Pop Quiz: Brian Wilson

Pop Quiz: Brian Wilson

Aidin Vaziri | Prolific is usually not the first word that comes to mind when describing Brian Wilson. But after a much-publicized struggle with drugs and emotional upheaval, the former Beach Boy has become unexpectedly busy. Last year, he finally released "Smile," the 37-years-in-the-making follow-up to the band's classic 1966 album, "Pet Sounds." He spent most of 2005 playing in front of fanatical audiences and followed it up with a DVD concert release. Now he's made his own holiday CD, "What I Really Want for Christmas," with two new songs, one co-written with Elton John's old lyricist Bernie Taupin. It's no wonder Wilson barely has time to talk.


Brian Wilson
Q: A lot of the songs you did with the Beach Boys sounded like Christmas songs, even though they were about surfing and cars.
A: Right, right.
Q: Where did you get the idea to put sleigh bells on all your songs?
A: From my drummer Hal Blaine -- he had some with him and we just used them.
Q: Were you worried people would get confused hearing sleigh bells in June?
A: Oh, no, no. We knew it was appropriate.
Q: And what month did you make this new album?
A: May.
Q: Did you have a Christmas tree in the studio?
A: No.
Q: But you got in the holiday mood anyway.
A: Yeah, we got in the mood. We put ornaments up and made it real Christmas-like.
Q: There are something like a thousand Christmas songs to choose from. How many did you originally want to include on this album?
A: Eight.
Q: Wait, that's it?

The Directors Label

The Directors Label

Aidin Vaziri | Bjork serenading midtown Manhattan from the back of a flatbed truck. Fiona Apple frolicking around in her underwear with a bunch of deranged teenagers. A decaying Johnny Cash sitting in his Nashville home with wife June as scenes from his life flash by. These are just some of the unforgettable scenes that make up the latest batch of Directors Label DVDs highlighting the works of auteurs Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn and Stephane Sednaoui. Here is a disc-by-disc guide to the clips you will want to play, rewind, pause and fast-forward.



MARK ROMANEK
Rewind:: Jay-Z's stark "99 Problems" and Apple's salacious "Criminal" haven't lost any of their bite with time. They still titillate and somehow make the songs seem richer. But Romanek's masterwork remains his promo for Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," an unblinking document that says much more about the life of the Man in Black than all of "Walk the Line."

JONATHAN GLAZER
Fast Forward:: A disciple of Stanley Kubrick, Glazer has a default mode of creepiness. But watching French art-house icon Denis Lavant get mowed down by car after car in UNKLE's "Rabbit in Your Headlights" somehow loses its charm after the first viewing. Same goes for claustrophobic clips for Radiohead's "Karma Police" and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Into My Arms," which during the commentary section prompts the singer to spit, "It was the wrong idea for the song."

ANTON CORBIJN
Pause:: While every frame of every video here benefits from Corbijn's photographic background, his tribute to Ian Curtis in Joy Division's "Atmosphere," in which a group of hooded children carries 15-foot-high photos of the late singer across a Spanish beach, features scenes that could be hung on a gallery wall.

STEPHANE SEDNAOUI
Play:: Stephane Sednaoui, a former fashion photographer from Paris, has probably gotten the most MTV air time out of the lot, primarily for his work on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" and Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." Curiously, some of his most popular videos -- Smashing Pumpkins' "Today," Madonna's "Fever" and Apple's "Never Is a Promise" -- have been left out.

Review: Mark Gardener

Review: Mark Gardener

Mark Gardener's "These Beautiful Ghosts": Aidin Vaziri | It's taken Mark Gardener nearly a decade to recover from the messy split with his former band Ride. While guitarist Andy Bell found permanent employment with Oasis, the singer seemingly floundered, shaving his trademark fringe and dallying with dated baggy rock in the Animalhouse. But with this solo debut it looks as if he's found his way. The majestic guitars of his old group give way to soft acoustic flourishes and gently rocking West Coast harmonies. His voice is still soft and vulnerable, only now more exposed with lyrics such as, "We were born to live this life/ But we were never built to survive." The song "Snow in Mexico" easily ranks among his best, while his new backing band, Oxford's Neil Young-influenced Goldrush, provides the music with just the right swagger and sway.

Pop Quiz: John Waters

Pop Quiz: John Waters

Aidin Vaziri | John Waters is known for his wickedly bad taste. But the sleaze and debauchery on display in his films like "Pink Flamingos" and "Hairspray" (now a Tony award-winning Broadway musical) have nothing on the music he's compiled for a new CD called "A John Waters Christmas." With such songs as Little Cindy's "Happy Birthday Jesus," Akim and the Teddy Vann Production Company's "Santa Claus Is a Black Man" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" as performed by Tiny Tim, it's sure to pack a bigger wallop at the annual office party than the bowl of spiked punch. The 59-year-old man whom William Burroughs once crowned the "Pope of Trash" pulled most of the tracks from his personal collection and says several, unsurprisingly, defined his childhood in Baltimore.


John Waters
Q: Is it normal to have nightmares after listening to Little Cindy's "Happy Birthday Jesus"?
A: She's so great because you can picture her in this little thrift shop Patty McCormick kind of bedsheet dress at some really low-end studio in the South with this really pushy Christian mother. And you can tell she only got one take because she screws it up and they don't let her do it again, which made me really, really love it. Patti Page had a really big hit record with that same song. A lot of people recorded that song but, to me, Little Cindy really sells it.
Q: I wonder what the songs you rejected sound like?
A: I guess we listened to over a thousand Christmas carols. Then we got it down to 900, then 400. It was probably a year of listening to Christmas carols. The reason I do these albums really is so I can get them back in print. Once they're in print they can get played on the radio where people can discover them. I'm trying to make you want to hear Christmas music instead of dread it.
Q: Besides listening to lots of questionable music, do you have any other special holiday traditions at your house?
A: I have this great S&M wreath on my front door that my sister-in-law made. It's like a crown of thorns made out of sticker bushes that tears at you when you walk through the door. Otherwise, everything is fairly traditional. I have to buy about 150 presents, so it's good for the economy. And this year it's my turn to cook Christmas dinner for the entire family, so it's staggering.
Q: So you literally have to bleed to spend Christmas with John Waters?
A: No, you have to take your chances. Let's put it that way.

Review: Children of Nuggets

Review: Children of Nuggets

"Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era -- 1976-1996": Aidin Vaziri | In 1972, Lenny Kaye saved record collectors millions of dollars by gathering a bounty of rare psychedelic and garage-rock singles from the '60s and issuing the first "Nuggets" double album. The latest installment in the series, now in itself a full-fledged genre, pays tribute on four discs to the bands who grew up living, eating and breathing with the original set. That includes the Dukes of Stratosphear, who contribute the timeless "Vanishing Girl," lots of paisley underground bands from Los Angeles (the Three O'Clock, Rain Parade) and cuts from acts such as the Spongetones and the Stems that are as obscure now as they were then. The aloof '80s production does put a bit of a damper on things, but, overall, this is a worthy historical document for anyone who ever rocked Arthur Lee's haircut.

Pop Quiz: Isaac Hayes

Pop Quiz: Isaac Hayes

Aidin Vaziri | The new double-disc set "Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?" covers soul man Isaac Hayes' fertile run at Stax Records from 1969 through 1975, which resulted in classic albums such as "Hot Buttered Soul," "Black Moses" and the "Shaft" soundtrack. But most people now know Hayes best as the mellow voice of Chef on Comedy Central's morality-testing animated show "South Park." So, along with the singer's seminal wah-wah guitar versions of tracks such as "Theme From 'Shaft' " and "Walk On By," a bonus DVD includes the video for the less-than-savory "Chocolate Salty Balls." How did this happen?

Isaac Hayes
Q: This album covers all the classics but there's also one more recent song on the DVD.
A: Yeah, "Chocolate Salty Balls."
Q: From "South Park." I have a question about that song: Is your sex life as good as Chef's?
A: Oh, my sex life is better than his.
Q: Is that scientifically possible?
A: You know what? I don't play the world like I used to. I'm happily married. This is my fourth marriage. It took all this time to get me where I am now, but I'm happy with my new wife.
Q: How did you go from the tough guy with the gold chains on "Hot Buttered Soul" to playing a fat, bearded cartoon cook who has threesomes with white women?
A: Well, I had been on my agent's back a long time: "Man, get me some voice-overs! Get me some voice-overs!" So one day he called me and said, "Mr. Hayes, I think I've got some voice-over work for you." I said, "Yeah, some Disney!" He goes, "No, no, not quite. This is different."

Gwen Stefani: Can't Slow Down

Gwen Stefani: Can't Slow Down

Making a solo album to take a breather from leading a band? What was rocker Gwen Stefani thinking?: Aidin Vaziri | Gwen Stefani moans. On the other end of the phone line her usually cartoonish Orange County voice has been reduced to a road-weary rasp of Courtney Love proportions. She holds back a yawn while her crew prepares for the evening's show at Seattle's Key Arena. "I just need to hibernate for a minute," she says. That's understandable. Stefani's solo debut, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.," has gone six-times platinum. Her single "Hollaback Girl" just made history as the first song ever to be commercially downloaded 1 million times. Last week she won an American Music Award for favorite female artist. And people are still talking about the splash her L.A.M.B. clothing line made at New York Fashion Week in September. "I haven't stopped in years," Stefani says. "I'm burnt. I literally went from the Rock Steady tour with No Doubt into the studio, like the week we got off. Then it was studio torture making this record. Then we went on the greatest hits tour after that. Then I put my album out and here we are." Making a leftfield dance-music album with the likes of Outkast's Andre 3000, Dallas Austin and Linda Perry was supposed to offer Stefani, who last year also appeared as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," a break from the usual rigmarole that comes with fronting a hugely successful rock band like No Doubt. Instead, it's made the 36-year-old singer's star shine even brighter, which means she's had to do things she never intended to do like this solo tour that reaches the Oakland Arena tonight. "By doing this I was really indulging in the things I never fully got to indulge in with No Doubt," Stefani says. "I never expected people to pay attention and like it as much as they have."