Walk Me Out in the Morning Sun

At first listen to Nightcrawler, the third album from Jersey’s own Pete Yorn, it is pretty much a let down. His first two albums was a return to root-rock in the mold of John Mellencamp and fellow Jersey denizen Bruce Springsteen but with a modern edge to it. But I wasn’t sold on his previous albums upon first listen either as they both grew on me to become permanent staples in my playlist. And more I listen to Nightcrawler, the more I’m coming around to it.

The main problem with this album is its rocky start, Vampyre is a little too dark and moody to kick of and album even with its weird upbeat outro. Then it moves into For Us (which features Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters the drums) that just doesn’t click well. The album gets on track with Undercover, a classic Yorn song with electric elements but still rooted in rock music. Policies follows it up with a driving ambient which sounds like what Pearl Jam would have sounded like if they listen to too much of The Beach Boys. The Man is one of Yorn’s best, a soft lilting balled with lush harmonies provided by the Dixie Chick’s Natalie Maines. While Maybe I’m Right is right up there will all of Yorn straight ahead rock songs with crushing guitars.

The album does fall into tedium for a few songs until he starts sing about “Michael Jackson in Disney Land” where he’s walking around holding hands with Goofy. Um, yeah, you read that right. Actually Splendid Isolation actually works even with its absurd lyrics. But there are some more sidesteps on the album, Broken Bottle is a little to slow and could put you to sleep, same with Ice Age. Georgie Boy is just a little weird in a British kind of way.

Now apparently this album is the last in a trilogy of albums based on the events of one day. Looking at the album titles, Musicforthmorningafter, Day I Forgot, and Nightcrawler, it makes sense although it never crossed my mind listening t the individual songs on those albums. I’ll have to play all three in sequence and maybe it will click. But if you were to make a trilogy based on the events of a day, the night version shouldn’t be the least entertaining. But then again Nightcrawler may grow on me more like the pervious ones do.

Song to Download - The Man

Nightcrawler gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

It's Been Two Long Years Now Since the Top of the World Came Crashing Down

Some say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but sometimes that isn’t always true, like, say, when you offend the majority of your fan base and have your records pulled from the radio like the Dixie Chicks did at the start of the Iraq War. Of course that was back in a time where is you were against the president, you were anti-American, and now, a couple years later, even some Republicans have been piling George Bush leading him to the lowest poll numbers by a two term president not named Richard Nixon.

But even before their comments, the Chicks have been alienating country radio by drifting to more bluegrass and pop sounds on their last album Home. That tend continues on their latest outing, Taking the Long Way, as the group even brought in noted rock and rap producer Rick Rubin who had much success resurrecting the career of Johnny Cash with his American Recoding sessions. But unlike the American Recordings, there are no cover songs as the Chicks wrote all the songs on the album with help from artist as diverse as Keb’ Mo’ and Sheryl Crow.

At the beginning of the album, most of the songs seem to focus on the infamous comments mentioned earlier, most notably on the aptly titled Not Ready to Make Nice. So if you think the Chicks have soften on their position on this administration, the title pretty much says it all and they even touch on the backlash with lyrics like, “How in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge that they’d write me a letter sayin’ that I better shut up and sing or my life will be over.” But that theme doesn’t linger long as songs quickly transition into more familiar territory like relationships. Then the album ends with the I Hope, a gospel song that was released last year to benefit those hit by Katrina.

As the Chicks move away from traditional country, they start moving into genre, the best result being I Like It, a song that sounds influenced by the girl group of the sixties. Then there is the album opener, The Long Way Around that sounds exactly like Learning to Fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers but with fiddles. Lullaby is as soft as the title suggest. Baby Hold On hits the emotional intensity of songs like You Were Mine from their first album. Really the only song here that would have fit on previous albums the brilliantly titled Lubbock or Leave It which has that same pure rage as Sin Wagon. Unfortunately some songs on the album suffer from being uneven where the verses are great but the chorus doesn’t hold the intensity or vice versa. This is most apparent on Silent House where the chorus just rubs me the right way.

Song to Download - The Long Way Around

Taking the Long Way gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Don't You See Baby, This Is Perfection

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. I advise you to watch them first (the links to the video are the bold headers, inside the post will lead you to iTunes where you can buy the song and in some cases the video itself) before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things.


Shakira - Hips Don’t Lie (Fans Only)

Quite possibly the funniest thing ever. I don’t know why any video outlet would show the other version. Well, then again it does have Shakira in it moving like Shakira. They should have thought of doing a dudes only version too because those are the best part especially the ones who thought it was a good idea to film themselves without their shirts most notably the dude during the line, “Don't you see baby, yhis is perfection.” Sadly my tape must have been lost in the mail.


Kelly Clarkson - Walk Away

This video would have been more entertaining had it been not for the Shakira video as it has basically the same theme but with actors in scripted situations instead of real people. But the scene with the dudes in the locker room almost makes up for it. The song itself basically ends Kelly Clarkson’s run as guiltiest of all pleasures as her last two songs were no where as entertaining as Since U Been Gone and Behind These Hazel Eyes. Plus she looks nowhere as good in this video either, but I wonder with her constantly moving her hips, was this her submission to be in the Shakira video?


Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

I’m sure this video has some deep meaning to it, but it went way over my head which means it will go over every country fan’s head. But I have a feeling it has something to do with Bush, and his supporters, being morons. Way to continue to alienate your fan base Dixie Chicks. If you understand what’s going on, please fill me in.


The Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song

Again, I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m not sure I want to. But really you can’t go wrong with weird Chinese chicks with penchants for putting croissants, doughnuts, and raw red meat on random people then have them chased by fat dudes, cops, and a dude in a grizzly suit respectively. The dude from The Flaming Lips was even the dude who got the red meat treatment.


The Wreckers - Leave the Pieces

Nothing really special about the video, but this the first real contender to top my Best Songs of 2006 list. And since I plan on buying the album, this is the only place I can listen to it before it’s released because I’m not dropping .99 for a song if I’ll be buying the album later. For those who are not sure who The Wreckers are, it’s basically Michelle Branch and some other chick.


Rihanna - S.O.S.

Again, nothing special here with the video, but the song is great, you just can’t buy it yet. And the music industry wonders why people continue to steal their product. Well don’t build up a demand if you cannot supply the product especially if they can get it elsewhere for free. Actually the video is worth watching to see Rihanna go from uber-hot to uber-creepy when she busts out her 80’s look. That is of course because the song samples the Soft Cell classic Tainted Love. I was a little weary when I first heard it but it definitely grew on me. And it looks like she will have the rare feat of having the summer anthem in back to back summers. Granted Pon de Replay grew old as the temperature grew cold and landed at the paltry 69 on my Best Songs of 2005 list. But with the nostalgia feel, maybe S.O.S. will have some staying power.



There are a bunch of cool new things over on iTunes this week. First and foremost is almost all of the Dave Matthews Band studio albums, along with Dave Matthews and Boyd Tinsley’s solo albums, for the very first time. For fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there is a really cool offer for those who preorder their new album, Stadium Arcadium, you get first crack to get tickets to their summer tour. And for you television buffs, NBC just recently added Scrubs to the iTunes library. I wonder if the show will have a The Office type surge, which, when put up on the service late last year, was one of the most downloaded shows and even saw a ratings boost quickly taking the show from almost canceled to being moved to NBC’s Must See TV lineup. Too bad Veronica Mars is still not on the service that way I could have downloaded the show Thursday morning and watched it later that day, but instead I have to wait until tomorrow to see the episode because it would be wrong to download it threw other means. Of course if I did, it would take until Saturday for it to actually download anyways, not that I know that from experience or anything.