Just another list

3 favourite "rock songs with accordions":
1. When I paint my masterpiece – The Band [youtube]
2. 4th of July – Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band [youtube]
3. Summersong – The Decemberists [youtube]

Band on the run

I have always wondered how studio albums are made by each member of the band coming in at a different time to the studio and recording his own instrument/vocal into the song. Technology may have advanced to make it possible, but would they actually enjoy recording like this?

Every kid knows: When Van Morrison made the monumental Astral Weeks, he came into the studio alone with his guitar, sang and strummed hysterically, and later all the instrumental segments were added on to this. If you were not aware of this fact when you listened to this album, you wouldn’t have ever imagined this, Astral weeks being such a passionate and solid record.

Talking of bands and of being passionate, nothing can get more intimate than the E-Street Band. But then, Springsteen’s latest offering Magic was recorded in a similar fashion (maybe for the first time in the history of E-Street) – due to the busy schedules of E-Street members, they came in separately to the studio and recorded their part into the song. Can you imagine E-Street band doing such a thing?

The indie-rock-gone-major-met-Dalai-Lama band Death Cab for Cutie decided that for their latest album, they would stick to playing as a band, live, while recording, in contrast to their first Major Label album Plans. From the NYT review:

As the album [Plans] turned into a big-budget production in which each instrument was recorded separately, “It was freaking me out, definitely,” Mr. [Chris] Walla said. “I missed out on the fun of being in a band. I felt more like a project manager than one quarter of a band. I had a clipboard instead of a guitar.”

[..]“Narrow Stairs” was largely recorded live in the studio, and in the music you can sense a band in communion with itself.

While we are at it, on the album Band on the run by Paul McCartney, “backed” by the band Wings, Paul played lead, rhythm and bass guitars, drums, piano, keyboards, percussion, and obviously did the vocals too! All the instruments on this album were not played and recorded live, eh.

Major Lift

One of the most frequently used song in movie and TV serial soundtracks these days, is Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Last night I came across this song again, the John Cale cover, in an episode of Scrubs. By far the most appropriate usage of this song I have seen, is in the movie Lord of War (the Jeff Buckley cover). Others can take a lesson or two from T Bone Brunett.

Now those memories come back to haunt me...

Songs in the key of Life #2

The River is probably the first Springsteen song I fell in love with. And at that time, thats how I wanted my life to be- just like the story in the song:

And for my nineteenth birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

For me, this song brings in memories of the first CD player in our home and the first couple of CDs, my brother got on his first trip to the US.
This is also the first rock song lyrics I memorized, start to finish, and I sang along each time it was played. I can still play this song shut in a room alone, sing along with all my energy, get moody at the end of it and not talk to anyone for three days.

Mega stores and iTunes killed the Record Store

Apr 19th was celebrated as the Record Store Day, or more appropriately - an obituary to the dying neighborhood/independent record stores.

Some relief to the folks in Bangalore - Habitat is still there on Church Street. I am grateful to them for organizing the CDs so meticulously, playing good music on their stereo (usually jazz), the unpretentious atmosphere and non-intrusive staff.They also have the best collection of DVDs in Bangalore.

Looking at it from a different angle, some people love to visit a mega record store chain, without any hassles of familiarity, walk in, buy the record you like, pay and walk out. You can buy a Pet Shop Boys album and don't have to hear the rant of the rock-snob record store employee who swears by Nick Drake. They usually are a pretentious lot, like the DJs in a rock pub- remember Jack Black in Hi-Fidelity (as a independent record store clerk) yelling at a customer who asks for a Stevie Wonder album!

Where the Holly berry bleeds...

*Songs in the key of Life #1

I clearly remember the time and place where I heard this song for the first time. I remember the smells too:

Rosin smells and turpentine smells from eucalyptus and pine
Bitter tastes of twigs we chewed where tangled woodvines twine
Trees held us in on all four sides so thick we could not see
I could not see any wrong in you, and you saw none in me.

The song is Remember the Mountain Bed from Billy Bragg's Mermaid Avenue Vol. II. If you care much for the lyrics, it is by Woody Guthrie. Bragg's interpretation of lost and found Woody Guthrie lyrics, backed by the band Wilco (mostly set to music by Wilco's guitarist Jay Bennet).

In music news - Billy Bragg is out with a new studio album "Mr. Love and Justice", AMG rates it with 4 stars - "it's a return to form, a step forward, and a potent reminder of why Bragg's music still matters."

*Based on my first post on this blog.

Mr. Sanghvi, you are out of your element!

Last month (Feb 08), his column on Woody Allen was titled When did the genius turn into such a bore (yes, b-o-r-e!) in which he says that he dozed off while watching Melinda and Melinda. I agree that Melinda is not a great Allen movie, as I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog, it would have been like a TV soap if it had been made by a lesser film maker.
Vir rambles on:

"Frankly I couldn’t give a monkey’s. All I knew was this: Christ, was the man a bore!"

Take a look at yourself, Sir!

"In 1972, Allen made the crappy Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (a series of unfunny sketches)"

Unfunny sketches!- Mr. Sanghvi, I thought you had taste!

"Now I very much doubt if I’ll waste my time on another Woody Allen film."

Better not, Sir. Instead, please spend that time eating oysters, drinking wine and do some good introspection!

"He’s still offering the same old things. But alas, I’ve moved on."

Thank you, Sir. And please don’t write about his next movie without watching it. Peace out.

PS: I am a huge fan of Vir’s food writings.

Poker, Anyone?

It should be easy to drag philosophy into almost anything under the sun. In the short story "The Portrait of a Gentleman", which has an extraordinary narrative style, W. Somerset Maugham discusses Poker as a "gentleman’s game”. Profound statements are delivered as if being quoted from a book on Poker (Complete Poker Player) the protagonist picked up from a used book store in Korea.
Some "excerpts" given in the story:

“Lost money is never recovered. After losing you may win, but losing does not bring the winning.”
“..that habit of mind which continually leads us to undervalue the mental force of other men, while we continually overvalue their good luck”
“A gentleman is always willing to pay a fair price for recreation and entertainment”

This story reminded me of one my favorite songs by Sting- Shape of my heart from the album Ten Summoner's tales, which goes like this:

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

The Portrait of a Gentleman is from the short story collections of Somerset Maugham: Rain and other stories. The opening piece Rain is another terrific story about a Christian missionary, which has also been made into a movie.

Springsteen's magic

2007 saw three of my favourite rock veterans release studio albums - Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. I havent heard Young's Chrome Dreams II yet, but Knopfler's Kill to get crimson surely shows signs of aging. Seems like Knopfler is making music much for himself than his fans. Most of the tracks on Crimson are mellow and folksy, something we didnt see in Sailing to Philadelphia or Shangrila.

Here, Springsteen's Magic comes in as a whiff of fresh air. The Boss rides through his familiar territory on his powerful and loyal E-Street horses.

"I want a thousand guitars
I want pounding drums..."

Sings Springsteen on the opening track Radio Nowhere [free download link], which pretty much sets the tone for the album. The E-Street guitars roars, drums crashboombang and the keyboards pull out loud riffs, making E-Street band one of the loudest, high-energy, lovable bands of all time. I havent heard all of Springsteen studio albums completely, but I have a feeling that Magic is one Springsteen album where lead guitars are so prominent. I even wondered whether Last to die would break out into a Led-Zeppelinish guitar solo in between!

My favourite tracks on Magic, as of now, are Gypsy Biker, Magic, Last to die.

Sign O' the Times

While record companies and musicians are doing their best to fight piracy, Prince is giving away his latest album "Planet Earth" for free with the Sunday edition of the newspaper The Mail in Britain.

Interesting thing to note in this NYT article is that though his career is three decades old, Prince is not yet a nostalgic act (Like Neil Young or Paul Simon today). His music is still the sound of the new generation.

Other musicians may think that their best chance at a livelihood is locking away their music — impossible as that is in the digital era — and demanding that fans buy everything they want to hear. But Prince is confident that his listeners will support him, if not through CD sales then at shows or through other deals.

Talk about DRM!