Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Lanois’

  
Thursday, October 29th, 2009

CD Review: U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” (Remastered)

by Ken Shane

U2 - The Unforgettable FireSo, friends, here we are again to determine whether you need to purchase the latest entry in Island’s U2 remastering series. First a question; what kind of U2 fan are you? Casual or committed? If it’s the latter, you probably need to read further only to enjoy the beautiful prose. You’re going to buy this. Hell, you were probably at the store on Tuesday morning to grab the first copy. It’s the casual fan who needs to make a decision. I’ll try to help you out.

In March, 1984, U2 gathered at Slane Castle in Ireland to begin recording their fourth studio album. The sessions marked their first collaboration with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Together, they would create one of the most unique and recognizable sounds in the history of rock and roll. The Unforgettable Fire (Island Records) is the album that marked the beginning of U2’s rocket ride to the top of the world. Propelled by the massive hit “Pride (In the Name of Love),” the band approached the peak of their anthemic glory, a destination at which they would arrive with their next album, The Joshua Tree.

The music will be familiar to most people. In addition to “Pride,” “Bad,” “A Sort of Homecoming,” and the title track have entered the public consciousness over the years. Yes, the remastering, guided by the Edge, does make a difference. There’s a newfound clarity to the recordings, and more separation between the instruments. Larry Mullen’s drumming has been brought to the forefront, and seems more crisp and powerful. The Edge’s guitar chimes more brightly, and Bono may be at his most passionate here. (more…)

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Posted in CD Reviews, Music | Comments

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Popdose Flashback ‘89: Daniel Lanois, “Acadie”

by Jack Feerick

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It’s barely gone September as I write this, but already in the place where I live the nights are growing cold. The sun, which all summer long took its sweet time to slide away behind the hills at the close of day, drops now like a quarter into a jukebox. Autumn is not here yet, but it’s close enough that it’s time to think about taking the boots and the barn coat out of storage. It’s time to think about building some cold frames and covering the garden. It’s time again to play Acadie.

Marking Daniel Lanois’s recorded debut as a singer-songwriter after serving production duties on some of the biggest records of the ’80s, Acadie was largely unencumbered with the weight of expectation. Oh, it was a given that the thing would sound great, would be charged with the same blend of ethereal atmosphere and smoky groove that characterized Lanois’s work with U2, the Neville Brothers, Robbie Robertson, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan — projects that saw Lanois becoming, in effect, a member of the band. But as anyone who ever paid full price for a Davitt Sigerson album will tell you, it’s no good being the name above the title if you haven’t got the songs to back it up. And it’s the songs that make Acadie such an endearing (and enduring) record. (more…)

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Posted in Featured, Featured - Frontpage, Music, Popdose Flashback '89 | Comments

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Unsolicited Career Advice for… Scott Weiland

by Rob Smith

Uncle Donnie gets pissed very rarely, but when he does he can certainly lay into you. I wonder what Scott Weiland thought when he got this. —RS

TO: Scott Weiland
FROM: Don Skwatzenschitz
RE: Career advice

Scott Weiland

I get mad at you, Scott Weiland, and I don’t get mad at many people. There you are, genius songwriter, rock god, wearer of mascara, and the same hair dye my wife, Mitzi, swears by. Yet you constantly, constantly sabotage yourself. Stone Temple Pilots could have been the biggest band in the world, but you wanted to get high instead. So you break up. You clean up. You work with Daniel Lanois. You practically join Guns n’ Roses. Contraband: best hard rock record of the decade. Libertad: not so much. You get yourself fired from Velvet Revolver, you rejoin STP, you put on some really good shows. Then you put on some really bad shows, stumbling around, ranting and raving.

What’s wrong, Scott? I’m worried about you. Remember the cookout we had up in Kennebunkport back in ‘94, when Mitzi took off her housecoat to show you the STP tattoo on her hindquarters? Remember the hootenanny we had that night around the bonfire, when you took the guitar and played “Interstate Love Song” for us? Remember how much you laughed when Mitzi and I played the All in the Family theme right afterward? I wish you’d think about that night next time you get the urge to secure some China White or act abominably in some other way.

Yes, I’m mad at you, Scott, but I also have some ideas that could help you redeem yourself. Want to hear them?  Here you go:

  • Rename your new solo record. “Happy” in Galoshes?  You’re kidding me, right? This isn’t a Garanimals ad, it’s a record by a rock star. A genuine rock star. Possibly the last of your breed, man. Rename the thing. It’s not too late — no one has bought it yet. You debuted at #97 with, what, three thousand copies? Six thousand? In any event, it’s basically your mom and your fan club, so you can still change the name without too many people noticing. Only this time, name it something cool — Reanimator, or Defibrillator, or something else with “-or” on the end. Smackinator. Or just call it Scott Weiland II. But “Happy” in Galoshes? It’s almost like you don’t want a career.
  • Produce the next Limp Bizkit record. Speaking of shitty titles, you couldn’t talk Fred Durst out of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog-Flavored Water? Either way, Durst put his ball cap back on and Wes Borland apparently found a bunch of badger costumes and face paint he likes, so Limp Biz is getting back together again. Get in on it, Scott. Produce the record. Sing on it. Tour with them. It’ll be the biggest thing going in the next year, when all the late-’90s kids realize they can’t get jobs anymore and need something to remember their childhood with.
  • Stop doing drugs. Jimi Hendrix did Electric Ladyland under all manner of narcotics. Jim Morrison produced Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman while stoned, drunk, or both. Dylan wrote Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde on speed. Lou Reed did Transformer on some combination of cough syrup and bat urine. All great records. Scott, you cannot do the same thing. You don’t have it in you. Drugs make you do stupid things. Stop taking them. Please.
  • Fake your death. If you really can’t stop dosing yourself for your art, you can still probably pull off a really faux demise. You’ll be lauded in the press. You’ll be missed by your bandmates. You can move somewhere with whomever is close to you and leave the rigors of rock god-dom behind. Do it healthily — don’t take a stash with you. Watch as people come up with all sorts of good things to say about you. Slash might even be moved to do it, too. Heck, people might even buy “Happy” in Galoshes.

All the best,
Don

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Posted in Music, Unsolicited Career Advice | Comments

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Basement Songs: Daniel Lanois, “Silium’s Hill”

by Scott Malchus

basementsongs

acadieThe phone rang while a few of us were hanging out. I don’t recall who specifically was present; it wasn’t an organized gathering, just one of those times in college when two or three of your friends drop by your dorm room and you all wind up watching TV or listening to music. On the other end of the line was my sister, then a senior in high school. She was still connected to many of the people and places of my past while I, a college sophomore, had begun the process of trying to separate myself from the emotions and memories that bonded me to my hometown. It would be nice if you could let go off all of your pain and sorrow in one single moment, like a Band-Aid getting ripped from your skin. A stinging sensation that burns your skin, but you know it will subside.

“Gwen got married.” *

To understand the significance of that statement, you’d have to go back two years to when I first learned Gwen’s name after watching her from afar throughout my junior year of high school; you’d have to go back to a summer full of longing (“a girl like that would never go out with me”) and then the euphoria when she did say “yes;” you’d have to go back and follow the sad trajectory of the pieces of my heart as it broke when her family moved away, dashing any dream I had of us staying together.

It had taken me a very long time to get over the spell she cast on me.  By the winter of 1990, nearly two full years after she left, I was finally moving on.

“Married?” I asked. “Are you sure?” (more…)

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Mix Six: “Daniel Lanois’ World”

by Ted Asregadoo

DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE

In general, people who know Daniel Lanois know him from the musical acts he’s produced: U2, Robbie Robertson, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris, just to name a few.  His partner in crime, Brian Eno, also shares in many of his production credits, and, truth be told, sometime it’s tough to know how these two split up the work.  Eno’s eggheadish tendencies, while brilliant at times, seem to be tempered by Lanois’ more rootsy approach to music.  The combination has resulted in some interesting and engaging albums by the performers above, but what about Lanois’ own music?  Well, that’s what this mix is about — so let’s get started, shall we?


“Sleeping in the Devil’s Bed,” Daniel Lanois (download)

In a way, I’m cheating by including this song as separate from the album The Beauty of Wynona.  “Sleeping in the Devil’s Bed” first appeared on the Until the End of the World soundtrack, and a shorter version was included on The Beauty of Wynona.  I have both iterations now (thanks to Scott Malchus), but I prefer this one — mostly because I first heard the song on this soundtrack.  Lanois’ vocal style varies from album to album, but on this song it’s clear that he was influenced by Bob Dylan when he worked with Dylan on Oh Mercy. (more…)

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Monday, October 13th, 2008

Hooks ‘N’ You: The Devlins, “Drift”

by Will Harris

Has this ever happened to you?

You’ve bought a new album. You put it on and hit “play,” and as it’s playing, you find that you’re enjoying it well enough, but it’s not really grabbing you…until, suddenly, the album hits a particular song, and – bam! – you’re in love. You play the song again. Damn, that’s good. And now that your ears are open, you find yourself wondering if the remainder of the album is just as good, so you let it continue playing…and you find that, yes, it is! Then, you realize that you need to go back and start the record over from the beginning, since you weren’t really paying enough attention when it first started….and, holy crap, you must’ve been drunk or something, because it’s so obvious to you now that this entire album is brilliant!

That, in a nutshell, is what I experienced when I first heard The Devlins’ “Alone in the Dark,” and it’s how their debut album, Drift, became one of my favorite albums of 1993.

Devlins Drift

“Alone in the Dark” is, for my money, one of the sexiest and most sensual songs ever written. It has been included on many a mix tape over the years…though, of course, the only one that matters is the one I made for my wife when we first started dating, and any claims to the contrary are damned dirty lies. (Today is our seventh wedding anniversary, as it happens. Happy anniversary, sweetheart!)

It’s a song which begs to be on the soundtrack to a romantic movie, playing as the couple you’ve been rooting for throughout the entire film finally comes together, and if you don’t believe me, just read these lyrics:

I feel the storm, but it’s so strange
To feel desire without the pain
And I feel your eyes search my soul
For sometime sacred, for something more than you need

Your words are lost, but there’s no aim
It’s pure emotion that holds this flame
And the rain will fall and touch your heart
It’s pure devotion, alone in the dark

So tell me what you feel
Tell me every little thing
Tell me all that you are now
And tell me what it’s like to see
From your own heart
Now I’ve got you…alone in the dark

Goosebumps, I tells ya. Goosebumps!

(more…)

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Posted in Hooks 'N' You, Popdose, Popdose Interviews | Comments

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Exit Music (For a Film): “Sling Blade”

by Zack Dennis

Sling BladePlaying a disabled or mentally ill character seems like it would be one of the most demanding roles for an actor to portray. It’s probably just as tough for an actress, although few films seem to be centered around handicapped women. It also seems to be something of an initiation rite – although it’s not universal , a large number of the finest actors, particularly in more recent years, have distinguished themselves by portraying characters that are either on the lower end of the intelligence scale, or suffering from a psychiatric disorder that makes coping with the surrounding world into a daily ordeal. In the final few moments of Billy Bob Thornton’s breakthrough performance as both an actor and a director in Sling Blade (1996), a fellow inmate in the mental institution he’s returned to asks him, “What it was like out there, in the world?” Thornton’s character Karl responds with the memorably simple pronouncement, “It was too big.”

The Film: Sling Blade

The Song: “The Maker”

The Artist: Daniel Lanois

Although the immense praise Billy Bob Thornton received for his performance as Karl Childers was well-deserved, it’s actually hard to pin down what handicap or illness Karl suffers from. When he is interviewed by a student reporter at the beginning of the film, the elaborate preparations and preconditions suggest that he suffers from autism and won’t react well to a deviation from routine. His tendency to rub his hands together suggests stereotypy, another common autistic trait. And Karl’s savant-like talent for fixing small engines coupled with his rudimentary social skills add even further to this impression.

However, Karl complacent acceptance of his imminent departure from the mental institution and his ability to adapt to new situations seem to refute this. Furthermore, the instantaneous empathy that Karl begins to show for his newfound friend Frank Wheatley is very uncharacteristic of autistics. Karl’s grasp of the implications of Doyle’s return to the household suggest that he can conceptualize complicated situations, and although Karl’s solution to the problem is very straightforward and simple, it’s a course of action that he contemplates thoroughly before following it through. In both writing and portraying Karl, Billy Bob Thornton managed to create a character that either suffers from a very unique disability or illness, or otherwise suffers from no disability at all other than a need to process information very slowly and a certain lack of initiative. (more…)

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