I remember the first time I
saw the video for one armed scissor on MTV 2, I was so happy finally music that
mattered was going to be popular again… the next day I found out that the band
had broken up all my hopes and dreams were crushed.
Relationship of command is one of the few releases made by At The Drive-In and it is an amazing representation of music that doesn’t suck. There are 11 tracks on this rockin album and all of them are rockin, my analysis of At-The-Drive-In-is-that-the-music-is completely chaotic and yet it all makes perfect sense when all put together. The guitars make blazing noises the drums rock on every beat and the vocals are loud obnoxious punky and beautiful all at once. A warning to all however if you’re scared of music that matters and cant stand rock that rocks you well not like this band.
Every track is a winner but my personal favs are the singles one armed scissor and invalid letter dept, non-zero possibility is another-amazing-track-.
On a side note Iggy pop appears on one of the songs I believe and I mean if you ever questioned any credibility there it is, also At The Drive-In also spawned two new bands after breaking up the mars violita(or something) and Sparta (quite arguably a better band then At The Drive-In and atleast up to their standard)
The record rocks all the way through and the packaging is very pretty as well which is very important nowadays what with the burning of CDs becoming ever popular overall I give Relationship of command a 10 out of 10 At The Drive-In is a great insight into what popular music could have and should have been in 2000.
Dobbins
Disc one All their Greatest
Hits
I recently saw Peter’s review of this record and I felt sad, so I decided to review this myself.
Barenaked Ladies Disc One is as the name implies a greatest hits package containing nineteen tracks of everybody’s favorite song “One Week” (wow that’s twice I’ve used that joke for a greatest hits CD). Actually there are nineteen different tracks on the CD and they for the most part are pretty good. This review is really not doing very well, sigh this is kind of depressing I’m so bored ….. Anybody who’s reading this should find and listen to thee Headcoats-Girl of Matches … so Peter listen to that song its so rock and roll its amazing I think it was recorded in 2000, but it sounds like it’s out of the seventies or some time like that I don’t know maybe it’s a cover or its actually from the seventies….. I’m sorry about this review I know what I want to say but I can’t say it I blame those Barenaked Ladies its just so hard to concentrate with em nearby…..
BNL as I like to call em (hey that is such an original way to shorten Barenaked Ladies I’m so smart and original) are considered
by many (and by many I mean I haven’t heard anybody say this) to be the pride
of
Brian Wilson, a song about lying in bed like Brian Wilson did for you people not up to date in your beach boys history … you fail BB 101(heh heh BB I did it again) but also Brian Wilson had a breakdown and kinda lost it for a bit, so the idea of the song is kinda sad. I think the song is also about being afraid of gravity so it makes you think!
The songs “Jane” and “What A Good Boy”, are also tearjerkers at least for me.
Some of the songs where they try and rock come across pretty lame such as alternative girlfriend and too little too late I’m sure that wasn’t there objective in these songs but too me it sounds like its and BNL are not very good at rocking.
On the other side “Its Only me the Wizard of Magicland”, a song about self love which doesn’t try to rock actually kinda does rock its also supposed to be a filler track for the CD and is good so extra props to BNL they should try and show the Stones how to do that properly.
Wow I did a nice little call and answer thingy comparing the songs that try to rock and fail to the track that doesn’t try and ends up rocking I’m So Proud of myself and speaking of call and answer, “Call and Answer” is a really good song (best segue (that can not be right) ever) the thing I really like about that song is that the lead singer sings one part of the chorus in a low tone and then for the second line he sings higher up thus creating a “Call and Answer” effect and once again demonstrating what geeks they are and what a huge geek I am for liking it so much.
The rest of the songs are all pretty good too I’m about to give up on this review its hopeless completely hopeless, umm I find the older songs sound better then the newer songs “Be my Yoko Ono” is a song about everybody’s fav Beatle, and “Thanks that was Fun” sorta fails where “Magicland” not fails (heh heh not fails) and the other songs are not bad either maybe I’ll try again at this review when I’m not getting retarded… Sorry getting started
Overall I just wanted to say that this CD isn’t as
bad as Peter says it is even though it’s a guilty pleasure and kind of
embarrassing to say I like it. The CD is about a 6/7 out of 10 depending on how
shameless I’m feeling at any particular moment. (Worst review ever)
Fashion nugget
Right now I am listening to fashion nugget, by cake it is quite a good record for the cakesters, it is actually quite delicious there are 14 songs on the album and they are all quite good. When looking at the track listing its easy to see that a stand out track is “I will survive” as we all know a cover song, the songs are all fairly tasty with some sugary basslines and other excellent instrumentation from various instruments not normally found in popular music today I’ll let you guess what instruments these are yourselves… anyway the other standard instruments like the guitar and drums are standout on there own although I didn’t notice any amazing drum parts on the CD
The icing on this cake has definitely got to be the clever lyrics and the equally clever delivery of those lyrics by the lead singer I wont spoil anything by giving away any of those lyrics you well have to listen to it yourself
Some “nuggets” off of fashion nugget are The Distance, Italian Leather Sofa, Nugget, Sad Songs and Waltzes, and of course I will Survive.
Fashion nugget is an overall good record however the record starts off with in my own opinion the worst song on the CD “frank sinatra” and although there are no bad songs on the entire album there are only 5 or so amazing songs out of 14 tracks
I give fashion nugget a seven out of ten (whatever that means) and on a side note cake lent an instrumental version of Italian leather sofa to a cartoon show that once appeared on teletoon called Mission Hill.
Dobbins
The Clash (
A warning to all, my clash reviews are going to be really boring to read more so then usual.
The Clash is:
Mick Jones: plays the guitar and sings
Joe Strummer: sings and plays the guitar
Paul Simonon: Plays the bass
Topper Headon: hits the drums
Terry chimes: Hits the drums before topper arrived and a little after he left
The clash’s first record was genius… I just realized how I should not be writing any reviews on the clash because I’m so incredibly biased and one sided about them. Whatever screw you all anyways. I guess I’ll just describe each track.
The American version of the Clash starts off with Clash City Rockers, which is driven heavily by the guitar with drums in the front passenger seat and the bass in the trunk.
I’m so bored with the
Remote Control- another early clash song
Complete Control- a song about how they hate their record label a punk song from 1977-79
White Riot- awesome song to dance to its about how black people aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves but white people are. I guess its really bad at stereotyping people but it isn’t as racist as people originally had thought and there is a cool part with marching feet that sounds like it was recorded from a riot actually it doesn’t but I think that was their intention.
White man in Hammersmith Palais- many peoples Favio song including Peter I think so you know its good. Showed the direction that Clash could and would take punk music its too bad most punk bands don’t notice that.
I thought the Law- sounds like a nineteen sixties pop song which it is once again the guitar is so good as is the drums not nearly as good as the live version though. Live version has better playing and more attitude. The part with just the drums and vocals makes you want to clap your hands and I think Mick sings on it at least at points.
Janie Jones- I think this Is the best song on the record really noticeable bass line that actually rocks also Mick and Joe do an amazing job of trading vocals throughout and the song is about this guy who likes Janie Jones getting stoned and rock and roll.. but not his job, a song about people being stuck in a position they hate and wanting to change it a theme that clash songs had throughout.
Career Opportunities- I take it back this is the best song on the record, once again it’s a song about not doing something you don’t want to do but there’s much more to it. Also the song is very personal to me and when I listen to it reminds me of happy things and I smile during a certain point…. Awww …. (I'm such a loser) also there's a cool drum break I guess it is in between verses that’s just amazing.
What’s My Name- it’s actually kind of boring and the chorus is just obnoxious?
Hate and War- blends reggae with punk rock and roll awesome lyrics good guitar playing and Joe and Mick and possibly Paul (at an oh part) trade vocals again creating an awesome song another good bass line too.
Police and Thieves- another cover another reggae/punk rock song another rocking bass line, another slap in the sex pistols face
Jail Guitar Doors- music is pretty good don’t really notice the lyrics too much. I’m not a huge fan of the song but apparently the music came from Joe’s old band the 101’ers (I’ll have to check if that’s the actual name). The lyrics didn’t really suit what The Clash were going for, but later on Mick got a hold of the song and made new lyrics.
Garageland- this song was made in response to a bad review they were given the opening guitar riff is really amazing.
Well that about sums it up an amazing record but it sounds more like a comp then a real record cause they just took a few songs off of the U.K. version and added a few of the singles that the clash had recorded afterwards. So it kind of makes the record feel less connected track to track. I haven’t heard the U.K version (I feel like a phony) but apparently it’s far superior.
The Clash (USA) gets a 9.5 out of 10 “What’s My Name” and the whole wrecking of the real record brings prevents it from the ten mark, and that’s about it.
Foo Fighters
The Colour and the Shape
Do you ever have a dream that is so real that you wake up and think it actually happened? I sometimes think that one day I’m just going to wake up and be somebody completely different, and all that I think I am now is really just a dream, that’s only been like a second.
Or maybe people that I’m close to don’t really exist, for example Peter. Maybe everything is real except for my cat…..
The Foo Fighters album The Colour and the Shape is an extraordinary record, it is a piece of rock and roll history! This is the Foo Fighters most complete and fully put together record of Dave Grohl’s career. Where as other Foo Fighters records come across mainly just as collections of songs, this is a complete album that should be listened to all the way through, from start to finish. Each track compliments the previous before it and the track ahead of it (I don’t think that made sense).
Key tracks include “Doll”, “Monkey Wrench”, “Up in Arms”, and the epic “February Stars”… Oh yeah and one of the greatest rock songs of all time, the radio single “Everlong”, which puts “smells like teen spirit”, to shame.
Nine out of ten because “New Way Home”, is a good song but a bad closer for the rest of the CD.
Note to self: Don’t write reviews at
Get Born
All right I’m going to try and make this review short and sweet. I’m going to as Joe Strummer would say “Cut The Crap”(worst clash record ever (very typical view to have but seriously that record is really bad I’m a huge Clash Fan but I can’t make it through that thing)) (great I’m already off topic)
I really like this record. Every song on here is decent and catchy. After listening to the record 3 times you should be able to at least sing along with the record while listening to it which shows they are doing something right and you can bob your head to three quarters of the songs, or at least Steve your head to them.
My only complaint about Get Born is the way the tracks were mixed together for the record, you see jet really only make two kinds of songs (not that each song sounds the same) the semi-garage rock mainly classic rock rocker, and the quiet acoustic/pianoish stuff and the first few times I listened to the CD I thought that they put too many soft tracks together in one area of the record, but now I think its just tracks six and seven are together and are both slow, and track seven, “Radio Song”, gets really boring for me.
Also the last two tracks kind of do the same thing again, but not as bad since “Timothy” is a really awesome song. Aside from that the record is solid silver.
Some awesome tracks are
“Are You Going to be my Girl”, it’s the best Iggy (heh spell check thinks it should be piggy) Pop Cover I’ve ever heard and the new lyrics kick ass
“Look what you’ve done”, a slower song first song that I really noticed that the lead singer can really sing
“Take it or Leave it”, the intro reminds me of The stooges a lot and I mean that like a good thing its cool to hear a band that’s not afraid to sound like there influences and its not a total rip off.
“Timothy”, perfect closer the song really shows how good the singers voice is and apparently Jet is planning on taking a more acoustic direction for their next release so it might be a good picture of what is to come.
Nice first record for the band with some really rocken tunes on it if they had cut radio song or made it shorter I probably would have felt a lot better about the whole thing. I’m Giving Get Born a 6 out of 10. I know my review seams like it should be higher up. There were very few things wrong with this, its just there was not anything that made me want to jump around and continuously listen to this record over and over again its definitely worth the listen though.
Kinks – Destroyer (the song..)
I think that they were trying to be Weird Al on that song. Minus the Humour. And the accordion. So it’s like they tried to be a shitty
version of Weird Al. rying to be weird al on that
song
Silver Side Up
Ok I know what you’re thinking…..
“Isn’t the band supposed to be called Quarterback?”
No its actually Nickelback
aren’t they clever! …Sorry about that dumb joke. I actually decided to review
this record for a dumb reason, I thought hey I have been reviewing too much
good music I don’t have a single bad review, so I decided to review this. I
know that’s kinda mean for our poor boy
So Basically I have given my review that I wanted to give, there are some good things with this record though the songs all sound good everything flows together nicely, its just repetitive and dull. “Good times gone” is actually a really good song at which I didn’t have any problems with what so ever, also surprisingly “How you remind me” is quite the original song on this CD. “Woke up this morning”, and “Hangnail”, both have cool little parts in the song where Chad sounds like he is singing from behind the drum kit across the street or something, which is a nice effect (not meant as an insult Chad).
Overall despite all the typical problems you could have already guessed, the record has a few moments of hope on it. I was expecting 10 tracks of the same song repeated 10 times and in reality it was more like 6 tracks with about 4 of em repeated once (if that makes any sense).
In conclusion (I can’t believe I just did that Mr. Kennedy my old English teacher is rolling in his grave) had Nickelback decided to turn Silver Side Up into an EP they probably would have made a better record. Though the record did suck it wasn’t completely void of anything original and semi-decent and did have at least one good song on it thus I have awarded it a 4 out of ten which is not bad, its not worth a listen but its ok if you hear the CD in the background somewhere to not turn green and yell “Hulk smash!” and total a strangers car. ……… The end
Spending Time On The Borderline
HOORYA for powerpop!
HOORYA for Weezer…. I mean OZMA. Ok Ozma doesn’t sound too much like Weezer, but if you like Weezer chances are you are going to like Ozma. Now if you Like Ozma you are definitely going to like Ozma (what) and you are especially going to like Spending Time On The Borderline.
Arrghh I hate writers block. Umm the
CD is filled with songs that are screaming to be played in a huge stadium,
specially the drums. They sound so big on this record. I really noticed them on
“Game Over”; course I was used to an acoustic version without drums which could
explain why I noticed them.
“Game Over” brings me to my 8th point Ozma are extremely talented at taking odd subjects and writing love songs around them such as love songs revolved around video games baseball and apples. On Spending time … the band does not really do this so often. What the band loses in this department they make up for in the actual music aspect of the CD. The Opening of the CD starts with some crunchy chords being played and each time the chords play they go through a different speaker, and that’s always a cool novelty. There is a killer guitar solo in “Turtleneck Cover up” that does something similar, before stepping out of the CD and Stabbing you in the chest 83 times. The band also has heavy Keyboard parts to there songs.
“Borderline” really stands out from their previous CD’s in its musicianship.
That paragraph kicked ass!
One of the coolest things about this CD is if you listen to it once through you might not be too impressed. A week later your going to be hanging out with your friends at the bus stop making fun of the guy wearing bicycle shorts cause he is a plumb smuggler or something along those lines. Then you’ll start humming this pretty little melody in your head and you don’t realize that the melody is from the song “Come Home Andrea” off of this CD, then you will realize just how good Ozma is at writing memorable well crafted (whatever that means) songs. Then after coming to this realization your brain will overload and explode and your friends well have to go to the mall and get some tide cause they are going to have to wash their cloths cause they’re covered in your brain juices. (I’m sorry I’m violent tonight)
On the downside some of the songs aren’t that great and can drag on. There is usually something redeeming in every song but not all of em are great.
If you liked the production on Weezer’s “Maladroit” you’ll like the production of “..Borderline”, the two albums have a very similar tone especially similar guitar sounds. Even the guitar playing sounds similar they both sort of have a nineteen eighties guitar sound to them, but in a good way.
“Spending Time On The Borderline” is a really good CD with many amazing tracks. The tracks that aren’t amazing are at least decent thus giving this album a 9 out of 10.
Greatest hits live
A Ramones live album to review … oh god what to say, if you like the Ramones you well love this record, it’s a greatest hits package apparently too so I guess it would be a good introduction to the band 2 or at least it should be aside from the fact that its live so it makes all there songs sound even more similar then the studio versions, course the Ramones are the type of band that you either like everything by em or you don’t like anything by them, of course I’m really just making that statement up. Anyway the record opens up with an instrumental of Durango 95 and then blitzkrieg bop which is the best song ever to dance in “the pit” to.
Basically the entire classic Ramones’ songs are covered on this live album including “Do you want to dance”, “beat on the brat”, and “I wanna be sedated”. They even added two extra tracks at the end “R.A.M.O.N.E.S”, and “Anyway you want it”
There is very little banter between songs mainly just the “1,2,3,4” trademark intro, and all the songs are at least double times as fast as the original studio version of the song especially “Sheena is a punk rocker”.
If you are into fast and fast rock and roll then this record is for you, the biggest mistake they made with this one is they forgot to put there best song on it “Judy Is A Punk”. And that’s just criminal, but even with that the CD is like 7 bucks Canadian, how can you go wrong! Why doesn’t everybody own this record, its Live Ramones and its 7 Lousy CANADIAN DOLLARS!
I give Greatest hits live by the Ramones a 9 out of 10 they lose marks for not having Judy on it and for being a greatest hits package, but they make up for it by being so gosh darn fun to listen to and for being my shortest review yet… I think.
Fizzy Fuzzy Big And Buzzy
(Part one)
Ok before I began I have to say that I have listened to this CD like a gwazzillion times (that’s a lot).
Now that I have given that explanation lets begin the review…..
This album is so incredibly boring! Actually its not that bad either way I don’t feel like listening to it so I’m going to review it based on its packaging.
The front cover is very interesting the band's name is clearly shown on the top left corner that I think is an excellent spot for that. Also the font style they chose looks very satisfying, which works perfect for the name “The Refreshments” the rest of the cover also meets the standard the name font sets. First off the title of the record is Fizzy Fuzzy Big And Buzzy, much like The Who’s Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy record. The cover looks like it’s a section of an old plane, with a picture of a scantily clad cartoon lady in the center, and might I add that she is quite the looker. Also the cover has three pictures of what I think is the bands symbol, which is a circle colored in purple with red around the outline and a star in the center which reminds me of The Who’s symbol.
The rest of the liner notes and the back cover are not like the cover which could be disappointing but they went a cool direction with a Mexican theme which is really cool but the cartoon lady is gone so I’m sad.
The back cover is one of the best parts of this CD. The back shows a picture of the boys in the band trying to find a lift after their gig at a place where the main attraction is broasted chicken….whatever that is. Its at this point in the review where I have to give a shout out to my peeps at Kovacs Korner (the place they were playing). The track listing for the CD is presented beautifully on this CD; I really hate when bands try to be creative with their track listings it just makes it more difficult to figure out what song your listening to.
That’s about it I’m giving Fizzy Fuzzy Big And Bouncy a 7 out of 10 due to their classic style with title and track listing and creativeness, where they lost the big mark was in consistency with theme.
Daydream Nation
Today class I well be reviewing the album by Sonic Youth entitled Daydream Nation so stop staring out the window and listen up.
Sonic Youth is a band that has survived many decades and are still putting out good music today I haven’t heard too much by them only three records (three records by today’s standards is actually quite a lot but these guys have quite a lot of stuff out there) “Dirty” “Goo”, and Daydream nation, so in listening to these records I find in them they have a trade mark sound of putting out solid guitar driven songs while adding weird feedback and guitar effects over top of em, if this is your idea of good fun then you are in luck with This record. These songs are all excellent with the exception of “cross the breeze” which just rubs me the wrong way for some reason or maybe my pants just get tight every time I listen to it either way I don’t like it. I only have two complaints about the record, many of the songs stretch on for too long and they just get boring to somebody who isn’t used to listening to a song for more then three minutes (it’s a big problem for the sonic youth of today”) and secondly there is not much depth to the record, every song sounds very similar to me which is odd because there is apparently three different song writers in the band, this could just be me. Aside from this however the songs all generally rock.
Now I’d like to go through the tracks and basically just give a few thoughts on them
Teenage riot- it has a nice quiet intro to it and then the middle section sounds like a teenage riot
Silver rocket- has a neat guitar intro once again and then turns into a rocker there is also a middle part where the music just kinda falls apart and the guitars go off on their own for a weird “Sonic Effect or affect whichever you preFur
The Sprawl- its
Cross the breeze- another pretty intro the vocals I find extremely obnoxious and not in a good way (sorry Kim Gordan) worse song on the album but my opinion could change given another listen or 2
Eric’s Trip- good vocal melody reminds me of Sloan’s earlier stuff or I should say Sloan’s early stuff reminds me of this song, screeching guitars and there is a nice wah wahy guitar thingy going on in the background and the song is only 3:48 quite possibly the best song on the record (or maybe I just like the tittle)
Total trash- starts off bouncy and light and makes you want to shake your head like the Beatles used to there is also a trademark guitar noise section in it that’s nice it kinda drags on though
Hey Joni- not very memorable
Candle- another pretty guitar intro one of the best songs on the record very pretty melody another head shaker
Rain king- I’m the Rain King only I can create The ALL MIGhty Sky Juice! That’s right sky juice! I am king and I shall decide what rain shall be called and it is now known as sky juice… in case you didn’t notice I don’t have much to say about this song (nice rolling drums makes you want to go for a run or something)
Kissabilty- another song sung by Kim which makes me think she wrote it not as bad as the others vocals still annoy me though
Trilogy- there are three parts to this song “The Wonder” “Hyperstation” and “Eliminator jr.” I guess that’s why they named it trilogy I would have named it the “super long happy fun song which ends daydream nation and we say daydream nation in it at a point”, I guess that’s why I don’t write song tittles. Anyway the vocals sound really pretty (not Kim singing) another good drum part is in it and lots more trademark Sonic guitar sections, I have heard a lot of people really don’t like the last part of trilogy but I personally think its one of the best songs on the whole album and believe it or not its sung by Geddy Lee ..sorry I mean Kim Gordon I’m Not a huge fan of the vocals of course but in the words of my old jazz teacher this song “kicks out the jams large”, I have run out of space now so overall I give it a 7 out of ten almost all the songs on here are really good and interesting but they are really over extended at parts and kind of repetitive at times so that can discourage listening to the record over again.
After seeing Peter’s Rammstein review; that was the best piece of writing I have read in a long time.… but I guess that’s not saying to much, I have been inspired to write a review. So it’s now time for me to fail where peter has succeeded and write a review of my own
Treble Charger Self-title is apparently Treble Charger’s second album those bastards lied to me! Apparently there are 9 tracks on this CD but I can only hear seven, I think the extra songs are unmarked on the packaging and can be heard on your own personal computer through a CD-ROM … at least that’s what the leprechaun told me. The band at this point is made up of 4 young Canucks who go by the names of Rosie who plays the bass and doesn’t his name just scream rock and roll .. I love it, Bill or Billie who plays the guitar and sings like an angel who has a cold, Greig or Greigie who also plays the guitar and at this point also sings like an angel (on a side note Greig would later go on to write and produce songs for everyone’s favorite boy band Sum41), And the soon to be replaced Morris or Morrisie who hit the drums for the group in between writing songs for The Smiths I guess.
The thing I like about this CD is that it sounds like something out of the early/mid nineties, except it sounds slightly less depressed. Listening to this CD doesn’t necessarily make you want to jump out of your seat and dance like a sonic death-monkey, The songs are more likely going to make you sway in place, like on the Simpsons when Bart Homer and Lisa go to Lollapalooza and the “kids” are swaying while Billy Corgan’s band plays “zero”(I Think the band was called Zwan) except you want to sway more happy like.
Another cool thing about this record is they have cool sound like breakdowns of a few of the songs like sonic youth does. An example would be the end of track seven “Slight” breaks down to nothing but guitar feedback and noise. Also the band’s vocals sound so pretty on this recording, their voices are so soft and fragile you want to reach out and touch them, but you mustn’t touch them you have to feel the vocals … NO YOUR TOUCHING THEM!!! DON’T TOUCH, FEEL! But yeah the vocals are really nice and for the most part I don’t like Greig’s vocals cause they remind me of the token garden variety “popular punk” vocals which do not suit treble charger however, this CD Grieg sounds a lot like Bill so I like him.
My Fav track on Self Title is “Cleric’s Hip” which starts off really Punky and then turns into a fast alternative rock song complete with random guitar noise and all. “Morale” is a good opening track complete with a really nice chorus to sway like you just don’t cay-re to.
The songs with the exception of “Cleric’s Hip”, don’t really show too much range and, are kinda similar but they all have there own individual sections that make the songs interesting enough to listen to the whole album straight through.
Listening to Self Title makes you think that something really good is on the way so I give it an 8 out of 10(I don’t give it a ten or nine because there isn’t too much range and there are only seven tracks on it and its not an EP how can you get a ten when you don’t have ten tracks Arrg!! But you can get an eight with seven) …. Don’t smoke pot kids
Maybe It’s Me
Maybe its me …..
Maybe its me … but …
Maybe its me ….but I ….. can’t think of anyway to really start this review.
Wow 3 lines in, and this review is already bursting with comedic genius… I’m sorry I meant crappy-ness.
Maybe its me was Treble Charger’s second CD… until those communist dogs changed history again and made up the record NC 17 which I think Treble Charger denies its existence and I haven’t heard it so to me this is the second one.
Now that that little bastard is out of the way lets start talking about this “gem” … well maybe its not a “gem” but the cover of the CD Has me hypnotized so I believe it is…. Or maybe its me. Wow I’m getting off topic really easily tonight, maybe its cause this record is really uninteresting or maybe it rocks so hard that I don’t even notice it and lose my attention or maybe its me.
The band is still the same essentially aside from Morris. Morris I believe was kicked out of the band for pushing his beliefs on the other guys too much and, for crooning on the tour bus while Rosie was trying to sleep. so they replaced him with Trevor MacGregor who I think was a suitable replacement cause for 1. his name rhymes and for B. his name has Greg in it and one of the guitarist’ s name is Greig… coincidence I think not, which is why I believe in fate… or maybe its me.
Well before I went off on my rant about the changing of the drummer, I was going to say that all though this is the same treble charger that brought you Self Title, Maybe It’s me does not sound like it, which is odd cause I always thought that bands released the same records over and over again and just changed the cover, or maybe it’s me. Ugh this is going to be a long review
For Maybe it’s me Treble Charger traded in their love of alternative music for their love of pop rock. Gone are the random guitar noises replaced with “la’s” and “dos” and other vocal thingie majigs, where as the first record sounded somewhat more experimental at times(as experimental as Treble Charger can possibly be) Maybe its me (yeah I’m sick of underlining the titles so what!) comes across as much more safe and sounds like they are trying sell some records. I know that sounds really negative but I don’t mean it to be. I guess I’m trying to say that although Maybe It’s Me is more mainstream the songs are still really good and sound alternative in a poppy kind of way and the songs sound like they are coming from the heart.
One thing I don’t really like about Maybe it’s Me is the development of Greig Nori’s singing voice, where as on Self Title Greig's vocals are smooth and nice sounding, on Maybe it’s Me it sounds like he is trying to be cool or something and trying to sing as little as possible, or maybe Bill was singing all the lead vocals on Self Title either way I don’t like Greig’s vocals too much on Maybe its Me they aren’t terrible but I think he has the potential to do better a lot better … why Greig why … say it ain’t so.
Bills vocals rock!
The CD is pretty typical for the most part. There isn’t really a bad song on the CD but there are 4 songs on Maybe its me that make the CD better then average. “Christ is on the lawn” a clever song title and an even more clever song “Scatterbrain” is quite possibly the best song on the CD, the lyrics are token pop but they add a trombone trumpet and sax part during the chorus that sounds too good to resist loving all night long. “Takes Me Down” is another pop song but Bill and Greig trade vocals at the chorus which sounds awesome what with Bills Rocking vox and Greig’s semi decent starting to suck vox, they really compliment each other nicely on the track. The fourth track that makes the CD rock is “Red”, all I have to say is listen to the track and you well understand.
Treble Charger turned down the safe path with Maybe It’s me which sucks but they managed to put out a kicking CD anyway, there are 4 awesome tracks with about 9 good songs and zero awful songs so once you add it up that’s about worth another 8 out of ten its as good as Self Title, just in a different way. Or maybe its me.
Wide Awake Bored
Wide Awake Bored is my Favorite CD by Charger28, or is this the new Sum 41 record; no this is too good.
As the opening sentence implies Wide Awake Bored is another 30-foot drop deeper into the bottomless pit known as pop music. There are so many radio friendly songs on here that I want to listen to Neil Diamond.
Greig’s vocals have reached an all time high of uselessness (or should I say a brand new low (get it like the song)) which kind of match a lot of the songs on here, in that the songs sound like semi fast pop rock and Greig’s voice has become pretty good for singing those kind of songs. Bill's vocals continue to rock. One smart decision they made for this record was that they had Bill singing on the slower tracks and Greig on the faster ones, which worked out amazingly.
Every song on here is really catchy and easy to get stuck in your head which leads me to believe that they are still good song writers. The only problem is that they used to be interesting and now they just write pop songs that add nothing new, aside from when the train went by while I was listening to one of the songs and I thought it was part of it.
The one song I really like on Wide Awake Bored is “Cheat Away”, which during parts reminds me of “morale” with better guitar playing.
Another good thing about Wide Awake bored is that although its mainly just boring pop rock, it’s some of the best pop rock you’re going to hear. For somebody who doesn’t know modern day rock and roll very well this would be a very good CD to get. The songs are all good and catchy and it’s very easy to listen to.
I think I gave Jet a 6 out of ten and I had the same problems with it as I did with this Treble Charger CD and I remember liking this one a lot more when I first had it so I’ll give it a 6 out of Ten.
Hooray for not having a sense of humor!
Add it up (1981-1993)
This is the violent femmes greatest hits package, that’s right 23 different versions of “Blister in the Sun” with a special bonus track of “Blister in the Sun” the Phil Spectre version complete with full orchestration and all.
Actually there is more to this CD then just “Blister in the Sun” and if you don’t believe the femmes (as I like to call em) have more hits then “Blister in the sun”, well you can just go STRAIGHT TO HELL!!, I’m sorry I did not mean that but seriously there is much much more to this hits package there are actually numerous hits on this CD including “Add it up”, “Kiss off”, “Gimme the car” and numerous other songs that you would never have heard of if you were born in 1986 and didn’t listen to college radio in your crib or wherever many violent femmes songs were/are played.
A brief description of what the Violent Femmes sound like: the Dobbins’ description of what the Violent Femmes sound like would be “the Violent Femmes sound like a mix between Primus, and the B-52’s”. This would however be a very bad description of the Violent Femmes. It’s true like Primus the Violent Femmes have amazing bass lines to there songs which makes most of the songs worth listening to simply for that reason. Also Gordon Gano’s vocals sound kind of like a toned down version of the guy from the B-52’s, however there is so much more to the Violent Femmes. For one they are great songwriters, they are all talented musicians, for the most part their sound is very acoustic and, they have jam parts and take solos in many of there songs which usually rock. They have a very original sound and the only way to describe it is that the Violent Femmes, sound like the Violent Femmes.
Now back to Add It
Up. One of the best things about this record is that there are 23 tracks and
almost every single song is a classic. The only track that sucks is “
There are too many good songs to go through each and everyone but a few more to look out for would be “Country Death Song”, which has the best bass riff you well ever know in your existence and some pretty heart breaking lyrics about a man who loses his mind and….well I wont give it away.
“Add It Up” another amazing bass part with some more interesting lyrics about how Gordon has nothing to say when he is in your thighs. Amazing bass part the song was also played in Reality Bytes so you know its good!
“Johnny” is another sad song my sister told me it was about Johnny Carson… I don’t know but either way it’s a bad ass song
“Jesus Walking On Water” a song about how Gordon loves Jesus or something like that.
“Jesus Walking On Water” brings me to my next point on the femmes, their lyrics are so diverse. Violent Femmes write religious songs, political songs, songs and songs about how all they want is sex(just like all violent femmes). As well as sticking to the basic writing subjects the Femmes also write songs about being blisters in the sun waiting for a bus and falling out windows, such great fun.
Add It Up is both lyrically and musically a very diverse record and it is worth getting even if you are completely oblivious to anything the Violent Femmes have ever done
I give Add It Up a 9 out of ten, it would get a full ten but it’s a greatest hits package and thus just a record for posers(like myself)
PS “Gimme the Car” is one of the best teen angst songs ever and my favorite on Add It Up