Great read! For all the disdain music critics heaped on the Sab Four, RS gave Lester Bangs lots of real estate to write a pretty bang-on review of Master of Reality. Bangs at times damned them with faint praise, but he was still fairly accurate and fair.
Yo, that was the best Ozzy / Sabbath tribute I've read (I also liked the one from Defector if you missed it). I expect the same for Chuck Mangione next week (lol). I really like how you trace the evolution of Sabbath from dismissed to respected, which as a 53-year-old life-long music nut I noticed myself. Very astute of you to propose why, though. I'm currently reading the Spitz Led Zeppelin bio and it's the same kind of vibe of that era - hated by snooty critics but beloved by fans.
I also saw the tweet in question, and replied to it that he was technically correct, but (a) this wasn't really the time for that, and (b) it doesn't really matter. You put it very well saying "(his) influence wasn't musical, it was attitudinal" and that's that. It's the same way that David Lee Roth is really kind of a (generously) mid singer but he was perfect for Van Halen and basically created the Metal Frontman template.
Can't wait for the Osais review! Great stuff today.
Only coming here to say that I love Sabotage. I put it with the first 5 but appreciate you giving it some flowers. It feels like a transition to where metal would go, to me
Would love to read a deep dive on Ozzy's discography. There aren't too many music writers besides yourself or maybe Klosterman that I would trust to give an honest assessment of his 80s & 90s output, for better or worse.
This weekend just past saw the national broadcaster in Australia - abc, the equivalent of bbc - do a top 100 oztrayan songs of all time (well, mostly to celebrate since triple j - the nominal ‘youth’ broadcaster - was founded in 1975)
INXS’ “never tear us apart” won the popularity contest (over 2.6m votes were cast from a population of under 24m)
The cynic says that this has a lot to do with data harvesting, marketing, and radio rating periods… Could the defunded npr do something similar? Run it as a fundraiser perhaps?
The new(ish) S.G Goodman record seems like a big step up from her last one! I know it made your best of the first half of the year which was what prompted me to listen to it this month, but I was surprised at how much weirder and more ambitious it was than Teeth Marks, which I enjoyed but didn’t love as much as this new one.
I'll echo the other commenter who's loving the new James McMurtry album. Most of the music I'm listening to is probably on your radar already, but I'll highlight a couple of jazz-adjacent releases. The "Affirmations" live album by the tuba player Theon Cross is a walloping good time, mixing up jazz, funk, and dub. And "Different Strokes for Different Folks" by the guitarists Charlie Hunter and Ella Feingold sounds kinda like an instrumental version of "There's a Riot Goin' On" (I mean, the first song is called "There's Still a Riot Goin' On").
Loving the new James McMurtry!
Great read! For all the disdain music critics heaped on the Sab Four, RS gave Lester Bangs lots of real estate to write a pretty bang-on review of Master of Reality. Bangs at times damned them with faint praise, but he was still fairly accurate and fair.
Yo, that was the best Ozzy / Sabbath tribute I've read (I also liked the one from Defector if you missed it). I expect the same for Chuck Mangione next week (lol). I really like how you trace the evolution of Sabbath from dismissed to respected, which as a 53-year-old life-long music nut I noticed myself. Very astute of you to propose why, though. I'm currently reading the Spitz Led Zeppelin bio and it's the same kind of vibe of that era - hated by snooty critics but beloved by fans.
I also saw the tweet in question, and replied to it that he was technically correct, but (a) this wasn't really the time for that, and (b) it doesn't really matter. You put it very well saying "(his) influence wasn't musical, it was attitudinal" and that's that. It's the same way that David Lee Roth is really kind of a (generously) mid singer but he was perfect for Van Halen and basically created the Metal Frontman template.
Can't wait for the Osais review! Great stuff today.
When I hear Ryan Davis sing his turns of phrase are definitely Berman-esque, but his vocal timbre really reminds me of Dan Wiggins of Friendship.
I really liked what you wrote about Ozzy
Only coming here to say that I love Sabotage. I put it with the first 5 but appreciate you giving it some flowers. It feels like a transition to where metal would go, to me
Would love to read a deep dive on Ozzy's discography. There aren't too many music writers besides yourself or maybe Klosterman that I would trust to give an honest assessment of his 80s & 90s output, for better or worse.
I don't go super deep on Ozzy's solo album. I know the Randy Rhodes records and No More Tears, not so much the rest.
That's why it'd be interesting to read! (For the record even his lesser albums have their gems)
This weekend just past saw the national broadcaster in Australia - abc, the equivalent of bbc - do a top 100 oztrayan songs of all time (well, mostly to celebrate since triple j - the nominal ‘youth’ broadcaster - was founded in 1975)
INXS’ “never tear us apart” won the popularity contest (over 2.6m votes were cast from a population of under 24m)
The cynic says that this has a lot to do with data harvesting, marketing, and radio rating periods… Could the defunded npr do something similar? Run it as a fundraiser perhaps?
Who’d win?
The new(ish) S.G Goodman record seems like a big step up from her last one! I know it made your best of the first half of the year which was what prompted me to listen to it this month, but I was surprised at how much weirder and more ambitious it was than Teeth Marks, which I enjoyed but didn’t love as much as this new one.
I'll echo the other commenter who's loving the new James McMurtry album. Most of the music I'm listening to is probably on your radar already, but I'll highlight a couple of jazz-adjacent releases. The "Affirmations" live album by the tuba player Theon Cross is a walloping good time, mixing up jazz, funk, and dub. And "Different Strokes for Different Folks" by the guitarists Charlie Hunter and Ella Feingold sounds kinda like an instrumental version of "There's a Riot Goin' On" (I mean, the first song is called "There's Still a Riot Goin' On").
I thought Ozzy sounded good at the farewell, all things considered. Much better than Axl who is reaching Disney character levels.