Tuning in...

Yesterday was one of those days, when nothing seems to get done, unless it is done wrong, and so forth. Ugh. A true Monday. And so, in the wee small hours of the morning (or close enough), I'm going to lighten the mood a bit with one of my random, for-the-sake-of-the-song musical posts, consisting of three parts (or movements, I suppose):

Twenty Completely Randomly, Blindly Chosen Songs from Songs Added to My iTunes in 2009:

1. "Stand Up Comedy", by U2 from No Line On The Horizon
2. "Meet You In The Middle", by Joan Osborne, from Little Wild One
3. "Some Other Day", by Tina Dico, from A Beginning / A Detour / An Open Ending
4. "He's Always Been Faithful", by Sara Groves, from Conversations
5. "Dark Moon", by Chris Isaak, from B Sides, Rare & Bonus Songs
6. "We Ride", by Fiction Family, from Fiction Family
7. "Love Is Gone", by Peter Cincotti, from East Of Angel Town
8. "Pocket Of A Clown", by Raul Malo, from After Hours
9. "um samba (sofa mix)", by tempo rei, from Cafe Lounge (Rose Hip Tea)
10. "Learning How To Die", by Jon Foreman, from Limbs And Branches

11. "Space And Time", by The Verve, from Urban Hymns
12. "Abandoner", by Steven Wilson, from Insurgentes
13. "Fém (Etude No. 8)", by The Bad Plus, from For All I Care
14. "Ballade At Thirty-Five", by Carla Bruni, from No Promises
15. "Bright Lights (Losing Control)", by Rocco DeLuca & The Burden, from Mercy
16. "Rhapsody for Harp [Marcel Grandjany]", by Jon Gillock & Kathleen Bride, from 99 Perfectly Relaxing Songs
17. "Leucocyte: III. Ad Mortem", by Esbjörn Svensson Trio, from Leucocyte
18. "Fall Out", by Roland Kirk, from Talkin' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz
19. "Weird Friendless Kid", by Emiliana Torrini, from To Be Free
20. "Friend Like You", by Joshua Radin, from Simple Times

Favorite Ten Albums from 2009 So Far:

1. Astral Weeks: Live At The Hollywood Bowl, by Van Morrison. He still has it. Beautiful.
2. Scream, by Chris Cornell. Widely reviled, wildly misunderstood, wonderfully insane.
3. Mercy, by Rocco DeLuca & The Burden. Haunting and gorgeous. Produced by Daniel Lanois.
4. Insurgentes, by Steven Wilson. A little masterpiece from Porcupine Tree mastermind.
5. A Beginning / A Detour / An Open Ending, by Tina Dico. More polished, mature pop from the Scandinavian chanteuse.
6. 99 Perfectly Relaxing Songs, by Various Artists. 99 classical and sacred songs for just .99 from amazon.com!
7. Compass, by Joshua Redman. Another top-notch disc from a fine reedman.
8. Lucky One, by Raul Malo. Country, lounge, pop, and Cuban rolled into one satisfying combination.
9. With Arrows, With Poise, by The Myriad. Adventuresome, thoughtful alt-rock, with a nod to Radiohead.
10. Midnight at the Movies, by Justin Townes Earle. Steve's son makes another fine album of trad country.

Funniest/Scariest Musical Anecdote for the First Quarter of 2009:

My four-year-old son and I were in Target last week picking up a few items. As we walked past a blaring television set, he stopped and said, "Daddy, that's ABBA!" Sure enough, an ABBA song was playing in a commercial for something or another. He looked at me very seriously and informed me, with a matter-of-fact tone:  "That's 'Dancing Queen.' I really like that song." Satisfied, he started walking again, singing, "You can dance, you can jive..."

Needless to say, the current musical curriculum in our home is undergoing some changes...

Comments

[Chad Toney]

Ooh, I don't have that Isaak B Sides album! I don't see it on Amazon...but I do see he has a new studio release!

Steven Wilson's solo album is good, eh? The last two PT's have been retreads in my opinion, so I'm in no hurry to check this out.

I don't remember if I recommended Frost's Milliontown or It Bites' The Tall Ships, but they are similar neo-prog-pop and I've had both on constant rotation for weeks now. That and Pain of Salvation's newest Scarsick for workout music. :)

[Chad Toney]

Alright, I'm listening to the solo Wilson stuff on myspace and it's pretty great. To the Amazon Wish List it goes!

[Carl E. Olson]

Chad: I have the new Chris Isaak and it is solid, as usual. I like nearly everything by Isaak, so would readily recommend it to other Isaak fans.

The Wilson solo album is rather mellow, a mixture of PT, Blackfield, and some Radiohead-like sounds. It's a keeper. It is available on emusic.com, which works out to about $3.50 for the album.

I have Frost's Milliontown, but have never heard of Bites. Nor can I find their stuff on iTunes or emusic. Physical CD only?

I like much of Pain of Salvation, but keep shying away from Scarsick. None of clips sound interesting to me. But maybe I'll take the plunge since it is on emusic.com as well.

Also, since you like proggy music, Lunatic Soul has a self-titled debut album that is really good; it is a project from the lead singer of Riverside.

[Chad Toney]

Scarsick is a mixed bag. It has some really lame, preachy lyrics...but I keep coming back to it, so I must like something about it. :)

[Chad Toney]

Thanks for the Lunatic Soul recommendation. Listening now...fantastic.

[Jeff Grace]

Ok, Jeff listened to and bought DeLuca's Mercy and thinks it's amazingly good... but Jeff is scratching his head over Scream. "Maybe Cornell should ditch the Timbaland idea", Jeff thinks.

[Carl E. Olson]

"Maybe Cornell should ditch the Timbaland idea"

But why? Have you listened to "Scream"? Seriously, it's a good album.

Funny story: I posted a positive review of "Scream" on amazon.com and a guy commented about how the album stinks and I only like it because I'm into "hip-hop." I pointed out that although I own around 3,500 CDs, not one of them is hip-hop, as I don't listen to hip-hop. That includes "Scream," which is not hip-hop, but a wild stew of urban, neo-soul, R&B, rock (yes, rock), and electronica.

[Jeff Grace]

Well, I listened to the samples on iTunes and from that it sounds too glam to me. I do think it's interesting but it sounds like good tunes that were polished too long. It can be tricky with sampling though...

I also grabbed Rocco DeLuca and the Burden's debut album... it's amazingly good too. Dang... from Long Beach and Orange County, no less... makes me feel OK about being born in Gardena. ;)

[curtjester]

Can't say I am a big fan of Chris Cornell's Scream. The album cover is like the opposite of the album. I don't hate it, but even after several listens I just find it annoying as a long time Cornell fan. I could almost like it if I could turn off the background music since his voice is so awesome. Have to agree with Trent Reznor when he tweeted "You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable?"

I am just happy I only paid $2.99 for it on Amazon.

[Carl E. Olson]

Well, I could probably take Reznor's criticism a bit more seriously if he could actually sing and/or produce some worthwhile music. But, that aside, I've found that "Scream" has certainly rewarded multiple listens.

One of many things I like is that it has a dark and rather sly sense of humor; the combination of the glossy sheen of the music and the sometimes ultra-dry, sometimes stark lyrics is, I think, distinctly Cornell-ish. One thing I really like about much of Soundgarden, as opposed to Audioslave, is the almost gothic-like humor used at the service of soul-baring lyrics (for example, "Mailman": "My place was beneath you/But now I'm above/And now I send you a message/Of love.") The same thing is evident in "Scream," as in the song "Time": "We don't talk like we used to./The perfect present is no longer the future./And I can't find it, trust me I looked around./Seems like all the sand is at the bottom now."

Besides, the songs are singable, listenable, engaging, and I like how Cornell is playing them live: much more raw and guitar-oriented.

Bottom line: I can appreciate it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Reznor's comment was the real embarrassment.

[Carl E. Olson]

Everything by Rocco DeLuca has been outstanding. The new album has some truly moving music, while his debut album, "I Trust You To Kill Me," is much more rocking.

[Tina]

Cornell's Scream was quite a shock to me at first. A lot of his music DOES take multiple listening sessions before it starts sinking in. For me, the album all came together when I was finally able to decipher the lyrics. I love how that man puts together words to paint a picture. Lyrics on this album are more simplistic than his other works. But, I think that is due to the fact the music is beat driven. It would be difficult to get too wordy in the songs with music in this "flavor".

I absolutely love this album. Each song has something that draws me to it. Rarely will I skip a song, prefering to listen to it in its entirety as was intended when it was recorded.

Carl, I had to chuckle over your description of Scream, "Widely reviled, wildly misunderstood, wonderfully insane." How refreshing amongst all the critics who are ripping it to shreds because they just don't get it!!!