Three videos and the list of artists, 2005
Three video reviews and a list:
Gwen Stefani – Cool.
This is one of the most dangerously deceptive videos I have ever seen. It is gorgeous, emotional, and detailed. While it is hard to shoot pictures in the Mediterranean and not have it look rhapsodic, the reflective nature of the old love make the whole region seem all the more sumptuous. It’s a flashback composed of shots on waterfront benches, strolls in fields with endless blue sky, and architecture one dreams for; all first loves seem to have this fantastic glow in ones personal state of remembrance. And there are the little things too; like Gwen sitting on her bed until her former paramour drives up on his faggio scooter and presses the horn. We don’t hear the buzzer, but we do see her rush to the window to see if it’s him. This was the one of the triumphs of silent cinema; it forced the connection between what transpires between shots without sounds or words, requiring the reactions of the actors to sell the plot. Gwen, as proved by her role in The Aviator is a lot more effective when she merely emotes instead of speaks. It may be the lushness of the mis-en-scene of the video, or the shorter cuts, but she sells this role, and does so completely.
Yet, the song is rather bad. It has a dreamy lushness to it, but it evokes the wrong kind of sentiment. It’s a song about being comfortable with old loves that are back in your life; but the music evokes a sense of hope that the lovers still can get back together, making it juxtaposed for effect instead of paired organically. It’s cheap sentiment. And the video doesn’t help because there is little hint that the old flame’s new girl is there to stay. When we see such a remarkable recollection, the instinct of the viewer is to hope to see reconciliation, not détente and new relationships. It’s misleading, and it seems like the end and idea was tacked on. From an artist that shape shifts more times than Madonna, it’s a specious testament, especially since her last single had her in a cheerleader uniform shouting bananas.
Excuse me.
B A N A N A S
Foo Fighters – Best of you.
While my enjoyment of this song would be increased markedly if they were to clean up the chorus and refrain of “the best, the best” the rest of the song is very solid. Very few songs have ever tapped into the male tendency of not seeing a girl you love have her life go to shit post your involvement. It’s the opposite emotion of Gwen’s Cool. Instead of a girl hoping to see her old boy live happy, it’s the male fear of seeing an old love not be miserable. While the outward expressions of chivalry may be merely surviving as romancing parlor tricks, the male instinct which spawned it has not ceased even with the changing of the times. We become intensely protective of any woman we come to love; it’s part why men don’t fall out of love as easily as women do. We don’t like our old loves new paramours, even if we know absolutely they are better off with them than they ever would be with us. It’s a natural patriarchal instinct that may be outdated and needed, but we still love to come in and save the people we love. We all know our girl’s fathers distrust us even if they love us.
It’s a great concept for a song, even if the end result may have fallen short of what it could be. Yet the video works the concept fully. It’s a performance video, no sperate story, just the band.
The greatest performance video ever made (and this is separate from concert films) is Doves “Catch the Sun” no weird comic gimmicks to draw you in (like Fallout Boy’s “Sugar we’re going down”) just the band performing with minor visual imagery to breakup the static images. U2’s last two lead singles from their albums (Beautiful Day and Vertigo) are great examples of solid performance videos, even if the latter looked eerily like it was a target commercial. Best of you has the band playing for about 60% of the song. It also has short clips of mostly violent animal attacks and pictures of women that seem to be representations of a single woman at different parts in her life. Both work wonderfully on both a visceral, cool to watch passively level (namely the lion leaping to grab a large bird taking off), as well as underscoring the intent of the song. That it’s a rough world out there and it’s hard to bear the thought of something happening bad to a girl one loved. Performance videos should all be at least this good.
Coldplay –Fix you.
Coldplay may be the best music video artist of this decade. Only Robbie Williams from Sing While you’re winning and Travis could give them competition. Yellow is a simple masterpiece. The Scientist may be gimmicky, but its effective. And Trouble is the greatest video of the last 10 years.
Paced with cogent harmony in the song, this one clips along in a way that makes the song al the more enjoyable, and even adds a different take for the last minute of the song compared to the radio and album cut. The first part of the song and video are quiet, reflective and intimate. As I wrote about before
http://ineverlovedyou.blogspot.com/2005/06/frodo-form-on-coldplay-psp-and-waking.html
the song is a keeper. And when the climax hits Martin begins to run from the quiet solidarity to join the band on stage mid performance in front of a stadium of people. The rise hits full steam and the band plays all out, and just when you think you’ve seen the video level, Martin turns the microphone to the crowd, and you can get the full effect of what it’s like to be in a stadium when everyone is sharing the same moment. It’s done so well it seems more like a thoroughly genuine twist, and not a gimmick. Few videos have ever been able to capture the live experience. This one not only does so grandly, the mashup with a traditional video proscenium is a minor revelation. It seems all the more amazing that no one has ever tried this before in the 30 odd years of the submedia. Thank god Coldplay and Sophie Muller did it right the first time. This is one for the ages.
About 14 months ago I did a list of the best current artists. Spin used to do this and they were usually pretty good outside of their tendency to lump in hip hop artists in a way that could only be called social disconnect.
I decided to do this for an old email, and I have been working on coming up with a new one.
Last years:
15. Robbie Williams
14. Coldplay
13. Pearl Jam
12. Jet
11. Scissor Sisters
10. Eminem
9. The Darkness
8. Andrew W.K.
7. My Morning Jacket
6. Talib Kweli
5. Beck
4. The Strokes
3. The Streets
2. Doves
1. Radiohead
I am happy with most of last years top 5, but most of the rest I completely over judged them. I still believe that Pearl Jam has one good album left in them, but the possibility is now down to %3 of ever coming true. Jet was a complete mistake. Talib has only gotten worse instead of staying at his old level. Outkast would have been a better choice.
Anyway, on to this year:
Off the list: (And not in order)
OutKast
Death Cab for Cutie
Foo Fighters
My Morning Jacket
White Stripes
Black Keys
The New Pornographers
Hot Hot Heat
The Avalanches (please do something like Since I left you again!!!)
Tenacious D (give me more!!!!)
Just off – Interpol. They are clearly ripping off Joy Division, but so was U2. But they are here because the tend to be quite good despite all, and they made one of the three best singles this decade with PDA.
The Strokes – It’s been two years since their last album. They may drop after January 2006, or they may rise. I am not too sure if they can keep this up and finally let the naysayers win. But their last two albums are getting better with age instead of becoming too close to the groups they stole from. Instead of staying simple yet brilliant, they have become fantastic beaause they are simple and brilliant, and if the third album delivers, we may just have to forget about the whole derivative label.
10. Bloc Party – This may be the new entry on this list. They are new, but Banquet is brilliant enough to warrant inclusion. The rest of the EP is just as solid. Smart, skilled musicianship without being too Prog (i.e. going out of the way to be difficult a la Tool and Perfect Circle).
9. The Streets – Still one of the worst rappers out there. But his lack of MC skills are made up by the fact that his lyrics are completely different from all other major rappers today; they are relatable to everyday people (Hello Eminem and G-Unit), and they aren’t about Atlanta and trying to get laid. He may wind up being our generations Bob Dylan, that’s how good his songs are with dealing with the trials of 20 something life.
8. Coldplay – So I don’t hate the new album as much as I thought I would. Talk is brilliant, and there are a decent number of songs on the album. EW called them “The new U2?” with an emphasis on the question mark. They may be just as mainstream, but they did two things at this point in their career that U2 couldn’t or didn’t. They can close an album, and their first three albums were solid as wholes more than they were single based. I’d take Rush of blood or Parachutes over Boy, War, or October. Or any of the next three before 87’s Joshua Tree.
7. Beck –As the year’s pass, I think that Sea Change will be more appreciated than it was when it came out. Maybe it was the obvious connection to his newsworthy breakup. But this man is still doing great music, as Guero proves. He makes singles that are commensurate with what the evolution of pop music was supposed to be.
6. Fiery Furnaces – If Zappa made more serious music outside of his forays into classical composition, this is about what the result would sound like. It’s has more tempo and shift changes than every Who album, and that’s only in the first song off Blueberry Boat, Quay Cur. I’ll list
Able to pull off a 70-minute album without boring the listener.
Dual singers!
Musical Mindfucks you keep going back to.
You will never hear something like this group again until someone decides to rip them off.
5. Green Day – I never thought I would like this band. Their old stuff started to make more sense as I grew into my 20’s. I never expected that. But really, American Idiot is that good. Everyone calls upon the who in references, but they are missing Pink Floyd and their last great album, the final cut. A terrific piece about War, what it does to a people even if it’s necessary, and how a generation looks at those before them. Party Ben may have been able to take their biggest song off the album and create a mashup that is far superior, but if you haven’t heard Homecoming or Jesus of Suburbia you have no idea how big this band is about to get. They also have the best line I have heard in two years:
Gotta Rock and roll band,
Gotta rock and roll life,
Gotta rock and roll girlfriend
And another Ex wife.
Not only is American Idiot as good as the hype, it’s getting better. And I’m going to put it out there:
Greatest Singles of the Decade:
10. Cry Me A River – Justin Timberlake
9. Roll On – The living End
8. Banquet – Bloc Party
7. Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
6. Lose Yourself – Eminem
5. BOB – Outkast
4. Yellow –Coldplay
3. There goes the fear – Doves
2. PDA– Interpol
1. Jesus of Suburbia — Green Day
Even with #10 that seems about right.
4. The Arcade Fire – I have re-written this three times and I am still unable to come up with a decent summary. If you want a group that is both grown up to make your feelings of loss not seem so juvenile in comparison, this is it. They are smart, tender, skilled and dark enough as to not sugarcoat tragedy. They allow you to both wallow in sorrow and understand it a bit more. That and the music is fantastic.
3. Doves – Three brilliant albums in a row. Singles that just overwhelm the songs that precede and follow it on the radio. Glorious vocals. Smart, skilled, immaculately timed, and the best recorded drum hits since the 70’s (the temblor of drums are perfectly recorded). If American Idiot is where Punk/grunge rock should be, and Beck is where pop/edgy pop should be, well, Doves finish this sentence. Smart enough to be Indie, accessible to those looking for something new without seeming derivative, and (not to sound repetitive) the timing is just genius. If Jesus of Suburbia is the best single, The Doves “The Cedar Room” is the best song off an album never released to mass audiences. They can make singles to cherish and albums to listen to over and over again.
2. Radiohead – Last year they were #1 by default. But in all honesty, they will probably go down as one of the top 5 artists of all time. But they don’t deserve to be the top when they release Amnesiac and then follow it up with an album that is a little too bloated. But no band will be as good as they are when it comes to both live performances and the albums combined.
1. Drive By Truckers—Radiohead was once again going to be the # 1 by default. But I kept listening to this band. And I kept buying album after album by this group. They may be the most real group in the world. They talk about problems all people face in one point or another in ones life: cheating, cheating loves, alcoholism, escapism through rock and roll or other art forms. They have some of the best opening lines ever put to music, their best being:
Well my daddy didn’t pull out, but he never apologized.
They are one of the few groups to get what normal love is (meaning the love we all have, and not the love that is shown in movies like Pretty Woman.
And more than anything, they are what real rock and roll is about. Sadness, real life problems, drinking, gambling, cheating, hating women, loving women, and killing yourself to live.
Radiohead hasn’t made an album in two years. And they may never make another great album. Drive by Truckers are not only the best band in the world today, but they are one of the only five great American groups of all time.
In 1980, in a world where everything was changing and dancehall music ruled the pop charts, Rolling Stone called the Clash “The Only Band that Mattered.”
The mantle has been passed for a new age mired in pop misery.
This is the only band in the world that can do nothing wrong right now. They are redeeming the south by explaining it. They are saving American rock and roll by countering California rock like Incubus, Good Charlotte, and any other band on MTV.
Others copy and pay homage. This band’s catalog is full of myths, hard truths, and great music; Drive By Truckers are the only band in the world that is still continuing the mantle of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. They are the best group in the world.
Gwen Stefani – Cool.
This is one of the most dangerously deceptive videos I have ever seen. It is gorgeous, emotional, and detailed. While it is hard to shoot pictures in the Mediterranean and not have it look rhapsodic, the reflective nature of the old love make the whole region seem all the more sumptuous. It’s a flashback composed of shots on waterfront benches, strolls in fields with endless blue sky, and architecture one dreams for; all first loves seem to have this fantastic glow in ones personal state of remembrance. And there are the little things too; like Gwen sitting on her bed until her former paramour drives up on his faggio scooter and presses the horn. We don’t hear the buzzer, but we do see her rush to the window to see if it’s him. This was the one of the triumphs of silent cinema; it forced the connection between what transpires between shots without sounds or words, requiring the reactions of the actors to sell the plot. Gwen, as proved by her role in The Aviator is a lot more effective when she merely emotes instead of speaks. It may be the lushness of the mis-en-scene of the video, or the shorter cuts, but she sells this role, and does so completely.
Yet, the song is rather bad. It has a dreamy lushness to it, but it evokes the wrong kind of sentiment. It’s a song about being comfortable with old loves that are back in your life; but the music evokes a sense of hope that the lovers still can get back together, making it juxtaposed for effect instead of paired organically. It’s cheap sentiment. And the video doesn’t help because there is little hint that the old flame’s new girl is there to stay. When we see such a remarkable recollection, the instinct of the viewer is to hope to see reconciliation, not détente and new relationships. It’s misleading, and it seems like the end and idea was tacked on. From an artist that shape shifts more times than Madonna, it’s a specious testament, especially since her last single had her in a cheerleader uniform shouting bananas.
Excuse me.
B A N A N A S
Foo Fighters – Best of you.
While my enjoyment of this song would be increased markedly if they were to clean up the chorus and refrain of “the best, the best” the rest of the song is very solid. Very few songs have ever tapped into the male tendency of not seeing a girl you love have her life go to shit post your involvement. It’s the opposite emotion of Gwen’s Cool. Instead of a girl hoping to see her old boy live happy, it’s the male fear of seeing an old love not be miserable. While the outward expressions of chivalry may be merely surviving as romancing parlor tricks, the male instinct which spawned it has not ceased even with the changing of the times. We become intensely protective of any woman we come to love; it’s part why men don’t fall out of love as easily as women do. We don’t like our old loves new paramours, even if we know absolutely they are better off with them than they ever would be with us. It’s a natural patriarchal instinct that may be outdated and needed, but we still love to come in and save the people we love. We all know our girl’s fathers distrust us even if they love us.
It’s a great concept for a song, even if the end result may have fallen short of what it could be. Yet the video works the concept fully. It’s a performance video, no sperate story, just the band.
The greatest performance video ever made (and this is separate from concert films) is Doves “Catch the Sun” no weird comic gimmicks to draw you in (like Fallout Boy’s “Sugar we’re going down”) just the band performing with minor visual imagery to breakup the static images. U2’s last two lead singles from their albums (Beautiful Day and Vertigo) are great examples of solid performance videos, even if the latter looked eerily like it was a target commercial. Best of you has the band playing for about 60% of the song. It also has short clips of mostly violent animal attacks and pictures of women that seem to be representations of a single woman at different parts in her life. Both work wonderfully on both a visceral, cool to watch passively level (namely the lion leaping to grab a large bird taking off), as well as underscoring the intent of the song. That it’s a rough world out there and it’s hard to bear the thought of something happening bad to a girl one loved. Performance videos should all be at least this good.
Coldplay –Fix you.
Coldplay may be the best music video artist of this decade. Only Robbie Williams from Sing While you’re winning and Travis could give them competition. Yellow is a simple masterpiece. The Scientist may be gimmicky, but its effective. And Trouble is the greatest video of the last 10 years.
Paced with cogent harmony in the song, this one clips along in a way that makes the song al the more enjoyable, and even adds a different take for the last minute of the song compared to the radio and album cut. The first part of the song and video are quiet, reflective and intimate. As I wrote about before
http://ineverlovedyou.blogspot.com/2005/06/frodo-form-on-coldplay-psp-and-waking.html
the song is a keeper. And when the climax hits Martin begins to run from the quiet solidarity to join the band on stage mid performance in front of a stadium of people. The rise hits full steam and the band plays all out, and just when you think you’ve seen the video level, Martin turns the microphone to the crowd, and you can get the full effect of what it’s like to be in a stadium when everyone is sharing the same moment. It’s done so well it seems more like a thoroughly genuine twist, and not a gimmick. Few videos have ever been able to capture the live experience. This one not only does so grandly, the mashup with a traditional video proscenium is a minor revelation. It seems all the more amazing that no one has ever tried this before in the 30 odd years of the submedia. Thank god Coldplay and Sophie Muller did it right the first time. This is one for the ages.
About 14 months ago I did a list of the best current artists. Spin used to do this and they were usually pretty good outside of their tendency to lump in hip hop artists in a way that could only be called social disconnect.
I decided to do this for an old email, and I have been working on coming up with a new one.
Last years:
15. Robbie Williams
14. Coldplay
13. Pearl Jam
12. Jet
11. Scissor Sisters
10. Eminem
9. The Darkness
8. Andrew W.K.
7. My Morning Jacket
6. Talib Kweli
5. Beck
4. The Strokes
3. The Streets
2. Doves
1. Radiohead
I am happy with most of last years top 5, but most of the rest I completely over judged them. I still believe that Pearl Jam has one good album left in them, but the possibility is now down to %3 of ever coming true. Jet was a complete mistake. Talib has only gotten worse instead of staying at his old level. Outkast would have been a better choice.
Anyway, on to this year:
Off the list: (And not in order)
OutKast
Death Cab for Cutie
Foo Fighters
My Morning Jacket
White Stripes
Black Keys
The New Pornographers
Hot Hot Heat
The Avalanches (please do something like Since I left you again!!!)
Tenacious D (give me more!!!!)
Just off – Interpol. They are clearly ripping off Joy Division, but so was U2. But they are here because the tend to be quite good despite all, and they made one of the three best singles this decade with PDA.
The Strokes – It’s been two years since their last album. They may drop after January 2006, or they may rise. I am not too sure if they can keep this up and finally let the naysayers win. But their last two albums are getting better with age instead of becoming too close to the groups they stole from. Instead of staying simple yet brilliant, they have become fantastic beaause they are simple and brilliant, and if the third album delivers, we may just have to forget about the whole derivative label.
10. Bloc Party – This may be the new entry on this list. They are new, but Banquet is brilliant enough to warrant inclusion. The rest of the EP is just as solid. Smart, skilled musicianship without being too Prog (i.e. going out of the way to be difficult a la Tool and Perfect Circle).
9. The Streets – Still one of the worst rappers out there. But his lack of MC skills are made up by the fact that his lyrics are completely different from all other major rappers today; they are relatable to everyday people (Hello Eminem and G-Unit), and they aren’t about Atlanta and trying to get laid. He may wind up being our generations Bob Dylan, that’s how good his songs are with dealing with the trials of 20 something life.
8. Coldplay – So I don’t hate the new album as much as I thought I would. Talk is brilliant, and there are a decent number of songs on the album. EW called them “The new U2?” with an emphasis on the question mark. They may be just as mainstream, but they did two things at this point in their career that U2 couldn’t or didn’t. They can close an album, and their first three albums were solid as wholes more than they were single based. I’d take Rush of blood or Parachutes over Boy, War, or October. Or any of the next three before 87’s Joshua Tree.
7. Beck –As the year’s pass, I think that Sea Change will be more appreciated than it was when it came out. Maybe it was the obvious connection to his newsworthy breakup. But this man is still doing great music, as Guero proves. He makes singles that are commensurate with what the evolution of pop music was supposed to be.
6. Fiery Furnaces – If Zappa made more serious music outside of his forays into classical composition, this is about what the result would sound like. It’s has more tempo and shift changes than every Who album, and that’s only in the first song off Blueberry Boat, Quay Cur. I’ll list
Able to pull off a 70-minute album without boring the listener.
Dual singers!
Musical Mindfucks you keep going back to.
You will never hear something like this group again until someone decides to rip them off.
5. Green Day – I never thought I would like this band. Their old stuff started to make more sense as I grew into my 20’s. I never expected that. But really, American Idiot is that good. Everyone calls upon the who in references, but they are missing Pink Floyd and their last great album, the final cut. A terrific piece about War, what it does to a people even if it’s necessary, and how a generation looks at those before them. Party Ben may have been able to take their biggest song off the album and create a mashup that is far superior, but if you haven’t heard Homecoming or Jesus of Suburbia you have no idea how big this band is about to get. They also have the best line I have heard in two years:
Gotta Rock and roll band,
Gotta rock and roll life,
Gotta rock and roll girlfriend
And another Ex wife.
Not only is American Idiot as good as the hype, it’s getting better. And I’m going to put it out there:
Greatest Singles of the Decade:
10. Cry Me A River – Justin Timberlake
9. Roll On – The living End
8. Banquet – Bloc Party
7. Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
6. Lose Yourself – Eminem
5. BOB – Outkast
4. Yellow –Coldplay
3. There goes the fear – Doves
2. PDA– Interpol
1. Jesus of Suburbia — Green Day
Even with #10 that seems about right.
4. The Arcade Fire – I have re-written this three times and I am still unable to come up with a decent summary. If you want a group that is both grown up to make your feelings of loss not seem so juvenile in comparison, this is it. They are smart, tender, skilled and dark enough as to not sugarcoat tragedy. They allow you to both wallow in sorrow and understand it a bit more. That and the music is fantastic.
3. Doves – Three brilliant albums in a row. Singles that just overwhelm the songs that precede and follow it on the radio. Glorious vocals. Smart, skilled, immaculately timed, and the best recorded drum hits since the 70’s (the temblor of drums are perfectly recorded). If American Idiot is where Punk/grunge rock should be, and Beck is where pop/edgy pop should be, well, Doves finish this sentence. Smart enough to be Indie, accessible to those looking for something new without seeming derivative, and (not to sound repetitive) the timing is just genius. If Jesus of Suburbia is the best single, The Doves “The Cedar Room” is the best song off an album never released to mass audiences. They can make singles to cherish and albums to listen to over and over again.
2. Radiohead – Last year they were #1 by default. But in all honesty, they will probably go down as one of the top 5 artists of all time. But they don’t deserve to be the top when they release Amnesiac and then follow it up with an album that is a little too bloated. But no band will be as good as they are when it comes to both live performances and the albums combined.
1. Drive By Truckers—Radiohead was once again going to be the # 1 by default. But I kept listening to this band. And I kept buying album after album by this group. They may be the most real group in the world. They talk about problems all people face in one point or another in ones life: cheating, cheating loves, alcoholism, escapism through rock and roll or other art forms. They have some of the best opening lines ever put to music, their best being:
Well my daddy didn’t pull out, but he never apologized.
They are one of the few groups to get what normal love is (meaning the love we all have, and not the love that is shown in movies like Pretty Woman.
And more than anything, they are what real rock and roll is about. Sadness, real life problems, drinking, gambling, cheating, hating women, loving women, and killing yourself to live.
Radiohead hasn’t made an album in two years. And they may never make another great album. Drive by Truckers are not only the best band in the world today, but they are one of the only five great American groups of all time.
In 1980, in a world where everything was changing and dancehall music ruled the pop charts, Rolling Stone called the Clash “The Only Band that Mattered.”
The mantle has been passed for a new age mired in pop misery.
This is the only band in the world that can do nothing wrong right now. They are redeeming the south by explaining it. They are saving American rock and roll by countering California rock like Incubus, Good Charlotte, and any other band on MTV.
Others copy and pay homage. This band’s catalog is full of myths, hard truths, and great music; Drive By Truckers are the only band in the world that is still continuing the mantle of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. They are the best group in the world.
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