anniversary

The Future of Album Anniversaries

Sep 112013

Self Pooptrait

Younger generations are free to celebrate the landmark anniversary of whatever album blew their mind in their youth, say Beck‘s Odelay (an anniversary party for which even I would attend) or that big Outkast album everyone made a fuss over and probably hasn’t listened to since 3 months after initially purchasing. That’s cool; that’s their music. My generation, however, has officially reached the point of scraping the bottom of the barrel on celebrating “classic” albums by classic artists. I first noticed it late last year, I believe it was, when a special anniversary edition of the final full-length album by The Jam, The Gift, was released. Don’t even diehard Jam fans feel that album is pointless beyond 3 songs? That was a memorial ceremony, not an anniversary celebration.

Recently, things went from bad to weird with the box set special anniversary edition release of Bob Dylan‘s critically lambasted Self Portrait. The new special anniversary edition, packaged as Another Self Portrait, includes digitally remastered alternate takes of the original turd as well as outtakes from the equally dismissed—I’m sorry, “under-appreciated” is the revised critical term—New Morning. If that’s not enough to get you to cough up an anniversary gift, the package throws in some outtakes from The Basement Tapes and Dylan’s personal collection of tasteful nude Polaroid shots of Edie Sedgwick. I think I’ll wait for the special anniversary edition of Infidels.

Where do you draw the line on buying a special anniversary edition release from one of your favorite artists?

5 Years and a Very Merry Unbirthday

Posted by The Back Office

Jan 162012

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Click The Hatter to feed your head.

Feel free to share.

Peace.
The Back Office

Thank you for your attention.

Rock Town Hall: A Home for the Holidays

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 142012

In our continuing review of Rock Town Hall’s first 5 years as a blog, we will be providing some brief reviews of key aspects of this place. The hope is these overviews will pay homage to the contributions of our peers and provide newcomers easy access into the blog’s rich past. Let’s look at Rock Town Hall’s role as a home for the holidays. Continue reading »

Rock Town Hall: A Semi-Historical Rock Resource

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 132012

Show me the rattlesnake!

This Is Your 5th Anniversary, Rock Town Hall Blog!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 122012

I don’t know about you, but I feel like dancing! Today, January 12, 2012, marks the 5th anniversary of Rock Town Hall’s life as a thriving, all-access public blog. If you ask me, the past 5 years (and the 4 years before that) have been a fun and worthwhile extracurricular pursuit. Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate your participation and input in shaping what’s discussed, how music fans from different backgrounds interact, and so forth. Five years seems a long enough span to look back, see how the Hall has developed, and maybe even peek into the future. Over the next few days, we’ll take a little time to pay homage to some of our favorite posts and themes to date, culminating on Monday, January 16, with the debut of a long-awaited Rock Town Hall feature.

“So,” you might be asking yourself, “should I expect a self-mythologizing exercise…after the jump?” Certainly! Sisters been doin’ it for themselves all this time; why stop now?

Last Man Standing: Five Years

Posted by tonyola

Jan 122012

Congratulations are in order to Mr. Moderator; the Rock Town Hall crew; and all the wackos, looneys, and yahoos who populate and litter the Hall. Even though I’ve only been year less than a year (since last March), it’s been a really fun time for me, and RTH is a frequent must-check. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I get pissed off, sometimes I learn stuff, and sometimes I scratch my head in utter bewilderment at aberrations like Mr. Mod’s mancrush for Mike Love. However, I am always entertained and that’s the whole point, isn’t it? In the spirit of fifth-anniversary things, I’d like to submit a Last Man Standing challenge with one simple rule…find a song that mentions “five years” either in the title or lyrics (album titles can count too). I’ll start things off with this:

David Bowie – “Five Years” Live on Old Grey Whistle Test 1972