BUTCH WALKER TO RELEASE NEW SOLO ALBUM SYCAMORE MEADOWS ON NOVEMBER 11, 2008
Sycamore Meadows, the street where acclaimed musician Butch Walker lived and worked in Malibu, CA has drastically changed as a result of the massive wildfires that destroyed much of the area last November. And like many other Southern California residents, Walker lost his entire house and all his personal possessions in those fires, including his studio and every master recording he’s ever made. But inspiration sometimes comes from tragedy and so it became that this event incited Butch Walker to create music unlike anything he had ever done before. The result is his fourth album entitled Sycamore Meadows, due out on November 11, 2008 (Power Ballad/Stay Platinum/Original Signal). His revered talent – which includes producing for and writing with Pink, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, The Automatic, Hot Hot Heat, Secondhand Serenade, The Academy Is…, etc. - shines through on this very personal album and will further prove the staying power of Walker as a solo artist.
Always known to change up his musical styles, Butch Walker trades in his smart-glam, David Bowie-Marc Bolan sound heard on the previous solo album - The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let’s Go Out Tonites (July 2006/Epic) - for a classic and introspective sound highlighting his poignant lyrics and unforgettable melodies on Sycamore Meadows. Walker wrote and produced the entire album resulting in a collection of 12 beautifully constructed songs, delivering the distinct vibe his rabid fans already love him for and which will undoubtedly attract new audiences.
First single “The Weight of Her” is an uptempo, anthemic jam that launches the album while ballad “Ships in a Bottle” slows the mood down. “Ships in a Bottle” will be accompanied by a moving homemade video that documents the remains of his house before it was cleared away. It premiered as a featured video on MySpace Music during the week of September 17-September 24, 2008. Both tracks are currently available on iTunes. Another standout track, “Here comes The…” features vocals from a soulful and raw Pink. “ATL” is an ode to the city where he grew up featuring lyrics like “Oh Atlanta please need me like I needed you, let your sweaty embrace open wide” while on “Going Back/Going Home” he addresses the fire directly “I finally know the difference between going back and going home.”
Butch Walker has seen nearly six years of success as a solo artist and as front man for Marvelous 3, Butch Walker and The Let’s Go Out Tonites while also producing and writing GRAMMY-nominated and hit songs for countless other artists. But what really sets him apart from other writers and producers is his dedicated fan base as an artist, selling out venues across the country for several years now and even being considered one of the best live performers of his generation.
Beginning September 30, 2008, fans can download the album's first single "The Weight of Her" for free at Amazon.com (for a limited time) as well as pre-order the full album.
Butch Walker plans to set out on a full U.S. headline tour in February 2009. In the meantime he'll be playing the following venues in support of the album: Nectar Lounge, Seattle 10/21; The Loft, Atlanta 11/10; Blender Theatre, New York City 11/13; North Star Bar, Philadelphia 11/14; Maxwell’s, Hoboken 11/15; DC9, Washington D.C. 11/17.
Track listing… 1. The Weight of Her 2. Going Back/Going Home 3. Here Comes The... 4. Ponce De Leon Ave. 5. Ships in a Bottle 6. Vessels 7. Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car, Thought of You 8. The 3 Kids In Brooklyn 9. Summer Scarves 10. A Song For The Metalheads 11. Closer To The Truth and Further From The Sky 12. ATL
Oasis Announce US Tour Dates In Support Of Their New Album Dig Out Your Soul Tour begins December 3 in Oakland, CA
New York, NY – Oasis announce today the American leg of their Dig Out Your Soul world tour. The tour, the band’s first US tour in 3 years, kicks off on December 3 in Oakland, CA and includes the band’s triumphant return to NYC’s Madison Sq. Garden on December 17th. This US tour follows Oasis' biggest ever UK arena tour which sold over 180,000 tickets within an hour of going on sale. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals will be Special Guests on all dates.
Oasis is set to release their seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul on October 7th. The album and the Noel Gallagher penned first single, “The Shock of the Lightning,” mark the first Oasis music to be released on their own Big Brother label. Dig Out Your Soul sees Dave Sardy return to the producer’s chair following his work on their 2005 album, “Don’t Believe The Truth.” Recorded at Abbey Road and mixed in Los Angeles, all four members once again contribute tracks.
For a limited time, every Oasis ticket order made through Ticketmaster, comes with the option to upgrade to a special package containing your concert ticket, the brand new "Dig Out Your Soul" cd, and an exclusive Oasis t-shirt available ONLY in this promotion. www.Ticketmaster.com
Tickets for the shows go on sale October 3 at 10am. For the Chicago show, tickets go on sale Oct. 4 at 10am. All times are local.
Dec. 3 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena 510-569-2121
Dec. 4 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center 213-742-7100
Dec. 6 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl 702-942-7777
Dec. 8 Denver, CO Broomfield Events Ctr. 303-410-0700
Dec. 10 Minneapolis, MN Target Center 612-673-1300
Dec. 12 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena 847-635-6601
Dec. 13 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills 248-377-0125
Dec. 15 London, ON John LaBatt Centre 519- 667-5700 (rescheduled 9/9 date)
Dec. 17 New York, NY Madison Sq. Garden 212-465-6000
Dec. 19 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Center 856-365-1300
Dec. 20 Washington, DC GMU Patriot Center 703-993-3000
For further ticket information go to: www.oasisinet.com
I'm drained at the moment. I spend hours writing and often wonder why I bother. Just overwhelmed at the moment and am trying to catch up on some writing and trying to decide on whether or not to continue with the blog.
Is it possible for a song to immediately take you to specific time and place? I’d normally say “no”, but after listening to the Hold Steady’s “Constructive Summer”, I dare you to tell me that you’re not at a summer barbeque, at the beach, driving down an freeway with the top down or at a Jimmy Buffet concert seizing in the glory of the summer. This roaring summer anthem has the recipe of a classic summer song as it spews out of the speakers with a lashing drum beat and a spastic piano attack while Craig Finn mumbles ever so poetically about dreams, desires and determination and how his band sings “sing-a-long songs” and how “we can all be something bigger”; ultimately it’s a delicacy so tempting you can’t deny it.
The Hold Steady is every bit as good as any band on the road at this moment. If you’re fortunate enough to see them live, you’ll walk away a believer. Their records while high on energy take a few listens to digest and are better appreciated after seeing them live, but there was something about this lousy MP3 (a friend sent me months ago) that immediately made me smile. Everyone is always talking about a “new band” or a “new sound” they are looking for. In my opinion, I feel that people are looking so hard for this “new” thing that they’re bound to be disappointed when it’s not the next “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Welcome To The Jungle”. Music has a grasp on people from a young age, but at some point in most people’s existence, unlike films or books, their musical tastes stop evolving. Why this is, I am not sure. But it explains why the Rolling Stones can sell a few million concert tickets from $100-$400 and only sell a few hundred thousand copies of their latest album which is priced at $10. People largely love the music they hear from their high school and college years and everything that follows…they don’t want to be bothered with.
Eventually artists evolve, grow up, break up or venture down different sonic paths not in tune with those who bought their records by the boatloads. A new album by an established artist is not an easy sell and even though it may sell, people don’t necessarily listen to it, just look at the latest release by the Eagles, can you really tell me about any of the 28-songs on that album? The Hold Steady’s “Constructive Summer” is an anomaly to all of this; a perfect a catchy raucous rocker imbedded in your DNA from the first listen. While the Hold Steady is a rambunctious and exuberant band who has grown up on a steady diet of no-nonsense rock n’ roll, they’re so retro that I’ve had issues converting some friends…and then there are people who say that the band is such a throw back, it hurts them. My answer is “who cares”, is music penetrates your soul, who cares if it takes cues from the past? One listen to “Constructive Summer” and I can guarantee you you’ll be hooked; the opening reverberating guitar riff and mean Meat Loaf piano jamming accentuates the atmosphere, while the rhythm section grooves faster than a Randy Johnson fastball. It is a jolt of nostalgia so potent I dare you not to step up and take notice as it mines territory between Chuck Berry, the Jam and Bruce Springsteen.
“Constructive Summer” is a joyous voyage of optimism. The chorus echoes of a gathering and determination to dream bigger than ever before…”this summer”. Back when I was in school, summer was the promised land; working jobs, hanging out, driving around and experiencing love and heartbreak seemed to be accentuated ten-fold by the climate and aura. Summer romances are much more visceral than winter ones. More songs have been written about bikinis than overcoats and I don’t think there is any mystery why. I’d love to tell you I love the rest of their latest album Stay Positive but finding it for a reasonable price has been difficult (none of the five Best Buy’s I visited had it the week it was on sale). Regardless, “Constructive Summer” paints a portrait as intoxicating as girls in their summer clothes and that’s reason enough to buy Stay Positive. As the final days of summer fade away and the leaves begin to change color, the optimism, catchiness and innocence of “Constructive Summer” will play on this fall, winter, spring and every summer for the rest of my life; can you ask for anything more from a song?
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
In a move that should surprise no one, Run D.M.C. and Metallica have made the final nominations for the RNR HOF. In what I view as a complete shock...Stevie Ray Vaughn did not. I'm really at a loss for words as to how he didn't make it in. He's a highly influential blues artist...and most importantly, he died pre-maturely which usually secures a spot on the ballot when they eventually become eligible.
My other surprise is that the Beastie Boys (who made the nominee list last year) are not on it this year. Maybe Jann and company have some sort of rule that will allow only one rap group in per year. Who knows? In a very unsurprising revelation, Bon Jovi did not make the cut. I also wonder if they'll ever make it in considering that artists like Neil Diamond are still not in the hall. Plus, the nominating committee, from what I know of them, don't like Bon Jovi's brand of music. Heck...Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, KISS, Heart, Journey, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, and numerous other highly influential acts are not in the hall.
Ultimately, does any of this matter? In my humble opinion...no.
Run-D.M.C., Metallica nominated for Rock Hall By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer
CLEVELAND - Run-D.M.C. could "Walk This Way" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 1980s rap act, along with Metallica and the Stooges are among the nine nominees for next year's hall of fame class, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced Monday.
The other nominees are guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic, the only nominee back from last year's ballot.
The five leading vote-getters will be announced in January and inducted April 4, 2009, in Cleveland.
The ceremony typically has been held in New York but is returning to Cleveland after more than a decade-long absence. Tickets will be made available to the public for the first time.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five opened the door for rap at the Rock Hall as the first hip-hop act to be inducted in 2007. Now, Run-D.M.C., nominated in the first year of its eligibility, has the chance to follow on the strength of rock and rap blends such as the 1986 cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and classics like "It's Tricky" and "My Adidas."
Metallica jumped on the heavy metal wave of the '80s and 25 years later is still selling out arenas. This month the group released "Death Magnetic," which marks a return to its early speed metal days.
The Stooges, recently given props in the film "Juno," get another shot after last appearing on the ballot two years ago.
Left off the ballot were Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bon Jovi. Both had been eligible for the first time. To be nominated an act must have released its first single or album 25 years prior.
More than 500 musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the inductions. ___ On the Net: http://www.rockhall.com
For a number of years I took film classes with Roger Ebert. It was right after college where my love for movies was immense. I know...I write about music, but it wasn't always that way. You know how college is supposed to be this wondrous time of musical discovery? I am convinced that I went to college during the least memorable time in the history of music (1994-1998). It was post grunge (I consider that period over that day Kurt Cobain died) and it was pre-Napster. The musical landscape was cluttered with loads of one and two hit wonders like Smash Mouth, Fastball, TLC and loads of other crap that never stood a chance of surviving. I'm not dissing anyone, but that 1990's is when albums really began to suck. Artists started filling cd's to their full space and even worse, they often only had one or two good songs. I spent my college years dissecting the entire catalogs of a handful of artists (U2, BonJovi, Bruce Springsteen, KISS, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Peter Gabriel)...and everyone else, well, I wanted to love it but it often felt disenchanted from the listening experience. So where did I look for answers? Film...
I've always loved the movies and watched Siskel and Ebert religiously even though I saw few of the movies they reviewed. In fact, I watched S&E more than I did movies when I was younger. But as I got older, I found myself delving into film more and more. I had them on in the background as I studied, watched them as I went to bed and often went to the theater whenever I could even if I only had a few free hours. Both Roger and Gene were a huge influence to me and are mostly why I write. Plus, being a Chicagoan did not hurt. Lonn Friend was a huge influence from RIP Magazine, but by the time RIP arrived, I had been watching Siskel and Ebert for a solid 8-years. In fact, I don't ever recall a time in my life where I didn't know who they were. They were integral to my upbringing and admiration of the arts. What I loved most was their unorthodox choices in film. They weren't afraid to champion the underdog...or shining light on a big budget film that deserved equal praise.
Gene Siskel passed in 1999 and I remember being at home on a Saturday afternoon and being devastated at hearing the news...I can't say I was shocked as Gene's appearance in the previous twelve months on the show has begun to show its wear and how he was losing an internal and biological battle. But his memory and legacy lives on.
So why am I writing all of this? Since Roger Ebert and current co-host Richard Roeper have been unceremoniously let out of their current TV contract, Ebert has been writing a blog for the Chicago Sun Times. In my opinion, it's some of the best writing of his life. Each week he tackles a different subject...sometimes about film and sometimes not. Regardless, it's fascinating reading, you can find his journal/blog here...make sure you bookmark it.
However, one recent post summed up why I write better than anything I could ever compose; "Critic" is a four-letter word
What I write, and Ebert as well, isn't about snobbery, it isn't about envy, it's about love. There's one part of the piece that I am going to paste below...
I believe a good critic is a teacher. He doesn't have the answers, but he can be an example of the process of finding your own answers. He can notice things, explain them, place them in any number of contexts, ponder why some "work" and others never could. He can urge you toward older movies to expand your context for newer ones. He can examine how movies touch upon individual lives, and can be healing, or damaging. He can defend them, and regard them as important in the face of those who are "just looking for a good time." He can argue that you will have a better time at a better movie. We are all allotted an unknown but finite number of hours of consciousness. Maybe a critic can help you spend them more meaningfully.
I don't really like the word critic (even though in a interview I gave in February, I was affectionately referred to as "The critic"). There's a negative connotation tied to it. I believe in writing...and if people like it, great, if not, that's OK too. It's really an opinion and it comes from my perspective and ultimately, I hope that my words can open a new world for someone. I don't want to force anything on anyone, but as Roger put it so eloquently above, I just would like to see people spend more waking moments with films/music/books that have more weight to them. Life is short to not be fully awake and to realize its full potential; I am just hoping to lead the way with some simple words about artists who touch my soul.
RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS: CARDINOLOGY OUT OCTOBER 28 APPEARING ON THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN OCTOBER 29 Akashic Books To Release Infinity Blues
The Cardinals--Ryan Adams (vocals, guitar, keys), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass, vocals), Jon Graboff (pedal steel, vocals) and Brad Pemberton (drums)--have confirmed an October 28 release for Cardinology, the band's latest collection of all-new studio material for the Lost Highway label. They will return to their TV-home-away-from-home, THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, the following evening.
Like its predecessor Easy Tiger, which TIME magazine hailed as "a career breakthrough," Cardinology is a concise and focused collection of twelve unadorned gems, the final sequence of which will be:
Born Into A Light Go Easy Fix It Magick Cobwebs Let Us Down Easy Crossed Out Name Natural Ghost Sink Ships Evergreen Like Yesterday Stop
First single "Fix It" will be digitally released to radio Tuesday, September 23, while "Stop" will receive a sneak premiere in the Tuesday, September 30 episode of THE CLEANER on the A&E network (check local listings).
In other news from Planet Cardinal, Infinity Blues, Ryan Adams' first ever collection of non-musical writing will be published March 16, 2009 by venerable independent house Akashic Books. Infinity Blues will be available for pre-order through Akashic's website beginning Monday, October 6 at http://www.akashicbooks.com/ryanadamspreorder.htm. Pre-orders will include a signed hardcover copy of "Infinity Blues," with a bonus poetry chapbook by Ryan Adams titled "Sad American Mythology." The limited edition signed and numbered chapbooks will be available only through the Akashic Books website as part of this pre-order.
RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS ON TOUR IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES:
September 25th - Albany, NY - The Egg * NOTE NEW VENUE *
September 26th - Syracuse, NY - Landmark Theater
September 27th - Rochester, NY - Auditorium Theater
September 29th - Columbus, OH - Palace Theater
September 30th - Cleveland, OH - Palace Theater
October 2nd - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
October 3rd - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theater
October 4th - St. Louis, MO - Fox Theater
October 5th - Madison, WI - Overture Hall
October 7th - Ames, IA - Stephens Auditorium
October 9th - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
October 10th - Tulsa, OK - Brady Theater
October 11th - Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theater
October 13th - Austin, TX - Paramount
October 14th - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
October 16th - Tuscaloosa, AL - Bama Theater
October 17th - Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
I'm not sure if the band plans on shaking the shows up or playing a standard set. Since it's been ov er a decade since they wrre last on US soil, I wouldn't blame them if they did the same set every night. Looking over the setlist, there's very little to argue with and it looks rather spectacular. If I gave one suggestion, play a few more songs and take the total past 20...
All in all it appears the band is back and ready to rock. I'm looking forward to catching the Chicago show later this week.
Here are some clips from the 9/15 Show... James - Sometimes (Lester Piggott) [Live in Boston 09-15-08]
James - Laid (Live at the Paradise in Boston) 09-15-08
The full press release for the new Butch Walker album due on 11/11, Sycamore Meadows, will be released on Monday, but here is the official track list a little early
Track listing of Sycamore Meadows 1. The Weight of Her 2. Going Back/Going Home 3. Here Comes The... 4. Ponce De Leon Ave. 5. Ships in a Bottle 6. Vessels 7. Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car, Thought of You 8. The 3 Kids In Brooklyn 9. Summer Scarves 10. A Song For The Metalheads 11. Closer To The Truth and Further From The Sky 12. ATL
At the request of Ernie Banks, Eddie threw together a song for the Cubs ("All the Way"). He got a pretty good live version of it at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago this August. It's now being played on Chicago radio and at the Bleacher Bars around Wrigleyville.We have decided to make the song available for download. There's a chance we'll also make available some hard copy CDs and we're looking into souvenir 45 singles, as well. Check pearljam.com for the latest.Go, Cubs, go!
Butch Walker: The Phoenix Chicago, IL (7-31-08 and 8/2/08) By Anthony Kuzminski
I had writer’s block and felt like I had nothing left to say…until after the fire
-Butch Walker, July 31, 2008
I’m walking down a narrow staircase in Pete Wentz’s Chicago nightclub, Angels and Kings, to its diminutive basement on a near perfect summer night. Butch Walker is prepping for his one man show amidst a few close friends, including his manager Jonathan (who also manages Fall Out Boy). I exchange a few pleasantries with Jonathan about the Fall Out Boy arena gig I caught and wrote about last fall (still one of the best arena rock shows I’ve ever witnessed) before sitting down to do a brief interview with Walker. He’s slowly picking away at his guitar and is in affable mood as he welcomes me with the endearing smile that wins over everyone who’s seen him live. The singer-songwriter-producer extraordinaire is thinner than I remember, but one look at his fully tattooed arms reveals nary an inch of body fat and all muscle. He is dressed simply with a dash of eclectic style; blue-jeans, a short-sleeved collar shirt, black boots, shorter hair than normal and a newly acquired stash. We make some small talk before I say, “So tell me about the inspiration for this album.” With an affecting stare, he responds, “I had writer’s block and felt like I had nothing left to say…until after the fire.” Talk about full disclosure. But considering everything Butch Walker has been through over the last year, was there any other way to begin? As our conversation continues, I see an intensity in his eyes and face, the stories still unfolding nearly a year after he lost everything he owned in a California wildfire; every family heirloom, picture, instrument and most devastating…every single one of his master tapes. Walker is positive and optimistic about the whole experience. “What’s important is that no one got hurt” he says to me as an eternal optimist. He adds, however, “I also figured that if there was ever going to be a fire at my house, I would have had enough time to get the tapes out” in response to my questioning if the tapes lost were indeed masters. What’s different this time compared to the other times I’ve talked to him is that his eyes emit a fervent look that in itself speaks volumes. He fiddles with his acoustic guitar almost as if he’s at a loss for words because what else is left to say when every last item you have ever possessed in your life, including all of your instruments and master tapes, burns to the ground in a day? Despite all of this, one thing that is abundantly clear is that since the fire, Walker has thrown himself into his art. He’s put everything else on hold (including lucrative producing gigs) to focus on his fourth full-length solo album, Sycamore Meadows (named after the street his house lived on) which will see the light of day on 11/11. Over the course of the last decade, Walker has worn many hats: band leader of the Marvelous 3, an in-demand producer for the likes of Bowling For Soup (“1985”), Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, American Hi-Fi, and Pink (who makes an appearance on Walker’s new record on the track “The Best Of…”) and finally as a solo artist. While he’s always viewed his individual work as his top priority, it doesn’t hurt that he receives paychecks for his producing duties. Back in 2002, Walker released his acclaimed debut solo disc, Left of Self-Centered and while Arista failed to promote it, it made an impression on everyone who heard it for its larger than life and buoyant production. He was hand picked by Avril Lavigne to produce a few key singles from her second album, including “My Happy Ending” and “Don’t Tell Me”, both of which shot to the top of the charts. Since then he’s balanced his own career with occasional producing gigs. In the months following the fire, he received a number of requests for producing but turned every single one of them down. “I’ve been too concerned with what was flowing from me during this time and had to put myself and my songs fist”. Without the standard interruptions in his busy schedule, Walker is laboring over these pensive and personal songs. Fortunately or unfortunately, he has called just about every major label “home” over the course of his career. Sycamore Meadows has yet to find a home and whether it will be a major label release or an independent venture has yet to be determined. When I asked him what style the album would follow, he pondered for a very brief moment and out of his mouth came one salient word; “introspective”. As he continued, he told me “I’m letting the lyrics shine this time and keeping them in the forefront and letting the music flow organically”. There was a bittersweet story in his eyes as he told me this, but he seemed rejuvenated, alive and well with a clear eye on the future instead of wallowing in the past. All of the songs were birthed from the chaos, confusion and calamity in the months following this tragedy. When Walker mines his psyche is when his best work flows from him. Letters is a break-up record on par with Peter Gabriel’s Up, Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love and Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, with a slight dose of pop thrown in for good measure. Most consider it to be his most honest, truthful and revealing work…until now. After the intense beginning, our conversation veered into more laid back channels as we discussed what he was listening to these days and we both joked how we needed iTunes in front of us to fully acknowledge everything out there. “But I have been listening to the new My Morning Jacket album a lot.” he tells me. We discussed his plans for Chicago and he lit up, “My second favorite city…after my home Atlanta”. While I was unable to catch his Lollapalooza show, I was fortunate to catch two intimate and concentrated shows featuring a lean and mean Walker, whose hunger is as raucous as it is righteous on the concert stage. Whether it’s an arena or a bar, Walker never disappoints, effortlessly segueing from one to the other. He has an indelible, genuine and authentic stamp of aura around him. When you watch him perform, you feel as if you’ve known him intimately for years. While my time with him backstage was short, I slowly realized that over the course of two shows that my time with him there was only part one of the interview, as parts two and three occurred during his solemn one-man show at Angels and Kings and (two-nights later) the full band performance at the Cubby Bear nightclub, which proved to be wildly exuberant. Angels and Kings featured Walker solo, where he drew back the curtain in ways I’ve never seen before. Arriving on stage at 10:15, he was surrounded by a keyboard, two acoustic guitars, an electric guitar, a bass, a few amps and a wireless microphone. He then proceeded to use all of them on the opening number, “Going Back”, a confessional composition including the lyrics “I’m not happy with myself these days”, which contained the first of many allusions to the aforementioned fire. He would play each instrument until the mixer at the soundboard copied it, and by the end, he had a fully mixed and completed track. Throughout the rest of the 95-minute show, he shifted from the acoustic to electric guitar, keyboard to piano and even hopped on the bar to sing a long finale of “When Canyons Ruled the World”. The die-hards in attendance welcomed the cult renderings of “Mixtape”, “Cigarette Lighter Love Song”, “Joan” and a most welcomed “Grant Park” from his Marvelous 3 days. Of his classics, “Don’t Move” was even more affecting and searing as Walker belted the lyrics as a man possessed. This one song I always underestimate, but in concert it sizzles with soul. Walker’s vocal acrobatics help the song soar in ways one never imagined. While the crowd wailed on these classics, they were ever attentive for the soul searching half dozen new songs he showcased. “Ships In A Bottle” had some deeply philosophical lyrics while the “Past Your Place” and “Summer Scarves” found a contrast of reflective on the former and epic on the latter. Both reminded me of Springsteen at his best (think “Brilliant Disguise” and “Jungleland”) but with Walker’s melodic touch in widescreen mode. The exuberant sing-a-long was represented on the joyful and poppy “Song For The Metalheads”. On “Hardest Thing We’ve Ever Known”, performed at the front of the club on piano, Walker delivered his most gut wrenching ballad ever. There was a tinge of rage in the lyrics and you could feel the intensity drip off the stage like coolant from an air conditioner. Each performance built the evening’s intensity, and here the bubble burst in spectacular emotive fashion. Two-nights later, Walker could be found on the near north side of the city in a much different atmosphere. In a stark contrast to the enlightening solo showcase, the Cubby Bear gig featured his band as they unleashed pure melodic energy to the capacity crowd. Yet another two new songs were aired, “Kids” and “Vessels”. If the strength of the material performed at the Thursday show wasn’t enough, these latter two are among the best damn compositions Walker has penned to date. Both are potential singles with Pete Townsend riffs and Beatlesesque melodies. There was a distinctive contrast between the two performances, but the quality of the songs was consistently staggering. Whatever internal transformation Walker has gone through in the last year is pouring out of him with nary a pause for breath or reflection. Despite his penchant for beautiful visceral melodies, this is a changed man. He has always ventured deep into the tortured consciousness, but this is different. Even his well known songs were delivered with a new outlook. The ballads (“Stateline” and “Only Love”) shared a sincere and inner light into his soul, while the rockers (“Uncomfortably Numb” and the medley of “Laid/Taste of Red”) embraced an arena-rock muscle tone he executes so meticulously regardless of the crowd size. The mean guitar lick of “Hot Girls in Good Moods” sent the crowd into a frenzy as the band slammed this one out of the park. Walker’s band was intricate and inspired, with the dexterity of a band that has hundreds of performances behind them. They were fast and fluid in their execution. If you’ve never seen him live before and need a fix before he heads out on his next tour, check out his sprawling live DVD, Leavin’ The Game On Luckie Street and you’ll see for yourself.
From the plaintive strains of his guitar on one night, to the in-your-face slap of molten voltage two nights later, Butch Walker professed a stark declaration of desires that go beyond words. He seems to enter a dreamy private realm, except he’s inviting his listeners along for the ride. The short time I spent with him backstage was merely a prelude to my full interview, where he delved deeper and revealed himself to me and the sold-out crowds each night. Walker is as confident as he’s ever been in his craft and it shows. Over the course of these few performances, I witnessed a man whose hunger, determination and drive is as strong as ever. If the preview of the songs from the new album aired in Chicago is any indication, this album will prove to be an illuminating, insightful and poignant excursion through Walker’s consciousness. The depth of the lyrics of Sycamore Meadows (something never lacking from Walker and always a strength of his) takes on new dimensions as the songs paint pictures of renewal and resurrection. Sycamore Meadows may prove to be his most transcendently spiritual and revealing. There was luminosity to the acute emotions he exuded on stage over these two performances proving once again to be a remarkable live performer. If this mini preview is any indication, we’ll be looking at a soul-baring and concentrated album that may prove to be a confessional tour de force epic.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
USA Today has a mention of Butch Walker and his new album and the full link can be found here.
Butch Walker feels the weight of fire
Butch Walker knows a little something about trial by fire. The singer/guitarist titled his fourth solo album, Sycamore Meadows, after the street he lived on in Malibu before his home was burned to the ground by California wildfires in November. He lost all his possessions, plus every master he has recorded, including many compiled as a songwriter and producer for such acts as Pink, Katy Perry, Fall Out Boy and Pete Yorn. Several tunes on the album, out Nov. 11, address the fire and its aftermath. In the video for Ships in a Bottle, he walks through the ashes where his house stood. Fans can hear demos at myspace.com/butchwalker and download first single The Weight of Her for free at amazon.com.
Apptly the new Kevin Smith movie is still having issues even after having a NC-17 rating overturned. Zach & Miri Make A Porno is one of the most anticipated comedies of the fall season but the poster (above) has been banned from theaters in the US because it apparently alludes to oral sex. The full story can be read here. I continually wonder for all of the growth we have made as a human race why items like this are still issues? The irony of all of this is that more people will now seek out the banned movie poster than ever would have probably seen it in the first place. If I was an artist and had something banned, I would consider it not just a badge of honor, but I'd find myself incredibly lucky and grateful...
One of the things that kills me as a writer is that I sometimes spend hours and days on certain pieces and barely anyone reads them. Then I spend 10-minutes on something that is by far the least interesting thing I may have ever written and it's one of my highest read pieces. I wrote a ever so brief review of Eddie Vedder's spectacular Chicago solo show from 8/21. People have been goggling for reviews and I've gotten a ton of traffic as a result. Now as my beloved Chicago Cubs get closer to the playoffs, this nearly month old post has been getting a lot of the hits looking for the song.
"Someday We'll Go All The Way" was written after Ernie Banks asked Eddie to write a song about Wrigley Field. He debuted it last August at the band's fan club only show and resurrected it over his two nights in Chicago.
Now here is the bad news...I don't have a copy of it for download on this blog. I don't believe in posting MP3's on the site as it's a very grey area (plus it involves a lot of time I do not have).
However, I can tell you that you can find a download of the full show here, here and possibly right here at this link. Let's hope there is an official release from one of Eddie's solo shows in the next year as this tour proved to be one that should not be missed.
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS TO RELEASE DOUBLE DVD SET – ‘IF ALL GOES WRONG’ FIRST LIVE CONCERT RELEASE FROM MULTI-PLATINUM BAND
Features Full Concert in High Definition and Revealing Documentary
HOLLYWOOD – Coming Home Media will release If All Goes Wrong, a double DVD commemorative package celebrating the recent reunion and extraordinary 20-year career of The Smashing Pumpkins, one of rock's defining and most acclaimed bands, on Nov. 11th.
Directed and produced by Jack Gulick (Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, Steve Miller Band, Godsmack) and Daniel E Catullo III (Steve Miller Band, Godsmack, Rush, Dave Matthews Band), the two DVD set contains the 105-minute documentary, also titled If All Goes Wrong, plus The Fillmore Residency, a full concert filmed in late July and early August of 2007 over five of the 11 sold-out nights at the famed Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA.
The concert disc was captured in 5.1 Surround Sound and state-of-the-art high definition from 12 cameras and features seven all new tracks not available anywhere else, along with new versions of fan favorites and a selection of Pumpkins rarities.
From the opening note to the final chord, the documentary If All Goes Wrong showcases a band returning with an “enveloping epic force” (Los Angeles Times) as it traces The Smashing Pumpkins during their 19-show residency, which began with eight shows at Asheville, NC’s Orange Peel in late June and continued through 11 sold-out nights at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore Auditorium. Interviews with band members, fans, journalists and fellow musicians reveal the fears, excitement, determination, exhaustion and tension inherent in main singer-songwriter and lead guitarist Billy Corgan and his newly revitalized musical unit.
“We went into the residencies hopeful to play some new music, with the idea I would write during the day and we could maybe even play new songs that same night,” Corgan comments. “What I didn't anticipate is how much the process would inspire me, positively and negatively, to report what I was seeing and feeling from the shows. The documentary shows that process in an interesting way that reveals the link between the band and our audience.”
The documentary also includes Voices Of The Ghost Children, a featurette about the band’s fans, and an interview with The Who’s legendary guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend as bonus material.
The concert portion of the If All Goes Wrong, entitled The Fillmore Residency, runs 115 minutes and includes seven of the almost 20 all-new compositions the band composed and performed exclusively during the residencies that are available exclusively on this release. With 15 songs in all, the concert - captured in 5.1 Surround Sound and state-of-the-art high definition from 12 cameras - showcases the band as they explore the freedom afforded to them in a live setting, including the 30+ minute opus “Gossamer”. Along with the new tracks, the concert also includes alternate versions of fan favorites and a selection of Pumpkins rarities. The Fillmore Residency also includes five songs recorded live from the floor of The Fillmore that gives fans an intimate glimpse of the band as a performing entity.
Formed in Chicago in 1988, The Smashing Pumpkins have sold over 30 million albums since releasing Gish, their influential (and platinum) debut in 1991. More platinum and multi-platinum albums followed, including the nine-time platinum Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and the four-time platinum Siamese Dream. The pivotal group’s many hits include “Disarm,” “Today,” “Cherub Rock,” “1979,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” – songs which defined the alternative music era and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation.
The Pumpkins contributed multiple songs to various compilations before releasing Adore, Machina/The Machines of Godand Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music prior to their break-up in 2000. They returned in 2007 with their gold-certified and acclaimed sixth album Zeitgeist, a powerful rebirth and reaffirmation of the Smashing Pumpkins by two of its key members, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, now joined by Jeff Schroeder (guitar), Ginger Reyes (bass) and Lisa Harriton (keyboards). Earlier this year, The Smashing Pumpkins were inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk, and this month became the first band to record a new song exclusively for Guitar Hero®.
Coming Home Media this year also released the Platinum-selling The Steve Miller Band: Live From Chicago, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Music Video charts amid across-the-board critical acclaim and wide media attention.
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS DISC 1: *"If All Goes Wrong" documentary *"Voices Of The Ghost Children" featurette *Interview with The Who guitarist, Pete Townshend
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS DISC 2: *The Fillmore Residency 1. The Rose March* 2. Peace + Love* 3. 99 Floors* 4. Superchrist 5. Lucky 13 6. Starla 7. Death From Above 8. The Crying Tree Of Mercury 9. Winterlong 10. Heavy Metal Machine 11. Untitled 12. No Surrender* 13. Gossamer* 14. Zeitgeist Bonus Tracks: Live From The Floor Of The Fillmore *"99 Floors" *”Peace + Love” *"No Surrender" *”Mama”* *”Promise Me”*
*previously unreleased Directed By Jack Gulick and Daniel E. Catullo III; Produced By Jack Gulick & Daniel E. Catullo III; Executive Producers: Tilton Gardner, Jeff Geoffray & Walter Josten; Audio Mixed By Kerry Brown
Per BWBK KISS is putting out another box set of previously released material. I will give them props for some creative thinking this time around. Entitled IKONS, it is one disc for each member of the group; Ace, Gene, Paul and Peter. So I give them bonus points for thinking out of the box...but seriously, any die hard KISS fan already owns these songs and you can't tell me that a average KISS fan would pick this box set over the regular KISS box set that came out about 7 or 8 years ago. I really loved KISS growing up and felt that they had a chance to truly have a second coming after their reunion tour in 1996-1997. Alas, it was not meant to be as the $$$$ was more important to them than the music.
Do yourself a favor...don't buy this set. If you really want it, download it.
This press release just popped in my inbox...count me as excited. My extended Butch piece from his August stop should run within the next week on antiMusic. Check back here.
BUTCH WALKER to release new solo album Sycamore Meadows album in November. Single "Weight of Her" and an additional track "Ships in a Bottle" is available on iTunes beginning today, September 16.
Look out for a video piece by filmmaker Cloud of "Ships in a Bottle" that documents Butch walking on the grounds of his home in Southern California after it was destroyed by the wildfires last November, to premiere on the homepage of MySpace Music (www.music.myspace.com) on Wednesday, September 17.
James –Hey Ma: The Album of the Year Album Review By Anthony Kuzminski Life’s obstacles find a way of temporarily sidetracking and (at times) debilitating us. One of the reasons I have always found the world of the arts so fascinating is that they can turn our thoughts inward and help give us perspective on our own life. Recently rock music, for one reason or another, is not providing the remedy I often seek from it. Over the last few years, a simple rock anthem doesn’t enlighten me the way it once did. However, when an artist or album comes around and delves deep into the psyche of the human soul, I become enthralled. For the last half decade, while I’ve enjoyed hundreds of albums, I haven’t felt many to mine new territory or provide me with a matchless listening experience. However, in the last few months I’ve been entranced by music chock full of meaning. Artists who are digging deep into complicated and thorny subjects; Metallica’s Death Magnetic, Michael Franti’s All Rebel Rockers and John Mellencamp’s Life, Love, Death & Freedom have all overwhelmed with me with insightful lyrics, stellar production and topical issues. These albums have provided listening experiences that I believe are the best of not just this year but this decade. However, there has been one album I have returned to time and time again recently as it delicately balances the beauty and bleakness that life has to offer; Hey Ma from the Manchester band James.
James is best known in America for the hit single, “Laid” which actually became a bigger hit for the band over time than it was in 1993 and 1994. Now a modern rock staple for bar juke boxes, the song was only modestly known…at first. The album Laid peaked at #68 and the single only climbed to #61 on the Billboard charts, but somehow the album eventually moved 600,000 copies providing a cult hit for the band that has only grown with time. In America, post Laid, James has become nothing more than a trivia question unfortunately. What’s so disheartening about this is that their follow-ups Whiplash, Millionaires and the Best of James all made major waves overseas. The Best Of release in March of 1998, became the album to knock the Titanic soundtrack from the top of the UK charts and is probably one of my desert island discs. It’s a perfect collage of James as it wonderfully melds their versatile musical career. Now what makes Hey Ma such an anomaly is that it in itself could be considered a separate Best of James, that is how prevailing and potent these songs are. One thing most American’s are incorrect about is that Laid is the band’s best album. While it has some of their most provoking songs on it (“Sometimes”, “Laid”, “Out To Get You”), it’s nowhere near their creative apex. Seven and Millionaires are far superior offerings, however I find all of the aforementioned bowing down to Hey Ma. It’s almost unheard of for a group to reunite after an extended hiatus to create a work of art on par with their best offerings, but James has gone one step further by creating a biting, boiling and blissful collection of songs that align like the stars in the sky. Late last year, after a reunion tour, the band hunkered down at Warsy Chateau in northern France and walloped their way through 120 new compositions with producer Lee “Muddy” Baker, who picks up where Brian Eno left off without the slightest hesitation and a modern touch. Baker created separate rooms for the band members to jam and feed ideas to him in the main studio room. Eight specific jams, created during one five-hour jam session, largely became the songs found on Hey Ma. The return of guitarist Larry Gott (who left the band in 1995) has further assisted the band finding their way home and to an atmosphere where they wouldn’t just return to former glories, but improve on them. When the seven members begin to jam they find themselves in a magical state blissfully unaware of their surroundings. Their best songs have always evolved from extended jams and Booth’s metaphysical lyrics, which fall somewhere between inexplicable of Michael Stipe and the heartfelt tenderness of Bono. As the band works out the music, Booth comes up with distinguishable yet at times undecipherable lyrics that are like a two headed monster. Some of the lyrics are ferocious and touch lightning rod topics on the most eclectic James album since Seven, which coincidently was the last time the Hey Ma lineup of James recorded together.
When groups break up and spend time apart eventually to regroup, they may have put certain feelings aside, but their rarely recapture the magic and essence that made them a group in the first place. What makes the return of James so triumphant is the band’s ability to bring the strongest line-up back together which created Seven. James has made an album that lies somewhere between mainstream programming and indie fanaticism. They haven’t just made a great reunion record; they’ve made the best album of their career. Each listen continues to reveal itself to me with nuances I had not picked up on previously. Even with a full three-month of major releases ahead of us, I find it hard to believe that any of them will be as poignant, pensive and devastating relevant and revealing as Hey Ma. With each intoxicating listen, I’m drawn into the reverberating music, the ebullient melodies and the world weary lyrics. The depth of the subjects found on Hey Ma prove to be socially provocative; war (“Hey Ma” & “72”), awakening (“Bubbles” “Waterfall” and “I Wanna Go Home”) and ultimately life and love (“Oh My Heart” and “Upside”). For the first time in a while, I feel an artist has created a complete album that speaks to me in the here and now while simultaneously enrapturing my ear drums with ambient pop and soulful sounds. Opening the album is a hymn that flashes of life before your eyes; “Bubbles”. In classic James fashion, “Bubbles” slowly builds until they shed their cocoon, revealing their true colors. As the band begins to fly away, Booth’s voice soars on the chorus where he proclaims “I’m alive”. As this harrowing chorus descends upon the listener, we enter a spiritual space that encompasses all eleven tracks. The visceral anti-war lyrics of “Hey Ma” may be too vivid for some, but ultimately has a building progression and ferocious chorus (“Hey ma the boy's in body bags, Coming home in pieces”). More than anything, it’s an anthem of awakening providing a jolt to your thoughts forcing you to take hold of the state of our world. Neil Young should take note as this one lyric is more biting than anything on his anti-war record Living With War (an album I admire greatly).
For every solemn song, there’s another for you to close your eyes and be taken away into a dreamy withdrawal. “Boom Boom” has a discernible melody that will break your heart as soon as it begins, but ultimately the lyrics of absolution and survival will redeem you. Then there’s the high-speed getaway chorus of “Oh My Heart”; an aching and driving life force of a song where the band is as forceful and unrelenting as the lyrics (“Adore this life, There is no guarantee, Could end by tomorrow”). “Upside” features an agonizing dichotomy of life where when you find love, you’re still yearning for their daily touch and affection. The world separates us out of the necessity of survival and work (“Upside: love you, Downside: miss you, I’m here you are there”). Booth’s metaphysical lyrics paired with wailing crescendo’s take this one over the top. The lyrics of Hey Ma are filled with a rich immediacy that distinguish their strongest work. However, just as some of these topics may become too overwhelming for us to bear, there’s refuge in the solemn “Waterfall” which finds the narrator at peace away from the physical comforts that have come to run his life. “Whiteboy” the album’s catchiest song is the apogee of Brit-pop with its dashing lyrical wordplay as the emotions, horns and percussion build to a combustive finish. “Of Monsters and Heroes and Men” features a faint horn that send chills down your spine on a tongue twisting poem of survival that is ultimately a paean as the band ever so ingeniously embellishes the haunted atmosphere of the track. The brief and fleeting lyrics of “72” questions the universe as a whole as the band finds itself in a driving interlock of guitars and drums finding an emotional vulnerability through the sheer muscle tone of their sound. On the album’s final track, “I Wanna Go Home”, James comes full circle. Beginning in a somber and hushed tone, it erects into a wailing and triumphant epic that shows that the Manchester boys may have disbanded in late 2001, but have clearly found their way home on an anthem of self-reflection. It’s almost as if the last decade of woes, trials and tribulations of the world can be summed up in the eleven songs that encompass Hey Ma providing the listener with divine and illuminating insight. Not since U2 released All That You Can’t Leave Behind has there been a collection of potent and powerful hymns as stalwart as Hey Ma. U2 is not releasing an album in 2008 and this is the best substitute you will find. Even if the Irish lads had released an album, it would be tough for them to match Hey Ma. The allusive lyrics of Hey Ma catch us in the crossfire of life forcing us to ponder our lot in life. James let their primordial instincts take over and let the incandescent music flow through them instead of being forced. James provides an admission of emotional vulnerability and has proven to be raw and dangerously alive. The lofty topics of Hey Ma are drowned in pop sensibilities that would invigorate any FM dial. The first time I heard this record, (much like Metallica’s Death Magnetic) I didn’t pay much attention to the prosaic and protesting lyrics, but this is where the heart of the album lies. No topic goes unturned; God, war, self-loathing, desperation, dislocation, separation, temptation and most importantly revelation are all here. James sound like a band with an insatiable hunger willing to do anything to make their mark. Their lack of innocence gives way to experience, knowledge and wisdom. James hasn’t just mined a victorious reunion album with Hey Ma they’ve created the best album of 2008. Album Grade: A
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
The Pineapple Express –Film Review By Anthony Kuzminski
Imagine buying the new Miley Cyrus album only to discover that Rick Rubin produced it, this would be the musical equivalent of The Pineapple Express; epic cinematic fare that is more than meets the eye. I’m actually giving Miley Cyrus too much credit here, because James Franco, Seth Rogan, Judd Apatow and screenwriter Evan Goldberg have a damn good track record unto themselves. What differentiates and makes The Pineapple Express so intriguing is the inclusion of director David Gordon Green. Green has never made a studio flick, yet he is one of the most heralded indie films directors working today (George Washington, All the Pretty Girls, Snow Angels). Chances are you’ve never seen any of his films, but I can tell you that Roger Ebert has awarded Four-Stars to every single one of his pictures so the fact that he has taken on what appears to be a stoner film (on the surface) is a tad head scratching, but ultimately proves to be a stroke of genius. One may ask if they really needed a top tier director for this film, but everything you think you may know about The Pineapple Express is probably wrong.
Yes, it’s about a few pot heads that are thrown into extraordinary circumstances. The script by Rogan and Goldberg (the same two who brought us Superbad) is multi-dimensional in ways you may never expect. Rogan plays Dale Denton, a semi-delinquent who is a process server who smokes pot. His dealer, Saul Silver, is played with authority and purpose by James Franco, in a unique bit of casting. The dialogue shared between the two isn’t just entertaining, it’s downright hysterical. Yet beneath the humor of the film lies a deeper layer of mystery and intrigue. When Dale Denton (Rogan) accidently witnesses a murder, he retreats to Saul’s pot layer where the two of them go on the run and from there on out chaos ensues. Running at 122-minutes, Express may be too long for some but as Roger Ebert always said, “No good film is ever long enough and no bad film is ever short enough” and this one is just about perfect in its length as the breadth of its narrative is multi-dimensional.
For some people, the film’s two distinctive and different halves is too much for them to swallow, but what Green does with the second half of the film is make it the bastard child of Up In Smoke and Traffic…Judd Apatow style. Green was essential to executing this film because balancing the humor, action and ultimately the drama is not an easy feat, but Green manages to elevate the film with a peek-a-boo vibrancy and winking eye. In a lesser director’s hands the film may have gone completely off course and become a self-indulgent exercise in pot studies, but it proves to be so much more. There are subtle stoner hints and as someone who has never smoked anything in his life, I still picked up on most of it and the slew of 80’s references throughout the film are presented in such a tongue in cheek manner that you can’t help but smile at certain scenes where there is minimal dialogue. Within moments of meeting a character we’re smiling at their idiosyncrasies as their unique imprints engross the audience as if we’ve known them our entire life.
Producer Judd Apatow is one of the most important people in Hollywood at the moment as he is churning out one comedy film after another. What I loved about Express is that it was ultimately three films in one. Plus the unique and off-center casting proved to be a smart move with Franco and Rogan playing against type while Rosie Perez and Gary Cole shine in minor yet essential supporting roles. The final act of the film proves to be a rollicking ruckus, but is directed with such precision and care by Green that it appears to be epic samurai flick. To dismiss The Pineapple Express as a typical stoner movie would be a mistake; it’s one of the summer’s most alive and vital films brimming with drama, humor, action and well a good amount of high and chaotic tongue-in-cheek humor. Plus the closing credits have a new Huey Lewis and the News song, their best in almost two-decades…that alone should be reason enough to get you off the couch and into the theater to see the Chinatown of comedic pot films.
Film Grade: B+
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
Metallica-Death Magnetic Album Review By Anthony Kuzminski When you emerge from your mother’s womb there is one brutal truth and reality we all are guaranteed to face; death. Despite this, very little time is spent discussing it. It’s an alien world because beyond death, no one knows what exists, which is where true horror resides because it’s the great unknown. The tackling of such an ominous and bleak topic is audacious by any standards but when it’s Metallica the stakes are immediately raised. Death Magnetic, their ninth studio album and their first in five-years, is the sonic triumph and inspired revival we have been waiting for. They have not been this fiery and ferocious since 1988’s …And Justice For All. Beneath the molten metal on Death Magnetic is something few reviewers have yet to pick up on; the severe, concentrated and meditative lyrics. There is a delicate and philosophical weight to the lyrics that show a newfound maturity that speaks volumes. If you only listen to the intrinsic music, then you’re only hearing part of the story. Death Magnetic’s ten songs are nothing short of snarling, storming and searing.
I’ve always been a Metallica supporter and find their latter day work to be more considerable than most people give them credit for. I believe there is a stellar album somewhere between Load and Re-Load and I found St. Anger to be a necessary exercise to the continuation of the band the same way a vital organ transplant would be to continue breathing. I still view the album as an essential piece of Metallica history because it birthed the brilliant and ultimately band saving Some Kind of Monster documentary film. Great artists must evolve and push the envelope in order to stay relevant. However, once that experimentation has taken place, it equally important to go back home and re-embrace your past. Enter producer Rick Rubin. If there is one thing Rubin knows how to do, it’s exhuming the artist’s inner psyche and bringing them back to ground zero. He reawakens that original hunger lost amidst the sold-out arenas and walls of platinum records. He’s infused new life into Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks and Tom Petty to name just a few. No living producer has a more eclectic resume than Rubin. Metallica, sensing they needed guidance, recruited Rubin and proceeded to spend two-years finding the right mix of songs to unleash and reclaim their spot atop the metal mountain which I am happy to report they have done so magnificently. They’ve always been an esteemed and proficient band but you can hear the decades of skill and camaraderie behind these songs. The icy isolation of St. Anger is long gone replaced with ten superbly unsubtle and sprawling compositions paired with raucous and ripping guitar riffs. On Death Magnetic, Rick Rubin has awoken the dormant beast.
Commencing the reawakening is an understated heartbeat on the album opener “That Was Just Your Life” providing a vital sign of things to come. The unpretentious plucking of strings ever so gently builds into a speed metal frenzy smorgasbord. Beneath the thrashing instruments are fierce lyrics that stand side by side with Hetfield’s best. Far too often we walk through life blindly and only truly open our eyes when it’s too late (“I blind my eyes, I hardly feel it passing me by, I open just in time to say goodbye”). This is why Metallica became the mightiest metal band of all time; they blend visceral words with a wall of deafening sound and all of Death Magnetic re-embraces this aggressive formula made famous on such immortal tracks as “Fade To Black”, “Master of Puppets” and “One”. The dangers of where your faith lies and belief in a higher power are tested on the prevailing and epic “The Judas Kiss”. The summoning lyrics can be interpreted numerous ways however, I feel it’s about turning to temptation when a loss of faith occurs. The mountains we must hurdle and obstacles we have to overcome can prove to be too demanding and many look for the easy way out. There’s an underlying message in the song; despite the temptations, we must prevail. When the curtains are turned back, we’re informed to “find a piece of me in all”; we’re reminded that the evil and corruption of our world lies within all of us. It’s a struggle to walk towards the light versus the darkness and falling prey to the devil on our shoulder can be all too easy. Amidst the maniacal metal six-finger wizardry, pounding rhythms, anger and aggression are moral tales lyrically weaved for us to decipher.
The minimalist rawness of “All Nightmare Long” confirms Metallica to be the master linguists of the vernacular of heavy metal on this moral tale of how our choices are always met with eventual consequences. “The End of the Line” punishes you with interlocking guitars that find middle ground between their epic early beginnings and their concise compositions of the 90’s featuring an otherworldly solo by Kirk Hammet, whose work on the entire record is brutally beautiful as he delivers one money shot after another. “The slave becomes the master” refers to the chaotic lives we lead where worlds are crushed by unforeseen people and events which leave us paralyzed. All of this leaves us questioning if our modern comforts help or hinder us as we become slaves to the commercialism of our society? “The Day That Never Comes” is a new classic where the narrator of the song chooses sanguinity and hope over pessimism. The song transitions from an aching and brooding composition to headbanging hysterics. As Hetfield howls “You rise, you fall, you’re down then you rise again” on “Broken, Beat & Scarred”, an ode to the eternal battle to resist barriers thrown in front of you, the slashing music sounds as if the narrator is being boiled alive amidst maniacal precision by the four band members. The incandescent lyric defines not just the voyage of Metallica over the last quarter century, but the evolution of our shared existence as well. The band’s first instrumental in twenty-years is full of driving interplay which reigns supreme in the aptly titled “Suicide and Redemption”, the album’s penultimate track. The title says it all and it’s no mistake that “redemption” follows “suicide”. While there are no words, it allows to listener to process the previous sixty-minutes before the revelatory “My Apocalypse”. The deafening finale features the intensity of a band that only had a few Gold records to their name; Lars Ulrich’s speed-driven spastic drumming, Kirk Hammet’s mastery of metal solo’s and Robert Trujillo’s mean and lean bass thumps triumphantly, but the real sign that the metal masters have returned with a vengeance are the unyielding buzzing vocals by James Hetfield which reveal sides of the man I never knew existed. The complicated track “Cyanide” finds the band continually changing musical gears as one hopes to find solace in death with piercing lyrics (“Living dead inside, Break this empty shell forevermore”). The narrator longs for death, but even though this is a song about wanting to end a miserable existence, it doesn’t mean they are endorsing suicide. Allow me a slight digression; I idiotically once thought I’d be better off dead than living in a world that didn’t love me back. I wasn’t suicidal, but felt my presence would be more felt if I passed on, that in some stupid and dysfunctional way, I would be thought of more fondly than when I was alive. I thought if I found eternal sleep- I would finally find peace. I was living an existence where I imprudently felt no one would miss me. I didn’t see the point of living when all it encompasses is pain and misery. “Cyanide” may be one mere story surrounded in gloom but ultimately Death Magnetic is an album about endurance and revolting. It’s no mistake “Cyanide” is followed immediately by “The Unforgiven III” with a consoling and unthinkable piano interlude opening on what is ultimately the album’s most melodic song and the flipside of “Cyanide”. “How can I be lost if I have nowhere to go?” Hetfield cries on this nearly eight-minute track with lyrics that harkens back to the band’s earlier days of writing about darkness, dissolution and the decline of the human soul. A broader theme of resurrection and redemption encompass the song which in its final act boils over into a walloping crescendo with a beguiling guitar solo by Kirk Hammet. This is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted song on the album with the band revealing an inner discord of their psyche. As Hetfield yelps “Why can’t I forgive me” right before yet another sinuous solo by Hammet, I was ready to tip over at the depth of the song. Life is about the here and now and not in the past. We hold the keys to our own cages. As much as we want to blame others for our lot in life, it’s only when we forgive ourselves for our past and move forward “How can I blame you when it’s me I can’t forgive”. This haunting track is like an ascension from purgatory into a brighter light. Addiction, bloody break ups and overwhelming obstacles make life challenging beyond words and while Metallica confronts these topics head on, it’s the desperate atmosphere that allows us to fully comprehend life and ultimately (and hopefully) open ourselves to the idea of redemption. To read it, hear it and feel it from one of the most formidable artists of our time isn’t just overwhelming, it’s spiritual reaffirming as well.
One of the few things that gave me joy during my darkest days was music. I would head down to the record store almost daily in search of something that would provide a glimmering light of hope. During these years I drowned in the music of Peter Gabriel, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Bon Jovi (specifically their brilliant and underrated These Days record). Metallica’s Death Magnetic is an album that would have proven to be a tonic to my tragedy. It’s as pensive as Gabriel’s best work, it’s freeing just like a Bon Jovi power chord, as lyrically unrelenting as Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, meditative like U2’s The Joshua Tree and ultimately full of the optimism and faith of thunderous roads and eternal optimism of Springsteen’s Born To Run. I wish I had Death Magnetic for that period of my life because it would have reaffirmed to me that I was not alone in my thoughts and feelings. If I had acknowledged this, I would have possibly crawled out of my depression sooner than I did. Ultimately, despite death and darkness, I would have been reminded that there is indeed a light at the end of the dark and winding tunnel.
Death Magnetic is about the struggle of life, where at every turn we are tempted and tortured. But beneath the darkness and metallic fury is a band that has truly unearthed their inner selves. The band we almost saw self destruct during Some Kind of Monster is turning the other cheek. While they buried thoughts, feelings and difficult emotions in the past, they have excavated them on . If you listen closely enough, they’re opening up a dialogue on these weighty subjects and hopefully, as a result, impart some sort of wisdom upon us. Everything that has come before now, including St. Anger has made Metallica into the band that could create Death Magnetic. Without those twists and turns, this album would not have been possible. With the aid of Rick Rubin, they took an intense look back on their past, embraced it and found ways to flourish and fly once again. Metallica’s wings are spread open to rule not just the metal landscape, but the entire music world once again as they proudly wear their scars as survivors of not just heavy metal but life as well.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
Song Previews of all 10 songs
Hetfield and Trujillo talk about writing Death Magnetic Part 1
Hetfield and Trujillo talk about writing Death Magnetic Part 2
Sycamore Meadows, the street where acclaimed musician Butch Walker lived and worked in Malibu, CA has drastically changed as a result of the massive wildfires that destroyed much of the area last November. And like many other Southern California residents, Walker lost his entire house and all his personal possessions in those fires, including his studio and every master recording he’s ever made. But inspiration sometimes comes from tragedy and so it became that this event incited Butch Walker to create music unlike anything he had ever done before. The result is his fourth album entitled Sycamore Meadows, due out on November 11, 2008 (Power Ballad/Stay Platinum/Original Signal). His revered talent – which includes producing for and writing with Pink, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, The Automatic, Hot Hot Heat, Secondhand Serenade, The Academy Is…, etc. - shines through on this very personal album and will further prove the staying power of Walker as a solo artist. 
The Cardinals--Ryan Adams (vocals, guitar, keys), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass, vocals), Jon Graboff (pedal steel, vocals) and Brad Pemberton (drums)--have confirmed an October 28 release for Cardinology, the band's latest collection of all-new studio material
