The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out

The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out. A good album. Good for just listening, walking, running, reading. Very basic rock sound with a live feel. Excellent guitar sounds. Vocals are low-key and good. Nothing real demanding about it, which might sound like a bad comment but I mean it in the best way. One time through and it's like a comfortable couch. Some of the songs should be longer.

1) Double Vision - (3:37) Exciting group sound, very nice left/right listening, thick, textured, immediately appealing sound. The bass is sneaking around, making itself known here and there. Very thick sound and nice.

2) Everyday Weapon - (2:20) Opens with feedback, then full blast. Guitar isn't clear but with distortion, like in the first track. "They'll take the skin right off our bones," the vocals are more excited in this one. Lead guitar gets up there and has some nice swirling effects melting it away. The instruments are great. That is a short song.

3) Small Talk - (4:13) Exact same sound to get it started, insistent drum. Verse is tuneful, with vocal echoes. Wow, cool guitar, more swirling, like rolled barbed wire, but short. I really like that stuff, and here it comes again, wowwwing, and now a solo off the melody. Musical bit in the middle is nicely extended. The guitar is almost droning, a single note vibrating. Then a sweet acidic guitar conversation, like guitars conquering the world, lovely song all the way.

4) Turn the Lights Out - (2:36) Starts off very laid-back, appealing vocal with lethargic, "Pull the covers over me." Perfect sounds of the instruments. Vocals and sound gets more demanding and louder, and it goes back and forth. The guitar meandering around is comforting to hear, it sounds so real, an integral part of what's going on. Speaking of family and friends, turning the lights out on you tonight. Great one. Title track.

5) 1209 Seminary - (3:06) "I sit and watch the chill of the city, how your children grow." The music and vocals are stunning, impressive. The album has a real live group sound to it. The vocals are restrained, not dominating. The guitar solos are all very pleasant without being 100% predictable. The title sounds like the address of a place.

6) Shine - (4:21) Opens with single guitar, then some high acid notes from another. The vocals are again not at the very top. The singing is psychedelic, trippy. The music also has a hazy, drifting sound. Some extended notes. Guitar solo is actually more conventional on this one, but with some additional thickness and interplay. There are some strong chords being worked on, with the same notes hit many times, getting higher. Trippy, excellent track.

7) Kingdom of Hearts - (2:03) This song is like the others in many ways, the same vibe between them. This one also has a certain trippiness, especially in the vocals, with the guitars going like that, getting stronger in it all the time, then a hugely pretty middle instrumental section. Too short a song.

8) Poser Psychotic - (3:44) A feel to the song to match the title. The singing is half buried in the instruments. The fuzzy guitars have center stage and they go nice places. The singing is very appealing, understated and integral, poetic feel. This is a hard rock sound that also is mellow.

9) Exile On My Street - (2:20) Melodic guitar opening, about 40 seconds. Vocals are a lot more in your face on this one, but short bursts only, then back to the guitar melody. Short song, 2:20. Vocals go back to half buried toward the end.

10) Harakiri - (3:28) Distorted sound right at the beginning, tough bass and drums, half buried cranked up guitar on right side. Very cool instrumental effects and vocal. Appealing song, psychedelic guitar solo. Distortion used to good effect.

11) Maybe I'll Try - (2:56) Vocals on top of you, alternating wavering notes to the music, and single drum hits. Then they launch into the whole thing. I think he said, "Maybe I'll try to feel again when I'm dead." The songs are very accessible the first time. Funny, brief chipmunks voice overlaid on the right side toward the end.

12) Pickpocket Song - (6:24) Basic rock group sound, insistent sound in there with one repeated note, then changes with the chord, then back. Sounds like a garage group, and nice effort by them. More limited sound so far than some of the other songs, still appealing. Same fuzz, thickness, vocals happening but no big deal. Wow, there was something that happened, the middle music bit, like Jerry Lee Lewis piano, several seconds, then a lot of going every which way. I love it now. Getting more overlaid with tracks, instruments, noises, effects, swirling to a very pleasing ending? No, almost 3 minutes left, great. This is good sounding stuff. They're having fun throwing it all in, making the most of it on this song. Get it, you'll like it. Very excellent track! Perfect ending song, too.

This is the line-up of songs as downloaded at Napster. The title had [Standard] in brackets like that, so there might be other versions.

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

I listened to this album yesterday, and the first song a few times, and Dashboard a couple times. So by now it ought to be in my album file up there, where everything seems familiar, good, and orderly. Going by my personal principle that any album I don't like the first time could very well be one of my favorites, this one was half and half.

But now for a fresh listening, I insert the earbuds into those waxy things on the side of my head and get ready for the joy of music. Here's what I know about Modest Mouse, nothing. I've heard the name several times over the years from checking out usenet music groups. That's it. Plus what I listened to yesterday, that's it. I understand they had a hit single, "Float On," and someone did one of their songs on American Idol, and their album is stocked at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is no one's favorite store, but once your album is there it generally means you're in the mainstream; they don't stock much marginal music.

OK....

1) March Into The Sea - Accordion, then I know it becomes something more raucous. Mad scientist voice, or mad sea captain voice, thrashing about on deck. I like the wimpy innocent voice a little ways in. It's kind of Flaming Lips or Starlight Mints. The sea captain part has to be a fun one to sing. This is actually a pretty good song, now that it's in that section of my head. I didn't care for it the first time. The music is loping, with a strong guitar, minor note sound, and edging in violin; "bang your head like a gong...clang clang." Builds like a waltz, much madness swirling about, the singer in anguish.

2) Dashboard - I really like this one. It's a very conventional sounding song, straightforward. "The dashboard melted but we still have the radio." The voices are eccentric, cool answers by the background guys. Musical interlude, very pretty, this is an excellent song. Driving beat, like an '80s sound. "Would've been, could'a been worse than you ever know." Tiny giants and tinier giants. Just listening, what it's all about, I don't know. I read the lyrics yesterday, and that didn't help much, but it might've just been me.

3) Fire It Up - Starts very orderly, dot dot dot dot. "Fire it up, when we finally turn it over, make a beeline toward the boulder, we have a drink, you've had enough." Hanging out on the shore, leaving our clothes there. Guitars make a kind of echo to the lyrics, wa wa wa wa wa. Sounds sentimental in the middle, sentimentality I like. The "fire it up" phrase is sweet, too. These guitars are great. Vocal interplay neat, playing with the words, I like. Wa wa wa wa wa again. "Like trying to save an ice cube from the cold." Good line. This song is really great. Tones going up in beautiful way toward the end.

4) Florida - Manic beginning, vocals and guitars. Chorus part very pretty, though I can't understand the words. There's a cool collapsing part, like an insert. "Florida!" Now we have the collapsing bit a couple more times, really nice. Hope that's clear enough. How do you describe music anyway? Manic guy is back, guitars answer like boards falling over. Ha ha.

5) Parting of the Sensory - Before this one starts, I had the feeling it was something like dying, or parting of the veil, yesterday. It made me think of spiritualists, like Madame Blavatsky or something that I don't know much about. Maybe it's not. Let me listen again. It seemed like the heart of the record. "Carbon's anniversary," is that what it says? "The parting of the sensory." Like you're carbon and you're going to rejoin the all, become building blocks for other beings. The music is laid-back yet eccentric, a good word. Violin is morose. "She's parting again, if you please." "Who the hell made you the boss?" "The weather changed for the worst." Big music notes, building, like a whack in the head. "A trip to the exact same spot." "We're lost." You can't get lost. Music really wild and great in this bit. "Sometimes you will die and somehow something's going to steal your carbon." This is going to be repeated over and over. It's good. Hoe-down music toward the end. All confused about who's going to die and what's going to happen to the carbon.

6) Missed The Boat - Sounds real nice and conventional (which is also good) to start. I like comfort, too. "Change the subject, I was knocking on your ears." Sentimental and yearning stuff, while sounding edgy. Very pretty stuff, so accessible, sounds autobiographical in the extreme, proclamations about how it's been, self-indulgent, like this post. It's not like there's any reason to hold back, is there? After all, who cares. It's only the noosphere that cares anyway. This might be a song I wouldn't like that much in the long-run, because it's so much like what I've said, like "Creeque Alley," I only like that stuff briefly. But I do love Boston's "Rock 'n' Roll Band." Guitars, nice.

7) We've Got Everything - Thank goodness we have an edgy opening, angular guitars. The vocals are edgy but also very accessible. When I heard this stuff yesterday it sounded foreign, today it's like an old shoe. Telling what various ones did, listing the guys, and saying "We've done everything, like trial by fire, so I guess we'll stop trying now." This is also a very sentimental song. Rockers are always the most sentimental people. Explain that. Country guys look for the clever turn of phrase, rockers knit doilies.

8) Fly Trapped In A Jar - This one is going to open with fly buzzing, that I believe morphs into a guitar, distorted at first, then revealing itself in clarity. Or maybe not. Crazy vocal style, like a comic voice. "One wing isn't even enough." Interesting sounding verses. Sharp pointed instruments. Something about Gary, and I hadn't noticed. The words sound easy to come up with, since it can be anything. You could make this up as you go along. The guitars recall the fly. "We were already dead."

9) Education - Bass, bass, with the crazy vocal. The guitars sound a lot like "Fly Trapped" guitars. In fact the tune reminds me of the last song, but I'm not backing up. Hadn't lived enough to even die. Death comes up again. Guitars in the middle, nice vibrato, and close up secondary vocals, shortly there. I don't care for the vocal style that much on this song. It's similar to some of the others, but by now it's wearing out its welcome. Plus I'm getting hungry and it's still an hour to American Idol. Books on the shelf looking much smarter than me, I can identify with it. I should look up the words to this one.

10) Little Motel - Starts very peacefully. I would like to hear it go like that. The vocal from track 1 is back. I usually think of this voice when I think of indie rock. "Sinking ships" and adrift. "That's what I'm waitin' for," a nice refrain, lips, darlin'. Very pretty singing and group vocals. If I was a single track downloader, I'd go for this one, and a few others. I'll summarize in a bit. It's just sweet, like drifting along. This is the first day of Spring, too. So it's a good song for robins to bill and coo to, then nine months later a nest of blue eggs. Just a nice nice nice song. You might burn this one for Grandma, or the kids.

11) Steam Engenius - "I was born in a factory," then I don't get it. Back to edgy, good spitting out style, great instruments edging in. This vocal is the one that can deteriorate into the crazy sea captain voice, but it hasn't yet. So far it's good. And the background "Wa hoo" noises are good. Good hard rocking song, very verbose but not easily understandable. Pops down to a drum and high bass thing, and the vocals more plaintive. Voices harmonizing, but with some freedom. Now back into it. I have no idea what this song is about, but it has a great vibe. Factory songs get to me, really, I always think of the Kinks "Workin' in the Factory" song, or a title something like that. I used to walk country roads singing it, shouting at various people who weren't there.

12) Spitting Venom - Acoustic guitar and insistent voice. "Talkin' soda pop ... opinions I ain't got ... let it all drop." "You were spittin' venom at most everything you know." Let it drop, electric guitar appears in the background. Kind of a Leon Russell vocal. Now the guitars and full orchestral array is in evidence, with the same tune blasted out. This is a long track. There's still 6 minutes at this point. Can I make it? 5:00 to go and the acoustic guy is back. Horns, a musical intermission here. Introducing more and more, something of a shift in the vocal, not clear what he's saying. The music is a nice section. Like an extended build-up that is very slow and intentional, no rushing it. It was getting kind of boring at about 5:00 to go, then the whole ending section was great. I can't believe the track flipped and redeemed itself like that. But I loved hearing it. 40 seconds to go, and we're in this delicious musical madness.

13) People As Places As People - Straightforward rock song-sounding thing. Good, workman-like, hammered out, so far. Sounds like Dick Dale on guitar for a second there. Humorous, playful lyrics and style. Again, a good musical section right in the middle, like Japanese something. Funky drums, F-bomb, hurt my ears. I saw on Napster they had like three or four tracks marked "Explicit." An OK song, nothing special, average, there, now it's passing.

14) Invisible - Segueing into this song, neat sharp instruments, I really might cut myself, this is sharp, driving, big bad vocals, the hard edged rock style again. The instruments are cool to the extreme, pushing me out to the dance floor to do the Mashed Potato or whatever dance is hot these days. Only 2:31 to go. This could be a song to extend out, and tamp down the vocals to an inside voice. I haven't paid much attention to the words, because the music is so nice. Good innocent vocal is back, and some effects on the vocals, burying them behind a droning build-up, to the sharp, meat carving guitars. 30 seconds to go, and let me say that was an enjoyable time, except for all the typing. But it went by pretty fast.

Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, album, track by track...

I actually never heard of these guys before today. So technically that disqualifies me from commenting. But hey, I have to fill this blog up with something. Plus, I like music, so, technicalities aside, I guess I'm as qualified as anyone. I'm always sort of amazed when I read reviews of albums at All Music how they're able to know an artist's entire career, like they were there the day the guy made his first baby cry. I'm more like a guy who looks up once in a while and whatever I happen to see I see. So they could've been knocking off albums for the last 40 years and I'd never know it.

So, without further ado, further self-disqualification, let me say, this is an OK album, if you like this sort of thing. I personally like songs with words, singing more. Or something that is strongly melodic or obviously of a piece. This album has a lot of interesting bits, but the songs go five different directions, if you know what I mean. My favorite track is "What Do You Go Home To?" I like the whole droning, building, developing bits. My least favorite is the long one, "It's Natural to be Afraid." It could've been split into three or four songs and no one would've known the difference.

1) The Birth and Death of the Day - (7:49) Starts like a 20 truck pileup. Then the day is born, nice day, taking the dog out for a walk, recalling my own day. Not music for music's sake, though I'm only going by the title and the peaceful guitars back and forth, left and right. Very pretty with a mounting cymbal thing back there. Then whaaaa, big guitar strums. Following that, it all piles up again, with raging drums, and wild wild guitars. Ah, and I was about to have an afternoon nap. This reminds me of an overture. We'll see what comes next. The drums are being damaged. 6:15, another down to peacefulness moment, and with a minute to go that's where it is. This is coming over my tiny computer speakers, so I'm not getting the full effect.

2) Welcome, Ghosts - (5:43) Segues into it, with pretty guitars leading the way, then drums announcing we're going somewhere else. But a minute in and we're not there yet. Now the drum beat changes to something else, with the same kind of guitar answering, echoing each other back and forth. 2:40, and we're into a peaceful reverie, like drifting along, maybe like the picture on the cover. 3:27, back to some of the most pronounced drums I've heard, and guitars appropriate for that. In fact, we're back and forth, nice, manic music perhaps not for the masses. I'm not personally too into it. I'm trying to imagine how it'd be to run to this, or do anything else to it except listen.

3) It's Natural To Be Afraid - (13:27) Huge, long track coming up. Begins with some effects, like backwards snippets played, and meandering instruments, noodling to atmosopheric effect. There's a somber, kind of scary bommm and minor-note sounding guitars, scary, dare I listen alone? This one would be good to listen to if you were creeping around a building said to be haunted, like those guys on Sci Fi channel. It's menacing, with a great title to match. I'm expecting a bunch of bats to swoop in. Soundtrack for a haunting. "Welcome, Ghosts" and now this. There's some nice centered distortion, like a dozen off channel radio stations being monitored at one time. But it's going on a bit long. You have anything like that for a prolonged time, it becomes oppressive. 4:00, that's fading out, and another jaunt out by the lilies and rippling brook, a few clouds in the sky, slightly melancholy. This is like a new song in here, but it still has a noodling quality. Like we're not exactly going anywhere. That's all interrupted at about 6:27, a renewed drum/cymbal guitar exchange, now ongoing. The notes, like in most music, are going up and down. 8:02, we're changing the pace a little, more driving, but that faded quickly, very quickly. I liked that bit, too. 9:19, going nuts with the drums, loud, fast guitars. Wild bit starts here. So don't doze off if you're listening to this album. That happens in Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony, you'll recall, just when you're about dead, boom! It kills you again. Pathetique. I don't know, this is just like one big noodling-around track. But it IS natural to be afraid. At 11:43, the backwards snippets like at the beginning return. So we're going to be noodling around the remainder of the track.

4) What Do You Go Home To? - (4:59) Starts off with what sounds like killer bees on piano. A shimmering note appears from down below, maybe up above, and drones for a time, like tuning. Then a bundle of other notes ease in, then a swirling piano riff, and all together, with the killer bees more or less vanished. This one has lots of instrumental sounds coming together like a quilt. Someone takes charge about 2:45, then a drum. This is a good track, very droning, moaning, yet tinkling, pounding, purposeful. In a way it's like the noises of a factory with many different workers making one thing. At about the 4:00 mark, it's slowed down, no drum, with the killer bees drone returned and predominating. It has a kind of subtle vibrato to it, then at 4:30 it's faded, with a piano and a few notes. One single note fills in the last 10 seconds.

5) Catastrophe and The Cure - (7:56) Very dense thicket of music and drum pounding, telling of some crisis. The sidewalks are cracked, I don't know. It's a different song, but it recalls some of another, "It's Natural." At 1:36, some great drum/guitar build-up, faster, faster. Where we're going, I don't know. But it's intense. 2:19, we go to a peaceful bit, which will probably be shortlived. There's some incredible noodling going on, quick strumming. 3:21, a different musical strain takes over, with guitars washing over us. Then a marching percussion joins for a short time. At 4:30, we've been maybe 10 different places in the song. I'm trying to find a focus, but since this is just my first time hearing it, I'm not doing very well. I like it but not that much. The good news is I seldom like an album the first time through. But this one I probably won't give a second chance to. I like words, too, not just guitars, drums, alternating peace and chaos. 6:15, we're into a strong drum section, getting some exercise there. It's called "Catastrophe and The Cure," so who knows what that's supposed to mean? It's all good, one guesses. 7:21, built up to crescendo, then down to dainty little notes to end it off.

6) So Long, Lonesome - (3:40) - Segues from that into this. Starting off with nice, high guitar notes, then a piano creeps in, two maybe. 1:00, establishing its own tune. A new tune, and a nice one so far, but no extended melody line. (What do I know? Nothing, really). I like the snippets at 2:15, like what came before in the track, but more distinct and identifiable as something. Strong drums at 2:50, with the piano playing a high riff several times. 3:20, we're getting ready to close it out, and it's closing out very very peacefully.

The Frames - The Cost

Track by track, The Frames, "The Cost" album. Overall, a sad sounding album that expresses tons of emotion, finds glimmerings of happiness for seconds at a time, and seems to be full of a lot of pain and brokenness. Basically, you can find your own story here. But cheer up, you're not that bad off.

1) Song for Someone - (5:36) Moody opener, speaking between the lines, hope for a girl who's not there, bursts of intensity about the relationship, then back to the hope that they'll be the same, and she/we will "survive this wave again." There's a good question, about being "born for someone," if we are, and if things can be "in their place." Maybe a little sad about having to wonder about such things. The instruments build in volume and thickness, then back to a guitar before broadening back out, an intense drum that goes nicely with the questioning. There are voices buried in the instruments, not at the front. The violins give it a real moody tone.

2) Falling Slowly - (4:35) The track starts off like it's someone in anguish. A very plaintive vocal begins after that, but by the chorus it's up to full group, with a very emotional falsetto at the end of the lines, on "time" and "now." "Moods that take me and erase me and I'm painted black" gives the overall sense. But the chorus reveals a hope, "Take this sinking boat and point it home, we've still got time." The title refers to going down but not so quickly that he can't be saved. The music tells the story as much as the lyrics, alternately thick and minimal.

3) People Get Ready - (5:28) It opens very plainly, the lyrics very matter-of-fact. "What has gone between us is a lot, is a lot, and who'll get there to clean us if you're not, if you're not." "People all get ready" is because they're tearing down the stand, breaking down, coming to a stop. The instruments build or are added very slowly, and they sound like crying, kind of sad. This is a bitter sounding song. "Who'll be there to ignore us when you're not, when you're not." Then we come to a high point, and here it's loud. It's repeated a few times, "We have all the time in the world to get it right, to get it right." And actually that's pretty optimistic, I mean, who are we trying to impress? Toward the end the track is as thick and dense with music as can be, wall of sound.

4) Rise - (3:26) Here's one that sounds like a breather in a way, with the first word being "Breathing." "The wind is at my side and so are you." That sounds like a place to start from that won't be near as sad. Indeed. "Sometimes we will fall from the light, but it shines on us tonight." Yet, still, this is not going to be a happy happy song, because it sounds like a song for a brief moment. Between crises. The music is equally hesitant to see too much joy in this. They have a nice sound with the violins and all those thick places, making for an outpouring of emotion that meets the singer's observations and closeness to pain. "And together we will rise" is how it ends.

5) Mind's Made Up - (3:44) Guitar interplay, since it's "mind's made up," maybe this means thoughts. "If you want something and you call, call, then I'll come running to fight, and I'll be at your door when there's nothing worth running for." If you make up your mind, don't change it. There's probably a good story behind the song but it's not clear from the listening, so it's a good make-your-own-story song. The music has that kind of bounce, like back at the opening guitars. It gets big with the violins, screaming out really. I can't think of what it reminds me of, like acid violins, sort of the Allman Brothers' guitars on "Ramblin' Man" at the last third of the song. But at the end it dies down quickly and goes back the way it started. Like a term paper.

6) Sad Songs - (3:09) There's "a war that can't won." One of the other songs mentioned warring, too. This sounds like a "single" in certain ways, catchy chorus that's not as intense as some of the other songs, yet it taps into our personal sadness, which would actually sell more than anything too cheerful. The song is staying at one level, not building to anything big. It's a very basic track, no doubt one that could easily worm it's way into your head and you'd be humming it. Still, it's kind of sad.

7) The Cost - (4:20) Here the guitars and drums are heavy, like a forest. The song is about love, the cause of their suffering. But with such loss has been a gain, "so lay your burdens down and stop your crying ... We'll let it burn, burn us down." The heavy vibe spells out the title and words, thinking of cost, very ponderous, like a big lurching mud monster. I like the music on this one. Anyone who's known love knows it's as painful as anything. Hey, this song needed to go on for another couple minutes, really. This is one where I wanted the ponderous instruments to keep chugging it out, then no more words, then a fade.

8) True - (5:14) Here we start just the opposite of "The Cost," with a slight beginning. He's told a lot of lies, and they're like little anchors in his chest that pull us down into this mess. (He sounds like he'd be a hard guy to live with.) He says he'll be gone again. "I find it so hard to be true," with secrets like a blackness in my heart. This minimal, verse part is pretty long. You know it has to build, and here it finally comes, about 2:10 in. "I played the saint, and saint I ain't." (I find that hard to believe.) The build dies down fairly quickly, so that's the chorus. At least he's a guy who seems to be trying. Where's the big part? 3:20, we're into it again, and I don't think we're going back at this point. Yup, with a great added bonus, a sing-song background vocal only half buried. Very very nice, the ending part was.

9) Side You Never Get To See - (3:40) "The side you never get to see is the part I keep from everyone." The vocal on this one sounds both tossed-off and sincere. There's a sweet loping instrumental accompaniment on this one. It tells something, like a swirl of thoughts from a sincere point of view. It sounds like he's saying some of it is "a lie," or maybe it's "alive." Of course there are lots of sides of us that no one gets to see. Even if you're putting it out there, it really is not complete, so maybe that's what it means that it's a lie (I'm not 100% sure about that word, if that's the word.) The big build toward the end has that great instrumental sound, which is kept up in the song. Nice if you like self-examination, good stuff.

10) Bad Bone - (4:42) The vocals are right in your lap. "There's a bad bone inside of me, all my troubles started there." Wow, the songs on this album are very personal, like confessions. Very minimal instruments here, one guitar, and a vocal right on top of you. But then the instruments come in in a subtle way, you can make out each note. "When the anger that you feel turns to poison in your soul, then the scars you only feel will start to show." A little bit about a relationship comes in next, which sounds brutal. "To die with you upon the vine," a depressing thought, or maybe it means something ongoing to the very end. I'd like to think so. At 3:13 we start the build for the big finish. And let's bring everyone back in for another bow!

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Rastaman Vibration

This is an album from 1976, one of my favorites, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Rastaman Vibration.

1) Positive Vibration - Such a great album, starting off with this peaceful music and positive song. The I Threes are there as beautiful background singers. And Bob Marley, "If you get down and you quarrel everyday, you're saying prayers to the devils, I say, oh oh." The alternative is to help one another on the way and make things much easier. Why live in a negative way? "Make way for the positive day." There's a bell or ting going in this song along with the good reggae music. "Jah love, protect us." Back to the main verse. "I and I vibration, positive."

2) Roots, Rock, Reggae - Opens with drums, then the organ and piano. "Play I some music, this a reggae music. Roots, rock, reggae!" Bob calls to Mr. Music, that he sure sounds good. "What to be got to be. Feel like dancin', come dance with me." It's a good celebration of music, with some interesting percussion, like little cloc-cloc's. "We're bubbling on the top 100, just like a mighty dread." There's a horn blowing mid-song, and a guitar that answers Bob. The music is so clean and precise.

3) Johnny Was - Background voices need the beginning make it sound like a serious song, which it is. "Woman hold her head and cry, 'cause her son had been shot down in the street and died, from a stray bullet." Johnny was her son. A passerby passes by and sees her cry. A question, "How can she work it out?" The wages of sin is death, gift of Jah is life. "Johnny was a good man, good, good, good, good, good, good man, she cried." He was shot just because of the system, so this is a matter of injustice. "Comforting her, I was passing by. She complained, then she cried." She still wants the child she bears.

4) Cry to Me - "Cry to me, now." This is a list song. "Walk back through the pain, shed those lonely teardrops." It's what you need to go through. The music is cool, almost like sound effects in the background as much as accompaniment, especially with earbuds. They're back there like, 'Don't let us get in your way,' yet everything is perfectly in sync. There's some nice interplay with the I Threes and Bob.

5) Want More - "Do you want more?" The music is with some slick drums and effects, and the unmistakable sound of the group. It all sounds so effortless. "In the valley of decision," a biblical phrase, I believe. "But Jah have them in the region in the valley of decision. Go down, backbiter." Hot instrumental break, with electric guitar. Then Bob returns with the singers. I'm not sure what the song is about. Must be about divine vengeance against enemies. That makes some sense with the religious imagery. That phrase was from the Bible, Joel 3:14: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."

6) Crazy Baldhead - "Them crazy, them crazy, we gonna chase them crazy baldheads out of town." This song has something to do with outside forces coming in, profiteers, exploiters of some sort, enslavers, conquerors. But I don't know what the baldhead stuff's about. Don't Jamaicans lose their hair? It sounds almost like a Jamaican folk song. "Chase those crazy bump heads, out of the YOWN." I like that playing with the lyrics. More great sound effects, like a tiny WHEEEE and cloc-clocs and WHIRRR. "Here comes the con man."

7) Who the Cap Fit - They're all message songs, but this is a message song explicitly. "Man to man is so unjust." "Who the cap fit, let them wear it." The middle bit has some coo coo and cluck cluck. "Who Jah bless, no one curse." Lifting up the people to have wisdom and trust in divine guiding. Understand life and the ways of man: "Who the cap fit," those are the ones I'm talking about. Like if the shoe fits, wear it.

8) Night Shift - The bass opening is a nice instrumental opening. More Bible quotes, from Psalm 121. "The sun shall not smite I by day, nor the moon by night." A guy's working all night and it's all right, working on the forklift in the night shift." There's some killer background interplay on this one, the I Threes. "By the sweat of my brow, eat your bread." All night and all right! Going on in your life doing it.

9) War - This is from a speech by Haile Selassie. "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war." And it builds from there, to class distinctions. And till the color of your skin is of no significance. And until basic human rights are guaranteed to all. There's war until that day. A song about the fact of rising up and conflict. Bob has great pronunciation of "sub-human bondage" and "utterly DEstroyed." There's some good bubbling music in there and building horn answers to some of the pronouncements. Positive ending: "Good over evil."

10) Rat Race - "Uhhh! You're too rude!" The song considers the whole "rat race," with some other races, dog, horse, human race. "Political violence fill your city, yeah." "Rasta don't work for no CIA." "When you think it's peace and safety, a sudden destruction." (1 Thessalonians 5:3 - "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.") It really is a disgrace to see the human race in a rat race. Rat races are for rats. The song is a good consideration of the same old grind, a bunch of problems that are there for everyone, all of us running about.

Melissa Etheridge, First Album Track by Track

Track by track of Melissa Etheridge, by guess who.

1) Similar Features - Heavy bass to begin, then M's voice very close and deliberate. "It shouldn't bother you." Building in intensity. "Imagine me there," someone with similar features to me. "I wanted to be the one." A do-it-by numbers dream, close your eyes, she's got similar features, but longer hair. Your loved one needs to be there, not just someone you don't love. So true. How could anyone want other than the one? Oh yeah, lust. But this gets back to the things of a true relationship. Kind of a guilt-inducing song, but in a positive way so the other person may realize the error of her ways. Who wants to lose what they have? On the other hand, if the person needs to be told all this, maybe she needs counseling or dumping. This is a pretty somber song with a heavy message. Use only for a struggling relationship, in which you're the wronged party.

2) Chrome Plated Heart - She has a chrome plated heart, angels up above crying, with rust in their eyes, etc. Sounds like maybe some car imagery, going by cars I personally have owned. The song has a funky acoustic guitar interplay. Chromium blues. Driving for miles. Love is real as the day is long, and night is black. So a heart that is chrome plated? Shiny but on a rusting frame. Also tough, rust on their love. Sleeping on the tracks, someone's about to run over her heart. This is also a very somber song, with a good chugga chugga going on, daring, strong vocals crying out in real despair. Then the title repeated and a plaintive fade.

3) Like The Way I Do - "Is it so hard to satisfy your senses?" To love me you have to climb some fences, scratching and clawing. I'm sensing a relationship song where there's a third party again, such as track 1. "Does SHE miss you, existing just to kiss YOU like I do?" The singer definitely carefully examines a relationship and wonders seriously about any kind of straying from the real thing. Which is kind of stupid, but as in track 1, there is lust and stupidity, a "Love the one you're with" kind of thing. "Does she LOVE you?" That's the whole thing, with stimulation and captivation back home as well. Yes, shock, electrify, rock you. Intense, and again, maybe best heard if you have the blues and maybe a straying partner. And who wants that? Builds to an anguished "No!!!!," then we're getting into the essential chorus ragged out, with a little more than a minute left. I don't know that I'd want to hear this from my loved one, but at least I can tell she'd probably have me back, and that's good. Instrumental now for the last 45 seconds, I would guess. We'll see...so far so good, and there goes the fade.

4) Precious Pain - The title gets to me, having heard the previous 3 songs, I'm a little afraid where we're going here. "Everybody's got a hunger no matter where they are." Clinging to their own fear, hiding some scars. The pain is termed precious. This is a personal, close song, somber, reflective, with safety: kept safe in these chains. 2nd verse: "Everybody's got a reason to abandon their plan." Thinking of tomorrow with sorrow in hand today. One day, today. Examine your depression, your pain (other than depression as well.) Song builds, nice guitar work. Now back to some examination of the precious pain, empty and cold, keeping her alive, safe in these chains. We don't usually think of pain in such a positive way. So when life gives you lemons, look at them. Maybe lemons have something good about them. What could you possibly make?

5) Don't You Need - Starts off with guitar and voice. Had a dream, awoke with the taste of desire on her mouth. Realized her heart abducted her mind and both went south. Now she can't sleep because she's so wired, and screaming out, "Don't you need, don't you want, can't you taste it when you're alone?" Questioning someone on the intensity of their experience in some particular area. A thirst that can't be quenched, no relief for the hungry at heart. But this other person is just a thief, yet she holds the cards. There's some similarities to the other songs in intensity, fairly somber mood. The other songs didn't question the reality of the relationship, but this one is seeking out the sense of it all. Is the reality the same for you as it is for me? Song is returning at the end to the dream from the beginning, with fire in the dream, burning in her dreams and only morning can set her free. A minute to go, a nice breath at about 1:07 to go. Sounds like we might be guitaring it out from that point. Yes.

6) The Late September Dogs - Little spoken bit, then the song moans into view. Some cool interplay of instruments, bass, droning. I like songs that ease into it like that, but the guitar sounds very minimal in such a context. Nice, sparse, naked voice. Low-key droning in the background, and the bass returns. She feels a change in the air, searching for mercy everywhere, since...someone left. Calling out her name, and shouting: "Let it rain!" Intensity, letting the rain set her free, raining down on her. "Silence is the steel that pierces and cuts me to the bone." I like the notes blending in here, giving it a carefully organized but commiserating quality. Like emotions working in harmony and examining one's situation. Like some of the other songs, there's definitely trouble, estrangement, separation. Rain, going for newness, intensity, solid strong standing against the challenge, maybe even standing against all elements. Still 2:30 to go. Now the dogs are mentioned, the late September ones. She walked before she crawled. Her soul remembers and clutches to the pain. Intense, anguished song, with the last part being a repetition and building on what went before. Some tough stuff.

7) Occasionally - Starts with hand percussion. Saw someone with her new friends. She looks swell. The singer is drinking too much coffee and smoking cigarettes, just can't forget. "I'm only lonely when I'm driving in my car," and after dark. The hand percussion continues on, no other instrument. Lonely occasionally, when doing all this stuff. Here she (singer) has her strangers, addicted to the pain of delight. That's kind of a conflict with some of the other songs, but "after dark" all kinds of things can happen, and "occasionally." OK, that was no instruments all the way through.

8) Watching You - Guitar is back, with a simple acoustic beginning. "That's a good question. Why am I standing out here alone?" Doesn't know enough to come in from the rain, watching someone's window from here below, and might stay there all day. Needs to do something, because if she can't love you she don't want to love you. Trouble in paradise again. Wait, I don't think we've ever had paradise yet, except memories of true love somewhere way back when. So I keep watching you. Wondering about it all. Talking: wanting a cigarette. She can hear the dark side of the moon sometimes. Somber, intense, naked song. Still 2:24 to go. Some building intensity, now back to some resolution. All right, not very cold, subway mentioned, with sound effect overlay. Repeating some of the "If I can't love you..." theme. Last 50 seconds is getting intense, keep watching you, until she sees right through. Relationship examination, up close, x-ray close.

9) Bring Me Some Water - Tonight she feels so weak, but "in love all is fair." A sting, foulness of the night air. Tonight some other woman is making love to you. Bring me some water because I'm burning alive. Her baby's got another lover. Wow, the relationship demise never leaves, and of course the "Sweet Devil's got her soul." This is an intense song, the raw emotions back to the surface, spilling over, with the other woman whispering M's lover's name. "I don't know how I'm going to survive," very much an album of catharsis songs. The music has a fuzzed up guitar with an edge, matching the song's theme. There's a full rock band pounding it out. Last 30 seconds, repeating the sweet devil, other lover stuff. Whoever the chick is putting me through all this, I think I'd kick her to the curb.

10) I Want You - Rocking out, spitting out the vocal, with the rawness very clear. The lyrics have an edge, spit spit spit. "I want you," repeated several times. Desire and a stain inside of me. I didn't catch that bit after that. She (singer) is tortured, pounding inside her chest, screaming. I want you, I want you, I want you. Instrumental break at 1:40-ish to go. Heart in your fist, is it blood that you want? "Take me, strip me, cut me, see I'm bleeding." I like intensity, but relationships have to be more than being dumped/neglected/despised, don't they?, then pleading to be cut and stripped. Presumably she actually begins her day with toast and juice and isn't always quite this miserable. Aw, to be young and tortured again.

Overall, an impassioned album. Not simple or safe by any means. The songs have a certain simplicity but are complex statements of personal stuff. It's mostly on relationships that have gone sour or that may have been illusory. The music is played very much in touch with the lyrical content, not meant to overwhelm or contradict what is being said. What is being said is seen as most important, and the music expresses the same emotions.

The Beatles - The White Album on My Gigabeat with Earbuds

Here we go, live-blogging the White Album:

1) Back in the U.S.S.R. - The sound of a plane tells us we're on a trip. And the song tells the story of a guy on a dreadful flight, but now back in his homeland, the hated Soviet Union. This was really something to sing in 1968. It'd be about like doing a Chuck Berry "Back in the U.S.A." take-off today about going to Tora Bora. Evil empire? That wasn't the half of it. "Moscow girls make me sing and shout." I don't hear any new revelations in this well-worn track. It's still very delightful. The airplane effects are extensive on earbuds. Some extra little talk in the background you don't usually notice except on earbuds.

2) Dear Prudence - My absolute favorite White Album song. As every website tells us, it has a connection to Mia Farrow's sister, there in India during the whole meditation time with the Maharishi. It's a delightful song of playing, daisy chains, clouds, and frolic, and smiling children. "Open up your eyes, Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies!" This is a picture perfect song. I've heard a varying version or two along the way, but it's just right here. This is definitely a song about living today and fully. Then here comes that marching Ahhhh stuff with the music chugging under and floating/flying over the whole thing, building to a very cool, diminishing bit with the single guitar. And that's the end!

3) Glass Onion - Self-referential song, Strawberry Fields, Fool on the Hill, another place you can go. The lyrics are nicely obscure. The walrus and me, man. And another clue for you all, the walrus is Paul! So what's that tell you? I always thought it meant the walrus on the Magical Mystery Tour cover was Paul, even with the John glasses. There's a pipe sustained in there a little more than I've heard before with speakers. Then the bass and violins overlay at the end.

4) Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - I heard they did this song repeatedly and hated it (except for Paul). Listening for the body parts thrown into the mix. Desmond = Desmond Dekker? Didn't he just die recently and I was reading that? Interesting clapping noises there, and sounds like voice percussion a bit. Ha ha ha ha ha. "Happy ever after." Hand, Arm, Leg! I do hear some good noises and background asides in here, laughing, what-not. I remember hearing an alternate version of this on one of the Lost Lennon shows (the only one I heard) several years ago, which could be on one of the Anthology discs. And it ends with Thank You.

5) Wild Honey Pie - Kind of a weird track, some of the instruments sound like an 8-track cartridge going bad, very wavvery. "I love you, honey pie."

6) The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - That's Yoko on this track, right? I've heard that. "Bill and his elephants were taken by surprise." "Us instead of him" has an interesting deeper voiced bit on the harmony. The song sounds like a toss-off track, one that would've never made the single LP master, but would've been an Anthology track in the '90s.

7) While My Guitar Gently Weeps - George's very beautiful, serious song. Emotion, examination, "How to unfold your love," with Eric Clapton uncredited on weeping guitar. As Vivian Stanshall would say, "Thanks Eric!" I can sure hear George's layered vocals clearer on the earbuds, so nice. "You were perverted, too....No one alerted you." That's goosebump stuff. There's some Ohhs in the background you can't hear so easily on the speakers, right before the more overt Ohhs. Neat stuff buried in there.

8) Happiness is a Warm Gun - I always think of John being shot, same thing for "Come Together," Shoot me. Otherwise a great song. Supposed to have come from a poster or advertisement saying, "Happiness is a warm gun," based on expressions common at the time, Peanuts ("Happiness is a warm puppy") and Johnny Carson's book "Happiness is a Dry Martini" [maybe not the exact title, something like that, itself a take-off of Peanuts.] I love the doo-wop section of the song, and the kind of "Little Darlin'" talking part. "Mother Superior jumped the gun," you know. Good, subtle, deep voiced Uuuu's in here.

That would be the end of side one if we were going by the LP.

9) Martha My Dear - Paul's dog, get that bit of cliche trivia out of the way. Very romantic fellow. I don't hear too many other Beatles in the mix, unless that's J-G-R on tuba. Oh, now we have guitars and drums! Then the violins and tubas back in, and trumpets, sounds like. A very happy, challenging song, like Georgy Girl, "Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you, silly girl!" Live up to your potential, get out there and live! Pretty song.

10) I'm So Tired - "Walter Raleigh, git." Nasty kind of word in English English, like "Randy Scouse Git" by Micky Dolenz. The song is intense but a sing-along favorite. "I'm feeling so upset ... and curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git!" Ha ha ha. The drums are strong. He definitely wants a little piece of mind! Drifting off with some gibberish.

11) Blackbird - Paul on guitar and someone doing improv percussion on the left earbud. Bird effects, I know you can hear those well on speakers. The song is one of encouragement. Very lovely.

12) Piggies - They have the animal songs together, by intention. This is George's view on policemen at the time, I heard, because he had some trouble. But he gets into the bigger piggies with an uncaring eye to society around. "They need a damn good whacking." Kind of a minuet thing going on with cello counterpoint, pardon while I get my white powdered Beatle wig out and hand-held glasses and do a little dance around my room here. Thank God for this lap-top strap, as I keep typing. "One more time," and the pig noises come in after the orchestra. That's humorous.

13) Rocky Raccoon - I hate this song. It's such toss-off crap it probably would not have even made the Anthology album. But we will suffer it for the sake of this immortal blog. The bass notes are made how? Sound a little extended, loose. The hoe-down harmonica is over on the right. Nice drum asserting itself, with ragtime piano on the right only. "Doctor comes in, stinking of gin." Other voices come in toward the end, right only, then the ragtime reappears. It's just like it was recorded in Dodge City.

14) Don't Pass Me By - Ringo's turn to shine, which he immediately foregos. Wow, what a bad song, lyrically a meaningless mess, the hackish country vibe is an embarrassment, there's nothing good about it. The violin over on the right isn't so bad, if I may backtrack on my previous statement. I don't play bass but I think I could probably manage this song, like Johnny Cash's guy on guitar. "You were in a car crash and lost your hair." Oh boy, I think I'll play that next time I'm in the therapy you need before they give you hairplugs. Hey, I hear some counting over on the right I never heard before, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and some noises on the left I never heard before. Toward the end, right when the music gets a little lower. OK, it's over!

15) Why Don't We Do It In The Road? - Paul's solo effort. Not exactly a desert island track, unless we can strand it somewhere. I don't remember this song inspiring a lot of doing it in the road, and I've never liked it.

16) I Will - Beautiful bass notes sung, doo, doo, doo. Lovely song, sort of like "I'll Follow The Sun" in tone but not tune. It has a kind of tropical bongo over on the left. Pretty Paul keeper. Although it's interesting if you go by titles to have "I Will" follow "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?"

17) Julia - John's sweet Mom song, a little different from "Mother" on Plastic Ono Band. "A song of love, Julia." "Seashell eyes, windy smile." I like stuff like that, especially with Spring about here. It's time to go out and fall in love! If you can find that girl on the "It's A Beautiful Day" album, somewhere out there in the wind and breeze, she'll be the keeper. "Sleeping sand, silent cloud, touch me." Why can't songs like this save the world?

And that's the end of side two on the LP.

18) Birthday - Side 3 rages out of the gate with what was actually, I heard, a toss-off song, "Birthday," still played everyday on the radio somewhere in honor of people's birthdays. Strong drum, and extra counting in the background, hard to hear on speakers. Lots of party clapping. I think I heard they brought people in off the street to make noises to this song when they were recording it. It's fun fun fun, and lots of noises in the background, calls, shouts, asides. I definitely hear a female voice in there, which I thought Paul said they never had before Phil Spector got done with "A Long and Winding Road." Maybe he meant on an ongoing basis. Fun song to listen to, Birthday!

19) Yer Blues - Intense John song about dying and killing himself, lonely, not just tired this time. It has a very stark sound, tough edge to his voice. It does sound kind of like a bar combo playing live. Maybe this was more of an ensemble piece, I don't know. There's an echo on him, or maybe it's just pflanging at work. Is that Paul back there, singing a bit, on "Girl, you know the reason why?" "Feel so suicidal," with some of extra background talk, noises on left, before the guitars go uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh. Then a raw guitar solo, with a left counterpoint, less raw. Very abrupt end to the guitar, with drums and the verse sung in the background, which we've all heard on the speakers, but not well. Then it fades out without John ever coming again to the fore. Off to commit hari kari.

20) Mother Nature's Son - Paul with his "Martha" and "I Will" guitar. "Sitting, singing songs for everyone," Which I appreciate. Pretty sounds of music, flying, etc., similar to what I was saying about "Dear Prudence," but not with the same punch for me. The horns are all on the right, and a different guitar after the horn section. That's nice on the right.

21) Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me & My Monkey - I heard this was about John and Yoko, who I've actually come to really like BTW. Her album, "Yes, I'm A Witch," is great. This is going to have some background noises and voices, over on the left, hoots, hollers, voices bubbling just under the surface. Listen to it. It's like they flashed a "Recording - Please Make Noise" sign or something. "Make it easy" HOOT HOOT! He was right out there, I guess, with nothing to hide. A bunch of confused "Come on"'s. John cuts loose looooooose on this.

22) Sexy Sadie - Absolutely a great song, they say about the Maharishi, same number of syllables, and a good way to say he made a fool of them (from John's point of view, not mine) without saying his name/title. "You laid it down for all to see." This is such a spitting bitter song, I love it. Especially the "You'll get yours yet!" lines. That is wicked! Here comes a wicked bit, "However big you think you are, however big you think you are!" That's genius stuff, "You'll get your's yet!." It's The Beatles as victims, giving up everything they owned just to sit at his table. Beautiful bit on the "Latest and the greatest of them all." And "You made a fool" and "Sexy Sadie" a little more buried. This song is a treasure.

23) Helter Skelter - About a playground, amusement park ride, I've heard. But of course if you're a mass murderer, you might take it other ways! It's kind of intense, kind of menacing for such a playful description (amusement park.) The guitars are thick as mud, Paul's voice as rocked out as ever, ragged, raw, like heavy metal. I love Paul, really, but now that he's like all of us, old and mortal, sometimes we think of him like Pat Boone. Wow, there's a laugh I never heard before, and some extranea on the left earbud right about the same place. "Look out!!!!!!" "Comin' down fast!!!!" That was a very dangerous ride. Paul is singing closer to the mic. Talking on the right earbud at the end, a few snippets actually. Then the mud guitars come in for another menacing bow, and shrieking horns I've never noticed. And what next? It's going to fade back in, isn't it, and some guy is going to shout something about blisters on his fingers!! This track is chaos of the most inspired kind.

24) Long, Long, Long - Soft George track. I never think of this track when I think of the White Album. It's kind of buried in there and obscure. "So many tears I was searching." I don't even halfway know the lyrics to this one. I don't think I've ever intentionally listened to it before, you know, going, "I think I'll listen to 'Long, Long, Long.'" I didn't even remember it had three Long's in the title. So what's it? The instruments have a slight warble. Then a door creaks, and there's the new dawn of what?, a bunch of ghost crows escaping or something. It was nice enough.

I think we're at side four, with Revolution 1:

25) Revolution 1 - John says, "OK." Guitar is great, one of the Revolutions, different from the flip of "Hey Jude" but in a more loping, less distorted form. The lyrics of Revolution excluded the Beatles from violence and some of the left's more extreme political response to Vietnam, etc. The "bump, shooby doo wop" stuff puts this in the parody class, like what was going on with "Back in the U.S.S.R." A great song, which I actually like more in the Single Version. "You better free your mind instead. If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow." That's a slap at someone.

26) Honey Pie - Here we go. Paul's 78 rpm charmer, complete with surface noise there a bit. I actually like this kind of musical theater, London stage sound, which of course Paul was brought up hearing. Very sentimental, vaudeville, voodie-o-doh. You could play this track to your Grandpa (back then) [I never did] and say, "See, the Beatles are not so bad, eh, Grandpa?" And he puts his big earhorn up to it and next thing he's cutting the rug and maybe the mustard with Grams.

27) Savoy Truffle - This is one of my GO-TO songs on the White Album. I love it. A bunch of candies that will rot your teeth, with George's voice in amongst a bunch of streamlined, clipped, clean-as-a-whistle instruments. I heard some extra little voice stuff on the left earbud. And by the way, the vocals are not balanced here, but all to the right. That's a little unnerving. The guitar solo is as antiseptic and sharp as a razor. Turn it up and it'd split a drum, guaranteed. "What you eat you are, but what is sweet now turns so sour." Then a swat at "Ob-La-Di" and Da. "But you'll have them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffle!" I love this song.

28) Cry Baby Cry - John. This song is kind of like "Long, Long, Long" for relative obscurity. I've heard it a lot and basically know it but I don't. Vocals are balanced, with some sound effects buried under the vocal, and the "Cry Baby" refrain is over at the left, with an even more buried accompanying vocal on the right. Some harmony. Tagged on the end is a tune I thought I missed and I was going to have to check my Gigabeat to see if I'd left it off, "Can I Take Me Back?" Just a little bit of nothing. I think on the Anthology CD this tune doesn't even have a copyright credit, but don't quote me on that.

29) Revolution 9 - OK, here we go. I should have some coffee as I type this. This is going to be a long hard slog, though I listened to it one day and sort of enjoyed it. [I'm on PAUSE for all those who think I'm indeed live-blogging this. I just need to vent my spleen about this track a bit before I proceed.] This was never a favorite of mine. I have usually skipped it and decried its existence. I always hated having to go over and lift the needle and put it on the last song. This track if it was on the album should've been last, or a 45 stuck in as a bonus. But it's there. One thing about it, everyone's who heard it has remembered at least one little thing, "Number Nine." Anytime the word "Number Nine" comes up in conversation, someone, if there's anyone under 65 in the room, will say in that robotic music studio voice, "Number Nine." [Off Pause and to the track]:

The "Number Nine" is bouncing back and forth. Then some unearthly music clips, indeed clipped or reversed. Drums, like off a TV show. Muttering, confused, and John there clearly speaking, and George. I heard J & G were the only Beatles on this track. What can I say? It's a lot of rubbish, but there's some good little bits. A baby's voice, the number nine guy, and very little else. Like a mash-up of movie openings and closing. There's a "Riiiight" guy on the right, and a bell. Turn off and turn on whatever tape loop you happen to have. It's sort of a blog of sound. Here's George and John a bit more. And a guy going "Hoooo!" The track might really be a good soundtrack to the time, which wasn't as innocent as we always think the "past" was. People being killed, RFK, MLK, 1968, not in that order. Prague. LBJ. Vietnam. There's some protest sounds in the mix. John's voice is this low monotone dark voice. Shooting, suggesting a western. George is reading something about a night watchman. I check, only a minute 39 to go. "Take this brother, may it serve you well." Someone's watching TV, which sounds like Yoko. And a trebly section follows, like a frightening noise chamber. Let me out. "If you become naked." "Hold that line!," a protest bouncing back and forth between the tracks, as we close....

30) Good night - Beautiful Ringo warbler. I love this track. From the Anthology CDs we find there was a spoken bit before, as originally intended, or was that "Yellow Submarine"? Speaking of movie openings and closing (see above), this one definitely has a swelling Hollywood feel to it, except for the voice being the voice of Everyman and not a big Hollywood Starr (sorry). The trills and swells are swell indeed, and the girl voices back there in the mix. The music is so far and away over the top, I love it. Ringo's voice was just right for such a quirky, parody thing like this. Ringo whispers, as we all have heard, "Good night."

And with that we come to the end of side four!

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - Epic FXS 15118, LP

Track by track, the first record album based on the comedy series:

Side 1:
1) Cuckoo Laugh-In World - Sock it to me and very interesting. It's a cuckoo laugh-in world! Very bubbly track. I just want to swing! This is the best track on the album.
2) Monologue and Cocktail Party - Dan and Dick and cast, with Dick trying to be sentimental but just getting twisted up. Dan says, "I couldn't have said it better myself." These guys were old-fashioned but cool doing it, right out of a vaudeville style but with a cool '60s edge. And there's a great laugh track. Dick wants to be dirty, but the censors, NBC, and the sponsors "cut down the odds" as to what he can talk about. Still he knows of a great party in Room 1537, to which we go. Swinging go-go music and the cast's jokes, first up Barbara Feldon on reading, writing, and rhythm. Then JoAnne Worley. Henry Gibson frowning on the phrase, "Here Come De Judge." Goldie Hawn thinks she ought to rent her groceries, since the prices are so high. Ruth Buzzi plays Robert Goulet records till she could just scream. Polygamies are not tall, Goldie's cute remark!
3) New Talent - Arte Johnson presented as a rock 'n' roll singer from behind the Iron Curtain. Mr. Desminco. He's going to sing a song from the musical theater of his people, kind of a Borat character, but much more shy. Then it's "Mame," in some Russian-sounding language. He has an enthusiastic but flawed ending. When the fickle finger of fate beckons, stardom might be yours! And "Goodnight Tiny Tim, wherever you are!"
4) Personality of the Week - Dan and Barbara Feldon. She works with the Girl Scouts, with a very sexy outlook on the things they ought to be learning. The girls in her troop are about 27-28 years old, older than Brownies. Their marriages didn't work out so they're back in uniform. They sell cookies to keep a roof over their head. Heh heh. Alimony is one of the subjects she teaches the girls. Then they go on a camping trip. The girls love their campouts, near Fort Dix, New Jersey, right outside the main gate. "Those cookies move real fast."
5) News of Past, Present, Future - "What's the news across the nation, we have got the information, in a way we hope will amuse youse, we just love to give you our news. Bop bop bop de bop, Ladies and gents, Laugh-in looks at the news!" Here's Dan! Then to Dickie! A wish for stardust on your bippy. Then back to Dan via Goldie. 1988 - GM execs discuss plans for a one-day work week. Walter Reuther purchases GM. 1988 - Indians have any grievances? Both said no.
6) Etcetera - All cast. Almost two minutes of cast jokes. Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock. Very interesting, but stupid. Knock knock jokes. Tijuana punch in the nose?

Side 2:
1) Half time, with Arte, Gary Owen, and JoAnne. A take-off on "Havah Nagilah." Have two Nagilah, have three Nagilah, they're pretty small.
2) Here Come The Judge - Roddy Maude-Roxby, Henry Gibson, and Male Cast. "We Love The Law," a show number! Some good jokes in here. "Have you ever been up before me?" "I don't know, your honor, what time do you get up?"
3) The Other Cocktail Party - Full cast with jokes interspersed with swinging music. The pastor's favorite denomination is the five dollar bill. A wetbacks joke, that can't be good today. Goldie's IQ has never been mentioned. Joan Baez's autographed fingerprints. Boris gave JoAnne a Polish goldfish, which drowned. Gladys will do anything to have children, and Dick tells her "Adopt." The dirty old man has cornered the market on Walnettos. A lame Christian/Jewish joke about crossing the road, Christians get across in New York, Jews a star.
4) Sock It To Me - Potpourri - Judy Carne and Cast. Henry Gibson got it socked to him "pretty must in the usual way." Potpourri is sure spelled funny, says Goldie. They need to make more zeppelins! Ruth asks the guy making obscene phone calls to please stop. Her number has been changed, which she gives out. She says Gladys ORMphy, not Frump.
5) Mod Mod World - Dan, Dick, and Cast. The coolest generic swinging music! The subject is people in America. The air will be filled with people flying around, to which Dick says "Yeah, baby!" and "I'll drink to that." The guy was a partier! A good Tiny Tim reference, on making it to New York two hours before he leaves. Dancing ladies in Tahiti are the answer to everything if you have the right question. "I'm a little stiff from bowling." "I don't care, let's dance." "Wanna buy a sexy postcard? Wanna buy a sexy book? Wanna buy a sexy movie? Wanna buy a softer handbag?" Whack, whack, whack!
6) The Cuckoos - By Arte, Henry, and Ruth. "Victory On The Farm March" and "Holiday Strings" are the music. Cowboys like hash because it gives them a reason to turn on the rain. Ruth does a Snooky Lanson laughing version of "Holiday Strings."
7) Goodnight Dick - Dan, Dick, and Full Cast. Includes "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips." Dick gets things confused in the end, wanting to say something his aunt once said to him. She was nine days in a Turkish bath with Tiny Tim. What she said should be of interest. She dried off and came out singing, "Tip-Toe..." Viet Cong nearly wrecked the Empire State Building. Gladys just wants to swing. You can hear the opening and closing of the holes in the wall. Then in the end the record self-destructs, like on Mission Impossible.