THE STROKES
ROOM ON FIRE
2003 – RCA/ROUGH TRADE
Produced By GORDON RAPHAEL
1. What Ever Happened?
2. Reptilia
3. Automatic Stop
4. 12:51
5. You Talk Way Too Much
6. Between Love & Hate
7. Meet Me In The Bathroom
8. Under Control
9. The Way It Is
10. The End Has No End
11. I Can’t Win
The Strokes exploded in 2001 with one of the most exciting debut albums in a long time. Is This It was a powerhouse of catchy songs, guitar bliss, and singer Julian Casablancas as close to his microphone as anyone could get, presumably drunk. The power of tracks like “Last Night” and “Hard To Explain” were impossible to deny. So, what would The Strokes do for an encore…could they match, or at least continue, the momentum of their debut? Room On Fire has a lot of good things going for it, but it does suffer from sounding almost as if it was recorded during the Is This It sessions…there is almost no growth, and the sound of the two albums is identical. This is not necessarily a bad thing…that sound is pretty terrific, and it’s a sound that The Strokes were the master of at this point in their career. There is no “Last Night” here, but there is plenty to enjoy.
The best tracks here are “The End Has No End”, “12:51”, and “Reptilia”, with the line “The room is on fire as she’s fixing her hair”. Casablancas still sounds inebriated, and guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. keep everything rocking. Room On Fire was not close to being as successful as Is This It, a mark that the band has been struggling to match ever since. And since Room On Fire, the band has struggled with consistency in their albums. But, this is still a strong effort, despite its flaws, and despite its having to try to live up to the massive success they were just coming off of. Is This It is still the one Strokes album you want to have…if you must have another, Room On Fire is the best choice. Maybe, at some point, The Strokes can break out and make another great album…until then, their first two albums will have to do. Which is not a bad thing at all.
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JJ CALE
SPECIAL EDITION
1984 – MERCURY
Produced By AUDIE ASHWORTH & JJ CALE
1. Cocaine
2. Don’t Wait
3. Magnolia
4. Devil In Disguise
5. Sensitive Kind
6. Carry On
7. After Midnight
8. Money Talks
9. Call Me The Breeze
10. Lies
11. City Girls
12. Cajun Moon
13. Don’t Cry Sister
14. Crazy Mama
In case you’ve ever wondered why Eric Clapton suddenly stopped rocking and became this laid back snoozy guy in the 70’s, you need to look no further than his pal, JJ Cale, and the influence he had on Clapton’s career. Cale didn’t just have an impact on Clapton, though. His song, “Call Me The Breeze”, got a mighty cover treatment from Lynyrd Skynyrd on Second Helping. In fact, Cale has been heavily covered over the years, and is listed by many huge names as a major influence, even though he was always somehow able to avoid superstardom for his entire career. Special Edition is the first compilation of Cale’s early work, and it’s impressive, although more for having songs that you’ll recognize from other artists. Which is ultimately what’s the most fun about a Cale album, especially one with his best songs on it. Don’t get me wrong…his versions are fine. But many times, the covers are better.
Special Edition covers the first decade of Cale’s career, and while it’s a good collection, you’d be better served by albums like Naturally!, Really, and JJ Cale 5. 14 tracks of Cale can be hard to stay awake through, but the album does show his talent. Which stands mostly as a songwriter. Clapton had hits with “Cocaine” and “After Midnight”, “Magnolia” has been done by Beck, Poco and Lucinda Williams, “Crazy Mama” by The Band, and George Thorogood recorded a version of “Devil In Disguise”. The list goes on and on. Cale never broke out as a star, but he did make a great career for himself. He passed away in 2013, and continues to be heralded as a major influence on rock throughout his career. These original versions are mostly mellow companions to the covers. If mellow works for you, then JJ Cale just might be your guy.
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BILL MILLER
THE RED ROAD
1993 – WARNER WESTERN
Produced By RICHARD BENNETT
1. Dreams Of Wounded Knee
2. Praises
3. Two Hawks
4. Reservation Road
5. Tumbleweed
6. Faith Of A Child
7. Many Trails
8. Trail Of Freedom
9. Inter-Tribal Pow Wow Song
10. Kokopelli’s Journey
11. My People
An incredibly gifted Native American artist. The Red Road is the major label debut by Bill Miller, a Mohican born on a Wisconsin reservation. He had been gaining a strong reputation for a decade before getting a slot opening on a tour for Tori Amos, who screamed his praises loudly enough to gain him a big label deal. The Red Road is a showcase of everything that Miller can do…he rocks, he plays Americana from a point of view not usually heard. He tells stories, and he’s an expert Native flute player. He is also, very unapologetically, deeply connected to his Native roots, and wears his heritage on his sleeve. Sometimes with anger. The most accessible songs on The Red Road are the more conventional ones. “Tumbleweed” is simply great, a beautiful, shuffling acoustic Native American story that is riveting.
But there is a lot more on The Red Road worth hearing. “Reservation Road” and “My People” show why Amos was so enamored of him. People had a hard time grasping the rest, and it doesn’t always fit into the world of a pop album, but tracks like the instrumental “Dreams Of Wounded Knee”, the Native chanting on “Inter Tribal Pow Wow Song”, and the spoken word story “Many Trails” show how versatile and unconventional Miller can really be. His best album remains the stunning, electric and angrier Raven In The Snow, but The Red Road is not far behind, and while not an album designed for massive sales, it is a refreshing break from what the world of alternative rock was in 1993, and a great way to introduce yourself to some real Americana…from the viewpoint of one who has seen the other side of the coin.
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KISS
GREATEST KISS
1997 – MERCURY
Produced By BOB EZRIN, EDDIE KRAMER, KISS, VINI PONCIA, KENNY KERNER, RICHIE WISE & NEIL BOGART
1. Detroit Rock City
2. Hard Luck Woman
3. Sure Know Something
4. Deuce
5. Do You Love Me?
6. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
7. Calling Dr. Love
8. Christine Sixteen
9. Beth
10. Strutter
11. Cold Gin
12. Plaster Caster
13. Rock And Roll All Nite
14. Flaming Youth
15. Two Sides Of The Coin
16. Shout It Out Loud (Live ’96)
Kiss was once a group of semi-talented Beatles fanatics who discovered that the key to success in the world of rock and roll is to be different. And so, these four young lads donned black and white makeup and outlandish, scary looking clothing and found that their true talent lay not in music, but in marketing. The legacy of Kiss suggests that they have had a career loaded with great albums and songs…when in fact, you can count the great moments of Kiss on just over one hand. They have die hard and hard core fans who would probably kill me for saying this, but Kiss is more about sales than it is about great music. Greatest Kiss is a collection released in 1997, at the time of the great second coming of the original lineup. It contains all of the greatest moments of the band, as well as some of the songs that make you wonder just how these guys were ever allowed in a recording studio.
There are some great hooks here. “I Was Made For Loving You” is a very good pop song. “Detroit Rock City” has a great bass riff, and “Sure Know Something” is surprisingly solid…maybe their best song. The negatives are actually part of the Kiss charm. “Rock And Roll All Nite” was (and is) a huge hit…it’s also a terrible 45 second song played three and a half times. “Plaster Caster”, “Cold Gin” “Two Sides Of The Coin”, and “Strutter” are laughable at best, and “Hard Luck Woman” curiously channels mid seventies Rod Stewart to a tee. But there’s just enough to make it worthwhile…”Calling Dr. Love”, “Christine Sixteen”, and “Deuce” somehow outweigh the cheesiness of the invention of the power ballad in the godawful “Beth”. Worth having as more of a novelty than anything else, but worth having still. The good moments are worth the bad ones.
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MARC FORD
IT’S ABOUT TIME
2002 – SELF PRODUCED
Produced By JIM MITCHELL & MARC FORD
1. Hell Or Highwater
2. Long Way Down
3. A Change Of Mind
4. When You Go
5. Giving
6. Idle Time
7. Two Mules And A Rainbow
8. Cry, Moan And Wail
9. Shining Again
10. Elijah
11. Wake Up And Walk Away
12. Feels Like Doin’ Time
13. California
14. Darlin’ I’ve Been Dreamin’
15. Just Let Go
In 1990, Marc Ford emerged as the lead guitarist for the critically acclaimed but commercially defunct band Burning Tree. Even though their one album was selling almost nothing, they did land a spot opening on tour for The Black Crowes for their debut album. Ford was asked to join the Crowes when Jeff Cease left, thus ending Burning Tree. Outside of his two stints with The Black Crowes, Ford, a guitar master, has been an unfortunate victim of musical ADD, having been in more bands and more defunct solo projects than just about anyone in the music industry. From The Sinners, Blue Floyd, Ben Harper & The Criminals, Fuzz Machine…the career of Mr. Ford is a dizzying and disappointing long list of short lived and unfulfilled projects. It’s a staggering list, really, and reflects an unfortunately nomadic musicial life that should otherwise be a great story. Because, as his time with the Crowes proved, if he could have stayed in one place for long enough, he could have made some great things happen.
It’s About Time is Ford’s first solo album, and it’s his most cohesive work as a solo artist or as a band leader. A lot of it is way too mellow to show off what is Ford’s greatest gift…his guitar playing. He’s a marginal singer, but in the spots where he cuts loose…”Feels Like Doin’ Time”, “California”, and the best song on the album, “Just Let Go”, he shows what a special talent he really is. His Neil Young obsession is obvious but not overwhelming, and when he does let it rip, it’s magical. There’s just not enough of it to carry all of It’s About Time, but there’s enough of it to make it worth hearing. The best places to hear what Ford is capable of in a non-ADD setting is on the Crowes albums The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion and Amorica, but this is good enough to warrant being heard on its own merit. Maybe, someday, Ford will settle into one project for long enough to gain some traction. Maybe…
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CYPRESS HILL
1991 – RUFFHOUSE
Produced By DJ MUGGS
1. Pigs
2. How I Could Just Kill A Man
3. Hand On The Pump
4. Hole In The Head
5. Ultraviolet Dreams
6. Light Another
7. The Phuncky Feel One
8. Break It Up
9. Real Estate
10. Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk
11. Psychobetabuckdown
12. Something For The Blunted
13. Latin Lingo
14. The Funky Cypress Hill Shit
15. Tres Equis
16. Born To Get Busy
Before Cypress Hill, there had never been a really successful Latino rap group. They would end up being known mostly for the hit “Insane In The Brain” from their second album Black Sunday, and for never quite living up to the excellence of their self-titled debut album. The 1991 Cypress Hill album gets lost in the shuffle sometimes, but it was a huge part of defining the West Coast sound, and it’s one of the most perfect and flawless hip hop albums of not only it’s time, but of all time. The album feels like a drive through inner city Los Angeles, and it almost reeks of pot. The songs here are as good as on any hip hop album, with “Hand On The Pump” (with its “Duke Of Earl” sample), “How I Could Just Kill A Man”, “The Phuncky Feel One”, “Pigs”…and on and on. Cypress Hill is powerful, catchy as hell, inventive, different, and overall exceptional.
On Black Sunday, Cypress Hill became Grammy nominated big stars, and the magic faded pretty quickly. The ongoing theme of marijuana worship went from an engaging side theme to what defined the group, and they quickly became a parody of themselves. But, for one great album, Cypress Hill was greatness, helping to shape and entire sound and influencing a generation of rappers. The rapping of B-Real and Sen Dog is lively and strangely menacing, and the groups taste in samples in highly impressive: Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield, Kool & The Gang, The Meters, Mandrill…the list is long and exceptional. “Insane In The Brain” is not the defining moment for Cypress Hill…this album is where everything went completely right, and where the group really showed what it was capable of. Too bad they never were able to do it again, but there will always be this great album.
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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
EVIL EMPIRE
1996 – EPIC
Produced By BRENDAN O’BRIEN
1. People Of The Sun
2. Bulls On Parade
3. Vietnow
4. Revolver
5. Snakecharmer
6. Tire Me
7. Down Rodeo
8. Without A Face
9. Wind Below
10. Roll Right
11. Year Of Tha Boomerang
Punk was never at its best when it was about “this is what pisses me off”…it was at its most effective when it was about “this is what SHOULD piss you off”. Rage Against The Machine was not technically a punk band, but they were revolutionaries, carriers of the torch that had been previously carried by groups like The Clash and Public Enemy. Their self-titled debut was a monster, loaded with metal riffs, seething raps, and undeniable funk. The anticipated follow-up became a long awaited follow-up. Four years later, Evil Empire finally appeared. Not a bad album, it was also something of a disappointment, as it broke zero new ground, and sounded like it could have been outtakes from the debut album. Zack de la Rocha spits fire, unloading strong political rants that, if you take the time to decipher what he’s saying, are actually well written.
Guitarist Tom Morello plays his heart out here, and the album manages to capture a lot of the energy that the band was able to put on stage during its live shows. “Bulls On Parade” and “Year Of Tha Boomerang” are the real highlights here, and it’s a fine album, but it never reaches beyond anything that the group had already done on its previous album. Their next album, The Battle Of Los Angeles, was their best…and their last album. (They did reunite for a few years later on.) Any of the three Rage Against The Machine albums are worth having, but this one really is the lesser of the trio. It still has enough of the raw energy, power and pure heart that the band was known for to make it worthwhile, but you’ll be far more impressed with the album that came before this one, and the one that came after. A short lived, great powerful band.
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STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE
COULDN’T STAND THE WEATHER
1984 – EPIC
Produced By STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE, RICHARD MULLEN & JIM CAPFER
1. Scuttle Buttin’
2. Couldn’t Stand The Weather
3. The Things That I Used To Do
4. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
5. Cold Shot
6. Tin Pan Alley
7. Honey Bee
8. Stang’s Swang
9. SRV Speaks
10. Hide Away
11. Look At Little Sister
12. Give Me Back My Wig
13. Come On (Part III)
There has never been a question in my mind about the sheer wall of talent that was Stevie Ray Vaughan. An unbelievable wizard on the guitar, Vaughan runs circles around most of his contemporaries, and played the blues like it was a brand new genre even while it was fading away in the 1980’s. Part of the problem with Vaughan’s albums is that they sound as if they were recorded just over a decade too late. There’s also the fact that his voice was very unremarkable, and his songwriting was, for the most part, ordinary. But man, could that boy play him some guitar! On Couldn’t Stand The Weather, Vaughan wrote half of the songs, and with the exception of the title track, that’s the material that keeps his second album from being an over the top amazing piece of work. Those are also the shorter tracks that showcase less of Vaughan’s guitar work. These songs are not terrible by any means…they just don’t shine nearly as brightly as they should.
What makes Couldn’t Stand The Weather worth having are those moments when he makes you pause, look at your speakers, and say, “wow”. For me, the biggest one of those is “The Things That I Used To Do”, a cover of Guitar Slim’s 1953 classic that is positively face melting. Maybe the best Vaughan track of all time. His take on Hendrix’ “Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is masterful. And the slow burn of “Tin Pan Alley” and the rollicking “Cold Shot” are great as well. And even though blues rock was on its dying legs by the time Stevie Ray came along, you could say that with albums like this, he single handedly delayed the death of what is now known as classic rock by at least five years. Couldn’t Stand The Weather is not perfect, but when it shines, you can hear just what a scary good talent Stevie Ray Vaughan really was.
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FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
BILL MILLER
THE RED ROAD
1993 – WARNER WESTERN
Produced By RICHARD BENNETT
1. Dreams Of Wounded Knee
2. Praises
3. Two Hawks
4. Reservation Road
5. Tumbleweed
6. Faith Of A Child
7. Many Trails
8. Trail Of Freedom
9. Inter-Tribal Pow Wow Song
10. Kokopelli’s Journey
11. My People
An incredibly gifted Native American artist. The Red Road is the major label debut by Bill Miller, a Mohican born on a Wisconsin reservation. He had been gaining a strong reputation for a decade before getting a slot opening on a tour for Tori Amos, who screamed his praises loudly enough to gain him a big label deal. The Red Road is a showcase of everything that Miller can do…he rocks, he plays Americana from a point of view not usually heard. He tells stories, and he’s an expert Native flute player. He is also, very unapologetically, deeply connected to his Native roots, and wears his heritage on his sleeve. Sometimes with anger. The most accessible songs on The Red Road are the more conventional ones. “Tumbleweed” is simply great, a beautiful, shuffling acoustic Native American story that is riveting.
But there is a lot more on The Red Road worth hearing. “Reservation Road” and “My People” show why Amos was so enamored of him. People had a hard time grasping the rest, and it doesn’t always fit into the world of a pop album, but tracks like the instrumental “Dreams Of Wounded Knee”, the Native chanting on “Inter Tribal Pow Wow Song”, and the spoken word story “Many Trails” show how versatile and unconventional Miller can really be. His best album remains the stunning, electric and angrier Raven In The Snow, but The Red Road is not far behind, and while not an album designed for massive sales, it is a refreshing break from what the world of alternative rock was in 1993, and a great way to introduce yourself to some real Americana…from the viewpoint of one who has seen the other side of the coin.
BILL MILLER
THE RED ROAD
1993 – WARNER WESTERN
Produced By RICHARD BENNETT
1. Dreams Of Wounded Knee
2. Praises
3. Two Hawks
4. Reservation Road
5. Tumbleweed
6. Faith Of A Child
7. Many Trails
8. Trail Of Freedom
9. Inter-Tribal Pow Wow Song
10. Kokopelli’s Journey
11. My People
An incredibly gifted Native American artist. The Red Road is the major label debut by Bill Miller, a Mohican born on a Wisconsin reservation. He had been gaining a strong reputation for a decade before getting a slot opening on a tour for Tori Amos, who screamed his praises loudly enough to gain him a big label deal. The Red Road is a showcase of everything that Miller can do…he rocks, he plays Americana from a point of view not usually heard. He tells stories, and he’s an expert Native flute player. He is also, very unapologetically, deeply connected to his Native roots, and wears his heritage on his sleeve. Sometimes with anger. The most accessible songs on The Red Road are the more conventional ones. “Tumbleweed” is simply great, a beautiful, shuffling acoustic Native American story that is riveting.
But there is a lot more on The Red Road worth hearing. “Reservation Road” and “My People” show why Amos was so enamored of him. People had a hard time grasping the rest, and it doesn’t always fit into the world of a pop album, but tracks like the instrumental “Dreams Of Wounded Knee”, the Native chanting on “Inter Tribal Pow Wow Song”, and the spoken word story “Many Trails” show how versatile and unconventional Miller can really be. His best album remains the stunning, electric and angrier Raven In The Snow, but The Red Road is not far behind, and while not an album designed for massive sales, it is a refreshing break from what the world of alternative rock was in 1993, and a great way to introduce yourself to some real Americana…from the viewpoint of one who has seen the other side of the coin.
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