I Want My Music Television: 9/11/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Berzerk – Eninem


I have never been excited for an Eminem album but it is hard not to get excited when this is the first single and the knowledge that the album is being co-produced by Rick Rubin (who did this song and pops up in the video to grow his beard out and just weird out) and Dr. Dre. And then he release this video with other cameos by Kendrick Lamar and Kid Rock as well as references to the two artists he samples, Billy Squier and Beastie Boys (for you youngin’ go check out the video for So What'cha Want for that reference).


Roar – Katy Perry


I have to admit that I do not completely hate this song which is saying a lot because that is basically the second nicest thing I have ever said about a song by Katy Perry (I file Teenage Dream under "begrudgingly enjoy"). Sure, as everyone has pointed out it completely rips off Brave from Sara Bareilles (I am surprised no one points that extending the title in the chorus blatently rips off Umbrella, and does it poorly at that), but it is so stupid, it is hard to hate. And the musc video is enjoyable… for obvious reasons.


Kangaroo Court - Capital Cities


I was a bit surprised Safe and Sound by Capital Cities ended up being the break out indie hit of the summer, it was all right, but not as good as many of its peers that toiled in obscurity. Now the duo is back hoping to avoid being one hit wonders (this song will probably will not be it) and the whole animal heads on human bodies is totally freaking me the frack out.


The Devil Put the Dinosaurs Here – Alice I Chains


Alice in Chains put out two music videos last week and though Voices is probably a better song and is only notable for Jerry Cantrell’s accountant haircut (apparently friends do let friends get friends haircuts), while the video for The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is much freakier. Not animal heads on human bodies freaky, but freaky nonetheless.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXLIX

Rubicon: I am surprised that Will at no point thought the chick who lived in the apartment with a clear look into his wasn’t hired by the shadowy figures that put tabs on him. When I first saw her a couple episodes back, that was the first thing that crossed my mind. You can download Rubicon on iTunes.

Chuck: The show is really getting too cartoony in this episode. Sure the “If you die, you die” quote was awesome, but with all the Meta jokes and homage I thought I was watching an episode of Community. And Olivia Munn seemed a little underutilized. And did Sarah Conner really kill Ivan Drago? I was kind of hoping he would stick around. Maybe that is why they used all his catchphrases in this episode knowing he wouldn’t stick around. But the biggest question is with the CIA taking over the Buy More, where does that leave Big Mike and Jeffster? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

The Event: I didn’t want to bring this up in my preview because it would have been way spoilery, but the chick from ER and her buddies have to be aliens, right? But what happened to the plane, did Sophia (who I do not think was a coincidence was the only one that wasn’t knocked down by the blast) have something to do with it, was it some of her buddies that weren’t detained, were they enemies of Sophia. Is The Event a fight between Sophia and another alien race? They have me drawn in for at least another episode. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: So who is getting married of where Ted will meet his future bride for the first time? Since it was the story of the week, I originally thought it was Rachel Bilson’s, but how could Ted be the Best Man and not meet her roommate, unless the roommate has since moved out (and do lesbian weddings have Best Man’s anyway or just two Maids of Honor?) Next thought was Barney and Robin, but are they really going to get married before Ted? And again, how does the wife get invited to the wedding without meeting Ted first unless she is the date of someone else? But the real question is, can we just meet the mother already. Oh and I predict it is Ted’s dad who is getting married. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

Castle: There are very few things I hate more on television then episodes that start in the third act, then gives us the “Three days earlier.” One of those things I hate more is when they do that only when the episode finally gets back to the third act and what we were meant to believe was going on wasn’t actually was what was going on. Seriously, starting an episode with a dude trying to stand up an egg wasn’t entertaining enough? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes

Parenthood: As a former driving instructor, I am fully behind Christina in being very afraid of a teen driver. And how you get back into a car with someone who leaves the side mirror hanging by a thread is insane. Not to say that my car doesn’t have its fair amount of duct tape on it. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Even though I did not want to actually see what he was doing, I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to hear the eighties soundtrack Stephen King was utilizing while do his “cleaning.” And what moron thought it was a good idea to let Opie be in the vicinity while his old lady was “working.” I knew how that was going to end when I first saw him. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Nicaragua: One of the dumbest performances at a Tribal Council ever. Who comes out and threatens the swing vote right off the bat? And it was a battle of bad stereotypes at Tribal between the ignorant hillbilly and the angry black women. I was bored by the first half of the episode, but if the Tribal was any indication, the season could still prove entertaining. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Better With You: I was hopping a little better from this show with its highly likable cast (with the exception of the younger boyfriend who got annoying fast). If it can hit some sort of stride, it can be as good as How I Met Your Mother, so I will give it a couple more tries and it and The Middle could be a nice Hulu viewing on the weekend since I will be too busy with Survivor on Wednesdays. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Modern Family: I really hope that this was an indication of a sophomore slump because I didn’t find much of the episode particularly funny. But the show has always been at its best when the family intermixes, and there wasn’t much of that aside from Al Bundy helping out with the construction, which was the funniest part of the episode. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Terriers: What the frack is up with that ending? Maybe the most bizarre cliffhanger ever. Was someone breaking into Hank’s attic? Does he have a squatter? Did the wifey forget something important up there that she doesn’t want him to know about? You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Terriers on iTunes

The Big Bang Theory: Yeah, this show is way better when Penny and Lenard are not dating. And though I was apprehensive of a female Sheldon, Blossom did have some good lines especially when she and Sheldon were calculating Penny’s sexual encounters. I am not sure if Penny carrying Sheldon and Blossom’s offspring would be the greatest idea even on television or the worst. Maybe hold off that storyline until the seventh season.

Community: “I’m hoping we can move away from the soapy relationship stuff and into bigger fast paced, self contained escapades.” Me too. Also I agree the blurred line between life and television was so season one. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

Also check out my first impressions of The Event, Undercovers, and Outsourced.

Until We Meet Again

I am not a big fan of posthumous albums. They almost never work because it is missing what every album needs, the artist vision. This is the main reason why I am most likely going to pass on the upcoming Jimi Hendrix release next week. But the thing about the two albums the followed the death of Johnny Cash is they may be more a Rick Rubin album as much as Cash who has been in bad health threw much of the recording adding only his voice, and three songs of which wrote to the final two album.

Released last week on what would have been seventy-eighth birthday, American VI: Ain’t No Grave is a fitting end to the career of the Man in Black and doesn’t stray at all from the previous American Recording. Cash and Rubin pick songs that manage to sum up Cash’s life of where he has been and where he was going. But unlike the previous albums where the duo choose some songs aimed at reaching a younger demographic with songs like Nine Inch Nails Hurt or Personal Jesus from Depeche Mode, the most recent cover is Redemption Day from Sheryl Crow’s 1996 album, the next dates back to 1970.

The highlights bookend of the album. Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down), featuring The Avett Brothers on banjo, footsteps and chains, almost matches God’s Gonna Cut You Down from the last album in its chilling effect on the ear. On the other end of the spectrum Aloha Oe, which dates all the way back to 1977, plays as a heavenly tune, with a ukulele taking the place of a harp, where you can see Cash finally in a well deserved white suit and you can’t help to believe when he delivered the line, “until we meet again.”

Song to Download - Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down)

American VI: Ain’t No Grave gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Go Tell that Long Tongue Liar, Go and Tell that Midnight Rider

Usually I wait until I have a couple music videos to share for my occasional “Don’t Download These Videos” posts, but this here is a video that need to been seen right away nor shouldn't have to share the spotlight with lesser videos or artists.

God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash

Yeah, the video could be a little pretentious with all the celebrity cameos, and you can sense early on that Bono would show up eventually, plus the Justin Timberlake into Kate Moss transition was befuddling as well as the dude I didn’t recognize who is air humping in the middle of the video (I’m thinking John Leguizamo and if anyone know for sure who this is or the black dude reading the bible in the limo near the beginning, let me know in the comments section please), you are wonder why Owen Wilson gets the last appearance with Rick Rubin, and it’s not quite as great as Hurt but nonetheless it still gave me chills. I do find it interesting that there are more rappers in the video than modern country music singers. But then again much like the only modern country act in video, the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash got blacklisted from country radio turned their back on him a long time ago. Now even though it’s more than a month until I unveil my “Top 100 Songs of 2006” list, but God's Gonna Cut You Down is a lock to make the top ten, and if there was one recommendation you take from me, it’s to download this song. And as an added bonus here’s the video for Hurt (another song that should be in your library) courtesy of YouTube. You can download the video for God's Gonna Cut You Down here.

Go ‘Head Be Gone with It

In a measure of full discloser, for the age ol’ debate of who from the boy band era sucked the least, I would always side with the Backstreet Boys. When it came down to, they were the better group to do karaoke to, and don’t try to tell me you and you’re boys never did a sing I Want it That Way at sometime in a drunken stupor. With that said, I won’t let bias taint my review of former the former *NSync member not currently making out with dude (well at least not in public), Justin Timberlake and his second solo outing FutureSex/LoveSounds.

The album starts out with the title track; well actually it is a little different as the song is entitled FutureSex/LoveSound because apparently the song just has a singular “sound” while the album as a whole has “sounds.” You’re a tricky one Justin Timberlake. The song plays almost like an intro that sets the mood with Timbaland futuristic beats that almost drown out the vocals that just repeat themselves anyways. Granted this intro drags on for almost four minutes, so the mood that is set isn’t a good one. The trend of futuristic beats follow for the next few songs making me feel like I’m in a techno club, but I haven’t taken the required mild altering drugs to make the music bearable.

Then about halfway through the album, the beats slow down and the song become more tolerable starting with the I Think She Knows (Interlude). It’s never a good sign when an interlude is one of the better songs on the album. This is actually attached to Love Stoned and in lies a major a major problem with the album, besides of course the music itself. A bunch of the songs blend into each other on the official track listing. To put it better there are sixteen different songs but there are only twelve tracks (if you are confused, check out iTunes or Amazon and it should make more sense).

Back to the music, once the tolerable arrives, it leaves just as quickly with the arrival of Oscar winners Three 6 Mafia. After hearing this song I have a better understanding why Crunchy Black left group (okay, I really have no clue why Crunchy Black left the group, or who Crunchy Black is, but I make it my mission to reference Crunchy Black as much as possible because it’s my new favorite name). And in his pitch to become the least credible rapper ever (which will be hard considering Nelly and Kevin Federline are still out there) the Antoine Merriwether look-a-like T.I. makes an appearance on My Love. Surprisingly his rap isn’t the most annoying part of the song as the intro could easily cause seizers and I would recommend pregnant women not listen to it. Then the once creditable Will.i.am shows up on Damn Girl (and the obscenity only get worse on the album as shown by the Parental Advisory sticker).

Then after fifty minutes of over-sexual music over headache inducing techno beats, TJ decides to make a social statement where he talks about how messed up things are in the world today on Until the End of Time. Ah, but wait, it’s all a rouse because he was using the end in near trick to bed some chick. Classy. And Prince better contact his lawyers because the song blatantly steals from The Beautiful Ones. On the next track Losing My Way, Timberlake makes a social commentary on crack but comes across as pretentious especially after saying, “I’m tired of trying to save the world” in the previous song. Then the song goes into almost parody mode when he brings in the church choir to close the song. I can just imagine JT in the studio thinking, “hey let’s bring in a church choir like on Man in the Mirror.” And we all know what happened to the dude who sang that song.

The album surprisingly ends with an actual song that doesn’t suck. Not surprising that (Another Song) All Over Again is the lone song produced by Rick Rubin who has worked on iconic albums like early Run-DMC ones and Johnny Cash’s American Recordings. The slow song recalls Memphis soul albums from the seventies to much effect. Now if Timberlake would recruit Rubin for his next album, make more songs like the closing track, and stop making inane goals like trying to bring SexyBack, that album may be worth listening to. And to that point, I don’t know why anyone would want to bring SexyBack because as a wise man once said, “It’s hip to be square.”

Song to Download - (Another Song) All Over Again

FutureSex/LoveSounds gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

He Said “John Go Do My Will”

It’s always a touchy subject when releasing unfinished music posthumously. On one hand, you have the desire of fans to get their hands on everything an artist recorded, but on the other, you are hearing the music not necessarily the way an artist wanted you to hear it. But there is a sense of relief that the latest Johnny Cash album, American V: A Hundred Highways that Rick Rubin is at the helm just like the previous four American recording that have been recorded over the past decade. Notice I said latest, not last album as Rubin is currently working on more songs from the sessions for at least another album.

Much of this album was recorded in-between the five months between the death of his wife June and his own and the melancholy throughout the album starting with the album opener Help Me. If You Could Read My Mind is touching considering the context and even though the song isn’t about death and originally done by Gordon Lightfoot, you can’t but think he’s singing to June. As his voice starts to break at the end of song, so will your heart. But it’s not all heartache and loss as he later sings Love’s Been Good to Me.

The last song that Johnny Cash ever wrote and recorded is on this set too. Like the 309 is a bouncy song that is reminiscent of him as a young man hanging out at a train station. Oddly enough the song starts off with the line, “It should be awhile before I see Dr. Death.” As Cash recorded much of these tunes confined to a wheelchair and nearly blind, his own mortality is touched upon elsewhere on the album most notable on the Bruce Springsteen cover Further up On the Road (which was part of the 9/11 inpired The Rising album). The album closes with a rerecording of his 1962 song, I’m Free from the Chain Gang now which takes a whole new meaning after his death and now he’s free after spending his life being the voice of the voiceless and downtrodden.

If there is a downside to American V it would actually have to be Rubin. After single handedly resurrecting Cash’s career by pushing him to places he hasn’t been before musically, this album is pretty safe and sound like an album Cash would have made had he never met Rubin. The only song here that would fit on the earlier American recording is traditional gospel song God’s Gonna Cut You Down where a chorus of hand claps and foot stomps surrounds Cash’s vocals and sounds like a death march. But it’s not for Cash, instead it’s for the, “rambler, gambler, the backbiter” and all other sinners in the world. The rest of the album though sounds almost as if Rubin wanted to take the safe route in creating the music behind Cash’s previously recorded vocals as to not taint Cash’s legacy in turn making them afterthoughts in the Cash musical vault. But with that said, Johnny Cash afterthoughts are still better than ninety-five percent of the music made today.

Song to Download - God’s Gonna Cut You Down

American V: A Hundred Highways gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

It's Been Two Long Years Now Since the Top of the World Came Crashing Down

Some say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but sometimes that isn’t always true, like, say, when you offend the majority of your fan base and have your records pulled from the radio like the Dixie Chicks did at the start of the Iraq War. Of course that was back in a time where is you were against the president, you were anti-American, and now, a couple years later, even some Republicans have been piling George Bush leading him to the lowest poll numbers by a two term president not named Richard Nixon.

But even before their comments, the Chicks have been alienating country radio by drifting to more bluegrass and pop sounds on their last album Home. That tend continues on their latest outing, Taking the Long Way, as the group even brought in noted rock and rap producer Rick Rubin who had much success resurrecting the career of Johnny Cash with his American Recoding sessions. But unlike the American Recordings, there are no cover songs as the Chicks wrote all the songs on the album with help from artist as diverse as Keb’ Mo’ and Sheryl Crow.

At the beginning of the album, most of the songs seem to focus on the infamous comments mentioned earlier, most notably on the aptly titled Not Ready to Make Nice. So if you think the Chicks have soften on their position on this administration, the title pretty much says it all and they even touch on the backlash with lyrics like, “How in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge that they’d write me a letter sayin’ that I better shut up and sing or my life will be over.” But that theme doesn’t linger long as songs quickly transition into more familiar territory like relationships. Then the album ends with the I Hope, a gospel song that was released last year to benefit those hit by Katrina.

As the Chicks move away from traditional country, they start moving into genre, the best result being I Like It, a song that sounds influenced by the girl group of the sixties. Then there is the album opener, The Long Way Around that sounds exactly like Learning to Fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers but with fiddles. Lullaby is as soft as the title suggest. Baby Hold On hits the emotional intensity of songs like You Were Mine from their first album. Really the only song here that would have fit on previous albums the brilliantly titled Lubbock or Leave It which has that same pure rage as Sin Wagon. Unfortunately some songs on the album suffer from being uneven where the verses are great but the chorus doesn’t hold the intensity or vice versa. This is most apparent on Silent House where the chorus just rubs me the right way.

Song to Download - The Long Way Around

Taking the Long Way gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

California Show Your Teeth

The Red Hot Chili Peppers invented the rap/metal genre a good decade before the term was coined, not that the band’s music is simplistic as the sub-genre would suggest as the Peppers also include elements of funk and jazz among others. This could explain how the band has survived, releasing nine albums as other rap/rockers like Limp Bizkit and Korn have disappeared into virtual obscurity. And the Peppers add to their funky legacy with Stadium Arcadium.

But ever since John Frusciante rejoined the band, the Peppers have gone on a mellower path with their last albums, Californication and By the Way. And even though Rick Rubin, who was at the help of the break out album, Blood Sugar Sex Magic, is back, the band continues the softer terrain. Even the louder songs on the set never reach the bombast of Give it Away or other songs that go even further back in their catalog. Lyrically, Anthony Kiedis also shows growth from the guy who was the master of the single entendre fifteen years ago (although the jury’s still out on how dirty She’s Only 18 is, but Hump de Bump isn’t as suggestive as you might think). Of course they had to grow up sometime because no one wants to see a dude on the wrong side of forty wearing nothing but a sock. Then again, I don’t want to see that from a dude on the right side of forty. But anyways.

If there is a downside to Staduim Arcadium is that, like almost every double album, it is way too long clocking in at over two hours and twenty-eight tracks. Then again the album doesn’t plunge into the pit falls that has brought down other recent double disks by not dividing the album into specific genres like party songs and slow jams so both disk sounds like two full length Pepper albums, and the two disks, Mars and Venus, have no intrinsic means to them. As expected with this many tracks, there are a few songs that quickly got old and I found my skipping songs like Snow (Oh Now) and So Much I after a few listenings.

Other songs have a very distinct Peppers song so much that when I first heard Tell Me Baby I thought it was Don’t Stop. There a few songs that utilizes a horn sections reminiscent to elder funker Parliament and much to the pleasure of Christopher Walken, Readymade has a killer cowbell part. But in the end, the set could have been scaled down to a single disk, although not getting rid of the up tempo songs, as there were too many mid tempo songs bogging down the two disks.

Song to Download - Readymade

Stadium Arcadium gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Your Momma's Favorite Rapper

You will never be able to discuss rap without bringing up Run-DMC. With help from Rick Rubin, their rap-rock infusion brought hip-hop to the suburbs and could be named the first of almost any rap category. And even though many rappers are unable to find a second hit and sink into obscurity, Run-DMC was pumping out club bangers for over a decade. Sadly the group dissolved after the death of Jam Master J knowing that it wouldn’t be the same without Jay behind the turntables.

Now Run is back with his first solo album Distortion and a new moniker, Rev. And unlike every single rap album released over the past decade, there is no “featuring” after any song as it is just Rev Run, his mike, and a boat load of samples. The best sample is the Joan Jett guitars and scream from I Love Rock and Roll on Mind of the Road. The song and Run’s rapping are so perfectly interchanged that even the best mash-up artist couldn’t have done better. The other samples don’t quite knock the same punch though. Take a Tour takes from a Blondie song, but hearing Run with a girl singing the hook just sounds out of place. Even more out of place is the Lynyrd Skynyrd sample of Home Sweet Alabama. The song is a tribute to Jay but both are from Queens, no where near Alabama. Also throughout the album, there are samples hear and there from different Run-DMC classics.

The main problem with the album is that it is supposed to be a full length album, yet it clocks in at an even twenty-three minutes. So the full length album price tag is way too much and should be discounted as if it were an EP because I have a few EP that are even longer than this.

Song to Download – Mind on the Road

Distortion gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.