Songs for your Halloween 2010

A handful of Halloween songs for your weekend. The seven best cuts for your Halloween. Give me some candy.

Boo!











Marilyn Manson-This Is Halloween


Misfits-Halloween


Helloween-Halloween


Ministry-Everyday Is Halloween




Alice Cooper-Welcome To My Nightmare


Rob Zombie-Dragula



Here Comes The Mummies-Pants

New Music Review: Belle & Sebastian-Write About Love

Belle & Sebastian-Write About Love
On their eighth studio album, Belle and Sebastian start things off with what has to be one of my favorite songs of the year so far. I love when a song slowly builds with each instrument and vocal coming in at the precise, correct moment, and while "I Didn't See It Coming" may not have the climax of a "Stairway To Heaven", it unwraps itself into one of the most gorgeous odes to a yearning to love despite transcontinental circumstances I've heard in a long time. Sarah Martin's sweet vocals singing "But we don't have the money/Money makes the wheels and the world go round/Forget about it honey" and then lead vocalist Stuart Murdoch crooning in with "Make me dance I want to surrender". The song is an absolute treat for those who love their love songs constructed in such a wonderful manner.

And what else would you expect from a band that acted as shelter from the storm of overblown alternative acts all the way back in 1996 with "If You're Feeling Sinister". They've had peaks and valleys through the years and have got the knack of writing a song like "I Didn't See It Coming" effortlessly. My problem is the rest of the album comes nowhere near the dizzying heights of the opener, nor do some of the songs come close to their last release "The Life Pursuit", which found the band joyfully crafting their sound to white boy soul perfection, an album that stands as my favorite in their catalog. "Write About Love" comes off in some places as Belle & Sebastian on cruise control. And while that's not bad, it just doesn't feel like a full release you're going to be going back to in several years time as you may have on other releases from the band.

Take for instance some of the duets on "Write About Love". They bring in Norah Jones on "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" which sounds like it could be a good marriage, but in the end comes off as a bad, unforgettable 70's soft rock song. Not as bad is the title track with actress Carey Mulligan playfully singing along with Murdoch "I hate my job/I'm working way too much/Everyday I'm stuck in the office". It's Belle & Sebastian by the numbers, an ode to a certain sixties sound that has been long forgotten. It sounds so familiar that it almost doesn't sound original or sadly, necessary. Also guilty of sounding just a little too familiar is guitarist Stevie Jackson's "I'm Not Living In The Real World" which just totally apes mod aged The Who from the guitar line through the woos in between verses and choruses. Sure it sounds alright, but these moments don't equal "Sukie In The Graveyard", "I'm A Cuckoo" or "The Blues Are Still Blue" from their previous couple of releases.

There are a few treats on "Write About Love', I mean, it's impossible to get through this album without finding some good as well. "Come On Sister" shows Murdoch in fine storytelling form, "I Want The World Stop" has a bass line that transforms the song into a slice of pure sixties coolness where go-go dancers could shake their tush to, and the closer "Sunday's Pretty Icons" has a great guitar line and the lyrics leave a comforting wrap up to these love songs with Murdoch singing "Every love you have ever forgot/Every person that you ever despised is forgiven."

In the end the title "Belle & Sebastian Write About Love" almost becomes redundant. Haven't they always written about love? Would it have worked better if they wrote about trucks or cookbook recipes? Eh, download the opener "I Didn't See It Coming" and a couple of the other tunes I liked above if you want the group at it's fine form of what you'd expect. It's not a total disappointment. It's not a band going through the motions either. But that precious sound they've perfected before is completely uneven. Hopefully, it won't be another four to five year wait for another mixed bag release.

Grade: B

JHO Picks:
I Didn't See It Coming
Come On Sister
I Want The World To Stop
Sunday's Pretty Icons

Tuesday's Top Ten: Wind Songs

There's one thing I don't like about going into the month of November. Wind, and they're calling for 50 MPH wind gusts today. Who in their right mind likes wind. And in the flat midwest, it keeps you up at night, makes it difficult to get a proper jog in outside and requires you to put on a jacket. I'm not ready for a jacket. I'm ready for more abnormally warm, serene weather. But so is life and the seasons, there goes the leaves and here comes another winter.

Here are ten songs designated to my least favorite aspect of mother nature. Even more than dreaded freezing drizzle and typhoons.


1. Bob Dylan-Idiot Wind
2. Bob Seger-Against The Wind
3. Elton John-Candle In The Wind
4. Rod Stewart-Mandolin Wind
5. Jimi Hendrix Experience-The Wind Cries Mary
6. Bright Eyes-Four Winds
7. Rage Against The Machine-Wind Below
8. School Of Seven Bells-Windstorm
9. David Bowie-Wild Is The Wind
10. Kansas-Dust In The Wind

The Walkmen Setlist: 10-22-10 Millvale, Pennsylvania, Mr. Small's Theatre

Headed back to my old town of Pittsburgh this past Friday night to catch the Walkmen with openers ARMS and Japandroids at Mr. Small's Theatre. My brother Adzilla said if I got back to town he'd get me a ticket and I said call it a birthday present. And as a pack on Friday night with Trapper, Poundcake, and Adzilla, we headed out to the refurbished church that was made into a theatre. It was like going to the Metropol back in 1995....fifteen years later and older, and PBR was the choice beverage. And unlike shows we used to go to in the nineties, we showed up early for the whole show. Actually half an hour before the first act took the stage (I guess getting old makes you more punctual.)

Brian King of Japandroids

First off, the venue was great. Open with good acoustics. Not like the Metropol used to be in the nineties with weird angles everywhere. ARMS, an indie band from Brooklyn, took the stage first and offered a couple good songs, but nothing too gripping to invite you to check out the rest of the catalog. The energy picked up with the two piece Japandroids. Guitarist Brian King started off by saying his voice was a bit shot and if anyone could help him sing along he'd appreciate it. They then tore into "The Boys Are Leaving Town" as King played his heart out in front of the ever jovial drummer David Prowse as the two worked together through around a ten song set including fan favorites "Wet Hair", (which people were calling for in between songs at the beginning of their set) "Heart Sweats" and they closed with my personal favorite "Young Hearts Spark Fire". The energy they produced was sweaty awesomeness, as it looked like a handful of people left after their set. Very cool set, which Trapper had a good comparison saying it was like catching the White Stripes in their early days.

The Walkmen came out and they sounded very clean, precise, and crisp live (a very opposite effect to what the Japandroids offered before them, which in hindsight made for an odd pairing). They started with "Juveniles" from their latest album "Lisbon" and proceeded to play 6 of their first 7 songs from their latest offering. Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser took up guitar for a beautiful rendition of  "Blue As Your Blood" and they flat out rocked my favorite new song from "Lisbon", "Angela Surf City" with percussionist, Matt Barrick, bringing the energy full tilt with his fantastic and trademark drum skills. Watching band members Paul Maroon, Walter Martin, and Peter Bauer switch instruments throughout the set showed how versatile they were at providing the wall of sound behind Leithauser. They ended the set with another favorite of mine "In The New Year". The encore encore consisted of two from "Bows + Arrows", the creepy Christmas music meeting a hacksaw sound of "Thinking Of A Dream I Had" and crowd favorite "The Rat". The show ended with "New Country" as Leithauser and Maroon (I'm pretty sure on guitar) dueting softly on this great ballad from "You & Me" with Leithauser thanking everyone then lights up. It was a nice touch to end the dizzy array of crooners that came before it and the band's musicianship made for a fine evening of music.

Adzilla was disappointed there was no "Four Provinces" played, maybe next time. So it might not have been 1995, but it was worth the five hour quick trip back to the Burgh for a good Friday evening of some newer bands that have made waves the last few years on the "indie" scene.

Setlist: (Unconfirmed and not completely in order)
1. Juveniles
2. Angela Surf City
3. Woe Is Me
4. On The Water
5. Blue As Your Blood
6. Victory
7. While I Shovel The Snow
8. All The Hands and the Cook *#
9. Louisiana *#
10. We've Been Had *
11. Canadian Girl *
12. Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone *#
13. Look Out The Window *#
14. In The New Year

Encore
1. Thinking Of A Dream I Had
2. The Rat
3. New Country

* Not sure of order
# Unconfirmed

The Strokes-Is This It (JHO Hall Of Fame)

In 2001, there were many avenues you could drive your car down to continue listening to modern rock music. You could take the familiar, boring watered down path of adult alternative rock which began to wear on me like old tires on a car. Post-grunge acts living for a moment or two to shine on modern rock radio. Some stuff was OK, other moments quite good (I'm a sucker for another Stoke...Stroke 9's "Little Black Backpack") but nothing in the scene really flew out to excite you. There was the road mined by acts like Rage against the Machine in the decade before which gave way to nu-metal, an abundance of heavy metal with rapping or some sort of white boy rapping induced in every tune (check Limp Bizkit or Crazy Town). This got old really quick, but some acts are still around today. And there was Creed who kept churning the same horrible song over and over and over. Or you could take the press hype expressway of a New York band who sounded too lazy to get out of bed, but their songs were tightly wound rock pleasures. The Strokes? Um, sure why not.

The first thing that attracted me to the Strokes was the video for "Last Nite". These guys were doing absolutely nothing that was popular at the time, and this video showed a bunch of lads who look liked they came out of a 1979 time machine but were dressed like upper class, silver spoon, Abecrombie and Fitch style rockers. For some, the hate meter goes off. The antics in the video? Lead singer Julian Casablancas throwing the mic down and strutting the stage aimlessly, microphone stands crashing down on the drummer Fab, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. looking like Slash's little half-brother. They just wreaked of a disaster. But what a great freaking tune. Each instrument carefully coming in precisely at the right time and then Casablancas' wail of a Frank Sinatra meets Tom Waits in a really swanky bar. It worked: it was clean sounding rock with a total lazy attitude. And I don't like to judge bands by image, but these guys reminded me of a Ramones or a Smiths, bands the masses, in general, are going to hate but they simply have just enough to have purists love. Putting aside the positive press they were getting, I could've just listened and looked at this video once and automatically said "Show me more, and quickly, before one of them is sent off to jail."

So what did I get? "Is This It". The title says it all. Eleven songs. All simple in nature. It's said only eleven tracks of audio were used on the album. This is the complete definition of "Less Is More". Are the songs good and worthy today? Absolutely. "Someday" is a breezy guitar strewn delight, "Hard To Explain" is a full forced art-rocking driver, "Barely Legal" is the most catchy song about adult consent since "Adult Education" from Hall & Oates, and "When It Started"'s drum rhythm screams "Try to dance to this fool". And to top it off, the closer "Take It Or Leave It" is so exciting that Casablancas can barely contain himself screaming "Take It Or Leave It" over and over again in the chorus. Casablancas' lyrics don't show much depth, but once in a rare occasion...it doesn't matter one iota. "Is This It" is that exception.

So the press said it was the savior of rock 'n roll. That, I'm still scratching my head over. It is fantastic, and it sounds just as good today as it did nine years ago. So why so special? This will still be an album regarded as route marker to the kind of music I really enjoyed for the rest of the decade. I could've gone off with 3 Doors Down. But Why? They've released the same stuff over and over. The Strokes were a dead end to begin with, a one night stand that led to other one night stands and some more meaningful bands as the decade wore on to get more familiar with and meet the folks(White Stripes, The Black Keys, and My Morning Jacket come to the top of my head). Yes their follow up "Room On Fire" was just as good and will be criminally under rated in the grand scheme of things but their last album "First Impressions Of Earth" showed they had boundaries. This I've always known.  I won't get excited about a new Strokes release like I did in 2003.

Opening up "Is This It" for face value is most of the fun. And it's one of the very few times in my life I can pinpoint where my everlasting craving for new music took a good, smart turn. I have the guys who look constantly hungover but yet so Village sheik to thank for that. All I can do is put their debut in my personal hall of fame. They may not have saved rock 'n roll, but they put up one hell of a great detour sign...I've been following it ever since.

Pearl Jam-Vs. (JHO Hall Of Fame)

Pearl Jam hit the stratosphere right off the bat with their debut "Ten". Everyone's uncle knew the band from the exposure the band received in the early nineties grunge movement. And with the haunting video for "Jeremy" from "Ten", it pretty much cemented the band as one of the biggest bands in the world. So what can a band do to avoid a sophomore slump? How can you still tickle the masses feet with good music but still try to stay true to the underground scene you've come from? How about releasing an album chalked full of bone wrenching rock songs that revolve around the "Us vs. Them" mentality which the band was obviously feeling from the pressures at the time. I've always been a sucker for album covers and the image on the cover works perfectly. Pearl Jam was that sheep trying to break out of the barbed wire fence.

In 1993, Pearl Jam DID have something to prove. And "Vs.", their follow up to "Ten", wreaks of a band trying to prove just how important their existence really was. It was one of the most anticipated releases that I can remember from my college days. I still remember Dan the Canadian (who lived in the same dorm as me and played some pretty mean street hockey) had his radio show before me at the college campus and devoted playing the entire album in its entirety, like a week before it was officially releases (I'm not sure how he got the copy, I didn't ask Dan those questions). But I showed up early to listen in with him. And what struck me immediately was just how it was so bone crushing accessible. The production sounded better than the debut and the songs just sweated with energy. I felt they succeeded tremendously in answering the "Do we belong?" question. From the 1-2-3-4-5 against 1 chant in "Animal", you could tell this was the rallying cry of the album.

And how about a strong five songs to start the album. "Go", which was released in the summer prior to "Vs." if I remember correctly, rambles along nicely on Jeff Ament's bass. "Animal" show Eddie Vedder howling along to a song that was a blueprint for success in the grunge movement: solid musicianship with a keen senese on how to get in a great chorus. On "Daughter", Vedder tackles the rebellious home life of a girl who is growing up her own way as Vedder ends the song with "The shades go down..." making you wonder what is going on in her house. With a great acoustic romp, and arena like accessibility, it became the most known song from the album. Then you've got the anti-gun bliss of "Glorified G" and the full glory of "Dissident". It pretty much makes a case for an all star starting five to show what these guys were capable of. It's got to be one of the best starts to an album, ever.

The second half isn't without its treats as songs like the full on frenzy of "Blood" and the call to "drop the leash" on "Leash" showed that they could rock louder than their contemporaries. "Rear View Mirror" wreaks of a prefect day driving song, as driving guitars take you down the interstate. Closer "Indifference" showed a meditative side to the band that would turn up on later releases.

The song that has so much image and character to me has always been "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town". Working on a simple acoustic arrangement, Vedder throws out some of his most memorable lines "I just want to scream hello!, my god it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return" and "Hearts and thoughts they fade...fade away." It's a lighter induced ballad that makes you want to capture the moment every time you sing along and leaves you feeling sad when it finally fades away at the end. You almost forget that it's about a lady who has been stuck in the same small town forever and knows she will never get out.

"Ten" is the debut that got the band the accolades of being the next big thing. And follow ups can be tricky. Some bands would let the ambition lead them the wrong way into something that would throw a band into oblivion and no one would care to remember them for anything but the debut. "Vs." is a triumph for the fact that they played off their ambitions, successfully showed they had something to prove, and put out my favorite collective moment of music for the band. If not for "Vs.", I really don't think that we would be talking as much about the band today and for that reason, it gets its rightful place in the JHO Hall Of Fame albums.

The Rolling Stones-Beggars Banquet (JHO Hall Of Fame)

In 1968, you could call "Beggars Banquet" a return to their roots for the Rolling Stones. After having a string of hit singles and a flop of a psychedelic album with "Their Satanic Majesties Request", they made a career prolonging statement. They went back to their roots and released one of the best blues rock albums of all time. Releasing "Jumping Jack Flash" as a prelude to what was coming next, "Beggars Banquet" stands as my second favorite Stones album of all time. The two well known songs "Sympathy For The Devil" and "Street Fighting Man" were and still sound fresh, and the lesser known songs are all around winners left and right.


A few of the reasons I'm putting it in the JHO Hall Of Fame:
1) Its bookends are perhaps my favorites of all time. "Beggars Banquet" begins with the sinister African like beats of "Sympathy For The Devil". It's a song that is so wicked with it's soulless chants, Keith Richard's shredding guitar bits, Mick Jagger's portrayal of "Lucifer" and the evil in the world "Who killed the Kennedys, after all it was you and me", it stands as one of the Stones most well known songs as well as one of the best songs of all time. The album ends with the southern gospel of "Salt Of The Earth" which includes fine slide guitar work from Richard and some fantastic piano work from session man Nicky Hopkins. Jagger's lyrics gives the song a workingman 's feel: "Let's drink to the hard working people/Let's think of the lowly of birth/Spare a thought for the rag taggy people/Let's drink to the salt of the earth." Anytime an album has a beginning and end as strong as this, it rightfully gets a nomination...

2) ...but just as impressive is the material in between the bookends. No, these aren't the most well known songs from the Stones. It's not a hit parade of songs as on their follow up "Let It Bleed", but rather an album full of looser concepts as Jagger and Richard were clearly going for a more swamp, delta type blues flavor. Take "Parachute Woman" for instance. It's dim and dreary, crawling out of the Mississippi mud with Jagger coyly singing "Parachute woman will you blow me out?" The roots rock works as well on a song centered entirely around Brian Jones' slide guitar (Beggars Banquet was his last full effort with the band) as "No Expectations" has a lazy sort of hungover feeling to it and Jagger pondering "Once I was a rich man/But now I am so poor". And to diversify the songs even more is the country, comic "Dear Doctor" with Jagger incorporating an American hick flavor to some lines, their tackle on Appalachian folk music with "Factory Girl", and just straight up sleazy rock 'n roll on "Stray Cat Blues", a song that was just the beginning of their increasingly sleazy image that would take part over the next several years. The diversification of styles is another reason I adore this album so much.

3) And of course, the lone single "Street Fighting Man." It's a song so steeped in the summer violence that took part in the summer of 1968 that it is a soundtrack to that year. Of course Jagger's vocals are buried in the mix so much that the lyrics still find a way to come out and bite you. "Summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the streets boy." It's a rallying cry, another all time favorite from the Stones.

These reasons give me no choice but to include "Beggars Banquet" in my own personal hall of fame. With a career that is so rich with music, "Beggars Banquet" still sounds like a new chapter for the band, which it was, to a catalog from an ever changing band that kept up with the times all these years and always kept that trademark bad boy image they started with. They are truly one of rock's best bands of all time.

Public Enemy-It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (JHO Hall Of Fame)

There are a few moments in hip-hop that really rival some of the best music ever produced and recorded. In 1988, Public Enemy had one of those moments when they released their sophomore album "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back." While hip-hop had already received mainstream status to the likes of LL Cool J, Run DMC, and the Beastie Boys' "Licensed To Ill", Public Enemy took a different approach to reach the masses. They put together perhaps the best and most diversified album in its genre.

It's revolutionary and the songs still hold together today because of the underlying message of self-empowerment. Not only is it a call for African Americans to realize and understand life and the realizations of that empowerment as a tool, it reached out to white kids in the suburbs with the same kind of eternal message. Stay strong. Be honest to yourself. LL Cool J at the time was rapping about his radio, which isn't a knock, it's just Public Enemy led the pack as using rap and hip-hop as a more purposeful tool. PE was about pushing the boundaries of what could be done with hip-hop. That, to me, is what makes them so essential.

Chuck D. leading things with a militant voice, Flavor Flav being the comedian to give some light flavor to Chuck's direct approach, and Terminator X being the DJ who brings so many influences and samples to the table that it all came together perfectly. Instead of just simply rapping over music, Public Enemy had the smarts to make the whole experience more rich and full. Some may point to "Fear Of Black Planet" or "Apocalypse 91" as their finer moments, but I disagree. This is where there is all killer-no filler.

Just look at the range of different topics and songs on the album. Before they partnered with metal band Anthrax a few years later and pretty much started the rap metal movement, "Bring The Noise", in it's original form, is an upfront and honest call for the rap genre to be taken seriously. Their second single "Don't Believe The Hype" re-works James Brown's "I Got Ants In My Pants" and always sticks in my mind as the first time remembering hear that crazy teapot kettle sound that I immediately associated with the band. "Louder Than A Bomb" is a straight up frenzied moment with samples ranging from Mountain to Kool and The Gang, with the continuing "Louder" call in the chorus working you up into a the frenzy.

Delving even deeper you've got the aggressive attack on television with almost rap metal like music on "She Watches Channel Zero?!". You've got Chuck D's message about the draft and the consequences through the eyes of a black man on "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos". You've got Chuck D and Flavor Flav coming through different speakers as they turn the Beastie Boys biggest hit upside down and on its head with "Party For Your Right To Fight."

The two finest moments, for me, are "Rebel Without A Pause" and "Night Of The Living Baseheads". On "Rebel", Chuck D. gives a spot on performance in a song that has him rightfully proclaiming his spot as the best emcee on the scene, "Attitude-when I'm on fire/Juice on the loose-electric wire". "Baseheads" is just James Brown hyped up on crack, as the theme for the song is about addiction and dependency on crack cocaine, the song hits you over the head with it's vivacious beat that goes along with Chuck D.'s portrait of people degrading themselves to the drug. "Shame on a brother when he dealin'/The same block where my 98 be wheelin'/And everybody know/Another kilo/From a corner from a brother to keep another - Below." You've just got to feel the perfect flow.

So call me old fashioned. Back in the days when sampling anything under the sun was legal, the golden age produced rap music that stood the test of time. What puts "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" at or near the top is that it is lyrically and musically the smartest rap album to ever be created. And that is something that shall never be taken lightly. Hear the drummer get wicked....

R.E.M.-Automatic For The People (JHO Hall Of Fame)

It's JHO Hall Of Fame week, where five albums will get enshrined in their rightful place.

There was something about starting my second year of college (my first sophomore year of two) that always makes me remember R.E.M.'s "Automatic For The People". It was released in autumn of 1992 and after a few years (since between LR Pageant and Document) of enjoying R.E.M.'s music through middle school and high school, it seemed the perfect storm for their most stark, ambitious, and restrained effort yet to be a soundtrack to my early college years. It seemed everyone loved it, owned it, could shanty along with their favorite tunes. But the kicker here is, it's such a dark album, it bucks the trend completely of treating a melancholy release as something solely to reflect on. Rather the rare case with "Automatic" is it's the perfect soundtrack for hanging out with friends or as a solitary meditation on loss and grief. This reason alone may be the reason I cherish it so much.

A lot of fans may point to their eighties material as their high point, but maybe it's something about those leaves falling off the trees right now, and a cold, damp October taking hold that flashes me back to the first time I heard "Drive" on the radio. Michael Stipe calling out "Hey kids rock and roll, nobody tells you where to go, baby" over a simple, folksy guitar line and then a sweeping orchestral arrangement (courtesy Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones). In 1992, it had me feeling that their new album was going to be pretty damned good.

And while I can sing along every line to songs on previous efforts "Green" and "Out Of Time", a lot of "Automatic For The People" has always given me the opposite effect of sing along songs. The songs here are meant to contemplate. They're songs for you to pay attention to every little sad and somber detail. On "Try Not To Breathe" the music may come off as a pleasant jangle pop song but the basis here is clearly about someone choosing to the end their life. The gorgeous, but ever so somber "Sweetness Follows" has a churning organ and some sweet glide guitars by Peter Buck (this album, perhaps, his finest hour) and Stipe interjects with the sad lines right off the bat, "Readying to bury your father and your mother, what did you think when you lost another?" An absolute gem of a song.

The album yielded six singles, all of which are fantastic in their own rights. The Andy Kaufman tribute "Man On The Moon" and the nod to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" both rank in the upper echelon of up-tempo songs in R.E.M.'s catalog. Both are playful, but not "Shiny Happy People" over the top playful. "The Sidewinder.." has a really terrific melody and "Man On The Moon" has such a terrific chorus, you almost forget about the subject matter of Kaufman's death perhaps just being a myth. Other singles included an absolutely gorgeous ode to lost innocence and youth ("Nightswimming"), a song with one of the biggest hearts ever, even though it can be a bit sticky for me sometimes ("Everybody Hurts"), and their final single and song on the album "Find The River", a song so rich and full of hope, that after the eleven melancholy songs that came before feels like a beacon of light to help you follow out of the woods that are "Automatic For The People" and into a new brighter day. ("Find The River" also makes me miss Bill Berry harmonizing with Mike Mills and Stipe the most).

"Star Me Kitten" is the only song, in my opinion, that comes up way short on the album. But when you have every other song coming up roses, each jaggedly rose in a bush (or a band) that is in full bloom, you tend to overlook just one dud.

"Automatic For The People" seems like a perfect October entry into the JHO Hall Of Fame, with all its autumnal feelings pouring from it. I usually stand firm footed in saying this is my favorite R.E.M. album and one of my favorite albums of all time. With "Document" already in the JHO Hall, there is still one more release by these guys that will be getting enshrined sometime soon down the road. For now, I invite you to pull out this old gem with the giant star (an ornament to a restaurant in their hometown of Athens) and just sit back and let autumn take over. It's natural, as is all the elements and themes that make this such a wonderful album.

Howard Jones: Cheese or Genius?

Howard Jones: Cheese or Genius? This was the question posed to me by Trapper via text Wednesday. The best response I had was Cheenius. If people were getting Rick-Rolled a few years back, isn't it time to psyche someone out with a little Howard Jones? Becuase I haven't had an opportunity to really sit down lately and give thought to the maestro of synth-pop in the eighties, here's a post designated to Mr. Jones, and his Cheenius. Just  remember.....no one is to blame.

"New Song"-1983
Howard sounds fresh with his debut single. And it was a pretty big hit back in 1983. Why? Who doesn't like a song with a bit of optimism. Even better yet, the video, with Howard decked in a sweater and pajama pants walking around with a guy portraying the "Mental Chains" he tenderly sings about in the song.



"Things Can Only Get Better"-1985
For the longest time, I knew this was Howard and I could only recognize it as the woh oh oh oh oh oh song. Thanks to recent technologies, I can go to youtube to remind me the name of the song that I hear almost anytime I'm at the Dollar Tree buying household cleaning supplies. His first top ten hit in the U.S.



"No One Is To Blame"-1986
Phil Collins helped out Howard here which may be why my stomach turns anytime I hear this song. But it was Howard's biggest hit.



"You Know I Love You...Don't You?"-1986
Here's where the cheese begins to outweigh the genius. I remember the video quite well and now I remember the song. Like a reject Timbuk 3 song....but done with Howard's masterful keystrokes, it takes on a whole new eighties feeling.



"Everlasting Love"-1989
Felt I should end with the last song I can honestly remember without die hard research. "Everlasting Love" is pleasant. I almost want to give it a hug like an old friend I haven't seen in 21 years and really could care less to see again. And the mummies in the video are just too cute. Really, look at them in the kitchen, enjoying a good meal, going to the theater. They're so happy...and Howard hates them. Why Howard?

Illinois (50 Songs For 50 States)

Well, it would seem a bit silly not to include a song from an album that basically gave a thought provoking, almost Broadway type style of historical facts on the state of Illinois. And even if Sufjan Stevens has abandoned the project like taking a dresser and just staining the top drawer, he did get a terrific album with 2005's "Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the Illinoise". Songs about cities Jacksonville, Decatur, and Chicago...celebrations with "Casimir Pulaski Day"...and famous serial killers from the state, "John Wayne Gacy, JR."

Let's just go with the theme, the introduction to the musical, really, "Come On Feel The Illinoise." It bursts with some awesome arrangements you could see a high school glee club and jazz band getting down to as the audience members scratch their heads in disbelief. So if we ever see a day where this all makes a musical, count me in. And Mr. Stevens has a new album coming out Oct. 12th called "The Age Of Adz". We'll shortly find out what career path he's heading down next (from what I've heard, a lot of synthesizers?!). In the meantime...sit back...enjoy the show...and feel the Illinoise!

New Music Reviews: Best Coast, Deerhunter, The Thermals, No Age, Pete Yorn

The infamous, Doug Moe.

I feel a little backlogged with new music. Time to let out some thoughts on music from the past month or two with a huge swoop. Time for another addition of NUGGETS, a team I once admired in the NBA all because their coach was the man above, Doug Moe. His sense of fashion and mean looking demeanor always made me wonder how Alex English made it through those years in Denver. But here, I try not to ramble on as much with NUGGETS and keep it sort of brief. Let's start the Suarez off with.....

Best Coast-Crazy For You
If you like an album loosely based on an obsessive, lovesick girl who wants what she can't have and gets a little pissed when her ex-boyfriend keeps stealing her pot, I've got the album for you. "Crazy For You"'s sound and vibe may come off as sunny So-cal chillaxing with it's lazy guitars and sunny disposition, but the topics I mentioned above sung by front woman Bethany Consentino, may tend to grind on you after awhile. The two standouts are "Boyfriend" which has some huge charm and "When I'm With You" which seems like a great song song to cuddle up with, but remember these songs have their consequences. On "Boyfriend", Cosentino has some problems with self esteem and obsessiveness as clearly stated in the lines "The other girl is not like me, she's prettier and skinnier, She has a college degree, I got dumb when I was 17, If I could only get her out of the picture" and then she sweetly croons "I wish he was my boyfriend." She sounds happy as can be on "When I'm With You" but ends with the refrain "I hate sleeping alone." And basically the rest of the album follows this suit (Other titles "Our Deal", Goodbye", The End", get the picture?) You all know this girl guys, the one that won't leave you alone and mysteriously will be popping in and out of your life til the day you die. She's lovesick, do you really want to hear a whole album from that girl? The music is pleasant enough, it's not all that terrible, but it can be a difficult listen, even in one 28 minute sitting.

Grade: C+

  Best Coast by Musho 

JHO Picks:
Boyfriend
Our Deal
Summer Mood
When I'm With You

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Deerhunter-Halcyon Digest
What's striking most is how the latest Deerhunter album is easy on the ears, but yet has layers and intricate sounds that are never direct to your ears. Bradford Cox has been dipping back and forth between his solo project Atlas Sound and his band Deerhunter and what I've noticed is that the guy is becoming more assured as a songwriter and composer. Where Cox's earlier releases tried to jar you a bit with a more experimental rock sound, "Halcyon Digest" just unfolds nicely and comfortably. On "Revival", you have sixties pop with a religious twist. On "Basement Scene", I think the Everly Brothers in the 21st century. On "Helicopter", the harpsichord like keys pluck at your head and heart. On "Fountain Stairs" and "Coronado" horns and saxophone take center stage. On "Desire Lines", the guitars open up widely and invite you in as the scale they play on get bigger and wider. Lyrically, Cox sounds like he's opening up more so you can view his soul. Musically, it's wide, varied, and never a one trick pony. Not only does "Halcyon Digest" sound good on first listen, it's a piece of work you want to keep going back to because there is so much to digest. And that is usually the mark of an album you're going to get to know, ask out to the movies, and meet its family in the next several months. A highly recommended listen.

Grade: A-

  Deerhunter - Halycon Digest by kirotnes 

JHO Picks:
Revival
Memory Boy
Helicopter
Fountain Stairs
Coronado
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The Thermals-Personal Life
Moments come and go on the Thermals fifth album "Personal Life" that show these guys still have a knack for catchy punk riffs and genuinely big guitar power chords. Their standouts on "Personal Life" are the ones that use those strengths the best. Like the raucous "I Don't Believe You", the chugging put me in a hip commercial feel of "Your Love Is So Strong", and the closing Pixies-esque rocker "You Changed My Life". But for a group in the past that I largely associated with socially charged punk-pop, "Personal Life" is a huge detour in theme with its songs clearly lending their thoughts on relationships. Which is fine, I just wish it could have rocked out a bit more in places like the songs I mentioned above. But...I guess that's just growing up, and while some of the slower songs, "I'm Gonna Change Your Life" and "A Reflection", slow burn nicely, it's unfortunately just a couple songs short of being a true winner.


Grade: B

  The Thermals - Personal Life by The Drift Record Shop  


JHO Picks:
I'm Gonna Change Your Life
I Don't Believe You
Your Love Is So Strong
You Changed My Life
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No Age-Everything In Between
I was really looking forward to a full album of material from the duo No Age after hearing their "Losing Feeling" EP released in 2009. The EP had hazy, dreamy atmospherics drifting over some terrific lo-fi noise rock...very Sonic Youth meets Ride (or fill in the blank shoegazers) type vibe. And even though there is a lot of praise going on for "Everything In Between", I can't help feeling that this screams transitional album. A lot of that beautiful haze has been stripped away to make their latest effort feel, well just a bit more ordinary than it could be. For instance, Dean Spunt's vocals come off as more lazy than hazy and it's questionable if he can carry at least a little bit of excitement through a whole album. There are a few winners like opening single "Glitter", the powerful screamer "Fever Dreaming", and the one point where the term extraordinary can be used in the love song "Chem Trails" which has actual fireworks or firecrackers going on in the background. "Chem Trails" is the last song on the album and it can't help but make me wish more of the album followed its suit. Really, "Everything In Between" is what the title advertises, which means its not gonna thrill you. It's going to lay on a middle ground until they decide their next career move.


Grade: B-

  No Age - Everything in Between by subpop 


JHO Picks:
Glitter
Fever Dreaming
Shed and Transcend 
Chem Trails
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Pete Yorn-Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn is back with his fifth full studio release (sixth if you count his collaboration with Scarlett Johansson). His self titled album is full of a lot more guitar heavy songs and is produced by Black Francis of the Pixies. This doesn't mean Pete Yorn has eleven songs on tap in the vein of "Bone Machine" or "Debaser", but rather these songs are a lot more crisp and less muddled than what Yorn has released since his fantastic debut "Musicforthemorningafter". Yorn takes a different approach than past efforts on songs like "Precious Stone", "Always" and "Badman" as they focus more on heavy guitar rifts and attitude, while "Rock Crowd" has a chorus and feel that was built for an evening at your local pub. Also great is rendition of Gram Parsons "Wheels", because, well, it's a Gram Parsons song. The only problem on "Pete Yorn" is even though each song reaches for a sort of bad-ass rock album, some of the moments make it feel a bit unfinished and clunky. But I guess you'd expect that if Frank Black was the producer. And "Velcro Shoes", I don't know where to begin with this song. Lyrically, it's pretty embarrassing, but I had to remind myself, Yorn is the guy who actually wrote a whole song based on buying a burrito at a seven eleven. An enjoyable, if not necessary listen. I'll stick with his debut and the kind of under rated "Nightcrawler".


Grade: B-

  Pete Yorn - Precious Stone by VagrantRecords  

  Pete Yorn - Velcro Shoes by IndieRockReviews 

JHO Picks:
Precious Stone
Rock Crowd
Badman
Sans Fear

Tuesday's Top Ten: Lucky Sevens

Seven....Seven.....Seven

A list dedicated to the lucky number 7. Top ten station to station songs including the number.

1. White Stripes-Seven Nation Army
2. Sunny Day Real Estate-Seven
3. Prince-7
4. Wilco-Dash 7
5. Queens Of The Stone Age-3's & 7's
6. Rancid-Seven Years Down
7. The Clash-The Magnificent Seven
8. Echo & The Bunnymen-Seven Seas
9. Dexy's Midnight Runners-Seven Days Too Long
10. Nirvana-D 7

The National Setlist: 10-2-10 Indianapolis, Indiana, Egyptian Room at Old National Centre

For a band that is dead serious in their tone of music, the National "seriously" know how to put on a good show and have a good time. Taking the stage a little after ten thirty (the latest concert start I've ever been too) they played to an enthusiastic house at one of Indianapolis's best music venues, the Egyptian Room. Showing a sense of humor, they joked in between songs several times about how Marry Poppins (the musical) was playing in the Murat Theatre the same night. The usual five piece band was joined by two horn players and a violinist to help accentuate some of the layers of sound you hear on their latest album "High Violet". Highlights of the evening included "Mistaken For Strangers", "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Abel", and "Conversation 16". Also great was when lead singer Matt Berninger disappeared into the crowd on the one side of the stage during "Mr. November". After a few moments there was a mic cord hanging above my head. I reached up to grab it, turned around, and Mr. Berninger was standing right beside me. Patted him on the back, as did aho, and he ran back to the stage to conclude the evening with a nice rendition of "Terrible Love", which wrapped up the evening at 12:30 in the morning, and drinks were had at the Chatham Tap afterward. Fantastic night of music, drinks, and fun, would definitely go back to see these guys again.

Setlist:
1. Runaway
2. Anyone's Ghost
3. Mistaken For Strangers
4. Bloodbuzz Ohio
5. Slow Show
6. Squalor Victoria
7. Afraid Of Everyone
8. All The Wine
9. Conversation 16
10. Apartment Story
11. Sorrow
12. Abel
13. Green Gloves
14. England
15. Fake Empire

Encore:
1. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
2. Secret Meeting
3. Mr. November
4. Terrible Love

Artist Spotlight: The Charlatans U.K.-This Could Be A Myth In The Making

It's an unheralded achievement. Twenty years after their first release "Some Friendly" was released, the Charlatans are still going with a new release on September 14th, "Who We Touch", the band's 11th proper album. On a promotional tour for their new album, co-founder and drummer John Brookes collapsed on stage six songs into their set in Philadelphia. After being rushed to the hospital, it was revealed that he has a brain tumor and will begin extensive "further treatment". According to the Guardian, "his condition is improving and doctors believe there will be no long-term effects on his health." I wish him the best. It's just another chapter in the storybook that is the Charlatans, a band who's tale is written for VH1 Behind The Music but there is no huge success in the states to back up the legacy and hard times these guys have fought. In my book, they are true rock and roll survivors who just keep chugging away as the sole survivors of the Madchester days that swept England and made a buzz in the states.

For starters, they had to put U.K. at the end of their name because the American band, the Charlatans, already had legal rights to the name. They caught the attention of college radio in 1990 with the fantastic organ led "The Only One I Know". A top ten hit in Britain and a modern rock hit in the states, it was the cornerstone to a nice debut album "Some Friendly" which also had standouts such as "Polar Bear", "Opportunity" and the power charged "Sproston Green". The music from the get go was led by the swirling keys of Rob Collins and frontman Tim Burgess' vocal style and looks has always been in the vein of Mick Jagger. Rounded out by Brookes, bassist Martin Blunt, and guitarist Mark Collins, the Charlatans began a long and winding road through the nineties.

Their sophomore effort "Between the 10th and 11th" wasn't as strong as their debut but kept them around thanks to the wonderful funk-organ workout of "Weirdo". Around this time, Rob Collins was charged with armed robbery. He ended up serving four months prison time because he was waiting outside in the car when the robbery was committed by a friend. Blunt was also dealing with severe depression. With cards being stacked up against them, the Charlatans soldiered on.

In 1994, they released the laid back, pot influenced "Up To Our Hips". Although the album received mixed receptions, I've always found it to be a perfect late, late night bulldozer with the Stones influenced "Can't Get Out Of Bed" (A song that was a perfect closer for my college radio program and perhaps a song that describes my lazy sleeping habits from years ago), the lovely "Autograph", and the rave up of "Jesus Hairdo". Riding the waves of the popular Brit-pop movement, the band released their self titled album in 1995. Considered a comeback, it showcased Mark Collins fantastic guitar licks and showed Rob Collins in top form on keys with songs "Just Lookin'", Crashin' In" and "Just When You're Thinking Things Over" bordering extraordinary status.

While recording their fifth album, the unthinkable happened as Rob Collins died in car accident. Shocked by his tragic death, the band forged on and completed "Tellin' Stories" released in 1997. Considered by some and myself to be their strongest album, it showed the band's resilience in a time of devastation. Highlights included the rollicking "North Country Boy", "One To Another" and the show stopping haziness of "Tellin' Stories". I remember driving seventy miles to Lansing  a few times to pick up my future wife after she worked a long overnight shift, and every song on that album became a soundtrack to I-96 and the brutal Michigan cold in the winter of 98. Being impressed with this release, this is probably the point where I personally went back and dug deeper into some older material and found all the great material listed above with a little help from their excellent best of collection "Melting Pot".

In 1999, with Primal Scream keyboardist filling Collins keyboard duties, they relased the highly Dylan influenced "Us And Us Only". It began a new era and was an album filled with several strong tracks, my favorite being "My Beautiful Friend", a song that shows Burgess at his strongest. You can feel the naked and raw emotions glimmering out when he states "Did you ever get the feeling we're supposed to carry on?"

The turn of the century saw the guys visiting their inner soul and dance beats with 2001's "Wonderland". It's  the moment I started to drift away from the band. I still enjoy "Love Is The Key" and the very lovely "A Man Needs To Be Told", I just had troubles enjoying Burgess sing in a mainly falsetto tone, and like many a friend we make in life, I kind of parted ways checking up on the band to see what they're up to now and again.

To this point, they've had four more releases since. I always listen to the singles at least to see if they can capture some of that "Tellin' Stories" magic that I caught onto in the late nineties. Occasionally they click as on "Try Again Today" from 2004's "Up At The Lake" and "Blackened Blue Eyes" from 2006's "Simpatico" and their single from this past summer "Love Is Ending" shows them rocking out a bit, a testament to a band who has been at it for so long.

To sum up the Charlatans, they have been a very successful band in the U.K. Seven albums have been top ten hit, two of them "The Charlatans" and "Tellin' Stories", have hit #1. Here in the states, they've been an ever long cult act, with "Some Friendly" being their biggest success. Their career comes across like the Rolling Stones, without international success, because of the way they've seized the moment, always playing to what is popular at the time without ever aping it and adjusting to the ever fickle music scenes. Their story of survival is amazing. Here's to hoping Brookes has a full recovery and the band has another ten years in them. They are one of rock's few underdogs that have seen, played, and lived through it all. Their song title "Forever" from "Us and Us Only" sizes up the band in a nutshell. As long as they can do it, the Charlatans will keep on "Crashin' In", and Burgess will always do it with that wonderful smile that lights up any stage.

Essential:
Tellin' Stories
Melting Pot (Compilation)

Recommended:
Some Friendly
Up To Our Hips
Us And Us Only

Personal Best Of:
1. Indian Rope
2. The Only One I Know
3. Sproston Green
4. Weirdo
5. Can't Get Out Of Bed
6. Come In Number 21
7. Jesus Hairdo
8. Just When You're Thinking Things Over
9. Crashin' In
10. Just Lookin'
11. North Country Boy
12. One To Another
13. How High
14. Tellin' Stories
15. My Beautiful Friend
16. A House Is Not A Home
17. Love Is The Key
18. A Man Needs To Be Told
19. Try Again Today
20. Blackened Blue Eyes
21. Forever