Fri - December 21, 2007

Peace On Earth: A Holiday Album


I'm not a huge fan of Holiday music. It rare to find an whole Holiday album that stands out and that I really enjoy. One such album this year was Hard To Find A Friend's Peace On Earth: A Holiday Album.

Listening to it, I feel like I'm just listening to a great album, that just happens to be Holiday related. One of the standout tracks is "Gonna Make It Through This Year" by Great Lake Swimmers.

The album is only $7 and it's worth it! Buy it.





Peace on Earth: A Charity Holiday Album
100 percent of proceeds to benefit Toys for Tots

1. Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - Shepherd's Song
2. Quiet Company - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. Great Lake Swimmers - Gonna Make it Through This Year
4. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Sweetwater Abilene - The Wheels Are Off
5. Chris Walla - Coventry Carol
6. David Karsten Daniels - In The Bleak Midwinter
7. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. The Winston Jazz Routine - Through the Snow
9. Via Audio - My Boo
10. The Long Winters - Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)
11. TW Walsh - Drop the Bomb
12. Ohtis - American Christians
13. Aaron Robinson - End of the Year
14. The Cotton Jones Basket Ride (Michael Nau of Page France) - White Christmas
15. American Music Club - Please Please
16. Johnny Bertram - Merry Christmas (You Won't Get What You Want)
17. Rosie Thomas - Christmas Time is Here
18. Sleeptalker - This is Christmas

Total Tracks : 18
Total running time : 58.6 minutes

Posted at 07:44 AM     |

Mon - March 19, 2007

Despite our Differences Bonus Disc


As I mentioned before, I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where I downloaded most of the music I listen to. I still have a strong affinity for the actual CD and packaging, but going shopping for used/new CD's has an inherent problem... it's called shopping, which I usually despise. Don't get me wrong, if I am going to go shopping for anything, it would be CD's... but the Internet has that instant gratification advantage.

There are instances where I will go out of my way to buy the physical product. Anytime something has the phrase "Limited Edition" or "Collectors Edition." And of course coming from a reputable artist... This is what happened with the Indigo Girls latest release, Despite our Differences. I wasn't quite sure what to think of this CD at first, that is until I saw them in concert. Since then, they have been renewed in my mind, and this album is as strong as any... And since I couldn't find the collectors edition at any local record stores, I finally had to order it on Amazon.

The Indigo Girls have always shined in their live performances, so I knew this live bonus disc wouldn't disappoint... Here's the track listing:

1. Money Made You Mean (live July 2006 tour)
2. Last Tears (alternate studio acoustic mix)
3. Little Perennials (live July 2006 tour)
4. Fly Away (alternate studio acoustic mix)
5. Pendulum Swinger (live July 2006 tour)
6. Three Count Highway (live July 2006 tour)

Of course, the Live Amy Ray tracks (1, 3, 6) are my favorites... Now that Spring is practically here, these are the ones you'll want to crank up, roll the windows down and go for a drive.

Posted at 07:15 PM     |

Fri - September 1, 2006

The Black Keys - Magic Potion


I haven't throughly been able to give this CD it's proper listening, but from what I have heard, I Rock Cleveland (with all due hardness) is right on the money with their review. Here's a snippet.

"How many more ways can I say awesome? If nothing else, let me remind you once again that this is the biggest, baddest, slab of guitar blues rock you can wrap your ears around. You must rock this."

Check the site out for some MP3's... and just some great Cleveland music blogging. Don't forget to get Black Keys tickets soon, they WILL sell out.

Posted at 08:55 AM     |

Thu - August 17, 2006

Reprieve Review


One of the reasons I don't do album reviews is that I don't believe I could ever be as eloquent as most reviewers are. Take this review of Ani's new Reprieve album... I couldn't have said it better. :) Then below that is some interesting background on the album's cover (from the Righteous Babe website).

Album Review: Ani DiFranco, "Reprieve" (Righteous Babe)
August 17, 2006 10:58 AM
by GF Sheffer
LiveDaily Contributor
http://www.livedaily.com/news/10561.html

Ani DiFranco (music) is among rock music's most underrated--and under valued--artists. As prolific as Ryan Adams, but without the self-destructive streak, as talented as Billy Corgan, only with a sense of humor, DiFranco is always pushing her boundaries. Her latest album, "Reprieve," finds the songwriter in an introspective mood.

There's hardly a drumbeat to be found on "Reprieve." It is one of DiFranco's quieter, more subtle efforts--all voice and acoustic guitar, with some ethereal sound effects thrown in to add bolster the disc's odd vibe. That doesn't mean she's lost her bite. Always articulate, intelligent and political, the radical young feminist still lingers beneath Ani's skin, revealing herself proudly on the best tracks on "Reprieve."

The stars and stripes take center stage on both "Decree" and "Millennium Theater," a surreal night out where Chief Justices are for sale, the ice caps are melting and "New Orleans bides her time." This is simmering, smart, progressive folk music whose lyrics recall the diatribes of Woody Guthrie or early Dylan. DiFranco's guitar playing is something else altogether--gentle but angular, with unexpected notes that cut like shrapnel.

On quieter albums like "Reprieve," DiFranco is inclined to include some spoken-word--the niche that gave her her start in her early days as a New York City troubadour. Die-hard fans will embrace the singer's musings in these moments. But, really, Ani's passion is undeniable throughout much of "Reprieve," an elegant, understated folk album that may take some time to seep in, but will stay with you once it does.

the story behind the cover
“… it’s sixty years later 
near the hypo-center of the a-bomb
i’m in the middle of hiroshima
watching a twisted old eucalyptus tree wave
one of the very few lives that survived and lives on
remembering the day it was suddenly 
thousands of degrees in the shade …”
The tree on the cover of Reprieve is not just any tree.
It’s the one that inspired Ani to write the lines above, taken from the title track of the album. It’s a real tree, photographed in Nagasaki on August 10, 1945. Photographer Yosuke Yamahata travelled into the city the day after it was levelled in an instant by an atomic bomb. (He had just travelled through Hiroshima a few days earlier, immediately before that city was also destroyed.) Most of the images he shot while documenting the devastation chronicle an unspeakable “hell on earth,” to use his term, but one image stands in contrast to the horrors of war: a lone tree, half destroyed while the other half remained intact. For many viewers, it has become a symbol of resilience and hope.
Yamahata writes: 
“Human memory has a tendency to slip, and critical judgment to fade, with the years and with changes in lifestyle and circumstance. But the camera, just as it seized the grim realities of that time, brings the stark facts … before our eyes without the need for the slightest embellishment.”
Click here to see the original photo and learn more about Yamahata’s Nagasaki series.
Special thanks to Shogo Yamahata for preserving the legacy of his father’s work.

Posted at 02:33 PM     |

Tue - August 8, 2006

Joan Jett - Sinner


So this is the start of a new category for me. I never particularly liked the idea of doing album reviews... I tried once a couple years back for some internet "magazine" and I was sent this horrible hard rock album (Artist: Broke / Album: "Don't Fix It"). I wrote a review but it never got "published." I can't believe it but I still have the album... I guess as a reminder of what I shouldn't do.

Flash forward several years. Recently I was contacted by a promotional company that was pushing the new Joan Jett album! Ahh... Joan Jett. I immediately said yes. But this time, getting to create my OWN album review - on my terms - was very appealing.

So Joan Jett's been around for a while, and everyone remembers the classics. I have fond memories of being at the roller-skating rink, and remembering how I would find myself going around the oval just a little bit faster when Joan's "I Love Rock & Roll" would come on. That and "Eye of the Tiger" where my two roller-skating jams (keep in mind I was like 10). Next memory was from the movie Light of Day -- which begs a shout-out for someone to REOPEN the Euclid Tavern (where it was filmed) now that I'm working just down the street from it. The next memory was her coming out out as a Lesbian. At this point in my life I was really getting into lesbian-leaning musicians (Ani, Melissa, Dar)... and coming from a hair-metal background, Joan Jett was a nice fit.

At every point, Joan was there and rockin' like few women have.

Introduce Sinner . My first exposure to the album was her new video on YouTube.com, featuring Carmen Electra as girl who really gets around in a day (with both boys and girls), but ends it with giving Joan the eye at her concert and they go away together. Very fun (and below). The album is a breath of fresh air for female punk rock, starting with the booming and politically charged "Riddles." Not often have I heard Joan get political, but she handles it very well. From there she takes you on a ride full of great guitar riffs and passionate rock.

My recommendations:
Riddles (listen for the George W. quotes at the end)
Change the World
Androgynous

If I had to say anything negative about this album, it's the album art. Okay, Joan... I know you're getting older and all, but you still look GREAT. There's no reason to flood the album cover with white.

As you can tell, I highly recommend it. If it doesn't catch you the first time, give it a couple listens and you'll realize that Joan is back!

Check out Joan Jett being interviewed on NPR talking about writing about politics and fetishes.


Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - A.C.D.C. (w/ Carmen Electra)



Joan Jett - I Love Rock & Roll (Color Version)


Posted at 02:26 PM     |

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