Taylor Noakes {.} Com

Late to the party as always.

Found out after reading Cadence Weapon’s tweet – a simple ‘oh no’. It definitely sucks, I am a huge Beastie Boys fan, but I never had a chance to see them perform live.

The Beastie Boys were obviously influential and ground-breaking in numerous ways, not least of which was that they were an early hip-hop group that was born, more or less, out of the early-1980s NYC hardcore & post-punk scene. The Beastie Boys played one of their first shows on the last night Max’s Kansas City was open.

My introduction to them was the double-CD compilation issued in 1998, The Sounds of Science. I bought it mostly because I wanted to get a better idea of what they were all about, and wanted to see how the band had evolved over time. The personalities of the three members came to light, and MCA stood out as the slightly quieter one, the background man with the raspy voice.

I’d discover later on that he had directed numerous Beastie Boys videos under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower, a character who would come to some national prominence at the 1994 MTV VMAs, when the band lost multiple times (including twice to Aerosmith) in various categories – in my honest opinion, Sabotage, nominated in four or five categories, should have won easily. Not only is it one of the finest general rock songs of all time, but the video is a classic. The song demonstrated a number of things, chiefly that they were at home in multiple genres, that they were sonic experimenters de rigeur, that they legitimized sonic sub-cultures etc. It also features MCA rocking a solid bass line, notable in the break before Ad-Rock screams Why? halfway through the track.

Yauch was also one of the first musicians I associated with public political consciousness in my own youth. It wasn’t so much that I perceived the Beastie Boys as somewhat enlightened post-punk pugilists and perennial smart-asses, but that at their core there was artistry, business and causes. I was mad disappointed when the Rhyme and Reason Tour was cancelled in 2000, but impressed with Yauch’s work with regards to the Tibetan Freedom Copncert. If you remember the mid-1990s, trying to get people to pay attention to all the shitty things going on in the world wasn’t nearly as easy as it is today, and some even questioned whether or not rock and rap groups should be so political in the first place. These same individuals kinda missed the point to begin with – perhaps this explains the rise of ICP and Limp Bizkit in that era, following in the wake of what the Beastie Boys had crafted so many years before. But those latter groups were created by some record label to fill a void; the Beasties were the real deal, which is why I’m certain their music will entertain many more generations of fans.

Above, a favourite video. It’s rather long at ten minutes, but features MCA as Nathanial Hornblower interrupting Michael Stipe’s acceptance speech for the ‘Everybody Hurts’ video. Towards the end, the Beastie Boy’s revenge – one of the tightest live performances of Sabotage I’ve ever seen. Worth waiting and feeling the build up as they lose in every category. At the end, they demonstrated clearly what made them just so ground-breaking. It wasn’t so simply that they were suburban white boys in a black man’s world, it’s that they were damn good musicians and lyricists, with a clear understanding of their style, image, and perhaps thanks in large part to MCA, a defined aesthetic and message too.

He’ll surely be missed.

PHP Freelancer

“Yeah, nice picture. When I was a kid, moving with my family back from Vancouver, we took the train, and we booked passage from Vancouver to Westmount — not Montreal (Windsor Station, which was the next stop). That was 1971.

I more or less like your blog. But I will stop visiting if you don’t stop your reprehensible habit of putting an accent on the first E of Montreal.

It’s incomprehensible. Why would you do that? That letter (the e with an accent, which has its own name in French and is not considered the same as a regular E — they pronounce “e” euh; and “e-with-the-accent-aigu” eh.

Stop and go back and delete the accents. It’s like we don’t belong in Montreal. You are on the wrong side with this evil habit of yours.”

***

This comment is attributed to a Snead Nesbitt.

I’ve never had a comment like this. Judge for yourselves.

Where to begin?

Montréal is a French name, and according to English usage rules, it’s appropriate to use the accent.

And I’m half English and half French, so I feel pretty comfortable expressing myself in both languages. You know, the two official languages of Canada.

I like how I’m both incomprehensible and reprehensible. Someone was using a thesaurus no doubt.

And Windsor Station is in Montréal, not Westmount.

PHP Freelancer

Hola –

Yeah I’ve got a bad case; about four articles on the back-burner and no idea how to finish any of them. I’ll have something more substantial up soon, thanks for the patience.

In the meantime, check out RJD2′s ‘Since we last spoke’ – quite good. Below is a track called Exotic Talk I’m rather fond of. Enjoy.

PHP Freelancer

I have no idea what to write about and I’m too tired to get creative. I feel uninspired and though I’m cognizant there’s news to report on, I feel like I’ve been there before, covered it etc (mind you, I’m certainly not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination, so I guess I shouldn’t mind not getting the scoop, as it were).

Suggestions? Let me know loyal readers. What’s going on that’s not nearly getting enough attention these days?

If none, I’m going to bed.

PHP Freelancer

Got a laugh out of this post on Iconic Photos, a blog I just spent the better part of an hour going through. Pretty solid stuff and some really excellent choices, in my opinion. I can imagine this guy gets some flack for the title he went with, but then again, Shorpy was already taken.

A thought I saw posted to Reddit a couple of days ago (tangentially related); “How would you properly end the Simpsons?”

PHP Freelancer

Well holy hickory-smoked f*ck, this website’s a year old.

I’d like to thank all the readers and lurkers out there, and hell, why not, even the trolls (especially the trolls) for making the last year very interesting. What I’ve learned has been invaluable. Thanks for all the support and lavish praise.

Yours sanctimoniously,

Taylor C. Noakes

PHP Freelancer

Surprisingly, not the work of the author.

Two new articles published to Sovereign Socialist.

Go there now.

Enjoy comrades!

PHP Freelancer

So as you may have noticed, I’ve decided to review the albums in my good friend’s rather impressive record collection. You can read all the latest reviews simply by clicking the Vinyl tab in the header. I hope you enjoy, here’s the first review. Let me know what you think.

1. David Bowie – Young Americans (RCA – 1975)

Suffice it to say I only had the vaguest of expectations with this album, and was completely blown away when I listened to it for the first time. I was familiar with the two principle singles, Young Americans and Fame, though I was not aware these tracks were actually from the same album. I’ve only begun to get into Bowie over the last year or so, and it’s largely a result of hearing Stay off of Station to Station, in addition to a close friend’s reserved praise of the Bowie canon. Knowing him to be a thorough and critical devourer of excellent music, I decided my initial experiences with Bowie were almost exclusively from a poorly executed greatest hits collection I purchased several years ago and thus felt overwhelmingly compelled to give his albums a listen. I know for a fact that many of Bowie’s albums fell on deaf ears, so to speak, and I suppose I’m curious to try and see if I can discern what drives such an enduring and prolific artist.

I should say from the outset that it has been three days since I fist listened to the entirety of Young Americans, and suffice it to say the album has dominated what I’ve been listening to since.

I remember I used to despise the title track for what I perceived to be saccharine musical qualities and its use in some good-awful teen drama I saw many years ago. Of course, the song is hardly sentimental nor overly approving of Americans in general, but I suppose this point was lost on test audiences. Of note is the presence of a lyric from a Beatles song, A Day in the Life. The album also boasts a uniquely Bowie cover of Across the Universe featuring backing vocals by John Lennon, who also co-wrote Fame and provides additional vocals. Luther Vandross played a significant role arranging the emphatic and precise backing vocals, which are prominent throughout the album.

What’s striking about this album is precisely its transitional musical nature. The Bowie so well-crafted during the earlier Ziggy Stardust/ Glam Rock era had been thoroughly shed by the time Young Americans as released in 1975. In fact, the transitional albums between Diamond Dogs and the Berlin Trilogy (beginning with Low in 1977) are marked by a pre-occupation with American soul and funk music, in particular the popular Philadelphia Soul sound. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition between cynical, bleak and often politically-conscious lyrics with a generally danceable musical backdrop. It’s a fantastic funk album by any account, with tracks such as Fascination, Right and Fame providing a unique window on an outsider’s interpretation of the genre. Fame, moreover, was used as the musical foundation for the James Brown track Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved); the main guitar riff is copied almost identically, and as it happens, Bowie’s lead guitarist Carlos Alomar had previously toured with James Brown in the late 1960s.

The composition and arrangement of the album is pleasant as it switches between soul and funk influences, ensuring the listener a guarantee of momentum. At some points Bowie reaches the edge of excess, his voice and the instrumentation intertwining momentarily to form epic walls of sound. A sampler’s album, though a good choice to get a party started as well. Highly recommended.

Key tracks:
- Young Americans
- Fascination
- Right
- Somebody Up There Likes Me
- Fame

PHP Freelancer