Greatness Trumpeted From the Heavens

Last Friday evening, my brother and I made an outing to our local Target so I could purchase some new CD's (I don't like downloading; it destroys the work and the effect of the album. That's right; album, not a collected group of singles to be bought on a whim because you heard the song in the new Gossip Girl episode.). The ones I wound up purchasing were Neko Case's Middle Cyclone and M. Ward's Hold Time. I am going to review them in the space below and it will be my first crack in reviewing things. In the future expect music, movie and book reviews. The "stars" that most reviewers use are replaced by asterisks. *****= Awesome; ****= Great; ***= Pretty good, I guess...; **= Not so great; *= Don't bother picking it up

Neko Case Middle Cyclone-****1/2

Case's last album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was one of the strangest albums I had ever heard when I bought it last year on a bit of a whim. It was a departure from previous albums, abandoning all semblance of "pop" song structure in favor of a freewheeling Americana patchwork that resembled nothing in it's structure and flow. She still retains some of that here on Middle Cyclone, her latest release on ANTI- Records, but the summery pop seems to be coming back into play, a little at a time. Case seems to be treating the "pop" song much like a person whose pet runs away and comes back months later; of course she's happy to see the scruffy thing, but she's somewhat wary as it could flip out and bite back at any sudden move to welcome it home. You can see it especially in "This Tornado Loves You", "People Got A Lot of Nerve", "Red Tide" and the two covers represented here, "Never turn Your Back On Mother Earth" and Harry Nilsson's haunting "Don't Forget Me". All the catchiness and hooks are there, but something's still a little off. Not that that's a bad thing. It's the idiosyncrasies of this album that keeps me glued to my stereo.
As usual, the instrumentation on all of Case's albums are incredible, but this one especially so. Some familiar players fill the ranks, such as past collaborator Paul Rigby, singer Kelly Hogan and ex-the Band member Garth Hudson on the keys, but some new surprises are in store, such as guest appearances from M. Ward on guitar, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on the saxophone and Lucy Wainwright Roche who helps sing back up and also helps create such beautiful harmonies that would make the likes of Brian Wilson blush.
All in all, this album is one of the best I've heard in a while, but it does lack some of the immediacy and epic-ness of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Some of this feels a little like reheated B-sides from that album, although, I'll take Neko's leftovers over some people's new material any day.


M. Ward Hold Time- *****

I can sum up M. Ward's new album in one word; astonishing. It's like while producing and quietly collaborating with Zooey Deschanel on their equally astonishing album last year, he was secretly bottling up his best stuff to serve at a later date. One over-used bit of praise bestowed upon Ward is the adjective "timeless". True, some of Ward's songs could have been sung by the likes of Leadbelly or Hank Williams, and, equally true, his voice sounds like the ghost of a long-lost dust bowl era crooner, but Ward is a modern singer living in a modern world and is perfectly capable of adapting and expanding (Are those keyboards I hear on "To Save Me" and "Stars of Leo"?).
As every song on this CD is awesome, as all songs on albums should be, let's take a short peek at all of them.

1. For Beginners- A nice, laid-back way to start an album. This song doesn't explode out of the speakers, but that's only because it's setting you up for later. Let Ward's Beatles-esque rhythm guitar line take you away, while he seamlessly delivers knockout lyrics about the original sinners and how we all seem so innocent when we first start off in life.
2. Never Had Nobody Like You- A barn-burning collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, the raven haired beauty seen in film's like Elf and The Happening, who turned to Ward last year for help on releasing songs that she had written herself and eventually germinated into the She & Him project Volume 1, which received many accolades from indie press. This song is about a love gone right and sounds like a summer pop song out of the mid-60's. Hats off to Zooey for the totally groovy backup vocals. "Yeah, Yeah" indeed.
3. Jailbird- Another laid back ditty about a jailbird, i.e. some guy who got locked up and who regrets the decisions made in his life.
4. Hold Time- The emotional centerpiece of the album, including gorgeous strings, arranged by Ward himself. The vocals are somewhat meandering, but the sadness behind his words comes through just fine.
5. Rave On- An amazing cover of the Buddy Holly tune, again including Zooey Deschanel on backup vocals. Ward claims he tried to envision this song if British folkie John Fahey had covered it. I have unfortunately not heard John Fahey's music, but if this is anything at all what he sounds like, I want all of his albums, like right now. Kicked off by the coolest acoustic blues lick I may have ever heard and kudos again to Deschanel for the heavenly vocals.
6. To Save Me- This weird number could have been a huge hit in the 70's. What with the righteous piano, the doo-doo-doo back up vocals provided by Granddaddy frontman Jason Lytle and the trippy keyboard riffs, this could have been on a Yes album.
7. One Hundred Million Years- This song could have been a Carter Family traditional. You could mistake it for a cover easily, but that's what is so cool about Ward; his old soul combined with modern tastes for the strange and idiosyncratic.
8. Stars of Leo- A psychedelic downer, if that's possible. For some reason, this song, lyrically, reminds me of "Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan. I always think of someone totally down on their luck, like Dylan's junkie in "Tambourine Man", when listening to this song.
9. Fisher of Men- A boom-chicka-booming song that reminds me of early Johnny Cash on Sun Records. This version sounds something like what would happen if Cash sang this song with Superchunk as his backing band. Truly inspired lead guitar lines and lyrics about a predatory fellow who is a relationship destroyer fishing for real human beings.
10. Oh Lonesome Me- A Don Gibson cover and a duet with alt-country goddess Lucinda Williams. No greater wallflower anthem will ever be written.
11. Epistemology- A grand offering to some woman of Ward's dreams. This song could easily be covered by Bruce Springsteen. It sounds just as good as anything from Born to Run.
12. Blake's View- A lament for someone who has lost someone. Comforting not only lyrically, but sonically with Ward's hushed acoustic as accompaniment.
13. Shangri-La- A cool folkie song about a far off place just within reach. Sounds even better when juxtaposed against the previous song, all about death. This song seems like a celebration of life.
14. Outro (I'm A Fool To Want You)- On the CD package, this song is listed only as "Outro", but on the inside of the album booklet you find out it's an instrumental version of the Frank Sinatra tune "I'm A Fool To Want You". It's a sage pick and an excellent album closer.

Sorry, that wasn't so short. But what do you expect? Greatness like Ward's must be trumpeted from the heavens. Let's all join Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes in making M. Ward our next president! Let his economic policy be as grand as Hold Time!!!

The Final Frontier?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I, Noah Vance, am an avid fan of the television series Star Trek and all of it's subsequent machinations (Star Trek: the Animated Series, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise). On the bottom of the page is a preview for the new film coming out May 8th (only 50 days left!) which I have been feverishly anticipating for the past year since reading a rumor about it in a TV Guide. I want to establish that I am an uber-fan before I say what I am about to say; the Star Trek world of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th centuries are based on what I would label a socialist or even communist society, and some of it is somewhat dangerous to Christianity and world religion as a whole. Take a second to let that sink in. A beloved television show that most people have seen episodes of is generally based in socialist thinking. Of course, when Gene Roddenberry envisioned this future time period when all would be equal, where there would be no disease, no war, I know that he did not try to create a communist television show. All he was trying to do was depict a utopian future well within humanity's grasp, but nonetheless, when you take a look at what these people of the future are actually doing, you can get that distinct impression.
I have several sub-points here to help people understand what parts of Trek are socialist in definition.

1. In the world of Star Trek, there is no monetary currency on Earth.

In the Star Trek film, First Contact, Captain Jean-Luc Picard tries to explain future living conditions to a woman from the late 21st century brought onto the ship during a medical emergency. He explains that the Earth of the future does not run on money, but rather the need to do good for the collective society and for onesself. The order of the day is brotherhood, and the furtherment of mankind as a whole. Earth generally has no economy although human members of Starfleet often use Federation currency, called credits, on items when away from Earth (by the late 22nd century Earth is apart of the Federation of Planets, a sprawling political field spreading throughout a quarter of our galaxy that includes hundreds of other species, some even similar to humans. Starfleet is the extension of this government and is the primary military and exploratory group in the Federation. They are very similar to Earth's Navy). Although this sounds good for a TV show or film, the ideas being expressed here are basically socialist.

2. In the world of Star Trek, at one point the entire world came under one government.

After World War III (a bloody war that took place in the mid-21st century that left Earth an irradiated wasteland until Zefram Cochrane made the first warp capable craft at Bozeman, Montana and subsequently drove the Vulcans to make First Contact with humanity), the entire world united under the United Earth government, an action spurred on by First Contact with the Vulcans. The last nation to be involved was Australia, who preferred to remain independent, but eventually gave in to the United Earth regime. Although this sounds externally like a good thing, if you look at this policy in real life, it looks like a totalitarian state.

3. In the world of Star Trek, religion ceases to exist at some point.

In Star Trek: Enterprise, religion does still exist (Dr. Phlox, a Denobulan, states that he attended a Catholic mass and meditated with several Buddhist monks while on Earth) and perhaps it still exists in the Original Series, set 100 years after Enterprise, but by the time we get to the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, which are set 100 years after the Original Series, many of these scientifically minded people of the 23rd century state that religion was nothing but foolish myths left behind long ago in favor of scientific advancement. This is one of the more dangerous ideas posed by Star Trek, but it can be related to the fact that Roddenberry himself was a humanist who didn't adhere to any particular religious beliefs. His view was that humanity is basically good and that we have the potential to do great things without God, so his characters reflected this attitude, and we should expect this from a non-believer (believe it or not, non-Christians act like non-Christians. Some folks have a hard time with this). Roddenberry didn't tackle this issue as much as in the Original Series, but the writers for the others went to town with this subject. In what I've seen of the world, science and religion don't butt heads as much as people think they do. I would like to quote Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Professor Travis Kerns; "Science and religion don't disagree as much as we think. It's the scientists and the Christians who have the problems."

In our current political situation, many right-wing politicians cried "socialist" when Barack Obama stated he wanted to "spread the wealth around". This is a socialist idea by definition. The definition of socialism, as defined by the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary is "a political system of communal ownership". "Spreading the wealth around" is a form of communal ownership, but Mr. Obama does not believe this way. President Obama has the same facile grip of an idea of a society where we all help one another and there is a communal sense of unity, as Gene Roddenberry did. The point is, it was OK for Mr. Roddenberry to have these ideas. They didn't have to be perfect politically. All his ideas were designed to do was inspire hope and they caused people to innovate new things in technology. Star Trek inspired the cell phone, the personal computer, even the iPod. What's dangerous is when politicians promise to meet these lofty heights when the ideas themselves, when put into real context, are really not optimum for a functioning government. Recently Zachary Quinto, the actor playing the past version of Spock in the new Trek movie, said that if Barack Obama was president when this movie came out, that it would be wonderful because people could actually hope to live in the future of Star Trek. He may be right, but, is this world, minus the neat-o spaceships, transporters and exploration, really a world we want to live in? Just a thought.

So, even though Star Trek is merely a TV show (I am, and always shall be a huge fan), some of the ideas put forth may not be so workable in a real socio-political environment. As always feel free to give me any comments. This blog is not set up for me to merely rant, but also for me to learn from others. That's one of the great things about the Internet... which was also inspired by Star Trek.

Live Long and Prosper,

Noah

My New Blog

Hello friends, family, neighbors and whoever else is on my blog! I have finally got a blog of my own to share my thoughts about anything and everything. Your excitement is so palpable I can feel it right now as you are reading this, wherever I might be. So I'm fairly excited about all this, being transported to 21st century and all. I have actually wanted to set up a blog for some time now, but what spurred me to do it was two speakers I heard at a conference I went on with my youth group from church last weekend. Everything about this conference was educational, edifying, and mind-opening... besides the aforementioned speakers. All the other speakers (the likes of Albert Mohler and several professors at the seminary no less) were wonderful, but I couldn't stand these two other guys. I will not name names, but some people reading this blog will know exactly who I'm talking about.
What they where trying to convey is that teenagers today don't have high enough expectations set down by the society as a whole, which I totally agree with, but they did it in a way that I felt was totally patronizing. These fellows speak to teenagers about how they want to abolish the "teen" culture (which is the culture that tells teens to get out all your wild, reckless abandon now before you're all old, and you can do that by buying our product) yet these two thrive within the "teen" culture itself! They need the "teen" culture to function! The only thing I got out of their spiel was how they started a blog when they were younger and achieved nationwide fame for their ideas. I was like, "The world thinks these cats have some cool ideas? I got way cooler ideas..." and so, this was the impetus that drove me here to my keyboard to get down all my thoughts. I will post pretty often, and from now on, I promise to be less rambling and to have real, well thought out topics. This was a test run (pretty good though, right?).