|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 3, 2010 15:57:18 GMT -5
I've gone on record many times here to say that I can't stand Christmas music (especially the overplayed stuff like "Carol of the Bells", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Sleigh Ride", and "Winter Wonderland").
But TurkeyVolGuessnMan, I applaud your inclusion of Whiteheart's "Little Drummer Boy". I have enjoyed that song for many a year, and I'm shocked (SHOCKED) that someone would have posted it here.
Also, the aforementioned "Christmas in Hollis" and Fishbone's "It's A Wonderful Life" are required in my house for wassailing my tennenbaum.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 2, 2010 17:26:31 GMT -5
I showed some friends Pod People and they fell asleep. I felt like an idiot.
My kids (10 and 8) are now begging for MST. I started them on "The Day The Earth Froze" and "Jack Frost". Last night, we dialed up "Phantom Planet" on Netflix/Wii. Next will be "The Painted Hills".
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 2, 2010 17:19:42 GMT -5
I posted this on the Psych thread, but it bears doubling up here: Last night's Twin Peaks tribute episode was one of the highlights of my television watching life. Every frame of the episode had a TP reference in it. The first shot was of a chocolate bunny on Shawn's desk. On the counter in the doctor's office was a coconut. The first lines of dialogue in the episode were about silent drape runners. There were owls that weren't what they seemed, arson at the sawmill, and the log lady. Let's see...there was The Great Northern newspaper, an email from me@underthenail.com, and Sherilyn Fenn talking about how much she likes cherries. The best moments were when Sheryl Lee (the original Laura Palmer) was pulling back the plastic on the drowned girl. I'm sure it was quite a surreal experience for the actress. And later in the episode when the priest (played by Ray Wise, who played Laura's father on TP) showed up in town with his hair suddenly white. Awesome. It's up on hulu right now. www.hulu.com/watch/197344/psych-dual-spires
|
|
|
Psych
Dec 2, 2010 17:15:51 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 2, 2010 17:15:51 GMT -5
Last night's Twin Peaks tribute episode was one of the highlights of my television watching life. Every frame of the episode had a TP reference in it. The first shot was of a chocolate bunny on Shawn's desk. On the counter in the doctor's office was a coconut. The first lines of dialogue in the episode were about silent drape runners. There were owls that weren't what they seemed, arson at the sawmill, and the log lady. Let's see...there was The Great Northern newspaper, an email from me@underthenail.com, and Sherilyn Fenn talking about how much she likes cherries. The best moments were when Sheryl Lee (the original Laura Palmer) was pulling back the plastic on the drowned girl. I'm sure it was quite a surreal experience for the actress. And later in the episode when the priest (played by Ray Wise, who played Laura's father on TP) showed up in town with his hair suddenly white. Awesome. It's up on hulu right now. www.hulu.com/watch/197344/psych-dual-spires
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 2, 2010 12:48:54 GMT -5
Abacab (1981)I started these reviews with the idea that the story of Genesis is the story of MST. After Joel/Gabriel left, the quality didn't diminish nearly as much as people expected when Mike/Collins took over (seasons 5-6= A Trick of the Tail & Wind & Wuthering). Then Frank/Hackett left, leaving an odd, but still great, transitional phase (season 7= And Then There Were Three). Finally, the remaining team found their feet again and locked into a new groove; meaning the '80s era Genesis is the Sci-Fi era of MST, complete with its aficionados and critics. While listening to Abacab, I tried a thought experiment. What if this were Genesis's first album? What if they burst on the scene with the title track? Or "No Reply At All"? Or "Keep it Dark"? I can't imagine a single person would have said, "Boy, these guys are super cheesy sell-outs." I think the overwhelming response would have been, "Who are these guys who have such great hooks with such intricate musicianship?" No one, after watching "Puma Man" as their first episode, would say how the show wasn't as good without Trace. They all say, "What is this awesome show?!? I have to watch more!" Seriously, go back and listen to "No Reply at All". At the time, Genesis fans were apoplectic over the use of a horn section (Earth, Wind, and Fire in MY Genesis?! How dare they!) . But I think it's a tremendous piece of musicianship. Listen to Banks's overlapping keyboard riff. Or Rutherford's amazing and melodic bass line. It's just sick. That they made such a difficult song such a catchy song is something I find very impressive. Like Duke, Abacab is maddeningly inconsistent. It has some great songs ("No Reply at All", "Keep It Dark", "Dodo/Lurker", "Man on the Corner"). It has some passable filler ("Like It Or Not", "Another Record"). And it has the all-time lowest moment and worst song in their career ("Who Dunnit?"). The title track is a standard on classic rock radio, and it has some impressive moments. However, I find it unlistenable because of the aforementioned one-note bass pedal problem. It's like David Lee Roth's awful howl/scream. You can enjoy Van Halen for years and not notice it. But once you know it's there, you can't NOT notice it. Every time I listen to the song, "Abacab", the fact that there's no bass line and that the pedal tone never changes grates on me like nothing else. Which stinks because I used to really like the song. The low moments notwithstanding, Abacab is a decent album. The mix is an improvement on Duke, and they've reined in the extraneous jamming. Overall, it's a nice stepping stone to the upcoming albums which put Genesis over the top as an amazing radio rock band. ***1/2
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 1, 2010 19:37:33 GMT -5
Duke (1980)Duke is a frustrating album. It has some really great moments, but it also has some big problems. Let's start with the good. The Good:"Behind the Lines" is a killer opener. The band opened with it on their 2007 tour, and it blew me away. "Duchess" has a great hook of a chorus melody, and is a powerful song about celebrity. "Misunderstanding", which was the first song Phil ever wrote for Genesis, was a worthy hit, and holds up 30 years later as a great song. "Turn It On Again" was another worthy hit and another great live song, and was written in 13/4. How cool is that? The band took a hiatus between ATTW3 and Duke so Phil could try to save his marriage (he couldn't) and so Tony & Mike could record solo albums. Phil came back with a newfound emotionalism in his voice and in his songwriting. Songs like "Misunderstanding" and the Rutherford-penned "Alone Tonight" showed that the lyrical dimension of the band had changed for good. Gone were the schoolboy/nerdish/Greek/British/fantasy/fairy tale lyrics of earlier albums; now the lyrics were emotional, relational, and much more immediate. I enjoy both styles, but I understand and enjoy the shift. After all, these guys weren't snobby, prep school teenagers anymore. They were husbands and fathers and...well, men. Half of the Duke album was written to be a mega-suite of songs, like "Supper's Ready". In fact, if you play "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", "Guide Vocal", "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" in succession, it's a great piece of work. It's unfortunate that they didn't package it like that, but instead broke up the song cycle across the album. The Bad:The worst side effect of Hackett leaving the band? They stopped writing bass lines. Even though Rutherford had been using bass pedals for a few albums already, without another guitarist in the band, it seemed like he focused exclusively on rhythm guitar and put the bass away for good. This really affected the band's output. Phil & Mike weren't throwing down complicated, polyrhythmic fills together anymore. Instead, Phil was booming on 2 and 4, the bass became a pedal playing 16 measures on one note, and Mike was quietly noodling while Tony Banks took over playing the chord progressions. More than Phil's vocals, this was the change in the band's sound that lost their prog cred with me. A lot of the songs seem half-written. "Duchess" has a great chorus, but hardly any verse. Ditto "Man of Our Times". Ditto "Alone Tonight". The last 2 minutes of "Cul-De-Sac" are outstanding. The first 3 minutes? Not so much. Then there are the songs that are just weak, like "Heathaze" and "Please Don't Ask". Even the great songs "Duchess" and "Duke's Travels" have intros that are interminable. When I listen to the album as a whole, I can't get past the feeling that they needed an editor. The album needs to be 3 songs shorter, and the keepers needed another hour in the oven. The Ugly:The mix hurts. I have never liked the mix on Duke or Abacab. It's painful to listen to for very long. The drums overpower everything (and I'm one who loves drums high in the mix). Banks's synth sounds are so loaded with treble that they drown out any melody anywhere else. As I mentioned, the bass lines are non-existent and the one-note pedals just bore into your brain. On the slower songs, Rutherford runs his guitar through a cheesy chorus effect that just sounds like plastic. When I listen to great songs like "Duchess" or "Man of Our Time" or "Alone Tonight", all I can think about is how good those songs should sound instead of how they do sound. Critics peg Duke as the album when Genesis fully embraced their pop side and finally buried their prog side. If that's true, it had nothing to do with Phil's voice or his soon-to-explode solo career. It had everything to do with where they all were as songwriters, how they mixed the album, and how they played without a lead guitarist. Duke has its high points, and they are memorable. But better to experience them on a greatest hits package than to absorb this frustrating and messy album. ***1/2
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 1, 2010 16:59:54 GMT -5
So is this thread for all '80s movies, or just ones considered sci-fi? Either way, the correct answer is Brazil.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Dec 1, 2010 1:29:53 GMT -5
Perhaps it's because of my age, but my nostalgia is towards the 80s. I tend to equate the 90s with the worst times in my life and some of the worst in entertainment. It's my opinion that even when film or music was "bad" in the 80s, it was still good because it was the 80s. This. This. A million times, this. I'll add my ideas and votes later, but I couldn't let such a sagacious sentiment pass without comment.
|
|
|
Psych
Nov 29, 2010 15:10:04 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 29, 2010 15:10:04 GMT -5
This is Mrs. Atari and my favorite show right now. It's a standard detective show, based on the old Sherlock Holmes archetypes (Holmes & Watson both helping and outsmarting Lestrade at every turn). But the humor and interplay between the characters is what makes it great. Unlike all of the cookie-cutter procedural shows out there, it doesn't take itself too seriously. In fact, it doesn't take itself seriously at all. There are a ton of '80s references and running gags that make for great repeat viewing, as well.
Like Columbo (which the show resembles), the special guests add another dimension of watchability. They do a great job of bringing back favorite '80s and '90s actors and giving them fun things to do. For example, this week's episode reunites a bunch of the actors from Twin Peaks for a tribute mystery. It looks awesome.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 29, 2010 10:43:22 GMT -5
Are we sure it was Nielsen who died and not Enrico Polazzo?
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 28, 2010 23:18:52 GMT -5
At the funeral, they're giving guests the option of the steak or the fish.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 27, 2010 18:17:57 GMT -5
And Then There Were Three (1978)A lot of Genesis albums seem to go in pairs. Nursery Cryme matches well with Foxtrot. As I mentioned before, Selling England... and A Trick of the Tail sound incredibly alike. The upcoming Duke and Abacab could be a double album. In that vein, I've always thought that Wind and Wuthering and And Then There Were Three match up. They sound like they were recorded simultaneously. With two big exceptions: 1) Guitarist Steve Hackett left in between the albums, and 2) someone decided to turn up the drums. First- the loss of Steve Hackett was a far bigger shift in the band's sound than the loss of Peter Gabriel. When Gabriel left, they didn't really lose much. Phil's vocal range and style was very similar, and he could still play drums. When Hackett left, the band lost 25% of their instrumentation. Rutherford picked up some slack, but he's never been a lead player. Now, not only was Tony Banks the main influence in writing synth heavy songs, he was also the featured soloist on 90% of the album. Gone are the days of finger tapping leads and ripping, extended guitar solos. Instead, it's shorter songs and high-treble rock organ accents. This shift was thankfully balanced with the new production work of bringing Phil's drums up in the mix. Everyone loves the drum entrance from "In The Air Tonight" (even Mike Tyson!). But a couple of years before that came out, Phil was pounding out amazing tom fills on this album. Just listen to the album opener, "Down and Out", and you'll be amazed. His drums save quite a few numbers on this album from being dull and keyboarded to death (see "The Lady Lies" or "Scenes from a Night's Dream"). ATTW3 takes the sounds and vibe from Wind and Wuthering and makes them a lot better. "Down and Out" is the superior sibling to "Eleventh Earl of Mar". "Burning Rope" feels just like "One for the Vine". "Undertow" sounds like the sequel to "Afterglow" (I still get them confused). "Many Too Many" picks up right where "Your Own Special Way" left off. But there is one other development on this album that was lacking before: hooks. Not only are the songs shorter, and the drums louder, but the songs have melodic choruses and catchy keyboard & guitar lines. The arrangements are still complex, and there are plenty of progressive elements, but the hooks are there. See "The Ballad of Big", "Scenes from a Night's Dream", and "Many Too Many" for proof. And then there's the breakthrough single. "Follow You, Follow Me" closes the album, and became the first hit in America for the band. It's still one of my favorites, and a nice slow & bouncy groove. Nobody does a heavy-delay chucka-chucka guitar groove like Mike Rutherford (see also "The Living Years"). And when it's mixed with patented Phil Collins mellow, shuffle-rock drums, you've got a hit on your hands. Now, let the record show to all of the prog snobs and Phil-haters that "Follow You, Follow Me" was a Mike Rutherford song, and that ATTW3 (the first Genesis album with hooks) was almost entirely written without Phil's input, as he was in Vancouver trying to save his marriage the whole time. This transitional album was a Tony & Mike project, where they tried to bring some balls back to the Wind and Wuthering sound, while writing shorter songs because of the loss of Steve Hackett and his extended solos. I say it worked wonderfully and made for a great album. In retrospect, it functions nicely as a transition between the experimental era and the pop-friendly era. But I don't buy that there was any intention to sell out or make a more accessible album. I just think Tony & Mike were getting better at songwriting, and the band was getting tighter. Suddenly finding themselves as a trio pretty much forced them to be. And Then There Were Three is a VERY good album. ****1/2And here's the official video for "Follow You, Follow Me". Note Mike's green windbreaker and the awesome Vancouver Canucks jersey Tony's rocking.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 26, 2010 16:28:16 GMT -5
Wind and Wuthering (1976)Here's how the guys describe Wind and Wuthering: "It's the most romantic album we did, and probably my favorite." - Tony Banks "It's very much Tony's album...and I always see it as a feminine album; there were no real kind of ballsy driving songs on this album, and it's probably suffered for it." -Mike Rutherford It's definitely the most underrated and overlooked album in their catalog, and now I'm also going to underrate it. It's peaceful, layered, romantic, and most of all, boring. It's an album that works well on a cold, gray day. If music were weather, this album would be sleet. The title comes from Wuthering Heights, and two song titles are even taken from the last line of that book. Which makes sense, because if music were literature, this album would definitely be a cold and distant British novel. I think this is the album where the Genesis sound changed, and it had nothing to do with Phil Collins. Hardly anything on this album has to do with Phil Collins. It's almost entirely a Tony Banks and Steve Hackett feature. It's heavy with synth pads, acoustic interludes, and extended slow jams. If that's your thing, then bully for you. The only driving songs are the opener ("Eleventh Earl of Mar"), which is decent, but doesn't come close to the openers on other albums (like "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", "Dance on a Volcano", or subsequent openers, "Down and Out" and "Behind the Lines") and the instrumental "Wot Gorilla?", which is decent but doesn't come close to instrumentals on other albums (like "Los Endos"). As for the rest of the album, it's not without its moments. "Your Own Special Way" (a Rutherford ballad) was their biggest hit at the time, and one that holds up pretty well. The album closer, Banks's "Afterglow", is a hidden gem that is a great sweeping, hold-up-your-lighter anthem. The rest of the album is pretty, but pretty forgettable. Taken as a whole, Wind and Wuthering is an enjoyable 50 minutes of wintertime listening. But there's nothing here that stands out to me and says, "Great music!" Recommended if you like layered keyboard or mellow background jams. ***1/2
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 26, 2010 3:34:18 GMT -5
A Trick of the Tail (1976)Prog-rock snobs compare songs like "Supper's Ready" to songs like "Throwing It All Away" and they conclude that Phil Collins ruined Genesis when he took over. That's like comparing "Manos" with "Wild Wild World of Batwoman" and saying Mike ruined MST3K. We know better than that. The truth is that the band was always a band, and songwriting was a group effort on every album. Another truth is that A Trick of the Tail sounds more like Gabriel-era Genesis than The Lamb Lies Down did. Incidentally, Collins didn't want the job of lead singer, he considered it a demotion. A lead singer didn't have to be a good musician the way a drummer did. "All the singer has to do is look good and shake his bum," he said. But none of the 400 potential Gabriel replacements could match his range or understanding of the sound they were looking for. After the fragmented writing and recording process of Lamb, the band decided to go back to the old way of writing together, and created the perfect sister album to Selling England By the Pound. That the two albums sound so much alike reveals just how much Banks and Rutherford (and not just Gabriel) influenced the sound of the earlier albums. A Trick of the Tail is equal in almost every way to Selling England..., and is a classic in its own right. Track 1: Dance on a VolcanoThe best track on the album is actually better than anything on Selling England (except for maybe "Firth of Fifth"). The staccato and jarring drum track is a turning point for the band's sound. Before, Phil played jazzy and slippery snare accents. Here, he pounds the crap out of the kit like John Bonham. The jam section is tight and aggressive, and the high point of their instrumental compositions. It's got a nice Frank Zappa quality to it, but it's still pure Genesis. Track 2: EntangledTony Banks and Steve Hackett were always the madrigal fans in the band. Here, they combined two pieces they were each working on into a long piece that features 12-string guitar, celeste piano sounds, and big harmonies in the chorus. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they wrote it as an intentional sequel to "More Fool Me". Track 3: SquonkA fan favorite that's a nice low-end rocker. The lyrics are about a mythological creature that, when captured, escapes by crying itself into non-existence. Nifty. Plus, "Squonk" is a pretty cool word. Not to belabor the point, but I defy anyone to listen to these 3 tracks and tell me they sound musically or lyrically different than anything from the Gabriel-led albums. They don't. Track 4: Mad Man MoonIf there was any change in the sound after Pete left, it was that Tony Banks was featured more as a player and songwriter. Over the next few albums, you'll find a higher percentage of keyboard-driven, moody ballads with a ton of chords. That's what this song is, and it is not an asset to this album. It's a decent song, but the piano feature section goes on way too long. Track 5: Robbery, Assault, and BatteryThe way Phil uses different voices in this song to tell a story with different characters emulates Gabriel's character songs (like "Get 'Em Out By Friday"). The hook in the main verse and chorus melody is a precursor to a lot of the '80s output (like "Illegal Alien" or "Just a Job To Do"). The jam in the middle sounds like vintage '70s Genesis. This song is a great representation of all eras of the Genesis sound. Track 6: RipplesA personal favorite. A gorgeous and emotive song, with some very powerful chord moves and melody. When they played this on their 2007 tour, it was a highlight of the show. Track 7: A Trick of the TailA goofy number that totally would have fit on an earlier album. In fact, Banks wrote it for the Foxtrot sessions, but couldn't make it work at the time. Musically, it sounds like a mash-up of "Penny Lane", "Getting Better", with a little bit of "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" mixed in for good measure. Lyrically, it's about a creature that leaves his home (a city of gold) and gets stuck on earth, where he's captured and caged by the weird indigenous people (who've "got no horns and they got no tails"). Finally, he escapes and goes home. Whew, that was a close one. Track 8: Los EndosThe album goes out with quite a bang. "Los Endos" is a recapitulation of the musical themes from throughout the album. It's another instrumental jam that makes a musician like me salivate, and then give up any hope in my abilities. As a nice tribute to Gabriel, on the fade out Phil sings a line from "Supper's Ready": "There's an angel standing in the sun, free to get back home." As I mentioned above, Selling England by the Pound and A Trick of the Tail are Genesis's Rubber Soul and Revolver. They are so much alike, they HAVE to go together. Sure, you could listen to one without the other, but why would you want to? If you only buy two Genesis albums, this is the second one. *****
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Nov 25, 2010 2:57:30 GMT -5
Just re-reading the reviews, and wanted to mention:
The rest of the reviews will be shorter. I promise.
|
|