McSweeney’s #7

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabotage (1975).
Sabotage seems to be somewhat forgotten (maybe because of the creepy cover art 0f Ozzy in a kimono and fascinating platform shoes, Bill Ward in red tights with a codpiece (and visible underwear on the back cover), and Geezer and Tony’s mustaches).
But this album rocks pretty hard and heavy.
“Hole in the Sky” [...]

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Helen Simpson–”Diary of an Interesting Year” (New Yorker, December 21 & 28, 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: The Believer July/August 2009 Music Issue Compilation CD: “Fantastic and Spectacular” (2009).

After the globe-spanning CD in last year’s issue, the 2009 Believer CD returns to the dominant musical style of the first few.  This disc is a collection of unreleased, acoustic songs from the editors’ favorite singer-songwriters.
And, wow, check out the bands that are [...]

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Ben Schott–Schott’s Miscellany 2009: An Almanac (2008)

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 [...]

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McSweeney’s #6 [We Now Know Who. Timothy McSweeney's Very Intense Heated Passionate Battle/Embrace With They Might Be Giants Resulting in This, Issue 6, Which Contains a CD Soundtrack] (2001)

SOUNDTRACK:  McSweeney’s #6 comes with a CD.
Most of the music on the CD is performed by They Might Be Giants (a rather perfect fit for McSweeney’s).  Some other musicians who appear are: M. Doughty, Philip Glass, Michael Meredith. Roger Greenawalt & S.E. Willis
Instructions included with book:

#3. The compact disc contains music.  There are 44 discrete [...]

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Terry Pratchett–Unseen Academicals (2009)

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 [...]

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David Sedaris–”Loggerheads” (New Yorker, December 7, 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Master of Reality (1971).
This album seems to have directly inspired more bands than any other Sabbath record.  There’s the band Masters of Reality (who I’ve never heard) and there’s the 1,000 Homo DJ’s EP and blistering cover for “Supernaut.”
This is one of my favorite Sabbath discs, even though, or maybe because there aren’t [...]

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Kate Clanchy–”The Not-Dead and the Saved” (Prospect, December 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Paranoid (1970).
Black Sabbath’s second album is certainly their most famous.  I mean, it features “Iron Man,” the first song everyone learns to play on the guitar.
But the whole first side of the disc is pretty famous.  “War Pigs” is a wonderful anti-war song.  “Paranoid” was their first big hit, and I read recently [...]

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Periodical: McSweeney’s

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 [...]

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Albert Innaurato–Gemini (1978) & The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie (1978)

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Hounds of Love (1985).
I have a very specific memory of the first time I heard the song  “Hounds of Love.”  I was in high school and the Wilderness Adventure Club was heading towards whatever destination we were going to (funny I can’t remember the destination, but I recall the car trip there).  The [...]

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Stephen King–”Premium Harmony” (New Yorker, November 9, 2009)

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  [...]

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