Shma

The Mong
Music Group Commentary
September/November 2010

Eric Clapton – “Clapton” = 0 Stars
“When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful”!!! Are you friggin’ kidding me? So, very, very tired. This album of by-the-numbers yawners is about as exciting and appealing as the picture of Clapton on the cover.

Sea Level – (self-titled) = 2 Stars
Chicago meets Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood meets the Grateful Dead meets Elevator Music. Impressive musicianship with interesting arrangements but then there’s the whole Chicago meets Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood meets the Grateful Dead meets Elevator Music thing.

Superchunk – “Majesty Shredding” = 4 Stars
A classic Superchunk album. Sure, there’s nothing new here but it delivers the goods, damn good.

The Whigs – “Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip” = 5 Stars
My enthrallment with this album, hearing it five years after its release, can definitely be chalked-up to it being one-hundred-percent my taste: monster hooks and absorbing lyrics driven by tube-amplified guitars with just the right amount of sloppy soul; yup, it’s the kind I like. With each track better than the last, this will likely bump one of my (soon to be previous) top ten albums of the aughts.

Brian Wilson – “Reimagines Gershwin” = 0 Star
In the mythic land known as Hasbeenville, populated by those who know not when to stop flooding the marketplace with their wretched wares, a once-great singer/songwriter named Brian Wilson faced-off with one of the most overrated guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton. Swords clanged and it was Wilson who drew first blood. But Clapton retaliated with a flying dagger that pierced Wilson’s tarnished armor. They circled one another, shouting curse words in an obscure tongue known as Aging Hippie, but when they lunged towards each other, quite suddenly and for no apparent reason, they both died. Nobody cared.

G’Hits – Flashcubes
Shma.