Throw a Quarter in the Village Tavern Jukebox

Well, it now appears that Sexley is no longer going to be writing for this fine establishment, so that leaves me as the only contributor who pretends to have taste (editor’s note: to date it has not been shown that anyone at the VT actually has taste, and it has been well established that James does not). But anyway, in this newfound role, I feel it’s somewhat necessary to attempt to introduce a little more culture to the site. So I’m going to go ahead and review the last ten albums I bought. And yes, when you see what they were, it will probably confirm your suspicion that I don’t have any taste and should never review anything (well, maybe reading the reviews will confirm that second part...).

Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam:

First off, I’ll just get this out of the way – I am one of those crazy Pearl Jam fans who gets offended when people say they haven’t done anything good since “Ten.” For the record, I thought that Vs. and Lost Dogs were great albums and that just about everything they’ve done has been very good. I haven’t seen them live yet, but it’s on my “things I’d really like to do before I die or it becomes impossible” list (well, if I made such a list, it would be). But I think there may actually be something to the Sports Guy’s Vince Carter theory with this album: the songs aren’t really better written than the songs on Riot Act or Binaural were, but on this album they put in the effort to make the rock songs sound like they, well, rock, and even going back to their earlier work I can’t think of any previous Pearl Jam album where the bass and drums sounded so good. So you won’t have to go out and buy a live album in eight months or so to hear these songs the way they’re supposed to sound: A

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Len-Nerd Skin-Nerd:

What, do you think I only buy new stuff? It’s actually a little surprising that this wasn’t in the collection already. The main reason is that I’d always had a two-disc best collection for Skynyrd, and it seemed pointless to buy the albums. I wouldn’t recommend this, because any great band is worth experiencing through the full albums. On the other hand, there was maybe one halfway decent song on this album that wansn’t in the two-disc set I had. The version I bought also included demos of Tuesday’s Gone, Gimmie Three Steps, and Freebird, and let me say this much: production really makes a difference. Of the three, Tuesday’s Gone is the only one where you can even still tell it’s a great song. They did manage to throw in a couple of non-demo extras as well, both of which were good tunes (for the record, I hate it when record companies do this). All in all, I expected this one to be a little better than it was, but it still has the two greatest Southern Rock songs ever on it; and I shouldn’t hold it against them that I knew them already, so it’s hard to justify anything lower than an: A-

.Moneen. – The Red Tree:

I saw these guys opening up for Saves the Day and liked them enough that I bought their next album, and I absolutely love it when that happens. Anyway, most of the songs on this album kind of sound the same, but at least it works when they try to do something different, and at least the sound is pretty good: B+

The Drive-by Truckers – A Blessing and a Curse:

Probably their saddest album lyrically to date, which is saying something. It’s not their best album, but calling it a letdown
would be a little harsh. Also, if you bought it at Tower Records during the week it was released (and probably some other places), it came with a bonus disc including Jason Isabell’s “When the Well Runs Dry,” which would have been one of the best four songs on the album. Probably the worst such oversight I can think of other about fifteen songs from Lost Dogs not making an earlier Pearl Jam album. I hate it when bands do that: B

Saves the Day – Sound the Alarm:

For those of you who were concerned by In Reverie, don’t worry, Saves the Day was just messing with us and they’re back now. Oh, and if you don’t know who Saves the Day is, you should go pick up Stay What You Are at the same time Mike Holmgrem suggests calling a timeout…IMMEDIATELY!!!!!: A

Foo Fighters – 2005: Five Songs and a Cover:

I found this one at Best Buy…finds like this almost make it worth shopping at a place where it takes ten minutes to check out at 1:15 on a Tuesday, mostly because they try to sell magazines to everyone who goes through a register. Anyway, it opens up with a live version of “Best of You” that was so bad that it moved the Foo Fighters from the top level of “bands I need to see before they break up regardless of cost or inconvenience” to the level of “bands I would pay to see maybe even if I didn't like the people I was going with.” It’s a subtle difference. And I don’t know if I really needed a Foo Fighters version of “I Feel Free,” especially if it doesn’t even include Dave Grohl singing. But the other four songs were good: B+

Twothirtyeight – Matter Has a Breaking Point:

I used to own a burned version of this from a friend with eight songs on it and only learned when I actually bought the album on iTunes (at least four years later) that there are actually sixteen songs on this album. Oddly enough, with eight songs it was one of those really short emo albums that you can listen to three times in your car in a normal day of driving, and now it’s one of those albums that’s good all the way through but a little longer than it needs to be. Actually, I haven’t listened to the extra songs nearly enough to give this a fair review. I’ll do what my Old Testament professor did in the same situation: A

Metallica - …And Justice For All:

History’s been a little rough on this album. It still has some classic songs, but it’s impossible to think of it as great rock music now that everything else sounds so much cleaner. And I wouldn’t hold it against them, but the same thing isn’t true of early Foo Fighters, early Pearl Jam, or even Led Zeppelin. Heck, AC/DC music still rocks twenty years later, and they weren’t even talented. In fact, the best thing I would think about this album if it came out today was, “wow, this is a lot better than their last album…”: C+

Allison Krauss & Union Station – Lonely Runs Both Ways:

What can I say, she has a great voice…let’s not dwell too long on the fact that I own this album and listen to it occasionally: B

AC/DC – Back in Black

As I was saying earlier, this album still rocks. The only real knock on AC/DC was that, apart from the vocals (which actually don’t sound good by any sort of conventional definition) and some of the guitar solos, most Junior High rock bands can play everything they’ve done. But hey, not everything has to be complicated: B+

(and yes, I know I didn’t use any Ds or Fs. This is because I don’t buy crappy music. If you want to send me one of the albums above, I’ll review them, but I’m not paying for them, I mean, come on!)