Category Archives: Music

Music Video Of The Day: Novocaine For The Soul by Eels (1996, dir by Mark Romanek)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, I’ve been having a bit of a Mark Romanek film festival tonight!

Val and I have looked at several Romanek-directed music videos here on the Shattered Lens.  Here’s just a few of them: Perfect Drug, Closer, Criminal, Hella Good.  Shake It Off.  Hurt.  (Also I should mention that I’m a huge fan of Romanek’s adaptation of Never Let Me Go.)

For this video, Romanek decided to create the impression that the band was flying by suspending them in the air.  In the audio commentary for this video (which can be found on The Work of Director Mark Romanek), Mark Oliver Everett says that he was scared for his life at certain points during the filming.  He also complained that the bass player, Tommy Walter, wasn’t moving realistically for someone floating in the air.

That may be true but Tommy’s the best-looking guy in the group so who cares?  Or, I should say, he was the best-looking guy in the group.  Tommy left Eels a year after this video came out.  The drummer, Butch Norton, left several years later.  Apparently, Mark Oliver Everett is incredibly talented and also extremely difficult to work with.

Anyway, it’s a good video!

Enjoy!

One Hit Wonders #13 “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by The Electric Prunes (Reprise Records 1966)

Posted on by gary loggins

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Los Angeles psychedelic rockers The Electric Prunes rose to #11 on the Billboard charts with their 1966 hit, “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)”:

The band were noted for their early use of fuzz-tone guitars, wah-wah pedals, and other studio tricks to add an eerie ambience to their rock’n’roll noise. Though they never had another hit, their 1968 album “Mass in F Minor” has become a psychedelia collector’s Holy Grail, a complex, baroque rock concept LP composed and arranged by David Axelrod (the jazz producer, not the political pundit) sung entirely in Greek and Latin. The record was so complex, in fact, The Prunes had difficulty playing the songs, and studio musicians were brought in to fill in the gaps. A song from “Mass in F Minor” called “Kyrie Elieson” gained some notoriety when it was used in Dennis Hopper’s 1969 biker classic EASY RIDER:

As for The…

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Music Video of The Day: Like A Rolling Stone, covered by The Rolling Stones (1995, dir by Michel Gondry)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

How does it feel….

Needless to say, this song was not originally recorded by The Rolling Stones.  Despite what the title has led some people to assume, the song actually has nothing to do with the Rolling Stones.  Instead, the song was written by Bob Dylan.  It’s long been debated just who exactly Dylan was addressing in the lyrics.  Some people think that Dylan was writing about Edie Sedgwick.  Grace Zabriskie, who is probably best known for playing Sarah Palmer on Twin Peaks, has long claimed that she was the one who inspired the song.  It would appear that only Bob Dylan knows for sure and it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll never tell.

Regardless, I really like this song.  A part of it is because I relate to the lyrics.  I almost feel like they could have been written about me at a certain time in my life.  The other reason I love the song is because the taunting tone of the lyrics makes them perfect whenever you’re looking for something to say to someone who you dislike.  For example, someone once unfollowed me on twitter and I responded by tweeting the lyrics of this song at her until she finally deleted her account.  That was fun.

Anyway, it seemed somewhat inevitable that this song would be covered by The Rolling Stones.  This video, which was directed by the prolific Michel Gondry, follows a young woman as she discovers how it feels to be a complete unknown.  The woman in the video is played by future Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: The Night We Called It A Day, performed by Bob Dylan (2015, dir by Nash Edgerton)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This song, of course, has been around even longer than Bob Dylan.  It was originally published in 1941.  Frank Sinatra’s first ever solo recording was a performance of this song and he would later record two more versions of it, in 1947 and 1957.

The Bob Dylan version appeared on Dylan’s 36th studio album, Shadows in the Night.  (Shadows in the Night consists of covers of songs that Sinatra originally made famous.)  Dylan performed this song on the second-t0-last episode of Late Show with David Letterman.  Even though my musical taste usually runs the gamut from EDM to More EDM, I’ve always liked Bob Dylan.  David Letterman, on the other hand, I’m a bit less impressed with.  (Is he ever going to shave off that stupid beard?)

This nicely melancholy video feels like a throw back to the gangster films of the 30s.  Helping to create that retro atmosphere is the casting of Robert Davi, an actor who would have fit right in with Cagney, Bogart, and Edward G. Robinson.  Interestingly enough, Davi is also known as a skilled interpreter of Sinatra.

(He also once wished me a happy birthday, which was a nice of him.)

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: What Doesn’t Kill You by Jake Bugg (2013, dir by Andrew Douglas)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we have a simple video for a pretty good song.  Of course, to say this video is simple is hardly a complaint.  The simplicity works wonderfully.

Check out the previous Jake Bugg video that I shared on this site by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Time Is Running Out by Muse (2003, dir by John Hillcoat)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This video has kind of a nice Dr. Strangelove feel to it, which I like.  That said, it was released 15 years ago so hopefully, time is not still running out.  At the very least, let’s hope everyone was too busy dancing to launch any missiles.

It was directed by John Hillcoat, who would later direct films like Lawless, The Road, and The Proposition, along with an episode of Black Mirror.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: You Make Me by Avicii (2013, dir by Sebastian Ringler)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’ve spent the entire weekend listening to Avicii.  At some point, I know I’m going to listen to someone else but I’m just not ready to do so yet.

Anyway, this is a fun video.  As a general rule, the longer a video focuses on people skating, the better the video is going to be.  This one has dancing, fighting, and romance.  It’s got a bit of a Scott Pilgrim vs. The World feel to it.

Enjoy!

Music Video: Feeling Good by Avicii (2015, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s video is for Avicii’s Feeling Good.  It’s a great video from a talent who was taken from us far too early.  I’ve been listening to Avicii nonstop ever since Friday afternoon and I imagine that I’ll continue to do so for many days to come.

Enjoy!

 

One Hit Wonders #12: “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” by The Blues Magoos (Mercury Records 1966)

Posted on by gary loggins

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The very first concert I saw was… er, a very long time ago! Teenybop pop rockers Herman’s Hermits headlined the show, and the opening act was The Blues Magoos, performing their #5 Billboard hit, “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”:

The Blues Magoos, from The Bronx, were early practitioners of psychedelic rock’n’roll, going so far as to name their debut album “Psychedelic Lollipop”. They were loud, heavy, and wore these electric suits that blinked on and off during their rendition of the classic “Tobacco Road”:

Even without the suits, they were pretty far out, man! The lineup consisted of Emil “Peppy Castro” Theilheim (vocals, rhythm guitar), Mike Esposito (lead guitar), Ralph Scala (organ), Ron Gilbert (bass), and Geoff Daking (drums). They made the rounds of all the TV shows, like AMERICAN BANDSTAND, THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR , and the above clip from a Jack Benny-hosted episode of THE KRAFT MUSIC…

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