Monday, October 27, 2008

The Rockologist On Why Its Okay To Like AC/DC Again

Have you noticed all of the classic rock acts from the seventies and eighties coming out of the woodwork the past couple of weeks?

If 2007 was the year of the big-deal reunion tour with everyone from The Police to Genesis to Van Halen jumping on the big bucks bandwagon, then 2008 is rapidly shaping up as the year of the classic-rock revival.

Don't believe me? Take a look around you. First it was Metallica a few weeks back with Death Magnetic, an album which has been hailed as a return to face-melting, Master of Puppets-era form by just about everybody.

The next big event on the classic-rock-revival calendar will be Guns N' Roses long-delayed Chinese Democracy finally seeing the light of day later this month at your nearest Best Buy. Whether or not what could be argued is more of an Axl Rose solo album than an actual GNR record (I dont see Izzy or Slash anywhere here) rekindles any of the magic remains to be seen. Dr. Pepper thinks it's a big enough deal to offer free soda pop to the world though.

AC/DC also put out their first new album in seven years this past week. As was the case with Metallica, the Aussie bad boys' Black Ice has also been widely hailed as a return to form. And as with GNR, it's one of those retail exclusives -- this time with WalMart.

It should also be pointed out with regard to these "deals with the devil," that whether you like them or you don't like them -- and I'm already on record as saying that I don't -- they are nonetheless apparently here to stay.

From the Eagles to Journey to GNR and now AC/DC, they are in fact the most noteworthy business model out there for marketing traditional CDs right now. With Black Ice expected to move about 800,000 copies in its first week, don't expect these so-called exclusivity deals to be going away anytime soon.

But let's talk about AC/DC. I've never been that big of a fan to be perfectly honest, but I've never out and out hated them either. Taken for what it is, Black Ice is actually a pretty decent record too.

There’s nothing fancy here, just the same formula of big crunchy riffs, sandpaper raw vocals, a solid backbeat, and the sort of bad-ass attitude that has worked for these guys for going on four decades now. It ain’t rocket science, nor is it in any way intended to be.

The most notable difference on Black Ice however, is that Angus, Malcolm, Brian, and the boys actually sound reinvigorated here.

I’m not sure if that’s producer Brendan O’Brien’s doing, or if the nearly decade-long layoff simply just did them some good. But this is the first AC/DC release in a very long time where the band doesn’t sound like they are simply phoning it in. While the riffs don’t really represent anything groundbreaking or new, they stick in your head like AC/DC songs haven’t done since the days of For Those About To Rock We Salute You.

But even though songs like “Big Jack” harken back to the gutbuster sort of rock that made AC/DC one of the world’s biggest rock bands on albums like the gazillion-seller Back In Black, there is actually some previously unchartered territory here. AC/DC will probably kick my ass for saying this – but “Anything Goes,” for example could almost pass for a pop tune with its feel-good sort of “bounciness.” This doesn’t just sound like a single, but one that conceivably could get played in formats beyond album-rock.

Likewise, “Rock N Roll Train” rocks like a sumbitch' in a rock-radio-friendly sort of way, but features the added bonus of – get ready for it – actual harmonies. “War Machine” is another of those catchy as hell little songs that also has a riff that simply won’t quit.

As I said, I've always been kind of ambivalent when it comes to AC/DC though. They've never been anywhere near the top of my favorites list, and their fans have always struck me as the same sort of guys who get their kicks sniffing glue and driving pick-up trucks with gun racks on the roof. It's no accident that Beavis & Butthead wore Metallica and AC/DC shirts.

Not that there's anything wrong with that of course.

But I've also never found anything particularly offensive about them, or otherwise bought into the nonsense about the initials of their name standing for "Anti Christ Devil Crusade" that was out there for awhile. The two times I saw them live in concert, they also delivered the goods even with the odds stacked against them on each occasion.

The first time I saw AC/DC was in 1978 where they were the opening act on a triple bill with Cheap Trick and Ted Nugent. As cool as this lineup sounds now, at the time it was weird because rock audiences had become so polarized at the time. The "Nuge" was at about the tail end of his run as the king of "Gonzo rock," and Cheap Trick (who I interviewed at the time) were about a year away from becoming huge with Live At Budokan.

Nugent's fans were mainly jocks and potheads. CT had attracted some of the same "new wave" crowd who liked people like Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe because of the power-pop sensibilities of many of their songs.

Most of the crowd had never heard of AC/DC, but figured with a name like that they must be punk-rockers. The crowd was ready to boo them off the stage before they ever played a note. But by the end of the show, with Bon Scott carrying Angus through the crowd on his shoulders, AC/DC won them over. Seattle would in fact become one of the band's strongest markets.

The next time I saw AC/DC was in 1990 on the same night that America went to war with Iraq for the first time. Some friends literally had to drag me away from watching the war unfold on CNN with free tickets. But by the end of the night I was glad they had. The cannon fire during "For Those About To Rock" made me all but forget that Armageddon might soon be upon us in the form of a war in the Mideast.

So I'm not really sure if it's because there hasn’t been a whole lot of this type of old fashioned, ball-busting rock 'n' roll around lately. In that regard, Black Ice would be welcomed as a breath of fresh air regardless. But Black Ice sounds pretty damn good to me. Not only is it a real return to form, the fact is this album kicks so much ass, I can almost forgive them for the WalMart deal.

Well, almost anyway…

There have been some complaints that O’Brien’s production on Black Ice is a bit too clean. Don’t listen to em’. The riffs here are as muscular, big, and ballsy-sounding as ever. There is just more of a clarity about the sound that actually serves to make these songs rock a bit harder. Less mud and more crunch is a pretty good description of what you’ll find on Black Ice.

I'm not sure whether they sounded this good back in the seventies or not. I never bought their albums back then. But they sound good right now.

God bless em’ for it.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

President Barack Obama: Get Used To It

In just a few short weeks America is going to elect itself a brand new president. And his name is probably going to be Barack Hussein Obama.

Get used to it.

From the first time I heard Obama speak, I knew there was something special about this guy. The fact that I was there at all happened more or less by accident. But the more I think about it, the more I've come to realize that a fair amount of destiny was also involved.

At the time I was an Edwards supporter, and happened to get caught up in the Beatlemania type traffic tie-up in the neighborhood he was scheduled to speak at, while making my rounds for the sales job I held at the time. Realizing what was going on, and rather than fight it, I decided to park my rig and go check out what all the fuss was about.

What I saw that day at Key Arena in Seattle absolutely transfixed me -- and I'm not just talking about what the candidate himself had to say. Make no mistake, Barack Obama is a charismatic speaker, and everything he had to say that day made the sort of perfect sense that qualifies as almost a sort of after thought.

The concept of affordable health care made available to everyone as a right rather than a burdensome entitlement? Check. Bringing our troops home with honor from the messy and misguided quagmire that has become our involvement in Iraq? Check.

Even the sort of "spreading the wealth" idea that John McCain criticized Obama for in the most recent debate, in the form of tax breaks that actually impact the middle class rather than just fatten the wallets of the corporate CEOs, made complete, no-brainer sense to me.

The one thing I've never quite understood about republican economics, is the simple fact that it takes two to tango in an economic system that is going to remain sound.

You've got the people who provide or manufacture the goods and services, and you've got the people who buy them.

When the regular joes out there can't afford to buy the goods, then how are you going to sell them? Which means it's in the best interests of the fat cats not to run rough-shod over the "rabble" that constitutes the middle class.

Simple, right?

Well, at least you'd think.

Which is why Obama's concept of redistribution of the wealth which has disproportionately favored the rich going as far back as Reagan is not the radical sort of idea some would lead you to believe. It actually makes the most common sort of sense, particularly as we've seen the economic rape of the middle class under eight years of the economic policies of George Bush, and in recent weeks seen the way they have come home to bite the country as a whole squarely in the ass.

But what I saw that day at Key Arena -- more than anything that Obama actually said -- was the way that he galvanized young people.

The capacity crowd at the Key that day reminded me more of something like a U2 concert than a political rally. When it was all over, and I grabbed a burger at Dicks on Queen Anne afterwords, I was absolutely amazed to see packs of twenty-somethings buzzing excitedly in the same way that I've seen so many times after a rock show.

Growing up in the sixties as a young boy, and sitting in front of my parents television transfixed by the likes of Martin Luther King and both John and Robert Kennedy, I never thought I'd see the likes of that sort of once in a generation thing again.

But I saw it that day.

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I felt the same sort of unity that most of you reading this probably did, and I even felt sort of good about George W. Bush as our leader at the time, much as I had to wipe the stink from my face to do so.

But then it just as quickly evaporated, as I watched Bush use that tragedy to advance what was clearly his own personal political agenda.

I then watched a country united as a whole in the wake of 9/11, become more divided than at any time I can remember since I was a long-haired, rock and roll loving teenaged kid in the sixties and early seventies who knew better than to hang out anywhere that they didn't like those stinking hippies.

Back then, I had an after school job at Seattle Top 40 station KOL, and would walk the railroad tracks to work just to avoid the hardhat wearing rednecks who worked at the mills along the regular route on Harbor Island. The first time I heard one such person yell "hey ya' wanna get your hippie fag ass kicked" was all it took.

I was only sixteen at the time.

In the first few post 9/11 months of George W. Bush's America, that same sort of us against them mentality manifested itself in both the 4 by 4 trucks you'd see driving on the freeway with American flags on the radio antennas and Toby Keith stickers on the bumper, and in the sort of extreme religiosity expoused by the "Vote Republican or Burn In Hell" crowd.

Incredible.

For awhile there, I was honestly afraid that we were never going to wake up from this national nightmare. But, in the wake of four dollar a gallon gas, and the implosion of the economy, it appears that as a nation we finally have.

As bad as things have gotten, I really think that we may be on the verge of getting over the hump and that our best days may yet lie just ahead of us. If Ronald Reagan was the teflon president, Barack Obama is likewise the candidate where none of the shit that has been thrown at him appears to stick.

Not that they haven't tried -- from Reverend Wright, to William Ayers, to suggestions that the candidates own middle name equals some sort of collusion with the Muslim enemy.

Nothing, thus far anyway, has brought Obama down. Obama has not only survived, but actually thrived after taking everything that first the Clinton, and then the Republican machine has thrown at him. And I'm pretty confident that a blowjob from an intern isn't anywhere in Barack Obama's future.

Of course it hasn't hurt that John McCain has run the lamest campaign of any republican candidate in recent memory. Joe The Plumber? My Friends? Please.

And if Sarah Palin's weekend appearance on Saturday Night Live was a last ditch attempt to put a human face on things by displaying a sense of humor about Tina Fey's dead-on impersonations, then it failed miserably. Palin didn't just appear uncomfortable in the few skits she was in -- she looked like a wooden Alaskan Indian.

But never count out the Democrats uncanny ability to shoot themselves in the foot, and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

But barring a miracle, our next president is going to be named Barack Hussein Obama.

As Bono would say, "it's a beautiful day." Get used to it.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Stop Worrying And Learn To Love Neil Diamond

Book Review: - He Is...I Say: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Neil Diamond by David Wild

At about 200 pages, He Is...I Say: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Neil Diamond is a fast, breezy, and humorous read.

Bill Murray once said in a famous quote used early on by Rolling Stone writer David Wild here, "there are two types of people in this world, those who love Neil Diamond, and those who don't."

As he makes quite clear in He Is...I Say: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Neil Diamond, David Wild falls into the former category. This is a great book. It is extremely well-written, and often very, very funny.

But it is also one a lot of music writers might find themselves a little embarrassed to read. Because as much as He Is...I Say is Wild's unabashed and unapologetic love letter to Neil Diamond, it is also in many ways a book about music criticism itself.

For the most part, he nails it. Especially the part about how many rock critics often seek the same sort of approval for their own work as that of many of the artists they write about -- especially when the public at large beats the scribes at their own game as self-appointed tastemakers.

This is where that whole embarrassment thing really starts to kick in if you happen to be one of those music writers. Guilty as charged, okay Wild?

Wild cuts to the chase here early. Describing himself as a "recovering rock critic," Wild cites one of the biggest reasons that many "hipper than thou" music critics have been known to dump on Diamond -- pointing to the songwriting icon's cardinal sin of emphasizing showmanship and a desire to please his audience, over things like navel gazing and tendencies towards self-indulgent angst.

No sugarcoating there.

Taking his case a step further, Wild vows never to step foot in Cleveland again until Neil Diamond is given his rightful due by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now that's some chutzpah.

Speaking of which, growing up in New Jersey, Wild also traces the multi-generational "Red White & Jew" lineage of his own Jewish family and their ongoing love affair following Diamond's career from the Brill Building to his recent comeback albums with producer Rick Rubin.

In telling the story of how he convinced the powers that be at Rolling Stone to run with his long and loving interview with "the man, the myth, the middle aged Hebrew Hunk," he hints that Diamond's generous donation to RS publisher Jann Wenner's anti-gun charity in honor of John Lennon just might have tipped the scales in his favor.

The story of how the author was then able to bring his mom backstage into the icon's inner sanctum, and Diamond's class and graciousness when he did so, is a tribute to both the author and the artist.

Wild then goes on to tell the stories of how many similarly "critically challenged" artists -- from Julio Iglesias to Billy Joel to even Paul McCartney -- soon beat a path to the writers door hoping for a similar break.

Despite Bill Murray's claim to the contrary, I've never really fallen into either the "for" and "against" category when it comes to Neil Diamond. I don't own any of his albums. And I probably stand with most of my fellow music scribes when I say that albums like the soundtrack to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and songs like "Heartlight" just don't turn my crank, and that they didn't do him any favors.

But I do give Neil Diamond his rightful due as a great songwriter.

I own many versions of Diamond's songs as recorded by other artists, including the Monkees' "I'm A Believer" and Urge Overkill's version of "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon" from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. I also don't change the channel when "Cherry Cherry" or "Holly Holy" gets played on the local oldies station. They are damn good songs.

But there I go falling into that music writers trap of talking about myself again.

Damn you, David Wild!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Marillion Find That Happiness Is The Road On A Great New Album

Music Review: Marillion -
Happiness Is The Road

Marillion is a British progressive rock band who are best known in America for the music they made more than twenty years ago. Back in the eighties, led by a lanky lead vocalist called Fish, Marillion was primarily known for its theatrical stage performances where Fish often dressed in a variety of costumes.

Because of this, as well as the long prog-rock pieces found on albums like Script For A Jesters Tear and Misplaced Childhood (which yielded their only American hit single in “Kayleigh”), the band was widely regarded – and some would say dismissed – as a pale imitation of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. When Fish left the band to pursue a solo career, the band were soon forgotten…

At least in America, they were. Not so however, in much of the rest of the world.

With a new lead singer in Steve “H” Hogarth, Marillion not only soldiered on, but over the course of several years reinvented themselves on albums like Brave and their conceptual masterpiece Marbles. Although they very much remain a progressive rock band, the Marillion of today in fact bares very little resemblance to the so-called Genesis wannabes of the eighties.

In the process of reinvention, Marillion have also developed one of the most devoted – and interactive – fan bases of any band in the world. Through the band’s website, which urges fans to “find a better life” through Marillion.com, the group’s fans have actually taken ownership of the band, financing both albums and tours.

On the band’s fifteenth album Happiness Is The Road they have taken this partnership with fans a step further by actually seeding the album on peer-to-peer sites for free download. The catch here is, once you download it, a window pops up on your computer where Marillion themselves urge you to go their website and check out other merchandise if you like what you hear. Happiness Is The Road is also available for sale on the site.

As for the album itself, Happiness Is The Road is an ambitious double-CD, divided into two separate parts, that altogether contains nearly two hours of Marillion music. After just three listens, I have also fallen in love with this record.

The first CD is subtitled “Essence,” and is the more ambitious of the two. With both quieter, layered passages focusing on Mark Kelly’s keyboards, as well as more anthemic songs like “Woke Up,” the music here actually recalls the musical ebb and flow of Marbles.

Like on Marbles, song titles like the aforementioned “Woke Up,” and “Nothing Fills The Hole” also seem to suggest a running conceptual theme about the search for personal meaning. Regardless of what it’s about, this is quite simply gorgeous sounding music, and nowhere more so than when the vocal chorus kicks in with a thundering crescendo of glorious sound on the track “A State Of Mind.”

This is followed by the more reflective sounding title track, where Hogarth’s nearly spoken vocal weaves around Kelly’s haunting keyboard textures. From there, H’s vocal grows to a more impassioned wail, as Steve Rothery’s guitar soars above it all. Like I said, just gorgeous sounding stuff here.

The second CD, subtitled “The Hard Shoulder,” finds the band stretching out and displaying their musical chops a bit more. “Thunder Fly” opens the second disc with a muscular sounding guitar riff that somewhat recalls The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer,” while at the same time continuing the ebb and flow with dreamy sounding keyboards and vocal harmonies. This song is definitely a standout, ending with yet another one of Rothery’s soaring guitar parts.

“The Man From The Planet Marzipan” finds the rhythm section of bassist Pete Trewavas and drummer Ian Mosley locking into a tight little funk groove that serves as the launchpad for more of Kelly’s keyboard textures and Rothery’s dazzling guitar wizardry. The band basically plays their asses off here.

The Beatles influence once again rears its head in “Throw Me Out,” where the string arrangement recalls the psychedelic, yet decidedly British feel of the Sgt. Pepper era, while Mosley’s drumming kicks things into a more modern context. “Whatever Is Wrong With You” is an uptempo rocker where Mosley’s power drumming eventually makes way for a searing guitar solo from Rothery. The song also has the sort of catchy hookline in the chorus that almost suggests a potential single.

The bottom line here is that Happiness Is The Road is that rare breed of double-CD that is rich in great songs, with really very little in the way of filler. In short, this is a great CD. So give the band a break, skip the free downloads at those peer-to-peer sites, and go to Marillion.com and order it.

I can’t promise you the “better life” that the website does. But I can promise you a great album.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Shining New Light On Pink Floyd's Original Crazy Diamond

DVD Review: - A Technicolor Dream (Featuring Performances By Syd Barrett And Pink Floyd)

A Technicolor Dream is a documentary film chronicling the development of London, England's counter-culture underground of the 1960's, and the events which led up to the 14 hour "Technicolor Dream," a benefit concert for what was at the time England's largest underground newspaper -- the International Times (or I.T.).

The concert has long since gone on to legendary status in the history of London's 1960's underground movement.

More important to modern day students of that era however, is the involvement of Pink Floyd.

At the time, "the Floyd," as they were then often referred to, were the unofficial "house band" of London's underground. Although then Pink Floyd bandleader Syd Barrett's mental health was already on a fast road to deterioration as a result of one two many acid trips, they were also the main attraction at the legendary gig that was the 14 hour Technicolor Dream.

So, in many ways, this DVD is as much Pink Floyd's story (at least in their early formative years), as it is a chronology of that singular event -- legendary as it was.

Through interviews with key players -- including Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason, as well as key scenesters like Barry Miles and John "Hoppy" Hopkins -- A Technicolor Dream recalls the formative years of London's fledgling underground.

The film follows events as the movement grew from a couple hundred like-minded "freaks", to a force which the British government itself would eventually view as a threat -- in many ways mirroring what was happening in American cities like New York, L.A., and especially San Francisco at the same time.

As Barry Miles organized a massive London "beat summit" at the Royal Albert Hall featuring poets like Allen Ginsburg, and "Hoppy" Hopkins was publishing the earliest issues of the International Times, a group called the Pink Floyd, led by an iconoclastic genius named Syd Barrett -- known for things like running steel ball bearings across the strings of his guitar -- were also making a name for themselves in the underground.

So when Hopkins underground paper the I.T. was eventually raided by the London cops -- ostensibly because of publishing "obscene" material -- it made perfect sense for the media voice of London's artistic and political underground to team up with the band providing its soundtrack -- Pink Floyd.

Pink Floyd was already garnering attention with their wildly experimental "multi-media" shows at the UFO club, providing financial support for I.T., while at the same time developing a reputation for themselves as musical innovators.

So it was only natural when Hopkins turned to Pink Floyd to headline the Technicolor Dream, where by all accounts they played to a packed house of stoned attendees -- including John Lennon -- as the sun came up behind them through stained glass windows.

In never before seen footage, this DVD captures portions of that performance, and also includes early Floyd videos for the songs "Arnold Layne" and "Scarecrow." There is also a live performance of "Astronomy Domine," from a 1967 show at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Most interesting to Pink Floyd fans are the remarkably candid interviews with Floyd's Waters and Mason, which shed new light on Barrett's rapidly eroding mental condition, even as the band went from that legendary gig to the sessions for it's debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

For anyone interested in the early history of Pink Floyd, or in learning more about the incendiary times this film so vividly captures, A Technicolor Dream is a must purchase. It becomes available October 28.

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Rockologist On Guns N' Roses, Chinese Democracy, And Doing Business In A Post Record Industry Era

The following article first appeared at Cinema Blend Music:

As many of you reading this have no doubt heard by now, Guns N' Roses have set an actual release date for the ten years plus in the making album Chinese Democracy.

Billboard Magazine is reporting that Chinese Democracy will finally see the light of day on November 23. As earlier reports had indicated, the album will also be released in one of those increasingly prevalent retail exclusives, with the rights of sale going to mega-retailer Best Buy this time around.

As a former music retailer myself, I’ve got my own opinions about these so-called exclusivity deals, and as you can probably also imagine, most of my feelings about them are not necessarily good ones. That said, I also think I understand them. In the currently depressed climate of not only the music industry, but of the economy in general, an artist has gotta' do what an artist has gotta’ do to get the music heard.
There really just aren’t that many options anymore. Radio formats have become so fragmented that it’s really hard to figure who fits where anymore – that is at least unless you are the Jonas Brothers or Miley anyway. Making a music video is pretty much pointless anymore, since MTV no longer plays them, and the remaining video music shows have a combined reach and appeal that comes nowhere near that of the once mighty moonman.

The internet? Hey, we all know it’s a great place to find new music – that is as long as you happen to like searching for needles in a haystack anyway.

So as distasteful as these retail exclusives may be to some folks (and particularly to the few remaining independent retailers out there, who once again take it right in the ass on these deals), the fact remains that to artists with ever-shrinking marketing avenues, they represent a win-win situation. Which is why everyone from The Eagles to the Police to AC/DC to now Guns N' Roses have lined up to sell their souls to the “man” (who in these instances goes by the name of WalMart or Best Buy).

With Chinese Democracy however, Guns N Roses -- or excuse me, make that Axl Rose -- have taken the concept of marketing an album to an entirely new level. First off, and let us make no mistake here, Chinese Democracy is not a Guns N' Roses album. Not anymore than a Mick Jagger record without Keith Richards is a Rolling Stones album.

This is in fact an Axl Rose solo album.

You won’t find Slash, Izzy, or Duff anywhere in sight on Chinese Democracy. What you will find is Axl playing with a bunch of other guys who in the decade long process of making Chinese Democracy has included Buckethead, Tommy Stinson, and others.

Through a series of what I believe to have been very well orchestrated media events, what I believe Axl Rose has done to market this album is pure genius. With Chinese Democracy, Rose has succeeded in making a record which otherwise might not have yielded barely a yawn, into a genuine media event.

From the guy getting busted earlier this year for leaking tracks to the internet, to the Dr. Pepper guys promising free soda pop to the world if this album actually got released this year, everybody is talking about Chinese Democracy. Everybody. Whether they ever gave a shit about Axl or Guns N' Roses or not.

Call me cynical, but personally I don’t believe this to be an accident. In fact, decade in the making as Chinese Democracy has been, I’ve increasingly come to believe it may just be the most brilliant marketing campaign for an album that I’ve ever witnessed.

With the various corporate tie-ins, from Best Buy to Rock Band II to the new DiCaprio movie, Chinese Democracy may also represent the final nail in the coffin on the idea of rock and roll having anything to do with rebellion.

I mean, lets face it. Ridiculous cornrows hairstyle and occasional loutish public behaviour aside, guys like Axl Rose do not represent today’s rock star anyway. Not anymore. Today’s rock stars are guys like Donald Trump. Guys like the CEOs who run companies like Walmart, Microsoft, Apple, and Comcast.

Guys like…Kiss.

In fact, Kiss may have had the right idea all along way back when they were busy plastering their likenesses on everything from lunchboxes to lingerie. Rock and Roll stopped being about changing the world and sticking it to “the man,” at least in the Beatles and Bob Dylan sort of sense, a very long time ago.

The fact is, today’s rock and roll has as much to with rebellion as the companies it increasingly chooses to do business with – companies where I am quite sure people still get fired if their suits and ties are not color-coordinated, and their business shoes are not polished to a spit-shine.

So Roll Over Beethoven, and tell Axl Rose the news.

Then again, as a wise man once sang, “what can a poor boy do?”

Monday, October 6, 2008

Crosby Stills & Nash Bio Gets A 40th Anniversary Update

Book Review: - Crosby Stills & Nash: The Biography (Updated 40th Anniversary Edition) by Dave Zimmer With Photographs by Henry Diltz

Originally published in 1984, Crosby Stills & Nash: The Biography is the story of how three (and occasionally four) quite talented musicians in their own right came together to form the first true American "supergroup," and how they eventually went on to become one of America's most beloved musical institutions.

When the Byrds' David Crosby, Buffalo Springfield's Stephen Stills, and the Hollies' Graham Nash came together as Crosby Stills and Nash the result was undeniably magical. Together the trio -- occasionally joined by fourth band member Neil Young -- would establish a blueprint for multiple part harmonies in rock music that would directly impact a generation of latter day practitioners like the Eagles.

They also would craft a body of work, that although small in comparison to the catalogs of people like Dylan and the Beatles, would leave no less an impact on the sixties rock generation, including such timeless songs as "Suite Judy Blue Eyes," "Teach Your Children," and "Ohio."

In the just published 40th Anniversary Edition (Crosby Stills & Nash first sang together in a 1968 Laurel Canyon meeting that has long since become the stuff of rock and roll legend), author Dave Zimmer picks the story up where he last left off in 1984.

The newly revised version brings things up to the present day with 2006's Freedom Of Speech reunion tour with on and off again bandmate Neil Young, and this year's Deja Vu documentary film from that same tour. The book also features hundreds of never before published photographs by Henry Diltz.

Although it is immediately clear in Zimmer's narrative that he is not only a confidant, but a fan as well, none of the details -- including many that the band members themselves would probably rather forget -- are left out.

The stories of how band members swapped famous girlfriends like Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, and Rita Coolidge are told in full detail, as are the tales of excesses that landed David Crosby in jail -- and in fact, nearly killed him. No stone is unturned here, regardless of the muck which might lie underneath. Still, and to Zimmer's credit, Crosby Stills & Nash: The Biography never reads in the sort of lurid fashion which often characterizes other rock bios from the same era.

The various squabbles and ego-clashes between the members of this notoriously volatile band are also explored in particular detail, including the reunion attempts -- both successful and unsuccessful -- over the years with Neil Young. What becomes clear when reading these accounts however is that the sometime friction between them actually was an ultimate factor in what gave the band it's unique chemistry.

The competitive nature between Young and guitarist Stephen Stills is paid particular mind, revealing how the clashing egos of the two guitarists would urge them on towards greater musical heights, particularly on the concert stage. What also becomes clear in reading this very personal glimpse into the lives of these musicians, is that ultimately their friendship binds them together in a way that borders on brotherhood.

What fans of this band will probably find most interesting here however, is the way that Zimmer breaks down the various incarnations of the band -- including both solo projects and combinations like Crosby/Nash and the Stills Young Band -- down into the most minute details.

A passage about the strange solo tour Stephen Stills did with the Memphis Horns after the release of his second solo album was one I found of particular interest, as I was actually present at the opening night show in Seattle. Stills played the show, despite clearly being drunk out of his mind. To this day I remember when Stills announced that "I'm so drunk I couldn't hit Kate Smith in the ass with a bag of rice" to the crowd of about 3000.

Zimmer tells this story, and so many more, in an engaging and easy to read matter of fact style that literally puts the reader right there.

For both CSN&Y fans and students of American music history, Crosby Stills & Nash: The Biography (Updated 40th Anniversary Edition) is an essential read.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Clash: The Only Band That Matters Live At Last
Music Review: The Clash - Live At Shea Stadium

It's no mistake that the Clash were once called the only band that matters.

As the seventies were drawing to a close, and rock music was imploding onto itself from virtually all sides, the Clash were looked to by many as the band that was going to save rock and roll from itself. They were loud, they were aggressive, but they also played really well and wrote great songs. Most importantly though, like all of the best rock and roll artists, the Clash were a band who told the truth.

I was fortunate enough myself to witness the Clash in concert on three seperate occasions back then, each taking place during very distinct and different periods in their all too brief career.

I have very vivid memories of each show. There was the time that Joe Strummer grabbed a fireman's axe off the wall at Seattle's Paramount on the Give Em' Enough Rope tour, and went after the security guys with it when he saw fans getting roughed up by them down in front. Then there was the time I saw the Clash essentially break up onstage at 1983's US Festival in Southern California.

But the common thread every time I saw them was that the Clash pushed themselves to the limit, giving pretty much everything they had, without much regard for the potential circumstances. It's what made them one of the most powerful live bands in the world, with not many coming close either then or since.

As their first official live album, Live At Shea Stadium captures the Clash during a peak period both commercially, and as performers with a reputation as one of rock's true "must-see" live bands.

Recorded during their stint as openers for the Who during their 1982 stadium tour, the Clash may as well have been co-headliners. They were riding high at the time on the success of the Combat Rock album, and the singles "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." At a time when rock was rapidly changing, the Clash were also leading the charge of that revolution. On that particular tour, there were as many fans buying tickets to see the Clash as they were for the Who.

As a document of that tour, you really couldn't ask for much better than this. The recording is crisp sounding and clear, which is a bit of a miracle in itself given both the size of the venue, and the very loud, very fast intensity of a typical Clash show.

Here, before a crowd of 50,000 plus, the band rip through their fifty minute set like a runaway buzzsaw. From the opening notes of "London Calling" and "Police On My Back," the Clash set a frenetically paced tone that doesn't let up until they have left the stage some fifteen songs later. The band's often fiery politics take a backseat here to the music itself, as they proceed to play their collective asses off with the sort of fire you might associate more with a sweaty nightclub than a packed stadium.



Yet for all of the punked-up intensity of the faster songs like "Clampdown," "Tommy Gun," or their great cover of Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law," when the Clash lock into the reggae groove of songs like "Magnificent Seven" and "Armagideon Time" (which are played here as almost a sort of mini-medley), the rhythm section of Paul Simonon and original drummer Terry Chimes (who fills in for Topper Headon here) are as rock steady as they come.

Even such overplayed songs as "Rock The Casbah" and "Train In Vain" sound remarkably fresh here. Joe Strummer sings as though his life depended on it, Mick Jones guitar crackles with energy, and Simonon and Chimes never lose a step throughout it all.

Simply put, from start to finish, this is one of those great live performances that doesn't so much as let you catch a breath. Coming as late in the game as it does, Live at Shea Stadium is also one of those rare concert documents capturing one of rock's greatest live bands on a great night, playing at their peak.

Live at Shea Stadium isn't just a great live album, it's also one that is worthy of the group once deemed the only band that matters. You'll find it in stores this Tuesday October 7.