...and I'll tell you about the summer just past and how/why the blog was cast aside for bigger issues and more pressing efforts. But here we are again, old (close personal) friend and there is a coffee table downstairs that groans with the weight of dozens of CDs that were bought, burned, bartered or sent in the time since we last met here. So, let's dive in and try to lighten that load.
First off, in making the move from my old laptop (saying goodbye was like putting a faithful but suffering pet to sleep) to my shiny new powerbook, I found a posting which was begun during my lost summer, but never finished. So, I'll knock that off as a kickstart...
Tuesday, August 16
In July, the f.y.e. store at the Glens Falls mall snagged me with one of those deals where, if you spend $30, you get a coupon worth $10 toward a future purchase in a limited period (a couple of weeks in August). So here I am with my coupon…
Tempted by a used copy of Gwen Stefani’s Love Angel Music Baby that comes with a nifty artsy CD cased, but even used it’s nearly $30, so I cruise the cutouts and find a 2-disc set called
1. DIVAS – 32 Tracks from the World’s Most Divine Female Voices (X-Media)
I’m familiar with about half the tracks and, of those, there’s a good split between those I may have elsewhere but would like to hear again soon (Cher’s “Shoop Shoop Song,” Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” but I wouldn’t exactly call Vega a diva), and others that I probably don’t and would like (“Ain’t Nothing Going On But the Rent,” by Gwen Guthrie, “Looking for a New Love” by Jody Watley). Of the ones I don’t know, there may be some worthwhile discoveries. On first listen, I’m already glad to find “Get Here” by Oleta Adams and “Private Life” by Grace Jones.
All used CDs priced at $2.99 or less are now 49 cents. I can (almost) always find something at that price.
2. The CONNELLS – Weird Food & Devastation (TVT)
A name I’ve heard so often but never heard, so gotta try at this price.
3. ASH – Nu-Clear Sounds (DreamWorks)
I have a different CD of theirs, and enjoyed the band when it was an early opener on the Area 2 tour, and at a Tower records in-store a few days later. Always a little sad to see a band of merit on the slag pile like this, and the young woman who rings me up remarks that she saw Ash once at a Saratoga club and liked them, too. We both send our positive vibes to the unfairly cheapened members of Ash.
At full price, but only $2.99 for a CD single:
4. R.E.M. – Bad Day (Warner Bros. Import)
Is this the last good R.E.M. single? I am still ever so disappointed with the "Around the Sun" album. This was the last song by my former favorites to offer catchy melody and non-predictable lyrics, and even so, it seems a reworking of “It’s The End of the World as We Know It.” Come back, boys. Drag Bill Berry kicking and screaming if you have to.
And, here’s the best part. As I san the racks, looking for something I want, or something I didn’t know I wanted until I saw it on sale, I flip through the Kinks section, wondering if they have (and how much) is the deluxe 3-disc set of "Village Green Preservation Society." They don’t have it in stock, but there’s a bunch of promotional discs for a f.y.e. exclusive Kinks collection.
5. The KINKS 40th Anniversay SACD Sampler (KOCH)
There’s no price on it, probably a free-with-Kinks-purchase deal, but I bring it to the counter and the cashier slides it right on through. Fourteen high-quality Kinks tracks – not the usual greatest hits I already have (tho’ I could listen to “Waterloo Sunset” every day for the rest of my life), but a mix of bits from the later years. Free Kinks! That alone was worth the price of admission. Which was low anyway. With my $10 coupon (not good on sale items, a fact that never came up in the original purchase – shame on them), and the addition of a 99 cent disc cleaning cloth, my grand outlay comes to $4.23. Sweeeet.
August 2:
6. SKINDRED – Babylon (Lava)
Sent in advance of the upcoming Warped Tour preview, to appear in this week’s Post.
7. The CLICK FIVE – Greetings from Imrie House (Lava)
The same publicist who sent the above tossed this one in “for your girls.” Grace was hoping for an official release, but this was another cardboard advance. She’s already a fan of the band, who’ve been getting MTV play and now that I see some songs are co-written by A. Schlesinger (I’m betting that’s Adam, from Fountains of Wayne), I’m going back for another listen myself. These guys are opening for Backstreet Boys, and I’d certainly give a shout for tix to see that show, but I’ll be out of town.
8. TEN IN TEXAS compilation (Icehouse)
Though I’m not much of a country girl, there are people hear I respect, like Willie Nelson, Terri Hendrix and Asleep at the Wheel. Since moving to Virginia 12 (gulp!) years ago, I've gotten a bit more tolerant of country, just not that Big Hat, Rah-Rah America school, which is mostly from the Nashville song factories anyways. These are the real dealers.
July 29:
9. BRIAN SETZER – Rockabilly Riot (Surfdog)
July 25:
10. ZONA JONES – Harleys & Horses (D Records)
Zona is a guy’s name, a cowboy-hatted dude making a “traditional style of country,” which generally holds little interest for me. I do like the song title “House of Negotiable Affections,” though.
11. KATHY MATTEA – Right Out of Nowhere (Narada)
I never would have pegged Mattea for the Narada label, which has done a lot of new agey stuff in the past. Due out on September 27, though the bio says she performed on a 2-hour summer special of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Not knowing the show, I ask, how did they squeeze music into that? Her take on the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" ain't half bad, but a cover of Creedence's "Down on the Corner" is a teeth-clencher, and the stuff in between is too gooey by half.
July 22:
12. DAY OF CONTEMPT – The Will to Live (Epitaph)
There are four guys in the picture, three of whom show off arms covered, wrist to shoulder, in tattoos. The fourth guy’s arms are obscured, but I’m guessing he’s got major ink, too. The bio says that, “Thirty seconds into ‘The Will to Live’ the hammer comes down and clobbers unsuspecting listeners with a brutal hardcore blitz.” Honestly, I don’t prejudge, but what are the chances that I will like this?
13. BARNEY the DINOSAUR – The Land of Make Believe (KOCH)
This was the first package I opened upon my return, and I took it as a bad omen. Beyond the cutesy-wootsey-pootsey quality of Barney, which sets my teeth on edge, I have a personal vendetta against the big purple guy. Many moons ago, in my writing TV scripts for children phase, the Barney producers approached me about doing some work for them and then treated me badly before I even had a chance to voice my reservations. So screw you, Barney.
July 21:
14. OK GO – Oh No (Capitol)
I’m a little disappointed that the publicist didn’t include press kits, but at lease I’m familiar with OK Go from their appearance on a They Might Be Giants tour and the debut album with the catchy “Get Over It.” Since I signed up for the band’s mailing list, I’ve become fond of the guy named Jorge who writes their funny news items.
15. The REDWALLS – De Nova (Capitol)
Damn, if the cover shot on this advance copy doesn’t look like the Small Faces posing for a Traffic album whose title escapes me. The publicist previously made a Kinks comparison on these guys, so they have a nice set of references.
16. HOPE PARTLOW – Who We Are (Virgin)
17. HOPE PARTLOW – Who We Are single (Virgin)
Why did they send a copy of the single with the album? There’s nothing new here. And I already got a deluxe press kit with a fake twee teenage girl’s diary. Overselling a new artist can backlash, so back off, Virgin.
July 19:
18. ELIZA GILKYSON – Paradise Hotel (Red House Records)
Her fourth album for the label, and it’s about time I checked her out, as her name keeps coming up as a touring musician who plays the local clubs I cover for the Post.
19. FRANK BLACK – Honeycomb (Back Porch/EMI)
The former Black Francis, Pixie-man supreme, recorded this in Nashville with a band including the likes of Steve Cropper, Buddy Miller, Anton Fig and Spooner Oldham. If anyone can kick some new life into country, Black can.
20. CAROLE KING – The Living Room Tour (Rockingale/Concord)
Nostalgia makes me nervous. One the ride from Lake George, one of the CDs I listened to was a live recording of Janis Ian that my brother had passed on to me. Even the songs that I remembered playing to death in my melodramtic adolscence (hell, especially those songs!) sounded terribly dated, the lyrics overwrought and the arrangements full of ersatz jazz that no doubt made me feel quite sophisticated back then. I remember so many of King’s songs fondly; that’s precisely way I’m afraid to revisit them, and a gushy baby boomer audience will only compound the problem.
July 18:
21. SON VOLT – Okemah and the Melody of Riot (Transmit Sound/Legacy)
Ooooh, goodie. Any band whose members date back to sharing studio time with Jeff Tweedy come with a recommendation to take seriously. Call it the Wilco Effect.
Dates unknown:
22. AM – S/T (self-release)
23. AM – Mainstay Remix EP (self-release)
My kind of good-looking guy – casually cool in a Peter Krause (“Six Feet Under”) little-bit-of-stubble way. Considering his background – Oklahoma to New Orleans to L.A. – adoption by the venerable Nik Harcourt of KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” and willingness to have his pop/rock/folk be toyed with by the folks associated with the Green Galactic label, this could be a musical match made in heaven. Sometimes musical discoveries are like Internet dating – you take your clues where you can find ‘em and hope to fall in love. On first listen, I'm happy to report that he may be in for a long-term relationship.
24. AMESTORY – S/T (Portia Records)
From the lovely guys at Team Clermont. Out October 4th.
25. FALL OUT BOY – From Under the Cork Tree (Island)
26. THRICE – If We Could Only See Us Now (Island)
Sent in preparation for this week’s Post preview of the Warped Tour. click here I bought the FOB CD for Grace a while back, but Thrice is something I can listen to before the show.
YTD total: 699
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