What's in YOUR I-Pod???

The Tom Fuller Band

Sometimes, when you take a rock based artist and smooth him out with a Nashville-style producer, you get bland from where there was a spark. In the case of Tom Fuller, it’s just the opposite…his songs are written on pop side of the rock spectrum, and the production only goes to enhance the final product. Favorite track lyrically was “Doing Nothing”…I can relate. This was my pick of the month, and most, if not all tracks will get added to a Sunday morning mix I have. 4

Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion II

The late ‘80’s-Early ‘90’s was a time that I personally checked out of listening to “hard rock”. I firmly believed that the music I valued most and would listen to forever was already recorded, and I had not listened to a lot of it yet, so for me, this is the first time I’ve listened to a GnR album in its entirety. For me, they’ve always been a radio band, and those hits weren’t enough to get me to dig deeper. Having listened to this repeatedly, I was surprised at the overall vibe, more like good stoner rock and less like metal. I guess if you take Use Your Illusion 1 into consideration, this is like their Exile on Main Street or their White Album. If they would have put their best from these two albums on one album, it may have been one of the greatest albums ever, but this one is spotty, though enjoyable. 3

Sloan

Despite the fact that this is their 9th album, this is my first exposure to a full-length Sloan CD. The single “Believe in Me” starts it off with a catchy enough hook…”Cheap Champagne” is more harmony-laden than I would have expected, but I like the overall sound…late 60’s pop/psychedelic…this definitely sounds like a band where everybody writes…overall, it was very enjoyable listen and it too will make its way to the Alternative Favorites section of my ITunes library. 3.5

The Bloody Hollies – Yours till the Bitter End

This is solid garage punk from a band that sounds like they are really into their music and their sound. It’s Kinda like Iggy and the Stooges meet Motorhead with a little bit of the Jam in there on the solo Doyle songs and some Black Crowes/Stones riffs in the songs where Horgen writes (like Dirty Sex and John Wayne Brown). It has good energy, the vocal intensity matches the instruments and there’s enough melody and song variety to keep it from getting boring and repetitious. Songs like Sticks and Stones even venture into “Riff Punk”. I’ll have to go back to their earlier CD’s to see how they’ve evolved. 3.5

Mahavishnu Orchestra – Visions of the Emerald Beyond

By the time this came out, John McLaughlin’s guitar virtuosity was no longer a novelty, it was a “trademark style” and so after the “The Inner Mounting Flame” and “Birds of Fire” this album held less interest for me when it originally was released. It has a little funk to it, and though not as interesting or exciting as the earlier albums, if you like fusion, top-notch musicianship and great guitar lead work, it’s still a viable listen. 3