Monday, April 26, 2010

Talking Heads- Talking Heads '77

As part of the first wave of punk rock in New York in the late 1970’s, Talking Heads helped to usher in a new style of music that was unlike anything seen before. Some classify Talking Heads as a new-wave band, but for me, they are a punk band. Not punk as in hard guitars/moshing as seen in the current punk scene, but a whole other animal. It raises the question of what is punk. To me, punk is doing something totally different against mainstream thought and to think for yourself; it’s an attitude, not a T-shirt or style of music. If you look at punk as I do, there is no question that Talking Heads were punk, in their own way.

Ok, with that out of the way, Talking Heads came about in the mid 1970’s after meeting in college in Rhode Island. After moving to New York, the band began playing at the now legendary CBGB’s down in the Bowery. As one of the first bands to make a name for themselves playing at the club, the Heads developed a sound that would set them apart from many of their contemporaries.

The main catalyst of their sound was singer/guitarist David Byrne. His disjointed vocal performance style was a hallmark of the band’s sound. As for the other members of the band at this point, bassist Tina Weymouth utilized a minimal approach to her playing while still creating some timeless bass lines and her husband/drummer Chris Frantz held down the beat while the band went in many different directions. His and Weymouth’s versatility was key for the sound the Heads on subsequent albums.

The most impressive thing about ’77 (released on Sire Records..in 1977) is the fact that the music seems to shift song-to-song. It’s not like they stick to one basic sound and all the songs are tied together. It seems like three or four different styles are present on the album. The art/funk style of Uh-Oh Love comes to Town goes into the second track; New Feeling sounds nothing like the preceding track, it actually seems to have a punk-attitude to it while the music seems to foreshadow the new wave movement by a few years. Psycho Killer is probably the best known track of this album, and while good, it is not the best track on the album. As a album that did something totally different and started an entire new genre of music, Talking Heads ’77 was truly a classic album.

Grade-A-

Friday, April 16, 2010

Eric Clapton- Me and Mr. Johnson

As one of the top guitar players in history, Eric Clapton has been increasing the thinking of what is possible with a rock guitar since the 1960’s. He has recorded albums under his own name since the early 70’s after creating some of the defining songs of the counter-culture movement while a member of Cream. Since his first solo album in 1970, Clapton has released 16 solo albums (18 counting his duel records with BB King and JJ Cale). All have showcased Clapton’s unique skills as both a guitarist as well as a vocalist in multiple styles. He has shown the versatility of playing rock music with Cream, to slow ballads like “Tears in Heaven” during his solo career and the blues, as seen in Me and Mr. Johnson, released in 2004 on Warner Bros. Records.

Robert Johnson was one of the top blues musicians of 1930’s, and was a big influence on Clapton’s style. As a matter of fact, both Johnson and Clapton were in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s “Top 100 Guitarists of All Time” list. As a big fan of the blues and Johnson, in the early 2000’s, Clapton decided to release a blues album, with a twist. The entire album would be covers of Robert Johnson’s songs. As a fan of various types of music, this album intrigued me on many levels. While not a huge blues fan, the idea of one of the top musicians of our time covering another great musician (albeit from another era) was something I had to hear.

The good news was that my father had this in his collection, and I listened to it and was amazed. I’m not sure what’s more incredible, the fact that Clapton created such a solid album from a group of covers or rather that the songs still sound just as emotional and timeless as they were in the 1930’s. Sure they may sound a bit different with today’s recording techniques and with Clapton adding his unique spin to the tunes, but for the most part, it is a good way for the music fan today to hear a style of music that is not very prevalent in popular culture. I can’t think of one negative thing about this album.


Grade- A

Drink Up Buttercup- Born and Thrown on a Hook

Talking to Bassist Ben Money before seeing the band live, he said that Drink Up Buttercup uses lots of keys and bass during their live performance. That is definitely true, but what shocked me when they played was the vocal range of lead singer Jim Harvey. He reminds me somewhat of Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria. During the show, the band played almost every track off Born and Thrown on a Hook, the band’s debut album on Yep Rock Records released in March.

Now as good as the band was live (I told Money after he came off stage that the band was “different” but in a good way), the question would be if the transition from live to CD would be seamless. Fortunately, the album versions of most of the songs are defiantly deeper then they seemed when seeing them in person. The album begins with “Seasickness Pills” which shows off the bands roots in psychedelic rock. It starts out as a rock song and turns into dueling vocals by Harvey and Money near the end with music in the background reminding me of the ambient sounds of Pink Floyd at times.

The vocals as mentioned were great from a technical standpoint, the guys can really hit the high notes. To me though, the rest of the music, while good, was not great. Listening to the album a few times though, you can definitely tell that this was the band’s debut. The bass work by Money was average, no new ground being broken there. The oddest thing about this band is the background noises; I am not sure what to make of them. They really get creative there, as in concert they used everything from normal drums to tambourines to xylophones. As interesting as that is, it’s almost like they were over-doing it with Mike Cammarata pretty much spending the entire album/concert making almost to many sounds in the background. It detracted from the music. Still, for a debut it was good, and this band could have a bright future ahead of them.

Grade- B-

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Freaky Styley (Remastered Edition)

After using guitarist Jack Sherman for their 1983 self-titled debut album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers welcomed back original guitarist Hillel Slovak for Freaky Styley, released in 1985 on EMI Records. Combined with the addition of Slovak and producer George Clinton, the Peppers created the most experimental album in their entire catalog. Mostly based in funk music, Freaky Styley sounds absolutely nothing like the current day Chili Peppers. Dani California, this is not.

Instead, songs like Nevermind and Yertle The Turtle (complete with vocals from the band’s drug dealer at the time) are funky with great bass lines by Flea. As good as his bass playing has been in recent albums, his skills back then where he utilized more slapping/popping techniques have to be heard, there that good.

As mentioned, Hillel Slovak had re-joined the band right before this album was released, and he was a heavy influence on this album. First off, the band sounds much tighter with Slovak playing guitar instead of Sherman. Whether it was the influence of Clinton behind the boards or the fact that he was playing with Flea and singer Anthony Kiedis again will never be known.

What is immediately evident for listeners of this album was that Slovak was an immensely talented guitar player, and Flea was developing into one of the best bassists in rock music. It should also be mentioned that this was the last Chili Peppers album with Cliff Martinez on drums. He played on the first two albums, and in my opinion was underrated as a drummer in the context of the Chili Peppers music.

Freaky Styley is more of a funk/rock record than anything else. The two covers on the album show the versatility of the band, especially the cover of “If You Want Me to Stay” originally by Sly & the Family Stone. The band seemed focused and when comparing the songs on this album to the demos included in the remastered edition, it appears that this album is more indicative of the sound the band wanted as opposed to the self-titled debut.

Grade---B+

Pennywise- Reason to Believe

As the last album with singer Jim Lindberg, Reason to Believe also proves though repeated plays to be the weakest Pennywise album by far. Released though MySpace Records (as a free download on the MySpace website/in stores as a conventional CD on the aforementioned label) domestically and Epitaph Records internationally, it really doesn’t break much new ground for the band. Truthfully, Pennywise’s last three albums could easily be mistaken for one another. Not since “Land of the Free” in 2001 has the band released an album that sounded somewhat fresh.

I have to be honest; the fact that Pennywise has a sound that distinguishes a Pennywise album from one of their contemporaries is a positive thing. It’s also their un-doing. Every song sounds almost too similar from the one that came before it. The first three tracks sound like they are using the same basic beat by drummer Byron McMackin.

The only song on the album that sounds different from all the others is “Confusion”, it is slower and somewhat more melodic. The song proves that McMackin is capable of playing something other than full speed punk rock beats. It still sounds like your typical Pennywise song, only slowed down a bit. This was a good start for the band, but the other 13 songs are carbon-copies of one another.

As for Lindberg, he sounds like he usually does on every other release. He has a good voice for his style, and I have to admit, I like being able to understand every word. That’s a big thing since a lot of “punk” these days includes a singer slurring the words, whereas Lindberg has never done that. Even in the fastest songs, his enunciation is impressive. The lyrics are typical Pennywise, which includes positive progressive ideas and questioning authority’s role in current society.

Even with some of these positives, the negatives far outweigh them and the album is just not worth picking up unless you are a die-hard Pennywise fan. If you do get it, prepare to be disappointed.

Grade---D+

Friday, April 9, 2010

Buckethead- Monsters & Robots

Let me get this out of the way to open the review, I am a Buckethead fan. He has produced many great albums over the years spanning a range of genres. To me, Population Override is his best album, and there will be a review of that at some point. Anyway, I have to say, as much as I enjoy most of what he does, this album just doesn’t pull me in. Don’t get me wrong, the guitar playing is great, but at the same time, the record just doesn’t seem like a cohesive unit, more like a collection of songs. It was released in 1999 on CyberOctave Records.

This album is an example of Buckethead’s more metal-influenced side. “Jump Man” opens the album, and it is probably the top song on it. It is pretty much a kind of summery of his career to date. It contains some great guitar work with plenty of studio influenced effects. I haven’t heard the song live, however it probably wouldn’t sound like the studio version. That’s not a bad thing, as he improvises during every show, so no two shows are completely the same.

The most disappointing song for me on the album is definitely “Who Me?” It starts out as a very quiet acoustic guitar piece, not unlike anything off his album Colma. Then it sounds as if he breaks a string, and makes an odd noise that is quite offsetting like a high-pitched “uh”. Very weird and it throws off what has the potential to have been one of the top cuts on the album.

Another song that should be mentioned is “The Ballad of Buckethead”. That song is unlike anything you’re going to hear on any of his other albums. Pretty much it tells the “story of Buckethead” (with vocals by Primus’s Les Claypool) which mentions how he was raised in a cage with chickens. For those not in the know, Buckethead’s website discusses how he was raised with chickens in a cage (hence the song title/lyrics)


Grade- C-

Black Flag- Damaged

The first wave of punk rock had crested by 1981, but around that time a slew of groups came up from the underground practically inventing a new genre “hardcore”. On the cutting-edge of the movement was Black Flag, who went through three singers before Henry Rollins joined the band and soon after Damaged was released on SST Records.

It’s been almost 30 years since the album has come out, and it has lost none of its intensity. Sure there have been albums that were louder (the album is mixed kind of low), but most of them seem like cheap rip-offs of Damaged. It’s funny to look at what passes for “punk rock” these days and compare it to this album as well as other bands from this era. Most bands today are all about looking “punk” and not creating music that brings something new and fresh to the table.

Greg Ginn wrote most of the music, and his guitar playing expanded the parameters of what people considered possible in punk rock. Whereas before, punk was three-chords and that’s about it, Ginn took the music in a totally different direction (more evident on subsequent Black Flag albums) that showed punk could be layered and was more than just young adult’s playing basic riffs and bitching about society.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of anger on this album, and the lyrics at times may seem very clichéd but even at those moments, with Rollins’s delivery of the words, they seem to take on a new meaning. A former ice-cream store manager turned punk rock vocalist, Rollins’s vocal style is clearer than many during that time period, especially when heard live.

Seeing that this album is pretty legendary (it was in Rolling Stone’s Top 500 albums ever), it is pretty hard to pick a top song. For the purpose of this Blog, I am going to go with “Room 13” if for no other reason than the fact that it was the first song I heard from this album.

Grade---A

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Nirvana- Nevermind

I almost hesitated to review this album since what more can be said about one of the most influential albums of the last 20 years? Released in 1991 on Geffen Records, it took rock music into a totally different direction. The “Hair Metal” scene of the late 80’s seemed passé after Kurt Cobain and his crew assaulted the ears of suburban America.

As Nirvana’s first major label release, the band blended punk and metal, added some Seattle flavor and went into the studio to make the album that defined the early 1990’s. Looking back at the band, Krist Novoselic was a talented bassist, Dave Grohl was a great drummer, and Cobain was competent enough on guitar to make it work, while possessing a voice that perfectly fit the music, if nothing else.

The album beings with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, and to be honest, even though I have heard the song literally thousands of times, whenever it is on the radio or on my Ipod via shuffle, it’s always worth a listen. When it comes to songs that don’t get press, “Territorial Pissings” is the most underrated song on the album. With a pounding beat by Grohl, who was at his best in this song, and Cobain combining singing with a howl that brings to mind “Enter A Uh”, it is truly a Nirvana classic that not enough people heard.

Was it the album that created the alternative music scene in the USA in the 1990s and into the current day? Some may argue yes, some no. I see it somewhere in the middle. Nevermind was an album that was ‘alternative” in the purest sense of the word. In that sense it was the start of the movement. Still there were bands like Jane’s Addiction that had created masterpieces in the late 1980s and it can be argued that Nevermind was the tipping point of the revolution. Overall, it was a great album that has stood the test of time. Almost 20 years later, it still sounds as fresh as it did in 1991.

Thanks to Jim Dutch for the Japanese import version of this album.

Grade—A-

Saturday, April 3, 2010

"Macho Man" Randy Savage- Be a Man

Of all the albums in existence, Be a Man may be the most unintentionally hilarious disc ever produced. For those not in the know, “Macho Man” was a popular WWF wrestler in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Most people would know him simply as the guy who told America to “Snap into a Slim Jim” in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s. Anyway, where to begin with this album that was released in 2003 though Big 3 Records…

First off, the fact that I have this album says a lot about me. What it says, I do not know. I don’t like wrestling on any level, but after being “recommended” by a friend I decided to give it a shot. The album sucks, plain and simple. “Macho Man” spends most of the disc slamming Hulk Hogan. Apparently they had some kind of feud since he keeps challenging Hogan. Again, as a person who knows nothing about wrestling or anything, I have to be honest…I don’t get it.

It does have one of the best lines in the history of music however…

“Hollywood Hulkster, your at the end of your rope so I’m gonna kick you in the butt and wash your mouth out with soap…” (from the track “Be A Man”)

In terms of his rapping ability, there is none to be found here. His voice is raspy and like I said, listening to the music makes it impossible to take him seriously on any level. In terms of humor though, if you think of the album as some kind of joke, it’s ALMOST passable. Until you look at the cover….

Grade----F

Friday, April 2, 2010

Oingo Boingo- Good for Your Soul

Ask most people about the first thing that comes to mind regarding Danny Elfman and you will get a myriad of answers. Most will remember his film scores as well as being the man behind the iconic theme song for the TV show The Simpsons. Most under 25 (and even many over that age) will have no clue that Elfman was once in a new-wave band.

Oingo Boingo actually started out their career under the moniker of The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and won $516.32 on the Gong Show (without being gonged). After some line-up changes and the shortening of the name, the band created some very solid albums. Good for Your Soul, released in 1983 through A&M Records, it is one of those albums that not that many people have heard recently, seeing as that it has been out of print for some time.

Danny Elfman’s vocal style, while being unique can be seen as if he is just performing stylized speech, rather than singing. At the same time, he does show off his skills as a singer on numerous occasions, as seen in a song like No Spill Blood. The album for the most part is hard to describe. In some ways it seems like a product of its era, while in other it seems ahead of its time. That seems to be a contradiction, but it really is the best way to describe the album.

Take the track Cry of the Vatos for example. Most of it sounds like it is in a jungle, with birds chirping and other animal noises going on with an almost tropical drum beat in the background. In addition to the drums and ambient sounds, a horn section comes in which combines with some odd chanting to create an auditory “experience”. It is truly an experience to hear, especially when you hear the rest of the quirks that the album has. If you get a shot, just listen to Cry if you can…sums up the entire album; very unusual, however somewhat compelling.

Grade---C+

Thursday- Full Collapse

When looking back at certain times in your life, there is usually an album or two that really defines that moment. For me, Full Collapse is one of those albums. Released through Victory Records in 2001, it came out just as the line between “hardcore punk” and “emo” was blurring. Looking at the band as they perform live, and listening to their music on a basic level, one could assume that Thursday is like any other post hardcore/emo bands that came out during that time and the years since.

What puts Thursday above other bands of their genre? Certainly not the lyrics, as they deliver the typical teenage angst that is sickeningly prevalent in so much music these days. Rather it is singer Geoff Rickly’s performance of the lyrics. He is actually a very competent singer, which is more than can be said by many other bands. Pro-Tools can make any singer sound good (Panic at the Disco anyone?), but after seeing Thursday live and hearing them on their live EP, it is evident that Rickly has a good voice for his genre.

Full Collapse features a duel-guitar attack from Tom Keeley and Steve Pedulla who also provide the back-up vocals. To be honest, most of their “vocals” is pretty much your typical “guitarist who screams”, but they do it well. The most impressive aspect of their guitar playing is during Understanding in a Car Crash, where the two guitars solo really shows off the pair’s talent.

Thursday has released three full-length albums of new material since Full Collapse. During that time, the band has not reached the heights of Full Collapse again, since it seems that on every subsequent album, the band is slowly turning into a cookie-cutter emo band. Sure there are some good songs still coming, but in terms of a pure album from beginning to end, Full Collapse is still Thursday’s best.

Grade--- B+

John Frusicante- The Empyrean

Following a flurry of albums in 2004, guitarist John Frusicante took some time off from his solo career to focus on the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After the band released Stadium Arcadium in 2006, the band embarked on a two year world tour, after which, the Peppers went on hiatus. In 2009, Frusicante released his 10th solo studio album, through Record Collection.

Popping on the headphones for the first listen, the album begins with a nine minute solo guitar piece which brings to mind Eddie Hazel’s performance of Maggot Brain. It is a solid start to the record and is almost haunting in its simplicity. Not to say it is a basic set of notes, however the feeling it invokes is simple yet deep.

One thing that strikes many long-time listeners of Frusicante’s solo works is the improvement in his vocal range over the years. The albums he released while addicted to heroin consisted of mostly off note vocals, mixed in with some screeches. Rolling Stone said in a 2004 album review (post-drugs) that “He (Frusicante) now sounds more like Cat Stevens then a caterwauling homeless dude”. On this record, he shows off his falsetto that fans of the Chili Peppers have heard throughout the years, but even more impressive is his control over his voice, shifting from high to low in the same song.

Other key tracks include a cover of Tim Buckely’s Song to the Siren, which turns that classic into a long winding road of emotion, as well as Dark/Light. With appearances by former band mate Flea, and friend/frequent collaborator Josh Klinghoffer, the album is layered quite nicely. It is not just Frusciante singing with a solo guitar a la Dashboard Confessional, rather it has a depth to it that even Frusicante’s other albums lack.

Grade----A