[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/tft113/tft113.mp3]@tftpodcast Hey I have a suggestion for the syllabus: Jack White's Lazaretto. For some reason I think you guys are not into him, though…
— Julia Mathias (@thejuliamathias) June 6, 2014
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Playlist: Lazaretto
Syllabus
- Lazaretto
- Lazaretto lyrics on (sigh) Rap Genius
- Vinyl Special Features on YouTube
- CD and Vinyl Sales on FiveThirtyEight
- “Lazaretto” music video on YouTube
- P4K review, Billboard Review, an interview on NPR, and coverage on Billboard
- Musique concrète on Wikipedia; Dripsody
- It Might Get Loud film website
- Marnie Stern, “Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling” on YouTube
Can I take us on a bit of tangent about the film “It Might Get Loud”? I am squarely in the target demographic for this sort of thing (guitar player, fan of the musicians) and I found the whole thing to be tedious, meandering, and utterly failing to communicate the enthusiasm and passion that I associate with rock guitar.
The worst part was when The Edge made a big deal out of playing his guitar to a stormy ocean scene. It reeked of Spinal Tap-esque self-importance.
I dunno. Maybe I was in a bad mood that day.
Anyway, so as not to make this comment entirely me taking a dump on that movie, I will say this was a great episode on a great album.
I agree that “It Might Get Loud” is largely a tedious and annoying film. However, I find that parts of it have stuck with me for the last 4-5 years since I saw it. The Jack White scene that I talked about on the podcast is one, so is Jimmy Page dancing along to a skiffle song, and so is the Edge talking about “the bodies, and the bombs, and the bodies, and the bombs” which also was very Spinal Tap-esque. You’re right that The Edge came off most like one of the Spinal Tap characters, where as White and Page both had a bit more self-awareness.
Back in the day, when I’d talk about Jack White, and if you are from Detroit and mingling with a certain circle of people you spend a lot of time talking about Jack White, I was one of the people who would express desire for him to just leave Meg White and her barely competent drumming behind. This would often be met with fairly stringent disagreement.
Well, in the years since Meg White disappeared from the public eye and Jack White has struck out with other folks, I’ve sort of changed my opinion. While he may be working with better musicians, it just doesn’t work as well for me. Which, in the end, does sort of buoy the Meg as Jack’s muse argument, and, from time to time, it does seem like she’s still on his mind. I mean, he’s a fine guitarist and stuff, but outside the White Stripes he just isn’t quite the same.
Oh also, as somebody who writes for a site that does decimal point reviews, I’m all for it. That granularity is valuable. I mean, it’s just basically doing a review on a scale of 0-100, but a bit tidier. Sometimes something falls between an 8 and a 9, you know? With a decimal point, you essentially get to trade it on a traditional educational scale, which is something most people understand. Then again, the site I write for does not line up its letter grades and its number grades in the way you would expect, so that’s neither here nor there, I suppose.