Anyhoo, I had good intentions going into this thing, but unfortunately, fate has intervened in the form of me moving some time in the future (hopefully soon) and 90% of my CD collection is packed in storage for the time-being. That means, I'm going to have to put this blog on "hiatus" until I get into my new space and have some room to go nuts. Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll get back to weekly updates, and before starting again I'll probably stock-pile a few weeks worth so there won't be any further interruptions.
Anyway, here are a few albums that have been getting a lot of spins lately:
New Pornographers: ChallengersI know it only "dropped" (as the kids say) yesterday, but I am enjoying it. It's not as good as the first two albums, but I'm liking it better than Twin Cinema, but that may be simply because I saw that album as a disappointment. I'm also kinda pissed that I didn't pre-order it to get the super-special edition with all of the bells and whistles, but so are the bonds of living in the independent-record-shop-less 'burbs.
The Times - Go! With The TimesDouglass Wolk is quickly becoming one of my favorite critics/art writers out there. Both his articles on music for eMusic and his comics writing on Savage Critic have steered me right just about every time. So with some downloads to blow at eMusic, I gave this late-70's garage pop band a taste, based upon his article, and it was exactly what I was looking for. Nothing that will change the world, but good enough to get the head-bobbin'.
Here's a fun-un:
The Times - Red With Purple Flashes
The Beatles - The Capitol Albums Vol. 1You know, I never really delved deep into the Beatles early catalogue, I just kinda assumed that I knew all of the songs, since, well...they're the Beatles. The albums I own are all pretty much from the late-period and I literally knew every single song prior to purchase. So when I picked up this box at the library featuring the American versions of their first four releases, I got a pleasant surprise. It's not that there's anything revelatory in here, just it's fun to hear a band that in their later work seemed so polished, at their roots as a rough little bar-band. If you haven't given this stuff a listen in a while I'd highly recommend throwing them back on.
Incidentally, I've got to say, after listening to these early records, there's a lot to recommend a new band putting some covers on their debut recordings. How many albums from the newest "next big thing" have come in with 4 great songs, 4 decent ones and the remainder fall into the "OK B-Side to utter dreck" division? Just jettison that last bunch for some covers as that can say just as much about your band's creativity and artistic ability as the crappy songs you write during the last 2 days of recording just so you have some stuff at the end of the album. Hell, if it was good enough for the Beatles, why not you?
