What's the difference between a great new band and someone throwing urine? One is Purling Hiss...

Purling Hiss – Water on Mars (2013)

This CD is my reward for being in this music group…I would have certainly missed it and so far, it’s my favorite of the year. The first three songs are right in your face…grungy guitar and excellent vocals. Just when I was ready to write them off as a one trick pony, “Dead Again” came up and they shifted gears effortlessly…”She Calms Me Down” and then that ‘riff song’, “Face Down”, was pretty cool after that…I really appreciate the simple instrumentation…this is about as good as guitar, bass and drums can sound. The lead guitarist gives you one note where one note will do perfectly and he’s just unpredictable enough to be interesting. If the title track wasn’t so long and self-indulgent sounding, this might be a perfect album. 4

Gary Moore – Corridors of Power (1982)

One of the underappreciated guitar greats…this album sounds like he was going after a hit single and almost getting there…his guitar playing is top shelf…the power ballads are a little over produced, but so was every ‘80’s power ballad…Admittedly, I don’t remember being into this album when it came out, but it’s a very familiar sound that has some great lead work by Moore, but only one really great song. 2 ½ .

Wyldlife (2013) – The Time Has Come to Rn R

I love guitar rock…I love bar bands…I need more than the same song over and over again, but for what it was, I kinda enjoyed it. 3

Megadeth – Risk

The risk for me was downloading from Dropbox and listening…the risk was not worth the reward. 1 ½.

Bass Players…for me, the best ones move a song along with incredible flow and a time honored line (Duck Dunn, Paul McCartney) or, play their instrument with the virtuosity of a great guitar player (John Entwhistle, Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones, Chris Squire and Jack Bruce). The others are all just, well…bass players. The good ones develop a strong bond with their drummers and form a pocket that makes average songs good and good songs great (Bill Wyman, Garry Talent). I enjoyed Mike’s disc #2 – it’s the only one I received in a messed up manila envelope – but my favorite was none other than…Mike Mongillo ripping it up on “Boy in the Boat”.