5 Movies That Even I am Surprised I Haven't Seen Yet, Vol. 2...

I've seen a lot of movies in my life...and through the years I have attempted to see many of the films considered to be "culturally important" by film critics. I have had years to see the movies listed below, however...they have been continuously pushed further down the list of "I need to see that someday".

1. Field of Dreams



This one is just embarassing to admit. I have seen parts, but not enough to qualify me to say "I've seen parts". The ending has been spoiled for me by countless countdown shows so I suppose I will let that be my excuse (although, I really don't have one...)

2. Gladiator



You know, I'm not that crazy about Russell Crowe. I'm also only mildy interested in the Roman empire. I love the director: Ridley Scott, but for some reason I have passed on this Academy Award winner of best picture many, many times.

3. The Untouchables



Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner (pre- "Waterworld") and directed by Brian De Palma. I honestly don't know how I've missed this one. This one is quickly become a priority the more I sit here and think about it.

4. Twin Peaks



I guess the reason I haven't seen this is because I never saw the tv series "Twin Peaks". Here is the weird thing, the movie is actually a prequel to the tv series. I somehow feels as though I should have the same experience as those who watched the series THEN saw the film, so I will stick by that excuse (read: reason) for not seeing this one yet.

5. The Big Chill



Considered to be one of the "whitest" films of all-time, I'd still like to see it. A virtual who's who of popular actors at the time ( Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline) "The Big Chill" was nominated for an Oscar in the best picture category and remains a staple of popular culture.

note:

*It was not my intention to list 3 different Kevin Costner films (Kevin Costner was cast as the dead character Alex in the "Big Chill", but nearly all of his scenes were cut, except the one of his hair in the casket).

27 Years Ago Today: The Clash release "Combat Rock"...

'Combat Rock' is a 1982 album released by The Clash. It was the last album to feature the classic line-up before Mick Jones was fired and Topper Headon was kicked out for his heroin addiction. Although the album includes different styles of music, it is considerably more straight-forward and less experimental than their previous album 'Sandinista!'. In the United Kingdom the album charted at #2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts. The album reached #7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart, and was certified platinum.

'Combat Rock' was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had mixed the first version, but the other members were dissatisfied and mixing/producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns, at which point the album became a single LP. The original mixes have since been obtained and subsequently bootlegged.

Pennie Smith shot the cover photo for 'Combat Rock' on a deserted railway line outside Bangkok while the band was on their "Far East" tour in 1982. Following along the same note as Sandinista!, 'Combat Rock's' catalogue number 'FMLN2' is the acronym for the El Salvador political party 'Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional' or FMLN.

Suggested listening:

24 Years Ago Today: Dire Straits release "Brothers in Arms"...

'Brothers in Arms' is the fifth studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1985. The first half of the album is a development of their unique brand of arena rock which had evolved in their music since the 1980 album 'Making Movies', while the second half consists of more folk-influenced material. The whole album maintains the original Dire Straits' bluesy and laid back guitar-based sound whilst retaining a more lavish and bombastic production and overall sound. It is the band's best selling album.

Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums to be directed at the CD market, being the first full digital recording released, although not the first recording digitally recorded and mastered. It was also released on vinyl and cassette. 'Brothers in Arms' was the first album to sell one million copies in the CD format and to outsell its LP version. A Rykodisc staffer would subsequently write, "In 1985 we were fighting to get our CDs manufactured because the entire worldwide manufacturing capacity was overwhelmed by demand for a single rock title...Dire Straits' 'Brothers in Arms'."

In 2000 Q magazine placed 'Brothers in Arms' at number 51 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 351 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Suggested listening:

Dream Setlist: Animal Collective...

(in order)

What Would I Want Sky
#1
Also Frightened
Loch Raven
My Girls
Summertime Clothes
Daily Routine
Bluish
Street Flash
Family Man (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Guy's Eyes
In the Flowers

Encore:

Winter's Love (Redux version)
Unsolved Mysteries
No More Runnin'

37 Years Ago Today: The Rolling Stones release 'Exile on Main Street'

'Exile on Main St.' is an album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones released in 1972. Released as a double LP—and drawing on influences from rock & roll, blues, country and soul —Exile was initially greeted with lukewarm reviews, but is now widely considered among the band's finest work and one of the defining masterpieces of the rock era. In 2003, the album was ranked number 7, the band's highest position, on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Background:

'Exile on Main St.' is an album composed of outtakes and tracks written and recorded over the period of four years, from 1968 to 1972. On those earlier songs, singer Mick Jagger said in 2003, "...After we got out of our contract with Allen Klein, we didn't want to give him those earlier tracks," as they were forced to do with the songs "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" from 'Sticky Fingers'. Most were recorded between 1969 and 1971 at Olympic Studios and Richard's Stargroves country house in England during sessions for 'Sticky Fingers'

By the spring of 1971, the Stones chose to abandon their home country of England to avoid the amount of taxes the British government expected the band to pay. The Stones would have to leave by April 5th, or the government would have seized their assets. After much consideration, the Stones chose to settle in France at Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice, where guitarist Keith Richards had rented Nellcôte, the "Gestapo headquarters during the Second World War," according to Richards, complete with swastikas on the floor vents. It was here that the Stones would begin work constructing their next album.

Recording began in earnest sometime near the middle of June. Bassist Bill Wyman recalls the band working all night, every night, from eight in the evening until three the following morning for the rest of the month. Wyman said of the times, "...not everyone turned up every night. This was, for me, one of the major frustrations of this whole period. For our previous two albums we had worked well and listened to producer Jimmy Miller. At Nellcôte things were very different and it took me a while to understand why..." By this time Richards had begun a daily habit of using heroin. Thousands of dollars of heroin flowed through the mansion each week in addition to a contingent of visitors that included the likes of William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, Gram Parsons, and Marshall Chess (who was running the Stones' new label). Contrary to popular belief, Parsons does not appear on the album and was asked to leave Nellcôte in early July 1971, the result of both his obnoxious behaviour and an attempt by Richards to clean the house of drug users as the result of pressure from the French police.

Richards' steadily growing addiction began to inhibit his ability to perform, often leading the band having to record in altered forms without every member present. A notable instance was the recording of one of Richards' most famous songs, "Happy". Recorded in the basement, Richards said in 1982, "'Happy' was something I did because I was for one time EARLY for a session. There was Bobby Keys and Jimmy Miller... We had nothing to do and had suddenly picked up the guitar and played this riff. So we cut it and it's the record, it's the same. We cut the original track with a baritone sax, a guitar and Jimmy Miller on drums. And the rest of it is built up over that track. It was just an afternoon jam that everybody said, 'Wow, yeah, work on it'".

Suggested listening:

28 Years Ago Today: Bob Marley dies in Miami, Florida

Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers and Bob Marley & the Wailers. Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread Jamaican music to a worldwide audience.

illness:

In July 1977, Marley was found to have acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, in a football wound - according to widely held urban legend, inflicted by broadcaster and pundit Danny Baker - on his right big toe. Marley refused amputation, because of the Rastafari belief that the body must be "whole."

Marley may have seen medical doctors as samfai (tricksters, deceivers). True to this belief Marley went against all surgical possibilities and sought out other means that would not break his religious beliefs. He also refused to register a will, based on the Rastafari belief that writing a will is acknowledging death as inevitable, thus disregarding the everlasting (or everliving, as Rastas say) character of life.

The cancer then metastasized to Marley's brain, lungs, liver, and stomach. After playing two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of his fall 1980 "Uprising" tour, he collapsed while jogging in NYC's Central Park. The remainder of the tour was subsequently cancelled.

Marley played his final concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1980. The live version of "Redemption Song" on Songs of Freedom was recorded at this show. Marley afterwards sought medical help from Munich specialist Josef Issels, who promoted a controversial type of cancer treatment, partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks and other substances (Marley was also already a vegetarian, mainly for religious reasons). However, by this time his illness had already progressed to the terminal stage.

death:

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica for his final days, Marley became ill, and landed in Miami for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life."Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition.He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his Fender Stratocaster.

Suggested listening:

Top 5 Songs I am Currently Listening To...

1. The Big Pink - "Velvet (Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid Remix)"
2. Japandroids - "I Quit Girls"
3. The Antlers - "Wake"
4. Iggy Pop - "Dum Dum Boys"
5. Let's Wrestle - "I'm in Fighting Mode"

My bed is a pool and the walls are on fire...

39 Years Ago Today: The Beatles release 'Let It Be'

'Let It Be' is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on May 8th, 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group's announced breakup.

Background:

Most of 'Let It Be' was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road. For this reason, some critics and fans, such as Mark Lewisohn, argue that 'Abbey Road' should really be considered the group's final album and 'Let It Be' the penultimate. 'Let It Be' was originally intended to be released prior to 'Abbey Road' at some point during mid-1969 under the title Get Back but the Beatles were unhappy with this version of the album, which was mixed and compiled by Glyn Johns, and it was temporarily shelved. A new version of the album was created from the studio tapes by Phil Spector in 1970 and then finally released as 'Let It Be'.

The album acts as a soundtrack album for the 1970 motion picture of the same name, which is a documentary film of the band rehearsing and recording the album. While two songs from the sessions were released as singles prior to this album's release, "Get Back" and "Let It Be", the songs were remixed by Spector for release on this album.

The rehearsals and recording sessions for the album did not run smoothly due to the increasing level of acrimony between the four Beatles. The group bickered and argued throughout the album's production. George Harrison, at one point during the rehearsals, walked out and quit the group after severely arguing with both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, only to be coaxed back some days later. The film version is famous for showcasing a number of conflicts between the group members and has frequently been referred to as a documentary intended to show the making of an album but instead showing "the break-up of a band".

Critical and fan reaction to the album on its release was fairly negative. Opinion on the album today is largely divided, though most critics appear to regard 'Let it Be' as weaker than most of the Beatles' previous works. Despite receiving a largely negative review from Rolling Stone magazine at the time of its release, the album was later ranked number 86 in the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003.

Suggested listening:

(Old Music) Still Good Music: Elton John - "Daniel"

"Daniel" was a major hit song by Elton John. It appeared on the 1973 album 'Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'. It was written by John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. The song reached #2 on the pop charts in the U.S. and #1 on the adult contemporary charts for two weeks in the spring of 1973.

Background:

Bernie Taupin wrote, "Daniel," while inspired by the events of the Vietnam War. The lyrics (including a verse in the original draft that was cut from the final version) describe a fictional veteran who was blinded as a result of the war ("your eyes have died"/"but you see more than I") and travels to Spain to escape those around him back home ("do you still feel the pain"/"of the scars that won't heal?"), including his brother, from whose point of view the story is told "Daniel had been the most misinterpreted song that we'd ever written," explained Bernie, in the "Two Rooms" tribute project.

"The story was about a guy that went back to a small town in Texas, returning from the Vietnam war. They'd lauded him when he came home and treated him like a hero. But, he just wanted to go home, go back to the farm, and try to get back to the life that he'd led before. I wanted to write something that was sympathetic to the people that came home."