CD reviews and other thoughts

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Mia gets upset! 

You don't want to see her upset, do you? I didn't think so. My sister can't even find the time to read our blog about Mia, which makes her daughter upset! See?

My poor niece! 

So check it out. I promise I'll be better about posting, if you can deal with tales of seizures and struggles to sit up!

I just bought The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists by Gideon Defoe. I haven't started reading it yet, but I know you must buy it. Here's the first page:

'The best part about being a pirate,' said the pirate with gout, 'is the looting.'

'That's rubbish!' said the albino pirate. 'It's the doubloons. Doubloons are easily the best bit about pirating.'

The rest of the pirates, sunning themselves on the deck of the pirate boat, soon joined in. It had been several weeks since the Pirates' Adventure with Cowboys, and they had a lot of time on their hands.

'It's the pirate grog!'

'Marooning! That's what I like best!'

'Cutlasses!'

'The Spanish Main!'

'The ship's biscuits!'

One of the pirates pulled a special face to show exactly what he thought of the last comment, and soon all the pirates were fighting. With a sound like a bat hitting a watermelon, pirate fist connected with pirate jaw and a gold tooth bounced across the deck. The pirate with gout found himself run through in a grisly manner, and one of the cabin boys accidentally got a shiny pirate hook in the side of the head. It would probably have gone on for hours in this fashion, but both of the heavy wooden doors that led to the downstairs of the boat crashed open, and out onto the deck strode the Pirate Captain himself.

The Pirate Captain restores order, soon calls them "scurvy knaves" (you knew he had to), and we're off. Holy crap. I can't wait to read this.

Okay, so now that we're off on the next batch of Mixed CDs, I thought I should finish up reviewing the ones from the last batch. I will try to be quick, because there are still a few. Yes, I suck. I'll be more concise next time.

Shane Bailey's CD starts off well but ends weakly. It's not that the songs are bad, it's the mix. He has Death Cab For Cutie start off with The New Year, and follows with a bunch of good tunes: Stay Don't Go by Spoon, The Body Says No by The New Pornographers, Get Over It by OK Go (I really like this tune), In Like The Rose by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Smash It Up by International Noise Conspiracy (another fun song). He throws on Funny Little Feeling by Rock and Roll Soldiers, another jump up and down song (makes it difficult to drive that way, but what the hell), and a lilting, rollicking song Another Round by the poorly-named Enter The Haggis. Then he hits a snag. The problem with the rest of the disc is not the quality of music - Whiskeytown's Jacksonville Skyline and Jet's Move On are the highlights - but the fact that they're all very slow. It drags us down. I wish they were interspersed among the boppier tunes. I could remix it, I guess, but I'm not gonna. Cake end the disc with End Of The Movie. Krys hates Cake, but this song and the one on Roxy's disc and good songs. Could Krys be (gasp!) wrong?

Moving on, we come to the man himself Chris "Lefty" Brown himself. Chris and his wife appear to be "classic rock" aficionados - not that there's anything wrong with that. I feel like I'm back in the '70s when I listen to their discs (and yes, I know most of the songs probably aren't from the 1970s - I learned my lesson when I looked at Johnny Bacardi's disc - but it's the feeling of them, man!). He starts off with a great song, Cupido by Los Super Seven (he also ends the disc with this band, but it's not as good a song). He has Pressure Drop by Toots and the Maytals, a fun reggae tune that I first heard the Clash do, Letterbomb by Green Day, a band I don't like but doesn't annoy me in small doses, and a nice Faces songs, Bad 'N' Ruin. The blues song, I Fell In Love by Susan Tedeschi, is good, although it reminds me of Joan Osborne (or maybe it's older than she is, so it's vice versa). The Trooper by Iron Maiden is a normal Iron Maiden song - nothing great, but nothing bad either. Dancing Queen is an ABBA song for people who don't like ABBA, and as you know, I love ABBA, so it doesn't really do anything for me. It's still a good song, but overplayed. Then we get the really classic portion of the disc, with Springsteen (Jesus Was An Only Son), that Beatles combo (While My Guitar Gently Weeps, stripped down), Jerry Garcia (Sugaree) and the Allman Brothers (Blue Sky). Good stuff, but nothing that makes me go "Holy crap!" The kind of thing I can put in the CD player and let it play.

His wife, Kelly, also has that vibe going on. She and her husband like Gov't Mule, apparently, and her selection, Wandering Child, is better than Chris's (Little Toy Brain). It's live, unfortunately, since I tend to like recorded stuff better than live stuff (which comes up again on this disc and others), but that's just me. Soul Singing by the Black Crowes is a good song, as is Heavy Things by Phish (I'm shocked I like this), and then we get the Eagles telling us about their Peaceful, Easy Feeling and Gregg Allman explaining that he has a Rendezvous With The Blues. I'm a little puzzled why she didn't include the ending of I've Seen All Good People by Yes (whatever that ending is called - Your Move?), but it's a fine song. Johnny Cash chimes in with (Ghost) Riders In The Sky, which is a great song. Those Beatles show up again, with LSD, and Luther Vandross is there with Power Of Love/Love Power (why?), which is a pretty nice song. The only song that doesn't work for me is Steal My Sunshine by Len, because it's just ... lame. Tell Her About It by Mr. Joel is inoffensive enough, and the Allman Brothers take us home with Soulshine, which is a nice song, but again, it's live. Sigh. Another fine group of tunes.

Scott shows up with songs for the cynical and sinful. I may be both, but I'm certainly one! Pat Green starts off with Wave On Wave, a buoyant song (bwah-ha-ha!). Kasey Chambers' The Captain is a nice song, but I'm a little disturbed by the lyrics. Kasey seems to have a self-esteem problem. Eurotrash Girl by Cracker is a fun song, but it's 8 minutes long. Yeah, I know I put a 12-minute song on mine, but still ... okay, I have no leg to stand on. It's too long! Warren Zevon does his Warren Zevon thing with Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, which I really like (he references the Congolese, for crying out loud!). Speed by Montgomery Gentry is a country song I don't mind, because it's not surrounded by dozens of other country songs. The Boxer by Carbon Leaf is a good song, Manfred Mann's The Mighty Quinn is just kind of there (I have never understood it - am I stupid?), and I really like Heather Nova's Virus Of The Mind. Alison Krause is really excellent, and When You Say Nothing At All is a very excellent song. He winds up the disc with Jack Ingram's Barbie Doll, a neat sing-along kind of song and Fight Test by The Flaming Lips, which is a good way to wrap. A strong disc.

Next we have Thom Wade and his beautiful-looking disc - we put a lot of work into it! It's got tons o' tunes on it, and they're all pretty decent, so I'll just look at the highlights. There She Goes, My Beautiful World by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a great song. Along with the song on Ken Lowery's mix, I must go get me some Nick Cave. Cush's Arching Heart is a fine song, and I really dug Hey Man (Now We're Really Living) by the Eels. We have another Green Day song, Give Me Novacaine, which is a nice, quiet tune. The Killers follow with All These Things That I've Done, which is a good, rocking song. Toward the end we get Black Betty by Spiderbait, which is fabulous. I could play that song over and over.

As we get into the home stretch, Logan Polk's disc rears its ugly head. I feel bad about not reviewing this earlier, because I really like it and I told Logan I liked it a while ago, and he's probably thinking I forgot about him. He has the ridiculously dysfunctional Beach Boys song, Sloop John B (how depressing is that song?), and Valley Of The Dolls by John Oszajca, which I love. Jesus Walks by Kanye West is an awesome tune, although I wonder how controversial it really is rapping about Jesus in George Bush's America (as Kanye seems to think it is). Would? by Alice In Chains does not work in an unplugged setting, like it's presented here. It gains its power from alternating between the quiet and loud parts, and when it's all acoustic, you lose that. I loved Deliverance by Bubba Sparxxx - does that make me a bad person? Willie Nelson's Last Stand is a great song, but it seems like it's too slick - it needs to be rawer. Breakdown by Guns 'N' Roses is one G'N'R song I like (I don't like many), and it has those great snotty lyrics, "Now the damage done, and we're back out on the run, funny how everything was roses when we held onto the guns." Tell 'em, Axl! This is a good, solid disc of good, solid music. Except for Robert Downey, Jr. What were you thinking, Logan?

Finally, Ms. Roxy. I love her mix. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes with Don't Leave Me This Way to start off? I'm there. Liam Lynch's United States Of Whatever is awesome. AWESOME! Cake's Sheep Go To Heaven is another cool tune, and Liz Phair's Polyester Bride is very good, even though I've never been into Phair. It's always good to hear the Misfits (Patient Boy). Who doesn't like the Misfits? The Sneaker Pimps Six Underground is a cool little smooth tune (okay, it sounds like Massive Attack, but that's not a bad thing - unless Massive Attack sounds like it), and there's another Carbon Leaf song, On Any Given Day, which I like a lot. Roxy loses points with a Morrissey song, Suedehead, because I can't stand Morrissey, but that's okay. I still really like this disc.

Phew. I know I lost you all a while ago, but I still soldiered on! This is trés fun, and I look forward to listening to the ones I will be getting for the next round (I already have listened to a few, and I'm digging them). Go read about my daughter!