|
Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
----
|
July 17, 2004
Sony Connect music download service blows
Shortest version of a review: Sony needs their new music download service Sony Connect broken off directly up in the center of their ass.
This is the service that is supposedly giving away millions of free downloads in a big promotional tie-in with McDonalds. I'm NOT "lovin' it."
Heck, I'm buying the Big Macs anyway, might as well try out the service. As many times as I've watched Dr Strangelove, I hate to throw out The Code when I do get it. For free, it's worth a try, right?
Wrong. I would guess that the downloads will eventually be in any damned form but the simple, unrestricted mp3 that a consumer would actually want. Some WMA file screwed up with some copy control crap. I'm guessing, cause the Big Mac Music US Terms & Conditions gives not a clue.
I didn't even get close to finding out. See, first you have to download and install the Sony Connect software. I'm somewhat suspicious of what kind of crap this will put on my PC, but then I like living dangerously.
Curiosity, that thing what killed the cat and all like that, it got the better of me. OK I told myself, as a committed Blogcritic, I must drink the potion and see if I turn from my usual kind, genteel senatorial self into a raging Mr Hyde. Our readers must know. Anything for science. Begin download.
I downloaded the 500K installer. Alright then, install away. But then that was just the guidepost to start the REAL downloading. Turns out that it's going to download at least 30MB of crap. Then I'm noticing where it says that their software requires 400MB of disc space.
As a moral and upright person worthy and deserving of being the next US senator from the great state of Indiana, I of course did not go all Dick Cheney on Sony, their ancestors, and the clown for promoting them. Of course. Instead, I said something like, "Oh, my, these download requirements seem perhaps somewhat excessive."
I did, however, terminate the download. Jebus H Criminy, but what a bunch of nonsense. A 30MB download to take up most of half a gig of hard drive for the sake of downloading a song? What the hell would they even be doing with that much of my real estate, anyway? That's most of as much as the entire damned operating system that runs the whole box.
We'll never know what kind of crappy file format they are offering - or what crappy selection of music they offer, cause I'm certainly not fooling with a 30MB download of some crap for no good reason over my dial-up connection.
I have some issues with Kazaa, and their pop-ups and what not, but it's nothing like this nonsense. As we speak, Kazaa is buzzing right along, providing new music and video and whatnot.
Perhaps I should look at it that it just took this nonsense to make me appreciate what I've got.
And next time I'm at McDonald's, I'm going to slap the taste out of the clown's mouth for putting this nonsense off on me.
posted by Al at 7/17/2004 05:11:00 AM
James Cagney's birthday
Born July 17, 1899, James Cagney would be 105 years old today. He made the baddest gangster in screen history. His pre-code role as Tom Powers in the 1931 film The Public Enemy was the very foundation of the genre. Everyone remembers the infamous grapefruit scene, but watch the death of Putty Nose a few times. That's the malice in full effect.
Then of course there was his immortal role as the murderous and afflicted mama's boy Cody Jarrett in the 1949 film White Heat. Crazy, physically afflicted with wrackingly painful seizures, his Ma shot, and betrayed by everyone.
For having been one of the top ten or so biggest stars in Hollywood history, he seems to be less well known today than he should be. For one thing, hardly any of his movies are on DVD for some reason. About his only big hit available on DVD is the popular patriotic perennial but frankly less than iconic Yankee Doodle Dandy. It does show off his hoofing, though.
"Tell me that you love me, only say it real low."
I'm particularly proud to have a three foot high copy of this poster on the living room wall, courtesy of Annie Oakley, mother of my godson. Thanks. Top of the world, Ma!
The Public Enemy, Angels With Dirty Faces, and White Heat are such total classics that you really must have them, even if means buying danged videotape.
ESPECIALLY NICE MONTAGE PHOTO
posted by Al at 7/17/2004 02:10:00 AM
July 15, 2004
New album releases, week of 7-13-2004
In the way of actual new albums this week, best likely hip pick would be They Might Be Giants' The Spine . They sometimes get dismissed as some kind of novelty act, but they have consistently put out decent actual SONGS for 20 years. Some of their stuff is better than others, but it's always worth a listen.
Paul Simon's solo albums are being re-issued on Rhino with bonus tracks. Mostly, the bonus tracks appear to be demos or alternate recordings. Most such things are less than necessary, to put it mildly. However, these would be alternate takes on Paul Simon classics.
Besides which, there appear to be some actual new songs, or at least ones with which as adamant a Simon fan as myself is still unfamiliar with. This version of Rhymin' Simon, for example, has something called "Let Me Live in Your City."
His most criminally unappreciated classic album Songs From the Capeman comes with a bonus song "Shoplifting Clothes." There should be a whole bunch of other songs from that Broadway musical to work with. Indeed, there should be cast album with ALL the damned songs, and for that matter at least a simple DVD of the Broadway performance.
Jimmy Buffett has officially and finally and beyond all question gone to complete useless seed with his new contemporary country album License to Chill, with guest appearances by every boring contemporary country MOR dumbass he could line up, including Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride and George Strait.
All this week's major new releases HERE.Labels: new_album_releases
posted by Al at 7/15/2004 04:19:00 AM
July 13, 2004
Lady Liberty's Folk Mix CD
One of my greatest pleasures in life is turning people on to cool music, especially impressionable youngsters. I go through spindle after spindle of blank CDs throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick.
My favorite target for such affection or infection at this point is my 15 year old niece, born on the 4th of July. Young Lady Liberty has just the combination of openess and an inkling of musical knowledge to make it really rewarding to show her stuff.
Having enjoyed "Lemon Tree," I sat about hooking her up with a "folk" mix CD. The preferred thing is to preview likely tracks with her off the hard drive, and let her select. The process can be a bit brutal, often getting about one verse and chorus to get a thumbs up or down.
The selection process makes some of our best quality time though, drifting off into a lot of side conversations about the artists or what constitutes "folk" music. A couple of hours sifting through a hundred odd tracks came up with this little beauty, approximately 78:20 minutes.
*"Lemon Tree" - Peter, Paul and Mary
I hadn't paid much attention to PPM, but "Lemon Tree" does have an exceptionally nice vocal harmony arrangement.
*"Puff, the Magic Dragon" - Peter, Paul and Mary
This was an obvious pop folk choice, though I sometimes find it hard to listen to. The abandonment theme works on my delicate soul, I suppose.
*"The Times They Are a-Changing" - Bob Dylan
This was the only song on the disc that I picked out. After she'd gone off to bed, I found I had about enough room left for one more song. Seemed like we should have some Dylan, and this went with the Tom Lehrer coming up.
*"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" - Kingston Trio
This is a really good song - an outstanding composition. It's also a very nice arrangement. It works, though it sometimes causes me to emit an Al Gore sigh. OK, war is bad. Got it.
*"Folk Song Army" - Tom Lehrer
I was pleased that she went for this classic satire of the 60s folk movement. It nicely lets the air out of some of the nonsense.
"We are the folk song army
Every single one of us cares
We all hate poverty, war and injustice
Unlike the rest of you squares"
*"The Triplett Tragedy" - Doc Watson Family
If the PPM runs rather to the doctrinally suspect pop side, this selection goes a long way towards making up for it. Lady Liberty was skeptical of this Smithsonian field recording of one craggly voiced old woman singing acapella until I started explaining the story. It's really a piece of journalism. Three brothers have a night of drinking that turns into murder and recriminations and three dead brothers. The singer was one of the widows. This is the hardcore stuff, bone deep realness. You NEED the whole Watson family album very badly.
*"Can the Circle Be Unbroken" - Carter Family
It seemed right to program this with the triplet song, as the widow above ended with speculation about the brothers being reconciled in heaven.
*"Paradise" - John Prine
You'd almost think this song dated from maybe 1940, rather than 1971. It's timeless.
*"Big Bad John" - Jimmy Dean
Classic folk music mythology.
*"City of New Orleans" - Steve Goodman
Where did the public and collective nature of classic folk music become modern singer-songwriter stuff? It was somewhere before Dylan, and certainly well before this.
*"Doodle Bug" - Doc Watson
Can't get enough of this really old, scratchy little fiddle tune.
*"Don't Take Your Guns to Town" - Johnny Cash
You kids listen to your Ma, now.
*"El Paso" - Marty Robbins
You really got to have cowboys and Western stuff in here somewhere.
*"Greenback Dollar" - Kingston Trio
Sometime I'm going to mix this with some Little Richard "Rip It Up" and "Ready Teddy" - what with the basic "I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, spend it fast as I can" sentiment.
*"Children Go Where I Send Thee" - Nina Simone
This may be the most questionable recording for this batch. It's a perfectly good "folk song," but Nina Simone just was not a "folk singer." She's accompanied by piano, for starters, and has a real high-brow air reflective of her conservatory training- though I don't know how much that seeps through to the niece.
*"John Brown's Body" - Pete Seeger
Needed Seeger's voice in here somewhere, and this probably constitutes the oldest song in the pack. Plus, John Brown is something of an alternative Civil War hero to me.
*"Mr Bojangles" - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This was just a great sad song, and a great character sketch. I realized this when I saw no less than Tom T Hall - The Storyteller himself - performing this on an old tv show.
*"The Ballad of Jed Clampett" - Flatt & Scruggs
You know, this was just a great song. I defy you to forget it.
*"The Cuckoo Bird" - Doc Watson
I happened to grab this one up for the previews first, but it was the Ramblin' Jack Elliott version that brought my attention to the song a few months ago. I then discovered that I had several different versions of this song lying around, including this near equally good one.
*"The Great Atomic Power" - The Louvin Brothers
This little known song has become a big favorite over the last couple of years. It's a really well written, catchy song, with strong pickin' and classic Louvin Brothers vocal harmonies. The basic lyrical sentiment that Christians can count on Jesus to snatch them up when the bombs start falling seems like the obvious way for them to react to the nuclear age- and a good reason to be suspect of their judgment. This makes a perfect case study in the danger of believing in not-true religious stuff.
*"This Little Light of Mine" - Odetta
Might could have come up with better Odetta choices, but this is a fine selection - and heck, we needed more gospel.
*"Tom Dooley" - Kingston Trio
The preppy Kingston Trio would probably be one of the classic targets for the Folksmen's "Never Did No Wanderin'" song, and it's unfortunate that we didn't get around to even trying out any Ramblin' Jack Elliott for this set. Nonetheless, it's hard to argue against this record. Those vocal harmonies are just killer.
*"Wildwood Flower" - Carter Family
Interestingly, I couldn't get the niece interested in June Carter's more modern last album. Neither "Losin' You" nor "Tiffany Anastasia Lowe" got her attention, not even with being Johnny Cash's wife. Yet I had no trouble getting her involved with Mother Maybelle. [TERRIFIC CARTER FAMILY CD BARGAIN]
*"Matty Groves" - Fairport Convention
We end with eight minutes of most righteous English folk jamming. This album came out shortly after Richard Thompson's 20th birthday, and he was already just that good. The fiddle goes reeling, and Thompson's really putting down the extended stately airs in this hgih class tale of cheating and murderous recriminations. Labels: country_music
posted by Al at 7/13/2004 04:25:00 AM
Link Soup
morethings master
photo gallery index
MP3
new album
releases
lyrics
sammy davis
little richard photos
buddy holly pictures
fats domino images
chuck berry pictures 01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
la
24
lucille ball images james
blunt photos
clint eastwood pictures lena
horne images team
america pictures
robert mitchum photos
bruce springsteen pictures
mariah carey pictures
ann coulter photos
george clooney images
loretta lynn pictures
beatles pictures
white stripes pictures
andy griffith pictures
kill bill pictures
beverly hillbillies pictures
robin williams
frank zappa pictures
jerry lee lewis pictures
richard pryor photos
june carter johnny cash pictures
vic mackey shield pictures u2 photos
four seasons images
james cagney images
elvis presley pictures
country music
blog
dolly parton pictures
olsen twins photos
tom petty photos
tori amos pictures
joaquin phoenix images David
Bowie photos
Quills movie images
reese witherspoon pictures rolling
stones photos
fiona apple images kim
novak images ray charles photos marx
brothers pictures
prince rogers nelson pictures blazing
saddles images
sinead o'connor images
eddie murphy photos aretha
franklin photos
south park pictures homer
simpson images
bob dylan pictures elizabeth
taylor photos madonna
images
saturday night live pictures willie
nelson images hee
haw pictures james
brown images pete
townshend photos
tina turner pictures
dixie chicks photos
margaret thatcher photos
guns
n roses pictures
paula abdul pictures
jodie foster photos
amy winehouse
eminem
frank sinatra photos
van
halen images
satan
blondie photos
joni
mitchell pictures
merle haggard
images
rocky horror pictures
monty
python
|
|
