Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 136

The Return(?) Of Live Music + My Morning Jacket

With artist livelihoods depending almost entirely on touring in the digital music era, the pandemic shutdown was particularly hard on musicians. Which is to say nothing of us mere fans for whom live music is a big part of our existence (something I can personally say less and less, as my aging bones and increasing crankiness have diminished the number of shows I see each year).

I've finally started getting out to shows again, as the half-dozen concerts for which I'd bought tickets a year or two a...

The Greatest Greatest Hits

I'm not much for greatest hits albums. I've always been wedded to rock albums as an art form, preferring to experience songs in their original long-player context. Which isn't to say I don't also like to cherry-pick an artist's finest moments, particularly when listening in short bursts, like in the car or at the gym; but I prefer to make my own mixes, picking out my personal faves (which, in the case of more radio-friendly artists whose big hits suffer from radio overplay, typically look dramat...

Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii (1972)

I still remember, way back in high school, when my friend Craig pulled out his older brother's bootleg VHS tape of the film capturing Pink Floyd's performance at an empty, ancient amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy. I was still an obsessive Floyd fan at the time (ok, still am), falling under their thrall when The Wall came out not long after my 13th birthday. By high school, the band were essentially no more, dissolving after the dark but sonically majestic The Final Cut, a Roger Waters solo album i...

Silver Synthetic: S/T (2021)

Here's another one of my favorite releases from the past year. Though hailing from New Orleans, Silver Synthetic's debut sounds straight outta SoCal, blending cosmic Americana and beach pop and smooth (dare I say yacht rocky?) 70s vibes into a jangly, ethereal delight. Think Beachwood Sparks (or, more so, their related act The Tyde). It's light and mellow in all the best ways, music for a leisurely drive in your convertible down the Pacific Coast Highway. It's a breezy, compact half hour of mid-...

Grateful Dead: These Go To Eleven!

Picking up on a half-joking Twitter post, I decided to make a silly little mix weaving together various versions of "The Eleven" from a number of live performances circa '68-'70. An early psychedelic jam showcase during the Dead's most primal period, "The Eleven" debuted in January 1968 as a coda to "China Cat Sunflower." (It takes its name from the song's unusual 11-beat meter--i.e. 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2.) Following those early appearances, "The Eleven" was frequently played as the closing part...

The Connells Top 10

I've never stopped listening to the Connells since becoming a fan back when they were playing college parties in the 80s, even during their 20-year break from the studio. But I've been all-in recently, eagerly awaiting their upcoming new release (the first since 1991), and writing a Toppermost overview of the band, picking out their Top 10 songs (no easy task) and running through their discography. Check it out!

If you're not satisfied with the Top 10 playlist, here's my slightly longer Spotify p...

Returning From A Break (For Now?)

I took the past month off from this page because, let's face it, blogging is kinda 20 years out-of-fashion, and while I hated letting down the 2-3 people who check in on this site (hi, guys!), I had other stuff going on. Put on my old SEC hat to do a little consulting; did some non-music writing (like a recent piece on the Elizabeth Holmes trial, check it out!); served as a poll monitor in the recent (stupid) Newsom recall election; and various volunteer projects in the community (more to come)....

Papas Fritas: Helioself (1997)

Papas Fritas were a 90s American indie band who released three albums between 1995 and 2000. They were idiosyncratic to a fault, ranging from the twee bedroom pop of Beat Happening and the Kill Rock Stars scene (sharing the alternating male/female vocal approach) to post-Pavement eclecticism to Elephant 6-like skewed power pop. On this, their middle record, they were at their most pure pop, with fun (yet still oddball) sing-along, hook-filled anthems.

The opening salvos of "Hey Hey You Say" and "...

Big Audio Dynamite Top 10

My picks for the Top 10 Big Audio Dynamite songs, as well as a look-back at their surprisingly durable (yet largely forgotten/overlooked) discography, is online today over at Toppermost. (For a list of the couple dozen artist overviews I've written for the site, you can check out my publications list on Fagel.com.)

Here's a track I did NOT include in my list, as it's an Aztec Camera song that just happens to prominently feature BAD's Mick Jones; but I personally think of it more as a BAD song tha...

Paul McCartney & Wings: London Town (1978)

I've never understood why London Town seems to get so little love. It's just about my favorite Wings album (I listen to it at least as often as the far more revered Band On The Run), maybe just short of Ram among my favorite post-Beatles McCartney releases.

Yes, like a lot of his solo work, it can be awfully saccharine, tending towards the sappy; but the tunes on London Town are undeniably charming. More than anything, they are ridiculously melodic, with McCartney's genius for a gentle hook in fu...