No Pussyfooting

Yessss!

2009-11-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

Guess who I met today?

Listen to Mike Newman's interview with Derek on EVR: just select the Nov 5 archive. Mike always scores the best guests--because of him, I've been able to interview Faust and Sergio Dias over the past few weeks. He records his show in the live booth while I pre-record No Pussyfooting upstairs, so I made sure to run down and meet Derek. I think he was surprised that I was so excited to meet him. Thank you Mike!!

Blog Songs, episode 1

2009-09-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Speaking of religious zealots...I want to try posting music on this blog, as often as possible, so I thought I'd inaugurate what I hope will become a regular thing with some Bill Fay. Here are two tracks from his second and final album, Time of the Last Persecution, originally released on Decca in 1971. A couple of years ago Eclectic Discs reissued both of Fay's albums under the title Bill Fay Plus (I think), so go find that and buy it if it's still in print. Otherwise, his stuff is easy to find on the net. You guys know how to google.

Anyway, I really like Bill Fay's first (self-titled) album too. It's definitely over-orchestrated, but I'm a sucker for that kind of over the top shit, especially when the orchestration is a little bizarre, as is the case here. In Time of the Last Persecution, however, the arrangements are utterly wacked out. The album was produced by Ray Russell, and the dude just wails over Fay's somber tunes with heavy fuzz guitar solos, epileptic shredding, and multilayered, noisy orchestration. I really like how the orchestration just drops in out of nowhere on a lot of the songs on this album, just barfing all over the tracks. As for Fay, he's been compared to Roy Harper, Alexander Spence, Scott Walker, Nick Drake...you get the idea. Deep, depressed, kind of nutty British guys. And if you haven't guessed already, Time of the Last Persecution is totally apocalyptic. Get into it!

This first track, "Release is in the Eye," is pretty characteristic of the rest of the album, although it lacks the unexpected arrangements I mentioned earlier. Nice melody, weird Christian lyrics, flat singing, awesome fuzz.

"I Hear You Calling" is a simpler cut, but really compelling (in my opinion)

I hope you like it! Leave a comment if you do, or if there's anything in particular you'd like me to post on here. If that something happens to be out of print, expensive, or absent from the net, I'll try to make it appear.

A Quip About Nips

2009-09-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

I saw a lot of ugly, offensive shit this summer while I was apartment-sitting in a place with cable TV. Not the least of which was this ad for a stupid bra that conceals your nipples with two petal-shaped padded concaves on the inside of the bra cup--a stylish secret for extra modest ladies! Give me a fucking break. From a pragmatic standpoint, I get it--most women (myself included) hate to have their nips ogled on a cold day. But these "concealer" bras are just insulting--better cover up those nips, girls, or else you're just asking for it! If ever there were a time to bring back bra burning...but there isn't, really. I feel like nowadays it's just as futile to complain about nip concealers in a public forum as it is to prance around shamelessly in a thin shirt--being open about such things carries its own (backwards) sex appeal, and who am I to criticize a guy for checking out a nice set of boobs if they're in plain sight? But creating a bra that hides or constricts your rack even more than usual isn't going to stop men from being assholes--it's only going to make women even more ashamed of what they're carrying. Just from googling around for some info on that stupid bra, I found all kinds of disappointing "tips" from women on how to hide your nips so that you can work in an airconditioned office building, how to pull duct tape off your nips at the end of the day with the least amount of pain, etc--on sites like eHow and Yahoo! Whatever. I'm not bold enough to withstand the social side effects of going blatantly braless, so I usually make a halfhearted effort to keep my nips in check. But if they show, I deal with it. I'm certainly not going to spend money on a special bra just because pervs on the street can't keep their boners to themselves. Maybe men should try a little harder to conceal their thoughts and quit rubbernecking. It's not very attractive.

Another Funk Show

2009-08-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

The playlist for tonight's show is mostly funk. Lately I've been playing a lot of long songs during the first half hour of the show--a decision that I've come to regret, considering that the new streaming setup prohibits listeners from being able to skip through shows. So if you've listened to my show recently, and found yourself stuck in an interminably long song, I'm sorry. Hopefully this week's No Pussyfooting will pick up the pace! Let me know what you think; feel free to email me with requests, questions, comments, complaints at radiomargaret@gmail.com or leave a comment here.

Nicholas Ray

2009-07-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

I've gone to Film Forum every day this week for the Nicholas Ray retrospective. If anything, seeing a few of his films in a row has caused me to think about the patterns in his casting--loner pretty boys like Farley Granger and James Dean; blacklist Leftists like Sterling Hayden and Robert Ryan; strong willed, feral leading ladies like Joan Crawford, Gloria Grahame and Ida Lupino; and lots of sad-eyed P.Y.T.'s with interesting faces. These are all actors of great character, many of whom led fascinating, offbeat lives offscreen. And if good direction can be attributed to expert decision-making, Ray's eye for people only makes me admire him more.

I first checked out Johnny Guitar, just to see it again, on a nice 35mm print. It remains one of my favorite films, and certainly my favorite Crawford performance. Too much to say about that one, so I'll just stop here before I start rambling.

Next up was On Dangerous Ground-I went in to that one assuming from the get-go that I'd like it because it stars Robert Ryan (see above), but as it turned out Ryan's perfectly reticent, devastating performance was only the tip of the iceberg. The film was incredible; pretty much blindsided me. You know how The Asphalt Jungle ends suddenly out in the countryside, where Sterling Hayden goes to die out on the farm with the horses? That was always my favorite part of that movie, how it shifted abruptly from the setting of a "gritty" urban noir--down in the sewers, even--to the bright open space of a farm. Well, you get a similarly jolting change of setting here, with the first half of On Dangerous Ground taking place in the dingy city, with Ryan playing a hot-headed, nihilistic detective in a cop-hating town. Then he's given a slap on the wrist and sent out to the mountains on an assignment--to help the even more hot-headed Ward Bond track down his daughter's handicapped teenage killer, in the snow with a rifle. The outdoor photography here is beautiful and crisp, and very different from the back projection that makes Johnny Guitar so (wonderfully) hokey. The cinematography is really inventive, both in the mountains and in the city--some really exciting (and unique) handheld camerawork, and a few weird but perfect shots taken from inside cars, plus a couple of moody superimpositions as the characters drive hopelessly through the city and in the snow. The same can be said for They Live By Night, which I saw yesterday--it was surprisingly well shot, considering that it was Ray's first film. One moment in particular was so impressive that my friend, usually a quiet film-watcher, let out an uncharacteristic "wow." (At least it was a quiet "wow").

I have to say, the romance works in They Live By Night, too. Even knowing that Farley Granger was gayer than a 3 dollar bill in the real world, I was surprisingly able to suspend my disbelief and fall for his pretty face. I think it was the storyline that swayed me, because normally I'm not attracted to pretty men at all. I think the lovers-on-the-run genre has a lot going for it, because the general premise is chaotic and absurd enough to float a convincing romance. One just doesn't have the time to slip into the boring routine of everyday life; of running out of things to talk about, deciding what to make for dinner and watching TV together--when you're living a life of crime. Nicholas Ray draws attention to this, while offering us a character study of the type of people who are eager to drop everything and run off--people who are both survivalist and admirably naive, who don't own anything worth holding onto and so depend on each other as a means of substantive living. Up until the end of They Live By Night, the couple operates on the assumption that eventually they'll hit a safezone, work out their legal issues and live in comfortable amnesty. But their rotating fantasies are clearly untenable, and Ray lets us know ahead of the curve that the couple wouldn't be happy living in the "real world" anyway--they don't like to dance, they think sports are stupid, and they feel out of place in social situations. It's not so much that they're running away from a broken and irreparable past as they haven't really lived yet. They're constructing a new way of life in transit that's pretty exciting and unlike anything I've ever experienced. The whole scenario befits the movies well, and I like it!

I haven't written much here about Nicholas Ray in particular, but it should go almost without saying that I'm now hooked on him. None of the internal details that I've mentioned, like character development, acting and story would be at all effective if his direction wasn't on point. Especially with a genre as tiresome as the melodrama, the direction needs to be tight to keep me awake, let alone interested, and so far he's really impressed me. I'm going to see this series at Film Forum through.

No Pussyfooting this week

2009-07-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

After it aired, my show disappeared for a few days this week while the station fiddled with the new stream. The new website, if you haven't noticed, has some kinks, but it's still very promising. My show is back on the air so stream it now if you feel like it. I'm posting the playlist here because I wasn't able to upload it to my show page.

By the way, does anyone know why the Zombies misspelled "Odyssey" on their "Odessey & Oracle" album? I suppose I could just go to google.... Anybody know?

playlist for 7/19/09
1. Robert Lester Folsom "April Suzanne" (Music and Dreams)
2. Caravan "Winter Wine" (Land of the Grey and the Pink)
3. George Edwards "La Jolla" (38:38)
4. Faust "Just a Second (Starts Like That!)" (IV)
5. Cos "Fanfan la Tulipe" (Viva Bomma)
6. The Music Emporium "Velvet Sunsets" (s/t)
7. McDonald & Sherby "Space Beam" (s/t)
8. The Idle Race "Hurry Up John" (s/t)
9. Arcadium "Poor Lady" (Breathe Awhile)
10. Comus "The Prisoner" (First Utterance)
11. Mandrake Memorial "House of Mirrors" (s/t)
12. Eroc "Sternchen" (Eroc Eins)
13. "The Feedback"-- anyone know what this is? I found it on my computer.
14. Os Mutantes "Jogo de Calcada" (A Divina Comedia)
15. Axis "Materializing the Unlimited" (II)
16. Joe Tex "I Gotcha" (I Gotcha)
17. Iron Knowledge "Show Stopper" (Chains & Black Exhaust)
18. Morricone Youth "The Black Forest" (Silenzio Violento)
19. I.d. Company "Bhagavad Gita" (s/t)
20. Gong "Radio Gnome/You Can't Kill Me" (Camembert Electrique)
21. Jack Bruce "Victoria Sage" (s/t)
22. Flower Travellin' Band "Intro" (Made in Japan)
23. Fairport Convention "Some Sweet Day" (Heyday)
24. Igor Wakhevitch "Ritual de Guerre" (Hathor)
25. Les Rita Mitsouko "La Jalousie" (s/t)
26. Ejwuusl Wessahqqan "Passaceety" (s/t)
27. Zombies "Beechwood Park" (Odessey & Oracle)

Sincerely,

Margaret

Tonight

2009-07-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Prog + fashion? Kind of. I'm dj'ing at Arlo & Esme's tonight, at 42 east 1st, to celebrate the launch of Greg Armas's clothing line. Greg is a long time follower of No Pussyfooting, and a purveyor of great taste. His shop, Assembly New York, is right around the corner, below Houston. This should be a lot of fun. I plan on playing a lot of danceable, heavy tunes. Believe me, "danceable" and "heavy" can intersect, under the right circumstances. I'm going on second, after "AZY Soundsystems" and before "Jordan Schroom," around 10:30 or 11. Hope to see you there!

P.S.

2009-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

"He's got a girl, I've got a cat" (The Long Goodbye)

As most of you probably know already, I made a mix recently of easy pop tunes, too light for my radio show (although I still slip them in just about every week.) A handful of people have (surprisingly) asked me for a track listing, so I figured I'll post it on here, along with a special link for those interested. Turns out I wrote about my love of light tunes two and a half years ago, on this very blog. I even titled the entry "smooth sailing," before I even heard of this "yacht rock" craze. How about that? I wouldn't characterize this mix as yacht-rock, though. It's easy pop.

Beware: this can be classified as easy listening. But don't let that deter you from trying it out!
track listing:
1. Daryl Hall & John Oates "When The Morning Comes" (Abandoned Luncheonette)
2. Keith Cross & Peter Ross "Can You Believe It" (Bored Civilians)
3. Shaun Harris "I'll Cry Out" (s/t)
4. The Smoke [US] "Odyssey" (s/t)
5.Terry Jacks "It's Been There from the Start" (Seasons in the Sun)
6. Kayak "I Want You to Be Mine" (Starlight Dancer)
7. 10cc "Wall Street Shuffle" (Sheet Music)
8. Steely Dan "Charlie Freak" (Pretzel Logic)
9. Dennis Wilson "Lady" (Bamboo)
10. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band "She May Call You Up Tonight" (Volume One)
11. Gilbert O'Sullivan "Alone Again (Naturally)" (Himself)
12. Bobby Weinstein & Jon Stroll "The Cat Was a Junkie" (Cook Me Up Your Taste)
13. Shuggie Otis "Strawberry Letter 23" (Freedom Flight)
14. John Ylvisaker "Who Cares for the City" (Cool Livin')
15. Shaun Harris "Color of Your Eyes" (s/t)
16. Daryl Hall & John Oates "I'm Just A Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like A Man)" (Abandoned Luncheonette)
17. Four Seasons "Goodbye Girl" (Off Seasons: Critically Ignored B-Sides of the Four Seasons)
18. Fleetwood Mac "The Ledge" (Tusk)
19. Larry Carlton "I Cry Mercy" (Singing/Playing)

link in the comments.

Back on the Blog

2009-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm back. Let's see, since I was last here I've continued with No Pussyfooting on East Village Radio for over a year now, while the blog has been taking a nap. Currently, my show airs late Sunday night/Monday mornings from 4 to 6a.m., but you can stream it any time. I'm at the top of the schedule, and my buddy Jeff is at the bottom with his show "Bring Out Your Dead." What fitting bookends! Check in at www.eastvillageradio.com for updates, because we're about to shift over to a new website shortly. It's pretty exciting.

But what exactly have I been up to? I don't know. I finished my Master's at NYU a while back, and spent a year in Pittsburgh working towards a Ph.D. Now I'm on a leave of absence for at least a year, back in New York. Those are the highlights. I've also been writing things here and there, and now that I'm unemployed I'm trying to step that up a little bit. I just wrote a short biographical piece on Sue Lyon (the female lead in Kubrick's Lolita) for the next issue of Stop Smiling. I also translated an article from Spanish on a top-secret file sharing website that's in the current issue of Film Comment that looks like this:

I've also got a teeny review in there of the new DVD of Cassavetes's Husbands, which Sony is going to release in mid-August, finally. Here's a summary of my already short review: This movie is great. The performances are incredible, the cinematography is beautiful, buy the DVD.

That's it for now. I think I might check back in later with my thoughts on The Hurt Locker.

blog on,
Margaret

Update

2008-04-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hello. Just letting you know that no pussyfooting is now on the air, on east village radio. Check me out! I've also got a myspace and all that jazz.

the future of the past

2007-04-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

the music on this one matches the cover. i don't even think a description's necessary.

so what have i been up to? well, a few months ago I finally figured out "music on the computer" and "downloading." Long story short, I had Mike Parker give me a tutorial on gigabytes and now my iTunes is using up about 45 of them. I bought an ipod off of ebay to catch up. Evidently it used to belong to someone named "Yulia" who lives in California, and judging from her musical tastes, I'm guessing she's a college girl with an indie bent, perhaps even a music student. she might be into physical therapy.

pretty soon after going digital I started to cool it a little with the guitar grooves and started getting into some of the more artificial stuff. like keyboards. and krautrock. i felt a little sickened just now writing that, like I turned my back on my baby or something, but don't worry-- I know it's only a passing phase. and i'm still wasting money on records. It's just that I love good sounds, or at least what I consider to be good sounds. I love when guitars talk to me, when atypical instruments produce neat tones, and when r & b guys sing through vocoders. That was the first thing that really drew me to Enoch Lite-- those kooky, crazy, vintage futurist sounds accompanying the most banal melodies. Anyway, I started my journey where I left off in my last blog, with some of the more experimental moog-ers like Morton Subotnick, Dick Hyman, and Donald Erb, piquing my interest in early electronic music- which encouraged me to take a tangential trip into modern classical--I did that over spring break (woo-hoo) and came out with more than a few major gems, so in the interest of space I'll just drop one for now: MESSIAEN.

what else? well, Belgain prog has taught me to open up a little more to female rock vocalists. some of it still makes me feel a little weird and embarrassed, though. Like Mad Curry. It took me a while to get beyond the diva-ness of Mad Curry lady's voice, and her awkward speech impediment [am I the only one hearing this, by the way?] before realizing that they actually rule.

I'm really surprised that three people have actually bugged me about slacking off on the blog- thanks dudes, I appreciate the interest. check back within a few days, because I'm thinking about trying to make a few of the links "special," although I'm not sure yet. I'm kind of busy right now counting down the days until Spider Man 3 comes out. [2009 edit: Spider Man 3 was lame. couldn't live up to Spider Man 2. I'm not even a fan of comic books, super heroes, or whatever--but I have to admit that Spider Man 2 was excellent.]

another list or, "the Evening Redness in the West"

2007-01-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

over a month has passed; here's another list of 13 albums I've listened to a lot recently:

1. I.d. - 'Company' [half Inga Rumpf (hippie shit), half Dagmar Krause (creepy freak-out)]
2. The Free Design - 'Kites Are Fun' I'm not going to lie, this album is like, changing my life. I'm not ashamed.
3. Osmonds - 'The Proud One' ok, I am a little ashamed of this one. at least I'm being honest.
4. Cos - 'Babel'
5. Chrysalis - 'Definition' what the fuck is going on with this band
6. Autosalvage - s/t
7. Gandalf - s/t
8. Pharoah Sanders - 'Karma'
9. Matching Mole - 'Smoke Signals' I've been revisiting this one after a few years. ain't nothin' out there like "Instant Pussy." my favorite snippet of vocal improv.
10. The Everly Brothers - just about all of their stuff. I'll do my cryin' in the rain, thank you very much.
11. 'MOOG: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman' this guy also happens to be an excellent OBGYN... did I really have to make that joke?
12. Bo Hansson - 'Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings' I've never felt so nerdy as I did one second ago as I typed that out. It's nowhere near as bad as the title implies. again, I'm being honest.
13. a certain italian prog album that I'll hopefully write more about later...

not a particularly interesting or proggy list, and a little light on testosterone-fueled riffs (at least in comparison with last month)- but hey, let's not forget that I am, first and foremost, a member of the fairer sex. plus I've been busy doing other things, like cooking, hanging out with friends, trashpicking (and purchasing) junk, and putting together puzzles. and reading lots of Cormac McCarthy and Antonin Artaud:

uber-violent westerns and writings about madness and opium. maybe that's why at the end of the day, all I want to do is chill out to that "feelin' groovy" song---actually no, it's not really all that deep.

public service announcement

2007-01-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

If you live in New York, or near New York, go see this movie at the Film Forum. It's incredible, and unavailable (although I've seen an "unofficial" copy on the shelf at Kim's). I'm going to try to go today!

whoa whoa whoa wait a minute- what the fuck is this?????????? How did that just pop up on the website? There is no way I'm not seeing that, immediately. Later guys, I'm going to Film Forum now...

thanks Brett!

2006-12-29T17:36:00.000-08:00

I think I can post pictures now.

this is for Carrie

2006-12-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

I've highlighted my favorite parts.

Exhibit A: "You Comb Her Hair" by George Jones, a.k.a "the Canadian Hank Williams":

I know that you wonder who I dream about
And if I met someone who thrills me so
Well, I've finally met a girl who turns me inside out
I'll tell you about her for you ought to know.

You comb her hair every mornin'
And make sure she's dressed just right
You comb her hair every mornin'
And put her to bed everynight.



Exhibit B: "See the Way She's Mine" by The Boys Next Door, a.k.a.
"the Beach Boys of the Midwest":

See the way she wears her hair
She knows I like it that way
And the clothes you see her wear
I picked them out one day
When I'm down I know she'll cure me
Little things to reassure me

Everyday she holds me tighter
See the way she's mine
Try to make each day seem brighter
See the way she's mine
...

Little things she says to me
To let me know she's mine
And the things she does to me
Make me feel so fine
No matter who's around she'll kiss me
If I turn around she'll miss me...


you see what I'm saying? so creepy. so good.

me again

2006-12-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

apparently I haven't been uploading photos correctly. or it's just the website acting funny. maybe someone can help me? i'm internet-impaired.

My friend Toby called me last night and told me about this book. whoa. which reminded me that I need to spread the word about this radio show. It's seriously the best, and worth staying up from 2 to 5am to listen to! although I guess you could "stream" it as well...

really.

smooth sailing

2006-12-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was pretty progged out. Friday I saw the alliterative trio of Hugh Hopper, Fred Frith, and Chris Cutler perform at the Stone, followed by a small, all-night record listening party at my apartment, where at some point this happened:

A new friend brought over a stack of records, and we listened to a lot of great stuff, including but not limited to FUSIOON, SHAMPOO, PICCHIO DAL POZZO, COS, PUSSY, THE WEINBERG METHOD, CHRYSALIS, some incredible Scottish prog, and who could forget RASTAKRAUT PASTA?? I tried to open some minds to the psychedelic efforts of the Four Seasons and the Osmond brothers (a new personal favorite)- but I don't think it went over too well.

Speaking of music that most people pass over-- hopefully I just legitimized my prog "cred" by mentioning a slew of foreign band names, because now it's time for me to come clean about what's really been spinning on my record player all week: easy listening. I guess the seed was planted about a year ago when I started listening to David Axelrod, although I've been partial to smooth sounds (and sweet falsettos) for longer than I can remember. I've also been pretty open about my appreciation of what I call "prog-lite," my unconditional love of the Electric Light Orchestra, my fidelity to just about the entire Bee Gee's canon, and my curious attraction to Todd Rundgren and his big-nosed ballads. Anyone who walked into Big Jar Books during the five(?) years that I worked there and was subjected to "A Dream Goes on Forever" or "Mr. Natural" can attest to that. Recently, however, I've really been dumbing down my groove, perhaps in an effort to balance out the Queen II and give my mind a rest from all of the bullshit I've had to conjure up to make it through my first semester of grad school. I've started to keep a careful eye out for good Moog records, and I'm now totally sucked in to this Enoch Light album:

groovy stuff. There's also the Osmonds thing that I mentioned already, although I'm not ready to really discuss that yet- partly because I'm still in the visceral stage, where I'm thoroughly enjoying certain songs, even though the intelligent-thinking part of me is fully aware that they kind of suck. Right now I'm working on dismantling my critical side, and soon enough I'll be able to convince other people without any guilt!

Here's a list of thirteen albums that I've listened to repeatedly over the past two or three months, because for some reason that's the kind of thing people do on BLOGs. Maybe I'll make one every month?

in no particular order:
1. Sparks- Kimono My House
2. Hawkwind- self-titled (and Spaceritual, too)
3. Sly & the Family Stone- A Whole New Thing
4. Faust- Faust Tapes
5. Tears for Fears- Songs From the Big Chair (I don't care. this album is unreal.)
6. Jones- Chains and Black Exhaust (black psych comp.)
7. Queen- Queen II
8. Pink Floyd- Saucerful of Secrets
9. Hall & Oates- the one with the silver cover, where they look like women
10. Roy Harper- Stormcock
11. George Russell- Electric Sonata for Souls Loved By Nature
12. Donald Byrd- Black Byrd
13. Fripp & Eno- No Pussyfooting

happy holidays!

"I reign with my left hand, I rule with my right"

2006-12-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was having a phone conversation with my friend Michael Anton Parker- discussing some important shit- when Mike suddenly made one of his characteristically bold statements, causing my brain to shake in my head a little bit. I tried to formulate a response to this grenade that he just tossed at me over the phone, but at the time I was too baffled and unprepared to do so. This event in telephone history prompted me to enter the blogosphere and release my inner prog lady. The brain-shaking statement Mike made was that the first, self-titled Queen album is better than Queen II.

I'll admit that when I talked to Mike I hadn't even heard the first album, although my appreciation for the "black side" of Queen II runs deep enough to incite a profound skepticism of the comparative value of any of the band's other efforts. Since then Mike has thoughtfully emailed me the first album, and I've listened to it several times. Unfortunately I've also over-listened to Queen II so much that its sweet progmetal has merged with my bloodstream, my awe has extended to the formerly disposable "white side" (which is mostly written by guitarist Brian May), and any scrap of objectivity I may have once held is now completely obliterated. The only song on the album that I find even mildly questionable now is "The Loser in the End"; the only track written by the drummer Roger Taylor, with Brian May singing like an angry Rod Stewart. That being said, I'm still going to try to draw a comparison.

The first album really is good. "Great King Rat" is a lot of fun, "Liar" has handclaps (always a plus), "My Fairy King" and "The Night Comes Down" are both excellent. The parts that I think are incredible, however, are fragmentary--the unbelievable instrumental section near the end of "My Fairy King," for example, or those killing first few seconds of "Son and Daughter" before the song dissolves into a headbanger--whereas Queen II maintains a seamless continuity throughout the entire black side (as every good concept album should). The self-titled is a sort of prog / hard rock hybrid, which holds its own appeal, while QII has a metal edge that's more proud spandex and calculated guitar gymnastics than Hot Topic wallet chains and beer-soaked tailgate parties. The first album was an unwarranted failure, and so QII on the whole is more insistent; it demands your attention with higher shrills, greater bombast, sweeping arrangements and thank god--more overdubs. I may be a little biased on that last observation, though- I'd probably buy an album with an overdubbed harmonica on it.

Certain details of the black side elevate QII over the self-titled for me--Roger Taylor's falsetto is better utilized, providing a foreshadowing of his total emasculation in "Bohemian Rhapsody," and the vocals are so intricate and multi-layered they seem to twist shapes in the air. There's also a split-second of "The Fairy-Feller's Master-Stroke" that serves as a real selling point for me: smack in the middle of the song, Freddie Mercury dangles an absurdly dainty harpsichord riff, sandwiched between orchestral guitar and pounding dude-bass-it's like he just dips Louis XIV in a pool of shred and then pulls him right back out. And then of course there's "The March of the Black Queen." That song is pure genius, the highlight of the album. It's unfortunate that the band would eventually devolve into a flaccid collage of Wayne's World, Live Aid, and hockey games, although it could have been worse. And there are some noteworthy moments on most of their later albums- Jazz has some special parts, too, but that's a whole other BLOG-- getting back to my original argument: like I said before, the first album rocks ... but does it rip?

"Ogre Battle" Hammersmith 1975

Total Recall

2006-12-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

I've got a lot of work to do. Deadlines looming, various plans and projects swimming around in my head. But fuck it--tonight I let all of those intangible thought fetuses fall to the wayside and opted instead to cook up a tasty curry and watch TOTAL RECALL, which was so, so, amazing.

Paul Verhoeven rarely disappoints. It makes me kind of sad to think that movies like that are basically extinct now, and we'll probably never again see a blockbuster with special effects involving jello. (I do want to check out that new James Bond movie, though). Seriously--people tend to dismissively classify '80s/early to mid '90s movies as unerring trash--and they're right. But some of that trash was sublime. It's a slippery slope, because I'm not simply referring to pure camp here- or trite nostalgia, or empty kitsch. It's just that Verhoeven somehow projected his [genuine] sleazy foreigner idealism through the most decadent excess in ways that continue to surprise me. Plus I've said it before, and I'll say it again: movies like BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, TOTAL RECALL, and I don't know, THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE?, HOWARD THE DUCK?- I'm running out of examples here, but some of those movies are the closest you're going to get to true experimental cinema. I mean what the hell is really going on in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA? And don't tell me if you know, because I'd rather hold on to my own neon green-infused impression of it.

I guess I'm going a little off track here. I set up this BLOG as a venue for my useless musings about prog rock and responses to Michael Anton Parker, but I haven't got around to that yet, and at the moment I'm not being very proggy--right now I'm listening to George Harrison's guitar gently weep. It's crying out, telling me to go to bed. Maybe tomorrow I'll accomplish some official business. .