Label: TurnReleased: 2005 To be a truly great record, an album would have to transcend its genre and appeal to music fans in a nearly universal way. It has to be the kind of album that I’d give to someone and say, “I know you don’t like such-and-such-a-genre, but you have to hear this anyway.” If there’s a case to… Read more »
August 12, 2005, Ottobar, Baltimore, MD I’d been looking forward to this show since I saw it on the Ottobar site a few months ago all because of one Holly Golightly song, “Your Love is Mine.” The song is just that good. It’s probably hard for a show to really live up to the expectations of one great song, but… Read more »
I was going through some old mp3s the other day and I stumbled across Saxon doing “Court of the Crimson King.” I fully expected it to suck and I think that was a reasonable expectation. Saxon is a decent band, but they’re a down-in-the-trenches metal band playing rock in it’s most distilled but uneventful form, not an avante garde band… Read more »
July 10, 2005, Recher Theatre, Towson, Maryland Fifteen to twenty years ago, I would have looked forward to this show with unbridled enthusiasm. Sunday night, I was excited to see hardcore legends GBH, but only cautiously optimistic. Would they still exude the energy of their great 80s albums or would they just seem like old men going through the motions… Read more »
The best thing about 2003’s Elephant was that it was a near perfect celebration of 70s hard rock, paying homage without simply emulating, delivering rock in its purest form. The downside was that it really didn’t stretch out beyond hard rock and garage influences. Get Behind Me Satan is just the opposite. It stretches further, but lacks the punch of… Read more »
Okay, I know that emo’s been sputtering at best for at least the last four years or so, but I don’t think the last nail was in the coffin until now. Plenty of groups have jumped on the bandwagon and rehashed stuff with what is at best a slightly personal touch. It’s been old for awhile. When A New Found… Read more »
Since Battle of the Bands generated by far the most interest of any recent post I’ve made (with a whopping 7 comments), here’s another shot at it. The Who vs The Kinks: The Who. I really like the Kinks, but the Who have whole albums that are better than any Kinks tune. The Kinks would win for best Christmas song… Read more »
Label: PeacefrogReleased: May 11, 2004 There are really two kinds of novelty covers. One is purely a joke. There’s no love for the original or for the style into which it’s been re-arranged. Richard Cheese’s Lounge Against the Machine is like that. It takes 80s/90s alt rock and turns it into lounge music. I doubt Mr. Cheese loves either the… Read more »
I realized that I left ratings off of my reviews. I dunno if that’s a good thing or not, but I’m going to go back and them to the most recent ones if anyone’s curious. If anyone thinks it’s better off without ratings, let me know and I’ll reconsider.
Label: BMGReleased: May 2005 (on Rhapsody) I’ve listened to this track a few times now and it’s good. Just like every Foo Fighters song is good. But it makes me realize why I always find my way abck to the first two albums when I feel like listening to them. All the albums are good, but they’re also all very… Read more »