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Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

Friday, August 28th, 2009

TZHey, kids, remember the ’90s? It was a magical decade. The series of tubes which would become America’s Super Highway to Pornography were just being laid. Netscape, a company that would go on to defeat Microsoft in the browser wars became the greatest economic force the world would ever know, forcing other software giants into a dark slumber and the eventual murder/suicide pact of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Meanwhile, “Titanic” was embraced by critics but shunned by young women everywhere, grossing a mere four dollars at the box office. America was captivated by TV’s Marcel, David Schwimmer’s stand-in on “Friends.” TV network juggernaut UPN stunned the world with “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” a show so successful that ratings for its series finale rivaled those of M*A*S*H. Also, some music happened:

Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

1. “6th Avenue Heartache,” The Wallflowers (backing vocals by Adam Duritz of Counting Crows)

2. “Hold My Hand,” Hootie and the Blowfish (backing vocals by David Crosby)

3. “What Would You Say,” Dave Matthews Band (harmonica solo by John Popper of Blues Traveler)

4. “Past The Mission,” Tori Amos (backing vocals by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails)

5. “‘Til I Hear It From You,” Gin Blossoms (produced by Marshall “Power Pop Darling” Crenshaw)

Top 5 more-or-less successful musical partnerships of the 1990s

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Posted in Top 5 | 1 Response »
Tags: Adam Duritz, Blues Traveler, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews Band, David Crosby, Gin Blossoms, Hootie and the Blowfish, John Popper, Marshall Crenshaw, Nine Inch Nails, The Wallflowers, Tori Amos, Trent Reznor

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

starrdIt’s late, and you’re tired, and there are miles and miles to go. You’re driving a car you love, despite its crappy gas mileage and the fact that your contemporaries are all driving hybrids. You cruise through highways and back roads, through marshes with your windows down, despite the sharp odor of salt water and decay. You drive downtown, but you’re just cognoscente of the motorcyclist in front of you not to hit him. Miles to go, and you’ve fallen into one of those hellishly contemplative moods, where thoughts race around your brain like a dog chasing its tail. Thoughts like: I wonder how I managed to either completely miss or downright toss away any chance at real love. But Jesus Christ, what would I have done if I had found it? The mood’s like a drug, endlessly depressing and endlessly fascinating. So this list is for you and your habit. Tonight, these songs are for you:

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive:

1. “Goodnight, California,” Kathleen Edwards
The real trick to this alt-rocker comes half way through at 3:06, when the actual singing stops, and the hypnosis begins.

2. “Overnight Drive (What Might Have Been),” *64
Made up of elements from Angry Salad, *64 continued the tradition of writing infectious pop/rock tunes. But “Overnight Drive” seems to perfectly encapsulate a feeling of loneliness that every touring musician must sometimes feel with simple but beautiful lyrics like, “A cigarette explodes on the highway in the dark.”

3. “One Headlight,” The Wallflowers; 4. “Can’t Run But,” Paul Simon
Both songs evoke a state of melancholly with a sense of urgency brought on by the songs’ tempos. For “One Healdlight,” it’s the droning guitar punctuated by bass and snare. In “Can’t Run But” you have Simon’s mello voice augmented by a near-frantic thumb piano.

5. “Wish You Were Here,” Pink Floyd
The fade-out at the end of this track makes you believe you could, at some point, simply run out of road and fade out among the stars.

Runners up: “Precious Things,” Tori Amos; “Dead Flowers (Live in Calgary),” Steve Earle (Rolling Stones cover);”Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” Stars; “We Are Pilots,” Shiny Toy Guns; “Comfortably Numb,” Pink Floyd

Overnight Drive (What Might Have Been) (Sample download)

Top 5 songs for the late night, melancholy drive

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Tags: *64, Kathleen Edwards, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Shiny Toy Guns, Stars, Steve Earle, The Wallflowers, Tori Amos

Aye, ye play well, Jakob MacDylon!

Monday, August 17th, 2009
Read Kate’s take on The Wallflowers concert and kilts here. Nice to know I wasn’t the only one scarred by the opening band, whose name I will not say, lest it conjure them.
Read more about The Wallflowers at The Kate of All Trades

Read more about The Wallflowers at The Kate of All Trades

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Tags: The Wallflowers

The Wallflowers, free in Freeport: a Fiver concert report

Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Greg Richling, left, and Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers Saturday in Freeport

Greg Richling, left, and Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers Saturday in Freeport

The Wallflowers brought down the horse, uh, house Saturday. The Jakob Dylan-fronted band performed a free show at LL Bean’s flagship store in Freeport, Maine as part of the store’s continuing free concert series.

Kate and me attended, despite having spent the previous nine hours getting heat stroke at the Maine Highland Games. The grunts and howls of sweaty men in kilts throwing rocks, however, were preferable to the opening band. Let’s just say this band seemed to want to be uber-em versions of the Killers or the Cure, but whose actual sound is closer to what is emitted when you step on a cat. If you’re going to emulate anyone, just do it on-key.

The Wallflowers, by contrast, seemed understated, but that only worked to their advantage. They came off like the genuine thing, mixing newer material with plenty of crowd favorites. The Wallflowers played well, sang well, and didn’t need to put on airs to do so.

The Wallflowers perform Josephine

I decided to make this post part of an exercise in live micro-blogging. So enjoy the following Twitter composite (with all spelling and grammatical errors lovingly intact) that you probably ought to read from the bottom to top, unless you have something against chronology.

[Between sets L.L. Bean showed vintage cartoon shorts, but without any sound. We had to fill in the pieces as best we could, but the result was nevertheless akin to Garfield Minus Garfield.]

wallflowerstwitter

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Posted in Concert Report | 1 Response »
Tags: Bob Dylan, Jakob Dylan, The Wallflowers

Top 5 tunes for a rainy night

Friday, July 10th, 2009

If you happen to live in the northeast U.S., you may have noticed the near-constant rain we’ve endured for the past 40 days and nights. Maybe you’re tired of watching the endless parade of animals, lined two-by-two, marching up the ramp into that big, wooden ark-like-thing. Maybe you just want to lean your head against the window pane as raindrops rapt softly against the glass and weep silently to yourself over lost love or your seasonal affective disorder. At any rate, theFiver is only too happy to provide the soundtrack as we count the:

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1. “Most of the Time,” Bob Dylan
Dylan has released a more uptempo version that sounds more like his earlier works, but for this list we’re referring to the version off the High Fidelity soundtrack. With one of the saddest bass lines this side of “The Only Living Boy In New York,” it’s as dreary as the overcast skies.

2. “Runaway,” Del Shannon
It’s fun, but it’s got an edge. Lines like “I’m a-walkin’ in the rain/tears are fallin’ and I feel the pain” offer an interesting contrast to what could have been just another oldies novelty song.

3. “November Rain,” Guns N’ Roses
A romantic, if drizzly, ballad gives way to a storm of emotion somewhere around the 7-minute mark.

4. “Raining In Baltimore,” Counting Crows
Even without the lyrics, the dirge-like piano evokes nothing but the rain.

5. “Battleflag “(Lo-Fidelity Allstars Remix),” Pigeonhed
Why sit inside and mope when you can run around in the rain, reenacting a scene from the shitty Sandra Bullock/Ben Affleck romantic comedy “Forces of Nature”?

Top 5 tunes for a rainy night

Runners up: “Lightning Crashes,” Live; “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,” Meat Loaf; “All Good Things,” The Weepies; “6th Avenue Heartache,” The Wallflowers; “Wish You Were Here,” Pink Floyd. Not even close: “I’m Only Happy When It Rains,” Garbage; “I Love A Rainy Night,” Eddie Rabbitt.

What tunes should rain down on you?

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Tags: Bob Dylan, Counting Crows, Del Shannon, Eddie Rabbitt., Garbage, Guns 'N Roses, Live, Lo-Fidelity Allstars, Meat Loaf, Pigeonhed, Pink Floyd, The Wallflowers, The Weepies

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