"Wesley Willis SIngs Gershwin" would have been a classic....

Eric Clapton – Depressing that my favorite guitarist keeps churning out this crap. “Clapton” is his “laid-back” persona, full of generic 2/4 toe-tappers defunct of anything remotely interesting. What’s maddening is that strictly as a guitar player, the sum-bitch still has it. A lazy, half-assed effort that screams “contractual obligation.”  Never thought I’d look back wistfully at his Phil Collins produced albums.  2 stars

Superchunk – Heard a lot about them, and this was $5 @ Amazon, so I gave it a shot.  Liked the vocals, good guitar work.  The sound is gloriously clean and impeccably mixed.    Not much more to say; this is just a very solid indie rock disc from start to finish. 3.5 stars

Brian Wilson – The concept was a brilliant one.  Take tired old songs and let a deranged retard with no voice sing and rearrange them in his signature style.  Unfortunately, Wesley Willis is dead, so Brian Wilson got the call.  Enough already with the reverence for this acid casualty.  Yes, Wilson created some great singles and a couple of solid albums in the 60’s.  That basically equates him to a screwed-up version of John Fogerty.  Every new Fogerty album isn’t treated as if Moses was carrying it down from Mount Sinai. Yet when Wilson releases anything, the critics bow down at Buddha’s feet.  Not me, buckos. The emperor has no clothes. ½ star    

Sea Level – Sea Level reminds me of the Yellow Jackets & Weather Report, two bands I loved trying to sneak into my college afternoon jazz show (and inevitably got busted for).  I liked the instrumentals, very mellow fusion that I will put on once in a while.  The tracks with vocals are a disaster, both lyrically and execution wise.  3 stars

Whigs – My copy was fubar.

Flashcubes – Was relieved to find out this wasn’t the band with Bjork; apparently I had my Cubes confused.  Was ready to dismiss it after the first two tracks, but it kept getting better.  Really good power-pop band that careens from the Marshall Crenshaw sound to the NY Dolls.  It’s a keeper.

Discussion Question



What makes a good live band to me is a band that is spontaneous, daring and plays a couple of unexpected songs. Bands that have disappointed me are usually ones I’ve seen numerous times. The recent DBT show was a disappointment, seemed like they were going through the motions, and the song selection was predictable. Whether they had a bad night or whether I’ve just seen them too often is open to debate. They got their asses whipped by the opening act (Henry Clay People) who were fun, spontaneous and clearly having a great time