That Fleetwood Mac Tribute Album

If you know me at all, you know that I love Fleetwood Mac. That I have for years. I’m always interested in the covers, the lovers, the tributes, and certainly the tribulations. 

So far, to me, this tribute coming out on Concord, seems interestingly disjointed. I’m not sure I can endorse it, because for me a huge part of the appeal of Fleetwood Mac is how easily tracks designed by five different songwriters fit together cohesively. Nothing about this comp promises to be cohesive. 

I like the Lykke Li and New Pornographers track in the player below, but they don’t sound like they fit on the same album.

That said, it’s worth a listen to form your own opinion.

Just Tell Me That You Want Me - A Tribute To Fleetwood Mac by concordmusicgroup

2011: A Few of My Favorite Things

Yes yes, there will be music. If you’d like to see my top ten albums of 2011 list, point yourself to The Dumbing of America. They’ve got my list, as well as interesting ones from Peter Hook (New Order, Joy Division), Tyler Williams (The Head and The Heart), Ritzy (The Joy Formidable), Home Video, and several others.

Once I committed to that list, however, I couldn’t stop myself from making a playlist of my favorite songs in 2011 (subscribe on Spotify or Rdio). As we all drift back towards listening to singles and not albums, it’s a nice way to recognize things that were good but not good albums (er, M83 that means you). By far the best song of 2011, in my opinion, was James Blake’s “The Wilhelm Scream.” Masterfully arranged and produced. I find myself getting more into the b-sides of some once favorite artists and that is how a random Death Cab track ended up here. And yes, propers must be given to Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Beyonce for the absolutely great pop songs they released this year. 

I’ll have to give the crown of best movie in 2011 to Midnight In Paris. Which is saying something considering that I don’t even like most of Woody Allen’s oeuvre. Lambast away at that if you must.

In TV I’ll give my biggest nod for a new series to Game of Thrones. 

In books my favorites this year included Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming and a slew of country music books I started in on for a project that weren’t released anywhere even close to 2011. 

Favorite Twitter feeds discovered this year include @brainpicker, @smithsonian, and @pulmyears.   

Playing to the back of the room: Lykke Li “I Follow Rivers”

When I replay concerts I’ve been to in my mind I remember the really great ones and the ones where the venue seemed too big for the band. When they were unable to play to the back of the room. I find this to be a really interesting phenomenon, where bands who have no business playing somewhere like Madison Square Garden will do it anyway, because they can technically sell enough tickets to fill the room. But why would you when you can’t properly play that room? Example: When Muse play Madison Square Garden the entire place is on fire. You don’t have to even like that band or have a good seat to know you’ve been rocked. And they bring the whole nine — set design, full sound, arena-worth equipment. Matt Bellamy, for whatever you may think of his songwriting, can sing to you in the cheap seats. Coldplay, on the other hand, seem to struggle to feel the holes in their music that vibrate off the cement walls of any sports arena back at them or connect with people beyond the floor and first few circles of seats.

A substantial part of this is a function of the type of music a band writes. Sports arenas aren’t meant to be music venues and the acoustics are naturally awful, so overcoming that in your live performance is a struggle for most bands. But the startling lack of charisma most people demonstrate on a big stage can knock me over.

The example that has really been on my mind, however, is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I saw them in the tiny Knitting Factory once upon a time and they basically pulled the roof off the place. When they were much more popular I saw them at Hammerstein Ballroom, where the VIP tickets sit in the balcony at the back while your average Joe stands below. From my vantage point in the back, it was like the three of them couldn’t fill up that stage, let alone the room. And when Karen O breaks her rock star character to crack up in a small room, it feels intimate. When she does it on a big stage it feels self-conscious. Some bands just work better in smaller places. It’s not a bad thing, so how about a five night stand somewhere tiny instead?

That versus Lykke Li who has owned the room anywhere I’ve ever seen her. I get the impression she’s dead serious every time she takes the stage that whatever crowd is in front of her will be under her thrall before it’s all done. The video above is at a tiny place called Le Poisson Rogue in NYC circa the release of her second album. I saw her play in the round there after her first took off and it was…basically the same. Captivating. So when I saw her at the mtvU Woodie Awards at Roseland Ballroom, a much bigger venue, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it. But she was so good that even the headset wearing execs in the back of the room were in love with her. 

I’m all for playing the rooms that work for you. Your band was probably going to sound like crap in Madison Square Garden anyway.