Free Week #8




Weezer(The Red Album)[Deluxe Version-Extra Tracks]

The truth is that when I started this web-sight it was with the intention of buying nothing but cd versions of albums.I am no longer doing that.Buying music is so much cheaper on line.I don't get liner notes...rockin' art...but the sad fact is that that is rarely given out on the cd format anymore.Another on line bitch is that 'on line' purchases add extra tracts that the cd doesn't include.

As a cd buyer...that sucks.Pay more-get less.

In fact...the whole cd format:the former music holy land...sucks.

But I will leave that for another post.

So...as I was saying...extra tracks are usually not worth the price of admission....yeah..they usually suck...better without them.

Not here.'Miss Sweeney';'Pig';'The Spider' and 'King' are legitimately in contention for the best songs on this 'on line' album.

But this is Weezer,here....all of it is good.'Troublemaker' is a back to their roots,'Clashish meets Weezer mix...nice.

The next tune,'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived(Variations On A Shaker Hymn) is an acquired taste...but I like it.Different is good.

In the days before 'The Flight Of The Conchords' ruled 'YouTube',the conglomerate of the weirdness was king.You have to love Weezer's first single and video release,'Pork and Beans'.It really brings you back to the golden days of ....last year...fun and funny stuff:THAT ROCKS!

Now that we are put in the mood for nostalgia,Weezer gives us,'Heart Songs'.The boys(Rivers Cuomo,Patrick Wilson,Brian Bell,and Scott Shriner) aren't afraid to announce their musically influences.

The thing that I like about Weezer is that you know that you are listening to Weezer.'Everybody Get Dangerous' and 'Dreamin' prove this while also proving that the Weezer sound is wide and varied.

On the other hand,'Thought I Knew',isn't very Weezer-ish at all.

This is what I like about Weezer...fearless.

But,don't worry,the very next song,'Cold Dark World',is a Weezer masterpiece.

'Automatic' is ...automatic.

Finally,my cd format on line purchase's final regular song is,'The Angel and The One',an almost Wilco-ish sounding song(in part)...long and good.

I have been jamming to this weezer product all week.



A-

Free Week #7


MY MORNING JACKET:Evil Urges



I am a rocker.I rock out.

I am not a indie rocker/I like pop music.

No,nix that.I like good music.Labels are for fools and followers.

No.Nix that.Everyone has a right to enjoy music the way they seem fit.You have a right not to like any group for any reason.

It seems,'Evil Urges',has gotten it's fair share of this elitism backlash....and,in my humble opinion,it doesn't deserve one iota of it.

I am a rocker.I rock out.So does My Morning Jacket on their,'Evil Urges' cd.It is a rocker.This cd was born to be played in concert.

No,MMJ does not play it totally safe on this recording.They take chances.If this is your gripe about this album,then perhaps you should go back and listen to the other MMJ cd's....then come back and listen here,again.

It's not that growth is always necessarily always good...it's just that stagnation seemingly is always bad.

The song,'Evil Urges' is what I call a 'set-up' song.It not only sets up the whole album,but a few songs in particular(ie 'Highly Suspicious').In doing so,it stands out on it's own.I-like almost everyone else-compares front man,Jim James,falsetto to Prince.A-just as likely-comparison is to Paul McCartney mimicking Little Richard.This song would make a great openner to any concert.The jam at the end is worth the price of admission itself.

Speaking of 'Highly Suspicious',it is a fun energetic tune.Maybe,it is because I am planning on going to see the new 'Batman' movie tonight,but I am equating it with Heath Ledger's Joker in it's mad-cap laissez faire attitude.

'I'm Amazed',is a more typical My Morning Jacket production.Is questioning some MMJ fans lack of faith?Just 'cuz a few songs are different,you're gonna a blow off the whole cd?

Come on.

Grown up.

The whole cd is a diverse conglomerate of all of the My Morning Jacket repertoire.In fact,it is fun just listening to them expand and grow.

'Libraian'is just a nice song-Bobby Goldsbrough-esque.Of course,I mean this in a good way.

I am a rocker.I rock out.That is why I like both,'Alumium Park' and 'Remnants'.

I also like songs that build and climb and then jam their little hearts out.That is why I like,'Smokin'From Shootin',and,'Touch Me I'm Gonna Scream Pt. II'(There is allot of Pinkamus Floydamus','Echoes', on Pt.II).

All and all,just a fantastic album by My Morning Jacket....now,of I could only find a way to go see them in Colorado with the Black Keys....

A

FREE WEEK #6

Carly Simon:This Kind Of Love

Carly Simon-like her fellow journeyman wordsmith,Neil Diamond-has come out with a fantastic album in what is supposed to be the 'twilight' of her career.

Maybe,it is being at the point where record sales aren't the most important aspect of her music that makes it easier for her to create such good music.Maybe it just the vast amount of writing,singing,recording,experience that makes this cd seem such a pleasure.Perchance,maybe,it is just a case of all of the elements falling into place at the right time.

Whatever the reason(s),this is a great cd.Carly Simon shines here.

I like albums that grow on me.Two examples of this are,'London Calling',by The Clash,and 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot',by Wilco.There is something fresh and exciting about music that you have to actually listen to repeatedly to fully grasp.

As a proud owner of every Carly Simon album,I can truefully say that almost every Carly album seems that way.The first couple of listens of her new stuff never seems as enjoyable as the third,forth,etc.Maybe because Ms.Simon usually makes her music seem so effortless and spur of the moment...like she's making it up(or nearly so)as she goes along.

This is a plus for me.Though there can be a certain charm to over produced/over rehearsed/over rehashed music,in the pop music world, that is not often the case.There are few things that I hate more then music that has been 'blanded' to death.

That is definitely not the case here.The more times you listen to this cd,the more you like it.

'People say A Lot' is one of my favorite songs of the year.It is so new on so many levels...and fun:-) At almost six and a half minutes long,it is already a rule breaker.It sends a funny,but sober message on getting ahead...or maybe just being in the rat race....whatever...With voice overs,etc...I haven't heard another song like this(except maybe Neil Diamond's 6:04 opus,'Don't Go There') all year long.

It just makes me think how much classic rock/adult contemporary radio sucks!Yeah,I love,'You're So Vain' and 'Nobody Does It Better', as much of the next guy...but Geez Us...without playing artist's new stuff...it all becomes so...stagnant after a while.Play some new stuff,will ya!?!

Carly Simon was supposed to had been influenced by Brazilian music on this collection.I don't know enough about that genre to truthfully tell you to what extent she achieves this.However,I do enjoy the nature of this beast,mellow,yet bold{gulp...sounds like I'm describing a cup of coffee}..Very nice.

Songs that stand out are,'How Can You Ever Forget';'Hola Soleil' and 'When We're Together'.

Another song that deserves mention is,'They Just Want You To Be There',a very trueful(in my experiences,anyway) song about being a good parent.Simple advice,but a different kind of love song.

We won't talk about the Michael Jackson sounding,'So Many People To Love'.Sssh,just don't mention it.


A

Cold Play

VIVA LA VIDA


For the ones of you that only know 'Cold Play' by the songs,'Yellow' & 'The Scientist',you maybe somewhat surprised by the sounds coming off this cd.The fans of 'Cold Play's other cd's,on the other hand,will be more than pleasantly surprised.They will be tickled.

That's a good thing.

'Viva' is not a concept album-so to speak-but there are some common threads running throughout it.

I'll give one.The song,'Cemeteries Of London'is,in my opinion,about the fog rolling in...perhaps 'Passover' fashion.The lyrics:"I see god come in my garden but I don’t know what he said/For my heart it wasn’t open",pretty much sums up the jest of it....very visual.

Yet,what a tangled web we{they}weave.On,'Violet Hill',Cold Play sings,"And the fog, became God."See,it's very subtle,but it is there.

I will leave it up to you to find other such tidbits.

Another theme could be said to be the feeling of hope held within hopelessness.Perhaps,hope is not the exact word that I am looking for.These songs leap Psalm like with a glory in sorrow and despair.As if these feelings are O-K to feel.It is this allowance that produces the release of relief.In this relief is the beauty akin to hope.

Two prime examples of this are ,'Yes' and 'Viva La Vida'.Both very touching and beautiful songs.

Another Psalm like song is,'Death And All His Friends'.You can't find more powerful lyrics then these:"No I don't want to battle from the year to end I don't want to cycle and recycle revenge I don't want to follow death and all of his friends".

One of my favorite songs is,'Strawberry Swing'.What a positive upbeat tune.

The most Cold Play-ish sounding song probably is ,'Lost'."Your a big fish in a little pond....I'm just waiting till the shine wears off"

I don't understand the significance of the title of,'42',but I love it's sentiments...."Those who are dead/Are not dead/They're just living in my head,"and then the happy up-tempo switch to,"You thought you might be a ghostYou didn't get to heaven but you made it close,"Just great happy stuff.

If you were not a Cold Play fan before,after 'Viva La Vida' you will be.

A