Iggy Pop - A Million In Prizes: The Anthology

YOURZ

This review is late.  This is the first review of the entire year that wasn't ready to go on the dot at 12:01 AM.  But I have a good excuse and I have to tell you all.  Mine and YourZ truly went to see the Gorillaz last night.  It was, in short, the best large venue live show I've ever seen.  But enough of that, lets get to Mr Osterberg.

He is made of a better cut of the same material Keith Richards is made from.  If the world went pear-shaped tomorrow, he would emerge from the rubble relatively unscathed and ready to rock.  The word 'iconic' really doesn't cut it when it comes to Iggy.  He is so much more.  What he did on Countdown live on national television inspired a generation of punks.  Mine has linked it so check it out.

As you would expect, this collection contains all the hits, including his turn at Cole Porter with Debbie Harry, Well Did You Evah.  But the big surprise for me are some of the tracks I'd not heard before.  Skull Rings, for instance, is an awesome rock song and Iggy sounds as fresh and full on as ever.  About the only complaint I have about this selection is that it doesn't included Loco Mosquito or Dog Food, personal favourites.  And his version of China Girl is different but better, no offence to Bowie, of course.  Iggy Pop for Emperor of the World!

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Legend.  I remember going to see Henry Rollins in his spoken word tour one year, and he told a story about trying to outlast Iggy at some music festival in Scandinavia sometime.  He said even after months of training, weightlifting, hard cardio, a strict diet, Iggy wiped the floor with him.  "Nobody out-Iggs the Igg."

I've sen him live once, and he really is an amazing performer.  I also remember him performing I'm Bored to a bemused teenage audience on Countdown - when was that? Late 70s, early 80s sometime.  His version of Real Wild Child has been the theme song for the Aussie TV music show rage that's been on - forever.  He's influenced so many people, so many bands - the man is, as I said, a legend.  Rock Royalty.  All hail Iggy.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to: http://www.iggypop.com/

Trainspotting - Soundtrack

MINE

I have a bit of a weird feeling about this soundtrack.  On the one hand it features some great songs by some fantastic artists, songs I love to listen to over and over again.

On the other hand, it's the soundtrack to Trainspotting, a movie that has the honour of being the only movie with a scene in it I just can't watch.  Don't make me tell you which one.  But it involves Ewen Macgregor and a very dirty.... ooops, nearly threw up there.

I mean, I have no problem with Begbie glassing people and babies crawling across ceilings and heaps of the other totally gross-out stuff the movie's packed with.  But that scene?  I started watching it once, and only managed to get through it by closing my eyes and having someone tell me when it was safe to open them.  I've promised myself I'll never watch it again.

OK, I'll just listen to Lust For Life and wonder how I ever managed to walk the line between not choosing the three-piece suite on hire purchase - and not choosing heroin.  Glad I did.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

Some soundtracks are just background music used in order to add ambience or atmosphere to the visuals on screen.  Others help the viewer identify with the times the movie is representing.  Very few, however, can claim to be defining of a generation.  Like the movie, the Trainspotting soundtrack is one such set of songs.  Just as the movie consistently makes top lists around the globe, the soundtrack too has become one of the most popular of all time.

Director Danny Boyle used Iggy Pop's seminal Lust For Life to accompany the opening scene of the movie, so to use it to open the soundtrack was a no-brainer.  This track fairly pumps with urgent energy and as a scene-accompaniment, sets a very particular tone for the movie. 

However, the problem with soundtracks is that while particular songs go well with the visuals, it can mean the dynamics for an album can be all over the place.  For example, after starting with such a bang, track two, Brian Eno's Deep Blue Day, effectively dampens the energy of the first track.  This isn't to say it's a bad song, just misplaced.  This is followed by the seemingly Eno-inspired Primal Scream title track, a lengthy instrumental, again a great track, but at 10 plus minutes, overly long and out of place.

This is a small complaint, though, as Trainspotting features some of the best Britpop bands of the time such as Blur, Pulp and Elastica. While I'm a fan of Blur, it is actually Pulp's Mile End that is a surprising delight as is Elastica's 2:1.  But what Sleeper's cover of Blondie's Atomic is doing there is beyond me as it is almost a note-for-note copy of the original.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_(soundtrack) (the only information source available, folks)

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul

MINE

Mmph.  I really thought I was going to love this, given my previous delight at anything Dangermousy in the world.  I'll admit the songs are prettily composed and well played and everything, but it just didn't grab me.

I'd recommend it for dinner party music, though - there's lots of inoffensive melodies beautifully done.  I just didn't find it compelling.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN and pass the hors d'oeuvres 

YOURZ

It seems as though anything Brian Burton, aka Dangermouse, touches has an undeniable appeal to me.  His work with everyone from Damon Albarn, Beck and The Black Keys have become firm favourites.  Then he teamed up with Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous and an eclectic roster of singers and contributors, including film producer David Lynch.

The opening track Revenge, featuring the beautifully strained vocals of Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, sets a great benchmark for the rest of the album but only for the first three tracks.  It leads a trio of gorgeous alt-pop before changing gears with Julian Casablancas taking the lead in Little Girl, a bouncing dubby track complete with bass drops.

The following two tracks, the chugging Angel's Harp featuring Black Francis and Pain with vocals by somewhat subdued Mr Iggy Pop, add the rock quotient to the track listing.  After what could only be described as a Lynchian hommage to the psychedelic pop of everyone from The Beatles and Beach Boys to the Lips in Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It), is my favourite track of the album, Everytime I'm With You, voiced by Jason Lytle, formerly of Grandaddy.

However, I can't help feeling a sense of loss.  The death of Linkous prior to its release was a tragic blow.  If only as a testament to his abilities, Dark Night Of The Soul is as fine a document as any.  Vale Sparklehorse...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.dnots.com/

The Strokes - Is This It?

MINE

Mmf.  It's not really my kind of music, and it was a freebie from back in the day.  Listening to it again, I got irritated by the constant use of the megaphone-effect on Julian Casablancas' voice.  It does have an unmistakable New York sound, but it's not Iggy or the Ramones.  It's kind of like G-rated punk. 

I also hated the cover in a Spinal Tap Smell the Glove kind of a way.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

YOURZ

Gotta be said, I'm just not a fan of this hipster crap.  Partly because I've never been cool enough to be considered a hipster (not that I wanted to anyway... or is that the sort of thing a wanna-be hipster might say just to be all 'whatevah'?  If you've got a definitive answer to this question, you're almost certainly not a hipster either so how the fuck would you know?)

Anyway, lets get this back on track...  The other reason I'm not a fan is because I think the music is repetitive and I don't like the way Casablancas hangs a lot of his melodies off the same lines as the bass or guitars.  It is lazy and boring and, and...

You get the idea.

Oh, yeah, and I'm pissed at the drummer, Fab Moretti.  All I'm gonna say is I called dibs on Drew first, you bastard!

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.thestrokes.com/

Eagles Of Death Metal - Death By Sexy

YOURZ

This band is so much frickin' fun.  From their publicity shots to their songs titles, lyrics, music and album covers, they exude unadorned cool, an LA hipness the rest of the world wishes it could have while despising it at the same time.  It just makes them even cooler.

Featuring Jesse 'Boots Electric' Hughes and Josh 'Baby Duck' Homme as well as a stunning guest lineup, the Eagles... are the kind of band parents warn their children about, to no avail, of course.

Josh takes a seat in this band and proves he is as equally at home behind the kit as he is in front of it (the talented, good for nothing bastard).  But with a frontman like Jesse, I think even Iggy Pop would wanna take a back seat.  Okay, maybe Iggy is stretch but I think you get my point.

I'm disappointed I have seen them live yet as their live shows are said to be non-stop sexy (and not is a Bruno kind of way either).  Next tour, come hell or high water, Mine, okay?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Oh, WAY cool!  These guys don't take themselves seriously at all and they totally rock. This whole album is going on the gymPod to help me push through yet another pain barrier - with a smile on my face.

And they're so rude.  I love I Gotta Feeling (Just 19) but it all rocks in the good way. You see, guys, this is the way to get girls to love your music.  DON'T BE SO SERIOUS.  As a matter of fact, the band that most came to mind when I was listening to them was The Sweet - a glam-pop-rock band in the 70s that I was very into in high school. Same sort of high-powered, cheeky music that just makes you want to bounce up and down.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information:

In our collection, we also have: Heart On and Peace Love Death Metal

Garbage - Beautiful Garbage

MINE

I'm not playing Garbage enough.  This was made abundantly clear when I started playing this album and bounced around to it non-stop for ages.  Now I want more, more, more and I'll be rectifying that ASAP.

What's not to love?  Breathtaking production from drummer Butch Vig (of impeccable lineage) and those scorching sounds from Shirley Manson, this and the other albums are a great asset to any music-lover's collection.

I've seen them, um, three times?  The first as a support(!) to Alanis Morissette.  I was working with a couple of young dudes in a small office at the time, and they said they were going, so I asked if I could tag along with them.  They bought the tickets, I supplied the cash.  Young dudes, remember?  So when we get to the gig, I'm dismayed to find we are not on the floor part of the venue to jump up and down, no, we are in seats, nosebleed high above the stage, with other people sitting behind us who complained when I wanted to bop about a bit. Sigh.  And then there was Alanis.  Reader, I left only two songs into the whiny Canadian's set, thankful I wouldn't be streaming out of the arena with the rest of the plebs.

I've also seen them at a festival where I didn't get close enough to the front, but then later at a solo show where I was right THERE, close enough to get a great eyeful of Shirley.  That woman can move and sing at the same time like just about nobody else I've seen.  Oh wait, I'm not including Iggy Pop, but then I have suspicions he's an alien.  And in a weird kind of segue, I need to watch the Terminator TV series where she plays a Terminator android.

There are rumours they'll do another album and tour it... Butch, the world is waiting! 

PS I have When I Grow Up as my ringtone....

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


YOURZ

As Mine said, what's not to like about Garbage.  Mine didn't introduce me to this band but she certainly increased my appreciation of them.  Their songs are superbly crafted pop heavily disguised as big, brash rock songs and the production is so damned polished, you'd swear you're listening to Britney or Christina or one of those pop divas.  The musicianship, the arrangements and sounds exude confidence and quality.  And then there's Shirley; the bad, bodacious babe who is everything those little try hard divas wanna be.  Her voice moves effortlessly between prissy princess and rock bitch.  Oh, and she looks so good she would make a marshmallow hard. 

This album, like all Garbage albums, has a few power ballads but is mostly comprised of up-tempo tracks perfect for turning up loud and disturbing the neighbours.  I've only seen them live once, at a festival, but clearly remember the massive crowd eating up everything the band threw at them.  I also remember the crowd bouncing up and down like a single organism.  There's not too many bands who can do this to a festival audience. 

Favourite tracks on Beautiful Garbage are probably the obvious ones.  I love the electrobeat start to Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) and the intro to Androgyny is simply awesome.  The soft/loud template has never sounded better or more polished.  And the barking guitar sound and scratches on Untouchable is something else.  I don't know whether it's their best album but if this one's any indication, I'll be listening to the others soon.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.garbage.com/

In our collection, we also have Garbage, Version 2.0 and Bleed Like Me