WOLFMOTHER: BACK TO THE BASICS

when i first heard wolfmother's "woman" while playing guitar hero 2, i thought it was another old school classic rock group i somehow missed. i was confused. i mean, how could i have missed these guys all these years? way to go classic rock radio. in spite of my best efforts to keep up with rock older than myself, i have failed to come across wolfmother even once. but i was wrong. they are incredibly new. they just have the sound of an old classic rock band and i love it.

i still dont know that much about them, but i do know that they are from australia and they look like ac/dc and sound like deep purple.

one of the key characteristics that they have is the use of unison parts. they often play nearly the same thing on bass and guitar and they blend very well.

the singer also reminds me a little of led zepplin and ozzy. he sings rather high and he doesnt try to make it sound pretty. he just sings the notes and adds his own voice inflections to it. very simple. more rock singers should sing that way. lets face it, there are very few rockers with voice training experience. simple is good for the novice and for rock.

also, they rely more on rhythmic patterns than most new bands do. they even use swing patterns and 6/8 time on occasion. they seem like the sort of band that could get away with doing nothing but jamming. they have that kind of chemistry.

in short, if you like black sabbath, led zepplin, deep purple, lynyrd skynyrd, ac/dc, jimi hendrix, rush or foghat, you will love these guys. dont believe me? here is a music video.

recommended songs: woman, dimension, pyramid, joker and the thief, colossal, tales from the forest of gnomes, the white unicorn, vagabond, and witchcraft.

CORPOREAL

i dont know anything about these guys, but they are really good. anyone who likes acoustic guitars or the video game halo will appreciate these clips.

this one has three guys playing the same guitar at the same time.



this is the halo theme song played live.



i love little projects like this.

I WANT MY NICKELBACK

nickelback emanates everything that hard rock has evolved into over the years. this is both good and bad. they have powerful lyrics and controversial issues. they have great style but the musicianship could be better. also, i cant think of a single guitar solo in any of their songs.

some say they have a "pretty" frontman. sure, he has a raspy voice and he has no trouble hitting lower notes (granted he is not a true bass), but he still looks too well kept for a rocker. i like him even though i have never heard a live performance and every time i see him i cant help but think that he might be over produced.

but his golden locks aside, he delivers his songs well. quite well actually. most of nickelback's songs are less than uplifting. they tend to address some very difficult topics and they try to do so from unusual perspectives. for example, the song "never again" is about spousal abuse in all its horror. but it offers the viewpoint of the young son who can do nothing but watch it happen. it is rather disturbing. but the vocal delivery is perfect for the nature of the song.

they tackle other topics which are some what controversial. like teenage relationships. everyone has an opinion on how serious teenage relationships should or should not be. most teenagers say they shouldnt be restricted and most parents say there should be some kind of boundary especially with regards to physical aspects of the relationship. this power struggle has been going on for decades. nickelback offers the view of the teenagers in the song "animals", but they do it in a flurry of emotions. the song is fast paced and aggressive in style. and it leaves the listener with a confused feeling of "well, are we or are we not just like animals?"

one of the strongest points nickelback has is their lyrics. they are pretty clever. one of my personal favorites is from their album "the long road." it is wittily pessimistic about a rocky relationship that has had a spurt of passion: "something's gotta go wrong, cuz im feeling way too damn good."

i dont usually watch music videos, but i happened to catch one of nickelback's more recent videos for a song on their newest album "all the right reasons." the song is called "savin me" but the lyrics arent what interested me. the video itself caught my attention. the basic idea is that a guy is saved by someone. after he is saved he sees a clock above everyone around him. at first he is really confused. but then he sees an older woman being lifted into an ambulance as her clock reaches zero. and she dies. of course, now he is really panicky and worried. it ends the video with him saving another person and the clocks go away. i thought it was a cool idea.

but as much as i like nickelback i have to say that they could do better with the musicianship. the only band member that stands out to me at all is the bassist. and this is mostly because he plays really low and still has good clarity as he slaps the stings. not much else can be said about the other musicians other than that they blend well. but blending could be the product of a good producer.

UPDATE VIDEO: SAVIN' ME

METALLICA PHILHARMONICA

i have said it before, and i will say it again. "metallica s&m" is one of the best rock albums ever made.

i have several reasons for this. first, i am partial to any group with the cojones to produce something with a symphony orchestra. second, metallica took their older songs and made them even better. third, excellent musicianship.

im not always a fan of live albums. it is extremely risky. not only are there thousands of things that could potentially go wrong, but the band is completely exposed. you cant hide behind a great producer. you are wide open. i have seen several groups flop at live performances. take for example, red hot chili peppers at the 2000 mtv music awards ceremony. the band was dead on. fantastic even. but the singer wasnt even close to the same key. it was painful to listen to. but even worse is when you are at the performance, you think it is amazing, and when you hear a recording you find that they were not as good as you remember. the mistakes and sour notes stand out a lot more post facto.

but metallica did extremely well. in fact, i prefer some of their new orchestral arrangements over some of the original recordings. i think that part of this is that james hetfield (the lead singer) has matured immensely since metallica first hit the scene. he has cleaner tone, better sense of pitch, better technique and his voice is lower.

screeching high vocals worked for many of the hair bands of the 80's but i have to say that i prefer the raspy drunken-sailor tone you find in some of today's newer groups. hetfield has slowly developed into this type of vocalist. and i think that this is a good transition for hard rock. leave the squeaks to the younger punk rockers.

the band as a whole has matured greatly also. they are less concerned with playing really fast and really loud (a problem i see in many young bands). they utilize dynamics and tempos to a greater degree than traditional metal bands. and then they compliment it with perfectly tuned violins. even my mother admitted "hero of the day" was pretty.

there are two songs that were written especially for this album: "no leaf clover" and "-human." you will not find any other arrangement of these songs. they were written with the orchestra in mind from the beginning. all of the other songs on the album were re-written to fit in the orchestra. no leaf clover is my favorite metallica song. it has every aspect of metallica that i like: dynamics, a guitar solo, an orchestra, a heavy beat. and it is very well written. i dont talk about lyrics much but this song has one of metallica's best lines. "when it comes to be as your seeing the light at the end of your tunnel--it's just a freight train coming your way."

the other song, "-human," is just hard and heavy rock. one thing that i like about this song is its near overuse of hetfield's filler phrases. you know, stuff like "yeah" and "uhhh" and other grunts and moans and growls that give the song some character. i also like the backup singer screaming in the background.

sometimes screaming backups can be distracting and annoying, but they keep him far enough in the back that he doesnt overwhelm the listener. also, this song has some pretty cool rhythmic patterns. the patterns are slow to develop. but be patient, they are there.

one of my favorite remakes on this album is, well, "one." this song tells the story of a war veteran who has been severely injured during a war ( i assume vietnam, but im not positive). he is bed-ridden and unable to do anything for himself. he has become a vegetable and all he wants to do is die. this is a pretty sensitive topic and metallica does a fantastic job in portraying the individual's perspective. they include musical simulation of war sounds to open the scene. then the individual tells how he feels and then leads way to feelings of rage, fright, regret and just all out sorrow and prayers to wake up. i really like this song.

anyway, this album is great. songs that i particularly like: "the call of ktulu" "master of puppets" "fuel" "no leaf clover" "hero of the day" "bleeding me" "-human" "outlaw torn" "one."


UPDATE VIDEO: NO LEAF CLOVER

SCARY MUSIC

i suppose that since halloween is coming up, this is the perfect time to throw in my 2 cents about the artists that are most likely to scare your children. first things first, however. i have mixed feelings about scary music.

there are some groups that i do actually like and some that i cant stand. one of the reasons for this is that many groups that try scaring their audiences for entertainment are so good at it and so focused on that part of the show that they forget that they are still musicians. their music can become repetitively redundant. and they fail to write anything interesting from a musical stand point.

i should also clarify that groups like evanesence, metallica, tool and anthrax, although sometimes eerie and "hardcore" are not actually scary. im talking about groups that leave people with that feeling you get after a great horror flick. you know, when you feel like you are being watched as you leave the theatre and you almost feel nauseous at the suggestion of food. im talking about groups like korn, marilyn manson, white zombie, and prodigy.

ok, maybe prodigy doesnt exactly fit this category. they dont exactly leave you feeling totally creeped out. but they are eerie enough that i would throw them in the mix. i dont have that much to say about prodigy, actually. they are like spooky heavy metal euro-techno. interesting to a point, i guess. but they dont have much to offer besides a slight novelty factor.

white zombie is one of those groups that i feel like i should like for some reason, but i dont. they dont do anything. they play the same thing over and over with different lyrics and call it a new song. it is boring. but in the theatrical department they are one of the best. they will scare the pants off of any child. they are among the first shock-rockers. they make people like marylin manson look like they are trying too hard to imitate them. quite frankly marilyn manson is a joke. his version of shock-rock is lame. self-mutilation is the best way to describe it. look at his tactics: cutting himself with glass; breast implants; joining the church of satan. he is basically a kid looking for attention in any way he can get it. on the other hand, i am actually convinced that rob zombie talks to satan.

korn. this group has little more to offer than marilyn manson, but they do. they have similar tactics to get attention as manson, but not quite as mutilating. they used to be just really dark hard rock. i mean really dark. but i recently heard some songs from their new album, "see you on the other side," and i realized that they are going the way of white zombie. they are a little repetitive, but only in style. they arent half-bad musicians. but sadly the best song they have released that i have come across is their cover of pink floyd's classic "another brick in the wall."

black sabbath is one of the first groups to experiment with heavy metal. they were almost as influencial in its creation as led zepplin. but black sabbath was darker. ok ok, i know. ozzy osbourne isnt exactly in this category either. but he is the original hard rock shock-rocker.

one of my favorite stories about ozzy is how he got signed a record deal. it is a pretty well known story but there are still lots of people who dont know it. so i am going to tell it as best i can.

ozzy was dating sharon (now his wife--longest celebrity marriage ever) while he and black sabbath were just starting out. sharon's father was a ceo of a record company in england and sharon pulled some strings to get ozzy an interview. before ozzy goes into the interview with the board of directors, sharon tells ozzy to leave a good impression so they wont forget him. ozzy assures her that he will certainly leave an impression they will never forget.

so ozzy goes in and sits down on the lap of a female executive, looks her in the eyes and pulls out a pigeon from his coat. then he opens his mouth and bites the pigeon's head off. he was right. he left a truly lasting impression as he left the interview with pigeon blood dripping down his chin.

in a side note, that bit with the pigeon became one of black sabbath's first shock-rock techniques. although, they modified it slightly by substituting the pigeon with rubber bats. but that proved to be somewhat haphazard when someone threw in a real bat and ozzy bit its head off. he had to get rabies shots.

JIMI AND STEVIE: LEFT AND RIGHT

of all the instruments to emerge or evolve in the 20th century few have contributed to popular music as much as the guitar. it spans over virually every style of music. and since the hippie revolution the guitar has undergone some major transformations itself with the advent of distorsion and peddles.

one of the most influential guitar players of any generation is jimi hendrix. jimi was an experimentalist. he loved improvization and throwing in new techniques to catch people's attention.

probably the best example of the true genius of jimi's music is found in his rendition of "the star spangled banner." i have heard several versions of the story behind it. the basic jist of it was that he was performing at woodstock and the band wasnt playing well. so jimi cut the band off and started playing the national anthem.

what makes this version of the anthem unique was the political undertones. there were no words. just jimi playing his left-handed guitar. but he was able to mimic the sounds of machine gun fire, airplanes, helicopters and even bombs. war sounds to protest the vietnam war. and it laced in and out of the melody as if it were pre-written that way.

for all of his genius and uncontested influence on today's music, he was sloppy. i hate to say it but he was lacking in quality of technique. granted, poor technique doesnt negate the quality of his music. for years classical musicians have ragged on jazz artists for being sloppy. but the jazz musicians counter that it adds character and style to their music. the same is true of jimi. although he does get sloppy, he does so in a way that fits the music. it is raw. it is fresh. it has a touch of his colorful background.

but there are those that have just as much genius in music as jimi, but do in fact have good technique. sqeaky clean technique, even.

stevie ray vaughn isnt exactly a contemporary of jimi hendrix. stevie's career didnt really take off until after hendrix's death and reached its peak years later. i wont go on about his background so much. mostly because im not as familiar with it. but i will say this: stevie ray vaughn has the best technique i have ever heard on guitar. he is clean and smooth and completely original.

stevie tends to play more blues than rock and roll. and as a blues musician tends find himself in bars and clubs more than the arenas that jimi had come to fill.

probably the best way to tell the difference in technique between the two musical giants is to compare jimi's orignal "little wing" with stevie's cover. jimi's version is certainly after his own style. it is a little sloppy and has jimi singing with his slightly slurred voice over the guitar part. it isnt his best work, honestly. but it's jimi, so it isnt that bad either.

stevie drops the vocals and just plays the melody with his guitar. as you listen to it you can hear the difference in clearity of picking at the strings. also, stevie gives it a little bit of a blues night club flare.

song recommendations. jimi hendrix: "purple haze" "fire" "hey joe" "stone free" "if 6 was 9" "foxey lady" "castles made of sand" "voodoo child" "the star spangled banner." stevie ray vaughn: "texas flood" "the house is rockin'" "pride and joy" "tight rope" "little wing."

UPDATE VIDEO: SRV LITTLE WING LIVE

BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS: FUNKY ROCKERS

most bands that last more than ten years or so will try to redefine their sound. metallica, jethro tull, bon jovi (a few that i have already written about) have all experimented with new styles and techniques. some more than others. some better than others. for example, jethro tull tried a song ("broad sword") which has a part medieval, part 80's pop rock feel to it. i usually skip it on the playlist.

every once in a while you come across a band that makes the transition well. 'blood sweat and tears' is one of those bands.

one of the first things you will notice about BS&T is that they use a lot of instruments not commonly used in today's popular music. namely, jazz band instruments. in fact, structurally speaking they resemble a jazz band more than anything else. this is because they probably started out as one. but in their transition stage, they turned their sound into more of a funk/rock band. it is not exclusively one or the other. and they kept their jazz roots as well. towards the end of their career they even tried a little disco. but that didnt stick as well. they were much better at the funk/rock style.

in fact some of their contemporaries also made similar stylistic changes but were more successful in the end. for example, chicago started out as pretty much the same thing as BS&T. in fact, some times i get them mixed up.

but when the time came to make a change in their style in the 80's they dropped the jazz instruments, took up more guitars and synthesizers and wrote a plethora of pop ballads. BS&T however, tried to keep their whole band together, which proved too much for pop music and they eventually went the way of every other major jazz ensemble.

because of their experimentation with styles and such, their songs are kind of hit and miss. about half of their songs are really well done and worth listening to. the rest is so-so. they are usually well written and well played. they just lack some style points and entertainment value. also they have two singers. i dont know if one is from earlier records or they just wanted to mix it up a bit. but in my opinion, one is much better than the other. if you look up the songs in my recommendation list, he is the singer for most of those songs. he is more raspy and gritty than the other.

at any rate, i do recommend this group. good music is good music no matter how old it is. songs that i like: "house in the country" "more and more""smiling phases" "spinning wheel" "lucretia macevil" "fourty thoursand headmen" "go down gamblin'" "mama gets high" "lisa, listen to me" "roller coaster" "got to get you into my life" "mean old world."

UPDATE VIDEO: GO DOWN GAMBLIN
im pretty sure the beginning of this is actually van halen's "eruption" but they get to their own song soon enough.