Bradley's Buzz

7 Random CDs

It's that time of the week again - frickin' Friiiiidaaaaay! Woo hoo, not only does that mean I don't have to deal with crabby rich people and their endless pursuit of fine furnishings, I also get to hang out in my house record music, make bubbatunes, update websites and of course listen to music. So let's take a look at what I listened to this week and what you can run out and buy to spend your weekend...

BILLY JOEL - Glass Houses (1980)
Like I posted yesterday, my pal Lisa sent me this CD for either Christmas or my birthday, I'm not sure which one exactly but I am glad I got it on CD. For some reason 1980 saw the onslaught of pop royalty releasing the new wave punky album - Linda Ronstadt had Mad Love, Carly Simon did Come Upstairs and Billy, longing to shed the critic's image of him as a balladeer made Glass Houses - a romping rock album with elements of new wave and punk - of course the new wave and punk just like in the case of Linda and Carly is glossed over by the professional production and the fact that the anger of the genre isn't necessarily convincing in this element. However, that doesn't mean the albums aren't good, and of the three this is by far my favorite. As a kid I had this cassette and because side one was so frickin' fun I would just rewind and play it over and so I never heard the last five songs until I got this CD yesterday. First let me tell you, those first five songs are completely infectious which to me is the essence of new wave rock - opening with glass smashing (of course) "You May Be Right" begins with its chunky guitar and a Billy Joel growl as he angrily plows through to the next - my favorite - "Sometimes A Fantasy" ('oh, oh, oh'), then a Beatle ish/Spector ish "Don't Ask Me Why" which is so sing alongy I usually end up playing it twice, before the hit single - new waveish Billy on "It's Still Rock & Roll To Me" and then a rocker of bitterness "All For Leyla." Then I was finally able to move to the next set and though not completely forgettable, they aren't quite as great as those first five - though I really like "I Don't Want To Be Alone" & "Sleeping With The Television On" and though I hate to say it, had some real new wave band done the songs they could've been brilliant and fun - I think, like other critics have said - Billy just wasn't all that convincing in his this new bitter world of his. But they are infectious songs and of the three Billy albums I got (The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses), this is by far my favorite.

HOLE - Celebrity Skin (1998)
As emotionally drained as any Courtney Love shenanigans can make us, she is foremost a musician and this is her and thus her band's greatest achievement in a relatively short list of recorded music. Ditching the complete garage grunge angst of Pretty On The Inside and Live Through This, Courtney and company brought Billy Corgan in for a couple things and went to California for inspiration. Conjuring up images of the 70s California rock scene, Courtney left a lot her angst in the Northwest and went for more melody. I love every single song on this disc and when it came out I played it over and over - from the beginning guitar crunch and Courtney's vocal "oh make me over/ I'm all I want to be" the title cut breaks into the catchy yet dramatic "Awful" followed by "Hit So Hard" and it goes on and on with a radio friendly tune thrown in before crunching into the pain grunge we love from our Courts... so much better than her ill fated (and I wanted to love it) solo album from a few years ago - for those unsure of Hole's reasons for success and with an ear more for melody than angst, this is the CD to go to.

CYNDI LAUPER - Hat Full Of Stars (1993)
One of those overlooked CDs of her releases, this is to me is Cyndi's crowned achievement in music. She's So Unusual is of course fun from start to finish and though it has moments of honesty and angst like the brilliant "Time After Time", it was mostly an album to launch a career with tongue firmly planted in cheek, her next album True Colors was supposed to be a more mature approach and definitely achieved that with the equally brilliant "True Colors", "Change Of Heart" and some very good album cuts, then came 1989's A Night To Remember which other than another brilliant single "I Drove All Night" (damn Celine Dion, damn her!) the album was mostly forgotten. A few years later Cyndi said critics be damned and made the album she wanted to make - Hat Full Of Stars is full of everything you come to expect from my favorite Cupie Betty Boop girl - the emotional ballads "Who Let In The Rain?" (can I just keep using brilliant as an adjective?), "Hat Full Of Stars" which tells the story of a love affair gone which was all the better when all they had was a hat full of stars and nothing else, then "Sally's Pigeons" a woeful tale of an old friend who seemed to have bad luck with a lot of her life, but then Cyndi brings on fun and bouncy music "That's What I Think", and for the first time some real urban plight / world affairs songs like "A Part Hate" and the abuse tale "Shattered Glass" - every single song is worth hearing over and over and though it didn't sell well, and Cyndi would next record Sisters Of Avalon, an album closer to heart since she seemed to have complete control, that album is a little too overly dramatic while Hat Full Of Stars is a perfect combo of fun, cynicism, heartache and of course the great vocal chops of Cyndi - who if the world was a better place would hold the throne as the queen of pop instead of that other woman who can't sing that Cyndi used to compete with.

KELLY OSBOURNE - Sleeping In The Nothing (2004)
Another completely overlooked career and I can not state enough what a misfortune it is that so many people just pushed Miss O to the side for various reasons. The fact is she is full of spunk and fun and both of her albums are not just good and "able to pass" they are excellent little records that should've seen a much greater sales rate and/or critical praise. In fact, from what I've read there was never really any terrible reviews for either of her albums, instead the world just decided they'd buy fake punk Avril Lavigne than a real life punk princess who had just as much gusto as those Green Day boys on her debut Shut Up, and then for some reason when this album came out with its infectious 80s electronic bounce and ooze, the world opted for shit like Ashlee Simpson and her act alike little girls who 1. can't frickin' sing and 2. don't even talk about anything in their songs that are worthy of my earphones. I mean let's face it without the overdubs and overhauls of the producers most of these girls would've been shelved before they ever put on their bustier and hit the dance floor. But Kelly, who opted to sit out on writing most of the material on Sleeping In The Nothing, went to Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes and super producer) for this little nugget chock full of pleasure. The single "One Word" with its opening French speak and its soothing driving electro beat should've been a huge hit, "Uh Oh" with clever lines like, "Uh Oh I better go before I turn this love into a crime" speaks to my frickin' heart. "Suburbia" with its back up "uh uh uh" and the synth running through could've been a Pet Shop Boys, and there are other 80s electro influences on here. In fact, if you didn't know better you would think you were listening to some lost female led synth band from 1983. The songs all come fast and furious with its obvious 80s influence, this is the album Kelly apparently always wanted to make and I for one am greatly appreciated. If you guys take anything from my blogs at all, take this - run to the store and buy one of the dozens of discounted Kelly CDs in the bin, you will not be disappointed you spent that $5 in fact, you will most likely find yourself with a new favorite punk/pop CD (Shut Up) and a new fav 80s electronic CD (Sleeping In The Nothing).. I mean it, buy it!

MELISSA ETHERIDGE - Never Enough (1992)
From the overlooked we go to the overhyped, now I'm not saying Melissa doesn't deserve the kudos she is bestowed, in fact I was on that lesbian bandwagon way before anyone outside of the music critic's circles knew she existed. The prob is Melissa's first four albums (Melissa Etheridge, Brave & Crazy, Never Enough, Yes, I Am)were great - spirited, spunky, thought provoking, sad and happy all at once. But after that she decided to stick the formula on Yes, I Am and milk it for all its worth. Sure she had some great hits post Yes I Am, but to me it was always her album tracks that really shined and its on those first albums where she was saying something new. I tend to go back and forth between this album and Brave & Crazy as my favorite Melissa albums, but since I wanted a little more rocking in my ears, I opted to dust off this CD and play it for all its worth - featuring one of my fav singles "Ain't It Heavy" (Sometimes it's never enough/ survival is fine but satisfaction is rough) Melissa goes for a feminist approach before crunching into one of her most experimental songs "2001" which now that its 2006 doesn't pull the punch so much anymore ("wake me up when we hit 2001") but it's still a good song. Most of the songs incorporate her old school rock roots with some twang thrown in here and there, and of course songs of sex - though Miss E was pretty clever in these early days never giving the songs' characters a real gender thus making the song one anyone straight or gay could sing along with and of course there's the little over the top ballads she would later be known for but like most of Melissa's work, it's her lyrics that have always pulled me in, and Never Enough really pulls you in from beginning to the end.

ROSEANNE CASH - 1979-1989 (1989)
A greatest hits package of a singer a lot of people forget about but one you should all go back and discover. I always loved the song "Seven Year Ache" (1981) so when I found this cassette at a used bin one day in Couer d'Alene, I picked it up. At the time I was working at this school for mentally challenged adults and one class I was teaching was music, which amounted mostly to giving the 'tards (I say this with the most affection ever so don't yell at me.. I mean it lovingly) a microphone and letting them go to town on a little karaoke machine. Well, I figured Roseanne Cash would be a good one to throw into the mix so I brought the tape and when "Seven Year Ache" started this woman named Rhonda, who did not speak, did not walk, did not really do much at all, took her cane, walked to the front of the room and mumbled her way through the song. It was the crowning achievement in my academic teaching career. I decided when I moved to LA, Rhonda should have that tape so she could sing anytime she felt the urge.
Finally, I found a discounted version of the album on CD as I had become quite fond of this little hits package - obviously including Roseanne's signature classic, it also contains "My Baby Thinks He's A Train," "Tennessee Flat Top Box", an acoustic guitar driven version of the Beatles' "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party", the pop influence "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me" and "Hold On" - these are all classic songs and after reviewing some information on Miss Cash (if you didn't know she is the daughter of Johnny), I found she is and for most of her career has been a critic's darling. Now I'm on a rampage to pick up five of her best reviewed albums - Seven Year Ache, Interiors, King's Record Shop, Rhythm & Romance and this year's apparently brilliant beyond belief Black Cadillac - which could've been a bit of a downer as it talks about death since she lost her step mother, father and mother all in the same year but is instead pretty damn good apparently. As for the avid listener who just wants to check out what the fuss may be about I suggest this greatest hits. Full of her biggest hits in the first decade of her career, you'll figure out why she was a pioneer, pushing the Nashville boundaries before most of today's pop country stars were even born.

GREEN DAY - Warning (2000)
I am in love with Billie Joe and always have been. From the first moment he sang to me about being a slacker whose only real motivation came from jerking off, well let me say he had me at "Longview." After numerous albums, all equally fun and brilliant Green Day released Warning: in 1998. I haven't really stopped listening to this CD since. I put songs from it on everyone's mixers, I put it in my car stereo and jam as I run the streets of LA, it has not lost one single iota of power for me. The singles "Warning", "Minority" and "Macy's Day Parade" are brilliant. The album cuts are just as powerful - from the first song to the end, all I can do is sing, sing, pound my fists, sing, sing. I love it! Now to the naysayers i realize that perhaps Green Day isn't doing anything those other power punk pop bands are doing but they were doing it first and they do it better. With Warning: they were really saying something and doing it with such fervor I almost have to do a longview on my self .. Excellent album - buy it! Billy needs your love and support, not as much as I want to give him MY love and support but whatever.

posted by swivek @ 10:30 AM