40 Meter 5

I first read about the band called The Soundtrack Of Our Lives in an Amazon review of some other band’s CD. I ended up buying the Communion CD from TSOOL instead of whatever CD I was reading about, and I’m glad I did!

One great thing about this CD is that it’s really two CDs, yet it costs only $13.99 on Amazon. I actually bought a new copy instead of following my usual practice of finding the cheapest used copy that sounds from the description like it might actually play OK.

The CD packaging features numerous illustrations of the type you see on the cover, with impossibly bland race- and gender-balanced people in impossibly bland corporate-looking settings and poses. I haven’t really delved into the songs and their lyrics enough as yet to determine whether this is part of an overarching concept concerning consumerism or whether it just seemed like a cool cover-art idea.

As for the music, well, it’s kind of hard to describe. Although the band members are from Sweden, the songs and arrangements put me in mind of something I would have bought in 1968 or so to listen to in my college dorm room. Creativity fairly bursts forth on every song - no filler here. The album has the Beatles-like property that as you play it for the first time you have no idea what the next song will bring. Some rock out hard, others lay back prettily. One standout number is “Second Life Replay” (yes, that Second Life), which starts out acoustic and pretty, picks up tempo to become hard-rocky, then drops back again at the end. Whew!

You can hear sample excerpts of the CD’s songs on the Amazon page for Communion. I liked the album so much that I also bought their earlier album Origin, Vol. 1. Truth be told, I haven’t had a chance to give it a spin as yet. Once I get to know it, I’ll update this post with my reaction.

Here’s a strange one! This guy has taken a whole bunch of YouTube videos - guitar lessons, people singing in their bedrooms, actual music videos, etc. - and sliced-n-diced them into a single performance. You probably haven’t seen anything quite like this before.

The (non-embeddable) video is at http://thru-you.com/.

When I was at Ohio State a few semesters ago (OK, in the late 60s), my roommate Marty and I accumulated and listened to a lot of albums. I mean hundreds of albums. How could we not? The late 60s was an incredible time for music - the heavy hand of the corporations had not yet fallen and it was just us kids thinking up cool songs! The level of creativity back then has never really been matched since, in my opinion.

I still have most of the vinyl LPs I had in those days, but the fact is, I don’t usually haul out a black beauty and put it on the gramophone. I guess I’m out of the habit! But like many others, over the years I have bought the CD versions of some (some) of the classic albums I enjoyed listening to in the dorm. Of these, I still listen to a few (a few) on a regular basis.

An unexpected survivor of that hallowed time is After Bathing At Baxter’s by Jefferson Airplane. Although I love Surrealistic Pillow, JA’s sophomore-album tour de force, it is Baxter’s that I have come back to over and over again. (In contrast, Crown Of Creation, from the same era, leaves me totally cold.) Maybe it’s because it has long songs (I love long songs). Maybe it’s because there are no actual hits on it. Maybe it’s the wacky sike-ay-delic freeform piece, “A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly.” I don’t know. But this is an album I think of as current rather than as a relic of a forgotten age.

The CD of this album is available at low cost these days. Modern hipsters would be wise to indulge themselves in this blast from the past. It’s that good. Check it out!

I have to admit, I had a problem with this CD the very first time I played it. It was the daggone sound of it, so dense and over-compressed, so seemingly opaque. It actually seemed difficult to listen to it, or to hear the music properly. I’m glad I didn’t give up on it, though, as with repeated playings I have gotten past the surface sheen (which now bothers me less anyway) and down to the melodies and hooks, and boy, there are a lot of melodies and hooks in this CD!

In a sure sign of strong songs and arrangements, I had several of the tunes from this CD going through my head even after listening to a half-dozen other records in between. Those hooks have staying power! The frequent use of intertwining make-female vocal parts is very effective, and I never seem to get tired of it.

The only remaining gripe I have with the CD is that it is a bit too long, with several of the tunes in the second half seeming like retreads of better songs in the first half. Your best bet is to focus on the first 6 or 7 songs on the CD. They’re super!