Music

Music is a necessity. Though I focus mostly on alternative/industrial/EBM/electronic styles, my tastes are eclectic and wide-ranging.

Garth Brooks is a Gateway Drug

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Neither Prairie nor I are big fans of country, but we both listen to a little bit. Last night I’d popped on a compilation I made a few years ago as background music while I was cleaning house, and still had it going when Prairie came home. It turned out that she knew every song on the CD as well, and we had fun listening to some of the songs and chatting about what got us started listening to country.

In my case, while dad had some small part in it (he’s not a big country listener either, but his LP collection is responsible for introducing me to Johnny Cash when I was a youngster), it can all be blamed attributed to some of my ex-girlfriends. They listened to some, I happened to be around, and I ended up discovering that there actually was some country music that I enjoyed listening to.

Prairie can also blame credit an ex for the songs that she found that she likes. In each case, though, one of the primary artists we found was Garth Brooks. I mentioned that I’d often noticed when talking to people that, if they had even a little bit of country in their collection, there was a pretty good chance that Garth would be in there somewhere, if not the sole representative.

Which led to the realization that Garth Brooks is a gateway drug.

So now you know, kids.

Don’t do Garth.

Herewith, then, is a selection of country music approved by me (and, in most cases, by Prairie, also). It’s pretty much entirely the fun, upbeat style of country…I just can’t get into the ballads.

  1. Toby Keith, How Do You Like Me Now?
  2. Jodee Messina, I’m Alright
  3. Garth Brooks, Two Piña Coladas
  4. Mary Chapin Carpenter, Down at the Twist and Shout
  5. Clay Walker, Then What?
  6. Dolly Parton, Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?
  7. Clint Black, Only On Days That End In ‘Y’
  8. Reba McEntire, Fancy
  9. Joe Diffe, Third Rock From the Sun
  10. Shania Twain, Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)
  11. Tim McGraw, Something Like That
  12. Lee Ann Womack, I’ll Think of a Reason Later
  13. John Michael Montgomery, Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)
  14. Trisha Yearwood, She’s In Love With the Boy
  15. Brad Paisley, Me Neither
  16. Collin Raye, Little Red Rodeo
  17. Reba McEntire, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
  18. Rick Trevino, Bobby Ann Mason
  19. John Michael Montgomery, Life’s a Dance
  20. Trick Pony, Pour Me
  21. Rodney Crowell with Johnny Cash, I Walk the Line (Revisited)
  22. Dixie Chicks, Goodbye Earl

iTunes “I Walk the Line Revisited” by Crowell, Rodney with Cash, Johnny (2:43).

No Woman, No Fly

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Just added to the Jason Webley Bootlegs collection: No Woman, No Fly (5.1Mb .mp3). The audio quality isn’t the greatest (with Jason’s penchant for going from soft to screaming in nanoseconds, the recording’s a bit overdriven in places), but it’s up.

Thanks to usernamenumber for posting the .mp3, and to RobTav63 for help with the lyrics.

Lyrics follow behind the cut.

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Queen! (But who’s Paul Rodgers?)

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Queen (plus Paul Rodgers) is going to be performing in Seattle!

Who’s Paul Rodgers? Aside from the obvious answer of “the guy singing because Freddy‘s not around anymore,” that is. Apparently, he’s had a solo career along with being the vocalist for three bands — Free, Bad Company, and The Firm. Bad Company is the only one of those three that I’ve ever heard of.

Hrm.

It’s a dilemma. On the one hand, I’m a long time Queen fan, and they have been one of the groups I’ve always wished I’d had a chance to see live — something I’d given up on when Freddy died. So the chance to see even 3/4 of Queen with someone else standing in is very enticing.

On the other hand…it’s not Freddy. Will the show still sound right? Does Paul have the stage presence that Freddy did (while I never saw them, I love listening to the live album ‘Live Killers‘ in large part because of the incredible rapport Freddy had with his audience)? There are sample downloads on the Queen + Paul Rodgers website, but they’re in a Windows Media format that doesn’t seem to play nice with OS X, so I can’t listen to any of them.

Ooh, wait…in the ‘Media‘ section, there are some clips in a .wmv format that does play nice in OS X. I’m…not sold. The music is right, but the vocals…I’m not sure. While I wouldn’t expect it to sound exactly like Freddy (and I really do like the job George Michael did with them a few years back…I thought he made a very impressive pseudo-Freddy), Paul’s got enough of a different timbre that it makes it a little jarring to my ears.

No matter what, I should decide soon: the show’s on April 10th (a Monday night), and tickets are a little painful (ranging from $50 to $200.00!). Decisions, decisions, decisions…

iTunes “Dreamer’s Ball (Live)” by Queen from the album Live Killers (1979, 3:42).

Tuesday Ten (In My Pants)

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A variation on the ‘ten random tracks’ music meme, adding in the fortune-cookie game of adding “…in my pants” to the end of the fortune…or in this case, song title.

  1. Raise the Roof In My Pants (Public Enemy)
  2. Ascend In My Pants (Nitzer Ebb)
  3. Fallin’ In My Pants (De La Soul/Teenage Fanclub)
  4. A Heart Full of Love In My Pants (Les Miserables)
  5. Why Don’t You Write Me In My Pants (Simon and Garfunkel)
  6. Pornograffiti In My Pants (Extreme)
  7. New and Improved In My Pants (The Incredibles Soundtrack)
  8. Is She Really Going Out With Him In My Pants? (Joe Jackson)
  9. Shalom In My Pants (Voltaire)
  10. A Lap Dance is So Much Better When the Stripper is Crying In My Pants (The Bloodhound Gang)

Okay, a few of these make me snicker, but that last one was a literal “Laugh Out Loud” moment.

iTunes “How Much Longer” by Eve 6 from the album Eve 6 (1998, 3:05).

iTunes Essentials: Goth

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The iTunes Music Store‘s Essentials series has weighed in on the ‘essentials’ of goth.

It’s an interesting collection of tracks. Not a bad selection, either — I’m mostly just impressed that they have this many non-pop artists available now.

(If the above link to the Goth Essentials doesn’t work, try this one. Pity that while I can come up with iTMS Affiliate links for the iTMS and the Essentials program as a whole, I’m finding out if there is a way for me to link to the Goth Essentials set through the iTMS Affiliate program. Meh. Not that complaining about their affiliate program is a new thing for me.)

Frequently Secretly

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Willie Nelson has a new song out. Normally, this wouldn’t be something that I’d take much notice of — while I don’t have anything against country music (and even have a little in my collection), it’s not my main forte.

This one, however…isn’t your typical country song.

Willie Nelson’s crooned cowboy songs before, from the signature “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” to “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.”

But never like this: On “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” the Texas country icon sings about love among men on the range. Available exclusively at iTunes today, the song aims to show Mr. Nelson’s support for gays, particularly to conservative country-music fans.

“The song’s been in the closet for 20 years,” Mr. Nelson said in a prepared statement. It was written in 1981 by Lubbock-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette.

…[Brokeback Mountain] may have provided the perfect opportunity to release this new song. But Mr. Nelson also has a personal connection to the tune.

Two years ago, David Anderson, Mr. Nelson’s friend and tour manager of three decades, told his boss he’s gay. Last March, while Mr. Nelson recorded a batch of previously unreleased songs for iTunes, he discovered the song in a stack of demos he had tossed into a drawer.

Singing “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” was Mr. Nelson’s way of telling a longtime pal everything was OK, says Mr. Anderson.

The song’s currently only available through the iTunes Music Store. Lyrics are after the cut.

(via Boing Boing)

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The Ciccones: Lies

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Here’s a mashup worth listening to: The Ciccones‘ “Lies” (6.5Mb .mp3). While most of the all-Madonna mashup album is fairly hit-and-miss, this is by far the standout track. Over the music for “Live to Tell“, audio quotes from the justifications for the Iraq war are juxtaposed with the song’s original chorus:

A man can tell a thousand lies,
I’ve learned my lesson well,
Hope I live to tell the secret I have learned,
’till then, it will burn inside of me.

Cute and clever.

iTunes “Lies” by Ciccones, The from the album Immaculate Concoction, The (2005, 5:45).

iTunes Ratings

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Following in the footsteps of jwz, Tim Bray, AKMA, and Paul, here’s the rating system I use in iTunes:

  • All songs start at ✭✭✭ when I import them.
  • As I listen, they’re adjusted up and down according to the following:
    • ✭ — Bad import (dirty/scratched CD or other issue), needs to be re-imported or otherwise replaced.
    • ✭✭ — I don’t like it, and don’t particularly want to listen to it.
    • ✭✭✭ — Good general listening. Won’t complain if/when it comes up in random rotation.
    • ✭✭✭✭ — A favorite. Better than most. Don’t mind hearing it more often.
    • ✭✭✭✭✭ — Almost impossible to get tired of. Also almost impossible to resist singing along to or dancing to when it pops up.

From there, the custom playlists I use (which have been updated and tweaked a bit since that post, but the basics are still good) work for daily listening.

iTunes “Work It! Dance = Life (full mix)” by Various Artists from the album Work It! Dance = Life (full mix) (1996, 1:09:44).