Donald Harington died over the weekend. Harington was an amazing novelist and a professor of art at the University of Arkansas. He was also a really cool guy, as many of his students at the U of A will attest to. If I had to recommend one of his books to those unfamiliar with his work, I’d urge you to start with The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. You won’t be disappointed.
You can view the U of A’s press release here and the New York Times Obituary here.
I’ve been a huge fan of Russellville band Deas Vail since discovering them nearly 2 years ago. The best way to describe them would be this: indie pop-infused rock with soaring and haunting melodies sung by one of the best vocalists in rock. Having seen them three times in concert, I can say that they’re far better live than most bands are in the studio with the benefit of editing, autotune, etc.
As of August 27, their new album “Birds and Cages” is available on Amazon, or Itunes, or through their new record label Mono vs. Stereo (for only $7.00!).
I have to admit, even as much as I loved their first album “All The Houses Look the Same,” I was a little bit nervous last year when they announced that they were recording both a 5-song EP (”White Lights“) and a full-length album, all at the same time. I wondered if maybe they would be stretched too thin.
Boy was I ever wrong. To my ears, it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever bought, let alone in 2009. If anything, they’ve taken their music to a new level. Wes Blaylock (the lead singer) is just as jaw-dropping with his soaring vocal pyrotechnics, and his wife Laura (keyboardist) is featured more often in some quite lovely vocal duos. Andy Moore (guitar) is constantly pushing the envelope with different sounds and effects.
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The tunes are just as full of earworms (i.e., melodic hooks that you can’t get out of your head) as ever, but the music is often adventurous and arresting. “Sunlight” has a progressive rock sound that is hard to place in a single key. The intro to “The Great Physician” has a really nice chord progression that is far different from your traditional I-IV-V. The verses in “Atlantis” are in 5/4 time. “Puzzles and Pieces” is just beautiful — I could easily hear this song featured in one of the many television shows that run out the clock by playing a poignant song while the various characters look pensive.
As another reviewer put it, “Deas Vail is one of the few bands who can take pop/rock music and force the listener to apply ‘beautiful’ to it as an adjective.” If that sounds appealing to you, “Birds and Cages” should be on your purchase list.
Here is the October edition of Reason.tv’sNanny of the Month. And in case you missed it, you can also check out September’s winner in the second video. We’ll post future editions as they are released.
Tonight at 9 p.m. CST on PBS, viewers can catch the national debut of The Buffalo Flows. The Buffalo Flows is a film about the Buffalo River written and produced by local UA professor Larry Foley, with photography by Trey Marley, editing by Dale Carpenter, and narration by Ray McKinnon. It also features music by the UA’s James Greeson. The film recently won 2 emmy awards. Here is a clip that features some of the original music and some beautiful pictures of the Buffalo River.
Northwest Arkansas fans of guitars and good music will finally get a chance this weekend to see the new guitar-based documentary “It Might Get Loud.” From Rotten Tomatoes:
Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts.
Alas, the movie is only playing at Fiesta Square in Northwest Arkansas, but I did call them and confirm that they are playing it on one of their larger screens. And, sorry Stuart, as far as I know George Michael is not in this movie.
And, speaking of movies, anyone watching television last night was rocked off their couch by the newest trailer for 2012. While it doesn’t look like a great movie, the special effects promise that this one will be loud as well. Yikes!
Fall is upon us and football season is here. All is right with the world. But there remains one pesky loose end which eats at the Razorback nation. Our beloved former starting quarterback Matt Jones still has not signed with an NFL team. How could this be? He has all the physical skills of an NFL player; at 6-6 and 203lb he can run a sub 4.4sec 40yd dash and has a vertical of nearly 40in.
Matt, who was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 1st round pick in 2005, has had his share of problems since leaving the Razorbacks. He was arrested in Fayetteville last year with a small amount of cocaine and he hasn’t exactly gotten along with the Jaguars’ coaches. Jones has a very laid back demeanor that can sometimes be (and often is) misinterpreted as apathy. But this kid can play. Matt Jones ran the wildcat at Arkansas before the formation became the staple it is today. Here at Mid-Riffs we have decided to take a stand on this issue. We are calling on Jerry Jones to do the right thing and sign Matt Jones. Here is our reasoning:
Matt Jones is a Razorback and good at football
Dallas needs a receiver
Matt Jones is cheap and available
This plan has the added advantage of collecting all of the Arkansas Joneses (Jerry, Felix, and Matt) in one place. We believe this would create a triumvirate of Hogtastic Jonesiness in the Big D which could dominate the NFL from for years to come.
Jerry, you have taken a risk on Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson, and who can forget T.O. Why not make a bet on Matt Jones? If not for your own sake, do it for Razorback fans everywhere.
Oklahoma’s Flaming Lips made an appearance on The Colbert Report last night. Stephen grilled Wayne Coyne about the fact that Oklahoma governor Brad Henry made the band’s song “Do You Realize” the Official Rock Song of Oklahoma, despite it’s “questionable” lyrics. Wayne Coyne does a good job of defending the song’s message. I wonder what would make a good Official Rock Rock Song of Arkansas….
Anyone who has an iPhone should immediately drop whatever they are doing and download this app. Anyone who is anyone has already downloaded it. Get with the program before you get left behind.
Here at Mid-Riffs we don’t like to be all serious all the time. Occasionally (probably on Fridays, but obviously not without exception) we’ll lighten up on all the ranting and the riffing and the general expressions of outrage so that we can focus on unearthing the truth on more fun topics. This is one of those posts.
You probably heard a news story or two recently about the newly remastered versions of all the original Beatles albums. Fans of good music can now shell out lots of money for The Beatles Stereo Box Set (~$180) and The Beatles Mono Box Set (~$230); both of which are the result of a reported four year project to bring the Beatles into the 21st Century. The last major overhaul was in 1987–you know, forever ago.
Always a competent wordsmith, Philip Martin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an excellent review on Sunday, and his opening paragraphs are worth reprinting here:
To begin to talk about the Beatles is to begin to talk about water, so pertinent, pervasive and invisible is their influence. You can ignore the Beatles, and it is a simple thing to forget about them, but to say that you don’t like them makes no sense. You don’t like water? You are water, amigo.
Or maybe not. There certainly are people who profess to not like the Beatles, although we shouldn’t pretend that those contrarian impulses are any more important than they are. The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – are monumental, essential to anyone’s understanding of the second half of the 20th century. For better or worse they changed the meaning of pop music; they have transcended taste.
Got that? Water. Still, there’s always a few naysayers out there who just enjoy being called crazy. I actually have a friend who tries to argue that the Stones were better. Insane, right? Believe me, everyone feels sorry for him. Those of us in the know can still disagree over who was the best Beatle (John) or who was the best ex-Beatle (George of course), but if you can’t admit that they are the best rock and roll band ever, you’re living in a fantasy.
The release of the remastered albums also has smart people arguing over which versions are better, the stereo or the mono versions (when appropriate). Would-be purists claim that the recordings that were originally released in mono should remain that way, claiming that mono is the way they were meant to be heard. I disagree. The level of technology at the time required mono recordings. It wasn’t a purposeful choice, just a matter of circumstance.
I would argue that the goal should be to try, as best as possible, to make the recordings sound like the Beatles are in my living room, playing a show for me. What could be a more “true” way to hear the Beatles? And since my living room is three-dimensional, and the laws of physics would prevent the fab four from occupying the same space at the same time, I think the stereo versions must come closer to sounding like the Beatles are in my living room.
With that settled, the question still remains: How much better are the remastered versions? After giving them a semi-thorough listen, I can tell you–not that much. But if they were drastically different, that would be a bad thing, right? You don’t want to mess too much with some of the most widely known and successful songs in history. To attempt to put it in words, the remastered songs have a broader range and they sound a bit clearer. Paul’s bass sounds much tighter on some songs. The vocals sound generally smoother. The stereo mixes are balanced better.
That said, there is something to be said for the “older” sounding original versions. The overall familiarity of the original tracks—with all of the mud, hisses, and pops—have a warm and comforting nostalgic quality. They are the versions we’re all used to. They are a part of history. We’re used to hearing the Beatles sound like they were recorded forty years ago the same way we’re used to thinking about the pre-1930s world in black and white.
So last night I listened to the old versions and the remastered versions for quite a while and made a lot of comparisons, and honestly most of the time I could hardly tell a difference. Below I have selected a few tracks where I found the differences to be most obvious. If you can’t hear the differences on these, then you probably don’t need to update your collection anytime soon. I can tell you that if don’t play these loud, preferably with headphones, you won’t hear any difference at all.
All of these are just clips, which will frustrate you but keep me out of trouble.
Here’s “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” which sounds cleaner and smoother in the remastered version.
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away – Before
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away – After
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The remastered version of “Girl” is an obvious improvement. The big winners here are the bass and vocals.
Girl – Before
Girl – After
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I’ve always really liked the Harrison track “Long Long Long” from the White Album. Don’t know it? I don’t think many people do, and part of the reason is that the mix on the original was so muted that it hardly asks to be noticed. The remastered version is much clearer and gets closer to the overall sound this song always deserved.
Long Long Long - Before
Long Long Long – After
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And, last but not least, listen to the bass and overall clarity on the remastered “Lovely Rita.” The remastered version really just jumps off the page. If you can’t hear the difference on this one, or if you don’t like the new version, then rushing out to buy the remasters does not need to be at the top of your to-do list:
Lovely Rita – Before
Lovely Rita - After
If you can’t hear much of a difference, maybe you should just grab The Beatles Rock Band for the kids. I can tell you from experience that it’s pretty awesome when your five year old runs around the house singing A Hard Day’s Night over and over.
Donald Harington died over the weekend. Harington was an amazing novelist and a professor of art at the University of Arkansas. He was also a really cool guy, as many of his students at the U of A will attest to. If I had to recommend one of his books to those unfamiliar with his work, I’d urge you to start with The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. You won’t be disappointed.
