Goodbye, Lou: Reed Gone at 71

Published on November 4th, 2013 in: Eulogy, Music |

By Tim Murr

The Best of The Velvet Underground: The Words and Music of Lou Reed blew my mind freshman year of high school. It was already a bit of a watershed year, anyway, when I first heard a lot of punk and industrial music for the first time, not to mention Nirvana’s breakthrough. My friend had made a pilgrimage to Knoxville (our closest big city) to buy some Velvet Underground based on an older friend’s recommendation. He returned like Moses down from the mountain with the precious plastic cassette that would launch multiple garage bands.

“You’ve got to hear this,” he said pressing the tape into my hand.

Nevermind came out of my Sony Walkman and BAM! The Velvets had their hooks in me. “Waiting For The Man” and “Run, Run, Run” were so primitive and raw and not at all what I knew and/or assumed about ’60s music.

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ICYMI: November 1, 2013

Published on November 1st, 2013 in: ICYMI |

New this week on Popshifter: Chelsea thinks Rene Lopez is headed for Broadway on his latest EP; Melissa raves about two new Patti Page collections from Real Gone Music, is flabbergasted by Jace Everett’s brilliance, gets nostalgic for Thelonious Monster in a new doc about Bob Forrest, and finds an overabundance of easy listening on a Perry Como album produced by Chet Atkins; Paul appreciates the insight into Jimmy Jam’s early musical career that 1514 Oliver Avenue (Basement) provides; Jeff embraces android love in his Waxing Nostalgic installment on Pat Benatar, and comes up with two Top Five lists for Halloween: scary soundtracks and revolting robots; Brad Henderson reviews Scream Factory’s release of The Amityville Horror Trilogy on Blu-Ray and recommends The Pack and Razorback as a double feature from Warner Archive; J Howell is touched by Gary Lucas’s new book about working with Jeff Buckley, Touched By Grace; and get all film geeky over John Carpenter because of Anchor Bay’s new 35th Anniversary Blu-Ray of Halloween.

Book Review: Gary Lucas, Touched By Grace: My Time With Jeff Buckley

Published on November 1st, 2013 in: Book Reviews, Books, Current Faves, Music, Reviews |

By J Howell

Gary Lucas duly notes early on in Touched By Grace that the book is neither a biography of Jeff Buckley nor Lucas himself. It is, however, a remarkable peek from Lucas’s perspective of a brief, tumultuous period in the author’s life, a time of promise and disappointment on a scale that seems overwhelming in retrospect. While the gravitas of the situation may not be readily apparent to non- (or even casual) fans of Buckley or Lucas, considering the lasting impact Grace has made on so many lives, Touched By Grace is an inside look at, frankly, kind of a big deal. Or at least a really big part of a big deal.

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Music Review: Perry Como, Just Out Of Reach – Rarities From Nashville Produced By Chet Atkins

Published on November 1st, 2013 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Some days, Sundays in particular, all I really want is the musical equivalent of a fluffy blanket and a nice cup of tea. Real Gone Music’s new Perry Como release, Just Out Of Reach—Rarities From Nashville Produced By Chet Atkins is a CD full of fluffy blankets and cups of tea: soothing and warm and pleasant.

Perry Como had a musical career for over 50 years. His natural, easy singing style served him well as he performed in a variety of vocal genres. When the British Invasion hit the US shores, though, Como went through a two-year dry period in which he didn’t record. Heads of his label, RCA, concocted a plan to alleviate that and enlisted Chet Atkins to help “smooth the edges of country music” to make it more palatable in the pop world and for Como. The result was the successful The Scene Changes, providing Como with his biggest selling album in years. Not content to rest on their laurels, RCA again joined Atkins and Como together in Nashville for another stab at country/pop crossover glory, and the result of that is Just Out Of Reach.

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The Five Scariest Robots In Movies

Published on October 31st, 2013 in: Halloween, Horror, Listicles, Movies, Science Fiction, Top Five Lists |

By Jeffery X Martin

Science fiction gets short shrift in the Halloween season, with so many slashers and bashers running about through summer camps and the dreams of teenagers. Truth is, there’s some pretty creepy sci-fi out there. On an existential level, what’s scarier than something pretending to be human? The concept of mechanical creations with feelings, some of them homicidal, is strangely abhorrent. Humans can’t bear the thought of obsolescence. Take a gander at some terrifying robots. How do you say “trick or treat” in binary?
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DVD Review: Double Feature: The Pack & Razorback

Published on October 31st, 2013 in: DVD, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews |

By Brad Henderson

There are many “animal attack” films but most are really subpar. Either they pick goofy animals for the attacks or the special effects are just awful. Warner Archive, however, has put out two great films that deal with that subject. One is The Pack, and the other is Razorback. I’m reviewing both of them here because I believe they should be watched as a double feature.

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Five Amazing Horror Movie Soundtracks That Aren’t The Music From John Carpenter’s Halloween

Published on October 31st, 2013 in: Horror, Listicles, Movies, Music, Soundtracks and Scores, Top Five Lists |

By Jeffery X Martin

If Halloween has a theme song, it’s probably the familiar interval-switching chromatic scale from the seminal 1978 horror film, Halloween. Even people who haven’t seen the movie recognize that music as soon as they hear it. It ushers in autumn and signals the beginning of Trick-or-Treatery. But the Halloween soundtrack isn’t the only one you can use for your holiday mood setting. Give these other soundtracks a listen! They’ll either warm your cockles or raise your hackles.
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Blu-Ray Review: The Amityville Horror Trilogy

Published on October 31st, 2013 in: Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Brad Henderson

The Amityville incident is, to this day, one of the most widely known supernatural occurrences. Whether or not you believe what the Lutz family says happened in that house, you have to admit the story itself is terrifying. I’m one of those people who believe that something did happen in that house during their month stay at 112 Ocean Avenue. I certainly don’t believe everything that George Lutz says happened, but I do believe certain parts they have claimed.

After they left the house, their story became quickly and widely known and they were interviewed by just about every major network of the time. Shortly after their story came out, Hollywood saw a perfect opportunity to make some cash and The Amityville Horror was born.

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