The Platters

  After the month from hell ... living above a funeral home with a crazy teenage girl, wacko Germans and a seemingly normal substitute teacher ... I blasted this crooning Doo Wop Platters Lp.   Funny as smooth and relaxing as they sound, while most certainly having Grandma's approval too, these guys have been busted countless times with a mile long rap sheet, making the Stones look like courtroom pussies, but who knows what Grandma up to in those days either ... point is the Platters ain't no jive a** square bait vocal group, they're the real deal!

Buddy Holly -- Lives

  Buddy Holly had such a huge impact on Rock 'n' Roll that after his plane crashed some considered it the day that music died.  Holly to me was the bridge changing the 50's sound to the 60's sound, imagine the Beatles or the Beach Boys without Buddy's influence ... grim isn't it?  Would there be such a thing as Orchestrated Baroque Pop music without Holly ... probably not.  Buddy's short but perfect career reflected his era beautifully ... I wonder what his music would have been like in the 60's if he would have survived the plane crash???

Btw, I know it's not called Lives, but that sounds way cooler than 20 Golden Greats!!!

Violent Femmes

  Busker Punk debut masterpiece by the Violent Femmes!  I love everything about this record, it's fun, it's nerdy, yet at the same time it's full of piss and vinegar ... like me!

Black Mountain -- Druganaut

  I remember the first time I heard this band, my friends and I were on our way to a drunken barn dance, I'm serious, we saw fireworks once we hit the lane way ... anyway my buddy popped in Black Mountain for the ride, my god that was a wild night, I never danced in a circle none stop for so long and I heard this band for the first time ... point is these guys re-cooled Sludgy stoner rock, mixing the best elements of the 70's heyday with the 90's latter day, like a Led Zeppelin meets Dinosaur Jr.  This little EP only features two numbers, Druganaut and Buffalo Swan, but clocks in at over fifteen minutes, and you know what, it's my Aunt who bought me this record for Christmas one year, what a killer gift!  Thanks Ro, it's still awesome!

Soft Cell -- Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

  Honestly large doses of Marc Almond's voice or Synthpop music in general can drive me totally batty ... but in smaller increments I like both things, a hell-of-a-lot.  This is one doped out (what's that in his jacket?) weird as hell, wham-bam thank-ya-mam album ... or would it be man for these guys, I was never too sure of their sexual inclination ... personally I think they were just sexual, whether its this, that or anything else, it's evident in the lyrics of Frustration, Seedy Films and especially Sex Dwarf, I suppose they could have been faking it, catering to the burgeoning underground dance scene ... and you know what, I still like Tainted Love, eventhough it's a totally overplayed radio hit, it's still good.

Dinosaur Jr. -- Dinosaur

  Recorded way before they added the Jr. part, until a hippy super group of the same name got cheesed and made em' change it.  This record is allover the place as far as genre goes, it's hard to follow what they're trying to do, other than experimenting, which at the time no one was really trying to do Stoner Punk other than the Meat Puppets, so it's easy to understand why it sounds so random.  Dinosaur might not be their best album, but it's cool to hear where they started.

The Pixies -- Doolittle

  Monolithic classic sophomore release by Indie Rock royalties The Pixies.  Their sound mixes light minimalism with total banal insanity, their soft/ loud formula, they make me think of Pere Ubu meets Sonic Youth.  But there are radio friendly hit tracks on the record as well, reminiscent of when REM was cool.  Lyrically Black Francis, better known as Frank Black, has a surreal biblical cynicism, which can hardly be outdone ...