Confessions of a Fanboy

Reading the news about the upcoming Colplay record had the expected effect: I’ve gone back and started listening to those first three records. X&Y must have sucked more than I thought because it killed any desire I had to listen to these records anymore, and that’s a shame. Okay, so it’s not [...]

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As part of my 2007 wrapup, I decided to go back and listen to The White Stripes’ Icky Thump. One of my favorite song titles of the year – one of my favorite song titles ever – is the great “Catch Hell Blues.”
Is it just me or does this one sound a little like [...]

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If I were to distill this site and everything I write for it down to one single thought, it would be The Power of Music. I once again find myself helpless, being overpowered by another great song. Raise your hand if you’re surprised it’s by Bruce Springsteen.
Now, I am pretty knowledgeable [...]

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It’s a sunny, cool, crisp fall day in Alabama, the morning after our first freeze of the season. Where our friends in the northeast have been peeping at leaves afire with the colors of fall for months, it’s only now beginning to look like fall where I live.
I’ve been dabbling with Radiohead’s In Rainbows [...]

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I was drawn to Nirvana because of Cobain’s ability to mix anger and pop. I didn’t necessarily understand that then, but I get it now. There’s no shortage of irony that the dominant anti-pop band of the ’90s best songs were pop songs, cleverly disguised by Cobain’s genius.
I never really got much from [...]

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It gets lost in the insanity of the famous “This world is bullshit” speech at the MTV Music Awards that Fiona Apple has a hell of a voice and her debut, Tidal was a striking and occasionally brilliant record.
I first hear this record, and song, while I was working at a music store in Colorado [...]

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Damn if this song doesn’t open with some of the worst lyrics imaginable. That has to be the dopiest opening couplet of any non-country music song ever.
I make a big deal of it because in spite of that terrible opening, “Fix You” is just an amazing song. I can’t explain why [...]

Filed under: Coldplay, Listening Room | 4 Comments »

I was very late to the Pulp party, to the point where I am only now buying their proper albums. I have been listening to This is Hardcore and We Love Life over and over. I recently got a copy of the UK-only solo album from frontman Jarvis Cocker, Jarvis as well as Pulp’s Different [...]

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D.O.A. Dead on arrival. I imagine those letters being stamped on Dan Wilson’s Free Life at alleged music stores and radio stations across the country. The body is set to be buried before it’s even died.
Once again, I find myself taking up arms to fight for another good record due to be [...]

Filed under: Dan Wilson, Listening Room | 8 Comments »

In case you hadn’t heard, Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band released a new album Tuesday and I’ve spent most of this week listening to it.
I participated in a roundtable discussion of it with Lisa McKay and Mark Saleski. It was fantastic to once again participate in a discussion of Bruce’s music with people [...]

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