Complete Control

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
But just barely.

The American political system, since at least 1968, has been operating like a ratchet, and both parties — Republicans and Democrats — play crucial, mutually reinforcing roles in its operation.

The electoral ratchet permits movement only in the rightward direction. The Republican role is fairly clear; the Republicans apply the torque that rotates the thing rightward.

The Democrats’ role is a little less obvious. The Democrats are the pawl. They don’t resist the rightward movement — they let it happen — but whenever the rightward force slackens momentarily, for whatever reason, the Democrats click into place and keep the machine from rotating back to the left.

—Michael J. Smith, Stop Me Before I Vote Again, 2005.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Bee Gees

—Bee Gees "You Should Be Dancin" (Dj Moar Re-Edit)

discopotential:

Bee Gees, “You Should Be Dancing” (DJ Moar Re-Edit)

RIP, Robin Gibb. It’s a testament to his work that the records he made with his brothers are still getting played and remixed and edited 35 years after the fact.

onwander:

No. 16 / Evan Stremke

onwander:

No. 16 / Evan Stremke

theearlofsuave:

One of the raddest promo posters ever. The Damned were frickin’ geniuses when it came to this sort of shit (Play It At Your Sister, etc…)Cheers to McBroBro, who I ripped this from. 

theearlofsuave:

One of the raddest promo posters ever. The Damned were frickin’ geniuses when it came to this sort of shit (Play It At Your Sister, etc…)

Cheers to McBroBro, who I ripped this from. 

pushthemovement:

McDonald’s Original Prices

Fast food is pretty disgusting (although I partake in the occasional burger), but this menu actually looks pretty delicious. Less is more and all that, I guess.

pushthemovement:

McDonald’s Original Prices

Fast food is pretty disgusting (although I partake in the occasional burger), but this menu actually looks pretty delicious. Less is more and all that, I guess.

Listening to the Beach Boys, Pt. 8: Surfer Girl (Album)

                    Surfer Girl (album)

Album: Surfer Girl

Released: September 16, 1963

Label: Capitol

Producer: Brian Wilson

Given how much I love the Surfer Girl single, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that I adore the album as well. In this series, I’ve been talking a lot about how the Beach Boys are, bit by bit, putting all the pieces together in their sound and making incremental improvements with every single and album. This feels like the first (of many) high water marks for the group, where the early sound really comes out on pretty much every song. Having Brian officially produce a whole album adds neat bits hear and there, and generally coaxes out a livelier and more well rounded sound from the band than we saw on their first two long players. The Beach Boys Universe is in full effect on the album too, from local surfer heroes to escapes to tropical islands to hot cars and summer dreams. There were really only ever a handful of albums that really epitomized what people think of when they think of a “Beach Boys album” and this is one of them.

So, onto the songs. I already covered the title track lead off, Surfer Girl, in my review of the single so I won’t get into it too much here. But it’s still a favorite, and plays a somewhat unusual album opener - being a bit slower than the usual rocker that opens albums up. Great choice, tho. Catch a Wave follows, and it’s a gem. Good rocking fun, with nice flourishes like hand clapping percussion, which suggest Brian and the band are feeling a bit more ambitious. Some killer guitar licks, top form singing, and triumphant lyrics make this a classic. I love the triumphant tone of the song, particularly from lyrics about critics (of surfing) eating their words with a fork a spoon (and then coming out surfing themselves. Converts!). Good stuff.

The Surfer Moon follows, and it’s another one of those gorgeous Brian Wilson-sung numbers. The first use of strings in a Beach Boys song, the song exudes time and place, giving the listener a bittersweet taste of the Beach Boys world. South Bay Surfer is a lively follow up, doing more of that great myth-making that was part of the early Beach Boys stock and trade. A nice minor addition to the Beach Boys catalog.

The Beach Boys then give us the instrumental, The Rocking Surfer, which is a Brian arrangement of a traditional tune. Nice while you’re listening, but mostly forgettable. The A-side of the album closes out with the immense Little Deuce Coupe. I discussed it a little in my entry for the “Surfer Girl” single and I’ll have another word or two to say about it on the next entry into this series, but suffice to say that it’s a great song and a strong way to close out what is easily the best side of Beach Boys vinyl up to this point.

The B-side of the album opens with the ridiculously excellent In My Room. I’ve talked about the Beach Boys Universe and the little slice of Americana they’re trying to portray, and while this song ostensibly fits into that project, it’s really working on another level. This is probably the first song where Brian is really opening up his inner world to the listener, in the process creating some of the most beautiful music he’ll ever have his name attached to and singing one of his finest vocal leads. Gorgeous, personal and emotionally moving. It feels all at once like we’ve glimpsed a very private moment in someone else’s life and yet still saw our own image reflected back at us. Genius.

There aren’t a whole lot of songs that can follow that, but Hawaii does its best. An insidiously catchy number - with a chorus that you won’t be able to get out of your head for the rest of the day - and a lyrical focus that helps extend the world of the Beach Boys off the continent. One of the things I liked about the song “Surfin’ U.S.A.” was the way it connected what the Beach Boys were banging on about in their songs to a more universal American experience. This song helps do that same thing, albeit in a more limited sense.

Surfer’s Rule follows, which is in the same triumphant vein as “Catch a Wave”, albeit a bit less ambitious musically. It features a nice Dennis Wilson lead, tho, so it’s worth seeking out for that. Our Car Club is, well, another car song. A fun track that fits the mood of the album, but doesn’t seem to do much outside of that context.  Your Summer Dream is a beautiful, understated ballad by Brian Wilson and would have been an excellent way to close the album. That’s not really the Beach Boys style tho, so instead they tack on Boogie Woodie which is a fun but incredibly silly organ-centric, well, boogie. I actually think it would have been better to flip it in the track order with “Your Summer Dream” where it would have seemed like just another fine instrumental, but it’s a bit of an odd choice to close out the album.

The Beach Boys have a definite sound on their first three albums, one they refine with each outing until they end up with the Surfer Girl LP. Here they’ve refined their techniques from their first two albums and have begun the first stabs at setting even more ambitious goals, musically and lyrically. They’ll make a few more fine albums in this mold (which we’ll look at in future entries), but to my mind this album is one of two standard-bearers for the “surfing, cars, and girls” phase of the Beach Boys. The other is still several releases away.

Since “In My Room” will feature on another single entry, here’s “The Surfer Moon” instead:

The Surfer Moon-

(Available on Surfer Girl/Shut Down, Vol. 2)

The Institution of Marriage

A piece I wrote over at Agreeable Anarchism, on marriage as an institution and Obama’s recent public announcement of conditional support for gay marriage.

Necros, Beastie Boys, Marginal Man punk hardcore flyer by changezine on Flickr.R.I.P. Adam Yauch a/k/a MCA
alwaysaroused:

Monica Bellucci

alwaysaroused:

Monica Bellucci

(Source: synchro78)

Listening to the Beach Boys, Pt. 7: Surfer Girl

                   Surfer Girl

Single: Surfer Girl b/w Little Deuce Coupe

Released: July 22, 1963

Label: Capitol

Producer: Brian Wilson

I’ll say it straight up: Surfer Girl is one of my absolute favorite Beach Boys songs, particularly from this early era of the Beach Boys. It has everything I love about them at this time: jaw droppingly gorgeous melodies, deceptively interesting instrumentation, and an ephemeral quality which transcends the literal imagery of lyrics to become some extraordinarily universal. All of these are themes I’ve been pounding on in previous entries to this series, but they’re taken to the next level here.

All the more impressive is that this is actually one of Brian Wilson’s earliest compositions, even appearing in early recorded form on pre-Capitol collections like Lost & Found! 1961-1962, although the version recorded for the single is more fleshed out in nearly every way.

Beyond the obviously beautiful vocal arrangements, I’d like to give a shout out to the musicianship on display by the band. They don’t oversell anything here, adding very nicely underplayed little guitar flourishes here, a little drum work there. It all works together to create the most beautiful song the Beach Boys had yet released, and one of the high water marks in their entire catalog.

The flip side, Little Deuce Coupe, is a revved up rocker - almost a startling, uh, gear shift after the lush A-side. But it’s not an unwelcome change, and the shuffle rhythm gives the song an extra bounce (to use Brian Wilson’s own description) which makes it a bit unique for the time. Another fine addition to the Beach Boys growing collection of car songs, and pretty easily their most popular.

Of final note, Brian Wilson gets his first official production credit on a Beach Boys release here (even though he’d been steering the ship to varying degrees from day one) and one can’t help but think that the move forward musically on both sides of the wax is at least in part due to his finally being formally in charge of production.

In any case, here are both sides of the single for your listening pleasure:

Surfer Girl-

Little Deuce Coupe-

(Available on U.S. Singles Collection: The Capitol Years, 1961-1965)