It's (almost) All Good

…And You Will Know Us – Based on the name of this band, song titles and song lengths (I always check those when it’s a D’Arcy disc), I feared a disc of Goth crap or death metal. Instead, it was a rather well done, melodic hard rock album. The guitar work throughout is excellent, and they back it up with some solid songs. “Eight Day Hell” is damn near Beatles-esque. Could have trimmed a little fat off the longer tracks, but all in all this is solid. 3.5 stars

Van Halen – I hate heavy metal; yet have a soft spot for Van Halen. It could be Eddie’s ridiculous virtuosity, or the tremendous rhythm section and soaring background vocals. It could be the pop sensibility the band was never shy about displaying. But its not. The truth is unlike the rest of the genre they’re fun, and this album is a perfect example. The spoken word bit in “Everybody Wants Some”, “Have you seen junior’s grades”, a sea shanty for the pseudo title track; it still puts a smile on my face. Roth was the musical equivalent of the drunken uncle at the wedding, laughing too long and too loud at his own jokes, and you can’t help but love him. The worse album with Roth (“Diver Down”) blows away the best album with Hagar (“5150”). 4 stars

Green Day – “American Idiot” blew me out of the water partly because I had long ago written the band off as 2nd rate Ramones. That disc and the Foxboro Hot Tubs raised my expectations, and unfortunately, this record falls short. Ultimately, my frustration can be viewed entirely through the track “Viva La Gloria”. It starts completely out of character, a ballad with some strings that really sounds different, then mid-song they fall back into formula, 4/4 three-chord rock. That said, lots of energy and there are some good songs. It’s just too repetitive and long. 3 stars

Thermals – For purposes of this month, I call it “Genesis: the Enema”. Great guitars, good vocals, clever lyrics, catchy melodies. No massive overdubs, flutes, synthesizers, or misguided horns. ‘Nuff said. 4 stars

Genesis – A band I despise in theory and in execution. Grandiose, bloated, pretentious and dull, they’re everything rock music shouldn’t be. I’ll concede that not everything they did was awful; but it doesn’t smell every time I take a dump, either. Sadly, the non-smelly turds in their catalog aren’t anywhere on this disc, except for “Behind the Lines”. The rest made my Squonk itch. How any Genesis “best-of” excludes “The Lamb…” and “Home by the Sea” befuddles me.

5 songs that never got airplay

Far too many to list, but these are the first 5 that came to mind

Mississippi – Bob Dylan (best song of the last 20 years, period)
New Madrid – Uncle Tupelo
However Much I Booze – The Who
Impossible Germany - Wilco
Labeled With Love - Squeeze

Great Lines

Again, far too many to choose from…

“Rock and roll means well, but it can’t help telling young boys lies” – “Marry Me”, Mike Cooley- Drive By Truckers
“These days the only bars I ever see have got lettuce and tomatoes” – “Stolen Moments”, John Hiatt
“Every cheap hood strikes a bargain with the world and ends up making payments on a sofa or a girl” – “Death or Glory”, Joe Strummer