Michael Jackson - Our long national nightmare is over.

My friend John has written a fantastic piece about Michael Jackson's death and it's relation to art here.
I urge you to read it.
And here are my thoughts on the whole thing.


When was the last time you listened to a Michael Jackson record? When was the last time you put his songs on your iPod and gave it a spin? Besides evoking memories of "the gloved one" dancing, just what does Jackson's music evoke? Memories of Michael Jackson. That's it. That's the point. His music served as a soundtrack to his show. When he tried for poignancy he either came up shallow and pathetic (Leave me Alone, man in the Mirror) or cloying (We Are the World, a vastly inferior entry designed to usurp the power of Do They Know It's Christmas).
Jackson's biggest success existed in a time of callous branding: Jordache Jeans, E.T., Star Wars. After Bad was released to less than stellar sales (ridiculous expections, by the by) the gleam was off the rose. The buckle-bedecked Jackson, the video by Scorcese, all of this was designed to sell sell sell!
Jackson WAS the King of Pop. Because he labeled himself that. His people declared him the King of Pop. It stuck. Because in an era filled with noise how do you cut through?



Look at who talks of being inspired by MJ? Britney Spears. NSync. Justin Timberlake. A world of glitzy, showbiz, lip-synced dancerinas who see music as product to be pushed.
Hard to blame Michael. After all, his people put a single on a box of Alpha-Bits cereal back in '71. He was a cartoon shortly thereafter. Life, to him, was about how to sell the brand.
But no one really gives a crap about the music.
And they give Jackson all this credit which I have trouble understanding.
SOMEONE choreographed his movements.
SOMEONE produced his songs.
SOMEONE wrote them (his skills were largely suspect).
He was a product of talent surrounding talent.
This is not someone to be deified.
Especially weird, to me, is the african american community. They hold him up as savior, when he did everything he could to strip himself of identifying with them.
Vitiligo? Sure. I don't buy it, but okay. But, why not use dark makeup to cover it? Why bleach your skin?
Why go out of your way to alter your looks to remove all semblance of African heritage?
His "children", which are not biologically his and the details of which are also suspect, are white. The women he married are white.
Where, besides making black music, is his relationship to black culture?



He is being heralded as the first black artists on MTV. Yes. Because Walter Yetnikoff of CBS forced MTV into that position. Michael had nothing to do with it.
Want more proof of his callous, callow, branding? Read Howard Stern's Miss America book. Wherein he talks about being asked by Jackson's people to interview Jackson in a predetermined, pre-choreographed set piece that would have Stern complicit in staging a "We Love Michael" love fest. Howard refused but the interview with Jackson is described as hideously monstrous.
I think we should all be sad that such a tormented soul existed in the world that he did. We should be glad that his soul is finally at rest.
But, more than raising him up in adulation, we should look on his life as a cautionary tale. A warning to abusive parents. A warning to Stage Parents. A warning to slaves of Plastic Surgery.
Learn something from Michael Jackson. This way his death won't be in vain.
But, as far as an "artist" who contributed to the tapestry of art?

He's almost useless.

Listening Post: Meco - Star Wars Party

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Star Wars Party - 2005 (Buy It)

I guess Meco's just going to limp to a conclusion here. The proceedings are just so dulled down, so barely alive. Meco was 66 when he made this album, and he seems... tired.

Let's go in order here: "I Am Your Father" is dull club trance which sounds completely outdated; if this were 1995, maybe. "Star Wars Party" just sucks awfully, to be honest; it's inspired by the characters and has no real Star Wars theme except for a dumb chorus that name checks the characters.

"Star Wars Love Themes" isn't as alive as it could have been, but it's nice that it gets in some of the Anakin/Padme love theme from Attack of the Clones. I wish Meco had done something in his old medley style, but this is just so slow and uses this repetitive beat that sounds a hell of a lot like his snare drums from the old filler. It's obviously inspired by Bolero. It just limps off. I notice some of the voice clips he's using now are actually from the movie, but not all of them.

"New Star Wars" is just pointless masturbation to an endless repetition of the main title music.

"The Empire Strikes Back" is the same medley as twice before now; and it's another remix. "You Are Reckless" is actually the second half of one track, which starts off kind of pretty, but it's just a lot of repeat and that Yoda voiceover, only much, much more of it, and it still sounds terrible (although there is a little Frank Oz here and there). Then Meco brings back the end of the medley and we've got a new track that just kind of sucks.

"Jedi Knight" makes another appearance, though it's been remixed and edited (it's 90 seconds shorter) and I think the vocals are new. They sound clearer; they're not so buried in the mix, but it reveals that Yamira is not much of a singer. It almost sounds like the kind of music Bowie was doing ten years earlier, but that's a lot of praise it doesn't really deserve. Either way, though, the music does sound better, but the addition of a male chorus is pretty stupid.

And then we have to sit through "Lapti Nek" again! Just let me die!

"Live Your Life" sounds like an unfinished demo, and is just inspired by Star Wars, I guess. Can just anyone get access to music software these days? Meco, did you just give up on ever doing anything good again?

The last track, "Boogie Wookie," does not boogie. It sounds like another unfinished demo, though it does pick up occasionally.

This is just the most pointless album to own. There's no purpose to it whatsoever, except for Meco to cash in on a hit he made 30 years ago. And I can respect that, but I can also wish he just hadn't bothered.

Grade F
A Side: None
BlindSide: the new version of "Jedi Knight," maybe, if fake club techno is your groove
DownSides: "I Am Your Father," "Star Wars Party," "New Star Wars," "You Are Reckless," "Lapti Nek," "Live Your Life"

Listening Post: Meco - The Complete Star Wars Collection

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - The Complete Star Wars Collection - 2000 (not available)

Well, after nearly 20 years, it took another Star Wars movie to get Meco onto another album. And it's all his own production and design.

The title of this collection is pretty accurate; normally I wouldn't mention a compilation, but this does have some new tracks on it that merit its own entry.

The nicest thing about this album, actually, is that it fixes "Themes from Star Wars," from the Ewok Celebration album. That was pretty much a joyless retread of the original 1977 "Star Wars" medley; The Complete Star Wars Collection starts off with a new 2000 remix with more sound effects and vocal snippets that just sounds so much better. If you have to have a truncated version of the '77 version, this just sounds so damn much better than anything else (and it was made for CD).

The next four tracks are the four tracks from The Empire Strikes Back: "The Empire Strikes Back Medley," "Battle in the Snow," "The Force Theme," and "The Asteroid Field/Finale" minus "The Asteroid Field." The first two tracks have been remixed but sound basically the same (although I think there are more sound effects and they end a little earlier). "The Force Theme" sounds a little bolder, but still real cool, except that it cuts about 40 seconds off at the end. "The Asteroid Field/Finale" is cut by four minutes and ten seconds, lopping off the great "Asteroid Field" theme and becoming merely "The Finale." That's just a shame; it has new instrumentation over the Han/Leia theme. Meco's also added a long voiceover of Yoda's speech about the Force, except that whomever is delivering the speech (Meco himself? I don't know for sure) just can't pull off the voice and sounds like an old man trying not to belch.

After this, we revisit Ewok Celebration with "Lapti Nek" and that album's title track. "Lapti Nek" has been remixed; it sounds fuller but is still pointless. "Ewok Celebration" is totally truncated. Something like the first two minutes are lopped off, which is the main theme of the damn song, so that it goes right into the rap. The rap vocals have been spaced out across the remaining three minutes, too, instead of having all at once. The effect is terrible. It just makes the whole thing mindless and incredibly repetitive. It's just kind of cynical. I get it that Meco's unhappy with the original track, but it sounded better than this.

The last three tracks are new, based on themes and characters from The Phantom Menace. That's an important distinction. "The Duel of the Fates/Augie's Municipal Band" is based on themes from the movie, and is a pretty good, if almost totally inconsequential and by now overfamiliar Meco-ization. It's a very techno groove, but very much in flavor like Meco's 80s sound (electric guitars and electric drums). On the one hand, a longer suite would have been nice, on the other hand there's just nothing distinctive here, anyway.

The other two tracks, "Cousin Jar Jar" and "A Jedi Knight," are merely inspired by characters from the movie. Apparently Meco couldn't find any other themes in the movie's score to be inspired by (and to be fair, the prequel scores are a lot less rich than the others). "Cousin Jar Jar" is a nightmare; it's supposed to be a cousin of Jar Jar's walking into an intergalactic disco and being mistaken for Jar Jar. The character talks/raps/sings in the Gungan style through the whole song, and... well, I'm actually a huge fan of Jar Jar Binks, and this song made me hate that George Lucas had ever created the entire Star Wars universe in the first place. It's just not cute anymore.

"Jedi Knight," sung by a lady called Yamira that Meco and Harold Wheeler were working with on her own album, has a nice arrangement but sounds like the end credits song for something based on a video game or a live action version of an anime. It's not terrible, there's just no reason for it to exist.

Grade C
A Side: "Themes from Star Wars (2000 Remix)"
BlindSide: None; everything else worth having was already on The Empire Strikes Back
DownSides: "Cousin Jar Jar," the "Ewok Celebration" remix

Listening Post: Meco - Ewok Celebration

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Ewok Celebration - 1983 (not available)

Oh, the glory days are over. Just finished. This album is terrible.

I mean, you expect that Meco is going to do an album based on a third Star Wars movie, but it's just so half-hearted. The main spectacle here is "Ewok Celebration," based on the music in the movie, done with Meco's usual style, and a rap by Duke Bootee in character as C-3PO. A rap in Ewokese, name-checking the characters from the film. When I was 7, it was genius. Now, it's just a so-so novelty that reminds me of being a kid. (I think my 45 of this is still floating around somewhere.) It's not up to the brilliance of "Star Wars," The Empire Strikes Back, or Christmas in the Stars. Did Meco just lose interest?

He doesn't do anything with the film's fantastic score; think of what he might have done with Williams' great themes for the Ewoks and the Emperor. Instead, he does a cover of "Lapti Nek," the song from Jabba's throne room, which sounds almost exactly like the one on the original Return of the Jedi soundtrack. There's no joy in it, none of that Meco revelry in cheesiness. "Themes from Star Wars" is basically a re-editing of the original disco hit "Star Wars" with a nod to Vader's theme and a lot chopped out (it only runs half as long as the '77 track). The electronic drumbeats don't help.

The B side has nothing to do with Jedi. It's mostly forgettable (a cover of the theme from "Simon & Simon"?), although the cover of "Maniac" (the song from Flashdance) answers a question that no one ever asked: What would Michael Sembello's song sound like with Kenny G on the sax? "Themes from War Games" is an embarrassment, even for Meco.

The only thing really worth salvaging on the album as good music is "Love Theme from Superman III," which is very pretty and sounds like the old Meco. It's a brief point of light that makes the rest of the album look worse in comparison. And it's already pretty bad.

Grade D
A Side: none ("Ewok Celebration" is a novelty, but you don't have to have it)
BlindSide: "Love Theme from Superman III"
DownSide: "Themes from War Games" is the absolute pits

Listening Post: Meco - Pop Goes the Movies

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Pop Goes the Movies - 1981 (not available)

Oh, that's too bad.

I enjoyed Impressions of An American Werewolf in London so much that it just deepens my disappointment in Pop Goes the Movies.

There's really only one track here--"Pop Goes the Movies"--broken into two parts, one for each side of the record. It's Meco's response to the insane medley fad that went around at this time. Thanks to Stars on 45 and their successful Beatles medley, Meco first produced a Beach Boys medley for a made-up group called The Cantina Band, and then did this album of nothing but movie themes for a half-hour. All in a "Hooked on Classics" medley with the constant digital clapping and... then it's over. And almost a half-hour of your life is gone...

Wow, it just... sucks.

(And this wasn't the only musical harm Meco inflicted on the world in 1981; he also produced Kenny G's first album that year.)

Grade F
A Side: none
BlindSide: nope, none of those
DownSide: "Pop Goes the Movies"

NOTE: I do not have a copy of Meco's next album, SWINGTIME'S GREATEST HITS, nor can I track one down. If it's anything like this mess, I'm kind of glad I'm going to have to skip it.

Listening Post: Meco - Impressions of An American Werewolf in London

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Impressions of an American Werewolf in London - 1981 (not available)

Well, Meco's left disco behind completely, and after Music from Star Trek/Music from The Black Hole, I couldn't be happier.

Meco only kept Lance Quinn around this time, the guy who had arranged The Empire Strikes Back for Meco, and promoted him to producer. Like Moondancer, this is an album of songs. Unlike Moondancer, this is a straight pop/rock album, not disco.

Impressions of An American Werewolf in London doesn't really have much to do with the John Landis movie (surprise, I know), but it's probably Meco's most fun album since The Empire Strikes Back. It's breezy, and probably makes a good listen around Halloween.

Side A starts off with "Blue Moon," a cover of the classic Marcels tune, but with an orchestral intro which is appropriately moody (and wolf howls and thunder; Meco still digs the sound effects). That song, as I remember, was actually one of several versions of "Blue Moon" heard in the movie. It's like a lot of covers from the very early eighties; it sounds exactly like the old song, but it's slicker and has heaver drums. It's not bad. "You Gotta Hurt Me" is an original (all of the originals are once again co-written by Maury Yeston) 50s pastiche that's pleasant but forgettable. The cover of Van Morrison's "Moon Dance" is okay. The last track, "The Boys," is an arranged version of part of Elmer Bernstein's score for the movie. It's probably the most beautiful track Meco's produced; it sounds like it was meant to be a radio single version of the score. Sweeping and lovely.

The B side opens with a surprisingly good cover of "Bad Moon Rising." I can't remember if it was in the movie or if it was the Creedence version in the movie. The gypsy music intro is fun; lots of reverb, but a really good cover. The original "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (not the Alice Cooper song) is okay, but the best song on the album is "Werewolf (Loose in London)." This is on The Best of Meco, and it's frigging fantastic. It's a staple of my Halloween mixes every year. It comes up out of the darkness like the Unfinished Symphony, and it gets so big and dramatic and 80s. Seriously, and not in an ironic way, this is one of the best things I've ever heard.

The album ends with a disappointing stinker, "Werewolf Serenade," in which someone or other doing a piss-poor Wolfman Jack impression sings about becoming a werewolf who doesn't have the heart to hurt anyone. It's lame. Guy sounds like a guy doing a bad impression of Harvey Fierstein trying to do a bad impression of Wolfman Jack.

Overall, though, it's a fun listen, and a great follow-up to The Empire Strikes Back. I hope Meco can keep this new sound going. As for this album, I'm going to put it on again at Halloween.

Grade B+
A Side: "Werewolf (Loose in London)," "The Boys"
BlindSides: "Blue Moon," "Bad Moon Rising"
DownSide: "Werewolf Serenade"

Listening Post: U2 - No Line on the Horizon

The very first Listening Post finally concludes with a new one from the band that started it all.



U2 - No Line on the Horizon - 2009 (iTunes - Amazon)

I started the Listening Post because I realized that, while I knew all of U2's singles I didn't really know the band. And so it began. I listened to every record in order starting with Boy and ended with How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb.
Afterward I had so much fun with the concept that I continued. Other people have joined in the fun. And I don't forsee stopping at any point soon.
BUT
U2 put out a new album and what kind of completist would I be if I didn't include it here?
Here goes:

Imagine you are in a spacious apartment. It's a high rise above a metropolitan city. The carpet is grey, the furniture modern and black. The appointments are metallic and the windows are floor to ceiling.
Guests arrive but barely make small talk. The men are all dressed in fine linen and silk suits, the women are all in flowing haute couture.
The host snaps his fingers. Clothing is removed and the apartment is transformed into a hedonistic orgy.
Music comes on over the speakers.
It is U2's No Line on the Horizon.
When it is over everyone is finished copulating. They dress, barely acknowledging each other and everyone goes on their several ways.
That is about the emotional depth of this album and all it's good for.
I am sick and tired of hearing that it's the BEST U2 SINCE ACHTUNG BABY! It isn't the best U2 since Pop. In fact, I liked Pop better than this.
There are no songs here (save the title track and Get on Your Boots) and when given the chance to be grammatically correct, Bono takes the opportunity not to. (Hence the Get On, not Get your boots ON, feh.)
I hate this record and I am pretty sure that no on will ever listen to any song from it again after this year.
You don't need this record. No one does.
Blech.
Oh, and if you wanna really have a good orgy shag, put on Radiohead's Kid A. Trust me.

Grade D
A Side: No Line on the Horizon, Get on Your Boots
BlindSide: Nothing
DownSide: everything Else. Yes. Magnificent as well.

Listening Post: Meco - Music from Star Trek/Music from The Black Hole

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Music from Star Trek/Music from The Black Hole - 1980 (not available)

And we're back to disco versions of film themes.

Coming after the exquisite album The Empire Strikes Back, this one just feels routine and dull. The A side starts off with "Star Trek Medley," which features the Main Title and Klingon theme from Jerry Goldsmith's score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I appreciate the electric guitars especially, but this one just lingers too long (over 9 minutes) and doesn't ever really dazzle or come alive. It's good in fits and starts. Better is "Love Theme from Star Trek," which is a synth-heavy but pretty rendition of Goldsmith's theme for Ilia from The Motion Picture. The side closes with "Theme from Star Trek," a disco dance version of the Alexander Courage theme from the original TV series. It's just... not good. It goes on and on and on, making 3:16 feel like a half-hour. And what the hell is a rap break doing in there? Suddenly, a voice comes on, much like the droid voices used on Christmas in the Stars, and starts rapping/singing/talking about dancing and Captain Kirk. It's terrible.

The second side doesn't enliven the proceedings at all. "Theme from The Black Hole" sounds too much like another Star Trek piece to really distinguish itself, and doesn't sound a thing like John Barry's theme from the awful Disney movie. Three original themes that just sound science fictiony, I guess, follow: "Clearmotion" (dull, rote disco), "Space Sentry" (sound like a bad outtake from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), and "Meteorites" (the best of a bad bunch, but it's still filler).

Blurgh. There's really not much here that isn't a waste of time.

Grade D-
A Side: "Love Theme from Star Trek"
BlindSide: nothing
DownSides: Everything but "Star Trek Medley"

Listening Post: Meco - Christmas in the Stars

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Christmas in the Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album - 1980 (re-released in 1996, but now discontinued and no longer commercially available)

Well, here it is. The legend of this album grew over the years among obsessive Star Wars fans; before the re-release of this album, I remember seeing bootlegs at conventions priced upwards of $200. It became as sought after as The Star Wars Holiday Special. And in light of the existence of that steaming piece of Wookie crap, the existence of a Christmas album makes perfect sense. Hey, fans, George Lucas' merchandising of Star Wars used to be even more pervasive than it is now.

In fact, George Lucas had hoped this would be only the first in a series of annual holiday albums. Having already worked with Meco on Meco's The Empire Strikes Back record, Lucas granted not only the use of sound effects, but R2-D2 and C-3PO (played by Lucasfilm sound man Ben Burtt and Anthony Daniels). Even Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie painted the album cover.

The concept for this album is pretty weird. It's got R2-D2 and C-3PO getting ready for Christmas in some kind of droid factory where droids work all year making presents for "S. Claus." Most of the songs were co-written by Maury Yeston, who went on to write the musical Nine. If that piece of trivia needs to be repeated, Jon Bongiovi (later Jon Bon Jovi) sings the lead vocals on "R2-D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas." His cousin Tony was Meco's producer for every one of his albums. I wonder if Jon was sucking in his cheeks and squinting into the distance even then.

Meco brought Harold Wheeler back on board for this album. And the arrangements are very good. What seems like it should be a goof is given a very professional, very full production, and the result is an excellent product that you're not really sure you want. A lot of work obviously went into this; it almost seems rude not to like it. It's so... sincere.

The songs are a mash-up of traditional Christmas music and Star Wars. For example, the song "Sleigh Ride" features C-3PO teaching R2 how to sing (which, of course, he can't). It's actually a fun album to listen to, and a big part of that is not only the presence of the real C-3PO, but also the full orchestral production. It was one of the first non-classical-or-jazz albums to be recorded and mixed digitally, and the sound spacing and layering is impeccable. If the album doesn't necessarily rise to the level of greatness, it's not really embarrassing to listen to. And it flows so nicely and has a short enough running time that despite some of the lamer songs (I've never cared for the album's single, "What Can You Get a Wookie for Christmas (When He Already Has a Comb?)," or the very twee "The Odds Against Christmas"), it doesn't linger around long enough to truly wear on the listener. Too bad it ends with "The Meaning of Christmas," which is too earnest and too long for its own good. Have you noticed how often Meco missteps at the end of his albums by bringing everything to a halt?

But I usually put "Christmas in the Stars" and C-3PO's dramatic reading "A Christmas Sighting ('Twas the Night Before Christmas)" in my Christmas rotation. It's impossible to hate (and I find it impossible to like anything ironically). The album only had one printing when RSO Records went out of business; they never made any more of them. If Star Wars fans hadn't become so humorless about Star Wars in the last 15 years, we'd still be seeing this sort of thing. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to the listener to decide.

Grade B+
A Side: "Christmas in the Stars"
BlindSides: "R2-D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Sleigh Ride"
DownSides: "The Odds Against Christmas," "Merry, Merry Christmas," "The Meaning of Christmas" (it's a morass)

Listening Post: Meco - The Empire Strikes Back

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - The Empire Strikes Back - 1980 (not available)

It was as inevitable that Meco would return to Star Wars as it was that George Lucas would. But this time, Meco changed tactics. In 1980, disco wasn't exactly dead, but it was certainly on the operating table. Meco had already done Star Wars disco, anyway, and it was time for something new. So this would be the first Meco album without arranger Harold Wheeler. Meco instead went to his guitar player, Lance Quinn, for the new arrangements.

The result is pretty damn good. It's a completely different sound for Meco, much more rock 'n' roll than disco; like an orchestral rock band with a horn section and sound effects. The sound effects, by the way, are the real deal this time around, and not approximations like on Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk. Lucasfilm had seen that record sell through the roof, and this time they were getting in on the deal and provided Meco with the actual sound effects he wanted.

Another good step is that this album--all of four tracks--only contained music from The Empire Strikes Back. None of that filler garbage on the B side like Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk and Superman and Other Galactic Heroes.

The A side starts off with "The Empire Strikes Back (Medley): Darth Vader's Theme/Yoda's Theme," which is, like the movie itself, a darker than the original. Vader's theme especially sounds awesome on electric guitars, and the second half of the track, when the horns bring up Yoda's theme, it's actually kind of thrilling. Surprisingly, it only last 4 minutes and 6 seconds; I'm so used to Meco's movie tracks going on for a quarter of an hour. The track is tight and exciting. The second track, "Battle in the Snow," is drum-heavy, but it's drumming for real, not those damn snare drums from before. Drums and electric guitar and keyboards and Star Wars themes.

The B side is just as good as the A, starting with "The Force Theme" and ending with "The Asteroid Field/Finale." "The Force Theme" is kind of like a funky version of the great theme, real saxophone-heavy and very eighties. It's glorious trash. "The Asteroid Theme/Finale" is like a cross between a video game soundtrack and epic orchestral rock. I can't think of any other way to describe it. It gets a little bit repetitive, but just as it starts to wear out its welcome, the guitars pick up and Vader's theme comes back into it, and the track slows down for a nice, soft rendition of my personal favorite theme from the score, the Han Solo/Princess Leia theme. It carries off into the finale, even adding echoes of the Throne Room theme, which even John Williams didn't do in the Empire finale.

This is a brilliant album, and it's a shame it's never been re-released in its entirety.

Grade A+
A Side: "The Empire Strikes Back (Medley)"
BlindSides: "Battle in the Snow," "The Force Theme," "The Asteroid Field/Finale"
DownSide: Not a one.

Listening Post: Meco - Moondancer

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Moondancer - 1979 (not available)

After four albums of disco versions of movie music, Meco finally decided to record an album of straight disco music. The sound is pretty different, partially because some of the songs are original, and partially because he did the album without the same collaborators from the last four.

As a result, Moondancer is a little less fun to listen to than the others. He tries to keep up the same science fiction theme--the album cover, designed by Meco, is apparently inspired by a dream he had of "creatures of the night" dancing at a disco in a gorge on the moon. If only the album were as interesting. (Take that as you will.)

There are only six songs on the album. The opener, "Moondancer," is the only track actually (co-) written by Meco. Even with the sound effects and the nice instrumental break, the song sounds like background music to a video game. "Love Me, Dracula" is background with a really, really cheesy chorus. "Grazing in the Grass" has some energy, but it's not a patch on the original version by The Friends of Distinction.

Flipping over to side B, "Spooky" is the high point of the album. A disco cover of the hit by The Classics IV, it totally justifies itself. This is one of Meco's best tracks. And despite its cheesiness, "Devil Delight" is campy fun. The album closes with "Living in the Night," a track so subdued and uninteresting that I've already forgotten what it sounds like.

"Spooky" is on The Best of Meco, which is available, and it's the only one you need.

Grade D+
A Side: "Spooky"
BlindSide: "Devil Delight"
DownSide: "Living in the Night," I think

Listening Post: Meco - Superman and Other Galactic Heroes

A guest Listening Post by SamuraiFrog, revolving around Meco Monardo, the guy who disco-ized movie scores.



Meco - Superman and Other Galactic Heroes - 1979 (not available)

Meco returns to the same format as his first record, Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, by taking a John Williams score and setting it to disco in a long, single-side arrangement.

The entire A side is the 16 and a half minute "Themes from Superman," and, as with "Star Wars," Meco is helped by the mere fact that John Williams had written one of his best scores with a number of distinctive, vivid themes. "Themes from Superman" almost, almost surpasses Meco's "Star Wars" because of the addition of a sweeping orchestra and the great arrangement; Meco and his arranger Harold Wheeler make some of Williams' themes, especially the Krypton theme and "The Flying Sequence" and make them sound like they were meant for disco. But at around the 13-minute mark, the whole thing slows down and we get a rendition of "Can You Read My Mind?" which is very pretty, but which features a reading of the same lines from the movie ("Can you read my mind? Do you know what it is that you do to me?" etc.) that just feel out of place and, it must be said, super-cheesy. It feels like a letdown, although the whole thing ends on a pretty sweep.

(I know a lot of people hate that bit in the actual movie, too, but it never bothered me. However, if you did think it was out of place in the movie, it's even more jarring here. So there you go.)

When side B started and the excessive snare drums came up, it sounded like "Other Galactic Funk" all over again and made me want to immediately stop listening.

Side B, just like the second side of Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, is filler. They'd have been better off just putting "Star Wars" on the B side and leaving it at that. Meco's filler is terrible. This is split into four tracks: "The Boy Wonder," "The Caped Crusader," "Lord of the Jungle," and "The Amazing Amazon." If only they could have turned "Lord of the Jungle" into something like "The Emerald Archer" or "The Scarlet Speedster," Meco would've done an entire album of DC Comics heroes.

The second side is expendable, with the exception of "Lord of the Jungle," which is like a quiet little soundscape experiment (up until the end when those damn snare drums come back). "The Amazing Amazon" is the worst. Totally drummed up. Why does Meco think snare drums are the instrument of heroism? Cripes.

Grade: C- (if you never flip it over, B+)
A Side: "Themes from Superman" (especially minus the "Can You Read My Mind?" tag)
BlindSide: "Lord of the Jungle"
DownSides: "The Boy Wonder," "The Caped Crusader," "The Amazing Amazon"

Reflecting Pool: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

Green Day gives us another Rock Opera. But is it any good?



Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown - 2009 (iTunes - Amazon)

"My generation is zero. I never made it as a working class hero."

It's a great line. It follows a bit about being born into Nixon and is followed a little later with the spittle of being "raised by the bastards of 1969".

There's a bit of chatter about the new Green Day album. Some hate it, like Jim DeRogatis of Sound Opinions who thought it has too much bombast, that it owes more to Queen than to Punk.
Some love it, labeling it the sequel to American Idiot.
It is and it isn't.
It's definitely got a gigantic sound. Trading in Rob Cavallo's thick production for an even more wide sonic palette of Butch Vig, I found that the album only really works when it's cranked really loud. Only then does the anthemic nature pour out. This is not a soft record. It's in our faces. Armstrong's got a lot to say, the band has a lot to do, and dammit, you need to hear it in full.
The record is divided into 3 Acts. The first, after the radio tinny sounding a cappella overture "Song of the Century", is called

"Heroes & Cons"
In this song cycle we are introduced to the young lovers who will take us on our journey of life in the 21st century. Christian and Gloria are their names and the song dedicated to her "Viva La Gloria!" is a classic wall of sound Green Day power track with a one minute piano/violin intro. Its a top down fly down the highway piece of gloss and it works on every level. That it has to follow the radio ready power pop/punk of "Know Your Enemy" is a task that the song is up to. But, it's really the album's introduction number, the eponymous track that sets the tone.
Smaller than "Jesus of Suburbia" but with the same multi-style motif, the title track is an explosion and culmination of everything Green Day has been working toward, making good on the promise of American Idiot to be the flagbearers of Stadium Rawk ala The Who or Queen.
Next up is "Before the Lobotomy". This is where I began to notice that these are not just songs, this is not just a pastiche of tracks, there is an order to this. With another one minute long intro, Green Day is not interested in being radio ready as much as they are about telling a story.
I, personally, think there is no coincidence that the male hero's name is what it is. This is an album not about living through the worst and most callous administration in history, its about living in the aftermath. Christians and Glory seekers have to deal with the repercussions of their actions. (btw, 3:30 of this song and 4:25 of 21st Century Breakdown are pure Brian May guitar God-hooding.)
"Christian's Inferno" could have fallen off The Network's Money Money 2020. Trading New Wave verses with panic-punk choruses, this is the song where life begins to fall apart for our heroes. From what I gather, Christian can't get a job and is really pissed about it. In fact, looking around him he's none too pleased with the state of the world that he's been handed and he really wants to lash out.
"Last Night on Earth" is the love song. The music is either an outgrowth of Wake me Before September Ends or a complete Rip off of Lennon. Doesn't matter. Could just be a big ballad, and that's fine, it's the hallucinogenic backing music, almost dischordant effects, with an occasional seagull tossed in for good measure, that makes the song really sing for me. As the ending of a cycle, it's divine.

"Charlatans and Saints"
"East Jesus Nowhere" is a religious army's call to arms. As I see it, this is Billie Joe's warning that the religious right have been mobilized and are preparing for war. "I want to know who's allowed to breed/All the dogs who never learned to read/Missionary politicians/And the cops of the new religion"
Yeah. He's got a bone to pick with the Religious Right alright.
"Peacemaker" follows amidst the static of what sounds like Arab radio, the song itself is obviously middle eastern flavored rock. Or "Misery" on steroids. But, it would follow suit that, after a song calling Christians to the fight of their lives, we would get to see a response from the Muslim side. The song is excellent, by the way.
"Last of the American Girls" shows us a bit of Gloria. She ain't just a girl next door. She's pissed and paranoid. She's mad at corporate America. She's an idealist that might be the template for Patty Hearst if she weren't a descendant. I wouldn't doubt her to be a vegetarian and a member of PeTA.
And if you were feeling like the album didn't have a lot teeth, "Murder City" is every bit as Dookie era GD that you would be likely to hear, except that the boys are 37 not 22. They have more to say. Gloria isn't all that thrilled with the way things are turning out. She feels desperate, useless, her boyfriend is crying in the bathroom and all she wants is a cigarette. I don't have a lot of hope for these two, truth be told.
Much like the Weil-esque Misery is "Viva la Gloria?" I liked the style before. I like it now. I'm not sure what has happened to Gloria, though....Then we get to the first clunker; "Restless Heart Syndrome". If you're gonna redux "Novacaine", make it better, guys. But, then that song's descent to guitar inferno actually helps the song and ends the second act on the right note: Chaos.

Act III
Horseshoes & Handgrenades
After the sound of jackboots marching, Billie Joe screams, "I'm not fucking around!" on "Horseshoes & Handgrenades" and he sounds like he means it. I guess Christian's fed up with being lied to and forced to drink the swill of propaganda. His screams of G-L-O-R-I-A! folds right into the epic pop rock sound of "Static Age", a song I am taking as an indictment of the noise of pop culture. When all is done and the cult of celebrity has clouded the horrors of the world, all that's left is the reality of the battlefield. "21 Guns" is the second single from the record and it's a bold one. (It kind of sounds like All the Young Dudes in the chorus. Just mentioning) We're still at war, but we seem to have forgotten all that. Through all the clutter of 24 hour news and OMG! magazine and MTV's The Hills, we've forgotten that men and women are dying for a cause that has turned out to be a boondoggle.
From there it's a reprise of the opening track, although with more static than before. As that fades into the background, the siren blare of "Mass Hysteria" (with a verse rewrite of Deadbeat Holiday) could be taken for the exact reaction of the world to the economic meltdown. It WAS Mass Hysteria. Blending into the track "Modern World", one gets the sense that there really might be no hope for Christian and Gloria. It's too much, this hysteria, this meltdown, this world of early adopters and technology. Our heroes might not fit in. Nor might any of us. And when it's over, what are we left with? A world at crossroads. There is no happy ending, after all, we are in the middle of this crisis, aren't we? And I've never turned to Green Day for hope. Billie Joe's worldview, with transgendering, absentee fathers, submissive boyfriends, malevolent girlfriends, has never been all that hopeful, has it? Why would we expect it now?

Of course, I might be wrong about all this.

This is an amazing record. Not dull by any means. Maybe it'll fade away from memory, it most certainly won't have the effect of American Idiot, having to live up to that album's legacy and, somehow, outdo it without aping it, it just can't win. And, knowing that, Green Day has decided to make what THEY want to make and leave it to us whether we embrace it or not. I've heard somewhere that these songs were the ones they decided to put on the record of the 40 they recorded.
40. I imagine that another Green Day album might be in the offing not too long from now.

After 20 years of never making one truly bad album, their streak continues.

Grade A
A-Side: 21st Century Breakdown. Know Your Enemy, Before the Lobotomy, Viva La Gloria!,
BlindSide: Peacemaker, Murder City, Viva Le Gloria?, Static Age
DownSide: Christian's Inferno, See the Light