My Dick Is A Rhapsody, Yo' Dick Is A Rap CD

David Bowie – Virtual Tour

I wasn’t sure if this was a “new” or an “old” since it was a 2003 show, but either way, I’ve been a fan long enough to have seen Bowie in what I consider his prime – ’69 to ’76 from The Man Who Sold the World through Station to Station. For me, other than the good sonic quality, a nice version of “Heroes” and a live “Man Who Sold the World”, this CD was just OK for me. The problem is that the depth of his catalogue doesn’t match its volume and he went for a broad swath of material that didn’t hold my interest. 8-10 of these tracks on a single CD would have been more appealing to me…I guess that’s why they finally released the 1972 Santa Monica show (which I’ve had as a bootleg for some time) late in 2009. I’m guessing Bowie knows this…he saves his energy for “Hang on to Yourself” and “Ziggy Stardust” and does solid versions of them as the last few songs of the original concert. 2.5 stars.

Spoon – Transference

This was a curiosity pick for me…I wanted to hear what these guys would do left to their own devices in a home studio. While I liked the songs, it sounded like they decided to experiment with a more sparse sound, which leaves no room for production errors. Some of what they chose to do with stereo separation and echo was distracting and took away from the overall package. At the end of the day, this is not as good as the last four CD’s that they put out over the last 10 years… 2.5 stars.

Teenage Fan Club – Bandwagonesque

Next to Matthew Sweet, this band is the best practitioner of power pop/noise pop ever. I love this CD…and if not for 1:22 of “Satan” it would be a 5. It gets a 4.5, made even more impressive by the fact that is was their sophomore effort where a lot of bands tend to fall down before rising to greatness.

Paul McCartney – McCartney

I just can’t get by the fact that John Lennon and George Harrison gave us solo material during this same time frame that stomps on this half-baked noodling. The only two tracks that are fleshed out and ‘real’ songs on this CD are “Every Day” and “Maybe I’m Amazed”. Actually, there’s always a surprise in listening to something again after many years and the surprise in this for me is that the drumming is so awful. You would think everybody would want to work on an ex-Beatle’s album…why in the world would he choose to drum himself. 2 stars, one for each song on this album.






Exene – Somewhere Gone

After repeated listens to Mong’s Greatest Ghetto Hits, this was like a musical enema…in a good way. She has a nice voice, and it’s well suited for this type of musical treatment. Pretty in parts, folksy in others, with country/rock (not country rock like Skynyrd, country slash rock) sensibilities mixed in for good measure. It didn’t knock me out but I did enjoy it and listened to it more than once. I figure if the group average is a 3, then I can submit a Suzanne Vega CD as an “old” without it getting savaged. I give it a 3.

Mong’s GHITS – “Straight Outta Meriden”

This CD could serve as the springboard for a doctoral thesis as to the decline and fall of western civilization, but instead of going down the road of socio-economic disparity creating a seismic shift in pop culture and the ultimate fragmentation of our American “melting pot” due in part to that shift, let’s base this review solely on musical merits and put it in the language of its origin:

“My dick got lyrics like Dylan, yo’ dick money, hos and killin’
My dick be musically ample, yo’ dick is a stolen sample
My dick angry like the Who, yo’ dick, 2 live Crew
My dick Drive by Truckers, yo’ dick drive by motherfuckers
My dick got melody, yo’ dick don’t do it for me
My dick be joyous noise, yo’ dick is the Beastie Boys

Now, I still have to give props to Mike because there were some redeeming things in there rhythmically and lyrically that I never would have otherwise been exposed to and if I ever blindly follow my GPS through a crappy part of town I have something I can quickly throw into the CD player that will reduce the probability of a carjacking.