Category: CD Reviews (Page 281 of 399)

Road Warriors 32

The Foo Fighter’s new album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, hits stores on September 25, and the band has added more shows to their upcoming tour, including dates in New York City, New Orleans, Atlanta and Atlantic City. Foo Fighters will also be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on October 13.

Bruce Springsteen is set to release his new album, Magic, on October 2. Bruce and his E Street Band will play two benefit rehearsals next Monday and Tuesday at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, and proceeds for the tickets, which cost $100, will go to charity.

Alt/folk singer Jose Gonalez, who many of you may know as the voice behind ambient band Zero 7, is releasing his latest solo album, In Our Nature, on September 25. To celebrate, Gonzalez will kick off a lengthy North American tour on September 27,, and will also make appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (9/28) and on Jimmy Kimmel Live (10/11). Here are Continue reading »

DMed’s Video of the Week: New Pornographers, “My Rights Versus Yours”

Curiously, the New Pornographers have not made any videos for the singles from their new album Challengers (or not yet, anyway). This is a shame, because for a bunch of somewhat nerdy Canucks, they have made some fabulous videos, from the cross-dressers in “Sing Me Spanish Techno” to the smokin’ hot blond in “The Laws Have Changed.” So I had to settle for their performance of “My Rights Versus Yours” on David Letterman’s show, and while it’s a good performance, why on earth is there only one close-up of Neko Case, the best looking member of the band? There should be a law against that sort of thing.

Hey, all you cover-song-lovin’ sumbitches, let’s take a test:

Look at the following track listing for this upcoming tribute to forty years of the BBC’s Radio 1 – the station begun in 1967, so they’ve gotten current artists to go back and cover one song from each year that they’ve been on the air – and see how far into it you can get before clicking on the big red button on the album cover and ordering it from Amazon.co.uk.

1967 – ‘Flowers In The Rain’ (The Move) covered by Kaiser Chiefs
1968 – ‘All Along The Watchtower’ (Jimi Hendrix Experience) covered by The Fratellis
1969 – ‘Cupid’ (Johnny Nash) covered by Amy Winehouse
1970 – ‘Lola’ (The Kinks) covered by Robbie Williams
1971 – ‘Your Song’ (Elton John) covered by The Streets
1972 – ‘Betcha By Golly Wow’ (The Stylistics) covered by Sugababes
1973 – ‘You’re So Vain’ (Carly Simon) covered by The Feeling
1974 – ‘Band On The Run’ (Wings) covered by Foo Fighters
1975 – ‘Love Is The Drug’ (Roxy Music) covered by Kylie
1976 – ‘Let’s Stick Together’ (Bryan Ferry) covered by KT Tunstall
1977 – ‘Sound & Vision’ (David Bowie) covered by Franz Ferdinand
1978 – ‘Teenage Kicks’ (The Undertones) covered by The Raconteurs
1979 – ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ (The Police) covered by Mika
1980 – ‘Too Much Too Young’ (The Specials) covered by Kasabian
1981 – ‘Under Pressure’ (Queen & David Bowie) covered by Keane
1982 – ‘Town Called Malice’ (The Jam) covered by McFly
1983 – ‘Come Back And Stay’ (Paul Young) covered by James Morrison
1984 – ‘Careless Whisper’ (George Michael) covered by The Gossip
1985 – ‘The Power Of Love’ (Huey Lewis & The News) covered by The Pigeon Detectives
1986 – ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ (The Pretenders) covered by Lily Allen
1987 – ‘You Sexy Thing’ (Hot Chocolate) covered by Stereophonics
1988 – ‘Fast Car’ (Tracy Chapman) covered by Mutya Buena
1989 – ‘Lullaby’ (The Cure) covered by Editors
1990 – ‘Englishman In New York’ (Sting) covered by Razorlight
1991 – ‘Crazy For You’ (Madonna) covered by Groove Armada
1992 – ‘It Must Be Love’ (Madness) covered by Paolo Nutini
1993 – ‘All That She Wants’ (Ace Of Base) covered by The Kooks
1994 – ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’ (Mary J Blige) covered by Mark Ronson
1995 – ‘Stillness In Time’ (Jamiroquai) covered by Calvin Harris
1996 – ‘No Diggity’ (Blackstreet) covered by Klaxons
1997 – ‘Lovefool’ (The Cardigans) covered by Just Jack
1998 – ‘Ray Of Light’ (Madonna) covered by Natasha Bedingfield
1999 – ‘Drinking in LA’ (Bran Van 3000) covered by The Twang
2000 – ‘The Great Beyond’ (REM) covered by The Fray
2001 – ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ (Wheatus) covered by Girls Aloud
2002 – ‘Like I Love You’ (Justin Timberlake) covered by Maximo Park
2003 – ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ (The Libertines) covered by The View
2004 – ‘Toxic’ (Britney Spears) covered by Hard-Fi
2005 – ‘Father & Son’ (Yusuf Islam & Ronan Keating) covered by The Enemy
2006 – ‘Steady, As She Goes’ (The Raconteurs) covered by Corinne Bailey Rae

(For the record, I think 1975 was finally the breaking point for me. When you can actually hear the cover in your head at the moment you read the pairing of artist and song, it’s time to suck it up and break out the credit card. And I guarantee that even if Medsker thinks he can hold out, there’s always 2004 to make him go, “Oh, goddammit, now I *HAVE* to get it!”

Ruby Tuesday: Rialto, “Love Like Semtex”

Spawned from the ashes of Kinky Machine, Rialto was singer/songwriter Louis’ Eliot’s foray into widescreen pop, a blend of Oasis and ABC, as crazy as it sounds (and with two drummers, in an apparent nod to .38 Special). The band’s debut, Rialto, was a nifty little pop record, the kind that any fan of British pop both present and past would appreciate (“Summer’s Over” steals a big chunk of “A Day in the Life” for its chorus). The biggest problem was that the album came out in 1998, a good three years after Brit Pop peaked. By that time, only the most devoted Anglophiles paid the band any mind.

I would be one of those Anglophiles.

I was hooked by “Love Like Semtex” from the moment I saw the title, since I had been in a rather combustible relationship eerily similar to the one Eliot describes here. Also, being a fan of the Pixies and Nirvana, I like quietLOUDquiet songs, so when this tender ballad, um, blows up in the second half, I had already been hooked, gutted, put on ice and lacquered for mounting.

Rialto released one more album, 2001’s Night on Earth, which was arguably better than their debut. They had moved on from Oasis, and went after Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys. Again, an Anglophile’s dream, but “Love Like Semtex” will stand as the band’s lighter-waving moment.

Rialto – Love Like Semtex

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