Intermittent Rock Report – June 2004
The Intermittent Rock Report
June 2004
By Adam Lawrence, Music Editor
Hola amigos. I know it’s been a while since I rapped at ya, but things have been shittier than Michael Jackson’s holding cell for ol’ A-Law in the last few months. One shining beam through the clouds, however, was the recent news that the legendary Pixies will headline this year’s Bumbershoot Festival.
As a result, I’ve been working on my list of Top 10 Dream Bumbershoot Headliners. The criteria are simple: 1) each entry has to be a band I’ve never seen live and, 2) they all have be groups I’d give body parts to see. I’m leaving out some no-brainers, like Nirvana and the Beatles, but here goes:
The Intermittent Rock Report
June 2004
By Adam Lawrence, Music Editor
Hola amigos. I know it’s been a while since I rapped at ya, but things have been shittier than Michael Jackson’s holding cell for ol’ A-Law in the last few months. One shining beam through the clouds, however, was the recent news that the legendary Pixies will headline this year’s Bumbershoot Festival.
As a result, I’ve been working on my list of Top 10 Dream Bumbershoot Headliners. The criteria are simple: 1) each entry has to be a band I’ve never seen live and, 2) they all have be groups I’d give body parts to see. I’m leaving out some no-brainers, like Nirvana and the Beatles, but here goes:
A-Law’s Top 10 Dream Bumbershoot Headliners
1. The Clash
2. The Replacements
3. Journey
4. Talking Heads
5. Uncle Tupelo
6. Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. Flying Burrito Brothers
8. Morphine
9. Pogues
10. Whiskeytown
Surely some of these dead rock stars can one day be reanimated for my amusement. How about it, Science?
Recent Releases
Some of the albums I would have already told you about if I hadn’t spent the last 2 months crying myself to sleep are:
Beastie Boys – To the 5 Boroughs
PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her
Velvet Revolver – Contraband
Jay Farrar – Stone, Steel & Bright Lights
Patterson Hood – Killers and Stars
Bebel Gilberto – Bebel Gilberto
!!! – Louden Up Now
Cowboy Junkies – One Soul Now
June 22, 2004
Any new release from Wilco will spark Album of the Year talk. The perennial conversation continues this week as A Ghost Is Born is officially released. The album has been making the rounds for a few months already, as the band once again offered the entire album for download at www.wilcoworld.com, but that shouldn’t keep the faithful from snatching up hard copies.
NadaMucho’s celebrity best friend Bobby Bare Jr. and his Young Criminals’ Starvation League follow the success of 2002’s eponymous album with From the End of Your Leash. If it’s half the album that YCSL was, prepare to have your asses blown out. For those interested in Bobby Sr., check out his Super Hits, released the same day.
53 year-old Jonathan Richman returns to the fold with Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love. It appears to be chock full of songs about love, such as “My Baby Love Love Loves Me,†“Behold the Lilies of the Field,†and “Sunday Afternoon.â€
Been missing The Time? Never fear, as Morris Day’s solo album, It’s About Time is released today. No word if Jimmy Jam is involved.
In 1974, master of mope Nick Drake died at his parent’s house after releasing three classic albums of acoustic English neo-folk. Thirty years later, some alternate takes and one never before heard songs have been packaged as Made to Love Magic, which should be the last we’ll ever hear from this criminally underappreciated artist.
I’m all for a tribute album to Tina Turner. She’s got one of the best voices in the business, she survived Ike Turner, then went on to have a better career after she left him, not to mention those legs. The trouble is, What’s Love? A Tribute to Tina Turner has been passed off as a “tributeâ€, although with Tiffany, Kip Winger and Nancy Kerrigan (?!?!?!) involved, I’d be more likely to think of it as an insult.
In DVD releases this week, we’ve got Toto’s From Past To Present 1977-1990. Now I’m no math whiz, but I’m pretty sure it has to be less than 14 years old to count as The Present.
June 29, 2004
Nick Hornby’s favorite band, Marah, have apparently returned to form with 20,000 Streets Under the Sky. After 2002’s disasterous Float Away with the Friday Night Gods, we could use a reaffirmation of why Marah was once the most promising band in America. Don’t forget about the reissue of the band’s debut album Let’s Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later on Tonight, complete with bonus tracks, later this year.
What A-Law Has Been Listening To
I don’t know about you, but when I break up with someone, I have a tendency not to listen to the most uplifting music in my collection. Over the last few months, Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine was most dominant in my CD player with Good Dog Bad Dog. Although eminently hopeful, they produce some of the saddest melodies I have ever heard. If you hear “Latter Days†and don’t get a little misty-eyed, well, you probably deserve to get dumped. 