Take It Easy

I recently ripped Don Henley's Actual Miles and have been listening to either it or The Eagles' Greatest Hits 1971-1975 ever since. It's a really great cd, one worth leaving in the player for weeks at a time. The progression from heavy country influences to the Joe Walsh rock era is quite interesting and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert with all original members would be surreal. For some reason I didn't think Don Henley was the original drummer, but I was wrong. I hope they get back some of their grit when putting out the new album. What I have heard on the radio so far sounds like something Richard Marx would turn out if someone would actually let him into a studio to danced around for a bit.
I may not be able to see the Police this summer, due to a trip I have already promised my wife. This is a great disappointment, but the truth is that I never thought that I would ever see them get over their egos and get back together again anyway; go figure.
Harry Connick, Jr. was another artist I hoped to see somewhere near LA, but since he moved to MA he can only land in NO and can't figure out how to get himself around the rest of the state. When my friend Mark and I saw him in '95, somehow he wandered into LSU and played a show for a few hundred people. If LA and music is so close to his heart, why can't he make it to major population centers in the state to perform? Hmm...
Maybe I will actually get to see Crowded House then, 1 out of 3, nevermind.

Back to the iPod. Today's letter is C. C is for can't, in the sentence, "I can't get my shift key to stop sticking."; frustrating.

Caedmon's Call used to be one of the top independent, unsigned bands in the country. Just Don't Want Coffee and My Calm/Your Storm were two of the best independent albums I had ever heard back in the mid 1990's, but when their eponymous debut for Warner Bros. came out, most of the reworked songs were trashed with gapped arrangments which left out intriquet guitar work and instead velcroed in string players holding single note movements. "April Showers', "Forget What You Know", "This World", "Jar Of Clay", and "Coming Home" are some of my favorites from the two indie albums.
The Cardigans' "Lovefool" is one of the funkiest, funniest songs I have ever heard. I have lost count of the movies and commericals featuring the song and I can't get it out of my head when I hear it. First Band On The Moon was a great disappointment, but someone gave it to me.
Carey Ott's Lucid Dream is a confusing album for me because of all the different versions available for download. There was the orginal 4 song ep, then the iTunes version with 2 bonus tracks, and the emusic version with 2 other bonus tracks. I actually downloaded all three, so I have 16 tracks for the 12 track Lucid Dream cd. My favorites are "Am I Just One", which I heard before it ever made it to Grey's Anatomy, "Mother Madam", "Daylight", and "I Wouldn't Do That To You". It's a great pop album with so many different influences. I love it when I discover great music on my own.
You can't always trust Zach Braff. I learned this the hard way a couple of times. I first heard "Blue Eyes" while watching Garden State and instantly fell in love with the song. I got the soundtrack and loved it so much that I bought Cary Brothers' eps All The Rage and Waiting For Your Letter. I was instantly disappointed and felt stupid for wasting my money and time on the albums. The music wasn't bad, it was just nothing special and I couldn't connect to it.
Chaos Is The Poetry is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's difficult to describe the concept album because it is full of influences. Lanny Cordova was the brains behind the project and he got together with some friends from Magdalena and some studio musicians to record the album. It's full of rock anthems, piano ballads, pop, funk, and even a track with a rap on it. There's not a bad track on the album, but ebay and half.com are probably the only places that have it since it is out of print.
I have never been a Cheap Trick fan even though "The Flame" and "I Want You To Want Me" are two great songs. I checked out Rockford from the library and got excited. It's hard to find good pop-rock and the album was full of it. The first three tracks, "Welcome To The World", "Perfect Stranger", and "It Takes A Lifetime", make up one of the best 1,2,3 punches I have heard in quite a while.