Avantasia - Invoke the Machine

Tobias Sammet has returned to the Avantasia project with the new album “The Mystery of Time – A Rock Epic.” This is the sixth instalment in the Avantasia journey. My first impression of the album is that it is not as glorious as the Scarecrow Trilogy, but what could be really? “The Scarecrow,” “The Wicked Symphony” and “Angel of Babylon” are three of the best albums to come out in the past decade. My only real complaint has to be the absence of Jorn Lande, who was just so powerful and important on so many of the best Avantasia songs up till now. While it is hard to imagine Avantasia without Jorn, variety is a good thing, and Avantasia more so than most musical endeavours is a living thing, over just three projects we have seen Avantasia changing and growing with new voices and talents being added the whole time. The huge assembled cast Tobias Sammet has gathered allows for a lot of flexibility. Further to this point my favorite thing about the newest Avantasia album is the inclusion of two new singers, Mr. Big’s Eric Martin and Pretty Maids’ Ronnie Atkins.

“The Mystery of Time” has yet to be released in the United States or Canada and no date has been set for its eventual release, so I was forced to pick up a copy while in Europe, oh yes I went to Europe specifically to see Avantasia. I think my two favorite songs on the album are “Invoke the Machine” which features Ronnie Atkins and “What’s Left of Me” which features Eric Martin. If I had to pick one of these two tracks to represent the whole album I would have to go with “Invoke the Machine” since it has a little more relation to the album’s overall narrative than “What’s Left of Me.”

Every Avantasia epic has had a story to it. “The Metal Opera” was a grandiose fantasy epic and I’m still trying to figure out all the details, “The Scarecrow” was a mysterious stranger’s voyage through the planes of reality, and now “The Mystery of Time” is a man’s inner conflict between knowledge and faith, or as Tobias puts it;

“So take the time to follow me into a small old English town during the Victorian era and join a young agnostic scientist by the name Aaron Blackwell as he is forced to explore the coherencies of time, God and science; torn between belief in his professional conviction, his spiritual intuition, love and a lodge of scientific occultists.”

A song title/chorus like “Invoke the Machine” suddenly carries a heavier meaning once we are familiar with the overreaching arc of the album’s story. This song, as far as I understand it, is a breaking moment for our protagonist Aaron Blackwell, the mysteries of time are unravelling before him and he is beginning to embrace this brave new world. To invoke the machine for answers is to side with science, which is also interesting because there is something of an emotional plea in this song, something we might typically associate with spiritual intuition. The visions of fantasy are replaced with new dreams inspired by new understanding, to this end, we invoke the machine. I also think it is kind of charming that he refers to a machine to understand time as a god machine.

Of course new found knowledge is something emotional. We often don’t think of it in such a light but there is something very nearly spiritual about science and technology, largely due to the fact there is something very emotional about learning and growing, and changing. The men we once were are not the men we are today and being civilized is the simpleton’s perspective to explain the difference, civilization is forged entirely on trans-generational knowledge, a giant leap in science and technology always changes everything. It’s clever what Tobias is saying in “Invoke the Machine” he is suggesting far more than he is initially leading on.

Anyway Ronnie Atkins rocks the house in this song and it is just a great heavy metal song. “Invoke the Machine” and the rest of the “Mystery of Time” album will always mean a little more to me than just deep introspective thoughts about science and emotion, it will always remind me of my trip to Europe where I beheld the glory of Avantasia in Berlin and Hamburg, where I made dozens of friends from all over the world. I had forgotten what it meant to be happy, truly happy. I have been settling for a second rate excuse for existence until those two wonderful nights in Berlin and Hamburg. Thank you Tobias Sammet for helping me find what I had lost. With my resolve I will remember forever.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

P.S.

I actually met Eric Martin in the back alley after the Hamburg show and it was crazy nice, and for that reason I feel I should mention his contribution to "The Mystery of Time."  Here is the splendid ballad "What's Left of Me."

The Airborne Toxic Event - Welcome to your Wedding Day

The Airborne Toxic Event is an indie rock band out of California. Founding member Mikel Jollett is a writer by trade, which, to say the least is a difficult profession to get into; so him starting a rock band as a side project was a daring move. However it appears things have worked out for Jollett, The Airborne Toxic Event debut album did well enough to justify a career in music and their second album “All at Once” is very good. A new single is out now “Timeless” and while it is far from inspiring it is exactly good enough to keep the momentum alive.

I first noticed The Airborne Toxic Event through their radio tracks “Sometime around Midnight” and “All I ever Wanted” both songs are quite good and very emotional. Also both songs have the words of a very young man experiencing things for the very first time, the simple explanation to this might be that a very young man has written these lyrics, however knowing that lyricist Jollett is a writer first I had a moment of wonder as to why he used such a point blank approach. The more sophisticated a writer the more frequently they try to avoid saying exactly what they mean, not the case here. It could be The Airborne Toxic Event is a band that is all about show casing base emotion, and this is done effectively with examples just mentioned. There is method to this approach even though it can come across as immature at times, but it is not as if every Toxic Airborne Event song is the same.

I picked up “All at Once” in the winter of 2012; it had two songs I knew and liked on it “All I ever Wanted” and “Numb” so I took a chance. The best thing that can happen when you buy a CD only knowing a few songs is discovering that you like at least one song much more than any of the songs you were previously familiar with, which is exactly what happened to me with “All at Once.” There are two songs that flow together on the disc “The Kids are Ready to Die” and “Welcome to your Wedding Day” and this two song set is the best part of the entire album, which is saying a lot since “Numb” is a really good song. “The Kids are Ready to Die” with long echoing bass chords accompanied by a quiet acoustic guitar and gloomy grey words is the perfect way to build up to the faster heavier “Welcome to your Wedding Day.” And the chorus line really sinks in before the song’s end;

“The kids are lined up on the wall, and they’re ready to die”

“Welcome to your Wedding Day” almost plays like a marching song, at least the drum line does, but feels like something else altogether when the lead guitar shakes things up. But what makes this song so great is Jollett’s voice, he really has passion for what he is saying in this song, and the lyrics are just so rich;

“And you know it’s begun,
From the crack of the guns,
And the screams from the mouths of babes,
And we pray, as we’re watching the charade.
Welcome to your wedding day.”

As fantastic as a chorus as this is, what is he saying? Honestly, I am not entirely certain, both songs are in obvious protest against something but the specifics are not very clear. During a live performance while introducing “Welcome to your Wedding Day” Jollett said;

“This song is anit-Bush not anti America.”

Okay well that makes some sense at least we now know who The Airborne Toxic Event are protesting against. Granted Bush is an easy target, because he was really bad at his job and we all know it. Still the details are still rather unclear, what exactly about Bush has set Jollet off? I am sure it would all make perfect sense if Jollet explained point blank, like he has in some of his other songs however I am glad he has not. The deep yet ambiguous lyrics in this song allows room for interpretation and projection, and a song like this, a protest song, is something we all can relate to. Everyone wants to change the world in one way or another, and many of us are very passionate about it, by leaving things open, or unclear, Jollet has allowed us to project our desires for change onto this song.

Also a great line;

“We don’t negotiate with terror,
We only watch them beg.”

I am not sure whether the above line is meant to be admired because it is so bad ass or despised because it is meant to be interrupted as terrible, probably the later, but it is a bad ass thing to say nonetheless.

“All at Once” was the great surprise album for me last year. I did not expect it to be great, and yeah, it sort of is, and since it unlikely to ever get any radio play I highly recommend you heed my advice and listen to “Welcome to your Wedding Day.”

Until I get back from Europe, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

P.S.

You really should listen to "The Kids are ready to Die" before "Welcome to your Wedding Day," they belong together.

Jonathan Coulton - Baby Got Back

In 1992 there was an epidemic of people not appreciating women with large posteriors. Championing this cause was rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot with his accidental huge hit “Baby Got Back.” Since that time night clubs and karaoke bars have celebrated the value of female secondary sex characteristics by playing, and subsequently over playing, “Baby Got Back.”

Well done Sir Mix-A-Lot your joke song has undoubtedly given many larger women some well deserved confidence in their appearance and enriched the sex lives of many others; I am sure.

I think I like “Baby Got Back.” I am not a hip hop guy and I do not dance so this kind of music is often wasted on me. Furthermore “Baby Got Back” suffers from being obnoxiously over played. Lastly this is the sort of song that I would typically dismiss as the bad comedy that it is, however “Baby Got Back” is the best kind of bad comedy, and like any good joke there is a gem of truth wrapped somewhere within. As a straight man I can definitely relate to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s campaign for I too like women with curves, or perhaps to put things into perspective, I am drawn to all things female, and pronounced buttocks is a characteristic associate with the female gender. Gentlemen, all of you may not be aware of this, but you too like big butts, assuming of course you are a heterosexual, in fact it is quite telling if you truly don’t. So that’s all fun, but with all due respect to Sir Mix-A-Lot for giving us this song, I find my sense of humour and musical taste more in line with Jonathan Coulton.

The original by Sir Mix-A-Lot

Jonathan Coulton is a singer songwriter on the Internet. I do not know if he started his career by sharing his wacky songs online or if that is simply the popular means his fans have taken to share his music, but everything about Jonathan Coulton screams “internet.” Everything about Coulton appears to make him a great candidate to champion nerd culture, especially songs like “Still Alive” the closing theme to the video game Portal.

Jonny C. Also did a cover of “Baby Got Back.”

The two most important qualities of any cover song are A) respecting the original concept and message, and B) making the song your own. First Coulton has kept the same original spirit of the song, as quirky as such a notion may be; respect is certainly given to the serious message of appreciating large butts. Second he has made the song his own, and in a big way, whereas Sir Mix-A-Lot’s original version is a hip hop song Coulton’s cover is done in a folk style ballad. This folk/light rock stylization alone does so much to bring a new light to “Baby Got Back.” There is a certain intensity in Sir Mix-A-Lot’s original that makes his message and intention clearly one of celebrated lust, which is fine; however there is something incredibly charming about Coulton’s version with everything slowed down and sang passionately. Coulton has made “Baby Got Back” a more emotional song than it ever had any right to be, he sings it sweetly and softly and it now feels like an earnest love song for woman with large buttocks, and that, that is funny.

I have known about Jonathan Coulton for a while now, mostly because of songs like “The First of May,” “Re: Your Brains” and “Still Alive” (there is a version where Sara Quin sings “Still Alive” with Coulton, and you know I love her) but it was not until recently I was introduced to his delightful cover of “Baby Got Back.” There was a three week period there where I could not stop listening to it; it is just such a charming song. Coulton’s version of “Baby Got Back” is a fantastic example of how to completely rework a song and give it a whole new level of meaning, while also being a finely structured soothing song. Everything about this cover is perfect.

I do not watch Glee. I do not know anything about Glee beyond that it is a show about the music club, the school choir, or whatever they call it; a glee club maybe? I honestly don’t know. I also know they cover a great many songs because people like hearing songs they already know and also writing songs is hard, even harder when you have to write multiple songs per episode. So to be fair I should reserve judgement on the show, I do not know if it is good or bad or what. However it has recently been brought to my attention that they have covered Jonathan Coulton’s cover of “Baby Got Back” and apparently there is a lot of controversy surrounding this.

So let’s put things into focus here.... Glee covered Coulton’s cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

Okay makes sense.

Here is the thing, Glee did not cover Coulton’s version of “Baby Got Back” so much as they completely mimicked it. There is no difference, at all, between the Glee version and Coulton’s version, and this is very noticeable since the difference between Coulton’s version and Mix-A-Lot’s version is drastic. Glee uses the exact same chords and tempo as Coulton, which were nothing like the original. They were so lazy ripping off Coulton they did not even have the wherewithal to change the name “Johnny C” during the line;

“I want 'em real thick and juicy,
So find that juicy double,
Johnny C's in trouble,
Begging for a piece of that bubble.”

Did they think that “Johnny C” was just a generic name that could refer to anyone? Would they have said, “Mix-A-Lot’s in trouble” if they were simply covering him? This is laughably idiotic. In response to Glee’s cover of his song Coulton has released his cover of Glee’s “Baby Got Back” for sale on ITunes, which of course is just his version. But clearly the joke is this;

The rip off version by Glee:

Jonathan Coulton has released his cover, of Glee’s cover, of Jonathan Coulton’s cover, of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

Makes sense.

There are many people upset by this fraud, and I’m not sure exactly how I feel about it. Credit should be given to Jonathan Coulton since it is painfully obvious his version was the one they were copying chord per chord, and word per word, and the man deserves credit, which of course he is not getting. That is the only real problem I see here. The writers and producers of Glee being lazy and unimaginative, at least in this example, is hardly worth getting upset about, people cover songs without imagination, or talent, or effort, or thought, all the time. This uninspired rip off’s existence is not the problem, the problem is that depriving Coulton of his much deserved credit will result in a whole bunch of people not knowing better. Some people will now think Glee created something special when they should be listening to Jonathan Coulton, and Jonathan Coulton will likely remain a relatively unknown. But you, my friends, will not be one of them. You will know that this charming rendition of “Baby Got Back” was the work of the quirky and talented Jonathan Coulton.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

Colin Kelly

P.S.

Coulton was not even the first person to do an ironic cover of “Baby Got Back,” Richard Cheese did a cover of “Baby Got Back” along with about a hundred other songs all in the style of Frank Sinatra, however everything about Cheese’s lounge style covers has failed to amuse me. There are other covers that are cringe worthy; I hesitated to listen to the chipmunks cover... I mean really? Why? Why any of that? It just goes to show that most people fail to appreciate the level of vulgar male heterosexuality celebrated in this song, and yeah, maybe children’s icons shouldn’t be singing it with such pomp, or people who like the skinniest of white girls.

Just saying.

Richard Cheese's version:

Maybeshewill - Movie Quotes

In September 2011 I reviewed Maybeshewill - He Films the Cloud Part 2:

http://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.ca/2011/09/maybeshewill-he-films-clouds-part-2.html

It turned out to be one of my most popular posts.  I have been meaning to revisit the inventive band and I think I know what to talk about.  Maybeshewill never has lyrics, in place of lyrics they use movie quotes, and here is the complete list.

Album: Japanese Spy Transcript 

Song: In Another Life, When We Are Cats 

Movie: The Rules of Attractions 

“The Rules of Attraction” might appear as a shallow teen heart throb movie but in reality is a very dark film. We follow three protagonists as they struggle with their sexual interest with one another. It is quite enjoyable seeing each one of these characters get slapped in the face with reality as all three are forced to see how wrong they were to romanticize, glorify, and justify their selfish intentions.

The quote Maybeshewill uses here is the final confrontation between Sean and Lauren. Sean the megalomaniac is properly put in his place. Don’t worry Lauren get hers shortly after.

“Lauren, wait. Hey, wait. Lauren.”

“Oh my god.”

“Get in the car.”

“No!”

“Lauren, don’t walk- Hey! I really did try to kill myself! Just before I faked it.”

“Wow. Sean it’s over.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yeah it is. I’m in love with somebody else.”

“Who?”

“My old boyfriend Victor, and that’s none of your fucking business, actually!”

“What? Fucking Victor?”

“Yeah.”

“What... the fuck are you writing me letters?”

“Wow. Deal with it Sean. It’s over. Rock and roll.”

“Lauren, I want to know you.”

“What does that mean? Know me. Know me. Nobody knows anyone else, ever!”

Interesting side note, “The Rules of Attraction” was written by Bret Easton Elis who also wrote “American Psycho.” If you are paying close attention you may have noticed the common last name of “Bateman” for both leads in “American Psycho” and “The Rules of Attraction.” The reason for this is simple, Patrick Bateman, the American Psycho, is supposed to be the older brother of Sean Bateman.

Song: Transmission Three 

Movie: Return of the Living Dead 

“Return of the Living Dead” is a silly movie. Co-creators of “The Night of the Living Dead” wanted to take the zombie idea in a different direction then George A. Romero. While I often criticize movies like “Day of the Dead” and “Land of the Dead” for being completely idiotic and absolutely void of any relatable character motivation, Romero on his worst day has nothing on the return of the living dead series; having said that... the first film “Return of the Living Dead” isn’t bad.

The quote Maybeshewill has lifted is when Burt to forced to explain (as best he can) what the fuck is going on. I think Maybeshewill did an excellent job with this quote, the atmosphere is the song is truly frightening; more so than the actual horror film.

“Freddy are you alright?”

“Tell her...”

“What did you do to Freddy? What’s wrong with him, and this man?”

“You know I think it’s time you tell us what the fuck’s going on.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything dick brain.”

“We think you should.”

“Tell them god damn it.”

“Talk!”

“There was a chemical. There’s some chemical and it soaked into the soil of the graveyard and made the corpses come back to life.”

“What chemical?”

“I don’t know what chemical, god damn it!”

Album: Not For Want of Trying 

Song: Not For Want of Trying 

Movie: Network 

News anchor Howard Beale’s speech is often considered one of the best movie monologues of all time, and rightfully so, actor Peter Finch is so powerful in his performance. The 1976 film “Network” is a must see for anyone who would fancy themselves a film buff and choosing to use this quote was a good idea. In this example I do not feel Maybeshewill did anything special, they just choose a fantastic quote to put in one of their songs.

“Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.

We know things are bad, worse than bad, they're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.'

Well, I'm not going leave you alone. I want you to get mad!

I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a human being god damn it! My life has value!'

I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!”

Album: Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony 

Maybeshewill must have realized people like big powerful movie quotes in their songs because the album “Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony” has four songs containing four movie quotes and one dramatic reading of an article. Also this is when Maybeshewill decided to be a little more obscure since I have never seen any of these films.

Song: Co-Conspirators 

Movie: The Verdict 

I’ve never seen “The Verdict” but I sure want too after hearing this speech delivered by Paul Newman.

“Well... you know so much of the time we’re just lost. We say, ‘please god, tell us what is right. Tell us what is true.’

I mean there is no justice. The rich win; the poor are powerless; we become tired of hearing people lie; and after a time we become dead, a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs, and we doubt the law.

But today you are the law.”

Song: Our History Will Be What We Make of It 

This song “Our History Will Be What We Make of It” doubles up on the movie quotes. The opening speech is from the film “Good Night, and Good Luck” a film about the McCarthy trials staring George Clooney and the closing speech is from “Young Winston” a film about Winston Churchill.

Movie: Good Night and Good Luck 

“Our history will be what we make of it. And if there are any historians fifty or a hundred years from now and there should be a kinescopes of one week of all three networks, they will find there, recorded in black and white and in color, evidence of decadence, escapism, and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have a built in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information.

Our mass media reflect this.

But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then history will take its revenge and retribution will not limp in catching up with our sins.”

Movie: Young Winston 

“It may be the human race is doomed, never to learn from its mistakes. We are the only animals on this globe who periodically set out to slaughter each other for the best, the noblest, the most inescapable of reasons. We know better, but we do it again and again in generation after generation. It may be that our empire too is doomed, like all those that have gone before it, to continue to spew and waste its best blood on foreign soil, no matter what we say or do in this place, or think, or believe, or learned from history.

But thank god for us.”

Song: This Time Last Year 

Movie: I Heart Huckabees

I can forgive myself for having not seen “I Heart Huckabees” it seems like the kind of movie I would normally avoid. “I Heart Huckabees” appears to be a movie about a bunch of self appointed intellectuals discussing the world through the lens of childish immaturity. At least that is what I can gather from the following quote.

“Clothes, videos, toys, cheeseburgers, cars, a functioning economy.”

“You can still have a functioning economy and preserve open spaces with a little planning.”

“Yeah.”

“Socialism.”

“Um, complete disaster.”

“Theodore Roosevelt was a socialist, and William Butler Yeats.”

“Theodore Roosevelt!”

“Henry David Thoreau, Robinson Jefferson, the National Geographic Society, they’re all socialists?”

“You’re talking about socialism.”

“No, I’m not. I’m talking about not covering every square inch of populated America with houses and strip malls until you can’t remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk.”

“What happens in the meadow at dusk?”

“Everything.”

“Nothing!” - “Everything!”

“Nothing!” - “Everything!”

Song: Sing the Word Hope in a Four-Part Harmony 

Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/12/recession-economics

This is not a movie quote, but I felt it was worthy of mention because it is a quote nonetheless. The speech in “Sing the Word Hope in a Four-Part Harmony” is not an exact quote, but is based entirely off the above linked article, “The generation facing its first recession. How will they cope?” by Tracy McVeigh. Maybeshewill has recorded this speech about generation Y, which they are likely apart of; based on age and the fact they have recorded this speech in reference to the content from a first person perspective.

I do not know if the voice in “Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony” is one of the gentlemen from Maybeshewill, but I do know this recording was done specifically for the album of the same name.

“We are young, confident, affluent, and have no memory of tougher times. We’ve grown up in an era of never ending financial growth, and have expected things to stay that way. We’ve grown up in owner occupied homes with total acceptance of technology, global warming and terrorism. Our whole society has been based on consumerism for the past fifteen years, making us dream consumers, yet we don’t know the difference between a credit card and a debit card, and we have no idea how much a pint of milk costs.

On average we have eight hundred illegally downloaded songs, and one in eight of us spends more than one hundred pounds a month on our mobile phone bill. We’ve never read a newspaper, and we’ve never used our chance to vote.

We allow our governments to make decisions without giving us all the facts. They send troops abroad who will die in order that we can steal resources from the people who have them. People who meant us little or no harm until we invaded their country. We allow those troops to commit horrendous atrocities and yet our leaders hang our alleged enemies for much less.

We’ve spent years entrusting our futures to our parents, our governments, the banks and the corporations who have continually lobbied for their own interests, and we’ve let them make selfish decisions that have left our society teetering on the edge of ruin.

We’re blinded from the information that would really shock us by stories of sex and sleaze which doesn’t make the smallest difference to our lives, and so we have no desire to do anything about the things that really do. We’ve watched as greed wipes billions off the world’s stock markets, destroys jobs and lives, and proves that capitalism is just as corruptible by human nature as communism.

These are tough times but we seek solace in our friends and Co-Conspirators, we make small differences in each other’s lives, and dream that we can make real progress.”

Album: I Was Here for a Moment, Then I was Gone 

“I Was Here for a Moment, Then I was Gone” is Maybeshewill’s latest album. They have kept with the tradition of having the longest possible album title but they have broken away from the tradition of having song quotes instead of lyrics in their songs on this album. Instead the album is an instrumental.

I do not know whether movie copyrights become the sudden enemy of Maybeshewill or if perhaps the band wanted us to pay more attention to their fine guitar work this time around. All in all “I Was Here for a Moment, Then I was Gone” is a good album and keeps in the spirit of Maybeshewill even without great movie quotes.

- Colin Kelly

Tegan and Sara - Now I'm All Messed Up

I absolutely love Tegan and Sara. In fact I would go so far as to say I am “in love” with them, especially Sara. I am total in love with Sara Quin. Read all about my lame emotions here:

The Sara Quin Love Letter - http://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.ca/2012/02/sara-quin.html

So yeah...I really like Tegan and Sara, so when they decided to play two shows in Calgary during their Heartthrob tour I bought tickets to both shows. I was going to go get a big eye full of two very pretty girls and listen to them play some high emotion music, and that’s what I did. I had a blast.

I have always been very impressed with the emotions Tegan and Sara manage to stir in me, and now... I’m all messed up.

Now I know Tegan and Sara pretty well, because when I like something I typically learn just about all there is to know about it, and I immediately identified something was wrong the first night after the first few songs. Sara was singing two or three songs for every one Tegan was singing, and when Tegan barely got through their performance of “The Con,” as her voice was giving out, I turned to the two sisters from Montana that befriended me while waiting in line, and said “something is wrong with Tegan.” Later on I also noted that Sara sang lead on “Where Does the Good Go” a Tegan song, which is somewhat unusual.

The second night Tegan was clearly felling better. She sang stronger than the previous night and she treated us to songs like “Call it Off” which were absent in the first show. Tegan explained she had strep throat during one of her monologues and my suspicions were confirmed. I didn’t mind though, Tegan performed well in spite of her condition, but also I enjoyed the subtle interactions between the sisters. There was various times where Sara gave Tegan cues whenever her voice began to fade, mostly she would sing with her for a few lines until Tegan managed to pick her voice back up. There is a lot of personality in moments like that. Also I didn’t mind because Sara sang her ass off, and I love her.

I think my favorite moment in the concert was the second last song before the encore “Now I’m All Messed Up.” Sara sang this song amazingly. I love escalation in music, rising action if you will, and by the end of “Now I’m All Messed Up” Sara was yelling the chorus “Go if you want, I can’t stop you!” I like to use the term “high emotion” sometimes to describe really heavy heartfelt moments in songs, and this was definitely a high emotion moment. “Now I’m All Messed Up” was always a strong candidate for my favorite song on the new album Heartthrob and after seeing that live performance, twice, it has won my vote.

It is very clear that Heartthrob, Tegan and Sara’s seventh studio album, is the most pop album they have ever created. This does not offend me like it might some music critics (do I qualify yet?) because I do not have any preconceived notions that music can only be appreciated once it fits into a preapproved genre. This pop movement for the girls feels like a natural progression, their song writing has been gradually changing towards this direction the entire time and frankly I like this next step in their journey. Their last album, Sainthood, was their most rock and roll album, which is probably why it is my favorite, and it was canned by critics and apparently did not sell very well, so I highly suspect this trend of under appreciation to continue on for Heartthrob, because how dare anyone evolve as a band.

Every Tegan and Sara album was always more complicated than the one previous, and while we music critics do not like to admit it, a lot of pop songs are complicated. Granted it is easy to create a complex multilayer song when you let a machine do all the work for you, also it is easy to perform such songs live when all you do is press a play button on a machine and sing along (some don’t even do that), however that is not what is happening on Tegan and Sara’s Heartthrob.

The Calgarian girls have come to a point where the two of them alone were unable to properly perform the songs they had written. By the time “So Jealous” came out they brought in Ted to play guitar and keyboard, also they have had to have a drummer with them since that time. Now they need a full band, a bass player, a drummer, a keyboarder and good old multi-talented Ted, as sixth are needed to perform this “pop” music live. In this somewhat rare example pop has equated to depth, and while I may personal prefer the more rock and roll Sainthood stylization I can definitely enjoy what is being accomplished on Heartthrob, especially on tracks like “Now I’m All Messed Up.” Having a full band frees up Tegan and Sara’s attention so they can focus on singing and that paid off big time during their latest live performances.

While I may normally be a tough guy listening to hard rock and metal music I have a soft spot, and apparently the best way to melt my heart is with strong sensitive identical twin lesbian indie pop rock. It makes sense when I think about it.

Until later this month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

P.S.

Sure enough some enthusiastic gentleman ran up to me after the show and complimented me on my Blind Guardian t-shirt. I informed him of my plan that if I could find a girl who was into both Tegan and Sara and Blind Guardian I would be set.

To which he replied, “That’s an awesome plan... good luck with that dude.” Yeah, I’m going to need it. Thank you stranger.

Judas Priest - Turbo Lover

In 1986 Judas Priest released their tenth studio album “Turbo.” Known for being one of the premiere hard rock/metal bands Judas Priest is expected to write and perform songs that are heavy and hit hard. Like any good band Judas Priest evolved over time, and by the time their reached their tenth studio album it should have been expected that the sounds and atmosphere might be a little different from the original concepts offered by the band. However as unreasonable as some people always tend to be, there are some in the hard rock/metal community who consider “Turbo” a controversial album; controversial because it was a more electric synthetic sound than the previous nine Judas Priests albums.

I would have been two years old when “Turbo” came out so it is kind of funny looking back on the supposed controversy surrounding “Turbo.” It is easy to take for granted the subtle changes in a band like Judas Priest because they never strayed far from their core concept, and also because when I look back I see the whole picture, all at once, and I think “That’s Judas Priest, that body of work is Judas Priest.” I cannot imagine Judas Priest without my favorite song of theirs “Turbo Lover” they just would not be the same to me, and as you can easily put together “Turbo Lover” is the flagship song on the album “Turbo.”

The way I feel about “Turbo Lover,” and the hate directed towards it, is similar to the way I feel about KISS’s “I was made for Loving You.” I have often heard criticisms about “I was made for Loving You” as being a disco song, which I always thought was odd because I felt that “I was made for Loving You”, was one of Kiss’s best songs. Technically those critics are right; there are disco influences in “I was made of Loving You” but even knowing that my opinion on the matter is not swayed. I see KISS as a band that created many good songs and all of those songs together sums up KISS... sort of, KISS is complicated.

Judas Priest are not exactly poets so there is not a lot of deep conversation surrounding a song like “Turbo Lover.” “Turbo Lover” is a hard rocking song and there is little more to say about it than that. Or is there?

The first and most obvious interpretation of “Turbo Lover” would be that it is an aggressive love song. The fast rising tempo and heavier moments in the song fit well with the mood of aggressive lustful intense love. But then comes the second obvious analogy, the intensity and aggression of this “love” might be a little too much, and maybe this is a song about lust. “Then we rise together” this line makes a lot of sense if you recall that lead singer Rob Halford is a homosexual, so him and his lover rising together, well you get it.

“You won't hear me,
But you'll feel me
Without warning, something’s dawning, listen.
Then within your senses,
You'll know you're defenceless
How your heart beats, when you run for cover
Your cant retreat I spy like no other.”

These opening lyrics are very suggestive of our third and darker interpretation. Perhaps the intensity and aggression of this song about lust is a little too much, and maybe this is actually a song about stalking. I don’t want to compare “Turbo Lover” to Police’s “Every Breath you Take,” but that is what I am going to do. There is an unhealthy dominance/desire for control in both relationships being described to us in both songs. Whereas “Every Breath you Take” is clearly about the emotional mind set of a stalker and meant to be taken seriously, “Turbo Lover” is a little more light hearted in addressing the dark subject matter more or less celebrating the hunt and obviously a playful song not meant to be taken seriously.

A forth, and yet again obvious, analogy for “Turbo Lover” comes from the metaphorical use of machine references.

“Wrapped in horsepower, driving into fury
Changing gear I pull you tighter to me”

And;

“We hold each other closer, as we shift to overdrive
And everything goes rushing by, with every nerve alive
We move so fast it seems as though we've taken to the sky
Love machines in harmony, we hear the engines cry”

There are many songs about comparing vehicles to sex, so this is hardly new grounds Judas Priest are treading on. When you remember all the leather and biker culture Judas Priest was part of this analogy fits perfectly. This last interpretation is the best bet for getting into the minds of the song writing behind Judas Priest. Heavy machinery love making is both awesome and fun.

So which is it, love, lust, stalking or machine metaphor? All the above I think, a hot soup of many things?

So is “Turbo Lover” a meaningful song? No, not really, but it is a great song, and I would go so far as to say “Turbo Lover” is a subtly clever. “Turbo Lover” plays with fun ideas of love and lust in a hostile yet celebrated way, and while we might think such topics as shallow I must ask this, what is metal if not a celebration of power, fury and lust? It is a song about love machines what more could you want? It is hardly fair to forge a criticism out of that. The world needs cock rock songs!

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

Magnetic Fields - The Book of Love

The song “The Book of Love” is a simple one. The structure is simple, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, ending chorus. The rhythm has only two sets, one for the verses and one for the choruses, and they are similar to each other. There is no lead instrument as the melody is done entirely by the vocals. When I reflect on the simple song structure of “The Book of Love” I realize it must be deliberate since the song’s message describes the simplicity of love.

“The Book of Love” was the first single off of Peter Gabriel’s 2010 “Scratch My Back,” an album that is a collection of cover songs. Gabriel is still working on a follow up album called “I’ll Scratch Yours,” where he has various musicians cover his songs. So far the likes of Lou Reed and Bon Iver have already contributed to the project; also Stephin Merritt has committed himself to the effort. Stephin Merritt is significant in this dialogue since he is the man who wrote “The Book of Love.”

Like most people I was introduced to “The Book of Love” through Peter Gabriel and only after some time did I learn that; A) it was a cover song, and B) who wrote the original. The truth of the matter is that “The Book of Love” is a Magnetic Fields’ song from their 1999 album “69 Love Songs.” The pun in Peter Gabriel’s “Scratch My Back” album is intended to suggest that all these cover songs are other musicians helping out Peter Gabriel and with “I’ll Scratch Yours” he is returning the favour by letting others cover his songs. However in the example of The Magnetic Fields, I think by covering “The Book of Love” Peter Gabriel did them more of a favour than the other way around. Peter Gabriel’s version of “The Book of Love” is the best known version and has reignited the popularity of the original, The Magnetic Fields, and “69 Love Songs.”

Peter Gabriel's fantastic cover:

“69 Love Songs” is aptly named, the three disc concept album has exactly sixty-nine songs (twenty-three each disc) all of which are about love. Most of the songs are under the two minute mark, which I suppose is to be expected since there is sixty-nine of them. When creating “69 Love Songs” Stephin Merritt’s original goal was to write one hundred love songs but in the end he settled for sixty-nine, fair enough, most musician would fare no better I am sure. Also the original concept for the album was to be a musical revue, which apparently is a theatrical show of music, dance and sketches. Everything about Merritt’s creative process sounds overly artistic to me, which makes it all the less surprising that he failed to make this original complicated vision of musical love come to fruition. What was accomplished however was a large collection of short, simple, enjoyable songs, all of which are about love. “The Book of Love’s” whole message of simple love is ironically challenged by the very album it is on. Merritt felt the need to dedicate sixty-eight other tracks to the topic. So how simple is love?

This paradoxical message that love is simple and yet an endless topic of discussion is captured in every aspect of the song “The Book of Love” as well as the album “69 Love Songs” as a whole. The majority of the songs on the album are short and to the point but there is so many of them. According to “The Book of Love” love is many simple things; love is a story in a long boring book; love is a study full of facts and figures; love is an embarrassing ordeal; love is a dance; love is music. What does all this fine poetry tells us? I think it tells us that we make a bigger deal about love then what is really going on. We see it everywhere, and selectively, potentially, in anyone, and we’re not wrong, since love is something we create, but it is so ethereal it is almost impossible to pin down, which is probably why Merritt needed to write sixty-nine songs about it.

There is little more else to say. What more is there to say then?

“The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing
But I, I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything

The book of love has music in it
In fact, that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb, but
I, I love it when you sing to me, and
You, you can sing me anything

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know, but
I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings”

Until next time, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly