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07-17-09 Footnotes
Show 190: Best of 2009 (So Far), Reviews of Moby & Cheap Trick
Listen to the MP3 Stream of this show: (link)
Download the Podcast: (Download the MP3)
1 Lists are just too much fun to do them only once a year. Here are Jim and Greg’s mid-year top album lists.
Greg
St. Vincent, Actor
Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
Amadou & Mariam, Welcome to Mali
The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
Maxwell, BLACKsummers’night
Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Mastodon, Crack the Skye
Dan Deacon, Bromst
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, It’s Blitz
Jim
A message from Jim:
The following, LISTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, is my tally of albums mid-year in 2009 that have all warranted 3.5 stars or more on the Chicago Sun-Times’ 4-star ratings scale (making them all very enthusiastic “buy its” on the “Sound Opinions” scale). I will mention that these are in no particular order (sorry, but that’s reserved for the year-end list), that this list is not all-inclusive (I will no doubt catch up with quite a few discs released earlier in the year by the time I tally the year-end list) and, also, because this always confuses people, THESE ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. Yet. But they’re all really, really, really good albums.—JIM
Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
Lily Allen, It’s Not Me, It’s You
Morrissey, Years of Refusal
Franz Ferdinand, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
PJ Harvey and John Parish, A Woman a Man Walked By
Moby, Wait for Me
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz
Passion Pit, Manners
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Metric, Fantasies
K’Naan, Troubadour
Cursive, Mama, I’m Swollen
Bob Dylan, Together Through Life
Leonard Cohen, Live in London
St. Vincent, Actor
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Mastodon, Crack the Skye
Sonic Youth, The Eternal
U2, No Line on the Horizon
Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
The Handsome Family, Honey Moon
Art Brut, Art Brut vs. Satan
Peaches, I Feel Cream
Screaming Females, Power Move
Dan Deacon, Bromst
2 Moby has a new album out called Wait for Me. The musician has spent a decade trying to follow-up the success of his 1999 album Play. And if his last record was a night out on the town, this is the comedown for Greg. He recorded it at home, and you can hear that sense of isolation. Greg’s only quibble is the length, so he gives it a Buy It. Jim agrees. He hears the newly independent artist connecting with his roots, again taking inspiration from David Lynch. Moby gets a double Buy It.
3 Rockford, IL’s own Cheap Trick have been making music for four decades. So, you wouldn’t expect much from them now, right? But, as Jim says, these “geezers” are fierce. He calls them one of the hardest working bands in show business, and says they still have the goods on stage and in the studio. He gives The Latest a Buy It. Greg hears Cheap Trick taking risks again, and states that any band with Bunny Carlos as drummer is great. He also gives the album a Buy It rating.
Songs Featured in Show #190
The Decemberists, "The Wanting Comes in Waves," The Hazards of Love, 2009
Screaming Females, “Sour Grapes,” Power Move, 2009
Mastodon, "Oblivion," Crack the Skye, 2009
Art Brut, “Slap Dash for No Cash,” Art Brut vs. Satan, 2009
Amadou and Mariam, "Sabali," Welcome to Mali, 2009
Amadou and Mariam, "Africa," Welcome to Mali, 2009
Peaches, "Mommy Complex," I Feel Cream, 2009
Neko Case, "People Got A Lotta Nerve," Middle Cyclone, 2009
Animal Collective, "My Girls," Merriweather Post Pavillion, 2009
Moby, "Shot in the Back of the Head," Wait for Me, 2009
Moby, "Study War," Wait for Me, 2009
Cheap Trick, "Miss Tomorrow," The Latest, 2009
Cheap Trick, "Sick Man of Europe," The Latest, 2009
Cheap Trick, "Sleep Forever," The Latest, 2009
Tortoise, "Penumbra," Beacons of Ancestorship, 2009
Kevin Lyttle, "Call Me," Kevin Lyttle, 2004
Built to Spill, "Car," The Normal Years, 1993
Cursive, "Staying Alive," The Ugly Organ, 2003
Modest Mouse, "Cowboy Dan," Lonesome Crowded West, 1997
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