Tori Amos - Live At Montreux 1991/1992

Montreux/Eagle Rock

As I've said a thousand times, I'm not usually a live album fan. It's just not for me. I rather listen to the desired production and solid playing of recording, and if I want to hear the live sound I rather just see it myself. Tori Amos's stint at the legendary Montreux venue may change my mind.
I've always liked Tori Amos, but this really personifies her gift of music. This album is made up of solely her and a piano: incredibly solumn, emotional and serious. The sound is clear, and has a sort of atmosphere to it that I cannot describe as anything other than pure beauty. Yeah, this is incredible. If you know what Tori Amos sounds like, just imagine that, but better.

Ralph Stanley II - This One is Two

Lonesome Day

Coming right out of his father's legendary project, The Clinch Mountain Boys, Stanley II is prepaired for the country world as much as one could be. Similar in style to his bloodline, This One is Two is really beyond most: using unexpected rhythms, themes, and just general orchestration that one would not expect from just any country artist.
Deep voiced with only a slight edge of the country twang, Stanley really knows how to write his music. Melodies, guitar playing...all of it fitting just like puzzle pieces through and through. It's rare that I am so enthused about this genre of country, but this is much more impressive than most.

David Gilmour - Live In Gdansk

Columbia/Sony BMG

I don't really have much to say about this album, to be perfectly honest. David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd fame, playing his new songs that are basically a continuation of Pink Floyd, in mind and spirt.
Dreamy guitar wailing, monotone vocals, and more effects than global warming, the album sounds basically what live videos of Pink Floyd sound like. While I feel a double CD and a DVD of one performance may be a bit of overkill, this record is for any die-hard alive.

Emmylou Harris - All I Intended To Be

Nonesuch/Warner Music Group

Emmylou Harris, legend. Sometimes called alternative country, sometimes folk, she has been at the game forever, and has perfected her style on All I Intended To Be.
Almost dreamy at times, Harris has so much emotion in her controlled voice that it is nearly impossible not to be moved by the time the opening track "Shores Of White Sand" is over. Taking almost 3 years to record has paid off. This is, in my humble opinion, her best work to date.

C-Bo & Omar 'Big O' Gooding - Trading War Stories

West Coast Mafia

Living up the hyphy nation, C-BO and Omar 'Big O' Gooding bring us Trading War Stories, a solid collaboration. C-Bo may be better known as the man who was imprissoned for lyrical content, a boast very few can make. Similarly, Gooding's initial fame stems probably more through the fact he is brother to Jerry McGuire star Cuba Gooding Jr.
Luckily, this is probably not what these two will continue being known for. Trading War Stories is hyphy hip-hop to the fullest extent: over the top beats, lyrics about partying and doing drugs and killing people, and a jaw dropping amount of words that you won't find in Websters. The two make a solid collaboration, working off each other like it was a match made in heaven.

The Birthday Massacre - Looking Glass

Metropolis

I've always had an inkling that goth was coming back, but jesus christ this is the last thing I was expecting. Completely over the top 80's electroclash meets Evenesence, or some other female fronted nu-metal band.
Not quite as rocking as Orgy, but perhaps within the vein. Lead singer Chibi can most certainly sing, and, seeing the haircuts that the rest of the band has, they all seem to fit their respective roles well. Despite myself, this is pretty enjoyable: heavy, loud, and most certainly cheesy (but really, what electronic music isn't?).

Various Artists - The Motown Collection

Time Life/Universal

Another in the Time Life repitouer, The Motown Collection is really all you need, for the rest of your life. Everyone knows what Motown sounds like. Everyone knows what Motown was. This is the top of the top. There was very little music in human history that was better than this era. The album holds (but not limited to): Martha & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Marvelettes.
************LATE BUT GREAT***********

***Shelton's Single Of The Week: "The Miracles" by Shop Around***

David Egan - You Don't Know Your Mind

Out of the Past/Rhonda Sue

David Egan is blues, straight up and down. Nothing to hide, no false impressions, You Don't Know Your Mind is as straight forward as it gets. The only divergence from archetypal blues pattern is the extensive (and impressive) use of piano as the highlighted instrument.
While his vocal style is not my particular cup of tea, with a bit more crooning than I appreciate, he's still honest, and that counts for a lot. You Don't Know Your Mind is perfect for blues fanatics everywhere.

Lloyd - Lessons In Love

The Inc./Universal Motown

It seems that younger is sometimes better. Lloyd, aged 22, is one of the best voices in R&B to come out in the last year. Jawdroppingly awesome melodies work over what, on first thought were emberressing, actually turn out to be pure geniousness; take for instance opening track "Sex Education" which sounds almost pornographic without singing, which only enhances the experience.
Taking notes from R. Kelly only slightly enough to take the goods without the bads, Lloyd doesn't stop with incredibly dynamic range and well thought out sexual inuendos, beginning to end.

Matt Keating - Quixotic

Kealon/MRI/RED

Slightly-country inspired solo rock. Keating, a New York local, has released three albums previous to Quixotic, a double CD packed to the brim with the mastermind's heart and soul.
The focal point of the recordings are most certainly Keating's almost unenthused deep voice, reminiscent ever-so-slightly of Jacob Dylan's work with The Wallflowers. Moments are a little bit rockin', but for the most part there is a fairly heavy tinge of country laced all the way through, especially in progressions and solos.

James Davis - Vibe Over Perfection

Unity/Dig/Warner/RYKO

James Davis carries the torch, passed down from the god-esq figures that were the Rat Pack and assorted other jazz/big band vocalists over the years.
Packed with emotion, Davis wails from beginning to end of Vibe Over Perfection, catching his breath only in the moments of incredible jazz climax-freak-out-sessions. Never missing a note, and loving every minute of it, there is little bad that could come from this album.

The Smithereens - B-Sides The Beatles

Koch

To be perfectly honest, I have never liked The Smithereens, so I can't really judge this album unbaisedly. It just is what it is: the classic rock band covering another classic rock band.
Perhaps the best songs The Smithereens have ever played, but still falling short of the originals. But I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you that The Smithereens aren't as good as the Beatles. Cover's on here include "Thank You Girl," "P.S. I Love You," and "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party".

Pete Seeger - Pete Seeger at 89

Appleseed

I feel like a lot of the reviews this week are a "is what it is" sort of deal. The "these are greats. You know what they sound like. Nothing more needed to be said" situations that leave me feeling like I cheated by general cultural knowledge.
Like Pete Seeger at 89. You know what it'll sound like: perfect. Seeger experiments a little bit more than his classic releases, putting a foot or two in the blues and even classical realm. 32 new songs, a few classic Seeger stories/rants, and a full hour of solid gold folk.

Take 6 - The Standard

Heads Up/Telarc/Concord

There's something about a cappella that is really hard for me to ever dislike. The general principal of it is just so soothing to me; there is nothing grating about it unless there is a lack of talent. Take 6 is no exception, encompassing everything they can of jazz into their unbelievable singing abilities.
The name is appropriate: an album packing a punch of jazz standards that will knock your socks off. Including "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "What's Going On," this recording shines new light onto the old classics.

Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones

Sugar Hill

Ah, another husband and wife duo! I swear, this is almost always a formula to success. Driving, simultaneous male-female vocals lead Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson to be living up the country life in their Aussie home.
Simplistic instrumentation (guitars/banjo/bass and vocals from beginning to end) leads to a more relaxed style, easying up everything ever more. One of the most relaxing (yet still incredibly dynamic!) albums of the week.

Steve Wynn - Crossing Dragon Bridge

Rock Ridge/ADA

So this sounds great in theory. Accoustic American folk, then adding layer and layer of other traditional styles (ie Slovenian choir, or perhaps a Czech orchestra or two) until the sound is perfect. Unfortunately, it came a little short. Moments are golden: third track "Love Me Anyways" is spotless 60's dreamy rock, backed heavily by reverbed-to-hell guitar work.
Though a good portion of the album just ends up a little above mediocre, perhaps due to Wynn's vocals. While having its moments, overall I sort of just get a drull and boring vibe from it all. But then again, I never liked Jesus and the Mary Chain, so what do I know?

Carrie Rodriguez - She Ain't Me

Blue Note/Manhattan/Back Porch/EMI

The classical training of Carrie Rodriguez really shows. She Ain't Me is honestly just a huge collaboration of solid musicianship, songwriting, and soul. I've heard it described as "folk", though that deffinitly is not my first reaction. I'd say more alternative rock or pop, aligned more with the likes of Sarah McLaughlin or Nataline Imbrulia.
Late 90's styled. Her voice actually holds a striking resemblence to McLaughlin's (and the cover photo keeps making me think she is Audre Horne from Twin Peaks), which works superb for the genre. Nothing half-assed here; She Ain't Me is spotless.

Donavon Frankenreiter - Pass It Around

Lost Highway/UMG

Hippy surf-rock revivalist Donavon Frankenreiter fits right next to your Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews' CD's across from the longboard and bong. Sometimes a little country, sometimes a little fake jazz, Frankenreiter manages to change genres while not comprimising his artistic style. Heavily produced, and fairly soul-less as far as I'm concerned, this is quite easy listening and for those beach bros.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Liz Mandeville - Red Top

Ear Wig/Burnside

Liz Mandeville embodies the soul of big band blues. Belting out a monsterous dynamic range of vocal work, Red Top is produced to a T.
Full orchestration, endless amounts of Mandeville's not-quite-innovative-but-superb-none-the-less soloing, and enough soul to flush it all out, the album borders on flawless. 15 songs of the like, this is most certainly worth checking out.

Sidestepper - Buena Vibra Sound System

Palm Pictures/Quango

This is another interesting one. Sidestepper, brainchild of DJ Richard Blair, is an odd little mix of Afro-Colombian roots with dance and even some dub thrown in just to even it all out.
While I have never been a fan of dub, and a lot of roots does nothing for me, this seems to work. Using beats from everywhere in the realm, and using odd little production tweaks (like uncomfortable changes to the low end from song to song), Sidestepper has created their own little niche. This could work equally well in a club setting, a party setting, or even a bong session.

The Verve - Forth

Big Life/Stolen Transmission/MRI/Megaforce/Red

The Verve, after years of being off the street, have finally broke out again with Forth, possibly their most innovative record to date. Drenched in reverb and effects and soundscapes, The Verve have taken an aggressive turn towards the Radiohead camp, not really dropping much along the way.
They manage to cram just about everything they have onto this 10 song opus, leaving you feeling like a trainwreck after the fact. That is in the best way possible, of course. Gruff, aggressive vocals, a load of noise, and lots of jamming, Forth is the direction that rock needs to take. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

The government say that its what we need
to work until we die serving someone else's greed
they separate divide but its the same red blood we bleed
rob us of the fruit but we'll always have the seed
so people are speaking out against what they see
searching for the truth within the promises of liberty
people are imprisoned for what they believe
or is it just propaganda
out of the gate we're all quick to defend
the sell out positions white-washed of content
to our hearts discontent
too afraid of our failures
faith and future unkown
do we dare and reach beyond it
you screamed in my face but I waited quietly
religious leaders, politicians, and the lies you say
from the economic poisons of the enemy
to the bottom of the bottle where the poor man stay
or is it just propaganda
out of the gate we're all quick to defend
the sell-out position white-washed of content
to our hearts discontent
too afraid of our failures
faith and future unkown
do we dare to reach beyond it
do we dare to stand alone
do you feel the pressure rising ?
pressure rising
push the future
pressure rising
in the present we
push the future
in a house divided
we will watch it fall

Political Article: Wall Street and Washington: How the Rules of the Game Have Changed By:Steve Fraser Back To Top What is Washington to do as the financial system collapses? Clearly, stark differences in approach as well as in public policy have already emerged. Bail-out Bear Stearns and pump up the brokerage and investment business with new lines of credit. Nationalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the backs of the taxpayer -- but let Lehman drown. Tell the financial community to save itself, after which Bank of America salutes and buys Merrill Lynch. Then, the Fed gets cold feet and decides it can't let an institution the size of the insurance giant AIG go under as well. Washington is left staring into the abyss. The old rules no longer apply. And that's the point. At moments of crisis since the mid-1980s, the relationship between Washington and Wall Street has changed fundamentally, at least when compared to anything that would have been recognizable in the previous century. As a result, the road ahead is dark and unknown. During the nineteenth century, Washington was generally happy to do favors for Wall Street financiers. Railroad tycoons, who often used those railroads as vehicles of extravagant speculation, enjoyed subsidies, tax exemptions, loans, and a whole smorgasbord of financial fringe benefits supplied by pliable Congressmen and Senators (not to mention armadas of state and local officials). Since the political establishment was committed to laissez-faire, legerdemain by greedy bankers was immune from public scrutiny, which was also useful (for them). But when panic struck, the mighty, as well as the meek, went down with the ship. Washington felt no obligation to rush to the rescue of the reckless. The bracing, if merciless, discipline of the free market did its work and there was blood on the floor. By early in the twentieth century, however, the savage anarchy of the financial marketplace had been at least partially domesticated under the reign of the greatest financier of them all, J.P. Morgan. Ever since the panic of 1907, the legend of Morgan's heroics in single-handedly stopping a meltdown that threatened to become worldwide, the iron discipline he imposed on more timorous bankers, has been told and re-told each time an analogous implosion looms. Indeed, last week's news carried its fair share of 1907-Morgan stories, trailing in their wake an implicit wistfulness. They all asked, in effect: Where is the old boy when we need him? Back then, with Morgan performing his role as the nation's unofficial private central banker, Teddy Roosevelt's administration continued to keep its distance from Wall Street, still unready to offer salvation to desperate financial oligarchs. Not normally chummy with Morgan and his crowd, Roosevelt did cheer from the sidelines as the Ÿber-banker performed his rescue operation. As it turned out, though, the days of Washington agnosticism about Wall Street were numbered. The economy had become too complex and delicate a mechanism and, in 1907, had come far too close to meltdown -- even Morgan's efforts couldn't prevent several years of recession -- to leave financial matters entirely in the hands of the private sector. First came the Federal Reserve. It was established in 1913 under President Woodrow Wilson as a quasi-public authority meant to regulate the country's credit markets -- albeit one heavily influenced by the viewpoints and interests of the country's principal bankers. That worked well enough until the Great Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed and lasted until World War II. The depth of the country's trauma in those long years vastly expanded the scope of Washington's involvement in the financial marketplace. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal did, as a start, engage in some bail-out operations. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, actually created by President Herbert Hoover, continued to rescue major railroads and other key businesses, while some of the New Deal's efforts to help homeowners also rewarded real estate interests. The main emphasis, however, now switched to regulation. The Glass-Steagall Banking Act, the two laws of 1933 and 1934 regulating the stock exchange, the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other similar measures subjected the financial sector to fairly rigorous public supervision. This lasted for at least two political generations. Wall Street, after all, had been convicted in the court of public opinion of reckless, incompetent, self-interested, even felonious behavior with consequences so devastating for the rest of the country that government was licensed to make sure it didn't happen again. The undoing of that New Deal regulatory regime, and its replacement, largely under Republican administrations (although Glass-Steagall was repealed on Clinton's watch), with what some have called the "socialization of risk" has contributed in a major way to the mess we're in today. Beginning most emphatically with the massive bail-out of the savings and loan industry in the late 1980s, Washington committed itself, at least under conditions of acute crisis, to off-loading the risks taken by major financial institutions, no matter how irrationally speculative and wasteful, onto the backs of the American taxpaying public. Despite free market/anti-big-government rhetoric, real-life Washington has tacitly acknowledged the degree to which our national economy has become dependent on the financial sector (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate -- or FIRE). It will do whatever it takes to keep it afloat. This applies not only to particular institutions like Bear Stearns, or even to mortgage mega-firms like Fannie and Freddie, but to finance in general. When it seemed necessary, public monies were indeed funneled in the general direction of the banking/brokerage community to shore up the whole rickety structure. This allowed one burst bubble -- the dot-com debacle -- to be replaced by another, namely our late, lamented mortgage/collaterized-debt-obligation bonanza, just now dramatically going down the tubes. Backstopping the present bail-out is the ever-credulous, put-upon American public with its presumably inexhaustible resources. Even while Washington was instituting the periodic "socialization" of bad debts, it was systematically abandoning the New Deal's commitment to regulation. That, of course, was in the very period when financial markets became ever more arcane, ever less comprehensible even to their Frankenstein-ian inventors, and ever more in need of monitoring. So the "socialization of risk" was accompanied by the "privatization of reward," which now is likely to prove a truly deadly combination. That the crisis has now reached a newly terrifying stage is suggested by Washington's sudden willingness to depart from the new orthodoxy and let the huge investment bank, Lehman Brothers, go under. Some may see in this a steely return to a laissez-faire faith. More likely, it represents wholesale confusion on the part of Bush administration and Federal Reserve policymakers about what to do, even as all endangered businesses have come to take it for granted that Washington will toss them a life-preserver when they need it. The times call for a new departure. The next administration, which will surely enter office under the greatest economic pressure in memory, must confront reality. The financial system is out of control and has led the economy into a wildly turbulent sea of heavily leveraged speculation. It's time for a reversal of course. Stringent re-regulation of FIRE is not enough anymore. Washington's mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt's New Deal faced. The government must figure out how to deploy its power to shift the flow of investment capital out of the mine-fields of speculative paper transactions and back into productive channels that will help meet the material needs of American society. Real value must be created in place of chimeras. In the meantime, we all have ringside seats -- in fact, far too close to the action for comfort -- as another gilded age is ending. What comes after is, in part, up to us. EDITOR'S NOTE: Since Wall Street and the United States government, along with the ultra-wealthy (the 1% of the population who control 50% of distributed wealth) are happily married, radicals such as ourselves should demand that the ultra rich pay for the bailouts that the U.S. government is providing for the ruling class that has made enormous profits off of our morgage melt-down and all the other gambling loans that our banks have made. The ultra-rich must pay for the bailout that you and I, as taxpayers, who haven't made a dime off of these con-men at the banks, are paying.

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