My friends want me to live longer

Once again, another summer camp season is over, and once again, a new grip of suggestions comes in from the new friends I've met or the old friends I've successfully harassed.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy.  I'm excited because quite a few bands I was hoping to see on the mission have now been added.  Good work, gang!

Barenaked Ladies - Stunt [Hook]
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow [Gumby]
Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound [Neon]
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago [Scout]
Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors [Meeko]
Dave Matthews Band - Crash [Sky]
Descendants - Somery [Milo]
DeVotchka - How It Ends [Pace]
DJ Laz - Category 6 ["BARK"]
Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli - Djangology [Vignesh]
Electric President - Electric President [Mordecai]
Flaming Lips - Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid [Flint]
Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle [Arken]
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams [Wolf]
Johnny Cash - Patriot [Mom]
Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter [Pax] 
Killers - Sam's Town [Squid]
Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing [Julie]
MC Frontalot - Secrets from the Future [Spy]
Missy Higgins - On a Clear Night [Bubble]
Missy Higgins - Sound of White [Spark]
Neil Diamond - Hot August Night [Flank]
Say Anything - Menorah/Mejora [Pickle]
Shins - Wincing the Night Away [Rowan]
Silver Jews - American Water [Sangita]
Southern Belle - Hurry Up and Thrill Me [Turbo]
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea [Muse]
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend [Mac]
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary [Mowgli]

These will be have been added into the Master Lists pretty soon.  I wish I had an intern to do the administrative crap for me.

Life is what happens when I'm not working on this blog

So I've decided to postpone the mammoth 9-hour Hank Williams box-set so that I can get a move on with the mission and listen to more stuff of more reasonable length.  I've listened to the other Hank Williams collection, and I'll be writing about it soon.

Fortunately, but unfortunately for this blog, I'm working out in the forest for the summer and I only have about 22 hours off during the weekend in which to possibly spend any time on the internet.  And, of course, there are 1,000,000 things to do during the week, all of which are crammed into those 22 hours.

Long story short, it may be a while.  Still.  But that's life, and this is a hobby.

Love,
Comet!

· Hiatus · Done!

Hiatus: accomplished!  College: completed!  Mission: back on!

Yeah, I have a little bit of time for my mission again!  What a wonderful new chapter of my life!  And I've kicked it off by creating a post with each category of album-inclusion separated into lists!  And I'm allowed to use exclamation points again!

But there's still that ten-hour Hank Williams box set I need to tackle¡
(the upside-down exclamation point indicates that it's a bummer)

¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

· Hiatus

• This blog is going to be on hold for a few weeks or so, while I

• look for a job;
• get stable at school; and
• figure out how to approach the next mission item, which is a ten-disc, nine-hour box set...
• Maybe it will be ten separate entries
• So I can listen to each disc separately...
• Maybe it will be a long stream-of-consciousness entry that I'll write as I...
• listen to the whole thing in one big ten-hour stretch
• or in a couple 3-5 hour stretches
• Most of the mission stuff will be on hold, including
• finding new albums
• (except that I don't want to let library holds lapse,
• and I only have PSU library access for about two more months),
• formatting stuff in iTunes,
• reorganizing or amending the lists,
• or writing any new blog entries,
• except this one
• (obviously).
• See you in a few weeks!
• Maybe there will be some sort of ribbon-cutting thing once I can devote a little more attention this way.
• Bullet points!

1001 Albums revision

It looks like I need to plan on staying alive another month longer than I thought... yes, the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" book/list has been revised again.   I went to Powell's and made a list of the albums at the end of the book that weren't already on my list.  Here are the additions I've found so far:

   Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
   Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
* Portishead - Third
   Slipknot - All Hope is Gone
* TV On The Radio - Dear Science
* Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
   Q-Tip - The Renaissance
* MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
   Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
* Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
* Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
* Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

* indicates that I've heard good things about the album, that I wasn't surprised to see it on the list, and that I'm looking forward to hearing it in about 13 years.

These will be have been added into the Master Lists pretty soon. I haven't done a completely anal-retentive search through the revised book/list, so if there were any albums that have been added other than at the end, I'll find them later. 

I wonder if the book/list is going to be updated every year... and if that means I'll live forever...

Skip James – The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James

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Mission Control - Entry Number 003 (time warp, should have been between 1&2)

Artist: Skip James
Title: The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James

Release Date: 1994 (material originally recorded and released 1931)
Length: 53 min
Relevance: Recommendation from Ian

Pre-Listen: I've heard "Devil Got My Woman" from its appearance in "Ghost World."

My Favorites: "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" & "How Long Blues"

TLDR: At times more lively and upbeat than Robert Johnson, but at times the sound quality is problematic.

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This should have been listened to before the Robert Johnson collection, but Ian didn't make the recommendation until I'd already started listening to the Johnson entry. No big deal this time, and this will inevitably happen again with way more time-warpiness. Oh well, moving on.

The thing that stands out most to me about this collection of songs is that it shows a lot more variety than Robert Johnson's work. With one or two exceptions, such as "They're Red Hot," most of Johnson's songs sounded very similar to me, almost to the point of having a recognizable template. Skip James' songs, however, are more varied in tempo, instrument and theme. Johnson keeps pretty close to the themes of difficult women, hard luck, hellish life, etc. James hits these themes, but also has a few religious songs, which seems to confirm this citation-needy line from his Wikipedia entry:

"James epitomized the complicated personality typical of many bluesmen, living a hard and sometimes reckless life while holding austere religious beliefs."

Johnson, by comparison, asks for assistance from God a few times in his songs, but doesn't go out of his way to express any positive, enthusiastic religious view. This non-well-roundedness, bent toward the cooler, eviler side, may be why Johnson seems to be a more charismatic and sexy idea for rock musicians to latch onto, and part of why Johnson's legend is larger than James' (along with, you know, his mysterious early death and all that).

Skip James recorded in the very early 1930s, and there must have been significant advancement in recording clarity before Robert Johnson's 1936/37 sessions, or perhaps higher quality equipment for Johnson to use. The difference is noticeable, and James is often unintelligible, like the more gravelly parts of the Anthology of American Folk Music, which was recorded in the same couple years. The liveliness of his more upbeat songs comes through, however, so I will probably be revisiting this album as much as Johnson's work. It's nice to hear that even bluesmen can enjoy a nice few minutes of jaunty piano. I'm also glad I got a third piece of music from before 1950. Thanks, Ian!

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Up Next: An inspiration, of sorts, for Jerry Garcia and Tony Iommi.

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Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings / King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1 & 2

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Mission Control - Entry Number 002

Artist: Robert Johnson
*Title: The Complete Recordings
^Title: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1
^Title: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 2


*Release Date: 8/28/1990 (material recorded in 1936 and 1937; some material originally released 1937-39)
*Length: 1 hr 46 min
*Relevance: RS #22 (2005)

^Release Date: 1961/1970 (material recorded in 1936 and 1937; some material originally released 1937-39)
^Length: 43 min/44 min
^Relevance: RS #27/424 (2003)

My Favorites: "Terraplane Blues" & "Sweet Home Chicago"

TLDR: Man sings his way through hell-on-Earth. Blogger doesn't understand the guitar hype (yet). What Satan giveth, Satan taketh away.

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I'd heard a lot about Robert Johnson in my life, but it was all very hard to keep straight. This is probably due in part to his astoundingly generic name, and in part to the fact that what I'd been hearing was inherently confused anyway, on a few levels. First of all, it seems like there is little confidence in the accuracy of most facts about his life. This is compounded by the legends that have been added to his story, and made even worse when he is mistaken for other similar bluesmen, such as Tommy Johnson.

About the only thing you can really count on to be true is the 42-song body of work credited to him. Thankfully, there's a good deal you can tell about the guy from these recordings. He's plagued by tormentors and obstacles both night and day. Women constantly do him wrong, and he can't stay away from women who care little for him. He's got issues in his subconscious that he can't control, and acts in ways he can't explain. Hearing him sing it, you really believe it, that living his life is generally hellish from multiple angles. He seems to have fun on some songs, or during some lyrics, but very little of this gives me the impression that Johnson had many laughs here on Earth. I definitely feel more convinced of the pain Robert Johnson is singing about than I did during the Anthology of American Folk Music (though only some parts of that album are personally expressive songs that can be compared to Johnson's work).

The first thing I'd heard and remembered about Robert Johnson is the legend that he sold his soul to the devil for guitar skillz. It's a great story, but the thing that I don't get about it is how it makes sense for Johnson's playing to be representative of Satan's musical powers. People seem to talk about him like he's a great guitar player even by today's standards. It seems unlikely to me that such an influential guitar player hasn't been severely passed in the ensuing 3/4-century. Then again, I don't play guitar, and I for sure didn't play it seventy-five years ago, so I'm sure I'm the one at fault in not seeing the impressiveness here. I hope it becomes clearer as I continue my mission. And I'm not saying it's bad, either. I'm currently working on forming a proper frame of reference.

I wonder if Satan contributed to the overall crappiness of Johnson's life, perhaps to help Johnson create better blues songs. Maybe his end of the bargain went like this: "You can be the best guitarist today, Mr. Johnson, but someday some kid will write about how it's hard to believe you were once the best, how the 75 years of guitar-playing evolution (that you may be largely responsible for) have made your influence hard to discern, and how you're easily confusable with other, lesser guitar players of your day. Also, I'll help this along by intentionally keeping the facts of your life hazy and creating conflicting memories for witnesses of your time on earth. Now here's some two-timing women and hellhounds. Hail, Satan." Oh, Satan. You always win.

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Up Next: Skipped.

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