You think we look pretty good together

I’ve liked The Who ever since I discovered them via Green Day’s cover of “A Quick One While He’s Away,” the first ever miniopera that inspired the other 2 songs on American Idiot. And I’ve recently been relistening to their first live album Live At Leeds (the deluxe edition of course). I do that thing like Maria, except of different bands, I get into certain albums. Last few weeks it’s been Pleased To Meet Me, and before that it was something else. I can’t remember. Anyways, all of the musicians of The Who are excellent. I mean, Pete Townshend (guitar) is the main personality of the band (he writes all of the music, unlike most bands where the singer writes all of it) and he’s an amazing guitarist (he perfected the original guitar smashing), but the rhythm section is just as awesome. It seems like all of them are soloing at the same time, as Keith Moon (drummer) thrashes like there’s no tomorrow (ironically he’s dead), and although John Entwistle (bassist) just stands in place while he plays (no walking, no jumping, no nothing), but boy can he play. He is one of the loudest bass players I’ve ever heard, and sometimes his super-twangy bass overpowers the guitar. I don’t feel like reviewing the whole album this time, because I’m tired and I just don’t feel like it. Almost all of Tommy is performed on the second disc, and they barely take breaks between songs. The album is a bit better, in my opinion, but much less energetic than this epic performance of the rock opera. On the studio album, they have all of these effects, and even a horn section (played by Entwistle), but at Leeds, they have three instruments; guitar, bass, and drums. “Tommy’s Holiday Camp,” although a 57 second circus joke on the album (it has a banjo), turns into a 60 second stomp, that while still sounds like a joke, is accented by Keith Moon’s maniacal laughter (Tre Cool bears many similarities to Moon). “Sparks” is basically a 4 minute jam session, but it turns out very well, especially when they incorporate some of the 10 minute instrumental “Underture” (ha ha, over and under… no?) into it. On the main album, they have bloody brilliant (British enough for you, mates?) renditions of “Young Man Blues” (sort of a “Black Dog” kind of call and response thing with a just as rockin’ riff), “Summertime Blues” (upbeat blues rock thing carried by the bass), and especially “My Generation,” their signature song (about how adults don’t understand “our generation.” Actually, I don’t either) with a big in-your-face grungy bass solo (at about 50 seconds) followed by a nearly 15 minute long medley of songs that you’ve never heard of, but still sound great (if you can sit through it). The last song of the show, “Magic Bus,” is also great. It starts with a clacking noise (Moon banging two wooden blocks together) and then Townshend comes in with a cool echo effect. Then a stuttering bass on A. At 3:20, the whole thing basically explodes into this giant noise thing, where everybody solos (and it sounds great too) and the song sporadically uses loud and soft dynamics. Where have we heard that before? Live At Leeds isn’t the best Who album. That distinction belongs to either Who’s Next or Quadrophenia (sorry Tommy), their second rock opera about a Mod named Jimmy, who has 4 different personalities. That makes Green Day seem a little… tamer, I guess. “Baba O’Riley” is easily the best song on Who’s Next (although the version on the soundtrack The Kids Are Alright is superior), but “Sea And Sand” from Quadrophenia is probably my favorite Who song. The vocals are some of the best Roger Daltrey has ever done (he’s the singer… I really hope I didn’t have to establish that), especially during the verses, where the protagonist reminisces about his former girlfriend. Anyway... here's some video of the actual concert at Leeds. Click here.

In other news, Pearl Jam’s album Ten sucks. Vs. is way better. The single version of Weezer’s Keep Fishin’ is better than the album version on Maladroit. And I don’t hate New Guns N’ Roses that much anymore; they have Tommy Stinson. Join Green Day Community! You can download so much stuff. I’m tired now. And I had a lot of ice cream, so I’m kind of thirsty. Keep your riches, gimme a Budweiser!

The Strokes + Panic! At the Disco



From: http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2011/02/the-strokes-angles1.jpg





From: http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/album_review/4979948a229389f5d3523812dba6f9a4350aa174.jpg



What do these two bands have in common? Really hot lead singers? True, but no. I have been going through a phase where I'm obsessed with a band and I listen to nothing but them for like a week and then go back to listening to a little bit of everything. This week it was Panic! At the Disco and The Strokes. So I've liked The Strokes for quite awhile and I just can't seem to get enough of Julian Casablanca's voice and the short, clipped sounding guitar. Panic! At the Disco on the other hand I had heard before, and was like meh. But then again it was only Nine in the Afternoon, which I an okay good song at best. Panic! At the Disco's other songs are SO MUCH BETTER. I listened to all of Vices and Virtues and one of my favorites has to be "Trade Mistakes". It reminds me of The Killers for some reason, and is such a musical and melodic song. Kind of like being on Ecstasy and having a really good dream that you don't want to wake up from. Also good songs are "Memories" and "Hurricane" (which of course is about sex). I also listened to all of Angles by The Strokes and found that while there were really good songs, there were also songs I could care less about. A few standouts from Angles are "Machu Picchu" and "Life is Simple in the Moonlight". Of course "Under the Cover of Darkness" is pretty catchy. I have to say though, I applaud The Strokes for moving forward in their music and developing it more fully, but I still think that First Impressions of  Earth was better (I don't think there was a single song on that album that I didn't like).



Well, anyways, <3 The Strokes and <3 Panic! At the Disco.



Why Don't You Kill Yourself?

I’m starting to like this one band, The Only Ones. Y’know, the punk band who wrote “Another Girl, Another Planet,” which my band covered (and what I think is my 2^nd favorite song ever now)? Yeah. They’re not that well known, but some of their videos on YouTube have a substantial number of views (more than mine, at least). Peter Perrett’s voice is very unique; it’s kind of a thick British accent crossed with a snarl. I find some of my favorite singers, ex: Kurt Cobain, Paul Westerberg, Mark Arm (don’t know who he is? Here’s an example), have some pretty abrasive voices. I don’t know why, it just kind of works out like that. Anyway, some of their other great songs include “No Peace For The Wicked” (which has a pretty awesome guitar solo, especially THIS LIVE VERSION at OGWT, whatever that means.), “Lovers Of Today,” “City Of Fun” (which has got to be the lamest song title of all time, but it isn’t a bad song), and “Why Don’t You Kill Yourself” (which may seem like an answer to “I Hate Myself And I Want To Die,” but this one was written 10 years before the other the awesome Nirvana tune). It’s always fun to find little known bands that nobody’s ever heard of. It's usually kind of hard to find stuff about them (I couldn't find a single download of "No Peace For The Wicked" where you didn't have to sign up for the stupid site), but you get this weird or good or something kind of feeling when people say “Who?” like they’ve never heard of that group. Like you did after the first sentence of this post. Shut up, of course you didn’t know who The Only Ones were. Okay, you might have known who they were because of “Another Girl, Another Planet,” but you didn’t know ANY other songs by them. Admit it. And I bet you don’t know who Peter Perrett is either. Good night. And have fun studying for SAT Bio, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Panic! -ing

I'm currently obsessed with Panic! At the Disco. Yes, I realized that they are pretty mainstream and pop-ish, but I have "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" stuck in my head and Brendon Urie's voice is just so AMAZING. <3 I'm not a huge fan of their theatricality (yes, I get that that's a big part of Panic! At the Disco, but still) their music however is a different story. So far, I like what I've heard. Unlike most, I like the new Panic! At the Disco better than the Panic! before two of the band members left. Pretty. Odd. has a Beatles-ish vibe that is pretty odd. (Nine in the Afternoon is on Rockband 2, just FYI and it's from Pretty. Odd. and it's a pretty good song) A Fever You Can't Sweat Out on the other hand is a little too emo for me. Vices and Virtues is PERFECT. I'll probably post again after I've listened to the entirety of Vices and Virtues.

What I love more than Panic! At the Disco is Panic! At the Disco acoustic.
Great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s-Qcx6byfs

My Nightmare Would Be Living Without A7X

So Leonard blogged earlier about Nightmare and convinced me to listen to it. I have to say, the first time through I thought it was just okay but after a few listens, I thinks I'm addicted. I love the vocal harmonies and the heavy guitar riffs. My favorite songs on the album are probably "Fiction", "Victim" and "So Far Away". All are on the mellow side and are not really "heavy metal" perse. But anyways, they are good songs "Fiction" has a killer piano intro that is simple but incredibly powerful. IDK why, it just is. "Save Me" is also pretty good, albeit slightly "meh-ish" at first. Overall though, Nightmare is an album worth buying or just listening to. I have to say though, the title track "Nightmare" is a little monotonous. Anyhow, I think I will be listening to more Avenged Sevenfold...

Means of contact P.O. Box 8941

Got a few CDs today. Yes, at Rasputin’s. Since you guys always ask what I get, I might as well detail them here. But they’re just going to be first impressions, so bear with me. Or not.

First one: Hootenanny. By The Replacements. Again. It’s their second album, and it is pretty good. It’s not as great as Let It Be or Tim, but most of the tracks are pretty interesting. The title track is kind of sloppy, but considering that all of the band members switch instruments, and all Paul Westerberg does (besides play drums) is repeat the title. During the whole song. There’s also “Run It,” which is very energetic, and only lasts about a minute. And “Color Me Impressed,” which is pretty much a pop rock song. The song that stood out to me the most was “Lovelines,” which is a catchy, upbeat, shuffle blues thing with Paul reading from the news. He doesn’t even sing, but it still feels like it is in rhythm to the song. Pity it’s only 2 minutes. Then again, it would get tedious if it was longer. I guess it’s better to leave them wanting more.

Next; Ocean Eyes, by Yellowcard. I have no idea why I got this. Maybe because it was $1.95. It’s not particularly interesting, but it’s not bad, not bad at all. Apparently Yellowcard has a violinist, which is almost unheard of in a “so-called” punk band, but it fits in nicely with some of the ballad-ish songs, like “View From Heaven.” “Miles Apart” is also catchy.

I also got a soundtrack to a movie. It’s a romantic comedy about a bunch of 20-somethings and their love problems. Doesn’t sound like me, does it? Well, I bought the Footloose soundtrack before, so this doesn’t seem so bad. Then again, most of the songs on the soundtrack for Singles is from the early 1990s grunge era, so there. All of the big names are here; Pearl Jam (“Breath” is pretty good), Alice In Chains, Mudhoney, Soundgarden… Well, all of them except Nirvana. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was supposed to be used, but when it got famous, the royalties got too expensive. There are also a few artists like Jimi Hendrix and Paul Westerberg that seem out of place, but it doesn’t matter, since their songs are good too (especially Paul’s “Dyslexic Heart”).

Return of the Rentals is basically a new wave album. That’s what it sounds like to me, at least. The Rentals are fronted by Matt Sharp, who you would know if you were paying attention to one of my previous posts (no, he is not one of Nirvana’s drummers). It’s kind of boring, and definitely not as exciting as The Cars, but Return of the Rentals has songs that it would feel good to sit in a hammock and rock back and forth too (“My Summer Girl”).

Do you know who The Presidents of the United States are? They’re a power pop/post-grunge band that don’t even play guitar or bass. They play a “basitar” and a “guitbass,” which sound ridiculous, but add effect to their short, stupid (in a great way), often humorous songs. What do you expect from a band whose first single is “F*ck California”? Unfortunately, that song is not their debut album, which I got. You may have heard of “Lump” on Pandora, but another great song is “Kick Out The Jams,” which has a cool riff and great drum parts.

The Who is one of those classic rock bands that still sound relevant today. All of their musicians are insanely good (John Entwistle is one of my all time favorite bassists) Their soundtrack (again!) to their documentary The Kids Are Alright is able to stand on it’s own as a great (but at times inconsistent) live album with great versions of stuff like “My Generation,” where the bass drum explodes (I’m not kidding; Keith Moon filled it with explosives), “My Wife,” and a couple of tracks recorded in the studio (the live tapes didn’t work); “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” which sound alive (I can’t think of a better word, I know it’s redundant), compared the versions on Who’s Next (great album, by the way).

Wednesday, October 13^th, 1982

Volume 4, Number 79

Dream Theater's new drummer O__O

I apologize for not posting anything for a while... so, let's go ahead and jump into the hot topic of Dream theater's newest member, Mike Mangini.

Wow. For those of you who are not exactly familiar w/ Dream theater, you should know that the 5 of them were a very close band and Portnoy's leaving was extremely spontaneous. According to James LaBrie, in the "The spirit carries on" episodes, they have been part of the same band for 25 years. All their children knew each other and they've been at each other's weddings. Pretty much, they were pretty much a family. The fact that Portnoy might be leaving never even crossed their minds. So you can imagine the rest of the band members' faces after he made the announcement.

The thing that I really respect about Dream Theater is that they had the same members for 25 years and didn't go crazy. There is a certain level of maturity in their music which I really value. Anyhow, because Dream Theater is Dream Theater and will not play the "temporary musician game", they found the best 7 drummers in the world and decided to hold an audition. (If you're interested in watching these amazing auditions, visit Dream Theater's youtube channel) Dream Theater also made it very clear to the public that Mike Mangini is a permanent member as far as they're concerned, so, we'll be seeing some crazy drum parts from Dream Theater over the course of a couple years.

Recently I'm hearing this crazy news about people either siding with Avenged Sevenfold or Dream Theater. Perhaps this is because of the whole Mike Portnoy plays drums for A7x's Nightmare album which I talked about a few days ago. Personally, I think they're both great, I have greater respect for DT, but A7x has pretty awesome music as well. Instead of deciding which one is better, I think we should try and support both ^^

Y'all should listen to "The Dance of Eternity", "A Nightmare to Remember", and "Honor thy Father". Those are probably my favorite out of DT. If you're looking for something a little more "Pink Floyd-ish", then try "The Spirit Carries On". (not the auditions btw.)

Anyhow, Maria, call me when you're feeling a little better so that I can fill you in on some of the crazy stuff we did at school.