A Motown Christmas

  Who isn't sick to sh*t of crappy ass Christmas music, and every year, when it's too late, I order a Christmas album in hopes it'll get here fast, too save myself of the bad holiday tunes.  This year's Christmas record is a double album set, A Motown Christmas, pretty much a best of from Soul-city's holiday sounds.  Now I haven't received it yet so it's hard to describe how good or bad it is, but my guess is that it's mostly good with a couple of cheeseball stinkers.  I'm sure I'll get it in the new year and annoy everyone with one last bolt of Christmas songs.

Slowdive -- Souvlaki

  Dreamgaze masterpiece Souvlaki by Slowdive.  These guys are so good that they even caught the attention of luminary Ambient noisemaker Brian Eno, which for a young band must have been a huge honor.  This album predates music that is still being copy-catted today.  Thank God for the scene that celebrated itself!

Modern English -- After The Snow

  Don't let the Melt With You pop cascade fool you, this sophomore release has dark Joy Division-esque undertones.  I half expected typical 80's garbage when I picked this record up, but Melt With You is definitely the weakest number!

Fleet Foxes -- Helplessness Blues

  What do you get when you modernize dark 60's folk music?  Answer ... the Fleet Foxes!

The Feelies -- The Good Earth

  Recorded six years after their influential debut LP.  The Good Earth is a perfect mixture of jammy Velvet Underground and early REM, which coincidentally Peter Buck helped produce this album.  Personally I find that The Feelies, on this record, achieved the sound REM sought after in their early days!  

Crosby, Stills & Nash -- S/T

  The first release from the Folk Rockin' trio.  I am surprised to say that this record is one of the only releases where I actually respect Stephen Stills song writing skills, usually I find his style corny and somewhat pathetic, but on this self-titled album his numbers are knocked right outta the park ... Crosby stays true to his usual form ... unfortunately Nash drops the ball, big time, with the worst most out of place tracks you could find.  All in all, as a whole I'd say it's ok ... pretty good. 

Fleetwood Mac -- Rumours

  Filled with an internal tumultuous divorce, high emotion ... while at the same time making their greatest album of all-time ... depression and anxiety can go a long way when it comes to good art!  Point is this record is so epic that for a Fleetwood Mac Best Of compilation, disc one should be Rumours and disc two should be whatever else they had made, but in reality you'd use the second disc as your drink coaster while enjoying disc one's Rumours.

Jon Irvine -- The Cornwall Song

  Greeting from sh*tnik dirty old town!  This song, written by my roommate, buddy and bro, Jon Irvine, is the perfect descriptor of what it's like to live in this dirty place.  I have to say during my babeless 7 month tenure in my own private lost weekend (John Lennon style), I discovered how damn right good ol' Jon-o is, he didn't miss a beat ... but who cares what I have to say, he said it all, so if you, "hate this town, because you're from this town", this song is for you!  Thanks Jon!

Click here or almost anywhere for the Cornwall Song!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Fever To Tell

  You know what these guys are cute and everything.  I almost like their music ... they definitely have some killer moments, but I can't help but think that they are just pretentious, juvenile art school drop outs who have a lot to learn!

The Mothers Of Invention -- Cruising With Ruben and The Jets

  Totally bizarre Doo Wop concept album by Frank Zappa and his troop of Mothers.  Word is they did this album half as a joke and half exploring their love for Doo Wop music.  Story goes that the first press of the record didn't even credit The Mothers Of Invention, it was meant to look like a long lost Doo Wop album by a group called Ruben And The Jets.  Their theory was to release it under the Ruben guise to get some AM radio play, which the group would have never gotten with their reputation as The Mothers Of Invention, point is it worked, they got the radio play until rumor came out that it was a total hoax/ prank.  Musically it is almost believable Doo Wop, maybe a little off kilter, but those groups did exist, due to shotty recording techniques and just plain old bad equipment.  Personally I love this record, I am such a huge Doo Wop fan that I found it fun that someone out there wanted to recreate a style that was so creative and lost!  Oh and what's with the phallic anthropomorphs on the cover???

Soundgarden -- Badmotorfinger

  F*ck I hate Soundgarden!  It's just bad Sludgy Heavy Metal jock rock, they should have called themselves sh*tgarden ... or maybe suckgarden!  It's up to you!??

Jale -- Dreamcake

  Halifax contemporaries of Sloan, Eric's Trip, Super Friendz ... etc.  In theory I should have liked this album, but in reality I didn't!  It was too much of a stereotypical version of Grunge and 90's Britpop.  Not that it was all that bad, just was mediocre.

Radiohead -- Kid A & Amnesiac

  Just to be clear I am a little iffy about Radiohead, they're kinda hit or miss for me, but these two albums marked the plateau of their career.  I decided to do them simultaneously because they are one and the same, as well as they were intended to be counterparts.  Kid A is a future-scaped Kraut drenched masterpiece.  While Amnesiac stays to form, but has more of a minimalist guitar driven sound.  I remember when Kid A first hit the streets, the music sounded like it had popped outta the future, but my 2012 listen kinda made it sound dated, not in a bad way, just had an early 2000 quality to it.  While Amnesiac had more of a long lasting scope, it felt atmospheric, with the exception of the tracks I plainly had to skip, you could put it out today and no one would bat an eyelash.  With that being said in the end Kid A is still the superior release, but Amnesiac has some of my favorite Radiohead songs of all-time.  Let`s call it a tie ...

Sigur Ros -- Takk ...

  All I could think the whole duration of this album is, one, what the hell are they saying and two, it sounds like Dream Pop mixed with Shoegaze, in the best possible way!

Love And Rockets -- Earth, Sun, Moon

   This is a damn fine record, a healthy mix of Psychedelic Folk Shoegaze with some 50's kitch!  You can definitely hear where alternative music got some ideas, primarily Jane's Addiction ... point is, this is their best album and was a total surprise!  My only real complaint was that I found the lyrics a little juvenile, but who cares, I never remember the words anyway! 

John Coltrane -- A Love Supreme

  Totally clean and filled with love for God, John Coltrane decides to record this album as an offering to the supreme being.  A Love Supreme sounds like Coltrane in his most natural habitat, his notes and style can be hard to follow, scattering pieces everywhere.  Clearly Coltrane's skill and creativity are legendary, but at the same time I am humbled to listen to a man's gift to God ...

The Misfits -- Walk Among Us

  Horror Punk pioneers, what can I really say ... they sound like the Ramones fronted by satanic Elvis!

The Pogues -- Rum, Sodomy and the Lash

  Lets get the first thing outta the way, I am not a fan of Celtic music ... at all ... meaning I don't dig most of this record, with the exception of Dirty Old Town.  Originally this tune was penned by the  Dubliners, but The Pogues, mainly MacGowan, re-vamped the song to epic proportions.  Funny enough Dirty Old Town has become a minor hit in my area, mainly with the aging hipster crowd ... why, you ask ... because we live in a Dirty Old Town, so the lyrics reflect our thoughts, feelings and wishes.  I remember all night jam sessions with the gang where every number we played always ended with Dirty Old Town.  So let's all, "dream a dream by the old canal," because we live in a, "dirty old town, dirty old town!"

Back In Tha Day

  So my Halloween costume this year was a 1980's break dancer, and Back In Tha Day was my soundtrack to get in character.  This comp features, almost, all the great rappers of the golden years ... but what gives ... no Run DMC ... bummer.  Down to the brass tacks I do not like Rap music, I have my few exceptions and guilty pleasures, which, some, are featured on this album.  Otherwise I fell like the music had it's time and it's place, late 70's, 80's and early to mid 90's.  After that the genre turned onto itself and became a fat, bloated, greedy marketing idiot, tossing it's integrity out of the window and becoming part of the corporate machine! BEH!

Bad Brains -- S/T

  KAAAAABOOOOOM!!!!!  Is probably the best way to describe Bad Brains's debut album, Christ they even put it on the cover.  They took what the Ramones had started and cranked it to maximum velocity.  Funny how once again in music history a genre is started with creative black men, and then whitey decides to copy cat them, not that there weren't any good creative white Hardcore bands, but there were sure as hell tons of terrible ones.  What makes this record even better is that there are a couple of killer Dub style Reggae tunes, just to remind you what they are really about!

Spacemen 3 -- The Perfect Prescription

  Super stoner conceptual album by Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription.  Word is the record is about some kind of drug induced trip, something which I would know nothing about ... well maybe ... honestly I have a hard time deciphering the lyrics, but the song titles kinda tell it all, the high, the plateau, the comedown and a possible OD.  Musically it's like shoegaze  mega drone Psychedelic lazy Blues.  Anyway this album is an instant classic and should be on every vinylhead's main list!

Chicago Blues Anthology

  Double album set of Delta and urban Blues.  Don't get me wrong, it's a killer collection, I just find the list of players a little uneven, for example there's Buddy Guy and no Muddy Waters, meaning, it's hardly a Chicago Blues Anthology of Chess masters without the main man.  But honestly who cares, the music is great and the Bluesmen are legendary!!

Lynyrd Skynyrd -- (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)

  Yes that's right I actually like Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I love this debut album.  These guys took what the Allman Brothers started and turned it up to 11.  Oh and the record is Sweet Home Alabama-less, which is great because I hate that f*cking song!!

FRREEEEEEBIIIRDD!!

Happy Mondays -- Live

  All the songs are present, but the production on this Live album sucks ... the big one!  It sounds like a half fast demo with a completely wasted singer ... no point in going on, I'm selling it ASAP!  Any takers?

New Order -- 1981 - 1982

  Still living in the shadow of Joy Division, New Order's early EP 1981 - 1982 sounds just like it's predecessor, with the exception of opening track Temptation.  This tune marked a bit of a departure of their traditional early sound.  The drum track has more of a Madchester groove goin' on, with less Ian Curtis carbon-copy vocals and it seems, well to me, that Modest Mouse based their entire sound on this number ...  

The Flying Lizards -- S/T

  Initially I assumed The Flying Lizards were just a typical 80's Electro band, and they are for the most part, but then I played the flipside which has four Electro-Clash'd Dub styled Trip Hop numbers, not a type of music I am always partial to, but when you discover things like these, you feel like a chisel wielding rock and roll archeologist who just found something deep in the ground.

Nirvana -- Nevermind

You know what??  Fuck this album, fuck this band, I can't stand nerdvana, I have no clue how this angsty juvenile garbage has made it to such classic status ... if you want the real, so called, "grunge" it's called Mudhoney!  Oh and this is by far their best album!

Public Enemy -- Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos 12"

  Black Steel is, well in my mind, the best Rap song of all-time, no one has nailed it so cold, hard and serious.  In case you didn't know, the premise is, a dude gets a draft letter, he doesn't believe in his country and his country doesn't believe in him, so he dodges not really thinking too much of it, the government goes after him, they toss him in a cell, turns out it's a work-camp a la legal politically run new style slavery ring, so in the end he plans an escape, in which he participates in many violent acts due to being in jail's mental malaise, meaning the government took a seemingly normal person, crammed  him in with a bunch of criminals, junkies and other dodgers, which eventually turned him into a cold blooded killer!!  I realize the song is charged with the racial issues of the time, but I'm sure there were multicultural draft dodgers dealing with the same problem, giving Black Steel universal theme.

P.S. I don't really like or know too much about hip hop!

Screeching Weasel -- Boogadaboogadaboogada!

  First things first, let's not talk about the punch a girl in the face incident!  What a f*ckin' jerk-bag!  Instead let's talk about how these guys made Punk fun again, who didn't love to play this album as a teenager, smoke weed with your friends and act like total goofballs; as oppose to most of the bummer political Punk, or mega serious Hardcore, or the even worse Straight Edge -- f*ck that sh*t we wanna have a good time!!  I have to say I wasn't too crazy about the 90's Punk that was inspired by these guys, and my only real beef with Boogadaboogadaboogada! is that there is just way too many songs, half the songs are well written, well produced, the other half is too much of the same old with half the effort ... it would have been great if they'd done it like the Circle Jerks's Group Sex, I realize some people are cheesed because that album was too short, but it was perfect, which is what this album could have been!

Simply Saucer -- Cyborgs Revisited

  One of Canada's best hidden secrets, Simply Saucer, and if you are a Proto-Punk geek snob then this one should go right to the top of your list!  Saucer has a wide span of influences from early Electronic music to Kraut style psychedelia, making a kinda Garage dystopian Punk hybrid with what sounds like Lou Reed on vocals.  So spread the word ... and Dance The Mutation!

The Valadiers -- I Found A Girl/ You'll Be Sorry Someday 45'

  The first official all-white vocal group recorded by the Motown think tank.  Story goes ... these boys waltz into the Soul city studio to audition for Berry Gordy, he must have been pretty impressed because he signed four whities!  Now do these pale riders compare to their colored Soul struttin' contemporaries, not even close!!  The Valadiers are a cute Doo Wop vocal act, but they aren't really Motown material, maybe Gordy was trying to diversify, widen or whiten his audience.  I like how the numbers seem to have a theme, first it's I Found A Girl and by the time it came to record the B-side it's You'll Be Sorry Someday, he was already bitter as hell, all I kept thinking was, "gee that was fast."  But I can't judge too harshly, I've had a couple of those myself!  

The Damned -- Damned Damned Damned

  Motherf*ckin' shotgun blast of the best Brit Punk there is!!  From start to finish it goddamn-ed kills! 

David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti & Julee Cruise -- Industrial Symphony No.1

  So ... I was on a David Lynch kick lately, and I happen to stumble across Industrial Symphony No.1 a video performance art piece, which includes many known hits from Twin Peaks the television series.  The set looks like something out of the Bauhaus meets Francis Bacon with the symbolic feel of Jodorowsky's El Topo.  Thematically it's about the tragic rational irrationality of heartbreak in which the visual symbolism shows all the components; love, loss, loneliness, boredom, hope ... etc ... but it goes deeper than that still, it also depicts the evils of internal malaise and what that could conjure into one's self; lust, need, confusion, anger, struggle ... etc.  Musically you have a mix of Music Concrète with the lush 50's Doo Wop infused backdrop of Julee Cruise, whom I feel would have been great in a Shoegazer band.  This video isn't for everyone, kinda a fan only thing ... but it's a wonderful example of human nature and the harm we can do to ourselves!