One Word Makes All the Difference

Back in 2008, Brian Wilson released his brilliant follow-up to SMiLE, a song cycle he called That Lucky Old Sun. In the last verse of the last song on the album, "Southern California," there's a lyric that continues to jog the "sick humor" area in my brain to this day:

Surfers in the West
The sun ran into the sea
As we headed home
We drove into a movie

Our brains have this habit of filling in the blanks, anticipating what logic tells us could or should come next. In the case of this particular lyric, my brain, for whatever strange reason, believed when I first listened to this song that the last word in this lyric wasn't going to be "movie." No, not at all. Had Brian's vocal suddenly cut out after the indefinite article and left me to sing the rest, not knowing how he was going to finish the lyric, this is how it would have come out of my mouth:

Surfers in the West
The sun ran into the sea
As we headed home
We drove into a tree

Suddenly, the entire song has a different tone.

Here's Brian performing "Southern California" live at Abbey Road in 2008. It's an abridged performance (he skipped the second verse and the bridge), but the important verse is still there. Somehow I doubt he'd ever adopt my version.

The Spring Heeled Jacks Original Swinging Jass Band welcomes Parlour to Parlour to Texas

I knew that the Spring Heeled Jacks Original Swinging Jass Band’s debut album, The Dicky Comstock Show, was going to be good. The band’s bassist/arranger (and a very good friend of mine), Josh Morrow, had been sending me rough mixes as he and singer/guitarist/primary songwriter Nate Dunton worked on the tracks. What I didn’t know was that the album would be so good, so engaging — magical, even — that it would be one of the most-played albums in my collection during 2007. But as much as I enjoyed the record, it was maddening to know that so few ears had a chance to hear it.

See the full post at Popdose.

My top 10 best albums of 2008 at Bullz Eye

Only a few days left in the year, and it's still hard to believe. 2008 really flew, and the ten albums that were its soundtrack, for me, are recapped for all over at Bullz Eye. For the lazy, I have reprinted all but my intro paragraph below:

1. The Parson Red Heads: Owl & Timber (EP)
There’s a timelessness to the sound and the vibe of the Parson Red Heads that’s beyond explanation. You can single out the familial harmonies, the guitar interplay that recalls the Byrds and the Dead, the irresistibly solid pop songs, or their flowery evocation of a bygone era. But when it comes down to it, this band’s music simply feels good. No other band has released music this irresistible and uplifting in years, and only a select lucky few up and down the West Coast have had the luxury of being able to see and hear them live. With a little luck, this may change, and we’ll be able to look back at Owl & Timber as one of the elements that made it happen.

2. Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun
Following up the 37-years-late Smile with another similarly built song cycle seemed like little more than a fantasy in 2004. But here we are in 2008, and Brian Wilson pulled it off. Mike Love would be proud to hear that there’s only one “downer” on the album (the beautiful, Pet Sounds-worthy “Midnight’s Another Day”), while all the rest are upbeat, aural murals depicting the sunny side of Southern California. It’s Brian doing what he does best, and outside of Smile, it’s easily his best, most enjoyable solo work.

3. Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
Technically, Tell Tale Signs is an archival release, but the recent vintage of the material (1989 through 2006), the abundance of never-before-heard songs, and the fact that most of it was recorded during the same period in which Guns n’ Roses’ 14-years-late Chinese Democracy gestated, qualifies it as new. And even if it didn’t qualify, it would still be listed here, since it does as good a job (if not better) as any of his last three records of proving that, even in his old age, Dylan has lost none of his power to inspire, confound, delight and move his audience.

4. The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia
Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli have collaborated in the past on a few tracks from Greg’s Twilight Singers albums, and while those duets were pretty good, they were never major stand-outs. Not until the two covered Massive Attack’s “Live with Me” on last year’s A Stitch in Time EP, anyway. As good as that cover was, this full album of originals by Greg and Mark is even better. Dulli stretches himself here, eschewing his usual rockin’ R&B swagger and falling under Lanegan’s dark, spiritual influence.

5. Chris Robley & The Fear of Heights: Movie Theatre Haiku
That straight-laced dude from Portland with the Harry Nilsson fixation strikes again, this time crediting his road band and turning in an even more confident record than last year’s The Drunken Dance of Modern Man in Love. If the 1966 Beatles were a young band today, they’d likely be playing songs like Robley’s “User-Friendly Guide to Change.”

6. Joseph Arthur: Vagabond Skies (EP)
Of the four EPs and full-length album Joseph Arthur released this year, Vagabond Skies rises to the top not only for bearing some of his most captivating and ethereal songs, but also for containing the year’s most memorable guitar solo, in the EP’s centerpiece “She Paints Me Gold.” Plus, the cover art is damn cool.

7. The Happy Hollows: Imaginary (EP)
They’re funny, they’re smart, they’re tight as a conservative’s behind, and they’re the most exciting live indie rock band in L.A. right now. Imaginary is just a short burst of five songs, but what a burst it is – from the simple exclamatory chant of “Colors” to the almost prog-like tour-de-force of “Lieutenant” with singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari’s Eddie Van Halen-esque guitar tapping, Imaginary tantalizes and teases, just like you want it to.

8. Guns n’ Roses: Chinese Democracy
Yes, it’s bloated and overproduced. No, it’s not the old, sleazy Guns n’ Roses of the late ‘80s. Yes, it should have been out ten years ago, and would have sounded even more contemporary in 1998 than in 2008. But Axl Rose is still the king of tortured, overwrought power ballads and menacing rock n’ roll screams, and on these counts, Chinese Democracy more than delivers – it beats you over the head with its twisted logic.

9. Metallica: Death Magnetic
Metallica sounds like Metallica again! It may be clichéd to say this is their best album since …And Justice for All, but it’s true, and it bears repeating: Death Magnetic is Metallica’s best album since Justice.

10. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
Evil Urges goes to great lengths to prove that My Morning Jacket is no typical southern jam band. Not that they ever needed to go so far as to throw some Prince-like falsetto singing and funky R&B into the mix, but as it turns out, it sounds pretty cool.


Honorable mentions:

The Fireman: Electric Arguments
Rachel Taylor Brown: Half Hours with the Lower Creatures
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Portishead: Third
Neil Diamond: Home Before Dark
Juliana Hatfield: How to Walk Away
Randy Newman: Harps and Angels
Deerhoof: Offend Maggie
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Sunday at Devil Dirt

22 Best Songs of 2008 (in my opinion)

Like most music publications worth a damn, Bullz Eye (which isn't exclusively a music publication, but does take its music content kind of seriously) will be publishing its writers' picks for best albums of the year very soon. Some of the staff may also be including their picks for best songs in their published pieces on the site, but not me. I did, however, share my picks with the staff, just for them to take in and enjoy. Now I figure I'll share them here, too, as a preview to the best albums features coming up in Bullz Eye. It's actually one song longer than what I shared with the staff, since I recently got caught up with an album I totally missed. Order is not ranked in any specific way - but I did listen to the songs in this order, and it flows well as a playlist, if you're so inclined...

...links go to last.fm, for all songs that have available streams. As for the resr, that's what Amazon is for. Enjoy!

01. The Fireman “Sun is Shining”
02. Brian Wilson “Oxygen to the Brain”
03. The Parson Red Heads “Got it All”
04. My Morning Jacket “I’m Amazed”
05. Joseph Arthur “She Paints Me Gold”
06. MGMT "Electric Feel"
07. Vampire Weekend “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance”
08. Juliana Hatfield “Law of Nature”
09. Neil Diamond “Home Before Dark”
10. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan “Back Burner”
11. Rachel Taylor Brown “Abraham and Isaac”
12. Rachel Taylor Brown “B.S. (Beautiful Savior)”
13. Portishead “The Rip”
14. Chris Robley & The Fear of Heights “Atheist’s Prayer”
15. Bob Dylan “’Cross the Green Mountain”
16. Randy Newman “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”
17. Silian Rail “Not the Wind, Not the Flag”
18. The Happy Hollows “Lieutenant”
19. Deerhoof “Numina”
20. The Gutter Twins “All Misery/Flowers”
21. Metallica “The End of the Line”
22. Guns N’ Roses “Prostitute”

"You're a very pretty girl"

MySpace has this 'Artist on Artist' video interview series going on, of which I just took notice today when I saw Brian Wilson's mug on their site. Check the video below - he's interviewed by the young actress and indie artist Zooey Deschanel, who is clearly star-struck. If you remember Chris Farley's SNL sketch with Paul McCartney back in the day, you know what I'm talking about. It's totally awkward to watch, and funny at the same time. If this interview had taken place ten years ago, I could easily see Brian giving one-word answers to all of these questions (i.e. 'yes' and 'no'). But he's come a long way since he finally got SMiLE finished and released, and he takes it all in stride and appears to be enjoying himself. Best part is the compliment he pays Zooey at the end.

Artist on Artist: Brian Wilson & Zooey Deschanel

One dead link + three live ones and Brian Wilson!

About a week ago, jefitoblog.com went offline. The reason? Jeff's web hosting provider, Jatol, went under and unfortunately, the blog itself wasn't backed up locally. Whether jefitoblog will return is unclear at this point.

In the meantime, I've got three new blog links here to help fill jefito's huge void:

• JasonHare.com, the home of the always entertaining Chart Attack and Mellow Gold, was actually designed by jefito's Grab Bag Design company. So the look and feel is very familiar to jefito fans. Jason posts probably about as often as I do, which means it's easier to keep up with.
  
  
• Isorski's Musings is based in Portland and comments on a lot of live music happenings, such as the recently announced Led Zeppelin reunion (I'm snoring at that news, which I should probably elaborate on in a separate post). He leans towards hard rock most of the time, and posts fairly regularly with great personality. This is one to get into, for sure.
  
  
• Linear Zap's Blog is one of those awesome, generous music blogs like jefito's was, only with a strict Brian Wilson/Beach Boys focus. Which leads to...

Brian Wilson's recent performances at London's Royal Festival Hall featured the debut of That Lucky Old Sun (A Narrative), which is basically the follow-up to SMiLE. Dare I say Brian has created his third masterpiece (after Pet Sounds and SMiLE)? I think the long-form song cycle is really Brian's thing, much more than 3-minute pop songs. His last batch of pop songs (2004's Gettin' In Over My Head) sounded great, though they were bankrupt lyrically. He sounds truly inspired on That Lucky Old Sun, weaving the title song (yes, that same oft-covered Frankie Lane pop hit you know so well) throughout in variations, much in the way that fans had speculated Brian would do with his "Heroes And Villains" theme on a finished SMiLE. He draws on his rock n' roll roots by way of that plodding, idiosyncratic style he put forth on '70s tunes like "Let Us Go On This Way" in the part titled "Going Home," some of the camp of SMiLE in "California Role," the emotional intensity of Pet Sounds in "Midnight's Another Day," and pays tribute to his brothers in the closing section. There are little melodies throughout the piece that can be placed back to some of Brian's own work (like "Rio Grande," for instance) and, in "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl," he even nicks a riff from Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me Not To Come." And of course, Brian's patented harmonies he developed with the Beach Boys are present throughout, rendered lovingly by his backing band.

I'm placing my bets on a big Brian Wilson U.S. tour sometime next year to promote a new studio album. This will be the one that proves he's still vital, and not simply making his living by raising old ghosts. In a sense, this is even bigger than SMiLE, but we don't really know it yet, and probably won't for another 30 years...