Somehow, in listening to Kings Of Leon’s new album, two images start to surface. First, the swirling synths and majestically watery, electronic production of the record conjure a portrait of a mad Captain Ahab spinning the wheel of his ship at random intervals so that the course charted doubles back regularly on itself to the point of seeming totally rudderless. The second is of a band trying desperately to stretch out stylistically and not minding in the slightest if they...
Around 1990, before Nirvana came along and totally reset the mainstream taste so that a song wasn’t cool if it didn’t have one edgy sentiment in it or another, rock radio was a generally sunnier, happier place. The going was lighter as tales of partying (typified by Motley Crue), girls and baked goods (Warrant), overcoming odds on spiritual belief (Bon Jovi), more girls and more partying (Beastie Boys) and vacuous but good-hearted, malicious fun (Slaughter, Van Halen, Quiet Riot, KISS,...
Through the duration of their career, the band’s detractors have had great fun and been pretty merciless in their condemnation of AC/DC. They’ve been called anachronistic and misogynistic, lecherous and lascivious, lurid and lewd, cartoonish and mawkish (in the later going of the band’s career) and more; the list of libelous labels is already endless and continues to grow with each successive release. From day one, the band has unfalteringly objectified women (there are songs about sex, but the language...
Of course, in the case of any performer there will be people in their fan base that will proudly explain at the drop of a question that they ‘were there when,’ but seldom is every fan willing able to make the claim. Of course, anybody can buy a DVD of a performance if there happened to be a film crew present, but Eagle Eye’s presentation of Tori Amos’ sets in 1991 and 1992 at the Montreux Jazz Festival is different;...
Just like Howie Mandel, it’s crazy how much vinyl is making a comeback. For years and years, vinyl was merely for the nostalgic, DJs and uber-collectors who needed that Fugazi limited-run 7-inch. Ironically, DJs have moved on to MP3s at a time when your average Joe is turning to vinyl. It’s all very confusing, but welcome at the same time. The great thing for record companies and labels is the fact that people can’t log on to Solar Seek or...
Currently on tour in the U.S., Ryan Adams and The Cardinals are most likely trying out some new material from the freshly announced album, Cardinology, which is scheduled to be released on October 28, 2008 (trying really hard to not make a “Halloweenhead” joke here) on the Lost Highway records. Fans can create their own "Cardinology Mailbox" for updates at www.cardinology.com. The tracklist for Cardinology will be: Born Into A Light Go Easy Fix It Magick Cobwebs Let Us Down...
It has now been thirty-two years since The Cure first appeared and brought along with them the shiniest, sparkliest dark cloud ever conjured by a band that wasn’t sure if it wanted to play pop or prog rock to their audience and was equally unsure what emotional state it wanted to wrap the proceedings in. In a lot of cases, that indecision has been the most engaging facet to the band’s sound too; since starting, unhappy teens confused at the...
Now that rock n’ roll has been an established cultural staple for three generations, it has become regarded as conventional wisdom that some musical approaches and forms have reached a pinnacle in the songbooks of a select group of performers; Bob Dylan, for example, has established himself on a plain all his own with his commentaries upon the human condition and detached delivery of every subject from love to death to violence. He has separated himself emotionally from the world...
With so many triumphs and disappointments – so many excellent successes and spectacular disappointments – dotting his career that have always depended upon how many pieces his heart was broken into at the time – it seemed perfectly reasonable to believe that Matthew Sweet would enjoy a perfectly average, respected but not lauded career for as long as he chose to keep releasing records. Sunshine Lies illustrates, however, that time catches up with us all. Matthew Sweet’s newest offering is...
At even the mention of the possibility of a Meatmen DVD release, there will surely be a series of gasps and shivers. Since appearing in 1978 with a sound that instantly allied itself with the then radical and publicly terrifying punk rock masses, The Meatmen and especially the band’s front man Tesco Vee sealed their respective fates as reviled. What they didn’t count onwas making even “the rowdy bunch” that comprised the punk rock community of the day squeamish too;...