Jay's April Flashback - abridged version

Never did find my complete set of notes - bit of a crazy month - so I'm taking this from the notes I scribbled down just before the meeting.

OK NO - Can't give it an OK Yes, more like an OK So So. Not completely awful and I actually liked it the first time I listened. Grew tired very quickly 2.5

Ray Davies - Like most Kinks stuff, this took a few listens to register. It's understated, but he knows how to write. Not all of the melodies were strong, but I still like this record enough to give it a 4.

Electric Mudd - Stunning guitar record. As a matter of fact it could have been recorded without any singing and it would have been just as good. And the lack of singing would have saved us from the mental pictures of big ol sweaty Muddy being a love machine. 4.5

Merillion - More forced musical drama from the kings of forced musical drama. A few good melodies saves the day for these proggers and it gets a 2.

Guided By Voices - Either you get em or you don't. Great thing about them is that my "hits" CD would be radically different than Mike's even though we are both big fans. Check out the DVD "Watch me Jumpstart" even if you don't love the band. You'll at least think they're cool after viewing it.

Music Videos - I can honestly say I've NEVER seen a music video that IMPROVES a song - unless it was a live performance video. So what's the fucking point. It's all a bunch of crap - posing as "art" - that only serves to drive a wedge between the artist and audience - that is when it doesn't expose the participants as completely vacuous morons. Music is meant to be felt and seen performed live. Not made into a little movie.