Eric Clapton -- 461 Ocean Boulevard

  While spending his time at home, 461 Ocean Boulevard, trying to cope with a vice-less life and probably experiencing some pretty heavy heroin withdraw, old Clappy pulls out what I'd consider his greatest solo effort, which is not very good.  The album starts off strong, just good old music for music's sake, no over the top solos, but some great guitar noodling.  The flipside gets even better, but halfway through Clapton drops the ball terribly hard with some countrified numbers that are so bad it ruins the integrity of the entire record.  I'll have to agree with the dog on the famous "Clapton is God" picture -- taking a piss! 

Ariel Pink -- Before Today

  There's a cool airy 60's style Dream Pop feel to this album, but some of the numbers are a little too 80's drenched for my taste, but I'd still file it under pretty good!

Derek And The Dominos -- Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

  Don't get me wrong they are very talented musicians and somehow for some odd reason I always wanted to like Eric Clapton, he's got an interesting story and kicked ass in The Yardbirds.  But unfortunately I found these song hollow, boring and cheesy as f*ck.  Honestly I was never too fond of Layla but i was hell bent on finding the hidden gems on this album, cause' c'mon, you've got Duane Allman and Eric Clapton on the same damn record, you'd think you'd be experiencing music on an epic scale, but all I found was run of the mill white boy bar Blues! 

Trio

  Yeah yeah they're the dudes who wrote Da Da Da, which is fitting because these Germans tackled Rock 'n' Roll with Dadaist simplicity.  The album itself is either hit or miss, but it excludes my favorite Trio song of all time, Sunday You Need Love, luckily I got the 12" single yesterday!

Madness -- One Step Beyond ...

  What you've got here is a three faceted album, part killer Ska, part way too British New Wave and part borderline Baggy music -- all in all a pretty good record.

Berurier Noir -- Concerto Pour Detraques

  Armed mostly with a guitar and a drum machine this Parisian punk band writes politically charged songs with strong social commentary, but they feel more like mini plays rather than straight up Rock 'n' Roll numbers.

Liverpool Five -- Arrive

  Not so great but not so bad British Invasion wannabes.  Can't say there is too much to write about other than they're fun to know!