Its presence today is positively spectral.

Currently, the only pieces of art related to Rhythm Nation 1814 that you can buy on iTunes, watch on official YouTube channels, or listen to on Spotify or Rdio are the Rhythm Nation 1814 album and the individual videos for the seven singles.

Also worth noting that the album’s 25th anniversary is right around the corner and a comprehensive, remastered box set would be not only overdue, but quite appropriate. Hopefully there is someone left in the Universal Music monolith who remembers how much money this record made for them the first time around. #1814/2014

Below is a list of the things that were released during the album’s lifespan that you no longer have first-hand, legal access to in our Everything Is Available Everywhere All The Time connected world. Maybe you shouldn’t delete your iTunes library yet.

That we don’t have access to this stuff – the complementary material that accompanied one of the biggest albums of the last quarter-century – is shameful and is one of the biggest and most obvious failings of Cloud Culture. Labels: Stop leaving money on the table and give us a real Celestial Jukebox.

Meanwhile, have fun torrenting/Mediafiring this stuff, because trust me, it’s a perfect soundtrack for this holiday weekend.

Videos:

1. Rhythm Nation 1814 short film (won a Grammy)

B-Sides:

1. You Need Me
2. The Skin Game, Part I
3. The Skin Game, Part II

Alternate Versions:

1. “Come Back to Me” (Spanish version)
2. Black Cat Video Mix Long Solo (additional rhythm guitars by Nuno Bettencourt)
3. Black Cat Guitar Mix featuring Vernon Reid

Megamixes:

1. The 1814 Megamix (Full Version)
2. State of the World Suite

Remixes:

1. Alright 7″ R&B Mix featuring Heavy D – 4:53
2. Alright 7″ R&B Mix – 4:34
3. Alright 12″ R&B Mix featuring Heavy D – 7:53
4. Alright 12″ R&B Mix – 7:19
5. Alright 7″ House Mix featuring Heavy D – 4:59
6. Alright 7″ House Mix – 4:21
7. Alright 12″ House Mix featuring Heavy D – 8:30
8. Alright 12″ House Mix – 7:12
9. Alright Hip Hop Mix Edit featuring Heavy D – 5:11
10. Alright Hip Hop Mix featuring Heavy D – 7:24
11. Alright Hip House Dub – 6:40
12. Alright House Mix Edit – 5:03
13. Alright House Mix – 9:10
14. Alright House Dub – 5:58
15. Black Cat Edit Version – 4:28
16. Black Cat 3 Snaps Up 7″ – 4:24
17. Black Cat 3 Snaps Up 12″ – 7:31
18. Black Cat 3 Snaps Up Dub – 6:12
19. Black Cat Funky 7″ – 4:41
20. Black Cat Funky 12″ – 5:44
21. Come Back To Me Instrumental – 5:17
22. Come Back To Me 7″ I’m Beggin’ You Mix – 4:47
23. Come Back To Me 12″ I’m Beggin’ You Mix/Design Of A Decade 1986/1996 Version – 5:34
24. Come Back To Me The Abandoned Heart Mix – 5:18
25. Escapade Instrumental – 4:09
26. Escapade Hippiapolis Mix – 4:28
27. Escapade Hippiapolis Dub – 4:25
28. Escapade The Get Away 7″ – 4:42
29. Escapade The Get Away Dub – 5:16
30. Escapade We’ve Got It Made 7″ – 4:21
31. Escapade The Good Time 7″ – 4:42
32. Escapade Shep’s Good Time Mix – 7:31
33. Escapade Housecapade 7″ – 4:26
34. Escapade Shep’s Housecapade Mix – 7:55
35. Escapade Housecapade Dub – 5:42
36. Escapade I Can’t Take No More Dub – 4:57
37. Escapade One Nation Under a Rhythm Mix – 7:00
38. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) A Capella – 3:48
39. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) UK Funky 7″ – 4:29
40. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) UK Funky Mix – 6:56
41. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) UK Funky Instrumental – 6:06
42. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) Work It Out 7″ – 4:13
43. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) Work It Out 7″ with Intro – 4:48
44. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) Work It Out Mix – 7:37 (also Shep’s Work It Out Mix)
45. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) Work It Out Dub – 4:49
46. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) Original 7″ – 4:26 (also Shep’s Original 7″)
47. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) The Love 7″ – 4:36
48. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) The Love Mix – 6:03 (also Shep’s Love Mix)
49. Love WIll Never Do (Without You) The Love Dub – 6:02
50. Miss You Much (7″ edit) – 3:57
51. Miss You Much (Mama Mix) – 7:24
52. Miss You Much (Slammin’ R&B Mix) – 7:37
53. Miss You Much (7″ Slammin’ R&B Mix) – 4:28
54. Miss You Much (Shep’s House Mix) – 8:38
55. Miss You Much (Shep’s House Dub) – 6:03
56. Miss You Much (Slammin’ Dub) – 5:45
57. Miss You Much (7″ R&B Remix) – 4:17
58. Miss You Much (7″ House Mix) – 4:56
59. Miss You Much (That Bass You Much Mix) – 4:22
60. Miss You Much (Oh I Like That Mix) – 4:58
61. Miss You Much (Sing It Yourself Mix) – 4:21
62. Miss You Much (a cappella) – 3:26
63. Rhythm Nation 7″ Edit – 4:27
64. Rhythm Nation Instrumental – 4:44
65. Rhythm Nation 7″ CHR Remix – 4:06
66. Rhythm Nation Rhythm Mix – 4:48
67. Rhythm Nation 7″ United Mix Edit – 4:34
68. Rhythm Nation 12″ United Mix – 6:35
69. Rhythm Nation 12″ United Dub – 6:11
70. Rhythm Nation 7″ House Nation Edit – 4:23
71. Rhythm Nation 12″ House Nation Mix – 8:07
72. Rhythm Nation House Nation Groove – 6:45
73. State of the World State of the House 7″ – 4:32
74. State of the World State of the House 12″ – 4:57
75. State of the World United Nation 7″ – 4:20
76. State of the World United Nation 12″ – 7:47
77. State of the World United Nations Dub – 6:12
78. State of the World United Nations Instrumental – 4:46
79. State of the World Third World 7″ – 4:24
80. State of the World Third World Dub – 3:05
81. State of the World Third World Instrumental – 4:42
82. State of the World World Dance Mix – 4:47
83. State of the World Make a Change Dub – 4:40

ADDENDUM: Good music just keeps on coming out! So, I seriously edited this post and am going to just update this list throughout the year instead of having it be a snapshot. I’m curious how long it will get. I’ll tweet out when I update it at @jason_ferguson and @notablenoise. I PROMISE NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING OFF. YOU PROMISE TO LISTEN TO EVERYTHING ON THIS LIST. (Items marked with ** are the most recent additions.)

OK. Here we go.

• Ellen Allien - LISm
• Ashrae Fax – Static Crash reissue** (my review TK??)
• Austra - Olympia** (my review TK)
• Bettie Serveert - Oh, Mayhem!
• Mykki Blanco - Betty Rubble: The Initiation
• Bleached - Ride Your Heart
• Bosnian Rainbows – Bosnian Rainbows** (my review TK)
• Charli XCX - True Romance (my review)
• Coliseum – Sister Faith
• Mikal Cronin – MCII
• Dead Gaze - Dead Gaze 
• Deap Vally - Get Deap! EP
• Deathfix – Deathfix
• Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love is the Devil (my review)
• Disclosure - Settle
• Bárbara Eugênia – É o Que Temos
• Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus**
• Great Thunder – Strange Kicks EP
• Haxan Cloak – Excavation
• IO Echo - Ministry of Love
• The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law (why I love them)
• Kylesa - Ultraviolet (my review)
• David Lang - Death Speaks
• Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
• Ashley Monroe – Like A Rose (Fuck all y’all ..)
• Willy Moon – Here’s Willy Moon
• Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park (… mainstream country music is pretty good right now)
• My Bloody Valentine – mbv
• Palms - Palms
• Paramore – Paramore
• Pissed Jeans – Honeys
• Dawn Richard – Goldenheart
• Rodan - 15 Quiet Years reissue** (my review TK)
• Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In
• Emeli Sandé – iTunes Session
• Savages - Silence Yourself
• Nadia Sirota – Baroque
• Still Corners – Strange Pleasures (my review)
• Survival – Survival (my review)
• Suuns – Images du Futur 
• Thundercat - Apocalypse (my review TK)
• William Tyler - Impossible Truth
• Julieta Venegas – Los Momentos
• Ventura - Ultima Necat
• Jessie Ware – Devotion
• Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt
• Widowspeak - Almanac
• Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
• Zomby – With Love** (my review TK)
• Various Artists – Harafin So: Bollywood-Inspired Film Music from Hausa Nigeria
• Various Artists - Sub Pop 1000 (my review)
• Various Artists - Yellow Loveless

So I have not been paying attention. Until I heard this:

I gave this album a listen solely based on a Twitter exchange between two people whose tastes I respect (hey @sterlewine and @maura!), and immediately felt like a complete idiot for not having paid attention earlier. However, upon listening to the full Like A Rose album … and then the first Pistol Annies record … and then basically all of Miranda Lambert‘s catalog … and then Kacey Musgraves (thanks to this two-fer review in the NYT that paired Ashley Monroe’s album and Musgraves’ excellent – though not quite totally “country” – Same Trailer Different Park album) and Brandy Clark‘s Soundcloud page (thanks to several shout-outs from Musgraves) and enough other new country music to make my wife finally say “What the hell is going on here?” I figured out that, just like pop music and R&B, mainstream country music is experiencing something of a high-quality renaissance right now.

It’s definitely not complete (looking at you, “Accidental Racist” and Florida Georgia Line and, shit, basically everything else on the country charts right now), but it’s definitely there: Nashville is cranking out some pretty decent records these days. I mean, why would I (or you) listen to a “supergroup” founded by a winner of a TV talent competition? But right there, tucked into the middle of the debut album from Miranda Lambert’s Pistol Annies project (featuring Ashley Monroe, duh) is this:

This song starts out with this lyric: “I’ve been thinking about/setting my house on fire. Can’t see a way out of the mess I’m in/And the bills keep getting higher.” Say what you will, but that’s a classic country lyric if ever there was one, but it’s also one that’s couched in thoroughly modern, Great Recession-era terms. And it’s indicative of the tone and tenor of Lambert’s (and Monroe’s and Musgraves’ and Clark’s) work. These are storytellers, relating – without sentimentality or schmaltz – the trials and tribulations of folks that are just trying to get by. Musgraves’ current hit is about waitresses gossiping over between-shift smokes; Monroe’s title track is a hardscrabble anthem, while her song “Used” is basically Dolly Parton’s “Bargain Store” circa 2013; Brandy Clark … oh my god, Brandy Clark has a song called “The Day She Got Divorced.”

“But,” you say. “But there’s been ‘real’ country-style music being made for years outside of the Nashville system.”

Yeah, sure. But to hear this kind of stuff coming out of Nashville – and not in a fit of “let’s get authentic” tokenism, but in a for-real, “let’s promote the shit out of this because it’s the next big thing” way – is bracing. That Nashville system gave us Dolly and Patsy and, despite what you want to believe, Johnny Cash. It even gave us Waylon and Willie in a weird way. Sure, Bakersfield was grittier and Texas was rootsier, but Nashville was where the songs came from that defined a good chunk of what “real” country music is. And it’s incredibly refreshing to hear it doing that again.

So, yeah, the country charts are still pretty abysmal for those of us who don’t enjoy twanged-up revisions of Southern rock or schmaltzy pop ballads with a steel guitar in the (deep, deep) background, but hey, those same charts still hold a few kernels of legit quality, so maybe you might want to start paying attention a little bit. Or at least not completely ignoring it out of hand.

Oh, and by the way, the Pistol Annies have a new record out this Tuesday. You should probably listen to it.

This interview with the always-impressive Naresh Fernandes on Bombay’s Jazz Age is required reading.

You should buy his book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot and you should buy his other books too, especially Bombay Meri Jaan

And, being Rolling Stone, this bit of received knowledge is superficial and totally wrong.

Really, there have been, like, nine discrete Fleetwood Macs, both in terms of the lineup but also (and more importantly) in terms of the band’s sonic approach.

• Mk 1 – Peter Green’s blues-rock band (all those records on the Blue Horizon label)
• Mk 1.5 – Peter Green’s mature and sonically inventive blues-rock band (Then Play On)
• Mk 2 – Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan expanding on Green’s later ideas to varying degrees of creative success (Kiln House, Future Games)
• Mk 2.5 – Danny Kirwan’s unheralded masterpiece (Bare Trees)
• Mk 3 – The years in the wilderness when Bob Welch tried to remake the band in his image, but ended up running it into the ground instead (Penguin, Mystery to Me, Heroes are Hard to Find)
• Mk 4 – The Buckingham/Nicks years (Fleetwood Mac, Rumours)
• Mk 4.25 – The Buckingham year (Tusk)
• Mk 4.5 – The Cocaine Hangover (Mirage, Tango in the Night)
• Mk 4.75 – Perpetual Reunion (Say You Will, endless touring)

This may seem like splitting hairs, and perhaps it is, but it’s important to note just how different the sound of each of these eras is. It’s a difference that’s not only attributable to the band’s shifting lineup, but also to their willingness to regularly throw out a formula that was (or wasn’t) working for them in pursuit of something else entirely. There are gems within each of these periods, and a couple legitimately excellent albums that are routinely overlooked (Say You Will being a prime example). However, with all the (justified) excitement over the past week about the greatly expanded super-mega-deluxe reissue of Rumours (still waiting on the standalone DVD release of the documentary, Rhino!), it was again amplified just how circular and unproductive our obsession with the classic rock canon has become.

Rumours is a great album. Front to back, it’s a masterpiece crafted with a ridiculous amount of attention to detail and a churning undercurrent of artistic insanity that, to me at least, is far more interesting than the interpersonal drama that has come to define it. (Seriously: Lindsey Buckingham is the best kind of maniac.) But – and this is a huge but – it’s perpetually disappointing to see this era of Fleetwood Mac held up as the only one worth paying attention to. Between Then Play On (canonical sub-masterpiece) and the Buckingham/Nicks era of constantly lauded “masterpieces” there are six albums that are well worth exploring. Maybe one day I’ll cover them all in a “Rock Bottom” type post, but for now, I’d like to introduce a new type of post on Notable Noise: The Parallel Canon, where we can talk about albums that should be on various Best XXX Albums of All Time lists.

For me, for right now, that album is Bare Trees. Compared to Rumours, it’s short and loose and not nearly as maniacally perfectionist … but it’s one of the most thoughtful, resonant, and enjoyable records Fleetwood Mac ever made.

Bare Trees is Danny Kirwan’s Fleetwood Mac album. The guitarist joined the band in 1969, and his impact was immediate: his fluid, ethereal, and melodic playing debuted on the unlikely instrumental hit “Albatross.” That song’s approach – a gentle fusion of blues-rock structures and otherworldly pop sensibilities – would define Kirwan’s tenure in the band. Of course, fellow lead guitarist Jeremy Spencer played a substantial role as well, with his passion for classic rock ‘n’ roll (which, at the time, meant the rock ‘n’ roll of the ’50s) and slide guitar, but by the time of Bare Trees, Spencer was out of Fleetwood Mac (he split in the middle of a tour and joined the Children of God cult), Peter Green had been gone for two years, and guitarist Bob Welch (who had appeared on Trees’ predecessor, Future Games) had only been in the band for about nine months. This left Kirwan as the de facto musical leader of the band, a role that, ironically enough, neither Mick Fleetwood nor John McVie seemed to ever have any interest in, and one that Christine McVie had yet to fully ease into. And though it’s Bob Welch’s “Sentimental Lady” that’s often the most-remembered song on this album (Welch would score a solo hit with a re-recording later in the ’70s), the sound here is all Kirwan.

Picking up the threads of Future Games‘ best moments (“Sands of Time,” “Woman of 1000 Years”), Kirwan deftly alters the blues-rock formula to create a singular, mutant strain of what could reasonably be called “soft rock,” but with none of the anodyne trappings of what that moniker would later imply. In fact, the album kicks off with a fairly rollicking stomper in the form of “Child of Mine,” a groove-heavy number that, though it only lasts for five minutes, you can almost picture going on for days. Kirwan’s flawless guitar work is a thing of wonder here, but it’s really the strong melodic sensibility and casual beauty that he brings that makes the song shine so brightly. Conversely, a brooding, dark number like the album’s penultimate track “Dust” is kept from being overly morose thanks to the rich harmonic interplay between the guitars and the hopeful-if-resigned vocals.

“Danny’s Chant” revs the engine a little bit in the middle of side two, with a little bit of muscle amid a swamp of psychedelic guitar, but it’s the soaring instrumental beauty of “Sunny Side of Heaven” – which almost directly references “Albatross” – and the heavenly groove of the title track that seal up any arguments that this album is not just Kirwan’s finest moment, but definitely one that ranks among Fleetwood Mac’s best. Yeah, you get a peek at Christine McVie’s greatness, both old-school (“Homeward Bound”) and forward-looking (“Spare Me A Little of Your Love” would have slotted in perfectly on 1975′s Fleetwood Mac), and yeah, Bob Welch’s “Sentimental Lady” is a catchy and sweet little number, but, again, this is Danny Kirwan’s Fleetwood Mac album.

And, well, he was fired from the band a few months after it came out, heralding the beginning of the Bob Welch era of formless (and gormless) MOR. Maybe those albums will get tackled in a future “Rock Bottom” post. For now, do yourself a favor and, when you’re getting that new, wonderful expanded edition of Rumours, tack on the $7 that it costs to get Bare Trees on CD (it’s not available digitally for some bizarre reason) so you can get free Super Saver Shipping. Trust me: You’ll get way more pleasure out of these 35 minutes of music than you will from finally getting to hear take 10 of “Songbird.”

First, there was the news last week that cassette singles – the worst permutation of a horrible format – tripled their UK sales in 2012. A 300% increase! That’s amazing! Of course, they went from 218 units in 2011 sold to 604 units sold, and 480 of those 604 were for a goddamned Feeder single, without which, sales of the format would have been halved. So, we can agree that what we’re dealing with here is a gimmick, right?

Wrong.

Because January 2013 is also the month that one of my favorite labels – the wonderful Burger Records – launched their A TAPE A DAY, OK?! promotion. Which is exactly what it sounds like: Every day in January, the label will release a new tape every. single. day. And the schedule looks awesome! Masters of Reality, White Flag, Lightships, Rikk Agnew, … uh, Nirvana. All on tape, the shittiest format in the land (besides 8-tracks). Of course, a lot of these releases will be (or have been) available on other formats, and of course, Burger is known for releasing cassette versions of lots of their releases. (Like this and this and this and OMG THIS.) But a massive promotion like this, from one of the best and coolest labels around is just a sad, sad portent for how acceptable cassettes are going to be this year.

And that’s not all! Coming out next week is Dual Form, an absolutely excellent compilation from L.A.-based Leaving Records which is being released in conjunction with the fine folks at Stones Throw. It’s got Sun Araw, Odd Nodsam, Dntel, Dak, the Cyclist, and a metric ton of other forward-facing electronic/psych/freak-shit. It’s a great record … except it’s not a record at all. It’s a DOUBLE CASSETTE, in keeping with Leaving’s tradition of cassette-only releases. (And, yeah, technically, it’s also being released on double-vinyl and as a download, but that interferes with my theory, so I’m ignoring it.)

Who the hell is buying cassettes? I mean, I know who’s buying them. I’ve seen them buy them. But why are they buying them? Can they actually listen to them? Cars don’t have tape decks anymore. (And if your old car has one, it’s gotta be working suboptimally at best.) The Walkman is dead. And more importantly, cassettes sound like shit, they don’t travel well, and they’re a total pain in the ass to use. It’s gotta be a “well, everyone’s buying vinyl, so I’ve gotta buy something more obscure” thing, right? If you’re buying these things for anything more than their physical irony, please chime in, because I’m legitimately curious.

[UPDATE: After getting some feedback, I realize I glided right past the primary reason cassettes are making a comeback: They're cheap! For the music-buyer, they're cheaper than (legal) downloads, they're cheaper than CDs, and they're waaaay cheaper than vinyl. And they should be cheaper; they sound like shit! But they're not substantially cheaper to make than CDs; you can get a run of 500 tapes for between $500 and $600, while it costs about $1000 to get 1000 CDs made. But cost-of-production has never determined the retail cost of music, so instead of arguing that CDs should cost $5 (they should), it seems like cassette-oriented labels are saying: "You know, if the best legal way to get $5 from someone who digs this band is to sell 'em a tape, then let's sell 'em a tape." And that makes sense to me. But still, they sound like shit and are awful and ugly-ironic and can we please just sell CDs for $5 instead, or, at the very least please please please not try and pretend that cassettes are some cool and interesting and worthwhile object?]

And, of course:

1. Tues. 04/23 – Brooklyn, NY, Glasslands Gallery
2. Wed. 04/24 – Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda’s
3. Thurs. 04/25 – Washington, D.C., Black Cat Backstage
4. Fri. 04/26 – Newport, KY, The Southgate House Revival
5. Sun. 04/28 – Austin, TX, Austin Psych Fest @ Carson Creek Ranch
6. Wed. 05/01 – St. Louis, MO, Old Rock House
7. Thurs. 05/02 – Chicago, IL, Empty Bottle
8. Fri. 05/03 – Nashville, TN, The High Watt

Thankfully, one of them is at Austin Psych Fest, which is just gonna be the best.

But yeah … you’re probably not gonna get to see them, so chew on this:

Somehow, the winter of 2012/2013 has turned into the season of the cello. At least for me. Of course, the cello is fine any old time of year, but it is a particularly wintry instrument, with its deep resonance and expansive tone. If you were staring out onto a snowy landscape, with barren trees and ice floes in the distance, a mournful piece of cello music would definitely be the most appropriate soundtrack.

And, of course, I was looking for just such a soundtrack. You see, down here in Florida, we don’t really have winter … it’s just not a thing. (And that’s great!) But I still think the Winter Solstice – the longest night of the year – is a day worth commemorating, so I put together a night at a local pub where I’d DJ some particularly wintry, non-holiday music. First stop: the cello. Or, more precisely, the cello of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who released the 35-minute long track “Leyfdu Ljosinu” as an album this year.

Recorded in one take in a room with three microphones, “Leyfdu Ljosinu” is simultaneously intimate and panoramic, and while it’s a bit dronier and more visceral than what I was looking for, it provides a perfect introduction to Guðnadóttir’s other work. And there’s lots of it. Guðnadóttir has worked with Throbbing Gristle and Múm, and when you combine those two experiences with her formal classical training, you arrive at basically the definition of her sound. There’s a challenging and artful approach to her music that belies the ethereal beauty of the soundscapes she creates, and her mastery of her instrument makes her capable of pushing her cello to its sonic limits. So, while “Leyfdu Ljosinu” wasn’t the stark snowscape I was looking for, her 2006 album Without Sinking (reissued in 2011 by Touch) definitely was.

It’s incredibly evocative stuff, as dense in emotion as it is empty of sonic clutter. And although there’s lots of modern processing and loops and guests like Jóhann Jóhannsson, the focus – inasmuch as this hazy dark dream of an album is focused – is Guðnadóttir’s cello.

And thus, I had apparently realized what would be the most perfect instrument to soundtrack a season (if not a bar night … that was kind of a flop). And, of course, it led to me digging into a bunch of other recent (and recently rereleased) cello music. In part two, I’ll talk about some of the “real” classical music that I’ve been enjoying this winter, like Elliot Carter, Sol Gabetta, and, duh, Jacqueline Du Pré. Stay tuned.