this beat goes on

The Beat Is on the Street, Ellinwood Street

2011-11-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all of those who have read, followed, commented and posted on the This Beat Goes On. We have decided to discontinue this blog and instead include our music content (to go along with the articles on books and movies) on our Positively Ellinwood Street blog. Please continue to follow us there.

Back On Track

2011-08-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

One of my personal favorite albums, Swiss Hard Rock Outfit, Shakra, have released their 8th original album entitled Back On Track. This album is a mix of hard rock and some hints of heavy metal. Its more so classified as melodic hard rock. It has elements of rock and roll but at the same time, melodic solos and choruses satisfy the listener. Not only are there pumping hard rock songs, the album also delivers soft, rock and roll melodies. This album debuts new singer ,John Prakesh. He is the third singer the band has had so far. I can see Prakesh being influenced by Motley Crue frontman, Vince Neil. His voice has similarities to that of Neil. The rest of the members have been with the band since their debut in 1997. This album remains true to the roots of rock and roll keeping the songs structurally sound and simple.

Upon starting the album, B True B You injects your ears with raunchy guitars and rhythmic drumming encompassing the listener with catchy choruses that will most likely be stuck in your head. Power, riffs, amazing solos, I say put that amp on level 10!

Not only are these guys able to show their hard side, they can show us that they have a sensitive side. When I See You, is a slower track that include acoustic bits. Romaticism is really shown here. Yesterday's Gone is also a soft song but has a bit of heavy chords in it. This song really shows off the melody and power of the singer. There is a reason he was recruited as the new singer. Lonesomeness can easily be the ballad of the album. The solo has a lot of feeling to it and is not fast at all.

The ending of the album brings us back on track to where we started in the beginning. Time to crank that amp to 10 again. Stronger Than Ever brings back the crazy side of Shakra. This song is real fast paced. The final track on the album, Stronger Than Ever, is a perfect way to end the album. This song has again, heavy chords and verses, but also gives us somewhat of an anthem theme here. The solo is the longest of the album and fills the listener with speed and arpeggios. A lot of pinch harmonics are seen in this song.

My personal favorite tracks off the album are, B True B You, When I see You, Yesterday's Gone, and Stronger Than Ever. These guys have sounding similarites to rock and rolls legends Van Halen, Def Leppard, and AC/DC. All their songs are radio friendly. Shakra have toured along with the likes of Guns N' Roses and have opened for Iron Maiden. Here is their links to their websites:

Myspace: www.myspace.com/shakrarock
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShakraBand
Official Website: www.shakra.ch/

On their website you can purchase any of their albums. The band is currently taking a break and will soon be writing new material for their next album scheduled for a release in late 2012. Their fanbase is slowly growing and are already reaching high success in Europe alone. As I always say Keep Rocking Everyone!

Passion is No Ordinary Word . . . But It Can Be Found in the Country Section

2011-07-09T08:52:00.001-07:00

Passion is No Ordinary Word was written by Graham Parker in the 1970s, but it's a song I still love and think of when I see the real thing--passion, that is. It's a song that, to me anyway, indicts a world in which the word passion is tossed about with increasing frequency while the real thing becomes increasingly rare. We're all pretending, Parker suggests.

But genuine passion cannot be faked, particularly in music. Nor can originality. In the words of Willa Cather, passion is "inimitable in cheap materials."

Which brings me to The Avett Brothers, a band whose passion and originality I first witnessed on the Grammy Awards in February. Now, the Grammy Awards have not always been an occasion for transcendent performances, but that night I felt fortunate to have tuned in. Seated at the keyboard was the band's lead singer, Seth Avett, whose long beard and sober features are more commonly found on Civil War tintypes than the Grammy stage. But there he was, playing a haunting song in 6/8 time called Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise:

There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell me what's wrong and what's right
And it comes in black and it comes in white
And I'm frightened by those that don't see it.

Backed by a guitarist, bassist, drummer and cellist, Seth Avett sang a song about a "kid with a head full out doubt," a song that includes the line: "Decide what to be and go be it." (Easier said than done, but I still love that line.) Was he singing of his younger self? He sings it like he means it--as if he has intimate knowledge of what it means to question who you are and what you may or not be capable of. I like to think the song was written to encourage some young Seth Avett out there--an aspiring artist with more talent than confidence--to be the person he is meant to be.

As I watched the performance, I wasn't thinking about what genre of music I was listening to--that is, rock or folk, etc. All I knew was that it was great and I loved it. Like some of the best music, it seemed to defy categorization. So I was a surprised to learn that The Avett Brothers CDs, including I and Love and You, which contains the song Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, are shelved in the country section here at the library. I don't consider myself a major country fan--I frequent the rock and classical sections more--but the truth is, there are many songs and CDs that I love in the country section, and we shouldn't let genres or categories limit the music we explore. To paraphrase Leonard Bernstein: There are only two categories of music that matter, good and bad.

You'll find much that is good in our country collection. Here are a few of my favorites:

Johnny Cash's rendition of Trent Reznor's song "Hurt," which can be found on the American IV CD, is another genre-defying song. That CD, like the Avett Brothers CD I and Love and You, is produced by the eclectic and talented Rick Rubin, who has also worked with the Beastie Boys and Run-D.M.C. Clearly a man unencumbered by genres or musical boundaries.

Miranda Lambert didn't write the song The House That Built Me, about a woman who longs to go back to her childhood home to gather strength, but like the Avett Brothers, she sings it likes she means it. She delivers it with such conviction that you'd swear she's telling her own story, that the details in the song are her own, when it was in fact written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.

Finally, check out the Loretta Lynn CD Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White, with whom she rocks out like a teenager, trading verses on the song Portland Oregon. The hallucinogenic instrumental introduction is like nothing I've ever heard on a country CD. But you'll find it in our country section, along with other great songs, new and old.

Feel free to chime in with your own favorite country songs or CDs, or the artists or groups you feel embody the word passion.

(To watch The Avett Brothers at the Grammy Awards, click here. Their performance begins at 2:40, but don't skip the amazing performance by Mumford & Sons that precedes it. The clip ends with the two groups backing up Bob Dylan on Maggie's Farm. Uncategorizable but definitely click-worthy!)

80's rock still strong

2011-06-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

If you think the days of love ballads, glam and hair metal are gone there may be a ray of hope for you. From Sweden, a band by the name of The Poodles have recently released their 4th original album. This full length album gives you a dejavu of the 80's with songs of love and hope. The band formed in the 90's and consists of drummer Christian Lundqvist, Bassist Pontus Egberg, Guitarist Henrik Bergqvist, and vocalist Jakob Samuel. Their new album "Performocracy" delivers everything from soft melodies to headbanging hard riffs and chords.

Songs such as "I just Want It All", "Cuts Like a Knife", and "Bring Back the Night" are signs that this Swedish foursome have the potential to make it big. Lyrics like "All because of you, Im holding on to the dreams you gave me Father to a son. Whatever I become I will pass it on, inconcievable it seems but I hope you can see your son" and "Every step she takes and all the moves she makes, you are right behind, with a bleeding heart and time again I tell you shes gone for good" give the listener a feeling of confidence and a connectivity. With their video for the love song, "Cuts Like a Knife", the band teaches us how love can hurt. Similar sounding artists include Uriah Heep, Nickelback and Whitesnake. The band currently only tours Europe seeing as they have not reached popularity on U.S. shores quite yet.

You can leave comments on the band's myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/thepoodles and their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/thepoodles. They also have an official website which is located at http://www.poodles.se/. The website features worldwide shipping if you choose to purchase an album or fan t-shirt. The band also made it to the top 10 finalists in the Melodifestivalen 2006 which determines which artist will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song contest. Eurovision features the favorited competitor from each country in Europe to compete and decide the Eurovision winner in all of Europe. The band is striving for more success and are working hard to bring us more music we can enjoy and relate to. Hopefully they will tour the U.S. real real soon.

Please definitely feel free to leave a comment. I am open to hearing all opinions and criticism. Keep rocking everyone!!

June New CD Releases

2011-05-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of big name artists with CDs coming out in June. Below are a few you will be able to get from the library.

2011 Vans Warped Tour Compilation

Dirty Work
All Time Low

Hell: The Sequel
Bad Meets Evil (featuring Eminem)

4
Beyonce

Set the World on Fire
The Black Veil Brides

This Loud Morning
David Cook

I'm American
Billy Ray Cyrus

Bon Iver
Bon Iver

Let Them Talk
Hugh Laurie (yes Hugh Laurie from House M. D.)

Gold Cobra
Limp Bizkit

Wild and Free
Ziggy Marley

180/365
Ok Go

All Things Bright and Beautiful
Owl City

When the Sun Goes Down
Selena Gomez & the Scene

Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday

Alpocalypse
Weird Al Yankovic

Rock CD New Releases April 2011

2011-05-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some titles recently added to our Music CD collection.

High Maintenance by Miranda Cosgrove
Going Out in Style by The Dropkick Murphys
The Taking by Duff Mckagan's Loaded
All You Need Is Now by Duran Duran
Wasting Light by The Foo Fighters
American Tragedy by Hollywood Undead
Live at Shea Stadium by Billy Joel
I Am the Dance Commander by Ke$ha
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Sing it Loud by K. D. Lang
Goodbye Lullaby by Avril Lavigne
All Eternals Deck by The Mountain Goats
Vices & Virtues by Panic at the Disco
King of the Limbs by Radiohead
Collapse into Now by R.E.M.
Endgame by Rise Against
So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon
Live on I-5 by Soundgarden
Let Your Hair Down by The Steve Miller Band
Angles by The Strokes
Screaming Bloody Murder by Sum 41
Nine Types of Light by TV on the Radio

(and the new Green Day CD)

"There's a place for us...you know the movie song..."

2011-03-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

If I think about movies + songs, the index in my mind immediately takes me to Dire Straits' touching rewrite of "Romeo and Juliet," released all the way back in 1980. Given its rather cinematic quality, it's not surprising the song was added onto some movie soundtracks, including Hot Fuzz and Empire Records. If you saw this year's Oscar broadcast, you, too, might be thinking about movie songs.

Buying a movie soundtrack is often hit or miss. What sounded great accompanying all the big screen action can fall flat coming out of your ear buds while you walk on the treadmill. I do have a few soundtrack favorites, including "The Fabulous Baker Boys," "Amadeus" (hard to mess with Mozart), "Say Anything" (equally hard to mess with John Cusack, eh?) and an obscure favorite, "The Butterfly Ball and The Grasshopper's Feast." If you were intrigued by the movie songs at the Academy Awards, why not check them out from the library? Then you can be the judge: will these songs stand the test of time or remain a forgotten backdrop to the actions of vampires, dragons and Alice in Wonderland?

Here's a link to recent movie/TV soundtrack music in our collection.
If the results screen you see looks unfamiliar, I've thrown you a little curve and brought you to our new catalog, BiblioCommons, which we are rolling out over the next few weeks. Browse and explore and see how you like it. If you want to try it more extensively, create an account:

Type in your full library card number and your current password;
Fill in the required details on the account information screen;
Please, please, PLEASE change your password if you are currently using the word patron
That's all there is to it. You can log in using your library card number or user name.

Have fun and let us know what you think.

All Hail, Queen of Soul!

2011-02-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

Confession: I don't have a television so I did not watch this year's Grammy Awards ceremony. For years, I have made an effort to watch the show, hanging out with friends or family and delivered pizza. It's great to see rock and pop musicians dress up for a night on the town and there have been some inspired live performances at the ceremony. This year, I was just underwhelmed by the list of performers. Gaga, Bieber, Katy Perry - you were not going to get new heights of artistic expression out of that group, except for costumes and staging. Later that night, a friend on Facebook told me I'd missed something special in the vocal tribute to Aretha Franklin so I looked for online footage the next day. Yep - pretty spectacular. It might have been melismatic vocal overkill to have Christina Aguilera, Martina McBride, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch and Yolanda Adams (and unless my ears/eyes deceive me, some background vocalists, too) all going to go town at the same time, but the 11 minute performance demonstrated that there is no auto-tuning or lip synching or costume change that can compare with real vocal firepower. At least that's my take on it. :')
Watch it here:

While every one of these talented ladies knocked it out of the park, I felt that gospel great Yolanda Adams came closest to capturing Aretha's soulful but never harsh sound and her sunny smile and confidence.
What did you think?

Of course, there ain't nothin' like the real Queen of Soul, and we have lots of Aretha Franklin recordings you can check out: click to search for Aretha Franklin in our catalog. I also thoroughly enjoyed her 1999 autobiography, Aretha: From These Roots and am the proud owner of an autographed copy! I can't imagine a female vocalist who isn't inspired by the great career of Aretha Franklin. Check out library CDs by some of these artists, as well:
Christina Aguilera
Martina McBride
Jennifer Hudson
Yolanda Adams
Alas, we are short on tunes by Florence Welch, aka Florence + the Machine. Google her name and you should find plenty to hear, including the smash hit "The Dog Days Are Over."

Coming Attractions and New Sounds

2011-01-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and we've been busy ordering and cataloging new tunes for your listening pleasure. Here's a quick list of what's new on the shelves or coming soon - click the links and place your holds today.

Showroom of Compassion - Cake
Truth of Touch - Yanni
Low Country Blues - Gregg Allman
Lasers - Lupe Fiasco
Kiss Each Other Clean - Iron & Wine
The King Is Dead - The Decemberists
Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes - Social Distortion
Collapse Into Now - R.E.M.
Science and Faith - Script
The Labyrinth Tour Live from O2 Arena - Leona Lewis
Eternal The Best of Libera - Libera
No Boys Allowed - Keri Hilson
Farmer's Daughter - Crystal Bowersox
My Worlds Acoustic - Justin Bieber
Body Talk - Robyn
Small Craft on a Milk Sea - Eno

And that's just a sampling. If you can't find music you like at DPPL - you don't like music. :)

The ghosts of my life...

2011-01-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

2011 has barely registered with most of us and already the music world has lost some interesting characters. Making news headlines everywhere was the death of 70s tunesmith Gerry Rafferty. You may not recognize his name but inevitably you know one of his bigger hit songs - either Stealers' Wheel's infectiously catchy, "Stuck In The Middle With You" (used, I am told, in a scene of stunningly graphic violence in the movie "Reservoir Dogs") or Rafferty's solo masterpiece, "Baker Street." "Stuck In The Middle..." gave us one of the most memorable choruses of any pop song, "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right - here I am, stuck in the middle with you." "Baker Street" seemed like a lost track from Steely Dan's phenomenal album of the previous year, "Aja," lushly produced with soaring saxophones and a cutting guitar solo, but with a low-key vocal that suggested a man daydreaming of possibilities while walking down the city street of the title. Rafferty wrote the song in the midst of legal disputes over his departure from Stealers' Wheel and that kind of turmoil seemed to dog his career. Worse, he turned to drink to ease the turmoil and his death was the result of liver failure. While we don't have any CDs of Rafferty's here at DPPL, "Baker Street" can be found on four CD collections in our stacks - proof that a great song lives on and on.

A couple of less famous but no less interesting musicians have joined the heavenly choir within the last few weeks. What can I possibly say about Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet. If you haven't ever heard any Captain Beefheart, it is not for the faint of heart but if you're a brave listener, check it out. Beefheart walked away from the music world in the 1980s and focused on painting from that point forward - visit The Captain Beefheart Radar Station for a glimpse and an earful of what this eccentric, truly bizarre artist created. Beefheart died in mid-December 2010 from complications of multiple sclerosis. The Up Sifter blog has listed links to dozens of tributes written upon his passing. Rolling Stone listed its 10 Beefheart favorites - missing from the list is my favorite, "The Blimp," available on the album "Trout Mask Replica." I'm sorry to report we don't have that album at DPPL, but you can hear some Beefheart selections on the CDs listed here or borrow "Trout Mask Replica" from one of our neighboring libraries. You may love it, you may hate it, but you will definitely have an opinion.

Finally, an even more obscure name, Mick Karn, bass player for the English band Japan. With rare exceptions, the bass player is often the forgotten band member - nobody will forget Paul McCartney, for example, and you may not realize that Queen's bassist, John Deacon, wrote many of their biggest hits. Mick Karn, for fans of Japan, brought one instantly recognizable and indispensable element to the band's sound with the introduction of the fretless bass. That fluid, loose backbone provided the perfect foil to singer David Sylvian's crooning vibrato and the synthesized flutes and drums that made Japan sound, well, vaguely "Asian." The band never clicked in the States but had cult popularity in England, other parts of Europe, and yes, Japan. If you like Roxy Music and Duran Duran or if you want to impress your friends with something unusual at your next dance party, put on some Japan. See what DPPL and neighboring libraries have available - I particularly like the songs "The Art of Parties," "Visions of China," "Still Life In Mobile Homes," "Ghosts," (quoted as today's post title) and "Gentlemen Take Polaroids."

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

2010-12-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Given the countless songs inspired by Christmas events both secular and religious, you'd think New Year's Eve would have its share. Let's see: there's Frank Loesser's romantic classic, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" (covered admirably by Rufus Wainwright, BTW), Robert Burn's traditional Scottish poem set to a folk song over 200 years ago, "Auld Lang Syne" and...what else? Even the Dan Fogelberg song people tend to associate with New Year's Eve, "Same Old Lang Syne," is about a real-life encounter Fogelberg had with an old high school girlfriend - on Christmas Eve. One of my favorite bands, U2, has a song for January 1, "New Year's Day."

I imagine there have been novelty songs about NYE that have quickly slipped from fashion, but I'll be darned if I can name them for you. New Year's Eve is often a time to go out partying and dancing, so that is perhaps the kind of music we associate most with this holiday, whether our tastes run to Cee-Lo or AC/DC or Vampire Weekend. (Or Guy Lombardo.) Do you have any favorites that help you ring out the old, ring in the new? Will you be going out this NYE or laying low? (Perhaps conserving your energy for da Bears/Packers game on Sunday?) Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a prosperous, healthy 2011. Oh and P.S. since our funding came in late 2010, you can expect lots of new music on our shelves in the next few weeks - awesome!

O Holy Night!

2010-12-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

You might think that some of the holiday music in our collection is not top-notch but I can guarantee that nothing we own is as disastrous as the recording of "O Holy Night" you can hear in the above video. Long lay the world, debating over whether this was a professional singer having a joke at our expense or a legitimate attempt at recording the song by a singer whose gifts are lacking. I even wondered if it was a Homer Simpson impersonator. Librarians love a good research mystery and it has taken some time for the offending vocalist to be found, but ladies and gentlemen, he is Steve Mauldin (wow, is that close to maudlin...), and in the video below you can hear his explanation and proof of his identity, as well as his attempt to recreate his shining moment of glory. Yow.

Whatever music you enjoy this holiday season, I hope it sounds absolutely NOTHING like this. :) Peace and cheer to you this Christmas and New Year.

Bring 'Em Home For The Holidays!

2010-12-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

And I mean our holiday CDs! I know what you're thinking: Karen, all the good stuff is checked out, right? Depends on how you define good stuff, my friend. Due to our year-end budget crisis, we were not able to purchase the newest holiday titles. Here's hoping next December will bring us Susan Boyle's "The Gift," easily the hottest holiday album out right now (take THAT, ditzy young talentless singers!), along with well-reviewed new offerings from Mariah Carey and Annie Lennox, amongst many others.

To inspire you to think outside the gift box this season, I just took a stroll up to the third floor music area and flipped through the stacks to see what's in right now that will put some ho-ho-hoedown in your holiday. Or, something like that. I think I ate too many cookies today.

1) James Brown's Funky Christmas - HUH! WAAAAAAH! He might not be the first singer that comes to mind when you think of Christmas, but come on, make a place for the Godfather of Soul. You can get a taste of this one here on YouTube: "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto." I love him hearing exclaim, "Tell him James Brown sent you!" It is funky but surprisingly heartfelt.

2) Sing Christmas And The Turn Of The Year - On Christmas Day, 1957, "Alan Lomax assembled and narrated a holiday celebration on the BBC, featuring music (much of it live) from all walks of British folk styles: skiffle, Welsh choral music, children's choral music, folk ballads, a flute band, a brass band, and more." With all that going on, there's bound to be something you like! I clicked on a sound sample and heard an original tune about Christmas in London done in a Trinidad calypso style - really! It's all just a little bit weird but if you wanted normal you could just put on LITE-FM, no?

3) Bummed Out Christmas - I occasionally suffer from seasonal depression and perhaps you do, too, so give a listen to "Bummed Out Christmas." Released in 1989, Amazon still has it available on audio cassette, should you feel like truly reliving the 1980s. This is a compilation much like a violent mood swing, so it's the Everly Brothers advising that "Christmas Can Kill You," the Sonics' stray cut strutting through "Don't Believe In Christmas," on through George Jones making a "Lonely Christmas Call." Samples here.

4) Music Box Melodies, volume 1 - Yes, it's just what it sounds like. 33 tracks of Christmassy tunes, performed by music boxes. From the familiar, like "Silent Night," O Come All Ye Faithful," ("Adeste Fideles" is also listed - same song, but in Latin. Does the music box translate???) and "Hark The Herald Angels Sing," to music not at all associated with Christmas, like "Jesus, Lover Of My Soul" and "The Skater's Waltz." One reviewer on Amazon calls this "the best Christmas CD." I think it would drive me stark raving mad. You make the call.

5) Merry Xmas From The Space Age Bachelor Pad (I am not making that up) by Esquivel! - Esquivel! was Juan Garcia Esquivel, considered by many the king of 1950s-1960s era "Lounge" music. His groovy chorus of vocalists often sang only nonsense syllables, like, "zooma-zooma-zoo...POW!" His instrumentation was overloaded and quirky - kettle drums, mariachi bands and Chinese bells all thrown into his Mixmaster. And that's exactly what happens here, transforming your favorite Christmas songs and even "Auld Lang Syne" into an otherworldly experience. Esquivel occasionally speaks on the recording, like a heavenly Ricky Ricardo, awash in echo and Theremin. Charming and eerie all at the same time.

Yep, there's more: A Very, Very Yellow Christmas with reggae artist Yellow; Tiny Tim's Christmas album; and for you traditionalists, three Christmas recordings by Roger Whittaker.

New Music For Which You Can Give Thanks

2010-11-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick look at some new CD titles at DPPL. Speaking of new, we're also going to have a cool, new catalog in a few weeks, where you will not only be able to look up CD titles but rate, review, tag and create lists of favorite music as well. Stay tuned for the details on "BiblioCommons."

New in November:
"False Priest" by of Montreal - you hear their music in TV commercials all the time, now you can say you heard it first...

"Selfish Machines" by Pierce The Veil - how can you dislike an album with a song called, "I Don't Care If You're Contagious?"

"As The Rez Turns" by Pipestone - described as having an "edgy sense of humor," these popular Ojibwe singers give you a look at life on the "Rez."

"Shakara" and "London Scene", rereleases from Fela and the Africa 70 - classic albums from the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, composer and afrobeat legend.

"Out" by Gaba Kulka - Polish songstress heavily influenced by Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, but also by ABBA and Iron Maiden: how cool is that?

Just a few new and unusual titles to keep you coming back. What are you listening to lately that has you excited about music?

Wrap your arms around me, cover me!

2010-11-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

So, whaddya think about cover songs? You know, when the work of one artist - often a well-known piece of music - gets covered by someone else. My brother and I debate the merits of covers. Some bands are so good at it that their covers meet or beat the originals, while others leave you yawning or scratching your head.

I am thinking about covers today because, while sitting at my desk, I am enjoying Cheap Trick's live recording that recreates The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." I have to confess, the liner notes are confusing me: it states that the band performed two sold-out show in LA as the guests of the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, yet the recording features the New York Philharmonic Orchestra - so is the recording from those LA shows or...? Anyway, hardly matters, it's cool stuff. I thought maybe I'd make it through the rest of 2010 without mentioning ROBIN ZANDER again, but, hey, you know, it's my blog. (Sometimes) I don't know any other singer that could have pulled off this performance. He somehow manages to sound like all the Beatles - no mean feat. And LIVE! Crazy good. He looks right in the Pepper uniform, too. There are other featured singers as well: Ian Ball from Gomez, Rob Laufer who acquits himself admirably on sitar-tinged "Within You Without You" - confession time, when I was very little, this was my favorite song on "Sergeant Pepper." I have no explanation for that. Ian Ball brings a sort of Rufus Wainwrighty quality to "When I'm Sixty-Four." Joan Osborne, a singer comfortable in my styles, appears on "Lovely Rita" - it's good but I don't get having a female lead on this one.

Cheap Trick is so good at covers I have longed for them to make an all-covers album and I guess this fits the bill. Another band that grabbed that concept and ran with it all the way for a touchdown is Def Leppard. DL's 2006 covers album "Yeah!" is, with all due respect, the coolest thing they've done since "Hysteria." I know some fans didn't like it - boo to you. They covered a variety of rock tunes from the 1970s, the bands that clearly influenced the English lads that would grow up to be the Leps. I loved this album because I grew up on the same music: Bowie, Roxy Music, ELO and The Kinks. "Yeah!" also gave Joe Elliott a chance to really sing and his heartfelt interpretations of these songs clue you in to how much the music means, even to wealthy, famous rock stars who are supposed to be too jaded to care.

Yet another all-covers jamboree was Duran Duran's "Thank You" album. Being quite the Duranie in the day, I was iffy about this one when it was released in 1995 - rap songs by some well-bred white Brits? Now I'm tempted to give it another listen: Duran Duran taking on Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Sly & The Family Stone? It has potential!

All three of the bands I've mentioned here have done outstanding covers as one-off projects: Cheap Trick with "Day Tripper," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Speak Now And Forever Hold Your Peace," "California Man," and countless others; Def Leppard with "Action" and, believe it or not, Englebert Humperdinck's "Please Release Me" (okay, that one was kind of a joke); and Duran Duran with "Instant Karma," "Femme Fatale" and a few others. Do you like when a band covers someone else's songs? Who has a particular knack for it? Use the links below to check out "Sergeant Pepper Live" and "Yeah!" - we don't own Duran Duran's "Thank You" but we can try ordering it for you from another library, if you're interested. Just ask at the third floor Readers' Services desk - it's not just for readers. :)

Sergeant Pepper Live by Cheap Trick
Yeah! by Def Leppard

Sitar Hero - by guest blogger Bob Blanchard!

2010-10-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Ravi Shankar – virtuoso sitarist, composer and conductor – turned 90 this April. He’s been celebrating this milestone with – what else? – a string of concerts, including a date at Symphony Center in Chicago the night before Halloween.

Although he became a household name to English and American youth in 1966 via his association with Beatle George Harrison, his career as a performer -- first as an accomplished Indian dancer and then as a master instrumentalist -- spans more than 80 years. Without a doubt, Shankar’s greatest wish will come true – that, above all, he will be remembered for his musical creations.

To help you remember, or discover, the musical world of Ravi Shankar, your library has a number of his recorded works.

My favorite is The Concert for Bangladesh, a collaboration featuring one album side of Shankar’s music (which opened the 1971 benefit concert), and performances by Harrison and some of his friends, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr. The audiences apparently were not used to Indian music, for after Shankar and his group finished warming up on stage, the crowd applauded. The musician’s understated acknowledgement is this classic rock quote: “If you appreciate the tuning so much, I hope you’ll enjoy the playing more!”

At that, the quartet begins the astonishing “Bangla Dhun.” When I first heard it, my 12-year-old ears could not – or maybe did not want to -- appreciate the piece. Almost 40 years later, I heard it again for the first time and was amazed (more like blown away) by the intricacies and intensity Shankar built around a simple Bengali folk song.

Shankar’s life also is chronicled in his autobiography, and his legacy is carried on by his two musically talented daughters: Anoushka Shankar, an accomplished sitarist in her own right; and Norah Jones, whose albums, including the breakout Come Away with Me, appeal to some listeners’ jazz sensibilities.

Consider giving a listen to the work of the person some consider the “father of ethnic music.” If you’re interested in music from other parts of the globe, check out our extensive lineup of cultural music, too. There’s an entire world of sound out there, so why not give your ears an unexpected treat this month?

Thanks to Bob Blanchard, Adult Services Librarian, for this insightful post on Ravi Shankar - Karen

"I will take a white wall and fill it with all your beautiful colors..."

2010-10-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Ask for a verbal description of a carnival, amusement park, fairground and inevitably someone will offer "colorful," a mundane failure of an adjective for the riot of stripes, tent tops, fluttering flags and twinkling lights that fill up such places. The latest musical (and personal) project in the life of Chrissie Hynde, longtime leader of The Pretenders, has that carnival air: JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys (Named, according to media reports, for Hynde and Jones' mutual love for fun parks). Got a chance to see this ensemble at Chicago's Park West last night and came away far more impressed than I expected.

First off, the back story, if you've missed it. Hynde was "propping up the bar" at a party in England, when up saunters a scruffy fellow with a "boy band" look - this would be JP Jones. A romance kindled, both parties feel as if they've found their lifelong soul mate - except that he is half her age. Apparently the romance idea was scrapped in favor of rock and roll. You can find the rest of the sultry details all over the Internet, I'll focus on the music here. If you, like me, grew up a Pretenders fan, there is a lot to love on Fidelity!, this collection of new tunes from JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys, especially if you enjoyed the Pretenders more melodic side - think "Brass In Pocket," "Show Me," "Talk Of The Town," even harder rocking tracks like "Middle Of The Road." There is not another "Precious" here - and that's okay, would you want to hear an artist remake the same thing over and over again?

I thought the "Fairground" band was terrific, particularly the textures and colors conjured up by as many as three guitars blazing at once, plus a very solid rhythm section. No keys at this live performance. Hynde looks astonishingly youthful and energetic for a woman just weeks past her 60th birthday - no "I (heart) My Grandchildren" sweatshirts here, she's still a petite bundle of fireworks with a powerful singing voice - and she makes no small gestures. Jones was an unknown quantity to me but he's very likeable, genuine and his talents hold up well against his seasoned partner. (Okay, and maybe I also liked him for complimenting the shirt I was wearing.) Their voices blend well together and Hynde coaxes the confidence out of her companion.

I attended the show with a small group of friends and we all couldn't wait to purchase a copy of Fidelity! after the show, so that should also clue you in. The bad news? DPPL does not own a copy of Fidelity! (named, by the way, for Fidel Castro) and given our dire budget situation, we won't be ordering one this year. The good news - interlibrary van delivery is BACK and some of our neighboring libraries are lucky enough to have Fidelity! in their collections. Search for it in the Catalog but make sure you click "ALL" for "Library." Helpful hint: the CD comes up as being by "J.P Jones (singer)," the result of some weird cataloger logic, I am sure. In the meantime, you can explore the long, varied and successful career of Chrissie Hynde in many other items in DPPL's collection - click here to browse Chrissie Hynde or The Pretenders. Or, heck, buy this new CD - maybe even buy it and donate it to us! :)

Hear It Live!

2010-09-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

I was only eight years old when Frampton Comes Alive was released. But I still remember hearing "Baby, I Love Your Way" and the other singles from that album on the radio. And I remember the chill that went through me hearing the crowd roar in the backround.

There is something about live recordings. I was a Rush fan in high school. It was their live albums All the World's a Stage and Exit... Stage Left that cemented my fandom. Even today, if I am considering buying a CD by a new band, I usually go to Youtube to see them perform live first.

At the library we have a lot more live music than people realize. We have both CDs and DVD performances, and the styles range from Manilow to The Clash. Check out the Hear It Live display on the 3rd floor. Or check our catalog to see what Live CDs we carry.

What live CDs and DVDs do you love?

New On The Shelf + Coming Attractions

2010-08-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

My colleagues in Readers' Services publish a monthly blog post of "Coming Attractions," and I thought that might be a good idea for music as well. So here are a few CDs new on our shelves or soon to arrive. Place a hold with your library card if you see something interesting!

Scream - Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy's back and the reviews are surprisingly, overwhelmingly positive! (Unlike the subject matter of most of the songs)

Live From Orensanz - Taking Back Sunday
Live, acoustic shows recorded at the Angel Orensanz Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Coming soon.

Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: The Songs of John Prine - various artists
Hear the great American songwriting of Maywood, IL native John Prine reinterpreted by a crowd of today's hipster alternative types (Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, and Drive-By Truckers, to name a few). Coming soon.

The Trouble With Angels - Filter
Mixed reviews thus far for the latest from Richard Patrick's heavy industrial outfit. Check it out for yourself when it arrives on our shelves.

Iconos - Marc Anthony
A few months old, this Spanish language release finds covering eight of his all-time favorite balladeers with two original tracks along for the ride. Say what you will: the guy can sing.

Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook - Bettye LaVette
Here's an odder choice of covers, as R & B queen LaVette wraps her pipes around Elton John, The Who, The Beatles, and yes, Pink Floyd. Coming soon and I'm curious!

Recovery - Eminem
Does he still have what it takes? Eminem mixes it up with guest stars Rihanna, P!nk, Lil Wayne and Kobe. We own three copies but they are constantly checked out, so place a hold for this one.

While I was writing this post, a brand new CD suddenly appeared in our catalog, so I will end with this one:
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night - The Besnard Lakes
Third release from the Canadian indie band with the funny album titles (funny to me, at least). Released in March, 2010, and already shortlisted for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.

What are you listening to that is new?

Shut Up And Dance

2010-08-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last April, Joanna Douglas wrote an article for Shine claiming that women go for dangerously impractical shoes during tough economic times. Douglas quotes author Elizabeth Semmelhack, "Heel heights noticeably grew during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the oil crisis in the 1970s, and when the dotcom bubble burst in the 2000s." Both Douglas and Semmelhack believe we've reached a new high of impracticality during this, the "Great Recession," with Alexander McQueen's 12 inch heels cited as an example. Both believe a dour economic outlook brings out a need for escapism and that "towering platforms, extreme wedges, and treacherous stilettos" fit the bill nicely. (Is there any connection between the need for escapism and fantasy exemplified by McQueen's towering heels and his suicide earlier this year?)

What does this have to do with our CD collection? Well, I am wondering if the same holds true for music - when the going gets tough, do the tough crave shiny, saccharine disco beats and glossy escapist lyrics? I thought of this while checking out a 2009 disk in our collection by a performer whose stage name reflects her own choice in footwear: "Little Boots." Little Boots is, if we trust Wikipedia, an English electropop singer-songwriter and musician. Full name: Victoria Christina Hesketh. Little Boots found fame in a truly 21st century way, by posting her cover versions of other artist's pop songs on her MySpace page.

The CD we have is technically Little Boots' big-time debut, and it is titled "Hands." The Wikipedia entry quoted above also states that the album's artwork has been compared to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of the Moon." I suppose I see that, but putting a triangle and some stars on your album jacket does not classic artwork make. I realize I am older than the average Little Boots listener, but what I did notice about the CD jacket is that the white, all caps font inside makes the lyrics almost impossible to read.

On the other hand, an artist who claims to be influenced by Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and The Human League is probably not a lyricist on a level with Leonard Cohen (sample: "You're the night to my day / and the left to my right / the blood to my veins / and the dark to my light." Can we call a moratorium on "blood in my veins" lyrics for awhile?) , so let's get right to the sound of things.

Opener "New In Town" is good stuff - ABBA meets Lady Gaga, a sexy groove but a sweet lyric. If this isn't a Las Vegas commercial already, it will be soon. Follower "Earthquake" is alright, catchy if not memorable. Unfortunately, it's how I end up feeling about the entire CD. It reminds me of those Saturday night DANCE PARTY radio shows, great grooves with faceless singers posing over the beats. Little Boots has a Little Voice, too, and it makes the whole effort sound cold and detached, but the edgier grooves seem to call for more. I guess "Meddle" was used as a Victoria's Secret commercial and it has a bit more muscle and bone than the rest. Reminds me a bit of 80s group Missing Persons, if that helps you at all.

So, two standouts, "New In Town" and "Meddle." The rest didn't change my life and wasn't as irresistibly hooky as Gaga and some of Little Boots' other competition. What about you? Have you listened to Little Boots? Have I missed the mark?

Free music - and you don't even have to leave the house

2010-07-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

This blog is primarily intended to entice you to check out CDs here at the Des Plaines Public Library. However, as I write this, I am also enjoying the free Internet radio service called Pandora. Have you tried it? It's the kind of thing that's so cool, so utterly simple, I keep wondering, "What's the catch?"

Sign up for a free account. You can opt out of "music suggestions," which sounded like "annoying emails" to me. Now you're in. Type in the name of an artist, a song or a composer. It sets up a "radio station" based on that input. Then it's like you're listening to a radio station, playing that song and others similar in quality, or that band and bands that might have been around at the same time or perform a similar style. Here's an example:

I typed in "Cheap Trick." A station titled Cheap Trick Radio now resides on my Pandora page. Here's a selection of what it offers me for listening:

"I Want You To Want Me" from Live at Budokan;
"Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey - not sure that's a good fit...;
"Let's Go" by the Cars - that's okay;
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest. Cool...
"Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO. Kinda...

Now, how does Pandora guess at what you might want to listen to next? It's based on the Music Genome Project. You can read about it. For a music geek like me, sounds like a dream job! Spend day after day listening to songs and analyzing them. Sign me up.

Back to my stations: I can listen to each song or choose to move on - however, they limit the number of songs you can skip at a given time. They keep trying to convince me I want to listen to the Talking Heads tonight and, well...I assume that is part of how they make their money - they do make money, don't they? You can also give a thumbs up or down to each song and supposedly that will help to improve your "station." I have yet to see any advertising but I literally just started using Pandora 10 minutes before I started typing here. Oops, never mind - an ad for AT&T just popped up. Easily ignored, however.

While each song is playing, you get cover art and a write-up of the band/artist, usually from AllMusic Guide. Ah, here's another money-making possibility - click "Menu" by the artist/band name and you get some options: Bookmark this song, Bookmark this artist, Buy this song from iTunes, Find this artist in iTunes. So Pandora is clearly forging partnerships with other commercial entities. I knew someone had to be making some money from this! :)

Here's the thing: you don't own these songs. You can't make a mix CD for your girlfriend or put them on your wedding video. You can just listen and enjoy from pretty much anywhere. I am listening on my iPad but it works on a computer, phone, etc. If you, like me, stopped listening to commercial radio a long time ago because of the endless commercials and the lack of interesting music, you might really enjoy Pandora. I think of all the times I wanted to hear an old song or a faddish new hit and went ahead and bought it, sometimes the entire CD, and then discovered it quickly grew tiring. With Pandora, I can give it a good listen and then make a purchase decision.

You may be aware that we recently lost our interlibrary van delivery service. We're hoping it will come back but we have no idea when or how. That makes it more difficult (but not impossible) for you, our patrons, to borrow items from other libraries. Pandora might help ease your music cravings until we sort out a new delivery service. Try it out: www.pandora.com
Already using it? What do you think of it? Would you recommend another service instead?

The Hissing of Summer Lawns

2010-07-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

A Joni Mitchell reference in a post not about Joni Mitchell. It's outdoor summer music season - have you seen any great outdoor shows this year? My brother won free tickets for Steve Winwood and Santana at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre last Friday night, July 9, 2010. I also paid an insane amount of money for tickets to the following evening's Ravinia performance by Squeeze and Cheap Trick.

If both concerts held any common ground, it's that well-preserved and genuine talent can rise above any generation's trendy novelty tunes. The major players at these two concerts were all over 50, some into their 60s. They played and sang with the energy of 20-somethings and their gifts have lost none of their sparkle.

My weekend began with Steve Winwood's set in Tinley Park. You can find a selection of Winwood's recordings here, but that's just what we own at the library under his name. Depending on your age, Winwood's name conjures up different songs. I remember his solo pop stardom with albums like "Back In the High Life," "Arc of a Diver," and "Talking Back To the Night." For my brother, in his early 50s, Winwood is the defining member of supergroups from the 60s and 70s like Blind Faith and Traffic. A friend of mine in his late 50s couldn't place Winwood's name until I said, "Well, he started out in the Spencer Davis Group." That's quite a career: he joined up with Spencer Davis at the age of 14 and is still enthralling audiences at the age of 62. Winwood wisely touched on every era in his career during his live show and his mastery of keyboards, vocals and blistering electric guitar left me wondering how on earth Eric Clapton continues to garner all the attention.

Then Carlos Santana took the stage and the accompanying montage of photographs chronicled his journey from long-haired hippie days on the stage at Woodstock to today's crossover pop/rock/Latin success. We have CDs featuring Santana the band and Carlos Santana the solo artist. Of the four acts I saw this weekend, I was the least familiar with Santana - I know the hits and that's it. But you didn't need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the songs to enjoy this show. The large band had amazing positive energy and chemistry and the tight musicianship propelled these tunes into the stratosphere. I do like to dance and this music got everyone on their feet, smiling, moving, grooving. Perfect for a summer night, even in Midwestern humidity. You may have read the news stories that Santana proposed to his new girlfriend on the stage at Tinley Park - he did, but I have no insights to provide as I (rather foolishly) headed to the ladies' room right before it happened!

Next night, we were in literally a different part of the world, the tony environs of Ravinia in Highland Park, IL. I haven't ventured back to Ravinia since struggling to enjoy a Chieftains concert there many years ago. Too many mosquitos, too many chatty packs of friends who didn't pay attention to the music, and a very difficult parking lot to maneuver. When I heard that two of my favorite bands of all time - Squeeze and Cheap Trick - were playing there, together, I figured it was time to give Ravinia one more shot. Tickets from StubHub were ridiculously priced but I wasn't going to chance another night on the lawn. We were in the covered pavilion, the only place to be if you actually care about seeing and hearing the performers.

Even as a die-hard fan, I found this pairing a bit odd. The performances were so outstanding I didn't care. Squeeze opened with "Black Coffee In Bed," and ended with "Tempted" plus an encore of "Pulling Mussels From A Shell." The songs in between were probably known only to real fans but that's just fine with me. I could not believe how great Glenn Tilbrook sounds after all this time and it was nice to see him back together with Chris Difford. Tilbrook's guitar playing may have been the biggest surprise of the weekend. I saw Squeeze in the 80s and don't remember him being such an accomplished player! Then again, all the songs were synthesized back in those days. I left regretting only one thing: that I don't have tickets to see them in Milwaukee later on this month.

Finally, our hometown heroes (well, I'm from Algonquin, that's close enough to Rockford), Cheap Trick. Time for a confession - I have seen Cheap Trick in concert 10 times, beginning in 1978! So they really can't put anything past me. :) The Ravinia show was a killer - probably the best I've ever seen from Cheap Trick. Who can say that about a band that's been playing for 36 years? I suspect many of the Ravinia attendees were less than thrilled as the band played only 3 of its very recognizable hits - I was ecstatic. (I never EVER need to hear "The Flame" again.) Robin Zander is 57 years old but looks/sounds decades younger. As I said up above, the weekend proved beyond a doubt that people with authentic, distinctive talent can stay fresh and relevant as the trends burn out and hit the ground all around them. If you haven't heard what your favorite singers and bands are doing lately, maybe you can check 'em out this summer at a concert venue near you. If not, bring in your library card and grab a pile of our CDs. You'll be glad you did.

Summertime is finally here...

2010-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Summer arrives today (or tomorrow, depending on who you ask). A Facebook friend of mine posted this morning and asked, "What are the best summer songs?" beginning his list with a few by the Beach Boys and "Summer In the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful. It's been interesting to watch the list develop, everything from Connie Francis to Def Leppard (my contribution...) to Nickelback. That's a span of 47 years! So, I'll pop the question here, too: do you have some favorite summertime tunes? Perfect for late-nite drives with the windows down or a lazy day at the beach? Dancing in a club or celebrating high school graduation? I'll start with a few of my favorites - then I expect to hear from you!

"Boys of Summer" by Don Henley. I recently saw a "Deadhead sticker" on a fancy sports car and this song immediately sprang to mind. Henley can be sort of an uptight pain in the you-know-what, but I don't think you can deny the evocative beauty of this song.

"Photograph" by Def Leppard. Brings me back to high school! Crunchy, slickly produced rock at its best.

"Always The Last To Know" by Del Amitri. Del Amitri was probably more popular in Chicago than any other city in the US. The former sound man for my band used to blast this through our PA while we were setting up for gigs. Also gorgeously produced with great harmonies and more riffyness than you can shake a stick at.

"Summertime" by Kenny Chesney. Yep, I like country music and this is a prime example. He gets every detail right - two bare feet on the dashboard, young love, an old Ford, cheap shades and a bottle of Yoohoo rolling on the floorboard. The soaring harmonies on the refrain send this one out of the park.

Alright, I started - you keep it going. What are your sounds of summertime?

"...chasing dreams and placing bets..."

2010-06-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, so this is not a rock and roll post. We have lots of other kinds of music at DPPL, too, so let's take a little detour into the land of love with none other than Barbra Streisand. I don't care what anyone says, I think Streisand possesses a divine musical instrument and I'm always interested in hearing what she does next. When I heard she was working on this album, "Love Is The Answer," with jazz pianist/singer Diana Krall, I was intrigued. I like Diana Krall but I find her stuff a little sleepy after awhile. What would her effect be on the always over-the-top vocal fireworks of Barbra Streisand?

Streisand also turned 68 this year. As a professional singer in only the smallest way, I can tell you the years are not kind to a soprano. So I was curious to see how her pipes are holding up. Granted, she does very little live performance and certainly none of the arduous touring that has destroyed many a vocal fold. Listening to this album, it's difficult to tell if she's deliberately holding back to match the intimate quality of the arrangements or if that's just how she chooses to sing these days. While Streisand and Krall labored away on this production, I even read a quote from Streisand suggesting she had a case of nerves and wasn't sure if she felt confident about singing anymore! Wow. Krall's contributions include sensitive piano accompaniment, the assembly of top-notch players (the musical arrangements are truly sublime and transformative, like there's a live combo in your living room) and production chores. I suspect she'll be getting a lot of phone calls to rework the magic she's created here.

So, how is the end result? A sweet box of musical candy with surprisingly bittersweet moments. Her reading of the classic, "In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning," is gentle and effortless and it's nice to get a woman's interpretation of what is often a male statement. Streisand's depth as an actress certainly plays a role in her interpretation of Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)." She moves between English and French, recalling her 1966 album "Je M'Appelle Barbra." She allows her voice to go a bit rough and ragged on the high notes on this one and it actually makes the song more moving and perhaps more genuine. She brings warmth and playfulness to the great standard, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" - the liner notes indicate she first sang this gem at the age of 15, which adds another layer of meaning to this version. "Old man winter was a gracious host..." If you only know "Make Someone Happy" from old TV commercials for Betty Crocker, listen to the sublime reading of it here, which gives the album its title: "Love is the answer, someone to love is the answer."

It does take some getting used to to hear Barbra Streisand with a smoky rasp in her voice! It is not an utterly startling change, a la Joni Mitchell, whose voice in later recordings might as well spring from a completely different human being than the high soprano most listeners would recognize. Streisand is still Streisand, the warmth and intimacy in the lower notes, the soaring up and down and up again without the breath a lesser singer would need. But if you're looking for that gem-like clarity that carried famous tunes like "Evergreen" and "A Woman In Love," it's been replaced by the wisdom of years and a tender, time-worn sound. The strongest taste of the Streisand sound comes on "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," with some very powerful, dramatic singing that breathes fresh life into this beloved tune. In a youth-obsessed society, I think it's great that Streisand would press on, avoiding studio gimmicks that would hide the cracks, giving us a graceful image of aging as just another stage in a long, fabulous journey through life. Love might be the answer for you, too. Check it out.

Won't you save me, San Francisco?

2010-05-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Even if I wasn't already a fan of the band Train, a line like that in a rock song's chorus would be bound to grab my attention. But I am a fan of Train and a fan of the Bay Area in California and that line provides the title to Train's latest album. In a dorky, librarian-ish sort of way, I tend to enjoy songs about places I have visited and "Save Me, San Francisco" is loaded with references to beautiful, sunny spots in that city. So Train has definitely hooked me, but can they reel me in with their fifth album?

One problem, right off the bat: I thought Train's last album, "For Me, It's You," was by far their most appealing, most enduring and consistent. The critics loved it, too - but the fans seemed to stay away. So when "Save Me, San Francisco" was heralded as a "return to form," it made me nervous. Don't get me wrong, I love earlier Train songs like "Drops of Jupiter," "Something More," "Calling All Angels," "When I Look to the Sky" - they can write a catchy, memorable pop hook like nobody's business. But if I think you've reached a real musical pinnacle and you feel like you need to move away from that direction, well, I just might have to break up with you. :) Kidding, but you know what I mean.

Now, if there's one thing that is consistent about Train over the years, it is the powerhouse magnificence of Pat Monahan's voice. (No, it doesn't hurt that he also looks like a Hollywood idol!) I wrote an earlier post in which I could not hide my enthusiasm for Robin Zander and to me, Monahan is very much a Zander for the 21st century. He can sing anything and make it his own, his range is startling and crystal clear and, like Mr. Zander before him, he can do all of it live, too, and that is a rarity.

So, we've got a minus and a plus so far - how does the new album hold up? On first listen, I wasn't sure. Train could really use some harsh editing in the lyric writing process, as things tend to fall into a formula: gushing romanticism aimed at a certain girl, tempered with self-deprecating humor and set in context with lots of cultural references. In the first 3 songs, we visit: San Fran's Tenderloin district, the Fillmore concert hall, Alcatraz, 80s hair band Winger, 80s pop band Mr. Mister, 70s radio hit "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers, Sonny and Cher and their trademark song, "I Got You Babe" - it's all quite clever and culture-savvy but I tend to like a little more meat in my lyrics. Strip away the allusions and you're left with "You know I'll be there for you" and "I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight," sentiments we've heard plenty of times before.

Nevertheless - this album just keeps growing on me. Some of the hookiest, catchiest pop music you'll ever hear. A lot of singers are doing that pop-rapping style now (Jason Mraz comes to mind) but I don't think anyone does it as effortlessly as Monahan.I go to bed every night with one of these songs on endless rotation and wake up with a different one in mind! The title track is cool, a stomping boogie that would not sound out of place on a Black Crowes album and in this case, those cultural references make it a really genuine love note to a great city. The chart hit here is, "Hey, Soul Sister," and it's no wonder the song is springing up in movies and commercials, you canNOT get it out of your head and it is sweet as pie. "Parachute" is just the kind of adrenalized, uplifting song we've come to expect from Train and "Words" has a nice gospel groove.

My three favorite tracks come late in the album (one is available only as a "bonus track" with the downloaded version). First is "You Already Know," a rare Train song with a dark and snarly attitude. Monahan sings it with everything he's got and with a searing pain that seems awfully authentic. Yet it also has a punchy, guitar-and-synth-driven 80s sensibility - don't know if I'll get to see them live soon but it would be a standout live track.

On the opposite side of things is "Breakfast in Bed," which also has an 80s feel - Duran Duran, anyone? - along with a dreamy, multi-octave vocal and sexy, creative lyrics. Finally, there's that bonus track, "Half Moon Bay." Again, maybe it's just because I've been to Half Moon Bay in California, but Train should have included this on the main album, it would have been the summer hit of 2010. "This ain't a threat but I think I better warn ya - gonna fall in love if you go to California..."

Same with this album - give it a few listens and I think you'll get hooked and fished in. DPPL has a copy of "Save Me, San Francisco," but without the bonus track.

Talk Is Cheap!

2010-04-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Especially when it comes to spoken word CDs here at DPPL, which you can check out for FREE. I focus on spoken word recordings today in honor of National Poetry Month, which we are featuring at the Library and on our Web site. If you want to hear just reg'lar folks read poetry, check out our short videos in the online "Poetry Theatre." Myself and many of my coworkers tackle the poetic works of writers that vary from Shel Silverstein to William Carlos Williams.

If you enjoy hearing poetry spoken aloud, we have quite a few CDs to pique your interest. FYI - you'll find them in the Audiobooks department, near the north-facing windows on the 3rd floor. Here are a few titles I stumbled upon while browsing (click titles to find them in our Catalog):

Talk Is Cheap: Volume 2 - a live performance by Henry Rollins from The Enmore Theatre in Sydney, Australia. When I was a freshman in college, my friend Sean introduced me to the work of Rollins and the band Black Flag - intense, funny, intelligent and raw. Rollins now primarily performs in the spoken word genre, and just appeared in Chicago at The Vic a few nights ago.
By Someone's Good Grace - Chicago Slam Sounds. Featuring well-known Chicago "slam" poets Marc Smith, Dean Hacker and others.
Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers - subtitled "Black Poets Read Their Works." Names you know, like Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. Names you should know, like Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove, Gil Scott-Heron and even Public Enemy.
Looking for more classic and familiar poetry? Try titles like The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Shakespeare, Yeats, Dickinson, Cummings, Frost) and The Poets' Corner, compiled by actor John Lithgow and recommended "for the whole family," with poets like Blake, Poe, and Dylan Thomas.

One of the reasons I've been videotaping my coworkers reading poetry is that many people think a poem begs to be shared aloud, rather than read off a page. If you agree, watch some of our videos and browse the spoken word collection on the third floor (in the audiobooks, by the north-facing windows). There are many titles besides the ones listed here and you're bound to find something that makes poetry come alive for you. Happy National Poetry Month.

Lighter Than...Air?

2010-03-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

One need only see the covers of CDs by French electronica duo Air to know one is dealing with some majorly hipster stuff. Why, just look at the cover of Air's 2007 release "Pocket Symphony," on which our heroes Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have been transformed into little back-lit clear glass figurines. They pose and peer out from their coffee table perch, taking in (perhaps?) the utterly mundane urban apartment around them. It's a cool enough cover, don't get me wrong, but it's also more than a bit cutesy. The hipness gets magnified when one considers their occasional musical partners, artists such as Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Air is often written up in the music press and hailed as "Mood music for now people" (that comes courtesy of Spin magazine) and that is a fair enough description - if it actually means anything. "Pocket Symphony" (also a cutesy title, it sounds like an iPod app) has 12 tracks and they glided together seamlessly and pleasantly as I gave the CD a spin on my desktop computer. I'll say this - you won't get a headache from Air, in fact, there will be long stretches of time during which you will forget you are listening to the album. It isn't terrible, offensive or poorly executed - it's just...there. Like the coolest commercial jingle you've ever heard? Maybe what dentist office music sounds like in heaven?

The band sings in a variety of languages, primarily English on this album, but a smattering of French as well. My favorite track on this CD is "Mer du Japon," a song about the "sea of Japan" with a lyric consisting of one sentence - in French. It's got a driving, dance-floor groove that actually grabs your attention. If I had to describe Air's overall effect, it is that of expert curators who bring together a lot of icy-cool influences in a very smooth, subdued mix. Think: Bowie, Roxy, Eno, Moby - a few acoustic tracks even remind me of an ultra-serious Flight of the Conchords...But, if you want to be known for the relaxed, Euro vibe at your next cocktail party, I would definitely put Air on the playlist. Good for a romantic evening at home, too. John Hood, writing for Spin, called their live shows "a dreamy pastiche of swoon and sway," so if that sounds appealing, take the Air.

"He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue." Jonathan Swift

2010-03-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

And what better time to celebrate both the fiddler and his roguishness than mid-March, with Springtime in the air and St. Patrick's Day on the calendar?

Irish music is a divisive force in world culture. My overall sense is that you either "get it" or you don't. I can listen to all the variations of Irish music for hours, it just seems to be in my blood, but I know others who gripe that it's "all the same," the "heenely-heenely" of the fiddles, pipes and bodhráns (those are the Irish handheld drums). Or they moan that Irish tunes are depressing and morose, filled as they are with dead people and minor keys.

If your only impression of Irish music is pop superstars U2 or familiar singalongs like "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," our CD collection at DPPL can broaden your Celtic horizons. Stop by the third floor display, assembled by Readers' Services Assistant Laura Adler and titled, "Irish Music: Beyond U2 & The Clancy Brothers." You'll find public television heartthrobs Celtic Thunder, contemporary Celtic folk band Solas and varied collections full of authentically traditional jigs, reels and airs. You'll also find recordings by modern Irish rock bands like Snow Patrol and My Bloody Valentine.

I've only been able to travel to Ireland once, but I think even a few days there can help you understand why so much artistry has come out of this tiny island. The landscape is by turns lush and then stark, green and then grey. There's tremendous hardship in the history and yet, a love of laughter and story-telling, too. The pub culture of the cities and towns encourages performers and the dark, silent nights in the country provide plenty of time for reflection and creation. If you share a love for Irish music with me, then check out some CDs to begin your St. Patrick's Day celebration. If you're convinced Irish music is all the same, I think we can gently, or forcefully, sway your opinion.

"Don't need no silver linin'...just give me gold."

2010-02-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago my colleague David wrote about the latest barrage of CDs by bands from our "Remember when?" days. When I was a kid, I lived, breathed, slept, ate and drank Cheap Trick, so I am completely embarrassed that now, as a responsible adult, it has taken me months to get to their latest. And yes, it's called "The Latest," nudge nudge, wink wink. I will definitely not wait so long the next time because this is a fine album and a strong reminder of why the band held such appeal to me 30 years ago. Ouch - has it really been that long?

The album starts out with the knob turned up to "Weird," with Robin Zander singing solo over a dreamy piano background, "Sleep forever." "Weird" because he seems to be singing someone to sleep: eternal sleep. I always thought the Trick were at their best when they married fullblown creepiness with Zander's disarmingly charming voice and look, so they get off to the right start. This tiny snippet of a song dissolves into a trip on the wayback machine, as the familiar drum riff of "Elo Kiddies" pumps up and morphs into a cover of Slade's "When The Lights Are out." The band clearly had a lot of fun blending the opener from their very first album into this punchy pop song.

"Self-referential" is a term you'll encounter a lot in reviews of "The Latest." Song title "Sick Man of Europe" comes from the name of Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson's old band. "Everybody Knows" throws in a lyrical reference to 80s album "Next Position Please."

I should probably insert a disclaimer here: I think Robin Zander is one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time, so I can hardly write an objective review of this album. Nevertheless, I will say that sometimes, on "The Latest," I wish he would sing more like himself and less like a medium channeling John Lennon. I love John Lennon, believe me, I just love Zander's voice as is and when it pours out of my earbuds in full throttle, I'm a very happy listener. I think he hits a real high on this album's "Everybody Knows." Once again, the song has an overall quality one can only describe as "creepy," with a lyrical trip on a sinking ship, and the vocal style reminds me of "Heaven Tonight." I think it's the best cut on this outing. Other standouts: "Closer, the Ballad of Burt and Linda" cranks the creepiness up way past 11, a psychedelic love ballad about the stars of documentary "Crazy Love." The guy who had thugs throw lye in his ex-girlfriend's face - and then she married him anyway. And people think Midwestern bands are pedestrian?

I'm also loving "Times of Our Lives," "Alive," and "These Days." Really, there's a lot of great stuff here. If "The Latest" and their last album, "Rockford," are any indication, Cheap Trick has a ton of crunchy, sweet, vaguely creepy pop-rock left in them and I hope we're listening for a long time. I'm glad this is "The Latest," but not The Last.

I Can't Hold On!

2010-01-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

How many songs have THAT lyric? Too many to count. The first one that pops into my mind is from Squeeze's 1982 album Sweets From a Stranger, which also features the adult radio charmer "Black Coffee in Bed."

If my opening paragraph gave you a taste to revisit that melodic gem by Squeeze - sadly, you won't find it at DPPL. Or any other library in our CCS consortium, which can be searched through our Catalog. What do to when faced with such a quandary?

Expand your search via WorldCat. First, to backtrack a little: when you want a CD or any item from our Library, you search for it in the online catalog. If you know the title of the album, best way to search: type in the full title or at least a good portion of the beginning part (don't start in the middle!), click the "Browse" radio button, and choose "Title" in the dropdown menu. Oh, and leave off any initial articles, like a, an, the. So, Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head" would be simply "rush of blood", Browse, Title. Voilà.

If DPPL does not own the item, expand your search, going back to the search screen and changing the Library: option to ALL. Remember: you don't have to travel to these area libraries to borrow their materials. When you find what you like, click the blue "Place Hold" button, put in your library card number and password. We'll call you when the items arrives here at DPPL, you come in and pick it up just as easily as if we'd had it in our own collection.

Still empty-handed? That's when you can harness the power of WorldCat and expand your borrowing privileges to libraries across the country, across the world. (We have yet to master "across the universe," but we're trying.) Again, if you know the CD title, I recommend entering it in the Title search box. (WorldCat is less fussy about articles, etc.) So, if our Library and our neighboring libraries didn't own that Coldplay title - more than 800 other libraries do. While in the record for a specific item, look for the link that reads, "Borrow This Item From Another Library (Interlibrary Loan)," click, fill in the form, we'll take care of the rest. Specifically, Mike in our Circulation department will take care of the rest. We'll call you when the CD arrives.

It's that easy. You may have to "hold on" for a bit until the item arrives, but placing holds and interlibrary loans puts more music at your fingertips. Try it next time you're stuck on a song you can't find anywhere else.

Tastes Like Chicken

2010-01-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

If "tastes like chicken" is the bane of gourmands everywhere, then "If you like Kate Bush, you'll love...(fill in the blank)" is the unimaginative music fan's killer catchphrase. I'd just been thinking that when I read an interview with Florence Welch, of Florence + The Machine, in which she was asked, "Is it lazy journalism to compare you with Kate Bush?" She responded both yes and no. I haven't heard Florence + The Machine's latest, but I bet it won't remind me of Kate Bush.

With that in mind, I gave a listen to Bat For Lashes' (aka Natasha Khan ) "Two Suns." It reminds me of Kate Bush here and there, mostly vocally - Khan likes to make big octave leaps and has a little of Bush's Brit-sweet affectation. Occasionally, on a song like "Sleep Alone," you hear an echo of Bush's most electronic recordings, such as "Joanni" and "Sat In Your Lap." Tender, piano-driven pieces like "Moon and Moon" do seem influenced by Bush's earlier albums. Bat For Lashes is often compared to Stevie Nicks as well, and validly, in the sense that as a lyricist, Khan seems to inhabit her own private world (do you often find yourself listening to Fleetwood Mac and wondering what the heck Nicks is talking about? I say that as a huge fan, not as a critic). Khan is not as commanding as either Bush or Nicks as a vocal artist, however. I found myself tuning the songs out pretty quickly, poppy 80s background music, sweet but a little too light to divert my attention. You might also hear the influence of people like Annie Lennox, Sinead O'Connor (the 80s years) and the Cranberries, but while Khan's overall range is impressive she doesn't ever sing with much power or theatricality. Scott Walker's cameo on "The Big Sleep" does nothing to help the Kate Bush parallels, reminiscent as it is of those odd moments when Kate's brother Paddy would guest star as a "heehawing" demon or what-have-you.

You might expect to hear this music during a rave scene in a hipster movie or on the catwalk at a fashion show. It's not terrible, it perhaps just feels too derivative to seem new and exciting, and the artist lacks a virtuosic talent for singing, playing or writing that might make you overlook the lack of originality.

Does your mileage vary? If you're a fan of "Two Suns," convince me a little bit so I'll give it a second listen. :) Best tracks to my ears: "Glass," "Pearl's Dream," "Travelling Woman." You can find "Two Suns" in our Catalog.

Christmas Music - Love It or Hate It?

2009-12-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

I celebrate Christmas and there are a lot of things I love about the season. Since I'm a musician, you'd think music would be one of those beloved things - not so much. It doesn't help that the Christmas music starts pouring out of store speakers and radio stations as early as November 1 - about 8 weeks before the actual arrival of Christmas. The older I get, the more I can do without another pop singer's take on "Santa Claus is Coming To Town," "Baby It's Cold Outside," and the tedium of "The Little Drummer Boy." I'm also not a fan of more experimental takes on holiday music - but maybe you are. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we'll be closed, but we're open until 9 PM today (12/23/09) unless the weather goes foul. Here are some highly unusual Christmas CDs in our collection - of course, we have plenty of the standard issue variety as well. Happy holidays, whatever it is you celebrate.

We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year - featuring Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper and Ronnie James Dio, just to name a few.
Christmastime in Larryland - um, "Larry the Cable Guy," anybody? I assume this was funny at some point in recent history.
A Looney Tunes Sing-a-Long Christmas - the lyrical stylings of Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales and Pepe Le Pew make for a very diverse, multi-national holiday collection.
A Colt 45 Christmas - by Afroman. Comes with a Parental Advisory Sticker. I'd advise this if Christmas makes you very, very angry.
Mistletoe Jam - Christmas Jug Band. A full album of jug band Christmas tunes might actually make you long for Mariah Carey again.
The American Song-Poem Christmas : Daddy, is Santa really six foot four? - The title alone is a real head-scratcher, but how about "songs" like "Rocking Disco Santa Claus" and "Santa Came On a Nuclear Missile."
Finally, the puzzling The First Christmas for Baby: the Story of Christmas in Words and Song. Maybe I'm cynical, but can baby actually understand the words of the Christmas story?

If you get here and these gems are all taken, there's still time to browse the carts of Christmas music you'll find on the third floor. Happy holidays and don't bang your head too hard in 2010.

What Am I Listening to?

2009-12-17T11:32:00.001-08:00

I have been listening to band called Muse. They've been around for a few years, but they are new to me. Their newest album is called The Resistance. They are alternative rock in the vein of Marilyn Manson, Radiohead, or System of a Down. You may have already heard of them, since they get a lot of radio airplay.

What is interesting to me is how I discovered them. My 16-year-old was listening to them and I listened long enough to say, "Hey that is really good, who is it?" So I got a couple of their CDs from the library and it is good. It makes me wonder if my dad ever liked any of the stuff I was listening to as a teen in the 80's. He loved his music, and I loved mine. I remember getting a lot of those, "How can you listen to that noise" comments when I blasted Metallica and Iron Maiden. But we probably found some common ground in the classics (Beatles, Stones, etc).

At home, now that I am listening to Muse, it is probably no longer cool. That's how it goes. Maybe I will tell him I got the CD from the library and I don't know how he can listen to that noise.

Unwrapping the Brit Box

2009-12-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

My favorite monthly magazine is a British publication called MOJO. If you care about rock music in 2009, it's practically the only magazine worth reading. However, reading it as an American means donning your thinking cap, for one needs to frequently translate British slang (larky beano, anyone?) and rack one's brain remembering bands that were a blip on the US radar but huge in the U.K. Blur, Pulp, Suede - even Oasis didn't make much of a dent in the eardrums of American listeners.

If you feel, as I do, that some of that music might be worth exploring, check out The Brit Box: UK Indie, Shoegaze, And Brit-Pop Gems of the Last Millennium. Plenty of familiar tunes here to help you get situated: The Smith's ubiquitous ""How Soon is Now?", The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" and Echo/Bunnymen's "Lips Like Sugar" (their anti-U2, "We're so serious about our art" prose in the accompanying booklet now prompts quite a chuckle, IMHO). You may not recognize The Sundays and The La's, but you know their slightly flaky pop songs, "Here's Where The Story Ends" and "There She Goes."

Once you've waded into that warm, cozy pool, dive into deeper waters and try these tracks, which caught my attention:

"Lorelei" - Cocteau Twins
"Step On" - Happy Mondays (covered quite well by Def Leppard on their "Yeah!" album)
"Stay Beautiful" - Manic Street Preachers
"In A Room" - Dodgy
"Something 4 the Weekend" - Super Furry Animals
"Service" - Silver Sun
"Kite" - Nick Heyward (remember him from Haircut 100?)
"Sleeping In" - Menswear
"Alright" - Supergrass

Overall, I was a little iffy about The Brit Box. I checked it out specifically to hear tracks by Spacemen 3/Spiritualized, and wow, was I underwhelmed by those. To be fair, this is billed as "BritPop" and pop it is indeed - very few tracks have the snap and crackle of rock music. Apparently I am too aggressive to make it as a shoegazer. The opening salvo in the souvenir booklet reads, "British pop music never recovered from The Beatles" and the collection supports that view, rather than refuting it. The booklet is nicely done although the bile directed at Kurt Cobain and U2, amongst others, tastes of sour grapes. Some of these songs sound disarmingly similar to the artists on the receiving end of the sneers. Still, if you feel like British music in the 1990s passed you by in a (ha ha) Blur, check out The Brit Box. You'll find it shelved with our oversized CD sets.

Man, I haven't heard them since 1985!

2009-11-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

I can't believe they're still making music! A lot of times when I am looking through the new releases, I'll see that someone has a new album coming out, first one in ten years, and I say, "Wow, whatever happened to them?" And here they are, still rockin'. Hopefully the new stuff is as good as the old stuff. So here are a few bands that have come out with new CDs this year that I hadn't heard much from in years (now I feel old).

The Black Crowes
- Before the Frost
Cheap Trick
- The Latest
Depeche Mode
- Sounds of the Universe
Lita Ford
- Wicked Wonderland
Foreigner
- Can't Slow Down
Ace Frehley (of Kiss)
- Anomaly
Gwar
- Lust in Space
Living Colour
- The Chair in the Doorway
New York Dolls
- Cause I sez so
Sonic Youth
- The Eternal
Spinal Tap
- Back from the Dead
George Thorogood & the Destroyers
- The Dirty Dozen

ps, if you've been following one of the above band's every move for the past 20 years, please don't flame me. Instead let the rest of us know of which missed CDs are worth revisiting. And if there is anyone I am forgetting, please leave a comment.

Jazz. Try it. You might like it.

2009-11-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

I'm the first to admit that jazz - true improvisational jazz, not smooth jazz, jazz-lite - can be an acquired taste. A bit like opera: you either get it or you don't. Real jazz can be confusing, alienating, challenging to eardrums that are used to rhyming lyrics, A-B-A-B arrangements, 4 chords and a hook. Sometimes you can tap your foot to jazz. Sometimes.

There are so many different flavors of jazz, however, and you're bound to find one that appeals to you. If I can offer a word of advice, I'd say that you need to experience jazz music in a live setting before you'll develop much of an interest in the recordings. Watching and listening to the creative interplay of jazz musicians is thrilling and once you appreciate it, you'll hear the recordings in a whole new light.

We have amazing local jazz talent in the Chicago area. One ensemble I would highly recommend is Wertico, a group of musicians centered around award-winning drummer Paul Wertico. Beyond Wertico's group projects, all of these musicians are worth seeking out for their own concerts and recordings as well. Look for names like John Moulder and - insert disclaimer here - my very good friends Brian Peters and Nick Bisesi.

Check out Wertico's events page and you'll find three opportunities to hear these extraordinary talents live this December. But if you're feeling brave enough to try this at home, check out Wertico's StereoNucleosis from our collection. The colors and textures on this album are remarkable. Every "song" transports you to a different space and perspective, from a driving downpour in "We Needed the Rain" to the lyrical meditation of "What Would The World Be." I can't list any "standout" tracks because the whole thing is so good.

I sometimes find jazz difficult. I LOVE the album StereoNucleosis. Maybe you will, too?

Bands Under the Radar: Vast

2009-11-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Vast (stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater) is the brainchild of Jon Crosby. Crosby was profiled in 1989 in Guitar Player Magazine as a promising new guitarist at the age of 13. Vast is Alternative Rock with a hint of Goth. We carry three Vast albums at the library.

Turquoise & Crimson (2006) is a compilation of their earlier work. It reminds me a bit of Depeche Mode on the mellower songs and Nine Inch Nails on the heavier ones.

April (2007) tones down the angst for a more reflective acoustic sound. The songs are beautiful, reminiscent of the more introspective U2 songs (like One and With or Without You).

Me & You (2009). I am still trying to wrap my ears around this one. It has 3 or 4 beautiful songs similar to the ones on April. But there are several that have a sort of country/western sound.

Check these out at the library and let us know what you think.

just can't get enough!

2009-11-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

For a premier post, I thought I'd highlight the mountain of 80s compilation CDs I checked out over the weekend. That very stack gave this blog its name. I couldn't come up with anything clever and did not feel like going the "blog by committee" route, so I flipped through the CDs, saw The Kings' "This Beat Goes On" and made up my mind.

Even though I went to high school in the 80s, I'm iffy about a lot of the music. All those cheap Casio synthesizers and novelty songs...However, 25 years have passed and in a few weeks, I may have to serve as DJ at my high school reunion, so it was time to reacquaint myself with these tunes. There is plenty of good stuff to be found in DPPL's large assortment of compilation or "various artists" disks. Browse the "Rock Collections" section for titles like "New Wave Hits of the '80s," "Sedated in the Eighties," and "Poptronica." You can use those links to see the contents of these CDs.

Songs I think are worth the dig:

"Gentlemen Take Polaroids" - Japan
"Local Girls" - Graham Parker
"The Metro" - Berlin
"The Politics of Dancing" - Re-Flex
"Send Me An Angel" - Real Life
"Promises, Promises" - Naked Eyes
"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" - Human League
"Poison Arrow" - ABC
"Making Plans for Nigel" - XTC
"Train in Vain" - The Clash

plus plenty of others. If your only knowledge 0f 80s music comes from current bands borrowing that sound (think The Killers, Moby, The Ting Tings), go back to the source.

welcome to "this beat goes on"

2009-11-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Des Plaines Public Library has more than 20,000 CDs available for checkout - and this is not your grandma's CD collection (well, unless your grandma is unbelievably cool - only you know the answer to that). In this new blog, we'll share with you the hidden treasures of our CD collection so you can check 'em out for yourself. If you're interested in discovering the music you're NOT hearing on the radio these days, stop in at "this beat goes on" every few weeks and we'll let you know what's new, old, unusual, rare, spine-tingling, mind-blowing, just plain weird and worth listening to at DPPL, your public library.