TheMaker

I really can't understand how real Bruce fans can stick up for his post-Tunnel output. I really can't.

Like Van the Man, he's one classic artist who's been in steady decline for decades and sorely lacks a late career renaissance a la Dylan.

Well, I've given up on this one. Ouch. Bruce's voice is in terrible shape (whenever he reaches for those notes I almost want to support him so he doesn't fall and break a hip), and aside from the catchy singles, there ain't much here to latch onto. The Wrestler remains the best song he's recorded since Dead Man Walking, but hell, it's a bonus track, and it's better for having been set apart from the album proper.

P.S. Queen of the Supermarket is about where I threw in the towel the second time. The f-bomb not only doesn't save the song, it serves as the nail in its coffin. I've never been one for self-parody.

Hey, these guys sound like fleet foxes, if fleet foxes could write more than one basic mediocre song and had something like a sense of humour.

That's basically true, I agree.

Desire (for serving as my proper introduction to the work of America's greatest artist, living or dead), Automatic for the People (for being the first great album I ever listened to that still rings significant today), Being There (just because), Swordfishtrombones (for introducing me to Waits and the stranger, more exciting side of American song), Sloan's One Chord to Another (for showing me that I could actually love modern rock back when I was a high school naif), and Harvest Moon (because every 13 year-old should be allowed such a graceful contemporary opportunity to fall in love with Neil's body of work).

Also, I think the Replacements are an okay band, but I hated Tim the first time I heard it. I still think it's a middling record by their standards. To each their own!

All i have to say is...

 

"i'm outlaw pete and you better not mess with me!"

 

that song's a big uh,oh!

Totally. But you know what's really fun to do? Sing "I was made fuh luvvin' you baay-be" along with the verses.

Man, what a spectacular achievement. I don't know if I'll be stoned for saying this or not, but this is easily the best thing Ward has ever recorded. And as for the Lucinda haters... ah, hell, I'll be nice. But seriously, grow some taste, guys.

You're right. I need to keep listening. Just used to a little more depth, I guess.

So... you're the other guy who skipped Magic and The Rising and Devils and Dust, then?

Bruce hasn't made a great album since '87, folks... haven't heard this one yet, since I'm fucking obsessed with Matt Ward's new one, but I'll get around to it whenever and offer my thoughts.

I don't know, I like Life Itself and Lucky Day a lot better than anything on any of his other '00s records... I agree that the title track is worryingly bad, though. Still, uh, have you heard Magic and The Rising? I rest my case.

AGIB is my least favourite Wilco disc, but I agree that it'd make for the most interesting read for all of the above stated reasons. You've got my vote of support!

Holy shit, when did the Du reunite? (Unanswerable follow-up question: how did I manage to miss it? I'm not a huge fan, but that's pretty remarkable.)

Interesting. I thought TDK was brilliant, if awkwardly paced, while Iron Man was just terrible. The wonderful cast was essentially sleepwalking through a by-the-numbers superhero script, the origin sequence was interminable for too many reasons to list, and the willing-suspension-of-disbelief factor surely has to be about equal to a Chuck Jones WB short in order for the thing to work.

Disappointed that '07 was apparently a one-off year for brilliant original American films, I watched There Will Be Blood again for the first time since spring. Seeing this discussion again - in which we atheists quite plainly bested our opponents - reminded me of the wonderful, and wonderfully misanthropic, endgame involving Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday.

Sunday: Daniel, I'm asking if you'd like to have business with the Church of the Third Revelation in developing this lease on young Bandy's thousand-acre tract. I'm offering you a chance to drill on one of the great undeveloped fields of Little Boston!

Plainview: I'd be happy to work with you.

Sunday: You would? Yes, yes, of course. Wonderful.

Plainview: But there is one condition for this work.

Sunday: All right.

Plainview: I'd like you to tell me that you are a false prophet. I'd like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet... and that God is a superstition.

Sunday: But that's a lie. It's a lie, I cannot say it.

When can we begin to drill?

Plainview: Right away.

Sunday: How long will it take to bring in the well?

Plainview: Should be very quick.

Sunday: I would like a one hundred thousand dollar signing bonus plus the five that is owed with interest.

Plainview: That's only fair.

Sunday: I am a false prophet and God is a superstition. If that's what you believe, then I will say it.

Plainview: Say it like you mean it.

Sunday: Daniel...

Plainview: Say it like it's your sermon.

Sunday: This is foolish.

I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!

Is that fine?

Plainview: Those areas have been drilled.

Sunday: What?

Plainview: Those areas have been drilled.

Sunday: No, they haven't...

Plainview: It's called drainage. I own everything around it... so I get everything underneath it.

Sunday: But there are no derricks there. This is the Bandy tract. Do you understand?

Plainview: Do you? I drink your water, Eli. I drink it up. Everyday. I drink the blood of lamb from Bandy's tract.

OMG this is gonna be so great!! prolly gonna be the best of 09. more out of tune falsetto singing. that's all you need to be an indie god these days.

Ha! So it`s NOT just me...

Decent record, nothing to write home about. The live stuff is a massive leap over the actual LP, I`ll say that.

I'm sure this'll be a clusterfuck, as these types of projects usually are. The only interesting acts in the lineup are Two Thirds Wilco and Quarteriohead. Yeah, that's right, I said it! I said it on Via Chicago, I said it!

Oh god, please read Watchmen before seeing the movie. I'm pleading for you, not for me. I'd also suggest everybody join me in just skipping the movie, since it looks like an utter travesty. (See also: From Hell, V For Vendetta, "LXG") Sloooooooow moooooo! Smashing Pumpkins! Set and costume design that completely misses the point! A threatening looking Adrian Veidt whose general comportment alone blows the fucking ending! Ugh. 300 was awful; this thing will be an abomination.

The studio version is definitely definitive. Well worth hunting down.

Yeah, West is pretty much execrable. I wanted to like it because just about every Lu record up to that one was brilliant, but ecch. Little Honey is okay. Nowhere near the level of Essence, Sweet Old World, Car Wheels, or World Without Tears (my four favourite Lu discs in order; yes, I am the one fan in the world who doesn't recognize Car Wheels as her first or even second best record), but the rockers are solid and a few of the ballads are decent. I'm definitely concerned about the shocking laziness that's overtaken her songwriting over the last two or so years. Here's hoping it's just a brief slump!

I hate to be negative but those songs are pretty lame in my estimation......They seem flat and uninspired and don't seem to have much of a hook to keep you listening.......I hope the next album has more life to it than the three or four songs I've heard so far........Might they be tired from the road?

Yeah, I find myself in agreement with much of this. The Colbert song is fucking fantastic, but the other four or five really have me worried, since I don't love any of them. If these are a fair indication of the new record, this could be the first Wilco album I actually don't care for. I like the Motown-meets-Mermaid-meets-On and On and On tune, but it's hardly anything to write home about.

Congrats from a concerned neighbour to the north! As goes America, so goes the world, or something along those lines, so I'm really glad the right man for his time and place won tonight.

The Canadian perspective, from the CBC: Members of both the ruling Conservative party, and the opposition Liberals gathered at separate events across Ottawa to watch the results roll in.

"Most [of us] are leaning towards Obama," one Conservative staffer said before the election was called. "But still the general overall thought, I think for us, is that either [one] is better than George W."

One Liberal suggested the Democrat's win would ease criticism of the Conservatives, who have been dogged by accusations their views share an unpopular alignment with those of current U.S. President George W. Bush.

"We can't play the Bush card on them anymore," the Liberal said, asking not to be quoted by name.

I love Adams when he's on, but this album is pap-poop. Blecch.

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

This is a helluva lot better than any of the four new songs that have been road-tested thus far. I agree with the poster who said he can't get it out of his head; it's a Summerteeth rocker! First one in years!

Yeah, with respect to Mund, I felt strongly that Hellwood was a side project that represented far less than the sum of its parts. Really disappointing effort.

White is astonishing by his lonesome, though. The only honest heir I can see to Tom Waits' twisted wit and wisdom, to say nothing of his fascination with things that creak and groan in the night. Possibly America's most underrated songwriter.

Sure sounds like it!

Not at all, actually.

i did that for many years and it turned out to not be enough for me. to each his own.

That's really, really tragic. My condolences.

Apparently it's too much to ask from most people that they also require reason and probability.