When devising this site, early on I decided there were three types of albums I wouldn’t review, Greatest Hits, Live Albums, or Soundtracks. I put a moratorium on Greatest Hits because everyone knows all the songs anyways and really the only reason to talk about them is to discuss what was left off (think I’m on Fire missing from Bruce Springsteen’s) and Live Albums are pretty much Greatest Hits just, well, played live. Soundtracks are a different beast because they fall into two different categories, a collection of older songs that everyone knows then there are films will lower budgets who just stick nameless bands that record labels pay to put on for promotional purposes. Really there hasn’t been a soundtrack worth listening to in the past decade. Well except for one: the Garden State Soundtrack.
The soundtrack for Grammy winner Zach Braff was so good it turned a decent movie into a much better one. Who new the dude from Men at Work was still making music and good music at that? Yeah, the song that was supposable supposed to change my life didn’t really do so; the soundtrack to his second movie, The Last Kiss is still worth talking about. It does look like since the success of the last album, Braff got a little more money as he has a couple more visible names this time around. Coldplay are back, but Braff dipped into there second album this time for one of the standout tracks from A Rush of Blood to the Head, their best album to date, with Warning Sign. Chocolate off of Snow Patrol’s Final Straw starts off the soundtrack and my favorite Fiona Apple song not named Never Is a Promise, Paper Bag from the album whose name is so long it would double the length of this post also makes an appearance. Also the always solid Aimee Mann makes an appearance.
Coldplay aren’t the only Garden State overlap as Carey Brothers, who’s Blue Eyes was one of the better track, is back with the not as good Ride as he goes in more of a psychedelic way opposed to the more singer-songwriter vibe of Blue Eyes. Other notable tracks include Star Mile by Joshua Radin that could have easily fit on the Garden State Soundtrack. Turin Breaks deliver a great snooty English acoustic song, Pain Killer. El Salvador by Athlete sounds like if the Barenaked Ladies were British. The sadly overlooked Rachel Yamagata gives one of the best performances on the album with the piano driven Reasons Why. But the label of the best goes to Ray LaMontagne, who may be best know for having the original karaoke queen, Kelly Clarkson, sing one of his songs, Shelter, at the televised Katrina benefit ReAct Now: Music and Relief, or his great version of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy that is making it’s round across the internet and qorth hunting down. LaMontagne’s song here Hold You in My Arms sound’s straight of the singer-songwriters heyday of the sixties but without sounding dated. (Also look for a review of his latest album soon here on the 9th Green.)
Remy Zero is another Garden State holdover, but its nineties alternative rock track Prophesy, even though decent, doesn’t fit on the soundtrack. Amos Lee puts on a stellar performance with the stripped down Arms of a Woman, but it can be easily overlooked with the superior LaMontagne track, which has the same vibe, on the same album. Filling in the virtually unknown actress who also sings role of Bonnie Somerville is Schuylar Fisk, who you should remember as the female lead in Orange Country finishes off the album with a duet with Joshua Radin which is neither memorable nor bad.
But the album is not without its flaws. Imogen Heap delivers a weird acapella song Hide and Seek whose layered vocals just don’t stack together well. Then there Rufus Wainwright, who I can never get into because I can’t get past his lisp/slurred speech singing style, with Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk. But overall the soundtrack makes me earger to see the movie which won’t be out until September 15th. But for those that want a sneek peek, check out the video podcast where Zack Braff talks little about the movie, but some of the segments prominently feature Rachel Bilson, who definitely isn’t Natalie Portman, but is still easy to look at anyway.
Song to Download - Hold You in My Arms
The Last Kiss Soundtrack gets a ![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
Every once in a while I like to compile a list of songs that I’m currently listening to onto a CD to listen to in the car. So here’s some suggestions of songs that you should be listening to. The CD comes in at 76:58.
1. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall (see my album review - Her Face Is the Map of the World)
2. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
3. Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira & Wyclef Jean
4. Touch the Sky - Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco (see my album review - You Gotta Love Though, Somebody Still Speaks from His Soul)
5. Number One - Pharrell & Kanye West
6. Crazy Times (Team9) - Gnarls Barkley vs. Prince (For those keeping track at home, this is a mash-up of Crazy and Sign 'o' the Times)
7. Drive Slow - Kanye West, Paul Wall, & GLC
8. Cash Machine - Hard-FI (Another great Single of the Week)
9. Walk Away and I’ll Wait (Aggro1) - Kelly Clarkson vs. Van Halen (What mix tape would be complete without a Kelly Clarkson remix, this time with Van Halen getting the mash-up treatment)
10. Dani California’s Last Dance (Laptop Punk) - Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Tom Petty (Apparently someone pointed out that Dani California sound similar to Mary Jane's Last Dance, even though I really don't hear it, but that didn't stop an unknown mash-up artist from putting the two songs together)
11. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam (I hope you got this back when Pearl Jam had it up for free on their website, if not, it is worth the .99)
12. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
13. Steady, As She Goes (Acoustic) - The Raconteurs (This and the next song were both Free Singles of the week on iTunes, but instead of getting the album versions, we get acoustic versions of their latest songs. Hopefully this tread continues)
14. Put Your Records On (Acoustic) - Corrine Bailey Rae
15. Not About Love - Fiona Apple (see my album review - I Promise You Everything Will be Just Fine)
16. Boston - Augustana
17. Brand New Way - Rhett Miller (see my album review - Sex in Wartime Is Sweeter than Peace)
18. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray (I always find it interesting whenever a former Free Single of the Week makes it into the top 25 downloaded list on iTunes, luckily, I got this song back when it was free)
19. Sway - The Perisher (This was featured during the Sadie Hawkins dance episode on Veronica Mars and it sounded familiar and lo and behold, I downloaded it back when it was a Free Single of the Week)
20. You’re Pitiful - “Weird Al” Yankovic (For those that made it to the end of my lengthy MTV Movie Awards recap saw this gem where Al is letting you download his latest parody on his website. Get it before he takes it down before you have to pay .99 for it by clicking on the song name)
There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. First I like to mention the latest addition to the iTunes library, classic Saturday Night Live skits. Granted they seem a little overpriced because the price of a skit is the same as the price of a whole episode of Lost, $1.99. They are also selling Best of… collection at $9.99 a pop and even have one for Jimmy Fallon which must be over an hour of dead air. Unfortunately you cannot buy the skits here separately so you can just get the Cowbell skit from the Best of Christopher Walken. So if you want to take a look at what they have, including the great Lazy Sunday rap from a couple weeks ago from where I stole the title of this post, click on the ad in my sidebar. For the other videos, I advise you to watch them first (the links to the video are the bold headers, inside the post will lead you to iTunes) before you read my reviews so I don’t ruin things.
Fiona Apple – Not About Love
Just when you think it’s going to be yet another pretentious, self involved Fiona Apple video, the camera jerks as comic Zach Galifianakis ends up lip syncing the words. The best part of this is that he didn’t even bother learning the lyrics and is blatantly reading them off his paper. The best is when the lyrics get over pretentious and Zach turns to Fiona and gives the “what the hell does this even mean” look. Then the video gets even better when they hit the streets. Absolutely brilliant. Fiona even manages to crack a smile during the video. Now if there were a video outlet that would actually play this.
The White Stripes – The Denial Twist
This is another video with a little comedic help this time from Late Night’s Conan O’Brian. But O’Brian is the side note to a mind trip of a video. No matter how many times I see it, I can’t quite figure it out even though they scan the whole set at the end. No wonder why O’Brian got self conscience with his expanding head. But in the end, another great addition to the already impressive video library of The White Stripes.
Weezer – Perfect Situation
Even though their music has been spotty in recent years, Weezer still puts out some of the best videos. Here we get an alternative universe where an earlier version of Weezer, named Weeze, was fronted by the token hot chick from 24 and Rivers was just a roadie. The hot chick does a great job channeling Courtney Love but I was a little disappointed that they don’t explain how Weezer got the “R” added to their name. But maybe there will be a sequel.
Ray-J – Clocks
Okay this is just live footage but his performance of the great Coldplay song goes into the "so bad it becomes entertaining" category. Listen at your own risk.
As a reminder, tomorrow is the 15th of the month so it will be time for a new Lyrics Quiz. As a hint, Best of 1996 will be the themes so make sure you study up on the songs from that year. I should have the quiz posted by noon, so make sure you show up before all the one you know are guessed so you can get on my winners list and a free plug. Also I would like to congratulate myself as this is my 300th post on the 9th Green. Hopefully my next 300 are more entertaining.
With music companies worried about shrinking music sales, they have gone to extreme measure to ensure a hit. A couple years ago, it was rumored that executives at Dave Matthews Band’s record companies rejected what would be known as the Lilywhite Sessions because there wasn’t a “hit.” Dave and boys would end up shelving that record and wound up releasing a far more pop, and inferior record, Everyday. The Lilywhite Sessions ended up seeing the light of day a couple years later after reworking the tracks with a new producer on the album Busted Stuff.
The latest battle between the record companies and the artist (and fans for that matter) was spearheaded by the shelving of Fiona Apple’s album. But much like the DMB incident, the fans protested and the record company decided to put the album in the pipeline and Apple decided to rerecord much of the album. In a bit of irony, the original producer who also helped out with Apple previous albums, Jon Brion, went on to co-produce Kanye West’s Late Registration while Apple brought in Mike Elizondo, best know or his work with Dr. Dre’s extended musical family, to replace Brion.
So now we can finally hear for ourselves the finished album, Extraordinary Machine. The album starts off with the title track, one of the few leftovers from the Brion sessions, it's a light song that utilized sparse instruments such as a stand up bass and an occasional ringing of a bell. Apple also uses her voice almost as an instrument itself making it very reminiscent of the jazz singers of early last century. From there, the album utilizes many different interments that many other artists don’t even think of using like a xylophone on Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song). Apple does go simplistic on the beautiful Parting Gift where it’s just here and her piano.
Extraordinary Machine does have it spots though. Upon multiple spins, the chorus to Window, started to get on my nerves. Also the back to back songs with repetitive titles, Please, Please, Please and Red, Red, Red also wear thin after listening to the album a couple times. It’s odd that Apple would slip into these devises when she goes out of her way to push the boundaries of music elsewhere on the album.
Apple has always been a talented lyrist, but this album seemed to get an extra boost thanks to the break up between her and her most recent boyfriend as seen in titles such as Get Him Back, Parting Gifts, and Not About Love. She even starts off Get Him Back with the lines, “One man, he'd disappoint me. He'd give me the gouge and he take my glee. Now every other man I see remind me of the one man who disappointed me.” So obviously the breakup wasn’t a good one. But at least it makes for a good album.
Song to Download – Extraordinary Machine
Extraordinary Machine gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.
There were a lot of telethons over the weekend to help the victims of Katrina. First was the major one, Shelter From the Storm, that was on all the broadcast networks and a bunch of cable outlets too much like A Tribute to Heroes that was staged right after 9/11 except this was only an hour long and we weren’t subjected to a Canadian singing God Bless America. Unfortunately I was unable to talk to Mandy Moore when I called in, but at least all of the performances were great and poignant. Performances that stuck out for me included Mary J. Blige joining U2 for One and the heavy Creedence Clearwater Revival presences as the Foo Fighters covered Born on the Bayou and Garth Brooks added his rendition of Who’ll Stop the Rain? Ironically no one performed CCR’s ode to President Bush, Fortunate Son. Speaking of whom, the highlight of the whole evening was when Chris Rock, before going into his prepared speech, quickly threw in, “George Bush hates midgets.” Apparently Rock later went on the BET telethon, S.O.S., and added “George Bush hate albinos.” At least that what heard as I didn’t watch it myself because, much like my president, I don’t care about black people. As for the originator of that quote, I wonder if it was an accident that Kanye West's mike didn’t work to start of Jesus Walks, of which he was backed by a live choir and strings section.
Then last night saw the four hour concert, ReAct Now: Music and Relief, put on by the various music channels many of the acts a repeat of the night before, but each performing a different song than the night before. Some interesting new hair styles were sported on the telecast with John Mayer going with an Anikin in Episode III look, Trent Reznor’s new buzz cut that left him looking like Leonard Nimoy, and Melissa Etheridge, last seen completely bald at the Grammys is now starting to grow hers back after beating cancer. Musically the highlights included Reznor alone by a piano sing his song Hurt but sounding more like Johnny Cash’s version than his orginal, Maroon 5 doing the Beatles Don’t Let Me Down, Fiona Apple climbing out of obscurity to perform a new song, Extraordinary Machine, and Mötley Crüe being joined by the non-rapping dude from Linkin Park, a string section, a choir, and the dude from Tommy Lee Goes to College on the drums, to sing Home Sweet Home. Surprisingly good were the unknown artist from New Orleans such as Buckwheat Zydeco, Chris Thomas King, The Radiators, and Marc Broussard who all gave impassioned performances and hopefully MTV and VH1 put these artist in rotation because they deserve it. On the flip side, I was a little disappointed Chris Rock didn’t continue his “Bush hates…” routine.
For those that missed either show, they are being brought to you on demand through broadband channels, sorry dial-upers. For Shelter From the Storm, is being brought to you by AOL while ReAct Now is on both MTV and VH1. MTV and VH1 even are airing a couple of performances that were not aired. If you are a music fan, or even if you’re not, you can buy some of the performances from the ReAct concert at Connect. About half of the performances are up now including two unaired songs by Beck and Rob Thomas. The proceeds from the sales will be split up between the Red Cross, America’s Second Harvest and The Salvation Army. According to the site, there will be more up in the following days which I can assumes is because of legal issues. Way to go Music Industry for crewing up once again by dragging your feet on this. No word on when or if you can get your hands on songs from Shelter From the Storm. Personally, I'd love to have Mary J & U2's duet.
And the donations keep on pouring in from the celebrities. Michael Jackson says he is recording a song considering the one he did for 9/11 did so well. You remember the one that was produce by a porn star right? Also joining the “I have better thing to give than money bandwagon” is Terrell Owens who is putting up his NFC championship ring up for auction will all proceeds from the sale going to charity. Wow, he’s giving up a ring he didn’t even earn. Great PR move TO. Now how about a check you two? If you what to donate your money, click the Red Cross button in my sidebar.
episode where Duncan rode off with his daughter into the sunset; you can either buy the song from iTunes or if you are a cheapskate, the band has the song available for free on their website