Guitar Guy Tim's - Music, Gear and More

P-Bass Progress Update

2011-01-31T18:15:00.000-08:00

When I started playing bass years ago I purchased a forest green Ibanez TR 70 (same model as the one shown to the left). It was a great beginners bass, it was simple to play, light weight, and it looked pretty decent. I used it exclusively in high school with different bands I played with, as well as throughout college.

Around 2007, it occurred to me that I'm probably not going to become a rock star, so I decided to sell off some of my excess gear to buy... more excess gear. I sold two amps at that time, a vintage 70's MusicMan HD-130 (which I regret) and a Dean Markley bass amp that I'm glad to be rid of. The individual who purchased my Dean amp tried it out with my TR 70, and by the end of the evening, convinced me to sell it as well. Even though the bass wasn't for sale, I let my greed get the better of me and sold the bass for double what I paid for it when it was new.

I searched for a few months to find a replacement bass, and ended up with an Epiphone Thunderbird. It was hands down the coolest looking instrument I've ever owned, not to mention it sounded fantastic. That being said, it was incredibly heavy, hard to play, and very top heavy, making it really hard to play standing up for an extended period of time. I tinkered with it quite a bit to improve the playability, but finally came to the conclusion that I never should have sold the TR 70.

Now don't get me wrong, the TR 70 wasn't perfect by any means, the pickups were weak, the pots crackled, the knobs were cheap plastic, and the tuners didn't hold tune all that well. On the other hand the weight, balance, and playability were impeccable. Unfortunately for me, I sold the TR 70 before I had entered the world modding my instruments, and now realize that I could have easily fixed everything I didn't like about the bass.

Now back to my current project, when I first ran my hand down the neck, my first impression was that it felt exactly like my TR 70. The radius and neck profile are spot on, as is the scale. Because of this, I have decided to, in a way, attempt to rebuild the bass I never should have sold.

Here is a mock-up of what I'm planning on attempting:

I'm sticking with the same pickup and control configuration as the TR 70. A jazz pickup at the bridge, and a precision pickup in the middle. Likewise, I'm going with the three knob configuration that the Ibanez had, two volumes and one tone. If you purchase a Fender Deluxe P-Bass, they come with two volumes and two tones, but I think that's excess. Both basses I have owned in the past had the three knob configuration and worked great. Additionally, I think the forth knob looks goofy.

I'm going to move the input jack to the side of the body, same spot as a Tele, because I absolutely hate input jacks on the top of an instrument.

Finally I have chosen to go with a Vintage White finish (it's supposed to be an easy color to spray), and a brown tortoise shell pickguard. The addition of the thumb guard is purely for aesthetics, since I doubt I'll actually use it, but it just looks so cool.

Now that they layout and cosmetics have been planned, it's time to start routing and the body, wish me luck.

-GGT

P-Bass Build 2011!

2011-01-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010 was a great one for me, full of all kinds of guitar goodies (yes, I do realize Christmas was over a month ago...). I received a bunch of new reading material, auto-biographies by George Martin (the fifth Beatle) and George Fullerton (Leo Fender's partner in crime). As for effects, I received a Danelectro Cool Cat Tremolo, very cool for when you're in a smooth 60's mood. And last, but not least (this is actually the most important since it is the main topic of the post) a Saga P-Bass kit from my amazing wife Katie :)

For about a year now, I've been very interested in "building" (I realize this is a kit and not a true build, but hey I've got to start somewhere) my own guitar, or in this case bass. I think I caught the building bug when I started modding my Tele. I really love having a guitar that sounds, looks and plays exactly like I want it to... especially if I can do it for a fraction of the cost of buying a custom guitar.

Upon opening the Bass kit, I was very impressed by the quality of the body and the neck. This bass truly is ready to be assembled with minimal knowledge required. Of course I don't know how to do anything the easy way, so this bass will certainly have a few of my own modifications added to increase the difficult of the project, but increase the awesomeness of the final product (assuming I don't screw everything up).

All of the hardware required is included, although I'm sure the quality is similar to that of a Squier or any other cheap import bass.

The full length of the bass is 46 1/2", it is 12 3/4" at the widest point, and approximately 1 3/4" thick. It has 20 frets, and measures to be a 34" scale. As far as I can gather, this is pretty much right on with a Fender Precision Bass.

The body seems to be routed and sanded very nicely, there is one ding on the top of it, but it is under the bridge, so doesn't really matter much. The pickguard was installed when I received the kit, but I have removed it here to show the body routes.

I'm sure this new project will take me several months to complete, but I will meticulously document my progress here. Please feel free to add any suggestions as I go!

-GGT

I'm back!!!

2011-01-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

That's right, I'm back and blogging happier than ever! It has been a while, and several of you (meaning my two faithful readers) have asked when I was going to get back to the blog, and I'm here to announce that 2011 is the year that all of my visions for GuitarGuyTim are to be unveiled!

For starters, I have 10 or so posts that I started last year and never completed. These include reviews of all three major Weezer releases from the fall of 2010, as well as a few other musical insights. Additionally I'm adding a new page/thread which will document my adventures in guitar building. I hope you're as excited as I am about my adventures into the unknown.

Finally, and most importantly, I have some new musical releases that need to see their time in the sun... Right now I'm looking at a copy of CAKE's latest, and I'm listening to Get Up Kids latest. It is going to be an exciting year ladies, gentleman and Emo Children, I hope you're ready for the ride!

-GGT

iTunes, You Sneaky Devil...

2010-04-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

So iTunes... For those of you who either know me, or have read a handful of my posts, you know how much I hate music's communist regime, also know as Apple (this includes iTunes, iTunes Music Store, iPods, all of Apple's funky file types, etc.). So the question is, how did I, the anti-Apple, find myself not only at the gates of the iTunes Music Store, but actually downloading AAC files? Well friends, it is a long tail of deception, deceit, and falling from grace... or... I got $25 to the iTunes store for Christmas and decided to find out what it felt like to dip my toe into the forbidden pond of darkness.

So why do I hate the Apple-Machine so much? Well for starters it makes me sick to think that people pay the same amount of money to buy a digital version of an album online as they'd pay in a brick and mortar store. Sure they didn't have to leave their house to get the music, but they don't have a physical copy, and the sound quality is inferior. That being said, I do think it is better you buy inferior music, than steal inferior music.

Anyway, last fall I had a dilemma. As you probably already know, I love Weezer. Not just 90's Weezer, but all Weezer. Yes even Make Believe and Raditude. I am a die-hard Weezerhead. When Weezer came out with Raditude, they launched a special iTunes club that not only included the deluxe version of the album, but also included alternate takes, live tracks, videos, etc. Obviously I wanted all of this material, but I didn't want to have to buy the album twice (because I was already going to buy the physical version) just to get the bonus tracks. So the dilemma came into play, do I A: suck it up and submit to the evil known as iTunes, or do I B: Steal the mp3's? Fortunately there was an intervention, thanks to my mother-in-law and grandma-in-law, I walked away from Christmas with $25 in iTunes credit. Woohoo, Weezer iTunes club here I come.

So last week I finally got around to installing iTunes on to my computer and I set up my iTunes account (I was a little bit irritated that I was forced to give Apple my CC# just to set up an account). Then I was off to downloading my newest Weezer (Rivers, Brian, Pat & Scott, I want you to know that this is your fault, you create your crazy Raditude club pass which includes bonus tracks and videos, thus forcing me to not only buy a physical copy of the said album, but to also buy a communistic digital version).

So what did I think? Well it was super convenient, and the music quality is better than I expected (it should be noted that I've only listened through headphones and my laptop speakers thus far). I was less than impressed with the way Apple organized all of the files. Each week is set up as an individual album, so I have Raditude Club Week #1, Raditude Club Week #2, and so on. Couldn't they have just created a Raditude Club album/folder for all of the tracks? Also, what's up with these crazy AAC files that only play on authorized computers? Thank you for that headache Apple.

In conclusion, I'm not sold yet. I'm not going to give up physical discs for iTunes, although I will gladly accept more iTunes Gift Cards. I do think iTunes makes it very convenient to make those One Hit Wonders of the 90's collections (Just for the record, I have never made it past track 4 on my Deep Blue Something album. Instead of pulling it out of the used bin and paying $2.99 for it, I should have just purchased "Breakfast at Tiffany's" from iTunes... or wait, should I have purchased it from Amazon MP3? That's going to be my next adventure in the digital world. As far as I know Amazon's tracks aren't protected, so you can listen to there anywhere, but I have heard rumors that their sound quality is inferior to iTunes. That alone would be a deal breaker... I'll keep you updated since I know you're dying to hear about my adventures in digital music.

-Tim

P.S. One of these days I'll get around to reviewing all of the bonus Weezer tracks, but for now I think it's sufficient to say that I loved several of the bonus tracks, especially the alternate "rock" version of "Can't Stop Partying (Coconut Teaser Mix)." The bonus tracks definitely made it worth my while to re-purchasing/download all the stuff I already own.

Gotta Keep the Masses Happy

2010-02-24T22:41:00.000-08:00

So I've been getting pretty high tech lately when it comes to my blog. I've added some analytic tracking so I can see what keywords are leading people here. One that has driven a decent amount of traffic is, "guitars used on haarp" and/or "guitars used in haarp." Since I'm pretty sure I haven't actually written about Muse's gear, I figured I better write up a quick post for the Google-driven-masses.

So here we go, Matthew Bellamy uses an assortment of custom built guitars by Hugh Manson of Manson Guitars. Since he pretty much changes guitars with every song, I'm not going to go through all the different models, but they are all Manson's. For more details on Matt's guitar specs, check out his guitar page on Manson's site here.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme has an assortment of basses in his collection including both Fender Jass and Precision basses, custom built Mansons, Rickenbackers, and several others. I popped in the H.A.A.R.P. DVD to see what he's playing in the videos. On Map of the Problamatique and Knights of Cydonia, he is using a Rickenbacker 4003FL. For Time is Running Out, Supermassive Black Hole, Plug in Baby, Butterflies and Hurricanes, Hysteria, Invincible, and possibly others, he is using a red Fender Jazz bass. He also uses two other Jazz basses, a black one on New Born, and a white one on Starlight. Later on for Micro Cuts he uses a blue bass which I'm pretty sure is a custom built Manson (I could be wrong though, I can't get a clear view of it, but I'm pretty sure the headstock in a Manson).

Anyway, there you go as for H.A.A.R.P. guitars. If I have missed any, please let me know and I'll update the list.

-ggt

p.s. Next time we're going to be discussing Rivers Cuomos' gear (Franken-Strats, SG's, Explorers... it's gonna be fun!)

"The Decision" Update

2010-02-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday - "Hole in My Soul" Aerosmith (I'm not sure why Aerosmith has hit the list twice now, it's not like I'm a huge fan... for a while I even removed them from my Creative Nomad Mp3 Player).

Thursday - "Where is My Mind" The Pixies

Friday (today) - "San Dimas High School Football Rules" The Ataris

The Decision...

2010-02-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been like 3 months since my last post. I sure hope my lack of updates hasn't lost me my two faithful followers...

So today's topic is what I like to call "The Decision." It goes something like this, each morning I go to work and open my iTunes (I know, for how much I bash Apple, I use iTunes at work...) and brows through my list of nearly 9500 songs. I almost always leave my music on random play, so the decision comes in here, what do I start my random play with for the day? Sounds like a simple decisions doesn't it? But it isn't! The pattern of my entire day could be based on this decision. There are days, and I'm not kidding when I say this, where I literally take 30 minutes to make the decision (mind you, I am checking emails while making the decision, I don't just sit there and stare at iTunes for 30 mins with a blank expression on my face).

It was recommended by a friend that I just pick any song, and then hit the skip button and let iTunes randomly pick the song. This does sounds like a good idea, but do I really want to leave my entire day up to chance?

So my question is: Does anyone else deal with "The Decision" every morning, or am i just totally insane?

Here is a list of "The Decision" winners for last week/this week:

Monday 2/1 "Amazing" Aerosmith
Tuesday 2/2 "Rock You Like a Hurrican" Scorpians
Wednesday 2/3 "Put Me Back Together" Weezer
Thursday 2/4 Home Grown When It All Comes Down, the entire EP
Friday 2/5 "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" U2
Monday 2/8 "Good Times, Bad Times" Led Zeppelin
Tuesday 2/9 "Rock and Roll Lifestyle" CAKE

-Tim

Raditude... Super Rad, or Just Plain Bad?

2009-10-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well folks, although my intentions are really here, my writing has been lacking... Once my thesis is officially done and out of the way, I'm going to become a "super blogger" but until then you may have to wait weeks or even months between posts, but for today I'm here for the most anticipated album of the year for me (MUSE's The Resistance was also highly anticipated and will one day see the light of day on GGT).

As you all know, I'm about as big of a Weezer fan as they come. Although there have been some things over the years that have made me roll my eyes, I've anticipated every album, and more importantly found the good on each album. Upon Weezer's initial announcement of album 7, I was ecstatic, but as the release date (still next week, you've got to love early leaks) grew nearer, my anticipation turned in to fear. First the title Raditude, then song titles like "Girl Got Hot," and "I'm Your Daddy," and finally the announcement about guest Little Wayne (yeah I know it's Lil'). I reached the point where I had to ask myself, "Is this going to be the album that finally loses me?"

The one redeeming factor was the first single, "(If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To" which in my opinion was fantastic, see the previous post for my initial reaction. "I Want You Too" gave me a glimmer of hope. Below we'll discuss whether River's and Co. delivered, or whether Raditude is the straw that broke the camels back... but first...

This is totally random, but I was looking over the track listing, and I'm pretty sure the creation of Raditude started like this. So the Weez's were sitting around and Rivers says, "Hey fella's lets make a new album!" to which Pat replies, "Hey Rivers I think you should write a song called If you're wondering if I want you to, I want you to." They all have a good laugh, but the next day Rivers show's up and demos his newest track. Seeing that the band is thoroughly impressed Rivers comments, "Who's your daddy now?" Over the next few weeks the band members start making up the most random song titles they can like run over by a truck, trippin' down the freeway, girl got hot, and so on... And that was the birth of Raditude.

Okay enough with the senseless babble, lets get to what you came here for.

(If You're Wondering if I Want You Too) I Want You Too - From day one I have loved this track, it's totally different than the traditional Weezer sound, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's upbeat, fun, and the chorus is probably the catchiest thing ever written. Great album opener, great track, and to make things better, the video is awesome!

I'm Your Daddy - I first heard a live version of this track on YouTube from the Fuji festival, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed at all. Honestly I think the lyrics are sub par in comparison to what we know River's is capable of writing (Then again, they are definitely better than the "Everybody Get Dangerous" lyrics). That being said, the chorus is great! Very catch, very fun, not incredibly deep but it's growing on me.

Girl Got Got - I think I already wrote about this in a previous post, but this song has the same theme as a song called "Early Bloomer" I co-wrote with my buddy Devin "Devok" Sheppard, that fact alone makes the song a winner. Like the previous track, I initially heard a live version from Fuji and wasn't impressed, but once I heard the polished version I changed my mind. The lyrics aren't anything special, and from all points of logic I should hate the song, but you know what I don't... in fact I think it's awesome!

I Can't Stop Partying - I was pretty disappointed when I heard this track made the cut, I didn't really like the demo version on Alone II, so I didn't think I'd like this one much. When I heard that Little Wayne was rapping a verse I was convinced that this would be my least favorite track on the album... and you know what, it is. This is pretty much the farthest thing from Weezer that I can imagine. I'm honestly a little disappointed in Pat, Brian, and Scott, I would have thought one of them would have had enough sense to tell River's "Heck No" on this track, but whatever... This may be the first Weezer track ever that I pull from my standard rotation... Oh by the way, did Timberland mix this one... (Okay, that was a really bad joke, but then again so is this entire song).

moving forward...

Put Me Back Together - This is probably my favorite track on the album. When I first heard it, I honestly thought it sounded a little like an AAR song, and I didn't even know that Tyson Ritter co-wrote it with Rivers. Regardless, I love this song, to me this song has ever element of classic Weezer track (well everything minus an amazing guitar solo). I love love love it. I even stayed up late last night figuring it out on the guitar. Yeah, it's that good.

Trippin' Down the Freeway - Okay when this track was released as an iTunes special, everyone on the Weezer forum ranted and raved about what an amazing song this was. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan, it's not good, not bad, just kind of there. The chorus is decent, and the guitar solo's pretty good, but yeah I'm not in love with it.

Love is the Answer - I'm pretty sure the ghost of George Harrison co-wrote this track. This like "Can't Stop Partying" is once again about as far from my idea of what Weezer is that you can get. That being said, I kind of like this track, but I'm not real sure why. It's weird, that's for sure. The sitars are kind of cool, and I like the Indian moaning/vocals at the beginning. I think the lead female vocals in... I don't know Hindi maybe are a bit bizarre, but for some reason I actually like this track quite a bit... It may be the Beatles-esq-weirdness of it... Who knows?

Let it All Hang Out - What's up with River's trying to talk like he's a gangster? Going out with your homies, really? Anyway, this song has probably the best intro of any song on the album. It is very reminiscent of the Green/Maladroit days, which by no means a bad thing. I actually really like this song, I'm not sure why, and I question the word choice of "Homie" but I guess sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

P.S. where can I get 180 proof vitamin water?

In The Mall - On Red, the only track I like that was contributed by a Weez other than Rivers was Pat's Automatic. Once again, Pat shows us that Rivers isn't Weezers only song writer. This track, like the previous has a Maladroit-ish feeling. The lyrics are more fun than deep, but you know what, it's a pretty good song, plus it has a cool guitar solo.

I Don't Want to Let You Go - This was one of my favorite demo's on Alone II, so I was pretty excited for a polished version. I wasn't expecting a "Kokomo Part II," but you know what, it works. I like the 60's pop/surf sound. It reminds me of early classics like "Buddy Holly." I actually really like this track as the closer for the standard version of the album. It's different, but it works.

Bonus Tracks (You can stop reading now if you want the standard version... that is assuming anyone actually reads this far...)

Get Me Some - This song just cracks me up. Lyrically this one is really weak, but the fact that it sounds like a party song from the 80's hair metal era is just too awesome. This song has some of the best guitar work of any Weezer song, and is totally a great addition to the Weezer catalog. I mean who doesn't love a crazy finger tapping solo every now and then?

Run Over by a Truck - Yeah, so I can tell you why this one made bonus status and not album status... It's just not that good. For some reason lots of other people loved this one, but honestly I just get bored which is pretty bad when the song is only 3:33 long. Oh well.

The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World - This is another track that I really liked on Alone II, so I was really anticipating a finished version, and fortunately this one delivers. The tempo is a little slower than what I would have imagined, but its fine. I love the loud bass drum keeping the tempo, it reminds me of Ringo Starr. Lyrically this track has some similarities to "No One Else," which is a great thing. At about 2:30 the song breaks into random guitar parts, heavier drums, and vocal wailing... It sounds a lot like something from the Beatles timeless White Album.

The Underdogs - You know, I really love this one too. I think the lyrics are great, the emotion is there. It's different than what I'd expect from Weezer, but you know what it's really good. This track to me is trying to be the "Angel and the One" of Raditude, I'm not sure it's that good, but I do really like it. Just as a side note, I know I've made several Beatles references, but the piano chord progression at the beginning of this song is like the exact same as the progression in George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." I'm starting to wonder what River's was listening to when he wrote all of this.

Additional Bonus Tracks

I Hear Bells - From what I understand, this is a Green period reject. It's a good track, it's fun and it totally sounds like early 2000's Weezer. I'm not sure it sticks out among other that songs from that period, but that's fine, it's still a good song.

Turn Me Round - I like the edge to the guitar and vocals at the beginning, the chorus is really good. It's a fun song.

So there you go, Raditude and a bunch of other stuff. As you've probably noticed I made a lot of comparisons throughout this review, everything from the Beatles and the Beach Boys, to Weezer classics. I think that alone should be enough to indicate that there is something special about Raditude. As much as I was fearing a let down, it wasn't delivered by any means. The album has its flaws, generic/shallow lyrics, and Little Wayne but over all I really enjoyed Raditude. In fact, I liked Raditude much more the first time through than I did Red, and I really like most of Red these days. I don't think much more can be said about Raditude other than, it's Rad! I give the album a B+.

Hey Rivers, Scott, Pat and Brian, thanks for not letting me down, I don't know why I ever doubted you guys -ggt

09-09-09 And The Beatles Have Arrived!

2009-09-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was informed this afternoon that I am a "sound snob." As much as I wanted to become all defensive, take this as a huge insult, and be incredibly offended... I realized that this is totally true. I, GuitarGuyTim, am a sound snob! I'm not sure where my level of snobbery began, possibly all the concerts or the hours and hours of sitting in a studio. Regardless, somewhere in my 28 years of existence I've come to love high fidelity sound. In my opinion, there is nothing better than sitting back and listening to a great album on a great set of speakers!

Today, the Beatles, my favorite band of all time gave me something I didn't even know I was missing, truly hi-fi CD reproductions of their music! This afternoon while listening to The White Album, I was blown away by the clarity of Ringo's cymbal crashes and the thump of Paul's bass, among many other subtle improvements.

Musically the first thing you'll notice is that the volume level is substantially hotter (louder). The clarity is so good that the songs literally sound like they were recorded yesterday, not between 40-50 years ago. In addition to the volume increase, you can also hear the individual instrument better. The original '87 remasters were "muddy" sounding, meaning the instruments would blend in with one and other and parts of the mix were all but lost. This is no longer so, if you are familiar with the Beatles catalog you'll be amazed by the array of instruments you haven't noticed in the past.

One particular moment that stuck out to me was the 'bass line' on I Will which is actually sung by Paul. It is far more present and clearly a voice, not an instrument. You'll also notice a heavier reverb sound, amp feed back, longer ring of cymbals and much more. Other things like amp buzz in While My Guitar Gently Weeps and finger scrapes in Blackbird, give these remastered tracks the feeling of being live performances, like only the Beatles could produce.

The only criticism I can find (and it may be unfounded) is that all of the individual albums are in stereo. This maybe unfounded since I haven't listened to any of the earlier albums, but up until I believe either "Hard Days Night," or "Help" everything was recorded on two track tape. One track for the vocals, the other for the instrumentation. Not to be too critical, but I can't see how you can make an amazing stereo mix with only two tracks. Then again, I haven't heard any of the early albums yet, so I may be totally wrong.

So the question is, should you go re-buy the entire collection. The answer to this isn't so easy, obviously the new packaging is cool as are the mini-documentaries that are included with each album, but then again those are more for hard core fans and not casual listeners. If you're going to listen to the actual CD's these are a must have, if you're going to rip them to mp3's and stick them on your iPod, don't waste your time with the new versions. As for me, I'm afraid that I've found something to spend my hard earned cash on.

Thank You Walmart for Screwing Up!

2009-08-19T12:58:00.001-07:00

According to my incredibly reliable sources (wikipedia) We have Walmart to thank for the early release of Weezer's latest "If you're wondering if I want you to (I want you to)." Apparently the track was put up for sale on Walmart.com a week early by accident. Instead of freaking out, the folks over at Weez central decided to go with it (although official sales of the single won't be out until next week). So, if you haven't heard it yet... you're going to have to go to weezer.com, sorry they killed the youtube link... ***quick update, this track has been added to my player at the bottom!

My initial reaction was, "Wow this kind of sounds like the Violent Femmes," and although I still think that, I'm really enjoying IYTIWYT(IWYT). I would go as far as saying that I think this may be the best First Album Single since the Maladroit days. I honestly think IYTIWYT is better than both "Beverly Hills" and "Pork and Beans." Now don't get me wrong, I loved both of those tracks, especially the wahwah solo in "Beverly Hills" and the Pinkerton-est sound of "Pork and Beans," so musically this track may not be better, but lyrically I definitley think it is. It seems to fit right in line with Weezer's "glory days" (you know all that early stuff that some of you think is the only "true Weezer").

Along with this official first release, the boys over at Weez-town also gave us a taste of what other portions of the new album are going to sound like last month in Korea and Japan.

The first live track has already been heard by those of use who own Alone II, it's called "I Can't Stop Partying"

Next comes "I''m Your Daddy" and finally to finish things up, "Girl Got Hot" Unfortunately I can't embed either of these since they're not on Youtube. They are being broadcast from some site in Brazil, so if you go to googlevideo.com and search Weezer+the title of the song, you should be able to hear them no problem.

As stated above, I really liked "If You're Wondering..." The other three tracks are iffy, but then again all we have are live versions recorded with cellphones, so undoubltedly the studio versions will be much better, right? All are catchy, I'll give them that, but I'm not sure how I feel about the lyrics/subject matter...

The track "Girl Got Hot" really cracked me up (warning here comes a story from my life so you may want to close your laptop screen...). Several years ago (Pre-Green album), I was a young LDS missionary in Mozambique. I was working with another Elder Devin (Devok) Sheppard, who happened to be a fellow guitarist. While wondering the suburbs (huts) of Matola, we decided that upon returning to the U.S. we were going to start an awesome band called Optimus-Prime. Both being fans of Weezer (Blue and Pinkerton, since that is all that existed up to that point) we decided we wanted to be the band that when people described us, they'd say to their friends, "Optimus-Prime, you know, the guys who sound like Weezer, but aren't Weezer." (keep in mind, we both though Weezer was... well... dead) While in Moz. we wrote (well came up with lyrics at least) for several songs, one being entitled "Early Bloomer" which was about a guy who was really mean to this girl in elementary school/Jr. High because she liked him. Now many years later, he's doing everything he can to get her attention, but she won't give him the time of the day. It is strikningly similar to the subject of "Girl Got Hot."

The realization of the similarity between these two songs has brought me to two different conclusions, the first being all the similarities of my music which I wanted to sound like Weezer was purely coincidental. The second on the other hand, the one I like to believe is this, clearly I know where the band is headed, more so than they know themselves... Since we know that bassists are the most dispensible part of Weezer, it looks like Mr. Schriner (as much as we love you) has to go to make way for bassist #4. Yup, I'll be rockin' out stadiums with my trusty Thunderbird, booyah!

Just incase you're wondering what ever happened to these Optimus-Prime tracks. Most of them never saw the light of day, probably to the betterment of the music community. A few did make appearances in my band at BYUI, Smells Like A Girl (yes that was our name). They were re-worked by myself and Cory Brown. A handful of lucky... or un-lucky depending on your opinion, people heard variations of "Amnesia" "Early Bloomer" "Childhood Dream" "Another Stupid Girl" "Psycho-Ex" and possibly a few others. At various preformances (Sunrise 43 Living Room, Ward Tallent Show, Jamba Juice... yeah we were playing the big-time venues in Rexburg :)

-T

Thanks Jack Black for Teaching Us the Importance of Music.

2009-08-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

A few days ago while flipping through the channels, I came across a movie I absolutely love, but for some reason haven't watched in a while. The movie being, School of Rock. I would personally consider School of Rock to be one of Jack Black's best films, although in my opinion, aside from Nacho Libre there really isn't much competition...

I stared watching right as Mr. Schneee... aka. Mr. S., aka Dewey Finn, realizes that the class members not only play instruments, but play them well. As part of his scheming he organizes his students into a band and the accompanying personnel. The scene following the bands first practice is one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. Larry, the nerdy keyboard player, approaches Mr. S. and tells him that he can't be in the band because only cool people are in bands, and he isn't cool. Later on in the film another similar conversation takes place between Mr. S. and Tomika (a young girl who is embarrassed to sing in front of a crowd because of her weight). Mr. S. explains to her that Aretha Franklin is also over weight, but after she sings, everyone wants to party with Aretha.

These scene really cracks me up when I think about the different friends I played with and bands I played in throughout Jr. High and High School. Although there is some kind of perception that people in bands are cool, nothing could be further from the truth. My first band consisted of a choir member, brass band member, and a drama kid. Not the coolest kids in the school by any means. But you know what, none of that mattered to us. The fact that we weren't on sports teams, weren't in student-body leadership, didn't have girlfirends, and in my case wore Coke bottle glasses, didn't matter. What did matter is that we could pull off half-decent covers of "The Sweater Song" and "Say it ain't so" by Weezer, "She" and "When I Come Around" by Green Day, "Mary Janes Last Dance" and "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty, and ten or fifteen other tunes. When we were playing it didn't matter that we were 'nerds' all that mattered is that we rocked!

I remember my sophomore year in high school me and a couple of friends were invited to play at one of the "cool" girls birthday parties. It was a little awkward when we showed up, the party goers consisted of all of the members of student government (student-body pres, VP, class presidents, VP's, counsel members, etc.), cheerleaders, football players, you know all the popular kids. Then there we were, we didn't wear cool clothes, didn't really participate in school activities, and we definitely didn't hang out in "Stud Hall." Needless to say, we were out of our element.

We set up our gear, played a few popular songs from the time, probably consisting of Weezer, Green Day, Live, Collective Soul, maybe some DMB or U2, and finally ending with a rendition of "Birthday" by the Beatles.

Post the performance we suddenly fit in, people who wouldn't give us the time of day at school were suddenly talking to us. You'd be amazed by how many high school football players are fascinated by the electric guitar. After that performance things started to change for me. By this point in life I had shed the glasses for contacts and had a decent hair cut (I'm sure those things helped), but now instead of being looked at as just another guy who wore Beatles or Zepplin shirts because it was cool, I was known for wearing them because I was a musician.

Battle of the Bands was always a highlight for me and my friends. It was the one time of year that we got to take over the assemblie, and instead of watching the popular kids put on lame skits, we got to rock everyone's face off! For the week or two after the Battle of the Bands, people we didn't even know would come up and tell us how much our band rocked. It was the ultimate high for the non-athletic, non-popular guitar nerds.

When I look back at my high school days, and early college days, most of my best memories involve me holding a guitar or bass.

It seems as though all of my posts lately have mentioned Weezer and in particular Rivers Cuomo. I fully acknowledge this is due to my excitement about the upcoming Weezer album, but even with that, I think what I have to say is applicable regardless of whether a new album is on it's way or not. It seems like musicians/rock stars have always tried to portray themselves as being cool. This was particularly apparent in the 80's when their hair and guitar solos were as big as their egos. This all changed in the 90's with Weezer. They showed the world that nerds can be cool too. The funny thing is when you think about the percentage of people who are cool or popular verses those who aren't, you'll realize that maybe 10% of the population fits into the cool crowd. I think that's why Weezer has been successful for so long, they sang songs for the rest of us... the un-cool 90% of the world. Weezer's second album Pinkerton has been recognized by many as the first true Emo album. There exists an entire genre of non-cool kids making music now, and all of this can go back to Weezer showing the world that its okay to be yourself, cool or not.

In the end, not everyone is going to be a football or basketball star, not everyone is cut out to be a homecoming or prom king/queen, but everyone can excel and be 'cool' in his or her own respective area. For me, it was music, for others this could be anything; art, drama, math, science... whatever you are good at.

I have heard and read over and over again about school districts pulling the arts from their curriculum to save money. This is essentially depriving a huge faction of their students the chance to excel. From my perspective, the guys playing guitar in the hall of the high school and the guys making pots in the ceramics class are just as important as the guys on the football field. Together they create a society, and once one piece is removed the balance is gone and everyone suffers.

It's kind of funny to think that such important lessons can be taught to us through silly movies staring people like Jack Black, but truth is truth regardless of where it comes from. Things like music help kids who lack confidence gain the confidence they need to succeed, I know playing the guitar did just this for me.

-T

Rivers Cuomo, My Friend and Yours....

2009-08-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well friends, it has been nearly 9 months since my last post. Life's just been so busy between grad school, work, and having a crazy toddler... but I'm back, and I'm going to start writing again. Besides, there are so many great albums, or at least albums by great bands that are on the horizon. There is no reason why I shouldn't be listening and writing... Enough blabber though, let's discuss the topic at hand.

A few months ago, a good friend of mine made a comment that disturbed me... The situation stemmed from a discussion about the great (in my opinion) and not-so-great (his opinion) band Weezer. My friend informed me that I am not a true Weezer fan because I enjoy their four (soon to be five, hence finally writing about this incident) albums post Pinkerton.

I've thought about this statement of me "not being a true Weezer fan," quite a bit since there seems to be an attitude among many that anything post Pinkerton is worthless teeny-bop-pop-crapola...

I think the best way to address this comment is by creating our own analogy of a friendship... Imagine being in 8th grade back in 1994 (since that's where I was), and you and I make a new friend by the name of Rivers Cuomo... He's kind of a shy, obscure guy, wears Buddy Holly glasses, plays Dungeons and Dragons, loves KISS, has relationship issues, and invites you to destroy his sweater. Somehow this awkwardness/nerdyness becomes cool and suddenly everyone loves Rivers. He rides this trip for a few years, but deep down inside he's really Blue.

Not knowing how to deal with this coolness, in 1997 Rivers tries to open up to all of his friends and show us what's really going on inside. Now instead of dwelling on all the awkward things of '94, he talks about pointless/failed relationships, popularity, half Japanese girls, pink triangles, more Japanese girls and butterflies. After seeing and hearing all of the things that are really going on inside of Rivers, most of you rejected him. Suddenly he wasn't cool anymore. Because of this, our pal Rivers goes into seclusion, sells all his belongings, paints his walls black, and then goes off to Harvard to study.

After a few years, our pal Rivers comes back. Now it's 2001 and we all greet him with open arms. All of his old friends are so happy that he's back in our lives. This time around Rivers is all about hash pipes, tropical islands, photographs, girl friends, etc. Ulike the dark depressed Rivers of '97 that so many friends rejected, the new '01 Rivers is light hearted, and having fun. So what did you do? You sat around and complained that this new happy Rivers isn't as good as the open, depressed Rivers. Yeah, that's right four years ago you didn't like Rivers being open and dark and now you're complaining that he isn't like that anymore... Our good friend Rivers just can't seem to please some of you. The fact is, and you are all going to hate me for this, but the Green album is very similar to the Blue album, a little bit more poppy, but very similar.

Although you, and many like you are still complaining about Rivers, he gains a bunch of new friends with his new-found happy attitude. Just for the fun of it, less then a year later in 2002 he decides to do whatever he wants. He says things like, "Sit down and quiet everybody,
you got a long way to go," yeah Rivers is taking control now, he continues, "If you want me, you can't have me," and so on. Essentially Rivers has figured you out, you're never going to be happy, all you're going to do is complain about him and hope he goes back to being depressed, even though you didn't like him when he was that way... Some friend you are. As a side note, I have more than once heard Maladroit referred to as 80's hair-rock... and all I have to say is, are you kidding me? Do you know what 80's rock is? Go listen to some Poison, White Lion, Cinderella, or Bon Jovi... then you tell me if this is the same. Sure Maladroit is Weezer's most guitar heavy album to date, but it is by no means 80's hair-rock. It does happen to be a brilliant album though.

Anyway back to our friend Rivers. In 2005, with or without you, Rivers has become more popular than ever, but now he's enjoying life. He starts singing about things ranging from Beverly Hills, to spiders, drugs, and he even apologizes for not being so nice in his earlier days. What do you do, instead of giving him a chance now, you don't even listen what he has to say, instead you hear one radio hit (sorry I'm straying from the analogy) and you decide it just isn't as good as the good ol' days.

In '08 Rivers is back again, having more fun than ever. He's now into making trouble, dreaming, being the greatest, and of course pork and beans, and like '05 without even giving him a chance you dis the fact that he's now happily married, has a kid and is enjoying life and ask for the guy who lived in an all black apt. 10 or so years ago.

Here's the point, how can you call yourself a "true" Weezer fan, when all you care about is depressed Rivers... Come on, instead of dwelling on '97 why don't you actually give the new four/five albums a chance. You might surprise yourself.

Below I have listed several tracks that are as good as, if not better than a good deal of material on both Blue and Pinkerton.

Green:
Hash Pipe - Sure it was on the radio too much, but it is a great track!
Island in the Sun - Not my favorite track, but is honestly like Holiday part II.
Glorious Day - Love it, love it, love it.

Maladroit:
American Gigolo - I love this track because it really addresses exactly what I'm ranting about today.
Take Control - Great guitar work, particularly the solo, and all around an awesome track!
Fall Together - Can you tell that I really like the heavy tracks?

Make Believe:
Perfect Situation - This one is totally in the top 10 best Weezer tracks ever.
Hold Me - You're looking for the vulnerability of '97, just found it.
Damage to Your Heart - Another honest and emotional song... I read somewhere that Weezer gets less mature with each album, but I'm just not seeing it.

Red:
Pork and Beans - I just have to bring this one up, because musically you know this would have fit perfectly on Pinkerton.
Dreaming - Now we're jumping back to the '94 sound. Very retro Blue-ish track.
The Angel and the One - Forget top 10 ever, this song deserves top 5 of all Weezer songs.

There you go, it's time to get over the hate, get over your wanting to dwell in the depressing past of '97. It's time to grow up like Rivers and embrace him with open arms... At the end of the day, aside from all your complaints, you know that Weezer is still putting out some of the best alt-rock songs on the radio.

***please don't take this too seriously, if you're a Weezer fan I consider you a friend regardless of which albums you preference. And just for the record I love both Blue and Pinkerton, and am anxiously awaiting Pinkerton's Deluxe release.

Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

2008-12-02T13:02:00.001-08:00

Since I started posting again 2-3 days ago, I have been asked the same question a few times now, "What happened to the "Chinese Democracy" review?" I guess I alluded to it so much, that my 3 readers have felt let down since I never actually posted one... So here you go, please realize this isn't actually finished... I found this rough manuscript in my files, and with as much as I'd love to finish it, I just don't care enough to... I haven't listened to "Chinese Democracy" since I started it, and really don't have any desire to finish the last four tracks... That being said, enjoy! -T 8/16/09

We'll I've been alluding to this review for a while, primarily because I have so many ethical issues with this even being considered an authentic GnR album. To me it comes across as an Axel Rose ego trip in which he is proclaiming to the world, "I am Guns N' Roses." I have recently been wondering if asked, if Axel would claim that he was in fact the mastermind behind all the amazing guitar work or true GnR albums, and that Izzy and Slash were a facade... The other option I have come up with is that this is in all actuality a demonstration of Axl's own insecurities... He has realized that without GnR, no one cares about him, and so he's still hiding behind something that died in the early 90's. I think he realized that if he released this as an Axel Rose solo album it's sales would have hit between 5 and 7 disc's it's first week and then never sold a disc again, but by using the nostalgia behind the name GnR he would actually sell a few discs... So here we are, it's obvious that I have wanted to hate this album for quite a while now, so please realize that I am totally biased in this review.

1 - Chinese Democracy - So ummm, I'm pretty sure my first band when I was 13 years old wrote this exact song... maybe I should be suing... Three chords, death metal distortion that sounds like it's coming from a no name $25 stop box... ummm yeah, calling this GnR is an insult to the great guitarists (Slash and Izzy) who are true GnR. The sad thing is it actually starts out pretty cool before the crappy numetal/deathmetal 13 year old guitarist stars playing... Oh well... Axel sounds like Axel, that's the only GnR thing about this track. Then near the end of the track, in order to over-compensate for the lack of guitar work early on, a pseudo-EVH solo comes in... Sorry, but thus far I'm convinced that GnR is dead... Not good, especially when I've just finished the opener.

2 - Shackler's Revenge - Ummm, did I accidentally put in NIN? Oh wait, no there's Axel... So now we have dark-90's-alt with a dance beat... The solo from this track is even more over-compensating than the first track. A truly great lead guitarist (Slash) knows when to play fast and when to play slow. Every guitarist on the album thus far is just trying to show off how fast his fingers can fly... If your EVH more power too you, everyone else... well yeah you get the idea.

3 - Better - I hope the song lives up to its title and the album is getting better... Honestly, the verses aren't bad, they sound like GnR, and the guitar this time around doesn't sound like a 13 year old with a death metal stop box, but the chorus "now I know better, now you know I know better, I know you better..." or something like that... anyway, it's horrible... for the 30+ million and 17 years spent on this album, you would have though someone would have had the heart to tell Axel that his chorus is horrible. Guitar work better (for the most part), verses are decent, but the chorus is horrible.

4 - Street of Dreams - This track starts out with some nice piano and acoustic guitar (say wanna be "November Rain"), the vocals are horrible, they sound to me like Axel doing a really bad Robert Plant impersonation... The vocals just do not fit with this track at all... On the flip side, this track does have the best and most GnR like guitar solo we've heard yet.

5 - If The World - Someone please stop the bad pseudo-GnR... The classical guitar and samba sound is something that should be backing, say Carlos Santana, not Axl Rose. The music is actually pretty cool for what it is, but come on, I'm supposed to believe this is a GnR track?

6 - There Was a Time -This track started out pretty good, but the chorus kills it "It was the wrong time for you, it was the wrong time for me, it was the wrong time for everyone," who writes this garbage? (oh yeah, ego centric Axl Rose) The guitar is kind of cool though, although I'm really missing the interplay between Izzy's rhythm and Slash's lead... Where's my Velvet Revolver CD? Other than missing the rhythm guitar (which has been replaced by violins) I do think the lead guitar is interesting, and pretty cool, particularly the solo, so props to which ever of the 7 guitarists featured on the album that this is...

7 - Catcher in the Rye - So far this is my favorite track, the piano is good, the guitar is good and sounds like GnR, and the vocals fit really well. This is the kind of stuff I expect to hear from GnR. So here goes my first true props to Axl. As much as I really don't want to like anything about this album, I do think this track is pretty cool... It may even go into my GnR mix.

8 - Scraped - I'm getting tired of going on on every song... so no, just no, that's all you get for this one.

9 - Riad n' the Bedouins

10 - Sorry - I kind of like the music, it has an almost Pink Floydesq feel. I hate Axl's voice on this song, but musically its good.

11 - I.R.S.

12 - Madagascar

13 - This I Love

14 - Prostitute

So there you have it, its not a GnR album, it's an Axl solo album, and if he had the least bit of common sense he would have labeled it as so. I know that many of us would have had much more respect for the album if it would have been presented as such. One major issue I ran into is the fact the majority of the tracks are over 4 minutes and just drag, some of them probably would have been better if they would have been shorted. I give it a D+, it's not horrible, but in comparison to what GnR is, this is a joke... I'm sure you'll see hundreds of copies in the used CD stores within a matter of a few months. If you're looking for GnR, this isn't where you should be looking, go pick up the Velvet Revolver albums, you have more of GnR in that band than Axl's GnR will ever have, and additionally you don't have the ego factor behind it.

If Axel gets his act together and the second stamping of this album (if there is one) comes out for what this is, Axel's solo album... I'll considering moving my grade up to a C+...

The best part of this album is definitely the free Dr. Pepper, I'm getting because it came out. Thanks DP

The Killers - Day And Age

2008-12-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

After my first listen through the Killers 2006 record Sam's Town, I remember thinking to myself that the band was on their way out, and that they had put all of their great material on 2004's Hot Fuss. I figured that the ultimate fate of the Killers fell into the idea that you have a lifetime to write your debut album, and only two years to write your sophomore album.

Here I sit two years later, and honestly I probably haven't sat down and listened to Hot Fuss in it's entirety in probably 6 or more months, but my last listen to Sam's Town was maybe two weeks ago. When Sam's Town was about to hit the shelves, Brandon Flowers was quoted as saying it would be "one of the best rock albums in the past twenty years" (giant.blackplanet.com, 2006) Like many others, after my first listen through I though Brandon was off his rocker... I have now come to realize that Brandon Flowers knew something that the rest of us didn't... His albums come off as... well... a little bit off, but there is something intriguing and inciting about them that keeps us listening. Then sometime off in the distance future... say 6 months or so, we too suddenly get it and albums like Sam's Town are suddenly in our Top 10 favorite albums. After listening to Day and Age, I'm convinced that once again Brandon knows something and he's waiting for the rest of us to figure it out.

1 - Losing Touch - Very cool opener, it has a little bit too much saxaphone for me, but still a very good track. In someways I wish it had a little bit more of the rock edge that so many of the tracks on Sam's Town had. Iit almost gets there around 2;45 for the second chorus and through the end of the song... but once again the sax takes off the edge that I loved so much. Overall this really is great track, the chorus and guitar solo are the two crowning moments making this track something special.

2 - Human - Total 80's throw back with a modern touch. Like everyone else, I was confused my first few listens while trying to figure out if Brandon was saying "dancer" or "denser" although I was cheering for "denser," after the explanation of "dancer" I'm cool with the lyrics. Verse two has some backing "Nintendo" sounds, as I like to call them which are actually really cool, they totally add to the 80's sound. Although this is a little slower than my preference (as in there is no distortion), still it is one of the best tracks on the album, and a great single!

3 - Spaceman - Who doesn't love a track about being abducted by aliens? This is probably my favorite track on the album. It is very up beat, but it has enough of an edge on it to make a rocker like myself happy. Additionally, there is a lot of deeper meaning to this track for all of us spoiled rich kids who aren't happy with everything we have. Very cool, good job guys!

4 - Joy Ride - Ummm 70's disco... yeah.... not my favorite track. Could someone explain to me where this disco throw back tracks are coming from, I know Maroon 5 (who I don't like, just for the record) had a hit a year or so ago that also sounded like disco... Maybe I'm just out of touch with the "cool kids" who knows. Once again, the way the Killers work, this will probably be my favorite song 4 months from now...

5 - A Dustland Fairytale - This is another very cool track, the slow piano, and lyric style reminde me of "Enterlude" and it's partner "Exitlude" both from Sam's Town, which happened to be two of my favorite moments on that album. The dynamics of this song are great, they remind me in many ways of my current favorite song of '08, Weezer's "The Angel and the One." This was an automatic favorite from my first listen.

6 - This is Your Life - The opening of this track brings back images from the film The Power of One, and P.K. dancing in front of a choir of African inmates. This track is weird, it has African style chanting, a bass line worthy of a Johnny Cash song, 80's keyboard, a U2esq guitar riff, and well Brandon Flowers... but somehow it works, and it's awesome. This one took me a few listens to appreciate it, but it's really good once you get over the weirdness.

7 - I Can't Stay - And the album gets even more bizarre... bring in the harpsichord and steel drums! This really isn't a bad track, although it sounds to me like a cruise ship band covering a Killers track :) It has a very upbeat summery sound, and reminds me of laying by the pool drinking a pina colada in the Bahamas last summer. My only real issue is the blasted saxophone. The sax really is my biggest complaint towards this album.

8 - Neon Tiger - And back to another classic Killers track that sounds great, and has lyrics that make absolutely no sense. I read somewhere that the Killers are the only huge band on the planet that can write songs that make no sense to anyone, and yet are still awesome, this track is a prime example. Although I am sure that after several listens I'll figure out what it's about.

9 - The World We Live In - This track isn't really good or bad, it's just kind of there. It's kind of catchy, but nothing too exiting. It's just kind of there.

10 - Goodnight, Travel Well - This track starts very slow and very dark. The initial percussion is provided by a ticking clock, which is pretty cool. It kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd... actually it really reminds me of Pink Floyd. It's mysterious and kind of all over the place, and ultimately very cool and a great album closer.

Although I miss the gritty edge of Sam's Town, this album has more of it than Hot Fuss did, and delivers nicely as a cross between the 80's pop and 90's pseudo-alternative-grunge the Killers have delivered in the past. Initially I was hoping that this album would be a strong competitor to Coldplay for the best rock album of the year, and although I'm not sure it quite reaches those heights (although once I figure out what Brandon was thinking, it just may...) I give it an A-. It is a very good album, and will almost assuredly make my top 5 favorite musical moments of 2008... but (as of right now) it still seems to fall shy of being an instant classic...

The Rule

2008-11-26T23:40:00.000-08:00

So this evening as I've been sitting here trying to get through "GnR's" Chinese Democracy I've created a new rule that I believe should be implemented and enforced throughout the music industry. This new rule will go by the official title of:

"The Two Founding/Significant Member Regulatory Measure of 2008"

The premise of this rule is as follows: In order for a band to continue to produce music under the bands name, at least two founding/significant members MUST be involved (I say significant because there are some people say, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, who although wasn't a founding member, was clearly a significant member... The same could be said for Brian Bell of Weezer). I've come to this conclusion because honestly, Chinese Democracy ISN'T a GnR album, it's an Axel Rose solo album. I'd have much more respect for it if that was how it was positioned.

With this new rule in mind, if the members of Velvet Revolver want to change their name to Guns N' Roses, they are welcome too because they curretly have Slash, Izzy and Duff.

I really think that this rule could clear up a lot of confusion in the music industry and should be implemented imediateley.

Thanks for reading my rant :)

-Tim

Moving Forward - Lots of Music in Very Little Time...

2008-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting here this afternoon looking over my list of albums that either I want to review, or someone has requested I take a look at, and quite frankly... I just don't have time for all of them. Over the next few days/weeks I'm going to write a few articles in which we'll look at multiple albums, and instead of going track by track, I'll just highlight the good stuff and give you a letter grade. My goal is to have everything that is in my backlog taken care of so that I can give next weeks Day and Age by the Killers, Alone II by Rivers Cuomo, Prospekt's March EP by Coldplay (yes they have more music coming out!), and Chinese Democracy by (cough) Guns N' Roses (Axel Rose...) the time and attention they deserve.

Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static

Being a huge Jack Johnson fan, this was probably by far one of my most anticipated albums this year. I'm sad to say it left me disappointed. Most of the initial press-releases regarding the album hyped the fact that Jack was going pluged-in, and this really got me excited. If anything, this "electrified" album is slower than the average Jack album.

Don't get me wrong though, there are a few great tracks, for example the album opener "All at Once." I love the drastic panning and slow bluesy guitar on this track, it definitely ranks up there with other great Jack songs.

I also love the ballad, "Angel," and the single "If I had Eyes." Both of which are outstanding tracks! There are a couple of other decent tracks, but nothing that really ads new dimensions to the Jack collection, most of them are more of the same. Overall I give this album a C+. It's slightly better than average, but won't be becoming my preferred Jack album anytime soon.

The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

I was introduced to the Raconteurs earlier this year by a good friend who was shocked to find out that I was somewhat of a White Stripes fan, but had never listened to the Raconteurs. I say "somewhat" of a White Stripes fan, because they have several songs that I absolutely love, but I find myself having a hard time making it through an entire album. The Raconteurs on the other hand are much better at delivering a complete album that is all listenable. With as much of the musical genius that Jack White is, I think it's good to have him working in a complete band environment where he has to give up a portion of his "creative control." Like I said, the White Stripes have a lot of great material, but some of their music just doesn't work for me, and I think when those songs/ideas come out, it's great to have someone telling Jack to put it on the shelf.

So back to the Raconteurs, these guys are one of the two bands in the world who are still delivering good, old fashion, down to earth Rock and Roll (the other being Jet). I love this album because it's gritty, it's raw, it's stripped down, I mean this is the real deal, this is what rock music is meant to sound like, the level of under-production is fabulous. It provides something special that we've heard very little of since the late 60's to early 70's. In fact, in many ways this album sounds like it's straight out of the 70's.

Some of the album highlights include the opener, "Consolers of the Lonely," which is just an amazing opener. "Salute Your Solution" which happens to be track two and is likewise powerful and fun. "Old Enough" has a late 60's folk sound to it, which is a great break from the heavy distortion of the other tracks. Honestly there really isn't a bad track on this album (although many of them do sound very similar).

In many ways this album is better than the Raconteurs first attempt Broken Boy Soldier (which is also a good album). I give it a B+, it's definitely not for everyone. On the other hand, if you're a fan of the White Stripes, love 70's hard rock, think loud distorted guitars are awesome, and anything else along those lines, you'll love this album. If that isn't your forte, this album probably isn't for you.

The Rentals - Last Little Life EP

I don't know how this little EP alluded me for as long as it did, seeing as it is over a year old, but some how I missed out on it. Fortunately, I ran across it by pure accident a few weeks back and am really happy I did.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Rentals, they are a group that is fronted by former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. The Rentals first album, "Return of the Rentals," came out between Weezer's first and second albums while Matt was still in Weezer. The Rentals second album "Seven More Minutes" came out two years later after Matt had left Weezer. Following this album, The Rentals disbanded for 7 or 8 years while Matt worked a few different solo projects.

Now that the history is out of the way, we find ourselves at the "Last Little Life" which is very promising! Although this little EP only has four tracks (one of which is a remake of the Rentals own track "Sweetness and Tenderness"), it gives a fresh, but reminiscent sound that in many ways reminds us of the Rentals first album. Of the four tracks, I'm particularly fond of "Life Without a Brain," both because the title is just awesome, and because it is a really fun track.

I'm going to give this one two grades. First, for existing Rentals fans, I give it and A! It gives us a lot of hope for what the future may bring. For the general masses I'm giving it a B... I think it has quite a bit of mass appeal, but at the same time I don't think most new comers are going to have near the appreciation for it that long time Rentals fans will.

So there you go, this has been the first installment of "Lots of Music in Very Little Time..." Hopefully I'll be able to crank out a few more of these over the next few weeks.

Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger

2008-11-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

I realize I'm a little behind on this review... about a month behind in fact, but by popular demand (primarily pressure to stop being lazy, coming from Jannifer) here it is...

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this album near as much as I probably should have been. Although I am a huge fan of Andrew McMahon's work with Something Corporate, his first album as Jack's Mannequin didn't really do anything for me. That's not to say it was bad, it just wasn't as good as it should have been (I know many of you will disagree with that statement, but for me it just wasn't up to the quality I had come to expect from Mr. McMahon).

I'm always intrigued to hear solo albums by members of bands, because in some cases they by far outshine any of the collected works put out by the individuals band. For example Ben Folds solo career has been significantly better than the vast majority of music put out by Ben Folds 5, another example would be the original Dashboard Confessional albums (when it was a solo project) in comparison to Chris' work with Further Seems Forever (this all changed with Mark, Mission, Brand, Scar when DC stopped being an honest solo project and became a wanna be FSF). Other attempts are not so notable say Dave Matthews Some Devil, or... well Mr. McMahon's first attempt at Jack's.

As previously stated, the Everything in Transit wasn't bad... it just felt to me like Andrew was trying to hard to distance himself from his previous grandeur, and because of this, the album came across sounding like a really crappy version of Something Corporate (Kind of like Billy Corgan's re-birth of Smashing Pumpkins, or as I'm imagining the re-invention of Guns n' Roses is going to sound like later this year). There were a few really good tracks on the first album, but overall the best word to describe it is... blah...

So now we find ourselves at The Glass Passenger, let's jump in!

1 - Crashin - The opening line of the album is great, "I wanna hear some music." I'm happy to say the album delivers exactly that. As the lyrics later point out, this isn't radio music... It's something better. Good opener, and great foreshadowing of what is to come. The only downside to this track is I feel that it is a little to mellow for an opener, but still a very good track.

2 - Spinning - This track picks up the tempo a bit. It's a great track that in many ways sounds like it could have been on a Something Corporate album, maybe North. One great thing about this album is that instead of trying to set himself apart from Something Corporate, McMahon is simply writing great songs regardless of whether they reminisce his earlier works. Great track!

3 - Swim - "Swim for the music that saves you when you're not sure you'll survive." Yet another reference indicating that the music on this album is above par, which it is. This is a good track, the chorus in particular is memorable. I also really like the instrumentation in this one, the dynamics both instrumentally and vocally are great!

4 - American Love - This is one of my least favorite tracks on the album, not that it's bad necessarily. Musically it sounds good, but the repetitive lines of "Big heart, big hearts, big hearts are for breaking" just don't do anything for me.

5 - What Gets you Off? - In the nature of the previous track, I just really don't dig the chorus to this track. Musically it's really good, but after a couple of times of hearing Andrew whine, "What gets you off?" I end up skipping the track.

(Tracks 4 and 5 are really the two biggest downers on the entire album for me)

6 - Suicide Blonde - Sorry INXS fans, this isn't a cover... Fortunately though, this is probably one of the coolest tracks on the album. It kind of reminds me of "Punk Rock Princess" by the way it starts out, but come the first chorus it stops reminding me of anything I've ever heard before. The chord progressions are unlike anything I've ever heard, and saying they are anything short of awesome would be a shame. Musically it's exciting, lyrically and vocally it's exciting, this is all around just a great track!

7 - Annie Use Your Telescope - When I first heard this track it almost reminded me of something by Pink Floyd. This song is so much bigger than anything Jack's or Something have ever done. The sonic range is huge and it's great. From about 1:20-1:45 the Pink Floyd-esq sound is really apparent. This is definitely a new venture for Jack's, but they pull it off great and deliver another memorable track.

8 - Bloodshot - I'm not a huge fan of this track, it kind of sounds like the new emo-punk-indy-pop that bands like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan are delivering these days. It's okay, but doesn't do a whole lot for me... but then again neither do any of the tracks I'd categorize with this one that are out right now... Maybe I'm too old to get it :)

9 - Drop Out - The So Unknown - This another track that sounds it could have been on North. This is a very up beat track with that classic piano/indy sound that made Something Corporate great.

10 - Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby) - This is a brilliant track. It is one of my absolute favorites, and I'm guessing will likewise be a favorite for all Jack's fans. I'd venture as far as saying this track will become the ballad that Jack's fans chant for at shows... Similar to what "Konstantine" was for Something Corporate. It's songs like this that remind me why I love music so much.

11 - The Resolution - How often do you find an album where the lead single doesn't show up on the album until track 11? It's pretty rare to say the least. I was instantly drawn to this track. It's a great track and is definitely single worth, I only hope it drew enough interest to Jack's to give this album the credibility it deserves.

12 -Orphans - This is another cool track. It for the most part is very stripped down which I love. It is mostly based around the piano, an acoustic guitar, drums, and vocals that only Andrew could deliver to us. I'm generally not a huge fan of doubling the lyric tracks up so the that the same individual is singing several parts, but for this track, they pull it off and it works great.

13 - I'm not a huge fan of the digital noise in the background when this track begins. I get the point that this is somewhat of a slow artsy piece to take the album out on a nice mellow note (you know the arpeggios, falsettos, strings section, etc), but to be completely honest, the first half of it doesn't really work for me. After the crazy Beatles-esq instrumental part in the middle, the song gets really good and fortunately ends on something worthy of the album, although in some ways I think the album would have been better off ending with "Orphans."

Aside from my few nit-picky remarks, I have to say that this album is a reminder to us all of why we love piano rock. After the first Jack's album, I felt that there was a void left in my music collection where Something Corporate used to be. This album has no only filled that void, but has shown me that Andrew McMahon has the talent to be a great solo artist. Overall I give this album an A-, and recommend that all Something Corporate fans who lost interest after Everything in Transit, go pick it up. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

-T

How iTunes Ruined the Music...

2008-11-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight's topic is one that has been on my mind for quite a while now, and although I spent the entire afternoon listening to Jack's Mannequin's latest with the full intent of reviewing it tonight, I have decided to put it off and rant just a little. (That's my warning. This is a rant, so you may just want to stop reading now...)

Recently I was having a discussion with my good friend Greg about high end recording equipment. He's been looking into possibly upgrading some of the gear in his studio. After discussing several different products and their multi-digit price tags, I told him that I'm starting to feel that purchasing high end equipment in hopes of reproducing a true, natural sound is a waste of money, because in today's world, a sound engineer can work for months to create a beautiful mix, but as soon as it reaches the masses, it is compressed into a .mp3, and all of the magnificent subtleties that took hours of mixing and EQing to produce are essentially flushed down the digital toilet.

Now to iTunes... Not so many years ago, music enthusiasts would go to the local music store and pick up a copy of the newest album... The preferred format since the late 80’s was CD (I know the vinyl guys are waiting for an article about how vinyl is the pure format for music, and CD ruined that... but that whole discussion would take too much time...) Anyway, this CD would then be listened too in the car, on home stereo's, and more recently on computers. As technology got better, people started ripping their CD's to their computers so they wouldn't have to change disks... This was all fine and dandy until Mr. Steve Jobs realized that he could capitalize on this. With the release of the iPod, it suddenly became un-cool to carry around your Discman and your 12 CD wallet. Instead, all of the cool kids were using white earbuds, through which they were blasting low quality reproductions of something that in it's pure form was beautiful... Unless, of course they were listening to rap, in that case the “music” was degraded to start out with ;) Because of the massive music libraries we all now carry around, listening to music has gone from being a form of entertainment to simply being background noise. In many ways, the art of music is gone. People don’t specifically sit down to listen to an hour long album anymore. Instead, they throw all the tracks they like into a playlist, push play, and then at any given moment if you ask what they are listening too, they have no clue… Background noise…

Now don't get me wrong, I love being able to carry 200 albums with me everywhere I go on my Creative Nomad. With my cheap Sony earbuds, even mp3's sound okay. In fact they sound okay on my $10 computer speakers, and even on the stock stereo system in my '97 Escort, but as soon as it comes to my home stereo system, the mp3’s sound like they were recorded inside of a tin can using a $9.99 computer microphone.

The root of the problem comes down to this, we have become a society of convenience, we want quantity over quality. If we can't have instant access to something, it's not worth our time... iTunes gives the individual a way to purchase a song or album and have it on their computer in seconds. Keep in mind, this is a low quality representation of what the artist originally released, and you are playing full price for it, but never the less, it is convenient. Instead of driving to Wal*Mart tomorrow, or ordering the disc from Amazon and waiting a few days, we give up a high quality hard copy for a low quality copy that is gone forever as soon as your computer or iPod crashes.

To illustrate this point even further, I read an article in Ad Age this week about how more people watched the SNL Sarah Palin skits on youtube then they did on NBC. How many of the people who watched it on youtube have a 60 inch HD plasma screen on their wall at home, but instead of waiting up until 8:30 PM on a Thursday night, they threw all the quality out the window for instant access? I reiterated, we are a society of convenience... quantity not quality is what we live for.

I know some of you are thinking, "Tim's ranting because of his background in sound engineering, I can't hear the difference between a CD and an mp3." I have heard this, and I can assure you, anyone with ears can hear the difference, I've proven this to many individuals by simply going back and forth between the same song on CD and mp3.You don't even need an incredibly hifi system to do it. Most home surround sound system, or even decent computer speakers should be good enough to show you that you too can hear the difference. The only exception is Bose... I know some of you are scratching your head thinking, "My iPod sounds awesome through my Bose iPod Doc." And my friend, I'm sorry to tell you that you have been hit with a double wammy. You’re listening to degraded compressed music through "technology" that is about a half a step away from being a complete scam (call or email me if you really care to know all the details).

Now that I've ranted, I'm going to give you all a solution to this problem. Later this month when the new Killers album comes out, don't download it from iTunes. Go to Wal*Mart, Target, Amazon, or any other CD store and buy a physical copy. When you get home, rip it to your hearts content; listen to it on your iPod, computer, in your car and so on. But every now and then, when you have a few minutes, pop in the CD and enjoy an art that is all but lost, the art of listening to great sounding music.

-T

Alone Again...

2008-11-10T22:15:00.001-08:00

Alternative/emo/indy/punk/pop/rock/(whatever else you wanna throw in here) guru River's Cuomo announced last week that on November 25th, he'll be releasing Alone II. This new album will be the second official release of Mr. Cuomo's private home recordings, giving Weezer fans another gimpse into the personal life of this musical genius.

I for one can hardly wait for Alone II's release. Last years Alone contained an amazing collection of River's private works... It was so good in fact, that it is now a regular part of my Weezer playlist. According to the artist himself, this collection will be better than the first. Be watching for a full review due the end of this month.

***As a side note, "Longtime Sunshine" from Alone, has been in my playlist below since day one. Go check it out. -T

The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

2008-10-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while since I last wrote one of these. I've been so busy lately that I've had little if anytime to review albums. I literally have 4 or 5 sitting here in my main music rotation waiting for their time in the sun... or shade... or whatever Guitar Guy Tim's is...

Enough senseless rambling, let's ramble with some sense. This album actually came out probably 4-5 months back. When I heard the first single "Hammerhead," I wasn't impressed so I blew the album off. Then a few weeks ago I heard the single "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" and I honestly didn't believe it was actually The Offspring. When I found that in all actuality "Kristy..." was really The Offspring, I knew I had to check out the album. Without giving too much away, I really think this album was the summers biggest musical surprise!

1. Half-Truism - This is an amazing opening track, it starts out with a slow arpeggio on the guitar which is complemented by a lo-fi record effect. It then goes into full power punk/pop like only The Offspring can deliver. To top this off, the chorus is fabulous! Great Track!

2. Trust in You - I hate to call this a filler track because it honestly sounds like everything else The Offspring have ever done. It's not bad, it's not incredibly good... it's, well... exactly what you'd expect from The Offspring.

3. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - Single #3 from the album... it's catchy, but it's also full of profanities, so full in fact that I've removed it from my play list. If you buy this one off iTunes, make sure to get the Walmart Edit :)

*Quick Note... I know, you're all thinking, "Tim said he really liked this album, but at 3 tracks in, he's only liked one..." But don't you worry, the best is yet to come -T

4. Hammerhead - So initially I didn't think this track was all that special, after a few listens my opinion has changed. This is a great punk track! I really like how the track starts out with a cool guitar riff, followed by a heavy drum beat, this then leads us into a full on punk track! It's much more innovative than past works by The Offspring, and a great track!

5. A Lot Like Me - This track kind of reminds me of Linkin Park from the intro... The big difference here is that Linkin Park almost always seems to fail at making a good song after having a good intro. The Offspring on the other hand have written another amazing track that will appeal to more than just the traditional Offspring fan base. I could easily see this being another single from the album.

6. Takes Me Nowhere -This is another powerful punk track. It is definitely better than a filler, but isn't really single quality. I like it, but don't love it.

7. Kristy, Are You Doing Okay? - This is officially one of the top two best songs ever written by Dexter Holland. Who knew these guys could pump out a ballad, and a great one at that? Some have criticized the band over this track saying that they have sold out, and are trying to appeal to a broader audience... I, on the other hand, like to look at this track as the band finally displaying to the world that they do have talent beyond yelling, playing power cords and cussing. It is truly a fabulous track!

8. Nothingtown - This track would have fit in nicely on Americana. It has some random profanities, and some what of a juvenile feel, but overall is an okay track... just okay...

9. Stuff Is Messed Up - Just skip this track, not only is if full of explicit language, it's a true filler in all senses of the word (it didn't even get a full play before being deleted from my play list... that bad)

10. Fix You - Here we find the second truly great song that Dexter Holland has written. Katie (my wife) thinks that this is by far the best Offspring song ever, and aside from "Kristy..." I have to agree with her. It is a slower ballad, and is all around an amazing track. I'm guessing this will be another single before too long.

11. Let's Hear It for Rock Bottom - This is a fun track, it has almost a reggae feel too it (well the verses do at least). It's a decent track.

12. Rise and Fall - And the album wraps up with a powerful punk track that leaves us wanting more... I love it when album closers do that :)

This album, in many was, is probably the best album that The Offspring have ever put out. Unlike most of their earlier albums, the songs and their lyrics are more serious and well thought out. I know we all love, "Pretty Fly For a White Guy," but the funny/juvenile songs and lyrics get old real quick. Needless to say, I'm very impressed by the mature change the Offspring has made. That being said, this still is an Offspring album, it has 3 tracks that are clearly explicit, and it is for the most part a punk album. I'm a strong believer in buying whole albums and not individual tracks, but for this one I'd either say buy the .mp3's online, or go buy the Walmart edit.

Okay, with all that out of the way, I give the album a B. It has some great moments, and some amazing material... but even with that, it still doesn't hold up to A quality when compared to albums like Viva La Vida.

-Tim

Troublemaker - Weezer 2008 Tour

2008-10-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my post below, I went to the Weezer show last week, and I have to say that it was out of this world! I've actually seen Weezer in the past, so initially I was actually a little more excited to see Angels & Airwaves live. Unfortunately after about 3 A&A songs, I was ready for Weezer to take the stage. Now don't get me wrong, A&A put on a decent live show, musically they sounded good although all the music sounded the same... One major drawback was that Tom DeLonge just couldn't seem to figure out how to sing live. Well, that and when he decided to talk between songs, he used as many explicative as a Blink 182 track... I thought I read somewhere that he left Blink and started A&A because he wanted to produce something he could show to his kids and be proud of... Let’s hope Tom Jr. never see's his dads live act. Since I love to grade things, I'd give their show a B-. It was fun, but I wouldn't pay $20 to see them again. They're a decent opening act, but I don't see them headlining anytime soon.

Now on to Weezer... To start, I just have to say that marriage is the best thing that could have ever happen to Rivers Cuomo. In the past, he's been the kind of lead singer that talks little if ever between tracks, and stands in the same spot the entire show. Now this isn't to say that they didn't put on a great sounding show, the band just lacked the energy of many other acts. Well, as of the Troublemaker Tour this has all changed. Rivers gave a few of the other guys a chance at lead vocals, or lead guitar in that matter so he could move all over the place. Additionally, he was incredibly funny between tracks. One particular memorable moment happened during the intro to Troublemaker in which he told a story about he and his daughter at the Childerens Museum of SLC. Anyway, enough rambling, lets talk music.

The show started the same way the Weezer catalogue started, with the classic My Name is Jonas, this classic track was followed by Pink Triangle. Being a huge fan of both the Blue and Pinkerton, the show at this point had already exceeded all of my expectations! Pink Triangle live is a concert moment I will never forget. The band cranked out nearly two hours of classics old and new, including: The Sweater Song, El Scorcho, Buddy Holly, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, King, Island in the Sun, Beverly Hills, Perfect Situation, Suzanne, Dope Nose, and many others that I'm sure I'm forgetting. They also had a few random covers from I believe Oasis and Nirvana. In the end it was a musical night to remember. It was hands down the best sounding, and most entertaining I have ever seen Weezer, and I highly, highly, highly recommend everyone go see them if they come through your town! I give this show an A... No, make that an A+!

-Tim

Addendum #1

So yeah, I did miss a few tracks, here is a set list I found online.

1. My Name Is Jonas
2. Pink Triangle
3. Perfect Situation
4. Say It Ain't So
5. Susanne
6. Keep Fishin'
7. King
8. Undone
9. Pork and Beans
10. Dreamin'
11. Dope Nose
12. Troublemaker
13. Automatic
14. Hash Pipe
15. El Scorcho
16. Morning Glory
17. Greatest Man
---------------------------

18. Island in the Sun
19. Beverly Hills
'---------------------------

20. Heart Songs vinyl into Sliver
21. Buddy Holly

Rocked My Socks Off!

2008-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well my friends Zach and Weezie were right, last nights Weezer performance totally rocked my socks off! I don't have time right now to give a full review of the show, but I thought I'd post a few pics, and then give greater detail at a later time.

Enjoy,

-T

Angels & Airwaves opened the show, for the most part they were really good, although Tom DeLonge can't sing on key for the life of him... Other than that they sounded great musically!

For some reason, Angels & Airwaves chose to use so many strobe lights, that it was hard to look directly at the stage.

Weezer takes the stage, and although it may be hard to tell from the pic, Rivers is wearing a ski mask.

The Sweater Song with the guys from Angels and Airwaves. Pat, Weezer's drummer can be seen in the middle of the picture playing the guitar solo, and Rivers, Weezer's guitarist/vocalist can be seen on the far right drumming.

The encore "hootenanny" preformance with 30 local musicians. They preformed Island in the Sun and Beverly Hills.

The second encore featuring Buddy Holly and the classic lighted Weezer =w=

***sorry for the low quality pictures, they were taken with my cell phone***

RIP Richard Wright

2008-09-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Richard "Rick" Wright, a founding member of Pink Floyd passed away from a form of cancer. Instead of writing my own thoughts, I have posted the comment released by Rick's good friend and co-Pink Floyd member, David Gilmour.

"No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend.

In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.

He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.

I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes'. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig In The Sky', both of which he wrote, what would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been? Without his quiet touch the Album 'Wish You Were Here' would not quite have worked.

In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early Nineties, with 'The Division Bell', his vitality, spark and humour returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him, (though not to the rest of us).

Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously."

David Gilmour
Monday 15th September 2008

I have added two of Rick's notable Pink Floyd works to my play list below.

In closing all I have to say is, "Shine on you crazy diamond"

Muse - H.A.A.R.P.

2008-08-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

Before I start our review for the day, I'd like discuss my favorite bands for a moment. If you would have come to me this time last year and said, "Hey Tim, who are your top 5 favorite bands," the list would have gone like this:

1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Beatles
4. Weezer
5. Cake

Followed by about 50 honorable mentions.

I take my favorite bands very seriously, this isn't an easy category to get a place in. As a matter of fact, spots 1-4 are all bands I have been listening too since the mid-90's. Cake entered the arena of favorites probably about the time they came out with Comfort Eagle, which was such a brilliant album, that it inspired me to go out and purchase their entire collection, thus securing their position.

I write this because over the last year my mind has officially been blown by Muse. I was introduced to them several years ago, but didn't really take the time to listen to them (I get introduced to a lot of music... and never seem to have enough time to evaluate it all). This all changed about a year ago when I heard Muse's single "Starlight" on the radio. The track was so good that it inspired me to check out the album Black Holes and Revelations. This beyond brilliant album lead me to acquire the entire Muse catalog, and to purchase tickets to their last Utah performance.

After the show, not only had Muse secured their own spot in my top 5, moving Cake to #6 (sorry John McCrea) but had also became my number one band to see live. Yes the show was that amazing.

This leads us up to my latest review, H.A.A.R.P. Which not only comes as an amazing live album, but also includes a live DVD to show you just how good these guys really are live. H.A.A.R.P. is in many ways a greatest hits collecting for the band, and will hopefully introduce fans to songs they may not already know.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I love live music. After sitting in recording studios for several years listening to individuals play the same 3 second snipit over and over again until they got it right, I came to the conclusion that we all need to go back to four track tape and record as a band (like the Beatles used to) until we get the song right, or at least get it good enough to send it out to the masses. Multi-tracking has destroyed musicianship, and created a plethora of sloppy live acts. Because of this I find live performances like Zeppelin's BBC Sessions, the Beatles Anthologies, and Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There, so refreshing.

In the style of the Rock and Roll masters of the 60's and 70's, Muse has single handedly restored my faith in the possibilities of great rock shows still existing. H.A.A.R.P. is the proof of this.

1 - Intro/Dance of the Knights (From Romeo and Juliete) - From the DVD version of this track, we see that it is used as an introduction of our "Musical Knights." With the video, this is a great piece to help build anticipation for what is about to be had, on the CD it's not near as exciting, but seeing as it takes less than 2 minutes, it's not worth complaining about.

2 - Knights of Cydonia/ Close Encounters of the Third Kind - As the band takes the stage, Matthew Bellamy (guitarist/pianist/vocalist) plays a highly distorted tune straight Spielberg's alien classic "Close Encounters..." It cracks me up that this is how he chose to start the performance, since after seeing them live, my brothers and I decided that seeing a Muse show is kind of like seeing a UFO land. Although you'll try to explain how amazing it was to everyone, they will never truly understand until they too have seen it for themselves.

The band makes a smooth transition from "Close Encounters" to their previous albums closer, "Knights of Cydonia." Although this isn't one of my favorite Muse tracks, there is just something special about this live version that makes me prefer it over the album version. Maybe it's the screaming fans, maybe it's the sporadic guitar improvisations, or maybe its just the fact that I spent hours on Guitar Hero trying to master this song.

3 - Hysteria - Sometimes I listen Muse to albums and wonder how they could possibly reproduce the guitar/bass parts live. "Hysteria" is proof that Chris Wolstenholme really is as good of a bassist as he appears to be on the bands different albums. The bass line is flawless, as is the guitar solo.

4 - Supermassive Black Hole - "This next song is for anyone who likes R&B," states Bellamy as he's playing around with false harmonics on his guitar. Although I'm not a huge fan of "Supermassive Black Hole" and the falsetto Bellamy sings for most of it (Katie once told me he sounded like a girl while listening to this song :) I do have to say that if more R&B sounded like this track, I'd think about listening to more of it... That being said, it's a decent track with some crazy sound effects during the guitar solo, but overall I don't really like the live version much more that I do the album.

5 - Map of the Problematique - On the album Black Holes and Revelations this track sounded almost like a mid-80's synth-pop track. On this version, Bellamy plays all of the "synth" sounds on his guitar, which is awesome! Where this guy learned to used effects, delays, and so on, I'll never know. Overall I like this live version is better that the original, it has much more of a heavy guitar rock sound, this may be due the the heavy riff added on as the outro to the track.

6 - Butterflies and Hurricanes - After five tracks of sheer power, its time to slow things down a little bit... Well slow for Muse that is, there is still a heavily distorted guitar in the background. The live version of this track has a great solo right in the middle of it that the original lacks. One thing I love about Matthew Bellamy's playing is that he knows how to keep a solo interesting without dragging on far too long just for the pure fact that he can. In fact, in this track he cuts the solo short to go into a classical piece on the piano. Not something you would generally see at a rock show. Just more proof of how amazingly talented these guys really are.

7 - Invincible - Seeing as this is already one of my absolute favorite Muse tracks, I was excited to see the live treatment of it. Needless to say, I'm not the least bit disappointed.

Like the studio version, this track starts out with a little bit of guitar and a drum beat worthy of a Civil War era march. One thing I love about the live version of this song is that the guitar is much more present in the second verse than on the studio version. In addition to this, the solo is beyond amazing, it was amazing on the album, but to hear it live is simply mind blowing. It's like Bellamy took everything that guitarists have worked for years to accomplish, and then turned it on its side and pumped out something that would make even the greatest players of all time drop their jaws. Yes, it really is that good.

8 - Starlight - So I find it kind of ironic that the song that really got me into Muse is one that I honestly don't think is that great in live form. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad, I just prefer the studio version, thats all. I'm not a huge fan of the mixing on the album, the piano seems to be hidden behind the overly-powerful distorted bass. Still a decent track, just not my favorite

9 - Time Is Running Out - Although I do think that this is a great track, one thing that annoys me on live albums is when the vocalist steps away from the microphone to let the audience sing. I'm not paying to hear them, I'm paying to hear you Mr. Bellamy. Other than that, this is a great live version of a great song.

10 - New Born/Microphone Fiend - Seeing as "New Born" is probably my all time favorite Muse song, I was a little nervous about hearing the live treatment of it. I'm not sure if I like it better than the original, but I'd say that I like it at least as much. The transition from the piano to the heavy guitar riff is fabulous. This song is literally the perfect meshing of beautify played piano and death-metal guitar. It's amazing! The only flaw I can find in this live track is that the vocal track doesn't seem to be balanced throughout the song, this may have been caused by Bellamy stepping away from the mic or something like that. I've already written too much, so just one final though... The live solos are great!

11 - Unintended - Reaching back to 1999's Showbiz this is a nice little ballad. Honestly I'm not a huge fan of Showbiz but this is one of the better tracks off of the album, and is a nice addition to the album. There isn't anything overly special about the live version, other than it is nice to have a slower, softer song among all of the other powerful tracks.

12 - Micro Cuts - This is the second track on the album that is sung entirely in falsetto which I'm not a huge fan of. That being said it does have some great guitar work. So decent track, nothing special, but seeing as it leads into another of my favorites, I'll forgive the vocals.

13 - Stockholm Syndrome - This track, which happens to be one of my favorites off of Absolution, is just as good if not better in the live format. Not only does the song sound amazing, but after the track finishes, there is nearly 3 minutes of the band having an improvised jam session which is great. It really shows the great level of musicianship possessed by the band.

14 - Take a Bow - I find it really interested that on the tour to promote Black Holes and Revelations, the band chose to open with the album closer, and close with the album opener. Although this isn't my favorite track, it does have great dynamics, and great guitar work. It comes as a great closer to a near perfect performance.

Reviewing a Live album is a little different than a studio album, since they generally are more or less a collection of Greatest Hits, so in theory all of the music should be good. This isn't always the case, but overall I think Muse did a great job at their musical selection. What I really look for in a live album is the musicianship. Since I generally already own all of the music found on the live album, there has to be something special to make me want to go out and buy it. I'm not looking for a reproduction of what I already have. In the case of H.A.A.R.P. I'd have to say that Muse's live performance is as good if not better than nearly all of their studio tracks, and is a great addition to the Muse catalog for any fan. I give it a solid A. This is, in my opinion, the best live album to come out since 1999's Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall Live by Pink Floyd.

As a final thought, throughout the 60's and 70's there were several guitarist who earned the title of "Rock God." Not to discredit anything any of these great players did, but I think it's time they slide over and make room at the table. This albums single handedly proves that Matthew Bellamy is clearly their first worthy heir of the new millennium. All hail Mathew Bellamy.

Radiohead - In Rainbows

2008-07-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

I realize that I'm a little behind in my reviews seeing as this album came out electronically almost a year ago, and physically back in December (still 8 months ago), but since I wasn't actively reviewing albums back then, well at least not reviewing on a public forum like this fancy ol' blog, I thought I'd give praise where it deserves to be given. Well, that and nothing that has come out in the last few weeks has been overly exciting to me, and I've felt the need to write about music for the last day or two.

My last review, as you can all see below, was a major disappointment. I really hate it when I anticipate a new album for sometimes months before its actual release, only to be overly disappointed and $9.87 poorer (I buy my CD's at Walmart). Although I was highly anticipating Radiohead's latest, there is always a part of me that is afraid of what they might just come up with. Now don't get me wrong, Radiohead has great material on all of their albums, but some of the music they were putting out in the late 90's and early 00's was even a little much for a devoted fan like myself. So... without any further rambling, lets review!

1 - 15 Step - This track starts out with a techno-ish drum beat, which is quickly accompanied my a whiny Tom Yorke. When this track started, I honestly thought Radiohead had become either a techno or not-so-good R&B group, but then 40 seconds into the track Jonny Greenwood comes in with a brilliant guitar line, the guitar is then joined by the bass, and this seemingly bizarre track suddenly become an amazing song. It's brilliant, not only is this a great album opener, but it has also become one of my favorite tracks on the album. Good job Radiohead!

2 - Bodysnatchers - If track one wasn't good enough to get you exited about what is to come in the next 45 minutes of great music, then "Bodysnatchers" will. The track starts with a great little riff with an early 90's grunge crunch distortion sound, paying homage to Radioheads early tracks off of albums like "Pablo Honey" and "The Bends." This is my official favorite track on the album, it is a great, grungy sounding, Radiohead classic.

3 - Nude - This track is much slower than the previous two. It seems kind of long and repetitive to me, kind of like the last album I reviewed :) It's not horrible, but it isn't really anything special either.

4 - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - Like the first track, this song has kind of technoish sounding drum beat, and layered on top are two different acoustic guitar tracks playing arpeggio's, a bass line, and of course Thom. While this isn't one of my favorite tracks, it is a good melodic piece, and the guitar work is really good.

5 - All I Need - I think this is about as close to writing a love song as Radiohead gets. I really love the instrumentation on this track, it starts out with a bass line (it may be played on a keyboard, on the lower keys though) which sounds like it was recorded at about 8 bit's (think cheesy NES sound effects), over top of a basic drum beat and some sustained keyboard notes. As the song builds up the drums, piano, and a xylophone (I think) become more present. I really love the dynamic build of this track. This is the perfect meshing of bizarre Radiohead sound effects and great song writing!

6 - Faust Arp - I really like this track, it starts with a nice acoustic part, followed by some off beat vocals which I just love. The song later incorporates a strings section to accompany the acoustic guitars. In some ways this song almost sounds a little too pretty to be a Radiohead song. At just over two minutes, this is a great, short track.

7 - Reckoner - This track starts out similar to track one, although this time the drum beat isn't so techo-ie... The drums are accompanied by a fabulous guitar part. Thom brings in some classic Radiohead falsetto, which is good, not great, but it works with the song. The middle of the song gets really slow, with harmonizing ooohs or mmmms or something like that, kind of reminiscent of something off of "Amnesiac" or "Kid A". Musically it's really good, lyrically it reminds me of some of my lesser favorite Radiohead material.

8 - House of Cards - Have I mentioned how many great guitar parts this album has? Because if not, nearly every track has a brilliant guitar part, including "House of Cards." This song is a little more radio-friendly than many of the other, hence it being a single. It's a good track, it is a little slow and repetitive for me though, it's a decent track, but not as good as a lot of the others on the album.

9 - Jigsaw Falling into Place - Honestly, I really can't get over how good the guitar work on this album is. Musically, everything about this track is great! It sounds a bit like earlier Radiohead, say "The Bends" or "Ok Computer" which is not a bad thing at all. This is a great track that should appeal to all Radiohead fans, and even to some of you who aren't fans yet.

10 - Videotape - This track reminds me of the good tracks off of Radiohead's more bizarre albums (Amnesiac and Kid A). This track is a slow piano/vocal piece that in my opinion, is a great closer for the album. It's a very emotional sounding track and really raps up the album nicely. One thing that impresses me about this track is that it leaves the listener wanting more, in a good way. (I guess thats why if you but the bonus edition of the album you get a second disc... great marketing guys!)

Before I give my official grade, I'd like to discuss a little bit about the positives and negatives of this album. Positives: this album, unlike several of Radioheads albums, sticks to traditional song writing, they don't use near as many crazy sound effects, electronic noises and so on, but instead experiment within the realms of traditional song writing. I really like this, because it reminds me of the Radiohead of early days before they discovered that computers can make crazy sounds. In addition to this, the guitar work is brilliant throughout pretty much the entire album, I'd have to say that this may possibly be Radioheads best guitar album.

As for negatives, I really only have one issue with album, it all kind of sounds the same to me. The first time I listened to it, the only track that stuck out was "Bodysnatchers" while the rest of it kind of just blended together. Now don't get me wrong, after a few listens I started picking out tracks I really enjoy, but for the most part, all of the tracks are slow and melodic. Aside from "Bodysnatchers" there really aren't any other powerful songs on the album.

That being said, I give the album a B+, with a disclaimer. Radiohead isn't for everyone, if you haven't liked their work in the past because they're too weird or what not, you probably won't enjoy this album. Thom Yorke's vocal and writing style are definitely an acquired taste.

With that being said, if you enjoy earlier Radiohead, but have been turned off by their last few albums, give "In Rainbows" a try, it may just renew your love for these 5 lads from the UK.

Death Cab For Cutie -- Narrow Stairs Review

2008-07-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

Well I wasn't planning on reviewing "Narrow Stairs" today, I actually have a backlog of albums that have come out in the past 6 months that need an official review, but I got a copy of Death Cab for Cutie's latest and decided to review it today before I "forget" (foreshadowing) about it.

I've know about Death Cab, and have been listening to them on and off for several years now. For the most part, my listening to Death Cab goes something like this; a friend would come along all excited to share Death Cab's newest release with me, I'd listen to it, it would be alright... but nothing exciting and the disc would end up sitting on the shelf, only getting pulled down once or twice a year when I was bored and looking for something new.

This was pretty much the pattern until an amazing little album called "Give Up" came out by the Postal Service (Death Cab's front man, Ben Gibbard's side project). It was so good, that I actually anticipated Death Cab's next release "Plans". These two albums changed my opinion of Death Cab, aside from some of the tracks being way over played on the radio, "Plans" is an amazing album, and really had me looking forward to today's review... So here we go:

1 - Bixby Canyon Bridge - This track for the most part reminds me of pre-Plans DC (I'm abbreviating to DC from now on...). Kind of slow, long, and uneventful... not necessarily bad, but nothing special. At 1:45 it does start to pick up with a heavily distorted guitar and prominent bass, but it never really "Rocks" if you will.

2 - I Will Possess Your Heart - Unlike the radio single, the album version of this song starts out with an extend intro lasting nearly 4 and a half minutes. Honestly I think it's really cool for about 3 mins, but then it starts to feel a little too long. The song itself is decent, although the lyrics do come across as being rather stalkerish... I really think DC is trying to make a second "Soul Meets Body" with this track, and unfortunately it falls a little short. Still, even at that it is one of the better tracks on the album.

3 - No Sunlight - From the intro of this song, there is clearly potential. It is much more upbeat than anything we've heard thus far. Unfortunately it never really goes anywhere beyond the intro. Once again, it isn't horrible, but it isn't great either... it's kind of just there.

4 - Cath.... - Like the previous track, "Cath..." starts out with a lot of potential, but never gets to where it could go... I do actually like this track better than #3 though, it's a little better, and definitely the second best thing we've heard thus far.

5 - Talking Bird - Blah, filler track. The lyrics are kind of fun, but the music is... well... blah...

6 - You Can Do Better Than Me - I'm starting to think that someone is having relationship trouble and it's coming though in his music... In this songs defense though, at just under 2 minutes it doesn't get boring, and it's kind of catchy.

7 - Grapevine Fires - I like the kind of jazzy/bluesy organ in the background (it may be a keyboard). This song is alright, I'll add it to the list of decent tracks.

8 - Your New Twin Sized Bed - More relationship problems... At just over 3 min, this song manages to stay somewhat interesting. It doesn't drag like most of the other tracks, and overall, it's a decent track.

9 - Long Division - I actually like this track, I know you're all surprised to finally hear me say that, but it is true. The lyrics are good and catchy, the music is upbeat, and it's just all around a good track.

10 - Pity and Fear - I have mixed feelings about this track. I really like the music, it's much darker and harder sounding than most of the other tracks, but I like it. I'm not a huge fan of the vocals and guitar playing/singing the same melody, but hey you take what you can get. For some reason this track reminds me of another song (which I can't put my finger on... maybe it was a forgettable DC track from a previous album..) Anyway, the song has some really good moments, and overall is one of the stronger tracks on the album.

11 - The Ice Is Getting Thinner - The album closer is essentially Ben Gibbard telling his girlfriend, or former-girlfriend, or whoever he wrote the album for (possibly Kath...?), "Hey I wrote this entire album about how our relationship failed..." I'm not sure if she'll get the message though, because this song is as forgettable as many of the other tracks on the album... I think they should have ended with "Pity and Fear," it was a much better track, and in my opinion a much better closer.

So there you go... After my first listen through, I thought that maybe the album was better than my first impression or that Plans wasn't as good as I thought it was, so in the last 24 hours I have listened to this album 3 times, Plans once, and Transatlanticism (album before Plans) once just for the heck of it. I have come to the conclusion that Plans may have just been a fluke; it may be the only really good album we ever get out of DC. That being said, if you have been a fan of DC for years, you'll probably love this. If you're one of those individuals who thought Plans was a great debut album, you're probably going to thing that DC's sophomore album failed to achieve the grandeur of its predecessor. That being said, I give it a C, it's not great, it's not horrible, it's just average... As for my copy, it will be going on the shelf, and 6 months from now when I'm bored, I may just pull it down for a listen.

Fender Standard Tele Review

2008-07-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well after my little rant earlier today on the proper way to review things, I feel the need to review something, so I'm going to give my review of the newest addition to my guitar collection (see my previous post on buying, selling, and trading... this is some what of a follow up).

Ever since I started playing guitar some 14-15 odd years ago, I have wanted to own a genuine Fender. I have finally realized this dream, and I am not disappointed at all. For years I have been particularly fond of Telecasters, and because of this decided that my first real Fender should be a Tele. Since I don't have unlimited funds, I decided to go with a lower end, Mexican made Tele (or Mexi-Tele as they are lovingly known among guitarists). Before making my purchase I decided to do my homework, since back in the 90's, Mexican made Fenders had many known issues including: sloppy fret work, noisy/faulty wiring, crooked bridges, lose neck joints and so on. From my research I learned that in 2006 Fender really cracked down on their quality assurance department because they didn't want anything less than par going out with their logo on it (that’s what Squire is for).

I looked at, and played several different Tele Standards, and finally settled on an Electric Blue Tele Standard (just like the one pictured above). I have been playing it for about a month now, and honestly I have been nothing but impressed with this guitar. The action was a little high when first purchased, but that is something that is very easy to remedy. The neck feels perfect under my hands, it is smooth and fast. The medium round frets are amazing for playing fast little riffs; say the intro to "Octopuses Garden" (Didn't George use a Rosewood Tele for that track?). The guitar came stock with Fender Bullet 9's strings, which in my opinion are way too light, so I put on some 11's I believe, and they are amazing. On playability I definitely give this guitar an A.

My one hesitancy in buying a lower end Fender is that I have heard that the hardware isn't all that great. I haven't found this to be the case at all. The volume and tone knobs are smooth, much nicer than the knobs found on most lower end guitars (say both my Epiphone and Washburn, and both Ibanez's I have owned). The pickup switch is likewise smooth and silent (although it is most likely going to be traded for a 4 way custom shop switch here in the near future). The tuners are tight, and stay in tune very well. The bridge is as straight as can be; there have been some issues in other reviews about it having 6 saddles instead of the traditional 3 found on a Tele... I actually like the individual saddles, it makes it much easer to adjust the guitar. Finally the pickups, I'll be honest, they aren't Vintage 52's (although I'd love to swap them for a pair of 52's) but for what they are, they sound great. The bridge pickup gives you a bright Tele sound, and the neck pickup gives you more of a muddy blues sound. I really like the sound of the bridge pickup, or the combo of the two. I rarely play the neck pickup on its own, but that’s solely because of my tone preferences. Overall, they are great pickups. So once again, I give the guitar an A on hardware.

The final category I'll look at is the appearance of the guitar. It is beautiful, the finish is flawless. The electric blue has a slight sparkle in it which really comes out when you look at the guitar under bright lights. The 3 ply white pickguard is a nice compliment to the blue... although I am curious as to how the guitar would look with a black pickguard. The neck has a thin satin finish which lets the beauty of the maple neck shine through, and I love the dark wood strip down the back of the neck where the truss rod is.

In all honesty, I can't find a single thing wrong with this guitar. At $400 (or slightly less) I am confident in saying that it is probably the best bang for your buck on the market. I've played many different lower end guitars, and very very few are even comparable to the Tele Standard, I'd even go as far as saying that these guitars are much better than their brothers the Strat Standard. I give this guitar a solid A and recommend that anyone looking for a good guitar that isn't too expensive take a look at this piece of rock history... Now all I need is a vintage tweed case for it :)

Stay tuned for more guitar reviews to come, I have a Vox Valvetronix that needs a review... it is pretty much the perfect amp for anyone who likes to pretend they are a rock star when they get home from work... and if you're suffering from self-esteem issues, just wait until I tell you about my Thunderbird bass, it is so cool looking that it will make you cool. I guarantee it!

-Tim

Rating Systems

2008-07-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

I was recently presented with the question, "Why do you review everything with letter grades... (ie. A, B, C, D, F and their respective +'s and -'s)" So I thought I'd write a quick post on why I have chosen this grading system instead of the others that exist.

Some people like to use stars, but the problem with stars is the difference between really bad and really good is generally only 3... sometimes 4... So that doesn't give you very much flexibility, because of this you are forced to start adding 1/2 stars, 3/4 stars, 5/8 stars, and 55/64 stars... It just gets too complex, and this ever so simply way of grading becomes ever so complex.

Others choose to use a scale, usually ranging from 1-10, this sounds like a great way to grade something, but once again people have to start throwing in 8.5 or 3.7, or the 9.9999999 and so on. Once again this seemingly straight forward grading system rapidly becomes a mess of 30,000 different numbers to choose from.

Finally, lets look at the perfectness of the A-F with +'s and -'s. It's the perfect grading system. First off, we all know it by heart, because we were all held accountable to it for at least 12 years (unless you never went to school, but I don't accommodate for those people because they probably can't read this anyway). As for myself, I am coming up on my 18th year of being judged by this system. In addition to having this scale engraved upon our brains, it is also straight forward. You don't get B--'s or C+++'s or anything like that, your only options are A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, and the dreaded F. Can it get more simple than that, I think not.

So there you go, now you all know why I like the A-F scale :)

Rocky Balboa (aka Rocky VI)

2008-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

The other evening I sat down and watched the newest and final (isn't that what we said about Rocky V) installment in the Rocky Story. I've actually seen this film before, but it had been a while, so I thought I'd watch it again.

This is a great movie! I would say it is hands down the best Rocky movie since the original Rocky. I'm writing this post to encourage everyone who reads this to go out and watch Rocky Balboa. Not only does it have a great story and great acting, but it also contains several positive and inspirational messages. On top of all that, this is a clean film. I would feel comfortable watching it with anyone. There is some boxing violence, but it isn't gruesome and gory, it's part of the sport and nothing more than what you'd see by watching a real boxing match.

I love this movie, if I was reviewing it (which I guess I kind of am) I'd give it an A, maybe even and A+. It truly is one of the best sequels I've seen in a long time, and the best sequel in the Rocky story.

"It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward."

Coldplay - Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends) Review

2008-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I had so much fun writing up a full review of Weezer's latest self-titled album, that I thought I'd get back at it and write a review of Coldplay's latest. I have been a big Coldplay fan since Parachutes, and have been looking forward to their latest release for a while now, and I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed by it at all. Lets start with Track 1 and go from there.

1 - Life in Technicolor - I'm about 99% sure this is Coldplay's only instrumental track on any of their albums (well there are some "oooohhh's" in the background, but overall it's instrumental...) I really like this track, it's a great album opener, it does a great job of setting the mood for the entire album.

2 - Cemeteries of London - This is a good track, it sounds very much like what you'd expect from Coldplay. There isn't anything overly special about it, but like I said, it's a good track.

3 - Lost! - Like the previous track, Lost is a good track, it isn't anything overly special, but still something worth listening too. The organs and the melody of this song almost make it feel like a gospel hymn which is pretty cool.

4 - 42 - This is one of the weaker tracks on the album, primarily because the first minute and a half are kind of boring, and the lyrics are bizarre. At 1:30 it really starts to pick up though, the next two minutes of the song are actually pretty good, not enough to make the entire song great, but all and all it's a decent track. For some reason even Coldplay's weaker tracks are still worth listening too.

5 - Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love - This is, in my opinion, one of the best tracks on the album. As seen in the title, it is actually two songs, and switches from the first to the second about half way through the track. Both are very good, the first song is very upbeat and is great both musically and lyrically, the second half is a slower ballad which is equally as great as the first half.

6 - Yes - I'm not a huge fan of this track, I think it's a little better than 42, but still not as good as everything else we've heard so far. This track, like the previous track switches in the middle to what sounds like a different song, but is in fact the same song, pretty tricky. I actually enjoy the second half quite a bit, but not enough to make this a preferred track.

7 - Viva la Vida - This is all around a great track, one of the best on the album. It's no surprise that this was the second single and the title track. If you listen to the radio, you've probably already heard this a ton of times, so I'll move on.

8 - Violet Hill - This is another great track. I really like it because it doesn't sound like every other Coldplay song, it's a new sound for the band, and a great new sound at that. Once again, since this was the first single, you've probably already heard it a million times, so I'll move on.

9 - Strawberry Swing - This is the kind of song I was hoping to hear on the album, it is a great track, and although it probably won't ever be a single, it is definitely something to look forward to when listening to the album. X&Y, Coldplay's album previous to this had two such songs, Til' Kingdom Come and Swallowed in the Sea, which are probably my two favorite songs on the album, and this in a way reminds me of them. Great track!

10 - Death and All His Friends - This song, like the previous track, reminds me of my two favorites from X&Y, and consequently is a great track in my opinion. It starts out very slow, gradually building up to an upbeat track, and then slows down again and transitions into a reprise of Life in Technicolor, giving the album the perfect closer it needs.

Although there are a few tracks on this album that I'm not a huge fan of, and I don't think it is quite as good as its predecessor X&Y, I'm still going to give it a sold A. It is definitely another great addition to the Coldplay catalog. One thing I really like about Coldplay is that their albums only get better with each listen. I wouldn't be surprised if 6 months from now, the tracks that I wasn't immediately a huge fan of become some of my favorites... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

One other thing that should be noted is the familiar, almost U2esq sound found throughout the album. This is obviously Brian Eno's (U2's Producer, and Producer of this album) influence. Normally I don't like it when one band sounds like another, but in this case it works great, and I think credit should be give to Brian Eno for adding a new dimension to Coldplays sound.

Weezer's Red Album. Full Review

2008-06-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I last posted here for which I apologize, since I know that all of my loyal readers have been anxiously waiting for my review of Weezer's Red Album... So with out further ado, here it is!

1. Troublemaker-- In the fashion of so many other great Weezer albums, they have given us a powerful opener that is not only a great song, but gets you pumped up to hear the rest of the album. Great Track!

2. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived-- Upon my first listen, I thought "What is this..." but over time it has grown on me... I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the rapping at the beginning of the song, but aside from that, it is a very good track. The name of the song comes from a Facebook club that is dedicated to Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and refers to him as "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived." Consequently the band has written a song that incorporates every style the band has ever used in the past (and a few they haven't) and brings together a nearly 6 minute track that has something for everyone. Overall it has some brilliant moments and is a great track!

3. Pork and Beans-- This track is great! Musically it sounds like something straight off of Pinkerton, and lyrically it sounds like modern Weezer. It's a great combination of both old and new, and should be a favorite for all Weezer fans alike.

4. Heart Songs-- Essentially Heart Songs is a list of every band that Rivers likes. Although I really like the concept of this track, I'm not a huge fan of it. It kind of bores me until the third verse were he starts singing about Nirvana... It's okay, but nothing special.

5. Everybody Get Dangerous-- Like the previous track, I'm not a huge fan. The music is decent, but lyrically it's pretty weak, and the "boo yeah" in the chorus is a little much for me... Enough said.

6. Dreamin'-- For every Weezer fan who says they have changed... Go listen to this track! Dreamin' sounds like something straight off of the Blue Album. I love this track (granted there is a middle section with Brian singing about birds, fields, butterfly's and what not, which is a little strange... but hey this is Weezer after all...). Overall this is a great track, and clearly one of my favorites!

7. Thought I Knew-- Although I think it is a noble effort of guitarist Brian Bell to write and sing his own song on this album, I feel the same way about it that I feel for the album his band Space Twins put out... It's okay, but nothing special.

8. Cold Dark World-- Worst song on the album... enough said

9. Automatic-- Drummer Pat Wilson decided that he to wanted to put out his own song too, and fortunately for the listeners, Pat has written a gem! This is a great song, it reminds me a lot of another band I really enjoy, The Special Goodness :)

10. The Angel and the One-- Talk about leaving the best for last. This is hands down my favorite track on the album, I love everything about it. The previous 9 songs could all be horrible, and the album would still be worth purchasing because of this song. Mark my words, fifty years from now when scholars are studying alternative music, this song will be viewed as Weezer's defining song. It is as good if not better than anything else the band has ever done. I love it!

Now for the bonus tracks, if you got the regular CD instead of the special edition you can ignore this.

Miss Sweeney-- Although several of my friends like this track, I find it kind of boring... The music and actual singing are decent, but the talking/verses are not worth taking a second look at.

Pig-- I really like this track, the lyrics are a little bizarre, but still a good track. Katie tells me it's about Charlotte's Web and seeing as it mentions Wilbur and it is called pig, I'm pretty sure she's right :)

The Spider-- Can I make this the worst track instead of Cold Dark World? This is like Part II of Freak Me Out from Make Believe, which wasn't a good song the first time around... Oh well, it's a bonus track, so I guess you take what you can get...

King-- This track is decent, I enjoy it, and hey bassist Scott had to get his lead vocals in somewhere too.

So there you go, that's my complete review of The Red Album, overall I give it an A-, because even with the tracks I'm not a huge fan of, I still listen to the album in its entirety and really enjoy it, and would recommend it to Weezer fans of all generations!

Oh Happy Day!

2008-04-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had a very special experience this afternoon. I was at work, sitting at my desk and to listening to 1019 The End (a local radio station) and whatever song they were playing was just ending. The new song that started sounded a little strange at first, but as the first verse progressed, I thought to myself "This is kind of cool, I wonder who it is" and then I heard the chorus which I instantly recognized as Weezer! Yes, yes it was their new single "Pork and Beans." My first thoughts on the song are that it is very reminiscent of Pinkerton's "El Scorcho," but the lyrics definitely sound like newer Weezer. All around I liked the song quite a bit and it gives me much hope for Weezer (The Red Album) due out at the end of June... right in time for my cruise, yes I'll be enjoying new Weezer on the beach in the Bahamas :)

Buying, Selling, and Trading Guitar Junk...

2008-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

So I've had some crazy ideas lately, I've been thinking about selling off two of my guitar amps (they're too big and loud to play in my condo) and selling off one of my guitars. My hopes is that I will make enough money off the sales to purchase a new Vox Practice Amp (don't worry it has a tube power amp), and a Standard Fender Telecaster (I want to get the natural finish, and then put a black pickguard on it, so it will resemble a '52 tele... but at the same time, I think the midnight wine color, or the sonic blue are both likewise as cool... decisions, decisions... time I buy a guitar store :)

That is all for todays randomness.

My Latest Obsession...

2008-03-24T15:23:00.000-07:00