Some Songs Considered - Posts Tagged 'mtv unplugged'

February 6, 2010

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“Candy Everybody Wants” – 10,000 Maniacs
(Words/music: Dennis Drew & Natalie Merchant, available on MTV Unplugged, Elektra 1993)

My iTunes library on my current computer goes back to July 2007. “Candy Everybody Wants” is the song that’s been played at least once (an embarrassingly large percentage of my library has a playcount of zero) that went back the furthest until moments ago when I played it. The suggestion is that I went two and a half years without listening to the song, and that’s not likely true; I may have heard it on Pandora or it may have played on my iPod on one of the times where my music didn’t sync (not to mention clicking on another song before it ended). Regardless, I haven’t heard it a lot since July 2007 and that makes me kind of sad.

The melody in “Candy Everybody Wants” suits Natalie Merchant’s voice well. Merchant’s rich tone serves it well while still giving her a few minutes to show her vocal strengths, particularly at the end of the verses. Lyrically, the song tangentially addresses the debate about content in the mass media, specifically whether the entertainment industry should be ashamed for glorifying sex and violence or whether it’s merely listening to and providing for its audience’s demands. The whole thing, the melody, the assortment of stringed instruments, and the subject are all pleasant – certainly charming and clever, but not in a particularly outstanding way. I suppose this is how I could go from July 14, 2007 to today without having heard the song; it’s the kind of song that might lose its charm when in constant rotation. While two and a half years is too long, in this case absence made my ears grow fonder.

More on 10,000 Maniacs: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

October 6, 2009

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“No Excuses (Live)” – Alice in Chains
(Words/music: Jerry Cantrell, available on MTV Unplugged, Columbia 1996)

I’m fascinated by bands that play against type – specifically, when a band makes the deliberate choice to step outside their bread and butter and try something different. Saying that Alice in Chains completely played against type by appearing on MTV Unplugged, but it meant revealing their strengths explicitly. Where many of their songs, especially on their early albums, hid behind murky grunge-era production aesthetics, the arrangements on Unplugged pushed Jerry Cantrell’s songwriting into the spotlight. Sure, Nirvana did it first, but it’s hard to imagine some of Alice in Chains’ other peers (Soundgarden comes to mind immediately) making an Unplugged appearance work this well. In particular, Cantrell’s nimbler, quicker songs fit this arrangement as well, giving room for all of the instruments to mingle rather than mire together in feedback.

“No Excuses,” perhaps the brightest Alice in Chains song both in melody and demeanor, benefits the most from this reinvention. Even in the murkiest songs, Cantrell’s harmonizing vocals provided a foil to Layne Staley’s more eccentric lead vocals. On “No Excuses,” Staley puts aside his snarl and sings along with Cantrell, letting Sean Kinney’s drums fills nimbly dance around their long phrases. It’s Kinney’s drums and the overtly melodic solo Cantrell plays during the song’s bridge that stand out in the song; if dark, brooding songs were Alice and Chains’ “type,” this plays against type. Still, it’s unmistakably an Alice in Chains song (particularly for Staley’s distinctive vocals and Cantrell’s trademark harmonies), even if it’s the sun to “Man in the Box’s” lurking shadows.

More on Alice in Chains: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

September 25, 2009

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“Because the Night” – 10,000 Maniacs
(Words/music: Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, available on MTV Unplugged, Elektra 1993)

If it didn’t carry such a specific connotation, I’d declare “Because the Night” my favorite power ballad. Springsteen and Smith play off their mutual strengths, specifically their flair for the dramatic and their unconventionally powerful voices. “Because the Night” starts with a bittersweet piano line and gives the impression of a lonely piano feature before swelling and taking on the power of the full band. Appropriately, both Springsteen and Smith take their vocal cues from their arrangement; by the end of the song, both Smith and Springsteen emote the same passion and desperation as their lyrics. It’s this same quality that makes the 10,000 Maniacs version work for me. Natalie Merchant has her opportunity to step into the spotlight and plays up her strengths as a vocalist. That’s not to shortchange her band (who create a wonderful arrangement behind her, managing to elicit the necessary energy out of the unplugged arrangement), but this is Merchant’s moment in the spotlight (and let’s be honest, that’s the reason she’s the focal point in the cover photo). Like Springsteen and Smith, Merchant builds up to her emotional climax; while she doesn’t have the same power as the other two, she compensates with the sweet sincerity in her voice.

Merchant’s version, like the original Smith version and the Springsteen version on the Live 1975 – 1985 box, climaxes during the bridge. If the verses laid out the protagonist’s desire for her lover, the bridge drives home the extent of her longing. Appropriately, this is the musical turning point as well as the song builds in the final few bars. Merchant’s voice cracks slightly on the second “take me now,” and rather than feel like a bad note it almost sounds like she’s getting choked up. Whether it’s a bit of acting or an authentic moment of emotion, it only underscores the intensity of the moment.

More on 10,000 Maniacs: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

August 30, 2009

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“Some Might Say (Live on MTV Unplugged)” – Oasis
(Words/music: Noel Gallagher, originally appeared on (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Epic 1995)

I fell hard for Oasis in the mid ‘90s, and in many ways they were just as big of a “gateway band” as the others that come to mind first (R.E.M., Nirvana, etc). Off the top of my head, Oasis led me to Paul Weller (and the Jam), Blur, and the reviews section of Q Magazine. Like Oasis, Q was fairly mainstream (and kind of trashy), but in the early days of the internet, it was one of the places I went looking for new music when the domestic magazines failed to catch my attention. I haven’t read Q in years, and that’s probably the same length of time it’s been since I’ve listened to a full Oasis album. Regardless, the news this week that Noel Gallagher left Oasis prompted two distinct responses. First, I felt a tinge of sadness – even though we went our separate ways a few years back, I kept tabs on the band the way one might keep tabs on an old flame through Facebook – I wanted to know that they were healthy, happy, and successful with the occasional reminder why we split in the first place. Secondly, I was surprised that it took this long.

Aside from the feuding (which gave the band that explosive “crash waiting to happen” energy that made things more exciting), Oasis seemed like a one-sided partnership. Noel Gallagher wrote the songs while Liam Gallagher sang them. Granted, Noel seized vocals a few times, and Liam had a marginally better voice (and stage presence), but it seemed like this imbalance would make the split an inevitability – Noel would have the better post-Oasis career because he still had the songs. This is why I’ve always loved this recording of their MTV Unplugged performance. In this setting, the songs (from the first two albums, plus a couple B-sides) get a horn section and vocals from Noel (who subbed for a “sick” Liam who sat in the balcony and heckled all night). Maybe it’s the expanded band that’s influencing my opinion, but I don’t really miss Liam’s vocals. In this setting, “Some Might Say” gets a loftier arrangement that pushes it closer to sounding like an anthem. This was always Noel Gallagher’s prerogative as a songwriter, as he wrote songs to fill stadiums even when they played clubs. Liam gave the band stadium-sized stage presence, but Noel’s songs sold the tickets. Even if he hasn’t matched his early output in years, I’d put my money on Noel as the most successful Gallagher solo project.

(Of course, he could be back in the band in a week. That’s how these things work.)

More on Oasis: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

March 25, 2009

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” – The Vaselines
(Words/music: Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, available on The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History, Sub Pop 1992)

I feel guilty starting this entry with a reference to Nirvana, but without Kurt Cobain’s repeated championing of the Vaselines, most of the world would not know them. It makes sense that Cobain would be a fan, as the Vaselines shared the same love of wry, sometimes noisy pop music that Cobain rode to fame. Throughout The Way of the Vaselines (which is being rereleased as Enter the Vaselines in May), Kelly and McKee explore some strange sounds (the bike horn on “Molly’s Lips” being one of my favorites) yet always retain a sense of song structure. It made sense that Nirvana would cover some of these songs on early singles and perform them faithfully (although, they played them a bit louder). Still, it’s “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” from the MTV Unplugged in New York that pays the most loving homage to the band. The Unplugged performance contained a lot of off beat covers (including a mini Meat Puppets’ set with actual members of the band performing with Nirvana), but it’s the Vaselines song and Cobain’s matter-of-fact introduction that stands out as a moment of pure reverence to a song (and band) that he admired.

The Nirvana version does the original (which the Vaselines would later rename to add in the “doesn’t” from the song’s first line), especially the string melody recreated by Krist Novoselic’s accordion. The song, a parody of a children’s hymn, skillfully toes the line between poking fun at the original and standing on its own. Even without knowing the original hymn, the song stands as an ode to being imperfect. The narrator accepts his shortcomings and acknowledges that he’s not “sunbeam” material, yet he refuses pity. While the song feels a little sad, I’ve always heard the chorus as a frank acceptance of the narrators’ imperfections, preferring to be taken as is rather than pitied for being flawed. It’s the kind of song, one composed by a couple of melodically inclined outsiders, that Cobain, the quintessential outsider, would be drawn to, and it probably explains why he produces such a stirring performance.

More on The Vaselines: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

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