This morning I’m listening to the Plastic Ono Band’s Live Peace In Toronto. I bought it for the Yoko Ono stuff; I really don’t like the Beatles. I never did. But I like Yoko’s voice atop a raucous guitar-rock band. I think she should do an album with Keiji Haino.
I guess since it’s the 31st, I should make some comment about The Year In Music. Well, I’m not going to instead I’m going to reflect on 2002 instead.
As I type this, I’m listening to the Taylor. It’s a solo piano disc from the mid-70s, and the CD reissue has about twice as much material as the original vinyl did. (So it’s not one of those mastered-from-vinyl ripoff jobs I was talking about a few days ago.) It’s one of his most traditionally beautiful records - his playing doesn’t have as much bombast or assaultiveness as on many other records. In fact, it would be an easy entry point for someone whose tastes run more to classical than avant-garde jazz (and I don’t really think this counts as a jazz record, either). A damn fine way to spend an hour and fifteen minutes.
It’s not too late to make final preparations for New Year’s Eve, y’know. Used to have a link to a funny article on www.thetexasmercury.com but it’s no longer there, fortunately I had a copy on my HD so here it is in full.
Snuffing it for the Holidays
With the holidays upon us, no doubt many of you out there are contemplating suicide. Public-spirited and civic-minded as I tend to be, I thought I might give you a few tips from my broad range of lethal knowledge on how best to go about it. Timely, too, that’s me.
I’m just gonna post this article, instead of linking to it. It’s from this week’s New York Times Magazine 2002, the issue in which they run articles about people who died during the year, and it’s one of the best pieces of music-related writing I’ve read. It makes me want to go listen to Ratt again. (It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to listen to the Ramones.)
The Ratt Trap
By CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
Looking at Justin Timberlake’s on the old cover of the February 2003 issue of Vibe (it’s in the office, no idea why). Okay, fine. They had Eminem (and got Zadie “I Was A Promising Novelist For A Few Minutes There” Smith to write his puff-profile), then they got Justin, the white(r) Michael Jackson. But why is he wearing an MC5 t-shirt?
The hijacking of once-rebellious iconography is no surprise, and yet it’s still bothersome. For folks who take rock music “seriously,” as I do in my weaker moments, this is a vestigial response that can’t quite be excised, like the itching of a phantom limb. It’s just one more way in which pop culture can buck you off the horse, one more way you can be kept from coming to grips with its omnipresence, its omnivorousness, and its repeated, wilful murder of context.
Well, the Shepp disc just ended. I don’t really want to listen to any of the other things I brought with me, not right now anyway, so I’m listening to Miles Davis’ The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965, which is on my hard drive in MP3 format. (Yes, I bought it.)
I’m a professional music critic - I write for many websites so if you are into music you’ve probably read my stuff. This blog will consist primarily of my thoughts on music, but of course there’ll be digressions.
I’ll try to update regularly, even if it’s just a list of what I’m listening to.
Right now, for example, I’m listening to Archie Shepp’s Live in San Francisco. Earlier this morning I was listening to the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, and Motorhead Overnight Sensation.
The other CDs I’ve brought with me to the office today are:
Arch Enemy, Wages Of Sin
Peter Brötzmann/Fred Van Hove/Han Bennink, Balls
Dave Burrell, Echo
Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’
Alice Coltrane, Ptah, the El Daoud
Miles Davis, Water Babies
Decapitated, Nihility
El-P, Fantastic Damage
Squarepusher, Do You Know Squarepusher (but only the live second disc)
