DUSTY BOOKS and PICTURES: MUSIC

MUSIC

"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music." - Vladimir Nabokov

"You should have two radios in case one gets broken." - Lou Reed

I love jazz, I enjoy classical but don't really listen to it, and just about any genre is fine with me some of the time (even easy listening; Hollyridge Strings ROCK). But frankly, I know nothing about any of that highbrow stuff. I like the way it sounds but I can't tell you the first thing about it. Rock & roll I can handle. Below I've done stuff on a lot of my favorite bands. What's here is very much informed by my immense fascination with the Beach Boys and my unceasing passion for the Beatles (which has only grown since I wrote the stuff below). They're my two favorite bands, I fell in love with both before I was in elementary school, and I think that has affected my taste more than anything. This is a vastly incomplete section for now because I haven't even really started to cover my biggest passion, the music of the '50s.

Plus, there are so many of my favorite people missing: the Replacements, Chuck Berry, the Byrds, Stevie Wonder, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Prince, Phil Spector, My Bloody Valentine, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Leonard Cohen, Roy Orbison, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Dick Dale, the Shangri-Las, the Police, Patti Smith, Wire, U2 (yes, U2), Brian Eno, Devo, the Box Tops, Fine Young Cannibals, John Cale, the Cars, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Fleetwood Mac, INXS, Tom Tom Club, Ben Folds Five, Lightning Seeds, blah blah blah blah blah, and since my tastes were long skewered to pre-1964 and post-1977, I'm only just now really discovering the depths of the great stuff from Van Morrison, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, blah blah blah blah blah. So hopefully I'll be reporting on my adventures in this section in the eons to come. Forgive me for all my musical (and other) ignorance.

YYYYYYYYEAHHH
DO THE DOG!
MUSIC REVIEWS

ARTIST PAGES WITH REVIEWS/ESSAYS:
THE BEACH BOYS
THE BEATLES
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
TALKING HEADS
THE KINKS
BIG STAR
TELEVISION
R.E.M.
YO LA TENGO
THE CLASH
coming: Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Buddy Holly, lots more I hope!

OTHER REVIEWS
The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
Leonard Cohen: Songs of Love and Hate (1971)
Leonard Cohen: Ten New Songs (2001)
Leonard Cohen: Dear Heather (2004)
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones: King of the Surf Guitar (1989)
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (1950)
Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (1984)
Brian Eno & David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)
Eurythmics: Greatest Hits (1991)
Everything But the Girl: Like the Deserts Miss the Rain (2000)
Feist: Let It Die (2005)
Feist: The Reminder (2007)
John Lennon: Mind Games (1973)
Love: Forever Changes (1967)
Love: Story (1997)
Madonna: Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)
Paul McCartney: Chaos & Creation in the Backyard (2005)
Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full (2007)
Muse: Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
The Marvelettes: Ultimate Collection (2000)
My Bloody Valentine: You Made Me Realise/Feed Me with Your Kiss/Tremolo EP's (1988-91)
Old 97's: Hit by a Train- Best Of (2006)
Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1 (1995)
Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental (2006)
The Police: Ghost in the Machine (1981)
Prince: 1999 (1982)
Radiohead: The Bends (1995)
Radiohead: OK Computer (1997)
Radiohead: In Rainbows (2007)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Aracdium (2006)
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles: Anthology (2002)
The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (1968)
The Shangri-Las: Myrmidons of Melodrama (1994)
Phil Spector: Back to Mono (1991)
Ringo Starr: Photograph (2007)
Brian Wilson: Smile (2004)
Wire: 154 (1979)
Yaz: Upstairs at Eric's (1982)
Neil Young: Decade (1976)
The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle (1968)

CAPSULES:
The Beatles: The Capitol Albums Vol. 1
Archie Bell & the Drells: Tightenin' Up
The Cardigans: First Band on the Moon / Gran Turismo
The Chemical Brothers: Dig Your Own Hole
The Clash: The Singles
Leonard Cohen: Various Positions
Leonard Cohen: The Future
Depeche Mode: Playing the Angel
Devo: Freedom of Choice
Everything But the Girl: Walking Wounded
Buddy Holly: Greatest Hits
Kinks: Face to Face
Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies
101 Strings: 20 Years of Beautiful Music
Pavement: Brighten the Corners
Prince: Prince
Prince: Sign o' the Times
? & the Mysterians: Cameo Parkway
Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Animal
The Replacements: Stink EP
The Replacements: All for Nothing/Nothing for All
The Rolling Stones: Aftermath
The Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons
Patti Smith: Easter
Television: Blow Up
U2: War non-review
The Velvet Underground: Loaded revisited
Wire: The A List 1985-1990
Stevie Wonder: Innervisions
Yo La Tengo: May I Sing with Me
Yo La Tengo: Prisoners of Love
Yo La Tengo: Ride the Tiger

OTHER MUSIC WRITING (essays etc.)

Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy (documentary DVD)
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (documentary film)
Semi-serious digipack rant
New Kids on the Block
Rage Against the Machine rant
John Lennon 1940-1980
Brian's Back?
Vinyl Siding: Why I Hate Records
year in lyrics etc. (2007)
Old 97's = new favorite band

CONCERTS:
note on Tori Amos show (Feb. 2003)
/ Yo La Tengo (9/11/03)
/ R.E.M. 10/10/03
/ Yo La Tengo (2/5-6/07) + further comments

INDIVIDUAL SONGS:
All Summer Long (The Beach Boys)
Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds)
He's a Rebel (The Crystals)
Song #11 (R.E.M.)
Boogie On Reggae Woman (Stevie Wonder)

WUZZON? COLUMNS:
2004: #1 / #2 / #3
2006: #4 / #5 / #6 / #7 / #8
2007: #9 / #10

Some lists & other marginalia: not to be taken seriously

I'm tired of looking out the window of the airplane.
I'm tired of travelling. I want to be somewhere.
It's not even worth talking about those people down there.

"We have to learn to play with nothing, with our guitars broken and it's raining." - Jonathan Richman