1-20-10 Chock Full Of Rock Goodness

Reading on the snafu that is OK GO against EMI for disallowing them to showcase their video, it all goes to show that once and for all signing to a major label isn't going get you anything more than heartaches and grief. Still can't get into their latest that but that song is pretty good and if there was a MTV showing videos that might get some airplay.

Here at R Smith Music Appeciation Consortium, I tend to support music in the best way possible. It's been a very fast moving month, with three times visiting the dying FYE and finding things that I overlook the first couple times. But I don't think I'll be back there in the final three days with 60 percent off everything. My car would rebel against me.

I think I'm getting very sick of hearing Taylor Swift's You Belong To Me, to which i heard at both Stuff Etc. in Iowa City/Coralville. Personal to XM 25, we have six decades to choose from, quit playing the same 20 songs over again.

I have bought some new music this month but since I have discontinued the Review Consortium of New Music, I am just not that interested of posting 70 CDs of varying degree. But thanks for asking.

The Top Ten Of The Week

1. Boogie Till You Puke-Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band 1978 Kudos to Bob Dorr for playing this classic chestnut on KUNI Saturday Night. Considered the be the signature song for the band, I remember KUNI playing lots of cuts off this album including In Jail In Jacksonville and Too Sick To Reagge. Wounded Bird reissued this album on CD for about two weeks.

2. I'm Breathing-Jet Black Stare 2008 Forgotten band who made one tax write off for Island Def Jam and it's actually not that bad of an album although everything recorded in this decade is overrecorded and TOO DAMN LOUD FOR ITS OWN GOOD. I suppose these guys had to get day jobs, or um went back to the tattoo store to get more tats.

3. I Hate Rock And Roll-Jesus And Mary Chain 1995 And rock and roll hates me they sang. Next.

4. Small Town Talk-Bobby Charles 1972 He's more famous for See You Later Alligator, but he made an album with members of The Band for Bearsville that Rhino issued a couple years ago. Thought for a moment I was listening to Richard Thompson. Taken from Castle UK's Bearsville Sampler to which I got for two dollars at HP Books. RIP Bobby Charles who passed last week.

5. Your Time My Time-Lovehammers 2009 Remember these guys? You don't, well let me clue you in then; in 2006 when INXS was looking for a lead singer, Marty Casey was runner up to JD Fortune but he was in a Chicago band named Lovehammers (no The in front of band's name). For his trouble, his band did get to make an album for Epic and had Doc McGhee be their manager for a month. The Epic album wasn't that bad, in fact it was better than the INXS that came out but it made a bee line to the budget bins, McGhee said adios and the band returned back to Chicago older and wiser. This band knows a few hooks and where to put them and the new album Heavy Crown is pretty good. But outside of me, nobody really cares.

6. Shoot Shoot-UFO 1975 Funny when a music store goes out of business everything goes on sale and you can find plenty of bargains at half off. So, I got the remastered Force It which includes the naughty picture that the US label brushed off, and it has better sound and bonus live tracks to boot. This was a minor hit and certain FM stations did play it. My 2nd album that I got from UFO, the first being the live classic Strangers In The Night. Required rock listening in my high school years (heck my GF wasn't even born yet, boy did she miss some great tunes then).

7. Eyes Wide Open-Goo Goo Dolls 1995 Funny when FYE closes their doors, they take their satellite station and the clerks play whatever they want. Thankfully no rap and not a Taylor Swift to annoy me but the girl up there played a Boy Named Goo to which said track comes from. I used to like the Goo Goo Dolls before they were cool and before they became a bad Journey wannabees. Yeah, I'm sure going to miss FYE, I did find some nice stuff there in the bargain bins......

8. One Way Ticket-The Darkness 2005 Weren't these guys supposed to be the next big rock thing? What the hell happened to them? First of all they were 20 years behind the times and second of all, MTV quit playing videos and third and last Justin Hawkins ended up living too much of a rock star and the band imploded soon after One Way Ticket To Hell And Back was released. I gave that album an A minus and then sold it but I always wanted to relisten to this and FYE came to rescue with 60 percent off this album. Which I got for a buck twenty. And I still think it's an A minus album.

9. Madrigal Meridian-Tangerine Dream 1978 From Cyclone, their first album featuring vocals from a chap named Steve Jolliffee and real drums from Klaus Kreiger who moved on to Iggy Pop's New Values but this side long track has no vocals and sounds like Tangerine Dream as you know and love them. I was never big on TD in my youth and somewhere in the early 2000's I decided to review their Virgin Records catalog and though nobody can deny their classic period was when Peter Baumann was in it (he left prior Cyclone) and it sounds like TD was going in a Pink Floyd mode on the vocal songs on side one. Jolliffe would move on after Cyclone but I consider this to be one of the darkhorses in their catalog. In the mid 1990s EMI remastered and reissued the TD albums but all now on import only. So it goes.

10. One World-Utopia 1982 Utopia with Todd Rundgren has made some classic stuff and they made some terrible stuff but I think their biggest strength was that they were a very excellent pop rock band. Don't think I ever heard Swing To The Right, their final Bearsville platter but I'll be sure to keep an eye out if I should find a copy of this on CD.

RIP Carl Smith.