A Myriad of Mini-Reviews

So, it's time to catch up on music reviews. And I have a lot to review. So digging back into library receipts from last year, I'm going to dish out a feast of reviews, tapas style.
I'll begin by looking down from my chair the small pile of cd's (in cases of course) that have accumulated around my desk (my room is pretty messy right now...).

Album/Artist (year): Comments

Reconstruction of the Fables/R.E.M (1985): This is a solid early REM album. It doesn't have any of the super familiar radio tracks, but it's an enjoyable listen. I've really come to appreciate REM as one of the really important bands of the 80s that influenced the music I like today. Of course they lasted beyond the 80s too, but it is during that era that there music stands out as something especially unique and creative.

Pressure Chief/Cake (2004): Another catchy release from Cake. This one doesn't have the odd menagerie feel of Fashion Nugget (with its bizarre covers and subjects), nor does it quite reach the geek-rock heights of that album, but many of the songs here are right on par. I really liked track 3.

Lost in Space/Aimee Mann (2002): Not just an album with great cover art (the booklet is setup like a cartoon), this was a good album of solid (rather than pretty) female vocal driven well-crafted rock/pop. Aimee Mann writes perfect songs for movies and tv as well- songs from this album, and others show up all over the place. I heard about her first from her cover of the Beatles' "Two of Us" on the excellent I Am Sam soundtrack.

The Best of 1980-1980/U2: U2 is another reason that I've changed my mind about the 80s. I really enjoyed this album because while it contained some of U2s 80s standards (like In the Name of Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday, etc), it also had some songs I hadn't heard before (I haven't listened through the U2 catalog yet). Without U2 from this era, there would never, ever be X&Y. Of course who can blame Coldplay for building on its Brit-rock foundation (they seem to have gone from emulating Radiohead on their early stuff to more recently going through a U2 phase... plus Chris Martin's social activism really reminds one quite a lot of Bono). And speaking of UK bands that have influenced Coldplay...

The Man Who/Travis (1997 I think): When I heard this album, I suddenly understood the Coldplay-Radiohead connection even more. I would suggest that Coldplay was influenced indirectly by Radiohead through Travis. For it was Travis, from my listening and reading, that took that certain "Brit Rock" sound common to all these bands, including Radiohead and mellowed it down and built up that melodic quality that is really strong in Coldplay (and all of its followers) nowadays (and which was only ever slight in Radiohead, even in the early days). For current fans of Coldplay, you'll probably like this album quite a lot. But be sure to give it the respect it deserves, since it really predates Coldplay by a few years, and if Coldplay "Coldplayed" anyone (as Kenny would say), I think it was actually Travis. A brit-rock gem.

Happy Together: The Very Best Of/The Turtles (60s and 70s original releases): This is a collection of songs from the band most known (and only known to most people) for the song "Happy Together." I really enjoyed this though. Rather than being just another 60s pop band writing Beatlesesque songs, the Turtles have a distinct sound of their own. I really like the lead singers voice. Of course some songs are somewhat average 60s fare, but they have a particular polished and mellow sound. And of course Happy Together is just a classic. I recently heard an album with a song that echoed this classic track....

Rockin' the Suburbs/Ben Folds (2001): Ironic, witty piano-rock at its best. One song in particular has melody which echoes that of Happy Together by the Turtles. This is just fun to listen to.

Ok, more to come...