The Zombies -- Odessey and Oracle

  Baroque popped bizarro Beach Boys-esque masterwork by, what I like to think of as 60's indie rock band, The Zombies, who quickly fizzled out before its release, and refused to reform at any cost after Time Of The Season became a major hit ... man I will never forget this album for the sole reason that I, now resentfully, traded this record for a Jam bootleg double LP, who I was far more interested in, in those days, which ended up not playing well or sounding any good at all, it felt like a dirty trick from my best buddy at the time, I'd say live and learn, but I hate that saying, it was just one of those life mistakes.

Stiff Little Fingers -- Inflammable Material

  I have a love/ hate relationship with the Stiff Little Fingers style of pub punk, but this album does capture their best moments ... hands down!

Neil Young -- On The Beach

  Holy frig!!  Christmas miracles are real ... there I was at my local record store picking up Neil Young's Zuma and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, the owner and I start talking, I mention how On The Beach is my most sought out album, and going on about how it's probably going to cost me fifty bux on ebay, lo and behold he pulls it out and gives it to me for free, tells me it's got a couple pops but plays ok ... needless to say I got drunk in front of the turntable like a sacrificial lamb, listening to my sacred totem!!

Eno -- Another Green World

  You get the sense that this ambient rock music is actually from "Another Green World" much like our own from a far off galaxy.  At first I was hesitant to like this classic, but it sucked me into its outwordly envelope and I ended up loving it.

The Mighty Upsetter -- Kung Fu Meets The Dragon

  A classic in the Lee 'Scratch' Perry, OCD riddled, cult film obsessed, dub reggae style.  Perry's Jamaican space-psych pre-trip hop music is pure mad scientist genius in technique, form and sound, recorded in his studio/ dub-experiment lab, Black Ark studios, which he cheaply built in his back yard to gain more control and isolation, and eventually burned down in a fit of paranoia due to 'unclean spirits' ... I suspect that the super ape had escaped and was totally pissed!

The Dave Brubeck Quartet -- Time Out

  I may not, yet, be a jazz aficionado, and don't get me wrong Time Out is a great album, but I somehow find it has a white naïveté sound to it.

J Mascis -- Tied To A Star

  The album I always wanted to hear from J Mascis, striped down and flailing away from the Dinosaur Jr. Marshall stacked power rock, instead it's a neo-folk-psych-gazer record reminiscent of Led Zepplin III.  I'm so glad my local dude was playing this in-store when I had some money to burn!

Ty Segall -- Goodbye Bread

  I wrote off Segall way too soon, Goodbye Bread is a brilliant Indie-psych masterpeice.  Funny thing is when I picked this up, the owner's buddy was manning the store with his all too friendly sticky dog, while I'm getting an album that is rittled with pooch pictures, coincidence, I don't believe in them, just another mini-epic moment of the fateadlyesque hobby of collecting.

The Stooges

  Super stoned, raw and primitive, The Stooges, John Cale produced, opening album was and is an instant classic.  I had no idea how tough these guys actually were until I read Please Kill Me ... squatting in a house at war with bikers over heroin, they meant and were every sound they made, the real deal all the way ... f*ck you!

Echo & The Bunnymen -- Porcupine

  For the most part I don't like Echo & The Bunnymen, Heaven's Up Here is super rad, but Porcupine is loud, hyper and way too new waveish, like not so sucky U2, but U2 nonetheless.

Beck -- Odelay

  There are some great grooves on this album but Mellow Gold's gritty weirdness still takes top spot, even if dumb top 40's radio stations still play Loser.

The Mamas And The Papas -- Deliver

  Deliver does feature some of my favourite mellow sunshine Mamas & The Papas tunes, but I think I'll stick with my double LP greatest hits and toss this one into the pit!

The Beach Boys -- Sunflower

  Holy frig how many awesome albums can one band put out?  Sunflower is a sunshine powroque (power/ baroque) pop masterpiece by the kings of up scaling the bar.

Neil Young -- Freedom

  Freedom has 'bout four point five tracks of good Neil Young music, the rest has the stench of 1980's dad rock, not that I lasted more than two seconds per track before I had to skip -- YECCH!!

The Lovin' Spoonful -- Daydream

  Honestly I was prepared to full on hate this album, 'cause I think John Sebastian is a flake, but I have to admit there were some passable garage-y moments -- I'm still going to toss it!

Jimmy Ruffin -- Ruff'n Ready

  Run of the mill Motown soul music, I can't say there were any mind blowing pumpin' sounds, just an album of hollow filler, but that is one bitchin' cover, looks like it could be Jamaican rocksteady!

Ry Cooder - Paradise And Lunch

  What you got here is laid back experimental Americana, with the never ending guitar chops of Ry Cooder, sorta sounds like if James Taylor were mega awesome!

The Allah Las -- Worship The Sun

  Keeping true to their surfy garage revival form while mixing in more elements of lush indie rock making the album feel more like a whole rather than just seperate hit entities, with the exception of the closing country number which could have been a good b-side for a single and not the last thing you should of heard.

The Left Banke -- Walk Away Renee/ Pretty Ballerina

  The album that put baroque pop on the map, this underrated classic finds itself right in between Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper.

New Riders Of The Purple Sage -- The Adventures Of Panama Red

  Originally an offshoot of The Grateful Dead, exploring burnout 70's hippie city-boy country music, usually I like this kind of Americana, but Panama Red is easily forgettable.

The Stranglers -- Black And White

  Holy frig, what a piece of shit ... the worst part is the album starts off strong, but by the time you've made it to the end of the second side, you wish you had ripped your eardrums out.  I don't know what the fuck happened while making the album other than maybe the band had gotten so deep into drugs that when it came time to finish the record they no longer gave a shit and rushed whatever garbage out to get it over with ...

Neil Young -- Time Fades Away

  Although Young is embarrassed of this loose jam sounding live LP, most likely due to the memories of the 90 day bender/tour these tracks were recorded from, other than that, who cares, it has that pre-Brian Jonestown Massacre raw one take sound, and seems to be the missing links from the Harvest album, which to me always sounded too short and unfinished ... so frig off Neil, it's awesome!

Big Star -- Sister Lovers/ Third

  Forget the stereotypical Big Star power popped classic rock numbers, the brilliance of this album lies in the 70s style gothic baroque pop songs, which are so good they are genius!

Desmond Dekker -- Rudy Got Soul

  To me Dekker is the undisputed king of the Jamaican sound with chops comparable to Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield, too bad Desmond faded into obscurity after his initial heyday and the newly popularized reggae music.

Robert Loveless

 

  From what I saw the other night R. Loveless is a synth popped blue eyed soul'd Marvin Gaye, but the cassette has more of a garage rock feel of the same sound, both being just as good as the other, his name seemed fitting 'cause the night in question that I watched him get down and do his thing, there was a girl there, in a very small club, that I had spent an intimate evening with, despite our one night connection we acted like the electricity between us was never there and went on ignoring each other, I felt torturedly destroyed while pretending to have a great time, "Tracks Of My Tears" style ... fuck the world can be such shit sometimes, at least there's good music to save us from our sorrows!

King Tuff -- Black Moon Spell

  The much anticipated and hugely disappointing rock album Black Moon Spell.  After his last killer record I was wondering where King Tuff would go to next, instead of forward he took two steps back, I was initially very pissed when I listened to this garage pop punk piece of crap, but after a few more spins I realized that this release should have been his first album rather than the third ... God, I hope he takes a turn back on the next one and looses all the stereotypical graveyards, drugs and babes bullshit and returns with his Beatles'd melodied garage grunge!!

The Everywheres

  A Galaxie 500'd version of The Brian Jonestown Massacre with the surfiness of The Allah Las.  I was so diggin' their set when I saw them live that I had to buy their album ... which rarely happens!

Best Fiends

  Halifax's answer to Jay Reatard and Jon Spencer.

Walrus -- Glam Returns

  Best damn east coast band since Eric's Trip ... not only do they have a 60's indie space rock sound with a 12 string guitar, like a sort of Byrds Impala, but they've got one the raddest drummer in town, who my buddy and I have named Phil Masters, 'cause his drum fills are out of this world.  I can't wait for their next show, their next release ... or their next anything!

Zounds -- Curse Of The ...

  Even though they are associated with and on the Crass record label, The Zounds weren't all about destroying punk rock music, they had a Clash meets Gang Of Four sound, with hints of rock 'n' roll psychedelia, cutting them apart from the typical Brit punk formula.

The Rolling Stones -- Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!

  Marking the start of the Brian Jonesless, cocaine blues, era of the Stones, showing their legions of fans, despite a personnel loss, that it wasn't over yet!!

Jay Reatard -- Matador Singles '08

  Still very power punk'd but sliding more towards indie rock ... I have to admit that I prefer when artists like Jay diversify into their softer side, it shows they are more than a one trick pony, it's just too f*cking bad he was taken away from us while he was on the cusp of real greatness!!

Ty Segall -- Sleeper

  Totally dropping his hard edge garage punk sound and picking up a serious psych folk style incorporating Neil Young with T. Rex.  Written in memory of his recently deceased father.  I'm sure lots of his loyal fans are thinking what the f*ck about this very mature record ... while I'm thinking it's about time!!

Why laptops are the coolest thing ever!!

  I bought my laptop in 2008, yes I'm a techno late bloomer, for five hundred bux, the reason being I was going to college for the third time, my plan was to become a journalist, which I dropped out, of course -- three time loser!!  Point is for the most part I usually would be kicking my own ass for spending that much money on stupid electronics, but it inadvertently became one of the best purchases I have ever made for one reason, the burnt cd, I must have thousands of dollars worth of music that has come out of that thing, it just keeps paying for itself, over and over!  Imagining the countless albums I would never have had a hard copy of, which I'm a stickler for, is like some kind of nightmare.  Back in the day if you told me that in the future we'd all have miracle cd making machines, I would have laughed in your face, although we did have the dubbed tape, but that could turn out bad depending on which generation tape you were dubbing, point is THANK GOD FOR LAPTOPS!! THEY'RE AWESOME!!  Oh and for the 'what about the artists they don't get any money' people, I say, if the band is big enough, their mansions don't need to get any bigger, and if the group is underground, it's more recognition, meaning more concert ticket sales and I could get inspired to buy the LP so a win win for us all!

James Taylor -- One Man Dog

  Man ... I get Lester Bangs' theory on One Man Dog, having the short interlude-esque tracks making Taylor's sound an easier pill to swallow ... forget that, it's a terrible album, Sweet Baby James may be corny, but way better!

The Byrds -- Younger Than Yesterday

 A perfect example of what was, what is and what's going to come ... the swing of the early albums, the psychedelia of Fifth Dimension and the twang of Sweethreart!

Flamin' Groovies -- Teenage Head

  Pretty much summing up what rock 'n' roll was all about by 1971, representing every era, with a feel for the three minute single.

Tom Waits -- Swordfishtrombones

  Swordfishtrombone sounds like an attempt to make sense of Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, which inadvertently opened doors to Waits' cool whiskey drenched and late night dinner sound.

John Lennon -- Shaved Fish

  Shaved Fish is a comprehensive of great songs and hit numbers, making a terribly awkward best of mix.

Slayer -- Reign In Blood

  I secretly like this album, it's definitely filed under guilty pleasure, as much as the lyrics are sick, twisted and depravingly disturbing, I honestly don't believe that they're really into all this satan bullshit, meaning it's not them who worships the devil it's the modern world that is tolerant of evil and this is their  interpretation of it.  The frantic speed punk gives me nostalgia, and Rubin executes a perfect sound production for the piercing musical assault, but goddamn do I ever hate the guitar solos!!

Why my obsessions with love songs has possibly ruined my life!

  Ever since I can remember I was always a sucker for the love song, the magic that is depicted in these numbers and how I feel inside are one and the same, from the woman I glanced at for just a second to my favourite coffee shop babe to the lady I was with for 5 years, my deepest passionate love is always there.  Question is, if I never heard the thousands of love songs that has soundtracked my heart, would I be such a hopeless romantic?  Personally I think no, for the sole reason that the poetry laced in these tracks has tattooed in my mind that such loving feelings could exsit ... or maybe I've become cynical with the help of heartbreak tunes, 'cause things haven't been working out for me so much lately ... point is, well, I guess there isn't one, other than I'll probably keep getting trampled on until I find someone I can spend the rest of my life with!  Awwwwww ... barf puke vomit!!

The Minutemen -- 3 Way Tie (For Last)

  Maybe not their greatest release, but their last, just as they were on the cusp of moderate success, inventing the future of Alternative music along with REM, Husker Du and The Replacements.  Musically the album is all over the place from artsy, to almost classic and even a tad folk like rock.  Watt's side being stronger than Boon's, otherwise save your money for Double Nickels On The Dime!!

The maximum life span of a band is 10 years

  I don't care who you are, how talented you can be or how cutting edge your sound is, when it comes to music you have a decade of greatness ... no more, if you can even make it that far!  Just think of all the great groups who went past their eras, two things can happen, they either become completely obsolete playing a sad version of their heyday music, or they attempt to jump on the next band wagon that are rebelling away from the old and becoming the new, like rock 'n' rollers trying to be hippies or punks playing new wave ... It just doesn't work.  Who in the f*ck wants to go on forever, shaking their old wrinkled asses on stage for screaming wasted weirdos ... only one type of person, the ego moniacle whoring rock giant that needs constant undeserving worship to keep their spoilt baby world from tearing apart, forgetting what made them initially brilliant in the first place ... but I get it, they're artists, there isn't much else that they can do but play music and try to stay relevant!

Gram Parsons -- Grievous Angel

  I have truly become heartbroken, why you ask, the answer is simple, I think I'm starting to understand country music, it's beautiful acceptance of misery, unlike blues which is more aggressive, seems to be speaking to me, and Parsons found a way to make it cool again, much like Neil Young, but with a more tortured martyr style.  

American vs. British Punk: The final word!!

  Ok I'm just going to get down to the brass tacks, forget all the exceptions and rationals, there's good and bad on both sides of the fence, I'm doing an overall generalization.  In the end, with NO arguments allowed, the Americans take it all by a landslide, not only for being the forerunners from way back, but for playing a more rhythmic, relatable version that stood the test of time, the Brits are just too robotic, political and pseudo-glamorous ... case closed ... America (fuck ya)!

1966 the REAL year Punk broke!

  By '66 the world was already over folk rock and getting sick of beat groups, at that time there were already new cool fuzzed out sounds pumping out of America, so by 1966 rock had found a new bad ass phase, Garage punk, which showed up, took over, and disappeared for 10 years.  You had groups like The Seeds, The Count Five, The Standells, The Music Machine ... etc, playing a faster, louder, more primitive version of rock 'n' roll than any other band at the time ... Even The Beatles did a their infamous butcher babies cover for Yesterday And Today that featured a couple of fuzztoned numbers showing that the masses were possibly ready for the punk rock ethos, but then the summer of love hit, setting us forward again, but as the years passed the hippie bullshit piled up too high and it was back to basics a decade later!

1971 the year modern music was born ... and the 3 decades it took to get it back

  1971 the year of Serge Gainsgourg's Melody Nelson and Can's Tago Mago.  Man rock 'n' roll had made leaps and bounds with these two albums, but the world wasn't ready yet for such futuristic sounds and beats, we were still worshipping Americana and on the cusp of going crazy for glam rock. Even with the decades to come nothing had yet to come out that sounded so dateless and fresh.  It wasn't until the mid to late 90's that this music would show its weary head again with Beck, Stereolab and Air ... then later on with Radiohead's duel landmark albums (Kid A and Amnesiac), everybody jumped in the boat, declaring it new, vibrant and weird, forgetting about its forerunners 30 years earlier ... who did it first!

The Period Of No Music ... Pun intended? Bet Your Ass It Is!

  I'm sure every music lover, and especially the super snobby delicate album collector go through bouts of this, which I'm currently in, THE PERIOD OF NO MUSIC, which can last up to a couple days or even a week ... usually -- for me at least! He he he (get it?)!  What brings on such a symptom can vary from the good old fashioned being sick of listening after a large music bing eg. long drives, to the depressed 'nothing I hear could ever please me' to my current superstition fuelled state of 'I haven't played a record since that job interview and I won't until I hear back' paranoia, ridiculous I know, but I like to rationalize it as Crowleyian-esque ritual, who knows it's probably a bunch of bunk jive bullsh*t, but we all act a little funny in tough times of life, let's just hope it works ... at least I've got film and books to fall back on to fill the void!

Richie Havens -- Alarm Clock

  You know I haven't had dibs on Sunday garage sale in years, I'm usually way too hungover to make it first thing in the morning but I can thank my summertime cold and the fact that I have to work at noon today for making it early ... point is, I picked up this very 70's folk album by Richie Havens, it sounds like it could be called Van Stevens or Cat Morrison, whichever you prefer!

Portishhead -- Dummy

  Yeah yeah sometimes I'm a negative f*ck, a judgmental piece of shit and have a dislike for almost everything, occasionally life doesn't feel so great ... big deal ... the soft, delicate moments of Portishead's Dummy can remind you of what's really on your mind ... the sound of a bout with existentialism!