Tag Archives: albums

Album of the Month: Gish

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Gish

Gish
by Smashing Pumpkins
1991
Buy the reissue on Amazon

If I’m ever put on the spot with one of those “top ten albums of all time” questions, without hesitation, I’ll name Gish and then I’ll stumble around for while and name off albums that happen to be on high rotation at the time of the inquiry.  But Gish is always there.  In my mind it’s timeless and that has a lot of to with the lyrics. I don’t understand any of them. Continue reading Album of the Month: Gish →

October Soundtracks: Until the End of the World

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Until the End of the WorldUntil the End of the World
1991
Buy the album on Amazon

It’s been a long time since I saw this movie, and I don’t really remember it at all (confirmed by just watching the trailer), but I do remember I really liked it. I might have seen it in the theater when it was first released, though 1991 – I may not have entered my big Wim Wenders phase by then, ignited by Wings of Desire. I think I probably had though, because I remember the soundtrack coming out, and though not all of the songs made an impression, there have been a few that have stood out ever since I first heard it.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Until the End of the World →

Album of the Month: Girlfriend – Redux

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Girlfriend
Girlfriend

“Nothing Lasts”
by Matthew Sweet
from the album Girlfriend
1991
Buy the album on Amazon

When Lance wrote up this album last week, it was pretty spot on. I completely agree with him that it’s one of the rare albums with nary a skippable song. I associate this album most strongly with my high school friend Joel Robinson (not of MST3K fame), as we had a shared love of it from the time it first came out. It is indeed a perfect album. I don’t want to rehash what Lance went into, but just to expand on a couple of points (and I’m going to ramble here entirely too long to just add it as an article comment)…

Continue reading Album of the Month: Girlfriend – Redux →

October Soundtracks: Romeo + Juliet

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Romeo + JulietRomeo + Juliet
1996
Buy the album on Amazon

I was a big fan of this movie when it came out and (though I still for some reason haven’t seen Strictly Ballroom) it made me an ongoing big fan of Baz Luhrman. It was the coolness and fun and frenetic energy of it, it was Leonardo DiCaprio, fresh from The Basketball Diaries, and the totally cute MSCL-era Claire Danes, and a great cast all around, like Harold Perrineau in drag and John Leguizamo being bad-ass, and it was the music (2 new Radiohead songs!), etc. On a personal level, I also really enjoyed it because in my sophomore year of high school, our theater department put on this play, and I was the Friar, and quite frankly, I didn’t really understand everything that I was saying. Seeing the masterful Pete Postlethwaite at work, it all became totally clear to me.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Romeo + Juliet →

Album of the Month: Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet

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Girlfriend

Girlfriend
by Matthew Sweet
1991
Buy the Legacy Edition on Amazon

Chris and I have been talking about doing full album reviews ever since we started MNP a few months ago.  We recently set a goal of one album per month from each of us, which seemed manageable at the time, particularly since we had no other rules regarding what to pick or how to go about covering it.  You’d think it would be awesome having the ability to choose any album ever made, throughout all time and space but fuck if it’s not totally stressful – particularly on the first go-around.  You want to pick something great to initiate your catalog but at the same time you don’t to completely blow your load and have nowhere to go.  While my wheels were turning I became aware of the dates quickly advancing towards the end of the month, I have to get the entry done by the 31st.  The 31st, that date means a lot to me, which I’ll get into later… but it did make this album pop into mind and when I started doing a bit of research, I came across another interesting fact:

Twenty-three years ago today, Matthew Sweet released his masterpiece of an album, Girlfriend.

That sealed the deal.  My first album of the month will be Girlfriend. Continue reading Album of the Month: Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet →

Album of the Month: Kick

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Kick
Kick

Kick by INXS
1987
Buy the album on Amazon

Kick by Beck’s Record Club
2010
Download the album

Lance recently posted a full length cover version of this for #CoverFriday. Courtney Barnett’s version was respectable and a cool effort, but honestly didn’t do much for me. I finally finished listening to most of the rest of it this past weekend, and was watching it on YouTube, and then noticed the Beck’s Record Club full album cover version in the related videos. I liked it enough that I was considering just featuring it, but then decided it may be overkill to still do the real Kick later, so here we are. I also just learned on the Slicing Up Eyeballs Facebook page that the album was released yesterday in 1987, so the timing is fortuitous.

Continue reading Album of the Month: Kick →

October Soundtracks: Grosse Pointe Blank

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Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank

Grosse Pointe Blank: Music From The Film
1997
Buy the album on Amazon

I adore absolutely everything about the film Grosse Pointe Blank.  Part of it is a timing thing — it came out just a couple of months after I moved to NYC and served as a security blanket when I didn’t have a ton of friends to hang with.  I probably watched it 5 or 6 times that spring.  It also has a cast that are really at their best, including a great turn by Dan Akroyd as an insane hitman.  And the plot is killer — who doesn’t want to return to their high school reunion with the coolest job ever — assassin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy9MlIBv6xo

If you haven’t seen it, watch the damn thing.  But even if the movie is not your cup of tea, the soundtrack will be.  It’s full of 80s-era “alternative” hits as spun in-movie by Minnie Driver’s radio DJ.

Continue reading October Soundtracks: Grosse Pointe Blank →

Cover Friday: Kick (Album)

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Kick
Kick

Kick
by Courtney Barnett (originally by INXS)
from Pure Pop Records’ “Summer Of Classic Albums” concert series
2012
Buy the original album on Amazon

When Chris posted his “Jackson” karaoke post, he included a cover that INXS did, which got me to wondering who has covered INXS? Just as that thought popped into my head, I remembered stumbling across this video of Courtney Barnett performing the Kick album in its entirety.

Continue reading Cover Friday: Kick (Album) →

Karaoke Tuesday: “Girlfriend”

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Girlfriend
Girlfriend

“Girlfriend”
by Matthew Sweet
from the album Girlfriend
1991
Buy the album on Amazon

“Girlfriend” is unskippable.  If it comes up on shuffle, I’ll always stop whatever search I was on and listen.  The entire album is an amazing collection of songs.  It’s both timeless and very specifically early 90s.

I remember sitting at home on Sunday nights watching 120 Minutes and desperately hoping Dave Kendall would hint that this song was coming up after the break.  The video featured clips from the film Space Adventure Cobra and it was just the perfect choice for the song.  And who didn’t want that silver-haired, blue jumpsuited vixen as his girlfriend? Continue reading Karaoke Tuesday: “Girlfriend” →

Perfect Albums: Ten

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Ten
Ten

Ten by Pearl Jam
1991 Epic Records
Buy the album on Amazon

In my mind, a perfect album is one you can start playing at track one and go all the way to the end without wanting to hit skip. That’s no small feat in my book.  Ever since random access became possible with CDs, I developed a serious case of music ADD.  I’ll start a song I like, get to the chorus and want to skip ahead to hear another chorus.  Back in the day of vinyl and cassette you pretty much had to let an album or at the very least a side play through to completion.  For me, Ten is the prime example of a perfect album.  You can set and forget it.  Bonus points because it sounds even better cruising down the highway with the windows rolled down.

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