SOUNDTRACK: THE KINKS are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968).
This record seems to be a very important record in the history of British pop rock and in the history of The Kinks. I feel that I had always heard about it in practically hushed tones (much like the hushed tones of the record), and yet I had never heard it. Finally, my friend Carrie gave me a copy of it and I listened and was surprised that I didn’t know one single song on it. You can look here and see that I have two Kinks greatest hits records, and not one song from this record is on any either of them.
SOUNDTRACK: ARCTIC MONKEYS-Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007).
I really enjoyed the first Arctic Monkeys CD a lot. Despite the hype from England, or perhaps because of the hype from England, I sought out the first record and really dug the aggressive musical style, the funny lyrics and delivery and the great basslines (which, especially in the last song, reminded me of The Jam somehow). They were part of a group of “garage-y” bands at the time like The Vines, The Hives, The Strokes, and I guess even The White Stripes were lumped in there too. I enjoyed most of these bands’ debuts, but didn’t bother with the follow ups.
SOUNDTRACK: DEFTONES-Saturday Night Wrist (2006).
This is the latest Deftones release. It is a bit more atmospheric overall than the other ones. The dynamics of the record are still there, but aside from one of the more thrashier songs, they don’t seem to be as heavy, overall. Nothing wrong with that, in fact, it really showcases a catchier side to the band. It’s fun to see how well the heavier aspects can become accessible. Overall, I think the album is great, with each song having a great hook. It took a few listens for me to really get into it, but I’m now hooked.
SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Spectres (1977).
Let’s face it, Blue Öyster Cult are silly. If I didn’t know better I would swear that Spinal Tap is a takeoff on them. And yet, they have such well regarded people associated with them: Patti Smith; Michael Moorcock! I first got into BOC because of MTV. Back when MTV first came out they played videos by basically anyone who had a video. And it seemed that at the time it was mostly new wave and metal bands. And naturally, we metal heads embraced all of the metal videos and scoffed at the new wave ones. But it was through MTV that I found out about some of the best metal bands around: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Blue Öyster Cult to name just a couple. And it was through MTV that I got Fire of Unknown Origin, my favorite BOC record. Several years later when I got to college my roommate was a huge Rush and BOC fan. He got me into BOC in a big way, and even though I know they’re silly, I still love ’em. And this album is a pretty strong classic.
SOUNDTRACK: GUSTER-Parachute (1995) & Goldfly (1997).
Parachute: A really great debut, that, in retrospect, sounds almost nothing like the Guster we know and love. This sounds a bit more like the Indigo Boys. Solid harmonies over a very acoustic sounding record. Over the years, Guster have written fantastic melodies and lyrics. And this album is no exception. It’s really the production that sounds so unusual here. Very sparse and almost cool, as opposed to the warmth that they bring to their later albums. The songs are top notch, though.
Goldfly: “Airport Song” is such a fantastic single, and such a great precursor of what’s to come from Guster, that it tends to overshadow the rest of the album. Goldfly starts Guster down the road of what we’ve come to 
SOUNDTRACK: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM-LCD Soundsystem (2005).
What’s a metal/prog guy like myself listening to LCD Soundsystem for? Even though the music of this genre (techno/electronica/ whateveritscalledthesedays) is not very complex…most songs in fact repeat the same motif for the entire 5 minutes of the song, and yet, damn if it’s not catchy. I tend to get excited by rave reviews of records, and there were some great reviews of the newest LCD record. I wound up getting the first one instead on the excitement of “Daft Punk is Playing in My House,” a ridiculous song that’s basically three notes repeated for 4 and a half minutes, but the conceit of the song, that Daft Punk is playing at his house, makes the song not only catchy, but also singable. Great good fun. Overall, this genre of music can get repetitive, which is great for the dance floor, but can get tiresome when just listening for pleasure (see the Hackers Soundtrack for an excruciatingly bland listen, and for a hilarious picture of Angelina Jolie when she was like 12 or something). But after a couple of dance floor tracks, he mixes it up a little bit with what is almost a ballad “Never as Tired as When I’m Waking Up.” This is a strong collection of songs. 
SOUNDTRACK: THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS-Mass Romantic (2000).
SOUNDTRACK: TENACIOUS D-The Pick of Destiny (2006) & MUSE-Black Holes and Revelations (2006).
TENACIOUS D-The Pick of Destiny: Let’s face it, The D are the greatest band in the world. However, this album, basically a soundtrack to their film, is not their greatest work. The interludes are pretty slight and while the tunes all rock, the lyrics are too much of an “advance the plot” rather than “just song” nature. Having said that, the opening song is awesome, and the rock-off with the devil is pretty amazing. My other gripe is how many “fuckings” there are on the record. It’s practically more than in Scarface! I’m no prude by any means, I just think it’s lazy writing.
came out they were pegged as a Radiohead knock-off. But the thing was that they sounded like Radiohead USED to sound like circa OK Computer, and since Radiohead no longer sounded like that, we can be thankful for Muse for picking up that mantel. Now with this latest record they moved somewhat beyond Radiohead, although a voice is a voice after all (see DIGRESSION below), and are now verging into Queen territory. With a healthy dose of Philip Glass (or is that Michael Nyman?) thrown in. And it is filled with pretension, and overblown orchestration, and earth-saving geopolitical ideas, and it simply rocks! Not for everyone, that’s for sure (my friend’s wife cannot STAND this band), but if you like RadioheadmeetsRush, then check out Muse and be blown away.
SOUNDTRACK: CHAVEZ-Better Days Will Haunt You (2006).
I first fell in love with Chavez when I saw a video for their song “Break Up Your Band.” I loved the video, and loved the music. And, I basically became of fan of them because of this video, which I think I must have seen on 120 Minutes, way back when. Turns out that my memory of this video is the equivalent of my memory of Good Omens (cf. Good Omens). The video is on the DVD that comes with this collection, and wow, I don’t recall the video looking like that at all! Huh, clearly I am an unreliable narrator.
I Just Read About That... 