8.2.2002
posted by fred solinger 2:54 PM
julia roberts on full frontal:
"i just follow steven around...i don't care what he's doing! it doesn't have to have anything to do with anything. after i read the script, i called him and said, 'i don't understand any of it. i'm totally there!'"has anyone ever read terry southern's blue movie? an a-list director decides he wants to make an art-house porn film; the biggest female star in the world, craving critical acceptance, signs on to play the lead. not that full frontal is porn or anything, but.
8.1.2002
posted by fred solinger 7:05 PM
i think i like the yeah yeah yeahs' "bang" because, please forgive me, it continually threatens to break out into "cold sweat." i hope the forthcoming lp is more like this and "mystery girl" than, say, "art star." (or even "our time," which is great but don't we already have the strokes? and they record in HI-FI.)
posted by fred solinger 10:09 AM
for the "dread & anticipation" file: elvis 30 #1 hits.
"The new mixes don't change Elvis and his musicians' work, but they showcase that work in a way that makes the most of their brilliance when listened to on today's audio equipment."here's a link to an interview with david bendeth, a member of the remastering team. his objective:
"The main objective was to be able to take an Elvis record for the first time and be able to play it on your stereo system at home, … your computer system at home, …or your car and have it be heard at the same contemporary caliber of any record you could buy in the store today. We want the songs to sonically contain the full dynamic range of bass and treble. To have full dynamic range is to have all of the tones hitting your ear at the same time and having the level also be competitive to every other record that’s out in the market right now. That process alone kind of gives you a new sound."
7.31.2002
posted by fred solinger 9:26 PM
late american idol predictions: i'm just going to get this in under the wire...
bottom three: nikki, christina, and ryan.
prediction: christina, even though she's been the best performer of the three. her epithet would be 'the quiet one' or 'the respectable one'; it'll also be her epitaph.
posted by fred solinger 3:19 PM
woman suing delta airlines over vibrator incident: airlines have been testing their security and they've found that they're still not uncovering all potential weapons; rest assured, though, that if you have something potentially mortifying in your bags, they will find it. and, oh, how they will laugh.
posted by fred solinger 12:33 PM
after several listenings, these are the songs i know i won't change my mind about on springsteen's the rising:
good: "lonesome day," "the fuse," "you're missing," "the rising"
bad: "mary's place"now, the songs that, even as i write this, my opinion is changing w/r/t:
may only get better: "nothing man"
may only get worse: "countin' on a miracle," "let's be friends (skin to skin)"this final grouping of songs is the most interesting. usually, prolonged exposure to a song will induce feelings either one way or the other and a position on said song becomes ossified; these songs i can see liking and then ultimately disliking:
"into the fire" -- i like the band's thump after the first chorus, but i can also foresee that the simplicity of the chorus -- "may your strength give us strength, may your faith give us faith, etc." -- may begin to grate.
"waitin' on a sunny day" -- seems rather lightweight, but i like the sound of the record, that e street band process. i could see its insubstantiality leading to future skips.
"empty sky" -- very spare and the chorus isn't particularly memorable, but i love the way the harmonica sounds, especially in contrast to the minimalist production.
"worlds apart" -- i wouldn't let sting, david byrne, paul simon or peter gabriel get away with this, but bruce is far more unabashed than any of those artists; and the guitar solos are incendiary.
"further on (up the road)" -- benefits greatly from its position on the album: following the lite-r&b of "let's be friends," it makes for a fantastic change of face. but there really isn't much to it, is there?
"paradise" -- right now, i like it a lot, a very harrowing solo performance. but it does sound quite a bit like "the sound of silence."
"my city of ruins" -- i'm warming to this new gospel-informed version but, at the same time, it does come across as overly refined, particularly when compared to the earlier version.
7.30.2002
posted by fred solinger 9:34 PM
very encouraging sign on top 40 radio: daniel bedingfield's "gotta get thru this" was #2 on z100's hi-noon countdown.
very discouraging sign on top 40 radio: seven and the sun's hootie-with-programmed-beats "walk with me" was on the same countdown.
posted by fred solinger 8:02 PM
so back to coldplay for a minute. what i like most about "in my place" is the guitar line, a thing of glacial beauty redolent of u2 and echo & the bunnymen ca. 1984. the song as a whole though lacks the immense humanism of the former and the egocentric pomp of the latter, and chris martin still sounds like he's singing in front of his vanity mirror (and like he's a grandiose dave matthews).
posted by fred solinger 6:00 PM
david bowie leads the short list for the mercury music prize. heathen has a few good songs, but otherwise i find this selection baffling. (as far as 70s glam/art-rock icons go, brian ferry's new album is better by far.) the full list:
david bowie, heathen
doves, the last broadcast
the streets, original pirate material
the coral, coral
ms. dynamite, a little deeper
beverly knight, who i am
roots manuva, run come save me
the bees, sunshine hit me
gemma hayes, night on my side
electric soft parade, holes in the wall
joanna macgregor, play
guy barker, soundtracki'm pulling for the streets, myself.
also from rs.com, kurt loder returns to the pages of rolling stone to write a five-star review of bruce springsteen's new album, the rising. he concludes:
i can't think of another album in which such an abundance of great songs might be said to seem the least of its achievements.
posted by fred solinger 3:51 PM
over at the village voice, tony green reviews albums by young neo-soul rebels glenn lewis and remy shand and, in the process, writes an abstract of the article on neo-soul that i've been meaning to write myself. (essentially: most nu-soul boys admire stevie's rhodes and not his clavinet; ron isley's voice and not ernie's guitar.)meanwhile, douglas wolk, in an article on dance-rock, sheds some light on the mysterious lcd soundsystem, the brainchild of producer james murphy, one half of the dfa team also responsible for remixing the rapture's "house of jealous lovers".
posted by fred solinger 3:27 PM
FUCK! i like the new coldplay single.
7.28.2002
posted by fred solinger 8:42 PM
one-upping josh, this site was accessed by a dogpile search for "pseudo-intellectualism." HA!
posted by fred solinger 4:57 PM
yesterday, i finished reading richard russo's empire falls. so what's it about then? quite a lot, actually -- i can understand perfectly why the movie will approach the four-hour mark. i, however, have been attempting to some it up in a sentence. something like:empire falls documents the price paid by those who've forsaken their dreams, and the toll taken on those who followed theirs.
only more elegant and meaningful.
contact me.
the following are some sites i visit
from time to time. you'd be all the better if you did the same:
nylpm
freaky
trigger
josh
blog
loatd
grr
skykicking
maura.com
popshots
matos
badger
catherine
pearls
the voice music section
submeat
perpetual motion
tmftml
the rub
no rock&roll fun
spizzazz
fluxblog
sex & sunshine
technicolour
