CD Odyssey Disc 26: Rush

The CD Odyssey has been in a lower spot recently. Not bad per se, just hovering in a lot of 2/5 and 3/5 records. That just changed for the better.

Disc 26 is...Caress of Steel
Artist: Rush

Year of Release: 1975

How I Came To Know It: I've known Rush since I was a kid. Caress of Steel came to me late, as I began working on completing a collection of their studio albums. I think I got it around fourteenth of 18, maybe two or three years ago.

How It Stacks Up: What the hell was I waiting for? This is one of Rush's best discs, and totally unappreciated except by Rush fans. As I alluded to, Rush has 18 studio albums, and I've drilled through them all. Caress of Steel is one of the best. Definitely top 5, maybe top 3.

Rating: 4 stars.

Rush is quite simply one of the greatest, most technically gifted bands in the history of rock and roll. Caress of Steel is only their third studio album and they've already mastered playing together.

Whether it is the guitar solo in Bastille Day by Alex Lifeson, the drums of Neil Peart in Didacts and Narpets or the soaring vocals of Getty Lee in his prime, these guys are masters of their craft.

Moreover, the songs on Caress of Steel are high quality, including two monster tracks, The first, is The Necromancer - a 12:29 opus about heroes being kidnapped by a necromancer, and winning free. The second is the almost twenty minute "The Fountain of Lamneth" some crazy quest across mountains, seas etc. in quest of the mythic Fountain, only to find yourself.

Did I mention these guys are prog rockers?

So, this album has musical range, it has a range of themese (in addition to the fantastical ideas I've already noted, there are songs about Bastille Day, visiting a park as a child and...going bald. yes - there is a song about going bald. Not surprising, if you've seen Neil Peart recently.

Last year I was thrilled to finally see Rush in concert, and they were incredible. The only thing I found myself wishing was that Caress of Steel would get some love. It is one of Rush's best - certainly the most under-appreciated.

So - if you already have 2112, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, do yourself a favour and skip right to Caress of Steel. You can bone up on the other albums in time, but you'll regret not putting this hidden gem in your collection as soon as you can.

Best tracks: Bastille Day, The Necromancer

CD Odyssey Disc 25: Audioslave

The penultimate "pre-rolled" CD Odyssey Disc 25 is...

Revelations

This picture is generic. My first attempt to find a photo resulted in a virus attack, and put me off the whole thing. Future albums shall have appropriate pictures - this time you get vinyl!

Artist: Audioslave

Year of Release: 2006

How I Came To Know It: I believe my friend Chris introduced me to Audioslave - telling me a band is made up of a mixture of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine made for an easy sell.

How It Stacks Up: Audioslave only has 3 albums - Cornell is off doing pretentious solo work and Rage Against the Machine has decided to welcome back their perpetually angry lead singer into the fold. Revelations is their last work together (at least for now) and is far and away the weakest.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumbs up.

Let me start by saying I really like Audioslave - a band that engenders a fair amount of dissension in the rock-fan world.

As far as I am concerned combining the genius of Chris Cornell's voice, with the amazing guitar playing of Tom Morello is inspired.

Unfortunately, while the guitar playing on this album is incredible, and some of the licks amazing, overall the songs are fairly forgettable. Also, Cornell is a bit too screechy.

I know, I know - screaming in tune is what Cornell does best, but here it comes off as a little pretentious and over the top, even for him.

The album's first 3 or 4 tracks show promise but they aren't followed up with strong material. Nevertheless, the technical mastery of Morello's guitar is on display, and Cornell sings well on a bad day, so the album is still worth an occasional listen.

Mark this one down for completionists only. It ain't bad, but you're better served with the excellent offerings of Audioslave's first two records.

Best tracks: Revelations, One And The Same, Original Fire

CD Odyssey Disc 24: Enya

Uh oh. This is embarassing. The randomness of the dice are going to make everyone think I am a huge fan of Enya, instead of the small, long ago fan that I am....

Disc 24 is...A Day Without Rain

Artist: Enya

Year of Release: 2000

How I Came To Know It: In my last Enya album review from Disc 11, I defended myself by saying I was sucked in like everyone else by Orinoco Flow. Well, 12 years later, here is another Enya album, but with no convenient excuse. I still liked her, and the single "Only Time" drew me back in just when I thought I was out. Like the Godfather, only not cool.

How It Stacks Up: I still own 5 Enya albums. I thought going in this would rank at the bottom but it is OK. I guess it is at the bottom, but not much separates it from Watermark.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumbs up.

This is the second time I went into an Enya review hoping to hate it, but actually deciding that I enjoyed it (only not too loud, and not at stop lights).

Enya has a real soothing sound, and this album is just like that. The songs don't really go anywhere - kind of like techno music, except they are mercifully only 3 minutes long, and I don't hate them. They are just a little mood slice, sometimes in English, sometimes in Welsh and sometimes I think she just goes "aaahhh" or hums.

This album has an annoying quality that some artists think is nifty - not capitalizing song titles. If it wasn't cool for E.E. Cummings (take that E.E.) it isn't cool for you. Please stop that, and use your letters - and do it properly!

So, anyway - A Day Without Rain is is a bit flaky, but I like it anyway. I don't pull it out much, but I think I'll inflict it on the Tuesday night crowd coming over tonight. Hey - it is only 1 of 5 discs - toughen up!

Best tracks: Wild Child, Only Time, Cleora Ar Mo Chroi

CD Odyssey Disc 23: Spirit of The West

Disc 23 is...Labour Day
Artist: Spirit of the West

Year of Release: 1988

How I Came To Know It: I got into Spirit of the West at University. Labour Day was the first album of their's I heard. They were a big campus protest act in the day.

How It Stacks Up: I have the three SOTW albums worth having (the first three). I think Labour Day is probably the best, although they are all good in their own way.

Rating: 3 stars.

I really like Spirit of the West (SOTW) whether I am sharing their opinion or opposing it. They are good either way.

I have fond memories of this album, hanging out at Felicita's and drinking cheap draft beer, debating how to make the world a better place.

It is a strong album with some kick-ass penny whistle (yeah, you read that right, tough guy). The songs are all catchy and the musicianship is strong. The lyrics are a little bit "beat you over the head with the obvious" but remember - this is protest folk/rock, and that is how it is supposed to sound.

"Labour Day" is by far SOTW angriest protest album. They pick a fight with Margaret Thatcher, sing about rundown inner city neighbourhoods, complain about Expo '86 and generally champion the cause of the downtrodden.

Whatever you may think about their topics, or their particular opinions, the bottom line is, they make their points well, and the songs are catchy. Good art should help you see a point of view well - it doesn't matter if you share all, some or none of it. Labour Day succeeds at this.

In particular, I really like the song "Political". It reminds me of how rotten it feels to be judged based on your politics instead of who you are. Next time you meet someone and you don't like their politics, ask them what they like in music - maybe you'll find you share something with them after all.

Best tracks: Political, The Hounds that Wait Outside Your Door, Gottingen Street, Darkhouse

CD Odyssey Disc 22: The Shins

It has been a tough week of CD Odyssey. Firstly, I haven't enjoyed knowing what CD is next (having had to roll 8 in advance before the CDs were packed away for home renos). Second, the renovations have sapped all my free time, making keeping up a little difficult. This weekend I will catch up.

And in that process, "indie rock" (whatever that is) makes its first appearance.

Disc 22 is...Oh, Inverted World


Artist: The Shins

Year of Release: 2001

How I Came To Know It: Sheila and I discovered the Shins simultaneously when they were the musical act on Saturday Night Live. We really liked them. Although "Oh, Inverted World" is their first album, it was the last one to join the collection.

How It Stacks Up: We have all 3 Shins albums. I have to say I really like the other two, but this one is the worst of the bunch.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumbs up.

I am not a huge indie rock fan, but there are good bands in the genre, and the Shins are one of those bands. They have a great ethereal quality to their music is is sort of indie pop, more than indie rock.

This particular album is simply blah, however. Most of the songs are not memorable, nor are they particularly distinct. One kind of runs into the next, but not in a good way, like with a concept album.

There is no denying the Shins' talent though, and I think they are a pretty innovative act musically. Or at least they sound that way to my untrained ear.

The 'hit' off this album "The New Slang" is a pretty good song, but just not good enough to pull this album into 3 star territory.

Also, I don't like how these edgy "arty" bands like to name their songs something obscure. How about picking a noticeable line in the song, rather than an obscure line. Making it hard for me to find the tracks I like does not make me like those tracks more.

Bottom line: There are two very good Shins albums out there ("Chutes Too Narrow" and "Wincing The Night Away"). Go get those. "Oh, Inverted World" is for completionists only.

Best tracks: The New Slang, Caring is Creepy, The Past and Pending

CD Odyssey Disc 21: Luka Bloom

Here comes a disc which features a celebrity brush-with-greatness!

Disc 21 is...The Acoustic Motorbike


Artist: Luka Bloom

Year of Release: 1992

How I Came To Know It: I once helped get Canadian Folk Icon Mae Moore out of a line up at Swan's. In the conversation that followed, she told me about an artist I should really check out - Luka Bloom. So I did - and here he is.

How It Stacks Up: Mae Moore insisted I buy 2 of Luka Bloom's albums - and so I did. The Acoustic Motorbike is one of them. It is by far the lesser of the two.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumb down

At the outset of this review, I'd like to point out that I really really like my other Luka Bloom album - but I'll review that one when the time comes.

Today, we are left with what I think is the later album "the Acoustic Motorbike". I definitely like the title, which is basically a cutesy reference to riding a bike.

Luka Bloom came to me at the height of my folk music love-in. At that time I loved this album immeasurably more than I do now. Yes, I still love folk music, but this one hasn't stood the test of time.

Bloom has a great voice - a voice so good it carries a lot of tracks that don't deserve a listen, and makes you listen - and this is something to be applauded. But the material here doesn't measure up compared to his other work.

There is a kick ass remake of Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love", but there is also the worst ever remake of LL Cool J's "I Need Love". If rap and folk can ever mix (and this is a serious IF) it doesn't work here. The Acoustic Motorbike sees Luka writing his own "rap/folk". It is a damned sight better than his take on LL Cool J, but still only approaches average.

Overall, this album really tries a new direction. It mostly fails, but in many places it shows Luka Bloom's talent and promise. Although I only have 2 of his albums, I'm told he is still touring, and if he came to Victoria, I'd go see him. I think it would be a good show.

So thanks for the recommendation, Ms. Moore, and thanks for the drink you shared with me. You're one cool woman.

To you gentle reader - buy Luka Bloom's other record "Riverside" for sure. It is awesome. This one is close, but not close enough.

Best tracks: Can't Help Falling In Love, I Believe In You

CD Odyssey Disc 20: Neil Young

Sometimes the randomness of the Disc Odyssey has me land at shores that I have not visited in many years. Other times, it takes me back to an island I only recently discovered. The latter is the case with this entry.

Disc 20 is...Sleeps With Angels

Artist: Neil Young with Crazy Horse

Year of Release: 1994

How I Came To Know It: I first began listening to Neil Young in university - probably around 1989. However, I've only recently been seriously drilling through Young's ample material. Sleeps With Angels is my newest addition, and I bought it earlier this year because it has the great anti-consumer anthem, "Piece of Crap".

How It Stacks Up: I have 12 Neil Young albums, including both solo work and with Crazy Horse. Neil Young is an incredible artist and songwriter, so the competition is tough. I really like Sleeps With Angels, but I've got to put it in the bottom half of the albums I have by him.

Rating: 3 stars.

This album came out near the end of Neil Young's big resurgence in the 1990s. He is really in the middle of angry, middle-aged man territory here, but Sleeps With Angels has a dreamy quality that naturally leads into his more relaxed sound in more recent years.

The influences of the grunge bands he was hanging out with (Pearl Jam, Nirvana) definitely come out here. Big ambient hard rock sound with a lyrical undercurrent.

It is said the first track "My Heart" is about Kurt Cobain's suicide, but I have no idea if that is true or not. It is a great track.

Just as Black Mountain's "In the Future" is kind of defined by one huge track, so too is this album defined by "Change Your Mind."

"Change Your Mind" clocks in at about fourteen and a half minutes. It is one part a simple beautiful song that opens you up to the possibility of letting new ideas in. The other part features long interludes of blues-rock guitar laid over an ambient sound that is equally good for driving or dreaming.

Other great tracks feature a shopping cart and a Trans Am. Naturally - the Trans Am is long overdue for an ode, and frankly the shopping cart comes off pretty good in the end too, although not as sweet a ride.

If you are just getting into Neil Young, don't start here. However, if you are a completionist, it is worth a listen. You might not like it at first, but give it three listens right through - I think it'll change your mind...

Best tracks: Western Hero, Change Your Mind, Trans Am, Peice of Crap

CD Odyssey Disc 19: Frank Sinatra

What's that you say? Listening to every album you own consecutively and not stopping until you're done? Sounds like a CD Odyssey.

That's right my friends - and this time in random order. From Alice Cooper we take a sharp turn:

Disc 19 is...Sinatra at the Sands

Artist: Frank Sinatra, with Count Basie and His Orchestra, Arranged and Conducted by Quincy Jones

Year of Release: 1966

How I Came To Know It: I got into Frank during my swing years in the nineties. I think Andrew got me going, but it was a trip up island in quest of burger king with Andrew, Chris M and Geoff M that solidified Frank for me. Back in the dark days of the nineties there was no burger king within 50 miles! Even now to get to and from the burger king you have to walk 30 miles up a hill - both ways.

I bought this album because it had "Fly Me To The Moon" and I liked that song since I saw that Richard Dreyfus/Holly Hunt movie "Once Around".

How It Stacks Up: My house is in disarray, so I'm not sure hom much Frank I have. I think four, but three are compilations and this one is a live album, so no way to compare.

Rating: 3 stars.

Sinatra at the Sands is one of those albums that I rarely play. Each time I pull it out I say to myself, "one last listen for the road, then I'm selling it." But each time, Old Blue Eyes charms me again, and I find myself really enjoying it.

This time was no exception, and it doesn't hurt that with Count Basie and Quincy Jones, the album is like a miniature collection of 60s superstars.

Anyway, Frank is in great form here, charming the audience with humourous anecdotes about dames, and how drunk Dean Martin gets. Frank: "At Dean's house, there's no drinking allowed after dinner. Of course dinner is served at 3:30 in the morning!"

The album is a little uneven, but there's a reason Sinatra is as famous as he is - he can really sing. As live albums go, I've heard better, but this one stands up alright.

If you want to get a Sinatra album - ask someone else which one. With a live record and 3 best ofs, I am not qualified to tell you which studio album to buy - and I don't respect "best of" recommendations. They're for chumps.

So I'll end this review now, before I "chumpetize" myself.

Best tracks: Come Fly With Me, One For My Baby (And One More For the Road), Luck Be a Lady

CD Odyssey Disc 18: Alice Cooper

The CD Odyssey continues - despite seemingly endless home renovation in our pad. In preparation for up to 5 days without access to my CDs (yikes), I pre-rolled the next 8 entries in the CD Odyssey. So they are still random, but I can see what is coming. Let's just say I am excited, but also filled with dread.

Anyway, the last of the "one off" randoms for a while was a good one.

Disc 18 is...Da Da
Artist: Alice Cooper

Year of Release: 1983

How I Came To Know It: I've known Alice Cooper since I can remember music. My brother is seven years older and was listening to Alice Cooper when I was six. This particular album came later, as it is hard to find - I think I got it in the late nineties.

How It Stacks Up: Alice Cooper has 25 studio albums. I am a big Cooper fan, and I have them all. Of the 25, Da Da isn't top 5, but it is close. I'd say somewhere between 6th and 8th best depending on my mood. When counting out of 25 albums, that is pretty strong. I certainly listen to it a lot.

Rating: 4 stars.

Alice Cooper has an incredibly varied and interesting career. When I did my 3 volume "Best Of Alice Cooper" mixed CDs, I divided his career up into three basic categories. "With The Band", "Drunk and Alone" and "Clean and Sober".

Da Da, which was released in 1983 goes at the end of "Drunk and Alone". It was the last album Cooper did drunk, as he sobered up in 1984 and still is today. Stylistically, it is very much the end of phase 1 of Cooper's solo career. It is weird, expiremental but at the end of the day, great rock and roll.

It is really a two year period - right after the awful 1980 Flush the Fashion and 1981 Special Forces, and right before the "eighties metal" phase begins with 1984's Constrictor. Dada and 1982's "Zipper Catches Skin", are probably Alice Cooper's least known great albums.

Da Da covers the usual run of Cooper shock-topics, including child abuse, kinky sex, vampires and my favourite - a song about a fat, transgendered multiple-personality disorder mall-Santa (No Man's Land).

The album covers grandiose satire with "I Love America". It opens with Cooper singing:

I love that mountain with those four big heads!
I love Velveeta slapped on Wonderbread!
I love a Commie - if he's good and dead!
I...love...America!

It is in your face as Cooper goes back to his well-traveled themes of decay in society. The song is funny, it is inappropriate - and it is a musically gifted dose of rock bombast.

Yet, the same album ends with the powerfully introspective "Pass the Gun Around", an obviously autobiographical song about what it is like to be an alcoholic slowly drinking yourself to death. That song opens:

"Sonny wakes up in the morning feeling kinda sick
Needs a little Stoli Vodka - needs it really quick.
Sees a little blood run from his eyes
Feels a little hotel paralyzed."

In short, Da Da is an album that takes big risks, and explores many facets of what it is to be Alice Cooper. In 1980/81 those risks fail, but on Da Da for the most part, they pay off. This is a strong album, and while I don't start trying to get someone into Cooper with this album, it isn't long before I sneak it into the playlist and see what they think.

Best tracks: No Man's Land, Scarlet and Sheba, I Love America, Pass The Gun Around

Odyssey update: After further review, Honeymoon in Vegas did not survive this round of the CD Odyssey. Despite Dwight Yoakam's glorious "Suspicious Minds", the album will be put to pasture, opening up much needed space on my CD racks.

CD Odyssey Disc 17: Honeymoon In Vegas

Today's foray into the CD Odyssey turns up a bit of a stinker.

Disc 17 is...Honeymoon in Vegas Soundtrack
Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 1992

How I Came To Know It: It is a soundtrack, so I must've found it through the movie, but the details are lost in the mists of time. I think Sheila introduced me to the movie years after its release. She owned it on VHS - a format almost as good as BETA!

How It Stacks Up: I have about 23 soundtrack compilations - this one is low on that totem pole - definitely bottom 5.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumbs down.

I really like the movie "Honeymoon in Vegas". If you don't remember the one - it is a romantic comedy starring Nick Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker (from before Sex and the City made her famous).

Cage is this guy who can't commit. One night, he meets a wealthy gambler (James Caan) who tricks Cage into betting a date with Parker during a poker game. Cage loses the bet of course, and Caan whisks her off to Hawaii. Cage realizes how much he loves her and decides to fight for her. So basically, it is a totally original rom-com, since that device has never been done before or since.

OK - maybe it is fairly by the book but 1) it does it well 2) it has flying elvii and 3) I am a sucker for rom-coms. Yeah - you heard me right, punchy!

Anyway - the soundtrack is all modern (at the time) acts doing Elvis covers. It is a great idea, but it fails in one basic way - the covers mostly suck. Also, I'm not a huge Elvis fan in the first place (apologies to my Mom, who can still remember where she was "the day Elvis died.")

I would've dumped this record long ago, but it has a great remake of "Suspicious Minds" by Dwight Yoakam with this kick ass guitar riff in it. This song is so good, it means I have to keep the album. I have this "rule" that I can't just upload a couple of good songs and discard the album. When I discard an album, it is well and truly dead to me. And this one track has saved this album for years.

"Blue Hawaii" by Willie Nelson and "Devil in Disguise" by Tricia Yearwood are also fairly good, but the other 10 tracks are average to awful. Worst of all is John Cougar Mellencamp doing a version of "Jailhouse Rock" that takes all the rock right out of it. I am reminded once again how JCM is the lame version of Springsteen. If you like JCM, then go buy Springsteen albums. It will ruin JCM for you, but that is a good thing.

So - don't buy this album. If you are adept at downloading music, pay $2 and download the Yoakam version of Suspicious Minds. Or, you could just go rent the movie - you could probably get it for seven days cheap, and it is way better than the music in it.

Best tracks: Suspicious Minds

The Lich Lord

After being hung up for some time, I finally was able to finish painting something other than the walls of our condo this last weekend. Here is my latest - he is a lich lord:

I think I did pretty well on this guy, but he was harder than I expected. Getting the bandages right was difficult - even after I tried to steal some of Sheila's better techniques.

I like the way his sword turned out. I imagine it as some kind of ancient artifact, crafted from the bones of a demon - or something equally creepy. Here he is from behind - check out the crazy-assed skull and bones of some creature he has mounted to his back.

How does that thing stay on his back, you ask? Foul magicks, my friend. The kind so foul, you need a 'k' to spell them correctly.

As always, I like a back story to what I paint. In this guy's case, I imagine he was an ancient bronze age king (note the bronze armour) who has only recently risen from the grave.

He finds a medieval world that is unfamiliar to him. Naturally, he immediately decides to recreate this new world into the savage one he first ruled over in the early mists of time.

Something like that.

CD Odyssey Disc 16: The Clash

Here's an album that was randomly selected just when I was feeling the need for something rebellious.

Disc 16 is...Black Market Clash
Artist: The Clash

Year of Release: 1983

How I Came To Know It:After years of wrongly hating the Clash through high school, a bunch of people showed me the error of my ways. Sheila, Casey and Nick for the Clash as a band, but for this album in particular, I think it was a music appreciation night with Nick that flipped the switch.

How It Stacks Up: We've got 5 Clash albums. I like them all, and I'd put "Black Market Clash" at about 3rd - or right in the middle.

Rating: 3 stars.

The Clash are known as the act that launced punk into the mainstream. It is a well-deserved reputation, but what I like most about this particular album - Black Market Clash - is its variety.

"Capital Radio One" kicks things off with that driving angry sound that made the Clash famous, and it is a great track for sure. However, I really love the reggae influences on this album - which I think are more prevalent here than on any other Clash record.

"Pressure Drop" sounds like a straight up reggae track to my untrained ear. My favourite track, "Bank Robber" has a real reggae feel to it. "Bank Robber" was the track that my friend Nick played that really hooked me on this album. I love the opening line:

My Daddy was a bankrobber
He never hurt nobody
He just liked to live that way
He loved to steal your money

It is such a great expression of basic rebellion, delivered in a totally non-threatening way. You almost want this guy's Dad to rob your bank.

This album also has a very cool instrumental "Time Is Tight" which once featured on my "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" mixed CD (where I picked songs that were hard to identify with the artist.

I love this song's use of surfer guitar. It is another example of how "Black Market Clash" is a great departure point for the Clash - it is too bad that the departure turned out to be the end of the band shortly thereafter.

Still - we ended up with Big Audio Dynamite. Not exactly the Clash, but who hasn't partied down at the Globe? Ah, but that is for another CD Odyssey entry, my friends...

Best tracks: Bank Robber, Capital Radio One, Time Is Tight, Pressure Drop

Music To Paint By

We interrupt the flow of the CD Odyssey for Creative Maelstrom's Extreme Home Edition.

This weekend, Sheila and I painted our hallway and living room. The cats "helped" a couple of times, and were paid for their efforts with a wet towel massage. It wasn't until the last day that I realized if I just put objects at the outside corner of the hall, they wouldn't rub into the wet paint. Devil logic! - where were you when I needed you on Saturday!

Anyway, it was a hell of a job, and like any rotten job, made a lot more enjoyable by music.

But just what kind of music is best to paint to? Sheila and I agree it should have some good energy. Nothing too slow or oppressive.

Each day we would select 2 albums each for the carousel, plus a fifth "agreed on" album. If we needed more time, we would add one more each.

Here's what we ended up with after three days, and about 6 gallons of paint. I've put in the years out of general interest

Logan's picks:

Cake: Comfort Eagle 2001
Lyle Lovett: Road To Ensenada 1998
Steve Earle: El Corazon 1997
Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique 1989
Queen: A Day At The Races 1976
AC/DC: Powerage 1978
The Cars: Self-Titled 1978
The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy and the Lash 1985

Sheila's picks:

Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things 2002
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here 1975
ELO: Time 1981
Soundtrack: Magnolia 1999
Shins: Wincing The Night Away 2007
Gorillaz: Demon Days 2005
REM: Automatic For the People 1992
The Who: Who's Next 1971

Joint Selections:

Soundtrack: Elizabethtown 2005
Alice Cooper: Muscle of Love 1973
White Stripes: Icky Thump 2007

Albums withdrawn after protest:

Tool: 10,000 Days (Sheila) - I found it too oppressive for painting.
James Brown: Make It Funky (Logan) - Sheila found it too repetitive.

So, if you're going to paint - these are some good albums to do it to. Except maybe not so much the Lyle Lovett - great album, but too slow.

CD Odyssey Disc 15: Queen

The dice of randomness continue their strong work with something from my early years of music appreciation.

Disc 15 is...The Game

Artist: Queen

Year of Release: 1980

How I Came To Know It: "The Game" is the first Queen album I ever heard. My brother Virgil is 7 years older than me and in his teens was big into music. He brought "The Game" home on record. I loved Queen immediately, and I love Queen to this day. They are one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

How It Stacks Up: Queen has 15 studio albums of which I own 13 (I am still looking for Made In Heaven and Innuendo). "The Game" is solid but not the tops. I would say it is top 5.

Rating: 4 stars.

This album has a special place in my heart, partly because I've known it since I was 10 years old. Every track that comes on I have to ask myself, "was this a hit?" The fact that I am asking shows the strength of the material.

"The Game" is a crazy little mix of awesome bass riffs, plaintive power ballads and Broadway numbers. Or - as my friend Spence would say - "Just another great Queen album."

When I was a kid, "Another One Bits the Dust" and "Dragon Attack" were the songs I lived for. I would go in my brother's room just to hear them. "Another One Bites the Dust" is incredible funk guitar, right in the middle of a rock album. Is that allowed? It is if you are Queen.

These tracks are still good, but I would add "Sail Away Sweet Sister" and "Save Me" to the list. Incredibly strong and emotionally resonant tracks.

If you don't have any Queen, I wouldn't pick this first, but it wouldn't be far from first. If you are thinking of getting "Greatest Hits" stop thinking that. You'd be just as happy with this or four or five other Queen albums as good or better.

Don't sell your relationship with this band short with a best of. You WILL like their albums. There is a reason they are one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and "The Game" holds its own in such august company.

Best tracks: Another One Bites The Dust, Sail Away Sweet Sister, Save Me."