Posts tagged ‘meview’

Ninety-Nine and A Half (Will Do)…

Had some feedback the “Less Than 50″ from some friends. They confirmed what I was thinking…49 words won’t do.

I attempted to write an album review in fifty words or less.  I didn’t get but four sentences into it until I ran out of road to drive. I think that for the time being that I am going to expand the Less Than 50 to the Less Than 100.  I don’t just want to talk shop on the goods and bads, I want to be able to tell a story and give an (my) angle.  Reviews are nothing more than weather reports anyhow.  Can we get rid  the word review when it comes to records? Maybe we should call it the me-view. I like that.  The album meview.  It is a subjective exercise already. 

Ok then…the meview.  I stil think I need more than fifty words to give the style of meview that I want to give.  For the time being I am going to double it: Less than 100.  I’m a fool for cheeky names and I’m not sold on the Less than 100.  I’m going use one of Wilson Pickett’s chart toppers as the lead in for my meviews: Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do).  (This song was wrtten by the Wicked Pickett himself, with Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd and can be found on the “Exciting Wilson Pickett” album).  I’ll alter it a bit and call it the “99 and a Half”.

_____

The other day I trotted out the Less Than 50 and showcased Neil Young’s most recent, “Fork in the Road”.  Let’s give ‘ it the Ol’ 99 and a Half treatment:

Neil is exercising some freeway existentialism on
“FITR”.  Neil seems to think the US is in a state of economic and
self-awareness chaos. He’s just taking us on a long drive to try and
make sense of it all.  Car themes aside, this album is about choices,
walking the talk and filled with rough riffs and sincere, wobbly
melodies. The music doesn’t meet the mystique…and that’s ok.  He
didn’t have to work hard to make these songs, but it feels like he had
fun doing so. Like any great roadtrip, its the ride, not the road that
matters.

Choice Songs: Fork in the Road, Off the Road, Just Singing a Song, Light a Candle.

Choice Words: “It’s all about my girl. It’s all about my dream and my machine. It’s all about my world”

Less Than 50

I am not as good a writer as I would like to be.  The only way to get
better is to practise.  Did you know that Hunter S. Thompson used to
retype entire works of the likes of Hemingway?  He did it, he said, just to get the feel, the  flow of what it would be like to write like that. I don't intend to retype "F&L in Vegas" but I do need to practise more often. 

To
keep the practise purposeful and engaging, I have come up with an idea
that we can all benefit from. I am going to start a new piece: "Less
Than 50".  I am going to attempt to write album reviews in less than 50
words.  I'm sick with a fever for listening and learning about music,
particularly Blues and all of its derivatives. In fact, here is my
Music Manifesto statement and how I classify music:

I do
not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records.  I
believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music
makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links
them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth. 
Everything else is a product of the record labels.

The Expereinces: Blues, Country, Gospel  (The Trinity of Music Truth…it all comes from here)
The Derivatives:
Folk, Rock & Roll, Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Cosmic American Music
(nod to GP), Reggae, Singer-Songwriter, Jazz, World (relatively
speaking)
The Transcendents: Originators, DNA, All One Song (ode to Neil), Innovators

Back to the Less Than 50. 
I figure that by writing about music will help me stay focused and
interested.  Writing reviews in less than fifty words will allow me to
work on the brevity of my messages…both written and verbal. It is good to keep honing these skills.  Communication is King and those that do it well, in all its forms, rule.

I have almost 1,400 albums in my collection ; I will not be short of material.

First up on the Less than 50: Neil Young, "Fork in the Road"

Neil is exercising some freeway existentialism on
"FITR".  Neil seems to think the US is in a state of economic and
self-awareness chaos. He's just taking us on a long drive to try and
make sense of it all.  Car themes aside, this album is about choices.
___

OK, that right there is 48 words.  I really don't think
anyone can get a good idea about the sound of the album from what I
wrote. Less than fifty may not be enough…especially if I take a
narrative approach.  I either have to change my approach to be less narrative and more rat-tat-tat, or change the amount of words. Let's
chalk that first one up to "learning the game" (Buddy Holly reference
alert!).  Bring on the comments…as many words as you like.