Missing link
ED PARK • 1. Dangerous Bacon, Stackridge (from “The Man In The Bowler Hat”). The whole album is a masterpiece, the missing link between the Beatles and Prog, produced by George Martin in 1973. The harmonies are soaring, the songs alternately epic, whimsical and vaudevillian, all snapping with crackle and pop. It’s the kind of album you want to tell people about, [...]
And your "Birds" can sing
Lorrie, silent no Moore ED PARK • Jonathan Lethem on the new Lorrie Moore novel: I’m aware of one — one — reader who doesn’t care for Lorrie Moore, and even that one seems a little apologetic about it. “Too . . . punny,” my friend explains, resorting to a pun as though hypnotized by the very tendency that sets [...]
Enjoyable Billy Preston Video Friday
Also very enjoyable, very large Afros...on ALL bandmembers! http://youtu.be/gwZe-pUhMsQ
Ram On!
Get a room DEVIN McKINNEY • Speaking of which, did anyone else listen to this? Here's the tracklist: Earlimart :: Too Many People Frankel :: 3 Legs The Parson Redheads :: Ram On Bodies of Water :: Dear Boy Radar Bros. :: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey Naptunes :: Smile Away Los Baby Fools :: Heart Of The Country Le Switch :: [...]
Boo, Jon Landau!
Sometimes I transport myself I've been listening to RAM, one of the handful of solo Beatles discs I can listen to (others: All Things Must Pass, POB when I want to reaffirm the value of therapy). For kicks I unearthed this Rolling Stone review from 1971. Justly infamous, Jon Landau's review of RAM starts off as a pure hatchet-job in [...]
Web synchronicity — Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Wristband
ED PARK • Beatles fan and litblogger (and novelist) Mark Sarvas catches a curious NYT juxtaposition—the obituary for Richard Poirier mentions his Beatles essay, and what do we see in the margin?Yes—it's an image from the impending Beatles Rock Band release, illustrating the recent NYT mag story...Speaking of which: What do readers/dullbloggers think about the story/the release/everything?Much to mull over. I was [...]
Nothing to get hung about?
"Not cool, guys. Not cool." MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • From today's New York Times article on the CIA's secret prisons:Eventually, the agency’s network would encompass at least eight detention centers, including one in the Middle East, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan and a maximum-security long-term site at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that was dubbed Strawberry Fields, officials said. (It was named [...]
I will never be gainfully employed again
Beatles Rock band is coming! Soon, soon my little timewaster, you will be mine... http://youtu.be/EgPUqMQU7Vk When my wife Kate sent this to me, she wrote, "What got me was how they narrowed John's nose over time, to show his increasing use of heroin." Dark Irish, she is.
Covers and covers
From an L.A. Times piece about a "Worst Album Covers" blog...which also includes the "butcher" cover. What?? Get McKinney on the case!