Thursday, July 31, 2008

"The Dark Knight" rules

Hello,

I finally had a chance to see the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". I will tell you this movie is not as good as I thought it would be. However I think that might have been impossible. I stay as far away as possible from reviews and the hype until I have seen the movie. I did know that the reviews were generally positive, but I did not read any of them. Anyway this review adds to the positive praise and I strongly reccomend you go see it.

I'll start with all the good things about this movie first. What more can I say about Heath Ledger's performance that already hasn't been said. Quite simply his performance is masterful. His performance is every bit as good as Jack Nicholson's in the 1989 "Batman". However Heath Ledger's Joker is a completely different character than the one played by Nicholson. Ledger's Joker has no rules, he is all about chaos. He has no loyalty to anyone, only to chaos. I have not seen a better performance this year. If Ledger does not get a nomination for his role that is criminal. If he does get a nomination, I may actually watch the Oscars for the first time in years. I just wished he was alive to enjoy all the well deserved praise he is getting for this movie. R.I.P. Heath.

The story is great as well. It's one of those movies that you are into from the first second and not in a hurry to leave when the movie is over. "The Dark Knight" is an intense movie as well. Not only is Heath Ledger great in this movie. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gylenhall are all outstanding as well. (For me any movie that has Morgan Freeman in it gets thumbs up from me. His part is also great in this movie.) The special effects are fantastic, expecially with the use of the sky hook at the start of the movie. Also the instrumental score is fantastic.

The main criticism I have heard most about this movie is that the story drags a bit. I definitely have to agree with that assessment. However that is the only flaw in the whole movie. Although at the end of "Batman Begins" it is obvious they are setting up for a sequel. I thought it was strange that there wasn't more effort put into giving us a hint of what's coming in the third Batman. There definitely will be a third installment, Christian Bale is already signed up for it. It's a great, great movie. Surprisingly on a Monday night, where the movie is playing on four screens, the theater was two-thirds full.

One more brief movie note, there were some cool previews as well. Previews included the new James Bond movie, "The Quantum of Solace" or some such gobbledy-gook title. Also there were previews for the the new "Watchmen" movie and the preview for the first of the "Twilight" movies. (The new "Twilight" movie looks sort of lame, I loved the book. The actor playing the main vampire is unimpressive. I hope the actual movie is much better than the preview indicate.) Finally there was the preview for the fourth Terminator, "Terminator Salvation". Christian Bale is in that movie he portrays rebel leader John Connor. It looks like we have quality movies coming soon.

I know that I promised a Motion City Soundtrack piece. I have not been able to work on that as much as I would like. I am working on that and hopefully I can post that in the next week. They are a great and underappreciated band. I previously mentioned the "Lost Boys 2" movie .It's officially titled "The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe". The preview is available on youtube.com. Not to be too pun-ishing but Haim's acting sucks. I am not sure why they brought him back. Apparantally Keifer Sutherland was busy, Haim wasn't. After seeing his lack of acting skills in this preview I am not surprised. (There is also a video showing Corey Haim and how drugged out he is.) It's a straight to DVD movie. That usually is a sign that the movie sucks. Although the preview is kind of cool.

Other music news: one of my favorite new websites, rcrdlbl.com has a 1987 video of the Smiths. They look positively young. In the video they are riding around on bikes. The video is for the song, "Stop Me If You Have Heard This One Before". That is just one of their many great songs. If you are having a relationship that you are considering ending, I have a great kiss off and piss off song for you. It's the Maroon 5 song "Not Coming Home" (Live). The live version is the best version. The lyrics are perfect and the singer sings it with feeling like he may have been through that experience before.

Finally songs rocking my iPod. I added a whole bunch of Madonna to my iPod today so expect to see more of her in upcoming blogs. 1) "Rocket Queen" Guns n' Roses 2) "Let It Roll"- Velvet Revolver According to ew.com, VR are considering hiring the lead singer of Spacehog to become their new singer. Stay tuned.) 3) "Bleeding Love"- Leona Lewis 4&5)"Rollin" and "Love Train" by Big and Rich 6) "Sheep Go To Heaven"- Cake 7) "Still of the Night"- Whitesnake 8) "Material Girl"- Madonna 9) "Bungle in the Jungle"- Jethro Tull 10) "Today"- Smashing Pumpkins 11) "Ringfinger"- Nine Inch Nails 12) "When You Come Back to Me"- Garth Brooks 13) "When The Show Is Over"- The Donnas 14) "Modern Swinger"- The Pink Spiders 15) "Here With Me"- Dido 16) "The Kid Is Hot Tonight"- Loverboy 17) "Young Lust"-Pink Floyd and 18) "Geek Stink Breath"- Green Day.

If I am not back tomorrow I will be back on Sunday. Have a good weekend, themusicaddict

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Hello,

Unfortunately today I have a short blog as there is a lot going on in my life now. First of all I have some incredibly good news. "American Idol" Season Six Superstar Melinda Doolittle finally has a recording contract. (Don't even get me started on how David Archuletta got a contract before Doolittle. Does she have too good of a voice?) This article was on ew.com, one of the websites I check on a daily basis. According to ew.com Doolittle "will join the roster at independent label Hi Fi Recordings". They have had success with musicians such as Avril Lavigne and Spacehog. "Doolittle's debut is expected to be released this fall, but an official street date has yet to be determined." Also according to one of the comments attached to that article, she has a website with up to date information about Doolittle at MDstreetTeam.com. As soon as I find out the actual release date, I will pass it on to you. I am very excited about this CD as long as they have some good songs for her to work with. I wouldn't mind a couple of songs from her "AI" run to be on the CD. For those that don't know although Doolittle probably having the best voice on Season Six "AI", she only finished in third place. She finished behind winner Jordin Sparks who I am okay with. But she also finished behind second place Blake Lewis who is riding the train to obscurity now.

Speaking of "American Idol", they are holding auditions in Salt Lake City today. Of course overhyped David Archuletta came from a suburb of Salt Lake City, Murray. I am sorry America we will try not to do that to you again.

Also AC/DC announced they are going on a 18 month tour starting in October. This fall their new CD is expected to come out. There is no specific release date yet. According to rs.com "expect the first single to be out some time next month". This was announced at a press conference yesterday. In that same press conference, some other major acts were announced that would be touring soon. These artists include Green Day, although no word yet on whether they will be supporting an official Green Day release. Other artists mentioned include Mariah Carey, Depeche Mode, Stevie Wonder, Weezer, The Killers and Journey. Save your money up for some hot concerts. (Thanks to rs.com for the above information.)

I am going to try and post again on Thursday and then hopefully things will settle down after that. Have a great day and good luck to people in line for "AI". themusicaddict

Sunday, July 27, 2008

"Who is the Master, Who is the Slave?"

Hello,

Madonna's "Hard Candy" 12 Songs, 56 minutes long

1) "Voices"
2) "Dance 2 Night"
3) "Incredible"
4) "She's Not Me"
5) "Heartbeat"
6) "Give It 2 Me"
7) "4 Minutes" (featuring Justin Timberlake)
8) "Candy Shop"
9) "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You"
10) "Spanish Lesson"
11) "Miles Away"
12) "Beat Goes On" (featuring Kanye West)


I am changing up my CD review format a bit. I won't be listing each song and then reviewing them individually. I'll be reviewing the CD as a whole and highlighting some of the better songs. I will include lyrics tha are appropriate to the review.

"Who is the master, who is the slave?" If you think that is a weird question, it isn't as I am reviewing Madonna's new S&M CD "Hard Candy". That's the first line off the first song I listened to on this CD. Madonna is inviting you to the dancefloor, that is only before she leads you to the bedroom. Yes she is leading because in her world and on this CD she is the "Master" and you are the "Slave". Don't forget it either. This CD is about sex obviously. It feels a bit forced like she's trying to recapture her mid 80's highpoint. (I apologize Madonna I don't think you have another "Like A Virgin" in you. Frankly at 49 you are too old. At least you are not wishy washy like Brett Favre. Madonna knows exactly what she wants.)

Most of the songs have a slow dance groove. Several songs sound like dance music but it is not something you would dance to. (Yeah I know that makes no sense, after you listen to the CD I think you will understand.) I think the music is more rhythm for other activities. The first 6 songs I listed all have that same vibe. These songs are in no man's land conflicted whether they are dance jams or mellow, relaxing music. I am not sure what Madonna and all of her producers were trying to accomplish here.

While most of these songs are happy, dancy type songs there are some songs that break away from that design. In "Miles Away" she sings to a lover (one would assume Guy Ritchie, but maybe others would assume Alex Rodriguez). This lover is "miles away" a lot of the time. She sings to him, "You always have the biggest heart when we are 6000 miles apart".

But the dominant theme of this CD is sex, sex and more sex. (This would be the perfect soundtrack for the "Sex" book she made back in the 80's.) She uses a lot of thinly veiled metaphors, but mostly she is singing exactly what she wants. Especially in songs like "Give It To Me", "Candy Shop", "Voices" and "Incredible".

I changed my CD ratings system again. My new ratings system is a 1-5 rating with 5 being the best. I rate this CD with 4 stars. Four songs from this CD did make it to my iPod. They are 1) "She's Not Me", 2) "Give It To Me" 3) "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" and 4) "Beat Goes On" featuring Kanye West. Now as regular readers of my column know, I am not a big rap fan. A lot of time time rappers are on songs, they seem extraneous. West's rap on this does feel a bit extraneous but it is not as obnoxious as I expected. For the most part I wish musicians would get away from this practice. Having Kanye West or any other rapper on a song doesn't usually add anything. It's mostly a marketing ploy. Enough of my soapbox.

One of my favorite country bands is back with a new CD. Sugarland is back with "Love On The Inside". They released a deluxe fan version on July 22nd, According to amazon.com a regular version is coming out this Tuesday. Speaking of Sugarland, there is an interview with them at www.attblueroom.com/home/index.php This is a pretty cool website. Along with that interview, they are having a contest with a chance of actually meeting Sugarland. As soon as I can I am going to be reviewing their new CD.

The attblueroon.com website has other cool features. They have songs from current artists like 3 Doors Down, Sheryl Crow and Taylor Swift. The proceeds from these songs go to the USA Olympics team. (BTW, the Olympics starts on August 8th). One more cool feature is that attblueroom.com will be having a live webcast of Lollapalooza from August 1st-3rd. Finally, former "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard recently got married. Congrats!

Songs rocking my iPod. 1) "Crawling In The Dark"- Hoobastank 2) "Double Vision"- Foreigner 3) "Pretty Tied Up" (Live)- Guns N' Roses 4) "Fell In Love With You"- Motion City Soundtrack 5) "If Looks Could Kill"- Heart 6) "Barracuda" (Live on "AI")- Heart and Fergie 7) "Crazy On You" (Live On "AI)- Carly Smithson (Where have you gone Carly, I hope she is working on a CD. How did lame David Archuletta finish higher than her again? 8) "Could've Been"- TIffany 9) "Don't Stop Believin'" (Live in Houston)- Journey 10) "Sweet Emotion"- Aerosmith 11) "On The Beat"- Electrocute 12) "I'm Henry The 8th, I Am"- Herman's Hermits 13) "Selling The Drama"- Live 14) "Rebel Music" (3'O Clock Road Block)" (Live) 15) "Revolver"- The Donnas

I will be back on Tuesday with more information about one of the best of the relatively newer bands, Motion City Soundtrack. Have a great Sunday, themusicaddict

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Hello,

Some movie news first. My last blog I wrote about the first 3 "Robocop" movies, the ones that were released back in the 80's. Now comes word that "Robocop" is going to be remade, that should be interesting. Another 80's movie getting a new life is "The Lost Boys". The original starred Keifer Sutherland and Corey Haim. From what I remember that was a pretty cool movie. Speaking of 80's movies, I watched about the first 10 minutes of "Woman Wanted" last night. This movie stars Holly Hunter and Keifer Sutherland. This movie is directed by Keifer Sutherland and he is a terrible director. With him as a director he is a terrible actor as well.

As I have mentioned before goombah.com highlights 15 of its about 9,000 free MP3's each Friday. One of the songs they highlighted this week that is worth downloading is "U Can't Control Me" by Jo De La Rosa. This is a great poppy dance song. It is worth checking out. Again all songs you get at goombah.com are free. Although I do have one reservation about De La Rosa she lists Britney Spears as "an influence". That is pretty interesting.

Here's a review of Zack de la Rocha's new side band One Day As A Lion. He formed this band with a guy from The Mars Volta. (For the record I love Rage Against The Machine but I think The Mars Volta is one of the worst bands of all-time.) This is a 5 song ep. It is available at iTunes but I am sure it is available elsewhere as well. It is okay but nothing compared to Rage Against The Machine. The lyrics are political (of course) but there aren't any Tom Morello guitar flourishes. They are trying not to sound like Rage, but their are a lot of similarites. I would only reccomend this for big Zack de la Rocha or Mars Volta fans.

I don't have much today but I will be back tomorrow. themusicaddict

Thursday, July 24, 2008

All Three "Robocop" Movie's reviewed

Hello,

Thanks to the luxury of Comcast On Demand, I've been able to see all three "Robocop" movies over the last three days. The first one starring Peter Weller is pretty good.(What happened to Peter Weller anyway?) The special effects are from the 80's, but that's not their fault. But along with great action and a actual story it is a pretty good movie. The story is equally poignant, funny and action packed.

Seperate paragraph for the next two movies to keep the crap away from the quality. "Robocop 2" is a steaming pile of dog poop. Remarkably Peter Weller came back for this movie. The storyline is stupid as is everything else. "Robocop 3" is pretty awful as well. Peter Weller was smart enough not to be in this movie. They do use his likeness for when we see the real face of Robocop. Of the three this is the worst story, absolutely nothing redeeming in it at all. This movie shows all the lowlights of movies made in the 80's. The best part of this movie is seeing future famous actors who a few years later would be appearing in much more entertaining fare. First of all there is Jill Hennessey who went on to be in "Law and Order" and "Crossing Jordan". Also there is Bradley Whitford who went on to success in "The West Wing" and "Studio 60". There are a couple of other people as well that went on to do much more entertaining movies and TV series.

However the worst part of "Robocop 3", besides the extreme corniness, is the fact that in this movie that "Robocop 3" can now fly. OCP, the fictional company behind building Robocop, built a special attachment for him. It is so stupid. He can fly so smoothly but when walking it is anything but smooth. At the end of the movie Robocop says something to the effect of "My friends call me Murph, but you have to call me Robocop" which he says to a bad guy.

CD of the day: "4" by Led Zeppelin. This CD has the following songs on it, "Black Dog", "Rock N Roll", "When The Levee Breaks", "Stairway To Heaven", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Four Sticks", "Going To California". Those are just some of the songs on the CD. If this isn't the greatest CD of all time, I don't know what is. Song of the Day: "Sorry, Sorry" by Rooney. This song like The New Pornographers "Myriad Harbor" are perfect pop songs.

Four quick CD's that you may have some interest in. 1) "iTunes Live From Soho" by the Counting Crows 2) "Live In Paris 1987"- U2 and 3) Zach de la Rocha's new side project. The name of this band is One Day As A Lion. They have an ep available at iTunes for $4.95. For those of you who don't know de la Rocha is also the lead singer of Rage Against The Machine. I will listen to it and give you a review on Saturday. Finally amazon.com has new music from Paul Westerberg available for 49c. He use to be the singer of The Replacements. I will be giving a preview of that soon. It should be worth 49c though.

I will not be back until Saturday. themusicaddict

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The #1 all-time favorite artist is revealed.

Hello,

themusicaddict here where I watch all three "Robo Cop" movies so you don't have to. I will give a quick review of all three tomorrow.

Here are some hints of who my favorite band is. Their manager was a legend in his own right, Peter Grant. According to legend three of the four members went to the crossroads and sold their souls to the devil for fame and glory. The one that didn't is the least famous and least wealthy of the four. That's bassist John Paul Jones. After drummer John Bonham died, that effectively ended this band in 1980. He was a drummer of great artistry and power. After the band ended they released one final CD in 1982 called "Coda". This CD is mostly filler and leftovers. In their after band groups only lead singer Robert Plant acheived any measure of success. He had a solid solo career and also had the hit "Ship of Fools" with the band The Honeydrippers. Recently as he entered his 59th year of life he released one of his most successful of this after band CD's. That CD is his collaboration with bluegrass royalty Allison Krauss, "Raising Sand". In fact it was announced yesterday that he has been nominated for one of the Uk's Mercury prize for "Raising Sand".

The lead guitarist Jimmy Page hasn't been terribly successful with his post band career. He was guitarist for the lame band The Firm and he recorded a CD with David Coverdale. That was so creatively called Coverdale/Page. While some people liked their CD, I thought it was a bunch of noise. His most successful work was probably in with former band member Robert Plant in Plant and Page. Their work was hit and miss. John Paul Jones had his most successful work with the acts he is producing. This legendary band played a concert in memory of Ahmet Ertugun last December. The deceased drummers son, Jason, filled in for his Dad at this concert. That led to rumors of a possible reunion including tour plans. However nothing has come of fruition yet, Plant seems to be happy touring with Krauss. They do sing three or four songs from his former band each night though. Included in those songs is the song "The Battle Of Evermore" which his original band never performed in concert. If you want to read a great book about their career, read Stephen Davis' "Hammer of the Gods".

Without further adieu my favorite all-time artist is Led Zeppelin. Who else could it be? I don't think Led Zeppelin really has that many obscure songs, especially if you listen to rock radio a lot. So here are 16 of their more obscure but still great songs. 1) "Your Time Is Going To Come" 2) "You Shook Me" 3) "When The Levee Breaks" 4) "What Is and What Should Never Be" 5) "Traveling Riverside Blues" 6) "Trampled Underfoot" 7) "That's The Way" 8) "Out On The Tiles" 9) "The Ocean" 10) "Nobody's Fault But Mine" 11) "In The Evening" 12) "I Can't Quit You Baby" 13) "How Many More Times" 14) "Celebration Day" 15) "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" and 16) "Bring It On Home". These are all five star rated songs in my opinion.

A couple of other small pieces of news. After I praise Rolling Stone magazine, what do they go and do? They select the Jonas Brothers as their newest issue's cover. It was bad enough when they put Zac Efron on the cover. Also previously I had mentioned about the Jack radio format. Sometimes I forget that we are in the internet era. ou don't have to listen to them on the radio. They are streaming on 1031jack.com if you are interested.

Finally songs rocking my iPod: 1) "Greatest Love Of All"- Whitney Houston 2) "Super Hero"- Stereo Fuse 3) "Strange Feeling"- Michael Burks. This is a great blast of blues. 4) "I Owe"- The Living Things A funny and rocking song. 5) "This Ain't A Love Song"- Motley Crue 6) "Black Dog"- Led Zeppelin 7) "Rainbow In The Dark"- Dio 8) "Harden My Heart"- Quarterflash 9) "Drive"- R.E.M. 10) "Think About You"- Guns n' Roses 11) "That's What The Little Girls Do" (Live)- The Knack 12) When The Levee Breaks"- Led Zeppelin 13) "Highway One"- Dead Rock West 14) "Living After Midnight" 15) "War/No More Trouble" (Live)- Bob Marley and the Wailers 16) "Crawling In The Dark"- Hoobastank.

I will be back tomorrow with a lot of news and starting a list of my 50 least favorite artists. (The #1 worst artist would probably be Insane Clown Posse or Eminem.) Just kidding, themusicaddict

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The # 2 artist is revealed

Hello,

I hope you all have had a fantastic weekend, I worked all weekend so I didn't. I bet none of you had as good of a weekend as "The Dark Knight". It broke just about every box office record ever. Here's a brief review: From Friday to Sunday early estimates indicate that the movie made 155.3 million dollars. That is so incredible and almost three-fourths of the way to making what the first Batman made in 2005 in it's entire run. "Batman Begins" made $205 million in it's entire run. It also had the best first day and single day totals ever, making $66 million on Friday. One final record it made over $18 million in the midnight screenings Friday morning. I try to stay far away from reviews until I have seen the movie itself. However I have only seen one negative review of this movie so far.

Other news: Last week I finished reading "Huck Finn", what a great and funny book. I then started reading "The Watchmen". This is named one of the best 100 novels of all-time by Time magazine and I can see why. It is worth checking out and it currently is being made into a movie. The movie will be released 03/06/09, isn't that cute?

Also according to Guns n' Roses official website, "Shackler's Revenge" will be part of their forthcoming (fingers crossed) CD, "Chinese Democracy". As you may remember this song first is going to be introduced on "Rock Band 2".

Anyway my #2 band of all-time is the great Pearl Jam. Again I am going to be highlighting some of their more obscure but great songs. So here goes 1) "Love, Reign Over Me" 2) "Red Mosquito", the best version of this song is the live version. 3) "Elderly Woman Behind A Counter In A Small Town" 4) "Yellow Ledbetter" 5) "Get Right" 6) "State of Love and Trust" from the "Singles" soundtrack 7) "Nothing As It Seems" 8) "Life Wasted" 9) "Mankind" 10) "World Wide Suicide" 11) "Go" 12) "Brain of J" 13) "Glorified G" 14) "Cordurory" and 15) "Crazy Mary". What a bunch of great songs.

I am not sure the next time I will be back but when I do I will have the #1 musicaddict's all-time favorite artist, who no one can come close to. themusicaddict

Friday, July 18, 2008

The 3rd all-time artist is...

Hello,

My third all-time favorite artist is Guns n' Roses. Still no word on when or if their alleged new CD, "Chinese Democracy" will be released. I have heard rumors about them showing up at the MTV Video Music Awards. I will keep you up to date as I find out anything. They have an official website but it is pretty worthless. So here are some obscure songs that still rock. Basically any song on "Appetite For Destruction" kicks butt. That is probably the best debut CD of all time, and one of the best all-time CD's. Here goes: 1) "Pretty Tied Up" 2) "Mr. Brownstone" That's my favorite Guns n' Roses song. 3) "Estranged" 4) "Shotgun Blues" 5) "Coma" 6) "Dead Horse" 7) "The Garden" 8) "Double Talkin' Jive" 9) "Dust N' Bones" 10) "My Michelle" 11) "Nighttrain" 12) "Yesterdays" 13) "Anything Goes" 14) "Rocket Queen" 15) "Think About You" 16) "Out Ta Get Me" and 17) "It's So Easy".

According to EW magazine, here's the update on some former "American Idol" con- testants. Both David Cook and the other David are working on their debut CD's in between tour stops of the "AI" tour. Cook's CD will probably drop the first part of November with the other David's CD probably dropping later in November. There is no exact date on when that last CD will flame out, probably after Christmas. Kelly Clarkson is in Australia working on her fourth CD. Chris Daughtry is working on his second CD, he's working to release it spring of 2009. (Thanks to EW for the info.)

With us being so poor I will not be able to see the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" yet. Although almost everything I have heard about it is great. That is other than the Washington Post who calls the movie "dull" but says Heath Ledger is amazing as the Joker. A lot of people are already talking about a posthoumas Oscar for Ledger.

Finally songs that are rocking my iPod. 1) "Fell In Love With You"- Motion City Soundtrack 2) "You Can Call Me Al"- Paul Simon 3) "Oh Father"- Madonna 4) "Didn't We Almost Have It All" 5) "Babe I'm Going To Leave You"- the mighty Led Zeppelin 6) "Travellin"- Matt Mays and El Torpedo 7) "Whole Lotta Love" (Live)- Led Zeppelin 8) "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"- Morrissey 9) "Can't Tell Me Nothin'"- Tim McGraw.

I will be back Sunday, themusicaddict

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The 4th all-time artist is... finally here.

Hello,

My fourth all-time favorite artist will finally be announced today. Before I get to that though here is a hot upcoming band, CSS. (If you are reading this many years in the future, don't be too cynical if these guys don't make it. I am only writing about bands and songs that move me. For instance if Wolfmother fades away, no one can deny to me that their first CD is not nearly perfect.) Today's band that moves me is the Brazillian band, CSS. No word on whether CSS's lead singer is as hot as Megan Fox. Although CSS is short for Cansei de Ser Sexy. That's Portugese for "Tired of Being Sexy". (Thanks to last.fm for the info. You can learn who originally said that by going to last.fm) It's hard to label their music, which I don't like doing anyway. If I had to name a genre for their music, I would call it Electronica/Dance. However there is a real rocking vibe to it and the female vocalist is awesome. This crazy vibe is really evident in their song called "Rat Is Dead (Rage)". Other great songs are "Alala" and "Let's Make Love And Listen To Death Above".

In my last blog I mentioned how Rolling Stone is currently thinking about a new format of their magazine. It would be smaller. (For the record my three favorite magazines are Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Esquire magazine.) Since I am a long time subscriber, they asked me if I would be interested to taking a survey on the new format. I received my test issue this past Monday. It looks different and is smaller. Honestly though what I wrote to Rolling Stone in the survey I took is that I care more about the content and not so much about the design of the magazine. The size change would be a big difference though. Both Rolling Stone and I are 41, it is hard for old farts like us to change and to be successful at that change. It will be interesting to see what happens. No matter what the format ends up being, I will continue to read it as long as it's information remains excellent.

Head over to rcrdlbl.com to see an old video of Yaz's "Don't Go". You have to scroll down a bit. Why are they playing this you may wonder. It's because Yaz is touring for the first time in 25 years. Someone from the website caught them in concert. Yaz is made up of singer Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke. Allison Moyet went on to have a couple of solo hits and Clarke went on to form the excellent Depeche Mode. Although he eventually left that band as well. For more information about the Yaz tour, there is a big article in the July Blender. You can also read it at their website blender.com. Also rcrdlbl.com is one of the websites I go to everyday. Other favorite websites: rs.com, download.com, ew.com and espn.go.com.

Finally my #4 band of all-time is those bad boys of LA rock and roll: Motley Crue. What a great band. One of the best concerts I have ever saw was Motley Crue on the "Theatre of Pain" tour. They kicked butt, which is pretty amazing as at that time Nikki Sixx was battling a horrific heroin habit. Again their new CD "Saints of Los Angeles" is fantastic. I will be having a full review pretty soon. One thing about Motley Crue is that they are hit and miss. On a typical CD they have some good songs but some really lame songs as well. Anyway here are some of their obscure but great songs. 1) "Rattlesnake Shake" 2) "Time For Change" 3) "Live Wire" 4) "Public Enemy #1" 5) "Too Fast For Love" 6) "All In The Name of..." 7) "Primal Scream" 8) "Anarachy In The U.K." Yes that is the Sex Pistol's cover. 8) "Hooligan's Holiday" 9) "Bittersuite", this is an instrumental. 10) "If I Die Tomorrow" 11) "Tonight (We Need A Lover)" 12) "Fight For Your Rights" 13&14) Two of the better songs from their new CD. They are "This Ain't A Love Song" (Very explicit) and "Goin Out Swingin'". One final note: Although they have many excellent songs one of my favorite songs of their's is "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)".

Finally here are some more songs rocking my iPod. 1) "Cosmopolitan"- Nine Black Alps 2) "Every Now and Then"- Garth Brooks 3) "I Can't Quit You Baby"- Led Zeppelin 4) "She's So Selfish"- The Knack. This is from the CD "Get The Knack". Again one of the best debut CD's of all-time. You really need to add this to your collection. 5)
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Live)", all 13 minutes of it. 6) "Let's Be Friends (Skin To Skin)- Bruce Springsteen This is from his excellent "The Rising" CD. 7) "This Ain't The Summer of Love"- L7.

My next blogs should be Friday and then Sunday. I am busy on Friday but I will try to squeeze in a quick blog tomorrow. No blog on Saturday as I work all day. But in my next blog I will be revealing my #3 all-time favorite artist. Another great 80's LA rock band, whose CD I am really hoping comes out this fall. If you have read my blog, you should know who I am talking about. Have a great weekend, themusicaddict

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The 4th all-time artist is... delayed again.

Hello fellow citizens of the world,

One thing I feared about making my Top 50 all-time artist list is that I knew I might miss someone. Sure enough I did. Not only did I miss someone but I missed one of my Top Ten all-time favorite artists, R.E.M. So I am delaying who my 4th all-time favorite artist is yet again to spotlight R.E.M. Like other bands who are/ would be in my Top Ten, I am going to highlight some of their more obscure but good songs. 1) "Horse To Water" off their excellent new CD, "Accelerate". 2) "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight" 3) "Welcome To The Occupation" 4) "Exhuming McCarthy" 5) "Lightnin' Hopkins 6) "Star 69" 7) "Driver 8" 8) "Get Up" 9) "Man Sized Wreath", which is also off their excellent new CD. 10) "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" 11) "Tongue" 12) "Bang and Blame" 13) "Radio Free Europe" and 12) "Talk About The Passion".

Definitely tomorrow will be the unveiling of my #4 all-time favorite artist. I will give you a hint it is not Miley Cyrus. I mentioned on Sunday about a radio format called Jackfm. Locally in Salt Lake, they are located at 103.1. What their format is they play "anything they want". Now obviously that's not true with so much corporate research, focus groups et al going on. However they do have a wide selection of genres. Where else can you hear Charlie Daniel's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", The S.O.S.'s Band's "Take Your Time" (Do It Right), or Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" all on one station? It's a pretty eclectic mix and there are not a lot of commerical breaks. Also there is very little DJ chatter, which even isn't bad when they have their morning program. I am not sure about this but they seem to play 12 hours of music and then repeat that the second half of the day. So that and the local alternative radio station, X96, are the two stations I listen to on the radio about 90% of the time. Thankfully I only have to listen to the radio driving to work. Nobody plays a better mix of music than on themusicaddict's iTunes library.

Also the big news (to me at least) is that a new song from Guns n' Roses is going to be featured on the video game "Rock Band 2". The song is called "Shackler's Revenge". I haven't heard whether this is going to be on "Chinese Democracy" or is just a one-off. Now this being Guns n' Roses, this still may not happen. Cross your fingers. Other news, Bruce Springsteen has a live CD out now. It just came out yesterday, it is titled "'Magic' Tour Highlights". You can get the MP3 versions of 4 audio tracks and 4 videos. Now for both they are the same four songs. However he does some cool things on these live tracks. For one he performs "The Ghost of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello, best known for his work with Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Also he sings "Turn, Turn, Turn" with Roger McGuinn, who was the original singer of that song with his band The Byrds. So check that out. One more thing the new AC/DC CD will probably be out on October 28th. Then the rumors have them going on a worldwide farewell tour before breaking up completely. Although now days, just because you have a farewell tour does not mean that you can't tour again.

Like I said I will be back tomorrow with my #4 all-time favorite artist and maybe even a review of their new CD. Also tomorrow I have some news about a possible Rolling Stone format change. Have a good day, themusicaddict

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The 4th all-time artist is... delayed.

Hello,

A couple of pieces of business first. On Friday I wrote about the music site rcrdlbl.com and stated that is was run my major labels in order to get a piece of online music money. I was completely wrong with that. I am just going to give you what it says on their site: "RCRD LBL is a network of ad supported online record labels and blogs offering completely free music and multimedia content from emerging and established artists." I also looked at this site a little closer and it is better than I first said. Currently they have a free MP3 nearly everyday, they also have a weekly Top Ten plus videos and all sorts of links to other interesting websites. Check it out at your conveinance. I apologize about that and any confusion I may have caused. The second piece of news is I was going to reveal today's 4th all-time favorite artist. I usually like to listen to that artist while writing the blog, but the #4 artist is not appropriate to listen to on Sundays. So I will announce that on my next blog.

Artist of the day: Taylor Swift. In Rolling Stone's May 1, 2008 issue she is named Country Music Lolita and 1 one of the 175 things to love about music in 2008. I don't agree with the Lolita label, but she definitely is a breath of fresh air in music today. Her self-titled CD is pretty darn good. It features the song "Teardrops On My Guitar" that was overplayed this last winter. It is a great song though and one of many good songs on this CD. The four best songs are "Teardrops", "Picture To Burn", "Our Song" and "Should've Said No". She is still probably 2 or 3 great CD's away from being in my top 50 all-time artists. However if all her future music is this good, she will be on that list. Also if you are dating her, be nice or she may write a nasty song about you.

Song of the Day: Green Day's "When I Come Around". Definitely check out the live version on the Woodstock 1999 CD. Speaking of Green Day, I read an interview with them and they said to consider the Foxboro Hot Tobs CD "Stop Drop And Roll!!" as their follow up to "American Idiot". Although in that same article it said that an official "Green Day" CD was suppose to drop this year as well.

Some quick notes and songs rocking my iPod. One of amazon.com $5 MP3's from this past Friday (which expires tomorrow)is Pavement's "Slanted and Enchanted". I had heard a lot of good things about this CD so I listened to the whole thing at lala.com. It is good but not great. I am sort of torn whether I would reccomend that you buy it, but I did not buy it. Also again reading in Rolling Stone I read about a band called Pylon. According to the article they were sort of a precursor to R.E.M., who is a band I love, so I checked them out. They are pretty good as well although I don't know if they are quite at the level to pay hard earned money for. I had the misfortune of watching the Tommy Lee Jones movie "Volcano". This movie was so cheesy that it should have been made in the 80's. Skip this movie and do something productive for two hours instead.

Songs rocking my iPod. (Warning some of these songs are not as hot as Miss Universe 2008.) 1) "Just Like Heaven"- The Cure 2) "We're Alright"- Supafuzz 3) "Hot Dog"- The Detroit Cobras 4) "Straight On"- Heart 5) "Crushcrushcrush"- Paramore One of the best songs on one of the best CD's of the years. 6) "I'm Alive"- David Cook This Neil Diamond cover is rocking. 7) "Love, Reign O'er Me"- Pearl Jam 8) "Talk Dirty To Me"- Poison 9) "Beat Goes On"- Madonna 10) "Animal In Me"- Motley Crue 11) "Bright Future In Sales"- Fountains of Wayne

Finally here is a comprehensive list of where and when you can get free music. I am going to list them according to my preference. #6) last.fm This is both an internet radio station and a place you can get free MP3's. They don't have a certain time you can get music instead you can get it anytime. This is the website where I discovered the great band Acid House Kings. #5)rcrdlbl.com They typically have a free MP3 of the day. I only discovered this website a few days ago, so I don't have an opinion of the music they offer. 4) goombah.com This is the website where 15 free songs are highlighted every Friday. You can get free MP3's there anytime, they just highlight 15 new ones each Friday.

3) download.com They have a free MP3 of the day everyday. Like goombah.com you download these MP3's anytime you want they just highlight a different band everyday. Bands I have discovered or new music by established bands include The Black Keys, B 52's, Black Mountain, Tilly & The Wall, Band of Horses, Romantica, The National, Mudhoney, Band of Horses and Amy Ray of Indigo Girl fame. My favorite song I have discovered on this webstie is "Hang On Girl"- Favourite Sons. It is currently rocking my iPod. You definitely need to get that song, it is free. 2) iTunes: Typically you can only get 3 new songs every Tuesday from them, but a lot of time they are better than the previously mentioned websites. 1) amazon.com Again you can only get free music from them every Tuesday. However they give away entire CD's sometimes. They also are always running promotions trying to sell more music and cut into iTunes big lead.

I am working a lot of hours this week at my job. So my posting will be hit and miss this week. My next blog will probably be posted on Wednesday. Also on my next blog I will be announing my #4 all-time favorite band. In addition I will be telling you about an exciting new radio station called Jack FM. Good day, themusicaddict

Friday, July 11, 2008

The 5th all-time artist is...

Hello,

Just a warning this blog won't be as hot as "Transformers" Megan Fox. Acutally I think she needs to legally change her name to Megan the Fox. Anyway here is my full review of lala.com. It is pretty cool website. Is it earth shattering, no! One cool thing about the website is you can listen to any song you want once free. If you want to hear that song again you have two options. One, you can add the song as a web song for 10c. What that means is you can listen to that song free any time you want at their website. However you can't load it on to an iPod or any other music device. The second option is you could actually buy the MP3, usually for 89c. Then its yours to do with whatever you want. Some people like lala.com because you only pay when you listen to music, you don't have to pay a monthly fee.

However the recording industry as we know it is desperate, many people claim the subscription system is the recording industries last great hope. In the referenced article Rick Rubin, the famous producer, is even pimping Rhapsody. Even Apple's Steve Jobs privately is talking about the subscription way of business. If you have a little extra money, getting your music via subscription is not a bad way to access music. Also it looks like it is the wave of the future. (Thanks to Rolling Stone magazine, Issue 1041.)

Here are some other interesting facts from that same article. "Only 2.5 percent of Americans are paying for music subscriptions, while 17 percent pay for downloads." In a different story in that same issue of Rolling Stone, amazon.com is biting into Apple's sizable headstart on digital music. " iTunes continues to dominate the digital market, with about seventy five percent of sales...." However amazon.com "currently offers more than 2 million copy-protection-free songs". With amazon.com if you have iTunes, when you download a song from amazon.com it automatically goes into your iTunes library. That is extremely cool. The way amazon.com is doing business has already caused iTunes to lower some of its prices. For instance, they use to charge more for their DRM free music, amazon.com competiveness has made them lower their prices. I love iTunes, but amazon.com is worth checking out. A lot of time when I am looking to buy digital music, I will check both sites and buy from whoever has the lower price.

Also according to rs.com "last.fm has launched a royalty program for unsigned artists". Since announcing the new royalty program more than 450,000 tracks by unsigned or independent artists have been uploaded to the site. The artist will receive royalties if their tracks are either randomly streamed or played free-on-demand". So that is pretty cool, it is still a longshot to launch a successful career. However a longshot is better than no shot. For those of you who don't know what last.fm is, it's an internet radio station. I am not much into internet radio station, but they do have one cool feature I use daily. When I play a song on iTunes, last.fm brings up a page with information about that song and the band. A lot of the time there is a link to buy the music as well. It also keeps track the number of plays each band receives. So far the most listened to band I have seen is 84 million listens for Radiohead. That's a lot more than for The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Def Leppard. To me that is unbelievable.

Here are some miscellaneous tidbits. Taylor Swift and Def Leppard are going to be performing together as part of CMT's Crossroads series. The concert will be shown on November 8th on CMT. That should be interesting. Also there is a Rock Honors The Who special Saturday night. One of the band's performing will be Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder has longed talked about how much he loves The Who and how much positive effect they had on his life. Also many times Pearl Jam performs Who songs in concerts. I only have one of the day. Song of the Day: "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. That is a great song and the story inspiring it is interesting.

David Cook's debut CD should be out in November. He is still on tour with the other Top 10 finalists of "American Idol". Also here is a record label sponspored music website to check out. The website is rcrdlbl.com. They are trying to get their cut of the money with on-line music. Their website is a good start, that's about all it is at that point. Like most things with the recording industry it is probably too little, too late. Three quick movie reviews. 1) "Domino" starring Keira Knightley. Other than Miss Knightly there is very little to reccomend this movie. 2) "R.V." starring Robin Williams. This is definitely a video movie. It is about as good as you would expect. 3) "Shanghai Noon" starring Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan. This is another video movie. There is about a 20 minute section in the movie that should have been deleted, if it had been the movie would have been much better.

Without any further preamble my 5th all-time favorite artist is the Doors. I would highly reccomend to see Oliver Stone's "The Doors" movie. As with any based on a true story it is not 100% accurate, it might not even be 70% accurate. A warning this movie is not for the squeamish. Val Kilmer plays Jim Morrison so well, it is eerie. It is almost like he became Jim Morrison during filming. However it is good movie. Also Stephen Davis has written a fine biography of Jim Morrison. So I would reccomend both of those, although both accounts conflict a lot.

Now on to their more obscure, but fantastic songs. If you think these songs aren't obscure you must be a big Doors fan. 1) "The End" 2) "When The Music's Over" I like the extended versions of both of those songs. 3) "Love Street" 4) "Ghost Song" 5) "Waiting for The Sun" 6) "Alabama Song" 7) "Backdoor Man" 8) "People Are Strange" and 9) "Five To One". Also Jim Morrison has a cool spoken word track called "The Movie".

I will be back on Sunday with my fourth all-time favorite artist. Just a little hint this band is featured in the new Blender magazine, with Jack Black on the cover. Have a good weekend, the music addict.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The 6th all-time artist is...

Hello,

I downloaded the Pearl Jam Madison Square Garden 2 concert this morning. I have only listened to a couple of its songs so far, but both were good. I would be listening to it but I am listening to my 6th all-time favorite artist now. Also if you go to pearljam.com, click on the box that says "Bootleg 2008 order now". After clicking on that it will bring up what concerts are available. At the bottom of that page you will see a listen section. There you can listen to 3 different songs by Pearl Jam from this year's bootlegs. The three songs available are "Dissident", "Who You Are", and "Even Flow".

I have written about the music website lala.com before. The original promise of this website is to able to listen to any song from any major label for free. (That is any major label they had agreements with.) Apparantally so many people logged on, it caused the site to crash. So they closed down that part of that website for a few weeks, and now it seems they have decided to disband it completely. However lala.com is still around and does have some really cool features. One, you can upload your complete iTunes library on lala.com, then you can listen to your iTunes library anywhere you go. Also you can listen to any song free the first time. If you like it you can pay 10 cents to add a web song. A web song is a song you can listen to anytime for free and unlimited. If you want to get the mp3 you pay 79c more. The first fifty songs are free and you can listen to anytime. I already added some songs from Kansas, the new, hot Katy Perry CD and a Johnny Cash CD released this year. You can use lala.com on both PCs and Macs. I am going to investigate lala.com today, and then have a more thorough review on Friday. (To listen to music I don't have I still prefer Rhapsody at this point. Although lala.com has made a lot of improvements since I first used it.)

I only have two of the days today. CD of the the day: "One of the Boys"- Katy Perry. A great CD, check it out. Song of the day: "Armageddon It" by Def Leppard from "Hysteria". A great song on a great CD. Also Subpop is celebrating it's 20th anniversary. They are the iconic Seattle music label. Anyway on iTunes, for a limited time only, they have a 20 song CD sampler available for only $7.99. It has songs from its 20 year history.

Anyway my 6th all-time favorite artist is Def Leppard. Obviously "Hysteria" and "Pyromania" are two of the greatest CD's of all-time. Here are some of their great but obscure songs. 1) "Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) 2) Their cover of "No Matter What". 3) "Don't Shoot Shotgun" 4) "Run Riot" 5) "Exciteable" 6) "Stagefright" 7) "Fractured Love" 8) Their cover of "Hanging On the Telephone" 9) "Die Hard The Hunter and 10) "Billy's Got A Gun".

I am working most of the day tomorrow so my next blog will be on Friday. I will be bringing you my 5th all-time favorite artist as well as a more thorough review of lala.com. Have a great day, themusicaddict

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The 7th all-time artist is...

Hello,

I am back from my 0ne day hiatus. My 7th all-time favorite artist is Van Halen. I don't really have a preference between Van Halen with David Lee Roth or with Sammy Hagar as lead singer. I like both singers, they each bring something great to the band. I have seen the Sammy Hagar lead Van Halen in concert and they are pretty good. I did get a little tired of the 15 minute Eddie Van Halen solo. The man is a genius guitarist but 5 minutes is long enough, after that it got boring. So here are some more obscure but great songs from their catalog (While doing this I realized they didn't have that many obscure songs.) 1) "Black and Blue", that is just a great, great song. 2) Speaking of Eddie Van Halen solos, "Eruption" is pretty good as a solo and song. (Eddie two minutes long, just perfect.) 3) "Get Up" 4) "Mine All Mine" 5) A.F.U. (Naturally Wired) 6) "Judgement Day" 7) "Best of Both Worlds" 8) "Inside" and 9) "Everyone Wants Some!!" Just looking at the songs I have on my iTunes about 40 of their songs are excellent. That's pretty good and the reason why they are my 7th favorite band of all-time.

Song of the Day: "Me Plus One"- Annie. If you have no idea what this song is, you definitely need to check it out. It is a little known but great song. Band of the Day: Against Me! They have 3 great songs on their most recent CD, "New Wave". They are "New Wave", "Stop" and "Up The Cuts". CD of the Day: "American Idiot"- Green Day. I was reading an old interview with Billie Joe Armstong in Rolling Stone and I thought of this great CD.

Songs rockin' my iPod: 1) "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)- Big & Rich This is one of the best country songs of all-time. 2) "Battle of Who Could Care Less"- Ben Folds Five 3) "Feed The Tree"- Belly 4) "What's A Girl To Do"- Bat for Lashes 5) "Rock Lobster"- B-52's 6&7) "Girlfriend" and "The Best Damn Thing" by Avril Lavigne. Both are great songs, although they are virtually the same song. 8) "Takin' Off This Pain"- Ashton Shepherd 9&10) "Dirty Little Secret" and "Swing, Swing" by the All-American Rejects 11) "Would?"- Alice In Chains 12) "Citizen of the Planet"- Alanis Morissette 13) "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow"- Alan Jackson 14) "Stop"- Against Me 15) "This Heart Is A Stone"- Acid House Kings 16) "You Shook Me All Night Long)"- AC/DC 17) "Poison Arrow"- ABC

Tomorrow I will be enjoying the June 25th Pearl Jam Madison Square Garden 2 Bootleg. I have already bought it, it is eligible to download in the morning. So if my blog takes a Pearl Jam bent tomorrow you will know why. Also I have the new Journey CD "Revelations", I am going to check that out soon. However you won't have to worry about Nicole Kidman birth news. Have a great week, themusicaddict

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The 8th all-time artist is...

Hello,

Here's the review for "Wall-E", unfortunately I didn't get to go see it yesterday. However my wife and my 4 year old did. My wife wasn't too impressed, but our 4 year old loved it. Meanwhile my other two sons went and saw "Hancock". Although the reviews for this movie have been terrible, my 12 and 10 year old son liked it. My 12 year old son really liked it.

Speaking of my 12 year old son, I have noticed an interesting phoenomenen. He has said several times something to the effect about a song on iTunes, "I heard this song on Guitar Hero". He has discovered a lot of excellent rock music this way. The song he has been singing lately is "Tom Sawyer" and that's where he discovered that. There has got to be a name for this. My suggestion is Guitar Heroization. (If you have a better name, please pass it on. Of course there may already be a term for this.) I would rather my son be familiar with older rock and roll songs that rap music.

Also here are some quick reviews for some of the movies that I have seen on Comcast On Demand lately. "The TV Set" starring David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver. A very biting satire of the televison industry. With the way television networks operate, sometimes great material is forced to become crap to meet lame corporate guidelines. "Gone in 60 Seconds" starring Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie. I did not think I would like it but I actually liked it quite a bit. Last night I watched "Wild Hogs" starring Tim Allen and John Travolta. I did not expect a lot from this movie and I got what I expected. Although I will give a shout out to William Macy, his "Wild Hogs" character had an Apple Inc. logo tattoo on his arm. In the movie he's a computer programmer. That may have been the best part of the movie. Although the Extreme Home Makeover sequence at the end of the movie was pretty funny as well. Of these three movies "Gone in 60 Seconds" is the best but none of them are crucial to see. These are the kind of movies you watch when you have nothing better to do and you stumble across it on TV.

Also I have my first 5 star song from the music I downloaded recently. The song is "One of Those Nights" by a band called the Cab. (Not to be confused with Death Cab for Cutie.) I downloaded that song free from download.com. They highlight a free MP3 of the day. They do that every day, 365 days a year. Usually 3 or 4 times a week they pick songs that are worth adding to your music library.

Here are the "of the day" choices. Song of the Day, "I Alone" the mid 90's classic by Live. CD of the Day: "Come On Feel The Illinoise" by Surfjan Stevens. This is a great, great CD. It's one of those great CD's that received no radio play. So to get a lot of people to know about it it has to rely on word of mouth. I am doing my due diligence. Band of the Day: Panic At The Disco. Their first CD, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" is fantastic. However their most recent CD, "Pretty. Odd." is not so good.

Last but not least, my 8th all-time artist is Bob Marley and the Wailers. Currently I am listening to their music and I remember why he is my 8th favorite artist. Reggae is not the most well known music. Most reggae I can live without but I love Bob Marley. I am going to list off 10 of my favorite songs of his. This is in no particular order, all following 10 songs are 5 star rated songs on my iTunes. 1) "Africa Unite", 2) "I Shot The Sheriff", 3) "Punky Reggae Party", 4) "Iron Lion Zion" That is probably my favorite Bob Marley song. 5) "Jammin'" 6) "Is This Love" 7) "Redemption Song" 8) "Buffalo Soldier" 9)"Get Up, Stand Up" and 10) "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)" Out of the 45 Bob Marley and the Wailers songs I have on my iTunes, I rate 40 of them at 4 or 5 stars. If you are one of those people who have put off listening to their music because you didn't think you would like it you really need to check them out.

I am not sure when my next post will be. After hardly working last week, I will be working a lot more hours this week. Thank Goodness! Have a good week, themusicaddict

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The 9th all-time artist is...

Hello,

I hope you all had a happy and safe 4th. A large part of yesterday I was listening to songs I have recently downloaded. I wanted to see if any of them are any good. I have added a lot of free MP3s recently from iTunes, amazon.com, download.com and goombah.com. I also bought music from Motley Crue and R.E.M. recently. Of the free recently downloaded music, I didn't rate any of the music at 5 stars. (These ratings are the ratings I give them on iTunes.) I rated the following songs 4 stars and they are worth checking out: 1) "Check Marks"- The Academy Is 2) "Freeway"- Aimee Mann 3) "Always A Friend"- Alejandro Escevedo 4) "Blame Is A Killer"- Amy Ray and 5) "Bang My Drum"- Daniella Cotton. There are also many other 4 stars songs. I will continue to bring you new music and let you know the quality music available. I will tell you the price and where to get it.

My ninth rated artist of all-time is Neil Young. He has released many great albums and songs. The man is a genius. As with all my Top Ten artists I am going to be listing some of their best but more obscure songs. (Except for Muddy Waters, I think his music is already pretty obscure although it shouldn't be.) First of all you need to get the CD "Sleeps With Angels". In my opinion this is his best CD. Great and obscure Neil Young songs: The CD it comes from is listed in parenthesis. 1) "Let's Roll" This is a 9/11 song.(Are You Passionate?). "Buffalo Springfield Again", "The Great Divide", "Silver and Gold", "Distant Camera (Song of Love)" and "Razor Love". (All five songs are from "Silver & Gold") Last but not least is "No Wonder" (Prairie Wind). All of these songs are 5 star rated. Then he has his 10-15 classics as well from his entire career. After writing this I am considering raising him higher, he has an amazing amount of work that is amazing. We'll keep him here now. Tomorrow the 8th all-time artist who also has a large body of quality work. Making this decision is as tough a battle as will be UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin.

I have a couple of countdowns going on. Only 4 more days until I can buy the Pearl Jam 2008 Tour Madison Square Garden 2 concert. Also only 13 more days until the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" is released. I am so pumped. I just went and checked out the trailer again at thedarkknight.warnerbros.com. Very, very cool. Also Comcast On Demand has some cool trailers, they actually have 3 different trailers. For those of you getting older, like me, they have a 7 minute recap of "Batman Begins".

Coming tomorrow, my 8th all-time greatest artist and a review of Wall-E. Also I think today's On Demand movie is going to be "The Abyss". That is one of my favorite movies of all time. Have the rest of a great 4th of July weekend.

themusicaddict

Friday, July 4, 2008

The #10 Artist is revealed

Happy July 4th,

On my Top 50 artists of all-time, the 10th place person is the great bluesman Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters unfortunately passed away several years ago. So we can only listen to the music he left behind. (B.B. King is 80! If you want to see living history of music, you better make it quick.) Anyway Waters is a ffantastic musician and singer. Here are some of his best songs: "I'm A King Bee", "Mannish Boy", "No Escape From The Blues", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", "Sad, Sad Day" and "She's 19 Years Old". If you only buy music from one Blues musician, it has to be Muddy Waters. Also someday I will have a review of a newly released CD he made a few years before his death.

I don't have a CD of the day or a band of the day. However I do have song of the day. It is one of Dire Straits more obscure songs, although I have no idea why it is so obscure. The song is "Romeo and Juliet", it is a slow beautiful song. If you ever make a mix CD for that special girl in your life, you definitely need to put that song on it.

I watched "Reign Over Me" last night. It is the Don Cheadle (who is becoming one of my favorite actors) and Adam Sandler movie. The movie is mediocre. However Pearl Jam's "Reign Over Me" is promimently featured in the movie, including over the closing credits. I had been vaguely aware of this song, but I just never made any effort to find it. I bought it on iTunes this morning, it has already found it's way on to my iPod. It is definitely an all-time greatest song.

Lately I have been fighting off the temptation to buy the new Katy Perry CD. It is a great CD. Also why should I buy it when I can listen to it free at Rhapsody anytime I want to? However if you are in a better financial situation than I am, you should pick it up.

Songs rocking my iPod: 1&2) "Saints of Los Angeles" and "Face Down In The Dirt"- Motley Crue. Both songs taken off their excellent new CD, "Saint of Los Angeles". 3) "Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back"- Meat Loaf. This version is taken from his VH1 Storytellers episode. 4) "Girls"- Beastie Boys, I think this might be my favorite Beastie Boys song. 5) "Would?"- Alice In Chains, this is probably my favorite Alice In Chains song. 6&7) "Perfect" and "Cassie" by Flyleaf, one of the best current bands, but also one of the most unappreciated bands. 8) "Old Yellow Bricks"- Arctic Monkeys 9) "Modern Swinger"- Pink Spiders 10) "Not Coming Home (Live)"- Maroon 5 11) "Baby Girl"- Sugarland.

I will be back tomorrow with my 9th all-time favorite artist. I will also have other news. Again have a great 4th, themusicaddict

Thursday, July 3, 2008

#'s 15 to 11 in my Top 50 artists of all-time

Hello,

Here is my list of 15 to 11 on my all-time favorite artists list.
15) Scorpions: The 80's heavy metal band who is still "rocking like you like a hurricane". They actually benefit on this list from quality recent music. Their most recent CD, "Humanity: Hour 1" is pretty darn good. A lot better than that title.
14) Journey: The 80's, 90's and still trying to be current band. Their latest music is a 2 CD, 1 DVD set titled "Revelation" currently only available at Wal Mart. The DVD features their new lead singer in his first concert with the band. They were pretty sharp in lead singer's Arnel Pineda debut.
13) Poison: Again another 80's band trying to hold on to relevance. Their most recent CD is a collection of covers. The CD is titled "Poison'd" and it is very good. Seriously if you like good rock music, you need to pick this up.
12) U2: This band surprises me, before I started writing this list I thought they would be much higher than this. A still great and relevant rock and roll band. This is yet another band allegedly working on their next CD. Also if you have a chance to see them in concert, go. I have seen them twice, both times they were excellent. Also they pick good support acts as I have seen Rage Against the Machine and No Doubt opeining for them.
11) Green Day: Yeah I know they haven't released any new music in 3 years (not counting the Foxboro Hottubs) but their last CD was fantastic. "American Idiot" might be the best CD of this decade, unfortunately I don't think that is saying a whole lot.

Tomorrow I will be bringing you more of my Top 10 all-time favorite artists. I may give them to you all at once or feature one band a day. The #10 act is my favorite blues artist of all-time.

I have mentioned the Pearl Jam bootlegs they are recording on their current East Coast swing. The one I am looking forward to buying is their second night in Madison Square Garden. The reason why this is a highlight for me is they convinced Ace Frehley to come and join them and sing through "Black Diamond". This set is available for download on July 9th. You can also buy the actual physical CD. One more Pearl Jam note, when this concert is over Eddie Vedder is going on a solo tour. He will be touring mainly the East Coast again, his tour dates run from August 1st to August 22nd. Tickets are running $75 base price. I love Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder but $75 to see Eddie solo is way too much. Also please Pearl Jam come out to the West Coast area. Of course you have to stop in Salt Lake City on the way through.

Also themusicaddict would like to wish Lindsay Lohan a happy birthday, she celebrated it a couple of days ago. She is now 22!

CD of the Day: "Get The Knack"- The Knack. What a great CD, I just listened to it again yesterday. Although the CD was released in 1979, it holds up very well. If it was released today it would fit right in. In fact it would be better than much of the current music. This CD is known mostly for "My Sharona", but every song is great. Band of the Day: Dead or Alive, they are the 80's synth pop dance band most known for "You Spin Me Round". That is one of the all-time great dance songs. You should definitely check out their Greatest Hits CD. It has all their songs that you want plus a few you probably don't.

One more final note I will continue reviewing CD's but I am going to give each CD at least 2 or 3 listens. That will give me a better appreciation for the music. I am trying to have these reviews be accurate and not something I will be changing my opinion on in six months. For instance, I panned the Rockferry CD. However I have heard a few people say they like it. So I will let each CD marinate a bit before I review it. Have a happy 4th of July. I will be back tomorrow, yes I am that dedicated. Plus I have a lot of time on my hands.

themusicaddict

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

More Top 50 list, Kristy Lee Cook signs

Hello,

According to rs.com, Kristy Lee Cook has signed with Arista Nashville. This is the same label that signed her and dropped her in 1999. Her record company will be releasing the song "15 Minutes Of Shame" on August 11th. The album will follow in the fall. Good luck Kristy Lee. I actually liked the first CD she made for Arista Nashville. Former "American Idol" contestants seem to do much better in the country genre. (Thanks to Rolling Stone for the above information.)

Here's more of my Top 50 artists list:
21) Madonna, the trying to stay relevant pop star. A review of her new CD is coming soon. Rumors are that she is possibly getting divorced from her husband of many years, Guy Ritchie. The same rumors say he may be getting as much as $350 million in a divorce settlement. Of course most rumors and .50 cents will buy you a pop.
20) Dixie Chicks: After making some less than flattering comments about George Bush, they had a rough patch. The tumult only seemed to make them a stronger and a better band. They joined up with producer extrodinaire Rick Rubin and made their best CD. It is titled "Taking The Long Way".
19) Sinead O'Connor: the Irish multi-genre singer. She has sung rock, pop, religious music, reggae. She has had several CD's. Her first CD "The Lion and the Cobra" is a must add to anybody's collection. I am currently listening to her most recent CD, the instant review is it is okay. It is pretty mellow pop in the spirit of her recent work.
18) The Smiths: The Mid-80's new wavers. They have turned down millions of dollars to reunite and tour. Lead singer Morrissey has had a successful solo career. He is currently working on a new CD that is out this fall. Also lead guitarist Johnny Marr is currently a member of Modest Mouse.
17) Ozzy Osbourne: Another former lead singer of Black Sabbath whose solo work I prefer over that band. His latest CD "Black Rain" is okay.
16) AC/DC: The hard rocking Australian band. They have a new CD coming out this fall. Like the Eagles, Journey, Garth Brooks this CD will be exclusive to Wal-Mart the first little while after it is released.

CD of the day, "Taking The Long Way"- Dixie Chicks. This is a great CD. It has at least four classic songs, "Easy Silence", "Not Ready To Make Nice", "Baby Hold On" and "I Hope". Band of the day: Commodores. The formerly led Lionel Richie band is a great band, many of the classic songs of the early 80's were performed by this band. Do you remember "Easy", "Still", "Three Times A Lady" and possibly their best song, "Brick House".

Four quick CD reviews. 1) Sugarcult: despite the excellent song "Los Angeles", they are a generic punk pop band. 2) Charlotte Sometimes, naming herself after the children's book. The music is poppy. The lyrics are explicit but funny. One of the best songs on the CD is "How I Could Kill A Man". 3) Katy Perry: this is a really rocking CD. It is known mostly for "I Kissed A Girl" which isn't even the best song on the CD. Another track from this CD "You're So Gay" is one of MaDonna's current favorites. My two favorite songs on the CD are "If You Can Afford Me" and "Self-Inflicted". 4) Rosebud: I had read good things about them in one of my music magazines. If you like mellow, acoustic folk music this might be for you. However for me it is very boring. I am glad I didn't spend money on it. (Thanks to Rhapsody again for being able to listen to almost any CD I want. Rhapsody has saved me a lot of money already.)

I probably won't be posting tomorrow but I will be back Thursday. Have a great day, themusicaddict.

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