Billy Bragg - Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (1986)

In the last six months or so I bought the reissues of the first three Billy Bragg albums. I'd known about the man for a couple years because of a friend (thanks, Gabe) and Bragg's collaborations with Johnny Marr and the Smiths. I bought the first album and liked it so much it didn't take long before I got the next two, and I think it's inevitable that I'll end up acquiring a few more before long. I could easily write reviews for each of the three albums I have, and eventually maybe I will. (It's always nice to be optimistic.)

Artist: Billy Bragg
Album: Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
Released: September 1984, reissued 2006
Label: Go! Discs (UK), Elektra (US)
Producer: Ken Jones, John Porter

Tracklisting:
01. Greetings to the New Brunette
02. Train Train (The Count Bishops cover)
03. The Marriage
04. Ideology
05. Levi Stubbs' Tears
06. Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now
07. There Is Power in a Union (traditional adaptation)
08. Help Save the Youth of America
09. Wishing the Days Away
10. The Passion
11. The Warmest Room
12. The Home Front
Reissue Bonus Disc:
01. Sin City (Flying Burrito Brothers cover) (Outtake, 1986 / Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards b-side, 1988)
02. Deportees (Woody Guthrie cover) (Greetings to the New Brunette b-side, 1986)
03. There Is Power in a Union (instrumental) (traditional adaptation) (Greetings to the New Brunette 12" b-side, 1986)
04. The Tracks of My Tears (The Miracles cover) (Outtake, 1986)
05. Wishing the Days Away (Alternative take)
06. The Clashing of Ideologies (Alternative version)
07. Greetings to the New Brunette (demo)
08. A Nurse's Life Is Full of Woe (Outtake, 1986)
09. Only Bad Signs (Outtake, 1986)
10. Hold the Fort (traditional cover) (Outtake, 1985 / Square Roots compilation, 1986)

Review:
Billy Bragg is basically a folk musician, but unlike most singer-songwriters (myself and David J being the only other exceptions I know), he uses an electric guitar while playing solo. His music began as just guitar and vocals, but he gradually began adding more instruments and eventually even assembled a band. Talking with the Taxman About Poetry is his third album and finds Bragg still alone with his guitar quite often, but many tracks feature overdubbed guitars and occasionally bass, horns, mandolin, or piano. A few even have backing vocals and percussion (but no drums!). Lyrically, Bragg fits in quite comfortably in the folk tradition, even as he leans towards a more rock sound as time has gone on. He usually sings about love and politics, and in both cases, from a variety of angles. I like his guitar parts, but his witty lyrics might be even better.

The album opens with "Greetings to the New Brunette", quite possibly the strongest song on the album. It is Bragg's first real pop-esque song, and his most arranged up to that point. Studio sounds and effects can be found here and there, and percussion, bass, backing vocals from Kirsty MacColl, and lead guitar from Johnny Marr all grace this track. Marr's guitar is great, but Bragg's lyrics really lift the song to a higher plane. He finds a great way to discuss relationships with getting clichéd, as for example: "Shirley, you're my reason to get out of bed before noon". Somehow Bragg manages to wrap up his two primary subjects into one song. The narrator discusses his relationship with Shirley, a socially progressive woman who seems to make the narrator rethink his ways: "Shirley, your sexual politics have left me all of a muddle / Shirley, we are joined in the ideological cuddle". Although he stands by his love, the narrator does seem to get a bit frustrated partway through: "Shirley, you really know how to make a young man angry / Shirley, can we get through the night without mentioning family?"

"The Marriage" begins with a great trumpet part and features several overdubbed guitars to great effect. (I wonder if Bragg took a cue from the Smiths via Marr.) The instrumental in the middle of the song has a great part with three rapidly descending chords that I could listen to a hundred times. Again, the lyrics are fantastic; the chorus is: "And marriage is when we admit our parents were right". Bragg takes the anti-traditional perspective of shunning marriage in favor of just loving and living: "If I share my bed with you / Must I also share my life? / Love is just a moment of giving / And marriage..."

"Ideology" is the first purely political song on the album, and it harkens to the sound and feel of Bragg's first album, with just a solo guitar, a vigorous indignant, strongly accented voice, and a lot of reverb. Bragg uses the song to criticize politicians interested more in financial and personal gain than the common good. Apparently the song is based off of Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom".

"Levi Stubbs' Tears" is perhaps subtly political and subtly romantic, much like "The Marriage". The female figure of the song married "one of those blokes, the sort that only laughs at his own jokes", and the stress of their marriage led to him shooting her, but, for better or worse, she lived, leaving her quite alone with her Four Tops cassette. Their lead singer, Levi Stubbs, remains as something of a constant through her upheavals. The music is mostly just a guitar, but the namechecking bridge kicks it up a notch with some tambourine, and the end has some drum bops and a horn part.

"There Is Power in a Union" is a traditional adaptation (of "Battle Cry of Freedom"), done with just a guitar or two and some extra vocals for the anthemic chorus. The title is self-explanatory, and the song is a clearly an old union chant appropriated by Bragg for relevant contemporary politics. This is appropriately followed by "Help Save the Youth of America", which cracks me up: "Help save the youth of America / Help save them from themselves / Help save the sun-tanned surfer boys / And the California girls". Beyond the humor, Bragg makes a point: "And the fate of the great United States / Is entwined in the fate of us all". America can get quite wrapped up in itself, but, "The cities of Europe have burned before / And they may yet burn again / And if they do I hope you understand / That Washington will burn with them / Omaha will burn with them / Los Alamos will burn with them". Omaha sticks out as a sore thumb (especially as that's where my parents are from!), but I take the point to be that even smaller cities are still a part of the big picture (although it may not be coincidence that there is a significant air force base, including the headquarters of US Strategic Command, in Omaha).

"The Passion" is a sad song about a marriage slowly splitting apart, featuring Marr again on lead guitar and MacColl on background vocals. "The Warmest Room" is a resoundingly upbeat song that goes all over the place but seems to focus around some strong feelings for another person that appear to be requited. And "The Home Front" is sort of about family politics, about a traditional, fairly conservative family structure. Gender roles are uphold, the "quiet life" is the ultimate, "the lonely child looks out and dreams of independence", and "nostalgia is the opium of the age". The family seems to ignore and generally not understand politics, but it is Bragg's aside that add the poignant edge: "If paradise to you is cheap beer and overtime / Home truths are easily missed", and "If it takes another war to fill the churches of England / Then the world the meek inherit, what will it be worth?"

Not every song is a winner, to be sure. I like all the ones I described above, but the others are a notch lower. "Train Train" is an old cover that, despite some nice viola and guitar parts, has fairly and uninteresting typical lyrics. "Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now" uses a harpsichord to get a more country sound or something. It feels like a song that'd be played at a bar in the 30s, which was probably the point, but I think Bragg can sing about a girl leaving a guy for someone else in a better way (and he has). "Wishing the Days Away" also has a more country or folksy feel, and again, the traditional theme of be impatient for a phone call or meeting with a loved one could simply be far more interesting.

The common theme in all three of these lesser songs is that Bragg sings about relationships in the same context as everyone else, and instead of adopting folk to a more interesting rock blend, he tries to use older, tried-and-true styles that aren't quite his own. When Bragg gets more adventurous and creative, he makes far better music. He can sing about families, government, and love in plenty of ways and bring up some worthwhile ideas, but when he falls back on what's been done before, it's not nearly as interesting.

The reissue adds a second disc of ten tracks. None of them are totally awesome, but a few are worth a good listen. The first two ("Sin City" and "Deportees") are covers done with Hank Wangford, a mandolinist and singer, and the third is an instrumental version of "There Is Power in a Union" done with producer John Porter on mandolin. Each was released as a b-side at some point, but these aren't your typical Bragg fair. Even those these are very folky, traditional songs, they don't sound quite as trite as the songs I complained about from the original album. If you aren't a folk fan, though, you probably won't like these songs. (Personally, I think some folk music is really bland, but some is great, and Bragg transcends even that with his best material.)

There are three alternate versions of album tracks, each of which just sounds lower-fi and has some different lyrics and plainer arrangements. The four real outtakes are fairly interesting. "The Tracks of My Tears" is a fairly un-special cover of a Miracles song; it's not bad but not standout. "A Nurse's Life Is Full of Tears" and "Only Bad Signs" are unadorned but nicely done. The former is often difficult to decipher (and is one of the few songs for which I cannot find a lyrical transcription online) and the latter is a decent way of lamenting that a loved one is with another person. "Hold the Fort" is a traditional cover, another old union anthem. It is done a capella with vocals from Robert Handley.

The bonus disc may not be worth repeated listens and a few of the album tracks might be duds, but most are winners, and I deeply appreciate Bragg's music and lyric sensibilities. His politics are a bit radical and a bit strong, but I like that he actually bothers to write about the things he sees wrong in the world – as my mother has pointed out, no one else seems to be writing about modern politics anymore. (Contrast with CSNY's "Ohio" from 1970, quite a number of late 70s and early 80s punk and new wave bands, 60s Bob Dylan, or 70s John Lennon.) Furthermore, when he does sing about relationships, he usually branches out from the standard language and vocabulary of love songs. He tries to explore different situations and do something a bit unusual. I heartily appreciate these efforts, as I think they are not in vain. Folk rock music like this is hard to come by.

Scores:
Original album: A-
Reissue: B-

P.S. I should consider giving a bonus point for the awesome subtitle: "The Difficult Third Album".

Electro Pop at Its Best

I caught wind yesterday of a post by fellow blogger idyllicmollusk that I figured was worth giving some attention to. I present you with "The Excessive Jubilance of Electro Pop":

http://www.sodblog.com/media/musical-sod/the-excessive-jubilance-of-electro-pop/


In other news, I noticed that the formatting on my posts is looking weird to me. Has this always been the case? The spacing is different for some of the posts and I don't like that. I'll try to fix that eventually.

Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (2000)

I'm back in Germany, this time on an internship at Marquardt GmbH. I'm speaking a lot of German, but I'll keep my reviews in English (unless someone requests otherwise). If you're interested, here's the link to my travel blog. Moving on...

Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Album: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
Released: June 6, 2000
Label: Jeepster (UK), Matador (US)
Producer: Tony Doogan

Tracklising:
01. I Fought in a War
02. The Model
03. Beyond the Sunrise
04. Waiting for the Moon to Rise
05. Don't Leave the Light On Baby
06. The Wrong Girl
07. The Chalet Lines
08. Nice Day for a Sulk
09. Women's Realm
10. Family Tree
11. There's Too Much Love

Review:
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant is arguably the most interesting album Belle & Sebastian have done. The band's career can more or less be divided in half. Their early years were more folky, light, and kind of twee, while the latest two albums have a much different production and feel: more directly poppy and electric. Most people probably know and/or like their second and third albums best, those being If You're Feeling Sinister (1996) and The Boy with the Arab Strap (1998). Fold Your Hands is their fourth, and the last of the older style. The album finds the band trying to diversify in several directions but retaining the same general feel and moods as previous album. Something about the album makes you understand why the next one went in a totally different direction. (I'm not counting the Storytelling soundtrack here, because I've never heard it and I don't know what it sounds like. If you know a bit about it, by all means share.)

None of this is to say that Fold Your Hands is bad. It's just stretching out, reaching for something different. It's the band's fourth album (with four EPs in between, too), and there was no way they could make another classic like If You're Feeling Sinister. However the band made their decisions, they decided to try switch things up a bit here. Normally, Stuart Murdoch writes and sings just about every song by the band, but this time things are different. Cellist Isobel Campbell sings lead on "Family Tree" and shares the mic on "Beyond the Sunrise" with guitarist Stevie Jackson, who also sings lead on "The Wrong Girl". Violinist Sarah Martin makes her only lead vocal contribution on a B&S record on "Waiting for the Moon to Rise". Jackson and Campbell also sing the occasional line or verse in a few other songs.

It's not just vocals that are different. "I Fought in a War" is a sad bit about the dull and dangerous life of a soldier, while "The Chalet Lines" is probably the most emotional song Murdoch has written. Switching sexes, he sings as a girl who has been raped, and he pulls it off through a subdued accompaniment and his own brutally honest confession. Until I read the lyrics, I'd never thought much of it, but the words really hit home. "Don't Leave the Light On Baby" has something of a soul feeling to it thanks to a great keyboard line. And then "Before the Sunrise" is an overtly slow, downcast duet with a sort of traditional peasant song feel to the lyrics.

I rather like Sarah Martin's song, "Waiting for the Moon to Rise". The lyrics aren't really new for the band, even though they are written by a different vocalist, but I kind of like the imagery anyway: "There's a train I want to catch / But it won't leave here for a while / Till darkness fills the eastern sky / And streetlights stretch for miles / Through the spring / And the winter and the morning." I really like the vocals, too, which are very soft but less breathy than Campbell's, which is odd since Martin is incredibly soft-spoken in public.

"Family Tree" is a solid contribution from Campbell where she laments the superficial interests of her peers ("It saddens me to think / That the only ones I see are mannequins / Looking stupid, being used and being thin / ... / The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused"), modern schooling ("... they never teach us / A thing I want to know / We do Chemistry, Biology, and Maths / I want Poetry and Music and some laughs"), and the expectations set upon her, presumably by her family ("If you're looking at me to be an accountant / Then you will look but you will never see / If you're looking at me to start having babies / Then you can wish because I'm not here to fool around"). I love her lyrics.

Of the remaining songs, none really break new ground. That isn't to say they aren't good, it's just that "The Model" and "Women's Realm" sound like they could have been outtakes from The Boy with the Arab Strap. Jackson's "The Wrong Girl" is a straight-forward pop song with simple lyrics that somehow manages to be quite catchy, and that works well, but others just don't sound new. ("New" being relative here, since this album is eight years old at the time of writing.)

My question is, why does the Legal Man EP sound so ahead of this album, a step further in terms of quality, songwriting, and style, when it came out just a month before Fold Your Hands? The title track is a blatant 60s revival, with vocals, guitars, and keyboards straight out of some imaginary 1964 pop classic. The reverb on the guitar is intense (in a good way). The lyrics, though, are something of a humorous parody about love using business terminology. "Judy Is a Dick Slap" has a curious title but is in fact an instrumental... with awesome synthesizers and a good bassline. And "Winter Wooskie" is a slightly weird song more typical of the band, but with bassist Stuart David singing lead. The lyrics are a bit odd but apparently about filming a girl walking by the singer's window in winter. It works well.

Two other EPs/singles were released in 2001 (Jonathan David and I'm Waking Up to Us), again with no overlapping tracks from Fold Your Hands. In both cases, the lead tracks are fantastic and the backing tracks are decent but not stand-out, much like half of Fold Your Hands. The Legal Man EP, though, is three solid tracks that make me wonder why the album didn't feature more arrangements and ideas like those. Between the two works, the band must have been trying out several things, and perhaps they decided the three EP tracks belonged in one group and the eleven album tracks in another. Who knows.

In the end, Legal Man makes for a fantastic EP but Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant is a merely good album. It's far from bad, but it just doesn't live up to expectations from earlier albums or to the brighter tones of later work. The problem is not that there are other singers and songwriters besides Murdoch prominently involved, as other reviewers tend to suggest, but rather that the arrangements tend to be either too plain or too similar to familiar territory. However, the lyrics are often great, and there are plenty of subtleties that are quite rewarding. For a fan of the band, this album is worth having and listening to, but for a casual listener, this might very well end up as the last pick. This album is not outstanding, but it's not bad or particularly disappointing. It's just a bit reserved and subdued.

Score: C+
Score for the Legal Man EP: A

The Cure - Live 2008.05.19

Two concerts by two of my favorite bands in the space of a week? Has the moon collided into the earth? Just wait until September... things will get ever more incredible then. Just wait. Trust me. Anyway...

Band: The Cure

Venue: Starlight Theatre

City: Kansas City, Missouri

Date: May 19, 2008

Opening Act: 65daysofstatic

Setlist (thanks to j at curefans.com):

01. New Song ("Underneath the Stars"?)

02. Pictures of You

03. A Night Like This

04. The Walk

05. The End of the World

06. Lovesong

07. To Wish Impossible Things

08. Lullaby

09. Hot Hot Hot

10. The Only One

11. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea

12. A Strange Day

13. Push

14. Friday I'm in Love

15. In Between Days

16. Just Like Heaven

17. Primary

18. Shake Dog Shake

19. Never Enough

20. The Perfect Boy

21. Wrong Number

22. One Hundred Years

22. New Song (?)

Encore 1:

23. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

24. The Kiss

Encore 2:

25. Boys Don't Cry

26. Jumping Someone Else's Train ->

27. Grinding Halt

28. 10:15 Saturday Night

29. Killing an Arab

Review:

Well, this was an interesting show. First, the openers. 65daysofstatic is an appropriate name. The band is a loud, heavy-sounding instrumental rock quartet. They played six or seven songs in half an hour. They relied on an onstage keyboard for backing tracks comprised of some keyboard effects and extra percussion, but half the time I couldn't find it in the mix in light of two thick guitars, a bass, and a complex drummer. If they could have taken down a notch, I might have liked it, but as it was it all came as something of a loud, distorted crash more often than not. There was one song that started with a some guitar notes that would have sounded completely at home on the Cure's Pornography, which made me wonder if that was why the Cure brought them along, other than also being English. Anyway, they weren't bad.

Another forty minutes after the 65daysofstatic left the stage, the Cure finally walked on. Now, I already had my doubts. I was really excited anyway, but this is a 30-year-old band who has had continual line-up changes, and their latest left them without a keyboardist. The Cure today is a four-piece, the first time since a brief period in 1990. Robert Smith is the only original member, still playing guitar and singing. (You might not think of Robbie as much of a guitarist, but honestly, he does half the solos and can pull off some great sounds.) Simon Gallup is the longest-surviving member next to Robert; he's been playing bass since 1979 with only a three year absence in the 80s. (Unfortunately, Simon has cut his wild hair - his used to rival Robert's.) Porl Thompson is technically a founding member but was dropped before the first album was cut. He came back in the 80s and left in the 90s, only to return in 2005. He just stuck to his guitar at the show, but historically he has done some sax and keyboards, too. Lastly is Jason Cooper, drummer since 1995. I know little beyond that. He does the job well, though.

So anyway, you may notice that the Cure, best known as an 80s new wave band, does not tour with a keyboardist. 80s new wave practically requires keyboards, but whatever. The band actually did a decent job of filling the holes, but sometimes you really could feel the absence. On some songs, Porl would just play a high guitar line to mimic the melodies normally done on keyboard (such as with "Lullaby" and "The Walk"), and on others, Porl or Robert would just strum along to where the keyboard chords would be (such as "Lovesong"). I noticed that "The Walk" and "Pictures of You" both had backing tracks to add some extra percussion and some keyboard effects. Things got a bit more obvious when there were not enough musicians to go around: the consistent piano in "A Night Like This" was conspicuously unaccounted for, and the high keyboard line in the bridges of "Just Like Heaven" was only played the first time, since after that Porl was busy playing the normal descending guitar riff and Robert handled the rhythm. To be fair, they managed pretty well without. I look for the minor change-ups and thus noticed every alteration, but I would guess most people hardly noticed. I should state, though, that the rockin' four-piece setup worked really well for the encore material. More on that later.

My second complaint was that the audio mix to me sounded pretty poor. For what must be the first time I have ever witnessed at a concert, the bass guitar was actually too high in the mix. It dominated the frequencies. Although the opener was mixed well, "Pictures of You" was basically a drum-and-bass song to my ears. Although things improved a bit as the show went on, I still had a hard time hearing the guitars – Porl's usually just sounded like white noise and if Robert played acoustic, he was lost in the mix. I think it may have been my seat – you would think straight in the middle, all the way back would be pretty good, but since other reviews and comments I have seen did not echo my concerns about the mix (and in fact complimented it), I suspect my seat is to blame. Either way, it lessened my personal experience.

My third complaint is the only real one. Unfortunately, Robert Smith was quite sick and was barely able to sing. Sometimes he could pull it off, but most of the time, he couldn't hit high notes or sustain. Quite a pity, really. He apologized profusely, and even said at one point, "Believe me, I'm suffering more than you are... which is how it should be!" He later said it was either what we got or nothing, and he figured it was better to at least play the songs and let us sing along. I agree. Robert's voice problems did make "One Hundred Years" and "Killing an Arab" a bit more interesting, as during the final choruses of those two, he started coarsely screaming the lyrics. It really made the latter especially a bit more intense. I'm glad that the show did go on and that Robert gave his best anyway – I could tell he was struggling but still trying. His bandmates were totally still into it, though – Simon was jumping all over his side of the stage.

The setlist they played was quite fantastic. The choice of songs was great – the only things I wished I could have heard were "The Lovecats" or "Kyoto Song" or maybe "How Beautiful You Are". I know the latter two are only occasionally performed, but the former one quite often is in encores. In fact, they may have intended to play it, but if you compare the list of what was actually played to other nights from the tour, you will notice that this is the only one so far to only have two encores. I can not blame Robert for skipping one, but it did mean we missed out on some classic material.

They opened with a new song – Wikipedia claims this song to be titled "Underneath the Stars", but this is quite unconfirmed as of yet. I did rather like it. They also did their new single, "The Only One", and the future album track "The Perfect Boy", both of which were okay enough. They closed the main set with another new song, quite distorted and a bit choppy, if I remember right. I have no information about that one.

Some songs had pictures displayed on the backdrop ("Lovesong" had the single cover, "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" had a cloud scene), others had animations ("Lullaby" had a spider moving about, "Just Like Heaven" had some hearts like those on the single cover flitting about). "Shake Dog Shake" had what I think was live video, not unlike Radiohead's rig, but it was the only song with such a treat. The lighting was typical concert fare, nothing too unusual.

"To Wish Impossible Things" and "Push" were both surprises that I appreciated – they were two of the best-sounding, too. "Primary" rocked, but I think instead of the recording's dual-bass setup, Robert played his part on guitar... I could not tell from my distance; he may have been using six-string bass.

The first encore was pretty good – it was just two songs off "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me", but both were pulled off well. The highlight to me was the second encore – five songs from Boys Don't Cry / Three Imaginary Boys. I would've loved "Fire in Cairo" or "Three Imaginary Boys" itself, but what they did was plenty good as it is. "Jumping Someone Else's Train" rocked (and it featured the video found that Tim Pope made for it back in 1986!), and then as it ended they segued right into "Grinding Halt", and even though that may not have been quite as cool as when they used to charge into "Another Journey by Train", it worked well. And then "10.15 Saturday Night"! That was great, and it was followed by "Killing an Arab", which was one of the best of the night.

So, even if the mix was off, there weren't any keyboards, and Robert was not in top form, they still tried their best, and it was a lot of fun. I retain a positive attitude about it even if my review focuses more on the negative. It was good, but since it wasn't as perfect as I think it could be, it does make me want to catch them the next time they come through to hope for something a little better. I guess I had high expectations and I was a little bit let down, but they did the best they could given the circumstances.

Score: B-

Radiohead - Live 2008.05.14

Band: Radiohead

Venue: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (formerly the UMB Bank Pavilion and before that the Riverport Amphitheatre)

City: St. Louis, Missouri (actually Maryland Heights)

Date: May 14, 2008

Opening Act: Liars

Setlist (thanks to ateaseweb.com for covering the holes in my memory):
01. All I Need
02. Jigsaw Falling into Place
03. Airbag
04. 15 Step
05. Nude
06. Kid A
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. You and Whose Army?
10. Idioteque
11. Faust Arp
12. Videotape
13. Everything in Its Right Place
14. Reckoner
15. Optimistic
16. Bangers and Mash
17. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1:
18. Exit Music (for a Film)
19. Myxomatosis
20. My Iron Lung
21. There There
22. Fake Plastic Trees

Encore 2:
23. Pyramid Song
24. House of Cards
25. Paranoid Android

Review:

For once, I got a lucky break. Radiohead decided to play eight shows in North America and one happened to be St. Louis. A band that big rarely deigns to approach the Midwest beyond perhaps Chicago, if our uncultured souls are even that lucky. Actually, I think in August they are coming back to the continent for some more shows, but still.

I purchased a lawn ticket, since that came to about $50, compared to an $80 seat and who knows how much the orchestra pit was. The place got packed, and it is a huge venue. There must have been thousands of people there, and I know they were not all St. Louis area residents. I had friends from Kansas, friends from Nebraska, and friends of friends from Illinois there, besides the countless Webster University students I recognized. In spirit of Radiohead's environmental conscientiousness, I carpooled there with three other friends and came about an hour before the opening band even came on. If I could have, I would have liked to have come even earlier to catch their soundcheck, which apparently included "No Surprises" and a cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me".

Liars came on stage right about 7:00 and played a 40-minute set. Some of my peers were not appreciative, but some were, myself included. While I might know little about their music, I enjoyed their noisy, danceable indie rock thing. A shame that no one was dancing... not the right venue for that, though. I was sitting, like most people, but many people were still walking around, finding seats, and generally milling about. I was getting irritated every time someone in my line of sight stood up and blocked my view, but it ended up being for naught, since as soon as Radiohead hit the stage after a 40-minute break, everyone stood up instantly.

So, I'm not going to elaborate over every last detail, but I'll mention what I thought was interesting. They played for over two hours and did two encores. They played every song off Disc 1 of In Rainbows, one song off Disc 2, and about two or three from each other album except Pablo Honey. They opened with "All I Need", which I thought was an interesting choice, but as one of my favorites of In Rainbows, I welcomed it.

Then came "Jigsaw Falling into Place", for which a video began playing behind the band. I couldn't tell if it was live or pre-recorded, but they had video for most of the rest of the show, and I'm pretty sure the rest was all live. The video was basically five screens mostly focusing on each of the five band members. And the lighting – it was awesome. Seriously the best lighting I've ever seen at a concert – there were all these shafts around the stage, LED lights in back, and bigger spread lights to swamp the whole stage. Each light rig created distinct colors and combined created a strong feeling of movement. (There was one song, I can't remember which one now, where Thom Yorke said something about rain and suddenly the shafts were illuminated in patterns to make it look like it was raining. It was not "Paranoid Android"... but what it was I know not.)

After that song, I heard a stray guitar note and knew what they were about to play: "Airbag". It rocked, with Thom Yorke playing sleigh bells and all. "Kid A" was a nice surprise – I expected a couple songs off the album of the same name, but not that one. They ended up playing four from Kid A, including another personal favorite, "Optimistic".

I didn't expect "The Gloaming" or "You and Whose Army?" either, but the latter was great. Then was "Idioteque", a highlight of the evening. Johnny Greenwood moved away from his keyboards and guitars and over to an effects patch board thing, just like could be seen in the old promotional video and SNL performance of the song back in 2000. Fascinating. I still don't know what he's doing – I assume he's adding and removing effects and sounds, but who knows. He could be doing nothing and no one would know the difference and we'd all think it was cool anyway.

After that song, the band members kind of shifted about and some disappeared. Just Thom and Ed O'Brien (I think... might have been Johnny... I was standing pretty far away) remained with acoustic guitars. In their perhaps most ironic moment, the two of them did an acoustic version of a song named after the type of synthesizer featured in the recorded version. (I'm talking about "Faust Arp" here.)

I think it was "Bangers and Mash" were the stage hands brought out a kick drum and snare for Thom to beat on to complement Phil Selway's drumming. Later, for "There There", both Johnny and Ed had some extra toms that they beat upon in addition to Phil's full set. Radiohead do like their extra percussion – in addition to some drum loops in some of the latter-day songs, the Kid A-era material often had one of the guitarists rocking a shaker.

"Exit Music (for a Film)" started with just Thom acoustic, barely audible above the chatterings of people waiting for the band to hit the stage for their encore, but once the band came in, it rocked. Colin Greenwood's fuzz bass was great, and he kept it up for the follow-up, "Myxomatosis" (although I think Ed doubled his riff on guitar for the live version). And then they went into "My Iron Lung", which was another song I hadn't expected, but it rocked quite well. I know Ed was using an e-bow for that one, and I suspect he'd been using it on several other songs. (It was quite hard to see the details of what was what, but I'm guessing by what I could see directly and via video.)

"House of Cards" worked great near the end of the set, but "Paranoid Android" made an awesome closer. The band rocked that one, too. I know it is vague and probably not helpful for me to say they rocked every other song, but the band manages to balance softer, dancier, electronic, and really rocking songs, and somehow those moods or whatever come across really well when they do them live. It must be the total atmosphere, with everyone in the audience totally into it all, and the awesome lighting and video display. It really all came together nicely.

This was simply a great concert experience, even if I was sitting so far away that I could barely make out who was who on stage. The band performs solid and makes unique setlists each night. I might not have been treated to the absolute best (no "Lucky" or "National Anthem" or "Down Is the New Up", etc.), but there were several surprises that really made it interesting. And the lights really sealed the deal.

Score: A

Guest Review: Ours - Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy) (2008)

Dear readers: my friend Keagan asked if he might be able to write a review for me, to which I naturally responded positively. Here is his first review, of Mercy (2008), by Ours. Here goes:

I’ve noticed the neglect that Patrick’s music blog has been taking lately, and rightfully so, considering what all the dude has on his plate. Opportunist that I am, and with Patrick in his vulnerable state, I figured it would be easy to pressure him into taking submissions. I’m more of a music enthusiast than a writer, so I think this “review” is going to be lacking in most respects. However, I’m going to give it a try, moving at a rock-em’, sock-em’ pace, pretty much wandering wherever the hell I please. Here goes:

I think I first caught wind of the band Ours somewhat close to the release of their second album, Precious, in 2002. Admittedly, I’m not an OG or anything, but with the band’s inception occurring in the North East, and having a receptive brother out in Boston, I was able to pick up on a couple tracks here and there over his shoulder as early as my high school career. Upon indulging on their debut album, Distorted Lullabies, I was pretty taken by these dudes.

Packed with the dynamics of most post-rock bands, you can’t confine them within any traditional rock-band genres. Not as calculating as prog rock, far too epic for alternative, and refreshingly sincere enough to disqualify them from anything else available on the airwaves, the tapestry we’re dealing with here is too damn atmospheric to generalize. If you’re looking for absolute intensity within a “rock-band” format, Ours deals strickly in it. Jimmy Gnecco, the songwriter and creator of Ours, wears his heart on his sleeve, and delivers some seriously moody goods. You have to understand, a big draw comes from the vocal range Gnecco puts out. This guy sings high enough to be inhuman. It’s captured well enough in the studio, but after seeing him go off live, I’m pretty sure he has no real weaknesses.

This certainly wasn’t the way everyone else seemed to interpret it a month or so ago when Ours opened up for Marilyn Manson. A strange combination for sure, but prevent yourself from making too many comparisons between the two bands. Ours retains a lot more sophistication in my book. I’m going to try not to alienate anyone here but I’ll just say that like most people, I made a conscious decision to stop giving Mr. Manson my money after he became non-threatening, Jeordie White fell out of the picture, and I got my driver’s license. Anyhoo, I went ahead and decided to grab a ticket when I heard Ours was the first act, and also that Manson had reunited with Jeordie to rehash most of Anti-Christ Superstar. w00t!

So there I was, in line amongst all sorts of self-scarring, eye-lined riff-raff, awaiting entry, when out of nowhere, Scientology protesters came marching up. For those of you keeping score, this was on the February 10^th when an organization under the title of “Anonymous” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29) decided to conduct a nation-wide demonstration against Scientologists, I guess by wearing their V for Vendetta masks. You know the ones. Quite a few Mansonites ahead of me in line mistook them for being religious zealots, and began yelling half-thought out things, like, “GAWD DIDN’T MAKE UP MAN! Uh… MAN MADE UP GAWD!” The Marilyn Manson crowd continued to blast them for some time, despite the protesters on the other side of the street proclaiming that no one was in disagreement here. I was slapping my forehead.

But I digress. When Ours finally came on stage the band was met with hecklers and boos and quite a few people threw quarters. The general consensus from what I heard was that their sound was a bit too “gay” for everyone’s taste and that it was preventing Manson from starting sooner. All the same, the performance from Gnecco & company was pretty flawless, and I haven’t seen a band nearly as relentless and undeterred. Their set included mostly stuff from their newly released album, Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy), the one that I’m going to briefly review here.

Mercy is Ours’ darkest album yet, and seems like a return to form after trying to change things up a bit sonically during Precious. Produced by Rick Rubin, (like every other record on the planet,) this one feels pretty honed and particularly slick without minimizing any of the depth of sound. I don’t want to say that it’s minimal, but rather, nothing feels extraneous. You pretty much get 12 winners here that range from a few notes slipping out your speakers to gigantic walls of force ushered in by insane vocals. The opening track, “Mercy”, bursts forward with a racing tom and bass foundation, shortly followed by high pitched howling and what seems to be a blazing e-bow line. I’m a sure sucker for those. Right out of the gate you can tell Gnecco isn’t messing around. He moves on with systematic efficiency, wielding his laments at some crazy high frequencies. Complimented with masterful string arrangements on tracks like “Ran Away to Tell the World” and a savory trumpet line on “Murder”, the album comes across as relentless. The pace really doesn’t slow down until “God Only Wants You,” which moves into easily the fiercest track on the album, “Live Again”. I might be biased when I say this could be my favorite track, but after seeing it performed at full intensity, (there’s that word again,) pummeling everyone with a thrash-tastic riff, I was pretty won-over. Lots of showboating from the whole crew.

“Live Again” is the general climax of the album, where most of the energy is released, having built up from previous tracks like the tension-rising, acoustic drone of “Murder”. In interviews I think that Gnecco stated his inspiration for that song came from The Velvet Underground’s “Heroin”, where the song is basically built around two chords until everything goes off. Not a surprising reference, given Ours’ cover of “Femme Fatale” on Precious. It’s probably just an effort to prove their credibility to red-headed post-punk fans, but I’m sold. Anyways, as I was saying, the last cuts off the album go in a different direction. The pace slows down a bit and the tune “Willing” reminds me an awful lot like the guitar work from a U2 song. I don’t think I need to add it, but just in case, this is a bad thing. “Saint” stands out as being particularly upbeat and has a fantastic chorus, for sure. The album finishes with another one of my favorites, “Get Up”. With a synth “BOOP!” every so often, a swelling string arrangements that builds, a disco-esque high-hat beat, and (whom I suspect to be) Gnecco’s daughter ending the album with an echo filled message of love, it showcases Ours’ more experimental nature. A definite direction that wasn’t present on all other tracks. It’s pretty rad.

Overall, this record lives up to the wait. Nothing has been recycled. New sounds are executed, new subject matter is covered, and it most certainly comes across as vital and relevant. I suspect that seeing these turkeys “hash-out-the-jams,” as they say in the business, live, heightens the appreciation you can have for the album, simply due to the exceptional experience that Ours offers. No exaggeration.

Grade: A-

Recommended tracks from the album: “Black”, “Live Again”, and “Mercy”.

Recommended tracks from the band: “Fallen Souls”, “Meet Me in the Tower”, and “Chapter 2 (Money)”

Guest Review at Film Walrus

I know I've been quite inactive over the past few months, which is quite a shame. Schoolwork has been heavy, but I only have three weeks left in the semester, at which point I'll have a more relaxed summer to return to writing reviews (even though I'll be in Germany for most of it).

In the meantime, my brother offered me the opportunity to review a music video for his animated shorts series on his film review blog. I reviewed The Faint's "Agenda Suicide" video (from 2002). Here's the link:

http://filmwalrus.blogspot.com/2008/04/poor-little-animated-shorts-guest.html

Thanks again to the Film Walrus for the opportunity.