Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Finally, the moment we've all (um, OK, the moment I've) been waiting for: Seattle Weekly's Year in Music 2003 extravaganza! First we've got two CDs' worth of the music staff's favorite local tracks; next there's my year-end essay (described, aptly enough, as brief and nondefinitive), accompanied by my 101-song 2003 playlist (also available as a single MP3 CD or six audio discs--email for details). And finally, five Weekly music writers make, and write up, their year-end CD-R. (The rest of them will be published in next week's issue.) Enjoy!

p.s.: the best part may be the cover, which is here.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Oh, and many apologies for the sudden absence of updates. I've been hella busy putting together a bunch of stuff for the Weekly's year-end issue before heading to Minneapolis this weekend. I imagine I'll be updating more while on vacation than I have been while chained to a desk. O, the irony. But the year-end stuff looks good, and I'm very pleased with how my idea for it has been executed by the folks who are participating. (Hint: No top-ten albums lists. In fact, no albums at all.)

Sunday, December 14, 2003

About fucking time Hua Hsu got a blog (or website, as it might happen to be). All we need are a few others (Rod Smith, get your shit together!) and we'll really be in business.

Friday, December 05, 2003

Did I ever tell you all that my favorite novelty record is Captain Swing? Now, if you'll all excuse me, I will go off in search of enriching experiences, which, like a teenager, I am missing nowadays.

Thursday, December 04, 2003

So I went and did a C700 Go! for 1970. Here it is:

1. James Brown: “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”
2. Sly & the Family Stone: “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin”
3. The Jackson 5: “The Love You Save”
4. Lee Dorsey: “Yes We Can Can”
5. Rufus Thomas: “Do the Push and Pull Pt. 1”
6. The Spinners: “It’s a Shame”
7. The Five Stairsteps: “O-o-h Child”
8. Aretha Franklin: “Don’t Play That Song”
9. Bob and Marcia: “Young, Gifted and Black”
10. Jimmy Cliff: “You Can Get It If You Really Want”
11. Junior Byles: “Live as One”
12. The Melodians: “Rivers of Babylon”
13. Pat Kelly: “I Am Coming Home”
14. Val Bennett & Harry J: “Tons of Gold”
15. Orchestre Vévé: “Baluti”
16. Bembeya Jazz National: “Waraba”
17. Balla Et Ses Balladins: “Sara 70”
18. Van Morrison: “Domino”
19. War: “Spill the Wine”
20. Mongo Santamaria: “Adobo Criollo”
21. Jimmy Sabater: “Yroco”
22. Santana: “Black Magic Woman”
23. Can: “Mother Sky”
24. Erkin Koray: “Istemem”
25. Led Zeppelin: “Immigrant Song”
26. Black Sabbath: “Paranoid”
27. MC5: “Shakin’ Street”
28. Confusions: “Voice From the Inner Soul”
29. The Velvet Underground: “Rock & Roll”
30. The Kinks: “Lola”
31. Alice Cooper: “I’m Eighteen”
32. John McLaughlin: “Marbles”
33. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: “Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop”
34. David Axelrod: “The Sign Pt. 1”
35. Miles Davis: “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down”
36. Pharaoh Sanders: “Astral Traveling”
37. Art Ensemble of Chicago: “Theme de Yoyo”
38. Curtis Mayfield: “Move on Up”
39. The Isley Brothers: “Get Into Something”
40. The Meters: “Hand Clapping Song”
41. Segun Bucknor & His Revolution: “La La La”
42. The Explosions: “Hip Drop”
43. Alemayehu Eshete: “Chero Aderi Negn”
44. Stevie Wonder: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”
45. Niney & the Soul Syndicate: “Blood and Fire”
46. U. Roy: “Wake the Town”
47. Dave Barker & the Upsetters: “Shocks of Mighty”
48. Bob Marley & the Wailers: “Duppy Conqueror”
49. Al Green: “Tired of Being Alone”
50. The Delfonics: “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”
51. Freda Payne: “Band of Gold”
52. Flaming Ember: “Westbound #9”
53. Getatchew Kassa: “Betchayen Tekezie”
54. Jr. Walker & the All Stars: “Do You See My Love (For You Growing)”
55. Dorothy Morrison: “Rain”
56. Lynn Anderson: “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”
57. Tammy Wynette: “True and Lasting Love”
58. Tracy Nelson: “Stay as Sweet as You Are”
59. Ray Price: “For the Good Times”
60. Loretta Lynn: “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
61. Johnny Cash: “Wanted Man”
62. Tom T. Hall: “Homecoming”
63. George Jones: “A Good Year For the Roses”
64. The Flying Burrito Brothers: “Wild Horses”
65. The Byrds: “Chestnut Mare”
66. Neil Young: “When You Dance I Can Really Love”
67. Randy Newman: “Have You Seen My Baby?”
68. Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Up Around the Bend”
69. The Stooges: “Down on the Street”
70. O Terco: “I Need You”
71. The Temptations: “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)”
72. Edwin Starr: “War”
73. Swamp Dogg: “Redneck”
74. The Last Poets: “Niggers Are Scared of Revolution”
75. Gil Scott-Heron: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
76. Bobby Byrd: “If You Don’t Work You Can’t Eat”
77. Grant Green: “Ain’t It Funky Now”
78. Jimmy McGriff: “Fat Cakes”
79. Fela Kuti: “Lady”
80. Gloria Walker: “Papa’s Got the Wagon”
81. The Staple Singers: “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)”
82. The Beach Boys: “This Whole World”
83. Free: “All Right Now”
84. Funkadelic: “I’ll Bet You”
85. John Lennon: “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)”
86. Ennio Morricone: “Citta Violenta (Titoli)”
87. Augustus Pablo: “Too Late”
88. Jackie Mittoo: “Stereo Freeze”
89. Lee Perry: “Sipreano”
90. Dennis Alcapone: “My Voice Is Insured For Half a Million Dollars”
91. Lloydie and the Lowbites: “Birth Control”
92. Mighty Sparrow: “Sell the Pussy”
93. Duke: “The Dentist”
94. Professional Uhuru: “Medzi Me Sigya”
95. Lord Kitchener: “Margie”
96. Franco et l’Orchestre TP OK Jazz: “Kinsiona”
97. Seyfu Yohannes: “Tezeta”
98. Super Sweet Talks International: “Bura No Ano”
99. King Sunny Adé: “Ogun Party Pt. 1”
100. Les As: “Feza-Dafroza”
101. Bantous De La Capitale: “Lisie”
102. Kiezos: “Rumba 70”
103. Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra: “The Utter-Nots”
104. Iannis Xenakis: “Hibiki-Hana-Ma (edit)”
105. Etta James: “All the Way Down”
106. Bad Medicine: “Trespasser Pt. 2”
107. Charles Wright & the Watts 110th Street Rhythm Band: “Express Yourself”
108. Dyke & the Blazers: “Runaway People”
109. B.B. King: “Ask Me No Questions”
110. Jackie Moore: “Precious, Precious”
111. Janis Joplin: “Me & Bobby McGee”
112. Derek & the Dominos: “Little Wing”
113. Jimi Hendrix: “Hear My Train a Comin’ (Live in Berkeley, May 29, 1970)”
114. Grateful Dead: “Friend of the Devil”
115. Simon & Garfunkel: “Cecilia”
116. Joni Mitchell: “Big Yellow Taxi”
117. James Taylor: “Fire and Rain”
118. Rod Stewart: “Gasoline Alley”
119. The Beatles: “Let It Be”
120. The Originals: “The Bells”
121. The Four Tops: “Still Water (Love)”
122. Tyrone Davis: “Turn Back the Hands of Time”
123. Dusty Springfield: “Silly, Silly Fool”
124. Ann Peebles: “Part Time Love”
125. Chairmen of the Board: “Give Me Just a Little More Time”
126. Desmond Dekker: “You Can Get It If You Really Want”
127. Techniques All Stars: “Eldora”
128. The Slickers: “Johnny Too Bad”
129. Dice the Boss: “Teahouse From Emperor Rosko”
130. Scotty: “Sesame Street”
131. Lito Barrientos: “Cumbia En Do Menor”
132. Los Gavilanes De La Costa: “Los Gavilanes”

I'm probably not going to do another one for awhile--too much time and energy to expend at the moment, considering that in two and a half weeks I have to put together four music sections, a cover package, and a holiday gift guide. But doing stuff like this actually helps keep me sane while I'm under a heavy workload--I work up a lot of energy as it is, and it helps me dissipate some of it if I multitask like this. This MP3 CDR originally had some 210 candidates, and God knows there's stuff I missed (two examples that leap immediately to mind: George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," neither of which I miss very much even though I like both and could've made space if I had them in my collection). The hardest part was figuring out which songs by certain artists to use--1970 was still the tail end of the '60s, where people put two albums a year out as a matter of routine, which is why James Brown made at least seven cuts I could've included (the others: the "Sex Machine," "Bewildered," and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" from Sex Machine; "Super Bad," "Get Up, Get Into It and Get Involved," and "Soul Power") and I skipped over what's probably the best Van Morrison album, Moondance, in order to grab what might be his best single. Three or four Meters choices, too. It's a lot--a LOT--less rock-heavy than you might expect, certainly less than I was expecting, too. Guess that's what happens when you buy lots of old reggae and African comps. In that way, though, it's pretty good--and it certainly sounds good, which is the idea--but I'm happy it's more diverse than the usual Rock '70 look-back might be.

Anyway, if you're interested in a trade and/or a purchase (I've decided to bite the bullet and offer these for sale, at what I hope are reasonable prices), email me for details.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Sentimental hogwash. (Also known as: If it isn't happening to me, it isn't happening.)