The News Review:
- Idealist chancer loyal friend: why I will miss Tony Wilson
- Music Zone
- Music’s ‘outsiders and outlaws’ put their own spin on…
Idealist chancer loyal friend: why I will miss Tony Wilson
The Observer – Aug 12, 2007
It seemed inappropriate that the clumsy slightly camp man from the telly should infiltrate the rock world and then even more impertinently the new anti-cliche punk world and this was the source of the suspicion that somehow Tony was a dilettante an outsider. Even at his most triumphant and groundbreaking this made him something of an underdog a misfit but he liked it that way constantly identifying with the marginalised unloved and isolated. When he merged the two sides of his character the brazen cultural theorist with the slick television presenter and created the magnificently pretentious pop programme So It Goes putting punk music on TV before anyone else the clash was so far ahead of its time there still wouldn’t be a place for it now. After the demise of So It Goes he withdrew wounded and worked out how to keep his two lives together yet separate maintaining his light-hearted Granada presence even as he was organising and inspiring the subversive Factory Records collective. Somehow he managed to be related to both Joy Division and Coronation Street. How Manchester was that?He seemed driven by the feeling that if he wasn’t as dark as he was light as profound as he was trivial or as aggressive as he was gentle and patient he couldn’t complete his mission – which seemed to be nothing less than the modernisation of Manchester in a way that reflected his Situationist-inspired belief in a kind of urban utopia the idea of a city as much made up by poetry pleasure philosophy and dreams as politics business and architecture. It seemed as though all along he was destined to become known as Mr Manchester.
Music Zone
Malaysia Star – Aug 12, 2007
And you know what? It actually is! Even when the violin is pushed way back in the mix Yellowcard’s songs display a unique understanding of melodic structure and dynamics. Plus even though its tunes aren’t quite as catchy as all those inane ditties about brass knuckles hanging from necks and who knows where else there is emotional depth – a phrase normally out of place in discussion on pop punk – to the music. Dear Bobbie on the current album offers the best corroborative evidence of this. Stylistically similar to Green Day’s Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) the acoustic love ballad which is interspersed with snippets of vocalist Ryan Key’s 87-year-old grandfather reading out a love letter to his wife of 50-plus years resonates due to the thoughtful lyrics and delivery. Thankfully though Yellowcard’s case isn’t built on just one song. The title track Keeper and The Takedown are all short sharp and excellent and prove that when thought’s put into it pop punk can be extremely engaging… For all its bluster much of Linkin Park’s previous music managed to be simultaneously sanguine and yet resemble a sonic assault against the dying of the light. While Minutes to Midnight ups the emphasis on melody it’s also far more jaded than anything the band has ever released often chillingly so. On much of the record especially on The Little Things Give You Away Linkin Park points fingers without shying away from a long hard look in the mirror. Channelling injustice and guilt into something topical might not dress up the apathy as prettily as John Mayer on Waiting for the World to Change but the question is the same: we all know the problems but where are the solutions coming from? By choosing commentary instead of aggressive reaction by changing itself before agitating for alterations in others and by striking out into uncharted waters in uncertain times for the first time in three albums Linkin Park is beginning to practise what it screeches. – HR Small strap: Pop.
Music’s ‘outsiders and outlaws’ put their own spin on…
USA Today – Aug 12, 2007
He’s not even saying coherent words in some of the lyrics which adds tragic mystery to the whole piece. Other artists on the soundtrack are Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder singing All Along the Watchtower Jack Johnson on Momma You’ve Been on My Mind Willie Nelson covering Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) and Dylan’s longtime friend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott — a fellow disciple of Dylan’s hero Woody Guthrie — performing Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues. The filmmakers wanted artists with certain artistic integrity not just recent chart-topping pop acts says music supervisor Randall Poster. “We went with a lot of outsiders and outlaws. That’s the connection they share with Dylan” says Poster who has spent two years compiling the collection. “We needed a certain caliber of artist to record the songs and lend their own style rather than just do imitations. But they are certainly flirting with Dylan… Stephen Malkmus formerly of the band Pavement sings Maggie’s Farm and Ballad of a Thin Man for the segment in which Cate Blanchett plays an androgynous Dylan. When Christian Bale portrays Dylan in his “freewheelin’ ” early career Minnesota-based singer Mason Jennings performs the songs The Times They Are a-Changin’ and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. “At that point in his life he is an evangelist. He is having a kind of catharsis” says Doe who is touring with his album A Year in the Wilderness. Doe adds he was careful not to be too faithful: “For me Bob Dylan kind of set people free.