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Blur - Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To Blur (EMI)

To celebrate the return of Britpop's favorite sons (no, not Oasis, who only just finally broke up) EMI has issued a generous two-disc compilation of just some of Blur's finer moments. The band reunited to play a few shows in London's Hyde Park this past July, which was, by all accounts a rousing success. The band are even set to record a brand-new studio album Into The Silence sometime later this year.

Although 2000's The Best Of was meant as a stop-gap to round up the 1990's (which is did nicely enough), Midlife acts as a thoughtful sampler for the uninitiated. However The Best Of collection omitted a few key singles. Namely "Popscene", "Sunday Sunday", "Chemical World", "Bang", and "M.O.R.". Midlife goes and rights some of these errors "Chemical World" and "Popscene" make welcome appearances this time around (woefully "Sunday Sunday" gets snubbed once again while "Bugman" remains). The beautiful "Blue Jeans" from 1993's Modern Life Is Rubbish gets well-deserved notice here as well. Midlife also picks up where The Best Of left off and collects two fine tracks from 2003's Think Tank - "Out Of Time" and Coxon's swan song with Blur "Battery In Your Leg".

If for some reason you've had the misfortune of non being familiar with Blur's fine body of work - pick up Midlife without remorse. It's a very nice set and a great introduction - as the title suggests - for a "beginner".

Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? - The Best of the Replacements

An almost pretty-okay starting point.

The Replacements are one of those bands where their legend almost over shades their actual recorded output. Some of what made the band what it was were their live performances (great, good, bad & ugly). And their singles seem to only scratch the surface. So a 'best of' for The Replacements hardly makes for a by-the-numbers textbook greatest hits collection. So it can't really accurately and fully represent the band that they were on one single disc. Having said this, this collection is pretty okay at doing this - all things considered. But for a start - the track selection seems is a tad off. "Shiftless When Idle" and "Takin' A Ride" could have been left off. Additions of "If Only You Were The Lonely", "Raised In The City", and "Little Mascara" and the great singles "I'm In Trouble", "When It Began", and "The Ledge" would have absolutely made this a definitive greatest hits collection.

For fans of the band there are two good, newly recorded (!) songs ("Message To The Boys" & "Pool And Dive"). And considering they haven't actively done anything as a band in fifteen years - they're great. Paul Westerberg sings and plays guitar, Tommy Stinson plays bass, Chris Mars sings prominent backing-vocals (esp. on "Pool And Dive") and seeing as Chris hasn't played drums in a few years and his own preference of just wanting to sing and not play they used Josh Freese of The Vandals on drums (who backed Paul on his 14 Songs Tour). The songs themselves sound like superior Westerberg solo material although they are definitely 'Mats songs.

For the uninitiated this, again, is a pretty okay compilation but only begins to scratch the surface. I'd personally recommend Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, Tim, Let It Be and Pleased To Meet Me and that's just for for starters.

They Might Be Giants peak with the amazing Apollo 18 before our very ears!

Ahh, 1992. (Sigh..indulge me if you will). The year in which They Might Be Giants were "Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year". You've gotta love it. It was with this album that I became a full-on TMBG fan. I'd first (really) heard them when they hosted Post Modern MTV for one week during the Summer of 1989 to promote the then-released Lincoln. They performed songs and advertised their Dial-A-Song service. I called it late one of the nights (it was only but a local call) and heard "How Much Cake Can You Eat?" & "Swing Is A Word". Although those songs made me a fan, it "Purple Toupee" was the song/video that really won me over.

"The Statue Got Me High" is a fun psychedelic single (and a fine lead-off single) "Mammal" is one of my all-time fave TMBG songs. "I Palindrome I" is a great, great single. "Which Describes How You're Feeling", "My Evil Twin", "Dinner Bell" and "Space Suit" are all TMBG sleepers and wonderfully psychedelic. "See the Constellation" - which samples Dee Dee Ramone for the intro count - could be considered the title track (okay, that and "Space Suit") and is, again, another one of my favorite TMBG songs. "Spider", "Turn Around" and "Dig My Grave" are funny and show TMBG still in full command of their use of insane lyrics and humor. The brilliant "Fingertips" for me, is just the icing on the cake. A wonderful psychedelic Summer afternoon cake.

I've personally, always found the final single from the album "The Guitar" to be a tad empty, crass and misguided. I'm guessing this was intended to be a hit single. Needless to say, this is the song from the album they continue performing live to this day.

Although the band still had a lot left in the tank, I'm of the thinking that they peaked around the time of getting a rhythm section? This is the last album that contains what was singularly unique and very special about TMBG.

Employ the shuffle button for this one!

The Beach Boys Summer Days & Today Vinyl Reissues And More From The Capitol Vaults

Just because I've been lazier than usual I'll just reprint the information:

Hollywood, California -- August 10, 2009 -- Put the needle in the groove! Capitol/EMI's high quality "From The Capitol Vaults" U.S. vinyl campaign continues November 3 with the limited edition, 180-gram vinyl release of 11 classic, standout albums from EMI Music's celebrated catalog.

Capitol/EMI's November 3 "From The Capitol Vaults" releases, all previously out of print on vinyl, include The Band's Cahoots and Stage Fright, The Beach Boys' Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and Beach Boys Today!, David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, and Young Americans, Faust's Faust IV, and Frank Sinatra's Come Dance With Me!, Come Fly With Me, and In The Wee Small Hours.

Capitol/EMI launched its "From The Capitol Vaults" campaign on September 2, 2008 with 13 classic titles, all previously out-of-print on vinyl. Included in the series' debut were A Perfect Circle's Mer de Noms, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Coldplay's Parachutes, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, and X&Y, Radiohead's Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A (two 10" 140-gram LPs), Amnesiac (two 10" 140-gram LPs), and Hail To The Thief, R.E.M.'s Document, and Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits 1974-78.

On September 30, the campaign continued with the release of Jimi Hendrix's incendiary 1970 concert album, Band Of Gypsys, on fiery red 180-gram vinyl, and John Lennon's chart-topping 1971 studio album, Imagine, on 180-gram vinyl.

An additional 13 titles were released on October 28, including The Band's Music From Big Pink and The Band, The Beach Boys' Endless Summer, John Lennon's Rock 'N' Roll, Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run, Megadeth's Peace Sells and Rust In Peace, Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure and Roxy Music, Stray Cats' Built For Speed, and The Verve's Urban Hymns.

On February 24, Ben Harper's entire Virgin Records catalog was released by EMI Music in limited edition, 180-gram vinyl packaging. Nine Ben Harper albums, all previously out-of-print on vinyl, have been restored to the format with Harper's supervision. The LPs were released in deluxe packaging with carefully replicated artwork and two live EPs also made their vinyl release debuts.

On April 21, 12 Radiohead EPs were released on 180-gram vinyl for the first time, including "2 + 2 = 5," "Creep," "Fake Plastic Trees," "High & Dry," "Just," "Karma Police," "My Iron Lung," "No Surprises," "Paranoid Android," "Pyramid Song," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," and "Drill."

On June 16, the series continued with The Beach Boys' Sunflower and Surf's Up, Merle Haggard's Mama Tried, Megadeth's So Far, So Good... So What!, Plastic Ono Band's Live Peace In Toronto 1969, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Freaky Styley, Mother's Milk, and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Roxy Music's Country Life and Stranded, and The Specials' self-titled album. All "From The Capitol Vaults" titles feature carefully replicated artwork and packaging true to their original single or gatefold jacket LP releases. More "From The Capitol Vaults" titles will soon be announced.

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls Soundtrack

Misguided soundbites mar overall impact of music...

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls is perhaps one of my all-time favorite films. I remember picking this up at Tower Records in the Summer of 1997 (a pleasant surprise indeed as I had no idea this had been released on CD). Good liner-notes and photos but the cover art is altered for some misguided reason as the original was pretty ace. I have to say this soundtrack is nearly an aural photograph of the last gasp of the early 80's LA punk scene. It's perhaps even more effective than many purposeful compilations could be as it's seemingly unaware of what it is capturing. Half of this soundtrack are purely Redd Kross tracks. Some of which have only seen release here ("Out Of Focus", "Legend" and the original version of "Ballad Of A Lovedoll"). Lone tracks by Black Flag, DTLD director Dave Markey's band Sin 34, and a wonderful acoustic track by Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin and ex-Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson (billed on the original LP as Greg/Greg) called "Running Fast".

Here's the rub (someone had to screw this up I suppose), every single track is prefaced with dialog from the film (or faux applause)...on the actual track itself!! The ending of "Ballad" also overlaps entirely onto "Legend" (but not without an asinine soundbite from the film - lest we forget about the film for two minutes). Talk about a shortsighted idea. This is the sort of thing that may have been funny, once, to the people involved (and rightfully so - some of the dialog is classic). But any sort of momentum or cohesiveness is virtually ruined for anyone who wants to listen to this soundtrack more than once. Which is a real shame because the songs work so well together and probably flow better than they have any business to. Other mid 90's soundtracks did this too (Mallrats, The Brady Bunch Movie, Friends, etc). The popularity of this heinously obnoxious act was thankfully short-lived.

One wonders what the compiler of this soundtrack was even trying to achieve with such a seemingly crass, if not self-indulgent, act. Their only real intention was that of selling the film to the purchaser of the soundtrack - if that person didn't already own the home video (doubtful) or know anything about the film (again, doubtful). Sell, sell, sell I guess.

Lovedolls Superstar Motion Picture Soundtrack

Great showcase for Redd Kross, Annette Zilinskas and Painted Wille...

The sequel to Desperate Teenage Lovedolls is perhaps superior to the original. The music too is almost superior. Unlike the soundtrack to that film these don't contain any ridiculous soundbites from the film. The songs themselves come from the mid-80's Southern California scene.

The Redd Kross songs are easily the best things on the soundtrack. They supply the wonderful title track to the film. They also contribute 'The Lovedolls' tracks: the wonderfully trashy "Rex Smith 9 (I Wanna Be a Cholo Chick)", the groovy rocker "Beer & Ludes" (with Cheap Trick's "Hello There" in the bridge) and the Brady Bunch cover "Sunshine Day". Lead vocals on these three songs are regrettably shared with the way-too nasally and off-key Jennifer Schwartz (who plays Kitty Carryall in both films). Their cover of "Purple Haze" is also included here as well (although that song was featured in DTLD not LDS).

There's also some truly great material supplied by others. Ex-Bangle Annette Zilinskas' beautiful Sonny & Cher cover "Baby Don't Go", Painted Willie cover Prince & The Revolution's Nikki ("Darling Shelah") and back Jennifer Schwartz on "Now That I've Tasted Blood". There are also unremarkable tracks by Dead Kennedys, Meat Puppets and Sonic Youth included as well.

Black Flag contribute the lifeless "Kickin' and Stickin'" and also back Schwartz on "The Love Machine". The wholly unimaginative score was done by Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's side project Gone. Ginn would later inexplicably deny the use of this material on the 2006 DVD release/soundtrack those eight these tracks are only available here on the original SST soundtrack.

Aside from the fantastic Redd Kross tracks, Painted Willie and the Annette Zilinskas stunner, these songs tend to work better within the context of the film than they do on their own on the soundtrack. The soundtrack is also an unwitting document of a fine time in the history of alternative music.