Author: Dan Seeger

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

We had another shortened week at Spectrum Culture, because that’s the way the summer goes sometimes. It coincided nicely with my own week away, but I still managed to slip in one major review, writing on a unique new documentary covering mass killings in Indonesia. It’s a complicated topic and, amazingly, an even more complicated movie, which caused me to put an awful lot of effort into the piece at a time when it would have been handier to dash one off. I hope I did it justice. I also pulled together a few words for our feature on the … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: Cheating Off of Someone Else’s Paper

Dan Seeger

While I try not to cede this weekly space entirely to the efforts of others, there is indeed a precedent. We’ve just returned from almost a week away, and my brain is soft, pliable and unable to think of a good entry for this week. Honestly, I can’t even come up with a wildly creative, obscure song selection. But there’s always Mr. Robyn Hitchcock… Continue reading One for Friday: Cheating Off of Someone Else’s Paper

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 54 and 53

Dan Seeger

54. The Cure, Wild Mood Swings Many observers thought the Cure might be finished after their 1992 album, Wish, though that was hardly the first time the disintegration of the band was predicted. (There may have been some who would have preferred the band shuffle away for good after the their yucky Judge Dredd theme song.) Those doomsayers forgot Robert Smith’s endless capacity for regenerating his chief creative outlet and eyeliner-streaked cash cow. Wild Mood Swings, the band’s tenth album, was released in the late spring, the precise time frame that worked well for them since 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 54 and 53

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I’ve somewhat lost track of all the various assignments I’ve picked up for Spectrum Culture, but I’ve got a funny feeling that I’m going to be hit with a very busy week sometime soon. This week, I had only one full-length effort for the site, but I did my best to make it worthwhile, especially since I feel added pressure whenever I write on something that’s an established classic of cinematic erudition. Specifically, I wrote on the debut feature from Alain Resnais, which also happens to be the first real big-screen role for recent Oscar nominee Emmanuelle Riva. I also … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “A TV Guide in the Olduvai Gorge”

Dan Seeger

It’s been a little over a year since I finally secured a turntable after several years without, as a friend of mine once called the device, a vinyl-spinner. It was absolutely wonderful to track through the remainder of my record collection, often playing things that I figured (somewhat erroneously, as it turns out) were essentially entirely unattainable these days. Turns out, though, that the main appeal of having a turntable again is being able to shop for records again. I’m not referring to the new culture of 180 gram vinyl rapturous collecting (though my household does occasionally succumb to that … Continue reading One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “A TV Guide in the Olduvai Gorge”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Give It to Me Baby” and “Cold Blooded”

Dan Seeger

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. “Give It to Me Baby” gave Rick James his second trip to the Billboard Top 40, following “You and I,” released in 1978. “Give it To Me Baby” was the first single from James’s 1981 album, Street Songs. A smash on the R&B charts, where it went all the way to the top, James had to settle for more modest crossover success, as … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Give It to Me Baby” and “Cold Blooded”