Dreary eyed, and melancholy muses, getting used to bad news, and exaggerated critical acclaims, another hour of rhythms and string strums, light drums and vocal hums. The world is turning slowly, madness ensures on every corner of the globe, forest fires, recalled food products, natural disasters, wars, discord, sorrow, famine and failure, it is all around us. Some look to the sky, some run to their holy books, their holy places, some run straight into the belly of hedonism, others excess and vice. However, on this starry night I look no further than the notes and melodies divine, in each devotional note I find, peace and solitude. Read the rest of this entry »

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Every once in a while you gotta take a leap of faith.  Just give something a listen to that may not be up your alley.  For me, that leap of faith was The Funky Knights.  I have some R&B appreciation in my background.  One of the slickest produced artists I remember (and just plain old liked) was the late Luther Vandross.  His albums were always clean, tight and had that smooth sheen.

I have to say, The Funky Knights come awfully close.  At least when it comes to the instrument production.

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An important album from an important artist. Cover reprinted with permission of Nonesuch records.

You’re reading a review.

About someone you’ve never heard of.

But…

You should know her.

You should know her work.

You should know her work is.

You should know her work is for… YOU!

She is a performance artist, music, dance, theater, comedy, drama, love, hate, technology…  She is a political activist.  But I don’t go near politics and I don’t go near music artists when they sit between their wives and ex-wives.

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Various Artists “Forty One Sixty The Songs of The Shambles” (Blindspot Records 109)

The curious title of this Shambles tribute album stems from the fact that this was the address where the band’s fearless leader, Bart Mendoza, once lived and wrote many of their tunes there. 4160 Bachman Place, San Diego, California was actually the exact location. The Shambles evolved from another great band, Manual Scan, and the disc contains material from both groups. Active from 1980 to 1992, Manual Scan were power popping Mod gods, and when The Shambles came into being shortly after their demise they duly followed suit and are still going strong today. Like the bands that inspired them, Manual Scan and The Shambles concentrate on hooky pop pleasures. Not an ounce of fat cushions their tunes, as they’re short, sometimes sweet and sometimes sassy. Read the rest of this entry »

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Skid Roper “Rock and Roll Part 3” (Blindspot Records 145)

Singer, songwriter and master of a million instruments, Skid Roper initially rose to prominence in the eighties, performing and recording with the wild and wacky Mojo Nixon. Come the nineties, Skid Roper embarked on a solo career, and here’s his third album, the appropriately titled “Rock and Roll Part 3.” Let me being this review by saying those who are already acquainted with Skid Roper will be triply knocked out by the disc, and those who have never heard his work until now are guaranteed to turn into immediate disciples. Read the rest of this entry »

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Over time, there have many great musical artists and from each artist comes an assortment of songs that become an album. In theory the sum of an album should be equal or greater than its parts (songs).  If only this were true.  Today, with streaming audio, and the ability to buy/download single songs, the allure and importance of the album has waned.  Artists might release several EP’s before they release a full length album.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Blue is the new red for THIS year's energy dome. Let's hope there will be more NEW Devo albums like Something For Everybody! Cover reprinted with permission.

De-evolution is real!  De-evolution is the condition under which a society returns to its roots.  When individuals devolve, the basic human instinct kicks in and makes us want to drag our knuckles on the ground, carry a thigh bone of some sun bleached carcass, and appear disgruntled in Geico commercials.

When music devolves, its top performers appear in their underwear flipping the bird at a major league baseball game. (To Lady “MessMess”, I am a Mets fan, I hope every Mets fan that sees you in concert, on the street, with your parents, flips YOU the bird.  The Mets will be around long after your 15 minutes of nudity are over!)

It’s time for common sense, it’s time for transparency in the music business, we are long overdue for some good music, and it is most definitely time, once again, for Devo…

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The Blue Things Story “Volume One 1964-65” (Cicadelic Records 975)

If you lived in the Midwest during the sixties and attended gigs, there’s a good bet you have fond memories of The Blue Things. Based out of Hays, Kansas, the band possessed all the markings of a supergroup. Stellar chops, smart songwriting skills, a sense of adventure and a cool image should have catapulted The Blue Things straight to the top of the charts, but the music business obviously isn’t always fair or kind. The band was even signed to a major label, RCA Records, and aside from producing a rope of righteous singles, they also cut a most excellent album. A Blue Things renaissance occurred in the eighties, as sixties garage rock collectors discovered and championed their efforts. Cicadelic Records, located in Arizona, was the first label to reissue the band’s material on a widespread basis, which eventually resulted in not only a trio of separate installments documenting the many musical phases they went through, but a whopper of a box set. Read the rest of this entry »

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Various Artists “Tribute to JJ Cale Volume 1: The Vocal Sessions” (ZOHO Roots 201007)

Boasting a loyal fan following and seriously respected by fellow musicians, JJ Cale is certainly worthy of a tribute album. Born in Oklahoma, the singer, songwriter and guitarist migrated to Los Angeles in the sixties, where he formed a band called The Leathercoated Minds that recorded an album for the Viva label. Titled “A Trip Down The Sunset Strip,” the disc mainly consisted of psychedelic garage rock hits of the day, and went onto become quite a collector’s item. 1970 saw Eric Clapton cover JJ Cale’s “After Midnight,” which topped the charts and duly provided the fledging artist with widespread recognition. Since then, the two musicians have frequently worked together, and in 2008, their album, “The Road To Escondido” won a Grammy. Swarms of other performers have rendered JJ Cale’s tunes as well, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Santana and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tony Dancy (l), Craig Fairchild (c) and Lanny Hale (r) are the Tygers in human form.

In my course of searching for that ever-elusive new music, sometimes you come across something unique, different, and if you’re lucky, sometimes you come across something with a gimmick to latch onto.

Never mind two!

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Arc Angels are the phenomenal but short lived blues/rock band that formed in Austin, Texas in the early 90’s.  The band was a virtual who’s who of the Texas music scene and was comprised of two home grown guitar talents Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton as well as drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon both of whom played in the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band Double Trouble.  The ARC in the band name is a reference to the Austin Rehearsal Complex where the band members first got together and jammed prior to releasing their self titled debut album. Read the rest of this entry »

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The live album is always a risky proposition.  In years past, it was the other give up album (hello Greatest Hits) that was done to fulfill the contract with the record company.  Not to say that there have not been great live albums but there have been some less than stellar albums that have not quite stood the test of time (“Frampton Comes Alive” anyone?). 

I think, as music has progressed, the live album was a great way for bands to better connect with their audience.  Some bands have earned the reputation as a great “Live” band and the live album was just an obvious avenue for them.  Artists like Phish and The Dave Matthews Band have more live albums in their discography than studio albums.  In 2000 Pearl Jam, in an attempt provide their fans with a better quality and affordable live recording, recorded all of their concerts. 

So, here is a list of great live albums.  This is by no means a list of the greatest live albums, but merely an installment of great live albums. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Big To-Do is the highly anticipated, recently released album by Drive-By Truckers.  The album is solid and Trucker album fans will not be disappointed.  However, there were a few surprise on this album that seem a bit of a departure from their previous work. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sorry, my copy of Belew's e was written all over... BY THE BAND!! (Reprinted with permission from Adrian Belew Presents)

Hi!  Remember me?  I’m the guy who broke the story that King Crimson was rumored to be over because a player in the scenario affixed situations to realities and created a rumored scheduling rift between when Fripp had wanted to do Crimson dates and the subject of this review, the Adrian Belew Power Trio had dates scheduled during that time.  When Fripp became aware of the scheduling rift, he took it as Belew not being as committed to KC as Fripp would have wanted.

Or so it is alleged.  I am not sticking my neck onto that chopping block again…

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Monsters of Folk is the self titled debut album of the musical collaboration of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), M. Ward, and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes).  The album was released in 2009 but the group was percolating back in 2004 while in a mixture of stages of touring with their respective band or as a solo artist.  Due to the diverse schedules and the artist’s core projects, it took almost five years to wrap up the album.  Read the rest of this entry »

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BOSCH are (from l to r) Christopher Brown, Charles Greenleaf, and Kevin Sims. I dig `em daddy-o!

I find it hard to find new music I LIKE.  Yeah, yeah, there are satellite channels, pay-radio, web-radio, TV “music” channels, friends, etc.  But just because there are multiple sources of input does not necessarily yield categorical output.

I like BOSCH.

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For those of you not aware of this, I have the unique fortune of having two very good friends in some influential situations.  The first person I met, then had the great fortune to re-connect with, is author, musician, promoter, and more, Billy James.  The second of these unique folks is Doug Ford of RundgrenRadio.com.

But this blog isn’t about Rundgren (I’ll wait for the cheers to subside).

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One Day as a Lion is the musical collaboration and eponymous debut EP of acid tongue, fire and brimstone, anti politico Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine) and drummer Jon Theodore (Mars Volta).  Read the rest of this entry »

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Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo) and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) teamed up to write and record an album for the documentary “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur”.  While originally set to record a few songs, the process and collaboration was so fruitful that it turned into a full length album which is named after the movie.

With Kerouac’s connection to jazz, both Farrar and Gibbard seem to be an odd choice to write and represent the spirit of Jack.  However, given the tragic nature of the book and Kerouac’s immersion into the depths of alcoholism and debilitating depression, Farrar with his naturally dour vocal styling and proclivity to writing deep emotionally damaged lyrics was a competent selection, while Gibbard seemed an awkward fit with his more melodic voice and previous synth heavy work with The Postal Service.  Read the rest of this entry »

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This year’s top ten list is a bit late.  I will confess that I have been busy setting up a new business venture that is finally starting to provide its own sustainability.  It involves people and things I am not allowed to elaborate on.  While it is something I love to do, it is not music related directly.  Therefore I feel this is an incorrect forum for this and subsequently no need to go into the details.

If you remember last year’s Top Ten, we certainly stirred up some controversy regarding the omission of a certain electronic guitarist due to a scheduling snafu.  For those of you who don’t remember, and due to the fact that their scheduling snafu affected shows that were due to happen this year, that same omission is applicable again this year.  That and the fact that a certain omitted electronic guitarist was asked by a member of the Montreal Gazette about the incident that occurred right here on the blog earlier this year.

So read on, get angry, write me nasty comments and tell me I do drugs and I should be sued for libel.

Been there, done that…

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