Here I Come to Save the Day...no, that's MIGHTY Mouse

Herbie Hancock – Manchild

This is admittedly not my favorite genre of music, so I’m sure I’ll be over critical. For me, this was the type of “groove jazz” that was just a half a step away from disco and while I can appreciate the musicianship, I can’t make this foreground music. It was best listened to while working around the house. Track after track blended into each other, with only the very occasional sax, harmonica or keyboard solo, so by the time it was over, I didn’t feel as if I listened to anything more than an extended version of the Sanford and Son theme…or was it Chico and the Man…anyway, 2 ½ stars since the groove was good most of the time.

Modest Mouse – The Moon and Antarctica

I didn’t know much about them going in, so I had to resort to Wikipedia which told me that they were an influential indie band from Washington state that took their name from a passage in a Virginia Wolff story and that this was their first CD for Epic and that it was a departure, as in “more experimental” than their earlier albums. To me, it sounded like I would give it a 5 if I had been doing acid or mushrooms while listening. Right from 3rd planet, it sounded so spacey…not in a bad way, but hard for me to get into. Not something I’d listen to again…unless you’re gonna hook me up, Sandi… 3 stars.

Battle For the Sun – Placebo

When I was a kid, I played the grooves out of Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggie Stardust”. Battle For The Sun is today’s Ziggie. This has lots of great Pop/Rock hooks and good production (though you do have to like strings) along with a really compelling vocal sound. I had heard “For What It’s Worth” a couple of weeks ago and liked it, but didn’t know who it was…in fact, I was a little amused at the breakdown in the song thinking that if you plug in the lyrics of the Foo Fighters “All My Life” no one would know since the vocal line is identical…anyway, Ashtray Heart, Devil in the Details and The Never Ending Why could all be hit singles. D’Arcy, if you have any of their earlier stuff I’d love to hear it. 4 stars.

Cracker – Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey
This is one of those bands, and one of those CD’s that benefits greatly from two consistent key members that haven’t lost an inch off their fastballs. David Lowery and Jim Hickman give us another witty, solid alt country album with just a bit more resignation than “teen angst”. I’m sure I’ll listen to this again and again, just like their first and the Golden Age and Garage D’Or. Strangely, I missed their 2nd CD, but this on reminds me to go and get it. 4 stars.

Otis Redding's Greatest Hits - I don't think there's any more powerful and urgent voice in R&B than Otis had in his short time with us. Add in the Stax production - especially the Steve Cropper guitars - and you have a great hour of listening as well as musical history.

OK...so my questions were either a little weird or a little maudlin for some, but here are my answers none the less:

Discussion question #1 – You meet a girl and she wants to know all about you through music. 30 minute limit. What songs do you choose to define/describe yourself?

1 .I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times – Brian Wilson/Beach Boys. I’ve often felt like an outsider, or at least out of the mainstream…and there’s some ego involved as I occasionally think that I eventually outgrew many people who I chose to hang with in my teens and twenties.

2. Cynical Girl – Marshall Crenshaw - “I hate TV…there’s gotta be someone other than me. It goes to the type of woman I enjoy. Brains over beauty, with an edge and an attitude. The best case would be a woman with those attributes and the social grace to discern when to “play the game” and when she doesn’t have to.

3. Let’s Pretend – Raspberries - It nails my feelings on romantic fantasy and the importance of a captured moment. And it IS fantasy, hence, Let’s Pretend and not “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.

4. Father of Mine – Everclear – No life is complete without some dysfunction and mine is with my dad.

5. I Changed the Rules – Peter Cincotti. It’s all about the desire to march to my own drummer and always question authority. It is an unalterable facet of my personality.

6. Humor Me – Dean Friedman. “Underneath this cynical exterior there’s a child in me waiting for the chance to prove that all my logic is inferior to romance”.

7. Guilty – Randy Newman - Because there’s a little self-loathing going on with me, too. “How come I never do what I’m supposed to do. How come nothin’ that I try to do ever turns out right? …It takes a whole lot of medicine to make me pretend to be somebody else”.

Question 2 – It’s your last 30 minutes of life. What do you listen to and what’s the last song you want to hear before you die?

Peaceful, modal music, but songs that had meaning to me through out my life…

Reflections of my Life – The Marmalade
Here, There and Everywhere – Beatles
Wild Horses – Stones
Annabelle’s Song – Everclear
Remember – Harry Neilsson
Performance – Joe Cocker
The Lord’s Prayer – Beach Boys