The Production Side

“Hard Sun” is the first single from the soundtrack to the upcoming flick Into The Wild, which is Sean Penn’s adaptation of the novel. Eddie Vedder not only contributes “Hard Sun”, but the entire soundtrack, which comes out September 18. I can’t wait!
“Hard Sun” is actually a cover from Indio, a band fronted by Gordon Peterson. The original version features back up vocals by someone named Joni Mitchell, it’s so hard to be sarcastic on the web. Vedder’s version has Sleater- Kinney’s Corin Tucker helping out.
The song has been in my head for days, honestly, I can’t stop listening to …read more

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I’m in a wedding this weekend, so Pearl Jam’s “Around The Bend” has been stuck in my head.
“Around The Bend” is the last track from Pearl Jam’s fantastic, yet somewhat forgotten 1996 album, No Code. It’s a catchy song, because it’s not very Pearl Jam like. It has kind of a tropical sound to it and is all too relaxing. The band usually saves this song for special shows, like at the Bridge School Benefit. I was lucky enough to see them do it in Philly back in 2005, and it sounded great. It’s probably one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs. 
Apparently, …read more

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Have you heard the rocking new track from the Foo Fighters? If not, you should, it’s quite good.
“The Pretender” is the first single leaked from the Foos upcoming 6th album Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, which comes out September 25. The track was leaked last week and has been floating around since.
“The Pretender” starts off a bit slow, maybe even a bit like a Beatles song, before punching you in the face with the heavy Foo sound that we all love. It even sounds like CCR during the break, which is fine by me. Anyways, the song is good enough to …read more

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I’ll be honest; I’m not a big fan of the Barenaked Ladies. But late last week a friend of mine reintroduced to this gem of a song and it’s been in my head since.
“Brian Wilson” was featured on several BNL albums. It first appeared on their first full length album, 1992’s Gordon. The song was later rerecorded as a single in 1997 and also appeared on their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle.
The song itself is a clever one. The references to the legendary Beach Boys member Brian Wilson are wonderful. Because of these references, the song becomes a decent source for …read more

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Several months ago a friend of mine introduced me to the wonderful music of Elliott Smith. I had heard of him before, but never really sat down and absorbed his work. Immediately there were a handful of songs that I feel in love with and one of them was “Waltz #2 (xo)” from 1998’s XO.
For the last week I’ve been hooked on this song. It’s a marvelous piece of work. As the title the implies, the music follows the typical waltz pattern. It’s a great backdrop for the amazing guitar and vocals that Elliott Smith adds.
Initially, I thought that the song …read more

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I’ve been on a huge Police kick, so I decided to write about a classic track from 1980’s Zenyatta Mondatta. The song was written by Sting while The Police were on tour. The story goes that while in his hotel room Sting saw a program about starving children and was inspired to write “Driven To Tears”.
The song has great lyrics by Sting and Stewart Copeland does some amazing drumming as well. It’s been preformed by both The Police and Sting’s solo concerts and at events such as Live Aid and Live Earth.
Pearl Jam also covers “Driven To Tears” from time to time at …read more

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This week’s song is “Bittersweet Me” by R.E.M. I heard this song a couple of days ago and it’s been stuck in my head since. It was the second single from the band’s tenth studio album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, released in 1996. It was also the last album that featured drummer Bill Berry. The band has never played it live either.
The song itself is quite beautiful. It opens with simple and quit guitars with great lyrics by Stipe. It then picks up during the chorus and gets stuck in your head rather quickly. Right now, it’s one of my favorite R.E.M. …read more

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Seems like a perfect time to mention the second song leaked from the Smashing Pumpkins 6th album, Zeitgeist, which comes out this upcoming Tuesday (July, 10). Also, “Doomsday Clock” is featured in the Transformers movie and soundtrack, which came out on July 3 (and by the way the movie totally rocks and does a fantastic job of pleasing old fans while giving it a modern spin).
So, “Doomsday Clock” has been floating around the web for bit, so maybe some of you have heard it. It seems to be getting mixed reviews from fans, some love it and others can’t stand …read more

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I’ve chosen Pearl Jam’s “Severed Hand” for song of the week, because I just saw a TV ad for their new box set, Live at the Gorge 05/06, and they played a live version of “Severed Hand”. It reminded how awesome this song is and I immediately had to listen to it.
I first heard this song in April 2006 in a Montreal hotel room when Pearl Jam was on Saturday Night Live; I had to leave the next morning so I had to call it an early night . Anyways, I was instantly hooked when I heard the opening guitar. …read more

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