The Killers: Day and Age Review

The Killers-- the ostentatious and ambitious Las Vegas quartet with enough bravado for the whole music scene follows up their second album Sam's Town, with Day and Age. Fan's of the debut Hot Fuss got hot and heavy when hearing Brandon Flowers and crew had traded in their synth for more guitar and an Americana/Springsteen-esque style. Day and Age is a rebuttal to all those who gave up on The Killers after their departure from new wave. Their latest effort has all the flare and pomp that Hot Fuss contained, and Flowers once again returns to the synth which had treated him so well in the beginning of his career.

The album opens up with the chiming of bells and kicks into full gear with a heavy dose of sax in "Losing Touch." The albums first single "Human" is driven with an aggressive electronic drum beat and chorus which digs deeper and deeper into the brain with each additional listen. "Spaceman" contains the more memorable hook of the album, which unlike "Human", immediately sticks. Despite harping on the fact that Day and Age is more similar to Hot Fuss than Sam’s Town, the theme of Sam’s Town isn’t completely lost, and remnants of Americana are shown in "Dustland Fairytale", a song that closes with a dramatic and epic conclusion.

Flowers displays his vocal virtuosity in both "This Is Your Life" and "I Can’t Stay". "This Is Your Life" is an emotional and uplifting tale of perseverance with Flowers channeling his inner Bono. "I Can’t Stay" shows that while Flowers vocals may be flawed, he is in complete control and purveys every feeling that’s required.

"Goodnight, Travel Well" goes the cliche route of trying to deliver an epic and melodramatic conclusion to an album. At first it appears they fail miserably-- that is until the song hits its crescendo and delivers an emotional and moving finale.

Day and Age sounds like Hot Fuss taken off the dance floor and into the concert hall. Day and Age lacks the killer hooks of "Mr. Brightside" but delivers in aspects Hot Fuss was missing. The emotional bonds are stronger, and as a whole the album is tighter. My biggest fear is wearing out this album with so many continuous listens that I may no longer consider it as one of the best albums released in 2008.

Grade: A

The Who At Kilburn: 1977 DVD Review

Back when Keith Moon was alive, The Who were the most electrifying show in rock. Forget about Led Zeppelin, forget about The Rolling Stone, and forget about AC/DC. The Who had more energy than any band that had ever touched a stage. In The Who At Kilburn: 1977, we get two discs of live footage from The Who. The first disc contains a live performance at Kilburn in 1977-–which would be one of Keith’s last performances with the band before his tragic death. The show was recorded to be used in The Kid’s Are Alright, where certain songs were extracted from the complete performance. The second disc contains a 1969 performance as well as their classic Tommy performed in its entirety. What is offered in this package is quite impressive, and displays why The Who ruled the stage.

Before the performance starts, text appears on the screen saying that this performance has been sitting in the vaults untouched until now. And there is good reason why this footage was never released. It’s because The Who didn’t play all that well. There were a number of noticeable flubs throughout their performance, but in an odd way it almost makes it feel like you’re watching something special. In an age where live DVD’s are pieced together from numerous shows to essentially make a flawless piece, Image Entertainment delivers a true reproduction of The Who after not playing together for nearly a year. The Who acknowledges the fact that there may be a few loose ends in their performance because of the time away, but even with the few musical mistakes, The Who do more than just overcome the flaws. Their energy and power comes through it all. Pete’s windmill circles with intensity, Roger’s flying mic poses as much danger to the rest of the band as the fans, Keith’s manic drumming is a reminder of the side affects of drugs, and John’s bass playing is as always–-subdued.

While the 1977 Kilburn performance is the center of the package, the real treat lies in the second disc in the "extras" section. Here lies a performance of Tommy performed in its entirety. A real treat with the band firing on all cylinders. For fans of the worlds most famous rock opera, this is enough reason in itself to get this DVD. The video quality is piss poor at best, but the sound quality is solid for a performance at this time. The Who simply look like figures on the stage and nothing more, but while you may not be able to make out their faces, you can clearly see the psychotic stage performance. God is it delicious! Their jam session on "Amazing Journey" is a raucous masterpiece.

The Who were caged animals on stage. It’s almost unbelievable that a stage was enough room for them to do what they did. This DVD is a testament to why The Who are remembered as one of the greatest live acts in rock. The main performance is flawed in a wonderful way, and the extras go above and beyond simply complimenting the heart and soul of this package.

Grade: A

This Decade in Music

When people look back at this decade in rock history, what will they think? What has this decade contributed in terms of rock music? The 60s delivered psychedelic music, the 70s gave us prog, the 80s gave us every conceivable variety of metal, and the 90s hit hard with grunge. How will the 00s, for a lack of a better term, be defined?

Maybe I’m just being cynical, but will this decade be remembered for emo? I’m cringing at the thought that my high school and college years will be defined by such a shallow genre. Especially one that will undoubtedly be forgotten in a few short years. Yet when looking back on it, nearly half the guys in my high school were sporting girls pants, the emo comb over, and whatever else which was suited more for a five year old girl than an eighteen year old male. There is even a distinct picture pose for emo! Which if you ever looked at MySpace I probably wouldn't have to elaborate on, but for those who may not know what I'm talking about--the infamous I'm too artsy and depressed to smile into the camera, instead I'll just look the other way while my emo comb over is covering half my face. Yeah, that one. I wonder if the crotch hugging female pants ever caught up to them in terms of infertility?

On the other hand however, maybe this will be a decade defined by Indie music. Numerous Indie bands hit the scene with enormous success considering the very title of the genre in which they are classified. For some reason though, I can’t see people looking back and saying the 00s were ruled by Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie.

With all that said, I’m thinking if this decade will be defined by any genre it will unfortunately be emo. Emo was just as much of a fashion trend as it was a musical genre which gives it more strength in its hold over the decade. Sort of like grunge, emo has a defined state of mind and fashion. Being emo is just as much of a clique as goths and jocks. Hopefully the jury is still out on this one, but as I see it, the 00s will be remembered for emo...

Another Week Another Vinyl: Jethro Tull: Aqualung

This week I spent very little time in the record store, and with good reason. Instead of feeling a little empty when looking through the collection, I had immediately found a classic. I flipped through a few albums that started with the letter "J", and then came across the classic album from Jethro Tull, Aqualung. Not only is this one of the greatest albums musically, it’s also one of the greatest album covers. The haunting painting of a deranged/homeless man is so unforgettable. Unfortunately, when I brought the album home, I was welcomed with an excruciating amount of popping and hissing. The album is practically unlistenable, but on the bright side, it is a good excuse to hang it in my office. It is yet another unplayable album hanging on the wall.

Another Week Another Vinyl: Donovan: Greatest Hits

So this week I had my Mom join me in my search for another vinyl for the week. This would make for a more efficient sweep of the store, we can start from the beginning and end, then meet in the middle making sure no gems are overlooked. Things didn’t exactly turn out that way, instead it was like usual–rummage through random letters without any pre conceived notion that we’ll find anything special. And once again, I didn’t find anything really special. More or less the same albums everyone throws to the side with some fairly strong inclusions. My Mom was pretty fervent in pushing the Neil Young album I was going to buy last week, as well as a live album from Three Dog Night. I wasn’t opposed to the Young album, but I wanted to look some more. I held a copy of Patti Smith Easter in my hand and was feeling pretty confident that would be my final choice. But maybe it was something about her hairy armpits which made me rethink my selection. I looked some more and came across Donovan’s Greatest Hits. An album which wasn’t to die for, especially considering I like his earlier days much more than the latter section of his career, but the one thing pushing me to buy it, was the fact that it contained "Catch the Wind", one of my all time favorites.

So I come home to spin the record and quickly work to play "Catch the Wind", and what do I hear? No! This is the crappy version! The lame version which goes for some artsy sound. I’m a fan of the straight up folk version minus the weird echo and slow strum of the guitar. With this being the case, it seems like this album will get very little play.

On the bright side my Mom ended up buying both the Young and Three Dog Night records, so all is well. By the way, GO JETS!

The Dead Trees: King of Rosa Review

Ever wonder what you would get if you added a layer of Americana and Grime to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul? I doubt you have, but just in case you’re the type who likes to experiment, it would sound like The Dead Trees. The sounds lends back to the golden era of pop rock in the 60s with solid and memorable melodies, with enough edge and ruckus to make it modern. The songs are tales of Americana, and the album cover relays the theme perfectly. In fact, the album cover fits the Americana theme so perfectly, I could have mistaken it for being a picture that would be hanging in my super patriotic Korean War Vet Grandpa’s old house.

The album opens up with “OK Standby” and “Shelter”, two of the strongest tracks on the album. “OK Standby” begins with a spunky guitar riff and carries through with a drum beat bound to have you tapping your feet. “Shelter” has a more modest instrumental section during the verses but when the chorus hits, the song accelerates quickly with raw screaming, and a mighty hook. The songs continue to bounce around from a slower to harder sound while remaining consistently strong.

The Dead Trees meld Americana, Grime and 60s pop rock extremely well. They have an aura about them that is endearing making it tough to put down this album. They aren’t terribly unique amongst the indie scene, but what they do, they do well.

Grade: B

New Kinks Album in the Works

Ray Davies has revealed that The Kinks are working on a new album.

Despite persistent rumours that the band were unlikely to record or play together again, Davies told BBC News that the band are currently writing new material.

"We've started a little bit of this and that," he said. "But it is too early to judge the quality. It depends if there's good music. We want good new music. I'd like to do it as a more collaborative thing than we used to do."

Davies said that he would have to fit a full Kinks reunion around his solo projects, which include a US tour, an album with a choir and a collaborations album. Speaking of the collaborations project, Davies said he was interested in working with Razorlight's Johnny Borrell, Chuck Berry and Snow Patrol, as well as unsigned bands: "I'd love to do something with Johnny, but I'd like to find new bands. Unsigned even. I usually like the underdogs. "We'll see how it works out - a mixture of Snow Patrol and Chuck Berry. It should be an interesting record."

The Kinks are now one of the few British bands of the 1960s whose founder members are all still alive. The band last performed live together in 1996.

Source: Nme.com.

Another Week Another Vinyl: The Beatles: Let It Be

During this weeks adventure in my local record store I was just searching for anything that would spark my interest. I had no biases this week unlike prior weeks where I looked for a specific band. This week I was open to anything. After around fifteen minutes of rummaging through the store I had a copy of Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere in my hands and ready to check out. I felt a little empty when walking closer and closer to the counter, and decided that I just wasn’t feeling Neil Young today. I decided to give one last shot and look through the letter “H” section. There was no rhyme or reason behind looking through that specific letter, instead just a blind hope that maybe something great would pop up. And then around halfway through I stumbled across a copy of The Beatles Let It Be. It seems to have been misplaced, and I’ve always had a huge soft spot for this album. While critics claim you can hear the dysfunction within the band, I beg the differ– this is a collection of some of their greatest songs, and the performance was top notch.

Yet when bringing this album home I didn’t have the same feeling that I usually had when listening to it. Something just didn’t seem right, and it didn’t take much time for me to spot what was wrong. Phil Spector was the problem, my heart had been with the Naked version of Let It Be, not the original. The songs didn’t seem to have the same great flow as the remastered Naked version, the “Wall of Sound” was simply irritating and was taking away from the intimacy in “Across the Universe” and so many others. Why did Spector have to ruin this fantastic album which contained some of the greatest Beatles songs like, “I Me Mine”, “Across the Universe”, and “Let it Be”? But when thinking back on it, it could certainly be worse. The Naked version could have never been released at all, leaving us with this over produced “Wall of Sound.”

Despite my constant nagging about Spector and his big dirty fingerprints which are smudged all over this record, it’s a classic with or without his inclusion. The songs may not feel as intimate, but they still hit home. People will find any reason to knock this album down because of the circumstances at the moment, but in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make... Oops, I mean, in the end, this album is phenomenal!

Voting Playlist

So while you're standing in line for what is being heralded as "The Most Important Election in American History", why not pull out the iPod and get yourself prepared for what would have to be, "The Most Important Vote in Your Life." Unfortunately for me I got my voting out of the way before work and there was no line, so sadly I couldn’t listen to my ideal voting playlist, but regardless, I’m going to post it here.

1. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son
2. Bob Dylan: Masters of War
3. U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday
4. Rage Against the Machine: War Within a Breath
5. Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come
6. CSNY: Ohio
7. Buffalo Springfield: For What It’s Worth
8. Dead Kennedy’s: California Uber Alles
9. Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
10. Muse: Knights of Cydonia