Joan Jett

Happy birthday Joan! It is either her 50th or 48th depending on who you ask. Either way, happy birthday!

And God I feel old now ...

eMusic August 08

Some actually from September, I think ...

7 Year Bitch - Viva Zapata

Well, what genre would you think? There's a story behind this one.

Abigail Washburn - The Sparrow Quartet EP

Trad. With cello. And some of it is in Mandarin.

Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet - Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet

See above.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country

Indie pop with vocals best described as "sweet".

Hyperbubble -Solid Pop

Synthpop, with robots and everything.

Po' Girl - Vagabond Lullabies

Trad.

Rasputina - Cabin Fever

Goth. I guess. It features cellos. Cellos are cool. Not as cool as basses, but still cool.

The Be Good Tanyas - Hello Love

Oh how I dig this band. Trad.

The Gits - Frenching The Bully

A companion of sorts to Viva Zapata

The Wailin' Jennys - 40 Days

But how I do like harmony. Trad.

eMusic July 08

I started off July intending to concentrate on Japanese bands, but ended up getting some non-Japanese stuff, as well as springing for some extra downloads.

5, 6, 7, 8s Bomb the Twist

Japanese. Very reminisciant of late 60s pop. Mostly known in the US for performing in the movie Kill Bill.

The Arrows and Friends "I Love Rock & Roll"

Re-recording, but at least some of the original Arrows.

Funsong Band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Kids

Gito Gito Hustler Love Roll

Japanese. All-female pop punk.

Guildo Horn Party with Sven Parker "Ich Find' Schlager Toll"

German language rewrite of "I Love Rock & Roll".

Guitar Wolf Jet Generation
Guitar Wolf Planet of the Wolves

Japanese. Loud 50s-style garage.Guys, but they get away with it cuz they're so dang cool. Absolutely icebox. They cover Eddie Cocharan, pretty much worship Joan Jett, sing about UFOs, and in Wild Zero they fought zombies. Guitar Wolf pretty much drip cool from every pore..

Hayseed Dixie "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bluegrass. Band name is a play on AC/DC.

Hit Crew "I Love Rock & Roll

Kids.

Lenni Jabour "I Love Rock & Roll"

Anabella Lwin "I Love Rock & Roll"

Lwin was the vocalist with Bow Wow Wow.

Kizooks! band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Kids.

Kirsty Maccoll The Stiff Years

Stiff was her record label in the 70s and early 80s, and shame on you for thinking anything else was implied.

Malaria! Compiled 1981-1984

German. The '!' is part of the band name.

Pickin' On Series studio band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bluegrass.

Musique "I Love Rock & Roll"

Raleigh Ringers "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bells.

Shonen Knife 712

Japanese. Pop-punk. Well-liked in the 'alternative' scene, deserved to be more widely known in the West.

Julia Stjerneskudd "I Love Rock & Roll"


Supersnazz Diode City

Japanese.

The Pebbles First Album

Japanese. Think 60s go-go club music.

Uncle Earl Going to the Western Slope

Very American. Trad harmony and bluegrass.

Victoria Williams "Love "On Time"

Trad, although "Love" is more of a standard.

Happy 50 Kate!

Happy birthday to Kate Bush, 50 today.

30 Years Ago Today ...

Prince has his first chart appearance, with the single "Soft and Wet". Even his recent attempts to replace Lars Ullrich as the definitive example of how NOT to treat fans don't dent my enthusiasm for some of his work. Notice I said FANS. Not thinking of folks looking to rip the guy off. Problem is, Prince (and Lars, etc) does not differentiate between the two. But oh well, the 4-album stretch from Dirty Mind to Purple Rain still stands as an incredible achievement.

In other chart news, the Grease soundtrack hit #1 this day in 1978. This was the first LP I ever purchased ...

The Beatles' Influence on Medical Technology

The Wikipedia entry for Madonna includes a section labeled 'Madonna's Influence On Taxonomy'. Although I would hardly call it 'influence', Madonna is one of the music personalitys to have their name immortalized in the scientific literature by makingup part of a species latin designation. A more legitimate 'influence' in a surprising technological area is seen in the effect the Beatles had on medical technology. Well, EMI's windfall from signing the Beatles anyway ...

See http://epidemix.org/blog/?p=265 for details.

"Hard & Heavy" - no, not really

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with those multi-disc sets Time-Life sells on TV. I actually enjoy the infomercials. Fun seeing some of the live footage, even if it is just in snippets. And anything that keeps the music in memory is a good thing - unfortunately much of the collection is generally made up of available, well known material. Probably a good fit with their customer base. Those of us interested in a bit more depth probably aren't buying our music from TV infomercials any way.

So when I came upon an infomercial for a set I had never before seen I settled down for some (slight) entertainment. The 11 CD + 2 DVD set was called Hard & Heavy. Somebody someplace should be embarrassed. Much of the collection is neither hard nor heavy.

Each CD seems to have 1 to 3 or so songs that can be legitamately called heavy. For example, Megadeth is included with a track and Dio (who is the absolute KING of pseudomystical gobbledygook, and a favorite) is represented twice. Most of the rest is a mixture of questionable 80's hair 'metal' (Poison, Ratt, and so on), good groups who fail the 'heavy' test spectacularly (Scandal? The Tubes?), and groups that are best forgotten altogether (White Lion, Nelson ...).

I try to stay positive around here. For the most part I'd rather talk about the things I have or want than ramble on about things that are best kept far away from me. Time-Life's Hard & Heavy collection is painful enough to inspire me to make an exception.