I've used this weblog for the purpose of confession before, and i feel the need to do it again.

As i mentioned last time, these sorts of things are never easy, but someone once said that confession is good for the soul, and i am hoping they are correct. Though i cant really see that being true in all cases. For instance, if one was to confess to a crime that would result in them being jailed and or executed, then i can hardly see how that would be good for the soul. In a sense, i guess it would literally 'free' said soul. But you would be dead, or in jail... So would it really be worth it?

I'm stalling.

Ok.

Here goes.

My name is Dennis...

I am 33 years old..

And sometimes when i get home from work..

My name is Dennis, I love rock and roll, therefore you should listen to what i have to say.

If you purchase only one album this year, [yes i know it's only January] it should be Z by My Morning Jacket. I've been listening to these guys over their past couple of albums, and have enjoyed their reverb soaked southern rock vibe. Their first couple of albums were actually recorded in an old grain silo to sweeten the reverb, which makes for some very unique, almost angelic sounding vocals from Jim James on some of the songs.

This new album strays away from some of the reverb [though there is still plenty!], and moves them into some different areas of rock and roll. You can hear some early U2 influence on a song like "Gideon" and even some reggae type Clash sounds on the first single "Off the Record". If a song like "What a Wonderful Man He Was" doesn't garner these guys some radio play, then we should just give up on radio all together.... If we haven't already.

This is not one of those albums with a couple of good songs, it's solid from start to finish, and will be a disc that you find stuck in the music player of your choice for many moons.

You should definitely buy more than one album this year, but if you're a cheap bugger, make sure you buy this one.

"To Lucy Barfield:

My dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be

Your affectionate Godfather,

C.S. Lewis"

- Dedication in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

What ever happened to Lucy Barfield?

I've seen this on a couple of other blogs and thought i would give it a go. It's a bit of a survey of ones own digital music collection. This survey was done using Itunes on my laptop, not with what i have on my Ipod.

HOW MANY SONGS? 4561

SORT BY SONG TITLE:
First = ... by Controller.Controller
Last = Zooropa by U2

SORT BY TIME:
Longest = "Seciton 10:  A Long Day" - The Polyphonic Spree = 36 mins 30 secs
Shortest = "One Last "Woo Hoo!" for the Pullman" - Sufjan Stevens = 6 secs

SORT BY ALBUM:
First = () - Sigur Ros
Last = Zooropa - U2

TOP FIVE MOST PLAYED SONGS:
1. Taper Jean Girl - Kings of Leon = 6 plays
2. Kissing the Lipless - The Shins = 6 plays
3. Really Something - Aaron Sprinkle = 6 plays
4. Cocaine Cowgirl - Matt Mays = 6 plays
5. Give Judy My Notice - Ben Folds = 5 plays

FIRST SONG THAT COMES UP ON SHUFFLE:
"Tampa to Tulsa" by The Jayhawks, from the album "Rainy Day Music"

Search for “sex.” How many songs come up? - 22 [17 of the results were for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers album Blood Sugar Sex Magik]

Search for “death.” How many songs come up? - 37 [Mainly Deathcab for Cutie]

Search for “love.” How many songs come up? - 194

This is a great quote from an interview with Jeff Tweedy, which i stole from Mark Lee. I liked it so much, i had to post it over here too.

"I think one of the things that's really beautiful about rock music is that it's one of the rare places that people go in their lives where they join together with a bunch of people and raise their voices and sing along with somebody and transcend themselves, to find themselves as a part of humanity as opposed to being apart from humanity. I think that that's a beautiful thing ... Unfortunately there's been a lot of times where I think a lot of people have missed that experience in church and they found it in other places without knowing that's what they were finding."

The quote is taken from a review of a show Tweedy played at Messiah College, which is a Christian University in Philadelphia. Seem like a bit of a strange venue for him to play? He thinks so too:

"Actually, I'm honored that you would invite me to your campus. I think a lot of Christians would consider me a blasphemer," Tweedy said before deadpanning, "I have a checkered past."

Kudos to Mr Wilco for having a sense of humour about it, and kudos to Messiah College for letting a real, bona fide rock star play on campus.

You can read the rest of the review here.

And again, my apologies to Mark for totally stealing his post.