My Amazon Reviews: Tommy Keene "Tommy Keene You Hear Me? A Retrospective"

Hearing is Believing 
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Tommy Keene is a power pop prince who so many folks have never heard of. Based out of DC, he spent two heavily hyped albums on the Geffen label, before taking his show to the indies, and this double disc, 41 song retrospective spans a quarter century of ace song-writing, killer vocals and jangling guitars that would make Dwight Twilley proud. While those two records for Geffen (Songs from The Film and Based on Happy Times) are widely considered power pop masterpieces, they only make up a fraction of this set. As per usual with brilliant failures, the Geffen stuff is long out of print and even the later albums are tough to locate without digging. That makes "Tommy Keene You Hear Me" as close to a must have collection as you're going to get from Keene. That even despite the doofy title.

Title or not, there's a power popper's knack for jangle-hooks, a rocker's passion for forceful playing, and the man is an ace guitarist and songwriter. You'll catch hints of The Replacements ("Back to Zero Now"), Cheap Trick ("Nothing Can Change You") and the ever memorable kings of American Power Pop, The Raspberries ("Places That Are Gone"). As eclectic as that is, nothing compares to the man's cover of Lou Reed's "Kill Your Sons," is which he pulls a rocking melody line out of Reed's NYC nihilism. He goes one step further with his own love letter to NYC, the acoustic kicker "Black and White New York." His recorded work has always been of a high level, which means that even his lesser albums always carried some kickers. They're all here.

My sole gripe is that the liner notes could be a bit more oriented towards discography information, but this album is laid out chronologically. That also means that disc one (Which leans heaviest on the original three albums and EP's) would be a five star record on it's own, with participation from the likes of Jules Shear and Peter Buck. "Tommy Keene You Hear Me" is a super strong set all together, and fans of power pop should get in line. As most of Keene's albums are OOP, you never know how long this CD will stay available.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Until December "The 415 Sessions: Reissue"

December Comes At Last
4 Out Of 5 Stars 

As the sun sets on the CD era, I have begun to give up hope on some of my favorite brilliant obscurities ever making it to compact disc. Up until a couple of months ago, Until December was on of the bands I'd pretty much thrown in the towel on. After all, their decade ahead of its time lone album, originally released in 1986, failed to chart and - despite dropping a load of great 12 inch singles - couldn't break out of the basement. Like so many of the great bands signed to Howie Klein's 415-Records, Until December blew the minds of tastemakers and fell on deaf ears just about everywhere else. I figured I'd have to content myself with the four tracks on the Best of 415 CD from 1994.

Then there is this album, now, in your grasp. The complete original debut, along with five non-LP singles, plus a second disc loaded with 12 inchers and remixes; this is basically the entire Until December output from that time period. Coming off as a delicious nightmare mix of Visage/New Order/Depeche Mode and foreshadowing industrial by almost a decade, Until December rocked with gothic proportions and a seriously kinky gay undertone (the second disc is labeled "Daddy Side") and the band's idea of a cover song was to take on Blondie's sex anthem "Call Me." (Or even better, a B-Side was a straight-up version of Bauhaus' "Bela Legosli's Dead.")

That was the crazily cool thing about Until December. They tinkered with image that taunted the cuteness of New Wave at the time, made music that both pulsed and pulverized, and left behind this one, gloriously twisted album as their legacy. It's also likely not an accident that Adam Sherburne eventually formed the in-your-face political band Consolidated in the 90's. But again, like so many bands under the 415 banner (and in my humble opinion, one of the greatest and most unrecognized of the American Independent labels), the brass ring eluded them. I have even wondered - as I have with one of my other neglected faves, The Brains - is if Until December had dropped in from London instead of San Fran by way of Austin, Texas, might they have been big stars? Get this comprehensive re-issue and decide for yourself.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Flaming Lips "Hit To Death in The Future Head"

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Landing somewhere in the middle of The Flaming Lips' catalog is "Hit To Death In The Future Head," which has long felt like a transitional album in their continual chameleon-like career. The shift seems to be in a move away from the acidic psychedelia into psychedelic Beach Boys. Kinda like goodbye Sonic Youth, hello Beatles' White Album. This most easily found as the lazy roll of "The Sun" or the peppier, undeniably catchy "Gingerale Afternoon." Wayne Coyne is also exploring the possibilities of his singing voice; this is the first Lips CD where his singing really shines all they way through.

It may be also worth noting that "Hit" was the last Lips album to feature guitarist Jonathan Donahue and drummer Nathan Roberts were aboard. Donahue contributes plenty of guitar freakouts, like on "Frogs" and "The Magician Versus The Headache," along with all the whacked out sounds mixed into the CD's half-hour "bonus" track of cacophony. (Shades of 1997's Zaireeka, anyone?) There are plenty of epic moments to be found here, but the follow-up album was the powerful "Transmissions From The Satellite Heart," the Lips' artistic and commercial breakthrough. As such, "Hit" is a cool listen, but not the place to start of you want to discover why Flaming Lips can be such a magic band.