Greg's June Stuff

Foxboro Hottubs – Stop, Drop & Roll - 3

The rockabilly sound caught me off guard. I was half expecting a variation of Green Day, but was pleasantly surprised with what I got. I like Billy Jo Armstrong, and I had no idea that the rest of the band was here too. Although it didn’t take very long to get through the entire disk I still really enjoyed it, it was just enough that I didn’t get sick of it. Okay, I get it, let’s make a cd that sounds really familiar to the older crowd and one that is really catchy to the younger crowd by borrowing everybody else’s riffs, was this something about the album that I missed? They had “My Generation”, “Summertime Blues”, even the Fratellis and many more, it’s a cool idea, but it only made me want to listen to the originals.

Heavy – Great Vengeance and Furious Fire - 4

This was a really good cd. Dignity is a kick ass song. Although, again, what's with the stealing riff (sample) thing. This song was clearly “Gimme some lovin” by The Spencer Davis Group. Good stuff though, I really liked the raw feel of the disk, it reminded me of what The Cult was trying to accomplish with Electric. All in all I thought that this was one of my favorite cds of the past few months. It’s not Amy Winehouse or Pygmy Love Circus, but it’s good.

Elton John - Greatest Hits

Love him or hate him he’s been a tremendous factor in modern music. I wish that he’d write more with Bernie Taupin, but he seems to be doing pretty well on his own. If I here Benny and the Jets live one more time I will probably punch my radio. That is probably the only song that I can’t tolerate by Sir John. The sad thing was that I liked The Lion King soundtrack, but that's because it reminds me of when my boys were young.

Built to Spill – Keep it like a Secret - 3

I’ll admit that after Mike’s question I listened to this month’s selections very differently. I am a much kinder gentler critic now. I thought that this disk was listenable, but I really couldn’t get it to click for me. It was actually good and I have nothing bad to say about it but it might be one of those cds that I appreciate more when it gets randomly played on my iPod.

Radiohead – The Bends – 5

These guys are genius. Maybe there is another band out there that started the sound that Radiohead has, but I can’t imagine one doing it as well. Tom York might be the oddest looking guy with the voice voted to least likely be a successful singer, after Mick Jagger, but it works.

Question: I lost the original question, so here’s my answer from what I remember to be the question.

It is much easier to criticize than it is to look for the positive in something. I have made a conscious effort to look for the good in everything. I’m not there yet, but I am certainly more aware when I do critique something. Critics job is to be critical and give the consumer a “non-biased” view of what they might consider buying. Unfortunately, they don’t know the consumer’s taste so they’ll base it on their own or generalize. Some of my favorite bands and movies were panned. If listen to anything long enough and it becomes familiar enough, you’ll learn to enjoy it. That’s average looking girls at work become more attractive after you work with them for a while. Anyway, I lost Mike’s original paper copy of this month’s question, so I hope I was at least in the right direction with my response. Great question, Mike.