C.A.T.: At The Copa

Sam Cooke – At The Copa (1964)

I don’t think there’s any denying the fact that Sam Cooke is my favorite vocalist of all time.  He had a voice that seemed to be heaven-sent, and Cooke knew how to use it to reach the highest highs in a way that seemed effortless.  However his reputation as an artist lies in his singles, which makes him a bit hard to pay tribute to in CAT form.  Fortunately, he released one hell of a swingin’ live album with At The Copa, recorded the same year as his untimely death.

Recorded at New York City’s famous Copacabana, the performance shows Cooke and his band in true firing form, as there’s an undeniable energy in the room.  It’s a little odd to hear how much of a jazzy/swing sound there is to Cooke’s band, but for the most part it works with Cooke’s signature brand of gospel-infused soul.  And also surprisingly, you can really feel that the crowd’s into it, despite the fact that I’m sure Cooke was playing to a fairly posh group of people at the Copa.

Considering Sam Cooke was one of soul’s first great singer/songwriter’s, it’s a little strange to see that Cooke’s set is made almost entirely of old standards and covers of more contemporary artists’ songs.  But leave it to Sam Cooke to put his stamp all over these songs, and the way he attacks these songs with such energy really shows what a true talent the man was.  I mean this album might have the best versions of “If I Had A Hammer” and “This Little Light of Mine” I’ve ever heard, and those are two songs I’d usually have a hard time getting excited about hearing.

There were a lot of icons of ’60s music that died far too young, but Sam Cooke is probably the one that really gets to me the most.  He had just come off of a huge artist breakthrough with the single “A Change Is Gonna Come” just months before his death, and I can only imagine what he could’ve done next.

Favorite Tracks: “If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song)”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, “Tennessee Waltz”

Home on the Rango

Rango

It’s all the raw, untamed, grit of a western combined with eye popping animation to make possibly one of the strangest films about an anthropomorphic reptile in the old west ever seen. His name is Rango (Johnny Depp) and he’s a fish out of water into a tall glass of Texas tea. Just so no one is confused by my colorful language, he is actually a pet chameleon with an identity disorder who after one particular traffic incident, (or perhaps a blessing in disguise) is literally thrown from his small habitat and into the vast surrounding desert.

Rango arrives in a town called “Dirt” where the townsfolk don’t take kindly to strangers. Where the community lives day to day with a dwindling water supplies and are constantly harassed by outlaws and vicious hawk, Rango becomes a hero and soon enough the town sheriff when he accidentally defeats the hawk. Though beloved by the people, how long can Rango masquerade as a self proclaimed legend? Just leave it to some shady characters to put the town into true peril and ultimately put Rango to the test.

Surprisingly there’s a great deal of clever storytelling going on here. Though I might have built it up to sound like a “This town ain’t big enough fer the two of us” western, most of the action is actually driven when the town’s water supply mysteriously vanishes, which results in Rango assembling a posse. So really it’s a whole mish mash of different types of classic western stories. It’s a little bit The Searchers, a little bit High Noon, and everything in between.

It took me a little while to adjust to this off-the-wall “Kids movie”, but once I did I was cruising like a ghost rider on the storm. The characters are inventive, with a thieving naked mole rat voiced by Harry Dean Stanton and Ned Beatty as the town’s two-faced tortoise mayor to name a few. The laughs are equally inspired but it’s the rapid fire pop culture references that steal the show. I mean there’s references of everything from Grapes of Wrath, to Jurassic Park, to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and of course a few obvious nods to the “The Man With No Name” trilogy, this is the kind of movie where you blink once and you could miss six different jokes.

Although this movie claims to be “PG” never have I seen a PG rating pushed so fearlessly. Mention of a man’s prostate? Or how about a line like “I think they’re thespians.” with the response of, “I thought that was illegal in seven states!” Wow, and my jaw nearly dropped when a character said “I once found a human spinal column in my fecal excrement.” This movie may look like it’s for kids but it certainly doesn’t sugar coat anything.

Wonderfully animated by Industrial Light & Magic, Rango is classic saturday matinee fun. It’s a weird and wild one, but worth seeing if you like me have been upset by the definite lack of intriguing movies to open up in theaters lately.

Different Gear, Still Sucking

Beady Eye – Different Gear, Still Speeding


A Noel Gallagher-less Oasis is like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without Leonardo, they can still fight, but without a born leader they’ll never defeat Shredder. Though I can’t say I was surprised when Noel left Oasis in 2009, I can say I’m surprised it didn’t happen about 12 years before that. Possibly the biggest media sibling rivalry since Gallagher the comedian and Gallagher II, this was bound to happen eventually. There’s only so long a dick (Noel) and an even bigger dick (Liam) can be around each other, they’re like too negative ions trying to bond, just ain’t gonna happen. So Noel was like “I’m tired of this shit” and left, now we have Beady Eye and I wish we didn’t.

I was definitely open to the idea of a Noel Gallagher-less Oasis, don’t get me wrong I love Noel, but I was definitely curious to see how much weight he actually pulled in this band. What could Liam, Andy, Gem, and whoever their drummer is now have cookin’ in the kitchen? It’s a big ‘ol batch of vomit soup. Well no that’s harsh, let’s say vomit soup with a hint of lemon.

Okay so it’s not that bad, but man is this one long, forgettable, blur of generic rock if I’ve ever heard one. Steve Lilywhite’s (U2, Big Country) production provides a big rock atmosphere but Beady Eye just doesn’t have the songs to fill that space. I like the basic Piano-driven groove of “Bring the Light” even if it is a tad predictable, but everything else is just devoid of inspiration and originality. I mean if these were the 13 songs they went with what did they turn down? Not to mention some of these songs sound awfully familiar.

“The Roller is” strikingly similar to “Instant Karma” while “Beatles and Stones” is a chord away from being “My Generation”. I don’t mind when a song bears a slight resemblance to a preexisting song, as long as it’s good but these seem more like they thought “How much do you think we can change of this song until it sounds like a new song?” Now try to get through that mindset for over 50 minutes, about 20 minutes too long if you ask me.

Maybe I’d like this album if I gave it more of a chance, but I really don’t wanna. Simply put this feels more like the tattered remnants of once great band than just a new good band, I’m sure whatever Noel delivers will be better than this, at least I hope.

Favorite Track: “Bring the Light”

C.A.T: Please Please Me

The Beatles – Please Please Me (1963)

You got to crank out an album from a heavy hitter every once in awhile right? Nah, I just couldn’t think of anything, basically it was between one Beatles album and another Bealtes album. Please Please Me gets the edge over With the Beatles for a handful of reasons; more Lennon and McCartney compositions, some of the best early Beatles hits and hey, this is where it all started man, the birth of Beatlemania, very fab.

Please Please Me showcases all the charm and style of The Beatle’s early sound; high energy pop songs, more traditional rock songs and pleasing covers often of soft ballads (with the exception of the iconic “Twist and Shout”) You could almost use this one album as a transitional piece from the classic rock/pop of the 50s to the birth of the “Sixties Sound” whatever that is in your mind. It’s like they took where Buddy Holly left off and took rock to heights so great it could only be labeled as an invasion.

It’s amazing how with all the passing years this album doesn’t feel at all dated, what’s up with that? Is it the strength of the compositions? The production? Maybe a little bit of both? I’ll mark all of the above on that one. I’d love to do this album the justice it deserves with a more comprehensive review, but do you want to know a secret? I’m so tired… Uh oh I better stop now or I’ll just be working Beatles song names into my sentences, there’s a place for that.

Favorite Tracks: “I Saw Her Standing There”, “Love Me Do”, “There’s a Place”

King A Da Limbs

Radiohead – The King Of Limbs

Radiohead albums are always a lot to take in, seeing as though they’re always so meticulously crafted.  I don’t think I really “got” In Rainbows until about three or four months after it came out.  So forgive me if I get everything completely wrong about Radiohead’s latest release The King Of Limbs.

With the first few tracks you get the idea that Radiohead are a bit more interested in the rhythmic quality of the songs, as “Bloom” and “Mr. Magpie” have this strange schizophrenic sound that’s owed mostly to drummer Phil Selway and bassist Colin Greenwood.  As we get deeper into The King Of Limbs, you get more of that same minimalist quality that we saw on In Rainbows, as Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke seem to be quite good at putting just the right amount into their sonic palettes without anything feeling too cluttered or overtly atmospheric.

Unsurprisingly, In Rainbows is the Radiohead release that The King Of Limbs most resembles, but with a song like “Feral” we hear shades of Kid A, while the album’s closer, “Separator” kind of sounds like something from the OK Computer era.  So basically what I’m getting at is that Radiohead don’t do a whole lot in the way of breaking new ground, but there’s still a lot of really beautiful stuff throughout the album.  And at a mere 37 minutes, The King of Limbs can’t help but feel a little bit slapdash, or at least by Radiohead standards.

When speaking about the Marx Brothers, critic James Agee once said “the worst thing they might ever make would be better than most things I can think of”, and I think that applies to Radiohead as well.  The King Of Limbs might not be a gamechanger, or even one of Radiohead’s best albums, but it’s still pretty darn fantastic nonetheless.

Favorite Tracks: “Lotus Flower”, “Give Up The Ghost”, “Separator”