Customer Reviews

Below the Radio

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Remember back when you were 14 and someone, a girlfriend or a new buddy, would make you a mix tape? you were so excited. Sometimes they were bad, sometimes they were great but, whatever the quality, they usually turned you on to new bands. That's kind of what Under the Radar is except this time Jason Lytle from Grandaddy made you the mix. It might be a stretch to call it "the new Grandaddy Cd" but in a way thats what it is. Jason compiled 14 tracks by different artists such as indie heavy weights Blonde Redhead, Giant Sand and Pavement as well as some lesser known gems in Little Wings and Snow Patrol. You may know all the track or you might have never heard of any of the bands but as a single flowing album this works. This is a collection of tracks that in some ways show you the mindset of grandaddy. So you can enjoy a collection of well know favorites that all work together to create something new or experience for the first time some unbelievable song, either way Below the Radar works hard to make you happy.

This seems like an idea that's time came about twenty years ago, which isn't to be taken as a slight. Ninety percent of the hack music journalism of the last five years has revolved around the "derivative" nature of band X, and then engaged in the utterly pointless, self-congradulatory game of stopping the influence.
Now Grandaddy come along with a great CD of songs that have, in some way shape or form, stimulated them as a band. It may seem like a cheat to put this out with the Grandaddy name on it, but a few cursory listens will prove that it's a really valuable look at the band, from a canted perspective... Which, of course, is all just blather, but the songs are rock f-ing solid. Beulah, Pavement, Blonde Redhead, all in top form, nicely sequenced, with a great new Grandaddy tune... This is even better than The Crow soundtrack.

I actually bought this CD by accident. What a pleasant surprise.
It's a great new twist on the mix tape. If you've ever loved good music but have been underwhelmed of late or just don't know what's new, what's good, then give this CD a try. Every track is interesting and creative. Because it's a great mix tape, the songs are unique but they do flow together and compliment each other. You can hear shades of (a young)Neil Young, Lou Reed, even Jazz and Country flavours.
As I said, if you've ever loved music, give this a try.

When I first heard grandaddy was releasing Below The Radio (a compilation of Jason Lytte's favorite B-sides and under exposed songs from favorite artists) I held a lot of hope for the finished product. This is saying a lot because it takes a certain amount of madness and balls to release a mix tape however, Jason Lytte's ear has consistently sought out new an interesting ways to create unexpectedly coordinated sounds. So sure he can write some great songs and it would make sense he could appreciate the same traits in his contemporaries.

Despite being nothing really new it is a beautiful example of how music can when juxtaposed to itself reflect entirely new moods and messages. Simple placement of these relatively obscure songs creates a fluid and beautiful trip.

Beck's we live again works as an introduction to the almost mystical re-genitive cycle of life and nature. It represents a birth and the pure nature we are born a part. Alternatively the album culminates in Granddaddy's catchy and cheerful return to nature "Nature Anthem" declaring he wants to "walk up the side of a mountain... walk back down the other-side of a mountain."

While the first and last tracks do the most to set up this theme of nature connectedness and cycle, the 13 songs in between are by no means filler. Blond Redheads "For The Damaged", Little Wings- Sand Canyon Beulah- Burned by the sun and many others all serve to remind us something or other (the only way i could ever really put it) all while exploring many sides of the same face.

A beautiful experiment in album construction and a testament to good taste.

The compilation/ mix is an easily fouled-out concept, and for every No New York there probably a jillion Survival of the Fattests... Bearing that in mind, there's something elegantly simple about letting a band--great in their own right--put together a collection of worthy songs. There was a Mojo some time ago that showed the tracklist to a mix tape that Thurston Moore made for potential members of a then-nascent Sonic Youth; the sequencing, selection, everything was impeccable, and yet it said as much about Sonic Youth as an organism than it did any of the selected bands... In this sense, 'Below the Radio' is a very real Grandaddy album in a strange sort of way. That aside, the individual songs are ALL great; Beulah's 'Burned by the Sun' and Snow Patrol's 'Run' deserve special attention, if only because they throw light on two bands I'd never given particular notice before... Well worth a listen, for fans of Grandaddy and so on...

Note: THIS IS NOT A GRANDADDY ALBUM. It is a collection of songs by other artists. Of the 15 songs, one is by Grandaddy...the lovely, gently anthemic "Nature Anthem." But as for the Fruit Bats...no thanks.

That is to say, it's really good. Odd to say that Grandaddy was a band I hadn't been hugely interested in... I saw them once about four years ago (opening for...Elliott Smith, maybe?) and wasn't too impressed, though I was severely sleep-deprived at the time... Anyways, a buddy of mine got this and played the Beulah song for me (I'm an outspoken fan), I was sufficiently intrigued, borrowed the thing, loved every song, gave Grandaddy another go-around, and I'll be damned if I'm not pretty obsessed with them now. I'm only amazed that this is an idea that has taken so long to emerge. What are rock bands, really, but the sum of what they listen to and the individuated aesthetic that they make from that? This is a great way to get acquainted with a group, and, in this case, it's a great group to get acquainted with...

Well, OK, it's not a CD with Grandaddy songs. There's the Nature Anthem, of course, which is cute, but mostly this is music from other artists. The concept here is 'below the radio'. How does that work?

I ran across Grandaddy because the group was on Jools' show, on the BBC. I bought music because I watched Holland, and he had extraordinary taste in pop music. If people don't hear music, they don't buy it. Someone has to say "This is good" and kind of force it on people, because there is an awful lot of music out there. (Dear BBC America-- Bring Back Jools).

Last week another BBC music guru died, John Peel. He scoured the world for music, and played it. There are, of course, great artists in Brazil and Nigeria, many other places. Should anyone care? For the most part Americans love a limited playlist and don't explore beyond the hit lists. We even treat American Idol as a creative driver. Yeah, those people really get to push the creative limits. Yikes. So I suppose Jason is showing us some of what is out there.

There is a lot of good music out there. Someday people may care about artists who say the things they want to hear, even if the artists are fairly minor. The point is that there's a channel for distribution of less popular music. It can be downloaded. It's interesting that some known artists don't get much of their music 'played'. I don't know if the 'superstar' concept disappears, but it does distort the music scene. The problem for the music companies is that it's way too easy to steal these most popular songs. Oh, well...

There is satellite radio and cable music channels and the Internet and songs downloaded on celphones. Whatever. I guess it's time for the big pipe to deliver more music, more variety. In the end, the artists have to get some compensation, of course, but even an artist with a limited following might be able to survive as long as the creative fires burn.

There are a couple of really great songs on this album. Of course, I'd like to see some more songs by the actual group. You just have to treat each song individually, because it's not a very thematic album, to me. There are songs on this album I will add to my playlist, but it's not cohesive enough to think of as an 'album'.

George Sears

I think Grandaddy is awesome and the best group currently out there but this CD is B O R I N G. Buy the other ones they are most excellent.