Tag: rock music

A Soundtrack To Geography

On By bigbadburchIn Playlists5 Comments

Something I want to start doing more of around here is making playlists. It’s the modern version of the old mix tape, mixed CD, you name it. I find it fun to pick a theme or concept then find songs that fit that theme. I’ve just been a bit hung up on where to begin with that.

So a buddy of mine is taking some college classes and geography is one of those. I thought I’d try to help him out some by making a playlist that incorporated the theme of places. I took geography in high school. I did really well on the final, where we had to identify each US state and its capital, each Canadian province and its capital, and each other country in the world and its capital city. This was just after the fall of Communism too so I didn’t get it easy like all the really old people who were in school before me.

So anyway, I spent a lot of time working on this playlist about geography and then found out my buddy is taking geology. Dammnit. Anyway, here’s a playlist about places or whatever. I’ll highlight some of my choices below but the playlist itself has a lot more on it.

They Might Be Giants – Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

I can’t see any other way to kick this playlist off than with this tune. One of the most iconic songs involving a place that there is. It’s also an important lesson – if you’re from, say, the 1200’s and you’re used to calling the city Constantinople, then you need to update your terms, dude.

I have been to Istanbul, back in the late ’90’s while in the military I got there a few times. It was a really nice city, not sure what’s up in Turkey these days.

Joe Walsh – Rocky Mountain Way

One of Joe’s best songs, quite possibly the absolute best, and honestly a song I might have to consider as a future S-Tier entry.

We can pretend this song is about the majesty and awe of the Rocky Mountains all we want – we all know it’s about getting high. There’s no way it isn’t. And it’s fitting, as Colorado would later become the nation’s capital of blazing up. I personally don’t partake but I’m pretty sure glaucoma or arthritis or some such shit is coming around the bend. Maybe I’ll do what the rest of the US is doing and move to Colorado and get my Rocky Mountain Way.

Emma Ruth Rundle – Apathy on the Indiana Border

As a bit of trivia, ERR appears on three songs of this list. This is obviously one of them. I’m not doing write-ups on the other two but they’re on the list.

I guess she lived in Louisville when she recorded this album, hence the “…on the Indiana border” part of the title. Maybe also the Apathy, I don’t know. I’ve heard nice things about Louisville but I’ve never been myself.

Spinal Tap – Hellhole

As far as I know there isn’t an actual location called “Hellhole,” but there are some odd city names out there. There’s a Hell, but no Hellhole.

But I feel the lads in Spinal Tap spelled it all out with this, one of their stronger tracks. That hellhole can be anywhere and is often where we are. For all the good and bad of my current locale, there is no doubt it is a hellhole. But it’s my hellhole.

Amon Amarth – Guardians of Asgaard

We can debate whether or not Asgaard is real. My take is that it was until that third Thor Marvel movie, idk.

Can one be a viking in 2021? It’s made fun of a lot but I think one can. Have Norse or Danish ancestry (I do), listen to Amon Amarth (I do), drink mead (I have) and have one of those sweet Ragnar Lothbro hipster haircuts (I don’t yet but I will). You can be a viking in 2021 and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

This is a cool song from the band’s creative height and it also features a guest shot from LG Petrov of Entombed. RIP man.

Frank Black – Los Angeles

Solid tune from the Pixies frontman when he embarked on a solo career. It was a pretty popular jam back then.

I have been to the City of Angels. I’ll say that it’s interesting and, in parts, spectacular, but it’s also not really my speed. I did enjoy seeing the sights of Sunset Strip, where a lot of the music I got into came from. But yeah, I’ll probably leave Los Angeles to itself and sail for other waters.

Wayne Hancock – Tulsa

Yeah, some other country guy has a song about Tulsa time or whatever but Wayne Hancock is the man so I’m gonna roll with his tune instead.

I dig Tulsa. I’ve been there a handful of times over the years, always for concerts I think. I have quietly wondered about moving there more than once but I don’t figure I’m shoving off to there or anywhere else anytime soon.

Oasis – Columbia

Yeah I’m totally cheating here because the song isn’t really about a place. But, Columbia is a place. It’s a lot of places, in fact – it appears there are 30 Colubmias in the United States. I’m presuming that the ones in South Carolina and Missouri are the most well-known, but I’m not sure.

I do know that Oasis wasn’t talking about either of them in this song. The song is really about nothing, from the sound of it. A story I saw on the Oasis subreddit suggests that this tune was meant to be an instrumental intro song for the band but they chose to add words to it at the last minute. I have no way of sourcing any truth to the claim but it sounds plausible.

Hank III – Trashville

So the grandson of the legendary Hank Williams is obviously talking about Nashville, but he calls it Trashville because it’s funny and also because he was sick of the establishment country music industry. It’d be a recurring theme in his prime during the mid- and late-00’s.

I’ve never been to Nashville, probably a place I oughta visit someday. I guess they have a lot of stuff there.

Dropkick Murphys – I’m Shipping Up To Boston

I don’t really mess with these guys much but it seems like an auto-include song on a list of songs about places. I kinda figured this might be one of the top ones people scream at me for leaving off if I don’t include it. So here you go.

Belinda Carslile – Heaven Is A Place On Earth

I mean, the song literally has “place” in the title. Earth is a place I’m quite familiar with. I’ve been here awhile and reckon I will be a bit longer. I’m not a billionaire and can’t fly my own penis rocket off of this rock so Earth it is.

I’m probably also including it because Belinda was my first crush. This song hit MTV when I was like 10 or something and I was all about her. Sure, her turn in the Go-Go’s was far more relevant to my musical interests but that wasn’t really what my interest in her solo stuff was all about.

As for the Heaven part of it all? I’ll avoid any theological debates and just offer up one last tune that gets to the point.

AC/DC – Highway To Hell

Enough said, I think. I know where my road is paved and where it’s going. And I’ve got one hell of a soundtrack to get me there.

That does it for my first playlist. Let me know what I might have left out – there are literally tons of songs that talk about places. And I guess, to be fair to my buddy in geology class, I’ll throw together something later on about rocks.

The Importance Of Being Idle – Will Oasis Ever Reunite?

On By bigbadburchIn Uncategorized2 Comments

UPDATE August 2024 – this whole post is essentially worthless now, as Oasis have announced their reunion tour for 2025.

It’s time to wrap up Oasis week here on The Crooked Wanderer. I’ve enjoyed going through what I have so far, remembering Definitely Maybe and gifting S-Tier status to Don’t Look Back In Anger. I would have loved to write up a discussion of the Knebworth documentary that hit theaters yesterday, but sadly no theater in my town showed it. I’ll give some space to that when I can watch the film and also when the album and concert footage releases in November.

Of course there are many other things to talk about with Oasis. I’ll eventually cover other albums and songs as time goes on. I just wanted to spend a moment with them on the week of the Knebworth release.

But there is a huge elephant in the room when it comes to Oasis and it’s now time to discuss that. Oasis came to an end in 2009 when Noel Gallagher left the band after yet another altercation with his brother, singer Liam Gallagher. Noel would immediately start a solo career, while Liam and the remaining Oasis members briefly toured the ill-fated Beady Eye project. Liam would launch his own successful solo career in the late 2010’s.

The question is pretty simple – will Oasis ever get back together? Reunion tours are big business in music and Oasis has captured a wave of nostalgia in recent years that would set the table for a literal truckload of cash. There are several factors to consider in trying to answer this question.

First of all, Noel and Liam have engaged in a rather bitter sibling rivalry in the decade since Oasis split up. I’m not going to recount specifics but it’s not hard to find examples of the two slagging each other off. The feud has gotten extremely personal at times and it does feel like one of the irreconcilable matters. They really, truly do not like one another.

Secondly, Noel does not show any real inclination to get the band back together. He has pursued several experimental musical directions with his High Flying Birds project and every word he has said about an Oasis reunion has been negative. Liam, however, seems ready to do a reunion show the next day if only it would materialize.

An Oasis reunion would be a big-ticket event. There is demand from fans old and new, as their music has transcended its moment in time and lives on today. It’s often cynical when old bands get back together but there is a convergence of interest and nostalgia involved with Oasis that would send that tour to the moon.

I’m gonna be real – I honestly don’t think an Oasis reunion will happen. I take Noel at face value when he says he’s not interested. I think a lot of people want to believe something is brewing behind the scenes, what with the work that went into the Knebworth documentary and the brothers’ high profiles in the past few years. But I really am just not seeing it. Noel has been unequivocal in his dismissal of the reunion concept and of his brother.

Sure, the tour would be huge money. But Noel has made mention of the small fortune he already has. If money were his motivation we would already have had a reunion to talk about. He seems touched by the fond recollections of Oasis fans but seems very interested in going forward with his own vision, and his vision is one not owing to reminiscing.

I could, of course, be wrong, and Oasis might announce a reunion tour the second after I post this, or perhaps after the pandemic has run its course (when the hell ever that will be…). But based on my obviously uniformed opinion as nothing more than a fan, I honestly do not see a world where Oasis gets back together.

I’ll leave with this Noel quote from the How To Wow podcast a few weeks ago. Noel addresses the state of his and Liam’s solo careers, and I think it truly illustrates Noel’s mindset regarding an Oasis reunion.

“He’s doing massive gigs, he’s selling more records than I am and he’s selling more tickets than I am, if you can believe that.”

“So he’s doing his thing and I’m doing mine and we’re both pretty happy doing that at the moment.”

“Liam’s doing his thing, he’s responsible for the legacy being what it is, he’s keeping the flame alive and all that and good for him.”

Oasis – Definitely Maybe (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week2 Comments

This weeks marks the theatrical release of the Oasis – Knebworth documentary. It chronicles the two historic nights Oasis played in England at the height of their immense popularity in 1996. So I felt it fitting to make this week Oasis week around here. We’ll start with the usual Album Of The Week, and I’ll get straight into it.

Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Released August 29, 1994 via Creation Records

Favorite Tracks – Live Forever, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Columbia

Creation Records had been plagued with financial troubles, at least somewhat owing to the ridiculous saga surrounding the recording of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. Label founder Alan McGee sold half of the label to Sony and then needed to find a hit to stabilize finances.

He found his hit in the pubs of Manchester.

Oasis’ debut album was an instant success, smashing debut album records in the UK and also hitting platinum in the US. The “brothers’ war” between Noel and Liam Gallagher played out as great fodder for the British tabloids, both painting them as brash bad boys and keeping Oasis in the press. It was a case of instant success for some down on their luck blokes from Manchester, with that would come all the good and bad.

But let’s talk about the album itself. Definitely Maybe is a monster release and a stellar debut that belies the absolute inexperience of anyone in the band besides chief songwriter Noel Gallagher. These are songs of the hopes and dreams of working class people looking for something more than the doldrum of everyday life. It’s spelled out in the beginning on album opener Rock N Roll Star, and excellent banger than sets a hopeful, dream-laden tone.

The album contains several songs of varying scope and heft. Digsby’s Diner and album closer Married With Children are more fun tunes, not quite filler but also not exactly top-shelf stuff. Up In The Sky is a bright, rocking tune while Bring It On Down is a flat-out headbanger, on par with the title track from the second album.

Then there’s Columbia. This song is all about the atmosphere and vibe. This song isn’t about anything at all, or it’s about whatever you want or need it to be. Oasis would offer a few things like this, kind of “nonsense” songs, through their career. And honestly I love it – I just want to go full hipster and strut down the street with this as my theme music.

If one nonsense song wasn’t enough, the album brings another. Highlight single Supersonic is a heavy, mid-tempo affair with a whole lot of words that rhyme with each other and little else. It tells a story of … something or someone who does stuff on a helicopter and, well, that’s about all I get out of it. But it’s a solid song that stands out on a record filled with brilliance.

Sitting between the two “odd” tracks toward the album’s end is Slide Away. A masterful tune, this is a quintessential love song from the Britrockers. And it is actually a love song, unlike Wonderwall, which shocks some people when they find out it’s not a love song. (Seriously, go look up what Wonderwall is really about. Then sing Slide Away to your boo at your next drunken karaoke night. Then consider the existential dread that Wonderwall truly envelops. Then go back to another drunken karaoke night.)

Another favorite of mine is Cigarettes & Alcohol. Yes, both the products and the Oasis song. This tune is a nod to the hollow pursuit of substance abuse to alleviate the strain and nihilism of working class life. Damn, if that ain’t the truth. I’ve been there myself many different times, or perhaps even for just one very, very long time. It’s a statement similar to that of Pulp’s smash hit Common People, though the latter includes some different commentary about how the working class are viewed. No matter the perspective, it’s kind of damn bleak out here, and it wasn’t any different in the early ’90’s.

This album does have one song that, in my estimation, stands head and shoulders above the rest. The song was, metaphorically and literally, an antidote to grunge’s sometimes miserable self-flagellation. Noel told NME in 2013 that he wrote Live Forever as a response to the Nirvana song I Hate Myself And Want To Die.

Live Forever is an amazing song that expresses the bonds of friendship, family, romance, or whatever between people. The song could be, and has been, played anywhere – weddings, funerals, dances, or just hanging with mates. It is a sentimental, sweet, perhaps melancholy yet ultimately triumphant celebration of those deepest, most meaningful connections between people.

Live Forever has been voted among the best of Britrock’s songs in multiple polls, often sharing space with the aforementioned Pulp hit and a few other Oasis tunes. Noel has called it the best song he’s ever written and Liam has said it was his favorite song as well. And it’s number 3 on my list of all-time Oasis songs.

Definitely Maybe was an amazing debut album that helped set the stage for the scene of Britrock to take over the world in the mid ’90’s. Oasis themselves would truly conquer the planet the next year with their second record. But the debut is absolutely possessing of its own merits and is often, perhaps rightfully, regarded as their best overall record.

With the theatrical release of the Knebworth documentary coming this Thursday, I’ll take the rest of the week to discuss Oasis. On Wednesday I’ll pick out one song in particular, and on Friday I’ll address the “what if?” elephant in the room question that comes up when talking about Oasis these days.

My 5 Favorite Songs From The Use Your Illusion Albums

On By bigbadburchIn Favorites3 Comments

I spent the week paring down the monstrous Use Your Illusion albums from Guns N Roses into one lean, mean fighting disc. Here is Part One and Part Two of that effort, and here you can find the results of my labor.

With that out of the way but the topic still fresh in my mind, I wanted to take a moment and review my favorite songs from the records. There isn’t any more lead-in than that needed so let’s get right into it.

#5 – 14 Years

This is the song Izzy Stradlin sang the verses on, though an unfamiliar listener could be forgiven for not knowing that since Axl’s voice can take on so many different forms. There is no official confirmation but rumors suggest that the song is about Izzy and Axl’s friendship. Izzy left the band during the tour cycle for Illusion and the band did not play the song again until Izzy did a guest spot on the reunion tour.

For me it’s just a cool song that I always liked. It has no real personal meaning for me – I mean, I was 14 when the records came out so I had no “14 years or silence or pain” to relate to, just dumb kid stuff. It’s a song that I’ve always playlisted or whatever and when I revisited these albums it was one of the first ones that really jumped out at me.

#4 – November Rain

Yep, the epic, grandiose, and also ridiculous and over-wrought hit is one of my favorites from the albums. This song and video was such a complete spectacle that it was hard to turn away from. Cake fights, explosions, and cars driving off cliffs while Slash solos – what more could you ask for?

I guess this song is about Axl and his personal relations with women. I don’t really know, it’s a bit hard to derive meaning from all the bombast. I do know that when it rains in the winter I always get this song stuck in my head. I think that’s an inevitable part of life for anyone around when this was all the rage.

#3 – You Could Be Mine

The lead single from the records had a glorious tie-in with the hotly-anticipated Terminator 2. The resulting video interspersed movie footage and also some original content, climaxing when the Terminator’s target screen gives a funny message after scanning the band.

The song is a badass rocker that outlines what must have been a crazy relationship. Nothing wrong with redlining things once in awhile, that’s what youth is for. But yeah, it’s a great song and a signature tune for me from these albums.

Interesting that the band didn’t officially upload the video. I guess money and rights issues between them and the studio.

#2 – Estranged

This long epic was always one of the highlights of the double set. It (I think) served as the final single release for these records before the band moved to an uninspired covers album before effectively breaking up for 20 years.

The song is magnificent – with slowly-building movements that incorporate some of Slash’s most tasteful guitar work and very poignant lyrics from Axl. The song builds to a monumental finish around the 7-minute mark – this is the part where Axl jumps off the ship and does his swimming with the dolphins thing in the video.

I loved the song when it first hit, but Estranged has also taken on new meaning as I’ve gotten older. When the albums released I was 14, when the video for this song dropped I think I was 15 or 16. The word “estranged” is something I would have had to look up in a dictionary. I didn’t know the first thing about it.

But all these years later it’s a different story. Sure, estrangement usually refers to either spouses or parent-child relationships. But it can still apply in a broader sense to personal interactions as a whole. As time wears on, we will lose family, friends, lovers, and other people. One day, often without knowing it, we’ll have said the last things we’re ever gonna say to each other. It’s not a matter of death – everyone’s still around living their lives, it’s just that people have fallen away. Maybe some reconnections can and should be made, but by and large there is very much a “ships passing in the night” vibe to how people come together and fall apart.

In this age of pandemics, climate upheaval and social-political unrest, it’s tough also not to consider the personal relationship aspect of life. We’re all twisting and turning toward something that doesn’t really look good, but also the past is dead and gone. Might as well have a bit of midlife crisis on top of the endless supply of existential dread.

Why must it drift away and die? I don’t know, but that’s the way it goes.

#1 – Civil War

It’s time for the champion to come claim its crown, and this battle was never in any real dispute.

Civil War has always been my favorite track from this era. The song is both melodically beautiful and powerful, a masterful attack on the military industrial complex and a look at the formation of unrest and discord through society.

I didn’t quite understand all of that back then but the song always leapt out at me. And now that I do, perhaps barely, understand what it’s about, I’ve noticed I’m far from the only one to gravitate towards it when these albums get brought up. Hell, they play this song on the radio a fair bit these days, even if “radio play” doesn’t mean what it used to.

Rock music doesn’t always have to be high-minded. It can be dumb and fun, both of which are in ample supply on the Use Your Illusion records. But rock is often at its best when it does cover the deeper, darker threads of existence. And Guns N Roses are in top form on this song.

Well folks, that just about does it for my exploration of the Use Your Illusion albums. It was a very interesting time for me to come of age in, both with this ultimate realization of the band’s grandiose plans and the antithesis to that bombast that hit the airwaves at the exact same time. It was pretty fun and sometimes head-scratching to go back through these ambitious albums and the wide variety of songs on offer. I didn’t feel many were that great but there are some absolute masterworks to be found here.

In terms of further explorations of double albums, well, I know there is other work to be done. My next cutting room floor project is sitting on my CD shelf right now (sorry, Trent). I also have a future idea that pushes the bounds of the definitions here but I’ll see how that goes a bit down the road.

To close – thank you, rock stars, for thinking we need these massive double records. If nothing else, it gives me something to write about.

Use Your Illusion – My Final Cut

On By bigbadburchIn Cutting Room Floor1 Comment

This is the pivotal part of my arduous task to cut the Guns N Roses Use Your Illusion albums into one leaner, more epic record. For those posts, check out where I carved up Use Your Illusion I and then over here for Use Your Illusion II.

Let’s begin with a list of the songs that I have automatically placed onto the final cut.

Live And Let Die

November Rain

Civil War

14 Years

Get In The Ring

Estranged

You Could Be Mine

This gives me a 44:51 runtime. I have 25:09 I can fill, so let’s review our pretty big pile of “maybes” that I’ll be choosing from.

From Use Your Illusion I

Right Next Door To Hell

Dust N Bones

Don’t Cry

Perfect Crime

Bad Obsession

The Garden

Garden Of Eden

From Use Your Illusion II

Yesterdays

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Shotgun Blues

Pretty Tied Up

So right off the bat I see two that are going on – Don’t Cry and Shotgun Blues will make my final cut. This puts the runtime at 52:58.

I can now easily place the top two from the maybe pile on this record no problem. Right Next Door To Hell and Dust N Bones have made the cut. I’m now at 60:58 running time, leaving me 9 minutes of space to make a final decision.

3 songs stick out to me that I would put on here, but one doesn’t make it. The Garden, Yesterdays and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. Time constraints won’t allow both The Garden or the cover song on here, though Yesterdays is a perfectly safe runtime and makes the album.

The choices are a cover song that was a single from the record and a signature track for the band for a while, or a second-tier track with a rock god Alice Cooper as a guest.

I see various arguments that could be had here. One cover song is enough. Alice Cooper, c’mon man. But The Garden isn’t really as good as Knockin is. I loaded up with songs from II enough already, let I have a bit more representation on the final cut. My version also has almost all of the album’s singles piled on here. Is it that the singles are the best songs or that I just remember them more and I’m not paying enough mind to the deep cuts?

In the end I did what any person faced with a great, difficult decision has to do – I flipped a coin. Heads to The Garden, tails for Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. The result was heads – The Garden makes the final cut.

I now have my own version of a definitve representation of Use Your Illusion. 13 songs, a runtime of 69:36 (nice!) and the songs I think stand out and offer the best listening experience.

Now I have one more chore – album sequencing. These songs need to be in an order that flows well. This is gonna take a second.

You Could Be Mine

14 Years

Dust N Bones

Yesterdays

Live And Let Die

Shotgun Blues

Right Next Door To Hell

Civil War

The Garden

Get In The Ring

Don’t Cry

November Rain

Estranged

Ok – being real, I didn’t put a ton of thought into it. I did want You Could Be Mine to lead off the album, I felt like the lead single should kick things off and it’s the perfect opener. I wanted a bit of space between the two real aggro songs, Right Next Door To Hell and Get In The Ring. Of course, Shotgun Blues is also pretty aggro so that didn’t really work out. And I wanted the 3 songs that comprise the video trilogy to conclude the album. I do sort of wonder if Get In The Ring should really be right before Don’t Cry but I’m gonna roll with it.

I noticed something as I was having a pain in the ass time building the playlist for this – I did a lot of unintentional staggering of songs from between the two records. Only the first 2 and tracks 11 and 12 are from the same original album. It was a bit of a headache to jump back and forth between both records to make the playlist. (Yeah, total first world problem, I know)

In the end I feel like I got what I wanted here. The songs that didn’t make the cut could serve as B-sides to the plethora of album singles. Let’s be real – a lot of that stuff should have been B-sides anyway. That’s why I’ve had to undertake this great work.

So there we have it – my definitve version of Use Your Illusion. Let me know what you think – did I curate it properly or did I do a total botch job on it? What essential cut to you did I skip and what bloated carcass of a song that I’m into do you think sucks?

Tomorrow – my five favorite songs from these albums. Spoiler alert – they’re all on the final cut.

Cutting Room Floor – Use Your Illusion II

On By bigbadburchIn Cutting Room Floor, Uncategorized2 Comments

Yesterday I began the daunting task of turning the two massive Guns N Roses records from 1991, the Use Your Illusion series, into one awesome album. I’m playing with a run time of 70 minutes so that I get a bit of a challenge out of it.

Before I get busy on the cutting room floor I do want to cover the fact that the record label already did what I’m doing. There is a version of Use Your Illusion that is a single-disc album that clocks in at 63 minutes.

But their reason for doing it and my reason for doing this don’t line up – I am trying to make an all killer, no filler version of these albums. The record label did it because the big box retail stores wouldn’t stock records with the dreaded “Parental Advisory” sticker so they cut a clean version for retail.

I’m here to tell you – here at The Crooked Wanderer, I like to cuss. I use colorful language from time to time. My records will never be in stock at Wal-Mart or …. oh yeah, the rest of the old big box stores are dead now.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I’m going to evaluate the songs on Use Your Illusion II and decide what automatically gets included on my final version, which songs will carry on to the next round for consideration and which will hit the cutting room floor right here and now. Let’s rock and roll.

Guns N Roses – Use Your Illusion II

Civil War (7:42)

So Doctor Strange can review 14 million scenarios where the Avengers take on Thanos and find exactly one where the good guys win. But the good doctor can’t find even one scenario where I leave Civil War off of the final record.

This is easily one of my favorite Guns N Roses songs. Not just in relation to the album its on but in consideration of their entire catalog. It absolutely has to be on the album.

14 Years (4:21)

I always dug this Izzy Stradlin-led jam. It’s smooth, rollicking and pretty kick ass. I could maybe it but the fact is it would be the first one on the pile I grabbed to put on the record so let’s just do it now – it has to be on the final cut.

Yesterday (3:16)

One of the double album’s many singles and a very nice song. I am going to maybe this because of time considerations but I have a feeling it’ll work its way on the list in the end.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (5:36)

Of course the band were gonna cover one of Bob Dylan’s most well-known and oft-covered cuts. (GnR had previously done this song live and in studio). This was a well-executed rendition that updated the song for the 1990’s. I don’t know what the whole speech thing in the interlude is about but it’s whatever. I’ll maybe this because things are gonna get tight in the final battle for space on this record and I don’t know if 2 cover songs are the way to go on a single album.

Get In The Ring (5:41)

This is an interesting one. On one hand, it’s petty as all hell and shows Axl’s less than savory side in full light. On the other hand, the media always were, are now, and always will be a total pain in the ass so I can understand where he’s coming from.

And in the end I gotta roll with it. Gotta go with the good, the bad and the ugly and honestly it’s a pretty killer track. Get In The Ring has to be on the final cut.

Shotgun Blues (3:23)

This is a really cool song that I always liked. I have to maybe it due to time constraints but it’ll certainly be a contender when we get to the finish line.

Breakdown (7:04)

Ok so this song is all right. Has some slight callbacks to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” through some guitar inflections and it’s overall a decent tune. But it’s also a hard NO because it doesn’t have the same weight as other stuff here and it’s a bloated corpse at 7 minutes.

Pretty Tied Up (4:47)

It’s a pretty cool song and I certainly can appreciate the subject matter. I will have to maybe it and I kinda feel like it gets lost in the shuffle, it’s a bit meandering compared to the heavy hitters there are to deal with.

Locomotive (8:42)

The song is pretty badass but there really just isn’t room for something nearly 9 minutes long that doesn’t totally rule. This feels like more of a b-side to me, so it’s a NO.

So Fine (4:06)

This Duff-led song is ok but I don’t really need to dwell on it too much – it’s a NO. Don’t really have room for it. I do think the world of Duff though, he seems like such an awesome dude.

Estranged (9:23)

The last video in the Del James trilogy, and the most self-indulgent one where Axl swims with dolphins or some shit.

And it’s also one of the best songs on the album. Epic, powerful and builds to a super heavy conclusion. This absolutely has to be on the record.

You Could Be Mine (5:43)

This was the lead single for both albums. A tie-in with the summer movie blockbuster Terminator 2 – Judgment Day brought both the band and movie front and center in the cultural landscape of 1991. The song is a total banger and is probably the most well-executed hard rocker on both discs. It 100% has to be on the final album.

Don’t Cry – Alternate Version (4:44)

As covered in the first part, the original version of Don’t Cry is in the maybe pile. As such, there is no room for the same song with some different stuff going on in it. This one is a NO.

My World (1:24)

The over-wrought albums end with a weird electronic music, quasi-rap thing from Axl. I am overall an album-oriented listener and as such I find little interlude things to be fun and sometimes interesting. But no chance in Hell should an album end on something like that. This is not essential listening by any means so it gets voted off the record. NO

So now I have a pile of have to’s and maybe’s. Adding up the times of my have to’s I get a running time of 44:51. That leaves me with 25 minutes to fill for a 70 minute album. Even with me including several of the longer songs I have plenty of room to work with.

It’s also worth mentioning that yeah, I obviously favor the second album. It does bog down some in its middle section but it picks back up with a few of the best songs on either record. I never really had sat and wondered which of the two I liked more but I think we have that answer right in front of us.

So now I have my lists. Tomorrow the exercise concludes with the work of picking through the maybe pile to see what fills out the record. Then Friday I’ll give some time to discuss my 5 favorite tracks overall. My bloated 4-part exploration of these 2 bloated albums is getting ready to round the bend.

Cutting Room Floor – Use Your Illusion I

On By bigbadburchIn Cutting Room Floor5 Comments

Don’t you just love when a band releases a double album? It’s two albums’ worth of stuff, it has to be twice as good as just one, right?

Right?

I’m sure good double albums exist that don’t need an editor’s touch. I’m not sure I’d do anything to The White Album. We now have legacy groups like Iron Maiden and Tool offering what are, in any technical sense, double albums.

But often the double album is simply an exercise in indulgence. And I can think of no greater amount of indulgence than that found on the 1991 double set from Guns N Roses, the Use Your Illusion series.

It’s true, these are more two separate albums released at the same time than a double album. But it’s the same difference so we’ll roll with it. It’s also going to be the 30th anniversary of these albums on Friday the 17th so it’s a fun time to go back through these.

My purpose here is to turn these two monster albums, with a total running time between them of 2 hours and 32 minutes, into one album. I have to use a time calculator for the first time in my life for this. Very thrilling.

Now a standard CD can hold up to 80 minutes of music, though in the past many were 75 minutes or something like that. For the purposes of this exercise I’m going to use 70 minutes as a running time cap. No way I can use vinyl as a metric for this, both of these chonkers were each double LP efforts.

What I will do is go through each disc track-by-track. I’ll offer a bit of discussion on each song and decide whether it has to be on the comp, maybe it can be on there, or it definitely isn’t going. After a post for each of the albums I’ll do a third one to reveal my final choices. For fun I’ll also do my own top 5 songs from the records as some bonus content.

Just like these albums, this exercise is gonna run a little long, so let’s hit the cutting room floor.

Guns N Roses – Use Your Illusion I

Right Next Door To Hell (3:02)

A nice opening track, I always like when bands come right in with the heat. It’s funny that the very first song on the biggest band in the world’s monster double effort is Axl bitching about a neighbor but hey, it’s that rage and fire that keeps ya alive sometimes. This is a solid maybe for me and honestly more probable than anything to end up on the final edit.

Dust N Bones (4:58)

Pretty smooth and nice tune. It also goes in the maybe pile because I don’t know how much room I’ll have to work with at the end and I can’t definitely say this song has to be there. But it’s a solid candidate.

Live And Let Die (3:04)

We have a Paul McCartney cover song here and this absolutely works. A fantastic rendition that fits GnR very well. This has to be on the end product. The band always was an exercise in both smooth melody and frantic, balls-out rock and this song showcases both perfectly.

Don’t Cry (4:44)

Here’s an interesting case – the same song is on both albums but the version on II is an alternate take. It’s not the greatest thing the band ever recorded but it is a nice ballad and another one I’ll give the maybe card to. Admittedly I do feel like it probably has to be there though, it’s very representative of the band during this period.

Perfect Crime (2:23)

A very nice, short and to the point hard rocker. A very strong tune and a very easy maybe for me. I could almost auto-include it due to its piss-ant length but it’s not top-tier enough to grant an automatic pass to.

You Ain’t The First (2:36)

Another very short song but this time mercifully so. This is what we call “filler,” folks. There’s a hell of a lot of it on these albums. This is a big fat NO, chaff like this is why I’m here culling it down.

Bad Obession (5:23)

A pretty nice bluesy, groovy number that features guest Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks fame playing a few instruments. I’ll maybe it because it’s a decent tune but it sits more on the cut line than the add pile. While it’s nice it’s also like the quintessential dive bar song and that aesthetic, while pleasing, doesn’t fit this bombastic album.

Back Off Bitch (5:03)

It’s a kinda cool song but it’s also whining about your ex years after shit happened. Like, get over it Axl. It’s pretty basic shit that we almost all have to deal with at some point. I’m a big NO on this one. The albums as a whole communicate some pretty lofty stuff at points and this petty shit doesn’t really fit. Axl did a much better job of singing about his exes on other tracks throughout these records.

Double Talkin’ Jive (3:23)

Not the worst thing I’ve ever heard but we gotta exercise some quality control around here. NO

November Rain (8:57)

No point in trying to do some verbal exercise to pretend there’s even an argument – November Rain has to be on the final cut. This song is the very definition of the Use Your Illusion albums – grandiose, bombastic, epic and absurd. It’s perhaps the signature song of both records.

The Garden (5:22)

It’s a decent tune and has a guest shot from Alice Cooper, an absolute god of rock music. I’ll maybe it because it’s a nice song and because Alice, but I am very on the fence about it. This one will require some deliberation when push comes to shove.

Garden Of Eden (2:34)

I’m not some expert on track sequencing but I personally wouldn’t put two songs with the same word in them right next to each other on an album. The song itself is pretty cool, total maybe territory. It might squeak in due to its forgiving run time.

Don’t Damn Me (5:18)

I won’t call it bad but it’s total filler. Easy NO on this one.

Bad Apples (4:28)

I’ll give you three guesses as to what pile I’m gonna put this song in.

If you guessed NO way this whatever song makes my final album cut, give yourself an award. It shouldn’t have made the final cut of the record in the first place.

Dead Horse (4:17)

This isn’t a bad tune by any means but I’m not sure it’s what I’m going for here. I can’t maybe every single song so I’m gonna give this the ol’ heave-ho and say NO.

Coma (10:14)

I’m gonna be real – I totally forgot about this song. I haven’t played these albums in their entirety in many years and I did a double-take when I read the running time of this given that I’m on a time cap with this whole deal.

I could maybe this one very easily. It’s a cool track. But let’s be real – a 10 minute song is going to cause problems when I go to make final cuts, and there are two longer songs on the next album that frankly aren’t going to be left out.

Coma just doesn’t really make the cut here. There are too many shorter songs to consider that would get bumped if this time hog were included. It’s a cool listen but not enough for what’s supposed to be an epic look into a huge band’s most prolific creative period. Coma gets a NO.

I’m finally through to the end of this bloated monster. And this is only the first part. Out of 16 songs I’m showing a tally of 2 songs that have to be on the final version. I have 6 I said NO to right then and there, and 8 that are still in consideration as maybes. I’m barely at a run time of 12 minutes right now but some of the maybes here will be added in the end, and I’m pretty sure Part II will offer up more auto-includes than this did. I’ll get into UYI II tomorrow, then Thursday I’ll post my final edit. Friday brings my 5 favorite songs from the albums. See you then.

A Bit About Collecting

On By bigbadburchIn collecting2 Comments

One aspect of music fandom/appreciation/worship/whatever is collecting. In our day and age, having a collection is not at all necessary. Collections of anything are cumbersome – they take up space, they cost money, they are at risk to perils like flood and fire, and they cost money.

I came up in the old days, when everyone had a music collection. And I’ve maintained one most of my life, from when I started piling up cassettes in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s. (Thanks, fake names and Columbia House!)

I would quickly move to CDs as the ease of use over tapes was massive. No more rewinding or fast-forwarding the end of a side, just let the album play. The CD would be my primary music format for a long time, probably from 1992 through to 2017.

Then there is the matter of the vinyl record. I would be exposed to vinyl at an early age – it was abundant in the early ’80’s. It was still for sale at retail along with cassettes and the just-emerging CD. I messed around with my parents’ collections, including a bunch of old 45 singles. That was mostly popular ’70’s stuff like Fleetwood Mac and Heart.

My current tape rack. This is only for looks, I don’t have a tape player.

I would wind up with a handful of my own records. I ended up with a stack of Sammy Hagar’s solo records that had originally belonged to my deceased uncle (sadly I no longer have those). I also wound up with other relatives’ hand-me-down records. I do recall having multiple copies of Boston’s first album and Frampton Comes Alive! There was some, uh, other stuff in there too – I kinda recall Captain and Tenille as well as a bit of Barbra Streisand. But overall I got some pretty good classic rock scores from my betters.

Then, of course, everything changed in the 2000’s. The digital music revolution hit – first as a pirated fileshare mechanic, then as a legit sales source innovated by Apple. What used to take up a lot of space on shelving could fit on a hard drive, on an iPod, and later on a phone.

I did not go quickly or quietly into the digital age – I went late as hell, kicking and screaming the whole way. “Only physical formats are real! I’d rather die with an 8-track in my hand than play an MP3!” I’m sure I said a bunch of other stupid shit, too.

My very disorganized CD shelf

Eventually I would give in and truly join the digital wave. In 2008 a buddy of mine upgraded his iPod and sold me his old one. And yeah, I finally understood it. I don’t think I need to explain the nuances of digital music versus physical formats. Can’t play your records on a drive or a stroll through the park, we all know that.

I never did fully adopt buying digital music, though. I kept with the CD as my main purchase point and I wound up with a collection of about 800 before I finally got sick of looking at so many plastic cases taking up so much space. I still haven’t moved on from them to this day but I’m on the verge of actually downsizing and keeping only the ones I really want.

Of course I’m not going to be left without a physical format to collect, and I’m sure most know what every good hipster got into back several years ago. Yes, friends, the LP record is back in business.

I had been buying records occasionally over the years and I finally made the switch to it as my primary format a few years ago. I got a bit panicked by the collectibles price spike of 2020 and quickly fleshed out my Iron Maiden collection, and also bought a bunch of other stuff because fiscal responsibility is for losers.

My first record shelf. Iron Maiden takes up the top left part, not sure how visible everything is.

As I sit today I do still buy records. Hell, I occasionally buy a CD because it’s cheap and I might need to evaluate it for a future project of some sort. But, like a lot of people, the allure of streaming music isn’t lost on me. I use Spotify pretty regularly to keep up on new releases and visit past music I don’t own or explore scenes and genres I haven’t previously had exposure to. And being blunt, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper to give them 10 bucks a month than it is to drop a few hundred on any record I might possibly be interested in. I know there are issues of artist support there but I’ll let that thread hang for another time.

It’s been quite an adventure going down these twists and turns in how music is distributed. I like having a collection but I could point to more than a few reasons not to. At this point though I have some pretty cool pieces and there’s stuff I wouldn’t part with unless a total catastrophe hit. I still have a fair bit of Iron Maiden stuff I want to get and that’s before getting into the more expensive things out there. And even if I pare down how much I spend there are still boatloads of old, cheap albums out there I certainly wouldn’t mind having.

We’ll see what roads music takes in the future. The ultimate physical format, the vinyl record, prevailed just as it looked like physical collections were dead. But digital still serves the masses when it comes down to it. Is the next step a sort of neural implant, akin to something from Cyberpunk? Hard to say, but until then, I guess I’ll have some form of music taking up too much space in the house.

My second record shelf. Has some stuff on it.

Soundgarden – Burden In My Hand

On By bigbadburchIn S-Tier SongsLeave a comment

This post was part of a series that I called S-Tier Songs. I later decided to abandon the series in favor of a simpler Song of the Week format. I am keeping these posts as I wrote them but removing the old page that linked to the list of S-Tier Songs, so that is why these posts might look a bit odd. Enjoy.

Soundgarden – Burden In My Hand

This tune always stood out to me from the band’s 1996 set Down On The Upside. It’s some kind of twisted murder ballad that also seems to leave something to the imagination. It’s a bit distorted and trippy and it fits well on what would be Soundgarden’s final work for a long time.

Lyrically the song captures the torment of someone who killed his lover and now wanders without her. The words are well-placed and also fit the psychadelic music with a sometimes vague quality. Yeah, it’s clear he offed his old lady and that he’s messed up but this isn’t some Point A-to-Point B story. There is plenty of exposition, or perhaps mystery, to be found in the lyrics. There is no clear-cut resolution for the subject or certainly his victim.

Part of this may be due to how Chris Cornell wrote the song. In a 2012 interview with Artist Direct, Cornell states that he wrote the lyrics while playing on the guitar. It wasn’t a straight lyrical sketch – the riff seemed to dictate what words should go where. I’d imagine that would lend to the song’s lack of straightforward storytelling.

It’s a little hard to say this song has too powerful of a personal meaning – I mean, kinda hard to relate to murder. (At least I would hope…) However, the idea of wandering without direction through a desert, literal or metophorical, just totally lost – that part can hold some meaning.

Though not really important to evaluation of the song I did want to mention the music video. I like a video such as this that simply accents what’s in the song. The entire thing is just the band walking through the desert, just the same as the song’s subject murderer. It’s nice when a video accompanies a song, far too often a video has its own identity that I feel takes away from the song’s meaning. Certinaly not the case here.

Why is this song S-Tier?

It’s the combination of almost post-grunge music along with haunting yet cryptic lyrics sung by one of the best to ever pick up a microphone. Both the imagery conveyed and the space left for the listener to fill in offer a masterful soundscape.

That does it for the first edition of S-Tier songs. Enjoy your weekend and try not to like, stab your significant other or anything.