It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Odelay
There are certainly sounds on this 1996 classic I hadn’t heard put together before, like turntables and harmonicas. Synthesizers abound and there is a groove a minute. It kicks off with that sacrilegious guitar riff about the devil and never looks back. I feel like I could end it there and it would be enough justification for you to listen to the album if you haven’t already. Beck invites us to his fifth studio album Odelay with, “Devil’s Haircut” and the journey is better than any need for a destination.
Odelay ranks at #306 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 Albums list and has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, solidifying Beck’s presence on the music scene. I don’t think I’ve ever changed the radio station when the electric piano kicks in on “Where It’s At” and signals five minutes where I can just sway and relax. I haven’t seen Beck live, but I can always get behind the anthemic chorus lyric, “Where it’s at, I’ve got two turn tables and a microphone.” I am always down for that kind of an amateur show in my head.
“Lord Only Knows” gets back into a more traditional acoustic arrangement echoing a bit from 1994’s Mellow Gold that included the breakout hit, “Loser” and received substantial airplay, peaking the album at #13 on the Billboard charts. Beck’s folk background shines on this one with his lovably apathetic finish to the warm chorus, “So don’t, you hesitate to give yourself a call, letcha’ bottom dollars fall, throwin’ your two-bit cares down the drain.”
I’ve always thought that “The New Pollution” would sound perfect in an Austin Powers movie, the driving bluesy British groove hooks you almost immediately. It’s like you can see a cool-looking James Bond caricature moving in slow motion, suavely doing secret agent moves in a montage that will eventually end up coming together with impeccable timing. It also starts with the great line, “She’s got a cigarette on each arm” setting you up for the toxic landscape that she exists in.
In a word, this album has relentless flow. Beck makes some interesting choices and takes some chances, like opening, “Lord Only Knows” with an unintelligible scream, seemingly unrelated to the rest of the song. This derailed an early listen for a friend of mine when I first started loving this album, but they always come around. The listener is introduced to something new with each passing minute on this one, and almost all of it works to perfection. This is one to tune out the world to, it sounds just as great as it used to, and I might need to find a sixer of that, “jigsaw jazz” he mentioned and have another listen.
It’s a Wonderful life of Albums: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is a four course album prepared by master chef Noel Gallagher and served to you whether you like it or not by his brother Liam. From the opening chords of, “Hello” to the waves on the beach that introduce, “Champagne Supernova” this album renders the next button obsolete. Ranked #378 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums list and selling over 22 million copies worldwide, Morning Glory is a British rock behemoth.
The sibling rivalry and MTV Unplugged heckling incident overshadowed two Billboard Alternative #1 hits in the United States, but who could forget the songs? “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” took the band to another level in terms of worldwide success, on top of the #1 UK singles, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Some Might Say.” It’s anecdotal, but a friend once told me they met a street musician in Mexico who learned English so they could play, “Wonderwall.”
This sounds entirely plausible to me, because everyone I knew who had an acoustic guitar learned this song at some point. The cynic in me wants to address that cliche and my disdain for it, but in my heart I know that it was just too irresistible to learn the love song of the decade. “I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now” hits you like a Mike Tyson opening salvo in a song with an acoustic arrangement that is more recognizable than the band itself. Noel Gallagher stopped owning this one as soon as the ink left his pen, it belongs to humanity.
With, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” you have two of the most enjoyable sing-along songs of my lifetime. I was lucky enough to have a group of friends that cooperated in forming an Oasis singing circle during late nights in college, and how could you not? The nonsensical chorus of, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is often what Noel chooses to close with, for good reason, the crowd is always with him. As for, “Champagne Supernova” I don’t care if you’ve never done a drug in your whole life, we still wanna know, “Where were you while we were getting high?”
In December of 2008 I saw Oasis in Detroit with my dad, and it will be a lifelong memory. The band split up the following summer, and for over a decade most thought they would never tour again. Last year however they announced a 2025 reunion world tour, I should have known. I say that because my dad likes to tell the story of seeing The Rolling Stones on their, “last tour” in 1981. Since The Rolling Stones tour from last year was one of the most lucrative, it gives me hope for Oasis. This is because I know Noel and Liam still have something other than a mother in common: it’s the tunes, man.
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Make Yourself
Whatever tomorrow brings, I will always love this album. Incubus broke into the mainstream with their second studio album Make Yourself, which I find most interesting because of the albums that came before and after. It was recorded after a tour in support of their debut, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and marks a transition between that harder sound featured at Ozzfest to the surf rock ambiance of Morning View. It’s also a 1990s alternative rock classic with three tent-pole singles that make the speaker dance.
On paper, Incubus makes no sense. The construction of the band was not in the mold of many groups at the time in several ways. They are an alt-rock band with a DJ, people used to talk down on them for that in some music circles but it never bothered me. Gen-Z listeners might see old videos of him on stage and think, what a pioneer, look at him playing the laptop acoustically! In addition, they only had one guitarist for all these loud, wall of sound choruses: Mike Einziger. The man has never met an effect pedal he didn’t like, and you will hear some unfamiliar sounds on Incubus albums, queued by his right foot stomping.
While the previous album was successful in its own right, this one had, “Drive” on it. A song that should be on any nineties playlist worth its salt, and a big part of why the fan base for the band became divided. They definitely went in a more radio friendly direction with this album, but I would never use the term, “sell-out.” The album sold over two million copies, and it wasn’t because they were, to quote Office Space from the same year, “No talent ass-clowns.” You certainly can’t say that about the lyrics of the song or Brandon Boyd’s vocals, I don’t want to imagine anyone else singing it.
As for the other two singles, “Pardon Me” sounds great whether they play it in an acoustic or electric arrangement, from the opening phaser guitar to the line, “I’ve had enough of the world and it’s peoples’ mindless games.” In sticking with that transition theme of the album, “Stellar” is a bit quieter and more melodic. The louder chorus repeatedly insists loving disbelief, “How do you do it? Make me feel like I do.” Boyd’s voice really shines on this one, something the band leaned into throughout their career.
While there is some immaturity in this sophomore effort, it doesn’t detract from a great set of songs. Incubus has adapted their sound over their decades as a group, and this record was the one that paved the way for a lot of great music that came after. The mistake people make with Incubus is trying to figure out what to label them as, so just don’t. Enjoy Incubus for all the joyful noise they make on this one, with open arms and open ears.
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Third Eye Blind
If an album can sound like a time and a place, 1997 gave us Third Eye Blind’s self-titled debut. As for the time, if you distilled the elements of nineties alternative rock into a bottle, it would be Third Eye Blind coming in at around 151 proof. Great sounding guitars, edgy lyrics that were just clean enough for radio play, and a collection of heartbreaks that sound so good. As for the place, Third Eye Blind always seemed like a college album to me, sucking the marrow out of life and dealing with an uncertain future while living palpable moments almost every day.
Speaking of radio play, there was a lot of it, the debut reached #25 on the Billboard charts and has sold more than six million copies in the U.S. I heard the singles when they came out listening to 103.3 out of Ft. Wayne and later bought the CD in high school. When I hear “Semi-Charmed Life” now, the pop hit that it was, I am perplexed at the fact that it was on the radio. Sure they edited out, “crystal-meth” long before the TV series Breaking Bad made it popular, but nevertheless risqué to be sure.
Songwriting partners Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadigan have a way of putting gut wrenching lyrics to the happiest of guitar sounds. “Jumper” opens with no hesitation to the theme of suicide in an attempt to save a friend from ending it all. “We could cut ties with all the lies you’ve been living in, and if you do not want to see me again, I would understand.” The empathetic verses build to a crescendo finish that starts from a bass backed introduction of the lead guitar and builds to a joyful scream of, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” Put the past away, but not the part of your mind where this song lives.
Other highlights from the record include “How’s it Going to Be” with its hauntingly beautiful lead guitar dotting the final thoughts of a failed relationship. “Losing a Whole Year” similarly opens the album with an energetic recounting of love gone wrong, “I remember you and me used to spend the whole goddamn day in bed.” Where did it go wrong? “London” rides the driving guitar backing to tell us of yet another failed relationship, this one of the long distance variety. Fan favorite, “Motorcycle Drive By” builds and builds a lyrical tapestry of yet another heartache.
I’ve got a couple years until I turn 40 and square, and in my experience people my age congregate around this album like a bug light. Many a late night, ‘pass the iPod’ playlist included the singles from this album and it was often promptly followed by praise for the album as a whole. The frequent positivity would come from someone you didn’t know listened to Third Eye Blind like that, and a conversation would start. That was way back when we had conversations that you couldn’t re-tweet.
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: The Blue Album
If I hear the finger picked arpeggio opening of, “My Name is Jonas” there is a near definite chance that I will listen to the rest of The Blue Album. Weezer’s 1994 self-titled debut that came to be commonly known as The Blue Album is on just about any, ‘best of the decade’ lists. It got the name due in part to the minimalist design of the cover art, featuring the band standing next to each other with a blue background, and also because Weezer released another self-titled album just 7 years later (The Green Album) a trend that would continue throughout the band’s career.
“My Name is Jonas” sets the tone for the next forty minutes and change of nineties rock. The acoustic arpeggio at the beginning quickly gives way to the driving distorted guitars that compose the backbone of the record. The guitars on most of the songs are tuned down a half step on all the strings to give a darker feel to the power chords that accompany the heavy metal caricature lead parts that work so well. This is perhaps nowhere more apparent than the lead guitar fill before the last chorus of “Buddy Holly.”
While I will admit that the single, “Hash Pipe” was my introduction to Weezer, all roads lead to blue. “Undone (The Sweater Song)” became the first single from the album and the first of my person-to-person file sharing downloads that I fell in love with from the band. Its opening notes are the background for conversations between attendees to a show that preempt the first two verses. “If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away” became an anthem of a chorus, and if anybody could give me a ride to the party after the show, I’ll cancel plans.
The catchy single, “Buddy Holly” makes you stop in your tracks a little bit, especially if you watch the music video that accompanied it. It features the band playing at Arnold’s Drive-In from the sitcom, “Happy Days.” Clips of the show are intercut and the real cast member Al Molinaro making a cameo. The whole time it conjures the question, “Is this guy in Buddy Holly glasses really doing a song called, “Buddy Holly?” Leader of the band Rivers Coumo has maintained the look throughout the band’s career, and he has pulled off the eccentric look for three decades.
River’s introverted and unconfident writing style wasn’t quite as exposed on the debut as it was on the follow up, Pinkerton, but it is definitely present. Stating his jealousy, “I want a girl who laughs for no one else,” isolation, “In the garage, I feel safe, no one cares about my ways,” parental disappointment, “This bottle of Steven’s awakens ancient feelings.” At no point does any of it feel dishonest, and that’s what landed it on the Rolling Stone top 500 albums of all time list at #294. In addition to being a critical and commercial success, it has made Rivers the king of geek-rock since 1994.
I was lucky enough to see them last year on the 30th anniversary tour at Nationwide Arena and they did not disappoint. There were wonderful brush strokes from their whole career that night, but ending with The Blue Album in its entirety was masterpiece theater. The cool part is that I know there are generations of Weezer fans that came after me, so somewhere today there is a teenager re-enacting the line, “This band’s my favorite man, don’t you love them?”
It’s a Wonderful Life of Albums: Bleed American
Welcome to liveforthepage’s new series on some of the classic albums I’ve loved during my decades of putting the iPod click wheel to the first song on an album and listening until conclusion. I generally think this is the way any band’s work should be considered: the album as a whole. There is no doubt something great about a band that just gets it perfect once, it’s hard not to love a ‘one hit wonder.’ I think more discerning listeners would agree that for a band to be truly great, they have to have THAT record.
When you press play on Jimmy Eat World’s 2001 breakthrough album of my youth, Bleed American it doesn’t even give you a chance to think before it hits you with a driving guitar riff and a great opening line, “I’m not alone, ’cause the TV’s on, yeah.” It settles into an energetic alt-rock standard of distorted guitars and passionate vocals which Jim Adkins had been known for on the indie circuit, becoming the band’s lead singer on the previous album “Clarity.”
It’s very difficult for me not to do a song by song breakdown of this album, but I want this to be accessible, so let’s say I don’t skip on this album. “A Praise Chorus” comes next and, “I wanna fall in love tonight” is a lyric I can almost always get behind. Later in the song it blends a bridge of “crimson and clover, over and over” an homage to the Tommy James and the Shondells hit from 1968. The reason you probably recognize the album cover, or Jimmy Eat World in general is from the third track, “The Middle.”
“It just takes some time, little girl you’re in the middle of the ride, everything, everything’ll be just fine.” Can’t hate the sentiment. As one of the most recognizable rock songs of the 2000s, it is their claim to fame. I have heard it so many times, including 7 times live–it’s just a good pop song. If it is the case that all musical elements must come together in such a way that facilitates airplay and record executives’ jets to make the most money, at least it sounded like this. That guitar solo never gets old, and that catchy chorus helped it sell over 1.5 million copies in the Napster landscape.
“Sweetness” is so energetic live and always the sweatiest one if memory serves me. “Hear You Me” is the perfect ‘palette cleanser’ song in the middle that starts out acoustic and builds to beauty. “The Authority Song” hit me immediately and I never looked back. How has that guitar riff not been featured in every coming of age teen movie of all time? “I don’t seem obvious do I?” There are just too many good songs on this album. I hope this serves as nostalgia of the noughties for the people I grew up with. I bet you made out to this album.
Isn’t that John Candy?
Maybe I take a little too much joy in it because is was at the expense of the Cincinnati Bengals, maybe it was because I grew up playing Tecmo Bowl on NES with Montana to Rice becoming my religion. However, there is no maybe in the huddle on the final drive of Super Bowl XXIII, where Joe Montana casually says to his men, “Isn’t that John Candy?” They laugh, and then complete a game winning drive with a touchdown, one of four for Montana and the Niners in the eighties.
It is truly a game of inches when you think about the end of the XXXIV Super Bowl and the great game that it was. The greatest show on turf St. Louis Rams were on the sideline for the defining play, as Kevin Dyson came up one yard short of the end zone. You wanted to see this win for Kurt Warner, but I don’t think anyone wished that kind of Bill Buckner-esque bad ending on Dyson.
My dad will hate me for this, but one of my favorite plays in Super Bowl history is the Elway dive. Super Bowl XXXII on a 3rd and 6 Elway gets 8 as he throws his body, and his whole career really, at the 3 defenders. When he left the ground he was a hero, when he came down with the first down he became a Super Bowl winner. Terrell Davis deserves a shout out for this Super Bowl as well, he was a workhorse.
For you idiots thinking something is fixed, let me take you back to the face of the league Peyton Manning getting out coached and outplayed by New Orleans, who successfully recovered the second half opening onside kick of the century. I am a Manning apologist, but Drew Brees winning this one for New Orleans was the way it was supposed to be.
So when you are on your Super Bowl journey tonight, get the best food, this is the cheat day of all cheat days. Enjoy your friends if you go to a party and resist the narrative that the game is fixed in any way. Regardless of the number of times they put Taylor Swift on TV, it has no impact on the ten 300lb offensive and defensive lineman that decide the game in the trenches, it has no impact on Mahomes being the best quarterback in the game. I’m gonna try to enjoy Kendrick Lamar at halftime, I know he’s a legend, and you should all treat yourselves too, Chiefs cover (-1.5).
College Football Idiot Savant Season Review
Hello friends, we hope you have gotten some enjoyment out of the weekly picks, and some laughs from the terrible jokes. We ended up 2-1 for the national title game, because Notre Dame let us down and allowed the Buckeyes over 400 yards of offense, I shed a tear. We finish 30-22 for the year, but nobody cares today, we got the last one right. Class was missed this morning in Columbus, Emily’s co-worker already had a national championship t-shirt on, and the rest of the college football world is going to love to hate us again.
I’ve never been happier to win $3 in my life, three separate $1 bets on Ohio State to cover (-9.5 and -8.5) respectively. That game should, in the end, leave no doubt in a rational persons’ mind that The Ohio State Buckeyes are the best team in the nation this season. It has been enjoyable to write for those who read and I will consider doing it next season, while flawed, the playoff delivered and that was the reason I started this weekly piece. This has been a fantastic Buckeye team to watch this season, and they deserve all the praise for living up to the expectations here, national champions.
How’s it feel to be in Ann Arbor now?
South Bend?
All of the South?
I leave the Notre Dame fans with a reading from the book of Lebowski: “I guess that’s the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin’ itself down through the generations. Westward the wagons, across the sands of time until we – ah, look at me. I’m ramblin’ again.” See you in August again Texas, O-H!
College Football Idiot Savant National Championship
(In an effort to remain as objective as possible with the picks this week, I have chosen to write from the Notre Dame perspective. This should prevent me from conscious or unconscious bias. I respect my right to do this on behalf of a roommate I had in college who did a stint at Notre Dame. I am not going to pretend our catholic upbringing doesn’t come into this as well, it does.)
It’s been such a blessed season friends! Liveforthepage is at 28-21 for the season’s predictions and we now stare down one final athletic competition between wonderful college athletes fighting for school pride. There will be a national championship to decide the best college football team in the nation for this season, and in a new playoff format, kinda like coming home to fresh apple pie from your loving wife.
Prediction 1: There are total gentleman on both sides of this intercollegiate competition, but I think the ones wearing the golden helmets of the lord just have something here. They will hold the secular and superior Ohio State offense to under 400 total yards during the game. Notre Dame is going to need a Tebow-like performance out of Riley Leonard on the other side of the ball, luckily he puts God first at all times and will be efficient on 3rd down.
Prediction 2: Let’s be honest, we are all here to spread Jesus’ message to the world, and what better way to do that than to have our team in a championship! I am willing to bet any amount of money in the world, which means nothing because Jesus is my savior and I would live in a box on Skid Row with him. Even so, our faithful brothers at Notre Dame would never join a conference. Do you know how much NBC money would be taken out of the coffers at church if Notre Dame joined a conference and became legitimate?! (Both Notre Dame and Ohio State players will wear bible verses on their eye-black.)
Prediction 3: I will tell you what brothers and sisters, this is a tall task. But I am again conflicted, there seems to be illicit commerce taking place in the house of the lord. Jesus would turn over the tables of these gamblers trying to say that Notre Dame is eight and a half points less likely to win than the Ohio State! Clearly we need to put the entire collection basket on Ohio State covering (-8.5).
This next game will truly be a test of faith—light a candle, unless you’re in Los Angeles, then definitely pray. Love the sinner, hate the sin, Ohio State has just been too good this year, probably savoring all of the seven deadly sins. They will get their gratification here on earth on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Atlanta, but Notre Dame will have their victory in paradise.
College Football Idiot Savant Playoff Semifinal.
With the clutter is mostly eliminated from the playoff we see the cream rise to the top with the final four teams. Liveforthepage comes off a 2-1 quarterfinal stage to bring us to 26-20 for the year, and we aim to continue the winning record in the final two weeks. As always, liveforthepage is not responsible for gambling losses associated with these predictions, please be a degenerate responsibly.
Prediction 1: However, I just got a tip last week from real wiseguy who has Notre Dame in the final. I haven’t really been impressed with Penn State (+1.5) and there isn’t really an incentive to take the points here. They may not be playing in the shadow of touchdown Jesus, but I think this is where Penn State’s story ends. While the thought of an all Big Ten final is appealing, the Buckeyes beating the golden domers in the final is too damn good. Notre Dame covers.
Prediction 2: Don’t mess with Texas…Seriously don’t mess with Texas if you want them to cover a game for you. Don’t mess with Texas…Unless you’re an Arizona State running back. Don’t mess with Texas…Well, let’s just say they have an inflated opinion of themselves even though they haven’t done anything since Vince Young played quarterback there. I’m not going to predict a thrashing as compete as what happened against Oregon, but this game is ripe for a cover at Ohio State (-6).
Prediction 3: I don’t live in their skin, but I have to imagine this Ohio State team is pretty fresh after barely having to do anything in the second half against Oregon. They should be rested and they are the best team left, which is why I am going with offensive yards, over 400. This Texas secondary just let a running back throw a touchdown on them last week, our #1 wide receiver room in the nation should split them up like a filet knife.
Jesus Quintana once said, “I see you rolled your way into the semis. Dios Mio, man. Liam and me, we’re gonna fuck you up.” Like that character from The Big Lebowski, Jesus will be present in the semis with Notre Dame, but that will be their last great line in this movie. The Dude and Walter are Ohio State in this scenario, and you can bet they will be abiding on January 20th.
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