The Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

Mike "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz and Adam "MCA" Yauch have completed their eighth studio release Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beastie Boys have been at it for a long time and continue to put out some quality music. The new CD is a good collection of tunes. They seem to have taken a mix of styles from the years and combine them to make the new album.

With a little help from NAS the first single released last year was Too Many Rappers. A pretty killer tune that keeps a great beat as they all rap throughout it. The whole album has some great beats and really rocks you to it. Keeps you pumped up through out. They use many of the old effects that they used with some of the fuzz noise as well as various others. Still there is a lot of regular instruments being played and is in classic form.

Santigold joins in for the song Don't Plan No Game I Can't Win. A nice beat with a little bit of a reggae sort of feel to me. It's great to hear the boys back at it and to hear MCA rapping again after his battle with cancer. Sounds just as good as he did before.

It's been a few years since I've seen them live, but they would certainly be on the list of bands I would really love to see live this coming year. Pick this album up for sure!

Have a listen to the stream here: http://beastieboys.com/preorder/

Track List:

1. Make Some Noise
2. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
3. OK
4. Too Many Rappers [new reactionaries version] (featuring NAS)
5. Say It
6. The Bill Harper Collection
7. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold)
8. Long Burn The Fire
9. Funky Donkey
10. The Larry Routine
11. Tadlock's Glasses
12. Lee Majors Come Again
13. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
14. Here's A Little Something For Ya
15. Crazy Ass Shit
16. The Lisa Lisa/Full Force Routine

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Album Review

The new Foo Fighters album was produced by Butch Vig and was recorded fully on analog tape in Dave Grohl's garage in San Fernando Valley, CA. There's a really good mix of songs on this CD, from some songs that sound like classic Foo's to some new sounds with a different touch. They certainly put their time into putting together a really nice collection of tunes for this one.

"Bridges Burning" starts you off with a really good pumped up song that keeps you rolling from the start with the heavy guitars and beats. The first single off the album was released early on iTunes, "Rope" has a different feel to it. Sort of a funky rock feel to start and gets into a really good rockin' song. There are a few ballad type songs as well as a few really all out rock songs that might make your head spin.

"Dear Rosemary" is a slowing song with a nice tempo and then you kick into "White Limo" which is more of a screaming metal type song that seems a bit out of place for this album, but still has a bit of a entertaining Rob Zombie feel to it. "Alandria" goes back to a typical Foo Fighters song with Dave starting out with a little yelling voice into the slow melodic sound that kicks it in with a jam. Quite an awesome song.

"These Days" is like the ballad song that goes from mellow to the rocked out chorus and back to mellow. Great tune for sure.

Most of the album follows a typical format of the Foo's over the years. It really is another really nice to hear summer CD. I would guess that we might even see them out on a tour this summer to support the new CD. Hope they come back to Kansas City. Last show here was a total blast.

Track Listing:
1. Bridge Burning 4:46
2. Rope 4:19
3. Dear Rosemary 4:26
4. White Limo 3:22
5. Arlandria 4:27
6. These Days 4:58
7. Back & Forth 3:51
8. A Matter Of Time 4:36
9. Miss The Misery 4:32
10. I Should Have Known 4:15
11. Walk 4:16

Radiohead - The King of Limbs Album Review

Radiohead is Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway and Thom Yorke.

Here we go starting it all off with the old electronic drum machine repeating the samples for a minure before Thom Yorke joins in to the first song "Bloom". He does bring it together really well with a melodic sound playing as he sings in a really mellow tone. Still I would much prefer to hear the boys get out some instruments and play like a band! After three years since their last album, Radiohead started this one out as an electronic copy for sale on their site and a limited edition package as well. It has been officially released on all other media outlets as of April 5th.

There are only eight songs on this collection and about 36 minutes of music. I would have hoped that after the gap in time they would have put a few more together for the fans, but I certainly will take what i can get. They are all relatively mellow tunes and lots of repeating beats through the songs. Overall I really enjoy the feel of the whole album and really hope we will see a tour come out of this one. Please make your way to Kansas City!


Track Listing:1. Bloom 5:14
2. Morning Mr Magpie 4:40
3. Little By Little 4:27
4. Feral 3:12
5. Lotus Flower 5:00
6. Codex 4:46
7. Give Up The Ghost 4:50
8. Separator 5:20

The Gaddabouts - The Gaddabouts Album Review

The Gaddabouts are Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather-Low. Their first CD has been 10 years in the making and now in 2011 finally is officially released. From the stories and interviews it sounds like Edie ran into Steve and they decided to get together and do some songs. I for one can certainly say that I'm happy that they have done so. This is an allstar band in my mind having work with so many accomplished artista over the years.

Edie's lyrics tied into the music writing skills of these guys really all comes together in this eleven song collection. There's a great vibe about this whole cd from accoustics playing, blues, jazz and so many other styles hit this album. You can check a little more about the band out at www.thegaddabouts.com. They will be playing their first and at this point, only show on Friday, April 8th at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. It's all sold out, but if you have a ticket, enjoy something you may never see again.

This album is fun, everything from slow paced songs to bouncing up and down songs. My favorite of the bunch are "Mad Dog", "Let It Slide" "They Say Everything". "Mad Dog" is really a good old fun song and makes me want to get up and clap along and dance every time I hear it. The bluesy guitar of a song like "Gonna Hold On" is another one of those that make you want to dance around as well.

There's a lot of maturity in this album. I think there is in many of Edie's songs but this album really shows a nice touch of the different flavors of what she is capable of putting out. "Feelin' Better" just finishes it off with some great energy.

I say go get this NOW! What an awesome collection of songs.

Track Listing:
1. Never So Far Away
2. Let It Slide
3. Remind Me
4. My Heart 5:07
5. They Say Everything
6. Mad Dog
7. Gonna Hold On
8. Good Day
9. Good For Me
10. More Than Anybody
11. Feelin' Better

Edie Brickell - Edie Brickell Album Review

I keep hearing it's good to see Edie making a comeback! Well from what I see she's been around the whole time or at least actively writing and releasing music since 2004's Volcano. In 2006 she put out an album with New Bohemians called Stranger Things and then in 2008 it was Heavy Circles with Harper Simon under the name Heavy Circles. In 2011 we get two releases and a handfull of live performance dates. The first is the self titled album Edie Brickell and the second in The Gaddabouts.

Edie's first release this year the self titled album Edie Brickell is produced by Charlie Sexton and contains many songs that were written over the past ten or so years. She originally started writing the songs with Carter Albrecht, a close friend and member of New Bohemians. Carter was killed near his home in Texas and Edie put down the tracks until she felt ready to get back to them. The Album is dedicated to Carter and he performs on most of the tracks.

Edie worked with Charlie Sexton, Dave Monsey, Jim Oblon and Carter in making this album. She currently is performing several shows with Charlie Sexton, Dave Monsey, Dave Palmer and Aaron Comess as her backing musicians. This includes a date in Austin on May 4th at The Continental Club as well as two nights in New Orleans on May 6&7th. Last January Edie played a sold out at Radio City Music Hall opening for Iron & Wine as well as an appearence on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

The new cd is filled with fun upbeat songs and really catchy tunes. The CD itself has 10 songs and Amazon.com has an exclusive download of the song "Go". "Give It Another Day" starts it off with a really nice song to get you hopping along and some good guitar play. "Pill" has a good message about how crazy our world has become that you can take a pill for everything.

"Been So Good" has a nice soulful beat and is one of my favorite song on the CD. Good old rock song that just makes you feel good. "Always" has a pretty funny start, not sure what's going on exactly, but it's a fun song and really has some great Carter piano in it. "2 O'Clock" slows it down a bit with a nice mellow beat starting it off and just flows really well.

"On the Avenue" is a fun upbeat song starting off with some good bass and drums and comes along really nice. Makes you feel like you are hanging out on the porch on a really lovely night in the city. Reminds me of the house I grew up in back in Milwaukee, WI. "Waiting For Me" has good vibes from the start, quite enjoyable from the start. Really nice guitar play through out the song.

"You Come Back" adds a bit of a pop feel with the piano at the start and the drums. Sort of a romantic sound about it that I can't quite hit. The next song is quite a beautiful song, "It Takes Love" is a nice ballad that really brings out Edie's beautiful voice with her brilliant writing abilities. "Bad Way" keeps a bluesy beat and is once again a really fine song. I love Edie with the songs that start a little slower and work into a nice beat.

The bonus track is a song called "Go" that I believe might be from The Gaddabouts but put on this as an exclusive bonus. It might actually be one that they, but really seems to fit along with the Gaddabouts. Still I really like the rocking feel and the guitar playing as well as the drums are really prominant in this one. A good way to finish off the album. A brilliant album in my mind and well worth going out and getting or downloading on iTunes. Follow what Edie is up to on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ediebrickell with the latest on performances as well as interviews and other stuff.

Track List: 1. Give It Another Day 4:18 2. Pill 3:48 3. Been So Good 4:17 4. Always 2:58 5. 2 O'Clock In The Morning 5:01 6. On The Avenue 4:38 7. Waiting For Me 3:25 8. You Come Back 5:57 9. It Takes Love 3:19 10. Bad Way 5:03 11. Go (Exclusive Bonus Track) 3:53

Soundgarden - Live On I-5

Soundgarden was on a 13 year abscence from the music scene as a band. They reunited in 2010 for a couple of shows and a CD release of various songs as well as one unreleased new recording "Black Rain". Now they have released their first live recording from various shows on the 1996 tour that were played on the West Coast along I-5. This collection of live recordings hits a good mix of the different cds as well as a couple of covers they did.

There are the ever classic songs like "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman" and "Burden In My Hand" as well as some other really rockin' stuff like "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Slaves and Bulldozers". The covers they did were The Beatles "Helter Skelter" and The Stooges' "Search & Destroy".

It's good hearing the band at the height of their carrer and when they sounded their best. Chris Cornell is hitting the highs and lows without losing his voice. From what I heard about some of the shows of the past, it was hit or miss when you saw them, but these songs are really the hits in the sense that they picked a good collection of songs where the whole band is on. They collectively sound great and as much as I want to see them come back and do some tour dates, I sort of like to keep the sound of old in my head. Still a great CD and hope we do hear more from them in the coming year.

Track Listing: 1. Spoonman 4:23 2. Searching With My Good Eye Closed 4:13 3. Let Me Drown 4:10 4. Head Down 6:25 5. Outshined 5:13 6. Rusty Cage 4:39 7. Burden In My Hand 5:02 8. Helter Skelter 2:09 9. Boot Camp 3:16 10. Nothing To Say 4:25 11. Slaves & Bulldozers 9:16 12. Dusty 4:32 13. Fell On Black Days 4:55 14. Search And Destroy 3:10 15. Ty Cobb 2:42 16. Black Hole Sun 3:01 17. Jesus Christ Pose 6:24