Eric Clapton- It’s a shame that Eric Clapton lost both of his arms in a bizarre farm accident. You know, I remember when he was known primarily as a guitarist and while this CD obviously points out that he probably doesn’t even own a guitar anymore, I can’t help but think back to his past albums. He was a pretty good player in the day, you know, before he lost both arms. I even remember a fairly famous double album he released where his playing was almost as good as Duane Allman’s. Anyway a Clapton album with no guitar playing just seems so unfair to poor old Eric that you wonder why he even bothered to release this utterly useless piece of boring shit in the first place. 1


Sea Level - There was a time that I bought anything and everything even remotely connected with the Allman Brothers. Charlie Daniels mentions Wet Willie in the same song that he mentions Dicky Betts in, I buy not one, but two, Wet Willie records. Dicky Betts plays on an Elvin Bishop song (the excellent Travelin’ Shoes) and I buy Elvin’s entire catalog. Allman Roadie Joe Dan Petty forms a band called Grinderswitch, I buy every record they put out and drive three hours to see them live. So when Chuck Leavel released this first record with Sea Level, I bought it even though the Allmans had already proved they were dead with the release of Win, Lose or Draw two years earlier. So this is my first listen in probably 30 years and while it was interesting to hear this again, it was not nearly as interesting as I thought it was in 1977. Pretty lightweight – kind of like a George Benson record or something - but some nice playing and decent melodies. Gotta say, though, beyond it’s sentimental value, this is actually the sort of lightweight shit that I’m prone to mock as the musical province of a hopelessly yuppified America. 2


Whigs – Ken gave me their latest and I was under-whelmed, but this one is great. Any thing that sounds this much like Sebadoh – with the great writing and songs to match them note for note - is a winner with me. A solid 4 that is as close to a 4.5 as you can get..

Superchunk - They near the top of the class for this kind of music. Powerful hard edged power chording and good hooks. A I’ve said in the past, loud guitars and hooks….what’s not to like. And they don’t seem to have lost their edge over the years. This is as good as anything they’ve ever done. 4

Brian Wilson - Unless you’re a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson completist, then this rehashing of these famous and admittedly good songs is utterly without value. It didn’t need to be done, shouldn’t have been done, but If you’re going to do it, at least make it interesting. I’ve never bought into the Brian Wilson mythology. I know I’m supposed to wax eloquent about Pet Sounds, et al, but I’m sorry, I think they stopped being interesting after Fun, Fun, Fun. 1

Flashcubes - The Flashcubes are from Syracuse NY and really never emerged beyond the local scene that they dominated beginning in the late ‘70’s Christi Girl was their first single and that was followed by Wait Till Next Week. Various live tapes existed, but no official recorded output. Ten of the first 11 songs were written in the late 70’s when they were consistently playing around Syracuse, but none were ever released until 1997 when they released Bright Lights a greatest hits record from a band that had never released an album. Their cross-breeding of the Rasberries and the British invasion is what brings life to these great pop songs. The last 9 songs are by their “comeback” record Brilliant. And it lives up to its name. I am a big fan of this type of music and I’m hard-pressed to think of another band even loosely associated with this genre that could put together 20 songs as consistently great as the 20 here. If you didn’t like this collection you either don’t like power pop or you simply did not listen enough.

What makes a good concert – volume, a small hall where you can get close, at least one surprise cover song and good true sound. And a show if necessary