Greatest Opening Lyrics From Debut Albums

{Originally Published on The middleCoast}

We present The Top 11 Greatest Opening Lyrics from some of the Greatest Debut Albums of all time. Why 11 you ask? Cuz we rawk like Spinal Tap, you dig?

Number 11
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Debut Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Year: 1967
Song: “Sunday Morning”
Opening Lyric: “Sunday Morning, praise the dawning / It’s just a restless feeling by my side”
Reason for Greatness: Few audiences in the late 60s could comprehend what The Velvet Underground would mean to musicians and hipsters of the coming generations. “Sunday Morning” introduces The Underground into our collective consciousness with the dawning of a new morning, immediately followed by apprehension. While most people seem to find Sunday mornings easy (or else Lionel Richie’s metaphor is completely unfounded), Lou Reed awakens restlessly and with a sense of paranoia disguised as dreamy pop. Perhaps it’s this contradiction that put The Velvet Underground so far ahead of its time.

Number 10
Artist: Van Halen
Debut Album: Van Halen
Year: 1978
Song: “Runnin’ With the Devil
Opening Lyric: “I live my life like there’s no tomorrow”
Reason for Greatness: Clearly Van Halen were not terribly interested in their future, as this classic opening lyric exhibits. More precisely, they concentrated on pursuing all the decadence and pleasure the rock ‘n roll lifestyle carried with it – ya know, like trying to keep pace with Satan and such. Eddie Van Halen decided it was time to melt everyone’s face off, David Lee Roth decided that Rock needed a new party boy, and the rest of us decided that we liked Van Halen better when they didn’t take themselves so damned seriously.

Concert Review: Vandaveer, These United States, Rachel Ries

{Originally published on The middleCoast}

The beauty of The Hideout (other than two-dollar cans of Old Style – though, we preferred the PBR, but it seems a touchy subject ’round the bar, so we’ll leave that alone) is that the intimate space and low ceiling make it feel as though you’re watching your friends jam in their basement. Well last night we had some remarkably talented friends.

Opening the night was DC collective The Federal Reserve member, Vandaveer: the moniker singer/songwriter, Mark Charles, goes under. His album, Grace & Speed, came out last year to much critical acclaim, and is well worth the purchase price. With a velvety voice and storytelling lyrics, Vandaveer commanded the attention of the full (albeit lethargic) audience, the room falling silent to hear every bit of his performance. Imagine Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits or Bob Dylan, even, with just a microphone and acoustic guitar telling their tales; now imagine if they had a spectacular singing voice and it’s a fair comparison to Vandaveer.

The Importance of Swagger

{Originally published on The middleCoast}

swag·ger
-verb
1. To walk or strut with a defiant or insolent air
2. To brag or boast noisily
-noun
1. Ostentatious display of arrogance and conceit

Generally associated with hip hop and athletes (read: black people), the term Swagger contains either a positive or negative connotation depending on your point of view. If you’re a basketball fan disillusioned with the NBA, Allen Iverson is the poster child for everything wrong with swagger. God forbid you mention practice in the presence of The Answer. But the flip side of that coin is that without his swagger, the six-foot-nuthin’ baller would never have become one of the most prolific and consistent scorers in the history of the game. Certainly talent is what it is, but perception is reality – the more AI believes in himself and the more he projects that confidence-cum-arrogance, the more his competitors believe it too. Next thing you know, the one-time Slam Dunk Champ, Vince Carter, doesn’t even attempt to block the six-inch-shorter Iverson’s dunk.

Top 10 Albums of 2007

{Originally published on The middleCoast}

Number Ten (10)
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Challengers
Label: Matador
Release Date: August 21, 2007

On their fourth full-length, the Canadian supergroup puts on a clinic in how to craft brilliant pop music. Neko Case and Dan Bejar, fresh from making two of the best albums of 2006 on separate projects, reunite with Carl Newman and the boys to produce a mature and cohesive collection of power pop and rock anthems few bands of today even attempt. “My Rights Versus Yours” is quintessential New Pornographers, while “All the Old Showstoppers” and “Unguided” are bittersweet tales that will challenge even the most afflicted shoegazers to raise their eyes and fists to the sky.

Number Nine (9)
Artist: Spoon
Album: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Label: Merge
Release Date: July 10, 2007

Album title notwithstanding, Spoon have created their best album to date with Ga [et cetera]. Wallpapering our ears with sounds stemming from Motown (“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” and “The Underdog”) to Memphis (“Don’t Make Me a Target”), the design remains complete and beautiful. Whether pounding on the keys or crooning into the mic, Britt Daniel finally gives us everything he’s got, holding back only when appropriate (“The Ghost of You Lingers”), and the precision and detail Spoon has become so gifted at cultivating into pop tracks manifests itself in some of the most soulful rock in years.