Black Halo

This record came out in 2005 but I only found out about it this week...more’s the pity for me. I was introduced to it through the tender auspices of MySpace. Yeah, I know I’m a little outside of the demographic target of MySpace but it is, I’ve found, a wonderful way to discover interesting new music and enormously talented musicians who haven’t broken through yet.

Case in point…this grand little set from the enormously talented Ms. V.K. Lynne. At turns tender and tough…bluesy and rocking…soothing and invigorating…Black Halo is a solid set of 10 fine, fine songs (all written by Lynne) that clocks in at just over 30 concise minutes without a clunker in the bunch.

Lynne’s voice is strong, sassy, soaring, sweet, and extremely soulful…there are hints of Melissa Etheridge here and there (the driving rock of the acerbic “Her End of the Phone”, for example) but Lynne is no copycat. She is just as compelling on the rocking title song as she is on the shimmering ballad “Other Side of my World” or the spare, wistfully-haunting “My Bones”.

With her band adding tight, tasteful, tuneful support, Lynne’s music soars and enthralls and draws you in for repeated listenings. It's a keeper.

Black Halo is available from my pals at CD Baby. You can sample clips from the disc there.

FYI: My MySpace is here

Oscar Nominations

So Oscar loved Dreamgirls…sorta. The musical snagged 8 nominations which is impressive enough…it is the most for any nominee this year…but 3 of those are all in the same category (Best Original Song for “Listen”, “Love You I Do”, and “Patience”) which will probably split the vote enough to allow Randy Newman (nominated for “Our Town” from Cars) or Melissa Etheridge (getting the nod for “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth) to take that award.

Dreamgirls did pick up expected Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress nominations for Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson respectively.

Dreamgirls failed to join the group of Best Picture nominees which, instead, features Golden Globe winner Babel (which picked 7 nominations including two Best Supporting Actress nods) along with The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine (which also picked up Supporting Actor and Actress nods for wily vet Alan Arkin and young Abigail Breslin), and The Queen.

Four of the Best Director nominees come from those movies: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel), Stephen Frears (The Queen), perennial Oscar hopeful Martin Scorsese (The Departed…a 6^th loss would put Marty in a dubious category all his own), and Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima…and the guy who denied Scorsese the last time they were both in this category: Eastwood taking the statuette with Million Dollar Baby while Scorsese and The Aviator went un-rewarded.) Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were snubbed in this category in favor of United 93’s Paul Greengrass.

The oft-nominated (this is number 14 with 2 previous wins) Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) is among the Best Actress nominees along with Penelope Cruz (Volver), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Kate Winslett (Little Children), and odds-on favorite Helen Mirren (The Queen).

Front-runner Forrest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) leads a Best Actor field that includes Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), veteran Peter O’Toole (Venus…his 8^th nomination without a win thus far…another dubious record that might lead the often-sentimental Academy to make him a surprise “upset” winner), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness), and semi-surprise nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson).

Cultural phenomenon Borat had to settle for a Best Adapted Screenplay nod.

In a year when there seemingly dozens of animated movies the category still only features 3 nominees: Cars, Happy Feet, and Monster House.

The Academy Awards will be handed out on February 25^th in a ceremony hosted by Ellen Degeneres.

American Idol '07 (Week 1)

The American Idol ratings juggernaut roared back to the airwaves with a seemingly endless stream of bad auditions and a lot of carping about how mean the judges are being this season (see here, for example.)

I don’t get all of the complaining. This is the 6^th edition of the show so we have to assume that most of the people auditioning for the show know what they’re getting into…if they’re particularly delusional about their talents the producers will put them through for the “entertainment” value and the judges (see above) will skewer them for the same reason (why else would the judges, the producers, and the editors let some of the most egregious performances go on and on to the point of utter embarrassment?)

I have to believe that a fair percentage of the people know that they don’t have a shot at getting into the finals but are desperate to be on TV anyway they can (others, of course, truly believe themselves to be blessed with vocal abilities they do not actually possess outside of their feverish, achingly hopeful imaginations and/or the lovingly uncritical opinions of their friends and families.)

Are the judges more impatient and snarky this season? Yeah…they’ve been to this rodeo a few times now and finding themselves presented with far more potential William Hungs than potential Kelly Clarksons is, for the most part, no longer that amusing to them (and I'm right there with them.)

(Speaking of judges, Jewel was remarkably cogent and supportive during the Minneapolis tryouts…she seemed more real and relaxed there than she does during her stint as co-host of the current season of Nashville Star.)

Is the talent level of potential Idols really that shaky this season? Apparently so…they only culled 17 Hollywood-bound candidates out of 10,000+ folks who gathered in Minneapolis and only 14 from the 9,000+ hopefuls who stood in Seattle’s schizophrenic weather for their chance at stardom.

Hey, it’s Idol…people may be complaining but many, many more people are watching (the number of people who watched the first two episodes are almost double the number watching what has been watching the average episode of Desperate Housewives, this season’s ratings leader up to now) but it is what it is and come this Spring someone will handed the crown and instant egress to the pop charts and all of this criticism about meanness will be long forgotten.

Armed and Famous

Reality show creators and producers (and TV network execs desperate for a hit) are geniuses. Think about it...did you think the world needed a show about Z-list celebrities (70's TV heartthrob Erik Estrada, one of the wackier [and that's saying something] members of the Jackson clan LaToya Jackson, Jackass' Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Ozzy's chip off the addled block Jack Osborne, and former wrestler Trish Stratus) training to become "real cops" in Muncie, Indiana?

Yeah, me neither. The fact that Armed and Famous exists just goes to show what we know (thanks, CBS, for showing us the error of our ways...)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of '07 is a diverse group to say the least. The honorees...who will formally inducted during ceremonies on March 12 in New York City...are indie pop standard bearers R.E.M., rockers Van Halen (David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar are both included...but, for some strange reason, Gary Cherone is not :-), legendary rock poet Patti Smith, 60's girl group The Ronettes, and rap/hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 (the first rap group to enter the Rock Hall.)

With the acrimonious relations between the members of Van Halen (Michael Anthony having recently parted ways with the band and been replaced by Eddie Van Halen's song Wolfgang...not to mention the off and on relationship between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth), one wonders if they can bury the hatchet long enough to appear (and perform) during the ceremonies.

Relations between some members of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 have apparently been chilly for a while as well.

Hopefully at least all four original members of R.E.M. (who do not have an acrimonious relationship following drummer Bill Berry's departure from the band) will be there to play together.

(And we can only hope and pray for a duet between Patti Smith and Ronnie Spector...well, I think that would be very cool anyway :-)

The 2006 Twenty (Part Two)

The Twenty are my favorite reasons to have owned a CD player in 2006. They are listed in alphabetical order by artist and the links (where applicable) lead to the original reviews posted on this blog over the course of the year. (The first half of The Twenty is in the post just below this one.)

Madeleine Peyroux – Half the Perfect World

A lovely, jazzy, utterly engaging CD filled with beguiling vocals and arrangements on a mix of carefully chosen covers and grand original songs.

The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes

Bouncy, cheeky, and undeniable groovy, this upbeat party both celebrates and updates the girl group sound (from the Supremes to the Ronettes to Banarama) for the 21^st Century with tight harmonies and sassy, unselfconscious lyrics.

Cat Power – The Greatest

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) teams up with some crack Memphis session men to craft a sultry, atmospheric, melancholic jewel of a record that lives up to its seemingly-grandiose title.

Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope

Quirky, provocative, and compelling…Ms. Spektor approaches with piano riffs, rhythms, vocals, lyrics, and influences at odd, but never less than intriguing and imaginative, angles and makes it all work. The special edition features 5 bonus songs that are well worth the added cost.

Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (American Land Edition)

An enormously entertaining disc that will set your toes to tappin' and your soul to hummin'…or as Bruce himself says in the liner notes, “turn it up, put on your dancin’ and singin’ shoes, and have fun”. The “American Land” version adds 5 bonus tracks…including the potent title track and the evocative “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live”…to the mix with enriching effect.

Julieta Venegas – Limon y Sal

A delightful collection of energetic, irresistable pop songs…it totally enthralls even listeners who (like me) don’t speak Spanish.

Tom Waits: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards

A 3-disc collection of new songs, covers (including two Ramones songs and a tune from a Disney movie), oddities, and outtakes shouldn’t hang together as an evocative, coherent collection but this offering puts the lie to that. This is as astonishing in its breadth as it is in its soulful, raucous, bittersweet musical glory.

Cassandra Wilson – Thunderbird

A genre-defying gem that is one of those CDs that grabs you on the first listen and then continues to reward the listener with each and every subsequent listen.

Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Silly title aside, this is, quite simply, a wondrous pop record (one hour and seventeen minutes well spent indeed.)

Neil Young – Living with War

A passionate, heartfelt, angry, hopeful, defiant record and that remains true whether you agree with Young’s politics or not.

The 2006 Twenty (Part One)

The Twenty are my favorite reasons to have owned a CD player in 2006. They are listed in alphabetical order by artist and the links (where applicable) lead to the original reviews posted on this blog over the course of the year.

Anjani – Blue Alert

This is a luminous collaboration with master songwriter (and CD producer) Leonard Cohen. Anjani was given access to some unfinished Cohen poems, journals, and lyrics and she completed them with Cohen’s aid and consent and the results are lovely, ethereal, and moving.

India Arie – Testimony, Volume 1: Love and Relationship

Songs of faith and empowerment…songs of self-awareness and hope for humankind…songs that could be insufferably cloying were it not for the sweetly earnest outlook that colors each of them… a sweet, uplifting, entertaining journey indeed.

The Beatles – Love

An interesting, and often successful, experiment…it doesn’t supplant or blaspheme the original classics (which are still out there to be enjoyed in all of their undeniable original glory)…it’s just a bit of heartfelt fun that is at once wonderfully familiar and, at the same time, a fine new experience with the Fab Four.

Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

An utterly gorgeous collection of 12 melodic, poetic songs that are neither country nor pop but rather an intoxicating blend of the two (with the stellar musicianship defying any facile pop sheen to take hold.)

The Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way

An assured, defiant, melodic return to form after the mixed results of their last studio disc (2000’s Home)…as much pop as country and it’s all the better for that.

Bob Dylan – Modern Times

A laidback…but never dull…record that Dylan produced (using the pseudonym of Jack Frost) using only his crack touring band as his support musicians (a grand idea…the players all compliment each other beautifully) and it feels lived-in and familiar (in a very good way) from the very first listen.

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All the Roadrunning

An enchanting collaboration between two amazing artists, the always angelic voice of Emmylou and the distinctive guitar and voice of Knopfler blending to very amazing effect. (The live follow-up CD/DVD set…Real Live Roadrunning…which features some of the songs from here along with selections from their individual albums, is also more than worthwhile.)

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat

Rilo Kiley’s front-woman steps out with a beautifully realized collection of country-flavored tunes aided and abetted by the shimmering harmonies of the Watson sisters.

Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere

Insanely catchy, enormously inventive, and uncompromisingly entertaining…this hip hop/pop/r&b music at its finest.

Sam Moore – Overnight Sensational

A fine, fun album showcasing the still potent pipes of a true soul survivor with able support from a great supporting cast of friends and fans (including Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, and Fantasia.)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Comment Graphics

2006: The "Singles"

I loved 45’s when I was a kid. If you’re of a certain age, you remember 45’s…singles…seven inches, two songs, warm and inviting sound. There aren’t really singles anymore…just tracks off CDs…but back in my day (he said sounding as ancient as he sometimes feels) 45’s were wondrous things. I had (and have) eclectic tastes in music and 45’s let me sample the breadth of those tastes better than a single LP could (albums too often only had a few good songs thrown in with a lot of disappointing filler…yes, I’m looking at you, Motown…you too, Elvis.)

Great singles became the soundtrack of our lives…they were the insanely catchy pop songs that you knew all the words to, that you turned up loud whenever they came on the radio. There are, of course, tracks (and “CD-singles”) that serve that same function these days but it’s not quite the same as 45’s (I used to love the colorful labels, the familiar soft crackle and hiss of the needle on the vinyl before the music started, and discovering interesting songs on the “b” side.)

That said, there are, of course, still pop songs that are insanely catchy…that you turn up loud whenever they come on the radio…that you sometimes can’t avoid even when you might want to...

The “singles” that got into my head this year included:

Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”
(Absolutely unavoidable and undeniably engaging, this was arguably the theme song of the summer of ’06.)

Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On”
(An infectious slice of summertime pop…it’s hard not sing along to when it’s playing.)

Katie Melua’s “Nine Million Bicycles”
(A lilting, compelling mid-tempo ballad that effortlessly soothes and engages the listener.)

U2 & Green Day’s “The Saints are Coming”
(A delightfully energetic rocker in either its studio or live [recorded at the re-opening of the Super Dome in New Orleans] versions.)

“SexyBack” Justin Timberlake
(JT brought sexy back…whatta guy!...in this throbbing, bawdy dance track.)

James Brown

James Brown
May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006

James Brown was, by most accounts, no saint…he was a prickly, vain soul, a stern taskmaster, a difficult person to be married to, and someone who ran afoul of the law more than a few times…but, all that said, he was an innovator, a teacher, a tireless entertainer willing to give it all to his awed, wholly appreciative audience.

He was indeed the Hardest Working Man in Show Business…the undeniable Godfather of Soul…and when the lights came up and his crack band slipped into a tight groove and the man in the cape and the pompadour strode gracefully onto the stage you knew what time it was…it was Star Time.

Merry Christmas to You

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
and folks dressed up like Eskimos

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
will find it hard to sleep tonight

They know that Santa's on his way,
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
to see if reindeer really know how to fly

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
to kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said,
many times, many ways:
"Merry Christmas to you."

- Mel Torme and Bob Wells -

Fantasia/Daughtry

There are folks out there who think that American Idol celebrates and perpetuates the worst aspects of modern pop music. And while some of the music that has come from former winners and contestants hasn’t done much to disprove that notion, it’s unfair to dismiss AI altogether (even if the judges…especially Simon Cowell…seem more concerned with commerce rather than art when it comes to music-making.)

Not that Idol would allow itself to be dismissed...not with this year’s chartbusting success of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood (as well as the credible sales racked up by Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, and Kellie Pickler) and the much-lauded performance of Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. It is, for better or worse, a star-making juggernaut.

Third-season winner Fantasia’s first CD wasn’t perfect but it was promising enough to make me really anticipate her follow-up (Kelly Clarkson’s first disc had the same promise and she stepped up and offered up a real winner on his sophomore effort.)

Fantasia’s eponymous second CD kicks off with an infectious banger, “Hood Boy”, featuring a rap by Big Boi…built over a sample of The Supremes’ “The Happening”, it hits the ground running and never stops.

Fantasia is feeling more than a bit frisky (check out the cheeky “Baby Makin’ Hips”)…most of these songs are about making out and hooking up unabashedly…and she is in grand voice throughout.

There are, as is par for the course these days, an array of producers working here but, despite that, the record manages to sound coherent because Fantasia’s soulful, self-assured voice is always in control.

Missy Elliott co-wrote and produced three cuts: the throbbing “I’m Not That Type” (which would fit comfortably on one of Elliott’s own albums), the defiant old school kiss-off “Two Week Notice”, and the inspirational closer “Bump What Ya Friends Say”. Babyface produces (and plays all the instruments) on the self-affirming ballad “I Feel Beautiful”.

(One curmudgeonly aside…”When I See U”, “I Nominate U”, “Only One U”, “Surround U”…look I don’t care what Prince said, the letter “U” and the word “You” are NOT interchangeable homonyms.)

Fantasia is not perfect (“I Nominate U” is awkward and a bit silly) but it is mighty fine and it reaffirms that Ms. Barrino is a pop artist who is true to herself and we’re all the richer for that.

Chris Daughtry also followed his muse as best as he could when he was on American Idol (in the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that I was pulling for him to win…but it’s probably better that he didn’t) and his debut CD, Daughtry (the name of his band, who don’t perform on this CD despite the fact that they are on the back cover), follows continues that path.

Daughtry wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on this disc and they are, true to the way he presented himself on the show, melodic rock and roll (most going from a gruff whisper to a soulful scream.) There is a definite Nickelback vibe here but Daughtry’s earnest vocals still carry the day (he could probably dial it down a bit more often but that’s a minor quibble.)

The musicians on the disc are solid (Slash steps in to play lead guitar on the snarling “What I Want”) and the production (by Howard Benson, who has worked with P.O.D., Motorhead, Less Than Jake, the All-American Rejects, and others.)

Daughtry is not perfect but it is engaging and it’s promising enough to really make me look forward to its follow-up.

Dig That Crazy Christmas

Brian Setzer loves the swing music…that was evident even when he was a Stray Cat…and apparently he loves the Christmas music, too. Dig That Crazy Christmas (which came out last year) is the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s second yuletide CD and it is, to coin a phrase, a gas!

This record jumps and jives and just pulsates with energy, life, and the most fun-filled aspects of the Christmas season.

From the percolating title tune to the frenetic “Hey Santa”…from the gently swinging version of “Angels We Have Heard on High” (featuring a guitar riff that sounds like it was lifted from Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue”) to the grand instrumental take on “My Favorite Things” (featuring some very tasty fretwork by Mr. Setzer)…from snappy big band workouts like “Getting’ in the Mood (for Christmas)” (a rewrite of Glenn Miller’s immortal “In the Mood”) and “Cool Yule” (which Bette Midler features on her 2006 Christmas disc of the same name)…the spirit of the season is joyfully embraced from the beginning to the end.

Even though their version of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” isn’t a gloss on Aimee Mann’s playful take on her holiday CD, it’s a great deal of fun just the same…the same holds true for “’Zat You Santa Claus” (hard to top Louis Armstrong on this one, of course.)

Dig That Crazy Christmas is a fun holiday party record…and what could be cooler than that during a stressful holiday season?

* * * * *
More Christmas celebratin' is goin' on here:
Christmas Annex

And here:
Bread and Roses

Christmas Music

The Christmas tree is up in the corner of the front room and Christmas gifts are patiently waiting to be festooned in bright paper and shiny bows. Two new Christmas tales are written and waiting to be inserted into this year’s Christmas cards (which themselves are waiting to be handed over to the tender mercies of the US Postal Service.) Despite my advancing age, I retain an undeniable fondness for the season of lights and magic (mindful of the gaudy veneer of commercialism that has become part and parcel of the holidays I still choose to see the season as being touched by wonder and, yes, magic.)

And, of course, there is music. I take unabashed delight in the music of the season. There are some for whom hearing the umpteenth version of “The Christmas Song” or “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by a pop star is akin to fingernails slowly scraping across a blackboard…but, while acknowledging that there is a fair measure of crappy holiday music, I remain a true fan usually adding 2 or 3 holiday CDs to my collection most years.

Last year, I highlighted some of my favorites (see here) and this year I add a few of my newer favorites (well, one’s not so new but it could be the best Christmas album ever…)

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that my favorite Christmas CD is probably Someday at Christmas, a 22-song compilation I burned a couple of years ago and gave out with that year’s Christmas cards to selected friends and family. Kicking off with Patti Austin’s soulful version of “Christmas Time is Here” and ending with a lovely “Auld Lang Syne” by James Taylor, it features Springsteen, John and Yoko, Macy Gray, Lena Horne, The Supremes, Donny Hathaway, Barenaked Ladies, Laura Nyro, and the Jackson 5 (on the title cut) among others. I played it yesterday and it still sounds grand (however immodest that might sound :-) from beginning to end.

This year offers up some new delights including and especially the immortal soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas (arguably the best animated Christmas special ever) by Vince Guaraldi wonderfully re-mastered (it sounds amazing) and bolstered with a handful of alternative takes (all quite lovely.) This sublime music has been the soundtrack of the season for yours truly (and many others of my generation and those that followed) and it’s never sounded better.

Aimee Mann’s One More Drifter in the Snow is a warm, appealing versions of holiday chestnuts (“The Christmas Song”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”) along with a couple of new songs (the bittersweet “Christmastime” written by Mann’s husband Michael Penn and the wistful “Calling on Mary” co-written by Mann herself) and a delightfully playful “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” with Grant Lee Phillips ably taking the narrator role made famous by Boris Karloff on the original version from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Sufjan Stevens (who apparently has as much unreleased music in his archives as Tupac did) has a holiday offering, Songs for Christmas, that is chockfull of goodness: 42 charming, witty, reverent songs spread out over 5 CDs (one each for the 5 years in which the songs were recorded: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006), stories, an animated music video, a quirky, charming comic strip, photos, essays. It’s a groovy collection.

Eventually every pop star who no longer reach the upper levels of the charts will offer up a Christmas collection (even nice Jewish boys like Neil Diamond have made Xmas discs) so it’s not surprising that the Divine Miss M has finally broke out with Cool Yule. While I would have preferred fewer ballads drenched with swelling, syrupy strings (that said, the Christmas version of “From a Distance” is very cool) and more sassy fun (thank goodness for the delightfully jaunty “Mele Kalikimaka”, the charming duet with Johnny Mathis on “Winter Wonderland/Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”, the snappy version of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”, and the swinging title song), Bette’s collection finds her in grand voice and it’s a fine addition to the burgeoning pantheon of pop Christmas CDs.

* * * * *
Some Christmas stories by your host
can be found here: Christmas Annex
and here: Bread and Roses

Love

Am I a big fan of the Beatles? You betcha! Am I a fan of so-called “mash-ups”? Not so much. Those two things together let me to believe that I might not like Love…Beatle classics re-worked, remixed, and re-imagined by producer George Martin (arguably the best candidate for the title of the “fifth Beatle”) and his son Giles Martin for the Vegas Cirque de Soleil Beatles show of the same name…but I was wrong.

Once the gorgeous a cappella vocals (aided and abetted with the singing birds from “Across the Universe”) of “Because” led into snippets of “A Hard’s Day Night” and “The End” just before the always-rocking “Get Back”, I knew that this disc…which took over two years to complete…was indeed a labor of love and not the abomination that it could have become in lesser hands.

The sound on this disc is utterly glorious (“Revolution” and “Back in the USSR”, for example, both explode out of the speakers with fierce fire and bite.) The only new music here comes from strings (beautifully arranged but a tad ovewhelming) added to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”…everything else is taken from the original recordings (which George Martin, as the original producer, knew quite intimately, of course.)

The vocals and backing tracks are sometimes chopped up and put back together in intriguing, entertaining ways (the rhythm track of “Drive My Car”, for example, becomes the seamless foundation for a rocking medley featuring that song along with “The Word” and “What You’re Doing”…while “Sun King” is run backwards for the oddly compelling “Gnik Nus”.)

The medley of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy”), and “Helter Skelter” is dense and psychedelic while the guitar from “Blackbird” flows sweetly into and through “Yesterday”.

Not everything works. There’s a hodge-podge of snippets in “Strawberry Fields Forever” (including the trumpet from “Penny Lane”) and it is, admittedly, a bit of a misfire. Sometimes I got the feeling that some of the tracks would make more sense if I had seen the Vegas show (this is basically a soundtrack album after all) but those feeling were fleeting (probably because the music is so familiar and cherished already.)

Some purists are already crying “heresy!” (some of the comments about this disc on Amazon, for example, are downright vitriolic and totally unforgiving) and that’s their right, of course, but I think it’s a bit of an overreaction. Love is an interesting, and often successful, experiment…it doesn’t supplant or blaspheme the original classics (which are still out there to be enjoyed in all of their undeniable original glory)…it’s just a bit of heartfelt fun that is at once wonderfully familiar and, at the same time, a fine new experience with the Fab Four.

The All-Time 100

Time Magazine has thrown out the discussion gauntlet with their All-Time (hah! I get it!) 100. The 100 is their list of the “greatest and most influential records ever”. There is, of course, no way that any pop music fan will look at their choices and not feel that classic albums have been left off the list (and, at the same time, also feel that unworthy picks made the cut.)

The list runs from the 50’s to the 00’s. The 1970’s were, going by this list anyway, the most influential period as 29 of the 100 records where released during that decade. There are 4 from the 50’s, 22 from the 60’s, 18 from the 80’s, 18 from the 90’s, and 9 from 2000-2005 (no 2006 releases made the final cut.)

The list is skewed by the inclusion of boxed sets and greatest hits collections (including the monumental Phil Spector box set Back to Mono 1958-1969, Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Legend, and Chuck Berry’s The Great Twenty-Eight.) 4 of the 9 choices from the 2000’s fall into one of those categories (and those albums…Elvis: 30 #1 Hits, Sam Cooke’s Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964, Muddy Waters’ The Anthology 1947-1972, and The Essential Hank Williams Collection: Turn Back the Years…all showcase music that is decades old.)

The Beatles are, not surprisingly I suppose, most heavily represented on the list with 5 albums (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, “The White Album”, and Abbey Road.) John Lennon is the only Beatle to place a solo album on the list (Plastic Ono Band…no love for Paul’s Band on the Run or George’s All Things Must Pass….)

Others with multiple entries include: Frank Sinatra (In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers), James Brown (Live at the Apollo, the Star Time box set), Miles Davis (Kind of Blue, Bitches’ Brew), Bob Dylan (Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Time Out of Mind…but not Blood on the Tracks!?), Aretha Franklin (I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul), Van Morrison (Astral Weeks, Moondance), the Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street), David Bowie (Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust), Stevie Wonder (Talking Book, Songs in the Key of Life), Paul Simon (Bridge Over Troubled Water with Art Garfunkel and Graceland), Prince (Purple Rain, Sign o’ the Times), U2 (The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby), REM (Document, Out of Time), Elvis Presley (Sunrise, 30 #1 Hits...both of which were released a couple of decades after he died), and Radiohead (OK Computer, Kid A).

A lot of the other “usual suspects” are rounded up for the list: The Velvet Underground and Nico, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, The Clash’s London Calling,

Led Zeppelin IV, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Nirvana’s Nevermind, etc.

Hip Hop is well represented…Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Run-DMC, NWA, OutKast (though with Stankonia rather than Speakerboxxx/The Love Below), A Tribe Called Quest, the Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West)…as is rock…Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Black Sabbath, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, AC/DC, Metallica, Pavement, PJ Harvey, Hole.

There are nods to country (Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks), jazz (John Coltrane's wondrous A Love Supreme), and the blues (Robert Johnson).

This wouldn’t be my list (though I do own a fairly large percentage of Time’s choices)…nor yours I expect…but it is an interesting conversation starter. The entire list, broken down by decades, is here.

Lost

“Everything happens for a reason in season 3”, eh? Okey-doke.

Personally I’m not seeing it yet…the “plot” is murky and seemingly aimless (the optimist in me wants to believe that the writers and producers really do have an overall plan that they’re working towards…the cynic in me believes that they do not and they are, despite any protestations to the contrary, just making this stuff up as they go along)…and I’m getting bored waiting.

As the “fall finale” rolled out on November 8, I realized that nothing was going to be resolved soon (Lost doesn’t answer nearly as many questions as it continues to manufacture) and that I’m starting to not care one way or the other.

When we left off last season, Locke, Eko, and Desmond were caught in the implosion of the hatch (Charlie had gotten out before everything went to hell) while Michael (who had already murdered two of his fellow castaways) had lured Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley in the hands of the “Others” (seemingly led by “Ben”, a prisoner who had been tortured by Sayid and who was freed by Michael) in exchange for freedom from the island for himself and his son Walt. Michael and Walt sailed off into the sunset while Hurley was sent back to tell the rest of the gang to stay away. (We won’t bother with the guys in the polar monitoring station or the woman…Desmond’s paramour…who showed up at the end of the last episode of last season since they make no return appearances in the fall episodes.)

In the new season, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were prisoners of the Others (Jack apparently in an underwater facility, Kate and Sawyer in cages that apparently used to hold the polar bears that had been sighted on the island) while the rest of the gang (none of whom seemed to care enough about the weird lights and noises to go check out the hatch…even Charlie who KNOWS something bad happened there) chilled on the beach. Locke, Eko, and Desmond ended up in the jungle despite the fact that the hatch imploded (Desmond lost his clothes, Eko got taken by the bears, and Locke almost got bonked on the head by Eko’s prayer stick which must have been hovering in the air for a long time…I’m sure there’s a good reason they were thrown out of the IMPLODING hatch rather being crushed but, of course, we are not privy to that information as yet) Locke and Charlie rescue Eko from the bears’ den while Hurley crosses paths with Desmond.

Sayid, Sun, and Jin sailed around the island looking for the missing folks (while en route they saw a giant statue that also went unmentioned in the new season) eventually coming into conflict with the Others (who wanted their boat) with Sun shooting and killing one of the Other women. Last we saw, the Others had taken the boat leaving Jin and Sun bobbing in the ocean. Sayid shows up back in camp in time to join Locke’s expedition to find Eko (who left the camp after seeing a vision of his dead brother)…no sign of Jin or Sun (and, as is par for the course with this show, no explanation from Sayid about their whereabouts.)

Ben has a life-threatening tumor he needs Jack to operate on…Sawyer and Kate finally become romantically involved…Eko has a final confrontation with the smoke thing…yet another mysterious guy (excuse me while I yawn…), this one with a sporty eye patch, is seen on one of the monitors in the monitoring station under the place where the plane crashed…Locke has rediscovered his faith and his resolve…Desmond seems to have some kind of precognitive abilities…the Others are building something (Sawyer and Kate are conscripted to work on the mysterious project)…there’s a second island…character flashbacks continue to abound…Jack’s holding Ben hostage on the operating table until they release Kate…Sawyer’s about to be executed in retaliation for the woman Sun killed…yadda…yadda…yadda…

It’s all supposed to mean something but increasingly it seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors signifying nothing (if the show is just supposed to be a somewhat spooky soap opera that just goes on and on then they should just say so and stop pretending that there’s really an over-arching story being told.) Lost is due to return in February (after the 13-week run of the déjà vu thriller Daybreak starring Taye Diggs) for 16 more new episodes to finish the season (but probably not answer as many questions as it poses along the way.)

Some of the characters are interesting…though the high body count among some of the potentially interesting regulars (Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Eko) and the long stretches of invisibility among others (where in the heck were Rose and Bernard this season?) makes it hard to stay engaged with them.

For some reason, I still want to like Lost more than I do these days…and I hope that when it comes back on February 7, 2007 it does so with a vengeance and a purpose. I hope so…but I’m not gonna hold my breath on it.

Happy Feet: Music from the Motion Picture

Happy Feet is another animated movie about delightful animals having charming adventures (we’ve had a few of those this year, haven’t we?…2006 must going for the record) that I will not be seeing until it hits DVD (nothing against animated movies about delightful animals having charming adventures…I’m just not willing to pony up 9-10 bucks for the experience.) This one seems to be about singing/dancing penguins (see? I told you…delightful…charming…it’s all there.)

This soundtrack is, like so many others, a compilation of pop songs that may or may not fit together without the context of the movie. On the CD, they don’t flow all that seamlessly but, that said, the individual tracks are a lot of fun.

The disc opens with some dialogue from the film which flows directly into the beat of a fun, inspirational, snappy new pop song, “The Song of the Heart”, by Prince. The song features a smooth beat, tasty horns, and sweet female background vocals (and a vocal break by, I can only assume, one of the animated penguins from the movie.) It’s a charmer all the way around.

17-year-old Gia Farrell makes her recording debut with the spunky “Hit Me Up” (which is featured in the commercials for the movie.)

The rest of the new recordings here are covers. Pink takes a funky stroll with “Tell Me Something Good”, a Stevie Wonder song originally recorded by Chaka Khan and Rufus. Another Stevie Wonder song, “I Wish”, is given the full-on gospel treatment by Fantasia, Patti LaBelle, Yolanda Adams, and a gospel choir (the choir could have pushed a bit further down in the mix for my tastes but the ladies cut loose and the thing still works anyway.)

Some of the actors lending their voices to the movie take turns at the mike with varying degrees of success. Brittany Murphy is more than up to the task of covering Queen’s gospel-flavored classic “Somebody to Love” (she’s no Freddie Mercury on the tune but she has a strong, soulful voice) and later she has fun with “Boogie Wonderland” (originally recorded by Earth, Wind, and Fire with The Emotions.) Robin Williams cheerfully mugs his way through Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” (sung in Spanish.)

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, on the other hand, get a bit lost in a strange mash-up of Prince’s “Kiss” and Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel” (they sound okay together but the arrangement and vocals, despite a promising beginning by a breathy Kidman on “Kiss”, end up seeming more suited to a Broadway show than in the same company with the sprightly pop tunes that dominated this CD.)

Another strange mash-up, Jason Mraz covering Steve Miller’s “The Joker” mixed together with Chrissie Hynde’s take on Bread’s “Everything I Own” (???), actually works against all odds. It’s a loping, fun pop song.

(Again, I’m presuming these mash-ups will make more sense when seen in the context of the film.)

The disc also features the Beach Boys’ chestnut “Do it Again” and the Brand New Heavies’ propulsive “Jump n’ Move”.

K.D. Lang closes the disc (well, before an instrumental piece from the soundtrack) with a version of the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers/The End”, which is pretty enough (of course…it’s K.D. Lang) but kind of a somber way of ending the record (like the Kidman/Jackman offering, it seems a poor fit with the rest of the performances here…but, yet again, I’m presuming it makes more sense in the context of the movie.)

The Happy Feet soundtrack will indeed make you want to get up and dance…and there’s nothing wrong with that in my book.