Thoughts on my Recent iTunes Purchases, Part Two

Dear Reader,

This summer my appetite for music has not faded, but my budget for buying music has. I don’t plan to buy any music for a long time, possibly the rest of this year, because I’ve spent so much money on music recently. But the music’s great!

One of the cool things about iTunes is that you can either buy one song at a time, or you can buy a complete album.

Here’s all the albums I’ve bought on iTunes so far:

Meat Puppets: Up On the Sun.
Meat Puppets: II.
Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets
Meat Puppets: Huevos
Melody Gardot: Worrisome Heart
The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing
The Wood Brothers: Ways Not to Lose
The Wood Brothers: Loaded
Hank Williams: 20 of his Greatest Hits
Woody Guthrie: The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1-4
Jeff Buckley: Grace (Legacy Edition)
Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Songs of the Mormons and Songs of the West
Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Folk Music from Wisconsin
Matisyahu: Live at Stubb’s
Igor Koshkendey: Music from Tuva
Angola Prison Spirituals

I got a lot of single songs too, but most of them were free singles of the week. I won’t list all of them, but some cool ones that I got are:

Alicia Keys: No One
Kristin Chenoweth: Taylor, the Latte Boy
Warren Zevon: Werewolves of London
Hercules and Love Affair: Blind
Some songs from “Enchanted”
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Daft Punk: Technologic
Sean Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80: Think Afrika

It would take me forever to write about all the music I got, so I’ll just talk about a few of them.

First, the Meat Puppets.

The Meat Puppets are hard to categorize, like a lot of cool musical artists. They’re basically punk, or rock, but they’re a little bit country or folk or jam band-esque. iTunes categorizes them as “alternative.” But uh, I’ve listened to their albums bunches of times. The lead singer’s voice is really weird. It’s not what you think of when you think of “good singing,” but it matches the music and the lyrics perfectly. And I don’t feel bad when I sing along, because I sound a lot like the lead singer, Curt Kirkwood. Ha ha ha. Their first album, self-titled Meat Puppets, is out of control crazy. The lead singer yells and screams and you can’t understand what he’s saying. Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets is incredibly different than any of their other albums. It’s very crash and bang! You can’t understand what the guy’s saying most of the time, because he’s screaming and yelling. It’s more like punk music. When I first heard it, I really didn’t like it, I tried to listen to the whole thing, but it was just so grating on the ears, I couldn’t. It was crazy though, because I’ve listened to “Up on the Sun” and “II” a gazillion times and they never get old, so how can the band I love so much put out an album that’s so raucous? Well, this was their first album, and they were young. But I have been able to listen to the whole thing now and then. I guess it’s about a mood thing. There’s a mood for every kind of music I have, maybe.

The lyrics on Meat Puppets II, probably my favorite Meat Puppets album, are awesome. In “Climbing” Kirkwood says, as near as I can tell, “My mind. Which things are mine? Well I thought I saw a few before I found out I was blind.”

In “Plateau” he sings, “There’s nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds. You’ll see a lot up there but don’t be scared; who needs action when you got words?”

In “Oh Me” the lyrics, as near as I can tell, are thus: “I can’t see the end of me. My whole expanse I cannot see; Formulate infinity stored deep inside me.” Kirkwood sings these trippy words like he believes in them. Like they’re magic incantations that don’t mean literal things the way normal phrases and sentences mean things. Kind of like Beck’s lyrics. Kind of like Bob Dylan’s lyrics sometimes. Kind of like a lot of poetry.


Melody Gardot: Worrisome Heart.

I got the free single of the week a good while back and listened to it so much that I decided to buy her whole album. She’s got a beautiful, jazzy, smooth voice. She’s highly recommended. By the way, I used to erroneously think that music was done being good. Like, all the good bands have come and gone. Or that back in some golden age, music was pure and genius, but now it’s too commercial or overdone or something. I used to think that it was safest to buy the classics. You know, albums that are famous and withstood the test of time, the albums that get their cover put on posters, I guess. But now that I’ve bought some brand new music and I’ve really liked it, I’ve decided that good music will come out forever. And the awesome thing about the recording industry nowadays is that there’s so much out there. We’re always recording and recording, the music library of the human race is ever-expanding and ever-growing. And here I am, buying, collecting, and enjoying it.

The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing

A co-worker of mine described We Started Nothing as “cheerleader music.” Ha ha ha. The lead singer does sound like an in-your-face cheerleader, and she kind of looks like one, too. But not an American cheerleader, more like a British cheerleader. Her thick accent is hard to miss. It’s really funny in the song "traffic light," when she says the lyric, “Don’t you be a roundabout.” Lots of Americans wouldn’t get that one because they don’t know what a roundabout is. But by far the coolest song on the cd is “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” One of my favorite lines says, “You’re not adorable/ I want someone unignorable!” The song was featured on an iPod commercial and that’s the first place I heard it, but man it is so awesome. And now I’m old enough to stop believing that nonsense about commercialism ruining music. Now, it’s true that commercialism messes up music now and then, but ultimately it is the people who decide what they like, right? I mean, propaganda can only go so far. The people, the buying public, know what they like and what they want to support. The music they like moves them in some way, a studio is just trying to bottle and sell that wonderful artistry. I guess I’m just defending my purchase of the CD. And you know what? I really like it. I’m not ashamed of that. I just wish I knew how to dance, ‘cause it makes me want to dance.


The Wood Brothers.

I thought I would like the Wood Brothers a lot more than I do. I do like them a lot, and I think I’m glad I bought their albums, (their only two albums so far) but uh… they’re missing some kind of awesome secret ingredient. I first heard them on Pandora radio and really liked them. Don’t get me wrong. I really do like them. They’re very talented and cool. They’re folk/country. One of my favorite songs of theirs is a cover of “Buckets of Rain” by Bob Dylan. I almost like they’re version better than Dylan’s version, kind of like the way I like the Jimi Hendrix version of “All Along the Watchtower” a little better than Dylan’s original. It’s hard to explain, but it seems like they have all the right ingredients for a band that I would like. But like I said, they’re just not daring enough. They’re too safe and normal in their music. That’s the only way I can think of to describe it.


Songs from the “Enchanted” soundtrack.

So fun. Lots of fun. If you like fun musicals this is a great album to get. I didn’t get the whole album. See, “Enchanted” isn’t exactly a musical. It only really has 3 songs that originate in the movie the way songs come in musicals, you know, where people just burst out in song and dance? And then there’s one song, “So close” that happens in a dance scene, so it’s not, you know, like a musical song. Anyway, “True Love’s Kiss,” “Happy Working Song,” and “That’s How You Know,” are just delightful and fun. Oh, and I think 3 of the songs, I don’t remember which 3, but 3 of them were nominated for Oscars for best original song! So that’s pretty cool, right? I thought one of them should have won, because I think there were only 5 songs total in the category, but something else won. Whatever.

Jeff Buckley: Grace, Legacy edition

I thought I would like this more than I do. It’s funny, I feel like I have to concede that “Grace” is good music, but nevertheless I don’t like to listen to it as much as I like to listen to the Meat Puppets. That’s sort of how I feel about the Wood Brothers. I have to agree that it’s good music. It’s obvious. But for some reason it doesn’t move me the way other music does. By the way, there’s this guy name Matthew Arnold. He was a British poet and a literature critic, and he had some pretty interesting things to say about the quality of art. He said something like it was the critic’s job to find the best that was ever thought or said and recommend it to the public. He also said that a critic can’t be biased by personal likes and dislikes; a critic had to have what Arnold called “disinterestedness.” He had to objectively analyze a piece of art and gauge its overall worth. With that in mind, I almost feel like I have to say that Jeff Buckley and the Wood Brothers are better musicians than the Meat Puppets, because Jeff Buckley and the Wood Brothers put out more polished stuff; and based on the singing alone, most people hearing it for the first time would say that Jeff Buckley and the Wood Brothers were better. Especially people who have had classical training in music. But then again I get angry at the classically trained musicians- I feel like shouting “Hey! No! I don’t have to say anything I don’t want to say! The Meat Puppets rock, and I don’t care what the critics say, you know what I mean?”

Alicia Keys: No One. (the single)

The first time I heard this song, I saw a girl perform it at a high school talent show. It was dynamite. It’s a perfect R+B song for a high school girl to sing. Then at scout camp, we listened to the popular music station, and “No One” played all the time. It’s kind of cheesy. Not very deep. Bt it’s powerful and just a great example of R and B, and fun to sing along to. Alicia Key’s voice is amazing. Oh, and it’s totally about heartfelt devotion, too. With divorce rates the way they are, people tend to lose faith in love. I’m not saying that this song will fix the nations romantic problems, no way, but, I don’t know, these something fun about being so head-first crazy in love that you belt out lyrics like “No one, no one, no one, can get in the way of what I’m feeling!”

Werewolves of London

This is one of those songs they play on classic rock stations that really sticks out. Wacky lyrics. Good times.

Taylor, the Latte Boy.

Tons of fun. Kristin Chenoweth, who played Galinda in "Wicked," sings this cute song. It’s about this girl who has a crush on this guy who works at Starbucks. Crank it up and sing along!

20 of Hank Williams’ Greatest Hits:

I don’t like new country too much, but sometimes I get a hankering for really old country. Hank Williams fits the bill exactly. Sometimes I wonder if these songs are popular because of the subject matter. They’re all about lost love or lost horses. The songs on this CD remind me of that joke, “What do you get when you play a country song backwards? You get your wife back, you get your horse back, and you get your truck back.” Ha ha ha. Hank Williams songs are just more normal and popular than Woody Guthrie’s folk songs. Although, I bet if I heard some of Hank Williams' other stuff, like his almost-greatest hits, or his alright hits, I would hear him sing about other stuff.


Woody Guthrie: The Asch Recordings Volumes 1-4.

A mammoth collection of Woody Guthrie songs, over 80 songs in length. I thought when I bought this, I wouldn’t have to buy any more Woody Guthrie albums, but there’s already another one I’ve got my eye on. (It’s “Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti.”) But the Asch recordings are so far reaching and so incredible, I don’t have the words or the time to talk about it. I love how versatile Woody Guthrie. He’s versatile with the instruments he plays, with the way he arranges his songs, and with the way he sings his songs. But mostly he’s versatile with the subject matter of his songs. A lot of bands fall into a rut. They have one type of sound, one type of song, and one image that they market to the public. Like Rage Against the Machine couldn’t do anything but be angry. Sometimes I wanted to hear Rage Against the Machine do “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” And Beck can’t do anything but be weird. Sometimes I wanted to hear Beck sing “Danny Boy." Woody Guthrie, on the other hand, sang protest songs, patriotic songs, children’s songs, folk songs, cowboy songs, train songs, ballads, and he did them all perfectly. Woody Guthrie is someone that will never get old, in my opinion. His music will never become irrelevant. I love Bob Dylan’s quote: “Woody Guthrie is the end all and be all of folk music.” I agree. He was the master of folk music. He was the father of folk music, both in his recordings and in his life. When I think folk music, I think Woody Guthrie. (I'm talking about popular American folk music, not the traditional folk music of the people that the Library of Congress gets field recoridnings of.) By the way, I have a cool picture from a CD case of Woody Guthrie singing, and on his guitar is printed loud and clear, “This machine kills fascists.” I want to post that picture in my office, whenever I get an office.

I have lots of other music I could review, but I think that’s enough for now.

!Viva la Musica!

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa