Day

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fortieth Anniversary, Record Store Day 2017-released, limited edition 2LP reissue of Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Not so very long ago, I was muddling through the stacks at my favorite record store when the sight of something surprising gave me pause. There, on a reasonably cool spring day, I found a copy of the Record Store Day reissue of Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids, originally...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ When The Day Is Done 10” EP Work in the press long enough, and eventually one begins to rely on the complications that one finds with a release, because the difficulties in qualifying or quantifying the sound of an album (and the media – for that matter) become the fuel for for what makes that release good or not and why. It’s actually a really easy cheat which, now that I’ve...

A deeper look at the grroves pressed into the hot pink, limited edition pressing of Father of All Motherfuckers by Green Day. After a span of sixteen years spent examining a series of high-concept creative endeavors (American Idiot started the trend in 2004 and catapulted Green Day onto an echelon of rock stardom that no one imagined possible for the band before, followed by another concept album in the form of 21 st Century Breakdown and a three-album vanity project,...

Green DayFather of All Motherfuckers (Reprise/Warner)I must confess that, for the first time in almost thirty years (that was the first time I heard Kerplunk and became a fan), the first new song I heard from Father of All Motherfuckers felt like a balk and not a hit to me. The first song I heard was the album’s title track, and it really took me by surprise; I had read that Billie Joe Armstrong really wanted to change up what...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Revolution Radio LP by Green Day. Some smart aleck is going to say that this review is a bit late in coming (yes, Revolution Radio was released fourteen months ago) but that’s part of the point here; Green Day’s twelfth album was touted as a much-needed return to the band’s roots after almost a decade spent releasing concept albums and enormous album trilogies (plus a fourth CD/DVD conglomerate for good measure)....

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 3LP Record Store Day-pressed edition of the Centennial Collection by Robert Johnson. It’s difficult to accept the idea that such a broad and storied sound as rock n’ roll can be traced back to a single point in history but, in many ways, that case is easily made when one considers the influence of Robert Johnson. As everyone knows, Johnson became the king of the Delta Blues singers and the auteur...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day 2017-issued 2×7” set by Alice In Chains. Over the last few years in particular, Record Store Day has really seemed to cater to a “collectible” market over a market wherein fan interest is the focus. That has proven to be a little frustrating; because of it, record stores get glutted by people one day a yearhoping to score something they can resell – not necessarily something they can...

While I heard a lot of people complain that 2016 was a really poor year for rock and all its associated sub-genres (punk, hardcore, hard rock, stoner rock, metal et c.), the only thing I can assume is that those critics simply weren’t listening. In fact; picking out just ten great albums this year was nearly fucking impossible; doing so forced me to leave out many albums, those by Fat White Family, Dandy Warhols, XIXA and Pup among them. It...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day Exclusive Release pressing of Alice In Chains’ Live Facelift 12” EP. While readers may be familiar with parts of Alice In Chains’ new Black Friday/Record Store Day release, Live Facelift, it’s nearly guaranteed that they don’t know the whole thing. They may know some of the songs – like the performance of “It Ain’t Like That” because it was the song which was playing in the background as...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Christmas In Hollis” 12″ Picture Disc single coming out on Black Friday 2016 from Run-D.M.C. I must confess that I have never been a fan of Christmas carols and Christmas songs. While I understand the idea of having a song in one’s heart around the holiday season, I’ve always thought that the idea of professional musicians recording albums of the same standards with their own small creative stamp on them pretty...