Hello there. I've just got back from Sheffield and one of the best gigs I've been to. Here's a review.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get to the venue until four, so I missed Cycle Riot, and the beginning of Tosserlad's set, but what I did see of the latter was good, solid punk. Nothing special, but a fine way to start things off. Chewed Up's frontman seemed a little reserved to begin with, but he got into the swing of things pretty quickly and the band gave a quality set. Their ska-influenced sound was an interesting approach and marked them out from the rest of the bands. Ephemeral Foetus, in addition to having perhaps the best band name I've ever heard, played a fantastic set of metallic hardcore, with the singer giving it everything he had, and the crowd loved them. Total Bloody Chaos, who followed, were slightly less exciting but still enjoyable, proving that there's nothing wrong with good old fashioned, by-the-book punk. Gets Worse, of course, were fantastic - they really are one of the best bands of their generation, and if you haven't heard them, you definitely should. They gave probably the heaviest performance of the night, and even among so many other great bands, they stood out. Noone sounds quite like them. Holiday were an interesting change of pace. I'm not usually a fan of pop-punk, or any punk with clean vocals, but they made it work (maybe it had something to do with the vocals being low enough in the mix that I couldn't actually hear the lyrics). Their songs did kind of blend into one another though - the lack of variety put a bit of a damper on the whole thing. Hey, I recognise those three chords - it's all of Dogsflesh's songs! They may be a hugely influential band, but tonight they sounded boring. Their sound may have been original and exciting back in the '80s, but last night they gave very lifeless performance. The same can't be said, though, of Barb Wire Dolls. I'd never heard of them before, but after seeing them life, I'll definitely be checking them out. Their frontwoman was a natural performer - she knew exactly how to get the crowd going. I never thought I'd see crowd-surfing in a moshpit of ten people, but I have now. Which brings us to the big guns, the band I came to see, the unfuckwithable Discharge. They really blew the roof off the place with a blistering set, which included my personal favourite A Hell On Earth. The crowd loved them, I loved them, they were awesome. I would have enjoyed them even more if I hadn't been so drunk/exhausted.
A special shout-out is due also to Vegan Approach, who provided excellent vegan food.
Monday, 25 November 2013
Monday, 18 November 2013
Grindcore for Beginners Part 8 - WTF is that!?
The Locust
Plague Soundscapes
I couldn't think of a title for this section of Grindcore for Beginners, so I just went with my first reaction to the frenetic grindfuckery of The Locust. Like Captain Beefheart jamming with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or The Dillinger Escape Plan before they got boring, this California-based four-peice has included two former members of Cattle Decapitation. They're well-known for wearing strange costumes, only playing all-ages shows and being completely batshit insane. Their brand of noisy, conspicuously technical Dadaist grind, replete with neck-snapping tempo changes and oblique lyrics, has made them more enemies than fans - odd, seeing as their detractors are often the same people who will be tripping over themselves to lap up every pretentious note that Melt Banana shit out. Their music is unbelievably complex, but never wanky, and probably about as weird as it gets.
The Locust exemplify the fun-loving insanity of punk and grindcore - an aspect people often forget. Remember, Napalm Death used to fall about laughing in their early rehearsals, and for every Dropdead there's a Cogs and Sprockets.
What's also interesting is how they exemplify the tendency towards high levels of technicality in grindcore. This tendency may be down to the influence of metal on the genre, or it may simply be due to the fact that it takes considerable chops to play grind - punk and hardcore prided themselves on their simplicity, but the sheer speed of grindcore means that even the simplest riff will take a lot of practice. Whatever the cause, there have always been grind bands whose technical wizradry is a vital part of their music, and most of them tend to be pretty dull. The Locust, however, are the exception. They may fit more riffs into one song than most bands have on an entire album, but they never forget that the technique must serve the song, not the other way around.
Anyway - have a listen.
Plague Soundscapes
I couldn't think of a title for this section of Grindcore for Beginners, so I just went with my first reaction to the frenetic grindfuckery of The Locust. Like Captain Beefheart jamming with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or The Dillinger Escape Plan before they got boring, this California-based four-peice has included two former members of Cattle Decapitation. They're well-known for wearing strange costumes, only playing all-ages shows and being completely batshit insane. Their brand of noisy, conspicuously technical Dadaist grind, replete with neck-snapping tempo changes and oblique lyrics, has made them more enemies than fans - odd, seeing as their detractors are often the same people who will be tripping over themselves to lap up every pretentious note that Melt Banana shit out. Their music is unbelievably complex, but never wanky, and probably about as weird as it gets.
The Locust exemplify the fun-loving insanity of punk and grindcore - an aspect people often forget. Remember, Napalm Death used to fall about laughing in their early rehearsals, and for every Dropdead there's a Cogs and Sprockets.
What's also interesting is how they exemplify the tendency towards high levels of technicality in grindcore. This tendency may be down to the influence of metal on the genre, or it may simply be due to the fact that it takes considerable chops to play grind - punk and hardcore prided themselves on their simplicity, but the sheer speed of grindcore means that even the simplest riff will take a lot of practice. Whatever the cause, there have always been grind bands whose technical wizradry is a vital part of their music, and most of them tend to be pretty dull. The Locust, however, are the exception. They may fit more riffs into one song than most bands have on an entire album, but they never forget that the technique must serve the song, not the other way around.
Anyway - have a listen.
Friday, 1 November 2013
A slightly late halloween post
Ok, I know Halloween was yesterday, but I'm doing this post today because shut up, that's why. This is the time of year when we like to be frightened, where we watch scary films and read ghost stories. But there's something missing there - where's the scary music? It often seems to me that, while people will happily watch a scary film or read a scary book, they tend to run a mile if you play them a scary peice of music. Why is that? I don;t know. There seems to be a tendency to think of music as something that should be tuneful, cheery, something to dance to and little else. When people hear anything discordant or dark, they tend to start bitching about how it's "depressing" or "not proper music". In the interests of redressing that balance, then, here are five of my favourite frightening songs.
Of course, I had to put this one in. "Frankie Teardrops" tops every list of scary songs, and for good reason. The subject matter's dark enough - murder, suicide, damnation - but it's the music that really makes this terrifying. The spare, pulsing electronics and the gibbering vocals are bound to send shivers up your spine. For maximum terror, listen to it alone, in the dark, on headphones.
"Birds / Birds / This is not a cornhusk doll / Dipped in blood in the moonlight / Like what happened in America" Possibly the scariest opening line of all time? You can always count on Scott Walker to provide some creepy shit, and this is one of his best tracks. A song about Mussolini's mistress, Clara Petacci, who was hanged alongside him, this song makes the perfect soundtrack to a night spent cowering in a corner in a pool of your own terror sweat.
Bob Dylan is the greatest folk singer of all time. When you listen to him, it's like listening to the voice of folk music itself, all the blod and gore and darkness and beauty of the old songs made manifest. And this is one of scariest folk songs of all - a story of a woman who is tricked into taking a ride with someone who might be the Devil, or the ghost of her dead husband. As you might predict, it doesn't end well for her. Dylan wrings every ounce of fear from this song, and it's genuinely chilling. You can hear my take on the song here.
I couldn't pick one song off this album, so I've just gone ahead and posted the whole thing. Still, at just over ten minutes, it's hsorter than two of the songs on here. Grindcore is a genre where words like "brutal," "harsh," etc have become cliches, but this is a band who genuinely deserve to be described in such terms. Even among this most extreme of music genres, they stand out as one of the most challenging and, yes, scary groups out there.
This is folk music at its finest - it's nasty, it's scary, it's bloodthirsty. Billy Bragg gives a standout performance on this spine-chilling meditation on the Falklands conflict.
Bonus track:
In honour of the late, great Lou Reed, who died on Sunday, here's an appropriate track from his album The Blue Mask:
"Birds / Birds / This is not a cornhusk doll / Dipped in blood in the moonlight / Like what happened in America" Possibly the scariest opening line of all time? You can always count on Scott Walker to provide some creepy shit, and this is one of his best tracks. A song about Mussolini's mistress, Clara Petacci, who was hanged alongside him, this song makes the perfect soundtrack to a night spent cowering in a corner in a pool of your own terror sweat.
Bob Dylan is the greatest folk singer of all time. When you listen to him, it's like listening to the voice of folk music itself, all the blod and gore and darkness and beauty of the old songs made manifest. And this is one of scariest folk songs of all - a story of a woman who is tricked into taking a ride with someone who might be the Devil, or the ghost of her dead husband. As you might predict, it doesn't end well for her. Dylan wrings every ounce of fear from this song, and it's genuinely chilling. You can hear my take on the song here.
I couldn't pick one song off this album, so I've just gone ahead and posted the whole thing. Still, at just over ten minutes, it's hsorter than two of the songs on here. Grindcore is a genre where words like "brutal," "harsh," etc have become cliches, but this is a band who genuinely deserve to be described in such terms. Even among this most extreme of music genres, they stand out as one of the most challenging and, yes, scary groups out there.
This is folk music at its finest - it's nasty, it's scary, it's bloodthirsty. Billy Bragg gives a standout performance on this spine-chilling meditation on the Falklands conflict.
Bonus track:
In honour of the late, great Lou Reed, who died on Sunday, here's an appropriate track from his album The Blue Mask:
Monday, 28 October 2013
Lou Reed
Lou Reed is dead.
Lou Reed died yesterday morning in New York. He was 71 years old, and one of the all-time greats of music. He didn't just play rock 'n' roll, he was rock 'n' roll. Sexy, threatening, pathologically cool, always experimenting, never content to repeat himself or settle for less than the absolute best he could do. He was a key member of one of the greatest and most influential rock 'n' roll bands of all time; he made the best noise album of all time at a time when noise music barely existed; he was a punk before anyone knew what punk was; he managed to make Metallica sound half decent; and he was possibly the coolest motherfucker on the planet. His family and freinds have lost someone they loved; the world has lost a legend. So to remember him, I've picked out five quintessential Reed tracks:
It's hard to choose one Velvet Underground song, but this has always been my favourite. There are a lot of things that add up to make this track great - Mo Tucker's drumming, John Cale's droning viola - but the key ingredients are all Reed. His lyrics, his voice and his guitar - those are the core of this song.
Of all of Lou Reed's solo albums, New York is the one that most perfectly captures his cool, his wry wit and that indefinable quality that links him inextricably with the eponymous city. And of all the tracks on that album, "Beginning of a Great Adventure" has always been my favourite. Apart from anything else, the lyrics just sound perfect paired with Reeds dry, acerbic voice and his deadpan delivery. You could read this out as a poem and it would still be brilliant, and there are few songs where that's the case.
If Hubert Selby Jr had been a songwriter, he would have written this. It's utterly heartbreaking - there's nothing much else I can say, really. If you only listen to one song today, make it this one.
This album came out in 1975. Bear in mind, in 1975 Throbbing Gristle had only just formed, punk was still an obscure New York phenomenon and people's attitude to Noise music was...well, basically what it is today. This album nearly destroyed Reed's career - even today, it's almost universally reviled, or at best regarded as a joke. But, contrary to popular belief, this album does not sound "bad" on purpose - it sounds great on purpose. Reed spent a lot of time and effort making sure that Metal Machine Music sounded exactly how he wanted, and the result is a stunning, hour-long composition that is among the most beautiful, ugliest, most brutal, most lyrical, most un-musical music ever made.
It's kind of fitting that Lulu, the album that this track comes from, was Lou Reed's last record. At a time when most '60s legends were content to plow the same old furrow, making music that - regardless of quality - was basically the same as what they'd done in their youth, Reed made an album with fucking Metallica. This is not a man who was in the business of fuck-giving.
Lou Reed is dead. And the world is a sadder, quieter place.
Lou Reed died yesterday morning in New York. He was 71 years old, and one of the all-time greats of music. He didn't just play rock 'n' roll, he was rock 'n' roll. Sexy, threatening, pathologically cool, always experimenting, never content to repeat himself or settle for less than the absolute best he could do. He was a key member of one of the greatest and most influential rock 'n' roll bands of all time; he made the best noise album of all time at a time when noise music barely existed; he was a punk before anyone knew what punk was; he managed to make Metallica sound half decent; and he was possibly the coolest motherfucker on the planet. His family and freinds have lost someone they loved; the world has lost a legend. So to remember him, I've picked out five quintessential Reed tracks:
It's hard to choose one Velvet Underground song, but this has always been my favourite. There are a lot of things that add up to make this track great - Mo Tucker's drumming, John Cale's droning viola - but the key ingredients are all Reed. His lyrics, his voice and his guitar - those are the core of this song.
Of all of Lou Reed's solo albums, New York is the one that most perfectly captures his cool, his wry wit and that indefinable quality that links him inextricably with the eponymous city. And of all the tracks on that album, "Beginning of a Great Adventure" has always been my favourite. Apart from anything else, the lyrics just sound perfect paired with Reeds dry, acerbic voice and his deadpan delivery. You could read this out as a poem and it would still be brilliant, and there are few songs where that's the case.
If Hubert Selby Jr had been a songwriter, he would have written this. It's utterly heartbreaking - there's nothing much else I can say, really. If you only listen to one song today, make it this one.
This album came out in 1975. Bear in mind, in 1975 Throbbing Gristle had only just formed, punk was still an obscure New York phenomenon and people's attitude to Noise music was...well, basically what it is today. This album nearly destroyed Reed's career - even today, it's almost universally reviled, or at best regarded as a joke. But, contrary to popular belief, this album does not sound "bad" on purpose - it sounds great on purpose. Reed spent a lot of time and effort making sure that Metal Machine Music sounded exactly how he wanted, and the result is a stunning, hour-long composition that is among the most beautiful, ugliest, most brutal, most lyrical, most un-musical music ever made.
It's kind of fitting that Lulu, the album that this track comes from, was Lou Reed's last record. At a time when most '60s legends were content to plow the same old furrow, making music that - regardless of quality - was basically the same as what they'd done in their youth, Reed made an album with fucking Metallica. This is not a man who was in the business of fuck-giving.
Lou Reed is dead. And the world is a sadder, quieter place.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Review - Sons of Rogues Gallery Pt. 2
Various Artists
Sons of Rogues Gallery
Ok, second part of the review. Here goes.
After Iggy Pop's hilarious "Asshole Rules the Navy" comes "Off to Sea Once More" by Macy Grey. Yep - Macy Grey still exists. News to me. Anyway, the song is a well-put together reggae take on a traditional sailor's song, and Grey's raspy, whispery voice is right at home. It's not fantastic, but it's pretty good. After that was over, it took me about half of Ed Harcourt's song to realise that his style-over-substance contribution to this album was supposed to be bluesy. Seriously, today's musicians are in desperate need of some testosterone.
Next up, it's Shilpa Ray, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, delivering "Pirate Jenny" like something out of a particularly gruesome musical. It reminds me of Tom Waits' collaborations with Robert Wilson in its creaky bloodthirst. Patti Smith and Johnny Depp follow, with "The Mermaid," a song that would probably be interesting under the right circumstances. These are not those. Chuck E Weiss, an old freind of Tom Waits, follows. His voice has the same drunken soul as Waits, but it's higher and altogether more country. The Waits comparisons continue - "Anthem for Old Souls" could easily be a Waits composition from more or less any part of his career, and the production/arrangement is very reminiscent of Swordfishtrombones. It's a decent song, and Weiss sings it pretty well.
A Beefheart song up next, performed a cappella by Ed Pastorini. Not quite sure what I think of that one. Check it out. There follows an unremarkable "alt-country" song, and then a wonderfully seasick version of "Ye Mariners All," performed by Robin Holcomb and Jessica Kenny.
I think the main problem with this album is that - with a few exceptions - every musician on it has gone at their song from the same angle. It's not real folk - it doesn't have the rawness or the simplicity to be that - but a sort of Radio 2-freindly, "accessible" version of it. Fake folk for Mumford & Sons fans.
There are exceptions, of course, as I said. Case in point - Disc 2 kicks off with a Mothers of Invention track. Unfortunately, it's a pretty dull instrumental with none of Zappa's usual flair. Fortunately, Michael Stipe follows with a fantastic version of "Rio Grande," proving that not even Courtney Love's lacklustre vocal performance can stop Stipe from being epic. Marc Almond warbles his way through "Ship In Distress" like he's, well, Marc Almond. Good thing Dr. John comes along afterwards to wash the bad taste out of your ears with an eerie spoken track, and just to put the icing on the cake, Todd Rundgren busts out a version of "Rolling Down to Old Maui" that I can only describe as inexplicably awesome. By the time Dan Zanes comes along, it's clear that this disc is where the real gold is. There are too many fine tracks to go into detail, but the quality stays very high until Michael Gira delivers a thoroughly dull version of "Whisky Johnny" that manages the rather impressive feat of making Bellowhead look interesting.
Well, that's enough for one post - the third and final part of this review will be coming up soon. Now, I'm off to listen to that Todd Rundgren track again...
Sons of Rogues Gallery
Ok, second part of the review. Here goes.
After Iggy Pop's hilarious "Asshole Rules the Navy" comes "Off to Sea Once More" by Macy Grey. Yep - Macy Grey still exists. News to me. Anyway, the song is a well-put together reggae take on a traditional sailor's song, and Grey's raspy, whispery voice is right at home. It's not fantastic, but it's pretty good. After that was over, it took me about half of Ed Harcourt's song to realise that his style-over-substance contribution to this album was supposed to be bluesy. Seriously, today's musicians are in desperate need of some testosterone.
Next up, it's Shilpa Ray, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, delivering "Pirate Jenny" like something out of a particularly gruesome musical. It reminds me of Tom Waits' collaborations with Robert Wilson in its creaky bloodthirst. Patti Smith and Johnny Depp follow, with "The Mermaid," a song that would probably be interesting under the right circumstances. These are not those. Chuck E Weiss, an old freind of Tom Waits, follows. His voice has the same drunken soul as Waits, but it's higher and altogether more country. The Waits comparisons continue - "Anthem for Old Souls" could easily be a Waits composition from more or less any part of his career, and the production/arrangement is very reminiscent of Swordfishtrombones. It's a decent song, and Weiss sings it pretty well.
A Beefheart song up next, performed a cappella by Ed Pastorini. Not quite sure what I think of that one. Check it out. There follows an unremarkable "alt-country" song, and then a wonderfully seasick version of "Ye Mariners All," performed by Robin Holcomb and Jessica Kenny.
I think the main problem with this album is that - with a few exceptions - every musician on it has gone at their song from the same angle. It's not real folk - it doesn't have the rawness or the simplicity to be that - but a sort of Radio 2-freindly, "accessible" version of it. Fake folk for Mumford & Sons fans.
There are exceptions, of course, as I said. Case in point - Disc 2 kicks off with a Mothers of Invention track. Unfortunately, it's a pretty dull instrumental with none of Zappa's usual flair. Fortunately, Michael Stipe follows with a fantastic version of "Rio Grande," proving that not even Courtney Love's lacklustre vocal performance can stop Stipe from being epic. Marc Almond warbles his way through "Ship In Distress" like he's, well, Marc Almond. Good thing Dr. John comes along afterwards to wash the bad taste out of your ears with an eerie spoken track, and just to put the icing on the cake, Todd Rundgren busts out a version of "Rolling Down to Old Maui" that I can only describe as inexplicably awesome. By the time Dan Zanes comes along, it's clear that this disc is where the real gold is. There are too many fine tracks to go into detail, but the quality stays very high until Michael Gira delivers a thoroughly dull version of "Whisky Johnny" that manages the rather impressive feat of making Bellowhead look interesting.
Well, that's enough for one post - the third and final part of this review will be coming up soon. Now, I'm off to listen to that Todd Rundgren track again...
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Male Cirumcision: Why Tanya Gold Is An Idiot
This is a response to a recent article in the Guardian, in
which journalist Tanya Gold argues that a ban on male circumcision would be
anti-Semitic. You can see the original article here:
Firstly, circumcision is not specific to Judaism. It is also
an important part of Islam, and many people do it for non-religious reasons.
Secondly, noone is talking about banning Jews from getting
circumcised. There are many people, however, (myself included) who think that
circumcising babies should be illegal. A baby may be ethnically Jewish, but in
religious terms, a baby is not a Jew for the same reason that he is not a
Catholic, a Hindu, or a communist. Judaism is a religion – that is, it is a
philosophy, a set of beliefs and a guide to living one’s life. A baby cannot be
religious because he does not have the intellect to understand ideas about
morality, the meaning of life and magic men in the sky. A baby wouldn’t know
what Judaism was if you hit it on the head with a Menorah.
When said
baby grows older and begins to learn about Judaism and other religions, he may
decide to follow the religion of Judaism. At that point, if he wants to get
circumcised, of course he should be allowed to. If I were to wake up one
morning with a sudden urge to have my foreskin removed, I would consider it a
bit of a dick move for the law to stop me doing that. I am, after all, an
adult, and can make my own decisions about what to do with my body.
But a baby is not an adult, and it cannot consent to having
a part of it cut off. Performing unnecessary surgery on anyone without their
consent is assault, and to do it to a child is child abuse, regardless of which
book told you to do it.
The main argument that Tanya Gold makes in her article is
that circumcision is a central part of Judaism. (Well, actually, her central
argument is “I’m Jewish, so you can’t criticise me or you’re a Nazi,” but that
really doesn’t need a counterargument). My counterargument to this is twofold.
- Fuck your religion. Wrong is wrong, and a bad thing is still bad even if a book of fairytales tells you it’s ok.
- Religions evolve. You don’t see Christians burning witches – they realised that that was not a thing that civilised people do, so they stopped doing it. Judaism has produced some of the greatest artists, scientists and thinkers in human history. To reduce all that culture, philosophy, art and profound spirituality to a bit of skin on the end of your cock is to sell your religion, and its long and proud history, short.
So, to sum up, banning circumcision would not be anti-Semitic.
It would be anti-cutting bits off babies.
Monday, 7 October 2013
Review - Tom Waits, Beth Orton, Todd Rundgren and more Pt. 1
Various Artists
Sons of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys
Well, this is a find. Shane MacGowan, Keith Richards and Iggy Pop on the same album, all singing folk songs! The results are - let's say mixed. There's a lot of music to review here, so I'll do this post in multiple parts. Shane MacGowan kicks things off, sounding (if possible) more fucked-up than ever before on a version of "The Leaving of Liverpool" that is either awesome or terrible - I'm not sure which. Then it's over to Robyn Hitchcock for a bloodless and supremely irritating version of "Sam's Gone Away." Beth Orton is apparently well-known, and her style is described by the good people on the interwebs as "folktronica." Read that word again. Do you want to cut off your own ears to spare them the horror of what's to come? Don't do that, or you'll miss an exquisite version of a hauntingly beautiful song. Sean Lennon continues the famous-name theme, although in his case only half his name is actually famous. Still, he manages to give a version of "Row Bullies Row" that isn't at all limp-wristed, lazy, or boring. Wait, no - it's all of those things. And shit. Did I mention shit? It's really, really shit.
Tom Waits takes his typical stylised, experessionistic approach to "Shenandoah," giving it the atmosphere of a ship sailing out to sea as the sailors sing of the land they're leaving. I still prefer Springsteen's version, though. Ivan Neville sounds like a cross between Randy Newman and someone much less talented than Randy Newman, and his plinky-plonky music-hall take on "Mr Stormalong" is perfect if you're looking for a guide on how to rob a song of any emotional resonance that it might have.
Iggy Pop, of course, needs no introduction, but just in case you're one of those poor deprived human beings who aren't familiar with his work, he was the singer in one of the greatest punk bands of all time, did a very interesting solo album with David Bowie, and the most interesting thing he's done since then is an interview on the Henry Rollins Show. Still, "Asshole Rules the Navy" is a pretty funny song.
End of Part One.
Sons of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys
Well, this is a find. Shane MacGowan, Keith Richards and Iggy Pop on the same album, all singing folk songs! The results are - let's say mixed. There's a lot of music to review here, so I'll do this post in multiple parts. Shane MacGowan kicks things off, sounding (if possible) more fucked-up than ever before on a version of "The Leaving of Liverpool" that is either awesome or terrible - I'm not sure which. Then it's over to Robyn Hitchcock for a bloodless and supremely irritating version of "Sam's Gone Away." Beth Orton is apparently well-known, and her style is described by the good people on the interwebs as "folktronica." Read that word again. Do you want to cut off your own ears to spare them the horror of what's to come? Don't do that, or you'll miss an exquisite version of a hauntingly beautiful song. Sean Lennon continues the famous-name theme, although in his case only half his name is actually famous. Still, he manages to give a version of "Row Bullies Row" that isn't at all limp-wristed, lazy, or boring. Wait, no - it's all of those things. And shit. Did I mention shit? It's really, really shit.
Tom Waits takes his typical stylised, experessionistic approach to "Shenandoah," giving it the atmosphere of a ship sailing out to sea as the sailors sing of the land they're leaving. I still prefer Springsteen's version, though. Ivan Neville sounds like a cross between Randy Newman and someone much less talented than Randy Newman, and his plinky-plonky music-hall take on "Mr Stormalong" is perfect if you're looking for a guide on how to rob a song of any emotional resonance that it might have.
Iggy Pop, of course, needs no introduction, but just in case you're one of those poor deprived human beings who aren't familiar with his work, he was the singer in one of the greatest punk bands of all time, did a very interesting solo album with David Bowie, and the most interesting thing he's done since then is an interview on the Henry Rollins Show. Still, "Asshole Rules the Navy" is a pretty funny song.
End of Part One.
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