Neil Diamond vs. Neil Young

by Robin Hilton

I'm not a big fan of American Idol, but boredom drove me to turn it on last night, just in time to see contestant Brooke White slaughtering Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer."

Brooke White is marginally talented, and Diamond's music is innocent enough, but it was a painful marriage of the two. My thumb hit the "off" button before she could finish a verse.

This morning, NPR Music producer Stephen Thompson mentioned that he'd also caught some of American Idol last night, which in turn got us all talking about Neil Diamond. I admit to liking maybe a CD's worth of his songs, while the rest of the group finds his music mostly unbearable.

Neil Diamond has enjoyed what to some is a baffling resurgence in popularity in recent years, particularly among young people. I've got nothing to go on but a hunch, but it seems to have been sparked -- at least in part -- by comedian Will Ferrell's recurring imitation of Diamond on Saturday Night Live. Diamond himself appeared on the show, as well as in the teen comedy Saving Silverman. This was followed by an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! -- another program targeted at younger audiences.

In short, for people in their early to mid-20s, it's become cool to like Neil Diamond. I'm not sure if this is an ironic cool or a more genuine belief that his music is simply awesome, but either way, he's secured a place in their minds and MP3 collections.

This was all confirmed for me at a party I went to in Baltimore a while back. Everyone was a lot younger than I am. I was sitting with a group of early twentysomethings, sipping beers and pretending to relate to whatever the topic was. At some point, someone imitated Will Ferrell imitating Neil Diamond, which drew a laugh, followed by a discussion of just how totally cool Diamond is, you know? The most blissfully clueless person in the group asked for a clarification on who, exactly, Neil Diamond is, confusing his name with Neil Young... at which point I had to jump in, exclaiming that one should never confuse the two.

To make a long story short, I soon found myself in a shouting match over who was better: Neil Diamond or Neil Young. It became glaringly obvious to me that those in the Neil Diamond camp only knew him from his recent insertion into their pop-culture landscape. They knew none of his history and nothing of Neil Young at all -- which isn't surprising, given that Neil Diamond had his last Top 10 hit before they were even born.

No offense to Neil Diamond. But come on.

So which camp do you belong to?

2:45 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (38) | e-mail post

 

Make It Stop!

by Bob Boilen

Does anyone know a good cure to get a stuck song unstuck from one's head?

The song, "Windmills of Your Mind" is currently causing the producers here no end of grief. It's going round and round, like... like a...

Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnaval balloon
Like a carousell that's turning
Running rings around the moon

 

I chatted yesterday with Portishead and they planted this little ditty in my head us while playing DJ for us, and its driving us all crazy.
The show goes up May 1st.

In the meantime, how do you stop this??

4:32 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (39) | e-mail post

 

Lou Reed Live

by Bob Boilen
REFRESH PAGE TO SEE THE BLOG LIVE FROM 9-11PM EASTERN TIME

11am
It's been a long day already.
we have been eager to record Lou Reed at the 9:30 club.
we had a 48 track truck ready, we were going to record it, give him the sound files ... he would mix it then approve it for us to webcast.
last night an email came and Lou had changed his mind. He just didn't feel up to it, cold coming on or just not feeling right.

Then today Lou suggested we do an "old school" style recording. Live to 2 track.
the list of gear was very specific. we came pretty close.

5:05pm
Neal Tevault (our engineer) and I walked into the 930 club, Lou is on stage laughing, in a good mood.
he talked about the mic he wanted us to use, (a Royer stereo mic) we and the 9:30 club called all around town for it with no luck.
He came off stage we shook hands and said he'd buy the mic if we could find it and he'd add it to his collection.
still no luck.
our mics seemed to make his engineer happy.
we are recording the soundcheck and hope for approval.
if all goes right at the end of the night Lou will approve our recording and we can make it available.
we shall see.

5:40pm
I am currently at the Lou Reed soundcheck. He's playing Ecstasy and it sounds real fine, and I'm in heaven.

6:00pm

We got approval to record the show. At the end of the night we will give the recordings to Lou and he will decide if we can put the show online for you.
We are taking pictures and will post them when teh show goes up.
I'll be here updating this blog all night.

8:50pm
The thousand people that have tickets are entering slowly.
Lou Reeds ambient cd Hudson River Meditations is playing in the background

9:05
Lou slowly takes the stage
How ya doing and the crowd went wild...
first song

1 MAD
from Ecstasy 2000
good guitar battle going on...lots of energy

2. SWEET JANE
VELVET UNDERGROUND "LOADED" LP 1970
oh my
he sounds so good
didn't play the Heavenly wine and roses verse...and he dropped some words, but it was good

3. I'M SET FREE
VELVET UNDERGROUND 1969
with accordion...
wow
Lou's guitar sounds great...also the acoustic guitar and tambourine are the right touch here.

4. ECSTASY
ECSTASY 2000
Great meandering guitar and bowed bass at the top of the song
what a great band...i'll get all the names and post it

5. I'M STICKING WITH YOU
from the Velvet Underground collection called VU 1985 (thanks for the correction GB)

you may know this from Juno

6. POWER OF THE HEART
I think this is a new tune...i don't know it.
moody, nice acoustic guitar and a quiet tune...at least right now.

7. I WANNA KNOW
from the Raven 2003
words adopted from Edgar Allen Poe
potent and done with so much conviction.

8. HALLOWEEN PARADE
from the New York album....nice rant at the top of the song about how in NYC there was a Halloween Parade and how so many friends disappeared from the parade from AIDS....Then went on to rant about how we spend money mowing down other people in other countries.....how did we get from this to that he said

9.VIDEO VIOLENCE
Mistrial 1986
not a fave of mine...but a chugga chugga rocker...

10. GUARDIAN ANGEL
The Raven 2003
sweet with lyrics by Poe

11 MAGIC AND LOSS
from Magic and Loss
one of my favorite Lou records from the past 15 years

"there's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even it out"
I feel the end of the set

ROB Wasserman, bass
Michael Rathke, guitar
Steve Hunter,guitar
Sarth Calhoun, electronics
Kevin Hearn, keyboards accordion, mandolin
Tony "Thunder" Smith, drums

ENCORE TIME!!
took a while for the band to retake the stage...could be that long walk to the mens room upstairs :)

12. PERFECT DAY
Transformer 1972
One of the best songs from his best known record.
You're gonna reap just what you sow...
I've played this chord progression hundreds of times...it is so good.

and what a great show
we hope to have this show on our site....
as the sound of the Hudson River Meditations plays in the background

we give the sound files to Lou for approval.
stay tuned...and good night.

Thursday April 24
still waiting for our man.
bb

Friday April 25
Lou doesn't care for the recording, as much as a recording done of Asbury Park show.
I told them we would listen and decide.

Stay tuned.

We are grateful for Lou Reed offering us the Asbury Park show.
We will post it online May 6th or 7th.

http://www.npr.org/liveconcerts

5:48 PM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

 

Concert at Bob's Desk: Laura Gibson

by Bob Boilen

I love the delicate voice and songs of Laura Gibson. We featured her music on All Songs Considered back in 2006. But when NPR Music producer Stephen Thompson and I went to see her perform at SXSW, we were bummed. We couldn't hear Laura sing -- her hushed voice was completely drowned out by the chatter of the crowd.

I had spent much of SXSW recording musicians in unconventional settings: Lightspeed Champion on a lawn, Jaymay on a porch, She and Him in a living room, and My Morning Jacket's Jim James at a church concert.

When Laura Gibson stepped off stage, Stephen told her the sad news that hardly anyone beyond about the third row could hear her. Given that I'd been recording all these artists, and given that he'd just heard yet another quiet artist drowned out by lousy sound and a noisy crowd, Stephen invited Laura to visit NPR and play a more personal concert, only half-jokingly suggesting that she play "at Bob's desk."

She said she would, and about a month later -- while in town to open for The Decemberists' Colin Meloy -- she showed up at NPR with her guitar, sat behind my desk, and played.

Could this be the start of a series? What do you think?

10:04 AM ET | 04-18-2008 | permalink | comments (14) | e-mail post

 

Design the Next Music Format

by Bob Boilen

If CDs slowly disappear, and downloadable files or MP3s don't quite fill the void, what would?

I'm asking you to think of the perfect music format. What would it be? Use your imagination.

For me, it would offer higher sound quality than CDs, as well as electronic liner notes -- maybe artwork I could zoom around in. I'd want lyrics and chords for the songs and information for every song on who's playing what.

What would you want?

2:42 PM ET | 04-16-2008 | permalink | comments (29) | e-mail post

 

R.I.P. The Compact Disc, 1982-2008?

by Robin Hilton

I recently came to work with two large tote bags filled with compact discs and dumped them out on a table in the middle of the office. To me, they were garbage. But for the vultures that are my fellow NPR Music producers, it was like finding a mountain of free money. They shuffled through the pile, grabbing everything that caught their eye. At one point, Stephen Thompson held up my discarded copy of Radiohead's OK Computer and incredulously asked, "Why would you get rid of this?"

For about a year now, I've been slowly purging my once-proud CD collection. Twenty-five years' worth of music, from the first disc I ever bought (Pink Floyd's The Wall) in 1984, to more recent releases.

Of course, I'm not really getting rid of them. I'm ripping everything to a massive hard drive hooked up to what has become my stereo: my computer.

This is partly because I don't like having a house overrun with thousands of CDs. Invisible sound files on a hard drive are simply more convenient. You can also do a lot more with digital files and iTunes, like delivering an endless stream of music through the house in any conceivable configuration, by artist, genre, or favorite playlists. Changing out a CD in a player feels as clunky and outdated as flipping a record on a turntable.

But I'm also purging my CDs because I believe they're a dying format. There's never been a more obvious trend. CD sales continue to plummet at a breathless -- and, if you're one of the big labels, alarming -- rate. Meanwhile, digital download sales continue to climb.

None of this is as sexy as having a tangible package of music, with artwork and liner notes. And downloading files isn't nearly as cozy as flipping through the local bands section of a record store. But the truth is, I never listen to actual CDs more than once or twice. After that, they're ripped to my computer -- I put the discs away and never look at them again.

Lately, I've felt a sense of urgency to get rid of the rest of my old CDs before they become as obsolete as 8-track tapes and cassettes.

So, what does your CD collection look like? Is it getting smaller? Do you even buy actual CDs now, or do you just download everything?

11:38 AM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink | comments (54) | e-mail post

 

The Perfect Song

by Bob Boilen

Have you always wanted to know what goes into the process of writing the perfect song? Let Carrie Brownstein and her friend Fred Armisen show you how it's done.

12:32 PM ET | 04-11-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

 

Music and Politics Don't Mix

by Bob Boilen

How best to show your passion for a candidate's stand on healthcare reform? For the women in the following three videos, the answer is simple: Sing a song and put it on YouTube.

So who's it going to be? The John McCain Girls? Obama Girl? Or will the remake of the Mary Tyler Moore theme put Hillary Clinton over the top for you?

Cast your vote now.

5:21 PM ET | 04- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

 

Great Band, Lousy Name

by Bob Boilen

I was sent a CD by The Dodos not long ago. I put it aside. I thought, "What a stupid name for a band."

If you've ever been in a band, then you know how hard it is to pick a name. If I were in The Dodos, I'd have vetoed that one without a thought.

Before I headed to the SXSW Music Festival, I listened blindly to 788 songs by 788 bands -- and by "blindly," I mean that I didn't see the cover art, a press release, or a lousy band name. It's the way I'll often listen to music. There were 30 standout acts for me out of those 788, all bands I wanted to see. One standout group turned out to be The Dodos.

I managed to hear the end of one of their sets while in Austin. Wow, were they a ball of fire!

When I got back home, I dug up the band's new CD, called The Visiter. This weekend, I listened to it from beginning to end, and I love it, despite the band name.

Is The Dodos a turn-off name for you? Can you think of more great bands with lousy names?

1:28 PM ET | 04- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (45) | e-mail post

 

I Love This Job

by Robin Hilton

I've spent a lot of time giggling at my desk this week. The Wire, a weekly music magazine in Portsmouth, NH, recently gave me a digital folder filled with nearly 800 songs, all from this year's RPM Challenge. For the uninitiated, the RPM Challenge is The Wire's annual open invitation to musicians to write and record an entire album in just one month. This week I've been auditioning songs from those albums, looking for ones to feature on our Second Stage. You can hear a new track each weekday on Second Stage through the month of April.

Working under deadline pressure can spark some remarkable creativity. Some of it brilliant. Some of it horrendous. And some of it just hilarious.

Here are some of my favorite RPM Challenge band and song names I've come across. Keep in mind these are mostly done by hobby-musicians, recording in their homes, playing songs they produced in just one month.

Top Five Band Names:

1. Shat Benetar
2. Stinky Monkey Finger
3. One Inch From Midget
4. The Glazed Bagel Projekt
5. Snuggly Tako

Top Five Song Names:

1. "My Girlfriend's a Drunken Whore"
2. "Get the F*** Outta My House"
3. "Where's the Damn Pizza!?"
4. "My Brain is Trying to Kill Me"
5. "Where's My Spanking?"

There are others I can't print.

4:10 PM ET | 04- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

 

What Do You Think?: The Raconteurs

by Bob Boilen

For good reason, The Raconteurs, the band that Jack White and Brendan Benson put together, receive a lot of attention. Both White and Benson are talented musicians and songwriters. Their first CD didn't get a rousing reception, but it did alright.

The second Raconteurs CD is out. There's a song on our show you can hear.

I have to say I'm not a big fan. I'll listen some more, but at first blush I hear a lot of cliche and bits of songs gone by. Our producer Robin Hilton quite likes what he's heard so far.

And you?

3:27 PM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (20) | e-mail post

 

The Chain: April 2008

by Bob Boilen

I want to try out a very simple and (hopefully) fun idea.

I name a tune and put it on the blog. Then you pick a song that you think should follow it, and tell me why. What's the connecting link? Maybe one song borrows heavily from the other -- it's the same key or the lyrics are similar or the beat is similar. Maybe the song features a singer who later played in another band, or the songs share the same producer.

Then someone takes your song choice and names a new tune -- we'll make a selection from your posts as quickly as possible -- and tells us why it should follow. Call it six degrees of musical separation. After we have enough songs, I could make a mix of all the songs using small excerpts.

Let's see how this goes, and if you love it, we'll try it again.

Robin, the other NPR Music producers, and I thought of a lot of songs to start the chain, but the one we came up with is (drum roll)...

"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by the Talking Heads, from Speaking in Tongues.

 

Be sure to reference the most recent song posted, NOT the one we started with... and be sure to tell us what song you're referencing.

 

10:50 AM ET | 04- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (41) | e-mail post