Label: Arclight Records Released: 2007 Over the course of rock history, “Louie Louie” has been covered countless times. Its simplicity and infectious hook make it an easy task for even the most pedestrian bands. On the other hand, to my knowledge, only one band has covered Lungfish’s “You Are the War.” There’s a few reasons: Lungfish is fairly far outside… Read more »
Label: Arclight Records Released: November 13, 2007 Some bands cover songs, others rename songs, but Magnet School has made an album out of a song. At no point do they play or even directly lift anything from “Bullet the Blue Sky,” but its presence is profound throughout. Magnet School captures the blues, rock, psychedelia and even the passion of U2’s… Read more »
Label: Exile Productions Ltd. Released: November 6, 2007 In over 40 years of performing, Van Morrison has released records on a variety of labels. Until now, there has apparently not been a best of culled from his entire catalog. Still on Top is a single volume anthology of Van the Man’s hits ranging from his time in the mid-60s with… Read more »
Label: Severe Records Released: December 4, 2007 A superficial reaction to Paris Luna’s City Lights might be to dismiss it as light folk rock. While it does have a few nods to bands best left forgotten like America, there is more behind it. Over the course of the album, Paris dabbles in folky pop, bluesy rock, light funk and soul… Read more »
Label: Metal Mind Productions Re-issued: 2007 Metal Mind Productions has recently re-issued Gang Green’s Roadrunner catalog on limited edition CDs. While this period may be just past their prime (1985’s Another Wasted Night), they still find Gang Green in high gear. You Got It is a lot closer to its predecessor than I remembered and it remains one of the… Read more »
Label: Released: November 13, 2007 Is there really such a thing as a comprehensive Led Zeppelin box? Yeah, it’s nine discs and includes I, II, III, IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through the Out Door in their entirety (I think we can let Coda and The Song Remains the Same slide). Of course that’s the… Read more »
Label: Metal Blade Records Released: October 2, 2007 When I saw that Lizzy Borden had a new album coming out, I had mixed expectations. While I liked several of their early albums despite the silly theatrics, I began to lose interest in the late 80s and didn’t even pay attention to their thin output over the last 17 or so… Read more »
Label: Holden Records Released: 2007 There is no real question that mash-ups are a novelty. Unlike a song that merely contains samples, a mash-up relies strictly on the strength of the songs that are colliding. True, there is some talent to hearing that two songs will work together and then mixing them into one. However, the result is never greater… Read more »
Label: Kinger Recordings Released: September 11, 2007 Considering the album cover, a not-so-clever Pink Floyd parody, I had relatively low expectations for Cheater Pint. It didn’t take long for the music to change that though. Cheater Pint play raw tunes that at times conjure up images of X, the Replacements, the Ramones, Cheap Trick and late-Angry Samoans even. The common… Read more »
Label: Rhino Released: November 13, 2007 A cover here and there isn’t a bad thing and often playing covers helps a band know itself. But there’s a big difference between the occasional cover that pops up on an album or a live set and releasing a whole album of someone else’s songs. This trend, similar to the current trend of… Read more »