Last year I started a Best Performances of the year list mostly because of the overabundance of great performances at Live Earth. Despite the lack of any major cultural event, I thought I would continue the list for at one more year. Here the live performances that caught my ear this year. I have links to YouTube for those that have yet been pulled and there are even a couple that are sold on iTunes so check out the button for those.
1. Stronger/Hey Mama - Kanye West and Daft Punk (Grammy Awards)
2. Just Stand Up - Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Scherzinger , Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Keyshia Cole, Ashanti and Ciara (Stand Up 2 Cancer)
3. Burning Up/Ray of Light - The Stooges (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)
4. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer (Where the Light Is)
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Christmas just doesn’t feel like Christmas until I have Bono tell me, “Well thank God tonight it’s them instead of you.” Much like Do They Know its Christmas, proceeds to this song goes to a good cause as it is part of the new (Red)Wire music service where you get exclusic music with the money going to buy medicine for people in need.
Remember the days when new music videos were such an event that Michael Jackson’s Black or White was simulcast on Fox, MTV, VH1, and BET? To put in perspective how far the music industry has fallen, the latest Bruce Springsteen video debuted this on Amazon.com. Oh, and if this is any indication, music is gonna suck under an Obama administration. Huckabee 2012!
It took me a while to figure out this wasn’t a long lost video from the nineties. EPMD featuring Teddy Riley with Max Headroom-quality graphics and references to Andre Rison and Jim Carey. Really if it weren’t for the E-Bama mention I probably would have continued to think that.
The Presidents of the United States of America is one of those bands you feel bad for because they should be remembered as a One Hit Wonders but actually scored a second hit and sadly VH1 doesn’t run Two Hit Wonders specials. But on the bright side one of those two hits was actually parodied by “Weird Al” Yankovic who coincidentally directed their latest video. Speaking of Al, he has finally discover he can release songs as singles on iTunes right after writing them instead of waiting to have enough to fill an album. So if you haven’t already checked out his version of T.I.’s Whatever You Like do so ASAP. Now if you excuss me, I am going to move to the country and eat me some peaches.
For any music fan, you know a title of the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die is worth a look. For novice fans, the book makes good suggestions ranging every musical genre you can think off. For the music fanatic you can read it to pick it apart, because even with a thousand entries, certainly everyone can come up with a least of a hundred recordings that should have been included in the list and a few that you make you scratch your head at their inclusion.
From his picture on the back of the book, it should be noted that author Tom Moon is of the Baby Boomer generation so naturally there is an overabundance of music from the sixties while Bob Dylan and the Beatles are more than represented. Okay old people, we get it, you really loved the Beatles, but really eight albums featuring the band members? Dylan landed four while a few ranked twice. Keep in mind Bruce Springsteen (Born to Run) and Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon) and U2 (The Joshua Tree) only made the list once. I would really like Moon to justify just how Usher’s Confessions, Britney Spears’ Toxic and No Doubt’s Rock Steady (which isn’t even the band’s best work) rank higher than Born in the USA, Wish You Were Here and Achtung Baby.
I also am not sure if I should complain about the exclusion of any Eric Clapton album (seriously, no Slowhand), he does show up with Derek and the Dominos, Cream, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, The Yardbirds, and Blind Faith. Where the sixties is well populated, looking at this book it is as the nineties didn’t exist unless you were a grunge band or a dead rapper. That did lead to possibly the best write up in the book for Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chamber) where Moon bizarrely starts up the review quoting poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. But enough with the complaints of the selections because if I continued to nit-pick I would write a review that rivals the book’s 1007 pages.
116 of those pages are just indexes. But with indexes for Genre, Occasions (like Parties, Romance), Composers, and Performers. Although it would have been nice if they would have thrown in an extra five pages to list the recording chronologically. But each write up is well done even if Moon doesn’t seem to really understand any the music he included that release after 1980. Each recording also include Key Tracks, Catalog Choice, other works by the artist worth listening to, as well as Next Stop and After That, two recording that are related musically to selection worth checking out.
Easily the most interesting inclusion has to be The Grey Album by Danger Mouse considering that to listen to it you are technically breaking the law. For those unfamiliar, The Grey Album a mash up between The White Album by The Beatles (which of course is also listed) and The Black Album from Jay-Z (which is conspicuously missing from the list) that launched Danger Mouse into a succesful producer and one half of Gnarls Barkley.
But whatever type a music fan you are, there is plenty of gems to find in the book. And the short segment are perfect to have laying around when you only have short spurts of time to kill, as it is currently taking up space in my bathroom. Just keep in mind the 1007 page thick frame is a little cumbersome to hold at time, so the short spurts of reading is really ideal.
- Today was the funeral of former White House press secretary Tony Snow who lost his battle with colon cancer this past weekend. This year one out of four deaths in America will be cancer related, earlier this year E Street Band member Danny Federici also lost a battle with melanoma. Bruce Springsteen was released a charity EP featuring live songs from the latest Magic tour. The set features Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine on The Ghost of Tom Joad (a song Rage has covered), Alejandro Escovedo on Always Be a Friend and Danny’s very last concert on 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). The EP is available on Amazon MP3 (see widget below) and iTunes (see banner to the right) where you can also buy the video for each song. For this EP the artists, songwriters, and music publishers are waiving all of their royalties and Columbia Records is donating all of its net profits to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund.
- People with HD computer screens rejoice, CBS.com is offering most of their streaming episodes in HD now including The Big Bang Theory, The Late Show with David Letterman, and How I Met Your Mother (one would assume Survivor will be added to this list next fall when its first season ever in HD premieres). New summer shows Swingtown and Flashpoint are also available in the format. Now if only I had a computer that played regular definition shows. But anyways. Interesting choose in promo pictures for The Big Bang Theory (click to enlarge):
- Some news out of FX including the return of show The Shield in its seventh and final season premiering Tuesday September 2nd at 10:00 and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia returning for it fourth season Thursday September 18th at 10:00. There is also a new show on the lineup, Sons of Anarchy which is set to premiere Wednesday September 3rd at 10:00. Check out a promo below.
- Earlier this week I implemented a new comment system where the comment form is embedded in the individual post page. This currently part of Blogger in Draft so there may be some kinks to be worked out before it becomes official. The only drawback is that you currently cannot subscribe to individual comment pages like before where it would e-mail you anyone that comments after you. But if you look at the sidebar on the right, you can subscribe to all my comments. Hopefully this new method will encourage some of you to comment more. (hint, hint)
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Don’t ask me why Bruce Springsteen would release a song about summer in the dead of winter, but it is a great song. I think this version of the song is technically called the Winter Mix, but don’t ask me the difference between it and the original. But the video is beautifully shot and if MTV bothered to nominate actual best videos instead of the best from artists who appeal to fourteen year old girls like they have in recent years, this would be a lock for a moonman.
Speaking of girls in their summer clothes, Carrie Underwood wears plenty in her new video and I am definitely happier for it. Yeah the song is lame in a cheesy country music kind of way but I’m not sure which Carrie I like the most, the cheerleader, the doctor, the cop, the teacher, or the chemist. Although I wonder if she is subliminally endorsing a candidate in the video. On one hand there is the female president, which could be she is backing Hilary. But the dude grooms and the bride may be a subtle hint she is pro-Mitt Romney.
Another person whom I really do not want a political statement from, but it is still hard to not agree with many of points Kid Rock makes in the song, well not that I have ever felt guilty for being white. The song is easily the best of his career.
1, 2, 3, 4 was such an infectiously silly video you can’t hate on Apple for co-opting it for there iPod campaign. Even though the latest from Feist isn’t as colorful, it is still odd and hard to take your eyes off of.
This being the Most Mediocre Year Ever, there is no band that sums that up better than Paramore. The bad got a big push from MTV and their record label thanks to being one of the first bands to sign a 360 degree deal. Yet with all the marketing muscle behind their three singles this year, the band wasn’t good enough to show up on this list nor were bad enough to land of the Worst Songs of 2007 list. So congratulations Paramore, with all the mediocre music put out by bland artists such as OneRepublic, Lifehouse, and Sean Kingston, you managed to be the most mediocre of them all. Although the problem with the most mediocre of them all, even though this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever, you will most likely be forgotten by 2009. Sorry.
Onto the songs that did make the list, the reason this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever is the great songs were really thin at the top this year. Most of these songs wouldn’t have cracked the top ten in other years. With that said, even though there was a lacking of great songs, there was an overabundance of good songs this year to the point that there were ten to twenty songs this year that deserved to make the top one hundred when most years ninety through one hundred are an afterthought most years. But here are the ones that made the cut for this, the last post of 2007. Hopefully I will see you all back here in 2008.
In a story I broke last week, 2007 is the most mediocre year ever. Case in point, last year’s Best Albums of the Year list had fifty albums on it, this year it was hard to scrape thirty this year. Yeah there were a couple albums that could have gotten on this list but I never got around to listening to the whole thing and thus never reviewed (Linkin Park, Jay-Z), but for the most part I got hold of most everything I wanted to review, it was just not that much music this year and of those that I did review there really wasn’t anything great.
Two albums you definitely won’t be seeing on this list are Konvicted by Akon and T.I. vs. T.I.P. even though I got both for Christmas. Should I be offended that someone thought about me, “Now there is someone who would like listening to Akon”? But anyways. If you are interested in reading my original review of these albums, check out the link below the album and if you are interested in buying them on iTunes, click on the album link. If you want to buy the physical CD, head over to Scooter McGavin’s Amazon Store where you can order them there:
Before I get to your favorite songs of the year I first want to mention that just before Christmas I had ordered a gift for someone through Amazon and among the usual spam advertising slips that they stuff into their boxes there was an envelope where you can place old cell phones to send to the troops. So if you got a new cell phone for Christmas or are just like me and is a pack rat who keeps everything for no reason and had three just lying around collecting dust, please check out this website: Cell Phones for Soldiers to see where you can send any of your unused cell phones. They say the phone can be in any condition and don’t even need to still have a battery.
Last year was the first time I ever let you my readers influences the 9th Green (aside from the occasional pandering for comments) and this year I got four times more responses than last. Thanks to each and everyone who took time to compile your favorite songs of the year to make this list possible. With the more responses I think this ended up being a better list for the most part than last year. This year Rihanna was as close to consensus as it got this year being the only artist appearing on more than half of the lists I received. Keep in mind this list is solely your opinions and I in no way influenced it as I will be unveiling my favorite 100 songs of the year coming this Sunday. But here are your favorites:
After releasing two widely forgotten albums on the same day, yet not as a double album, Bruce Springsteen disbanded the E Street Band and released only the sober Ghost of Tom Joad over the next decade. Then September 11th happened and America needed their leading voice and The Boss was happy to oblige getting the E Street Band back together for the uplifting The Rising and subsequence tour with concerts reaching the three hour mark. Bruce went back to the folk rock of Joad on Devils and Dust, and then went full on old time folk when rounding of a new band for The Seeger Sessions.
Luckily for those of us that love when Bruce goes full on rock and roll with the E Street Band, we didn’t have to wait another decade for the next rock opus, just half a decade this time. Foe the album Magic, Brendan O’Brien (fun fact: before producing for the likes of Pearl Jam, O’Brien was a member of The Georgia Satellites) is back as producer as he was on The Rising, again giving the songs a blend of classic rock that still sounds up to date.
Magic starts off with Radio Nowhere, granted not as great as Born to Run of Born in the U.S.A., but what could be, is still up there with the groups best in the terms of bombast rock where The Boss takes aim at the state of radio today, “I want a thousand guitars, I want pounding drums.” You may not find them on your radio dial these days, but Bruce and the boys happy to bring them to you on the song and throughout the album.
The rest of the album doesn’t rock as hard as the opener, but there is plenty to listen to. Livin’ in the Future, a song that could have easily fit on the Born in the U.S.A. album, should become a concert staple on the proceeding tour complete with a great sing-a-long ending. Girls in their Summer Clothes will be the song that will get people dancing in the aisles. Then at the end of the album, Devil’s Arcade is a slow building gem that is a great way to cap the album (well before you get to the bonus track which sounds like something left over from The Seeger Sessions).
Where Bruce decidedly didn’t take sides when assessing the damage of 9/11 on The Rising, there are shades of political overtones directed at the subsequent policy that came from that day and towards those who came up with it on the new album. You can’t help but wonder if the line, “Woke up election day, sky’s gunpowder and shades of grey” (Livin’ in the Future) is directed at our election back in 2004 or any Iraqi one since the war began. And you don’t have to read between the lines to figure out what the line, “Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?” (Last to Die) is about.
But for the most part Springsteen sticks to the tried and true lyrical content of love (I’ll Work for Your Love) and loss (the bonus track Terry’s Song, about the Bruce’s long time assistant). And anyways, it is the sound of the music that really counts, and the E Street Band was firing on all cylinders for the album, especially Clarence Clemmons sax solo which sound to be getting better with age. Hopefully it isn’t another five years until the next time Bruce rounds up the boys for another album.
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
Yesterday I mentioned you could download this video for free on iTunes but I didn’t actually watch it because I was too loopy on drugs to do so (currently I’m just down to Day and NyQuil, or as I like to call it: my Elvis regiment). Wow was this creepy, in a bad way. It is like U2’s Numb but without the unintentional comedy. The video was directed by Dave Matthews himself, who also played all the instruments too. Let’s hope he keeps the rest of his band around so he doesn’t do something like this again.
Your token Bruce Springsteen video, the song rocks but the video is pretty standard. Can’t they call Courtney Cox to make another cameo? Hopefully you picked up this song on iTunes last week when it was free, if not you can still pre-order the album.
This is a new track from Santana’s upcoming greatest hits package. The dude from Nickelback had already show up on one of Santana’s previous all-star albums (a song much better than this one) but for some reason the song was released to the radio with the dude from The Calling singing. And like most new songs added to a greatest hits album, the song doesn’t live up to the being part of the greatest hits. And if any of you out their actually know the dude from Nickelback, please tell him never to straighten his hair ever again. He’s scaring the children.
In a story I broke this weekend, starting yesterday you could rent through Blockbuster a DVD that featured the first episodes of NBC’s Chuck, Journeyman, and Life. For those without a Blockbuster card, starting September 10 (next Monday) you can download all three of those shows, as well as Bionic Woman, from Amazon Unbox for free. And for you pretentious types that have Tivo’s, you can transfer any Unbox download to your Tivo so you can watch it on your televisions. In other television news, The CW sent me more exclusive videos of Reaper except I have been too lazy to watch them. But they also mentioned that they started up an Official Reaper YouTube Channel although I’m not sure if the “exclusive” videos they send me are the same anyone can regularly get in the YouTube channel. And they even started up special toll free number (1-877-IN 4 HELL) to call for further information about the show from Lucifer himself. Or at least the dude who plays the devil on the show.
To get you to read this whole post, somewhere I tell how to get a free song from a major artist with an album coming out.
September starts up this weekend which means record companies are stacking their release schedule in hopes for your Christmas dollars. Well the first Tuesday is pretty bleak with nothing but a reissue of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn headlining the week, but after that it is nothing but big names until Thanksgiving. Much like every Fall Music Preview past I have to give my obligatory the three quarters of the year sucked massively with only a few bright spots, most notably from English chicks with problems (i.e. Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse). But the few bright spots were overshadowed by some monumental disappointment (i.e. Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, Smashing Pumpkins, Trapped in the Closet, rap music in general).
Here is a look at some artists who hope to turn the record company’s success around, many of which will have their albums reviewed here. If you are interrested in preordering the albums from Amazon, the link on the album name will take you their, the links on artists names will take you to their iTunes page. If I left one of your favorite artists off the list with an upcoming album feel free to drop me a comment or feel free to wax poetic in the comment section on which albums you are looking forward to. (Note: release dates subject to change)
September 11
Graduation - Kanye West: As mentioned earlier, rap music in general hasn’t been very good this year, but if there is someone who can change that it will be the guy who released the two best rap albums this decade. Although I am a little worried about the T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne cameos. See the side bar to preorder Graduation on iTunes.
Curtis - 50 Cent: Nothing says I completely sold out more that a Justin Timberlake appearance. 50 said he would retire if Kanye out sold him which should be enough reason to pick up Graduation this week. Preorder Curtis on iTunes.
September 18
Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall: Tunstall is one o four artists that can boast they receive a Severe rating on my Terror Alert so my expectations are high for her sophomore outing. Granted after hearing the first single my expectations dropped just a little. Preorder Drastic Fantastic on iTunes.
Last of Seven - Pat Monahan: The dude from Train with a solo album? Well the dude from Matchbox Twenty had a few hit so I guess why not.
Playlist - Babyface: Remember when Babyface was the biggest R&B songwriter. I won’t a correlation that the genre has pretty much sucked since he went out of demand. Now ‘Face is trying out other’s material with a cover album including the James Taylor classic Fire and Rain.
September 25
Echo, Silence, Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters: I can’t say I have bought a Foo Fighters album since the first one, but that is not to say they don’t have plenty of songs I love. And the first single, The Pretender definitely rocks hard. Preorder Echo, Silence, Patience and Grace on iTunes.
Songs About Girls - Will.i.am: I was a big Black Eyed Peas guy back in the day. Then the Fergie era was ushered in and they have sucked ever since. So this should be interesting to see if Fergie is like good music kryptonite and take her out of the equation and Will be entertaining again or has she tainted him forever.
October 2
Magic - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Remember at the top of the post you could get a free song from a major artist, well that is from none other than Bruce and company. Click on Radio Nowhere and download the first single off the album for free on iTunes. Yeah this is cool but it is a safe assumption I am going to buy the whole album anyway, but will be able to jam to the song for a month before the album comes out but you can always pre-order the album while you are picking up the single now. Get song now because it stops being free at the end of this week
As an added bonus, you can also get the new Paul McCartney single, Nod Your Head as well as the video (which is prett cheesy) for the song for free too.
Revival - John Fogerty: October 2nd is like September 11th for old white dudes with the Boss taking on the Creedence Clearwater Revival front man. Well accept it is obvious who will take the top spot this week.
Live Earth: Interesting that the track listing hasn’t been released yet so I bet there are some licensing issues which may leave some great performances off the disk (are the Rolling Stones trying to get too much money for the Gimme Shelter performance?). The only confirmed song is John Mayer’s Waiting on the World to Change. Preorder Live Earth on iTunes.
October 9
Rock and Roll Jesus - Kid Rock: My sources tell me this album, his first in four years, six since anyone cared, will be more rock than rap. The first single, So Hot is pretty forgettable. Maybe he should hook back up with Sheryl Crow and target the soccer mom again.
Heroes and Thieves - Vanessa Carlton: I’m a little torn on her comeback. On one hand I love her first album (indifferent to the second) but they she went and signed with The Inc (formerly Murder Inc) and Irv Gotti is helping produce the album.
The Black and White Album - The Hives: The group may have recorded one of the best one hit wonders of the decade but it looks like this is their attempt to wipe that title from their résumé.
Click the link to see part 2 of my 2007 Fall Music Preview. And again if I missed anything let me know or just comment on what you are looking forward to.
. Oh, and if this is any indication, music is gonna suck under an Obama administration. Huckabee 2012!
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- Jay-Z
- 50 Cent: Nothing says I completely sold out more that a