Month: October 2006 (Page 2 of 7)

Welcome back to 1985: Andy Taylor leaves Duran Duran, again

October 26, 2006 / David Medsker

We should have known that it wouldn’t last. Andy Taylor is the first to leave the reunited Duran Duran, allegedly due to disagreements with the band’s management. Here’s the band’s official announcement, from their web site:

To Our Fans

We know that there has been a tremendous amount of speculation over the past few weeks regarding Andy Taylor’s continued involvement with the band and we are sorry that we’ve been unable to provide you with more information until now. The past five years have been an incredible journey for us all – and having the original five back together was something that we had wanted to see happen for some time. As of last weekend, however, the four of us have dissolved our partnership and will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf between us and we can no longer effectively function together. Although obviously disappointed and saddened about this, we are excited about the next chapter of the Duran Duran story and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Simon, John, Nick and Roger

Jesus. Here we go again.

Now, I’ll tell you why this really bothers me: as much as I love Simon, Nick, John and Roger, I worry that they are overwhelming the band’s sound, and as much as they may not like Andy, they need Andy, because he brings the ROCK, baby! My guess is that he probably heard about the collaboration with Justin Timberlake and said, “WTF?” And frankly, I can see why the band wanted to do it, and why Andy didn’t. Pity. I don’t think things will be the same after this.

So, is it too early to make fun of them again, especially Andy? A Duran Duran fan actually tipped me off to these, a series of hilarious MST3K-style clips making fun of Duran Duran videos. As much as I love the band, these are awesome. Best of luck with the next record, guys…but be prepared for people to stop caring about you again. Nothing personal, just the nature of the beast, ya know. I’m sure you remember what it was like when Notorious dropped.

Episode One: A View to a Kill

Episode Two: New Moon on Monday

Episode Three: Union of the Snake

Episode Four: The Wild Boys

News, Rock, Videos

Notes from the Orphanage, Part Deux

October 25, 2006 / Will Harris

Like Herr Medsker, my history as a music critic can be tied directly back to one concept: getting free music. I went to a high school journalism conference in 1987, and one of the speakers assured his audience that if you sent a copy of your publication to a record label and told them that you wanted to review one of their albums, they’d send you a free copy. It’s still true today…except in our case, we send them a link to our site, and more often than not, we don’t have to request this stuff; it’s sent to us whether we have any interest in it or not. So here are a few rapid fire critiques of discs that I never really wanted in the first place, but, hey, they were free…

The 1900s, Plume Delivery (Parasol): These Chicago-based popsters are a little bit Belle and Sebastian, a little bit New Pornographers, and are influenced a hell of a lot by late ’60 pop and early ’70s bubblegum. This, their debut EP, is full of lots of pop goodness. Even the 7+ minutes of “Patron Saint of the Mediocre” are full enough of enough musical diversity to keep things interesting throughout.

Doleful Lions, Song Cyclops Volume Two (Parasol): This album was recorded in the home of Jonathan Scott – who is, for all practical purposes, the Doleful Lions – in 1999, and there’s never a moment when you aren’t completely aware that it’s a bedroom production. I admit it, the songs – originals sitting alongside covers of the Beach Boys, the Misfits, and the Close Lobsters, among others – are all catchy as hell…but, damn, never before have I wished that I was Phil Spector, just so I could clean this shit up!

Jonny Lives!, Get Steady (Eleven Seven): There are way too many punk-pop bands out there who sound approximately the same for me to be able to write anything other than approximately the same review. These guys warrant at least a few extra words, though, because frontman / songwriter Jonny Dubowski seems to be interested in having his band be more than being just the next Jimmy Eat World. They’re not Sugarcult, but they’re certainly better than average…and lord knows that most of their peers are terribly, terribly average.

Alternative, Artists, Pop, Rock, Songs

Riki, please lose that number

October 25, 2006 / John Paulsen

First they skewered Owen Wilson in an open letter to his brother, Luke. Now the guys from Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) have set their sites on Wes Anderson, writer/director of “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Apparently, Steely Dan is a big fan of Anderson’s first film, “Bottle Rocket,” but they feel that his subsequent films have been progressively worse.

These follow-ups have all concerned themselves with the theme we like to call “the enervated family of origin”©, from which springs diverse subplots also largely concerned with the failure to fulfill early promise. Again, each film increasingly relies on eccentric visual detail, period wardrobe, idiosyncratic and overwrought set design, and music supervision that leans heavily on somewhat obscure 60’s “British Invasion” tracks a-jangle with twelve-string guitars, harpsichords and mandolins. The company of players, while excellent, retains pretty much the same tone and function from film to film. Indeed, you must be aware that your career as an auteur is mirrored in the lives of your beloved characters as they struggle in vain to duplicate early glories.

Steely Dan goes on to outline two strategies to “help” Anderson get back on track, providing lyrics to two separate songs that they’ve written for his next project. But before they agree to work with Anderson, there are a few conditions…

Same thing for the mandolins and the twelve-string stuff and the harpsichord, they’re out. You yourself may be partial to those particular instruments. We’re not. Remember, we saw “Tom Jones” in its original theatrical release when we were still in high school, we had to listen to “Walk Away Renee” all through college and we fucking opened for Roger McGuinn in the seventies, so all that “jingle-jangle morning” shit is no big thrill for us, OK?

I find these letters fascinating, not so much for their flowery words or content, but for the simple fact that these guys from Steely Dan actually think that anyone gives a fuck what they think about a movie.

The only explanation I can come up with is that somewhere in this universe, there is a tear in the space/time continuum, which leads to a parallel universe where the guys in Steely Dan are highly respected film critics. And somehow these letters got through…damn wi-fi.

Artists, External Music, Rock

Idol face…or O-face?

October 25, 2006 / Deb Medsker

I can’t believe it actually took five seasons of “American Idol” for someone to come up with this.

For those of you whose worst nightmare involves Taylor Hicks removing so much as one of his socks…you may not want to click the link.

Technically, the images themselves are entirely SFW…but the visualizations they encourage may need to be scrubbed from your brain immediately. With bleach.

American Idol

Kurt pries the crown from the King’s cold, dead hand

October 24, 2006 / Will Harris

Did you realize when you woke up this morning that it was in a whole new rock and roll era? Probably not. But we’re definitely in a new world, now that it’s been confirmed that Kurt Cobain has dethroned Elvis Presley as the top-earning dead rock star, having pulled in $50 million from October 2005 to October 2006.

Actually, I say “top-earning dead rock star,” but, in fact, he’s the top-earning dead celebrity, period; coming in second is Presley, followed by Charles Schulz (creator of “Peanuts”), John Lennon, and Albert Einstein. (Funnily enough, much of Albert’s bucks came courtesy of his name being attached to the “Baby Einstein” series.)

Either way, it’s clear that anyone who thought that Cobain’s popularity would dwindle within a few years of his suicide was, in a word, wrong.

Alternative, Artists, News, Pop, Rock