At Amanda‘s request, I thought I’d try a worst albums post. Same deal as the best albums game, just the opposite pick. I’ll start with some easy ones and see how it goes: Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour. It falls between the excitment of Revolver and the polish of Sgt Peppers. There’s a lot of great stuff on the album,… Read more »
There are plenty of sad, sad songs out there. “Eleanor Rigby” has its title character who “keeps a smile in a jar by the door” and Father McKenzie who writes the “words to a sermon that no one will hear.” “Jane Says” has Jane who doesn’t know what love is, but only knows “if someone wants her.” “Wish You Were… Read more »
There was something about the last two shows that I went to that was kind of unique: neither featured an encore. Typically, I’m there cheering right along with the rest of the crowd for one more song after a band finishes their set, but at these shows, I left more satisfied than usual even without the expected addendum to the… Read more »
Label: EpicReleased: May 31, 2005 Oasis has expanded their boundaries considerably by stealing from far more than just the Beatles these days. Now, that sounds like a dig, but it’s not. I’ve wondered ever since falling in love with 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory why Oasis can get away with being unrepentant thieves while other bands get dinged for… Read more »
Label: Editions EGReleased: 1982 The near cacaphony of Killing Joke’s music that seems to often be on the verge of being out of control would lead one to believe that they’d be a great live act to see, but a difficult live act to record. Never having seen them myself, Ha does nothing to diminish my belief in the former,… Read more »
Here’s another fun game that Mark came up with. Just pick your favorite band from each pair. My answers are hidden as they were in the best album posts. The Clash vs Sex Pistols: The Clash. This is an easy pick. The Pistols might be important in the grand scheme of punk rock, but they really weren’t that good and… Read more »
I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to like this album. When Toxicity came out in 2001, I was quickly sold on it. It was intense, dynamic and creative and a breath of fresh air for heavy music that was being crushed under the weight of scores of half-baked alt metal acts. But when Steal This Album came out, it raised… Read more »
Here’s another shot at the best album exercise. Same deal as always. Highlight the text to see my choices. Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind (Maybe it’s because this was the first Maiden album I had, but I’ve always felt like this one was the standard to which all their other albums should be compared.) Def Leppard – Pyromania (Yeah,… Read more »
May 14, 2005, Recher Theatre, Towson, Maryland If I had to review each band with one word: Cult of Luna: potential. Death by Stereo: fake. Mastodon: heavy. But I’m not contrained to one word, so here are the details. Cult of Luna opened. They started their set with an echo-laden spacerock piece that went several minutes before singer Klas Rydberg… Read more »
I once thought that any band worth hearing had probably played “Louie Louie” or “Wild Thing” at some point, if not on a recording or live, at least during practice. I’m sure that’s not entirely true, but I bet it’s close. A serach of allmusic.com returned 450 versions of “Louie Louie.” It was apparently inspired by (ripped off from) “El… Read more »