Friday, October 20, 2006

Number 760 - Dandy Warhols




Number 760

Dandy Warhols

"Bohemian Like You"

(2000)
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Genre:Indie Rock
"The Dandy's formed in Portland in 1994, releasing Dandy Warhols Rule Ok? on the indie Tim/Kerr Records in 1995. Their next three albums for Capitol, The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997), Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000) and Welcome To The Monkey House (2003) put the band on the charts, on TV and in the sweet, sweet limelight with international hits like “Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth” and “Bohemian Like You.” In 2003, the band was chosen by David Bowie to be the supporting act on his Reality Tour and most recently, the band was featured alongside the Brian Jonestown Massacre in indie documentary film Dig!, winner of the Grand Jury Best Documentary prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival."
"Though they still tend towards pastiche, the Dandy Warhols' third full-length, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, presents a bakers' dozen of their most focused and cohesive songs. Where their earlier albums were eclectic to the point of being scattershot, this release manages to limit the band's style-switching to dreamy, sweeping epics like "Godless" and "Nietzsche," sussed, sleazy power pop like "Horse Pills" and "Cool Scene," and country and gospel ventures like "Country Leaver" and "The Gospel." The group's increasingly strong songwriting makes most of these experiments successful and distinctive, though the Dandys fall into their old habit of appropriating sounds they like wholesale with "Shakin'," a "tribute" to Elastica's uptight yet sexy riffs and rhythms. Not surprisingly, the most successful songs on Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia are the least derivative ones, such as anxious pop songs like "Solid," "Get Off," and the delicate, lovelorn ballad "Sleep." On those tracks, as well as the satirical single "Bohemian Like You" -- this year's model of their hit "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" -- the Dandys reveal themselves as a savvy pop band with a voice of their own. Though they're not all the way there yet, Tales From Urban Bohemia is a worthwhile step in their developing creativity". ~ Heather Phares
For David Bowie see Number 634
For Elastica see Number 866
What does Rolling Stone Magazine think about Dandy Warhols?.....
"Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia signals a departure for the Dandy Warhols, a Portland, Oregon, quartet best known for its spaced-out Brit pop. The Dandies can still harmonize you into a trance, but they've replaced the dreamy drone of 1997's . . . The Dandy Warhols Come Down with more diverse atmospherics. On "Country Leaver," vocalist-guitarist Courtney Taylor drawls his way through an archetypal country backdrop -- complete with whinnying horses; "Solid" and "Horse Pills" (no whinnying here) cover more abrasive, Velvet Underground-lined terrain. The cosmopolitan glam of "Shakin' " downshifts into the disenchanted indie rock of "Big Indian" and finally ends with the doleful harmonies and sweet, countrified resignation of "The Gospel." Coming from a band whose greatest hit was "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth," this album suggests that it's possible to be elegantly wasted for fifteen minutes and survive to eloquently tell the tale". (RS 848)
Ouch ouch and ouch! Rolling Stone Magazine suggests they would make great toilet paper for the homeless. As long as the don't whine. Still, Rolling Stone have the freedom and the right (just as i do) to write what they think.... lucky for us it comes down to the individual.
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Stop Whining!) and the Album ranked at Number (Whine whine whine thats all you ever do)
This song has a crowbarred rating of 65.5 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

underlay trademe
Houhou pounamu

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posted by crowbarred at 10:08 pm 0 comments

Number 761 - J Geils Band


Number 761

J Geils Band

"Centerfold"

(1981)
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Genre:Rock
Did Hugh Hefner sponser this song? Hmmm? I sure hope you people haven't forgotten this gem from 1981. Yes it was a one hit wonder and No you dont need to go out and by their Anthology 20 CD set, and yes mine is for sale on Ebay :p
.
"The J. Geils Band was one of the most popular touring rock & roll bands in America during the '70s. Where their contemporaries were influenced by the heavy boogie of British blues-rock and the ear-splitting sonic adventures of psychedelia, the J. Geils Band was a bar band pure and simple, churning out greasy covers of obscure R&B, doo wop, and soul tunes, cutting them with a healthy dose of Stonesy swagger. While their muscular sound and the hyper jive of frontman Peter Wolf packed arenas across America, it only rarely earned them hit singles. Seth Justman, the group's main songwriter, could turn out catchy R&B-based rockers like "Give It to Me" and "Must of Got Lost," but these hits never led to stardom, primarily because the group had trouble capturing the energy of its live sound in the studio. In the early '80s, the group tempered its driving rock with some pop, and the makeover paid off with the massive hit single "Centerfold," which stayed at number one for six weeks. By the time the band prepared to record a follow-up, tensions between Justman and Wolf had grown considerably, resulting in Wolf's departure, which quickly led to the band's demise. After working for years to reach to top of the charts, the J. Geils Band couldn't stay there once they finally achieved their goal. "
What does Rolling Stone Magazine think about J Geils Band?
"Like the Rolling Stones, the J. Geils Band offers fresh proof that rock & roll knows no age limit -- in fact, many New Wavers might wish they sounded this hot and varied. Kudos to keyboardist Seth Justman"
"Like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the J. Geils Band got its start by churning out loving, frantic cover versions of R&B, blues and Fifties rock 'n' roll classics. While the Beatles and Stones moved on to find their own niches (mostly because of the compositional abilities of Lennon-McCartney and Jagger-Richards), the lack of a solid writer always held J. Geils back."

Oh hey Mr Rolling Stone! You left the knife in, must be hard to get it out with all the blood coagulating like that. Oh the knife is twisted? Riiiiight.
And what is it with saying "Like The Beatles" or "Like The Rolling Stones"?
If you Mr R Stone think that they don't scrub up....then why compare them to the "Greats"?
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Like The Rolling Stones "No wait we didn't mean that!) and the Album ranked at Number (Like The Beatles..."We just fraggin with ya now)
This song has a total crowbarred rating of 65.5 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

underlay trademe
Houhou pounamu

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posted by crowbarred at 9:10 pm 0 comments

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Number 759 - Dixie Chicks

Number 759

Dixie Chicks

"Wide Open Spaces"

(1998)
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.
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Genre:Country
Outspoken Dixie Chicks are not to be mistaken for the "White Chicks" At first its really hard to tell them apart, considering they "all" have Blond hair.
But after many hours of research, i crowbarred, learnt how to tell the two Groups apart. Dixie Chicks are three chicks! So there you go, more investigative journalism for you. Now if i could only tell the difference between the White Chicks and The Mint Chicks! (That one might take a while)

"The Dixie Chicks rose from relative obscurity in 1998 to become one of the most popular acts in contemporary country music. Their origins date back nearly a decade earlier, to 1989, when fiddler Martie Seidel and her banjo-playing sister Emily Erwin formed the group in Dallas with bassist Laura Lynch and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy; after getting their start on local street corners, the quartet soon graduated to clubs, receiving an enormous boost when Seidel earned third place honors at the National Fiddle Championships. Originally, the Dixie Chicks (their name inspired by the Little Feat song "Dixie Chickens") promoted a classic cowgirl image, complete with a sound inspired by traditional country, folk, and bluegrass; they even titled their 1990 indie-label debut Thank Heavens for Dale Evans."

"With 1992's Little Ol' Cowgirl, the Chicks began slowly moving toward a more contemporary sound, a transformation that in part resulted in the exit of Macy; with Lynch assuming lead vocal duties, the remaining trio resurfaced in 1993 with Shouldn't a Told You That. Shortly after the Chicks signed with Sony's newly revived Monument imprint in 1995, Lynch left the group as well -- according to a December 10, 1998, feature in the Dallas Observer, both she and Macy were likely victims of Seidel and Erwin's desire to foster a more youthful image; the magazine goes on to call the group "the country version of Menudo, hiring and firing based on age." Soon named as Lynch's replacement was then 21-year-old lead vocalist Natalie Maines, the daughter of steel guitar legend Lloyd Maines"

"The lineup switch brought with it a new contemporary wardrobe and an equally modernized country sound; still, few predicted the enormous success of the Dixie Chicks' 1998 major-label debut, Wide Open Spaces. After the album's advance first single, "I Can Love You Better," became the group's first Top Ten hit, both "There's Your Trouble" and the title track went on to top the country charts. Within a year of Wide Open Spaces' release, the record had gone quadruple platinum, and the Dixie Chicks had become superstars -- not only did they take home Best Vocal Group honors and the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association, but they were also named Favorite New Country Artist at the American Music Awards. Wide Open Spaces additionally earned a Grammy for Best Country Album on its way to becoming the best-selling duo or group album in country music history. "

What does Rolling Stone Mag think about Dixie Chicks?.....
"Southern rock mainstay the Marshall Tucker Band (which hails from South Carolina and whose frontman Doug Gray is a Vietnam veteran) will headline the event, and teenage country singer Ty Nelson will also perform. According to Gallagher, tickets will run $35 to $45, with free admission and VIP seating to anyone who comes to the event with a Dixie Chicks' ticket. Gallagher's Army was started by the talk show host as a charity group to raise money for food and personal care items for American military personnel, and all proceeds from the event will go to military families."

"People are irritated, but I think it's incumbent upon me as organizer of this thing to keep it very positive," Gallagher says. "We're not going to stand up there and burn the Dixie Chicks in effigy. It was important to me to know that their concert was already sold out. No one's trying to hurt their ticket sales; I'm not trying to turn this into a witch hunt. I want to take a very negative reaction that millions of Americans felt and turn it into to something positive."

"The controversy's roots lie in a March Dixie Chicks performance in London, where Maines told an audience, "We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Maines issued two statements following the remark, one an attempt to clarify her comment, the second an apology."
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (We @ Rolling Stone think George Bush is doing a "bang up" job) and the Album ranked at Number (Not till they apologise!)
This song has a crowbarred rating of 65.5 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
underlay trademe
Whakapapa

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posted by crowbarred at 12:58 am 0 comments