FEBRUARY PLAYLIST!

2013 - The Year Of Music continues! One month down and eleven to go! Here is February's Playlist!

February 1st

Michael Jackson – Thriller
Rev. Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
Jay Z – Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life

February 2nd

Nas – Illmatic
Led Zeppelin – II
The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law

February 3rd

N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope
Bad Religion – True North

February 4th

A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
The Beatles – Rubber Soul
Biffy Clyro – Opposites

February 5th

Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
The Replacements – Hootenanny
Foxygen – We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic

February 6th – It’s MY Birthday! So, it’s my jams!

The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
Sugar – Copper Blue
Radiohead – The Bends

February 7th – Bob and I share a birthday! So, he gets honored a day late, cause I used my special day for my favorites, and that’s not saying Bob isn’t one of my favorites.

Bob Marley – Soul Rebels
Bob Marley – Catch A Fire
Bob Marley – Exodus

February 8th

Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold As Love  
Living Colour – Vivid
TV On The Radio – Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

February 9th

De La Soul – Three Feet High And Rising
Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque
Tegan And Sara – Heartthrob

February 10th

Prince – Puprle Rain
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Pure Love – Anthems

February 11th

Run D.M.C. – King Of Rock
The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet
Courteeners – Anna


February 12th

Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life
The Doors – Strange Days
Jack White – Blunderbuss

February 13th

Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
Buffalo Tom – Let Me Come Over
The Swans – Seer

February 14th

Barry White – Can’t Get Enough
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On

February 15th

James Brown – Live At The Apollo
Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
Adam Ant - Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner's Daughter

February 16th

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall
The Cure – Seventeen Seconds
Alt-J – An Awesome Wave

February 17th – NYC’s finest?

Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang
They Might Be Giants – They Might Be Giants
Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan

February 18th

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
R.E.M. – Reckoning
Spiratualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light


February 19th

Sly And The Family Stone – Stand!
Deftones – Adrenaline
FUN! –  Sum Nites

February 20th

Fat Boys – Fat Boys
Soundgarden – Louder Than Love
The Killers – Battle Born

February 21st

Sam & Dave – Soul Men
Oasis – Definitely Maybe
Tribes – Baby

February 22nd

LL Cool Jay – Radio
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Metric – Synthetica

February 23rd

The Roots – Things Fall Apart
Beck – Mellow Gold
Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg

February 24th


Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full
Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man

February 25th

Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Mos Def – Black On Both Sides
A$AP Rocky – Long.Live.A$AP

February 26th – Gangsta Appreciation Day

Cypress Hill – Cyrpess Hill
Body Count – Body Count
Geto Boys – We Can’t Be Stopped

February 27th

Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come
Talking Heads –More Songs About Buildings And Food
Yuck – Yuck

February 28th

Curtis Mayfield – Curtis
Public Image Limited – Album
The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines

1.19.13

On January 19th I listened to Patti Smith Horses, R.E.M. Murmur and whatever the fuck Fiona Apple decided to call her latest effort.

I never “got” Patti Smith. I tried a couple times. I like that she’s kind of a douche. Her version of “Gloria” is pretty cool, but she was always a little too much for me. However, I tried to listen to Horses with a fresh set of ears and I’m not disappointed that I did.

Is it me, or does this album sound like a Blondie demo? No I didn’t! I don’t remember Patti sounding so much like Debbie Harry. And when Patti is doing her talking thing her cadence is very similar to Lou Reed. New York City, I guess.

I have to admit I found myself enjoying “Redondo Beach,” and “Birdland,” all nine minutes of it. The poetry is a bit of a pill for me to swallow, and I’m shocked at how much I enjoyed “Land.” It’s a another nine minute track in three parts.

“Land” really has its moments, none of which are “Land Of A Thousand Dances.” Was Patti shooting for irony here? Was that song hip in 1975? And am I alone in thinking the WWF All-Stars own that song?

I have a new appreciation of Patti. I get this album… a little. I dunno, maybe.

If it wasn’t for Patti Smith, Michael Stipe may have never been inspired to join a band, and there might not have been an R.E.M.... or so he says.

I wasn’t into R.E.M enough to spend money on them until 1987’s Document, their fifth album. Then the next year Eponymous, a greatest hits collection, came out and pretty much eliminated the need to own the band’s first four albums.

I love “Radio Free Europe” and “Talk About The Passion.” The rest of this record I’m sure I’ve heard at various points, but nothing in years and nothing I remember.

Murmur is a fuzzy, slighty out of focus snapshot of R.E.M. Stipe says the word “Catapult” weird and “Sitting Still” is an R.E.M. song I would have absolutely loved, if I’d only spent more time with this album, back in the day!

About one minute into Fiona Apple and I almost bailed. But, I pushed through and the opener “Every Single Night,” becomes eerily relatable. Apparently, Fiona and I share some demons.

I love the passion on “Daredevil.” It’s almost psychotic. You are “all the fishes in the sea!”

Then there’s a couple talk-singing songs, “Left Alone” is a little too “cabaret” for me. “Werewolves” exudes some real pain.

“Periphery,” is not only a great song title, but I like what she’s saying on it… I think. It gets a little too rompy and the marching is annoying, but solid track.

She wins points for using the word “guff,” on “Anything We Want.” And how long into a song called “Hot Knife,” do you think the word “butter” shows up? Ten seconds.

This album is O.K. Will I ever hear it again? I dunno, maybe.

1.18.13

On January 18th I listened to U2 Boy, New Order Movement, and Howler Give Up America.

I grew up around the corner from some kid who claimed to be the first U2 fan in America! I heard him say it to anybody that would listen for years and he’s probably still saying it.

Needless to say, I heard this album a lot when I was a kid, but haven’t spent much time with the whole thing since.

Here’s a weird thing. Have you ever not liked a band on purpose because somebody you knew, friend or otherwise, LOVED them so much? I’ve done that on a few occasions because the person’s annoyance on the subject turned me off of the band. U2 is the perfect example. I spent the early 80’s numb to U2’s first three albums just cause some pud down the street wouldn’t shut up about them.

It’s a shame I almost forgot most of this record. What a great snapshot of the dawn of the 80’s. I hate to get nostalgic here, but this record transports me to 6th or 7th grade and first realizing that there is a world of music out there that's not getting played on the radio.

Not a parade of hits, Boy is another debut that found a band completely emerged in their own vibe. “I Will Follow” doesn't sound like anybody else but U2. “Twilight” and “Stories For Boys,” are two I really remember and I’m glad I got them back. I didn’t think of it then, but “Stories For Boys” is a creepy name for a song.

Following the hanging of Ian Curtis, Joy Division, picked up the pieces of their band, found a similar Nazi reference and marched on! Three thousand years Reich!  

I love how the first single from New Order, “Ceremony,” was written by their dead lead singer. It’s a shame it didn’t make the final cut for Movement. Unless you got the reissue with it on there, this record is kind of a bust. It was cool to hear it again, but I remember trying and trying to get into this disc and nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I love New Order and looking ahead from a 1981 standpoint, greatness is coming from this band! A bunch of bullshit too! Shut up already, Hook!

Bernie and I went on one date, he never called me back. 

Howler! Great name! I’m not gonna label these guys by saying they sound like anybody else. I will say this, because this disc is refreshing, I like to see the kids show an appreciation for the classics and trying to find their own voice through them.

I just wrote up two early 80’s records and this Howler album from 2012 fits in with them perfectly!

I did listen to this one a year ago when it came out, I liked it, but I never listened to it anymore. The disc opens with a track called “Beach Sluts,” why didn’t I circle back on this one? (Wink to Dead Air Dave. I think I’m gonna start littering this blog with Easter eggs for people who don’t  read it. I’m sub-blogging!)

Nod to whoever sequenced this album, cause the first three songs are great and then it slips into bland repetition, although “Told You Once,” is a lot of fun. I’ll take three or four great songs though. Lots of promise! Looking forward to your second LP, Howler!

1.17.13

(With the goal in mind of getting caught up these write ups by February 1st, I’m going with brevity, unless I absolutely positively have to get longwinded. And I’ll fucking to it to!)

On January 17 th I listened to Rush Rush, Tool Undertow and The Mars Volta Noctourniquet. My favorite! Prog Rock day!

Time for a confession… I only like Rush’s radio stuff, with few exceptions. I'm a poser.

I found it interesting that Rush’s opening track “Find My Way,” sounds a hell of a lot like Led Zeppelin. Actually, much of this album has a Led Zep twang. 

Released in 1974, I only knew and liked “Working Man” off the Rush debut. After this listen, I have a better appreciation of the Roots of Canada’s finest! (My capitalization of roots, was a little wink to all my hoser friends in the Great White North.)

“Sober” is a creepy, heavy, and dark giant. Same can be said for Tool. I always loved the mystique of this band. The less you knew… the better. Just sit in the dark, listen to their albums, and think dark thoughts.

In the Spring of 1993, Undertow was something special. It stuck out. Grunge was dug in (Nirvana and Pearl Jam were about to drop sophomore albums.), Alt Rock was finding its feet (Radiohead debuted and Siamese Dream was right around the corner!), and Tool ain’t Metal.

Obviously not dripping in radio singles, Undertow managed to bring something new to an already well set table.

One of the best shows I ever saw was Tool at the Hammerstein Ballroom on May 20, 2001, right after Lateralus was released. David Cross and Brian Posehn did a bit before the band took the stage and Brian introduced the band by saying, “HERE’S TOOL, YOU FUCKING FAGGOTS!” The room erupted. The show that followed was legendary!

Here’s a link to their whole intro. It’s in bad taste, not just the “fucking faggots” line, but I thought it was funny. Skip to about 1:28 if you don’t wanna see the whole bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWZX44Vceyw

(Wanna hear something funny? That afternoon, I did a remote for Y100/Philadelphia from The Go Go’s show at Six Flags in Jersey.)

I wouldn’t say I got sick of Tool, but I just didn’t love 10,000 Days. I felt it was just a repeat. Plus, Maynard gets a little tiresome at times. With the exception of a scant few songs popping up here and there on some MP3 player playlists, I’ve given them a long enough rest. This listen to Undertow renewed my love Tool.

I gotta try and find a bootleg of that 2001 show.

I have nothing but respect for The Mars Volta, but I gotta admit I haven’t given this band the time it takes to fully appreciate them.

They really make you work for those explosive nuggets of awesomeness. I get it, but I’m not wired that way. Although, on Noctourniquet, I feel like the hooks are flying everywhere.

Sadly, this is to be the band’s last album, they literally broke up like yesterday. I really love “Aegis,” and the foreboding chorus, “And they’re running away!” They sure did. “Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound” was also a stone groove. Gimme the rest of the year to sift through the density of the rest of this one. 

So, there you have it.

1.16.13

On January 16th I listened to Queen Queen, Nirvana Bleach and Mark Lanegan Band Blues Funeral.

I love Queen! Freddie Mercury was one of the best showman that ever lived and in front of Brian May’s guitar this band was a fucking force! Plus, there’s a whole mess of other brilliant shit going on, but I’m too dumb to write about it accurately. Dumb or lazy? Little of both right now.

It has been too long since I last heard the opening track, “Keep Yourself Alive,” from Queen’s self-titled 1973 debut. I really missed it!

The rest of this disc is pretty new to me, I’m pretty sure I never listened to it all the way through. It rocks, its theatrical, it’s bluesy and dirty. “Modern Times Rock ‘N Roll” reminds me of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and a little AC/DC… a side of the band I didn’t really know about. “Son And Daughter” is now my new favorite Queen song!

And then something weird happens. “Jesus,” is a song about, well… Jesus. It is glorious! It is uplifting. I got choked up listening to it! I’m so glad I listened to this album. Thank you baby Jesus!

I wish I could say I knew who Nirvana was before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came along, but I can’t. I picked up a copy of Bleach sometime around 1992. I've spent some time with this album over the years. 

Recorded for something like six or seven hundred bucks, she sounds pretty good! (That’s the first time I referred to an album as “she.” Can you do that?) Lots of great stories about the making of this record, none of which I will attempt to tell. Just a quick factoid! Although, this album features two drummers, neither one is Dave Grohl. Chad Channing and Dale Grover kept the time on this one.

Bleach is a perfect Indie Rock album. But it has some intangible quality to it that separates it from just any old Indie Rock being churned out at that time. Bleach has pretty much everything.

Is it loud? Check – “Blew” “School” “Paper Cuts”

Does it have a hit? Check – “About A Girl”

Are there goofy song titles? Check – “Floyd The Barber” (Andy Griffith Show reference.) “Mr. Moustache”

Is there a obscure cover song? Check – “Love Buzz”

Does it foreshadow the brilliance that is to come? Check.

Mark Lanegan sings one of my all-time favorite Queens Of The Stone Age songs, “In The Fade,” and one of my favorite Twilight Singers songs, “No. 9,” with Greg Dulli! He was in Screaming Trees, he’s put out a lot of solo stuff and he’s a shy motherfucker.

I once saw a Queen's show and they started playing “In The Fade.” So, you instantly think, “cool Lanegan’s here!” He was, but I never saw him. He came out in a shadow and left under a blanket of applause. (Yeah, I just wrote that cheese!) And I just read he will be on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album!

Mark’s solo albums are usually let’s-go-stick-our-heads-in-the-oven kind of affairs with Tom Waits comparisons up the ass! His last, Bubblegum, came out way back in 1994. So, this one was kind of a big deal when it came out last February. Sadly, I never listened to it until now!

I thought I had a good idea of what to expect on Lanegan’s first album in years called Blues Funeral. I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was. 

The English mag, The Quietus, supplied me with exactly what I was going to say about this album, why write it twice? "Blues Funeral incorporates beats marshalled by sequencers with grand cinematic sweeps and a rock & roll sensibility that reveals an artist refusing to paint himself into a corner." That’s why Rock journos make the big bucks, kids!

I’m almost shocked at the tempo and veracity of the album’s opener, “The Gravedigger’s Song.” I was half expecting a minute of shoveling sounds into a long builder about cold bodies in the ground.

“Gray Goes Black,” and “Riot In My House” are two definite standouts.

Almost a full hour of music, there’s a lot to digest. Especially, how unlike Lanegan it is.

1.15.13

On January 15th I listened to David Bowie The Man Who Sold The World, Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine, and The Big Pink Future This. 

If medieval minstrels were given electric guitars by aliens, from outer space, they would have recorded The Man Who Sold The World 1200 years ago.

The fist side of this album is kind of run-of-the-mill weird for Bowie. There’s some monsters and madmen, but then side two starts off with “Running Gun Blues,” and I just wanna check out.

After Pet Sounds creeped me out yesterday, I can’t take it. This ablum is a whole different kind of creepy. I picture Bowie floating in a black room, with a strobe light flashing, he’s wearing some kind of tight or loose blouse, or maybe a tight blouse under a loose blouse and he’s dancing with his hands like a Liza Minnelli singing these songs. 

I hate to say all of this, because I LOVE David Bowie. I do! I guess it’s just tough to appreciate everybody’s full body of work. Speaking of full bodies, I almost forgot to mention he looks stunning in that dress on the cover! It's like lazy androgyny. 

I mentioned this earlier when I started this blog, but sometimes when you go back to an album you don’t know, if you’re not familiar with that pocket of time it came out or when you were younger and into it, the lack of nostalgia just prevents you from really digging it. Ya dig?

Is this really a great record or is it as bad as I think it is? I like to make fun of dickbag hipsters by saying they “pretend” to like certain bands. You liked the new Grizzly Bear record? Yeah right! Is it like that? I should track down everybody that loved Fischerspooner ten years ago and ask them if they’re still loving Electroclash?

On a lighter note, it was nice to blow the dust off of Bowie’s original take of “The Man Who Sold The World.” As sick and tired I am of the Nirvana version, it is pretty spot on.

Jesus H. Christ! Bowie sounds like the Madame puppet on the last track “The Supermen.”

I figure if I show a picture of Madame with Peter Griffin, people will get the reference. Family Guy's endless array of pop culture references has come in handy! Who knew?

My friend Eric Beris used to think the line “I was up above it,” from “Down In It,” was “I was at the party” or he used to just sing that anyway.  

This record was out for about six months before “Head Like A Hole” was released as a single and after I heard that sometime in the Spring of 1990, this album went straight into heavy rotation in my CD player and stayed there for years. I was a big fan of a bunch of Industrial bands at the time, so it wasn't a stretch to get into this album.

At the dawn of the 90’s this album was a true alternative, before the world took NIN from “us,” when they belonged to the freaks, I would have never guessed in a million years that this band’s music would find a global audience. 

Several years later when commercial Alternative radio stations were signing on all over the county, it was a mind fuck that “Head Like A Hole” went into all their libraries and they acted like “we've been playing this for years!” Same thing happened with Jane’s Addiction “Jane Says.” Fucking Lollapalooza! Way to go Perry Ferrell! Good job creating something so cool, the squares took notice, co-opted it, sucked the life out of it, then murdered it, and now I’m stuck with hipster doofuses churning out turd after turd! (Sorry, I got off on a rant. It is and it isn’t your fault Perry. I still love you.)

Not much else I need to add here, this is a near flawless collection of songs, couple of stinkers. If you haven’t heard anything other than “Head Like A Hole, “Down In It,” or “Terrible Lie” from this album in a while, do yourself a favor and throw it on right now! Or, the Devil will fuck you in the back of his car! Maybe you are all messed up, Trent.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to listen to this record. I am a huge fan of “Dominos,” from The Big Pink’s previous album, the dumbly named, A Brief History Of Love. Still listen to that track a lot!

Future This starts off strong with “Stay Gold,” but sounds a little too much like “Dominos.” “Hit The Ground” is pretty solid. It’s definitely too dense to digest in a listen. I’m hoping I circle back around to this one sooner than later.

I liked “1313” and not just because it used to be my ATM code, until I saw a list of the most common ones and changed it. “Rubbernecking” is fun and “77” stuck out with a nice quiet groove. Whatever. 

1.14.13

On January 14^th I listened to The Kinks The Kinks, The Beach Boys Pet Sounds and The Maccabees Given To The Wild.

The Kinks The Kinks is kind of similar to The Rolling Stones debut. It has a bunch of cover songs done almost in the same style. But, The Kinks offer more originals and with a little more flair.

Apparently, in the U.S. this album was called You Really Got Me and had three less songs.

“You Really Got Me” is definitely the star here and I can see how hearing this in 1964 would have caused a lot of people to lose their shit! Here’s a mind F. "You Relly Got Me" turns 50 next year!

I really like the Chuck Berry song that kicks this one off, “Beautiful Delilah,” but let’s focus in on the Ray Davies penned tracks. “So Mystifying,” “Revenge,” and “Just Can’t Go To Sleep” demonstrate The Kinks potential to rock the fuck out! While “I Took My Baby Home,” and “Stop Your Sobbing,” are pure 60's bubblegum pop.

I got the reissue, which includes their go at “Long Tall Sally” and it doesn’t hold a candle to the version by the boys from Liverpool.

I don’t wanna end on a sour note though, so “You Really Got Me,” alone, is an accomplishment that has endured 50 years!

I have a weird relationship with The Beach Boys. As a little kid, to me, they were the Oldies California Surfing Band, I thought that was their only shtick. I didn't know the whole Brian Wilson story. I never owned any of their albums. And then when I was in high school they put out “Kokomo.”

Soon after Frank Black released his first solo album, in 1993, with a cover of  “Hang On To Your Ego,” (AKA “I Know There’s An Answer.”) I started hearing all these stories about how brilliant Brian Wilson was, how influential he was, and what a shame he’s locked away in a room and some doctor is draining his bank accounts. Plus, The Beach Boys that played after minor league baseball games every summer was a bastardized version of the band! 

Somewhere there in the middle of the 90's it got real fucking cool to talk about how much you loved The Beach Boys. 

I’m going to be quite honest here. If a Beach Boys’ song isn't about surfing, or chicks, or surfing with chicks, or old ladies from Southern California towns, then they usually freak me out. 

Perfect example of this is the use of “God Only Knows” for the opening theme of Big Love. Fucking creepy! Not creepy in a pervy way, but in an eerie life is short and our mortality is stalking us kind of way. Somehow, the lyrics peer too much into my soul that it makes me uncomfortable. The songs are too “something” for me.

Then there's the production. Sparse and weird. The reverb on the vocals, the harmonies, the tinkling pianos, the horns, the drums and the echoing are too chilling and haunting. This record sounds like it was recorded by lunatics in the rec room of the asylum. Pajama wearing geniuses with demented minds that know something. What do they know?!

I don’t know if this is coming from the fact that I just listened to the Talking Heads' debut album with “Psycho Killer,” but “I’m Waiting For The Day,” from Pet Sounds, is definitely somehow a cousin to "Psycho Killer's" sentiment.

"I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” doesn’t speak to me at all. “Hang On To Your Ego,” apparently was about dropping acid and checking out, and I kinda get that. Get ready for a story.

Brad Maybe’s First Acid Trip

In the spring of 1992 I went to a college party where half the people there were tripping and the other half  were drunk. I was both. 

At some point in the middle of the party a fat guy puked on Crybaby Tim and half the party left. Where are those joints now, Crybaby Tim? WHERE ARE THEY? (You have to read yesterday's post to get that reference.)

I spent the next hour begging the host to put The Queen Is Dead on and when he finally did, I collapsed into a euphoric state on the couch. This is the first time that I saw sound. The phenomenon will only happen to me one more time in my life, six months later.   

At about four in the morning, the host had crashed and there was only two other people left at this party. Chris Prospero, who just got off work and was swinging by because there was still gallons of beer in the keg, and some prissy little dork I will call "Nancy." A girl I would later find out was a toilet paper hoarder. 

Well, the three of us shot the shit for a couple hours and then as the sun was coming up, Chris left. He was getting a definite hook up vibe off of me and "Nancy" and I'm gonna be quite honest, I thought I was gonna need the condom he slipped me as he walked out. 

Alone, we instantly kissed. I would compare that kiss to licking a dog's butthole. I said as much, she slapped me and I as ran out the door I was praying I could catch up to Chris so he could give me a ride home. I missed him and as I took the twenty minute walk back to the dorms I thought to myself, "leggo my eggo." Cause it was breakfast time and that commercial campaign was still running. 

In conclusion, Pet Sounds sucks... to me.

The same guy that told me to spend more time with Two Door Cinema Club told me that he really loves The Maccabees.

I tried to get into this album about a year ago when it came out. It got a lot of press, but it’s just white noise to me. 

I love a band called Doves. The Maccabees are like Doves, if Doves didn't have any talent and sucked. I'm not being anti-Semitic when I say that, right? Cause I love the Jews! 

1.13.13

On January 13th I listened to Talking Heads 77, Primus Frizzle Fry, and Beach House Bloom.

I noticed a couple of parallels between 77 and Frizzle Fry. The first one is quite simple; both of these bands have basically figured out their sound on their debuts and don't fudge with the formula too much as they move forward. The second is that both bands are kind of weird. I know I just dismissed weirdness for the sake of weirdness (That doesn't even make sense.), but there is a purity to the Talking Heads and Primus weirdness. 

I’ve talked about how a Greatest Hits release will stop people from bothering with a band's albums and the Talking Heads early work is kind of a victim of that problem because of their wonderful 1984 live album Stop Making Sense. I spent so much time listening to that I never bothered with their albums.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - I’m going to set up a month down the road, where I listen to tons of “Live” albums.)

I never heard 77 all the way through before this and “Psycho Killer” is the only track I really know well. I do have a vague memory of “Pulled Up” though, which was the biggest standout for me from this listen.

Other standouts include “Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town,” and “The Book I Read.”

Getting back to what I was saying earlier about them fleshing out their style, “Tentative Decisions” basically has every element of the band’s sound all wrapped up into one song. It seems, to me, like this track became their blueprint.

77 is another album that I’m sad passed me by, but I am looking forward to getting cozy with the Talking Heads catalog as this year progresses. That's me and David Byrne just chilling down in Austin, Texas. We're buds. 

Frizzle Fry was released the day after my 19th birthday. I had just started working at my college radio station and I remember playing “Too Many Puppies” on the air, without every hearing it. When it was over, I went on the air and said something to the effect of, “those puppies pooped all over that one.” I then ignored Primus until the following year when I went to the Concert Hall in Toronto to see Fishbone and Primus was opening. Sailing The Seas Of Cheese had just come out. They blew Fishbone off the fucking stage! 

Quick story. There was six of us in the car to the Fishbone/Primus show in Toronto. It's about 90 minutes from Buffalo up the QEW. We brought a couple joints with us and when we went over the border, Crybaby Tim's date, I totally forgot her name, stashed them in her panties. When we were in the clear we stopped, probably at a Tim Horton's, and she claims she lost the joints. I was so pissed! I remember saying "did you check your asshole?" To this day, I know that bitch and Crybaby Tim hogged those joints! Fucking Jerks! Tune in to tomorrow's post, and read all about how Crybaby Tim gets whats coming to him!

Although I came to love Primus, I never really went back to try and appreciate Frizzle Fry.

The albums opener “To Defy The Laws Of Tradition,” couldn’t be more aptly titled and much like Talking Heads’ “Tentative Decisions,” has the band’s entire sound completely on display right outta the gate. Also on this album, you can see Les Claypool's jam band future pretty much written on the wall. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this album and I’m really pissed I didn’t give it the time of day because my initial reaction to “Too Many Puppies,” was so unfavorable. I guess at that time in my life I couldn't defy the laws of tradition.

“Mr. Knowitall” (Not to be confused with Kelly Clarkson’s “Mr. Know It All.”), “Pudding Time,” and “The Toys Go Winding Down” are all heavy and dense and dumb and all over the place and I love them!

I honestly thought there was no way in hell I was going to like this album or this band. I don’t know if Beach House's Bloom caught me in the right mood or what, but I LOVE IT!

One of those albums that creates a atmosphere all around you. Plus the broad singing is French! Did you ever smell a French girl? Regardless, Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally will have me scurrying backwards to listen to their previous three albums. Hey Sleigh Bells! YOU SUCK! (Sorry, I don't know where that came from.)

Not that I have an area of expertise, but this band’s sound is way outside of it, so I’m not even going to try and describe it. Dream Pop is how Wikipedia describes their sound, and Wikipedia is usually right on just about everything. Reminds me of something from the 90’s, but I can’t remember what. Saint Etienne? Lush? I dunno, maybe?

Is it ironic that I dismissed The xx two days ago and loved Beach House today? I guess its the duality of man, sir. (Full Metal Jacket reference there. I'm explaining it for all the dummies.) 

Lick that cone, Frenchy! Lick it! Dude, comb your hair and stop trying to look like a creep.