The Ultimate Shuffle Sunday

It's good to be back reviewing and there are many albums I would like to talk about, however, I feel I need just a little more time with them. So! I decided to do a special version of Shuffle Sunday today, in which I throw my iTunes on shuffle and discuss the first five songs that come up in my playlist. I hope you enjoy my rambles and see you soon with a brand new full album review!

1. "Wasted Years" - Iron Maiden

Sure, we all know that Iron Maiden rocks, but why do they rock so hard? It's because of songs like these. "Wasted Years" has that underlying minor tone throughout the whole song with Bruce Dickinson belting out an epic tale with a deep moral of not taking life for granted. Everything from the defining introduction to the well structured and beautifully flowing solo from Adrian Smith, this song is all a hard rock fan can ask for. Although it is one of the better songs off their 1986 album Somewhere in Time, it reminds us not to sweep this album under the carpet.

2. "Hideaway" - Chicago

This song comes from one of Chicago's less popular albums, Chicago VIII. They dropped the jazzy style present on Chicago VII and decided to go more mainstream with these recordings. This definitely shows on "Hideaway" which contains a very basic driving beat from Danny Seraphine and a simple fat dropping chord progression from the band. Terry Kath saves the repetitive nature of the song with a heavily distorted guitar solo at the end, but not much can be done with the chord base he's provided with. With a very lacking horn section and the constant use of the same musical idea throughout the whole song, "Hideaway" is best forgotten.

3. "Lost in the Flood" - Bruce Springsteen

Now I'm not usually a huge Springsteen fan, but his first album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. is nothing to scoff at. This entire album is a gem, but since it was so 'out there' for the time, it took four years before the album caught on in America. "Lost in the Flood" is a great, heart-felt song that tells three stories from three perspectives about the time of the Vietnam War and the pain and hardships that went along with it. Springsteen's vocal technique throughout this song and even on the whole album remind me a lot of Adam Duritz of Counting Crows; filled with emotion, grief and sadness, but not without a little bit of hope. Great song. Great album. Check it out.

4. "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" - Blue Öyster Cult

Now I'm a huge Blue Öyster Cult fan, but this song never really tickled my fancy. It has that same "Cities on Flame" groove, but it really has no build like a lot of BOC's earlier hits had. It also always baffled me that this was the first song on the B-Side of their album Spectres. Being the first song on an album side, I figure it would have more pizazz, but alas, this is just a mediocre stereotypical rock chart with no real BOC character added. Maybe they just forgot to add it to the recipe on this one. Yeah, we'll just go with that.

5. "The House Wins" - OK Go

What a great end to a great album. With an entire album of greatly structured and intelligent alternative glam-rock, "The House Wins" is a simple song that revolves around a single note (concert B to be exact) repeated over and over again. I love how Damian Kulash sounds so bored in his vocals, yet at the same time seems quite enthused about it. On top of that, the rest of the band loudly overpowering the vocals makes for a great clash of ideas, leaving the listener satisfied. Oh, and did you know that Damian Kulash thinks I'm an alcoholic? Eh, we'll leave that for another time.

Have you seen OK Go's new music video for their song "This Too Shall Pass?" Great stuff as usual.

Fishhooks - Demo

I love getting to know local music scenes. Whether it be acoustic coffee house performers or jam bands playing at the local bars, it’s always a great experience. On rare occasions you may happen to witness something special; something that sticks out from the crowd.

A few weeks ago, I went to a concert at a local coffee shop, and little did I know, I would be caught in one of those aforementioned ‘rare occasions.’ The band had so many great aspects: unique and innovative sound, experimental musicality, and tantalizing lyrics to go with the package.

Fishhooks are an independent reggae-gypsy rock band from Madison, Wisconsin. They’ve recently released a five track demo album that consists of some seriously solid material. “A Quick Glimpse At Captain Fishhook” is a great place to start since it nicely encompasses every element that makes the band what it is. The song is driven by its minor tonality and folk-style lyrical structure. The simple plucking guitar and minimalistic beats behind the verses bring the listener’s attention to the short and simple poetic story of an emotionally flooded captain and his unrequited love. Progressive aspects surface when the entire the song breaks into electronic trance beats for one last epic run through the refrain, showing that these guys aren’t afraid to experiment a little.

The next track, “Bum-Biggidy,” keeps that sea-faring sound by introducing the song with a strong waltz-like drive. This track definitely does a great job at taking the listener on a roller coaster ride of intensities that greatly fit the underlying moods as the lyrics progress. I only wish the bass could be brought out more in this one to really hone in on that waltz feel.

“Japan” is another lyrical masterpiece that keeps the emphasis on poetics. The lonely tone painted by the vocals engrosses the listener and forces them to look to the instrumentals to further draw the musical scenery. This is excellently done in the guitar solo that emulates the vocal delivery, almost as if acting as its own verse in the song.

This brings us to my favorite track on the demo, “Night of the Living Glass.” The band artfully uses volume to navigate the song. From the quiet verse-to-verse synth interludes, to the surprise, in-your-face intensity jumps in the refrain, this composition poses as a great live piece. However, I do believe the organ could really sing more in the refrain. What can I say? I’m a sucker for rock pipes.

The demo closes with a great minimalist-style jam song entitled “Howitzer Flower Pot.” The way this track is written, it almost plays itself off like a jazz Real Book chart returning to the catchy falling-scale guitar ‘head’ after each verse. This one definitely has potential for open solos between each verse making for a great climax for live performances (just a thought ;) ).

I have to say I’m quite fortunate to have seen this group perform and I definitely plan on keeping my eye on these guys for a while. Fishhooks are one of a kind and I personally can’t wait to see a full album release. Keep your ears open, I can tell that this isn’t the last you’ll hear of these guys.

By the way, to all my La Crosse and Madison area readers, you each have a perfect opportunity to catch these guys play and I can’t recommend it enough. On January 7^th, Fishhooks will be playing at The Frequency in Madison (right off the capitol square), and on January 23^rd they will be playing at The Warehouse in downtown La Crosse alongside a great local favorite, T.U.G.G.. Trust me, it’s well worth your time to check these guys out.

In the mean time you can download the whole demo album for free by following this link:

http://fishhooks.bandcamp.com/

Arlo Guthrie - "Alice's Restaurant Massacree"

Have you ever been listening to the radio on Thanksgiving Day and happened upon a strange number in which a very folksy sounding man is narrating a story about restaurants and littering? If you have, and had the courage enough to listen through all 18.5 minutes of it, then you have subsequently heard a big part of music history.

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is a song by Arlo Guthrie which tells a true story in which two boys are taken to court for littering, which later leads to them not being drafted into the Vietnam War since they were marked as criminals. The song is presented in talking blues: a style of old country music where the lyrics of the song are spoken, rather than sung, sometimes in a slightly poetic manner. The lyrics of this song in particular are filled with humor through irony and simple human stupidity. Instances like having a blind judge, holding a court case for an eventual fifty dollar fine or presenting photographic evidence for proof of littering are just a few of the moments that make this song stick with you.

However, what really gives this song a place in history is the political standpoints which Guthrie presents through this cunning use of irony and humor. “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was recorded and released in 1967, during the peak of the Vietnam War. Guthrie used this song to shed some light on the occurrence of counterculture in America during those horrific times. By simply telling the story of these two unfairly convicted boys and their role in the military draft, Guthrie successfully shows how oblivious the government was to the dangerous subcultures that were forming as a result of the war. The ironic conclusion to the story sums it all up nicely as one of the boys is waiting to be tested for his moral waiver: "I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug."

Arlo Guthrie played a huge role in political protest and speaking out against social injustice through song, and “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is proof of the perfection behind his execution of this. Since the song caught on as well as it did, it really stands out as being one of the most successful songs of its kind, and that fact further exclaims its deserved place in history. If you haven’t been lucky enough to catch this song on the radio during Thanksgiving Day, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Oh...and why does this song play on Thanksgiving every year? Only because the story of the two convicted boys originally took place on Thanksgiving of 1965. That’s really the only reason; disappointingly nothing special ;)

You can listen to the full 18.5 minute version of the song here (first track on the album):

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12028087

Neutral Milk Hotel - Live at The Side Door

I have been toying with the idea of reviewing Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for a long time, but have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no way I could properly give that album justice. It is, in my opinion, hands down the best album I have ever heard. Jeff Mangum put together the perfect combination of art, simplicity, storytelling, and core emotion into a short but powerful record that will hold a place in my heart for the rest of my life (despite what Robert Christgau has to say on the matter...). However, Aeroplane does have a tendency to overshadow the rest of Mangum’s Neutral Milk Hotel years, which is quite unfortunate. Although it doesn’t quite reach the caliber of that final album, the music Mangum wrote before it really helps one delve deep into the mind of the artist.

Live at The Side Door is a forty minute live set that was recorded in May of 1997; right between the releases of On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. This was a perfect time to witness a live performance from the group considering Mangum had not yet been overwhelmed by the attention caused by Aeroplane, but he had still recorded a full album with the band as a whole. Before I start talking about the actual performance, I want to make it clear that this live set is one of the most natural performances I’ve ever heard. Jeff wasn’t known for going all out at his shows. He was just a normal guy, who wanted to share his music.

The whole show starts off with Jeff telling the crowd that their drummer couldn’t show up, and that the entire show will be more acoustic. He also lets them know that the show may not be that great because he and one of the other band-mates has the flu really bad. Well, he may have thrown up his lungs that morning, but his heart is definitely still intact in this performance. The set opens up with “She Did a Lot of Acid;” an intense Neutral Milk Hotel B-side that is almost entirely driven by Jeff’s voice. The flu definitely doesn’t hold him back on this one. He wails out those notes like his immune system is impenetrable. Opening with this song must have really got the crowd thinking that this was definitely not a typical acoustic set, it was something much more.

The next two songs, "Gardenhead" and "Naomi" are a great pair of songs that slowly bring the intensity down, becoming less and less instrumentally involved. The insecurity of Mangum comes out after "Naomi" when he tells the crowd that he’s sorry they are so pathetic, trying to work through their illnesses and technical problems. His insecurity allows you to see him at a more personal level, nothing like any other concert you will ever see.

The fourth song in the set, “Engine,” is one of my personal favorites. It’s a slow guitar/Theremin duet that discusses the human goal of adapting to life’s ever changing “tracks.” The next song in the set is called “Up and Over,” which brings me to another great aspect of the performance. Some of the songs in the set are actually unfinished versions of Aeroplane tracks. “Up and Over” in particular, is actually the predecessor of the second half of “King of Carrot Flowers, Part II & III,” the second track on Aeroplane. This almost allows you to take part in the mental construction of Neutral Milk Hotel’s final album, as you get to see the small pieces before they were put together as the finished puzzle.

Next, Mangum belts out an excellent version of the opening track to On Avery Island, “Song Against Sex.” The performance of this song is no holds barred, and Jeff takes no prisoners, shoving the uncomfortable concepts of drugs, death and sex into the crowd’s ears. Another Aeroplane track finds its way into the set just after an instrumental transition of “The Fool;” Jeff performs an early solo rendition of “Oh Comely.” This is the part of the show that really begins to wear down his voice. Even though the notes aren’t always where they should be, his intensity and drive is consistently spot-on, making this one of the best performances of the song.

The whole show ends with an “under construction” version of “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Like I said before, it’s truly awesome to here the in-progress versions of these songs, and it's not different here. This song in particular actually has an entire verse that wasn’t kept in the final version of the song. I personally enjoy it as an addition, since it adds sort of a third element to the song, aside from the typical verses and refrain. Although, I can understand why this verse didn’t make it into the final product, since it does give the song a little more depth than need be.

Overall, I believe that this album is a truly special piece from the repertoire of Neutral Milk Hotel and you owe it to yourself to give it a good listen. If you haven’t heard much (or any, for that matter) of Neutral Milk Hotel, then I highly encourage you to give them a listen. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a great place to start. It will give you a great understanding on Mangum’s musical and poetic stance, which will in turn help you to appreciate the finer things in his earlier work. If anything, just listen to Live at The Side Door merely for the experience; to connect with the band at a more personal level. Everything from the construction of the songs, to the heart put into the performance, even the quiet and accepting way Mangum thanks the crowd after every song is something surely worth experiencing at least once. So please, I highly encourage you to check out Neutral Milk Hotel’s Live at The Side Door.

You can check out the set with the following link. Live at The Side Door (along with many other live bootlegs) is about halfway down the page. All the songs are free for listening and downloading, so enjoy them!

http://www.the-collective.net/~sashwap/media.html

Here are also two links to On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea respectively:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12904679

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12904699

Dan Collins and a Piano - Dormitory

If there’s one thing I really miss in today’s mainstream music scene, it’s variety. Pop songs about clubbin’ and Rock songs about unrequited love definitely aren’t few and far between. It also seems like serious instrumental integrity is becoming a thing of the past and disc-jockey beat loops are entering as the new. I can’t say that I don’t enjoy living in a time in which such a drastic musical movement is occurring, in all seriousness, it’s actually pretty exciting, but it really does hurt me to see that Pop Rock is paving the way for conformity and leaving individuality at the door.

However, there are some people out there who are doing a noble deed in trying to save the name of Pop Rock, by bestowing us with music filled with incredible depth and musical intellect. Unfortunately, most of these artists go unnoticed, despite the fact that their music could easily redefine the industry.

This week’s album (the album that simultaneously celebrates the comeback of Rodey’s Reviews), comes from one of those noble musical personas that lives right here in my current city of residence, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Dan Collins is currently a student at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, but his college life hasn’t stopped him from delving into the realm of piano influenced Pop Rock; and releasing an album of pinnacle greatness that should be enjoyed by the masses.

The album opens up with “Take on the World.” Alongside its jumping piano chords and intensity molding drum tracks, the idea behind the entire album is introduced and encompassed in this one track: new experiences and new emotions. As the title suggests, the song is about not taking the world for granted, but to embrace as much of it as you can. Rather than sit dormant, “we should step it up and live;” not only in respects to the earth, but in every aspect of our lives. Setting up a contrast, Collins’s lyrics in “The Fourth of July” describe the importance behind also embracing the simple things in life. The title track, “Dormitory,” is one of the highest points on the album. This upbeat composition with its intense heart-driven chorus and stylistically evolving verses is guaranteed to leave you pleased.

At this point in the review I feel like I should discuss one of my favorite aspects of the album. The next song “Woke Up at the White House (Pallid Dive),” brings the sound back to a calm and allows it to rise exponentially, differing itself from the style of “The Fourth of July.” My point is that this album has a great deal of variance and keeps you pulled in from beginning to end. This is something that a lot of today’s newly emerging artists are forgetting, but Collins executes it perfectly.

The next two tracks, “Snow Town” and “Monster” inhabit two completely different sides of the stylistic spectrum. “Snow Town” is a beautifully written ballad led by timid, yet passionate vocals from Collins, whereas “Monster” is the result of a smooth jazz and hard blues recipe with just a pinch of reggae feeling, making it one of the most intriguing sounds I’ve heard from an artist in a long time.

The next two songs dive into two tough emotions: the hardships of love and the sadness that comes with the loss of a family member. “On This Piece of Paper” and “Lullaby for the Patients and the Patience” really show the depth of Collins’s lyrical abilities. On top of that, “Lullaby for the Patients and the Patience” contains, in my opinion, the most instrumental integrity on the entire album, showing that in the right respects, less is more.

As the album progresses to its next track, “Hibernate” it starts to slowly expand its sound again. Then the album comes to one of my favorite tracks “Feelings Beyond Our Own.” This track gets my great approval because it talks about the importance of music in life. Collins discusses how no matter what situation, music can always “bring you home.”

“Epitome of Me (Remixed)” returns to an experimental sound, this time with electronic style and then the album closes with “Do Feel Fine,” a song that I feel takes every style visited on the album and combines them into one. It really makes for a great closure to the album, not too intense that you feel overwhelmed, but not too little that you feel like the whole was missing something. The end of the album also contains a ten minute informative commentary track provided by Collins himself, fittingly entitled “Dormmentary.”

So, do I recommend the album? Hell yeah I do! I’m not lying when I say that this is one of the greatest things to come out of a newly emerging artist this year. Dan Collins and a Piano truly is a hidden gem worth uncovering and gets my full support.

The album is currently available on iTunes if you follow this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=330290398&s=143441

or at The Big Cartel via this url:

http://dancollinsandapiano.bigcartel.com/

Also, if you'd like to check out more of Dan and his future ventures, take the following links to his Myspace and Facebook pages:

http://www.myspace.com/dancollinsandapiano

http://www.facebook.com/dancollinsandapiano

Last but not least, here is the link to the album so you can check it out on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=13351904

Mullmuzzler - Keep It To Yourself

Mullmuzzler is a solo project of Dream Theater vocalist, James LaBrie. Being a side project of one of the greatest progressive rock groups around today, you would expect that the group also holds their fair share of prog elements, and they do, but at the same time, they also contains a lot of aspects that set themselves far from the Dream Theater sound.

Keep It To Yourself is Mullmuzzler’s debut album, and it really does an excellent job at setting a solid basis for LaBrie’s future solo recordings. Starting off with the solid track “His Voice,” you already get a sense of how personal LaBrie’s lyrics are. It really makes me wonder why he hasn’t written more songs than he has for DT. The next track, “Statued” seems to be a direct response to “His Voice” in that the instrumentals play very similarly and the lyrics also seem closely tied together. “Shores of Avalon,” though probably my least favorite track on the album, has strong instrumental unity, but for being one of the longest songs on the album (at about eight minutes), it really doesn’t delve very far into different musical forms, making the final product relatively bland compared to the rest of the album.

At this point I had thought I got a good grip on what the album had to deliver, but man was I wrong. The next song on the album, “Beelzebubba,” starts off with a very heavy Chicago style, fusion sound, riddled with awesome bass lines and a slew of messy trombone hits. The lyrics are strangely delivered, discussing in a sarcastic tone, the Monica Lewinsky trials of President Clinton, under the coined nick-name, Slick Willy. “Guardian Angel” arguably stands as the albums greatest track artistically and instrumentally with its twisting styles and awesome Andrew Lloyd Weber tributes, but personally, I feel like the lyrics could have been a little better. At points they are beautifully poetic: Another day in a cold uncaring world / Dark treasons cold unhearted ways / I stand before your providence / Nobody comes, nobody goes; but at others, they seem to be lacking and almost corny: I dream of a place of simple love / Detached from the wicked and the bad / Lost out in a storm of sinfulness / Where is the kindness we used to have? I really don’t have much to say about “Sacrifice.” It’s a pretty typical ballad piece with some slight classic rock elements sprinkled in to give it more of a definitive sound, but it’s really nothing too special.

The album starts preparing itself for a close with the next track, “Lace.” This song is definitely the album’s darkest, and has a great vocal performance from LaBrie. The end of the song ends with this very progressive tutti type section between the keyboards and guitar, which goes for about twenty seconds only to fade out. I kind of wished they would have done more with this, as it seemed like a great transition point for the piece, but alas, it just silences the short-lived idea. “Slow Burn” drops the heavier rock sound, but still holds the progressive style giving us a beautiful, orchestrated ballad. I really enjoy the way the piano travels with LaBrie’s vocals on this one. That, along with the well written and presented lyrics, makes this one a favorite of mine. The closing track of the album really lets LaBrie shine in a way he never has on any Dream Theater recording. “As A Man Thinks” revolves almost entirely around the vocals in this semi a cappella song. At the times when the instrumentals are the main focus though, they do an excellent job acting as a response to the vocals or setting up the basis for the next verse to be delivered.

Overall, I’d say the tracks are pretty good. As far as the album goes, it could have been better. However, I don’t really think it was LaBrie’s intention to tie together the entire album into one voice, but rather to let each song speak for itself. Even in the case of the first two songs, it is apparent that each song is written from a different emotional perspective about the same idea, so even though the concept is similar, the voice of each song is completely different. With that said, I would say that this album is more for the casual progressive metal listener, but can still hold a solemn place in the collection of a prog enthusiast.

As for anyone who has a strong liking for Dream Theater, I highly recommend this album, mainly because it gives you a deeper look into the mind of James LaBrie. As I said, Keep It To Yourself is overall an incredibly personal album and really shows a different side of the Dream Theater vocalist.

For the more casual listener, I suggest checking out “His Voice,” “Guardian Angel,” and “Slow Burn,” as these are, in my opinion, the highlights of the album. You can check the whole album out at Napster with the following link:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12522802

Shuffle Sunday [Béla Bartók - Rhapsody No. 1: Lassu]

Shuffle Sunday has bestowed us with a little bit of classical this week. Béla Bartók is widely credited as being one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century and I wouldn’t be one to argue. His music always throws my mind into wonderment; making me wish that I could get into the mind of its greatly influential composer.

Bartók started composing at a very young age, very much influenced by the late romanticism era. Yet as he matured, he began to find inspiration in the much simpler concept of Hungarian and Turkish folk music. One of his most famous thoughts is his comparison of classical composition to the works of William Shakespeare. Bartók believed that if Shakespeare could develop ingenious art in the form of plays, simply from the stories of common-folk, then an evolution in the musical art may be unearthed from the simple songs of the same people. He then spoke the art of his composition as this: to neither use the folk songs directly, nor expand upon them, but to harbor into music, the true entity and atmosphere of the songs themselves.

Another of Bartók’s beliefs was that there were three great discoveries in the world of music, held above any others: the use of progressive form by Beethoven, Bach’s attention to the importance of counterpoint, and the endless knowledge of harmony usage, rebirthed by Claude Debussy. Throughout the early nineteen hundreds, Bartók spent a great deal of time trying to find a way of perfectly combining this great trinity of concepts. It wasn’t until 1911, when he finally admitted defeat at the criticism of his peers. From then on he gave up on this musical goal, and wrote very few new compositions afterwards. Although he may not have unveiled the powerful tri-force of music (you all knew the Zelda reference was coming), to say he didn’t leave the world with any great musical landmarks would be ludicrous.

The track shuffled into my ears this week, is the first part of a great composition of Bartók’s, “Rhapsody No. 1.” It was composed in 1928, being one of Bartók’s latest pieces. The song is written in a Night music style; a style of Bartók’s slower classical compositions in which he uses creepy or eerie backgrounds filled with strategically placed dissonance to bring emphasis to a more beautiful and innocent melody. In this case, the melody is always presented by a lone violin. The backdrop is provided by a mild string orchestra (or just a single piano in the original transcription), accompanied by a small brass section depending on the harshness of emotion being portrayed by the melody. It is simply amazing how he can get the mashing of dissonant chord to sound so uplifting. The concept is incredibly hard to muster, but believe me, the first time you listen to a Béla Bartók piece, you will understand. Not only that, your musical mind will be opened to a fresh new plain of possibilities, just waiting to be explored.

I only wish I could describe this music in greater detail, but I know if I tried, it would do you no good. Words cannot do these compositions justice, so please check out the following link. It is the original transcription of the piece, and the piano is being played by Béla Bartók himself, and if anyone can help you understand the wonders of this Night music, he can. I mean, he created the darn thing. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMTISOHRKg