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Frank Zappa – Chunga’s Revenge |
| March 11th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1970
Tracks: Transylvania Boogie; Road Ladies; Twenty Small Cigars; The Nancy and Mary Music; Tell Me You Love Me; Would You Go All the Way?; Chunga’s Revenge; The Clap; Rudy Wants to Buy Yez a Drink; Sharleena
Best track: Twenty Small Cigars, Chunga’s or Rudy
Track to skip: The Clap
This album is kinda strange. It sounds like a bunch of unrelated songs just put together. 5 of the 10 have Flo and Eddie on vocals (not counting Nancy & Mary since they play a small role) and the rest are instrumental. I think the thing that throws the album off is The Clap, which is a small, but horribly useless and badly played percussion instrumental. Zappa did all the percussion on this one and it’s really bad. I know it’s only 1:23 long, but it really does disturb the flow of the album…not that it’s a perfectly flowing album to begin with.
Some of the songs sound like leftovers from the Hot Rats sessions (I think they are) and the rest point in the direction of the Flo and Eddie material. I guess this album is just kinda caught in between the old Mothers of Invention stuff (Burnt Weenie Sandwich & Weasels Ripped My Flesh) and the forthcoming Flo and Eddie stuff (as in, 200 Motels, Fillmore East, Just Another Band).
For the most part Zappa’s guitar playing has even advanced since Hot Rats (the last studio album before this one) a year earlier, and he picked up some musicians who could blow the pants off the old band…specifically Aynsley Dunbar and George Duke; Ian Underwood stayed with Zappa until ’73. Flo and Eddie (the singers) sound great on this and aren’t in the least bit annoying. The vocal songs they all do are great, esp. Rudy which is really, really funny. Except for The Clap, this is a pretty good album with Cigars being the best of the instrumental tracks. The only problem is that The Clap brings it down a bit. It’s essential for some of the tracks, but it’s still a transitional album.
Rating: 83
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Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads – Tribute |
| March 11th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1987
Tracks: I Don’t Know; Crazy Train; Believer; Mr. Crowley; Flying High Again; Revelation (Mother Earth); Steal Away (The Night); Suicide Solution (with guitar solo); Iron Man; Children of the Grave; Paranoid; Goodbye to Romance; No Bone Movies; Dee (Randy Rhoads studio out-takes)
Best track: a track that has Randy Rhoads’ guitar playing
Track to skip: skip Tommy Aldridge’s drum solo (end of Steal Away), just on principle
Randy Rhoads is one of my all time favorite guitarists. If you’ve ever wondered why every headbanger on earth just worships him, get this. Ozzy had a great band here, but the actual star of the group and this album is definitely Rhoads. If you don’t know the history of this, Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982 and Ozzy released this live Tribute to him in 1987. Rhoads was a very young guitarist (only played on 3 albums) before he died and had huge potential. Like Hendrix and other musicians who have died too young, we can only imagine at the incredible music he’d be making if he was alive today. Blows my mind.
Rhoads is the star of this album and he’s all over it. I remember how utterly impressed my friends and I were with this when we first heard it. And don’t be cynical about this, it’s not great just because he died. He actually deserves all the acclaim he has received since his death (unlike others, <cough, Cobain, cough>). I highly recommend this to all musicians, especially guitar players. This is how it’s all done. Go buy it.
Rating: 96
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John Coltrane – My Favorite Things |
| March 11th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1961
Tracks: My Favorite Things; Everytime We Say Goodbye; Summertime; But Not For Me
Best track: My Favorite Things
Track to skip: none
Wow, a soprano sax that doesn’t sound horribly cheesy! Thankfully, this sounds nothing like Kenny G (puke); this is incredible. This album was the first Coltrane I ever bought and I was immediately impressed with it. Esp. the title track. Everyone plays so perfectly on it. I love how Coltrane starts his playing off very tame, and increases the intensity throughout the song.
Everytime We Say Goodbye is really beautiful, but the album starts to drag after this one. For some reason the second half isn’t as good as the first. It’s almost like they ran out of spunk or something. Regardless, this is still a great album and one I’d recommend if you’re just starting with Coltrane or jazz in general.
Rating: 90
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Extreme – Extreme II: Pornograffiti |
| March 11th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1990
Tracks: Decadence Dance; Li’l Jack Horny; When I’m President; Get the Funk Out; More Than Words; Money (In God We Trust); It (‘s a Monster); Pornograffiti; When I First Kissed You; Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?); He-Man Woman Hater; Song for Love; Hole Hearted
Best track: too hard to say, there’s not one real track that stands out above the rest; all are good
Track to skip: none
It’s been a few years since I’ve dug this out, but I still think it’s a great thing. I think Extreme brought a good bit of fun to heavy metal, as well as musicianship and song arrangements that were a nice kick in the butt. This album, and band, got incredibly popular thanks to the ballad, More Than Words, that was ALL OVER the radio back in 1990/1991. I like the song, I think it’s really nice and a wonderful change of pace from every single other power ballad ever released. Only 1 acoustic guitar (no string overdubs or drums kicking in for the chorus) and 2 voices. Sparse and very beautiful. It’s too bad that most of the people who bought this CD for that song didn’t bother paying attention to the rest of the album.
It definitely wasn’t cool for a metal band to be eclectic back in the late 80’s, so these guys were really taking a lot of risks by doing their thing. Of course the risks and eclecticism pay off in a huge way. It really makes Extreme a bigger and more important band than all their contemporaries (Poison, Motley Crue, Warrant, etc.). Extreme also understood the need of having great background vocals, thanks to their influence from Queen.
It’s kinda hard to find much negative about this album; they always keep everything fresh and flowing for the whole disc. Of course it should be noted that Nuno Bettencourt is a fantastic and amazingly mature songwriter, in addition to his guitar skill which was better than nearly anybody’s in 1990. His songs are impressive and ballsy…oh, he also plays nearly all the instruments on here (minus drums and bass) Of course I recommend this, it’s a great album. If you’re not into Cherone’s vocals or lotsa high-flying guitar work, you may not enjoy this too much. However, if you really get into creative, fun, super-musical, and eclectic music you should dig this.
Rating: 94
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Béla Fleck & the Flecktones – Live Art |
| March 11th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1996
Tracks: Intro; New South Africa; Stomping Grounds; Lochs of Dread; Bigfoot; Far East Medley; Flying Saucer Dudes; UFO Tofu; Interlude-Libation, the Water Ritual; Vix 9; The Message; Improv/Amazing Grace; Shubbee’s Doobie; Oh Darling; Blu-Bop; Sunset Road; More Luv; Early Reflection/Bach/The Ballad of Jed Clampett; Cheeseballs in Cowtown; The Sinister Minister; Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Best track: Stomping Grounds? Vix 9? Vic’s Improv? Sinister Minister?… ugh my brain hurts
Track to skip: only if you hate good music
The Flecktones are by far one of the most creative and original bands for the past decade. They usually get lumped in with all the jam bands, but most of those guys (except Phish) are just kids compared to these guys. The Flecktones also get lumped in with jazz, or bluegrass, or funk, or anything else, but they’re really a strange mixture of all that, plus a lot more. No one else sounds like the Flecktones. And besides that, I’d say that these guys are probably the best at their respective instruments. Yes, Victor Wooten is THE best bassist. No question. Yup, he’s better than Jaco Pastorius (blasphemy!), Steve Harris (major blasphemy), Geddy Lee, Tony Levin, Bryan Beller, Patrick O’Hearn and all the other bassists I worship. When I first saw the Flecktones I was so blown away by them, especially Victor. And then you also have Future Man (Vic’s brother), who is the best synth-axe drumitar player (well duh, he’s the only person who plays one, he invented it!) as well as Béla Fleck, arguably the best banjo player in the world. If he’s not the best, then he’s by far the most original, using the banjo more like a guitar than a traditional acoustic one.
But enough about the band and their greatness, this CD, their first live release, is awesome. Everybody gets solo spots and there are tons of great guest musicians and the playing is just fantastic and at the highest level. There’s not much bad to say about this, it’s one I like to play a lot and never get tired of. It doesn’t quite live up to the greatness of a Flecktone live show, but it tries really hard. If the Flecktones ever come anywhere close to you, go. Amazing. Buy this album too, it’s nice.
Rating: 95
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Bob Marley & the Wailers – Legend |
| March 7th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1984
Tracks: Is This Love; No Woman No Cry; Could You Be Loved; Three Little Birds; Buffalo Soldier; Get Up Stand Up; Stir it Up; One Love/People Get Ready; I Shot the Sheriff; Waiting in Vain; Redemption Song; Satisfy My Soul; Exodus; Jamming
Best track: how do you choose the best of the best? Uh, I’ll pick Three Little Birds
Tracks to skip: Satisfy My Soul and Waiting in Vain are kinda boring
I’ll make this short and sweet: every single human who resides on Earth should own a copy of this album. I know that if all humanity owned this, a lot of the problems that plague the world wouldn’t be there anymore. The album is honestly something that everyone can enjoy. Marley’s stuff is perfect for nearly every mood and the songs are just so positive. Not cheesily positive, but great messages that everyone needs to hear. The ‘tracks to skip’ are still OK songs, they’re just not as great as the others. The rest are perfect. Buy this and feel the goodness.
Rating: 97
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Dream Theater – Images and Words |
| March 7th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1992
Tracks: Pull Me Under; Another Day; Take the Time; Surrounded; Metropolis – Part I; Under a Glass Moon; Wait For Sleep; Learning to Live
Best track: Take the Time
Track to skip: none
Musicianship and songs. Those are the essence of Dream Theater. Besides being, uh, decent players, they are really great songwriters and I wish more people would recognize it. Dream Theater are the leaders of the recent prog-rock revolution (post-Rush). The difference between DT and all the rest of them is that this group is lead by the Guitar (John Petrucci) and the Drums (Mike Portnoy) and not some caped keyboardist or pretentious vocalist (John Myung on bass, Kevin Moore on keys, and James LaBrie on vocals round out the group). Plus that they are a heavy metal band puts them ahead of the rest.
This is their second album, and I’m sure some people still think it’s their first. Nope, it’s just the first one you heard of, thanks to Pull Me Under being all over the radio. Gee, occasionally US radio *does* get something right! I can’t believe this is 10 years old, this album still sounds great. Every track is good, lyrically and musically. All five of the guys play their butts off for the whole thing. I can’t find much fault in this; it’s wonderful to listen to. If you actually like to hear talented musicians made good music, give this a shot.
Rating: 93
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Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon |
| March 7th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1973
Tracks: Speak to Me/Breathe in the Air; On the Run; Time; The Great Gig in the Sky; Money; Us and Them; Any Colour You Like; Brain Damage; Eclipse
Best track: Brain Damage/Eclipse
Track to skip: not a second
Honestly, who cares if this thing is overplayed and overhyped and overpraised? It’s all justified! I totally get shivers every time I play this. I mean, Claire Torry’s vocals on Great Gig are totally shiver-inducing. There is not a bad second on this album, one of the few that are just about perfect. The only thing that is weaker than the rest is Money, my least favorite track on here. It’s not bad at all (I love hearing songs in 7/8 on the radio!), but not the best. However, it’s a nice break from the huge-ness of the rest of the songs. There isn’t much to say about Dark Side of the Moon except, “Why don’t you own this yet?!?!?!”
Rating: 97
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Adrian Belew – Desire Caught By the Tail |
| March 7th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1986
Tracks: Tango Zebra; Laughing Man; The Gypsy Zurna; Portrait of Margaret; Beach Creatures Dancing Like Cranes; At the Seaside Café; Guernica; “Z”
Best track: Tango Zebra
Track to skip: most are of the same type of thing, and it’s all instrumental so don’t bother
I think Adrian went a little crazy on this one. This is an all instrumental album, so it’s not very accessible to the masses that need lyrics. It’s also noisy, so you wouldn’t put it on while entertaining guests. It requires a lot of concentration. It’s worth it, but you just have to listen actively. Man, he is so creative though! I’m amazed at the ideas that come out of his brain. Tango Zebra is especially cool, it’s so good and has so many cool parts and great melodies. Wow. The album is really interesting, but not one I put on very often. Like I said, it’s not very accessible so approach it in that way. If you do take a chance, you’ll be rewarded.
Rating: 85
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Phish – Junta |
| March 7th, 2002 under Album Reviews. [ Comments: none ]
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Released: 1988
Tracks: Fee; You Enjoy Myself; Esther; Golgi Apparatus; Foam; Dinner and a Movie; The Divided Sky; David Bowie; Fluffhead; Fluff’s Travels; Contact; Union Federal; Sanity; Icculus
Best tracks: You Enjoy Myself, Esther, Divided Sky (I can’t choose between them)
Track to skip: yup, it’s Union Federal
It’s too bad they couldn’t fit the whole album on 1 CD, because the extra tracks on disc 2 (Union Federal, Sanity, Icculus) really drag it down. Yes, I’ll admit both Sanity and Icculus are pretty amusing, but I don’t think they’re essential to the album as a whole. And Union Federal is just bad. Believe me, I understand that it’s an improv and a lot of people love it, but it’s really not that exciting and doesn’t do much. And it starts off with drummer Jon Fishman attempting to play a trombone; that is horribly painful to listen to. It’s not even funny. But anyway…
This is some band’s debut album? Holy Turbo Cow! What an incredible piece of plastic and collection of sound waves. More people need to forget all that ignorant music critic talk they’ve heard about Phish, or forget all those smelly hippies that follow the band around, and just listen to the band. Hey, start here, it’s great.
The songwriting and playing of these young guys is really impressive. Just You Enjoy Myself alone is worth it, but the rest is sooooo good. There are a lot of long songs on here, but they’re very engaging and intricate and the time just flies by and next thing you know you just listened to 2 discs of Phish. Phish is a great band and I’ll even say that they’re the best band of the 90′s. Absolutely. You can start here or start with any of the other ones, but make sure to get this one pretty quickly; excellent and essential stuff.
Rating: 94
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