Skip to main content

Day Eighty Three (Year Three)

So, this is slightly behind schedule, but I'm really digging the new Wallflowers record, Glad All Over.  It's always fascinating to me when a band can go away for a long period of time (7 years, in this case... oddly enough, the same length of time the Stones have been away before releasing new music), and then come back like they've never even been away.

As with the last couple of records, Jakob Dylan has pulled in a few new influences (reggae, most notably), brought in a friend or two (i.e. Mick Jones of The Clash), and then set about making a record that fits flawlessly in with the rest of his band's material.  The Wallflowers have always been great about making records that evolve while still managing to sound exactly like they ought to, and Glad All Over is no exception.  In fact, I'm tempted to say that it's their most consistent record since Breach, which was released all the way back in 2000.

Don't misunderstand me, I have absolutely loved all of their records, I've just felt that there were certain spots in each one that haven't been quite as strong as they could have been.  Then again, perhaps there were just selected songs that I didn't like as well as others.

And, oh yeah, I'd absolutely love to see them live.  They don't release records that often, and they tour even less, so it'll probably not happen soon,but it would be fun.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day Two Hundred Six (Year Four)

Today was the first official day of the second half of my "album-in-a-month" challenge. As for today's goals, I wanted to see what I could get done in regards to track order, and get at least a little bit of a start on the lyric writing process. I spent more time working on the track order question than I did on the lyrics today, but as a result of that, I ended up with something that I think will work in terms of order. I did sit with the notebook for a few minutes at the very end of the day, and got a solid starting line of lyric and some other ideas that I hope will be jumping off points for lyrics. What I'm thinking I might do, however, is switch my focus from the lyric writing part of the process directly to the recording part of the process.  That way, if I can get the music recorded and burned onto a CD, I can take the music with me in the car, and listen and try to see what images and thoughts the music brings up.  It's a tactic that has worked for...

Day Two Hundred Ninety Two (Year Five)

Today was the last seminary village cookout of the year. While we were all sitting around the picnic tables eating dinner, I got a chance to talk with a few of the Mrs.'s classmates about guitar related stuff. As it turns out, more than one of them wants to be more proficient on guitar. I'm not saying that this will lead to more teaching opportunities, but I told one of them that I would throw a folder together for them. Essentially, anytime I get a chance to talk shop is a great chance for me to reinforce some of the things I have been focusing on. If nothing else, it gets me thinking ahead to tomorrow's day off and a chance to get into the studio for a decent amount of time.

Day Three Hundred Forty Two (Year Four)

Tonight was a slightly unfocused night in the studio. It was a night of acoustic stuff, but most of what I got accomplished involved tinkering with different songs by Jackie Greene and Johnny Cash.  If nothing else, I set up the next list of songs I want to figure out. Tomorrow night I need to start getting back to the Acoustic Goldmine book, as well.  Every time I sit down with the acoustic for an extended period of time, I reconnect with the emotional side of that instrument.  There's so much to learn still in that book, so much information designed to improve my playing.  I need to take better advantage of it. I know it's crazy, but I'm already looking forward to Friday.  I really need to spend a lot of the day in the studio.  Getting a weekday off of work is such a rare commodity.  I need to do a good job of using my time wisely.