‘07 spaces: there can’t be any truth where there’s no honesty

January 1, 2008 at 7:08 pm | In Music, Space Awards | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

I hate lists where I have to make practically arbitrary distinctions; the 3rd- through 7th-ranked albums this year are very closely clustered, and I’m sure that recent listening and moods are dictating my preferences more than they should.  But faced with a choice between creating flawed lists and not making lists at all, I must accept imperfection!

2007 Space Awards ~ Albums of The Year: Part II

8. Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade: I touched on Earle’s underratedness in my People of the Year countdown, but the quality of the album must be addressed once more. While I prefer his upbeat country-rock, the almost folk-y stuff works as long as it doesn’t get boring (or depressing). Washington Square Serenade is frequently mellow, but seldom boring, from the eclectic instrumentation on “City of Immigrants” to the finely-executed duet on “Days Aren’t Long Enough.” The really standout tracks, however, would be “Steve’s Hammer (For Pete)” and “Down Here Below,” which seems to be the New Yorker equivalent of Springsteen’s or Mellencamp’s tales of small-town woes.
7. Mandy Moore – Wild Hope: While it occasionally veers into cliched, unoriginal songs of love and anger, Wild Hope is, overall, a reminder that deeply personal lyrics don’t have to be a bad thing. With songs such as “Looking Forward to Looking Back” and “Most of Me,” Moore finds a genuine, thoughtful realm of introspection that evades an infuriating number of “rockers” these days. Rather than overwrought with whining emotion, the album is somewhat subdued in its reflections on a period of sorrow and self-discovery (to summarize the album in Midnight Oil lyrics [high praise!]: “The hardest years, the darkest years/the time and tested heartbreak years: these shall not be forgotten years.”). The only concern is that, if writing such an album proved to be cathartic, it’s questionable if Moore can find the lyrical poignancy for a worthy follow-up.
6. Bruce Springsteen – Magic: Magic really doesn’t have anything that sounds particularly new… and that’s a blessing. The album is very much a throwback to the Springsteen of the 70’s and 80’s, with the powerful, sax-y rock sound of the E Street Band accompanied by meaningful lyrics. While I enjoyed his foray into the works of Pete Seeger, Magic is unequivocally The Boss’ best work since The Rising. It has the sort of sociopolitical commentary one has to expect from Springsteen and his trademark nostalgic, ambiance-creating sound. While “Radio Nowhere” made an excellent first single, I think “Long Walk Home” best captures Springsteen’s seemingly timeless sound and belief in old American values (“The flag flying over the courthouse / Means certain things are set in stone / Who we are, what we’ll do, and what we won’t”).
5. Dropkick Murphys – The Meanest Of Times: As the Murphys’ albums so often do, The Meanest of Times grew on me gradually before I really came to love it. If The Warrior’s Code veered a bit towards a clean, almost more pop-accessible sound, the band definitely returned to a harder, louder sound in the 2007 offering (with the very notable exception of “Flannigan’s Ball,” which is as poppy and catchy [and, to be clear, absolutely tremendous] as anything the band has done). The band still expertly combines fast-paced rock (lyrically, “The State of Massachusetts” seemed an improbable candidate to be played at the Red Sox victory rally) and re-worked traditional songs (including the stirring rendition of “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya”) into a product that is surprisingly uplifting (such as “Surrender”).

19 men were tried and fired, august 26th through 29th

August 30, 2007 at 11:08 pm | In Lists, Music | Leave a Comment
Tags:

I was going to hold back the conclusion of this two-part series till the weekend or Labor Day, but two things changed my mind: Tuesday night’s Real McKenzies concert drove me into a totally-obsessed-with-punk-and-particularly-Celtic-punk mood; and I realized that I could make posts bookending the dates cited in the Murphys’ “We Got The Power.” Being insanely geeky, the second part was an opportunity I could not resist. Yes, I am awesomely deranged and derangedly awesome.

Dropkick Murphys’ Finest Hour: Part Two

10. The Warrior’s Code (2:29) Perhaps it’s more an allegory for life than a song about boxing, but even if it’s not, I find it difficult to write off a sport romanticized by both the Murphys and Warren Zevon (“Boom Boom Mancini”).
9. Bastards On Parade (3:50) A sarcastically cynical commentary on forgetting-and-forgiving? A subtle parody of whiny “punk” music? Or a poignant hymn of redemption? I like to think of it as the latter, but it’s great no matter what.
8. The Auld Triangle (2:41) The first of three prison-themed songs in the top ten, and the only one not on 2003’s “Blackout.”
7. Tessie (4:13) Red Sox victory song for the 2004 season – I know correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it’s still incredible that, of all years for the band to record such a tune, they chose the season that would mean the end of the so-called Curse.
6. Black Velvet Band (3:03) Next up in the aforementioned trio of prison songs: a cautionary tale about trusting beautiful criminals. It is reason #273 I don’t talk to women I don’t know.
5. Skinhead On The MBTA (3:49) With the loud, unrelenting bass and drums, this is a mainstay on the playlist I use for my iPod alarm clock. By the time the gratuitous screaming of profanity comes in, I tend to be wide awake.
4. Barroom Hero (2:59) When the band isn’t reworking classics, they have surprisingly strong songwriting skills of their own. No one expects tough-talking Irish punks to condemn excessive drinking, but they successfully blend an incredibly catchy song with rather sad lyrics.
3. Amazing Grace (2:38) Interesting(?) note: this is the only track off “The Gang’s All Here” (the band’s second album) that made the list.
2. Cadence To Arms (1:51) It’s hard to comment on instrumentals, but I will say this: I wish the United States’ national anthem had bagpipes. Because it doesn’t, Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” really pales in comparison to this.
1. The Fields Of Athenry (4:24) I know it’s a cover, but the performance does justice to the moving lyrics: yet another tale of being sent to Australia and unjustly imprisoned, with a love story thrown in for good measure, and some of the band’s best bagpiping to boot.

we might not be swedish, and we sure ain’t vegan

August 25, 2007 at 9:11 pm | In Lists, Music | 2 Comments
Tags:

When I set out to do lists of my favorite artists’ best songs, I had little idea just how much time I needed to invest. This list is almost two months in the making; I wanted to start each month with a new list, but the second half of July went by and I’d barely pared this list down to two and a half hours of contenders.

Rather than meaning a grim outlook for continued list-making, I believe the challenge here is more indicative of the band’s greatness. If I’m listing television shows, there are fewer than ten that I would feel remiss in not mentioning; with U.S. Senators, I can limit my vocal praise to four; obsession with the concept of a 25-man roster aside, I could easily limit my top musical artists to a dozen, and must-mention actresses to five or fewer. Yet with this list, I feel I ignore some fantastic work even though I’ve got 21 songs by an artist with just five studio albums.

Dropkick Murphys’ Finest Hour: Part One

Note: A lot of these songs are actually covers. But since many of them first came to my attention through the Murphy versions, I’ve chosen to rank by overall greatness of the song in question – not necessarily the band’s individual artistic contribution. I’m also not including the now-on-MySpace “Flannigan’s Ball,” because while I love it, I haven’t had time to let the novelty wear off and have a more realistic perspective set in.

21. The Gauntlet (2:49) While making the list, I noticed this track was vaguely similar to “Working” (a track off the second Singles Collection), albeit much more polished. I have no idea if there’s any significance to this, or if it’s just that both have the more simple punk sound than most of the Murphys’ catalog.
20. We Got The Power (2:45) It’s a genuine shame that this one never made an album, and instead ended up a b-side.
19. I’m Shipping Up To Boston (2:33) With a lesser band, the simplicity and repetition – both lyrical and melodic – could easily make this a filler track. Instead, it comes together brilliantly as a catchy, great-for-television-and-films tune.
18. The Spicy McHaggis Jig (2:27) Lyrics-wise, it’s one of the band’s crudest, simplest songs… but it’s hard to argue with the bagpipes. Plus, knowing the band’s self-referential sense of humor (highlighted in “Wicked Sensitive Crew,” which just missed the cut), it’s entirely possible that the over-the-top lyrics are a deliberate parody of bands that habitually write ridiculous, lewd songs (particularly AC/DC, considered one of the band’s major influences).
17. Fortunate Son (2:38) I love a good cover song almost as much as I love CCR. Yet these two passions may be in conflict here; it seems almost sacrilege to alter such a work of art. The Murphys version seems a little more angry, while the original has a disillusioned cynicism to which my politics are closer these days.
16. Walk Away (2:51) Part of the list-making process: listening to each song many, many times. While I obviously love this song, I had expected it to be in the top 10. But it has not held up to scrutiny as well as most of these entries.
15. Never Alone (2:56) It’s a ballsy move to publish a song including a skinhead in the homeless masses being praised, and remarkably effective in expressing the band’s prioritization of economic rather than social progressivism. I don’t even agree with that political sentiment, but it’s a lively and well-written song nonetheless.
14. The Rocky Road To Dublin (2:37) Why haven’t more bands hit it big with rock versions of Irish jigs? I know I’m eccentric, but I feel like this sort of thing should have a fairly wide appeal.
13. Worker’s Song (3:32) Too much of our political discourse today is comprised entirely of anger and negativity. If I ran a political organization, I’d be encouraging this sort of solidarity-in-situations-of-hardship mentality.
12. Which Side Are You On? (2:28) The eerie opening here – slow guitars playing behind children singing in monotone – is one of the band’s best gimmicks. Without the intro, the song would still be great, but nowhere near as memorable. Also, recent events make songs about miners’ rights sadly relevant.
11. Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight (2:39) In addition to covering classic rock and traditional Irish songs, the Murphys have the creativity and historical perspective to use unpublished Woody Guthrie material. One could argue that this sort of artistic vision makes up for the fact that so many of their songs are not originals.

Top Ten: coming soon!

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.