Album Spotlight: Filth (1983)

I've been on a pretty big Swans kick for a while, so, in honor of the release of their new Oxygen EP, and my current obsession, I thought I would share my thoughts on their debut album, Filth, which, coincidentally, just got reissued on vinyl, among other formats.

Swans of yesteryear were significantly different in sound, though strangely similar in their overall approach. Repetitive song structures bordering on numbing and simple but infinitely analyzable lyrical material are present in both iterations, but whereas the current band prefers more haunting and subtle textures, Swans at their debut were direct and brutal. Two bass players bludgeon and stab with extremely dissonant and aggressive chords while a guitar produces feedback laden drones, accented by booming drums and large pieces of metal being slammed together, which all act as the bed track for Michael Gira's erratic and monstrous vocal performances. His voice alternates between yelling, growling, barking, and any other aggressive shade you can think of. This is Swans on an aggressive streak that would continue through the early 80s, peaking at the Young God EP.

Swans shows were notorious for their stand offish nature. Michael Gira would have the club promoters turn the heat way up to produce a sweat lodge feel, stomp on the fingers of any one touching the stage, and even go so far as to run into the crowd and assault any one he saw headbanging, which is an act he loathed. You can get some of this feel in the double CD version of this album coupled with Body to Body, Job to Job, which includes an appended live performance from the Kitchen, which I found amazing. Unfortunately, it seems this material, along with their debut EP (which has been attached to other versions of Filth), will not be included on this new reissue, so if you're looking for some more Swans, I'd probably go with one of these other versions unless you're interested in the vinyl.

As an album, it's one of the most brutal you'll ever hear. It's kind of hard to picture what people must have thought of this album when it was originally released in 1983. These were the days before a lot of truly heavy and disturbing music, so this sound must have been overwhelming. This album is pretty remarkable, and listening to this album and then to To Be Kind, it's kind of amazing how far the group has come creatively. Like their namesake, the sound of Swans is beautiful, but it has been made notorious for its aggressive and ill tempered nature.

In continuing my obsession with all things Michael Gira, I just ordered the Body Lovers/ Body Haters project, along with his collaboration with Dan Matz. Really excited to hear what those sound like. Also excited to hear the new releases coming out soon, like the new Wu Tang, the new Ghostface, and of course, the new Smashing Pumpkins. I'll probably be sharing my opinions on those within the next few weeks.

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Review- Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways

For those unaware, the goal of the Foo Fighter's latest project was to record each song of their album in a separate studio in a different city, all the while absorbing and reflecting the musical flavor of that city's musical history and current scene. I go into so much detail here, because unless you read the liner notes, read press, or watched the HBO program of the same name, you would definitely not be able to discern this from the music alone.

I have been listening to the Foo Fighters for a while, and for a while, they've been treading a bit of water artistically. Dave Grohl and company hardened their sound with the return of guitarist Pat Smear for Wasting Light, but the songs were very similar to those on their previous efforts (with the exception of 'Dear Rosemary', but that is only due the awesomeness of Bob Mould's vocals). I feel like they continue the same formula here, and you can hardly tell which song is trying to represent each city, as there is little difference sonically. It's like comparing the endless variety of off white paint swatches; different, but still similar in most basic aspects.

That is not to say that these songs are weak. There are some good moments on this album, with these moments mostly showing in the fist pumping arena rock choruses. Also, guest stars lend their talents to each track, with Zac Brown and Gary Clark Jr.'s contributions being some high points. However, some guests are given very little to do. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band plays a couple of horn stabs, and the under utilization of Rick Nielsen was frustrating, to say the least. How could you have the lead guitarist of Cheap Trick on one of your tracks, and not give him some more room to open up?

So, in my opinion, this was kind of a misstep for the Foo Fighters. With all its talk of variation, it's a lot less varied than other projects they've put out, such as Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. So, in terms of the concept they had for this record, it's a bit of failure, though I'm sure die hard Foo Fighters fans will enjoy it, and it'll probably sweep the next Grammy awards (not that that's a seal of quality; quite to the contrary). For a better Dave Grohl led album with a video tie-in, I'd recommend last year's Sound City. A much more interesting and successfully applied concept.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

What do you think of the album? Do you think I was totally off base? Check in later, as I'll be doing another classic album review while I anticipate an ever growing number of end of year albums.

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Review- The New Basement Tapes: Lost on the River

I have always been quite interested in archival projects of this nature. For those who are unaware, this album is the culmination of various artists teaming up to bring life to song lyrics written by Bob Dylan circa the Basement Tapes era. Not only was this an extremely productive time for Dylan, it was also the period of time in which his backing band, the Hawks, became the Band, playing many songs from the Basement Tapes sessions on their debut. These sessions have always been surrounded in mystery, and this project may shed some light on Bob Dylan's life as a recluse during that period.

It's hard to talk about this project without Woody Guthrie coming into the conversation. Bob was no doubt influenced by Guthrie, and even visited him many times in the hospital near the end of his life, citing him as a musical hero. It's interesting to note this, since Guthrie's lyrics have also gotten this treatment a few times, with Mermaid Avenue and New Multitudes. Jim James is actually a veteran of the latter project, and lends his talents here as well.

I was judging this album on two criteria: the strength of the Bob Dylan lyrics, and then the music that was written by the group to accompany the lyrics. And I got the same impression from both criteria: it really depends on the song. The songs are relatively hit or miss, with brief flashes of brilliance hidden within some definite filler. One can easily see why some of these lyrics were discarded, while some were confusingly never put to music. The music written for this album was done individually, with the group then coming together and selecting the best from that larger lot of songs. As a result, there is some variety to the songs, as each artist has a different approach (my personal favorites are tunes written by Elvis Costello, due to his compositions sounding a little Dylan-esque, and by Jim James because I'm a drooling My Morning Jacket fan). This variety is a strength of the album, as well as one of it's greatest weaknesses. The variety makes sure that the product is not monotonous, but the variety also allows there to be experiments that takes some wrong turns.

All in all, I thought this was an interesting project, but not likely one I'll revisit too often. With other projects resulting from this song writing period (Music from Big Pink, The Basement Tapes, as well as the new 6 disc bootleg series release from Dylan), this is definitely one of the weaker ones, so if you're interested in this period of Bob Dylan's writing, I'd probably go to those spots first. This is more a project for the musicians themselves, and for the most die hard Dylan fanatics.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

What did you think of the album? Are there any projects you think I should look at, or any you are particularly passionate about? I'm off to continue my listen of Sonic Highways.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: Pink Floyd- The Endless River

Pink Floyd have returned in a big way, and I was very eagerly awaiting this album. When I first heard of the release of this project, an extension of the 'Big Spliff' sessions that were conducted in tandem with those for The Division Bell, I nearly had a stroke. Pink Floyd have been a huge musical impact on my life, and I was extremely excited for the idea of more material.

In response to the negative criticism this project has received, I feel like people put way too much pressure on this release. It was kind of obvious that Roger Waters was not going to be involved, and as to there being only one song with vocals, who cares? Honestly, the weakest parts of the Gilmour led Floyd were the lyrics. Also, the fact that there is not that much here new sonically makes complete sense. This album was mostly recorded 20 years ago, and would share a lot of the same sound as the project the majority of it was recorded in tandem with. 

I feel like this album was a great closer for Pink Floyd, as it showcased their classic sound with references to many of their other endeavors, and did more for the legacy of the band than anything released post- Wall. There are plenty of sonic similarities between The Endless River and 'Echoes', 'Shine on you Crazy Diamond', their spacey period, and of course the David Gilmour led iteration. Gilmour obviously is going to receive the most credit for this project, with his signature syrupy, powerful guitar sound, but a lot of this album was designed to showcase the talent of the late Rick Wright. 'Autumn '68' was a great addition; just Wright playing around, but perfect in its own little way. I feel like this album is very nostalgic, and a bittersweet career retrospective for the Floyd. People for some reason were expecting this big, bombastic behemoth, even though it was billed as an ambient project. While this has way too much rhythm and melody to be classified as ambient, I feel like people should appreciate this for what it is, which is some very beautiful, if imperfect, music.

The album is far from perfect (the second Stephen Hawking cameo was a little unnecessary), and will not replace any Floyd album before 1980s in my heart, but in true fan boy fashion, I'll listen to anything they put out with open ears. And they hardly ever disappoint.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

What did you think of Pink Floyd's return? In other blog relatedness, I'll be taking a look at the New Basement Tapes and the Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways in the near future, so stay tuned.


"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: The Flaming Lips- With A Little Help From My Fwends

Covers albums are a tricky business. On one hand, they want to honor the power and greatness of the original songs, but they also work to put the newer artist's flavor and sound onto the music. Most of the time, the result is that neither happens.  Enter the Flaming Lips.

Now, I've been a pretty big fan of the Flaming Lips oeuvre for a while, and I've found a fair share of their covers interesting. Their Dark Side of the Moon cover album was a little weird,but I think it paid homage to the original, and I found the Flaming Side of the Moon, though a joke, to be thoroughly enjoyable. I also really liked their cover of In the Court of the Crimson King (I never thought they'd be able to pull off '21st Century Schizoid Man' as well as they did). But now here we are with their track by track cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles' magnum opus, and arguably one of the greatest artistic statements of popular music.

Like many, I am a massive fan of the Beatles, and Rubber Soul is my favorite album of all time, so the Flaming Lips would have to do this right to win any points from me. After listening to the album through and through quite a number of times, I still honestly have no idea what to think about it, so don't expect any ratings here. But maybe that's what they were after. It needs to be experienced for yourself.

The Flaming Lips are hardly the only contributors to this album. They enlist Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Ben Goldwasser of MGMT, Grace Potter, and walking tabloid article Miley Cyrus, among others, to contribute to this massive Beatles tribute(or riff, depending on who you ask). Surprisingly enough, Miley Cyrus isn't too bad on these songs, though they definitely could have cut her little talking asides (her voice irritates me to no end).

All in all, I find the best songs on the album to be the ones that are closer to the structure of the originals. Sometimes the songs are just shells of their former selves that have been stuffed with too much distortion, synth fuzz, and processed vocals (though the auto-tune fail on the 'sang out of tune' line in 'With a Little Help From My Friends' was hilarious). I realize the album couldn't be exactly like the original, but not even using the melodic shapes in spots seemed like a little too much artistic license.

Obviously this won't be replacing Sgt. Pepper's for anyone, but if you're a fan of the Flaming Lips and the Beatles, I'd say it's worth a listen or too. If you're only a fan of the Beatles, I might avoid it. Looking forward to something original from the Flaming Lips now after their post- The Terror victory lap of side projects, cover albums and drummer firings.

Currently listening to the new Pink Floyd album The Endless River, as well as the New Basement Tapes project. I'll share my opinion on those soon. Feel free to share your opinions on this release, as well as anything you might be listening to.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."