Bringing Back the Summer of Love and Saving CD's

I wrote this post awhile ago in my notebook while at work but never got around to typing it up. It was supposed to be a follow up to my "The Demise of the CD" posts, however, I am going to add a little twist to it while keeping the original post intact.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the fortieth anniversary of the Summer of Love. A time of great music and a revolutionary style in the way people lived their lives. So many bands and artists encompassed this Summer of Love attitude, and obviously that time of psychedelic music has passed us by, and few bands have been able to capture that style and attitude. One band however, has done so without projecting an image of being artificial or overly pretentious. This band being The Flaming Lips, their concerts are like a giant orgy of sights and sounds which looks like an LSD trip minus the LSD. Their music is spacey and psychedelic, and as I stated before, something which sounds completely natural.

In keeping with that psychedelic sound, the band has released a few of their albums in DVD-A format which reproduces the sound in 5.1 surround which means that individual sounds can be isolated to a total of 6 speakers. We all know how often the sound of stereo could be abused by bands, for example, early Beatles material was poorly done on stereo with isolating vocals to one speaker which is quite irritating, especially when listening on headphones. Now if stereo, just two speakers, can be abused, imagine how bad six speakers could end up. Most DVD-A's and SACD's use the 6 speakers rather discretely, which shows that bands either aren't adventurous enough or are to cautious to make a bold step towards really utilizing the 5.1 sound. The Flaming Lips, unlike many bands, use the 5.1 sound remarkably well, they take an aggressive step towards giving a three dimensional sound field by tossing noises on different speakers and even trying to create the illusion of sounds swirling around your head.

Now moving back towards relating it to my "The Demise of the CD" posts, I mentioned how CD's aren't really offering enough bang for the buck, people are looking for more, and while I think DVD-A's and SACD's could really help the sales of CD's, they aren't the answer, mainly because of their lack of compatibility. Very few people own players that can play them, and they become extremely incompatible when you want to listen to them in the car. The Lips solve the compatibility issue fairly well. The DVD-A's I mentioned which the Lips released come both with the DVD and a normal stereo CD for the price of just a regular CD. The DVD doesn't even just offer the 5.1 audio but a ton of video extras as well, for example the making of the 5.1 audio, music videos, and the making of those music videos. Now if that isn't a great offer than I don't know what is.

Even the booklet which comes with the album is phenomenal, it goes into detail of what is going on in each song in terms of the 5.1 action. For example in the song "Fight Test" they say:

The drum kit moves clockwise around the listener. The lead vocals and the chorus vocals can both be heard at the same time...lead in the front speakers, chorus in the back presenting a two-dimensional story...the external story in the front speakers and internal thoughts emanating from the back.

The sound is done so well, it doesn't go completely out there with the surround where the music is lost and unlisteneable, they took it far enough so the music retains its magic and the surround work is noticeable and effective. I was jumping around continuously turning up the volume, and sticking my ears into each speaker to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. This is what the Summer of Love was all about, pushing boundaries and pushing the limits on what music could sound like as well as the way we listen to it. It's like tripping on advanced technology (I'm pretty sure that is the geekiest thing I have ever said.)

For the cost of just ONE CD you get all of this... Talk about inventive to actually get out and purchase a CD.

The White Collar Concert Tour

One of the great things about music is how universal it is. Regardless of sex, race, religion and class we can enjoy music. The rich and poor, black and white, Christian and Muslim can sit and enjoy the sounds from bands that range from Bob Dylan to Metallica. Concerts however are making a turn for the worse, no longer are they a place where high school kids can go to let loose. Concert prices have become absurd, Bon Jovi is charging an upwards of close to $400 seats for one of his seven or so shows in New Jersey, and even the "cheap" seats aren't exactly cheap. Keep in mind this is Bon Jovi, not exactly your Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney. Sure he helped keep the legitimacy of men in leather tights and made strides to make it alright for guys to spend more time on their hair than women, but he isn't quite a staple on the rich history of rock.

With each concert I attend I see more and more people dressed as if they were going to a formal dinner than to a rock concert. I do realize that many people go straight from work but most concerts I attend are on a weekend. Rock concerts are a place to lose your voice, lose your hearing, and to lose sweat. Instead the only thing being lost is the rock concert itself. When I'm rocking out to Rush's "Tom Sawyer" the last thing I want to hear is some petty man in business attire yelling at me to sit down because I'm blocking his view.

What happened to the days of the truly deserving getting the front row? Now it's whoever wants to cough up a kidney to some idiot on Ebay. The purity of a rock concert is dying. I don't care how big and extravagant a Stones concert is, there is no need to charge that much for a show. Bands are raking in ridiculous amounts of money from these tours, they have no right destroying what's great about rock.

The White Stripes: Icky Thump Review

What makes the White Stripes stand as one of the best modern rock bands is their originality, their ability to fuse together genres which seem to have no connection to rock. "Icky Thump" is the White Stripes' most ambitious effort to date. For this album the duo reached out to genres as obscure as Mexican Mariachi music in the song "Conquest" a Corky Robbins cover and even went as far as Scottish Folk music in "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn." As wild and unfamiliar these genres are to the American public the band somehow put together an album which rivals the likes of "Elephant", "White Blood Cells" and "Get Behind Me Satan."

On this album the Stripes sound best at their simplistic which is no surprise, for they have always sounded best with their simple songs. When they throw together a song with a catchy chorus and a tight and easily digestible guitar line. Simple songs like "You Don't Know What Love Is", "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" and "A Martyr For My Love For You" stand as the top tracks on the album. However, even when the Stripes are stretching into more creative directions they nail it, the title track "Icky Thump" with its wild and frantic sound even using a mellotron, an instrument rarely used in modern rock but famous for its use in Prog Rock. Many would debate the talent of Jack White's ability to play guitar for he rarely shows his true ability on his albums. This is one of Jack's most impressive showcases on guitar, utilizing some technical riffs and impressive scuffing solos.

Lyrically, Jack White has never been seen as a genius but despite not receiving great recognition for being a lyricist he is very talented. He has a way of conveying serious topics in an innocent manner. "A Martyr For My Love For You" is the perfect example of this, Jack tells the story of his inability to maintain a healthy and loving relationship. In this song he decides that he would rather end his relationship with the girl he truly loves opposed to having it continue because he knows in the end he will just hurt her. He sprinkles the serious subject with little details such as making the girl a young sixteen years old, having her come from a childish place like the zoo, and using descriptions such as joke and smile to lighten the mood and to make inevitably make it sound like an innocent song. Innocence doesn't encompass the mood of the whole album, some of the lyrics go from comical like "Rag and Bone" where Jack summonses vocal mannerisms reminiscent of Jack Black in "School of Rock" to the oddly ridiculous like "Icky Thump."

After listening to this album several times I have just one question: When will Jack White run out of stream? His past four releases have been stunning, between "White Blood Cells", "Elephant", "Broken Boy Soldiers" (The Racontuers) and "Icky Thump", he is on a rampage of Beatles like proportion. You have to ask yourself when will this man release an album that is even slightly short of phenomenal?

Sound: A-
Lyrics: B
Originality: A
___________
Overall: A-
(Not an Average)

My Week In Music: 6/10/07 - 6/16/07

I missed my last "My Week In Music" because of the fact that my Laptop wasn't cooperating because the adapter broke, but luckily my new one just arrived in the mail. Also this week I was lucky enough to get a copy of the new White Stripes CD to review. This CD has occupied the majority of my listening time, and I hope to have a review of it up tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, here is My Week in Music

Most Listened to Album: The White Stripes: "Icky Thump"




Most Listened to Song: The White Stripes: "A Martyr for My Love for You"

The Rolling Stones: The Biggest Bang DVD Review

The other day I was lucky enough to get a copy of the newest Rolling Stones DVD "The Biggest Bang" which is a four disc set following the band on their most recent tour. The DVD is set to be released tomorrow 6/12/07. This DVD is similar to their last four disc DVD "Four Licks." The Stones could practically release any of their live shows on DVD and it would be a quality video because of their exciting and larger than life performances. The four discs contain most of their biggest songs played live, unfortunately some were left out, a big omission on this DVD is "Street Fighting Man." In these videos we see the Stones being the Stones and that certainly isn't a bad thing. Mic is all over the stage gyrating around in his flamboyant ways while Keith Richards has complete control of the stage with his confident manner. Most of the footage on these DVD's have pristine video quality but unfortunately some of the footage of the isn't so quite and actually sub par, most of the footage that is a rough around the edges comes from other areas around the world besides the US. Despite the quality of those performances being a little tough to watch it is still a treat to have the material on there, especially considering one of the poorer quality videos contains the epic "Gimme Shelter." The DVD also contains an interesting documentary going behind the scenes of the tour which is a nice little extra. The extras don't stop with the documentary because their are also a handful of duets with the Stones, the artists range from Dave Matthews to Eddie Vedder. If you are a big Stones fan I would definitely recommend picking this up especially since there are two never released songs on the DVD performed in Toronto, and even if you are just your run of the mill average Stones fan it is worth a purchase considering it is fairly inexpensive for all the material you get. This DVD offers live performances of a large array of Stones hits from the classics to their newest album performed in a wonderful manner.

The Demise of the CD: Part II The Solution

Despite all signs pointing to the immediate and unquestionable death of this format it does not have to be that way. CD's today clearly aren't offering the public enough incentive to actually be purchased as can be seen with the Internet music revolution. However, there are CD's out there that offer superior quality and a completely new listening experience, an experience that the Internet doesn't have a hold of. There are two formats that are very similar and are known as Super Audio CD's and DVD- Audio's. These formats offer a true surround sound listening experience, if you have the proper equipment which is a player which is compatible with the two formats (Many DVD players play DVD-Audio) and 5.1 Surround Surround sound speakers. I finally invested into these two dying formats and was so pleased to have done so. Hearing "Dark Side of the Moon" in 5.1 surround made me wonder how I could ever listen to it on stereo ever again. Subtleties like the footsteps in the song "On the Run" swirling around my head make it such a treat to listen to. Right now as I write this I am listening to Beck's "Sea Change" SACD and I must say from what I have heard thus far it is the most impressive 5.1 CD I have ever heard. Instruments are revolving around my head and sounds are being designated to separate speakers in a way which gives music listening a third dimension. Even when listening to The Who's "Tommy" it felt as if Keith Moon was playing in the middle of the room, I was afraid if I moved too much I would have knocked over his drum kit (Not that it really matters, I'm sure he would have blown it up after the show anyway.)

The most depressing thing about these formats is that they, like regular stereo CD's, are being left to dry by the music industry while they focus on suing twelve year old girls downloading the newest song from Beyonce and the seventy year old Grandma who's grandson was illegally downloading Green Day's "American Idiot." It is hard enough to find SACD and DVD-Audio players compatible with at least one (Mainly SACD is the hard one) of the formats and nearly impossible to find a player that plays both. Not only is it hard to find players but it is difficult to find the CD's themselves, if you want a copy of ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" on DVD-A you might find yourself shelling out $80 to someone on Ebay.

It is really sad because these formats offer a completely new dynamic with different sounds coming at you from all directions. On top of that the sound quality is even better which is something that appeals on a high level to any audiophile. Some may say it is too expensive to actually get the equipment but the same could be said for when the CD was first introduced.

These formats are regrettably not the answer to this large problem, but they could be a step in the right direction if the industry was to try to promote them on a greater level and if companies were to produce players which could play both formats which I'm sure isn't that difficult. The answer to this issue of the CD dying lies solely in the fact that CD's now and days aren't giving us enough bang for our buck, nobody seems to care about a fancy package and actually being able to hold the music they are listening to. The industry can focus on encrypting CD's so they can't be ripped and suing people to bring fear on a population that feels invisible, but their focus will be futile, and despite the obvious signs of their failure they continue to make that the center of their focus.

I unfortunately see the CD as a dying breed because of the sheer lack of focus by the industry, one day I may have to bear the unfortunate responsibility of telling my children what it was like when music was a material object, when it was something that you could hold and smell, it wasn't just a fragment of memory on my computer or IPod.

The Demise of the CD: Part I The Problem

It is hard to imagine the death of the CD, it has been our main source of music listening for over twenty years. That idea unfortunately, may soon be reality. CD sales have been rapidly plummeting over the past few years, just a few days ago the New York Times has an article on how EMI is suffering from terrible CD sales. The main reason for these tough times has been due in part to the internet which has completely revolutionized the way we listen to music, and surprisingly an even more drastic change than when the CD was first introduced. The music industry has decided to target this revolution but mainly in a negative aspect, they have devoted a disproportionate amount of time and energy on ending piracy. The reality for them is their focus needs to be shifted and swiftly.

It is truly sad that the CD is a dying breed because there is a magic to purchasing music you can actually hold and touch. The magic comes from the moment you tear through that tedious plastic wrap to picking away at the ridiculous sticker which seems as if is plastered on all four sides of the jewel case, whether needed or not. When finally breaking through that barrier you are met with that new CD smell, and when you finally get to the point of placing the CD in your stereo you can relax, read the booklet that comes with it, and sit and enjoy the music that was actually a bit of an effort to obtain between actually getting off your seat to buy it (If you actually went to a store) and meticulously opening up. These are characteristics that downloaded music can't offer, and yet the CD has extinction in its sights.

Expect for Part II: The Solution to be posted tomorrow, and yes, Part II is longer than Part I, that is why I split it up...

My Week In Music 5/28/07 - 6/03/07

This week I finally purchased a new surround sound stereo for my room, something which I've been working on getting for the past year or so. I mainly purchased it to play some Super Audio CD's and DVD-A's which I will have a post on in the next few days, it is mainly going to be about the demise of CD's, I started writing it today it is pretty lengthy so I might break it into two parts. Anyway, my stereo hasn't arrived quite yet, I'm banking on it getting to my house be Wed so I'll keep my fingers crossed, anyway, without further adieu here is My Week in Music:

Most Listened to Album: Nektar "Journey to the Center of the Eye"

Most Listened to Song: Nine Inch Nails "Capital G"