I Almost Forgot...I Almost Forgot.

Ministry – Psalm 69 The Way to Succeed (or the way to suck eggs)

In general this genre doesn’t do it for me unless there’s extremely good musicianship, like Pantera and I missed the whole MTV thing, so “Jesus Built My Hot Rod” didn’t make me feel awash with nostalgia, though it was the best track on this CD… IMHO, they could have spared me 35 of the 44 minutes by giving me a little of each metal riff, the occasional vocal sampling or scream and then moved on. For me, they should have just named the CD Psalm 69 “The Way to Suck…Period. 1 ½.

Deep Purple – Burn (1974)

This is one of the better ‘band in transition’ albums to ever be released. They were going from Ian Gillian to David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, changing the sound up to be more harmonic with a little more funk and boogie than heavy and they managed to include an incredible riff-rock song as the title track in the process. It’s really hard to beat Machine Head and the first track of the album that followed that (My Woman From Tokyo) but Richie Blackmore keeps it interesting, and this album boogies along pretty well. If they put it out under a different name, as a “new band”, it may have gotten a better reception among the mainstream rock listeners of that time that thought Deep Purple was only “heavy metal”. 3 1/2.


Rush – Clockwork Angels (2012)

It’s been 5 years since “Snakes and Arrows”, so I’ve been waiting for a new Rush CD for what seems like a LONG time, and it seems to worth the wait. Yes, they are a polarizing band, and yes, they can be predictable when Geddy and Alex go back and forth between piercing lead and screamy vocals, but they are no Yes…they are continually pushing the sonic envelope and still writing and producing great songs…there’s a ballad on this CD that is their best since “Closer to the Heart”, and both the opening track and the title track stand among their best, too. 3 1/2.


The dB’s – Falling Off the Sky

Another band from which I’ve wanted something new for a LONG time, and frankly didn’t expect it, but here it is, 25 years later and it’s great power pop from Chris Stamey and Company. It’s like rekindling a long lost friendship of the best kind with an old HS friend…you pick up right where you left off and it immediately makes you feel younger and more vital again. The bonus here is that the sonic advancements in recording since 1987 have helped these guys because they stayed true to clean, smart pop and so their sound is not only cohesive but more interesting as you can really hear the layers. They also sound much fuller than their early ‘80’s recordings…how can you listen to a song like “Write Back” and not be put right back to the early 80’s. 4.





Supergrass – GH

This is an underappreciated Britpop band…I especially like them early on in their career…Sandy put this together chronologically, so you can hear how they both progress and change as the CD’s move from the ‘90’s into the 2000’s. It’s a good batch of choices from Sandy…definitely their “cream of the crop” from each of these CD’s, so this will be my Supergrass i-Tunes folder from now on. Thanks, Sandy!

TOPIC: Vinyl is gone and soon the compact disc will join it as a thing of the past. The audio file formats that you can now choose from to store your music is becoming staggering.

1. Do you feel that these compressed digital files are giving us inferior audio quality. Do you care? Is it just too convenient? Yes, the audio quality of i-Tunes m4a files and mp3 files are inferior, but .flac files, which are sometimes available, are superior. What is not good, in ANY digital format, is the clean separation of sound that sucks the warmth out of rock mixes and creates ear fatigue, sometimes. It is too convenient, and for those of us who use multiple devices to play and store music it can be unwieldy, too.

2. Do you feel the price to download these digital audio files is reasonable. Yes…if a full length CD that was $15 is now $10 as a download, you’re basically paying less than $1 per track, and in the world of i-Tunes, that’s been the standard for the past 10 years.

3. If D'Arcy's favorite guy (Mr Neil Young) comes up with a superior audio format- would you be willing to pay extra for better sound quality? How much extra- if at all? NO…If an artist cares they should offer downloads as .flac files. They take up far more space, but if you’re an audiophile and you care about that sort of thing you probably have hard drives that can handle it.

4. Do you still buy cd's and/or vinyl? On occasion, but if it’s vinyl, it’s generally vintage vinyl and if it’s a CD it’s either a very advantageous price (like a Yep Roc or Not Lame blowout sale) for a bulk purchase, or a band from which I have everything on CD (or vinyl) that they’ve done and I don’t want to break the continuity.