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Today's
Stories
December 17
/ 18, 2005
Gabriel Kolko
The
Decline of the American Empire
December 16,
2005
Tom Kerr
CNN's
Goddess of Vengeance: What's Not to Love About Nancy Grace?
Mark Engler
The
WTO in Hong Kong: Is Market Access the Answer to Poverty?
John Bomar
When Ollie North Came to Hot Springs
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq Votes; Now What?
Pierre Tristam
Iraq, Ourselves
William S. Lind
The Fine Art of Withdrawal
Cyril Neville
Why I'm Not Going Back to New Orleans
Robert Jensen
Monkey See, Monkey Do: Reason, Evolution and Intelligent Design
Saul Landau
Bolivian
Democracy and the US: a History Lesson
Website
CounterPunch & Dr. Price Vanquish Anthropologist Spies
December 15,
2005
Oren Ben-Dor
The
Ethical and Legal Challenges Facing Palestine
Stan Cox
"Agroterrorists"
Needn't Bother
Joshua Frank
Organic Inconsistencies: Federal Food Politics
Ben Terrall
Waivers for State Terror: Bush and the Indonesian Generals
Patrick Cockburn
Silence Descends on Baghdad
Monica Benderman
What Peace Needs
Walter A. Davis
Fear and Loathing in San Quentin
Vijay Prashad
Our
Torture Problem
Website of
the Day
Hourly Wages After Four Years of "Recovery"
December 14, 2005
Patrick Cockburn
Iran
Poised to Win Iraqi Elections
Paul Craig
Roberts
Lethal
Developments
Lawrence R. Velvel
A Bore Called Bob: On Trying to Read Woodward
Wayne Garcia
The Summer of Sami
John Sugg
Preach Peace, Sami; Get Truthful Prosecutors
Gary Leupp
Bush and the Constitution: "Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper"
Ray McGovern
Torture: a Defining Moment
Alan Maass
They Murdered a Peacemaker
April Hurley, MD
NPR Swallows Bush's Guestimate on Iraqi Dead
Kevin Alexander
Gray
Richard Pryor's Mirror on America
December 13,
2005
Stephen T.
Banko, III
Heroes
Patrick Cockburn
America's
War So Far: 1000 Days of Getting It Wrong
Laura Carlsen
What's at Play at the WTO
Karl Grossman
Nuclear Routlette in the Troposhere: Another NASA Plutonium Launch
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Original Sin
Kevin Zeese
Report from the International Peace Conference in London
Norman Solomon
At the Gates of San Quentin
Michael G.
Smith
Ending the Death Penalty
Stew Albert
California Killers
Bob Dylan
Song for Tookie: George Jackson
Phil Gasper
California Murders Tookie Williams: a Report from San Quentin
Website of
the Day
Boot Hill
December 12,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Defenders of Torture
Lawrence R.
Velvel
George the Disconnected
Jessica Stewart
My Husband is at the Gates of Gitmo
George Bisharat
Busharon: a Fusion of Like Minds
Nate Mezmer
Killing Tookie Williams: If a Black Man Dies in America, Does
It Make a Sound?
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Richard Pryor Wasn't Crazy
Alison Weir
My Bethlehem Experience
Seth Sandronsky
Thank You, Richard Pryor
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq:
the Beginning of the End
Website of
the Day
Wrestling for Peace
December 10 / 11, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
All
the News That's Fit to Buy
Landau / Hassen
The Condemned of Nablus
Ralph Nader
The
Widening Wasteland of American Media
Linn Washington, Jr
The Philly Media and Mumia: When They Don't Bash, They Ignore
Bill Christison
Apathy, US Culpability and Human Rights Day
Mike Ferner
The Courage of Jim Loney
Elizabeth Schulte
Abortion and the Bush Court
Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner
Murder in Jerusalem
Linda S. Heard
Saddam's Trial: Grandstanding in the Theater of the Absurd
Ingmar Lee
A Kayak Journey to Vancouver Island's Wildest Forest
Ray McGovern
Lies, Torture and the Six Blind Mice
John Chuckman
Torture and White Phosphorous: the Moral Hell of Condi Rice
John Ryan
An Honorary Degree in Child Sacrifice?: Madeleine Albright and
US Foreign Policy
Dick J. Reavis
From Waco to Baghdad
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Hired Pens
Behzad Yaghmaian
Trapped at the Gates of the European Union
Aseem Shrivastava
The Winter in Delhi, 1984
John Ross
Bushlandia in Black and White
Ben Tripp
War, What is It Good For?
St. Clair / Pollack / Vest
/ Despair
Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Hassen, Bear Dog, Ford, Mickey Z, Albert & Engel
Website of the Week
Burn a Brick for Bush
December 9,
2005
Linn Washington,
Jr.
Roots
of Gitmo Torture Lie Close to Home
Dave Zirin
/ Mike Stark
On
Seeing Wesley Baker Die
Patrick Cockburn
Blair
Tries to Cover Up $1.3 Billion Iraqi Theft
Alexander Cockburn
Murtha Returns to Attack; Flays Bush
Lila Rajiva
Shooting the Mentally Ill
Gary Leupp
White House Liars on the Defensive
Jason Leopold
Rove Running Out of Answers, Time
Bruce K. Gagnon
So These Are the Democrats?
Andrew Cockburn
Meet
Rahm Emmanuel, the Democrats' New Gatekeeper
Website of the Day
"X-mas Time for Visa"
December 8,
2005
Kathy Kelly
Blessed
are the Merciful in Baghdad
James Petras
The Venezuelan Election: Chavez Wins, Bush Loses (Again)
William S.
Lind
Questionable Assumptions: Dissecting the Stategy for Victory
Laura Carlsen
The Strange Mission of Vicente Fox: Free Trade and Mexico
Justin Akers
Bush's Border War
Thomas Graham, Jr
A Nuclear Pearl Harbor in Outer Space?
Norman Solomon
Rumsfeld's Handshake Deal with Saddam
Tariq Ali /
Robin Blackburn
The
Lost John Lennon Interview
Website of
the Day
Pigs at the Trough of War
December 7,
2005
John Ryan
Dershowitz vs. Chomsky: a Review of the Harvard Debate
Gary Leupp
Suicide
Before Dishonor in Occupied Iraq
Fran Quigley
How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas
Jeremy Brecher
/ Brendan Smith
Bush
War Crimes: the Posse Gathers
Joshua Frank
Bird Dogging Hillary
William W.
Morgan
Rendition, Torture and Democracy
Dave Lindorff
A Stunning Win for Mumia Abu Jamal
Patrick Cockburn
Saddam: "Come Visit My Cage"
Harold Pinter
Art, Truth and Politics: the Nobel Lecture
Website of
the Day
Witnesses to Torture
December 6,
2005
Ron Jacobs
No
One is Illegal; No One is an Infidel
Patrick Cockburn
Inside
Saddam's Trial: Tales of the Human Meat Grinder
Yifat Susskind
Death, Politics and the Condom: African Women Confront Bush's
AIDS Policy
Mike Whitney
How Greenspan Skewered America
Pat Williams
Public Land Should Stay Public
Paul Craig
Roberts
Condi
to Europe: Trust Us
Website of
the Day
Debunking Woodward
December 5,
2005
John Walsh
The
Lies of John Edwards: What Did the Democrats Know and When Did
They Know It?
Brian Cloughley
The Poor Dead: the Relative
Value of Human Lives
Mokhiber /
Weissman
The Corporate Crime Quiz
Robert Jensen
How Big Money Eviscerates the First Amendment
Norman Solomon
Hidden in Plane Sight: US Media Ignores Iraq Air War Plan
Peter Rost, MD
An Open Letter to the Justice Department: Pfizer May Have Violated
Federal Laws When They Fired Me
Lila Rajiva
The
Torture-Go-Round: CIA's Rendition Flights to Secret Prisons
Website of the Day
National Day of Counter-Recruitment
December 3 / 4, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
The
Revolt of the Generals
Lawrence R.
Velvel
Iraq,
Brains and Lies
Rev. William Alberts
The Forgotten Christmas Story: Saying No to King Herod
Saul Landau
Latino
Troops Have Parents
Ralph Nader
Consumerama
Paul Craig
Roberts
Don't Confuse the Jobs Hype with the Facts
Mike Whitney
Blood Feast: Celebrating Executions in America
Allan Lichtman
The DeLay Scheme: Blatantly Buying Our Government
Dave Lindorff
A Sudden Rush for the Exits?
Brian Concannon,
Jr.
Haiti's Elections
Fred Gardner
Oregon NORML Honors Growers
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
On Freeing the CPT
Carol Wolman
Remembering the 60s
St. Clair /
Vest / Walker / Pollack
Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Albert, Engel and Orloski
Website of
the Weekend
Free the CPT
December 2,
2005
Stan Goff
An
Open Letter to Congress from a Veteran and Military Dad
Mike Ferner
Beware Iraqization: Melvin Laird, Vietnam and Christmas Bombings
Over Baghdad?
Christopher Brauchli
Bush's Constitutional Kamikazes: Padilla's No-Win Dilemma
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Questions
for the President
Manuel Talens
The Chávez Theorem
Peter Phillips
Death By Torture: Media Ignores the Hard Evidence
J.L. Chestnut,
Jr.
Alabama's
Taliban: Judge Roy Moore, Preachers and Dixie Hypocrisy
Website of
the Day
Support the Hampton University Peace Activists!
December 1,
2005
John Walsh,
MD
The
God Gaps
Ron Jacobs
Hard Rain: Toward a Greater Air War in Iraq?
Jenna Orkin
EPA's
Latest Betrayal at Ground Zero
Joshua Frank
Howard Dean's Blunt Message: Forget Palestine
Tiffany Ten
Eyck
Rank and File Resistance to Delphi
Missy Comley Beattie
Home on the Range: Where the Fear and the Animus Play
Eli Stephens
The Reed and Kerry Show
Elaine Cassel
A Government Game of "Gotcha" with Jose Padilla
Website of
the Day
Rare Erotica
November 30,
2005
Allen / D'Amato
Incident
at Oglala 30 Years Later: the Long Struggle of Leonard Peltier
Mike Whitney
The Cheerleader at Annapolis
Kevin Zeese
The Hallucinations of Joe Lieberman
Norman Solomon
Colin Powell: Still Craven After All These Years
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon's New Party
Dave Lindorff
What Happened to All Those Bush/Cheney Bumperstickers?
Stephen Soldz
Mental
Health Workers in Iraq
November 29,
2005
Phil Gasper
Live
from Death Row: an Interview with Tookie Williams
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Ghost of Sangatte
Joshua Frank
Jack Abramoff's Bi-partisan Sleaze
Walter A. Davis
Life on Death Row: a Monologue
Gary Leupp
Bush the Dupe?
Len Colodny
Woodwardgate: Still Protecting the Rightwing
Jeffrey St.
Clair
The
Duke and the Enterprise: Randy Cunningham's Crash Landing
Bill Quigley
Human Rights Leaders Call for Release of Haiti's Political Prisoners
Website of
the Day
Watch Chomsky vs. Dershowitz Live, Tonight at 7PM, EST!
November 28,
2005
Chris Reed
The
"Bomb Al Jazeera" Documents Trial
David Isenberg
Cooked
Intelligence: the Dog that Didn't Bark
Ron Jacobs
Contraindications: a Review of Blood on the Border
Norman Solomon
The
Woodward Scandal Must Not Blow Over
Justin E.H. Smith
Schwarzenegger's Curious Power
Mickey Z.
Abbie Hoffman at 70: Steal This City
Mike Whitney
The Pentagon's Domestic Spying Operation
David Swanson
Is Impeachment an Election Issue?
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Grave Threat of the Bush Administration
Website of
the Day
"Don't Bomb Us!": a Blog by Al Jazeera Staffers
November 26
/ 27, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
How
the Democrats Undercut John Murtha
Saul Landau
Who We Are: Torture and the Empire
Ralph Nader
Junk Television: Excluding Voices That Save Lives
Brian Cloughley
What Are They Dying For?
John Ross
When a Language Dies
Gary Leupp
The Nepal Pact
Fred Gardner
Dr. Denney Goes to Arkansas
Christopher Brauchli
Compassion for Corporations: Northrup Grumman and Katrina's Victims
Dave Lindorff
US War Crimes List Keeps Growing
P. Sainath
See, Neoliberalism Really Works: Net Worth of India's Billionaires
Soars!
Timothy J.
Freeman
The Price of Freedom
Lila Rajiva
Of Mice, Men and GM Peas
Eric Ruder
Beat the Needle: Saving Tookie Williams
Seth Sandronsky
Working Toward Whiteness: an Interview with David Roediger
Joaquin Bustelo
What Really Happened at Mar del Plata
Lewis Alper
Is the President's Soul in Jeopardy?: an Evangelical Christian
Looks at Bush's Skull and Bones Initiation
Will Youmans
In Search of Paradise
Phyllis Pollack
The Stones' Rough Justice in Bush Time
St. Clair /
Vest
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
Barbara LaMorticella
Poetry and the City of Ideas
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Buknatski, Engel, Albert and Davies
Website of the Weekend
NLR: The Chequered Rainbow
November 25,
2005
David Price
How
US Anthropologists Planned "Race-Specific" Weapons
Against the Japanese
Brian McKenna
Will
Bush Miss the Next Bhopal?
Jeff Halper
Peretz or Bust?
Ray McGovern
Will
the US Seize the Opportunity for Troop Withdrawal?
Leigh Saavedra
Thanksgiving at Camp Casey
Ingmar Lee
How Have the Mighty Fallen?
Website of the Day
Saving Cathedral Grove
November 24,
2005
James Petras
How
to Think About War and Peace
Bob Shirley
Thanksgiving
Torture: What the Puritans Fled
Mike Fox
Torture
Survivors Speak for Themselves
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Adrift?
Perhaps. A Draft? Never!
Greg Moses
Thanksgiving Delayed: TX High Court Blesses Inequality
Alexander Cockburn
Turkeys
in the Larger Scheme of Things
November 23,
2005
Ramzy Baroud
The
Great Gaza Border Deal: What Does It Mean?
Mike Whitney
Bush, Padilla and Thomas More
Stan Cox
Red, White and Blue Dawn: What a Bad Hollywood Film Can Teach
Americans About Life Under Occupation
Linda S. Heard
Targeting Al Jazeera
November 22,
2005
Kevin Gray
/ Mike Hersh
Maxine
Waters, the Real Leader of the Anti-War Caucus
Ralph Nader
What Do Dems Stand For?
Michael Donnelly
The "Vetting" of Bernard Kerik
Mike Ferner
The CIA's "Torture Taxi" in the Spotlight
Pierre Tristam
The Justice Deficit
Marshall Auerback
Bush's "Compassionate Conservativism": Neither Compassionate
Nor Conservative
Website of
the Day
I Don't Like Geldof
November 21,
2005
Mike Marqusee
Clinton's
Hypocrisies on Iraq
Josh Frank
Democratic Hawks: the Avian Flu of the Antiwar Movement
Mike Whitney
Hugo Chavez vs. the King of Vacations
Norman Solomon
Getting Out of Iraq
Russ Baker
Woodward's Weakness
Robert Jensen
A National Day of Atonement
Paul Craig
Roberts
Lies
and Official Secrets
November 19
/ 20, 2005
Fred Gardner
The
Raid on MendoHealing
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
The House GOP Has Done a Heinous Thing: Stop Playing Politics;
Get the Troops Out Now
Ron Jacobs
A Pathetic Congress: If It Walks and Talks Like a Withdrawal
Resolution, Why Won't You Vote For It?
David Vest
The Politics of Surrender: It's as American as Robert E. Lee
J.L. Chestnut,
Jr.
Condi Rice's Disdain for the Civil Rights Movement
John R. Bomar
Staying the Course on "Freedom's Frontier": a Vietnam
Vet on Iraq
John Ross
The
Dragon Flies High, But Not Over Mexico
Phillip Cryan
Colombia: "Political Kidnapping" and Murder in Cauca
Dave Lindorff
RIP In These Times
Dick J. Reavis
The Future of the Daily Press
Jeremy Scahill
Vegetarian Between Meals: This War Can't Be Stopped by a Loyal
Opposition
Dan Wright
Cleaning Up Alaska's Scan Bay
John Stanton
Scowcroft Talks Turkey; Edmounds Fights Fascism
St. Clair / Vest / Walker
Playlist: What We're Listening to This Week
Phyllis Pollack
The Stones: Rarities
Dr. Susan Block
Our Night of Weimar Love
Poets Basement
Albert, Engel, Ford, Harley and Louise
November 18,
2005
Michael Neumann
The
Palestinians and the Party Line
Dave Lindorff
Murtha and the L Word
Michael Donnelly
Black November 15
Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer
Uncrucify Them
Don Monkerud
A Decent Workplace
Tom Kerr
Grant Clemency to Tookie Williams
Trish Schuh
Faking
the Case Against Syria
November 17,
2005
John Walsh
A
Fractured Anti-War Movement
Rep. John Murtha
Iraq Must Be Freed from the US
Occupation
Brian J. Foley
We Are All In GITMO Now
CounterPunch
News Service
Guardian
Apologizes to Chomsky; Publishes Total Retraction of Brockes'
Slurs
Dave Lindorff
In Post-Saddam Iraq, There are No Civilians
Mark T. Harris
Coming Out in an Up-and-Coming Sport
Cockburn /
St. Clair
From
Reporter to Courtier: the Decline of Bob Woodward
November 16,
2005
John F. Sugg
Al-Arian
Speaks: In His First Interview Since the Trial Began, Al-Arian
Talks About What the Jury Didn't Hear
Noam Chomsky
Putting Out the Englightenment
Dave Lindorff
Shake
and Bake: Pentagon Admits Using Phosphorous Bombs on Fallujah
Evelyn Pringle
Laurie Mylroie's War
Sam Husseini
Trying to Look a Female Suicide Bomber in the Eye
Pierre Tristam
Toturers' Theater
Greg Bates
Waffling Alito Charms DiFi
Farrah Hassen
Moustapha
AkkadDavid Lean of the Middle East Killed in Amman Blast
Bill Christison
Evidence
Mounts That Bush Wants New Wars
Website of
the Day
Violent Oscillations
November 15,
2005
Todd Chretien
My
Evening in the No Spin Zone; Or Why Bill O'Reilly Hates San Francisco
Leah Caldwell
Death
of the Jailhouse Press
Frederick Hudson
Rosa's Wreath: Miss Parks and Robert Williams
Harry Browne
Bush-Linked Judge Bows Out: Another Mistrial in Irish Ploughshares
Case
Jason Leopold
Secret CIA Testimony: Iraq Posed No Threat
Ingmar Lee
Logging Lackies vs. Canada's Most Endangered Species
Diana Barahona
Showdown on the Silver Coast
Tom Andre
New Orleans, Two Months Later
Website of the Weekend
Ernest Crichlow: 1914-2005
November 14,
2005
Diana Johnstone
The
Origins of the Guardian's Attack on Chomsky
Paul Craig Roberts
Power Over All: Unlimited Detentions and the End of Habeas Corpus
Conn Hallinan
Provoking
Syria: Cambodia All Over Again?
Joshua Frank
Off She Goes: Hillary in Israel
Christopher
Reed
The
Persistence of Racism in Koizumi's Japan
November 11
/ 13, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
First
the Lying, Then the Pardons
Gwyneth Leech
Cross Connections: a Painter Reimagines the Passion of Christ
in the Wake of Abu Ghraib
Elmas Mallo
Chillin' in the Blazin' Texas Sun: Inside the Texas Prison System
Michael Neumann
The Rebel King of Bluegrass: Jimmy Martin, an Appreciation
Saul Landau
Leakgate: the Screenplay
Sam Husseini
Bush and Zarqawi Bomb Because We Let Them
Brian Cloughley
Sleaze, Deceit and Torture
Ron Jacobs
Rep. McGovern's Withdrawal Resolution: a Step in the Right Direction?
Lila Rajiva
Dover Bitch: the Curses of Pat Robertson
Michael Donnelly
Hypocrisy Watch
Joe Allen
Murder in El Salvador: Who Killed Gilberto Soto?
Roland Sheppard
Lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Justin E.H.
Smith
Another Monkey Trial?
Ben Tripp
The Cost of War
St. Clair /
Vest
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Jones, Louise, Ford, Smith, Albert and Engel
Website of
the Weekend
Iraq Vets and Against the War Need Your Help!
November 10,
2005
Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik
Delta
Blues Again: Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10 Years Gone
Pat Williams
Will Alito Cost the Republicans the Senate?
Steve Higgs
Bush Crony Targets Indiana's Forests: 400% Hike in Logging
Jimmy Massey
Is Ron Harris Telling the Truth?
Lucson Pierre-Charles
Haiti: Insanity Takes Over
Anthony Newkirk
Syria in the Crosshairs
Lawrence R.
Velvel
Why Did Libby Lie?
Website of the Day
Imperial Margarine
November 9,
2005
Gary Leupp
The
Niger Deception / Plame Affair: an Incomplete Chronology
Tariq Ali
Blair Defeated on Terror Laws
Chris Floyd
The
Philosopher's Stone
Elaine Cassel
The
Shocking Trial of an American Citizen: the Case of Ahmed Abu
Ali
Joshua Frank
Sen. Max Baucus's NASCAR Pay Day
Alison Weir
Memo to Jon Stewart: Glad You're Against Torture, So Why'd You
Give Israel a Pass?
Diana Johnstone
Rage
in the Banlieue
November 8, 2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Still
No Jobs
Roger Burbach
Bush
v. Chavez: the Imperial President Meets the Bolivarian Democrat
Ron Jacobs
An Interview with Behzad Yaghmaian on the Paris Uprising
Ralph Nader
"The Worst Marketed Disease on the Planet"
Jim McGrath
Voter Beware: a Cautionary Tale for Election Day
David Bloom
McCain, Israel and Torture: Setting the Record Straight
Stan Goff
Jimmy Massey, Ron Harris, and Ambush Journalism
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December
17, 2005
What We're Listening to
This Week
Playlists
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR,
JESSE WALKER and PHYLLIS POLLACK
JEFFREY
ST. CLAIR
Live and lowdown, to quote
James Brown, who should've made the list.
1. Bob
Seger and the Silver Bullet Band--Live
Bullet (Capitol)
There was a period of time
between the decline of Sly and the Family Stone and the rise
of Prince and the Revolution, when it seemed to me that Seger
and the Silver Bullet Band offered a way forward for R&B
in the dreary years of Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, Steely
Dan and their drab clones. Recorded a year or so before Bob Seger
became an international star, this raucous live set captures
the feel of Seger's fiercely energetic road show, which was so
more fun than any other stadium band of the 1970s, including
the Stones and The Who. That Seger flamed out in the 1980s does
nothing to erode the merit of his achievement, which in the landscape
of white rock stills stands as lofty as the streets of Katmandu.
2. Otis Redding--Live
in Europe (Electra)
The greatest live soul album,
by a singer who may have been the most dynamic live performer
of his, or any, time. If only there'd been as sharp a recording
of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles back in the day.
3. Miles Davis--Live/Evil
(Columbia)
In December of 1970 Miles took
his fusion band to DC's sedate Cellar Door jazz club where, amid
the lawyers and lobbyists, they exploded with a sound louder
than any rock group of their era, including Zeppelin and Sabbath
(who, incidently, stole Miles' title for one of their own live
albums). The music was powered by John McLaughin's scorching
guitar, which Davis urged him to play as feverishly as Hendrix,
Airto's mad Brazilan beats and Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea's
funky electronic keyboards. It's amazing that Miles' muted trumpet
isn't overwhelmed by this sonic assault, but it haunts the edges
of the music, occasionally darting through the middle of the
sound to shift the mood and direction, like an Australian shepherd
keeping the rebellious herd from plunging off a cliff. The cover
art is even more bizarrely erotic than the Bitches Brew paintings.
4. The Pretenders--Isle
of View (Warner)
When I first heard The Pretenders
in a dingy Baltimore nightclub in 1979, I thought that Chrissie
Hynde would at long last dethrone Dylan as the new of voice of
her generation. She was certainly writing better songs than Dylan
(or Joni Mitchell) at the time. Only Springsteen was penning
music as trenchant as "My City is Gone" or "Middle
of the Road" and I've always had the feeling that Bruce
(and not Chrissie) was the real pretender. People say,
whatever became of Chrissie Hynde? The answer is both simple
and complex. For one ting, it was easier for the macho music
critics of the time (one of the last bastions of uncamoflaged
sexism in journalism) to exalt over Madonna's girly-show routine
rather than grapple with Hynde's incisive music. Unlike most
rock stars, Hynde also had a life off the road, as an artist,
a lover, a mother, an activist, and she wrote about her experiences
honestly and at times viciously. Her music matured and the songs
got even better. "Chain Gang" and "Sense of Purpose"
are as good as anything on "Blood on the Tracks" or
"The River." But America is not as mature as Chrissie
Hynde and while the nation is willing to embrace and acclaim
the confessional music of Dylan or Leonard Cohen, we remain still
less willing to take this kind of medicine from a woman, especially
a woman who refused to whine about her plight. And Chrissie Hynde
has never whined. She's always kicked ass, even in an acoustic
setting and, yes, even with strings, just check out "Chill
Factor" or "Criminal."
5. The Clash--Live
from Here to Eternity (Sony)
I squeezed into three of these
shows and when I first listened to this recording it came off
as flat and the Clash were never flat, at least not until Combat
Rock. Of course, no CD could ever do justice to the furious
chaos of a Clash concert, which is probably why they waited so
long to release a live recording. Still this CD gives a hint
of what the best band of the punk era sounded like at the peak
of their powers.
When they knock down your
front door,
how you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
or on the trigger of your gun?
Where are you now that we need
you Joe Strummer?
6. Iggy Pop and the Stooges--Double
Danger (Live) (Bomp)
Down a pint of tequila and
stick your finger in the nearest electrical outlet. That jolt
might approximate the experience of hearing the Stooges live
in the early 1970s. This cd of two Stooges concerts doesn't recapture
that ear-splitting experience, but, with Iggy pushing 60, it's
as close as you're likely to get to the sound of American punk
being born, kicking and screaming. I'm still waiting for someone
(Liz Phair where are you?) to attempt a cover of "Cock in
My Pocket."
7. Jerry Jeff Walker--Viva
Terlingua (MCA)
Proof there is a comical side
to Texas. The humor of Walker's songs can get damned dark. But
it would have to be, wouldn't it? Now, Up Against the Wall
Redneck Mothers. Barbara Bush that means you....
8. Richard Pryor--And
It's Deep Too (Rhino)
Richard Pryor ranks with James
Baldwin, Ishmael Reed and Amiri Baraka as one of the premier
black social critics of our time. And Pryor was even funnier
than Reed, which is like saying he was funnier than Mark Twain.
9. Earth, Wind & Fire--Gratitude
(Sony)
Maurice White wrote the most
complex pop songs ever recorded and his band Earth, Wind &
Fire played them like party music, parties attended by 15 to
20,000 frenzied fans, most of whom wouldn't know Ornette Coleman
from Gary Coleman. Do you think they care? If you can't dance
to "Shining Star" or "Sun Goddess", face
it, you simply can't dance.
10. McCoy Tyner Trio--Live
at Sweet Basil's (Evidence)
McCoy Tyner, Coltrane's piano
player, leads his own acclaimed nightclub trio through two sets
of Trane, Monk and original compositions. Tyner may be the most
talented living pianist. For years he was certainly the hardest
working and the hardest playing. Tyner hammers the keys with
the ferocity of Marvin Hagler pummeling Thomas Hearnes, leaving
no room to doubt that the piano is the ultimate percussion instrument.
It's a wonder he didn't fracture the keys.
By the time Jeffrey St.
Clair was 18, he'd been 86'd from more bands than Dickey
Betts. Complaints can be registered to: sitka@comcast.net.
JESSE WALKER
I'm going to follow Jeff's
example and list some of my favorite live albums. I can't guarantee,
however, that I've actually listened to each and every one of
them during the last week:
1. Johnny Cash: Johnny
Cash at San Quentin (Sony)
An album so incendiary it makes
Rage Against the Machine look like Raffi. Near the start, Cash
complains that the TV crews filming him have been telling him
what to sing, where to stand, what to do. "They just don't
get it, man," he says. "I'm here to do what you want
me to, and what I want to do." Before long he's practically
inciting a riot with a song he wrote just for the prison audience
-- here's a sample verse:
San Quentin, may you rot
and burn in hell.
May your walls fall and may I live to tell.
May all the world forget you ever stood.
And may all the world regret you did no good.
It might not scan well on the
page, but it's got real power thundered from a jailhouse stage.
He sings the whole song. He says: "If any of the guards
are still speaking to me, could I have a glass of water?"
And then he sings the damn thing again.
2. Solomon Burke: Soul
Alive! (Rounder)
You might think a Solomon Burke
concert in 1983 would be a predictable oldies show, a notalgic
stroll through songs the singer hasn't reimagined in 20 years.
You'd be wrong. This man was delivering sermons before he was
10, and the soul hits and country standards he sings here become
the building blocks of a secular church service, launching pads
from which the preacher can propel semi-extemporaneous monologues
on love and life. An amazing record.
3. Aretha Franklin: Amazing
Grace (Atlantic)
If Soul Alive! brings gospel
methods into secular territories, this record shows us what happens
when a secular soul singer goes back to church. Aretha never
recorded a better album.
4. Bob Dylan: Live
1975 (Columbia)
A vital document of Dylan's
underappreciated Rolling Thunder/ Desire period, and my
favorite of his licit live recordings. But what I really want
Columbia to release is a CD called Live 1979: something
to show us what happened when Dylan went to church. I'm
told he started playing a Christianized version of "Tangled
Up in Blue," complete with Bible quotes, and while I'm a
little frightened to think of what that might sound like I'm
awfully curious to hear it as well.
5. The Kinks: BBC
Sessions, 1964-1977 (Sanctuary)
The Kinks recorded many concert
albums, most of them enjoyable but all of them uneven. This is
different: It's live, all right, but most of its tracks were
recorded in the studios of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Its 13-year span stretches from the band's early proto-punk singles
through Ray Davies' more mature songwriting of the late '60s,
his vaudevillian rock operas of the early '70s, and the first
glimmerings of the group's late-'70s comeback.
6. Kirsty MacColl: What
Do Pretty Girls Do? (Cleopatra)
Another collection of BBC sessions,
with the usually heavily produced MacColl captured in a loose,
acoustic setting. (Billy Bragg sits in on two numbers as well.)
Some of these songs sound like country music -- not just "Walk
Right Back," which as an Everly Brothers number ought
to sound country, but "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip
Shop Swears He's Elvis," which in MacColl's original rendering
was a piece of fast-paced '80s pop. I like both versions, but
there's no question this one's better.
7. John Coltrane: Live
at the Village Vanguard: The Master Takes (GRP)
One critic called this "anti-jazz."
Fuck him.
8. Duke Ellington: Ellington
at Newport 1956 (Complete) (Sony)
The original version of this
album was great, but it wasn't really live: Ellington rerecorded
more than half of it after the concert concluded, with fake applause
inserted into the Potemkin performance. This 1999 reissue restores
what we were missing -- and should make any sane listener wonder
why Columbia felt the need to rerecord any of it at all.
Jesse Walker is managing
editor of Reason and author
of Rebels
on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America. His
blog is The Perpetual
Three-Dot Column.
PHYLLIS
POLLACK
1. Boogie Down Productions-Ghetto
Music: The Blueprint Of Hip Hop (Jive Records)
KRS-One, born with the government
name, Kris Parker, is responsible for a gang of classic discs,
and this is among those. A deeply politically conscious artist,
Parker's musical angle from his start in the eighties was to
teach, rather than to preach. Rolling with the BDP posse (which
initially featured the late DJ Scott La Rock, who Parker met
while the two were homeless) through the Boogie Down Bronx, KRS
makes a stand at the mic as a raptivist. Outspoken and
relentless, Parker masterminded a full frontal attack on the
world of hiphop with his battle ready rhymes. The album's cover
portrays a police officer with a nightstick, serving as a hint
at what is to come in the album's lyrics, in which Parker asks
the pertinent musical questions, "Why Is That?" and
"Who Protects Us From You?" Among the album's standout
tracks is the narrative, "You Must Learn," a history
lesson; throughout the disc, KRS-One lays down the "Hiphop
Rules." Despite all the problems that persist in Parker's
very large corner of the globe, including the murder of his DJ,
Scott La Rock, he still hopes for "World Peace."
2. Frank Zappa---Sheik
Yerbouti (Rykodisc)
In addition to Richard Pryor,
we lost another brilliant talent to a December, this one twelve
years ago, and that was Frank Zappa. I wish I could have been
a fly on the wall to hear Frank's sarcastic remark that he made
when he decided to title one of this album's songs, "I Have
Been In You," his counterattack to ward off the vibes from
Peter Frampton's overly commercial "I'm In You." Meanwhile,
some bars later, Bob Dylan gets Zapped on "Flakes."
"I'm So Cute," which features madly talented drummer
Terry Bozzio, is the closest Zappa ever really came to Missing
Persons. From the orchestration of "What Ever Happened To
All The Fun In The World?" to the incendiary blues guitar
solo in the heavily molten "Rat Tomago," Frank continues
to make his point, take that, Mr. Frampton. What a solo. Yes,
touché. After Zappa being tortured with "I'm
In You" every time he turned on the radio, it should be
really no surprise that the dorky, trendy "Bobby Brown,"
whose manhood is "still hooked on, but now it shoots
too quick," does radio promotion for a living. I know
that if FZ were still around today, he would have already recorded
a song or two about Clear Channel. I would have loved to hear
that one. Eventually, Zappa's dial gets turned to jazz on the
instrumental "Rubber Shirt." The eclectic nature of
Frank's talent lends itself such that soon afterwards on this
album, "The Shiek Yerbouti Tango" gives a quick fix
for that heavy metal jones. The provocative and transfixing counterpoint
that Zappa mixed into the background makes the Tango even more
engaging and ingenious. "Baby Snakes," of course, would
become the theme song for the movie about people who "do
things that are not normal." Once more with feeling, indeed.
3. Gladys Knight And The Pips--The
Very Best Of Gladys Knight And The Pips (Special Music Company)
The Georgia-born soul singer's
career peaked in the Seventies, punctuated by the hit about one
more cat that couldn't make it in the big city. "L.A.
proved too much for the man," and he got a one-way ticket
back. Living here in El Lay, and having spent a lot of time in
Hollyweird, being around so many dysfunctional musicians and
assorted wanna-be Hollywoodland flake types, believe me, I have
seen people leave on that train without their even having to
go to the station, if you get my drift, so I can tell you, the
narrative in this song rings through in many ways. I also know
it's a true story, because Gladys can sing almost anything and
make you believe it. Despite the album's title, this is not all
necessarily the best of Knight, but enough of it is a reminder
of what a great interpreter of songs she is. It is always worth
the visit back to the pumped-up Philly sound of "I've Got
To Use My Imagination." As long as I can skip past the dull
orchestration of "So Sad The Song" that tamed Knight
too much for the track's own good, I'm fine. When it comes to
the mega tearjerker "The Way We Were," I always loathed
Barbara Streisand's version of this song, but thankfully, this
album's version runs circles around it with Knights' soulful
stamp. On 1973's "Where Peaceful Waters Flow," her
voice is transcendently inspirational, and framed by the Pips,
who are heard more in the forefront on the track "I Can
See Clearly Now." Listening to "Best Thing That Ever
Happened To Me," Knight makes you believe the song is her
own, rather than one that came from songwriter Jim Weatherly.
She is equally convincing on the looking back/on the rebound
track, "I Feel A Song (In My Heart)." We may not believe
the incessant words we hear from most politicians, but we will
always believe them when they come from Gladys Knight.
4. LL Cool J-Walking
With A Panther (Def Jam)
My favorite movie, The Wizard
of Oz, inspired one of LL Cool J's biggest hits, which was
built on the Flying Monkees' vocal riff "Oh, ee, oh, oh,
oh!" and that is "I'm That Type Of Guy." This
song could make any wicked witch just melt, water or no water.
LL don't need no AK-47, and he doesn't even need any water. Talk
about being gangsta! LL (aka James Todd Smith) is one
of the smoothest rappers of all time, with his accessible and
virtually uncontrived style. One of Def Jam Records' earliest
success stories, Cool J has enjoyed enviable longevity in his
recording career, which has been peppered with a long, successful
string of radio hits; the Queens, New York born rapper has earned
equally mad, well-deserved respect from his peers. "Young,
black and legal," LL comes ready for battle, as he describes
his lyrical style on "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?"
Cool J knows how to treat a lady, and he lets you know it on
this disc. The classic "Going Back To Cali," which
is exemplary of the fine turntables offered on this album, would
later become an anthem that proved to be prophetically tragic
for Notorious B.I.G. Releasing his first single in 1985, Smith
has stealthfully managed to create a legacy of ballads and hiphop
romance, all without coming off wack or too soft for the testosterone-driven
tastes that are often reflected by hiphop fans. In "One
Shot At Love," Cool J raps about butterflies, and yet, he
still holds onto his street cred, a task that could arguably
be difficult for many hiphop MCs. One of the album's disses:
"You're full of preservatives, plus you're too conservative."
In the CD's liner notes, Smith writes, "By making this album,
maybe one day my grandchildren can catch a cab, or rent a car
in West Hollywood."Not to mention, there is always that
floating balloon that flies over Oz, if the Wizard could just
figure out how it works.
5. The Allman Brothers Band--Stand
Back: The Anthology--Hip-O/Universal
The release of this double
disc retrospective marked 35 years since the eponymous debut
release from the group that spawned the "Southern rock"
genre. Intricate, fluid guitar playing from Dickey Betts and
the late Duane Allman, melted over Greg's blues-drenched forty-proof
keyboards and expressive harmonies, gave this band their signature
sound that inspired the likes of bands to follow that have included
the indelible Lynyrd Skynyrd, and groups like 38 Special and
Molly Hatchet. The fire and lightening, double guitar leads in
"Ramblin' Man" are a testament to the band's melodic
signature sound. The song's autobiographical lyrics reveal some
history about Greg and Duane, whose father was tragically shot
to death on a Christmas Eve. The band's long, trademark jams,
including the legendary thirteen-minute live epic, "In Memory
Of Elizabeth Reed," have become a part of rock and roll
history and its collective unconscious. The transcendent instrumental
work, "Jessica," is a tantalizing display of the band's
stunning musicianship. "Midnight Rider" flashes determination
and the sheer will to survive, wherein having just "one
more silver dollar" can still conjure up hope and grit,
rather than feelings of surrender and hopelessness. Greg Allman
once told me when I interviewed him that in the heat of inspiration,
he wrote the blues-rock anthem "Whipping Post," which
appears on this disc, on an ironing board. It is the culmination
of fervently inspired moments such as these that has resulted
in making the Allman Brothers' music a national treasure.
6. The Union Underground---The
Union Underground (Portrait Records)
This was the debut album from
the extremely blacklit, hard and heavy fab four from San Antonio,
Texas. If Alice In Chains had merged with Nirvana, this would
be one of the results of that union. Ground up, gritty tracks
like "Turn Me On Mr. Deadman" will keep you rocking
"Until You Crack." Make no mistake when making your
next travel plans; it is well worth the price of a ticket to
ride shotgun on their "South Texas Deathride."
7. Jimmy Cliff-Black
Magic (Up Music)
The visionary reggae prophet
who wrote the legendary track "The Harder They Come,"
asks the question on this persuasive double disc, "Where
was Double O-Seven on 9-11?" as he addresses the state of
"terror fighting terror." Speaking of "The Harder
they Come," since the holidays are approaching, it is almost
that time again to go digging in your crates to drag out the
Keith Richards re-make of this song, which is on the flip side
of Keef's remake of Chuck Berry's Christmas rocker, "Run
Rudolph Run." I certainly know where my copy is.
8. The Game-The
Documentary---G Unit
What would you expect from
an album executive produced by Dr. Dre and 50 Cent? Martin Luther
King had a dream, and The Game has "Dreams," too, in
fact, a whole lot of them that he shares here. The thing that
makes this album so important is that the Game's dreams are not
his alone, but are shared by millions of people whose lives only
make sense when they define themselves through the prism of hiphop.
Born as Jayceon Taylor, the Game lives in Compton, Cali. On this
album, The Game shares his visions at the temple of hiphop, and
as it turns out, yes, this is church for thugs. Like Ike and
Tina, he will take you higher.
9. Richard Pryor-Is
It Something I Said-Warner Brothers Records
Yes.
10. Guess Who-Greatest
Hits---RCA Records
A Canadian import that included
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, who fronted this group that
released their first single in 1965, and had a steady stream
of hits until the band broke up a decade later. Like N.W.A.'s
late member Eazy-E, they were also unlikely guests at the White
House, but with the Guess Who, it was during the Nixon administration,
rather than a hilarious prank during George Bush, Sr.'s administration.
How you release a song like "American Woman" and get
invited to the White House, I don't know, but the First Lady,
Pat Nixon, demanded they not play that song there. Thirty-five
years later, when it comes to music and politics, as far as Guess
Who is coming to dinner, it certainly can't get any worse than
Bono and Jessie Helms.
Phyllis Pollack lives in Los Angeles where she is
a publicist and music journalist. She can be reached through
her blog.
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