Hope everyone on the East Coast of the US is safe after Irene. Rest assured I was listening to music while the winds howled outside. First off I want to recommend the next creepy installment of music from the Midnight Syndicate. It is not rock by any means, but Carnival Arcane is symphonic movie soundtrack goodness.
CD reviews
Counting Crows: August and Everything After-Live at Town Hall
Adam Duritz and company serve up a live selection of their music for their adoring fans. The only difference between the CD and the DVD is the interviews with Duritz and Charles Gillingham included on the DVD. Not surprisingly the stand out tracks on here are hits like "Mr Jones," "Round Here," and "Rain King". It also reminds us that Duritz is grating when listened to for a period of time more than one or two songs. "Mr Jones" is a great drunken karaoke sing-along, one has to admit.
This CD/DVD also demonstrates how truly overrated this whine-a-minute band was in its day. I confess to owning their hit album August and Everything After, but egads does this music not age well. While not as bad as some of the whiny female singer/songwriters of the decade, this is pretty grim stuff. This live outing was recorded in 2007 at Town Hall in New York City, while they tried to remind people of why they were liked at one time.
As you might imagine from the title of this release, their entire hit debut is performed here. Whenever you think the pop-rock of the 2000s was bad, check some of the "best" of the 1990s and you would realize how much the better the '00s are for music.
Rainbow: Live in Germany 1976
As one might expect with the recent demise of the much beloved Ronnie James Dio, the various bands he was associated with are re-releasing material by the boatload. The nice thing about Dio is that he rarely if ever was associated with anything that would be considered bad. His body of work was consistent in its quality, and is always a pleasure to hear it remastered. Anyone who owns this probably only has it on vinyl so this is useful release. The two-CD release, which mimics a two vinyl record set of yore, contains eight tracks from the Dio, Blackmore, Cozy Powell, Jimmy Bain and Tony Carey lineup. This group only recorded one studio album in the form of "Rising".
Article comments
1 - Miflwrpwr girl
Wow. That review is one of the most poorly written reviews I have ever read. "rest assured" and "as you can imagine" ....really? The cliches are running amuck. Your poor writing skills are not lost on the misguided and totally ridiculous review of one of the greatest cd's of all time. Hope you are better at your day job, cuz this won't pay the bills.
2 - Andrew
This review is horrible. You barely even talked about the Counting Crows CD... all you did was stated your opinion that you hate the band. No detail about the performance was given, all you said is that you hate the band and that album sucked.
Terrible review dude.. find a new hobby.
3 - Robert
Dude what the hell is wrong with you? Aren't you supposed to give multiple viewpoints as a reviewer/blogger? Not just say how much you hate a band? Thumbs down dude.
4 - Chris
Yeah, I've got to agree with everyone else here... this isn't a review of anything, it just reads like a personal attack. It might be helpful if, oh say, you actually tried to offer just a little support for your opinions here or maybe even talked about the album.
I also like the random insult at "the whiny female singer/songwriters of the decade." Because that was necessary, huh?
p.s. if you're trying to say that something hasn't aged well, "egads" ain't exactly the best word choice... it suggests you've aged a bit yourself.