rock nyc

Marr didn’t run home to make jam after The Smiths. On the contrary he has spent decades collaborating with a an array of bands, including Talking Heads, Pet Shop Boys, The The, Electronic and others

Listening to her today there is an overwhelming fragility about her. She is like China porcelain, so close to the breaking point and I believe that in the end that is what we see in her of ourselves. We may think we’re tough and important but we are very very fragile things, ephemeral, and soon gone. Judy reflects and surpasses our limited mortality.

Harry also said he was thrilled to hear of 1D’s new album getting a “C+” from rock nyc. “Look, Lababedi is a right bastard and so jealous it’s revolting. Him giving 1D a C+ is like a normal human being giving it an A.”

The Boxer – Mumford And Sons – Not a bad version, the back up harmonies are an original idea and the banjo break very pretty but still, fundamentally redundant – Grade: B

All My Friends Are Enemies: The Early Rarities, it’ll be out on January 22nd. “This release is over ten years in the making and something I’ve been dying to share with kids,” Bemis says.

Neil has gotten the boys together for two head scratching releases this year (perhaps Cortez told Neil to race the Mayan calendar) and there is one undeniable conclusion – the man needs an editor.

If you have ever seen the Monty Python film "The Meaning of Life", you should be familiar with the "Galaxy Song".  The fantastic Eric Idle gives you a nice science

If you look at the current pop princesses, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Shakira, Beyonce and current pop heartthrobs, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, the One Direction kids… how many really deserve the title of artists? Probably none.

So I hit the play button all ready to hate these guys and really use this as a sounding board for just bitching in general. Then something awkward happened, once the song opened up I couldn’t help but be completely engaged

if you didn’t catch Van Halen on tour this year, you might question why they are so high on my list. Same goes for Paul Weller and Ian Hunter. As for the Beach Boys, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen, if you did catch them live you may understand one reason they aren’t here. The Dylan was 60% great, but “Duquesne Whistle” does not a great album make… Lambchop is that old!!

The first single “I Will Wait” of the current smash hit album Babel, was inauthentic in a good way, it was pop-folk but pop-folk that sounded like an English equivalent of Paul Simon. The cover of “The Boxer” cemented to the concept. And Marcus Mumford’s barely concealed contempt for bedwetters Coldplay was a Bruce Springsteen hugging Chris Christi moment between us.

The story is the Brian Eno ambient album, I have heard it and repays close attention with nothing much but as background music it is a lovely thing. The new One Direction will be very very big. And that is a true prediction! Soundgarden might be good, or it might be old, and just what the world needed, another Stones Greatest hits.

Kiss Me Honey – Shirley Bassey – Ah yes, the early 1960s, before Shirley Bassey was a Dame, and before she was the voice to beat all Bond voices, here she took an earlier generations Rami Yacoub, Michael Julien, too the top of the UK charts. Bassey doesn’t belt it, she is all clear eyed seduction – Grade: A

Anyway, a sell out goes with the territory, and while I am pretty sure I’m gonna keep with Govt Mule, I might try and get a tix and see what happens… to put it another way, I won’t go to a ticketbroker.

The album is filled with potential hits and minimal filler, all electro pop, ballads and tween bopping faux-rock. But 1D is not the star of the album, Rami Yacoub is. He produces half of the album and is now officially the name to drop.

Justin Beiber? Hold up. How did it go from The Clash to Beib in 15 years? Cash. They needed money and the you give the people what they want. Oh you can still go in and buy a $50. pair of zebra Tripps but you can also get a Taylor Swift t-shir

Watching the terrifyingly morbid coming attractions for “Iron Man 3”, I couldn’t help but wonder, when did action movies stop being fun? There are more thrills in the Switzerland scenes with Blofeld in “Majesty” then in “Quantum Of Solace” and the latest Bond movie “Skyfall” combined.

Amy Klein of Hilly Eye has been a fave of mine since her Titus Andronicus days and this, Amy andthe other half of Hilly Eye, Catherine Tung’s first album, is very very exciting stuff. For one thing, it is on our favorite record label, Don Giovanni, and for another, last year’s EP was one of our faves of 2011

In the spirit of PETA2 Kizz and Cazz bring a fun and positive spin to the teenaged set. Informing them while entertaining them.

That nano second could well have ruined intimate relations for me for the rest of my life. I was never really a fan but for some reason just seeing him on AHS has ruined any chance of me ever taking him seriously,

The last two here aren’t released yet and the first, well it is its first first time on an album, and the rest suggests it as a quiet week for good new releases.

Oh, now I get it. 18 Months is a warehouse for a lot of the stuff Harris has been putting out with other people. Not bad,… I guess. Matt Cardle is another X Factor guy and Emeli is this years Adele but not in the States.

I have only one question here folks, why is “Candy” not released in the States yet? What the hell is Robbie waiting for. Wait, another question, why didn’t he hang loose and try and release it fin time to be their 2012 Christmas single?

Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker – How big is the song? That riff has fueled so many songs, if all the people who used it paid Hooker he would have been buried in a gold casket on a gold mountain.- Grade: A+

Iman has run off to see this tart live numerous times and has enjoyed it. I would rather stick forks in my gums than endure any more than is absolutely necessary for the life of this column

At one point there is a horse running through a desert and then it’s rearing back on its hind legs, then it’s laying on the ground, then it finds it’s horse soul mate I guess and they run off into the sun set

Starting rather lazily and erupting into a straight up rock tune. A fist pumping sing along is accompanied here by sausage eating, girl on girl flashes and some really beautiful drag queens.

Christopher Owens at Le Poisson Rouge, Wednesday night. Alyson Camus, eat your heart out! Alyson is a Girls fanatic, though I am pretty sure even she would consider leader Christopher Owens decision to break up the band is a little bit stupid. How do you break up a one man band?

Sure, Chuck D got it wrong and the US reelected Obama, but otherwise Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamps is write on. I wil write up my best albums by musicians over 50 in 2012 one of these days, till then here is a list rock’s backpages suggested I crib from to make my choice and it should come as no shocker to anybody who reads rock nyc that Public Enemy will be number one in that chart.

History Mob Music And Function – E-40 and Too Short – The Versed called these West Coasts journeymen “upbeat but laid back” and that explains the dynamic pretty damn well. Too $horts been a semi-underground rapper since 1988, E-40 since the 1990s, including years on Lil Jon’s Atlanta label . Together they are prolific, the tracks are really interesting, and they rap together very well. Stuff like “One Foot” is funny and pretty well done. But lyrically, neither of these guys have much to say – Grade: B-

Stupid Liar – BIGBANG – Their best if not their biggest song, is a plain out love pop song gussied up with a rap and internal movements and conflicting voices, one of who howls, and always returning to an undeniable hook, “I’m so stupid liar liar liar”. A highlight on Thursday night sounds pretty good days later – Grade: B+

I don’t hear any cowboys bitching about how they’re portrayed and they look a whole lot worse than the Native Americans do. Yeah, I said Native American so as not to offend