20 Years of 1991: The Reissues

I wonder how my parent’s generation felt in the 1980s when all of their favorite albums were hitting their 20 year release date anniversaries? Honestly, I don’t remember there being a special 20^th anniversary re-release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. No, most members of my parents’ generation were far beyond their hippie days by the time the 1980s rolled around. Many of them probably wouldn’t have been particularly interested in a Beatles re-issue. They were too busy voting for Reagan, deregulating business, being the worst kind of greedy capitalist possible, and generally paving the way for Generation X’s own music revolution, as well as the Great Recession. There probably wasn’t a market for a 20^th Anniversary Re-Issued, Re-Mastered, and Re-Packaged Meet The Beatles. There does appear to be a market for Re-Issued and Re-Mastered Re-Releases of Achtung Baby (actually this one isn’t re-mastered), Gish, Siamese Dream, Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, and Nevermind though. Hmmm…maybe my parents’ generation figured out how to repackage our own (musical) rebellion and sell it back to us as well, kinda’ like they have with theirs, a la the Volkswagen Beetle.

TOOL (on Tour)

Mystagogues unite! There is no new album on the way, or at least no official word that there is or isn't, but Maynard and the gang have decided that the inter-dimensionally based, but extra-terrestrial, gods of the Golden Ratio and the Jungian Dark Calculus have deemed this the proper time to hit the road, even though Maynard doesn’t like traveling. Seriously though folks, if you’re any type of hard rock/art-metal fan then you really have to see Tool live at least once in your lifetime. The shows I’ve seen have been the equivalent of a good acid trip, acid not needed, and a mind expanding stoner trip, with no marijuana necessary. Tool often requires (or at least encourages) their fans to “Think for Yourself,” and the imagery, music, and non-abrasive (nor invasive) message that they promote during their shows really does inspire that type of thinking. Put aside all of the junk you’ve heard about Adam Jones being into occultism and black magic, and Maynard’s fascination with his dick. The sum of a Tool show (like the band itself) is obviously greater than its parts. Keeping with the band’s interest in mystic math and Pythagorean Theorems, much of Tool’s concert light show is based around the projection of diagrams, symbols, mathematical constructs, Fibonacci sequences, etc. For an example of a Fibonacci sequence in a Tool song check out this classic fan made video from youtube.com:

Pearl Jam Boring?

LA Weekly blogger Nicholas Pell recently posted an entry in the “West Coast Sound-Haterade” blog titled “Pearl Jam is The Most Boring Band in 20 Years.” In the blog-happy internet age, where everyone is a critic and self-published writer, one has to be either really good at what they do or really controversial in order to garner any attention. Blog entries that stoke the ire of a legion of one particular band or performer’s fans are a good way to drum up hits, and hits are what it’s all about. Dissing on one of the most popular rock bands of the past 20 years is definitely a way to make a name for ones’ self, especially if you’re writing for a big name site. Pell has done this at least twice now. Since declaring Lulu the Best Album of 2011 wasn’t enough, he went on to call Pearl Jam boring. The reasons Lulu is not the Best Album of 2011, if they’re not self-evident enough on their own, are fully explained here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though, so please “allow me to retort.”

The Best Album of 2011: The Big Roar

Yep, I’m going to jump on the “best of” lists that permeate the internet this time of year. Mostly because they are quick, but fun, articles to write that come as a godsend when your self-imposed deadline comes at the end of a 10 day work week. Yeah, hope everyone else out there had a happy holiday.

A Christmas Rock Canon (2011 Playlist)

The days of the mixed tape are gone. The days of the mix CD are waning. The age of the iPod/MP3 mix is here. I fondly pine for the days of the mix tape and CD though. There was something special about sharing some of your freshly discovered music with your best friend, girlfriend, or boyfriend. One can share iPod playlists and such, but somehow it’s just not the same. While progress might be leaving the shared music experience of the mix tape/CD in the past, the internet age has allowed for a different kind of music sharing. I’m not referring to illegal downloading. I’m referring to music blogging. Since Rolling Stone hasn’t decided to give me a call and ask me to share my brilliant musical insights with their readership…yet…I’ve taken to spreading my musical revelations via this blog…

Lennon/McCartney

I seem to remember that it was maybe from Quentin Tarantino that I heard the phrase, “I truly believe that everyone in life can be categorized as either an Elvis man or a Beatles man.” I think he stated this during an interview that comprised one of the extra content shorts on the Pulp Fiction DVD, or some such interview from the time. I say “seem to remember” because this simple, yet wildly and analogously packed, statement rang so true to me that it has become part of my underlying psyche and basic outlook on life. This observation is so powerful that the man who first came up with this idea, and planted it in my head, has become irrelevant in opposition to the strength of this simple truth. The easiest way to demonstrate the insightfulness of this observation is through an analogy itself. Picture these two rock stars, and their body of work, in your mind: Bono of U2 and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. Bono is an Elvis man. Eddie Vedder is a Beatles man. If you can’t understand and easily see what this simple observation reveals then “nothing wonderful will come of” the observations below, to paraphrase one of this season’s most read, respected, and retread writers…

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Winter Tour 2011

Once you’ve gotten to the point in your life where you have a pretty solid working memory of 30 plus Christmases, you’ve also pretty much heard all of the Christmas music ever made and recorded (and are sick to death of it). But…when a group of musicians comes up with a new, yet reverently classic, spin on the whole Christmas concert of carols thing, does it with electric guitars as well as a classical string orchestra, a choir of singers, keyboards, pyrotechnics, fake snow, and in as a unique and uplifting way as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra does it, all while reminding you of the magic you felt in the air around you as a child at Christmas time, you realize that you just might not have had your fill of holiday music just yet.