U2 - Actung Baby

I really didn't like this album when it came out. I didn't hate it, just didn't care for it, the first single "The Fly" had left me cold and that's how it all sounded to me, cold. After the passion that was The Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum the musical shift the band had begun (and probably should have stopped) with this album was a little much for my then 17-year-old taste. Close to a year later, I threw it on and it was like I had some type of revelation, it all became clear to me that this was an amzing album. Maybe I had matured in my time away, maybe having had to watch Def Leppard's "Let's Get Rocked" video one too many times on MTV that summer caused a paradigm shift in me, but I now knew that this was a great record. It seems like everyone else realized that too. Looking at the charts, 6 singles from this album charted (half the album!), so this pretty much dominated the air waves in the summer of '92. Unfortunately, the fall out from this album led them into their "Rock Star" phase which led to the (comparatively) dreadful Zooropa and Pop! albums. They then settled into middle-age with All You Can't Leave Behind, which certainly wasn't bad, but to me it signaled the end of the band as a vital force for defining where Rock N' Roll would go in the future. Anyway, here's a song that I truly believe was designed by the band, in lab coats, specifically to blow out cheap sub-woofers:

U2 - Until the End of the World

Getting off the main topic here, U2 is an interesting subject simply because they may be the last major rock band that were too good to hate. From the advent of the art form, there were always those stars that were at the fore-front of what was going on that, though you may not exactly like what they're doing, you couldn't help but understand their greatness (personally, I've never "got" Led Zepplin, but I understand their importance). You had Elvis, The Beatles, The Who, Springsteen, U2 and many others who were a the top of their games and got at least grudging respect from all. Nowadays, you look at the charts and you're hard pressed to find anyone who'll be around in 5 years, much less anyone that will gain and maintain critical acceptance over their career. This could be due to the fact that the music news cycle is no longer limited to Rolling Stone and the Arts section of your local paper, or due to the creeping cynicism that is endemic to today's society. It seems as soon as any band gets popular today, we immediately shuffle them off to the cut-out bin once their next release takes a mis-step. It also could be that nobody with that type of musical-landscape-changing quality has emerged since then, or it could be that the musical landscape has opened to so many different styles since them (along with the landscape of music writing) that it's almost impossible to get to the top and then do something truly "new". There's a point in there somewhere, if you can find it, I'll send you 57 cents and a copy of the Killers second album.

Thanks for listening to the babbling, I should be back (on-time) next Tuesday with a new one.

New Pornographers - Electric Version

In an effort to get away from dating myself, I figured I'd throw up something more recent before I end up talking about nearly every CD I stole...ahem..."forgot to return" to the University's radio station.

The New Pornographers started in 1997 as essentially an Indie-Rock-Canadian Supergroup/side project featuring AC Newman, Neko Case and Dan Bejar (among several others). For lack of a better term, their music sounds like fun. Riding in the car with the windows open on a perfect summer day fun. While their first LP, Mass Romantic, is good, on Electric Version, they really kick it into the stratosphere. Just looking at the track list, you can sense some of the goofyness contain within (songs like: Miss Teen Wordpower and Testament to Youth in Verse). It just feels like a bunch of talented musicians sitting around and spitballing things that sound fun. This album is best listened to loudly.Since it's difficult for me to pick just one song, here's two:

New Pornographers - Blown Speakers

New Pornographers - All For Swinging You Around

Recommended Listening: If you like Electric Version, definitely pick up Mass Romantic, as it is very good. Their third album, Twin Cinema, is good, but it doesn't have the same "unf" that the first two releases do. It almost feels like they changed their mind-set from being "fun side-project" to "full-on-band" so they felt compelled to include slow, meditative and navel-gazing, quasi-experimental tunes as well. They also have a new album coming out in August that I'm looking forward to.

Off Topic: New Music

In the interests of keeping this here blog solely "on topic", I've posted a quick round-up of new music I've picked up over at Phoning It In, check it out.

Also, as housekeeping, I'm going to try to post a new album every Tuesday here, so check back tomorrow. I've got several posts started, let's see which one I can finish this week.

Sugar - Copper Blue

Here's a post I did for my other blog a few months ago, I figured that I might as well just re-purpose this post. This is easily one of my top five ever, so read on:


I was entering my first year of college when this album hit and I was drawn to it like a moth to the flame. There's not a song out of place on this album, not one that hasn't been my favorite at a given time in the last 15(!) years since its release. I really can't tell you too much more about this, except that it's one of those CD's that should be in every collection, and if it isn't in yours, go buy one now, I've personally burned through 2 copies a so far.

Sorry there's not much to this review, but writing about music really doesn't do it much justice. Here's the opening track, and if that doesn't get your head bobbing, well, you're just dead inside.

Sugar - The Act We Act

And So It Begins....Again

So I've been thinking about my blogging. My other blog has mostly been about my comics fandom/addiction, but what about those hundreds, if not thousands of CD's and vinyl I have wasting space in the basement? Don't they need my love too, shouldn't I share that love with the public as well? Well I guess so, but here's the problem, since I don't live in the city anymore and the closest thing to a record store I have now is a Borders or Best Buy I am really not up on what's new these days. But I do know two things....albums I love and the fact that no enough people own them. So I created this blog as a public service to try and bring the albums that I believe are classic and everyone should own. Most of these will be older (10-20 years) since I really can't gague the "classic-ness" of albums released under 5 years ago. Make no mistake, this is not objective criticism here, but I will try to make this about albums that are accessible and rarely will I present you with anything that really goes against the grain. Most likely, many of the albums will already be on your radar, if not already in your collection. But I just have to share. If you are looking for insightful comments about new music or looking for rare /forgotten tracks from nigh-on many years ago, go check out Ditching Boy's blog, as that's his bag.


So here are the general rules:

• I will attempt to post weekly.
• Each post will single out an individual album ans will provide reasons why it is top-to-bottom awesome.
• I will attempt to use the word "awesome" as little as possible.
• I will usually include a track.
• I make no promises that you will like any of this, or even that anyone will read this. This blog is pretty much to keep me from talking to myself.
• I will break these rules at will.

So on to our first album:

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

This is one of the first albums that I truly loved, at some point, nearly every song has been my favorite. I remember seeing the video on 120 Minutes one night and knowing that I would be going straight to the record store after school the next day and buying that CD. Matthew Sweet wrote and executed a nearly perfect album here, surrounded by a group of excellent musicians, every single note on this album sounds like it was perfectly placed there for maximum effect. Despite that, none of it feels cold, you can feel the passion and heart that went into the album (and pain, don't forget the pain since most of the songs are about breakups). Though it's been over 15 years (!) since it's release, it still sound fresh and true. This record has been the soundtrack to at least two separate relationships in my life and just listening to it is better than any photo album. Here's a song that's been a favorite since the CD's first spin:

Matthew Sweet - Evangeline

Recommended Listening: While his albums that followed never quite rose to the heights of Girlfriend, it's hard to make this good of a record twice. If you like what you hear, I'd recommend picking up either 100% Fun (more stripped-down rock) or In Reverse (more Brian Wilson-esque Wall of Sound) as they are both very good.

Well, thanks for listening/reading, I've built up a fair list of what I want to talk about, but feel free to make suggestions, you may remind me of a long-lost favorite or turn me on to something new.