Obama's Favorites Megapost

Okay, this is the last time I will milk Rolling Stone for a blog post for a little while, but in this week's issue, there is an extensive interview with Barack Obama in which he talks about the songs and artists that he likes...some tracks were mentioned specifically and some artists were just mentioned...here's what he likes:

Songs:

Bob Dylan -- Maggie's Farm
From Bring It All Back Home.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Rising
From the album of the same name.

The Rolling Stones -- Gimme Shelter
From the Let It Bleed album.

Artists: These are artists he mentions in the article but not the specific songs. The songs are of my choosing.

Bob Dylan: Obama reference the entire album Blood on the Tracks as one of his favorites...I've selected two songs from that.

Bob Dylan -- Buckets of Rain

Bob Dylan -- Shelter from the Storm
These two tracks are from Blood on the Tracks.

Aretha Franklin -- Chain of Fools [Live]
From Aretha in Paris.

Stevie Wonder: Obama is apparently a big Stevie fan and he mentioned five albums in the interview that come from the 70's.

Stevie Wonder -- Girl Blue
From Music Of My Mind

Stevie Wonder -- Big Brother
From Talking Book

Stevie Wonder -- Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
From Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder -- Higher Ground
From Innervisions

Stevie Wonder -- Sir Duke
From Songs in the Key of Life

Earth Wind & Fire -- September
From their Greatest Hits collection.

Elton John -- I'm Still Standing

Elton John -- The Bitch is Back
Both tracks are from Greatest Hits 1970-2002.

John Coltrane -- Impressions [Live]
From the Live in Antibes 1965...which can be yours for only $1.78.

Miles Davis -- Directions
From The Cellar Door Sessions.

Miles Davis -- Salt Peanuts
From the Steamin' album.

Charlie Parker -- Koko
From The Talented Mr. Ripley Soundtrack.

Howlin' Wolf -- Killing Floor
From The Definitive Collection.

Sheryl Crow -- All I Wanna Do
From the Tuesday Night Music Club album.

Sheryl Crow -- D'Yer Mak'er [Led Zeppelin Cover]
From the Ecomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin album.

Jay-Z -- Big Pimpin'
From the MTV Unplugged album.

Jay-Z -- 99 Problems [Grey Album Version]

Music & Lyrics: Donovan -- "Catch the Wind"

I don't think I have ever seen "Catch the Wind" listed as one of the greatest songs ever but I think it is...This is Donovan at his closest to Bob Dylan in terms of singing style and it is a better love song than Dylan ever wrote. Yeah, I said it.

Lyrics:

In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

Donovan -- Catch the Wind
From the Very Best of the Early Years collection.

The Band

CNN has the uplifting story of Levon Helm, the full time drummer and part time singer of Bob Dylan's former backing band, The Band. He had lost his voice from treatment of throat cancer but has slowly regained it and recently just completed a solo album.

The band gave everyone a chance on vocals and Levon was the lead on two of my favorites "Up On Cripple Creek" [the first ever Band song that I heard...I thought they were Lynyrd Skynyrd...it was not one of my proudest musical moments] and "Rag Mama Rag."

The Band -- Up On Cripple Creek

The Band -- Rag Mama Rag
Both songs can be found on The Bands Greatest Hits collection that is a must own for everyone.

The Suel Forrester Concert

I suppose I should write about the concert that led to me posting here.

Amos Lee was good -- you should definitely check him out. Elvis Costello was great -- sang a great combination of old (Veronica, Allison, Peace Love and Understanding) and new (he ended with a song about a war widow who questions her government, only to be labeled a traitor). I especially enjoyed his cover of Jackie Wilson Said (the Van Morrison fan in me was thrilled).

Bob Dylan? Errrr......

The man definitely has an extra charisma in person that does necessarily come through in any other medium. The man in the black hat mystery man routine only adds to his mystique. So far, so good.

And then he started to sing.

Calling it singing isn't quite accurate. I clearly recognized Spirit on the Water and I am pretty sure that I heard Subterranean Homesick Blues. Sadly, he sang more than two songs. The rest of his songs were a bluegrass sound. His singing sounded like a low, grumbling moan. I always knew that Dylan's talent did not lie in his vocal ability, but I don't think that enunciation and differentiation is too much to ask. Remember the dismal SNL skit where Chris Kattan would play Suel Forrester, who would try to talk and express an idea, but all that came out was unintelligible gibberish? Bob Dylan was Suel Forrester set to music. His band was amazing -- I spent most of Dylan's set just listening to the music and tuning him out. My companion burst out laughing after one song. I asked why she was laughing and she said, "I just realized that this all sounds the same! Every song sounds like the song he just played." We left early.

The difference between Suel Forrester and Bob Dylan is in the reaction. In the mediocre Forrester skits -- I cannot emphasize enough how unfunny these skits were -- the other characters would respond with, "What did you say? Did you just call me a prostitute?" and were bewildered as they tried to translate his gibberish. Bob Dylan's music is treated with a reverence typically reserved for religion or the Founding Fathers. The man can barely sing, but we are somehow supposed to feel honored simply to be in his presence. We should not expect good music, but be content to enjoy a cultural experience.

In sports, there is always a never-ending debate about when a legend should hang it up. It is said that our memories should not be tainted by watching Willie Mays limp in centerfield in a Mets uniform or Michael Jordan being Earth-bound because of lousy knees in a Wizards uniform or Jerry Rice catching passes for Denver. If I asked you what you thought of when I mentioned Mays, Jordan or Rice, this, this and this are more likely what comes to mind. We remember legends for what made them famous and Dylan will always be remembered for his music during the 60s, as a symbol for the counterculture movement. His accomplishments give him the leeway to sing bluegrass music and generally be unintelligible, but I can't say that I enjoyed the experience.

Don't have any Amos Lee music available. But here is a YouTube of him singing "I've Seen It All Before" on Carson Daly. And his website.

Allison -- Elvis Costello

Subterranean Homesick Blues -- Bob Dylan (I'll give you the one song I thought I recognized)

Dispatches from a Conversation about Dylan, Costello, & The Flying Burrito Brothers

Matt,

You will be proud of me. I am going to my first concert this month and it is someone good: I am seeing Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Amos Lee in about 3 weeks in Bloomington. I am pretty pumped....

CS
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CS,

All I can say is "WOW"...that sounds like an amazing concert...I saw Bob Dylan at UW-La Crosse in I think 2000 and he played a lot of his newer stuff and not too many classics...but I guess he has sort of changed that in his recent concerts...

Elvis Costello has always been one of my favorites...but I have never gotten the chance to see him. I am not too familiar with Amos Lee but I have heard good things about him.

Talk to you later,

Matt

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Matt,

I will admit that Elvis Costello is 90% of the reason I bought tix to this concert. I really like his music; he has a pretty diverse catalog and a very distinctive voice -- I turned on the radio the other day and within 2 seconds, I knew it was a Elvis C song, even if I couldn't identify the song right away. Sometimes I think "I can't stand up for falling down" is the story of my life.

I will also admit that I have never "gotten" Bob Dylan. I respect him and he is obviously influential, but I have never connected with his music. I would compare it to the feeling when someone tells a story that they think is funny and then says, "I guess you had to be there."I feel like I am missing something with Dylan. Any thoughts on this?

CS

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CS,

That's very interesting...I guess my interest in Dylan is two fold:

a. Everyone considers him awesome so I need to check out what the hub-bub is about. Because I am a music freak, if anyone ever says "best album ever" or "best song ever" I have a contractual obligation to investigate. So a number of the albums I own are based on good marketing you could say.

b. When I see good song writing I appreciate it. I particularly like "Positively 4th Street" in that it is so negative and it is like a slap in the face. But I guess looking back at it, I don't have a personal connection to the music as I do other bands. Dylan is always sort of like a history lesson to me [even though he has a bunch of recent work].

When I saw Dylan it made me think of how things are different now, versus when he was playing in the 60's. The Bootleg Series Volume 4 documents Dylan's concert at the Royal Albert Hall [which continually gets mentioned as the best/most important concert ever]. He was right at the crossroads of playing folk and his increasing interest in rock & electric guitars. The first half is acoustic and the crowd cheers loudly. The second half is electric and Bob is met with constant boos. At one point, someone yells out "Judas" and the crowd erupts in applause...Bob says "I don't believe you...you're a liar" and then turns to his band and says "play it fucking loud" and they burst into "Like a Rolling Stone"....

Imagine that happening at Bloomington...Just catching a little bit of that sort of magic might make a concert worth it...

CS

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Matt,

I guess that one reason I am going is that I want to see if Dylan has an in-concert charisma that doesn't carry over to his albums.

I tried listening to Dylan for the first reason that you mentioned. I figured that he was so beloved -- to the point of mysticism and hero worship -- that there had to be something there. And I was consistently underwhelmed (the song that I really liked is Forever Young. My favorite "Dylan" song is how Stealers Wheel sounds like a Dylan impersonator in "Stuck in the Middle with You.") One of the reasons I compared Dylan to the "I guess you had to be there" kind of stories is that I feel like he is more recognized as an icon of his time than as a musician. I am sure that I would feel differently about him if I had been a Baby Boomer who had gone through the 60s, especially as Vietnam was heating up. And he deserves credit for being the first artist to use his talents to address social issues and still be a mega-star. And I admire him, much like Van Morrison, for marching to the beat of his own drum and making music that interests him,critics be damned.

But I am only a casual music fan -- as opposed to being an amateur music historian, like yourself -- so in the end, it comes down to the music. I keep broadening my horizons -- I try everything from country to rap -- but I still need music that I connect with. I generally use the iPod test for music. If I am driving back to Eau Claire, got the iPod plugged in and X comes on (whether it be an artist or a specific song), how likely I am to skip X and go to the next track? Bob Dylan generally fails that test.

CS

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CS,

So were you secretly listening to Dr. Dre and The Wu-Tang Clan when you told us your favorite artist was James Taylor?

I would say that Elvis Costello and Van Morrison are the two best artists in doing whatever the hell they want too...be it classical, Irish folk music, whatever they find interesting at the moment...

Have you had a chance to hear the new Bruce Springsteen yet? If you aren't a big fan of his work at least give "Radio Nowhere" a listen too...best song from him in a while in my opinion...

Matt

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Matt,

Thankfully, I have advanced far beyond my college days in terms of music. My iPod has everything from Run DMC to the Flying Burrito Brothers.

I go hot and cold on Springsteen. At his best (i.e. Born to Run),there is no one better. But he has put out some pretty shitty music too.

CS

Chess Club

When I was in Chess Club in high school, Gary Kasparov was the best chess player in the world and had just defeated the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue...After high school I didn't play chess as much and haven't really followed the comings and goings of chess' top players...so as I switched over from watching the Bears getting whipped by the Cowboys, I was surprised to see that Mr. Kasparov is now a major political figure in Russia.

Tonight on 60 Minutes, they had a long piece on Mr. Kasparov and his Russian non-governmental organization, the United Civil Front. I couldn't find the video yet, but here is a video with Charlie Rose interview Mr. Kasparov and his thoughts on Russian politics...



Bob Dylan -- Only A Pawn In Their Game

Bob Dylan has a new boxed set coming out called Dylan...pre-order it here.