"Written In Reverse" is the first single off Spoon's Transference

PREVIEW: Listen to “Written In Reverse” at NPR

The hype’s already getting rolling for a bunch of albums coming out this January–namely new material by Beach House, Vampire Weekend and of course, Spoon.

“Written In Reverse” is the first single off of Spoon’s Transference, and if it’s any indication of the rest of the effort, we’re in for quite a different experience than 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Lead singer Britt Daniel’s vocals are less concise–sprawling over the dirty, rock ‘n’ roll background. It’s repetitious, basic and busy. Yet, the track works, somehow. Evoking some visions of The White Stripes‘ experimentation on Get Behind Me Satan, Transference very well could be a new chapter in Spoon’s interesting career. However, we’ll just have to wait until its release to get the final verdict.

Spoon’s Transference is out via Merge Records on January 19th.

–John Cassillo, Reviews Editor

Recently I decided to turn on the radio in my car (my iPod was acting up.) The sound of Jack White’s voice immediately filled my speakers and flooded my car with noise. This was not the White Stripes. It was a side-act. I do not like side-projects. They are almost never as good as the genuine product, which is understandable, because their purpose is (mostly) experimental. Jack White is the perfect example for my thesis: Side projects are not good (or rather, not as good as the original act that they are replacing.)

Case-in-point: The White Stripes (a band consisting of Jack and Meg White.) They have released six (6) albums, which I will rank in order of best to worst (according to my opinion- not aggregate sales):

1. (Best): Elephant (Best Track: I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself)

2. Get Behind Me, Satan (Best Track: My Doorbell)

3. De Stijl (Best Track: Truth Doesn’t Make a Noise)

4. White Blood Cells (Best Track: Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground)

5. Icky Thump (Best Track: I’m Slowly Turning Into You)

6. (Worst): The White Stripes (Best Track: Do)

At some point, Jack White decided he wanted to make music with a full band, and not just his percussionist (Meg White.) Enter: The Raconteurs. The Raconteurs are the most commercially successful Jack White side-project, as well as the most critically acclaimed. I understand why Jack decided to make music with them (the universal desire to explore his range as a songwriter with the addition of a bassist, keyboardist, back-up vocalist and guitarist, and a banjo.) The Raconteurs are (arguably) better than the White Stripes in some schools of thought, as their hit singles have become just as popular (if not more) as most of the the White Stripes’ material.

For instance, the following songs kick (fucking) ass: Old Enough, Level, Steady as She Goes, Broken Boy Soldier, and Hands, among others.

My gripe is not with the Raconteurs.

In exploring his desire to create music with other artists, Jack White became addicted to side-projects (to the point where the White Stripes have almost become neglected and forgotten.) I should note that their seventh (7th) studio album is in production, however. So, at the expense of the White Stripes, Jack White decided to create music with the following acts:

The Dead Weather, The Upholsterers, The Go, Loretta Lynn, Beck, Holly Golightly, Soledad Brothers, Alicia Keys

The success of these side-projects is mixed, at best. As a fan, it’s hard to quantify the way I feel about this. Yes, I love Jack White as a musician, and was (at first) interested and pleased at this newfound musical endeavors, but as the side-projects and collaborations pile up, and the 7th White Stripes album gets delayed, I find myself growing increasingly frustrated and turned-off to all these distracting duets and bands Jack has been flirting with.

Swan Lake: Better Than Sunset Rubdown

I have had these same feelings with Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, and his subsequent side-acts:

Sunset Rubdown
Atlas Strategic
Handsome Furs
Swan Lake
Frog Eyes
Johnny and the Moon
Hot Hot Heat
Fifths of Seven

I would much rather hear a new Wolf Parade album, then another bizarre Sunset Rubdown single.

Side projects are not always bad. Sometimes they are AMAZING, and better than the original act. The best example I can come up with off the top of my head is The Postal Service. Ben Gibbard’s by-mail collaboration with Jimmy Tamborello has held up over time, and is (arguably) better than any album ever released by Death Cab for Cutie.

The case can be made for and against side projects all day long, but at the end of the day, I think artists should go the route of Ben Gibbard. Make one, solitary album that completely knocks critics out of their chair(s), while also knowing when to call it quits. Because, ultimately, if an artists strays too far from his flock, he will alienate his fan base (and probably his band mates as well.) This is why the Postal Service remains so awesome. They released one (1) album (which was incredible, and loved by fans and critics alike), and then went right back to creating music with Death Cab. Despite the (overwhelming) demand for a follow-up album, Ben Gibbard hasn’t budged. This is what makes a great artist. He knows how to toy with his audience (without upsetting them.) Ultimately, will there be a follow-up to 2003’s Give Up? Probably, yes. But in making us (the fans) wait so long, and by focusing on his primary band, Ben Gibbard has succeeded where Jack White has not: He created something amazing, took a step back, and went back to doing what his fans wanted – creating more albums with Death Cab for Cutie. I should probably also mention that Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley joined Ben Gibbard on vocals for this album – another successful side-act.)

Bravo.

Now let’s just hope that Mr. White “gets it” and the White Stripes‘ 7th album is better than their last effort (the progressive, experimental, and mediocre Icky Thump.) Also, let’s hope that the side projects end. Because, let’s be honest, The Dead Weather sucks, and will probably motivate tired acts like the Kings of Leon (who are already far too commercial) to set out on the side-act expedition (something that no one [see: the real fans] want.)

Final Note: Some of the best side-acts come from Canada. Leslie Feist (of Feist and Kings of Convenience, and formerly of Broken Social Scene and Wilco) is incredible.

It Might Get Loud

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE. If you like rock and roll and worship at the strings of Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White like I do, this is a must see. I got into Led Zeppelin when I was in Jr. High School in the mid-80s along with The Who and The Rolling Stones and all the other masters of the genre but Led Zep always spoke to me on a level that The Beatles did. They formed my opinions of what I liked and how hard I liked it. I can’t imagine growing up without the genius of Jimmy Page. Music was my church and sanity and these were the gods I looked to. I remember in High School U2 really hit it but I was off in metal land listening to bootlegs of Metallica. There was this girl Elana who was totally obsessed with U2 and even though I wasn’t into them, I thought her musical devotion cool as hell and never forgot it. Now The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum are permanently on my desert island disc list as they completely blow me away.

As for The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan is a cd that I can listen to on repeat and love each listen. Jack White is all of my influences wrapped together in his own genius. I remember when I first heard Leadbelly and my search of the roots of rock and roll began. This is a movie that puts you in the room of the three of them and it’s an honor just to watch it. When Jimmy Page first riffs into “Whole Lotta Love” the jaw-dropping look on Jack White and The Edge’s face is exactly those of us in the audience. Pure awe and worship. My only complaint is that this film isn’t ten hours long. I want to be there. I want to live in that room and hear every thought in their mind. I went with a friend of mine who isn’t music obsessed like I am and she thought it was mind-blowingly fantastic also.

It’s a joy to see the masters explore their loves and the story of how they grew into who they are. Jimmy Page turns into an air-guitar playing little boy at the listen of Link Wray’s “Rumble”. Hearing him deconstruct its attitude reawakened my love for the song. He describes his album and 45 collection as old friends to visit with and I love that I have the same feeling. When it comes down to it, Jimmy Page is as much of a fanbooy as the rest of us. Watching him play “The Battle of Evermore” on mandolin in front of his castle made me think that his gift is one of thousands of years. 

As a technophile, I have a new appreciation for The Edge. He embraces and plays with every conceivable sound you can possibly get from a guitar. It’s his voice and he is a master at getting his point across. It takes you through the beginning stages of “I Will Follow” which I think is one of the greatest rock songs of my generation. It’s one of those songs that you wish there really was an 11 on volume. It also takes you though his creative process in the writing of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” which got all of us to watch the news and take a look at the world around us. We also get to see Jack White write an entire song from start to finish in the movie. I noticed that he writes in pencil with no eraser. I think that takes more balls thank ink.

Toward the end of the film, the three of them jam to “In My Time of Dying” and the entire audience applauded and cheered at the end. The grand finale was “The Weight” (also one of my all time favorite songs) was fantastic because it brought all of their different styles and methods to the song. Once the movie ended, the entire audience clapped and most of us stayed until the last credit scrolled up the screen.

Now it’s time to do a well done rock doc with drummers!!

Here’s a tidbit I found on YouTube:

Cela faisait longtemps que je voulais instauré cette catégorie. Car il est toujours difficile de découvrir un artiste et un best of de tout ce qu’il a fait serait le bienvenue. TRTN répond à votre détresse cher lecteur!

Ainsi, pour inaugurer cette nouvelle rubrique, je vous propose un groupe que j’affectionne tout particulièrement ; The White Stripes. Car, à l’approche d’un 7eme album tant attendu (si Jack White arrête ses infidélités musicales), il est grand temps pour vous de découvrir que ces deux jeunes gens ont eu une vie avant et après Seven Nation Army.

Le Point Biographique : D’abord, il faut savoir que ce groupe a été formé à Detroit, ville du rock garage et des rappeur gonflettes, en 1997. Formé par John Anthony Gillis et Megan Martha White, qui deviendront par la suite Jack White et Meg White, Jack ayant pris le nom de famille de sa femme de l’époque. (Et, non, ce n’étais pas sa sœur.) La formule de base est simple, une guitare et une batterie; Un son primaire sans détour. Ils sortiront ainsi 6 albums sous la même ligne de conduite ajoutant quelques sonorités étrangères mais sans jamais avoir recours à un ordinateur. Bien entendu, beaucoup auront reconnu les influences blues rock et evidemment la marque au fer rouge d’un son Zeppelinien. L’essentiel est dit. Maintenant, le Best Of.

The White Stripes (1999) : Les WS signent là un album particulièrement sec. Le son est rude et ferme; le résultat de leur formule Guitare/Batterie dans toute sa splendeur. On entend encore l’écho du garage et le micro grisonnant. L’album est perturbant, mêlant langoureusement le doux blues et le rock zeppelinien le plus glacial, on se retrouve vite désarmé par tant d’efficacité. Les chansons sont courtes mais envoie ce qu’il faut à vos tympans. Un album assez neutre finalement,lorsque l’on écoute la suite de leur discographie. Cependant, cet album éponyme, écouté seul, nous apporte un son étrangement innovateur malgré les deux reprises et le mélange d’influence. Les White Stripes sont des lors un groupe  à part entière.

• Astro – youtube
• Stop Breaking Down (Robert Johnson cover) – youtube
• Jimmy The Exploder – youtube

De Stijl (2000) : Soit, un mouvement artistique néerlandais presque inconnu caractérisé par des couleurs simples et pures telles que le Rouge, le noir et le blanc. Jack White bien décidé à suivre son idéologie nous offre un De Stijl bien plus fluide que que son prédécesseur. Ainsi, ce deuxième album est avant tout un album de transition. Ballotant entre l’acoustique d’une folk d’outre tombe et un blues inviolé par un rock’n'roll assez discret, cet album est pour moi légèrement en dessous de son prédécesseur et bien en dessous de ses descendant. Un album assez perturbé donc mais non pas dénué de toute perles, exemples ci-dessous.

• Hello Operator - youtube
• You’re Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl) – youtube
• Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me? – youtube

White Blood Cells (2001) : Ou l’album de la consécration. WBC est sans exageré parfait. Le son des WS a bien murie depuis leur première album. Ils abandonnent enfin leur son garage grésillant, et opte pour une voie plus souple et plus claire.  Ainsi, WBC est bien mieux articulés et offre des compositions d’une qualité rare, mélangeant, cette foi-ci avec réussite, la folk, le blues et le rock. Tous les titres de cet album sont, sans exception, uniques et offre chacun leur lot de jouissance. En bref, un album qui annonce alors l’avènement des White Stripes, présageant, alors, une carrière hors du commun.

• Expecting – youtube
• We’re Going To Be Friends – youtube
• Fell In Love With A Girl – youtube

Elephant (2003) : Ce genre d’album est si rare dans l’histoire de la musique que l’on ne peut que saluer cet éclair de génie. Elephant est avant tout un 4eme album soit l’album décisif d’un groupe. Les WS ont passé ce cap sans aucune pitié ou hésitation. Elephant est indéfinissable, on en ressort changé, presque mentalement perturbé. On voit du noir, du rouge et du blanc, partout, Jack White le sourire en coin nous regarde d’un air fier, Meg White joue avec ses cheveux et nous dire de venir. On sent presque l’odeur du vieux bois. Le sable crisse à notre passage. L’ambiance est dingue. L’intensité musical n’a jamais été plus forte qu’au pied des riffs diabolique de Jack White. Le son y est étrangement pur mais sur vitaminé. deux petites semaines pour faire cet album, c’est juste un miracle! Inutile de vous dire que Seven Nation Army n’est qu’une vitrine d’un magasin haute-gamme. Ce n’est pas juste le plus commercial, le plus médiatisé mais bien le meilleur. Merci de vous en rendre compte.

• Ball And Biscuit – youtube
• The Hardest Button To Button – youtube
• Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine – youtube

Get Behind Me Satan (2005) : Les WS pètent leur câble! Lassé du succès nauséeux d’Elephant, ils changent leur base et rajoutent une multitude d’instruments.On découvre alors des sonorités presque surnaturel.Jusqu’alors personne n’aurait imaginé un album des WS tel que celui-ci. Ce qui le rend par défaut assez unique en son genre. On ne sait alors, si les WS sont à l’aube d’un changement majeur ou d’une simple expérimentation. L’album est néanmoins une véritable réussite. On se surprend encore maintenant à découvrir de nouvelle chansons marquantes. Un album intéressant, pas des plus accessible pour les puristes du rock, mais néanmoins utlratubesque, comme d’habitude, je dirais. Ps: Suis-je la seule qui trouve que Red Rain ressemble au générique de 30millions d’amis?

• Blue Orchid – youtube
• The Denial Twist – youtube
• My Doorbell – youtube

Icky Thump (2007) : Icky Thump….sonne moderne. 2007, 10 ans d’existence, les WS n’ont plus rien à prouver, ils performent et perdurent. Le bal s’ouvre avec Rag and Bone, une mise en bouche plus que rock n’roll. S’enchaine le magistral Icky Thump, soit l’une des meilleures chansons du duo selon moi. Le son n’est plus glacial, ni approximatif…il est juste, implacable et incontournable. Je pourrais vous dire que Icky thump est l’album de la maturité mais j’ai comme une impression que le 7eme opus des White Stripes nous réserve quelques d’assez spécial. Jack White courant après les side projects et autre collaborations…On ne peut qu’espérer un album riche en rebondissement.

• Icky Thump – youtube
• Rag And Bone – youtube
• Conquest (Corky Robbins cover) – youtube

]]> http://hollywynne.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/the-short-list-for-a-saturday-evening/ Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:59:48 +0000 holly wynne http://hollywynne.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/the-short-list-for-a-saturday-evening/

1.  I will begin counting calories again on Monday.  Jane Q. has inspired me.  I got REALLY tired of it, but then found out it was apparently working.  I HATE it.  I HATE that I’m one of those people who has to do such.  I need a metabolism transplant.  Or a hormone re-routing or something.

2.  The reason I’m saying Monday instead of tomorrow is that today my mom gave me a tray of mini Cadbury eggs.  It’s not Easter without them in my world, but for some reason I hadn’t consumed the sugary richness of one of my favorite treats this year.  I was feeling the void, but the mom came through.  I was having a conversation with a friend today and was amazed to find out that she didn’t like them.  She prefers Peeps, which I of course like as well, but she says it’s gross that Cadbury eggs have fake yolks.  She, of course, is wrong, but I still love her.

3.  Why would a TV station play The Ten Commandments on Easter eve?  That’s kind of an anachronism.

4.  I got to see my bug today.  Her blue eyes are even sparklier and her little cheeks are even more kissable than ever.  I cannot remember the world without her.

5.  Have you found me a job yet?  Get on that.

6.  My last status update on Facebook said “Holly is lonely, but she ain’t that lonely yet.”  I was doing a major White Stripes thing today (and last night).  I don’t think I’d listened to Get Behind Me Satan in months.  Maybe a year.  In any case, as always, I found something new and applicable in the lyrics of a song I’d heard a jillion times.  And here you go.

And sometimes I wanna call you
But I feel like a pest
And I’m lonely, but I ain’t that lonely yet

Welcome to the tearjerking, heart wrenching, blood curdling final installment of Musical Timeline.  If you have no idea what this is all about, then check the previous 2 entries.  We will tell you that Part 2 was probably the best, and most controversial, fitting in right with The Empire Strikes Back and Look Who’s Talking Too in epic trilogies.  We welcome your criticism of our choices, as long as you know that in the end, you are wrong.

We end with the years 1997-2008: there is too much of 2009 left to go ahead and name a best album of the year, but mayhaps we will come back to this from time to time.  It’s a little early in our relationship with our readers to be talking about the 20th anniversary of Random Ramblings (we’re keeping it casual at the moment. Doing the bull dance, feeling the flow. Working it. Working it.)

Here it is. 

1997: Radiohead-Ok Computer

Another no brainer.  This album changed how this band was perceived, and gave them tenure as the Alternative World’s most brilliant, ambitious band.  Not a happy album by any stretch of the imagination, but perhaps the most epic, atmospheric, foreboding collection of songs to gain semi-mainstream acceptance in the last couple of decades.  If they come close to this level of greatness again, it will be ok. Even coming close would be pretty amazing. 

Honorable Mention: Foo Fighters-The Colour and the Shape

1998: Elliott Smith-XO

We first found out about Mr. Smith like most people: while watching the excellent movie Good Will Hunting.  While “Miss Misery” and the other songs on the soundtrack drew us in, this major label debut was full of gorgously bittersweet acoustic ballads, as well as some up tempo rockers.  While we think Figure 8 is probably a better album from start to finish, the highlights of “Pitseleh”, “Bled White”, and “Oh Well, Ok” makes us wish we could have had a full lifetime of work from this troubled musical genius. If you are in a good mood and want to be brought down a notch, anything by Elliott Smith will do just fine.

Honorable Mention: Beastie Boys-Hello Nasty

1999: Wilco-Summerteeth

Before they started coming out with adventerous but not-so-fun-to-listen-to sonic detours, Wilco had the double dose of heightened inspiration that was Being There, and then this album. After the twangyness of their previous album, the off kilter modern day Beach Boy harmonies were a little jarring.  But this album delivers classic song after classic song, culminating in the perfect title track.  Even the hidden song “Candyfloss”, an apparent tossaway for the band, is better than most bands can ever hope for.  This is pop music for hopelessly romantic,  narcisistic, and nostalgic music lovers (I’m sure Jeff Tweedy wouldn’t mind putting himself in all three catagories). 

Honorable Mention: Travis-The Man Who

2000: Coldplay-Parachutes

It’s interesting to think that everyone thought that Coldplay wanted to be the next Radiohead, instead of the next U2 like they would later aspire to become.  For downtrodden, sad sack songs, this album is pitch perfect.  Favorites of ours: “Sparks”, “Trouble”, “Don’t Panic”, and of course, “Yellow”.  Their song writing would take on a more crowd pleasing singalong turn on later releases, perhaps for the better, depending on who you ask.  But this was an impressive debut for a band that has gone on to become the most popular band of this decade. 

Honorable Mention: Elliott Smith-Figure 8

2001: Pete Yorn-Music for the Morning After

It’s a shame that Pete Yorn has still not moved from just a step beyond cult status.  His debut album seemed to be a sign that his star would ascend a lot farther than it has, but it isn’t for lack of talent. This isn’t a ground shattering innovation of an album-just an album’s worth of heartfelt songs, with interesting lyrics and Yorn’s emotional vocals that resonate with the listener.  ”Life on a Chain”, “Black”, and “Murray” have enough of a balance between world weariness and yearning  to draw the listener in.  If interested, check out his 3rd album next (Nightcrawler), then his 2nd (Day I Forgot). 

Honorable Mention: John Mayer-Room For Squares

2002: David Gray-A New Day at Midnight

He’s known for “Babylon” but then seemed to slip from the radar back to obscurity.  But this album is stronger than White Ladder. A nice combo of drum machine beats, keyboards,  and acoustic guitars align for an underrated mellow masterpiece. More people will hopefully hear this as the years go on. Best songs: “Long Distance Call”, “Kangaroo”, and “Last Boat to Nowhere”.  

Honorable Mention: Queens of the Stone Age-Songs for the Deaf

2003: The White Stripes-Elephant

We truly didn’t get this band until we saw them live. Sure, we liked “Fell in Love With a Girl”. But nothing prepared us for the hot slab of rock that they shoved down our throat when we saw them at Music Midtown in 2005.  Meg White’s kindergarden bully drumming and Jack White’s slide guitar on crack wailing gave us a new appreciation for their modern day blues and rock.  Give Jack White 3 chords and a vintage amp and he’ll pulverize your cerebral cortez and have you smiling the whole time.  If the guitar solos in “Ball and Biscuit” don’t stir your inner air guitarist, then you are an android. A really dorky, uncool android. 

Honorable Mention: Guster-Keep it Together

2004: Interpol-Antics

Menacing bass driven nightclub rock for the city dwelling set.  We have not heard much Joy Division, but anything that inspired this album must be a good thing.  The bass in “Length of Love” is fit for a sinister disco.  And the staccoto guitar in “Evil” seems like the theme music for some ubercool, indifferent city spy, who doesn’t really care if he assassinates his target, but wants to look cool during the attempt.  Other highlights: “C’mere”, and “Slow Hands”.  

Honorable Mention: Ambulance LTD-LP

2005: My Morning Jacket-Z

A perfect mash up of falsetto, reverb, classic rock, epic guitar solos, and non-self indulgent, non-boring jamming.  ”Lay Low” has the best build up we’ve heard in quite some time. It made us appreciate long, jammy codas if done the right way. And the right way includes piercing guitar work, culimating in the whole band regrouping for a thunderous finale. The electro-coustic soul of “It Beats 4 U” shows how creative they can be, but the driving, propulsive “Anytime” also shows how they can maneuver themselves around a standard rock song just fine. Also an amazing live band, which is the icing on the cake. 

Honorable Mention: Coldplay-X & Y

2006: My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade

We felt a little odd when we starting liking this band’s music, seeing as the youth of today were so infatuated with them.  We are sure they would have been mortified to know that we were rocking out to “The Ghost of  You” and “I’m Not Okay” in our cars.  But who would have known that they had this epic, theatrical classic in them.  Intended to be taken in as a whole, with a story of a terminally ill patient running throughout, this album is a soaring mix of punk, pop, balladry, and even some vaudeville thrown in.  Our personal favorites are “Welcome to The Black Parade”, “I Don’t Love You”, “Cancer”, and “Disenchanted”, but we could listen to this from start to finish any time, any day.  

Honorable Mention: Mastodon-Blood Mountain

2007: The White Stripes-Icky Thump

Jack and Meg can’t be denied a second entry on the list.  After the slight detour of Get Behind Me Satan, they returning to their old stomping grounds of riff rock.  The title track is menacing stop start rhythms and screeching guitar work.  ”Conquest” features a duel to the death between horns and guitar.  And “Catch Hell Blues” has slide work so impressive that it makes Duane Allman’s ghost weep with shame. Can’t wait to hear what they create next. 

Honorable Mention: Band of Horses-Cease to Begin

2008: Coldplay-Viva La Vida

If we had to pick a best album by them, it might actually be this album.  We like the succinct, catchy, dense quality of the music. And the title track could be the best song of last year, or any other year in recent memory. It is physically impossible not to sing along with it. (sorry Joe Satriani-we don’t think they plagiarized your song on purpose. Learn how to sing like Chris Martin and beat him to the punch next time).  ”Strawberry Swing” is a nice tribal change of pace, and “Lovers in Japan” bounces along on sunny tack piano. It is fashionable to dismiss this band as lightweight, but the truth is that they write really, really good songs. The scary thing is that it feels like they are just hitting their stride. 

Honorable Mention: Metallica-Death Magnetic

So there you have it. The albums that we will place in the time capsule.  If, perchance, the invaders discover the location of said time capsule, rest assured we have a back up plan. And as soon as we figure out what it is, we will put it to action.

Mark 8:31-39

There is something about getting to the end of the story that helps us see parts of it that we missed along the way.

I’m reminded of great movies like No Way Out, where it’s not until the end of the film that we learn the truth about Yuri; or The Usual Suspects, where we finally figure out who this Kayser Söze character is and the whole film comes into clearer focus; or just about any Hitchcock movie, where just enough of the story is off camera for us not to know the full story until the precise moment the director wants us to.

There is something in this gospel lesson that fits that pattern. Immediately preceding this text, Jesus has fed the masses, healed the lame, confronted the Pharisees and the disciples, and has asked his disciples about himself. It is immediately before this story that Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah. Then, as Jesus is explaining what all of this means, Peter pulls him aside to correct him on this point about crucifixion. Peter, after all this time with Jesus, is still missing the point.

I can’t help but wonder what Peter must have thought at the foot of the cross. Did Jesus’ words become clearer to him at that moment? Perhaps…but it was during the trial, even, that Peter was denying that he knew Jesus at all.

There is a larger point in the greater story arc of Peter. And it is simply this: we are all teachable. We can all grow. Even those of us who might deserve the nickname “Satan” from time to time can still end up being rock-solid.

We are living with the cultural assumption that changing our minds is a sign of weakness. For politicians, it is perilous to do so, because you are a “flip-flopper.” For the rest of us, there is an assumption of imperfection if we admit a wrong or go back on something we’ve said. Have any of you ever changed your mind about something? I can think of any number of subjects on which I was convinced I was in the right only later to get more information and change my mind. There are any number of issues of the day where I could talk about how my own perceptions and how they’ve changed, but let me offer a frivolous one: country music.

As a kid, I hated country music. I didn’t ever want to listen to it. I thought it was beneath me. I held to this all the way through college until I got to seminary. Living in Chicago, there were these bands that performed country music with a frenetic energy to the point that I got intrigued. The name for this genre of younger rock n’ rollers playing traditional country was Ya’llternative. Through these bands, I learned about and went back and listened to Hank Williams, Sr., and Webb Pierce. From there, I stumbled across newer acts like Dwight Yoakam and BR-549. I even uncovered whole genres like bluegrass that I had missed somehow. The point, however frivolous, is that my experience of something I had written off in a whole new way opened me up to enjoyment that I never would have found otherwise.

Can our faith life be the same? Do we have assumptions about Jesus, just like Peter, that close us off to the fuller truth of his life and ministry? Do we want to pick and choose, to take the parts that only talk about victory and resurrection so that we can somehow fool ourselves into thinking that success and faith are somehow intertwined? Or, on the other extreme, are we so comfortable with our own martyrdom that we clutch onto crucifixion with all of our might, refusing to let go even when the cross is empty? Are there parts of faith that we have eliminated for the sake of convenience? Or is the point more personal, that there are places in our lives or relationships where we need to admit we have been wrong? Are there apologies we have not wanted to give because we don’t want to be seen as weak? Are there points of view we have missed because we need to portray ourselves as strong, no matter what?

It could be that we’re missing the point. But there are none of us, not even those of us worthy to be called “Satan” from time to time, that are beyond redemption.

El post de hoy estará dedicado a una banda más, digamos, “actual”, comparada con los “dinosaurios del rock” de los que hemos estado hablando hasta ahora. Me refiero a “The White Stripes” formados por Jack y Meg White, guitarra y batería respectivamente. Se formaron en 1997 y sus dos integrantes fueron pareja por un tiempo, aunque ocultado esto y diciendo que eran hermanos. Han publicado auténticas maravillas de discos como “Elephant” y “Get Behind Me Satan”, que han entrado en muchas listas tipo “Mejores Álbumes de la Historia” o “1001 Álbumes que debes oír antes de morir”. Sus influencias son el Blues, el Garage Rock y el Punk, siendo a veces su estilo llamado “Punk Blues”. Poniendo a su música las etiquetas que se quieran, son una de las bandas de Rock más sólidas e importantes de la escena actual, dominada por el Pop y donde no sobran precisamente bandas rockeras. El rojo, el blanco y el negro son sus colores predilectos y los combinan constantemente en sus discos, conciertos y videoclips. Jack White es además de un buen compositor un excelente guitarrista que, de hecho, ha sido nombrado como el 17º mejor de todos los tiempos por la revista Rolling Stone. Os dejo con Seven Nation Army, canción que abre Elephant y que ahora estoy intentando tocar a la guitarra. Saludos.

Try playing these tracks at 11!

5.

This is Lostprophets with Five Is A Four Letter Word, a track from their 2001 debut – TheFakeSoundOfProgress.

Interesting Fact:

The album was recorded in one week for around £4000.

4.

Immigrant Song a classic from Led Zeppelin, written and released in 1970.

Interesting Fact:

The song is dedicated to the Icelander Leif Ericson, and is sung from the perspective of Vikings rowing west from Scandinavia in search of new lands. The lyrics make explicit reference to Viking conquests and the Old Norse religion (Fight the horde, sing and cry, Valhalla, I am coming!).

3.

The wonderfully named Black History Month by Death From Above 1979, the third single from their album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine.

Fact (not that interesting) :

They called it Black History Month because it was written in February.

2. Video can be found here.

CAUTION: STRONG THUG VIOLENCE, unsuitable for most people.

†, alternatively known as Cross, is the debut album of the French electro house duo Justice, first released on June 11, 2007. This track is my personal highlight from a brilliant album.

Interesting Fact:

The track contains a sample of Night on Disco Mountain by David Shire from Saturday Night Fever and a sample of Jocko Homo by Devo. The latter sample is uncredited in the liner notes.

1.

Blue Orchid is the first track by The White Stripes from their 2005 album Get Behind Me Satan, and the first single to be released from it.

Interesting Fact

The recorded sound is produced by an playing a guitar into an Electro-Harmonix creation, the Polyphonic Octave Generator (POG).

______________

Now get down to the doctors and buy yourself a hearing aid!

(Sermon for August 31, 2008 || Proper 17, Year A RCL || Matthew 16:21-28)

Imagine with me the Apostle Peter, who is in Rome near the end of his life, thinking back on that day spoken of in this morning’s Gospel. *

The coals in the cooking fire still smoldered hours after the last log was cast on them. I awoke in the pre-dawn chill and warmed my fingers over the scant heat. Mine was the night’s last watch, and I muttered to myself about the senselessness of posting a sentry. But our resident Zealot,** the other Simon, had spoken persuasively about the need for vigilance, especially as Jesus’ words reached more important and more vindictive ears. As the foggy, half-light of dawn crept through our camp, I saw movement coming through the scrub from the foothills. I was about to wake the Zealot when I heard the tune of a psalm carried on the breeze, and then Jesus himself stepped out of the mist. Under one arm, he had a load of sticks and twigs, which he deposited on the coals. Blowing gently on the embers, he rekindled the fire and sat down next to me.

“Lord, you shouldn’t go off alone like that. It isn’t safe.” Apparently, I said this louder than I had meant to because our companions began to stir.

“You’re right,” he said, “It probably isn’t safe.” He turned to look at me and smiled. “But I wasn’t alone, Peter. No. None of us is ever alone.” He paused, held his breath. Then he exhaled slowly, and his cold breath mingled with the smoke from the damp twigs on the fire. He called out to those still sleeping. “Gather around, everyone. I have something to tell you.”

Once the rest of our group was seated at the fire, Jesus lifted his head and greeted us each by name. “My friends,” he said, “Yesterday, I asked you to keep my identity a secret. I asked you not to tell anyone that I am the Messiah. I know I can trust all of you, and this morning I have more to entrust to your confidence. Peter has just cautioned me about the danger of going off alone. Simon has you all standing guard through the night. I thank them both for their devotion to our safety. However, my friends, this morning I must tell you where our story is going, where my path is leading. Soon, I will abandon the safety of these hills and go to Jerusalem. Once there, I will ask you not to protect me. Men from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes will come, and they will arrest me, and they will beat me, and they will kill me. And three days later I will be raised from the dead.”

I stood up and looked down at Jesus. I didn’t know what to say. Twenty minutes ago he was rekindling the fire, and now he was talking about his own fire being snuffed out. I looked around at my companions—stunned into silence every one, even Bartholomew who always had some joke or jest on his lips. I started walking away. I needed to get away.

I thought I had everything figured out. I thought I knew what was to come. I saw him do amazing things: I saw him make the blind see and the lame walk. I saw him cleanse the leper’s skin. I saw him feed five thousand with enough to feed five. I saw him cry out in the storm and calm the waves. The words of the prophet were coming to life before my very eyes. The day before, Jesus had asked us who we thought he was. “You’re the Messiah,” I had said, and something inside me that was not myself told me I had spoken the truth.

But what kind of Messiah lets himself be led like some silent sheep to the slaughter? What kind of Messiah allows himself to be killed? The Messiah is the heir to David’s throne, the king who brings victory over our oppressors, the warrior who will sweep our enemies from our land and make us free once again. Not one who surrenders. Not a victim. Not a dead man.

These maddening thoughts crashed into me, and I dropped to one knee, my chest heaving, my cheeks moist with tears. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. Jesus was there, looking down at me. “Why, Lord?” I snarled from my kneeling position. Then I stood up and shouted in his face: “Why? I trusted you. I called you Messiah and you did not deny it. I gave you my life, and for what? So that I might dig your grave?” I turned around and put my hands on my head, squeezing as if the pressure would keep my mind from flying apart. “Heavens preserve you, Lord. This must never happen to you.”

Jesus turned and looked at me or into me. When he spoke, his voice was calm, but commanding. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on godly things, but on human things.”

Then he walked back to camp, leaving me alone in the morning fog. “None of us is ever alone,” I heard him say, as in a distant memory. I followed him back to the fire, my thoughts as thick as the fog. Yesterday, I was Rock. Today, I am stumbling block? Yesterday, the father in heaven was revealing things to me. Today, my mind is set on human things. What happened? What changed?

I had been clinging so tightly to my own image of the Messiah that I failed to see this new, brilliant vision of the Christ in my midst. Where was his army marshalling to cast out the Romans? Where were his generals and siege towers and chariots? Of course, there were none. Instead of soldiers there were blind men with new eyes. Instead of swords and shields there were loaves and fishes. Instead of slaughter and death there was healing and life for all. I realized in that moment that I was the blind one: I missed what was there because I was looking for what was not. I was the deaf one: I had never heard Jesus properly because I was always filtering him through my own preconceptions. I vowed then and there to listen with new ears and see with new eyes.

As I reached the camp, I heard him say to our companions, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

I wanted to be that follower. But I couldn’t make it happen that cold morning. There were too many changes happening and just too much new information to process. And I couldn’t make it happen later that year. Instead of denying myself, I denied Jesus. Three times in one night. He took up his cross and I fled to save my life. But three days later, he rose from the dead, and I saw him, and that voice inside me remembered that he said he would do this. But was I his follower yet, even then?

The years bring clarity, and now I know that I was his follower even on that cold morning and on that terrifying night before his death. You see, being his follower had very little to do with how much I understood. I didn’t understand the kind of Messiah he was and yet he still welcomed me back, still loved me, no matter how much I shouted at him. Being his follower also had very little to do with how good I was at it. I denied him and yet he still welcomed me back, still loved me.

Yes, the years do bring clarity, and many things are clear to me now. Jesus never said that those who lose their life for his sake will save their life. The saving is Jesus’ job and his alone. No. He said that those who lose their life for his sake will find their life. You don’t find something without searching for it. The search gave me the space to let go of my preconceptions, to lose all those things I was holding onto so tightly—my own vision of the Messiah, my own need for Jesus to be exactly who I needed him to be. As I let go of those things, the search offered me the license to believe in Jesus without understanding everything he said or did. As my own death approaches, I see that the losing, the searching, and the finding are all somehow wrapped into one. The One I seek has already found me. The One I seek is bearing his cross with me. The One I seek is walking before me as I try to follow him.

None of us is ever alone. No matter how much or how little I think I understand, I hear Jesus’ voice inside of me saying, “Understanding will come…in time. For now, lift up that cross and follow me.”

Footnotes

* This narrative type of sermon has its roots in the ancient Jewish practice of Midrash, in which scholars took the stories of scripture and expanded them to reach new insight and new interpretive depth.

** The Zealots were a sect that favored violent encounter to achieve political ends. If they were around today, they’d be one man’s freedom fighters and another man’s terrorists. I try not to mix the accounts of the Gospel, but in this case, I borrow a bit from Luke, who assigns the category of Zealot to the other Simon. Matthew does not.

CHRISTIAN, GET THE MESSAGE STRAIGHT!
1. The message about Jesus’ life
2. The message about the Christian life

Text: Matthew 16:21-26

Introduction

Peter couldn’t have been more right. Last Sunday, in the Gospel, you heard Jesus and his disciples discuss what people thought of him. Then Jesus asked the disciples what they thought of him, and Peter very correctly answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Now, Peter couldn’t have been more wrong. In today’s Gospel, you heard, “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (v. 21). And without Jesus’ invitation for their thoughts, Peter spoke up and very incorrectly stated, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (v. 22).

How could this close disciple of Jesus be so right in verse 16 and so wrong in verse 22? How could Peter have been so right at one point and so wrong at another? And if Peter could have been right at one moment and wrong the next, what does that suggest about us? Are confessional Lutherans like you and I, who take pride in the fact that we strive to be faithful and honest with the Word of God, prone to mix up and misunderstand Jesus and his Word? Those are searching questions that deserve our attention, and our study of today’s Gospel will help us to do just that. Today’s Gospel from Matthew 16 encourages you: Christian, get the message straight! Get the message straight about Jesus’ life, and get the message straight about the Christian life.

1. The Message about Jesus’ Life

Today’s Gospel marks a transition in Matthew’s book. Prior to this point, we’ve heard quite a bit about the miracles of Jesus – the feeding of 5,000 and later 4,000, walking on water, healing a foreigner’s demon-possessed child. And you’d better believe that those miracles drew some attention toward Jesus! Who wouldn’t be impressed with a man who could perform those kinds of wonders? Who wouldn’t think that this man wasn’t divine in some way?

Now we’re about six months away from Holy Week. Jesus believes it is time to focus his disciples’ attention on the central event of his mission and the most pivotal moment in world history. “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” There must have been some glory and fame as an official groupie of the miracle-worker from Nazareth. But suddenly the glory and fame were to be no more. It seems that Jesus had emphasized this for some time before Peter’s adverse reaction. When you read Matthew 16, Peter’s good confession and not-so-good suggestion appear only six verses apart. In reality, there was some time between Peter’s statements. So now that Jesus’ reality check has settled in a bit, Peter raises as strong of an objection as he can. “Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” The message of the cross offends Jesus’ own disciple! “No, Jesus. I’ll take your weighty preaching and your impressive miracles, but what’s this talk about a gruesome death? No, Jesus, may God have mercy on you and never let that be!”

If someone calls you Satan, you can be fairly sure that isn’t a compliment. You can be even more sure when God himself calls you that. “Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” Peter wanted to rewrite the script. Peter wanted to alter the plan. Peter wanted Jesus to promote a different message. But what Peter didn’t want to see was the very plan God had enacted. What Peter didn’t want to hear was the very message that Jesus had been proclaiming to them.

Have you ever noticed how much “First Article Christianity” is touted in our country? Maybe you wonder what I mean by the term, “First Article Christianity.” Think about the Apostles’ Creed. There are three main sections, or articles, in the Apostles’ Creed. The first article is about God the Father; the second article is about Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the third article is about God the Holy Spirit. The First Article is about the way God created the world and preserves and protects us today. The Second Article explains how Jesus’ death and resurrection have redeemed us from sin and defeated death for us. The Third Article shows us how the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in the message of the Second Article.

Now think about the latest inspirational book you saw at the Christian bookstore. Think about the last religious article you read in the paper. Think about the last TV evangelist’s sermon you overheard. What percentage of those is focused on the First Article? What percentage of those contain a message focused on the way God preserves and protects and provides for us, or maybe the way God uses us to provide for others? Now, in contrast, what percentage of those is focused on the Second Article? What percentage of those contain a message focused on the journey that the Son of God made through the Palm Sunday crowds to the Good Friday cross and out of his Easter tomb? Not so much, right? With few exceptions, you will see that the message in many Christian circles today is not that Jesus “must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” And when that message is proclaimed, you will hear many people preferring a different message, essentially saying, “No, Lord! This shall never be the message we preach about you!”

Before you think that this critique is only about the Christians “out there,” don’t forget how often we are inclined nod our heads along with First Article Christianity, but never dare touch the Second Article in our conversations with others and confessions of faith to others. Truth be told, we’d be quite content to avoid that uncomfortable discussion about Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial. After all, that discussion not only makes others uncomfortable, but it makes you uncomfortable, because if it’s true, it means both you and the person across the table from you are miserable sinners who need a rescue from the jaws of hell. What a downer! Who wants to hear that? And so we think that if we just tweak the message, surely that will help the Christian cause. But if we fail to get the message about Jesus’ life straight, we will replace the life-giving Gospel with a “Christian” message that never really gets at the heart of the Christian message of salvation. But without that message about Jesus’ life, and without faith in that message, there can be no salvation.

Fortunately, Jesus did not take up Peter’s advice. He didn’t say, “Hey, Pete, not a bad idea. I really wasn’t looking forward to the cross anyway.” No, Jesus had in mind the things of God, not the things of men. Jesus was bound and determined to make the journey and fulfill the message. Jesus suffered for your sins and mine at the hands of the chief priests and elders. He endured the pangs of hell for your guilt when he was crucified and killed. He secured a “not guilty” verdict for you when he rose from the dead on the third day. And that message about Jesus’ life is the greatest news that you and I and the world need to hear. Christian, get the message straight about Jesus’ life, because in that message is your salvation!

2. The Message about the Christian Life

Life wasn’t going to get easier for Jesus, and it wasn’t going to get easier for his disciples, either. They would be caught in the crossfire of his arrest and trial and crucifixion. They would be persecuted for proclaiming the Gospel after Jesus’ ascension. All but one of Jesus’ disciples would die a martyr’s death for preaching the message about Jesus’ life. As unpleasant as it was to hear, Jesus needed his disciples to understand that they had dark days ahead as much as he did. “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

Just in case the disciples thought that they were in it for the fame, fortune, popularity and pizzazz of following Jesus, Jesus takes the time to also get the message straight about the Christian life. Christians imitate Jesus in his humiliation. Christians don’t live in perfect glory and peace now. The Christian regularly needs to “take up his cross and follow [Jesus].” Christians endure hardships for following Jesus and face criticism for confessing Jesus.

It is important that we get the message straight about the Christian’s life. Jesus is not telling people to live an ascetic life for the purpose of living an ascetic life. Nor is Jesus suggesting that a vow of poverty and a bare-bones life will cause someone to find salvation. Listen to his words carefully. “Whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Whoever trusts in him as Lord and Savior and, as a result, is willing to endure whatever hardship comes as a result rather than leaving Jesus behind – that person may lose the world, but not his soul. Jesus’ message about the Christian life is that it often is a reflection of his own life. Christ suffered for us, and we can expect to suffer for him.

That’s another message that our sinful nature would rather not hear. Lose my life for Jesus? Do I really want that? Is it worth working on my troubled marriage when it would just be easier to give it up and walk away? Is it worth speaking up about Jesus Christ when I wouldn’t get strange looks from people if I just kept my mouth shut? Is it worth denying myself the latest gadgets, or the newest car, or the tropical vacation, so that I can give more to the work of our church, the ministry of our school, and the mission of our synod? But at that point, when our sinful nature flirts with the message of a cushy life, Jesus’ warning comes to mind. “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Chasing after an ungodly way of life or obsessing about unnecessary things in life cannot gain eternal life.

Jesus has already reminded us how important it is that we get the message straight about his life. Now he tells us: Christian, get the message straight about your life! The proper message about the Christian life is not one of prosperity in the present, but of blessing in eternity. Let’s face it. All the wealth and privilege of the world cannot pay the debt we owe God for sin or secure a home in heaven’s mansions. None of your possessions can cause you to possess heaven’s glory. Only faith in the cross of Christ can give you that. And as a follower of the cross, you will have your crosses to bear. You will face struggles you wouldn’t face otherwise if you weren’t a follower of Jesus. You will face opposition you wouldn’t face otherwise if you weren’t a follower of Jesus. But you will know no greater peace than you know as a follower of Jesus. You will know of no greater assurance than your baptismal adoption into God’s family. You will know of no blessing on earth greater than the blessings Christ has prepared for you in heaven. And those truths make our earthly crosses worth bearing. We know that Christ’s victory came after his cross, and in the same sequence, our victory from Jesus will come after we have carried our crosses (not because we carried our crosses, but after we have carried them) and followed him in faith through this world.

Conclusion

I heard someone say that one of the scariest places to visit is your local Christian bookstore. Doesn’t that sound odd? But the person who made that statement had a point. He was very concerned about the misleading messages regarding Jesus’ life and the Christian life you can find in so many religious books today. And let’s face it. There are some terribly misleading ideas about Jesus’ life and the Christian life floating around the church today, and some of those false ideas can threaten faith itself. Fortunately, Jesus didn’t leave any mixed signals in the words we heard from him today. We understand that his mission was to rescue and redeem us at the cross, and we know that we will carry our crosses in life on this side of heaven. But someday we will exchange those daily crosses for an eternal crown given to us by Christ himself. Look forward to that crown, but in the meantime, keep the message straight! Amen.

Father Ted Tyler from Australia reflects on the Gospel of the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

More from Father Ted Tyler on his website at www.catholic-church.org/ejtyler

No, that's not at all creepy. Go read Greil Marcus.

Having been taught how to upload mp3s, I have a comparison I want to make. This is two more white guys, singing the same country spiritual. The lyrics of the two versions are not quite identical, but tell the same story. And the two sound extremely similar, using the same basic arrangement, etc., though #2 has a little more mountain twang, to #1’s straight flatland country.

Here they are:

1. Wayfaring Stranger:

Now, everyone knows I love Johnny Cash. Like Danny and Brett, I secretly wish I were the Man in Black. But this is a straight-up spiritual. It’s a song about dying and going to see God and dead loved ones. It’s not really any different from Johnny’s own “Daddy Sang Bass,” or any randomly-chosen entry in the whole worst third or so of the Cash catalog. Or, for that matter, the sung-by-everyone “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” (Of which I have a devastatingly good version by Taj Mahal and Alison Krauss, bee-tee-dubs. Ask me for it. It will make you sob sweet tears.) Cash’s “Wayfaring Stranger” is a country-spiritual version of The Pilgrim’s Progress, a Christian allegory so thinly veiled that it’s not really allegory at all.

I know dark clouds will gather ’round me,
I know my way is hard and steep.
But beauteous fields arise before me,
Where God’s redeemed, their vigils keep.

The clouds and the hard and steep way are only just barely metaphorical for a world full of temptation and difficulty. Likewise, “beauteous fields” as a metaphor for eternal paradise actually predate Christianity itself. None of this comes as any surprise when you read this, I’m sure, because not only are the metaphors ancient cliches, but it’s also obvious from the way the song is sung. It’s got a certain kind of power, but it’s a song meant for the pews.

2. Wayfaring Stranger:

This is Jack White, on the “Cold Mountain” soundtrack. Though the lyrics are tinkered with, here and there, they’re basically the same. On the page, they still read like The Pilgrim’s Progress:

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world alone
There is no sickness, toil nor danger
In that fair land to which I go

I’m going home
To see my mother
I’m going home
No more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

I know dark clouds will hover o’er me,
I know my pathway is rough and steep
But golden fields lie out before me
Where weary eyes no more will weep
I’m going home to see my father
I’m going home no more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

I’ll soon be free from earthly trial
This form will rest beneath the sun
I’ll drop the cross of self-denial
And enter in that home with God
I’m going home to see my savior
I’m going home no more to roam
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home

But as I hear it, this is just not a song about God. It’s a song about earthly relief from earthly suffering, stuffed into the skeleton of a spiritual. And what’s so amazing about it is that Jack White takes the same words and the same melody used by Johnny Cash to mean resting in peace and meeting his family in Heaven, and he sings them with such subtlety that it’s clear that he’s talking about actually returning home to his mother and father. Maybe it’s the slight sense of wildness in his singing, compared to Cash’s resigned docility.

Whatever does the trick, I think it’s an astonishing performance by Jack White. It’s almost blackly funny. The spiritual is a form that reads theological meaning into our earthly lives. He’s flipped it inside out, so that his song reads earthly meaning into basically theological words. This song singlehandedly got me listening to the White Stripes.

To me the White Stripes are one of the better bands of the 21st Century. And Jack White is an excellent frontman who has really pleased me with his songwriting and kickass enthusiasm. Sometimes, however, with certain White Stripes’ material and Raconteurs’ modern “blues,” his voice and little song ditties have suddenly gotten on my nerves.

Take “My Doorbell,” for instance, off 2005’s Get Behind Me Satan. God, I’ve really become to hate this song. When ‘ol Happy Jack winds up his whine for the chorus, I cringe and want to run for the hills:

I’m thinkin’ about my doorbell
When ya gonna ring it, when ya gonna ring it
Yeah, I’m thinkin’ about my doorbell
When ya gonna ring it, when ya gonna ring it
Yeah, I’m thinkin’ about my doorbell
When ya gonna ring it, when ya gonna ring it
yeah, I been thinkin’ about my doorbell

Aaaargh!!!!!!!!!

And the DJs play the song constantly and music critics love it. It boggles my mind.

Watch the video below for even more cringe factor. White looks and acts like a cross between Johnny Depp character’s Ed Wood and Benny (which he mutated further on this tour), and with all the kids involved in the video, it has a creepy Michael Jackson feel to it.

And let’s not forget the song itself.

Brutal.

The Stripes don’t play one of their best songs (and, incidentally, one of the best rock songs written in the past decade), “Fell in Love with a Girl,” live anymore. But, for some reason, Jack won’t hesitate to play this piece of absolute crap.

Icky Thump, das ist das jüngste Baby von Meg und Jack White. Über Albumtitel wundert man sich jetzt bei den Stripes sowieso schon nicht mehr. Dafür zeigen Sie bei jedem neuen Album neue Facetten ihres unverkennbaren Blues/Rock/Americana Sounds, der den amerikanischen Nashville Sound auf eine ganz neue Ebene gebracht hat.

Wer Get Behind Me Satan, das letzte Album in sein Herz geschlossen hat, wird erstmal überrascht sein. Jack hat sein Piano wieder in die Ecke gestellt und die Gitarre wieder laut aufgedreht. So marschiert Icky Thump, Titelsong des Albums, um den Titelhelden Icky Thump, auch schon gewaltig los und zeigt, was man vom Album zu erwarten hat. Dreckigen Blues Rock mit verspielten Gitarrensoli und Schlagzeug-Märschen (vielleicht kann Meg nicht anderes als Märsche ;o). Sobald man sich in den Titelsong eingewöhnt hat erschließt sich einem die ganze Spielgewalt der Stripes, die auch nicht mehr brauchen als Gitarre und Drums, um große Songs zu schreiben. Vollen Bandsounds bekommen Stripes-Fans inzwischen ja bei den Raconteurs. Das tut den Stripes auch gut, so kitzelt Jack aus den gegebenen Instrumenten alles heraus und führt den White Stripes Sound zurück zu seinen Wurzeln. Jack White’s Affinität zu Lateinamerika zeigt sich in den vielen kleinen Geschichten um Immigranten in den amerikanischen Südstaaten und dem Trompetenspiel (!!) in Conquest. Das Duell Trompete – Gitarre bei diesem Track dürfte auf jeden Fall in die Geschichte des Indie-Rock eingehen. Insgesamt ist Icky Thump ein Geschenk für Stripes Fans der ersten Stunde und dürfte „Satan“ Fans erst einmal abschrecken. Aber ein Reinhören lohnt sich.

Myspace der Band

Iain WhiteTapes

Vous qui allez au concert du lundi 11 Juin 2007, nous recherchons activement :

• 1 Setlister
• 1 Taper

Adressez-vous à sodwee@gmail.com si vous vous sentez prêt(e) à aider la communauté ! Un gros merci !

Click to enlarge… Cliquez pour agrandir…
Affiches par Rob Jones @ www.animalrummy.com

Vous pouvez voir et télécharger une très grosse partie de tous les posters fait jusqu’a maintenant en cliquant sur le lien suivant :

All White Stripes Gig Posters

Direction la rubrique “bootlegs” pour télécharger ce superbe concert qui a eu lieu le 30 Octobre 2005 !

Grâce à DylanBlue de la Littleroom, vous disposez de 37 des meilleures reprises de morceaux joués par les White Stripes durant la tournée 2005… Les morceaux proviennent de différents concerts, ils sont taggés à merveille et nous pouvons dire que quelques raretés se sont retrouvées dans ce Best Of, comme par exemple une version live de Black Jack Davey… Enfin, je sens que vous trépignez de désir alors voilà la liste… Retrouvez tous les MP3 à partir de la rubrique “Bootlegs“

• 01. White Stripes – Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani) – 2005-07-03 (0:07)
• 02. White Stripes – Walking With A Ghost (Tegan And Sara) – 2005-09-27 (2:01)
• 03. White Stripes – Five String Serenade (Mazzy Star) (3:17)
• 04. White Stripes – Folk Singer (Brendan Benson) – 2005-09-06 (1:56)
• 05. White Stripes – Fixin’ To Die Blues (Bob Dylan) (2005-11-14) (1:40)
• 06. White Stripes – Cold Brains (w. Beck) (Beck) – 2005-08-17 (3:24)
• 07. White Stripes – Man (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) – 2005-09-10 (1:01)
• 08. White Stripes – Threw It All Away (Bob Dylan) – 2005-08-15 (1:33)
• 09. White Stripes – Lord, I Just Can’t Keep From Crying (Blind Willie Johnson)- 2005-07-03 (1:10)
• 10. White Stripes – Reality TV (Jack Talks) (2005-09-21) (1:07)
• 11. White Stripes – You Belong To Me (Ringo Starr) – 2005-09-22 (3:50)
• 12. White Stripes – Small Faces (Public Nuisance)- 2005-09-22 (2:59)
• 13. White Stripes – If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day (Robert Johnson) – 2005-08-24 (3:18)
• 14. White Stripes – Baby Blue (Gene Vincent) (2:28)
• 15. White Stripes – 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy (Howlin’ Wolf) – 2005-09-10 (2:06)
• 16. White Stripes – Music Man (M. Willson) – 2005-06-24 (0:16)
• 17. White Stripes – St. James Infirmary Blues (J. Primrose) – Dyin’ Crapshooters Blues – 2005-09-27 (3:23)
• 18. White Stripes – Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning (Mississippi Fred McDowell) – 2005-08-08 (1:44)
• 19. White Stripes – Cheese Danish Dream (Jack White Spoken Word) (2:47)
• 20. White Stripes – Cool Drink Of Water Blues (Tommy Johnson) – 2005-06-24 (0:41)
• 21. White Stripes – I’m Sorry (Flat Duo Jets) – 2005-08-18 (2:04)
• 22. White Stripes – Boogie Chillen’ – Tupelo Blues (John Lee Hooker) (2005-11-13) (3:19)
• 23. White Stripes – Jambalaya On The Bayou (Hank Williams) – 2005-09-22 (0:56)
• 24. White Stripes – House Of The Rising Sun (Bob Dylan) – 2005-09-09 (2:25)
• 25. White Stripes – Whispering Sea (Loretta Lynn) – 2005-07-03 (1:05)
• 26. White Stripes – Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash) (2005-11-13) (1:15)
• 27. White Stripes – Black Jack Davey (Bob Dylan) – 2005-10-02 (5:34)
• 28. White Stripes – John The Revelator (Son House) – 2005-08-24 (0:27)
• 29. White Stripes – Stones In My Passway (Robert Johnson) – 2005-10-01 (3:45)
• 30. White Stripes – Unknown – 2005-10-02 (2:09)
• 31. White Stripes – You Can’t Get That Stuff No More (Tampa Red) – 2005-09-13 (1:32)
• 32. White Stripes – Harrigan (George M. Cohan) – 2005-10-02 (0:37)
• 33. White Stripes – Party Of Special Things To Do (Captain Beefheart) – 2005-10-01 (1:56)
• 34. White Stripes – Love Sick (Bob Dylan) – 2005-08-16 (3:32)
• 35. White Stripes – I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine (Patti Page) – 2005-09-09 (1:13)
• 36. White Stripes – Take A Whiff On Me (Traditional)- 2005-08-31 (0:56)
• 37. White Stripes – Jack On Fire (Gun Club) (2005-09-21) (2:54)

Un très grand merci (a HUGE thank you to) à DYLANBLUE de la littleroom pour avoir partagé ! Amusez-vous bien !