Over the past decade or so Snoop Dogg has become more than a brand than a rapper staring in movies, commercials, his own variety show, even lent his name to a porno, wrote a book, started up his own clothing line including a pet accessory line, hosting his own satellite radio show, starred in video games, and founded the Snoop Youth Football League. But the biggest impact was giving new slang for suburbanite white dudes everywhere to annoy their parents. But among all the extracurricular sometimes his music gets overlooks; most casual music fans probably can’t named any of his songs between Jin & Juice and Drop it Like it’s Hot. Even Snoop’s son fully respects his dad’s rapping because when the elder ask him who his favorite lyrist, the Bigg Snoop Dogg wasn’t on the list.
The disrespect from Lil’ Snoop is the catalyst for Snoop Dogg’s latest album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. The title naturally comes from his affiliation to his former gang the Crips who get their own song on the Neptunes produced 10 Lil’ Crips. To give his advisories equal airtime, Snoop brings in The Game, a Blood to spit a couple verses on Gangbangin’ 101. Longtime producer Dr. Dre shows up behind the boards on four songs and Dre’s old running mate Ice Cube drops a couple verses on LAX. And no Snoop album would be complete without a hook from Nate Dogg who lends his trademark baritone for Crazy while Tha Dogg Pound also show up on the album. New collaborators the Neptunes actually deliver a banging track Vato, one of the few this year, and is only heightened by having B-Real of Cypress Hill on the hook.
Snoop Eastwood embraces the new school too as he brings in Akon, who seems to show up on all rap songs lately despite having a voice that sounds like nails on a chalk board, for two songs but he’s not as bad as the sorry Jamie Foxx appearance. Damien Marley brings some dancehall to the Timbaland produced Get a Light, another stand out track. Snoop also brings in a catchphrase maker in his own right E-40 for Candy but the two can do much better than the over obvious double entendres that show up in the song. And regardless of his falling out with Jay-Z, tha Doggfather still collaborates with R. Kelly, finally out of the closet, for That’s That (Expletive Deleted) which humorously samples the best line from Coming to America.
Tha Blue Carpet Treatment though is way too long at seventy-eight minutes. Plenty of mediocre tracks could have been cut to make a much more complete hour length album. Then they stuck some of the best track at the end including the introspective Imagine which sees Dre step out from behind the boards and takes the mike and D’Angelo on the hook. For the closer, Snoop brings in the legendary Stevie Wonder to rework Have a Talk with God into Conversations. So many rappers sneek in a religious song at the end of their albums, imagine is one would fill up a album with songs like this instead of re-treading the “G” that has overtaken the genre for over fifteen years.
Tomorrow sees the conclusion of the Rapist mini-arc on Veronica Mars so naturally I have compiled a list of possible suspects. The list is significantly lower than last year’s last for who crashed the bus yet also lacks clear cut suspects like the Fitzpatricks or Mayor Goodwood (granted neither turned out to be the culprit), so a wide open field this time around. Go ahead and place your bets on the comment section*.
Dean O’Dell (150:1) - Since his wife is getting her jollies elsewhere, he may look to alternative places to get his. And since he doesn’t like college students he may drug them to make them easier to deal with
Professor Landry & Chip Diller (99:1) - We just learned that the Prof isn’t the most moral person on campus as he’s been secretly meeting the Dean’s wife (who gets around herself) and there more before her or so Not-Lucky would have us believe. Same goes for Chipper who has also had the Dean’s wife and one of his brother’s girlfriend. But as a great philosopher once said, “Why rape the cow when you can get the milk for free?”
Mercer (85:1) - Was exonerated by the computer schedule that had him hosting Club Flush at the time of Parker’s rape. But here something that makes me wonder about his alibi: couldn’t it have been changed afterwards? Of course if that was the case, Mercer would have known to tell someone about the show.
Weevil (60:1) - We all know he likes the party girl type, but maybe he isn’t getting lucky with them with his new appearance. Even though we don’t have a definitive timeline, but he may have been in jail for one or more of the rapes.
Not Lucky (50:1) - He has he creepy bulletin board that all serial killers have. With him pointing out that there was no DNA evidence gave him a very Dexter feel to the dude (works on the cases he commits and is meticulous in cleaning up the crime scene).
The Field (45:1) - Anyone else not stated. Do you think it was Wallace, Deputy Saks, Shelly Pomroy? This is where you place your bets.
A Chick (30:1) - We already know Claire faked her rape and Ronnie insinuated to the Lilith meeting that they may have done more. Plus we learn there has been no DNA evidence suggesting there may not have been any sexual contact which supports the theory that it was a girl. Also the nose ring chick helps out with the booze cart so she would have access.
The Frakking RA (10:1) - Has opportunity and motive: He helps out with the booze cart and has keys to the dorm rooms and being a Battlestar Galactica fan it’s safe to assume dude’s not getting laid so he would need some assistance to get in a girl’s pants. Plus thanks to the keys, he also could have framed Mercer by planting GHB in his dormroom.
A Phi Sig (5:1) - Even though Dick tried to exonerate his brother’s by telling Ronnie that they get some whenever they want, but every Fraternity has a member that isn’t that lucky with the ladies and with the point system could possibly resort to nefarious tactics to get the required numbers to avoid punishment.
Apparently there will be a death tomorrow too according to the promo. Unlike the previous list here, I have now prime suspects, but if I were a betting man, I’ll go with the Dean’s wife which could set up the next arc because her long trail of lovers leads to numerous suspects.
* This game is strictly for entertainment purposes, no money is meant to change hands. Unless of course you would like to donate to the Scooter McGavin is Poor Fund.
First I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving or for those outside the U.S. like to call it, Thursday. Just a heads up with the holidays upon us, here’s a look at the schedule the blog will be taking the next couple weeks as well as a list of the best of 2006. There is a link on the sidebar for future reference. Feel free to dive into the archives on days that I will be taking off and on day that are not listed, they will be filled by the regular reviews and such you have come to find at the 9th Green (card subject to change):
*As you may have noticed, on the 29th I will have a Reader’s poll on what you all thought were the best songs of the year. So if you would sometime time before Christmas, e-mail me (ScooterKSU@aol.com) your top ten songs of the year. If you need a refresher of songs from the last twelve months, check out the list of the albums I reviewed for my Terror Alert Scale as all the songs from those albums are eligible, and of course any song released this year is okay too even if I didn’t review it. Your nominations will be confidential and I won’t disclose it here at the 9th Green, so if you enjoy the 9th Green please send me an e-mail by December 24. But if I don’t get enough ballots, I’ll just take the 26th off.
Another reason I won’t be posting this weekend is I finally switched over to Blogger Beta recently and will be spending some time going through my archives and assigning labels so if anyone wanted to check out all the Toss Ups between Lost and Veronica Mars and other things hopefully you will be able do so by Monday. If there is a category you would like to see, just shoot me an e-mail and hopefully I’ll be able to accommodate. I haven’t made a full switch yet by picking out a new template yet but hopefully I’ll have one by the New Year (of course a Blogger Beta ready template with 3-columns would make a good Christmas present, not that I’m pandering for one or anything).
Scooter Update: Well after labeling all weekend I only got 200 posts done all the way back to late April of this year. To put that in perspective on Wedensday I'll reach my 600th post. So this is going to take much longer than I expected. And with the Holidays and finals coming up I doubt I get them all label until after Christmas. And I apoligize to anyone's who's feed is getting all messed up with my updating. In old blogger, the feed readers would only update posts on my main page, not when I did anything to older posts. If anyone knows if there is anything I can do to keep the older post from getting updated in the feed readers please shoot me an e-mail.
Well I was a little wrong last week when I said that Ronnie would go after Chip Diller in regards to his gambling debt and the possibility that he set up Mercer to take the fall for the rapes on Veronica Mars this week. Instead we open with Chipper in his tightie whities with chunks of hair missing from his head. Not surprisingly it turned out to be the Lilith House behind the whole thing. But it was surprising when Vee accused them chicks to be behind other “rapes” she didn’t accuse them of being behind her attack. It’s not like her to not throw around accusations even if she’s outnumbered.
But the big news this week, or so I’m told, was the appearance of Patty Hearst. And her acting skill made the chick from Laguna Beach look like Meryl Streep in the acting department. Well, at least she was better than Paris Hilton. But Hearst was a little bit before my time. It’s not a good sign that I was more excited with an appearance by the dude from The Nanny. Then there were just too many in jokes at Heart’s expense that just went way over my head. And are we to assume that she really voted against the Greeks? I really can’t imagine that is really going to happen unless the Greek system goes underground until they can apply for reinstatement.
But that was all made up for with not one, but two scenes between Dick and Ronnie. You gotta love Dick, who would give up his president just to tell a funny story even to his arch nemesis. Seriously, how funny was the “keister egg” comment? Too bad you started to feel bad for Chipper during the other food court to the point he needed Wallace and Ronnie to help him out. And I’m not sure what was scarier, last week where Vee was dancing back to front with Liam or this week where the bodyguard came out of nowhere to nab her. I’m calling it next week will be the end of the Ronnie/Logan coupling. They have been teasing it too long for it not to happen.
And it’s gotten to the point where they are not even making an excuse for Mac being MIA since the second episode. But just when people may have started to forget about her, look who showed up in the preview. So Mac won’t have any more aunts dieing, won’t be at the gym, nor will have a big midterm. And Mac aside, the preview for next week looks epic. See for yourself with the video below courtesy of YouTube:
For anyone who missed the website that was given after the show it’s VeronicaViewers.com. The site is pretty bare bones excepte for a poll of who Ronnie should date (Logan, Piz, no one) and a contest whre you can win a walk on role for the show. Personally I’m holding out for a speaking role. But anyways. Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, or to the non-American readers like to refer to it, Thursday. And with Thanksgiving tomorrow, I will be taking a days off but check out this weekend for my holiday schedule and I'll be back in full force on Monday as I break down the probability of who is the Hearst Rapist with Oddsmakers.
…It’s not to play games with you.” That was a line uttered on Encore, a song from the retirement album of Jay-Z. Then during what Jay called the worst retirement ever, he released a duet album with R. Kelly, a mash-up album with Linkin Park (not to mention the unofficial mash-up, The Grey Album), and spit verses on multiple different albums. Even his comeback was the worst kept secret in music circles as Kanye West and Pharrell of the Neptunes both said they were working on the project long before Jay admitted he was coming out of retirement.
So three years after his farewell with The Black Album, Jay-Z is back with Kingdom Come, a name that comes from a Superman comic book of the same name where the Man of Steel comes back from self exile. Much like his previous album, Jay handles almost all the rapping himself with guests like John Legend, Usher, Beyoncé, Ne-Yo, and Chris Martin (yes the dude from Coldplay) relegated to singing the hooks. And then there is the steller line of producers, aside the previously mentioned West and Neptunes, Swizz Beatz, Just Blaze, and Dr. Dre who behind the boards for five tracks.
The rust still lingers as Jay isn’t on the top of his game for most of the disk. He even brings down some of the joints as his flow is just anemic over Blaze’s great beat of Oh My God. But Blaze doesn’t repeat that success as his sample of Rick James doesn’t work on the title track. And he was also at the helm of the weak comeback single Show Me What You Got that jacks the same sax from the early nineties oversexed Rump Shaker. The Neptunes continue their downslide with the unlistenable. West has a misstep with Do U Wanna Ride.
Even Dr. Dre produced a rare weak track with the poorly conceived 30 Something where Jay tries to convince himself that “Thirty is the new twenty.” Dre does much better on the laid back Lost Ones. Trouble takes his trademark sound and makes it futuristic much better than Timbaland tried to do on the horrible Justin Timberlake album (this begs the question was Timbaland absent from Kingdom Come to make that crap?). Dre also has his hands on the best songs on the album that end the album starting with Minority Report that sees Jay tackle Hurricane Katrina and the broader topic of poverty that features snippets from the evening news as well as the infamous, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” That is followed by Beach Chair that features Martin on the hook and behind the board and may be Hova’s most introspective track to date.
Like the last album, Michael Jordon references are a plenty and maybe it’s too true. The poor verses that Jay dropped on other artists songs during his “retirement” were about as good as Jordon’s baseball career. And lets not forget that Jordon didn’t win the championship in his first season back. Hopefully will get back on track with future releases and doesn’t take the Jordon comparison any further or he may quickly turn into the Wizards version of the basketball star, as Jay already has the executive power.
Thanks to the brainchilds who wined last season that the reason Lost lost it’s thunder last season was too many repeats between new episode even though that didn’t seem to be a problem when the show was good in the first season. So to appease those morons now we have to wait three months in-between new episodes. In the interim we get Day Break, or as I like to call it Tru Calling with dudes.
So much like Tru Calling we get someone who lives the same day over again but instead getting a do over, the dude get the same day over again more like Groundhog Day, but much less funny. But the difference is the main dude carries over his injuries to the next day so no suicide attempts like Bill Murray. But much like the other “live the day over again” premises, they plant plenty of little thing for the dude to catch like always tripping over his belt, making sure he doesn’t break a plate again, and saving a woman from being hit by a bus.
The one and only day we get to see is based around Taye Diggs (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) who is being set up for killing the district attorney. Also possible wrapped up in all of this is Diggs partner Victoria Pratt (House of the Dead II) who has problems of her own as Internal Affairs got her on something. Adam Baldwin (Firefly), the IA officer on the case, just happens to be the ex-husband of Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) who just so happens to be shacking up with Diggs these days. Then FBI Assistant Director Skinner gets a demotion as he now is working homicide on Diggs’ case. Through in some shadowy figures in a rock quarry who seem to behind the whole thing and you have a tangled web of a television show.
Verdict: Much better than I expected. Granted I may be the one of the few as the premiere dropped over three million viewers in the second hour. With that trend, we may get the dreaded Lost repeats before Christmas. But it’s a good choose to keep the show in a limited run because the premise would get old much like Tru Calling and at Tru at least only relieved the day once. Day Break airs on Wednesdays at 9:00 until the end of January. If you want to check out the series premiere head over to ABC.com.
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.
If there is one good thing about American Karaoke, it gave us Carrie Underwood who is moderately attractive. But if there were a second good thing to come out from the show it would be that it spawned this video and parody from “Weird Al” Yankovic. Yeah, I can't say I have heard the orginal version, but that doesn't make it any less brilliant. I may actually like this more than the White and Nerdy video. And for those that were wondering, the video is from Jib Jab, the guys behind those brilliantly funny political parodies from two years ago. Oh and what really makes the song great is that Taylor Hicks dude totally creeps me out so it's nice to know Al thinks the same thing.
Then there’s Al’s buddy Ben Folds who has a hilarious video of his own. I can’t help think of Dodgeball with Folds walking around the city in a pirate’s outfit.
It should go without saying that Shakira is uber-hot, but I always thought her perm was somewhat of a turn off so the look in this video is easily her best yet. Throw in some boxing and I’m thoroughly entertained. Oh and for those who didn’t realize, that’s Carlos Santana on the guitar.
I really can’t describe this video, just watch it, you should definitely like it. If you don’t, well I feel sorry for you. Oh and don’t forget to check out the new Johnny Cash video if you haven’t already.
Don’t hate (+44) because half it’s members are from Blink-182, a band that is best know for songs about prank phone calls and other sophomoric lyrics. Don’t hate the band because the other Blink-182 member, with his new band Angels and Airwaves, (see my review: Everyone Will Listen Even if it Hurts Sometimes) made the most pretentious album of the year had My Chemical Romance not tried to make a concept album that sounded like Queen and Pink Floyd. Don’t hate the band because half of the members are from the Transplants, a band best known for letting one of their songs to be used for a female hair product. No, don’t even hate the band because their drummer has been seen with his tongue in Paris Hilton’s mouth on multiple occasions recently.
After Blink-182 when on an indefinite hiatus, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker started up the new band describing it as more experimental and more electronica oriented. But after the duo recruited Craig Fairbaugh, who Barker played with in the Transplants, and Shane Gallagher from the band The Nervous Return, the electronic sound got pushed into the background as the guitars became more prominently featured on the release of When Your Heart Stops Beating. The result is just a slight variant of the old Blink-182 sound, a sound that the band was already going towards with the release of their last self titled album with a more mature sound and void of any frat boy humor.
There are some great modern rock tracks on the album, but some are just derivatives of other and it’s sometimes hard to distinguish the title track with the opener Lycanthrope. Little Death should like an offshoot of Blink’s I Miss You. And when the band finally lives up to its electronic promise like on 155 and the instrumental Interlude, the result is mediocre at best. An exception to that is Make You Smile where Hoppus does a heartfelt duet with Carol Heller who was part of the early carnation of the band but left to start a family.
But at least Hoppus and Barker can rest in the solace that they made a better record than their former band mate Tom DeLonge whom they may or may not have taken a dig at in the line, “This isn’t just goodbye, this is I can’t stand you” from the song No, it Isn’t.
Every once in a while I like to compile a list of songs that I’m currently listening to onto a CD to make drive time a little more bearable so I can avoid hearing that chain hang low song one more time on the radio. So here are some suggestions of songs that you should be listening to these days. This CD comes in at 76:09.
Since Lost is on hiatus, I’ve decided to go with a new name for my Veronica Mars analysis so I wouldn’t have the “Lost vs. Veronica Mars” title for three months despite there being no Lost over that time. As for the title, it obviously a reference back to the pilot episode and has always been one of my favorite quotes and one I use quite frequently in my every days life and works for almost situation, just take out “case” and insert anything, in this instance “show.”
As for the latest episode, Of Vice and Men, it was as great an episode can be that didn’t feature Dick or Parker. But you really can’t beat starting an episode with a straight from the shower in boxers Ronnie. Really, how can she fault Piz for staring? And you gotta love the look everyone gave Vee when they needed someone to help the chick from Much Music (fun fact: She was up for the role of Parker) as she quickly became the go to helper in college much like at Neptune High. Although it was odd that Ronnie did this case pro-bono. If Piz was upset about the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend I can’t imagine he was too happy that some random chick got her services for free and took his bed at the same time.
The case itself was just your run of the mill wild goose case but at least some of the spots along the way were fun, specifically Ronnie’s return to The River Stix. I didn’t know if I should have been scared or laughing when Liam picked Vee up to “dance.” And Merle picking up the bottle was just the topping on the cake. And it was nice to see Vinnie do something redeemable and not self severing for the first time in the series. I was also glad that the Fitzpatricks show up again because I never thought they would be ones to let the whole Not-Kendall thing end like it did especially when they knew Keith was involved. Granted it still has been left unresolved although I wonder if Vinnie is still under retainer after his stunt.
As for the end sequences, they were some of the best of the series. I not convinced that the person we saw last night was the rapist, you’re not going to shave a chick’s hair before you rape her (granted this backs up Not-Lucky’s no DNA thing and maybe there were never rapes in the first place). I’m betting that it was just Nish who was backing up her threat to make Ronnie pay. And now for my far out there theory of the week: The R.A. Yes Mr. Frak himself. He has access to the dorm rooms; he’s the only dude with a small enough frame that would match the person in the parking lot, and let’s face it, dude’s probably not that lucky with the ladies.
Then there were the previews for next week, which for the third week in a row hints at a Ronnie/Logan split. Seriously end it already. I never liked the coupling in the first place and have the break up be teased for almost a month straight is just making it worse. And am I the only one who thinks we haven’t learned the whole truth about the trip to Mexico. Mercer said to Vee that Logan had a good reason not to tell anyone about the trip. Maybe he’s in debt to him also. And with a title like The Lord of the Pi’s it’s safe to assume that Ronnie will be looking into Chip Diller’s debt next week. And hopefully that means more Dick. And who doesn’t (heart) Dick?
I’ve decide to switch things up this month for the lyrics quiz and not giving you the theme outright. If you guess the theme of this quiz, you will receive three extra points and of course the person with the most points will then be added to the Lyrics Quiz Winners list on my sidebar. I tried to make the quiz hard enough that the first person who guesses a lyric won’t be able to guess the theme nor will be too hard that it will take a MENSA member to see the pattern. But as usually you need to put both artist and title in the comments section (along with the theme if you think you know it) and if you are correct I will un-bold it and give you credit. Now onto the quiz:
Theme was correctly guessed by Angie. It is an alphabet theme as the lyrics are in alphabetic order (no Z though). She also guessed the most lyrics this month so congrats to her. Check back on December 15th to see if you can do better than her on the next Lyrics Quiz. And a hint to the quiz: The Best Lyrics of 2006, so study up.
1. There’s been times, I’m so confused. And all my roads they lead to you. Just can’t turn and walk away. It’s hard to say what I see in you, wonder if I’ll always be with you. (All for You - Siste Hazel; guessed by Dara) 2. Hope you got your things together. Hope you aren’t quite prepared to die. Look like we’re in for nasty weather. One eye is taken for an eye. (Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival; guessed by Cybercelt) 3. My kid turned ten just the other day, he said, “Thanks for the ball dad c’mon lets play. Can you teach me to throw?” I said, “Not today I got a lot to do.” (Cats in the Cradle - Harry Chapin; guessed by Monique) 4. When they pumped out your guts, filled you full of those pills. You were never quite right deserving all those chills. (Desperately Wanting - Better Than Ezra; guessed by Monique) 5. I know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain. Girl I’m leaving you tomorrow. Seems to me girl you know I’ve done all I can. You see girl I’ve beg, stole and I borrowed. (Easy - The Commodores; guessed by Monique) 6. I hear the train a coming, it’s rolling round the bend and I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when. (Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash; gueessed by Angie) 7. Get to mackin’ to this (girl) named Sadie. She used to be the homeboy's lady. Eighty degrees, when I tell that (girl) please. (Gin and Juice - Snoop Doggy Dogg; guessed by Angie) 8. Drying up in conversation, you’ll be the one who cannot talk. All your insides fall to pieces; you just sit there wishing you could still make love. (High and Dry - Radiohead; guessed by Kristi) 9. I got to get my props, cops, come and try to snatch my crops. These pigs wanna blow my house down, head underground, to the next town. They get mad when they come to raid my pad and I'm out in the nine deuce Cad’. (Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill; guessed by Cybercelt) 10. Standing in the rain, with his head hung low. Couldn’t get a ticket, it was a sold out show. Heard the roar of the crowd, he could picture the scene. Put his ear to the wall, then like a distant scream. (Jukebox Hero - Foriegner; guessed by Angie) 11. If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman? (Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down; guessed by Angie) 12. If you, if you could get by, trying not to lie, things wouldn't be so confused and I wouldn't feel so used. But you always really knew, I just wanna be with you. (Linger - The Cranberries; guessed by Dara) 13. Americano got the sleepy eye, but his body’s still shaking like a live wire. Sleepy seorita with the eyes on fire. (Mexico - James Taylor; guessed by Kristi) 14. I told you that we could fly. ‘Cause we all have wings, but some of us don't know why. (Never Tear Us Apart - INXS; guessed by Angie) 15. I only smile in the dark. My only comfort is the night gone black. I didn’t accidentally tell you that. (Only Happy When it Rains - Garbage; guessed by Dara) 16. I see your face every time I dream, on every page, every magazine. So wild so free so far from me, you’re all I want, my fantasy. (Photogragh - Def Leppard; guessed by Dara) 17. Knowing it ain’t really smart. The joker ain’t the only fool who'll do anything for you. (Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton; guessed by Angie) 18. Built like she was she had the nerve 2 ask me if I planned 2 do her any harm. So, look here, I put her on the back of my bike and we went riding down by old man Johnson's farm. (Raspberry Beret - Prince; guessed by Angie) 19. I don’t mind spending everyday out on your corner in the pouring rain. (She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5; guessed by Angie) 20. Ooo, traffic jam, got more cars than the beach got sand. Suck it up, fill it up ‘til no more. I’m no crazy creep I got it coming to me ‘cause I’m not satisfied the hunger keep on growing. (Too Much - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie) 21. Hold this thread as I walk away. Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked lying on the floor. (Undone - The Sweater Song - Weezer; guessed by Dara) 22. Uno, dos, tres, catorce. (Vertigo - U2; guessed by Angie) 23. And that’s about the time that (girl) hung up on me. Nobody likes you when you’re 23 and are still more amused by prank phone calls. (What's My Age Again? - Blink182; guessed by Monique) 24. A million lights are dancing and there you are a shooting star, an everlasting world and you're here with me eternally. (Xanadu - Olivia Newton John; guessed by Angie) 25. My outfit's ridiculous, in the club lookin' so conspicuous. And Rowl! These women all on the prowl, if you hold the (expletive deleted) steady I'ma milk the cow. (Yeah! - Usher, Lil John & Ludacris; guessed by Angie)
With the release of O, Damien Rice made some of the most beautiful, yet haunting, music in recent memory. He even won the Shortlist Music Prize for the album back in 2003. Of course that award is a blessing and a curse because it means you’re really good but you haven’t sold very many records (less than 500,000 to be eligible). But the album did have some staying power as many with songs showing up in different movies and television shows, most recently Delicate was used to close out an episode of Jericho two weeks ago. This wasn’t first time the song was used for ending an episode because as it was also done previously on Lost and Alias. Gee it’s not like television producers to use songs that have been used multiple times before for the same reasons. End sarcasm.
Just when you think Rice couldn’t come up with a more simplistic title for an album than O, he does with the release today of 9. The new album is much of the same as the songs still manage to be beautiful and haunting at the same time. Although the songs sound a little more polished this time around, they don’t lose their emotional rawness and even with all the emotion seeping from the songs they still avoid being sappy. And before you make a The Blower’s Daughter comparison to Elephant, Rice beat you to the punch as it was originally titled The Blower’s Daughter II before the title was changed during recording.
Lisa Hannigan, who shined on O’s Volcano, is back and featured on the album opener 9 Crimes but unfortunately is relegated to backup singer for the rest of the album because their back and forth is always something great. That’s not to say Rice can’t handle a track by himself. He even branches out on the album with the harder sounding Rootless Tree and Me, My Yoke & I with all the rage, screaming and lyrics that wouldn’t get past my censors. Then on Coconut Skins, Rice straps on an acoustic guitar and channels early Dylan. And be sure to turn up the volume when the album ends because the last sixteen minutes features a Tibetan singing bowl that supposable has healing powers. But it’s The Animals Are Gone with its soft beginning into a souring orchestral ending that will most like be co-opted that will likely be closing out an episode of your favorite television shows for years to come.
Grammy nomination day is always a great one as I scour the five hundred categories to see who got the nod. Every year there are always a few surprises like someone getting a nomination you wouldn’t have thought would even be a contender, and rarely there is an act that comes out of nowhere to grab a nomination in a major category or two. That was the case back in 2003 for the Texas based quartet Bowling for Soup that got the nod in a couple of pop categories. The boys walked away empty handed that year, but they took the momentum and scored a hit the following year with the nostalgic 1984 and the even catchier follow up Ohio (Come Back to Texas). Now the band is back with their eighth full length album The Great Burrito Extortion Case.
On the new album, the boys get serious and try to channel their inner-U2. Just kidding, it’s just more of the same power-pop sounds with lyrics that borderline on “Weird Al” territory of silliness much like their previous work. Headlining the album is the ever so true High School Never Ends that chronicles this nation’s obsession with celebrity likening Reese Witherspoon to the Prom Queen, Brad Pitt to the quarterback, and Bill Gates as the captain of the chess team.
Other sophomoric ditties include Val Kilmer where they sing about who there life isn’t how they thought it would turn out using movie themes as metaphors and even throw in a debate about the title’s namesake’s career. Then there’s I’m Gay. No the band hasn’t been outed by some lame blogger with nothing better to do, they instead are kicking it old school, so old that they are referring to the time when the word meant happy, ask your grandparents. See what they did, they made you think one thing, but then they turned around and meant something entirely different, you know, like you did in middle school. And there in lies the problem with the band, they create fun pop song but the shelf lives are not that long, and that’s no different here on The Great Burrito Extortion Case. The songs are fun the first time around, but the more you hear them the less entertaining they become.
Back in my youth, my parents talked of this mythical creature they called Meat Loaf. Unlike the mystery meat that would show up on the dinner table every couple week, the other Meat Loaf was a singer who released an Bat Out of Hell before I was born and was a massive hit only for Meat to disappear into obscurity not to be heard again. But then out of nowhere the same dude somehow had a hit song and accompanying video, the puzzling titled I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) that somehow made it onto MTV at the height of alternative rock and gangsta rap as well as the top of the singles chart. But unlike the previous album, Loaf didn’t fall back into obscurity and found successes as a character actor staring such cinematic gems as Fight Club and Spice World.
But much like its predecessor, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose came out a decade later than the previous volume. But unlike the other two Bat Out of Hell records, number three is the first that doesn’t have “Songs by Jim Steinman” on the cover as Meat Loaf’s partner decided not to partake in the third go around which caused a major riff considering Steinman controls the trademark on “Bat Out of Hell” and took the Loaf to court to keep him using the name. Obviously an agreement was reached that let Meat use the title but he won’t be able to use the phrase in the title so when his next album is released in 2020, it won’t be named Bat Out of Hell IV.
So Meat Loaf brought in Desmond Child, best know for his work with Aerosmith, to produce and help write a big chuck of the album. The still has the grandeur feel as it mixes Broadway theatrics with hard rock, but without Steinman, most of the songs just don’t have the same emotional connection that the previous songs had with him on board. Steinman does show up in the writing credits as the Loaf tackles some of his older work that he hasn’t done before including two song that were featured in the MTV version of Wuthering Heights which surprised me because I never realized that Wuthering Heights was a musical. He also poached two songs from Steinman’s Batman: The Musical project. I think it’s lucky that the musical never came to fruition from the lackluster songs the Loaf sings here despite Steve Vai showing up on In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King, a song that most have been the villains theme.
Then there is It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, a song from a never released Steinman album that was made famous by Celine Dion. This time around Loaf turns it into a duet, a long staple in the Loaf catalog which plays to much effect by pitting Loaf against a female singer. On the song his counterpart is Marion Raven who you might remember as a member of the early 00’s Norwegian pop act M2M (wait you don’t, well me neither). Meat also shares song with longtime concert partner Patti Russo on What About Love? as well as Jennifer Hudson, who appently lost some karaoke contest on television, for the song The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be. But none of the songs stand up to Meat’s past greatness which makes you wonder how much better this project could have been had Steinman been fully involved.
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.
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.
.![Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-iVFV0hXCTSYP16K_V0Rrxp3GqFrtBIJKeTUyQ2LpxZQ9XKHFj6QGtqqa7oxhLadLV8vUj8R84AftD8IKUSfN0u_u0CYDtJwhrpCPN2DBWquAIDv0jbVlhZL0mDFKlPKluGyxw/s400/small_elevated.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my 
![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my 
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