Foxy Skynryd Hill Brooks and Zooey

Foxy Shazam-  2.5

I thought I put the wrong disk in when I heard the dogs barking. If only this was as good as Jane's Addiction. Not that it's a Bad cd though and Foxy Shazam is energetic , boisterous and quite fun. But, I think they try to channel  Queen a little too hard. And guess what- they're not Queen.  An ok listen but I tire of it quickly.

Lynyrd Skynyrd- 3.0

I think what I like about this cd is that the songs on it didn't get played to death on commercial radio. It's ok Jay and Alan- I know it's not your fault. "All I Can Do Is Write About It" is as fine a Southern Rock ballad as you'll ever want to hear.  Other highlight for me were "Every Mother's Son" and "Double Trouble". Good stuff!!

White Hills- 2.0

This would have gotten a higher mark if it wasn't for "Robot Stomp"- which is about 8:49 too long and "I Write a Thousand Letters(Pulp on Bone)" which is about 9:35 too long and "Song of Everything" which is about 4:45 too long.  I mean, why make a song 3 minutes long when you can make it 12. There are some redeeming qualities to this cd but the repetitive nature of most of the songs makes it hard to want to pop this in the player. Just couldn't get into it.

Brad Brooks- 4.0

The R&B infected "Calling Everyone" was a feature song on the Power Popaholic website and it just grabbed me. Wow, said I, song of the year so far!! So I downloaded the cd- it's gotta be great, right? Man, was I disappointed! Then I listened to it again. Then I listened to it again. Then I went searching the internet to see what this guy was all about. I hear so many influences on this cd- Joe Jackson, Chris Isaak, Beatles, Elvis Costello, and maybe even a little Jeff Tweedy. What truly shines here is the range of styles that Brooks employed in making this cd.  "Night Fades" is as different from "Calling Everyone" as it gets but it is equally as great.  I Love this cd.

Topic:

1. I would want Keith Richards to induct me because he's so ugly that I would look good.

2. Zooey Deschanel.  Because I love her and would love to spend 2 hours staring into her eyes while we discussed all the cool people she gets to hang out with.

The sandwich would have been better if there had been some jam on it

Kansas

I liked Kansas and I liked The Dixie Dregs.  You would think putting the two together would work.  Kansas’s prog feel with a Dreg boogie.  Instead Steve Morse plays wonderfully and Steve Walsh (A highly underrated singer) sounds great.  Blend them together you get a subpar pop metal that reminds you at times of late Rainbow.  (Which makes sense since Steve Morse is now in Deep Purple)  The Cd truly sounds like the two separate camps that make up the band.   2.0 mostly for Steve Morse’s playing

Howling

Okay you have a Black rebel Motorcycle club feel with a Jesus and Mary chain vibe going.  Why doesn’t it work?  Kept going back and felt the songs were weak and had little in them to draw me back.  Should have liked it but found it missing. 2.0

The Sun

A fun cd with some great guitar licks.  Catchy vocals and fine choruses.  The songs build nicely with a garage feel and the occasional yell.  Just a good little guitar pop cd. 3.5

Hothouse Flowers

Liam O'Maonlai has one of the greatest voices in rock music.  And live its even better.  Hothouse Flowers are one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen.  When I saw them ten years later they still tore up the place with just four people.  Too inspirational at times but I find their anthems are just great pieces of music.

Topic

I guess any time one gets to hear a favorite piece of music it’s a great thing.  It does seem that it does point out that the new music being presented by the artist might be lacking that relying on specific catalog to drum up interest.  In a perfect world an artist will keep growing that new and old would mix together in great listening experience.

I saw Queen with Paul Rodgers, Thin Lizzy with two different singers, Van Hagar and yes I think it’s a good thing.  Eventually the voice is going to go.  While other parts are replaceable because there are always talented instrumentalist who can fill the roll, the voice is on a time limit. The substitute gives the band to celebrate the music with old and new.  Of course the celebration can slowly blend into a bad tribute band.

Bands I am curious.  Queen with Lady Gaga would have been interesting, not sure on the Lambert thing.

White Hills

Not sure why this cd was made.  The songs are just an excuse for noise to be made.  No talent really anywhere to be found.  At times even the endless drone refused to fade to the background. 1.0

Foxy Shazam

Combine Elton John’s keyboards with the obvious Queen sound and you get one great cd.  Yes they steal heavily but they where it proudly and give us 13 great songs with Oh Lord just being brilliant.  Greta guitar fills, followed by keyboard runs, and the occasional horn make this big sounding record sound big, full, and energetic.   It easily could have been a sad knockoff; instead it was a triumphant piece of work. 4.0

Lynard Skynyrd.

Was never a big fan of Skynyrd (I always preferred Marshall Tucker and The Outlaws) but finding myself through the use of satellite radio hearing them more and except for Free Bird listening.  So was disappointed with the cd as a whole.  The playing is good the songs are okay, but the title track really is the only song that has legs.  Maybe I am just a fan of the hits.  2.5

Brad Brooks

A nice pop cd from someone who wears his influences on his sleeve.  Unlike Foxy Shazam he seems burdened by them and leads to a bit of sameness to the cd.  Not bad but probably going to listen to George Harrison before I pick up this again. 2.0

My induction speech would be given by Ginger.  I figure this man deserves to be famous and why not give a chance to be seen.  I figure everyone will be asking who the fuck is this guy that they will research his music and see how stupid they were by missing it in the first place.  Shouldn’t someone else benefit from my presence at an absolutely meaningless presentation.  Besides it probably would be pretty funny.

Interview James Dean Bradfieldd The leader of the only band I would love to see live and haven’t.  Figure the interview might get me some tickets.  Plus the bands history and his views would make a great afternoon.

Gimme Back My Fryinig Harmony Shazam

Foxy Shazam-S/T

Talk about a big sound. Probably one of the biggest out there with only one volume setting- 12. Big guitar, big vocals (occasionally too big), big choir, big beats…etc.. This is good and bad. The good is that you have no choice on most of the songs but to get engulfed and pulled in. The bad- there are moments where I felt I was in the audience of “Rock of Ages” or some other Broadway rock show- where the bombast can obliterate the lyrics, which is a shame because they were quite clever. That aside it’s hard to dislike. 3.5  Anyone hear Meatloaf  or Freddy Mercury…….

Brad Brooks- Harmony of Passing Light

Good songs, well done production though a bit soft. Definitely entrenched in adult contemporary rock, but at least he’s creative with a little edge that doesn’t sound like all he’s trying to do is sell records to the lowest common denominator, which he probably needs to do to make money because I have never heard of him. Highlight for me was “Spinner and the Spun”. (2.5)

White Hills-Frying on this Rock

Oh My. Going back to my ‘put in new ones I’ve never heard of or listened to prior’ I pulled White Hills from  Magnet magazine. Review said it was loud, noisy, fuzzed out guitar from a guy (Dave W) trying something a little new- expanding songs into a spaced rock form. Okay why not. What it didn’t tell me that expanded space rock defined is repeating the same noise for 723 bars. I lost years off my life due to this recording. One bright spot is “You Dream You See” which sounds like Witch with a kick ass Tommi Iommi like guitar solo. (2)

Lynyrd Skynyrd- Gimme Back My Bullets

The album that most influence Patterson Hood? Very well could be. I hear a lot of DBT in this, arguably the best, Skynyrd album.  The difference between DBT and Skynyrd is that Skynyrd always were the good ol’ boys. Don’t fuck with the south. DBT took pieces of Skynyrd’s sound and southern attitude and sang about the downtrodden and the not so glamorous (if there is such a thing) side of gritty southern life. “Gimme Back My Bullets” is hands down my favorite LS song and “Searchin’” is a pretty close second. At one time Skynyrd was one of my favorite bands, then I vilified them and now I re-appreciate them. Nice to get reacquainted. (3.5)

Topic

My inductee.

Would I want to be accepted into the club by an esteemed member or inducted by a peer.  Maybe a hipster or cult favorite or use as a means to get visibility for an artist who should have been inducted. There is also the thought of having an entertaining/inspiring induction. What to do. Thinking about this today I kept having one name pop in my head; John Hiatt. I tend to lean towards song writers so I would assume that I would be inducted in that mold so why not be inducted by a respected but underappreciated song writer with a large body of work. He is also quite entertaining as a speaker, has a cult following and should be considered for induction himself. He isn’t a hipster though.

2 hour talk? 

I am making an assumption that whoever I am allowed to sit with will be forthright and honest with me. Mine is obvious- Dylan (but there are probably 30 others I wouldn’t mind a sit down with). The problem is is 2 hours enough. What I would like to learn is; did the critical panning he took in the 80s really bother him? Did he feel that they didn’t cut him  any slack wanting every release to be “meaningful” instead of allowing him to have some fun (Ugliest Girl in the World). Was he serious with all his long prose or was he pulling everyone’s leg? Lastly, what were his absolute favorite/least favorite  releases and why. There is a lot more, and I could chat for weeks with the man.  

The Few, the Proud, the People who actually post reviews

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Skynyrd’s become sort of a punch line over the past 20 years and they deserve better.  This was a damn fine rock and roll band, and there’s plenty of evidence here.  Very versatile tunes, not just the classic Southern Rock sound typically associated with them.  What caught me off-guard here was the quality of the lyrics.  Definitely road-weary throughout, it almost foreshadows the band’s end, notably on “Roll Gypsy Roll”.  “Bullets” has few of the FM staples, which made it all the more enjoyable.  4 stars

Brad Brooks – It probably didn’t help that I listened to this immediately after White Hills, but nothing on this disc grabbed me.  I went back a second time, and still didn’t connect with it.  Can’t say anything particularly was bad about it, but it just seemed kind of…there. 2 stars

White Hills – Now that Mongillo is gone, Ken has quickly picked up the slack in submitting “What the hell is this?” discs.  I loved the first two songs, incredibly mesmerizing. It went to crap pretty fast thereafter, bottoming out with the “hypnotic” nonsense in “Song of Everything”.  There’s some real talent here, and if they would use a little more traditional song structure and trim down the length, they’d really have something.  2.5 stars

Foxy Shazam – The songs sound so much like Queen that it’s hard to know where influence ends and ripping off begins.  If someone had played me the guitar solo in  “Count Me Out”, I’d have bet my house that it was Brian May.  Vocals and some of the theatrical keyboard flourishes clearly reminiscent of Freddie Mercury.  I’m gonna dock ‘em for lack of originality, but this is a pretty good cd.  3 stars

The Jam – How hard is it to get discs to people in time for the meeting, especially with Dropbox??  Oh, if only we had a website with a spreadsheet of who owes what for the whole year so people could prepare.  Just sayin’…..Oh yeah, the Jam were good, but not remotely as good as the Clash.  Looking forward to getting this in time for Christmas.

Discussion Question:

1) Easy – Bono.  Irishmen always give the best toasts and eulogies.

2)  Many choices, but I’ll go with Neil Young. Here’s what I want to know:

• The last 20 years, uh….WTF??
•  Is there a valid reason “Time Fades Away” and “Journey Through the Past” have never been released on CD or are you just being a dick?
• Who would you say is the most unnecessary backup singer in rock history: Linda McCartney, Patti Scialfa or your wife?

Most Important Question:

· In “Powderfinger” does the first shot hit the dock or the dog? I need to know.

 

  

 

 

 

The Dropbox Ate My Homework

Special note to Sandor - I will revise this post after I listen to Brad Brooks.


Gimme Back My Bullets – Lynyrd Skynyrd.

If you simply rate this album on its own, you might think that it was a great record, but when you consider that the first three Skynyrd albums were REALLY great records, this is just a good record, if that. This was the first Skynyrd LP that Tom Dowd produced, and while he’s a great producer, he was too polished for the sound that made Skynyrd great. The only reason that this deserves to be ‘up there’ is because it’s still with the original line-up. 3 ½.


White Hills – Frying on This Rock

Throbbing, like a sinus headache. And that’s in the good parts. I found myself just wanting the riff and rhythm to change and it never would soon enough. If you’re not a “space rock” fan this is torture. If melody is important to you, this is pointless. Mercifully, it was only 5 tracks of pointless torture. 1



Foxy Shazam – Foxy Shazam

This review was paraphrased from …

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1678642

Swagger. Foxy Shazam has swagger. They are doing what they do and they doing it with a big smirk on their face. Confidence exudes from the very first song. Eric Sean Nally is Freddie Mercury-like…and he sings with a ferocity, an urgency, and an insanity that isn't quite paralleled by anyone around today. This CD has hook-laden anthems and no lack of spine-tingling vocal moments. The musicianship shouldn't be left unmentioned either, as guitar licks on "Count Me Out" and Sky White's piano and Alex Nauth's horn parts throughout the record make for light-hearted and easy-to-listen-to melodies. The group displays an astounding amount of creativity…gospel and beatboxing really shouldn't mix, but Foxy Shazam pulls it off.
They play like some sort of fusion of Meat Loaf and Queen but they do it in a compact way that results in radio-friendly songs that also lend themselves to the population of music listeners that hate the radio. They aren't quite rock and roll but they aren't far from it, either. This album has the capacity to appeal to fans of almost any genre, and should definitely not be overlooked. 4


GH – The Jam

"Wow, these guys were great. No wonder they sold so many records in
England. Weller was a genius - accent on the was."




Topic:

You’re elected to the R&R HOF. Who do you want to induct you?

Bruce Springsteen. His 1970’s albums are the music and lyrics with which I most identify and if I were elected to the R&R HOF it would be because of that music inspiring me to do great things.

You can sit down with one living rock and roll figure and talk for two hours. Who do you choose and what do you want to know?

Berry Gordy.

I’d want to know how he was able to build Motown from scratch…how he was able to cultivate such a stable of talent, get everyone at certain points in time to get their genius to wax…how he knew what those records had to sound like in order to be mass appeal…when he knew that his Company was bigger than he was…what it was like to hear Stevie Wonder for the first time…where did James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin come from…how did you get them to do what you need them to do…why he felt he had to move to LA…and thousands of other things about his crop of original stars, like Smokey, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, etc…

First again?

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Gimme Back My Bullets – 3.5

My first Lynyrd Skynyrd CD, I’m actually very excited.  The album cover sucks, but fortunately the music doesn’t.  Who knew that a bunch of guys who look like that could actually play instruments? 

White Hills – Frying on the Rock – 3.5

Lots of random noise going on here, but it’s good random noise.  It seems like most of these songs would be really easy to replicate live, it was essentially the same sounds over and over, but they are just the right notes to keep me intrigued.  I’m shocked that Ken submitted this, it’s more like something I’d offer.  Lots of KISS on You Dream You See.  More good stuff.  It seems that they may have taken a lesson or two from The Mars Volta school of music.

Brad Brooks – Harmony of Passing - 4

Of course, with a name like Brad Brooks, I immediately assumed that we had another country artist on our hands.  Not the case however, more like a Chris Isaac Roy Orbison type of fellow, with a touch of Tom Yorke even thrown in. Bumbelina was a stupid song and definitely not a song I’d recommend as the first on the cd or the last for that matter.  I was ready to trash Lynyrd Skynyrd for the song until I looked up and realized it was Brad Brooks.  Pleasantly surprised overall, and the recipient of the prestigious Greg’s Pick of the Month award. 

Foxy Shazam – Foxy Shazam - 3

I really thought that the singer was a chick at first.  I had to look them up, and to my surprise, guess what?  Anyway, once I got over the whole androgyny thing I felt better really listening to these guys.  I felt a little like I was at a Broadway show or that it was produced by Jim Steinman or a Queen tribute album.  It definitely grew on me though, I just wish that the dude was a chick.

The Jam – GH

Wow, these guys were great.  No wonder they sold so many records in England.  Weller was a genius - accent on the was.

You are elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Who do you pick to do your induction?  Explain

Neil Peart, Hello!

You can sit down with one living rock and roll figure and talk for two hours.  Who do you choose and what do you want to know?
Without too much thought, Dave Grohl.  Off the top of my head, I’d want to know what a day in his life is like.  Why he doesn’t seem to be effected by fame and how did he really feel about Curt Cobain.