1997 was, in many ways, the hangover of Britpop; the bloom was off the rose, as they say, and the more interesting bands were looking elsewhere for inspiration already. Blur, of course, had “Beetlebum” and “Song 2” coming out, and Supergrass had “Richard III.” Like “Song 2” – the singles were contemporaneous – this is a song that throws away the cheeky-chappy persona for something heavier and purposefully less melodic, but what it lacks in tune it makes up for in force: This is a claustrophobic song that deserves to be played loud, so that the whole “I know you want to try to get away” overwhelms you the way it should, and you find yourself able to pick out the bouncy, McCartney-esque bassline, organ stabs and theramin amongst the aural soup. This is a song to get lost in, and find yourself exhausted by, by the time the fade-out finally arrives…
“All Memory Lies”
All memory lies. It paints nice colors over the ugly or disturbing things. Or it cleverly distorts them; bends and twists them, so that they fit better into the convenient history we’re all continuously writing and amending of our lives. No matter who you are, your memory is always and for everything an unreliable witness. Never trust it to tell the truth about who you are or how you got here.
From here; it’s from Jonathan Carroll’s new book, apparently.
A Change Is As Good As A Rest, Except A Rest Is Easier
And here I am at Time again, writing about the Robert Kirkman/Tony Moore legal tussle over authorship of The Walking Dead ahead of the television show’s return this weekend. I don’t normally write straight “This happened, and then this happened” pieces for Time – normally it’s more op-ed and conjecture – so this was a nice change, in terms of ease of writing (The structure was already in place!). We’ll see if people dig it, I guess.
Three Wood
366 Songs 283: All That I’ve Got (I’m Gonna Give It To You)
We’re at the point now where we can all agree that Billy Preston is a forgotten soul hero, right? He can even make this minor track from 1970s’ Encouraging Words – with a title that sounds like a threat – into something that just makes you want to dance. It’s the enthusiasm in the playing; it sounds as if everyone is ridiculously excited to be performing, and giving it their all and then some. There’s a palpable joy in the song, pushing the whole thing forwards with organ stabs and horns that push you out your chair. You can hear the Ray Charles influence on Preston here – Maybe not so much in the vocals, but definitely the piano and push and pull structure of the whole thing; if you can imagine Charles performing with Sly’s Family Stone, the result would probably be something not unlike this song, really.
“How’d You Like To Curate A Slide Show For Us?”
From here.
Sadly, this strip really does have a depressing familiarity for me. I feel like I’ve had conversations like this, you know.
More Than Meets The Eye
When I was ten and eleven years old, this was some of the most exciting art I could imagine (It’s the box art from the 1985 Transformers toys, painted by a guy called Jeffrey Mangiat).
366 Songs 282: Superstition
First, can we all accept that this might be the best live performance of a song on television ever? And on Sesame Street, of all shows. Clearly, we’ve been unfairly robbed of the kid-friendly Saturday Night Live that that show was always meant to be all these years.
And “Superstition”… I’ll admit it; for every Stevie Wonder song that I absolutely adore – “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “You Met Your Match,” his version of “We Can Work It Out” – there are about ten that I almost can’t stand. I put it down to his tendency to push his more saccharine moments (“I Just Called To Say I Love You”? “My Cherie Amour”? “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”? AIEE) as singles and promoted tracks, especially when I was discovering his music for the first time; that kind of thing leaves its mental scars, but even so: “Superstition” is a song that refuses to leave you alone, unconvinced of its greatness. Listen to that creeping electric piano line, or the horns, nagging at you to acknowledge how great the song is.
With such unforgettable, unbelievable prime slab of funk behind it, it’s easy to forget about Wonder’s vocals – Although: That growl! That joy! – and the words he’s singing. That’s a mistake, though; it’s a smart, funny song, and a lesson for the more gullible of us: “If you believe in the things/That you don’t understand/Then you’ll suffer/Superstition ain’t the way” Maybe it’s my love for songs with such simple, simplistic lessons, but I kind of love that that’s the chorus for this one.
Here’s the (somewhat inferior to the Sesame version, but still great) original recorded version of the song:
“I Think That’s An Old Frame of Thinking, And We’re Trying To Break Out of It”
But to BuzzFeed Executive Editor Doree Shafrir, who is leading the hiring search, the idea that there are “fun” posts and “other” posts is an antiquated way of thinking. Instead, BuzzFeed requires three things of each story: that it entertain, inform, and manifest itself as something people want to share with their friends.
“Almost everyone always wants to talk about this split, which I feel is sort of a false dichotomy,” Shafrir says. “Why should we take for granted that a sort of quote, unquote ‘longform,’ serious piece won’t be shared on social media, as if the two things can’t exist in one ecosystem? I think that’s an old frame of thinking, and we’re trying to break out of it.”
From here.
I don’t know if the Internet is willing to accept the idea that longform journalism is going to make a comeback, but I like the idea that more and more people are willing to at least consider it (Things like this, Byliner, and Kindle Singles make me hope that there’s going to be some way of not only making longform journalism a going concern, but also a profitable one. Just imagine, as the saying goes).
Regnad
