Ballad of GIJoe

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Chinese Democracy is now

Guns n' Roses hasn't released an album of new material in 17 years. On Sunday we'll be able to get their new album in stores.

But if you want to preview the material, the entire album is currently streaming on the GNR Myspace page. Check it out.

Reaction: "Lonely Soldier Boy"

Out of the tubes came Michael Bradley's new CD, "Lonely Soldier Boy" today! If you've been following the craziness, you can appreciate that it's a miracle that this album actually made it out to the public. Fate must have a sense of humour because she would deliver the album shortly after the release of the Shadow Chronicles. For my part, I ordered my copy the moment as soon as it was available. So what does my curiosity get me?

Lonely Soldier Boy is an odd little curio in terms of musical history. It's a remix album ...sort of. Michael Bradley was the mind behind much of the music in Robotech from about half-way through the original run. In this project he's gone back to the source material and rerecorded pretty much everything from the ground up and provided new studio arrangements. For the most part, it turns out rather well too. It doesn't stray too far from source and you basically wind up with a adult-contemporary pop-rock album... I could easily imagine Michael Bradley's ensemble covering the likes of Sting or Savage Garden.

It does however stumble on a few points. Unfortunately no matter how you look at it, the fact remains that these are songs that were written for a cartoon in the 80's. The lyrics and subject matter all point to its origins as a show soundtrack ...almost an opera in its own way. I never really did like the lyrics to We Will Win even back then (Bradley should've left well enough alone; particularly since this wasn't one of his). "In My Heart" and "Lonely Soldier Boy" (the title track) however nails both nostalgia and timelessness. I'd kill to hear these performed live.

On a related note, Michael Bradley takes a risk on the edge of cheesiness with a "live" recording of "It Don't Get Any Better." This had always been an anthem for Robotech and was also "performed live" by his character Lancer in the show. Unfortunately, it feels rather artificial and forced. I think it feels so because this album is a Michael Bradley album and not a Robotech album... You could probably get away with this if you were to believe this was Lancer performing the song for us. But we're 20 years removed and well, it didn't really work for me.

Having well established that we are indeed decades removed from the source however, the decision was thankfully made to include a few of the original demo tapes as bonus tracks. These are the raw pre-production recordings Michael Bradley brought to the execs before they were recorded in their final form as heard on the show. It's a wonderful look back as "what could have been" (for "what actually was" you'd need to track down the Robotech soundtrack, of course). I'm pleased to be able to say that the demos are remarkably well preserved and still sound pretty good as far as a recording from 1985 goes. I'm even more surprised to report that the demos included a few sound-effects dubbed in here and there - a cute touch.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on. Order it for yourself; it's not like it's particularly expensive. Come on now.

In the Tubes

For those interested in a relic of Robotech, Michael Bradley (the man behind a lot of the music from the second half of the original series) has finally announced his remix album. And in typical big-faceless-corporate fashion, Harmony Gold has placed a restraint on him using the name "Robotech" either on the cover or to promote the album (even though Tommy Yune, the head of the creative department at HG has been endorsing the project from the start). Bradley goes into exhaustive detail on his Myspace blog but at the same time is restrained in giving reasons why (probably for legal reasons). All we know is that after delaying the album, titled "Lonely Soldier Boy" for the most popular of the Robotech songs, is finally availble (currently exclusive on his web-site at www.michaelbradleymusic.com - and what a wait it's been. I placed my order this morning.

Also in the Tubes is my latest order at Amazon. It's odd that everything I order from there has a wait time associated with it. If it's not a DVD that's out of print, then it's a book that is just out of stock and takes a month to get in. But shipping is free and I'm getting my loyalty program points on my credit card so it beats running around town looking for stuff.

Since when did USPS tracking numbers work in Canada? My order from Matrix Collectibles (aka "Image Anime") shipped on Monday and I got an email telling me my order was shipped. It had a tracking number that I ignored because in my experience, a package from New York enters Canada in only a day or two and then USPS can no longer track the box (of course). Anyway, on a whim I checked the Canada Post tracking site and it seems they had a complete record for when the package shipped on Monday up to its arrival in town here. Maybe it'll get to my door today. Hooray.

Something about to go into the tubes is my order with Weirdguy who offered to take care of a bulk order of paintball equipment. Admittedly I am a paintball neophyte, but I most definitely am already sick of wearing a rented mask which has previously soaked countless others' sweat. Speaking of which, I should go pay him for the stuff now.

"We're Alive MY ASIA" single

I haven't blogged this single because it was sort of passé when it finally arrived in the mail. That, plus I wasn't immediately taken by the material itself either. I had sort of hoped that the 10^th Anniversary unit would've released a disco-flavoured pop blend in the vein of "Love Machine' (arguably their most successful single, if not their most popular or well-known single, ever). But instead we got Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia, soft-rock pop ballad.

For the record, the disco-pop came of the last single Egao YES Nude by headliners Morning Musume a month later.

But you know, this single did wind up growing on me. And the cover did too... (yeah, I got the limited edition issue):

Something most people haven't seen though, is the insert. The interior of the cover folded out to show 5 portraits of the Morning Musume members past and present chosen for this 10^th Anniversary project. I wanted to share this with you...

pre-order for what?

Hmm... just a thought. I never pre-order anything figuring... why wait?

But for a place like YesAsia.com - they frequently sell-out their initial allotment (depends on what you're looking for, of course). A month and a half ago I ordered the two singles due out from Hello!Project this winter... the first one (celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the premiere J-Pop project) came out last month. My order didn't ship because I had also pre-ordered the one due out mid February (the latest Morning Musume single with a bonus DVD).

By now I probably could've downloaded both (including the DVD materials)... ah well. Such is the way of shopping on the web. But you'd think distributors would take this into account by now and allow retailers to ship a little earlier so that pre-order customers would get it around the same time as the locals who have access to brick-and-mortar stores.

So yeah, my CD singles arrived tonight. Very pleased with the 10th Anniversary single featuring Iida Kaori, Goto Maki, Abe Natsumi, Niigaki Risa, and Kusumi Koharu... came with some collectible cards... not sure what if anything I can do with them, but they're cool to have.

The second is sort of a mixed bag. "Egao Yes! Nude" is the newest single (translates something like "smiling-face, Yes, Nude"; and no, I have no idea what that means). I pleased to own it. It's place in history is that it will be the last single to feature Yoshizawa Hitomi, and the first to feature Mitsui Aika. The edition I chose came with a DVD - which of course is a Region 2 disc. That in itself is all part of the international-collector's frustrations... What does annoy me is that it's actually just a commemorative disc introducing Aika - with clips from her audition and interviews with the other members... what it DOES NOT include is a music video for the new single. And I'm like, "WTF?"

On recutting a CD

It's funny that from time to time I dig out a CD that I didn't even realize I had (that is, I never even listened to it in its entirety after I got it). This goes for the first soundtrack to the Ghost in the Shell TV series.

But it's not for lack of trying. I got this CD as a pack-in bonus when I bought the DTS edition of the first volume of Stand Alone Complex a couple of years ago. But you know, this is the only audio CD I have ever seen in my life that was this badly authored. Go to the bottom of the review at AnimeOnDVD to see what I'm talking about! I mean, tracks are cut at the wrong place! What the heck? I don't know about the guy who wrote the review (he doesn't mention this) but on my pressing, there's actually an extra 19th track of nothing but 38 seconds of silence. And yes, I checked it using a sound editing program - it's silence, not a track with an extremely low volume or something hidden at the very end.

Anyway, while packing up discs, I came across this disc and decided it was time I finally ripped it to MP3 and editted it. I recut the tracks into their proper lengths and merged the track that was mistakenly split into two parts. I'm just wondering if anybody besides me and the guy at the review place has seen this particular disc. I mean, for the record, he's in the USA and I'm Canadian - was it the whole batch? Was it pure luck that we both got these error-pressings? Perhaps it's only the pressing that was produced to be packed in the DVDs and the regular editions sold seperately were okay?

downloading music - if it worked

Been to EBGames lately? Yeah - the signs are plastered all over their stores - buy a used game and get a PIN for 10 free song downloads. The on-line store turns out to be Puretracks. Dunno if you also buy frozen pizzas or anything like that but from time to time they give out coupons for free songs too ...and yes, those are also from the same subset of Puretracks.

And for the most part it's a great idea for publicity. But the problem is that as a subset, I hardly ever find anything of interest. And worse - I walk away with the distinct impression that that's all there is that Puretracks can offer me. Now I could be wrong (I'm not going to waste my time going to the actual Puretracks.com site to prove myself wrong), but that's their own damn fault for pissing me off.

And on top of that impression - I also have cultivated a distinct hatred for the web server engine there. Puretracks just damaged the reputations of all online music stores in my view. That is, if one store can't get their shit right, what's to prevent other stores from having the same buggy software running the show? I just spent an hour browsing their meager offerings attempting to find 10 songs I was remotely interested in. Mind you, this was for free music - imagine if I were looking for something to pay for? And then I went to click on the Checkout icon everything went south - firstly at one point the cart wouldn't refresh (switching between a full cart and an empty one). Then clicking checkout revealed that the store had tallied the full 35-track double-album I had previously accidentally clicked (and thought I had removed). Then upon logging in a second time later in the evening hoping to rebuild my shopping cart, clicking on the Checkout icon this time dropped me back to the main home page and zero items in the cart!!

What the hell - they can't even give this shit away. I'm not even imaginative enough to make this shit up, either.

My deepest darkest secret

Firstly, I need to put this embarrassing secret into context by saying that I'm only a few months shy of turning 30 years old. It's a secret shame that I need to get off my chest...

When I'm in my car and I think nobody's looking, I pretend I'm a Power Ranger piloting my giant robot dinosaur... sometimes I'll even play an MP3 of the old Rangers theme music I downloaded off Kazaa one time...

And when I get passed on the high-way, I like to race the passing vehicle for a few seconds. Not to piss them off (because I will let them go after a moment). But I'm pretending that we're two of those dino-robots coming together to turn into the even bigger robot.

You will speak of this to no one, lest you wish to feel my wrath rain down upon you.

don't touch me! ^_^;

Becks Tagged me, I’m it now, so here are my answers. . .
“List ten songs that you are currently digging … it doesn’t matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they’re no good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they’re listening to.”

Faint - Linkin Park
All the Things I've Done - The Killers
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdanand
A Love Big as the Sky (Translated from Chinese) - Twins
Teo Torriate - Queen
The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
Ballad of the Dukes of Hazzard - Weylon Jennings
Fuel - Metallica
Back in Black - AC/DC
Foolish Dream - Yoko Ishida

I have no idea who reads this blog... least likely ebloggy folks - jellipop, kissashark, Maaya, Torren, and 3carnations. That's 5... *poke*

ZZ Top @ Bluesfest

It occurs to me that a lot of the time I make my life out to be fairly dull. But it's not entirely boring day to day. Take last night for instance. I live in Ottawa and there're plenty of live events to see in the summer: Bluesfest is one. I'm not a huge fan of blues music but I'll make an exception for hard rock laced with blues undertones.

The ZZ Top concert was fantastic. I learned that I really ought to expand my horizons. And that these guys have a repertoire of songs going back over 35 years. They played some stuff older than I am! ^_^;

But for the stuff I did know - wow: a pumping version of Viva Las Vegas followed by the classic "Eliminator" trilogy back-to-back was something else. And finally an encore performance where you could see who was a fan and who was just there because they had week-long event passes. After the "casuals" thinned out the crowd, the rest of us really got into their rendition of Jail House Rock and medley of Tush and La Grange - classics any fan worth their salt knows by heart.

Twenty-five bucks for a day-ticket? Heck, that was the bargain of the century.

Me, Marv, and Yoko ...and that little Batman.

You'd think one of these days I'd learn my lesson - I'm bound to find some crap on top of all the comics I originally intended to buy every time I wander into the shop after a long day at the office...

After I scoured the ailses for the usual stack of books (this week's included New Avengers #5, Legion of Super-Heroes #5, and Amazing Fantasy #8), I ended up aimlessly poking my nose through every nook and cranny in the place. I decided Catwoman was lonely again so I grabbed another one of those Micronaut-styled Batman guys. Also snagged the last copy of Sin City (seems the original collected edition featuring Marv has been selling like hot-cakes since the movie came out). Now's my chance to find out all about the hub-bub for myself.

And finally, here's the kicker for the night: finally managed to find the new Ishida album. Ms. Yoko Ishida is known to a small cult-following thanks to her huge repetoire of anime theme-songs, the first of which was over ten years ago when she (still not more than a kid at the time) performed the ending theme to season 2 of Sailor Moon, "A Maiden's Policy." Lucky for me, Pioneer has seen fit to distribute English-packaged CDs of her music across North American via their Geneon label.



I don't know what it is, the insert for this particular album features photos of her that look kind-a photoshopped... nobody has any right to be that beautiful. Her previous album made her out to be more plain, which I quite prefer, actually. Overall, I was always rather surprised that she even turned out to look exactly the way I had imagined her a decade ago when I first heard her voice. Generally strange thought.

Musical merit? Or just noise?

I was watching Ellen the other day and she said you know you're getting old when you start using words like "newfangled." Reminded me of this one time when Red Green mentioned that today's music wasn't "too loud, it just sucked."

I'm not sure when it happened, but at one point in my life I stopped listening to what was popular. For a time, I didn't even own a radio. It was at a party a few months ago when someone put in a disc I was unfamiliar with (probably because I'd also given up walking into record stores too). It turns out that maybe I had dismissed hip-hop and alternative-rock a little too easily. Maybe I was being unfair. In fact, on a whim, when I saw it on a shelf yesterday, I decided "what the hey... let's buy this."

The album is titled "Collision Course" - you may have heard of these names: Jay-Z and Linkin Park. It's a 6-song EP that comes with a DVD documenting how in only 1 day, these two artists got together and basically jammed until they had something presentable and put on a small concert. And what's funny now is that after watching it, it occurs to me that these guys take their work pretty seriously. Now is that any less respectable than, say, hearing about the production process of a progressive-rock band?

Or maybe I'm just not as "old" as I was feeling 24 hours ago. ^_~