Jim Boggia: Safe in Sound

I ran into this guy at the Paradise a month or two back. He was opening for Jump Little Children, and after only catching the second half of his set, I was sad we missed the first half.

He's got a solid rock sensibility, but sometihng in his voice harkens me to the folk-rock stylings of Ellis Paul, who I very much enjoy. But, don't get me wrong, this album definitely rocks, in a pop-rock way.

The album starts in slow, but it gets its shit together pretty quick. Its got some sap in there, but most guitar-driven rockers in this genre tend to have a few in there, just to be safe.

The lead of track, Shine, is the slow beginning, but its a solid tune which is co-written by Boston's own Aimee Man (of 'Til Tuesday and , later, solo fame). Made Me So Happy has a very simple beat, simple lyrics, but its written well enough that you just can't avoid that beloved head-boppin' good time.

For a guy I had no interest in seeing, I'm really a fan of his work now.

In the end: This was a really enjoyable album. I appreciated him more live, when it was just him and a guitar, but that's my style. You may not be able to find it everywhere, but if you get the opportunity, give it a go.

Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls

Tori Amos intrigues me. She's so absolutely out there. I'd seen her live a few years back, as part of Mix98.5's "MixFest." If you want to see a woman damn-near have sex with a piano, this woman is the woman to see.

What turned me on to this album, Strange Little Girls was that it was a cover album. Knowing a thing or two about Tori, I had a feeling this wouldn't be a normal cover album, and I was right.

Among the covered artists are Boomtown Rats, Eminem, Neil Young, and even the Velvet Underground.

But this isn't just a "oh, yeah, lets do it the way they did it and be done with it" kind of covering. Its clear Tori spent a long time on these, re-imagining them her way. Some sound closer to the originals than others, true, but it doesn't make it any less good.

The Eminem cover, 97 Bonnie and Clyde is the weirdest of them all, I feel. Not bad, just weird. I've heard the Eminem tune, and then listening to this version, all I can say is that you need to hear it for yourself.

The Beatles cover, Happiness is a warm gun feels as though its become a very anti-gun message, with various sound bites edited in regarding individual's rights and even clips from moments after John Lennon was shot.

In the end: Tori Amos isn't for everyone, but this album does a good job of re-imagining some classic and slightly obscure tunes. Definitely worth a listen.

Bill Hicks: Rants in E-Minor

Yes. Another comedy album.

I wanted to roll through the Bill Hicks collection for two reasons:
1) I love Bill. Most of his work is just amazing, and 10 years AFTER his death, most of it is still disturbingly relevant.

2) I don't think enough people know the genius that is Bill, and if I can get one or two people two listen to him, then I feel good.

As with all his albums, "Rants" is not safe for work or children.

This album, the first I ever heard, is also, perhaps, the most disjointed.

Bill covers a wide spectrum, from silly jokes to warm up the audience ("Let's hunt and kill Billy Ray Cyrus" and "People who hate people, come together! Fuck you!"), and in between some of the warm up, he hits with some small, true social commentary, and then bounces back to the lighter comedy.

Later on in the album, after he's talked about Easter, Prolifer, Gideons, COPS, and more, he starts getting on his rage-a-hol box of anti-right wingers, which is really more an angry rant at the religious right who's too dumb to look at the world as it is.

When I first heard this one, I truly could not stop laughing. This was both the most hysterical, and the most funny thing I'd ever heard. Its comedy, its social commentary (Not just dick and fart jokes), its ANGER. But, from my stance, its still true.

In the End: There are better albums that will give you a better idea of Bill's work. After you've picked up Arizona Bay or Relentless, this material may feel better, as you've been brought into the world of Bill Hicks a little softer. But no less true.

Various Artists: Napoleon Dynamite (Soundtrack)

I felt really bummed that I spent $18 on this. Yes, I realize that's a crappy way to start any sort of review/discussion of material.

I'll start with what the album did right:
It got most of the major songs, as well as most of the incidental music, all of which conveyed the movie well.

What it didn't do right:
As much as the little one liners and dialogue bits are funny, it feels like there's just too many, and it puts the whole album off. 17 dialogue tracks. Many people probably enjoyed it, but it set me off.

I felt taken for a ride because the Open Credits song, which is by the White Stripes, was not included, just as the dance number music was noticeably absent.

In the end: There's not a lot I can say about this one. People who "MUST HAVE" everything surrounding Napoleon Dynamite will get this because it will be yet another chance to hear some of the over-used dialogue. Don't piss the money away, I say. Don't even waste the Bandwidth downloading it.

Kasabian: Kasabian

I've had this album for a while, but I never listened to it. For some reason, I thought this was some soft-assed pop-rock. After finally throwing it on the iPod, I was happy to find it wasn't such.

The first track, Club Foot, made me think I was in for some sort of Filter/Crystal Method combiination, but that trend didn't extend.

The album is definitely more on the rock side, which is good. Most tracks have, at least, a small amount of vocal distortion, which adds an interesting effect with the way the instruments have been mixed/produced/played.

What I particularly like about this album is its hard enough that you can deinfitely be drawn into it for a sonic explosion, but not so hard that you can't ignore it just enough to have it feel ambient, very background. Its an interesting duality, but I enjoy it.

Club Foot, Processed Beats, L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever), and Butcher Blues (which actually gives me a bit of a Massive Attack feeling) are, in my thoughts, the best of the album.

In the end: This is a surprisingly solid album. Its foray into the processed nature of music is bound to turn off many people, but if you give this a listen, you'll find yourself bopping your head to more than one track.

U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Deluxe)

These are my boys.

U2's latest studio album, which appeared last November (2004), Continues the bands tradition of staying on top. Is it their greatest work? Not even close. They perfected their music in 1980 with the album "Boy." Or so I think. However, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (HTDAAB) is right up there with their last offering, All That You Can't Leave Behind (ATYCLB). Some say its better, but I think ATYCLB was a better album.

HTDAAB starts strong with what is obviously the bands Top40/MTV/VH1/Asswhooping lead song. Its radio friendly, it rocks hard, and, really, its a very-good-to-nearly-great Pop/Rock song.

Despite coming out of the gate hard, it softens greatly with "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" (A Song for Bono's deceased father, Bob). Then the album crests back up, with "Love and Peace or Else," and what I feel is the albums best track, "City of Blinding Lights." The album begins to slope back down to less-rocking songs, but, if you have this edition, not the regular retail one, you get "Fast Cars," the album's song that contains the album's title and has, what sounds like, a liberal use of Spanish Guitar. Its a shame this track didn't get wide release, because it is one of the best of the album.

In the end: Anyone who has any interest in U2 will buy this in a snap. The album holds a number of tracks someone, anyone, could latch on to for various emotional or musical reasons. Its not their greatest offering in the last decade, but its solid and it makes me wonder where they will go from here.

Technorati Tagged: U2 | Irish | Rock

Arcade Fire: Funeral

Back in March, I went to see a little Irish band called "U2" in San Diego. For the opening music, before the band comes out, they played Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" over the PA. The energy this tune seemed to bring to the crowd, the unity, made it grow on me, and upon my return to the East Coast, I stopped at Newbury Comics and picked up this album at $9.99.

I gave it a listen, and besides "Wake Up," I was not hugely impressed... at first.

Two weeks, maybe three, passed, and I gave the album another go. And another. And another. In one day, I listened to the album 5 times. It really grew on me. What initially turned me off to this album may also be what slowly grew inside of me and made me love this album: the band does not really pay attention to the traditional song structure. Its a simple thing, I know, but its odd to not hear it at first.

After dozens and dozens of listening, this is definitely up in my Top 10 purchases this year.

There ar 4 tracks titled Neighborhood#1-4, and each are quite different, despite titling. Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Wake up (obviously), and Haiti rank as my faves on the album, but the whole thing is quite solid, if different.

In the end: If you have time to invest in this album, its worth it. Its odd structuring makes it difficult to digest, at first, but truly a good album. Sometimes, just sometimes, those silly Canadians do something very right.