Tags: Video of the day
“Someday, I’ll have a grandkid and he’ll say, ‘Grandpa, you suck, you lost to PHIL COLLINS!’” This was the expression of humiliation by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker after their brilliant movie soundtrack lost to the tepid and safe “Tarzan” album. They made it sound so easy to sound cool by hating Mr. C.
I can understand–recent Phil Collins is kind of like recent wine, more sugary grape juice than mind-altering–it’s easy to forget how flippin’ huge the bald pianist was back in the ’80s. His Genesis stuff was what made that band a household name with anyone who wasn’t a prog-rock snob, and his first solo album was one of those rare platters where almost every track is a hit song. He managed to do what David Lee Roth never could. His music was the music we all listened to on our Walkmans, even when we told everyone we were listening to Roger Waters or Eric Clapton. When we were dumped by our girlfriends, Phil’s optimistic breakup songs taught us that there’d be another one coming soon. When we got older, fatter, and balder, we were still better looking than Phil.
In honor of this guilty pleasure of mine, which is one of my biggest guilty pleasures (in the sense that I’m a huge fan–I prefer Phil’s Genesis to Peter’s, and I prefer Phil’s solo to Peter’s), I present:
THE TOP 10 PHIL COLLINS SONGS !
1. Man on the Corner-Genesis. Maybe it’s for sentimental reasons, but this is my drop-dead favorite Genesis or Phil solo song, and it is one of my favorites of all time. Sentimentally, it makes me think of this kinda-plain-but-hot-because-she-was-a-metal-check who wrote the lyrics to this song in a note to me once. (She also wrote me the lyrics to Led Zep’s “Fool in the Rain.”) Then, we made out for two hours in a bus to Canada. And this was after I’d already puked my guts out in a Mickey D’s parking lot in Plattsburg. What a gal!
2. In the Air Tonight-Takka Takka. (YSI) (zshare). The reach of this song is undeniable: If you lived through the 1980s and didn’t hear it, then you didn’t listen to Kasey Kasem (or any hit or rock radio stations), didn’t watch Miami Vice, and had no friends who whistled in the hall. I bet this tune was more ubiquitous than Tears For Fears’ “Shout.” If it were indie, I’d have posted DMX’s use of this song . . . (“I Can Feel It.”) It’s not brilliant, but I do have a weakness for that Granny-lovin’ dog fighter.
3. That’s All-Keane (YSI). I had an accapella version of this as the B-Side of my 45. Loved it.
4. Misunderstanding-Jimmy Swift Band (live) (direct link). Lotta folks may bitch about me placing this song so high on my list, but I’ve always liked the falsetto on the chorus. Phil is so unabashedly, so proudly, so thoroughly sentimental. Who makes music like this for adults nowadays?
5. Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)-We Are Scientists (YSI) (Zshare). The second solo-Phil song on the list. I bet you thought I’d post the Postal Service version. Well I tricked you. I will. But only as a video. The mp3s are easy to find–and I suggest you buy it. The whole first PS album is terrific.
6. Take Me Home-Raq (live) (direct link) The song with the endless fadeout.
7. Turn It On Again-Omega Moos (direct link) (live) My buddy Damien used this song as the example of when Genesis turned its back on rap. The use of the heavy pop-synthesizer and beat repitition offended him I think. This was a man who dug Peter Gabriel Genesis, but could appreciate “Mama” and “Home By The Sea.” Of course, he knew every word to every verse of this tune. Now that I get a blog, a decade later, I get to have the last word: This is a better song than either of those, D. So, there.
8. Abacab-Umphrey’s McGee (live) (direct link). “Is it anywhere? ABACAB!” The ultimate in lazy songwriting, and harder to figure than “D.I.Y.” by Peter Gabriel. Phil beatcha again, Pete.
9. One More Night-Nina Gordon. (YSI) (zshare). Nina pulls an Aretha-doing-Otis and this. Kills it! Phil should never perform it again after this.
10. Land of Confusion-One Ton Tablespoon (direct link). Perhaps there are better Phil tunes–”In Too Deep,” “This is The World We Live In” (covered brilliantly by Alcazar), “Tonight Tonight Tonight,” even Paperlate. But how many of them had such scary videos? Genesis doesn’t want people embedding it, but you can find it here.
11. Honorable Mention: Another Day in Paradise-Copeland. (YSI) Phil did this tune with David Crosby (pre-new-liver, I believe). I don’t know enough about the band Copeland to know whether this is a satire or a straight reading, but for some reason I really dig it. And I’m not a huge fan of the cornball original. I’m only giving it a mention because of this cover.
If you enjoyed this post, please stumble it, digg it, etc., or at least drop a comment. I put a lot of work into these posts, and I need some sort of payoff.
Our testking 646-364 dumps and mcpd practice questions provide you 100% exam pass guarantee. You can get free access to testking E20-335 & 646-578 exams with multiple prep resources of pass4sure 98-361.
Tags: Covers, Guilty Pleasures
Dark Reign-The List: Daredevil, a one-shot, is the first glipse we get of the work of Andy Diggle, the new writer who has the difficult task of following Ed Brubaker’s long, life-changing run on Daredevil. You may recall that Brubaker had to follow Bendis’ run, which also changed Matt Murdock’s life for good. If Murdock keeps getting writers like this, there’s going to be nothing left of him. In fact, that’s just where Brubaker left off: Murdock gives away his life (actually, he puts his stuff in storage, so technically he could return) and runs off to become the leader of a group of master assassins that, since his superhero inception, has been trying to kill him.
It’s not worth filling in the entire backstory of how Ed Brubaker brought us up to and through Daredevil #500, in which Murdock agrees to become the leader of The Hand but still refuses to be a killer. Suffice to say, it didn’t come off as contrived. And it left the writer of #501 with in a pickle. How do you write a book about a man who has agreed to become a part of the thing that he has fought against for 40 years and 500 issues? How do you show the transition from idealist to realist?
Enter Andy Diggle. Diggle is no stranger to difficult books. He’s written for The Losers, Swamp Thing, and Thunderbolts (as well as some Dark Reign stuff), so it’s not like Marvel entrusted just anyone to this important task. After all, Daredevil—as a magazine—has fallen off the rails numerous times throughout the years. And Brubaker left him without many loose ends—in fact, all he left behind are classic Daredevil elements: Kingpin swears revenge. Daredevil is outside the law and virtually friendless. A female assassin (Lady Bullseye) is out to get him. Oh, and then there’s Lester. The real Bullseye.
Diggle wrote Dark Reign: Hawkeye, so he knows all about Daredevil’s greatest enemy. It’s natural, then, that Dark Reign: Daredevil would focus on the long-standing, epic hatred between these two men. I’m not going to give away more than this: Lester puts on his old Bullseye costume and goes after DD, only now Bullseye is a lawman (working for Norman Osborn) and DD is the leader of a global criminal organization. As Bullseye says in the book: “Things are different now.”
It’s hard to tell how the new story arc will fare, partly because it’s so tied to the most recent (exhausting) Marvel “event,” but it’s promising. Diggle seems to be intent on creating an opportunity for new fans to jump in to the book. He’s establishing Daredevil as a new type of antihero, and it looks like subsequent issues will be a second origin of sorts—a rebirth of the character.
The Dark Reign One Shot also ends with a 7-page “preview” of Daredevil #501, featuring the book’s regular artist, Roberto De La Torre. The Dark Reign tale was drawn by Billy Tan and Matt Banning, who are fine but who have a pretty bright, straightforward style. De La Torre is more of the Miller/Mazzuchelli/Maleev/Lark school, only a tad less dark and shadowy. It should provide a nice transition for long-time fans as the book changes from being about a man whose life is destroyed—and basically ended–into a book about the soul who survives the aftermath of that destruction.
I have high hopes.
Tags: Superheroes
I remember the first time I heard Langhorne Slim. The EP came in an envelope that was, literally, addressed from a house that was spitting distance from the one I grew up in. On Berkeley Place. So, of course, I listened. I was predisposed to like it, even though it was a little more rootsy/country than I tend to like.
But since then, Langhorne Slim has grown and changed. He’s taken on elements of indie rock, folk, and even pop, that put him in the same class as Clem Snide, Belle & Sebastian, and Bishop Allen.
Be Set Free is easily my favorite LS record. In particular, opening track “Back To The Wild,” is soaring and inspirational—approaching Gospel, even. And his lyrics, whether it’s verses like ““Everyone has got a dream, you know what I mean/Everyone wants to see what they’ve never seen/Everyone wants to see what they’ve never seen/You know what I mean/If you want me tonight I’m yours/For as long as I can be/Everyone becomes invisible in the land of dreams;” toss-off lines like, “I know sometimes we disagree/But I prefer when you say yes;” or just a songtitle (“I Love You But Goodbye”), are always carefully crafted and touching. Langhorne deserves our respect, praise, and cash. Get this album!
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)-Bishop Allen (YSI)
Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx (a.k.a. “Linx”) is easily one of the most important, and best, single-artist original mixtapes of all time. It’s right up there with Lil’ Wayne’s, “Dedication,” Clipse’s, “We Got It 4 Cheap,” and the first couple mixtapes by Young Jeezy. These works defined the mixtape as a street album, a place where artists could establish themselves or, in the case of Raekwon, redefine themselves. On Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx, The Chef and his partner, Ghostface Killah, established their ability to work without the Wu Tang Clan (even if most of the key Clanners participated). So, what is Rae trying to by releasing a sequel, over ten years later?
He’s trying to save rap.
Raekwon (and Ghostface) pretty much created mafia rap, a genre that tells raw street stories. Unlike gangsta rap, Mafioso hip hop focuses on the good and the bad, without glamorizing bling and drug dealing. It’s “conscious,” in the sense that it is aware, but does not qualify as “conscious rap” because it makes no apologies and doesn’t seek to convert bangers away from the life. The reach and influence of this style, which grew out of Slick Rick’s storytelling, is huge. In many ways, Ice Cube’s old, first-person NWA stories were a response to Raekwon and Ghostface. Where Rae and Ghost can be crude and violent, they were never self-indulgent. Of course, from NWA came gangsta rap and from that came just about everything else.
So how does Raekwon’s return fare in this modern era? Amazingly well. It’s a true-to-the-game, blistering joyride that never stops moving. It’s like he released it days, instead of years, after Cuban Lynx I.
Of course, as far as age and credibility go, Raekwon has the advantage of never having been a blockbuster, never having sold himself based on his abs or his cameo appearances, and, frankly, never having appeared to have sold out. Sure, he’s made buckets of change off of Wu Tang alone, and the first Only Built mixtape eventually got a proper album release, but he’s always remained (or at least appears to have always remained) humble. On Linx II, he’s up to his old tricks, telling tales comparably grimey and raw—and in some cases, like “Gihad,” even more intense than ever. The guest shots are ubiquitous and pretty much excellent without exception, with contributions on the mic or the boards from, among others, the surviving members of Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Beanie Sigel, Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, Marley Marl, Erick Sermon, Cappadonna, J Dilla, Jadakiss, and, of course, Ghostface. The only obvious person missing is Nas, who doesn’t appear
(for personal reasons) on “Verbal Intercourse 2.”
Pretty Toney fills the same role he had on Linx I, peppering Raekwon’s heavy/serious tales with bizarre and violent poetry. He’s like a very intelligent and versatile hype man who is capable of holding his own. GFK deserves to share title billing on this album; that he didn’t fight for it is a testament to his obvious love for Raekwon and for Hip Hop as an art form.
Lyrically, Rae and Ghost (and friends) are still full of choruses that chant about money and guns, and they still throw in head-scratchers (“Our guns is chunky,” e.g.) and tell vile stories with humor and aplomb. One minor quibble: The beats here are no longer primarily Cuban. “Surgical Gloves” sounds middle Eastern, and there are Asian influences on several other tracks. But don’t take this as a complaint. The music is fantastic. It’s just that calling it “Cuban” Linx is a little misleading.
Misleading title aside OB4CL2 is easily one of the best records of the year.. The second half of this decade may be remembered as the year that many old-timers returned with new claims of relevance: KRS-One and Buckshot teamed up and released a strong album, even if it didn’t break new ground for either of them. Jay-Z tried (some would say tried too hard) to return to form. Nas said hip hop was dead, but then kept putting albums out. Clipse have struggled to release Until The Casket Drops and, more famously, Dr. Dre still hasn’t brought Dretox. Oh, and Wu Tang released easily the worst album of their career, and in the process showed their ugly sides. Several Clanners have shown a steady decline in the quality of their solo work as well. Even Tupac has run out of decent material.
Only Raekwon’s return is a certifiable classic. It should remind everyone why the 1990s were the best years for rap, and why The Chef and Iron Man deserve to be remembered as the greatest rap duo of all time.
New Wu (feat. Method Man and Ghostface Killah)
01) Intro
02) Staten We Go Hard
03) Trenchmen
04) Pop Champagne (Freestyle)
05) Criminology 09
06) Yessir (Feat. Crooked I & Ghostface)
07) Wu Ooh
08) Stick Up Muzik
09) Blood Missles (Feat. Az)
10) History
11) Very Well (Skit)
12) White Lines
13) State Shoutout
14) SuperFly (Skit)
15) Real Talk
16) Once In A Lifetime (Feat. Mika)
17) Resolution
18) Watch How You Talk to Me
19) Spook That Sat By The Door
20) Rae’s Letter To B.I.G
21) Where’s The Money (Skit)
22) Flawless
23) The Setup
24) Attention (Skit)
25) Heat Rocks
26) Rotate (Freestyle)
27) Renaissance Rap
28) Get It In (Freestyle)
29) Guerilla Rap
30) Realer (Feat. Maino)
31) Give It To Me (Remix)
32) Words From The Chef (Outro)
(Thanks, Smoking Section!)
Tags: Hip Hop, Mixtape, Wu Clanner
1. Go here for a good Dolly Varden show, in which she covers Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing.” Great song.
2. Looks like the Archive has got downloadable Dead shows again. Dunno when that happened. But here’s one from 1980 that looks pretty good. Any 1980 Althea is worth checkin’ out, anyway.
3. Cover Me has a good collection of songs with the word “Radio” in them. It’s a random reason for a post, but he’s got Jesse Malin covering the Ramones, and covers of Springsteen and Costello, to name a few.
4. Everybody Cares was always a good blog. They said they were back in August, but where the fuck are they. Go harass them, here.
5. Now this is my kinda padded room. Lock me up!
6. The Spinto Band’s debut was one of my favorite indie albums this decade. Here, they cover ELO (direct link).
Tags: Boobies, Bootleg, Covers, Go away, Grateful Dead
There’s a common belief that most bands have a sophomore slump, but Canada’s Two Hours Traffic was an exception to that rule with 2007’s terrific, “Little Jabs.” Now they are ready for their follow-up, “Territory.”
The new album is pretty true to the band’s style, sunny pop with a hint of Americana for good measure. Sort of like Nick Lowe’s “And So It Goes” period, or 1970s AM without the corny parts. Witty lyrics, catchy hooks, and happy vocals characterize every track, not a weak one in the bunch. Nice and gentle. Don’t hold it against them that their songs have been used on Gossip Girl, The OC , and One Tree Hill. They gotta eat, right?
