6/14/2006
I tell ya' man, it's like nothing is real, ya' know. Not music. Not sound. Not life. There is no plan to follow, no logic behind it all. Anybody who tells you different is just part of the conspiracy, man! What we need more of is organic, free-flowing flows of flowery sound that is so far out it...
6/14/2006
Songs about alcohol and other indulgences. Wow! No seriously, this is pretty potent stuff. It'll put hair on your chest and send you dancing red-faced from the pub and back to your old stone farm where your angry wife waits, ready to douse you headfirst into a bucket of soggy bog water. Well, maybe...
6/14/2006
Self Titled offers some pretty amazing moments when the guitar is allowed some room to breathe, but more often than not bland vocals and bloated bubblegum rock rhythms overwhelm these few original moments of the sublime. I know that sounds extreme, but this style of soft-rock seems to be eternally...
6/12/2006
What's this? A music group without instruments except what God gave them? Yes folks, at last the college sensation that's sweeping the/country is coming to a CD player or walkman right near you. A cappella groups have continued to be all the rage on college campuses, and while there was always...
6/12/2006
Nancy Kelly presents your all-time old favorites and a few less-notable numbers in this catchy, powerful collection that reminds me of Christmas, though I don't know why. Maybe it's just the heavy use of piano or the standard sax that seems to scream "yuletide office party," but doesn't (because a...
6/12/2006
Back in old country we knew how things should be done. We knew how to serve our Babkas. Baked. We knew how to take our vodka. In milk jugs (unless you're a westie, pussy!). We knew how we liked our ethnicities. Cleansed, with a hint of spring freshness. And, of course, we knew how we liked our...
6/12/2006
Honky-tonk rock for the new generation is what you'll find in "Chasing the Sun." It's good stuff. Blue around the collar and full of spit, vinegar and more spit is how I'd describe this stuff if I dare, and while I usually don't hang out in roadhouses I've watched enough films with them as a...
6/12/2006
Sure, it is pop masquerading as another genre yet again, but by God pop is popular is, well, popular for a goddamned reason sometimes. I mean, these are some talented folks, and I like their pleasant amalgam of southern rock and folksy vocals. And of course I just happen to be easily swayed by the...
6/12/2006
Classy, upbeat jazz with that indescribable flavor of the city that is a hallmark of New York jazz is what you'll find in "The Uptown Quintet Live in New York." When it comes to jazz improvisations I've always enjoyed the live recording far more than the various studio cuts. The vibe of the...
6/12/2006
Did Jerry Lee Lewis know how to rock? Yeah, he sure knew how to rock. This slack-jawed king of the honky-tonk piano thought at one time he was destined for the preacher's pulpit, but then the fires of religion got swiftly replaced by the louder, if less intelligible, burning energies of rock and...
