The concept and title of this two CD anthology simultaneously sugarcoats and dilutes Carlos Santana’s circuitous career path. Designed and aimed at listeners who (re) discovered the man with his mainstream resurgence in 1999, it will fill that void and still leave those consumers ignorant of why he deserved a chance at commercial redemption.
Rarely, if ever, should a band be compared to the Beatles. However, ever so often a group comes along that is so fab-four influenced, it is unavoidable and these darlings of Australia, Youth Group, fall into this category.
t’s true, and cliché, to call a band like Backyard Tire Fire guitar heroes. And with all the nasty licks and six-string thunder on their newest album, The Places We Lived, it’s difficult to resist from noting this. But this impressive piece of work is more than a heap of broken guitar strings, it’s rather a complete presentation built on solid songs, brief harmony, and homespun musicianship, and it shines.
The Violent Femmes return the favor to Gnarls Barkley (who covered "Gone Daddy Gone" on 2006's St Elsewhere) with this EP containing a cover of "Crazy." The trouble with Gnarls Barkley's offering was that it left the song entirely too intact. It sounds fine, but simply does too little to be truly interesting. "Crazy," on the other hand, gets a much larger injection of the Femmes wildly imperfect version of American roots music.
In a world that is so often style over substance, it's easy to get caught up in something clever only to find that there's no substance under the covers. Having been bit more than a few times, it's also easy to go to the other extreme and forget there are artists out there like Beck and They Might Be Giants and the late (and sadly underknown) Logan Whitehurst…and now, Son of Dave.
With influences that range from moonlight, desert, deep sea, rainbows, melody, naturality, symmetry, outsiders, and….Jim Morrison, Golden Animals evoke groovy. but this isn’t some flower child, “people come together,” rubbish. Golden Animals are young, but certainly not modern day hippies, although they may seem it
Denver, Colorado, which has also recently brought us the lovely and talented Jessica Sonner, is now also ready to unleash another superb singer-songwriter, Dan Craig. Sure, this isn’t Craig’s debut, but it’s bound to be the album that you’ll be talking about for years to come, mostly because of its introspective blend of folk-rock and Craig’s rangy vocals.
The Briggs music is so tightly tied to Oi that it's hard to separate the two. Because the band is from L.A. (and even sings an ode to their hometown on this album), it instantly raises the question of whether their music is true or just posturing.
If you attended any shows during CSNY’s 2006 “Freedom of Speech” tour, or have listened to Neil Young’s Living With War, you’ll already know the emotion attached to the songs that are included on this striking live album.
Rage Against the Machine being on a recording hiatus during an election year…just doesn’t seem right. So enter the next best thing, aside from a Tom Morello solo album: One Day As a Lion. Featuring RATM frontman Zack de la Rocha and former Mars Volta member Jon Theodore, One Day As a Lion kicks stripped-down rap rock with its over the top political fury on this five song self-titled debut EP.
