The xylophone on “Gone Daddy Gone” is actually played by Brian Ritchie, the bass player.
I remember seeing violent femmes videos in which the drummer seemed to be playing an upside down tin bucket. Much as I’d like to believe this was actually what I thought it was, I suppose it might have been some kind of drum.
I think the vastly reduced drum kit was in line with the band’s choice of musical style, which was, I believe, highly skiffle influenced.
“Sweet Child of Mine” is one of the all-time greats. I also like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” quite a lot. But I can barely listen to the rest of the album. Do I feel that way only because those were the singles that were played so much or did they really choose the right singles to play?
Wainwright’s eponymous first album is worth getting too. I’m not as impressed with his latest. He’s worth seeing live, esp. if his sister’s touring with him. She’s got a great voice as well.
Ted, if you like the Temps’ Ultimate Collection, you may want to consider their box set, Emperors of Soul. It’s five discs, and the last disc and a half or so is devoted to mediocre stuff after that fifteen-year prime you mention. But the first three discs are mind-blowing. Well worth the investment.
I agree about Jimmy Chamberlain; he tears through the early Smashing Pumpkins albums. Zwan is unfortunately too fluffy to give him much opportunity to use his muscles.
The first six tracks on Appetite for Destruction are all awesome, but only the first and sixth are airable.
FYI, those Pixies CDs are all sold out.
I saw the Femmes in Oct or Nov of ‘83 at Tut’s in Chicago. There was indeed an inverted metal container of some sort used in the (minimal) drum kit.
Great show.
…so of course, after Appetite, Axl promptly fired Adler and replaced him with Matt Sorum, the living incarnation of the meathead showboating drummer. This should have been the tip-off to us all at the time that Axl had lost it, but I rely on the (IMHO reasonable) excuse that I was 19 at the time as my alibi for actually buying both Use Your Illusion albums.
…so of course, after Appetite, Axl promptly fired Adler and replaced him with Matt Sorum, the living incarnation of the meathead showboating drummer. This should have been the tip-off to us all at the time that Axl had lost it, but I rely on the (IMHO reasonable) excuse that I was 19 at the time as my alibi for actually buying both Use Your Illusion albums.
“Sweet Child of Mine” is one of the all-time greats. I also like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” quite a lot. But I can barely listen to the rest of the album. Do I feel that way only because those were the singles that were played so much or did they really choose the right singles to play?
Interesting. To my mind, you named the three worst songs on the album - but perhaps I feel that way because they were on the radio all the time during my last two years of high school.
IMO, the three top tracks on that disc were “It’s So Easy,” “Night Train” and “Rocket Queen.”
I must admit to thinking “Sweet Child” is a truly great song — but I also heard it for the first time at the end of the time it was popular, so “Paradise City” was the first GN’R song I heard on the radio a lot. (I started listening to the radio because of “Sweet Child.”) I think “Rocket Queen” is probably second on that album for me, then “Mr. Brownstone” and “My Michelle,” the latter especially for the fabulously sneering vocals. But I love the whole album, with the possible exception of “You’re Crazy,” the version of which on Lies was so much better.
Short answer: I definitely don’t think “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” were two of the better songs, though it’s true that they were more airable. (There’s no legal reason you couldn’t play “Night Train,” though, is there?)
And while I agree with the criticism of Matt Sorum, I refuse to be embarrassed about having gotten Use Your Illusion. (But if being 19 is a good excuse, being 15 or so is surely a better one.) I contend that there was one very good album spread out between those two. First step would have been to get rid of almost anything written solely by Izzy Stradlin. That would have eliminated a lot of mediocre songs and 90% of the misogyny.
… instead of handing off to Ashanti.
Ashanti, hmm … she is cute, and she’s from around the way and I know I’m not representing Strong Island if I’m hating on homegirl, but … she’s just really underwhelming.
Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is my favorite version of that song, but I haven’t ever found it on an album. Does anyone know where it might be found?
A.D.M. -
You can find Wainwright’s “Hallelujah” on the “Shrek - Music from the Original Motion Picture” CD.
-Todd P
Wainwright’s cover of “Hallelujah” makes me weep like a little baby every time I hear it.
So does Bonnie Raitt’s cover of “Baby Mine” from the Stay Awake album of Disney tune covers.
Just though I’d share.
Roughly contemporaneous with “Appetite” is Jane’s Addiction “Nothing’s Shocking”, which was decleared the best hard rock album of all time near the time of its release, though I had become bored by too many years of listening to metal, and had since moved on. I rediscovered this gem recently a few years ago, and now I agree, it is the best hard rock album of all time.
I agree Rakim is underrated and underimitated. Though, of his raps, the ones I enjoy most are the ones not about his own skills, but his precious few forays into Chuck D-like social commentary or confessional introspection.
A dramatic contrast to Eminem, who seems the living example of “someone using his skillz for evil and not for good”. Could you imagine a rapper with Eminem’s skill (backed by Dre’s marketing muscle), and Chuck D’s politics? Now there is someone who truly could change the world overnight.
Roughly contemporaneous with “Appetite” is Jane’s Addiction “Nothing’s Shocking”, which was declared the best hard rock album long ago, though I had become bored by too many years of listening to metal, and had since moved on. I rediscovered this gem recently a few years ago, and now I agree, it is the best hard rock album of all time.
I agree Rakim is underrated and underimitated. Though, of his raps, the ones I enjoy most are the ones not about his own skills, but his precious few forays into Chuck D-like social commentary or confessional introspection.
A dramatic contrast to Eminem, who seems the living example of “someone using his skillz for evil and not for good”. Could you imagine a rapper with Eminem’s skill (backed by Dre’s marketing muscle), and Chuck D’s politics? Now there is someone who truly could change the world overnight.
oh I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands we used to go see on the landing in the summer…
shiny shiny pants and bleached blond hair, a double kick drum by the river in the summer
she fell in love with the drummer
another and another…
All great bands are also great cover bands. G&R’s cover of “Live & Let Die” is soooo lame. & inexcusable: the song is a slam dunk.
I have never understood the Guns & Roses fascination. You kids w/your crazy music!
GNR’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is even worse.
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