The Stooges -- Fun House

  The Stooges second album is in my opinion their best, totally raw, totally loud and totally awesome.  Fun House is the symbiotic mix of the MC5 and the Doors with the beat down street primitivism of the Velvets.  What else can I say, but "welcome to the Fun House, Yow!!!!!"

The Temptations -- With a Lot o' Soul

  Pumpin' Motown Classic, man this album is a power house of hits and devotion!  Their sound is mostly taken from Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, whom was very involved with the Temptations early career and this record, but where the Miracles are more the smooth Soul, The Temptations are more of that hard edge thumpin' bass Soul.  The sound on this record is so big you'd think they had everyone at Motown working on it, a gang of producers/songwriters (Holland-Dozier-Whitfield-Robinson-Ivy Joe Hunter ... etc), full orchestrations and The Temptations.  What an effort it musta been, and wuz made With a Lot o' Soul!!!!!

America -- S/T

  Folk Rockin' hybrid love child of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  Even though they could be considered a rip off band, c'mon you never thought that Horse With No Name was a Neil Young tune at some time or other, they can sometimes out do their contemporaries that they are ripping off.  

The Electric Chairs -- Blatantly Offenzive

  Punk Rock classic Blatantly Offenzive has such hits as F*** Off and Toilet Love, but the wonders of offensiveness don't end there, no no no!  Wayne, now Jayne, County the front man/woman is the hybrid between Joey Ramone and Jackie Curtis.  County used to wear outfits entirely made of garbage on stage, he took what the Dolls did and turned it right up to eleven, maybe even twelve.  This album is drenched in Rock 'n' Roll, grunts included, even covering Garage Rock classic Night Time by the Strangeloves.  The record is a great example of New York Punk, maybe less talked about than the Ramones or the Voidoids, but still important part of the scene, keeping the Warholian feel.  To quote the closing track, Rock 'n' Roll Resurrection, "Rock me Jesus, Roll me Lord, soaking in the blood of Rock 'n' Roll!"

The Detroit Cobras -- Mink, Rat or Rabbit

  The original sultry soul singer revival, forget those pop star imitators, the Cobras are the real deal.  These guys musta been diggin' deep in their 45' collections to find all these obscure tunes to cover.  But these aren't mere cover songs, like some wanna-be bar band, they made these tracks their own, and if you listen to this record there's no disputing it -- that's sure as sh*t!  You've got a good range of  ol', Country, R&B, and Soul, all Bluesely Garage Punkified to the up most perfection.  I'm so confident of their greatness that I once told a friend, right before I put the album on, "if you don't like this we're not friends anymore."  But I knew there wasn't a chance that anybody wouldn't like this record.  Mink, Rat or Rabbit, sure, but I'll take Cobra istead!

The Young Rascals -- S/T

  First of all check out those shirts and ties, yikes ... what were they thinking???  The Young Rascals self titled debut is at best ok, definitely proves Phil Spector's theory about the album, being pretty much why bother, 10 duds for 2 hits, makes allot sense for the early sixties.  Not that the tunes here are all that bad, it's good ol' American blue-eyed soul, mostly all cover songs, except for one, which isn't anything to write home about.  Even the number 1 mega hit single "Good Lovin'", is a cover of the Olympics, which they make it sounds almost the same as the original ... so no I'm not diggin' it.  The Young Rascals are a good band, just not worth the time, better off spending your dough on a Olympics album instead!!

Prince -- 1999

  This guy is one of the greatest rock star alien's since Bowie, bringing the mainstream to the dirty underground .... It all starts off with apocalyptic party tune 1999 and follow suit from there with his Minneapolis Pop sound.  The fourth side depicts Prince's best musical innovation, minimalist synth funk, these tracks are always his best work.  But "don't worry, I won't hurt, I only want you to have some fun," because, "life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last," so, "tonight I'm going to party like it's 1999," ... well not really ... those days for me are long gone, thank god!