It's summertime, and no band says good times, hot babes, and cool rays quite like Motley Crue, right? Currently out pillaging the countryside on their Cruefest tour, the original bad boys of the Sunset Strip are also back this week with Saints of Los Angeles, their first new album in eight years.
With song titles like "Mutherfucker Of The Year," "Down At The Whiskey," and "This Aint A Love Song" (we'll let you guess what it actually is then), the Crue-boys also look to be trying to extend their already over-extended adolescence a few more years. The only thing missing here is the tittie-cam.
Speaking of bad boys, Pete Doherty checks out of rehab long enough to grace us with Babyshambles new live CD/DVD set Oh What a Lovely Tour. Elsewhere, we have a new one from Ry Cooder in the sci-fi influenced I, Flathead. Sigur Ros are back with Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust.
Earlier this week Blogcritic Clayton Perry wrote a
glowing review describing Anthony David's new Acey Deucy as nothing less than the future of soul music.
On the hip-hop side of things, southern rappers Three 6 Mafia are down to a duo on their new CD Last 2 Walk. Wu-Tang Clan's resident alchemist RZA checks in under his alter-ego Bobby Digital with Digi Snacks.
Donald Gibson will be along shortly to talk about the new one from Jessie Baylin. But first, we welcome Josh Hathaway to our revolving cast of contributors, making his debut pick for NAR this week. Regular visitors to BC already know Josh as an assistant music editor here, and publisher of Confessions Of A Fanboy. Josh can also be heard Thursday nights on his Blogtalk/BC Radio show, B-Sides Concept Album.
Watermelon Slim & The Workers are ready to defend their title. No Paid Vacations follows last year's The Wheel Man, which took home the Blues Music Award for Album of the Year. Vacations — his third album in three years — doesn't stray far from the vision of the blues he's crafted on previous records, which is good news. There's massive amounts of slide guitar, tasty harmonica licks aplenty, and Slim telling stories with that unique cadence of his. These are the ingredients that make his albums work, and No Paid Vacations has all of them.
If you heard her playing in some downtown music club, you’d have a hard time believing that Jessie Baylin is only 24. Her honey-soaked voice and melancholic inflections impart maturity beyond her years, underscoring why her new album, Firesight, resonates with such warmth. On this, the New Jersey native’s major-label debut, the music yields a mélange of styles to include elements of folk, soul, and, at its best, jazz. Baylin fares particularly well on “I’ll Cry For The Both Of Us,” “Leave Your Mark,” and the piano-laden strains of “Lonely Heaven,” all of which accentuate her vocal versatility to poignant effect. Firesight is an eclectic, ambitious effort that should not only serve as foundation for this promising young artist, but also as encouragement for her to further explore her creativeness.
Article comments
1 - Pico
The good, usual write-ups, gentlemen (although I never "got" Watermelon Slim).
Paul Bley and Marc Ribot are on the list.
2 - Mark Saleski
the Marc Ribot is great! all over the place...crazy covers of classic rock, a little near-tropicalia....just a load of fun.
i swear tho, i'm gonna go out and buy the new Crue!
3 - Josh Hathaway
I can see the headline now: man injured in fart-lighting/human torch trick gone horribly wrong. I think I'm passing on the new Crue record. I have a compilation that I got for free to have around for the rare occasions when I get nostalgic for hair metal, but I draw the line at Saints of Los Angeles.
Pico, what's to get?
4 - Mark Saleski
yeah, i'm not so sure i should support a group of guys who use so much hair dye anyway.
5 - Jordan Richardson
Good stuff. Amos Lee's latest is quite good (review up soon) and I'm looking forward to sampling the latest RZA album. Sigur Ros is always pretty interesting, too.
6 - Jordan Richardson
Oh, and just to let you know: the Be Your Own Pet album is actually called Get Awkward.
7 - Mark Saleski
i heard Sigur Ros uses Autotune in concert.
...oh sorry, wrong thread.
;-)
8 - Pico
"Pico, what's to get?"
I just don't get--understand--all the accolades heaped on this guy. But that's just me.
9 - Glen Boyd
Glad to hear you like the Ribot, Mr. Saleski. Also nice to see your name back here, even if it is just as commenter (at least for now). Two more sentences there, and you'da had a pick ready to go.
-Glen
10 - Glen Boyd
As for the Crue, two words gentlemen: Extended Adolescence. And two more: Grecian Formula.
-Glen
11 - Mark Saleski
i couldn't do it. i stared the cd down, and just knew i couldn't give Tommy Lee any of my money.
i did get the Alejandro Escovedo...but still yearned for something big, dumb, and fun...
looked at Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak but had the sneaking suspicion that i already owned it (proof that i'm not at 100% yet)....wanted a Syl Sylvain record but they didn't have any.
ended up with The Dictators - Manifest Destiny.
12 - Glen Boyd
Handsome Dick is always good for a little big, dumb and fun. Good choice.
-Glen