These would have been so much better if read in person...

Black Crowes – I’ve always considered these guys second-rate Stones, an analogy that doesn’t hold here, as the Stones haven’t done anything this good in 20 years. When the Crowes keep it short and sweet, like on “Good Morning Captain” and “Appaloosa” the results are strong. When they indulge their jam band side, vibe and groove supplant hooks and melodies with mixed results. When it works it rocks, notably the “Cant You Hear Me Knocking” break at the end of “Been a Long Time”. Doesn’t hold up over 2 discs, but there is a great 50 minutes disc scattered amongst these two. 4 stars

Cocktail Slippers – I’ve always had a weakness for girl pop, so I enjoyed this one. There’s nothing innovative about it, but they do a good job mixing the Donnas with the Bangles. Highlights are the last song and the title track. Not coincidentally, Little Steven wrote them both. 3.5 stars

Pete Yorn / Scarlet Johansson –It would be easy (and fun) to pile on Ms. Johansson, but there’s no reason to. Yes, she sounds like Norah Jones with a mouthful of oatmeal. Yes, the driving force behind this project undoubtedly was for Pete Yorn to get the pootie. Nonetheless, you could swap Johansson with Susanna Hoffs, Karen-O or Stevie damn Nicks, and it isn’t going to make a bit of difference given the material. This kind of safe, inoffensive, Bohemian, Starbucks coffee shop crap sucks no matter who’s singing. I was offended by its blatant attempt at inoffensiveness. 1 star.
Sugar – There are 3 songs here that are better than anything Mould did before or since. “Helpless”, “Changes” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” beautifully meld hard driving indie rock within a pop song structure. The rest of the tracks don’t quite reach the highs that those 3 do, but they move along nicely. Loved the guitar work and production. I have this on cassette somewhere, it was nice to get a digital copy and hear it again. 4 stars

The Who –The band at their commercial apex while Townshend wallows in misery and doubt. Legend has it that Daltrey refused to sing several of these cuts because of the lyrical content. “They’re All In Love” is a vicious self inspection, highlighted with this little Pete zinger: “Goodbye all you punks, stay young and stay high, hand me my checkbook and I’ll crawl off to die.” The stress between band members is laid out as well: “Are the problems that screw me up really down to him or me?” and “We talk so much shit behind each others backs.” Even Entwistle chimes in, “Take 276, you know this used to be fun.” Of course it’s the weak link (“Squeeze Box”) that becomes the hit. Except for the “operas”, my favorite Who disc. 4.5 stars

Dada –Decent, if unremarkable, late 80’ish grunge lite disc. Bass/Drum sound on the earlier cuts reminded me of Midnight Oil minus the accent and scary bald guy. There’s a reason “Dizz Knee Land” and “Dim” (which by the way I would have sworn was a Gin Blossoms song) got airplay; they’re the band’s best songs. The two Butterfly Jones cuts were more interesting than 90% of the Dada. I wont listen to the whole thing in one sitting again, but if a track pops up on shuffle I won’t skip it.

Discussion Question

1) Paul Westerberg, either solo or with what’s left of the Replacements. Would be willing to travel to St Louis and pay up to $100.

2) Pearl Jam. Last three times they’ve come here, I’ve had a schedule conflict. Definitely still want to see them.

3) Audience behavior has changed for the worse. The arena concerts are now marred to a great extent by the crowd. People making multiple beer / pee runs, talking during the show, taking cell phone photos of themselves at the concert, etc. Concerts are now more about “making the scene” than appreciating the music. Even the smaller shows suffer these problems, albeit on a lesser scale. I miss the days when people went to concerts to hear music.

4) Don’t really understand how “must play” is defined. If “must play” means it’s a group choice that I’m obligated to review, then the rarely played great CD. If “must play” means I love this disc and gotta play it, than that CD is probably the better piece, because my opinion is more important to me than others’ reviews. I do read other reviews of group CDs before I listen to them. I’m less likely to dismiss something on the first listen if its getting good reviews elsewhere. I may wind up dismissing it anyway, but I’ll give it a couple of spins.