DAY 2: REVIEW 2: Action Packed: The Best of Jonathan Richman

A lot has been said about Jonathan Richman, from all the praises in the world to all the criticisms one can dish at the guy. Whether or not they're well-deserved is another issue, altogether. Personally? I don't know the guy, what he's like, but musically, he's pretty proficient, that's for sure.

I know that's too "neutral" for a review, and you'd probably like it if I used some sort of scathing adjective, but I'm not gonna. I just don't know that much about his personality. If anything, he reminds me of a friend of mine, who one day loves a certain "type" of music and will play it incessantly, only to change his mind a week or two later and head down a new path. Sure, it's a little erratic, but some of the greatest minds were, and if Richman isn't a great musical mind, then, what else could he be?

Richman left his original Modern Lovers in the dust, proclaiming he hated that kind of music and that he wanted to return to a more earthy, older sound, like Doo Wop or 50's Rock 'n Roll. His intentions were unknown to anyone but himself, but hey, is that really that important? He touched a natural nerve, and he really came into place with that sound.

This album is a collection; a greatest hits. I must confess that I don't own any of his true albums, aside from his stuff from the Modern Lovers, but that's mostly because I'm not such a big fan of his Doo Wop sound. I like Doo Wop, and I like this greatest hits album, but I'm not crazy about it. I just won't invest much more than I already have, basically.

As far this album goes: it's pretty nice. Catchy, heartfelt, soulful, simple, pretty, fun, sincere. I could go on, but it wouldn't be anything new from what could be said, already. He taps into that old-school, carefree world of a teenager whose biggest gripes are girls, love and rocking out. However, he openly talks about his wife and his married life within the context of a lovelorn teenager. It's that sort of small complexity that really gains depth and a sense of sincerity that only Richman can deliver.

Songs like "Closer" and "Everyday Clothes" put his concept into perspective. In "Closer," he talks about how he gets all tingly and mushy when he rubs up against his wife in bed. Spooning? Perhaps, but there's something so innocent about his emotional state that it diminishes the amount of dirtiness involved. Of course, that dirt is there. It wouldn't be Jonathan Richman without it. But the simple fact that he twists it into this adolescent fantasy really changes the shape of things. "Reno," a song about, you guessed it, partying it up in Reno, brings that out to a tee.

It starts to get grittier, however, by the "You're Crazy For Taking the Bus," in which he talks about traveling with outcasts and vile rednecks while heading to Salt Lake City. Yet, he's down for the ride, without any concern about those folks.

"The Neighbors," about a possible cheating Jonathan Richman (in the eyes of the community) is another mature song, that begins to transcend the fine line of well-intended innocence and his struggle dealing with the accusations of fellow adults. He must know that he's playing a dangerous card by flaunting a close, but platonic friendship with an attractive woman, but he understands the possible scandal, involved. See what I'm talking about? This shit is pretty dramatic, but he keeps that immature drawl and carelessness that comes with that territory. He's like the guy who's still a kid, with a nerdy sense of humor that almost everyone loves, except for his girl.

I could delve into each song, but it would be overkill. This album jumps back and forth between the much-maligned mature side of Jonathan Richman, and his beloved teenager inner self. The positioning of the tracks, hopefully, is meant to showcase that inner struggle, because they really leap from one to the other. It puts you inside his head, and although he hates being an adult, somewhat ("When I say Wife/ It sounds like a mortgage," in "When I Say Wife"), he can't help but love the fact that he's on his own, doing his own thing. It's nothing inspirational, but it's fun. You'd hang out with him, you'd be rockin', you'd be drinking cappuccino and you'd be partying in the U.S.A.

This album is pretty much an: A.

SO I JUST HAD A THOUGHT

I've decided that, for a while, I'm going to change things up here for a bit. I'm going to begin doing something that will take a very long time to complete, and it'll definitely be a courageous, trying at times, expedition.

Take a breath. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Just one more second. And... Let it go.

I will listen to every album on my itunes and then report what I thought of the album. I may even make a video to go with each post.

IT'LL BE CALLED: THE 78.2 DAYS CHALLENGE!

That's how long it'll take me to listen to everything, apparently.

See, I've realized two important things:

1.) I have a ton of music that I hardly listen to, if ever. What's the point of having all of that music if I'm just going to forget about it? I keep rediscovering stuff I had forgotten about, and stuff that I don't even remember obtaining. I could either delete the files or actually, you know, listen to them.

2.) I also feel that I've been listening to the same shit a lot, recently. Most of the time, I'll put my itunes on shuffle, but it always seems like it plays a lot of the same stuff. So, this will force me to listen to new stuff, and that's pretty rad.

Okay, so I'll begin tomorrow, and it'll be a fantastic voyage into the recesses of my musical interests. It'll be fascinating, confusing and all around fucking dope.

I hope you enjoy it and even check out tunes that you may have never heard. You know, really good music. There, I said it.

Music Review: Can's Soundtracks & Tago Mago

Though this is my first blog, and yes, I'm writing on something that has probably been reviewed over hundreds of times, I can't help but start off this whole thing with a review of two albums that I find to be, not only extremely influential, but incredibly timeless, as they were recorded in 197o and 1971, respectively.
Can's whole mystique was that of a foreign monster who burst out music onto a canvas, twisted it around and called it "songs." Though they are songs, of course, they aren't and weren't songs in the popular sense. In fact, not even the most experimental groups at the time really created sounds the way Can did. Though I can list several groups that came close before Can's time (many early electronic musicians, for example, like Pauline Oliveros or even Raymond Scott, to an extent.), there wasn't a group or person that fused what was happening in the underground rock movement with what today is labeled avant-garde. Maybe Mayo Thompson of the Red Krayola, but even then, not to the power that Can held. I mean, fuck it, Can's just ultimately too badass to surpass (ooohhh!!)
Their first release, Monster Movie, didn't really showcase what they were capable of doing, though it did contain tracks that hinted at it (i.e. Father Cannot Yell and, of course, You Doo Right). However, it wasn't until after they released Soundtracks that the the track they would eventually take started to take form.
Recorded in 1970, Soundtracks boasts the ultimate Can song, "Mother Sky." If you've only heard the version off of Unlimited Collection, then fucking shoot yourself, asshole. The beginning of the song drops you into it as if you were being dropped off in the middle of some war. After about two minutes of beautiful noise, the song drops a bomb and everything quietly dies down to a repetitive beat and heavy bass line. Then that's it, besides a few moments of change, but that's basically it. It's AMAZING. You get hypnotized, and I'm not talking about some hippy bullshit, I mean you get fucked. It wails inside your head for 15 minutes and then afterwards you're left thinking, "Where was I just now?" Though the rest of the album doesn't go off in this fashion, it's still probably their first "great" album.
After Soundtracks, comes Tago Mago. Now, just imagine the drone of Mother Sky but slowed down, a vast tempo change and an obvious funk influence. It boasts some of Can's greatest material. "Paperhouse" starts the album off with this fucked up heroin sound and then crashes with an almost metal sound, but most metal sucks so forget I said that... "Mushroom," the second song, continues this drugged out sound in all it's eerie, psychedelic goodness. Then you get the completely hypnotic "Oh Yeah," which pulsates with unusual sound that I can only explain as a trip from hell (though it helps that I was once tripping balls, driving a car and listening to this song). Then, after all that amazingness, we get the song that has probably been the subject of much influence over the decades.
"Hallellulah" is probably one of the greatest songs of all time. Though many mainstream publications tend to overlook it, it's probably not only one of the greatest rock/trance/funk/whatever songs of all time, it's also a great dance song. I proved an old roommate wrong once, when, during an awesome party that we were throwing, I put on this song and everyone danced to it, for the entire 18 minutes of the song. "You can't play Can at a party!" Maybe he was right about most of Can's shit, but seriously, try it, get drunk and put this song on. You'll dance, and if you don't, then you, my friend, are too drunk. After "Hallellulah," the album quiets down, with the somewhat irritable "Aumngh" and the nice "Bring Me Coffee or Bring Me Tea." Overall, those two songs are cool but, well, I'm doing this all at work and we're about to close so....yeah.
Just pick up both albums and TRUST ME, you will love it, even if it takes you a few fucking times.