Author: Dan Seeger

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A Week of Fridays II: An Introduction

Dan Seeger

All next week I will be away, with consciously chosen limited access to the churning storms of the interweb. That creates a dilemma as I have the dueling, incompatible compulsions of insisting on something new in this space every day (even if that means occasionally resorting to nothing more than a piece of ecumenical, rubberized art) and a self-defeating love of procrastination. Luckily, there is a precedent. The last time I was absent from this space for a similar amount of time, I looked to my old friends from the college radio station that is so commonly a factor in … Continue reading A Week of Fridays II: An Introduction

Books, Comics1 Comment

Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“Clinton sighed and gave up. All his life he had given up. He didn’t know why it was like that; why a man who wanted nothing but to live honestly and industriously and usefully — who, briefly, asked only the privileges of giving and helping — had had to compromise and surrender at every turn. But that was the way it had been, and that was apparently the way it was to be.” –Jim Thompson, The Getaway, 1958 “AND THERE, AGELESS SERENITY SHATTERS, SPLINTERED BY THE SOFT SCRABBLE OF FINGERNAILS CLAWING CLAY–AND BY A SUDDEN ERUPTION OF SCRAWNY HANDS THRUSTING … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

Music20 Comments

College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 36 and 35

Dan Seeger

36. “Alone Again Or” by the Damned Given the opportunity, I don’t think I ever would have listed Love, the nineteen-sixties band fronted by Arthur Lee, as an influence on the Damned. But the U.K. punk legends gave exactly that reason when asked why they recorded a cover of Love’s seminal song from Forever Changes, their 1967 masterpiece. The cover version showed up on the band’s 1986 album entitled Anything, which came out well after the point that most were even paying attention to the group, at least stateside (they were still making regular visits to the Top 40 back … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 36 and 35

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a fairly light week at Spectrum Culture, in part because a malfunctioning streaming screener caused me to falter in my marital pledge to use my position as a film reviewer to secure access to intriguing new horror films. Instead, I only had a single music review go up, covering the full-length debut of Poor Moon, a Fleet Foxes side project. It’s mostly a useful album for those looking for a sleep aid. I also kicked in a few words for this week’s List Inconsequential, focused on cover songs that are better than the originals. In this instance, I … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: Senseless Things, “Ex Teenager”

Dan Seeger

Strangely enough, you often can judge an album by its cover. While the old adage about books and covers remains fairly sound when applied to the products of the publishing industry, there’s a remarkable correlation between awful album art and bands that have plainly run out of ideas. Similarly, an album cover that absolutely leaps out and grabs the viewer often houses a record that contains equally striking music. And then there are those particularly fortuitous times when an album cover somehow conveys the entire sense of the music it fronts and promotes. The second full-length from the U.K. punky … Continue reading One for Friday: Senseless Things, “Ex Teenager”

Everything Else43 Comments

Top 40 Smash Taps: “What Now”

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. Upon its release in 1964, Billboard reviewed Gene Chandler’s single “What Now” in the following manner: “Tear-jerker tale of a guy done wrong by a fickle gal! Gene wails in fine style backed by driving instrumentation.” The track was Chandler’s fourth song to grace the Billboard Top 40 and the third straight, following “Just Be True,” which peaked at #19, and “Bless Our … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “What Now”