Thursday, February 10, 2011

Petra Haden Sings the Who Sell Out


Listen, I am not claiming to be ahead of the game here. Or on time for the game. I'm aware this album has been out since whenever, I've known about it forever, and honestly I was always just like, "pff, whatever." However! I've always been at least a little intrigued by it. Luckily, a friend of mine found it used and cheap at a non-internety store somewhere toward the end of January. This was made even more desirable because my more recent experiences with Petra mostly consisted of me sitting on the couch, staring down a Rentals CD across the room that was just daring me to play it and sob along to the synthesized pop songs within its juicy, reflective membrane.

"Make me," I would whisper rebelliously. Then I would run, run, run away and hug my cats.

NO LONGER! So it turns out...this album is amazing, and probably has been this whole time that I've been ignoring it. As you probably already know or guessed, this is Petra Haden singing the entirety of The Who Sell Out in a'cappella. Looking in the liner notes, apparently Mike Watt, founder of the Minutemen, put her up to it. Sell Out was one of his favorite albums, and he thought with the voice of Petra Haden, who had never heard the album, it would be an exciting project. So she got a cassette tape of the album and an 8-track and recorded it all alone in her house.

Now, I don't personally care about the Who. I didn't fall asleep when a friend showed me Tommy in the 9th grade, and that's about as much enthusiasm as I'm willing to give. However. This Haden-Who business is AWESOME. I think it's my favorite album of...um...the week? month? season? ovulation cycle? Whatever. Pick a period of time. I love it.

3 comments:

  1. Alright, after reading just this entry, it is clear: you were put on this earth to write a blog.

    Did you know Maya Rudolph was in the Rentals for a bit?

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  2. ACK ACK ACK! I KNEW it! Well, I didn't "know" it. But I KNEW IT. I would watch that video for "Waiting" and I would see little split-seconds of her and say "Maya? Rudolph?" Ohhh man, she really is the greatest.

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  3. Frank frank frank! I have read two posts so far. I could not agree with Amanda more. You could write about peas and carrots and I would read it, but not only that I would enjoy it. I will restrain myself from reading too much too fast, I must saver it. Because like all good things this will surely end in a ball of fiery disaster.

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