On a Thursday...?

MUSIC COMMENTARY by The Mong

NEW

Cold War Kids – “Dear Miss Loneyhearts” = 4.0
Cold War Kids finally find their stride three albums after their nearly flawless 2006 debut, “Robbers & Cowards.”  That one was a surprisingly inventive channeling of Spoon-meets-White Stripes through a neo-psychedelic filter; this one is much the same thing but this time it’s a shameless pop production polish that propels a set of equally strong tracks.

Off With Their Heads – “Home” = 1.0
Roaring vocals alone does not a punk band make. Lyrically and musically I actually find it hard to believe that this is not an attempt at parody.

OLD

Elton John – “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” = 4.5
A four-point-five compared to the phenomenal “Honkey Cheteau,” “Madman across the Water,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” A solid five against most other music from that era and even today.

Kiss – “Love Gun” = 2.5
Okay, so, I guess the best place to start is to admit that I want to like Kiss more than I actually do. So, grading what is universally recognized as one if their finer efforts remains a balancing act of acknowledging their contribution to hard rock while confessing my apparent lack of taste.

G’HITS

Dusty Springfield – G’hits
A great collection of soul.

TOPIC
…the best books about Rock and Roll you ever read were?...

"Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story"
by Nick Tosches
An amazing biography written in narrative prose.

"Gentlemanly Repose: Confessions of a Debauched Rock 'n' Roller"
by Michael Ruffino (of The Unband)
A hilariously self-aware tell-all.

"Guided by Voices' Bee Thousand (33 1/3)"
by Marc Woodworth
An astounding critical analysis of one of the greatest albums of the '90s with everyman recollections and insights as well as interviews with the guilty.

"Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties"
by Ian MacDonald
An astoundingly insightful and exhaustively researched song-by-song sociopolitical and music theory analysis of the Fab Four’s legacy. Worth buying just for the author’s introduction, “Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade.” [I added this book after the original post; not sure how I forgot this one since I have been borderline obsessed with it for about two years now.]