How the hell is Radio Shack still in business? If I have to explain to the employee of a electronics supplies store what a 15-pin male-to-female SVGA cable looks like, or what a TRS quarter inch / Stereo RCA adapter does, I really don't feel as though I'm getting top-notch service. It doesn't matter anyway, because they don't have them there. I don't know what in the hell they do have, other than useless random parts I have to take home and solder just to get them to do what I need. And nobody is ever in the store except for three employees, each asking me if I want a free cell phone with my purchase.
No. I don't want a cell phone. I see people driving in to work at eight in the morning, talking on their phones (and tailgating me). Who the hell are they talking to that early in the morning? "What did you do today?" "Well, I brushed my teeth with that new Emeril toothpaste..." I don't have a damn thing to say to anyone before three frappochinos (and I know that spelling is incorrect. It's a mark of my shame for being addicted to a product of a soul sucking corporation. Who needs three goddamn Starbucks in the same mall?!). Nowadays I'm at home or work all the time. And what if I'm out and need to contact somebody? Payphones.
I just wasn't made for these times. Everything was fine when it was analog. I would prefer any machine or device that the troubleshooting instructions read: "Give it a good whack. If that doesn't work, shake it around a bit." Who needs all this electronic crap? At the transistor hut today they had a book-sized portable dvd player. There it is. Why should anyone read a book ever again? At the grocery store, they have razors that require batteries for god knows what kind of evil purpose. On the internet, they have countless websites where people rant on and on about senseless bullshit...
Oh.
Well, I'm going to go read a book and listen to vinyl. Call me when the scientists stopped researching laser-guided bedets and actually figured out how to create a wormhole into another dimension.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Paul loves John.
Paul McCartney is a badass. I never realized it before, but his remixing of the "Let It Be" album into "Let It Be... Naked" wasn't just some sort of ego trip on his part (as Ringo would have you believe) but instead - perhaps - a way of making peace with John Lennon's ghost. I happened to be listening to the "Naked" version of "Across the Universe" and I was reminded of something John said in his last interview before his death. Talking to Playboy in 1980 John said: "The Beatles didn't make a good record of it. ...The guitars are out of tune and I'm singing out of tune 'cos I'm psychologically destroyed and nobody's supporting me or helping me with it and the song was never done properly." If you listen to the "Wildlife" version of it, it's covered with out of tune wah-wah guitars and girl singers. The "Let It Be" version was "puked on" by Phil Spector and sounds like shit. But the "Naked" version is just John and his acoustic guitar, all the phasing and tremolo washed away, with only faint hints of tambura and the guitars and strings far off in the distance. It's as if Paul were trying to undo all the "sabotage" John said he did to it.
Of course, Paul was also trying to undo the sabotage Phil Spector did to the whole album as well. Since "Let It Be" was originally recorded with the notion of recording all the songs with no overdubs at all, it's pathetically ironic that Spector produced the album with his trademark "wall of sound," ladling strings and brass and special effects onto almost every track. A few years ago, Spector was receiving a lifetime achievement award and Paul walked out on the ceremony, mentioning to journalists: "He fucked up 'Let It Be' and I'm not a man who forgets." Also, a precedent was set by George Harrison rereleasing "All Things Must Pass" in a de-Spectorized version a year or two before. So Paul removed all the crap, all the effects (even reverb is used very sparingly) and changed the song lineup, removing "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It."
But the most revealing aspect of the entire album is his remixing of "The Long And Winding Road." Stripped of the gaudy orchestration, the track reveals John playing bass - very poorly. Ian MacDonald lists the mistakes in his footnote in Revolution In The Head: "Recurring wrote notes at 0:28, 2:10 and 3:07; mis-strikes at 2:39 and 2:52; drop-outs at 2:59 and 3:14; a fumble at 0:19; a vague glissando at 1:03; a missed final push at 3:26." If John truly felt that Paul "subconsciously tried to destroy songs," what was John doing here? Still, on "Naked," Paul lovingly removes all the gunk covering "Across The Universe," yet brings John's bass up in the mix on "The Long And Winding Road." Taken in this context, it sure seems to me that Paul still has a great amount of love and respect for his former partner. And for that, I think he's a badass.
Of course, Paul was also trying to undo the sabotage Phil Spector did to the whole album as well. Since "Let It Be" was originally recorded with the notion of recording all the songs with no overdubs at all, it's pathetically ironic that Spector produced the album with his trademark "wall of sound," ladling strings and brass and special effects onto almost every track. A few years ago, Spector was receiving a lifetime achievement award and Paul walked out on the ceremony, mentioning to journalists: "He fucked up 'Let It Be' and I'm not a man who forgets." Also, a precedent was set by George Harrison rereleasing "All Things Must Pass" in a de-Spectorized version a year or two before. So Paul removed all the crap, all the effects (even reverb is used very sparingly) and changed the song lineup, removing "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It."
But the most revealing aspect of the entire album is his remixing of "The Long And Winding Road." Stripped of the gaudy orchestration, the track reveals John playing bass - very poorly. Ian MacDonald lists the mistakes in his footnote in Revolution In The Head: "Recurring wrote notes at 0:28, 2:10 and 3:07; mis-strikes at 2:39 and 2:52; drop-outs at 2:59 and 3:14; a fumble at 0:19; a vague glissando at 1:03; a missed final push at 3:26." If John truly felt that Paul "subconsciously tried to destroy songs," what was John doing here? Still, on "Naked," Paul lovingly removes all the gunk covering "Across The Universe," yet brings John's bass up in the mix on "The Long And Winding Road." Taken in this context, it sure seems to me that Paul still has a great amount of love and respect for his former partner. And for that, I think he's a badass.
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