A Bag of Poop
Dec. 28th, 2004 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatLast night, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje and I went out to eat at Chili’s, using one of the gift certificates my dad had given us for Christmas. After that, we stopped by Wal-Mart, and then came back to Beth’s house, where we watched Deadly Friend. If you want to see a robot grab a guy’s crotch, that’s the movie for you! Then we saw a few episodes of Mr. Show, and I went to bed.
That Amazon order that I’ve talked about quite a bit in recent entries contained two CDs that I bought for myself. One was the new Fastbacks rarities collection, Truth, Corrosion and Sour Bisquits. I’ve only listened to it once all the way through so far (I’m working on the second listen now), but it seems to have some pretty good stuff. There’s a cover of the Pixies song “Allison” on there, and the liner notes have a quote from Kurt Bloch that “I thought the Pixies just kept getting better.” Maybe they should have had Kurt make an appearance in the Gouge documentary, to provide a balance for all the talking heads (no, not members of the band Talking Heads; that probably would have been cooler) insisting that the band went downhill after Doolittle. I also find it interesting that Lulu Gargiulo says (when talking about “Go All The Way”), “As always with covers, Kim and I are signing about girls. It just never seemed right to change the words.” I think I agree with her. It generally kind of rubs me the wrong way when someone changes all the gender references when they do a cover of a song originally sung by a member of the opposite sex. Even They Might Be Giants do this, in their version of “Maybe I Know” (and, for those of you who are fans of obscure Dial-A-Songs, also in their version of “Next Plane To London”). Apparently the Johns have no problem singing from the point of view of murderers, stalkers, grocery bags, and human heads, but draw the line at women. I know Neko Case doesn’t change gender references, though, and the Pixies didn’t either, when Kim Deal sang lead on “I’ve Been Waiting For You.”
The other CD I got was the Young Fresh Fellows tribute album, This One’s for the Fellows. It’s a good record, and I’m glad the makers of the album kept the YFF tradition of alternate titles on the spine. I now give you a song-by-song review, containing numerous references that prove I consulted the liner notes.
Rock & Roll Pest Control (Presidents of the USA)—First of all, I like the introduction to the album, with a parody of the sample used to open the Fellows’ first album. I assume it’s drummer Tad Hutchison speaking. As for the song itself, I like that they started with a cover of the first song on the first album. I never cared much for the Presidents, whom I’ve seen compared to other bands I like (including the Fellows themselves), but never seemed to me to have the same level of talent or wit. The songs I’ve heard from them (mostly back when I was in high school, when they were really big for some inexplicable reason) struck me as more actually-stupid than cleverly-pretending-to-be-stupid. This particular song is good, though. One thing I like about both this and other covers of earlier songs is that it’s easier to understand the lyrics than it is with the original versions. Scott McCaughey wasn’t always great about enunciating back in the early days, or perhaps it was just that the mixes didn’t emphasize the vocals enough. Regardless, I think he got better as time went on.
Love Is A Beautiful Thing (Silos)—Kind of an odd choice, since this was a cover in the first place. I believe the original was by the Young Rascals, and I don’t remember it as being much different from the YFF version, so I suppose this could just as easily be billed as a Young Rascals cover. Oh, well. It’s still a cool song, and a good cover, so I don’t mind its being there.
How Much About Last Night Do You Remember? (Eric Kassel & Friends)—A slightly slower and less noisy version of the song. Decent, but nothing to write home about.
Mamie Dunn/Good Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Robyn Hitchcock)—One of the better tracks, this is a solo acoustic medley of two songs from the Fellows’ last album, Because We Hate You. It’s always cool when a band does something different with a cover (well, unless it’s bad-different, but this particular cover is good-different). I’ve liked the few Robyn Hitchcock songs I’ve heard, as well as the spoken-word bit he does at the end of the Minus 5’s “Your Day Will Come,” so maybe he’s someone I should check out further.
No One Really Knows (The Maroons with Steve Malkmus)—Pretty accurate to the original, and pretty average overall.
Lost Track Of Time (Carla Torgenson & Amy Stolzenbach)—The first song on the record with a female vocalist. Kind of interesting to hear a female voice singing a Fellows song, although there isn’t really anything spectacular about Carla’s voice. The sound effects are a nice touch.
Get Outta My Cave (Comb*Over)—I’m not all that fond of the lead vocal (by Dick Rossetti, according to the liner notes), but I suppose it fits the song. I’m pretty sure some of the lyrics are different from the original ones.
Still There’s Hope (Visqueen)—Another female vocalist, and a better one than on “Lost Track Of Time.” The bass player for Visqueen is Kim Warnick of the Fastbacks.
This One’s For The Ladies (Figgs)—Pretty good. I don’t really have that much to say about this one, but I do like it. It’s drawn out a little more than it is on the album, with more guitar solos and such.
Celebration (John Ramberg & Christy McWilson)—I believe Christy is Scott’s wife, right? This is my favorite song on Totally Lost, which is probably the weakest YFF album. This take on the song gives it somewhat of a depressed, melancholy air, as opposed to the cheerful original version. I suppose you could say it makes the title kind of ironic, but since the whole bright-side-of-death lyric was sort of ironic in the first place, does this make it double-irony? Or am I using the term “irony” incorrectly?
Unimaginable Zero Summer (Johnny Sangster)—I suppose Johnny is a relative of YFF bassist Jim Sangster. This is a calmer, neater version of the song, which was originally a sloppy-but-fun number.
Deep Down And In Between (Mendoza Line)--Beth and I saw this band open for Neko Case, and I think she found Shannon Mcardle, who sings lead on this song, to be annoying, so that’s kind of hard to get out of my mind when listening to this. I mostly just remember the Mendoza Line being good musically, but not so hot in the vocal department, which pretty much carries over to here. I do wish they had done this song when we saw them, though, since it’s one of my favorite Fellows songs, and I think I would have pretty much had to have liked any band that performed it (well, unless they totally screwed it up, but I don’t think they did).
Hillbilly Drummer Girl (I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House)—I like the addition of harmonica to the song, but I’m not at all keen on the lead vocal. I get the idea from the names of the band, its members, and their studio (It’s Cold, It Stinks, and I Don’t Like the Way It Sounds Studios) that they don’t take themselves overly seriously, though. I wonder why they didn’t use Mono Puff’s cover of the song. I guess it is kind of old, but John Flansburgh would give a bit of star power to the record, at least with most of the people I know. But I digress.
Take My Brain Away/Teenage Dogs In Trouble (Emily Bishton & Conrad Uno)—Another medley, this time of a slow song and a faster one (although Emily and Conrad play “Teenage Dogs” more slowly than the Fellows do on the record). “Brain,” which is sung by Emily, is pretty good. I don’t think Conrad, who sings the “Dogs” part, has a particularly good singing voice, but it kind of grows on you. I like the percussion on the “Dogs” section.
Rotation (Black Panties)—I don’t think this one is so hot. O. Little, the vocalist, basically just growls the song.
Telephone Tree (Louden Swain)—Pretty similar to the original, although I don’t think Rob Benedict’s vocal has as much of a contrast between the very beginning and when the music cuts in as Scott’s does.
I Lose Control (Marshall Artist)—I’m not all that familiar with the original, although it sounds familiar. It was probably up on universaltrendsetter.org recently. Is the Scott Lee who sings and plays guitar on this track the Fastbacks superfan? His voice is a little too raspy for my taste.
99 Girls (Groovie Ghoulies)—Not bad. Like the original version from It’s Low Beat Time, I think it’s fun, but hardly one of the best songs.
I Hate Everything (Charlie Chesterman & the Legendary Motorbikes)—Since “Chesterman” is credited as the songwriter, is this a reverse-cover? Or is there more than one Chesterman involved here? Either way, this is all right, but not one of my favorites (and that goes for both the YFF version and this one).
Don’t You Wonder How It Ends (Makers)—Good choice for the official ending track. (It was also the last track on This One’s for the Ladies, for those of you who might not have the track orders on YFF albums memorized. I don’t actually have all of them memorized, but I’m pretty sure I know all the first and last tracks.) The cover has some good musical moments, especially the solo at the end, but, once again, I’m not so fond of the vocal part.
Teenage Dogs In Trouble (Scott McCaughey and the Mono Men)—Like XTC on A Testimonial Dinner, Scott crashes his own tribute album, this time in a hidden track. This is an even noisier version than the one on The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. I get the idea that the band is particularly fond of this song. I like it, but it was never one of my favorite Fabulous Sounds tracks.
I also took another one of those personality tests.
Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com
I’d say that’s largely accurate, aside from the neatness thing, because I’m a slob. The weird thing about that, though, is that there are certain areas where I’m obsessively organized. I always keep my CDs in order, and my Oz books are pretty well organized as well. On the other hand, I tend to leave papers and other things just about anywhere. I actually think I’d be neater if had better defined storage areas for everything. I’d probably still make some mess, though, just because I never put stuff away immediately.
Oh, and there’s finally a new Owlie! up, after a wait of a few years, so check that out.
bethje and I went out to eat at Chili’s, using one of the gift certificates my dad had given us for Christmas. After that, we stopped by Wal-Mart, and then came back to Beth’s house, where we watched Deadly Friend. If you want to see a robot grab a guy’s crotch, that’s the movie for you! Then we saw a few episodes of Mr. Show, and I went to bed.That Amazon order that I’ve talked about quite a bit in recent entries contained two CDs that I bought for myself. One was the new Fastbacks rarities collection, Truth, Corrosion and Sour Bisquits. I’ve only listened to it once all the way through so far (I’m working on the second listen now), but it seems to have some pretty good stuff. There’s a cover of the Pixies song “Allison” on there, and the liner notes have a quote from Kurt Bloch that “I thought the Pixies just kept getting better.” Maybe they should have had Kurt make an appearance in the Gouge documentary, to provide a balance for all the talking heads (no, not members of the band Talking Heads; that probably would have been cooler) insisting that the band went downhill after Doolittle. I also find it interesting that Lulu Gargiulo says (when talking about “Go All The Way”), “As always with covers, Kim and I are signing about girls. It just never seemed right to change the words.” I think I agree with her. It generally kind of rubs me the wrong way when someone changes all the gender references when they do a cover of a song originally sung by a member of the opposite sex. Even They Might Be Giants do this, in their version of “Maybe I Know” (and, for those of you who are fans of obscure Dial-A-Songs, also in their version of “Next Plane To London”). Apparently the Johns have no problem singing from the point of view of murderers, stalkers, grocery bags, and human heads, but draw the line at women. I know Neko Case doesn’t change gender references, though, and the Pixies didn’t either, when Kim Deal sang lead on “I’ve Been Waiting For You.”
The other CD I got was the Young Fresh Fellows tribute album, This One’s for the Fellows. It’s a good record, and I’m glad the makers of the album kept the YFF tradition of alternate titles on the spine. I now give you a song-by-song review, containing numerous references that prove I consulted the liner notes.
Rock & Roll Pest Control (Presidents of the USA)—First of all, I like the introduction to the album, with a parody of the sample used to open the Fellows’ first album. I assume it’s drummer Tad Hutchison speaking. As for the song itself, I like that they started with a cover of the first song on the first album. I never cared much for the Presidents, whom I’ve seen compared to other bands I like (including the Fellows themselves), but never seemed to me to have the same level of talent or wit. The songs I’ve heard from them (mostly back when I was in high school, when they were really big for some inexplicable reason) struck me as more actually-stupid than cleverly-pretending-to-be-stupid. This particular song is good, though. One thing I like about both this and other covers of earlier songs is that it’s easier to understand the lyrics than it is with the original versions. Scott McCaughey wasn’t always great about enunciating back in the early days, or perhaps it was just that the mixes didn’t emphasize the vocals enough. Regardless, I think he got better as time went on.
Love Is A Beautiful Thing (Silos)—Kind of an odd choice, since this was a cover in the first place. I believe the original was by the Young Rascals, and I don’t remember it as being much different from the YFF version, so I suppose this could just as easily be billed as a Young Rascals cover. Oh, well. It’s still a cool song, and a good cover, so I don’t mind its being there.
How Much About Last Night Do You Remember? (Eric Kassel & Friends)—A slightly slower and less noisy version of the song. Decent, but nothing to write home about.
Mamie Dunn/Good Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Robyn Hitchcock)—One of the better tracks, this is a solo acoustic medley of two songs from the Fellows’ last album, Because We Hate You. It’s always cool when a band does something different with a cover (well, unless it’s bad-different, but this particular cover is good-different). I’ve liked the few Robyn Hitchcock songs I’ve heard, as well as the spoken-word bit he does at the end of the Minus 5’s “Your Day Will Come,” so maybe he’s someone I should check out further.
No One Really Knows (The Maroons with Steve Malkmus)—Pretty accurate to the original, and pretty average overall.
Lost Track Of Time (Carla Torgenson & Amy Stolzenbach)—The first song on the record with a female vocalist. Kind of interesting to hear a female voice singing a Fellows song, although there isn’t really anything spectacular about Carla’s voice. The sound effects are a nice touch.
Get Outta My Cave (Comb*Over)—I’m not all that fond of the lead vocal (by Dick Rossetti, according to the liner notes), but I suppose it fits the song. I’m pretty sure some of the lyrics are different from the original ones.
Still There’s Hope (Visqueen)—Another female vocalist, and a better one than on “Lost Track Of Time.” The bass player for Visqueen is Kim Warnick of the Fastbacks.
This One’s For The Ladies (Figgs)—Pretty good. I don’t really have that much to say about this one, but I do like it. It’s drawn out a little more than it is on the album, with more guitar solos and such.
Celebration (John Ramberg & Christy McWilson)—I believe Christy is Scott’s wife, right? This is my favorite song on Totally Lost, which is probably the weakest YFF album. This take on the song gives it somewhat of a depressed, melancholy air, as opposed to the cheerful original version. I suppose you could say it makes the title kind of ironic, but since the whole bright-side-of-death lyric was sort of ironic in the first place, does this make it double-irony? Or am I using the term “irony” incorrectly?
Unimaginable Zero Summer (Johnny Sangster)—I suppose Johnny is a relative of YFF bassist Jim Sangster. This is a calmer, neater version of the song, which was originally a sloppy-but-fun number.
Deep Down And In Between (Mendoza Line)--Beth and I saw this band open for Neko Case, and I think she found Shannon Mcardle, who sings lead on this song, to be annoying, so that’s kind of hard to get out of my mind when listening to this. I mostly just remember the Mendoza Line being good musically, but not so hot in the vocal department, which pretty much carries over to here. I do wish they had done this song when we saw them, though, since it’s one of my favorite Fellows songs, and I think I would have pretty much had to have liked any band that performed it (well, unless they totally screwed it up, but I don’t think they did).
Hillbilly Drummer Girl (I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House)—I like the addition of harmonica to the song, but I’m not at all keen on the lead vocal. I get the idea from the names of the band, its members, and their studio (It’s Cold, It Stinks, and I Don’t Like the Way It Sounds Studios) that they don’t take themselves overly seriously, though. I wonder why they didn’t use Mono Puff’s cover of the song. I guess it is kind of old, but John Flansburgh would give a bit of star power to the record, at least with most of the people I know. But I digress.
Take My Brain Away/Teenage Dogs In Trouble (Emily Bishton & Conrad Uno)—Another medley, this time of a slow song and a faster one (although Emily and Conrad play “Teenage Dogs” more slowly than the Fellows do on the record). “Brain,” which is sung by Emily, is pretty good. I don’t think Conrad, who sings the “Dogs” part, has a particularly good singing voice, but it kind of grows on you. I like the percussion on the “Dogs” section.
Rotation (Black Panties)—I don’t think this one is so hot. O. Little, the vocalist, basically just growls the song.
Telephone Tree (Louden Swain)—Pretty similar to the original, although I don’t think Rob Benedict’s vocal has as much of a contrast between the very beginning and when the music cuts in as Scott’s does.
I Lose Control (Marshall Artist)—I’m not all that familiar with the original, although it sounds familiar. It was probably up on universaltrendsetter.org recently. Is the Scott Lee who sings and plays guitar on this track the Fastbacks superfan? His voice is a little too raspy for my taste.
99 Girls (Groovie Ghoulies)—Not bad. Like the original version from It’s Low Beat Time, I think it’s fun, but hardly one of the best songs.
I Hate Everything (Charlie Chesterman & the Legendary Motorbikes)—Since “Chesterman” is credited as the songwriter, is this a reverse-cover? Or is there more than one Chesterman involved here? Either way, this is all right, but not one of my favorites (and that goes for both the YFF version and this one).
Don’t You Wonder How It Ends (Makers)—Good choice for the official ending track. (It was also the last track on This One’s for the Ladies, for those of you who might not have the track orders on YFF albums memorized. I don’t actually have all of them memorized, but I’m pretty sure I know all the first and last tracks.) The cover has some good musical moments, especially the solo at the end, but, once again, I’m not so fond of the vocal part.
Teenage Dogs In Trouble (Scott McCaughey and the Mono Men)—Like XTC on A Testimonial Dinner, Scott crashes his own tribute album, this time in a hidden track. This is an even noisier version than the one on The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. I get the idea that the band is particularly fond of this song. I like it, but it was never one of my favorite Fabulous Sounds tracks.
I also took another one of those personality tests.
| Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
I’d say that’s largely accurate, aside from the neatness thing, because I’m a slob. The weird thing about that, though, is that there are certain areas where I’m obsessively organized. I always keep my CDs in order, and my Oz books are pretty well organized as well. On the other hand, I tend to leave papers and other things just about anywhere. I actually think I’d be neater if had better defined storage areas for everything. I’d probably still make some mess, though, just because I never put stuff away immediately.
Oh, and there’s finally a new Owlie! up, after a wait of a few years, so check that out.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 06:36 am (UTC)I enjoy all the songs on Surfer Rosa a lot, but I am going to commit Indie Rock Guy Heresy here and say that I think that Steve Albini's production sucks. I really dislike his style, especially the way he tends to mix the bass way down. I'm all, "dammit, Kim's an awesome bassist! Why are you mixing her to almost-inaudibility?!" on that.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 06:13 pm (UTC)My impression with The Pod however, is that it's more of a thing of Ween wanting to do more Value For The Money (a noble goal), and shoving lots of stuff on. It's not really that cohesive, though, but most of the individual tracks are awesome. It's just that all together, they tend to wear. But, yeah, my preferred length for an album is 43-60 minutes. Any shorter and it starts feeling like a ripoff, and any longer, and the band has to work a little harder to keep interest levels up, I think.
Actually, compilations are excluded from this rule, too, just because they also tend to be more of a Song Delivery Device than a piece of artwork in and of themselves. So, in cases like that, yeah, More Songs More Better.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 01:37 am (UTC)My friend Dale and I are actually both with the same conclusion w/r/t Robyn Hitchcock that you are, mainly "Hey, maybe we should check him out". Dale saw him live in Seattle during Bumbershoot, and Scott actually came up and played with him on a few songs.
I agree with you on the Black Panties -- though at the show, people seemed to really like them, and Rachel from Visqueen sang with them. After the show, the members of the Panties started play fighting in the back of the club. It was pretty lame. Especially because their version of "Rotation" was sorta meh, since I love the real "Rotation".
Also, Kim's no longer in Visqueen -- she's retired from Rock. Which is very sad. Though I found it kinda funny that Visqueen cut a Kurt YFF song. Just like, I dunno, Kim can't get enough of playing Kurt's stuff.
I'm pretty sure you're right with Christy, and Conrad Uno's produced a bunch of the YFF albums at his Egg Studios.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 04:44 am (UTC)And yeah, "Rotation" is a great song that I don't think the Black Panties really did justice. This One's for the Ladies is a great album overall, though. Possibly their best, although I'm also quite fond of their first three albums.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-29 06:17 pm (UTC)