Rock Around the World

Karen Carpenter A&M. NR
Karen Carpenter

"Last One Singin' The Blues" in its pristine, unmixed format could be Karen Carpenter's posthumous "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" if it gets serviced to radio properly.

It has the right kind of cack in the drum sound and the keyboards have a nice, drifting Richard Tee sound to it...try spinning it in New Adult Contemporary and see what happens.

To be frank, hearing Karen's voice all these many years later forces me to recognize the treasure she was for the Music Industry.

Thanks to Phil Ramone and Richard Carpenter for getting Karen's voice back to the Air.

Internet Listening Pleasure: My Body Keeps Changing My Mind, Last One Singin' The Blues.

Chris Isaak Reprise/WEA International. NR
Baja Sessions

It is so fitting that Isaak record a song by Roy Orbison, because Roy's is the vibration I get whenever I hear Chris sing...Isaak's got this haunting, brooding depth to his delivery that is so Orbison.

I've been meaning to comment on this patented High Definition Compatible Digital technology that seems to be the domain of certain Warner Brothers product, but HDCD truly shines with this recording. The pickup on vocals, strings, brushes...anything that moves, is a clarity I've not heard with other extant technologies.

The sound on this album is great! That must be Lee Herschberg's fault...I can hear the air inside Kenney Dale Johnson's kick push. Very cool.

"Think Of Tomorrow" is Chris Isaak's 3 Minute Hit.



Internet Listening Pleasure: Only The Lonely, South Of The Border, I Wonder, Two Hearts, Dancin', Think Of Tomorrow.

Carla Olson and the Textones Varese Sarabande. PR
Midnight Mission

This album was in the top ten Critic's Poll of BAM Magazine around 1984. One listen to this album, and you hear the material still holds up to the test of time. Dig the Rolling Stones vibe in "Luck Don't Last Forever" and "See The Light".

Some heavy guns help out on this album, check out the liner notes...Carla's got friends in this business.

Discover this album yourself again, for the first time.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Midnight Mission, Luck Don't Last Forever, Clean Cut Kid, See The Light.

George Nighthawk Jackson Snakygator Music, Inc.. NA
Inside Job

The album has potential. From the drop, "Nice Work" and "Little Dancer" can go to radio with just a tweak of the patterns to bring everything up underneath vocals placed out front.

The rhythm section is On The One with Mark Williams riding the tubs and Gerald Johnson holding down the funky bottom on bass.

Mike Finnigan's mighty, mighty B-3 is also a feature in the mix.

Beautiful backing vocals by Robbyn Kirmsse, Sheila Chambers and Kelly Moneymaker are a tasty touch.

Vocally, Nighthawk Jackson reminds me of a cross between David Baerwald and Dr. John's sass.

Internet Listening Pleasure: Nice Work, Little Dancer.

Chainsaw Kittens Scratchie/Mercury. NA
Chainsaw Kittens

Tyson Meade's got cool vocal syle. It's different.

Dig that song called "Sounder".

Internet Listening Pleasure: Tongue Trick, King Monkey Smoke, All (No Surprise), Sounder.

Michelle Shocked Mercury. NR
Mercury Poise: 1988-1995

Sincerity is at the very core of this Artist's work.

Check out this anthology of Shocked's material. Nice to have her voice around again.

Internet Listening Pleasure: Anchorage, Street Corner Ambassador, If Love Was A Train, Prodigal Daughter (Cotton Eyed joe).

Rusted Root Mercury. NR
Remember

Check out "Dangle".

Dig the Production and the Mix.

...Power in percussion...


Internet Listening Pleasure: Dangle.

The Ocean Blue Mercury. NR
See The Ocean Blue

A confection of Euro-type pop, but originating in America, by way of a Chocolately Giant of a town.

If you dig the flavor of Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, or The Hoodoo Gurus, you will find The Ocean Blue a sweet treat.

Dig the Mix.

"Bitter" is the spinner here.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Out Here, Bitter, Bye.

Korn Immortal/Epic. NR
Life Is Peachy

Experience the Dark Side...this album is a soundtrack to a nightmare...


Internet Listening Pleasure: K@#0%!, Adidas, Ass Itch.

Humble Gods Hollywood. NA
No Heroes

Dig the cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl".


Internet Listening Pleasure: Glad I'm Not You, Running Out of Time, American Girl.

NY Loose Hollywood. NA
Year Of The Rat

This band rips.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Rip Me Up, Dragonfly, Detonator.

Phil Collins Face Value/Atlantic/WEA International. NR
Dance Into The Light

I'm glad that Collins got to make this record and get it out of his system.

Genesis needs a drummer, and Collins is the man. Reconsider, Baby. Check out the breaks in the sound byte and you'll know what I mean.

I like Collins' stuff with John Goodsall and Brand X...that's when Phil Kicks, but this pop segue will do for some...


Internet Listening Pleasure: Lorenzo, The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Boxing Gandhis Mesa/Bluemoon/Atlantic. NR
Howard

Funk by way of the Interstate 405...This band can throw down.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Piece In The Valley, Cuzacan, Funky Little Princess.

Midnight Oil WORK. NR
Breathe

There's an enviable vibe that the Australians are tapped into that we up above the Equator don't really comprehend.

Midnight Oil has got this outback-aboriginal funk that is uncommon to these parts and is a welcome sonic treat for my ears.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Underwater, Bring On The Change.

Journey Columbia. NR
Trial By Fire

It's a pleasure to hear the soaring vocals of Steve Perry and the most productive iteration of Journey's lineups in full swing on this album.

You've got to know how to sing and know what to do with your instrument...Journey Knows how this game is played...

What I'm saying is a lot of the stuff I've listened to this past year sounds pretty ignorant since not many bands playing these days have mastered their instrument.

Give this record a spin, and you'll hear what I'm saying.

It's about time we let the halftime show end and let the PROs step out on to the field. Dig.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Forever In Blue, Castles Burning.

Vibraphonic Hollywood. NR
A Vibraphonic Christmas

A lot of this stuff will remind you of the repertoire of Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Galliano, and Incognito.

This album will make for an outstanding holiday party album since the vibes are consistently groovy throughout and will mix well with the vibration of gathered friends in festive conversation.

Dig Alison Limerick's vocals on " A Present Just For Me".


Internet Listening Pleasure: A Present Just For Me, Someday At Christmas, Merry Christmas Baby, Merry Christmas To You.

Doyle Bramhall II Geffen. NR
Doyle Bramhall II

This is a gutsy 4 Globe performance.

The production by Wendy and Lisa borders on open handed genius...no closed fists in the feelings the sonics generate.

You might remember Doyle Bramhall as the ambidextrous Guitar Monster and heir-apparent to the Stevie Ray Vaughan legacy.

This multi-talented instrumentalist seems to have shaken that unbearable SRV mantle and other ghosts as well, for that matter. This album seems to be Little Doyle's soulful exorcism.

The skin slappers on this album are a handfull...I'm aware of Abe Laboriel, Jr. from his work with Jonatha Brooke and Steve Vai, and the soulful brother keeps time groovily on this Gemstone. Sheila E. did the drums on Prince's Sign Of The Times and every time I see her name I think of "The Belle Of St. Mark" and "Glamorous Life".

Put it this way, Little Doyle had some sexy motherfuckers on this one...delivering what was only hinted at with the Arcangels.

Dig the words penned by Will Sexton and Bramhall's forceful, earnest soulfulness and tasty guitar.


Internet Listening Pleasure: Song From The Grave, Ain't Goin' Down Slow, Close To me, Bleeding From A Scratch, Stay A While.

Chicago Presents Chicago Records, Inc.. PR
The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath

Had Kath been more obsessed with his Ego and less concerned with welding a horn section to some solid Rock, we might of had an A&R man's dream Power Trio: The Terry Kath Trio or something like that.

After I listened to this album, Kath became less of the dialogue from One Trick Pony where Paul Simon, Steve Gadd and Tony Levin are talking about Kath in the past tense...and more of a Monster with a Telecaster that could stand toe to toe with Hendrix, but it seems to me that Kath's fingering had better shapes on the fretboard.

Kath also had an advantage over Clapton in that Kath had the benefit of being born and bred in Chicago, breathing in the Blues through his ears instead of craning his ears over a 33 1/3 or a 78 somewhere off in the British Isles...to electrified recordings of Chicago Blues Masters.



Internet Listening Pleasure: 25 or 6 to 4, I'm A Man, Mississippi Delta City Blues.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]