Filed under: Adventures in Stereo favourite, Albums of Year, Future releases, Giant Sand, Greg Dulli, Guns N' Roses, Mark Lanegan, Music News, Screaming Trees, Stone Temple Pilots, The Afghan Whigs, The Gutter Twins, folks on tour | Tags: Best of 2008, Chinese Democracy, Giant Sand, Greg Dulli, Guns N' Roses, Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees, Stone Temple Pilots, The Afghan Whigs, The Gutter Twins, Velvet Revolver
So, the end of November is drawing near and December will no doubt bring countless ‘The Best Of’, ‘The Very Best Of’ and ‘Essential’ compilation albums that capture only a selection of the artists work. Normally it’s the stuff that the average fan can’t bear … ‘The Greatest Hits’: the breakthrough single and a bunch of top 60 ‘chart toppers’.
I have never been a fan of such albums. All of the tracks (bar one or two ‘previously unreleased’) are on the studio albums and if you like the artist enough then you’ll own these anyway. However, there are exceptions …
1. Unbreakable: The Afghan Whigs compilation released last year. There’s a few notable exclusions, but it’s nicely packaged, plays like a set from a Whigs gig and it’s great to hear the two new tracks from one of the greatest bands ever.
2. Thank You: The bonus DVD edition is worth purchasing. There’s the ‘previously unreleased’ gem, ‘All In The Suit That You Wear’, alongside some of the Stone Temple Pilots‘ best moments. Again there are notable exceptions, but the bonus DVD is the icing on the cake … 3 hours of videos, live stuff and amateur bootleg footage.
3. Selections Circa 1990-2000: The Giant Sand compilation is a nice starting point for anyone interested in the dusty sounds of Howe Gelb collective.
4. Ocean of Confusion: is the second, and finest, Screaming Trees retrospective from Epic/Sony (the first being the shabbily packaged Nearly Lost You). Covering the best of the Trees’ output between 1990 and 1996, this is another fine starting point.
… there are probably more, but I don’t own too many. If I remember any others I’ll give them a mention.
December also brings a ton of year end lists and I wonder how many of these that Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy will appear in. Billed as “the most eagerly anticipated album ever”, 17 years and 4,800 musicians later, The Chinese Democracy was eventually released yesterday (November 24th). Some of the songs do sound like they were conceived 17 years ago and in that time rock music has evolved and many of Guns N’ Roses’ fans have likely passed on. All credit to Mr. Rose though, he’s stuck by the project and the sound that he heard.
I did expect the album to be terrible (mainly due to the farcical wait, the high drama and the fact it would never live up to the hype) I have to admit that it’s not. I’ve laughed at some of the insanity, the clichéd lyrics and the over the top howls. I’ve also found a few toe tapping moments there too, but ultimately it’s way too long (clocking in at over 70 minutes), lacks cohesion and is a little bloated (I expect the fact that there’s been so many ‘cooks’ involved hasn’t brought focus).
As I’ve said, I don’t think it’s terrible, but I don’t think it’s particularly good … in fact, I’m actually quite baffled by much of the album.
Where to now? Well, Velvet Revolver are still looking for a singer. But, according to ‘The Management’, this is an exciting time for Guns N’ Roses.
There’s also great news for fans of The Gutter Twins (well, those in Europe anyway): after what has been a very successful year for Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, they return to Europe early in the New Year. We should expect a more stripped back set similar to Greg Dulli’s incredible Triple Door set (which was released via iTunes last month). The dates and venues:
January
15 UK Glasgow Oran Mor
16 IRELAND Dublin Academy
17 IRELAND Galway Roisin Dubh
19 UK London Union Chapel
20 BELGIUM Hasselt Muziekodroom
21 BELGIUM Brussels Ancienne Belgique
22 HOLLAND Haarlem Patronaat
24 GERMANY Berlin Babylon
25 AUSTRIA Vienna WuK
26 ITALY Milan La Salumeria Della Musica
27 ITALY Rome Auditorium Parco Della Musica
28 ITALY Florence Auditorium Flog
30 SPAIN Barcelona Apolo
31 SPAIN Bilbao Kafe Antzokia
February
2 SPAIN Madrid Joy Eslava
4 GREECE Athens Gagarin 205
Anyway, I’ll be making a start on the Adventures In Stereo Best of 2008 list fairly shortly and for the people who bother visiting the blog and who emailed to say “hey! What’s going on here?”, I’ll be making an effort to post more often in 2009 (well, at least once a month). I’m also aware that I haven’t posted a bootleg in a while (in fact, Blind Melon was the last one) so I’ll get round to changing that real soon. My apologies.
Filed under: Adventures in Stereo favourite, Albums of Year, Brian Wilson, Calexico, Earth, Future releases, Giant Sand, Greg Dulli, Grinderman, Isobel Campbell, Jane's addiction, Kings of Leon, Lil Wayne, MGMT, Mark Lanegan, Music News, NME, Nas, Nick Cave, Perry Farrell, Satelitte Party, Scott Weiland, Shawn Smith, Stone Temple Pilots, The Gutter Twins, folks on tour | Tags: Stone Temple Pilots, Earth, Jane's addiction, The Gutter Twins, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell, Adorata, Shawn Smith, Brian Wilson, Nas, Calexico, Giant Sand, Kings of Leon, Lil Wayne, MGMT
Greetings …
… It’s been near enough 4 months since I last posted and there’s been so much that I’ve failed to comment on.
So what’s been going on? I’m assuming that everyone who is interested will know that The Gutter Twins have issued a 7″ of God’s Children, which includes a great (new) track, titled Spanish Doors (which happens to be a door without a handle). They also released Adorata (a ‘digital release’ of outtakes and the likes) through iTunes.
Speaking of iTunes, I aint a big fan ‘digital music outlets’. I have never been inclined to buy MP3’s and although much of the music I buy ends up on the MP3 player, I like the ‘hard copy’. The whole package (whether it be CD or record) is a necessity and I hope that Adorata eventually makes it on to such a format.
I figure that it’d be a good time to look over the year so far and also look at what’s ahead.
The Gutter Twins, Saturnalia
The finest album this year? So far anyhoo. It’s powerful and is exactly what we were all looking for from Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli. We haven’t been disappointed.
Earth, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
Another brilliant release from Dylan Carlson’s Earth. Similar to HEX in its gothic soundscape and a title that refers to the story of Samson, this is one of the finest albums to have been released this year.
Shawn Smith, The Diamond Hand
Another great release from Shawn Smith (Pigeonhed, Brad, Satchel, Twilight Singers). This has been a mainstay of my stereo since I purchased it. It’s also worth noting that his previous albums have been re-issued. Nice one.
Brian Wilson, That Lucky Old Sun
The demos floating around the information superhighway gave us all a taste of what was to come and there’s no denying that Mr. Wilson is back on form (the star studded ’Gettin’ In Over My Head’ was a little hit and miss, while the Christmas album wasn’t so inspiring either).
Other albums worth mentioning:
Nas, N; Calexico, Carried to Dust; Giant Sand, ProVISIONS; Kings of Leon, Only By The Night; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!; Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III; MGMT, Oracular Spectacular and Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Sunday at Devil Dirt.
Stone Temple Pilots:
together and touring, Scott Weiland, the De Leo’s and Eric Kretz look as though they are back for good. It’s been too long.
Jane’s Addiction:
a stunning performance at the NME awards in L.A. reminded everyone just how incredible this band were prior to Strays. Sadly it looks like it was just a one off … but with Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party falling apart at the seams and Dave Navarro’s The Panic Channell being the most musically redundant project he or Mr. Perkins have been involved in, maybe there’s hope that they’ll decide to get back in the studio.
What’s on the horizon?
