Just in Time for the Holidays...

Raveonettes - In and Out of Control

From the very first note my immediate thoughts were, "Mongillo will HATE this and, while I'm usually a sucker for girl groups, I will agree with him. Everything I like about the girl group sound, this CD lacks. It doesn't have sweet lead vocals, it doesn't have great pop hooks, it misses on all counts on production...nothing here but a big kick drum and too much echo. On the positive side, there are little homages paid to the Shangri-Las and the Bangles, but I don't think I'll be listening to this again. 2 stars.

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

I and love and this CD. There's a purity about the music...it's lyrically smart and the songs are well crafted. The title track and the The Perfect Space are really well done for minimalist production efforts and they make the best use of organ sound since Garth Hudson did his thing with the Band. The uptempo tracks have a little "5 Chinese Brothers" in them. I will have to go back and find more from these guys...wait, someone just did that for me with next month's "old". Awesome! 4 stars.

The Beat - The Beat

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a power pop fan so I'm predisposed toward liking this more than those who are not so inclined to enjoy jangly guitars and oohs and ahhs. I can't find any fault with the songs here, or the vocals, or the music, but since I first heard this CD in college, it has lsot its relevancy to me somewhat. For me, Elvis Costello, The Clash and The Pretenders are the gold standard from this period. This is merely silver, or bronze when weighed against them. 3.5 stars.

Roseanne Cash - The List

Above average voice talent, above average musicianship, way above average material - these are some of the best all-time country songs - three great guest vocalists...mix them all together and we get...a below average CD. WHY? Because with all those ducks in a row, it should have been a MUCH better final product. It comes off as too slick, too safe and too predictable. Like a Porsche that never gets out of second gear. Nice to add to the Sunday AM i-Tunes mix, but I was hoping for more that that. 2.5 stars.

The Stone Roses - I missed this the first time around, and wouldn't you know it, I lost it THIS time around. My bad. When it turns up - and it will - I'll amend this post.

Dr. Dog - What's not to like about a bunch of guys from Philadelphia who cut their teeth playing on the Main Line and South Street.

Topics - First (because they ARE first), best debuts:

1. Meet The Beatles - All time biggest, most influential, blah blah blah...
2. My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello hit me right between the eyes...I still love Alison and Mystery Dance and Red Shoes and Welcome to theWorking Week and...
3. Led Zeppelin I - From Jimmy Page's first guitar lick, this was awe inspiring.

Comebacks...
1. Elton John - Songs From the West Coast. Even if you don't like him, it was his first really great record in years.
2. Frank Sinatra - The Main Event. Has to be the highest profile comeback ever. Great live record, too.
3. Some Girls - Rolling Stones. It took them 4 years to recover from losing Mick Taylor, but this was the result.

Cool Covers - The criteria I used was commercial success and a totally different take on the original.
1. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
2. Devo - Satisfaction
3. George Harrison - I Got My Mind Set on You
4. Van Halen - You Really Got Me
5. Run DMC - Walk This Way
6. Yes - Every Little Thing

Favorite Instrumentals

1. The Nearest Faraway Place - Beach Boys
2. Mozart- Eine Kline Nacht Musik
3. Copeland - Fanfare for the Common Man
4. J Geils Band - Whammer Jammer
5. Eric Johnson - White Cliffs of Dover
6. Ventures - Walk Don't Run

here we go

Avett Brothers
The answer is 5. Major label debut from critic darlings. Was it worth it well sort of? Multiple lead singers lead to different styling of the songs. When they put their head down and play they are an interesting band. Unfortunately they don’t do this often enough. Instead we get way too many ballads filled with atmospheric piano and mandolin that sound a lot like the Counting Crows. 2.0 (the question: how many times can a band rework the ballad A Long December and call it their own)

The Beat
A decent power pop cd. The better tunes are the ones with the quicker beat, but some of the mid tempo ones due tend to blend together. Still a fun disc to listen too. 2.5


Ravonettes
Started off as an interesting combination of Jesus and Mary chain and Echo and the Bunnyman. Unfortunately that is only about a third of the cd. The rest is a combination of moody sounds that aren’t really interesting overwhelmed by the drone of her voice. 1.5

Roseanne Cash
One of three things is wrong with this cd. Wrong voice for the songs, wrong arrangements of the songs, or just pretty awful songs. My guess combination of all three. Either way one gets a very boring cd 1.


Stone Roses
20th anniversary of the disc. I bought it the moment I heard I Wanna be adored. This cd was able to take the Manchester sound that was going around at the time and incorporate it into a great brit pop record. Too many of the bands that are considered Brit pop that came after them would kill to have a cd that is this good or stands the test of time as this one did. Not a bad song on the disc. Interesting use of studio tweaks, such as backward loops and feedback, but never forgetting about the importance of the playing. It is criminal that John Squire has only appeared on a total of 5 cd’s in his career because the man is a brilliant guitar player (although very much a basket case bastard) and it is a waste of talent to not put down music. A dessert island disc that is great from beginning to end 5.0

Dr Dog
Brand new to me. Each time I thought wow this seems like it’s going nowhere fast, they seemed to build to an interesting ending. A fun disc to listen to.









Debuts
Manic Street Preachers Generation Terrorists
Wildhearts Earth vs
Dada Puzzle


Comebacks
Manic Street Preachers Send away the tigers
Kiss Sonic circus. The cd sucked but the reunion tour was excellent
Aerosmith Done w/mirrors permanent vacation time although they might be due for a new

Cover Songs
Waterboys Purple Rain
UFO Alone again Or
Van Halen Pretty Woman
The Mission UK Like a Hurricane
Suicide is Painless Manic Street Preachers
I can see clearly now Hothouse Flowers


Instrumentals
Attitude Song Steve Vai
Into the Arena Michael Schenker
One of these Days Pink Floyd
Difficult to Cure Rainbow
Fire on High ELO

Democracy in Action

In regards to our meeting schedule here are the options. Please select one and live with it.

1. We meet 12/29, dinner in late January and regular meeting last Tuesday of Feb
2. Current schedule which is meet 12/29 dinner meet on 2/2 and regular meeting 3/9
3. The Jerry way (Alan) with no 12/29 meet, meet in January (could be a whopper meeting of December reviews AND best of 2009 and decade) then start regular meetings 3/9
4. Some other groovy plan not mentioned.

Lets decide soon as the ho time is upon us.

BTW- this is our 5 year anniversary- the 2009 best of box set will our 5th one.

Poobah

That's Why I Love Mankind

These are not my reviews for November (more on that in a second) but I did want to post generally about a couple of things...First, I love the fact that I'm not the last one to be posting (even though I'm not posting, really) my November reviews. I'll get to it, but they are on a computer at WCCC and I won't be there until next week. Second, I LOVE Ken's idea about moving the December meeting to January since I can't make the December meeting anyway. Third, my "old" for the upcoming meeting is Fastball - All the Pain Money Can Buy. And finally, to all my Jewish friends looking down our lengthy noses...Happy Chanukah!

November Synopsis 3.0

Very well attended and yes I even showed up. Generally speaking the meeting was unspectacular. Avett Bros were the big winner and the rest just muddled along. D'Arcy hated everything but what he put in. Greg and Sandy mimicked each other worse than Vermont bound lovers on a warm summer's eve. Myself and Mongillo had boners for Avett Bros and D'Arcy one for the Stone Roses. Monsta's gave all the disc a fairly mediocre once over like his love life while Jay and Alan were just... Jay and Alan. Highlight of the evening was unequivocally the older than us table of guys who have figured out that the louder you say something the funnier it is. A real laugh riot. Fucking bastards.

Big News. Dinner year end review will, for this year, be a year and decade end review. Each will their list of top 10 albums of year and disc of 80 minutes of their favorite songs of the year PLUS a list of the 15 best albums of the 00's. We feel we are trailblazers as I'm sure all the other review rags will now copy us.

Personally I think we should do this in the shit-hole month of January. Any opinions?

Next meeting is December 29th

OLD- Avett Bros- Emotionalism (Mongillo), TBA (Alan)
NEW- Them Cooked Vultures (Greg), Lucero-1372 Overton Park (Monsta), TBA (D'Arcy)
Host- Jay
Ghits -Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Topic- Who the Hell knows.

Learning to Read the Schedule- Nov. Reviews

Roseanne Cash- The List

Nice, airy covers of songs that have been covered many a-time (most of them at least). While I didn't disdain this disc like I expected to, much of it is actually not so bad, there appeared to be little emotion put into any of the songs. The affable country beat was of the norm and her delivery sounded perfect- but that's the problem- it was perfect without an ounce of oomf. Automatic .5 for lineage and 2 for the rest. (2.5)

Stone Roses- The Stone Roses

Manchester 90s hippie rave jam out. Fun blast of the past with songs that are subtle in the way they rock. Only annoyance is in the hushed vocal delivery which renders some songs lyrically undecipherable. The disc starts strong fizzles a bit in the middle- the once clever "Don't Stop" being "Waterfall" backwards doesn't hold up that well IMHO- but it picks up momentum at "Made of Stone" to the end. Would like to have heard what they would be like if they just cut loose. Still a decent album to get digitally finally. (3)

Raveonettes- In and Out of Control

You either like them or you don't. The sound is a throwback to everyone's favorite producer-murderer and the mix is muddy with hints of 80s like high pitched drum. They haven't changed this from day one and at first listen I, being a fan, was a little bored with the fact that they are still using this shtick, but they wore me down. The songs are catchy, subject matter interesting (that of situations where you are in or out of control) and hell that 60s sound is actually pretty cool. I am officially and official fan. (3.5 leaning to 4)

The Beat

Exemplarily simple pop-rock who were definitely fans of mid-career Beatles and could have fit nicely in the late 90s revival with Dada, Fastball and Posies. Would think they would rock live- are they still alive? The more plays this one got the more I enjoyed it. (3.5)

Avett Brothers- I and You and Love

Utter perfection. (5)

Dr. Dog Ghits

Liked some, not others. This is definitely a Sandy band- heard Wilco noodlin, Blitzen Trappen'esque' musings and a little hippie vibe. Some songs sounded as if they had good ideas but stopped short of fine tuning them and decided to leave the half finished versions as is. I liked the Ringo Starr layered drumming though. I give it a resounding so-so.

Topic

1) Best Debuts. Luckily I only 1,478 bands to go through

· Velvet Underground- "Velvet Underground"

· Cracker-"Cracker"

· Led Zeppelin-"I"

2) Worthy Comebacks

· Johnny Cash- American Recordings

· Aerosmith -"Permanent Vacation" & "Pump" not anything more current

· Booker T- "Potato Hole"

3) Instrumentals

· "Approaching Storm"- Chicago

· "Apricot Brandy" - Danny Gatton

· "Maggot Brain"- Funkadelic

· "Hang Up Your Hang Ups" - Herbie Hancock

· "My Favorite Things"- John Coltrane