I just watched this very interesting documentary on the current state of the music business. It was much better than I expected and I encourage you to seek it out. Perhaps your local library has a copy. Or you can find it at Amazon by clicking on the link below. Some great performance footage and insightful commentary from Branford Marsalis, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, and many others.

While the usual villains are called out, The Telecommunications Act of 1996, Clear Channel, et al, the news is not all bad – The dis-intermediation provided by the Internet has allowed musicians to connect with fans as never before and computer based recording technology has put a recording studio that in 1980 would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars within the reach of almost any musician. We can hope that somewhere tonight the next Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Brian Wilson or Prince is pouring his heart and soul out and getting it all down on an iBook.

Before the Music Dies (Featuring Dave Matthews, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, and Branford Marsalis)

Rolling Stone’s year end issue featuring their Top 50 Albums of the Year  just sailed in over the transom. The list includes a bunch of my faves, including another #1 slot for Bob Dylan’s "Modern Times".  Other notable entries include Cat Power’s "The Greatest" at #7, Tom Waits at #10, and the reunion album from the surviving New York Dolls at #12.

This article features the ability to listen to every on eof the albums via the Rhapsody service. Very nice!

See the full list here and let the debates rage on.

I am starting to compile my Best of and/or favorite music of 2006 list and realize that I have not acquired nearly enough music this year. My buddy Radio Hannibal has just posted his Top 50 list – TOP 50??? Geez, I am slacking off, I’m lucky if I pull together a dozen that I really liked this year. 

Maybe I’m not thinking hard enough.   But this dude over at "the Late Greats" takes the cake in the "uh, when do you find time to do anything else" department. 

He has compiled a Top 2006 songs of 2006.

To put this in perspective, many Classic Rock radio stations have an on air play list of 500-700 songs.  Of course, that’s an abomination in it’s own right, but a TOP 2006??? 

I have a few problems with this list too.  The Flaming Lips "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah song" came in at # 1993 on this list – it should easily be in the top 1000. "Margaret vs. Pauline" by Neko Case is #1965, when EVERYONE KNOWS it should be at  #1950. 

Top 2006

A brief entertainment news item caught my eye this morning:

Rod Stewart’s "Still the Same … Great Rock Classics of Our Time" is the No. 1 album in America this week, selling 184,000 copies for its debut. Stewart’s "Every Picture Tells a Story" was his first to top the charts, 35 years ago.

And the similarity ends there. "Every Picture Tells a Story" was the work of a vital artist – a singer who literally defined what it was to be a rock star /lead singer/front-man.  Never the magnitude of Jagger or the majesty of Plant or the urgency of Daltry, Stewart nonetheless carved out a territory all his own.

"Still The Same…Great Rock Classics Of Our Time"

Having heard a few selections from this collection I have to assume that the CD was purchased by fans who had not had the same opportunity.  After not one but 3 or 4 recent CDs where Rod managed to wheeze his way through the "great American Songbook" and put his stamp on classics by Cole Porter and Jerome Kern and other geniuses of the pre-rock era, Rod has now turned his attention back to music from his own generation.  Earlier in his career he made some excellent choices for songs to cover. "Downtown Train"  by Tom Waits and  "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" by Van Morrison among them. In both cases his versions were hits while the originals were merely brilliant. 

On this CD his voice is thinner than ever with a rasp that longs to be accepted as warmth, but lacks sonic punch and emotional depth. One can not help feeling that none of these remakes was necessary. 

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"  is given a 21st century gloss with Strings and none of the vocal sneer that makes Fogerty’s original so vital. The second track, Elvin Bishop’s "Fooled Around and Fell in Love"is, in fact, a perfect song for Rod. "I must have been through a million girls" – yep – that’s our boy – but he winds up falling in love of course and the former teen-aged  fans who adored "Do Ya think I’m Sexy" will be driving their kids and husbands nuts with this CD. I can hear it blaring from minivans at the soccer field now…

Some of these tracks are simply too painful to endure "I’ll Stand by You"  – when sung by Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders is stunning, here it’s cringe-worthy.  "Love Hurts" made famous by Nazareth but written by Boudeleaux Bryant and originally recorded by the Everly Brothers is also damn hard to take.

By the way, the head-scratching line "Love is like a Flame it burns you when it’s hot"  was NOT in the original version. It was "Love is like a stove it burns you when it’s hot" Full Lyrics Here. Gotta admit that version makes more sense – I mean, when, exactly, is a flame NOT hot?  Rod opts for the "flame" version and oh yes, he emotes.

I like cover versions. I love albums full of cover songs.  BUT, I like those versions to give an added dimension to the song – so this CD is not for me. But there are hundreds of thousands of fans to whom the mere addition of Stewart’s weary crooning makes everything better.  These are people who don’t buy a lot of new music, don’t go  to record stores and with the state of Radio these days – won’t be hearing this record on the air – so how did it sell 184,000 copies in it’s first week?  The same way they sold those collections of standards – Direct Response TV ads.

Now, if you want to hear a cool collection of covers  check out Matthew Sweet and Susannah Hoffs recent "Under the Covers"

This  is a fun CD. Matthew Sweet and Susannah Hoff (The Bangles) have worked to gether with Mike Meyers in all three Austin Powers movies as the band Ming Tea. Here they have recorded 15 great tracks from the 60’s and early 70’s in a relaxed and charming way.  Songs by The Beatles, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Fairport Convention, The Left Banke,  The Zombies,  and more – all in a breezy "arent we having fun" style. Click on the image above to check out the various sound samples over at Amazon. You’ll be glad you did!

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Today on Dad’s Car Radio – we listened to … the radio. Neither Chelsea nor I had brought a special CD along so we tuned in to a local Pop music radio station. After first listening to a five question pop-culture contest (I went 4/5 missing the one "What major franchised weight loss program did Kirstie Alley use to drop her tonnage after "Fat Actress?’ – Do YOU know that one? If you actually care the answer is here .  Anyway on with our show.

The song played right after this was James Blunt’s hit "You’re Beautiful" You may have heard this one.  It’s slow, acoustic guitar gently plucked over a sleepy rhythm section. It’s a gentle melody and a lonely aching male vocal that often warbles up into falsetto…  Now here’s the fun part. The Lyrics.

Lyrics in black, Dad in Green, Chelsea in Magenta, of course.

"You’re Beautiful"  James Blunt

My life is brilliant.
Sounds like he jumped in too early on the music and they decided to keep it because ..
My life is brilliant – There he is again
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

He never does tell us this great plan does he?

Must be a secret plan!

You’re beautiful.

You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,

Hey Chels, you know on the album version it doesn’t say "Flying High"

Yeah I heard.  Nice guy "oh you’re beautiful" but maybe not – cause I’m HIGH!

And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last ’till the end.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in
a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

You know the thing that gets me about this song is that it sounds like an "our song" kind of thing – but they are never together – it’s a moment with not even a conversation and he’s smitten, but it’s nothing and people will probably use it at a wedding having only really heard the chorus…

I know, I mean he sounds like a stalker. Have you seen the video for this – he jumps into a glacier.

Into a glacier?

Yea, or some water from a glacier, some kind of cold looking water, he take off his hoodie and then his sweater, then his shirt and then takes off his shoes and empties out his pocketsand sits there then at the end… Doh! Jumps in…

Well maybe the joke is on us he has that super model girlfriend.

La la la
la la la la la la

You’re beautiful. You’re
beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.

There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it’s time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

*************************************************************

Man, that is one annoying song. So while writing this post today I decided to see if I could find the video Chelsea referred to – and of course it’s on YouTube about 30 times… You can watch it if you like.  But I found something even better.  From a newspaper in Kentucky comes this:

Facing some truths about James Blunt

Original Article here

By Nan Hu

Singer/songwriter James Blunt drops by The Louisville Palace on Tuesday. But before you make the trip to hear this crooner, here are some things you should know about him.

10. He sang You’re Beautiful at the 2005 wedding of Elton John and David Furnish in England.

Wow. Not just any wedding, but a big, fat, GAY wedding! Told ya!

9. He recorded the song Goodbye My Lover in the home of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) — in her bathroom, to be exact.

8. His family is well known in Norfolk, England, for preserving a historical landmark, Cley Mill, a windmill built in the 18th century that has become a bed and breakfast.

7. Members of his family have served in some form of military service since 955 A.D., a tradition Blunt carried on by becoming a captain in the British army.

6. He has been shot at more times than 50 Cent.

5. As a NATO peacekeeper in Kosovo, Blunt roamed the streets with a guitar and a gun, singing Give Peace a Chance to anyone who listened.

4. He has been banned from Essex FM, a radio station in the United Kingdom, because listeners complained about hearing his songs too much.

3. A survey of nearly 2,000 people this year indicated he is the fourth-most annoying thing in the United Kingdom.

Those Brits really know how to take interesting surveys, don’t they?

2. Each one of his four videos involves some sort of pain/misery (committing suicide, running from predators, being kidnapped, etc.)

1. He is dating model Petra Nemcova, who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami by hanging onto a tree.

But then I also found this:  The supermodel has dumped him for cheating on her with a "String of women" Guess that sappy stuff works…

Welcome to Dad’s Car Radio!

I’m your host, Dad – also known as C. Peter Clough. I’ll be joined here in words and music by my daughter, Chelsea.  On our daily drives to school, we take turns selecting the songs we listen to – it’s fun for us and we have decided to share.

On these short journeys – about 15 minutes – we will share music that we enjoy and talk a bit about it.  Being Dad, I try to add some information and sense of history with my selections and Chelsea picks ones that she thinks are cooler than whatever I just played.

In addition to the recordings, we will add photos, and report on various events.  Starting today with a report from the Virgin Music Festival, which the entire family attended on September 23rd, 2006 at the Pimlico Race Course.  We live within walking distance of the race track and when I saw this amazing concert advertised, frankly I was stunned. "I can walk to see The Who???" We’re going!"

So, we all got tickets and went to see the show.

(By the way – you can see larger versions of all the pictures by clicking on them. Except where noted, I took all these pictures.)

The Pimlico Race Course Infield, normally an empty grassy lawn except for Preakness day now contained 2 stages, 14 bands, the dark horse Dance tent featuring world famous DJ’s, the freak lounge with sideshow acts, various causes and concessions, half a dozen radio stations and about 40,000 people – most of them not born the first time I saw The Who in 1979…

We arrived at the Festival during the Raconteurs set. Jack White, who looked as if this was one  of the first days he had seen the sun in some time, is one of the most compelling figures in contemporary rock and this band – side project? Hiatus diversion? – is a more traditional approach to music than the White Stripes. 4 guys – Verse Chorus Verse – but nicely done. Kind of sounded like a mix of Revolver-era Beatles, the Kinks, The Stones, The Stooges and well, Jack White… Not a knock out – but a nice way to start the day.

We then walked all the way across the vast infield of Pimlico – stopping off to see the fire-eater in the Freak Lounge – to the smaller "Clubhouse Stage" where the exciting young band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was already doing their indie rock thing.  I loved the sound of these guys – they looked kind of uncomfortable playing a gig outdoors at 3 in the afternoon, but the crowd was into it and I definitely need to hear more from them.

Strolling back across the infield we visited with some old radio station buddies from WRNR – Radio Annapolis, I worked with Rob Timm,  Bob Waugh and Mary Kay (LeMay) Waugh at the famous WHFS back in the early 1990’s.  Always nice to see them – Rob was sporting a t-shirt that quoted Vice President Dick Cheney’s suggestion to Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy "Go Fuck Yourself".  Everyone agreed that we were all older but still damn good looking and smart, too.

Back at the Larger Grandstand Stage it was time for Gnarls Barkley.  They had the song of the summer with "Crazy" and I was excited to see this live set as I had read how they always dressed in a different theme. Today’s theme was Rome. Cee-Lo Green was wearing a Centurion’s helmet and Gold breastplate. "We’ll be your entertainment for the evening," the charming, charismatic singer-rapper Green announced in the middle of the afternoon. "We are the Chariots of Fire."

Photo borrowed from WashingtonPost.com without permission of any kind

An 11 piece band re-created their funk hip hop R&B blend which included a cover version (also on the CD) of the Violent Femmes "Gone Daddy Gone" which we were told "We break this one out when we need a boost because this one goes to 11" .

After Gnarls, Chelsea and her friend Susanna wanted to check out the dance tent so we trucked over to the tent which was heating up in the afternoon sun and smelled of hay and horses – or was that ravers?  John Digweed was mixing a propulsive set that started to induce vertigo and headache after about 3 minutes, it sounded better as we were walking away…

Back to the main stage to hear the polished set from The Killers.  I only hung here for a few songs – which sounded like Rock and Roll to me and they dressed with some style, but frankly, I wasn’t really moved. – About 15,000 kids packed up to the stage must have disagreed…

I moved along with my wife, Gail over to hear the Thievery Corporation on the smaller stage. NOW, we’re talking.  This was the most interesting music of the day. The stage was filled with the most exlectic assortment of musicians and gear – Keyboards, Computers, turntables, Bass, Congas, Timbales, Guitar, Saxophone, Trumpet, Sitar and Belly Dancers. With various guest singers and rappers changing in and out from song to song. Hearing "Lebanese Blonde" played live as the sun went down and the sky cleared was a beautiful moment.  We already loved this ensemble and would go back to see them headline a club or small hall gig in a heartbeat. See for yourself at their website by clicking here.

Back across the midway – did I mention stopping for $8.00 drinks along the way each time we crossed… It’s time for The Who! And everyone is here… except Keith Moon and John Entwistle and the upper register of Roger Daltry’s voice… It was great to hear the songs – Pete played the guitar with as much authority as ever – but with less wild abandon – he is 62 after all… As for Roger, he leather lunged strutting rock star  may  be in the past and he had some trouble with the high notes, but he got more right than wrong and with thousands of fans helping out it became a case of "The shotgun sings the song".

The Red Hot Chili Peppers by contrast are a band that is still at full power. Strong, confident, and damn close to slick at this point… After three songs – I was off to see the Flaming Lips. Along the way I made a quick mobile phone call to Radio Hannibal who was in the midst of DJ-ing a picnic somewhere in Ohio to let him know I was about to experience one of his favorite bands for the very first time.  Speaking of using Mobile phones – they had a cool thing going between bands. Kids sent text messages and they were displayed on the giant screens by the stage – all sorts of random thoughts and greetings…

The Flaming Lips.  What a blast! Thousands singing along to "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and "She Don’t Use Jelly" Colored lights and Confetti Balloons – GIANT Balloons bouncing across the heads of the crowd – Dancing Santa Clauses on stage – This whole day had many carnival elements and now they were all on one stage and ring master Wayne Coyne – urging the crowd to give more energy – "I know it’s been a long day but you’ve gotta give us some more" and we did. They sold a few records and made more than a few new fans that night – you simply can not watch this band without being charmed.

Then it was all over – and I just had to walk home.  Beautiful.