Category: CD Reviews (Page 333 of 399)

Toy Matinee, “The Ballad of Jenny Ledge”

September 25, 2006 / Will Harris

What’s there to say about Toy Matinee…? They came quick and didn’t stay long, and during the brief period they existed, their most impressive feat as a band was securing Julian Lennon to contribute guest vocals to their lone, self-titled album.

Sounds woefully unimpressive, no…?

Well, the thing is, the two guys who made up Toy Matinee were Patrick Leonard – who produced Madonna’s True Blue, Roger Waters’ Amused To Death, Jewel’s Spirit, and Elton John’s Songs from the West Coast, among many others – and Kevin Gilbert, who’s written songs for Sheryl Crow, engineered Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, and played keyboards for Susanna Hoffs.

So, basically, it didn’t matter what Toy Matinee did; they had plenty of other avenues to fall back on…which is good, given that Toy Matinee did precisely jack.

In 1990, no-one was looking for the second coming of Steely Dan. Too bad, since that’s exactly what “The Ballad of Jenny Ledge” was. Arguably the best song on an album full of consistently solid pop-rock tracks, it tells the tale of one Jenny Ledge, who was “tempted by half-Elvis, half man-about-town, and a life of ease.” Great song, but one woefully out of place at its time of release. Check out the video…

…and if you like what you hear, go yell at iTunes to make the album available for download so you can hear the whole thing.

Lost Bands, Pop, Rock, Songs

Promoting what will surely be the best bad movie of all time…

September 25, 2006 / David Medsker

…Tenacious D, “The Pick of Destiny.”

“It just so happened to be the best song in the world…”

The video for the theme to Jack Black and Kyle Gass’s upcoming classic in the making debuts today on MTV2, and there is a behind-the-scenes on the making of the video at 10 PM EST. They’re also giving away free downloads to a Diddy track all day today as well, and leaking the new Killers album on Friday at 11 PM EST. Head over to http://music.mtv.com for all the fun stuff.

Rock, Songs, Videos

BBC dicks around with Sparks

September 25, 2006 / Deb Medsker

Look: Another album cover with kitties!!

Sparks, the quirky team best known in the U.S. for their duet with Jane Wiedlin on “Cool Places” back in 1983, has run into a spot of trouble with the BBC. Though Sparks has enjoyed a reasonable level of success throughout Europe for the past two decades, the BBC is refusing to play their new single because of its naughty, naughty title — “Dick Around:”

Despite the fact that Ron and Russell were invited into the studio as guests of the Breakfast Show on BBC London 94.9FM, the host Jono Coleman was banned from playing the single ‘Dick Around’. Jono and his co-host Jo good were obviously embarrassed – particularly as they quite clearly knew that the term means wasting time. The Maels were upset that they had been asked to be interviewed live in the studio, and then not have their single played.

Ron Mael this morning raged: “the BBC has officially killed off our new single ‘Dick Around’, ostensibly through rather childish objections to the title, an innocent reference to the idle life. That a piece of music can be condemned purely by its title without the ‘decision makers’ even having the decency to open the CD case is a travesty and an insult to both us as the creators of the music and to the listeners of the BBC.”

Ahhh, those beloved, misguided, uptight Brits: Always trying to protect their children from the perverse influences of popular culture. But since they’re the ones who gave the world “Trainspotting”…are they really entitled to be quite so judgmental?

Artists, News, Pop, Radio, Songs

The hardest Simpson to button

September 21, 2006 / David Medsker

If you missed Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons,” you absolutely have to see this clip. Bart turns out to be a natural at the drums, and this clip, to the tune of the White Stripes’ “The Hardest Button to Button,” is one of the funniest things “The Simpsons” have done in years. Check it out now, before Fox orders YouTube to take it down.