airtaco

Just PM'd you!

Bono saying "Achtung baby" deep in the mix before the guitar solo in The Fly.

When does this happen? I've never noticed that.

1. Art of Almost (ALTWYS)

2. I Might (Kamera)

3. Spiders (One Wing)

4. Outtasite Outta mind (Bull Black Nova) (Dawned on Me)

5. Jesus, ETC. (Always In Love)

6. Handshake Drugs (Born Alone)

7. Pieholden Suite (I Got You)

8. What's The World Got In Store (Solitaire)

9. Hotel Arizona (Pot Kettle Black)

10. Theologians (Poor Places) (Say You Miss Me)

11. Reservations (Everlasting everything)

12. One Sunday Morning (Late Greats)

My totals:

AM: 0

BT: 3, 2 runner ups

ST: 1, 1 runner up

YHF: 2, 3 runner ups

AGIB: 3, 2 Runner ups

SBS: 0

WTA: 0, 4 Runner ups

TWL 3, 2 Runner up

Slot #6 was the weakest group overall.

That is all.

I've listened to Achtung Baby twice this month to pump myself up for the reissue. After nearly 10 years of listening, the album still blows me away. Its place in the context of their discography only makes it more astonishing. Can anyone think of another example (other than The Beatles) of a band as big as U2 were during The Joshua Tree attempting a complete reinvention and emerging so triumphantly? It may be their best album.

Also, despite the hate it gets, Stuck In a Moment still gives me chills. Walk On, not so much.

I'm glad to see that most of you are having as much trouble as me : )

I would definitely say that the lyrics in Waterloo and superior. However, imo Chilton's vocal is more affecting and SG has a better chorus. So I still don't think it's clear cut.

EDIT: Well, actually WS does have a great chorus too. But the guitars in SG are so goddamn catchy.

Both of these songs have been stuck in my head for a few years now and both get listed as among the most perfect pop songs ever written. Which do you like more?

I hope the suicide helpline is going to be fully staffed that night. What a massive bummer of an album.

One of my top 20 ever. Anyone else agree? Also, I played September Gurls like 10 times in a row tonight. Perfect pop for now, people.

Agreed, he is one the greats. His discography remains consistently great--and have you heard the Grinderman records?!

my favs, in no order:

boatman's call

lyre of orpheus/abbitious (sp)blues

let love in

mercy seat

No, one bother likes top 40 and my youngest brother only listens to music at parties so he can dance with girls (he's 18). They both think I'm a total weirdo. I think they're boring. One big happy family

I have a hard time singing the final verse of "A Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues.

Seriously, whenever I try to sing the damn thing, whenever I get to the line, "I kept them with me, babe/I packed them with my own/Can't Make it out alone/I built my dreams around you"

I get a lump in my throat that is hard to sing around. Blocks any sound that tries to come out, and I just end up with a couple of little sobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv0hlbWpa1w

Okay, so maybe it's not the heartbreak that brings the lump to my throat, but the unabashed, left field sweetness of it all. Still, a very real, observable physical reaction to emotion takes place there. Every time.

Ditto as well for me. Just about every time.

So his self titled debut is out of print? Would def be interested in giving it a listen.

Yeah, I saw him in New Haven at Toad's Place back in 1985. I actually had all his early albums before the time of CDs. I never replaced his albums with the CD editions so I haven't really listened to him in quite some time. I think he played John Lennon in the original Beatlemania if I'm not mistaken. Thanks for the post. I was looking for some different music to download and a few of his songs might do the trick.

 

This is my favorite...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwE58OUShE8&feature=related

Wow, this song is ridiculously catchy.

The band and press treated Accelerate like it was a return to greatness when it was really a step in the right direction. They sounded like a band again and by keeping the songs super concise it made it easy to listen to the record all the way through. But at the end of the day there are still a more than a few mediocre songs (Hollow Man, Houston, Accelerate).

I think people should admit that most bands that have been around for 30 years usually can't make great experimental art anymore (and it's not like REM were ever THAT weird). At this point in their career, I'd rather have them make CIN--an album of solid, well-written songs that may not break the mold--than have them try to experiment just for the sake of being different and end up with undercooked, meandering ideas. AKA ATS.

For anyone who hasn't heard Paris 1919 yet, I would personally recommend listening to the whole thing start to finish (instead of hearing songs individually). It has such a great flow and in context the songs feel more awe-inspiring/powerful. It almost feels like a concept album. And I mean, if the first song you hear is Antarctica Starts Here, you're impression will be totally distorted.

One thing that I find intriguing about the record is that his backing band consists mostly of members of Little Feat. Although, you would never know it by the sound of the music.

Except on "Macbeth" of course. Def has a Little Feet feel.

Amazing album. It may actually be perfect.

Who else thought that "That Someone Is You," based on the title alone, was gonna be a wimpy ATS-esque ballad? Turns out it's the most "punkish" moment on the record and features one of its best melodies (pulled me up like I was cartoon quicksand)

After three listens I have to say I'm very pleased. IMO this blows Accelerate, which had its moments but also a fair amount of underdeveloped songs, out of the water. As someone else pointed out, the sequencing is perfect and I'm enjoying certain songs in the context of the album better than I did on their own (It Happened Today, Oh My Heart). Production is great and Michael's voice sounds great.

And I will stick my neck out and say I'm really enjoying EDIYTW. Just beautiful, great harmonies.

Really a pity they aren't touring behind this.

I've never been known around here as an Elvis Costello fan, but his first four records may well be the pinacle of the singer/songwriter genre of the rock era.

And, while they may not be perfect, he followed that with Trust, Almost Blue AND Imperial Bedroom, three more very good to excellent albums. I've always thought his first 7 albums were criminally overlooked when people discuss the Greatest Winning Streaks in music; it's right up there with The Stones, Bruce, R.E.M and Zeppelin's runs imo.

Waylon Jennings--Honky Tonk Heroes is on the verge of perfection, for me.

I'm obviously very late on this thread, but for some reason I thought I was going to be the only one to mention "Honkey Tonk Heroes" To my ears it is flawless in the truest sense of the word.

Hey fellow VC musicians. Here's my band's first (DIY) music video! Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/secondstreetsaints#p/a/u/0/5bJqNZO7Tn4

I listened to Accelerate last night for the first time in two years. It wasn't bad. Then I listened to "Lifes Rich Pageant" and it was amazing.

Cold Roses is my fav as well, the second disc is really really hard to beat in the Ryan catalogue IMO, I can't wait for the documentary on him and the Cardinals during the CR/JCN/29 year.

Totally agree on both points.

Surprised to read so many people saying he hasn't been great Since Heartbreaker/Gold

A few scattered thoughts....

IMO, Cold Roses/Jacksonville/Love Is Hell and (barely) Easy Tiger > Gold

To these ears, Cold Roses has as many great songs as Heartbreaker and I tend to listen to it more. Heartbreaker is great, but it has, for the most part, a singular sound and mood. It's a rainy day/ sad bastard album, and I don't always want to hear songs that "break my heart."

Maybe that's why I still like rock n roll for what it is. That was also the first one I got. I was 15. I thought it kicked ass and about half the songs still do.

And can you imagine a better backing band than the cardinals? The playing on these last four records is insane and lifts a lot of the songs--just listen to the guitar work during the last 90 seconds of "The Crystal Skull" and tell me your toes not tapping.

There really aren't many artists like Ryan out there. He's moderately famous but acts like a nobody--he communicates with fans, offers up free shit, doesn't play by the rules at all. I think that's what endears him to his biggest supporters.

That being said, my favorite RA related album is easily Pneumonia. I believe he had a co-writer on many of its songs, which perhaps gave them the focus missing on plenty of his other work.

And I thought Cardinology totally sucked.

I'll state the obvious and say that these suggestions are uniformly brilliant.

Got any cool ideas for a band name? post it here and help me out!