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I am, for reasons unknown to me, in the middle of an Elvis Costello jag, where I listen to only him, on a sort of endless rotation.
Obviously lots of different kinds of styles and such going on with him, sometimes in the same song. But it got me thinking: What are his best albums? And/or songs?
Beyond Belief has long been my favorite, but Brilliant Mistake is fast climbing. I dunno, what else? Man Out of Time? Indoor Fireworks? Shipbuilding?
You tell me....
The combination of some vacation time and not being a television critic anymore has led me back to an old pursuit: reading books.
You know -- offline, paper between two covers, that kind of thing. You remember. In a previous post I talked about the beginning of Perfect from Now On, about the bit with the iTunes counter and how it reflected your musical tastes, like it or not (though, as others pointed out, there are reasons why this might not be 100 percent true). In the meantime I finished the book and enjoyed it, especially because it involved a brief journalistic quandry - John Sellers, the author, wound up drinking beer with Robert Pollard, his hero, and in the eyes of some betraying him because he wrote about it. (The resolution isn't as interesting as the problem itself.)
Then, at a trip to the beach, my mom was reading Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, in which author Rob Sheffield chornicles his life by way of mix tapes, as you perhaps guessed from the title. It may not seem like the most likely choice for a 78-year-old woman to read, but there was a reason: the woman Sheffield was married to until her sudden death was one of my mom's piano students way back when.
So when she was done, I read that. It's the better book, probably, but obviously a much more serious affair. Highly recommended, both of them.
So I figured, this is cool - I'll devote my spare time to reading rock books. Perhaps I'll become an obsessive (both Sellers and Sheffield fit the description). Maybe this will be the ticket to my long-held dream: writing a bestselling biography of Mitch Easter, or his band Let's Active, or Southern jangle pop from the '80s. Though on further reflection: possibly limited audience.
And then I picked up Christopher Moore's You Suck: A Love Story, which, at least so far, isn't about music at all. (I'm a sucker for a good vampire story, pun intended, I suppose.)
But I'm still in the market for a good rock book, something in the vein of Nick Hornby's great High Fidelity: A Novel. If anybody's got suggestions, I'm all ears.
Again with the puns. Man.
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I suggest Chuck Klosterman, although he's more of a comedic writer and his stuff doesn't really tell any particular story. It's rock-centric, though.
I missed reading blogs from the TCA Press Tour.
Yeah, I've read some Klosterman, but thought I'd try some more, maybe.
As for the other, I missed being at the TV tour....
I'm reading a book by John Sellers, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, which is amusing and kind of fun in that makes-you-want-to-listen-to-music way.
But there's something in the early going that really intrigued me. Sellers to his surprise discovers his obsession with Guided By Voices (eh, OK, never fully got it, whatever) mathematically, when he discovered that he could list songs on his iTunes by play count.
So I bit. What the heck. A quick click reveals ... no big surprise at No. 1. In a recent post at my other blog, in which I ranked what I thought were the top 25 songs of all time, I put No. 13 Baby at the top. And indeed, it's there at No. 1 on iTunes as well.
But No. 2 surpised me, a lot. Honky Tonk Women, by the Rolling Stones. Huh? When? Now, granted, I listen to songs on my iPod when I run, set on shuffle, so all manner of things come up. (Plus, I listen to Rhapsody a lot more than what I have stored on iTunes.) But I've listened to this more than anything but my beloved Pixies song?
Jimmy's Fantasy by Redd Kross at No. 3 isn't a big stretch. After a certain number of beers it's practically required listening. But Anne Richmond Boston's cover of Neil Young's When You Dance I Can Really Love at No. 4? Wow. I don't think that can possibly be true.
And yet it obviously is.
What a bizarre experience. I know that (Believed You Were) Lucky by 'Til Tuesday (great song, really, don't be fooled by Amy Mann's former hairdo) comes up a lot (No. 14), because it's at the top of a couple of playlists I've made. But if I had to guess a Sparklehorse song I'd heard most, it would have been Heart of Darkness, not Someday I Will Treat You Good (No. 6). Same for Elvis Costello. I would have thought I'd listened to Beyond Belief, one of my all-time favorite songs, a lot more, but it's hovering down at No. 21, while Alison sits there at No. 16. Go figure.
Interesting exercise. No accounting for tastes, as they say. But you'd think I could account for my own.
Anyway, without further ado, the 20 songs I've evidently listened to most:
1) No. 13 Baby, The Pixies
2) Honky Tonk Women, Rolling Stones
3) Jimmy's Fantasy, Redd Kross,
4) When You Dance I Can Really Love, Anne Richmond Boston
5) No Better Place, Fountains of Wayne
6) Someday I Will Treat You Good, Sparklehorse
7) Special One, Ultra Vivid Scene
8) Clocks, Coldplay
9) Mexican Wine, Fountains of Wayne
10) Something Becomes Nothing, Matthew Sweet (another stunner; I'd have guessed about 15 other Matthew Sweet songs before this)
11) Corduroy, Pearl Jam (I am not sure how this happened)
12) Please Return It, The Posies
13) New Slang, The Shins
14) Stacy's Mom, Fountains of Wayne (big hit with my kids)
15) (Believed You Were) Lucky, 'Til Tuesday
16) Heroes, David Bowie
17) Alison, Elvis Costello
18) Zero, Smashing Pumpkins (again, I can't quite figure this out)
19) One, U2
20) Roses Are Free, Ween (I like the guitar solo)
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I get surprised at what I listen to most too. Last.fm has The Mountain Goats- Dance Music.
I don't think Itunes is the best counter because it only lists a song as played when the whole song is through, and sometimes I skip through the last five seconds of silence at the end of a song.
Love the concept - but my data's screwed. My computer is only a few months old, and I've been listening to mostly new stuff since I got it. By looking at my current list, you'd think I'd listened to only Amusement Parks on Fire, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Silversun Pickups and Nine Inch Nails.
You know what would be interesting? Some algorithm that comes up with a magic rating based upon number of times played and number of songs from an artist in your library. You'd get some sort of rating for consistency - great (you buy the artist's music, and you listen to it a lot) or disappointing (you buy a lot of the artist's music, but you end up not listening to it much).
I wish I could see info on every song I've listened to for the past 20 years -- who pops up, fades away, then comes back over time. Pixies are always around. Catherine Wheel was big, then disappeared, and now they're back in my mix. Alas, Ministry was huge but there hasn't been a single spin for them in eight years.
For one reason or another (new computer, other screwup) I have to re-load my iTunes tracks every few months and, since the "data" including plays, ratings, date added and date last played, seem to be stored on the iPod and not with the songs, I lose all the data periodically. Sigh....
Still, 3 FOW songs? The Posies? Matthew Sweet? Aimee? Elvis C? Your tastes and mine are running on the same track, my new friend.
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So, so, many good songs - it's hard to say. Here's a video I discovered earlier this week that is amazing - Elvis on SNL 12 /17/77 - man he rocks here.
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From Wikipedia concerning this video – The song made waves in the United States after Costello’s appearance on Saturday Night Live. Originally, the Sex Pistols had been invited to perform on the December 17, 1977 broadcast, but problems with the Pistols’ various criminal records made getting visas in time difficult, and so the invitation was extended to Costello and The Attractions, who were touring Canada and the US at the time. Costello’s album was only available on import (My Aim Is True, released in the UK in July).
Costello wanted to play “Radio Radio” on SNL . Columbia Records, Costello’s US label, on the other hand, was interested in having an already-established song performed on SNL , to stoke the fires of interest in the band prior to the American release of My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model. In the event, Costello began the SNL performance by playing “Less than Zero.” However, after a few bars, he turned to the Attractions, waving his hand and yelling “Stop! Stop!,” then said to the audience, “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here,” possibly referring to the obscure story behind “Less than Zero,” which was written as a reply to British fascist Oswald Mosley. He then led the band in a performance of “Radio Radio.” Costello was banned from Saturday Night Live for twelve years. This version of “Radio Radio” (fading into the “false start”) can be found (in monaural) on Saturday Night Live: 25 Years of Musical Performances, Vol. 1 (track time – 3:08).
Costello said later that the inspiration for the last-minute song change came from a similar episode years earlier, concerning Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was on the BBC television show hosted by pop-star Lulu, and was supposed to play his hit, “Hey Joe.” Hendrix started the song, stopped, said, “We’d like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to the Cream regardless of what kind of group they might be. I’d like to dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce.” and then launched into a feedback-laden version of “Sunshine of Your Love” by the group Cream, which had just announced its break-up. The song ran far longer (and louder) than the show’s producers had in mind, Hendrix said after a bit, “We’re being pulled off the air,” and the BBC pulled the plug (literally) on Hendrix’s performance.
In a bizarre and comic twist, on SNL ’s 25th anniversary show in 2000, Costello burst in on Beastie Boys—sabotaging their performance of “Sabotage”— and they performed Radio Radio together