilliantly, all throughout the song I particularly love the unexpected little bursts of drumming that eventually culminate in some steady thumping when everything goes crazy at the end. This one also featured the uber-cool video in the forest, one of the videos of the year 2003 in my estimation. The atmosphere of the song was captured perfectly in this excellent and slightly disturbing video.
#5 – Just (The Bends)
This is what you’ll get with this song. You will get some tremendous, inspired guitar work from Johnny Greenwood. Solos, tremolo picking, the lot. You will get a steady, harsh yet tuneful straight rock song. You will get a simple, refreshing, vibrant acoustic guitar that begins the song and plays all the way through it. You will hear a lot of heavy distortion, a lot of screeching and yelling from Thom Yorke, and some feedback. There will be some beautiful melodic guitar in the lead-up to the chorus, and some driving, forceful guitar when you finally reach it. You will get a quiet, almost acoustic break. You may hear a couple of absolutely ripping solos and an inspired, complex riff to close the song out. Basically what you’re getting is the finest noisy rock song Radiohead have ever done.
#4 – Karma Police (OK Computer)
A legendary Radiohead track, both when played live and generally in the eyes of nearly every fan of the band. This track is sinister to the max, with an evil, lurching piano line driving it along. The verses are reluctant, held back and you know there must be something big about to happen after them. There are short quiet spells where Yorke songs ”This is what you’ll get when you mess with us”, with soft piano, and the gentle squeaking of guitar chords being changed barely audible in the background. The crescendo is complete when the song goes into a more positive, chirpy mode of sorts, with the line ”Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself” carrying everything along. The piano steps up a gear, and Yorke lets loose. It just begs to be sung along to, the perfect ending to the song, and it all breaks down with a big ripping, fuzzy sound.
#3 – Paranoid Android (OK Computer)
This song has to be up here, as it showcases all the talent of this band. I have described it a couple of times before, so I’ll be brief. You get the start, the clicking, upbeat, punchy section with spooky atmospheric breaks where Yorke stretches out words again. Then two massive ripping guitar solo sections sandwich a beautiful vocal harmony part. This song relaxes, then attacks, then relaxes then attacks. It is tremendous, a six and a half minute epic, and worth every second of it
#2 – Pyramid Song (Amnesiac)
A stuttering, out of time masterpiece. That sums up this exquisite and beautiful piece of music. Pyramid Song is the immediate standout track on Amnesiac, starting off with a simple piano line and Yorke’s anguished vocals. The song soon builds up, spurred on by some hazy background noises, giving the impression of being underwater. Everything is so out of synch on this one that it all seems to fit perfectly, especially when the drums patter in, playing their own rhythm and fantastically unexpected and unpredictable fills. When the strings are added, swelling up in the background, you can just close your eyes and drift away, letting this gorgeous musical experience possess you. Pyramid Song is a work of art, no less than that.
#1 – Street Spirit (Fade Out) (The Bends)
And here we have it, the finest Radiohead song ever in this reviewer’s humble opinion. Surprised? You really shouldn’t be. This is a wonderful, refreshing, depressing, melancholy, intimidating, oppressive and brilliant tune. Any number of adjectives still could not describe it. It closes The Bends, and so could easily be shaken off and ignored by many. But how can you ignore that tremendous, melodic guitar riff that runs through the entire thing? How can you say you don’t love the dragging, lingering chorus that is extremely hard to sing (if you’ve ever tried to sing along to this one)? The image this one puts in my head is a starry night, pitch black, as that’s what the guitars in this one sound like, a bunch of twinkling stars. Particularly when the second, chiming guitar joins in later on, complimenting the first guitar more beautifully than anyone could care to imagine. Oh, how I love this song. It is Radiohead’s finest, for sure in my mind.
This is the opening track to the band’s most recent, and indeed very strong album. It is a more rocking number which we have not been used to from Radiohead as of late, and so to open the new album with a song such as 2 + 2 = 5 catches the listener off guard, making the song seem all the better. Especially since at the start, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to rock that much at all. You get a bouncy, processed drumbeat and an oppressive but quiet guitar riff that rolls along with Yorke’s innocent voice at first. About halfway through the song suddenly bursts out of its shell, turning into a real rock monster of epic proportions. The drums pound into gear, the guitars become wild and distorted and wailing, and there is soloing all over the place as Yorke screams ”You have not been paying attention!” angrily. This song releases the tension perfectly and is a Radiohead classic already in my books.
#9 – Idioteque (Kid A)
Kid A is a great album, and that’s what it was good as, and album, a collection of songs. None of the songs could really be taken out and spoken of as “standout”. That is, except for this cheeky little dance number. When I say dance I mean dance, it has a dense backing thud that resonates throughout the whole song, and an upbeat, bouncing feel to it. But it is still Radiohead, thanks to Thom’s whining vocals, and they can pull off a dance tune just about as well as they can pull off any other type of song. There are of course stuttering processed drums and lots of atmospheric noises and bleeps and blips throughout this one, otherwise it wouldn’t be a dance tune! Seeing this one performed live is an experience, they turn it into an epic, and a lot more fun than it sounds when played in your home. Another signature tune of the band.
#8 – Knives Out (Amnesiac)
Taken from an exceedingly weird album, this one is an exceedingly normal sounding tune. Two guitars intertwine excellently in the forefront, creating a spooky, frightening riff and driving the song along at a pretty fast pace. Someone once said to me that this one is simply No Surprises from OK Computer played faster. I’m not sure I saw where he was coming from, but this one is certainly one of Radiohead’s finer and more disturbing tunes. Compared to the rest of Amnesiac, which is full of electronica, it’s a joy to hear the guitars. The two of them churn away, dominating the song, weaving a beautiful tune, and a couple of really neat instrumental parts. Yorke’s vocals add the perfect finishing touch to the intimidating, scary feel of this one.
#7 – The Tourist (OK Computer)
The closer on the album of the decade, this is the perfect easy-listening song, and one of the most beautiful and relaxing songs I know of. The guitar melody is heavenly, the vocals are pure, clean and innocent, the harmonies are even better, and the slow, sluggish pace of the track compliments all this and brings it together perfectly. Yorke owns the chorus of this one, sounding more anguished than ever as he stretches out words further than the limitations of most normal human beings. A big distorted solo almost begins early in the song, but holds off until later when it bursts out, not spoiling the calm, melancholy mood one bit. It all ends with the ting of a bell or something, very abruptly yet satisfyingly.
#6 – There There (Hail To The Thief)
The reason this one is placed so high is because it is one of those songs that just gets better and better with every single listen, it creeps underneath your skin and never crawls out. It is a dense and dark, but sleek and sexy tune. Oddly popping drums play a great beat, and some dominant groovy bass underlines the presence that this song has in the opening stages. Of course Yorke’s wail backs this up perfectly. Gradually the guitars work their way into the song, and at the end all the built up energy is released in a huge fiery ball of distortion and soloing as all instruments go into overdrive, and Yorke repeats ”We are accidents waiting to happen”. This one builds up and releases tension brilliantly, all throughout the song I particularly love the unexpected little bursts of drumming that eventually culminate in some steady thumping when everything goes crazy at the end. This one also featured the uber-cool video in the forest, one of the videos of the year 2003 in my estimation. The atmosphere of the song was captured perfectly in this excellent and slightly disturbing video.
#5 – Just (The Bends)
This is what you’ll get with this song. You will get some tremendous, inspired guitar work from Johnny Greenwood. Solos, tremolo picking, the lot. You will get a steady, harsh yet tuneful straight rock song. You will get a simple, refreshing, vibrant acoustic guitar that begins the song and plays all the way through it. You will hear a lot of heavy distortion, a lot of screeching and yelling from Thom Yorke, and some feedback. There will be some beautiful melodic guitar in the lead-up to the chorus, and some driving, forceful guitar when you finally reach it. You will get a quiet, almost acoustic break. You may hear a couple of absolutely ripping solos and an inspired, complex riff to close the song out. Basically what you’re getting is the finest noisy rock song Radiohead have ever done.
#4 – Karma Police (OK Computer)
A legendary Radiohead track, both when played live and generally in the eyes of nearly every fan of the band. This track is sinister to the max, with an evil, lurching piano line driving it along. The verses are reluctant, held back and you know there must be something big about to happen after them. There are short quiet spells where Yorke songs ”This is what you’ll get when you mess with us”, with soft piano, and the gentle squeaking of guitar chords being changed barely audible in the background. The crescendo is complete when the song goes into a more positive, chirpy mode of sorts, with the line ”Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself” carrying everything along. The piano steps up a gear, and Yorke lets loose. It just begs to be sung along to, the perfect ending to the song, and it all breaks down with a big ripping, fuzzy sound.
#3 – Paranoid Android (OK Computer)
This song has to be up here, as it showcases all the talent of this band. I have described it a couple of times before, so I’ll be brief. You get the start, the clicking, upbeat, punchy section with spooky atmospheric breaks where Yorke stretches out words again. Then two massive ripping guitar solo sections sandwich a beautiful vocal harmony part. This song relaxes, then attacks, then relaxes then attacks. It is tremendous, a six and a half minute epic, and worth every second of it
#2 – Pyramid Song (Amnesiac)
A stuttering, out of time masterpiece. That sums up this exquisite and beautiful piece of music. Pyramid Song is the immediate standout track on Amnesiac, starting off with a simple piano line and Yorke’s anguished vocals. The song soon builds up, spurred on by some hazy background noises, giving the impression of being underwater. Everything is so out of synch on this one that it all seems to fit perfectly, especially when the drums patter in, playing their own rhythm and fantastically unexpected and unpredictable fills. When the strings are added, swelling up in the background, you can just close your eyes and drift away, letting this gorgeous musical experience possess you. Pyramid Song is a work of art, no less than that.
#1 – Street Spirit (Fade Out) (The Bends)
And here we have it, the finest Radiohead song ever in this reviewer’s humble opinion. Surprised? You really shouldn’t be. This is a wonderful, refreshing, depressing, melancholy, intimidating, oppressive and brilliant tune. Any number of adjectives still could not describe it. It closes The Bends, and so could easily be shaken off and ignored by many. But how can you ignore that tremendous, melodic guitar riff that runs through the entire thing? How can you say you don’t love the dragging, lingering chorus that is extremely hard to sing (if you’ve ever tried to sing along to this one)? The image this one puts in my head is a starry night, pitch black, as that’s what the guitars in this one sound like, a bunch of twinkling stars. Particularly when the second, chiming guitar joins in later on, complimenting the first guitar more beautifully than anyone could care to imagine. Oh, how I love this song. It is Radiohead’s finest, for sure in my mind.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Exclusive Interview with Kim Gordon
MP3: This year you're celebrating the 25th anniversary of the group and looking back to the first Sonic Youth release, the Noise Fest cassette, back in '82. Did you in any way anticipate all the success that has followed?
Kim Gordon: No, I mean, of course not, but at the same time, things have moved pretty gradually. So, it's not like Nirvana or something outlandish. I mean, we've lasted so long and all that.
But everything has been so gradual that it's sort of all come from, just hard work and basically being at it.
MP3: Do you think, had you actually become, say, an overnight success similar to Nirvana, it would have had a completely different impact on the group itself?
Kim Gordon: I'm sure it probably would have. I think that really f**** with people.
MP3: Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Sonic Youth doesn't seem to have slowed down at all. There have been four major releases and a few one-offs. From a fan's perspective, it seems as if you all could really go on forever. Do you feel that could actually be true--that Sonic Youth could record forever?
Kim Gordon: Well, no. I mean, you know, at the same time it's just not something we think about. It's like sitting around thinking about how long you're going to live. I don't know. I think it all just happens. Something will happen, or we'll just--it'll be logical, like, well, no one wants to do it any more or something. But, you know, it's like you don't sit around thinking about it, so--.
MP3: I guess, just from an outsider's perspective, it seems really incredible that a group of musicians could continue to record incredibly gorgeous and valid music for such a long period of time without seeming like you might tap the well, so to speak. The forthcoming album, Rather Ripped, it seems that you're getting back to just the four core members of the group, and I'm curious about the departure of Jim O'Rourke for this project, and also was it a conscious decision to go back to the four of you? Kim Gordon: Well, it was kind of accidental that Jim started playing with us, although it wasn't sudden...we hadn't really looked around to think who could be a fifth member. At the same time, we knew he probably would be passing through, and we were surprised he stayed as long as he did. But, so we weren't suddenly like "OK, but who else can we get?" We just basically, well, it was just natural that we would start working again as a foursome. Having said that, Mark Ibold is coming on tour to play bass with us, but he wasn't involved with this writing or recording or anything.
MP3: Was it difficult to make the decision for a touring bassist? I'm sure many, many people would have loved to have filled that spot. Kim Gordon: Well, Mark Ibold was the only one I could really think of...because I had played with him before and, I could play a part like very complicated. And I didn't want somebody who was too much of like a conventional bass player, you know, something, someone more kittenish.
MP3: Right. Like Les Claypool probably would have not been a good fit. Kim Gordon: Yes...and Mark is just so pleasant to have around, and everyone knows him, more or less, so it was actually kind of inspiring--inspirational idea on my part--if I don't say so.
MP3: Well, I've had the album for about 24 hours now, and I've listened to it repeatedly. And two of the songs-- Kim Gordon: You're sick of it already? MP3: No, no, no. Two of the songs on the album really caught my attention lyrically, and one is your song, "Reena," and the other song, "Do You Believe in Rapture?" What was the motivation behind "Reena"? Kim Gordon: I was sort of inspired by this book, Reena Spauling, who is kind of a fictional character. It's a collaborative piece of writing by a bunch of people. It's a fictional character about this fantastic kind of girl creature who makes her way in the art world, art fashion world, in New York. And she kind of reminds me of people that you meet who seem fascinating, but they're crazy. And you don't know why they're fascinating, and it just could be in simple things they do or some mystery. It's kind of like one of those gross friendship crush songs, because I just thought I had never written a song about that. And it's also--the name of this became the name of this gallery where I've shown. So, I kind of wanted to continue the myth of Reena Spauling.
MP3: And then, the other song I mentioned was "Do You Believe in Rapture?" which I know you don't sing on the album, but I'm just curious if you could give any insight into that particular song? Kim Gordon: Well, I don't know. I guess there are lots of interpretations. I mean, I think it's--I think Thurston probably wrote it because of all the leanings toward religion and Christianity and, you know, that are on the political landscape right now, and Bush has really fractured the country in that way by representing the Right, extreme Right, fundamentalist Right. But "Rapture" is something else, it's more--you see it in paintings as just kind of ecstatic and more erotic sort of state. But I kind of see that as an alternative to the fundamentalist religion. You know what I mean?
MP3: I do. Kim Gordon: Posing that as an alternative to religion, MP3tian, conservative, fundamentalism, or something, in terms of a pursuit of rapture in art or ecstatic experience in music or something.
MP3: Over the years, Sonic Youth has proved to be a huge supporter of relatively obscure acts, and being from the Bay area, I've been very impressed with your decisions to tour with the Erase Errata, to play with Deerhoof, with Wolf Eyes and, I believe, even Rubber O Cement. Does your label ever get frustrated by your decision to not tour with major acts? Kim Gordon: Well, I mean, I don't think they care about that sort of thing. I mean, we are actually this summer doing some dates with Pearl Jam. But, I mean, we've done things like that in the past. I don't think they care what we do. You know, we have our own audience, and it's not like--they just know we're not going to do certain things.
MP3: But these relationships seem to have really--I mean, like I said before, the Erase Errata or Deerhoof, they seem to really keep Sonic Youth in the minds of younger people that are getting into various new and experimental music. Do you yourself sort of spend a lot of time listening to what's bubbling up from the underground? Kim Gordon: Oh, sure. I mean, most of it is probably more obscure and just more noisy than either of those two bands, but Thurston has stuff all the time that he's involved with that is fairly obscure and experimental. And there are local bands that we're into that are like that. Yes, I guess I listen to more of that than I do whatever, the Clap Your Hands, Yeah Yeah Yeah, or Yeah Yeah Clap Your Hands, you know, those bands, who I've never heard. People ask me what I think of them, and I don't really have access to them, because I don't listen to radio...or they don't play them on the radio stations I listen to.
MP3: Over the years you've been involved in a few side projects and, obviously, your own art and experimental performances. Can we, your fans, ever expect to hear a true Kim Gordon solo album? Kim Gordon: Maybe, yeah. MP3: Have you ever thought about that? Kim Gordon: Yeah, I have. I mean, the trio record started out as that but that was the trio record. And then, I was thinking of doing a record just like starting with voice, because I did this one song that was just kind of a cappella, and I did it for this art piece I did where people could come and play music to go with a voice. And it's in this big tent, kind of, it's a black-glitter tent that I made. So, I was thinking of making a whole record kind of like that, but I haven't yet. But I probably will do something like that.
MP3: Oh, I would look forward to hearing that. I had a question here that was submitted by a coworker. They wanted to know what kinds of music your daughter listens to and how her taste has evolved? And is she at a stage yet of listening to music that would piss you and Thurston off? Kim Gordon: She's beyond that right now. I mean, she listens to Beatles, and the Ramones, and the Kinks. She likes Blondie, Fiona Apple. You know, she's actually kind of open to music right now...So, she has pretty sophisticated tastes right now. She actually has a band that she started with a couple of friends.
MP3: Really? Kim Gordon: Yeah. They're doing their second gig this week.
MP3: Is it a little odd for you seeing your own child going into music? Kim Gordon: Oh, I don't think it's odd. I see it as more of a teenage activity than, you know, she's only 11, but you know, I think it's great that she knows so many girls who want to play music. And I see it more as a teen activity than I do as going into music.
MP3: Right. Kim Gordon: It's great. You know, it's just a way for them to express themselves. And they're more interested in that than learning their instruments.
MP3: Well, genius lies in amateurism. Kim Gordon: Yeah. Kim Gordon: I mean, I never learned--you know, it's just in the vein or...they're more punk rock, I guess.
MP3: Were you just saying that you never learned to play? Kim Gordon: Yeah. I mean, I don't even think of myself as a musician, really.
MP3: What would you consider yourself then? Kim Gordon: Kind of more visual artist...because that's where my training was. I just happened to start playing music for the conceptual ideas.
MP3: Well, that's what I would call a very successful happenstance. Kim Gordon: So, you live in San Francisco?
MP3: I do, actually, yeah. Kim Gordon: I think we're playing one show there...at the Fillmore, but I'm not sure.
MP3: Yeah. I actually saw you there on the Murray Street Tour. Kim Gordon: Oh, OK.
MP3: And it was a really fantastic performance. Kim Gordon: That was a fun--fun record to play.
MP3: Yeah. Kim Gordon: The last two records I liked playing a lot.
MP3: Yeah. They're really, really beautiful pieces of art. Kim Gordon: Oh, thanks.
MP3: How do the new songs translate live? Kim Gordon: I don't know. We haven't--well, actually, half the songs we have played live. Mostly, all the ones Thurston sings. And we played in a small club in Paris and did a radio show, concert. And we played six of the new songs. Some of the other ones are really unknown at this point. I mean, in the basement they sound fine.
MP3: Well, I look forward to seeing how they work out... Kim Gordon: Hopefully, by then, we'll know how to play them and everything.
MP3: OK. Well, unfortunately, I have to go, as I'm sure you do. Kim Gordon: Yes.
MP3: But it was wonderful speaking with you. Kim Gordon: Thank you. MP3: And have a good day. Kim Gordon: OK, you too. Bye.
Source
Kim Gordon: No, I mean, of course not, but at the same time, things have moved pretty gradually. So, it's not like Nirvana or something outlandish. I mean, we've lasted so long and all that.
But everything has been so gradual that it's sort of all come from, just hard work and basically being at it.
MP3: Do you think, had you actually become, say, an overnight success similar to Nirvana, it would have had a completely different impact on the group itself?
Kim Gordon: I'm sure it probably would have. I think that really f**** with people.
MP3: Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Sonic Youth doesn't seem to have slowed down at all. There have been four major releases and a few one-offs. From a fan's perspective, it seems as if you all could really go on forever. Do you feel that could actually be true--that Sonic Youth could record forever?
Kim Gordon: Well, no. I mean, you know, at the same time it's just not something we think about. It's like sitting around thinking about how long you're going to live. I don't know. I think it all just happens. Something will happen, or we'll just--it'll be logical, like, well, no one wants to do it any more or something. But, you know, it's like you don't sit around thinking about it, so--.
MP3: I guess, just from an outsider's perspective, it seems really incredible that a group of musicians could continue to record incredibly gorgeous and valid music for such a long period of time without seeming like you might tap the well, so to speak. The forthcoming album, Rather Ripped, it seems that you're getting back to just the four core members of the group, and I'm curious about the departure of Jim O'Rourke for this project, and also was it a conscious decision to go back to the four of you? Kim Gordon: Well, it was kind of accidental that Jim started playing with us, although it wasn't sudden...we hadn't really looked around to think who could be a fifth member. At the same time, we knew he probably would be passing through, and we were surprised he stayed as long as he did. But, so we weren't suddenly like "OK, but who else can we get?" We just basically, well, it was just natural that we would start working again as a foursome. Having said that, Mark Ibold is coming on tour to play bass with us, but he wasn't involved with this writing or recording or anything.
MP3: Was it difficult to make the decision for a touring bassist? I'm sure many, many people would have loved to have filled that spot. Kim Gordon: Well, Mark Ibold was the only one I could really think of...because I had played with him before and, I could play a part like very complicated. And I didn't want somebody who was too much of like a conventional bass player, you know, something, someone more kittenish.
MP3: Right. Like Les Claypool probably would have not been a good fit. Kim Gordon: Yes...and Mark is just so pleasant to have around, and everyone knows him, more or less, so it was actually kind of inspiring--inspirational idea on my part--if I don't say so.
MP3: Well, I've had the album for about 24 hours now, and I've listened to it repeatedly. And two of the songs-- Kim Gordon: You're sick of it already? MP3: No, no, no. Two of the songs on the album really caught my attention lyrically, and one is your song, "Reena," and the other song, "Do You Believe in Rapture?" What was the motivation behind "Reena"? Kim Gordon: I was sort of inspired by this book, Reena Spauling, who is kind of a fictional character. It's a collaborative piece of writing by a bunch of people. It's a fictional character about this fantastic kind of girl creature who makes her way in the art world, art fashion world, in New York. And she kind of reminds me of people that you meet who seem fascinating, but they're crazy. And you don't know why they're fascinating, and it just could be in simple things they do or some mystery. It's kind of like one of those gross friendship crush songs, because I just thought I had never written a song about that. And it's also--the name of this became the name of this gallery where I've shown. So, I kind of wanted to continue the myth of Reena Spauling.
MP3: And then, the other song I mentioned was "Do You Believe in Rapture?" which I know you don't sing on the album, but I'm just curious if you could give any insight into that particular song? Kim Gordon: Well, I don't know. I guess there are lots of interpretations. I mean, I think it's--I think Thurston probably wrote it because of all the leanings toward religion and Christianity and, you know, that are on the political landscape right now, and Bush has really fractured the country in that way by representing the Right, extreme Right, fundamentalist Right. But "Rapture" is something else, it's more--you see it in paintings as just kind of ecstatic and more erotic sort of state. But I kind of see that as an alternative to the fundamentalist religion. You know what I mean?
MP3: I do. Kim Gordon: Posing that as an alternative to religion, MP3tian, conservative, fundamentalism, or something, in terms of a pursuit of rapture in art or ecstatic experience in music or something.
MP3: Over the years, Sonic Youth has proved to be a huge supporter of relatively obscure acts, and being from the Bay area, I've been very impressed with your decisions to tour with the Erase Errata, to play with Deerhoof, with Wolf Eyes and, I believe, even Rubber O Cement. Does your label ever get frustrated by your decision to not tour with major acts? Kim Gordon: Well, I mean, I don't think they care about that sort of thing. I mean, we are actually this summer doing some dates with Pearl Jam. But, I mean, we've done things like that in the past. I don't think they care what we do. You know, we have our own audience, and it's not like--they just know we're not going to do certain things.
MP3: But these relationships seem to have really--I mean, like I said before, the Erase Errata or Deerhoof, they seem to really keep Sonic Youth in the minds of younger people that are getting into various new and experimental music. Do you yourself sort of spend a lot of time listening to what's bubbling up from the underground? Kim Gordon: Oh, sure. I mean, most of it is probably more obscure and just more noisy than either of those two bands, but Thurston has stuff all the time that he's involved with that is fairly obscure and experimental. And there are local bands that we're into that are like that. Yes, I guess I listen to more of that than I do whatever, the Clap Your Hands, Yeah Yeah Yeah, or Yeah Yeah Clap Your Hands, you know, those bands, who I've never heard. People ask me what I think of them, and I don't really have access to them, because I don't listen to radio...or they don't play them on the radio stations I listen to.
MP3: Over the years you've been involved in a few side projects and, obviously, your own art and experimental performances. Can we, your fans, ever expect to hear a true Kim Gordon solo album? Kim Gordon: Maybe, yeah. MP3: Have you ever thought about that? Kim Gordon: Yeah, I have. I mean, the trio record started out as that but that was the trio record. And then, I was thinking of doing a record just like starting with voice, because I did this one song that was just kind of a cappella, and I did it for this art piece I did where people could come and play music to go with a voice. And it's in this big tent, kind of, it's a black-glitter tent that I made. So, I was thinking of making a whole record kind of like that, but I haven't yet. But I probably will do something like that.
MP3: Oh, I would look forward to hearing that. I had a question here that was submitted by a coworker. They wanted to know what kinds of music your daughter listens to and how her taste has evolved? And is she at a stage yet of listening to music that would piss you and Thurston off? Kim Gordon: She's beyond that right now. I mean, she listens to Beatles, and the Ramones, and the Kinks. She likes Blondie, Fiona Apple. You know, she's actually kind of open to music right now...So, she has pretty sophisticated tastes right now. She actually has a band that she started with a couple of friends.
MP3: Really? Kim Gordon: Yeah. They're doing their second gig this week.
MP3: Is it a little odd for you seeing your own child going into music? Kim Gordon: Oh, I don't think it's odd. I see it as more of a teenage activity than, you know, she's only 11, but you know, I think it's great that she knows so many girls who want to play music. And I see it more as a teen activity than I do as going into music.
MP3: Right. Kim Gordon: It's great. You know, it's just a way for them to express themselves. And they're more interested in that than learning their instruments.
MP3: Well, genius lies in amateurism. Kim Gordon: Yeah. Kim Gordon: I mean, I never learned--you know, it's just in the vein or...they're more punk rock, I guess.
MP3: Were you just saying that you never learned to play? Kim Gordon: Yeah. I mean, I don't even think of myself as a musician, really.
MP3: What would you consider yourself then? Kim Gordon: Kind of more visual artist...because that's where my training was. I just happened to start playing music for the conceptual ideas.
MP3: Well, that's what I would call a very successful happenstance. Kim Gordon: So, you live in San Francisco?
MP3: I do, actually, yeah. Kim Gordon: I think we're playing one show there...at the Fillmore, but I'm not sure.
MP3: Yeah. I actually saw you there on the Murray Street Tour. Kim Gordon: Oh, OK.
MP3: And it was a really fantastic performance. Kim Gordon: That was a fun--fun record to play.
MP3: Yeah. Kim Gordon: The last two records I liked playing a lot.
MP3: Yeah. They're really, really beautiful pieces of art. Kim Gordon: Oh, thanks.
MP3: How do the new songs translate live? Kim Gordon: I don't know. We haven't--well, actually, half the songs we have played live. Mostly, all the ones Thurston sings. And we played in a small club in Paris and did a radio show, concert. And we played six of the new songs. Some of the other ones are really unknown at this point. I mean, in the basement they sound fine.
MP3: Well, I look forward to seeing how they work out... Kim Gordon: Hopefully, by then, we'll know how to play them and everything.
MP3: OK. Well, unfortunately, I have to go, as I'm sure you do. Kim Gordon: Yes.
MP3: But it was wonderful speaking with you. Kim Gordon: Thank you. MP3: And have a good day. Kim Gordon: OK, you too. Bye.
Source
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway
"Meet Me Halfway" is a song by American hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. It was released as the third promo single from their 5th studio album The E.N.D. It was later released as the album's third single
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Smashing Pumpkins - The Aeroplane Flies High [BOX SET] [2005]
Disc 1: Bullet with Butterfly Wings
1. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
2. ...Said Sadly
3. You're All I Got Tonight
4. Clones (We're All)
5. A Night Like This
6. Destination Unknown
7. Dreaming
Disc 2: 1979
1. 1979
2. Ugly
3. The Boy
4. Cherry
5. Believe
6. Set the Ray to Jerry
Disc 3: Zero
1. Zero
2. God
3. Mouths of Babes
4. Tribute to Johnny
5. Marquis in Spades
6. Pennies
7. Pastichio Medley
Disc 4: Tonight, Tonight
1. Tonight, Tonight
2. Meladori Megpie
3. Rotten Apples
4. Jupiter's Lament
5. Medellia of the Gray Skies
6. Blank
7. Tonite Reprise
Disc 5: Thirty-Three
1. Thirty-Three
2. The Last Song
3. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
4. Transformer
5. The Bells
6. My Blue Heaven
Şifrenizde budur:LeechedfromNeedZ.org
Sunday, November 06, 2005
PLACEBO - Black Market Music
AMG Review
After almost five years, the vile, nasty, spunk-filled world of
Placebo has refused to go away. Marilyn Manson has turned a satirical eye on his own media status and even Suede have since come to swoon over girls "shaped like a cigarette." Yet it's Brian Molko that's steered his band from premature randiness (Placebo) to fearful regrouping (Without You I'm Nothing) without once batting a makeup-smeared eyelash. Black Market Music finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world. Whether it's the dripping, slithery punk circle of songs like "Black Eyed" or the choir-boy enthusiasm of others like "Special K" (strangely echoing Midnight Oil's "Warakurna"), Placebo seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion. Even at its worst (the "Block Rockin' Beats"-sampling "Taste in Men"), past glories sometimes fail to be repeated with at least grand, postcoital contentment. Because it's hard to hate an album with such fascinating softer touches. In one moment, Molko cries respect to his mother; in another he counsels, "You better keep it in check/Or you'll end up a wreck/And you'll never wake up" -- a paternal warning seemingly directed at his fellow hedonists. Of course, there's a thin line between trying to perfect old efforts and stumbling into laughable self-parody. But Placebo now seem more in control than they ever have before. The spectacular "Commercial for Levi," for example, is some perverted, weary take on a childhood lullaby, only one written in a parallel dimension about "spunk and bestiality." True, there's no "Nancy Boy" or "Pure Morning," yet the album's consistency easily outmatches even the highest watermarks of either predecessor. This is a dank, lusty moment in the band's career that is about as good as Placebo "mark 1" can go. They now have the talent, the intelligence, and the distorted arousal to possibly become unstoppable. It's only a matter of time before they finally find love amid the lust.
After almost five years, the vile, nasty, spunk-filled world of
Placebo has refused to go away. Marilyn Manson has turned a satirical eye on his own media status and even Suede have since come to swoon over girls "shaped like a cigarette." Yet it's Brian Molko that's steered his band from premature randiness (Placebo) to fearful regrouping (Without You I'm Nothing) without once batting a makeup-smeared eyelash. Black Market Music finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world. Whether it's the dripping, slithery punk circle of songs like "Black Eyed" or the choir-boy enthusiasm of others like "Special K" (strangely echoing Midnight Oil's "Warakurna"), Placebo seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion. Even at its worst (the "Block Rockin' Beats"-sampling "Taste in Men"), past glories sometimes fail to be repeated with at least grand, postcoital contentment. Because it's hard to hate an album with such fascinating softer touches. In one moment, Molko cries respect to his mother; in another he counsels, "You better keep it in check/Or you'll end up a wreck/And you'll never wake up" -- a paternal warning seemingly directed at his fellow hedonists. Of course, there's a thin line between trying to perfect old efforts and stumbling into laughable self-parody. But Placebo now seem more in control than they ever have before. The spectacular "Commercial for Levi," for example, is some perverted, weary take on a childhood lullaby, only one written in a parallel dimension about "spunk and bestiality." True, there's no "Nancy Boy" or "Pure Morning," yet the album's consistency easily outmatches even the highest watermarks of either predecessor. This is a dank, lusty moment in the band's career that is about as good as Placebo "mark 1" can go. They now have the talent, the intelligence, and the distorted arousal to possibly become unstoppable. It's only a matter of time before they finally find love amid the lust.
Metal Album Archive 1
After Forever ~ Exordium
Alice Cooper – Dirty Diamonds
Alice Cooper - The Definitive Alice Cooper
Angra - TempleOf Shadows
Annihilator - Criteria For A Black Widow
Annihilator - Waking The Fury
Anorexia Nervosa- Redemption Process
Anvil - Metal On Metal
Anvil - Forged In Fire:
Anvil - Still Going Strong:
Autopsy - Acts of Unspeakable
Bad Religion:
Against the Grain
Generator
Into the Unknown
New America
No Control
Recipe for Hate
Suffer
Stranger than Fiction
The Empire Strikes First
The Gray Race
The Process of Belief
All Ages
How Could Hell Be Any Worse
No Substance
Punk Rock Songs: The Epic Years
Behemoth - Slaves Shall Serve
Behemoth - The Return Of The Northern Moon
Blind Guardian - Battalions
Blind Guardian - Follow The Blind
Blind Guardian - Imagination From The Other Side
Blind Guardian – Live
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst '99
Cannibal Corpse - Gore obsessed
Carpathian Forest-Through Chasm, Caves And Titan Woods
Children Of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet
Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper
Coroner - Coroner
Cradle Of Filth –Cruelty And The Beast
Cradle Of Filth – From The Cradle To Enslave E.P.
Cradle Of Filth - Nymphetamine
Cradle Of Filth – Vempire Dark Faerytales In Phallustein
Crematory - Revolution
Dark Funeral - Attera Totus Sanctus
Darkthrone - Total Death
Death:
Fate
Human
Individual Thought Patterns
Leprosy
Scream Bloody Gore
Spiritual Healing
Symbolic
The Sound Of Perseverance
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Dimmu Borgir - Godless SavageGarden (EP)
Dimmu Borgir - Kill Trend Suicide
Dimmu Borgir - Stormblast
Dismember - The God That Never Was
Disturbed – Believe
Disturbed - The Sickness
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Dream Theater - Live at Budokan
Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory
Emperor - IX Equilibrium
Emperor – Prometeus
Enthroned - The Apocalypse Manifesto
Grip Inc. - Nemesis
Gorgoroth - Twilight Of The Idols
Guns ’n’ Roses - Appetite For destruction
Guns ’n’ Roses - Practice For Destruction
Guns ’n’ Roses - Spaghetti Incident?
Hammerfall - Crimson Thunder
Hammerfall – Renegade
Hatebreed - Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire
Impaled Nazarene - Death Comes In 26 Carefully
In Flames – Clayman
In Flames - Come Clarity
In Flames - Reroute To Remain
Iron Maiden - The Essential Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden - Virtual XI
Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls
Katatonia - Discouraged Ones
Kiss - Hot in Shade
Kreator - Outcast
Finntroll - Nattfodd
Finntroll - Jaktens Tid
Finntroll - Visor Om Slutet
Marduk – Deathmarch
Marduk - Plague angel
Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The ValleyOf Death)
Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget (the Best Of)
Mayhem - 2000 The Grand Declaration Of War
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Megadeth - Cryptic Writings
Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Megadeth – Youthanasia
Mercyful Fate - In The Shadows
Ministry - In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up
Mnemic - Mechanical Spin Phenomena
Mnemic-The_Audio_Injected_Soul
Mordred 4 Albums
Mortician - Darkest Day Of Horror
Motorhead – Bastards
Motorhead - March Or Die
Napalm Death - Breed To Breathe
Necrophagist - Onset Of Putrefaction (Rerelease)
Nevermore – Nevermore
Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been
Opeth:
Orchid
Morningrise
My Arms, Your Hearse
Still Life
Blackwater Park
Deliverance
Damnation
Ghost Reveries
Lamentations/Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire
Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzmosis
Pantera:
Power Metal
Cowboys From Hell
Vulgar Display Of Power
Far Beyond Driven
The Great Southern Trendkill
Official Live 101 Proof
Reinventing The Steel
Paradise Lost - Icon
ProPain - Foul Taste Of Freedom
Prong - Beg To Differ
Queen And Paul Rodgers - Return Of The Champions
Queensryche:
Greatest Hits
Queensryche
The Warning
Roadrunner United–TheAll-StarSessions
Running_Wild:
Blazon_Stone
and
Branded_And_Exiled
Gates_To_Purgatory
Masquerade
Pile_Of_Skulls
Port_Royal
Ready_For_Boarding - live
The_Brotherhood
The_First_Years_Of_Piracy
The_Rivalry
Under_Jolly_Roger
Victory
Samael - Worship Him
Savatage - Sirens
Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling
Sepultura - Dante XXI
Six Feet Under - 13
Six Feet Under - Bringer Of Blood
Six Feet Under - Maximum Violence
Six Feet Under - True Carnage
Skid Row - Subhuman Race
Soufly – Prophecy
Stratovarius – Infinite
Tiamat - Wildhoney
Tribute To W.A.S.P. & Live Album
Trivium-Ascendancy
Venom - Black Metal
Voivod - Negatron
W.A.S.P. - Still Not Black Enough
Alice Cooper – Dirty Diamonds
Alice Cooper - The Definitive Alice Cooper
Angra - TempleOf Shadows
Annihilator - Criteria For A Black Widow
Annihilator - Waking The Fury
Anorexia Nervosa- Redemption Process
Anvil - Metal On Metal
Anvil - Forged In Fire:
Anvil - Still Going Strong:
Autopsy - Acts of Unspeakable
Bad Religion:
Against the Grain
Generator
Into the Unknown
New America
No Control
Recipe for Hate
Suffer
Stranger than Fiction
The Empire Strikes First
The Gray Race
The Process of Belief
All Ages
How Could Hell Be Any Worse
No Substance
Punk Rock Songs: The Epic Years
Behemoth - Slaves Shall Serve
Behemoth - The Return Of The Northern Moon
Blind Guardian - Battalions
Blind Guardian - Follow The Blind
Blind Guardian - Imagination From The Other Side
Blind Guardian – Live
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst '99
Cannibal Corpse - Gore obsessed
Carpathian Forest-Through Chasm, Caves And Titan Woods
Children Of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet
Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper
Coroner - Coroner
Cradle Of Filth –Cruelty And The Beast
Cradle Of Filth – From The Cradle To Enslave E.P.
Cradle Of Filth - Nymphetamine
Cradle Of Filth – Vempire Dark Faerytales In Phallustein
Crematory - Revolution
Dark Funeral - Attera Totus Sanctus
Darkthrone - Total Death
Death:
Fate
Human
Individual Thought Patterns
Leprosy
Scream Bloody Gore
Spiritual Healing
Symbolic
The Sound Of Perseverance
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
Dimmu Borgir - Godless SavageGarden (EP)
Dimmu Borgir - Kill Trend Suicide
Dimmu Borgir - Stormblast
Dismember - The God That Never Was
Disturbed – Believe
Disturbed - The Sickness
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Dream Theater - Live at Budokan
Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory
Emperor - IX Equilibrium
Emperor – Prometeus
Enthroned - The Apocalypse Manifesto
Grip Inc. - Nemesis
Gorgoroth - Twilight Of The Idols
Guns ’n’ Roses - Appetite For destruction
Guns ’n’ Roses - Practice For Destruction
Guns ’n’ Roses - Spaghetti Incident?
Hammerfall - Crimson Thunder
Hammerfall – Renegade
Hatebreed - Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire
Impaled Nazarene - Death Comes In 26 Carefully
In Flames – Clayman
In Flames - Come Clarity
In Flames - Reroute To Remain
Iron Maiden - The Essential Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden - Virtual XI
Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls
Katatonia - Discouraged Ones
Kiss - Hot in Shade
Kreator - Outcast
Finntroll - Nattfodd
Finntroll - Jaktens Tid
Finntroll - Visor Om Slutet
Marduk – Deathmarch
Marduk - Plague angel
Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The ValleyOf Death)
Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget (the Best Of)
Mayhem - 2000 The Grand Declaration Of War
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Megadeth - Cryptic Writings
Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Megadeth – Youthanasia
Mercyful Fate - In The Shadows
Ministry - In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up
Mnemic - Mechanical Spin Phenomena
Mnemic-The_Audio_Injected_Soul
Mordred 4 Albums
Mortician - Darkest Day Of Horror
Motorhead – Bastards
Motorhead - March Or Die
Napalm Death - Breed To Breathe
Necrophagist - Onset Of Putrefaction (Rerelease)
Nevermore – Nevermore
Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been
Opeth:
Orchid
Morningrise
My Arms, Your Hearse
Still Life
Blackwater Park
Deliverance
Damnation
Ghost Reveries
Lamentations/Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire
Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzmosis
Pantera:
Power Metal
Cowboys From Hell
Vulgar Display Of Power
Far Beyond Driven
The Great Southern Trendkill
Official Live 101 Proof
Reinventing The Steel
Paradise Lost - Icon
ProPain - Foul Taste Of Freedom
Prong - Beg To Differ
Queen And Paul Rodgers - Return Of The Champions
Queensryche:
Greatest Hits
Queensryche
The Warning
Roadrunner United–TheAll-StarSessions
Running_Wild:
Blazon_Stone
and
Branded_And_Exiled
Gates_To_Purgatory
Masquerade
Pile_Of_Skulls
Port_Royal
Ready_For_Boarding - live
The_Brotherhood
The_First_Years_Of_Piracy
The_Rivalry
Under_Jolly_Roger
Victory
Samael - Worship Him
Savatage - Sirens
Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling
Sepultura - Dante XXI
Six Feet Under - 13
Six Feet Under - Bringer Of Blood
Six Feet Under - Maximum Violence
Six Feet Under - True Carnage
Skid Row - Subhuman Race
Soufly – Prophecy
Stratovarius – Infinite
Tiamat - Wildhoney
Tribute To W.A.S.P. & Live Album
Trivium-Ascendancy
Venom - Black Metal
Voivod - Negatron
W.A.S.P. - Still Not Black Enough
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