My Amazon Reviews: Alabama Shakes "Sound And Color"

Flashing lights and blinding colors
4 Out Of 5 Stars

First of all, there is that voice. Brittany Howard is a force of nature, one to be reckoned with, and she makes it count on Alabama Shakes' second album, "Sound and Color." Now that they've established themselves with their still awesome debut, they used the time wisely to both road test the new songs and use the studio as an instrument. The opening vibes on the title track are your first clue. There's a touch of psychedelics there, but don't fret. "Don't Wanna Fight No More" is one of those songs where Brittany just cuts loose. It's a hot vamp for guitarist Heath Fogg to work over. Or take in the primitive stomp on "Gemini."

There's a lot of that going on for "Sound and Color." The band is mixing it up, the way the album's title would suggest. They still have that dirty south feel to the sound of it all, but they also want to expand their range. They're painting with a much broader palette than before. Be it the garage band pulse of "The Greatest" or the blues wail of "Gimme All Your Love," "Sound and Color" is a huge leap forward from "Boys and Girls." Once again, this band is a force of nature. Raw and roots, soul and rock, it all comes together.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Tubes "Love Bomb"

Bang Zoom To The Moon
3 Out Of 5 Stars

By the time of "Love Bomb," tensions in The Tubes was at a boiling point. Fee Waybill was on the brink of launching his solo career, while the rest of the band wanted to get "Love Bomb" out there. For whatever reason, Capitol Records decided to put their muscle behind Fee's "Read My Lips" while "Love Bomb" slid under the radar. Even worse, Fee's album was a commercial dud. It turned into a lose-lose situation, effectively breaking up the band and Waybill with a solo stint that excited exactly no-one. Even worse, "Love Bomb" was easily as good as "Outside/Inside," the previous Tubes album.

The band had re-enlisted Todd Rundgren to produce again, as he also helmed one of the Tubes' most artistically satisfying albums, "Remote Control." As is typical with any Rundgren production, his hand weighs heavy on the proceedings here. But the Tubes had some great material up their collective sleeve, including the terrific first single "Piece By Piece." Todd even helped make an ahead of its time computerized video. But again, with no label support, it vanished with barely a trace. You can still find the vid on YouTube, and it's worth a look-see.

The real genius was to be found on what was originally the album's side two. A twenty minute collage of mini-tunes strung together as a medley, it should have been a critically acclaimed masterwork. It shows just how musically adept the Tubes in their prime truly were, even with the sideshow style of their burlesque concert act. Mixing found sound, narratives, and "Theme From A Summer Place" mashed up with "Wooly Bully" (keeping in mind that mash-ups weren't this commonplace as now) into another ahead of its time number (there weren't any other rock bands that I can recall at the time using samples), it holds "Love Bomb" up all by itself.

Still, Capitol bet on Waybill's solo career over this, and when you compare the two, it's frustrating. One one hand, you had the Tubes and Todd Rundgren working an arty album, and Fee recording with David Foster, most of Toto, and an up and coming songwriter named Richard Marx. Don't get me wrong, "Read My Lips" is as good as any 80's pop album from the period, but "Love Bomb" should have been salvaged from the scrap pile. Given a decent remaster from the folks at BGO Records but not adding any additional liner notes, this is a must for Tubes fans and probably Todd fans, too.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Jimi Hendrix "Experience Hendrix: The Best Of Jimi Hendrix"

Quintessential
5 Out Of 5 Stars

I usually try not to give 5 star reviews to best of packages, but "Experience Hendrix" does everything right. Let us also face a dubious reality; Jimi Hendrix has been repackaged and reissued as much as, if not more than, The Doors, The Beatles or any other great artist to have ceased to be. How many versions of "Hey Joe" do you need, after all? However, with 20 songs from 5 albums, extensive liner notes, a lot of great pictures, "Experience Hendrix" beats any other single disc Hendrix anthology out there. It's also given a loving remaster, with the squeals of Hendrix guitars and the phase-crazy production in all its experimental glory.

All the songs you'd expect would be here ("Foxy Lady," "Purple Haze" and - even though I could go the rest of my life without hearing it again - the Woodstock version of "Star Spangled banner"), along with chocks of Hendrix incredible work. The delicate "Little Wing" always gets my juices going, "All Along The Watchtower" is one of those rare moments where an artist completely claims another writer's iconic work (Dylan) and the not as frequently heard songs from the uncompleted "First Rays of The New Rising Sun" show what Hendrix was imagining his future to be like. This is classic stuff, and issued in a classy set.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Stone Temple Pilots "Thank You"

Pleased to meet you, Nice to know me 
4 Out of 5 Stars

For a band often slogged off in their early days as grunge posers, Stone Temple Pilots built themselves a might strong body of work. "Thank You" tracks songs from their 5 top ten albums and adds both the new "All In The Suit That You Wear" and an unplugged version of "Plush" to make a very good single disc set. The only things that were missing for me, a casual listener, was their version of Zep's "Dancing Days" and the radio favorite "Pretty Penny."

Otherwise, "Thank You" focuses on STP's two secret weapons, guitarist Dean DeLeo and vocalist and perpetual rock causality/vocalist Scott Weiland. While Weiland went through personas as often as he went through rehab, DeLeo added a consistently heavy crunch to their songs, often offset by wonderful, melodic playing. His power of "Sex Type Thing" and the heaviest rocker here, "Down," pile drive their way into your head (and in the case of "Sex Type Thing," drove them to stardom). Then there's the Beatlesque chiming of "Lady Picture Show" and the bluesy "Sour Girl." DeLeo is one of the 90's unsung guitar heroes.

That is likely because he's overshadowed by Scott Weiland and all his accompanying drama. But Scott is a strikingly versatile vocalist, capable of the grungely howl that put them on the map to the soulful croon he employs on "Creep" and the acoustic version of "Plush." He is also one of the 90's more oddball frontmen, as anyone who ever saw his Bowie/Glam phase around the time of "No 4" could tell you.

Mix all these together and "Thank You" cooks like a great singles comp should. Despite not being on chronological order (and maybe even to its benefit), these fifteen songs hold together as a great listen. You can slip this in the player and keep cruising without hitting skip once. "Interstate Love Song" (from "Purple," my favorite STP CD) alone makes this a great in-the-car discs, so if all you need from STP is the radio stuff, "Thank You" fills the tank.

 

My Amazon Reviews: Gogol Bordello "Transcontinental Hustle"

No Energy Crisis Here  
4 Out of 5 Stars

I was a little concerned when I heard Gogol Bordello had made the leap to major labels (Colombia/American). Would the suits at CBS tamp down the energy of Eugene Hutz and his cross-cultural/generational band of music makers? Would Rick Rubin enhance these guys or suck them dry?

My fears were allayed as soon as "Pala Tute" kicked in. It's as ferocious and as fun/funny as anything the band has done to date. And as a reality check to the folks that have given "Transcontinental Hustle" tepid reviews, nobody, and I mean no-one, rocks an accordion and fiddle like Gogol Bordello. The buildup that climaxes "When Universes Collide" is new even for GB, showing that the band is still fine with taking risks. And both "Raise The Knowledge" and the title song continue to mine a fierce political streak.

In short, any band that claims to find their inspiration "in my headphones is Bob Marley and Joe Strummer" is going to have a hard time watering their sound down. "Transcontinental Hustle" is already one of  my favorite albums of the year, and I'm really happy that GB survived the transition with their soul intact.

 

My Amazon Reviews: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Mojo"

Tom Petty and The Blues Breakers

3 Out of 5 Hours

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers step into jamming me mode and get all laid back on "Mojo." It's so laid back that I was wondering if they should have renamed it "Slo-Mo," but I decided to give it a few more spins. Given the chance to grow on you, "Mojo" is a pretty good groove record. It keeps a pretty even pace, and The Heartbreakers are their usual top notch playing selves. Much like 2008's "Mudcrutch" reunion/debut, "Mojo" has that 'friends gettin' together' feel about it.

This is also the Tom Petty album that seems to owe the most to his Dylan/Dead days, also like Mudcrutch. There's more jam here than structure, which makes for some great moments, like Mike Campbell's blistering lead on "Good Enough" and the drawling "US 41." The rocking moments, like "I Should Have Known It" and "First Flash Of Freedom" are also prime Petty.

On the negative side, some studio jams should have been more developed. Both "Candy" and "Don't Pull Me Over" are almost painfully bad. The faux reggae of "Don't Pull Me Over" clones Eric Clapton's hit cover of "I Shot The Sheriff" as Petty whines that he hopes the cops don't pull him over because he's smoking a joint in the car. Which might be cool if you're a 20 year old (or Willie Nelson), but just sounds silly from a near 60 millionaire. It's too easy a song for an artist of Petty's caliber. After the more challenging "The Last DJ" exposed Petty's indignation with the industry he's basically grown up in, the hazy smoothness of "Mojo" is Okay. Having become acclimated to many, many great Tom Petty albums, I was just surprised at just average this is.