American Alternative music reviews

"Take these chances, and place them in a box until a quitier time, lights down, you up and die" They are the most catchy lyrics from one of the best songs by Dave Mattews Band if not the best song ever. 5 out of 5!

Dave Matthews Band is an American band. Why are there imports of American bands and why don't record companies make normal CD singles so fans don't have to spend 10 bucks on a CD that SHOULD cost 3 or 4???????

I bought both of his CD's and I think his music is great. His lyricks are very meaninful to me and whenever I listen to his music it puts me in a good mood. I hope he keeps up the good work

My wife and I are huge fans of the Dave Matthews Band. We have seen them in concert, own every album (and bootleg) that has ever been accessible, and have even met Dave while wandering the streets of Charlottesville one day with friends. His music, no matter how many times you listen to it, is universal. It is beauty in its purest form. This IMPORT is especially important for my wife and I because this was the song that we were married to just two years ago. It not only brings back memories and images of that day, but also our years of dating before. Through the many stages of our relationship, this song kept us together. It was the glue of our lives, and it still remains true today.

There are three versions of this song on this IMPORT and they all stand out in their own way. The first is the edited version, which is my least favorite (but I still can listen to all day) of the three. You can tell that someone got a hold of a mixer and helped Dave with the track. It is not as smooth as the others and the beat seems a bit quicker. The second version is a live version. This is the perfect (and in my ears the only) way to hear Dave. It is raw and perfect. The sound seems to flow so smoothly and unstructured. As many times as I have heard this song, it sounds perfect when live. I sometimes forget the lyrics because I am so caught up in the sound. It is amazing. This is by far the best of the album. Finally, there is the album version. If you have the album "Crash", you have heard this song.

This is where it all originated and began. This is where the story started. Not with a "Once upon a time...", but with a "You've got your ball, you've got your chain". I love this band, every album is immaculate in its own style and rhythm. This song will forever be my favorite, and now I have three versions of it to enjoy.

Overall, a perfect addition to an amazing Dave Matthews Band collection. For anyone that is as big of a fan as I am, I suggest getting this album. The live version will blow you away. Enjoy!

Grade: ***** out of *****

listen to the song on a walkman or something. seriously. just listen to all the instruments and when they come in and how they are in the song. all the peices are strewn together, almost not really fitting. however, toward the end, they all seem to 'crash' together, then become one. it kind of personifies love, as this is a sort of love song. trust me, you will totally see it.

I think that this song has so many different meanings and ideas that it has the ability to transfix any listener of DMB. Surely this can be classed as an all time classic. Dave appeals to the listener through his attention to lyrical content. Always noted for his personal touch, this is a tune of tunes. Whether you are chilling or having a mad 1, Crash gives you the positive vibes, that music should give. Enjoy, lie back and enjoy the music fantasy they call DMB.

This is by far Bikini Kill's poppiest album, and that doesn't mean they've become tame!
I dare not say they have "matured", because their previous statements were powerful and become more true everytime you listen to them. The roar of Pussy Whipped, the prevalescence of DIY and the screech of guitars in CD Version, the stylish Singles, are milestones in the history of punk rock.

The sound of Reject All American is different from any of BKs other work. The breathtaking surfer vibe, the catchy hooks and unfogettable lines Kathleen throws at you. Bikini Kill delivers everything from compelling and tuneful slower numbers (R.I.P, For Only, False Start, Tony Randall), to our beloved fast loud fun political little pieces (Statement of Vindication, Capri Pants, No Backrub--- BEEN PROGRAMMED TO SELF DESTRUCT, Bloody Ice Cream, Finale). There's pop songs like Jet Ski and Reject All American... this album wont' wear out!

Maybe it isn't the "girls with the bad reputation" at their rawest, but they sure as hell are gonna "make you pay" anyways. Tobi's and Kathleen's vocals are as mind blowing as ever, the songwriting is every time more brilliant! only word I can find to describe it.

If you are honestly gonna judge this according to its "poppiness", you lose. Bikini Kill win. They can't lose, they're the real princesses.

My favorite tracks are Statement of Vindication, R.I.P, Jet Ski, No Backrub, Bloody Ice Cream, Distinct Complicity, and Capri Pants

Postoje samo dva punk beda. Sex Pistols i Bikini Kill.
Sve ostalo sto se svrstava za punk je smesno.
Punk kultura je jedno a punk muzika je nesto sasvim drugo.
Reject All American je jedan od onih albuma koji zasluzuje svaku paznju i pohvalu.

Bikini Kill were one of the original riot grrrl bands in the early '90s. This was their last album, and more polished than their previous works. I think it's an awesome album and a great place to start with Bikini Kill. All the songs are excellent, there is not a single bad song on here. My favorites being 'Statement of Vindication', 'Capri Pants', 'Jet Ski', 'Tony Randall', 'Reject All American', and 'Finale'. Kathleen Hanna's voice takes some warming up to at first, but before you know it you suddenly fall in love with her snotty brat girl voice. I'm really glad I've found out about this band and I wish we had bands like Bikini Kill still around. Female musicians are so overlooked, it's a shame.

A perfected, smoother evolution from their previous album "Up to Here". Extremely catchy. Great scope. A recommended car tape. Downie's voice is very on the edge on this one. Nice nice.

Like meaningful lyrics? Well, good luck finding any in these songs. This is not a bad thing, but I'll have to admit it makes me a little sad that these great lyrics are basically just bs, but I love them anyways.

This is amazing rock from one of the best live bands out there. Worthy of any classic rock fan's collection.

- Perhaps one of the best and most intelligent albums in the last decade. Its musical influences are probably Kerouac, Ginsberg put to musical narrative. So stop the musical comparisons - Strangely it takes a Canadian Band to show us what American music can truly be.

Let's be up front; if you like rock and "Road Apples" isn't in your collection, your collection is woefully incomplete.

This is the Hip's second studio album, following a self-titled EP and "Up to Here," and it's probably one of the ten best rock albums ever produced, anywhere.

Despite the frequent comparisons to REM (mostly due to lead singer Gord Downie's weird antics on stage) the Hip, musically, don't really resemble REM; ther sound is far harder and more rigidly arranged. That being said, the Hip is, first and foremost, a band. Few rock bands play as well as a unit; their songs are masterfully crafted with not a note out of place, every sound made being part of a whole. Rob Baker and Paul Langlois weave their guitars together like silk; on songs like "Cordelia" and "Bring it all Back" it becomes hard to tell who's playing what. Gord Sinclair weaves his bass line in with expert precision, and Johnny Fay's drumming supports without being intrusive. While listening to "Road Apples," you never really notice any one of the instruments - you hear them all, all contributing to tell each little story along the way.

Gord Downie's lyrics have been exhaustively discussed elsewhere, so I won't discuss them (they're amazing - there, I said it) but "Road Apples" is definitely his finest VOCAL work. Downie sings with incredible power on "Road Apples," power he lost a few albums later, and sings with a range he doesn't display on "Up to Here." His singing is unique, wonderful, and at the time was without peer.

There isn't a bad song on the album, and there aren't many songs here that aren't flat-out genius. If you like rock and roll, RUN and buy this album. Don't wait another day; you'll be glad you got this one.

I'm a casual listener, not a great fan, of Sheryl Crow. But the great Amazon recommendations service keeps recommending her music to me based on my past purchases or browsing. So I thought I'd take a look. After surfing around the Crow catalog awhile, I decided that if I was going to get one Sheryl Crow album, this would be it.

I've listened to this CD several times at work now, and I think: It's OK. Not great, not going to make me over into a huge fan, not revealing new aspects of her work. My original conclusion was on the mark: I could have done without a Sheryl Crow CD, but if I wanted to get one, this was a fine choice.

Save yourself the time of reading through all these reviews and buy the CD! I rolled the dice, paid for what seemed like the same collection of songs with the 2 new classics ("Soak Up the Sun" and "Steve McQueen") along with my least favorite tracks from "C'mon C'mon". This CD rocks even better than "Live From Central Park". Sound quality is exceptional. Kind of embarrasing that the Tokyo crowd was absolutely dead. Sheryl was dead on. Every song is extended with cutting riffs and one of the highlights is her inclusion of the Who's "Can't Explain" (I won't tell you where). A little disappointing that "Safe and Sound", "You're an Original" and "Leaving Las Vegas" didn't make it, but hey, this one's still worth every penny.

If you're a Sheryl fan, this one should not be missing from your collection.

What a great recording! Sheryl is always great, but this is an outstanding live recording that really shows her more recent style. The opening is a full tilt version of "Steve McQueen" and the versions of "Home" and "Strong Enough" are the best that I've heard! Like others I only wish that some other of her favorites were included. Don't let the price drive you away! It is well worth it!

This is one of the songs you hear when being transferred to an order specialist! Let me tell you folks, I called, and was put on hold, and after hearing this song, I was so touched... it was like an angel came and sat on my shoulder. Soon after that experience, I finally got to talk to a LIVE person, and she must have picked up on my overwhelmed state of X-tacy, that she was able to help me with all my problems, and then proceeded to give me a gift certificate for my future purchases! Talk about luck! I credit this song for my good fortune! You know, sometimes I call in and just ask to be put on hold...

A few more wise words for you:

Whatever you do, don't be downhearted, blah - blah - blah, somethings might be coming round the corner, this might be your lucky day,

this might be your lucky day,

your lucky day,

lucky day-ay-ay.

For those of you who are fans of the Stone Coyotes, I would recommend tracking down an album by Tom Faulkner called, Lost in the Land of Texico. I think you'll enjoy it for the same reasons you like the Coyotes.

Jay

to have any expectation about this album is to have it blown away by the opening power of the title track. moving from storytelling in "where the old oak grows" to the imagery of "my horse has wings" and the crunch of "bone tired" there are only moments to catch your breath when needed. this isn't to say that "situation out of control" moves forward at a breakneck pace, out of control in itself - to say that would be an insult to an album taking inspiration from all sorts of places musical from straight-ahead american rock to country to punk to rap - all strung together throughout the album, and, in this reviewer's opinion coming together in the spectacular "when parliament convenes" - thus sounding truly, for the first time in years, like no other band sounds...

The Bad Brains: four rastas, ex-jazz-fusion musicians, turned into one of the most powerful and creative punk bands of all time. Some claim that they were the inventors of the Hardcore genre.

This live album captures the Brains at what they did best, play mind-blowing shows. Being masters at both light-speed hardcore riffage and playing chilled out reggae and dub. This album combines both genres giving you a breather from the amazing and brutal hardcore assault with reggae interludes in between.

The Bad Brains' lineup was filled with talent in every instrument with Darryl and Earl providing a solid and groove filled rythm section, Dr. Know on lead guitar riffing and soloing at the same level or better than any metal guitar gods. Finally, HR on vocals which are correctly credited on liner notes as "throat". Indeed, HR uses his voice as another instrument: shaman-like chants, crooning, wailing, screaming, reggae stylin' and sometimes even barking. HR is on pair with Mike Patton and Maynard James Keenan when it comes to vocals.

Separeted like a three act play, the album is divided into sets of hardcore tracks separated by reggae interludes: Day Tripper / She's a Rainbow, The Youth are Getting Restless and Revolution. It is worth noting that Day Tripper / She's a Rainbow has one of the gooviest bass lines, better than anything put out by Marley or King Tubby.

All hardcore tracks are amazing, a few standouts: House of Suffering, Coptic Times, Banned in DC, Big Takeover.

Hardcore is an acquired taste, like a fine wine, the first time you sip it out of a glass the taste might be kind of nasty but with time it becomes a greate pleasure. The same thing happens with the Bad Brains.

It is a shame that the Brains don't tour anymore, it would be amazing if somebody would put live footage from this tour on DVD.

Enjoy.

The originators of Hardcore Punk in 1979, come together in Amsterdam for 1987's live album recording. The music is played as fast and furious as ever as HR and the crew play classic after classic. Comprimised of material between '79 and '87, classics such as "Right Brigade", "Re-Ignition", "Coptic Times", and "Pay to Cum" are all on the same disc, and live at that. Hardcore never sounded better.

Bad Brains were easily one of the best bands in the early U.S. hardcore scene. Maybe even the best. This album perfectly captures their sound. This album is all about Dr. Know though. He tears it up on guitar. In some of their later albums H.R. lost the agressiveness in his vocals. On this song you can just hear everyone going insane to "I" in the opening. There are a few reggae songs in the mix and Bad Brains were always masters of both genres. The setlist is a great mix of all of their albums from the 80s. Stay away from some of the later live Bad Brains releases and pick this one up. The sound quality is great as well.

I first heard Cop Shoot Cop when the single "$10 Bill" --found on this album-- was added to the playlist of my fav. modern rock station where I lived at the time --99.1 WHFS DC/Baltimore market which has since shifted formats to Latin as of earlier this year-- and fell in love with it right away. I wanted to buy it but kept getting other stuff every time I went to record stores and it eventually slipped my mind after time went on, but every once in awhile it would cross my mind when I would be in a record store but would be disappointed when I didn't see them in the racks or find that the CD was just more pricey than I was planning on spending if I actually did find it in the racks and would pass on it for something else. The used prices on here for it are still quite high and that leads me to suspect that it's either out of print or highly sought out or highly regarded by those who are seeking to sell it thru Amazon or some combination of all three.

I personally think "Release" is their best album... however this album is a close second in terms of overall quality. Some of their best songs (not on Release) are on other albums such as "Tomorrow Never Comes" and "Down Comes The Mickey." But this album has "Room 429" and "Everbody Loves You," which are also among their best songs. Some lyrics from "Everybody Loves You (When You're Dead)" go as follows:

"Life is so much better when you're dead / Conversation's easy when there's nothing to be said / But it can get a little lonesome / Maybe you should take along a friend"

I think the other reviews speak very well about their musical abilities and songwriting.

If you like heavy music with good lyrics and.. Just buy it!! It's good. I like Kilgore, Type O Negative, Kyuss, Dropkick Murphys, Paradise Lost, and I like Cop Shoot Cop. It's a must have. And I agree with the guy down below (Up above?) Room 429 is a highlight of this album. Strapping Young Lad did a cover of it, but the original is way better! And I bought it on a whim also about 9 years ago, and the lyrics stuck with me even after I special ordered another copy to replace my lost one... It's that good.

Just like everyone else, I hadn't heard of Soul Asylum prior to 1992. And despite the fact that I thought Grave Dancers Union was just an okay album, something compelled me to get my hands on Soul Asylum's back catalog. Don't ask me what it was that drove me to this, perhaps it's better off unexplained.

So I slowly acquired the music from their past, through the Twin Tone and A&M years. And I have to say I am most impressed with Hang Time. The whole thing just seems to, ahem, hang together very well.

Not many cues are taken from Made To Be Broken or While You Were Out, Soul Asylum's two previous albums that were filled with attitude and racket. Signing onto a major label and working with a production staff of Ed Stasium and Lenny Kaye seemed to give the band the right amount of posterior kick to sound like a completely different band. And it works. Oh, does it work.

Many of these songs, though rooted in punk, take a completely different direction in which Dave Pirner learns how to write songs with big ideas rather than nail a set of words to some crunch chords. The guitar interplay of Pirner and Dan Murphy are a perfect match, and the intricacies of the music (if such a thing exists in punk rock) are strong enough of a foundation for the catchiness to rest on. Nothing here sounds forced or backward.

Songs like Sometime To Return, Standing In The Doorway, and the Murphy original Cartoon prove that Soul Asylum could carry the weight of mature songcraft just as well as their Minneapolis peers, Husker Du and the Replacements. According to my description, you would have thought this album would've broken the bank for the band long before the Runaway Train came along. But as of this date, Hang Time has yet to sell 100,000 copies.

So don't confuse quality with quantity. Hang Time could've been seen as a post-punk milestone had the musical climate been different and if A&M would have promoted the whole deal. But alas, this is the one that got away.

This was my favorite album of 1988 and I played it until my college roommates had memorized it all through osmosis. And it still sounds great! I just saw Soul Asylum live (I first saw them in 1986--20 years ago) and "Cartoon" still rocked. Soul Asylum is a terrific, solid band and incredible live. Buy this and go see them!

I bought this the year it came out in '88 after hearing it played in a music store. It's probably the best thing they ever did. Been waiting for them to match it but SA went gradually down hill after this. They caught on to mainstream audiences with Grave Dancer's Union and the bland radio friendly MTV sellout "Runaway Train" and it did em in. But Hang Time is great, highly recommend this lost classic.

You`ve heard of them,you`ve read about them and you have no idea what the Cramps are or what they sound like.Garage,punk,rockabilly,surf and early rock and roll is what most will say they are but don`t be fooled.....this is great music by a great band.This disc is a good cross section of better known songs,covers and rarities and make this a perfect starting point for first timers.Live is the best way to experience them but this disc is the best place to start.
The core remains Lux on vocals and Poison Ivy on guitar,with a sneer to make even the toughest punks feel threatened.
This is rock and roll stripped down to the basics...a couple of chords,alot of attitude and the big beat - even my sixty something year old uncle digs the Cramps.Fun and reasonably priced...get yours today.

This music is slimey, grungy and slow. A mix of all the different styles I like in music. Cramps are what got me into Psychobilly. Though it is slower than most of their other music its not bad slow its the good slow. The creepy crawly horror where you know the monster is around the corner and you wait in breathless anticipation until the thing pounces. That feeling of anticipation is like what you get listening to this album. Most of them are covers like Ronnie Cook's slopper "The Goo Goo Muck", the garage classic by Randy Alvey "The Green Fuz", they do great justice to the genius masterpiece by the Novas "The Crusher" and the Trashmen's great "Sufrin' Bird" among others. There is originals on this album it is great sludgy music I'd expect nothing less from the psychobilly masters

"Psychadelic Jungle" is slower than the band's first LP "Songs the Lord Taught Us", but is in many ways sleazier than that album. It projects more of a swampy, drugged-up image of the 50s. And thats what the Cramps are - you're favorite classic Rockabilly artist on too many hits of LSD. The slower tempo makes this album possibly the sleaziest and most intimidating work by the Cramps. There is certainly a high abundance of classic songs on this album, and it contains several of what are the Cramps' best covers ("Goo Goo Muck", "The Crusher", "The Way I Walk"). This and "Songs the Lord Taught Us" are probably the best places to start with if you're getting into the Cramps. The accompanying EP "Gravest Hits" is a great collection of cover tunes, each one better than the original. Rockabilly is the purest form of rock 'n' roll there is, and the Cramps are one of the purest rock 'n' roll bands ever.