Odds and Ends 002
Notes for a Revised Paleontology
By Xgau Nov 15, 2011 6:11AM
Wilco: The Whole Love (Anti-)
Full-on Radiohead electronica Americanized with aw-shucks diffidence, red-blooded guitar, sharp tunes, and exceptionally dull poetry ("Standing O," "One Sunday Morning") ***
The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck (Merge)
Four great songs, all of which address mortality directly instead of implying it the way the nine merely ambitious ones do ("Estate Sale Sign," "For Charles Bronson," "Sourdoire Valley Song," "Beautiful Gas Mask") ***
Radiohead: The King of Limbs (XL/TBD)
So much more fun than Eno these days ("Little by Little," "Bloom") **
Comet Gain: Howl of the Lonely Crowd (What's Your Rupture?)
Desperate times catch up with desperate punk love poetry ("Clang of the Concrete Swans," "Ballad of Frankie Machine") **
Giant Sand: Blurry Blue Mountain (Fire)
With nothing much at stake but the shape of his life, Howe Gelb keeps his slow hand in ("Fields of Green," "Better Man Than Me") **
Faust: Something Dirty (Bureau B)
Synth-free after lo these many decades, their experiments have more oomph, especially the Hawkwind homages ("Tell the Bitch to Go Home," "Dampfauslass 2") **
Wire: Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)
Even formalists get the grays--well, especially formalists ("Bad Worn Thing," "Please Take") **
New York Dolls: Dancing Backwards in High Heels (429)
Weary blues from trying ("Talk to Me Baby," "End of the Summer") *
248Comments
Nov 15, 2011 10:36AM
Keep in mind that the Dolls' second album is also "heavy on covers",
I knew someone would point this out, Rob 
The Stones did only 10 originals (if I count right) out of the 36 on their first three British albums. Dylan's first album has 2 originals out of 13, though he added his name to many of the folk & blues tunes. His songwriting takes a quantum leap with the second album, with 12 out of 13 originals, while the third album is ten originals. Many of them are stone classics and they were very influential but I'd contend that many of them are dated and heavy-handed.
The Stones did only 10 originals (if I count right) out of the 36 on their first three British albums. Dylan's first album has 2 originals out of 13, though he added his name to many of the folk & blues tunes. His songwriting takes a quantum leap with the second album, with 12 out of 13 originals, while the third album is ten originals. Many of them are stone classics and they were very influential but I'd contend that many of them are dated and heavy-handed. The Dolls have 16 out of 21 originals on the first two. They then have the advantage of David's and Syl's additional 30 years in music, so the third studio album has 13 originals, no remakes of earlier Dolls tunes, and no covers. IMO, the Stones at that stage don't come close to the Dolls as songwriters (they were excellent performers, of course). I'd say Dylan catches up with them as of album two but I find the performances on the first two Dolls albums so exciting that I'll always prefer them to Bob at that stage. OTOH, I'd say his electric trilogy of '65 and '66 stomps almost anything, not to mention tossing in The Basement Tapes from the next year.
Nov 15, 2011 10:43AM
While waiting for the results of the 1990 poll, I was wondering people here would think about a poll of classical music recordings? Or a series of polls--I'd start by concentrating on living composers and work backward from there in subsequent polls. Thumbs up for "yes," thumbs down for "no."
I understand that our host is no friend of classical music, but I can't imagine all of his readers necessarily share that bias. In fact, I'm curious as to whether the classical music favored by Xgau's readers would reinforce the canon or depart from it in interesting ways, especially since I'd open the poll(s) to pop manifestations of classical music (e.g. Strauss waltzes, Stephen Foster songs, Gershwin tone poems, "third stream" works, e.g. movie scores) that (some) classical purists look down upon.
I understand that our host is no friend of classical music, but I can't imagine all of his readers necessarily share that bias. In fact, I'm curious as to whether the classical music favored by Xgau's readers would reinforce the canon or depart from it in interesting ways, especially since I'd open the poll(s) to pop manifestations of classical music (e.g. Strauss waltzes, Stephen Foster songs, Gershwin tone poems, "third stream" works, e.g. movie scores) that (some) classical purists look down upon.
Nov 15, 2011 10:59AM
Nov 15, 2011 11:03AM
There don't really seem to be many good new releases coming out at the moment. Two I came across that might be interesting are Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos! and Get Along by Tegan & Sara, both of which were released today. The latter is an affordably priced CD/DVD live set, with the DVD having a 70 minute concert and two short tour films that total about an hour. The CD is a live set of about 50 minutes and is available for d/l at the usual retailers. I'm not sure if it's a completely different concert or a shorter version of the DVD concert. Paste gave it an excellent review and indicated that it should appeal to both longtime fans and newcomers, as it's a de facto best of live.
Nov 15, 2011 11:21AM
while early Stones and Dylan's first are so heavy on covers that they would also presumably be eliminated.
Concerning highly rated albums and albums with many covers, remember that two of Xgau's favorite albums ever are The Beatles' Second Album and The Rolling Stones Now!, both very heavy on covers.Nov 15, 2011 11:47AM
I was wondering people here would think about a poll of classical music recordings?
Whew, that would be a tough one. Not because as a genre it is uniformly good, but because there's just so damn much of it. If you were to swing it, maybe just a catch-all "favorite classical albums" poll rather than several different classical polls? I think this is a lovely idea that would unfortunately be even harder than the jazz poll, especially given that classical music isn't typically thought to operate as an album-oriented art form.(I'd also like to add that the '60s jazz poll has now become a life mission for me. I'd already significantly shake up my top ten, though I still insist each album listed remains top shelf. But birthday money led to new purchases led to new love affairs with the Art Ensemble and Bill Dixon, among others. And further listening led to further raves--wow, that Jerome Kern Songbook Ella recorded is killer! And so on.)
Nov 15, 2011 12:15PM
Nov 15, 2011 12:15PM
Milo, I have a longtime love for the Shipper book, too. Even as satire I do think it was going a little far to speculate that a reunited Beatles would ever have to open for anyone else, even the biggest star of the moment (a product of his theory in the introduction that rock & roll is a wholly disposable thing and, being that it was the mid-to-late-seventies there were also a number of other otherwise wise writers who thought that Beatle love would fade in time), but I still liked the point being made, and the details of the making of the reunion album (and the songs themselves) are priceless.
Nov 15, 2011 12:51PM
his theory in the introduction that rock & roll is a wholly disposable thing
Yeah, that was the obligatory attitude back then if you didn't want to be treated like a halfwit in literary circles. Remember, a mere three years earlier, it was the End of Civilization when Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek.
Nov 15, 2011 12:58PM
Nov 15, 2011 1:08PM
Nov 15, 2011 1:14PM
Nov 15, 2011 1:24PM
Nov 15, 2011 1:25PM
Nov 15, 2011 1:35PM
two of Xgau's favorite albums ever are The Beatles' Second Album and The Rolling Stones Now!, both very heavy on covers.
My impression is that "2nd Album" might rank as an "A+"; I don't have that impression from The Stones album. It's a terrific album but I think they're usually cut by the original versions of the blues, soul, and hard R&B tunes. My exceptions would be "You Can't Catch Me" and "Down The Road Apiece". The latter ranks with "Time is on My Side" as their best pre-Out of Our Heads song.
Has anyone ever read Bob Greene's piece about the time The Stones came to Chicago for a concert in the 1970s? Muddy Waters expected that they would call him and they'd all hang out together. Greene's piece details how heartbroken Muddy was when- after waiting all day and night expecting to get a call- he never heard from them. Very moving.
The story does have a happy ending. The Stones (or someone in their camp) read Greene's piece in The Chicago Tribune and they all got together in the end. (I think The Stones may have had to return to Chicago to do so.) Greene wrote a column about the meeting, too, which took place within a week or less of the earlier column. I think both pieces are among the best written during the Golden Age of rock journalism. He's also written a book about being a roadie for Alice Cooper and another one about playing guitar for Jan & Dean.
Nov 15, 2011 1:50PM
I don't have that impression from The Stones album.
I'm a 12 x 5 man myself.In support of polls, I'd like to add that I'd been meaning to put together something like my '60s jazz ballot for quite a while, but that it took the organized EW poll to actually make it happen. I agree with the DIY comments, but I also think some of us need some kind of deadline to actually put in the work required for such a ballot. Hell, I need a hard deadline to get anything done--I am a member of the high court of procrastination. Granted, I'm pretty sure it's a mighty big court.
Nov 15, 2011 1:50PM
Bob: here's a dumb fanboy question (sort of) for ya--and please feel free to disregard if you so wish--concerning your original 1969 CGs, as they presently stand on your website: right. it has always nagged at me that you (apparently) didn't then grade what i imagine must have been the two most significant rock releases of late-69--those being Abbey Road and Let It Bleed, natch. were you maybe planning to write about them at length elsewhere? i can't believe you wrote capsule reviews for the two that just fell by the wayside or were mysteriously mislaid, so...? just curious. (witnesses: feel free to spank, berate or just plain reprimand me if this undying issue has been addressed elsewhere previously, 'k?)
edit: sanity is good.
edit: sanity is good.
Nov 15, 2011 1:56PM
Just in case this particular ballot is not well known, here's Bob's "favorite music" list submitted to Perfect Sound Forever in 1997:
Thelonious Monk Misterioso
The Clash The Clash
New York Dolls New York Dolls
Steely Dan Pretzel Logic
Indestructible Beat of Soweto
The Rolling Stones Now!
The Beatles The Beatles Second Album
Debarge In A Special Way
Funky Four Plus One "That's The Joint"
Afrika Bambaataa "Zulu Nation Throw Down"
T.S. Monk "Bon Bon Vie"
The list is here and includes some additional commentary: http://goo.gl/kQPKq
Thelonious Monk Misterioso
The Clash The Clash
New York Dolls New York Dolls
Steely Dan Pretzel Logic
Indestructible Beat of Soweto
The Rolling Stones Now!
The Beatles The Beatles Second Album
Debarge In A Special Way
Funky Four Plus One "That's The Joint"
Afrika Bambaataa "Zulu Nation Throw Down"
T.S. Monk "Bon Bon Vie"
The list is here and includes some additional commentary: http://goo.gl/kQPKq
Nov 15, 2011 2:22PM
Bradley, thanks for the pointer toward Bob's list on PSF. For those who haven't checked it yet, there are a lot of lists there from journalists, musicians, etc.
Clearly TRSN! is an "A+" in Bob's estimation, though it sounds like there's a big autobiographical element to the rating. I still find it difficult to believe that he puts it above Al Green's Call Me, Marquee Moon, Exile on Main Street, various Otis or Aretha albums, et al., but it was his first Stones album, so that's a big deal.
Nov 15, 2011 2:36PM
Report
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
about the blogger
Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.
follow msn music
music news
- Lil Wayne says of music video flap, 'I didn't step on the flag on purpose'
- Paul McCartney using birthday to raise money for charity
- Man arrested for trespassing on Rihanna's property
- Bieber behind wheel as car hits man in Hollywood
- Perry talks Russell Brand, John Mayer with Vogue
- If Kanye West is Steve Jobs, Jay-Z is Bill Gates
- Warner, Atlantic sued over unpaid internships
- Lil Wayne steps on American flag while shooting new music video
- Producer Zedd talks Lady Gaga's 'experimental' new album
- Neil Patrick Harris to return to Broadway -- to act
