Beck on KCRW Today
Beck will be playing on my favorite radio show, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. He is set to start at around 11:15 AM PST today (March 31). Wonder how many songs he’ll play from his new album Guero? If you don’t live in the metro LA area (which I don’t), you can catch the streaming broadcast at KCRW.com.
Happy Birthday J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was born today 320 years ago. Happy birthday Mr. Bach. You made so much good music. I wish you would have made even more and that "father time" would not have caused so much of it to be lost.
Background: About 12 years ago I made an impulse purchase of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The first classical CD I had ever bought. I now have more then a hundred classical disks. Bach also served as a "bridge" for me to jazz and a number of other forms of music I knew nothing about before the impulse purchase. Heck, I’ll argue to this day that the Brandenburg Concertos No. 4-6 is as close to perfect as anything I have ever listened to.
Do a search on Amazon for "Johann Sebastian Bach" and you get 6,428 results. Head to Google and the same search returns 1,260,000 results. He has had some reach through the years I would say.
Shatner’s CD is Actually Good
I can’t believe I am about to say this in a public forum. I am totally blown away by Shatner’s new album, Has Been. KCRW has been playing Common People and It Hasn’t Happen Yet. I was impressed so I picked up a copy at Best Buy earlier today.
I read a lot of reviews while I listened to the CD, and the one star folks seem to be saying "this guy can’t sing." Well, that may be, but he isn’t really singing. This album is more of a poetry reading set to music and Ben Folds (the producer) adding an awesome musical tapestry behind Shatner’s voice. Then when you read the liner notes you learn:
The materials in this case is William Shatner’s thoughts, stories, life. He calls it a legacy for his family. It’s art borne out of the necessity to communicate what you can’t communicate in any other way. He wants you to be moved, but he probably doesn’t care what you think.
It just works IMHO. You can hear an extended sample of Common People here. Be careful, you might actually like it.
Shatner’s CD is Actually Good
I can’t believe I am about to say this in a public forum. I am totally blown away by Shatner’s new album, Has Been. KCRW has been playing Common People and It Hasn’t Happen Yet. I was impressed so I picked up a copy at Best Buy earlier today.
I read a lot of reviews while I listened to the CD, and the one star folks seem to be saying "this guy can’t sing." Well, that may be, but he isn’t really singing. This album is more of a poetry reading set to music and Ben Folds (the producer) adding an awesome musical tapestry behind Shatner’s voice. Then when you read the liner notes you learn:
The materials in this case is William Shatner’s thoughts, stories, life. He calls it a legacy for his family. It’s art borne out of the necessity to communicate what you can’t communicate in any other way. He wants you to be moved, but he probably doesn’t care what you think.
It just works IMHO. You can hear an extended sample of Common People here. Be careful, you might actually like it.
What I am Listening To
Midnight Movies is the wonderful first album from Midnight Movies. One review I saw said, "Midnight Movies music is driving, spacey garage rock with psychedelic electronics coupled with eerie melodies sung by drummer and vocalist Gena Olivier." I would have to say that is a very accurate overview. They recently played a live set on KCRW, so go listen for free before you buy.
