American Alternative music reviews

I bought this CD because of "Best Of Me" which recieved minor radio play. I was completely surprised by the overall appeal of this CD.

The first track, "As Good As You", is a little reminiscent of Hootie & The Blowfish's "Hannah Jane" with rustic vocals and a strong chorus. Strong tracks include "The One", "Look At You Now" and "Torn Asunder".

This is one CD you can listen to from start to finish and not get bored.

Far Too Jones was a little band I discovered in about 1997 after hearing "Best of Me" on the radio in Chicago. The band had lots of potential, but alas it was not to be realized. After the single "Best of Me" hit minor radio success, the band started to work on a follow up album that is title "Shame and Her Sister", another great album, but their record company restructured and most, if not all, of the smaller bands were dropped.

Back to the album though. The album has a unique sound that few bands come close to comparing to, and none duplicate. From their haunting ballad of "Close to You" (A personal favorite) to the upbeat rock/pop sounds of "Best of Me" the album blends ingeneous lyrics with fun melodies for sounds that make you never want to take the CD out of your player. Other songs such as "As Good As You" (another minor radio hit) and "Nameless" are fun songs that you will want to listen to again and again. Mostly a rock band, although I will admit some pop shows through, Far Too Jones is a CD that you should give a try. Who knows it may start the same love affair with the band it started for me. Also make sure to check out their new band called the clear, they will soon have their new album up for free on their website for people to download.

Happy Listening!

This is the best rock/pop CD I have ever heard! Buy it and be amazed. If you like Nickleback, Toploader, The Calling, Hootie, Vertical Horizon & even the mighty MATCHBOX 20, Jones blow them away!
I cant recommend this CD highly enough.........BUY IT!

I'm the only person I know who loves this album. Whenever I want to irritate someone, I blast 'Lady Sniff' really loud on my stereo and sing along off the top of my lungs until I'm begged to cease and desist. You're either going to love this album or you're going to hate the hell out of it. This album is like having a root canal without Novocain. Yes, blue baby Skywalker, this album is like sticking your tongue down your mother's throat.

Here we have the psychedelic post-punk Texan freaks at their absolute best. Their absurdity anthem "Butthole Surfer" is sloppy, demented speed punk cacophony. The first time I played "Lady Sniff" I literally fell down in the floor laughing. I think when they wrote it they all agreed to deliberately write the most intentionally BAD song they possibly could. The guitar playing is hideously mangled and Gibby obnoxiously sings complete nonsense like an incredibly drunk schizoid redneck. Anyone who doesn't crack up when hearing this song has no sense of humor at all. "Cherub" goes to show that the Butthole Surfers are not only capable of sounding weird and hilarious, but also weird and SCARY AS HELL. It's a dark, noisy, industrial rock monstrosity that was creepy enough for Richard Kern to use in one of his films. Every song on this album is brilliantly screwed up. I recommend looking for the version with the four bonus tracks, including "Moving To Florida", which sounds like a song by a bunch of psychotic blues rockers who have been drinking NyQuil all day. Damn, these guys need help. Actually... no, they don't. XD

Punk rock hillybilly psychedelia from one of the most original bands of the eighties. I don't think anything sounds quite like this album, great guitar and drums and then there's Gibby. Dada meets post modern irony. What were these boys smokin'? Maybe its the Texas water. Mary where's my bacon?!? Mary?!?

This is the Bad Brains as early as you can find it - 1979, recording a live demo at Don Zientara's (who later became the legendary producer/engineer of Minor Threat, Fugazi, and just about everything important to come from DC) fledgling Inner Ear studios. The band members all set up in different rooms, leaving H.R. having to stand outside to prevent track bleeding. You can hear crickets from Don's yard coming through his microphone between tracks. It doesn't get any more real than this.

Before Rastafarianism, dreadlocks, metal, and even reggae (for the most part), this is the Bad Brains SLAMMING through a full set list of TOP NOTCH hardcore punk of a quality that has scarcely been achieved by ANYONE - in fact, one of the few who DID manage to best it were the Bad Brains themselves on their 1982 self-titled album.

There are some classic Brains tracks on here that you may know already, but they're not the same. They're slightly slower (don't take that as "slow") which is sometimes good and sometimes bad in retrospect. If you're used to "Don't Need It" from the first album being the fastest song in the world, you may be a bit disappointed by its more "free" sounding pace here. However, if you're a guitarist, this may be your only hope for finding out what the riff actually IS. (I know it's been a blessing to me.)

Some songs are much better in their versions here, though. Prime example---"How Low Can A Punk Get." It's "just-right" fast on here, not the overly thrashing version on "Rock for Light," and sounds a thousand times more menacing and convincing than that version ever could hope to. "Don't Bother Me," which was later re-worked on the "Quickness" LP, is contained here in its original, ULTRA-raw version, and will certainly have your eyes bulged in amazement by the end with the heavy realization that you just heard what might be the greatest punk song ever (that no one has ever heard). Also, the way-ahead-of-its-time sludge breakdown on "S***fit" may sound even HEAVIER here than it does on the self-titled!

It's also cool to hear some of the stuff on here that the Brains later dropped - there are some bluesy, Jimi Hendrix-to-the-bone parts that show up for fractured moments of time; the reggae on here sounds more like lovers' rock than dread or dub; and "Redbone In The City" finds HR doing a hilariously unexpected Johnny Rotten impersonation.

If you're a fan of punk rock or the Bad Brains to any level or degree, you cannot go wrong with this demo. Pick it up and get a mind-numbing history lesson from the best in the game.

I remember picking this album up in 95 when I first got into punk and it was one of the best albums I had ever heard. I still listen to it today and the bad brains remain one of the few punk bands that I can still stand to listen to. The Bad brains burst on to the scene in about the early 80s combining hardcore D.C. punk rock with a unique reggae sound. I personally feel that this there first album and IagainstI are there best works but this album has a certain punk rock quality to it in the recording and in the music and lyrics that I just love. It really is sad that bands dont make music like this anymore back in the 80s it was all about your local scene and going to shows and supporting the music you loved. Now its about slick record executives trying to make a quick buck off of the latest trend or fad. This music takes me back and reminds of what it was like in the good old days if you were there you will dance around your room just like the old times. If you werent youll wish you were. CLASSIC

If you are unfamiliar with the Brains, buy this record and all of their others will follow their way into your collection. If you are already a fan, you already own this record - and if you don't, buy it now and I'll promise not to tell!

These days it's hard to find a band with true talent, unles you're into the pop band of hte week. Rusted Root incorporates a number of instruments and vocal talents to be what I feel one of the greatest bands of today! Remember is only one of their CD's but I would give a 5 to any of them!!!

When it comes to things that are spiritualized or supernatural, I tend to look to the darker side of that style of music--something that is not nescisarily religious or full of faith, just that it envokes an unreal effect with words/music/imagery like Sonic Youth. From what I had heard of Rusted Root before (When I Woke or Cruel Sun believe it was), they seemed to be sunny and hippiesque, pro enviroment, simple...all the things I usually cringe at. But I took a plunge anyway with this cd when a friend let me borrow it...

Remember is a spectacular achievement in the genre of 'flower child' music if you can call it that (no doubt they are big around the laid back college campus). It balances out the lighter side with the darker using fantastic often ethnic instrumentation (including great guitarwork, cultured vocal stylings with Arabian/Indian inflections, and African percussion) and a primitive writing style that seems to capture the spirit of olden tribalistic times with an equal balance of religion, delirium, confusion, and loss. Songs like "Faith I Do Believe" and "Heaven" follow the religious aspects and I often prefer the music to the words, but the tales of overwhelming confusion seem to outweigh these reflecting scattered imagery and being mesmerized by it ( such as my favorite track "Voodoo" in which he describes a variety of fragmented things, but "Baby Will Raam", "Infinite Space", "Circle Of Rememberance", and others are just as worthy).

There are darker parts to the album as well and I think these are some of the best tracks.."Bullets In The Fire" is beautiful and keeps re-occuring in my head, a morose tale of self-doubt/redemption/rising from a depressing incident. He really packs emotion when he foretells that his struggle or whathaveyou will get lost in history just like everything: "bullets in the fire, i believe I lost my head/ And will you ever know what was sent before it went down?". "Sister Contine", "River In A Cage", "Scattered" and "Dangle" are similar in their shadowed or even cathartic resonance.

The overal effect is varied exploration and trawl through an ancient bare boned world, reminds me a tad of Tom Waits' masterpeice Bone Machine. I think it's named Remember for a reason, so that we don't forget the past and all its lost treasures.

Bongos and conga players everywhere unite. Another rusted root album which reflects the amazing talents of "When I Woke" the 2nd studio album of THE ROOT. I love this disc it is totally different, yet acoustic and vocal more than percussionist rhythms heard in prior records by Rusted Root. Overall an amazing album! 5 stars totally!!!!1

When this came out they were the band that everybody thought were destined for greatness and stardom, not Nirvana. I remember going to see them and not Cobain and his boys because this was much much better in our opinion. Shows us we were wrong on one account: they did not make it big time as Nirvana would but they weree good, very good.

probably one of my favorite albums of all time...heavy and brilliant. you should have it!

Mudhoney is quit possibly one of the most underrated bands of all time....If you like Nirvana's first album Bleach...you will definently like Mudhoney..This band is grunge and what grunge was all about...heavy fuzzy guitar riffs and impalcable vocals..Mudhoney is a must for any fan of grunge...

This is not my favourite Donnas album. Admittedly, it was an immediate break from the Ramones sound of their first album (which was put out only earlier that year), and it marked the sound that they would use for the next few albums. But it is lacking the energy that you will hear in their other albums.

That's not to say that I don't like the album. Rock n Roll Machine itself may be one of the greatest songs that have been released in the past 10 years. It just so perfectly captures the attitude of adolescence. In fact, that song itself justified for me the purchase of this album.

The rest of the album fares well with songs like "Checkin' It Out" and "Looking For Blood" being a couple of highlights. But overall the album just thins out rather quickly compared to The Donnas' other efforts.

I suppose that I would go along with the others in saying that this is probably your best starting point, only because this was where the "Donnas' sound" that we know today really started, and I wouldn't want you to jump into it halfway. But there really are better Donnas albums out there.

The Donnas surprises with their second album. The album full of great punk rock songs. The songs are short and fast ones like punk should be. The sound quality is very good. The vocalist Donna A. sings excellently. This female band is probably the best punk band in the world since Blondie. But like Blondie, The Donnas haven't started to make songs which are near pop music. No - The Donnas have 6 albums full of great punk rock music. The lyrics are very good - ambitious and angry...and the most important - rebellious. The songs like "Checkin' It Out", "Looking for Blood", "Rock 'n' Roll Machine", "Outta My Mind"...are truly punk classics. This album has also a great feature - the more you listen to it the more you like it. However, this album isn't even near their best...there's "Spend the Night" and "Get Skintight" which both are that kind of albums you can't easily be tired of. "Wanna Get Some Stuff", "Shake in the Action", "You Make Me Hot", "Rock 'n' Roll Machine"...make me think of Black Flag. The sounds are quite as near them...only they are now much better...but that's only a progress. I guess rock 'n'roll never dies...although punk rock isn't right now that "in-thing"...but who cares? I just wanna have some good rock music - I don't care so much about the outer world...they can play their lousy disco pop songs...as far as I don't hear them. The Donnas is right now the best punk band in the world...even the best punk band I know ever!
Stars: Checkin' It Out, Looking for Blood, You Make Me Hot, Rock 'n' Roll Machine

Production-wise, this is one of The Donnas better albums. The songs are good - but the only ones I usualy listen to are Rock'N'Roll Machine, You Make Me Hot, Checkin' It Out, Gimee My Radio, Outa My Head, and I Want Some Stuff.
Song-wise, I'd say Get Skintight is better than this album.

This is the album that introduced Edwin McCain to the world, and it is a wonderful amalgam of rock, blues, and jazz, featuring acoustic and electric guitars perfectly blended with saxophones and woodwinds, layered with Edwin's beautfully powerful voice. There is no other album out there with this particular sound.

If you have ever loved an Edwin McCain song, then you simply must get this album. Unfortunately, the woodwinds abruptly disappeared on his next few albums, only to reappear in the latest "Scream and Whisper". You'll appreciate them here.

yup, this is it...the best of the best. Not even Edwin McCain has or will be able to outdo himself. This is what music is supposed to be. I will never get enough of it, it's just mind-blowing. Thank you Edwin for raising the bar, you define brilliance.

The first time I heard "Solitude" I said to myself that if one iota of those lyrics had any truth that this guy was the greatest songwriter to live in the last 10 years! When I met Edwin and the band some time in 1996 and found it was a true story I knew he was the greatest songwriter that 'popular' radio would never appreciate. "Solitude" got me to buy the CD, "Jesters,..." made me a huge fan. Because of EMB I've become familiar with two other artists, Jeffrey Gaines and Pete Riley (/Treehouse), who both opened for EMB the numerous times I've seen them. If you like what you hear on the CD but have never seen EMB live you have no clue what you're missing. If you like EMB and you're looking for more fantastic artists check out Jeffrey Gaines and Pete Riley.

These guys are huge in Canada and for good reason; their music is solid and exciting. Even if you only "enjoy" listening to an album by The Hip, once this band is experienced live you'll be completely drawn in. The sets are amazing, they are excellent musicians, and Gord Downie is the master storyteller. Simply put, a concert by The Hip cannot be beat.

This recording brings out experiences unmatched only by seeing them live. Being a sort of "greatest hits", this is a perfect album to introduce people to The Tragically Hip.

"Live Between Us" represents a nice fusion of the Hip's catalogue (at the time of its release). What it also represents (accurately) is how good the Hip are in concert.

Below are some song highlights:

"Springtime in Vienna" - I like this song as it appeared on the album "Trouble at the Henhouse" but it is absolutely amazing life. The Hip picks up the tempo slightly and the lively repeat of the chorus "We'll live to survive our paradoxes" has a powerful effect.

"Fully Completely" - Another example where the live version jumps out at you in a way the album version does not.

"Courage" - "Courage" is a staple at a live Hip show and represents in one song, the dynamism of the Hip.

"New Orleans is Sinking" - The Hip's "rock out jam" song. In the version here, lead singer Gordon Downie covers a portion of David Bowie's "China Girl."

"Scared" - Downie likes to talk to the audience... to give the audience a snip-it for thought while the music plays. What precedes "Scared" is a wonderful example of this.

"Nautical Disaster" - Perhaps my favorite Hip song of all time featuring banter from Downie: "They're turning this song into a movie starring Peter O'Toole in the role of the crummudgenly lighthouse keeper/ Jodie Foster in the role of Susan..."

"Live Between Us" gives the listener the feel of being at a Hip show as well as giving the listener the feeling that the entire disc is but one concert (no clumsy edits that take away the momentum of a live show). It is also quite long (77 mins or so) so you definitely get your money's worth. If you like The Hip or if you like live shows (or both), GET THIS ALBUM

I don't lend myself to hyperbole often, but this disc perfectly captures the experience of seeing the Hip live. Most live albums fall short of capturing a show's energy and the interaction between a band and its audience, but this record gets it right. The Hip is a great live band, and they sound great here. The tracks are a really good cross-section of the band's career. This is a great way to get into this band, but be aware that Gordon Downie (the singer) is a very eccentric personality onstage, and this disc captures him and all of those eccentricities. Enjoy!!

Greg's composition and arrangement are unique and enjoyable, while the lyrical side is much more exploratory than his work with BR. A very somber and almost dark piece of work, his rythyms and melodies call up images of the solitary and isolated lifestyles of many in the world today, while providing hooks that just stick in your head for days. Definitely worth a listen is you are just a BR fan or if you are truly interested in the more experimental side of Greg's artistry.

A rare talent like Graffin's should not be wasted on just one musical style, so while Bad Religion gives him an outlet for his intellient, socially-conscious, fast-paced melodic songwriting, flying solo allowed him to explore different angles vocally and produce more deeply personal lyrics that would have been somewhat inappropriate in a Bad Religion song (he took a chance in 1000 Memories from The New America and the oddly personal tone does stand out). Cease is one of the most exquisite songs I have ever heard, being musically, vocally and lyrically supurb, and exposes Graffin at his most vulnerable and emotive. The rest of the songs are well done, particularly Opinion, but I can't help but wonder what the album would have been like had Graffin not just been through a divorce. Sure it quite possibly could have been the driving motivation behind his venture into the solo realm and the devastating events in life often produce the best music, but I can't help thinking the divorce theme overshadows Graffin's talent somewhat in this album and he seems to be (understandably) too preoccupied with it. That said, a talent such as Graffin could not make a bad cd if he tried (yes, even Bad Religion's No Substance has some quality tracks on it) and even if Cease, which was originally written for Bad Religion, by far outdoes the rest of the songs on American Lesion, this is still a must for any Greg Graffin fan out there.

I was in high school and already a huge fan of Bad Religion when I first heard this CD, and I HATED IT. Yeah, "Maybe She Will" had a hook that refused to let go, but the other songs were too quiet and bland for me.

About ten years later, I gave the CD another chance, and now I cannot stop listening to it. The songs are all distinctive, in that some, such as "Fate's Cruel Hand," are slow and moody, while others, such as "Predicament," are more energetic. "The Fault Line," my personal favorite, incorporates a folk/country inflected guitar sound, while "Cease" is reworked to have only a piano and vocals. The diverse sound on all ten songs allows for a rich listen, yet the album retains a cohesive, unified character because of the overall mood and lyrical matter running throughout.

As with many of Bad Religion's songs, the lyrics here are strikingly lugubrious and border on outright depressing. When Greg sings "There are days in the past, and days waiting for me" in "Fate's Cruel Hand," you just get the sense that everything is completely hopeless and bleak, and this will not change. "In The Mirror" is a prime example of such a dismal worldview, wherein Greg states that, in ten years, nothing will have changed save for perceptible corporeal depreciation that ostensibly heralds an inevitable cessation of life, and goes on to use expletives to describe himself. Truly, a harrowing song.

However, after one makes it through 9 songs of failure and lament, Greg concludes the album with "Back To Earth," which begins with the familiar sense that to dream and care is naive and can only invite torment and disappointment, but also tells of a young couple who still do dream of a better existence, and how, even if he himself can't retain happiness, Greg at least wants to help others have it, to "catch them when they fall and send them up again." And so, in the end, there's a glimmer of hope and joy to be found, despite logic speaking to the contrary.

Truly a magnificent album and criminally overlooked, any cultured fan of Bad Religion or of pure, honest, good emotionally-charged music should buy this now, then email Epitaph and implore them to procure the rights from Atlantic and re-release it.

Well folks... if you've never heard PMB before you'll never know what this album is missing...so go ahead and get it. You'll probably like it. But if you are like me and love all the crisp clear vocals and acoustic wonders of their previous albums then you should pass on this. It's nothing at all like their previous sound. I mean this album is fine but not what I expected or wanted. "Evolving" is great...unless the metamorphosis takes you from a butterfly to a caterpillar. My personal opinion is that adding more "noise" to a song doesn't necessarily make it better. Sometimes it's just plain noisier. Be sure to take a quick listen to sample tracks of their previous albums and you'll understand. In fact, you may end up buying Shine which is what I recommend. Save Me is an appropriate title as I wish I would have saved me a few bucks and passed. Would somebody email me when PMB goes back to their original incredible sound that differentiated them from all the other radio muck? I suppose all good things come to an end, right? Too bad.

Save me is a different sound for the Pat McGee band. In my opinion it is mellower with deeper lyrics. This album proves how diverse the band really is! I think Save Me is fantastic and their best work yet.

This CD is definitely the best of all Pat McGee Band's albums. But anyone buying their CDs has to realize they sound the best live, as any good musicians do. However, this album has achieved a greater emotional intensity than any of the previous albums. I have been a fan for years, and I loved the old harmonies as much as anyone. I was disappointed when band members began to leave and the harmonies had to go with them, but the band has truly persevered and created a new sound that really gets to the heart of the emotion behind Pat's songwriting.

I've heard that the band did not try to get it as perfect as the last album. I loved the previous album, Shine, but it's a legitimate criticism to say it may have been overproduced. Save Me is certainly not overproduced. It is probably the closest to live sounding of a studio album I have heard in a long time.

Bands do evolve and change, whether they want to or not, and PMB has done a great job. This album is the culmination of years of songwriting by Pat and with the core members of the band coming together -- you can really hear that Pat, Chris (the drummer) and Chardy (the percussionist) have been together for a long time and are better for it.