So, yeah Kid Cudi has this one brooding, introspective blue note synth deep bass sound and whether he is searching for life on the moon or sex on terra firma, he plays it over and over again and the ten song sudden release newbie does what he does and he does it well but he doesn’t do it exactly memorably.
Rock With You – Ledesi – Hot and soulful, Ledesi may well be an everywoman making a sound we hear all day long, but she sings to the beat like nobodies business and references Dione warwick so you gotta think she ain’t afriad of comparisons – B+
It Takes A Woman – Walter Matthau – Jokey sexism turned on its tail with growly jowly and curt Walter claiming you need a woman to help clean the stables and shoe the horse, that all romantic. “The important things in life come gift wrapped” he tells his prospective fiancee… hard to disagree right? – B+
In 2012 I watched Neil play a heavy duty no nonsense Crazy Horse gig at MSG and my ears are still ringing, so take it from me folks, he didn’t need to do the Carnegie Hall gigs. Listening to him sing “A Man Needs A Maid” in 2014 takes me back to being a teenager and also, its soft strange beauty puts me at ease. It’s like not all memories end up with a bad ending.
Everything ends buddy, and this is the end of the Allman Brothers, the last March Madness ever. I saw em three times in the past six years and, if anything, have steadily improved over the years. And while the reports from the Beacon have been decidedly mixed, nobody is complaining. I’ll be there Friday night.
Blue Collar Jane – The Strypes – we had a word for this when I was a whippersnapper, pub rock. By which we mean rhythm and blues with rock drums by proles, here proles out of Ireland and no wilko Johnson’s legacy isn’t in question. Actually it is enhanced – B+
After moving over a million units the first week, and half a million the second week, Beyonce has been on the charts for the entire year and counting. 11 weeks? Which makes it the album of the year so far. Meanwhile… the Schoolboy Q and the Kid Cudi have their moments FYI.
Loser – Rock The Bells – The hip hop festival meant to play this weekend was cancelled due to lack of sales and really, where was the big name to sell it?
