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Be My Toy, Come On, Have A Fit, We Live On Blood

The Fall “Theme From Sparta FC” (new version) – This is from the newly released The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country On The Click), which is in fact significantly different from the original leaked version of Country On The Click. I posted the original version of “Sparta FC” sometime over the summer, so this should give some of you some idea of how the album has changed (aside from having about half the songs replaced by new songs). If you can believe it, they actually made “Theme From Sparta FC” rule more, which is really good news for me since this song has become one of my all-time favorite Fall songs.

Packaged With A Beat

Gerling “Blood On The Microphone (part one)” – I had never heard of this Australian band before a few days ago when I sort of stumbled upon them accidentally during a soulseek downloading spree. They are a disco punk band who put almost all of their American contemporaries to shame, with the exception of maybe The Rapture. Imagine The Liars with a better handle on disco and electronic music, and you’re halfway there. This is from their newest album Bad Blood, which is worth tracking down on p2p or on import, if you have the cash.

Sparks “Something For The Girl With Everything” – A few years ago, someone sent me a few cd-r copies of some Sparks albums, and I didn’t really like them at the time, but I’m coming around to them now. This is taken from one of the records which was sent to me, 1974’s Propaganda, which is generally considered to be one of their career peaks. I find it hard not to get a nice manic thrill every time I hear this song.

This Ain’t The Show, I’m Just EQing It

Jay-Z “What More Can I Say?” – Brand new Jay-Z! This is the first track to leak from the forthcoming Black Album, which he says will be his final record. If you listen to the lyrics on this song, it sounds like he means to make good on that claim. It sounds almost as though he’s eulogizing himself, or more accurately, his career. This song is great, I’m even more excited than I already was for the new album now. I think the best Jay-Z material tends to be the songs that just drip with pride and confidence, and this is one of those for sure.

[This is the studio version taken from a promo cd, by the way – NOT a radio rip. As it turns out, this song isn’t going to be the first single for the record – it’s just a teaser track for ‘the streets.’]

I Voted For DJ You’re The Man Now, Dog

Please help Andrew Earles pick a DJ name.

I Might As Well Be Shipwrecked In The Middle Of The Sea

Electrelane “On Parade” – Electrelane go full on post-punk! It’s a pretty great song, but when I put it on, I start to think about which song this probably sounds exactly like which I’m only half remembering. But this isn’t a bad thing. As with 80s-style electro pop, I don’t see any good reason why bands today shouldn’t keep these traditions alive. There is something to be said for tradition, isn’t there? Throughout history, traditional music has been a major part of music in general. Why should relatively young genres/traditions be considered so different from enthic folk music, classical, opera, and other music that is focused less on originality and more on culture and history?

The b-side of this single is a pretty interesting cover of my favorite Bruce Springsteen song, “I’m On Fire,” by the way. It’s worth checking out.

Sam Cooke “Lonely Island” – As with the Zombies song from last week, I really don’t have a particular reason for posting this song other than that I love it. It’s a perfect song. Sometimes I wish this were radio instead of a blog so that I could just play things for the audience without having to explain it away. Sometimes back-announcing is just enough, you know?

Let’s Play Bocce And Horseshoes And Croquet

The Fiery Furnaces “Asthma Attack”

The Fiery Furnaces “Inca Rag / Name Game”

If I was the type of person who made year-end lists of records, The Fiery Furnaces’ Gallowsbird’s Bark would immediately zoom into my top ten, maybe even my top five. It was extremely hard figuring out which songs to post here – there are 16 songs on the album, and I’ve fallen in love with every single one of them. It’s so rare for a band to seemingly drop out of the sky fully formed like this, with an aesthetic which is very particular to themselves but also owing to some extremely top-drawer antecedents. Think White Album-era Beatles, Wowee Zowee Pavement, early Bob Dylan, Royal Trux at their best, Guided By Voices at their wackiest, and a little bit of early Liz Phair and The Slits for spice. Think great loose-sounding chops, excellent melodies, a distinctive singer, and a playful spirit that makes it all sound tossed-off. This is my favorite kind of rock and roll. The last time I fell in love with a band this quickly was when I discovered Clinic back in 1999. These people are special, I promise you.

An Old Killa Bee Once Hummed Me A Tune

I’m not feeling very well, and I’m at a loss to say too much about either of these songs. Really, I’d much rather just gloat about the Yankees’ victory and mock the Red Sox.

There could have been no better way for the Red Sox to lose last night. Nothing else could possibly have been more painful than to have a commanding lead during the majority of the game, have it all fall apart in the eighth, go into dead-heat extra innings, and have their dreams shattered literally at the last minute. Talk about twisting the knife! Brilliant. Don’t you Red Sox understand? You are CURSED. God HATES YOU. You will NEVER WIN. It was your game to win last night, and you BLEW IT. Feel the shame, Boston! This is your destiny.

That said, Pedro Martinez really did pitch a top-notch game. He did a good job of delaying the inevitable. Hopefully the Yankees can buy him sometime soon.

RZA w/ Masta Killa “Grits” – This is from the new album Birth Of A Prince, which is really quite good (I’d put it in a top ten best Wu solo LPs list if I had to make one right now), and restores my faith in the Wu after two very weak years since Iron Flag came out. (Well, at least in terms of albums – there have been some good Wu singles and album tracks since then.) I had to debate a bit over which song from the record to put up – I was leaning heavily towards posting “Bob N’ I” or “A Day To A God Is 1000 Years,” but “Grits” got the nod mostly because it’s the most accessable and the obvious single. Hopefully the new Method Man and Raekwon LPs will turn this into a winning streak for the Wu team.

The Zombies “Care Of Cell 44” – Just love this song. I don’t have any special reason for posting it today other than that I love it.

Now It’s Time For Recess

It’s underrated classic rock day!

Alice Cooper “Public Animal #9” – This one is soooo fun! For the longest time, I always thought that Alice Cooper was just bad heavy metal, but as it turns out, he’s really great with the groovy pop rock. His best glam rock numbers are at least as good as the best Bowie material from the same period, and blows aways all of the New York Dolls and T Rex songs that I’ve ever heard. It buries Slade, for sure.

Grand Funk Railroad “Some Kind Of Wonderful” – Why did so many people hate this band so much? I guess that since their best records all came out during the height of the careers of some of the best artists in the history of rock and roll, their output pales in comparison; but Grand Funk did have some pretty good material. This song in particular is pretty irresistable – that chugging bassline, that melody, the earnest white soul vocals – this is just simple fun rock and roll. It makes me want to drink beer and dance like an idiot.

Nailed In The Stones By Derek Lowe

“Golf Nuts” – This is from last night’s episode of the Best Show On WFMU. I don’t want to give too much away about this one and spoil the best jokes, but the gist of it is that a guy calls in to tell Tom about some footage of a man getting hit in the crotch by a stray golfball that he’s found on the internet. It starts off sort of mundane, but as with the best Best Show skits, things eventually take a rather distressing turn.

Lit By Lots Of Glowworms

Chicks On Speed “Coventry” – This is one of the highlights of their great new record 99 Cents. The new album is just a huge leap foward from their previous work, with better lyrics, melodies, and arrangements. One thing that I really like about the album is that they are using that stuttering guitar-sample trick that’s been used on a lot of mainstream pop records over the past few years. Instrumentally, this song could easily be an Ashanti or J. Lo song. I’d like to see more indie/arty groups embrace mainstream pop production techniques. Why should only the mainstream folks sound so fresh and so clean?

Traffic “House For Everyone” – Steve Winwood has had a weird career. He starts off in the rocking British Invasion band the Spencer Davis Group, then does Traffic for a while, which begins as a whimsical psychedelic pop band before turning into a wanky jam fest. A decade later, he ends up somehow becoming an adult contemporary pop singer. In a way, his career arc makes him the ultimate stereotypical Baby Boomer; with groovy beginnings, an experimental period eventually leading to an incogruous complacency and bloated lameness, and finally ending up awash in a sea of nostalgia and irrelevance. Please remember him for when he was young and beautiful. This song comes from the best record of his career, Traffic’s first LP Mr. Fantasy, which is a damn great psychedelic album and well worth your time.

I’ve Found Ways Of Counting Out The Hours

Colder “Crazy Love” – As the Other Music website says, this really does sound like it could be an old Factory record. I’m very impressed by the whole Again album, it’s an excellent late-night headphones kind of record. Interpol : Joy Division :: Colder : Suicide, but it works. I recommend it.

Dressy Bessy “Blink Twice” – You know, songs like this really aren’t nearly as common as people usually think. The album this comes from is proof enough of that, with ten other somewhat similar songs that are all pretty great, but just don’t have it like this one does. Chirpy, peppy guitar pop is not easy, it only sounds that way. If it was easy, then most indie pop bands would have more than two or three good songs each, wouldn’t they?

You’re Living In A Fantasy World

Radiohead @ Madison Square Garden 10/10/2003

The Gloaming / There There / 2 + 2 = 5 / Where I End And You Begin / Exit Music (For A Film) / Talk Show Host / Myxomatosis / Paranoid Android / In Limbo / Sail To The Moon / Creep / Scatterbrain / Go To Sleep / Just / Idioteque / You And Whose Army? / Sit Down. Stand Up. // Lucky / The National Anthem / A Punchup At A Wedding / Street Spirit (Fade Out) // Airbag / No Surprises / Everything In Its Right Place

Suffice to say, I was really, really happy that they played “In Limbo.” I didn’t expect that at all. So now I’ve seen all of the Kid A album live except for “Treefingers,” which doesn’t quite count. That’s kinda awesome.

This show wasn’t as good as the previous night (particularly in the setlist department), and if I didn’t see the previous night’s set too, I probably would have much more negative feelings about the show overall.

I had pretty lousy seats last night. I was up on the 4th mezzanine parallel with the stage. The one good thing about this was that I could see what the band was doing with their instruments, which I couldn’t when I was looking straight on. There were some technical problems during “There There” which made that song almost impossible for me to enjoy. The bass was mixed way louder than the other instruments and was in the red on the higher notes of the bass line. This may have had something to do with my proximity to the speakers, but maybe not – this was not an issue during the rest of the set.

The audience was annoying again – I can’t understand why so many people insist on being loud during the quiet parts. The crowd pretty much wrecked “Exit Music” for me, which is lame because I really love that song. The need to scream during the quiet parts must be a narcissistic thing, right? It’s all about wanting to hear yourself, I think. There wasn’t as much IRCD last night, but the first thirty seconds or so of “Sit Down Stand Up” was met with a particularly heinous outbreak, with a majority of the audience clapping a rhythm at least three times the speed of the song. I think they were all clapping in time with a Minor Threat song or something.

I just couldn’t get into things too much last night. I didn’t start to feel the music until “Talk Show Host.” The only songs I really had any visceral experience with were “Myxomatosis,” “In Limbo,” “Creep,” “Just,” “Idioteque,” and “Sit Down Stand Up.” The rest I just sort of watched. I’m not sure if this was because I felt too far removed from the experience due to physical distance, or because I had been there last night, or if they just weren’t that hot that night. Probably all of it.

Still, not a bad show. I’m probably making it sound like I didn’t enjoy myself at all, which isn’t the case.

Funny Ha Ha, Funny How?

Radiohead @ Madison Square Garden 10/9/2003

2 + 2 = 5 / Sit Down. Stand Up. / Where I End And You Begin / Kid A / Backdrifts / Morning Bell / My Iron Lung / I Might Be Wrong / Lurgee / Sail To The Moon / Paranoid Android / A Punchup At A Wedding / Go To Sleep / The Gloaming / Idioteque / Fake Plastic Trees / There There // You And Whose Army? / The National Anthem (w/ Hunting Bears outro) / A Wolf At The Door / How To Disappear Completely /// Karma Police / True Love Waits / Everything In Its Right Place

Wow. I’m really lucky that I got to see this show, because it only confirms what I knew all along – that if I was to only see tonight’s show, I would never have seen “Kid A” and possibly “Backdrifts” too. So yeah, thank God. And thanks also to the nice guy who I ended up swapping tickets with, allowing him to sit next to his friend and me to have a much better floor seat.

It was a great Radiohead show. I’ve seen enough Radiohead shows now to know that they are pretty much the same every time – really great, very intense, but missing the necessary joycore ingredients to push things over the top. There was nothing in this show (except for the chorus of “Kid A”) that really felt transcendental to me, as “Life And How To Live It” was at the R.E.M. show from last week. But this is fine. Radiohead do what they do extremely well, and I loved the whole show just as much as any other Radiohead show that I’ve seen.

“Kid A” and “Backdrifts” were early highlights, and were pretty much as wonderful as I had hoped. “Where I End And You Begin” blew away every recording that I’ve ever heard of it away. Maybe it’s just the kind of song you just need to be there for, so you can actually feel the drums. Though it was interesting to see them play “Lurgee” from Pablo Honey, it didn’t fit in very well with the rest of the songs, and was a little boring for me. “The Gloaming” was really impressive live, particularly when Phil Selway’s drums kick in at the end. I’m not sure whether or not they were having technical problems or were improvising at the end of it – it just sort of fell apart, which doesn’t happen in any of the live recordings of the song that I have heard. Thom’s usual playful camera antics on “You And Whose Army?” were very funny, but riled the crowd a little too much – the audience was applauding and shouting so much through the first half that there were points when it became hard to hear the song.

The audience was annoying me a lot last night, mostly a small group of people immediately to my left. The guy standing right next to me was prone to hollering “WHOOOO!” loudly at mostly inappropriate times, such as every third measure of “Sail To The Moon.” Worse than that was the ridiculous rhythmic clapping that almost ruined some of the songs for me. Early on, some jackasses were doing it with “Kid A,” but that had nothing on the outbreak of Inappropriate Rhythmic Clapping Disease (IRCD) that struck the majority of the audience during “True Love Waits.” I just wanted to fucking kill, really. It just made no sense – the clapping didn’t suit the song at all, it’s a song that gains much of its beauty from the fact that it has no fucking percussion. I wish people would take a cue from the band – see, Phil isn’t drumming! This means NO PERCUSSION. Stop! They don’t want you do this, you’re wrecking the song and might make Thom fuck up because you’re all a bunch of shitty drummers. This happened in the beginning of “Everything In Its Right Place,” which, judging by the I Might Be Wrong live album and several live recordings which I’ve heard over the years, is a chronic sufferer of IRCD. IRCD just makes me so mad. I can understand singing along, that’s different. IRCD signals a total disrespect for the arrangements that the musicians have chosen, as well as a fundamental lack of consideration for the audience members who want to hear the performers and not a bunch of arhythmic clap-happy morons.

Anyway, I’m hoping that tonight’s crowd doesn’t have such a severe case of IRCD, and that they get around to playing “Myxomatosis,” “Airbag,” “Just,” “We Suck Young Blood,” and “Like Spinning Plates.”

PS – I forgot to mention that “A Wolf At The Door” is fucking amazing live. One of the best of the night, for sure.

Standing In The Shadows At The End Of My Bed

I’m very excited to be seeing Radiohead tonight. I’m sure that they will be fantastic no matter what (this will be my eighth Radiohead show and they’ve never let me down), the only thing is that I really hope is that between two shows, they get around to playing these two songs, which are both very dear to me.

Radiohead “Kid A” (live in Boston, 2003)

Radiohead “Backdrifts” (live in Boston, 2003)

C’mon, Radiohead. Play “Kid A” at Madison Square Garden! I’m probably the only person on earth whose favorite Radiohead song is “Kid A.” Humor me.

I’m kind of amazed that my throwaway comment about the Silver Jews elicited so many strident replies. Didn’t any of you have an opinion about the Squeeze songs? I was so excited to post those songs, and it seems like no one really cared. The world truly is cruel if David Berman can inspire such passion, while Difford & Tilbrook garner little more than benign indifference.

Catch A Star If You Can

In what seems to be part of an unconcious campaign to convince the readers of this blog that I’m a very lame man with terribly uncool tastes, today I’m offering an mp3 of Elton John’s “lost” disco single “Are You Ready For Love,” which has recently been reissued in the UK on Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried label. The version here is the “Ashley Beedle Love And Protection mono edit,” which was recently created from Thom Bell’s original production from 1979. If you’re a fan of early Elton John (as I am) and into late 70s disco, particuraly of the leftfield Disco Not Disco variety (as I am), you’ll find a lot to love in this single. Actually, if you just love one or the other, you’ll probably dig this.

Oh my god, I’m fucking bouncing off the walls over here. Not only have Supergrass cancelled their opening act gig with Radiohead at MSG this week, but Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks have been hired to replace them, AND I now have tickets to see both shows. I’m so ridiculously happy right now.

It has now been made official that The Jicks are not opening for Radiohead at Madison Square Garden, and that Low will be the support act. This is lame. Low are a really boring band. This doesn’t take away from the excitement of seeing Radiohead twice, though. It’s going to be a challenge to stay awake through Low’s set, let me tell you.

I See Murals In Your Radio Static

I seem to be having some technical difficulties with the mp3s today… if you can’t download the songs right now, just check back later on.

Thanks to Gabriella, I now have two cd-rs jam-packed full of rare and out-of-print Squeeze material. I’ve been slowly going through it all, and I swear, I’m tempted to make this a special all-Squeeze week here on the blog, but I realize that most of you probably wouldn’t like that, so I’ll restrain myself. Today, however, we’re getting two sweet Squeeze rarities which are perfect for converting the lot of you Squeeze non-believers.

Squeeze “Squabs On The Forty Fab” – This medley of eight Squeeze singles (with two quick instrumental nods to a couple of album tracks) was the b-side of the 12″ single for “Labelled With Love.” It’s remarkable how well all of their classic early singles dovetail into one another, it sounds like it could just as well be one amazing super-song. The sequence of the medley goes like this: “Take Me, I’m Yours,” “Cool For Cats,” “Up The Junction,” “Is That Love?,” “Pulling Mussels (From The Shell),” “Separate Beds” (instrumental break), “Another Nail For My Heart,” “Slap & Tickle,” “Goodbye Girl,” and “Someone Else’s Heart” (instrumental break).

Squeeze “Vanity Fair” (Piano Version) – The East Side Story version of this Difford & Tilbrook classic is very nice, but it pales in comparison to this simpler, less schmaltzy solo piano arrangement which appeared on the b-side of the “If It’s Love” single.

And just for Gabriella, here’s Stephen Malkmus’s lost classic “Blue Arrangements”, which is taken from the otherwise dire Silver Jews album American Water. It’s really a shame that this song, which is among the finest songs Malkmus ever penned, had to end up on a Silver Jews record. At least he’s not with them anymore, and I’ll never have to buy another lousy record of lame David Berman songs to get a couple Malkmus gems.

Burn Bright Through The Night

R.E.M. @ Madison Square Garden, October 4th 2003

Finest Worksong / What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? / Driver 8 / Drive / Animal / Fall On Me / Daysleeper / Bad Day / The One I Love / World Leader Pretend / (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville [Mike Mills lead vocal] / The Great Beyond / Country Feedback / Losing My Religion / Find The River / She Just Wants To Be / Walk Unafraid / Man On The Moon // Life And How To Live It / NYC [Stipe solo on guitar, cover of the Interpol song] / Nightswimming / Final Straw / Imitation Of Life / Gardening At Night / It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Wow!

I definitely got my money’s worth last night. R.E.M. were really on, especially Michael Stipe, who had a very strong night on vocals. I say this mostly because if you’ve heard enough R.E.M. live shows, there are definitely a lot of shows where he struggles a bit. I didn’t get all of my requests, but I was extremely happy with what was played, and I enjoyed getting a lot of songs I wasn’t quite expecting, like “Driver 8,” “World Leader Pretend,” and “Gardening At Night.” “Drive” came off much better live in its Automatic For The People arrangement than I would have imagined, and though it’s never been particularly high on my list of favorites, I had a lot of fun with “Fall On Me.” “Animal” was a real revelation live – I’d heard some live versions of this one, but last night was the first time it really clicked with me.

“Country Feedback” was a very special surprise for me – I knew that it was frequently played on this tour, but I never really thought I’d get to see it, nor did I really think much about it in terms of songs that I wanted to see. It just hit me all at once when it came on that this was exactly the most perfect R.E.M. for me to hear this week. For most of this past week, its lyrics were my life.

Now, the big highlight of this show for me was “Life And How To Live It.” Oh my fucking God! It was just… perfect. I didn’t think I’d ever get to see this one, and it was better than I could have imagined. It was just a million times better than the album version; twice as fast and just amazingly, beautifully JOYCORE. I swear to God, it must have been four of the most joyful minutes I’ve ever experienced at a concert. The only thing in recent memory that comes close was seeing the New Pornographers perform “The Laws Have Changed” at the Bowery Ballroom. It was as though the song was mainlining government-grade Joycore while everyone on stage had just downed a half a bottle of Stoli Donut each, and the band were performing it on a stage in the Cotton Candy & Trampolines car of the Joycore Express, next stop ecstacy! It was just perfect. I’d do anything to get a recording of this. Please. Someone out there, help me!

Other notes: “Drive” was dedicated to Al Franken, who requested it (though they play it every night), presumably because of the “Bush whacked” lyric. Michael’s solo rendition of Interpol’s “NYC” was really quite beautiful. He sang it very well, but only performed the “New York cares” and “turn on the bright lights…” parts of the song. Remember, Michael can barely play the guitar, so it was great to just get as much of the song as we could get before he gave up. Michael clearly loves New York City, and said so over and over, and related a few anecdotes about New York for the crowd. “Rockville” was dedicated to June Carter Cash. According to Michael, “World Leader Pretend” was the most requested song of the night, followed by “Find The River.” “Gardening At Night” was a request of Sparklehorse, who opened up the show. Michael sang a little bit of a Patti Smith song just before “World Leader Pretend,” but I’m not sure which one. For what it’s worth, this was the only show from this year to not include “Everybody Hurts.”

Dear R.E.M.,

When I see you play tomorrow night, would you mind playing the song “Feeling Gravity’s Pull”? I requested it on your website a few times, if that means anything to you. It’d also be cool if you guys did “Get Up.” And “Exhuming McCarthy.” And “So. Central Rain.” And “I Believe.” And “Life And How To Live It.” And “Pilgrimage.” And “Binky The Doormat” – oh forget it, I know that’s definitely not going to happen. I did figure out that since you rotate “Finest Worksong” and “Begin The Begin” every other show, I’m in for a “Finest Worksong” night, which is fantastic. Thanks.

Your fan,

Matthew

PS: It was really cool that you did “Get Up” on the Today Show just now. I was convinced that you’d do “Man On The Moon” for the umpteenth time.

Hammers For The Happy Couple

Kylie Minogue “Slow” – Kylie is back! Return Of The Queen! This is right up there with the best Kylie material, and it is a logical progression from the Fischerspooner remix of “Come Into My World.” It’s less ecstatic than most of the Fever songs, but not too far off from the moody intensity of “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.” Top notch electropop.

McLusky “Undress For Success” – Let me tell you, I love their song “Whiteliberalonwhiteliberalaction,” but most everything from their two albums hasn’t done much for me. This new single is much more like what I loved about that song, while moving the band foward in an appealing way. Superficially, it’s Guy Picciotto-like vocals mixed with circular, riffy Fall-esque guitars. Big Sunny D is probably otm for noting that it’s a bit like mid-90s Blur and Elastica too. Mmmm. Maybe it’s more like ’97 Blur-era Blur, though – this is more like “Chinese Bombs” or “M.O.R.” than anything on Parklife or The Great Escape.

When Swiveling That Hip Doesn’t Do The Trick

Thanks to Chris’s post about Tori Amos’s new best-of/compilation over on Do You Feel Loved?, I’ve been going back through my old Tori Amos records, basically checking to see how they hold up after I haven’t listened to them for at least a year and a half.

Tori Amos “In The Springtime Of His Voodoo” – This is my favorite track off of Boys For Pele, which I think is by far her finest record. It’s Amos at her weirdest, and at the peak of her powers as a songwriter. The songs from the first two albums may mean more to the type of fans who do so much to make Tori Amos something most sane people would like to keep a distance from, but Pele is where the real creativity and craft are let loose full force. If we’re comparing her to other piano-playing pop stars, I’d say it’s her Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It’s this defining burst of creativity that is experimental in style and masterful in substance, and slightly overwhelming too because there’s just so much of it. The unfortunate thing is while Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely regarded as Elton’s masterpiece, Boys For Pele is usually just cast off as being Tori’s “weird” long album.

“In The Springtime Of His Voodoo,” like a lot of the best songs from the album, sounds as though she is channeling Led Zeppelin. She nails the lusty vocals, the clever song structures, the heavy blues and folk influences. If you transpose the piano lines from “…Voodoo,” “Professional Widow,” “Little Amsterdam,” and “Blood Roses” to heavy metal guitar, you’ll find that you get something nearly as great as anything off of Houses Of The Holy or Physical Graffiti. Though I could do without the smugness of the “honey, we’re recovering Christians” line, I’ll adore that opening bit where she sets the scene before realizing that “I’m quite sure I’m in the wrong song…” forever.

Tori Amos “She’s Your Cocaine” – If we’re judging Amos’s career as it stands right now, it would seem that From The Choir Girl Hotel is the end of her run of great records. (I’m not such a big fan of her first two records, Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink, but I’ll definitely concede their status as classics.) It’s something of a logical conclusion following Boys For Pele, since it continues with her experimentation with arrangement and writing songs on something other than a piano. Too much of the album already sounds a little dated to me – the treatments on the guitars and drums in particular scream “late 90s alt-rock/trip hop,” and I can’t help but wonder how this will sound much later on when it may seem more quaint and old-fashioned rather than five-minutes-ago. It’s not that bad, it could be a lot worse, but whenever I hear post-Pele Amos, I’m almost always fixated on the production and engineering since most of her last three records are somewhat lacking in solid tunes and sound very same-y to me.

“She’s Your Cocaine” is the Tori Amos version of a stomping glam number, right down to the lyrics about gender-bending. This sort of thing is usually rote and tedious when other folks try it, but since Tori is basically bat-shit insane, most obvious influences get filtered through her mind and end up coming out sounding sort of strange and reconfigured (see: above paragraph referring to Led Zeppelin), which is exactly what I think a good artist should do with their influences. As with “…Voodoo,” there’s one great amusing lyric in this one – “I”m writing good checks / you sign “Prince Of Darkness” / try “Squire Of Dimness” / please don’t help me with this!”

He Leaves Behind Him A Thousand Laughs

Nirvana “Everybody Loves The Clown” – No, this is not Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana, but the British psychedelic band from the ’60s. I think that the most amazing thing about this song is that it so perfectly captures the grotesque happiness and unintentional creepiness of clowns. It’s just a little too happy sounding, you know? The adult voice in the right speaker sounds sort of crazed, and the child’s voice sounds slightly detached, as if s/he were singing under duress. It’s a very unique combination of joyous pop and the mildly unnerving and vaguely sinister. (For Deric!)

Okay. Here’s a question for all of you who like to post comments: Do you think Andre 3000 realized how ridiculous, overindulgent and unnecessary the drum and bass cover of “My Favorite Things” on The Love Below was, but included it anyway because he has an agenda to push, or perhaps more perversely, he wanted to have a song on the record that would put off and confuse a lot of the audience? I think Eppy’s on to something here:

…Andre seems to have, on this album, done a nice job of solving the problem of audience and race that sent Prince spinning into the art-jazz abyss of late–albeit an abyss that’s well-deserved, since we’ll still be figuring out his 80’s output in 20 years, most likely. But from what I understand of the Prince mythos, he began rebelling against his almost universal pop appeal (exemplified, perhaps, by the lack of any bass in some of his best songs) by making what he perceived as “black” music, first with the Black album and now more or less continually with NEWS etc. But Andre has, I think, figured out a way around this, one that’s actually rooted in Outkast’s appeal: genre-hopping/melding. And one of the genres he’s aiming toward is Coltrane-y jazz, but if this album is any indication, he wants to fuck with it and mix it with other shit. And that’s not white or black but just musical. It’s interesting, anyway.

What do you think?