The Cardigans – Geof Morris

Geof’s New Music: 17-23 Aug 2008

Nirvana’s Nevermind. Nope, never actually owned my own copy.
The Cardigans’ Life.
Over the Rhine’s Live From Nowhere, Volume Three.
16 Jul 2006 [Florence, MA, USA] concert bootleg of The Autumn Defense. 2006-07-16: Pines Theater, Florence, MA, USA
17 May 2008 [St. Louis, MO, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. 2008-05-17: The Pageant, St. Louis, MO, USA (disc 1) and 2008-05-17: The Pageant, St. Louis, MO, USA (disc 2).
23 Jun 2008 [Santa Monica, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Death Cab for Cutie. 2008-06-23: Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW-FM, Santa Monica, CA, USA
22 Jul 2008 [San Diego, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Feist. 2008-07-22: Humphrey's, San Diego, CA, USA (disc 1) and 2008-07-22: Humphrey's, San Diego, CA, USA (disc 2).

Last week:

R.E.M.’s Murmur. Admittedly, I haven’t given this enough of a listen [just getting to it on Saturday], but I’m just not feeling it yet. I’ll keep trying, but right now, it’s just a three-star record on my radar.
George Strait’s Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind. I don’t like a whole lot of country music, but there’s just … something about George Strait’s voice. I figure between George and Lyle Lovett, I can get all the country I ever need in my life. [And I still blame my junior-year-at-MSMS roommate, Thomas, for listening to country music in the first place. I had two choices: listen to country or kill him. I chose the former. But working in country radio right out of high school pretty well fixed me on listening to too much country.] So yeah, I’m going through Strait’s catalog some. Three stars, if you like country.
The Cardigans’ Emmerdale. For a band with this much rock and roll chops—Peter Svensson and Magnus Sveningsson had been in heavy metal bands prior to The Cardigans—it’s weird to hear a pop record from them, but it’s still solid, because Nina Persson’s voice is stellar. Two-and-a-half stars.
25 Apr 2008 [Dayton, OH, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. The mix is just off, but I’m afraid that there’s not much to be done about it by the taper, given that it seems like everything was done that was possible with the AUD part of the mix. Three-and-a-half stars.
28 Apr 2008 [Los Angeles, CA, USA] concert bootleg of She & Him. Persic is one of the best tapers I know, so I lay all the fault here on the vocalists—not only Zooey [who just needs to get more stage presence, which should shock no one who’s read about her on the Internet at this point], but whoever was doing the bgv’s, too. But the musicianship of the band is great … three-and-a-half stars.
16 May 2008 [St. Louis, MO, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. The musicianship is great. The recording is solid. It just … doesn’t really feel like I’m there, which is pretty much my standard for bootleg recordings. I guess I’m faulting Steve’s mix here, which rightly focuses on the music, but feels like it weighs a bit too heavy on the SBD patch. I’m not saying that it’s not good; I’m just saying that I guess I think it could be better. Three-and-a-half stars.
25 Jul 2008 [Santa Monica, CA, USA] concert bootleg of Gnarls Barkley. It’s obvious that they still haven’t gotten comfortable with being interviewed, but man … a fun listen nonetheless. Four stars.

Geof’s New Music: 10-16 Aug 2008

This week is a mix of old and new: old studio releases [all at least a decade old], and new bootlegs [all from 2008].

Last week:

Iron and Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog. I hadn’t really, really loved any of Sam Beam’s previous work; this, however, sparkles. Four-and-a-half stars.
Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple. Fan-damn-tastic. Four stars.
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Three stars. [I blame listening to Girl Talk on getting this.]
8 Nov 1992 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Uncle Tupelo. A surprisingly good recording, given the age. Three-and-a-half stars.
16 Mar 2007 [Dayton, OH, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. Your standard kick-ass OtR@CST show. Four stars.
15 May 2008 [St. Louis, MO, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Three stars. Solid but unspectacular.
3 Jun 2008 [Paris, France] concert bootleg of Feist. It’s a bit treble-y and feels weak, but it has good crowd capture, which to me is something that you want [because, otherwise, it’s a one-off rendition of songs you’ve heard before; this is why I’m not the biggest fan of soundboards]. Two-and-a-half stars.

Geof’s New Music: 20-26 Jul 2008

I’m swimming in new studio releases, so I’m going from two studio / five bootlegs to three studio / four bootlegs for the forseeable future …

Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. BMG finally decided that they weren’t shipping this to me, so I bought it on Amazon. Feh.
The Cardigans’ Super Extra Gravity. Part of the binge I went on lately was filling out my Cardigans discography.
Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.
25 Oct 1997 [Utica, NY, USA] concert bootleg of Blues Traveler. 1997-10-25: Utica Memorial Auditorium, Utica, NY, USA (disc 1), 1997-10-25: Utica Memorial Auditorium, Utica, NY, USA (disc 2), and 1997-10-25: Utica Memorial Auditorium, Utica, NY, USA (disc 3).
1 Sep 2007 [Denver, CO, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. 2007-09-01: The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO, USA (disc 1) and 2007-09-01: The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO, USA (disc 2).
26 Apr 2008 [Dayton, OH, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. 2008-04-26: Canal Street Tavern, Dayton, OH, USA (disc 1) and 2008-04-26: Canal Street Tavern, Dayton, OH, USA (disc 2).
27 May 2008 [Milan, Italy] concert bootleg of Feist. 2008-05-27: Magazzini Generali, Milan, Italy

Last week:

Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Admittedly, I’ve never really gotten into Radiohead, the way Amy’s never gotten into Wilco. But I really liked this one. Four stars.
Angels & Airwaves’ I-Empire. I was fully prepared to hate it, but it was merely okay. There are some decent moments, but it feels too … processed and commercial … for my tastes. Two-and-a-half stars.
18 Jul 1990 [New York, NY, USA] concert bootleg of Uncle Tupelo. A fun, fun listen from a by-gone era. Three stars.
4 Aug 1997 [Atlanta, GA, USA] concert bootleg of Counting Crows. I’m always tempted to give old recordings a break when I review them, but at the end of the day, well, if I rate them too highly, then I’ll have to listen to them too often in iTunes. [I listen to iTunes nearly exclusively in Party Shuffle mode.] This sounds like a bad FM radio broadcast from just slightly out of the coverage area—treble-heavy, static-y, and generally plain bad. One-and-a-half stars, but only because it’s Adam Duritz in his good years.
6 Jul 2002 [Bushnell, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Over the Rhine. I’m impressed that a six-year-old bootleg sounds this good. This is exactly how an AUD should sound, to my ears—a faithful representation of how the room sounded. Given that this took place under a tent at Cornerstone, it’s all the more impressive. Jeff, if you did record this, you deserve kudos, sir. 🙂 Four stars.
16 Oct 2007 [Montréal, QC, Canada] concert bootleg of Spoon. Sadly, the recording is distant and indistinct. Two stars.
2 Mar 2008 [Nashville, TN, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Freakin’ Ryman and their no-recording rules. No wonder this recording stinks. One-and-a-half stars. [Seriously, I hate the Ryman for that. It’s all stealth rigs. Nazis.]