Review: Spirits of the Dead

Label: White Elephant Records

Released: September 29, 2008

Even those who love prog rock often understand that its shortcoming stems from putting the head before the heart. While no genre in rock can compete with prog's technical prowess, it's still often dismissed as self-indulgent and lite where the true spirit of rock n roll is the exception, not the rule. That leaves any band that takes the prog road with quite an uphill haul.

Enter Spirits of the Dead and their self-titled debut with its own flavor of prog that endeavors to remedy some of these musical ills. They open up the prog sound with psychedelic meanderings and then ground it with 70s hard rock fuzz, giving it a spaciness to freak out to as well as a grittiness to hold on to. When they drift away from that hard rock basis, the music can wander a bit as on "The Waves of Our Ocean," but a dose of stoner rock on "Red" and the super-sludge of "Spirits of the Dead" make for a wild album that can be both light and agile as well as crushingly heavy.

Most importantly, Spirits of the Dead don't get overburdened by their own technical abilities. They show off their chops when needed, but they're just as given to slow, plodding rumblings as they are to elaborate, precise passages. They can be jarring or lulling and that fuller sound is simply the result of a willingness to get outside of the accepted boundaries of their chosen genre. While their influences lie in the past, their vision looks to the future, setting them apart from so many of their peers.

The album will apparently be re-issued on vinyl (in Europe at least). The silver foil stamped image has beautiful, intricate detail that deserves 12 inches square at least to adequately enjoy.

Ratings
Satriani: 9/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Buried in Leather - We Are Gone

Label: Teenage Heart Records

Released: August 11, 2008

Perhaps nowhere did the earliest marriages of punk and metal produce better material than in Boston. The early 80s found the likes of Gang Green and the FUs infusing their street punk with more than just a hint of metal. A lot of this was forgotten later in the decade as thrash became the principal vehicle for the punk/metal crossover, but it's nice to see that the same spirit that produced these bands is still alive in Boston. Buried in Leather pour on an intense, yet fun attack of thrashy punk rock with just a little metal riffage for good measure. Even on mid-tempo tracks like the somewhat hard rock-influenced "More Dirty Places," they manage to amp things up to the max. On others, like the album closing "No Ninjas," they move from a lumbering start right into the breakneck energy for which punk has long been known. While We Are Gone may not exactly be a bold new future, it injects fantastic energy into a genre whose day was way too short the first time around. It feels just as fresh as This Is Boston Not LA did 25 years ago.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Benard/Worn in Red - Split 7"

Label: Alaska Records/No Breaks

Released: July 2008

If one word could describe this 7", it would be visceral. Nothing seems calculated or planned. Benard blasts through two songs of dissonance, frantic rhythms and pure passion in just under five and a half minutes. In that short time, they leave everything out there, their hearts on their post-hardcore sleeves.

Saying that Worn in Red is less intense than Benard is kind of like saying the Hiroshima blast was less intense than the Bravo explosion. Both will obliterate you. Still, Worn in Red reins it in ever so slightly, resulting in something a bit more fluid, ebbing and flowing (and then hitting you over the head).

The result is a great split with two bands that are on the same page, but perhaps a different paragraph. Both have full-throttle energy with Benard hitting a bit harder and Worn in Red a bit more dynamically.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

Benard:
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Worn In Red:
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Review: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt

Label: Fontana International

Released: November 11, 2008

There aren't many albums as low-key as Sunday at Devil Dirt. Every movement of the album is so subtle that it's difficult to discern. The first two tracks, "Seafaring Song and "The Raven," seem more like movie soundtrack material than the road into a dynamic album, but they set the sparse scene for the album's first stand-alone song, "Salvation," which makes it clear that this album searches and journeys. Throughout though, it does maintain the feel of a soundtrack (albeit of a very good movie), with songs like the jazzy, cabaret "Back Burner" providing segues in the story. None of these are filler in the traditional sense though. They're very strong tracks taken in context and enhance the songs they act as a bridge between as well as the album as a whole.

It's easy to think that Sunday at Devil Dirt is dominated by Lanegan's deep, rough echoes of Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison and Iggy Pop (and some would say Tom Waits, but Lanegan has a true quality that escapes the novelty of Waits' work). That gritty earthiness is the album's grounding. However, countering that is Campbell's thin, ethereal, almost angelic, yet sexy voice. The two together set the tone for the turmoil that exists between heavenly salvation and earthly struggle. These two contrasting voices find their way through the sparse musical scenes that range from subtle strings to folk to dirty jazz and blues. As carefully constructed as the album is, Campbell has written, and performed with Lanegan, a work that is intensely human in both disillusionment and hope. I wish someone would make the movie to go with this, because there's something greater than even this album in there.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 9/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: Rod Stewart - The Definitive Rod Stewart

Label: Warner Brothers

Released: November 18, 2008

Rod Stewart may have the perfect rock voice. It's raw and honest and warm and he expresses emotion with ease. Its rough edges are its primary strength. The first handful of tracks on this collection, rock songs tied tightly to their folk, boogie and blues roots, are ideal vehicles for Stewart's perfect imperfection. The heartfelt "Maggie May," the earthy "Mandolin Wind," the rollicking "Stay With Me" all draw the best out of Stewart and he in turn elevates them in a way that few if any singers could.

The trouble is that as Stewart cleans up his sound and adapts to the changing world of pop music, he tempers his strength. Sure, it doesn't all go south with the disco stylings in "The Killing of Georgie," but he has started down the slippery slope. Stewart still brings his best on "You're in My Heart" and makes it easy to forget that without him, "The First Cut is the Deepest" would be an average rock song at best. Even "I Was Only Joking" has its moments. But by "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," Stewart had clearly crossed the line. Stewart is a great rock singer, but he wasn't able to re-invent himself to turn down each new pop avenue.

To be fair, Stewart doesn't kill his later material so much as it kills him. The synth pop of "Tonight I'm Yours" is the polar opposite of everything Stewart had done right earlier in his career. Even a rocker like "Infatuation" is so inundated with bad 80s production that it sucks out anything Stewart brings. Where the late 60s and early 70s were the perfect time for Rod Stewart, the 80s were anything but. "The Motown Song" has some charm and "Reason to Believe" from Unplugged is at least somewhat of a reminder of Rod Stewart the rock singer rather than Rod Stewart the pop star. The previously unreleased "Two Shades of Blue" sat in on the shelf for ten years and frankly, it could have stayed there. Nice try with the classical stuff, but Rod needed more rock, not more phony sophistication.

Also included in this set is a DVD of Stewart's music videos. It's not a bad bonus, but it'd still be a better idea to skip this and just buy the early albums individually. Videos are never a good substitute for better music and his early album tracks hold up better now than does his mid to late period output.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 5/10

If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: Buffalo Killers - Let It Ride

Label: Alive Naturalsound

Released: July 8, 2008

It would be easy to get tired of hearing the 70s rehashed over and over if there weren't a few bands really doing something special with it. Buffalo Killers is just one of those bands. Though not quite as raw as their debut, Let It Ride turns up the soul, an ingredient not only missing from many of today's retro bands, but also from many of the originals. They have a fair bit in common with the Black Crowes (with whom they recently toured), but they're grittier with a dirtier sense of the blues. They master both power and mellowness whether taking on the understated "Give and Give" or the driving boogie of "On the Prowl." Let It Ride has more breadth than most of its peers and it keeps me from getting too tired of the 70s just yet.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

Website

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Best Albums of 2008

1. Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
   Just on the surface, this great album about baseball is worth hearing, but what it tells us on a deeper level is its (and baseball's) case for greatness.
2. Bigelf - Cheat the Gallows
   All that's grand gets both celebrated and criticized on this amazingly present retro album.
3. De Novo Dahl - Move Every Muscle, Make Every Move
   The year's most fun record. "Shout" is is pure joy.
4. Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen - Parasols and Pekingese
   Yeah, she's playing a ukulele and it's amazing.
5. Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
   Why didn't anyone ever realize how well punk and Springsteen went together before this?
6. The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium
   The only band that matters show that even fame couldn't ruin them.
7. Tanya Tagaq - Auk ~ Blood
   This is an album worthy of Mike Patton's contributions, yet strong (and weird) enough not to be overshadowed by them.
8. They and the Children - Home
   The limits of intensity get pushed by this album. Incendiary would be an understatement.
9. Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
   Once again, the Mars Volta give us all that's cool about prog and nothing that sucks. Crazy talent mixes with crazy minds.
10. Sharks and Sailors - Builds Brand New
    The influence of 90s alt rock on this album goes in unexpected directions.
11. Spitfire - Cult Fiction
    Anger can be based on love just as easily as hate.
12. The Drift - Memory Drawings
    The Drift once again makes an indie rock record whose principal influence is Ornette Coleman.
13. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
    Is this the future of rock music? TV on the Radio get more accessible without compromising on innovation.
14. Mad Tea Party - Found a Reason
    Yes, another album which prominently features the ukulele made the list. These are great rootsy tunes with soul and a great sense of quirky fun.
15. Strangers Die Every Day - Aperture for Departure
    Godspeed You! Black Emperor is the best melding of classical and rock. This band is the next best.
16. Thursday/Envy - Split LP
    Thursday is a band that has progressed tremendously and Envy is the perfect compliment.
17. Hours and Hours: A Tribute to Seaweed
    The tribute album concept is old and tired, or so I thought until I heard this. No one, probably even Seaweed themselves, had any idea that their influence spread this widely. This is the way a tribute should be created.
18. The Devil and the Sea - Heart vs Spine
    The Devil and the Sea is another fantastic heir to Black Flag's free jazz approach to punk and metal.
19. Twilight Hotel - Highway PrayerThese Americana (or is it Canadiana) songs tell great human stories.
20. Gypsy Pistoleros - Para Siempre
    Yeah, I know it's essentially a re-release of last year's album, but a big step forward in production and a fine cover of "La Vida Loca" push this one into the top albums of 2008 whereas they just missed the year before.
21. Lady Lovelace and the Calculator Death Machine - Music for Two Musicians
    This has My Bloody Valentine, chamber music and everything in between...and it works.
22. Thao - We Brave Bee Stings and All
    Twee pop can be dangerous ground, but Thao navigates it successfully, making an album of strange, catchy tunes.
23. Buffalo Killers - Let It Ride
    Many of those treading the paths of 70s hard rock forget the soul. Buffalo Killers do not.

I saw a number of fine DVD releases in 2008, but three stand out:

About a Son was simply a series of Kurt Cobain interviews, but it was amazingly well-filmed in his old stomping grounds and rather than fill it with Nirvana's music, Death Cab for Cutie's Bed Gibbard supplies some great tracks that allow the focus to be on Cobain's words rather than the hype of Nirvana.

If All Goes Wrong is both a concert and documentary about Smashing Pumpkins two "residencies" in Asheville, NC and San Francisco. Rather than being a rehash of their hits, it is a bold artistic statement and the documentary is an interesting insight into it.

The very best DVD of the year though was The Who's Kilburn 1977, featuring both the Kilburn show as well as a rougher recording from 1969. Both shows demonstrate exactly why the Who was great.

With all this about the best, I should also include at least something about the bad albums. While there were a few real stinkers this year, they all pale in comparison to Judas Priest's Nostradamus. This album of ego-driven nonsense has all of the filler that is often a necessary evil on concept album, yet not a single track that makes the filler worth siting through. It's crap on all levels. Shame on Priest. They should have known better.

For some alternate views of what was great in 2008, check out these sites:
Heavy Metal Addiction
Hard Rock Hideout
Heavy Metal Time Machine
Bring Back Glam
All Metal Resource
Imagine Echoes
Metal Excess
The Ripple Effect
Rock Of Ages
Layla's Classic Rock
Hair Metal Mansion
The Metal Minute

DVD: The Who - Kilburn 1977

Label: Image Entertainment

Released: November 18, 2008

I've always known that the Beatles are rock's greatest band. There's no denying it. But I do have to wonder why I question that every time I listen to the Who. I think it's because the Beatles made rock music what it is, but the Who actually embodied it like no one else. (The Clash is probably the only band that I think of in the same way). The two shows on this DVD are a lot like hearing that stutter in "My Generation" or the huge guitar of "Baba O'Reilly" for the first time. It's just great rock n roll in its purest, most deliberate form.

By the time of the Kilburn show, the Who had an incredible catalog with which to build a great show. By the time they've amassed this kind of material, most bands have been at it too long and lost too much of their hunger to deliver on their own greatness, but nothing could be further from the truth about the Who. They come off a year-long hiatus and yet, other than the recording quality, they sound like they'd spent that year pounding out these songs in a garage, not relaxing on the fruits of their labors. "My Generation" gets reworked, but everything here feels as fresh and new just on the electricity alone. Interestingly enough, this came the same year punk exploded and I can't help thinking that punk may not have been necessary had other bands been playing it like the Who, with wild, reckless abandon and the heart of kids. I know, that's two bold statements in one review, but I don't make them lightly.

You'll watch the Kilburn show and think, "Man, this is one of rock's greatest bands at the peak of their power!" Then, throw in disc two and wonder, "How could they have been at their peak in 1969 also?" The answer is simple though. The Who never lost their sense of what their music was about and who it was for. They just stayed that good. Neither the video nor the audio for the earlier show is as good as it was eight years later for the Kilburn show, but somehow it gives an even better sense of how loud the world's loudest band was. You could turn the volume down to a whisper and there's still a very tangible sense that it's just LOUD.

Who is rock's greatest band? It might be almost unfair to answer right after watching this one.

Rating: 10/10 (only because I can't give it 11!)

If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

DVD: Smashing Pumpkins - If All Goes Wrong

Label: Coming Home Media

Released: November 11, 2008

In June of 2007, the reunited Smashing Pumpkins (or Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlain and some new members) decided to forgo a US tour and instead do two residencies, one in Asheville, NC and the other at the vaunted Fillmore in San Francisco. This was, as Jimmy Chamberlain said in the documentary portion of If All Goes Wrong, "art for art's sake," finding the band putting the present ahead of their celebrated past.

The live portion of the DVD is captured from the Fillmore shows. A full third of the songs are previously unreleased and includes none of their big hits from their commercial prime. The performance is a successful meeting between studio perfection and live connection. It is clean, yet intense and emotional. Most importantly, it is not capitalizing (and cashing in) on the past. This is what they're doing right now, not an attempt to pick up where they left off.

The documentary gives an unusually deep look into what went into these shows. Corgan is at times as pretentious as expected, but more often, he's down to earth and even amusing, so this is a look into a side of him that his music hadn't really revealed before. There is a certain disparate nature to these shows that becomes more apparent in the documentary. On one hand, there is a sense of serendipity, embodied by a Corgan associate's comment that "Billy is about chance" when discussing the selection of the Asheville location. The shows were clearly not intended to be a money-making venture (at least not directly) and they do find the band taking chances. On the other hand, the cost of the production, rather than its artistic value, is at times used as justification for Corgan's high expectations. Just as it successfully walks the line between sound quality and live emotion, it also seems to find success navigating the waters between its artistic and business faces.

Oddly enough, this set is better fitted to someone who enjoys artistic exploration regardless of their feelings about Smashing Pumpkins than it is to "fans." Those who remember enjoying their slacker anthems back in the mid-90s will be as sorely disappointed with this DVD as I suspect Corgan and company would be with such nostalgia. The material here may not be their very best work (nor their worst), but it definitely shows that Smashing Pumpkins are not willing to rest on their laurels and be satisfied cashing in on something they did at a different time. As Chamberlain says, "What's comfortable about art? It's not supposed to be comfortable." Perhaps those words best sum up this set. It ended up being something I respected more than I enjoyed.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Amadan - Pacifica

Label: Afan Music

Released: December 9, 2008

Amadan incorporate bits of the Clash, Billy Bragg, John Fogerty and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones, but what I suspect they're really going for is the Pogues mix of traditional Irish folk and biting punk rock swagger. They don't nail the latter, but their success in other areas makes them a worthwhile listen.

There's no doubt that Amadan is a rock band, not a folk band. Their boisterous guitars and barroom swagger make that quite clear. At their core, there is straightforward rock n roll as it's always been played in garages around the world. What they attempt is to incorporate elements of the Irish tradition into their tunes. It's been done successfully before by the likes of Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys as well as the kings of the subgenre, the Pogues. However, these bands all create a chemical reaction between their two influences, making a single inseparable sound. Amadan, on the other hand, seems to simply try to interject a tin whistle here and a folk passage there and not only is it not seamless, but it is also very flat. Where the other bands use traditional elements to really take off, Amadan instead is clean and measured and safe...and dull.

That aside though, Pacifica has some fine tunes and the performance is rough and gritty and in many ways all that it should be. Luckily, the Irish bits come and go quick enough that the rest of the album can still be enjoyed.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Website

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Review: Thursday/Envy - Split

Label: Temporary Residence Limited

Released: November 4, 2008

Few albums start off with the level of frantic energy of Thursday's "As He Climbed the Dark Mountain." There are songs with fireworks and there are songs that are like the fireworks factory exploding and this is clearly the latter. Thursday's dense layering walks the fine line between noisy and melodic, without tempering either. On one hand it seems like one lumbering mass of guitar, yet at the same time, the music is intricate, interesting and downright riveting.

Envy makes an interesting pairing for Thursday. On one hand, their ambient textures walk the line between austere beauty and haunting fear in sharp contrast to Thursday's more heavy-handed approach. On the other, they blast out noisecore along the lines of a more musically mature Septic Death. In a sense they've taken the roads to both sides of Thursday's work, giving this split release not only intensity but depth as well.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

DVD: Vans Warped Tour '07

Label: Image Entertainment

Released: December 2, 2008

For years, the Warped Tour has managed to find a healthy balance between DIY punk ethics and corporate involvement. Granted, the corporate presence has increased quite a bit over the last decade, but Kevin Lyman and company still put on a great show while keeping tickets and merchandise cheap and leaving at least some of the barriers down between bands and fans.

This DVD from the 2007 tour also finds a happy medium between punk and professional. The sound quality and editing is anything but amateur. On the other hand, the camera angles have more of a by-the-seat-of-the-pants quality, with many shots from the crowd perspective and of the crowd itself. With everything from the old school punk of Bad Religion and Pennywise to the emo/screamo of Chiodos to the funk and reggae of Fishbone, the DVD contains performances that capture both the energy and eclecticism of the Warped Tour. The one big fault here is the absence of one of the coolest things about the Warped Tour, the smaller, little known bands. The interview portion is mildly insightful at best, but may be worth sifting through for a few words from some favorites.

For the most part, this is as good a representation of the Warped Tour as you can get without going. However, just a song from each band (and no summer sun) isn't enough to get the real feel. The Vans Warped Tour '07 DVD isn't for anyone who wouldn't typically attend the tour (obviously), but it's a decent artifact if the Warped Tour is up your alley.

Rating: 6/10

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Review: Women - s/t

Label: Jagjaguwar Records

Released: October 7, 2008

Some albums kick off with the strongest or most accessible song as a means of sucking the listener in. Others, ease their way into the real meat of the album so as not to scare the listener with their boldest material. But very few jump in with their most grating and difficult content. Women's self-titled album is, however, just one of those anomalies.

The album begins and ends with noise-fests that are not only difficult to enjoy, but difficult to discern the true value of outside the context of the album as a whole. However, between these near structureless bookends, there are songs that alternate between Women's dark, angular take on the Velvet Underground and their looser, more open nods to 60s psychedelia. Their travels between these seemingly divergent approaches is remarkably cohesive artistically. More remarkable still is how the more accessible middle of the album not only makes a case for the difficult start, but also sets up the manic ending.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Fall Horsie - Devil (e) Danger

Label: Youth Club Records

Released: October 28, 2008

There is a lot of music out there that isn't rock music in any way, shape or form...and yet it thoroughly rocks. None of this is headed for mainstream success, but it is often some of the most interesting music in even the broadest sense of the rock sphere. Fall Horsie is one of these bands. While the music itself ranges from chamber music to cabaret (having moments reminiscent of the Decemberists) and uses the very un-rock violin and viola, yet in its wildness and boldness it is very much a rock record. Fall Horsie's style will make them difficult for the average rock fan, but rock fans (albeit not average ones) must make up the core of their audience. That may not turn into a big cash in, but it has turned out a fine album.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion

Label: Roadrunner Records

Released: November 18, 2008

There are artists who push the boundaries, who set new standards, who break rules. Sammy Hagar isn't one of them. Anyone acquainted with his career knows this and anyone expecting him to do any of these things is surely setting himself up for disappointment. Sammy Hagar has a formula and he sticks to it with only superficial changes over the years. That being said though, Hagar is one of the best hard rock voices out there and he simply exudes fun. Actually, in a sense, he's one of rock's most honest artists. No pretenses, he is what he is, so to speak.

Cosmic Universal Fashion's title track, a collaboration between Hagar and an Iraqi band, isn't the best start, as it stumbles around in funk-laden hard rock, but the ship soon rights itself with the kind of generic rock songs that have been the staple of both Hagar's solo career and his days in Van Halen. Lyrically, Sammy Hagar, even at his well-meaning best, is just plain stupid. Frankly, a guy his age should be able to come up with something better than keggers to write about. Of course, if you're listening to Hagar's music for enlightenment, you're probably dumber than he is. A cover of the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" cashes in on neither the original's novelty appeal nor its unabashed fun, but it is the album's only complete miscue. Everything else plays out just as expected, for better or worse.

Sammy Hagar's same old, same old won't win over any new fans, nor will it change the face of rock n roll. However, Hagar is among the best at what he does and he isn't hesitant about the album he wants to make and people have come to expect. It's true that there are probably few artists less creative than Sammy Hagar, but at least he wears that on his sleeve and puts a lot of energy into delivering his dummied-down (and somewhat fun) rock n roll.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: Heavy Water Experiments - s/t

Label: Intrepid Sound Recordings (or at CD Baby)

Released: July 8, 2008

Prog is a genre not particularly known for being understated. Restraint is a quality seldom found among its purveyors. Heavy Water Experiments is not quite a traditional prog band, but clearly wear their prog influences for all to see. However, they manage to do it without the esoteric musical exercises and unabashed bombast that seem to be the norm.

Heavy Water Experiments feel heavy without being heavy. They deal more in ambient soundscapes than big guitar and keyboard flourishes, making for psychedelic trips that get well inside your gray matter before you can be consciously aware of what's happening. If the album has a weakness, it may be that it is, at time sat least, too understated. "Dementia" even seems a bit light. However, they more that make up for these moments where they've held back a bit too much with the maddening pyschedelic energy of "Otherland" and the wild, trippy, early Floyd-esque textures of "Book Colored Blue."

For an album that never gets really heavy, this album sure is heavy. It's not typical space rock, but wild psychedelic soundscapes hidden in loosely structured songs. And it taps into some of the best qualities of progressive rock. When it's on, it's quite a trip.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Website

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Review: Mighty High - In Drug City

Label: self-released (available at amazon, CD Baby and Interpunk)

Released: March 11, 2008

My copy of In Drug City came with an interesting promo item - a combination lighter/bottle opener emblazoned with the Mighty High logo. There was a note from guitarist Woody High saying, "I know you're straightedge, but the bottle opener works for soda and the lighter for fireworks." That same sentiment applies to Mighty High's music.

Too punk for metal and too metal for punk, Mighty High revives the other late 80s punk/metal crossover scene than spawned the likes of Gang Green and SNFU and they also draw on the wild, inebriated humor of Adrenalin OD. Abandoning precision for raucousness and cleverness for insobriety, the band has a broader appeal than expected, because they're high on one drug everyone likes - fun. Not ones to be bogged down by politics or philosophy, Mighty High exudes a sense of good times that is easy to relate to even if their particular brand of fun isn't up your alley (and it is anything but up mine). Oddly enough, they spend a lot of time focusing on pot, but aside from a few more stoner rock-oriented tracks, their music more closely approximates what I suspect speed is like. It's frenetic and relentless and never stops to think.

I guess In Drug City just shows how music crosses barriers. The album is up to its ears in drug-addled silliness, yet drugs aren't needed to appreciate what makes it such a good time. Remember though kids, don't try this at home!

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 6/10

Website

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Review: Trio of Doom

Label: Legacy Recordings

Released: September 30, 2008

The term "supergroup" may be popular music's greatest misnomer. Sure, supergroups are typically made up of musicians who have done some super things, but more often than not, the meeting of their superness is just not all that, well, super. So, as legendary as the meeting of Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin and Tony Williams may have become over the years, there's always room for skepticism.

Trio of Doom, as Pastorius called the two-time meeting of these three great musicians, is not the typical supergroup though. They formed to play a live set at the 1979 Havana Jam festival in Cuba, so it wasn't a commercial endeavor. However, they brought such great stuff to that stage that they reconvened in New York a week later and put the songs down in the studio. For whatever reason, those tapes (both from the live ad studio sets) sat around until Trio of Doom was released on CD last year. Now, they arrive in the format they were intended for in 1979.

The songs here may not be among any of the artists' top work (though likely not too far off either), but the performance is what makes this greater than the songs themselves. Pastorius brings the fierce intensity that made him such a dominant force on an instrument often kept in the background. McLaughlin's otherworldly playing is as good as perhaps it ever was. But, it is Williams' drumming that forms the common ground between these two planes and a lesser talent would let the whole set fall to pieces. The studio tracks are no more refined, expressing fusion in its truest sense with all the power and agility of a rock power trio.

So often, supergroups lose focus and power in the virtuosity of their component players, making music that limps and struggles and ultimately fizzles. Trio of Doom, on the other hand, burned brightly, intensely and quickly for a few weeks in 1979. Years later, we finally know what a supergroup really should be.

Last year, music fans received a gift that had been withheld from them for nearly 30 years with the release of Trio of Doom on CD. This year, Legacy Recordings makes that gift even sweeter with this beautiful 180 gram vinyl issue.

Ratings
Satriani: 10/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Various Artists - A Blackheart Christmas

Label: Blackheart Records

Released: November 18, 2008

Every year at Christmastime we're treated (or subjected) to another collection of rock artists' takes on our favorite holiday songs. These albums tend to be a mixed bag made up of songs that will appeal to fans of the particular artists at least as novelties and others that are real bombs. The best case scenario might even include one or two renditions that are truly special.

A Blackheart Christmas does not have any real misses, but most of the tracks don't really transcend happy novelties for fans of the bands appearing. The Vacancies take on "Father Christmas," perhaps the best rock Christmas tune ever, is a fine listen, but doesn't go anywhere special. The drunken swagger of the Cute Lepers' "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You" is a fun option for a non-traditional holiday. The rough edges on Thommy Price and Nefertiti Jones' "Winter Wonderland" give it punk appeal without losing its "happy holiday" sentiment.

Unlike most holiday comps though, A Blackheart Christmas has a pair of really special tracks that, in a (less-than-perfect) perfect world, might become Christmas classics. The Dollyrots give "Santa Baby" a snotty punk treatment, in lieu of its traditional sexy swing, as if it was meant to be about a down-and-out misfit rather than a well-to-do diva. Better still, Girl in a Coma turn "I'll Be Home for Christmas" into something dark and foreboding rather than hopeful. These are the Christmas carols for the "other half" in a sense.

Will this album replace Bing's "Little Drummer Boy" or Nat's "O Holy Night?" Probably not, but there's always room for a few more Christmas classics, especially when the might reach out to listeners whose world may not be so idyllic.

Rating: 7/10

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Review: Paper the Operator - Solemn Boyz EP

Label: Viper Bite Records

Released: May 19, 2008

Nice melodies, good hooks and the edges of its punk rock roots smoothed out, Paper the Operator's sound seems like any of a thousand pop punk bands on paper. But there's a little something else here. The title track has a punchy undercurrent that could sneak its way into the heart of a punk purist. "Divorce Court" mixes its pop-punk melody with some very un-punk jangle, thus separating it from the masses without losing its potential for mass appeal. A wall of guitar that builds from crunch to noise on "Words You Never Learned" takes a trip that seems longer and more profound that its four and half minutes, perhaps getting to the crux of why Solemn Boyz is more interesting than its peers. Throughout, the EP never feels limited by its sound. This is undeniably pop-punk and yet it's so much more in ways that are subtle and crafty. In a genre that seems increasingly spent, Paper the Operator finds new avenues and new life.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

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