Album Review: "The Desired Effect" by Brandon Flowers

Culture is cyclical. Every so many years, people get nostalgic and start re-creating things from their childhood. We just have to wait around thirty years or so until the people who were too young to do anything but lionize the artists of the time to be the ones creating the art. For instance, sitcom characters of the early 2000s had plenty of references to '70s shows, but more recently we've got shows with explicit mentions of '80s shows like Community's extended riff on who the actual boss of Who's The Boss was, 30 Rock's ridiculous Night Court reunion, or any random Happy Endings episode mentioning anything from The Golden Girls to Three's Company. There's been a rash of filmmakers putting out passion projects that are very reminiscent of E.T./Close Encounters of the Third Kind-era Spielberg, like JJ Abrams' Super 8 and Brad Bird's Tomorrowland. These are the movies that these guys have spent years trying to get to a position of power so that they can make, and they are clearly influenced by spectacle-worshipping films of the '80s. My point is, it seems like it takes about three decades for things to become cool again.

One at a Time: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) by The Beatles

What is One at a Time? Check out the introduction here.

#1 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) by The Beatles

"Sound and Color" by Alabama Shakes coming April 21, 2015

One at a Time: "All Things Must Pass" (1970) by George Harrison

What is One at a Time? Check out the introduction here.

 
#437 "All Things Must Pass" (1970) by George Harrison

Something to Be Said: A Night with the E Street Shuffle

Parker Millsap at Rough Trade (3/31/15), The Bowery Ballroom (4/1/15) and The Sinclair (4/3/15)

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant has, if nothing else, a very distinct sound. It’s a sound that few – if any – try to emulate, and those who do generally fall far short of their mark. Parker Millsap, however, in opening with “You Gotta Move,” had that tight, strained-yet-smooth sound that Zeppelin fans go wild for. His is the voice that hurls itself over the audience like it hurts the singer, going for that rough, raw, hard-hitting kind of sensibility that perfectly embodies the group.

One at a Time: "Elton John" (1970) by Elton John

What is One at a Time? Check out the introduction here.

#468 "Elton John" (1970) by Elton John

Elton John is a little bit uneven. "Your Song" is a classic, but one that is uneven itself. I mean, the lyrics are pretty basic. "Take Me To the Pilot", "Sixty Years On", "The Greatest Discovery", "The Cage", and "Border Song" are some of my favorite Elton John songs.