Good News, Bad News

Good: After a slow start at the beginning of the month, I’ve acquired about three dozen new CDs since the last posting.

Bad: Having set myself up with the task of cataloging the music that comes into my home each day, I now feel compelled to resume the job, and feel guilty for neglecting it over the course of the last few weeks.

At present, this blog reminds me of the days, ages ago, when I was a DJ on my college radio station, at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island. It was a carrier current station, meaning that only students in the dorms could even attempt to listen to it, and the chances that any bothered to do so were slim to none. But the competition to get some airtime was fierce and when I was finally awarded a half hour (!!) on Monday nights, I scrupulously prepared for each show as if it were a Clear Channel flagship outlet.

So here I am again, speaking into a void and somehow convincing myself that there’s a point to this enterprise, if only to entertain myself…

A rough summation of the flurry of new music, both sought-out and unsolicited:

On a visit to Borders…
1. Uncut magazine with compilation CD, Tracks Inspired by Bob Dylan
Another snarky two CD option, and you have to buy the same magazine twice to get both, The other CD, “Tracks that Inspired Bob Dylan,” features some great blues and folk artists, but I was enticed to get this one because I knew more of the songs and artists (cool cats like Josh Ritter, Warren Zevon, Steve Goodman, Robyn Hitchcock, etc). The completist/obsessive in me, however, will keep an eye open for the missing disc at the used CD store.

2. Mario Frangoulis – Follow Your Heart – free 2-track sampler
“Greek heartthrob superstar” sings “beautiful and romantic ballads with a classical influence.” Just noticed that one of the tunes (“Come What May”) was written by D. Baerwald and K. Gilbert, who made some cool music as solo artists, in bands like Toy Matinee, David + David and helped out Sheryl Crow, I do believe, on her “Tuesday Nigh Music Club” sessions. Even so, and even free, it’s not worth it. Into the giveaway pile, Mario!

Friday, Jan. 14
3. The Decemberists – Picaresque
An advance copy of the new CD, due in March, sent in conjunction with the preview I wrote for the Washington Post about Colin Meloy’s solo gig last week.
This band is quickly become a fave rave, and Meloy was wonderful in concert. Writing the story was an illustration of all the things that can go wrong in pulling together a rock-based article (the band’s line-up changes were announced the day we went to press, and the opening act cancelled, so I looked like a real bonehead in the printed piece) but I’m eternally grateful that my Post gig keeps turning me on great new music.
4. Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey
At the show, Colin was selling an independent CD he made of covers of Morrissey songs. Housed in a simple cardboard sleeve, it cost $10. I just saw one sell on ebay for over $125!

5. XYZ – Letter to God
A comeback album by an ‘80s era big-hair hard rock band. I wrote about them, and Every Mother’s Nightmare, in a recent Post preview, but it was one of those articles that don’t require an intimate knowledge of the music being discussed. I’ll listen out of a sense of duty, but don’t much care for the style myself. The publicist, however, was thrilled to get her band mentioned in the Washington Post, even if it’s just the regional edition.

Saturday, Jan. 15
Would a trip to NYC be complete without a visit to the Virgin megastore? I love Tower, but we have no Virgins here in DC (‘cept those abstinence types in the GOP). So, on Friday night, while Terry slipped back to the hotel, Grace and I went to the Unions Square store, where Friday night music/video shopping is as much a social event as bar hopping or hitting a movie. We came home with the following:

Grace bought:
6. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
I don’t watch “American Idol.” I don’t care. Clarkson may be the only person even remotely associated with the sad, sorry affair that doesn’t make me retch. And “Since You Been Gone” is downright catchy. So sue me.

7. Interpol – Antics
I missed this CD during 2004 and, after just one listen, I regret I hadn’t heard it sooner. Might well have made it to the year’s best (and for that matter, so would Decemberists…)

There are few things that bring out the crazy music collector faster than a rack of 99 cent CDs. Virgin had a short wall full of them. Cheaper than a cup of good coffee and you can always use the jewel case or recycle them at the used store if you don’t like ‘em,
Cheap CDs are a treasure hunter’s dream. I found:
8. Greg Kihn – Mutiny (Clean Cuts, 1994)
Where has Kihn been? Back in The Day, he was a San Francisco power pop hero, and he had the good taste to cover Springsteen’s “Rendezvous,” scoring a minor hit. This CD has some interesting covers (songs by Richard Farina, Elliot Murphy, Buddy Holly, Lou Reed) and Kihn’s own stuff, but I can’t tell if it’s some kind of compilation or an attempt at some kind of comeback that I’m catching 10 years late.
9. Odds – Nest (Elektra, 1996)
Sometimes I find an artist I really like in the cheapy section and it’s like finding an orphan child. I’ll buy the CD even if I may already have a copy, so I can pass it on to a good home. I was a big fan of the Odds first CD, “Neapolitan” and praised it in the very first print edition of Close Personal Friend, over 15 years ago. Somehow, the band caught wind of that and I came home one night to find a message on my phone machine in which they thanked me! Of course, that endeared the Odds to me even more (I don’t get that much feedback). Though I lost track of the band after the first few albums, I couldn’t leave this one stranded in a lonely discount rack. Maybe it’ll be the rekindling of a dormant romance!
10. Lester Lewitt EP (1998)
A total grab-bag wild-card why-not? purchase. I didn’t even know the title and artist until I got it home and stared at the fine print with a magnifying glass. But the cover, a simple fold-over in a plastic sleeve, is a pic of a public bus from a city I don’t know, and the song titles were intriguing, so what the hey…On first listen (now, as I type), there’s a beat-heavy farting synthesizer sound on “Mushy Pea,” a deranged carousel vibe to “South Pacifik” (sic). The last track of the seven, which appears to be titled “- - - -,” goes into clichéd rhythm frenzy before settling into an epilogue of strange crackling that sounds like Lester set his sampler on fire (to the 13-minute mark), followed by a brief manic riff in TV cop show theme mode. Such weirdness has its appeal, especially for 99cents.

And bonus! God bless Virgin; you never know what you’ll get at the checkout counter. Last time I was at the store, the cashier handed me a compilation of recommended new music (it included the Killers before they broke, among other nice freebies) and, when Grace and I said that was neat, the guy threw a handful of extras into the bag. We’re still handing them out to friends as birthday present extras (and the Killers track makes us look good!). This time, as the cashier totaled the bill, she said I could have my pick of a pile of samplers, since I’d spent over $50. Since I’d spent just over $100 – and I was a greedy girl who couldn’t make up my mind I asked if I could have two, and she said fine.
So I got:
11. Virgin MegaMusic – Los Angeles
A dozen tracks with a California there, including “Ca Dreaming,” “CA Girls,” “It Never Rains in So. CA” and – worth the price of admission all by themselves – Nat King Cole’s “Route 66” and the out-of-left-field “San Fernando Valley” by Johnny Mercer.
Plus
12. Virgin MegaMusic – Wham Glam Thank You Ma’am (a collection that makes men want to wear make-up)
Besides the fab sub-title, this disc offers a nifty collection of tracks I have scattered through individual artist CDs (“Bang a Gong,” “All the Young Dudes,” “School’s Out”) and even the odd vinyl single (“Hot Child in the City”). How nice of Virgin to put it all together for me.

Friday, Jan. 21
13. Jesse McCartney – Beautiful Soul
“This doesn’t leave the car, but I’m in love with Jesse McCartney.” So says Gracie, who also adores Johnny Depp, Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) and Orlando Bloom. Grace coined a phrase – “spaghetti punk” - for her particular taste in music, which is, she admits, way softer than hardcore. Though she’s currently most happy to hear the Killers, Franz Ferdinand or the aforementioned Green Day pop up on the radio, she has allowed herself the guilty pleasure of young Mr. McCartney, former member of the highly forgettable boy band Dreamstreet, and current WB series heartthrob for the seasonal show, “Summerland.”
Though my Ashlee Simpson acid reflux reflex is at a new, more extreme level of intolerance (the Cosmo cover put me over the edge) for the pretty pop tarts of the world, I confess, too, that Jesse has his appeal, with a smooth R&B pop style. Like a lot of other singers these days, he’s working the Michael Jackson dance groove thing and quite competently. And, while I don’t for a moment believe the looks-are-only-skin-deep assertions of the song (so why is the girl in the video hot? And why the hell aren’t those kids wearing seat belts?), it is damn catchy.
So Grace can have her pin-up boy. And, since it looks like I may get the chance to interview him – which is why the CD was sent to me in the first place – maybe she can get a little extra thrill – an autograph, a personal hello – that will make mom’s job more fun.

Heck, this is taking a LOOOOOONG time.
Short and sweet, then.

Sent by Publicists:
14. Tommy Castro – Soul Shaker
He’s coming to town and, if I hadn’t already made a case for another show, I could see doing a write-up. He’s got that Bob Seger heartland blues-rock thing down solid. But for me personally, one Bob Seger album, a greatest hits with “Hollywood Nights,” is the only artifact of this style I need.

Heck squared. I’ll resume tomorrow. (I feel you tremble with an…TI…cipation!)