Random Disorder

Despite the name, Random Disorder is a band that has got it’s act together. Read more

Ozzy Under Cover

It’s really hard to remember that Ozzy Osbourne has been doing music for close to 40 years. Yet, it’s never surprising when an Ozzy tribute album crops up. What is surprising is when it’s Ozzy doing a tribute album – to his contemporaries. Not his modern contemporaries, but his legendary contemporaries, like the Beatles.

Thats’ what Ozzy Under Cover is – a tribute to his influences and equals. Some you can easily see like King Crimson, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Joe Walsh, Rolling Stones, Cream,and Mountain – you know the raucous weirdos. It takes a stretch imagining covers of The Beatles, Lennon solo, Buffalo Springfield, Eric Burdon, Mott the Hoople and the Moody Blues.

Notable tracks include In My Life (the Beatles) – by far the best track of the album. There’s definitively feeling in Ozzy’s trademark rasp and it sounds more like a confession than a cover.

Sunshine of Your Love by Cream sounds as if it were written for Ozzy, and its obvious that this was a key influence on the Wizard.

The Moody Blue’s Go Now was a nice surprise, because not even the Moody Blues does it anymore. Though, oddly enough it was that type of blues rock that Ozzy started with (before Black Sabbath was Black Sabbath), so maybe this is more of a tribute to the musical path he never went down. Still, this is one of the better tracks from the album.

On the other hand, some tracks like All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople) and Buffalo Springfield’s For What its Worth (’There’s something happenin’ here, and it ain’t exactly clear…’) are meh. The first sounded flat and phoned in, the latter is a protest song and not even in the same town as Ozzy’s alley.

Still, a pretty decent endeavor overall.

The Verdict

A respectable 4.9 out of 6 on the arbitrary NWOt scale. Points were deducted for the couple of meh tracks. If they were gone then it could be a 6 just for In My Life and Lennon’s Working Class Hero alone. But hey, 11 out 13 tracks aint bad.

Conspicuous by it’s absence, by the way, is the often existence-denied cover of the Bee Gee’s Stayin Alive (not even as a hidden track) - although I’m sure everyone has it downloaded somewhere.

Headphonability – none of the tracks are “heavy” and will blow out your eardrums. However, this is Ozzy we’re talking about, and he’s as high pitched as ever.

Travelicity – Not road music! Maybe you can add Rocky Mountain Way or Fire to a compilation or something.

Replayability – This isn’t the type of thing I’d stick in the CD player and forget about. Break it up into various disks and playlists and it’ll be appreciated longer.

Apparently there’s a Dual Disk version out there with video, but my mishugena music club sent me the album only!

The Killers - Hot Fuss

When I first heard the song Somebody Told Me, the bubblegum angst anthem with the chorus “somebody told me you had a boyfriend that looked like a girlfriend I had in February of last year…” caught my ears. Not because the line spoke volumes of the current dating scene. Nor was it that because it was on MTV, that I thought it was another cookie cutter crap band.

No, it was different. It was (quality) bass heavy. It had (quality) synth sound effects. It was good. So I bought the album, which was odd for me since it was and still is on the Billboard Top 40. I’ve never owned something that was currently on the Top 40. But these guys deserve to be there, shunning the crap that surrounds them.

The Killers sound has an epic quality to it. I can’t exactly put my finger on how that is, but it just is. The melodies with their rolling guitars and drum beats and ever present keyboard action, invoke neatness and emotion. And as for the content, yes, it’s mostly bubblegum angst… but it’s got wit to it and isn’t the run of the mill garbage.

Verdict

Listening to Hot Fuss it like listening to a throwback to the 80’s synth-alternative movement (The Jam, The Cure, etc.); which as you should know by now is a good thing. But like I said, it’s different. The Killers is one of those bands that needs not to be forgotten about and has to produce more stuff so that music as a whole doesn’t pack it in.

Headphonability/Travelicity - Plug it into your ears and go man go.

Replayability - Despite the above praise, I wouldn’t choose Hot Fuss for constant rotation. It will wear thin on your nerves, especially with the video for Mr. Brightside airing on every other music network 3 times an hour. Come on VJs and DJs, don’t over saturate us just yet, they’ve got so much more to do before we burn them like Disco.

Good News For People Who Like Bad News

I only heard of Modest Mouse recently, much like most of America I’m sure. They’ve been around for some time and making at least ten albums; however, they traveled the independent circuit thrusting them into underground obscurity. It’s a shame really, because if Good News For People Who Love Bad News is any example of Modest Mouse’s talent, well let’s just say they’re going to be huge now that they’ve surfaced in the mainstream.

GNFPWLBN I feel is an album that will stand the test of time. It’s an eclectic mix of instruments (one being Isaac Brock’s vocals) playing second to incredible/intelligent lyrics of anger (somewhat), ironies, and all sorts of stuff like that there. But, as the most recognized song Float On implies, it’s going to be ok eventually.

I’m going to go out and get more Modest Mouse thanks to this album. Maybe then I can do a better review armed with more knowledge of the band. But based upon just knowing GNFPWLBN and the climate of music today - it gets an easy 6.

Headphonability, or will it make your ears bleed when applied point blank - It gets a unumerated score of good. There’s a lot of subtlety here by way of voices and sound effects. Only problem is that it’s engineered a bit too well - the shouting people will cause you look around to see if someone is talking to you.

Travelicity, (not to be confused with the website owned by a gnome) or can you move to it? - Eh, it’s not road music. Good News For People Who Like Bad News is more of a have in on the stereo whilst you work… I think if facilitates creativity more than a constant sound to work out to or get you where your going.

Replayability, or if your trapped on a deserted island will you go nuts with just this - Probably you would. There are a lot of songs on this album that will get trapped in your noggin, so be careful when repeating this en masse. Even the greats like ELO and the Beatles can get tiresome if over saturated.

• The World At Large - 30sec 16kbps stream
• Bury Me With It - 30sec 16kbps stream
• The Devil’s Workday - 30sec 16kbps stream
• Satin In A Coffin - 30sec 16kbps stream

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

When a new band comes out you hate to compare it to other music; it tends to take something away by giving the impression that the new band is not so new. Well, the following does not imply that Franz Ferdinand is the same old thing (far from it): This group’s is the newTalking Heads! It’s the rebirth of Art Rock.

Franz Ferdinand the group and album is, for the most part, a breath of fresh air. Just as one could at best label the Talking Heads as eclectic rock, that’s the best you can pin on Franz Ferdinand. No categories, just great music.

I first got exposed to Franz Ferdinand channel surfing and stumbled across the video for track three - Take Me Out. The song starts out as a twangy little number but soon changes tempo and mood in to a beat driven monster. Coupled with the Dadaistic nightmare of the music video staring animated pictures from 1920’s mail order catalogs… I needed more.

The album starts out with the disarming song Jacqueline, which seems to be slow paced love song at first. However, just as Take Me Out and indeed just about all their songs (hard to pull off), the mood changes. You may recognize the riff from the 2004 MLB playoff commercials.

Tell Her Tonight is some unique blend of funk and psychedelic surf rock and some interesting lyrics about obsession that I think we all can relate to.

Next comes The Dark of the Matinee, which has a pleasant commercial-hit air to it. It must be the catchy chorus and off beat cadence in the lyrics.

Anyway, it’s hard to come up with enough adjectives to compliment each song. I’ve had the album for a month and I’m still trying to analyze the songs. Needless to say each track is a stand out. Despite their own ways about them they all mesh into a great album.

The videos are artistic masterpieces in their own right. And I mean artistic - Take Me Out with its dada roots (as I mentioned); This Fire a hysteria-induced constructionist (propaganda) feel; and Dark of the Matinee a surreal bit of fancy.

Not bad for a couple of pals from Scotland deciding to make some tunes.

Look out for Franz Ferdinand. Like they’re namesake whose death sparked change in the political world, this band’s success will change the musical world forever. (How’s that for poignant?) I just hope they stay together better than The Talking Heads did.

Ok now for the ratings.

If you couldn’t guess the pure praise rather than critical review of above, the album itself gets highest marks - 6 out of 6 on the arbitrary scale.

Now for other minor bits:

Headphonability, or how well it fairs strapped to your skull,
is a 5 out of 6. The album has it share of big beats and loud riffs, but
it’s not going to blow out your eardrums. It loses a point because there’s not much more to the songs than what comes from the stereo (i.e. no inaudible undertones or subtleties). Some times it’s cool to catch stuff you’ve never heard after 300 times listening an album.

Travelicity, or is it good on a road trip? It is indeed. As I had said many songs will switch tempo and moods, but in this case it has no bearing on momentum. Franz Ferdinand will keep your pace constant and get you where you need to go.

Replayability, or how many time you can listen to it before it becomes a clay pigeon - another 5 out of 6, unfortunately. Some songs will get older than others forcing you to hit the fast-forward. But the bulk of the album is so good it’ll keep with you and haunt you in yoursleep.

Dont believe me? Well, take their word for it… some ±40sec 16kbps clips:

• Take Me Out
• Dark Of the Matinee
• Auf Achse
• This Fire
• Come On Home

These clips are used without permission.Amazon uses sound clips, but they make money off the deal. We don’t.

Phillip Hole - The Singing Gravedigger

A few years back I attended a small Renaissance Faire in Staten Island, New York. There wasn’t much there for a while. Then halfway through the day a man resembling Mick Fleetwood, brandishing a guitar, stepped onto a box and began drawing a crowd.

"My name is Philip Hole, sing tada…" he sang. And the audience sang "tada," too, as did I. "This is neat," I thought and proceeded to buy the CD.

The songs tell of the life and times of the son of the humble boy of fishmongers "Douglas and Martha Theresa (Doug and M.T.) Hole" from 1535 England (what else would you expect from a Renaissance Faire).

Done in a wandering minstrel style with some sea chanteys tossed in, The Singing Gravedigger is a fun album. Hole accompanies himself on a 12-string guitar while singing brilliant lyrics peppered with word play, puns and odd stories. Some songs are Hole’s own, while a few are timeless classics like "Old Rosin the Bow" and Tom Lehrer’s "Irish Ballad."

All lightheartedly walk on the darker side of life. "Father’s Grave" is about how they moved his father’s grave to build a sewer with dire results, and "Isn’t It Grand," proclaims: "And always remember the longer you live, the sooner you’ll bloody well die." Hangin’ Johnny recounts the life of the little pleasures of a town executioner. That’s just to name a handful.

Says Hole, "I prefer songs of death, love, death, the sea, death, drinking and death."

Phillip Hole not only tickles the funny bone, but also stirs up emotions and the imagination. Here, take listen for yourselves.

Samples from Phillip Hole, The Singing Gravedigger by Rick Nestler: (streamed at 16kbps)

Track 2 - Isn’t it Grand - 2:51
Track 3 - Father’s Grave - 1:52
Track 6 - I Wish They’d Do It Now - 2:48
Track 9 - Two Reasons - 1:51

Rick Nestler, a guitarist from up-state New York, plays the part of Phillip Hole. In searching for more information on Neslter I came across someclips of his other works. When not singing about graves, he sings about the sea in a Jimmy Buffet-eque style.

I’d say that’s versatility. 6 out of 6.

Mr. Nestler does not have a website yet, however you can email him at dnestler @ catskill (dot) net, or write with quill and ink for more information to: