Seth Gardner's List: Music Reviews

• Paul McCartney
• Paul McCartney
• Paul McCartney
• lost collection of Bob Dylan

  • ]\Who is Bob Dylan
• Bob Dylan

  • Who is Dylan
• written by Lee himsel
• album's 11 songs
• Paul McCartney

  • Look up Paul

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• sells lots of albums

  • Fact: Popular indicated by sales
• greater than the sum of its parts.

  • Album Concept or the way it is Organized
• previous album

  • Uses this section to discuss the bands discogpraphy - ups and downs
• “21st Century Breakdown,”
• manifesto

  • The these and idea of this album
• Green Day’s early days

  • History
• band aged

  • As the band grows, the music grows as well
• reinvented

  • It's comeback
• one that celebrated slacker indifference on “Dookie” and the one that challenges a generation of listeners to engage with the world around them on “21st Century Breakdown.”

  • Briefly describes songs so a comparison between the old and new Green Day can be made
• Tre Cool
• contrasts
• dynamics
• John Lennon-esque piano ballads
• Brecht-Weill cabaret
• epic Who-style stadium-rock
• thundering
• shout-from-the-rooftops choruses
• windmill chords

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• good five years to grow

  • Bands Growth and History
• like U2

  • Comparison
• Nathan Followill's drums
• Matthew's guitar
• Sex On Fire
• comes closest to the Strokes-aping sound that held them back in the past.

  • Is the author saying this song is not as good?
• muzzy, straining voice

  • What does muzzy mean?
• U2 analogies
• A minor mid-album lull

  • Song order is important. You want to take the listener on a journey and you don't want them to bail halfway through.
• rubbery bass
• ery secular three-chord church,
• world's been waiting

  • After reading this, does it deserve the positive review?

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• "I was born to sing for you,"

  • Uses dong quote to start off review
• two Bonos

  • The next two paragraphs are spent talking about the two different bonos and how they bring different people to the table.
• "Get on Your Boots," the slashing, buzzing, bad choice for a lead single in which Bono sings: "Let me in the sound/Let me in the sound/Meet me in the sound."

  • Ouch...not a very good review of the individual song.
• textural triumph
• the overall feel of the music is more important than Bono's words themselves.
• more about atmospherics and rhythms than standard songcraft.
• airly weak melodies
• "No Line on the Horizon"
• "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight,"
• "Stand Up Comedy,"
• heavy guitar riff
• lumbering, pseudo-funk groove
• The standouts, though, are the songs with the more textured and adventurous music and arrangements

  • What does all of this mean?
• growling guitar riff, pulsating electro-beat and some synth flourishes before the Edge's chiming guitar and Bono's soaring voice ring out and Larry Mullen's steady, whip-sharp drumming transforms the rhythm into something truly invigorating.

  • What a great description
• "Moment of Surrender"
• twitchy, rhythmic sound effects and lifted by cello, organ, a few bluesy guitar licks and Bono's soulful wailing
• the woozy, slightly detuned piano
• Coldplay

  • Comparison
• chanted, multi-voice chorus ("Go! Shout it out! Rise up!")
• "Unknown Caller,"
• pipe organ, horns and xylophone/glockenspiel accents
• Middle Eastern flourish

  • What do you think of when you hear this?
• "White as Snow"

  • The author talks about Bono's writing voice.
• But at its best, it's the sound of a band pushing itself forward, figuring out a way to remain relevant while its frontman soap-boxes and saves the world.

  • I have the image of limping dog.

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• • Info and history about band members.
    
• Pop music might be the only business whose leaders are regularly criticized for trying to stay relevant.

  • Starts off the article talking about being relevant because Metallica has been around for many years. How many?
• 1980s

  • Little bit of back history in this paragraph.
• Guitarist Kirk Hammett
• Rick Rubin
• Robert Trujillo

  • Info and history about band members
• Bob Rock
• the interest that comes from trying to follow rapid-fire guitar riffs and drum patterns, sudden tempo changes and dynamic shifts that alter the effect of repeated phrases.

  • Description of music attributes.
• "Death Magnetic"

  • Commentary on a specific song
• lyrics
• It's a conservative, preservative move by men who needed to reclaim their ground. But playing by those rules, Metallica wins.

  • Are they selling out or sticking to what they are good at?

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