American Alternative music reviews

While I was so happy to open up 1969 I was a little sad. At first my brother and I thought the songs were a little to whiny. But then after listening to it again I found that Steel Train has a classic sound that i was to dazed to hear at first. Steel train is proboley the only adult sounding band on Drive Thru Records, so if you can relate to good classic songs this cd is for you.

1969- Arguably the best year of music in the 20th century.
These six songs- Arguably the best covers of the 20th century.
Steel Train- Arguably the best...heh, no I won't say it.
They are awesome though, and these six covers attest to their skill and proficiency. These aren't the easiest tunes to play, but they cover each track flawlessly, some even a little bit better than the originals. I Want You Back is just phenomenal. It's my favorite number on 1969, and no offense to Michael Jackson, but I think the guys from Steel Train sound a lot better than his prepubescent screeching. Helplessly Hoping is the second and my second favorite track. I won't even dare to criticize Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young...they're some of the greatest harmonizers of all time. I will say this though, my dad heard Steel Train's cover of Helplessly Hoping and said he thought it was better than the CSNY archetype. Coming from a guy who knows a heck of a lot about music, I think that statement at least shows that these guys are indeed talented way beyond their years. I don't care too much for the next song, Natural Mystic. I thought this was a pretty poor choice for a song to cover, as I don't really like the original, but they did play it accurately and as passionately as Bob did with the original. Space Oddity is great, I was thrilled when I saw that they did this song. Bowie was a huge part of the 60s and 70s glamrock scene, as the inside cover of this ep mentions, and they definitely do the track justice. She's So Heavy was not the best pick for The Beatles, they have so many better tracks, but again, The Train does a fine job emulating the greatest rock n roll group of all time, and they even spice the track up a bit with some Latin sounding flourishes. Creedence's Bad Moon Rising is a great way to wrap things up. Warm and carefree, the cover picks up the exact mood of the song as it had in 1969. All in all, this is a spectacular ep, and I definitely recommend it.

Many bands deperately try to make it into the mainstream, and become boys of summer and it ends up destroying what they worked so hard to accomplish. Steel Train is the type of band that will do what their artistic intuition tells them and not give in to what is popular, or to what people expect them to do. Their first album was a glimpse into what is to come, showing us that soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics can still exist in a scene that is slowly losing credentials. Their second EP gives us insight into the minds that make up this band. Showing us that even though the past is behind us it can direct and change the future. Each song on this record is its own trinket of Gold that never fades or tarnishes, you will always find something new, every time you listen to Steel Train. I have for the last 2 years.

Too bad that junkie Evan had to slowly ruin this band. Like most early Lemonhead records, Ben Deily's songs shine on this album. It's not that Evan and his songs are bad, there's just really no comparison though. After this record, the band broke up. But in typical Evan fashion, he afterwards re-formed the band with different people... as if it was only his band. Ben went on to front the generally unheard of Pods, who were quite amazing. If you're looking for a copy of their only cd, Taang! may have a copy or two around, ask 'em. I wish I knew what Ben was up to now. It's too bad really... darn Evan...

This is a good disc to add to a Lemonheads collection. It has a few songs from the first Lemonheads full length and some really good pop style punk.

That was my thought when I first bought this album in college. I listened to it for five months. It is one of my favorite albums in my collection and I still listen to it on and off. "luka" is a great remake of an annoying song and "those were the days", some of the lyrics are from TV show "All in the family" (just watch the opening credits.). Their next album after this one is "It's a shame about ray", So this album is one out of four lemonheads albums (along with creator and hate your friends) where Dando and Co.still remain true to their roots.

The good. This show is the chill Phish that you would typically hear in the 97-99 era shows. Kinda funky, some good layering of loops, and songs that work well together.

The bad. Since the show is not in stock many places, vendors with copies have more than doubled the price. The disc is not out of print, so just be patient. Also, any audience recordings of the show can be downloaded for FREE. The show is worth it's retail price, but this 40$+ business is absurd. Def. not that good.

The album was great however. I have a big F- YOU!!! TO anyone and everyone selling this album at over the retail price. Right now the lowest price is 62 g*dd*mn dollars! If i ever see this album in a store at this price i will literally slap the person selling it!

This show has a loose feel from the beginning. The songs seem to flow in and out of eachother, and they often give that phish-like feel of making you forget what song their playing. The jams are more than your typical creative extensions of studio songs. I have not listened to very many phish shows that I can say all four were each on the very top of their game, but that can definately be said of this show. To say that this show is sloppy is to say that true phish is sloppy.

While Live 18 is certainly not "the greatest show ever," (an all too often thrown out term used by phish fans.) It does contain some excellent music, loosely played and highly enjoyable. The first set is pretty standard stuff, pretty fast paced. But the second set is where the show really takes off. It opens with my personal favorite Loving Cup of all time. Trey really digs into the jam section of the tune and it seems like every note he hits is really strained with emotion (in a good way)...a really moving jam. After the segue into a kindof sloppy Sparkle, the band starts Tweezer and abandons the setlist for the night. This second set was the birth of Phish's 'endless jam' concept employed much since the time of this show. The jamming is very nice, with segues in and out of some covers and a Sweet Emotion jam. Very cool second set. The filler is also fantastic, don't pass it up. While I think some of the previous reviews stating this is phish's "best jamming ever" are simply exagerations, this is a very jammy show with some history behind it and simply put, its a fun listen.

I'm suprised to see some folks rating this show so harshly. Sure, it's not a show with elite jamming, but it's such a fun ride that you shouldn't care about the occasional pothole or speed bump. The second set is arguably the first time Phish truly threw the rulebook out the window & just played on gut instinct all the way through. This set actually was the set that converted a few of my friends into fans...the "Sparks", "Cannonball", "Walk Away", and "Purple Rain" covers (all thrown into the middle of a bizarre "Tweezer" jam) make for a fun and somewhat accessible evening, and remind us that sometimes we NEED shows like these. I mean, if you can't muster up a giggle during the hilarious-yet-somewhat- faithful-to-the-original "Purple Rain", you might be crossing into "music snob" territory...lol As Robert Plant once said, "does anyone remember laughter?!" That's not to say it's ALL fun n' games...the frenetic jamming that eventually morphed into the "Tweezer Reprise" got down to business, and reminds us why some folks travel across the country to see this band live. Long story short: this show is like a Harlem Globetrotters game...it's not on the level of an NBA game (your typical Phish show), but it's got flash & you'll find yourself smiling alot once you realize you shouldn't be taking it too seriously.

Phish continues its "Live" series with this set from a show in July, 1994 from Dallas. "Live 18" (3 CDs, 186 min.) is remarkable for set 2 of the show, and a treasure for any Phish fan.

CD1 (70 min.) is OK, but nothing remarkable as such, except for a great "Split Open and Melt". But CD2 (78 min.) is really where it's at. After a tentative "Loving Cup" and "Sparkle", the band gets grooving into a 70 min. long jam that is as good as Phish ever gets, starting with a terrific 25+ min. "Tweezer" that jams just terrific. According to Mike Gordon's liner notes, "we decided to jam the whole (2nd) set... all songs connected... song list abandoned", and it shows, with great tongue-in-cheek covers of, among others, The Who's "Sparks" and Prince's "Purple Rain", you can just feel the band having fun and rocking out. "Tweezer" shows up a few more times in various forms, bookending the set. CD3 (38 min.) contains (besides the encores) a great 22 min. instrumental jam from a November, 94 show in Missouri.

The "Live" collection contains many great shows, but "Live 18" is one of the stand-outs, as Set 2 is Phish is as great as you'll find them anywhere. Highly recommended!

if you are a fan of the psychedellic intense spacey years of phish, this david bowie is going to blow you away, the most amazing experimental phish jam i think i have ever herd, this jam really takes you to some eerie and psychologicly intense places, this is what 94 is all about, there are some other great jams on this show like; split open and melt, runaway jim->foam, haleys commet, possum, guyte, and the lizards, but the david bowie is simply epic, if you have never herd this version of the song and youre a phish fan you owe it to yourself to check this out, its legendary

I read a previous review of 12/29/1994 which said, and I quote loosely, "an average show, no stand-out versions of any songs"...without being too critical, I'd have to say that there is *nearly* unanimous agreement among the phish "world" that this review ought to be purged from the pages of amazon.com, never to be seen or heard from again. The David Bowie that opens set 2 has been lauded by many as not only the best Bowie ever, but *one* of the most interesting pieces of music phish has ever done, and it will be forever referred to as the "Providence Bowie". There are two distinct Themes that phish jams on before entering into a very weird, Lassie-esque/dark section that I won't describe here, and one of these themes, an ascending chord progression that feels incredibly uplifting, was in my head for two days after listening to this. Trey begins the chords softly, but eventually it evolves into a full-band "near-song" I've never heard before in any of their jams that Trey then gloriously embellishes by playing the melody in the higher registers of his guitar while the rest of the band exploits this incredibly catchy chord progress that *must* be from some song, somewhere or maybe not I don't know. That's my favorite part of the song, for what its worth.

The Runaway Jim -> Foam is like a pure bonus, and this Jim was one of the earlier "Runaway Jams" similar to 12/31/1995.

Enjoy phish.

David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie *********** Did I make myself clear?? *******************

This is a pretty interesting disc. I guess some of the songs are rap, but mostly it's a collection of songs you've probably heard in the mid 90's. It's worth noting that people who aren't fans of rap might like what they hear on this disc. It's one of those albums you want to pull out every so often to see if you find it as fascinating as you did when you first heard it. I think you'll be surprised it holds up over the years.

I don't know really too much about music history and "technicalities" so don't bust a nut after reading my title... But this was a CD my father gave me out of pure whim or something like that... Any way, it doesn't play any more, but I still have it to this very day. It has been 9 years since I first got it and still love ALL the songs. In short, (although a bit too late) BUZZ BIN vol. 1 is a great compilation from America's Anti-Music Television Station: MTV.

All of the songs on the album are ones that I'm fond of. I'm pretty surprised at how the songs flow into each other as well. Cranberries "Zombie after White Zombie is rather clever. Check this out if you miss the more heavy sounding songs from the 90's. MTV's Buzz Bin was one of the best things to me in the 90s, and I'm really sad that it's gone now.

I remember the whole scene developing. Most of sub pop verged on the metal - self indulgent widdly widdly. mudhoney really stood out - they were the only ones with that real fast, thick, dirty sound, and great tunesmiths too. up there with fugazi, sonic youth, dinosaur jr, big black and pixies as the best of late 80s/early 90s rock n roll. buy this album if you have a decent stereo and can turn it up very very loud.

I'll go out on a limb, with hindsight on my side, and say that at one precious moment in time Mudhoney was the best rock band on the planet. Maybe not for very long, and perhaps too long ago to be of any real relevance right now, but for one brilliant moment, they were the ones carrying the torch that had passed hands from Ike Turner to Chuck Berry to Keith Richards to Iggy Pop, and on and on and so on from now until forever.

Mudhoney was loud & fast, obnoxious and wild, and yet simultaneously heart-wrenching and melodic.

They had long hair, wore thrift store clothes, and looked cool in b&w photos with guitars in their in hands.

This, the self titled album, might be their best one. "I got something waiting for you, that's right", whispers Mark Arm on "This Gift", and you gotta wonder what he's hiding behind that smirk. Take him up on his offer, and get this.

This is by far Mudhoney's best release. From top to bottom, a solid classic. The guitar sound along with the drum parts on this release are unforgettable-this CD made me want to play the drums. As far as the Seattle sound of this time, this has to be ranked up there as one of the top albums of that era. If you are interested in grunge but do not know where to start your collection, this is definitely the release from Mudhoney that you will want to pick up. If you have Soundgarden and Nirvana anywhere in your collection already, you will not be sorry if you pick this one up too.

now this is what i call fun. this is a whole bunch of stuff...jangle from REM, reverb from jesus and mary chain, surf guitar from somewhere in california, vocals from let's active...yet it's all somehow distinctly athenian. i think, in many ways, love tractor was sort of the definitive athens band of the 80s. not REM, not the B-52s or pylon...but all the more representative of the athens scene for that. while never really famous, they always put out solid albums, instrumental in the beginning, eventually graduating to vocals. this is their last album before a 13 year hiatus, and probably their best ever. i recently ordered their 1982 debut, and am looking forward to hearing their original sound. because of their talent, originality, and laidback work ethic, they have earned two spots on my upcoming 2-disc athens retrospective mix.

"Themes From Venus" was released right at the end of the Jangle Pop genre back around when it died back in the late eighties to make room for "alternative" music. Similar to Pylon's "Chain" (released a year later), "Themes..." carries on the style of their previous EP "......Outer Spaceship...". A must for fans of good, 80's party music with a hint of psychodelica.

If Mars was colonized about twenty years ago, with cities and bars there, my guess is that Love Tractor probably would have been the in-house bar band. These guys have such an unusual sound, that it's hard to describe. Themes From Venus stands as my favorite LT album...

Mannheim Steamroller is excellent music, however, this collection is "Seasons - A Fresh Aire COLLECTION" and is NOT what I would call CHRISTMAS music.. I am disappointed that i did not recieve CHRISTMAS music. I do not intend on keeping it.

I own every single cd and or song that Mannheim Steamroller has ever made which is ALOT! They are a great band to listen to for all ocasions...Christmas obviously is #1 but the Halloween and what not or good too...The fresh Aire Series is my all time favorite...1-8 are great to listen to and relax. I would suggest buying all the cds. Chip Davis is a close friend of mine as well and he is a great man

I received my first introduction to Fresh Aire while I was in New Zealand as a Mormon Missionary in 1984 - I was listening to some music by Sky and my companion commented that if I liked that I would probably like Fresh Aire. It wasn't until 6 months later that I was actually with someone who had tapes of Fresh Aire (like many people, I never heard of Mannheim Steamroller until some time later) At the time I didn't know just which album the tapes were of (indeed I later found that they were a mixture of the first three) but I became totally hooked the very first time I heard Toccata and the Cricket.

I later bought a vinyl copy of Fresh Aire, still later a cassette of Fresh Aire II and finally a CD of Fresh Aire III. When I found this boxed set on Amazon, I couldn't stop myself ordering it, and it now takes pride of place in my CD collection. When I want to relax and tune out, it's on with the headphones and on with one of these CDs (my favourite is III, but I like them all). Chip Davis is an incredible musical talent.

It is hard for me to qualify exactly what it is I like so much about Fresh Aire. As a musician my response to music is as much an emotional as a technical thing. If I were to try and analyse what appeals to me about this music it would probably have a lot to do with the masterful blending of the sounds of nature, traditional instruments (recorders, harpsicords etc.) and electronic and more modern instrumentation. Combine all that with some great cutting-edge stereo effects in the studio (what I like to refer to as the "music moving through your head" feeling) and you have something that is quite unique.

Looking at the albums individually, my least favourite would be Fresh Aire IV, but even that had a couple of tracks I like. The first three, however, to me would have made it worth getting the set even if I hated 4 (which I don't). I have since listened to Fresh Aire V, Fresh Aire VI (both of which I would consider at least as good as the first three) and Fresh Aire 7 which I was not so sure about. Admittedly I've only listened to 7 once, but it just didn't seem to grab me on an emotional level like the other albums for some reason. That may simply be a matter of individual taste.

Despite already having the first 4 albums, I'm considering getting the re-released set containing all 8 albums. It's probably worth noting for anyone looking at buying this set that American Gramophone have remastered all the earlier 7 albums and re-released them with 8 in HDCD (i.e. 5.1 digital surround)

I really like the band's "Key Lime Pie" so I decided to check out some others in their catalogue. This one I was able to get at the library.

First the good: On the better tunes, the basic Camper Van sound of dissonant violin over folk/ska noodlings (with some occasional country) is here fully formed. "I Don't See You" is a sarcastic look at infatuation ("You won't go away/And I never asked you to stay/You're waking me at night/Away from my dreams"),the non-statement statement of "Ambiguity Song", the mocking Black Flag cover on "Wasted" and the misguided anti-establishment figure in "Opi Rides Again-Club Med Sucks" ("The people there, they are so stupid/They exploit the poor and the weak/I want no part of their death culture/I just wanna go to the beach"). College rock hit "Take the Skinheads Bowling" is also a semi-guilty pleasure. It's not really a great song lyrically, but it's fairly catchy.

The bad: There are entirely too many instumentals (8 of the 17 songs) and most of them really aren't all that interesting. (The "Russian ska" of "Vladivostock" and the 50s guitar instro/ska hybrid "Skinhead Stomp" are the exceptions). Also, some of the songs here are just strange for the sake of saying "Isn't it cool that we're so odd?". These types of jokey songs really don't wear well with time. ("Where the H**l is Bill?","The Day that Lassie Went to the Moon").

Camper Van Beethoven is one of those bands that just doesn't have just one sound. Not only can they just accept one style of music, they do good at playing lots, showing it really noticably on this recording. Blending punk, folk, and lo-fi as their main sound, but they also explore such genres as ska, traditional Asian music, Greek-style music, Middle Eastern,and traditional Jewish inspired sound. But I think "Yanqui Go Home" has more reggae influenced sounds than ska. What really makes them unique, though, is their violin/mandolin player Jonathan Segel, who would later be replaced by Morgan Fichter I believe. And to top it all off is David Lowry's voice, which is probably my favorite in music at the moment.

There sure are those dry humored CVB songs in here too, such as "Opi Rides Again-Club Med Sucks" which pokes fun at punk that trys way too hard to be punk. Ha, "Club Med Sucks! Authority Sucks! I hate golf!" Amen brother. And then comes "Where the Hell is Bill?" Man I love that one, funny without being too immature. But what I really love is that wonderful folksy Black Flag cover of "Wasted" that you really have to here the original to fully appriciate. Then there's that insanely surreal "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon," which is amazing with its interesting lyrics and plain catchiness.

In this album almost three eighth of the songs are instrumentals. They're all pretty amazing, using the sounds of those other genres I mentioned at the beginning. All are original though, with the traditional sound almost dead on. "Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern China" and "Payed Vacation: Greece" are prime examples, with that mandolin plucking away.

This is an excellent CVB record to start out with. While the songs on "Key Lime Pie" (which is a more produced/evolved major label release), it's still not a great introduction to Camper. However, the earliest stuff, while I love it, isn't quite as popular. In conclusion, if you like indie rock, get "Key Lime Pie," (which is also great) and if you like semi-indie with semi-punk influences get "Telephone Free Landslide Victory."

Okay, OBRS is great, II and III is very good and Key Lime Pie is growing on me. But this, Camper's first effort, is still my favorite. It took a little time, though. Like a lot of people probably did, I bought it because I heard Take the Skinheads Bowling and expected to get more of the same. Well, there is no other Camper song like Take the Skinheads Bowling. In fact, there are really no two Camper songs that are alike (although the intro to Key Lime Pie sounds suspiciously like "Devil Song"). So, this one sat in the case for a while before I started giving it a whirl all the way through. Once I did that a few times, something strange started to happen: I found myself really enjoying these strange, folksy, Eastern instrumentals and oddball-yet-not-too-smart-alecky lyrics. Songs like "Wasted," "Club Med Sucks" and "Ambiguity Song" are too bizarre to ever be mainstream, but it doesn't feel forced, and there's always a little bit of commentary in there. It's not just goofball for goofball's sake.

Some people say it's amateurish and poorly produced. So what? Being polished and pristine is not what Camper was about. These are not radio songs, and I don't want them to be. It's just good, unique, fun music full of enough variety and enthusiasm to keep you interested after 1,000 plays. It's one of those albums where you have a new favorite song every month -- Border Ska, Tina, Skinhead Stomp, Payed Vacation: Greece, Where the Hell is Bill, Balalaika Gap, Club Med Sucks, Wasted, and of course Take the Skinheads Bowling, which is still good enough that I'd buy the album for that song all over again.