All posts by Beau

Music

16: Hard Workin’ Man (Brooks & Dunn)

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Album: Hard Workin’ Man
Artist: Brooks & Dunn
Year: 1993

1. Hard Workin’ Man (D)
2. We’ll Burn That Bridge (D)
3. Mexican Minutes (B)
4. Heartbroke Out of My Mind (D)
5. She Used to Be Mine (D)
6. Rock My World (Little Country Girl) (B)
7. That Ain’t No Way To Go (D)
8. Texas Women (Don’t Stay Lonely Long) (B)
9. Our Time Is Coming (D)
10. I Can’t Put Out This Fire (B)
11. Boot Scootin’ Boogie (Dance Mix) (D)

Brooks and Dunn’s first album was Brand New Man, so it was hilarious that they decided they were a Hard Workin’ Man for their second album. It was hard to make jokes about it, though, after just two minutes as the title song is just about the perfect country song. Loud, energetic, great guitar work. Definitely a top five song of all time for me, and my favorite driving song despite clocking in at less than three minutes.

The album doesn’t let up there as We’ll Burn That Bridge is a perfect follow-up song. Lyrically it’s nothing all that special, but the chorus has an insane crescendo that keeps the blood pumping.  The pace slows down for Mexican Minutes, appropriately. It’s pretty solid, showing off Brooks’s then good voice. Then what was a perfect album flies off the rail thanks to a terrible song by Dunn. Heartbroke Out of My Mind sounds lame and and it is. Awkward rhythm, blah piano, insipid lyrics.

Dunn makes up for it with She Used to Be Mine, which is as simple as you can get from a ballad but it showcases his powerful voice. Rock My World is an overrated country line dance number that actually ends with the studio crowd singing along. That Ain’t No Way To Go was another huge hit for Dunn, and in addition to showing off his amazing voice again, has a fantastic guitar intro. Texas Women approaches country swing and is fine filler.

Unfortunately, Dunn regurgitates another awful ballad in Our Time Is Coming. It’s a sad song that inspires no emotion. It’s not near as bad as Heartbroke, but I usually skip it all the same.  The album saves itself with a rare great ballad by Brooks. I Can’t Put Out This Fire has a solid chorus and Dunn sings a good harmony.

It feels weird to include a dance remix of a song in this review, but Boot Scootin’ Boogie (off their first album) is actually improved in this version as it adds a motorcycle, more harmonica, more piano, and a few more choruses. It’s one of the most popular line-dance songs ever and how to make it better other than doubling everything that was awesome?

Hard Workin’ Man is easily a top 5 album if not for two missteps by Dunn, but it leaves a really impressive nine-song album to listen to anyway.

Music

17: More Adventurous (Rilo Kiley)

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Album: More Adventurous
Artist: Rilo Kiley
Year: 2004

1. It’s a Hit
2. Does He Love You?
3. Portions for Foxes
4. Ripchord
5. I Never
6. The Absence of God
7. Accidntel Deth
8. More Adventurous
9. Love and War
10. A Man/Me/Then Jim
11. It Just Is

Rilo Kiley gained some popularity after this album though it was several years before I noticed. It received critical acclaim as well, with one publication naming this the fifth best album of 2004 and another naming It’s a Hit the best song of the decade. As you can see, I love It’s a Hit, but for me it’s not even the best song on the album, though perhaps I would place it second. It’s some of Lewis’s best writing, a great take on criticizing authority figures and the music industry.

Does He Love You? took me a while to warm up to, but I’m more impressed with it upon each listen. While fairly straightforward about adultery, the desperation in Lewis’s voice is palpable and the music fits the mood perfectly. Then we get their biggest hit probably ever, Portions for Foxes. I could sing “Baby I’m bad news!” over and over again.

Ripchord is sung by Blake Sennett. It’s fine, but I’ve never cared for Blake’s voice though he obviously knows how to make good music. I Never is the only true dud for me. While I don’t mind Lewis singing “I Never” 20 times in a row once, hearing the chorus three times really overwhelms me.

The Absence of God is my third favorite song by the band; Lewis has an amazing ability to go from low to high near effortlessly. Accidntel Deth, in addition to having an obnoxious title, is pretty underwhelming musically.

The album then turns it on again with the title track.  Love and War is okay, then we have one of the saddest songs ever in A Man/Me/Then Jim, about a suicide and told in what I think is in reverse order from three different people.  It Just Is is a pretty decent ending, a short song with not much meat but a really pleasant melody.

Music

18: Stunt (Barenaked Ladies)

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Album: Stunt
Artist: Barenaked Ladies
Year: 1998

1, One Week
2. It’s All Been Done
3. Light Up My Room
4. I’ll Be That Girl
5. Leave
6. Alcohol
7. Call and Answer
8. In the Car
9. Never Is Enough
10. Who Needs Sleep?
11. Told You So
12. Some Fantastic
13. When You Dream

Stunt was BNL’s American breakthrough, as One Week hit number one for, naturally, one week on the pop charts. It’s their most frenetic song and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I still enjoy it from time to time. Their other American hit from the album was It’s All Been Done, which is definitely an easier listen. The album continues with Light Up My Room, a mesmerizing dance of rhyme I think synthesizer, but there are several instruments on this album that I’ve never heard of, including the clavinet, the melodica, and the wah wah guitar. I’ll Be That Girl is an exceptionally written song about relationship anger and severe depression cloaked in BNL’s usual light-hearted whimsy.

The album slows down just slightly from here. Leave is a really simple and bitter break-up song. And while Alcohol is probably my favorite song about alcohol, I just don’t care that much about songs about alcohol. I will say though that the lyrics mirror my life a bit, with the singer discussing his previous snobbish condescension to those who drank before realizing that it can be quite enjoyable, though I never used it as an antidepressant like Steven Page did.

Call and Answer might be BNL’s best ballad, about a painful reconciliation that is highlighted by some excellent harmony. Then we get to four songs that have the trademark clever lyric but musically are nothing special. Never is Enough is an oversimplification of college being a useless degree factory. Who Needs Sleep?, about insomnia, has a catchy rhythm but like One Week I can only listen to it every so often.

Some Fantastic is my favorite song here. It’s just so damn easy on the ears. I can also identify with desperately wanting an old love back and fantasizing about all the ways I could convince them to come back. Either way, if you like BNL and haven’t heard this one, give it a shot.

Unfortunately, they end yet another album with another really slow, boring song. It gives props to Del Shannon”s Runaway, one of my favorite songs from the 60’s, but it’s not enough to overcome how boring the melody is.

Looking through the rest of BNL’s discography, there are almost enough songs to make up an album of songs in my top 500, but they’ve really slowed down in quality over the past ten years. For the record, those five songs are Straw Hat and Dirty Old Hank, Shoebox, Conventioneers, The Wizard of Magicland, and Bank Job.

Personal

Top 50 Reasons Why I Love My Father

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1. Mets 3, Astros 0

2. When I was twelve, I wanted a place to store all my stuff so he built me a full-wall shelving unit.

3. His help every time I moved.

4. And every time I locked myself out of my car or my home.

5. He made me join an extracurricular activity in 10th grade and suggested the debate team. I can point back to the debate team for a lot of the great things in my life.

6. Teaching me in the absolute quickest way how to ride a bicycle.

7. Saving my life when the garage door attacked me.

8. Being with me in the whirlpool at the hospital while I screamed my bloody head off.

9. Being my den leader as long as he could take it, and allowing me to quit Cub Scouts.

10. Allowing me to quit Babe Ruth because of an awful coach but making me call the coach myself to do so.

11. Playing hours of R.B.I. Baseball and Baseball Simulator 1.000 with me despite losing most of the time.

12. He never allowed me to win at ping-pong or much of anything unless I earned it. It forced me to get better and make the victories all more enjoyable.

13. Giving us a chance to go to Disney World and allowing us to go fishing instead.

14. Spending many a weekend morning playing Police Quest 3 with me.

15. Teaching me how to play cribbage.

16. Paying me $500 to not watch television for a year.

17. I once gambled with money I didn’t have. It was only about ten or fifteen dollars, but he paid off my debt and made me work it off quickly. It was all part of a lesson to not spend money I don’t have, and to this day I have never once had an interest payment on a credit card.

18. Helping me get through college.

19. When I finally gathered the nerve to break up with an abusive girlfriend, he didn’t say “I told you so,” and solaced me even though I’m sure on the inside he was doing jumping jacks.

20. Coaching my house basketball team to an overtime playoff victory over a bunch of ringers despite not knowing anything about basketball except how many fouls our star player really had.

21. He never pushed me into any career.

22. Giving me many chances to be with his mother in the last years of her life.

23. Being fucking hilarious.

24. He tells amazing stories, even though they get more grandiose with each telling.

25. He spent a long time finishing the basement, telling us that he didn’t know exactly what he was going to turn it into. One day, he had us get haircuts, and we may have gone to play some miniature golf as well. When we got back home, a pool table was waiting for us.

26. He would “take us out to dinner” in Minneapolis only to find out we were going to a Twins game.

27. Sunday morning bowling.

28. He kept me calm during my first charlie horse, which is scary as hell if you’ve never had one.

29. Finding out where every hidden door was in The Legend of Zelda, one blue candle at a time.

30. Having a grown-up conversation with me about the divorce.

31. He made all my friends feel welcome in my home, made them laugh, took them out to dinner, took them bowling, etc.

32. Scolding me when I bragged to all my friends how rich he was (he wasn’t, and isn’t), teaching me a bit about humility and politeness.

33. Being honest about all the times he fucked up as an adult in order to help me make some well-informed decisions.

34. Getting us out of the house during the fire

35. Allowing me to keep my one-thousand dollars on a silly teenage bet he knew I’d never win.

36. Playing doubles tennis with us on a regular basis, and allowing us to chase him all over the court with corner shots.

37. Always being there when I needed someone to talk to.

38. Placing time limits on video games so we’d go outside.

39. Putting a basketball hoop on the garage and being okay with us constantly denting the garage (and his truck).

40. Hiring me for a summer for work he really didn’t need to hire anyone for.

41. Flirting with waitresses when I was a kid so I’d get extra whipped cream in my vanilla malts.

42. Forgiving me for forging his signature (to avoid detention) after finding out twenty years later.

43. And while we’re at it, forgiving me for selling the lawn mower he supposedly loaned me rather than gave to me.

44. Getting along with my step-dad.

45. Taking me on one of the most memorable nights from my childhood, being part of a group of six that caught over 120 ten-inch bluegill in just a couple hours.  And then letting me eat them.

46. Lots o’ golf.

47. Being openly affectionate with Mom while I was growing up.

48. Raising me with a sense of right and wrong that is mostly about respect for all people. I can remember more than once I showed disrespect to another kid, and even when he agreed they were jackasses, still made me apologize and encouraged me not to stoop to their level.

49. For not only not giving up after his heart attack, but working his ass off for himself and his family.

50. And finally, for being an awesome grandfather, during bath time and otherwise.

Music

19: Jazz (Queen)

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Album: Jazz
Artist: Queen
Year: 1978

1. Mustapha
2. Fat Bottomed Girls
3. Jealousy
4. Bicycle Race
5. If You Can’t Beat Them
6. Let Me Entertain You
7. Dead on Time
8. In Only Seven Days
9. Dreamer’s Ball
10. Fun It
11. Leaving Home Ain’t Easy
12. Don’t Stop Me Now
13. More of That Jazz

I’ve never been a huge fan of Queen as stadium rock has never been my thing, though I do enjoy many of their singles. For some reason, this album hits the right notes for me despite only have a couple of songs I’m crazy about. Crazy thing is Freddie Mercury wrote five of the thirteen songs and those are easily my five favorite.

Mustapha opens things, and while it’s completely nonsensical, utilizing several languages and some made up words, it has great energy and is a great lead-in.  Jealousy is a decent ballad made better by the buzzing guitar work. Bicycle Race is silly but has some pretty impressive changes in meter and chords.  Let Me Entertain You is a simple rocker but a great sing-a-long. And finally, Don’t Stop Me Now is transcendent. It’s been ranked the number one driving song and I can’t disagree. Mercury’s writing, rhyme scheme, piano playing, and harmonizing with his band mates is just insane. It was also wonderfully introduced to a new audience in the famous zombie killing bar scene in Shaun of the Dead.

As for the rest of the album, I can sing along to Fat Bottomed Girls but only so often. I also enjoy If You Can’t Beat Them and Dreamer’s Ball. More of That Jazz is an odd choice to end the album considering Don’t Stop Me Now would have been a great closer. The final song acts as a summary of everything we’ve just heard, much like old musicals would often have during the credits.  It’s actually pretty good for what it is, but I can’t imagine every listening to it outside the context of the album.

Music

20: For My Broken Heart (Reba McEntire)

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Album: For My Broken Heart
Artist: Reba McEntire
Year: 1991

1. For My Broken Heart
2. Is There Life Out There
3. Bobby
4. He’s in Dallas
5. All Dressed Up
6. The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
7. Buying Her Roses
8. The Greatest Man I Never Knew
9. I Wouldn’t Go That Far
10. If I Had Only Known

Reba was 36 years old when this album was released, making it her eighteenth album. She has slowed down considerably. Through 1999, at age 44, she had released twenty-four albums, but she’s released only four since, deciding that acting poorly in her shitty sitcom was more rewarding. Or something.

The first two songs were the two big hits, and they’re good, but pretty generic. Bobby is a painful song about how euthanasia can affect family and is one of my favorite songs. Continuing with crushing emotions, All Dressed Up is about a lady with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home who continually stares out the front window waiting for family that’s never coming. I’ve had similar clients in my career, so I connect with it, but the song has a subtle touch that makes it accessible to all.

Reba’s cover of Vicki Lawrence’s The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia definitely does it justice. The Greatest Man I Never Knew is another somber tune about a girl who grows up with a father who is home but not present. The rest of the songs are pretty much about broken relationships and are all solid. If I Had Only Known is probably my favorite of them and with its slow tempo makes for a good end to Reba’s best album.

For those noticing that all ten songs on the album are all about heartache and death, it’s not coincidence. This was the first album she released after her band was killed in a plane crash (a plane she would have been on had she not been suffering from bronchitis).  She only wrote one of the songs on this album (Bobby), but admitted the song selection reflected her emotional state at the time and her hopes that it would be a healing project.

Music

21: Rubber Soul (The Beatles)

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Album: Rubber Soul
Artist: The Beatles
Year: 1965

1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think for Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
8. What Goes On
9. Girl
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run for Your Life

After five albums, The Beatles had slowly been getting away from boy-band pop. Most of their pure rock songs were covers, but they had been showing signs of maturity with their writing, with numbers like And I Love Her, Yesterday, and I’ve Just Seen a Face. Whether it was age, practice, or good drugs, it finally all came together for Rubber Soul.

Drive My Car is pop no doubt, and a song that turned me off a bit at first. But Paul’s energy is so infectious that I now I can’t help but sing “Beep beep beep beep, yeah!”  John then follows it up with my favorite Beatles song, Norwegian Wood, a short but powerful tale of sexual frustration and arson. Plus, they bring out the sitar, which is perfect here.

Speaking of frustration, I’m Looking Through You and Run for Your Life are as bitter as you can get. While these songs have been accused of being misogynistic, I’d like to think Paul and John were not monsters and were just exposing and then exaggerating their raw emotions after dealing with difficult personal relationships.

The album isn’t all about anger. In My Life is one of my favorite love songs, simple but endearing. I’m also a fan of Michelle, You Won’t See Me, and Harrison’s Think For Yourself.

Despite four top-tier songs, the album falls a bit for me because the filler is pretty unimpressive. It’s not as mindless as their filler on previous albums, and shows some creativity with their use of various instruments and vocal stylings (e.g. The Word is mostly just one note), but if I never heard Girl, Wait, or What Goes On the rest of my life, that would be just fine.

Music

22: You Don’t Mess Around With Jim (Jim Croce)

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Album: You Don’t Mess Around With Jim
Artist: Jim Croce
Year: 1972

1. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim
2. Tomorrow’s Gonna Be a Brighter Day
3. New York’s Not My Home
4. Hard Time Losin’ Man
5. Photographs and Memories
6. Walkin’ Back to Georgia
7. Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)
8. Time in a Bottle
9. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)
10. Box #10
11. A Long Time Ago
12. Hey Tomorrow

A common crack about Jim Croce is that people are surprised to find out he died when he was 30 years-old because he looked like he was approaching 50 at the time. I think he also looked this age because his songwriting often sounded like a guy approaching middle age as well. While his songs are generally simple, the lyrics often carry a mature bent generally not seen in those in their 20’s. The guy did have a hard life, as thanks to his record company he died in debt despite his success. Apparently, his plan was to quit music after his last tour because he was constantly homesick for his wife and son. My father was on his way to see him in concert when Croce’s plane crashed.

Croce’s velvet voice carries his ballads. Time in a Bottle, written for his son, is one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever heard.  New York’s Not My Home is one of the more earnest city mouse/country mouse tales out there. Operator is corny but also one of the better songs about a conversation with an operator. Considering I’ve never had a conversation with an operator (and now never will), it shows how timeless Croce’s writing really is.

He adds a bit of twang for his more up-tempo country songs, such as You Don’t Mess Around with Jim and Rapid Roy. My favorite of these is Box #10.

Music

23: Big Love (Tracy Byrd)

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Album: Big Love
Artist: Tracy Byrd
Year: 1996

1. Big Love
2. Cowgirl
3. Good Ol’ Fashioned Love
4. Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got
5. If I Stay
6. Don’t Love Make a Diamond Shine
7. Tuscon Too Soon
8. I Don’t Believe That’s How You Feel
9. Driving Me out of Your Mind
10. I Love You, That’s All

Tracy is probably best known for Watermelon Crawl, and it’s my favorite song by him as well. But while his earlier albums had a few monstrous hits, the filler was exceptionally poor.  His third album, Love Lessons, nearly made the list. When his fourth album came out, I was blown away.  While not every song here is amazing, it really feels like these ten songs were meant to be together, which is a fine achievement considering that the ten songs had nine different writers. Not a big fan of the album title, but the cover is nice, and implies Byrd’s big love is the expanse of nature.

Gary U.S. Bonds wrote Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got, which has been a big hit for everyone who’s recorded it, including Byrd. Big Love was the other smash from the album, and it’s a decent opener. Cowgirl is great tongue-in-cheek country swing. If I Stay is a sad, up-tempo break-up song but it would also make a great ballad in any genre. I Love You, That’s All is another break-up song, and one I kind of modeled my own break-ups after (i.e. not being a whiny ass about it).

After this album, Byrd kind of went good ol’ boy for a while, and he slowly rolled off the charts and he hasn’t done much lately. He’s one of several country artists whose favorite album of mine is their fourth, and most of them fell off a cliff afterwards. I think part of the reason is that a lot of them, once they make it big, stop singing about relationships and move towards family, or patriotism, or how awesome it is to be a redneck. In Tracy’s case, it was also because the filler got more boring than ever.

 

Music

24: Blue Moon Swamp (John Fogerty)

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Album: Blue Moon Swamp
Artist: John Fogerty
Year: 1997

1. Southern Streamline
2. Hot Rod Heart
3. Blueboy
4. A Hundred and Ten in the Shade
5. Rattlesnake Highway
6. Bring It Down to Jelly Roll
7. Walking in a Hurricane
8. Swamp River Days
9. Rambunctious Boy
10. Joy of My Life
11. Blue Moon Nights
12. Bad Bad Boy

The Grammy Award winner for Best Rock Album starts out with a country song, naturally. It’s only an average song and it tanked on the country charts, but it leads into the rest of the album pretty well. Hot Rod Heart is a simple rocker; decent, but nothing all that memorable. At this point the album proves why it deserved the Grammy.

Blueboy is classic Fogerty, a little bit country with some rockin’ electric guitar solos. Had it been released in rock’s hey-day in the 60’s, I have little doubt it would have been a top ten hit. A Hundred and Ten in the Shade is a low-tempo song that fits the mood of the title perfectly, and Fogerty is complimented with the perfect backing vocals of The Fairfield Four, a gospel group that has been around since 1921.

After that we have the hardest rocker of the album, though the lyrics on Rattlesnake Highway are a bit over the top. Walking in a Hurricane is the best hard-rocker here. Bring It Down to Jelly Roll is another good country/rock mix. The last half of the album has a bit less bite. Swamp River Days and Blue Moon Nights, while pleasant, are pretty generic songs reminiscent of the slow parts of the CCR albums.  Rambunctious Boy is the worst song, but not so bad as to ruin the mood. Joy of My Life is a ballad John wrote for his wife, and it’s fine.

Bad Bad Boy is an interesting way to wrap things up. It’s a decent rocker and it has a nice fade out at the end, but it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the album. It’s a bit disheartening that after working on this album for a decade, it doesn’t have a more consistent theme, but the production values are fantastic and it’s easy to tell he poured his heart and soul into each song. It’s a good thing, too, since shortly after this album’s release, Fogerty’s voice started to degrade. He’s had a few decent songs since, but the last ten years have not been kind to him vocationally. He can still sing his country songs, but anything that requires the howling voice like Up Around the Bend or Have You Ever Seen the Rain? can make your skin crawl.