January is Inventory Reduction Month!

I have had plans for a while now to write one last album review and call it quits for the year 2004 stuff. I was originally going to do 10 because that’s the traditional number for a best of list, but when I tried to compile a list of 10 I never could fill every slot with albums I was truly passionate about. The ones I liked but couldn’t write about have one common trait: I didn’t enjoy them from start to finish. That’s not to say they are bad. It’s just that I’m picky about calling something a great album when I flip from song to song. I was going to write about Smile and then do a small recap of the year in music. Although I do enjoy Smile from start to finish, I don’t think I’m going to write about it. I have enjoyed it and would group it with the ones I’ve written about so far, but I just don’t know what to say about it that I haven’t read elsewhere. I try not to just echo reviews that I have read. There are plenty of people who do that (and they usually earn a living doing it). I will say that I really, really liked Smile and I’m happy it was finally released. So there, consider Brian Wilson’s Smile on my list of great albums for 2004. Now here’s the rest:

Favorite Album Title: In Exile Deo – Juliana Hatfield

Favorite Reissue: The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society

Album I Listened to the Most in 2004: Top of the Tots – The Wiggles

Album So Disappointing It Required the Invention of New Words: Around the Sun – R.E.M.

Favorite Cover Song: "Sam Stone" – Laura Cantrell

Favorite Song I Don't Know the Title of From an Album I Haven't Heard Yet: that song Morrissey played on The Late Show that one night

Most Annoying Lyric of the Year: I love my country so much, man / Like an exasperating friend (from the song "Move On" - Mike Doughty)

My Favorites of 2004:
The Delivery Man - Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Spooked - Robyn Hitchcock
Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn
Has Been - William Shatner
The Spine - They Might Be Giants
A Ghost Is Born - Wilco
Smile - Brian Wilson

Honorable Mentions:
Lonely Runs Both Ways – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Hymns of the 49th Parallel – k.d. lang
In Rock – The Minus 5
Good News For People Who Love Bad News – Modest Mouse
A Boot and a Shoe - Sam Phillips
Soft Commands – Ken Stringfellow
Real Gone – Tom Waits

Dear Readers,

I have a confession to make. I have been receiving weekly payments from the Secretary of the Department of Folk Rock Autobiographies since early January in exchange for The Undertoad’s “Your Daily Dose of Dylan” feature. Earlier this week I received a notice that said I would no longer be receiving these payments because of “pressures from the Man.” At first I refused to believe it and I continued with the feature. It has come to my attention that the “Man” in question has indeed been applying pressure and even made a very public statement condoning such activities from his staff. Although having my income supplemented by innocently advancing the agenda of the Department of Folk Rock Autobiographies was nice, I understand now that it was deceitful of me to do so in a secretive manner. I apologize to my readers…all five of you. In the future I will be completely upfront with you all if I am presented with similar opportunities. Hell, maybe we can all get in on the action next time around. Again, I’m deeply sorry and hope that you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.

With regrets,
James

PS – This is in no way related to the discontinuation of The Undertoad’s sister blog, “Hooray for the U.S. Department of the Interior!”

PPS – Okay, maybe they are sort of related.

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 16

Sometimes you say things in songs even if there's a small chance of them being true. And sometimes you say things that have nothing to do with the truth of what you want to say and sometimes you say things that everyone knows to be true. Then again, at the same time, you're thinking that the only truth on earth is that there is no truth on it. Whatever you are saying, you're saying in a ricky-tick way. There's never time to reflect. You stiched and pressed and packed and drove, is what you did. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 15

On the way back to the house I passed the local movie theater on Prytania Street, where The Mighty Quinn was showing. Years earlier I had written a song called "The Mighty Quinn" which was a hit in England, and I wondered what the movie was about. Eventually I'd sneak off and go there to see it. It was a mystery, suspense, Jamaican thriller with Denzel Washington as the mighty Xavier Quinn, a detective who solves crimes. Funny, that's just the way I imagined him when I wrote the song "The Might Quinn." Denzel Washington. He must have been a fan of mine... years later he would play the boxer Hurricane Carter, someone else I wrote a song about. I wondered if Denzel could play Woody Guthrie. In my dimension of reality, he certainly could have. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 14

Danny [Lanois] asked me who I'd been listening to recently, and I told him Ice-T. He was surprised, but he shouldn't have been. A few years earlier, Kurtis Blow, a rapper from Brooklyn who had a hit out called "The Breaks," had asked me to be on one of his records and he famililarized me with stuff, Ice-T, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Run-D.M.C. These guys definitely weren't standing around bullshitting. They were beating drums, tearing it up, hurling horses over cliffs. They were all poets and knew what was going on. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 13

I finished the Dylan book this weekend. I really enjoyed it. It was so enjoyable that I could have read it all in one sitting, but I decided to savor it and only read a few pages at a time. That way I could fully appreciate the random acts of wackiness that Bob throws at you. I was a bit surprised that Dylan could write prose as well as he did. He can really set a scene and some of his descriptions of the people and places in his past are eloquent and vivid. At the same time I just didn’t expect some of the references that Dylan drops sometimes right in the middle of one of those eloquent passages. For instance:

I left the ice cream parlor, went back out on the sidewalk. A wet wind hit me in the face. Moonlight illuminated the glistening leaves and my footsteps disturbed a courtyard of cats. A dog snarled menacingly from behind a wrought-iron fence. A black sedan went by, a couple of winos in it--windows rolled down, Paula Abdul song blasting out of the speakers.

This passage describes a time during the recording of “Oh Mercy” which would have been in 1988 or maybe early 1989. Dylan is incredibly thorough when describing everything that had to do with this album. (I would have loved to read about more of his albums from him in this manner, unfortunately this is the only one he talks about at any significant length.) The thing that gets me is that it’s been a long time since the late eighties and I just didn’t expect this much detail. As it is Dylan also goes into great detail about times much further past than 1988. Did he have a diary that he referred to? Does he have a photographic memory? Did he just make it up? Did Paula Abdul music really make that big of an impression on him? Come on, Bob, straight up now tell me.

I’ll be clearing out some more of my favorite passages over the next few days. I hope everyone has enjoyed the excerpts as much as I have.

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 12 Misty Mountains

One night, Bono, the singer from U2, was over for dinner with some other friends. Spending time with Bono was like eating dinner on a train--feels like you're moving, going somewhere. Bono's got the soul of an ancient poet and you have to be careful around him. He can roar 'til the earth shakes. He's also a closet philosopher. He brought a case of Guinness with him.... Bono says things that can sway anybody. He's like that guy in the old movie, the one who beats up a rat with his bare hands and wrings a confession out of him. If Bono had come to America in the early part of the century he would have been a cop. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 11 Dollar Bills

The folk purists had a problem with him, but Harry [Belafonte]--who could have kicked the shit out of all of them--couldn't be bothered, said that all folksingers were interpreters, said it in a public way as if someone had summoned him to set the record straight. He even said he hated pop songs, thought they were junk. I could identify with Harry in all kinds of ways. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 10

The dominant myth of the day seemed to be that anybody could do anything, even go to the moon. You could do whatever you wanted--in the ads and in the articles, ignore your limitations, defy them. If you were an indecisive person, you could become a leader and wear lederhosen. If you were a housewife, you could become a glamour girl with rhinestone sunglasses. Are you slow witted? No worries -- you can be an intellectual genius. If you're old, you can be young. Anything possible. It was almost like a war against the self. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 9 Below Zero and Three O'Clock in the Afternoon

Of all the versions of my recorded songs, the Johnny Rivers one was my favorite. It was obvious that we were from the same side of town, had been read the same citations, came from the same musical family and were cut from the same cloth. When I listened to Johnny's version of "Positively 4th Street," I liked his version better than mine. I listened to it over and over again. Most of the cover versions of my songs seemed to take them out into left field somewhere, but Rivers's version had the mandate down--the attitude and melodic sense to complete and surpass even the feeling that I had put into it. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Press 1 for Famine, 2 for Pestilence, 3 for Condoleezza, and 4 for Death. Please note that Pestilence closes at 6:00.

Spooked is the Robyn Hitchcock album I’ve been waiting for ever since I started listening to him about 5 years ago. I love the Soft Boys stuff and I love Gotta Let This Hen Out but the other albums I have heard have always left me feeling, uh, unsatisfied. (Note: There's still quite a bit of his back catalog that I haven't heard yet.) There are some things that I love on Eye, Respect, Luxor, etc. but none of those albums have been things I could just put on and listen from start to finish. I still like them, but as far as albums go they aren’t my favorites. The songs I liked were captivating enough to keep me waiting for that decisive Robyn album though.

It’s been no secret through these reviews that I love albums more than singles. (The fact that I started off the Van Lear Rose review with the sentence, “I’m an album guy” should have set that in stone right away.) I enjoy a good single, but an album is something to love. It’s something to be absorbed by while it’s on. It’s something to think about even after you’ve stopped playing it and filed it away on the shelf (in alphabetical order by the artist’s last name or the band name and in the set of each artists their albums must be in chronological order by release date– did I just reveal too much?) There’s something about the completeness of a good album that I love. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Spooked is the first Robyn Hitchcock album that does all those good album things for me.

I am absolutely in love with the lead track, "Television". There’s never been a finer song written about a man’s love-hate relationship with his TV. [Feel free to send me a comprehensive list of your favorite “man’s relationship with TV” songs.] I don’t think it is meant to be funny, but even if it was I am more comfortable with my interpretation and to me the song is damn near heartbreaking. Television, say you love me / Television, say you care / Loneliness is my profession / Show me those who are not there

A lot has been said about the contributions of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to Spooked and certainly they are very much responsible for the sound of the album. I read that the three of them got together in the studio and played a lot of Dylan covers before ever working on the songs that make up Spooked. That’s one way to get started and I guess that’s how "Tryin’ to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door" made the cut. Whatever the three of them did worked because this is a very fine album that really put the things I like about Robyn in a perfect 12 song setting.

One final note: I went to see Robyn Hitchcock with Scott and Mike not too long after getting this album. It was the first time I had seen him live and it was absolutely perfect timing. Robyn is a great entertainer and he did a great mix of songs. I was easy to see why Scott and Mike like him as much as they do. He really comes across great on stage. I am looking forward to getting another opportunity to see him again.

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 8

A couple of times I dropped a coin right into the slot and played "The Man That Got Away" by Judy Garland. The song always did something to me, not in any stupefying tremendous kind of way. It didn't summon up any strange thoughts. It was just nice to hear. Judy Garland was from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, a town about twenty miles away from where I came from. Listening to Judy was like listening to the girl next door. She was way before my time, and like the Elton John song says, "I would have liked to known you, but I was just a kid." -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 7 Sad Forests

[Roy] Orbinson was deadly serious--no pollywog and no fledgling juvenile. There wasn't anything else on the radio like him. I'd listen and wait for another song, but next to Roy the playlist was strictly dullsville...gutless and flabby. It all came at you like you didn't have a brain. Outside of maybe George Jones, I didn't like country music either. Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold, it was hard to know what was country about this stuff. All the wildness and weirdness had gone out of country music. Elvis Presley. Nobobdy listend to him either. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 6 Crooked Highways

Chloe had her own primitive way of looking at things, always would say mad stuff that clicked in a cryptic way, told me once that I should wear eyeshadow because it keeps away the evil eye. I asked her whose evil eye and she said, "Joe Blow's or Joe Schmoe's." According to her, Dracula ruled the world and he's the son of Gutenberg, the guy who inveneted the printing press." -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Act V

The room smelled of gin and tonic, wood alcohol and flowers. The place was a top floor walk-up, Federal style building near Vestry Street below Canal and near the Hudson River. On the same block was the Bull's Head, a cellar tavern where John Wilkes Booth, the American Brutus, used to drink. I'd been in there once and saw his ghost in the mirror--an ill spirit. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 4

Ricky [Nelson]'s song ended and I gave the rest of my French fries to Tiny Tim...

-- from Chronicles, Volume One

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 3

At some point during the day, Tiny Tim and I would go in the kitchen and hang around. Norbert the cook would usually have a greasy burger waiting. Either that or he'd let us empty a can of pork and beans or spaghetti into a frying pan. Norbert was a trip. -- from Chronicles, Volume One

Jodie Foster held two pair, Bach had three of a kind,Gandhi said, "with my full house I will blow your mind."

Sometimes I loose track of what it is that makes me love They Might Be Giants so much. It’s usually some time between album releases when I haven’t listened to them in a while. Then I hear they are releasing something new and I think to myself that it’ll be fun to hear something new from them. Then the something new comes out and I pick it up and I immediately want to go back and listen to all their old stuff instead of listening to the new thing I just got. It happens every time and somewhere in my steady stream of pouring through the TMBG back catalog I’m reminded that it’s the catchiest, most sing-along music in the world and everybody needs something like that in their life. Sure the lyrics are sometimes surreal, existential, and dark but they have a good beat and you can dance to it. And really, isn’t that part of the fun? Anyhow, I always get back to listening to the new album and there hasn’t been one yet where I didn’t get the same giddy feeling from all their previous work.

I can’t think of any TMBG album that I would give a hands-down five star review to, but that has more to do with how prolific the two Johns are. They write for TV shows, TV networks, documentaries, commercials, web sites, and movie soundtracks. They release regular albums, singles, EPs, odds and ends collections, and web-only albums. They have an internet radio streamer, dialasong.com, and a free mp3 mailing list. If these guys concentrated on just a couple of these things at a time they could probably release an album that would completely blow the minds of every TMBG geek in the world simultaneously, myself included. As it is, The Spine was juggled along with all of their other projects and as a result has a lot of great songs, a handful of good songs, and a few that are just okay. That being said, I have never heard a TMBG song that I didn’t like in one way or another. My favorites from this one are "Experimental Film," "Memo to Human Resources," "Wearing a Raincoat," "It’s Kickin’ In," "Au Contraire," and "Damn Good Times. "

Your Daily Dose of Dylan, Part 2

The daytime show at the Café Wha?, an extravaganza of patchwork, featured anybody and anything--a comedian, a ventriloquist, a steel drum group, a poet, a female impersonator, a duo who sang Broadway stuff, a rabbit-in-the-hat magician, a guy wearing a turban who hypnotized people in the audience, somebody whose entire act was facial acrobatics--just anybody who wanted to break into show business. Nothing that would change your view of the world. - from Chronicles, Volume One

In a certain light he looked liked Elvis,In a certain way he feels like Jesus...

I’m not going to go on and on about how this album was made and how it was originally going to be a concept album and about how it is Elvis Costello’s take on southern soul. You can read that stuff somewhere else and if I included it here it would just take away from the fact that I have really loved this album. I am continually amazed at how great a song writer Costello is and this album is further proof. The Imposters do a great job punching Costello’s southern gothic tales with the appropriate mix of different southern musical genres. Also, Emmylou Harris (Christ, she’s everywhere!) and Lucinda Williams play some pivotal female characters in Costello’s twisted story with their guest vocals.

Even though Costello has said that the original idea for a concept album was scrapped, it’s still fun to try to piece together a narrative that would connect these 13 songs. Oh, sure it may be futile, but the best art will keep you thinking about it long after the initial experience is over in an effort to find even more layers of enjoyment. It’s still very early in the life of The Delivery Man for hyperbolic comparisons, but for me the words and the music carry the same feel of a Flannery O’Connor story. There’s no mention of a peacock but it is dark, there’s a humor about it, there’s religion, there’s false religion, there’s grotesque characters, there’s violence, etc. The song titles even sound like they could be O’Connor short stories and once you make the O’Connor connection it’s hard not to think of this delivery man as kin to the Bible salesman in O'Connor's “Good Country People”.

I have one minor qualm with The Delivery Man. The very last song, "The Scarlet Tide", seems tacked on to me. Having already heard it sung by Alison Krauss on the Cold Mountain soundtrack, hearing it from Elvis is a bit of a let down. It’s his song so I don’t blame him for wanting to do it and include it here, but I think he would have done better using it as a B-side or just letting Rhino use it on their eventual two-disc version of The Delivery Man which should be due around 2019. The Delivery Man is a very strong album and one of Costello’s best. I highly recommend it.

Idiot wind...blowing through the letters that he wrote

I’ve started reading Bob Dylan’s “Chronicles, Volume One”. I’m not that far along because I got sick shortly after I started reading. That’s not to imply that the book made me sick. Although if I could prove it, Simon & Schuster might have a pretty nifty lawsuit on their hands. I will be posting passages from the book periodically. Some passages will be insightful, some will be informative, but from what I’ve read so far most will be a bit bizarre. Here’s the first one, it’s pretty straight forward:

Things were pretty sleepy on the Americana music scene in the late '50s and early '60s. Popular radio was sort of at a standstill and filled with empty pleasantries. It was years before The Beatles, The Who or The Rolling Stones would breathe new life and excitement into it. What I was playing at the time were hard-lipped folk songs with fire and brimstone servings, and you didn't need to take polls to know that they didn't match up with anything on the radio, didn't lend themselves to commercialism, but John [Hammond] told me that these things weren't high on his list and he understood all the implications of what I did.

99 Bottles of NyQuil on the Wall

Holy Moses, I’ve been sick. I was completely out of it on Saturday. I haven’t slept that much in one day since that Keanu Reeves film festival. When I was actually awake I was nodding off. It’s like I got to test drive narcolepsy for a day and with all apologies to people who actually suffer with narcolepsy, it was pretty sweet. I was kind of hoping Sunday would be the same, but I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep after that. I valiantly tried to recapture the sleepiness of Saturday, but nothing worked. By the way, NyQuil with a vodka chaser doesn’t knock you out like you’d hope it would. Oh sure there are some definite effects on the consciousness but sleep was not one of them for me. Maybe if I had shortened the time between doses it would have put me out, but for some reason I dutifully followed the “6 hours between” rule all the while shunning the other possibly more serious warnings about what not to do while taking NyQuil. If I had only been pregnant, on an MAOI inhibitor, and driving a forklift I would have probably had the NyQuil police show up at my door.

I should have taken off Monday and gone to a doctor, but who wants to be smart about their health? Anybody? I woke up feeling pretty good on Monday. Sure I was still coughing like a chain-smoking coal miner and my voice had all the crispness and clarity of, uh; let’s go with Carol Channing this time, but I felt pretty good. I felt a little better yesterday too, although my throat gets really sore at night. Today I feel okay and the frequency of my coughing has decreased each day. My body seems to still think I’m sick, but I honestly feel pretty good. It’s like the opposite of the first line in R. Kelly’s “Bump ‘n Grind”. Anyway, I hope I’m shaking it off and am on the road to recovery because although I do feel good, I am still fairly lethargic.