Saturday, January 15, 2011: Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - Sweet Thing

Halfway into the first month of 2011.

2011.

It sill looks strange. Having being born in 1968 and graduated High School in 1986, the very idea of 2011 still seems distant and vaguely trippy.

Remember the film Back To The Future II? Doc Brown and Marty McFly travel 30 years into the future (30 years!) to 2015. Guess what...that's now less than four years away.

And we still don't have flying cars.  Or Hover Boards.

In fact, the future is looking less and less like what we were told it was going to be.

I believe the internet is the greatest development in human achievement since the printing press.  Past that, though, there seems very little to shout about.

However, maybe that's not a totally bad thing.  At least we know there are things we can see within human behaviour that are fairly constant:  People will still be greedy and selfish, the pure and the honest will continue to get the shaft, The Dodgers will continue to screw up any chances to ever get back into the World Series, and we will always need smooth love songs to make a Saturday night magical.

And, hopefully, from here until the sun turns to dust and humans leave this frail orb for the vast glories of space (and time?) travel, people will always know that Chaka Khan is supremely cool.

Friday, January 14, 2011: Fiona Apple - Criminal

"The way I feel about music is that there is no right and wrong. Only true and false."

                                                                                            - Fiona Apple

Here's some truth to start your weekend right.

You don't want to die without a rap sheet, do you?

Here's to all you criminals in waiting. It's 2011, let's get started.

Thursday, January 13, 2011: Nazareth - Hair Of The Dog

Consider your prescription filled, Mr Walken.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011: Jamie Lidell - Enough Is Enough

What is it about the British that makes them such good soul singers?

Seriously, how many Dutch soul singers can you name? Or Turkish?

Obviously, American is the spiritual home of Soul, but we have a strong ally across the pond

Here's another enlistee in the war against mediocre music.

Here's Jamie Lidell.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011: The Killers - When You Were Young (Live at Abbey Road)

The Killers frustrate the hell out of me. I just can't help but think, here's a band that just never reached their full potential.

It's easy to see the 80's New Wave/Post Punk influence in their debut album Hot Fuss, but you can't get past the notion that they hadn't really fleshed a lot of those ideas out. The pumped out a couple of good singles, but the whole album just screams, "Stay tuned, better things to come"

And, indeed, Sam's Town is, for me at least, a far better effort. I realize that I'm in the minority opinion here. Obviously the obligatory "growth" and "maturity" concepts are tossed around, as with many sophomore efforts, but here it's a bit more warrented. Yes, on a certain level it sounds like Brandon Flowers had listened to a few too many Springsteen albums in between recording sessions, but that's not a bad thing in and of itself.

But, here again, ideas are left hanging, some songs seem more sketched out than realized, and it all compares to a train that has stopped just a bit before it's reached the platform.

Day & Age only seems to combine the shortcomings of both previous albums. Rolling Stone originally reviewed this album and gave it 2 stars out of a possible 5. Later, Rolling Stone reversed itself and listed Day & Age as one of the most underated albums of the decade.

They had it right the first time.

Now, despite Flowers in solo mode, it does look like there will be a fourth studio album.

And, let's hope they get it right this time, because they deserve it. And so do we, the listening public. God knows that we need a group as good as the Killers could be.

Monday, January 10, 2011: Dick Dale & His Del-Tones - Nitro Fuel

Screw Starbucks, here's some Nitro Fuel for your Monday morning.

From the King Of The Surf Guitar, here's the man who blew up Leo Fender's amps so often it made Mr Fender pull his hair out then go back and make the worlds first 100 watt guitar amp.

If Dick Dale can't wake you up, you're dead, son.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

No blogging on a Sunday.

See you Monday!