JerseyMike

Van the Man indeed! One of my favorite artists of all-time. Has anybody heard his last disc, Pay The Devil? Its a great country record, covering some Hank Williams and a bunch of other stuff. Plus, I'm a sucker for pedal steel and fiddle.

Very true. He actually lives 20 minutes from me here in Jersey. Tom Dowd did some pretty amazing things as well. Expanded Paul's multi-tracking system and worked on the Manhattan Prjoect...

Fuck, thats tough! I'm tempted to say "She's Leaving Home", and then i listen to it and its a good, interesting song and then i repeat the process with "Because" and "Honey Pie", hell, I even like "Revolution No. 9", so right now I will go with "Hold Me Tight" from the 2nd record. That has to get a pass just for the way they put the organ solo together. And this one for the sheer BALLS it took to put it on the white album, as well as being very experimental for its time.

True, but mixing and producing are two different jobs. A producer can be involved in everything from writing (or suggesting and enhancing the writing) and arranging the songs and picking out specific sounds that would suit each song and creating the overall atmosphere of a record.

Its OK. not great, but not bad. It doesn't really rock at all, and just kind of floats by. 5 years ago, Steve Earle was one of my favorite artists, now his act just seems tired to me. For instance, I can't really take his love songs about his new wife too seriously, since she is wife number 8 (or 9?). And the production on Washington Square (one of the Dust Brothers) is a bit too slick for Steve's style, using a lot of electronic beats. If your a fan, you will enjoy it, but if its just a casual listening thing, it will not blow you away. Although I was very surprised to see that John Medeski p

I love Wilson Pickett's version of "Hey Jude" with Duane Allman on geetar. Fantastic.

"Happiness is a Warm Gun"

The best period of The Beatles was defintely 1962-1970...but my two faves are Revolver (including the singles from that period such as Rain) and The White Album

It all depends on the producer. The really great producers usually have thier own sound (Lanois, Lynne) , for better or worse, some get the best sound that suits the artist and get the best out of them (Rubin, O'Brien), whether it writing or preforming. Some just over-produce the shit out of things. (Don Was) Actually, that record really came to life in the mix, according to Wilco. You can really change a record in the mix. They produced it themselves but O'Rourke picked out the right pieces and put them together in the mix. Wilco has done a very good job producing over the years, though

OK, dead wrong there. I'm not sure where I read that, but Ringo had the 2nd most hits as a solo Beatle...

I am a HUGE life-long John Lennon fan, but George's solo career was the best best work of any Beatle, although RINGO had the most hits post-Beatles (in the UK at least)

Gretsh is great if you can afford it...Epiphone is basically Korean Gibson and I love Epi's. With a few minor adjustments you can get a great gtr for a low price. Hofners are cheap, but if you want that McCartney bass!

Me Too! I saw Metallica about 10 ten times before I was 14, then when they made the video for one, I started losing interest. I saw them once on the Black album tour (w/ G'n'R and Faith No More (Angel Dust is a great record!)) and that was it. I voted for Ride The Lightning. I like it more than Master, although Master is probably a better record. Maybe the best metal record ever. C'mon A-Man. What do you have against "Rock You Like a Hurricane?". Don't you know that its the greatest song ever made with thick German accents? "Vock you like a hurd-icane!"

All songs have a source and everything you hear will influence you... All Things Must Pass is a great, great record.

Finally listened to Magic a few times, and I like it. I didn't like The Rising or Devils and Dust (loved the Seeger sessions and Live In Dublin even more so) all that much, but Magic is solid. It seems to fade for me a bit in the 2nd half of the record, but the first half is as fine as Springsteen has done in the last few years. I like the production, and think it suits its purpose. Its lean, clean and mainstream, and that works well for the Boss. The guitar sound is the best that I can remember from any Springsteen record and it gives the songs a bit of a edge that past records don't have. I

True, of course. But isn't this situation a microcosim of our attitudes as a society, and how the are adversely affecting lives around the globe? When a band (or corporation or individual) says something to the effect of,"well, I don't agree with their business practices and associations (handguns, censorship, poor hiring practices, associations with countries that commit human-rights violations,etc, etc...we could go on forever about Walmart, China and so forth-but in this case its just symbolic) but I need to get mine too.", then its a problem. We allow too much of this attitude in the wo

I am really getting sick of bands getting into bed with these corporations. Where are the priniciples and the defiance of the younger generation? Wal Mart? And the most annoying part is the de facto explanation by every band who does something like this: "everyone else is doing it. Its accepted." , "Radio doesn't play our music". blah, blah, blah... Band of Horses have surrendered thier Rock and Roll cards.

I never understood why anybody in New Jersey would ever go to the Olive Garden or the macoroni grill, or get a bagel at Dunkin' Donuts. I live in a town with 2 traffic lights and we have 3 Pizza/Italian places and 2 bagel shops and there are probaly 30 Italian joints withon a 10 mile radius. Stop the insanity people!

I really like "Contact from the Underworld of Redboy". It was defintely different (an electronica record to a certain degree), and pretty trippy with interesting message songs about the Native American experience. (Is it politically correct to call "Indians" from Canada "Native Canadians"?) Get thee to a record store! Should we start the "Lanois to produce Wilco" thread going?

Just out of curiosity, what does everybody think about the possibility that the false documents were put into circulation by Karl Rove in order to discredit Rather? Because in actuality, the information that was contained in the story was never disputed, but the focus of the story shifted from Bush's National Guard service to Rather's credibility.

Or today, in my book!

Also a toungue in cheeck to Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA". Of course, The Beach Boys borrowed a lot from Chuck. Who didn't?

You're right, actually. There is, though, something to be lost by continually bashing Bush, because the Republicans are so good at turning the Democrats weapons against themselves and shooting themselves in the proverbial foot.

You and me both. Amen to that! My biggest worry with all of this peripheral stuff is that all of these shenanigans that Bush is getting away with is just going to pave the way for future administrations, Republican or Democrat, to get away with the same sort of stuff. As far a Bush burying the story, I think he's been paying people off with political favors to bury this story since he ran for Governor of Texas. If I remeber correctly, the lawyer he hired to lose the documents ended up with a huge contract to run the Texas lottery, despite being outbid by a few other companies, and I beli

Excellent point. I am currently reading "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" by Frank Riech. Riech was the NY Times chief drama critic and is now an op-ed writer, but the book is basically about how the White House used PR, and the american media to sell the war in Iraq and all of the BS that has gone along with "the war on terror". Defintely a good read. The Liberal Media...a bigger myth than Bigfoot and the Lochness monster combined!