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Public Enemies

publicenemiesThere’s something about a pedigreed failure. On the one hand, you find things to admire, maybe even love — in a strong performance by a fine actor, in the vision of a strong director — even as the movie leaves you cold. But on the other hand, the potential for greatness, given those ingredients, makes you even more upset when things don’t come together.

I go into The Proposal expecting something far from perfect and I’m able to walk out having enjoyed the parts that clicked. I go into Public Enemies expecting greatness. And it’s a lot of things, but it sure ain’t great.

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Song of the Day #344: ‘Dancing Choose’ – TV On the Radio

tvradioDamn, does time fly.

It feels like I wrote my review of TV On the Radio’s Dear Science just a couple of months back but checking the timestamp I see it was published on New Year’s Eve, 2008. Are we really halfway through 2009 already?

My opinion of the album hasn’t diminished a bit since then. It continues to feel like something brand new, a fresh blend of sounds and ideas with the funkiness of Prince and the lyrical ingenuity of Elvis Costello.

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Song of the Day #343: ‘Good God’ – Anouk

anoukIn addition to launching a spirited competition between me and my 13-year-old niece for axe supremacy, the Wii Guitar Hero World Tour game has introduced me to a lot of good music. For both of those reasons, I treasure it.

I thought about doing a whole theme week of songs I’ve grown to love through Guitar Hero, but then I realized my only association with them is the game and I didn’t know what I’d say about each, apart from “lots of tricky chords in this one” and “hard to hit star power in this one without screwing up my streak.” So I’ve chosen one song to represent the bunch. Perhaps I’ll revisit the others (by such bands as Jimmy Eat World, Paramore and Foo Fighters) at another time.

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Song of the Day #342: ‘Grace is Gone’ – Dave Matthews Band

dmbA couple of weeks ago there was some debate over whether I consider myself a “fan” of Dave Matthews Band. I don’t consider myself a fan of the group because I haven’t bought or listened to any of their past several albums (including Matthews’ solo effort). But I was certainly a big fan a decade or so ago after they released the wonderful Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash albums. So did they just lose their shine?

If I had to point to a turning point for my appreciation of the band, it would be after the “release” of the bootleg album The Lillywhite Sessions. As the story goes, the band recorded a batch of songs with respected producer Steve Lillywhite but weren’t happy with the sessions. The songs were shelved but ultimately leaked to the Web.

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Song of the Day #341: ‘After All’ – Dar Williams

darwilliamsDar Williams is another example of an artist I don’t completely get (I’m not a “fan” in the sense I discussed yesterday) but I love a lot of her songs.

Actually, I can go further than that… Dar Williams has written some of my very favorite songs, songs that move me, shake me, rip me apart and put me back together again.

One example is ‘When I Was a Boy,’ which I wrote about back in October (and which remains my #1 YouTube referral… clearly that song has touched a lot of people).

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