March Nonsense

The Good the Bad and The Queen – And here I said I’d be able to figure this out by the time we met. Not quite. I really liked it at first, partly, I believe because I was stuck listening to the same old same old shit lately and this at least was different. I could hear the melodies right away and figured his earnestness, songwriting ability and originality won me over. But then I listened to it again and it seemed to grate. For now, I’ll go with my first instinct and that is to give it a 3.5, but it is subject to change.

Bloc Party – I had read reviews of this before I knew we were going to review it and I think one reviewer hit the nail on the head when he commented that they should quit trying to turn every song into a masterpiece. I liked Silent Alarm and the best parts of this new disc sould like silent alarm. Too many times, though they take too long to get ot the musical point and feel the need to break away from a musical idea that is working and move the song in a different direction. And it just doesn't rock like the last one. This kind of thing only works if you are more skilled than they currently are. Still a solid, though frustrating disc. 3

Mott the Hoople – Totally overlooked band in my opinion. And I have always been one of the ones to overlook them. Although there is a sameness to some of the rockers, it comes off as a stylistic similarity rather than song similarity. And Hunter has the ability to sound as good on the slow stuff (maybe better) as he does the rockers. I like their sound the same way I like the Dolls sound. It just sounds of Rock. Really glad I have this and I'll probably go out and get the two disc CD that these songs came from.



5 Cover Songs That Outshine the Original

Sit Down I think I Love You – originally done by the Buffalo Springfield and covered by the Riffbrokers

First I look at the Purse – originally done by Smokey Robinson covered by the J Giels Band

Sonic Reducer – Originally done by Rocket From the Tombs covered by the Dead Boys (yeah, I know it is basically the same band, but the song is quite different when you switch in Bators for Thomas).

David Watts – Originally done by the Kinks and covered by the Jam

And Everything on the first Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s record especially Danny’s Song, Jet Plan and Tin Soldier.



5 bands that should never change their style or never should have

The list of bands/performers that shouldn’t change is as long as the list of bands I like – way too long to enumerate. Here are a few who should NOT have headed out in another direction.

Wilco – personal and artistic growth be damned – I liked them better when they sounded like Uncle Tupelo – so sue me.

Rod Stewart – It wasn’t just losing the Faces. Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment are bona fide classics and today he is essentially a joke, envied only because of who he sleeps with

Steely Dan – The mellower they got the suckier they got

Bob Mould – Either Husker Du or Sugar – take your pick, but electronica and god knows what else is all wrong– please stop the madness and start making noise again.

I went in a different direction than most with the next question.

5 bands that should change – tough question because it assumes there is a difference between picking the wrong style and direction and just plain sucking. To the question – Is your team better than it’s record indicates, football coach Bill Parcells replied – you are what your record is. Would Emerson Lake and Palmer not suck if they chose a different musical direction? To that I reply - you are what your record is.