LED ZEPPELIN
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI
1975-SWAN SONG
Produced By JIMMY PAGE
1. Custard Pie
2. The Rover
3. In My Time Of Dying
4. Houses Of The Holy
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Kashmir
1. In The Light
2. Bron-Yr-Aur
3. Down By The Seaside
4. Ten Years Gone
5. Night Flight
6. The Wanton Song
7. Boogie With Stu
8. Black Country Woman
9. Sick Again
Physical Graffiti is the 6th album from Led Zeppelin. And despite being loaded with outtakes from previous albums, it's almost the band's best work. This two disc set consists of 8 new songs that came out just too long for a single disc, so they went back and pulled 7 outtakes from Led Zeppelin III, IV, and Houses Of The Holy. The result is a sprawling, and sometimes stunning, piece of work. The original songs are longer: "In My Time Of Dying", "In The Light", and maybe their best song ever, "Kashmir", clock in at over 27 minutes. These 8 tracks are all excellent, and had they been released alone, this might have been Zep's masterpiece.
The outtakes are almost as good, a testament of how strong this band was at the time. "Bron-Yr-Aur" was intended for Led Zeppelin III, "Night Flight, "Down By The Seaside" and "Boogie With Stu" for Led Zeppelin IV, and "The Rover", "Black Country Woman", and "Houses Of The Holy" were from the Houses of The Holy sessions. In all, this is a must have Zeppelin album. Hard to believe that they could have made it even better by making it shorter.
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XTC
SKYLARKING
1986-GEFFEN
Produced By TODD RUNDGREN
1. Summer's Cauldron
2. Grass
3. The Meeting Place
4. That's Really Super, Supergirl
5. Ballet For A Rainy Day
6. 1000 Umbrellas
7. Season Cycle
8. Earn Enough For Us
9. Big Day
10. Another Satellite
11. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
12. Dear God
13. Dying
14. Sacrificial Bonfire
XTC was always an underrated band flying under the radar, mainly because of their inability to tour to promote their albums (Andy Partridge has terrible stagefright). On Skylarking, they got everything right. This is easily their best work, a beautiful stream of songs that showcases all the best things about the band. Partridge and Colin Moulding do their best Lennon-McCartney impersonation with the songwriting, and the continuity of the music, implemented by producer Rundgren, makes this a non stop beautiful ride. Everything goes right for the band...they even got a bona fide hit in the surprising "Dear God".
XTC never matched Skylarking, althought they made some gereat records (and some great misses). Former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince plays on this (XTC had been without an official drummer for years). This is their best work, and unlike anything else in their catalog. Oh...and "Grass" is one great tune to chill out to as well!
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THEM CROOKED VULTURES
2009-DGC
Produced By THEM CROOKED VULTURES
1. No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
2. Mind Eraser, No Chaser
3. New Fang
4. Dead End Friends
5. Elephants
6. Scumbag Blues
7. Bandoliers
8. Reptiles
9. Interlude With Ludes
10. Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up
11. Caligulove
12. Gunman
13. Spinning In Daffodils
Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup consisting of Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). The Grohl/Homme connection is easy...Grohl played on a QOTSA album previously. Adding the Zeppelin element makes it interesting...and it's a big part of the sound. The album plays more like a QOTSA project than anything else, mainly because it's Homme who is front and center on vocals and guiitar, with Grohl back in the drum seat.
The album is fast and heavy, and depending on your mood, it can lose you. But in the right frame of mind, this can also be captivating. Maybe the best display of what this mix can be is on "Scumbag Blues", which sounds as much like QOTSA as it does Led Zeppelin. Jones brings a lot of great elements to the album, and ends up being the real star. A high energy affair, loud and fast. It could use more Dave Grohl, but otherwise very good, and very promising for the future...if they ever decide to do it again.
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LYLE LOVETT
PONTIAC
1987-MCA
Produced By TONY BROWN & LYLE LOVETT
1. If I Had a Boat
2. Give Back My Heart
3. I Loved You Yesterday
4. Walk Through The Bottomland
5. L.A. County
6. She's No Lady
7. M-O-N-E-Y
8. Black And Blue
9. Simple Song
10. Pontiac
11. She's Hot To Go
How does a guy who looks more like Eraserhead than Buck Owens fare with the country music community? Not very well. But Lyle Lovett has strong enough material and enough talent to overcome even that. Pontiac is his 2nd album, and while it almost completely seperated him from Nashville, it was too good to be ignored. Mixing elements of country, jazz, and some kind of interplanetary swing music with a razor sharp sense of humor, Lovett swings though "Give Back My Heart" and "She's Hot To Go", get's deep on "Black And Blue", and sounds terrific on everything else.
Most of Lovett's catalog is great, but this is a great place to start. This is the one that will really get you hooked. This is how country music should sound...not like another stupid Ford commercial.
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MADONNA
THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION
1990-SIRE
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
1. Holiday
2. Lucky Star
3. Borderline
4. Like A Virgin
5. Material Girl
6. Crazy For You
7. Into The Groove
8. Live To Tell
9. Papa Don't Preach
10. Open Your Heart
11. La Isla Bonita
12. Like A Prayer
13. Express Yourself
14. Cherish
15. Vogue
16. Justify My Love
17. Rescue Me
Yes, it's Madonna. Yes, she is responsible for making being a "pop princess" something young girls everywhere aspire to be. But, she is also a very smart woman. She knows a great hook when it's in front of her, and she's not afraid to take it. She knows how severely limited her vocal range is, and she stays well inside that boundary. She is otherwise risky, dangerous, and she made girls a whole lot more fun in the 80's than they ever were before.
The Immaculate Collection covers her biggest hits from the 80's. Love it or hate it, these are great pop recordings, full of confidence and catchy as hell. These are the songs that made Madonna the icon she is today, and they are an important part of our musical history. And if you are going to have a Madonna album, this is the one to have...there's no filler, it really is a best of, and it's a perfect look at her legend. I'd say that it's a necessary part of a collection. This music is more 80's than any other. I rate it a five, and I stand beside it. Because, among all of the other things that it is, it's also really good stuff. Just run down the tracklist. You should know them all. And to have all this on one disc? Yes!
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BOB DYLAN
BLONDE ON BLONDE
1966-COLUMBIA
Produced By BOB JOHNSTON
1. Rainy Day Womer #12 & 35
2. Pledging My Time
3. Visions of Johanna
4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)
5. I Want You
6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
8. Just Like A Woman
9. Most Likely You'll Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
10. Temporary Like Achilles
11. Absolutely Sweet Marie
12. 4th Time Around
13. Obviously 5 Believers
14. Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
In 1966, while The Beatles were just getting around to recording Revolver, Bob Dylan was already at his creative peak...for the first time. Blonde On Blonde was a new high for Dylan, and also the end of an era. Continuing where Highway 61 Revisited had left off, the album stays in the electric blues vein, but with a lot more of an eclectic sound. "Just Like A Woman" is a classic, and the album also boasted hits in "I Want You" and the questionable "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35". This is a stunning and beautiful album...who knows where he would have gone from here?
After the release of Blonde On Blonde, Dylan was in a motorcycle accident that led to his holing up in New York with The Band and recording The Basement Tapes. Blonde On Blonde is also the first significant double album in rock. It's a true classic, one of the greatest albums ever made. An easy one to rate. _________________ May we all get to heaven
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BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
NIGHT MOVES
1976-CAPITOL
Produced By BOB SEGER, MUSCLE SHOALS RYTHYM SECTION, PUNCH & JACK RICHARDSON
1. Rock And Roll Never Forgets
2. Night Moves
3. The Fire Down Below
4. Sunburst
5. Susnspot Baby
6. Mainstreet
7. Come To Poppa
8. Ship Of Fools
9. Mary Lou
1976 was truly the year of Bob Seger. After 8 albums and years of obscurity in Michigan, Capitol unleashed Live Bullet, a stunning live album that brought Seger to the world. And he did not disappoint. The follow up album, Night Moves, is Seger at his best. The title track is one of rock's better songs, and "Mainstreet" helped to cement Seger as one of the top rockers of his day."Rock And Roll Never Forgets", "Come To Poppa", and "Sunspot Baby" were also great. Only "Sunburst" was questionable...everything else signalled that there was a new star in town.
Seger went on to success though the mid 90's, but he was never able to top the songs or the energy of Night Moves. Still a great album today, still a great listen.
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BILL FRISELL
HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
1993-ELEKTRA
Produced By WAYNE HORVITZ
1. The Open Prairie
2. Street Scene In A Frontier Town
3. Mexican Dance And Finale
4. Prairie Night (Card Game At Night), Gun Battle
5. Celebration After Billy's Cature
6. Billy In Prison
7. The Open Prairie Again
8. The "Saint-Gaudens" In Boston Common (Excerpt #1)
9. Just Like A Woman
10. I Can't Be satisfied
11. Live To Tell
12. The "Saint-Gaudens" In Boston Common (Excerpt #2)
13. No Moe
14. Washington Post March
15. When I Fall In Love
16. Little Jenny Dow
17. Have A Little Faith In Me
18. Billy Boy
This is one of the strangest albums ever made. Bill Frisell is a jazz, country, rock, metal, avant garde, you name it guitarist. And Have A Little Faith is his masterpiece. The album consists entirely of covers...and what a selection! The first 7 tracks are all parts of a composition by Aaron Copeland called Billy The Kid, and up to that point, it sounds almost like a straight jazz record. Then a sudden turn to Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" like you never dreamed you'd hear it. The on to Muddy Waters, and the centerpiece of the album..."Live To Tell" is a 10 minute instrumental guitar version of the Madonna song. Yep.
From there, Frisell goes on to hit Stephen Foster, John Hiatt, and even John Phillip Sousa's "Washington Post March", better known as the Monty Python theme. This is a thing of beauty, and some of the most unexpected music you'll ever hear in your life. An unknown classic.
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JIMMY PAGE & THE BLACK CROWES
LIVE AT THE GREEK
2000-TVT
Produced By KEVIN SHIRLEY
1. Celebration Day
2. Custard Pie
3. Sick Again
4. What Is And What Should Never Be
5. Woke Up This Morning
6. Shapes Of Things To Come
7. Sloppy Drunk
8. Ten Years Gone
9. In My Time Of Dying
10. Your Time Is Gonna Come
1. The Lemon Song
2. Nobody's Fault But Mine
3. Heartbreaker
4. Hey Hey What Can I Do
5. Mellow Down Easy
6. Oh Well
7. Shake Your Money Maker
8. You Shook Me
9. Out On The Tiles
10. Whole Lotta Love
I'm sure that at some point, this seemed like a really great idea. But this two disc live album is hardly the great show it looks like on paper. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page teaming with a great live band like the Crowes for two nights of Zeppelin? Yeah.
Problems...the Black Crowes were playing without their...better guitar player. A stage with Page & Ford would have been most interesting. There are lots of covers. Chris Robinson meets a lot of songs that don't suit him in the Zeppelin catalog. The Crowes played several originals that would have been interesting with Page, but none of them are on the album because of contractual crap. And there are a lot of moments where everyone seems kind of lost.
On the plus side, it's good to hear Jimmy play live...he does get to tear some shit up. And this sounds pretty much like an ok Zeppelin tribute band...with a really good Jimmy Page. And disc one is enhanced with previously unreleased performance video and photos. So, there's that. And the drumming of Steve Gorman is exceptional.
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JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP
SCARECROW
1985-POLYGRAM
Produced By LITTLE BASTARD & DON GEHMAN
1. Rain On The Scarecrow
2. Grandma's Theme
3. Small Town
4. Minutes To Memories
5. Lonely Ol' Night
6. The Face Of The Nation
7. Justice And Independence '85
8. Between A Laugh And A Tear
9. Rumbleseat
10. You've Got To Stand For Something
11. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.
12. The Kind Of Fella I Am
John Mellencamp's star had just peaked on his previous album, Uh-Huh from 1983. Scarecrow was yet another triumph for the former teen idol in his quest to be taken seriously. The album tears out of the gate with one of his best songs, the angry and rocking "Scarecrow" and for the most part stays on track. The record contains 4 other hits for Mellencamp: the lyrical mess of a drama of "Small Town", the catchy tribute to the 60's "R.O.C.K.", and the excellent "Lonely Ol' Night" and "Rumbleseat". Scarecrow also contains the fine "Minutes To Memories" and "The Face Of The Nation".
It's not all roses, though. "Justice And Independence '85" may be the dumbest song put to record in the 80's...and that's saying a lot. "Small Town" is overbearing. But the strengths here make it worthwhile. To get what the Coug was really about back then, play "Rain On The Scarecrow" (maybe his greatest song ever) at full volume, sit back, and enjoy.
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