March Reviews

Jedediah Parish - My original review after only 2 listens noted that "it often sounds like something I'd like, but falls short because there is not enough melody and his voice doesn't cover the inadequacies of the songs." Or something to that effect. Happened to listen to it a couple more times and it was upgraded from a 2 to a 3.

Kate Nash - Heres some advice - choose better men for fuck's sake! Going out with dickheads is a "you" problem. But I guess it makes great fodder for pop songs, so I guess she has a right to go at it. And go at it she does, with mixed results. My confilicting opinions on this record ultimately are what I found appealing. It sounds alternately gimmicky and inventive, poignant and crass and those confliclting emotions are chrystalized in "Foundations," which seems like the central song of the CD. She sings one line and it seems achingly real in its simplicity, but the next line makes me want to tell her to shut the fuck up and get over it. Overall, it would be easy to knock this as a gimmicky (I mean does anyone this side of the characters in Mary Popins acatually talk like that), lyrically simplistic mess, but I found beauty in the simplicity and contradictions so it gets a 3.5

Joe Ely - One of my favorite live records - Joe Ely at home in Austin in a famous venue with a great band playing great rock/blues/country songs. The opening of Me and Billy the Kid into Are You Listening Lucky is pure rock magic and if that doesn't move the needle for you, I guess you're listening to music for different reasons than me. Whether it's his lurically evocative songs like BBQ and Foam and Grandfather's Blues, or the mindless rave-ups inke Musta Notta Gotta Lotta and Ridin' to the Poorhouse in a Limousine, this entire album bristles with energy - 4.5

Pucifer - If I was playing it on a turntable I would have been annoyed that the pitch was off and it was playing at 31 rpm instead of 33. Oh, wait, he's trying to sound that way! Interesting and compelling only in that it is interesting and compelling that some people think this is intersting and compelling when in fact it is neither. Listening through it the first time, I was not infuriated or even completely annoyed, but I can't imagine a scenario in which I would ever play it again. 1

Thin Lizzy - I always wondered why they were never bigger in the US. I never get tired of hearing the couple hits and the bulk of this is really good, but it sort of didn't resonate with me, so maybe it's not a mystery. Still a great collection to have.

Nirvana - Of course they were overrated, yet it is one of the few bands I can pinpoint the first time I heard them, so they obviously had some impact. And with Nirvana, I had never heard of them when Pam Brooks gave me a copy of the cassette - yes cassette - of Nevermind. I listened to it on the way home that day and could clearly tell that it was something completely different. Pearl Jam probably influenced more bands musically, but Nirvana's DIY mentality served a purpose. It's like the difference between the Stooges and the Ramones. Bands in the late 70's cited both as influences (even though the Stooges pre-dated them by 8 years), but bands copied the Ramones musically, but didn't try to imitate the Stooges. The Stooges were more of an attitudenal influence.