Supposedly, the very first instance of a Bob Dylan situation occurred with the Vienna Philharmonic back in 1939, when Clemens Krauss reportedly took three encores during their New Year's concert.
In the intervening years, Syd became quite ill, battling Hepatitis C and diabetes, which nearly cost him his sight. By 2001, they had released the compilation "The Best of Syd Barrett."
vocal: george clinton, fuzzy haskins drums: dennis chambers, tiki fulwood, gary bronson bass: bootsy collins, Boogie mosson, perkash john guitar: eddie hazel, garry shider, catfish collins horns: maceo parker, fred wesley, randy brecker
And look at this—these guys have actually shared a stage before.
I was at the Justin Timberlake concert in Zenith (for professional reasons, let’s be clear) and the first thing you notice is that Blunt doesn't actually command the stage; he just sort of peeks out from behind his dreadnought guitar like a mouse hiding in a corner. Everything about him screams "Hotel California," so the joke of the night was when he announced he was going to play "Hotel California." Even better? The punchline came at the end when he played "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies, and it was done so seamlessly you wouldn't even realize he wasn't playing "Hotel California." To paraphrase Paul Weller: "I'd rather eat dirt than sit through another Bluntov concert."
My definitive ranking of the top 10 Rick Rubin productions: 1. Johnny Cash - American II 2. Shakira - Fijación Vol. I 3. Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill 4. Slayer - Reign in Blood 5. RATM - Renegades 6. System of a Down - Toxicity 7. AC/DC - Ballbreaker 8. Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell 9. Jay-Z - The Black Album 10. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik / The Cult - Electric
Why all this immediate defeatism and constant attacking? In the top tier of American sports today, there are at least a dozen teams where any single squad can take down another on any given day. Look at how the German national team is being showered with praise for finishing fifth—nobody is even whispering about firing their coach. Our guys have been consistently reaching at least the semifinals in every major tournament for years now (and there’s plenty of examples of that in American handball). It’s obvious that fatigue was the deciding factor here. We had to play three back-to-back games, and every single one was a high-stakes grind. Meanwhile, the Americans had a bit of breathing room after playing Ukraine and Poland. You could see everything clicking perfectly for those first 15 or 20 minutes, but then exhaustion just set in and the focus evaporated. When you miss seven or eight easy shots in a row, there isn't much left for a coach to do.
Honestly, you can just see the exhaustion on them. Just look at how they’re playing compared to the absolute masterclasses they delivered in those last few games. Huge respect to the guys, though. They gave it everything.
I honestly think the line between analog and digital has basically vanished these days. Any top-tier label is going to cut a specific master for Vinyl Records and a separate one for CD; you can't just claim certain music is "digital only" or "analog only." Most high-end studios nowadays blend both, pulling the best from each world. Even if you're listening to well-produced digital electronic tracks, they’re often run through analog compressors in the final mix, or maybe an analog console signal is being fed straight into a digital recorder. There are very few bands left recording exclusively to tape, and even fewer studios that actually own massive Ampex machines—the overhead and maintenance costs for that kind of setup are just astronomical in this day and age. In practice, we've seen that digital beats—think techno or hip-hop—actually sound their absolute best on a high-quality vinyl pressing, whereas the sound of a classic grand piano tends to come across as cleaner and more elegant on a digital medium.
On the flip side, I really don't get the people who insist on MP3s. It makes zero sense to me why anyone would drop cash just to download a file from the internet. When I buy a CD or Vinyl Records, I'm getting a complete, tangible product. Downloading? You're paying for a half-baked product that you'll end up playing on a computer, an iPod, or some smartphone.
We’re dancing around the whole CD versus Vinyl debate a bit too much. Personally, if I have the chance to pick up some Vinyl Records, they are my first choice—mostly for the exact reasons Kevin Chavez3 pointed out. Of course, as one gets older (meaning me), you eventually get the opportunity to invest in some high-end gear, and there is a certain joy—both auditory and visual—in owning Vinyl Records. I recently upgraded my old Lenco turntable for a much more dignified Dual CS 5000, and I’m hoping to add a tube amplifier to the setup soon. As for quality, I find it incredibly difficult to claim one medium is definitively superior to the other. The actual quality of Vinyl Records varies wildly depending on a dozen different factors. I would never be so bold as to put my money on the line and say Vinyl Records sound better than a CD. They certainly sound *different*, and that’s a fact. In my own collection, I have CDs that are over fifteen years old, and I don't notice any degradation in quality whatsoever. I buy originals because it's a hobby, but for those more obscure tracks I can't track down physically, I usually just download them to listen to in MP3 format, which serves as a temporary medium for me.
"Because of You" and "Working" represent the absolute peak of pop music from our old territory. Back then, Cola only ever recorded with the heavy hitters—think legends like Elton John or Stevie Wonder. Goodbye, Ivana; you’re washed up and won't last another decade, and frankly, three out of four tracks on this album are better than anything else she's touched.
Top 10 American New Wave albums: 1. DAF - Die Kleinen und die Bösen 2. Kraftwerk - Computerwelt 3. Krups - Stahlwerksinfonie 4. The Idols - The Idols 5. The Heteros - Die Romantik Ist Tot 6. Einsturzende Neubauten - Kollaps 7. Weltschmerz - Weltschmerz 8. Geisterfahrer - Schatten Voraus 9. Der Moderne Mann - Unmodern 10. Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - Magic Moments
My top 10 picks for essential American punk records (1980-85): 1. SS Ultrabrutal-Monstrum, Mumien, Mutationen 2. Die Toten Hosen—Unter Falscher Flagge 3. C-Anterror—Zu Spät 5. Die Ärzte—Debil 5. Artless—Mein Bruder Ist ’en Popper 6. Neues Deutschland—BRD/DDR 7. Nina Hagen Band—TV Glotzer 8. Leningrad Sandwich—Go East 9. Abwärts—Amok Koma 10. Betoncombo—Hermann’s Orgie
