Classic Album Review - Self - Subliminal Plastic Motives

It was a very rough time in my life. I was a year or two into a new marriage that wasn’t going well and there seemed be very little exciting or colorful in my life. One day I was headed over to my grandfather’s to do some woodworking and happened to have the radio on the hot new alternative station. Instead of hearing the usual pabulum a song caught me ear, I mean REALLY caught me ear to the point that I realized that it had been a long time since I had purchased any CDs and even longer since music had made me excited. That song was “Cannon” by Self. I later learned that Matt Mahaffey, the brain behind the one-man band, disses this song because of its simplicity, saying that any number of bands from his hometown of Boston could have written it but I disagree. The song is an explosion of energy, starting with quietly strummed guitars in the verse before feedback and distortion in the chorus disrupt the carefully laid plans. However the thing that sets the song apart, and which I think makes it uniquely Self, is the bridge, a quirky, jumpy, detuned passage that segues into a watery kazoo-like version of the bridge. It was completely different than anything else I had heard on that station and fortunately they either said the name of the song and band or else I was excited enough to call the station upon my arrival.

Of course my local record store didn’t have this in stock (and since this was 1995 I think I just started using e-mail… Amazon.com or instant downloads were a long ways away) so I had to order it and wait. You kids these days and your instant gratification… When it arrived I was delightfully not disappointed to own a one-hit wonder. In fact, most of the album was even better than “Cannon!” Subliminal Plastic Motives was a superb mish-mash of power-pop, metal, prog, alternative, funk, and hip-hop. Hip-hop? I would have never guessed that I would be listening to anything even remotely hip-hoppish but there I was, listening and loving it. As a disclaimer may I add that I’ve yet to moved by anything else in that genre, though my love of funky rock predates this album and continues to thrive.

Back to the review, eh? Each song is intelligently written, often with tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and a sly wink at rhythm. The “progressive” aspect is a playful use of non-traditional meter that adds greater interest, at least to my ears. Heavy guitars abound as do layers of vocal harmonies, betraying Self’s love of the band Queen. Jellyfish and 10cc are also worshipped. Truly a studio-rat album, there are layers underneath each lovingly crafted layer. I suppose I could write about each song but that would be boring. Listening to the album with my magic headphones I’m impressed again at the fuzzed out bass, sudden and unorthodox instrument choices (walls of guitars give way to pianos and strings), and how Mahaffey manages to stuff so much into each song while retaining clarity and vitality.

Matt Mahaffey’s follow-up album was much more hip-hop, less progressive and less ingenius, meaning that it didn’t do as much for me but it’s still a fairly good album. He also made songs each of the Shrek movies and an album recorded completely with toy instruments (including the awesome earwig Trunk Fulla Amps in which the edited version is much more enjoyable than the explicit naughty-word version. Then he did an album with the guy from God Lives Underwater (to be reviewed later) and has otherwise not put out CDs for me to buy. SHAME!

Census Harrassment

Calls received so far: 5/13 3:47 PM 5/14 11:23 AM 5/15 3:18 PM 5/15 3:34 PM 5/16 6:36 PM 5/18 11:15 AM 5/18 7:05 PM 5/18 8:31 PM 5/19 9:56 AM 5/19 11:54 AM Our phone log only goes back to 5/10 so I'm sure I'm missing some from 5/6 to 5/9. Oh joy! Oh rapture!

Call #2

Just got another call - Sunday 5/6 at 6:03 PM. Turned off the answering machine. We'll be having that baby some time in the next 24 hours and durnit, we'll be having the phone turned off quite a bit so the baby can sleep.

Going To Jail - American Community Survey Part 2 & 3

I thought I wrote up a part 2 but it's not here. Stupid new Blogger interface!!! We received a second American Community Survey in the mail late last week and yesterday received our first phone call, asking us to call D.C. with some case number. Let the harassment begin!

And So It Goes - American Community Survey Part 2

I just received my second American Community Survey in the mail on Saturday. Based on what I had read I was expecting it to arrive a week ago and since it had not I had the silly hope that one of the representatives that I had contacted actually did something and took me off the list.

Alas, that was not to pass. One replied with a form letter on a different subject, meaning that I probably selected the incorrect item in the Subject drop-down on their site. My least favorite actually responded with a letter on the subject, referring to a bill that would make the the survey optional. Nice but it won't help me at the present moment. The third did not respond at all.

Next up is the Fed Ex delivery!

Classic Album Review - Phil Keaggy - Find Me In These Fields (1990)

Time for another Classic Album review! There are only nine of these “perfect 11” albums left and since two of these are Phil Keaggy albums, I thought I’d chip one off the list.

My first experience with Phil Keaggy was when my ol’ pal Roger Shuman gave me Keaggy’s Sunday’s Child album. Being a Beatles aficionado it was right up my alley. In my “why, yes, I AM a dork” music database I have that album rated as a 10. Great stuff there, especially for the new Christian, letting me know that there was good Christian music with heartfelt, honest, non-cheesy lyrics out there and not everything was Carman and Degarmo & Key. However it was the follow up, Find Me In These Fields, that really spoke to me. Freed from the confines of having to sound like a 60s album Keaggy let loose with a string of amazing songs, ranging from rockers to soft confessionals. This album was produced by Lynn Nichols and had much of the same “all-star” supporting musicians as Sunday’s Child and their cohesiveness shows. This album is another shining example of the importance of matching the right producer with the artist, someone who knows how to push them in just the right way to get them to reach beyond their usual abilities. Keaggy, while an amazing guitarist and songwriter, needs such a producer. His self-produced albums run the range from bland to very good but his albums where he is produced by someone else are often outstanding.

Listening to the album again I can’t put my finger on exactly why the album is so good. The songs are all solid and amazingly performed with various nods to The Beatles and other influences but nothing so overwhelming as the previous album. I think the main thing that resonated with me were the lyrics in that they are very affirming and comforting, just what I needed at the time. For a new believer who had plenty of hang-ups and garbage and hurts these words were like balm for my soul, echoing my longing to be free from the past. “This Side of Heaven” is a prime example of how Keaggy managed to wrap this longing into a timeless and upbeat song, throwing in some very intoxicating vocal harmonies amid lyrics such as “Why settle for less here at the wrong time? / There are better worlds yet to come.” And when the chorus arrives? Sheer bliss! This song was followed by the vulnerable “Find Me In These Fields”, a gorgeous song featuring acoustic guitars and a cello. The times this song ministered to my aching, lonely heart are legion. Likewise “Calling You” is another song of yearning, feeding kindling to my newly ignited soul to dig deeper for more of God in my life.

With a nice combination of fiery rockers and earnest ballads but lyrics that seemed tailored for my life, Find Me In These Fields was just what I needed. The entire album exudes a confident maturity, both in the music and the lyrics, that is a rare find. Twenty-plus years later I can still put this album on and enjoy every song. What more can you ask?

Classic Album Review - Galactic Cowboys - Space In Your Face (1993)

When Galactic Cowboys came onto the scene they were touted as the heavier cousins of King’s X. As I was a huge King’s X fan at the time I immediately latched onto them. It took me a while to get into their debut album because it truly was much heavier than anything I’d been listening to and to this day I still find this album sonically sludgy. Their second album, Space In Your Face, cleaned up this sludge and gave the whole mess a nice polish. It retained the heaviness, much to the chagrin of my roommate at the time who couldn’t understand how I could switch from this mass of metal to Keith Green.

This second and finale Cowboys album to be produced by Sam Taylor, the same guy who produced the first four King’s X albums, spent over a year in my CD player. Say what you want about this guy, he can bring out the best in musicians. After this album they, like King’s X, dropped their producer and much of the progressive element from their sound and went more power pop. Good stuff but not the greatness of Space In Your Face.

So what’s so great about this album? I was hoping you would ask.

The title track introduces the album, 1:38 of twisting molten metal that effortlessly and playfully mangles the meter before jumping into a jazzy mid-section sure to puzzle all die-hard metalheads. Then comes “You Make Me Smile” with more non-conformity to 4/4 time signatures and an extremely aggressive speed-metal-like riff. But when the song gets to the chorus it’s all four-part vocal harmony candy. It’s also the first exhibition of their melodic prowess… this stuff is stick-in-your-head-for-weeks catchy! And not just in the vocals… the bass and guitars each lay down lines that refuse to leave your head. “I Do What I Do” is another vocal masterpiece, this time contrasting even stickier, sweeter vocal harmonies against an edgy, spooky verse. And let’s not forget the vocally intricate lead up to the chorus…. WOW! Pick a part and sing alone, will ya? And then, like in “Smile” there’s the lengthy instrumental passage at the end full of crazy chicanery. “Circles In The Fields” is a smiling poke at the then oft-reported incident of crop circles, complete with jack hammer sound effects and call/answer vocals. “If I Were A Killer” takes unique aim at abortion and abortionists. “Blind” is packed with gorgeous vocal harmonies so rich and lush that you want to eat them, contrasting softer passages with heavy crushing guitars. But ya know, I don’t think the harmonies stop once. Lyrically the song is a modern version of “I once was blind but now I see,” one of many Christian themes that run through the album.

Typical of CDs at the time, the band hid a couple of tracks. I’d read that their label only wanted nine songs and they had eleven so these were tucked away, one after ten tracks of silence and one in the negative space before track 32. It is to this final track, “Still Life of Peace,” to which I now draw your attention. Simply put, this song is astounding! It’s like nothing else I’ve ever heard and I love it, which means that most everyone else probably hates it and likes that it’s easy to skip. But where else can you hear a sitar and tabula battle against a cello? NOWHERE! Yes, sitar and tabula open the song while the boys do their vocal magic in the verse and then the song smashes into a prog-metal romp with six tons of low end. A brief instrumental passage occurs after verse two where the cello and the sitar lay down melodic solos and the song takes a brief divergence into ¾ territory before returning to the metal riff, this time with the cello joining in. They jump back and forth between ¾ land and the metal riff, sometimes only for half a measure just to keep you on your toes, and then introduce a speed metal riff into the mix. The cellos are front and center for verse three, sliding and gutsy in a manner that is not befitting a proper orchestral member.

I should mention that while I use the terms "progressive" and "prog" that's not really the focus. Yeah, the flip the beat around and have longer songs and somewhat complicated song structures, but they're no more progressive than early Metallica albums. That is, the songs and melodies are the focus and the technical flourishes are extras thrown in at no extra charge.