McNutt Against the Music

And just when you thought a “recurring feature” was done and buried after nine months of absence, Random Rules returns! Let’s see what insights shuffling through my 20+ days of music in my iTunes library produces…

R.E.M. – “I Remember California”

Give that I own the every R.E.M. album and have over 18 hours of their music on my computer, chances are that one of their songs will show up in something like this. The closing song (secret track aside) from the band’s major label debut, Green, it’s one of the tracks where Peter Buck lets his psychedelic side run rampant and a great showcase for Mike Mills’ vocals. One of the most underrated backup singers in rock music, his vox talents have been sorely missed on the last two abysmally mediocre R.E.M. records.

Pulp – “Monday Morning”

Jarvis Cocker is a master of onomatopoeia. He has a way of coming up with vocal tics and quirks that perfectly match the accompanying music, which allows a song like “Monday Morning” – hardly a heavyweight compared to the rest of the songs on Different Class – to still sound like a million bucks. The other thing helping the cause is how the song manages to fuse ska with Brit pop without sounding forced; when the switch happens at the choruses, it’s completely natural.

The Dears – “Expect the Worst/’Cos She’s a Tourist”

I was a little disappointed by the Dears’ last album, but still love the unashamed grandeur of No Cities Left. I had the pleasure of seeing the band three times while they toured the record, and while this is hardly one of the album’s standouts, I distinctly remember the band drawing out the transition between the two halves for dramatic emphasis. Unfortunately, on the record, the “‘Cos She’s a Tourist” half of the song really doesn’t go anywhere for most of its running time, until it fades out nicely at the end.

Wolf Parade – “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son”

Aside from the fact that they feature two of the best vocalists in Canada, I think the appeal of Wolf Parade is their wonderful ability to sound dense and minimalist at the same time. Here, you’ve got a riff that’s two chords backed by a drum track that’s basically just hitting the skins as hard as humanly possible. But by combining those sounds with keyboards and bass all in perfect unison, the song ends up sounding absolutely huge. A hell of an opening song.

The Verve – “Sonnet”

I purchased Urban Hymns in my musical infancy while I was on my Grade 9 trip to Toronto. Hindsight has proven it a pretty great album, but at the time I’m not sure how well I appreciated it. “Sonnet” was always a standout, though. I distinctly remember a friend of mine telling me that The Verve and Fastball were going to be the future of music. Within a year, the Verve had broken up and Fastball were well on their way to one-hit-wonder status. So much for that prediction…

“Arcade Fire” – “Jingle Bell Rock”

The damn Christmas album! Okay, so in the fall of 2004 while all good hipsters and hipster-wannabes were starting to discover the Arcade Fire, these tracks started going around the Acadia filesharing network labeled as the Arcade Fire Christmas Album. They were four live, REALLY sloppy versions of several holiday classics. Turns out that while it was recorded at Win and Regine’s apartment in 2002, they’re barely on the tracks. Probably for the best.

No Doubt – “It’s My Life”

Count me as one of those desperate for Gwen to get back with her bandmates, especially after how redundant her second solo record was. This was the band’s last single, released from their greatest hits record, and it’s as impressive now as it was then. Sure, they basically add nothing musically to the Talk Talk original, but they don’t wreck it either, and Gwen’s vocal is sultry, sexy and smokey all at the same time. One hopes the comeback is half as good as this.

Neil Young – “Ride My Llama”

I’ve always admired the set of balls that Young must have to repeatedly go in front of an audience with an entire album’s worth of new, unheard material – and then RECORDING it right off the stage. Rust Never Sleeps is probably the biggest success in doing so, with its splitting of the record’s sides between acoustic tracks and Crazy Horse rockouts. “Ride My Llama,” which fits into the former category, was never a favourite of mine. It always seemed more than a little bit silly, especially considering it follows “Thrasher,” one of my absolute Young favourites.

Wilco – “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” (Live in Chicago)

I maintain that – questionable quality of Sky Blue Sky notwithstanding – the current incarnation of Wilco is probably the most impressive that Tweedy’s put together thus far. When I saw them in Halifax, this is the track they opened with, the first song from their masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Favourite moment then? When the band stopped and Tweedy waved on the word “hello.” Favourite moment in this live album version? The piano breakdown. “Still I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t easy.”

Lily Allen – “Take What You Take”

Earlier this year I became quite smitten with Allen’s debut record. It’s proven to have very little staying power, though, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why her record label released the American version in the bloody winter. It deserved to be playing out car windows all summer long, not forgotten by the time that the sun decides to finally show its face. Anyways, this song is one of many catchy, but forgettable tracks that surround the few pop masterpieces on the record.

Jimmy Eat World – “Cautioners”

Every time I listen to Bleed American, I’m instantly transported back to my first month at university. Calum gave me the disc as a gift before I went away, and I pretty much wore it into the ground those first several weeks as I struggled with the strange new world I was confronted with. In many ways, it was a perfect soundtrack, its unabashed melodrama pairing well with the overwhelming sensory overload I was going through. You won’t get me defending Bleed American as a great album, but you won’t see me skipping a song if my iTunes shuffles to it. Nostalgia prevails.

Bruce Springsteen – “Code of Silence (live)”

The “Essential” series has become one of the best greatest hits series going. By allowing two discs per artist, you generally get more than just the biggest chart-toppers, leading to some genuinely authoritative collections. That said, the Springsteen set sucks balls. I don’t know if I can blame Bruce or his record label, but for some reason the collection treats every album in his career equally, meaning many deserving songs get ignored so other records can fill their quota. Almost as consolation, though, a third bonus disc of almost all previously-unreleased material is included, such as this solid live version of “Code of Silence” that demonstrates how even a lesser E-Street track sounded like thunder personified on stage.