Eager (©1997 Questar Mission Records)

1: Touch 2: Blame 3: Unspoken 4: Don't Let Go 5: Decide For You 6: Crimson For Downy Flake 7: Look At Mary 8: Found Out 9: Draw Me Back 10: The Hand That Can 11: Million Dollars

A couple of months ago I found Eager during one of my infrequent bin diving excursions. I'd never heard of them before, and the cover art didn't look like something a boy band would release. Besides, Jimmie Lee Sloas was the producer (there's that dang word association thing going on again) so how bad could it be? I came home and unwrapped the disc, placed it on my to be played shelf and promptly forget about it (hey I got busy doing something, it happens).

Fast forward. "Hey what the heck is this? Eager? When did I buy this?" I put it on, and was immediately impressed. This was edgy fun pop music (yeah, that's a good thing). The band features two singer songwriters in the form of Patrick Andrew, and Greg Pope. The two have similar voices and play nicely off each other. Although not to pick fault, I found Andrew's voice to be kind of mumbly and thin at times - such as his marble mouthed delivery of Look at Mary. Maybe it was the sound he was trying to affect, but it was annoying.

Musically Eager kind of reminds me of early Rembrandts - with more punch. The album is sequenced to play off their styles, a couple by Andrew, a couple by Greg. For those who care, Andrew was in a band called PFR that was a pretty big deal, but I wouldn't know, All I know is that this is the one and only album by Eager. Which is a shame.

This was a really nice surprise. I liked it right away, and it got better with each listen. Stand out tracks include: "Touch", "Decide for You", "Crimson for Downy Flake", "Look at Mary" (mumbled vocal accepted), and "The Hand that Can".

I found it cheap,but I'd have paid full price.

Reviewed February 29, 2004

The Earworms (©dorfsmith.com)

1: Intro - The Stage is Set 2: Introduction - The Characters are Introduced 3: 7 Gluttons and a Dumb Waiter - The Play Begins 4: We Want Your Children 5: Dinner 6: House of Jest 7: Bow Canyon 8: Creature 9: Gadzooks Golly Golly gosh 10: Consequences 11: Pirates 12: Droll 13: Hairy Momma 14: Exhausted 15: The Hidden Dream of Orellana 16: Cindy's Solo Act 17: Invasion of the Worms 18: Monster 19: The Other Side 20: Harmless 21: Tales of Blasphemy and Nonsense 22: The Great Awakening 23: These Nights 24: Pretty Black Hearse 25: Tied or Free 26: Daughter of the Earth 27: Falling Stars 28: Tenebrious 29: Larva 30: The Avant Garde 31: Temptra 32: Six Feet Down

Sometimes I get something so whacked and unbelievably different I’m at a loss for words as to how to describe my listening experience. Earworms takes the atonal noisiness of Radiohead mixes in the more unlistenable elements of a band like Soul Junk, and features a singer who sounds like a cross between Christian Slater and Festus from Gunsmoke. to add to the listening experience the guy likes to sing through an effects box laden with flange and delay. In all it's pretty much unlike anything I've heard in a long time.

Earworms is the brainchild, (brain fart) of Elisha Dorfsmith, who by all accounts creates this stuff at home as cheaply as he can. He loves to fill up a CD, and my only advice to the guy would be LESS IS MORE. I’d actually enjoy this more (really? No, not really, but I’m trying to be nice) if I could take it all in. Sheesh, make two albums.

The first listen through was an interesting exercise (emphasise on interesting). Nothing jumped out as a standout track, but the whole thing, and it is long … way too long, is one extended story. What is it about? I don’t know (I'm pretty lazy, and have a short attention span ... un, where was I?), but there are times it’s pretty bloody funny.

The thing about The Earworms is that it is art. This is wildly creative, and I almost wish I was stinking rich so that I could send the guy to a real studio and see what he could come up with. This is the kind of stuff that could actually find an audience. Admittedly for me, it’s more novelty, but if you take the time to listen to it all in a sitting it’s actually a pretty fair listen. If the guy was trying to fob this stuff as a collection pop songs I’d be crapping all over this, but somehow the normal rules don’t apply to this guy. If you’re the kind of person who can listen all the way through Terry Taylor’s Imaginarium double CD then you’ll probably appreciate this stuff (did I really just say that?)

Sadly he doesn’t have the same care and attention to detail for the packaging, as he does to creating his music. I don’t mind slim line CD cases, but he could still put some effort into the liner notes. It would be cool if the band's website had the lyrics and more of the story – I’d really like to be able to see what’s going on with this stuff.

Overall this isn't something I can casually listen to. These aren’t pretty pop songs. The guy throws around notes the same way Pollock painted. I guess he figures that if he puts enough songs on a CD something is bound to stick, and heck it may even be purdy in a strange way.

I think I’m going to have to balance this one out with a nice John Tesh album.

Reviewed October 14, 2004

Shiver (©1996 Gigantic Planet / Liquid Disc)

1: Kneel 2: Crawl 3: Strain 4: Sail 5: I Am Listening 6: Break Loose 7: Sweet Scented Tragedy 8: Heart Of The Wise 9: Follow 10: I Know

This was an interesting surprise. Every so often I go diving into the remainder bins in search of lost treasures and obscure bits of musical history . Er, sorry I got carried away - I go looking for deals and I'll snag up just about anything that looks interesting and isn't more than a couple bucks (you may have noticed that I search the bins a fair bit).

This one was a totally unknown commodity - what caught my eye was the guy on the far right. It's hard to see with the picture, but he's wearing a red Mack jacket. Otherwise known as a Canadian dinner jacket. Okay, I'm reaching a little - but it's hard to describe my purchasing habits. I figured this would be either granola rock, or grunge. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting a dance record.

Anyway, this was a nice surprise. Whew! It wasn't a dance record - and although it has a lot in common with the ubiquitous alt angst rock it's got something of its own. Jon Grant's voice carries this over the hump - which is odd considering he's not a power belter, and he's often singing around the notes rather than hitting them, but he carries the songs really well. The music is fun and there really isn't a stinker out of the 10 songs here. Conversely, nothing extraordinary either that cries out, "Look at me, I'm gonna be a hit!" Lyrically they're a little preachy in a way many young Christian bands are, but I'd rather hear a positive message than hear about getting some poon on the weekend, unless it's about me getting poon on the weekend - but how boring is that really? (I'm a married man, so at least I could if I wanted - so long as I've cleaned the basement, and put away the dishes).

A scan through the liner notes indicated that these are a bunch of good old Canadian kids. Okay, so they're from eastern Canada, they can't be perfect.

The enhanced bits are a nice bonus. It's always good to see what the guys look like and hear a little bit of what they have to say.

I wonder what happened to these guys.

Reviewed January 31, 2004

Collected (©2002 edmundscrown.com)

1: Made to Soar 2: Complete Me 3: New Day 4: Back Door 5: Until You See Me Go 6: Only One 7: Shining Stars 8: I'm On, She's Off 9: What's On My Mind 10: Scapegoat 11: Your Way, Mine 12: Where You Find Me 13: Higher Than Me 14: (studio chatter)

Edmund's Crown is classic power pop. I'd drop a bunch of musical comparisons but I'm not that up on current music, and I'd embarrass myself. I found out about these guys by looking around for more stuff from Greg Pope. His stint in Eager was promising and I figured a guy that talented wouldn't simply fade away (he couldn't have burned out). Sure enough a trail of crumbs let to a visit edmundscrown.com which featured some interesting information and a link to a CD. This CD here in fact (go figure).

Musically this is really good stuff, and there are a number of really good tracks here. More than I would have figured at any rate. Funny how some great band's go unsigned. If there's a weakness to the band it's that their music fits in perhaps too well with a lot of the pop out there. Think of the music on Dawson's Creek, and you get an idea of that these guys sound like. Oddly enough some of their stuff has been used on that very show.

What I really like is the positive energy the band exudes. They didn't have to get all pissed off and angry to create musical tension. Doesn't hurt that the album rocks. I dare you to visit their site and snag a copy for yourself.

Just think, you'll be getting on the wagon early; you never know these guys may just be shining stars waiting for an audience.

Reviewed April 25, 2004

An interview with Greg Pope

Regrets Of A Company Man (©2006)

1: Feet On The Ground 2: Damsel 3: Company Man 4: Stuck In An Office 5: Nashville Star 6: Not That It Matters 7: Keith Richards 8: Eight Years Ago 9: Marcos Flies 10: You're So Ten Years Ago 11: Legend 12: The Next Thing 13: Can't Stay Here 14: Fish In A Bucket 15: Can't Take That Back 16: See You Tonight 17: She's Never Coming Back 18: Play The Guitar

A couple of years after releasing a promo-teaser for their "forthcoming album" Regrets of a Company Man finally arrived last summer. I listened to it over and over, and it was one of the better albums I'd listened to for a long time. For whatever reason I never got around to writing this one up.

I can sum this up in one word. EXCELLENT. As much as I liked Collected, this album is a little less polished and slick. This recording is no less pleasing, it's still slick as snot, but it doesn't feel over produced. Who knows if these guys will ever strike it big. If there's any justice they will - they certainly have the songs. Of the 18 songs here, there's not a dud in the bunch. Five of the songs are "bonus tracks" thrown in many taken from the infamous "forthcoming" teaser - except for the kicking "I Got A Life" (which is still one of my favourite songs). Still, what's not here you won't miss.

This is pop in the best sense of the word. "Nashville Star" is a killer song, and the guys even dig out a cowbell and riff on "Honkey Tonk Woman" on "Keith Richards". "You're So Ten Years Ago" is another one of those infectious songs that is as self effacing as anything I've ever heard a band put out. Forgive me for not pulling out more songs, but they're all solid.

This is a wicked effort, and one I highly recommend for those who love power pop. Here's hoping that it's not another fours years between albums.

Reviewed January 3, 2007

Another Spin Around the Sun (©1999 Epic)

the songs: Theories / Trippin' / Hang Ten / And You / Screaming Kings / Shotgun / Alive / Rush / Amazing / Take Me Anywhere / Better Than This

I got this disc by accident. Don't ask. But what the heck I'm pretty bad about returning things, so I stuck it in my CD player, and let it go around a few times. Hey, this is really good. I don't know much about this guy, other than that he was lead vocalist for I Mother Earth (a band I didn't listen to much). So it's all new to me. The sound is rough and raw at times, and the songs themselves are catchy. Trippin' is solid, Hang Ten is good, but the real gem is Alive. I'd almost recommend the album on the strength of this one song, but I don't have to as there are enough good songs to keep the effort floating along.

Defying Gravity (©1999 Pamplin)

the songs: If You Just Believe / Pass the Flame / The Stream / Defying Gravity / The Truth, The Life / The Way That You Love Me / Exit 39 / Home With A View / Don't Leave The Band / Give It All Away

The third solo effort from John Elefante, and one of the better albums to spend time in my CD player lately. From his early days as a singer/ songwriter with Kansas to his production work, the Elefante name has been stamped on some pretty decent music. If I have any complaint with John's solo work it's the lack of edge in the music (like his stuff with Mastedon). However time and musical tastes march on . . .

With this album there's even a subtle Nashville nod in spots, which is natural since he records there now. John even managed to sneak in a couple of musical tongue in cheek nods to Kansas along the way. If you appreciate well crafted mature pop songs with a good hook and lyrical content this is a highly recommended effort. Among the standout songs are: If You Just Believe, Defying Gravity, and Don't Leave the Band

Blink (©1997 Pamplin)

Tracks: Blink / Love Will See The Rose / Prodigal Son / Hole In My Heart / Pilgrims / God Inc. / Streets Of Rome / Prayers Of The Saints / If You Believed / The More Things Change

This is a very good album. There's something very appealing about Rick's songwriting. Blink is one of those "Here are some demos I had around the house" recordings. Which is annoying, since the songs are really good, and the casual look what I did is irritating to those of us who struggle to make music that doesn't sound like a cat being dropped into a blender.

For those who have heard Rick with A Ragamuffin Band, and on the Jesus Record, Blink is musically along the same vein, and is well worth a few listens. The only complaint I have is that Rick's earnest yearning vocals can wear somewhat thin, but as they say, "that's his style."

Reviewed October 29, 2002

A Day Without Rain (©2000 Warner)

1: A Day Without Rain 2: Wild Child 3: Only Time 4: Tempus Vernum 5: Deora Ar Mo Chroi 6: Flora's Secret 7: Fallen Embers 8: Silver Inches 9: Pilgrim 10: One By One 11: The First Of Autumn 12: Lazy Days

Enya can create beautiful and haunting music. She has created beautiful and haunting music. She even manages to create some beautiful music here too with "Only Time". It's just that there's no spark at all here. Oh I know that's a pretty unfair comment - Enya / spark. Ha ha. Look for the mosh pit at her next concert.

It's just that I think the well dost runneth dry. She's taken boring to another dimension. She's rotated the tires on her tired sound so many times I'm amazed she's even able to come up with new ways of doing the same thing. Kudos to Enya and Nicky Ryan for at least being that creative. The album title should have been A Day Without Variation.

Don't go rolling your eyes at me if you're a huge fan. I'm a fan too, I've got all of her stuff, even the Clannad stuff. Heck - when I got married Enya music was part of the program (all together now, "Aaaah.").

It's just that this one is totally lifeless. And I tried, I really really tried to like this one.

If DeForest Kelley was still alive he'd know what to say about this one, "It's dead, Jim."

Reviewed July 29, 2003

And Winter Came (©20008)

1. And Winter Came... 2. Journey of the Angels 3. White Is in the Winter Night 4. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 5. Trains and Winter Rains 6. Dreams Are More Precious 7. Last Time by Moonlight 8. One Toy Soldier 9. Stars and Midnight Blue 10. Spirit of Christmas Past 11. My! My! Time Flies! 12. Oíche Chiúin (Chorale)

I find myself in an awkward position with Enya's latest release And Winter Came. You see, despite taking a number of shots at her in the past, I still find her music strangely beautiful and endearing. It's just that since Shepherd Moons there's really been no reason for me to pick up any of her stuff, she'd mined out the vein and the rest felt like she was just sorting through the leftovers.

However, with a Christmas effort, I felt justified in going to well once more just to see if there was anything left. I happen to like Christmas music (a lot) and I have not only the Oíche Chiúin maxi single from way back, I also got her Christmas EP - and I have to say that this latest effort is the best of the lot - the cover art is stunning as well.

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is beautifully suited to Enya's arrangements. It would be something to hear her perform "The Coventry Carol". The album also has some fun moments (fun for Enya) the most quirky being "White Is in the Winter Time" a song that proves that Enya has a sense of humour, because the music is so odd, and played so seriously it actually works, even with the layers of cheese. "Last Time by Moonlight" is one of prettiest songs I've heard by here in a while. There's yet another version of "Oíche Chiúin (Chorale)" and it's a fitting conclusion to the album.

Enya's latest album is a nice addition to my Christmas collection.

Reviewed December 17, 2008

ABBA-esque (©1992 Elektra)

1: Lay All Your Love On Me 2: S. O. S. 3: Take A Chance On Me 4: Voulez Vous

This probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Kind along the same lines that a twelve year old thinks that a basketball needle, a bike pump, and a frog are a great combination. Now for those of you who are wondering, “What the heck are you doing listening to Erasure?” Let me answer somewhat sheepishly that I kind of like them. There was a time in the late 80’s where they were pretty bloody good. I submit their 1988 album The Innocents as exhibit “A”. Andy Bell and Vince Clarke are talented popsmiths, but there’s a limit to how synthmoosh I can take.

Abba, love ‘em or hate ‘em but they were a pretty big deal. Abba-esque takes 4 pseudo-classics and puts them through the Erasure-esque blender where the boys add their fiddle farty touch to them. Thankfully they opted not to cover "Dancing Queen". There was a time when the boys could pack a song with energy and passion, and as is evidenced here, that time is long gone. The songs here are little more than programmed karaoke backing tracks with no spark or life at all. This is the kind of stuff you’d expect from folks who create ring tone interpretations of famous songs.

This was a CD I almost bought new in 92, and am glad I got this for free – all it cost me was my time. And even at that was more than I wanted to pay (I had to listen to is a few times, to see if it would grow on me).

Reviewed April 11, 2003

Pop! The First 20 Hits (©1992 Sire / Reprise)

1: Who Needs Love (Like That) 2: Heavenly Action 3: Oh l'Amour 4: Sometimes 5: It Doesn't Have To Be 6: Victim Of Love 7: The Circus 8: Ship Of Fools 9: Chains Of Love 10: A Little Respect 11: Stop! 12: Drama! 13: You Surround Me 14: Blue Savannah 15: Star 16: Chorus 17: Love To Hate You 18: Am I Right? 19: Breath Of Life 20: Take A Chance On Me

My desk has been cluttered with various CDs, and I’ve been trying to dig myself out by trying to listen to a couple a day and writing ‘em up. In between throwing out a Slayer CD (couldn’t make it past the first song), trashing Lenny Kravitz, and not understandng Rage Against the Machine, I tried to find solace in a good old fashioned pop album. You may be saying, "But Jevon, Erasure?" I can’t help it but I like these guys. They’re not my favourite group, and to be honest until this month I haven’t played anything by them in years, but in terms of synth pop they’re the happy, dare I say gay, version of Depeche Mode. The prancing twosome has been making fiddle farty pop songs for years and I’m surprised that so many of the hits don’t have more life to them.

The majority of the songs are standard dance beat induced songs that just sort of propel themselves along. They lurch and drag themselves along like something out of a George Romero movie.

In listening to an hour and a quarter of Erasure’s pop songs, I’m at odds to describe why I bought so many of their albums. It’s a little like eating wasabi. A little is good. Yummy in fact. A lot all at once isn’t a good idea. Kind of like this album.

You know what’s funny though, I still like these guys, although every time I listen to them they’re not as good as I remember.

Reviewed May 4, 2006

The Final Countdown (©1986)

1. Final Countdown 2. Rock the Night 3. Carrie 4. Danger on the Track 5. Ninja 6. Cherokee 7. Time Has Come 8. Heart of Stone 9. On the Loose 10. Love Chaser

Back in 1986 I remember laughing out loud when I first heard "Final Countdown" it was a heaping of cheese with extra cheese on the side. It took the synth-wanker sound of Asia and mixed in some post apocalyptic end of days stuff that was everywhere in the mid-80's. Musically it was every cliché imaginable, and frankly wasn't worth my time. In short I didn't pick this up. Besides the cover always reminded me of that David Bowie movie poster for Labyrinth (yeah, I know they aren't that close, but the mind can really play tricks on you).

So how come over twenty years I'm listening to this shit and enjoying myself? Because I'm a sucker for nostalgia and all those party compilations invariably include "Final Countdown" or the insipid power ballad "Carrie" so you could say that after a while resistance was futile.

Sure this is dated and musically insipid but there is a certain delight in hearing songs for the first time like "Ninja" and the brutally horrible "Cherokee" a song that had to be inspired by old John Ford movies.

Oh well, it is what it is. And even though the 80's had so much more to offer, these guys will forever be part of the musical landscape.

Reviewed July 6, 2009

Fallen (©2003 Wind-up)

1: Going Under 2: Bring Me To Life 3: Everybody's Fool 4: My Immortal 5: Haunted 6: Tourniquet 7: Imaginary 8: Taking Over Me 9: Hello 10: My Last Breath 11: Whisper

Oh boy this was a major disappointment. I'll agree that there are a lot of really good songs here, but man oh man if you believe the hype and sycophantic press this has been getting over the last little while you’d think that Ben Moody and Amy Lee invented music.

Evanescence is a singles band. Their songs are wicked when taken individually. But stack eleven songs together and you have the musical equivalent of water torture. This is what Enya would sound like if she ever decided to rock out (no offense meant to Enya's rabid fan base). Every song is in the same bloody key. Ben is an extremely limited player – there’s only so much you can do with drop D tuning dude. Learn some chords or something – variety isn’t just the spice of life, it helps with music too; Amy’s vocals, although impressive in limited doses, follow the same pattern song after song after song. It’s like playing a 45-minute extended mix of one loooooong song. The one exception is the beautiful piano ballad "My Immortal", but thankfully you can use your CD to download the band version, which makes it sound like all of the other songs.

I know a lot of people (at last count millions and millions) disagree with me, and have gone all a gaga over this stuff. Hey, I’m not saying the songs aren’t good. Some of them are bloddy brilliant. It’s just that one after the other is plain repetitive and frankly boring. Stick to the radio and you’ll be blown away. The sum is definitely way less than all of the component parts here.

Trust me, this is their one kick at the can – they might as well enjoy it, ‘cause this is a flavour of the month kiddies, and looking at my watch they’re just about used up their fifteen minutes.

I'm right on this one, trust me.

Reviewed February 24, 2004

The Open Door (©2006)

1. Sweet Sacrifice 2. Call Me When You're Sober 3. Weight of the World 4. Lithium 5. Cloud Nine 6. Snow White Queen 7. Lacrymosa 8. Like You 9. Lose Control 10. The Only One 11. Your Star 12. All That I'm Living For 13. Good Enough

Okay, first off I am not totally eating crow here, I will give some credit to where credit is due.

Sort of.

After the first multi-platinum album put Evanescence into the upper echelon of quasi-numetal-goth artists - there was a pretty well publicized parting of ways between Ben Moody and Amy Lee. Amy kept control of the band, and took a few years off before resurfacing with The Open Door. Now, with the passage of a few years music had changed a bit, and to her credit Lee and company released more than a one trick follow-up to their massively popular debut. Musically The Open Door bounces around a bit - looks like she didn't need Ben as much as he needed her, and thankfully isn't like one overly long dance mix. In fact there are some right killer songs "Lacrymosa" is a wonderfully broody and lush piece, and there are a couple of others that I found myself listening to more than once.

The album by all accounts was pushed enough to go platinum - still an impressive feat - but it must have been a disappointing performance. So starts the downward spiral.

Reviewed June 26, 2008

Saudades de Rock (©2008)

1. Star 2. Comfortably Dumb 3. Learn to Love 4. Take Us Alive 5. Run 6. Last Hour 7. Flower Man 8. King of the Ladies 9. Ghost 10. Slide 11. Interface 12. Sunrise 13. Peace (Saudade)

I've had a sweet spot for Extreme since I first heard "Play with Me" and I never fell off the band wagon. However after the band's last album Waiting for the Punchline I figured it was the end of the line. I tried to keep up with Nuno's stuff when I could find it ... but for the most part I kind put the band in the corner and filed them under nostalgia.

When news of a reunion album started to make some of the message boards and a few of the better classic rock sites I figured I'd keep this on my radar in case anything was ever released. Sure enough, the boys were back. I picked this one up last year, gave it a few spins and then put it away and forgot about it. The guys still covered a lot of musical ground with their own brand of metafunkadelia, but aside from an infectious opening track and a couple of other songs whose names escape me off the top of my head I couldn't really get into the album.

Nuno is in fine form as always, but Gary seems to spend a lot of the album yelling at the top of his register, and frankly he sounds so much like a lightweight Sammy Hagar it was distracting. Yeah, I know I'm being unfair - but it was the impression I got as I listened to the album. When Gary actually sings as he does on "Ghost" and "Interface" (to name a couple) this is really cool and hearkens back to the band's heyday.

I'm not sure what I was expecting - at best this was Extreme being true to its name; at worst it was meandering and rudderless. Considering this was a comeback of sorts there just wasn't enough here to warrant a lot of attention.

I will say though, if they release another album I'll pick it up. After all, I do have a sweet spot for these guys, and although this one didn't really take me to my happy place it was good enough to get a few extra spins.

Reveiwed July 6, 2009