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