- joiezabel in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head it really is brilliant, scott. i hate you.
- hotshotrobot in Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head Goddammit, Borch, now how am i supposed to review this? I can’t top that!
- Borch in The Avett Brothers - House of Blues - May 14th Good Lord, that’s a beautiful song! The Avett Bros. were in Chicago? Why wasn’t I notified?!
Has it already been fifteen years? Frankly, I didn’t take too much notice then, nor do I now (just not my thing, eh?), but It’s a Shame About Ray has been out for almost as long as it takes a person to go from birth to driving age. And they’re celebrating at the Abbey Pub, but what’s really happening is…
The Ladies & Gentlemen, a highly reputable local outfit, opens for the Lemonheads. You’ve seen their name a million times before, and said to yourself, “These guys are always at the Double Door/Reggie’s/Martyrs, maybe someday I’ll check ‘em out.” Say ‘yes’ to a Brit-ish, power pop, new wave fix. The songs are catchy as hell, and tailored to the ADD demographic, but if that’s not your thing… there’s a bar in the other room where you can state into your beer in peace.
TLAG is building up steam, and if you’re already in for the Lemonheads, get there in time for the opening act (which also includes Canasta). Maybe not headlining at the Sears Center any time soon, but get a look at these guys as their base continues to grow (which is, amusingly, directly proportional to the rate at which the band’s hairline recedes. 80’s kids on instruments in the 21st Century…).
i hesitated to write this review for 2 reasons: 1. james has been my favourite band for 14 years, i am in no way impartial, and there is a limit to how many times you can say how awesome an experience is without sounding like the proverbial broken record and 2. the show was pretty damn awesome and special and effervescent and there really are no words. but i decided to suck it up and write something, mainly because the average grunt out there probably doesn’t even know that james is back together (hooray!) and has a stellar new album out (hey ma, 04.07.08) and might even come to the states in august. be still my heart.
anyway, in light of the above disclaimers, i’ll make it short and sweet. i went to london to see james with my best friend zak and it was rad. tim booth is bald now, but he still dances in that crazy shamanistic way, larry gott is still a guitar genius, andy diagram was back with his trumpet wearing a daisy dress on stage. they played almost the whole new album, and tons of older stuff too. although they didn’t play either of their best-known songs ’sit down’ or ‘laid,’ they started with ‘born of frustration,’ ended with ’sometimes (lester pigott)’ and played pretty much everything in between that i could have wished. tim jumped out into the crowd during ‘come home’ and the whole band just generally seemed to be having a great time playing to an audience that loved them.
speaking of, james fans are legendary and there is a very special dynamic that happens between the band and the crowd, trust me. the venue was small enough to keep it intimate, the crowd knew every word to every song and jumped around like the happy idiots we were. i moshed! it was very early 90’s, oh my god. there were people there who came from mexico and portugal and sweden to see james and warm fuzzy feelings of camaraderie abounded for the most part, with the exception of a few ruffians who kept trying to push their way to the front. i pushed back though, so no worries. i screamed myself hoarse, got my piggy toes smooshed by other jumping fans and had a huge grin plastered over my face the entire time…not nearly high enough praise for a night that i seriously will remember the rest of my life. the show ended with the audience stamping their feet and singing the chorus of ’sometimes’ over and over and over as the band stood on stage smiling and enjoying the impromptu appreciation.
so there’s your review. enjoy it. and more importantly, go see james if you ever get a chance. i promise it will be a pretty incredible experience, no matter what kind of music you are into.
ps. my federation opened. not bad, but i was too excited to focus on them. the singer has a lot of hair, though.
Damn it, Zak, that was fast! But you nailed it and found Evil Urges even more agreeable than I did. Still, I feel the urge (pun intended, now that I think of it) to make a few things clear about MMJ’s new album that just won’t do as a mere comment…
1) I hated this album on first listen, or at least I was wary of it. True, it is a brave departure, but it seemed silly, full of Jim James giggling and impressing us with his voice. His upper-range, by the way, now officially surpasses Rev. Al Green on the ‘No Way Should a Manly Man Be Able To Sing That High’ chart.
2) Even as I was smugly explaining to people that, “Man, Evil Urges eats it,” I was secretly jonesing for it. I couldn’t help but come out of the MMJ closet after dinner on Friday when I begged the DD of our group, to whom I had just moments earlier been defaming the album, to let me hear the opening track and namesake of the album just one more time before we arrived at the party.
3) It’s all I’ve been listening to for days now.
4) There are still flaws I can’t quite get over. ‘Thank You Too’ sounds like a cover of a Delphonics b-side, but without the romance of those falsetto crooners. ‘Librarian’ sets-up like a celebration of those who prop up literacy, but devolves into a puerile sexual fantasy. It, I suppose, fits into the theme of the album, but is kind of creepy and cheap.
5) None of that ruins the album. Maybe lacking the lyrical weight of a masterpiece, its varied yet consistent musicality and melody are worthy of MMJ’s catalogue, and are a step above the very good work that James and Co. have already done.
The dynamism of Evil Urges is going to cause a lot of Big Talk, and some blogger will go to sleep tonight after impressing himself by being the first to smell a rat. But screw prescience… it’s all about preference anyway.
Entropy sucks. Like many epically mind-blowing acts before them (Dylan, Radiohead, Twisted Sister), Jim James and the boys know that it’s all about the progress. Each album - handcrafted, dipped in southern ether and marked with an MMJ decal - has been an evolution…dare I submit a revolution(!) in musical stylings and fidelities and insanely awesome levels of reverb. Obviously, I wouldn’t have begun this hastily written album-retrospective if that weren’t also the case on the June-to-be-released Evil Urges. But the magic in this case doesn’t necessarily lie in the new and varied sounds (of which there are many) - it’s in the method they’re presented.
I’ve already heard a lot of grumbling and griping about this record and I need to make clear that I’m not out to change any minds. People may not like the new (read: scary and uncomfortable) sounds they hear, but I hope they see the beauty in its layout and execution. I mean for fuck’s sake people, the first track is called “Evil Urges,” the last track is “Good Intentions”, and right smack-dab in the middle is a song so suspiciously titled…wait for it…”Two Halves.” If that doesn’t immediately give you some semblance of an idea as to what these guys have planned for you, then just stick with the older albums and live on - blissfully ignorant. The two parts have vastly different themes – one half for those ready for progress, one for those who want some classic MMJ and an entire album for anyone ready to try both.
The “Evil Urges” half of Evil Urges is the part I’ve seen taking the biggest beating at the hands of the interwebs crowd. The overall sound here, if there even is such a thing, is undoubtedly a departure from past MMJ records. The opening track is a piano-filled groove with James stretching his falsetto damn near its limits. It reminds me a bit of Phish, but I say to anyone who finds that as stomach-churning as I did: If I can get over it, you can too. “Highly Suspicious” is the track getting the most attention. Most comparisons I’ve seen have been to Prince, but it always makes me think Zappa. The first half of the album is undoubtedly a bit weird all the way through. “Thank You Too” is some strange, obsessive love-fest and “Sec Walkin’” sounds like easy country circa 1980, but with highlights like “Touch Me… Pt. 1” and “I’m Amazed” I find it entirely enjoyable.
By the time I end up hitting the “Good Intentions” half of the album, I’ll admit that I’m ready for some classic MMJ guitar and drums-driven rock. The highlights here are thick: Librarian is a Golden-ishly intimate acoustic track with James’ classic croon finally up-front and center, “Remnants” is the hard charging rock song, a la “One Big Holiday”, and “Smokin’ From Shootin’” is an awesome slow-builder. Start to finish, the “Good Intentions” half of the album doesn’t have a weak moment on it.
When you add this ridiculously good, amazing accessible second half with the strange, quirky and dare-I-say experimental first half, you’ve got a pretty epic album on your hands. For those wary of the new album, prepare yourselves. Word on the street is that Jim James has picked up beatboxing. Entropy be damned.
Label: ATO
Release date: June 10, 2008
Two years ago, noted hair metal enthusiast Chuck Klosterman reviewed Axl Rose’s long-awaited musical equivalent to Ishtar, Chinese Democracy. Of course, the review ran in SPIN’s April issue and appeared on their website with a date of April 1. I hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on with the record, though (who was?), so i won’t lie–i fell for that shit.
Well, if NME is trying to play an April Fool’s joke, they’re about 9 days too late, according to the April 10th date on this report that Axl has–no fuckin’ way–finally turned Chinese Democracy over to Geffen Records:
Therockradio.com reports that Geffen Records, the band’s record label, have confirmed they have received a finished copy of the album, and are currently haggling over money and rights issues with Rose.
The album is reported to have cost in excess of $13million (£6.5million) to produce.
As previously reported, it is rumoured that a Guns N’ Roses reality TV show is set to be broadcast to coincide with the release of the album.
Bullshit? Truth? Who knows–a release date could show up in Billboard tomorrow and i wouldn’t believe it until i saw a copy of the damn record in Wal-Mart, complete with sanitized family-friendly lyrics. At this point i’m more likely to believe an article that leads with “Axl Rose Finally has Cornrows Taken Out,” so, ya know, not very likely.
Axl, you’re aware that Velvet Revolver is looking for a singer, right? Just sayin’, whenever you’re ready to give up the dream, dude…
We had Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story at the theater-pub I work at last month and it was one of the rare movies our whole staff was sad to see go. I’ve been waiting until it came out on DVD to tell you all to check it out. That day has arrived, my friends.
This is not the funniest movie ever made, but but if you’re at all a music fan, this rock n’ roll biopic spoof is kind of a must-see. Here’s why:
- Judd Apatow’s script spoofs Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Jim Morrison.
-The songs are actually funny and actually good songs.
- Jack White plays Elvis like you’ve never seen Elvis played before (though probably close to what he really was like.)
- The Beatles: Jack Black (Paul), Jason Schwartzman (Ringo), Justin-I’m a Mac-Long (George), Paul Rudd (John). Inter-Beatles bickering. Acid trip. Watch for this scene alone. 
- After Dewey gets into acid, he makes an epically weird album that never finishes. He wants “an army of didgeridoos” and his band mate (SNL’s Chris Parnell) to “learn to play the fucking theremin!” Two words: Pet. Sounds.
- Dewey becomes relevant again after a rapper named L’il Nutzzack samples Walk Hard. (Yes, there are lots of ‘Cox’ jokes in this movie, but we’re talking about the music here.)
- Eddie Vedder as himself presents Dewey with a lifetime acheivement award, followed by a Lyle Lovett/Jewel duet of Walk Hard.
For being kind of a dumb comedy, it’s pretty smart. And quotable. See it.
