Love Them Cocktails...er...Coattails!

Len Price 3 – Pictures

This is one of my favorite genres of music, so I listen to a lot of it. The best of this genre has subtleties mixed among the chord structures and instrumentation that make it richer, fuller and more interesting. I guess the best way I can describe it in musical terms is that it’s the difference between this CD and the first Jet CD. This is richer, lyrically and musically while maintaining its Kinks/Beatles parallels, but in an updated way. “If You Live Round Here” stands out and will probably be a ‘best of 2010’ song for me, though all of this will get repeated listens. 4 stars.

The Cure – Pornography

My life in the early ‘80’s was pretty good and I already had raccoon eyes from sleep apnea, so black eyeliner was not for me. I guess that’s why I didn’t get into The Cure…While I liked some of “Boys Don’t Cry”, by 1982 to me, they seemed like an angry, pissed off and alienated Duran Duran …Anyway, now that I’m listening to this CD for the first time, it sounds ‘80’s and dark, and there’s nothing really compelling about it for me now, just as it wasn’t compelling to me then. I can understand how you can be into it…it’s musically good, except for that miserable ‘80s snare drum, Robert Smith is OK vocally, though the echo is a bit much but at the end of the day, this CD is darker than I remember…I’d have to be on a shit load of peyote to get into this. 2 stars.

Slash – (Self Titled) UPGRADED
If you are too old – like me – to have really gotten into GNR, this is a real eye-opener. Slash is a great guitarist, both in style and sound…and this collection of songs and guest artists is really well thought out and fun to listen to. The songs vary enough to all be interesting…the vocal performances are all top-shelf – especially surprising is Fergie, in a good way - and the common element is the great lead work from Slash. The Kid Rock track, “I Hold On” should be a radio hit…and my favorite track was Iggy’s…Another thing I appreciated was how the songs were not 6 minute, over indulgent jams…just well crafted rock songs. Now I have to go back and listen to “Slash’s Snakepit”, and see if I like it as much as I like this. 3 1/2 stars.

Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders – Red Light Fever

This is good month for new music…If Taylor had the energy to play both sets, I’d like to see these guys open for the Foo Fighters…musically it’s a great blend of classic, prog and glam rock with a little pop thrown in for good measure. The vocals and guitar work is really good, which makes this an easy listen all the way through…I’m a sucker for Queen/Sweet vocals, like the harmonies on “Your Shoes”, though all the tracks were interesting and varied in their influences…and where the hell did “Don’t Have To Speak” come from? Very cool. This will make it into my recurrent I-tunes rock playlist. 4 stars.


Stevie Wonder – Innervisions

The big question for me was whether this would hold up for me 37+ years later. Right from the beginning of “Too High” it was apparent that this was still vital and interesting music…the sound was not as anachronistic as I feared, and “Living for the City” is still an incredible and relevant song. It’s also no wonder – pun intended – that “Higher Ground” has been covered by lots of rockers, including RHCP because…it rocks. It’s also easy to hear why Stevie’s music has been sampled by lots of rappers. If this is your first exposure to some of these songs, it may be too soft for you, but in my view, every song here (except Golden Lady) is a classic…this is one of the best albums to ever come out of Motown. 5 stars.

The Cult – Greatest Hits

Sorry, Greg…I didn’t get to it because by the time I popped it in the CD player, I learned that it wasn’t an audio disc, so I couldn’t listen on the way down to Hartford this morning.

Topic – Bands and their singers…in my view, there are relatively few exceptions where bands ever sounded better than they did with their original singer. So for me, this is an easy choice when it comes to bands that have or had, a “lead” singer. As for those bands that had multiple lead vocalists, like the Beatles where, depending on the song, Lennon could ace out McCartney and vice versa, it’s a little more of a discussion…For me, Don Henley is the Eagles, Roger Daltrey is the Who and Peter Gabriel is Genesis. Roger Waters is Pink Floyd and Gene Simmons is KISS.