Trying to like an album

I bought an album recently ($10 - thanks JB) in the hope, and with the assumption that I would like it. The album is Ryan Adams' (Ryan, not Bryan) Rock n Roll and I don't really like it. I don't know much about Ryan, only that he's critically acclaimed and that he's a little bit alt/country. My research has found that this is not one of his best albums (according to general consensus) and it's a strictly rock n roll album (I thought the title might have been ironic). I do like rock n roll music, of course (I'm pretty trigger-happy with the brackets, aren't I?).

So, in a Dutch attempt to save $10, and just because I've bought it, I'm determined to force myself to like this album. I think, if I listen to it enough, it will grow on me. I'm going to keep a little diary of my sessions with Ryan, which I'll post on here. My goal is to like this album by the end of the year.
Has anyone else managed to force themselves to like an album or are my efforts in vain?

JB HIFI

JB is a blessing to Hobart. You can go in there with $10 and come out with a good CD or DVD. But, there are a few things I've noticed about that shop:

1. They have an obscene amount of staff members. There seems to be about 4 or 5 of them patrolling each aisle. You can barely browse without tripping over a staff member! If they didn't have as much staff, the shop would be a lot less busy. Also, it seems certain staff members follow you to whichever aisle you're in - like they've secretly assigned a member of staff to each customer as a pet.

2. The staff members all look a bit like hobbits. A lot of them have wispy beards and shaggy hair - and none of them are particularly tall. A couple of them seem really, really young as well, like McDonald's employees. There is definitely a JB "look".

3. They have music playing (as you'd expect) but it repeatedly comes to an abrupt halt so that the PA can come into action:
"Gavin, you've got a call on line 1"
"Tracy, your boyfriend's waiting at the HIFI section"
"DVDs, we need some assistance with an STD at the front desk"
Then the music starts again.

State Songs #5 - California

California Stars - Wilco

There are a great deal of songs written about California. Why then, would I pick something so obscure when I could have chosen 'California Girls' or 'California Dreamin'? Well, just because they are some of the most famous California songs, it doesn't immediately qualify them as representatives of their state; not in my list, anyway. These songs don't make me think of California at all. The Beach Boys' song makes me think of the "stop" button while 'California Dreamin' actually draws to my mind brown leaves, grey skies, and winter's days - not the sunny respite that the song points toward. To me, that song is more of a winter classic than a summer anthem.

California, much like Australia, has a certain image that's often shown and idealised around the world - that of endless summers, beaches and bikinis. But, just like Tassie is hardly the epitome of an "endless summer", California also has areas where mountains, wilderness, and, even snow dominate the scenery. It seems there's much more to California than what the stereotype allows for, and it seems to me that all those Beach Boys' songs about "fun fun fun" and "surfin' USA" and "wishing they could all be California girls" are songs written about the stereotype - songs that could be used in a tourism campaign to get people onto an overcrowded beach. Don't get me wrong, I like the beach as much as the next man and I'm not trying pretend there aren't any beaches in California, that would be quite a claim! I'm just trying to work out why I don't like the Beach Boys very much.


The song I chose is from 'Mermaid Avenue' - Wilco and Billy Bragg's album of Woody Guthrie songs. It's really good. So the lyrics to this song are by Woody Guthrie and the music, tune etc is Wilco...

'California Stars' is a song that instantly evokes feeling and a strong vibe. It makes me think of California, because (despite its title) it's not really about California. I'm aware that doesn't make any sense so I'll try to explain: The Beach Boys' song 'California Girls' is about California; it's basically saying that girls from California are the best in the world. Wilco's song is more personal. It's about taking refuge and striving towards rest - "on a bed of California stars". This resonates quite strongly with me, and I dare say many others; it doesn't matter if you're thinking of California or not, it could be anywhere that means something to you. It's the song's vibe that does most of the work in taking me to California; the title just rounds it off. The experience of a place will come laced with feelings about being there, as well as some unrelated thoughts. I think this is how we remember places - if we truly remember them, we don't remember what they're supposed to look like, we remember our emotions about being there.

In the video I linked to, someone has put up some footage of their holiday to Northern California, with 'California Stars' as the soundtrack. It's kind of weird watching a complete stranger's holiday video - you feel a bit like an involuntary stalker. Or you're just bored to death. This video accompanies the song really well though, and when I watched it, I felt my brain was trying to remember a holiday that I never actually went on... weird.

Top 5 musical acts whose names start with "Cat"

5. Catherine Wheel
4. Cat Empire, The
3. Catatonia
2. Cat Power
1. Cat Stevens

Music DVDs

I don't like live music DVDs at all. I don't understand why there is such a large section devoted to them in most music stores... I guess people must buy them. It's basically an inconvenient way of listening to music; you have to play it through the TV and you have to watch it being performed - an experience that would not come at all close to replicating the excitement of being at the concert.

Do people watch music DVDs?

No home is complete without...

A life size cardboard cutout of André Rieu.

I wish I had one.

Top 5 Gay Bands/Singers

Not including people like Freddy Mercury and Michael Stipe, because they are (or were) in bands with mostly heterosexual members.

5. Indigo Girls
4. Elton John
3. Rufus Wainwright
2. Scissor Sisters
1. David Bowie (he's bi-sexual - that counts)

The Drones

Mikey saw them at the Republic last Friday and posts a review on his blog.

90s Aussie Alternative Rock Bands

There were some fairly successful bands around this country in the nineties. There were also quite a few that didn't do so well but still gathered a bit of following, through live shows and Triple J airplay. Some of these bands I couldn't stand while some others I remember quite fondly (but vaguely). At its best, I think the music that these bands produced was better than some of Australia's more popular groups - I've never been a huge Silverchair or Something For Kate fan and I get significantly closer to death when I hear the Hoodoo Gurus or Hunters and Collectors. Poisonous stuff.

Here are some bands I remember being pretty good back in the day, but have since defunct or have disappeared into further obscurity:

Ammonia - they had some great songs like 'You're Not The Only One'.

Violetine - I used to love the song 'Any Day'.

Pollyanna - This person has several videos of this underrated band. Check them out.

Even - Remember their really cruisy song 'Black Umbrella'?

Some bands I didn't like nor dislike:

Not From There - They were from Brisbane but had that German song 'Sich Offnen'.

Screamfeeder - Another Brisbane band. I don't remember any standout songs so here's a segment of them on the show 'Recovery'. So nineties!

Deadstar - Had some pretty good songs. I used to find their song 'Deeper Water' pretty annoying at the time, but quite enjoyed listening to it again just now.

Skunkhour - 'Up To Our Necks In It' was such a cheesy song but also very likeable.

Shocking, awful, embarrassing bands that I will not link any songs to because I don't want to remember or promote them:

The Fauves - These guys seemed to have a bit of cred and I didn't mind a few of their songs, but 'Bigger Than Tina' was so bad it erased anything half-decent they may have made from my memory.

Happyland - When you mix two rubbish bands (Spiderbait and Regurgitator), the result is bound to be dismal. I could have told them that before they made an album.

Custard - Just a little too silly for me. I could never take Dave McCormack seriously, although he is pretty talented.

Loki - Really bad, amateur rock trio. Can't believe I even remember them.

Any others?

Another look at 90s Eurodance

The 1990s were over, but not before its fair share of sins were dealt out. Bill Clinton committed adultery, Martin Bryant murdered 35 people... and 'I like to Move it Move it' was created, recorded and sold to the public. That was just one of many songs that followed the exact same formula, to be pumped out (with alarming regularity) from commercial radio stations and party dance floors.

For a band to qualify as 'eurodance' (which seems to be the official term for the genre), it needs the following ingredients:

1. A singer capable of repetitive pop choruses
2. A not especially talented rapper (perhaps a white German rapper)
3. Tacky Synth hooks
4. Tacky, pounding bass beats (doof doof)
5. Cheesy lyrics

I think you all know what type of music I'm talking about. I can remember it being very popular at the time but now not many dare speak of it. One of the reasons why I think it was successful, is that it was dance music for people that didn't like dance music. It wasn't relentless electronic noise, or rather, it was relentless electronic noise but it also had infectious catchy pop tunes. To give credit where it's due, a lot of these songs will get stuck in your head all day if you have the misfortune of remembering one.

As bad as it was, I can't quite bring myself to completely hate this genre of music. I certainly don't like it, but sadly, these songs built part of the soundtrack to my formative years - as a result, they hold a lot of memories. If today, I were to hear a classic sixties song, or a brand new 2008 release, I would be free to listen to it and enjoy (or not enjoy) it without any connotations; it would just be a good (or a bad) song. But I can't do that with music from the nineties because I listened to these songs during a time when I was young enough to be heavily influenced by any kind of media and entertainment, and not old enough to think sensibly about the music I was exposed to. The nineties are a vivid memory to me; the eighties are a distant memory and anything before that is not a genuine memory (because I wasn't around). That, combined with the fact that 90s eurodance has been swept under the carpet, means that these songs will always trigger some kind of memory... which seems unfair because I never even liked these songs at the time!

If anyone wants to re-live their younger years, I have compiled a little You Tube tour for you. Take it at your own risk.

Real McCoy - Love and Devotion

Ace of Base - All That She Wants

La Bouche - Be My Lover

Culture Beat - Mr Vain

Corona - Rhythm of the Night

Whigfield - Sexy Eyes (This one might give you an aneurysm.)

Simply Red - Fairground (This could have been included in the cheesy songs list I did earlier.)

Haddaway - What is Love (This song is often associated with the awful Will Ferrell film A Night at the Roxbury. Don't let anyone tell you "it's so bad, it's funny!". It's not. It's so bad, it's unwatchable.)

Amber - This is your night

You should listen to...

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky



Fantastic. It's a bit more "normal" than some of Wilco's other albums, which is not a bad thing. There are some really nice, mellow, borderline-country tracks on here. Some of the album is a bit "progressive", something I normally hate, but it works well and sounds good in songs like 'Impossible Germany'. It's a great album to "do stuff to" (essay writing, cleaning, cooking), not that it's background music, it just has a great accompanying quality.

State Songs #4 - Arkansas

What'd I Say - Ray Charles

If you're familiar with this song, and I dare say many people are, you might wonder if the only reason I have decided to dedicate it to the state of Arkansas, is the line

Tell your mama, tell your pa
I'm gonna send you back to Arkansas

Well, yes. That's basically the reason. That line, as far as I can tell, is the only thing that connects 'What'd I Say' to Arkansas. I think that's OK because, when you think about it, how many times have you heard the name of a location in a throwaway lyric? Probably heaps of times. I reckon that experience is part of many Australians' relationship with the USA. The reason I've heard of places like Arkansas, is not because I took extensive geography classes at school, it's because Ray Charles refers to it once in a classic song. While that's a little bit ignorant, I don't think I should be too ashamed to admit that I know next to nothing about Arkansas (only that its pronunciation is inconsistent with that of 'Kansas' and that Johnny Cash comes from there). Why should I? It doesn't seem a very significant state, and unless you live in Australia (or have friends here) you're probably not going to know too much about Tasmania. But American cities and states are so often mentioned in songs for no apparent reason, it gives us a weird sense of the familiar for something we know nothing about. For the record, I don't think that's a bad thing. It's kind of cool.

I also chose this song because it's great and Ray Charles is awesome. It was literally made up on the spot, at a concert in the late 50s, where Charles ran out of songs and decided to improvise, telling his back-up singers "whatever I say, just repeat after me".

Speaking of things medical

If you're looking for a doctor in Lenah Valley, you may come across a Dr Michael Jackson or a Dr Paul McCartney. Who would you rather be treated by? Macca or Jacko? I think Jackson would have good bedside manner...perhaps a little too good. I could actually imagine Paul being a doctor... or a dentist, he looks like a dentist.

I'd love to get these two doctors together so they could collaborate on a surgical equivalent of 'The Girl Is Mine'.

Enya

This year, a Hobart doctor called Christine Boyce was awarded 'General Practicioner of the Year'. That's definitely true, you can look it up. What I've also heard - and I can't find any evidence for this, but I heard it through a reliable source - is that Dr Boyce was in the same school class as Enya (in Ireland). Now, that information gave me quite a shock, not that a local has such a cool claim to fame, but that Enya went to school. This has completely tarnished my view of Enya. The Enya of my mind never went to school, she was not born in 1961 (she is ageless), she doesn't speak any modern human dialect, she was never in 'Clannad' and she can probably fly. I seriously have always thought of Enya as some kind of alien! She floats around undiscovered Celtic planets making ethereal noises.

Does anyone else see Enya like that or is it just me?

Lactose Tolerance

I've been thinking about cheesy songs recently. I've noticed that a lot of cheesy songs came from the seventies and eighties; although there was a lot of cheese in the sixties, it was often coated in enough sugar to qualify as something more digestible. I've made a list of six essential cheesy songs, but let me first explain the criteria of this list... The following will not necessarily be the most cheesy songs ever, for I'm sure there have been cheesier songs written, it's just that no one listens to them. Of course patriotic anthems are cheesy, but that's more like processed cheese. The type of cheese I'm talking about is blue brie - songs that, at the time of creation (the song's creation not THE creation of the world), were trying to be regular pop or rock songs, but have now given up on that and have matured into mouldy cheese - festering in the exposure of their true food group.

The thing that makes a "good" (and I'm not sure if that's the right word) cheesy song is the tune. I'm assuming there will be plenty of synth and white suits. But the thing that brings the following songs together, is that they have very memorable, catchy tunes. A tune that you might remember during the day, tricking you into thinking that the song it belongs to is actually a good one. You sing this song in your head and it almost becomes a guilty pleasure. Until at last you hear the song played in a waiting room, bus, or worst of all, you SEE IT on a late night TV promo for Forgotten Classics of the 70s. And then you remember how bad the song was and hope you never start humming it again. But you do.

So here's my top 6 essential cheesy songs:
(There's no order because they're all as bad as each other)

Baby I Love Your Way - Peter Frampton
The person responsible for uploading this song onto Ewe Tube, had the nerve to describe it as "a little fixer upper". This song does not fix anything.

All Out Of Love - Air Supply
For quite some time, I was under the impression that the chorus was sung by a girl. This film clip is an eye-opening experience. And isn't 'Air Supply' an atrocious name for a band?!

I Wanna Know What Love Is - Foreigner
I don't wanna know about this crusty guy's desire to know what love is. And I certainly don't want to show him.

Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh
There was a song we sang at Crossroads recently that sounded remarkably like this rotten song. At least, it had the same chorus. Not only was that a distraction to me at the time, it put this song in my head and it has stayed there for the last few weeks. Seriously, when I wake up I can't help but hear "laaaady in reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed".

I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder has released some really cool songs. He also has done 'Ebony and Ivory', 'Isn't She Lovely' and this. I heard it in the super-market the other day and it was the perfect soundtrack for wandering around the aisles.

The Longest Time - Billy Joel
Billy Joel is a cheese factory masquerading as a rock legend. Surely this song is proof.

Top 5 Scottish bands

5. Travis
4. Simple Minds
3. The Jesus and Mary Chain
2. Teenage Fanclub
1. Belle and Sebastian

What d'you reckon?

Your bessht? Losers always whine about their bessht...

I think one of the secret ingredients to being a credible alternative pop band is to be Scottish. Just be from Scotland and sing with a slightly milder Scottish accent than what you would speak with, have lovely jangly guitars, understated lyrics and harmonic choruses. Have nice Scottish haircuts and wear scarfs and warm Scottish jackets. Don't wear a kilt, that's overdoing it. I think that guy from Korn wore a kilt, and you don't want that kind of look... Have a cute band name like "Travis" or "Belle and Sebastian".

Using that same secret ingredient, you can also become an over hyped, overplayed, top 40 rock band. Think of 'Snow Patrol', 'Idlewild' (is there any difference?) and 'Franz Ferdinand'.

I have created my own Scottish pop band (well it's just me and my imaginary friends), which I will unveil in a later post.

State Songs #3 - Arizona

By The Time I Get To Arizona - Public Enemy

This song is quite 'relevant', despite being released in 1991. It's about the State of Arizona's refusal to observe the Martin Luther King holiday - something Senator John McCain voted against. The song tells of a fictitious plan to assassinate the Governor of Arizona because of this seemingly racist political decision.

I reckon Public Enemy are classic. Their style (both musical and fashion) is very dated but somehow not daggy. They also managed to get away with creating extremely political songs without seeming fake.

For these state songs, I expected Arizona to produce a country ballad, or perhaps something more in the vain of 'southern rock' (although Arizona is more south-western)- not New York hip hop. In fact the song I initially thought of was Kings of Leon's 'Arizona' - the sound of that song makes me think of the desert. But the lyrics don't have much to do with Arizona at all.

That a Public Enemy song can be used to represent the State of Arizona, really typifies the contrast between many of the US states - in my mind, at least. New York seems like a completely different world to Phoenix, partly due to my ignorance but also because of the representation of these places in the media. I wonder if this 'gap' would be as noticeable if I actually went there...