Archive: 2007

“Is that the guy with the old balls?” –Julian McGrath, Big Daddy

That may have been the most asked question over the last 12 months. For the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand Seven will long be remembered as the ultimate cash grab: Genesis, Van Halen, The Police, The Sex Pistols, Crowded House, and the pulse-having members of Led Fucking Zeppelin all rose from the ash(tray)s for long-coveted reunions, and we’re guessing all the little pills floating around backstage came from doctors prescriptions and licensed pharmacists instead of sketchy backstage characters.

As for your friendly Internet sherpas here at Hidden Track, we’ll look back fondly on our first full year in action, a period that saw us publish 1,127 posts — not bad for two guys draped in business casual collecting fortnightly pay-stubs. We tried to inform and entertain and stay up with the ridiculous nature of the music business that so often frustrates but makes our highs possible. Although, we really just hope that this site over the past year provided a modicum of escapism for your workaday world.

The year began ominously, with news breaking on January 3rd that former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio had heroin in the car during his late-2006 arrest in Whitehall, New York. And as it continued, we had a little fun with the New Deal’s drummer being a SciUNTZologist. We attracted some serious vitriol with our Top 10 Reasons We’ll Miss String Cheese Incident. We poked a smartass stick at moe. for offering to write my company a jingle a la Full House Uncles Joey and Jesse. We asked whether Dave Clark was fucking Jann Wenner in exchange for Hall of Fame votes. But mostly we just added our voice to the growing cacophony of the world wide webosphere.

So read on after the jump for a full recap of 2007 and The Year That Was…

Does Eugene Hütz, strike you as particularly laid back? You think he stands stoically in front of his microphone like Thom Yorke? Nope. Hütz, the Urkranian born lead singer of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello is particularly animated, and he’s not ready to stand back and let his guitarist do the talking.

It’s been dead around here lately. It’s been dead everywhere lately. Scotty’s in Chicago for the Umphrey’s McGee New Year’s run, but I’m so far out of the music mindset right now that I’ve been using YouTube less for epic live performances and new videos and more for old-school commercials I once enjoyed. So let’s […]

People seem to either love or hate the film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy, but you can consider us in the former. Roger Daltrey gives a brilliant performance as the deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure plays a mean pinball; and we love Elton John’s turn as the Wizard. And, hey, at least this […]

Only three and a half days remain in a year that flew by, so this will obviously constitute the 52nd and final installment of the Friday Mix Tape for this revolution, the year of our lord two-thousand and seven. We’ve got a baker’s sixpack for this one, which starts off with my favorite track of […]

If you’re working this New Year’s Eve, you can take solace in the fact that Radiohead will be doing the same exact thing — only they’ll be playing songs off of In Rainbows for a worldwide webcast and television broadcast. Those of you who have Al Gore’s Current network on your cable systems will be […]

Former Rogue Wave multi-instrumentalist Evan Farrell died over the weekend in Oakland, Calif., from injuries suffered in an apartment fire caused by a space heater. Details are still coming together, but Farrell succumbed from massive smoke inhalation, according to reports. The musician, who was in his early 30s, had traveled to Oakland from his home […]

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Twentieth Century Fox are set to announce a deal that will allow consumers to rent Fox movies through Apple’s digital iTunes Store, according to media reports on Thursday. The agreement will allow rentals of Fox’s latest DVD releases by downloading a copy from the online iTunes store for a limited time, […]

The Cowsills’ discography may provide memories of a different era, but the music stands the test of time because fans liked the music then and their kids still like it now for what it is—a soundtrack that conveys the excitement, rebellion and nostalgia of the Summer of Love.

Everyone has been focusing on naming their favorite albums of 2007, but I’m more of a visually oriented guy. Each week I browse Amazon and Netflix to find out what rock-related concerts and documentaries are coming down the pike, and I do my best to check out any that seem worthwhile. There were many flicks both good and bad that made their way into either my DVD player or DVR this past year. This week’s B List focuses on the 10 Best Music DVDs of 2007:

10. The Other Side of the Mirror – Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival

Bob Dylan changed folk music forever when he took the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with some bona fide electrified rockers. The Other Side of the Mirror examines not only Dylan’s 1965 performance, but also his more straightforward turns at the ’63 and ’64 festivals. Murray Lerner’s fantastic documentary gives us 20 songs from Dylan’s three appearances, most of which haven’t been released before.

Read on after the jump for the remaining best music DVDs of the year…

Our Thursday run-in buddies are back for more…so here are Rupert & Stan from the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes sports blog with an important primer for you.

Congratulations, slacker, you finally formed a band. After weeks of scanning classifieds to find a drummer on Craigslist and Music Mates, the lineup is complete, the repertoire is stocked with a couple sets worth of kickass tunes, and everyone is itching to start playing gigs. Congratulations, you’ve completed the easiest part.

Now for the hard part: coming up with the name. Creating – and more importantly, agreeing upon — a good band name is no easy feat. The name must achieve a delicate balance between humor, wit, and distinct uniqueness. Like any good brand, the name has to permeate people’s brains and last in their memories. It’s gotta be something that strikes a cord, like Passive Rape for a triangle/drums duo.

Ultimately, creating the band name is a big decision, because if things go well, this moniker will be larger than the individuals in the band. In fact, the name should last for years, maybe even decades, and potentially outlive all the band members. Thus, we aim to help you in this difficult task set ahead of you. So read on after the jump, where we have concocted a failsafe three-step process for the naming of a band…

Frank Zappa bootlegs will become much harder to come by in 2008 thanks to Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust. The ZFT spent the holiday season sending out cease and desist letters to a slew of non-profit fansites, non-profit tribute bands and even a non-profit festival celebrating Frank’s life. We understand that the Zappa […]

Photos by David Oppenheimer of Warren Haynes' 19th Annual Christmas Jam, held December 15th, 2007 at @ The Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC. Performers included Jackson Browne, Peter Frampton, Bruce Hornsby, Gov't Mule, G Love, Stockholm Syndrome and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Special Guests include Mike Barnes, Mike Farris, Audley Freed, Col Bruce Hampton, Kevn Kinney & Greg Morrow.

Radiohead will perform its new album, "In Rainbows," in its entirety during a pre-taped, hour-long set that will premiere New Year’s Eve on TV and the Internet. The event will air on Current TV and Current.com starting 12 a.m. ET on Dec. 31, and will repeat three times throughout the next day. Radiohead hosted one […]

A superficial reaction to Paris Luna's City Lights might be to dismiss it as light folk rock. While it does have a few nods to bands best left forgotten like America, there is more behind it.

As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’ve taken our foot slightly off the accelerator. It’s tough to post a full slate of nonsense when there’s very little in the way of news coming from the music industry. It’s like Europe in August out there. Also, I’m in the middle of an English football marathon on the […]

Each year the taste makers of a Yahoo! group named NYC-Freaks come together to throw a party featuring some of their favorite “just about to break” bands. Freaks Ball VIII continues the trend on February 9 at Brooklyn’s Southpaw with a lineup featuring Bustle In Your Hedgerow, American Babies and a mystery band currently labeled […]

Photos by Ashley Suszczynski of Bright Eyes at the Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE – 11/12/07

Pete Townshend is revered as one of rock’s greatest guitarists, songwriters, and showmen, noted for his signature windmill-style guitar strumming and smashing his instrument on stage. But however celebrated Pete and his band have become over the years, Mr. Townshend is responsible for writing and recording one of the most trite and overexposed songs in the history of pop music: “Let My Love Open the Door.”

We hope everyone’s enjoying a happy holiday…but HT Grinch Chuck Myers does not. He’s kinda hoping someone falls down and sprains an ankle today. I seen ’em.

I’m not a fan of Christmas. Sure, I like the pretty lights and the attractive women in Santa outfits, but seeing yard after yard filled with glowing plastic manger scenes doesn’t fill my heart with joy. Hell, I’m not even a Christian and I find plastic mangers to be somewhat blasphemous. Maybe I can find an inflatable Lao Tzu to stick in my front yard.

Anyway. Given my tendencies towards Scroogely behavior, I like to spend the holidays surrounded by depressing music. “Fairy Tale of New York” doesn’t usually make it onto my mix CDs, because it’s just too darned happy. Yeah, I can conjure up some bitter sadness if I think of poor Kirsty MacColl getting mowed down by an asshole in a boat as she saved her son, but that’s not really specific to Christmas.

No, the songs that bring a smile to my withered lips are far bleaker than anything a drunk Pogue can conjure. “Lonely Christmas Eve” by Ben Folds is a step in the right direction, but the music isn’t very sulk-worthy. Folds’ ditty about a lubed-up Santa getting stuck in the chimney (“Bizarre Christmas Incident”) puts the “ahhhh” in my Bahhhh Humbug, but he really gets it right on “Brick,” a timeless carol about a yuletide abortion.

Mew’s Christmas rape story, “She Came Home for Christmas,” is a mainstay, even if it is overwrought and schmaltzy. Tom Waits’ “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” could be titled “Christmas Carol from the Crack Addict Hookers Who Work the Corner By My House,” and Meryn Cadell’s “Cat Carol” still makes me misty-eyed even though the neighborhood stray is living in my basement and pissing on the childhood memories I have stored down there.

These are all great songs to play as I sit in a dark room with a plate of nachos and a worn-out copy of “It’s a Wonderful Life” that plays soundlessly on my vintage VCR. But last year, I discovered* what might be the saddest Christmas song of all. It’s a song that you may have heard, a little tune called “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

No, I’m not shitting you. This is some bleak stuff. Read on to find out why…