Respect for what?

Dude killed himself apparently.

Why I should listen to their shitty music because of this, I'm not sure. Felt like the thing to do.

Gotcha. I had no idea.

It's really not. Not if you don't like the music. Not if the music is total shit. His fans can mourn him that way, like we mourned Lou and David and Prince and Kurt, but I think we can get by just saying that it's sad, and that it sucks, and RIP.

I'm not going to pretend to like that indefensible shit just because someone died. It's insulting to the artist and the person behind the artist. Guy died... killed himself... fucking horrible, yes, but it doesn't make the music any better than shit-stained shit.

Rip though.

Nirvana
From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah
1996, I still remember the day in '96 that I asked my dad to drive me to the record store to buy the new Nirvana live album. It was kind of a big deal y'know? Sure we had the Unplugged album, which I totally adored. But this was a full live album presenting the band as we mostly knew it: loud. I remember that my initial reaction to this album was two-fold. First, I was sort of baffled by it. The tracklisting seemed so weird. Here was a live album which was assembled from a full career rather than a single show, and it felt in a way like the performances were chosen at random. But my other initial reaction was that it was awesome. It was awesome that the setlist kept you on your toes. One minute you were hearing a hit single, the next a deep cut or stray b-side. This all thanks to Krist (and Dave) who put this thing together with love. It seems they wanted us to remember the band for what it really was: just a great band with great songs. And in that sense every song in their oeuvre was equally important. And every performance could hold something special. That is to say that almost none of these live tracks feel like definitive versions to me. Heck, I know from many bootlegs over the years that they're not. Well, actually "Milk It" may be pretty close to perfection here. But it seems important to remember with this document that even wrong notes and strained vocal chords at the end of a tour were part of Nirvana's sound. And looking at the setlist that happily touches upon every major release (including Incesticide) but also peppers in rarities like "Spank Thru" or "Been A Son." Really we could sit here and nitpick all day, digging through mountains of bootlegs and arguing over which version of which song should have been included. But it just doesn't matter. This is a great fucking listen.

This is the definitive version of "Aneurysm." This is the only version of "Aneurysm" that matters.

I KNEW that was going to be yr response. Hahahahha

I agree it's an amazing version but I never understood your disdain for the album version.

"Beat it! Beat it!"

...

Also, the recording quality is demo-grade. The Wishkah version manages to capture the rumbling tension and foreboding of those chords in the verse. It properly captures the intensity of the song. It's neither too shrill nor too "live" and unclear sounding. It's just a great fucking take of a truly great song that wasn't even done yet when the studio version was recorded... far as I'm concerned.

Figure they needed a year or two to sing that "beat it!" shit before they realized how dumb it sounded.

I didn't even really NOTICE that song until Wishkah came out. It was just one of the songs I skipped 90% of the time. Then Wishkah showed me the truth... that it's one of the best rock tunes the band ever created.

Wishkah = definitive. So definitive that the studio version doesn't even exist for me.

Beat it is dumb. But I did love the song way before wishkaw. Agree the live version is better tho.

Another part of it is probably that in 1996, I/we was/were in the absolute thick of post-Nirvana what-the-fuckness. When the news hit that the album was coming, it was a bittersweet. "Yay, new Nirvana album" tempered with, "Just a live album, and that's the best we're ever going to get." But "Aneurysm" was the song used to promote the release, and it had its own video, and watching it for the first time was pretty fucking cathartic. Packed a real wallop. It's an experience I'll never forget, and I didn't listen to any other track more that year. Maybe it was just all the "feels" as the kids say, but I'm over the feels at this point and I still think this version shakes fucking mountains.

Weezer
Weezer
2001, Weezer was huge to me and my friends in high school. While Pinkerton was released my freshman year, those first two albums still totally played a huge part in the soundtrack to four years in high school. And Weezer became one of those larger than life bands to us. A group of us pooled our collective energy intro tracking down every import single and compilation we could find with any sign of JUST ONE MORE Weezer song back then. The rumors were swirling - Rivers was in college and it seemed like the band may be no more. And then something amazing happened: they started touring again in 2000. It had been three years since the Pinkerton tour wrapped up and we had all but radio silence from the band. In early 2001 a buddy of mine bought us tickets to go see the reunited Weezer in Lowell, MA. And it was amazing. So intense. If you can imagine the feeling it's like when you think a favorite band is over and then here they are playing in front of you... wow. Unsurprisingly their set was entirely Blue Album and Pinkerton songs, except smack-dab in the middle they played a new song: "Island In The Sun." Our minds were blown. There now existed a new Weezer song. And two short months later, a new album. The Green Album seems divisive among fans and critics, but this anecdote is why it's so important to me. Whenever I hear this album, I hear the sheer joy of hearing a new album from a band that I thought was gone forever. As such, it means a lot to me. I can't hear "Island In The Sun" without smiling. The album itself is nothing earth-shaking for the band. But it is solid from beginning to end. Everything here sounds exactly like "a new Weezer album" in 2001. And for that I love it. "Don't Let Go" is a great opener; "O Girlfriend" is a great closer. "Hashpipe" rocks regardless of what you think of Rivers' falsetto. So yeah, hopeless fanatic and all I guess it's no surprise that I adore this album. But at least maybe there's a good story behind why.

Hey NR, 4:44 is out on hard copy.

I saw them tour behind this. They played with Jimmy Eat World and Tenacious D. Went with a bunch of friends. It was funny because the kids tried to mosh, and they were very obviously not the right crowd for it. (God I hated moshing after about age 17 though ... Jesus, what a great way to miss a concert and get hurt and lose your wallet and car keys and whatever contraband you were carrying. Never again.)

It was fun at the time. What a weird period that was for alt rock. NIN came back and it wasn't immediately clear if their new stuff was actually any good. Weeper came back and same (with the ultimate answer being, nope). Oh, and RHCP... saw them too around this time, I think. Oh, then Jane's Addiction, who sucked harder in rebirth than anyone else.

The late-'90s and early-'00s were when I really started to say "fuck this shit" and listen to underground stuff. Looking back on these years, I can't believe Weezer was even on my radar. It was the era of Unwound's magnum, and Fugazi dropped the motherfucking Argument. Microphones released The Glow pt. 2. And so on.

2001 was an amazing year for music honestly.

ICYMI: 4:44 out now on hardcopy. ;)

lol. I saw it. I'll get it to. Don't worry. :)

2001:

Aphex Twin - Drukqs
Ryan Adams - Gold
Bjork - Vespertine
Built To Spill - Ancient Melodies Of The Future
Bush - Golden State
Cannibal Ox - Cold Vein
Eels - Souljacker
The Faint - Danse Macabre
Ben Folds - Rockin The Suburbs
Gorillaz - s/t
Gorillaz - G Sides
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Jay-Z - Unplugged
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
Mobb Deep - Infamy
Nas - Stillmatic
NERD - In Search Of
Pixies - Complete B Sides
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong
The Smashing Pumpkins - Judas O
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
The Strokes - Is This It
Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You
Weezer - Green Album
Whiskeytown - Pneumonia
White Stripes - White Blood Cells

...seems like a lot of the albums I loved in 2001, I still love today.

also this haha

The Dandy Warhols
Come Down
1997, So this band made a little ditty about heroine in 1997 and it blew my mind. I ran out and bought their album and immediately fell hard in love. It was like... a total ripoff of old shit. It was spacey and druggy and droney and jangly. It was The Velvets and The Stones and keyboards a good feelings. They wore their fandom on their sleeves. Maybe the same way that Oasis was posing as The Beatles, The Dandys were happy to sing about "Lou Weed." Y'know? And I just ate it up. I've remained a Dandys fan ever since. I've long considered them a rather overlooked or maybe forgotten band of the 90's - one that's still going strong today. And this album is just fantastic. You want some long drone jams? There's "Be-In" and "The Creep Out." You want some synthy goodness? "Boys Better" and "Everyday Should Be A Holiday" has you covered. You feel like nodding out? Then take "I Love You" and "Green." Some happy rock pop? No problem - "Not If You Were The Last Junky On Earth" and "Cool As Kim Deal" is right here. But maybe my favorite is "Minnesota" in which a wet dream is retold over an upbeat folk jam with killer keyboards. This record is just great. Somebody once said that 'everything old is new again.' And this is that sort of album.

godsdamn am i bored.

right now:
ellen allien - berlinette

so far today:
biosphere - the petrified forest
terry riley - in c
m geddes gengras - interior architechture
some bjork songs from homogenic and it's b-sides and remixes
steve roden - four possible landscapes

Yeah, of course, this x 1,000. I would have mentioned it before, but I was kind of making a point about rock-type stuff, and this didn't really fit.
It's so weird that this album got such a luke warm response. Rolling Stone gave it 1 star, then turned around and gave it 4/5 in its printed album guide. :confused:
Pitchfork, which at the time was just a bunch of kids faking expertise, gave it a 5.5/10 :eek: Now they write features about how "Avril 14" is RDJ's most influential and transformative track (which I don't actually think is true, but it certainly has become part of the zeitgeist). Q Magazine? 2 stars. Spin? 5/10. But it's now pretty universally adored. Or at least, people pretend to adore it because they like "Blame Game" or they're just going off of what others have said. Either way, it was my favorite Aphex Twin album for YEARS. Now I think I prefer a few of the others, but I still think of Drukqs as one of RDJ's most challenging and powerful works.


^ Yup. But don't forget:
Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
Mouse on Mars - Idiology
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Daft Punk - Discovery
Stereolab - Sound-Dust
A Silver Mt. Zion - Born into Trouble as Sparks Fly Upward
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Ease Down the Road
And the freaking Argument!

Can't agree with some of your choices there. Jimmy Eat World? Bush? Negatory mon frer.

don't expect you to. But hey, I worked in a record store at the time and as such was exposed to all kinds of things. Honestly, Bleed American is an album that I heard so much that year that it just is like, part of that year of my life. It's not some game-changer of an album or even an important album. But if I hear it now, I still enjoy it.

As you've mentioned before, I'm pretty beyond the point of giving any F's about what's cool and whatever. I'm under the impression that I'm the most-uncool dude here as far as "taste" is concerned. But I'm okay w/ that cuz I'm real about it. I promise that you'll never seee me pretend to like some arty album that I don't to look cool. And I'll totally admit that I still listen to Bush. IDGAF y'all can come at me. hahaha.

But yeah, 2001 was a crazy year for music. That list I made was outlining stuff that I was listening to at the time, and still enjoy today. There were a few that I almost included - like Endless Summer - that I was into at the time but in all honestly haven't listened to since probably 2002 or so. And I'm totally sure that I'm forgetting lots of good stuff that is just a blur in my head of like "was that released in 2001 or 2000 or 2002?"

Everclear
The Vegas Years
2008, Back in the late 90's Everclear released a promo EP consisting entirely of covers. It was good stuff - The Stooges, Yaz, The Go Go's, Neil Young... And I guess I figured that The Vegas Years was basically an expanded official version of that EP. I was half right. So some of those songs appear here (sadly, no "Search And Destroy" and no "Walk Don't Run"). But the weird thing is - as Art has been wont to do these days - several of those tracks have been overdubbed to feature his new Everclear 2.0 band, which is kind of a slap in the face to Craig and Greg. Those original recordings were great how they were. Anyway, this is a covers album by the book for Everclear. And I do enjoy covers albums. But I don't know, a lot of it feels pretty stiff. "Rich Girl" works better than I'd have guessed. But "This Land Is Your Land" is pretty cringe worthy. And covering "American Girl" or "Brown Eyed Girl" feels borderline wedding band. On the other hand, covering theme songs to "Land Of The Lost" and "Speed Racer" is at least INTERESTING. And their live take on "Jenny" is at least rocking for a wedding band. Overall it's a fairly good idea for the band who were always happy to play covers. I just kind of wish that it focused on archiving the original history of the band's covers more, instead of trying to shape a new record out of those old recordings. The new version of Everclear plays it a little too safe, resulting in something that unfortunately does sound a bit too "Vegas-y" for my taste. It's not a horrible album, but I feel like it could have been much better.

Yeah, I love this about you too man. I promise I won't ever pretend to like something to seem cool either, because liking something doesn't make you cool. Plenty of assholes love all the edgiest, newest shit. I like your posts because they're refreshing, and I feel like we actually have a lot in common... just not specific artists.

But seriously, I fucking LOVE "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. I love that fucking song so much. Lame as hell, I'm sure, but whatever. Great ass song.

I also love Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" MORE than I like the Prince/The Family version.

And Nine Inch Nails of course.

We all good bro. I just don't listen to any f**in' Everclear beyond Sparkle & Fade. Not because it's not cool, but because I can't find a goddamn thing to like about it. Doesn't make my brain feel good.

Have you ever heard of "trash culture?" It's mostly a film thing, but it's basically folks who derive legitimate pleasure from trashy shit. I have a little bit of that in me. Not sure about you, but when you talk about Bush, I wonder ;)

(Actually "Greedy Fly" is a good song, and so is "Swallowed" in a totally empty way.)

Blah!!!! Talking.

Bette Davis Eyes rules!!!!!! As does Nothing Compares.

I'm sure I have that trash culture thing in me. Sure. I really do tend to get enjoyment out of shit most don't. I watch a lot of 90s shows and movies. Bad horror flicks etc.

Razorblade Suitcase is the best Bush album by far. Albini produced it.

You didn't like anything on So Much For The Afterglow? Listen to "why I don't believe in God"

Oh I guess I liked a song or two from that one. The first one... the "This is a song about Susan" one. Liked that. Just not something I listen to as a grown up.

"Bette Davis Eyes" more than rules... it's positively heartrendering and beautiful. I rocked that shit when I was in *high school.* Probably among the greatest pop songs ever for me. :D

the "song about susan" song is... "So Much For The Afterglow" haha. I still like that album quite a bit. I've listened to it more than once in the past year. There's a couple of cloying clunkers, but overall I think it's a solid album.

Did you ever hear any of their pre-Sparkle stuff, though? World Of Noise is awesome. Actually my favorite Everclear song ever is probably "Loser Makes Good." They had a live EP that came out after Afterglow, and I was excited that they had kept that song in the setlist even while obviously aiming for more mainstream ears.

Anyway, I'm not just saying "oh yeah I like that song too" - "Bette Davis Eyes" has also coincidentally always been one of those songs that just hits me in the friggin' heart. I don't even know if I've ever heard another Kim Carnes song in my life. Maybe? But that song is just gorgeous beyond belief.

Pearl Jam
Yield
1998, Yield was marketed as some kind of "return to form" for Pearl Jam. As if it were meant to hearken back to a more straight ahead rock sound. I never really heard it that way. If anything it feels like some kind of progression - and reaction to No Code. Like the other side of that record. I don't think it's crazy to say that plenty of material here ("Brain Of J," "MFC," "Faithful") could easily have appeared on that record. It's just that this one feels a bit more comfortable. And I don't mean that as an insult. Sure much of No Code had more urgency to it, but Yield feels like a band that has allowed songs to grow organically. These compositions feel lived-in. "In Hiding" and "Wishlist" are great examples; while neither are particularly challenging, they have this great feeling and slow-burn comfort to them. It's also possible that my ears are hearing things based more on what I know. That is to say that I watched Single Video Theory (documenting the making of this album) more than a couple times back in the day. And as far as that 'return to form' goes, I will say that the rockers do rock ("Do The Evolution" being a clear standout). Like any Pearl Jam album there's a couple of missteps in the band's ill advised attempt at being experimental (looking at you, "Push Me Pull Me"), but thankfully those moments are few and far between. I'm not sure Yield was ever considered a classic in Pearl Jam's discography, but I don't think anyone ever saw it as a disaster. Personally, I think it's pretty damn great and should be remembered fondly. Even if it sounds like a transitional record or Pearl Jam playing it safe - it's still full of great songs and confident interplay between band members.

"Push Me Pull Me" is great! That chorus is excellent! Yeah, the lyrics are kind of whaaat and Vedder's cadence is a bit silly doing the whole spoken-word Lee Ranaldo thing, but I still think it's a good song.

No Code probably has higher highs ("Sometimes," "Hail, Hail," "In my Tree," "Smile") but it also has lower lows ("Red Mosquito.") I always liked Yield in general. I saw them on this tour (among others) and they had settled down a bit, but they were still solid.

I think this sort of marked the end of their commercial dominance... sales declined considerably with each album, but this No Code really took a hit and I don't even think this one hit #1. But it has some good PJ songs, like "Brain of J," "Faithful," "Guven to Fly," "MFC," "All Those Yesterdays."

This was the last PJ album that I really liked. I had to force myself to listen to Binnaural, and forget about the rest. But Yield definitely wasn't a failure.

you always surprise me. For some reason I didn't think you'd like this album.

I totally agree that the highs on No Code are higher. Although the other big surprise was that you cited "Red Mosquito" as a low - that's my favorite song on No Code!

My favorite track on Yield is "All Those Yesterdays" btw.

Binaural isn't bad... but it is pretty unexceptional.

I probably wouldn't like it much if I listened today. Probably wouldn't make it through more than half of it. But I have good memories of it, and I consider it their last strong album. They played a good show on the tour behind this record. I saw them in Seattle and I believe one of the Live on Two Legs performances was taken from the show I attended. Not sure which though. Kinda cool.

Live On Two Legs is like a perfect compliment to Yield. Man... Yield, Live On Two Legs and Single Video Theory were all released in 98. Such a good solid PJ year haha.

Out of curiosity I checked Wikipedia for source dates, and nothing on Two Legs was recorded in Washington, though.

rock n garage low fi great vibe

that dog is a 90s band with some good songs.

They reunited and have a kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-album-in-19-y

That Dog was awesome. They did a lot of stuff w/ Beck. Re-recorded "Girl Dreams," "Totally Confused," etc. Awesome. Thanks for the link!

Thanks for the heads up, evollove. I used to take some flack from "hip" musical acquaintances for liking That Dog. Glad to hear they're back in action.

Huh. Really. I swear it was in the booklet. Oh well, been a decade since I looked at the thing.

That's kind of shitty of them, since they made a big honking deal about the two homecoming concerts they played at Memorial Stadium. Silly that nothing from those shows would make the album.

Stupid that "Faithful" wasn't on the album.

Wonder how that idea got into my head.

Ben Frost - Threshold of Faith

New EP recorded by Steve Albini :eek: