Glad you had the bi-annual meeting

Holly Williams – Unlike papa and grandpa, Holly’s music isnt a whole lot of fun.  Nearly every song on this disc is so damn serious.  Dyin’, drinkin’ and cheatin’ are all fine fodder for country music, but there’s just no relief on this disc, culminating in the laborious 7 minute closer.  Musically, its mostly soft-rock with an occasional steel pedal or twangy guitar to make it sound authentic.  “Drinkin’” is a great one, the rest of this is run-of-the mill. 2.5 stars

Refreshments – I struggled reviewing this.  The album itself is fine, very competent playing of some of Chuck Berry’s best songs.  That said, a little nagging voice keeps asking “what the hell’s the point?” They don’t re-imagine these, the way Thea Gilmore did on the “John Wesley Harding” disc and while listening to each track, I thought of a better version than the one that’s on here. So why bother? Taken at face value, an easy, enjoyable listen.  Maybe that has to be enough. 3 stars

Marillion – The dated production, the grandiose arrangements, the ridiculous lyrics.  I hate this shit. .5 star

Sugarplastic – On the plus size, it reminded me of XTC.  Some really quirky pop songs that are cleverly written and smartly performed like “Montebello” and “Another Myself”.  On the minus side, it reminded me of XTC.  Some real crap where the band bends over backwards to be quirky for quirkiness sake, notably “Sheep” and “Soft Jingo”.  More good than bad, but not by much. 3.5 stars

Mother Hips – Not at all familiar with these guys, but I liked most of this.  The more laid back the song was, the better it worked for me.  Definitely appreciated the Jerry Garcia vibe on a couple of these, especially “The Isle Not of Man”.  Probably 7-8 too songs too long, but overall a good collection.

I don’t think the name adds anything to the success of a band.  There are two exceptions.  First, heavy metal bands, who need to have a name reflective of the style.  Metallica or Iron Maiden would not have been the same if they were named “Cuddly Unicorns”.  Second, any band named after a place usually sucks (Boston, Kansas, Asia, Of Montreal)

An unusual or clever name can potentially get me to try a band, but if the music is no good, forget it.

Favorite Band Names:

Two Cow Garage

Drive By Truckers

Led Zeppelin

The Clash

Southern Culture on the Skids

The Dead Kennedys

John Cougar Concentration Camp

Butthole Surfers

Cindy Brady's Lisp