The Eagles Are Coming, The Eagles Are Coming!

I was gonna try not to get too excited about this news, but then I figured, what’s the point? Might as well start saving my spot in line now.

Wrapping Up

As I’ve been sitting at my computer finishing up my Christmas shopping, I set up a playlist in iTunes for all the albums I own from this past year, and what I’ve discovered in retrospect is this: As musical years go, this one didn’t blow me away. I saw a lot of great live shows*, but as for album releases, meh. I’ve been looking over other folks’ year-end lists, which range from the tragically hip to the simply tragic, but barring one album, there’s nothing that screams “classic”. That said, I didn’t have much trouble coming up with a top ten for ’07. Here’s 2 through 10 in no particular order:

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

The Shins, Wincing The Night Away

Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City

Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass

Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha

Galactic, From the Corner To The Block

The National, Boxer

Kings of Leon, Because of the Times

And the easiest decision? The hands-down, no-contest, numero uno? I’m probably one of the few people who paid for it, and it’s been worth every penny.

Radiohead, In Rainbows

A few more Honorable Mentions:

Cabin, I Was Here EP
Ted Leo & Pharmacists, Living With The Living
Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Dinosaur Jr., Beyond
Elliott Smith, New Moon

*Of all the shows I saw this year, Neil Young was my favorite, simply because I had waited so long to see him and it was still an amazing show. Bloc Party and Wilco were also highlights. What follows is an in-order list of every artist I saw live in 2007: Elvis Perkins > My Morning Jacket > Béla Fleck & the Flecktones > Adem > Badly Drawn Boy > The Noisettes > Bloc Party > Hot Hot Heat > Snow Patrol > Rush > Wilco > Everything Absent Or Distorted > The Broken West > Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band > Clap Your Hands Say Yeah > Das EFX > Kings of Leon > Editors > The Decemberists, > Black Rebel Motorcycle Club > Cake > Nina Storey > Little Ones > Meese > Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s > Ian Ball > Lords of the Underground > Art Brut > Spoon > The Flaming Lips > The Awkward Stage > Lavender Diamond > The New Pornographers > Crown City Rockers > Blackalicious, > Pegi Young > Neil Young > Jason Collett > Feist. Whew.

Hello Moto

1. Hot for Teacher… Van Halen
2. Have A Drink On Me… AC/DC
3. Have Mercy… Loretta Lynn
4. Hard to Handle… The Black Crowes
5. Hotel Yorba… The White Stripes
6. He Lays In The Reins… Calexico / Iron & Wine
7. Hunger Strike… Temple Of The Dog
8. Hail Hail… Pearl Jam
9. Holland, 1945… Neutral Milk Hotel
10. Hurry Tomorrow… Los Lobos
11. House Of Cards… Radiohead
12. Half A World Away… R.E.M.
13. Headfog… Jeep
14. Half Light… Athlete
15. Hallelujah… Ryan Adams
16. Hey Jealousy… Gin Blossoms
17. Hurt… Johnny Cash
18. Hurricane… Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
19. Harriet's Got A Song… Ben Kweller
20. Handle With Care… Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins
21. Hello.........Goodbye… Sean Watkins

Warmup Act

One of the few reasons I still enjoy seeing a movie in the theater is the previews. As I’ve talked about in the past, I’m always fascinated to see how the editing houses try to condense two-hour fims into two or three minutes. A well-executed preview can really amp up my anticipation for a movie (I still think Garden State was the most successful example I’ve ever seen in this regard), and conversely, a bad one can make me lose all interest. One of the best parts of this time of year is that the studios have started up the marketing campaigns for the movies they hope will be next summer’s blockbusters, and I’ve got examples of the good and the bad. I’ve already mentioned my love for the Iron Man preview, but beyond that, what I’ve seen so far this season either has me counting down the days with childish glee...

....or making me think the filmmakers might as well have flushed their $150 million+ budget down the toilet. Yikes. Good luck recouping your money on this one. I haven’t seen anything that looked this bad since I suffered through the first 10 minutes of Buckaroo Banzai.

Misc.

It’s been a while since I last posted, and to be honest, I’ve been debating whether to give up on the blog entirely. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I think for now, I’ll just continue to post when the mood strikes, and not worry about how long it takes me to come back to it. After all, it’s not like the internet is going anywhere.

For now, here’s a few things I’ve been enjoying lately:

• Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon — An instant classic of an adventure novel, written in the vein of Sir Walter Scott or Robert E. Howard. I started and finished it on the plane ride home for Thanksgiving. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson — Eerily prescient cyberpunk novel that influenced everything from The Matrix to Heroes. Also a great read.
• The World Without Us, Alan Weisman — A well-researched and interesting look at what would happen to the Earth if humanity suddenly disappeared. Unfortunately, our legacy would mostly consist of all the plastic garbage we’d leave behind.
• the audio/video page on Andrew Bird’s bowloffire.com — All kinds of cool live stuff and remixes.
• Jerusalem, Steve Earle — The more Steve Earle I listen to, the more he becomes one of my favorite artists. I just recently downloaded this anti-war album he released in 2002, and sadly, the themes are still way too current.
• classic Christmas music — From Charlie Brown to the Chairman of the Board, they just don’t make ’em like they used to.
• Automatic For the People, R.E.M. — 15 years later, this is still an incredible album. “Sweetness Follows” has popped up in my playlists several times lately, and it especially crushed me with its greatness.
• The Jungle Book 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition — This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, so I Netflixed it this weekend. Disney did an incredible job with the remastering. The movie looks gorgeous, and I was happy to discover that I still knew the words to all the songs. My neighbors, on the other hand... probably not as happy.
• the performances of Scarlett Johannson — I never thought I was much of a fan, until I realized recently that she starred in six of the top ten movies in my Netflix queue. In the past few weeks, I’ve watched Scoop, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Match Point, and Lost in Translation, and I have to say, there’s something indefinably sexy about her that I find kind of mesmerizing. I’m having trouble deciding whether it’s her voice, her lips, or most likely, some combination of the two. Plus, she does voices on Robot Chicken, so she’s got serious nerd points. And hey, Woody Allen seems to love her. (Then again, he also loved his adopted daughter who was half his age, so maybe old Woody’s not exactly the best measuring stick.)
• the Iron Man preview — Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect choice for Tony Stark, and I love that Jon Favreau refuses to overuse CGI. If the movie is half as good as the preview, I’ll be happy.

Adaptation

I’ve said it before. No Country For Old Men is a great book. Now, thanks to the Coen Brothers, it’s an equally excellent movie. Both are bloody, violent, and not for the squeamish, but as I said in my review of the novel, the violence never feels out of character to the story. The film stays pretty faithful to the book, but the Coen Brothers manage to inject their particular brand of dark humor into the story. The cinematography is gorgeous, especially the shots of the landscape, which is such an important part of all of McCarthy’s books. It’s no different in this film, as the movie immediately establishes place, opening with shot after shot of the Texas plains in all their stark beauty. Throughout the movie, the quality of light made me feel as if I was standing in El Paso or along the Rio Grande, and that I could almost smell the grass and dust. I was definitely sucked in, and I wasn’t the only one. It was pretty incredible to sit in a packed theater that was completely silent for minutes at a time, only to hear the whole audience gasp as each character met their ultimate fate. Keeping an audience watching with bated breath is an impressive feat (especially these days). Javier Bardem is deservedly getting all the press for his turn as cold-blooded killer Anton Chigurh, but Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin give excellently understated performances as well. I won’t be at all surprised to hear a lot more about the film come Oscar time.

As an interesting aside, I couldn’t place the actress who played Brolin’s wife, even though she looked incredibly familiar. Thank goodness for IMDB. Turns out it was Kelly MacDonald, the Scottish actress who played the schoolgirl Ewan MacGregor hooks up with in Trainspotting. Lass does a pretty convincing Texas/white trash accent.

Old Man

Neil Young at The Wells Fargo Theater. I’ve missed a lot of Neil Young shows in my day, and for a lot of reasons. I missed a couple because I was out of town. I missed at least one because I was too poor to afford tickets. I skipped one because I was going through a stupid and short-lived “I’m so tired of Neil Young” period. And there were at least two where the scalpers got all the tickets before I could. In between, tinnitus and an aneurysm (and let’s face it, the slow march of time) threatened to end his career. But tonight, 18 years after falling in love with his music, I finally got to see Neil Young live, and it was completely worth the wait.

In six days, Young will turn 62, but you never would have known it tonight. Splitting his show into two sets (solo acoustic songs followed by electric stuff with a full band), he managed to bookend his career, mixing some new songs from Chrome Dreams II with some of his earliest work. The acoustic stuff sounded fantastic: Just Neil, switching back and forth between one of the multiple guitars he had onstage, his harmonica, and his piano. At one point, he even broke out a banjo. There were a couple songs I didn’t recognize, but the majority came from the early days. He kicked off with “From Hank to Hendrix,” from Harvest Moon, and headed backwards from there through an eleven song set, incorporating three tracks from his classic album Harvest (including the highlight to close out the acoustic set, an amazing version of “Old Man”).

After a short break, Young came back to the stage and ignored his near-senior citizen status by bringing out his band and cranking the electric, tearing through several new songs plus some old gems like “The Loner,” “Cinnamon Girl” and “Tonight’s the Night”. I was well pleased to hear some personal favorites, “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” and “Winterlong”, and of the new stuff “Spirit Road” held up pretty well against the classics. The band, comprised of players from various stages of Young’s career, sounded really tight, and Young doesn’t appear to have lost a step either, still stomping his way around the stage during his solos.

“Old Man” and “Cinnamon Girl” alone were pretty much worth the price of admission, but for an artist who’s released so many live albums throughout his career (I can think of seven off the top of my head), I wasn’t sure Young could possibly bring anything new to some of his old favorites. Thankfully, I was wrong. I was impressed with how clear his voice was, even over all the distortion in the electric set. For a guy in his 60’s whose nickname is “Shakey,” he sounded incredible. And hearing the songs live with my own ears (as opposed to a recording) brought a whole new level of depth to each one. I picked up on some lyrics that I had never been able to make out on his recorded stuff, which is a testament both to his sound guys and to the acoustics in the Wells Fargo Theater. And I gained some new respect for a few songs like “Oh, Lonesome Me,” from After the Gold Rush, a track I usually skip over when it comes up on my iPod. After hearing it live, I’ll have to revisit it.

I’m sorry I had to wait 18 years to see Neil Young live, but I’m glad I caught him on a good night, and at a great point in his career. I would have been really bummed if I had waited that long only to find him a shadow of his former self. He may be heading into the twilight of his career, but he still puts on an incredible show. He’s become comfortable with his status as elder statesman, but not so comfortable that he’s willing to just rest on his laurels. How many other artists can say they’ve stuck to their guns and remained relevant and prolific for 40 years? At this point, when most of his still-active peers are simply cashing their checks on greatest hits tours, Young is cementing his legacy by continuing to put out albums worthy of his name that have some fire behind them. He’s not just making music to extend the brand (cough*Rolling Stones*cough), he’s doing it because he still has music to make, and that comes through in his live shows. It was clear to me last night that he still cares a lot about these songs, and I got the impression that if he ever stopped caring, he wouldn't be touring anymore. Ultimately, that passion is why people will still be listening to his music long after he’s gone. Almost 30 years ago, Young first sang, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Happily, he no longer has to worry about either one. Which means I might actually get to see him again someday, and make up a little more for all those shows I missed.

UPDATE: Set list here.

Get Older

I can’t decide which bothers me more—the fact that I was in Bed Bath & Beyond for more than 5 minutes this morning, or the fact the in-store music system was playing Feist’s song “1,2,3,4” (recently made famous by an iPod Nano commercial). I doubt anyone would ever consider Feist edgy or controversial, but the realization that music I would pay for and download is now apparently acceptable for older ladies doing their Saturday morning shopping is a little sobering.

For a lot of years now, I’ve felt like I’ve been pretty plugged in to current pop culture trends, but as I prepare to enter my final year in the coveted (by advertisers, anyway) 18-34 age demographic, I’ve realized that my need to be on the cutting edge is starting to fade away. At this point, I’d usually rather listen to music by artists I know I enjoy than someone I feel like I should listen to because everybody’s buzzing about them. That’s certainly not to say that I’m giving up on new music—just that I’m a lot less concerned about being the first one to discover it. That’s why I let some of those music blogs in that list over on the right do the legwork for me. I mean, it’s totally possible that Animal Collective and The Besnard Lakes are the dopest shit to happen to music since LL Cool J’s momma told him to knock us out, and maybe by this time next year, I’ll even believe that. But in the meantime, I’ll be just fine with the latest Neil Young, thanks. Speaking of getting older...

I guess what it comes down to is that I’ve passed the point of needing to constantly search for new and better music. I finished shaping my tastes. I know what I like, and I’m OK sticking with it. Even if that means I end up humming along with a bunch of grandmothers to the Feist song in Bed Bath & Beyond.

Glorified G

1. Get Funky… Teenage Fanclub
2. Good Weekend… Art Brut
3. Girlfriend In A Coma… The Smiths
4. Girls Who Play Guitars… Maxïmo Park
5. Get Out Of The City… Ivy
6. Gamble Everything For Love… Ben Lee
7. Geography… The Judybats
8. Get It Faster… Jimmy Eat World
9. Go Walking Down There… Chris Isaak
10. Get Lucky… Heatmiser
11. Get Off My Cloud… The Rolling Stones
12. Get Older… Matthew Sweet
13. Ghostriders… The Rewinds
14. Gladiator Heart… The Connells
15. Glasgow Mega-Snake… Mogwai
16. Go With The Flow… Queens of the Stone Age
17. Going Mobile… The Who
18. Glory Of True Love… John Prine
19. Good Vibrations… The Beach Boys
20. Grab It… Dinosaur Jr
21. Gravity Fails… The Bottle Rockets
22. Greg’s Last Day… The Starting Line
23. Gyasi Went Home… Bedouin Soundclash
24. Ghosts… Ted Leo / Pharmacists
25. Golden Slumbers… The Beatles

Rainbow Bright

Radiohead have made a masterpiece. Radiohead have changed the face of music. Radiohead have betrayed their fans. Radiohead have made their best album since OK Computer. Radiohead have lost it. This album is amazing. This album sucks. This album puts me to sleep. This album is so good, it makes me want to cry.

All of that comes from reading hundreds of initial comments on Stereogum this morning. The first impressions are pretty sharply divided on Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows, released today as a digital download. But you know what? It makes me really happy that everyone has different opinions, and that they are all just as new as the music. Radiohead only announced that this album would be available ten days ago, so we haven’t had time to be innundated by 273 reviews, the band on the cover of every music and pop culture magazine out there, and scores of reviewers, columnists and bloggers telling us what a massive success/disappointment this album was going to be. In the absence of a push by the marketing machine, I got to come to the album fresh and form my own opinion, free of outside influences, and that was a pretty nice feeling.

So what is my opinion? Brilliant. I’m currently on my fifth listen, and what I’ve found is a gorgeously textured album, definitely worthy of being placed alongside OK Computer and The Bends as one of my favorite Radiohead albums. This disc finds the band in excellent form, creating a more organic and mature rock sound—the experimental electronic beats and squawking guitars of Kid A and Amnesiac have been toned down by acoustic guitars, piano and strings, and the result is a surprising marriage of styles that, in some places, veer dangerously close to pop songs. Some tracks even have a bit of an upbeat feel, which for Radiohead makes them the equivalent of bright and sunny. Is this a kinder, gentler Thom Yorke and Co.? If so, I like it. “15 Step”, “All I Need”, “Reckoner”, and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” are all highlights for me, but my favorite song is “Faust Arp”, a beautiful string-laden ballad that is reminiscent of both the Beatles and singer-songwriters like Nick Drake or Elliott Smith.

As for the whole “changing the face of music” mess, check out this business plan. Radiohead is not signed to a label, so they released the album today as a digital download, only available through their own website. You could begin pre-ordering as of October 1, and get this: each buyer got to choose how much they wanted to pay for the download. There was a blank field in the shopping cart on the website, and you could type anything in... even a zero. (I paid about $12—actually 6 pounds, because they’re English—because I like Radiohead and I figure I would have paid that much in the store for a CD.) At the same time, the band also made available a special edition box set with a second disc of music for 40 pounds (about $81). If you pre-ordered the box set, the cost of accessing the download today was included. And finally, the band plans to do a traditional CD release sometime early next year. So basically, Radiohead may have figured out a way to work around the inevitable leaking of their album (or at least make a little money off it) by doing it themselves. Sure, plenty of people probably paid nothing to download it today. But there are also probably a lot of people like me who felt comfortable giving money to a band they know they enjoy in exchange for new music (huh, how about that?). And with no record label and no distribution structure to support, whatever people do pay goes straight into Radiohead’s pockets. It’s interesting to see a band that has taken a strong anti-consumerism stance in the past now work the system so deftly. By setting it up to get the music out to as many people as possible early on (and ensuring it’s a superior product), eventually, enough of those people will cough up money for the CD or special edition after hearing a digital version that the album will make money. Or at least, that’s the idea. We’ll see if it works, but if the rumblings that other bands (Nine Inch Nails and Oasis, for starters) are looking into trying the same thing are true, there must be something to it.