My favorite albums: Wish You Were Here

Aww Pink Floyd.

They're one of my favorite classic rock groups of all-time, easily in my top 5.
I'm trying to remember what specific track of theirs I first heard, I think it was "Another Brick in the Wall."

I remember the video to it so vividly due to the wild and crazy imagery of those kids falling into that meat grinder. And this was on Casey Kasem's Top 10 or Top something back in the 80's.

Here, watch what I'm talking about:

After that, it'd be a few more years until I rediscovered "The Floyd", but I would, buying up their later iconic albums like "The Wall", "Dark Side of the Moon", "Animals", and "Wish you were here."

And it's that last one that I'd like to highlight today.

Wish You Were Here made its debut in 1975, where it would go on to sell over 13 million copies worldwide, and be certified Gold, Silver, and Platinum 6 times.

WYWH was pretty much the follow up to Pink Floyd's biggest selling album at the time "Dark Side of the Moon", as the band sang about topics such as isolation, the darker side of the music industry, missed opportunities, and of course, former bandmate Syd Barrett.

The album only has 5 tracks on it, but with Pink Floyd, you know when listening to their albums it's all about quality, not quantity, and that their songs are usually pretty long.

The WYWH starts off with my favorite track on the album, and one of my top favorite songs ever, "Shine on you crazy diamond" Part 1-4.

I'll try and convey just how I felt, goosebumps and all when I first heard that song. I had just bought this album, put it in my cd player, and cranked up the volume way up. At first I did this because I didn't hear anything, so I keep turning the volume up higher and higher, and then I hear David Gilmore play those first chords, and I was "Oh shit!"

The song keeps building up and building up, with Richard Wright in the keyboards, until BAM! Like an atomic bomb going off in my ears and head, I hear the crescendo, and from there I was hooked.

You gotta hear this!:

I hadn't done Acid or smoked Pot yet at that time, but I imagined that's what it must have felt like as I heard that song for the very first time.

The song, and all 9 parts of it(yes 9 whole parts people!) is all about former bandmate Syd Barrett and his descent into madness after taking way too much LSD. The song's lyrics are a loving and touching testimony to the man's creative genius, and also a eulogy to the friend they used to know before he lost his shit.
The song's parts are divided up throughout the album, so you got the first four parts in the beginning, and then the last five at the end.

Altogether they make up one hell of a tribute, and one of the best recorded in rock and roll history.

Next up is the song "Welcome to the machine."

Roger Waters wrote this primarily about the darker side of the music business, and the whole money-making schemes and policies that he felt were valued more than the artistic side.

Love that image up there guys!
And in fact there's also an actual music video to go with the song in an age where there weren't that many music videos made to accompany the songs. Crazy notion I know;)

The video was created by famed British Satirist Gerald Scarfe and his students in 1977. And what a dark video it is isn't it?

Waters and the band liked Scarfe's work so much, that they commissioned him to produce most, if not all of the art for their "The Wall" album.

So all that crazy, twisted artwork you see on the album cover, and in the movie, is all Scarfe's design.

After that, is "Have a cigar?" which continues on the theme of the music industry. This song was based off a stupid question made by a record exec who famously asked "Oh by the way, which one's Pink?", as in the guy wanted to know who in the band was named Pink Floyd. Yeah, stupid, clueless execs. They never learn do they?

Here's the track:

Interestingly enough, Roger Waters or any of the band didn't actually sing the exec's part; it was actually friend and fellow musician Roy Harper. Waters was later quoted as saying he wish he had done the actual vocals, as he felt that Harper's interpretation didn't really suit the song.

Regardless, it seems history and sales seem to like the song the way it was recorded, so there's that.

Also of note, I wondered if this Roy Harper, was the same one mentioned in the Led Zeppelin song "Hats off to (Roy)Harper." on their third album. Well after looking it up, he is. So, now we both know a little more rock trivia:)

Next up is the track that shares it's name with the album, "Wish you were here."

It's no surprise that this song, along with most the songs on the album, are played heavily in rotation on most rock stations.

Like Shine on you crazy diamond, this song too, is about former bandmate Syd Barrett.

Just listen to the lyrics, and you'll feel just how much Waters and the band miss Barrett and his contributions to the group.

Here's the lyrics and the song:

So, so you think you can tellHeaven from HellBlue skies from painCan you tell a green fieldFrom a cold steel rail?A smile from a veil?Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to tradeYour heroes for ghosts?Hot ashes for trees?Hot air for a cool breeze?Cold comfort for change?And did you exchangeA walk on part in a warFor a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were hereWe're just two lost soulsSwimming in a fish bowlYear after yearRunning over the same old groundWhat have we found?The same old fearsWish you were here

After that, the album finishes up with it's tribute to Syd with the final 5 parts of Shine on you crazy diamond.
Keyboardist Richard Wright really went all out for this one. I was watching a television special on the making of this album, and one of the main studio engineers and mixers commented that had Wright had 20 more minutes, he would have created a concerto. Really? You mean his keyboard and piano parts aren't already considered one?
Seriously, this song as a whole is one absolute favorites, and one of the best songs to come out of Pink Floyd's catalogue of hits.

In fact, David Gilmour and Richard Wright both say WYWH is their favorite Pink Floyd album, and it's really hard to disagree with them on that one.
Oh and the cover. A quick story on that one, is that artist Storm Thorgerson came up with the idea of the album cover being all black, meaning that it didn't matter what the outside packaging looked like, but that rather it was the music inside the cover that really mattered. 
Here's the wiki-link that explains all of that and the story behind the man on fire shaking hands with that other guy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_album)
Very cool to think that they went to all that trouble to have a stuntman set on fire just so that they could capture that image to go along with the famous saying about "Being burned."

After this album, PF would go on to make 1977's Animals, another solid 'Floyd album.And then the famous The Wall album after that.
I'll highlight these and other PF albums at a later date.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as I did:)

"Mutiny on the Bounty Part 1: Everybody hates Dan(Didio)!"

Happy 1st of the month mother-fuckers!:)

It's a new month, and a new month's worth of skits and music reviews, so let's start off the month right with a new skit.

Today's skit is part one of a two-part story featuring, you guessed it, Dan Didio, and a small group of "employees" who he's pissed off. They're not just disgruntled, they're really, really pissed! So, kick back, relax, and watch the fireworks, as well all find out just why "Everybody Hates Dan Didio":)

The Place: the main office @ DC Comics.

The Man: Dan Didio, working tirelessly at yet another day of screwing up our favorite DC characters forever.......

When all of a sudden............

Then, if by some cue.......

 Hell yeah! Now that looks like fun!

Speaking of running, here's a very appropriate song that'll fit this last scene just right.

From Pink Floyd's album, The Wall, here's "Run like Hell"

"Careful with that ax, Commissioner!"

I'm only doing this because I love you guys,
so yes, it's a special weekend edition of the House.

I was thinking about what kind of skit to do with my Commissioner Gordon figure and the Joker, and then thought up this little chestnut.

Enjoy!

The Joker: "Careful with that ax, Commissioner! Ha ha ha ha!"

Commissioner Gordon: "And exactly how long have you been waiting to say that line Joker?"

The Joker: "About as long as it took you to find your groove with that ax, commish!"

Commissioner Gordon: "Funny guy huh? I see Gotham's just full of you comedians lately."

The Joker: "Nope. I killed them all tee hee. It's official, I'm the last of the mohicans. Ha ha!"

                                                    Commissioner Gordon: "Sigh!"

Extra:

So, anyone catch the Pink Floyd Reference? It's in the title. It's based off one of my favorites, "Careful with that ax, Eugene."

And the other pic's based off of the David Bowie song, "John, I'm only dancing!"

See, who says you can't learn anything here @ The House:)

Have a good weekend folks!

Show and Tell

Hey Folks!

As today's title says, it's time for a little show and tell by yours truly, featuring some art by........yours truly.
Hey I never met a shameless plug I didn't like, especially if it's mine. Well that, and to show Shlomo that he hasn't totally cornered the market in posting original works:)

Okay so they're not totally original, but fuck it, sue me!

So without further ado, let's get this puff article, ahem, I mean credible piece rolling shall we?

First up is a little project I was inspired to make after re-reading an old article in Wizard Magazine about the then promising concept mini by DC called Countdown:Arena. Remember that abortion? Yeah I guess not, and I don't blame you. Basically the premise was that it would feature a battle royal where various Elseworlds versions of popular characters, like Kingdom Come GL or Vampire Batman would fight it out WWF(E)-style in order to be chosen to join Monarch's(Captain Atom) army. This army would invade countless multiverse worlds, and, I'm not sure what else after that. Nobody planned out what would happen if they actually succesful I guess. Typical DC. Anyhoo, one of the dream match-ups was the Dark Knight Returns version of Batman vs. The Watchmen's Rorschach. 


Unfortunately that one never happened, despite the tease, so I went ahead and set this little piece up myself. Of course it's not the DKR Batman, but it is the current version instead. Maybe I'll make a DKR version later.

Other than the slight differences in choice of logos, I also alter the lightening effect in the 2nd piece. You know, just in case you didn't catch it.

Personally, it doesn't matter what era or interpretation of Batman Rorschach fighting, as I see it Batman's Batman and will win every time. That doesn't mean Rorschach will make it easy on him, as we all saw during his stay in prison and his short battle against the cops, Rorschach may  be nowhere as good a fighter as Batman, but he's also no cherry. He fights dirty and plays for keeps, and is also very resourceful when he needs to be, so I don't see this contest going super-smooth for Bruce. But he'll win just the same. A word of advice to you Bats, whatever you do, don't take his "face" off until he's knocked the fuck out. Trust me. Pulling his mask off, is like spinach to Popeye; it's not to going end well for whoever's on the other side of that ass-whooping.

Next up, is good ol' Superman. I snatched this iconic image off one of the solicitations for another one of his hardcover Showcase editions.

The theme here, and I use that term loosely, is Superman's minding his own business, flying around and all, and then accidently flies into a weird dimensional barrier/nexus-thingy where he encounters a dimensional Bizzaro version of himself. And no, not Bizzaro as in the regular one who's his opposite, but as in a Superman that hails from another dimension. I think.

The last one dimensional Superman piece was done using a filter tool called "Predator." No kidding folks, the very same effect that you see here that gives you the impression that you're using the Predator's infra-red heat vision is appropriately named Predator. I like the effect, but it kinda' gets old quick after the initial fun's run out. Plus, how many times can you truthfully use this effect where it actually makes sense to use it? Yeah me too.

Then there's little morsel I just completed today; It's old stone-face himself, Darkseid.

Finally something I can actually agree with him on:)

This beaut comes courtesy of the new DC Direct Darkseid statue that's coming out this fall. Personally I'll always prefer Papa Kirby's version, but this one isn't that bad. It kinda' looks like he's wearing space armor or something huh?

Now I don't know if they ever did, but if DC Direct ever came out with a "Rock of Ages" statue version of Darkseid, that would be fucking sweet! I didn't think Darkseid could look as bad-ass as he did when Kirby was drawing him, but man did Howard Porter's version of Darkseid filtered through the imagination of Grant Morrison make him look even more like a Bad-ass! I swear that fucker looked pimp! I think DC agreed since a somewhat similar version of that outfit showed up in Final Crisis.

Alright, alright. I can see you're looking bored, so I'll stop. Damn you people are rough crowd. Who shit in your corn flakes today?






I kid, I kid, you guys are alright.

Finally, I was recently re-reading the 1st two issues of Azrael by Legend and master story-teller Denny O'Neil and Barry Kitson. Folks, I'm not kidding when I say that that series was vastly underrated and under-appreciated. It lasted what, almost 90 issues, and featured the guy who was the replacement Batman for almost two years. Trust me, when this first came out, Azrael was hot. And yes I only own two issues of the entire series, but I stand by my assessment of this book. Plus, in an age when like now, creative teams didn't and don't last as long as the team of O'Neil and Kitson did. It just doesn't happen people. Think about it, they lasted(with the exception of Kitson who left shortly before the series was cancelled) the entire length of the series from beginning to end. Say what you will, but that's a hell of an accomplishment by any stretch.

But I digress.

The point I was attempting to make, is that in the back of the 2nd issue of Azrael, O'Neil talks briefly about  where the need for Jean Paul Valley, a.k.a. Azrael came from, and how he ended up with his own series. Well the point that really jumped out at me, was when O'Neil talks about doing research in finding a natural enemy for Bats. Well they don't have any except us silly humans, so that was a no-go. So he looks up religious mythology, and comes across the name "Azrael". He goes "jackpot", and goes from there. Basically if Batman, as seen through the lens of religious iconography, is seen as a demon doing good, then the Azrael character should be seen as an angel doing bad. Nice dichotomy there.

Don't worry I'm getting to the point. While researching natural enemies of bats, O'Neil initially considered using a characters based off an Owl. Hmmm. Does that sound familiar? It damn well should, since the whole "Court of Owls" storyline just wrapped up.

Here in his own words, is the reason why Denny didn't go with the whole Owl concept: "Among their airborne contemporaries, their only real foes are owls. Anything we can do with owls, then? Well owls are predators, but they had great public relations over the centuries: the popular notion of an owl is not that of a feathered terror who swoops from the night sky yo make a snack of a small beastie, but of a placid old critter perched on a limb being benign and wise. Definitely not what we were looking for."

Interesting little tidbit huh? I guess its a good thing current Bat-scribe Scott Synder didn't agree with that opinion or else we'd have been stuck with what? a court of man-people? Pigeons? Koalas?

I don't know if Synder ever read or remembered that, but oh the delicious irony huh?
See, who says you can't learn anything here @ the House of Fun?

Sadly, after re-reading those issues, and writing this post, I've come to really feel bad about not buying that kick-ass Az-Batman DCUC action figure while I had the chance:(

And now for a parting song to usher you all on out of the house.
This song comes courtesy of one of my favorite rock bands ever, and in the top five, and number five, Pink Floyd. Here's their hit(well not at the time) "The Nile song."

I swear if you listen to it, you'd be like "So that's where Nirvana got there sound from..." and you'd probably be partially right. This song is not typical of Pink Floyd, as they really rock here with a very heavy, almost metal-like sound. I love it!

What does it have to do with the title of this post? Other than the band being an artsy/psychedelic/progressive rock band, not much. But I love it, so it stays.


Have a good weekend people!