Wait, D'Arcy Posted before I did?

Hold Steady – It has its moments, notably “Spinners” which may be my favorite song of the year.  That said, the band may have peaked on “Stay Positive” (yes Ken, its better than “Boys and Girls in America”).  I don’t know that I can put a finger on it, but the songs on the last two albums just aren’t as good as the two that preceeded them.  Nonetheless, plenty of crunchy guitars, some great lines from Finn and 3-4 songs that I’d put on a Best of Hold Steady playlist.  3.5 stars

U2 – They’re 34 years in now.  When the Stones were at that point they released “Bridges to Babylon”.  Can anyone name a track off of that one?  Didn’t think so. Like almost all the musical heroes of our youth they are irrelevant from a new release standpoint.  Aside from “Vertigo”, I couldn’t hum another song they’ve done since “All That You Cant Leave Behind” which was 15 years ago. Not horrible, just…..there. 2 stars

Lloyd Cole – I always confuse him with Nick Cave, for reasons I can’t explain.  This was a very nice little slice of 80’s Britpop that went down easy and was just as easily forgotten.  A little too ornamental for me at times, he’s better when the band is stripped down to the basics.  Parts of it reminded me of Simple Minds.  Lyrically, slightly pretentious, but weren’t we all in the 80’s??  3 stars

Moody Blues – I associate the Moody Blues with their pompous, heavily orchestrated b.s. like “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon”, so I was taken aback that this album was pretty good.  I now realize its because this sounds just like an ELO record from the 80’s.  Replace their lead singer’s voice with Jeff Lynne’s and this is vintage ELO.  In fact, I’m not sure “Talkin’ Out of Turn” isn’t ELO.  Didn’t wanna like it, but I did.  3.5 stars

Kinks – One of those bands that you cant do justice to in 20 songs.  “Rock and Roll Fantasy”, “Waterloo Sunset” and “Misfits” are certainly necessities for any Kinks collection.  Conversely, “Black Messiah” and “Im On an Island” wouldn’t make the list of my top 100 Kinks songs.  I’d be curious to hear the rationale behind the selections.  Nonetheless, a grossly underrated band whom I love.  God save the Kinks.