THE VOICE OF ENERGY




musings on music

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Best Albums of 2008

1. Rings - Black Habit
2. V/A - Como Now!: The Voices of Panola County, MS
3. Hercules & Love Affair - self-titled
4. Matmos - Supreme Balloon
5. Portishead - Third
6. Kevin Ayers - The Unfairground
7. Clinic - Do It!
8. Corespondents - Hairy Ghost Pipefish
9. Chumbawamba - The Boy Bands Have Won
10. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

recent writings

Nurse With Wound
Paint & Copter
Portland Cello Project
Hypatia Lake
King Louie
Pink Widower
Peter Moren
Feral Children
PDX Pop Now Festival
Corespondents
LSD&D



    the publications i write for

    Blurt
    Burnside Writers Collective
    Dagger
    DVD Corner
    Junkmedia
    LivePDX
    LivePDX Music Blog
    LivePDX Movies Blog
    The Oregonian
    Relevant Magazine
    Stylus Magazine
    Performer Magazine
    Willamette Week

    the writers i admire

    Andrew Beaujon
    Andy Beta
    Chunklet
    Joshua Clover
    Robert Christgau
    John Darnielle
    Andrew Earles
    Sasha Frere-Jones
    Lalita Ham
    Hua Hsu
    Michaelangelo Matos
    Matt McKechnie
    Susan Miller-Josselyn
    Adam P. Newton
    Philip Sherburne
    Simon Reynolds
    Luc Sante
    The Wire/The Mire
    Douglas Wolk
    Wow & Flutter




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    Aug 8, 2008
    Lisle's Records #2 - Fats Domino Plays Million Record Hits

    Like most musicians relegated to the "oldies" section of record stores and radio stations, Fats Domino is strictly associated with a few songs in the collective unconscious of most U.S. citizens: "Blueberry Hill", "My Blue Heaven", "I'm Walkin'", "Ain't That A Shame", "Whole Lotta Loving" and "Blue Monday."

    Granted, those tracks alone are more than enough to relegate Fats to the higher echelons of rock 'n' roll infamy, but I think it is a testament to the vast catalog of brilliant material that he has recorded in his lifetime that an album of so-called million-sellers features none of those aforementioned songs.

    Instead, this album seems crafted, in both title and cover art, to dupe prospective record buyers into picking this up looking for those songs. The cover features a tell-tale gold record on the cover and uses the words "million" and "hits."

    Now, you might be saying to yourself, "Surely, people are smarter than to be tricked like that." In response, I direct you to your local video store to look at the many direct-to-DVD knock off titles meant to confuse people into thinking their renting a copy of, say, Swingers and not Late Last Night. And more often than I'm sure people will care to admit, it works.

    Another good example comes from my elementary school days, when my friends and I were positively obsessed with Ghostbusters. One kid I spent time with had the Ghostbusters soundtrack on cassette and we listened to that relentlessly, dancing in our maniacal, unrhythmic way to each and every song. I really wanted that soundtrack for my own, so I asked my mom to get it for me when she was off shopping one day. What she came back with was a copy of Ray Parker, Jr.'s greatest hits collection Chartbusters. Same font, same "anti" logo, but not the same record. My well-meaning mother simply wasn't looking hard enough to know the difference.

    As a writer and a grammar nerd, the title is hard for me to get past: Fats Domino Sings Million Record Hits. Looking past the fact that there is no song on the album entitled "Million Record Hits", this title is horribly constructed and feels like there's a few nouns that were left off the cover by a lazy printer. As a marketing ploy, though, it is pure genius, and could be the very reason why this album was in the collection of my wife's grandfather.

    Title concerns aside, this is a great compilation, capturing Fats Domino during the most creatively fruitful period of his long and still-thriving career. Each song dances around his zydeco/Dixieland roots while still staying firmly rooted in the worlds of blues and R&B, particularly on his hot rendition of "I'm Ready" and the charmingly pleading "I Want To Walk You Home."

    What is especially gratifying about this disc is when I realized that almost all the songs on here were written or co-written by Domino himself. As most know, this was a time when so many popular artists were relying on the proven formulas for songs cooked up by producers and songwriters like the Brill Building and Holland/Dozier/Holland. No, Fats was doing his own thing and, by all accounts, doing it very very well. This record, if nothing else, proves that point and showcases his giant personality and talent before the long slow burnout that so many artists of that era went through.


    Posted at 12:48 pm by adoinel

     

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