Zwartz -- Zwartitudz

  Geez Louise these guys are the most underrated and unknown Sk8 Punk anomaly known to man!!  All I could find was a bootleg video tape of a guy playing the actual record, and the picture I drew was my best rendering of the cover that was quickly flashed on the tape.  All the tracks were pure Hardcore skate Rock numbers like, Dripping In Rad, Rad is My Dad, When I Bail My Blood Is The Colour Rad, Rad Rad Rad, Teeth In The Masonite Is Rad, Radeology At China Creek and Seylynn Radness For Life, just to name a few!  This album is a must have for any Punk Rock aficionado.

  In actuality my friend and I made this up playing scrabble getting drunk, acting stupid, with his wife.  We used to come up with all kinds of schemes to make this fake band popular locally without actually having to play, for example, lacing the town in Zwartz posters but the concert was always yesterday, making phony t-shirts and wearing them all-the-time, or the best one, making a phoney show at a certain venue, while we sit across the street with a six pack laughing at the people showing up to see the band play that doesn't exsist!  Bah ha ha ha ha!

  In the end this is my 500th album review that has been culled over three years, I've learn a lot, and have been through a personal juggernaut in my life, I sometimes think this is the only thing that kept me from losing my mind, keeping focus on the task at hand, but at the same time I fear that I may have started to identify with albums more than actual people, I've jumped too deep down the rabbit hole, and now that it's over I'm going to claw my way out, attempt at immersing myself with people, start living, so if you see a miserable curmudgeon out there snobbing it up about music, it could be me, so say hi or f*ck off, it's your choice!!  See ya on the flipside weirdos and stay groovy ......................... The And!  

Link Wray -- Law Of The Jungle

  Law Of The Jungle spans Link Wray's career from 63 to 66, showcasing some of his best known Surf Punk hits and early vocal efforts.  This instrumental mastermind has numerous legendary admirers and influenced many genres with his raw boisterous style.   

Foals -- Antidotes

  This kinda ok but not really Indie British band has one killer track, Big Big Love (Fig 2), otherwise forget this crap and move on.

Death -- ... For The Whole World To See

  This long lost masterpiece was almost ignored by the world, until a couple of guys brought it back from the dead (ha ha!), and made a documentary film on these Proto-Punk pioneers.  The music itself is a wicked mix of The Stooges and early Love with stop on a dime precision.  Why this album never saw the light of day, we'll never know, but thank god we've got it now!  

Jr. Walker And The All Stars -- Play Shotgun

  These killer motor city Soul brothers somehow make me think of a Motown version of Booker T And The MG's, but being a Detroit band, there's more horns and less Blues.

Betty Everett -- They'll Come A Time

  Great album but to be honest this record is just run of the mill Soul music, which is nice and all, but there was a lack of a stand out track!  Hey!!  I'm a poet and did know it, thank God I wrote it!

Gang Of Four -- Entertaiment!

  Art Punk classic, Gang Of Four are like the British Pere Ubu, but with more hints of New Wave, that being said Entertainment! has a wide spread of influence across the board reaching into today.

The Flying Burrito Brothers

  As an attempt to make an album without the ferocious hippie country boy sad sack power of Gram Parsons, this record is passable, but it hardly cuts the mustard like their previous efforts!

Jackson Browne -- For Everyman

  Soft Rock extraordinaire Jackson Browne's sophomore effort.  Although it sounds almost like The Eagles, I really dig these mellow tunes, my theory is that unlike The Eagles, Browne puts the twang or back-ups or solos in just the right places, therefore not making it corny as sin, my guess is that it's because of the huge slew of luminary guests featured on this album. 

The xx -- xx

  This Indie Electroclash outfit has some great Pop hooks and cool lush vocals ... but how come the only song I can remember is VCR?  Probably because it's their best version of their one trick pony.  

Super Furry Animals -- Dark Days/ Light Years

  I can't say I like this band or album very much, I could never stand the singer's voice, but this one has an exception, the mega cool killer track that appeals to the 6 year old boy living inside my brain, Where Do You Wanna Go?, it's got Beach Boys-esque lyrics with a minimalistic smooth rockin' riff, and is everything a young boy would ever want to hear in the midst of an epic road trip.  So lets all go anywhere, anytime, anyhow with anyone and feel anything!!!

Patrick Watson -- Adventures In Your Own Backyard

  Recorded in the Plateau area of Montreal, which gives me some happy nostalgia, Patrick Watson and gang made a prettily arranged Sufjan Stevens-esque album.  The songs feel like lovable nursery rhymes sung with Nick Drake sweetness.

  Adventures In Your Own Backyard reminds of my friend who introduced this music to me, the story goes, he's in his car listening to whatever with his co-worker who says, "hey man, you're into Soft Rock, eh!"  Doesn't seem like much of a statement, but for me and my buddy, whom we had never thought of ourselves as Soft Rockers, now we relish in this new fact, so ... LONG LIVE THE SOFT ROCKER!!!!  And FU if you don't like it, cause we're mellow!

Baby Huey -- The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend

  Yowzers!!!  What do you get when you mix Curtis Mayfield, who produced this album, and a Soul belter ... you guessed it, Baby Huey.  Unfortunately Huey died even before he had completely finished his influential debut album, but at least we have this testament from one, "bad ... shut your mouth!"    

Glen Campbell -- The Astounding 12-String Guitar Of ...

  ... ahhhhh, God, why did I do this to myself, albeit they are all very talented musicians, but this instrumental country/ folk muzakesque piece of sh*t sucked the big one royally ... the best thing about this album is the cover, I think I'll use the record for either a Frisbee or an ashtray! 

Edith Piaf -- Tete-A-Tete Avec Piaf

  The ill-fated Parisian national treasure chanteuse Edith Piaf's final Lp.  Honestly the music on this album isn't that great, it has it's moments but the songs hardly touch her early brilliance.  The real meat on this record sits in her monologues between numbers, her tragic optimism about love, loss, hope and youth gives the sense of a woman facing her own mortality finding solace on the last leg of the race, while putting me in a bout with existentialism about my own life, clinging whatever hope I might have for happiness. 

Shuggie Otis -- Inspiration Information

  Shuggie Otis perches himself between Sly Stone's Funky Psychedelia and smooth Stevie Wonder'd tenderness.  

SNFU -- ... And No One Else Wanted To Play

  SNFU's debut and debatebly their best album ... unfortunately lead singer and focal point became somewhat of a Punk Rock lifestyle legendary victim, as we all have from time to time, well if you're hardcore enough, but Mr. Chi Pig took it to another level, although I'm sure his eclectic ways helped in keeping his song writing fresh, vibrant and completely original.  So let's all go to the Cannibal Cafe, "where you can be the special of the day?"

Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica

  Phil Spector's crowning achievement led by the sultry and beautiful Veronica.  The Ronettes seem to have the ability to seep themselves into my and hopefully everyone's imagination, making us all remember when a beautiful woman loved and longed for us in this very way!

Chet Baker -- Let's Get Lost

  Before becoming the famous heroin fueled troubled troubadour who lost and then regained his embouchure, living a life of self torture and torment, Baker had previously recorded these numbers which were to become the soundtrack to a documentary about his life.  What you hear here is the soft pangs of a destroyed man, using his own voice and trumpet to create the sound and atmosphere of what he was feeling inside, it's funny sometimes how a man's pain can be so beautiful and enticing which is a talent on it's own.       

Stereolab -- Emperor Tomato Ketchup

  What a killer French Popped Kraut Electro Funk'd mish-mash of futura sweetness.  Man after listening to this you can tell they were heavily influenced by Gainsbourg's Melody Nelson, and  clearly had it on continuous repeat, drawing from it's greatness, while tossing their own interpretation, so ALL hail Emperor Tomato Ketchup!

Weezer

  Jock Rock extraordinaires, as much as the hit tracks are annoying and over-played, some of the oddball numbers aren't that bad, they've sound like slowed down Buzzcocks, but in the end I don't give a shit about this band.

The Scepter Records Story

  This 3 CD comprehensive box set features many great artists, I'd name one but then I'd have to name 'em all, there are some great moments, but honestly not many.  With the exception of maybe disc one's first twelve songs, and Louie Louie that shows up in the middle of disc two, this compilation stinks, not that the artists are so bad, but I kept getting the impression that they had bargain basement staff, as in song writers and producers, all the numbers had a sense phoniness, like they were written and produced to sound like another hit song ... point is, if anyone wants this comp it's up for grabs!