faithin’ the future out of the now
(or: november 4 — a thumbnail sketch)
posted at 11:14 pm by brandon in tuesdays in the record store with brandon
Election Day is playing hell with this week’s new music slate: Hilary Duff and Dido have already blinked — their new projects, originally scheduled to be released this Tuesday, have been shuffled to Novembers 11 and 18, respectively — and the few stars who are taking the leap this week will have to do battle with strong holdovers AC/DC (whose new album has already soared past the million-sold mark) and those pesky High School Musical churren. In other words: chin up out there. It’s a slow one this week.
In the immediate wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the arrogant pricks who run radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications (which owns and operates well over one thousand stations nationwide) sent to all its outlets a memorandum which strongly suggested they strike from their playlists 166 songs that the company had deemed “lyrically questionable.” Even in such an irrational, knee-jerk climate, the inclusion of more than a few of these songs — the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian,” for instance, which is as harmless as a soda jingle — seemed entirely nonsensical, but none more so than that of John Lennon’s touchstone “Imagine,” one of the most powerful prayers for everlasting peace and unity that has ever been written.
Lennon and his sentiments would end up getting the last laugh mere weeks later, as a cross-section of music’s brightest stars would Come Together at Madison Square Garden for A Night to pay tribute to and to give thanks for not only John Lennon’s Words and Music, but also New York City itself, the city that Lennon came to call his beloved home. Featuring stunning renditions of many of Lennon’s classics — Cyndi Lauper’s take on “Strawberry Fields Forever” was nothing short of ravishing; Stone Temple Pilots turned in a raucous, fiery “Revolution”; Alanis Morissette’s cover of “Dear Prudence” (closing it with a piece of “We Can Work It Out,” just for good measure) was a marvel; and host Kevin Spacey turned every head in the building with a thrilling rendition of “Mind Games” — the special was broadcast on multiple networks and stood as a monumental testimony to the redemptive, healing power of music.
Come Together was released on DVD the following year, but the quality of both the video and audio was piss-poor, which is why it thrills me no end to announce that the special has been granted a second chance to properly reach a mass audience. Thanks in equal measure to the quality of the material and to the raw emotional intensity pulsing through the impassioned delivery of same, this is one of the most gloriously alive pieces of television I’ve ever witnessed. Forever a classic.
Led by twin multi-format radio smashes “Lips of an Angel” (which also made a dent in the country charts, thanks to Jack Ingram’s earnest cover) and “Better Than Me,” Extreme Behavior, the 2006 debut album from Oklahoma rock band Hinder, became a triple-platinum triumph. They try to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump this week with the hotly-anticipated Take It to the Limit; lead single “Use Me” is already a huge hit at radio, and the band has already vowed to “tour the shit” out of this record for the next couple of years. (Judging from the grueling road schedule they maintained for their first album, the Buzz is prepared to take them at their word on that.)
Their brilliant breakthrough single — 2000’s galloping “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” — became a global sensation and seemed to herald the commercial arrival of a major new force. For Scottish band Travis, the fairy tale didn’t quite have that happy an ending: despite being crammed full of terrific tunes (don’t miss the melancholy masterpiece “Flowers in the Window,” as powerful a melody as anything Coldplay’s ever conjured, and frontman Fran Healy’s finest hour as a vocalist), the group’s worthy 2001 follow-up record The Invisible Band tragically got swallowed whole by the post-9/11 blur, and Travis was never able to regain its momentum. The band’s sixth studio album, Ode to J. Smith, makes landfall this week.
One of the most exciting rock bands of the past decade receives a well-deserved best-of set this week, and for the most part, it’s a stellar collection: “Sooner or Later,” their enthralling 2005 contribution to the Elektra soundtrack, has been omitted, as have been “The Blues” and “We Are One Tonight,” a pair of key tracks from their underrated second album Nothing is Sound, but all in all, The Best Yet offers a spectacular glimpse into the soul of Switchfoot, the San Diego-based group whose profile is again on the upswing, thanks to a new advertising campaign by Subaru which uses to great effect “Dare You to Move,” one of the band’s most memorable hits. (I dare you to tell me it’s a coinky-dink that “Move” is track number one on this retrospective!) Switchfoot bids adieu to Columbia Records with this release, and it’s a quite magnificent summary of their six-year stint there.
Aiming to reignite some interest in his thoroughly (and criminally) ignored solo album, Train’s lead singer Pat Monahan has re-recorded (and is digitally re-releasing) the entire project. Now entitled Last of Seven Acoustic, the album and its fourteen tracks — a full half of which were front and center among last year’s very best songs — can now be enjoyed in looser, more organic arrangements, which, though they don’t necessarily improve upon the originals, certainly shed intriguing new light on them. (Be forewarned, however: in acoustic form, Seven‘s MVP — a shattering elegy to fleeting love called “Pirate on the Run” — is no longer a duet with Brandi Carlile, and that is to its detriment, believe it.) Stripping away all the bells and whistles puts Monahan’s raw, unfettered talent — both as singer and songwriter — on full display, and serves as a cogent reminder as to the passion of his artistry.
Also noteworthy this week:
- Crunchy doofus Brad Paisley returns with a largely instrumental album, Play
, and with appearances from B.B. King, Buck Owens and Andy Griffith, it seems purdy ol’ skool.
- A pair of new tracks from surprise Grammy nominees Paramore, as well as offerings from Collective Soul, Linkin Park, and Iron & Wine, anchor the original motion picture soundtrack for the new film Twilight
, an adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s much-ballyhooed novel.
- It’s probably not going to be as much fun to sing along with as
Urban Chipmunk was back in the day — I literally wore out my
vinyl copy of that one, swear to Jesus! — but thanks to last year’s smash film, Alvin and the Chipmunks are back in the spotlight with their latest album, Undeniable.
- The former frontman of the legendary country band Alabama,
Randy Owen is on his own now with his solo debut, One on One.
- David Foster’s favorite tenor Andrea Bocelli is back with a
new album of Italian standards, Incanto.
, and with appearances from B.B. King, Buck Owens and Andy Griffith, it seems purdy ol’ skool.
, an adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s much-ballyhooed novel.
.
.
.
