And now a haiku:
Recommendations
Spotify is uncanny
The Magpie Salute
Category Archives: Music
Rival Sons – Feral Roots
And now a haiku:
Rival Sons deep roots
Hearkens back to Led Zeppelin
Not Greta Van Fleet
Weezer (Teal Album)
And now a haiku:
Weezer’s new album
Was released without warning
Cover songs abound
Instrumental Please
I like a lot of progressive metal. I think bands like Mastodon are fantastic. There are some other bands, however, where I think the music is fantastic, but the vocalist just screams all the lyrics making it unlistenable to me. I just don’t enjoy that.
And now a haiku:
Aggressive music
Does the singer need to scream?
Instrumental please
This is His Jam?
There was a time when my son’s favorite bands were Queen and The White Stripes, but that was when he was 5 or 6 years old. All was right with the world. At 12, he listens to mostly Top 40 because that is what all the kids do. Now his favorite song becomes his least favorite song within weeks. However, his musical tastes can still surprise me.
I was driving in the car with my son last night when a familiar guitar riff emanates from the stereo speakers.
My son exclaims, “Oh, this is my jam!” and turns up the volume.
The “jam” was Rick Springfield’s Jesse’s Girl.
Yes…Jesse’s Girl is his jam. Go figure.
And now a haiku:
Classic guitar riff
Is Jesse’s Girl the savior?
Maybe there’s hope yet
Traveling Sonic Highways
So…the Foo Fighters. They were never really on my radar until recently.
I was definitely a fan of Nirvana, whose heyday coincided with my college years. I was definitely upset and affected by the death of Kurt Cobain. However, when Dave Grohl released the first Foo Fighters album, I don’t remember being all that impressed.
Over the years, my opinion has changed. There are a number of singles that they have released over the years that I enjoy hearing and I can say that I respect the Foo Fighters artistry, but I wouldn’t have called myself a fan. Until their last studio album, the excellent Wasting Light, was released, I had never heard a Foo Fighters album in its entirety.
There are two things that the Foo Fighters, and Dave Grohl specifically, have been involved with in the last year that has led me to stand up and take notice.
First is a documentary called Sound City about a once-famous recording studio in California where a lot of classic rock albums were recorded. There are four very cool things about the documentary:
- The history of the studio is fascinating.
- The studio has a one of kind sound board that Dave Grohl basically rescued and installed in his home studio. Otherwise, it probably would have ended up in a junk yard.
- There is a soundtrack for the documentary “Sound City – Real to Reel” that is basically Dave Grohl and friends, a lot of whom had recorded albums at the Sound City studio — including Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Rick Springfield, recording songs using the board from Sound City.
- Dave Grohl’s passion for music and music history is very apparent. He comes across as an extremely likable guy who really cares deeply about music and the history of music.
Second, believe it or not, is also a documentary. Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have created a documentary series on HBO called Sonic Highways. For the Foo Fighters next studio album, they are traveling to a bunch of cities across the US and the documentary details the history of music in that city and, while they are there, they write and record a song that is influenced in some way by the city.
The first two episodes have aired. The first was about Chicago and the second was about Washington, DC. The DC episode was intriguing to me for two reasons:
- Dave Grohl grew up in Northern Virginia
- I grew up in a DC/Baltimore suburb in MD and he’s not that much older than me
In my youth, I was aware of bands like Bad Brains and Fugazi and had heard of Ian MacKaye, but I had never heard any music by those bands or other known bands from the 70s and 80s DC scene. I don’t know if I was too young, too sheltered, or too into Van Halen to notice those guys, but I wonder what kind of influence those bands would have had on my musical tastes if I had been exposed to them back then.
Because of these documentaries, I decided I may have missed out by not listening to old Foo Fighters albums. So, I spent the last two days listening to all of their albums. I was disappointed that my initial instinct was correct…I wasn’t missing much. They are all good solid records, but there’s only one or two albums that I think I would want to listen to over and over again: Wasting Light and One By One. Of course, a Foo Fighters greatest hits album would warrant heavy rotation with Pretender being my favorite Foo Fighters song.
I think Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters appear to be improving with age. Besides Wasting Light, I really love the Sound City album and the two songs they have released so far for Sonic Highways are both incredible and I cannot wait to hear the rest.
Would I now consider myself a fan of the Foo Fighters? Yes, most definitely.
And now a haiku:
Those infectious grooves
Traveling sonic highways
Where’s the next exit?
Spotify? More like Spookify.
I have sung the praises of Spotify in the past. It is a great and valuable service for someone like me who listens to music on the computer all day while I work. I have also used Spotify in conjunction with Last.fm to discover new music. Recently, Spotify introduced a feature called Discover that works similar to Last.fm. Discover uses your listening history to suggest music that you may want to listen to. In my brief time using Spotify Discover, I can safely say that it does a much better job than Last.fm at suggesting music that is relevant to my tastes.
Spotify Discover may suggest a song that I have not listened to in awhile or a song that it thinks that I would like based on other songs that I have listened to.
Imagine my surprise and horror when I saw the following:
“Livin’ On A Prayer was huge when you were a teenager. Play Now?”
The fact that Spotify suggested that I may want to listen to Bon Jovi is not the problem. At first, I thought the suggestion was kind of funny because it was true — Livin’ On A Prayer was huge when I was a teenager. Then I freaked out a little bit because it was true. How the hell does Spotify know my age? I quickly checked my Spotify profile and my birthday is no where to be found. Spotify is deeply integrated with Facebook, but I never linked my Facebook account with my Spotify account for privacy reasons.
Apparently, there is no privacy on the Internet. Is Spotify guessing my age based on the music I listen to? I do not think so because my kids listen to music using my account also. I think I would really lose it if the next suggestion said, “Your daughter listened to Katy Perry. She might like Lady Gaga.”
I do not know where they are getting my information, but the Internet probably has enough information about me to connect the dots. Spotify uses HTML5 under the covers and I am guessing that cookies are to blame. Cookies are bits of information that websites store locally on your web browser. Unfortunately, 3rd-party cookies can be used to keep track of websites that you visit and can be used to build a database of information about you. I am about 99% sure that is how Spotify is able to determine my age. If I had ever entered my birth date on another website, it is possible for Spotify to access that information and associate it with me. It is definitely scary.
Unfortunately, there is probably nothing that can be done about this. Even before the Eric Snowden stuff came out about the NSA, I had already accepted the fact that privacy is a thing of the past. However, this revelation that Spotify knows my age has really rattled me. I guess when lack of privacy smacks you in the face, it becomes real.
And now a haiku:
Oh, omnipresent
Spotify, seer of all
Friend of Big Brother
Spotify (When Used With Last.fm) Is Awesome
I’ve been using Spotify for about a year now (I think). It’s awesome, but it’s even more awesome when it’s used with Last.fm. Last.fm is a service that will keep track of things that you listen to and suggest new music that you will probably like.
I’ve looked at using Last.fm in the past, but it wasn’t very compelling because I had all of the music that I liked and wasn’t interested in spending money on new music that I may like.
That’s why Spotify + Last.fm is so great. Spotify gives you access to all of the music that Last.fm suggests for you. There’s even a Last.fm app within Spotify to automatically create playlists based on their suggestions. Cool? I think so.
I read somewhere that Candlebox had a new album out, so I listened to some Candlebox on Spotify for old times sake. I hadn’t listened to the band Live in a long time, so I listened to some Live on Spotify.
The next time I looked at my suggestions on Last.fm, it suggested a band called The Gracious Few. Who the hell are The Gracious Few?!? It turns out that after Ed Kowalczyk left Live, the remaining band members formed a band with the lead singer and guitarist from Candlebox. I didn’t know that this band even existed. And, more importantly, I like their music.
And that is one example of why Spotify (when used with Last.fm) is awesome.
What Was Old Is New Again
My love affair with Van Halen dates back many years. I would like to say I have been a fan since their first album came out in 1978, but I was only 6 years old at the time and my parents’ favorite song was Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, so it’s not like they would’ve picked up a copy for themselves.
The first release that I think I was aware of was 1984, which came out when I was in 6th grade. I think I knew who Eddie Van Halen was, but only because he was married to Valerie Bertinelli. Even after 1984 came out, I was only a casual fan. I didn’t care about the back catalog.
That all changed when David Lee Roth quit and, later, when Sammy Hagar was named the lead singer. Van Halen was big news and I knew Sammy Hagar from “I Can’t Drive 55” and I was officially hooked. I became obsessed and I’m pretty sure I bought 5150 on the day it was released. It was in 9th grade when I finally got around to completing my Van Halen catalog. In 9th grade, there was a new kid that started at our school and we sat together in Biology class. I think he heard me mention Diver Down and he said that he had that album. We bonded over Van Halen and are still great friends today.
Van Halen means a lot to me. I love all types of music, but there’s something different for me about hearing Van Halen music. I can feel my mood change and a wave of joy washes over me. I’m not sure what it is about the music that affects me that way. While I enjoy the David Lee Roth era better, I get the same feeling for Sammy Hagar era Van Halen, too. I’ll have to listen to Van Halen 3 again to see if Gary Cherone gives me the same feeling, but probably not. (Sorry Gary, however, I am a HUGE Extreme fan.)
In the early to mid-nineties, I was part of a Van Halen internet mailing list that Valerie Bertinelli lurked, and occasionally chimed in, on. I remember one day, Valerie Bertinelli posted this (or something very similar) to the mailing list: “You guys are not going to believe what’s going on here.” Shortly after, news broke of DLR’s return. When David Lee Roth recorded the two tracks for the Greatest Hits album in 1996, I was thrilled. I think the two songs, “Me Wise Magic” and “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” are awesome and I don’t know why most fans aren’t that crazy about them. While I was sad that Sammy Hagar was gone, getting DLR back was a major coup and I couldn’t wait for a new album and tour, since I had never seen Van Halen with David Lee Roth.
But, as we know, David Lee Roth got screwed over (or there was just a pretty severe misunderstanding) and Gary Cherone came in as the new lead singer. I wanted to see them in concert with Gary because I knew they were playing a lot of old stuff (i.e., deep cuts) live. I had seen VH with Sammy about 4 times and, to be honest, I got kind of bored with seeing them because they always played the same DLR-era songs and they didn’t really mix up the set list much with Sammy-era songs (i.e., stuck to the hits).
When David Lee Roth got back together with the band in 2007, I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t think it would last. I did buy tickets to see them, but the date was changed 2 times due to Eddie’s health and I just ended up selling the tickets. Also, while I was bummed that Michael Anthony wasn’t asked back, I was encouraged that, because of his age, Wolfgang would be able to infuse a new energy into the band. Based on the song selection for the tour — reportedly picked by Wolfgang — I was right. After the tour ended in 2008, not much Van Halen news came out. They kind of disappeared off the map.
Honestly, I don’t really care to see Van Halen live. I’ve listened to all of those songs a million times and the thrill of seeing them played in front of me is not as appealing to me as it once was. I just desperately wanted new music. I craved it. When Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony formed Chickenfoot, I thought it was closest thing to new Van Halen music that I was ever going to get. It was good and I liked it and it provided a similar mood altering effect on me, but it wasn’t Van Halen.
In 2011, news reports started circulating of Van Halen recording a new album with David Lee Roth. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I didn’t know whether to be wary or excited. I chose to remain a bit guarded, so that I wouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t pan out. The album was completed last fall, but there was no release date in sight. Then, they signed to Interscope and I was ready for the marketing onslaught. (What are the chances of David Lee Roth being a mentor on American Idol this year? I think pretty high and I wonder if that’s one of the reasons they signed to Interscope.)
I heard reports that a lot of the material was based on demos they did prior to their first album. That really got me interested because I have a lot of those demos and there are some really amazing songs on there that have never seen the light of day.
In January, they finally released the first single, “Tattoo”. Did I like the song? Yes. Was it what I was expecting? Not even close.
Tattoo wasn’t very heavy and had kind of a pop feel to it. I literally (and I do mean “literally” in the truest sense) listened to the song over 100 times that week. I didn’t really ever get sick of the song, so that was a good sign. None of my friends (and I mean none of my friends liked it). While I enjoyed the song, if the rest of the album sounded like this, I would be disappointed. I wanted tunes that hit you over the head with Eddie’s guitar and had the typical David Lee Roth swagger.
In the weeks leading up to the release of the new album (A Different Kind of Truth — great album title), Van Halen started releasing 90 second previews of each song. With the sample of China Town, I finally heard what I was hoping for. Following China Town, almost all of the new songs previewed had a hard and heavy feel. Some riffs I recognized immediately from the old demos. For other riffs, I had to read through the comments on the Van Halen News Desk for someone to fill me in.
When I first heard about them using old demos as the basis for these songs, I was worried that Eddie lost his creativity and ability to write new songs. However, there are plenty of songs on A Different Kind of Truth that are brand new (to me, at least) that are fantastic.
I am not going to give a track-by-track review of the album, although I will say that I think Tattoo is the outlier and probably should’ve been left off the album. Everything else is stellar. There are two songs that I didn’t like when I heard the previews, but enjoy much more now that I have heard the whole album: “Blood and Fire” and “Stay Frosty”.
Rather than do a track-by-track review, I will list the songs that are based on old demos and provide links to versions of the originals on YouTube. You can also listen to previews of the new songs on iTunes.
| New Song | Original Version |
|---|---|
| Tattoo | Down In Flames |
| She’s The Woman | She’s The Woman |
| You and Your Blues | N/A |
| China Town | N/A |
| Blood and Fire | Ripley Instrumental from the movie The Wild Life |
| Bullethead | Bullethead |
| As Is | Two Burritos and a Root Beer Float from Eddie’s appearance on Two and a Half Men |
| Honeybabysweetiedoll | N/A |
| The Trouble With Never | N/A |
| Outta Space | Let’s Get Rockin’ |
| Stay Frosty | N/A |
| Big River | Big Trouble |
| Beats Workin’ | Put Out The Lights |
I’m kind of hoping that they release a box set or something, so that clean versions of the old demos are released. As good as the songs on the new album are, a couple of the original songs are better than the new incarnations.
Because they have new matieral to play in concert, I did decide to go see them live and I’m looking forward to it. Especially because Eddie seems healthier than he’s been in years (or even decades?). I’m looking forward to an amazing show. Since they are playing in Atlantic City on a Saturday night, my wife and I are going to make a weekend out of it. Maybe I’ll run into David Lee Roth roaming around the Borgata.
Truly, I am just ecstatic that Van Halen is back in full force. It’d be great if they could put out a new album every year like they did from Van Halen I through 1984, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore. I just hope that A Different Kind of Truth is just the beginning and not their swan song. Stay Frosty.
Some Central American Country
The other day, we were all in the car and Panama comes on the radio. My daughter, who prefers music of the top 40 variety (or lack thereof), asked me to change the station. I said, “Umm…this is Van Halen, I am not changing it.”
Before the singing starts, my wife says, “This is, ‘Top of the World’, right?”
In mock horror (because she should know the difference between Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth by now), I reply, “No!”
“Oh right…I know what this is”, she says and she starts humming the song to herself and then she sings what she thinks the name of the song is (I swear I am not making this up): “GUATAMALA”
She quickly corrected herself, but I was in tears I was laughing so hard.
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