| Listen for Shane edition 1 November 2002 What good people oughtta hear: The new J Mascis effort Free So Free doesn’t suck one bit; full of the soaring guitar solos and catchy tunes, I swear he sounds like Hendrix on a couple. The sticker on the cover said he has taken up skydiving. I’m such a mopey slacker: push me from this plane! Brendan Benson's Lapalco is real nice, the second song breaks me down. Did you know that John and Yoko’s bed was two church pews propping up a mattress? Bono – you are apparently not Jesus – Sean is… Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s has a solo thing out The Instigator with a big close-up of his cute face (why does everyone do that these days, it’s boring to be so upfront. I bought Cheap Trick’s Dream Police record for a dollar -can you spend a better dollar?- and the cover threw me back to 1979 – full colour, cool pictures of rock and roll action heroes. They should have made a “Cheap Trick Meets the Phantom of the Park” instead of that cheesy Kiss movie. At least these guys could get laid without makeup and toothy boots and a big tongue. All Music Guide calls Robin Zander “one of the most-gifted vocalists and frontmen in rock history”. I also heard him described as having the best rock and roll voice of a good-looking white man since Elvis. Kiss had great/bad rock and roll hi-lights, but there is a clear choice to be made here – Cheap Trick destroys Kiss) oh, and the Rhett Miller album is nice too – “Come Around” is sung like he means it. Bright Eyes and Spoon continue to rule apart from each other with great recent albums, but they did come together for a 4-song EP FOUR and it shines so. Honestly, I have listened to it 500 times. It’s over $30 on Ebay so I guess it’s rare. Arlo is the new best band on the planet. Check out Stab the Unstoppable Hero. They turn up the power pop and don’t have any ballads or any bullshit ‘see how adept or eclectic we are’. The perfect early in a career record that will surely be lamented later when they get bored and expand the band’s ‘musical palette’ or I prefer ‘start to suck'. til next edition, $TQ |