 06/18/04
"Electric" reissue by The Cult
One of my favorite sounding albums of all time. It's interesting to listen
with headphones now and hear some of the analog characteristics
of this one exposed by the remastering. Still sounds perfect though.
This whole album has such a brutal strut to it. I wish I was dumb
enough
to sound that arrogant!
"Going Public" by Bruce Johnston.
Beach Boy solo albums have been a spotty affair all throughout history
and this 1977
release is no different. Based on his songwriting contributions
to the Beach Boys it shouldn't shock anyone that this album doesn't
rock very hard. But it does contain a version of his "I Write
The Songs" that is far more subtle than Barry Manilow's hit version
(how could it not be?) and a disco version of "Deidre" a
song that originally appeared on The Beach Boys "Sunflower" album.
Another highlight is "Rendezvous," a catchy if lightweight saccharine
little pop rocker.
05/01/04
"Yesterday Rules" by The Mr. T Experience. I
have been an MTX fan for a long time and I have maintained a spotty
and brief correspondence with Dr. Frank over
many
years. So I am always interested in noting the mile markers in their
continuing progression from jokey pop/punk rockers to jokey serious
artistes. One favorite here that resonates especially well with me
is "Fucked Up On Life." Frankie sez Dr. Frank "at the very least has
his own artistic voice" and that particular song is a good example
of it. I like all their albums and this one is no exception. A very
attractive CD-ROM bonus section includes a sort of "Making Of" diary
which I can certainly identify with and, in fact, throws more light
on the songwriting and album making process than I would ever care
to do myself.
"Nikki & The Corvettes" I was
a big Bomp! Records fan as a youth and I vaguely remember
a few of these songs being on compilations I bought
back then
but
I didn't think too much of 'em at the time. Cut to 2003 and I download
a couple MP3's off a web site dedicated to power pop and they sound
great to me. So I track down a cd reissue and even though it is not
exactly a tour de force of variety, I can't stop playing it. I think
this demonstrates two things, first a sort of lowering of
my standards. See, I have no doubt that I genuinely did not like Nikki
& The Corvettes back in the day,
but these days I'll pretty much buy and enjoy anything that
is from that rich vein of '78-'79 stuff that was the first music to
influence
me. If it has that sound that I now crave so much I'm happy to
give it more than a fair shot. I'm talking Moon Mullins, Doug & the
Slugs
and
Herman
Brood here folks. Is this just indiscriminate nostalgia on my part?
My unrelated second point is that although I did download my reintroduction
to this
album,
I did also ultimately go out and buy the CD.
Also enjoying current rotation are cutout bin
finds of "Free All Angels" by Ash and "The Fags" which is the latest
offering
by our
old
"Hoarse" friends Jimmy Paluzzi and John Speck. Sounds just like Hoarse
to me in fact
11/17/03
New albums by old favorites dominate my playlist
lately. For "Special One" by Cheap Trick you
can see my Random Thoughts area for a full
review. I also have given careful consideration to "61/49" the new album
by The Romantics. While it's not a terrible album, it is a disappointing
one. The sounds and the attitude are sort of in place, and in a couple
instances the songs are OK too. But it just doesn't add up to much.
To these ears it sounds like an under inflated version of "In Heat."
But unlike the whole Aerosmith "Done With Mirrors" trip, I don't anticipate
that
this album is the mediocre beginning to a successful comeback. I happen
to know that Jimmy Marinos was only back in the band for about a year
around
1996 or so
and yet he drums on most of the tracks here. Folks these ain 't
that great a' tracks to be hanging on to for nearly 7
years! For them to release these stale songs on a new record coupled
with the fact
that there
are a measly 10 songs on the disc and that many of them are covers,
suggests to me that the ideas are not flowing too freely in
the Romantics
camp.
I hope I'm wrong though.
Next I have "What's In The Bag?" the latest effort by Marshall Crenshaw. This is a
not unexpected exercise in the "adult rock" genre that so many
of my boyhood faves seem to be trafficking
in lately (only Peter Wolf does it well IMHO). There's a some surfy
instrumentals, some poignant ballads and the high point is a cover
of a Prince hit from the 1980's. I don't know what that all means but
I really have nothing more to say about it.
Next time I'll get into some of the albums from
contemporary artists that I've been listening to.
07/03/03
Ziggy Marley “Dragonfly” I’ve
always been biased against anything Marley because of that stupid Bob
Marley greatest hits package that every banal yuppie couple seems to
have in their predictable CD collection. But I find myself listening
to this whole album over and over again. It’s got some very topical
lyrics that are clever and not too preachy.
I can’t believe how lukewarm I
was initially about the latest
Supergrass album (see below). Now it hasn’t
left my playlist for several months and I absolutely love it.
Other than that I’m listening to re-issues of Toots
and the Maytals “In
the Dark” and “Funky Kingston,” John
Holt “3000
Volts of Holt,” and Junior Murvin “Police
and Thieves.”
04/17/2003
Frankie
turned me on to something that has blown my mind more than anything
else has in the last few years called
The Incredible Kidda Band. I only have the story second hand from
him,
but apparently
this UK power pop band never really put out much (if anything) in terms
of actual releases during its lifetime in the late 70's/early 80's
but
continued
recording
these fantastic demos that were recently collected and released by
Detour Records. It's amazing catchy peppy rock 'n' roll that contains
a remarkable innocence that could only be captured for a brief period
in any bands (or persons) life and they did it. I'm impressed that
they didn't let their lack of commercial success tinge their music
with bitterness or cynicism - it's easy to do folks! It's definitely
my can't miss pick for the year so far. Thanks Frankie! A lot of reggae is also in the
changer right now. I've expanded my scope from the
old
stuff
to
trying
to
sniff
out some
good
new stuff. Apparently hits collections (similar to the top 40 "Now"
series) are the way to go, so that's where I'm starting with Reggae
Hits
29, 30, and 31, and a couple other collections. Will report back with
any discoveries.
01/22/03
I ordered 4 imports just before Christmas and I've had some time
to digest them now.
The
Libertines are
the newest guitar rock heroes from London. When I saw that
their debut was
produced by Mick Jones, I bit. Not all bad, but overall
suffering from what I call the "much ado about nothing" syndrome.
That is, a lot of good and noisy flailing sort of in the style I like
- but
ultimately the
songs
just
aren't there for me.
On the other hand, Australia's The Datsuns I
would call "not much ado about nothing." They sound like so very many
other bands who do the
uber-garage rock thing just as well. Predictably, they also have miserably
cliched lyrics. On the plus side one song does sound reminiscent
of Deep Purple!
Old favorites The Supernaturals have had a rough
go of it lately but they have managed to squeeze a new album out of
the turmoil. Unfortunately I now realize the guys that left the band
must
have been the ones I liked.
Also from the UK and also super, Supergrass serves
up an album fairly similar to it's previous one in scope. That is to
say there are a couple good single quality rockers nestled up against
some slightly trippy examples of even further songwriting development.
Why can't anybody stay young anymore?
10/25/02
Totally predictable. The new Springsteen,
the new Oasis, a Trojan Records box set of
reggae singles, a compilation covering the
three mid-eighties Everly Brothers comeback
albums, a reissue of Jimmy Cliff's first
album with about 10 bonus tracks. All good.
6/28/02
I'm sifting through the results of
another
9 CD for $5.00 bargain bin run and
my current
cut-out pick to click is a self titled
album
by the band Tsar. My girlfriend Regina
hipped
me to them and they are not bad at
all. The
album boasts very modern rock sounding
production
but the songs have genuine non-saccharine
hooks that most bands on the radio
now sorely
lack. Sort of like a harder rocking
Sugar
Ray if they had any talent. Bonus points
for living in my very own neighborhood!
2/22/02
Yikes! I can't believe how long it's
been.
Anyway, I've discovered Amoeba Records
here
in Hollywood along with the joy of
selling
back CD's. I had only ever sold or
returned
an album twice in my life until recently
but now I can't stop trading in my
crappy
CD's to get new crappy CD's! Well,
to be
honest, I have gotten a few good ones.
For
example:
"Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown".
This is an import only reggae collection
put together by DJ Don Letts that is
"The
soundtrack to London's legendary Roxy
Club
December '76 - April '77"
The Cure "Greatest Hits" I
turned in the two Cure albums I owned in anticipation
of getting this collection instead. Then
it turned out to be $20 because it comes
with a stupid, stupid extra disc of the exact
same songs done acoustically. Fortunately
I was able to find a used copy the next time
I went to Amoeba.
Supremium - "Lucky" This is a band
that includes Romantics guitarist Coz Canler.
Not bad for $1.00!
Sparks - Profile:The Ultimate Sparks Collection.
Most of the Sparks albums I have on vinyl
do not seem to be coming out on CD.
Sloan - "Pretty Together" A decent
album from one of my favorite bands, but
not their absolute best.
The Damned - "Strawberries" As
a supposed Damned fan, I was shocked to discover
this critically acclaimed album that I had
never even heard of.
"The Very Best of T-Rex" After
I bought a couple T-Rex albums I decided
that they were only a greatest hits band
for me, so this collection is nice.
11/28/01
A lot of used picks lately. Some good
ones
include the live Sex Pistols album
from 1996.
Why I was too cool to get off my ass
and
see them when they came through Chicago
I'll
never know. It was just too passe at
the
time I guess. Another prized pick-up
is a
collection by The Honeys, the (primarily)
60's girl group that included Brian
Wilson's
then wife Marilyn and featured many
Brian
Wilson compositions.
11/03/01
I checked out the CD "I Am Shelby
Lynne"
from my local library not expecting
much
other than warmed over Lucinda Williams
type
stuff. Well, it's nothing at all like
that
and I'm not sure what it is actually
similar
to but I do like it a lot for some
reason.
Maybe I can describe it as what Sheryl
Crow
would sound like if she were good.
A lot
of belted out vocals over extremely
big sounding
radio rock.
10/27/01
I bought a bunch of $1.00 cassettes
at the
Tower Records outlet in Hollywood.
Treble
Charger was recommended to me by someone
who likes our band but this album stinks.
Prescott Curlywolf got a review that
made
me think I would like it but it stinks.
I
have a soft spot for Greg Kihn and
even though
his "Love and Rock and Roll"
is
a very dated 1986 album I still find
it to
have redeeming qualities. Likewise
I took
a chance on 1980's Utopia album "Deface
the Music" It's sort of a Beatle
take-off
but it gets thumbs up based on exuberance
alone.
9/23/01
I checked out Prince "The Black
Album"
and Liz Phair "Whip Smart"
from
the library. I don't know what all
the fuss
was about that Prince album, it sounds
about
the same as any other Prince album
to me,
except without any obvious hits. I
guess
that is the same with most Prince albums
now that I think it. The Liz Phair
was simply
boring. I was suckered by the hype
and bought
her critically lauded "Exile from
Guyville"
Thank goodness I didn't fall for it
again
with this album.
9/03/01
Rockaway Records had a 50% off sale
on their
99 cent albums. I, for one, cannot
resist
50 cent albums so I bought 28 of them.
So
far I've listened to The Kinks - Think
Visual;
The Pretenders - Get Close; Ian Gomm
- Gomm
with the Wind; The Headboys; Herman
Brood
and His Wild Romance; Smokey Robinson
- One
Heartbeat; ABC - How to be a Zillionaire;
Moon Martin - Escape from Domination;
and
Eric Carmen - Tonight You're Mine.
Herman
Brood and Eric Carmen were surprisingly
bad,
everything else was worth about 50
cents.
Ian Gomm has some great songs but is
very
spotty
8/24/01
The only CD's I've bought in recent
months
have been the Mott the Hoople Box Set
(nothing
amazing that I didn't already have);
The
New Pornographers (excellent quirky
power
pop); and the Nuggets II Box Set (just
as
good as the first one, which is to
say one
of the best things I own - period).
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