This Week In Music: 12/17-12/23

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Dream Theater: Awake – powerfully dark
The Black Keys: The Moan EP – decent tease
The Black Keys: Attack and Release – different sounds
The Black Keys: Chulahoma – fitting tribute
Cabaret Voltaire: Red Mecca – alien coldness
The Cure: Bloodflowers – undercooked tunes
The Cure: Disintegration – undeniable classic
Quiet Riot: QR III – terrible lyrics
The Kills: Midnight Boom – booming good
The Kills: Keep On Your Mean Side – stark blues
Mr. Big: Hey Man – mixed man
T.Rex: The Slider – classic riffs
Pete Townshend: Twenty (Scoop 4) – more oddballs
Skid Row: Subhuman Race – tougher sound
Skid Row: Skid Row – plentiful anthems
Skid Row: Forty Seasons-The Best of Skid Row – decent overview
Skid Row: B-Sides Ourselves EP – solid renditions
Pink Floyd: Atom Mother Heart – collectors only
Pink Floyd: A Collection of Great Dance Songs – pointless collection

This Week In Music: 11/12-11/18

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Soundgarden: King Animal – welcome return
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Psychedelic Pill – much meandering
Paul Banks: Banks – Interpol interplay
Deftones: Koi No Yokan – dreamy metal
Ministry: Rio Grande Blood – politically charged
Genesis: A Trick of the Tail – pleasant enough
Guided By Voices: The Bears For Lunch – familiar territory
Pete Townshend: Psychoderelict – performance piece
Quiet Riot: Guilty Pleasures – barrel bottom
Poison: Native Tongue – bluesy reinvention
Queensrÿche: Q2K – streamlined sound
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: Lost Songs – found sound
Lita Ford: Stiletto – familiar sounds
Funkadelic: Tales of Kidd Funkadelic – funky kids
Juliana Hatfield: Juliana’s Pony-Total System Failure – total failure
Mike + the Mechanics: Word of Mouth – weird religiosity
Mr. Big: Bump Ahead – bumpy road
Rush: Permanent Waves – permanently good
Cabaret Voltaire: JohnnyYesNo – interesting instrumentals
Grandaddy: B-Sides & Rarities – better forgotten
Parliament: Motor Booty Affair – successful affair
Saigon Kick: Water – more confusion
Tindersticks: Waiting For The Moon – still waiting
Skid Row: Thickskin – thin sound

This Week In Music: 10/15-10/21

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Cabaret Voltaire: Eight Crepescule Tracks - early insight
Mike & the Mechanics: M6 - symphonic pop
Queensryche: Promised Land - big sound
Genesis: Selling England By The Pound – progressive wankery
The Jeff Healey Band: See The Light - bluesy jams
Kix: Hot Wire – catchy riffs
Ministry: The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste – occasional inspiration
Warrant: Born Again – unnecessary rebirth
Skid Row: Slave to the Grind – classic metal

This Week In Music: 5/21-5/27

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Gang of Four: Songs of the Free – unconventional pop
House of Heroes: Say No More – blistering pop
Lemonheads: It’s a Shame About Ray – classic jangle-pop
Radio 4: The New Song And Dance – pointless postpunk
Superchunk: Here’s to Shutting Up – biteless maturity
Rush: Fly By Night – early classic
Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved – mixed bag
Poison: Crack A Smile…And More – few gems
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: Original Score – not background
Guided By Voices: Class Clown Spots a UFO – uninspired effort
The Walkmen: Heaven – overly restrained
Japandroids: Celebration Rock – energetic noise
Green Day: Shenanigans – bangin’ b-sides
The Cult: Choice of Weapon – loaded gun
Skid Row: Slave to the Grind – beyond hair
Spacehog: Hogyssey – career worst
Throwing Muses: In a Doghouse – double woof
Velvet Crush: Stereo Blues – more brilliance
Butch Walker: Letters – missed singles