50 years ago this fall, what many consider the greatest NBA franchise of all time, moved from Minneapolis to sunny southern California to become the Los Angeles Lakers. Why are bringing this up? Oh, it's just an excuse to post one of our fave tracks from the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Mother's Milk [EMI-1989]: a tribute to Lakers great Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
3/10/2010
RIP: Corey Haim
'80s teen heartthrob Corey Haim died Wed. March 10th at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. No cause of death has been announced, but Haim had been recently suffering from flu-like symptoms.
Best known for his roles in the movies Lucas (1986), and The Lost Boys (1987), the Toronto-born actor's career had been subsequently derailed by drug abuse. In recent years Haim co-starred with childhood friend Corey Feldman on the A&E reality show The Two Coreys, which was canceled in 2008 after 2 seasons.
Haim was 38 years old.
Best known for his roles in the movies Lucas (1986), and The Lost Boys (1987), the Toronto-born actor's career had been subsequently derailed by drug abuse. In recent years Haim co-starred with childhood friend Corey Feldman on the A&E reality show The Two Coreys, which was canceled in 2008 after 2 seasons.
Haim was 38 years old.
From the Vaults: The Action
THE ACTION
Rolled Gold
[Reaction-2002]
It's quite fitting that in an era of disappearing record stores we'd stumble upon this long-lost gem of mod psychedelia while browsing in a now-defunct East Village shop a few years ago. A collection of demos recorded in 1967, Rolled Gold has been compared to such classics as The Who Sell Out and it's easy to hear why.
Originally recorded for George Martin's AIR label, its distributor, EMI, inexplicably passed on the recording and the potential album was aborted. Subsequently, The Action splintered and these songs remained missing until this 2002 release. A damn shame indeed, for this collection represents some of the finest music ever to come out of the British mod movement of the '60s. Lofty praise, for sure, but one listen will confirm any doubts you may harbor regarding this unearthed classic.
While it would not be surprising that some audio sweetening took place to ready these tracks for contemporary release, the production is impeccable, considering its demo origins. (As a matter of fact, at first listen over the aforementioned record shop sound system, we were under the impression this was probably the work of some retro-minded youngsters.)
Even though 35 years passed before it saw the light of day, Rolled Gold has aged incredibly well. No, strike that: this is a batch of timeless late '60s English pop that, luckily for us, was rescued from oblivion to be enjoyed over and over again.
Highlights: Far too many to mention--there is only one weak song among the album's 15 tracks--but "Things You Cannot See", "Brain" and "Climbing Up the Wall" are just outstanding.
[Album cover art courtesy of The All Music Guide]
New Releases
Among this week's debut are:
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB Beat the Devil's Tattoo [Vagrant]+
BROKEN BELLS self-titled [Columbia]+
GORILLAZ Plastic Beach [Virgin]+
TED LEO + THE PHARMACISTS The Brutalist Bricks [Matador]+
LIARS Sisterworld [Mute]+
JOSH ROUSE El Turista [Yep Roc]+
DAVID S. WARE Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol.1 [AUM]
Also, the following reissues were released this week:
RUBEN BLADES Greatest Hits [Fania]
THE FLESHTONES It's Super Rock Time!: The I.R.S. Years (1980-1985) [Raven]
JIMI HENDRIX Valleys of Neptune [Legacy]*
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS Greatest Hits [Blackheart]
PAVEMENT Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement [Matador]+
*CD/DVD versions--the latter including interviews and relevant footage--of Hendrix's first three albums (Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland) plus First Rays of the New Rising Sun, were also released this week.
+ Album available in streaming audio on Spinner for a limited time.
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB Beat the Devil's Tattoo [Vagrant]+
BROKEN BELLS self-titled [Columbia]+
GORILLAZ Plastic Beach [Virgin]+
TED LEO + THE PHARMACISTS The Brutalist Bricks [Matador]+
LIARS Sisterworld [Mute]+
JOSH ROUSE El Turista [Yep Roc]+
DAVID S. WARE Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol.1 [AUM]
Also, the following reissues were released this week:
RUBEN BLADES Greatest Hits [Fania]
THE FLESHTONES It's Super Rock Time!: The I.R.S. Years (1980-1985) [Raven]
JIMI HENDRIX Valleys of Neptune [Legacy]*
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS Greatest Hits [Blackheart]
PAVEMENT Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement [Matador]+
*CD/DVD versions--the latter including interviews and relevant footage--of Hendrix's first three albums (Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland) plus First Rays of the New Rising Sun, were also released this week.
+ Album available in streaming audio on Spinner for a limited time.
3/08/2010
Oscars Recap (sorta)
We don’t have much to add to the millions of words already written about Sunday night’s Academy Awards—and it's not like anyone really cares what we think about the subject—but we sat thru most of it so here’s our take, anyway:
- Our longstanding crush on Sandra Bullock notwithstanding, her Oscar win for starring in what is essentially a Lifetime movie—wealthy, white, suburban mom rescues inner city black youth who becomes an NFL player—was a bit much.
- The tribute to the late John Hughes was our favorite part of the evening; it was trés cool to see Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Alley Sheedy, and Macaulay Culkin come together onstage to pay their respects to the man who helped make them stars. Broderick's funny and touching anecdote referencing the role for which he is best known was tops:
- Wow, Jeff Bridges IS The Dude.
- No more choreography, please!
- A woman who made a war film won Best Director and her film got Best Picture: Kathryn Bigelow made history, yes. She’s also pushing 60 and hot, too. Sorry, couldn't help it.
- Our longstanding crush on Sandra Bullock notwithstanding, her Oscar win for starring in what is essentially a Lifetime movie—wealthy, white, suburban mom rescues inner city black youth who becomes an NFL player—was a bit much.
- The tribute to the late John Hughes was our favorite part of the evening; it was trés cool to see Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Alley Sheedy, and Macaulay Culkin come together onstage to pay their respects to the man who helped make them stars. Broderick's funny and touching anecdote referencing the role for which he is best known was tops:
...and thanks to him, for the last 25 years, nearly every day, someone comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, "Hey, Ferris. Is this your day off?"
- Wow, Jeff Bridges IS The Dude.
- No more choreography, please!
- A woman who made a war film won Best Director and her film got Best Picture: Kathryn Bigelow made history, yes. She’s also pushing 60 and hot, too. Sorry, couldn't help it.
RIP: Mark Linkous
Singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, who led the critically acclaimed band Sparklehorse, took his own life on Saturday, March 6th in Knoxville, TN. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Described by The New York Times as having "developed a style that sent sunny, Beatles-esque melodies through a filter of crackling, damaged folk-rock, and...songs...filled with entropic imagery", Linkous released four albums with Sparklehorse, and had participated in the recent Danger Mouse/David Lynch project Dark Night of the Soul, as well as collaborations with the likes of PJ Harvey, Daniel Johnston and Tom Waits, among many others. At the time of his death, Linkous was said to have completed most of the work on an upcoming Sparklehorse album.
He was 47 years old.
Described by The New York Times as having "developed a style that sent sunny, Beatles-esque melodies through a filter of crackling, damaged folk-rock, and...songs...filled with entropic imagery", Linkous released four albums with Sparklehorse, and had participated in the recent Danger Mouse/David Lynch project Dark Night of the Soul, as well as collaborations with the likes of PJ Harvey, Daniel Johnston and Tom Waits, among many others. At the time of his death, Linkous was said to have completed most of the work on an upcoming Sparklehorse album.
He was 47 years old.
3/06/2010
Tit for That: The Milk of Sorrow
Perhaps The Milk of Sorrow is a much more poetic translation,
but Peru's entry in this year's Academy Award nominations for
Best Foreign Film is actually titled The Scared Tit (La Teta Asustada) in Spanish. Thought you'd like to know.
but Peru's entry in this year's Academy Award nominations for
Best Foreign Film is actually titled The Scared Tit (La Teta Asustada) in Spanish. Thought you'd like to know.
3/04/2010
Hot Tub Time Machine: Better Off to The Future?
Basically, three bored life-long friends--plus the nephew of one of these middle aged dudes--are transported via magical hot tub back to 1986 and embark on some comical adventures. Does it work? Looks like it just might. Will there be a good dose of current cringe-inducing humor? Let's hope not.
Starring John Cusack (an '80s teen idol himself, who seems to be doing a turn a la Molly Ringwald in Not Another Teen Movie here),
Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke. Here's the trailer:
Starring John Cusack (an '80s teen idol himself, who seems to be doing a turn a la Molly Ringwald in Not Another Teen Movie here),
Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke. Here's the trailer:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)