Admittedly I hadn't listened to Alice in Chains for a long time until today. Well, I had, on the radio and at random while choosing records to play, but I hadn't entered a phase for a while. Earlier I was playing guitar to various songs and I ended up at Alice in Chains eventually, one of those songs being Rotten Apple.
Facelift, Dirt and the self-titled album are all great, but the fact that they were able to make an album like Jar of Flies along with all the heavy stuff is why they're one of my favorite bands. I'd probably have to say that Rotten Apple is my favorite song from Jar of Flies, but the entire album is so consistent and near-perfect, despite how short it is (which kind of helps it in a weird bittersweet way).
I think their greatest asset (and secret weapon) was subtelty. Sure, they ROCK and they're loud and everything but even their heaviest songs usually have something else going on that you don't quite notice, something that adds to the atmosphere. I think this song is incredibly heavy, though I don't necessarily mean loud. It's more like a heavy on your soul or something hippie-ish like that. Doesn't that guitar almost sound like David Gilmour? And not just because of the talkbox, though I do have to point out that Jerry Cantrell is the man for using it in the most non-cheesy way ever, and actually making it sound "beautiful" and whatnot, as opposed to gimmicky.
Also there are only three basslines in the entire seven minute song and they're all amazing. I believe this is one of the first songs the band wrote with Mike Inez, and as BA as Mike Starr was, this is a great first impression for Mike 2.
Everyone likes to believe that every Alice in Chains song is about drugs, whether Layne Staley wrote the words or not. I'm pretty sure he wrote them for this song (he seemed to become the "main" lyricist around this time) but I don't know if it's about drugs or not. He seems to also have several songs about God (God Am, Get Born Again) and I definitely see some obvious Biblical imagery throughout. You know, eat of the apple, uh oh! Now innocence is over, etc. Maybe it's relating it to heroin LULZ! I won't dwell too much on the meaning because too many people desecrate their songs by blindly relating them to drugs. But the lyrics ARE good in this one. Layne Staley had a way of saying a lot by NOT saying a lot, you know?
Innocence is over
Ignorance is spoken
Confidence is broken
Sustenance is stolen
Arrogance is potent
What I see is unreal
I've written my own part
Eat of the apple, so young
I'm crawling back to start
I repent tomorrow
I suspend my sorrow
What I see is unreal
I've written my own part
Eat of the apple, so young
I'm crawling back to start
A romance is fallen
Recommend you borrow
And that's it (besides a bunch of "hey ah nah nah"s), over seven minutes. But that's all it needs. This is one of those songs where the minimalism makes it what it is.
This is a video of the one known time Alice in Chains (with Layne) played Rotten Apple. The words get kind of mixed up and it looks like they were fairly unsure with the song, which may be why they didn't play it much (also they didn't play very many shows post-1994 anyway). When I was waiting in line to see the reformed band in Columbia, we could hear them doing a soundcheck and they jammed on this song for a few minutes. Everyone in line stopped their conversations to listen, it was really cool. They've also played it a couple times this year, and there are videos but the quality isn't that great (the audio I mean, not the performance).
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Weapon and the Wound
Usually by the time I get around to discovering a band, I'm too late. They either broke up years earlier (Led Zeppelin, the Beatles), break up shortly after I discover them (Soundgarden), should have broken up years earlier (the Rolling Stones... sorry), someone important in the band has already died or dies soon after (Layne Staley, Peter Steele), and so on. I'm particularly into the "crazy genius" types of musicians, but Syd Barrett had been a recluse for decades when I got into him (and died shortly after of course), and John Frusciante had successfully re-entered the world several years earlier.
So my fandom of Days of the New and Travis Meeks is sort of unique. The hits and mainstream success came and went 12 years ago, but I'm convinced that his creative peak hasn't arrived yet. The man is like 30 years old, not 60, even though it sounds like he's already lived enough for any 60 year old. When I saw him in Fayetteville it actually felt like I was witnessing someone's creativity still going strong, not just some guy playing songs people liked ten years ago (even though he did play the hits). It felt like I was part of something, instead of wishing I had been part of something that ended years ago.
Anyway, to get to the point, the fact that nobody listens to his music other than the hits is a real tragedy. I made the same mistake until the beginning of this year. I'd always liked the first Days of the New album but hadn't let the second and third soak in as much. I consider them all pretty much equal in quality, but my personal preference would probably have to be the second, partly because of this song:
Weapon and the Wound is one of those rare songs that gets me every single time I listen to it. Everything about the song is great. The rest of the second album has more of a world music sound, which is present here, but combined with the more traditional structure and rock beat, it makes a masterpiece. I think so, at least.
In fact, I'd say the song's relative simplicity is what makes it. Everything is in its right place: that clarinet line throughout, the strings that come in later, and the vocals, which, if you listen to the lyrics, can be fairly depressing, despite the more uplifting sound of the music, which I fall for every time. Sigh.
And the chorus is perfect. I really don't even know what to say about it, in this case it just speaks for itself. The lyrics are especially straightforward for a Days of the New song, but it works so well.
"Running after you
I don't know where you are
And I can't seem to get you
I want you to know me"
I have no clue how this wasn't a hit with a chorus like that. There's even a kind of Beatles sound throughout, particularly at the end with that string melody.
Also did I mention he was like 19 or 20 when this song came out?!
They cut out a few minutes in the beginning and end to make it Youtube worthy, but the main song is all here.
There is quite a bit of controversy about what is going on with Travis Meeks nowadays. He's been working on a fourth album for the last few years but nothing has come out yet, and some people just can't take it anymore! Personally I would love a fourth Days of the New album, but I too would be frustrated if only a few dozen people were coming to my shows. It would be nice if the guy could get a break for once. How many other people have given the world as much music as he has from just the first three albums?
We'll see. Hopefully something great comes out of all of this.
So my fandom of Days of the New and Travis Meeks is sort of unique. The hits and mainstream success came and went 12 years ago, but I'm convinced that his creative peak hasn't arrived yet. The man is like 30 years old, not 60, even though it sounds like he's already lived enough for any 60 year old. When I saw him in Fayetteville it actually felt like I was witnessing someone's creativity still going strong, not just some guy playing songs people liked ten years ago (even though he did play the hits). It felt like I was part of something, instead of wishing I had been part of something that ended years ago.
Anyway, to get to the point, the fact that nobody listens to his music other than the hits is a real tragedy. I made the same mistake until the beginning of this year. I'd always liked the first Days of the New album but hadn't let the second and third soak in as much. I consider them all pretty much equal in quality, but my personal preference would probably have to be the second, partly because of this song:
Weapon and the Wound is one of those rare songs that gets me every single time I listen to it. Everything about the song is great. The rest of the second album has more of a world music sound, which is present here, but combined with the more traditional structure and rock beat, it makes a masterpiece. I think so, at least.
In fact, I'd say the song's relative simplicity is what makes it. Everything is in its right place: that clarinet line throughout, the strings that come in later, and the vocals, which, if you listen to the lyrics, can be fairly depressing, despite the more uplifting sound of the music, which I fall for every time. Sigh.
And the chorus is perfect. I really don't even know what to say about it, in this case it just speaks for itself. The lyrics are especially straightforward for a Days of the New song, but it works so well.
"Running after you
I don't know where you are
And I can't seem to get you
I want you to know me"
I have no clue how this wasn't a hit with a chorus like that. There's even a kind of Beatles sound throughout, particularly at the end with that string melody.
Also did I mention he was like 19 or 20 when this song came out?!
They cut out a few minutes in the beginning and end to make it Youtube worthy, but the main song is all here.
There is quite a bit of controversy about what is going on with Travis Meeks nowadays. He's been working on a fourth album for the last few years but nothing has come out yet, and some people just can't take it anymore! Personally I would love a fourth Days of the New album, but I too would be frustrated if only a few dozen people were coming to my shows. It would be nice if the guy could get a break for once. How many other people have given the world as much music as he has from just the first three albums?
We'll see. Hopefully something great comes out of all of this.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Snowblind
There are several different songs with this name, and they're all about cocaine... but I'm going to talk about the Black Sabbath song, fo yo info.
It's hard to have a favorite Sabbath song because they were so consistent throughout the Ozzy and Dio years (I am mostly unfamiliar with their work after Dio left, but I couldn't really get into the majority of it... that may change someday), but this song is high on the list. The whole Vol. 4 album is really great, minus FX. Sigh.
First off, the riffs. But that doesn't really need to be mentioned. Tony Iommi is the man, and I don't know how he has managed to think of SO many good riffs. This song has a different atmosphere to it than the rest of their stuff though... it's like the tone of the cymbals and the arpeggiated sections almost sound like icicles piercing your skull and freezing your brain. Also I really like Ozzy's vocal stylings around this time. He wasn't just following the riff but hadn't ascended into extreme helium voice Ozzy yet.
Also did I mention how much I love the strings at the end? It just adds to what I mentioned earlier about the icicles freezing the brain. I don't know whether all this was intended or just coincidence but it really makes the song come together and sound so convincing.
This video is a live performance from 1975. It's kind of funny to watch as Ozzy has some half-hippie, half-disco outfit, Geezer is fully glammed out, Bill Ward might be naked, and Tony Iommi looks the same as he has his entire life. Usually Ozzy would yell "COCAINE" after every verse but not here. It looks like it was filmed for TV though, so who knows.
There are a couple covers that I'll share as well:
System of a Down covered the song. I kind of like what they did with the main riff, but I can't stand the vocals in the verses, this coming from one of those rare people who takes the middle ground when it comes to SOAD (I don't love or hate them). The vocals in the verses just makes it sound ridiculous and not menacing at all. The bridges are done well though.
John Frusciante also covered the song a few times when he was touring in like 2001. There is actual video footage of him playing it, but the audio quality isn't as good and it cuts out part of the way through. Besides, this is a good performance anyway, and I like the guy at the end yelling "WELCOME TO HAWAII" complete with voice cracks, and John asking what that means, hah. Also apparently the link I posted was just uploaded today. Coincidence?! Yeah, totally better than the System of a Down version. Sorry...
It's hard to have a favorite Sabbath song because they were so consistent throughout the Ozzy and Dio years (I am mostly unfamiliar with their work after Dio left, but I couldn't really get into the majority of it... that may change someday), but this song is high on the list. The whole Vol. 4 album is really great, minus FX. Sigh.
First off, the riffs. But that doesn't really need to be mentioned. Tony Iommi is the man, and I don't know how he has managed to think of SO many good riffs. This song has a different atmosphere to it than the rest of their stuff though... it's like the tone of the cymbals and the arpeggiated sections almost sound like icicles piercing your skull and freezing your brain. Also I really like Ozzy's vocal stylings around this time. He wasn't just following the riff but hadn't ascended into extreme helium voice Ozzy yet.
Also did I mention how much I love the strings at the end? It just adds to what I mentioned earlier about the icicles freezing the brain. I don't know whether all this was intended or just coincidence but it really makes the song come together and sound so convincing.
This video is a live performance from 1975. It's kind of funny to watch as Ozzy has some half-hippie, half-disco outfit, Geezer is fully glammed out, Bill Ward might be naked, and Tony Iommi looks the same as he has his entire life. Usually Ozzy would yell "COCAINE" after every verse but not here. It looks like it was filmed for TV though, so who knows.
There are a couple covers that I'll share as well:
System of a Down covered the song. I kind of like what they did with the main riff, but I can't stand the vocals in the verses, this coming from one of those rare people who takes the middle ground when it comes to SOAD (I don't love or hate them). The vocals in the verses just makes it sound ridiculous and not menacing at all. The bridges are done well though.
John Frusciante also covered the song a few times when he was touring in like 2001. There is actual video footage of him playing it, but the audio quality isn't as good and it cuts out part of the way through. Besides, this is a good performance anyway, and I like the guy at the end yelling "WELCOME TO HAWAII" complete with voice cracks, and John asking what that means, hah. Also apparently the link I posted was just uploaded today. Coincidence?! Yeah, totally better than the System of a Down version. Sorry...
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