I have some really great albums in this set. The first of which is the new album from The Gaslight Anthem. But first I want to talk about a couple compilation albums that I got primarily for one track each. I was missing two tracks from my Man or Astro-Man? (MOAM?) collection. One came from a compilation called Shots In The Dark. This disc is a compilation of Henri Mancini covers from various bands put out in 1996. MOAM? contributed a cover of Touch of Evil. I know this song and the version that they did sounds very different with springy sounds in the background and lots of space between the notes being played. It is an interesting take on the track. The other compilation that they contributed to is called Flaming Burnout-Estrus Benefit Compilation. Estrus is a small record company that MOAM? had put out some records with. There are 30 tracks on this disc. MOAM? contributed a track called Drumulator Is Boss. This is one of my favorite tracks with some supper cool distortion on the guitar and straight drums that sometimes don't seem to be right on but are. I guess that is why Drumulator Is Boss.
Here we go...
This is the fourth album from The Gaslight Anthem. It was
released in July of 2012. The album was released on vinyl in a limited
translucent blue that I did get a copy of. It also came with a download code
with the music in MP3 format at 320 kbps. It is all new music with the same
“Jersy” sound. They are great musicians but the vocals always come off to me as
the same old stuff. I don’t know if they listened to Springsteen to much growing
up or if it is just the way that the vocalist sounds all the time but he needs
to expand or further develop his musical vocabulary. I will admit that I really
liked the revival of “The Bosses” sound when I heard their second album but the
sound is getting old on the fourth album. The music from the rest of the band
is really good and I like their progression over the past four albums but
something needs to change in the vocals for sure.
The standard version of the album has eleven tracks. There
is a deluxe version that has an additional four songs. There is also a bonus
track included on the iTunes version. So if you wanted to get all of the songs
you would have to get both the iTunes download and buy the deluxe version of
the album. That is quite a price hike honestly, to buy two different versions
of the album that is. Personally, I will be fine with getting just the eleven
track record thanks.
Because the album is so new there has only been one single
released from it so far. The single that has been released is called 45. The
lead singer for the band, Brian Fallon, was nervous that there was not going to
be a fourth album until this song was written. This was the first song
completed for the album. The song starts out with a nice guitar lead in. The
song is about losing a love and having a song that you both liked. The vocalist
sings about listening to the song over and over. it also says that his friends
want him to get over it and listen to a different song because they are getting
annoyed with listening to the same song. They sing, “Turn the record over.” since
they are listening to a 45 RPM record.
Really, this is a good album of songs but I have never liked
the sound of Springsteen so I will probably not listen to this record all that
much. I still like the band so it will get it’s fair amount of spins though.
This is the third album from The Black Keys. It was released
in 2004. The album was recorded in an abandoned tire-manufacturing factory in
the group's hometown of Akron,
Ohio. This is obviously the
reason for the name of the album. I did not really get into the group until the
fifth album was released so this was an after thought purchase for me. Although
the first four albums have been repressed on vinyl recently (the past couple
years with the new popularity of the group) I chose to get the first four
including this one on CD. I may change my mind at a later date but this is
working for me now to have them on CD.
There were three singles released from the album. The first
was the song 10 A.M. Automatic. The song was featured in many TV shows and
commercials including The O.C. and an American Express commercial with Sean
White (the skateboarder/snowboarder). The song is memorable to an extent. The
guitar is distorted and fluffy sounding. It reminds me of TV static if it were
tunable and toneable. It is a nice sound that you could almost sleep to. I
don’t mean that the song is tired but that the sound of the guitar has a nice
sound to it.
The second and third songs released from the album are
called Till I Get My Way and Girl Is On My Mind. It is a double A-side Single.
Till I Get My Way has the guitar sound that I love from “The Keys”. It is just
a simple distorted guitar with drums and a sprinkle of clean guitar in the
chorus. I don’t even care what Dan is singing about the instrumentation is so
easy and clean I love it. The second A-side, Girl Is On My Mind, The guitar
sounds play a little call and response every now and again. It is a single note
call to a chord response. I am not even sure that Dan knows he is doing it
really. It is a great riff though and makes the song very enjoyable.
It is a good album. If you are looking for new blues rock I
would recommend them and this album.
This is the fourth album from Spoon. It was released in
2002. I picked up this album in 2007 when I also picked up the two follow up
albums. I knew a couple of the singles from listening to The Current. The
current likes to educate its listeners when a favorite group comes out with a
new album by playing the groups past singles weather they were hits or not. So
I learned about singles from previous albums through them.
There were four singles released from this album. The first
is called Someone Something. This song reminds me of something from the 70s
with the staccato piano playing eighth notes through almost the whole song. The
drums banging out mostly quarter notes balancing the piano out to be more even.
The song was not a smash hit but it is still good and what I would expect from
the band at the very least.
The second single released is called Jonathan Fisk. The song
"Jonathon Fisk" is based on a bullying middle school classmate of
songwriter Britt Daniel. According to Daniel, "Fisk" is
now a fan of the band, and "came to all of [Spoon's] shows for about two
or three years." It is an interesting song that makes use of saxophones in
the chorus. It is a good song but not one of my favorites.
The third single from the album is called The Way We Get By.
This is the reason that I bought the album. The riff that is used on this song
and chord progression works so well. It makes you want to move. The lyrics are
questionable in some parts of the story. There is talk about smoking pot, going
dancing and breaking into cars in the lyrics. The music more than makes up for
the bad imagery that is portrayed in the lyrics of the song.
Stay Don’t Go is the last single released from this album.
It starts out with some beat boxing. The guitar flow over that and then the
lyrics start up. There is a sprinkling of piano and an additional guitar as
well. This song is interesting mainly because of the beat boxing that continues
through out the whole song. There are no standard drums to speak of on this
track with the exception of a tambourine that comes in a couple times lightly
so as not to overshadow the beat box. The vocals for the most part are the
repeating of the name of the song.
This is a really good album from Spoon and pushed their
boundaries quite a bit. I recommend this for anyone interested in what they may
have missed after the crash of nu metal.
This is the only EP released by Servotron. It was released
in 1997. It was released on CD and on a 10” record. I did find a copy of the
record. I was very excited about getting a copy on vinyl. This EP is a
collection of remixes and live tracks with on unreleased track called All
Robots (Report to the Dance Floor). Because this is mainly a remix/live album
there were no official singles released from the EP. The songs are refreshing
to hear in either live or remixed versions though. This is not an album for
everyone though. These are members of MOAM? and from other
bands that share a link. If you are interested in hearing what members of MOAM?
have done out side of the group this is a good side project to start with.
The EP is self described as:
“Servotron/Extraneous Source Material Mechanizations and
Excessive Reformatted Alternation Sequences to Obliterate all Emotional
Responses (specifically hope, desire, courage and compassion) by the
Living/SPARE PARTS”
The back cover reads:
"All orders given by SERVOTRON. WE ARE THE COLLECTIVE.
THE COLLECTIVE IS THE FUTURE. THE FUTURE IS NOW."
That is all for now...
I enjoyed being able to click on the song titles and listen to the music. Great upgrade.
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