Thursday, May 27, 2004
May 27: Anchondo - Rookies of the Year
Anchondo are a ska-punk band from Nebraska. I got this when they blew through Stillwater about a year ago on their way to SXSW and needed a fill-in gig, so they opened for 12p at Skinny's. Only the power blew twice during soundcheck, and nobody played Skinny's that night. Most of this sounds like an unholy marriage between Sublime and 311, but "And She" is a candidate for Pop/Rock Song of the Year. It's brilliant; one of my Top 20 of all-time, no joke.
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May 26: Collider - WCYF
Collider played with 12p at the End in Nashville back in September. They're good, in a "they're out-Ramoning the Ramones" sort of way. (apparently Ramoning is now a word). This was produced by the Ramones' longtime producer, and C.J. Ramone makes an appearance. Although in concert they play a key-tar, and I bet the Ramones never did that. Anyway, this is good Ramones-style music with 21st-century production, and it even has a kick-ass ballad called "Aftermath."
Hm... after looking up Collider on allmusic, I find that their lead singer is some sort of acclaimed solo artist who's even had a tribute album done for him. And they're from Long Island, not NYC. Intriguing.
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Hm... after looking up Collider on allmusic, I find that their lead singer is some sort of acclaimed solo artist who's even had a tribute album done for him. And they're from Long Island, not NYC. Intriguing.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
May 25: Bad Religion - The New America
Now this is more like it; The New America, from 2000, is a return to form. Todd Rundgren produced, which I think helped give the disc some more melody, and Brett Gurewitz came back to co-write and play guitar on one track. It's enough to make me want to get their new CD, the Empire Strikes First, when it comes out this summer.
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May 24: Bad Religion - The Gray Race
Extremely boring follow-up to Stranger than Fiction. BR's lead guitarist, Brett Gurewitz, quit before this album to run Epitaph Records fulltime, and Greg Graffin, the lead singer, has trouble filling Gurewitz' songwriting hole. Faceless punk; yawn...
P.S. The CD was produced by Ric Ocasek of Cars fame; unfortunately, it sounds nothing like Weezer or Nada Surf, or even the Cars, for that matter.
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P.S. The CD was produced by Ric Ocasek of Cars fame; unfortunately, it sounds nothing like Weezer or Nada Surf, or even the Cars, for that matter.
May 23: No Use for a Name - More Betterness
I was really into this CD my senior year of college, mostly because of the kick-ass cover of "Fairytale of New York" (the darkest Christmas song ever written). Now, not so much. It's one of those good, but... CDs. Although the lead guitarist on this CD, Chris Shiflett, is now in the Foo Fighters (that doesn't really affect the quality of this CD, but it is an interesting tidbit).
Have you noticed that most punk drummers have one beat and use it in every song? And have you noticed that that beat is very similar to the beat used by drummers in oompah bands? Discuss.
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Have you noticed that most punk drummers have one beat and use it in every song? And have you noticed that that beat is very similar to the beat used by drummers in oompah bands? Discuss.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
May 22: The Offspring - Americana
I actually have a promo copy of this CD, without album artwork, because I reviewed it for the University of Manchester student paper in England. So that's pretty cool. I thought about just reprinting my review here, but decided that would be pretty pretentious. So...
This is a good album, but a little heavy on the novelty songs. Still, it was a monster hit for the band, even though it came out only 18 months after Ixnay. And it's got "The Kids Aren't Alright," which I think is the Offspring's best song. And c'mon... you STILL think the video for "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" is hilarious.
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This is a good album, but a little heavy on the novelty songs. Still, it was a monster hit for the band, even though it came out only 18 months after Ixnay. And it's got "The Kids Aren't Alright," which I think is the Offspring's best song. And c'mon... you STILL think the video for "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" is hilarious.
Friday, May 21, 2004
May 21: The Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre
Still my favorite Offspring album. I was super-pissed off when the Offspring came to New Orleans to support this album my freshman year of college, and I missed it because I was in D.C. with the basketball pep band (yeah, I was a dork). I know there are people that prefer Smash, but I think this is the one where you can tell just by listening to it how much better a major-label budget is for an album's sound.
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May 20: Offspring - Smash
My friend Anitra skipped our junior prom to go see the Offspring at the TNT Building at the State Fair on the Smash tour. That's pretty punk rock.
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Thursday, May 20, 2004
May 19: Bad Religion - Stranger than Fiction
By far their best album, this one lived in my player for about a year during high school. Like all BR albums, it's got some hardcore punk filler, but this is their most melodic work. I like "Stranger than Fiction," "Infected," and "21st Century Digital Boy."
Actually, if you want to know what's wrong with this country today, listen to "American Jesus" (off Recipe for Hate), then "21st Century Digital Boy." That should sum it up right there. And those songs were written more than 10 years ago... how messed up is that?
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Actually, if you want to know what's wrong with this country today, listen to "American Jesus" (off Recipe for Hate), then "21st Century Digital Boy." That should sum it up right there. And those songs were written more than 10 years ago... how messed up is that?
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
May 18: Bad Religion - Recipe for Hate
Four-syllable lyrics with four-part harmonies: Bad Religion taught me that it was OK to be smart and still rock. The lead singer, Greg Graffin, has a PH.D. and still fronts a bad-ass punk band, ferchrissakes.
This is their breakthrough record, from 1993, and contains the fantabulous song "American Jesus," as well as back-up vocals from Eddie Vedder. Most of the second half sounds like the same song with short pauses, but that's OK.
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This is their breakthrough record, from 1993, and contains the fantabulous song "American Jesus," as well as back-up vocals from Eddie Vedder. Most of the second half sounds like the same song with short pauses, but that's OK.
May 17: The Presidents of the United States of America - (self-titled)
What's more punk than a band with three guys and only five guitar strings? I was never that into the Presidents when they came out, but I can tell you the elementary school kids certainly were. I DJed a Catholic-school dance when I was in high school, and I think we played the entire Presidents album (the kids requested every song). So for today's CD, I thought I'd get the perspective of my brother, who was in elementary school at the time:
When people remember the Presidents they think of them as a novelty band, because of the hit singles "Peaches" and "Lump," but they were probably the most influential band for every male in Mrs. Wright's 6th grade class at Guthrie Upper Elementary. The Presidents were awesome because all their songs were really silly, but in a serious way. They weren't like Weird Al. They weren't parodying anyone, they were just weird. They didn't use all their guitar strings, and their songs were obout cats, dune buggies, and canned fruit. Aside from the late Poindexter!!, PUSA was the biggest artistic influence on my 6th grade band, the Lumpy Potatoes. Something about the Presidents spoke to kids. Whatever it was it didn't last. After their genius covers of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Cleveland Rocks" they kind of disappeared. They still put out new albums (I bought one. It was ok, there was a song called "Death Star" on it) and I saw on MTV a couple years ago that they were collaborating with Sir Mix A Lot. I remember that in the interview the lead singer called the rapper Mr. A Lot. It was awesome.
So there you have it. Let the mid-90s revival begin.
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When people remember the Presidents they think of them as a novelty band, because of the hit singles "Peaches" and "Lump," but they were probably the most influential band for every male in Mrs. Wright's 6th grade class at Guthrie Upper Elementary. The Presidents were awesome because all their songs were really silly, but in a serious way. They weren't like Weird Al. They weren't parodying anyone, they were just weird. They didn't use all their guitar strings, and their songs were obout cats, dune buggies, and canned fruit. Aside from the late Poindexter!!, PUSA was the biggest artistic influence on my 6th grade band, the Lumpy Potatoes. Something about the Presidents spoke to kids. Whatever it was it didn't last. After their genius covers of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Cleveland Rocks" they kind of disappeared. They still put out new albums (I bought one. It was ok, there was a song called "Death Star" on it) and I saw on MTV a couple years ago that they were collaborating with Sir Mix A Lot. I remember that in the interview the lead singer called the rapper Mr. A Lot. It was awesome.
So there you have it. Let the mid-90s revival begin.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
May 16: A - Hi-Fi Serious
A really, really stepped up their game on this one, their most recent, infusing the best parts of nü-metal (yes, there were actually some good parts to nü-metal, it turns out) with the best parts of punk. Songs like "Nothing" and "Starbucks" should have been hits in the U.S. (and were huge hits in the UK). And now I find on A's website that they're in Seattle recording with the guy who produced Soundgarden's best albums. I am looking forward to that.
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12 Pearls website problems
Hi all; I know there are several people that visit this site and the 12 Pearls site, and you may have noticed that the 12 Pearls site at http://www.12pearls.net is down. We're not sure exactly what's going on, but it may be pretty serious and involve cyberfraud (we think we got hacked), so for the time being, we'll post important 12p announcements on the messageboard (which is still up) at http://www.voy.com/12501/
If you don't visit the 12 Pearls site, please disregard this message. We now return you to your regularly scheduled CD a Day programming...
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If you don't visit the 12 Pearls site, please disregard this message. We now return you to your regularly scheduled CD a Day programming...
Saturday, May 15, 2004
May 15: A - Monkey Kong
Another British band. A are really good, but they've got to have the worst band name ever. Why? Say you're a fan of A, and you want to learn more about the band. So you type in A to a search engine (or even something more authoritative like allmusic.com or nme.com or mtv.com). What do you get? About A MILLION things.
This album has a few too many extra tracks, but overall it's a decent listen. I like "Monkey Kong," which combines lyrics about the old arcade game Donkey Kong with a Speak 'n Math. Sure, Limp Bizkit used a Speak 'n Spell on their more recent album, but isn't a Speak 'n Math more rock 'n roll?
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This album has a few too many extra tracks, but overall it's a decent listen. I like "Monkey Kong," which combines lyrics about the old arcade game Donkey Kong with a Speak 'n Math. Sure, Limp Bizkit used a Speak 'n Spell on their more recent album, but isn't a Speak 'n Math more rock 'n roll?
Friday, May 14, 2004
May 14: Dum Dums - it goes without saying
Kind of the British Blink-182. I got this a while back because I really liked the song "Army of Two." (seriously, check it out, it's on my personal Top 20). The rest of the album? Eh.
Then I was doing a little research for this, and I find that the Dum Dums broke up nearly three years ago, and the lead singer is living in Nashville of all places. I was just in Nashville last weekend! Should have dropped by and said hi.
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Then I was doing a little research for this, and I find that the Dum Dums broke up nearly three years ago, and the lead singer is living in Nashville of all places. I was just in Nashville last weekend! Should have dropped by and said hi.
May 13: Falcon Five-O - The Manual for Hard Living
Not really punk per se, but more punk-ish. Falcon are the top dog band in the OKC right now, and have been kind enough to let 12p play with them on several occasions. They're cool guys, and this is their new album.
I used to think they sounded a lot like the Refreshments; after hearing this, I think they sound like the Cars if Roger Clyne from the Refreshments was their lead singer. Which is cool.
I think my favorite is "The Wedding Song." A couple more of my friends are getting married this summer, and it sums the experience of the groom's pal up for me in a nice, three-minute package.
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I used to think they sounded a lot like the Refreshments; after hearing this, I think they sound like the Cars if Roger Clyne from the Refreshments was their lead singer. Which is cool.
I think my favorite is "The Wedding Song." A couple more of my friends are getting married this summer, and it sums the experience of the groom's pal up for me in a nice, three-minute package.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
May 12: Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Ska-Core, the Devil and More
Pluses: It has "Someday I suppose," which is the Bosstones' best song.
Minuses: Several really bad covers of old hardcore and/or Bob Marley songs.
But the Bosstones are cool. I had this album before I knew what "ska" even was.
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Minuses: Several really bad covers of old hardcore and/or Bob Marley songs.
But the Bosstones are cool. I had this album before I knew what "ska" even was.
May 11: NOFX - Punk in Drublic
I got in quite the punk phase my junior and senior years of high school, which is when I bought this album. And it's just a little TOO punk rock for me; all double-time drum patterns, vocals that can't keep up with the racing guitars, and nasal vocals. I'm not that big a fan.
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May 10: Midtown - living well is the best revenge
I saw this band open for Jimmy Eat World at Curly's in Tulsa on Valentine's Day '02. I think they're from New Jersey. Anyway, this album is pretty good, though their live show is better. Or was better, anyway; not sure if they've broken up or not.
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May 9: Bowling for Soup - Drunk Enough to Dance
Big-time collaboration with Butch Walker of Marvelous 3 fame results in one kick-ass song, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want." Also, 6 or 7 un-needed filler tracks... honestly, who the hell wants 16 tracks on a Bowling for Soup album?
My favorite memory of this album is seeing BFS at Edgefest in Tulsa in '02 and Jaret, the lead singer, introduced one song like this: "This one's called 'I Don't Wanna Rock,' because SOMETIMES I do NOT!"
I also saw Simple Plan open for Bowling for Soup in OKC one time, which was a little weird.
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My favorite memory of this album is seeing BFS at Edgefest in Tulsa in '02 and Jaret, the lead singer, introduced one song like this: "This one's called 'I Don't Wanna Rock,' because SOMETIMES I do NOT!"
I also saw Simple Plan open for Bowling for Soup in OKC one time, which was a little weird.
May 8: Bowling for Soup - Let's Do It for Johnny!!
Very fun band from Dallas (Denton, Wichita Falls, something like that). This one was produced by Eric Delegaard; if you're a 12 Pearls fan, you might want to remember that name in a month or two...
Very strong top to bottom, especially the cover of "Summer of '69" towards the end. Also check out "The Bitch Song."
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Very strong top to bottom, especially the cover of "Summer of '69" towards the end. Also check out "The Bitch Song."
May 7: Sugarcult - Start Static
One of my favorite albums, start to finish, period. Matt did this one last month, so I don't have a lot to add, except that I think they're one of the least punk punk bands out there. By that I mean that they're just playing absolutely great pop songs in a punk style, which is awesome.
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May 6: Social Distortion - White Light, White Heat, White Trash
Didn't exactly remember owning this CD, but I found it. I think I got it freshman year of college, maybe? Social D has been around for a looooong time (allmusic says they formed in 1978) and to me, they straddle the line between rockabilly and punk perfectly. I always liked their cover of Cash's "Ring of Fire." On this one, they do a version of the Stones' "Under My Thumb" that's a hidden track. Other good tracks are "I Was Wrong" and "When the Angels Sing."
In case you haven't noticed, I'm prepping you all for an awesome punk mix CD. Take notes.
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In case you haven't noticed, I'm prepping you all for an awesome punk mix CD. Take notes.
May 5: Various Artists - Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1
I do have an ulterior motive for doing punk month; I'm in grad school and have a lot of research papers due this month, and loud, fast music keeps me awake. Which is a good thing.
I picked this up with Matt in Dallas before the Sugarcult show, and bought it for two reasons: a) it's got new songs from the Get Up Kids and Offspring, and b) all proceeds go towards punkvoter.com, which is working towards registering lots of youth to vote and get Bush out of office (and if you've seen the news in the last two months, you know Bush has got to go).
Like any sampler, this one's got its highs and lows. I liked the Get Up Kids song a great deal, and I was surprised how much I liked the Descendents tune and Alkaline Trio. I thought the Ataris song was really weak; it's just the lead singer with an acoustic guitar, and it sounds like it was recorded into a pair of old headphones.
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I picked this up with Matt in Dallas before the Sugarcult show, and bought it for two reasons: a) it's got new songs from the Get Up Kids and Offspring, and b) all proceeds go towards punkvoter.com, which is working towards registering lots of youth to vote and get Bush out of office (and if you've seen the news in the last two months, you know Bush has got to go).
Like any sampler, this one's got its highs and lows. I liked the Get Up Kids song a great deal, and I was surprised how much I liked the Descendents tune and Alkaline Trio. I thought the Ataris song was really weak; it's just the lead singer with an acoustic guitar, and it sounds like it was recorded into a pair of old headphones.
May 4: Blink-182 - Take off your pants and jacket
Wait, they took the junior high humor even farther... witness the secret acoustic hidden track, where Blink reveal that they want to F a dog in the A. Also your mom in the A. And your Dad in the A. And something about F'ing a pirate in the A.
The rest of the album is a bit uneven, but now that the new self-titled album is out, it appears that Take Off Your Pants is just a bridge between the old Blink and the new, mature Blink. The one-two punch of "The Rock Show" and "Stay Together for the Kids" proves that.
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The rest of the album is a bit uneven, but now that the new self-titled album is out, it appears that Take Off Your Pants is just a bridge between the old Blink and the new, mature Blink. The one-two punch of "The Rock Show" and "Stay Together for the Kids" proves that.
May 3: Blink-182 - Enema of the State
Dork alert: I used to get ready for intramural basketball games in college by listening to the first two tracks off this album.
All I have to say about this one is that there's no point in trying to combine punk rock and dick jokes, because these guys have taken it as far as it can possibly go.
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All I have to say about this one is that there's no point in trying to combine punk rock and dick jokes, because these guys have taken it as far as it can possibly go.
May 2: Green Day - Insomniac
The one where Green Day got a little creeped out by being superstars and made a dark album with several songs about meth. What do you think Billie Joe's talking about when he says his teeth are rotting in "Geek Stink Breath?" Not as good as Dookie, but still pretty damn fine. My favorite is "Walking Contradiction."
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May 1: Green Day - Dookie
My introduction to punk rock. Yeah, I know, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash were doing it 20 years before, but nobody was listening to that stuff in Oklahoma in the early '90s, so I had to find out through Green Day. This is probably the first album that I ever listened to over and over again while driving; so much, in fact, that I hadn't heard it in several years. I forgot how poppy everything was. It almost makes all this new mall-punk look hardcore.
Top song? "Basketcase," by far.
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Top song? "Basketcase," by far.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
April recap
Well, I enjoyed my semi-grunge month. As I write this, I'm wearing flannel with cut-off shorts and I haven't washed my hair in two weeks! Just kidding. Sort of.
April 1: Redbud Revival - Sweet Cavendish
April 2: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Soul Gravy
April 3: Upside - Scope and History
April 4: Soundgarden - Superunknown
April 5: For Squirrels - Example
April 6: Nirvana - Nevermind
April 7: Nirvana - In Utero
April 8: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
April 9: Damone - From the Attic
April 10: Various Artists - WSVN Radio Hall of Fame, Vol. 13
April 11: Blue October - History for Sale
April 12: Shaft - (self-titled)
April 13: Sugarcult - Palm Trees and Power Lines
April 14: Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
April 15: Pearl Jam - Ten
April 16: Pearl Jam - Vs
April 17: The Heavenly States - (self-titled)
April 18: Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
April 19: Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
April 20: Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music … Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
April 21: Everclear - Sparkle and Fade
April 22: Various Artists - Living in Oblivion: the '80s Greatest Hits, vol. 1
April 23: Various Artists - Living in Oblivion: the '80s Greatest Hits, vol. 4
April 24: Outkast - The Love Below
April 25: Outkast - Speakerboxx
April 26: U2 - The Joshua Tree
April 27: Foo Fighters - Big Me
April 28: Sweet 75 - (self-titled)
April 29: Hole - Celebrity Skin
April 30: Nirvana - Incesticide
Best album in April: TIE - Soundgarden and For Squirrels
Worst album in April: Sweet 75 - (self-titled)
Wow... three self-titled albums, and three various-artists comps. I'm getting soft. Don't look now kids, but I think I'm going to go for punk month in May! I'm not sure I have enough albums to do it, but if not, I'll just go out and buy some New Found Glory and Good Charlotte. Or not.
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April 1: Redbud Revival - Sweet Cavendish
April 2: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Soul Gravy
April 3: Upside - Scope and History
April 4: Soundgarden - Superunknown
April 5: For Squirrels - Example
April 6: Nirvana - Nevermind
April 7: Nirvana - In Utero
April 8: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
April 9: Damone - From the Attic
April 10: Various Artists - WSVN Radio Hall of Fame, Vol. 13
April 11: Blue October - History for Sale
April 12: Shaft - (self-titled)
April 13: Sugarcult - Palm Trees and Power Lines
April 14: Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
April 15: Pearl Jam - Ten
April 16: Pearl Jam - Vs
April 17: The Heavenly States - (self-titled)
April 18: Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
April 19: Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
April 20: Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music … Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
April 21: Everclear - Sparkle and Fade
April 22: Various Artists - Living in Oblivion: the '80s Greatest Hits, vol. 1
April 23: Various Artists - Living in Oblivion: the '80s Greatest Hits, vol. 4
April 24: Outkast - The Love Below
April 25: Outkast - Speakerboxx
April 26: U2 - The Joshua Tree
April 27: Foo Fighters - Big Me
April 28: Sweet 75 - (self-titled)
April 29: Hole - Celebrity Skin
April 30: Nirvana - Incesticide
Best album in April: TIE - Soundgarden and For Squirrels
Worst album in April: Sweet 75 - (self-titled)
Wow... three self-titled albums, and three various-artists comps. I'm getting soft. Don't look now kids, but I think I'm going to go for punk month in May! I'm not sure I have enough albums to do it, but if not, I'll just go out and buy some New Found Glory and Good Charlotte. Or not.
April 30: Nirvana - Incesticide
One last visit from Kurt Cobain before grunge month ends, the stopgap odds 'n sods rarities disc between Nevermind and In Utero. You want this album because it has "Sliver" and "Aneurysm" on it, two of the better Nirvana songs. You also want it for the great Vaselines covers, "Molly's Lips" and "Son of a Gun." A lot of the rest of it is weird grunge sludge. But that's cool.
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Wednesday, May 05, 2004
April 29: Hole - Celebrity Skin
Now, Courtney Love waited to have her train wreck until 2003's solo album. This is Courtney polished up all pretty while she tries to be the Fleetwood Mac of grunge. Billy Corgan kindly came in and provided the songwriting help that Courtney got from Kurt previously, while the band all got $1000 haircuts and the producer layers the songs like a good soufflé.
I don't think I have the same reaction to this album that most people do; it came out when I was living in England, so I heard "Celebrity Skin," "Malibu," and "Awful" in between Spice Girls and Robbie Williams songs, which makes them sound a lot better. And there was a big magazine feature in the NME about how Courtney and Michael Stipe were best of friends now. And I clearly remember being in a restaurant in some small town in France right after Christmas '98, being crazy homesick and sitting there at the bar watching the "Malibu" video all the way through on French MTV because it reminded me of the U.S. So I have a soft spot for Hole that I doubt many others do.
Here's a question for the message boards: which is the real Courtney Love, the polished pop princess (and movie star), or the screwed-up, drugged-out ex-stripper? Has she just gone back to the old look (and the old antics) because Celebrity Skin wasn't that popular, or because it's the 10th anniversary of Kurt's death, or what? And how pissed off does she have to be that Dave Grohl's death-metal side project is outselling her solo debut?
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I don't think I have the same reaction to this album that most people do; it came out when I was living in England, so I heard "Celebrity Skin," "Malibu," and "Awful" in between Spice Girls and Robbie Williams songs, which makes them sound a lot better. And there was a big magazine feature in the NME about how Courtney and Michael Stipe were best of friends now. And I clearly remember being in a restaurant in some small town in France right after Christmas '98, being crazy homesick and sitting there at the bar watching the "Malibu" video all the way through on French MTV because it reminded me of the U.S. So I have a soft spot for Hole that I doubt many others do.
Here's a question for the message boards: which is the real Courtney Love, the polished pop princess (and movie star), or the screwed-up, drugged-out ex-stripper? Has she just gone back to the old look (and the old antics) because Celebrity Skin wasn't that popular, or because it's the 10th anniversary of Kurt's death, or what? And how pissed off does she have to be that Dave Grohl's death-metal side project is outselling her solo debut?
April 28: Sweet 75 - (self-titled)
I'm not even sure what to say about this train wreck; I got it for $1 from one of BMG's regular clearance sales, and I think I paid too much.
Sweet 75 was Krist Novoselic's first post-Nirvana project. It came out about the same time as Foo Fighters' second album, the summer of '97, though apparently it was recorded sometime in 1995. See, here's the story: in what I can only hope was a decision fuelled by grief, Novoselic sees this street singer named Yva Las Vegas perform Venezuelan folk songs at his birthday party less than a month after Cobain kills himself. So what does Krist do? He decides to form a band with her. Now, keep in mind, Yva Las Vegas has a poor, annoying singing voice and looks like a Venezuelan version of Roseanne, only with worse teeth.
Calling this album terrible is being too kind to it. To make matters worse, the four best (read: halfway-decent) songs on the album were written by Las Vegas alone; the other, crappier songs were written by Novoselic and Las Vegas! Novoselic calls in every favor he can: Pete Buck from REM plays some Mandolin, the drummer from Ministry plays, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass lay down some horns. And it doesn't help one lick.
And to think, Novoselic turned down the chance to be bass player in the Foo Fighters to make this muddled, God-awful piece of dog crap. At least he didn't need the money. You can see why I haven't bothered to purchase Novoselic's second post-Nirvana project, Eyes Adrift.
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Sweet 75 was Krist Novoselic's first post-Nirvana project. It came out about the same time as Foo Fighters' second album, the summer of '97, though apparently it was recorded sometime in 1995. See, here's the story: in what I can only hope was a decision fuelled by grief, Novoselic sees this street singer named Yva Las Vegas perform Venezuelan folk songs at his birthday party less than a month after Cobain kills himself. So what does Krist do? He decides to form a band with her. Now, keep in mind, Yva Las Vegas has a poor, annoying singing voice and looks like a Venezuelan version of Roseanne, only with worse teeth.
Calling this album terrible is being too kind to it. To make matters worse, the four best (read: halfway-decent) songs on the album were written by Las Vegas alone; the other, crappier songs were written by Novoselic and Las Vegas! Novoselic calls in every favor he can: Pete Buck from REM plays some Mandolin, the drummer from Ministry plays, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass lay down some horns. And it doesn't help one lick.
And to think, Novoselic turned down the chance to be bass player in the Foo Fighters to make this muddled, God-awful piece of dog crap. At least he didn't need the money. You can see why I haven't bothered to purchase Novoselic's second post-Nirvana project, Eyes Adrift.
Monday, May 03, 2004
April 27: Foo Fighters - Big Me
To close out Nirvana month, I figured I'd listen to some of the post-Nirvana albums.
Picked up this EP at Wal-Mart in Guthrie when I was in high school. It's got "Big Me," of course, an Ace Frehley cover, two outtakes from the first album which sound a lot like Nirvana circa In Utero, two live songs from Dutch radio, and two songs live from the Reading Festival in '95. Listening to this one again, you can tell Dave is trying to break away from the fact that he's the guy from Nirvana, but isn't doing that good a job yet. The Colour and the Shape is the one where the real Foo sound finally comes out. I remember driving to Tulsa to see Foo Fighters at the Cain's in the spring of '96... that show was awesome.
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Picked up this EP at Wal-Mart in Guthrie when I was in high school. It's got "Big Me," of course, an Ace Frehley cover, two outtakes from the first album which sound a lot like Nirvana circa In Utero, two live songs from Dutch radio, and two songs live from the Reading Festival in '95. Listening to this one again, you can tell Dave is trying to break away from the fact that he's the guy from Nirvana, but isn't doing that good a job yet. The Colour and the Shape is the one where the real Foo sound finally comes out. I remember driving to Tulsa to see Foo Fighters at the Cain's in the spring of '96... that show was awesome.
April 26: U2 - The Joshua Tree
Now this album is a classic. I figured if I was going to listen to the album that defined the '90s (Nevermind) this month, I'd also do one of the albums that defined the '80s — I don't own Guns 'N Roses' Appetite for Destruction or Spandau Ballet's first album — and this is one of the best albums ever, the one where U2's America obsession reaches its logical and spectacular conclusion.
You want to know how to start an album right? Just listen to the beginning of "Where the Streets Have No Name." Then hit repeat to make sure that that's right: does Bono really not come in for more than a minute? Yup. Even if this album just had "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "In God's Country," it would be considered a good album, but it's also got the holy trinity of U2: "Streets," "I still haven't found what I'm looking for," and "With or Without You." If you don't own this album, what the hell is wrong with you? At least download it. Geez, people. I can't help you if you don't help yourselves.
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You want to know how to start an album right? Just listen to the beginning of "Where the Streets Have No Name." Then hit repeat to make sure that that's right: does Bono really not come in for more than a minute? Yup. Even if this album just had "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "In God's Country," it would be considered a good album, but it's also got the holy trinity of U2: "Streets," "I still haven't found what I'm looking for," and "With or Without You." If you don't own this album, what the hell is wrong with you? At least download it. Geez, people. I can't help you if you don't help yourselves.
