3.21.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 21st I listened to The The Dusk, Rancid And Out Come The Wolves, and David Bowie The Next Day.

I’ll never forget when Leah Kanderfurd (SIC) introduced me to The The in 1987, by lending me her copy of Infected. That album changed my life.

I’d put Dusk up there with the best music ever committed to tape! All I need to say about how much I love this album is that “Love Is Stronger Than Death” will play at my funeral! If I have any money when I die I want all of it to go Matt Johnson to actually sing live, if he’s still around. If he’s not with us or won’t do it, then play it off the vinyl. If you’re the only person there and you don’t have a turntable or the album, then at least take the two minutes to steal it online and play it on anything. If I’m lucky enough to have a tombstone, I want it to say “Brad Maybe – Just Because I’m Dead Doesn’t Mean You Can Go Through All My Stuff.”

Open Letter To Matt Johnson:

Dear Matt,

Call Johnny Marr and Neneh Cherry and whip up another The The record, ok? Take five years if you need to. Just get on that shit! Gee Whiz! 

Smell ya later,

Q. Brad F. Maybe Esquire 

I was never a Rancid album guy. I like their hits and a couple tracks here and there. I remember listening to this album when it came out, and it sounds like Rancid doing their thing… milky white punk rock with a dash of edge. And sometimes that’s just what I’m in the mood for. The real stuff is too exhausting. All the yelling and awful songwriting is just too much. 

How can you listen to a new David Bowie album objectively? Seems like when a living legend drops an album after a long hiatus, all the weight of their entire career comes along with the new music. Nobody’s going to give it a bad review, and nobody did.

I’m basing my listen on one question? Will I ever voluntarily play any music from this album again? Yes.

I genuinely like the title track and maybe “Set The World On Fire” and “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” but lets me honest. If David Bowie comes to your town and in the middle of the show says, “Thank you, Cleveland! This is another one from my new album, it’s called ‘I’d Rather Be High.’ A one and a two and a three.” You’re gonna say to your friends, “I’d rather be pissing and getting a beer. Be right back.” If Bowie does tour do you realize how short the beer and bathroom lines are going to be during “Let’s Dance?”

I hope I’m not the only one that got excited when they saw “Boss Of Me,” and thought Bowie was doing a cover of They Might Be Giant’s Malcolm In The Middle theme song. It’s not it.

I love making funny of dipshit rock journos and this was my favorite quote. The Daily Telegraph’s Neil McCormick wrote that The Next Day is a “bold, beautiful and baffling electric bolt through its own mythos.” All the good records aren't afraid to just kick their own mythos right in the balls, ya know? I was totally thinking the same thing, but I just couldn't quite put it into unintelligible gobbledygook.

Let me dumb it down for ya.

I’m a David Bowie fan. I like a lot of his music. I do not like all of his music. This record was better than I’d thought it would be. It rocks and there are some nice hooks to keep you interested throughout all 14 tracks, but there’re some stinkers on here. His voice has lost a little of its magic at 66, but not that much. Definitely worth a listen. Another Bowie classic? That's for the years to decide. 

Tomorrow I will listen to Third Eye Blind, Creed and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Or, I might do what my father always told me to do... go play in traffic. 

Here's the March Playlist!

3.2.13

On March 2nd I listened to Alice In Chains Dirt, Matthew Sweet Girlfriend, and Johnny Marr The Messenger.

While I was listening to Dirt, I was trying to remember anything about the one time I saw Alice In Chains play with Layne Staley. It was on July 10, 1993 at the Lollapalooza stop in Barrie, Ontario. Oddly enough, that is the last major tour the band played with Staley. All I can remember is that he was wearing a green suit and sounded great. I’m glad I got to see him perform at least once.

I just read Staley’s Wikipedia page and was nearly moved to tears. It wasn't news to me, but there's some pretty gruesome details up there. It’s a horribly tragic story of a man suffering for years while waiting to die. Layne really paid the ultimate price for his addiction.

Dirt comes out swinging with six smash hits right out of the gate! Then it ends with “Angry Chair” and “Would?” There’re a couple “whatever” songs here, but for the most part this whole album is the band’s masterpiece.

“Rooster” and “Would?” were my favorites for such a long time, but now I’m a “Rain When I Die” guy and "Dam That River."

Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend is one of the best albums ever recorded and I suck for not listening to this entire album for way too long! (How many times have I said that so far this year about great albums?)

If I had any talent as a writer, I would try to gracefully speak of the beauty of this album in a long flowing sentence that clearly and concisely describes the obsession, longing, love, and religion that Matthew Sweet so eloquently sings about on his magnum opus. I can’t.

I remember some hick I knew in 1991 was all shocked that I liked this album. “You like Matthew Sweet?” she said. “Isn’t he a little too Country for you?” It was the closest I ever came in my life to smacking a bitch, although, she made a good point. Sweet thoughtfully oozes stories about his divorce, comic books and beautiful women all over a genre bending collection of songs that blur the line between Rock and old school Country music. Put a fucking steel guitar on something and all the rednecks will come to yard, right?

I’m getting off track here. In short, this record fills me with warmth and happiness and I fucking love it.

I don’t know how many times I have to say this! (I’ll usually tweet it a couple times a year.) Johnny F. Marr, can you please call Matt Johnson and make another The The record! What the fuck, already!

I saw Johnny Marr play a show with the Healers a few years ago and he sang with a piece of gum in his mouth the whole show. The only other singer I ever saw do that… Dave Grohl.

Alright, enough bullshitting. The Messenger is a pretty solid offering from Marr. The first song that really jumped out at me was “Upstarts,” with what I thought was a definite Nick Lowe vibe. “Lockdown” is pretty catchy too. Marr has really come a long way as a vocalist. I’ll be spending more time with this one.

Tomorrow I listen to Jane's Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual, Beck Odelay, and My Bloody Valentine MBV.

Here's the entire March Playlist!