We Have New Music Queens Now

One of the many discarded blog post ideas I’ve had over the last 15 years or so was a quick post about female pop stars in the mid 2000s. My post was going to make the case that Rihanna and Katy Perry are not as talented or as wildly creative as the stars we saw rise in the 1990s (Tori Amos, Fiona Apple), but they served their purpose for the present. They did the job, held the fort, and each gave us Super Bowl performances. But flash forward to 2023, and the pop landscape is very different. The best and most artistic artists are not on the big labels. Instead they are the independents. They probably always have been, but now in the streaming music era, they are so much easier to find, share, and mix together.

Lana Del Rey, Jessie Ware, FKA Twigs, Weyes Blood (Natalie Mering), and Caroline Polacek (“the girl in that band”) are not new in the music industry. They are all in their mid to late 30s. But they are the artists who are peaking right now to mark the next wave of greats. Several senior artists have guided them to greatness, particularly Enya. And in the case of Polacek and Wyse Blood, Brian Eno is also an influence. You can hear a lot of Eno in the guitar solo of Weyes Blood’s Mirror Forever and her last two albums overall. I also think Eno’s sound is found in the metallic guitar solo in Polacek’s Billions before Trinity School’s choir (out of Croydon, London) takes us home to close the album. It is May, and I still have Billions down as my best song of 2023, three months after it was officially released.

Natalie Mering admits Eno was on her mind when she made her 2019 album, Titanic Rising. As she explained to the Australian Broadcasting Company:

We created a mood board, which was a picture of the Titanic with Brian Ferry on the stern and Brian Eno on the hull of the ship. It was rising out of the water like a phoenix from the ashes.

Many critics picked-up on the Eno-like sounds and techniques, as AllMusic did:

Here she underscores enormously orchestrated pop songs with eerie experimental ambience, imagining a dreamworld where Joni Mitchell's late-'70s output was produced by Brian Eno.

Titanic Rising was more than a signer-songwriter project. Mering is a co-producer and she made sure her album had digital effects and soundscapes. Working with Jonathan Rado, she added a layer of psychedelic elements, walking the tightrope between futuristic and retro vinyl and cassette sounds. Her reluctant love song Andromeda even opens with the simulated sound of a damaged cassette tape. That sonic direction continues with her latest album and will likely continue with her next, which will close-out a planned trilogy of records for our dark, turbulent times.

While FKA Twigs is working on her new, possibly more commercial album, we must acknowledge the triumph of her second full length album, Magdalene (2019), which helped make 2019 a pivotal year for women music artists. 2019 was also the breakthrough year for Caroline Polachek and Weyes Blood, who seem to recognize this and are now contemplating working together on a song. The year before the pandemic was a like a big bang for this new music. We got a buch of incredible songs like Cellophane, Daybed, Ocean Of Tears, Door, Movies and Wild Time. And now, women in their 30s, who cite Enya as a influence, rule the streaming playlists.

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Weyes Blood at KEXP studios, August 2019.

Reigns by IDLES Is The Best Anti-Monarchy Song In Decades

This is for you, United Kingdom. You will one day dispose of your monarchy. But not tomorrow.

Not since the great anti-Thatcher and anti-Queen songs of late 1970s and early 1980s has there been a more blistering rant against the way the UK is run and by whom. The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead (1986) and a line in Blur’s This Is A Low (1994) do come close as the last great songs that fit this definition.

I never heard of IDLES until this year. And fuck me, they are opening for LCD Soundsystem this June at Forest Hills Stadium - a show I have so far decided to skip because at the time, I was like, who are IDLES? Lesson learned. IDLES is a good left-wing neo-punk band. Tickets for that show are still available.

Lyrics:

How does it feel to have blue blood coursing through your veins?

How does it feel to have blue blood coursing through your veins?

How does it feel to have blue blood coursing through your veins?

How does it feel to have blue blood coursing through your veins?

Huh?

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

How does it feel to have shanked the working classes into dust?

How does it feel to have shanked the working classes into dust?

How does it feel to have won the war that nobody wants?

How does it feel to have won the war that nobody wants?

Huh?

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

How does it feel

How does it feel

How does it feel

How does it feel

Reigns

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

Pull on my reigns

Analyzing 40 Years Of Tears For Fears

On February 25, the world got a new album by Tears For Fears. The Tipping Point is the band’s seventh studio album, and not surprisingly, it is very good.

Tears For Fears don't have a single poor album. My favorite TFF albums continue to be The Hurting (1983) and Elemental (1993). I also defend Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (2004), with its powerful Brian Wilson style production. I knew Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, our boys from Bath, wouldn't come back with a studio album unless they had something important to say. I didn’t realize that they have been actively playing shows since 2004. They stepped-up their live shows and set list for a lot of outdoor, warm weather UK shows in the years before the pandemic. Both Curt and Roland have personal things to air out on this possible final album. There are some beautiful moments on The Tipping Point, and I would rank it along with Sowing The Seeds Of Love (1989) and Raoul And The Kings Of Spain (1995) as a solid, contemplative TFF album.

In 1990, I read stories saying that these guys were done. Curt wanted out of the band before the Seeds Of Love tour even began. But here we are 31 years later with 4 more albums, bringing the total to 7. Seeing the TFF songbook expand to nearly 100 songs is a great achievement. Not bad for two men who were seen as more sensitive and sadder than their contemporaries Duran Duran, XTC, The Psychedelic Furs, Talk Talk and Simple Minds, who filled arenas with their thoughtful, romantic pop.

I wasn’t going to do a ranked list. This is not a music blog. I don’t do rankings. But screw it! Let’s do this!

Here are all 7 Tears For Fears studio albums, ranked how I, Mister Sterling, see them.

Oh, but first! Something has to be acknowledged. A lot of their material is inspired by the late American psychologist, Arthur Janov, specifically his book, The Primal Scream and his development of primal therapy. Considering that Dr. Janov became a bit of a celebrity psychologist to famous people like John Lennon, I have a theory as well. I don’t think highly of Freudian theory, and primal theory was a revival of that. But I acknowledge that in the 1970s and 1980s, that second look at Freud helped inspire some good art and art criticism. I had a professor who made me view Italian Neorealism through a Freudian lens, and it proved to add a layer of entertainment and discussion, and very little else.

Since Roland Orzabal has written songs either adjacent to or inspired by The Primal Scream, we can conclude that the book had a profound influence on his life. The Primal Scream inspired the band’s name, and most of the tracks on their debut album. (Interestingly it didn’t inspire Shout - that’s just a good protest song).

I notice two things. First, we all go through phases of being influenced by media (the smart among us, anyway). The Primal Scream is the big bang that gave us Tears For Fears, but it didn’t remain the inspiration for their songs after their first two albums. Second, flawed inspiration or not, it set the tone for Tears For Fears as an emotionally-charged band. Some of their songs make me and millions of others cry. These boys broke from the chains of English society in which young men are seen and not heard (and girls fare even worse, of course). These boys were going to put their feelings out there. They presented themselves as university students in sweaters (“jumpers” as the British call them). Visually they looked like conformists, but they were anything but. They were and remain understated, sensitive rebels, much like their contemporary from Manchester, Morrissey. And well, isn’t that very English?

7. The Tipping Point (2022)

Wait, didn’t I just say that The Tipping Point is very good? It is. It’s also the album in the band’s discography I don’t see myself going back to often. Like I wrote above, Roland and Curt wouldn’t record new songs unless they had something important to say. Tears For Fears is a project that juxtaposes memorable well crafted music with serious, sometimes depressing subject matter. As usual, it’s Roland who has the most to share, as he is the primary lyricist on all TFF albums. On Tipping Point, he brings at least three (and arguably four) songs about his late wife, Caroline, to whom he was married for nearly 35 years.

There is not a bad song on this, or any Tears For Fears album. That can be a problem if you are trying to rank them. But The Tipping Point is mainly a personal affair. Roland has important things he wants to air out. Rivers Of Mercy and Please Be Happy form the emotional core of this album. I think Rivers Of Mercy is fantastic.

The most fun track on the album is My Demons. They could have leaned into a more 80s synth sound, but that would have made the song trendy. This final version will hold up.

The title track, which was released in September 2021, was a clear signal that Tears For Fears were not messing around. After touring together off and on since 2004 or so, it was time to record some new songs. This is a great song, true to the band’s roots.

The pair have said that there were more songs recorded with up and coming producers dating back to 2019 or so, but Roland and Curt rejected most of them. I’d be curious to know how those sounded. Maybe they have some remnants that can go into an eighth album. They are not done yet.

6. The Seeds Of Love (1989)

This album has two great songs: Woman In Chains and Advice For The Young At Heart. But I rank it low, because again. when I judge a discography this strong, some good albums aren’t going to make my top three.

In August 1989 this album’s lead single blazed across FM radio stations and on MTV. The band’s third studio album belongs to a shortlist of albums that were made to show off the CD format. Albums like Brothers in Arms and So were big sellers in the relatively new format, as was Songs From The Big Chair and this album.

Even though the production of this album was aimed for pristine CD sound, every album by Tears for Fears is under 51 minutes. This allows all of their albums to be pressed on a standard, two sided vinyl LP. And The Seeds Of Love was arranged with this in mind. It has four songs on each side, with side B being the less commercial side. But make no mistake, this whole album is a blend of two styles of pop. First, it is a Brian Wilson-inspired sound that brings Tears For Fears close to the sound of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and XTC (who had their sonically bright album Oranges And Lemons that same year).

But, second, let’s tackle the core of this album. This is the band’s ‘quiet storm’ album. Side B has moments that sound like Sade (her band, which is also called Sade). There are also elements soul, such as the self deprecating Bad Man’s Song on Side A. That piece was inspired by Orzabal overhearing tour crew members speaking very negatively of him.

The Seeds Of Love has a magnificent soundstage. You want to play this on a high end home system, through wood and Kevlar speakers that themselves recreate the big stage. The album sounds like a live performance.

It has to be said that Side A is just about perfect. Tears For Fears being the downers that they are, the album begins with Woman In Chains, which is one of their very best tracks. It was the second single from the album. Phil Collins delivers a restrained performance on drums and the song introduces the world to the voice of Oleta Adams. I know exactly where I was in my life when I first saw this video on MTV in November 1989.

Bad Man’s Song, the second track on the album, is very complex. It starts as a jazz track, with piano and drums, then abruptly shifts to country style with the opening verse. And then it settles to a blend of jazz, soul and even some gospel. You have to wait for the hook. But by the time you get to it, the song is in full Quiet Storm mode; a blend of soul and jazz. It’s weird and good. Just listen to that production and mix.

Go big or go home with the lead single. Sowing The Seeds Of Love is the third track. Very few songs to ever reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 are this layered, big sounding and complex. In terms of similar songs from the same year, I like XTC’s King For A Day and even Elvis Costello’s Veronica better. But this song is a lush, retro mid-60s style hit number one in the USA the same year Madonna, Richard Marx, Janet Jackson and Bobby Brown topped the same Hot 100 chart.

I will point out that Sowing The Seeds Of Love wasn’t entirely alone at the top of the charts that year. Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals had a retro, early 1960s style.

The final song on Side A, and third single from the album, Advice For The Young At Heart, is a jazz song. It’s also another songwriting triumph. It’s beautiful. And it could have been the last single from the band, or the last single to have Curt on lead vocals. Miraculously it was neither.

The production of Seeds Of Love cost more than twice what the boys expected. They went through three producers, including their friend Chris Hughes, who had produced Songs From The Big Chair. In the end they re-recorded the album themselves, self-produced in their own studio. The final cost was over £1 Million. In today’s dollars, that’s over £2.5 Million. You can hear the money.

5. Everyone Loves A Happy Ending (2004)

This is the previous time Roland and Curt got together in the studio to make a final statement. That’s now 18 years ago, and a new final statement is available for the world to listen. In a way, this album a direct sequel to The Seeds Of Love, thanks to its wonderful, lush production inspired by Brian Wilson and The Beatles. Perhaps Roland decided to make a bright pop album to celebrate the return of Curt. Or maybe he thought that The Seeds Of Love deserved a sequel. But, as we shall see, he took Tears For Fears to exciting new places with the two albums he led on his own. This album was a return to a 1960s sound, but my no means a regression.

I think most fans like this album, but don’t love it. I myself haven’t memorized the title of every song. But what I do know is that it is a more complete album than The Seeds Of Love. The themes and musical styles come together better, and it’s more consistent. It was made under the assumption that it could be their last studio album (hence, the “ending.”). Roland was tired of label executives asking him to reunite with Curt. Over the years, they continued to meet with their lawyers and accountants for business reasons, like signing legal papers, and reviewing royalties and revenue sharing. Eventually, they started talking to each other, and the musical partnership resumed, and that’s the happy ending the label and fans wanted.

Orzabal stuck with producer Tim Palmer, making this their third consecutive Tears For Fears album together. This means that Curt was rejoining a band that changed its studio and production team two years after he left it.

I remember spinning the CD the day it was released, and it was a tense listen. I didn’t want one of my favorite bands to release a poor album when they didn’t have to release an album at all. The music critics at the time were fawning over The White Stripes and Interpol. Tears For Fears could have just done a greatest hits tour. But they gave us a new album that was better than The Seeds Of Love. The backing personnel had changed since 1989, but Roland and Curt continued to mature and grow as artists.

This album demands a full play, start to finish. It features bright songs that evoke movement, and feature a lot of guitar and drums. For example, I really like Killing With Kindness. I’m sure the boys like Thomas Dolby, but Killing With Kindness includes the line, “Don’t blind them with science.” I get a kick out of that reference to a fellow New Wave artist.

The brightest and perhaps best song on the album is Call Me Mellow. Here, Orzabal and company nail that mid 1960s sound they had been chasing. This is beautiful and a bit psychedelic. Keen musicians will also note that there is a harmony of G, D, C# in the chorus, much like There She Goes by the La’s. Roland is transparent in his borrowing, but he backs it up with well composed and arranged music.

Secret World is yet another bright mid-1960s style song, complete with a horn section. The band continue to play this live in 2022. I think what makes this album so good is that all the songs have good structure. They have memorable choruses, good bridges, and are all under 6 minutes long.

On Size Of Sorrow, we get a solid Tears For Fears song. This could have been a track off of Roland’s albums from the previous decade. It’s a melancholy song about the band. They “borrow” styles from artists who came before. They know they can’t match their “high wire” days of 1985 to 1989. Yeah, this is about them.

Ladybird is a great, sad number about aging, I think. It’s very XTC with its Beatles sound and powerful chorus:

Ladybird fly away our friends are gone
Ladybird fly away our house is on fire

That chorus was written by Curt well before he rejoined the band. He presented it to Roland Orzabal and Chris Hughes, and Roland had the verses done in just a few hours.

Curt borrowed from the classic, dark English nursery rhyme, Ladybird Ladybird:

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,

Your house is on fire and your children are gone

The album’s closer is appropriately titled Last Days On Earth. I think it has a groovy 1970s soul bass line. I certainly thought this was finally the end. Roland and Curt were well into their forties. But they were friends again, or at least working partners. This felt like closure.

4. Raoul And The Kings Of Spain (1995)

I like to think of Tears For Fears in the 1990s as being a band in exile. Curt has left the band and is living in Los Angeles. Most fans have put their cassettes and CDs into a bookcase and have moved on, listening to grunge, “alternative,” or adult contemporary tunes. Roland took his time to build a home studio and retained rights to use the Tears For Fears name (sort of a Roger Waters situation, but if Waters actually recorded and toured as Pink Floyd after 1983). I had no idea if the door for Curt to return was open or closed. And probably neither did Roland. He just carried on and did exactly what he did on The Seeds Of Love. He hired a band. He produced and arranged the music. He let his influences guide him through two albums.

Raoul And The Kings Of Spain is the second of those albums, recorded in 1994 and released in 1995 with the same personnel as Elemental (1993). This is a very personal album for Roland -his most personal until The Tipping Point (2022). He explores his Spanish and Basque heritage (on his father’s side). Don’t expect many happy songs with hooks here. Roland looks inward here. But some of the songs are simply gorgeous.

God’s Mistake has the chorus, “Love is God’s mistake.” Not pulling punches on this catchy number. Notice how Roland was at his vocal peak. He could almost make himself sound like Curt. The lyrics include the words paradigm and pantomime. I don’t think you’ll find those words together in any other song.

Sketches Of Pain. It's Folk and country in style, with a strong dose of flamenco. The title is a play on “Sketches Of Spain,” perhaps?

Secrets totally fits as a Tears For Fears song, both lyrically and musically.

And the album closes with the magnificent Me And My Big Ideas. It has lament, reflection, humility, and the return of Oleta Adams, who Orzabal was working with on her solo albums in the 1990s. When I heard this track, I thought this was the end of the band. It was yet another perfect final album track.

Oh, this album ends with a reprise of a song that appears earlier on the album - Los reyes Católicos. What was that I said about filler and artists highlighting their own work? Still fine. I rank this album high for having a huge heart.

3. Elemental (1993)

Elemental continues to stun me as a near perfect pop album. This is also the album that made me a Tears For Fears fan, after 8 years resisting them. I was working as an unpaid intern at WBCN radio in Boston when this album came out. Of the six or so DJs who worked the classic late 80s/early 90s rotation at that station, one of them, Mark Parenteau, recommended the new Tears For Fears album more than once on-air. Tears For Fears had no chance of being played on WBCN in 1993. Songs in heavy rotation during my first few weeks at the station included Pets, Creep, the other Creep, Plush, and No Rain. But by the end of that summer, the two new CDs I wanted to bring with me for my third year at University were Robert Plant’s Fate Of Nations, and this one (oh, and Songs Of Faith And Devotion by Depeche Mode!).

What makes Elemental a triumph? Roland Orzabal took full control. He wasn’t going to bend to trends or what was hot in pop music in 1992. He was going to ignore techno, trance and grunge. He knew the new album would struggle to go gold (which it did). He knew MTV wasn’t going to play any videos. And he knew that it was too soon for people to want to hear his songs from the 1980s (except, apparently, the audience in Bogotá, which depressed him). So he assembled an all new band and production team, led by Alan Griffiths and Tim Palmer. The latter mixed Pearl Jam’s debut album and became a fine producer himself starting with Elemental.

This album has peaks and valleys. It takes us somewhere. It has payoffs. I won’t link to every track, but anyone who likes Tears For Fears who has never listened to this album needs to sit down and give it a chance. It’s every bit as good as the albums that follow it in my ranking. This is the Tears For Fears podium -the top three.

The first three songs set the tone. This is the new Tears For Fears, and it’s on these tracks you clearly notice Curt is not there. But Roland’s electric guitars are back for the first time since Songs From The Big Chair.

The following three songs bring things down to a simmer, but they are still all very good. Notably, Fish Out Of Water is about Curt leaving the band. Roland even included it in the Elemental tour set list. Curt really took that jab well. He has said on numerous occasions that he found it funny. What a good sport. The guy has had to deal with Roland’s dominating personality and excessive creative control for decades.

The seventh track, Gas Giants, is a bass-synth heavy instrumental that signals the album’s final third. And what follows are three songs, two of which are among my very favorites from Tears For Fears.

Power is a power pop song about, well, power. And while the lyrics dance around the topic, I think it’s a highlight of the TFF songbook. Just when you thought this album was winding down, it hits you with this.

The Goodnight Song is a great country song about performing music live in front of an audience. That’s both corny and on the nose for a final song on an album. But there is a reason so many people think that not only is this a great Tears For Fears song, but it’s an underrated highlight of the 1990s. It’s wonderfully made, has a hook, and a guitar solo closes it. In this final track, I think Roland was trying to sound like Curt in the second verse. He had me fooled for a moment.

When the new Tears For Fears hit the road in the summer of 1993, songs were already written for the next album, Raoul And The Kings Of Spain. Orzabal would simply have the same crew reconvene in his studio to record the next album. Tears For Fears the band was not just alive, it was going thorough the busiest period of its existence. Roland was driving this bus, and he delivered two albums, one of which might be his career peak.

2. The Hurting (1983)

The Hurting is a bold debut album. The Hurting is as much a pop album than a depressing diary of a young man. It arguably has breakup songs, or perhaps those songs are about being abandoned by one’s parents (“you don’t give me love”). But it doesn’t have a single love song. It’s a downer, and it’s my favorite Tears For Fears album.

I’m a closeted goth. No, the music isn’t goth. But how can I not love this album? It is such a downer.

Recorded in 1982 and released in 1983, The Hurting is a snapshot of two young men and their nation in a particularly bleak moment in time. It is the time of Thatcherism, a made-up word with a very real history behind it. It’s the history of austerity being sold to people as an improvement over a previous political regime. But the austerity actually brought more sadness and social destruction. This is the backdrop of The Hurting.

At the age of 20 or 21, living in a flat above a pizzeria, probably lying on his bed or sofa, an unemployed Roland Orbazal wrote these extraordinary lyrics while watching people walk and drive by.

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello, teacher! Tell me, what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

Enlarging your world
Mad world

This is their first single. Curt sang the vocals. They had low expectations. Mercury, the record label, had low expectations. At least the label hired Depeche Mode’s director to shoot the music video. This song went to to number three on the UK pop chart on Halloween, 1982! Number three! And it stayed there for three weeks, not far from smash hits like Pass The Dutchie, and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (both of which went to number one!). A note about those: New Wave included some reggae and both of those chart toppers are reggae songs. Eddie Grant’s Electric Avenue would be released just weeks later.

And with that, Tears For Fears was born.

The Hurting is equal parts finished songs and equal parts experimental or undercooked songs. But collectively it is a landmark album and quite listenable. The boys and their producer couldn’t replicate an electronic band like Depeche Mode or Yazoo, but we hear them trying a few different things.

Curt Smith was given signing duties for the most catchy songs, Mad World, Pale Shelter and Change. But there isn’t a single happy song on this album.

When you don't give me love (You gave me pale shelter)
You don't give me love (you give me cold hands)
And I can't operate on this failure
When all I want to be is
Completely in command

The Hurting is one of the greatest debut albums of all time. It launched Tears For Fears into a most crowded market of New Wave artists. U2, Simple Minds, Talk Talk, Duran Duran, INXS, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen, Missing Persons, REM, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, The Human League, Heaven 17, The Cure, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, A Flock Of Seagulls, Thompson Twins, Adam Ant, XTC, Eurythmics, Gary Numan, Culture Club, The Police and so many others were already established. Most were already on their second or third albums (or more). But we consider Tears For Fears to be in that class. They (and Erasure, I guess) got in towards the end of the “Second British invasion.”

And yet (yet!) The Hurting is not even the best debut album of 1983. Incredible! That title goes to The Script Of The Bridge by The Chameleons. A very crowded market, indeed.

I love the long synth and drum machine outro to Memories Fade. This ends side A.

The Hurting LP is 10 songs, with 5 songs per side. Side B is pretty damn serious and shows a songwriter who is more mature than his age suggests. Suffer The Children is sung to a parent, presumably older than Orzabal. Maybe his single mom. It has perhaps the best written and sung chorus on the album.

And all this time he's been getting you down
You ought to pick him up when there's no one around
And convince him
Just talk to him
'cause he knows in his heart you won't be home soon
He's an only child in an only room
And he's dependent on you
Oh he's dependent on you

That’s Orbazal’s wife Caroline singing the La La La part.

With the next track, Watch Me Bleed, the doom doesn’t stop.

It’s important to finish strong. I think Roland lives by this rule, because The Start Of The Breakdown might be the best composition on the album, and includes either a grand piano or a piano synth (a Roland Jupiter? A Prophet T8?) a real drum kit, and an extended instrumental section with a drum solo to close it. The song is about Roland’s father, who physically and emotionally abused Roland’s mother, had arterial scoliosis (“ice in the vein”), and suffered a nervous breakdown. Orzabal’s mother would soon move out of the house with her three boys and raise them alone in Bath.

Mercury Records wanted more from this band, and fast. They knew Roland was developing a new song called Head Over Heels, but it wasn’t ready. And while the label pressured Roland and Curt to have a second album ready for 1984, they got the boys to release a cut track, The Way You Are, to hold fans over while Songs From The Big Chair was being developed. They toured. They took extra months to make their masterpiece. And then they toured again. No wonder they were too exhausted to play Live Aid on a day off in their summer 1985 tour.

1. Songs From The Big Chair (1985)

I didn’t want this to be my number one. Nope. I really wanted to put The Hurting here.

However, I gave Songs From The Big Chair two full listens for this blog post. I had never listened to this album twice in a day, and I hadn’t played it in probably 12 years, because I feel it is their best known and most overplayed work. But after serious listens, I have a new judgement of this album. I heard things I hadn’t noticed nor appreciated before. Things like the Fairlight CMI in Shout. Sure I have heard the song dozens of times, but hearing it in 2022 let me think back and connect the dots. I first heard the Fairlight CMI on Peter Gabriel’s Security Album in 1982, and then Herbie Hancock’s Rockit album in 1983. By 1984, it was everywhere, even in hair metal. Phil Collins even dissed it. But you know what? The Farlight rules. Shout is also one of the few protest songs to chart in the 1980s.

Once they get that out of the way, what’s the second song? The Working Hour, which is 6 and a half minutes. Roland is so proud of this song, he still includes it in live set lists and almost named the album after it. Listen to that production and big budget mix. Remind you of another artist? Here’s a hint: he’s also from Bath. Yes, this is a very Peter Gabriel song for me. It’s like a cousin of Red Rain, with its grand piano and wide stereo sound (but Gabriel liked the Yamaha and Roland piano synths, right?). Jerry Marotta plays both drums and keyboards on The Working Hour. Perhaps just weeks after this album was released, Marotta would lay down the drum tracks for Red Rain (with Stewart Copeland performing the cymbals and high hat). This album makes the case for greatness with just its second track.

But you know what’s coming next. Track # 3. Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Could this be the best pop song of 1985? If not this, then what? Raspberry Beret? Sussudio? I Feel For You? Take On Me? Money For Nothing? Don’t You (Forget About Me)? Everything She Wants? The Boys Of Summer? In 1985 you had so much to choose from. But this stays in the mixtape. How can it not? Shit, the 1985 mixtape has to start with this song.

Side A ends with Mother’s Talk. It’s fine. Compared to what came before, it’s a little lazy. It has a dash of primal theory. Play it through and turn that LP over. And then prepare for a dramatic shift.

Hope you got your dancing done on Side A. Because Side B starts with one of my very favorite Tears For Fears songs. At first glance, it might be an optimistic tune. It’s called “I Believe.” Hey guys, Roland believes in something! And then you listen to the words. and it is a marvelous punch in the gut:

That's why I believe it is too late for anyone to believe

Or how about the end?

And I believe, no I can't believe that every time you hear a newborn scream
You just can't see the shaping of a life
The shaping of a life
It's too late

Primal theory again, there.

Roland delivers some of his very best vocals, backed by a grand piano, a drum kit and a saxophone. What sounds like the sample of a record skipping backwards opens the track. It’s a jazz song, like Advice For The Young At Heart.

This won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo or Group, right?

No?

The Grammy went to [checks Wikipedia] Quincy Jones and USA for Africa for We Are The World.

Well, fuck! FUCK!!!!

Phil Collins got his male solo Grammy for No Jacket Required. Fine. But seriously, fuck this shit. We knew that New Wave power groups Simple Minds nor U2 weren’t going to win for best Pop Duo or Group. And I love three of Wham’s songs, but Wham was not going to win a trophy. It should have been Tears For Fears.

Side B of Songs From The Big chair is short. It goes by real quick. We are left reeling from I Believe, but the boys proceed with a sandwich of three tracks to take us home: Broken, Head Over Heels, and a snippet of the Broken instrumental, played live. I wasn’t annoyed when artists added a “reprise” or alternate mix version of a song on their albums in the 80s. It was a way to add some filler, and get a window on what the artist thought was a highlight of the production. But I am surprised Tears For Fears did this. The next critically acclaimed band to repeat themselves was probably Radiohead some 15 years later, with Morning Bell. Broken is an odd song. It kicks off super strong with a long instrumental introduction, complete with a Roland guitar solo. “We are broken” is the first chorus, and then the song takes us to what sounds like a second chorus:

In my mind's eye
One little boy anger one little man
Funny how time flies

This leads straight to one of their greatest songs that also ends with those very same lines.

Head Over Heels is the first love song Tears For Fears put on a record. It’s their wonderfully awkward love song. "Something happens" is passive voice. The songwriting here is genius. This describes anxiety, fear and a little anger all so well and efficiently. It's the love song for people who aren't players nor have any game. And it opens with chords that are instantly recognizable, just like Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

The final track is Listen. It’s mostly instrumental, and it dabs in World Music, but not the great way Peter Gabriel does it. If we knew this would be the final Tears For Fears album, it would go down as a weak final studio track. Roland Orzabal arranges the tracks. He knows how to pick them. Six of their seven albums close with really strong, fitting songs. The weakest closer, in my opinion is Listen. But can anyone complain after 8 songs -6 of them phenomenal- in just 41 minutes? Take your prize, Tears For Fears. This album is your masterpiece. It was produced by Chris Hughes, Adam Ant’s drummer. All synthesizers, programming, sequencing, and the Fairlight CMI were manned by Ian Stanley. Aside from Roland’s vocals and guitar, he IS this record, and he’s the guy in the Head Over Heels Video who’s got game.

And this incredible album almost didn’t happen. Their label wanted this sophomore album released in 1984, hot on the heels of their great debut and first tour. But the boys would not rush things. They spent nearly all their money renovating a Grade II listed 16th century building, called The Wool Hall, converting it into their recording studio. Thus they made a studio that suited them, their sound, and their work pace.

They released Songs From The Big Chair when it was ready.
That too describes their fellow Bath native, Peter Gabriel. The world is still waiting for him to release his tenth and final studio album (it will probably never come). And this album set the standard for all Tears For Fears albums that followed. Roland Orbazal is the creative director, and he decides when a project is done.

Are they done? Not this year. They start a US and UK tour this spring.

View fullsize

Another Reason Rhymesayers Entertainment Has he Best Artist Roster

Prof: Squad Goals (2020). Explicit lyrics below.

Rhymesayers Entertainment has such great artists as Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, Dilated Peoples and Atmosphere. Prof is less serious, but his rhyming here is quite good. The video is excellent.

I got guns, hoes, money, dro
Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up,  whoa
You name it

Guns, hoes,  money, dro

Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs,  bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa
You name it

I’m throwing money off balcony into the crowd because I want to

God damn I feel good
Sure that you already know
One things understood
Ain’t nothin that can stop my glow
Mmm dog gonit
Can’t I just take my time?
All these clout chasing motherfuckers rushin all around me I’m like
Bitch hold your horses

(Prof you’re the best)

I’m like true I am
Rosario Dawson know who I am
If it’s cool with you, girl I could move right in
You do not understand just how cool I am
Like see, look at me, look at me
I’m on a beach
Don’t try to holler cause I’m out of reach
I got no service, I’m out on the keys
A couple woman
My dollars and me
Bout to go swimming
Thank god I’m a G
One shot for me
Un bebidas para ti
Let’s skinny dip in the sea

(You know what I’m saying
I’d rather do things we remember later
You know what I mean?)

I got guns, hoes, money, dro
Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa
You name it

Guns, hoes, money, dro
Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa
You name it

I’m throwing money off balcony into the crowd because I want to

Oooh, seriously, look at myself
Condom model over here
Oooh, seriously, look at my flow
Colder than a polar bear
Oooh, straight up I’m an awesome person
Oooh, you ain’t ready for this sauce I’m serving
Oooh, straight up, I’m an awesome person
Oooh, you ain’t ready for the sauuuce

Young Pookie, your highness
Gone find the finest vaginas
From China to Thailand
Got ‘em whinin
Why not combine ‘em?
Pardon me let me chime in
But there’s science behind my conniving
I’m refined and violent
Throw the lime in, fine dine the hyman

Swag
Swag
(aaahh)

I got guns, hoes, money, dro
Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa
You name it

Guns, hoes, money, dro
Cars, boats, you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa
You name it

I’m throwing money off balcony into the crowd because I want to

(Hey)

Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up

(Hey)
Swear to god, if you could throw it at me that I’ll grab it and fuck it up
(Hey)
Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up

(Hey)
Swear to god, if you could throw it at me that I’ll grab it and fuck it up

Oooh, how bout that drink
You gonna finish that?
If your bro talking shit I’m gon’ get his ass
I got two hands that gon’ fit his ass
Knock him out cold, he gon’ shit his ass
Talk on the phones up in Trinidad
Bout to make films up on SkinaMax
Oh you just jealous because my bedroom sounds like
It’s a fucking womens tennis match
(aaahh)

I feel good
(ooohh-ahhh)
I feel good
(Yeah)
I feel good
(ooohh-ahhh)
I feel good
(Alright, yeah, alright)
(I feel good)

I got guns, hoes, money, dro
(Feel good)
Cars, boats, (oooh I feel good) you should know
Dogs, bros, squad goals
Hold up, whoa (heyyy)

Donny Sold Us All Out

Donald J. Trump sold us out. All 350 Million of us. He did it to make a few million and gain an advantage in his re-election bid. His plan is to have foreign nations kneecap whoever Democrat is leading the nomination race. This week it is Joe Biden. Next week it could be Elizabeth Warren.

The crimes of Donald Trump are so much simpler than Bob Mueller or we realized. For years we asked, “What do foreign nations have on Trump?” What they have is his simple, desperate need to cheat and win the 2020 election. Oh sure, he wants to make a few million on the side. And yes, he is a money launderer, a fraudster and tax cheat. He probably owes some mobsters and oligarchs money as well. But Russia isn't hanging a sex scandal or some elaborate crime over Trump. They just know that nothing means more to him than winning another term.

All these crimes related to foreign policy and phone calls boil down his desperate need to cheat in the upcoming election. And since he needs to cheat at elections (just like his golf game), they know exactly what he wants. And all Trump has to do to get it is sell out 350 Million Americans. So he trades favors with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel (the embassy move), Turkey, the UAE and Ukraine. All of those nations would agree to an exchange of favors. Putin, in particular loves the mild destabilization of NATO and the EU. He probably wishes it was in chaos, but he’ll take whatever he can get. Our closest allies wouldn't help Trump win an election. These are the shady actors he's dealing with. Now we know, after digging for 3 years. We know what Trump is all about. Now what are we going to do and how quickly?

He sold us out. We knew he punched us in the gut. Now we know when and how many times. How does it feel, America?

A Perfect Circle Came Back At The Perfect Time

Fourteen years. That's how long it has been since we've had an album from A Perfect Circle, the supergroup fronted by Tool's Maynard James Keenan. 

In 1999, Tool had released one EP and two studio albums for the decade, and there were strong indications that there wouldn't be new Tool material while the band was tied-up in record company contracts. So a side project from one of the greatest lead vocalists in rock was more than welcome. And while the lyrics in APC songs are not as complex or as profoundly pretentious as Tool songs, thunderous musicianship and atypical time signatures are still employed. Take their latest track, Talk Talk. It's an incredibly well-timed song about the uselessness of "thoughts and prayers," and has references to Christ that Keenan has done before. But what makes the song good is its use of the 3/4 time signature. Guitarist Billy Howerdel and company made the song ready for recording when they switched the tempo from 4/4 to 3/4.   

I thought this band was dead. I had forgotten that one of the greatest guitarists of the 1990s, James Iha, had joined A Perfect Circle in 2003. The 90s was a decade full of virtuoso guitarists, and I had simply assumed that the band would never record original songs with Iha. But then, in December 2017, this dark song dropped. A Perfect Circle had returned with dark tracks for these very dark times. I love The Doomed because, well, we are doomed. 

Keenan is having one of the busiest years of his life. The new APC album comes in April. He and his Tool bandmates are almost ready to record their fifth album (and first in twelve years). And he might be recording new tracks with his other side project, Puscifer, now. 

Goodbye, R.E.M.

I've had two weeks to digest R.E.M.'s inevitable breakup announcement. I have to say, they went out with class. While they lost of lot of listeners after New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), the last four R.E.M. albums were all very good. They were true to the band's roots, involved a fresh dose of Brian Wilson influences, and a few times went back to the sound of perhaps their most loved album, Automatic for the People (1992).

R.E.M. spent over 10 years as a consensus choice as one of the best rock bands in the US. They shared that title with other acts that have come and gone, including Talking Heads, The Pixies, Living Colour, Soundgarden, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Luna (and some that have stayed, such as Wilco and Interpol). They were not only one of the best bands in the US, but they were also part of the New Wave. They entered the scene thanks to airplay on American college radio alongside the likes of Talking Heads and U2. And they were simultaneously part of the Athens Georgia music scene, which, along with Boston, Chicago, and Seattle, is a founding city of the Indie music scene of the 1980s and 90s (later to be branded "Alternative" by the music industry). R.E.M. is one of the few bands (the only band?) to bridge the New Wave movement and the American Indie movement, and arguably helped to found the Indie movement. While their Athens counterparts, the B-52s, remained in the New Wave movement, R.E.M. established the framework of how a small band from a college town could get radio airplay nationwide and music videos on MTV. In just four short years, R.E.M. went from having a critically acclaimed, yet underground album (Murmur (1983)), to a breakthrough video on MTV in September, 1987 for The One I Love:

I entered high school with Document, graduated college weeks after drummer Bill Berry suffered a ruptured aneurysm on atage (and bought a Georgia farm in preparation for his retirement), and firmly settled into New York to the sounds of New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I rocked out in my dorm room to the contemporary, distortion pedal sounds of Monster (1994) and enjoyed drinks in a bar in north Amherst with friends and the occasional female to the sounds of the honest, somber masterpeice, Automatic for the People.

There have been magnificent articles and books written about R.E.M. I close this post with some recent articles I've read in the past few years.

 Josh Modell, Spin:

Here, [in Collapse Into Now], they discover the glow of middle age, warmly acknowledging the past -- hello again, Peter Buck's mandolin -- while realizing that the present can feel just as comforting. The sober, pretty "Uberlin" sounds like a happier cousin to "Drive." Twinkling ballad "Every Day Is Yours to Win" updates "Everybody Hurts" for the other side of despair, when optimism seeps back in. "Discoverer" and "All the Best" deliver sexy crunch for Monster fans. It's R.E.M.'s many faces, collapsing into now.

Annie Zaleski, Salon:

Even as the band’s popularity increased — Top 10 Billboard hits, MTV heavy rotation, arena tours, mainstream radio airplay — there was nothing overtly contemporary about their music.

 Chris Sullentrop, Slate:

From almost the beginning, there's been something backward-looking about R.E.M. fandom, a secret wish that R.E.M. never become more than a heralded but middling-selling college band from Athens, Ga.—even though such obscurity would mean that the vast majority of R.E.M. fans engaged in this Edenic pining would never have discovered them.

 Dan Kois, Slate:

Even R.E.M.'s "political" songs of the era, like "Fall on Me" or "Exhuming McCarthy," are tricky to parse. " Fall on Me" could maybe be about acid rain, or maybe air pollution in general, or maybe, uh, missile defense? Whereas U2's political songs of the 1980s are a little easier to work out: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is about Martin Luther King Jr., for example, and "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" is about Bloody Sunday. Stirring as those songs are, there's very little a listener can bring to them; they are Bono's take, not yours, unlike "Fall on Me," which, for me, in 1987, was a deeply personal song about the crushing whatever of existence.

Warm[er] Weather Music

According to the ultra-reliable NOAA web site, it is currently 59 degrees Fahrenheit in Central Park. While it is warmer, and before the rain and wind arrive tonight, let's kick back with a song from the end of last summer. Here's Knickerbocker by Fujiya & Miyagi, a trio from Brighton, England.

The clever music video:

A live version, on on Ryan Tubridy's late night TV show, Tubridy Tonight (RTE):

Ante Up, Bitches

Oh this is brilliant. Produced this past July and approaching 3 Million hits. And yeah, I just discovered it. The song is "Ante Up" by Mash Out Posse (M.O.P.). Video produced by a young Norwegian on YouTube named stianhafstad..

Huh (huh) huh (huh) huh (huh) huh (huh)
Yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

Lil Fame:
Take minks off! Take things off!
Take chains off! Take rings off!
Bracelets is yapped, Fame came off!
(Ante Up!) Everything off!
Fool what you want? We stiflin them fools
Fool what you want? Your life or your jewels?
The rules, (back em down) next thing, (clap em down)
Respect mine we Brooklyn bound, (bound! now, (now!))

Billy Danze:
Brownsville, home of the brave
Put in work in the street like a slave
Keep rugged dress code
Always in this stress mode
(That shit will send you to your grave) So?
You think I don't know that? (BLOW!)
Nigga hold that! (BLOW!) Nigga hold that! (BLOW!) Nigga hold that!
From the street cousin, you know the drill
I'm 900 and 99 thou short of a mill

Chorus:
Ante Up! Yap that fool!
Ante Up! Kidnap that fool!
It's the perfect timin, you see the man shinin
Get up off them god damn diamonds! Huh!
Ante Up! Yap that fool!
Ante Up! Kidnap that fool!
Get him (get him) get him!
Hit him (hit him) hit him!
Yap him! (Zap him!) Yap him! (Zap him!)

Our 500th Post

Not bad for a tiny, semi-private blog that get more hits for automotive posts than political and environmental posts. Time to toss out a music video and mark this milestone. But what video to post? Well Dhalgren has spent his summer unemployed, and some of the songs that got him through this period were 80s New Wave tunes. So here are three of them:

Echo and the Bunnymen, 'Lips Like Sugar' (1987):

And since that video was directed by the great Anton Corbijn, I might as well post another video from the same auteur. Here's Depeche Mode with 'Behind the Wheel' (1987):

And with Halloween coming up, here is a goth staple. Siouxie and the Banshees, 'Cities In Dust' (1985):

Red Sox Doubleheader In Chicago. Time To Break 'Em Off.

This has been a productive day as I have been at home, overseeing renovations at my apartment. This morning I finally got around to watching American Beauty. Great performances, but did Sam Mendes have to be so pretentious? Did he know he was writing Oscar material when he wrote it? It does have the best one-liners of 1999, but you could have gotten all of them from the trailer. I will stick to Magnolia for best pretentious, Oscar-nominated drama of 1999. In 2004, when I observed that Desperate Housewives was a mix of Blue Velvet and American Beauty, I wasn't aware of how right I was. I was just guessing.

I have also dusted-off several recent issues of Maxim (both the English and Latino versions) and GQ (both the US and UK versions) that I had in my incoming mail pile. Besides looking at fall clothes I cannot afford, I learned that I am still young enough to wear a pair of brown Avirex P-45 sneakers. I have a $15.00 bid on eBay for them. Wicked cheap and very similar to the pair of Reebok BOKS F-117's I wore in the summer of 1992. Oops.

OK. This is a fun Friday afternoon. The Red Sox have yet another golden opportunity to put more distance between themselves and the Yankees with a doubleheader today in the south side of Chicago, at one of the worst ballparks in the league, New Comisky Park.

So while I want to post videos from Joy Division as we inch closer towards the US premiere of Control, the Ian Curtis biopic (October), there is still time to serve-up some rap. See, when I visited the Avirex website, the first thing I heard was Break 'Em Off. Not only is it a better song than Grillz, it mentions Big Papi. So I have to post it here. That's my logic anyway.

So here is badass white rapper, Paul Wall, with Break 'Em Off.

Go sox!! They have gotten into early trouble in the 1st, but they should come back from that 1-run deficit.

I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab

I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab

[Paul Wall]
Now I gotta work ma wood grain wheel
Poppin’ trunks, poppin’ pillz, still poppin’ seals
Higher than a hill with ma mind on millz
Piece and chain swangin’, bank roll, shiny grill
Baby, I got million dollar dreams, with ma mind on cream
I’m in that mean green machine clean on 19s

Hold up. He rides on 19s? My dad rides on 18s. He'd better upgrade. The regular folks are riding on bigger rims nowadays.

Flat screens in the headrest, swangin’ like a swing set
Brandy wine, paint wet, comin’ down that's a bet
I’m in the lot chasin’ broads like a lesbian
Full of that Kush flower, I’m breakin' off pedestrians
Higher than a street light, floatin’ like a parachute
Buzzin’ like a bumble bee, mustard green Bentley coupe
Young gangsta, Mac game, sharper than a thumbtack
Breakin’ ‘em off, makin’ all the boppers attract
Then they watch me, I’m rocked up fully loaded and sloppy
Tryin’ to hit it and quit it
And walk off like Big Papi then break ‘em off

I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab
I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab

[Lil' Keke]
Aye, aye
I pull up like this, untouchable white wrist
I’m hotter than warm piss, berry grape Sunkist
The truck blow mist five 50 snow bunny
Bentley continental with the mink floors dummy
Paul Wall money, dat’s expensive taste
And ‘em frilly ass fools we send ‘em to myspace
I’mma break ‘em off until the backbone broken

Stainless steel drop phantom, leave the top open
Shit done hit the fan, better cover your nose
And the Kush done start burnin’, better cover your clothes (that’s right)
Concrete crumblin’, glass shootin' lazers
Crawlin’ and cuttin’ up on 24 razors
I’mma show ‘em how to make the slab look phenomenal
Chasin’ paper in the mornin’, call me Houston Chronicle
Hold on then u buckle up the seat belt
Swisha House, Young Don, capital TF

I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab
I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab

[Paul Wall]
Already
Higher than the satellite, crawlin’ like a baby
Maneuverin’ thru the traffic like I’m Tracy McGrady
Still choppin’ on ‘em buttons, I’m struttin’ and lookin’ fresh
Switch hittin’ like Berkman, this is ballin’ at its best
In dat minute maid droppa’, with retractable roof
Finer than wood, wavin’ the hood, student loans on the two
The fifth wheel on the ground, and the trunk in the air
Paul Wall, baby I’m the definition of playa
Ma skillz is so ill when workin’ the wood wheel
Tippin’ 4s like a waiter, beware of the oil spill
Wide screen mind frame, panoramic pimpin’
I’m sippin’ on dat Osama, baby leanin’ like I’m limpin'
In dat 2 seater feeder, it’s me and a senorita
3 ounces up in the liter, and it’s ten up in the heater
Mackin’ a mamacita
Runnin’ game like a cheetah
I’m knockin’ ‘em out the park
Similar to Derek Jeter (Break ‘em off)

I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab
I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad, I’mma break ‘em
I’mma break ‘em off real bad,
I’mma break ‘em , I’mma break ‘em off real bad
I’mma show'em pourin up a duece while ridin slab

In Honor of Episodes 13-22 of 'Trapped In The Closet'

It never ends. So who else but Mr. Alfred Matthew Yankovic to parody it brilliantly.

R. Kelly's long-delayed trial for statutory rape is scheduled to begin September 17th.

Friday Music Videos II

It's KMFDM, bitches! Nothing subtle about these Germans. But I still like them for their humor and danceable beats. Here they are with New American Century (2006) accompanied by a homemade video from a fan.

Count your blessings
Walk the line
Don't move too fast
Or fall behind
There are rules you must obey
They get re-written by the day
Don't do this - don't say that
Your every move is logged and tracked
By the all oppressive eye
Spy satellites in friendly skies

The new american century
Has only just begun
No one exempt from the tragedy
Counterattack start pushing back

Fight the power
That chokes your speech
Fight the power
That makes you bleed
Fight the power
That propogates lies
To keep you weak
Keep you in line

No one dares to say a word
Our panic drives all human herds
In the land where cash is king
Our silence bought and sold for free
The future's banging on our door
When real I.D. will be the law
Love thy neighbor and turn him in
It's call patriotism

The world is watching in disbelief
Chanting shame on you
How can you stand by so quietly
Letting them rape your liberties

Fight the power
That chokes your speech
Fight the power
That makes you bleed
Fight the power
That propogates lies
To keep you weak
Keep you in line
Fight the power
that reigns you in
Divides and conquers
Defines your sin
Fight the power
For one and all
Before the power swallows us whole

Those who cannot learn from history
Are doomed to repeat it!

You can't be bothered or concerned
You see no reason for alarm
Prejudice, religion hate
Usher in the new mandate
Absolute and resolved
One nation under one god
Lack of interest has its price
As we're stripped of all our rights

Fight the power
That chokes your speech
Fight the power
That makes you bleed
Fight the power
That propogates lies
To keep you weak
Keep you in line
Fight the power
that reigns you in
Divides and conquers
Defines your sin
Fight the power
For one and all
Before the power swallows us whole

Friday Music Videos I

I just got the Japanese import edition of Interpol's Our Love To Admire CD. As an Interpol fan since 2003, I am not disappointed at all. Here they are performing Mammoth, the fifth track on the album.

Spare me the suspense
Spare me the suspense
I got no currency, but I'm heaven sent

So spare me the suspense
Just spare me the suspense

Hey lady wait, oh, I so hope you try
You're late, babe you know it's your time

And I won't let you sit by
So cold in the pitch
Night, alone
You can't make amends

No I won't let you sit by
So cold in the pitch
Now we should dance like two fucking twins
Just spare me the suspense

There are seven ancient pawn shops along the road
And the seven aching daddies you may want to know

Oooh, right on

Hey lady wraith, oh baby I can't deny
I got a taste, a taste, a taste and it's time

But I won’t let you sit by
So cold in the pitch
Night, alone
You can’t make amends

No, I won’t let you sit by
So cold in the pitch
Now it’s enough with this fucking incense
Just spare me the suspense

There are seven ancient pawn shops along the road
Oh I know seven aging daddies you may want to know

When you played your heart out
It made me turn around

Oooh, right on

Wait, and you froze in the night
You're late, there's a hole in the sky
No haste, no lesson, no lie
Got a taste that I can't deny

(Spare me the suspense)

And you wait till you know that it's time,
You wait till you know that it's time
You wait till you know that it's time
You wait till you know that it's time
You say that I'm sent from God (you sent black lies), do you know
You said that I'm sent from God (you sent black lies)

Friday Music Video

I'm rollin' up I-95 up to Boston tonight. Need a good driving song. Something that represents my northern Manhattan. Got it. I have to keep in mind that Archetype and M are seeing The Police at Fenway Park Saturday night. But still, this is my first track choice.

this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

this is why I'm hot
I dont gotta rap
I can sell a mill sayin nothin' on the track
I represent New York, I got it on my back
niggas say that we lost it, so Imma bring it back
I love the dirty dirty, cause niggas show me love
the ladies start to bounce as soon as I hit da club
but in da Mid-West, they love to take it slow
so when I hit the club I watch them get it on da flo'
and if you need it hifey, I take it to da bay
Frisco to Sac-Town, they do it erryday
Compton to Hollywood, soon as I hit LA
I'm in dat lo-lo, i do it da Cali way
and when I hit da chi, people say that I'm fly
they love da way I dress, they like my attire
they love how I move crowds from side to side
they ask me how I do it, and simply I reply

this is why I'm hot (hot)
this is why I'm hot (hot)
this is why, this is why,this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot (hot)
this is why I'm hot (hot)
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not (mims)
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

this is why I'm hot, catch me on da block
every other day another purse another drop
16 bars, 24 a pop
44 a song nigga gimme what you got
I'm in to drivin cars, fresh across da lot
I'm in to shuttin' stores down, jus so I can shop

if you need a bird, I could get it chopped
tell me what you need, you know I get 'em by da flock
I call my homie black, meet me on da avvve
I hit wash heights with the money in the bag
we in the big spendency, my pimpin neva a drag
find me with different women that you niggas never had
but those who say they know me, know I'm focused on my green
player you come between, you better focus on da bean
I keep it so mean, the way you see me lean
and when I say I'm hot, my nigga this is what I mean

this is why I'm hot hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why, this is why,this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you hate cause you not (mims)
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

this is why im hot, shorty's see da drop
ask me what i paid and i say yea i payed a guap
and den i hit da switch dat take away da top
so chicks around da way they call me cream of da crop
they hop in da car, i tell em all aboard
we hit da studio, they say they like how i record
i gave them black train, and now i did you wrong
so everytime i see them man they tell me thas they song
they say im da bomb, they love the way the charm hanging
from the neck it compliments the arm, which compliments
the ear, then comes tha gear so when i hit tha room
tha shory's stop and stare niggaz start to hate
rearrange they face little do they know i'm keeping
things buy waist side so i reply no body got ta die
similar to lil weeze coz i got tha fire

this is why I'm hot hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why I'm hot hot
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot
I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you hate cause you not (mims)
this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot

New Age Hits

Friday music videos again. I am not going to touch the Red Sox on this blog until I know what the hell is going on with them. Instead of pulling-away from the Yankees, they are being reeled-in. Scary.

My girl told me this morning that she had this song, Shattered Dreams, in her head. We were trying to determine who performed it. Well, it is Johnny Hates Jazz. Remember this one from 1987?

This is the US video, in which the lead singer, Clark Datchler, is unshaven and more masculine than he appears in the color UK video. So for the US, he's got black & white stubble, very much like the dude in Cutting Crew, which had a hit just months before this single. Interesting also how this single went to # 2 in the US, while it peaked at # 5 in the UK. Could it have been the result of the better video in the US? It was their biggest hit, along with Turn back the Clock (featuring Kim Wilde on vocals).

These guys are not to be confused with the slightly more funky Level 42 around the same period (1985-1987). Level 42 would be grouped into the same sub-category of white UK acts that dabbed in R&B and soul, like Living in a Box, Joe Jackson, and Rick Astley.

Friday Video: Live To Tell

I thought about posting a video in honor of W's 61st birthday. The Smiths did a song called "Unhappy Birthday." and the first few lines apply to W ("you're evil and you lie"). But the song is sung from the perspective of a lover who commits suicide.

So I wanted something dark and beautiful. And then I remembered hearing a Madonna song in the distance while waiting for the fireworks in New York harbor. The song was La Isla Bonita, from the album True Blue. That reminded me of the best song on the album, Live to Tell.

You might recall that True Blue was dedicated to Sean Penn, who is described in the liner notes as, "the coolest guy in the universe." The single, Live to Tell, was the theme to the film At Close Range, which starred Sean Penn, Chris Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Christopher Walken. It was directed by James Foley, whos other great accomplishment was the movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross (accompanied by the same DP and editor, which counts for a lot.

If The Falcon and the Snowman didn't turn Sean Penn into an A-list actor, then At Close Range surely did. It was also a very dark film. I mean dark; darker than Sopranos. It told the semi-true story of a crime family in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania. Christopher Walken is a believable psychopath who murders one of his own sons and his other son's girlfriend. In a decade where dark films were rare, At Close Range and Blue Velvet stood-out as the darkest mainstream dramas of 1986. That was a year in which Reagan's popularity was at its peak, and there was some national unity over the Challenger disaster as well as our skirmishes with Libya (recall that the top-grossing movie of 1986 was Top Gun).

So here is a well-mastered video that shows key clips of the film accompanied by Madonna's song. Some graphic violence and spoilers in this one:

And here is the original music video from 1986. This is is one of Madonna's greatest songs, in my opinion. You know...along with Open Your Heart, Rain, Take a Bow, Deeper & Deeper, Express Yourself, and Frozen. Oh yeah.

Our 100th Post

Here's XTC with Generals and Majors. Perhaps the most English of British rock bands of the 20th century. Very fitting on the 40th anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper album, which has rocketed back to # 6 on the US Amazon sales chart.

Generals and majors ah ah
Theyre never too far
From battlefields so glorious
Out in a world of their own
Theyll never come down
Till once again victorious

Generals and majors always
Seem so unhappy less they got a war

Generals and majors ah ah
Like never before are tired of being actionless.

Calling generals and majors
Generals and majors everywhere
Calling generals and majors
Your world war 3 is drawing near

Generals and majors ah ah
Theyre never too far
Away from men who made the grade
Out in a world of their own
Theyll never come down
Until the battles lost or made

Generals and majors ah ah
Like never before, are tired of being in the shade

What [We've] Done

I understand that Generation Y uses "I" and "me" an awful lot. But if this is the kind of timely pop that sometimes emerges from the kids, then I'm all for it. This is Linkin Park's biggest single yet, crashing the charts over a month ago. But I have finally come around to like the song. It is timely. It can be interpreted in many ways. It is not explicitly partisan or Christian. I found the video to be somewhat shocking at first, but I have come to like it. Maybe it was my PTSD. That is "my" building falling down, after all. But it isn't anywhere near as shocking as Chevy using images of Americans being victimized to sell pickup trucks.

In this farewell,
There’s no blood,
There’s no alibi
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret,
From the truth,
Of a thousand lies

So let mercy come,
And wash away

What I’ve Done
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done

Put to rest,
What you thought of me
While I clean this slate,
With the hands,
Of uncertainty

So let mercy come,
And wash away

What I’ve Done
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done

For What I’ve Done

I start again,
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends,
I’m forgiving what I’ve done
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done
What I’ve done

Forgiving What I’ve Done

For Our Isolated Leader

Metallica's King Nothing (1996)