The end of a bad era

It's Inauguration Day at last! The day has finally come to say a big "don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out" to George W. Bush! I lost some faith in our country when he got elected the second time, and it has been a rough, rough eight years, but hopefully that's going to all turn around in the coming months and years. I truly, truly hope that President Obama is able to affect the change that he has preached about throughout his campaign. It probably can't get too much worse than where we are now, right?

Today is also the day that the US is inaugurating it's first black president, which is obviously a huge step in the right direction for our country. I voted for Obama, and I have confidence that, despite his age and experience level, he can get the job done right. I think that he will make me and the millions of other Americans who voted for him proud.

4 more years with Youuuuuuuk!

The Red Sox just announced that they have inked a deal to keep Kevin Youkilis for four more years (to the tune of just over $41 million). Read the full article here. Here's how I feel about this deal:

Still waiting to hear on a few other key players, but for now I'm pretty excited about at least Youk and Pedroia signing multiple year deals.

New Crank 2 Trailer

To follow up on the old post about the Crank 2 trailer, here's the new one, just released yeaterday, I guess. I just hope this is a real one, and it's not going to get pulled too.


I don't think the "choke a bitch" line is in this one, though, sadly.

Rattle and Hum

I've been a U2 fan for as long as I can remember. Literally, I can not remember a single point in my life, including my early childhood when I didn't know who they were or that I loved them. I can't remember the first time I heard their music, or how I felt about it. They have been a part of my life for my whole life, and I will always return to them as an old standby. It's nostalgic, really. The last few years as a U2 fan have been rather difficult for me, as I haven't loved their last few albums, and I've honestly gotten a little tired of Bono's "other life" as a political activist and all of that. I'm generally not a fan of musicians and actors who are so politically involved as that. Just my opinion. Anyway, after I wrote that last post and referenced how I've always thought of Joshua Tree as a single work, and not just a collection of songs, I realized how long it had been since I'd actually listened to that album, and I threw it in last night.

And so has begun a new phase of music obsession for me, I think. Damn, that is an unbelievable album, and classic U2 is good, good shit. Listening to the album reminded me of how much I love the last few songs on Rattle and Hum. The last half hour or so of that film is amazing (I mean, I think the whole thing is amazing, but more on that below); from the Star Spangled Banner through Pride is by far the best part of the film. I just bought the album last night from iTunes, because I remembered that my old CD was among those stolen out of my car years ago (along with War, which was the first CD I ever owned - bummer). While it was downloading, I read some of the reviews on iTunes, and was really surprised by what I saw. I just read a few similar reviews on Amazon today, and I'm truly surprised. Did you know there are people out there who are not completely enamored with Rattle and Hum? I was amazed to learn this.


Below is a video of the opening of the film, wherein U2 plays "Helter Skelter," introducing it with the powerful "This is a song that Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, and we're stealing it back."

You can't deny the brilliance.

I guess a lot of people simply didn't get it. It wasn't designed to be just a live concert; it's a "rockumentary," if you'll indulge the use of that weird term. It's a journal. It's a behind the scenes of U2's life in America touring the Joshua Tree album. It's live and studio tracks, from various shows and studios. It's a bunch of really great versions of some of these songs! The complaint I saw in reviews seemed to be disappointment. And I think a lot of that stemmed from the fact that Joshua Tree was a big as it was. People were expecting to see Joshua Tree played out live on stage, but what they got was so much more, and they just weren't prepared. I saw a few reviews to the effect of how it needed a few listens before it really occurred to them just how good it was, and I applaud these people, for at least they took the time to realize the magic of what they were hearing. "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Running to Stand Still" are so much deeper and darker than the studio versions, and take on so much more meaning for it; "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is amazing on Rattle and Hum for the intro and the emotion and background that is poured into it; "Pride" is almost breathtaking for the feeling and love and happiness in it. I could go on all day. Some of the amazing songs in the film somehow didn't make it onto the accompanying CD "soundtrack," which is truly disappointing. You need to see the movie to get the true experience.

Joshua Tree was an album written in America, about America. With Rattle and Hum, the band really just dumped all of themselves "into the arms of America," of an America that they love and embrace wholeheartedly. If you're seen Rattle and Hum before, and weren't completely impressed, give it another watch.

EDIT: 1/15/09: I just need to point out three more tracks on Rattle & Hum: 1) Van Diemen's Land - Soulfully and beautifully sung by The Edge - when else are you going to hear something like this?; 2) When Love Comes to Town, w/ BB King - This was written for a duet with BB, and it just brilliant. These's a scene on the film where BB says something to Bono about him being too young to have such deep lyrics or something like that, and that kind of speaks to the band as a whole. Insightful.; 3) All I Want is You is a beautiful song, and this version is so emotional, it can make you want to cry.

Musings on LP

I'm trying to do this new creative writing project right now involving LP's latest album, Minutes to Midnight. I'm completely blocked as far as finishing my own novel goes, so I'm trying to work out some creativity. This is strictly for my own purposes, to challenge myself into being more creative and thinking outside the proverbial box, but that's a whole other post. Anyway, the point of this post was that I want to talk about Minutes to Midnight. My project involves the order of the songs on the CD and the general themes running through the album, so I've been paying more attention to those things the last week or so since I started this and I've been thinking of the album as a whole on a different level, and I appreciate it so much more for it. I feel like I appreciate the work as a whole so much more now that I'm thinking of the album as a single work, rather than 12 individual works. I have a whole new appreciation. Don't get me wrong, There's certain albums that I think of this way, and U2's Joshua Tree as a prime example, but generally, I just listen to albums for the songs, not for the album as a work. I'm psyched.

I've read a lot of fan reviews for Minutes to Midnight, like, by hard-core, from-the-beginning kind of fans, saying they felt like this album was kind of a sell-out, it was too commercial, it was made for radio and selling to the masses. I completely disagree. I also read one review, I think on iTunes somewhere, a while ago, saying that the band was trying to grow with their original audience, who have graduated college since the first album came out, and are out acting like grown-ups now (my words, not the reviewer's), and the album has a whole new depth not present on their previous two studio albums. This seems more accurate to me. I have yet to listen to either Hybrid Theory or Meteora on this level, but I would still venture to guess that neither of those albums works the way that Minutes to Midnight does.

Some of the themes that seem to flow through the album, though, are feelings like regret and anger and loss, which is kind of a bummer, but it works, and it works well. LP is one of my favorite bands because of the complexity of their music, and I feel like Minutes to Midnight adds a new level of complexity to their repertoire. Bravo.

Is it wrong?

that I get such a kick out of these pictures? I have no idea what the words say, nor did I bother trying to figure it out, I just find the photos to be really amusing.

James

I recently put some of my old CDs into my iPod, and as I'm sitting here listening to it on shuffle, I'm really glad that I did. The old James song "Sit Down" just came on, followed immediately by "How Was It For You," and I remember now how happy this band makes me feel. I used to have 2 or 3 of their albums, along with a cassette of a live show, and I used to listen to this stuff all the time. Unfortunately, the only CD I seem to still have is the self-titled James, from 1991 (cover pictured above). If you think you don't know who they are, I refer you to the 1993 song "Laid" off the album by the same name. Listen and read a review here.