Vol. 3 Episode 31

The stereo is finally set up. I just need to do some furniture moving and get the speakers set up. I have also sent the record cleaner out for repairs. I am very excited about that too. The vacuum part of the record cleaner went out about a year ago but I have been air drying the records after they have been cleaned. I am very excited about being able to clean a record and try it in one move.

Our, my wife's, Incubus HQ Box set was delivered too. It has six CDs, four double vinyl, a DVD, a blu-ray and a picture book. I am very excited about this box, there is so much music and the box itself is huge.

On with the show,

Foo Fighters – The Colour And The Shape

This is the second album from the Foo Fighters. It was released in 1997 through their won record company, Roswell Records. This is the first album that was released as a group effort. The first album was played written and recorded by Dave Grohl only. There were four singles released from this album.

The first single released from this album is Monkey Wrench. I loved this song. It took punk music in a new direction. Dave had this to say about the song, “it was a song about realizing that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself. It was a riff that turned into another riff that turned into another riff and ended up being a nice little power punk song." In another interview, Grohl stated his pride in the song, "With Monkey Wrench I remember I had the main riff, but I didn't have the little jangly riff that goes over the top of it and I thought it needed something. So I came up with the jangly riff and thought 'Oh my God this is never gonna fly! Everyone's gonna hate it'. But I was really excited the first time I heard it on the radio - it was in the middle of a load of mid-'90s grunge shit and I thought it was so killer."

The second single from the album is called Everlong. This song ground breaking for a punk group. It is a really good song on its own too. The song was written when the band took a 2-week break from recording after the initial sessions. Grohl wrote "Everlong" by himself at his home in Virginia. It is considered to be one of the best songs by the band and is highly acclaimed.

The third single is called My Hero. This is a good song, easy to get along with. It is not my favorite from this album but it is very good. Many fans have speculated that this song was a tribute to Grohl's deceased friend and bandmate, Kurt Cobain. However, in Grohl's own words, the song is, "(his) way of saying that when I was young, I didn't have big rock heroes, I didn't want to grow up and be some big sporting hero. My heroes were ordinary people and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people - people you can rely on.”

The last single from this album is called Walking After You. It is a sweet acoustic song. It is very smooth and slow. I like this song a lot. This song was written and recorded by Grohl on his own in a studio in Washington. This version appears on the album. The band would later re-record the song with all the members for The X-Files soundtrack. Grohl stated, "It's an emotional, sappy song about getting dumped."

The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta

This is the third album from The Police. It was released in 1980. The album was recorded in four weeks between their second and third tours. Members of the band have expressed their disappointment of how the record sounds. Drummer Stewart Copeland said this about the time pressures: "We had bitten off more than we could chew. ...we finished the album at 4 a.m. on the day we were starting our next world tour. We went to bed for a few hours and then traveled down to Belgium for the first gig. It was cutting it very fine." There were two singles released from this album.

The first single released from the album is called Don’tStand So Close To Me. This song has some cool ska sounds on it. I am not a fan of ska music but this flows so well. It concerns a schoolgirl's crush on her young teacher and the teacher's nervousness about the situation. The song is about mixed feelings of lust, fear and guilt that a female student has for a school teacher and vice versa, and inappropriateness leading to confrontation. The music and lyrics of the song were written by the lead singer of The Police, Sting, who had previously worked as an English teacher.

The second single released from this album is called De Do Do Do, De Da DaDa. It is the lamest song title in the world and the chorus is the same but the song was a big hit. Sting has said that the song is about the attraction that people have to simple songs. I was trying to make an intellectual point about how the simple can be so powerful. Why are our favorite songs 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy'? In the song, I tried to address that issue. But everyone said, 'This is bullshit, child's play.' No one listened to the lyrics. Listen to the lyrics. I'm going to remake it again and put more emphasis on what I was talking about.
The album as a whole is very good. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for what the 80s did to music.

Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak

This is the sixth album from Thin Lizzy and their most famous. It was released in 1976. It is a great album with only two singles. Those singles were both smash hits. I remember both songs being played on the radio as a kid and enjoying them a lot. They both had that highschool senior or college kids back home feel. It is for sure a nostalgic feeling for me.

The first single released from this album is called Jailbreak. This is track one on the first side of the LP. The track has the classic riff with the distortion sound that people are trying to recreate still today. This was pulled from Wikipedia, “It is typical of the band's music, with the dual lead guitar harmony and Brian Robertson´s peculiar use of the wah-wah pedal. Phil Lynott's lyrics about a prison break are the typical personification of the "tough guys"”

The second and last single from this album is called TheBoys Are Back In Town. It is the sixth track on the album but the first track on the second side. This is done to start on a high note on each side of the LP. The song has the standard Thin Lizzy two guitar one bass format that works so well for the group. This song is a little slower than Jailbreak but still has a lot of power behind it with the harmonizing guitars and call and response chorus.

The album is made great by these two singles and the group has never topped the success of this album. I do recommend a listen because the music is very good.

Cass McCombs – Dropping The Writ

This is the third album from Cass McCombs. It was released in 2007. The AV Club had this to say about the album, “Wispy singer-songwriter Cass McCombs probably wouldn't consider it a compliment to be compared to Seals & Crofts, but his third LP, Dropping The Writ, does recall the best aspects of the soft-rock '70s—most notably in the way McCombs doesn't overwhelm his delicate story-songs with instrumental frippery. Most of the tracks on Dropping The Writ build off McCombs' light, shimmery strumming and pleasantly airy vocals, to which he adds a few bars of piano here, a few bars of harmony there. The extra sounds are more like grace notes than dominant components of the arrangements—more like watercolors instead of thick oil paintings. The results are by no means earthshaking, but they do provide some gentle vibrations.” I really liked the album and wish that there was more than only one single released from it. It is really hard to get more singles released from artists that don’t have a huge following and I understand this but always want more for good artists.

The single that was released from this album is called That’s That. The song flows over the listener ensnaring them with easy to listen to rhythms that become uneasy to walk away from. It is an exquisite song that makes me want to listen to on repeat, to only listen to this song and no other. His voice is so smooth and the little flourishes on the song make it seem like it is not repeating itself musically. The lyrics on the song fit perfectly as well. This is one of my favorite songs ever.

That is all I have for now...