Nose For Beer's Curmudgeonly Reviews

As Neil’s computer has crashed, I am submitting a transcript of his reviews as verbally given at the Midwestern branch of the Down Your Nose Group meeting, held 4/11 at El Ranchito, Main Street, Union, MO.

Old Business:
· Neil re-iterated his dislike of the Fischerspooner disc from the last meeting.
· Neil bitched about people not blogging their reviews in a timely manner, or at all
· Mrs. Butcher


Muddy Waters – Neil liked this CD, noting he could see the influence Muddy Waters had on Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. He prefers more traditional Muddy Waters music, but thought this was a good CD. Not sure if it would be one he plays a lot in the future, though. 3 Stars

Marillion – Neil had a lot to say (by his standards) about this disc. In his words:
· “the disc sounds way too dated.”
· “too many guitar solos and they are all weak”
· “the concept didn’t bother me, but I didn’t care about the lyrics”
· “weak vocals”

His summary: “Sounds like Genesis with Night Ranger guitar solos” 1 ½ stars


New Business:

OK Go – Neil liked this one a lot and in fact had it in his top 10 of 2005. He said it was fun and upbeat. Thought the singer and the guitarist were good. He told me that he thought this band sounded a lot like the Kinks. However he changed his mind after I made him a Kinks best of. Now, they don’t sound so much like the Kinks. 4 stars

Ray Davies – He liked this one a lot from start to finish the very first time he put it on. Thought that Ray stayed true to what he knows how to do and wrote the kind of songs that he could build a consistent sound around. In Neil’s words, “he didn’t pull any of that funky Neil Young shit”. 4 ½ stars

Guided By Voices – Neil liked a lot of songs from the last half of the disc, but did not care for most of the first half. He agreed with my contention that many of the songs felt incomplete and that the production was so bad, it was hard to even give an opinion as to the songs themselves. He burned a number of songs from the latter half of the disc for posterity.

Discussion Question:

Neil does not like music videos except for live performance ones, and struggled to come up with 5 that were noteworthy. The 5 he ultimately decided on were:

“Hurt” – Johnny Cash
“Sober” – Tool
“Christ the Movie” – Crass – Neil indicated this is a black and white 30 minute video montage of the band’s album of the same name. He stated the video showed the harsh reality of life and religion. Draw your own conclusions...
“Mexican Radio” – Wall of Voodoo
“Beautiful World” – Devo

Weird Al just missed the cut...

He did not get into specifics (thank God) concerning directing his own video, but noted it would involve Gwen Stefani, a cattle prod and a jar of Vaseline.

Future Business:

Neil’s question for the next meeting (he is the host) is as follows:

Who in the group has the best or worst taste in music? You may choose to take the low road, the high road or answer both questions.

This led to a rather lengthy discussion about the question and an unauthorized, off the record, never happened discussion of the Police best of Neil submitted.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45