SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Kiss (1974).

I’ve always loved the first Kiss record.  Everything about it is over the top, and I can’t imagine what people thought of it when it hit shelves back in 1974.

And yet, for such a preposterous looking record, the tracks are really great.  The music is a mixture of pop, Rolling Stones rock swagger, Beatles harmonies, and a sort of proto-heavy metal.

“Strutter” proves to be a great opening track with a great riff and fun vocals.  And it’s just one of thousands of Kiss songs about hot chicks that, because of its metaphorical/obscure lyrics is less offensive than it might have been.  “Nothin’ to Lose” is another lyrically inscrutable song that I’ve always assumed was very dirty: “Before I had a baby, I tried every way.  I thought about the back door.  Didn’t know what to say.”  And yet it is so outrageously poppy that no one minds singing along.  “Firehouse” is a wonderfully over the top song with great falsetto vocals and an awesome solo from Ace. “Cold Gin”  is another rocking classic with cool basswork and guitar solo notes over a standard rocking verse.  Side one ends with”Let Me Know” a pop song hiding under the guise of a heavy rock song.  The song is such a poppy bit of fluff (check out the soulful harmonies before the ending guitar solo kicks in), but it works wonders.

Side Two starts with a silly cover of “Kissin’ Time” that of course is appropriate for this band (and if they went for a more poppy sound overall, this would have been their anthem, no doubt).  “Deuce” follows, and it blasts forth with some heavy stuttering and slighty off-sounding guitars.  It also has the best opening lyric ever: “Get up and get your grandma out of here.” Which is later followed by one of the top ten Huh? choruses off all time, “You know your man is working hard, he’s worth a deuce.”  (Rampant speculation as to what a “deuce” was in 1974 can be found online).  I’ve always loved the ”Love Theme from Kiss” which is possibly the most hated pre-disco Kiss song that I can think of.  It’s a weird pseudo-middle-eastern instrumental that I’ve always thought was trippy and funny.  And then comes “100,000 Years,” another one of my favorite songs.  Again, the lyrics are just bizarre (and I’ve always mis-heard them until I looked them up just now: “How could you have waited so long, it must have been a bitch while I was gone” (I’d always thought the “it” was actually “you” which means the song isn’t as nasty as I ‘d always thought).  So, it’s sort of like The Odyssey, then.  But musically the song is just phenomenal: a great guitar riff over simple bass notes and a staggering guitar solo.

The disc ends with the outstanding “Black Diamond.”  There’s so much to love about this song.  It’s a gritty tale about life on the streets.  It opens with a pretty acoustic guitar ballad sung by Paul.  Then, after the awesome “Hit it!” the song kicks in powerfully.  Peter takes over vocals, and his rough voice works perfectly.  It’s only five minutes long, but it feels like a great epic track.  No the least of which is because the song ends with a cool concept: a single note, punctuated with drums, that is slowed down (from the original taped master), getting slower and slower making the notes sound heavier and heavier, slower and slower.  You can even hear the drum riff played at a by-now snail pace.  It’s very cool.

This is really a great album, and it’s somewhat overshadowed by their mid 70’s more famous music.  And if you like 70s rock but don’t think you like Kiss, this is one disc you can sneak into your collection.

[READ: December 20, 2009] The New Sins

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this.  I bought it from McSweeney’s in their attic sale for a couple of bucks.  David Byrne is Talking Heads David Byrne, so everything he makes is arty, avant garde and hard to fathom on a first listen/view.  But I’m unlikely to read this again, so he gets a cursory attempt here.

The New Sins purports to be a collection of what the “new” sins are.  It’s also written as if it were an ancient text that was recently uncovered and translated into English (although obviously, the word choices are laughably not ancient (web design, for instance).  Basically, what you get is a list of behaviors that until recently were not sins but which are now.  The odd thing about the book is that the sins are not an obvious parody of virtues or anything like that.  He doesn’t just say that kindness is a sin, he adds that ambition is a sin as well.  So it’s not even simple inversion.

As such, it comes off as parts criticism, humor, and misanthropy.  I’m not sure how effective it is at any of them.  There are a few dry funny things, but the interesting thing is that the book is designed as a pocket Bible.  Its cover looks like one, and inside it has red words and lots and lots of pictures (that I believe Byrne took, and Dave Eggers had a hand with).  That led me to think it would be a direct Bible joke.  But it isn’t.  It’s a peculiar work, to be sure.

It’s also bilingual.  That’s right, flip it over and read it the other way and it is all in Spanish.  (I did a very loose translation of a few pages and it is a legitimate translation, not a funny or silly one or anything).  But the pictures that fill the book (and which “accompany” the text) are different in the English and Spanish sides.

And it’s really short too.  About 100 pages per side with a picture on every other page.

I’ve no idea who the target market for this was. I’ve resisted a lot of Byrne’s print work because it seemed like it would be just like this.  So, at least I confirmed my suspicion.

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol. 1: 1974-1977 DVD (2006).

I have just received a used copy of this DVD set and I’m delighted with it.  It made me wonder why I never got it in the first place.  And a little investigation led me to this realization: Kiss released this (and two other) box sets with a different bonus disc depending on which location you bought it from.  So, if you wanted all three bonus discs you had to get three complete sets.  I knew that Gene Simmons was a money grubbing guy, I mean he admits it in every interview he does.  But I can’t get over that he tries to screw over his fans so much.  I mean, only die hard fans will care about the bonus discs, so the most die hard will track down all three sets to get these various shows.  Thanks for all your support, Kiss Army!  What a jerk.

So, obviously, I’m not tracking down all the bonus discs, although it’s somewhat hard to decide which bonus disc to get.  (Actually, I ordered Volume 2 used and I don’t think there was a bonus disc at all.  Whoops).

But on to the set.  I have only watched disc 1 so far.  But I have to say that I’m thrilled to see Kiss in full concert mode right from the start.  Gene always said that he wanted to put on an amazing show.  And they did, right from the start.  Full makeup (which is certainly silly, but it was very different back then).  Pyrotechnics, Gene spitting blood and breathing fire, even Peter’s drum set rising in the air.  They also had this fun synchronization on stage: all three of them rocking left right left (or sometimes Ace going right left right) they must have spent a lot of time practicing).  That’s quite a show 30 years ago.

Some funny things: The story is that Gene has a super long tongue.  I had no idea it was out of his mouth so much in the show.  When he sings a line, he flicks his tongue after every verse.  When he’s not singing it’s pretty much always flapping around.  Frankly, it’s pretty weird.  Paul shakes his head back and forth constantly while singing.  It’s like a hyperactive primping.

On the plus side: I had more or less forgotten that Kiss was actually a band.  They are such a commodity, that I tend to overlook the actual music-playing part these days.  So it’s cool to see them actually playing guitar and bass (and to hear Gene screw up from time to time).  There’s a great spot in the final show of disc 1 where Gene actually sings the wrong words to a song.  Its the third encore and he clearly thinks he’s playing “Rock and Roll All Nite” instead of “Let Me Go, Rock n Roll.”  I’m delighted that they left it in!  And it’s nice to see Peter and Ace actually having fun on stage.  Ace sits on the drum riser and Peter pokes him with a drumstick.  Like a bunch of kids rather than a corporation!

It was also great to see Kiss in their heyday in Michigan, being treated as rock gods.  As a super fan back at the time, I would have probably peed my pants at the opportunity to see them that close (of course I was 8, but you know).

Sarah commented, how many time are they going to play “Firehouse” a song she’d never heard before. (The answer is 6).

A couple minor quibbles: I can’t believe that Paul has been saying the exact same between-song banter for the past 30 years!  I’m also surprised during the early shows that they end a vocal line early (this is most obvious in “She” when they both sing the line “She’s so co-old” but they sing it like “She’s so co–” and they back off.  It’s just weird.  Oh, and when they first started playing, Peter was a maniac, singing really loud and often off key with all kinds of screaming.  He almost ruins “”Black Diamond” in the early shows.  Later on, he calms down a bit and sounds great again.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the discs in the series, to see what they change, if anything, during the Love Gun years.

[READ: January 18, 2009] “Peckerwood”

I actually read this because I thought it was by Harlan Ellison.  I didn’t realize this was Invisible Man Ralph Ellison.

And I have to say I was rather disappointed in this story.  Of course, now, re-reading the opening blurb, I see that this is an excerpt from a soon to be published posthumous novel.  So that makes a LOT more sense.

There are two sections of this story.  The first is of a white man introducing himself to a black woman in Harlem.  He informs the woman that he intends to marry her daughter.  The woman is outraged at this and forces him to leave the house at gunpoint.

While he is speaking to the woman, he flashes back to a scene from his childhood in which his mother has him pull down his pants to show her friends his newly circumcised penis.  The implication is that this was the first they had ever seen.

And that is more or less the whole story.

As a short story this didn’t work at all.  While the two sections were well written and interesting, they didn’t connect.  However, knowing it is from a longer work called Three Days Before the Shooting makes me think that this would be an excellent novel with a lot of interesting aspects.

This turns out to be the circumcision issue for Harper’s as there was another piece about a man who, inspired by religious fanatics, circumcised himself and his 4 year-old son [with a sharpened stone!] (and was subsequently arrested for criminal negligence).  And, yes, eeeeeeewwwwww!!!

SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June/July 2007 Music Issue Compilation CD: Cue the Bugle Turbulent (2007).

The 2007 Believer disc smashes the mold of folkie songs that they have established with the previous discs in the series.  The theme for this disc is that there’s no theme, although the liner notes give this amusing story:

one decaffeinated copy editor (“the new guy”) made a suggestion: “The Believer CD should be composed of eight a.m. music/breakfast-substitute jams, like that commercial from a while back with the guy who gets out of bed over and over again while ELO plays over his morning routine. You should tell all of the bands to write/contribute songs worth listening to within three minutes of waking up.”

So, without a theme, they just asked artists for some great songs.  There’s one or two tracks written especially for the disc (Sufjan Stevens, Lightning Bolt).  There’s a couple B-sides.  There are some wildly noisy raucous songs: and three of them come from duos!  No Age offers a very noisy blast of feedback.  Magik Markers play a super-fast distortion-fueled rocker, and Lightning Bolt play 5 minutes of noise noise noise.  Oh, and there’s even a rap (Aesop Rock)!

Tracks 3-7 are just about the 5 best songs in a row on any compilation.  Oxford Collapse plays a catchy and wonderfully angular song with “Please Visit Your National Parks.”  It’s followed by a song from Sufjan Stevens that sounds NOTHING like Sufjan Stevens, it’s a noisy distorted guitar blast of indie punk.  I’m from Barcelona follows with a supremely catchy horn driven song that would be huge on any college campus.  Aesop Rock comes next with a fantastic song.  I’d heard a lot about Aesop Rock but had never heard him before, and he raps the kind of rap that I like: cerebral and bouncy.  This is followed by Reykjavik! with a crazy, noisy surf-guitar type of song.  It reminds me of some great college rock from the early 90s.

Of Montreal, a band I’ve been hearing about a lot but who I’ve never heard (and didn’t think sounded like this) plays a wonderfully catchy two minute love song that sounds ironic, but which likely isn’t.  The melody is straight out of the Moody Blues’ “Wildest Dreams,” and yet it is still fun and quirky.

There’s a couple instrumentals as well: The Clogs do a cool, mellow instrumental and Explosions in the Sky do one of their typically fantastic emotional tracks.  Also on the disc, The Blow contribute a delightfully witty song and Bill Fox, a singer I’d never heard of (but who has a great article about him in the magazine), really impressed me with his Bob Dylan meets Nico delivery.  The disc ends with an alternate version of a song by Grizzly Bear.

This is definitely my favorite Believer disc thus far.  See the full track listing here.

[READ: Throughout 2009] Schott’s Miscellany 2008

This year’s edition of Schott’s Miscellany is very much like last year’s edition (see that review here).  I mean, it is an almanac after all.  However, it is a wondrous testament to Schott that even though I read every word of the 2008 edition, I was able to read every word of the 2009 edition and not feel like I was duplicating myself very much.

Obviously the news, facts and events of 2008-09 are different from last year.  And since Schott’s writing style is breezy and fun with a hint of sarcasm and amusement thrown in, you don’t get just a list of facts, you get sentences with subtle commentary on the facts.  And it’s a fun way to re-live the past year.  Plus, the Sci, Tech, Net section discusses science stories that sounded really impressive and important which I can’t believe I didn’t hear about at the time.

Obviously, there are some duplications with last year.  The States & Presidents section provide the same basic information (statistics about states and deceased presidents haven’t changed).  But it is an almanac after all, so he can’t leave the stuff out!  Plus, with updated news and events, it casts a new light on these same stats.

But what I was delighted with was that so many of the sections that could have had duplications were not.  The Money section has different information about currencies.  The Form & Faith section had different statistics and categories.  So, while the categories are the same, the bits and pieces are different.

So, yes, check out the previous year’s post for the general information about the almanacs.

I am concerned, though, that there is no mention on Amazon of a 2010 edition!  His website lists the 2010 Almanac, but it appears to be only the UK edition (gasp!).

My original post for this story is largely correct (aside from the fact that the first version I read was lacking the final four paragraphs!)  And so I’m posting it here, but I’ll make changes as necessary:

In the story, a man inflates a huge irregularly shaped balloon in Manhattan.  It takes up several city blocks and, in places, it rests against the skyscrapers.

And that’s it.

Well, not exactly.  The story is about people’s reactions to this enormous thing that takes up the entire sky but about which there is no explanation.  The narrator states that people might have felt better about it if it had an ad or a “message” on the side, but no, his balloon is just soothing earth tone colors.

The story doesn’t end, exactly.  It just sort of stops. [THAT WOULD BE WRONG!]  But the discussion of people and their attitudes and reactions is certainly interesting and says as much about the author as it does about the narrator.  Most critics agree that the story is something of a metaphor for his own art, and that is pretty obvious to see.

Okay, so as I noted, a man inflates a balloon in New York City.  He does it in the middle of the night so when people wake up the balloon is just there, with no explanation.  And it is a large balloon, taking up many many streets.  It reaches up to building tops and kids play on and under the balloon.  But mostly people seem to wonder about it.

One thing I enjoyed about the story is the absolutely innocent nature of it.  I was trying to imagine such a thing as this story happening in 2009, and realizing that you could never do it.  You could never even propose a balloon aloft in the city with no explanation.  Security would be way too intense, and people simply wouldn’t stand for the mystery.

But in 1968, this premise (even if absurd) is delightful.

Now that I have actually finished the story (and yes, I’m still annoyed that this version online was incomplete but somehow passed off as a complete story) my opinion of the ending is radically different.  It doesn’t “just stop.”  In fact, we (the readers) learn why the balloon was inflated (although the citizens of New York do not).  The narrator inflated the balloon for twenty-two days because his beloved was away.  And such a charming and surprisingly sentimental reason is delightful given the analytical nature of the bulk of the story.

This now being my third reading of the story, I find it very engaging.  And I can easily see why it is considered one of his best.

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-The Red Shoes (1993).

The Red Shoes is something of a disappointment. While I enjoyed The Sensual World, it was definitely moving in a more adult contemporary vein.  The Red Shoes proceeds even further in this direction.  Since Kate is getting older, it makes sense that her music would change as well.

But there are some really fun tracks on here as well.  And Kate’s initial experiments with world music (the Bulgarian Choir) has really expanded into a more global palette (the island feel of “Eat the Music,” for instance).

The first four songs of the disc are really great.  They show an amazing diversity.  The first single “Rubberband Girl” is quite fun and bouncey.  It has a rather silly middle section where she makes rubberband-like sounds.   “And So is Love” sounds like classic Kate, with some wonderful vocals.  “Eat the Music” is a crazy, up beat horn fueled island track (with wonderfully suggestive lyrics).  And  “Moments of Pleasure” is a delightfully romantic song.

However, beginning with “Song of Salomon” with its awkward chorus of “don’t want no bullshit, just want your sexuality” the album trails off a little bit.  The rest of the songs feel kind of hurried and unspecific; there’s nothing really grabby about them.  They’re not bad, but they’re not all that memorable.  In fact, “Constellation of the Heart” is one of those rare aspects of a Kate disc: a song that sounds really dated.

The one exception to this decline is “Top of the City,” a really nice ballad that features some classic Kate vocals.

Of the remainder, “Big Stripey Lie” has some cool sound effects and lots of weirdness floating around it (and I do quite like it) although it’s really not as substantial as her previous experimental pieces.

Probably the most controversial song on the disc is “Why Should I Love You?” a duet with Prince.  While the main chorus is pretty cool (and uncannily Prince-like) the rest of the track sounds (again) very dated.  The track also features the great comedian Lenny Henry on vocals.  However, since Henry is responsible for what may be the worst sitcom theme song ever in the history of music (it may actually make you want to not watch the rather funny Chef, it is so awful) his inclusion isn’t really all that wonderful.  The disc ends with “You’re the One” a weird (in a good way) track that features The Bulgarian Chorus again.  They seem to do a great job of keeping Kate’s songs focused, so the disc ends on a high note.

This disc is pretty soundly dismissed by even diehard Kate fans.  And it is definitely her least satisfying overall. But if you look deeper into the disc, there are some unfairly overlooked gems.

[READ: November 20, 2009] Symzonia

After reading Etidorhpa, I started looking around at other Hollow Earth books.  And thankfully, someone has done most of the work already. So, for an absurdly long list of Hollow Earth books, check out this link.  I was delighted to see that so many of them are quite short!

When I saw this book, and realized that it was about the world mentioned in “Symmes Hole” (from McSweeney’s) and that it was very likely written by Symmes himself (there is still debate, but it is convincing that he wrote it) I decided to check it out.

Sadly, this book was considerably duller than Etidorhpa.  It was 250 pages and the first 100 were details of his journey to the South Pole.  Which would be fine except that since the author is a sailor he gives excruciating details about not only sailing, but even shipbuilding (including how smart he was for making the ship as strong as he did,) and the directions of the wind and speculation about longitude and all that great seafaring stuff.  That’s not my thing, so I found it rather tedious.

He also talks about the detailed process of claiming the island that he lands on for the United States (the deed that he writes up and where he buries it!).

There’s even a near mutiny.  When they approach the South Pole, they lose all connection to their compass.  No one can figure out where they are except the captain (which actually seems like a flaw for the rest of the crew, but what do I know).  As such, no one can throw the captain overboard or they will be lost at sea.  Anyhow, this was probably the most exciting part of the book.

When they finally do get to the land at the South Pole, there is an opening in the earth which leads to the center world.  Although I can’t exactly tell how they sail into and out of this hole.  There’s a  diagram at the front of the book but it’s not terribly useful.

First they make landfall and create a superb structure (the Captain is clearly a fantastic builder) that allows them to camp in a frigid tundra and to hunt seal.  Well, actually half the crew hunt seal, the rest sail off to the paradise of the land inside the hole.

The ship sails on and the Captain meets the Symzonians.  Unlike in Editorhpa, in Symzonia, there doesn’t appear to be a world in the core of the earth.  Rather, the residents seem to live on the inside edge of the globe itself.

As in Editorhpa, the people inside are enlightened.  But if you imagined that the preachiness was pretty strong there, it’s twice as bad here.  The failings of people on the earth (or Externals) are pretty explicitly detailed.  Chapters are devoted (in more excruciating details) to the Internals’ form of government (including the various levels of government and how they are selected or excluded).  He compares it to the United States government (which has only been in existence for 50 years at this point!), and, of course, he find the U.S. version to be quite lacking.

They even have incredible energy production (vehicles that can go hundreds of miles an hour and stop on a dime), and the best tasting foods with no wasted energy, and everything else that is good and wonderful.  But they are also not interested in material finery: they have unlimited access to oysters, so they have pearls everywhere.  The captain asks for a handful and they give him some since the pearls have no value to them).  Of course, none of the details behind these amazing technological accomplishments are given, ostensibly because the externals couldn’t handle it.

The Internals are quite distrustful of the captain, and they keep him from returning to their land until he can learn their language.  So the ship stays moored until he learns their language and proves himself worthy of them.  In the meantime he gives them all of the literature on the ship (the Internals are, of course, much better at learning English than he is at learning their language).  And they are horrified when they read the fiction that the Captain brought, determining that Externals are basically greedy, selfish bastards bent on war and salves to their impulses.  And, they are likely descendants from the bad apples that they cast out of their Internal world years ago.  They deem him unworthy of staying in their land, and send him on his way.

The captain feels bad that he is not as pure and good as the Internals.  But, mostly he is sad because he was hoping to make a killing on his exploration and all his information (and pearls!) and book deals and everything else.  Which (doh!) goes to show that he ISN’T enlightened, just like they said.

He leaves the center of the earth to go back to the island where the other half of his crew has been hanging out for several months slaughtering seals.  He’s able to load up (and I kid you not) 100,000 seal pelts.  Good grief.

When he returns home he entrusts the wrong man with his massive monetary gain for the seal pelts, and he hits financial trouble, which is what inspired him to write this book.  So it’s kind of meta- in an 1820’s sort of way.

I gave away a lot of the story, but there’s not a lot of story there.  Further, the Table of Contents summarizes each chapter which basically gives away everything that happens.  And if I didn’t mention these parts there wouldn’t be much interesting story left.  Although that’s not entirely true, the plot isn’t really the point of the book.  It is really an opportunity for the author to air his grievances with the fledgling U.S. and point out all of the country’s failings.

Like Etidorhpa, this book was clearly written as a kind of proof that this internal world exists.  Hence all of the matter of fact (and dull) technical aspects of the story.  It also explains the ToC giving everything away, almost like a textbook.  The strangest thing for me though is that the author clearly had an amazing imagination to come up with this, but he seemed to lack the imagination to make the story more compelling.

A lot of this Hollow Earth work is preachy, and I hope that future stories prove more entertaining.

Many many years ago, I discovered Might magazine.  It was a funny, silly magazine that spoofed everything (but had a serious backbone, too).  (You can order back issues here).  And so, I subscribed around issue 13.  When the magazine folded (with issue 16–and you can read a little bit about that in the intro to Shiny Adidas Track Suits) it somehow morphed into McSweeney’s, and much of the creative team behind Might went with them.

The early volumes (1-5 are reviewed in these pages, and the rest will come one of these days) are a more literary enterprise than Might was.  There’s still a lot of the same humor (and a lot of silliness), but there are also lengthy non-fiction pieces.  The big difference is that McSweeney’s was bound as a softcover book rather than as a magazine. And, I guess technically it is called Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern as opposed to Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Issue #6 came with a CD of music by They Might Be Giants.  And from then on it was anybody’s guess what the next issue would look like.  (This Wikipedia page provides a nice summary of all of the issues that have been published, including authors).

The latest issue (#33) is being printed as a newspaper (just to give an idea of the diversity of product here).

The books (for most of them are books, despite the above newspaper) come out occasionally.  I gather it was supposed to be a quarterly, but I don’t know that they’ve ever really kept a schedule. Many of the books are hardcover (beautifully bound).  Some have been paperbacks.  Occasionally they come in a fancy packaging (boxes, slipcases etc). You never know what you’re going to get, which is a lot of the fun.

Although you do know that you’re going to get quality short stories.  The list of fantastic (and well-known) authors grows and grows. (Just a few: Michael Chabon, Stephen King, David Foster Wallace, George Saunders, Roddy Doyle, A.M. Homes, and Joyce Carol Oates.)  And mixed in with them are less well known (ie. more indie) authors, as well as occasional unknowns.  And even if I don’t love every story, I know that they’ll all be worth a read.

McSweeney’s itself has grown from a publisher of this quarterly to include an empire that publishes books (their book of the month club is the way to go), an official periodical (The Believer), and a video magazine (Wholphin).

I am probably a little too steeped in McSweeney’s-world, but I’ve never been disappointed with a release of theirs (okay, that’s not true, they have published a few clunkers).  I’m always excited to get the box with the little chair as the return address.

And, of course, I began a Wikipedia page of all of the McSweeney’s Books. I’m delighted to see that folks have been adding to it!

Original mention in Periodicals Page:

McSweeney’s. Technically a periodical. A collection of short stories and things like it. I’m usually too overwhelmed by the time this comes in, and frankly, I am many many issues behind on reading this. However, I plowed through 21 and 22 recently, and just got 23. So, I’m looking forward to it and its brethren. I got turned onto McSweeney’s because I used to subscribe to MIGHT magazine (R.I.P) which was a hilarious magazine ala Spy (R.I.P). Might ran for a dozen or so issues and then strangely morphed into McSweeney’s. I think somehow my subscription ran over into McSweeney’s and the rest is 23 issues of fun!

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Aspects of the Sensual World (1989).

This was the first CD single that I can remember acquiring.  I got it from the radio station at school, and I felt like I was in on a big secret having all of these bonus tracks.

There are five songs on this disc.  The original “The Sensual World” and an instrumental version of the song.  The three bonus songs are pretty rocking songs that fit nicely with this era of Kate’s output.  “Be Kind to My Mistakes” sounds like it should be a sweet ballad, but no, it’s all percussion-heavy and fun.  And “I’m Still Waiting” is even more intense, with some of Kate’s over the top vocals added in.

The final track, “Ken” is the theme song to The Comic Strip Presents short film The GLC.  It’s a wonderful theme song, even if the film is a parody.  It’s got a singalong “da da da” chorus and fist pumping backing vocals and all sorts of fun things.  You can see the “preview” for the film along with Kate’s song, on YouTube.

This disc is something of a trifle compared to her full CDs, but it’s an easier way to get these tracks than buying This Woman’s Work!  When The Sensual World came out I assumed that Kate cut off all her hair (judging by the cover), but this cover belies that.  I wonder which one is a wig.

[READ: November 13, 2009] “An Insurrection”

This story won the Esquire fiction contest.  I fully intended to submit a story to this contest, but, well, I forgot.  I didn’t write a word for it (although I did spend a few days thinking about what I would write about).  If I had won the contest, I would of course have wanted people to read my story, so I felt it was the least I could do to read the winner’s story.

And I’m a little mixed about it.

I’m not at all certain why there was such emphasis placed on the fact that it was a post- 9/11 scenario.  The jokes about cashing in on people’s insecurities about terrorism were fine but it didn’t really warrant all of the set up about when the story took place.

Really, the story is just about two people growing apart; the time of the story was irrelevant (and yes, I do understand that everyone is more tense with fears of terrorism, but it doesn’t really impact the story).  I found the introduction of the story to be quite compelling.  But when it started to turn into a “she’s going to leave me because I’m fat” gripe, I lost interest.

The story did reverse that trajectory, thankfully, and the final section was gross but interesting.  And I have to say that the final lines (within the context of the whole story) were fantastic.

My biggest gripe however, comes with Esquire itself. They included two pictures with the story.  One references a wet T shirt description in the story (which I needed to cover up when reading in the library).  The second, and yes, I’m writing this in all caps:  THE SECOND PICTURE TOTALLY GAVE AWAY THE “TWIST” IN THE STORY!  And, it came right at a time in the story WHERE PLACING THE PICTURE WOULD GIVE THE READER NO DOUBT ABOUT WHAT THE PICTURE REPRESENTED.

Talk about spoilers.  Of all the things they could have put a picture of, they had to put that one?  Hey Esquire, if I were the contest winner, I’d be pissed if you gave away the (admittedly minor) twist in the end of my story.  So, I hope that Walsh isn’t too pissed (he did win, after all).  But man, it so obviously impacted my reading of the story, that I couldn’t appreciate it for what it was trying to do.

I can’t honestly say how much I would have enjoyed the story if this wasn’t so obviously given away, because I spent much of the last section expecting it to be spoiled.  Pity, really.

I’m being a little dramatic, yes.  I’m sorry.

Overall, the story was good. I’m quite certain that nothing I would have written would have made it into Esquire (I don’t think I’ve ever written a story with the word “tits” in it).  So, I won’t sit around wondering “what if.”  Rather, I’ll just enjoy the story for what it was: a look at midlife crisis (in an out of control environment).

Congratulations Walsh.  Well played.

SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-The Hungry Saw (2008).

It was the releases of this Tindersticks disc (their first in 5 years) on the venerable Constellation Records (in North America) that inspired my trip through their back catalog. I was completely surprised to see them released on Constellation, as the band doesn’t exactly fit with the label’s stereotypical style (although, realistically with the last dozen or so releases, Constellation has really expanded the kind of music they release).

And this is a fantastic Tindersticks release!  There’s not a bad song on the disc. And, even though nothing is as immediately gripping as say “Can We Start Again,” the disc contains some of the band’s strongest songs.  “The Hungry Saw” is simply amazing, both lyrically and in its catchy (yet creepy) chorus.  But the highlight is probably “Boobar, Come Back to Me,” a song that begins slowly and builds gloriously, including a call and response segment that makes this song really swagger.

“Mother Dear” features a strangely comical musical episode.  In an otherwise very mellow piano based track, right in the middle of the song, come slashing, somewhat atonal guitar chords.  It’s as if a more rocking song is trying to overtake the mellow track.  (The coup is rebuffed, though).

The biggest thing to note about the disc is that longtime co-songwriter Dickon has left the band.  And so, some of the co-writing duties have been taken up by David Boulter.  While it is obviously sad that Dickon has left, Staples seems revitalized on this disc, and Boulter’s additions (especially his quirky instrumentals) bring a new point of view to the proceedings.  Also of note is something of a return to the orchestral style (albeit a much more understated version).  However, different songs emphasize different aspects: horns on one, strings on another, but always underscored by the ubiquitous Hammond organ.

It’s not a radical departure or anything like that.  It’s more of a continuation after a well earned vacation.  And it’s certainly their strongest release since their first four.

[READ & WATCHED: October 2009] Souvenir of Canada, Souvenir of Canada 2 & Souvenir of Canada (the movie)

I got the first Souvenir of Canada when it came out.  (I was on a big Coupland kick and may have even bought it in Montreal).  I didn’t get #2 when it came out, probably because I didn’t really invest a lot of effort into the first one.  But after recently reading City of Glass, I wanted to get a little more involved in Coupland’s visual art.  So, I picked up #2 and, while investigating this second book, I discovered that he had made a film of the books, too.

Coupland explains in the introduction that this book is his personal vision of what Canada is like. It is designed for Canadians as something of a nostalgia trip, but it is also something of an introduction to unseen Canada for non-Canadians.  And so, what you don’t get is pictures of mounties and Tim Hortons and other things that fit the stereotypical Canadian bill. Rather, you get things that are significant to Coupland (and maybe the average Canadian born on the West Coast in the 60s).

He begins with Baffin Island and moves more or less alphabetically through significant things in his Canadian existence: chimo (the short lived Canadian greeting), wonderfully aggressive anti smoking ads on packs of smokes, the Group of Seven, Inuksuit rock statues (like on the cover of this Rush album), the maple leaf (the flag’s only been around since 1967), ookpik, Poutine, stubbies, Trans-Canada highway, through to Zed.

Coupland give s brief paragraph or two (or more in some cases) about the item/idea/concept and how it related to his life.  It certainly provides an insight into a culture that is often hidden in plain sight (especially to Americans).

I especially enjoyed learning about Capitaine Crounche.

Pictures feature heavily in the book.  There are a lot of stock photos of various Canadian items.  And there are a lot of photos that Coupland has used by permission to enhance his descriptions.

Coupland has also created several “still lifes” which he finds to be quintessentially Canadian.  They feature elements from his childhood mashed together into a disconcerting yet oddly familiar scene. So there are beer bottles and electronic hockey games and Canada geese and all manner of things.  Although I have to say that I don’t find them very appealing as art.

The second book picks up where the previous one left off two years earlier.

The first book is more text heavy than the second.  This volume has a lot more photos (not original ones, more stock footage pictures, which I rather like).  It begins with some abstract ideas about Being Canadian, but moves steadily into the CMHC Houses (which will come into play for Canada House), the brilliant Robertson screwdriver, his mom’s kitchen (a favorite of mine), Terry Fox, Tranna (Toronto), Treeplanters , Y?? (airport designations…Toronto’s is YYZ, hey, like the Rush song!), through to Zut!

The Robertson Screwdriver looks like this. And it doesn't strip like a Phillips head.

This volume feels even more personal. He discusses the prevalence of Canada Geese (and that his family raised some when he was little).  There’s his mother’s kitchen and of course, Canada House.  Canada House was a project that DC undertook.  He found a CMHC house that was destined for destruction.  He was able to decorate it with his art to make it quintessential Canadian.  It is fascinating to see, and seems like it would have been quite cool to visit (for the two weeks it was in operation). The fact that he adds personal information about the experiment (people who visited and where they were from) is great.

As I said the pictures in the books are a lot of fun.  I loved the Eatson’s catalog from the 70s, and, of course, the shots from Canada House are wonderful.  DC also wrote a book about Terry Fox a couple of years after this, so the pages about him are quite moving.

This is a wonderful continuation of the series, and I think I wound up enjoying this volume more.

As far as I can tell the Souvenir of Canada DVD was recently reissued with this new cover (on the left).  I prefer the original cover (on the right) [or is that the U.S DVD release?].  I didn’t read about any real difference between the two editions, so I assume it is just repackaged.

The DVD is something of a video version of the books, but there are many differences. The documentary doesn’t go through either book with a lot of detail.  It does mention a half or dozen or so entries, and there may even be some quotes from the books.  For the most part, it contains a few highlights from the books, but it goes off on its own tangents quite a bit.  The film also features music from the New Pornographers, so that’s nice too.

The first notable thing to me was Coupland’s voice.  I have never heard him speak before and it was absolutely nothing like what I expected (especially how slow his pace is).

The main focus of the DVD tends to fall on the aforementioned Canada House.  Even though the pictures of Canada House in the book are very cool, I felt like the book didn’t show enough of this cool exhibition.  The centerpiece of the film shows Coupland picking, tearing apart, cleaning up and assembling Canada House.  We get to see a lot of the things that he talks about it the book, but we get a more 360 degree Canada House experience.  It’s very interesting.

Like the books, the film is one man’s opinion of what Canada is.  What I like about it is that it is a very uncommerical (and I think very Vancouver-centric) opinion.  It also reflects back onto Coupland’s childhood (in the lat 60s/early 70s), and I learned more about him in a few moments than in all of the book jacket blurbs I’ve read.  It comes across as so much nostalgia.  But it clear that Coupland loves his home land.  And it’s that kind of passion that makes any art compelling.

As I said, I found a lot of his still lifes to be to random at best (he says you have to be Canadian to really appreciate them, but I think even aesthetically they’re a little blah).  But the standalone sculptures are all pretty cool.  He made some lamps out of fisherman’s floats (which are HUGE!).  But the most interesting items are the quilts.  He didn’t make them, but he designed them and they are all very cool. I especially liked the $1,000 quilt which is made of 1,000 loonie coins.

It was also interesting to learn that the Canada House exhibit was exported to London (the final line of the movie is hilarious).

So, which is the best of the three?  Obviously I think the film is the most fully formed and three-dimensional.  (The Canada House thing is very neat). But the books are also a lot of fun too.  Even if you’re not especially interested in Canada, if you enjoy seeing pop culture before it gets assimilated into corporate culture, this is a fun look at what Canada used to be like.  And, of course, Coupland’s writing is always engaging.

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC-YOUTH-the eternal (2009).

It was the release of this disc that inspired me to see what they’ve been up to since the 80s.  And, sometimes it’s really fun to root through a band’s back catalog to see what kind of progression they’ve made over the years.

There are three things that set this disc apart from  many other SY discs.

The first is the dual/harmonized vocals. I don’t recall ever hearing Thurston and Kim split vocals duties in a song before, least of which in a half-line by half-line way.  There’s also some points where they sing (sort of) harmonies.  It’s a really interesting addition to their sounds.

The second is the staccato playing.  In the past I’ve always felt like SY ’s sounds flowed over everything (even if it was noise, it was a continuous wash of noise).  On The Eternal, there’s three or four songs where the band plays a chug chug chug chug rhythm (with everyone playing along).  It’s most notable in “Anti-Orgasm,” where the chug chug part is accompanied by Thurston and Kim chanting uh uh uh on every beat.

The third is the bass.  The band has added Pavement bassist Mark Ibold to their lineup.  And as far as I can tell he does things on bass that Kim never did.  He seems to complement Steve Shelly as a rhythm section.  I always felt that Kim played something of a lead bass: she didn’t seem to go in for a notable steady bass rhythm (note on “Kool Thing” where her bass plays the main riff).  And since Thurston and Lee were often playing noise, it was essential for Kim’s bass to be more than just a rhythm instrument.  On this disc you have bass sections playing the song’s rhythm. Its a simple thing, something that all bands do, but it sounds so different for them.

They even mix up the song lengths quite a bit.  The opener is a two minute bit (with great lyrics from Kim: “What’s it like to be a girl in a band?  I just don’t understand.  That’s so quaint to hear.  I feel so faint my dear.”)   While “Anti-Orgasm” is over six minutes (three of the chug chug section and then three of an extended jam).  Lee’s awesome song, “What We Know” runs about 4 minutes.  And the final song, the very cool “Massage the History” runs over 9 minutes.

These elements give the band a revitalized sound.  And they sound like they’re really having a lot of fun. And boy are they rocking.  The band sounds heavy, they sound intense, and they sound great.  There’s not a bad track on the disc.

[READ: November 6, 2009] “Premium Harmony”

This story takes a look at a dysfunctional husband and wife on the way to Wal-Mart.  She wants to stop at the Quik-Pik on the way, to buy something that he thinks will be cheaper at Wal-Mart anyway.  This detour turns out to be significant, and nothing will be the same for them again.

I have to be this vague because saying anything more will give away too much of this rather simple story.

As with many Stephen King stories, I was gripped by it pretty quickly.  I was intrigued and somewhat entranced by the story.  But when it was done, I realized that it didn’t have any real emotional impact.  There wasn’t enough of an investment in these characters for me to care about what happened to them (although i really enjoyed it while reading it).

It reminds me of friends who tell a really great compelling story while you’re hanging out.  The story’s about their bosses or whomever (someone you don’t know) and it’s really funny.  But you forget them as soon as you start to head home.

You can read it here.

SOUNDTRACK:  TINDERSTICKS-What is a Man (2000).

This is a soundtrack to a TV mini-series called The Sins (which I know nothing about).  The song (for there is only one) is a cover of a Four Tops song (which I do not know).  The “B-side” is an instrumental version of said song.

And, sadly, that’s all that comes on this disc.  It’s a good song, yes, but at a combined total of about 5 minutes, it’s rather skimpy as a disc (Hey that’s what singles used to be back in the day).  Normally I don’t encourage the downloading of tracks (I’m more of a physical medium kind of guy), but I think if you’re looking for this for this particular song, you’re much better off just downloading it.  I don’t think it’s available on any other discs.

[READ: October 24, 2009] “The Balloon”

[UPDATE: November 25, 2009]  For the new review of the story, click here.

I just received a copy of Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts and have learned that the version of “The Balloon” that I read and which I linked to below is NOT the entire story.

Aside from a couple of inexplicable word changes (!) the version online leaves out the final four paragraphs.  And, with Barthelme’s prose being so dense, that’s quite a lot of information.

This changes my reading of the story quite a lot as there is now a DIFFERENT ENDING!  So I have to more or less disown this review.  But I will leave it up for posterity.  I’ll include a new review when I finish the short story collection.

[original review commences here]

David Foster Wallace in a Salon.com interview, said that this was “which is the first story I ever read that made me want to be a writer.”  I have recently read a few Barthelme pieces (that were in Harper’s) and I found them to be weird, kind of interesting, but nothing inspirational.

But, heck, why not see what got DFW going?

So this story was, in fact, very cool. It was written before the pieces that were in Harper’s, and, as with most artists who end up in a weird and out-there place, he started off in a reasonably normal place.  In other words, this story is actually something of a story with a beginning and sort of an end.  There’s no plot, per se, but the story does lead somewhere.

In the story, a man inflates a huge irregularly shaped balloon in Manhattan.  It takes up several city blocks and, in places, it rests against the skyscrapers.

And that’s it.

Well, not exactly.  The story is about people’s reactions to this enormous thing that takes up the entire sky but about which there is no explanation.  The narrator states that people might have felt better about it if it had an ad or a “message” on the side, but no, his balloon is just soothing earth tone colors.

The story doesn’t end, exactly.  It just sort of stops.  But the discussion of people and their attitudes and reactions is certainly interesting and says as much about the author as it does about the narrator.  Most critics agree that the story is something of a metaphor for his own art, and that is pretty obvious to see.

It’s quite clear that this story did have a big impact on DFW’s writing.  It hasn’t inspired me to start writing fiction, but I’m glad I read it.

I enjoyed this style of postmodern work better than his later less structured stories.  I may even consider reading the rest of the collection.

I found this INCOMPLETE VERSION OF THE STORY online here.  I assume it is the correct full story, despite the typos and that it is dated as 1981.