Sic Semper Tyrannis

Whatcha Listenin' To?

In between large doses of They Might Be Giants and Wilco last week, I have continued on with the musical odyssey that has been the last year or so of my life. Here’s what I’ve been hearing as of late:

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffitti

I have loved the early Led Zep for many years. I have delved into their later output as of late and I am realizing that their aesthetic broadened quite a bit after the fourth album. The production became more dense, less “live” sounding. They started to redefine what rock n’ roll is all about. For example, listen to the rhythmic unnaturalness of a song like “Kashmir” on this album or the trancy start of what would have been the second record- “In the Light.” There is a middle eastern modality to it that reminds you just how far they had come since their early days of more blues-based faire. But this record’s more experimental moments are still tempered by riff-rock and pop-ish melodies every now and then. My favorite song, without a doubt, is “Down By the Seaside,” a laid-back swing shuffle that somehow drifts back and forth into straight-ahead rock. If you’ve never heard this album I recommend that you check it out. There is a lot of info to process.

Aretha Franklin Lady Soul

There is a certain “I-don’t-know-what” to this collection of songs from 1968. I wasn’t bowled over by I Never Loved a Man the way I Love You from the year before, and I’m not usually blown away by soul/r&b music anyway, but Aretha is in fine voice here. Someone in her position is really only as good as the material that her producers find for her to sing, and there were a couple of huge hits off this album: “Chain of Fools” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” the latter of which bringing to mind a couple issues for me:

1) Unlike most pop songs which easily allow you to switch the pronouns of “he” and “she” to easily adapt it for your own use, this song does not. And so I was torn, even when listening in the privacy of my own car. With all that I am, I wanted to sing along to that triumphant chorus. But I couldn’t. I’m not a woman. No amount of specious arguments or justifications could make this song true for me. Nobody makes me feel like a natural woman.

2) Speaking of appreciation for this song- as lovely as it is, as iconic as the arrangement is, I still cannot hear this song without associating it with a women’s underwear ad on television from way back when I was a kid. Which, for me, begs the question: does a song ever bounce back to being “important” and “artistic” once it has been used to sell you underwear? My hunch is “no.”


John Lennon Imagine

So Plastic Ono Band was an exorcism of Lennon’s inner life. Imagine is a collection of more easily digestible pop music, which is not to say that there is a lack of depth with regard to his lyrical concerns. There is a reason that the title track resounds so deeply within people. This album just seems less about Lennon and more about the world.

I was blown away by the contrast between the happy good-time backing for the truisms contained in the song “Crippled Inside.” One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside. A pretty melancholy thought. But not so much when accompanied by music that sounds like the background to muppets frolicking in a park. The song “How Do You Sleep?” gets a lot of press, being a slam against McCartney and all. It just struck me as kind of immature. How can you be mean to Paul McCartney? Maybe you’re allowed to be when you really know him. Who knows? Anyway, this album is a much more pleasant listening experience than his previous one.

Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water

I realized one thing pretty quickly while listening to this album. There is no one who came out of the 60s folk tradition with a more sophisticated harmonic sense than Paul Simon. And I’m not just talking about all of the gospelly chromatic applied dominants in the piano part for the title track. All of the major sevenths in the bossa-nova-esque “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” confirm it as well. These songs are a far-cry from three-chord, guy-and-a-guitar, folkie singer-songwriter-type stuff.

Paul’s voice on “The Only Living Boy in New York” is just so perfect. It made me feel all warm inside. These guys had a way with melody and harmony. And that’s just my cursory gloss of the purely instrumental concerns. I’ll let Steven deal with lyrical concerns and whatever else I missed. (So, take it away, Steven, if you feel compelled.) Suffice it say that, after hearing this album for the first time, I am sold on these guys. Can’t wait to hear more.

Yngwie Malmsteen Best Of: 1990-1999

Rarely before have I read about a guy so divisive for purely musical reasons. Sure, Sinead was controversial for tearing up the pope’s picture and Madonna rolled around in a wedding dress, blah, blah, blah. What did Yngwie do? Oh, he played a bunch of fast notes on a guitar. And in doing so he came to represent all that was wrong with 80s hard rock music in general and metal guitar specifically. The terms “flashy,” “soulless,” and “musical masturbation” get thrown around a lot in discussions about this guys’ output. And he didn’t do himself any favors by proclaiming himself to be a mongo guitar virtuoso dude.

I chuckled to myself several times while listening to this collection, largely because the junior high version of me would have LOVED this stuff, purely for the guitar. And to be fair, the stuff he plays on the guitar is insanely difficulty, but only from considerations of pure speed. He is really not tied to any kind of rhythmic limitations. It’s just a flurry of notes, so it’s a different kind of “impressive” than, say, the rhythmic irregularity of a Robert Fripp or Dream Theater, for instance.

Anyway, this album’s being the sole Malmsteen disc in the library’s collection is interesting because it’s really a document of what he did AFTER his 80’s heyday. I don’t imagine much changed stylistically in those ten years, however.

The Hollies The Hollies’ Greatest Hits

There were two reasons I wanted to hear this album: “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother and “The Air That I Breathe.” Homework assignment: compare “The Air That I Breathe” to Radiohead’s “Creep.”

posted by Mike @ 6:39 AM