Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 105

Very funny, very smart, very musical... and she sure rocks. 

Tom Verlaine, RIP

Side 1 of Marquee Moon is my favorite side of rock music. There is nothing else in the rock canon that sounds remotely like it, or sounds as good. 

Get Back

There seem to be two basic reactions to The Beatles: Get Back among critics and viewers alike. One is unbridled enthusiasm; the other is that watching it is a bit like watching paint dry or grass grow for 468 minutes (that's right, nearly 8 hours)– admittedly, with a few good songs thrown in, but songs you already knew by heart, and played over and over and over and over... 

As for me, I loved it. Oh yes, it drags at times, but that comes with the vérité here as much as it would in a Frederick Wiseman documentary. Sure, you just might start to tire of those familiar songs from Let It Be. You might even nod off once or twice. But as an insider's view of the creative process, workmanship, and wistful denouement of the career of the greatest band ever, it feels true, and it looks and sounds fantastic. Read Adam Gopnik for a longer and more enlightening take.

Some aspects I especially loved: 

• Those boys playing the blues, Brill Building hits, Dylan, skiffle... just how much music was crammed in their heads, and ready at their fingertips?; 
• How lyrics are fitted to melody, and harmony selected and corrected;
• The (largely) silent people: Ringo, Yoko, and the amazing Billy Preston;
• The fashion;
• The playfulness of Paul and John in "rehearsal"– singing in fake accents, singing through clenched teeth, ad-libbing call and response– somehow all of it helping make the music better, I guess, though god knows how;
• Paul. 

Give it a try and see which camp you belong to.

Magnolia

I couldn't leave Chet Baker's annoying voice hanging up there too long, could I? So here's a remedy: Lisa W.

Beautiful, but I can't say it's a cheerful song, given the subject matter...

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 91

This song gives me goosebumps every time and really is just about perfect in every possible way. A fantastic performance to boot. Is the botox lady just projecting?

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 87

For Cinco de Mayo I put on Vicente Fernández... quite a crooner, but I must admit I like my Mex seasoned with a little more Tex... Freddy Fender... While we're at it, stir in a little rockabilly, Cajun, and LA punk... mmm... perfect... Los Lobos.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 86

My favorite Go-Betweens song. It reminisces experiences I had no part of, but I am nostalgic for them nonetheless.

Full Stop

RIP, Ranking Roger. So many great songs!

Killer Trees

Get me out, cut me down...
Yikes!

Pull me under

Thanks for this one Lisa!

Wall of Death

Richard Thompson can get a little precious for my taste, but back in the day, at his best... and this was his best...

There's aliens in our midst

Fine song from Wussy... a cover! The original is not as good (how could it be?), but seems to have been ahead of its time... The Twinkeyz, out of Sacramento no less!

Beautiful

Yes, it is, very... also sad... at all hopeful?

Don't Leave Just Now

A great heartbreaker from a band that specializes in them.

Holger Czukay, RIP

Can was kind of a cross between German prog-rock and Lou Reed, and apparently Holger Czukay was their "major sound architect." That sound, hard driving and full of oddly distorted electronic effects, was unlike anything else. This album (Landed), which I still have in vinyl, had great, twisted tunes and a most amazing glossy cover. It was popular at parties in the late 70s, at least for a song or two.

Walter Becker, RIP

As are many others of our generation, I imagine, we are playing a lot of Dan today. I can understand why they are disdained or actively disliked by many– the slickness bordering on schmaltz, their unseemly seeming admiration for molesters and low-lifes, the flirtations with racial stereotypes. But at a time when jazz was fracturing between free-jazz noise and fusion schlock, they showed that jazz could be pop and still maintain musical integrity and– yeah– hipness. Interestingly, I suspect their influence will be greater on jazz than on pop moving forward.

As college students we revered Pretzel Logic and had our serious doubts about the sellout that was Aja. I still love Pretzel Logic, but Aja has improved with age. Yes, that was Wayne Shorter taking the solo on the title track. Yes, the album was worthy of his consecration. (And yes, the very best Steely Dan album was a Donald Fagen solo album– The Nightfly. That doesn't detract from Walter Becker's greatness.)

Lemmy, RIP

Not a metal fan by any stretch. But every once in a while I do find this therapeutic. As metal goes, it's low on bombast, high on noise and energy. And played with some virtuosity. And a rock'n'roll voice as indelible as Neil Young's or Roger Daltrey's.

Neil Young is not a fan of Monsanto...

... or Starbucks, or GMOs. As for me... Starbucks has made it possible to find a drinkable cup of coffee wherever you go, a net positive for humanity; GMOs, a mixed bag, but hardly deserving blanket condemnation (ask Pope Francis, Laudato Si, ¶131); Monsanto, ditto.

As for Neil Young, the question is always whether the politics inspires the good Neil or the bad... by good I mean "Southern Man." Bad? This new song is a candidate, but there is a goofy earnestness that somehow redeems it for me...

Daevid Allen, RIP

I know for sure that I owned a Gong album in vinyl at some point-- this one, I believe-- but it seems to have disappeared from my collection. Like, wow, where did it go, man?

Listening again for the first time in many years, I gotta say... not bad! Unlike, say, Yes, Gong's bombast was well-tempered by their goofy humor and downright trippy-jazzy strangeness... not to mention some welcome if lightweight funkiness in places.

Sleater-Kinney Reunion

I'm going in May. I suppose it will be crammed with Portlandia fans. Me? I wanna hear Corin wail, and Janet whale. Mostly I wanna hear Corin wail. Not sure why.