(Clever Title)

Apparently I posted back in march. I don't remember doing that. Now that I've moved on to bigger and better things in law school I suppose it would be easier for me to access the page and actually blog. The question becomes, do I have anything worth saying? Probably not.

I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear in the world. The first thing that strikes the observation is an innumarable multitude of men, all equal and alike, incessantly endeavouring to procure the petty and paltry pleasure with which they glut their lives. Each of them, living apart, is as a stranger to the fate of all the rest,-his children and private friends constitute to him the whole of mankind; as for the rest of his fellow-citizens, he is close to them, but he sees them not;-he touches them, but he feels them not; he exists but in himself and for himself alone; and if his kindred still remain to him, he maybe said at any rate to have lost his country.
Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for adulthood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principle concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances-what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?
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After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided: men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
-Alexis de Tocqueville

I just listened to Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats and, well, it was something. Bleak, some of the bleakest, non-music, industrial sound I've ever heard. In many ways its unlistenable. The best way I can describe it is a apathetic, suicidal Kraftwerk. How's that for a selling point? I can see how this group would be influential, however, and one listen to both this and Kid A and you can hear the connection. They might not have invented computer music, but they revealed its dark side. And is it dark. Some of the songs are ridiculously offensive (see Persuation) and almost terrifying. A band like Nine Inch Nails owes its power to a group like throbbing Gristle, because without them, dark industrial pop wouldn't be what it is today. And, like most bands that are ahead of their time or the first of their kind, they are mostly forgotten today. In this case, however, I don't think its a bad thing.

An unsung hero in the large Queen catalog, Queen II is perhaps my favorite album (the other being A Day At The Races) and a suburb carnival of the bands skills. Brian May is on with his Red Special, the rhythm section is solid (hey!, what more can you say?) and Freddie's singing is excellent. In fact, it is this album more than any other that drew me to Queen as a young music lover. Whatever they did in the studio to enhance Freddie's voice as they did made it haunting and beautiful. It's hard not to be attracted to the band when the vocalist has such a vocal range in terms of notes and styles.
The album is divided into a dark and light side. For those who haven't seen it, so is the original vinyl cover. Apart from the track listing telling you side A is the white side, it would be hard to tell. "Procession" is a fitting opener to the fantasy themes present throughout. The song "Father to Son" and "Loser in the End" rock pretty hard at parts, the latter being a semi-blues jaunt with Roger Taylor on vocals. Side black is a little more obvious, with "Ogre Battle" opening. "Fairy Feller" is one hell of an odd song, but it's infectious in it's own way, and I always thought "Nevermore" was beautiful. To me, however, the real treat comes at the end of the album, starting with "Black Queen". I'm not a huge fan of the entire song, but I love the last section that leads into the overwhelming track "Funny How Love Is" which has ALWAYS been a big favorite of mine. It's loud, big, and most of all positive! Brian's accompaniment is stellar and you just want to go out and make love everywhere after listening to it. The last song is the famous "Seven Seas of Rhye", which is a good little rocker, complete with the children's choir at the end.
I'd have to say that this album gets a 93, with "Loser in the End" being the lone weak point, which after all isn't that weak. A great pick-up if you think you might like Queen and would like something other than "Bohemian Rhapsody". This album is extremely accessible and not as eclectic as they could be on later works.

I was just browsing over at old AMG, and I came across the review for the classic Stones album Sticky Fingers. In their wisdom they gave the album 5 stars but said that it didn't float. Bullshit. While there are some weak points, mainly the jazz section of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", the album is one hell of a romp. Opening with the radio-friendly "Brown Sugar" the album ranges from dirty blues to dirtier blues to some decent ballads. The whole thing could be summed up in one word: gritty. And I love it. It's nice in these days of polished shit pop to hear something that really that really gets dirty (and jams) without any pretensions. No, there's no pretty suburban boys with eyeliner on this one, only stories about the shitty side of love and drugs.
As far as the songs go, I like about all of them and they all have something solid to offer the album. I'm not a huge fan of "Wild Horses", and I think the jazz section in "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is a bit long, but these are minor offenses when weighed against the solid grooves on "Bitch" and "Sway". The album ends on a sad note, with some great ballads (if you can call them that) like "Sister Morphine", which is a brutally honest look at drug use. I was always partial to the pseudo-country of "Dead Flowers" and its shocking line "I'll be in my basement room/with a needle and a spoon/and another girl can take my pain away". It comes out of nowhere, in a seemingly innocent, run-of-the-mill country tune, and it makes it even more memorable. The haunting and beautiful "Moonlight Mile" ends the album perfectly, leaving one with a rocking, and yet melancholy feeling when the disk stops spinning.
If the album proves anything, its the fact that these guys could write a hell of a song. Not only that, but they could put emotion into their songs, thanks to Mick Jagger's lyrics, that would be absent from any pretenders version. This album, though good, wouldn't be half of what it is now if it were not played by the Stones. Other bands just couldn't carry the weight as easily as does Mick and co. All in all this album gets a 95, points taken off for weak points already mentioned. A must have.

A brilliant reaction to a brilliant post over at Belmont Club about the reality of the WoT and the anti-war protestors.

Tomorrow is the big day for Iraq. Everything we've been fighting for, and all they have been fighting with, comes to a head tomorrow with the elevtions. I'm excited for them, to be honest, and I hope for the best. Far from filling my role as a neo-con imperialist, I want tnothing more for than Iraq to be everything it can be. I honestly care for the people of Iraq and wish the best for them. I guess I've just been listening to too much George Bush, but I refuse to believe that democracy isn't the best option for everyone everywhere. Whether or not I agree with bringing democracy to every country through military force remains to be seen, but I do think what we have done is the right thing and will ultimately lead to a brighter future for the whole of the Middle East. So God, or Allah if you wish, bless Iraq and her people and guide the elections to a safe conclusion.

I've just been listening to David Bowie's classic Hunky Dory and I have to say it is a very good album. For me, though, there is a need to separate the music from the man. It's not that I'm any kind of homophobe or anyhting, and he's not technically gay, I just don't need to be subjected to the androgynous message constantly. There has been a concerned effort among the "art crowd" to turn Bowie into some kind of champion of gender bending. While Bowie himself is as much to blame for this image as anyone, I feel it strongly takes away from his music, which at many times is very good. So the trick is to not think about who is making them music I am listening to, but just to enjoy the music for what it is, and on this album, it is very good.

Added a new link to the blogger Mean Mr Mustard, who I used to love before he took an almost year-long haitus for his first yewar of law school. Glad to see him back and in good style.

Modern "rock" is for pussies.

That about says it all. It's amazing that in a time when it seems like, in order to discover some "new" element to rock, artists should be forced to create music that is significantly more hardcore than anything before. Instead, everybody suffers from one of two diseases: Lincoln Park syndrome or Pearl Jam disorder. The former is plagued by half-assed rap/rock hooks and the whiniest lead vocals in the history of rock. The latter is showcased by bands trying thier best to out-Pearl Jam Pearl Jam. This isn't a positive development. There are saving graces, The Datsuns being an example, but they really are the last vestiges of classic rock and roll coming out, and really they only serve to show us how bad things have really gotten. We need another good British invasion, or possibly Australian. Anywhere where poor white kids are concentrated. Detroit used to be good for that kind of thing as well; now it makes white rappers. One thing that is clear is the desparate need for us to make suburban music illegal. That's where all the shit is coming from. I'm not going to get into "punk" or whatever that is, it's too deep a subject for this post. But let it be known that the next shitty band to hit the corporate rock airwaves will be from and aimed towards the suburbs.