This is('nt) serious
Lucky I don't have many (any?) readers, or people may worry about the length of time the previous post lasted at the top of the blog. No, I didn't hide in a bunker for the last 9 months. I've just been very busy with work at a startup, and school. I'm now nearly done with my master's degree though I may stretch out the time so I can take extra classes to better prepare myself for a doctoral program.
Now for the un-serious stuff... reviews...
I'll start with the music first:
Brian Wilson - Smile
All of the comments I made before apply, but this is even better than the recording I heard. The album is complete, and (pun intended) wonderful. This was the best album of 2004, and if had been released in 1967, it wouldn't have been the best (that year had Sgt. Peppper's, The Doors' self-titled album, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced amongst other albums), but it would have been right up there with the best. It's weird, wild, and beautiful and one of the two favorite albums not recorded by a Beatle (the other being Pet Sounds). Grade: A+
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Not too shabby. In many ways this album feels like it came from the mid-80s. The Edge's guitar work is front and center, and ringing like in their classic albums. Only Bono's slightly aged voice gives a clue that this album is more modern. This won't exactly supplant their best works (Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree), but I find it a LOT better than the (IMHO) overrated All That You Can't Leave Behind. Not every track works, but most do. Yes, I'll agree with the hype. At this point, they are the biggest rock and roll band in the world. Unlike their last album, it doesn't feel like the greatest rock and roll band of the day going through the motions, and that's pretty cool. The fact that they also have a social conscious makes them even greater. Grade: B+
R.E.M. - Around The Sun
Not bad at all. This is their best effort since probably New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Not everything works on the album, and honestly I haven't reached to listen to it in a while. That said, what works on here, really works well, especially the first several cuts. This album mostly serves to give me hope that R.E.M. can regain their majesty and glory someday. Grade: C+/B-
Beck - Geuro
This isn't Sea Change. On one hand that's really too bad, as Sea Change was a masterwork, but on the other hand, it doesn't really have to be either. It's somewhat a mix between his albums from Odelay on. It has much more of the fun vibe of the earlier records, but it also carries some of the melancholy of Sea Change in many of the cuts. Few other "modern" recording artists put out albums this great... I'm just hoping his somewhat recent involvement in Scientology doesn't put a hamper on his genius. (sorry, but Tom Cruise seriously is freaking me out lately) Grade: B+
William Shatner - Has Been
Wow, this was pretty unexpected. William Shatner, cuts his first album in 36 years, and it's rather good! This album not only succeeds in being ironically hilarious like his last effort, The Transformed Man from 1968, but it also succeeds in being intentionally hilarious, and often a pretty good record by any standard. Not everything works here, and some of the cuts are downright uncomfortable to listen to (the spoken word poem about finding his wife dead for instance), but much of this thing really works as rock and roll, and funny rock and roll at that. In many ways William Shatner has become a Andy Kaufman-like figure, where you're never totally sure what's a joke and what isn't, and more importantly if it is a joke, if he actually knows it's a joke or not. With Has Been, it seems that William Shatner is quite aware it's a joke, and he's joining in for the fun. Amazingly this was one of 2004's best albums! Grade: B
Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
Even for Leonard Cohen, this album is weird. The sound may remind one of his previous effort, Ten New Songs, but the mood is almost entirely void of the sadness on nearly every cut from that album. For better or worse, this album is more meditative and minimalist. Once again, what works, really works, but some of the experiments on here seem to be some form of inside joke for Leonard only. (like the title cut which involves the same sentence repeated ad naseum) Grade: C+
The Beatles - Let It Be... Naked
I was really hoping that title was a joke when I first heard of the effort. However, the Beatles are pretty notorious for only the most bizarre projects seeing the light of day in favor of the ones that really should be released (like the film, Let It Be!). Let It Be... Naked continues that tradition. Clearly there are some improvements on the proper Let It Be with this effort. Across The Universe is a lot closer to the proper recording with the new remix, although it's still missing the incredible backwards guitar effects on the proper take 7. The song Let It Be is interesting in the new hybrid version incorporating a new combination of the overdubs for the song (and clearly violating any nakedness), but I'm still partial to the version that appears on the actual album Let It Be for George's blistering guitar work on that mix. Don't Let Me Down is glorious for the most part as they finally somewhat released a rooftop concert derived version of the song... Unfortunately, they did not have the courage to just release the first version of it from the rooftop concert directly. Instead they decided to cover up John's vocal flub by mixing and matching between the two rooftop concert renditions of the song. It's too bad, because that flub actually makes the performance all the better. Still, it's wonderful to have a copy of the song with John and Paul singing the chorus together in good sound quality. The Long and Winding Road is unadorned, which is nice, but we already have that on the Beatles Anthology 3. The major change here is that they used a slightly different take, which I suppose is nice to have in good sound quality. I've Got A Feeling seems to be a different rooftop version than released earlier (I'm going from memory here, so I could be wrong), and sound inferior to the version on Let It Be, and the mix of Two Of Us is also inferior to the one on Let It Be. The "bonus cd" is also a joke. There is a LOT of great material to draw upon from their weeks in the studio in January of 1969. There could easily be 2-3 cds of releasable really wonderful music in there... but this 20 minute hodge-podge of short clips isn't it. So this album is somewhat interesting, and certainly listenable, but I can't honestly say it's in any way better than Let It Be, or even the original Get Back LP that wasn't released (any version of it). Let It Be may have been pretty heavily modified by Phil Spector, but with few exceptions, Spector usually made smart decisions (The Long And Winding Road and Across The Universe excepted). Get Back mostly has the courage of its convictions in keeping pretty strictly to the "as they recorded it" raw sound. It's weirder by far than anything that was released (4.5 minutes of Dig It! is very weird indeed), and Glyn Johns generally chose versions of the songs that weren't necessarily the best available (Two Of Us, I've Got A Feeling, Don't Let Me Down, etc). That said it's a much more accurate document of what that month was like without getting too "real" for all but the most hard core fans (like myself). I don't really know what the point is for Let It Be... Naked. Frankly, I would have preferred a legitimate release of one of the versions of the Get Back LP, a proper release of the rooftop concert, or ideally a 2-3 cd set of the best of the Twickenham and Apple studio sessions. Even though the grade is pretty low for the album, it's mostly because I see this as such a missed opportunity. Incidentally, if people are wondering why I'm reviewing this so long after it was released, it's because I only first listened to it this last week... I had a weird 25 month period of not really being able to listen to the Beatles, that only very recently seems to have ended. (whew!) Grade: C- (for the missed opportunity, the music is still awesome)
I'll talk about films and tv and other stuff later
Now for the un-serious stuff... reviews...
I'll start with the music first:
Brian Wilson - Smile
All of the comments I made before apply, but this is even better than the recording I heard. The album is complete, and (pun intended) wonderful. This was the best album of 2004, and if had been released in 1967, it wouldn't have been the best (that year had Sgt. Peppper's, The Doors' self-titled album, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced amongst other albums), but it would have been right up there with the best. It's weird, wild, and beautiful and one of the two favorite albums not recorded by a Beatle (the other being Pet Sounds). Grade: A+
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Not too shabby. In many ways this album feels like it came from the mid-80s. The Edge's guitar work is front and center, and ringing like in their classic albums. Only Bono's slightly aged voice gives a clue that this album is more modern. This won't exactly supplant their best works (Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree), but I find it a LOT better than the (IMHO) overrated All That You Can't Leave Behind. Not every track works, but most do. Yes, I'll agree with the hype. At this point, they are the biggest rock and roll band in the world. Unlike their last album, it doesn't feel like the greatest rock and roll band of the day going through the motions, and that's pretty cool. The fact that they also have a social conscious makes them even greater. Grade: B+
R.E.M. - Around The Sun
Not bad at all. This is their best effort since probably New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Not everything works on the album, and honestly I haven't reached to listen to it in a while. That said, what works on here, really works well, especially the first several cuts. This album mostly serves to give me hope that R.E.M. can regain their majesty and glory someday. Grade: C+/B-
Beck - Geuro
This isn't Sea Change. On one hand that's really too bad, as Sea Change was a masterwork, but on the other hand, it doesn't really have to be either. It's somewhat a mix between his albums from Odelay on. It has much more of the fun vibe of the earlier records, but it also carries some of the melancholy of Sea Change in many of the cuts. Few other "modern" recording artists put out albums this great... I'm just hoping his somewhat recent involvement in Scientology doesn't put a hamper on his genius. (sorry, but Tom Cruise seriously is freaking me out lately) Grade: B+
William Shatner - Has Been
Wow, this was pretty unexpected. William Shatner, cuts his first album in 36 years, and it's rather good! This album not only succeeds in being ironically hilarious like his last effort, The Transformed Man from 1968, but it also succeeds in being intentionally hilarious, and often a pretty good record by any standard. Not everything works here, and some of the cuts are downright uncomfortable to listen to (the spoken word poem about finding his wife dead for instance), but much of this thing really works as rock and roll, and funny rock and roll at that. In many ways William Shatner has become a Andy Kaufman-like figure, where you're never totally sure what's a joke and what isn't, and more importantly if it is a joke, if he actually knows it's a joke or not. With Has Been, it seems that William Shatner is quite aware it's a joke, and he's joining in for the fun. Amazingly this was one of 2004's best albums! Grade: B
Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
Even for Leonard Cohen, this album is weird. The sound may remind one of his previous effort, Ten New Songs, but the mood is almost entirely void of the sadness on nearly every cut from that album. For better or worse, this album is more meditative and minimalist. Once again, what works, really works, but some of the experiments on here seem to be some form of inside joke for Leonard only. (like the title cut which involves the same sentence repeated ad naseum) Grade: C+
The Beatles - Let It Be... Naked
I was really hoping that title was a joke when I first heard of the effort. However, the Beatles are pretty notorious for only the most bizarre projects seeing the light of day in favor of the ones that really should be released (like the film, Let It Be!). Let It Be... Naked continues that tradition. Clearly there are some improvements on the proper Let It Be with this effort. Across The Universe is a lot closer to the proper recording with the new remix, although it's still missing the incredible backwards guitar effects on the proper take 7. The song Let It Be is interesting in the new hybrid version incorporating a new combination of the overdubs for the song (and clearly violating any nakedness), but I'm still partial to the version that appears on the actual album Let It Be for George's blistering guitar work on that mix. Don't Let Me Down is glorious for the most part as they finally somewhat released a rooftop concert derived version of the song... Unfortunately, they did not have the courage to just release the first version of it from the rooftop concert directly. Instead they decided to cover up John's vocal flub by mixing and matching between the two rooftop concert renditions of the song. It's too bad, because that flub actually makes the performance all the better. Still, it's wonderful to have a copy of the song with John and Paul singing the chorus together in good sound quality. The Long and Winding Road is unadorned, which is nice, but we already have that on the Beatles Anthology 3. The major change here is that they used a slightly different take, which I suppose is nice to have in good sound quality. I've Got A Feeling seems to be a different rooftop version than released earlier (I'm going from memory here, so I could be wrong), and sound inferior to the version on Let It Be, and the mix of Two Of Us is also inferior to the one on Let It Be. The "bonus cd" is also a joke. There is a LOT of great material to draw upon from their weeks in the studio in January of 1969. There could easily be 2-3 cds of releasable really wonderful music in there... but this 20 minute hodge-podge of short clips isn't it. So this album is somewhat interesting, and certainly listenable, but I can't honestly say it's in any way better than Let It Be, or even the original Get Back LP that wasn't released (any version of it). Let It Be may have been pretty heavily modified by Phil Spector, but with few exceptions, Spector usually made smart decisions (The Long And Winding Road and Across The Universe excepted). Get Back mostly has the courage of its convictions in keeping pretty strictly to the "as they recorded it" raw sound. It's weirder by far than anything that was released (4.5 minutes of Dig It! is very weird indeed), and Glyn Johns generally chose versions of the songs that weren't necessarily the best available (Two Of Us, I've Got A Feeling, Don't Let Me Down, etc). That said it's a much more accurate document of what that month was like without getting too "real" for all but the most hard core fans (like myself). I don't really know what the point is for Let It Be... Naked. Frankly, I would have preferred a legitimate release of one of the versions of the Get Back LP, a proper release of the rooftop concert, or ideally a 2-3 cd set of the best of the Twickenham and Apple studio sessions. Even though the grade is pretty low for the album, it's mostly because I see this as such a missed opportunity. Incidentally, if people are wondering why I'm reviewing this so long after it was released, it's because I only first listened to it this last week... I had a weird 25 month period of not really being able to listen to the Beatles, that only very recently seems to have ended. (whew!) Grade: C- (for the missed opportunity, the music is still awesome)
I'll talk about films and tv and other stuff later
posted by Jim Casaburi at
11:17 PM
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