Laziest Commentary Ever and One Solid Rant

The Mong
Music Group (So Called) Commentary
July 2010

Grease Band – GREASE BAND & AMAZING GREASE – 3
I’m with Jerry Williams Blog on this one but I found I kept returning to it so it’s a solid 3.

Hot Hot Heat – FUTURE BREEDS – 2.5
I’m down with PFS Press on this one.

The National – HIGH VIOLET – 1.5
I couldn’t agree more, PFS Press. What’s the big fucking deal!

Willie Nile – HOUSE OF A THOUSAND GUITARS – 2.5
I agree with dpl29 although I can’t claim the specific knowledge to back the Mike Watt/Waterboys comparisons.

Matthew Sweet – ALTERED BEAST – 5
Word up, Sandor, but if we follow your logic that means you think GIRLFRIEND is a 4, too? Both 5s, says I!

G’Hits – Blood Hound Gang
Too juvenile...even for me and that’s saying a lot. Just way too dependent on parody and trying way too hard. And way disrespectful, actually, in its flippant attempt to co-opt Hip Hop (betraying their total lack of understanding of it), declares this anything-but-PC white boy. Oh, or were you pitiful hacks just trying to be cute, clever, and funny. Why don’t you try black-face next time because that’d be equally hilarious. I could say much the same of their ball-less rape and pillage of any musical genre attempted herein. So I guess all that’s really left to say is fuck you, Blood Hound Gang. Fuck you all in the ass with Bigfoot’s gout-inflamed larger foot that just walked through a thicket of thorn bushes and poison ivy after he just gang-banged all your mothers in the back cab of a Ford Bronco. Oh, gosh, did I cross the line there? Was that too crass? But I was only joking...trying to be clever.

TOPIC QUESTIONS

Define your music reviewing strategy.
I don’t really have one.

What is a 5/4/3/2/1?
5 is 4+1
4 is something they say in golf
3 is a crowd
2 is better than one
1 is the loneliest number

Where do you draw the line as to what you keep?
I keep everything digitally since someone I know might want it someday.

If you keep- what makes the cd shelf, the mp3 player or both?
Only originals on my shelves. No room for imitations. Unless it’s super-rare, that is.

Name 5 bands/recordings that instantly makes you feel cooler than you are.
Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power
The Clash – Combat Rock
Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
Trans Am – Red Line

Why Try Being Cool When What I like Is All That Matters

Music Group 7-20-10

Willie Niles
It would have been easy to say this is a Dylan wanna be that stays close to Petty styling's. But as I listened to it more I was reminded more of Mike Scott. Either his later solo stuff or the second and third Waterboys cd’s. Either choice is an accurate although he lacks Dylan’s poetry, Petty’s sense of pop and Scott feel for big music. When on the soapbox he does tend to over hammer the point home. Plus if you are going to name your cd House of a Thousand Guitars, have some more guitars in it. 2.5

Grease Band
So I am guessing these guys are big fans of the Dead and the Band, and possibly Average White Band. Found out later these guys were famous studio guys who played for a whole bunch of people. What you have is songs of decent length that usually include a decent jam or Riff. I don’t know what it is but why is it that bands of this era and ilk always had to include the slow soul inspired tune on each of their discs. Well again proving the point they usually don’t work, nor do the other slower ballad type tunes. That said the jams are good and the songs decent. 2.5

Hot Hot Heat
Quirky? Yes. So what. Have listened to this three times over the past month and for the life of me cannot remember a tune or feel a need to put it on ever again. 1

The National
A band that continually makes what I consider one of the top 15 cd’s of the year whenever they release a cd. This year that will probably change is this is one of the best discs of the year. A true gem that reveals more of itself with each listen. The musical background that supports these songs are only matched by the lyrics that accompany them. The National have a sound are one of the few bands that have a distinctive sound that is truly theirs, and have the chops to actually improve it overtime. 4.0

Matthew Sweet
Yes Richard Lloyds guitar playing on here is amazing. But at times that is the problem. It almost seems that he is fighting with his guitar when a softer approach could have been better. On Girlfriend he was able to marry both but on here sometimes the song gets lost behind the fret runs. Don’t get me wrong this is a great pop record, one that holds up with time. However, at 14 songs it maybe 3 songs too long from being a truly classic cd. 3.5

Bloodhound Gang
Famous for two songs that are truly the only original songs on this collection. The rest are tributes to all the famous 80’s rap artists you can think of. You get The Beastie Boys, Biz Markie, Young MC, Busta Rymes, hell they even cover Run DMC.(extremely badly) All of which were far better and clever than the cheap imitations Blood Hound Gang provides. These guys rely on one joke and it wears thin quickly. If I want eights rap, which is a rarity at best I think I will look elsewhere.

Ratings
2.5 An average cd. Something that if it came on the radio I wouldn’t turn off, but I probably wouldn’t put it on either.
3.0 A good cd. Something I would play every once in a while.
4.0 My regular music rotation. These cd’s are the ones I visit and want to play regularly.
5.0 The perfect cd. I cd with no filler. If you ever find yourself fast forwarding over a track then its no longer a 5. Probably a strong 4 but not a 5
2.0 Below average. Might listen to it but probably will fast forward or change station
1.0 Not good. Might have a song on it that’s okay, but for most part not my cup of tea
0.0 Sonic Youth

I keep mostly anything that scores over 3. 4’s and 5’s make the ipod, and I probably cherry pick songs from the 3’s

As I have wizened beyond my years I am through being cool, therefore what makes me cool is what other people should listen to if they want to be as cool as me. So these are the bands that if other people understand then they are as cool as me. Besides we are music geeks, that alone proves we aren’t cool.

Lou Reed: Hell he’s Lou Reed
Luna: Just has something about them
Manic Street Preachers: They have the rock cliché story and they rock.
The Wildhearts. Come on I dare you tell me Ginger doesn’t belong on this listThin Lizzy. Get past the Boys are Back in Town and Phil Lynott was the shit.

Jay's Reviews for the Pissy Monsta

I am subbing for Jay as he is technically challenged......

June Reviews

Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick had a great four studio album run to start their career. Each record was a superb combination of power pop rockers and ballads with In Color, their second, being the high point as they modernized the sound of the Raspberries to great affect. Every release during that period was a must buy for me except the miserable live album that turned them into rock stars. And that was the problem for me when Dream police came out. I was sick to fuckin’ death of that lousy live album and listened to Dream Police with jaded ears. Too bad, because listening to it now for the first time in 25 years, it sounds fresh and exciting. It suffers from too much synth on the title track, some over-production issues, but it still sounds great 30 years after the fact. 4

Band of Horses – I found this a bit tedious at first, but subsequent listens (something that doesn’t always happen when I’m not immediately enthralled) revealed great melodies and overall solid songs. A sneaky record that seems to get better each time lI listen to it. 4

Dirty Projectors – Didn’t listen to it much, but it can be both an interesting and tough listen. Just not enough there, but it could change as I force more listens on myself.

Jesse Malin – A surprise to me. I’ve always seen his name, but never heard anything and I thought it would be more singer songwriter than rock album. A bit too much of the same thing, but a solid 3.5

Dire Straits - Yeah, I get that he’s a good guitar player and this hums right along with pretty consistent quality – everything easy to listen to. It is just a tad too smooth for my tastes and I found myself drifting off at times. Certainly nothing to complain about, but the best I can offer up is a 3.

Zappa – Went missing, but I looked at the play-list when Alan gave it to me and I knew much of it despite having a very small collection of Zappa. Almost anything you could put on this collection would be good and/or interesting, so I’m hoping I find it soon so I can listen to it.

Record Stores - The last decent record store I was in is Brass City Records in Waterbury, home of one of the region’s other cool stores – the Phoenix. Haven’t found anything in CT even remotely close to these. Any good record store must have the following – vinyl, both 45 and 33; posters and old magazines; a concentration on either the British invasion, ‘70s punk or both and a single clerk/owner who is a combination of all three of the main characters from High Fidelity (Rob’s passion, Barry’s dismissiveness and Dick’s nerdiness). Brass City has it all, including Walter, who is partial to the 60s music and recent jangle pop/power pop. The coolest store I have ever been in was Hideo’s Discodrome, a scene-making record store in Cleveland owned by Johnny Dromette (nee Thompson) and frequented by the likes of David Thomas, Peter Laughner (of Pere Ubu) and other members of the Cleveland Akron music scene in the late 70’s – Bizarros, Waitresses, Rubber City Rebels, Tin Huey, Pagans etc. Johnny was a friend of a friend and I got togo to his house once and there witnessed the largest record collection I have ever seen – 15,000 by his estimation – covering three entire walls of his apartment from to bottom.
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July Reviews

The National – Can you sound just a little bit more morose? This sounds depressing even when he might not be singing about something depressing. Who the fuck cares, though? I don’t get the critical acclaim – I couldn’t get through it twice. There are a few moments when it is poignant, but mostly it’s a depressing sounding mess. 2


Grease Band - So Lowell George comes back from the dead, grabs Billy Payne and Paul Barrerre from his old band Little Feat and off they head to Levon Helm’s studio in upstate New York. On the way they call Helm’s old pals from The Band, invite them to meet them there and when they all get to the Barn in Woodstock they spend about 24 hours listening to Exile on Main Street. Then they make a record and this is it. An endlessly entertaining mix of those three bands - 4


Altered Beast – When Girlfriend came out it was an absolute revelation to me. Wow, somebody is making exactly what I want to hear. Pop songs with great hooks and harmonies set to loud guitars. Then came Altered Beast, but bout a week before Altered Beast was released, a Chicago radio station aired a phenomenal live recording that included the best from Girlfriend and most of Altered Beast. No sooner had I bought Altered Beast, Shape Shifter, the live show from Chicago, was available and quite frankly, the live versions of everything Sweet does blow away the originals. So Altered Beast was shelved in my household – no reason to listen to the studio versions when I’ve got these. So this was great to listen to in again after all these years and to be reminded, that although Shape Shifter overshadowed it, Altered Beast is phenomenal. Stunning guitar work from Ivan Julian, Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd, great songs from Sweet. 5



Hot Hot Heat - Can’t tell if this takes more from early ‘80s new wave or from the latest wave of catchy Britrock from bands like Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys. They’ve been around longer than the latter, but this is a newer release, so it’s hard to tell. For some reason, despite some catchy stuff here, its really never gets beyond the gimmicky sound and so it gets no better than a 2.5



Willie Nile – Willie Nile comes highly recommended by a number of his fellow artists, among them Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams, so I figured I should check it out. I’m a sucker for songs about rock, so I love the title cut and there are 6-7 other really good songs on this, but there are times when his vocal urgency just doesn’t match up with his songwriting ability and there are also moments, though rare, when he veers closer to John Cafferty than I’m comfortable with. Still, I leave my car humming the songs and they stay with me for long periods of time so he must be doing something right. I’m sure it can be criticized for being slightly derivative, but there is an energy that leads me to believe that he would be great live. 3.5















I keep virtually everything. I like having lots of stuff, although it’s really hard to tell what I have because so much of my recent acquisitions from the group are slim-line cases – they suck. Anyway – here’s the system:

5 – All time top 30 album for me. I’ve awarded 4 or 5 of them
4.5 - Top 30-75 all time
4 – I’ll listen to it again and probably put a song or two on a mix playlist
3-3.5 pretty good. Has songs I like.
2.5 Some good, some bad
2 – Mostly bad
1 – 1.5 – Atrocious
.5 – worse than atrocious
Don’t give out 0’s

Why I’m cool - Volume, vinyl and vintage punk

BloodHound Gang to Hanson- "I'm Living the Life Reviews for July"

Matthew Sweet- Altered Beast
Personally, this is not Sweet's best. There is genius, "Someone to Pull the Trigger", "Devil with the Green Eyes" and "What Do You Know", some clever "Dinosaur Act" and some okay "Ugly Truth". But much of the rest don't seem to have the final touches required to make them above average. Sweet sound like he had great ideas but really didn't know how to properly see them through. Altered Beast is good, but not good enough to deter me from reaching for 100% Fun instead. (2.5)

National- High Violet
Just when you think that the National are too Joy Division dour and think of hitting eject, something draws you in and you listen to another song. These are well written songs and The National definitely have an ear to pop and good hooks. There is something magnetic about this mid register, drone rock. Something serious, something sobering and foreboding. (3.0)

The Grease Band
"Hey I play some instruments!" "Yeah me too!" "You know it's the groovy early 70s so lets form a band and write and play some groovy tunes." "I used to play trumpet in high school, lets use that in one of our groovy songs." "I dig it and I want to smile, wave my long hair and close my eyes while I play." "Cool. I know you're really into it". Should have remained a good back-up band. Dated but not in a fun nostalgic way. Once again I feel bad Sandy..... (1.0)

Willie Nile- House of A Thousand Guitars
Perplexing. On first listen I kind of brushed it off but something made me come back to it. It's like if Arlo Guthrie fronted an 80's Irish rock band minus the synths of the time, with Arlo occasionally doing Dylan impersonations. Upon more scientific listening I grew to appreciate the songs. While not great, there is something endearing about Nile's style and I'm pretty sure if I latched onto him when he first came out I would've been a fan. (3.0)

Hot Hot Heat- Future Breeds
Pretty adept musicians playing fairly complex songs, vocally a bit like the Kooks here. Problem is, that to me it sounds antiseptic. I don't make a connection. Nothing is hummable after I listen to it and after awhile it becomes soundtrack snippets to a coming of age British flick. (2.0)

Bloodhound Gang Ghits
There are few redeeming qualities of the BHG. Their songs are blatantly stupid, obscene, politically incorrect and- lets face it- musically one half step above a high school talent show band. But IMHO they are an absolute hoot because they know all of the above. With album titles like "Hooray for Boobies" they are not trying to be artistic social commentators or a "great band". With songs like "Yummy Down on This" they are a few guys who have a good, sophomoric sense of humor who were able to put a couple of records out.

Topic
1. a)Define your music reviewing strategy. I expect grumlbes from some, but I attempt to listen to each on its own merits with consideration to genre, an artist's personal strife (strife that is no self inflicted), age etc... I find it hard at times to trash something that is not generally in my educated wheel house. A recording could be well done but nothing I would go back to because its nothing I generally listen to. I won't say something sucks unless I have a pretty good idea of what is excellent. The more I know about a genre or an artist the more arrogant I get with my reviews.

b)What is a 5/4/3/2/1? Where do you draw the line as to what you keep? 5- must have in collection probably in multiple medias. 4- pretty awesome, a song or two off or something nagging keeps it from a five. 3- good, solid effort with some miscues. 2- average with maybe a good song or two intermixed. 1- Not much here I like. 0- No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Unless I am only rating something within genre and not totally on personal taste I will keep 3+s and the best cuts from 2s.

c) if you keep- what makes the cd shelf, the mp3 player or both? 3+s make CD shelf, 4,5s both, 3s down only best cuts make mp3 player.

2. Name 5 bands/recordings ( can be entire catalog or just a specific recording) that instantly makes you feel cooler than you are.
• Dinosaur Jr.
• Stones from 67 to 78
• Lou Reed
• DBTs
• Frank Black

Greg...It's Nothing Personal.

Willie Nile – House of a Thousand Guitars
Mix Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan and Ian Hunter in a blender and you get Willie Nile. It’s like all your favorite ingredients together in one smoothie…yum! I especially like “Run”, “Now That the War is Over,” and “A Little Light.” It’s just what I expected in as far as the production work. And he’s no slouch lyrically, either. The coolest thing about this CD is when you hear the up tempo songs for the first time you can sing along AND you think you sound better than he does. 4 stars.

The Grease Band – The Grease Band and Amazing Grease

I guess when these albums were originally released, these guys had a marketing problem since the “Grease” moniker in the ‘70’s meant a 50’s throwback type – like John Milner in American Graffiti - so I’m guessing those folks who liked Sha Na Na bought this and were extremely disappointed, and those “Deadheads” and pot smoking hippies who really would have liked this thought it was like Sha Na Na and didn’t bother with it. For me, it’s kind of a poor man’s Dead…in some spots it’s Little Feat-ish and maybe Poco-ish (to borrow the term from Greg) and all in all, while it doesn’t excite me, I didn’t skip through it… 2 1/2 stars.

The National – High Violet

If you like Radiohead, you’ll love The National. At least that’s what most people say. I hear them as a dark, pissed off version of British Sea Power with lyrics that are kind of like Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” for Master’s Degree holders. I don’t buy music based on critical acclaim, so this is the first National CD I’ve heard. I like the power of the music, especially in songs like “Bloodbuzz, Ohio” and the baritone voice – kind of like when I first heard Bowie sing, “Ground control to Major Tom” – is distinctive and interesting…since music grows better with familiarity for me, it comes down to whether I am willing to give this another listen since I don’t usually like my music dark and I actually pay good money to live in a “Lemonworld”, with no regrets. 3 stars.

Hot Hot Heat – Future Breeds

No…this was not submitted by Greg. It’s actually a departure from their usual awful techno-dance, electronic stuff as they added guitars and punched the sound up a bit. I usually don’t listen to this style of music, but I was pleasantly surprised by the overall feel of this CD. It’s a little “emo” for my enjoyment, but for a band I would have dismissed completely before this CD it’s a nice surprise. 3 stars.

Altered Beast – Matthew Sweet

What Jay said. 4.5 stars.

Here's a brief look at how I rate 'em...

A 5 is a classic. Music I love that's either been enjoyed by previous generations if older, or will be enjoyed by the next generation if newer. Not much "newer" has made my 5 list.

A 4 1/2 is a 5 with a minor flaw. Maybe one clunker on a great CD, or some element that keeps it from being a 5

A 4 is a CD with one bigger flaw...maybe it's average songs on a great sounding CD, maybe it's great songs, but it's Randy Newman singing...that type of thing.

A 3 1/2 is an average CD that I like a lot.

A 3 is an average CD that I'll tolerate and listen to in its entirety.

A 2 1/2 is either a below average effort by someone I like or an average effort by someone I don't like.

A 2 has a song or two on it that is OK, but the rest sucks.

A 1 1/2 has one song on it that is tolerable, but the rest sucks.

A 1 just flat out sucks. I won't listen in its entirety.

A 1/2 was submitted by Greg.

A 0 never got recorded in the first place or no one in this group would dare submit it if it did.

A 2

Grease IS THE WORD!!

Willie Nile- 4.0
House of a Thousand Guitars picks right up where Streets of New York left off. Willie is a rocker. Nothing fancy here. Guitar, Bass, Drums, and a little piano thrown in here and there. I’ve seen him at the Iron Horse twice and he puts tremendous energy into his performances. Same holds for his records. His songs are melodic with strong hooks that just make you want to sing along and get in on all the fun. A great cd from an original, honest, hard working artist.

The National- 4.0
While I liked Willie Niles cd instantaneously- it took a few listens to let this grow on me. But, grow on me it did. I love indie artists anyway. Like Dirty Projectors this is music that is dense and full of texture and imagery. This isn’t music to slit your wrist by; but its close. Being a pharmacist- I want to put these guys on Prozac or Celexa. But then they wouldn’t be The National. This is powerful music and each subsequent listen grows on me more and more- the mark of a great cd- I say.

Hot Hot Heet- 2.5
This cd sounds like it could be another Green Day side project- not a bad thing to sound like. Catchy, guitar driven indie/alt rock with undeniable pop sensibilities. Good energy. Well produced. So why do I find it a little boring to listen to the cd in it’s entirety. Where The National gets better with each listen- Future Breeds gets worse. Maybe an ep would have gotten a higher grade.

The Grease Band- 4.5
What can I say. I love these guys. I love this album. It should be every bit the classic that The Band’s Music From Big Pink is. Yet no one has ever heard of them. As I said at last months meeting- this would be one of my desert island picks. Great British boogie/rock; blues/rock. Sir Paul knew what he was doing when he enlisted Henry McCullogh to play lead guitar in his Wings. This album, along with Nilsson Schmilsson pulled me out of my Grateful Dead haze back in 1973 and made me realize there was more to musical life than the Dead.

Matthew Sweet- 4.0
So what do you do after releasing an album like Girlfriend?? You release Altered Beast and 100% Fun- now that’s a nice run. Being a huge power pop fan automatically means I’m a Matt Sweet fan. And, for me, Altered Beast is every bit the album that Girlfriend is. Maybe even better. Girlfriend might be a little too homogenous, a little too concise. Altered beast has a bit of everything that is Matthew Sweet- jangly guitar pop, ballads, country-rock, raucous guitar rock. Every song is a gem.

Topic:
1. a)Define your music reviewing strategy. b)What is a 5/4/3/2/1? Where do you draw the line as to what you keep? and c) if you keep- what makes the cd shelf, the mp3 player or both?


a) Totally subjective. I don’t think music reviews can be otherwise. You either love it or hate it or it’s somewhere in between. b) 5- Love it. Best recording ever. Perfect in every way- just my opinion, of course. 4.5- a recording I never tire of- desert island contender (Grease Band). 4- like it a lot. Stays in the rotation for weeks- maybe months. 3- solid stuff- more hits than misses. 2- not great- but ok. Has some redeeming qualities. More misses than hits. 1-sucks. Hard pressed to find something good to say about it.
Where do I draw the line? I would keep a 2- It may have 1 or 2 good songs that I like.
Songs make the mp3 player. I don’t think I have a full recording on there. Cd’s
are on the shelf- above the vinyl.

Name 5 bands/recordings ( can be entire catalog or just a specific recording) that instantly makes you feel cooler than you are.
Communist Daughter
The Like
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros
Broken Bells
Girls

Greg's Hot Hot Hot Review

Grease Band – 2
Got it too late to review, but what I listened to was good, judt not my thing
Hot Hot Heat - 2
Let’s ride on the hot hot sound of the month. Other than them sounding like every other band I thought that they were as good as all of the others, Killers, Phoenix, even Jack White etc. There were a few songs that were so whiney, there is no way that they could have thought that these songs weren’t completely annoying.
Matthew Sweet – Altered Beast – 3.5
I don’t think I’m a retard, I think that Mike cured me from my retardedness. I like Matthew Sweet. I still hate The Dirty Projectors though. You could lay Neil Young’s Mr. Soul on top of The Ugly Truth and they’d be the same song but it was still good.
The National – High Violet – 5
This is the best fucking cd I’ve heard in a long time.
Willie Nile – 3
Now I don’t think it’s a stretch to guess who’s cd this is. Hmm let me see, sounds just like Bob Dylan, hmmm, can only be one of two people. I guess Monsta? Well, thank you who ever you are because I really like this guy. Pick of the month.
Bloodhound Gang – GH
I’m not a rap expert by any means, but as far as I can tell this is just kind of fun silly shit. I certainly wouldn’t be caught dead cruising down the hood in the Audi cranking this, although it would sound good. I suspect that I get beaten up. In both Avon and Hartford.


1. a)Define your music reviewing strategy.
I typically give each cd a cursory listen and then if anything strikes me I delve in deeper. Most often I’ll listen several times the week prior to the meeting.

b)What is a 5/4/3/2/1?
If I love it, it’s a 5, if it sucks it’s a 1 anything else is in the middle, duh. Classics and potential classics are a 5 (Rush – Moving Pictures or Pygmy Love Circus) and shit music is a 1 (Justin Beiber or Fugs).

Where do you draw the line as to what you keep? I keep everything.

c) if you keep- what makes the cd shelf, the mp3 player or both?
It all goes on the iPod just in case someone ever wants to hear something. I can always forward anything.

2. Name 5 bands/recordings ( can be entire catalog or just a specific recording) that instantly makes you feel cooler than you are.

Beetles
Zappa
Anything that you guys listen to.

At least it went up before the next meeting

Dire Straits
There was a time in college where I thought that side a to this record was one of the best sides of almost any record. Now with time it’s not that high but it still is pretty darn good. Mark Knopfler can play and this is the cd where both his words match his talent throughout the whole cd. Still it does not seem to have aged as well as I though it would. Skate away, Romeo and Juliet and Tunnel Love are still outstanding tracks, but maybe they have been scarred a bit from some of the boring songs that followed this record. 3.5

Jesse Malin
Every time that Jesse Malin puts out a cd I find myself pulling out the first Dgeneration cd and seeing how the new measures up to the old. As he discovered both Bruce and coffeehouse folk I was scared that he had forgotten his punk/glam roots, and was slowly losing interest. Well this cd was a surprise. As close to the mixture of his glam past and New York poet present as possible, taking the strengths from both. With strong lyrics and a band that actually likes to plug in and play, he has created his strongest cd since that Dgeneration cd. The cd starts off with Bowery and from there it does not let go. A strong collection of songs in a short brief set. I am now looking 3.5

Band of Horses
Danger Danger Will Robinson, another band has discovered what can be done in the studio to help bolster ones sound. Now with Band of Horses it has given there sound a well-produced sheen and more of a pop focus. But along the way some of the guitar has been forgotten. Don’t get me wrong these guys are great and this is a really good cd. True it does have a few songs that lean to the slow side. But Dilly and the first three songs are truly great pop tunes. Lets just hope that they remember that a little guitar goes a long way. 3.5

Cheap Trick
I have very fond memories of when this cd came out. My friend was a Cheap Trick fanatic, and we played this cd over and over again, thinking it was the best thing they had ever done. Looking back on it now its still a great cd, and it stands up. But take this cd and the last two cd’s they have released recently and you get to see how great this band really is. In a career that spans over 30 years they are still putting out some of the best power pop out there consistently. 4.0

Dirty Pornographers
I don’t know if it’s the Rufus Wainright vocal approach, the stutter stop approach to the music, but I found this a disc that is very hard to get into. Yes at times the music is talented but the rest was too hard to overcome and music should not be difficult. 1.5

Zappa
Would like to thank Alan for a great a collection. Yes there are many songs from his collection that can make a greatest hits collections. But sometimes the songs that are the most famous needs to be recognized and this selection does that.

Recently I found myself in Newberry Comics in the mall and I found myself doing something I hadn’t done probably since I ran my media play. I was flipping through cd’s. Just browsing not really looking for anything in particular, just seeing what was there and what was new. An hour later I left and it was an hour well spent. Now to be truthful I was there to buy the Black Eyed Peas for my nephew, but I picked up the latest Marillion for my brothers birthday. Since I have joined rhapsody I rarely buy cd’s anymore. As for the shop of the future, as labels structure die a slow and painful death so goes the chains. What will be left are stores that cater to music geeks like us. Where we will want to shop just because we can still browse and talk to others like us. Something like I remember when I lived New Jersey with vintage vinyl.