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Greatest Album Openers!

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Note: The following list is comprised of my favorite album openers and feel free to comment on your own. When I mean album, I mean full length, studio, LPs. In other words, no EPs, live recordings, single compilations or Greatest Hits. So, what constitutes greatest? Why do these stand out? Well, they have to be outstanding tracks, which goes without saying, but also they must set the tone for the rest of the album and for debut albums that artists’ music as a whole, message, attitude, etc. Greatest closers are coming next.

1) Pink Floyd- Speak to Me/Breathe- Darkside of the Moon (1973)

2) Rage Against the Machine- Bombtrack- Rage Against the Machine (1992)

3) Velvet Underground- Sunday Morning- The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)

4) Ramones- Blitzkrieg Bop- Ramones (1976)

5) The Stooges- Search and Destroy- Raw Power (1973)

6) Sonic Youth- Teenage Riot- Daydream Nation (1988)

7) Animal Collective- Peacebone- Strawberry Jam (2007)

8) Against Me!- Pints of Guiness Make You Strong- Reinventing Axl Rose (2002)

9) Black Flag- Rise Above- Damaged (1981)

10) Bad Brains- Big Takeover- Rock For Light (1983)

11) Beach Boys- Wouldn’t It Be Nice- Pet Sounds (1966)

12) Who- Baba O’Riley- Who’s Next (1971)

13) Girls- Lust For Life- Album (2009)

14) Page France- Chariot- Hello, Dear Wind (2005)

15) King Khan & BBQ Show- Anala- Invisible Girl (2009)

16) Pixies- Debaser- Doolittle (1989)

17) Sex Pistols- Holiday In the Sun- Nevermind the Bollocks (1977)

18) N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton- Straight Outta Compton (1988)

19) GZA- Liquid Swords- Liquid Swords (1996)

20) Dinosaur Jr- Little Furry Things- You’re Living All Over Me (1987)

21) Metallica- Battery- Master of Puppets (1986)

22) Kimya Dawson- Tire Swing- Remember That I Love You (2006)

23) Radiohead- Airbag- OK Computer (1997)

24) Tool- Stinkfist- AEnema (1996)

25) Bright Eyes- At the Bottom of Everything- I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning (2005)

26) Jay Reatard- Blood Visions- Blood Visions (2006)

27) Black Lips- Sea of Blasphemy- Let It Bloom (2005)

28) The Doors- Break On Through- Doors (1967)

29) Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention- Hungry Freaks, Daddy (1966)

30) Nirvana- Serve the Servants- In Utero (1993)

31) Led Zeppelin- Good Times, Bad Times- Led Zeppelin (1969)

31) Jimi Hendrix- Purple Haze- Are You Experienced? (1967)

31) Beatles- Taxman- Revolver (1966)

32) Shellac- My Black Ass- At Action Park (1994)

33) Wu-Tang Clan- Brind Da Ruckus- Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (1993)

34) Elliott Smith- Speed Trials- Either/Or (1997)

35) The Clash- London Calling- London Calling (1980)

36) The Nightwatchman- California’s Dark- One Man Revolution (2007)

37) Sly and the Family Stone- Stand!- Stand! (1969)

38) Glassjaw- Pretty Lush- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (2000)

39) Mark Sultan- Beautiful Girl- The Sultanic Verses (2007)

40) Deftones- Feictera- White Pony (2000)

41) Slayer- Angel of Death- Reign In Blood (1986)

42) Weezer- My Name Is Jonas- The Blue Album (1994)

43) David Bowie- Five Years- Ziggy Stardust (1972)

44) Galaxie 500- Fourth of July- This Is Our Music (1990)

45) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Mercy Seat- Tender Prey (1988)

46) Box Elders- Jackie Wood- Alice and Friends (2009)

47) Black Sabbath- War Pigs- Paranoid (1971)

48) Deerhunter- Cover Me (Slowly)- Microcastle (2008)

49) Harlem Soon- Someday Soon- Hippies (2009)

50) System Of A Down- Suite Pee- System Of A Down (1998)

… and some more!
Bob Dylan- Rainy Day Woman #12 and 35- Blonde On Blonde (1966)

Arctic Monkeys- The View From the Afternoon- Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I Am Not (2006)

Lost Sounds- There’s Nothing- Lost Sounds (2004)

Mabuses- Dark Star- Mabused (2007)

Smashing Pumpkins- Cherub Rock- Siamese Dream (1993)

Head Automatica- At the Speed of A Yellow Bullet- Decadence (2004)

Strange Boys- Woe Is You and Me- The Strange Boys and Girls Club (2009)

Those Darlins- Red Light Love- Those Darlins (2009)

Spacehsits- Can’t Fool With Me- Misbehavin’ (1998)

Chris

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: The Adventures of Bobby Ray [2010]

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Rapper: B.o.B – Bobby Ray
Release: 4/2010
Label: Atlantic

1. “Don’t Let Me Fall” – B+
2. “Nothin’ On You” – B+
3. “Past My Shades” – C
4. “Airplanes” – D+
5. “Bet I” – C-
6. “Ghost in the Machine” – B
7. “The Kids” – A-
8. “Magic” – A-
9. “Fame” – A-
10. “Lovelier Than You” – B
11. “5th Dimension” – B-
12. “Airplanes Part 2” – B

Comments: “Don’t Let Me Fall” starts off slow, but improves as the song drags on. The chorus is cool. If you’ve listened to any modern hip-hop or pop station, I’m sure you’ve heard “Nothin’ On You.” It’s a “summer song” to me, despite its debut in November 2009. It’s finely organized with an enjoyable background lullaby, even if the chorus is a bit sub-par. “Past My Shades”…come on! Steer clear from “alternative rock” Bobby Ray. It’s not your thing. “The Kids” is a hip-hop sample of “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” by Vampire Weekend. I dig. “Always in detention for the lack of attention/ you can call it deficit” tells me we got a bad kid up in here. “Magic” is repetitive and frankly fun (not the chorus), but it’s more like “Rivers Cuomo time,” showing Bobby Ray taking cue from Black Eyed Peas’ style. The second verse of “Fame” flows so well. It may be the best verse on this album. I mean, of course, lyrically it’s infantile and just plain dumb, but realistic to some degree. “Everyone can’t be O to the B” … right? “Airplanes Part 2” has me convinced that it’s an improvement over “Part 1.” What if Eminem wasn’t famous? Don’t we all wonder? Or maybe that thought has never crossed anyone’s mind until this song came about. When Bobby Ray raps before Eminem, the song loses cred. I mean, how does Bobby Ray know fame? He’s a relative unknown even in the hip-hop world. “He’s gonna have a hard time explaining to Haley and Lainey these foodstamps and this WIC shit ’cause he never risked shit. He hoped and he wished it, but it didn’t fall in lap,” raps Eminem on his verse. Highlight of the song. “Lovelier” has Bobby Ray on acoustic guitar and he proves to be all right in that regard.

Grade: B- (82)

Art, Entertainment, pictures, Quotes, Random

Tarantino and Postmodernism

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The following essays was for my Cultural Studies course, therefore it is not of the same quality or style than that of my other writing.

In modern media, we often see pastiches of older works of art. Many artists are so heavily influenced by previous genres/styles that they literally recreate these styles in their own works. We seem to see this everywhere, from music to television to film. Sure, artists paying homage or in a more pejorative sense stealing from other artists is nothing new. With that being said, some artists have taken it to a new level, where their works are filled to the brim with references to other works. In particular, writer/director, Quentin Tarantino has made a name for himself as being a master of stylistic filmmaking in the past two decades and is held as one of the finest filmmakers around the world. To postmodernists theorists, Tarantino must be a menace for simply creating giant references, often references to other references, ultimately leaving us to question what is original or real anymore. Personally, I think his approaches are appropriate and a postmodernist analysis of his most popular film, Pulp Fiction (1994) would strongly differ from my viewing or reactions to it.
With Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino utilizes various techniques from previous filmmakers and makes countless references to films and other areas of pop culture. Frequently during dialogue, a character refers to a famous person, song, movie, etc. For example, the character Jules often calls characters by celebrity names; he refers to a British speaking character as “Ringo,” this is a reference to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Many works make such minor references, but in Tarantino’s films, viewers are literally inundated with hundreds. But, this is only the beginning. The hip director lifts lines straight out of older films. For instance, in one scene, a mobster by the name of Marcellus Wallace plans to torture his enemy “… with a pair of pliers and a blow torch.” This quote is a paraphrase of a line in the film Charley Varrick (1973), in which the line is “They’re gonna strip you naked and go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.” Tarantino also simulates various shots from his favorite films. In one scene, the character, Marcellus is crossing the street when he stops and realizes that the very man he is trying to track down is driving in the car in front of him. As he realizes this both men lock eyes. Though the circumstances are totally different, this shot is nearly identical to a shot in Alfred Hitchcock’s Horror classic, Psycho (1960).
This film is clearly an example of postmodernist culture because Quentin Tarantino rejects standard forms of filmmaking and pieces together elements from other works into his own creation. Most postmodernist thinkers would probably slam Tarantino for being just another entertainer that steals from others or presents his work to the public as if it’s original. I think Tarantino’s methods fall into the postmodernist category, but that does not mean that they are not worthy of praise. He throws various, often obscure, elements from numerous works into the mix and shapes them into his own story. Clearly, he is not the most original filmmaker, but the quality of his films are much higher than that of others, usually including those he references in the first place.

I used the follow source for information- http://www.tarantino.info/wiki/index.php/Pulp_Fiction_Movie_References_Guide

Chris

Art, Entertainment, humor, Music, pictures

Question of the Week…

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Is it wrong to endorse an artists’ work, even if they led or lead truly horrible lives? For example, some point to the gifted filmmaker, Roman Polanski. Polanski has won academy awards for his work, but he wasn’t in attendence. Why? Decades ago he fleed the U.S. after drugging and raping a thirteen year old girl. Yes, this is quite sickening, but if he makes a film that is a masterpiece itself, should it not be treated like other great works of art? Picture this, you run an independent record label and you enjoy documenting the best damn music to please your ears. Suddenly you hear the greatest record of all times and it’s none other than…. Charlies Manson. So, now you sign Charlie (if you could) and release his material. Is there anything wrong with this hypothetical situation? What if it was Hitler, Mao, or some of the other massive murderers from history? Would it be immoral to endorse their work? Where do you draw the line? Is there a line? Let’s hear some thoughts…

Chris

Music, Random, rant

Ripping Deusner

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Regarding Stephen Deusner’s review of Mark Sultan’s $:

Nice scarf, btw.

“He’s been fashioning harsh psych, rangey country, dreamy doo-wop, 50s juvie punk, and anarchic noise into strange, catchy, jubilant, occasionally jokey pop songs.“—> Good job of throwing in adjectives before every genre. Make no mistake about that. Your description really provides us an adequate look at Mark Sultan’s discography. Not.

“Sultan also resumed his role as BBQ Show for another album (and a coloring book!) with friend and longtime cohort King Khan.” –> You had me, Stephen. You really did. From your meaty words to start, I thought you may have actually listened to Sultan before. But “BBQ Show”? You can’t make a rookie mistake like that. Not at this stage in your professional career.

“Whatever banner he’s flying, however, the sound remains the same, and his latest effort– which isn’t titled so much as branded with a dollar sign– snaps and crackles with a familiar, flailing energy, as if any of these songs might fall apart at any moment.” –> The sound remains the same? This offering from Sultan is more musically diverse than most of what he’s put out in the past. You want the songs to fall apart. You are rooting against Sultan to start with. You want them to fall apart so you can listen to more Broken Social Scene.

“Ten of Hearts” may be one of his best doo-wop retreads, cutting through a lot of the revivalism to express something sincere and bittersweet, but there’s no reason for it to be five minutes long.” –> Why is there no reason for it to five minutes long? You make no attempt to explain why. And it’s not until the end of your review that you actually mention songs off of this record. Thanks for pointing out only what’s wrong with the album.

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CD Review: Crystal Castles [2010]

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Band: Crystal Castles
Release: 4/2010
Label: Fiction (Universal)

1. “Fainting Spells” – C
2. “Celestica” – B-
3. “Doe Deer” – C
4. “Baptism” – B-
5. “Year of Silence” – B-
6. “Empathy” – B+
7. “Suffocation” – B
8. “Violent Dreams” – C+
9. “Vietnam” – B
10. “Birds” – B–
11. “Pap Smear” – C+
12. “Not in Love” – C
13. “Intimate” – B-
14. “I Am Made of Chalk” – D

Comments: Crystal Castles. I want some crazy catchy stuff from you. That’s a demand actually. I don’t want spotty dance/noise punk. You hear me? “Empathy” is the first song that accomplishes the kind of catchy that I was looking for, equipped with dreamy vocals and a strong rhythm. “Vietnam” has some streaks of greatness, but isn’t really a hit from start to finish. Unfortunately, most of the album is just average minutes of electronica. Maybe that’s your thing.

Grade: C+ (78)

Boston based shows/fests – DIY, punk, noise