Um.. uh.. I don't know why, but I did...

http://coedmagazine.com/2009/02/23/fat-boobs-day/

February Meeting Hooha

Another laugh riot at the Spigot with funny gay stand up Greg slaying us with his one liners after being bludgeoned again in the review portion of our evening. Though he is well entrenched in the bottom third, let it be known he is also positioned as the # 3 review in the DYN annuls. Of course we all know this was a natural phenomenon but all the still.....

But the biggest loser of the night was NOT Greg's Killer disc, but instead the selection provided by our yokel from Missouri. Unofficial results has it a sub 2 score (Jay's scores not in at time of release) which will keep it out of the bottom 10 but firmly in the area we call gregland. Moi's submission garnered the highest unofficial average.

Most important discussion of the night was acceptance of a new term "mongilloing" which we defined as deliberately submitting a disc you know will get huge scores. We agreed that no one mongilloed (verb tense) it this month.

Next months meeting will be March 24th.

Score card will not be uploaded until Jay sends in his scores.

Over and out.

Shag Rug and Bitches

The Killers – Day & Age – 5
Awesome! This is by far my front runner for album of the year. Songs Dustland Fairytale and So long and Good night have been my staple songs since I picked up the cd. There’s something this album that really attracted me from the first listen, even more than their past albums. The tongue and cheek look at life, aliens and mortality is just fun and really puts things into perspective. The use of orchestration made the good songs great and more emotional. After 100 plus plays I still am not sick of it.

Shellac GH – 1000 Hurts
Really raw, but great drumming. Lots of influences including Led Zeppelin & AC/DC. I needed to listen to this in small doses, but I was able to tolerate it pretty well.


Jamey Johnson – The Lonesome Song - 1
I’m sorry, I tried, I really did. I gave it a 1 only because he has a cd and I don’t.

Buddy Miles – Them Changes – 4
I only listened once, but I will be many more times. Very soulful, full of great riffs but the bass really grabbed me. I guess that lyrics aren’t their strength, but the music was great. No drum solo to D’Arcy’s point, but it did make me want to go out and buy a shag rug and have some bitches over. This version of Dreams in my opinion, is better than Molly Hatchet.

Mofro – 3.5
Again, a one listen cd for me, but if I like a cd on the first listen, I’m going to like it on the fifth. I loved “Cracka’ Break” I’ll be listening to this one again.



1. What were the first three albums you replaced with CDs when the format changed?
Eagles - Hotel California
Fleetwood Mac – Rumors
Bruce Springsteen – The Wild the Innocent and the East Street Shuffle

2. What were the first three releases (if any*) you decided to buy only as a digital downloads?
Legally
Faith No More - Live at Brixton
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Live

What the Funk!

The Mong Music Group Commentary February 2009

Jamey Johnson – “That Lonesome Song” = 1 STAR
Country schmaltz with some passable lyrics that, unfortunately, do little to help elevate it above similar radio-friendly trash.

The Killers – “Day & Age” = 2 STARS
I liked this stuff the first time I heard it: when it was the Cure…New Order…take your pick. And look, I often have no problem with wholly derivative bands (Wolfmother, etc.) and as far as “re-imagining” 80s rock goes this isn’t that bad, it’s just nothing special, much like everything else the Killers have recorded and so I guess I probably wouldn’t care if they all just died.

Buddy Miles – “The Changes” = 3.5 STARS
To quote allusic, definitely a ‘great lost treasure’ of soul and funk. Hey, Mofro, this is the real stuff!

Mofro – “Blackwater” = 2 STARS
Funky, soulful, essentially agreeable yet utterly forgettable background music.

G’HITS – Shellac
I picked it so guess what I think.

TOPIC
1. What were the first three albums you replaced with CDs when the format changed?

- Rush – “Moving Pictures”
- Genesis – “Abacab”
- Police – “Zenyatta Mondatta”
(Hey, it was 1985ish.)

2. What were the first three releases (if any*) you decided to buy only as a digital downloads?

- Nada Surf – “Live In Brussels”
- Nada Surf – “KEXP Acoustic Session - Live At the Triple Door”
(Both CDs were and remain hard to find and when you can find them they’re expensive, hence...)
- Dabrye – “Two / Three”
(A potential soundtrack artist that I had to make a decision on that day, hence…)

Although my three initial digital purchases were made due to immediate need and as an alternative to buying rare, expensive CDs, I now buy digital music with almost the same frequency that I buy music on CD (probably 60/40 leaning towards CDs).

Buddy Freaking Miles, who knew?

Jamey Johnson – It’s a fine line between traditional country and the big cowboy hat schlock Nashville churns out these days. Johnson tries to walk that line, and on some tracks succeeds. “High Cost of Living” and “In Color” are authentic enough to give him credence when he says he should be filed “Between Jennings and Jones”. They also have enough radio-friendly gloss that allows for heavy airplay on “modern country” stations. Unfortunately, there are too many songs like “Women”, where Johnson sounds like the yuk-yuk who wrote “Honky-Tonk Bodonkadonk” (which he is). A handful of good tracks, a few dreadful ones, and a bunch of mediocre ones. 3 stars

Killers – The Killers spent their first two discs trying to be Bono Springsteen & the U2 St. Band. This disc is a calculated move away from the anthems of “Sam’s Town” and “Hot Fuss”, which in theory is a good move. The thing is, there were moments on those two discs like “When You Were Young” and “Mr. Brightside”, where they absolutely hit the mark. Those songs have an exuberance that although derivative, is nonetheless inspired. This disc doesn’t have any moments that soar. It settles for overpowering synthesizers on most cuts, and for the most part, it’s passionless. 2 stars

Buddy Miles – I was sucked in about 10 seconds into this thing when the Steve Cropper-ish guitar licks started bouncing off the horn section. What a gem this one is. Every single track has its own distinctive charms, be it the wall of horns on the title track or Miles’ sweet vocals and subtle organ fills on “I Still Love You”. Highlight for me is the Allman Brothers cover. Short of the Stax box set, the finest soul record I’ve ever heard. 4.5 stars

Mofro – Decent but not particularly memorable swamp funk. The disc suffers from a lack of originality; there really isn’t anything here that hasn’t been done better by someone else (Meters, Neville Brothers). Mix bugged me a little too, the electric piano generally mixed too high and the guitars too low. It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t very good either. 2.5 stars

Shellac – Albini the recording producer is more talented than Albini the recording artist. I get how as a producer, the sound and feel of the songs is the top priority. As a songwriter though, composition should be the main concern, and it just isn’t on these songs. The abrasive, low-fi, let me tell you in two minutes how much I effing hate society format just doesn’t hold water for me anymore. I understand why some might dig it, but its nothing I would ever listen to again. Thanks to the Mongster for keeping it relatively short.

Group Discussion

1) First three albums I replaced with CDs. Frightening that I cant remember my kids’ birthday, but 24 years later I remember buying these from the infamous Crazy Eddie’s when I bought my CD player:

Tom Petty – Hard Promises
Pete Townshend – Empty Glass
Dire Straits – Making Movies

2) First 3 digital downloads. I’m late to the party on this one, but probably half of my 2008 purchases were done this way:

Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
Ravonettes – Lust Lust Lust
James McMurtry – Just Us Kids

We Are Dancer!

Jamey Johnson- That Lonesome Song
If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a country album released by just about any music row label. The crap that comes out of Nashville- generic, mainstream, overproduced “country” music put out by a legion of Tim McGraw and Keith Urban clones just makes me gag. So I put off listening to this cd because I just knew I wouldn’t like it. Wow, was I wrong.
The man can turn a phrase- what a songwriter! Johnson’s refreshingly blunt emotion, rough-hewn attitude, and reflective nature comes through on every cut. He doesn’t necessarily have a great voice but it is well suited to his subversive, “outsider” perspective on life and life events. I’m a new Jamey Johnson fan!
That Lonesome Song gets a 3.0

Mofro- Blackwater
My son Sean introduced me to JJ Grey and Mofro a few years ago via a live show in Great Barrington, MA at a place called Club Helsinki. Hadn’t heard of Club Helsinki, hadn’t heard of Mofro. I was blown away by both!
Used to be, when I thought of Florida I thought of places like Miami or Boca or West Palm. No more. Now I think about ho cakes and gators and swamp music. These guys can put down some laid-back funk and soul! Thank you Mofro! I love these guys and I love this album. Their second release- Lockloosa, is even better. But I wanted to start y’all at the beginning.
Mofro gets a solid 4.

Shellac- Ghits
Never heard of Shellac until this cd came in the mail. I am not a big fan of post-hardcore noise rock from bands that play the same 2 note guitar riff on the whole album. So, I kept asking myself what it was that I liked about Shellac. Maybe it was because I cranked the volume so loud that I think I put a few new cracks in the wall. Or was it the humor in some of these songs that made me lol. Maybe it’s the sarcastic irreverence of the songs. Ah, who cares. All I know is I like it. Turn up the volume and let Shellac rattle the windows! Thanks Mike!

Buddy Miles- Them Changes
Great call on picking this as one of our “olds” this month. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to this album. This cd should get great marks for the title song alone. Never mind a great cover of Dreams and Down By The River. Love Buddy Miles and enjoyed revisiting this great album.
Buddy get 4.0

The Killers- Day And Age
Another band I’m not really familiar with. On first blush I thought the record was pretty good. Why hadn’t I heard of them before?? On repeated listening I heard lots of influences. The Cure, Panic At The Disco, Roxy Music, even Hothouse Flowers. All pretty good influences. There are a couple of tunes that make you scratch your head and go “What were they thinking”(I Can’t Stay), but the bulk of the album is full of new wave dance songs that sound like classics from the 80’s (Spaceman, Neon Tiger). I think these guys had a lot of fun making this album and in spite of their million and one musical influences, these synthy, poppy, and fun songs make this a pretty endearing record.
Day And Age gets a 3.5

Question 1:
1) The Band- Music From Big Pink
2) Buffalo Springfield- Last Time Around
3) Santana- Abraxas
Question 2: Never
Question 3: I like the package and am willing to pay a couple of extra bucks for it.

Pre-Meeting Discussion Quesion

Allison Krauss - A Hottie?

I'm going to vote yes, albeit in a "purtiest girl in the trailer park" sort of way.

MH

Fountains of Wayne

FOW will be at the Iron Horse 3/1, but of course advance tix are sold out. I may be willing to take a shot at getting walk up tix. there will be some available supposedly.

Stealing from Kiss are we

So scuttlebutt throughout the net. Outlaw Pete by Bruce, sounds awfully (pun intended) a lot like I Was Made For Loving You. First horrible super bowl presentation, now borrowing from Kiss.