College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 139 – 137
139. Genesis, “Abacab” “It was just time to be a bit braver,” Mike Rutherford explained about the creative process that eventually resulted in Abacab, the eleventh studio about from Genesis, released in 1981. Driven largely by the deliberately overblown theatricality favored by Peter Gabriel, the band’s founding lead singer, Genesis were prog rock cult heroes in the nineteen-seventies. As the band pared down through the years, eventually settling on bassist/guitarist Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, and singer/drummer Phil Collins. Established as that trio, the group started finding a way to pare down their sound with the hope for more radio-friendly singles as … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 139 – 137
From the Archive: Batman Returns
I suppose I should hold this in reserve until the Saturday that Ben Affleck’s directorial effort with the character arrives, but we’ll use this to draw a contrast between a time that I was actively excited at the prospect of a Tim Burton film rather than the current sad state that finds my preemptive exhausted at the thought of sitting through his latest exercise in whimsical gloom. And, hey, there’s a Donald Trump reference in here, too. So, you know, timely. This was written during the summer that my on-air colleague and I decided we would take a break from the weekly … Continue reading From the Archive: Batman Returns
One for Friday: Ben Kweller, “Commerce, TX”
By the time I reached my second college radio station, a splendid subterranean outpost where I served as the advisor, I was luckily primed to accept the songwriting talents of precocious teens named Ben. That preparedness prevented me from being needlessly dismissive of a favorite singer-songwriter with key student staff members. This might seem a small accomplishment — and, truly, it probably was — but, let’s face it, I needed all the cool kid points I could accumulate. Where I warmed to Australian Ben Lee several years earlier, it was Texan Ben Kweller who had an honored place in the … Continue reading One for Friday: Ben Kweller, “Commerce, TX”
The New Releases Shelf: My Woman
Consider the enormous pressure that must come from following up a true breakthrough. Angel Olsen’s 2014 album, Burn Your Fire For No Witness, wasn’t a debut, but it felt like it was. It was infused with the immediacy of a voice that had no previous avenue suddenly unleashed, able to express everything that had been stewing in a wounded soul. That it offered this smack of fresh perspective with an intense restrained quiet rather than a reverberating caterwaul only made it more striking. Perhaps the more impressive thing about My Woman, Olsen’s new release, is that it honors and maintains … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: My Woman
Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. This will be two straight weeks with a clip from an Albert Brooks movie in the space. That seems fine to me. As we traipse into the annual part of the film calendar overstuffed with fare that is desperately seeking Oscar, there are little flares of especially intriguing news here and there. For example, after months of speculation as to whether or not Martin … Continue reading Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”
Beers I Have Known: Green Man Sunseeker Pils
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I live in a state that does just fine by itself when it comes to beer, thanks. But I still miss the lovingly crafted brews of the little mountain town I left about a year ago. It can be especially hard to know that there are always new offerings slushing through taps and getting sealed into cans. Luckily, no matter how skittish the TSA may be about liquids onto aircraft, skilled travelers can … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Green Man Sunseeker Pils
That Championship Season: Braindead, Season One
Mary Elizabeth Winstead has one particular expression that she delivers better than just about anyone else with an up-to-date SAG card among their personal belongings. Her wide eyes narrow a telling fraction as she surveys some bit of madness in front of her, skepticism and a whirring intellect operating in tandem as she sorts through the cognitive dissonance. Every subtle signal of her face shows that she’s graciously, warily pausing to give reality a chance to admit to the slipstream prank it’s trying to pull. Then, with a little exhale of emotion, she visibly accepts the upending of the plausible … Continue reading That Championship Season: Braindead, Season One
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 142 – 140
142. Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian” “Walk Like an Egyptian” was written by Liam Sternberg after he saw people awkwardly trying to keep their balance as they crossed the deck of a fairy, putting him in mind of the stiff figures in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Sternberg shopped a demo featuring Marti Jones on lead vocals. Toni Basil turned the song down, and Lene Lovich recorded it, though her version never saw release because she decided to take a sabbatical from the music business for most of the nineteen-eighties. So the demo track kept kicking around, eventually landing on cassette sent to producer David Kahne … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 142 – 140
From the Archive: The Vanishing
The review was written for my college student-run newspaper. I’d watched the 1988 Dutch original, so I’m not precisely sure why I neglected to note that the inferior remake was directed by the exact same person: George Sluizer. That seems like a pertinent detail for a film critic to share. The Vanishing is a prime example of how Hollywood can take a great idea and completely muck it up. Based on an intriguing and unsettling 1991 Dutch film of the same name, The Vanishing involves a man’s obsession with his girlfriend’s mysterious disappearance while on vacation. Kiefer Sutherland gives a strong … Continue reading From the Archive: The Vanishing
One for Friday: Ben Lee, “End of the World”
I remember a spring afternoon in 1997. I was standing in Strictly Discs, as fine of a record store as can be found in Madison, Wisconsin, as a learned music fan was browsing the new releases and chatting with the guy behind the counter, as learned music fans are wont to do. And the shopper’s stack grew larger, he was talking about the upcoming releases that he’d already had a chance to somehow hear, declaring that Something to Remember Me By, the sophomore full-length from Ben Lee was a masterpiece. I was filled with envy. I’d happened upon Lee while … Continue reading One for Friday: Ben Lee, “End of the World”
Coffee for Two 