Spring TV Roundup: 3 Up, 2 Down

UPDATE (Saturday, 5.2.09)
Looks like "Kings" is on its way out. First it was moved from Sundays to Saturdays, and now it's been pulled altogether, to be burned off this summer. Ah well. Despite my review, I really did like this show—found it fascinating, if nothing else. Ian McShane floats all boats, and he was certainly worth the effort. I'll still watch, but it just seems high-concept shows can't make it on broadcast TV anymore. Don't expect another "Lost" anytime soon.

On another note: I've caught up on "Castle," and, wow, did it pick up steam in its most recent three episodes. This show just gets better and better as Katic gets more comfortable in the role. The writers, too, seem more comfortable, as Beckett is finding a rhythm with Castle; she's still exasperated from time to time, but it's more of a partnership now than a chore. Plus, the stuff with Castle's family is gold every time.

***

I picked up three hour-long dramas on the TV schedule this spring, and found all to be at least satisfactory and worth coming back for each week. Unfortunately it looks like only one of them is going to make it to next season; thankfully, it’s the best of the bunch.


‘Castle’
Finally! Nathan Fillion has a hit! After his previous two starring vehicles were canceled early—one great (“Firefly”), one not (“Drive”)—this crime procedural looks like it has some genuine legs. All the credit goes to Fillion and his quite capable straightman, er, woman, Stana Katic, in her first starring role.

Fillion plays crime novelist Richard Castle, who is shadowing Katic’s Det. Kate Beckett for research on his next book. Beckett likes it none too much, of course, thanks to Castle’s roguish attitude and penchant for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, but that’s where all the fun comes in. The premise is ludicrous, of course, since Castle is always figuring out ways to help solve each week’s case, but I find his character’s insights and processes fascinating (I’m a sucker for well-written author characters). And reality is so beyond the point, anyway. This show is all about the leads, and Fillion and Katic play off each other quite well—it’s no Booth and Brennan, mind you, but definitely entertaining. Like their first cousins, maybe. Fillion is, of course, utterly charming, and Katic is slowly chipping some of the ice off Beckett, which is a very good thing.

Call it “Bones: Even Liter.” I’m hooked.

Grade: B+


‘Kings’
This modern-day retelling of the Saul/David story is ambitious in so many good ways—probably too ambitious for network TV, which is partly why it failed to find an audience. The real culprit, though, is creator Michael Green’s (“Heroes”) betrayal of the source material. Christians have proven time and again that when pop culture treats our heritage and beliefs with respect, we turn out in droves (“Passion of the Christ” vs. “The Last Temptation of Christ,” for example). Green may use the basic premise and some of the same names as found in the Bible, but little else resembles the original narrative. Instead, he relies on liberal tropes such as nationalized health care, gay rights, and corporate greed to drive the drama on "Kings."

The most egregious error, though, is the show's portrayal of David. Played by relative newcomer Chris Egan, the future king here is an utter impotent wimp who, in stark contrast to the David of the Bible, has little or no faith in God. Even his famous showdown with Goliath is shown as a hollow act of mere blind luck, not a divine reward for steadfast faith from the Almighty.

My primary reason for watching is the incomparable Ian McShane (“Deadwood”), who anchors the show with his considerable gravitas in the role of King Silas. His counterpart is written so meekly, though, all the tension between the two supposed titans of history is utterly contrived. I appreciate Green’s fascinating interpretation of a modern, albeit fictional, kingdom, with its own complete set of laws, customs, and social idiosyncrasies. But by largely abandoning the characters’ biblical roots, Green abandoned his chance at greatness—and widespread popularity.

What a wasted opportunity.

Grade: C+


‘Dollhouse’
I’ll always watch anything Joss Whedon does, based solely on my love for “Firefly.” But this latest creation is lacking the certain quirky spark that defined both his classic space Western and his other cult TV hits, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.” “Dollhouse” is a darker, more serious affair than any of those shows, which allows for almost none of the writer’s trademark wit and deep characters.

The problem starts with the premise, as Eliza Dushku’s superagent, Echo, is quite literally a blank slate with no defining characteristics at all (other than looking hot at all times); a personality is imprinted on her brain each week as she engages in a new mission. It’s sort of an “Alias” meets “Minority Report” vibe. While every episode is filled with compelling action and there is an interesting overall story arc to the series, the center doesn’t hold because Echo doesn’t give us anything tangible to hold on to.

Because of this, I find no real connection to the show. It’s the strangest thing: Each week I almost have to force myself to hit “play” on the DVR, yet I get sucked into the narrative every time. But, much like Echo, “Dollhouse” gets wiped clean from my head and the process starts all over again next time a new episode pops up.

Not exactly the stuff cult legends are made of. I don’t think people are going to be watching these 14 episodes over and over again for years to come, like I continue to do with a certain other Whedon project.

Grade: B-

‘If I Had Known Then What I Know Now’: Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten—Remix’

I’m not big into remastered CDs. I don’t own any of the recent re-releases from Bruce Springsteen or U2, and you’re talking some of my favorite albums of all time, there. I like the way the originals sound—that’s what I fell in love with in the first place—and I like how that sound is set within the context of the time it was recorded. I don’t need or want them to feel like something written yesterday.

What Pearl Jam has done with “Ten,” however, is a whole different matter.

It may have sold 10 million copies or whatever, but the simple fact is Pearl Jam’s debut album from 1991 sounds like it was recorded in mud. The main culprit was probably the heavy use of reverb on seemingly every instrument—including Eddie Vedder’s voice. The only release in Pearl Jam’s catalog helmed by Rick Parashar, “Ten” sounds nothing like any of the band’s other albums.

Bassist Jeff Ament has been quoted in recent interviews saying he’s wanted a second take on “Ten” almost from the moment it was finished. A few weeks ago, he and many of his fans got their wish with a new version, remixed by longtime band producer Brendan O’Brien.

I can’t envision listening to the old one much anymore.

“Ten—Remix” is just shy of revelatory. Not every song is an obvious improvement, but those that are really are. Ask 11 different Pearl Jam fans their favorite remix and you could get 11 different answers, but I’m partial to “Garden.” This song was perhaps the worst offender of Parashar’s sludgy production the first time around; O’Brien’s remix takes the song out of the dungeon and allows some sunlight to break through. “Garden” is a manifestation of everything right about this project: it’s crisp, clear, and allows you to hear parts you’ve never been able to before. Three other tracks stand out, as well: “Porch” moves Mike McCready’s lead guitar much farther forward in the mix, making the iconic song even more aggressive, which I didn’t think possible; “Why Go” and “Jeremy,” meanwhile, have all sorts of little nooks and crannies of guitar work I never knew existed. “Jeremy,” in particular—a song Pearl Jam got so sick of they nearly retired it—is reinvigorated here.

This newfound clarity is most obvious on the monumental outro jams that populate many of “Ten’s” tracks. You’ve never heard the last minute and a half of “Alive” until you’ve heard this version; the same could be said for “Jeremy,” “Black,” and others. O’Brien’s touch somehow allows you to hear all of the constituent parts of the onslaught, without sacrificing their wall-of-sound power. The biggest surprise to this remix is discovering how much texture and nuance was happening underneath the surface of these songs. It brings the tracks more into alignment with the direct sonic approach Pearl Jam has taken on all its succeeding records, making "Ten" feel like a cohesive part of the band's catalog in a way it never has before. More than anything, O'Brien's work unearths what we've come to discover over the succeeding years: These guys are amazing musicians.

Keep in mind, though, these are not alternate versions, merely remixes. The basic guts of what makes “Ten” a classic album are still there—the tremendous songs. O’Brien has merely taken a fresh approach and cleaned them up a bit. To the casual fan, I doubt it would be worth buying; the differences aren’t those you’d pick up during a listen driving down the highway.

No, “Ten—Remix” will only be fully appreciated by those who have listened to the original hundreds or thousands of times since 1991. And that is another crucial point to this whole endeavor. Once again, Pearl Jam have proven themselves worthy of fans’ adoration by throwing their full weight into a project—both for themselves, and their core audience. They could have let their former record company, Sony, play out the string on this whole remaster thing and tossed the new disc out there. Instead, they didn’t just go the extra mile, they went the extra hundred miles.

I’m referring, of course, to the “super deluxe” packaging option with this release. Among its peers, it’s a work of art; I’ve never seen its equal. Contained within a striking linen-covered box are not only the remastered and remixed CDs, but their corresponding LPs, as well as the band’s famous “MTV Unplugged” performance on DVD and a double-LP set of a 1992 concert (which, nicely, includes a code to download a digital version, for those who don’t have a record player).

And, oh, there’s more. The band re-created the original demo tape Ament and fellow guitarist Stone Gossard sent to Vedder back in 1990. The tape featured the music tracks for three songs that, as legend has it, Eddie dubbed vocals over following a surfing session where he came up with the lyrics. The three songs eventually became “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps,” otherwise known as the “Momma-Son” trilogy. To go to the trouble of replicating this founding document of Pearl Jam history is quite impressive, and welcome.

And, oh, there’s even more. Also included in the set is another re-creation, this one of Vedder’s trademark marble notebook. Inside, Ament and Vedder collected photos and other mementos from the band’s first couple years together. The hodgepodge of setlists, hand-written notes, backstage passes, and other memorabilia is a fascinating and subtle documentation of just how insane their lives must have been during that time. It’s no wonder they almost split on multiple occasions. And it’s also no wonder they won over legions of fans with their live shows.

The broader context for this massive “Ten” reissue is this: Pearl Jam always tries to do things the way they feel is right. They may not always succeed, but you can’t fault them for the attempt. Here they win unanimously, on all cards. The re-release is just the latest example for why they are one of the best bands of their generation, and, more importantly, why nearly two decades after they recorded these tracks, they’re still together and playing to an equally strong and faithful audience.

'The Night Is Our Own': The Gaslight Anthem at The Trocadero, 3.28.09

On April 10, 1992, Pearl Jam played an 80-minute set at the small Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia. The band’s debut album, “Ten,” now a multiplatinum classic, was just starting to really break huge, and the band was beginning its ascent to rock-and-roll megastardom. Three years later, they’d play a legendary headlining show at Soldier Field in Chicago.

I’m not saying The Gaslight Anthem are ever going to be that big, but, you know, it wouldn’t surprise me. They certainly held their own against the ghosts of rock stars past Saturday night at the Troc, and I wonder how much longer they’re going to be containable in a place that only holds a sold-out crowd of 1,200.

Gaslight are in the process of breaking huge in their own right. They’re on the cover of this month’s Alternative Press and in the past few months played both Conan and Letterman on late-night tellyvision. Frontman Brian Fallon has that it quality about him—an effortless, genuine charm that makes for stardom. And the best part is, he doesn’t seem to know it. As a kid from New Jersey who grew up coming to the Troc, he told us last night with genuine amazement how awesome it was to actually be on the stage instead of standing in front of it.

This is the band’s biggest headlining tour yet. It was quite a change from the show I caught last fall at the tiny Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach, in between opening dates for Rise Against. I don’t know if anything could ever top that experience, but I was pleased to see the band seemed, well, the same (in a good way), despite their burgeoning fame. Besides the bigger room and a few more lights, everything else about the show was all I love about them: three guitars, three mic stands, a drum kit, and one heck of a roster of songs to choose from. Unadorned, authentic, perfect.

Gaslight unleashed a blistering 18-song set Saturday, most notable for featuring every track off the band’s latest album, “The ’59 Sound,” which, you know, I kinda adore. I’m certainly not the only one—the crowd was off-the-wall berserk the entire night, singing along at top voice to every word.

Highlights were many, but I continue to be most impressed by how powerful “Miles Davis and the Cool” is in person. It’s a really, really good song on record, but they ratchet up the ending in concert to a massive release that could fill big arenas. The three songs they didn’t play off the album last fall—“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” “Film Noir,” and “Meet Me By the River’s Edge”—were all tremendous, especially the latter, which is like baptism by fire.

But, really, I could say that about any of the songs performed Saturday night. They never let off the, er, gas. The run of “We Came to Dance”/“The ’59 Sound”/“Senor and the Queen”/“Casanova, Baby!” was heart-pounding great. The 75-minute set just flew by, leaving me stunned by the band’s sustained intensity, throwing their all into every cut. Even the quiet songs, like “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” were played with urgency; heaven help you on the big power tracks like "The Backseat" and "I'da Called You Woody, Joe."

The Gaslight Anthem give as rousing and heartfelt a show as I’ve ever seen. It's good for the soul. I just wonder if I'm gonna end up like one of the Pearl Jam fans from that show in '92: "Yeah, I saw those guys when …" Because there’s no telling where this band goes from here.

The Gaslight Anthem
The Trocadero
Philadelphia
3.28.09

MAIN SET
Great Expectations
High Lonesome
Old White Lincoln
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
We Came to Dance
The ’59 Sound
Senor and the Queen
Casanova, Baby!
Film Noir
Miles Davis and the Cool
1930
Meet Me By the River’s Edge
The Patient Ferris Wheel
Here’s Looking At You, Kid
The Backseat

ENCORE
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
Stand By Me (snippet)/I’da Called You Woody, Joe
Angry Johnny and the Radio/What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted (snippet)

Show Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Albums of the Aughts: U2

As I’ve been thinking about my 10 favorite albums of the decade, something surprised me: Despite being one of my biggest musical obsessions over the past nine years, there might not be a U2 record on that list.

I’ve already taken a look back at 2004’s exciting but flawed “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” and figured I’d do the same for 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” My overall feelings toward the two records are much the same: Both have moments of utter brilliance, but also moments of missed opportunities and, in a few spots, downright filler. Here’s a track-by-track look:

“Beautiful Day”
If “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” was U2’s attempt to reclaim their “biggest band in the world” title, then they accomplished their goal in the first 4 minutes, 9 seconds of this album. “Beautiful Day” is the band’s best track of this decade, an instant classic that deservedly takes its place alongside such monsters as “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “New Year’s Day,” “One,” “Bad,” and all the rest. It set the template for the entire post-“Pop” period, reinvigorating the “old” sound but with a new, modern twist (Edge often returned to this version of his signature chiming guitar riff). It also contains one of my favorite moments in U2’s catalog, where music and lyrics mesh just perfectly; it happens at the end of the bridge, when Bono sings, “After the flood all the colors came out” and then the song reloads and explodes all over again. Nearly a decade after I first heard it, “Beautiful Day” still sounds as, well, beautiful as ever.
5 STARS

“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
This song is frustrating right from the get-go, starting with the unwieldy title and working all the way through the too-slick, bordering on cheesy over-production that buries one of Bono’s best lyrical efforts from this period of his career. It wasn’t until I heard the acoustic version released on the Target exclusive “7” EP in 2002 that I really fell in love with the song. Stripping away all the schmaltz allows the heart-wrenching narrative of this gem to shine through—and, actually, helped me get into the original album version, too. Put those two things together and they add up to …
4.5 STARS

“Elevation”
For some reason, U2’s frolicking uptempo hard rockers, like this song (or “Vertigo” or “Get On Your Boots,” etc.) are frowned upon by a segment of the fan community. I don’t understand it—what, U2 always has to write momentous, emotional songs? Isn’t that the same reason they’re accused of being pretentious and ponderous? They’re not allowed to have any fun? This song is a barnburner, fed by a ferocious Edge riff (it's also an instant crowd-amp). Though I wish they had used the more aggressive “Tomb Raider Mix” on the album, “Elevation” remains a latter-day rave-up classic.
5 STARS

“Walk On”
If “Beautiful Day” is 1A, then “Walk On” is 1B on the list of this album’s classic tracks. It complements the former perfectly, cementing “All That You Can’t Leave Behind’s” theme of bittersweet hope and endurance. I remember being disappointed when I first heard they were using this as their closing song on the Elevation Tour, thinking a new song couldn't possibly have the gravitas to hold such an important spot. Wow, was I wrong. Back in the old days of this decade before instant file sharing and YouTube, I actually didn’t hear the “Hallelujah” chorus they tagged onto the end of this song until I was actually in the building, and it absolutely floored me. Now, thankfully, you can hear that tag on the “single version” of “Walk On,” and it is one of my favorite minutes of any U2 song, from any decade. Though I prefer the single edit and wish it was on the album, instead, that doesn’t diminish the original cut.
5 STARS

“Kite”
A slow-burn gem, this is perhaps Bono’s best lyrical work on the album, and continues his string of tremendous vocal performances in this five-song opening stretch. Whether you interpret it about Bono’s kids, his father, or something else entirely, the song is sure to speak to you. Typically I’m not a fan of Bono’s more wordy efforts, but this is certainly the exception to the rule. Bolstered by yet another massive Edge output, “Kite” is a great track, even though I still think the little coda tarnishes it just a touch.
4.5 STARS

“In A Little While”
OK, so from here on out the “great” songs are over. “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” is terribly frontloaded, and its second half just doesn’t hold up under the weight. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t good songs to be had, and “In A Little While” is one of them. Wonderful melody and a lighthearted change of pace make this track a winner. Every song on a U2 album doesn’t have to reach for the stars. This song is pleasantly grounded.
4 STARS

“Wild Honey”
Uh, ditto. Another infectious track that goes down easy and sits just fine. Not necessarily memorable, but, hey, it was good enough to make a Cameron Crowe soundtrack. For lesser bands, this would be a crowning achievement in pop/rock mastery; for U2, it’s just … nice.
4 STARS

“Peace on Earth”
Houston, we have a problem. After seven outstanding songs, here “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” starts to head off course. Bono lost me on the very first listen with the very first verse, surely one of the worst pieces of writing to ever make a U2 album. What’s worse, “Peace on Earth” is nothing more than a retread of the far superior “Wake Up Dead Man,” which closed “Pop” three years earlier—only here Bono’s talking all nicey-nice to God, rather than cursing at him and making demands. Match that to an utterly uninspired backing track, and you have one of the band’s worst songs. I detest this track.
1 STAR

“When I Look at the World”
One of the best U2 songs never to be played in concert (it’s only been tagged once).
4 STARS

“New York”
Of all the great songs written about the City That Never Sleeps, this is not one of them. I know U2 love NYC, but I get sick of hearing about how great it is from all corners of the entertainment community. This song kicked some serious butt on the Elevation Tour, what with those big curtain things they dropped from the ceiling and the strobe lights and all, but it’s rather forgettable on record. Certainly doesn’t do much to prop up the back half of this album.
2.5 STARS

“Grace”
If “Peace on Earth” is 1A of “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” dreck, then “Grace” is 1B. Good gracious, this is one of the worst lines Bono’s ever written: “Grace, it’s the name for a girl/It’s also a thought that changed the world.” That’s more than enough to kill this entire song, even if it wasn’t terribly dull and obvious. Another glaring hole in this record’s resume.
1 STAR

“The Ground Beneath Her Feet”
Americans got screwed with this release, because the UK version doesn’t end with “Grace,” but instead finishes with this tremendous bonus track. It first appeared earlier in the year on the soundtrack to Bono’s ill-fated movie project, “The Million Dollar Hotel” (don’t waste your time, by the way). It actually doesn’t go very well with this record; its sinewy sensuality seems more fitting to the darker soundscape of “Pop.” Either way, I absolutely love this song, especially the final minute and a half where it shifts into overdrive.
5 STARS

Much like “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” is an album of dramatic peaks and valleys; its high points are some of U2’s best work, its low points some of their worst. Thankfully, there’s much more to love about this album than despise.
Grade: A-

***

So, to get back to my original point about the whole “Albums of the Aughts” situation: Both of these records have too many flaws to make that list, but that doesn’t mean U2 didn’t do some amazing work this decade. This week I put together a U2 “Aughts” mix on my iPod and was rather stunned with the depth of quality tracks to choose from. Here’s what my playlist looks like, with five tracks from each of the band’s three albums from this decade, plus a handful of b-sides:

1. Vertigo
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Elevation (Tomb Raider Mix)
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day
6. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (acoustic version)
7. Kite
8. The Hands That Built America
9. City of Blinding Lights
10. Walk On (single edit)
11. Electrical Storm (William Orbit mix)
12. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
13. FEZ-Being Born
14. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
15. Mercy
16. Breathe
17. Xanax and Wine
18. All Because of You
19. Original of the Species
20. I Believe in Father Christmas
21. White As Snow

Quibble about various points in various albums all you want, but that is an outstanding list of songs that stands up to either of U2’s previous two decades. You give me those 21 tracks on tour this fall, and I leave the stadium a happy man.

‘Gran Torino’

If “The Dark Knight” is now one of the biggest Oscar snubs of all time, then “Gran Torino” is right there nipping at Batman’s cape.

Clint Eastwood’s new masterpiece is exactly the kind of story I love: It presents a situation and characters that appear to be a certain way, then spends its time turning those preconceptions inside out. It presents a complicated issue—in this case, immigration and its inherent racial relations/tensions—fairly and accurately, offering both the bad (Hollywood’s stock and trade) and the good (rare).

The trailer for “Gran Torino” was a bit deceiving, as it makes the film out to be a “Dirty Harry” for the geriatric crowd. Eastwood’s retired Korean War veteran certainly can handle himself, and, yes, there are a few scenes of violence, but that is far from the main point of the film. At its heart, “Gran Torino” is an examination of what makes America the greatest melting pot in the world, as well as what causes that melting pot to shatter.

As one of the few native-born Americans on my street, I can attest to the film’s veracity. Like Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski, what I’m really looking for in others—be they family, friends, coworkers, or just neighbors—are people who will work hard and respect one another. The two neighbors on either side of me are both immigrant families. One plays their stereo so loud it shakes my floors; the other I rarely hear a peep from, unless it’s from their two kids wanting to pet my cat. Guess which family we get along with better? Guess which family Walt wouldn’t like?

Walt’s not perfect, either, which is another reason to love this film—he’s not above the fray, he’s got things to learn, too. He utters innumerable Asian-related racial epithets, but that’s another strength of the script; Walt is presented as the stereotypical old white racist, but that perspective changes as you get to know him, much like his perspective on his new Asian neighbors changes as he gets to know them.

There are more issues packed into this film than just racial relations, too, all handled deftly and with fairness. Eastwood engages in a much deeper and more meaningful conversation about God and forgiveness than he did four years ago in his Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby.” Once again he has a long-running verbal battle with a priest, but this time the man of the cloth is a deeper character, not a proverbial punching bag like in the other film.

There’s also a lot of great stuff here about what it means to be a man, and how to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. Some of the film’s best—and funniest—scenes involve Walt teaching the young Asian boy next door how to talk, act, and fix things like a man. It’s heartwarming and charming without ever even glancing in the direction of melodrama or sap.

But, more than anything, this movie is about Eastwood, who, about to turn 80 in a few weeks, gives undoubtedly one of the best performances of his career. Walt is like an old, retired combination of all the tough guys Eastwood’s ever played, only little by little the curtain gets pulled back on what really makes him tick. He certainly has some tremendous scenes of bravado—Walt confronting three young black hoodlums on a street corner is an all-timer, including an iconic “You feelin’ lucky, punk?”-type line that I won’t spoil here (hint: It’s not “Get off my lawn!”). But those don’t come as often as you’d think from the trailer; just as compelling are the quieter, gentler, funnier moments, such as Walt’s first trip to his neighbors’ house for a barbecue.

If you want an accurate, and sad, picture of how Hollywood’s elite view America, then simply compare “Gran Torino”—completely shut out from this year’s Academy Awards—to 2005’s “Crash,” which didn’t just get nominated for Best Picture, it won the whole thing. As I wrote nearly three years ago, “Crash” does nothing but reinforce paranoid stereotypes and prop up a one-sided portrayal of racial tensions in this country. “Gran Torino,” on the other hand, takes the issue head-on. It’s not afraid to show, in equal measure, minority thugs acting like, well, thugs, as well as hard-working immigrants who want the same thing Walt does (or me, for that manner): respect and decency from their neighbors. Unlike “Crash,” the fully realized characters in “Gran Torino” are able to find common ground, which, from my own experience, is dead-on accurate. Eastwood is certainly no coward.

I’ve seen “Slumdog Millionaire.” It was a nice movie. I enjoyed it. I strongly recommend it, for that opening chase scene if nothing else. But it was just that—really good. I don’t feel an overwhelming desire to see it again, nor did it inspire enough in me to even feel a need to write about it. Faced with the other options on Oscar night, I’m glad it won, but it certainly was not the best film I saw last year.

“Gran Torino,” on the other hand, is a great movie. Not only is it better than “Slumdog” and “Crash,” it’s better than “Million Dollar Baby,” which also wasn’t just nominated, but won Best Picture in 2005.

So ask yourself this question: What does it say about Hollywood that this film, along with “The Dark Knight,” couldn’t even get nominated?

Grade: A

'No Line on the Horizon': Initial Thoughts

I've had a couple people already ask me what I think of the new U2 album, "No Line on the Horizon," which came out yesterday. Tonight I listened through it start to finish through the headphones for the first time and had a pen and notepad in hand to jot down thoughts for an eventual review. I will still write that later, but thought I'd just straight copy what I wrote down for now—kinda like live-blogging my listen. (I got the idea from my absolute favorite U2 blogger, whose voice I adore—hers is better than mine, so go read it first.)

Here goes …

—Freedom

"No Line on the Horizon"
—"Acrobat"/"Ultraviolet"

"Magnificent"
—"New Year's Day"

—Could pick out sounds for comparisons, but really, this album doesn't sound like anything else they've done … Takes weird turns … not that great a flow

—Some of the most overtly spiritual lyrics Bono's written, with some of the best results

—Lots of little ticklish sounds beneath the surface … Even on seemingly straightforward songs like "Surrender"

—Bono's lyrics hold the record back a little, overall … Too direct, too literal, can't get lost in the songs

—The MUSIC is outstanding … no boundaries, no rules, no pattern … The most adventurous, complex stuff they've written in a decade … Larry is on fire!

"Moment of Surrender"
—True soul … what they were looking for on "Rattle and Hum"?
—"Stuck in a Moment"

"Unknown Caller"
—The most "U2" riff on the entire album?
—LOVE the multitrack vocals that come out of nowhere on the chorus
—Love the use of digital/Internet terms … not overdone, just right

—"love" = God in many of these songs

—Bono's dealing with being "Bono" on several songs, "Caller" especially: "Hear me, cease to speak that I may speak/Shush now/Oh, oh/Then don't move or say a thing" … picked up later in "Get on Your Boots" and elsewhere

"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
—Title not as bad in context of the song as it seems on paper … Still, what's with always having some sort of long, stupid title on every record this decade?
—"U2" riff and multitracked vocals again here
—"The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear" (smile)
—Nice, easy, comfortable song … not a bad thing on this dense record

—I can't see mass/broad appeal for this record

—Bono is singing his lungs out all through this album, with power and in the upper register … How's he gonna keep this up on tour?

"Get On Your Boots"
—The band does, indeed, go crazy here, on the very next song
—TURN IT UP LOUD, CAPTAIN!!!
—Sounds a little out of place with the rest of the album … everything else isn't nearly as freewheeling
—Sounds even FASTER after rather mid-tempo of first five songs
—"I don't want to talk about the wars between nations": Again, Bono getting away from "Bono"
—"Let me in the sound …": Summary of the record? Need the entry point, similar to the recording process for "Achtung Baby," which is why this line is picked up again in "FEZ," the place where recording on this record began

"Stand Up Comedy"
—Another bad title redeemed
—Exhortation
—The "love, love, love …" in the background reminiscent of "Zooropa"
—"Stand up to rock stars/Napoleon is in high heels" (smile)
—There's a memory these particular multitracked vocals evoke I can't quite place

—Casual fans: These middle three songs are for you (not a bad thing)

"FEZ—Being Born"
—"FEZ"!!!
—Should this have been the album opener?
—By the title, one of the songs I thought I'd like the least, and it's a favorite
—Love the abrupt changes
—Wish there were more lyrics like this on the album

—Ever try taking notes with a VERY curious cat in your lap? Good luck

"White as Snow"
—From the liner notes: "Traditional, arranged by U2 with Brian Eno and Danny Lanois": Must find out more about this
—"The Hands That Built America"
—Loving the guitars here and Bono's vocal delivery … stripped down without melodrama … U2 at its best … What "One Step Closer" tried to be and failed
—"Once I knew there was a love divine/Then came a time I thought it knew me not/Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not/Only the lamb as white as snow": Favorite passage on the album?

—THIS could be an album that adds up to more than the sum of its parts … the opposite of "Atomic Bomb"

—Eno and Lanois: mmm … good

"Breathe"
—Right from the beginning feels like it's building to something massive, but doesn't really get there until the very end … could've used more of that earlier
—LOVE Bono's delivery, again … has he ever tried this words-stumbling-over-one-another thing before?
—"Cockatoo"!!!
—LOVE Larry's drumming, again
—The entire last verse: Another favorite passage
—The best Lillywhite contribution to the album, certainly
—LOVE that this song is so late in the sequence … U2 has a bad habit of frontloading their albums, especially this decade
—Wish this had closed the album

"Cedars of Lebanon"
—ANOTHER great and different Bono delivery … also reminiscent of "One Step Closer," and, again, better
—"Return the call to home": What is this, Pink Floyd? Don't like that interpretation AT ALL
—What is that person saying low in the mix? Can't make it out
—This song could've been on "Pop" (not a bad thing)
—"Choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you/Make them interesting 'cos in some ways they will mind you/They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends/Gonna last with you longer than your friends": Strange passage to close the record … will have to think more on its significance
—Right now, probably my least favorite track, more for the way it leaves me feeling than the song itself … Overall, this feels like a hopeful record, and this leaves things on a bad note
—First album in a while Bono doesn't end with a conversation with God

‘Daemon,’ Daniel Suarez

Daniel Suarez’s debut novel, “Daemon,” will mess with your head.

It will forever change the way you look at the world and the computers that run it. It will make you think twice when you log into your bank account online, or swipe your credit card at the grocery store. It will expose you to technology you thought only existed in the far-flung adventures of some Hollywood futurescope, then make you believe you could see these Silicon Valley devilspawns the next time you walk out your front door.

And that, as much as anything, will scare the crap out of you. I pray the world Suarez describes in “Daemon” doesn’t exist—doesn’t have the possibility of ever existing—but I fear all the more it may be right around the corner.

Consider this passage: “The modern world is a highly efficient, precision machine. But that’s its flaw—one wrench in the works and it all grinds to a halt. So what does our generation get? A culture of lies to hide weakness. Decreasing freedom. All to conceal one simple fact: the assumptions upon which our civilization is based are no longer valid.”

Or this: “They built a twenty-trillion-dollar house of cards. Then they told you to guard it. And they call me insane.”

Or, finally, this: “The Great Diffusion has begun—an era when the nation state dissolves. Technology will cause this. As countries compete for markets in the global economy, diffusion of high technology will accelerate. It will result in a diffusion of power and diffusion of power will make countries an ineffective organizing principle. At first, marginal governments will fail. Larger states will not be equipped to intercede effectively. These lawless regions will become breeding grounds for international crime and terrorism. Threats to cientralized authority will multiply. Centralized power will be defenseless against these distributed threats. You have already experienced the leading edge of this wave.”

Though “Daemon” was only widely published in January, these words were written more than four years ago, long before the subprime crash and the ensuing global economic tailspin we’re facing today. Like I said, scary stuff. Suarez, now in his mid-40s, is a tech industry consultant from California who originally self-published his debut back in 2006. It garnered serious tech-geek cred for its accurate portrayals of various online cultures, including massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), such as “World of Warcraft,” which led to its pickup by a major publishing house last year.

Suarez defines a “daemon” as “a computer program that runs continuously in the background and performs specified operations at predetermined times or in response to certain events.” Odds are, as you’re reading this, there are daemons chugging away on your system right now (did you receive a security update this morning?). In the eponymous novel, a brilliant designer uses the principles he developed for his phenomenally successful gaming company to unleash daemons throughout the Internet—after his death. These programs, written ahead of time with mind-boggling precision, begin to trigger some astounding events—events that cost real human beings their real lives. No resets here. It’s like an updated and more frightening version of 1983’s “WarGames” (there’s even a reference to thermonuclear war in the book!).

What follows is a sprawling epic of a techno-thriller; the Daemon is the true main character, while various humans wander in and out of the story to interact with it. Suarez introduces a huge number of characters for a typical novel, and he seems unattached to any of them, for they all merely serve at the pleasure of the Daemon—whether they want to or not. And, wow, can that sucker do some amazing things. I won’t spoil any of the thrills and chills here but, trust me, you will be amazed.

There are times when Suarez overreaches, however. While most of “Daemon” exists in an all-too-plausible world, like any Hollywood blockbuster certain action sequences toward the book’s end simply stretch too far (it sorta reminded me of Christopher Nolan’s blow-up-Gotham ending to “Batman Begins”). But I chalk that up to the travails of being a first-time author.

Overall, “Daemon” is one of those game-changing pop culture events on the line of recent benchmarks like “The Matrix” or “300.” Flawed? Sure. But, like those two recent films, its singular vision overwhelms any minor problems. Suarez’s straightforward, no-nonsense writing style isn’t going to win any fancy literary awards, but “Daemon” is the science-fiction-of-the-now William Gibson has been trying to write about for a decade and, thus far, has failed to capture.

It is now the techno novel by which all future techno novels will be judged.


***One final note: It’s not lost on me most of the comparison I make in this review are films. Suarez is so brilliant at depicting action sequences, even I could adapt this book to a screenplay in no time—you can visualize the scenes in pristine quality as you read. I will be shocked if “Daemon” is not made into a movie in the near future.***

'Taken'

If the folks over at "24" are still contemplating a transition to the big screen, they'll have to work hard to give us something better than "Taken."

In this film, Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired CIA operative whose daughter is kidnapped by sex traffickers while spending the summer in Paris. When she is … taken, he unleashes himself on the European underworld in a combination of Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer. Resourceful, brutally efficient, and relentless, Mills is like Bauer before he went all soft and PC.

A role like this could've been driven to excess by a lesser actor, but Neeson plays him with an intense understatement. Mills is not a bloodthirsty demon, but he is a man on a mission who does not suffer the dark denizens of society selling beautiful young women into slavery. If Mills has to torture and/or kill some of them to find his daughter, so be it.

Mills' interrogation techniques, of course, are part of what has liberal commentators in a tissy over this film, which has led to its overall mediocre reviews. But when even the local government is in on the take, I say, what's a superagent father to do? I don't mind seeing evil men killed.

Apparently, neither do a lot of other moviegoers. "Taken" is about to cross the $100 million mark, a total shock to the greater Hollywood community, I'm sure. But after a two-year presidential campaign full of navel gazing, maybe there are more of us out there than people think that are sick of hearing how horrible America is and are ready to see one of our guys go get some of these bastards. With his kid's life on the line, Mills certainly isn't about to spare a moment question whether these truly evil men deserve a day in court that will never come.

Look, "Taken" isn't some revelatory experience. The scenes that get us to the daughter's kidnapping are dull, and the dialogue in all non-action scenes is rather weak. There are some ridiculous action moments, of course—enough with the drive-against-traffic scenes, please!

But Neeson's performance seals the deal on this film. He's an instantly likable hero, with a clear mission and, as he says, a specific set of skills to reach his goal and save his child from a lifetime of slavery. It's a thrilling, engrossing, and breathless hour and a half at the movies.

Grade: B+

‘Working on a Dream,’ Bruce Springsteen

To say “Working on a Dream” is one of the worst albums of Bruce Springsteen’s career is both accurate and misleading—and, to a point, unfair. Yes, it certainly falls way short of his career peaks; it doesn’t even match the high points of the resurgence he’s experienced this decade. But, at the same time, it’s not like the thing is utterly unlistenable; it’s merely mediocre, but by Boss standards, that’s considered a failure.

Overall, it’s a quite uneven record that sounds more like a Springsteen solo effort than his previous E Street albums of the aughts, “The Rising” and “Magic.” Perhaps that’s because he wrote this one with just a core group of the band and brought the others in to fill in the gaps; perhaps that’s because it was recorded more quickly than the other records and thus wasn’t given the time to evolve in the studio. Whatever the case, “Working on a Dream” is a bit all over the place. Here’s how I break it down:

The Great
There are two tracks on “Working on a Dream” that hold their own against anything Springsteen’s ever done; they come back-to-back to close the record, and are similar in sound (quiet, mellow) and tone (remorseful, resigned, yet deeply personal).

“The Last Carnival” is Springsteen’s heart-rending tribute to his dear friend Danny Federici, the E Street keyboardist who died last year. It calls back 35 years to “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” off Springsteen’s second album, which detailed the wild ride of being on the road with the band. In “The Last Carnival” Springsteen acknowledges the show must go on as they ride “the train that keeps on movin,’” but it’s not without pain: “The light that was in your eyes/Has gone away … The thing in you that made me ache/Has gone to stay.” It’s gripping stuff, played with just slight instrumentation and a wide, airy vocal from Springsteen that makes him sound like he’s in a church; that image is reinforced at the end when the entire E Street chorus comes in to sing a type of a capella hallelujah sendoff to their fallen comrade. I don’t know what it says about Springsteen, though, that he’s gotten to a point in his life and career where his most inspired lyrical efforts are only spurred by the deaths of dear friends (one of the best songs off “Magic” was another similar tribute, “Terry’s Song”).

The other truly great song on “Working on a Dream” may not even count toward the album’s credits, as it’s “The Wrestler,” a “bonus track.” Like “The Last Carnival,” this is another melancholy, mostly acoustic, intimate affair that shoots straight for the heart. There’s much to appreciate here, such as his downtrodden vocal performance, the just-right touches of piano and percussion. But what I love the most is how Springsteen took the movie and highlighted its universal theme; Mickey Rourke is so great in “The Wrestler,” it can be easy to focus so closely on him you miss the film’s broader appeal. Here, Springsteen takes a movie about a beaten down professional wrestler and turns it inside out; he doesn’t mention wrestling at all, but shows how the movie could’ve been about any man whose “only faith is in the broken bones and bruises I display.”

The Good
These songs wouldn’t make a best-of compilation, but that doesn’t mean they’re not catchy. “My Lucky Day” is a well-meaning, wide-open rock and roll romp that seems like what “Better Days” would’ve sounded like recorded with the full E Street Band; lyrically it’s a bit soft, but it sounds darn good in the car with the windows down.

“Good Eye” is the first original Springsteen song featuring the bullet mic he’s been toying with during the past few tours. I’d have to go back and check deeper to be sure, but this seems to me maybe the most outright blues/rock number Springsteen’s ever written for the full band. Again, this song is memorable more for style than substance; it sounds great, but the lyrics are … uninspiring, even for a blues song. I absolutely love the bullet mic, so it would have been nice for “Good Eye” to get more attention to detail in the studio. As it is, it feels like a really, really good half of a song.

I also like “Life Itself” quite a bit for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. More than anything, it just sounds different from the rest of the record, with Springsteen’s vocal put through a darker, almost warbling filter. It's like E Street on a cloudy day, and that makes it stand out from producer Brendan O’Brien’s more typical bright style.

The Mediocre
There’s far too many songs in this category to make “Working on a Dream” anything but a, well, mediocre record. The title track itself is total cheese—the only difference between it and utter crap being that total cheese from Springsteen is still imbued with enough heart and passion to make it tolerable.

“What Love Can Do” is pedestrian rehashing of well-traveled territory—in less than three minutes he manages to use the words “train,” “rain,” “rust,” “dust,” and the phrase “eye for an eye” (last heard in “Empty Sky”). Once again, though, the song is raised a level by the E Streeters.

There are more like this, that don’t really require further examination: “Kingdom of Days” (does he know this phrase is way too similar to the contemporary Christian song “Ancient of Days’?), “Surprise Surprise,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” just sort of wander on by—you won’t skip them, necessarily, but you won’t seek them out, either.

The Bad
The Terrible Trio: “Outlaw Pete,” “Queen of the Supermarket,” and “This Life.” Let’s take them in order of reverse wretchedness.

“This Life” sounds in every conceivable way like “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” with different lyrics. The latter was a head-turner from “Magic,” a true original in surf pop that Springsteen hadn’t really explored before. “This Life” is its bastard retread cousin. Why it’s here, I have no idea. This has to be a joke, right? Because “This Life” could be an early demo for “Girls." The two tracks are embarrassingly similar.

Few artists can do epic like Springsteen can do epic. There’s a reason “The River” is now in the Norton anthology for modern American poetry; the “Born to Run” album is one big epic journey in and of itself. That’s what makes “Outlaw Pete” such a travesty: it’s so painfully forced, it comes off feeling like somebody trying—unsuccessfully—to ape Springsteen’s epic-ness. The song just tries way, way too hard and ends up feeling contrived. It took me two sessions to get through this eight-minute monster the first time, and I have never had a desire to listen through it again. Anyone who compares this to “Jungleland” needs their head examined.

But, at least I did get through it once. I have yet to accomplish such a feat with “Queen of the Supermarket,” which could just be the worst song Springsteen’s ever written. From the whiny vocal delivery to the utterly horrible and idiotic lyrics about salvation in the form of a supermarket cashier, this is, again, stretching for epic-ness at its worst. Springsteen can make the mundane magical, but this is not it. I can’t get through this song. Seriously, I've tried and failed. It’s horrible.


So … where does that leave “Working on a Dream”? I understand where it’s coming from—I could see how Federici’s death has spurred Springsteen to make the most of the time he has left with his friends and bandmates, but he could accomplish that by just touring relentlessly with the same reckless abandon that marked the last segment of the "Magic" shows last year, where they were taking requests and playing who-knows-what's-next every night. That was inspired stuff, and it's certainly more than good enough to remain relevant, as the Super Bowl performance demonstrated.

I respect the notion of just wanting to write something and put it out there, come hell or high water. But Springsteen’s at the point in his career where it takes a Herculean effort to produce new work that can stand up to the myth and legacy of the old stuff; on “Working on a Dream,” he was able to muster that effort a couple times, and, at almost 60 years old, that’s really not too shabby.

I can enjoy this album for what it is, picking out the moments I especially like. But that doesn’t mean I want to hear the whole thing in concert.

Grade: C+

The Best Conservative Movies of the Past 25 Years

As collected by National Review Online, via Big Hollywood.

I've seen 15 of them, and wouldn't argue with any of those. Some of these, not surprisingly, would be on my all-time favorite list (Nos. 2, 5, 11, 12, 13, and 23).

Worlds Are Colliding

As if I didn't love The Gaslight Anthem enough already … apparently, they're covering Pearl Jam's "State of Love and Trust" on their current UK tour. I must hear this (though I can't find a recording yet, unfortunately).

Also, what a difference a studio makes. TGA blew the freakin' roof off the Ed Sullivan Theater last week on "Letterman"—the host seemed particularly impressed. You can watch the clip either through the official Letterman site (though I don't know how long this link will last), or via YouTube. My heavens, what a performance.

Compare this version of "The '59 Sound" with the performance from Conan a few months ago … same song, different network, totally different sound. NBC sucks.

My Favorite TV Series of 2008

Though derailed by the Hollywood writer’s strike, there was plenty of good TV to be had in 2008. Here’s a look at my nine favorite series (keep in mind: not all were actually broadcast in 2008).

9. "Pardon the Interruption"
Tony and Mike are big TV stars now because of this show, so it's ironic that's exactly what's hampered the vehicle that got them there. It may not be as good as it used to be, but "PTI" remains daily viewing for me, a way to catch up on sports news of the day in 20 minutes and laugh at the same time.

8. “Undeclared”
Between the first-season cancellations of this excellent college-freshman comedy and his previous high school dramedy “Freaks and Geeks,” it’s no wonder producer extraordinaire Judd Apatow gave up on TV and started making movies.

7. “The Office” (Season 4/5)
Though this series’ 2008 began with an all-time classic episode (“The Dinner Party”), it was a steady decline over the rest of the calendar year. "The Office" can still be counted on each week for moments of utter hilarity (Andy vs. Dwight in a college interview death match!), I’m worried the writing staff may just plain be running out of ideas of absurd things to do in an office, so they’re left to focus on things like love triangles and out-of-the-building trips. Still a must-see for me each week, but showing signs of age.

6. “Bones” (Seasons 3/4)
Perhaps the hardest hit by the strike of any show on this list, “Bones” was forced to ram its Season 3 serial killer storyline home in a hurry, which was unfortunate. Still, Booth and Brennan have the best chemistry of any team on TV, and the writing staff continues to provide an offbeat procedural with a deeper level of character and emotion than its contemporaries. Season 4 to this point has been a bit too focused on the bones and not enough on the hearts of its two leads, but that just makes the eps that go the opposite way that much more meaningful.

5. “WWE Monday Night Raw”
Though I’ve been a professional wrestling fan since elementary school, my fervor for the sports entertainment showcase has come and gone over the years. In 2008, it was back with a vengeance, as “Monday Night Raw” offered one of the most exciting stretches of its long run. I don’t know if it was a ploy to buoy ratings or simply a reaction to the boneheaded decision to give mid-carder CM Punk the championship belt (probably a combo of both), but this fall “Raw” was suddenly offering matches on a weekly basis typically saved for big pay-per-view events.

The lion’s share of the credit goes to the man who used to be known as “Lionheart,” Chris Jericho. The formerly flamboyant superstar’s monotone heel turn has been one of WWE’s best-ever moves, as Jericho turned everything—and everyone—he touched this year into gold. His feud with Shawn Michaels was one of the best I’ve ever seen; when it ended, Jericho didn’t miss a beat, moving on to ratchet up the intensity with the likes of Batista, John Cena, and whoever else came across his path. “Raw” really was Jericho this year.

4. “How I Met Your Mother” (Seasons 1-4)
I devoured this show on DVD in 2008. Alternately hilarious and touching, Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshall, and Lily gave me some of the biggest laughs of the year. Offering up episodes on everything from Slap Bet to Swarley to Woo Girls, this is the latest in a (short) line of worthy “Seinfeld” descendants. It’s my favorite sitcom on TV today, and from week to week is as consistently funny as any show I’ve seen in a long time.

3. “Survivor: Micronesia/Gabon”
I’m not an every-season “Survivor” watcher; of its 17 iterations, I think I’ve watched six. But the two seasons aired in 2008 had me hooked from the beginning and all the way through—at several spots, the action was downright riveting. This is the only reality show I watch with any regularity, and a lot of the credit goes to longtime host Jeff Probst, one of the best personalities on TV, reality or otherwise.

2. “Lost” (Season 4)
When a show is as consistently brilliant as “Lost,” its greatness can become almost commonplace, expected, routine. But in preparation for this past week’s return, I re-watched the final three episodes of Season 4, and was reminded anew how there has never been another show like this—so ambitious, intricate, and epic—in the history of TV. Sure it can get buried beneath its own mythology at times, but this, the first of “Lost’s” final three shortened seasons, proved now that the producers have an endpoint in sight, they’re moving toward it at breakneck speed.

1. “Dexter” (Season 2)
Though it seemed impossible, the producers behind one of television’s best series managed somehow to surpass their debut season with an even more tense, dramatic, and entertaining sophomore run. It became less about whom Michael C. Hall’s serial-killer-with-a-code would slice and dice each week, and focused more strongly on an edge-of-your-seat storyline that left my heart pounding and my mind spinning. Superb.

An Album That Shouldn’t Be Left Behind: How to Evaluate an ‘Atomic Bomb’

The hype machine is in full effect for U2’s new album, “No Line on the Horizon” (due March 3—love that title!), with numerous magazine features and what not. The intensity went up a few notches Monday, when the album’s lead single, “Get on Your Boots,” hit the Internet (though not as exciting on first listen as “Vertigo” was in 2004, “GOYB” gets better with each play).

The PR onslaught of a new U2 release brings all sorts of hyperventilating and hyperbole by media and fans alike; I’m no less susceptible to this than others, so I thought it would be worthwhile to reexamine the band’s most recent album, 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” to find a little perspective in the this-is-the-best-U2-album-ever hysteria that is about to descend upon the world.

With the new album, I predict some revisionist history will occur regarding the band’s previous work this decade, especially the last album. While “Atomic Bomb” received, in general, good to great reviews from the press, somewhere along the line it became cool for a vocal portion of the U2 fan community to bash the living crap out of the record. I’m thinking with “No Line on the Horizon,” there’s going to be a lot of stuff about getting away from the “old U2,” or the “tentative” and “safe” tendencies of the previous two albums, like they weren’t any good or something.

Overall, I still stand by my A- review of the album; I would certainly listen to arguments to drop it maybe to the B range, but I think it’s otherwise unfairly vilified by a vocal faction of the U2 community. Though its low points have become harder to overlook, its great points still soar just as high for me today as they did originally and more than make up for a few lackluster tracks. The fact that U2 can still write songs that live up to their own legacy is quite a feat, indeed.

Here’s a track-by-track look:

“Vertigo”
So what if it was on an (undeniably cool, iconic) iPod commercial? This remains one of the band’s most ferocious tracks of their entire career. Go back and listen again for when Edge explodes back into the song after the bridge. The lyrics are underappreciated, as well, as Bono examines the struggle between heart and head, and maintaining faith in an age that seeks to make the word meaningless. This 21st century can indeed make you feel dizzy, and “Vertigo” starts a conversation about faith and living in this world of ours that runs through the entire record.
5 STARS

“Miracle Drug”
From the very first time I heard it, “Miracle Drug” has always sounded like a “Beautiful Day” knockoff. Plodding along, it’s U2 trying to be U2, which is never a good thing. Bono’s lyrics are weak, his delivery even weaker; his slow cadence throughout just drags the entire thing down. It’s the first of several state-of-the-world songs on this album that fall rather flat.
2 STARS

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”
The hands-down high point of the record, this track still makes me just stop and listen. It demands attention, refusing to be relegated to background music. The “siiiiiing” moment may seem like not as big a deal now, but it’s easy to forget that prior to “Atomic Bomb,” Bono’s voice had been slipping dangerously away into ragged nothingness. He hadn’t sounded this strong and clear in a decade, and “Sometimes” is one of Bono’s best-ever performances, as both a writer and a singer.
5 STARS

“Love and Peace or Else”
Boy, Bono was all over the place early on in this CD. Here a solid, sinewy rocker is wasted on his vapid lyrics. The millennia-long conflict in the Middle East is just a bit too complicated for a five-minute rock song.
2 STARS

“City of Blinding Lights”
As opposed to “Miracle Drug,” this is epic U2 at its best, an absolute freight train of a song. The chorus, especially, is as roof-rocking as the band’s ever been. And as is the case throughout the album, Bono’s lyrics come much easier and more natural when he’s writing about his own experiences, rather than addressing global issues. “City of Blinding Lights” encapsulates the overall theme or the record, as here he refers back to the issues addressed first in “Vertigo” and again in “All Because of You,” with themes of lost ideals and innocence, his head distracting him from a heart open to God, and God striving to drag him back from the vortex of this world and return to a place of childlike faith. A tremendous song.
5 STARS

“All Because of You”
The second case on “Atomic Bomb” where a loose, easy rock song belies the intensity and insightfulness of the lyrics. This homage to The Who packs a spiritual punch equal to a Pete Townshend guitar squall, as Bono continues his career-long conversation with the Almighty. Go back and read the words; they’re really quite brilliant, right down to the “I am” line, which could be either Bono addressing the great “I Am,” or saying “I am” what I am thanks to you, Lord. After all this global icon and has seen and done, “All Because of You” serves as a powerful reaffirmation of his faith—again, hidden inside a blistering “throwaway” rock and roll song.
5 STARS

“A Man and a Woman”
Certainly the most lyrically dense track on the album, this one’s a little tough to get my arms around. I interpret it as another reaffirmation from Bono, this time to his wife, promising he would never sacrifice the true love they share for the fleeting pleasures available to the world’s biggest rock star. A nice, mature change of pace leading into the second half of the record.
3.5 STARS

“Crumbs from Your Table”
One of The Edge’s best riffs of the album goes by the wayside here as Bono once again goes on the global warpath. I’ve always read this as Bono chastising America—or at least all wealthy nations—for not doing enough to help the poor. Save the preaching for the podium. Still, it’s really solid otherwise—Chiming Guitar Edge in fine form, familiar but not a rehash.
4 STARS

“One Step Closer”
If a track would’ve been trimmed off “Atomic Bomb,” this should have been the one. Not great, not bad, just rather blah on all fronts. How this surefire B-side made the cut and “Mercy” did not is beyond me.
2 STARS

“Original of the Species”
Now we’re talking. “Original of the Species” is the bright spot of the second half of “Atomic Bomb,” a beautiful, soaring, sweeping pop song about the wonders of parenthood. Bono returns to the themes of authenticity and truth, found first in “City of Blinding Lights,” as he speaks as a father to a child.
4.5 STARS

“Yahweh”
There’s a good song here, but it’s buried beneath layers of cheesy, ham-fisted production. The stripped-back acoustic version of this song U2 played on tour was far superior. A kneeling motif runs throughout “Atomic Bomb,” and though Bono doesn’t actually use the word here, this song is all about kneeling before God in prayer—“Take this heart/And make it break,” he says. Too bad the strong lyrics were robbed of their power in the studio.
2.5 STARS

***

One of the most interesting things I’ve discovered as part of my “Albums of the Aughts” project is that despite dominating much of my musical life for the past decade, U2 failed to record one of my 10 favorite albums in that span (that list is still coming, by the way!). Cull the best of “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” and you have a collection of tremendous songs that I cherish. But the band for whatever reason didn’t have enough umph to put together enough of those tracks on one release and deliver a truly classic album. Maybe that’s asking too much of a group of soon-to-be 50-somethings trying to hold their place at the top of a young man’s game.

That’s kinda the point, though, isn’t it? How many other bands at this stage in their respective careers are still relevant to the culture at large, to multiple generations, and expected to produce classic albums? The fact that U2 remains essential pop culture today is as impressive as anything they’ve ever done. Only a few bands in the history of rock and roll have been able to produce a record of the quality of “The Joshua Tree”; even fewer have followed it up with something like “Achtung Baby.” If U2’s output from this decade hasn't quite reached those peaks, I can live with that. They’ve done more than enough to make us believe—or hope, anyway—that maybe they can find that magic again with “No Line on the Horizon.”

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’

The most curious thing to me about “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is why it’s getting so much praise.

This is the type of movie that will make you think about it afterwards, but in all the wrong ways; the more you ponder it, the more it falls apart. Credit that nifty trick to screenwriter Eric Roth, who plagiarizes his own Oscar-winning material by essentially re-presenting “Forrest Gump” in a slightly different—and much lesser—format.

By now you’ve all heard in broad strokes what this film is about: Brad Pitt plays the title character, who is born with the characteristics of an old man (wrinkled skin, arthritis, etc.) while still a baby; his body ages in reverse as he grows, well, older. The story unfolds just like “Gump,” as we follow Benjamin through his life as a series of flashbacks told by a present-day narrator. Some of the experiences Benjamin encounters are straight out of Forrest’s box of chocolates:

—He’s raised by a single mother in a communal home
—He has trouble walking
—He falls in love with a girl when they’re just children, but she moves away to experience the world
—He hooks up with a surly older man who shows him the ropes while the two set out to sea on a boat; this includes his first sexual encounter (hello, Lt. Dan!)
—He becomes independently wealthy, through no real doing of his own
—And the woman he loved as a child comes back to him later in life—for awhile, anyway

I think I could even live with all this heavy Gump-lifting, but unfortunately the one element “Button” doesn’t borrow from Forrest is his heart. What made “Forrest Gump” such a triumphant film was not just the way Roth and director Robert Zemeckis worked the title character into so many historical events, but how much we ended up loving the man, and how all of his life’s events led him to what ended up mattering to him the most: his son. The best, most memorable scene in “Gump,” to me, is right at the end, when Forrest talks to his dead wife, his dearest Jenny, about their son; there is no such moment in “Benjamin Button.”

The film provides a fascinating-at-times tale that ultimately leads nowhere, other than a waterfall of tears—the final half hour is so depressingly sad, it’s like Roth wasn’t satisfied until he had exhausted every last option for twisting the knife in your heart. It comes off as all the more manipulative, though, because unlike Gump, Button leaves no legacy behind, other than pain and heartache. I got to the end of this film and wondered, “What was the point of all that?”

What props this “Curious Case” up, of course, is the exceedingly fine production, direction, and acting on display throughout from every corner. Leads Pitt and Cate Blanchett are excellent, and director David Fincher delivers the kind of arresting scenes that have defined his career and made him one of my favorite filmmakers. It is certainly an impressive feat of technical wizadry to watch Pitt age in reverse. The talent infused in this movie from everyone but the writing staff turns a deadweight D+ script into a somewhat likable film with enough high points to garner a C+ … just as long as you don't try and think too much about it along the way.

The Future Is Now

William Gibson started writing about the present because he said reality has caught up with science fiction's future.

When I read the sentence "Mind-control games may be the coming thing" in the USA Today, I understand exactly what Gibson's talking about. That proclamation comes from this article about a Star Wars-themed toy due out this year that will allow you to use brain waves to manipulate a small ball—with your mind.

And then, elsewhere in the paper, there's this story about LG unveiling a video cell phone that you wear on your wrist.

I can't decide whether these developments are awesome or scary as all crap.

I don't want to live in William Gibson's future. Or, come to think of it, his present.

Albums of the Aughts: 2007

In case you couldn’t tell from this whole “Albums of the Aughts” thing, I’m an album guy. Always have been, even when albums turned into cassettes, and cassettes turned into CDs. I don’t cherry pick. If I hear a song I like, I don’t buy that song, I buy the album it’s on. If a song goes on my iPod, its surrounded by the songs the artist intended it to be surrounded by. A completist (which means I’m concerned about the death of the album, but that’s another story for another post on another day).

So that made things a little difficult looking back at 2007, which turned out for me to be a year marked more by individual songs than entire records. For some reason, there’s a whole batch of CDs here that have some incredible tracks—some of my favorites of the decade—but have some holes on their resumes, as well.

Consider Feist’s “The Reminder,” for example: It has several catchy numbers as good as you’ll find from this year, but the album’s last four songs blend into a big mush. Same thing happens with Ryan Adams’ “Easy Tiger” or the “Once” soundtrack: Amazing high points, but too many skippable tracks to be considered favorite albums on the whole. The Arcade Fire produced two of my all-time favorite songs in 2007, “Keep the Car Running” and “No Cars Go,” but I don’t feel the need to listen to the rest of “Neon Bible” all that much anymore the way I do their 2004 debut, “Funeral.”

So, the list of honorable mentions this time around is especially potent; I can’t believe some of the artists relegated to such status from this year, but I just can’t justify picking one over the others when they all suffer from the same problem. Knocking those potential slot-fillers out of the running leaves me with just eight favorite albums from 2007 …

“Sink or Swim,” The Gaslight Anthem
Labeling “Sink or Swim” a “great debut” is probably the understatement of the decade. It’s a punk classic for this millennium, as the New Jersey quartet channels Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, and R&B and soul legends of the ’60s through the filter of modern-day punk rock. Though the band would refine their sound to great effect the following year, “Sink or Swim” still stands as one of my favorite albums of the decade, an effort of near perfection from a band who made it readily apparent they were destined for greatness.
Favorite Track: “We Came to Dance”
[original review]

“Because of the Times,” Kings of Leon
“Knocked Up,” the first track on this, the Tennessee misfits’ third album, is seven minutes long. That right there is all the signal anyone ever needed that the Kings had turned a corner and weren’t looking back. Whether you like the new direction or not I guess depends on whether you like your bands to stay in the same frame for their entire careers or not; I prefer the latter, and “Because of the Times” is my favorite KOL album to date. The term “arena rock” has been turned into a pejorative over the years, due I guess to way too many imitators to the crown bands like U2 and Pearl Jam carry with ease. But the Kings effectively made the transition with this album, especially great shootin’-for-the-upper-deck tracks like “McFearless,” “Black Thumbnail,” and my …
Favorite Track: “Fans.”

“Boxer,” The National
It seems to me The National spent the aughts building to this dark masterpiece. Each of the band’s previous three albums took steps in “Boxer’s” direction, stretching their sound in new directions before unveiling in 2007 this sweeping, majestic, orchestral stunner. Frontman Matt Berninger has a rich, canyon-deep voice you can drown in, and his measured tones mix with Bryan Devendorf's melodic drumming to carry the album to melancholy perfection. This is an arresting effort you listen to with purpose (preferably on long drives through a dark night), and after pushing play on opening track “Fake Empire,” it’s basically impossible to find a place to stop. “Boxer” marked back-to-back albums produced by The National with nary a weak track; it flows perfectly from up- to down-tempo, electric to acoustic, as devastating with a whisper as it is with a bellow—all in a decidedly minor key.
Favorite Track: “Slow Show”

“Raising Sand,” Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
The biggest surprise of the decade? Gotta be. Seriously, whoulda thought the hedonistic former frontman of Led Zeppelin and bluegrass belle with the voice of an angel could find any common ground whatsoever, much less meld their voices together like they were born for one another? The results are simply, purely magnificent, however. Led by T. Bone Burnett, Plant and Krauss glide in and around one another over the course of these 13 tracks with a generosity that never pushes too hard or forces the issue—they just let the songs unfold naturally, easily, wonderfully. Listening to “Killing the Blues,” for example, it’s not hard to imagine the two of them looking across the studio at each other, saying as much with their eyes and ears as with their voices. When it’s all sung and done, “Raising Sand” just feels … right. It brought Krauss more attention than she’s ever had outside her home genre, and for Plant the album was a return to relevance he hasn’t had since John Bonham died nearly three decades ago. An instant classic—and, hopefully, the start of a long, long journey.
Favorite Track: “Please Read the Letter”
[original review]

“Into the Wild,” Eddie Vedder
This one took a long time to grow on me, requiring I just get over the fact it wasn’t the true solo album I was hoping for but, first and foremost, a movie soundtrack. I still wish several of the songs were given full-track treatment, but I’ve come to love the first four entries—“Setting Forth,” “No Ceiling,” “Far Behind,” and particularly “Rise”—kinda as one long song in four parts, like the rock operas Vedder loves so much. “Guaranteed,” meanwhile, took on new meaning for me seeing it performed live during EV’s two solo shows in D.C. in August. And the entire venture is worth it if nothing else than for my …
Favorite Track: the beautiful and stirring “Hard Sun,” one of Vedder’s best vocal performances.
[original review]

“Icky Thump,” The White Stripes
Jack White abandoned his unfortunate detour into marimbaland from two years earlier and returned to what he does best—melting faces—with this blood-boiling guitar manifesto. Opener “Icky Thump” is a call to arms on the six-string, and it’s followed by some of the heaviest rock-and-blues tracks the band’s recorded to date (“Bone Broke,” “Little Cream Soda,” “Catch Hell Blues”). But “Icky Thump” is more than just a return to the band’s original template. Elsewhere White taps his considerable influences to great effect on songs such as country-tinged stomper “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You’re Told),” the Irish folk tale “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn,” and the Flamenco-hammer of “Conquest.” This all culminates literally and figuratively with “Rag & Bone,” a call-and-response blues extravaganza recalling Jack and Meg’s more playful days that has the dynamic duo flaunting their ability to meld all these various pieces of musical history into a new tapestry for this millennium.
Favorite Track: “A Martyr for My Love for You”
[original review]

“Sky Blue Sky,” Wilco
With more than a year to reflect on Wilco’s most recent album, I’d best describe it as … solid. And, perhaps, a missed opportunity. That doesn’t sound like all that good a reason to be listed as a favorite album of the year, but such is the standard set by obviously one of my all-time favorite bands. There are plenty of songs to love on “Sky Blue Sky,” most notably the double shot of “You Are My Face” and “Impossible Germany.” What holds this record back, to my ears, is the confining production, which seems to dampen the sound and spirit of these tracks. It’s all a bit close for my taste, especially coming off the sonic palettes of the band’s previous two albums. Still, all that said, “Sky Blue Sky” is a good listen from start to finish, and that’s enough to push it above some of the other more scattershot albums of 2007. There’s something to be said for consistency.
Favorite Track: “You Are My Face”
[original review]

“Is Is,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rolling off the success of 2006’s tour de force “Show Your Bones,” this five-song EP may be even better than its predecessor. The YYYs followed the same template of complicated, menacingly ethereal songwriting, blistering their way through 17.5 minutes of some of the best angular rock and roll of the decade. And this release didn’t even include the trio’s tremendous contribution to the “Spider-Man 3” soundtrack, “Sealings,” which may have just been their best song of the year! The EP made a strong showing during the aughts; “Is Is” is a testament to the format’s ability to punch you in the gut and leave you desperately wanting more.
Favorite Track: “Down Boy”
[original review]

HONORABLE MENTIONS
“Easy Tiger,” Ryan Adams
“Follow the Lights” [EP], Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
“Neon Bible,” Arcade Fire
“Favourite Worst Nightmare,” Arctic Monkeys
“The Meanest of Times,” Dropkick Murphys
“The Reminder,” Feist
“Once” [soundtrack], Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
“Kala,” M.I.A.
“Magic,” Bruce Springsteen

Albums of the Aughts: 2006

By far and away, this was my favorite year of the decade for music—at least half the records on this list are all-time favorites. I could write a whole other post just from my honorable mentions! There were so many great CDs, in fact, I’ve broken my own rule and made this a top 11, instead of a top 10. I just can’t leave any of these treasures to the side …

“Decemberunderground,” AFI
This was the album A Fire Inside had been building to for 15 years: A pure masterpiece from start to finish. Though maintaining the band’s hardcore roots, “Decemberunderground” is an expansive, genre-bending work with mainstream appeal and punk cred that flows seamlessly from one essential track to the next. Two years later, it still seems as fresh and exciting as it did on the first spin.
Favorite Track: “Prelude 12/21”
[original review]

“The Gold Record,” The Bouncing Souls
Another instant and career-culminating classic, “The Gold Record” is the Souls’ most accomplished, mature, and well-crafted album of their career (which hits 20 years in 2009). It’s a unifying, uplifting celebration of the best that music has to offer to anyone—artist and audience alike. The album plays like a humble acknowledgment of how lucky they are to be doing what they’ve been doing for so long, and how grateful they are for the opportunity. They speak for me and so many others when they holler, “We wanna say thanks to the music in our lives.”
Favorite Tracks: “So Jersey,” “For All the Unheard”
[original review]

“The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me,” Brand New
What a journey Brand New took over this decade, going from the pop/punk frivolity of their 2001 debut “Your Favorite Weapon” to this churning barnburner of an album. With its ebbs and flows and segues, “Devil and God” is meant to be heard all in one piece, punctuated by multiple highlights including “Sowing Season,” “Millstone,” “The Archers Bows Have Broken,” and …
Favorite Track: “Jesus”
[original review]

“American V: A Hundred Highways,” Johnny Cash
Cash and producer Rick Rubin saved the best for last with this posthumous American Recordings release. Though the Man in Black’s voice quavers more than it thunders, his utter defiance in the face of imminent death bleeds all over this record. It’s downright heartbreaking in several spots (“On the Evening Train,” “Help Me”), absolutely thrilling in others. Essential tracks abound, such as the foreboding Springsteen cover “Further On Up the Road” and life-defining spiritual “I Came to Believe.” But the shining moment is the thundering …
Favorite Track: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”
[original review]

“St. Elsewhere,” Gnarls Barkley
Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo blew everyone’s minds with this, one of the landmark discs of the decade. It had twists and turns, moments of grandeur and little idiosyncrasies doled out in equal parts as it broke boundaries amongst genres and listeners alike. Sure everyone remembers smash crossover hit “Crazy,” but there was much more to this album than just one awesome track, like Violent Femmes cover “Gone Daddy Gone,” “Smiley Faces,” “Go-Go Gadget Gospel,” and my …
Favorite Track: “Just A Thought.”

“Ben Kweller,” Ben Kweller
The wunderkind once again sounds mature beyond his few years on this self-titled effort in which he embraces his inner Springsteen and, amazingly, plays every single instrument. Pop, rock, country, blues—it’s all here on the singer/songwriters best work yet. Everything comes together perfectly on his open-road masterwork, one of the best songs of the decade and my …
Favorite Track: “Penny on the Train Track”
[original review]

“Pearl Jam,” Pearl Jam
I’ve written so much about this album over the past couple years (here and here, especially), I don’t know what else can be said. “Pearl Jam” remains as vibrant for me today as the first time I heard it (though I’m backing off calling it my all-time favorite PJ album, I think). It remains their most cohesive work from end to end since “Ten,” and, much like U2’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” stands as an assimilation of some of the best pure rock and roll produced over the past two decades. This was a make-or-break album for the band; its success will hopefully propel them into further greatness in the years to come.
Favorite Track: “Life Wasted”
[original review]

“Carnavas,” Silversun Pickups
This L.A. quartet exploded onto the scene in 2006 with a blast of fuzzy guitars and swirling riffs. With not a single track clocking in under four minutes, “Carnavas” unspools in measured, patient waves, from grinding “Well Thought Out Twinkies” to lead single “Lazy Eye” to the massive “Little Lovers So Polite” to my …
Favorite Track: the sprawling “Rusted Wheel.”

“Eyes Open,” Snow Patrol
Here Snow Patrol finished the arena rock transition they started three years earlier, delivering one of the most enjoyable records of the decade. “Eyes Open” finds a perfect balance between straightahead rock and roll (“You’re All I Have,” “It’s Beginning to Get to Me”) and tender ballads (“Chasing Cars,” “You Could Be Happy”). So I guess it’s fitting I find I can’t possibly pick between the two categories when determining my …
Favorite Tracks: “Hands Open” and “Set the Fire to the Third Bar.”
[original review]

“We Shall Overcome,” Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen’s career has taken some wild turns over the past 35 years, but perhaps none was more unforeseen than this inspired set of folk songs for the new millennium. Springsteen filtered the classic yarns through his own rock and roll prism and arrived at one of my favorite records he’s ever produced. By directing his huge Seeger Sessions Band on the fly during rambunctious recording sessions, “We Shall Overcome” has a freewheeling, adventurous spirit Springsteen hadn’t managed to capture on a record in more than 20 years. The amazing results are alternately infectiously fun and deadly serious, from “Old Dan Tucker” and “John Henry” to “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” and my …
Favorite Track: “Mrs. McGrath.”
[original review—sorta]

“Show Your Bones,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs
In just one record, the New York trio transitioned from its thrashy, trashy garage rock roots into a full-fledged sonic extravaganza. The upgrade in songcraft is clear right from the outset with powerhouse lead track “Gold Lion.” Lead singer Karen O rightfully receives much of the attention for her dynamic, charismatic vocal power and prowess, but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are equally fueled by the guitar wizardry of Nick Zinner; it was the latter’s shredding on tracks like “Phenomena,” “Fancy,” “Cheated Hearts,” and “Mysteries” that put the band on a new plane and turned “Show Your Bones” into an album of the decade.
Favorite Track: “Gold Lion”
[original review]


HONORABLE MENTIONS
“Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” Arctic Monkeys
“B’Day,” Beyonce
“Modern Times,” Bob Dylan
“Whiskey on a Sunday,” Flogging Molly
"Another Fine Day," Golden Smog
“Boys and Girls in America,” The Hold Steady
“Inside In/Inside Out,” Kooks
“Idlewild,” Outkast
“Highway Companion,” Tom Petty
“Broken Boy Soldiers,” The Raconteurs
“Return to Cookie Mountain,” TV on the Radio