TWO OCEANS AWAY

- 24 last night managed to strike a good balance between the over-the-top Tom Clancy-esque counterterrorist action that we know and love (list of insanity forthcoming) and the genuine resonance that it can reach at times. I, like all true 24 fans, hate Kim but if they're gonna bring her back into the show this is the way to do it: a brief cameo, a few lines and a cry session with her dad. And she might even be useful this time around! Also, the ending twist did catch me by surprise but I hope the story is more that Tony has his own terrorist thing going on and less that he's working for whatever Hodges is a part of, because the latter would make no sense.

Anyway, the good stuff:

- The president is all like "You're under arrest" and Jon Voight is all like "RAGE!!!".
- Jon Voight and the president's husband should have an old-man rage showdown.
- I guess I would call what Tony did to those guards latino-fu, but I don't know if it even merits that distinction; it was so clumsy and awkward.
- I did like his desperate attempt to grab the trigger device and his brilliant jump away from the explosion, though.
- I do actually like how the show is showing Jack being weak and unable to help for once, it's a change.
- When that black dude whipped out the shotgun, Larry scrambled behind that dumpster right quick.
- I swear to god that the one agent who the black guy shot was in American Pie, can any one confirm that?
- Larry (A.K.A. Agent Douchebag) didn't get a silent clock but he didn't really deserve one, though the way he died was hilarious.

- That whole Ten Redux thing by Pearl Jam? It's interesting but it's not worth re-buying that album for, and I say that as I guy who's top ten albums would likely include Ten. That said, I would say that it's at least different enough from the original that it merits checking out. The main thing that's changed is just that everything, from the instruments to the vocals, is made clearer and hits harder. Ten, while great, is probably the most "90's" album in terms of production that you'll ever hear. By that I mean, the original mixes have this weird gauzy, cotton-y feel to them, as if everything is slightly out of focus, and all the elements tend to blur into one another at a point. Ten Redux cleans the mix up so that everything has its own distinct sonic space and, for most of these songs, that's a plus. "Jeremy", "Even Flow" and "Alive" have been drained of some of their power by constant radio play but these new mixes beef up the punch, giving them at least a slight bit more life. Same story for the other rockers like "Once" and "Why Go". The only time I think that the old mixes were better is when the album slows down: "Oceans" doesn't have the same, excuse the pun, watery, calming drift when that mush of acoustic and electric guitars is pulled apart, "Black" feels a touch too melodramatic when those piano crashes are made clearer and the new mix of "Release" shows a bit more unnecessary torture in Eddie Vedder's vocals that isn't covered by that shimmering guitar line. That said, the rockers outnumber the ballads, so, overall the album is better. Still, it's not better enough to justify buying this new set if you already own Ten (and, really, who doesn't?) and, due to the radical difference in price points between the two, I would still recommend the original album over this for newcomers.

- No Line On The Horizon is a good U2 album (and a lot better than I thought it would be after hearing that "Get On Your Boots" mess, which I shall not speak of again) but it clearly wants to be a great U2 album. It doesn't get there for a couple of reasons but it's a good bit better than their last couple of efforts. I really didn't care for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb because I thought that it was too straight-forward in its attempt to write anthems and I've always liked U2 the best when they know how to temper their arena-rock impulses with either introspection or atmosphere (and, ideally, both). No Line, in its best moments, is a worthy successor to The Joshua Tree in this way as it balances grand-sway melodies with open-space grandness and heart-bearing romantic ache. The title track starts off a bit awkward but once it gets going it has a lovely, up-down rhythmic bob, "Magnificent" is a worthy entry into U2's canon of arena-shakers with Bono's strong vocal hammering that chorus home (it's the next single, good call) and "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is a bit obvious in its shout-along hook but it's still an effective little rocker. "FEZ-Being Born" is a bit unsure of itself (and the intro goes on far longer than it needs to) but I like the lightly industrial grind of its guitar work and "Unknown Caller" dresses up itself a bit unnecessarily with watery synth tones but it has an open-road drive worthy of a vintage mid-tempo b-side. Somewhat surprisingly, the album's best moments come when it slows down; "White As Snow" is a lovely, sorrowful update of a traditional folktune but the best song here is "Moment Of Surrender" a mid-tempo ballad, which, while a bit overlong, has an open-hearted ache reminiscint of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" but updated with the lessons that the band has learned since then. The problems with the album come either when the band go too far into their atmospherics (as in the formless "Breathe" and "Cedars Of Lebanon", which, unfortunately, close the record) or try to be nakedly up-tempo (the stumbling white-boy funk of "Stand Up Comedy" and the aforementioned disco-fied tragedy "Get On Your Boots"). Moreover, the album was produced, for the most part, by Daniel Lanois and Brain Eno who are, of course, responsible for the two U2 albums that pretty much everyone loves (Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby) but it's not quite up to snuff with those two albums mostly due to a problem of the band not writing songs that are up to those standards. However, if reports are to be believed U2 will be putting out another album this year titled Songs Of Ascent which will be, apparently, slower and more meditative. Given that the slower tracks were the ones that worked the most here, I'm looking forward to hearing that one.