A TRIP TO THE RECORD STORE.

On Saturday I made the trek down to WAX-N-FACTS, for those of you not in the know, this is a record store in Atlanta in the Lil 5 Points area. They carry a lot of vinyl, old & new, and a decent selection of used cds.

When you walk in the smell of old cardboard record sleeves fills your nostrils mixed with the musty smell of the store. It is almost like you step back in time to somewhere in the mid 70's, all they need is an 8-track section. If you do not have time to spend, do not visit this vintage shop or you will go away frustrated. You have to set aside a good chunk of the day to properly give yourself the respected allotment of time to scour through all the crates of records. Yes they are alphabetized and sorted by genre, but there are no name cards in this record store. Sometimes finding what you are looking for can be a hunt, but once you find that record, that shiny piece of vinyl, it is well worth the time spent.

I have gotten off track, so I was down there picking up a few jazz records, Ramsey Lewis, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman and a few others, even picked up the first Boston record. Then I came across an album I had been curious about, Mungo Jerry. I know IN THE SUMMERTIME, but never really knew any of their other stuff. So for $4 I picked up Mungo Jerry's Greatest Hits on Pye Records. I figure for 4 bucks, if I didn't like it I could just chuck it. Well there will be no chucking of this record, it was a pretty good investment I must say.

A STAGGERING GOOD RECORD

THE IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION - WE BELONG TO THE STAGGERING EVENING

Ike Reilly is one of my favorite songwriters...ever. This humble man continues to write good music chocked full of lyrics expressing his low self-esteem and self loathing. While in a lot of his songs he comes across as being angry at the world, it is pretty much directed at himself. With his new record, WE BELONG TO THE STAGGERING EVENING Ike once again delivers.

Each track draws you in to his stories and leaves you wanting more. "When Irish Eyes Are Burning", "Valentine's Day In Jaurez" and "Broken Parakeet Blues" exemplify Ike's song writing prowess. The real surprise of the record is "Bugsy Salcido Has Left The Desert". It is a nice mellow, peaceful instrumental that is very enjoyable to the ears. I never imagined that to appear in the middle of a bunch of songs about drugs, drinking and a 6ft tall lesbian.

Ike's new batch of songs are a pleasure to my ears and I could listen to this CD all day long. With each record his song writing gets better and better, which keeps me wanting more from this brilliant song man.

BLUES DONE THE RIGHT WAY

JOHN HAMMOND - PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

I have been into the blues since I bought BB King's LIVE AT THE REGAL record back in high school. Since then I have collected quite a bit of blues music covering all corners of the genre. I feel safe in saying that this John Hammond album is not only one of his best, but it is one of the best blues albums I have ever listened to.

On PUSH COMES TO SHOVE John collaborates with Garrett Dutton (G. Love) and together they turn out a record that I can't stop listening to. G. Love mostly stays in the background and produces
the album, only stepping out from behind the board on a couple of tracks to offer guitar and vocals. The real gem of this record is Hammond himself. His gut wrenching guitar playing and gritty voice bring each song alive and you can actually feel the music coursing through your body as you listen to it.

It starts off with the album's title track "Push Comes To Shove" and it never looks back from there. I find myself devouring each track then anxiously waiting for the next song, because they are all that good. "Mean 'Ol Lonesome Train", "Tore Down" and "Butter" are the gems of this record. Each song will get you tapping your feet, singing along and jamming on your own personal blues air guitar. If this doesn't happen then you are either dead or you have no clue as to what good music is.

The boy loves this record like no other. He car seat dances the whole way home when this is in the player. John Hammond and G.Love have delivered one hell of a dirty, nasty blues album that is worth snagging.

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - SOUND OF SILVER

When I heard the kick ass song "North American Scum" from SOUND OF SILVER I had to hear the rest of this album. Once I gave it a spin I can honestly say I was deeply disappointed. While "NA Scum" is a mish mash of electronica, crunching guitars ,punk and 80's music that has been run through a food processor, ground up and spit out as a damn good piece of music, the rest of the record doesn't live up to the brilliance of that one track.

James Murphy sounds like he can't decide if he wants LCD Soundsystem to be Daft Punk or The Talking Heads. While it is obvious that he has been influenced by both, he fails to successfully take the two styles and make them his own, or better yet create his own sound. The album is filled with sweet beats ("Get Innocuous") and Murphy has some tasty lyrics ("All My Friends") but he fails to put them all together as a cohesive entity. The record then limps to a close with the unexciting "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down", a mellow slowed down tune that just does nothing to aid this record.

Overall this is a mediocre record that is receiving a lot of hype for being "groundbreaking" and "original"... sounds like a run of the mill 80's new wave album to me.

MANDO DIAO - ODE TO OCHRASY

This record is one of the best finds I have ever stumbled upon. I had never heard of MANDO DIAO then the other day I heard the song "Long Before Rock N Roll". It reached out from the radio and punched me right in the ear drums...in a good way. From start to finish this album rocks hard and rocks fast. The guitars catch your attention, get you interested, then the lyrics and rhythm keep you from escaping their musical grip.

ODE TO OCHRASY kicks off with "Welcome Home Luc Robitaille", a strong, loud, smack in the face that will have you hitting repeat over and over. They continue the onslaught of your ears with gut busting songs such as "Tony Zoulias", "TV & Me" and "Morning Paper Dirt".

This is a record that can be listened to over and over from start to finish. Slap it in the player, hit repeat, pop open a couple of cold beers and strap your self in for one hell of a rock n roll ride.

TV HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME

THE VIEW - HATS OFF TO THE BUSKERS

So the other day, much like most days, me and the boy were watching TV and we saw THE VIEW. No not that piece of crap chic show, but a video for the band THE VIEW. That's right a video, we subscribed to a new satellite service and it has this channel called International Music Feed (IMF) which I had never heard of. It basically plays videos all day from all over the world, most are crap, but every so often they play some good ones. This day they happened to be playing the video by THE VIEW for "Same Jeans", and it wasn't half bad. So I decided to check out the whole album.

After a couple of listens, HATS OF TO THE BUSKERS is a pretty good album. With a lot of the Brit Band albums every song sounds like the next one, but THE VIEW mix it up all over this record. They kick off the album with a pretty hard rockin' song 'Comin' Down" filled with slammin' guitar licks and pounding drums. It draws you in and keeps you waiting for what comes next. The songs on this record range from rock, "Comin' Down", pop "Superstar Tradesman", Beatlesque, "Same Jeans", Brit pop, "Wasted Little DJ's" I could go on.

Each track stands on it's own, and when they are all smacked together it is an album that can be played over and over. This is another record that gets the boy's seal of approval. To quote him, "Ga...kit-tee...ba ba ba ba...uh-ohhhh...kur-kee...gra-pa...mama...da...ank-oo", well said son, well said. To translate, this record is chocked full of pure auditory goodness. Check it out.