An Album You Should Own - 3/27/09

Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

"Dark Side Of The Moon"
"The Wall"

They are legendary titles.

However, few people dip far enough back in the Floyd discography to consider the amazing work they did on their very first album. Released in 1967, "The Piper at the Gate of Dawn" is considered one of the finest psychedelic albums ever released - if not the best.

It is also the finest hour of the Floyd's work with the enigmatic Syd Barrett.

The album is full of memorable, melodic acid-tinged songs that stand as a stark contrast to the longer, more experimental freakouts. This album is the beginning of what many people began to call "space rock". It is also one of the earliest examples of rock music using space travel as a metaphor for hallucinogenic drug use.

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is not an easy listen. The songs are a curious mix of bright sounding melodies set against dissonant soundscapes and random noises that seem to suggest chaos and disorder. When you listen, you can almost feel the highs and lows of drug experimentation. There is the soaring pleasure of trance-like states of mind - where all things are possible and beautiful. But, there is always the danger of the acid-induced meltdowns, mental disorder and lunacy.

Eventually, Barrett became a victim of his own excesses. Too many experiences with LSD left him a broken shell of a man who could barely perform or function. Sadly, Syd Barrett's career with Pink Floyd would end with the band just deciding not to pick him up on their way to a gig, one day. However, the band remained fiercely loyal to Barrett. They made sure he was well taken care of until the day he died.

Roger Waters and the rest of Pink Floyd had many differences in their storied years together. They have loved and, more often, hated each other since their break up. But, they put aside their differences to make sure that Barrett never missed a royalty check for the rest of his life.

And, when they spoke of Barrett, they always did so with reverence. In fact, the image of Barrett is carefully woven through the band's work as a mythic, lost figure. The album "Wish You Were Here" is a soaring outburst of grief and longing for him. The band was never able to shake the specter of Barrett and the influence he had on their work was immeasurable.

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is Syd Barrett's finest work with Pink Floyd and it is an album you should own.

Further listening: "Meddle", "Wish You Were Here", "Dark Side Of The Moon", "The Wall"

Chris Cornell - Scream

I tried.

I really did, Chris.

The ill-fated collaboration between Chris Cornell and Timbaland is finally in stores. A few weeks ago, Main Street Music passed me a copy to review. As a fan of Cornell, I was eager to hear the album and give it a fair shot. I realize that it wasn't going to be a Soundgarden, Audioslave or traditional Cornell solo-effort. I knew this was going to be something totally different.

I was willing to give Cornell the benefit of the doubt. After all, I had downloaded a few of the songs from iTunes and I liked a few of them very much.

Now, when I first I heard Cornell was collaborating with Timbaland, I thought, "Well, if Timbaland can help Cornell take his traditional rock howl and give his some songs some shape, direction...we might have something." After all, Timbaland is a great producer and an honest-to-god hit-making machine. If he could have helped Cornell find the hook in his songs, he might have been able to bring out the best in Cornell - whose career was at a crossroads after a luke-warm reception to "Carry On".

See, that is what would have worked best.

For this to work, Cornell needed to convince his core audience that he didn't trade substance for style. If Timbaland came to the sessions and said to Cornell, "You have some good songs. We won't change your style or sound. Instead, I am going to make these songs 'pop'." Timbaland should have focused on surrounding Cornell's voice with the familiar and thrown the audience some curveballs to keep them on their toes.

This might have been an interesting, fresh approach.

Instead, you get Timbaland making Cornell into something he isn't. What's worse is, the listener is left asking himself, "What was Cornell thinking?" Even worse, "Was Cornell thinking at all?" I don't believe that Cornell has to do what is expected of him. But, this is more than just a radical departure. It just doesn't work, on many levels.

Hearing Cornell's herculean voice plod its way through synthesizers and sequencers takes most of the soul out of the songs. Cornell's voice begins to sound like a very insignificant part of each song. When his voice does cut through, the songs are just weak. The album begins to sound like the piped-in music that puts dance beats to rock songs at a health club.

There are certain moments where the production is stripped back enough that Cornell's voice helps to strike a more soulful balance. Songs like "Long Gone", Ground Zero", and the title track "Scream" achieve a certain emotional gravity that the rest of the album just doesn't muster. Even the appearance of Justin Timberlake on "Take Me Alive" doesn't take the song over the top. Instead, it just plods along and repeats the chorus after Cornell warbles something about...well, not being taken alive.

Interestingly enough, the cover of the album features Cornell smashing a guitar as a symbolic gesture. One would assume that he traded it for Timbaland's synthesizers. Well, you might want to patch that guitar back up again, Chris. You are going to need it to win back the legions of fans that jumped ship on you.

It's not that the musical direction you've chosen is a problem. Hell, I like anything as long as it moves me. And, there it is. That is the problem with this album in a nutshell. It's just that the songs do not sustain any momentum - and it doesn't matter who produced the album. Change is only effective if the finished product is a winner. In this case, change hurts worse because "Scream" just isn't very good.

Having said that, I am still a fan of Cornell's and I look forward to seeing where he goes from here. I wouldn't even mind if he worked with Timbaland again. But, "Scream" can't decide what it wants to be. Is it the album of a rock-singer changing his sound? Or, is it a dance/pop album that features a great rock singer? In the quest to make it a little of both, the album fails to achieve any momentum that would make it compelling to the listener.

Bruce Springsteen To Appear On The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Bruce Springsteen will be a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", this Thursday, March 19th.

This should be interesting, to say the least.
I am hoping it doesn't go the way the Jim Cramer interview went.

Sheesh...

The Dead Weather

Jack White strikes like lightning.

It seems he has a new band aside from The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.

This time, its a band called The Dead Weather.

And, surprise...this time White is playing...drums?

The band debuted in Nashville at the downtown offices of Third Man Records.

The new band takes White from the front of the stage back behind the drum kit, while the Kills’ Alison Mosshart mostly handles singing duties. The two are joined by White’s fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence on bass and former touring Raconteur/Queen of the Stone Age Dean Fertita on guitar.

White's new venture into the music production business promises to be very prolific.

White added, "The point is: There’s a new institution, there’s a studio, there’s a vinyl record label, there’s a pressing plant a few blocks away… Things can happen very quickly. Music will be in your hands quickly. And that’s the whole point of it.”

The Dead Weather's first album, "Horehound", will be released in June.

You can check out their new single "Hang You From The Heavens" exclusively on iTunes.