Friday, September 17, 2004

IF THEY'RE NOT GIVING IT TO WILLIAM SHATNER'S "THE TRANSFORMED MAN," SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG: I was in the Lincoln Center Tower Records this evening after going to a Q&A/reading by a very funny author, and something kind of odd happened--they keep a series of CDs on "rotate," and a fitting tribute came up. First, we began with the immortal "Hey, Ho! Let's Go!" beginning of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." As those two minutes of fury wrapped up, up came the immortal strains of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (as covered by Guns 'n' Roses). A fitting farewell to Johnny, indeed.

That leads me nicely into a discussion topic for the weekend--"Entertainment Weekly" has proclaimed that "London Calling" by the Clash is the best album ever. I've never listened to "London Calling," so I'm not really equipped to criticize, but I'm going to make a couple of suggestions that might be better:

The Who--"Tommy"--One of the greatest concept albums ever (if not the greatest), and a demonstration of amazing range by one of the greatest bands of that "Classic Rock" era.

U2--"The Joshua Tree"--It's hard to believe this album is nearly 15 years old--if you pop it in your CD player, it sounds like it might have been recorded yesterday. If the competition were strongest lead-off songs, I think this'd have to have it locked up--is there a better start than the swirling guitar and wailing of Bono in "Where The Streets Have No Name," into the anger and joy of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and then Bono pleading in "With or Without You?"

Other suggestions are, as always, invited.

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