American Alternative music reviews

My original review that I wrote a few years ago disappeared. However, my opinion has not changed: This is the greatest cd I own. It absolutley rocks from the beginning to the end. This is no frills kick butt music in the vein of old school Aerosmith and AC/DC. I wish those two groups still made music like this!!
Just buy it, ok??

The coolest mofos around... insane talent... snap this disc up, baby - it'll rock your ass clean off and onto the floor!

Great compilation of 1st & 2nd generation punk/new Wave/No Wave bands. Great tunes!! Neil Cooper-re-release this CD!!! And pay us our royuaalties!!! Fin Hunt-ex-Invader.

This follows the development of the early New York punk/new wave scene from 1974 to 1980, via a collection of homemade singles that came out of the scene. Unlike Rhino Records' totally contrived "DIY" series, this is the real thing, a genuine anthology of the genuine stuff. Patti Smith's single which opens this disc is great, but musically sounds closer to a post-Woodstock, hippie kind of thing than new wave. It nonetheless qualifies as early punk because the lyrical content is much starker and angrier (and riddled with strong language) than the popular music of the day (1974). Television's song bridges the gap musically between Patti Smith's post-hippie jazz and what would later become punk. By the time we get to the third single here, Richard Hell & the Voidoids' "Blank Generation", an identifiable punk style had already evolved that can still be heard in the punk music of today. From there the music ranges from the weird and arty (Model Citizens' "Animal Instincts" and Theoretical Girls' "U.S. Millie") to straightforward power pop (Marbles' "Red Lights" and Speedies' "Let Me Take Your Photo"). The Student Teachers' "Past Tense" fittingly closes the album, reminiscing about a scene that was already in decline by 1980 as the newer hardcore bands arrived and quickly made the older punk rock seem tame by comparison. Of all the bands chronicled here, only four (Patti Smith Group, Television, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and Nervus Rex) went on to release full-length albums on major labels, and of those, only Patti Smith was able to find any commercial success (with her top-20 hit single, "Because the Night", in 1978). None of the big names of the early NYC punk scene, like the Ramones, Talking Heads, New York Dolls, Lou Reed/Velvet Underground, or Blondie, are here. This by and large is made up of one-shot bands, whose fan base was mainly at the CBGB's club and whose only recorded output was a homemade single or two. If you want an excellent chronicle of where punk in the U.S. began, I can think of no two better albums to pick up than this one and "Live at CBGB's".

the [...]surfers are pure genius. they sound like pink floyd
frank zappa,& black sabbath warped in a hellish bath of acid.
this album opens with ''jimi'' which sounds like someone being molested by satan himself.''ricky'' is a more normal track, so is ''rocky''. the other songs are funny and weird, probably their 2'nd best album. 5 stars+

A grotesque, beautiful, dark, hilarious, poetic recording that shoots from the hip. Yeah well, I never knew what that expression meant either, but if anyone shoots from the hip, it's Gibby Haynes and the Surfers. My best friend used to call the Buttholes 'a poor man's Pink Floyd', because of their garage-band musicianship and capacity to trip even a straight man to insanity.

Listening to the first song of the album is an experience not unlike smoking angel dust out of a Bunson burner. 'Johnny Smoke' remains the kick-assingest song the Surfers have ever recorded. As for the rest of the album, I'd say it's a weird hodgepodge of country, boogie-woogie, call-and-response twingtwang southern rock, and scatalogical groaners. It's also a ton of fun! Pick it up, smoke all the drugs you got, then drive the Desert Southwest in a convertible: hallucinating ten-foot tall Johnny on the dashboard all the way: brainlessly, leglessly, hairlessly. . .

The first volume was great. Wait till you hear this one. If you enjoy new music with taste, you definately need to grab one of these.

I havent heard this specific disc either, but have a live version of the shows from SF last December and those tracks are well worth it no matter what version oh Hanging Around is on here. I concur that August and Everything After is beautiful, no matter what Adam said before playing it. Wish they would do a studio version or better yet, play this more often live. Do yourself a favor and find this.

I've heard the songs on the CD. August and Everything After is finally available! It's a wonderful song, and I'm surprised they waited ten years to play it and release it.

So maybe you don't know any of the bands on here. THat doesn't matter, there are some REALLY great songs on here, albeit a bit of a demented lot. Some are striaght renditions of classics, but they still slam your head to the pavement, and of course, some are, well, lets jsut say with some of these songs, if you play this album at a Christmas party, make sure you hide or you're getting kicked out of the place.

Overall though, it's not too bad a mix of stuff, and it's fun not just at Christmas, but all year 'round. This is the kind of Christmas album you can play at Easter, Thanksgiving, or even Arbor Day, and you won't feel stupid for it.

For the former HARDSoul Poets, this album was their first real shot at the national scene. Unfortunately, it failed to grab that attention largely due to mishandling by the label. The album itself is great. The songs create an atmoshpere of "the surreal dirty deep south." "Skyliners" is a kind of protest song against NC's own Jesse Helms. These rockers carry a twang on this album and got lumped into the Americana category because of it. They hate it. Check out "In the Gloaming" or a live show to get a truer taste for their sound. Regardless, this album still kicks and the songs will stick in your head just the same. Kim Richey duets on "I Read What You Wrote Today", John Crooke's take on his own southern romance.

This is a great compilation disc of unknowns that really can rock...a lot of the tracks have a funky edge. The jams are strong without going on and on and on. A showcase of some great talent; vocals are strong on Goose's Blue Flame and the standout track Groovin' Free by Tiajuana Caravan (which has Darren Bruck singing lead...I have their full album and the members share lead vocal duties...Bruck is by far the best). There is some really great guitar playing as well. Worth the money!!!

Jam bands are not very popular where I live and being able to sample, and even find, alot of CDs in this genre locally is kind of hard. I was overjoyed when I received this to be able to sample so many different groups, many of which I had never even heard of. I dont know how easy to find alot of these songs are for the more experienced among us, but I definately recommend this for those of us starting out or for someone who just likes having a nice selection of jam grooves on one disc.

"Sonic Suck From Heaven: A Review of Heaven Sent"

Half Japanese suck. Jad Fair, as the only constant member of this band, has absolutely no traditional abilities as a musician whatsoever. There are more bad Jad albums than any other artists. Buying one of his albums (unless you're a massive Jad fan) is always a risk. He is undisciplined. He records so many songs that the good ones are so often lost amongst the detritus of his satisfactory work. There, that's it. Right there-that last statement right there, that's the one I want. He does have good songs, but they are really difficult to find unless you're a superfan.
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So therefore, what should you do if you just want to buy one Jad album to find out if you're his kind of person? You should either get "Greatest Hits" if you're a greatest hits type of person or you'll do what I have found is a time tested way to find the album that's best "if you only buy one album by this artist" which is the way I am most of the time. Right here on Amazon, listen to all the samples for as many Half Japanese albums near the top of their hit list. The reason to only listen to those is because if it was really that good, it wouldn't be on page 17 of the results list. It would be near the top. If it's an artist that you have one album in mind because of its historical value or cult appeal, then get that one. Otherwise, get the album that has the largest number of music samples that you like listening to. I figure, if you are addicted to some of the samples, then you'll probably like the album around the sample.
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This brings us to "Heaven Sent" that I'm reviewing at the moment. The first track ("Heaven Sent") is indeed an hour (61 minutes) long and the whole album is a whopping 72 minutes. You get a lot of value on this album. The weird thing is that the entire 61 minute song sound exactly like the sample you heard. There are no time changes or theme shifts, it's all just quiet shoegazer/wuss rock stuff that you either love or hate. Personally I have never been much of a fan of wuss rock and when you add Jad's childlike everythingness it becomes a little weird. But then that's any Jad album you're likely to hear. It all sounds like this but with varying degrees of harshness. On the harshness scale, this is one of the least harsh (most soothing) albums he has made in nearly 25 years. One great reason to get this for a couple of bucks used is that you can tell all your friends that you have an hour long pop song and watch them be impressed. Is this the best Jad album for you to get? How the heck should I know?? I'm not your freaking mother. I was talking to Jad once before I got this and I asked him if the song "Heaven Sent" was really an hour long and he said that it was. He recorded it in Amsterdam and as he said: "I really wanted to make a song that filled an entire album but at 61 minutes, we needed to stop because we needed to feeed the parking meater outside the studio." Isn't that cute? Yeah, I thought so. To answer one question, the hour long song has a traditional song structure which means he sings for almost the entire time. I would love to know how many dozen pages of lyrics he needed to write for this song. As far as jad albums go, this has none of his catchy numbers, but all of his adorable innocence and sweetness.

Without ever really changing the basic structure of the title track, Jad Fair and the rest of Half Japanese manage huge emotional leaps and brilliant comedic bounds that somehow turn a deceptively simple pop song into a musical journey of epic proportion. The rest of the tunes seem like shorter variations on the opening theme, but if you've already made it through the whole of Heaven Sent, a little repetition isn't gonna bother you much.

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I've had an easier time sifting thru gate-fold record albums looking for a bong hit than I did finding smokin' tunes on this weak set.
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Aside from trusty IAN MOORE, who honours MUDDY WATERS with the Old Tradion-meets-New Tradition Blues of "CHAMPAGNE & REEFER", there weren't many buzzworthy cuts on this pro-canibus compilation.
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Besides, EZ Wider breath, simply contributing a song with the word "HIGH" or "SMOKE" in the title shouldn't constitute reefer madness.
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With fairly big name "on-the-record" grass-acts on board such as BLACK CROWES, GOVERNMENT MULE, BLUES TRAVELER, honorary Allman Brother WARREN HAYNES, DRIVIN' & CRYIN', WIDE SPREAD PANIC and SCREAMIN' CHEETAH WHEELIES, a good time should have been had by all, but none of this really set my soul on fire.
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Many of the bands -known or unknown- try to take on FM Staples such as "AND IT STONED ME" and "HIGH TIME WE MET". "SWEET LEAF" sounds like karaoke Sabbath so what's the point of taking on the master of reality. It's like trying and scrape ressin off the pipe the morning after? Tastes bad.
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A few moments light up such as the reggae anthem "LEGALIZE IT". Here SUBLIME do not steer far off the Jamaican Roadside in feting legendary ganja unicyclist, Peter Tosh. But it works.
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Other than that, it's mostly stems & seeds that you don't need. Fool's Gold is bad indeed. Bottom line, if this CD were bought weed, I'd have felt like I'd been ripped off.
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Dave's not home, man....
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One Reason to get this CD: The 311 cover of Who's Got The Herb. This song has become a mdoern classic amongst friends of marijuana. Who doesn't know the lyrics to this classic 420 song? Buy it, put on 311, and hit repeat and listen to the song that will define them 20 years after they are gone. An insta-classic

I OWNED THIS CD ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO, AND I CANT BELIEVE I HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT, I AM BUYING IT AGAIN TODAY. IT HAS THE BEST COVERS OF HEMPY SONGS BY 311, BLUES TRAVELER, AND SO MANY OTHERS. THIS IS A GREAT SATURDAY AFTERNOON, DOING THE DISHES CD. :)