American Alternative music reviews

This compilation CD of tunes gives the listener a feel for how the Minutemen progressed through the 80's both as musicians and stylewise. All of their vinyl releases are represented in some way on this collection. How many bands make tunes that are way too short? D. Boone and Mike Watt laid the foundation for much of the alternative music you hear today, yet you'll never hear a Minutemen song on the radio. This CD is solid.

... This album was the first minutemen recording I bought. Though just a compilation of previously released material, it loses no steam through repeat listenings. After buying this, I became a HUGE minutemen fan. Also... I recommend you try the video BEST OF FLIPSIDE #2... Amazon stocks it. It's got the Minutemen and Minor Threat on it. NO Minutemen fan should be without it.

Although all of this is previously released, it is a fantastic collection of MINUTEMEN music. I first heard the MINUTEMEN in a local music store years ago and have never stopped listening to them since. The album that was playing was "Double Nickels on the dime", which I truly recommend. I asked an employee who it was and bought the record soon after. Like I said, this is a great collection but I suggest buying the original records, there are not that many and you will get all the music here and much more!!!

Wax was 10cc founding member Graham Gouldman, who not only penned many of that band's classics but composed mid-60's Top Ten hits for the Yardbirds and the Hollies; coupled with multi-talented U.S. singer-songwriter-musician-producer Andrew Gold. The result? Mike & The Mechanics. In other words, an unchallenging, generic 80's pop sound from a collaboration that looked better on paper. (All that talent, and there's a song called "Alright Tonight"?!) Maybe Andrew and Graham were being mutually gracious to the point of cancelling each other out. There are a few moments where the potential is realized ("Only A Visitor", "Ready Or Not") and only one tune that hints at past glories (the whitebread faux-reggae of "Rise Up" recalls "Dreadlock Holiday", but without the sense of irony). Renaissance does a nice job of repackaging and continues to delight collectors like yours truly with thier wallet-friendly "2-fer" reissues, but in Wax's case, the music itself is a letdown.

Two pop experts got together to make danceable pop songs.These two wizards can show us what the pop songs are all about.This CD reveals how the 80s sound production was.We can learn much from this album.If you want to know AMERICAN ENGLISH style pop songs,try this one right now.This CD doesn't let you down.

To listen to Wax Magnetic Heaven CD is to go back in
time (to the early 80s)
It is the complete Deja-Vu package.
If you were a Wax fan back then... Buy this one!

The Meat Puppets released Out My Way in 1986 as a six-song EP stopgap release between the albums Up On The Sun and Mirage. As on their previous albums, they continued to expand their horizons by adding funk and more traditional classic rock to their cowpunk roots. Cris Kirkwood's bass lines were also becoming very creative at this point which not only complemented his brother Curt's guitar work but also made them sound even more distinctive than they already were.

Out My Way starts off with "She's Hot" and the title track which are both catchy and very funky proving the band could pretty much pull off any genre they try. "Other Kinds Of Love" is another great track with its mood swings sounding reminiscent of the material on Up On The Sun. "Not Swimming Ground" is an awesome song and arguably the best example of the musical interplay between the Kirkwood brothers. "Mountain Line" is a return to their cowpunk roots, possessing the fire that comprised their previous work but not sounding as rough. And speaking of rough, we get the loose and heavy version of "Good Golly Miss Holly" which is actually the weakest track of the original six that comprised the album. As with all of their earlier albums, several tracks have been added to the remastered version. However, the extra songs included here actually add to the release. "Burn The Honky Tonk Down" and "Boyhood Home" continue the band's country leanings while "Background Drums" shows the experimentation that would comprise their next album Mirage. "On The Move" is also another strong track. However, the best of the new tracks, and one of the best on the album period, is the 8 1/2-minute instrumental "Everything Is Green" which shows that the Meat Puppets can also be an awesome jam band if they so choose. Also included is another rough cover tune, this time it's "I Just Want To Make Love To You." The truth is, it's the rough cover versions of this and "Good Golly Miss Molly" which prevent this from being one of their classic albums. Still, it's a great release and definitely worth picking up.

The stuff added onto the reissue is very cool -- makes you want to fire up your own jam session -- but the original six tracks still constitute a terrific EP in their own right. Basically, this EP bridges the subtlety of "Up On The Sun" and the punch of "Huevos" (overlooking "Mirage", where despite some fine tracks the muse felt a little forced). And its best tracks have a certain "magical" quality that is impossible to describe, but instantly recognizable. Agree w/ previous reviewer re "Out My Way" -- simply an amazing, hypnotic spin on so-called "classic rock". "Down in its cave/My heart lays/Its own sun/Lights the day". Incredible stuff. Also superb is "Not Swimming Ground", with a wondrous solo and joyous bass, seriously threatening to get you a speeding ticket. These two alone are among the very best stuff by the band, probably among the most transcendent hundred-odd rock songs I know of (from "Rubber Soul" up through the present -- I admit I kind of lost track of most stuff after "Too High To Die" or so. Maybe because I turned 30 around then or something). "Other Kinds of Love" is the other standout, a psychedelic gem, and the rest range from solid to fun, with nary a dog in the bunch.

"Out My Way" was already pretty good; unfortunately it ended abruptly after six songs, leaving this listener with some blank cassette time to fill. Now, the band has stretched a good EP into one of The Great Rock Efforts. Yeah, it's polished, but it's also utterly psychedelic without a single wasted note. I love jamming, but they don't even need to jam to astrally transport you, here. On "Other Kinds of Love" the band sounds as though they require Eastern melodies simply to accomodate their expanded definition of love. "Not Swimming Ground" and "Mountain Line" are perfect hybrids of bluegrass and rock; at the end of the former, one can faintly make out the guitarist muttering, "I played my head on that one," meaning it. One wonders how they left "On the Move" off the original album, since it is so catchy you'll swear you must have already purchased a product that it was advertising. On "Everything is Green," the band does stretch it out at long last, and it might make you wonder why the Grateful Dead needed so many members. "Out My Way" simply takes rock to another level and, shrugging, drops it there, announcing, "This is what the music can be; now what do we do, next?" OK?

SPOKEN WORD AT ITS BEST. ITS LIKE, MY STORIES ARE IN NEED OF A RE-EDIT AFTER LISTENING TO THIS STUFF. AMONG THE HIGHLIGHTS ARE ROLLINS PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT AN APPEARANCE ON LETTERMAN MIGHT BE LIKE FOR HIM....YOU WANT SOME ENTERTAINMENT, COME IN AND BURN...COMMENTS WELCOME AT nick82e@hotmail.com

Yet another record whose full enjoyability is hampered by poor sound quality, "Sweatbox" is a damn fine collection of spoken word otherwise. Get this record for three of the best bits Rollins has ever done: "Getting Home", "Running/Crawling" and the momentous "Blueprints for the Destruction of Earth". Blueprints is Rollins' groundbreaking (window, bone, concrete, mountain-breaking) rant that spits in the face of all political correctness and whiny tiptoeing around hot-button issues. Is he kidding? Maybe. Is it funny? DEFINITELY.

"Getting Home" is fast-paced, well-written, and a hilariously funny description of all the tribulations Rollins suffered while attempting to get home from a particularly difficult tour. I saw him re-visit the piece last year, and it lacked the same power and humor, it being several years after the actual event.

Other standout bits include "Sex Ed", "Friction" and "Late Night Phone Blues". Rollins is more than a funnyman, he is also one of the spokesmen for the disenfranchised young. Like Jello Biafra, Henry hears from youth whose parents can't/don't wish to deal with them, people who have had hard roads to follow, and can identify with the man they hear on the records. Henry leads his listeners from laughter to thought, to self-examination (never pretty), and back to laughter again. You finish one of these cds feeling spent, worn out, because you cannot listen to what Rollins says without having it change you a little bit each time.

Seriously. The only reason this cd gets only four stars is because of the sound quality. Mr. Rollins is one helluva storyteller, and he's got lots of tales to spin... after you've listened to this or any of his other spoken word stuff, you'll feel as though you know the guy. and you'll probably want his job, too. this stuff will make you laugh, and then he hits you with something that makes you ponder existence... quite remarkable. always remember... Henry is an optimist, but his optimism "wears heavy boots and is loud".

This is good bluesy drunk punk. The title is the coolest I've ever heard, and the music mostly lives up. Songs like "What Cissy Said" and "27 Days" really up the punk ante with semi-poetic lyrics and excellent musical backing. Others like "How Can I Explode" and "(I Don't Know) What (I'm Doing Here)" are just fun. The caveat is that this is only about half a good album: the nine-minute closer "What the President Meant to Say" is an irritating drone.

Great stuff. Great band. Great live shows. Lots of noisy fun...and the guy in the White House today suffers from the same speach impediment.
Back then somebody must have thought it was really cool to use the f-word in a title. Don't let that bit of useless nonsense disuade you from picking up this inspired drunken mess of a recording today. Very entertaining if you like pop music as clever as it is loud and chaotic. Falling James is a true rock 'n' roll hero.

Cool, drunken, unique songwriting. Like Kill Tunes, this is one of their sloppiest and most fun albums. The Leaving Trains have never let me down, they are a great band and you should buy this. And if you own only one, own this one.

For a recorded 'live' CD, this album is as intimate and personal as something spooky hollering in the middle of the night from your dark bedroom closet. Gloomy progressive gothic rock, too blunt to be metal classified and too dramatic to be punk, it creates a musical nightmare, the kind of dream you wake up from and ponder into the void over it's complexity, made all the more unsettling by an audience applauding and sometimes chatting indifferently over the superb performance. I discovered 'Swans' music after swearing allegiance to M. Gira's solo work ( "Drainland"; his current band is "Angels Of Light" ), and inititally found this to be industrially exotic, like a bootlegged former Soviet Republic's banned rock and roll. It has since found a niche in the corner of my mind reserved for great music. If this is symbolic of a 'swan', it has a bloody knife under it's big white wing. OK, the title of this CD is a little dark, but while the current state of 'indie' and other music is leaning dangerously close to what could be described as musical romantic fiction, let me slip into my headphones and shout out in a satanic tongue, "Down with organized religion! Release the animal instinct in all of us!", and then it's right back to my life, my job, Radiohead, and the real world.

This album consists of live tracks culled from 3 (or four?) different shows. It's all placed on one track because it's meant to be listened to as if you were at a show- at their mercy, no fast forwarding or skipping around. Swans are one of those bands that go through "phases". One set of fans might listen to a totally different "swans" then another set of fans. This album is for those who love the groundbreaking, primitive power and brutality of the early Swans.
Music so extreme that it might not be considered "music" by some... its more like performance art. Each song is incredibly heavy and disturbing. the title track (second song) is worth the price of the album as a whole but the other songs are fantastic. I gave it four stars as opposed to five because two of the songs were not recorded very well and the audience noise is too loud. Also, i think the album would have worked better if they had simply recorded one entire show instead of 3.
all in all a must buy for any swans fans. newcomers should get "real love"- the Swans greatest live album to date.

Jeff Moores review comes from Terrorizer magazine's top 100 albums of the 1990's and belongs to their 'Great Annihilator' album. I think this is so wrong it is a fantastic review by the writer Damien. Oh yeah Swans rule.

Another tribute...another mixed bag. This one starts off strong with Lenny Kravitz doing "Deuce" with Stevie Wonder on harp followed by a surprisingly good version of "Hard Luck Woman" by Garth Brooks which sounds an awful lot like "You Wear It Well" by Rod Stewart. The next three songs are also strong with Anthrax doing a real rocking version of "She", one of my favorite guilty pleasures "Christine Sixteen" is nicely covered by the Gin Blossoms and Toad The Wet Sprocket doing a very laid version of "Rock and Roll All Nite" that needs to be heard to be believed. Then this tribute takes a nosedive with mediocre performances by Shandi's Addiction, Dinosaur Jr., Extreme and The Lemonheads. Then it makes a nice comeback with "Detroit Rock City" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones who totally made it their own. It finishes off with a very well done orchestral cover of "Black Diamond" by a fellow named Yoshiki.

This tribute album is quite a disappointment, yet it made me discover one of the most talented musician I've ever heard : Yoshiki HAYASHI (leader, drummer and pianist of X-Japan !!). If you liked black diamond, buy hide's tribute album !!

I give this album a 2 *BUT* it's worth a listen. The hands down best cover (and surprisingly so) is Garth Brooks doing Hard Luck Woman. I'll keep this just for that. Good job done by Garth. Two more songs stand out. Yoshiki's Black Diamond and Anthrax's She. Toss the rest out with the garbage. Interesting enough for discussion but no other listeners here.

I bought this for relaxing, not strictly massage, but I was still disappointed. I remembered Mannheim from years ago and their early Christmas albums as having more of a Renaissance sound combined with the "spaciness." There was none of that here: just soft jazz, spaciness, and nature sounds, adding up to not much. I prefer something more lyrical, I guess, so this is just personal preference. Anyway, it was so bland I wished I'd spent the money on something more by Dean Evenson (of "Soundings of the Planet") or waited until the re-release of Kitaro's "Silk Road" I and II. For as often as I'm likely to play it, I think I'll give it to a friend. And next time, I'll listen first at Borders!

Soothing, Relaxing, Calming, Unwinding.

All of this and more....

The CD is well orchestrated, engineered, and arranged so that waves of music rise and fall like the tide. You can hear the waves breaking onto the shore, gulls calling in the foggy air, and the rich timbers of brass, wind, and strings fill the room.

Whether you're looking to give or receive a massage or just relax, this is a collection to be enjoyed year after year. It never seems to grow old.

Mannheim Steamroller is the best-selling Christmas artist of the decade - over 24 million albums sold on the American Gramaphone label - Fresh Aire series have gone gold, sold more than four million copies. They've captured the hearts of the people who love good music, so what am I leading up to...listen to this CD - "Mannheim Massage", for the tired and sore thoughts from the everyday hustle and bustle - relax your mind and slip into another realm.

Chip Davis has toured this vast planet of ours - found massage to be a tremendous help in a persons well being and state of mind. One should start at reality - which means not to zone out too fast, but gradually sink into total relaxation. There are cycles, much like Chip's albums have always demonstrated - one should gradually come out by "the zone" and go back gently to reality.

With ocean, rain and birds as background mixes - plus Chip's great compositions, piano and synthesizers arrangements come of age for the listener to appreciate in recapturing the timeless moments of the past. So sit back, listen and enjoy your massage for the day - "Mannheim" version is just what the doctor ordered!

Total Time: 60:03 on 16 Tracks...American Gramaphone-AGCDSP3...(1991)

We have had volume 1 and volume 2 for a long times, and if you're into alternative 80's music and see these, I highly recommend picking them up. It's worth the money!

MTV's "120 Minutes" was one of the best and longest running shows on the now disgraced channel. This record is a good sample of what you heard on that program back in the late 80s and early 90s. If you ever wondered about the origins of alternative rock, this is a must. It covers all the basic genres. From new wave (Joy Division) to industrial (Ministry). I remember when I had this originally on tape. Side one ended with "The Killing Moon". What a great intermission!

I first owned this album years ago and have looked for it used for a long time (since it was stolen in college). This CD introduced me to thr Ramones, Husker Du, and the Sugar Cubes. It also reinforced the fact that liking Ministry and Morrissey can coexist. The only song on here I skipped over on repeated listenings was the Faith No More Song, but that is just personal preferrence. Great CD!

I have mixed feelings about this album. In some ways, it seems like a bit of a rip-off for Mannheim Steamroller fans since it only offers one new Steamroller track (The Goodwill Games Theme), and it's not a particularly good piece of music anyway. Technically, there is another new piece, The Fanfare, but being that it's only about a minute long and is quite unremarkable, we'll just ignore that one. To make matters worse, Chip Davis took "Dancing Flames" from Fresh Aire 4 and rearranged it, making it sound thin and lifeless, which is really a shame since Dancing Flames had long been one of my favorite Steamroller pieces.

On the plus side, there are some really good, older, Steamroller tracks here, such as "Chakra 3" and "Fugue," and some of the Russian classical music is quite good.

If you're a Steamroller fan, skip it. If you're a fan of Russian Classical music, you might enjoy it, but then you might be irritated by the inclusion of the Steamroller tracks (which, in juxtaposition to the grandiose classical pieces, seem pretty hokey.) Seems like this is a no-win situation.

The Russian folk songs are cool, well done.

The techno-instrumental modern improvisations
are schlock. Sorry, I just can't get in to
Mannheim Steamroller, no matter how hard I try.

The liner notes in Russian and English were a nice
touch.

Opening for this one of a kind album - "To Russia With Love", is the American melody juxtaposed to a Russian melody, only the leader of Mannheim Steamroller - Chip Davis could have pulled this off. This "festival like" atmosphere is the multi-national spirit sharing music from the past to present.

Of course there are highlights - "THE GOODWILL GAMES" blends well-known themes with new counterpoints..."DANCING FLAMES" the upbeat tempo of Davis is in full swing - invigorating and simply intoxicating with melody penetrating the inner-rhythm strands of your being, very effective..."THE GOOSE FROM SMOLENSK" has festival written all over it, happy people dancing in the square with friends and relatives..."FUGUE" the old-masters would be proud, Davis has captured the mood with a touch of 20th Century thrown in.

The booklet with liner-notes shares the background on places, recordings and the seasons...along with some great pictures showing where this was done and by whom, not to mention the Cyrillic version which reads the opposite direction, how unique.

Once again Chip Davis and the Mannheim Steamroller gang have come up with an extraordinary album...exposing their fans to music from another world - the wonderful culture of the Russian people through music...Chip Davis style!

Total Time: 46:10 on 14 Tracks...American Gramaphone 3094...(1994)