The Doors Quiz Time

I found this great quiz on About: Classic Rock, it is a quiz which asks ten questions on The Doors. I did pretty well and scored a 90%. I loved the quiz because I used to have this odd obsession with Jim Morrison. The quiz is great because it incorporates questions which aren't too difficult to questions that only big time fans would know. So give it a shot and let me know how you did. Here is the quiz: The Doors Quiz.

Don't Be So Quick to Criticize!

In the past few days an interview between Bob Dylan and Rolling Stone had leaked. This may not sound like anything shocking, but some of the things Dylan had said have created quite a stir on the Internet. Dylan who's new album "Modern Times"is set to hit shelves tomorrow (I am hoping to have a review of it on Imagine Echoes: The Review by tomorrow) had bluntly attacked the recording industry of the past twenty years. Dylan had this to say:

We all like records that are played on record players, but let's face it, those days are gon-n-n-e. You do the best you can, you fight that technology in all kinds of ways, but I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like -- static. Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it. I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, 'Everybody's gettin' music for free.' I was like, 'Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway.' "

All over the Internet I have been reading snippets of that full quote and people taking it completely out of context. Many see this as Dylan attacking the artists of the past twenty years but instead what he is truly doing is attacking the recording process, now this is obvious when seeing the full quote but blogs and websites all over the net are just posting pieces of the full quote.

Even those who realize what Dylan was trying to get across still continue to call him a belligerent and angry old man. The biggest misconception in music is that CD's are better than any other source of audio. If you were to walk up to random people on the street and ask them the question: "Which audio source has better quality, CD's or Vinyl's?" Odds are 95% of people would laugh at the question and quickly answer CD's.

The one thing I don't want to do is to get too deep into this topic because if I were to, I just may have a novel on my hands. The main thing we must observe when comparing the two is the difference between digital and analog. With Vinyl an analog source we are receiving the original waveform which had been recorded and with a digital we are receiving snapshots of the full waveform, so we are losing bit and pieces of the waveform. There are a variety of other arguments but there is one more thing that I would like to get to before I bore you at of your mind.

The next problem with music industry these days is: COMPRESSION COMPRESSION COMPRESSION! What recording studios are doing now is trying to make all the sounds more equal so the listener can hear the quiet noises just as well as they are able to hear the loud ones. So what record producers are doing is squishing together all the sounds to create a low dynamic range which gives it that "loud" sound just as if you were listening to the radio.

It is one thing to take Dylan's comments out of context but to argue with the sheer fact that the recording process is better now than it was back in the 70's would be wrong. Technology is moving forward but the mentality behind producing CD's is going backwards.

Gran Bel Fisher at Borders

So today I went up to New York City to see Gran Bel Fisher do his little in store performance and signing at Borders. I also decided to bring my brother along because he has never experienced New York City first hand. We walked around the city for awhile and then arrived at Borders around an hour before Gran Bel performed. I went so early because I really had no idea of what kind of crowd would attend. When my brother and I got there only a few seats were taken by people sitting down reading their books. I felt like I was the only one there who really went there to see him but as time progressed more people came in who appeared to be fans.

When he came out he thanked everyone for coming out and was extremely sincere. He opened up with my favorite song "Far Cry" and unfortunately I don't remember the guitarists name but he was fantastic, he really ripped on guitar. Not to mention I was very shocked to hear how similar Gran Bel's voice is to his studio recordings, normally when going to hear a live performance there is always at least the slightest of differences but with Gran Bel he was spot on with his studio voice which was phenomenal. He went on to play I believe four more songs, I can name three of them with certainty ("Edible", "Full Moon Cigarette" and "Bound By Love") but don't remember one other. He continuously thanked the crowd for hanging around after every song and following his set he signed autographs.

I was pretty excited to meet him because I think his work is amazing, I honestly feel that if there are two bands to watch out for this year it would be Gran Bel Fisher and Wolfmother and ironically enough one of the guitar cases that Gran Bel brought had a Wolfmother sticker on it. Anyway, I went up to get his autograph and he was so extremely kind to me. In order to get an autograph you needed to buy his CD or at least have one in hand for him to sign, and I had the copy which I was given to review which isn't exactly the same looking as the one released to public. He made a comment about it and I told him why I had it, and that brought up a small conversation about my blog which he said that he would check out (I'm crossing my fingers hoping that he will.) He asked where I was from and was very personable and thankful and that is truly a great trait to have as a musician to be appreciate towards the fans. His fans will see how he his so appreciative of his fans and in return will be loyal, he had me leaving with a smile on my face to say the least.


Here is a review of Gran Bel Fisher's Album "Full Moon Cigarette"

The Answers to the Album Quiz

Top: Left to Right

Nirvana: In Utero
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home
John Lennon Imagine
U2: The Joshua Tree
The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Who: Tommy
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
Neil Young: Harvest

Bottom: Left to Right

Jethro Tull: Aqualung
The Doors: The Doors
King Crimson: In The Court of the Crimson King
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(Covered Up By Sgt. Pepper is Rage Against the Machines: Rage Against the Machine)
ELP: Brain Salad Surgery
Genesis: Foxtrot
Jimi Hendrix: Axis Bold As Love

Album Cover Quiz

The image above is the banner of my other blog Imagine Echoes: The Review. As you can obviously see it is a montage of album covers; sixteen to be exact. One of these covers is being covered nearly completely by The Beatles' famous "Sgt. Peppers Lonley Hearts Club Band", that album being Rage Against the Machine's self titled debut. As the title of this post indicates, this is going to be a quiz to see how many of the album covers you can name. So in order to get every cover you will need to have fourteen on your list since I already named two of them for you (I figured everyone would know Sgt. Pepper and it would be nearly impossible to name Rage Against the Machine's self titled.) If you need a closer look at the image just click on it to expand the size. Have Fun!

Twenty Songs on Random

Well I was tagged by Perplexio to turn my MP3 player on random and to record the first twenty songs that were played. Here is a link to the post "Music Meme." I always love these posts because it gives people a glimpse to see what kind of music people listen to and not just the stuff they claim to love. Every now and then you might see a song that you would never imagine some person listening to. For me three Radiohead songs appeared which I found quite odd, but I do have four or five Radiohead CD's, one thing that reallly surprised me was no Beatles or Pink Floyd because they are the two bands which I have the largest amount of songs from. Just before you read my results this was a random choice of a little over 5,000 songs from a large array of bands.

1. Jimi Hendrix – Manic Depression


2. Radiohead – Sulk


3. The Doors – Who Do You Love?


4. Jimi Hendrix – Dolly Dagger


5. Radiohead – You


6. The Ramones – Teenage Lobotomy


7. System of a Down – Chic N’ Stu


8. Radiohead – Lucky


9. Bob Dylan – To Ramona


10. Elton John – Crocodile Rock


11. Bob Dylan – The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll


12. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain?


13. The Smashing Pumkins – 17


14. Aerosmith – Walk This Way


15. Weezer – Haunt You Everyday


16. The Velvet Underground – I Heard Her Call My Name


17. Patti Smith – Hey Joe


18. System of a Down – Radio Video


19. David Bowie – Hang On To Yourself


20. Jefferson Airplane – Embryonic Journey

Something To Call My Own

The other day someone told me about how cheap it was to get myself my own domain name. I thought the idea was great, he even told me it would also help me build traffic to my blog and I could still use blogger. He also told me that I would be able to transfer everything that I have now over to my own domain name flawlessly. So as of now I am keeping this idea into heavy consideration but I have quite a few reservations and my main concern is one that I'm sure all of you would share. I am afraid that all the links that I have to my blog would be forever lost and everyone would have to correct the links on their blog. I don't want the traffic to my blog to completely diminish but also I feel that in the long run this may be a better idea and better now than later (If ever a later.) I guess as long as the main readers are kept intact I will be happy because that is truly what matters to me, not so much the hits to my page but the comments. A few more days should help me decide what I will do.

New Black Crowes Releases

Well I'm sure I have some Black Crowes fans reading this blog because they are a fantastic band with that rich classic rock sound. For those fans, I have some excellent news, the Black Crowes will soon be releasing both a double disc CD and a DVD for the real fans. The CD will be all unreleased material and the DVD will go behind the scenes of the recording of their second album and even some live performances. You can expect these two items to hit shelves on August 29th. Here is what Rhino Records had to say about these releases:

The Lost Crowes (CD)

Two CDs of previously unreleased material, remixed and remastered! Disc one, The Band Sessions, features ten songs tracked in 1997 at Atlanta's Purple Dragon Studio and Nashville's Ocean Way. Recorded just after the Three Snakes And One Charm tour, the roots-flavored Band Sessions captures the Crowes at their fluid, limber best.

Disc two, The Tall Sessions gathers 16 tracks recorded in late 1993 and early 1994 at Conway Studios in Los Angeles. Cut as the young band was gearing up for the classic album Amorica, The Tall Sessions presents their raucous energy in peak form. Featured songs are culled from over thirty tracks from the original sessions.

Who Killed That Bird Out Your Window Sill...The Movie (DVD)

An often hilarious view into the inner workings of the The Black Crowes—one that finds the Brothers Robinson doing just about everything you'd expect: sneering, fighting with each other, getting into it with radio programmers, and, of course, making some of the best American rock music of the early '90s. The DVD invites fans into the recording studio to catch the Crowes hard at work on their second record, and features some amazing live performances. Classic video clips are also included ("She Talks To Angels," "Remedy," "Thorn In My Pride," "Hard To Handle"), as well as rarely seen clips, montages, and backstage footage.

Ending With a Bang!

What is better than an album ending on a great note? Closing an album with a great song can change a decent album to a great one; one can even compare a great final song to a classic twist ending in a movie. The final song should be the culmination of everything you listened to coming together to make that one song leaving you with a smile on your face. Some bands truly know how to construct a great album by placing each song in its correct spot and many bands just throw each song on like pressing random on a CD player. What I am getting to is making a list of my favorite album closers somewhat like a post I had a few weeks earlier about my favorite album openers. The list is as follows:

1. Eclipse by Pink Floyd – This song to is exactly what an album closer should be. Every band needs to take a lesson from this song, it’s loud, dramatic, and encompasses everything you’ve heard throughout the album.


2. The End by The Doors – The title itself is the perfect name for the finale of an album. Probably Jim Morrison’s best work, it’s haunting and poetic just like Jim himself. This song leaves you wanting to hear the album all over again.


3. Echoes by Pink Floyd – I guess you can say that “Echoes” is a whole album within an album, but it is a great song that nails every emotion and goes through numerous phases, with beautiful harmonies and intense instrumentals this song is incredible.


4. A Day in the Life by The Beatles – What a perfect way to end what may be the most historic album of all time. It is so achingly beautiful even with a hint of relief in the middle of the song from all the tragedy by Paul.


5. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix – Probably my favorite Hendrix song, but with such a classic riff and incredible guitar solo I couldn’t pick a better song to end the album with.


6. In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson – Ending the album with a title track is definitely a good idea. Leaving everything the album is about on that final track leaving the listener in anticipation of what is to come.


7. Five to One by The Doors – Jim and company do it again with “Five to One.” An exciting song with classic lyrics such as “No One Here Gets Out Alive!”


8. Only in Dreams by Weezer – Weezer saved their best song for last on their Blue album. This eight minute epic builds up so solidly and finally explodes creating a wonderful way to walk away from the album.


9. Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who – Not only did “Who’s Next” have the greatest opener with “Baba O’Riley” but it has one of the greatest finales with “Won't Get Fooled Again.”


10. Third Eye by Tool – A great way to end the album with the continuous primal scream from Maynard.

Finally Complete

All morning I dedicated my time to getting my blog up and running the way I wanted it, testing some things out and finding what I think works best. So finally the time has come, my new blog is up and running and the link is right here Imagine Echoes: The Review. I hope you all check it out and now with this creation out of the way I can finally dedicate my time to writing some meaningful posts on this blog, thanks for your cooperation!

Back from Vacation

Well I'm finally back home and posting on my blog. I must say I had a great time on vacation, I surfed a ton, relaxed quite a bit, and even dabble in some kareoke. I was also able to snag a wireless internet connection with my friends laptop so that is why I was able to reply to some of the comments made on my earlier post. Right now I'm pretty wiped out from vacation and don't have enough drive to actually write a full post, so instead what I'm going to do is try to put some things together for my new blog which I hope will be up in running by at the latest Monday and hopefully up by tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the title of the new blog will just simply be "Imagine Echoes: The Review" obviously nothing creative but I sort of want it to have that extension type of feel from this blog, I want them to go hand in hand. That is that and hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the link up for my new blog.

The Whiter Album

Before I start the topic of the post I just want to remind everyone that I will be taking a one week hiatus from the blog because I will be going on vacation and won't have an internet connection. Now to the topic, do you ever get that feeling like double albums are just too much information to take in? I sure know that I get this feeling especially when a double album really isn't necessary, of course for some albums it is for example Pink Floyd's "The Wall" where a story is being told but for this instance that I am going to write about I am going to focus on The Beatles self titled album which is commonly referred to as "The White Album."

George Martin, the record producer of The Beatles has mentioned numerous times that "The White Album" should have been condensed down to just one incredibly good album. Not only does George Martin feel like this but Ring Starr as well and it appears that George Harrison just might feel that way as well although it was hard to take a straight answer from what he has said about it. I am getting all this information from the DVD "The Beatles Anthology" which may I add is the greatest rockumentary ever made, five discs of the story of The Beatles with phenomenal footage and performances. So what if "The White Album" was only one album? What songs would be featured on this one album? In my opinion omitting much of what I believe were filler songs could have been extremely beneficial to the album, and if they were to indeed take only the best material from those two discs they could have put out what probably would be regarded as their greatest album. Instead what they put out what was an album that was just weighed down by an overwhelming amount of material, much of which was completely unnecessary. Now I should not discredit this fantastic album because when I first started listening to The Beatles it was my favorite album. Here I am going to list what I feel could have been the ultimate "White Album."

1. Back in the USSR
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
5. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
6. I'm So Tired
7. Blackbird
8. Rocky Racoon
9. Julia
10. Yer Blues
11. Sexy Sadie
12. Helter Skelter
13. Revolution 9
14. Cry Baby Cry
15. Long, Long, Long

There is no particular order to those songs but instead just my favorites from this double album. Looking at that list of songs makes me think of the vast potential "The White Album" could have had if condensed. I'm sure many would add and subtract songs from my list and if so I would love to hear which ones you would put on. Also I would just like to hear everyones input on double albums.

How Many Times Must the Cannonballs Fly, Before They are Forever Banned?

Many argue that politics has no place in music but is music not a piece of artistic expression? If I recall correctly some of the greatest art in history is political, take for instance one of Picasso’s best works “Guernica.” Why stop at painting because art certainly expands the horizon of just paintings, lets take writing where a myriad of the greatest works were political such as Orwell’s “1984” and Ayn Rand’s “Anthem.” Beyond these few instances many will even go the distance and say art alone is political. To go and declare that politics has no room in music would be vitriolic to the history of art.

Musicians have a voice which far surpasses the ability of the normal everyday people like you and me. Being granted such a great gift comes with responsibilities, and I feel that those who are able to voice their opinion should do so and music is the perfect medium for it to be expressed. Nearly all of the world listens to music on a daily basis, and by having such a large audience political ideas and views can be voiced to anyone who listens. These political ideas and views can be very important to the listeners because so much of the world is ignorant to what is going on, if it weren’t for Rage Against the Machine I just may have no interest in politics what so ever, but thanks to them they opened my eyes to what was going on in the world. Being active in politics is a civic duty to all Americans but this civic duty is left untouched by just too many. Using music as a medium to convey any type of political message is not only doing justice to America by creating more of a democracy but doing justice to all of humanity. If it weren’t for events such as Live Aid would normal people really ever understand the inhumane living conditions of those in Ethiopia? If it weren’t for artists like Bono would people really grasp the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Whether you like it or not politics belongs in music, of course it is not essential but it is a very important tool. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Rage Against the Machine have undoubtedly made an imprint in the political community and have created curiosity in politics with those who once saw politics as some irrelevant thing.