Category Archives: best of

Something To Argue Over: A Best 30 Songs By Bob Dylan List – The Telegraph, 2013 – Plus Audio

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I just came across this list of Bob Dylan’s “30 Greatest Songs” that The Telegraph in England published in 2013.

Do I agree with this list. Of course not. I bet you don’t either.

The list does includes some songs that are on my own list including “Visions Of Johanna” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “I Shall Be Released.”

But “Make You Feel My Love”? Yeah I know Billy Joel covered it (if we were in the same room you’d read the sarcasm in my voice) but come on!

Anyway, check it out and see what you think.

Here are a few of their picks.

“Visions Of Johanna”:

“Ain’t Talkin'”:

“Subterranean Homesick Blues”:

“Cold Irons Bound”:

“Ballad Of A Thin Man”:

“Shelter From The Storm”:

“I Shall Be Released”:

“Blind Willie McTell”:

“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”:

“Scarlet Town”:

“Masters Of War”:

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[This year I published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]

Thurston Moore’s Favorites From 2014 Plus Ex Hex’s List

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This comes from Matador’s blog:

Thurston Moore

1. Chloé Griffin – EDGEWISE : A Picture Of COOKIE MUELLER (b_books)

This book is an astounding labor of love. The author, fascinated by who Cookie Mueller may have been after witnessing her in all the weirdo John Waters films, including Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, decided to travel the USA interviewing anyone still left alive who spent time with this person. All the insane characters of early 70s Baltimore, P-Town and NYC raise their sloshing glasses to this incredible lightning girl Cookie and all their stories are told in a way which creates a historical travelogue of counter culture avant insanity which is responsible for helping to light the fuse that becomes punk rock and beyond.

2. John Lydon at Rough Trade East 17th October 2014

The Rotten one was bopping around the UK promoting his new book Anger Is An Energy (Simon & Schuster) and we caught his last stop at RT and it was as good as any Sex Pistols or PiL show. He came out with his manager / right hand man and Arsenal accomplice Rambo and a shopping basket full of lager and proceeded to have a high energy back and forth with the audience. His mates from nearby Finsbury Park were there shouting back and forth and Lydon actually did a weird physical transformation into Tony Blair (he hates ‘im). Savage, infuriating – everything his book is – but with a kindness that is always burbling through. I got to meet him fleetingly, the one person I wanted to meet most in this nutso rock n roll world, and he was nice enuff (“Sonic Youth, what are you bloody doing here?”) – but I think he more interested in drowning beers with his pals, which is what he should be doing but damn I think making a record with him in trio with Irmin Schmidt with Can is what Matador should be investing in big time for 2015.

Here’s a list from Ex Hex via Punk News:

In no particular order

* Pentagram show in Minneapolis at Mill City Nights
* King Tuff Black Moon Spell LP
* The Clean Anthology LP Reissue/ Merge
* Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds show in Cincinnati at Mid Point Music Fest

Here’s Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds on KXEP:

* Brooks Headley’s veggie burgers
* Slant 6 Soda Pop Rip off LP reissue/ Dischord
* Ed Schraders Music Beat Party Jail LP
* Man Made LP reissue Teenage Fan club/ Merge
* Black Bananas Electric Brick Wall LP
* Hammered Satin/The Tip/Dirt City show at Smash in DC

And lots more best-of lists over at Brooklyn Vegan.

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[This year I published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]

Culture Critic Roy Trakin Includes ‘True Love Scars’ in His Best Books of 2014 List

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Not that I can keep from letting it go to my head (that’s long been a lost cause), but it is exciting that culture critic Roy Trakin has included my novel, True Love Scars, in his best books of 2014 list. The book is #4 in his list.

Writes Trakin:

Just call it a portrait of the young rock critic as a freakster bro, coming of age in the glorious peace-and-love innocence of the ‘60s dream, only to crash precipitously, post-Altamont into the drug-ridden paranoia of a ‘70s nightmare, characterized by the doom and gloom of the Stones’ sinister “Sister Morphine” and the apocalyptic caw-caw-caw of a pair of ubiquitous crows. The one-time Rolling Stone journalist turned-Internet pioneer with his groundbreaking mid-‘90s Addicted to Noise site has always been on the cutting edge and here he perfectly captures a horny, but romantic, teenager growing up in Marin County back in what he calls the Days of the Crazy-Wild, where getting your parents to let you grow out your hair was proof alone of your manhood. If you lived through those momentous times, or even if you didn’t, Goldberg conveys that rush of ideas, music and literature that made it such a heady era, while still ruefully acknowledge its fleeting, self-destructive aftermath in what amounts to his version of fellow one-time Stone scribe Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.

Read Trakin’s whole column here.

And here’s a short audio clip of me reading and Henry Kaiser riffing from my reading last weekend:

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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]

Ten Reasons Why I Didn’t Watch the Grammy Awards

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Should have gotten album of the year award.

1 The Grammys has always been a joke. The artists that record albums and songs that I listen to rarely get an award.

2 I don’t care about Lorde or Justin Timberlake or even Bruno Mars (you can hear the sarcasm, right?).

3 Even if Neil Young had gotten the best rock album award, it would have been for Psychedelic Pill.

4 I don’t need to see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr perform in 2014. 1964, yes, 2014, nope.

5 Ariel Rechtshaid, who deserved the producer of the year award, naturally didn’t get it. The year he produces a Billy Joel album, maybe he’ll get it.

6 I don’t need to see Trent Rezner, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl and Lindsey Buckingham perform together or solo in 2014.

7 Bob Dylan’s Another Self Portrait, one of the best albums released last year, didn’t get a Grammy.

8 Savages wasn’t one of the performers; Silence Yourself didn’t win an award.

9 Kim Gordon and Bill Nace didn’t perform and didn’t get a Grammy for their amazing Body/Head album, Coming Apart.

10 Enough already. (Plus they’ve always sucked in the past.)

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Best Of 2013 Dept.: Village Voice Publishes 41st Critic’s Poll — Kanye West, Vampire Weekend, Daft Punk Top List

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The Village Voice has published their 41st annual music critic poll (Pazz & Jop 2013). Below are the first 30 albums on the list.

For the rest plus essays on the year in music, head here.

1 Kanye West, Yeezus

2 Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City
3 Daft Punk, Random Access Memories

4 Beyoncé, Beyoncé
5 Chance the Rapper, Acid Rap
6 My Bloody Valentine, m b v

7 Haim, Days Are Gone

8 Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady
9 Kurt Vile, Wakin on a Pretty Daze

10 Kacey Musgraves, Same Trailer Different Park
11 Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You

12 Savages, Silence Yourself

13 Disclosure, Settle
14 Arcade Fire, Reflektor
15 David Bowie, The Next Day
16 Sky Ferreira, Night Time, My Time

17 Jason Isbell, Southeastern
18 Drake, Nothing Was the Same
19 Deafheaven, Sunbather
20 The National, Trouble Will Find Me

21 Queens of the Stone Age, …Like Clockwork
22 Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels
23 Ashley Monroe, Like a Rose
24 Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold
25 Lorde, Pure Heroine
26 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push the Sky Away
27 Danny Brown, Old
28 M.I.A., Matangi
29 The Knife, Shaking the Habitual

30 Pusha T, My Name Is My Name

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Best Of 2013 Dept.: Michael Goldberg’s Favorites — music, films, books

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My favorite albums of the year, in no particular order:

1. Body/Head – Coming Apart

2. Bob Dylan, 50th Anniversary Collection 1963

3. Throwing Muses – Purgatory/ Paradise

4. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon

5. Bob Dylan – Another Self-Portrait

6. La Lux – It’s Alive

7. Savages – Silence Yourself

8. M.I.A. – Matangi

9. Arcade Fire – Reflektor

10. Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister

11. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest

12. Deerhunter – Monomania

13. Sky Ferreira – Night Time, My Time

14. Bill Callahan – Dream River

15. Neil Young – Live at the Cellar Door

16. Haim – Days Are Gone

17. Son Volt – Honky Tonk

18. Personal Records – Eleanor Friedberger

19. William Onyeabor – Who Is William Onyeabor?

Best Comp/Reissue/Box Set:

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica (Zappa Records)

Also of note, though it was released in 2012: Captain Beefheart, Bat Chain Puller

Favorite Music Film/Other Film

These are films I watched this year and really dug: The Butler, Beautiful Losers, Not Fade Away, The Last Mistress, Band of Outsiders

Favorite Music Book / Other Book

The Story of a New Name – Elena Ferrante

I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen – Sylvie Simmons

Just Kids – Patti Smith

I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp – Richard Hell

Musical Highlights of 2013

Dylan’s Another Self Portrait; the rollout of Arcade Fire’s Reflektor; the unfolding of Kim Gordon’s solo career; a highlight not in a good way was Lou Reed’s death; the return of My Bloody Valentine and Neutral Milk Hotel; Jeff Tweedy solo tour; Sleater-Kinney on stage with Pearl Jam singing ‘Rockin’ in the Free World.’

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Best of 2013 Dept.: New York Times’ Critics Pick Their Fave Books

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Today the New York Times‘ book critics each listed the books they most enjoyed during 2013. Below are the lists. But to read what they like about each book, head to the New York Times.

In the intro to the lists Janet Maslin writes:

“Let us be the first to tell you: These are quirky lists. They’re supposed to be. These are our favorite books of the year, so please don’t confuse them with 10 Bests, because we can’t make lists like those. For one thing, all of us — Michiko Kakutani, Dwight Garner and I — read so many books on assignment that we don’t have the leeway to be comprehensive. For another, we’ve listed books that we liked as much as we admired. That’s where the quirks come in.

“Each of us has chosen only from among the books personally reviewed during the calendar year. That alone creates big omissions. We cannot review books by reporters for, or writers associated with, The New York Times. That means that at least two widely praised works of nonfiction — Peter Baker’s “Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House” and Sheri Fink’s “Five Days at Memorial” (part of which originally appeared in The Times Magazine) — weren’t covered by us. The same goes for books by friends. And, yes, there are books we didn’t cover and regret having missed.”

Michiko Kakutani’s list

1 THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt
2 THE EXAMINED LIFE: HOW WE LOSE AND FIND OURSELVES by Stephen Grosz
3 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE by David Finkel
4 CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT by Edwidge Danticat
5 AFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, THE RESPONSE, AND THE WORK AHEAD by Alan S. Blinder
6 JOHNNY CASH: THE LIFE by Robert Hilburn
7 MY BELOVED WORLD by Sonia Sotomayor
8 BIG DATA: A REVOLUTION THAT WILL TRANSFORM HOW WE LIVE, WORK, AND THINK by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier
9 HOW TO GET FILTHY RICH IN RISING ASIA by Mohsin Hamid
10 TENTH OF DECEMBER: STORIES by George Saunders

Janet Maslin’s list:

1 LAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Scott Anderson
2 THE UNKNOWNS by Gabriel Roth
3 SOMEONE by Alice McDermott
4 THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS by Elizabeth Gilbert
5 MANSON: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES MANSON by Jeff Guinn
6 LIFE AFTER LIFE by Kate Atkinson
7 EMPTY MANSIONS: THE MYSTERIOUS LIFE OF HUGUETTE CLARK AND THE SPENDING OF A GREAT AMERICAN FORTUNE by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.
8 JOHNNY CARSON by Henry Bushkin
9 N0S4A2 by Joe Hill
10 NEVER GO BACK by Lee Child

Dwight Garner’s list

1 THE FLAMETHROWERS by Rachel Kushner
2 THE UNWINDING: AN INNER HISTORY OF THE NEW AMERICA by George Packer
3 MEN WE REAPED: A MEMOIR by Jesmyn Ward
4 CRITICAL MASS: FOUR DECADES OF ESSAYS, REVIEWS, HAND GRENADES, AND HURRAHS by James Wolcott
5 COUNTRY GIRL: A MEMOIR by Edna O’Brien
6 MY PROMISED LAND: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF ISRAEL by Ari Shavit
7 MARGARET FULLER: A NEW AMERICAN LIFE by Megan Marshall
8 THE WET AND THE DRY: A DRINKER’S JOURNEY by Lawrence Osborne
9 THE SKIES BELONG TO US: LOVE AND TERROR IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF HIJACKING by Brendan I. Koerner
10 I WANT TO SHOW YOU MORE: STORIES by Jamie Quatro

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Best Of 2013 Dept.: The Guardian Picks Year’s Best Albums

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My Bloody Valentine make the cut.

The Guardian has finished rolling out it’s best albums of 2013 list. Brooklyn Vegan has been keeping taps and today makes it easy to check out the entire list in one quick read.

There are 40 albums in the list. Here are the Top 20. For the rest, go here.

The Guardian’s 20 Best Albums of 2013

20. David Bowie – The Next Day

19. Arctic Monkeys – AM
18. These New Puritans – Fields of Reeds
17. Laura Marling – Once I Was an Eagle

16. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park
15. Earl Sweatshirt – Doris
14. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap
13. Lorde – Pure Heroine
12. Haim – Days Are Gone

11. The National – Trouble Will Find Me
10. My Bloody Valentine – m b v

9. Janelle Monae – The Electric Lady

8. John Wizards – John Wizards
7. Kelela – Cut 4 Me
6. Disclosure – Settle

5. James Blake – Overgrown
4. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the CIty
3. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
2. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
1. Kanye West – Yeezus

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –

Best of 2013 Dept.: New York Times Critics Pick Year’s Top Albums

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One of the year’s best comes from M.I.A.

In todays New York Times the papers music critics pick the year’s best albums.

Jon Pareles

1 Lorde “Pure Heroine”
2 Laura Marling “Once I Was an Eagle”

3 Vampire Weekend “Modern Vampires of the City”
4 Nine Inch Nails “Hesitation Marks”
5 M.I.A. “Matangi”
6 Janelle Monáe “The Electric Lady”
7 David Bowie “The Next Day”
8 Tal National “Kaani”
9 Laura Mvula “Sing to the Moon”
10 The Haxan Cloak “Excavation”

Ben Ratliff

1 Cécile McLorin Salvant “WomanChild”
2 Deafheaven “Sunbather”
3 Body/Head “Coming Apart”

4 ‘Mestres Navegantes: Edição Cariri’
5 Craig Taborn Trio “Chants”
6 Black Host “Life in the Sugar Candle Mines”
7 Marc Anthony “3.0”
8 Sky Ferreira “Night Time, My Time”
9 Tye Tribbett “Greater Than”
10 Rhye “Woman”

Jon Caramanica

1 Drake “Nothing Was the Same”
2 Kanye West “Yeezus”
3 Ashley Monroe “Like A Rose”
4 Jai Paul
5 Pusha T “My Name Is My Name”
6 Sky Ferreira “Night Time, My Time”

7 Migos “Y.R.N.”
8 Chance the Rapper “Acid Rap”
9 Haim “Days Are Gone”
10 Ty Dolla Sign “Beach House 2”

Nate Chinen

1 Craig Taborn Trio “Chants”
2 Wayne Shorter Quartet “Without a Net”
3 Bill Callahan “Dream River”

4 Andy Bey “The World According to Andy Bey”
5 Ashley Monroe “Like a Rose”
6 Dave Douglas Quintet “Time Travel”
7 Eric Revis, Kris Davis, Andrew Cyrille “City of Asylum”
8 Chris Potter “The Sirens”
9 Earl Sweatshirt “Doris”
10 Cécile McLorin Salvant “WomanChild”

For these critic’s favorite songs plus comments about each album, head to the New York Times.

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-

Best of 2013 Dept.: NPR Picks the Year’s Best Albums

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Probably the most eclectic best-of list of the year. NPR has picked 100 albums. Here are the top 25. Head to NPR to see the other 75, hear a sound sample for each album and read about them too.

The list:

1 BILL CALLAHAN, DREAM RIVER

“The Sing”:

2 BLOOD ORANGE, CUPID DELUXE
3 BOMBINO, NOMAD

“Amidine”:

4 BRANDY CLARK, 12 STORIES
5 BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA, THE JAZZ AGE
6 BUIKA, LA NOCHE MAS LARGA
7 CALEB BURHANS, EVENSONG
8 CHANCE THE RAPPER, ACID RAP
9 DANIEL AVERY, DRONE LOGIC
10 DARCY JAMES ARGUE’S SECRET SOCIETY, BROOKLYN BABYLON

“Grand Opening”:


11 BRYCE DESSNER, NICO MUHLY, OWEN PALLETT & SHARA WORDEN, DAVID LANG: DEATH SPEAKS
12 DAWN OF MIDI, DYSNOMIA
13 DAWN UPSHAW & MARIA SCHNEIDER, MARIA SCHNEIDER: WINTER MORNING WALKS
14 DEAFHEAVEN, SUNBATHER
15 DJ KOZE, AMYGDALA
16 THE FLAMING LIPS, THE TERROR
17 GREGORY PORTER, LIQUID SPIRIT
18 HAIM, DAYS ARE GONE
19 N SOLITUDE, SISTER
20 ISABELLE FAUST & SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/DANIEL HARDING, CONDUCTOR, BARTOK: VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2
21 JAMES BLAKE, OVERGROWN
22 JASON ISBELL, SOUTHEASTERN
23 JOHN LEGEND, LOVE IN THE FUTURE
24 JOHN LUTHER ADAMS, INUKSUIT
25 JUANA MOLINA, WED 21

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-