|
Jason Thompson:
December, 2000
Well, it's that holiday time of the season once again. The
Halloween crap came down and the Christmas music began immediately.
Thank God I don't do most of my shopping at the mall, where
the old familiar and irritating holiday tunes blast forth
from every storefront. I have plenty of holiday cheer; I just
don't like my tunes pre-selected for me everywhere I go. And
honestly, I don't need to hear "all new" renditions of Christmas
classics by a bevy of divas or neo-yuppie VH1 stars yet again.
I just suddenly had this flashback of being in elementary
school and having our yearly classroom Christmas parties.
One year a kid brought the Chipmunks' Christmas album in,
which we all dug pretty much. Then there was that other time
this gal brought a Conway Twitty Christmas LP to school entitled
Merry Twistmas because it featured a Tweety Bird clone known
as "Twitty Bird". Scary. Absolutely scary.
Knowing what you want for Christmas seems to get harder for
me every year. I just turned 28 in November and I couldn't
even think of what I wanted for my birthday. Well, there are
two things that remain relatively constant, I suppose. I'd
like to eventually get my novel finished, which of course
rests mainly on me. Secondly, I want some magical musical
god to rip forth from some wormhole in the universe and bestow
upon me a workable recording contract and a decent outlet
from which I can sell my tunes. Having tried this online a
couple years ago proved fruitless. You really do need a label
backing you for maximum effect, I do believe. You see, boys
and girls, I have all these tapes and discs of all these songs
- a veritable treasure trove of pop rock fun that only the
very few have heard. Well, I suppose I could at least ask
Santa for another pipe for my pipe dream.
Anyway,
apart from that it's been a swell year. Although I must say
I had a bit of a difficult time coming up with my Top 10 Albums
of 2000 list. I'm not as much into the indie scene as I used
to be, and I'm constantly listening to the Old Favorites from
decades past on a daily basis, so there isn't a whole lot
of "new" music that often comes my way. I won't sit here and
rehash the fact that these boy groups have got to go and that
someone like Nick Lowe needs to release a Jesus Of Cool Part
2 upon the world to shake it up a bit. Actually, I have found
a little solace in some of these power rock bands that have
become the soundtracks to various video games like Tony Hawk's
Pro Skater 2 (yes, I'm an avid gamer and what I'd really like
for Christmas is a Playstation 2, but I figure my chances
of getting a recording contract are way better at the moment).
Laugh if you like, but the rock nuggets that some of these
bands such as Lagwagon and Millencolin crank out on these
soundtracks are pretty damn good. It definitely beats out
95% of what gets played on the radio anymore (The "radio"?
What's that?).
Biggest musical letdown for me this year was Steely Dan and
their Two Against Nature comeback album. I really had high
hopes for it after reading the pre-release press, but realized
after only the second listen that it was pretty much the sequel
to Gaucho (yawn). After that, I even made the mistake of purchasing
the damn live representation of it on DVD. Someone tell Donald
Fagen to lose the annoying background singers and put forth
some vocal effort like he used to. Sorry, Donald but it seems
like your creative peak crested with the fabulous Nightfly
LP way back in '82. Another thing I'm wondering about is Billy
Joel's so-called retirement. Is he gonna quit doing his brand
of rock or not? Not that he's thrilled me solidly with anything
since An Innocent Man, but it seems like the guy is hedging
on his "new career" as a "classical" composer. Billy, take
some advice: It didn't really work for Paul McCartney or Joe
Jackson so well (remember Joe's insipid Will Power album?)
and I doubt anyone still clamoring to hear "Only The Good
Die Young" and "Big Shot" will really be warming to variations
on your strictly instrumental style that you used to sprinkle
across your earliest albums ("Nocturne" from Cold Spring Harbor
for example). But as you yourself would sing, you may be right
and I may be ...oh, nevermind.
I won't even bother to mention this year's Presidential Election.
Hopefully by the time this issue of Fufkin goes live, we'll
have someone up there, though at this point I couldn't care
less. The damage has been done to both candidates, and if
I had my druthers, Soupy Sales would have been Prez. As far
as any resolutions for the coming new year goes, I have none
as usual. Except maybe to score that contract and get a Playstation
2. Oh and finally "win" that million dollars from Publisher's
Clearing House that I have been meaning to do ever since I
was old enough to partake in the contest. Aside from that,
I can only hope that the music gets better and someone out
there turn the tables around for fans like us who enjoy real
tunage. So until next month, dear readers, have a safe and
happy holiday season and may you receive at least forty percent
of everything you asked for (but please, don't bother sending
the fruit cakes to me).
______________________________________________
Jason
Thompson's Reviews: December, 2000
Jason
Thompson's Reviews: November, 2000
E-mail
Jason
______________________________________________
|
