I recently found a little gem on XM radio. Every week, for an hour, Bob Dylan hosts an themed radio show. In this hour, he chooses some of his favorite songs relating to the theme. Each song is usually at least 30-50 years old and pretty obscure. The themes are subjects like weddings, baseball, drinking, fathers, jail and divorce. In between songs Dylan gives little tidbits and trivia about the artists and what they did in the careers.
What’s amazing is how knowledgeable Bob is about the older artists and songs and he usually knows the lyrics of every tune. You really get a feel for how much he appreciates and loves lyrics and the classic artists. The show is a great listen if you like older stuff and if you like Dylan. I know i’m checking out each one. I don’t have XM but you can download them. (also, if you have AOL, you can get XM radio through AOL radio)
I’ve put up a sample hour – his drinking hour – and here’s a link to download all of them. They’re great.
You read it here first. The next Guns N’ Roses album called Chinese Democracy that’s been rumored for about the past decade is finally coming. And to prove it, there’s a single coming out from it. It’s called “Better” and i’ve got it right here (
Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder came up with the name in honor of his Aunt Pearl’s homemade jam which supposedly is a natural aphrodisiac and contains peyote.
Blind Melon – according to the bassist (Brad Smith) the name is slang for unemployed hippies in Mississippi
e lists things he wants to happen before he dies. They are:
Bush is a marketing act. Many politicians are like this, but Bush has taken it to another level. He repeats phrases and has his entire PR staff do nothing but parrot his statements. Like an idiotic beer commercial, Bush believes we’re morons and need to be spoken to as morons. He’s used this practice to bring us into war. He justifies everything with blanket statements like “Failure is not an option – we’ll be victorious” without addressing the fact that most people don’t even want to be involved.
Going into space would be amazing and truly “out of this world.” Humans were not meant to leave Earth and getting out of the atmosphere and looking back on the little blue ball would be a beautiful and authentic experience. This is not marketing, not hype, not based on buzz or what the blogosphere or Hozack is saying. This has nothing to do with what society wants us to desire like low-cutting jeans, an iPod or Beyonce – this is just something that is objectively awesome.
American Idol is a fascinating show. It is promoted in every nook of America. It takes regular people, makes them sing popular songs on national TV, chooses the person that is most marketable (based on viewer feedback), signs them to a very restrictive contract and then promotes the hell out of them for people to buy it. It is a cash cow. It is the perfect marketing engine. But it isn’t real. These “Idols” don’t write their own stuff, they don’t acheive their own success and are really just pawns for corporate bigwigs who are looking for something to sell.
This was by far my favorite album of the year. So many of the songs are great and get me going. My one negative comment is that many of the songs sound similar but they are so awesome that this one aspect is easily overlooked. Album highlights: Long Distance Call, Consolation Prizes, Rally, and Napolean Says (
This came out in the beginning of the year and dominated my playlists for at least 2 months. I’ve loved all of Jack’s previous albums but i thought they had been steadily decreasing in quality. Granted, they are always extremely listenable, but they were becoming less catchy and more bland. Nothing like Flake, Mud Football or Bubble Toes, which were on the first album, came on the subsequent albums. But, leave it to a little curious monkey to get him back on track! Songs and Lullibies is an amazing album. It’s catchy, fun, and completely feel-good. Songs like 3 R’s, Upside Down, Jungle Gym, and The Sharing Song are bouncy and catchy and just completely enjoyable. (
Okonokos is the MMJ album that came out in 2006. It renewed my love of MMJ and took me to see them at the 930 club in November. One of my main complaints of the concert is that they were so damn loud that it took away from the great music and lyrics. So, this live album and concert caused me to explore Acoustic Citsuoca, a past acoustic album, which is my favorite. Citsuoca is a shorter EP album but the recordings of each song, especially Golden and Bermuda Highway are so smooth and mesmorizing, they are well worth about a 1000 listens. (
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I’ve always been a big fan of instrumentals and especially funk-laden tunes. Some of my favorite Beastie Boys songs have been their instrumental jams. Songs like In 3’s on Check Your Head were my favorites on all their albums. So, you can imagine my happiness when i saw an entire album comprised of their instrumental tunes. These are great songs to work to or play in the background of a party. It’ll give everyone a little extra movement in their step. (No download, sorry)
This album came out in the beginning of 2006 and was one of the main albums that got me back into indie rock. These guys had some great guitar riffs (see Certain Romance) and some cheeky lyrics (Riot Van and Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor) and almost all of their songs are fun to listen to. A great album that’s worthy of a listen if you like indie rock. I actually think the EP “Who the F%#*k Are the Arctic Monkeys” has better songs but this is the real album that i actually listened to a lot. (
I was never a big fan of Justin and never got into any of the boy bands. So when people were saying how great his new ablum was, i pretty much ignored them. That was, until i got hit with SexyBack and My Love over and over and over (and over) again at different parties and clubs. So much that i began to actually began to groove to them. There was something primal to the songs that made you want to dance. So, dance i did and so much so that there’s no way i could mention albums of 2006 without mentioning this album even though i’m slightly embarassed to do so. (
This is a great album and Trains of Brazil is a great, great song. This album makes the list because i love these songs, but it’s not higher because i didn’t actually put this album on all that much (or more than any of the ones listed above). So, download the tracks, take a listen and enjoy, especially Brazil and Who Left The Lights on Baby? (No download, sorry)
Fo drizzle, yo