Lord I Hope This Day Is Good – Lee Ann Womack – A showstopper at Carnegie Hall on Monday, this is off her 2000 country hit album I Hope You dance and in under three minutes it yearns with faith and hope – A
With less expectations hanging over them, these wordy clever, powerful songs sound much better than if it had followed We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. They fell to earth but they are quite comfortable there – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
There was something so off about Drake. He started with slow mood songs, moved on to bangerz like “Versace” and A$AP Rocky’s “Fucking Problems” before starting a deadly three song set with Jhene Alko and leaving the stage for a break
I think Canvas is very good but not great, the inclusion of “Book Of Love” might have tipped it to great. You should definitely hear it. Like definitely. Maybe it is great…For sure, Margot should bring it big time to Rockwood 2.
The band themselves, named after Jim Rockford (aka James Garner) and the town Cheap Trick are from are Jeff Beals, Jon Melkerson, John Kelly, Ed Huerta and Scott Dibble. Rockford formed in 2012 and have been playing constantly around Long Beach and finally we cann all heard what the hooplah is all about
Same Damn Time – Future – The best song at Sunday nights Drake show shakes the rafter as a singalong for threesomes, a full throttle piece of fun for all the family if all the family – B+
I would go with New York and Ecstasy as a close second. I saw him on both tours and had front row on one of them. The New York tour he was playing at a Broadway Theater and the sound was astounding and, really, Neil Young would have problems with such political immediacy
People of good faith may disagree but despite my dubbing Arcade Fire the loser of the week, I love Reflektor, it is overlong, self-indulgent and hit and miss but when it hits it’s among their best work ever
Two really good songs here, “Booyah” is awesome straight up no chaser House and “Afterglow” is a very good dance track with lyrics that if they were maybe twice as good would put you in mind of Lily Allen.
the worst UK top 10 in a long, long time. I may have underestimated Andrea Begley, the UK Voice winner, she really does have a lovely voice,
Nights Of Cinnamon – John Mendelssohn – The quality sarcasm of the great Kinks Kronikler comes wrapped in melody and charm, days of sulphur seems to be the operative the word but the mood is (you know we’d get their eventually, is rather Victoria-ish – A
Van Morrison sent a message that this 50 song deluxe version of The Celtic Cowboys follow up to “Astral Week” and one of the most beloved albums in rock history “Moondance” was being released without his participation or approval, I did what any vaguely intelligent person would do I ignored him.
I contacted my sister Nadia in Scotland and she is forwarding Helen and I our own copies!!! Till then, that isn’t why he is a winner, Morrissey he is a winner because the bio outsold Bridget Jones Diary to take first place on the UK bestseller list.
With the exception of George Strait, I can’t think of living musician I haven’t seen that I want to see as much as Alan Jackson.
Sports – So are the Jets for real??? Please be because this World Series is so upsetting .
Not only are they pushing a really good new album lousy with sylvian briar, released just last week ,but I’ve seen Of Montreal on stage before and they put on a very very live show. Like a thetarical wallop. Monday at Webster Hall.
. Love Is All Around – The Troggs – Reborn as a classic thanks to “Love Actually”
Ever since I caught Drake on SNL I’ve been hunkering to see him on stage and this set list is tasty indeed. I don’t know Drake’s material as well as I know Kweey’s so if I seem a little vague that is why. But I do know I am shocked he isn’t performing one of his greatest songs, “Over My Dead Body”.
Sounds like fun? Well, an instantaneous sell out at the $50 – $150 ticket price range, it is currently changing hands at $600 a pop and only FOUR left on Saturday (day two).
Any week with a new Swift song ain’t gonna be an entire dog but the only hold over from last week is Pearl Jam and going round down this list you will find some terrific new songs
Dull Tool – Fiona Apple – The highlight of her Beacon Theater concert stands up as a major find hidden as an album only track on This Is 40, which kinda makes sense as it isn’t about libidos out of control but rather very much in control – A
A mish mosh of high end pop by the numbers, Perry tries to convince us she has a soul (highly doubtful but still, give her the benefit of the doubt) while screaming at the waitress for table service
So until we get big enough to score a phoner, Ladies And Gentlemen, without further ado, the not even slightly exclusive Taylor Swift Q&A!
Fiona was the poster girl for growing up with a sense of the pressures that bear down on girls, it was a rare gift, she spoke for and to injured girls but surely the hope (even the point) was that she gets better
One couple have never been able to afford a ticket at all which is kinda mindboggling. The wife’s prize possession is a tee shirt an ex-boyfriend bought her from a gig. She wears it rarely because she doesn’t want it to fade.
Maladjusted – Morrissey – “On this glorious occasion of this splendid defeat…” Morrissey’s mid-career masterpiece was the opening track that seems to get lost in the shuffle – A
It’s not that Fiona Apple and Blake Mills can’t make this lo-fi ish meeting of minds work, they can and do. It’s that they can’t do it often enough.
Written for a guy we here at rock nyc are familiar with, Rufus Wainwright, it parries axioms like “if you scratch a lover you’ll surely fine a foe”, which, really, you wanna tattoo go for that. Even the title has a wistful sense of hard earned lessons learned and there is always in Linda, certainly nobody does wistful like the great singer.
Over the years, rock nyc’s core convictions has remained that we don’t know what really happened that day and as long as Elliott Smith’s cause of death is left in legal limbo,we are not going to know what happened to him.Truth is justice, revenge on Chiba is not justice.
woohooo, my fave albums of last week are at # 1 and # 3!!! I’d like to thank the little people. But before we get too excited about itm add both albums sales together and you get… 225K. Hmmm
The question is: are there enough Eminem fanatics to keep this slim shadiest on songs in the charts? Break it down: 3 hip hop stars, 6 pop stars and a novelty hit.
Dear Mary – Linda Thompson – A Linda blueprint English folk song to lead of her terrific 2002 album, Linda might take her time but she has never recorded badly and this new one finds her at the peak of her powers – A
In an attention getting, quietly arrogant 35 minute set, the band commandeered the Piano stage with a lead singer Matt Iwanusa whose baritone deserves comparison with Matt Beringer
And, well, Amber Crisci of Big Picture had told me to watch for Quiet Company, that they were gonna be big and Jahn raved about them. A lively, exciting thriller of a band that Jahn said “Made my week for me.”
The Indies are now completely screwed, with the brilliant idea in the 1990s of leaving the distribution to the majors and handling A&R themselves they thought they had it made
So, the tour has begun, and while I won’t be catching Kanye West for another month it is never too soon to start checking out the dancecard, is it?
When you Wish Upon A Star – Cliff Edwards – Disney’s finest music moment from one of their signature achievements, the sound of your conscience, yes, of course, but also the sound of our deepest wishes. All in a crickets chirp. Astounding – A+
Suffering From Success – DJ Khaled – When did everyone start whining in the world of hip hop? More of the same with Khaled plus Maybach Music – C
Enjoy em now with songs like first single “Long Hair” and “You’ve got It All Wrong” and (here I’m guessing) “Don’t Go Around With Everyone In Town” . The temperature is always raising with this band and they have the good fun smarts of a band that is just about to break big.
The CMJ Festival came about as close to taking over the city as humanly possible, Saturday afternoon on Ludlow Street you could wander from one gig to another all day long. It is one of my favorite times of the year -it’s like Christmas Eve
Sure, I don’t have the highest of hopes for it after “Roar” and the new songs from the Itunes Fest earlier this year, but still it is event programming
In The City – Caveman – Haunted mood indie with a baritone lead singer and fairly good songs, they sound like an early version of the National and should do well – B
The sound is electronic power pop with a rock band backing, the drums sound programmed and the opening electronic fuzz is a fake out but a good one, once the song kicks in the electric guitar carries it along.
“It was kind of difficult also to write because in the past I would always write when I was sad, it was just therapy for me. Sometimes I would even put myself in a position to get hurt so that I could write…”
I have never seen Drake headline a show and I am thrilled at the opportunity even if I am not thrilled with Nothing Was The Same, I can’t wait to see if Drake can bring it on stage at the Prudential Center this Sunday. Based on his SNL performance I am expecting very big things.
Wow, Eminem is in twice and they are both OK even if neither are the greatest of his career. Iggy can really rap, Wilkinson is OK drum and bass and Lawson are a boy band who dress like Mumford and son.
I am sure I’m not alone in adoring John Newman, just a great disco guy, a grand dance House singer player, more pure talent than Avicii can dream of. Absolutely deserves a # 1 and the only question is will the US fall in line?
Nothing Gets Crossed Out – Bright Eyes – The Conor Oberst hits an unbelievable height here, but since I just interviewed Maria, I am listening to her play Emmylou to Conor’s GP. A perfect lyric, lovely melody, and a brilliant bridge. Simply one of his greatest – A+
if either Pearl Jam or I had the date circled on our calenders it was probably me. A sprite, slim, no nonsense 150 minute set by the grunge stalwarts was frill less though not thrill less.
This is a perfect song, it starts with the chorus, and those waah waah waahs, and then Bowie plays between his falsetto and baritone, and he throws in handclaps and drum machines and back up singers. And the lyric is as brilliant and overwhelmingly baroque and also dramatic lyric, plus a rap: “one of these days and it won’t be long… ” that bit off an album so great he reached a zenith of artistry and paranoia never to be touched again.
