Meaningless
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Meaningless (disambiguation).
| Meaningless | ||
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| Studio album by Jon Brion | ||
| Released | 2001 | |
| Recorded | 2000 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 44:29 | |
| Label | Straight to Cut-Out (Independent) .00001 | |
| Producer(s) | Jon Brion | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jon Brion chronology | ||
| Magnolia (2000) |
Meaningless (2000) |
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) |
Meaningless is the debut solo album of singer and songwriter Jon Brion, who has previously made a name for himself producing records and playing multi-instruments for hit pop artists Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright, among others. He had also previously been a full band member of bands The Bats and The Grays.
Director David O. Russell, with whom Brion would later work with on the film I ♥ Huckabees, said that the album Meaningless "asks some of the same questions" Russell asks in the film.
The album is, commercially, an independent effort and can only be purchased via internet through websites such as CD Baby. It contains ten original tracks and a cover of "Voices" from the Cheap Trick album Dream Police.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All music and lyrics by Jon Brion except where noted.
- "Gotta Start Somewhere" – 4:13
- "I Believe She's Lying" – 3:26
- lyrics by Jon Brion and Aimee Mann
- "Meaningless" – 3:23
- "Ruin My Day" – 3:49
- "Walking Through Walls" – 5:49
- music and lyrics by Jon Brion and Grant Lee Phillips
- "Trouble" – 3:29
- "Hook, Line and Sinker" – 4:25
- "Dead to The World" – 2:21
- "Her Ghost" – 4:12
- "Same Mistakes" – 1:57
- "Voices" – 7:32
- music and lyrics by Rick Nielsen
[edit] Personnel
Jon Brion performs vocals and instruments on all tracks except:
- Jim Keltner, drums on track 6
- Benmont Tench, piano on track 6
- Greg Liesz, pedal steel guitar on track 6
- Mary Lynn Rajskub performs backing vocals on track 6
[edit] Trivia
- "Gotta Start Somewhere" was originally the first song recorded on a new cassette 4-track of Brion's. It was later transferred to the 24-track song on the album when Atlantic asked to hear more of Brion's work.
- "Ruin My Day" was written for the acoustic guitar, but Brion quickly grew accustomed to playing the song on piano.
- "Walking Through Walls" is one of the first collaborative tracks created by Brion and Grant Lee Phillips. On the CD Baby website for Meaningless, Brion mentions that as of 2001 he was recording a full album with Phillips.
- The outro for "Dead to the World" is actually an early, unused version of the musical bridge for "Ruin My Day". Brion references the outro to Disney, as there are sound effects of bluebirds (common songs in early Disney films feature birds whistling to music).
- Brion initially didn't want to include the track "Her Ghost" on the album because he intended to record it with an orchestra (which he did not have access to at the time). Brion's brother insisted it be included and Brion eventually decided to add it to the record, hoping to do a full orchestral version at some later date.
- Brion quickly finished writing "Same Mistakes" on the final day of mixing the album and managed to include it. He would later call it "one of my favorite things on the record." [1]
- Brion first began performing "Voices" live at Largo [2]. The use of music boxes and Edison cylinder machine both originated from his live performance. Brion has mentioned that there is actually less of the song on Meaningless than there is in his live show because the mainspring of the phonograph exploded during production. Though the original Cheap Trick recording is roughly four and a half minutes long, Brion's cover version included on Meaningless is seven and a half, which is noticeably shorter than the version he plays live.
