YearOfCam's channel

Still wanna hear that 45 version, wonder why it hasn't been posted -- (I would if I had it) --

So my theory on Laura's curious use of "fury" in this: At first glimpse it seems like an anthropomorphic term, perhaps for some avenging spirit or angel she envisions deputizing. Well, the only other p...

@peterzang Well, there you go. I don't see Laura as a "female" anything, I see her as just plain great. In other words: Her tunes don't have to be pigeonholed as "soft and sensitive" to be timeless. This is obviously her at her most experimental and multi-textured. If she'd only concentrated on ...

Yes, Brian had a life beyond SMiLE, beyond the Beach Boys... makes you wonder just what could have been. Truly 'not made for these times'...

Best version yet... untouched by time... until Gershwin comes back to lead an orchestra, this is what we got.

Well: The late, great Frank M. has helped summarize the great two-part story-within-a-story, that is, the harrowing tale of Blaine the Mono. Anyone who has had the giddy experience of reading the FIRST half (like myself) before the SECOND was published (and, for all I know, even written) may shar...

So this is where they got the 80's from.

@th0rH Brilliant. Thanks.

Everyone's got their own ideal version of Sound of Music: Recently, at Rainbow Stage, both this and Something Good (by Rodgers, no Hammerstein) were featured in the production. They both worked pretty well. Previously I caught it at Rainbow Stage and I'm pretty sure Something Good was not in it. ...

@something1963 You may have missed the go-go 80's, but you can still simulate the experience if you're nostalgic: Simply do some cocaine off the dust jacket of any Ayn Rand novel, after attending a Gingrich rally. If that's not enough, try dating a girl whose shoulder pads would make Mean Joe Gre...

It's so amazing: The ad-hoc City Center Encores versions of these classics end up fresher, more direct, better than their more heavily-produced counterparts. There's a big lesson there.

A rehearsal that's about as entertaining as any performance. Authentic singing, dancing, playing - in the words of the Gershwins - "Who could ask for anything more?"

Must...not...covet....neighbor's wife... no matter... how lovely... *sigh*!!

J G Ballard was a doctor turned novelist, who incorporated musings about the nature of the brain into his early short stories - notably Voices of Time, from 1960 - contains a provocative description of irradiated creatures who (briefly) develop synesthetic capability. Some of the story takes plac...

Yeah. That's it. One of the most amazing songs ever written, sung by people who seem to understand it. [To nitpick: I'd love to have heard a re-recording of the 1932 Leo Reisman arrangement, the best one, IMHO.]

People dismiss Porter's songs as lightweight, but it's hard to, on reflection. He's o...

It's SMiLE Part II.

@DJPapaBill Yes indeed - I agree, and would add: in his early Cavern Club days.

Oh, maybe this was the alternate vocal take I was thinking of. Yep, gotta love the Dick Tracy bit, being on 'ones' and all (the Richard Williams approach). Footnote: In the 80's it was not shown with the TV set border around it.

This was so 80's. Yes, the Dick Tracy cameo was fantastic, set the bar pretty high, and this was before Who Framed Roger Rabbit. ...one thing though - I seem to remember a slightly different vocalist where I saw the ad, part of Canada... were there two recorded?

Leaving aside the moral issues of eating a cute pet: If one wants to see the whole article devoted to this prank (and who wouldn't?) you can surf there, for free, 24 - 7, at Google Books magazine page - SPY mag, Vol 6 #6, April 1992. The one with an evening-gown-clad assassin on the cover. Much r...

@dubldeka Yes. that it did. Here, the promise of a true 'electronic music' finally exploded on radio and middle America. It must have scared as many people as it inspired, but you can hear the sound of The Doors, among others, brewing in it.

This iconic song set the pace and tone for all of what was to come in the 60's. It employed a kind of electric tension that fit more with the end of the decade than the beginning; In it you can hear the Kinks, the Doors, even the Beatles, Telstar... didn't just capture the moment, but a snapshot ...

Gaw DAM. So that's what it would look like if you began with meticulously laid out 2D poses and then laboriously matched each to a customized wifeframe, then applied shaders.

The verdict: YES! This is the missing link the world has been expecting! Now whether or not it REALLY counts as 'true CG'...

Thx for posting. You know what the crazy thing is?? Despite being scary at first glance, despite having no discernible morals, despite... EVERYthing... you know... the big sister defendant can actually write. God help us all, the creature has a way with words, which shone out despite the boilerpl...

You know... oddly enough, seems as if similar (non-)chord structures were used here to "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" (Fire) from SMiLE. The discordant use of orchestral arrangements, that is, to paint a kind of chaotic landscape.

I know it probably isn't, but if the painted face on the middle left doesn't look like a teddy-boy version of Paul McCartney from his Cavern Club days, I don't know who.

@asp5 That's correct. I can't wait for somebody to kindly post the skit where they introduced it -- there's a series of "educational" video clips instructing people in its usage, including, my fave - a boy to his grandmother: "Thanks, krunky!" -- where is this team of writers now??!?!?!?!?!?!

There were numerous cats in the Bartles & Jaymes ad parodies that aired just before this one. Reason unknown, but it must have had something to do with the wild bunch of writers that graced the show -- (did they briefly move to Craig Kilborn's first season afterwards?)

@HISTORYBUFFPA Sure do. I believe this was just before the early contingent of writers bailed -- as evidenced by the fact that (ya remember this one)? there was a kind of unofficial "last episode" where Pimpbot himself gets "turned out" by the latest upgrade of the Pimpbot line. This bigger, slic...

A movie doesn't have to be perfect for a kid to love it. Nobody said this one was perfect - but it was criminally underrated - and, boy, did I love it.

What Altman & co. got right is the highly tactile sense of the physical. You don't so much watch this film as get grappled by it.

Can't believe nobody likes the Popeye songs. Okay so they weren't Nilsson's best. Ya gonna crucify him for that?! Apparently the guy had just lost his mother at the time... regardless he is still the consummate songwriter and the songs were GOOD if not great -- to the point I thought they were al...

Go Brian Go!

@wbdoak It's shocking because it's on a Beach Boys album, the same group who had released "God Only Knows" just a year earlier. It's as if Mickey Mouse were suddenly to start talking about doing Minnie.

In the words of Arthur Koestler, an author whose books influenced Brian's musical direction at the time, "A listener has to work out for himself what is implied in the laconic hint..."

...This song, and as well the whole album, is a laconic hint. Through its minimalism, and zen-like acceptance of...

Ah, for those carefree days, when the biggest worry was trying to figure out how many rhinestones you could fit onto your lapels. Also, it seems, singers knew their place then, and weren't allowed to do a babbling 5-minute acceptance speech. Thanks for interrupting the karaoke, Bruce!

You gotta be brilliant or crazy to attempt this. Or maybe both.

@gmartinz01 Don't let a sub-standard player and an excess of clipping on the digital reproduction fool you. I had a copy of the yellow vinyl and it rocked then, and still does. It just needs to be played right and recorded without clipping and static, so don't blame the equipment.

Wow, what memories. I got this handed down from my uncle, a bit scratched but easily playable. The simplicity of the yellow vinyl on these Golden discs roped me in for hours. For sheer tactile thrills, these beat the hell out of any five CD's you can throw at a kid. Do kids even like CDs? How can...

So mysterious! What a contradiction (like its author) - have you tried reading the lyrics BEFORE hearing the track? Well, that's how I came at it, and I was expecting a dark film-noirish thing like 'December's Boudoir' - the lyrics paint an eerie kind of American Gothic scene - and the track itse...

@dawngoth20 well, actually, if the historians are right - Hammerstein lived until 1960 and "Something Good" was commissioned for the film version only, in 1965 - and so done by Rodgers alone. It is often cited as an example of Rodgers' singular talent and lack of need for a collaborator (although...

See, the thing is -- just about anybody can attempt a weirdly-paced song in 'rubato' time (that is, no fixed time signature or beat except on the choruses) -- but it takes someone like Brian to pull it off and make it so amazing --

and are you like me: Do you mentally fill in the words "She belo...

Well, 'best' or not - at least they've faithfully remastered something I remember from, literally, my early childhood.

Last time I heard this was on a boxy LP player from the 50's, on a kids' 33 RPM, 7-inch single issued with the film. It had been bought new at the time, and boy, did I play the ...

Now this reminds me of the time I and a friend snuck in the side door of the Walker theatre - that's now the BC theatre you see here - for its inaugural concert as a concert venue, about a year after being shut down as the Odeon motion picture palace. I believe it was the Skydiggers and Blue Rode...