Sound Opinions, being the scholarly work it is, has provided footnotes to help you navigate through the show's vast maze of musical knowledge.
Because, let's face it—sometimes even we have no idea what the heck Jim and Greg are talking about.
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08-08-08 Footnotes
Show 141: Classic Album Dissection of At Folsom Prison, Reviews of Zack De La Rocha & Black Kids
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1 First up in the news is the report that both the House and Senate have reauthorized the Higher Education Act with new provisions that essentially make colleges akin to cops. The bill requires universities to implement tougher traffic filtering technologies in order to deter p2p filesharing. Jim and Greg think any attempts to deter filesharing will be as effective as attempts to curb cheating, binge-drinking and plagiarizing.
2 Jim and Greg recently spoke with Big Champagne’s Eric Garland about artists benefiting from filesharing and album leaking. Labels have now caught on, but they don’t want you to know it. When a track from the forthcoming Buckcherry album was leaked on the internet, the band and its label were quick to complain. But, according to a Wall St. Journal article, they were the source of the leak. It’s an old PR stunt for the hip hop world, but now mainstream, albeit “boneheaded” acts like Buckcherry have caught on. Get ready for more faux file leaking sob stories.
3 In other music news, music retailing giant iTunes may be getting some competition soon. Amazon launched a digital music service less than a year ago, but has yet to make a dent in that market. Now the website has teamed up with MySpace to offer music fans a way to sample and then purchase individual songs and albums. The tracks will be DRM-free, and users won’t have to launch a separate application to purchase music. Jim is quickly running to add the Amazon CEO as his MySpace friend.
4 There’s never enough Abba on Sound Opinions, so we were excited when the Swedish pop quartet appeared in the headlines. The band’s greatest hits album Gold recently went to #1 in the U.K. breaking the record for the oldest band to ever hit the top of the charts. The reason for the resurgence is the release of the movie Mamma Mia, but hopefully the legacy of the band will not be tarnished by the film.
5 Frequent chart-topper Chris Brown is also making news this week. His hit single “Forever” has made it to the Top-10 , but little did fans know it was written as a Wrigley gum jingle. For a long time artists have lent their music to advertising companies, but as far as Jim and Greg can tell, this is the first time a song was developed initially as an ad campaign. Is it just a chicken/egg argument? Or does the commercial intention matter to a song’s integrity? Let us know what you think.
6 The final discussion in the news is about the proliferation of ‘90s nostalgia in the music industry these days. Alternative-era artists like Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair and Sonic Youth are all drawing from their former glory days and cashing in. Jim believes such nostalgia is anathema to the alternative philosophy, and doesn’t think touring behind one singular album is much better than a greatest hits concert. Greg is surprised that Jim is surprised, citing the Sex Pistols’ 1996 tour as the day he gave up on any notion of rock era integrity.
7a
Classic Album Dissection: Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
This album has been regarded as one of the greatest live recordings in rock and roll history and marks a point of redemption in Johnny Cash’s long career. As Greg explains, he was considered by many to be a has-been. But, in 1968 Columbia producer Bob Johnston took Cash up on his long-time idea of recording at a prison. The singer had previously played shows in prisons, but had not recorded. It’s a fitting location for the “man in black,” since he had flirted with trouble and had spent some time in jail. He also went through a divorce, developed a drug problem, and seemed to be all but finished in the music industry. But one of Folsom’s guest vocalists, June Carter-Cash, played a huge role in helping Johnny Cash get his life back on track. Cash won the Album of the Year at the 2nd annual Country Music Awards for Folsom Prison, and it helped make him a huge star again.
7b
The location of the recording was a key factor to the album’s success. Folsom Prison was not a friendly place. As Jim describes, it was an ugly, smelly, scary “dungeon” where law-abiding citizens would not feel very comfortable. But Cash wanted to record an album there because he showed empathy towards the prisoners, and the performer’s cool demeanor brought out an energy and excitement in the audience that hadn’t been heard in live recordings before.
In addition to June Carter, Cash’s band at Folsom consisted of the Tennessee Three, Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers.
7c
Jim and Greg pick out the key songs on At Folsom Prison to wrap-up the dissection. Greg goes with “25 Minutes to Go”. It was written by Shel Silverstein from the perspective of a convict on Death Row who is counting down the minutes of his life. You can hear the crowd’s enthusiastic response throughout the song.
Jim discusses “Greystone Chapel”, the last song on the album. It was written by Glen Sherley, a former inmate at Folsom. The Reverend Gresset introduced Cash to the song the night prior to the performance, and it moved Cash so much so that he decided to make it his closing song.
Throughout Johnny Cash’s entire career, he walked a line between sinfulness and redeeming grace. At Folsom Prison highlights Cash’s artistic intentions, not to preach at the prisoners of Folsom, but to relate to their situations. He was singing as one of them, a sinner, who would rather hang out with prisoners than “some of the ‘saints’ he’d met.”
Forty years later the album is still inspiring artists such as Reverend Horton Heat, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, and Uncle Tupelo.
8 Ever since Zack de la Rocha quit Rage Against the Machine he has been talking about his upcoming solo album. It’s been eight years, but an EP has finally been delivered called One Day as a Lion. De la Rocha brought Mars Volta drummer John Theodore onto the record for percussion, and de la Rocha plays keyboard under his vocals. The lyrics are as politically charged as ever, but Jim is sick of the bombastic silliness of de la Rocha’s “revolutionary nonsense rhetoric” and says that the lyrics warrant a Trash It rating. But he gives the music a Burn It for the drums alone. Greg gives the album a Burn It, saying that it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. He likes the sound of the album, but thinks that a similar artist like Saul Williams does the style much better.
9 The Black Kids released four songs last year on their MySpace page, became one of the most hyped bands at last year's CMJ music conference and garnered huge praise from many critics. Their first full-length album is called Partie Traumatic. Jim hates the “sneering hipness” and “desperate sexuality” the album emits. Greg thinks Black Kids isn’t going to last much longer, acknowledging the backlash that the album has already incurred. He doesn’t understand why the band’s singer, Reggie Youngblood, “a black kid from Florida,” tries to sound like The Cure’s Robert Smith. They both find the album insincere and annoying, and it gets two Trash Its.
Songs Featured in Show #141
Kanye West, “School Spirit,” College Dropout, 2004
Buckcherry, “Too Drunk,” 2008
AC/DC, “It’s a Long Way to the Top” (If You Wanna Rock and Roll),” TNT, 1975
Abba, “Mamma Mia,” Gold, 1993
Chris Brown, “Forever,” Exclusive, 2008
Smashing Pumpkins, “I Am One,” Gish, 1991
Nirvana, “Heart Shaped Box,” In Utero, 1993
Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the U.K,” Filthy Lucre Live,” 1996
Liz Phair, “Help Me Mary (Live),” Exile in Guyville, 1993
Sonic Youth, “ ‘Cross the Breeze (Live)” Daydream Nation, 1988
The Lemonheads, “Mrs. Robinson,” It's a Shame About Ray, 1992
Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Johnny Cash, "Busted," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Johnny Cash, "Joe Bean," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Johnny Cash, "Dark as the Dungeon," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Johnny Cash, "25 Minutes to Go," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Johnny Cash, "Greystone Chapel," At Folsom Prison, 1968
Uncle Tupelo, "Cocaine Blues," Live Recording, 1989
One Day as a Lion, "Wild International," One Day as a Lion, 2008
One Day as a Lion, "If You Fear Dying," One Day as a Lion, 2008
Black Kids, "Listen to your Body Tonight," Partie Traumatic, 2008
Black Kids, "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You," Partie Traumatic, 2008 Air France, "No Way Down," No Way Down EP, 2008
The Nerves, "Hanging On The Telephone," Nerves EP, 1976
The Nerves, "When You Find Out," Nerves EP, 1976)
The Feelies, "Crazy Rhythms," Crazy Rhythms, 1980
Radiohead, "National Anthem," Kid A, 2000 Live at Lollapalooza
Girl Talk, "10 Step," Feed the Animals, 2008
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