Rock Hall Class of 2014

     For the second straight year, the crack Rock Hall induction team has silenced another rabid fan base. Last year it was the induction of Rush that finally got us Rush-ians to stop our whining and petitions. In 2014, the hottest band in the world (in the 70's), KISS, finally get their due and the KISS Army get their validation.  They will be joined by first ballot slam dunk Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Linda Ronstadt and Yusef Islam. I, for one, can hardly wait to see this motley crew jam to "Crossroads", "Peace Train" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit". If there's a God, maybe they'll at least perform "Tumbling Dice". Where do I even start with this class? I did vote for Nirvana, KISS and Peter Gabriel, so I'm happy for them. I would have voted for Hall & Oates if there hadn't been a five vote limit, so I can go for that. Unfortunately, Dave Grohl, Gene Simmons, Peter Gabriel and Daryl Hall will be forced to share this moment with Yusef Islam and Linda Ronstadt. Every year there is at least one head-scratcher, and this year there are two. At least there should be intrigue a-plenty with KISS and Nirvana. Will the human dumpster fire that is Courtney Love somehow manage to insinuate herself into this honor for her late husband? Will Dave Grohl get a restraining order on her, so she can't get within 500 yards of the ceremony? Will Sir Paul reprise his role of lead singer and left-handed guitarist of Nirvana? Will Gene Simmons not be a douche and play with Ace and Peter? Will Gene insist on inducting his own band into the Rock Hall? Will KISS wear their makeup? Will there be an appearance by a hologram of Kurt Cobain? Will Yusef Islam be inducted by Salman Rushdie? Will Yusef Islam kill Salman Rushdie while singing "PeaceTrain"? Will Peter Gabriel show up wearing a dress and fox head mask? Will we finally get the Hall & Oates vs. Simon & Garfunkel cage match that we've all been dreaming of? Now I kind of wish it was Cleveland's turn to host in 2014.
     Seriously, the top of this class is great. Nirvana may be the last band to get in on their first ballot for some time. Radiohead and The White Stripes are the only other bands I can think of that have a chance, but I doubt it. Cobain's music touched millions of people because they felt like he was someone who understood them. There's been some revisionist history since their nomination, but go back and listen to those albums. Listen to the studio version of "About A Girl". Watch Nirvana on MTV Unplugged. They did what The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. couldn't do; bring alternative rock to the mainstream. They may not have been the best band, but they were one of the most important bands in the history of rock music.
     KISS were long overdue for induction. I had the great fortune of growing up during their heyday. I drew them on my notebooks. I watch their horrible movie. I was glued to MTV when they removed their makeup. I played the hell out of Alive II. I wanted to be Ace Frehley. They are truly one of the most influential bands ever.
     I have to admit, in the 80's I hated Hall & Oates. I was into metal and prog rock. They represented everything I despised about mainstream music. In my middle age, I've grown to appreciate their music and I even own a greatest hits CD. I'm still surprised they were inducted into the Rock Hall. Maybe groups like Duran Duran still have a chance some day.
     Finally, Peter Gabriel is a musical genius. He completely reinvented himself as a solo artist and became one of the world's most iconic performers. I crap on the Rock Hall voters quite often, but I congratulate them for inducting Peter Gabriel. It almost makes up for Yusef Islam. I gotta go. It's Cold Gin time again. Peace.

Cheap Trick: 1977-79 Vinyl Box Set

     What is it about the United States that someone comes up with a great idea, then it gets co-opted by The Man and ruined? I am speaking of Record Store Day. The original concept was great; have one day each year where bands release limited edition records so people will patronize local record stores. Over the past couple years, there's been a revival in vinyl record sales and I'm sure Record Store Day is partly responsible. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before the success of RSD would attract the attention of free market capitalists. Now it has been lumped into Black Friday and most of it isn't very exciting. Hopefully the Walmart cretins don't find out about it. I don't want to be shot over the last copy of the latest re-issue of Kind Of Blue. As you know, I work in retail and therefore have to work Black Friday every year. However, I have refused to take part as a shopper...until now. When I found out that the first five Cheap Trick albums were being released on 180 gram vinyl in a box set for Black Friday RSD I abandoned my principles. I would like to thank Dave and Mike for hooking me up with copy 0875.
     You're probably thinking to yourself, "Didn't he already have all these albums on vinyl?". Actually, I didn't. The first Cheap Trick album I bought was Budokan. From there I went to Heaven Tonight and Dream Police. Then I bought their 80's stuff on cassette. For some reason, I never went backwards from Budokan. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I bought In Color on used vinyl and the first Cheap Trick album is impossible to find used. So, I mainly wanted this collection for the first album and the 180 gram vinyl. I did notice something funny on the box set that may make it more valuable (or not). On the slip case, they list the song "Downed" as "Drowned". I'll probably still keep my old copies for sentimental reasons. I strongly recommend all five albums to my kids, with the caveat that the In Color songs are better on Budokan than the studio album. Anyhow, here's a quick breakdown of each album. Peace.

Cheap Trick- This is the most overlooked, brilliant debut album of all time. How is it the Japanese could figure this out and we couldn't? "He's A Whore" is amazing and if I had a band I'd do a cover of it. Other standouts are "Elo Kiddies" and "Oh Candy".

In Color- Includes killer songs "Downed", "Southern Girls" and "Oh Caroline". It also has the horrible studio version of "I Want You To Want Me". They only played it on Budokan because it was a hit in Japan. Thank you Japan.

Heaven Tonight- Probably my favorite CT studio album. Side A is outstanding with "Surrender", "On Top Of The World", Move cover "California Man", "High Roller" and "Auf Wiedersehen".

At Budokan- The greatest live album of the "Live Album Era", which is saying something. The highlights, for me, are the live version of "Come On, Come On" and the cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame", which featured Bun E. Carlos on drums. I also have the CD box set of At Budokan, which has a DVD and the entire show for both nights on CD. It's outstanding.

Dream Police- Dream Police is my favorite CT song and if I ever did karaoke this would be my jam. Other great tracks are "Way Of The World", "I'll Be With You Tonight", "Voices" and "I Know What I Want".

2nd Annual Things I'm Thankful For Post

     Last Thanksgiving I mailed it in and posted about the things I'm thankful for. Well, I've decided to make it an annual tradition. When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. All the men would sit in the living room complaining about the Detroit Lions while the women cooked. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Pumpkin pie. Cherry pie. Apple pie. My grandma's amazing apple salad. My mom's amazing dinner rolls. The only time I saw most of my cousins was Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then we all grew up and started having our own families and everyone went their different ways for the holidays. Since we moved to Ohio, Thanksgiving is just me, my wife and our kids. I feel bad for my kids that they don't get to visit with their extended family, but I work in retail management and only have Thanksgiving day off. Sadly, that's more than most retail workers get these days. Anyhow, here's my list for 2013. Peace.

* The Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. It's the one day of the year everyone has to share in my pain. People wonder why the Lions play on Thanksgiving every year. The answer is Ford money talks and you know what walks:)

* My place of work being closed today.

* The Cheap Trick 180 gram vinyl box set.

* Bacon

* My wife making me Tom Collins' when I come home.

* The Tom Baker cameo on the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.

* Lucky Records. Thanks for all the hook ups; especially Fly By Night.

* The return of MST3K's Turkey Day marathon on the interwebs.

* Austin, Texas (and Denton). How do they produce so many great bands?

* 2nd row seats for Toad The Wet Sprocket. I know I said I'd post about it, but I haven't come up with a good take yet. It was a great show in an intimate venue and I'd never seen them before.

* The 12 string Rickenbacker 350. I hate to imagine how music would have evolved had this guitar not been invented.

* My wife.

* My kids.

* All my friends and co-workers who keep me sane in an insane world.

* All my peeps back in Michigan.

* Rush. Enjoy your year off in 2014!

Clockwork Angels Tour Blu-ray

     I promise I'm not going to turn Sound Mind into a Rush blog, but 2013 has been a big year for the boys. Rock Hall induction. Awards. Band recognition. Individual recognition. Thousands of interviews. Magazine covers. A successful two year tour with strings. Blah blah blah:) Friday, I picked up their new concert Blu-ray for the Clockwork Angels tour and it made me feel like a real dick for not going to see them. There are several reasons I didn't attend this tour. First, I didn't want to see them with a string ensemble. For me, a rock band touring with an orchestra or strings is a "jump the shark" moment. After watching the Blu-ray, I was completely wrong. The string ensemble sounded great and it was fun watching Rush feed off their energy, as well as that of the audience.
     The other major reason I didn't see this tour was the set list. One of the great things about Rush is they aren't a nostalgia act. They still write new, vital music and I like to see them perform it live. However, there were rumors that they would play Clockwork Angels in it's entirety. It turns out they played 10 songs from the album. Then they revived a bunch of songs from the mid-80's, which is the much hated keyboard era of Rush. So, when you factor in 10 new songs, a bunch of Power Windows songs, an intermission and goofy videos of Geddy, Alex and Neil as gnomes, there's not much show left. Consequently, they didn't play "Limelight", "Freewill", "Closer To The Heart", "Working Man" or "La Villa Strangiato". I know I'm being a hypocrite, because I wish McCartney would drop "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" from his set. But, imagine what would happen if The Rolling Stones put out a new album and played 10 new songs on their tour and dropped "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Satisfaction", "Gimme Shelter" and "Shattered". The arena would be torn down. If Rush are going to cut those songs, I want to see "Fly By Night" or "Jacob's Ladder" or other songs they never play live. The other obnoxious thing they did was change the set by a few songs each night. Now, when I saw them on back-to-back nights in 2002 in Detroit it was cool that they changed it up for a couple songs. But for a whole tour? And what if the show I went to had the crappier set list. So I took a pass. After watching the Blu-ray, I have to admit the set was pretty good. They did several of my favorite songs like "The Analog Kid", "Force Ten", "The Pass" and "Middletown Dreams".  I was also pleasantly surprised by the amazing quality of the video and sound. I had been very disappointed in the quality of the R30, Snakes and Arrows and Time Machine concert videos.
     There were also a couple petty reasons I didn't see this tour. First, it's getting too expensive to see them live when you know they will put out a Blu-ray of the show eventually. Also, I was pissed that they skipped Cleveland and Detroit on the first North American leg of the tour. By the time they came around on the second leg, I didn't care anymore. Anyhow, the Clockwork Angels Tour Blu-ray is fantastic and has lots of extras, unlike the Time Machine Blu-ray. Not that I'm bitter. In closing, here's my favorite part of "The Analog Kid". Peace.

Too many hands on my time,
Too many feelings,
Too many things on my mind.

When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find.
And when I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind.

The Black Angels and Other Random Stuff

     I needed some record store therapy yesterday, so I took some of the money I'd been saving for the Cheap Trick vinyl box set and headed out. I picked up three CD's and decided to lump them into one post, rather than posting on them separately.
     A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked me if I had ever heard The Black Angels. I had heard of them, but hadn't gotten around to checking them out at that time. Shortly after that, I was at the record store and saw  an orange vinyl 7" by The Black Angels that came with a download for a cover version of The Zombies "She's Not There". Needless to say, I bought it and gave away the download card because I don't do downloads:) However, I did check out the cover of "She's Not There" on You Tube. It was really good and I started to check out some of their other stuff. They sound like a British 60's psychedelic band, but they're actually from Austin. By the way, how is Austin part of Texas? Anyhow, imagine The 13th Floor Elevators, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Rod Argent's organ playing and Syd Barrett's vocals and you have The Black Angels. So, yesterday I bought their latest CD, Indigo Meadow. I highly recommend it if you are into trippy, psychedelic rock with a splash of Black Keys bombast. The standout track is "Don't Play With Guns". "War On Holiday" sounds eerily like Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Pink Floyd. I know this makes them sound  derivative, but they do manage to translate their influences into a unique sound.
     Recently, my power pop bona fides were called into question because I didn't have Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, so I picked it up. I did buy 100% Fun when it came out, because I LOVED "Sick Of Myself", but that was the only Matthew Sweet I owned. Girlfriend is one of those albums that I've had in my hand to buy several times, but then I'd see something else and put it back. Obviously, it's a great CD and there were a few things about it that I didn't realize. I didn't recall that it was released in the epic year of 1991. 1991 is to album releases what the 1983 NFL draft class was to quarterbacks. Nevermind. Loveless. Automatic For The People. Bandwagonesque. Achtung Baby. Ten. Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In The Presence Of Greatness. And apparently Girlfriend. Speaking of Velvet Crush, I didn't know Ric Menck played drums on some of this album. One of these days I'll get around to posting about Mr. Menck.
     Finally, I stopped being a contrarian jerk and bought a used copy of Pet Sounds. Yesterday was literally the first time I've ever listened to it. It was alright and I'm sure it was ahead of it's time, but I still love the songs about surfing and cars on their early records. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B", needless to say, are amazing and I also liked "That's Not Me". However, I don't agree with McCartney that "God Only Knows" is one of the greatest songs ever written. I know it's not Brian Wilson's fault, but I also hate how lazy music critics compare every album that's not straight up vocals, guitars, drums and three chords to Pet Sounds. Is it possible to impose a moratorium on this practice?
     One more random thing, I'm going to see Toad The Wet Sprocket tonight. Look for a Toad post soon. Peace.

Keeping Time

     This post stems from a conversation with a friend about the timeline of rock music. On one hand it seems like Bill Haley and the Comets were from another time. On the other hand, rock music is a fairly recent musical genre. My dad was born in 1943 and rock and roll didn't exist until he was a teenager. Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly began their careers in the mid-50's. By 1959, Chuck Berry was in jail, Elvis was in the military, Little Richard was a preacher and Buddy Holly was dead. Chuck Berry is still alive. In contrast to classical music, there is no one alive today who ever heard Beethoven, Bach or Vivaldi play live.
     Now, let's consider The Beatles. In the early 60's, they were young men wearing leather jackets playing covers in a German club. By 1964, Beatlemania had come to America. Between 1964 and 1969, they made four movies, started a record label, lost their manager, got into drugs, broke up over money and women, then pulled it together to record Abbey Road. It's really amazing when you consider how many books have been written on The Beatles that they accomplished everything in the span of a single decade. When we think of them in the comparison with Elvis, we perceive Presley as the elder statesman of rock and roll and The Beatles as young upstarts. Elvis was born in 1935. John and Ringo were born in 1940. That's only five years difference in age.
     In 1967, The Beatles released their iconic Sgt. Pepper album in response to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Here's a surprising list of albums that were contemporary to Sgt. Pepper:

* Velvet Underground and Nico
* Piper At The Gates Of Dawn- Pink Floyd
* Days Of Future Passed- Moody Blues
* Goodbye and Hello- Tim Buckley
* Moby Grape
* Absolutely Free- The Mothers of Invention
* Bee Gees
* David Bowie
* Miles Smiles- Miles Davis
* Sorcerer- Miles Davis
* Gentle On My Mind- Glen Campbell
* The Doors

     Here's one more thing that's interesting about the timeline of rock music. Let's take Nirvana's Nevermind for example. It was released in 1991, which was 22 years ago. Therefore, Nevermind is as far removed from Arcade Fire's new album, Reflektor as it is from Led Zeppelin's first album in 1969. 22 years before that, Elvis was 12 years old. That's crazy! Peace.

Neil Peart: Motivational Lyricist

     As you can probably tell from my sporadic posting the past few months, I've kind of hit the wall. It began with my family all being off for the summer and not having much time to post. Then we had our basement backup right after I had hernia surgery. Shortly after that, I had begun writing on my Sound Mind book. Naturally, our computer hard drive decided to crash at that point and I lost everything I had written. It was only the introduction and part of the first chapter, but it was still demoralizing. Since then, I haven't been very motivated to write. So, when faced with this problem I always turn to my favorite motivational writer. No, it's not Tony Robbins or Norman Vincent Peale or Deepak Chopra...it's Neil Peart. Wait, let me explain. I know Neil's lyrics are often dismissed as pretentious, dogmatic, fascist and humorless. This is mainly due to his unfortunate past association with the writings of Ayn Rand. However, that was almost 40 years ago and critics should just let it go already. I think the real takeaway from Neil's lyrics is that we all have control of our own lives. On a personal level, that means if my dream is to write about music I have to "just do it". That's always been difficult for me, because I have the Mother of All Inner Critics living in my head. In fact, I scrapped a post yesterday because of that negative voice. So here are some of the lyrics that give me a kick in the ass when I think about giving up. Peace.

* Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme.

* Leave out the fiction- the fact is this friction will only be worn by persistence.

* He knows changes aren't permanent- but change is.

* Attack the day like birds of prey.

* I turn my back to the wind to catch my breath before I start off again.

* From the point of ignition to the final drive the point of the journey is not to arrive. Anything can happen.

* A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.

* I'm not giving up on implausible dreams.

* Dreams flow across the heartland feeding on the fires. Dreams transport desires drive you when you're down. Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town.

*And the things that he fears are a weapon to be held against him.

* Some are born to move the world- to live their fantasies. But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be.

* You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill. I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will.

* All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars. All of us do time in the gutters, dreamers turn to look at the cars.

* When we are young wandering the face of the Earth, wondering what our dreams might be worth. Learning that we are only immortal for a limited time.

* Why are we here? Because we're here. Roll the bones.

* I'm in a groove now, or is it a rut?

* The greatest act can be one little victory.

* Celebrate the moment as it turns into one more.

Bill Janovitz

     Sometimes it's great living in Cleveland, even when it's cold and rainy and snow is in the forecast. This week, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is celebrating the Rolling Stones at 50 with special events. The exhibit has been up for a few months already. I've been to see it once, so far, and the highlight for me was a beautiful brown Fender Telecaster that was donated by Keith Richards. I'm sure it was custom made for Keith and it's exquisite. Anyhow, readers of Sound Mind know I made a resolution this year to set aside my anti-Stones bias and listen to them with an open mind. To that end, last night I attended an author event with Bill Janovitz. Bill is the author of the new book, "Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell The Story Of The Rolling Stones". He has also written a 33 1/3 book about Exile On Main Street and is a founding member of the band Buffalo Tom.
     I picked up "Rocks Off" last week when I decided to attend and I'm enjoying it so far. He explained, last night, that he was approached late in 2011 to write a book on the Stones to be released in conjunction with their 50th anniversary. Rather than write about their 50 best songs or his 50 favorite songs, he wrote about the 50 songs that he feels track the arc of their history as a band. I had never heard some of these songs and found myself listening to the tracks as I read. His essays are part band history and part musical breakdown by a fellow musician. During his talk, he lamented that there are very few books about the Stones music. Most focus on their personal lives and scandals. I'm up to song # 30, Tumbling Dice, and I've learned quite a bit about the Stones. I had no idea that Mick came up with the Brown Sugar riff. Janovitz tells a funny story about Mick playing Brown Sugar for Ike Turner. I'll spoil the story by saying Ike didn't attack him:) At his event, Bill read from the essay on Gimme Shelter. He talked at length about Merry Clayton's vocal performance. He played a track of just her vocals during the "rape / murder" part and it was amazing. One of my favorite passages from "Rocks Off" is in the Jumpin' Jack Flash essay. He writes about how they returned to a more intuitive and uninhibited style. "What the hell is a 'jumpin' jack flash' or a 'crossfire hurricane'? We don't know for sure, but then, what precisely is 'smokestack lightning,' a 'mojo filter,' or 'streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm'? Who the hell cares?" Exactly. Who the hell cares...it's only rock and roll.
     The event was really cool and I even bought his 33 1/ 3 book. I had him sign both books and told him that Sleepy Eyed was one of my favorite albums. Most of the attendees were Stones fans, so I think he was pleasantly surprised that someone there had heard a Buffalo Tom album. I had considered asking him to sign my favorite line from "Tangerine", "Just a little haiku to say how much I like you", but decided it would be obnoxious. If you're not familiar with Buffalo Tom, they are one of the best unsung bands of the 90's. He admitted that he and co-songwriter Chris Colbourn were huge Stones fans, but there wasn't much Stones in Buffalo Tom. Their influences were Dinosaur Jr. and the Replacements. He even gave a shout out to The Replacements for being nominated for Rock Hall induction. Anyhow, Bill was great and I recommend anything he has done. Maybe sometime I'll do a proper post on Buffalo Tom. Peace.

Paul McCartney: New

     A friend of mine asked me if I was going to get the new McCartney album. Then he asked me something I hadn't considered before, "Did you get any of his other albums when they came out?" Oddly, the answer was "no". Until yesterday, the most recent McCartney album I had was 1982's Tug of War and it was a gift last year from my kids. No Kisses on the Bottom. No Memory Almost Full. No Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. No Driving Rain. No Flaming Pie. No nothing. So, why did I get New? Maybe subconsciously, David Bowie's last album restored my faith in old musical heroes. I had written off Bowie, McCartney, Elton John and Neil Young, to name a few. Now I have hope that these guys are still capable of releasing an album that's relevant and vital. And New is relevant and vital.
     I've been anticipating this album for awhile. Back before Kisses on the Bottom came out, I read an interview with McCartney. He talked about how he had become friends with Dave Grohl and was inspired to make a rock album. I was cautiously optimistic. Then all the talk about New centered around Paul using four different producers. Then they put out the title track in advance of the album's release and I wasn't to excited by it. I guess I was expecting something along the line of the song he did with the surviving Nirvana guys. Then last week, the reviews started coming out and they were all 4 1/2 and 5 stars. So yesterday I pulled the trigger and got it.
     New is a fantastic mix of classic McCartney and contemporary production. I don't want to turn this post into an examination of the different producers, but I really like the songs that Paul Epworth produced; "Save Us", "Queenie Eye" and "Road". I also enjoyed most of the Giles Martin songs, especially "Appreciate". "Appreciate" reminded me of the sound on Kasabian's first album, which I love. "Everybody Out There" evokes Wings, particularly "Mrs Vandebilt" from Band on the Run. "I Can Bet" is another standout track that features some very clever lyrics on McCartney's part. Even the title track has grown on me since the first time I heard it. And this is a great hand clap album. There are really only a couple songs that drag the album down, somewhat; "Hosanna" and "Early Days". "Early Days" was probably the most jarring, because it's five songs in. I was enjoying a revitalized McCartney, then he starts singing a dirge about the Beatles' days. We all know he was a Beatle. Their history has been told ad nauseum, even by Paul himself. I can sort of see why Ringo has a song about being a Beatle on every album, but Paul doesn't need to. "Early days" does have a poignant line, however.

Now everybody seems to have their own opinion.
Who did this and who did that.
But as for me, I don't see how they can remember
When they weren't where it was at.

Fair point, but the Beatles have single-handedly defined popular music for half a century, so we're going to have opinions about who did this and who did that. You don't have to have played sports to have opinions about sports. One of the fun things about music is having opinions on things like Beatles vs. Stones or Lennon vs. McCartney. Maybe that's not what he meant by that, but that's how I take it.
     Anyhow, New is a terrific album and I highly recommend it. No one knows how many more of these McCartney has left in him, so enjoy it. Peace.

Rock Hall Nominees: 2014

     The nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2014 were just announced. Much to my surprise, when I clicked the link to the fan voting at Rolling Stone, I had a difficult time only voting for five nominees. If you are a regular reader of Sound Mind my ballot won't come as much of a shock. So, here's who I voted for, the nominees I would have liked to vote for and the ones that I feel don't belong in the Rock Hall. Speaking of the Rock Hall, later this morning I'll be posting about Paul McCartney's new album, New. Peace.

1) Peter Gabriel- He's already in with Genesis, but definitely deserves induction on his own merits. Solsbury Hill, I Don't Remember, Games Without Frontiers, Shock The Monkey, I Have The Touch, Sledgehammer, Red Rain, Big Time. Open the door, let him in.

2) KISS- They are this years Rush. Stop being dicks and put them in already. I know Gene Simmons is a horrible, horrible person, but enough.

3) Nirvana- It's their first year of eligibility and they are a no-brainer.

4) Yes- I know the voters don't like prog rock, but Yes have an amazing catalog. I did a post on them entitled "The Answer Is...Yes" if you're interested in a longer justification of their merits.

5) The Zombies- I've mentioned before that I was stunned to discover The Zombies weren't already in the Rock Hall. They should be in just on the strength of "Time of the Season", "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No".

Nominees I Would Have Voted For If You Could Vote For More Than Five

1) The Replacements- I was pleasantly surprised to see them on the list. They were a highly influential band and also helped bring attention to Alex Chilton and Big Star. Hopefully, they will be nominated again next year.

2) Hall and Oates- Don't be a hater, you know they belong in the Rock Hall. I just couldn't knock anybody out of my top five to vote for them.

3) Link Wray- I was also stunned that he's not already in the Rock Hall.

And Not Receiving Consideration: Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, LL Cool J, The Meters, NWA, Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens (go take a ride on the Hate Train, Yusef).

Ronnie James Dio

     It's official. I'm on a Dio jag. After my heavy metal post, I broke out Heaven and Hell, which I've had since 1980. Then I went out and got Live Evil, a compilation called Black Sabbath: The Dio Years and I replaced Holy Diver. There are many iconic singers in hard rock and heavy metal. Robert Plant. Rob Halford. Bruce Dickinson. Ozzy. Geoff Tate. Geddy Lee. For me, Dio was the quintessential heavy metal front man. Granted, he couldn't scream like Halford and Dickinson, nor was he a golden god like Plant, but he really personified metal. His vocals were deep and powerful and had the requisite gravitas to sing about rainbows and demons without sounding preposterous. His trademark was writing fantasy lyrics, but he always managed to make the themes relevant to modern times. And he actually looked like a dark elf or a gnome.
     What he did with Black Sabbath was truly remarkable. First, he replaced the legendary Ozzy Osbourne, who went on to record two brilliant solo albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. It may be hard for some of you to believe, but that doddering, mumbling old man from reality TV used to be The Prince Of Darkness. He sang songs like "Iron Man", "Paranoid", "War Pigs" and "Children of the Grave". Dio waltzed in with his fantasy lyrics and that amazing voice and transformed Sabbath. The rhythm section of Geezer Butler and Bill Ward became a runaway locomotive. Ward, in particular, abandoned his jazz drumming style for a more straight forward rock style. And Tony Iommi continued to be a wizard on lead guitar. His solo on the title track to Heaven and Hell is one of the best solos of all time. I think it could be argued that Heaven and Hell is Black Sabbath's best album. It came out when I was in high school and had my whole life ahead of me. So, it's strange that I was drawn to it, because one of the central themes was carpe diem, or seize the day. Everything is messed up and everyone is a liar, so just live for today because you may not have a tomorrow. I internalized the part about the world being a hopeless mess, but instead of seizing the day I just became cynical and depressed. "Heaven and Hell" has two of my favorite Dio lines:

* The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.

* The closer you get to the meaning, the sooner you know that you're dreaming.

     During the tour that produced Live Evil, Dio had had it with Sabbath and decided to go solo. The result was Holy Diver. I wore that tape out. My favorite song was "Rainbow In The Dark". I think Dio used the word "rainbow" on every album he recorded:) Anyhow, it begins with the lines: "When there's lightning, you know it always brings me down. "Cause it's free and I see that it's me who's lost and never found". That was pretty deep stuff to a teenager from the sticks. I also loved the title track. It is funny, though, when he sings "Ride the tiger. You can see his stripes, but you know he's clean. Oh don't you see what I mean?" No...no I don't know what you mean Ronnie James. I'm still trying to figure out "You've got to bleed for the dancer" from Heaven and Hell:) Peace.

Yuck: Glow & Behold

     Little did I know when I was using the urinal next to Max Bloom at the Grog Shop that I was taking a whiz next to the future lead singer of Yuck. And as much as I'd like this post to not be all about Yuck changing lead singers, it probably will be. It's not like bands changing lead singers is unprecedented. Phil Collins replaced Peter Gabriel. Dio replaced Ozzy. The Red Rocker replaced DLR. Shit happens. However, Yuck only had one album under their belt and Daniel Blumberg's departure came out of nowhere. I was pleasantly surprised when I read that the remaining members of the band were going to carry on as Yuck and were working on a new album. That album, Glow & Behold, came out last week. Naturally, I rushed out and bought the CD, as well as a limited edition (# 352/500) vinyl copy. I've only been able to listen to it three times, so far, but I have some early impressions.
     The first time I listened to Yuck's debut album it was obvious they were informed by 90's indie rock. That's the Dinosuar Jr. track. That's the Teenage Fanclub track. That's the Pavement track. That's the Yo La Tengo track. Yet they managed to internalize their influences and create songs that weren't derivative. On the new album, they seem to be working toward developing their own sound. Other than the title track sounding like "the Teenage Fanclub track", their influences weren't as up front this time around. Well, my favorite track, "Middle Sea", does have a Superchunk vibe, but it's not blatant.
     Yuck's debut album made a powerful statement right off the bat with the track "Get Away". It was a loud, catchy guitar rocker. In contrast, the new album begins with a cinematic instrumental, "Sunrise In Maple Shade", that sounds like the soundtrack to Blumberg packing up his gear and walking away from the band. They follow that up with a nice, breezy track "Out Of Time". The one thing I like so far is Mariko Doi's backing vocals. She is quite Bilinda Butcher-y.
     Sound Mind readers know I love Yuck's debut album and the subsequent singles like "Milkshake" that ended up on the deluxe edition. I honestly don't have the same love for Glow & Behold. That's not to say I don't like it, it's just not as strong as their debut. The guitars aren't as fuzzed out and I'll have to get used to Max on vocals. He's good when they're playing loud, but kind of bland when the vocal is carrying the song. I hope as they tour he gains confidence as a lead singer and develops some vocal chops. It will help that they recently added a new guitarist, Ed Hayes, to allow Max to concentrate on singing. And they claim Ed's better than Jimi Hendrix, so no pressure:) I am looking forward to their forthcoming US tour announcement and will be going to see them if they come anywhere near Cleveland.
     Finally, here's a heads up on some upcoming releases that I'm anxiously awaiting. Peace.

* Martha's Ferry Vineyards- Mass. Grave: They have a song, "Ramon & Sage" that's awesome. Comes out Oct 15th.

* Popstrangers- "Rats In The Palm Trees" 7": comes out Nov. 5th.

* Ghost Wave- Ages: It's out but I haven't found it yet. May have to order it because they're on Flying Nun.

* Connections- Body Language: It's already out, but I'll have to order it. They are from Columbus, Ohio and sound like GbV. They really do, I'm not just saying that because they're from Ohio.

Geddy Lee: My Favorite Headache

     IN THE YEAR 2000...IN THE YEAR 2000...Geddy Lee will record a solo album and it will sound like a really good Rush album. And he did. I guess that's funnier when Andy Richter does it:)

     Under normal circumstances, Geddy Lee would probably never have considered doing a solo album. He had been in Rush for 25 years and his only departure was singing on Bob and Doug McKenzie's hit single "Take Off" (10 bucks is 10 bucks, eh). However, when Rush drummer Neil Peart lost his daughter and wife in 1997, the band took a hiatus which ended up lasting five years. After taking a few years off, he decided to fill the Rush vacuum with his first and only solo album, My Favorite Headache. He was joined by his friend, Ben Mink, on guitars and violins and Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron on drums. Mink had played violins on "Losing It" from Rush's Signals album.
     Rush had been floundering in the grunge/alternative friendly 90's with albums like Counterparts and Test For Echo ("Dog Years" anyone?). The only time I ever went to a midnight release of anything was October 19, 1993 for Counterparts. However, the midnight release was actually for Pearl Jam's VS. album and there were only two of us there for the Rush album. It's kind of funny that Cameron played on My Favorite Headache seven years later (a dog year). Anyhow, when Geddy's solo album came out, I thought it was better than anything the band had done in awhile and wondered if Rush would ever record together again. Thankfully they came back revitalize in 2002 with Vapor Trails.
     The great thing about being Geddy Lee is you are afforded considerable creative freedom. Very few artists would be offered a record deal with virtually no expectations of sales or a tour. This allowed him to explore his own voice and recording techniques. Anyone expecting an album of Geddy showing off on the bass would be in for a surprise. Since he wasn't going to play the album live, he laid down solid bass lines and then layered them with another track of bass chords. The resulting sound was melodic and powerful without being self-indulgent. My Favorite Headache marked the first time since Rush's debut album that Geddy was responsible for lyrics. Some of Neil's lyric writing seemed to have rubbed off, though. Geddy graduated from "Hey baby, it's a quarter to eight, I feel I'm in the mood." to using words like "Nihilistic" and "imbued". In Rush, he had to make Neil's lyrics fit with the music that he and Alex composed. On this album, he could write lyrics designed to work exactly with his music. The results are standout tracks like "My Favorite Headache", "The Present Tense", "Working At Perfect", "Runaway Train" and "Still". If my kids end up liking Rush, I highly recommend they listen to My Favorite Headache. It's not Permanent Waves, but it's really good. Peace.

Heavy Metal

     Maybe it's the cold medicine or sleep deprivation talking, but I find myself feeling nostalgic about heavy metal. I've spent the past week, up all night, watching Metal Mania and Iron Maiden in concert on VH-1 Classic. This got me thinking about my music collection. Back in the 80's, my collection was almost entirely heavy metal or hard rock. Iron Maiden. Judas Priest. Queensryche. Ozzy. Black Sabbath. Dio. Motley Crue. Def Leppard. Ratt. Rush. Triumph. Quiet Riot. Randy Rhoads was my favorite guitarist. I grew my hair long and kicked around the campus of CMU  wearing a Quiet Riot t-shirt and ripped jeans. I was all about it. Then in 1987, I graduated, got married and metal began to suck. The power ballad ruled the airwaves. Tawny Kitaen was rolling around on cars like a human sham wow. Axel Rose was taking douche baggery to new heights. Metallica was beginning to blow. And the decade ended with "Cherry Pie". Damn you Jani Lane!
     Unfortunately, the 80's was the decade of the cassette tape, so most of my metal collection was on that horrible format. The thing with cassettes was the sound quality was terrible and many of mine were "eaten" by my tape player. Then I lost the few cassettes I still had this summer when our basement backed up and flooded. Therefore, I hardly have any metal remaining in my collection. I wasn't particularly concerned about that until this past week. VH-1 Classic reminded me how important that music had been to me when I was a teen. Then I began to wonder what kind of music my son will have to turn to when he's a teenager. The state of metal is abysmal now. The vocalists can't sing, the guitarists can't play a melody line or solo and the drummers just play the kit drum as fast as they can. There is no Ronnie James Dio or Randy Rhoads or Steve Harris anymore. Well, Steve Harris is still around, but you know what I mean:) Anyhow, I've decided to replace the best albums from that era, not only for myself, but for my son.
     I think subconsciously I had already begun this when I bought the reissues of Ozzy's Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman in 2011. Then I replaced a bunch of Sabbath and Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind. When I was at Lucky Records, I had Def Leppard's On Through The Night in my hand, but I put it back. Now I wish I had bought it. So here's a list of heavy metal albums that I want to replace in my collection so I can expose my son to some great rock music. Peace.

* Iron Maiden- Powerslave, Number Of The Beast
* Judas Priest- British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders Of The Faith
* Queensryche- Queensryche, The Warning, Operation Mindcrime, Empire
* Dio- Holy Diver
* Black Sabbath- Mob Rules, Live Evil
* Quiet Riot- Metal Health
* Motley Crue- Shout At The Devil
* Twisted Sister- Stay Hungry
* Triumph- all of them
* RATT- Out Of The Cellar
* Def Leppard- On Through The Night
   

Supergroups

     The "supergroup" is one of the great concepts in the long history of music. Cream, which consisted of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, are generally considered to be the first supergroup. I could argue that they were preceded four years by the jazz trio of Duke Ellington, Mingus and Max Roach. I could further argue that they were preceded by The Million Dollar Quartet of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1956. Anyhow, I'm kind of conflicted about the whole idea of the supergroup. In 1982, I was jazzed when I heard there was a group made up of guys from Yes, ELP and King Crimson. A couple years later Paul Rodgers of Bad Company (also a supergroup) and Jimmy Page joined forces to start The Firm. My excitement for this project died with the release of "Radioactive". Then there was Power Station, which combined Robert Palmer with the Taylors from Duran Duran and Tony Thompson of Chic. That one turned out much better. Anyhow, my conflict with supergroups stems from the fact that they aren't organic. Even though I love the idea of an all-star band like Asia being put together, I still like the idea of a bunch of guys practicing in the garage, playing shows and breaking through to stardom. Band chemistry is an illusive thing and it's hard to artificially manufacture, but if you combine George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Zimmerman the odds go up significantly.
     The supergroup genre is a mixed bag and is sometimes hard to define. I don't like to count one off projects like Them Crooked Vultures as a band, but they technically are a supergroup. Some consider Journey to be a supergroup, but I've never thought of them in that context. They were basically a spin off of Santana that stumbled across an iconic lead singer. And for every Asia or Power Station or Traveling Wilburys there is a Chickenfoot or Damn Yankees or Bad English. Then there are groups that sound good on paper that just don't work in reality, like Dead Weather and Atoms For Peace. So today, I thought I'd run down the best supergroup albums in my collection. Sorry Crosby, Stills and Nash fans.Peace.

Traveling Wilburys- I love that whole period when Harrison, Petty and Lynne were all working on each others projects. Maybe that's why the chemistry is so good on the Traveling Wilburys albums. They are so good, I can put aside my hatred of Zimmerman and my indifference to Roy Orbison. "Handle With Care" and "End Of The Line" are magnificent.

Asia- Hi, my name's Tom and I love prog rock. The great thing about Asia (besides the Roger Dean album covers) is they had prog rock street cred, but their songs were actually just good pop songs. I did stop buying them after Alpha, though.

Bad Company- The first Bad Company album is swaggering guitar rock at it's finest. When I was a kid, I thought the title track was the most bad ass song ever. It still may be. I also loved when the DJ would come on and say "that was Bad Company, by Bad Company from the album Bad Company". Too bad Paul Rodgers had to ruin his legacy with The Firm and trying to be Freddie Mercury.

Tinted Windows- Once again, I don't understand why power pop isn't the most popular musical genre. This is a great album and most people have never heard of it. The rhythm section of Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos and Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger are power pop savants. All I know about Hanson is "MMMBop", but Taylor Hanson more than holds his own on vocals. The surprising element of Tinted Windows is James Iha on guitar. With the exception of the opening track, "Kind Of A Girl", you would never guess this was Iha on guitar. He set aside the bombast of Smashing Pumpkins and fit in beautifully with the rest of the group. Not that there's anything wrong with the Smashing Pumpkins bombast:) If I could make this a dream band, however, I would replace Hanson and Iha with Tommy Keene. that being said, this is probably my favorite supergroup album.

Lucky Records

     I thought I'd give a quick shout out to my friend Dave. I mentioned before that he was opening a record store in Wooster, Ohio called Lucky Records. Friday the 13th was the grand opening and the place was packed all day. I made the 90 minute trek to Wooster to wish him well and pick up some records. He has a great location downtown and an awesome selection of vinyl. I'm sure it will be a great success and a fixture of the community. Here's the rundown of what I picked up at Lucky Records. Peace.

* Neil Young- After The Gold Rush: One of the classic albums that was recorded at Sound City Studios and I love the title track.

* Glen Campbell- Greatest Hits: I didn't appreciate him when I was a kid, but he has an amazing voice. "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston" are brilliant.

* Thin Lizzy- Jailbreak: Thin Lizzy had three good songs and they are all on this album; Jailbreak, The Boys Are Back In Town and Cowboy Song. Most bands wish they had three songs that good.

* Pretenders- Learning To Crawl: I'm not a huge Pretenders fan, but I love this album. My roommate in college used to play it all the time, which is probably why I never bought it before. My favorite song is "Middle Of The Road". The lyrics are great. "Don't harass me, can't you tell. I'm goin' home. I'm tired as hell".

* REO Speedwagon- Hi Infidelity: Another album that I lost sometime during my life. It was probably my favorite album during my high school years. I played the hell out of "Take It On The Run" and I loved "Tough Guys" because it had that Little Rascals / He Man Woman Haters Club part at the beginning. Alright, I liked "Keep On Loving You" too.

* Eddie Money- We Should Be Sleeping 7": I didn't even know there was a 7" of this song and it came with a picture sleeve. Woo Hoo!

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville

     Recently, I received an invitation to my 30th high school reunion. Apparently, my mother turned over my whereabouts to the committee after they were unable to find me on social media. Damn you woman! Here's the deal; I've never attended any of the previous reunions, I have no intention of attending this one and I shan't be attending any future reunions. Now when I say "invitation" I actually mean solicitation packet. They wanted all my contact information, they sent an agenda for the entire reunion weekend and wanted an essay about my favorite high school memories. I know this comes from a good place and I sound like a dick, but the last thing I want to relive is high school. Let me paint a picture of myself in high school. I was in the band, I wore glasses, I was an A student, I couldn't feather my hair like John Travolta, I was 80 pounds wringing wet and I was pathologically shy and afraid to ask out girls. On a good day I was ignored and on a bad day I was bullied. I know that doesn't make me unique, but I really don't want to spend time with these people now that I'm not legally required to do so. And favorite high school memory...I had nothing. I did get a good laugh out of the agenda, however. One of the items was to build a homecoming float for the Class of '83. Nobody wanted to do this 30 years ago, but magically everyone is going to be jazzed about it now. It reminded me of Mark Twain's book, Letters From Earth, when he describes Heaven. The same people who couldn't carry a tune in the church choir when they were alive would somehow miraculously join the choir of angels when they went to Heaven.
     By now, you may be wondering what this has to do with R.E.M.'s song "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville". The simple answer is whenever something reminds me of my hometown I immediately think of this song. That's the beauty of a great song. Mike Mills wasn't thinking about not wanting to return to his hometown when he wrote "Rockville". He didn't want his girlfriend to leave Athens, GA. to go back to Maryland. It's a fairly straight-forward song, especially for early R.E.M. But there's something universal about not wanting to go back and "waste another year". I can bring my own baggage to his song and feel better about my life. It used to annoy me when a songwriter would be asked to explain the meaning of one of his songs and say something like, "I'll leave that up to the listener". Now I actually prefer that answer, except for Robert Pollard. In Jim Greer's band biography of Guided by Voices, he has a whole chapter in which Pollard explains some of his songs and it's great. The best is his story for the title of "My Kind Of Soldier".  Anyhow, for me, "Rockville" is a song about not going back to a place where I didn't fit in. I remember when I'd start "lookin' like a girl", my dad would take me to the barber shop for a haircut. The brown panel walls were covered in antlers, stuffed animal heads, a jack-o-lope and stickers about guns and "cold dead fingers". I had anxiety every time I was taken there. By the end of high school, I started growing my hair out like Robert Plant. To this day, I won't go to a barber shop.
     Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents and there were some great things about growing up in the middle of nowhere. In fact, I feel bad for my kids having to grow up on a suburban postage stamp lot. I just didn't fit in with the God, Guns and Cars culture of rural America. The one good thing about that invitation is that it reminded me that I've managed to make it 30 years without going back to Rockville. Peace.

Hot Hot Heat: Elevator

     Hot Hot Heat...didn't see that comin' did ya. I do have a soft spot for Canadian bands. Now, I'm not autograph guy. I've never even asked anyone for their autograph. I almost asked Will Johnson to sign my Fender Telecaster, but I chickened out. The only autographed item I have is a Hot Hot Heat promo poster from one of their shows. A girl I worked with in Detroit told me she needed a night off to go to a show. I asked who she was going to see and she said Hot Hot Heat. I was a big fan of the song "Bandages" from their first album Make Up The Breakdown and I liked what I'd heard from Elevator, so I was jazzed for her. The next time I worked with her after the show, she came over to me all excited and said she had something for me. She handed me a LP sized show poster from their Elevator tour signed by the whole band. It was awesome. I'm sure the band were excited to sign it for her. Let's just say she was a "healthy" girl who had a piercing in her cleavage. This almost made up for the fact she was bat shit crazy and a complete and utter train wreck at work:) It is one of the nicest things anyone has done for me, though.
     Hot Hot Heat are one of those bands, for me, with one album I love and the rest of their stuff I can't stand. That album is Elevator. As I mentioned, I was a huge fan of the song "Bandages" in 2002. I was such a fan that I bought the CD on the strength of that one song. I couldn't stand the rest of it. In fact, I tried to sell it in a garage sale for a dollar and no one bought it. I decided to keep it for "Bandages". When Elevator came out I wasn't predisposed to go out and buy it...until I heard "Middle Of Nowhere". What a perfect song. So, I took a leap of faith and bought Elevator. It starts out with what sounds like an olde tyme radio show, then they strike hard with two high energy, catchy songs "Running Out Of Time" and "Goodnight Goodnight". Hot Hot Heat could be dismissed as another Franz Ferdinand type of band, but rather than being stiff and aloof they are infectious and goofy. Elevator is a perfect storm of pop hooks, witty lyrics and great melodies. On this album, I feel their sound is more indebted to Elvis Costello and the Attractions and Nick Lowe than Franz Ferdinand and Louis XIV. It's angular, up-tempo and a little spastic. The track that best illustrates this is "Pickin' It Up". It's straight out of the late 70's / early 80's. And it has hand claps! The gem, however, is "Middle Of Nowhere". Oddly, it's the least spastic-y, straight forward song on the CD. It's all about the melody and the vocals. The word "baby' has been used in rock songs a bazilliondy times, but Steve Bays delivers it perfectly in this song. Elevator is killer from start to finish. It's a fantastic collection of songs about laid back Canadian guys dealing with crazy chicks as best as they can. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.
     That being said, I bought their next album, Happiness LTD, and couldn't stand it. Apparently, they put out another album in 2010. It may be amazing, I have no idea, but I'm not going to get it. I'll just stick with Elevator. Peace.

Sugar: Copper Blue

     Bob Mould has been on a pretty good run the past couple years. He wrote an autobiography entitled See A Little Light, with the able assistance of Michael Azerrad. He put out a very solid solo album, Silver Age, with the able assistance of Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy (Great rhythm section for hire. I saw them with Robert Pollard, along with Tommy Keene on guitar). He worked with the Foo Fighters on their most recent studio album and was featured in their documentary, Back And Forth. And Merge Records reissued the entire Sugar catalog in deluxe packaging.
     My first exposure to Bob Mould was the band Sugar. I rushed out to buy Copper Blue on the strength of the singles "If I Can't Change Your Mind" and "Helpless". I bought it on cassette. That was the last cassette I would ever buy, because shortly after that I finally got a CD player. I had actually gone quite a while without listening to it when the reissue came out last year. Twenty years later it still sounded awesome. One track that stood out to me this time around was "Hoover Dam". I don't remember liking it much back in the day, but now I feel it might be one of his strongest songs. Maybe it's because I have more reference points now than I did then. It was a departure from his typical style. It gave me an Andy Partridge-y, XTC-ish vibe. Obviously, I still love "If I Can't Change Your Mind" and "Helpless". There really isn't a bad song on Copper Blue. The reissue includes a live show from 1992, which is fantastic. There is also a B-side, "Needle Hits E", that I can't believe wasn't on a proper album. Also included is the "album", Beaster, which I still don't like much. That said, I enthusiastically recommend this reissue to my kids.
     Now, let me take you on a walk down my rocky road with Bob Mould. He has the distinction of being the only artist I respect and enjoy that I've gotten rid of two of his CD's because I hated them so much. After Copper Blue, I began to work backward through Mould's releases. The library had his solo albums, Workbook and Black Sheets Of Rain, so I checked them out. They were alright, but I never bought them. Then I finally got around to trying Husker Du; the seminal band that inspired Nirvana and the Pixies. I bought Zen Arcade and I couldn't stand it. I eventually gave it away to a friend who wanted it. Then I bought his album Modulate on blind faith for reasons I still don't understand. It was electronic and horrible and I sold it in a garage sale. At this point, a normal person would have washed their hands of Bob Mould. Unfortunately, I'm not normal. I had a weird compulsion that I SHOULD like Bob Mould. I decided to return to Sugar and bought File Under Easy Listening out of a bargain bid. The fact I bought it from a bargain bid should surprise no one since every used CD store has at least five copies of F.U.E.L. in stock at all times. I'm not sure why though, because it's a very good album. When the reissue came out, I decided to give Husker Du another chance and bought Warehouse: Songs And Stories. It was fantastic. Then I looked up Husker Du on You Tube and found an awesome cover they did of The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme, "Love Is All Around". All of a sudden, it didn't bother me anymore that he was involved in WCW rasslin'. Not that there's anything wrong with wrestling; I just don't get guys practicing their special moves on each other and giving each other "shockers". It's probably just me. Peace.
   

The Clean: Vehicle

     In one of my early posts, "Flying Nun: The Label, Not The Show", I openly begged for someone to distribute the Flying Nun catalog. Shortly after that, I was thrilled to read that Captured Tracks would be reissuing Flying Nun albums. Finally I'd be able to get my hands on The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines and Toy Love. Sadly, Captured Tracks' distribution is only slightly better than Flying Nun. I hadn't been able to find any of the reissues in a record store and was resigning myself to the idea that I'd have to order them from the interwebs. Then Mike told me he saw The Clean's Vehicle at Square Records. Yay! So I high-tailed it over there before work yesterday and picked it up. I've been listening to it all morning and it really hits the spot.
     The record comes in a gatefold jacket and includes the live EP, In-A-Live-Situation. Inside the fold, the members of The Clean (David Kilgour, Hamish Kilgour and Robert Scott) penned their individual recollections of the Vehicle Era. In 1989, they had reformed for a tour of Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. The live EP was a results of this tour. It features performances of classic material, but they also played new songs during these shows. They were convinced to go into the studio in 1990 to record these new songs, which resulted in Vehicle. The songs were already worked out, so it only took three days to record. Actually, one to record, one to overdub and one to mix it. Alan Moulder was supposed to produce it, but he didn't get there until the third day and only worked on a couple tracks.
     Usually, I'm the guy who likes a bands early output more than their later albums. In the case of The Clean, Vehicle is actually my favorite period. It's straight-up, tight, guitar pop. That's not to say I don't like their older material. The live EP is fantastic as well. It's very raw and up-tempo. I was thrown off a bit though because Vehicle is played at 33 1/3 and the live EP is 45 rpm. Vehicle features several standout tracks like "I Wait Around", "Bye Bye", "Some One", "Diamond Shine" and "Getting To You". These would all become part of The Clean's classic canon. I already owned The Clean Anthology and seven of these songs were included on it. I may actually force my kids to listen to The Clean now, rather than hoping they'll read this someday and check them out. Gun to my head, The Clean are probably the greatest of the Flying Nun bands. It's hard to top a group with David Kilgour AND Robert Scott of The Bats. Peace.

Is It...Man or Astro-Man?

     When I was compiling my shopping list for Jerry's Records I wrote down surf rock. I love surf guitar, but only have a superficial knowledge of surf bands and albums. Unfortunately, Jerry's had very few surf albums. However, while researching surf albums people kept referencing a band I'd never heard of, Man or Astro-Man. I assumed they were a weird band from the 60's, but it turns out they are a weird band that started in the 90's. I went on You Tube to see what they were about. Man or Astro-Man can best be described as Space-Age Surf rock. They wear jumpsuits and goggles and sample old science fiction movie clips in their songs. It was right in my wheelhouse; music for people who love MST3K. I bought the first album, Is It...Man or Astro-Man, on CD. It features song titles such as, "Invasion of the Dragonmen", "Sadie Hawkins Atom Bomb", "Escape Through the Air Vent" and my favorite "Eric Estrotica". The band credits are as follows:

Star Crunch- guitar, laserguns, Q-tips and rare obligatory vocals
Dr. Delecto & His Invisible Vaportron- bass, sterilized rhythm guitar, malpractice suits and the two step
Coco, The Electronic Monkey Wizard- alternate universe bass, percussion, banana consumption, sound bites of lower primate love, hand-held viewmaster, VCR ignition, bunny control, foreign language count-offs,and yelps of intense pain given to him, sometimes as punishment,
Birdstuff- hi-hat

     I can see where some might find this contrived and obnoxious, but I think it's fun. And the music is a high-speed joyride. I highly recommend this CD to my kids. I also bought MOAM's latest, DEFCON 5,4,3,2,1, on vinyl. The playing is good, but they have done away with the Space-Age kitsch; therefore the fun. The songs are more conventional rock songs and many of them have lyrics and vocals. I understand that they probably don't want to keep doing the same thing for twenty years, but I prefer their first album. I plan on checking out their other releases as soon as I can track them down. From what I could tell from You Tube, their other albums seem to be similar to their first. And the album cover for Destroy All Astro-Men!! is awesome.
     It continues to amaze me how much music I missed out on in the 90's. Not to say I didn't enjoy Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins, but wow. It has been a fun ten years playing catch up though. Peace.

Elvis Presley

     I'm always struck by a couple things when I visit the Elvis exhibit at the Rock Hall. First, his purple Lincoln is exquisite. I would love to spend a day tooling around town in that ride. Second, it's funny that his personal jukebox only has Elvis records in it. In fairness, I don't know if that was his doing or the Rock Hall's. The third thing has to do with people's perceptions about Elvis. There are two commonly accepted phases of Elvis' life; skinny Elvis and "fat" Elvis. I was as guilty as anyone else in this regard. "I love skinny, Jailhouse Rock Elvis, but I hate fat, In The Ghetto, La Vegas Elvis", I'd say. However, part of the exhibit is one of his "fat" Elvis jumpsuits. It's tiny. I would guess that about 90% of adult males roaming the Earth today, stuffing their pie holes with Big Macs and doughnuts, couldn't fit into that outfit. I know I couldn't. The other day, during their pledge drive, a local PBS station aired Elvis' Hawaiian concert. My wife randomly commented, "He wasn't fat". And he wasn't.
     I've mentioned before that my parents were Elvis fans who didn't like The Beatles. Therefore, I grew up watching Elvis movies, especially Blue Hawaii. Back before cable TV and VCR's there were no movie channels or video rentals. So, I would see these movies periodically when a local station ran an Elvis marathon on a Saturday. They always played Blue Hawaii. As a kid, Elvis' movies were fun. I'd fantasize about living in Hawaii and singing to girls. As I grew older, I realized that the movies were just a vehicle for other people to make money off of Elvis. I began to write off Elvis as a sell-out. To this day, I really only like his songs from the 50's, before he was drafted. That stuff is amazing.
     I don't have much Elvis in my collection. I inherited some LP's and 45's, but they aren't in great shape. Even at the record store, the used Elvis is usually pretty jacked up. I think the problem is most people who bought Elvis records back then were teenage girls. So, they drew hearts all over the covers, then their brothers would come along and draw on Elvis' face. And they didn't take very good care of the actual record either. I recently bought a CD box set of his output from the 50's and it's very good. The main reason I bought it was it had the song "Baby I Don't Care", which is one of my favorite Elvis songs, but it's hard to find on any of his albums. I would recommend it to my kids as a good introduction to Elvis. If they are interested in his releases from the 60's and 70's they are on their own. Anyhow, I thought I'd do a list of my favorite Elvis movies. Maybe I'll check at work and see if we sell any of them. It's been awhile. Peace.

1) Jailhouse Rock

2) Blue Hawaii

3) King Creole

4) Wild In The Country

5) Follow That Dream

Pilgrimage To Jerry's Records

     Saturday I took my first trip to Jerry's Records in Pittsburgh. My friends Mike and Dave invited me to go with them and it was a great time. To illustrate the extent of my geekiness, I actually prepared for the pilgrimage by watching store tours and interviews with Jerry on You Tube. I even made a list of records to look for in case I became overwhelmed. Jerry actually picked on us about coming from Cleveland, because there aren't any good record stores in Cleveland. It was great. By the way, Dave is opening a record store in Wooster called Lucky Records, so there will be at least one good one in the greater Cleveland area.
     The cool thing about Jerry is that he will buy any record to keep it from ending up in a dumpster. The sheer volume of records at Jerry's is amazing. He has records stack everywhere, including the restroom. However, once you get the hang of the store layout it's not difficult to find what you're looking for. He must have had a thousand cardboard storage boxes, on shelves, full of 45's. That was probably the most daunting spectacle in the store. I did manage to dig out a few 45's that were on my list (and some that weren't), but I focused on LP's for the most part. All three of us had a pretty good haul. I spent $75 and got 19 records. I can't wait to go to Jerry's again. Here's the breakdown of what I added to my collection. Peace.

* Split Enz- Time and Tide: Got this for my wife, because she loves the Finn Brothers.

* U2- Unforgettable Fire: I only had this on cassette and I lost all my cassettes in our basement flood.

* David Bowie- Diamond Dogs: The only thing from my favorite Bowie period that I didn't have.

* The Kingbees: I've been looking for this forever because I love the song "My Mistake".

* Miles Davis- Water Babies: Great album from the second quintet.

* Adam and the Ants- Kings of the Wild Frontier: "Ant Music", nuff said.

* Bill Evans Trio- Portrait in Jazz: Legendary jazz pianist.

* Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent- Their Finest Years: Guitar innovator's and rockabilly pioneers.

* Yes- Fragile: I'm collecting Roger Dean album covers.

* Yes- Relayer: See above, plus Geddy and Alex always cite this album as an influence.

* Dancing Hoods- Hallelujah Anyway: This is one of Mark Linkous' old bands, before Sparklehorse. I've been looking for Dancing Hoods albums for a few years and this is the first time I've ever seen one in a store. I don't know who was more excited about me getting this album, me or Dave.

* Commander Cody- Hot Rod Lincoln 7": My dad loved this song and he did this crazy dance every time he heard it. And it's a great song.

* Jerry Reed- East Bound and Down 7": Love Smoky and the Bandit and this song. My wife doesn't understand.

* Frida- I Know There's Something Going On 7": Everyone loves this song!

* R.E.M.- E-Bow The Letter 7": I was hoping for "Driver 8", but this is a great song.

* Gem- Sheep 7": Doug Gillard's old band.

* Gem- Suburban Girl 7": See above.

* Beatles- Help/I'm Down 7": For my son's collection.

* Beatles- Got To Get You Into My Life/Helter Skelter 7": For my son's collection. This was the first Beatles record I bought, but it was lost somewhere in the sands of time.

Best Songs By Former Beatles

     When I was trying to come up with ideas for Sound Mind's 100th post one idea had been to list the 100 best songs by former Beatles. Piece of cake. However, when I actually sat down to do it I was hard pressed to compile 60. Had I spent several days listening to all their deep cuts I probably could have found 100, but that would have been too much like work. For some reason, my obsession with the Fab Four has not extended to their post-Beatles music. When I was younger, John Lennon was my favorite Beatle. In college, I had to write an essay about the person who I most admired and I chose John Lennon. As of this writing, I own none of his studio albums. I had Double Fantasy on cassette when it came out, but it was eaten by my tape player (by the way, I lost all my cassettes in our recent basement flood). All I have is the Lennon Legend collection. I don't own any Ringo at all. Technically, all of our George Harrison albums are my wife's, not mine. And most of my McCartney is Wings. The funny thing about Paul is I bought that McCartney Years DVD box set and I had never seen most of those videos or even heard those songs. That's almost unbelievable, because I spent most of the 80's watching MTV. It's also interesting that even though Lennon and McCartney are the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, they are responsible for two of the worst Christmas songs of all-time. At any rate, after going through the exercise of trying to come up with 100 songs I realized that John, Paul, George and especially Ringo have recorded hundreds of songs that I've never heard. I feel like I've been negligent and intend to make amends. It's actually an exciting prospect to really dig into their entire catalogs.
     For my "Best Songs By Former Beatles" list, I decided to go with the Top 20, with a few comments as I go. I have to mention up front that I screwed over George a bit. I didn't include "Got My Mind Set On You" because it's a cover and "Handle With Care" because it ended up being a Traveling Wilbury's song. However, they are great songs.

1) What is Life- I decided to make this #1 because All Things Must Pass is the best post-Beatles album and it's always been one of my favorite songs.

2) Maybe I'm Amazed- Brilliant song that arguably is #1.

3) Working Class Hero- Angry Lennon at his best.

4) All Things Must Pass- This will be played at my funeral.

5) Jealous Guy

6) Jet

7) It Don't Come Easy- Great song and I had to get Ringo in the Top 10.

8) Band On The Run

9) Venus and Mars / Rock Show- "In my green metal suit I'm preparing to shoot up the city". Classic!

10) Junior's Farm- I know it's not a "great" song, but I love it.

11) Photograph- Ringo and George!

12) Blow Away

13) Nobody Told Me- "most peculiar mama, whoa". One of my favorite lines just because it's goofy.

14) When We Was Fab- Great song and video.

15) Instant Karma

16) Take It Away

17) Helen Wheels- Awesome jam and clever word play.

18) Live And Let Die

19) Mrs. Vandebilt

20) Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey- I'm counting this as one song like Venus and Mars / Rock Show. It probably should have been higher on the list, but it's in the Top 20. I love the part where Paul says "Butter Pie". Then Linda incredulously asks "Butter Pie?" Then Paul replies "The butter wouldn't melt, so I put it in the pie." Nothing brilliant, just goofy fun. It's the only time I welcome the involvement of one of their wives in their music. That's the great thing about George and Ringo; they kept their spouses out of their music.

Honorable Mention: Magneto and Titanium Man, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, Silly Love Songs, Too Many People, Young Boy, #9 Dream, Whatever Gets You Through The Night, Watching The Wheels, My Sweet Lord, All Those Years Ago, Beware Of Darkness, Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp, Wah-Wah.

     Obviously, I recommend these songs to my kids and I hope they explore the Beatles' solo albums as well. Peace.

     

The Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas

     In honor of Merge Records reissue of the lo-fi classic All Hail West Texas, I thought I'd do a post on this album and the puzzling lack of The Mountain Goats in my music collection. I had never heard of All Hail West Texas until about a year and a half ago. One day at work, I went back to the receiving room and the guy back there was listening to it. I was there about ten minutes getting some product to take out on the salesfloor and really liked the couple songs I'd heard. They were right in my wheelhouse and I had no idea who it was. So I said, "This is awesome, who is it?" When he told me, I was surprised. I had heard of The Mountain Goats, but I didn't own anything by them. I knew John Darnielle was in The Mountain Goats, because he had written a 33 1/3 book about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality and it said so on the back cover. Anyhow, I immediately went to order All Hail West Texas on the computer at work, but it came up as being out of print. I checked around at several record stores and not only did they not have it, but they had nothing by The Mountain Goats at all. So I guess that's the explanation for why I have no Mountain Goats in my collection, except for this new reissue.
     Since I had struck out in my attempts to buy All Hail West Texas, I decided to resort to You Tube. This is where I found the song "Source Decay". I was instantly struck by the amazing songwriting of John Darnielle. The song seems to be about someone who has repressed a bad memory and his friend who tries to get him to remember through postcard correspondences. The chorus goes, "I remember the train headed south outta Bangkok down...toward...the water". I'm tempted to post all the lyrics, but I'll just post a few of the best lines instead.

* and I park in a alley and I read through the postcards you continue to send, where as indirectly as you can you ask what I remember. I like these torture devices from my old best friend.

* I wish the West Texas highway was a Mobius strip. I could ride it out forever when I feel my heart break.

* I set your postcard on the table with all the others like it. I start sorting through the pile. I check the pictures and the postmarks and the captions and the stamps for signs of any pattern at all.

     The astounding thing about the songs from All Hail West Texas, which I just learned from the liner notes, is if he couldn't finish a song in a day it was scrapped. The subtitle of the album is, fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys. I haven't managed to figure out all the math yet, but there does seem to be a theme that runs through the album. The opening track, "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton", is about two of the seven people, Cyrus and Jeff. They are convinced they will be rock stars with Lear jets, but things fall apart. The most poignant line from this song is "When you punish a person for dreaming his dream don't expect him to thank or forgive you". One of the best songs on the album is "Jenny". She is apparently another of the seven people and she has a motorcycle. The narrator of the song loves riding on the back with his face in her hair. The first time through the chorus he sings "900 cubic centimeters of raw, whining power, no outstanding warrants for my arrest. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, the pirate's life for me". The second time through he sings "900 c.c's of raw, whining power, no outstanding warrants for my arrest. Hi diddle dee dee, goddamn, the pirate's life for me". Awesome! Then there seems to be a run of songs where his relationship with Jenny goes from bad to worse.
     I bought All Hail West Texas two days ago and I've already listened to it at least a dozen times. It's destined for my shortlist of goosebump albums with The Soft Bulletin, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea and Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. I really hope this album speaks to one of my kids. Apparently, this is the only Mountain Goats album that John Darnielle did completely on his own with a Panasonic RX-FT500 tape recorder. The reissue has a few extra tracks from these sessions that weren't on the original tape and they are pretty good as well. He claims there was another tape, but he threw it away. I'm afraid The Mountain Goats have just become my new musical obsession. I will be adding to my collection. Hail Satan! Peace.

2112

     Sound Mind reached a fun milepost today; 2112 pageviews. Loyal readers of this blog are painfully aware of my Rush fandom and 2112 is perceived to be one of their iconic albums. My best friend in high school owned it on 8 track, I own it on vinyl and recently bought the remastered deluxe edition on CD. When I was a teenager, I spent hours in my room with a Rush songbook trying to learn side one of 2112 in it's entirety. I still fart around at playing the "Discovery" section when I break out my guitar. I've seen them play the complete side one of 2112 live. I love 2112. Well, side one anyway.
     A mythology has grown up recently around 2112, which I don't particularly buy. The first part is that they were about to be dumped by Mercury Records and had to record an album with hits. The band even talks about how the label demanded they "sell out", but they stuck to their principles and put out a concept album anyway. Now, Rush was already a popular touring band and had songs on the radio, like "Working Man" and "Fly By Night". I'm pretty sure their recording career wouldn't have come to an end if 2112 had been a disaster. In fact, there were no hits or even songs that received radio play on 2112. Their next big song was "Closer To The Heart" from A Farewell To Kings. The other myth about 2112 is that it's one of Rush's classic albums. Moving Pictures even had to share an installment of Classic Albums with 2112. I'm a huge Rush fan, but side two of 2112 is the worst music they ever made. The only semi-listenable song on side two is about buying weed around the world (Passage To Bangkok).
     I am glad Rush finally got in the Rock Hall. I thought it was cool when Foo Fighters performed 2112 in costume during Rush's induction. I just think 2112's place in their history is blown out of proportion. To me, it's no Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves. Having said all that, Happy 2112th pageview! Peace.

P.S. There won't be one of these for Van Halen's 5150:)
   

Hooked On Hebronix

     Greetings from the post-Apocalyptic hellscape which is Willowick, Ohio. You know it's been a bad week when having hernia surgery was the high point. The procedure went well, I'm just sore and recovering. However, I am writing this post under the influence of Vicodin, so if it's more entertaining than usual that's the reason. Anyhow, here's a quick recap before I get on with official Sound Mind business. First, I didn't go to the Wire show because I had to be at the hospital by 7:00 AM Thursday morning. Hopefully, some of it is on You Tube. Friday / Saturday there was a severe thunderstorm, which woke up my wife and I at 3:00 AM. I looked outside and noticed there was standing water halfway up our driveway and asked my wife if she heard the sump pump running. Since I had just had surgery and couldn't go up and down stairs, she went to check and discovered our basement was flooded. We didn't know it at the time, but almost every basement in Willowick was flooded. My wife was on the phone with Nationwide and Serv-Pro right away and neither of them have done jack shit as of yet. Nationwide "is on your side", except when you have an insurance claim and need their help. And the city is run by ineffectual time servers who couldn't find their own asses with both hands. But I digress. Since I couldn't lift anything, or bend over or climb, it fell on my wife to start cleaning up the disaster. We had to throw out almost everything in our basement, including carpet, furniture, drywall and doors. We lost our hot water heater, furnace, washer and dryer. The whole town looks like a refugee camp with tons of garbage piled up by the streets. Of course, this is when the thin veneer of civilization falls away and people from other towns drive in and proceed to loot the trash heaps. I don't believe in Hell, but I hope there's a special place in Hell for these bottom feeding pieces of crap. Sorry, I didn't mean to use my blog for a diatribe, but apparently I needed to vent.
     I'm not really hooked on Hebronix .It just struck me as a clever title for this post. Once again, it could just be the Vicodin talking. I've mentioned before that Hebronix is the new project of ex-Yuck frontman Daniel Blumberg. I don't know why he felt the need to leave Yuck, rather than record side projects and continue with the band. Hopefully, he doesn't end up like Porcelain Raft standing on a stage playing with a tape loop machine. Anyhow, I love Yuck and was disappointed by this news. Incidentally, Yuck have just released a new song called "Rebirth" from their forthcoming album. It features Max Bloom on vocals and is quite shoegaze-y. It's good, but I hope it's not indicative of how the rest of the album will sound. Damn, I can't stop digressing. The standout track on the new Hebronix album is the title track "Unreal". The song is good and Blumberg embraces his inner-Mascis. The one flaw with this track, as well as the album in general, is it's too noodly and unfocused. Unreal has many great moments, but they are lost in a sea of self-indulgence. The album only has six tracks, but they all run over five minutes with little pay off. In fairness, I've only listened to it a few times, so it's possible that it will grow on me. Also, my judgment is probably clouded by my feelings about Yuck. Bottom line is Unreal needed a good producer to keep it focused. Peace.
   

Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience

     I am not too proud or hipster-y to admit that I love 90's mainstream alternative music, especially Gin Blossoms. In the 90's, I was too busy being a new father and working and trying to keep my first marriage together to have a clue about Neutral Milk Hotel or My Bloody Valentine. I thought I was on the cutting edge of musical taste listening to Better Than Ezra, Goo Goo Dolls, Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins. Now don't get me wrong, I still love those bands...yes even the Goo Goo Dolls. In retrospect, however,  I wish I had spent more time going to shows and investigating new music. It ended up taking a decade before I discovered the music of Jeff Mangum and Kevin Shields.
     All that being said, I love the Gin Blossoms. A few years ago, my wife and I went to see them at Cain Park in Cleveland. Neither of us had seen them before and she was jazzed because Tonic were opening for them. I didn't really care about Tonic, but it did allow the tour to be named The Gin and Tonic Tour. Very clever:) Anyhow, there was a considerable delay for Tonic to begin their set. Eventually it was announced that they had experienced a travel delay and Gin Blossoms would be performing shortly. Apparently, this threw them off their game, because they sounded horrible. The bass was way up front in the mix and you could barely hear the vocals or guitars. I was disappointed, but I understood the situation and tried to enjoy their show. Oddly enough, when Tonic finally arrived and played their set it was flawless. I only knew a couple of their songs, but they were outstanding. Wow...so far this post hasn't been a ringing endorsement of the Gin Blossoms. Let's turn that around and consider New Miserable Experience.
     New Miserable Experience, inexplicably, ruled the radio airwaves in 1993 during the height of the Grunge movement. The album was anchored by the jangly, power pop hits "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You" which were a refreshing change from Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Not only were they great rock songs, but the lyrics were fantastic.

"Tell me do you think it'd be alright if I could just crash here tonight. You can see I'm in shape for driving and anyway I've get no place to go."

"Tomorrow we can drive around this town and let the cops chase us around. The past is gone but something might be found to take it's place."

"Did you love me only in my head?"

"Whispers at the bus stop. I heard about nights out in the school yard. Found out about you."

To me, New Miserable Experience is nearly a perfect album. There's not one bad song on it. I highly recommend it to my kids, as well as, Congratulations I'm Sorry. Released in 1996, it featured the song "Follow You Down". I do not advocate the use of harmonica in rock music (with a few exceptions like The Beatles and Midnight Oil), but "Follow You Down" uses this relic of the folk music scene to great effect. I also have Major Lodge Victory, but have only listened to it once right before we went to their show.
     Just a heads up on the Sound Mind front. I'm having hernia surgery Thursday, so I'll either have lots of time to write posts or I'l feel like crap and not post much. The annoying thing is I was supposed to have it today, so I didn't buy tickets to see Wire at the Beachland tomorrow night. Turns out I could have gone. Maybe I'll try to get in, since it will probably be my only chance to ever see them live. Peace.
   

Sound Mind Rock And Roll Hall of Fame

     I received a Member's email from the Rock Hall today, which included a feature about Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies visiting on July 1st. Awesome, a visit to the Rock Hall from two distinguished, well-deserving past inductees. Oh wait... it turns out they aren't past inductees. You see, when I went to look up what year they were inducted I discovered they weren't. No, really, The Zombies aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How did I not know that? How is that possible? I don't mean to be a jerk, especially after Rush finally got in, but come on.
     A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I would do a post on the Sound Mind Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so today seemed like an appropriate day in light of this Zombies realization. What I'll do is list the artists and groups that are already in the actual Rock Hall, that I agree with, then list and discuss those who I feel should also be inducted. I will use the same criteria that the Rock Hall does in it's nominating process. By the way, I'm going there tomorrow to see Rush on the Inductee Wall. Peace.

The Animals, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, James Brown, Jackson Browne, Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Cream (despite Eric Clapton), CCR, Dave Clark Five, The Doors, Bob Dylan (even though I can't stand his music), Duane Eddy, Ahmet Ertegun, Fleetwood Mac, Alan Freed, Genesis, Berry Gordy Jr., George Harrison, Buddy Holly, Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Elton John, Quincy Jones, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Leiber and Stoller, John Lennon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, George Martin, Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, Van Morrison, Roy Orbison, Parliament-Funkadelic, Les Paul, carl Perkins, Pink Floyd, The Police, Elvis Presley, Prince, Public Enemy, Queen, The Ramones, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Rush, Sam and Dave, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, The Supremes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, U2, Ventures, Gene Vincent, The Who, Stevie Wonder, The Yardbirds, Neil Young and Frank Zappa.

*The Zombies- easily Top 5 British Invasion bands. Time of the Season. She's Not There. Tell Her No.
* Cheap Trick- Personality. Hits. Greatest live album during the live album era. Come On, Come On.
* KISS- Seriously, just put them in already.
* Yes- Greatest band of the Prog era and they had hits in the 80's as well.
* Dick Dale- King of Surf Guitar. Couldn't believe he's not in either.
* Bernie Taupin- He wrote the lyrics to all those amazing 70's Elton John songs. No brainer.
* Larry Williams- He wrote "Bad Boy", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Slow Down".
* Duran Duran- Do I even have to make a case for Simon and the Boys?
* Eddie Money- I know this is controversial, but his catalog is awesome.
* Midnight Oil- One of my favorite bands of all-time.
* The Smiths- I'm not a huge fan, but their legacy and influence is undeniable.
* B-52"s- This should also be a no-brainer.
* Big Star- If you don't know who they are please go listen to them.
* The Cars- Amazing blend of New Wave, Punk, Rock and Pop. You know you love them.
* Crowded House- Neil Finn is a songwriting genius. I'm not just throwing that around, he's a genius.
* Dinosaur Jr.- Top 3 Indie Rock band all-time.
* ELO- Once again, why are they not in?
* The Flaming Lips- Top 2 Indie Rock band all-time.
* Guided by Voices- #1 Indie Rock band all-time.
* The Monkees- They're in my rock hall all day.
* Pixies- Extremely influential, seminal band
* Husker Du- Ditto.
* Wire- Hello...Pink Flag!
* Deep Purple- I go back and forth with them, but Blackmore is amazing.
* Peter Gabriel- His solo career merits individual recognition.

Telekinesis

     Michael Benjamin Lerner, a.k.a. Telekinesis, is fast becoming one of my favorite songwriters. He is another artist I discovered listening to WRUW, especially Ed's show Cream of Broccoli. The first song I remember hearing was "Car Crash" from 2011's 12 Desperate Straight Lines. It's a fantastic piece of up-tempo indie pop and I went out straight away and bought the CD. "Car Crash" was fairly indicative of the rest of the album, which I would characterize as part indie rock and part indie pop. I know that's a narrow musical spectrum, but it is a really good CD. The fact that 12 Desperate Straight Lines is a consistently aggressive indie rock album is a bit surprising considering it was produced by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla. How is it that a band named after a crazy strip club scene from The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film be so God awful boring. Sorry, I digress. Besides "Car Crash", the other standout track from 12DSL is "Please Ask For Help". It's slightly derivative of The Cure, but the lyrics are great. The opening line goes "I'm not gonna let you down, but I'm not gonna help you up".
     Last week, I bought the new Telekinesis CD, Dormarion. It was quite a departure from 12DSL. The first track, "Power Lines" is illustrative of the difference. It begins with  lo-fi guitar strumming, then it explodes into a 70's style blues rock jam. However, underneath that Lerner adds some Grandaddy-esque synthesizers. The third track, "Ghosts and Creatures" comes right out of left field. It almost sounds like a song from Doves' Lost Souls album. It's very ethereal and atmospheric. The next song, "Wires" , sounds like Kasabian. It is also co-written by Nada Surf's Matthew Caws. "Lean On Me" is an exquisite power pop gem with ELO leanings. My favorite part is "We could cross the country in our beat-up truck. Stopping every minute because the thing don't run. But I don't care because we're in love." The song "Symphony" is ironically titled, because it's only Lerner strumming an acoustic guitar with no other accompaniment. "Little Hill" is a straight-up guitar rocker and my favorite song on the album. Great bass! I really love this CD. The only minor quibble I have is when he departs from his core songwriting style it's not always convincing. For instance, "Ghosts and Creatures" sounds like a Doves song, but lacks some of the authenticity and gravitas of a Doves song. That may just be me being territorial regarding Doves. It was produced by Spoon drummer Jim Eno, who also played drums on several tracks. I highly recommend these CD's and I plan on checking out his earlier releases, as well. It's encouraging that there are still good, young songwriters out there making music. Peace.

Red, White Or Blue Songs

     Happy 4th of July! Here's a list of my favorite red, white, or blue songs. Peace.

* Red Barchetta- Rush
* Red- Treblecharger
* Turning On Blue- Tommy Keene
* Blue Rondo a la Turk- Dave Brubeck
* White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane
* Little Red Corvette- Prince
* Blue Suede Shoes- Elvis
* Red Shoes- Elvis Costello
* Red Rain- Peter Gabriel
* Red Skies At Night- The Fixx
* Blue Sky Mine- Midnight Oil
* Blue Collar Man- Styx
* Blue Jean- David Bowie
* White Wedding- Billy Idol
* Behind Blue Eyes- The Who
* Black And White Town- Doves
* Dirty White Boy- Foreigner
* Midnight Blue- Lou Gramm
* Mr. Blue Sky- ELO
* E's Navy Blue- Tobin Sprout
* White Room- Cream
* Blue In Green- Miles Davis
* Stone Blue- Foghat

Overseas

     Will Johnson has forced me into 21st Century music acquisition. His latest project is the slowcore supergroup, Overseas, which also includes David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) and the Kadane brothers (Bedhead and New Year). In order to get this album I had to do two things that are against my music collecting religion. First, I had to order it from the interwebs and wait for it to ship. I have only done this a couple times when it's the only option. When I ordered the album, they sent me a free digital download. I have never downloaded an album, but I wanted the immediate gratification of hearing it so I went for it. I'm one of those crazy people who buys an LP with a download code, but still buys an actual CD as well. Then I give the download code to a friend. The LP isn't here yet, but I have listened to the download a few times and it's pretty good.
     If you're a regular to this blog you know that Will Johnson is one of my favorite songwriters. He splits singing duties on Overseas with David Bazan and plays drums. He is no stranger to drumming as he did it in his first band, Funland, and also in the Monster Of Folk. It's interesting to read reviews of Overseas, because you can tell which member the reviewer was a fan of beforehand. I had never listened to the other principles in this band before, but I like Bazan's contributions. His powerful vocal style is a great contrast to Will Johnson's fragility. The album builds momentum as it plays out and there are no bad songs. I can't wait to get the physical LP and really dig into it.
     Speaking of albums that I can't wait for, there are several coming out soon.

Hebronix (7-9-13)- This is the new project of former Yuck frontman Daniel Blumberg.

Robert Pollard (7-9-13) You may be shocked to read he has two releases, a solo record and a project called Teenage Guitar. I may or may not get the solo album, but I'll probably take a chance on Teenage Guitar. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll end up getting both. I have a problem!

Mountain Goats- All Hail West Texas (7-23-13) I'm stoked that Merge is reissuing this album. It's my favorite Mountain Goats release and I love the song "Source Decay". It should have been on my Top 50 list.

Polyphonic Spree (8-6-13)- I've heard one song from this album and it's good.

Superchunk (8-20-13)- See my post on Superchunk.

Franz Ferdinand (8-27-13)- Actually, my wife is the one excited about this. I did see them once with my oldest daughter. I took her to see Good Charlotte (arghh) and FF was one of the opening acts. This was about 10 years ago.

Julie Ruin (9-3-13)- The Julie Ruin band is actually Kathleen Hanna and friends. One of my favorite WRUW shows is called Stone Cold Bikini, which is a Julie Ruin reference. This will be fun time rock and roll.

     Oh, I almost forgot the other exciting thing about ordering the Overseas album. Will Johnson is also a painter who specializes in baseball prints and in the Overseas online store some of his art was for sale. For the amazing price of $10, I ordered a numbered and signed print of my childhood hero Mark "The Bird" Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers. I was 11 years old during that magical summer in 1976 when he captivated the baseball world. He was one of the great characters of the game. He was tall and skinny with long, curly blond hair and he talked to the baseball. He won 19 games as a rookie, led the league in ERA, started the All-Star Game and beat the Yankees on national TV. Unfortunately, his career was cut short by injuries and he died a few years ago in a tractor accident. I will always remember the summer of "The Bird" fondly. Peace.