Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving

It's Thursday. And upon waking up this morning and checking the good old Suggestion Box, I've noticed that follower peterman has dropped a solid variety of artists and albums in there. Delightful! I continue to encourage all of you guys to do the same. I love the new ideas! Anyways, starting off number one, peterman asked that I do this Jamiroquai album. Devotees may recall I reviewed his 'Synkronized' or some odd spelling like that - album a while back. It got a fairly harsh review by me - and for good reason. Jamiroquai's music tends to be - hmm, what's the word? Boring? Lackluster? Repetitive? One of those words has to fit. This record goes 12 tracks deep - with everyone and their mother knowing track one 'Virtual Insanity'. It was a pretty revolutionary video back in 1997. This album is a solid platinum in the states, with a 3x rating in the United Kingdom - where the band originated. This album is probably the most diverse from the band, with some added instrumental tracks and a more heavy electronic influence. There are some really nice jazz elements on the record too - if that's your bag. The lead singer, Jay Kay - has a fascination with sports cars, and that's the story behind the cover art. A slightly modified Ferrari logo. I think overall, this is probably Jamiroquai's best record. It's still not in the upper echelon of albums in any genre, except maybe funk. But then again, I don't listen to a lot of exclusive funk records. Definitely check this out today - but note that it's pretty genre bending and for most people, tough to listen to start to finish.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Virtual Insanity
2. Cosmic Girl
3. Use the Force
4. Everyday
5. Alright
6. High Times
7. Drifting Along
8. Didjerama
9. Didjital Vibrations
10. Travelling Without Moving
11. You Are My Love
12. Spend a Lifetime
13. Do You Know Where You're Coming From

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Cosmic Girl
2. Virtual Insanity
3. Alright

FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars

Asher Roth - Asleep In The Bread Aisle

I've noticed that with certain things I'm old school - but not too old school. Does that make sense? Well I'll explain. With rap - I still identify most with 2Pac, old Dre and Em, you know - that brand of rap. The newer stuff nowadays I still feel is mostly dance rap or party rap - stuff that isn't intended for lyrical quality but sing along quality. Which is fine, there is a market for that. Every so often an artist sneaks in like Kid Cudi or someone that impresses me as a true lyricist and hip hop artist. Follower Angie suggested that I take a look at Mr. Roth one day, and I was more than skeptical. I had only heard 'I Love College' which basically made me cringe at first. Roth was born in Pennsylvania in 1985. He says he never even heard rap until 1998 when Jay-Z dropped the 'Anything' track on Beanie Sigel's album that used the sample from 'Annie'. He had some interesting things to say about suburbs and rap - which I can very much relate to. Where I grew up, a lot of white kids enjoyed listening to rap, but were almost confused as to how to react to that. Maybe you dressed different or acted different because of this image you wanted to portray in order to be "accepted" in listening to a certain artist. Asher states he realized he didn't have to dress that way or act that way. And that he could make rap music that was geared more toward the experiences of a suburban kid. He's obviously drawn comparisons to Eminem - just because of his voice and his color. He devoted a song to it on this album called 'As I Em' and it's frankly an outstanding track. Em even endorsed Asher in XXL Magazine, stating he didn't feel he was an impostor and that he was doing his own thing. Very cool. I think I hear the 'I Love College' tracks, and I made too rash of a decision at first. While I don't really identify with that kind of song - because that's not how my college experience was, I understand others do. But if you make those kind of tracks AND the nice lyrical, beaty tracks, I'm all for it. The new game might be a combination of styles, and I have to adapt to that. Anyways, I'm not saying this album is Pac-ish or anything like that. It's simply better than I thought it'd be, which means some of you would probably think the same thing.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Lark on My Go-Kart
2. Blunt Cruisin'
3. I Love College
4. La Di Da, La
5. Be By Myself
6. She Don't Wanna Man
7. Sour Patch Kids
8. As I Em
9. Lion's Roar
10. Bad Day
11. His Dream
12. Fallin'

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. As I Em
2. Lion's Roar
3. I Love College

FINAL RATING:
3.5 out of 5 stars

Mad Season - Above

Hello Wednesday...good to see you again. It's always slightly gratifying knowing that the week is half over. In music news, I've been dabbling a bit in supergroups as of late. And while this might not be a widely known one - it is one nonetheless. Mad Season here consists of some Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and some Screaming Trees. Most notably, Layne Staley. Remember him? Yeah, he was the 'other' vocalist of Alice in Chains before the widely known Jerry Cantrell took over full time. Mike McCreedy (formerly Pearl Jam) formed the band while he was doing a drub rehab during the production of 'Vitalogy'. He met a bassist in rehab and decided to form a band. That was back in 1994 - and the guys didn't even have a song to rehearse. They put on in impromptu show regardless, and it was met with solid reviews. The band also didn't have a name at that time, and finally landed on 'Mad Season' which is and English term for when the psychedelic mushrooms come into bloom for the year. This album dropped in 2005 and has seen gold selling success. Mostly backed by the big singles 'River of Deceit' and 'I Don't Know Anything'. And reading more about the band, a lot of apparently success was that on the radio, many causal listeners thought the songs were by Alice in Chains, and went out to buy this album when they it was something else. But I imagine that also meant people went looking for an AIC record that didn't exist. Regardless, this was a nice mid 90's album. It's by no means amazing, but for a supergroup, one of the better records out there. Worth a listen, but not up to the standards set by the original bands.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Wake Up
2. X-Ray Mind
3. River of Deceit
4. I'm Above
5. Artificial Red
6. Lifeless Dead
7. I Don't Know Anything
8. Long Gone Day
9. November Hotel
10. All Alone

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. I Don't Know Anything
2. River of Deciet
3. Long Gone Day

FINAL RATING:
2.75 out of 5 stars

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Phew! What a long delay! Finally got out of my meeting, and am getting around to posting New Music Tuesday! And I have a slight confession to make. This album did in fact come out today - but my partner Heidi told me to listen to this quite some time ago. Two months in fact. So I ended up getting this album right around then and have been picking it up here and there over that period of time. So it's not really new to me this morning. Anyway, Fleet Foxes formed in 2006 or so out of Seattle, Washington. Originally going by the name "Pineapple", a name clash with another local band prompted a change and Robin Pecknold decided upon Fleet Foxes. He suggested that it was "evocative of some weird English activity like fox hunting". Very nice. They were another band that got big because of the Myspace revolution in 2007. Bands were taking advantage of free listeners and took up quite a following. The word of mouth alone generated a contract with Sub Pop Records - which is an offshoot of Warner Bros. Their first album dropped in June of 2008 and is certified platinum by the RIAA. This album was slated to drop in 2009, and has been frustrating fans for multiple years now. They had some touring conflicts that actually cost the band $60k of their own money. Not good. But the goal of this album was to be less poppy and more of an old school groove record. Critics have all been mostly positive with only one site giving them a 4/10 rating. And for me, I think this is good music. It's not an album that I'd listen to daily or anything -but it's a nice change of pace on a random day. Certainly worth giving a shot if you've never heard their style before - but I wouldn't suspect you'll fall in love with the band, but rather a song or two. Just my two cents.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Montezuma
2. Bedouin Dress
3. Sim Sala Bim
4. Battery Kinzie
5. Plains/Bitter Dancer, The
6. Helplessness Blues
7. Cascades, The
8. Lorelei
9. Someone You'd Admire
10. Shrine/an Argument, The
11. Blue Spotted Tail
12. Grown Ocean

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Helplessness Blues
2. Lorelai
3. Sim Sala Bim

FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars

Fatboy Slim - Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars

Woah! It's already 8am and I haven't posted! Sorry B Siders, but I'm going to have to do my second post later this morning. I have a meeting at 8:30am so only the installation of Techno Tuesday is going to get posted before that timeframe. My sincerest apologies - but I can promise I'll do it by lunch. Anyways, Fatboy Slim time. Techno Tuesday time! I reviewed his 'Long Way Baby' album a while back - which is one of my favorite dance records of all time. That one came out in 1998 - and this one dropped in 2000. It hasn't charted in the United States - but I guarantee nearly each and every one of you has heard at least one song off this album. Don't believe me? Look up the video for 'Weapon Of Choice'. Yep, Christopher Walken doing some crazy stuff on the video. Very awesome watch. Otherwise, I remember buying this album when it came out. I was very excited about it, but it didn't really meet my expectations. Not to say it's a bad album, because it's not. It's just different. Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) did a lot of sampling and collaboration work on this album, trying to do something a little out of the norm. His work with Jim Morrison's sample on 'Sunset (Bird of Prey)' is interesting - but kind of strange. As someone who loves the Doors, I'm not sure the repetitive nature of that track makes it worth while. It's just a contrast from the previous record, I'm not sure fans knew what to think. Macy Gray makes an appearance, Bootsie Collins, Roland Clark and Roger Sanchez are all here too. I still enjoy this album from time to time, but it's not a Fatboy staple like the other albums are. Very much worth a listen though.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Talking Bout My Baby
2. Star 69
3. Sunset (Bird of Prey)
4. Love Life
5. Ya Mama
6. Mad Flava
7. Retox
8. Weapon of Choice
9. Drop the Hate
10. Demons
11. Song for Shelter


Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Weapon Of Choice
2. Sunset
3. Star 69

FINAL RATING:
3.5 out of 5 stars

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory

Upon looking through my genre reviews, I noticed that I needed to get a classic review in today. Then I was looking through artists, and shockingly, I haven't done any Creedence reviews yet! That seems silly and unbelievable. These guys formed in California in the late 1960's. The four band members knew each other since middle school - and played in a band together long before CCR was formed. They did "juke box standard" covers and called themselves the Blue Velvets for a while. When they got signed to a major label, the studio hated their name, so that's when they changed it to CCR. The name comes from three parts. Firstly, Tom Fogerty's friend Credence Newball, (to whose first name Credence they added an extra 'e', making it resemble a faith or creed); secondly, "clear water" from a TV commercial for Olympia beer; and finally "revival", which spoke to the four members' renewed commitment to their band. Cosmo's Factory here came out in 1970 when the band was probably at their peak of popularity. They had already sold 8 million albums in the USA, and the growth wasn't seemingly going to stop. What's interesting, is John Fogerty kind of got hosed when he first signed the record deal. He didn't keep ownership rights of the music, so the studio owned everything. In pop culture, CCR songs have been used in terrible movies, tv shows and commercials. All of which, Fogerty was against. 'Fortunate Son' was used in Wrangler jeans commercials, and finally Fogerty got to speak out in an LA Times interview. To his surprise, Wrangler understood he didn't like the use, and pulled the ads, even though they had already paid a handsome sum of money. Regardless, CCR is a rock music institution. When I hear the word "classic", it's hard not to think of these guys as icons. Give this a listen today, I promise you'll enjoy it.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Ramble Tamble
2. Before You Accuse Me
3. Travelin' Band
4. Ooby Dooby
5. Lookin' Out My Back Door
6. Run Through The Jungle
7. Up Around The Bend
8. My Baby Left Me
9. Who'll Stop The Rain
10. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
11. Long As I Can See The Light

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Long As I Can See The Light
2. Who'll Stop The Rain
3. Lookin' Out My Back Door

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

Various Artists - God Bless America

Sometimes events occur in the world that are landmark dates that you'll remember for a very long time - if not forever. And today, the United States announced the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. This is certainly not a political blog in any sort - so I'm not going to share my opinions and beliefs of the events that took place. I've already seen some Facebook arguments, and this certainly isn't the forum. Regardless, one thing I want to convey my opinion on - is I really hope for the troops serving right now, this doesn't cause any substantial number of retaliation casualties. My brother-in-law is proudly serving right now, and I wish him, and all other troops currently overseas a safe, quick trip home. I'm dedicating this album to them. All the hard working brave soldiers that are fighting and have fought for my very right to write a blog about music. This album was a tribute album that came out after the 9/11 attacks on America. I don't think it matters where you align yourself and how you feel about war or any of that. I think we all can wish for our military personnel to get home safely.

Thank you so much to all of those that serve, and have served our country. You guys are great - and the B Side thanks you for your service.

TRACK LISTING:
1. God Bless America
2. Land Of Hope And Dreams
3. Hero
4. Amazing Grace
5. Blowin' In The Wind
6. Bridge Over Troubled Water
7. Peaceful World
8. There's A Hero
9. America The Beautiful
10. God Bless The USA
11. This Land Is Your Land
12. Coming Out Of The Dark
13. We Shall Overcome
14. The Star Spangled Banner
15. Lean On Me

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Lean On Me
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water
3. God Bless America

FINAL RATING:
5 out of 5 stars