Pandemonium Cheesecake

 The trip through the unlistened smart play list continues. Now up G H I. X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents (1978) I know they are part of the late 70s punk scene, British, led by a singer named Poly Styrene (probably not her real name), debut (and only album??) and that this album is always listed among the greatest punk albums of all-time. First of all, never let any one tell you that saxophone does not belong on a punk album. It can be as punk as any instrument. Second, the gals from Sleater-Kinney clearly listened to this album growing up as they stole their vocal stylings from Poly and her wails and screeches. Third, this album fuckin' rocks. "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" is one of the best openers, and least punk-titled song, ever. The album plows along with four more sub 3-minute rockers, including the wonderful "Identity", until its runs up against the title track, which slows things down, probably so listeners can catch their breath. Good thing as...

I am continuing the goal of listening to the unplayed on the hard drive. I mostly listen to the album before looking up its vitals. Next up D, E and F albums. Django Django - Django Django (2012) Where this came from, I don't know. Probably read about it somewhere. Don't know what to expect, all I know is that it's alphabetically its between Diver Down  by Van Halen and Djangologie  - a Django Reinhardt box set; and will probably sound like neither. They possibly sound like another band (MGMT??), but I'm not positive, since I'm not exactly sure what they sound like. Are they an American band? Is it a side project from someone in a more popular band? A couple good songs. "Wor" is Duane Eddy mixed with Bow Wow Wow and generous echo. "Love's Dart" is a gallopy acoustic ride. Towards the end it gets kindy samey. "Skies Over Cairo" an instrumental with Egyptian sounds and "Silver Rays" sounds like it could have been recorded by...

For years I've had countless records burned onto a hard drive that I've never listened to. Most of them come from the 13 years spent at a Borders Books and Music, burning in store promos and then returning them to the store for someone else to take (or burn). I kept 10-15% of all promos I took home because they were among my favorite bands, no one else wanted them, or from claiming managerial rights. [I'm the manager, therefore, I'm right.] I want to see what I haven't listened to ever, or at least since February 2016 when the 'last played' counter in my iTunes reset due to a computer crash. Currently the oldest 'last played' song is "If I Had A $1000000" by the Barenaked Ladies from Gordon . 2/19/2016 10:35PM. Most played is "The Enemy Within" by Rush from Grace Under Pressure  with 15 plays, all by itself, followed by more Rush and Inon Zur's soundtrack to Fallout 4. I wish I had my old counts, as I know both Lifes Rich Page...

So I've decided to rename this blog. It now shares a name with my old radio show on 90.1fm WUSB. Don't like it? Too bad. Inspired by a friend. I thought I'd take a crack at writing about music every day as well. Can't imagine I'm going to be able to do one a day, but I'll try for 100 or so by the end of the year.

In 1982 Rush released Signals , their ninth studio album and a complete reversal in sound from their previous record Moving Pictures . The synthesizers, which had been used for moods and accents on the previous records, came forward to dominate the sound. And I hated it when it came out. I was like 'this is worse than your mom eating a puke sandwich' (hey, I was 12 forgive me). Rush was my first favorite band and this was one of the first albums that I was looking forward to its release. I was hoping for Moving Pictures 2, or something closer to the sound of their previous five studio albums. Something with a thirteen minute song about space, or gods, or trees. What I got was the opposite. Instead of driving arena rock I got fuzzy humming synth/pop. Like their debut, Signals sticks out in their catalog like a cold sore on a prom queen. Have I mentioned that I hated it? My dislike for the record continued for a long time. I was in my mid 30s when I finally redisc...

The second ep in a series of three from one of the most influential bands of the 80s. It's hard to listen to this record and not to hold it up against their previous work. It's unfair to the Pixies because most bands would have trouble following up masterpieces like Doolittle or Surfer Rosa , especially after 20+ years. The four songs that make up EP2 aren't anything exciting, there's no "Gigantic" or "Monkey's Gone to Heaven" and its clear that Pixies 2.2 are still trying to find a sound. They shift back and forth from Trompe Le Monde era to early Frank Black solo work, but never stray too far from the guitar driven, quiet-loud-quiet blueprint that made them so important to the growth of countless alternative bands that followed in their wake. The opening track "Blue Eyed Hexe" is their attempt at an AC/DC song, and its a good one at that. The riff is pure Angus and the chorus is lifted from the Highway to Hell album ...