SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Vol. 4 (1972).

When I was younger I liked this Sabbath album a lot more than I do now.  There are some absolutely stellar tracks on here, but most of the songs are a rather peculiar for Black Sabbath.  It showcases ballad-y nature that Ozzy would have for some of his biggest hits twenty years later.

“Wheels of Confusion” opens the disc with a fascinating bluesy sounding guitar solo that turns into a straightforward rocker.  But, as it’s 8 minutes long, there’s a lot of twists and turns.  And it ends with a two and a half minutes of upbeat guitar soloing (with a tambourine keeping the beat!).

“Tomorrow’s Dream” opens with a rocking bendy guitar riff  but in the middle the chorus turns the song into a delicate ballad.  This is followed by “Changes” a full-on piano ballad (!).  It’s catchy, no doubt, and I loved it when I was younger, but I’m not entirely sure it passes the test of time.  This is followed by “FX” which is literally almost two minutes of echoing blips and bleeps, some of which go back and forth on the headphones.  It’s a very strange addition to any disc and is really the perfect example of “filler” unless by some chance this was majorly cutting edge at the time.

This is redeemed by “Supernaut” one of the all-time great Sabbath tunes.  It’s heavy, fast and features a great guitar riff.

“Snowblind” is a another fantastic song.  A great riff, and of course, it’s totally pro-cocaine!  How can you tell?  Well, because at the end of the first verse, you can hear a very unsubtle whisper of “cocaine.”  My, how the band has changed in just a couple of years.  This song also features a ballady mid-section.  It also features an awesome middle bit that rocks very hard (and can be summed as: don’t tell me what to do).  The drugs hadn’t deteriorated Sabbath’s songwriting yet, but give it a couple more records!

“Cornucopia” is one of the weird songs that you find on the second side of a Sabbath album.  It’s a got an awesome slow, doomy opening riff which then turns into a speedy rocker.

When I was kid I really liked “Laguna Sunrise” and I still do.  It’s a pretty acoustic guitar number (with keyboards or strings or something).  After “Changes” you’re not surprised by anything that Sabbath will throw at you, but this song is really shockingly delicate.

“St. Vitus Dance” is probably the most schizophrenic Sabbath song.  The opening guitar riff is so incredibly upbeat, happy and boppy; who knows what will come from it.  And then the verses turn dark and edgy with lyrics about a breakup.  And then the happy guitar bits come back!

The disc ends with “Under the Sun/Everyday Comes and Goes.”  It is once again another wonderfully sludgy guitar riff that turns into a fast rocker (“I don’t want no Jesus freak to tell me what it’s all about!”).  After the verses, you get this wonderfully weird guitar solo that’s like an ascending scale on acid.  Fun!  About three minutes in, it turns into “Everyday…” an uptempo rocker that’s not out of place with the other half of the song, but which does seem like an odd placement.

This disc was strangely experimental for Sabbath.  And, while it’s nice to see them not getting stuck, some of their choices were certainly weird.  And yet all Sabbath fans seem to regard this disc pretty highly (I think it’s the iconic cover that we all remember so fondly).

[READ: December 10, 2009] Unseen Academicals

Terry Pratchett knows football (soccer)??!!  In all the years of Discworld books, I don’ think there has been any mention of football (or even any sport).  Who knew he had a 400 page book about football in him?

Oh, and what is wrong with US book publishers?  Look at the utterly lame US cover at the top here.  First of all, the book is about soccer…why are they reaching for the ball with their hands??  Second, look here at this awesome UK cover by Paul Kidby (the official illustrator of Discworld).  Does he not have publishing rights in the US?

American readers, check out this cover.  It is awesome!  It gives you the whole cast, it gives a wonderful graphic of just what you’d be up against when you play this team.  Look, there’s the Librarian!  And, of course, the drawing is great.  Well, at least we have the internet.

But back to the football.  As with any Pratchett book it’s not just about football.  There is a whole bunch of stereotype-busting, inner-strength growing, pop-culture raspberrying, and general hilarity as well.  Oh, and Rincewind is back!  Hooray!

This book also breaks from a recent Pratchett tradition of chapters.  (No chapters are provided.  Of course, this means it’s hard to find a good stopping point, but I guess that’s okay).

And so, the main character here is a goblin named Nutt.  He is a candle dribbler at Unseen University (and he is very good at making the candles look especially old and well-dribbled (which reminds me of Slartibarfast who really enjoyed making fjords because of all the little crinkly bits)).  Nutt works with Trev.  Trev Likley is the son of John Likley, the most famous “football” player in Ankh-Morpork history.

Football here is mostly just pushing and fighting in the streets.  There are goal posts and there is a ball (it’s made of wood), but goals, when they are scored, are sort of beside the point.  People get hurt.  And that’s most of the fun.  In fact, Trev’s dad was killed in the line of duty, while playing football.  He had scored the most goals ever in a game and was immediately punished for it by the other team.

Trev and Nutt work in the subbasement of Unseen University.  Upstairs from them are two women who work in the Night Kitchen.  Glenda, the head of the kitchen is a steadfast, strong, take-no-shit chef who makes AMAZING pies and suffers no fools.  Except for perhaps Juliet, the beautiful, no, really beautiful, like staggeringly beautiful young woman who works for Glenda.  She’s really beautiful, but she doesn’t have a lot upstairs (meaning that Glenda has to give detailed instructions for making tea) but she’s really beautiful.

Every man is in lust with her and consequently no man can speak to her.  So Juliet is often alone.  When Trev actually talks to her, well, she’s willing to listen.  Glenda, mother-hen that she is, greatly opposes this union because, well, Trev is a chancer, a questionable character and Juliet is naive.

The more you start trying to talk about a Discworld book, the more subplots scream out, “Talk about me too!”  So, without trying to ignore anyone, let’s see:

Juliet is chosen by a Dwarfish designer to model (wearing a beard, of course) their new line of micromail (which doesn’t chafe!)   Pratchett must have been watching a lot of Project Runway, as he has a lot of fun with the behind-the-scenes of a fashion show.  (Drinking, partying till all hours  & all kinds of questionable behaviors).  And he introduces a wonderfully enigmatic character named Pepe a dwarfish? woman? who drinks a lot (!) but he? may not be a woman? although she? is very good with a sharp knife in a dark alley.

A new race also comes into Ankh-Morpork.  Orcs!  And we all know that orcs rip peoples heads off.

The Shove is also introduced.  The Shove is basically the will of the street. The invisible hammer that hits you on the head and says you ain’t supposed to do that.  It takes a strong person to resist the Shove, and really this whole story is about resisting the Shove. The Glenda scenes are particularly wonderful in this regard.

Lord Vetinari, who disapproves of football (even though he knows an awful lot about it), decides to make it a more proper sport by adding rules to it and, you know, putting it in a stadium, rather than on the streets. The Shove resists this change and sets out to see that it fails. Rules be damned.

We also see Vetinari’s “relationship” with her Ladyship, the Uberwaldian Lady who was in charge of Nutt before he was dispatched to Ankh-Morpork.

We also learn that Nutt, the goblin, has a secret past that even he is not aware of (although he is surrounded by phantom birds squawking awk! at him quite a lot.  When his secret is revealed it changes the way everyone looks a him (actually, it really changes the way he looks at himself, because as we all know by now, Ankh Morpork for all of its uncivilities is the most racially tolerant city ever (the police force has vampires, werewolves and trolls on it for crying out loud, why should a goblin have to hide himself?)).

And so, we get a romance subplot (or two…with some wonderfully literal metaphors from Nutt and a minor Cyrano reference).  We get some cool thuggery in the streets (and another new character, Andy, who never met a fight he didn’t want to start).  And, of course we get a heaping helping of the wizards!

The Unseen University’s wizards pop up from time to time in the Discworld books, so it’s fun to get to see inside the building from time to time.  We also get to see Mustrum Ridcully interact with the “treasonous” Dean who left UU for the up and coming Brazeneck College (where he is now Archchancellor, gasp!)  There’s some great comments about magic (and how doing magic to save the day usually means trying to use magic to save every day after that, too).  And, there’s some wonderful jabs at academic life too.

And of course, there is football. The whole reason for football coming into the University is that a bylaw states that they must field a football team every thirty years or so or they will lose a huge endowment.  So, the wizards, who are far more interested in eating than moving, must now try and kick a ball around.

Pratchett really gets to the heart of a football match.  He’s got the excitement down (when the writer from the Times tries to transcribe a match in progress).  You’ve got the hooligans, you’ve got the first Wave, and you’ve got wonderful offsides jokes.  I don’t know what it is about British comedies but they love to make fun of the offsides rule.  (Red Dwarf (my go-to comedy for having a funny joke about almost any topic) has this funny one from the one female cast member: “I mean I’ve tried to fit in I’ve really tried. I even learnt what offside meant”).

Regardless of your appreciation for football or even sports, this is a great Discworld addition.  It’s really got everything (even a cameo by Sam Vimes).  I think this book is longer than recent entries, as well (of course I’m too lazy to confirm that), but it reads very fast.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Discworld series, this is a good place to start reading.  There are some 40 books in the series so starting at the beginning would take you a long time to get here.  Some of the books assume prior knowledge of the series.  But this one doesn’t really.  There may be a few things that you won’t get, but he does a good job of bringing you up to speed.

And really, who doesn’t love a good comic novel from time to time.  The humor is at times childish, but it also has delightful sophistication and wonderful awareness of high and low culture.  I enjoyed this exchange very much (it’s not an exact quote):

Glenda tells Juliet that she should try to speak more posh, that it would be better for her is she didn’t sound so lower class.

Juliet protests, saying that she doesn’t want to sound like–
“My fare, lady” says the trolley conductor.

It works better in the original, but the joke made me laugh out loud.  I’m delighted that Terry is still able to put out such quality work!

SOUNDTRACK: KING’S X-Black Like Sunday (2003).

This is a collection of old and rare tracks that King’s X decided to record anew, rather than releasing older versions.  This makes for an unusual scenario of a band recording songs that the wrote some twenty years earlier.  It’s a weird collection of songs to me, as some of them, the ones that I assume are early songs, really sound like they’re early songs: without all of the interesting aspects that later King’s X became known for (musical complexity, meaningful lyrics).  I can’t help but wonder if they thought about “updating” the songs more than just by re-recording them.

And, I have mixed reactions to this disc.  It’s not King’s X as I like them, yet there are moments that are really great.  And, there are even a couple of songs that I don’t think are very good, yet which I can’t get out of my head (“Danger Zone” comes to mind…it sounds like an 80s metal ballad, and yet it’s been in my head for 3 days).  Some other tracks are really good, and must be B-sides, rather than old songs: “Black Like Sunday” is great and “Screamer” is a wonderfully dark song, even if the chorus is pretty much just Doug screaming.  There’s also a good chance for Ty to get a soloing workout on “Johnny,” an 11 minute song that is mostly guitar noodling.

Overall this disc feels like something of a stopgap.  And, when you combine it with the live album Live All Over the Place (2004) which came next, it really seemed like King’s X were winding down their career.

[READ: October 22, 2008] Nation

Terry Pratchett has a new book out and — NEWSFLASH — it’s NOT set on Discworld.  There’s no mention of Discworld, and Pratchett’s character-in-every-book Death does not show up (although there is a Death-like character, and there are voices in the main character’s head that are in all caps, just like Death).

I’ve not read anything about why he set this book on earth (or, as the epilogue notes…a parallel universe earth), so I’m not sure if there’s something more to it than just wanting a change.

And so, no speculating from me, just a review of the book.

This book starts out with a young boy named Mau leaving his island (Nation) and heading out to his “becoming a man” ritual.  He completes all of his tasks, and as he plans to return to Nation and get his man-tattoo and “the thing with the sharp knife, where you [don't] scream,” a huge wave comes and basically ends his world. It destroys the island that he was on, it destroys all of the people on Nation (they were all at the shoreline awaiting his return and were swept away), and it basically destroys everything that Mau has known.

On the same wave, Ermintrude (who, sensibly, prefers the name Daphne), was traveling aboard the Sweet Judy, a ship that was to take her to her father, who will become king once 138 people in line before him die.  She was the only survivor when the Sweet Judy crashed on Mau’s island.  Because of her lineage, Daphne is in training to be a proper lady and a princess.  And, despite her rebellious nature and her love of science, she cannot get the sound of her very proper grandmother’s voice out of her head.  The one who tsks her for everything she does.  And this is why she is still wearing shoes, pantaloons and 4 other layers of undergarments on a tropical island in the Pelagic Sea where she and Mau are the only survivors.

The plot moves along as you might expect: Mau and Daphne work together to establish a living space.  Slowly, other survivors find their way to the island (it’s the biggest on in the area) and, despite not having the man-tattoo, Mau is looked up to as the chief.  The island grows bigger and bigger, as more survivors seek shelter there.  But more survivors mean more troubles: Grandfather Parrots who regurgitate on your head; a new mother who cannot feed her baby; a soon-to-be mother about to give birth, the pesky island grandfathers who ARE ALWAYS IN MAU’S HEAD, cannibals, even the arrival of other white men (Trousermen as they are called).

As I say, the plot isn’t that intricate (although it gets quite exciting at times), it’s really the ideas that move the story along.  And what ideas they are: do gods exist, why do Trousermen have metal and other awesome tools that Nation could use (the quick answer is that it rains a lot in England and Trousermen need something to do); how to fight with death when all seems hopeless; are men’s and women’s roles different; just what is inside the ancestor cave, and just how old are these ancestors; and yet even more about gods.

I enjoyed this story a lot.  It was easy to get into the characters (since it only started with two).  The new characters come slowly and add new dimensions to the story.  But as with all Terry Pratchett stories, it’s the ideas that are really compelling.  And as Mau tries to find his way in a new world, without leaving all of tradition behind, it gets the reader to think twice about why we do things.

Oh, and it’s funny too.

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SOUNDTRACK: OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ-Calibration (is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far) (2008).

Typically a solo album means indulgence. But how can you be more indulgent than Mars Volta? They have fifteen minute songs with twenty-seven sections and operatic vocals and lyrics that are bizarre at best (they’re fantastic, don’t get me wrong, they’re just…out there!). So, if you’re the guitarist in a freak flag waving band, how do you let your freak flag fly on your own?

This solo album actually does prove to be more out there than Mars Volta. Primarily because whereas Volta stays more or less within the realm of their prog metal, this record sets no limits. There’s ambient noodling, there’s chaotic noise, and there’s beautiful extended pieces.

Omar (I’m not on a first name basis, his name is just long) plays a bunch of instruments on the record (he gets help from a bunch of folks throughout as well), but primarily he plays guitar. And I can’t help but think that Omar doesn’t understand how to play the guitar–he knows how to play, and frankly, he’s pretty amazing at it, but I’m not sure he understands it. His melodies are bizarre, he sense of what should come next is totally askew, it’s as if he learned how to play guitar by listening to vinyl records that were a little warped. It’s pretty fantastic.

In one song he sounds like Jimi Hendrix–not so much like a Jimi Hendrix song, but that he achieves the same sonic freakout sound that Jimi achieved in his live recordings–squalling feedback and amazing density. There’s another track where he channels Carlos Santana. (This track features John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on vocals. It is singularly bizarre because it cuts out right in the middle of a line–freaks me out every time!) The next song “Sidewalk Fins” ends with some of the noisiest, loudest, most crushing sounds. It sounds like an amplifier getting smashed by a giant microphone–feedback and thuds–repeated about 4 times before it’s over.

And yet the first few songs are amazingly restrained for Omar. They are short, ambient and, if not a little weird, then certainly quite pretty. But as the album moves along and the songs get longer, his freak flag comes out (see “Lick the Tilting Poppies”). And yet, the disc ends with a beautiful 11 minute instrumental song. it’s beautifully arranged, with intertwining guitar melodies. If there was any doubt about Omar’s skills, this track will knock down all questions. It’s also pretty clear that Omar respects Zappa, if not for his guitar skills, then certainly for his compositions.

This definitely isn’t for everyone–there’s a lot of weirdness afoot–but if you’re looking for something interesting or different, and you’re not afraid of something out there, this is a good disc to check out. Oh, and you don’t need to like or have even heard of Mars Volta to appreciate this record.

[READ: June 27: 2008] The Turtle Moves!

When I saw this book on Amazon, it never occurred to me that it was an “unauthorized” account. It seems that whenever someone or something gets popular someone else tries to make a buck off of it with an “unauthorized” publication. I never know how accurate they are, if they have dirt that the subject doesn’t want out or if “unauthorized” is just written there to sell copy.

Well, there’s nothing untoward going on in this book. The author goes to great lengths to say that he had recently re-read all of Discworld to see what makes Terry Pratchett so damned good, so that he (Watt-Evans) can become just as successful. Watt-Evans has written some 30 novels (evidently…that’s what it says on the jacket, although I’ve never heard of him), so he has more credibility than most unknown authors. And, although I’m sure his tongue is in his cheek, he’s pretty open about trying to score some cash from someone else’s work.

It’s not entirely clear how much, if anything, Pratchett had to do with this work. Whatever the case, Watt-Evans is pretty gushing about Pratchett and his writing. Although he is very clear when he doesn’t like something.

So what is this book anyway? Well, it is a comprehensive and often very funny look at all of the books and short stories in the Discworld series. Watt-Evans goes through all of the books from The Colour of Magic (1983) to Making Money (2007). He gives a basic summary, points out things he likes and doesn’t and then talks about what mini “series” the books fits into. He has outlined 8 in his book:

1. Rincewind and Unseen University
2. The Witches of Lancre
3. Death
4. Gods and Philosophers
5. Sam Vimes and the Watch
6. Ankh-Morpork (a catch-all for technological advances that doesn’t focus specifically on any of the above series)
7. Maurice and His Rodents
8. Tiffany Aching

Watts-Evans is a good, breezy writer, and his summaries are often just what you need to remember what happened in the book you read fifteen years ago (or even last month). He also has an awful lot of fun with footnotes (he puts them in his book because Pratchett uses them in his). 195 footnotes in total. (And if you like David Foster Wallace like I do, then you love footnote jokes!) He explains why the non-fan should read his book (to learn what he or she has been missing) and why the fan should (to relive the high points of the great series).

So what you get is one man’s opinion about the Discworld series. If you like the series, it may be interesting to read (I learned a few things I didn’t know or didn’t remember). It’s also interesting because Watts-Evans is American, so he brings the same perspective as U.S. readers, in terms of maybe not knowing all of the Britishisms.

Nevertheless, I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the book. I enjoyed reading it, but aside from telling me that I really ought to get The Science of Discworld I-III, it didn’t tell me all that much.

My one complaint about the book is the frequency with which he repeats himself. This is not a long book. And yet, in addition to a summary of all of the stories, he also offers a summary of all the series (by pointing out the highlights of everything he mentioned before). As you get toward the end, in the final chapters, he seems to be repeating the same phrases every couple of pages. He certainly made his point about narrartivium, anyhow.

I guess I will need to read a bit more about the man before I can fully endorse the book. In his defense I will say that he bows mightily to the Pratchett altar (not trying to foist himself above it), and he also acknowledges all of the fans who have done as much if not more towards revealing the secrets of the series. And yes, it is a funny read. So I’ll let it go. It did get me really hankering for the new book coming out soon (pre-ordered at Amazon already).

SOUNDTRACK: COHEED & CAMBRIA-Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005).

For reasons I’m unclear about, I had the completely wrong perception of what this band would be like. I had read a few things and heard from a few people some differing stories. I decided to check them out based on this input, and I decided, against my anal retentivity, to get Part IV of their five part collection. (This is because it was really cheap on Amazon).

So, given this, I don’t know what C&C sounds like on the first records, and maybe they sounded more like what I assumed they would sound like. And, frankly, given the images that the album comes with, one would tend to think that deep dark heavy metal is contained within. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was in for a heavier sort of Dream Theater. The imagery of this collection is very dark/scary/spooky, and I was told many times that the band was quite prog-rockish, often sounding like Rush. Oh, and the singer sounds like a woman.

Imagine my surprise then to play the CD and (ignoring the opening string intro which doesn’t signify anything anymore) hear a whole bunch of relatively short, really pretty, uncomplicated songs. There are a number of tracks on this that could be huge hits. As I listened some more, I realized what I thought the band sounded like…they sounded like Queensryche. In fact, they sound like any number of 80s metal bands. It was really weird and unsettling to have my expectations totally blown.

The first 11 songs are, for the most part, short, uncomplicated songs. They have beautiful melodies, and yet often have very disturbingly violent lyrics. (In what practically sounds like a lullaby–”I’ll do anything for you; kill anyone for you.”) There’s an awful lot of killing and threatening and the like going on here. And, yes, the singer can sound like a woman. Evidently this killing and violence is rampant through the sequence of discs, and there is some kind of “story” that explains it. But I didn’t really read closely enough to decipher it.

It’s not until track 12 the indicatively titled: “Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End” that the prog stuff kicks in. Now we have some seven minute songs, we have some complex riffing going on and an occasional time change. There’s also call backs to earlier sections of the album. This was certainly more of what I was expecting, although, indeed, it’s still not THAT heavy. Some of the tracks so resemble Rush’s proggy heyday. Most unusual for me was that the long meandering guitar solo on the very last song “The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut” sounded like it could have fit perfectly as the long, meandering guitar solo in Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” Go ahead, listen for it, I’ll give you fifteen minutes.

The first time I listened to this disc, I really didn’t like it because it wasn’t anything like what I expected. On my second and third listens I started to enjoy it a lot more. I started to really groove to the songs. I also subsequently read a description of the album on allmusic to see if I was crazy, and indeed, I was not. They say that the band is very emo in an 80’s metal sort of way. And, I totally agree. They mentioned Queensryche as well (although they say Operation Mindcrime and I say Rage for Order) and as soon as I saw the “emo” tag, I thought about My Chemical Romance as a recent soundalike band.

As for the content of the epic, I have no idea what’s going on. I haven’t been able to read the lyric sheet yet (as I listen in the car) and I know I am coming way in the middle of this whole thing, so I know that I’m missing boatloads of information. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it enough to seek out some other parts just to see what the whole thing is about.

It’s nice when an unexpected surprise turns pleasant.

[DIGRESSION: BACKSTORY:] When I was 12 my sainted Aunt Lil and I used to travel from our little ‘burb of Hawthorne, all the way to the Willowbrook mall in Wayne by bus. A transfer in Paterson was required, and retrospectively, I am amazed that this little old lady traveled all that way, and made an exchange in a fairly “bad” neighborhood all the time. Once in a while I would go with her and we’d make a day of it. My “reward” for going was that I’d get a record or two.

Well, this one time I was really looking for something heavy. Which is kind of odd for a 12 year old, but I liked Kiss very much, and I guess I wanted something similar but heavier. This was in 1981. I think I was looking for Metallica, but Metallica didn’t exist yet (it’s nice to be ahead of the trend). Anyhow, I looked around, not really knowing a thing about heavy metal beyond Kiss, and I saw Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman. Obviously I’d heard of Ozzy, and looking at the cover, I figured that I was on to something.

However, if you know Diary of a Madman, you will know that it is not exactly heavy, not in a chunky Metallica way. It’s actually pretty melodic, and almost anthemic (not as anthemic as his later records, but you get the idea) and although it has some heavy moments, it’s hardly a “death metal” album. I was very disappointed when I got home. However, now, twenty years later, it still ranks as one of my favorite metal albums. It has great staying power.

I have of course found my heavier bands, but I don’t listen to them as much. Great story huh?

[READ: January 2008] The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld.

So this is basically a “greatest hits” package of Discworld. Stephen Briggs, Pratchett’s right hand man, has compiled his favorite quotes from all of the Discworld books and put them into one volume. Initially, I thought this was a silly idea. And then I started reading the book. I realized that even though I had read all of the books, most of them were read many many years ago. And even the ones I had read recently weren’t exactly “fresh”.

Unlike a music greatest hits, where, if you have the originals you don’t need the hits package, with books, you don’t have quotes and passages easily at hand. It’s not as if you simply flip through the book to find the best bits. So, really, a greatest hits of a book series is a great idea.

This turned out to be a great way to refamiliarize myself with the Discworld oeuvre. It’s better than simple plot synopses, which you can get anywhere. Rather, this is a collection of the funniest/most profound lines from the series. If you’ve read the books, it’s a great way to get reminders of the characters and of some of the funny turns of phrase that Pratchett has been using.

In theory the book is also designed for new comers to the series who want to see what it’s all about. I’m not sure if that would work, because I’m not in that position, but it’s certainly a good way to find out if you like his writing style.

I’d often considered re-reading Discworld, but realistically, I never will. At least with this collection I feel like I don’t have to as much. And it made me even more excited for his next one.

SOUNDTRACK: NIRVANA-Sliver: The Best of the Box (2005).

So, my $1.50 copy of this came in today and I listened to the three unavailable tracks. The first was a track called “Spank Thru,” which was totally new to me. The other two were demos of: “Sappy” (also known as “Verse Chorus Verse” on the NoAlternative compilation) and “Come as You Are” from Nevermind.

“Sappy” is one of my favorite Nirvana songs. I tend to forget about it because it’s on the compilation and not one of their records. This version is a little slower, and was one of the original studio recordings of it.

“Come As You Are” is a great song from Nevermind. This is a boom box demo. Not the most insightful recording, but interesting for completists.

“Spank Thru” is a very early recording from when Nirvana was called Fecal Matter. It’s one of the few recordings (aside from Cobain’s solo recordings) that doesn’t have Krist Novoselic on bass (Dale Crover plays bass). I’m not sure why they didn’t release any other tracks from the demo, as it is by far the most “interesting” thing of note on the collection. It’s interesting to see a young Kurt writing a song like this which starts out mellow, but in a very different style than the Nirvana mellow ™. Hearing it many years after the fact, it almost sounds like a joke with Kurt “crooning” the opening verses. I gather there’s a live version on From the Muddy Banks… I guess I don’t listen to that record very much.

It was certainly worth paying $1.50 to hear this song. As for the rest, I guess if you’d like to hear Nirvana demos, but not a box set worth, then this is the way to go. There are some highlights from all the phases of Nirvana’s career, with none of those excessive jams that make the box set a little tedious.

One final Nirvana thought: this collection made me realize just how long most Nirvana songs are. Even though Nevermind sold billions of copies, it wasn’t really radio friendly. Even the hits approach the five minute mark. Hmm, maybe the world was once ready for non-commercial radio. American Idol has certainly nailed the coffin lid shut once again though.

[READ: October 20, 2007] Making Money.

I finished the last chapter of this book about ten hours after my daughter was born. I was still pretty wired from the whole experience, and only had about 30 pages to go, so I stayed up while everyone else was asleep and finished just as I was starting to crash.

Anyhow, prior to reading this, I had been reading a variety of books, both fiction and non-fiction. As I opened up the first page I remember thinking that starting a Terry Pratchett book was like talking to an old friend. It all felt so comfortable, so familiar, so right. I don’t get quite the same feeling from the Tiffany Aching series, probably because I haven’t read thirty or so books in the series already, but once an adult Discworld novel pops open, all the familiar sights and smells of Ankh-Morpork come flooding back.

Over the years, Pratchett has introduced lots of aspects to Discworld. He has parodied pop culture (The Fifth Elephant) but he has also made statements, or perhaps observations, about the world we live in (The Truth). And the last few books have moved away from some of the broader topics into some really interesting observations about human nature (which he has been doing all along, of course…maybe it’s when he focuses primarily on one character as opposed to a group (the witches or the city watch) that the book can feel more personal…?) Anyhow, I’ll send you to this Wikipedia entry if you want to see exactly what kind of themes each book in the series covers. This is a really handy chart for keeping track of the massive world of Disc.

Making Money is the follow up to Going Postal. In that one, the main character, Moist von Lipwig, a former criminal who was condemned to be hanged, was given a reprieve by Lord Vetinari and was put in charge of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. His success at this venture (including the minting of stamps and his fabulous arrival in a gold suit) prompted Vetinari to put him in charge of the Ankh-Morpork bank. (A fascinating situation for a former con man to be in).

The bank is initially run by an old woman, whose family is a bunch of greedy unpleasant types. They simply can’t wait for her to die and get their hands on the money, em, bank. As it turns out, when she does die (early in the book), she wills the bank to her dog, and makes Moist the dog’s new owner. Thereby making him the owner of the bank.

And so, essentially the book is about banking, what some consider to the be the most boring subject on earth. And yet, in Pratchett’s hands, it is not only compelling, it is hilarious. What follows is a look into the origins of paper currency, the gold standard, greed, loans, trust, and golems–lots and lots of golems. You see, Moist’s girlfriend is in charge of an organization, the Golem Trust, created to protect the rights of golems. And, golems can be a very powerful entity, whether they are free or not. Just see what Gladys can do to a sandwich.

As in most of the Discworld books, there is just so much that simply makes you laugh because of how true one of his wry observations can be. And yet he never risks the story just to make a joke. Pratchett is probably one of the most prolific writers I can think of (excluding your Pattersons and your Steels who simply MUST have ghostwriters helping them). I believe it was Neil Gaiman who said of Pratchett: (And I’m paraphrasing here) “He set out to write 30 pages a day. When he got to the end of the book, he had only typed ten pages that day. So, he put in a new sheet of paper and started a new book.” I love that story. And rather than getting worn down by the amount of output he produces, Pratchett genuinely seems reinvigorated by whatever topic he’s skewering.

I really can’t say enough about the Discworld series. He has pushed it so far beyond a fictional location. It is a three dimensional universe that in every detail, almost exactly matches a fictionalized version of our own. And it is very funny. I Can’t wait for the next one.

The delightful thing about the Discworld Series is that you don’t HAVE to read it from the beginning. And, if you are intrigued by this book, I wouldn’t want you to have to read 35 other books before you get to this one. In fact, you don’t even really have to read Going Postal first. The books are nicely self contained, but the more you read, the more inside jokes you will get.

And what of Moist? Well, without giving away too much, let’s say there are threats on his life from both in and outside of the bank. There are disgruntled workers. There is a whole matter of missing gold. And, then there are those pesky golems. Oh, and Moist’s inspiration for creating paper currency is such a great bit, that it’s worth reading the rest of the book just to get to it.

On the website for the new Terry Pratchett book Making Money, there is a contest to “Take and post a photograph of your copy of Making Money — or any Discworld book(s) — in a creative way.” So, here’s my entry. And no, I haven’t read it yet! But I can’t wait!

As you can see, I was so excited to get the book in this fashion, that my picture is a little blurry.

Sorry to everyone who came looking for the picture before it was up.

SOUNDTRACK: INVERSE ROOM: Pieces for the Left Hand (2005).

Inverse Room is the musical alter ego of J. Robert Lennon, author of The Funnies, Mailman, and other works. A few years ago he wrote a collection of short stories called Pieces for the Left Hand. The book is only available in England as far as I can tell. This CD, available from his site, is a companion piece of sorts. I had enjoyed The Funnies many many years ago, and was delighted to see that he still had some works being published. It was only when I stumbled onto his site that I discovered Inverse Room.

This CD contains 99 songs (the reviews all say 100, so maybe the Part I and II song can count for 100.) Obviously, the songs are short. Very short, in fact. There are only a couple that are over one minute long.

So, what does it sound like? Well, everything, really. In what is an amazing exercise in creating melodies, Lennon has crafted 99 different songs in different genres and different styles. It is an incredible hodgepodge of music, and it is very fun. Song titles include: “Political Song for Barney to Sing” (very funny), “Set the Controls for the Heart of Denver,” and “Heavy Metal Summer Camp.” Most of the songs are funny (but a joke that doesn’t wear out its welcome in 23 seconds), some are instrumental, and Lennon plays everything.

But what does it sound like? Well, to be honest it sounds like They Might Be Giants. Lennon’s voice is very close to one or both of TMBG’s Johns. And, considering that TMBG did a similar experiment on Apollo 18’s “Fingertips,” this album is not unprecedented. And if you liked “Fingertips” you will love this CD. I guarantee it.

If you’re not familiar with “Fingertips,” then you’ll have to go with the description above: 99 songs, no two songs sound anything alike, and they’re all really short. Still not convinced? The CD costs $5 from his website. There’s bound to be one song you’ll like, right?

[READ: Fall 2006] Wintersmith

Terry Pratchett has written a million books or so, most of them focusing on Discworld. I’m not even going to try to get you up to speed on Discworld. For a nice synopsis and a list of all of the books in the series, check out the Wikipedia entry. But to sum, it’s like an alternative universe to our own except that the world is flat and is held aloft by four elephants that are standing on the back of a giant turtle floating in space. Got it? Good.

This is one of Terry’s YA books in the series, following the continuing adventures of Tiffany Aching, aged 13. Tiffany is in training with Miss Treason to hone her witch skills. Through a series of humorous incidents, Tiffany winds up dancing with the Wintersmith, or Father Winter Himself. Usually Lady Summer dances with Father Winter–and Father Winter falls in love with Lady Summer every year–Father Winter pursues Lady Summer, and thus begets the Seasons. However, with Father Winter dancing with, and ultimately falling for Tiffany, the Seasons fall out of whack, and chaos ensues. Think global freezing on a grand scale.

The Wintersmith tries to prove his love for Tiffany by showering her, and the world in general, with Tiffany shaped snowflakes. Tiffany is unimpressed, and the Wintersmith sets out to win her by trying to become human. With expected, and unexpected, results.

There is fighting, romance, treachery and witchcraft. All of Terry’s books are great, and this one is no exception. I recall reading it over a warm couple of Fall afternoons, and I felt pretty chilly while reading them.

Although I felt compelled to read the Discworld series from the beginning (see my Good Omens posts), you needn’t do so. Although for best continuity, I’d recommend reading the Tiffany Aching series in order. (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith) if only because this series follows Tiffany’s growth, and there are some call backs to the previous books. But even if you start here, you’ll instantly get engrossed into Discworld.

I Just read here that editions of Good Omens now comes with a “Pratchett on Gaiman” and a “Gaiman on Pratchett” addition. Sometimes the cachet of having an older edition of a book simply pales in comparison to getting a newer edition with extra stuff in it. This would be similar to buying the indie label version of a kick-ass album and feeling really smug about it when you hear it’s going to the majors, and then you discover that the major label release comes out with a bonus disc of unavailable b-sides and a DVD of a full length concert. Where’s my cachet now?

SOUNDTRACK: CHAVEZ-Better Days Will Haunt You (2006).

I first fell in love with Chavez when I saw a video for their song “Break Up Your Band.” I loved the video, and loved the music. And, I basically became of fan of them because of this video, which I think I must have seen on 120 Minutes, way back when. Turns out that my memory of this video is the equivalent of my memory of Good Omens (cf. Good Omens). The video is on the DVD that comes with this collection, and wow, I don’t recall the video looking like that at all! Huh, clearly I am an unreliable narrator.

Chavez is such a great noisy dissonant band. Squealy guitars, weird tempos, and noise, noise, noise. Fun! But what’s really fun is their cover of “Little Twelvetoes,” a song from the School House Rock oeuvre. This song is SO bizarre, and that’s even before Chavez gets their hands on it. The premise is that people from other planets with six fingers and toes and each hand and foot could count to twelve as easily as we count to ten. And, they made up two new numbers that would fill in the gap between nine and ten so that their twelve could be our number 10. Therefore, they could just add a zero when multiplying by 12. Or something.

Wow, trip-E! Top that off with funky time changes and the Chavez version is breathtaking. This CD is a “complete collection” of songs by Chavez, so it’s all here in one place. The bonus DVD contains some “tour footage” that the band filmed during their first tour. It’s the usual “funny” footage and “bored driving” footage, but it is kind of fun to watch. The real treat though is that one of the band members is the son of Garry Marshall, TV guru. And, as a treat for the viewers at home, this film has a commentary track by Garry, and it is clear that he has never watched this video before. It’s pretty funny to hear him make up what’s happening in light of his son’s “tour” behavior.

[READ: Summer 2006] Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.

I’m not entirely sure why I read this book. I enjoyed it very much, but I can’t recall what the impetus for it was. I read this when I was still at my previous job in Summer 2006. I think I happened across the title when I was living in Boston, and was first introduced to “gay and lesbian culture.” The title is also pretty funny. And so I put it on a list of books to check out.

I think in today’s market this book would be marketed as a “memoir” or some such thing. Back in the day this was called “semi-autobiographical” which doesn’t have quite the market cache to it. At any rate, it is a very compelling story of how a young woman, raised by evangelical Christians can escape the confines of her upbringing and taste fruits other than oranges (metaphorically speaking). It is funny, lighthearted and a bit heartbreaking. And, frankly, it’s pretty short. I can highly recommend this book for anyone looking to explore his or her (homo)sexuality, or who just wants to read a happy story about creative types.

[DIGRESSION 1]: I just realized its fairly hard for me to talk at length about non-fiction because the tropes and twists that fiction provides are largely absent.

[DIGRESSION 2]: The whole “memoir” thing leaves me rather cold. Regardless of the truth or exaggeration of A Million Little Pieces, as far as I’m concerned Autobiography and Biography are very specific things. They have an air of authenticity about them, where you can read these books and, if you so choose, do an informative report about them. Even an autobiography, when done right, can be informative and instructional. But contemporary “memoir” has this air of casualness about it that really undermines its credibility. This is not to say that they are not valid or useful or enjoyable, because they are those thing, I just hesitate to put them in the Biography section (as our library has done with works by David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs.) Maybe these authors don’t intend their books to be “biographies” per se, but the whole idea of these books being marketed as “true” when what they are primarily is essays and stories, the kind which has been written forever and just been marketed as essays, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. (Nevertheless, I do laugh out loud with much gusto at Sedaris’ work… “A bell, though, that’s fucked up.”)

SOUNDTRACK: MY MORNING JACKET-Okonokos (2006).

[READ: Summer 2006] Good Omens.

This book is precisely what this blog is all about.

Fascinating back story: I had read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels and really enjoyed them. In fact, they are what got me into graphic novels in the first place. So, when I saw that he had written a book I thought I’d check it out. It turned out to be co-authored by some guy named Terry Pratchett. Now here’s the funny part. There is a fog on my memory. And then suddenly I am reading Terry Pratchett’s first novel The Colour of Magic in a warehouse in Cambridge, Ma. Here’s the really funny part: I am reading The Colour of Magic Compact Edition which is about 3 1/2 inches square. There is really nothing more emasculating than reading a very tiny book. In a warehouse. In front of other guys. The only saving grace is that it was a bookstore warehouse, so the other guys were literate. But then, well, imagine yourself holding something 3 1/2 inches square. And then imagine trying to read it, very intently every lunch break for weeks. And then reading the next three books in the series, all in compact edition. And why, you ask, would you read these tiny books? Because, at the time, Terry Pratchett’s early books were not available in the U.S. But our great bookstore, Wordsworth (R.I.P.) had an excellent British import section, (cf Utterly Monkey) where I learned about fabulous British authors. And, in some weird twist of fate, the only editions of these books that I could get were these tiny ones. And the reason that I wanted to read these books was because in addition to being anal and having to read series from the beginning, (it all comes back to the beginning now) I LOVED Good Omens. And I have since become a huge Prattchett-phile and read all of the Discworld series, and all of his other books all because I LOVED Good Omens.

And yet, as I just discovered, I couldn’t recall a single thing about Good Omens. Not a single plot point. So, I dragged it off the shelf and started to re-read the book only to realize that, in fact, I had never read Good Omens. WHAT? I based my entire sci-fi/humor love of Terry Pratchett on a book I never read??? Preposterous. And, really I have no idea how I didn’t read it at the time.

So, I read Good Omens for the first time. And I really enjoyed it. It had everything. The four horsemen of the apocalypse (including the new one). The end of the world. Bombs. The Antichrist. A witch named Agnes Nutter and much much of the funny.

I’m unclear how two authors write a book together, and you’d think I could tell which parts were “Neil’s” and which parts were “Terry’s” but I couldn’t. Because of the busy life I lead these days, I’m not sure that, had I read this book now for the first time, I would have devoured all of the Pratchetts, so I’m glad I waited because I got to read my favorite book again for the first time.