California and Hansa Ton, Berlin, Germany. With a keen sense of the absurd, Black Francis's (now Frank Black) Pixies were the consummate darlings of the music press--no surprise, with their refreshing mix of overblown guitars, discreet nods to the surreal and a vibrant grasp of pure pop that offered a luscious blow to the senses on execution. "Cecilia Ann" stood somewhere between spandex metal and Beach Blanket Bingo, while the deranged singalong of "Is She Weird" sat alongside the first single, "Velouria," underlining their ability to write timeless singles that filled the head and sent toes tapping incessantly out of time. A recent compilation confirmed their standing.
Pixies - Bossanova
year 1990 review:Recorded at Cherokee, Aire and Silverlake, Los Angeles,
California and Hansa Ton, Berlin, Germany. With a keen sense of the absurd, Black Francis's (now Frank Black) Pixies were the consummate darlings of the music press--no surprise, with their refreshing mix of overblown guitars, discreet nods to the surreal and a vibrant grasp of pure pop that offered a luscious blow to the senses on execution. "Cecilia Ann" stood somewhere between spandex metal and Beach Blanket Bingo, while the deranged singalong of "Is She Weird" sat alongside the first single, "Velouria," underlining their ability to write timeless singles that filled the head and sent toes tapping incessantly out of time. A recent compilation confirmed their standing.
California and Hansa Ton, Berlin, Germany. With a keen sense of the absurd, Black Francis's (now Frank Black) Pixies were the consummate darlings of the music press--no surprise, with their refreshing mix of overblown guitars, discreet nods to the surreal and a vibrant grasp of pure pop that offered a luscious blow to the senses on execution. "Cecilia Ann" stood somewhere between spandex metal and Beach Blanket Bingo, while the deranged singalong of "Is She Weird" sat alongside the first single, "Velouria," underlining their ability to write timeless singles that filled the head and sent toes tapping incessantly out of time. A recent compilation confirmed their standing.
David Bowie - Reality
year 2003 review:"New Killer Star" was nominated for the 2004 Gramm
y Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Based on the success David Bowie had by resurrecting his collaborative relationship with producer Tony Visconti on 2002's stellar HEATHEN, Bowie returned to the well with Visconti for its follow-up, Reality . The result finds this New York City resident using his adopted hometown and cozy domestic life as impetus for another batch of fine millennial manna. Featuring the backing of talented musicians such as guitarist Earl Slick, pianist Mike Garson, and drummer Sterling Campbell, the sound that permeates these 11 songs ranges from the SCARY MONSTERS-era shuffle of "Never Get Old" to the stripped-down, late-night lounge aura of "Bring Me the Disco King," a song dappled by Garson's piano runs and dusted off by Bowie after laying around for a decade. Balancing the sorrow of the sparse "The Loneliest Guy" with a sunnier mood, Bowie tips his hat to Jonathan Richman and George Harrison by way of eclectic covers of, respectively, "Pablo Picasso" and "Try Some, Buy Some," a little-known Harrison composition originally cut as a Ronnie Spector single. Avoiding the nostalgia treadmill that's mired down many of his peers, Bowie has instead used Reality as yet another stepping-stone to latter-day greatness.
y Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Based on the success David Bowie had by resurrecting his collaborative relationship with producer Tony Visconti on 2002's stellar HEATHEN, Bowie returned to the well with Visconti for its follow-up, Reality . The result finds this New York City resident using his adopted hometown and cozy domestic life as impetus for another batch of fine millennial manna. Featuring the backing of talented musicians such as guitarist Earl Slick, pianist Mike Garson, and drummer Sterling Campbell, the sound that permeates these 11 songs ranges from the SCARY MONSTERS-era shuffle of "Never Get Old" to the stripped-down, late-night lounge aura of "Bring Me the Disco King," a song dappled by Garson's piano runs and dusted off by Bowie after laying around for a decade. Balancing the sorrow of the sparse "The Loneliest Guy" with a sunnier mood, Bowie tips his hat to Jonathan Richman and George Harrison by way of eclectic covers of, respectively, "Pablo Picasso" and "Try Some, Buy Some," a little-known Harrison composition originally cut as a Ronnie Spector single. Avoiding the nostalgia treadmill that's mired down many of his peers, Bowie has instead used Reality as yet another stepping-stone to latter-day greatness.
Smashing pumpkins - Siamese dream
year 93 review: Siamese Dream seems to follow some sort of mood trip; it begins sarcastic, dark and angst-ridden, it flows into remorseful and depressing, then into surreal and poetic with no real theme, and ends on a wistful and romantic tone. The zenith of the depressiveness peaks at the acoustic, cello driven, theatrical Disarm, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain as jazz-infused drumming is dismissed for dramatic bell chimes. Siamese Dream is a collage of moods and feelings as well as music, one moment lashing out at someone in fuzz-ridden rage, the other embracing that same person romantically in dreamy atmospheres. From the head banging and complex Geek U.S.A. to the simple and contemplative Mellotron driven Spaceboy, the album varies a lot, but doesn at go totally out of whack in variety like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Smashing Pumpkins, like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine created waves of lush guitar sounds to craft a symphonic album, even in the simpler songs like.
Morrissey - Suedehead
year 97 review: 17 digitally remastered singles from the erstwhile leader of one of the premier early 80's British indie groups, The Smiths. Features 'Everyday is Sunday', 'We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful', 'Suedehead', 'The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get' & more.
The Ataris - Welcome The Night
Welcome the Night is The Ataris' fifth studio album & long delayed follow_up to the previous_release So Long, Astoria.
1. “The First Elegy”
2. “Begin Again from the Beginning”
3. “Cardiff-by-the-Sea”
4. “Secret Handshakes”
5. “When All Else Fails, It Fails”
6. “The Cheyenne Line”
7. “We All Become Smoke”
8. “Not capable of love”
9. “From the Last, Last Call”
10. “A Soundtrack for this Rainy Morning”
11. “New Year’s Day”
12. “Whatever Lies Will Help You Rest”
13. “The Ghost of Last December”
14. “Welcome the Night”
15. “Act Five, Scene Four; and So It Ends Like It Began”
1. “The First Elegy”
2. “Begin Again from the Beginning”
3. “Cardiff-by-the-Sea”
4. “Secret Handshakes”
5. “When All Else Fails, It Fails”
6. “The Cheyenne Line”
7. “We All Become Smoke”
8. “Not capable of love”
9. “From the Last, Last Call”
10. “A Soundtrack for this Rainy Morning”
11. “New Year’s Day”
12. “Whatever Lies Will Help You Rest”
13. “The Ghost of Last December”
14. “Welcome the Night”
15. “Act Five, Scene Four; and So It Ends Like It Began”
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
year 95 review: Wowee Zowee is not without its faults, but it’s a delightful artifact. Sordid Sentinels excavates it and enhances it. Simply put, it's the reissue of the year, the third time that Pavement can flaunt such a claim. More importantly, it, in my mind, proves Pavement to be the unequivocal best band of the 90s. Not only did they release four great albums, but three of those have been reissued so extensively, carefully, and properly that they have rewritten the rules of how a band can be great, even after they have ceased to exist.
Ween - Craters Of The Sac
year 99 review: By 1993's major label debut Pure Guava, Ween had distilled their unique mix of eclectic pop and crazed humor to its essence. GodWeenSatan: The Oneness and The Pod were fascinating, but occasionally frustrating albums; at 19 songs, Pure Guava is more polished and concise, but it's still sprawling and occasionally sick, featuring the fuzzed-out "Touch My Tooter" and the five-minute noise-burst "Mourning Glory," a tale of pumpkin-smoking gone horribly awry. Though "I Play It Off Legit" -- a muttered conversation set to atmospheric keyboards -- and the rhythmic, bass-heavy "The Goin' Gets Tough From The Getgo" could have appeared on The Pod, most of Pure Guava's songs have a poppy, accessible sheen. Fragmented, distorted tracks like "Big Jilm," "Flies On My Dick" and the live favorite "Poop Ship Destroyer" benefit from the album's cleaner production, giddily mixing catchiness and silliness. If The Pod was influenced by the band's Scotchguard habit, Pure Guava sounds like it was recorded while Dean and Gene were huffing helium; it's fast, shiny and crisp, particularly on the hyper rant "Pumpin' 4 the Man" and the minor alternative rock hit "Push Th' Little Daisies." Ween's prog-rock fascination surfaces on "The Stallion, Pt. 3" and on "Don't Get 2 Close To My Fantasy," which sports wonderfully inane lyrics like "Stare into the lion's eyes / And if you taste the candy / You'll get to the surprise." In the midst of this weirdness, the sweet, seemingly genuine ballad "Sarah" feels like the album's strangest song. With Pure Guava, Ween moved away from the snippets of random craziness that defined their first two albums toward a more organized style. Considering Elektra released it, it's just as uncompromising as their previous work, but it hints at just how much further they could go with their music.
Counting Crows - Recovering the Satellites
year 96 review: "This is a great book to play out of, but if you're looking for the exact same parts you hear on the cd (like the piano in "long december"), remember it's not transcribed, so there are some spots with added-in accompaniment instead of note-for-note transcriptions. "
Steely Dan - Aja
year 77 review: When Fagen and Becker started working on the Aja album in late 1976 the rock world was still divided from the disco world in no uncertain terms. After Aja was released in October 1977 the lines were blurred forever. I believe as a consequence, Aja, is perhaps the single most important album of the last quarte century of the 20th Century. It is a brilliant amalgam of what the rock, pop and jazz worlds had created up 'til then.....and to top it off, what a nice bunch of guys! Fagen, Becker, Katz, Nichols, Rainey, Marotta, Purdie and the rest are modest, humorous and very talented. Bravo!
Janis Joplin - Trouble In Mind
year 68 review: Janis Joplin brought her powerful, bluesy voice from Texas to San Francisco´s psychedelic scene, where she went from drifter to superstar. She has been called "the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation". Joplin´s vocal intensity proved a perfect match for the high-energy music of Big
Brother and the Holding Company, resulting in a mix of blues, folk and psychedelic rock. Joplin´s tenure with Big Brother may have been brief, lasting only from 1966 to 1968, but it yielded a pair of albums that included the milestone "Cheap Thrills". Moreover, her performance with Big Brother at 1967´s Monterey International Pop Festival, a highlight of the film documentary Monterey Pop, is among the great performances in rock history.
Here´s a bootleg collecting recordings Jorma Kaukonen´s home in Austin, Texas (spring 1965 and December 1964), from Monterey (June 1967) and San Francisco (December 1968).
Brother and the Holding Company, resulting in a mix of blues, folk and psychedelic rock. Joplin´s tenure with Big Brother may have been brief, lasting only from 1966 to 1968, but it yielded a pair of albums that included the milestone "Cheap Thrills". Moreover, her performance with Big Brother at 1967´s Monterey International Pop Festival, a highlight of the film documentary Monterey Pop, is among the great performances in rock history.Here´s a bootleg collecting recordings Jorma Kaukonen´s home in Austin, Texas (spring 1965 and December 1964), from Monterey (June 1967) and San Francisco (December 1968).
Elvis Costello - very best of
year 2001 review: Sure, there's no time sequence. Sure, some of his better songs aren't included(nothing from Juliet Letters or Kojak Variety), but i think this is necessary for any Declan fan! Some hard-to-find stuff, like the magnificent "That Day Is Done" can be found here, along with "Watching The Detectives", "Oliver's Army", etc. I listen to this one as often as I can! For any E.C. fan!
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
year 88 review: I have to say I agree its flawless execution of the garage rock ethic is what has cemented its place in history. It is always the first album, I recommend to any friend I know who is trying to get into music, and it is the only album I have ever found (besides maybe maudlin of the Well s Bath") that I can listen to for an entire day and not get bored of. Surfer Rosa" is basically the interpretation of surf rock, by a bunch of teenagers on acid, and while this may not seem like much, it certainly is.
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
year 2006 review:On this ambitious 2006 outing, My Chemical Romanc
e boldly follows in the footsteps of Green Day, both in working with producer Rob Cavallo and in taking a conceptual route (a la AMERICAN IDIOT). The result is an impressive collection of songs that finds the goth-leaning New Jersey punk-pop group transforming itself into the title's "Black Parade," a darkly clad marching band that relates the woeful tale of "the Patient," as portrayed by frontman Gerard Way (who bleached his hair blond to convey the character's sickness). In addition to bringing--believe it or not--the equally dramatic and eye-liner-loving Liza Minelli on board for a guest appearance, My Chemical Romance proves its theatrical mettle by moving from the melancholy grandeur of "Welcome to the Black Parade," which bears an undeniable Queen influence, to "Cancer," an emotive piano-driven ballad. Lifted by its lush, inventive arrangements and Way's dynamic vocal performances, THE BLACK PARADE effectively stakes its claim as the SGT. PEPPER'S of the brooding Myspace set, and secures My Chemical Romance's shadowy space in rock history.
e boldly follows in the footsteps of Green Day, both in working with producer Rob Cavallo and in taking a conceptual route (a la AMERICAN IDIOT). The result is an impressive collection of songs that finds the goth-leaning New Jersey punk-pop group transforming itself into the title's "Black Parade," a darkly clad marching band that relates the woeful tale of "the Patient," as portrayed by frontman Gerard Way (who bleached his hair blond to convey the character's sickness). In addition to bringing--believe it or not--the equally dramatic and eye-liner-loving Liza Minelli on board for a guest appearance, My Chemical Romance proves its theatrical mettle by moving from the melancholy grandeur of "Welcome to the Black Parade," which bears an undeniable Queen influence, to "Cancer," an emotive piano-driven ballad. Lifted by its lush, inventive arrangements and Way's dynamic vocal performances, THE BLACK PARADE effectively stakes its claim as the SGT. PEPPER'S of the brooding Myspace set, and secures My Chemical Romance's shadowy space in rock history.
