nodep5

Every time I hear a Billy Squier song, I cannot believe how much I love it. The man can write some great rock hooks. I mean: "The Stroke", "Lonely is the Night", "Everybody Wants You", "My Kind of Lover", "In the Dark", and so on. I forget just how many great songs he has. So, I'm with you on this one, cryptique.

I agree and mine falls along those lines. The Outfield????

More on the Bobby Bare Jr. and Justin Townes Earle c & c...Politics in music

I love reading this, and I thank Bobby for voicing this. I also appreciate people like Tweedy (who I believe has some strong views) not using the stage or dialouge on stage as a platform. I was just watching Farm Aid and was relieved to watch Tweedy just play the songs, as oppose to Jason Mraz or Neil Young's incoherent platitudes and ramlbings. The speaking to the choir part is the worst part for me. Most of these musicians wouldn't dare say the things they do if they didn't know that 3/4 of the crowd at any given time didn't agree with them. It becomes some kind of shallow reassurance of "oh I'm so smart and people love every syllable that comes out of my mouth".

Just wanted to see if anyone out there is as stoked as I am for their second record, which according to the band is in the mixing stage but near completion. I usually struggle to warm up to overly hyped bands, but I've loved these guys from the moment I saw them at Sasquatch a few years back. Also if you haven't checked out the lead singer Robin Pecknold's tracks on his myspace that he records under the name White Antelope (just google it). He does 4 or 5 simply recorded old traditional and folk songs. They are all bare bones, but beautiful. I wish his tour with Joanna Newsome would have come near my town.

There was a time from about 1998 (around the time of the first Bare Jr. album) through 2005 (around the time of his second solo album) that I probably saw Bobby 10 times live. He puts on a show for sure and it always left me loving his records far more. I noticed that his previous album (name escapes me) didn't grab me as much and it happens to be the first record I didn't catch him touring in support of. I haven't given the newest record a listen.

Do go see him live. It is always worth it. He has some true gems in his catalouge

I've always believed they are a saddly misunderstood band for 95 % of the population. I guess it seems they are also misunderstood by die hard fans also. My brother is like this. He is a huge fan (at least through 3 Snakes), but he won't give the new records the time of day. I could understand if they were new Son Volt bad, but these records hold up pretty well. just wierd.

I'm a huge Neil fan, but unlike other artists that I obsess over, I'm not an apologist for him. To my ears, the only Neil record that I would strongly argue for since Rust Never Sleeps would be Sleeps With Angels.

Just because he doesn't just repackage his past work (which he also does) doesn't mean his "artistic" ventures are credible or relevant. I think a number of his albums are flat out cringe inducing. It also feels like since the early 80's squabble with Geffen Neil kind of holds that over Reprise's head to allow for some of these misadventures. In a way it feels like Neil takes advantage of his die hard/obsessed fan base. Almost like a petulant child that believes his parents should hang every finger painting on the fridge. Some of it just not good.

Maybe Neil set the bar so high with everything he touched between 66-79, but to these ears it has been pretty slim pickins ever since. I'm holding out for the original chrome dreams and homegrown stuff.

wow that was negative

my favorite blogs are

Muzzle of Bees (i believe he posts on here)

Aquarium Drunkard

A Truer Sound Blog

Rising Storm blog (for vinyl freaks)

Which 4 are you missing? I might be able to help out.

well i've survived the worm hole.

by my count Ryan Adams solo career has produce 76 offically released non proper album tracks.

This is not counting unoffical demos or streaming songs or unreleased sessions

just b sides, soundtracks, compilations, pax am releases, official bonus material etc

My favorite period for b sides and bonus material is the Love Is Hell material. You can almost piece together tracks from the New York and New Orleans sessions and the quality and amount is crazy. (love is hell is my favorite ryan adams record so I am biased). I know the entire New York Love Is Hell sessions are out there but I don't think the full New Orleans sessions are

Anyway, I believe I have acquired 71 of the 76 b side/bonus tracks i spoke of. It took a lot of saving tid bits through the years and investigative exploring in recent years. It is fun, go for it.

just picked up by your side. so far so good. the first three songs are great!

It is a solid record ( haven't spinned it in a while). My two cents about By Your Side all have to do with image and superficial crap. I'll always admit that things such as album art, wardrobe, etc play into my ability to initially connect with music. When By Your Side came out, the whole rebranding as the next Aerosmith, as mentioned above, really turned me off. I bought into the Southern Harmony-3 Snakes image of this drugged out hippie rock band thing (like early 70's Stones image all over again) and then By Your Side with the new producer, white outfits on the cover. It just seemed cheapened in some way. Fortunately at the heart, the songs were still pretty strong, it just took me longer to get there because the aformentioned nonsense. I had a similar experience with ryan Adams easy tiger and I know others who felt this way with Ryan Adams Gold for example. I still can't listen to Son Volt The Search because of that wretched album art. I'm just admitting that this stuff gets me. Jayhawks Sound of Lies is another. Just Saying.

thanks for the link.

This is just crazy. I think when all is told the total of officially released non album tracks will be close to 70. This isn't of course counting all the unreleased albums.

Now, some of these b sides and what have you are true b sides, there are a number that are really good.

The Cold Roses bonus track Tonight is amazing (needs a little editing) but is amazing.

I just wanted to inform everyone that I have began the insane task of compiling and securing all the official non album tracks of Ryan's over the years. I'm putting this out there in case I get lost in the rabbit hole.

Answering Bell .com has a perfect all consuming discography including singles, eps, etc all the way up until Easy Tiger. What would be a great source for that kind of detail post Easy Tiger?

Anything from 1992-1998 would likely work for me.

just an aside, as retrospectives go, the son volt retrospective is glorious. the original Son Volt lineup and their three proper albums will be one of my favorites periods in music or from a musician/band. They were a steady workhorse (no frills) just straight up awesome.

ok back to the list

Cresote (amazing acoustic guitar work)

Windfall (an all time great song, instant classic, instantly familiar, masterpiece of a song on a masterpiece of an album)

Tallest Man On Earth "The Wild Hunt"

just recently picked up the entire record. After hearing a few songs, I thought I would not be able to get past his voice, but I kept hearing more and more on the college radio and I've grown to actually enjoy the voice

Every track has great melodies and some heartbreaking lyrics here and there.

Awesome record.

I'll be a tad snide here, but I just love the KOL hand wringing around here. We all sit around here talking about how underappreciated 90% of the good music we listen to is. Which is true, the vast majority of great music these days goes criminally unnoticed by the masses. However when a band that we all use to enjoy, makes the same album for the 4th time (with better songs and new haircuts) God be damned. Success in an of itself doesn't equate to selling out. Maybe they just finally nailed it. I really don't hear the difference between the new record and record # 2 for sure. I just hate this part of the hipster mindset, where once something is known it is crap. It is like tabloids, build em up to tear em down. The only exception is if a hipster friendly band makes unlistenable music to play down their once misguided chart success (Radiohead).

now as far as the bird poop, I would have put a towel over my head and carried on. People pay good money and look forward to this stuff, so don't get all germophobic on everyone, that is a little diva for my taste, but it doesn't change the music for me.

There will never be an indie rock band that achieves large scale success and still be loved by the indie rock community? Or did I miss this. There would have been Nirvana handwringing if you all were in charge 20 years ago. I know I know kol isn't indie rock. Ok? They sound completely like Nickelback. Cmon this is crap.

Saw BOH here in Columbia MO last night, and I can say this was one of the easiest concerts to enjoy that I've been to probably since seeing the Avetts earlier in the year. They were on fire from the get go. The new songs hold up against the back catalouge. I have nothing negative to say. They also threw in a cover of Gram Parson's " A Song For You" which was sweet.

Is it just me or does this band, especially Ben Bridwell seem like pretty normal nice guys?

what is the word on his personality?

Yeah I also first heard of Richard opening for Son Volt during their Straightaways tour. I immediately was drawn to "lil wallet picture" and went and picked up Devotion and Doubt. There a some albums that seem like genius to me and that are criminally overlooked and hipster kids will get into 30 years from now, and I believe his album "Since" is one of those. Freaky amazing.

i think i'm close to 'getting' ryan adams. easy tiger is growing on me. i just need help getting into his piano ballads. looking forward to new stuff.

for me, there are bands and music that I have to work at, and then there are people like Ryan Adams that just slug me in the gut no matter what he is doing. Easy Tiger is kind of cool like Demolition was cool, it shows everything this guy can do and pull it off and make it seem credible IMO. I don't know, I'm a total fanboy and have always been for Ryan. I just kick myself about not getting ORION, $100 plus on ebay now. What a dummy i am

i don't understand a lot of the lyrics literally, i just get the sense of what they are about. actually that's normally how i approach music - dylan would be a good example of that, where i don't know what he means a lot of the time, but i get the sentiment/feeling. when i listen to music i tend to spot bad lyrics very easily, whereas good lyrics wash over me a lot more. so, i couldn't tell you what most of the songs are really about, either (well not in any great detail, anyway) - i just really like them.

 

 

 

No, I get where you are coming from, and I'm the same with alot of music. For example, Tweedy just speaks to me and the majority of time, even when he is trying to be abstract I still feel like I get it.

Band of Horses is a good example of connecting emotionally, most people would say their lyrics are awful, but for me it is the whole mood/vibe/sincerity that connects and at least they throw you a bone every now and then that puts the song in context

with ms. newsom, I dig the artistry and sound and I like her voice. But it just feels too complex at times, too dense, like a fortress that my pea brain throws a white towel at.

Joanna Newsom should be given props (I think it is her best work)

However I struggle to engage at times, I'm not smart enough to wrap my brain around her lyrics

I've enjoyed all of his records, however admittedly finding his most recent few albums lacking a little of his genius. In my opinion his run from Devotion Doubt to Since to The Hill were amazing

oh no new news.

Just curious about what everyone has been digging so far this year.

My two cents is that the album I have most connected with is Band Of Horses (Infinite Arms)

Not saying it is the greatest achievement ever, but they are my favorite band right now and there is stuff is easy for me to emotional resonate with.

Other records that I believe are really strong are

Spoon - Transference (my favorite Spoon album easily)

The Black Keys - Brothers (this is some cool stuff for sure)

The National - High Violet (I think this may be the best album so far this year, but I need more time with it) I get too depressed if I go for the whole thing at once.

Biggest dissapointment so far: Josh Ritter (So Runs The World Away) his new album has some strong moments but feels weighted down by long Bob Dylan type of story songs or something)

Actual biggest dissapointment that for me is unlistenable: DBT (The Big To Do) For a band that I usually dig their stuff, this one is a mess. I struggle to find one song that I would put on a DBT mix of great songs. just bad.

The track record of bands starting their own labels has never been particularly good, ask Paul McCartney how Apple turned out. But I think at this stage labels are quickly becoming irrelevant anyway, they might as well take their shot at it.

 

--Mike

I think a bunch of guys struggling with drug abuse and letting a bunch of doped up hanger ons make decisions probably had more to do with Apple's demise than a bad buisness model.

Just bought this on vinyl:

 

 

Easily one of my favorite record of the past decade.

without a doubt. I first bought this on vinyl (never having heard of Iron & Wine) read a nice piece in No Depression back in the day and picked it up. Amazing record.