It is extraordinarily hard to believe that it has been 15 years since that girl from You Can't Do That On Television broke through big time with You Oughta Know. TwentyFourBit has an excellent read on what made that song and moment in music history noteworthy and why it endures today despite Alanis' efforts to somewhat distance her subsequent songwriting efforts from it.
AV Club gives you the quick and utterly incomplete history lesson on power pop here. But hey, they call Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend the best of the 90s with Material Issue's Freak City Soundtrack a close second (although I would argue for International Pop Overthrow instead).
Hard to believe it's been a full decade since Radiohead released (one of) their masterpiece(s) OK Computer. The UK is celebrating the anniversary this week. In the US, the album wasn't released until July 1 (according to Wikipedia - it's not like I know such info off the top of my head.) I'm sure we'll hear more about it in the next couple of weeks.
It's quite a stunning piece of work and was a real watershed moment in the history of guitar music. It has influenced practically everything since. It's not at the top of my playlist, but that's not meant to show disrespect. I prefer The Bends over OK Computer yet I recognize OK Computer to be a more significant contribution, probably Radiohead's most significant contribution.
As you likely know already (because Radiohead can't record a second of material without everybody frantically blogging about it), Radiohead is currently recording the long-awaited follow-up to Hail to the Thief. Keep up to date on official activities in their dead air space.
MP3: Radiohead - Paranoid Android (scroll down via It's Hard to Find a Friend)
Paul McCartney is on drugs. That should come as no shock, even to the casual Macca fan. 10 Zen Monkeys impressively chronicles Macca's long, strange trip from the very beginning. This is an excellent read and provides an interesting insight into the chemically-enhanced mind of a pop genius.
Related: A recent post discussed the new Beatles tunes featured in the Anthology series. I ran across this fun rundown of Beatley references in the video for Free As a Bird.
When The Beatles released the exhaustive Anthology project in the mid-90s, they reworked two John Lennon demos into official Beatles tunes. I remember watching the first installment of the Anthology series on TV with boyish excitement at the promise of a new Beatles song at the end. While Free As a Bird didn't rival the classic Beatles tunes, it was thrilling nonetheless. With the second installment of the Anthology came Real Love. Both "new" songs are truly excellent, but they could never ever come close to expectations. Impossible. With Anthology 3, I was disappointed that there wasn't a new one on there. It didn't make much sense after releasing one for each previous installment. I was hoping for Lennon's excellent Grow Old With Me, which was rumored at the time. Instead, nothing.
Paul McCartney has recently revealed that a third tune was in the works, but they could never quite get it right. Now and Then, aka I Don't Want to Lose You, evidently had too much tape hiss despite having a "beautiful verse" sung by Lennon. Macca told Q Magazine that he regrets they never finished it. Allegedly, there was also work on a McCartney-Harrison song called All For Love. It is highly unlikely either one will ever get a legitimate release, particularly with Harrison out of the picture. But a Beatles nut can dream, yes?
Any new Matthew Sweet album is reason enough to elicit squeals of excitement from yours truly, which is why Rock Bottom is easily my most anticipated release of 2007. Nonetheless, no news yet on it, but it is scheduled to be released "Fall 2006, Spring 2007" (thanks for narrowing that down). You can still preview the album at hisspace. And still no update to the official site despite the promise that it would be updated "Spring 2006," which makes me think maybe we'll get a new album from Sweet "Spring 2008." Whatever.
I do write about Sweet for a reason, though. The Onion's AV Club has honored his fourth studio album and first post-Girlfriend album Altered Beast in it's Hall of Fame feature. It could never live up to expectations being released after such a masterpiece, but it is incredible and deserves its own recognition. I've always found it to be darker and louder than anything else he's released, which always makes for a nice cathartic listen. I mean, Someone to Pull the Trigger is ridiculously depressing yet effective nonetheless. I remember hearing it in concert before the album came out and just smiling because it is quintessential Sweet pathos. Also on Altered Beast is one of my top five Sweet favorites of all time, Devil With the Green Eyes.
Also, Blogcritics Magazine designated Girlfriend as last year's third best reissue. Still haven't picked up the remastered album, but I definitely should as it's easily one of my go-to-at-anytime records.
I've also seen a few lists that included the Sweet and Susanna Hoffs covers project as one of the best of the year. You'll notice it didn't make my list. I found it extremely pleasant but a bit boring and too reverent. I suppose that's the danger in doing covers of your heroes.
I'm not one to get too riled up about stupid lists that pop up on blogs, but I call bullshit on this one. Say what you will about Julian Lennon's 80s albums. They are far from being timeless, but they do have a place and they did produce a few good tunes. But the two albums he released in the 90s certainly compete with each other for being the best of his career.
1991's Help Yourself is a richly produced pop gem and makes for great headphone listening. The hit Saltwater, as precious and earnest as it is, will likely go down as his best song. The other tunes are quite varied in style and mood, which makes for a nicely balanced album.
1998's Photograph Smile took the focus away from lush production and placed it squarely on the simplicity of melody. Virtually every song on this one could have been a single for anybody other than Julian Lennon. It's incredibly obvious, and perhaps unfortunate, that he's a huge Beatles fan because this is the type of album a Beatles fan makes, which makes it an excellent listen. I saw his concert in support of this album and it was indeed exciting. His resemblance to his father is chilling.
Julian is never going to win over the cool crowds like his overrated brother might, and he'll never match his father's ethos by any means. But what a cruel comparison anyway. Let his music stand on its own.
With that said, it appears he'll have a new album out next year. It's only taken nine years.
MP3: Julian Lennon - Too Late For Goodbye (scroll down)
