American Alternative music reviews

Swans final opus, what a great album this is! Buy it, listen to it, submerge yourself into this kind of music. Long live the Swans!!

As another masterpiece from Swans it really is kind of difficult giving a review without saying what others have already said. 1 Word could describe it 'Cerebral' It's in your head. The music sounds like it's from a dream or maybe a bad memory. The mind of an amnesiac possibly. It can be so heavy and so beautiful words do not do it justice. The spaced out Rock of 'I Am The Sun' really gives a good mood to the album, but 'She Lives' really lets you know that this is Swans we're talking about, very moody, very surreal music.

Top 3 Tracks:
1.Killing for Company
2.Mother/Father
3.She Lives

Just buy it please.

The Swans changed and the rest is history.

This CD came out in 1995 at the height of the alternative rock craze. However, this does not sound like any alternative band. You cannot even call this Goth. This is just something of its own. The Swans are one of the most unique musical entities of all time. They created "dark" music, yes, but it was not dark for dark's sake. The music of The Swans is ethereal - it enwraps you in an atmosphere. The band is never self-indulgent. The lyrics are never self-serving and they do not appeal to an angsty teenage fanbase. In reality, the music is quite sophisticated and intellectual.

I have never heard of any band that sounded like The Swans. They are definitely one of the most overlooked bands of all time, which is a pity. They continued to evolve after this record until their death in 1997. They always kept things fresh and interesting, which is what every great band does. They never played it safe for commercial success, even during this era when they were just a step away from it. And while their contemporaries made it huge, The Swans stayed in obscurity and continued to make amazing experimental music with no regard whatsoever to the demands of their audience.

In that case, The Great Annihilator is just a snapshot of The Swans during one single era in their existence. This is one of the last records the band put out and it is also one of their best. This music is beautiful and melancholic without sounding too melodramatic and cheesy. It is dark and somber without sounding self-indulgent and pretentious. It is transcendental.

It takes you on a journey, like all great music does, to a different place.

Swans final opus, what a great album this is! Buy it, listen to it, submerge yourself into this kind of music. Long live the Swans!!

As another masterpiece from Swans it really is kind of difficult giving a review without saying what others have already said. 1 Word could describe it 'Cerebral' It's in your head. The music sounds like it's from a dream or maybe a bad memory. The mind of an amnesiac possibly. It can be so heavy and so beautiful words do not do it justice. The spaced out Rock of 'I Am The Sun' really gives a good mood to the album, but 'She Lives' really lets you know that this is Swans we're talking about, very moody, very surreal music.

Top 3 Tracks:
1.Killing for Company
2.Mother/Father
3.She Lives

Just buy it please.

The Swans changed and the rest is history.

This CD came out in 1995 at the height of the alternative rock craze. However, this does not sound like any alternative band. You cannot even call this Goth. This is just something of its own. The Swans are one of the most unique musical entities of all time. They created "dark" music, yes, but it was not dark for dark's sake. The music of The Swans is ethereal - it enwraps you in an atmosphere. The band is never self-indulgent. The lyrics are never self-serving and they do not appeal to an angsty teenage fanbase. In reality, the music is quite sophisticated and intellectual.

I have never heard of any band that sounded like The Swans. They are definitely one of the most overlooked bands of all time, which is a pity. They continued to evolve after this record until their death in 1997. They always kept things fresh and interesting, which is what every great band does. They never played it safe for commercial success, even during this era when they were just a step away from it. And while their contemporaries made it huge, The Swans stayed in obscurity and continued to make amazing experimental music with no regard whatsoever to the demands of their audience.

In that case, The Great Annihilator is just a snapshot of The Swans during one single era in their existence. This is one of the last records the band put out and it is also one of their best. This music is beautiful and melancholic without sounding too melodramatic and cheesy. It is dark and somber without sounding self-indulgent and pretentious. It is transcendental.

It takes you on a journey, like all great music does, to a different place.

From the opening riffs of "TV Set" to the psyched out cover of the old torch-jazz classic "fever" this album comes out swinging and doesn't let up.

Rockabilly and Psychobilly fans alike should have a good time with this one.

The Cramps were a bunch of trash-soaked, horny rock n roll zombie punks who worshiped at the alter of American junk culture. Their music was a celebration of gut-bucket rockabilly and b-movie schlock. Songs the Lord Taught Us, their reverb-soaked debut, is all of these things, not to mention a freaking great time. Singer Lux Interior is a madman, hooting and howling as if possessed by the angry ghosts of Carl Perkins, Little Richard, and Elvis. The guitars are soaked in feedback and echo, the drums sound like tin cans, and the lyrics are about lonely Martian kids, zombies dancing, cutting someone's head off and putting itin your T.V., and sanitation engineers. "Mystery Plane" is an amped-up, droning stomp, "The Mad Daddy" is too hip to be true, and "Feaver" proves that even when they slow things down, the Cramps know what they're doing. And on top of that you get a totally awesome cover of the sixties garage classic "Strychnine," and "Sunglasses After Dark," which features Luz sounding really angry for an unkown reason (I'm sure he has a good one, though). The menacing "Garbageman" stomps with unhalting abandon, and "What's Behind the Mask" is hilarious. A good time for all.

...and I heard the song "Sunglasses After Dark" being played from behind the door. Before that I had never heard The Cramps, yet I ran in and bought the CD right out of the stereo for $4. This rocks from start to finish, and is the best straight-through listen album I own.

What happened to Narada? It was one of the best New Age labels that produced quality output,supported some truly talented artists,and delighted music lovers everywhere(Early David Lanz, John Doan,etc....)
Nearly all the CDs of Peter Buffett,one of their most talented artists are deleted!! It is a great shame indeed, for it deprives new listeners of a very rich and melodic music that is a joy to the senses.New Age nowadays has fallen on really bad times! even musicians like David Lanz have gone all commercial,(to the extent that will make Richard Clyderman and John Tesh really proud), but there are also others like Peter Buffett who have given the genre a whole new and more sophisticated meaning.
Electronic music can be quite misleading..there is a thin line between cheesy elevator tunes and serious stuff,and Peter Buffet falls squarely in the latter category.Not since the times of Tangerine Dream's Ricochet and Stratosfear, had electronic music gave me so much listening pleasure than with the compositions of Buffett. They are very well structured original melodies, with powerful beats, and flavoured with a Native American atmosphere.Spirit Dance is still available, so grab it before it follows the others, and you will experience a music with lots of soul and depths..and try to search for Buffett's other output..they are masterpieces from a very talented musician that sadly is hugely underrated and nearly forgotten.

This CD is such an amazing blend of New Age ambient grooves with strong Native American sounds incorporated. Some of the tracks don't really belong on here IMO. Track 6 aka Celebration song has static sounds that are a bit grating and is mostly something I'd hear at a pow-wow. While I love hearing that kind of music when I'm actually at a pow-wow I'm not particularly fond of hearing it on CD. Not a bad track though. The weak spots on here are made up for by powerful tracks like Hidden Heritage, Death Song, The Place Where The Crying Begins & Dreams. Hiddne Heritage in my opinion deserves attention because while it's a gorgeous song the thing that makes it a shining star on this CD is because a voice mentions the names of tribes from all over the country. You'll hear names like Omaha, Iroquois(I'm of Iroquois descent), Kickapoo, Erie, and numerous other tribes. There are over a hundred tribes mentioned in this song. One of the best songs on this CD. The other track that in my opinion stands out is The Place Where The Crying Begins. This track to me is another favorite with a very dark, melancholy atmosphere with a haunting, ghostly choir that gives me the chills. I just love the electric guitars in the song. Spirit Dance may not be as consistant as lets say, Yonnondio or 500 Nations but it's a worthy album of owning.

Great blend of jazz and Native American music. Two cultures accent each other and create material that educates the mind and stimulates your senses. The video( Spirit Dance)adds visual that lets you see the flow of energy through everyone involved.

Up until 1996, The Tragically Hip had been a cult (yet extremely successful) hard-rock band from Canada, seemingly played in every Canadian teen's-20s basement with wood paneled walls, shag carpet and a huge red maple leaf hung on the wall. Canadian through and through. As Canadian as maple syrup, mounties, beavers, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Wayne Gretzky. Their music was called grungy, alternative and had a "cult" following. Lead singer Gord Downie was reknowned for his ad-lib, bizarre stage performances and the lyrics were some of the most complex, yet eerily strange compositions ever heard. Then 1996 happened and "Trouble At The Henhouse" arrived.

I consider this recording as the turning point for the band. Essentially, they grew up. Sure, the complex lyrics were still there but there was an "adult" acoustic sound that began to creep its way into their repetoire. The hard-driving guitars were mellowed in favour of a more kinder, inclusive sound that sought to bring in a wider audience. Exhibit A: The massive success of "Ahead By A Century", a song that crossed from AOR over to Contemporary Hit Radio. The result was a widening of their audience (something that mushroomed with their next CD "Phantom Power"). It was an acknowledgement that not only was the band getting older but their fan base was as well.

This is not to say that this CD was the beginning of the end of the band or that they "jumped the shark". It is one of those seminal recordings where you get the sense that, after years of doing the same type of sound, the creativity has been tweaked and the band has turned a corner that will result in change - good or bad. The acoustic wanderings on this CD are fitting for such a recording that has such an "earthy" feel to it. The sounds of lulls and high points in the music are typically dramatic for The Hip and they again work on this set. Every song is memorable for certain lyrics and a challenge to comprehend. The music is professional but not so polished as to make it redundant. This is a fine record and, with "Phantom Power", the peak of their commercial success - reward for years of "cult" Canadian fame.

This is the Hip at their most competent and most assured. Every song on this album is fantastic, and listening to the songs in a row together makes each one even better!

This is one of my favorite albums.
The hip are one of the things that made growing up in rural Western New York really special. The Canadian radio that filters in across Lake Erie introduced me to this truly great band.

Up until 1996, The Tragically Hip had been a cult (yet extremely successful) hard-rock band from Canada, seemingly played in every Canadian teen's-20s basement with wood paneled walls, shag carpet and a huge red maple leaf hung on the wall. Canadian through and through. As Canadian as maple syrup, mounties, beavers, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Wayne Gretzky. Their music was called grungy, alternative and had a "cult" following. Lead singer Gord Downie was reknowned for his ad-lib, bizarre stage performances and the lyrics were some of the most complex, yet eerily strange compositions ever heard. Then 1996 happened and "Trouble At The Henhouse" arrived.

I consider this recording as the turning point for the band. Essentially, they grew up. Sure, the complex lyrics were still there but there was an "adult" acoustic sound that began to creep its way into their repetoire. The hard-driving guitars were mellowed in favour of a more kinder, inclusive sound that sought to bring in a wider audience. Exhibit A: The massive success of "Ahead By A Century", a song that crossed from AOR over to Contemporary Hit Radio. The result was a widening of their audience (something that mushroomed with their next CD "Phantom Power"). It was an acknowledgement that not only was the band getting older but their fan base was as well.

This is not to say that this CD was the beginning of the end of the band or that they "jumped the shark". It is one of those seminal recordings where you get the sense that, after years of doing the same type of sound, the creativity has been tweaked and the band has turned a corner that will result in change - good or bad. The acoustic wanderings on this CD are fitting for such a recording that has such an "earthy" feel to it. The sounds of lulls and high points in the music are typically dramatic for The Hip and they again work on this set. Every song is memorable for certain lyrics and a challenge to comprehend. The music is professional but not so polished as to make it redundant. This is a fine record and, with "Phantom Power", the peak of their commercial success - reward for years of "cult" Canadian fame.

This is the Hip at their most competent and most assured. Every song on this album is fantastic, and listening to the songs in a row together makes each one even better!

This is one of my favorite albums.
The hip are one of the things that made growing up in rural Western New York really special. The Canadian radio that filters in across Lake Erie introduced me to this truly great band.

Having admired the fiery psychedelia of Television's "Marquee Moon", this album was widely recommended to me by the press and others, being seen by some as an "earthier" version of alternative rock.

However, it is fair to say that Steve Wynn and co. really cannot be said to live up to the hype in any way whatsoever. Whilst "The Days Of Wine And Roses" might take many of its riifs and melodies from a record like "Marquee Moon", there is no way at all in which one can say that it ever does anything better than copy it both in sound and production. For the most part, it is melody-free noise: feedback-drenched, yes, but with no melody to counter it. Wynn's dry vocals are an even worse part of the record: they're half-spoken and really give no sense of a message whatsover.

Only rarely, on "Tell me When It's Over" or the Kendra smith vocal track "Too Little Too Late" does any trace of psychedelia shine through. Even these tracks are not enough to make what is otherwise a noisy hard rock album (though with relatively sparse and undated production) worth hearing.

"Days Of Wine And Roses" I expected to be great: to say I was disappointed is an understatement.

There are two reasons for anyone who loves music--especially indie and alternative rock--to get this album. First, it is a great album in its own right, featuring several truly great cuts and some wonderful guitar playing. Second, it is easily one of the most influential albums ever released. Alternative may have become popular with the release of Nirvana's NEVERMIND in 1991, but in fact there were a number of important releases that preceded it and that contributed to the sound that would become alternative. Nirvana only popularized alternative, it neither developed nor invented it. They were no pioneers, though they were a great band by any measure. Before Nirvana a number of musical sources went into the formation of alternative, from Neil Young's grungier outings to Television's MARQUEE MOON to Greg Sage's efforts with The Wipers and in the eighties with The Replacements, H?sker D?, R.E.M., and the Pixies. But few bands were more important to the development of the grunge guitar sound than was Steve Wynn's Dream Syndicate and no Dream Syndicate was more influential than THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES.

The fascinating thing about the album is that it sounds so familiar, but when you look at the albums that it sounds like, they all come after its release, while nothing that came before bears much resemblence to it. Little in rock is truly original, but this comes as close as one can get. One can hear a lot of Television in the album, especially the slower pace of the songs, but the guitar playing sounds far more like Neil Young than either Tom Verlaine or Richard Lloyd. Some compare it to the Velvet Underground, but I've never heard that as much as Television. Like Television, the Dream Syndicate is built around twin guitars, though an unequal partnership. Steve Wynn is so much more celebrated than the underrated Karl Precoda that many think he was the only guitarist.

For those coming to Dream Syndicate for the first time, I recommend two albums. THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (I've never been able to determine if the title was taken from Ernst Dowson's poem "Vitae Summa Brevis"-"They are not long, the days of wine and roses/Out of a misty dream/Our path emerges for a while, then closes/Within a dream."-or the Jack Lemmon movie whose title was taken from the Dowson poem) and the retrospective TELL ME WHEN IT'S OVER: THE BEST OF THE DREAM SYNDICATE. Though the band produced a lot of good music, almost all of it is contained on these two CDs. I'm actually not a big fan of the extended version of THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES. The CD includes the eponymous EP that came out shortly before the LP and I find few of the EP cuts to be anywhere near as interesting as the LP versions. I'm not much of a fan of extended versions of albums; I rarely find that the extra cuts are especially good additions to an album. There are exceptions. Elvis Costello's extended versions of albums often contain fascinating alternative cuts of songs (e.g., the acoustic version of "Green Shirt") and the Gram Parson versions of the songs that were (for legal reasons) sung instead by Roger McGuinn on the Byrds's SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO are vastly superior. But these are the exceptions. To be honest, I would rather that THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES featured only the original cuts and I'll be honest and say that on my iPod I've deleted the additions and kept only the original nine cuts.

However one listens to this album, either at home with all the cuts or on iPod with extra cuts eliminated (my recommendation), this is one of the crucial albums in the development of alternative rock. The songs remain very strong a quarter of a century later (eeek! I suddenly feel old!). "Tell Me When Its Over," "When You Smile," "That's What You Always Say," "Then She Remembers," "Halloween," and the title track are as haunting now as when the album first came out. Truly one of rock's great albums.

This album is brilliant. It was [and remains] so refreshing to hear a band of that era write and perform music that purely guitar-driven. The songs hold up to this day, decades later.
The one negative review posted here is mystifying to me.

I have had this CD in the limited edition since the first day and it is still my favorite cd. Fastball is the best band ever and I will buy any fastball stuff within a reasonable price. I am really looking foward to their next cd!!!

Well who here besides me is worried about the state of american music? Well i care even though i'm not american. If you are looking for some good music to hear i suggest picking up a copy of fastball's newest cd. They do everything right in this album. The only flaw with this album is it's been done before. You can hear a heavy influence from past musicians mostly from the sixties, but hey the sixties were the best time for music. All the tracks range from alternative style rock to catchy pop. I'm glad i found out about fastball,because i was tired of listening to korn and limp bizkit. Also check out their prior release because it's just as good.

Their versatility with so many different styles of music is truly amazing! From the modern/alternative sounds of "This is Not My Life" and "Goodbye" to irresistable 60s-pop in "Dark Street" to kick-butt classic power-riff rockers "Morning Star" and "Time" to southern rock "Don't Give Up On Me" to Mariachi-flavored "Love is Expensive & Free" to the beatiful, haunting ballad "Vampires" etc. they experiment (successfully!) with just about every genre of music out there. And you still get the great deal of 2 bands for the price of one, since Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga sound so different from each other. They each have some great strengths to offer. I'd say Tony is the better singer and he's also great at writing clever, catchy lyrics. But Miles is the one with the real sense of adventure when it comes to trying different styles of music, and his cryptic lyrics always keep you wondering what he's really saying.

Overall, the biggest difference between this and their previous 5-star "All the Pain Money Can Buy" is that this one is more of a "Total Album" experience. ATPMCB was so dominated by the incredible "The Way" that it took me a while to get past that one to learn to appreciate the rest of the CD. With "Harsh Light" I can't really pick any particular favorite so I have to listen to the whole CD repeatedly instead of playing one track 3-4X before listening to the rest of it.

FASTBALL IS THE GREATEST BAND AROUND!!!!

Similar to Helmet and the Jesus Lizard, Unsane are a good example of why the early 90's rocked so much. Shame the Korn-addicts didn't check this out when it was released.

Unsane, Occupational Hazard (Relapse, 1998)

Insert witty comments about lyrics here. The only places I could find them listed were ad- and spyware-infested commercial sites. And without a sheet I can't understand what Chris is on about 90% of the time. Ah, well.

It amazes me that a band like Unsane could have still been around in the metal scene that was 1998. I mean, let's face it, metal was dominated by that nu-muck spewed by Korn and its ripoffs, and "punk" had come to mean The Offspring and Blink182. Even Ministry had become relatively unlistenable a few years before. What was a purveyor of quality metal to do?

I don't know, but they did it. Occupational Hazard is straight-up sludge from the bottom of the East River. This is the album [Ministry's] Filth Pig wanted to be and couldn't become. Slow, crunchy guitar, tortured vocals, and a rhythm section capable of hurting you without even being in the same room. Sonically, they bear resemblances to mid-era Jesus Lizard (think Liar here) with the speed turned down, or early Noisegate without the deep ambiance. Awesome. ****

I picked this album up for $5.00. Even for three times that price, it would have still have been a deal. This has to be the best album I have gotten in at least the last 5 months.
Do your eardrums a favor, and get this album!!!

To this day, I have no idea why Screaming Trees were not as huge as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or the rest of the bunch. But at the same time I'm glad, because they're still kind of my little secret, (among thousands of others). The Trees can be as thundering as Soundgarden, as dark as Alice In Chains, and as gentle as some Pearl Jam. Yet they are known as well as Mudhoney and Tad. Anyway, to my point. If you have no Screaming Trees, then do start with "Sweet Oblivion", but if you have that and "Dust" already, this is just as essential. "Uncle Anesthesia" is basically their "Bleach", or "Louder Than Love". Got it, get it, good.

This was the 3rd album I ever bought from the Trees. They are not as hard as most of the other 'grunge' players and they focus more on a bluesy psychedelia then on recycled punk riffs. I love this album, it is thier best work imo.

I think the screaming trees are one of the best grunge bands. I think the best part of it is Lanegan's voice. I would call him the Tom Yorke (Radiohead)of grunge. All the songs are good, but tracks 3,7 and 10 are the best. These guys woud have been as famous as pearl jam and alice in chains, but from what i've heard, the would get in drunken fights and break up, then start back again.
I also recommend tad, meat puppets, nirvana, alice in chains,system of a down, radiohead and slayer(DON'T ASK).