Special Edition: Heart Fanatic and Strange Euphoria

listen to more samples and get Strange Euphoria (Amazon.com Exclusive) Here



listen to more samples and get Fanatic Here

CD Review Pink Floyd The Wall Experience Edition - MWB Report

Link to more samples and get The Wall- Experience Version here

Episode 63 The Queen Remasters

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxpFmorWeZk]

Episode 63 Eddie Vedder & Steve Miller Band

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sngFeErdaQM&w=560&h=349]

Get Let Your Hair Down Here 

 

 

 

 

Get Ukulele song here

Jefferson Starship & ZZ Top - Episode 52

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRP-K5tdMDk&w=560&h=349]

Listen to more samples and Get Rhythmeen on CD here (right no for less than 8 bucks)

The Mp3 version is here

 



Get the Modern Times and Electric Furniture remaster on CD here

Get just Modern Times on Mp3 here

Get just Nuclear Furniture on Mp3 here

Episode 33 Tom Petty And Bettye LaVette

Listen to more samples and get Interpretations by Bettye Lavette on mp3

Get Bettye Lavette on CD

Listen to more samples and get Mojo by Tom Petty on Mp3

Get Mojo on CD

Mojo is on Vinyl too

TJR Reviews Fork In The Road by Neil Young Music Worth Buying 04/15/09

Artist: Neil Young 

Album: Fork in the Road

Worth Buying: Yes, every song is great. 

You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Neil Young during his Garage Rock/Hey, Hey, My, My/ Grunge rock periods

I've always said that it's great if you have a message to convey with your music, but you still have an obligation to write a good song first. And by good, I mean a song that is enjoyable to listen to, if you are aware of the message or not. 

You still have an obligation to entertain your audience. Otherwise you are just preaching. 

This brings me to Neil Young's latest album "Fork In The Road". Like his prior Living With War album, this is a concept album. This time tied the theme of cars. It is an album about a nation that is at a fork in the road regarding its love for the automobile vs. it's need to remove it's dependence on oil (foreign or otherwise) as a fuel source. It is an album about how that fuel source drives our economy and what happens when that economy starts to tank (no pun intended). 

Neil himself is an auto enthusiast and I am sure that there are a more than a few of you reading this, that might be aware of  his LinkVolt project which has converted his 1960 Lincoln Continental into a green vehicle (a process that he wants to make practical and affordable to anyone). This album is about that journey too. So the album begins with Neil beginning a road trip (with us riding shotgun In the song When Worlds Collide: 

Taking a trip across the USA
Gonna meet a lot of people along the way
Far and Wide
Floating along on the Rio Grande
Coca Cola in my hand
In the promise Land

Now at first glance the idea of this album sounds like it would yield more preaching than enjoyable songs, but I found myself very quickly entertained by this album. 

Neil Young described his prior LWW album as a kind of Metal meets Folk music. This album is the grungy guitar heavy Neil Young to be sure, but it is much more Blues and even echos a little bit of his often misunderstood ( and fun)rockabilly album "Everybody's Rockin". 

On the surface many of the songs on this album can be heard as great road songs. They work on that level. But dig deeper and there is so much more here than a simple "We gotta go green message". Neil understands this is easier said than done. That it won't happen without a real revolution of commerce and industry. In fact, three songs into the album he eschews the whole hippie mentality of songs changing the world in the aptly titled: Just Singing A Song (won't change the world). The song comes complete with Neil's own version of a "We are the World" style chorus. And while singing a song alone can't change the world, he does take the time to say that singing a song can inspire you to start working to change the world. 

For me a lot of songs on Fork in the Road become enjoyable very quickly. It's almost impossible to listen to the chorus of  "Cough Up The Bucks" with it's changy distorted guitar line and almost rap/spoken chorus and not already be singing along with it before it's even over. But then even more amazingly, is that after that chorus we get the contrast of the Folk Neil Young singing a beautiful melody on the verse accompanied by angelic background vocals (with guitars still distorted). 

Another standout track is "Light A Candle". Here he have the Harvest Era Neil Young. The song is beautiful and is a prayer of hope. 

Instead of cursing the darkness,
Light a candle for where we're going,
There's something ahead, worth fighting for.

When the light of time is on us,
You will see our moment come,
And the living soul inside will carry on.

It's a chance to give new meaning to every move we make,
In the cavern, in the cave, where we come from.

When the light of dawn is on us,
We will see what we can be,
And the ancient ones can sleep an easy sleep

In the hallways of the ages, on the road to history

What we do now will always be with us

It was not hard to enjoy this album and I am enjoying Fork in the Road more and more, with each listen. Never did I feel like I was being preached at or preached to. I think this is one of his stronger albums. 

What about the packaging? Neil loses a few points with me here (although over all I like the packaging). The album comes in equivalent of a mini gate fold LP sleeve (which I like). There are two versions. One  with a bonus DVD that features live footage and an ultra higher quality version of the album for your DVD player. All this is good, but where it looses points is in the almost indecipherable way that the lyrics are printed. Some of us like to read the lyrics while we listen and he makes it very hard to do this. But this is still a great album to get. 

 Buy the CD /DVD Version of Fork In The Road for the same price as the CD version here

Listen to samples and buy in mp3 format here

What if I am not ready to buy the whole album? Try downloading Light A Candle  or Cough Up The Bucks

TJR Reviews U2 No Line On The Horizon Box Set / Music Worth Buying 03/02/09

 

It's all about the packaging. I've always said that that's one of the things that has helped kill the record industry. When we went to CDs we should have never lost the album packaging. All those great gate fold covers, Poster inserts and extras......you can't download that stuff.  Oh well, what's done is done and I guess there is no going back. 

This brings us to U2 who has released their latest album "No Line On The Horizon" in 4 different versions: 

The Standard Jewell Case Edition will include a 24 page booklet along with the CD. 

The Deluxe Digi-Pack edition will include a 32 page booklet, Fold out poster, and the film "Linear" as a digital download. 

The LP version features 2 vinyl discs in a folding sleeve with 16-page over-sized booklet

Then there is the Limited Edition Box Set this features the aforementioned  digi-pack edition minus the download of the movie "Linear" because the movie has been included as a DVD. Also included is an additional poster and a hard cover book.

I will talk about the music later, but this review is about the tactile experience of this limited Box Set Edition......In other words, the packaging.

First of the all this Digi-pack edition bears at least one difference from it's stand alone counter part. It features a cool clear plastic sleeve with a simple opalescent graphic that improves the albums cover art. Speaking of which, let's talk about the cover.

I love U2, but this is the weakest album cover art that they have ever featured. Getting past that, the rest of this digi-pack is a handsome package. It's a 4 way gatefold. The booklet includes lyrics and plenty of images to keep your eyes busy while you listen with headphones.   The insert fold out poster is two sided. It is very nice, but I know that you will never detach it (it is attached with an adheasive) and hang it on your wall. You will keep it in the case and look at it from time to time. One side of the poster features a beautiful full color picture that (in my opinion) would have made a better cover. 

If I had to choose between the standard CD and this version, I would choose the Digi-pack edition. 

The Second (exclusive stand alone) poster is a poster of album cover art, since I didn't care for this cover, you can guess how much I liked this poster. But it is two sided and the other side features U2 in a classic band against the wall picture. 

The hard cover book is quite beautiful. It features exclusive (to this book) one on one interviews with each member of the band. It also features tons of beautifully reproduced high quality photos. Some of which features Bono's hand written lyric sheets. 

The DVD is an original film entitled "Linear" by Anton Corbin (U2's photographer). The DVD liner notes describes the film as a silent movie set to the album's music. The idea was to give listeners some moving visual images while they listen to the album. 

The films story follows a journey of a disillusioned motorcycle officer in Paris France who burn his motorcycle and then starts on a trek across Europe. 

Now what's interesting about this DVD is that this DVD features 11 tracks, just like the CD. BUT - two of the tracks are not on the CD, so you get two bonus U2 tracks on this DVD. 

This film is not going to win any film festival awards (but that's not the intent of course) it's a long form music video and you can play the movies soundtrack or turn the sound down and play your CD version which will feature the songs in a different order (plus the 2 tracks not on the DVD). 

One thing I want to add is how the box is designed. It's brilliant in it's simplicity to the point where you would think that the folks at Apple Computers designed it. When you open the box, & instead of everything being stuffed into at the same level, the box's lower half is layered and compartmentalized so that everything is staggered upwards. This makes it easy to pull out the item that you want to look at. I think that it will also help protect each individual item. 

It is probably the most handsome of any deluxe package that u2 has put out for one of their albums. 

Here is what I don't like about it: I wish they included the downloadable version of the film that came with the stand alone digi-pack edition. It would have been nice to put it on your ipod and would have cost nothing extra since it just means including a little coupon with an access code. 

Whether you choose this version or one of the less expensive version depends on the level of fan you are. What you get that is different from the stand alone digi pack version is the film "Linear" on DVD, an extra poster, the hard cover book, and of course the fancy package.

If you are going to get the this deluxe box set version I would recommend you do it while online resources like Amazon have it for 32 % off. It won't be around forever and it will go up in price once it's sold out and starts popping up on ebay. But like I said, it all depends on the level of fan you are. 

Get the limited edition Box set of no Line On The Horizon here

OK, I need to listen to the album a few times so I can write my review (hey I only just got it today).  But for now read Robert's Review of the album. 

Music Worth Buying 12/08/08- Bryan Setzer

 

Artist: Bryan Setzer

Albums: The Knife Feels Like Justice & 13

Worth Buying: Hell yeah. Both uvem'

You will be interested in these album if you are fan of: Rock, Blues, Rockabilly, Country, Roots and Classic Rock.

 Tell Me More: Like a lot of people my first introduction to Bryan Setzer was through the hits of his 80's Rockabilly band the Stray Cats. I am of the opinion that a lot of music critics (who while I'm sure they enjoyed their songs) probably figured that they would be a passing fad.

 Depending on your point of view this statement might be true since the band broke up and their hit singles made their way into nostalgia radio play lists. But in their short time on the music scene they began a modern Rockabilly music scene that continues to thrive to this day.  

 In 1986, lead guitarist and lead singer Bryan Setzer released his first solo album entitled: The Knife Feels like Justice.

 From the moment you looked at the cover you could tell that wasn't just a continuation of the Stray Cats. He wasn't dressed like a Rockabilly player, and the album's title suggested deeper themes than fast cars and hot gals (not that there's anything wrong with writing songs about either of those themes mind you).  

 The albums opening title track confirmed this. It was clear that he wanted to be taken as seriously as a songwriter as he was for his virtuoso guitar playing. With it' 60's jangely guitar riff and 80's production value "The Knife's" chorus almost seemed to be commenting on his former image.

 Cause there aint nobody ever looked at me without looking right through me
There aint nobody ever looked at me without looking right by me
And you cant go on when the knife feels like justice

 "The Knife" did not do well. Not compared to the sales of his previous band and it's a shame. Because the album is instantly likable. Penning most of the songs himself and only co-writing a few, Brian moves into the territory of Springsteen, and Mellencamp.

 Songs like Radiation Ranch would be there to let you know that he had not forsaken Rockabilly altogether and there where plenty of opportunities on the album for him to display his formidable guitar prowess. But on this album, the song came first before anything else. It was an artist saying there is more to me than just Rockabilly and I will not be pigeonholed.

 I often wondered if the album had done well, what might have come next?

 Big record labels can be very unforgiving though.

  Fast Forward to 2006 to his most recent solo CD entitled "13". Released independently on Surfdog record and it appears that he is at it again...sort of. Like "The Knife", "13" does not completely leave his Rockabilly sound behind, but he musically stretches out and plays with other genres.

 Starting with the opening tack Drugs & Alcohol (Bullet Holes) He toys with the audience by starting with a very familiar Country/Rockabilly style guitar riff. This is what you expect from Bryan Setzer after all. Then suddenly he pulls the rug out from under you and the song effortlessly launches in a distorted 80's style rock riff. It's as if he winks at you and say "Ha, Ha, fooled you"! But you're not angry. You smile because now you are in on the joke too.

 The rest of the album follows suit as Mr. Setzer jumps around from song to song. Blending and having fun with different genres. There are his usual and expected forays into Blues, Rockabilly, Country, and Swing, but there are also equal doses of Hard Rock, Funk, and some outright musical weirdness. My favorite track on the album "Everybody's up to Something" has him treading Zeppelin territory opening with one of the meanest guitar riffs ever, before it smoothly moves into a funk rhythm vibe with satirical lyrics that takes potshots at everyone's hypocrisy and Ashley Simpson.   

 While "The Knife" is more serious, "13" is the guitarist having himself one helluva good time.

 In the song Really Rockabilly he very bravely pokes fun at those who take the Rockabilly scene (a scene that he started) too seriously

 The man at the door
He's a rockabilly guy
He said you can't come in
Your pompadour's too high
Better grow them sideburns

Get a tattoo on your neck
Drink Pabst Blue Ribbon
Drive a rockabilly wreck

Has it come to this?
I want a new job
Rockabilly retards, and rockabilly slobs, are rockabilly stars.
It used to be fun just to play the guitar
Now I just want to run real, real far

 When I first heard this song, I thought to myself....."When did I ever get to tell him about this"?

 You see, as a musician, my guitar upbringing started with a lot of Hard Rock and Metal. I still have the long hair to prove it. And I still did when I started to fall in love with Rockabilly music. Naturally (since I couldn't play this stuff) I wanted to go out and see some real Rockabilly Cats play this stuff live and show me how it's done.

 So I went to a rockabilly show, and just like in his song, there where all these kids dressed for it. I understood this of course from doing the same thing going to metal shows. I didn't care that I didn't look the part, but the guy at the door sure seemed to. I remember the look he gave me and how he said to me "You know this is a Rockabilly show"! as if to say, You don't belong here boy.

 "Well good, because that's what I came to see". I replied as I laid my 5 bucks down to get in.

 So thank you Bryan Setzer, The man who brought Rockabilly back, for writing this song for me.  J

 Between these two albums there has been no shortage of recorded material from one of America's most underappreciated guitar heroes. But these albums seem to bookend each other so well that it makes great listening to play these together.

 Now excuse me, I just read that in Sept of 2007, the Brian Setzer Orchestra released Wolfgang's Big Night Out which features Setzer's take on classical pieces. I have to get a copy of this.  

 Unfortunately The Knife Feels like Justice is only available new as an expensive import

Click here to listen and purchase 13 in the mp3 format

Click here to to purchase 13 in the CD format

Zeppelin - Plant = WTF?

Good idea: Led Zeppelin reuniting for a one off benefit concert a year ago

Bad idea: The non singing members of Led Zeppelin deciding to tour without Robert Plant 

Today  Billboard online reports that the remaining members of Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham) want to tour and record without Robert Plant and they are already auditioning lead singers. 

In spite of the successful aforementioned benefit show, Robert Plant has continually stated that he has no real desire to turn that show into a prolonged tour. 

My feelings: Your not fooling anyone. Unless he's dead, Led Zeppelin should not tour or record with a different lead singer. It would be the same as if Plant, Jones and Bonham tried to tourand record without Jimmy Page.  

It just WONT be Led Zeppelin. 

So if you do, do this, Don't call it Led Zeppelin. I might be interested in hearing a new band that has Page, Jones, Bonham and someone else on lead vocals. But call it Led Zeppelin and I will just turn off and say your not fooling anyone.

Music Worth Buying 09/15/08 Peter Frampton

Artist: Peter Frampton

Album: Now

Worth Buying: Yes, the whole album

You will be interested in this album if you are fan of: Classic rock and want to hear something new

Tell Me More: This album came out in 2003. I missed it the first time around. I am sorry I did. I was never really a fan of Peter Frampton. This is not to say that I didn't like his music. I was familiar with his hits. But I never owned a copy of  Frampton Comes Alive. I was certainly aware of what an exceptional (and sometimes overlooked) guitarist he is, from his own work, and his recorded work with other major artists. So when this album was released in 2003 it was not at the top of my list......And what a mistake I made.  I am very glad to say that if you are a fan of Classic Rock, this album is definately worth putting on your to do list. It won't matter if you are a fan of Mr. Frampton's previous work or not. What we have here are songs that by the 3rd listen became increasingly more and more enjoyable to hear. These are well crafted songs played by vituosos who neither overplay nor underplay. I think that both old and young fans of Classic Rock will really enjoy hearing some music that is new, but sounds classic.....And don't let the cover fool you. The album Rocks! 

What about the packaging? The album comes in a standard jewel case with a 12 page booklet, but sadly no lyrics are included. 

Listen to samples and buy in CD format here at CD universe here

Unfortunately I could not find this album in mp3 format on iTunes or Amazon. So I cannot recommend a single for you.