Yep, you guessed it... Beatles songs rocked out Metallica style! Like us, you might've marvelled at Beatallica back in 2001 when a number of their mp3s were making the rounds around the thing called the Internet. Over the years they've received the blessing from the Metallica camp, but were threatened with legal action by Sony (who hold a major chunk of The Beatles publishing rights).
This is the first time their tunes have been available in the retail arena, so it seems nothing further came of that scare.
Anyhoo, 'twas funny then and it's funny now. Don't know if we really need a full album's worth. We got our yuks'n'chortles out after a couple tunes, but we do give these Milwaukee-ites kudos for their stamina and gusto and good taste in music. A hoot in small doses.
60 tracks... previously unreleased and rare Beatles material circa late '50s through to the mid-'60s.
Have fun pointing out how each song sounds like a different indie rock band. The winner so far: "Tomorrow Never Knows" sounds EXACTLY like Bugskull (or rather, Bugskull sound exactly like "Tomorrow Never Knows"). This comp is much much better than the first volume. 45 tracks... previously unreleased and rare Beatles material circa mid to late '60s.
50 tracks... previously unreleased and rare Beatles material circa White Album, Let It Be and Abbey Road! Lots of demo recordings of classic songs in their embryonic stage... cool!
We said it about Nirvana a while back, and we'll say it about the Beatles, people who say they hate the Beatles are LYING. And if they're not lying, well, then we just feel sorry for them. We're perfectly willing to admit to Beatles oversaturation, and fair enough if you've heard enough Beatles on classic rock radio, that you never want to hear any again, but that's so unfair to a band's legacy, especially a band who wrote so many amazing songs. Take Led Zeppelin, imagine NEVER having heard them, and then getting your ears on "Stairway To Heaven" or "Immigrant Song" or "No Quarter" or "When The Levee Breaks". Your mind would be BLOWN, and you'd suddenly realize how much every metal band you ever loved owed to Zeppelin. We remember playing Neu! for a friend whose favorite band was Stereolab, she had never heard Neu! but the second the first song started, her whole idea of Stereolab changed, and in fact, if we remember correctly, she said something like "Stereolab is a total Neu! ripoff!!"...
So imagine, for a second, being super into pop music, and never having heard the Beatles, needless to say, you would be overwhelmed by their sheer genius, their utter mastery of pop music, and how much they defined the template for almost all pop to come. No band since has such a distinct and immediately recognizable sound, or such an expansive and hit filled catalog. And yeah, is this reissue campaign number 5, 6, 10? So odds are most of you have all the Beatles records, or at least the ones you like, and probably, you've had your fill of old record nerds getting all misty eyed for the Nth time, and talking about remastered sound quality and stereo versus mono.
But, we thought as long as these records are available again, nicely repackaged, and indeed sounding better than ever, we'd make the case for one of our favorites, a commonly dismissed, overlooked, and surprisingly depressive Beatles gem. Beatles For Sale came out in 1964 (we think), and was met with much confusion. Sure there were hits, "Eight Days A Week" was massive, "I'll Follow The Sun" has always been a favorite. But then there was record opener "No Reply", which begins as a total classic sounding, but is broken up by some seriously caustic (and almost heavy) parts, with voice on the verge of cracking, guitars distorted, and the hook, one of the Beatles' best. But our heart belongs to the second track "I'm A Loser", another total classic sounding Beatles jam, with incredible harmonies, and dark lyrics that are at odds with the song's lush sound and groovy feel, acoustic guitars, walking basslines, all sorts of melodic filigree, it's been 20 years or more since we first heard it, and not only are we still not tired of it (maybe partly cuz it NEVER gets played on the radio) but it still ranks up there with our all time favorite pop songs.
The one strange thing about Beatles For Sale, is the mix of dark brooding lush pop, and stomping rock and roll numbers. We had sort of forgotten about the more rocking tracks, cuz to be honest, when we made a tape of this way back when, and later put it on our iPod, we actually left those tracks off, not cuz they're BAD, just because they're not what made us fall in love with this record in the first place. Strip away those rockers, and this is a gorgeous, introspective, hook filled, dark and subtly depressive pop gem.
Fancy new digipak packaging, new liner notes, rare photos, a mini documentary about For Sale, and yeah, it's remastered and sounds AWESOME!
PS we've got a bunch of the other newly reissued remastered digipacked Beatles discs in stock too, love 'em too, just happened to get extra excited to write about this one!
We said it about Nirvana a while back, and we'll say it about the Beatles, people who say they hate the Beatles are LYING. And if they're not lying, well, then we just feel sorry for them. We're perfectly willing to admit to Beatles oversaturation, and fair enough if you've heard enough Beatles on classic rock radio, that you never want to hear any again, but that's so unfair to a band's legacy, especially a band who wrote so many amazing songs. Take Led Zeppelin, imagine NEVER having heard them, and then getting your ears on "Stairway To Heaven" or "Immigrant Song" or "No Quarter" or "When The Levee Breaks". Your mind would be BLOWN, and you'd suddenly realize how much every metal band you ever loved owed to Zeppelin. We remember playing Neu! for a friend whose favorite band was Stereolab, she had never heard Neu! but the second the first song started, her whole idea of Stereolab changed, and in fact, if we remember correctly, she said something like "Stereolab is a total Neu! ripoff!!"...
So imagine, for a second, being super into pop music, and never having heard the Beatles, needless to say, you would be overwhelmed by their sheer genius, their utter mastery of pop music, and how much they defined the template for almost all pop to come. No band since has such a distinct and immediately recognizable sound, or such an expansive and hit filled catalog. And yeah, is this reissue campaign number 5, 6, 10? So odds are most of you have all the Beatles records, or at least the ones you like, and probably, you've had your fill of old record nerds getting all misty eyed for the Nth time, and talking about remastered sound quality and stereo versus mono.
But, we thought as long as these records are available again, nicely repackaged, and indeed (for the most part) sounding better than ever, we'd make the case for one of our favorites, a commonly dismissed, overlooked, and surprisingly depressive Beatles gem. Beatles For Sale came out in 1964 (we think), and was met with much confusion. Sure there were hits, "Eight Days A Week" was massive, "I'll Follow The Sun" has always been a favorite. But then there was record opener "No Reply", which begins as a total classic sounding, but is broken up by some seriously caustic (and almost heavy) parts, with voice on the verge of cracking, guitars distorted, and the hook, one of the Beatles' best. But our heart belongs to the second track "I'm A Loser", another total classic sounding Beatles jam, with incredible harmonies, and dark lyrics that are at odds with the song's lush sound and groovy feel, acoustic guitars, walking basslines, all sorts of melodic filigree, it's been 20 years or more since we first heard it, and not only are we still not tired of it (maybe partly cuz it NEVER gets played on the radio) but it still ranks up there with our all time favorite pop songs.
The one strange thing about Beatles For Sale, is the mix of dark brooding lush pop, and stomping rock and roll numbers. We had sort of forgotten about the more rocking tracks, cuz to be honest, when we made a tape of this way back when, and later put it on our iPod, we actually left those tracks off, not cuz they're BAD, just because they're not what made us fall in love with this record in the first place. Strip away those rockers, and this is a gorgeous, introspective, hook filled, dark and subtly depressive pop gem.
Fancy new digipak packaging, new liner notes, rare photos, a mini documentary about For Sale, and yeah, it's remastered and sounds AWESOME!
PS: we've got a bunch of the other newly reissued remastered digipacked Beatles discs in stock too, love 'em too, just happened to get extra excited to write about this one!
Oh, and if you're feeling extra splurge-y, there's also the Beatles Mono Box set which is in a league all its own (and which was at the tip-top of Cup's 2009 favorites list). The limited edition 13-disc box set contains all of their albums up to and including the White Album plus a collection of singles and eps - all in mono as they were originally produced! Unlike their stereo counterparts, the mono remasters haven't been given the modern rock treatment (i.e, everything loud). Hence, they have a stunning dynamic range, and sound a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Apart from the stereo versus mono distinctions, the recordings definitely sound different, and in many cases are actually different, as the stereo versions were often mixed at a much later date. Each of the cds is packaged in a beautiful mini replica lp jacket complete with mini replica inner sleeve to boot. Unfortunately the mono albums are not currently available individually, so this is the only way to get 'em... and only for a limited time. If you want one, we'd be happy to order one in for you!
Stripped (pun not intended... really!) clean of Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound string and choral orchestrations, this is still not the Let It Be (original working title: Get Back) originally envisioned by The Beatles back in 1969, but is a new vision of it from Paul McCartney. Reassembled, rearranged, and remixed from the original tapes, the 2003 album has a different track listing (gone are "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It", added is "Don't Let Me Down") and running order.
In case you haven't heard the ruckus, the Beatles albums have all been remastered and reissued with fancy new digipak packaging, new liner notes, rare photos, and more! We've got 'em, and we're loving them!
You might've read our recent glowing review of For Sale, well, Magical Mystery Tour is another particular fave around these parts. A wild mix of groundbreaking bizarre psychedelia and sumptuous heart-melting pop including "I Am The Walrus", "Blue Jay Way", "Hello Goodbye", "Penny Lane", and "All You Need Is Love" (the birthplace of math-rock... okay, maybe not really, but Lennon sure sings his way around a bunch of different meters)... yes!
Oh, and if you're feeling extra splurge-y, there's also the Beatles Mono Box set which is in a league all its own (and which was at the tip-top of Cup's 2009 favorites list). The limited edition 13-disc box set contains all of their albums up to and including the White Album plus a collection of singles and eps - all in mono as they were originally produced! Unlike their stereo counterparts, the mono remasters haven't been given the modern rock treatment (i.e, everything loud). Hence, they have a stunning dynamic range, and sound a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Apart from the stereo versus mono distinctions, the recordings definitely sound different, and in many cases are actually different, as the stereo versions were often mixed at a much later date. Each of the cds is packaged in a beautiful mini replica lp jacket complete with mini replica inner sleeve to boot. Unfortunately the mono albums are not currently available individually, so this is the only way to get 'em... and only for a limited time. If you want one, we'd be happy to order one in for you!
It's Revolver. Remastered. If for some reason you don't already have this, get it. And some folks will be happy to get it again.
It's Rubber Soul. Remastered. If for some reason you don't already have this, get it. And some folks will be happy to get it again.
Are we really going to have to write a review of the White Album? That's like a born again Christian writing a review of the Bible. 2 questions? Do you have this already? If yes, then maybe you want to get it again for the "improved" remastered sound. Your call, but if any album could stand to be purchased more than once, this one certainly qualifies. If no, then why not?
Yes, it's a cd-r, but we're stoked to have it -- it's the only way to get a hold of this, the rare soundtrack to cult underground director and Crowley-ite Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising (begun in the mid-'60s, completed in 1980). Originally Jimmy Page was
Bobby and the Freedom Orchestra play electric guitars, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, some synths and bass...there's two drummers, and a trumpet player. The result is a sometimes sinister, sometimes blissful, always beautiful and "cosmic" drifting soundscape. Gurgling old-school electronics blend with propulsive rock drumming, while psychedelic guitar soloing tears across the sunset horizon created by the synths...The combination results in what you might imagine an early '70s Tangerine Dream/Ennio Morricone collaboration might have sounded like. It's indeed a lost classic. And the composer's life story is at least as weird and interesting as the music...
In the late Sixties, Bobby was a rising star in the LA rock-pop scene, hanging with Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Love. But then a drug deal went bad and he was sent to death row for murder, arrested 3 fays before the Manson killing spree. Fortunately for him, his sentence was eventually commuted, but he's spent like the last 30 years in jail. He's been a model prisoner, pursuing his talents in music and art despite his incarceration, and you'd think that the parole board would have let him out by now (he's been paying his debt to society longer than anybody else has for a similar crime, we're told) but sadly for Bobby, he's got to deal with his association with the notorious Charles Manson. While never a member of Manson's Family (a common misconception), he did play in a band with Manson, and the media hype surrounding anything to do with Manson hasn't helped Bobby's case, as you might imagine! (At least that's the way Beausoleil tells it. But the more one delves into the story of "Lucifer Rising", the weirder things get -- for instance, apparently Bobby was supposed to PLAY the role of Lucifer in the original 1966 version of Anger's film, but the two had a falling out and Bobby allegedly stole the footage and buried it in Death Valley! How this jibes with him later writing this soundtrack, we don't know.)
Yet, not being one to simply sit in his cell and rot, Bobby has, as we said, kept quite busy within the clutches of the California Penal system.
And now, with his wife Barbara dealing with business on the "outside", he's started the White Dog label to release his music. So far they've put out this soundtrack and also a couple of Bobby's newer compositions, stuff more in the New Age vein. They haven't yet made the jump to "real" cds, but their cd-rs are professionally duplicated and printed, with computer art by Bobby himself.
Although for obvious reasons Bobby wouldn't probably approve of the use of the word to describe himself and this soundtrack, in the Aquarius Records' musical context it's quite appropriate: Cult!
We were able to get Bobby Beausoleil's legendary Lucifer Rising soundtrack on cd for a brief time, but it seems to be unavailable again, so for now, this super limited picture disc may be your only chance to hear this awesomely freaked out music. Side A was recorded live in San Francisco in 1967, and features a killer live version of "The Magick Powerhouse of Oz". The B side is a different version recorded a decade later, in Tracy State Prison where Bobby and and least one other Manson family member was doing time. Here's a truncated version of our review for the now out of print cd version to give you more background on Beausoleil and the Lucifer Rising soundtrack:
The rare soundtrack to cult underground director and Crowley-ite Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising (begun in the mid-'60s, completed in 1980). Originally Jimmy Page was supposed to do the score, but he bowed out and the music was instead handled by another cult figure, the musical visionary and imprisoned killer Bobby Beausoliel, who composed and performed this spacey psychedelic opus with his Freedom Orchestra (presumably all fellow prisoners with Bobby).
Bobby and the Freedom Orchestra play electric guitars, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, some synths and bass...there's two drummers, and a trumpet player. The result is a sometimes sinister, sometimes blissful, always beautiful and "cosmic" drifting soundscape. Gurgling old-school electronics blend with propulsive rock drumming, while psychedelic guitar soloing tears across the sunset horizon created by the synths...The combination results in what you might imagine an early '70s Tangerine Dream/Ennio Morricone collaboration might have sounded like. It's indeed a lost classic. And the composer's life story is at least as weird and interesting as the music...
In the late Sixties, Bobby was a rising star in the LA rock-pop scene, hanging with Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Love. But then a drug deal went bad and he was sent to death row for murder, arrested 3 days before the Manson killing spree. Fortunately for him, his sentence was eventually commuted, but he's spent like the last 30 years in jail. He's been a model prisoner, pursuing his talents in music and art despite his incarceration, and you'd think that the parole board would have let him out by now (he's been paying his debt to society longer than anybody else has for a similar crime, we're told) but sadly for Bobby, he's got to deal with his association with the notorious Charles Manson. While never a member of Manson's Family (a common misconception), he did play in a band with Manson, and the media hype surrounding anything to do with Manson hasn't helped Bobby's case, as you might imagine! (At least that's the way Beausoleil tells it. But the more one delves into the story of "Lucifer Rising", the weirder things get -- for instance, apparently Bobby was supposed to PLAY the role of Lucifer in the original 1966 version of Anger's film, but the two had a falling out and Bobby allegedly stole the footage and buried it in Death Valley! How this jibes with him later writing this soundtrack, we don't know.)
Although for obvious reasons Bobby wouldn't probably approve of the use of the word to describe himself and this soundtrack, in the Aquarius Records' musical context it's quite appropriate: Cult!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Reissue of obscure '70s artifact, for Devendra fans for sure.
These Beautiful New Born Children make brash, trashy garage rawk with distorted squawky vocals very much in the tradition of The Sonics or Billy Childish and his many bands (Thee Headcoats, Thee Milkshakes, Thee Buff Medways, Thee Mighty Caesars, etc). Think of it as the musical equivalent of your unruly buddy who bangs on your door in the middle of the night, raises a rowdy ruckus, spills cheap beer everywhere, breaks things, and refuses to go home. Case in point, the fiery final track "Up And Down And Round And Round" tears on and on and on. You can try and fight it, or give in and smash a few beer bottles yourself.
Beautiful Skin return... well, sort of. You might recall the duo's (Nick Forte and Ross Totino) fine debut album back in 2000 (Revolve on the Gold Standard Laboratories label) which we thoroughly dug. Sure as with most of Forte's musical projects, BS was very inspired by late '70s / early '80s bands such as Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, PiL and New Order, but they took the influences and ran with them... both prior to *and* further than where most of the current crop of similarly influenced bands have ventured. Totino brought a lightness not to mention a meticulous craftsmanship to Forte's usually brooding, raw dourness. Then, the duo became a quartet (with the addition of Charles Burst and Mitch Rackin), raising expectations even further. And then, they promptly disbanded. Ack! Sadly, they left us hangin' wanting more of their cool atmospheric propulsive synth-wave goodness. In the years since, Forte released music under another moniker (Christmas Decorations), but it paled in comparison. Now GSL has brought Beautiful Skin back into view with this collection of rarities. You might be thinking it's a bit odd to have a release of this sort considering the short life of the band, but actually this baker's dozen includes previously unreleased material that was recorded by the foursome just prior to the split. This bittersweetly revealing document unveils the promising directions in which the group was heading -- a broader range that ran the extremes from the bouyantly poppy (the 2-minute "Skin") to the more ominous and proggy (the 12-minute "Magic Solutions To Life's Many Problems"). Also included are tracks from their first demo (recorded in 1998) and their Work Will Set You Free 7". Sooo, let's be happy that these recordings have been made available, but let's also be bummed out once more by the early demise of a great band.
Channelling the early strains of Joy Division, Wire, and maybe a bit of Cabaret Voltaire and PiL are these two men. Nick Forte (ex-Rorschach!) and Rossano Totino churn the moody new wave machine into the next dimension. And they do it so well. Cool, varied and effected vocals stream through the synth-laden landscape. Fans of the above-mentioned bands as well as New Order and anyone who freaked out at the recent super-smooth Antarctica cd need this. A very very cool album with some very very cool cover art. Oh yes, and did I mention very very recommended.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Very cool. Beautiful Skin are Nick Forte (formerly of Rorschach) and Rossano Totino. Like a distant younger cousin to Wire (Chairs Missing) and early Devo. Low, thick, rubber-y synth rumblings with slightly unhinged Blixa-esque vocals. These two songs left me perched on the edge of my seat eager for more, and word has it there's a full length on the way.
After his deliriously beautiful and crushingly romantic last album Sea Change broke many a heart back in 2002, in what musical direction could the lad head next? We very well knew to expect something completely different from Mr. Eclectic, and that's certainly what we got. Indeed, Guero's the answer, and by all indications it's a return to the land of Odelay... but the ol' slacker town's been all sleeked up into a shiny urban center. When the album kicked things off with some mild nu-metal riffin' and Sir Beck bustin' out a slouchy almost EMF-ish vocal rap, we sorta went "uh oh!", but after that, things settle into that trademark Beck funkiness, but with lots of nifty sound processing effects applied throughout. Despite the album's overall hi-tech shininess, stuff like the hootin' and hollerin' of the second track "Que Onda Guero", as well as the occasional slackly loping acoustic guitar, harmonica and cheesy casio-style bleep-blop sounds keep things feelin' suitably casual and off the cuff. The album's pace is an unhurried groovy slow-to-mid-tempo... y'know, one that your dashboard noddin' head doggy can easily keep time to. And actually that's sorta the pace at which you might find Guero growing on you. Its songs are definitely not the kind that'll immediate bowl you over. Great for those lazy days when you've got nowhere to be anytime soon.
With his most recent album Guero which recalled his early Odelay funky finery, Sir Beck certainly gave the remixers lots of easy-goin' groovy stuff to work with, and the results from the likes of Air, El-P among others do complement and compliment the originals quite well. Don't be expecting anything here to blow your mind though, it all pretty much sticks to Remixing 101, but much like its source album, its own pleasingly sun'n'weed-baked laidback shufflin' funkiness just might grow on you.
Uh, hi. You've probably already made up your mind about Beck, and ain't gonna be swayed one way or the other. So please enjoy Jim's following track by track analysis. You may disagree, and that's okay! [1.] Soul-funk appropriations that feature an odd concoction of chemically imbalanced sex-talk between Prince and Marilyn Manson (if you think this is a cruel comparison, it's not. that's just what it sounds like). [2.] Really weird far-from-melodic orchestral meanderings not as good as The Beatles "Hey Jude" but in the same vein. [3.] In one ear and out the other. [4.] A Tom-Tom Club rip off of outerspace lite-electro-pop, with alot of white-boy-trying-to-be-black bass slapping. [5.] This is sorta what I thought Beck did... a glam rock reinvention of rap. [6.] Actual lyric from a song that sounds like Andy Gibb fronting the Latin Playboys: "We're on the good ship Menage a Trois" (!?!) [7.] Another Beatles reference, this time a really a super clunky revision of "Mr. Taxman." [8.] '80s cocaine club grooves with all sorts of spacey fx and a 'hip' '90s pastiche of turntablism and timestretching. [9.] Beck sounds like Courtney Love on a really bad heroin bender waking up next to Jimmy Buffet. [10.] ZZ-Top guitar-fuzz gated into the most driving song on the album (but that doesn't say much).[11.] Back to that Marilyn Manson / Prince fusion over horn soaked slow-jam funkiness. Is this supposed to be funny?
Prognosis: Worst album I've heard since that Geri Halliwell record.
While Beck's last album, The Information wasn't all that bad, it sure didn't leave much of a lasting impression. Which broke a streak of very memorable and eclectic releases from the all-grown-up-now wonder-kid from LA.
With Modern Guilt he's enlisted the services of Danger Mouse for production duties and has crafted a really solid West Coast pop record. We can't help but be reminded of Spoon, not only because of the cover art, but also some of the hooks and melodies in many of the songs are definite Spponisms. But ultimately this sounds like a really solid Beck record without any kitsch but with lots of catchy and earnest songs throughout. Very nice.
It's the new Beck album that isn't the new album (i.e. not the intended sequel to Odelay). With previously released stuff and some new songs. You have to wonder at the Os Mutantes references: the album's name is Mutations and the featured single is called Tropicalia?! Hmmm...
Mr. Beck is back with a brilliant record, in extremely large part due to producing team the Dust Bros (of Paul's Boutique fame). "Rap", folk, pop, & lots else besides.
For those of you who've worn your beloved copy of Odelay down to dust... and who have a few extra bucks in their pockets! Beck's arguably best album is the latest to grace the Universal Music deluxe reissue series. Hard to believe that Odelay was released almost a dozen years ago, but indeed it was! You can once again revel in the slacker glory of "The New Pollution", "Devil's Haircut", "Where It's At", and the other eleven album tracks. Yes, sooo good, but you don't have to stop there! On this double disc set you also get three bonus tracks, plus a second cd with three remixes (by Aphex Twin, U.N.K.L.E., and Mickey P) and a slew of b-sides!
Through all the genre's he's dabbled in, all the concepts he's fucked with, all the hits he's had, for many of us the story of Beck begins and ends with One Foot In The Grave. Recorded months before Mellow Gold, which ended up being released before it and turned Beck into a poster boy for the '90s alternative-nation, One Foot In The Grave is Beck's most stripped down, raw and impacting album. And a long time favorite of most folks around here.
Recorded by Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic Studios and released on K, this record shared much more in common with the humble raw sounds of the underground then it did videos on MTV, glossy photos shoots and all that would follow. The whole world seemed focused on "Loser" and and all the bullshit that came with Beck's sudden ascent to superstar status, but this record was proof that beneath it all was an amazing songwriter and a fantastic singer. While a stripped down lo-fi folksy/bluesy record sounds like such an ordinary thing now, back in the early '90s there really wasn't much of this going on. This was a decade before indie-folk would blow up big, it was the same year that Elliott Smith released his first solo album, the beginnings of a new burst of indie minded souls making folk music in a truly unique way. One Foot In The Grave was one of those records that kicked our asses, a record we could totally connect to, a record that we listened to ENDLESSLY. There weren't many singer songwriters around at the time who seemed to bring real grit to their sound, or who had any sort of unique perspective. Beck then was someone who you could tell loved Sonic Youth, Beat Happening and Neil Young, and was just sort of making real heartfelt songs, songs that sounded like they were being performed around a campfire, just us and beck, making s'mores, telling ghost stories and singing songs.
Rustic and haunting, simple and strong, One Foot In The Grave still sounds so great after all these years, and still manages to be the best sounding Beck record, even considering everything that came after!!
This reissue comes with sixteen bonus tracks (thirteen of which have never been released!)
It appears Master Beck has set his galactic funk'n'soul genre-hopping eccentricities aside, following up 1999's heavily soul-influenced Midnite Vultures with an album of mature introspection of the likes that he hasn't approached since One Foot In The Grave. Heart-baring and lushly composed, Sea Change brings his exceptional songwriting skills back to the fore - unencumbered by the glitz and kitsch of past releases. Perhaps his most focused work to date, everything (mood, style, words and instrumentation) comes together beautifully within each song. Together, the twelve songs make for a deeply moving, orchestral pop/folk album. While Beck has not dropped his pastiche approach to songwriting, the apparent intentions and end result are not *ironic* sounding like many of his recent efforts. Which is all the more strange considering that the lode he's mining from here is the soft rock / folk stylings of such greats as Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot and Dan Fogelberg as well as heavyweights Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake -- to whom Beck might even have given posthumous writing or arranging credits to for his song "Round The Bend". Fans of Badly Drawn Boy might also take note. This is a mighty fine Beck album.
Beck might be trying a bunch of new things in terms of presentation and packaging (for one thing the cover is a blank grid on which you can arrange the provided very Vice Magazine looking stickers), but it sure feels like he's retreading a lot of old terrain musically. Some songs sound like total rehashings of his 'hits' from Odelay and Sea Change. Actually two lyrics keep taking turns popping into our collective aQ head when we listen to this album. They are Steve Miller's "time keeps on slippin'... slippin'... slippin' into the fyooochaaa" from back in the '70s and Beck's own "I got two turntables and a microphone" from "Where It's At" (on his Odelay album). That said, all in all though this *is* a solid Beck album. It just didn't register the "Holy shit, this is groundbreaking stuff!" reaction that all the pre-release press made it out to be. It's just good ol' Beck recrafted and redesigned with fresh cool sounds and stickers too!
New Deluxe box version of Beck's latest outing with an extra disc of remixes from Ellen Allien, Ricardo Villalobos, and Jamie Lidell among others and a DVD with even more videos on it then before, plus a lyric book, a blank book (for your thoughts?) and complete set of stickers! Here's what we said before:
Beck might be trying a bunch of new things in terms of presentation and packaging (for one thing the cover is a blank grid on which you can arrange the provided very Vice Magazine looking stickers), but it sure feels like he's retreading a lot of old terrain musically. Some songs sound like total rehashings of his 'hits' from Odelay and Sea Change. Actually two lyrics keep taking turns popping into our collective aQ head when we listen to this album. They are Steve Miller's "time keeps on slippin'... slippin'... slippin' into the fyooochaaa" from back in the '70s and Beck's own "I got two turntables and a microphone" from "Where It's At" (on his Odelay album). That said, all in all though this *is* a solid Beck album. It just didn't register the "Holy shit, this is groundbreaking stuff!" reaction that all the pre-release press made it out to be. It's just good ol' Beck recrafted and redesigned with fresh cool sounds and stickers too!
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
"The only song anyone in the band has ever written in musical notation is 'Lepidoptera', the seventh song on Transaction de Nova. A few months ago, in a rare serendipitous moment, the page of the music was turned upside down -- the bass clef became the treble clef, the treble became the bass -- It instantly made sense. It didn't sound backwards, but it sounded reversed, turned inside out and over all at once... a song that forms a mirror image of another song and is, literally, the perfect b-side, the record turned upside down." - from Bedhead's description of 'Leper'.
Dark sunglasses, leather, fuzz, feedback, and attitude (and wet hearts and dry vomit too). Killer '70s NY proto-punk worship from modern day China!
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What comes to mind when you think of The Bee Gees? Saturday Night Fever? Disco? White suits? 30 years of cheesy disco dancing to "Stayin' Alive"? The awesome(ly atrocious) film version of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? SNL's "Barry Gibb Talk Show"? Probably all of those things.
Which is too bad, 'cuz if it weren't for all that stuff, maybe you'd think instead of lush melancholy experimental pop music, incredible vocal harmonies, horns, strings, orchestras, mellotrons, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Zombies...
Some of you probably have no idea what the heck we're on about, but well before disco and Saturday Night Fever and all that, way back in 1967, the Bee Gees were crafting some of the loveliest, most compellingly mysterious pop music around. With a sound that borrowed from other bands of the time, most notably the aforementioned big three, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Zombies, but incorporated those influences into a sound that was distinctly their own. A sound at times gorgeously classic sounding, and at others surprisingly strange and dark and experimental.
The influence of the Beatles and the Beach Boys is undeniable. The song "Please Read Me" is incredibly Beach Boys-esque, and marks the first time the group would employ falsetto vocal harmonies, obviously influenced by Brian Wilson, and which would of course become their trademark. And the cover of 1st is by the artist Klaus Voorman, who of course also designed the Beatles' Revolver. But scratch a little below the surface, and there is so much more. A musical world of dreamlike, melancholy psychedelia.
"Holiday" is a brooding and moody dirge, with haunting organ swells, and pizzicato strings, with soft horns and simple percussion, and a gorgeous vocal melody, as well as a strange and impossibly catchy bridge with simple nonsense vocals. Then there's "Red Chair, Fade Away" a dreamy, rainbow hued blast of psychedelic pop, blissed out and trippy, with tons of layered production, fuzzy guitars, jazzy horns, fluttering flute, all wrapped in a stained glass production, peppered with circusy calliopes and soaring strings.
But two of the tracks on 1st really stand out. Lovely and catchy, but so dark and emotionally intense. The first is "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You", which begins with minor key strings over monk-like chanting background vocals, before the Strawberry Fields vocals kick in, over a shuffled rhythm and some deliriously fuzzy psych guitar, with the chanting vocals resurfacing throughout the song before it fades into a truly haunting outro, just those strings and some heavily reverbed drums that stumble into the darkness. The other is the amazingly monickered "New York Mining Disaster 1941" with it's haunting nearly a capella verses (backed up by barely audible guitar strumming WAY down in the mix), jangly guitars, throbbing simple percussion, the whole track mournful and melancholy, the minor key brightening briefly for the chorus before drifting baack into haunting melancholia. The track is laced with strange funereal strings, and again the vocals are just so beautiful, lush and dreamy.
The rest of the record is just as fantastic, every song a strange gem, it's difficult to pick which ones to mention, you'll of course recognize "To Love Somebody", which while not a huge hit for them (although it did crack the top 20), has become an international pop standard, and was originally a track the band wrote for Otis Redding, but their version is the best, so lush and rife with layer after layer of instrumentation, as well as some amazing melodic flourishes left off subsequent cover versions, then there's "Cucumber Castle" with its super dramatic strings, Spanish sounding trumpets, moaning cellos, and bizarre player piano background trills, all behind a main melody that is so unbelievably catchy... we could go on and on and on. Needless to say, it's difficult to not go all gushy and declare this as one of the all time greatest pop records. But what the heck, it is! Listen to this enough and you just may banish all thoughts of white suits and light up dancefloors from your head forever!
Gorgeously elaborate reissue, in a full color 8 panel digipak, full color with tons of amazing photos, a massive booklet also packed with photos, with lengthy liner notes, as well as notes on each track from the surviving members. The first disc contains the full version of the album, in both stereo AND mono, the second disc contains 9 alternate and early versions (including two dramatically different versions of "New York Mining Disaster 1941") as well as 5 unreleased tracks, most of which are as good as anything on the album proper!
A few months back, we made the Rhino reissue of the debut release from the Bee Gees our Record of the Week. Which raised a few eyebrows, at least until the ears nearby to those eyebrows actually heard the gorgeously melancholy,�sweet, shimmery, sun dappled, minor key pop confections of the band that would somehow go on to be the kings of disco. But long before Saturday Night Fever and white disco suits and questionable movie music reinterpretations of Beatles albums, the Bee Gees were masters of lush moody pop, releasing what some consider to be one of the most perfect 1-2-3 pop punches in forever, 1st, Horizontal and Idea.�
The Beatles are definitely worth mentioning, as the Bee Gees shared a similar knack for both perfect hook filled pop and slightly trippy, druggy psychedelia, that managed to find it's way into much of their music and many of the lyrics. Horizontal is packed with plenty of�sixties jangle and�gorgeous vocal harmonies, but where as 1st was filled with short sharp pop, Horizontal is a much darker beast, the songs are longer, slower, and much moodier, lots of minor key melodies, wild squalls of psych guitar, wheezing instrumental stretches, the vocals are even more dramatic and emotional, soaring strings, unlikely instrumentation, the songs are still catchy, just more subtly so.�
The opener, "World" sounds like the Zombies, via the Kinks, with a slow burning urgency, long drawn out droning instruments, an insistent beat, and a hook to die for. Later on, "Really And Sincerely" almost sounds like Antony And The Johnsons, right down to the super emotional vocals. Then there's the super slinky "The Earnest Of Being George", that sounds like "Come Together" era Beatles, all smoke and slither. Then there's the title track, their own "Day In The Life", epic and intense, dark moody piano and haunting strings, with heartbreaking melodies and those perfect, perfect vocals. Such an amazing record. Along with the other two (1st and Idea), this is absolutely essential, some of the most timeless perfect pop you'll ever hear!
Gorgeously elaborate reissue, in a massive 8 panel digipak, full color with tons of amazing photos, a massive booklet also packed with photos, with lengthy liner notes, as well as notes on each track from the surviving members. The first disc contains the full version of the album, in both stereo AND mono, the second disc contains lost tracks, random B sides, alternate and early versions, as well as two gorgeous Christmas songs, one a medley of� "Silent Night" and "Hark The Herald Angels Sing", as well as 5 other unreleased tracks, most of which are as good as anything on the actual album!
Third times the charm for the Bee Gees, as we finally get around to reviewing the third double-disc remastered deluxe reissue in a series, this one of their 1968 third record, Idea. And it's not because this is our least favorite release, but quite the contrary, it's become the album we revisit the most frequently. Often letting it play in the store repeatedly through both stereo and mono versions.
A slight departure from the baroque arrangements and epic songwriting of 1st and Horizontal (but which they will return to in full form on 1969's Odessa), Idea focuses more on the band as an integrated rock combo rather than a harmony-pop group with accompaniment. The orchestra arrangements take a back seat in the mix, while the group utilizes a more upbeat hook-laden rocking sound in the vein of other seminal (and underrated at the time) albums of the era such as Something Else By The Kinks, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and Headquarters by The Monkees (and influencing such later bands as Elf Power, Beachwood Sparks and Vetiver). Spotlighting electric guitar, 12-string acoustic, harmonicas and organ, as evidenced on the title track, "Kitty Can", "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry" and "Such A Shame", which stands out due to fact that it's the only song on the record not written by the Gibbs, but by then lead guitarist Vince Melouney.
But of course, this wouldn't be a classic Bee Gees album without some melancholic orchestral balladry which they were more known for, so we assume that is why opener, "Let There Be Love" with its piano and harp arpeggios, "I Started A Joke" and "I've Got To Get A Message To You" were pegged as the standout singles. All great songs surely, yet for us the lesser known songs are the real treats. Definitely one of the bands most underrated recordings and one which we hope this reissue will garner many new fans. Features both Stereo and Mono mixes and a bonus disc of alternate versions, unreleased tracks and even a couple of radio spots for Coca-Cola! Highly Recommended!!!!
