Forgotten Records #8: Megadeth - The World Needs A Hero

Megadeth
The World Needs A Hero
2001 Sanctuary

It’s amazing to think that Megadeth are out there today, in 2010, playing balls-to-the-wallthrash metal again. When you take a look at the band’s musical output from 1992-2002, it’s hard to find anything that resembles thrash metal, with a few exceptions (“FFF,” “The Disintegrators,” “Victory,” but that’s about it). This isn’t to say that the band put out all crap music during this era. On the contrary, they released a string of excellent albums that, while not thrash, were still on par with the great song writing and musicianship the band had been known for in their 80s output.

Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994) and Cryptic Writings (1997) were increasingly melodic, mid-paced albums that still packed tight riffs, memorable hooks and top-notch lead guitar playing throughout. Were they perfect albums on par with thrash classics Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? (1986) and Rust in Peace (1990)? No, but Countdown is essentially a perfect heavy metal album throughout.

Youthanasia seemed even more slowed-down than Countdown, yet its bottom-heavy production gave the riffs a little more weight, and the band experimented a little more with different sounds (the harmonica solo in “Train of Consequences”) and even languages (the chorus of “A Tout le Monde”).

Cryptic Writings took these experiments even further, featuring synths sprinkled throughout certain songs, exotic instruments like sitars (“A Secret Place”), and country-tinged acoustic metal (“Use the Man”), yet it contained two absolute thrash burners, and a NWOBHM-esque masterpiece (“She Wolf”). Unlike their peers in Metallica, Megadeth showed they could experiment, yet not be seen as sell-outs and frauds.

Then came Risk.

The less said about Risk, the better. Let’s just say, in the lead-up to the album’s release, Dave Mustaine was spouting off bullshit along the lines of getting in touch with his “real” roots, referring to the The Beatles and other bands he said "really" inspired him to play music, not Venom and Motorhead. Right. Because Killing Is My Business… sounds so Beatles-esque, with hardly any Motorhead or Venom influence at all, right, Dave, right. Essentially, Risk was a misstep that made Metallica’s Load and Reload seem like metal masterpieces. Risk was universally panned by metal and rock critics, and metal and Megadeth fans alike, and for good reason – it SUCKED. They took every experimental sound from Cryptic Writings, removed any passion, intensity, or thought, and made a whole album out of it. Don’t believe me? Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDKrCr2tbEw.

After the Risk debacle, longtime lead guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza left the group (or were fired, or left, depending on who you ask, because Dave Mustaine can’t keep a story straight to save his life). Mustaine even went as far as to try and blame the commercial sound on Marty Friedman, which is ridiculous, considering Mustaine IS Megadeth, and you know, he WRITES EVERY SONG.

Rumblings were seen all over the internet that the band was recording a return-to-form along the lines of Rust in Peace, to make up for Risk. That album was to be called The World Needs a Hero. This is the story of that forgotten record.

Why Was It Forgotten?

Basically, because the album is not that good. From the opening riff of “Disconnect,” you could tell this was a band trying very hard to write a heavy metal record, but not doing a great job at it. Overall, the album is too slow, too restrained, too cheesy (the spoken word bits of “1000 Times Goodbye” are cringe inducing, as are the lyrics of “Moto Psycho”; let’s not get started on the stolen-riff fest that is “When”). You can tell Dave Mustaine really thought he was tapping into the whole old-school vibe by even using songs with ellipses in the title (“Recipe for Hate…Warhorse,” which desperately tries to recall “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”and “Rust in Peace…Polaris” but fails miserably).

Then Dave did what many chastised Metallica for in 1997: he recorded a sequel to a very popular song. The original “Hangar 18” was one of Megadeth’s biggest “hits” and more popular songs that they still play live to this day. However, “Return to Hangar,” aside from having similar lyrics, has nothing in common with the original musically. It's pretty much a clunky, punky dud, with the exception of the last 2 minutes or so, which is just guitar shredding. If more of this all-out, fast riffing and soloing had been sprinkled throughout the album, it would have been considered a return to form. Instead, it’s mostly considered a very mediocre, cheesy attempt to reclaim past glories.

Should It Have Been Forgotten?

Yes. The band currently plays no songs from this album in its live set (although occasionally they will play “Return to Hangar” immediately following “Hangar 18,” but that’s just a good 4-minute excuse to go take a piss or get a beer). In fact, the only really good song from the album, “Dread and the Fugitive Mind,” was not even technically a new song, as it had been previously released on the awful Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years compilation (which I call awful because it barely contained any of their thrashier 80s material).

Megadeth
Still Alive…And Well?
2002 Sanctuary

BONUS FORGOTTEN RECORD – Megadeth - Still Alive… and Well?

(This came from a conversation I had with John the other day. I made a joke about this god-awful compilation that came out after the Rude Awakening live album, when the band had “broken up” near the end of 2002.)

A terrible compilation after the 'break-up' of Megadeth, compiling their Sanctuary-era releases, meaning extra tracks and live bullshit from Rude Awakening and World Needs a Hero. Still alive? Yes, they were, but certainly not well, because this was a piece of shit rip-off cash-in that sucked donkey balls. It’s amazing the band released a decent album after this in 2004 with the “comeback” (even though they never really fucking left) The System Has Failed.

Matt Steele

The Dailies 6/22/10 - Movies Everyone Else Loves (That I Haven't Seen)

Welcome back to the Dailies. Before we discuss today’s films, I wanted to share the news that Blockbuster Video is closing close to 1000 stores in the calendar year of 2010 (so I guess that means 500 have already closed?), and the store nearest my apartment in Somerville is one of those casualties.

Usually, I’m a sucker for long-established institutions. I bemoan the coming deaths of the newspaper and the record store. I regularly play twenty-five year old video games. But fuck video stores. Who wants to pay three or four dollars to rent a movie for a couple of nights when you can buy it outright for a little over double that? Who wants to pay late fees? Why do none of these stores carry anything made prior to three years ago? I think it’s hilarious that Blockbuster was so short sighted that they rapidly over-expanded and then had no way of coping with changes in format (DVD) and delivery (Netflix/OnDemand/Redbox/people stealing movies online).

I’m proud that I contributed to the death of video stores by switching over to Netflix long ago. I was also happy to be able to pick the bones of my local Blockbuster by purchasing a used copy of Michael Clayton and a brand new copy of Reservoir Dogs (expanded edition!) for about $15. So keep an eye on your local Blockbusters and other video chains and be ready to scavenge their good movies when you get the opportunity.

Fight Club (1999)
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter
Academy Awards: Nominated (Sound Effects Editing)

Today’s theme is “movies that everyone else has seen and seems to love”. Fight Club is the first entry, a movie beloved by many people in my generation. IMDb voters have Fight Club currently ranked as the #17 best movie of all time (which is fucking insane).

The aesthetic of Fight Club might be its most striking quality. It’s very dirty and gritty looking; from the rec centers that host the local cancer support groups to the dilapidated estate that Norton moves into. The look of Fight Club might be the best thing it has going for it; it perfectly matches the tone and pace of the film. Norton and Pitt, of course, provide strong work as the two catalysts, each crazier than the other in their own ways. For the two people who haven’t seen this, they let off some steam by creating a fight club, which soon boils over into a myriad of much more illegal activities.

The plot twist is what everyone talks about with Fight Club, though I think it hurts the film more than it helps. Much more interesting is the dynamic between Norton and Pitt, with Norton playing the pseudo-straight man to Pitt’s maniacal Tyler Durden. How will Norton extricate himself from Pitt when things get too ridiculous? Will we get a more detailed picture of the psychological grip Pitt has on Norton? These are interesting questions that are set up and then unfortunately go unanswerable, because the movie takes a ridiculous left turn for its last forty-five minutes. What was already a mind-bending, enjoyable thriller actually becomes tedious and complicated with the added twists. Fight Club is an entertaining film, but the idea of it being a cultural touchstone is beyond me. B.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Statham, P.H. Moriarty

Well, we know who to blame for the rash of fast-paced, low-rent action-thrillers that have inundated theaters over the last ten years! Guy Ritchie absolutely deserves credit, however; he truly did create a new style of filmmaking with Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It’s new, funny, and hip, and a combination like that is sure to be imitated ad nauseum (see Formula 51, Layer Cake). Quick cuts, lots of action, and little wasted film or dialogue are Ritchie’s hallmarks, and they work together to create a fun, violent crime caper.

The film works because of the large ensemble cast working within it. These characters are all intriguing in their own ways, and the seamless way Ritchie weaves all of their stories together is very well done. I’d relay the plot, but there’s simply too much happening all at once. People owe other people money, drugs are involved, guns are involved, and everyone ends up wanting to kill everyone else, sometimes not knowing why. It’s a thoughtful, well acted, and funny crime film that rightfully helped to launch Ritchie’s career. B+.

The Usual Suspects (1995)
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri
Academy Awards: Won (Supporting Actor – Spacey, Writing – Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)

Speaking of insane IMDb rankings, The Usual Suspects is listed as the twenty-third best movie of all time. Just in front of Once Upon a Time in the West. Yikes.

A little like Fight Club, but more jarring in this instance, The Usual Suspects shows us that twists can simply be a disguise for a film that really wasn’t all that great to begin with. People tend to focus on the crazy twist with a positive, “Can you believe that?”-type reaction, often ignoring either a poorly constructed film or the idea that the film would have been fine without the ridiculous swerve. In The Usual Suspects, we listen to Kevin Spacey talk about the exploits of he and his thieving pals, as they’re apparently extorted into completing a monumental illegal task for mysterious crime lord Keyser Soze.

Without giving away specifics, everything about his story, and everything we see in the picture, turns out to be false. These types of twists aren’t exciting to me; they’re grating. If the movie was about a bunch of lies, and nothing we saw was true, than it basically wasn’t about anything. So what’s the point?

The Usual Suspects is helped by its great acting. Spacey, Byrne and Kevin Pollak are their dependable selves. Particularly enjoyable are Benicio del Toro (as the rambunctious and vaguely foreign Fenster) and Stephen Baldwin (most recently seen in SyFy original Sharks in Venice and a recent religious website, Restoring Stephen Baldwin, asking people to donate money to him). Everyone in the film does good work, but its twist is ultimately a betrayal to its audience, not some brilliant artistic maneuver. C.

Stagecoach (1939)

Director: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell
Academy Awards: Won (Supporting Actor – Mitchell, Music – Scoring). Nominated (Art Direction, Cinematography – Black and White, Director, Film Editing, Picture)

Despite my love of Westerns, I’m not overly familiar with either John Wayne or legendary director John Ford. Stagecoach serves as a great introduction to both, featuring Wayne in his breakout role and the first “talkie” Western Ford had directed.

John Wayne truly does have an unmistakable screen presence. In Stagecoach, he plays the Ringo Kid, a notorious gunman. He’s gentlemanly and likable, but we get the sense that he could become deadly if provoked. Though Stagecoach was released in 1939, it’s not a dopey old-time Western with a bunch of cowboys singing as they ride along. Stagecoach foreshadows the bleakness of the later spaghetti Westerns, with characters both killing and getting killed while fighting for their lives against Indian tribes pursuing their stagecoach through the desert.

Stagecoach features a strong ensemble cast. In addition to Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Donald Meek and Thomas Mitchell all make significant contributions. Mitchell, in particular, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors. In 1939 alone, he appeared in this film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Only Angels Have Wings, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Gone with the Wind. In Stagecoach, his constantly drunk Doc Boone is terrific, especially one scene where he’s forced to sober up as quickly as possible so he can deliver the baby of one of the passengers. He won an Academy Award for supporting actor for the performance, one that contributes equally with Wayne’s in making this a classic Western. B+.

Yojimbo (1961)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Eijiro Tono
Academy Awards: Nominated (Costume Design – Black and White)

Yojimbo is another Kurosawa masterpiece again featuring his frequent collaborator, Toshiro Mifune. Mifune plays a samurai without a master, who happens to wander into a small town. The town has been ravaged by two warring gangs of criminals, and Mifune sees an opportunity in this situation. He spends the film playing each group against the other, never revealing his true intentions or allegiances.

Sergio Leone lifted the plot and many of the film’s shots for his A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and watching Mifune play the nameless samurai in Yojimbo, you can see where Eastwood drew inspiration for his “Man with No Name” character. Like the “Man with No Name”, Mifune keeps no true alliances, he’s always one step ahead of his adversaries, and we get the idea that he might be a bit more compassionate and good than he lets on. Like Eastwood’s character, however, Mifune also has the capacity for revenge and vengeance, as he shows in the film’s finale. The nameless samurai is one of the most badass characters in the movies; smart, funny, and essentially invulnerable. A.

Crazy Heart (2009)
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Ferrell
Academy Awards: Won (Original Song, Actor – Bridges), Nominated (Supporting Actress – Gyllenhaal)

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays washed-up country star boozebag Bad Blake, and as the film opens we find that he has been reduced to playing his music in bowling alleys and sleeping with geriatric groupies after the gigs. He eventually meets a Santa Fe writer, played by Gyllenhaal, and the film from that point follows Bridges as he tries to put his life back together.

The ending of Crazy Heart is a bit too tidy for Bridges, who proves himself to be a perennial fuck-up throughout the course of the film. It’s forgivable, however, because Bridges is so strong in the role. He proved he can play a listless dirtbag in The Big Lebowski, but Crazy Heart sees him playing a dirtbag in transition, trying desperately to sober up and fly straight.

Perhaps what I liked the most about Crazy Heart was the mythology and aura surrounding the new song Bridges writes in the film (in real life, “The Weary Kind” by Ryan Bingham, which won an Oscar). He plays a bar of it here and there and the other characters who hear it are mesmerized by its power and beauty. It becomes a hit for his protégé, Tommy Sweet (Ferrell), and it was a nice touch that this song was built up as a beautiful, larger than life force without actually playing it and ruining that mystique. B+.

John Lacey

The National - High Violet

The National
High Violet
2010 4AD

The National is a sentimental indie rock band with the rare ability to create a sonic atmosphere of contemplativeness and introspection for the listener. When they are able to pull off this trick perfectly (see their 2005 album Alligator) their music is incredibly brilliant. Active listening is rewarded and welcomed, but the National’s best work is that which amplifies getting lost in thought. Their previous albums, for the most part, had this quality; they could take you to places in your own past, and then they could dissolve into the background without being dull or uninteresting.

This quality can be good and bad, because there’s a fine line between an album lulling a listener into introspective thought and an album lulling a listener to sleep. High Violet, unfortunately, largely misses the mark the band had previously set, giving us a number of morose songs, each quiet and unremarkable. The first five tracks hum with low bass and dimness, with little differentiation between them and very few memorable segments. Unlike on the group’s two previous albums, Alligator and Boxer (2007), there’s very little relief in the way of a foot-tapping beat or a melodic movement.

Things do turn around at about the halfway point. Lead single “Bloodbuzz Ohio” features a yearning chorus and bright piano work, and is followed by “Lemonworld”, a simple, effective, lyrically dependent plodder akin to some of their strong earlier work. “Conversation 16” provides some great vocal work, but it’s High Violet’s penultimate track, “England”, that is its centerpiece. It strikes just the right tone of foreboding, with a hint of regality due to its utilization of horns. “England” reaches heights not otherwise heard on High Violet, which is a shame, because the song proves the band can still hit those transcendent notes instead of covering their songs in a melancholic veneer.

C+

John Lacey

The Simpsons Project #11

The Simpsons Project #11 (Season 1, Episode 11)
The Crepes of Wrath
Original airdate: 4/15/90

Welcome back to another installment of the Simpsons Project. After today’s episode, “The Crepes of Wrath”, we only have two more episodes left in the first season to review. And it’s only taken a year and a half to get to this point! We’ll be discussing season 21 in no time!

Anywho, “The Crepes of Wrath” begins with a nice sequence of Homer stepping on Bart’s misplaced skateboard and tumbling down the stairs, throwing out his back in the process. Homer was clutching one of Bart’s talking Krusty dolls as he fell, and with Homer incapacitated, the doll becomes stuck in talk mode, repeating the phrase “I like to play with you!” until its voice wears out. Bart’s messiness causes Marge to order him to clean up his room, and in doing so Bart finds a forgotten cherry bomb that he pledges to put to good use.

Shortly thereafter, we’re introduced to Agnes Skinner, the principal’s overbearing mother (who keeps referring to him as “Spanky”). She is touring Springfield Elementary, and stops to use the bathroom at the same time Bart is flushing his cherry bomb down the toilet. Agnes is apparently blown through the roof of the school, which infuriates Principal Skinner. He visits the Simpson home and recommends Bart for the school’s foreign exchange program. According to Skinner,

“We have transcended incorrigible. I don’t think suspension or expulsion will do the trick. I think it behooves us all to consider…deportation.”

Bart capitulates and is sent to France, and the Simpsons agree to take in an Albanian boy, who Homer thinks will be “all white with pink eyes”. The episode splits into two stories at this point. The Albanian, Adil, is actually a spy, and he uses his kindness, charm, and the fact that he isn’t Bart to convince Homer to bring him to the nuclear plant so he can steal secrets. Bart, meanwhile, is put to backbreaking work by his French hosts at their rundown winery.

“The Crepes of Wrath” can be seen as Skinner’s coming out party, where he first exhibits some of his morally superior tendencies. His language and demeanor is curt and rude, but it’s guised by a sense of intellectualism and authoritativeness that allows him to get away with the things he does. His introduction of Adil to the Springfield children is full of backhanded compliments and false courtesies, as he welcomes the Albanian boy while describing his heritage as “offensive” and “backwards”.

Both Bart and Adil’s situations quickly unravel and the story returns back to normalcy. Bart finds that he has picked up enough French to tell the police of the cruel treatment he has suffered. Stateside, the FBI uncovers Adil’s espionage and deports him back to Albania.

This isn’t a terribly funny episode. Skinner has some strong moments, but the point here is to show the terrors Bart puts his family through and their unwavering love for him despite this. Laughs are light, and this may be the weakest episode of the first season.

B-

John Lacey

"You may find his accent peculiar. Certain aspects of his culture may seem absurd, perhaps even offensive. But I urge you all to give little Adil the benefit of the doubt. In this way, and only in this way, can be hope to better understand our backward neighbors throughout the world." - Principal Skinner